The Taliban Cometh
So much has already been written about this incident that i decided against adding to the entropy of the Blogosphere. But i am feeling a little disturbed, and couldn’t help advancing the onset of carpal tunnel on my fingers.
What is going on with India, and Indians?
I am referring to the attack by Hindu Taliban militants on some hapless women at this pub in Mangalore. Shameful, despicable act by a bunch of losers who deserve a tight slap on their face. There is no way such acts are to be tolerated and condoned in a supposedly tolerant society such as ours.
What was equally surprising was the over-the-top headlines all over the place.
Taliban style in BJP’s Karnataka: moral cops assault girls in pub [link]
Pub attack ugly expression of Hindutva Talibanisation: CPI(M) [link]
India’s Taliban may hurt BJP [link]
One Indian minister described the incident Saturday in the southwest city of Mangalore as a bid by Hindu fundamentalists to “Talibanize” India; others suspect a political ploy. [link]
What bothers me is the word Taliban. The Taliban did some pretty gruesome stuff. They killed people in cold blood. They tried to destroy an entire nation. I pray to god that the day never comes when AK47 toting men start roaming the streets of India killing men and women for petty reasons such as an untrimmed beard.
We were quick to come up with the term ‘Hindu terrorism‘ while our external affairs minister and one of the most senior politicians in Congress, Pranab Mukherjee, has been busy proclaiming that the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ is incorrect. Is hypocrisy all that’s left of our great nation?
Is it fashionable to lambast any wrong related to Hinduism? (On this note, read this interesting analysis)
Is this a race to be more secular than the other news channel, or the other political party, with Hinduism becoming the punching bag of choice? Am i supposed to start feeling ashamed of my religion?
This for a religion in whose name no wars were fought, and no innocent lives were lost. Ever.
I have no issues with any religion. I personally don’t believe in any religious drama. I believe that the only purpose religion has served historically is to divide mankind. I am not supporting the acts of these people. I just wish to see crime being treated like crime, and not through the tinted pseudo-secular glasses that are so much in vogue these days.
The politicians are just using this incident to bring down the BJP in an election year, even when there is no evidence of a link. The media is busy spreading their usual sensationalism by using heavy terms to describe these attacks, and has been quick to label this incident as a wider phenomenon.
What happened to objectivity? Is that an impossible word in contemporary India?
These morons are no Taliban. For Ram’s sake, please let’s call a spade a spade. Not a cluster bomb.
Wow, AD. Love the objectivity in your post. So true about the Hindu Taliban thing.
Ooh the hypocrisy around us…
Absolutely.
“I pray to god that the day never comes when AK47 toting men start roaming the streets of India killing men and women for petty reasons such as an untrimmed beard.”
But isn’t this an inkling? Pulling, thrashing and molesting women for petty reasons like dress and personal choices? Beating poor shop owners for petty reasons like keeping Valentine’s Day cards.
We have a political leader of a party who wants parents of girls who prefer to drink get registered at police station. What world are we living in? So should we wait till someone gets killed? How different is this from Talibans? They too shut their women behind the doors in the excuse of culture. Whenever someone speaks about culture it always starts from regulations for women.
Two wrongs doesn’t make a right. While I am in no way supporting Islamic terrorism or Talibans. This too comes under same category. Let us see these goons as just that not as Hindus or Muslims. I am sure we would have felt the same anger had these fanatics been from some other religion.
I agree with you on one thing, this was all done to secure more vote banks. These days any publicity is a big deal. Good or bad.
@Trailblazer - I hope you were not being sarcastic there!
@Me singh - Absolutely true it is!
@Solilo -
“Let us see these goons as just that not as Hindus or Muslims.”
That is exactly my point!
More than the religious connotations, I more worried that more and more politicians think that by beating up people, women on regional or religious lines cab get them some votes. I am angered that their regressive thought process instead of getting them ostracized gets them a space under the sun! I never writ about region and religion on my blog. These feelings are very insidious. Seems like education hasnt done much for us yet, if so called hooligans can drum up a single supporter with such shameless acts.
And btw, this is theme that focuses more on your content
They do all this for publicity. 2 weeks back noone knew about ‘Ram sena’
Now they are all over the channels.
The news cameras reached the spot even before the girls were molested and beaten. So the new channels knew about it, but not the police.
Bad bad world.
A Ram Sainik can pick up a gun and kill women if you assure him that he will be safe. Its a natural human tendency. Taliban had no fear and that is why they did what they did. Remove that fear from a Sainik’s heart and you will see that there is no difference. They are at the initial stage.
Good thinking! If I had written this post, I would have changed “I have no issues with any religion” to “I have issues with all religions”. Perhaps
After reading your poem “Mera Bharat Mahaan” I wish I had called my post something else.
@Poonam - Regarding not writing about these elements, that is a debatable point. You could say that we are giving them publicity by writing about them, but at the same time if we dont protest, they might just get emboldened and try more daring acts.
And yes, eventually these are all power games. These elements are all eyeing some seat - be it assembly, parliament, or bigger.
Thanks for the tip about the theme. Made some more changes today, and feedback would help make this blog a better place!
@Xylene - Yes a lot of these are publicity stunts. It is a nasty world indeed.
@Amit - To add to what you said, Taliban did not do what they did just because they did not have any fear, but because of a very coldblooded and narrow minded religious agenda. Besides, this wasn’t the point of this post.
@Anil - Welcome to Amreekandesi!
too me it means absolutely simple, its not the religion which people are after we are just a set of Vote Banks and demographics. So Who care about the culture or religion. Which of before mentioned entities allow women to be treated this way or the people to be killed on the bases of what religion they follow.
Sadly we are just small insignificant pawns in the games of the political parties.
I think every right thinking Indian - and every right thinking Hindu - condemns the Mangalore incident, and those goons deserve the strictest punishment. And we all must ensure that something like this is never ever repeated.
Let’s not forget, however, that Hinduism has not exactly covered itself with glory when it comes to the treatment of women. It has a very dismal track record in this respect.
I agree with the other point you make however - the tendency of the media, not just in India, but abroad as well, to skirt the issue of Islamic terrorism. Even the Mumbai attackers, for example, were not called terrorists by the BBC. The extreme reactions from certain sections of the Islamic world have ensured that people treat news involving Islam more gingerly.
I guess the moral of the story is - terrorists have no religion, unless they are Hindu!
Quirky Indian
Objectivity comes to a thinking people… for the most part I see our people are not thinking, they are reactionary, very easily provoked into a sentiment. We boast of being Educated, I think, most of us are just literates. Its Irony, that it just takes a few hoodlums like this so called Ram Sena, to give 80% of over a billion population a bad reputation. *sigh* thats reality.
I believe the root of all evil in society is petty politics! To hell with all these psudo-secular and non-secular forces. Why can’t *these people* call spade a spade? What’s so hush hush about it? And, btw, who have given rights to these ass***** to beat people? These guys should be left for hungry dogs and left ****less!
@Chirag - Yes it seems like we are just insignificant beings constantly manipulated by politicians and their dirty games!
@Quirky -
“I guess the moral of the story is - terrorists have no religion, unless they are Hindu!”
- Well summarized!
@Mysoul - Indeed, these people keep poking us and people keep reacting, and the levels of violence keep going up.
@Chiranjib - I wonder what the last **** represents! ;) Just kidding. I share the sentiment. Its all good for them if it leads to votes!
Every blogger wrote about the Incidence of Mangalore pub attack by RamSena.
I was the first to mention the case nonetheless as I made my 26th Januray post right after seeing that news on NDTV.
I also mentioned it as rouge action of saffron group.
But later on I thought more on the issue. it was not a saffron group attack on youth.
it was rather the issue of Date Rape and the way feminists take on it.
Why Do these people, or any person advocating girls to not to go to pubs, not to drink alcohol not to go to dates, not to mingle with boys, suggests so?
They do so because of the increasing number of date rapes.
I know every feminist will criticize men on that issue, and will start demanding more stringent action and laws etc…
But its futile. Women Must understand that by forcing/cajoling government to act unequally and discriminate on the basis of gender will destroy our own society.
trust me, feminists are no less than the talibanese.
Sarcastic? No. I think you would’ve understood after reading my post.
@Trailblazer - Yes i did understand! :)
[…] may recall how we had lamented the rampant use of this term in association with this incident a few posts […]
While Muthalik’s goons went on a publicity hogging rampage that landed them in jail, the pseudo-secular Congress party had the temerity to bow to Islamic religious leaders and amend the Constitution of India to support reduced rights for Muslim women.
What irked me about Renuka’s comment is that it came from a member of India’s Islamic Taliban and no one seemed to point out that hey, the emperor has no clothes.
I like this line- ” Lets call a spade a spade, not a cluster bomb”. hilarious. ROFL :-)
Men always assualt and attack women,women have to raise their voice against all this.
See following link please,
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/uploads/rahul.pdf
Hello mam Deepika, please dont generalize men. For God sake, we dont want another clone of Renuka Chaudhary here, please stop making your shitty comments here. I want to ask you what has the congress done for women in particular rather than raising a hue and cry against this incident.There are equally important things which is concerning our nation:
For example:
a. during the arushi murder case, china invaded Arunachal Pradesh 10 times, a fact even acknowledged by army general Deepak Kapoor. The media did not even bother to report that incident, they were so obsessed with murder case [even the genuine Amarnath agitation was neglected by the media].
b. A recent report by a RAW insider reveals that there are atleast 10 Indian ministers on ISI parole. Its disturbing to even know this. Many people dont even know this. These things are covered up by the media.
If you dont know these things, please for god sake dont rake useless things. Atrocities against women keep on happening all over the country. if you cant do anything to these things, please shut up! dont generalize men.
Sorry deepak not all men are bad,but very few are,and my mension was about them,anyways check this link
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/uploads/rahul.pdf
This article is amusing in a pathetic sort of way. On one hand the blog author begins the piece by feigning concern for the victims of Hindutva terror, but that is not the purpose of the article. This is:
“”We were quick to come up with the term ‘Hindu terrorism‘ while our external affairs minister and one of the most senior politicians in Congress, Pranab Mukherjee, has been busy proclaiming that the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ is incorrect. “”
Rather than prescribe a course to take positive social action against the troublesome elements within Hindu society (minority as they are), the author drags Islam into an internal Hindu matter. Rather than channel his intellectual energies on the problem at hand, his undisciplined mind has to drag Islam into the picture in a vain attempt at demonstrating that 2 wrongs make a right. Or worse still, that Islamic terror justifies Hindu terror.
If the author has been living in a cave for the last few years of his life, allow me shed some light on the current situation. Islamic terror gets far more air time in the world media than does Hindu terror. In other words, Hindu terror in the news is the exception, not the norm. Terrorism is the strategic use of fear and terror to attain a political objective, which is something Hindutva groups have elevated from a science to an art form (inflammatory rhetoric, vandalism, targeted mobs ect). If the author and some of his deluded followers think that terrorists are all turban wearing ak-47 wielding thugs, then I would say that his views of a terrorist belong in a Tom Clancy novel and not in reality.