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E-mail from readers the world over
Date sent: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 07:56:10 +0100 Varsha Bhosle was spitting fire all over Pritish Nandy in the article, which dilutes the otherwise thought provoking article. I would say she has some really "militant" ideas to drub militancy. Terrorism is a more sensitive issue than she would like to believe. Terrorism cannot be ended by trying to wipe out terrorists, and it's only by removing the root cause of terrorism that the situation can be solved. The Tata-ULFA affair, I'm afraid, is much beyond the intellectual abilities of this author and her opinions are best when ignored. It's a much more delicate situation there than she described. It's easy for her to sit in her AC room and scream not to submit to terrorism. The situation out in the field is very different I believe. ULFA is a creation of the government, like Bhindranwale, and it only got out of their hands as does a spoilt brat. If she condemns Tata Tea in providing medical treatment to a terrorist, it is total naivety on her part. People give medical treatment to POWs during wars, and don't kill injured humans of the opposing faction. These are our own people, disillusioned by the doings of the government. I'm not supporting their killing people... but they need much more sensitive handling than Varsha is suggesting. Yaji
Date sent: Tue, 11 Nov 97 15:05:03 -0500 I must congratulate you on having found a columnist able to personify all that is most hair-raisingly frightening in India today. Varsha Bhosle's ability to combine arrogant, self-righteous, chest-thumping with the complete demonisation of any view differing from her own are as disturbing as anything Thackeray, Singhal or the rest of our merchants of mystic nationalism have to say. "The Kashmir problem is first and foremost the dithering Maharaja Hari Singh's bastard brat," she writes, demonstrating, along with a complete lack of understanding of the history of the Kashmir problem, an ability to take reductionism to absurd levels and then use it to underpin her own horrible prejudices. I have a suggestion for Bhosle. There is a columnist in India of tremendous erudition, measured in his writing, and knowledgeable in the law, constitution and history of India; I refer, of course to Abdul Ghafoor Noorani, the Frontline columnist. In 1964, he wrote a book published in Bombay, called The Kashmir Question. I suggest that Bhosle read that book and gain some background understanding of the history of neglect, lies and half-truths that left the Kashmir problem to simmer after Independence, before she ventures to spew forth her venom-laden nonsense. On her reference to the "tenderhearted supporters of Article 370", which she apparently believes is an article that prevents non-Kashmiris from settling in Kashmir, I can only shake my head again at her ignorance. The law that prevents outsiders from settling in Kashmir was passed under the maharaja's administration, with widespread support from Kashmiri Hindus and against the opposition of Kashmiri Muslims: its intention was primarily to prevent Muslims from the Punjab and other non-Kashmiri Muslims from moving into the state. Article 370 itself says nothing about this; the protection that it gives to that pre-1947 law (and to many others) is entirely incidental to its central function, which has been to provide a constitutional pretext to allow the government to subvert the terms of the Instrument of Accession by creeping extensions of Indian law to Kashmir. Again, I suggest Bhosle read the text of Article 370 before subjecting readers to her ignorant non-analysis of it. One of the disturbing aspects of modern India that Bhosle's rabid hatred illustrates so well is the double-think that attaches to political dissidence in our country. Supposedly, our Constitution provides the freedom of conscience (isn't that what our civics courses teach?) Yet when a Kashmiri or an Assamese, or a Naga exercises their freedom of conscience to say that they would prefer their state to be independent, we bar them from the political process, and arrest and lock them up whenever we can. Since we have, by doing so, closed off all avenues of peaceful, legal, political and constitutional expression to them, the only means that remains are illegal, underground and violent ones, which some of them then turn to. And then, people like Bhosle use this to paint all political dissidents in such areas as terrorists, murderers, kidnappers, etc -- completely ignoring the fact that it was India's suppression of their peaceful and legal expression of their views that made violence the only option available to them in the first place. This kind of double-think feeds violence and anarchy in our country, and when reinforced by the truculent self-righteousness of people like Bhosle, it goes a long way to explain the alarming series of violent uprisings India has suffered. A firm stance on law and order is admirable, when it is consistent. Bhosle's is so far from consistent as to be laughable: the murderers and extortionists of Assam deserve to be wiped out, yet the Shiv Sena, which murdered Muslims freely during the Bombay riots (when a sitting Shiv Sena MP was caught by the army wandering around with his companions, several licensed and unlicensed firearms, choppers and hockey sticks; and when this same Shiv Sena MP later told the Srikrishna Commission that it was completely justified to retaliate against innocent members of a community for crimes committed by other followers of their religion) is "a political party elected by a constitutional process by Maharashtrians." Bhosle, spare us your hypocrisy. It is quite clear that in your vocabulary, and in the vocabulary of your friends in the Shiv Sena and BJP, there are good murderers and bad murderers; good extortionists and bad extortionists. If a murderer only kills Muslims, and waves the flag of Shivaji, he's all right in your books. Rohan Oberoi Boston, MA.
Date sent: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 14:00:56 -0500 GREAT! you are the only one who talks about such pseudo writers. Hemant
Date sent: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 13:32:54 -0600 Very good article. Keep it up. Looking forward to reading more articles from you. Sunil Pai
Date sent: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 13:12:10 -0600 I think this is quite a natural and justified argument that Mr Nandy has put forward. I also have read the related answer of Varsha, and felt she was shouting too much, as usual. I was born and brought up in the North-East and have seen ULFA grow. Being a kid at that time, I could see their ads on the wall. Everybody knew that ULFA was coming up to liberate Assam, (I don't know what this liberation means), how come the government was ignorant then? I strongly feel that Tata Tea and others are made scapegoats and Prafulla Mahanta is trying to save his face. It was always in the air (maybe rumour) that it is AGP which floated the ULFA, and now ULFA has become too strong to control. It was not only the Tatas but almost every small business was forcibly made to pay ULFA at some point of time. The government has miserably failed to protect the citizens, and citizens instead bought their lives. I think Varsha in her subsequent article was far from realty. Pradeepta Bhattachrya
Date sent: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 21:26:13 EST Yet another great article. Loved it. Keep it up! Anuj Mehta
Date sent: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 17:52:56 -0500 Yes, rip those phoney journalists apart. It seems that you are the only one with guts and a pen to match! Gaurang G Vaishnav Florida, USA
Date sent: Thu, 6 Nov 1997 14:36:40 -0500 Yikes. Looks like another liberal who wants a pat on his head from the West ( especially human rights group). Lost children!!! Wait till he loses someone dear to him. These fading writers are desperate to get noticed.
Date sent: Thu, 06 Nov 1997 19:03:35 -0500 Ethnic cleansing in reverse is what Varsha Bhosle seems to be advocating. One has to agree with the opinion that we are too pacifist a nation -- but then isn't that Gandhiji's legacy? China is a far bigger threat than anyone else in the region. Both economically and militarily, they would swamp the entire Asian region in a matter of few years. In this context, Kashmir would become more important strategically as a buffer between Pakistan and China. There is a very high likelihood that China would support a Pakistani effort at capturing the whole of Kashmir. It's rather sad that the large Indian expat population in the US doesn't even feel an iota of hurt when the media in the US lambasts India. Has Gandhiji and pacifism become so engrained in our psyche that we have the lost the will to stand up and assert ourselves? Sadly, this seems to be true with every passing day. The BJP ought to cultivate a more sophisticated image -- the Western media is very fickle and works on a flavour of the month basis. A lot of mileage could be derived out of a well articulated position on the economy and making the right noises by the right people within India's so-called 'right wing' party. It's time people realised that change has to be brutally implemented or else there is absolutely no hope for the years to come. Raja
Date sent: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 08:37:59 -0500 Varsha hit the nail on the head. I always wondered why Indian leaders did not allow people from other parts of India to settle in Kashmir after the state acceded to India. I think if Indian leaders had shown some vision, they would have encouraged the settlement of retired army personnel in Kashmir. By now the population dynamics of the state would have changed and India would not be facing this situation in Kashmir. It is still not too late, yes there will be flak from the so-called secular forces, and from the Western nations. As for the latter, they will shut up when India opens its gates to American and other Western corporations and shows its economic and military clout. How many people in the US government talk about the rights of the Tibetans or about Tienanmen Square? Power stems from the barrel of the gun (Mao) and from the banks! That is the real world. Indian leaders and the people from India's cocktail circuit live in a different world where the norm is to criticise anything that is Hindu! Ven Hari
Date sent: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 10:07:28 -0700 Great article, most amusing was the reference to "King Nehru". Really a novel reference. Sameer
Date sent: Fri, 07 Nov 1997 17:06:50 -0600 Judging by the tremendous support that Varsha Bhosle has on Rediff, I would like to test a theory. As most of the people on the Internet seem to be science/engg/commerce graduates without much knowledge of history but with very definite views on history, I believe the time has come to change the teaching of history in India. From now on, it should be made compulsory for all science/engg/commerce students to take history courses till Class XII and thereafter. For, to me it is clear that most genuine students of history would have a far more complex understanding of the past and its relationship with the present than the shrill oversimplifications of Ms Bhosle and her fan club. S Roy Chowdhury
Date sent: Sat, 8 Nov 1997 13:21:15 -0500 (EST) Varsha at the behest again. Reminds me of a story I heard years ago. The scene was around the medieval times and the subject was how to treat the vanquished. Kill all the men and defile all the women, at least the new population will be that of the victors. The Chinese and the Indonesians are still using the laws of the jungles, and I see no reason why we cannot do the same. In the name of secularism the so-called democratic majority cannot function, because our nation is built upon ahimsa. For the last 1,200 years including our present day, Independent India is ruled by the minorities, be it Muslims, British, and or Hindus (who profess secularism because of power). I foresee the death of democracy in the name of democracy by the so- called secularists! Ramesh Kapoor
Date sent: Sun, 09 Nov 1997 11:37:29 +0530 Nonsense. Take it off. Vikas
Date sent: Mon, 10 Nov 1997 16:28:39 +0900 They are simply superb, fantastic and right to the mark. The tragedy with our country is that we do not have fearless people who can speak the truth. But once in a while, there is a spark here and there. Keep it up. And my personal regards and appreciation to Varsha. Sunil
Date sent: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 05:52:47 +1100 Couldn't agree more with what you wrote. Here in Australia, we have a virtual epidemic of "intellectual" disease among holier-than-thou affluent Indians. They wouldn't know the spelling of "fair play" or "magnanimity", leave alone "patriotism". Yet they wax eloquent on "underpriveleged minorities" and Hinduism's resilience. How much longer can Hinduism stay resilient if we Hindus have to turn the other cheek generation after generation? The real tragedy is that pseudo-intellectuals are accorded respect by the rest of society. And if Hinduism is treated like a doormat, who cares, so long as the bacon is on the table? More power to your pen. Balaji Sydney
Date sent: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 14:10:06 -0800 What happened to Varsha Bhosle's column this week? I visit your site mostly because of her column. She is the single-most important asset you have. Can you tell us, what's happening? Varsha Bhosle is on holiday and will be back soon.
Date sent: Sat, 11 Oct 1997 11:48:05 -0700 Superb article. Ahimsa that was taught by Lord Sri Krishna was based on the strength to defend oneself. That's what Americans are doing today. Forget the ahimsa of cowardice as preached by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. When Nehru tried to refine it by converting ordnance factories into tin-pot factories, India lost the war (and territory, too) to China. Strong India is the only way to go! Prakash
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