[Reader-list] Shameful Torture of 23 Muslims Prisoners on March 26-27 In Sabarmati Jail, Ahamedabad: A Report by Human Rights Activists

[anupam chakravartty]

Hi inder,

the idea of lesser evil is such a temptation that in our quest for finding
absolute governance and civility, we end up negotiating with the real evil
-- the lesser one.
On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 11:12 PM, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear Inder jee
>
> The question you have raised is that democratic states can also resort to
> war. My contention is that this is due to lack of democracy actually. If
> there really was democracy, before going to war, the govt. would have
> conducted the referendum to find out whether people wanted the war to take
> place or not. Of course, we could have debated the moral consequences of
> what the people chose and what they didn't, but it would certainly ensure
> that democracy prevails in taking decisions.
>
> But govts. the world over don't want to give this right to people as for
> them, their contract agreement goes under threat. In many nations across
> the
> world, elections are a kind of contract given by people to let someone rule
> for a period of 5 years, during which the person given the contract feels
> he/she can take any decision as they please. And this is what has ruined
> democracy.
>
> Therefore, it's not democracy, but the lack of it, which ensures such
> situations.
>
> As for the BJP, I really pity them. So also the right wing people. They
> constantly have a tendency to prove that they are masculine or Hindu
> religion(and Hindus) must be masculine, so also for authoritarians.
> Probably
> they have some complex regarding that they are not masculine enough. They
> have my sympathies for being pessimistic about themselves.
>
> And what's more, they have an attitude of dismissiveness and arrogance as
> well (at least their major leaders show these tendencies). Forget ideology,
> they probably would have this tendency in public life as well even on
> personal relations. I don't know they can actually create a stronger state,
> which is their professed goal (not exactly mine). After all, as I have said
> earlier, unity is strength.
>
> Hence, even on the goal of making India a superpower, the RSS led parivar
> is
> going to lead to the opposite of their own professed goal.
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
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