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Arun
Shourie on Policy
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Things work at two levels in
India, that of paper and that of fact. On paper, for instance, we
have section 167 of the Indian Penal Code under which a public
servant is to be hauled up for preparing a false document... more |
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Within five days of Kamla being
purchased and brought to Delhi three of us filed a writ in the
Supreme Court informing the Hon'ble Court what we had learnt about
the trade in women in the Morena and Dholpur regions and praying for
relief of several kinds... more |
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A case in which the English
version of a major book by a renowned Muslim scholar, the fourth
Rector of one of the greatest centers of Islamic learning in India,
listing some of the mosques, including the Babri Masjid, which were
built on the sites and foundations of temples, using their stones
and structures, is found to have the tell-tale passages censored
out... more
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"The Congress is like Ravana," The
Hindustan Times of 2 September, 1999, reported Dr. Murli Manohar
Joshi saying, "and they have unleashed Sonia, the Surpnakha
(Ravana's sister who was humiliated by Lakshman) on the country."
That in a box-item at the very top of page 1, under the heading,
"Below the belt." The source? The Asian Age, reported The Hindustan
Times... more |
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The Premise of democratic
governance is that the people will decide. But what will be the
character of the decisions they will take when instead of being
informed, inspired, when necessary enraged to act on issues, they
are distracted and merely entertained?.... more |
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At first, the demand-cum-assurance
was, "If you can bring any proof showing a temple had been
demolished to construct the mosque, we will ourselves demolish the
mosque". A host of documents -- reports of the Archaeological Survey
of India going back to 1891, Gazetteers going back to 1854. Survey
reports going back to 1838 were produced which stated unambiguously
that a Ram temple had been demolished to construct the mosque"...
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May I begin with a few passages
from my book 'A Secular Agenda'? It was sent to the press in late
September and comes out later this week. A chapter, "No time to
relent", which concludes the section on Kashmir notes... more |
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But have we no rights to proclaim
our faith, to preach Gospel? You are the editor of such a large
news-paper. You express your views on issues. Do we not have the
same right? It was Bishop George Anathil, of Indore, the Chairman of
the Commission for Proclamation of the Catholic Bishops Conference
of India... more |
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Dainik Jagran is today among the
largest newspapers in our country. Amar Ujala is also a substantial
paper. Addressing a public meeting on October 12, UP chief minister
Mulayam Singh Yadav denounced the two papers, "Halla Bol", he
exhorted his followers, "Commence the storming". Why read them, he
told them, you don't have to even see them. No one present had any
doubt what they meant: Don't let them be seen, that is what it
meant... more |
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'Muslims all over the world
including those of India were hopefully looking up to Pakistan for
help and guidance... The Pakistani debacle of 1971 had caused
immense grief to Indian Muslims.' The speaker? Maulana Abul Hassan
ALi Nadvi, otherwise known as Ali Mian, whom the press always refers
to as the widely respected scholar and moderate Muslim leader...
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But in looking at the ritual, at
the idol, at the concept, why not start with the opposite
assumption? Why start by assuming that they are empty, that they are
the remnants of superstition? They had occurred to, they had been
devised by seers, by persons of great insight... more |
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'It is a miracle... can be likened
to the building of the Gothic cathedrals of Europe... There is no
doubt that London has acquired a significant new building of
traditional Indian beauty and interest... We can be grateful that
this has happened in a part of London that needed transforming'...
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The super-speciality hospital
which Satya Sai Baba has set up in Putaparti, the water schemes
which have been inaugurated in Anantpur district to mark his 70th
birthday will, of course, make the difference between life and death
to vast numbers. The other point about projects undertaken at the
direction of these teachers is their managerial excellence. The
projects are invariably completed on schedule: it took just three
years from the permission being granted for the temple in London to
its being opened for worship..... more |
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In holding that not all references
to religion in election speeches necessarily amount to corrupt
electoral practices; that it is the soliciting of votes on the
ground of the religion of the candidate or that of his opponent
which is a corrupt electoral practice; that statements made by
others do not have the same effect as those made by a candidate
himself -- in all this, as we saw, the Supreme Court has merely
reiterated what the the law itself says and what the Supreme Court
has itself held on previous occasions. What then accounted for the
fury of the secularists ?... more |
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The so-called secular parties --
that is, all fifteen of them, including the Muslim League -- are
continuing to insist that they shall vote out the BJP Government on
the 31st. Assume that they do, and assume that a Government headed
by Deve Gowda assumes office... The situation now is different, they
say; for one thing there are those experiences to warn the secular
parties and leaders, they say; moreover, this time the leaders of
"the forces of social change" are very conscious of the historic
responsibility that rests on their shoulders, they say.... more |
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Some months ago an official of the
United States state department met me through a common scholar
friend... Last week the same scholar friend sent me an account which
that officer had written and circulated about the way India, in
particular Hindus, are again being portrayed in the USA. The note
deserves to be read in full, so what follows is the verbatim text of
his note... more |
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All sorts of lessons are being
propounded from the events of fifty years ago. But, as usual,
political correctness is keeping commentators from facing up to the
fundamental lesson. The fundamental premises on which the country
was partitioned were that (i) religion defines nationhood; (ii)
though they do not have a common language, though they are separated
by a thousand miles, the Muslims of East and West India are a nation
because of their common adherence to Islam; (iii) moreover, Muslims
are a separate nation from the rest who inhabit the sub-continent;
(iv) they can never get justice in a united India for they will be
swamped by the Hindu majority; (v) once they are given a country of
their own, prosperity, justice, fraternity and all else will flow
automatically; (vi) as Islam is a religion of tolerance, brotherhood
and equality, as it places human dignity above all, people of all
beliefs, creeds, races, languages will enjoy equal rights, and live
in liberty and fraternity.... more |
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Will a government which hasn't
been there all along, finally go? Will its departure lead to
elections or will it be replaced by a new government which will be
there no more than the one which was never there and has at last
gone? In a word, the first feature of what was happening was that
everything could happen... more |
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In the beginning was a foreigner.
He founded the Congress. Then, no one did anything till the
Nehru-Nehru (Father and Son) Family stepped forth. They firmly
stamped the history of India with the twin features that
characterise it in the first half of the 20th century: everything
they did was a sacrifice, no one else made any sacrifices.... more |
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"But What was the immediate
threat?," ask the pundits. "Why now?," they demand. I K Gujral adds
the considerable weight of having been Prime Minister to the
argument: as one who had access to secret information as Prime
Minister, he tells Parliament, I say that when I left office there
was no threat that warranted the explosions... more |
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Remember that incident in April
1996, about the ring magnets? "Baseless", the Chinese thundered.
When they could not deny the sale any longer, they acknowledged the
shipment but insisted that the ring magnets were for hold your
breath - windshield wipers for cars... more |
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We are so dazzled by reports of
the strides China has made in enlarging its economy that we do not
notice that one of the principal uses to which it is putting its new
wealth is to multiply its military strength. Pick up any book or
analysis about security developments in the Pacific region or in
Asia, and the facts it sets out about China are bound to startle...
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"Rational vs. National," screams
the headline of the new pall-bearer of secularism, the magazine
Outlook. "Tampering with history," proclaims the old pall- bearer,
The Hindu. Having been educated by The Hindu that the "nodal
ministry" for the matter is the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, I ring up the Secretary of that Ministry. Has the
Memorandum of Association of the ICHR been changed?, I ask. No, he
says. It has not been changed, he says... more |
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Answer by the Ministry for Human
Resources Development to Unstarred Question number 3466 in the Rajya
Sabha : "Professor Bipin Chandra was sanctioned a sum of Rs.
75,000/- during 1987-88 for the assignment entitled 'A History of
Indian National Congress'. A sum of Rs. 57,500/- has been released
to him till 23.6.1989. The remaining balance of Rs. 17,500/- is yet
to be released because a formal manuscript in this regard is yet to
be received... more |
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Worse, even after a decade of
killing by Pakistan armed terrorists, voices are still raised that
hide Pakistan deeds under dust: An ex-editor is forever narrating
the sweet words he exchanged on his most recent trip to Pakistan,
how person like him had built a small lobby in Pakistan for peace
with India; another editor proclaims that Nawaz Sharif should be
given the Nobel Prize for Peace, so hard is he trying for peace in
the face of such enormous difficulties... And they have an audience!
for we just do not face the fact that Pakistan is working to a
clear, indeed, to a singular aim - and that is to break India...
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"Death is just an insignificant
word for them," begins the report in The News of 28 November, 1997
on the annual gathering of the Mujahidin-e-Taiba. "Killing those who
do not share their set of Islamic values is the only reality. The
congregation was flooded with thousands of people with these
beliefs..." ... more |
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As we have seen, the explicit part
of the Circular issued by the West Bengal Government in 1989 in
effect was that there must be no negative reference to Islamic rule
in India. Although these were the very things which contemporary
Islamic writers celebrated, there must be absolutely no reference to
the destruction of the temples by Muslim rulers, to the forcible
conversion of Hindus, to the numerous other restrictions which were
placed on the Hindu population... more |
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Writes Tasneem Ahmad, "I express
my profound sense of gratitude, very personal regards and respects
to Professor Irfan Habib, who encouraged and guided me at every
stage of the work. In spite of his very pressing engagements and
pre-occupation, he ungrudgingly spared his valuable time to examine
with care every intricate problem, arising out [sic.] during the
course of work." When the entire manuscript has been lifted word for
word from the work of Dr. Parmatma Saran... more |
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The pattern of these textbooks
thus is set in stone : concoct a picture of pre-Islamic society of
Indian history as a period riddled by discord, tensions, inequity
and oppression -- evidence or no evidence; on the other side,
concoct a picture of the Islamic period as one in which a "composite
culture" flowered, one in which, in spite of the errors of few who
acted out of normal, non-religious motives, there was peace and
harmony -- evidence or no evidence... more |
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"I shall travel back with him,"
says Nawaz Sharif one day on taking the bus to Delhi with the Indian
Prime Minister. "We will solve half the problems on the way back."
Four days have not passed, and Pakistan observes
"Solidarity-with-Kashmir Day." All the usual venom is spewed forth
again. What is one to make of these signals... more |
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"You have said that this is a
historic visit, that this is a defining moment in the history of
South Asia, but what is the substance in these declarations?," asked
the correspondent at the joint press conference of the Indian and
Pakistani Prime Ministers in Lahore -- the usual European or
American correspondent, with the usual condescension and derision...
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"Why do you keep doing this?", I
keep asking. Another press conference has been held, another
statement reprimanding Government has been issued, another "massive
demonstration" protesting against the Government's "failure to
extricate India from the clutches of the WTO" has been announced.
The difference is that in the public eye the organizations for which
they speak, issue statements, announce morchas and the rest, are
part of the same parivar as the Government... more |
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Throughout last week one thing
seemed completely uncertain: whether the Government at the Centre
would survive. Throughout last week one thing seemed just as
certain: that in Bihar, Laloo Yadav's Government would return. I
think it inadvisable to peg the dismissal of a Government on a
single massacre: when things have reached the condition they have in
Bihar, in many other parts of the country, a few score can be killed
at any time, anywhere. The test ought to be the general condition...
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The Church had but to get
established and it became obsessed with numbers -- with the number
of souls it had, to use the term so favoured by churchmen,
"harvested" for Jesus. Numbers remain its singular obsession today.
The impulse is not just its own history in this regard. The impulse
is not just its character -- it is, after all, primarily an
organization, and therefore like all organizations it is obsessed
with its market-share... more |
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"The mandate is for a coalition
government", the pundits declared in 1996. "Coalition governments
have worked for decades in Europe. Why will they not work in
India?", they demanded. The obvious answer was that Indian
politicians are not European politicians. That at every turn the
outcome will be in the hands of persons who have no scruple, no
ideology, no idea, no shame. But this was rejected as carping, as
specious pleading on behalf of communal and fascist forces. Several
coalitions later, how does that rationalisation of 1996 look? So,
the first lesson is for analysts: Do not contrive
rationalisations... more |
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Even so deplorable and
uncalled-for a crisis has yielded some good. At long last, the
real Sonia Gandhi has stepped forth: and shown that she is just
another politician, that the image which had been so assiduously
projected -- the shy, reticent lady, concerned only with the
security of her children, a lady who hates politics, who shuns power
-- was just nail-polish. Her ambition, her readiness to use all
means for acquiring office, her willingness to twist and turn -- "A
minority government of the Congress, take it or leave it" one day,
the magnanimous openness to a coalition the next, and the Papal,
"No, we are not ready to pardon," the third -- were all put on
display... more |
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Hostilities have but to commence
and a rash of strategists erupts: indeed, it seems that everyone,
except the ones actually running it, knows how to run the war. Just
as suddenly, intelligence agencies start planting stories: every
agency, it seems, knew what was going to happen, every agency sent
warnings, but every other agency scuppered its reports; every paper,
every commentator suddenly seems to know what which top-secret
agency has told Government... more |
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To attribute the occupation by
Pakistanis of such extended stretches in Kargil to "an intelligence
failure" is too facile. It is an evasion -- an evasion of the basic
cause, an evasion of responsibility... more |
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"India has massacred 60,000
Kashmiris, but the people of Kashmir will never rest till they have
won freedom;" "India has deployed 700,000 soldiers in the Valley,
and yet the Kashmiri mujahidin are inflicting heavy losses on them
every day;" -- such "facts" are repeated ad nauseum in
Pakistani papers. We tend to dismiss such assertions as the usual
lies. Public Opinion Trends, are so inured to these concoctions that
they excise them from their reports! In fact, the concoctions
deserve attention... more |
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India's size has become "an
unmanageable liability," writes an analyst in Pakistan's Frontier
Post of June 9. "As a result, nearly one-third of its 25 states are
at war, where military troops are routinely called out to keep
peace." The cause for this is largely "India's exclusionary
political, religious and social order that is heavily biased against
non-Hindu minorities," he says. This from an analyst whose own
country is being torn apart by killings of Shias by Sunnis, of
Sindhis and Mohajirs by Punjabis, by tensions between Baluchis,
Pakhtuns and Punjabis... more |
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"The secret of success is
sincerity," reads The Cynic's Lexicon, "Once you can fake that,
you've got it made." How hard Sonia Gandhi is trying to reach
success by that route. A flood in Assam? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. An earthquake in Kumaon? Visit the area. Have
yourself photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are
wholly inadequate. Cyclone somewhere? Visit the area. Have yourself
photographed. Pronounce: Government's relief measures are wholly
inadequate. Fighting in Kargil? Visit hospitals at a safe distance.
Have yourself photographed with injured soldiers. Pronounce... more |
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