[Reader-list] Fwd: stop the award to narendra modi

Fri Sep 4 11:41:52 IST 2009

    Dear Rakesh,

    I cannot agree more with you on Modi's subversion of the
founding principles of this republic and of the most basic of
human rights. August 15, 1947 was just the first step, the
anti-colonial struggle had then to move into a struggle for
democracy that went beyond regular ballots. And it is here the
Indian state has lacked credentials -- be in in Kashmir or the
North East, or its attitude towards people displaced by
'development.'

    Where I deviate from you is at the valorisation of the award.
I say we should not care much for it (and I admit I am
overstating a point to prove a point) because of the implicit
subtext that FT and its ilk need only to be pointed out their
errors, and if we are sucessful, they would turn into ideals.

    It is similar to the intellectual ideal held by the early
Indian nationalists of a difference between the 'ideal'
Englishman (who was liberal and democratic) and the 'real'
Englishman (who ruled the colony with an iron fist). If only the
English (of the metropolis) were made aware of how they did not
match up to the standards of the 'ideal,' they would promply
grant Indians the same rights enjoyed in the democratic centre.

    In a similar vein, my argument is yes, that Modi is getting
an award is a vile thing, but then should we be surprised? Let us
see who the award is from and what is their agenda.

    Does not that angst, however justified, prevent us from
hitting at the real problem -- that as long as we admit the idea
that capital can be an impartial arbiter, we cannot fight the
challenges to democracy, which include communalism?

      Murali, to counterpoise the Congress and the Indian state's
pogrom of 1984 to the Gujarat massacres of 2002 is like two
friends finding themselves in a brothel. They smile shamefacedly
at each other and wink, since we're all sinners, let's live and
let live! To draw a moral (!) equivalence is simply not correct.

      Regards,
      Cheri.

2009/9/4 Murali V <murali.chalam at gmail.com>:
> Exactly, but there seems to be a single agenda which is what I am against.
>
> Let there be a protest on all those who have committed mass murders be
> not allowed to stand in any elections.
>
> Regards,
> V Murali
>
> On Fri, Sep 4, 2009 at 10:46 AM, Rakesh Iyer<rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Dear Murali
>>
>> First of all you have diverted from the original topic, but I believe, as I
>> have since one lengthy discussion with one of my friends, that we always do
>> get diverted from topics to discuss other issues, and what is critical is to
>> analyze the arguments raised in those, while not disregarding the main topic
>> or its importance.
>>
>> Having spoken on the subject concerned, I slightly move away to what you
>> have mentioned. First of all, a struggle for enhancement of freedoms of
>> people must focus on all aspects, and not just on one aspect. Hence,
>> focusing on just one Modi or one Gujarat or one Sikh riot or corruption
>> alone doesn't help; what is needed is a multi-pronged approach to struggle
>> for all kinds of injustices, which may be linked sometimes in very strong
>> terms with each other. This needs to be understood. For example, corruption
>> can play a significant role in registering false cases or not including
>> names of genuine culprits in the FIR's, which can play a role after communal
>> riots when the victims wish to get justice but are unable to do so, or
>> communal vendetta is launched after these riots in the name of legal action.
>>
>> Hence, the struggle against  Modi at one level is not necessarily excluding
>> corruption, for it can and may be a part of what happened in that state post
>> 2002. Hence, it must certainly be looked at. And on the larger issue of
>> money hidden in Swiss banks or elsewhere, certainly it's something which
>> must be looked at and nobody on this forum, I believe, would support hiding
>> money illegally in these banks for tax evasion purposes.
>>
>> On the issue of Sikh Riots, yes they were more severe than the Gujarat
>> genocide, and to me they too are a genocide or state-sponsored act of
>> terrorism, which we usually associate with Pakistan. (I am consciously using
>> 'we', for however much I wish to dissociate from the states, I can't, having
>> declared to be a citizen and even applying for passport from the state, and
>> I believe this is true for all of us on this forum and elsewhere).
>>
>> They too should deserve justice, which is why I don't think this issue must
>> be forgotten, but ironically, the very same People's Union of Civil
>> Liberties, which you have mentioned for the Sikh Riot report, has also given
>> reports on how the administration dithered and police looked the other way
>> while mass murders were carried out, in similar fashion to what happened in
>> Delhi.
>>
>> Nobody has agreed that Rajiv Gandhi and the killers did the right thing
>> then, and nobody would agree that  Modi and the killers did right this time
>> as well. Neither were Sikhs as a community in the holistic sense, traitors
>> for the action of one person, nor can Muslims be seen as a community as
>> traitors, even if for act of a few. Infact, at least in case of Indira
>> Gandhi, we can be sure that two Sikh bodyguards were responsible for it
>> (though there are people who link a conspiracy theory to her death). But in
>> case of Godhra, the truth is still not known, which is why we now have a SIT
>> to reinvestigate Godhra incident, after two panels have already given
>> diverging rationale for why and how it took place.
>>
>> Please do go through the following links to find out what the
>> PUCL and the PUDR have to say about the violence in Gujarat by the way:
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2002/maro_kapo_balo.pdf
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2002/gujarat-modi.htm
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2002/gujarat-nhrc-submission.htm
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2002/gujarat-violence.htm
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2002/gujarat-media.htm
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/gujarat-index.htm
>>
>> On the issue of Sikh violence, here are the links:
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2003/who-are-guilty.htm
>>
>> http://www.pucl.org/reports/National/2001/communalism.htm
>>
>> Hence, the fight for injustice has to be against all kinds of injustices,
>> not necessarily against those committed only by particular political parties
>> or socio-cultural organizations.
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Rakesh
>>
>

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