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March 27, 1998
SPECIALS
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How Readers reacted to The BJP must abandon its loony fringe
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 07:52:44 -0800< Diwanji has mentioned many interesting points in his article as to why the BJP has and is having problems forming a government. One thing for certain is that Muslim fundamentalists have been responsible for many atrocities in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu and Kashmir in the recent years. Indians, generally the Hindus I mean, shy away from confrontation and are generally forgiving. The BJP has shown us not to show our other cheek lest we run out of cheek to show. We need a certain amount of fire in one of our parties or we will be like the Congress taking everyone's vote and defrauding everyone. The first thing the BJP should do is clean up the house. Even though the Congress does not have the majority to rule India they do have a lot of upper and mid level bureaucrats who are faithful to them. The BJP will have a tough time getting those mid and upper level babus to fit the BJP philosophy. Every corrupt Congressman should be brought to justice. Corruption and population explosion should be curbed with a iron fist. Tariffs between states on goods should be totally removed, so that the consumer can avail himself of goods from a united India. A truck driver leaving Kashmir should be flagged through all the way to Kanya Kumari without any hassles from police and politicians. The BJP's new motto should be "Toilets, not Temples." By temples I mean mosques, churches, synagogues etc etc.
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 00:04:50 -0800 Stinks of bias. The uniform civil code is somehow convulated to "Hindu law!" What a ridiculous assertion! How can a secular country have a Hindu law or Shariat, Mr Diwanji? The very fact that it is only the BJP who is pursuing a common civil code shows which party is truly secular. Secularism, by definition, means lack of religion in State politics and not accepting the inanities of any religion, minority or majority. Unfortunately, for people like Mr Diwanji, secularism means not banning Salman Rushdie's books, not banning Taslima Nasreen's book, not throwing widows into the streets with no alimony, not turning a blind eye to a suffering community because they happen to belong to any particular religion (Kashmiri Pandits). Accepting the unjust is not equal to being secular, dear chap! Take off the blinders, because you are trotting along straight over a cliff! Thank God Indians have woken up despite twisted minds like Mr Diwanji that have forced a slavish mentality on us all these long years.
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 10:11:22 +0530 Excellent article. I agree completely. The only thing that keeps me from voting for the BJP is the "lunatic fringe" as Amberish so aptly puts it. Chinna
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 11:36:58 +0800 Diwanji is biased and does not understand the problems of India. Does he has any advice for the Congress and United Front? These people have been busy with their money grabbing tactics. Never thought of country or its poor countrymen. Anurag
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 13:35:06 -0800 Diwanji say Many Indians are thoroughly disgusted with the Congress, ever so dependent on individuals and one family (the latest is that Sonia is now party chief). A party stinking of corruption and dastardly lies and actions. As I remember the same Diwanji was painting Sonia as the most acceptable leader on the eve of the election for middle class Indians. Frankly, the BJP can easily do without his advice. To Diwanji, I say, please go, in the name of God. Pradip Parekh
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 09:25:24 -0800 Amberish Diwanji's column more or less sounds like an article written by a person who doesn't agree with the BJP's ideology one bit, and still makes suggestions to change it as he is left with no choice than to accept it in power. Let's see what he is suggesting. The BJP should leave behind its "contentious issues" (read minority appeasing), sever its ties with RSS, leave the Hindutva concept behind....overall turn its image into a party like Congress. What he suggests is preposterous...he wants the BJP to become one more Congress to stay in mainstream politics. He himself says how corrupt the Congress is and how much it destroyed the nation...yet he doesn't realise what he is asking for. What is this loony fringe of the BJP that he is talking about? 1. Wanting to implement UCC is a loony fringe? 2. Abrogation of Article 370 to bring Kashmir into mainstream India is a loony fringe? 3. Constructing a temple at Ayodhya a loony fringe? Being a responsible journalist, how dare he call the BJP a mosque breaking party. It is the single largest party as he pointed out. Would people have voted for them had they viewed it just as some loony or a mosque breaking party? It is really sad that the BJP had to drop those issues because of the lack of support from its allies. The allies need to be educated about the above issues. These educated people like Amberish Diwanji need to be re-educated about Hindutva, putting aside their biased look towards the RSS and BJP. The BJP will never sever ties with the RSS which has been doing superb work despite so much of opposition from these so-called "secular" forces. Mr Amberish Diwanji, you keep all your suggestions to yourself. The BJP doesn't need advice from pseudo-secularists like you. However, respecting your freedom of speech you can download all your utterly ignorable thoughts onto the net. Yaji San Diego
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 12:43:55 -0600 Mr Amberish K Diwanji... let me clear your doubt -- the BJP is not hated by Hindus for its breaking of the mosque... it is only pseudo-secular people like you who make us believe like that. Please tell me if it is hated that badly, why does it come out as the single largest party in the Lower House every time. DO NOT propagate your false agenda on the Internet because it is people like you who should be blamed for the sorry state of our country. Anurag Chauhan.
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 13:53:11 -0500 While agreeing that a strong and viable Opposition is a prerequisite for democracy to flourish, you have failed to identify, who and what caused the decimation of opposition in Indian politics. Opposition is not only vital between national parties, in the form of inter- party rivalry, It is paramount in the form of intra-party as well. In this regard, both Nehru and Mrs Gandhi (I mean the senior) saw to it that absolutely no grass grows under their feet. If the Indian polity is what it is today, the blame squarely rests on the Congress. Remember, for 39 out of 50 years the country reeled in their reign, not counting the proxy rule of the Congress. Rao Yerramilli
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 12:57:03 -0600 Diwanji is one of the many blind anti-Hindu, so-called secularists who uses his pen to propagate false ideas. I ask him to read the very famous respected historian Arnold Toynbee, who said that 'It is the Hindu goodwill and tolerance that is saving the mosques at Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi'. Just 50 years ago there were over two dozen Hindu temples in Srinagar, Kashmir. Can Diwanji's brilliant mind answer 'how many remain today in that capital city?' Well, there is just one left, Mr Diwanji, could you find out what happened to the rest? They were razed and burnt. Hindu temples don't count for you Mr Diwanji. In India Hindus have no human rights. Hundreds of karsevaks got shot at Ayodhya and bodies were carried away in truckloads to be buried. There was never an enquiry or commission for that massacre. Read some good history books written by impartial authoritative Western historians on Indian history, the Mohammadan period. The most shameful thing is that Hindus tolerate heaps of abuse and intolerance directed aganst them. That is why Diwanji can make a good living attacking Hindus. T R N Rao
Date sent: Mon, 16 Mar 1998 11:24:10 PST Mr Diwanji, which world are you in? Are you aware that there are colleges in India, where only Christians are permitted ? I have lived in several countries overseas, and I continue to live overseas even now. There are no institutions anywhere, which permit special treatment to minorities. In many Catholic schools, people of other faiths (Hindu, Sikh) are NOT welcome. The BJP's stand of a uniform civil code is quite rational and quite welcome. Indians overseas would be happy if this were put into place. For once, we have come across a political party which has the guts to do what it thinks is right, without caring for the labels. As Indians, on each and every issue, we tend to look to the West and wonder what THEIR opinions would be. For God's sake, can't we do things that WE think is right, rather than endlessly worry about what OTHER people would think of it ? J V Krishna
Date sent: Sun, 15 Mar 1998 15:21:15 -0800 It is a beautiful article. Ever since I have been addicted to Rediff, there are a lot of good writers on Rediff but this one article has hit the bull's eye. In spite of the facts and an awesome philosophy the author has gone out of its way to criticise the VHP, Bajrang Dal, RSS and so on. Agreed, the former two are religious organisations and had a hand in the mosque fiasco, IS THE DEMOLITION AN ADJECTIVE FOR INDIA OR IS IT THAT IT HAS TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF ANY PRO OR ANTI-BJP ARTICLE. It happened 6 years ago and Indians paid the price. Do we want another one? Can't we for GOD (Ram's or Allah's) sake forget that and start a new living? I have a question to all the writers -- WHY! WHY you can't write even one article without referring to the demolition, give the country a break and allow us to forget it? And regarding the RSS -- it is a nationalistic organisation preaching nationalism which our country needs badly. Is it bad? Why can't one read about the RSS and then criticise it? NAME A SINGLE TERRORIST ACTIVITY WHERE the RSS WAS INVOLVED. If you can't, then no one has the right to malign a patriotic and a national organisation. Hope the country sees a better tomorow. Bharat
Date sent: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 21:33:49 -0500 Overall, a pretty shallow analysis, typical of "Macaulay minds". True, the BJP or any idea based on our nation's original genius remains anathema to many of us, the so-called English-educated intelligentsia who, in terms of mental make-up, are still Macaulay's children. Our mental slavery to ape the post-Macaulay West and denounce our own ancestors in the name of secularism is but the gift of the British rule/education. We are stupid enough to label this mental make-up as a sign of India's ancient catholicity. As told in the Ithihasa of Uttanapada and Dhruva, even from very ancient times (more than 7,500 years ago), our ancestors taught their children to evolve into the Supreme Oneness whose part we and all of Nature are. Those mighty souls had traveled all over earth long long time ago to ennoble humanity -- to humanise the "two-legged beasts". They had deeply analysed the nature of man's mind: slavery to one's own mind leads to the asuri lifestyle, full of greed, corruption, hatred, jealousy, amoralism, anger, or arrogance; submitting the mind to the Oneness in Nature (be it through work, worship or thought) leads to the divine lifestyle full of nobility, unselfishness, moral strength and virtue. True and lasting happiness, well-being, and presence of an individual, family, community, or nation is possible only with the latter lifestyle and never with the former. We simply have to recollect the many vanished cultures and the only surving culture of ours to prove this point. Codes for such healthy lifestyles were revealed by scores of our ancient Rishis and passed on to us in the form of Veda and Upanishads. King Rama of Ayodhya personified this lifestyle to the fullest -- from individual to nation. Hence, Sri Rama always represents an important ideal to us and our nation. Mahatma Gandhiji sought nothing but Rama Rajya. He did not seek Babar-rajya nor British Rajya. The acts of asuri forces who destroyed Sri Rama's temple and built a landmark on top of it to signify their victory do not represent or mould our catholicity. Re-establishing Sri Rama as an ideal in the polity of our nation is not the act or drive of any loony fringe of the BJP; it is due to the very essence of our ancient nationhood. No amount of Macaulayism will succeed in destroying this very ancient nationhood. In reality, these Macaulay minds constitute the loony fringe who greedily bargained with the British for political power (the communists even supported the British) and institutionalised communalism, casteism, classism, and regionalism to retain power; the majority of Indians, however, see themselves as part of our very ancient and inspiring culture. The BJP currently happens to be their political expression. The panic of our dear Macaulay minds is understandable to this silent, non-English speaking majority. Our own ancestor Rishis have told us what we should do as a nation in circumstances where asuri shakti dominates: completely destroy the asuri shakti and asuri symbols. An individual is asuric by his own past actions; we must convert his heart or, failing which, we must relieve him from his misery by ending his life. That is the lesson we see in the story of Jaya -- Vijaya (Hiranyaksha -- Hiranyakashipu). Our ancestors, who are like the present-day social thinkers and Constitution-abiding judges, have left ample examples for us to take guide: wicked king Venu's dethroning by the Rishis, Rishi Vishwamithra directing Rama and Lakshmana to decimate troubling asuras around the aashrams, Rishi Agasthya eliminating Vaathapi, Chanakya masterminding the destruction of selfish Nanda kings and the establishment of the Maurya political structure, Aadi Shankara converting the Buddhists back to the fold of Veda and thus preserving the nation's strength by defeating pacifism, etc. Of course, for our learned Macaulay minds, this is all a myth because the British told us so. We the so-called intelligentia have lost all originality and inquisitiveness even to question this Euro-centric view of our nationhood. Then, why did we under Gandhiji's leadership kick the British out? We should have been secular and open-minded enough to keep serving the British! We would not have any of this "BJP or its loony fringe to break mosques". We would all be the meek sheep singing glory to Macaulay or Max Mueller, sending or giving up our sisters to harems to foster Hindu-Muslim unity and ridiculing our forefathers who lived in the "dark ages" as told to us by Euro-centric historians, and thus getting accolades and knighthood from our British masters. What a shame! |
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