Let me pick up from where BarbarIndian’s superbly acid post left off. He points to this Slimes of India piece that dwells on the Supreme Dignity that a Burqa confers on women. Extracts from that piece follow.
Many Indian Muslim women in cities and small towns can barely veil their disgust over French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s comments on
From the college lecturer in Mumbai to the young married woman in Bihar’s Munger to the student in Lucknow — all say the burqa is an article of faith, a pillar of support….In a world where sexual-crime is rampant, the burqa denotes comfort, security and allows a woman her dignity, they say. Daughter of Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah of Lucknow’s royal family, 26-year-old Mahruq, who is pursuing her BEd feels safer wearing a burqa to public places like Nakhaas, a crowded locality. “I feel protected from eve-teasers and anti-social elements as they don’t get to see me or my body,” she says.“A covered body sends out a positive signal that says no sexual mischief will be tolerated,” says Moonisa Bushra Abedi, professor of nuclear physics in Maharashtra College in Mumbai…The need for modesty is pointedly made out in the Quran, say these women, and a chador is perfectly in order. They scoff at Sarkozy who had said that the burqa is not a religious sign but a sign of subservience.”Any Muslim woman who is close to her Quran will embrace the burqa,” says Tabassum.
Full marks to Slimes for picking up the cudgels on behalf of a certain community (ssh!) almost immediately on cue. Barely three days after Sarkozy committed the blasphemy of condemning the Burqa, comes the Slimes’ mighty rejoinder. Of course, this rejoinder will please the sections that need to be perpetually pleased, not to mention a secular party that will be smiling benevolently at its ever-reliable media mouthpiece.
I return to this after three months. The following takes place in Professor Shastri’s house. The occasion: match-making between Aruna, Shastri’s daughter and Nazir, Lakshmi’s (alias Raziya) son.
The prospective groom and bride met each other at the Professor’s home. And immediately agreed to marry. The prospective bride had no preconditions for her assent. She readily agreed to Nazir’s conditions: to convert to Islam before the wedding, marry according to Islamic wedding rituals, and post-marriage, to live like a pure Muslim wife. Her mother however, objected to this:
“Have you forgotten,” she asked indignantly, “forsaking Jesus means eternal damnation in burning Hell?”
“I’m forsaking one Prophet for another. If that Prophet comes after me to punish, this Prophet is ready to stand by to protect me. Besides, the Last Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is far mightier and more powerful than your Jesus. How many battles he has won, how many lands conquered, and how wide has he spread Islam! What strength does your Jesus have, a Prophet who advocated showing the other cheek? He has neither the strength to attack on his own nor defend himself against those who attack him!” replied Aruna in a tone of finality her mother had never dreamt she would hear from her.
Tags: Aavarana, Best of Aavarana, Best of Aavarana: 4, Excerpts from Aavarana, Islam Watch, Kannada Novel, Secularism, SL Bhyrappa, Society & Culture
The latest evidence.
The Bandra police has filed a case against Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan for allegedly making comments about Prophet Mohammad but the actor said it is a writing error and not a thought or view that he believes in.
“We have registered an FIR against Shah Rukh Khan after we received an application from an advocate who alleged that the actor made some statements hurting the sentiments of Muslims….The complaint was registered against Shah Rukh and the publisher of the magazine in which the purported remarks were published.
Complainant Khalid Babu Querishi alleged that in the July issue of the ‘Time and Style’ magazine, Shah Rukh had used objectionable language against the Prophet which is unacceptable,”….
This appeared in the Pioneer on Thursday (18 June 2009). Comments and criticism welcome as always.
Congress’s stealth Stalinism
Sandeep BGovernment’s recent proposal to impose censorship on online news portals, Websites and blogs smacks of fear and insecurity similar. It reminds us of the dark days of the Emergency
Something nasty went unheard, buried beneath the cacophony celebrating the comprehensive victory of the ‘secular forces’ in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. While it’s a long shot to try and actually implement it, the idea behind it and the implications for the health of the ostensibly largest democracy in the world are quite grave. But the mindset that surreptitiously slipped this nastiness is not new. It has its roots in Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress’s sense of entitlement to ‘rule’ India.
Sudheendra Kulkarni’s essay on the BJP’s dismal electoral performance has been met with much discussion, debate and in several cases, outright fury. It’s a few days old and I largely chose to ignore it. On second thoughts, it deserves a little more probing if only to showcase it as a shining roadsign of the things that are horribly wrong with the BJP today.
India-Pakistan bhai-bhai is one of the themes close to the secularists’ heart. They don’t even need an excuse to trumpet this theme into our collective ears. And so here’s Turdesai talking about the joys of fatherhood in Pakistan at a cricket match, and discussing momentous matters over state-sponsored mega food orgies, and such other indulgences.
In the last overs, as it became clear that India was winning, some visibly frustrated Pakistani supporters handed over a Pakistani flag to my son. The offer was promptly accepted, and on our way home he had two flags in his hand: the Tricolour and its Pakistani equivalent. Call it the innocence of a nine-year-old, but the Indo-Pak equation has always had a romantic edge. [..] The dualism was starkly driven home when I was interviewing then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the midst of the Kargil war in 1999. The interview saw a few sharp, testy exchanges over just who was responsible for the war. With the camera off, Sharif was back to being his gregarious self. As we ate a several course feast in the luxurious prime ministerial gardens overlooking the Margalla hills, the tone was anything but bellicose. Instead, Sharif proceeded to reminisce on his favourite Hindi film star, Rajendra Kumar. “Waah, kya actor tha!” (perhaps the only time anyone has recognised ‘Jubilee’ Kumar’s acting capabilities). The conversation then drifted to Sharif’s other great obsession, cricket, and he appeared awe-struck by Tendulkar’s batting. Finally, while leaving, I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten better kebabs. Sharif, the foodie, smiled, “Not as good as the ones I once ate in Purani Dilli. And the gajar halwa was something else!”
Heart-warming stuff eh? I mean, the innocence of a 9-year old boy, the lavish spread, vintage Bollywood, and the innate goodness and warmth and humanity of Nawaz Sharif even in war time.
Turdesai, like all secularists wants us to dream. Unfortunately, the reality of sixty-plus years of neighbourly love is a daily nightmare for India.
The latest proof of how Aurangzeb’s magnificient legacy is perpetuated (link thanks Barbar Indian) with eager zest by the Taliban. Think of it, the name Taliban is rather appropriate especially when it is spoken in the same breath as Aurangzeb.
In May, dozens of Sikhs living in the Orakzai agency were forced to move out after the Taliban demanded Rs50 million as jazia, or security tax, from them… Less than a month later, the tax net has spread wider, to the Khyber agency tribal area. The Sikhs, Hindus, and Christians there have been told by the Taliban-backed Lashkar-e-Islam (LeI) to pay jazia in exchange for ensuring their security in the area…The LeI commander has publicly announced that Sikhs and Hindus will be free to live anywhere in the area after paying this protection tax.
Predictably, none of the big media houses featured this alarming development. I take it that they’ve still not emerged from their drunken stupor post their party’s recent electoral victory. A simpler explanation prevails: they couldn’t care less if a trainload of Hindus were burned right inside India (sounds familiar?).
To that extent, we owe thanks to DNA for featuring this. But look mummy, how DNA spins this.
DNA defines Jazia as security tax. Exemplary political correctness. Defining jazia as security tax clinically severs the obvious Islamic-scriptual link that gave it birth. The media considers it haraam to criticize Islam. So security tax (sic) it is. Oh but why even bother? A few thousands killed here and there, a few thousands converted and turned against their ex-religion…hell, there are more than 800 million Hindus in India alone…nobody will notice if a fraction of that disappears.
Tags: Aurangzeb, Hindus wiped out, India, Indian Politics, Intolerance, Islam Watch, Jazia, Media Watch, Pakistan, Pakistan Watch, Politics, Secular Media, Secularism, Society & Culture, Taliban
The ghastly ghost of Nehru’s unsullied love for Stalinist Russia continues to haunt us. His intolerance to criticism spilled over to the next generation culminating in the Emergency. While Nehru at least concealed his intolerance under a carefully-cultivated outward sophistication, his daughter was quite frank in showing her sense of entitlement to rule India.
The Congress footsoldiers were quick to pick that up. The servility they displayed during Indira Gandhi’s time set a precedent that continues to date. For most of the post-Rajiv Gandhi era, the Congress party’s fortunes looked like it was headed for bankruptcy. And despite its familiar noises, people had stopped taking it seriously.
Its fortunes are pointing heavenwards again. And it’s now trying to resuscitate its inheritance of intolerance for all norms of healthy opposition, dissent and basic norms of democratic decency. The latest Exhibit :
Barely four months after dropping its proposal of forcing TV channels to show only an “authorized” feed during security emergencies, the government is now seeking to censor news portals and other websites, that too even at normal times.
One glaring infirmity in the draft rules prepared by the department of information technology is that they make no stipulation for a prior hearing to the affected website. This is despite the fact that the web host who does not comply with the direction to remove the offending information is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to seven years. … Under the draft rules framed under section 69A of the IT amendment Act, every state or Central government department will be empowered to decide whether a certain news item, article, blog or advertisement relating to its jurisdiction is safe to remain on the Net.
Once somebody sends a “complaint” against any information displayed on the Net, the department concerned will take a call on whether the matter in question affects any of the six concerns mentioned in section 69A: interest of sovereignty or integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order or incitement to commit any cognizable offence relating to the other five reasons.
Congress is back with a bigger bang and the Puppet Prime Minister has been sworn in for a consecutive term. He shares this rare distinction of a consecutive term in office only after the mighty Indira Gandhi.
Actually this nation deserves perpetual rule by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. That way, we’ll have at least nothing to look forward to. And I’m not saying this out of anger. India is one human heap of pusillanimous people completely devoid of a sense of history, lacking the will to recover our collective spiritual consciousness, and being content to be grovel under the kind of people that now rule us.
The BJP rout in the 2009 polls is perhaps the best and most recent example that illustrates this.
Child Abuse: NCERT Style
Posted by Sandeep on Friday, July 3, 2009 at 1:34 AM. 28 Comments.
Here’s a common reprimand parents give their errant children: Is this what they teach you in school?
Let’s recall Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. This path breaking book not only unmasked the eminences but awoke an entire generation of thinking Indian youth. In a way, it was a work that can rightly be termed as an effort in course-correction. In retrospect, the education system of my generation injected a healthy distaste for history: it’s all about dates and years and wars, who the fuck wants to know what Aurangzeb did, who cares what Indus Valley civilization was all about. The end of 10th standard exams meant freedom from history.
Reading Eminent Historians made me–and thousands others–realize that at least two generations of Indians were victims of child abuse thanks mainly to NCERT.
But reading about the historical misdeeds committed by these eminent historians is one thing and reading the actual “history” these worthies propagated is entirely another things. The former is akin to reading a crime report/FIR while the latter is like being present at the actual scene of crime. The first hand impact always hits you harder.
Keep reading…