The Malignant Mind

I shared this poster on my Facebook wall yesterday. In response, someone wrote this with a dollop of sarcasm:

“Agree, we don’t mind the country being looted, we don’t want to be proud of singing Vande Mataram, we don’t want to say Jai Hind but we will not allow even a handful of SECULAR (emoji expressing doubt) people being killed.”

(As you see, I have edited the screenshot of the post and the comment, retaining its essential parts alone. I have also blanked out the name and DP of the commentator. I hold him no grudge; and this is too serious an issue to get into a spat.)

From the crispness of his English you would have made out that the person is educated … at least in the conventional sense of the term. He is not a stinking trident-wielding saffron-clad foul mouth capable of lynching helpless men. As a matter of fact, I know that the individual who wrote this has had a successful career behind him. I believe he was a leader at his workplace and a lot of people would have looked up to him. In short, he is a normal, decent person like most of us.

But there are two minor and one major issues with what he says now. First, the minor ones:

Clearly, he believes the past scams, but not the present ones: Bofors was loot but VYAPAM and Rafale aren’t. Or perhaps, he refuses to go through the ample body of evidence on these scams that is available in the public domain, because he believes his party and his leader can do no wrong.

He has also prejudged me. He believes I have a problem with Vande Mataram and I don’t say Jai Hind. In other words, he has put a label on me without making the least effort to find out what my position on them is.

But far, far more importantly, this person believes it is fine if a terrorist organisation stalks an unarmed woman, Gowri Lankesh, for months and sends out three cold-blooded killers who would pump seven bullets into her frail body. Her crime? She was against RSS-BJP. So, her chronicle of death had to be foretold.

Yes, the most dreadful part of the despicable comment is that this normal, decent person, a former colleague of mine, thinks, and publicly says:

IT IS BLOODY ALL RIGHT TO KILL A HANDFUL OF SECULAR PEOPLE!

Oh Dear! When did we drown ourselves in this filthy muck? Who spread the poison in our mind? Jawahar Lal Nehru?

Whoever it was, please think how we can get rid of this malignant mindset. It’s a much bigger problem than elections, for which purpose the poster was originally designed. We must do something.

Stand up against the “ideology” that has been turning normal, decent Indians into spectators to or even devotees of heinous crimes against targeted individuals or groups. An ideology that makes people not only condone cold-blooded violence, but also encourage them. Tell everyone who would listen that the SS men who killed their six million victims in Germany, some of the men who sent people to gas chambers after removing their gold teeth, some of the men who threw babies into fire, … they were all normal decent men who had happy families and kissed their wife and children goodnight before drifting into perhaps peaceful sleep. Tell everyone who cares to listen that a combination of blind faith and atavistic fear of the “other” can turn ordinary people into perfect hate machines.

Stand up against the “ideology” that openly preaches murder, glorifies murderers, and shows absolutely no respect to the laws of the land.

Stand up and speak up. MURDER IS AN UNPARDONABLE CRIME. ENCOURAGING THE MURDERER IS EVEN WORSE.

16 March 2019

Pilot Project?

Wing Commander Abhinandan, whose aircraft was hit wile
he was engaged in dogfight with Pakistani aircraft over Pak
occupied Kasmir. He ejected and was captured by Pakistan Army

Yesterday (28/02/19), the Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan said he will send back the captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman to India as a “gesture of peace”.

We do not know if it really would be a gesture of peace, or the result of international diplomatic pressure, or if it was based on some sinister calculation. But on the face of it, this certainly is a civilized step in keeping with international laws.

Minutes after Imran Khan announced this, as the entire country was about to heave a collective sigh of relief, his counterpart here, Narendra Modi said; “Abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi.” (We have just completed a pilot project. Now we must do the real thing, the earlier one was practice.) [Reported in Times of India today]

What the heck does he mean?

Firstly, in response to a civilized gesture by a neighbouring country, our prime minister uses gutter language to address a grave national issue. In the process, he brings shame to every Indian. Remember Rajiv Gandhi and his infamous “naani yaad aa jayegi”?

Secondly, the tasteless pun between an Indian Airforce pilot and a pilot project in a lab cannot be missed. While the country looks forward to welcoming back a hero who almost lost his life defending his country, for this PM, this wonderful man is just a

PILOT PROJECT and tool for PRACTICE!!!

How much lower can our prime minister sink?

We know that we have an unrefined windbag as our PM, and the man is full of hubris. But has he lost his marbles? Didn’t he even recognise that this is too solemn a moment for mouthing cliched dialogues of third-rate Bollywood villains?

Finally, what does he mean by “Abhi real karna hai …”? To me, it seems nothing but a threat of going to war, ignoring the enormous cost of a war, both economic and in terms of human lives, something that should be obvious to even a child?

He is a prime minister because he won 31% of popular votes and a majority in Parliament. That does give him the power to rule. But at a time of national crisis, when a decision can plunge this already struggling country into devastation, can his be the only head to decide?

Should he not dispassionately judge the triggers and the consequences of a possible war? Shouldn’t he take the opposition into confidence? Should he not listen to experts who can quantify the humongous price that the country will pay in case of a war? Should he not try to assess what the people of the country want?

Respected Prime Minister, I know that the bikau media and your supporters are crying themselves hoarse, urging you to “teach them a lesson”, whatever the cost might be. We also know that through a relentless campaign to please you, a section of the media has been able to drum up some amount of hysteria.

But we, the people of India have not given the bikau media and your unthinking foot soldiers the right to represent us. Never, not in a million years.

*

As if the words were not terrible enough, the occasion Modi chose for chest thumping was far more inappropriate. It was the ceremony to award Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology. Bhatnagar Award is the most prestigious recognition for young scientists of our country. These are the men and women, some of who will go on to become the Prashanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, or APJ Abdul Kalam tomorrow.

And I would hang my head in shame if what the Times of Modi has reported this morning is true: “The applause (Modi's comments quoted above) generated made it clear that the audience had not interpreted it as related to their chores, but read it in the contemporary context that more action could follow in case Pakistan did not take action against Phulwama plotters.”

Cry, my Country.

Friday, 01 March 2019