[Reader-list] Fwd :François Gautier does it again

Fri Jun 15 16:41:39 IST 2007

If he is one, I'd have no issues with his art, nude copulating goddesses et
al.

On 6/15/07, Jeebesh Bagchi <jeebesh at sarai.net> wrote:
>
> How do you know that Hussian is not a Hindu? :-)
>
> On 14-Jun-07, at 2:50 PM, Aishwarya Iyer wrote:
>
> > On the other hand, I totally stand by François Gautier's view of
> > Hussain's hypocrisy. Would he have represented his own religion in
> > this manner? Freedom is not an absolute entity. Freedom must
> > recognise its sister, responsibilty. Look at what Rushdie did for
> > instance, and invited the fatwa upon himself. He was conscious of
> > his own transgression, but Hussain did it for cheap thrills.   It
> > is interesting how one can unwittingly fall in a trap.   Aishwarya
> >
> > On 6/12/07, inder salim <indersalim at gmail.com> wrote: It is very
> > interesting to see how one can unwittinlgly fall in a trap...
> >
> > You begin to criticize the politicians for all the ills in India...
> > and also highlight the fact that they are terrible manipulators...
> > fine.... but suddenly you criticize the aritsts choice for being
> > creative.... and forget the the fact that the politicians are ther
> > real culprits...( if they only are )
> >
> > for Hussain ( whether he is a genius or not ) i can quote Salman
> > Rushdie for you
> >
> > There is no Freedom of Expression if it does not provoke, it is
> > meaningless...
> >
> > with love
> > indersalim
> >
> >
> >
> > Democracy Hijacked
> >
> > François Gautier
> >
> > Practitioners of cynical politics who are driven by
> > the lust for power are destroying all that is good and
> > true and valuable in India . Hindus are mocked at and
> > persecuted while Government is busy devising ways and
> > means of dividing the nation along caste and communal
> > lines
> >
> > India prides itself as the greatest democracy in the
> > world. But actually, there are very few places where
> > democracy has been so hijacked and perverted. Nothing
> > demonstrates this better than the manoeuvring going on
> > at the moment to find India 's next President.
> >
> > President APJ Abdul Kalam must be the most popular
> > President in the history of India . Yet he will not be
> > re-elected, because he was the people's President and
> > not a stooge of political parties.
> >
> > Congress president Sonia Gandhi will never forgive
> > him, as he was the one who stopped her from becoming
> > Prime Minister when he told her in the privacy of his
> > chambers that it was unconstitutional to hold two
> > passports - Indian and Italian - as she did for many
> > years (she is not the only foreigner who did so after
> > obtaining Indian citizenship).
> >
> > Quite a few Muslims regard him suspiciously because,
> > although he is a true Muslim, he respects other
> > religions and is known to keep the Bhagvad Gita and
> > Sri Aurobindo's Savitri in his study. Thus Mayawati,
> > partly elected by Muslims votes, will keep away from
> > him. And the BJP is wary of Kalam because he did not
> > always do its bidding.
> >
> > How else is democracy perverted in India ?
> >
> > Well, here you have a party, the Congress, which has
> > been going from bad to worse in the last 15 years,
> > came a miserable last in the recent Uttar Pradesh
> > Assembly election, and sprung to power at the Centre
> > by a freak accident because the TDP lost in Andhra
> > Pradesh and the Marxists did well in West Bengal .
> >
> > Yet, the Congress is all powerful at the moment and is
> > dividing India more and more along caste and religion
> > lines, thanks to a cynical reservation policy -
> > witness the recent strife in Rajasthan.
> >
> > You have a foreigner who, whatever her qualities
> > -honesty, hard work, family values - is just an
> > elected MP, like hundreds of others, and yet rules as
> > the supreme leader of this country, one whose word can
> > make or unmake anybody. Do you think it would be
> > possible for an Indian to become a de facto President
> > or Prime Minister in the US , France or Germany ?
> > Absolutely not!
> >
> > Even India 's Prime Minister, a decent but weak man,
> > is not elected: He was defeated the last time he
> > contested an election and is now a Rajya Sabha MP from
> > Assam , where he has no roots at all.
> >
> > Democracy in India has also been hijacked by cynical
> > mathematics: How to get elected with the votes of the
> > Muslims; who remain the most backward community in
> > India, in spite of having brought to power umpteen
> > Congress Governments since Independence; and how to
> > manipulate the Dalits, who have had a fair share of
> > benefits and have had one of them as President and
> > many of whom are politicians in power.
> >
> > Ms Mayawati has become a master of cynical
> > mathematics: Muslims + Dalits + Brahmin votes =
> > Absolute majority. Yet, will she do more for the
> > Muslims and the poor of Uttar Pradesh than she did in
> > her three previous stints as Chief Minister?
> >
> > It seems doubtful, the way she has started, wasting
> > hundreds of crores by scrapping all previous projects,
> > including the Special Economic Zones and transferring
> > hundreds of officials.
> >
> > In the name of freedom of expression, Indian
> > intellectuals defend people like MF Husain, who
> > denigrates Durga , India 's most holy goddess. Would
> > he dare depict Mohammed's wife in this manner?
> > Certainly not!
> >
> > When the Prophet is caricatured by a Danish newspaper
> > - harmless lampooning compared to Husain's derogatory
> > portrayal of Durga - the entire Muslim world erupts in
> > flames. Had Husain defiled Islam's icons, he would
> > have been dead today.
> >
> > Did India 's 'free' Press ever care to show on TV or
> > publish in magazines and newspapers Husain's
> > derogatory paintings? Yet, they are freely available
> > and have been reproduced in a coffee table book
> > sponsored by Tata Steel with a foreword by Russi Modi.
> >
> >
> > India's judiciary is stretched to the limits by clever
> > lawyers getting their rich clients off the hook,
> > thanks to judges who go by the book without adapting
> > their judgements to the Indian context, or by bribing
> > witnesses as has been allegedly done in the BMW case.
> > But poor people go to jail and it takes seven years to
> > get a case cleared.
> >
> > India's socialist system, which is still enforced,
> > pretends to tax the rich to subsidise the poor. But in
> > reality, the rich have smart chartered accountants who
> > twist the law, while the less fortunate have to pay
> > taxes on small savings and salaries. And, of course,
> > most of this money never reaches the destitute.
> >
> > Finally, here you have a country of 850 million
> > Hindus, a billion worldwide, one of the most tolerant,
> > law-abiding communities in the world. Yet, Hindus in
> > India are made fun of and their beliefs riled at. They
> > are persecuted, as the four lakh Kashmiri Pandits have
> > been, without raising finger in defence - their men
> > hanged, women raped, children disembowelled. They have
> > become refugees in their own country and the media is
> > mostly silent.
> >
> > Yes democracy is needed, and a free and democratic
> > India definitely has (in the long run) an advantage on
> > an undemocratic China . But the way things are going
> > now, India seems on the verge of losing all that is
> > good and true and valuable within the nation, thanks
> > to cynical and self-serving politicians.
> >
> > Cry O my Beloved India . Look at what Thy children are
> > doing to Thee.
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> > http://indersalim.livejournal.com
> > _________________________________________
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> > Critiques & Collaborations
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>
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