[Reader-list] protests against Gaza Siege - ideological arrogance

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Dear Rakesh
 
Please accept my admiration for your independence of thought and non-subscription to pre-concieved notions or positions. 
 
I say this after reading your contributions to the threads  "Are Tougher Laws The Answer?"; "Is the singular Rhetoric of Terror flawed?" ; and "protests against Gaza Siege - ideological arrogance  ".
 
At times perphaps you will receive responses which would suggest that the person has not bothered to read your post fully and has pre-judged you.
 
At times you will receive responses where the person seems to be desperate to place you into an ideological compartment where you yourself have never belonged.
 
Please do not feel frustrated by such responses. It is their idiocy, not yours.
 
Best regards
 
Kshmendra

 

--- On Sun, 1/11/09, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] protests against Gaza Siege - ideological arrogance
To: "Lalit Ambardar" <lalitambardar at hotmail.com>
Cc: "reader-list at sarai.net" <reader-list at sarai.net>, pkray11 at gmail.com
Date: Sunday, January 11, 2009, 1:06 PM

Dear all

Another thing I would like to add. I missed that out. The above stories, of
Israel and the Hamas, of Kashmiri Pandits and the others, of India and
Pakistan, just point out to one big flaw in our whole game of politics, not
only going across India, but infact across the world. It's the game of real
politik.

This is the world of sum-zero game, where to achieve power, almost anything
can be done.

So, if the BJP wants to gain power in Gujarat in 2002, where it has been
losing panchayat elections, using Godhra for creating a genocide and
supporting it directly or indirectly, allowing rapes and murders is ok.

So, if Israel wants to become powerful in the region, as it believes that
power makes it safe, (since the Nazi days, Jews of Israel have always
believed in this), bombing Gaza and killing millions with bombs and armed
forces is ok.

So, for Hamas, to establish the rule of Allah (I hope Allah himself/herself
answers one day through his voice, whether this is the way he wants his rule
to be established), any rockets being pounded upon Israel is ok.

So, for Pakistan, to become powerful in the region, allowing a breed of
terrorism to develop, attacking India through its' proxies, blackmailing
America for support in return for carrying out operations in Waziristan and
elsewhere, and even betraying its' own citizens, is ok.

So, for India, to allow human right violations to continue in order to
appease it's armed forces, to allow rapes and murders in the name of riots,
is ok.

So, for the Congress and the like, to play with the insecurity of the
Muslims to get their votes, while actually doing nothing for their
betterment is ok.

This is what we have reached to.

It's shameful that we call Gandhi the Father of the Nation. Gandhi never
advocated real politik, where if one side loses, the other side wins. If for
him there was some side to lose, it was the immoral side of politics. He
always believed politics should be moral. And we have failed him. We failed
him since the pre-Partition riots, and we continue to this date.

I don't know how we can solve all these problems. And I don't
understand the
purpose of calling Gandhi as the Father of the Nation, if the Nation can't
learn a single thing from him. We haven't learnt his values of tolerance,
we
haven't learnt the value of acceptance of diversities, we haven't
learnt the
importance of discussions he portrayed, then what we have learnt from him??

Today all these problems have arisen, because there is no regard of the
'other'. The BJP doesn't have any regard for Muslims, and vice
versa. The
Israel state and the Hamas don't have any regard for each other. Marathis
and Biharis have no regard for each other.

I can understand India, the way it was created, was destined to be anarchic.
But was it deemed to be practicing violence all the time, without having any
consideration of the 'other'??

Regards

Rakesh
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