I was listening to a discussion between Rajdeep Sardesai and
Assaudin Owaisi .For people who don’t know Assauddin Owaisi or Rajdeep Sardesai
,let me briefly introduce them .Assauddin Owaisi is brother of Akbaruddin
Owaisi .Their father and grandfather had
been booked also for making hate speeches in their times .Besides becoming
infamous for making rabid statements about the Hindus ,Akbaruddin also threw
chappals at Tasleema Nasreen and issued a fatwa to behead Salman Rushdie .Inshort
–he is a rabid fundamentalist,and grew
up in a atmosphere where spreading hate was common. .Rajdeep Sardesai is among
the most polished and educated political analysts we have .He is the son of
Dilip Sardesai ,Indias legendary batsmen and his mother is the famous Nandini
Sardesai who was the head of the department of Sociology at the St Xaviers
College Mumbai .She is a social activist .Rajdeeps wife is Sagarika Ghose –another well known
Television anchor who is also a Rhode scholar .
It was a fiery discussion .At one point of time Assauddin
Owaisi threatened to walk out .He was near hysterical .Rajdeep held his nerve
.He asked him over and over again whether he did not think that his brother had
made a speech which tantamounted to a
speech against the state(He has been booked under section 121 (waging or
attempting to wage war against the Govt of India ),and Section 124 (Sedition
–which could lead to life imprisonment if proved true).Assauddin kept denying
it and then brought in the inevitable . “What happened when Uma Bharati was
using inflammatory words to provoke the bringing down of the Babri Masjid.What do
you have to say to her when she said “Dakhaa lagaaoo,Masjid giraaaoo” .And
continues to hold the view that she did nothing wrong .Where were you Rajdeep
when inflammatory speeches were made in Gorakhpur .What happened when Varun
Gandhi made the speech in Pilibhit.You don’t try to be a judge .Let the law
take its own course ”?
Babri Masjid ,Godhra ,Varun Gandhi,Somnath ,-the ghosts of history do not go away .Watch any
discussion on the Godhra riots .I am not taking any sides because I am not sure
about the truth because I haven’t studied the reports of the various
commissions.But the Congress party always will try to bludgeon the BJP and
blame it for the large scale arson and riots that took place in its aftermath
.Thousands died .Immediately the BJP will respond by saying that the Congress
engineered the 1984 anti Sikh riots .!!And also the fact that people
responsible for it were actually made Ministers .The same argument that the
Congress uses when it says that a lady was made a Minister in the Gujrat Govt
post the Godhra riots .!!
So what does one witness ?The same tale of who came first
–the egg or the chicken .One justifying a wrong by quoting another wrong from
the past .One can keep debating about it till the cows come home .No one seems
to be debating as to what should be done to create a society that will be safe
for women to live in .Noone seems to be bothered about the crisis in schools
–there are no teachers and worse –there are no Principals willing to slug it
out with the mafias that control schools .No one is bothered about the lack of
parental involvement in the school that their child studies in .The Parent
Teachers meetings draw a very thin attendance .No one is bothered about the
time bomb of population that is eating into our development .No one is talking
about our failed foreign policy which has made India –Pak relations so fragile
that a nuclear war can happen today ,now .!!Just pause for a minute and think
.India says that 2 Indian soldiers were brutally killed by the Pak forces .Read
the comments on facebook . “Nahin chhoreyengey in ********** ko is bar”,says
one . “Our patience is now tiring”,says another . “Please ,we know your
government is impotent ,but stop the rape of our motherland by these b*******ds
“,says another .Now weigh the the
options we have .I think anyone conversant with nuclear war knows that there
will be no winner or loser in case it breaks out .We cant go to war .And
anything we do in a clandestine way is not going to satisfy anyone .It has to
be seen (the punitive action),-but I am afraid we have no such option .The
Pakistani ambassador to India looked like a cat who had lapped up all the milk when he remarked “Our
army is not trained to do things you are talking about.These are baseless
allegations”.The ghost of 1947 has not gone away .And neither will .You can
kill a physical identity –but how can one kill a ghost !!
The curse of history has cast a spell on the nation .Unfortunately
our long and glorious past is also home to some stinking skeletons .Maybe the
skeletons are there , when a country has such a long history .They act like
speedbreakers .At times they confront us as walls .We need to learn to drive
over them –the speedbreakers –or climb over the wall .All major civilizations
of the past with a brilliant past and a list of achievements fell prey to this
factor (for reference please do read Arnold Toynbees great work on the rise and fall of civilizations
).We need to learn from our past. Otherwise
what Karl Marx said many years ago will
haunt us yet again “Historical facts appear as it were twice –the first time as
tragedy and second time as a farce “. Or
as Edmund Burke had said “Those who do not learn from History are doomed to
repeat it “.
I hope that we make study of History compulsory in school
and college .No matter what course one
enrolls in .!!
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