VOWS FOR INDO-PAKISTAN CRICKET SEMI-FINALS & OTHER THOUGHTS

B.RAMAN


(From my Tweeter site (ramthink) )

VOW 1:We will start thinking positively of each other.

VOW 2:We will stop demonising each other.

VOW 3:We will take care not to hurt feelings of each other

VOW 4: Whoever wins, we will respect the defeated.

VOW 5: We will keep these vows even after the semi-finals,


2.Tweets sent by me on the morning of March 25,2011, to a Pakistani woman journalist

@Mehmal: I was sorry to hear of abusive tweets received by you from some people.U R not alone. I receive dozens of them every day.


@Mehmal: Abuses not from Pakistanis, but from fellow-Indians. My articles R carried by many intl web sites.I glance thro the comments.


@Mehmal: The abuses showered on me R mostly from fellow-Indians, rarely from Pakistanis.

@Mehmal: I have written hundreds of articles criticising Pakistan, LET, Tablighi Jamaat, JEM. JEI etc I receive E-mails from their supporters.


@Mehmal: They criticise my writings, but do not abuse me personally. No Pakistani has ever called me senile, dozens of Indians do--every day.

3.The following comments of mine were not tweeted.

4.This tendency to abuse people with whom they do not agree seems to be the unique contribution of some Hindutva elements to Indian culture.

5.I have received hundreds of abuses.Some of them indicative of the disturbing mindset are given below:

• Senile ( I have been so called hundreds of times)
• A lunatic who has escaped from the lunatic asylum.
• His cancer has affected his mental faculties.
• His cancer has spread to his brain.
• He must stop writing and enter a cancer clinic.
• Corrupt. Only a corrupt person will exchange tweets with Barkha Dutt ( the TV personality).
• Has formed a mutual admiration club with Barkha.
• Courier of Niiru Radia, the lobbyist, who carries her money to her Swiss accounts.
• By supporting Barkha,he has become the laughing stock of India.
• Erratic---brilliant in his analysis sometimes, pathetic on other occasions.( What they mean is I am brilliant when I am supportive of the BJP and pathetic when I am not )

6.To illustrate the mindset of these elements, I will cite the following: On the morning of March 23, I wrote an article questioning the fitness of Rahul Gandhi to lead India. They hailed me as a great ever-green analyst whom everybody should read. In the evening, I criticized the political incompetence of the BJP as revealed during the debate on the cash for votes issue in the Lok Sabha. The very same people who hailed me as a great analyst in the morning, condemned me as biased, a Congress (I) man etc.

7. This abusive campaign against me has been triggered by the following:

• My writings that some of the terrorist attacks did not appear to have been carried out by Muslims.
• My writings that some Hindus have taken to reprisal terrorism against Muslims.
• My recent advocacy of greater interactions with Pakistan outside the composite dialogue process.
• My strong support for Barkha and my writings that she has been wronged and sinned against.

8.I have been surprised by the pressure to which I have been subjected on the Barkha issue even by well-known people who do not have anything to do with the Hindutva elements. It is not because of the merits of the issue.

• One very senior Editor based in Delhi “warned” me in writing that he will not carry my writings on other subjects if I did not stop supporting Barkha.
• Another senior Editor expressed his “disappointment” in writing over my praising Barkha.
• Another person, writing on behalf of some NRIs in the US, cautioned me that they will stop reading my writings if I did not stop supporting Barkha.

9. I have been in receipt of many more such messages warning me, cautioning me, rebuking me on the Barkha issue. These people should remember one thing: I have never succumbed to pressure in my life. I am not going to do so in the evening of my life.

10.If the BJP and other Hindutva organizations do not control the abusive elements, their own credibility will be affected in the long run. It cannot just throw up its hands and say that it is not responsible for the abusive behaviour of its supporters. It is. (25-3-11)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )




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