[Reader-list] Statement by Arundhati Roy on the Attack on her Residence

Mon Nov 1 10:56:23 IST 2010

Rashneek, I'm surprised by your trying to pass off an act of hooliganism as
a peaceful demonstration.  Do you not see a fight taken to someone's
doorstep as an attack?  Arundhati is NOT a politician with x or y or z
category security.  Once you legitimize intimidation as the right of people
or political parties to demonstrate you end up with the beginnings of a
fascist state. 

Today it is Arundhati, tomorrow it can be you or me. Remember the so-called
sex-scandal in Kashmir a few years ago?  Mobs went and tore down the home of
the alleged madam of the prostitution ring.  It may sound like a bizarre
comparison but its not.  There you had a bunch of self-righteous people who
did not wait for the trial of this woman but were convinced that her very
presence in society contaminated it.  So she had to be locked up and her
home (which was a shack in a poor neighborhood) was to be razed to the
ground so that not a trace remained of her.  The impulse of your so-called
demonstrators is hardly different.  Arundhati Roy is a disease that must be
removed, so let us try and put her behind bars and if we can't let us
intimidate her by threatening her life and property.

 If the BJP wanted to counter her views they could have done so at public
forums.  Arundhati is not leading mobs to LK Advani's house.  She speaks in
public forums where everyone, including Panun Kashmir, have a right to
attend and to voice their objections if need be.  But to land up at
someone's door with a hundred strong mob shouting abuse does not, by any
stretch of the imagination fall within the limits of engaged debate in any
civilized society.

The Hindu report has Pradip Kishen, her husband, saying "the mob was abusive
and broke through the front gate of the house.² This would fall under
unlawful entry and other laws in the IPC.  They were clearly trying to
intimidate, if not bodily harm her as is clear from what Pradip says next:
'They were prevented from entering the house by the guard and servants.'
Why do they need to do this if this was a peaceful demonstration?

On 01/11/10 9:25 AM, "rashneek kher" <rashneek at gmail.com> wrote:

> But was there an attack?Is demonstrating outside her house the same
> as
attacking her.The Hindu reported that a mob attacked her and broke
> one
flower pot.
If Maoists are Gandhians with Guns and Geelani's demand and
> methods are
legitimate how does one construe a hundred odd women
> demonstrating(mind you
not throwing stones)...
If this was an attack how does
> one describe burning of my house by the
azaadi seekers...
In the hall itself
> where Shuddha was on the podium a boy's shirt was torn
and he was mandhandled
> by the same people who want right of free
speech,simply because he disagreed
> and maybe shouted too.Is that attack or
isnt that an attack?

On Mon, Nov 1,
> 2010 at 9:15 AM, Samvit <samvitr at gmail.com> wrote:

> A classic example of
> *pot calling the kettle black*. How conveniently you
> abuse and slot others.
> If someone is attacking Roy's house I think it is
> their way of expression.
> Roy doesn't hold a monopoly on "right to
> expression" and neither does she
> decide where to draw the line. She should
> be knowing all this very well
> since she keeps company of known terrorists
> of
> the ilk that were seen in
> Delhi with her. Why do you feel so meek now that
> you have to be sladerous??
> using words like.....hooligans, obsene....
>
> Although I wish her good health
> and safety so that she can continue
> gallavanting from place to place, topic
> to topic but then there are
> millions
> out there who get inspired by her and
> want to teach her some "expression".
> Thugs like her understand the language
> of thugs, perhaps.
>
>
> On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 10:31 PM, shuddha at sarai.net
> <shuddha at sarai.net
> >wrote:
>
> > Dear all,
> >
> > the disgusting and
> obscene attacks on Arundhati Roy in sections of the
> > media
> > and even,
> unfortunately on a forum like this one by right wing hooligans
> > (including
> some on this list) is now being complemented by attacks and
> > vandalism at
> her residence, in the full glare of the media. It is not Ms.
> > Roy
> > who
> seeks out media coverage, it is the thugs who attack her who
> > pre-arrange
> to
> > have television OB vans in place while they attempt to ransack her
> >
> residence.
> >
> > Those interested may read the statement below by Arundhati
> Roy in
> response
> > to
> > the most recent attack,
> >
> > best,
> >
> >
> Shuddha
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> >
> > SOMETHING FOR THE MEDIA TO THINK ABOUT
> >
> >  A mob of about a
> hundred people arrived at my house at 11 this morning
> > (Sunday
> > October
> 31st 2010.) They broke through the gate and vandalized property.
> > They
> >
> shouted slogans against me for my views on K...ashmir, and threatened to
> >
> teach
> > me a lesson. The OB Vans of NDTV, Times Now and News 24 were already
> in
> > place
> > ostensibly to cover the event live. TV reports say that the
> mob consisted
> > largely of members of the BJP¹s Mahila Morcha (Women¹s
> wing). After they
> > left, the police advised us to let them know if in
> future we saw any OB
> > vans
> > hanging around the neighborhood because they
> said that was an indication
> > that a
> > mob was on its way. In June this
> year, after a false report in the papers
> > by
> > Press Trust of India (PTI)
> two men on motorcycles tried to stone the
> > windows of
> > my home. They too
> were accompanied by TV cameramen.
> >
> > What is the nature of the agreement
> between these sections of the media
> and
> > mobs and criminals in search of
> spectacle? Does the media which positions
> > itself at the scene¹ in advance
> have a guarantee that the attacks and
> > demonstrations will be non-violent?
> What happens if there is criminal
> > trespass
> > (as there was today) or
> even something worse? Does the media then become
> > accessory to the crime?
> This question is important, given that some TV
> > channels
> > and newspapers
> are in the process of brazenly inciting mob anger against
> > me. In
> > the
> race for sensationalism the line between reporting news and
> >
> manufacturing
> > news is becoming blurred. So what if a few people have to be
> sacrificed
> at
> > the
> > altar of TRP ratings? The Government has indicated
> that it does not
> intend
> > to
> > go ahead with the charges of sedition
> against me and the other speakers
> at
> > a
> > recent seminar on Azadi for
> Kashmir.
> >
> > So the task of punishing me for my views seems to have been
> taken on by
> > right
> > wing storm troopers. The Bajrang Dal and the RSS
> have openly announced
> that
> > they are going to ³fix² me with all the means
> at their disposal including
> > filing cases against me all over the country.
> The whole country has seen
> > what
> > they are capable of doing, the extent
> to which they are capable of going.
> > So,
> > while the Government is
> showing a degree of maturity, are sections of the
> > media
> > and the
> infrastructure of democracy being rented out to those who believe
> > in mob
>
> > justice? I can understand that the BJP's Mahila Morcha is using me to
> >
> distract
> > attention the from the senior RSS activist Indresh Kumar who has
> recently
> > been
> > named in the CBI charge-sheet for the bomb blast in
> Ajmer Sharif in which
> > several people were killed and many injured. But why
> are sections of the
> > mainstream media doing the same? Is a writer with
> unpopular views more
> > dangerous than a suspect in a bomb blast? Or is it a
> question of
> > ideological
> > alignment?
> >
> > Arundhati Roy
> > October
> 31st 2010
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________
> >
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Samvit Rawal
> 9422037853
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> To err is human;
> to forgive, infrequent.
>  - Franklin P. Adams
>
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-- 
Rashneek
> Kher
http://www.kashmiris-in-exile.blogspot.com
http://www.nietzschereborn.blo
> gspot.com
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