[Reader-list] APJ letter

[Vedavati Jogi]

dear rakesh,
 
when bjp sanctions money for 'modernization' of madarassa it shows that they are not looking upon muslims as vote banks. more than anything else muslims in india need that.

secondly i agree all terrorists are not Muslims but at present india is facing problems because of muslim terrorists only. hence i would like to talk about them only. because i am a narrow minded nationalist.
 
thirdly, if 'self protection' is the act of fanaticism then i must say all hindus need to be fanatics otherwise they will meet the same fate of 1947 refugees or kashmiri pandits.
i am sorry to say so but secular  ideas spread by you people (and which find their origin in gandhian philosophy) are extremely dangerous for hindus.. 
 
indian army is working in absolutely adverse condition - they have to constantly face humiliation at the hands og humanrights activists  and on top of that if they have to feed 'biryani' to terrorists who have occupied charare sharif then in enraged state of mind few cases of 'bad behaviour' mentioned by you may be possible. because army men are also human beings. 
ofcourse these cases have to be dealt with iron hands. but at the same time i am sure many stories must have  been blown out of proportion.  
 
last but not least being a true and gandhian hindu  'agar shatru ka dil bhi aap pyar se jeetana chahate hai' then why don't you go to swat valley and try to win the  hearts of 
talibanis? 
 
vedavati
--- On Wed, 13/5/09, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] APJ letter
To: "Vedavati Jogi" <vedavati_jogi at yahoo.com>
Cc: reader-list at sarai.net
Date: Wednesday, 13 May, 2009, 6:16 PM


Dear Vedavati

Thank you very much for your epithets terming me a mentally bankrupt
person. After all, I do remember what Gandhi ji said 'First they
ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you
win'. So I can understand this. Our right-wing friends first tried to
ignore secularism, then they derided it, and now in India we are in
the transition from the second to the third stage. Soon secularism
will indeed win, and that will spell the dooms for both the Hindutva
messengers and the pseudo seculars like Congress and their folk.

1) It's ironic that when the Congress does something it is construed
as an act of appeasement, but when the BJP does the same it is not so.
When the BJP raised haj subsidies nobody raised an eyebrow, but the
RSS calls it Muslim appeasement when the Congress does the same. When
the BJP gives funds to madrassas for modernization, it's not Muslim
appeasement. But when the Congress does so, it's Muslim vote bank
appeasement. Just like whoever is associated with the BJP is communal.

The BJP only doesn't have the licence to decide what is Muslim
appeasement and what is not. Similarly, the Congress alone doesn't
have the right to decide who is secular and who is not.

2) You state that the soldiers stand on the border to protect me.
Fine. If they don't stand there, I will die. Right. Of course I can be
killed even with their standing there, by some
Islamic/Hindu/Christian/other fanatic. But my death or not, the idea I
am putting across is right. And if that is the case, one should not
worry. It's not people who are important, it's ideas which are
important. I don't support Gandhi, I like his ideas and support those.

So, for you, you may be happy that the seculars die directly or
indirectly at the hands of the army, but for us, it's spreading of the
ideas which is more important. So if you wish to see my death, I only
hope that the sooner it is fulfilled, the better. But I wish that more
and more people understand the depths to which our politics has sunk,
and the importance of values enshrined in our Constitution, not
Hindutva or minority appeasement.

By the way all terrorists are not Muslims. There is the LTTE, there
were organizations in Northern Ireland (Christian ones) which were
declared terrorist, there are organizations in the North-East which
are having many Christians (branded as terrorist ones), and then we
have the Naxalites who are unfortunately also branded as terrorists
(and they are Indians).

3) Terrorism can have different definitions according to different
people. For you, it may be just Islamic terrorism. For Taha jee,
probably even lightning was a cause of terrorism.

For me, terrorism simply means a recurring phenomenon to ensure terror
among human beings. For example, if there is one loot in an area, then
it will generate terror, but once the culprits are caught, that reason
for terror goes away. But when, there is a spate of loot incidents in
an area and say the police are able to do nothing about it (or the
number is too huge for the police to manage), then that too is
terrorism because it creates terror in the minds of the people.

Therefore, there are different kinds of terrorism, and therefore each
has to be dealt in a different manner. Fanaticism in the name of
religion has to be handled differently from the terror created due to
illegal arms selling. Both may be related, but then we have to form
different strategies to counter them. The same can't work for both.

Now coming to your question, how to solve (your kind of) terrorism? If
I had known the solution, I would have already sent it to the Indian
govt. and got it implemented, so that we would not have had any terror
attack by now. I don't say I know the solution. Nor can I say I
understand the complexities of the kind of terrorism you are talking
about. Therefore, I certainly don't have solutions to it.

But that does not mean I accept any useless or utopian idea as a
solution, which is only going to perpetrate further mindless violence
in the name of religion/statism/something else. And your ideas of
nationalism stopping terrorism are not going to work at all. Israel is
already suffering. What do you want, to spend 50% of India's budget on
defense or what?
And let the citizens live in hell.

As for the reasons, I believe Ayodhya and Gujarat are additions to a
sense of injustice among some of the Muslims who may have indulged in
such acts. The basic problem is lack of development and the need to be
rooted in one's own culture, which has also contributed to such
problems. And it's not only among Muslims, it's there among a section
of Hindus (Nandy rightly has stated time and again that Hindus, in
order to be rooted to their culture and traditions, think Hindutva is
the right way. Probably that's why he feels culture is an important
link for terrorism.)

4) As for the armed forces, go to Kashmir and Jammu, you would very
well find prostitution thanks to our armed forces. Go to the
North-East to find out 'hamari army kya gul khila rahi hai'.  And
forget all that, I can myself relate two incidents which tell me the
Indian Army has no respect even for elder women (in one case there
were two who were ill and going to city for better treatment) to give
them their own reserved seats. What impression should I have of them,
tell me?

Of course, it's another issue we don't get to know about it, or by
know, the image of Indian Army would have been in shreds altogether.

As for your nationalism. Mere liye nationalism se bada dharm hai
insaaniyat. Mera hindu dharm (faith) bhi yehi kehta hai ki insaan mein
vishwaas karna chahiye. Aur har insaan sudhar sakta hai, chahe woh
kitna bhi bura kyun na ho.

Haan mai kehta hoon garv se ki mai Hindu hoon.

Because it was Mahatma Gandhi, a great saint in my religion who stated
that tolerance is the way ahead for our nation and our world to
prosper. Because he reminded all of us of the paths which Hindu faith
has stood out for (not organized Hindu religion), truth and non
violence.

Because it's Hindu faith which reminds me that for the action of a few
(be it Muslims/ Christians/ Hindus/ others), I shouldn't punish an
entire community or hold them responsible.

Because my faith makes me realize that we are so diverse in our
customs and traditions and we can learn from each other not only in
these (to further enrich our own knowledge), but also from that
knowledge to lead better lives.

Because my faith asks me to trust other people (I had forgotten this
many times in my life, some friends and others reminded me, and my
faith in them, which again somewhere came from Hinduism).

Because my faith believes even evil people can transform themselves
into good natured.

And not because of the BJP and their temple movement.

Garv se kehta hoon mai Hindu hoon. Aur dhikhaar hai un par mujhe jo
ayodhya mein masjid todne gaye. Dhikkar hai un par jo godhra ka badla
musalamanon ka khoon kar aur unki auraton ke saath galat kar le rahe
the.

Aise log deshbhakt to door ki baat hai, achche hindu kabhi nahi ho
sakte. Aur aise logon se is desh ka kabhi bhala nahi hoga.

Bacha nationalism. Uski ijaazat mera faith nahi deta. So I am sorry, I
can't be a nationalist.

And finally a point for you Vedavati jee. You should be happy that the
secularists are so faithful in their secular vision of the world, that
they never threw a stone at you (unlike the ridicule and derision they
get from you and your folk, be it here in Sarai or elsewhere). Because
we take good things from wherever we get, not bad things like Hindutva
and minority appeasement.

Regards

Rakesh



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