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February 9, 1999
ELECTIONS '98
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'Where was the West when Mulayam's police were butchering Hindus in Ayodhya?'
How Readers responded to Saisuresh Sivaswamy's recent columns
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 15:08:43 -0800 (PST)
I agree with Saisuresh Sivaswamy when he asks for the prime minister's resignation. Inaction on such issues send the wrong signals to perpetrators of heinous crimes. Mr Vajpayee should hold his government responsible for allowing incidents as these to occur. As an Indian I am totally shocked and outraged at the killing of Graham Stains. Mr Vajpayee's assurance that the criminals will be brought to justice is too late and doesn't provide much reassurance as it is the least he is expected to do. The violence over Pakistan's tour and the killing of Mr Graham Stains indicates that unscrupulous individuals with narrow vested interests are holding our country hostage. The government's approach of negotiating with them instead of putting them behind bars betrays its lack of authority to maintain the rule of law in the country. How can Mr Vajpayee be expected to lead when he is not able to control the very forces that provide support to his government? Nilanjan
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 18:52:42 -0500
Saisuresh Sivaswamy's article was a classic exercise of an apologist. Just recently, he wrote an article about the international loneliness of Hindus. In that article, he had mentioned, perhaps in a Freudian sense, about the chance of his getting labelled a "Hindu fundamentalist" by his journalistically inclined peers as well as the common public. Given that, Sai's article on the needlessness of Vajpayee might be very well a "balancing act". After all, he could pin up this article on his coat, and show off his "secular" credentials. All that, I presume, is fine by present Indian journalistic standards. But then Sai was guilty of one key thing, like so many of his average Indian journalistic buddies. He made up his mind too soon. As of now, we do not know the real identity of Dara Singh, the key accused. There are reports that Singh might very well be a Congress person. It would make eminent political sense if Singh turns out to be from the Congress bandwagon. But then, "trivial" details like these are inconsequential for an average Indian scribe. After all, it is "secularism" that is at stake. And, of course, Mr Vajpayee should be made to bear the burden of the cross.
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:12:53 -0800
I condemn this killing and any killing that is done in the name of caste, religion, or country. They are the most heinous crimes of all in modern civilised society. They have to be stopped. But the points raised by Saisuresh Sivaswamy and other leaders with party affiliation lacks conviction. What about the missionaries killed in Bihar in 1994? Then neither the state nor the Centre was governed by the BJP. Secondly, any killing, whether that of Christians or of any other religion, should be condemned. Why is the West raising these killings so forcibly? They only stand for Christians! Other killings of Muslims, Hindus by extremists, which is rampant in India for the last 20 years, is justified? Was the government at the Centre asked to go when thousands of Sikhs were killed in Delhi during the Congress regime? We are just passing the buck and politicising the issue. There is something wrong the way we have developed our society. In the past, similar incidents have occurred and the accused have gone scot-free. Now we are paying for that negligence, only that this time it is Christian missionaries, next time it will be someone else. As far as moral rights are concerned, none of us has the moral right to be what we are because as a member of this society we have not stood up against these crimes, the way we should have. Today also it would have been just another law and order problem if they were not Christian missionaries backed by the strong West. If the author thinks that the resignation of Vajpayee is the answer to these problems, then such crimes would have never occurred before Vajpayee became the PM. I am disappointed to see my learned friend playing into the hands of politicians. Or he wants to just flow with the tide, till a new issue crops up to write and make his buck.
Sanjay Dubey
Date:
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 10:26:54 +0800
India is a country of diversities and so is Mr Saisuresh Sivaswamy. I couldn't understand the diverse nature of his present article when compared to the previous "...loneliness of Hindus". It is like you set something on fire and then the very next moment try to put it off. The burns are already there...the damage is already done. My reaction to the previous article was that of condemnation for penning that trash but suddenly when I read about "Mr Vajpayee, please go..." I am forced to think that here is a SENSIBLE INDIAN CITIZEN using journalism to create an atmosphere of harmony which is the need of the hour. One, thing more Suresh, you mix up various issues, eg, you always compare Muslims with Christians and vice-versa in your articles. Please be more specific as that would help the issue to be focussed and not cause a paradigm shift for the reader. Vikas
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 19:07:31 -0800
This article is none too surprising coming from Saisuresh. The lives of Saisuresh and his fellow 'holy secular' journalists won't run if they don't blow incidents out of proportion. The burning of the missionary is a heinous act indeed & needs to be strongly condemned. Does the PM of India need to resign for every murder/rape/robbery in India? What about the gang-rape incident involving Anjana Mishra? Has the CM of Orissa J B Patnaik resigned? Vajpayee & Advani have done what the Centre should have done. Condemned the incidents and asked the state government to punish the culprits whoever it is. Even before the preliminary investigation is over the entire press has passed the verdict. That the Bajrang Dal activists did that. That the PM's statements on conversion gave an impetus to the alleged murderers. The PM correctly gave a statement after a petition by the Gandhians of that area regarding forced conversions. Even Mahatma Gandhi was against forced conversions. If this is the kind of distortion the Fourth Estate is going to do, even God cannot save us from corruption of information! Kiran Kumar
Date:
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 17:37:36 +0530
This is an important column and needs to be taken seriously. The Hindus feel like second class citizens all over the world. Should they feel like second class citizens in their own country? Why should denigrating the Hindu faith be necessary for establishing one's secular credentials? Mahatma Gandhi was more secular than any of our current leaders, yet he was a devout Hindu. In any case, only a religious person can truly respect the religions of others. For far too long Hindus have been denied their self-respect. This fact will come back again and again and express itself in various forms. So far as the West is concerned, it is always "Hindu" India persecuting the minorities. Where were they when Mulayam's police was butchering Hindu sadhus in Ayodhya? Or, for that matter, why does the British monarch not apologise for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre? R Jha
Date:
Fri, 22 Jan 1999 11:20:17 EST
This article was short-sighted, superficial and immature. I can specifically comment on the Punjab problem 'cos I lived through it. First of all it was created by Indira Gandhi, who was a Hindu. It was talked about in hushed voices that Bhindrawale, the key person involved, enjoyed the patronage of the prime minister. He was installed in Punjab to get her more political clout. It was only when he became less responsive to her instructions the whole problem arose. The killings mentioned were politically motivated and received maximum publicity. To give a brief rundown of the killings which went unreported: 1. The police was let loose and picked up young innocent Sikh boys from villages and beat them up and killed for the fun of it. They terrorised people like the goondas of Bombay and took hafta from Sikh families, saying if they won't, they would get labelled as terrorist and destroyed. My own cousins went through this. Senior Sikh police officers were assassinated so as to stop the truth from surfacing. Our family friend's son in law was killed. He was a DSP. His wife was my senior at Patiala. 2. Hundred of innocent Sikh boys and men were killed in the name of "encounters". 3. It was never published that some of the terrorist captured were Pakistanis. 4. Then the most holy shrine of the Sikhs was invaded and destroyed. 5. Then after the assassination of I Gandhi, a gory and morbid aspect of humanity surfaced. Sikh families, children, men, women, all over India were looted, killed, burnt alive, their houses destroyed. In one incident a pregnant woman was targeted saying, kill a Sikh before he is born. Young men were forced to change identity to survive. And I myself have heard some Hindus say, "serves them right". We project ourselves as God-fearing people, but the truth is that we have double standards. I did not hear the international community speak up then. Mr Bhagat still lives on normally after having destroyed thousands. Tell me after reading this who was the victim -- Hindus or Sikhs? In my mind the victims were Humans. Even now it is the Hindu fundamentalist politicians who create problems. See for yourself. They play on the emotions of the common man, basing their strategy on religion. The only thing that makes sense in your article is that the USA and Germany have no right to interfere
Date:
Sat, 23 Jan 1999 12:55:30 EST
I found this article very interesting. Your comment that "The real tragedy in my mind is that an educated community is not seeing the danger in accepting what seems like international support to their cause". One wise fellow one time said, "If there are two Indians overseas, there are three parties." Why? "One to bring truce between them". Indians have to unite together if they want to advance their cause. Remember the British strategy "divide and conquer"? This will continue to work as long as the Indian community is not united together. When Indira Gandhi died, there was a gathering in her honour. There were about 40 to 50 chairs on the platform. The entire city of 22.3 millions was represented by a single person from the mayor's office. However, the Indian community that numbered about 20,000 was represented by about 40 representatives from various organisations. If each Indian contribute $ 100 to one political action committee advancing the cause of India in the US, you can have a lot of political clout. There are street signs in Chinese, Vietnamese etc in Houston but not a single street name in Hindi. Why? Well, I hope you figured that out by now. My friends, I don't want to waste too much of your time. The bottom line is if we want to stop all this nonsense, we have to UNITE. Otherwise, the world is going to run all over us.
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 11:56:57 -0800
I do not know how you can call yourself a neutral reporter after making such strong judgements against the people and democracy. You have been positioned against Vajpayee since day 1 (under the garb of intellectual positive criticism), and now you have gone too far. Anil
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:17:23 -0600
Dear Sai, Amazing piece of work!!!!!!! You should be in Bollywood rather in journalism. At least we would have some refreshingly creative scripts for our cliched movies. The demand for putting the blame on the BJP for violence against Christians in the country is both laughable and ridiculous. Reason: What are the ground level facts of the case? How many indictments have been made for each case of violence? What are the antecedents of each of the individuals so indicted? Where is the documentary/circumstantial evidence of their involvement with the so-called 'Parivar Organisations'? Even before the police have established the facts of the case, the media have investigated, obtained evidence and passed judgement all in a spate of six hours. I see headlines that say 'Bajrang Dal burns missionary alive' & 'Parivar men burn missionary alive'. And on the basis of what proof? The Orissa CM excelled all politicians and media reporters at it when he was quoted by the Indian Express as saying "why are you asking me, ask the people -- they were raising the slogans Bajrang Bali ki jai". So today we are to believe that all one has to do to become a card-holding member of the Sangh Parivar is to shout " Bajrang Bali ki jai " in public. This is ludicrous and is making me cringe at the IQ level of all involved and what assumptions they make of our IQ level. Do you think we are morons? Please establish the facts of the case before you make an indictment. It is precisely this kind of irresponsible reporting by the media that makes passion rise. I would like to know precisely the counts on which the Vajpayee government has failed. "Restraining the Shiv Sena from Violence": Incidents of arson and violence are to be policed by the home department of a state government. Not the PMO. If the home department has failed there are courts. To lay the blame for every incident of arson that goes unchecked on the doormat of the PMO is ridiculous. "Violence against Christians in Ahwa" Violence in Gujarat was restricted to one tribal community in one district. To call it a colossal collapse of law and order is a classic case of media blowing an incident out of proportion. In the same breath every political murder in Cuddapah, AP, every Naxalite murder in AP, MP & Maharashtra should be treated as a colossal collapse of the justice system in the country. By which yardstick, we live in a complete state of anarchy. Please accept it that you as the media have lost all sense of proportion in reporting, have not bothered or waited to establish the facts of a case and are only providing the intransigent allies of the hapless BJP a 'Face-Saver/Escape Route' to withdraw support, because the political capital to be made out of minorities insecurity is far more than the adverse fallout of withdrawing support on a flimsy ministry of railways portfolio. The media's role and actions in this entire series of episodes has not just been irresponsible but very unbalanced. You have made your point and instead of the government being replaced I request the Press Council of India to replace and bar journalists and reporters who report articles irresponsibly and have vitiated situations where more caution should have been exercised in reporting. Shashi
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 16:57:54 -0500
What the hell, he is writing like a mad man! Where had he gone when thousands of innocent Hindus were killed in Jammu and other parts of country from 1947 onwards? Was he sleeping behind the door when hundreds of Hindus were made refugees in their own country when other parties were in power? Instead of analysing the situation and trying to find a solution, we should not blame the central government. When Christians were beaten up in Gujarat, everyone wanted its dismissal. But why everyone is blaming the PM? Try to analyse the root cause and try to come with a solution rather than blaming others, Mr Suresh.
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 14:19:56 PST
Dear Sai, Please stop writing. Bandy
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 17:35:27 -0500
These countries are telling India what to do because they have realised that India is incapable or unwilling to solve these problems on its own. Fifty years of Independence and what has India achieved? More debt, more poverty, more robbers and criminals under the mask of politicians.
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 1999 15:04:22 -0800
Every time something bad happens in India, every columnist starts screaming about this international attention that it is drawing. Saisuresh's latest piece on the Orissa murders has this: " It has poised the nation on the brink of international stigma and internal opprobrium." I have been scanning a few news sites here in the US, sites such as USA Today, CNN, ABCNews.com, SanJose Mercury News site, and have not seen *any* mention of any news from India! So, at least here in the US, I don't think anyone is really bothered about India. People here are more concerned about Clinton's senate trial, the Pope's visit to Mexico (and his call to evangelise, http://www.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/pope25.htm !!! Has the VHP read this news piece?), Iraq crisis, etc. India is a non-entity here. So is this International Stigma arising from countries other than the US? Or is it just a figment of the columnist's imagination, just to score some sensationalist points? It is plain disgusting to see Indian columnists trying to create a fear psychosis among Indians by inventing this "International attention". Criticise the dastardly acts, by all means, but do so objectively. |
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