It appears that, even as the UP CM has asked one of her cabinet colleagues to resign because of his involvement in murder, yet another political career is being created in Maharashtra based on an attack on a journalist. It seems that politics is now a refuge for all the hooligans, scoundrels and lawless elements in India. All that Mr. Ketkar did in his Loksatta editorial was to ironically comment that Maharashtra had evidently solved all its problems, which was why it could afford to build a statue of Shivaji to arise out of the Arabian Sea. Evidently, one Mr. Methe thought that an attack on Mr. Ketkar was just what he needed to start his political career with a bang.

From the bending of rules to enable relatives of powerful politicians to get into business, to the attacks on and murder of activists auditing the NREGS programme in the districts of India--it seems our politicians are capable of any crime under the sun.

We cannot rely on any political party to be more honest than the last--the moment a party comes into power, it forgets the people. There are times when it even forgets the nation, in the interests of winning the next election. This is plainly the case with those parties that are organizing bandhs to protest against the recent rise in petroleum prices. Evidently, the nation’s coffers are to be sucked dry by politicians, who’d like everything to be subsidized, so that they can continue to win elections ad infinitum. Why on earth our 80-year-old prime ministerial candidates cannot show some maturity when discussing fiscal issues--especially when they have had a spell in power and know what it it is like to govern--is something that still causes wonder. Whenever there is a terrorist attack, the party in power is assailed. Why Indian geriatrics continue to act like juveniles when seeking political office is totally beyond comprehension.

So the Gurjjars have been on a rampage lately--evidently, they want to be included in the list of Scheduled Castes, so that they also have a chance to get government jobs. Rajasthan saw a lot of violence, and Delhi saw a strike the other day. There are indications that this agitation will also affect neighboring states--Punjab, Gujarat and UP.

I think we need to take a long, hard look at the system of reservations. Has it actually helped castes (or just select families of caste leaders) gain social mobility? Is this mobility greater in urban or rural areas? Has this mobility enabled castes to change status over the last three generations? Is reservation a substitute for a good system of primary and secondary school education for the working classes (urban and rural) ? Has the system of reservation helped people who got jobs in the reserved quota feel more or less professionally competent than their peers from the general category? And this is not something that can be left to the political class, because this class is quite content to throw government money and jobs to the people in an effort to retain power. This is a job that those who now ask for inclusion in lists of SC, ST or OBC groups have to ask themselves.

Based on their findings, they will have to then decide whether or not the system of reservations is working. If only the families of caste leaders have gained social mobility, then there will have to be a cut off from the fourth generation--only three generations of an SC, ST or OBC family can benefit from the reservation system and the fourth generation has to be included in the general category. If it is found that SCs, STs and OBCs based in urban areas benefit more from the reservation system, then the place of residence and education has to be given due weightage. And at the same time, people have to set up schools for their locality--there's no point getting a seat reserved if education itself is unavailable.

A young girl, the daughter of a dentist couple, gets murdered--and we not only see a media feeding frenzy, because of the plethora of 24/7 news channels--but we also see the Noida cops behaving abominably, with no reprimands forthcoming from the UP administration. So, as is usual with all cases that are bungled by the local police force. the CBI is called in.

Why is it that our politicians and babus are unable to bring the local (state-level) police force up to scratch? Why are policemen, especially at the lower levels, forced to live subhuman lives so that they have little or no enthusiasm to do a professional job? Our politicians--who are far too busy managing their constituencies and remaining in permanent campaign mode (rather the way Scott McClellan described his ex-boss, the present President Bush)--have little or no time to pay attention to improving the administration or the crime-fighting apparatus. They’re too busy using the local police force to take on their political rivals, or using the lure of jobs to get recruits to pay for jobs in the police (very French ancien regime--I’m sure Louis XIV’s valet would have recognized the procedure!)

When I look at modern India, I’m reminded of 18th or early 19th century Britain--the land of appalling maladministration (remember the novels of Charles Dickens) and political corruption (rotten boroughs--think of any political constituency in India). Also of the post-Civil War US, when corruption was a regular part of life, not only in the state government, but also at the federal level. However, all that changed with the gradual rise to power of the middle class, and on its insistence on law and order. Hence, you saw the setting up of the Metropolitan Police Force in the UK and Theodore Roosevelt’s support for the muckrackers (who exposed political and economic scandals) in the US.

Let us hope--after the successful conclusion of the Nitish Katara, Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Mattoo cases--that the middle class gets ready to fight for an efficient state police force, which can not only fight crime but also stave off terrorist threats, with federal help if required, but on its own if necessary. Such a police force should be able to use the law and scientific investigation, not just the lathi and third-degree methods, to win against crime.

Why can’t our MPs and politicians act like adults? Yesterday, they allowed the Finance Minister to table the Economic Survey in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, then spent the rest of the day raising Cain in the house, which led to Parliament being adjourned. The excuse? They wanted their various electorates to know that they had raised the issue of waiving agricultural loans in Parliament, before the issue was raised in the Budget. If they expect their electorate to be impressed by their childish tactics, they’re sadly mistaken. Those who have TVs will have seen the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr. Somnath Chatterjee, reprimanding his charges, rather like an exasperated headmaster with a bunch of unruly children. However, comparing our not-so-honorable MPs to children is an insult to the latter--even the most unruly child would not deliberately behave so badly!

Another piece of news that appeared in the Delhi edition of yesterday’s Statesman--it appears that the Kashmiri migrant families camped on NDMC land (the community hall at Bapu Dham in Chanakya Puri) have been asked to move, to their one-room DDA flats in Dwarka. Now, you may well ask--has the Delhi government been kind enough to give these flats gratis? Evidently not--the migrants have paid Rs. 72,000 and are supposed to raise sums of Rs. 2,000 a month when they receive no more than Rs. 2,400 a month as relief. No wonder, then, that Panun Kashmir, the organization that voices the grievances of the displaced Kashmiri Pandit families, has criticized the government’s move to rehabilitate the kinsfolk of terrorists. However, it appears from this report that not all internally displaced people (IDPs) are equal in India--the Kashmiri Pandits are better off than IDPs from Tripura. In fact, the Sikhs displaced due to the 1984 riots are demanding compensation levels equal to those given to Kashmiri migrants.

Which brings me to the issue of de-sealing commercial establishments in Delhi’s unauthorized colonies. Evidently, the Supreme Court has issued an interim order to this effect. I hope this leads to a coherent policy on land use in the capital--we don’t want sealing and de-sealing operations to be carried on because of poll compulsions and not because of policy considerations.

In fact, why can’t our politicians understand that the people want change and mature leadership? They are no longer interested in leaders who raise a ruckus in the legislature, but in people who can get work done in an organized and efficient manner. And the bureaucracy should also enable the creation of well-thought out and coordinated policies by getting various central and state agencies to work together. For instance, why not create a well-thought out policy on IDPs, whether they are from Kashmir, Tripura or any other state? Ensure that displaced people have access to housing, healthcare, welfare/work and education, and can participate in elections. And the same goes for land use--instead of the party in power changing its mind every time it faces the electorate. If such a policy is seen to be good and to produce results that benefit the people, it should not be changed just because the party in power changes. If we can come up with fairly consistent policies for economic development, surely we can come up with consistency on land use and the treatment of IDPs?

We’ve had the great and the good from the Mumbai film industry refuse, frequently, to accept responsibility for encouraging violent social behaviour, smoking and other vices through their doubtless well-performed appearances in films and advertisements. However, there are certain car advertisements that should be given a second look,keeping in mind the car accident near India Gate early this morning. I’m referring to the car ads in which Shah Rukh Khan is shown racing against a female driver and another in which Saif Ali Khan tries all kinds of driving stunts to persuade Rani Mukherjee to join him for a coffee. Car makers should remember that:

• India has the world’s worst drivers--they don’t follow rules and use the horn indiscriminately.


• India also has, or will soon have, a high traffic density on its roads.


• India also has a large group of young drivers, who think nothing of drinking and driving. Look at the four young people involved in the accident early this morning--all of them college students!

Hence the need for car manufacturers to advertise responsibly. Please include a disclaimer (similar to that shown in the Coca Cola India ad.) advising drivers not to follow the stunts shown in television advertisements. Although I quite agree with the young lady in the ad when she hits the injured driver’s broken leg--he’d driven very dangerously indeed to lay his hands on a Coke bottle.

So now Raj Thackeray wants the Indian constitution to be rewritten, to allow for both provincial and national citizenship. He now claims to be an Indian Thomas Jefferson fighting for states’ rights. In my not-so-humble opinion, Bal Thackeray resembles John C. Calhoun, whose greatest claim to fame was as the inspiration for the secessionist Confederate States of America, whereas Raj Thackeray resembles Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Confederacy in the US Civil War. His diatribes against north Indian migrants working and living in Maharashtra have seen factory workers in Nashik voting with their feet. The fact that so many people flock from all parts of India to work in Mumbai or in Maharashtra should be a matter of pride--it means that there is more than enough work for everyone. And frankly, I for one support the contention of our founding fathers that provincial citizenship should not be a part of the Indian constitution. Unlike the US, where the people were originally migrants from Europe, Africa and Asia, and where balkanization is not so likely, the people of India have very strong cultural and social ties to their province. If provincial citizenship became a part of the Indian constitutional set-up, it might well lead to the balkanization of the country. The policy of allowing Indian citizens to live and work wherever they please can only strengthen the country and add to the richness of its cultural heritage. Of course, the fact that Raj Thackeray was let off after posting bail makes one wonder if the Congress-NCP government is not trying to use the MNS to increase its vote bank at the expense of the Shiv Sena. Maybe the Congress has not yet learnt its lesson from the Punjab insurgency--encouraging a secessionist force can only lead to a cycle of violence, which can destroy lives and nations.

Indian politicians’ obsession with vote banks and wealth is the reason why so many young people have no respect for politics. There was a time when politics was synonymous with self-sacrifice and nation-building--now, it is seen as a refuge for scoundrels or criminals, who use political power to amass unaccounted wealth for future generations or as a cloak for illegal activities. Why on earth should politicians expect to be looked up to by Indian youth, who are far more interested in working hard to better themselves? They, like Voltaire’s Candide, are busy cultivating their own gardens, doing their own little bit to make this country better. Where can we find the vision of an Asoka or an Akbar to create a united and prosperous country? As the movie makes clear, both Jodhaa (never mind if that was not her real name) and Akbar have to work hard to create the Ganga-Jamuni culture that our grandparents spoke of with pride and that our politicians are bent upon destroying for their narrow, selfish ends of setting up an unbeatable vote bank.

The Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra arrested Raj Thackeray and then released him on bail.This did not prevent the departure of many non-Maharashtrians (10,000 at the last count) from Nashik and other cities in Maharashtra. It also failed to prevent the death of one Maharashtrian and the destruction of public property, such as buses, which were burnt, as is the ritual with ostentatious demonstrations of anti-government, if not anti-constitutional sentiment. Anti-constitutional, because the Indian constitution does not prevent a citizen of this country from settling in any part of this country. As a Punjabi from Delhi, I have every right to go to Chennai and take up a job there, as does any other Indian. We do not have a system of dual (national and state) citizenships, as exists in the US.

Let’s be very clear about a few things. The Thackerays, far from being the preservers of Marathi culture, are its worst enemies. They have done much to make goonda politics the politics of Mumbai. And they have done much to bring about an association between their brand of uninclusive Marathi culture and the goonda method of achieving a goal.

To bring an end to goonda raj, not just in Mumbai but all over India, those political parties that encourage their cohorts to damage public property, such as buses, hospitals and other buildings, should be made to pay for the replacement of said public property. Therefore, Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, and not Vijaypat Singhania, should pay to replace the hospital at Thane that was destroyed by Sena goons when one of their leaders died there. And Raj Thackeray’s MNS, not the Maharashtra government, should pay compensation to the man killed in the riots that took place yesterday. He was, after all, a fellow Maharashtrian!

Talking of an inclusive Indian culture reminds me of this interesting article on the impact that Malyali women, who have married Haryanvi husbands, have had on their marital homes. As the author points out, these women are well-educated and employed. However, they are unable to find suitable matches in their home states due to the demand for heavy dowries. Many are able to negotiate terms to suit their needs. They have refused to participate in polyandrous arrangements, live in a joint family set up or follow the practice of female infanticide. Small steps, but let us hope that this is enough to bring about a change in Haryana, which is famous as the state where the buffaloes are better cared for than the women.

Maybe this is what our great regional satraps need to think about--that the creation of an Indian identity will bring about the union of opposites to create something better and richer than that which existed previously. If we think only of Maharashtra or Gujarat, Haryana or Kerala, we might very well end up with a disunited country--a situation very similar to the one that existed before Mahmud Ghazni’s or Mohammad Ghori’s invasions. It appears that the Thackerays, amongst others, believe with Henry Ford that "History is bunk"--if they inflict their belief on us, we will be forced to relive our history of repeated invasions and colonization.

So BCCI has managed to get the rich and famous all over India to bid for the favour of owning their cricket teams. Maybe this is a trend that other sports organizations in India should follow--it might help the Indian women’s hockey team to free themselves of government control and state patronage, which is sometimes extremely irksome. For instance, team members were not told of a dedicated grant of 5 lakhs given to the Indian Hockey Federation to purchase equipment. And members of the women’s team had to spend an extremely uncomfortable night in the Karnail Singh Stadium dormitories due to sheer negligence. One is aware that the Ambanis, Mallyas, Juhi Chawlas and Shah Rukh Khans of this world do not patronize cricket out of a spirit of altruism--owning your own sports team does wonders for their image in the media--but it would be wonderful to see some of India’s rich and famous patronize our weightlifters, swimmers, tennis players, footballers, athletes and hockey players. Cricket might be the most popular sport at this moment, but other sports could also do with much public, not state, patronage and coverage by the media.

And talking of cricket, it appears to be losing its lustre as a sport for gentlemen, as seen during the recent Bhajji-Symonds spat. It’s unusual to see grace, such as that displayed by Brett Lee and Alan Glichrist, who congratulated the Indian team on winning a test match. Aggression and competition have their place in sport, but so does the admission that your opponent is playing well and deserves to do as well as you do. I hope the Indian team and Indian players emulate the behaviour of Lee and Gilchrist when possible, not just the agression of Ponting, Clarke and Hayden.

Raj Thackeray, formerly of the Shiv Sena, now of the Maharashtra Navnirma Sena, has chosen to criticise Amitabh Bachchan’s interest in Uttar Pradesh,even as he demands that festivals celebrated in North India and Bihar not be celebrated in Maharashtra. This is all of a piece with the Shiv Sena ideology of the 1970s--Maharashtra for the Maharashtrians. However, this kind of provincialism goes against the spirit of Indian nationalism--unlike the US states, the Indian states do not have a separate citizenship. An Indian is an Indian, never mind where he comes from and where he chooses to live and work. Moreover, Thackeray’s statements could lead to bad blood in Mumbai, between its Maharashtrian and non-Maharashtrian population. It seems that both uncle and nephew feel they can only come to power on the back of a divisive ideology. They both appear to suffer from the Lucifer syndrome--better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven.

So the New Year arises from the ashes of the old--what with Benazir Bhutto’s assassination and the appointment (or the anointing of her son Bilawal as her successor as PPP Chairman). If the Americans congratulate themselves on their comparative woman-friendliness and their democratic credentials, they should look at this analysis of Hillary Clinton’s victory by Susan Faludi--she shows how Clinton exemplifies the competent care that Hillary Clinton and women of her generation exemplify, the kind of care a mature state such as the United States requires. My dream team would be Clinton-Obama--let us hope it does come to pass and does not remain a dream.

Looking homeward, it was good to know that twelve people were convicted in the Bilquis Bano case in Gujarat. However, it was horrible to read about the schoolgirl who was raped in Unnao in UP. It is appalling that a teacher would use a position of trust in such a manner. No wonder UP figures as one of the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh) with these kinds of attitudes prevailing amongst those of its inhabitants who are fortunate enough to have an education and a job. Fortunately for the girl, even though her family hesitated to go to the police, her friends at school did not hesitate to beat up the perpetrators, which led to the police being called in. Of course, one of the accused claims that he has been arrested on false charges.

The right wing, too, does not seem to have changed its tactics--it seems to feel that might is right, witness the ransacking of NDTV offices in Ahmedabad. Evidently, the right cannot use words and logic in place of bricks and fists to make a point. And until it does learn to use words and logic sanely to make its point, the right will not be taken seriously by the middle class.

So there’s cheer and hubris in the BJP party office, as they dream of replicating their Gujarat triumph across India.At the risk of sounding facetious, I wonder what the BJP leaders would drink to celebrate victory. If they’re teetotalers, champagne would be out, so would they celebrate with Gangajal instead? Although, considering the level of pollution in India’s holiest river, I wonder if they would risk it--they’d probably end up with some horrible digestive disorder.

Of course, the Modi victory has been hailed abroad, amongst the Gujarati diaspora. I’m being very cautious here--no one spoke of responses from the Indian diaspora as a whole. It seems to be a sad fact, but once Indians go abroad, they tend to cling to people who share their caste and language affiliations, rather than a broad Indian affiliation. The Indian identity tends to break down, in favour of a Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Brahmin or Sikh identity. Evidently, the Gujarati diaspora wants Modi to get a US visa. I’d prefer to get him a UK visa and see him tried for the deaths of two British nationals, who were killed in the course of the 2002 riots. Their crime--being born Muslim. Even a British passport could not save them.

So what should the centrist parties do to face the Modi onslaught? They’re in a position very similar to that faced by the governments of Britain and France after the Depression, with the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in Italy and Gernamy. Both Hitler and Mussolini were popular with businessmen, because "the trains ran on time." Industrialists and workers in Germany and Italy were organised in groups and the government did its utmost to encourage good relations, in an effort to improve production, and then set up an army that would (it was claimed) fight the communists in Russia. However, Mussolini began by trying to take over Ethiopia, whereas Hitler began with the takeover of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Prime Minister Chamberlain and his French counterpart did not wake up until Poland was attacked.

What the Congress and like-minded parties need to do is to focus on development and good governance. Why should it be a Modi prerogative? The Congress, especially, needs to focus on developing strong leaders in each state. What you now have is a bunch of quarrelling and sycophantic courtiers in the Congress party. And it needs to take itself seriously as a secular party. So see to it that Mr. Tytler receives a proper trial, not just an exoneration certificate from the CBI, for his role in the 1984 riots. Only then can you afford to call Modi a "merchant of death".

So the voters of Gujarat have proved wrong the old adage that "you can fool some people all the time and all the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time." They have been cleverly manipulated into electing a man who may well have been behind the riots of 2002. His victory is not dissimilar to that of another demagogue who was supported by the business class in his country and eventually led it to defeat and ruin some twelve years later. In fact, Adolf Hitler too was a media manipulator and orator who pushed the Germans into World War II, talking of a hundred year reich and gave them a defeated, broken, divided and humiliated nation some six years later. One hopes that Modi will not do the same to Gujarat, if not to India. The fear is that the BJP might decide to follow the Modi model elsewhere in India,ignoring the fact that what might work in a prospering state with a large number of high-caste voters and a small minority population might not work elsewhere in India.

The other problem I have with the BJP and Narendra Modi is the response one gets from the average Hindu, whose relationship with his/her religion might extend to no more than a visit to the local temple, the recitation of a few shlokas, a blind adherence to faith and an equally blind belief in the greatness of "Hindu" (read ancient) India. They remind me a lot of Alberuni’s description of the Indians he met--they believe that no country is greater than theirs, no gods are greater and no knowledge is greater than theirs. If we have this attitude when we are yet on the path to development, how will we be able to develop further?

If we are to be truly honest, so-called "Hindu" India was largely Jain and Buddhist--Brahmanical Hinduism lost its popularity with the spread of agriculture, as opposed to the herding society described in the Vedas. Hinduism underwent a great transformation during that period, losing many of its Vedic elements and acquiring many pre-Vedic elements, such as mother goddess worship, and also elements not even mentioned in the Vedas, such as the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and the Manusmriti, the bane of women and the lower castes. Many of the worst excesses of Hinduism, such as the prohibition against travelling beyond the seven seas, came about in the early medieval period, when trade with the Roman Empire dried up due to the Hun invasions in North India and Europe. Buddhism and Jainism, which defied the Vedas, could only be defeated by the adherents of Advaitavada--those who acknowledged that all atmas are also part of Parmatma (all-soul), which theoretically meant that differences of caste or sex were unimportant if one was truly devoted to the gods.

Much of what is best about Hinduism came about through its interaction with Islam and modern European thought. I’m referring to the Bhakti movement, which sought to go beyond temples and rituals and priests to create a personal relationship between devotees and the gods they worshipped. I’m also referring to the Brahmo Samaj of Rammohan Roy, which fought against Sati, Iswarchandra Vidyasagar who fought for widow remarriage and Swami Vivekananda, who dreamt of a religion that would unite the Advaitavada of Hinduism with the egalitarianism of Islam--"a Hindu head on an Islamic body" is how Swamiji put it. His guru, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, had lived as a Brahmin, a Muslim and a woman and experienced Parmatma in all three guises.

This is what the "Hindus" of today seem to forget. They claim to be marginalized and ignored in a country where they are the majority. It’s a little like an 800-pound gorilla claiming that it is being terrorised by mice! They fail to realize that fear is often used to win votes--and this fear may have no basis in reality. At one time, grannies would tell kids to go to sleep, else the buddha baba would come get them. Now, politicians tell the people to vote for them, else face terrorist attacks. President Bush has done it in the US and it appears that the BJP, although it fears the 123 agreement as a threat to India’s nuclear ambitions, is quite ready to follow his example in its election strategy.

So now the Election Commission will question Sonia Gandhi about her "merchants of death" remark, which led to Narendra Modi’s admissions regarding the Sohrabuddin encounter killing.Modi and the BJP claim that his remarks on the Sohrabuddin case were in reaction to what Mrs. Gandhi said about him. This is a wonderful illustration of the Hindi idiom, ulta chor kotwal ko dante (the thief rebukes the policeman). Let’s also hope the Congress president decides to let those party members who stand accused in the 1984 riots get their just desserts.

There are basically two points of view regarding the remarks made about and by Modi, which are stated very clearly by Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar and Vir Sanghvi. According to Aiyar, the "merchants of death" remark made by Mrs. Gandhi and the subsequent discussion of the Sohrabuddin episode has only served to remind people that Modi is seen as a protector of Hindus against fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. This will lead to a Modi victory in Gujarat, because he will portray this remark as a slur on Gujarati pride. According to Sanghvi, Modi’s posture is very similar to that adopted by Adolf Hitler and differs sharply from the Hindutva line as preached by LK Advani--please recall that Advani himself had said in yesterday’s Mail Today that it was OK to call Modi Hitler. Therefore, the Congress should not soft-pedal the riots of 2002 or the Sohrabuddin killing, whether or not it wins against Modi this time.

The other issue related to the Gujarat elections is that of development. Evidently, Modi’s plan was to focus on the economic development that has taken place in Gujarat. However, as this report plainly shows, Gujarat has a growth rate of 8.11 percent, with debts of Rs. 95,000 crore this year. These statistics are taken from a state government report. Anemia and malnutrition have increased, poverty lines have been redefined, food grain production has declined and most Gujarati farmers are in in debt to the tune of Rs. 15,526 (average). The Gujarat government has finally begun to admit that farmers are committing suicide--official figures claim 403 suicides over five years, but unofficial figures are larger. Hopefully, the Gujarati voter will be intelligent enough to see through all this rhetoric, demagoguery and jugglery with figures.

Regarding the Sohrabuddin episode, as one-time special counsel to the Gujarat government, KTS Tulsi states in his interview to Tehelka given after his resignation, the official statement of the state government, which it made regarding the killing (that evidence was planted by police officers and the killing was a cold-blooded murder) and the speech made by Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad (where he asked people what should be done with people who store guns or are terrorists) shows a diametrical opposition in views. On the one hand, the state government is trying to claim that the policemen were acting on their own initiative and on the other, Modi is trying to drum up support for the extra-judicial killing of suspects. If, as a democracy, we have to oppose terror of any kind, we have to use better intelligence-gathering methods, train and equip our policemen and soldiers, not use them as political tools and let them do their jobs within the legal framework. State terror may have worked thirty years ago against the Naxal menace--it will no longer work in a world that has spoken up against Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.

The Delhi state government, in its wisdom, has analyzed accident data and realized that every second victim of an accident is a pedestrian. So they’ve decided to slap a fine of Rs. 100 on every pedestrian who does not use the zebra crossing, does not observe the traffic flow when crossing the road or does not use the footpath, foot-bridges and subways wherever provided. However, there’s a sticking point--where exactly are the footpaths?

That’s an easy question to answer if you live in Lutyens’ Delhi--the footpaths are nice and wide, if a little too high for even the able-bodied, let alone people with disabilities to use. But where in South Delhi can you find a footpath? For instance, if I look at the road that leads into Saket from the Sheraton end, the footpaths have all been dug up and all you see are heaps of dust. If I look for footpaths from the PVR end, I am likely to find said footpaths infested by hawkers, scooter wallahs and the like. So where is the footpath that the Delhi pedestrian (and I don’t mean just those going walkabout in Lutyens’ Delhi) are expected to use? There are no footpaths in South Extension--all you will find are narrow roads. There might be footpaths in GK, but are the crossings properly indicated?

I hate sounding like a snob, but the UK is a more pedestrian-friendly and cyclist-friendly society when compared with India. We might have a larger number of pedestrians, but you’ll find nice, wide footpaths, not too high for a wheelchair user or a mother taking her kids to the supermarket anywhere you go in the UK. You have proper pedestrian crossings, not just zebra crossings--you need not look at the flow of traffic or at a distant traffic light to decide whether or not you should cross. You press the button and get a signal (audio and visual) to walk or not. This is especially useful for those who have auditory or visual disabilities. As it is, UK pavements are much lower when compared to pavements in India--you don’t feel as though you need a hand up when you move from the road to the pavement as you do here. Pedestrian crossings are sloped and somewhat lower than the pavement, which makes it easier for a wheelchair user to move from the pavement to the road.

In the UK, you don’t really feel the need for a car--London itself has an excellent public transport system, as does Oxford. However, the activity that most Indians who visit the UK would indulge in, if they really enjoy it, is walking--to the market, to the bookshops, to the cinema or anywhere at all. In the UK, although I was an alien, I did not feel hemmed in at all--I felt as free as a bird, as I went about my daily activities. Here, in Delhi, one feels totally handicapped without a car. We need a change.

This is the response I received from one of the readers of this blog. I feel it is necessary to respond to some of the points raised--my correspondent has chosen to put together several issues in an effort to express his ideas:

Just one thing I would like to disagree with and definitely what I will say is not politically correct but its the truth nevertheless and I fear that in trying to be politically correct we are edging towards loosing our freedom in our own country. My point is regarding the parallel you have drawn between Taslima Nasreen and Maqbool Fida Hussain and would like you to note that both are extremely different situations which cannot be compared.

Maqbool Fida Hussain depicted Mother India and the Goddesses of the Hindu Religion as Naked Women in obscene postures and both Mother India and The Goddesses are of objects of worship and reverence. Now its important to note that though freedom of expression should be permitted but where do we draw the line, even rape is an expression, so should we allow rape or murder or stealing? Religion, you must understand, is a very personal phenomenon and nobody has the right to to humiliate some one's personal sentiments, wouldn't you agree? Maybe you didn't mind your godesses and country being portrayed as a Naked Woman but others did, so are they wrong? If Maqbool Fida Husain or anyone were to depict your family in a manner which you found obscene what would you do? And what would you do if others would say he did no wrong? How would you feel? What would Madhuri say if he drew her naked sitting on someone lap? It was only right that the Hindu's protested and they should not be called fundamentalists because they rose in defence of what they perceived was a degradation of their faith & country by someone who does not even belong to the Hindu Religion and I don't believe that branding them as fundamentalists is the correct thing to do or even comparing them to Islamic Fundamentalists who kill innocent men, women and children and who behead people like goats.

Now if you take into notice Tasleema Nasreen and what she did you will realize how different both situations are. Tasleema wrote about the atrocities committed by a Majority Muslim Community in Bangladesh on the Hindu Minority & women in general. These atrocities involved, denial of voting rights, denial of civic amenities, abduction and rape of Hindu women and murder of Hindu men apart from conversions. Case in point being that when Bangladesh was formed it contained a population of 30% Hindus today the Hindu Population in Bangladesh is less than 10%. Why and How did this happen. The Muslim population in India rose from 5% to almost 30% today. Tasleema wrote about Fundamentalist Islam and the human rights violation of the Hindu people in bangladesh and she herself was a Muslim., so did she do a wrong thing? This is what she is being hounded for today by Muslims, for speaking the truth. Now you tell me is there any similarity between the two situations as is made out to be.

Now getting back to Fundamentalism, it is important for you to understand that Hindu's are not Fundamentalists by Nature and neither does their religion preach them to be fundamentalists but it also doesn't teach them to take everything lying down. Islam on the other hand can be quite Fundamentalist in its approach towards non-Muslims, which clearly explains the Jaziya tax and other laws which were enforced on the Hindus during Islamic Rule in India. Another Case in point being that Islamic Terrorism and Islamic Fundamentalism is not an Indian Centric phenomenon, born because of Hindu Extremists as it is made out to be by our politicians and media, instead it is a Global Menace which plagues every Country, be it the European Union, the United Kingdom, the USA , Russia or any other part of the world but these nations have recognized the threat and implemented stringent laws. But why has our Nation not woken up to this threat. The answer is simple, This is no Hindu-Muslim issue, this is vote bank politics which plagues our Nation. And the Hindu people are the silent victims.

Christians continue to proliferate on our soil and continue to carry out mass conversions but when Hindu organizations speak out against it, they are branded as Fundamentalists, so who is the real fundamentalist, those who protest or those who convert?

Thousands of Hindu people have died in terrorists attacks and continue to die. Hindu Temples, place of Pilgrimage, Festivals are all targets of Islamic Fundamentalists. What happened in kashmir, who speaks about the displaced Hindus or about Hindus in others areas of India who are living in a Muslim Majority. Or who takes interviews of Hindu families who have lost loved ones in terror strikes, nobody. Everybody talks about the Babri Masjid demolition as a shame but none speaks of the countless temples and homes of Hindus destroyed in Kashmir. We continue to talk about peace and love with Pakistan and many Pakis enjoy their lives in India but how many Indian enjoy theirs in Pakistan, this entire equation is quite one sided which is why its not working out. We welcome Pakis and choose to forget the extreme number of deaths these very Pakistanis have inflicted upon India and Indians and continue to do so.

Is the sacrifice of those people in vain? Or are we so selfish that we have forgotten the blood of our ancestors, of Martyrs, which has spilled on Indian soil so that one day we could enjoy our freedom since the advent of the Mughals. So many Hindu women committed Johar, why? have we forgotten their blood. So many brave men died on the battle field defending their land and their religion , have we forgotten them today?

Have you ever thought why India, great and glorious India, the golden bird, center of knowledge and learning which contained two of the greatest International Universities, Taxaxila and Nalanda, which gave the education system to the world, where no one was poor, where women were free and where gandharva vivah originated, once a strong great and proud nation, was reduced to the pitiful condition we are witness to today. Do you think it was only the 150-200 years of british rule which did this. Nay the degeneration of India Started much before, since the advent of the mughals, destruction of our temples, our places of learning, our universities and our entire way of life was crushed by the Mughal invaders and this oppression continued for 700 years. Over 1400 generations of slavery. Imagene what the Taliban did in Afghanistan in the 21st century, imagine what happened in India over 1000 years ago? Imagine? Then ask yourself , what have you done to repay the debt which you carry in your blood, the debt of the blood of your forefathers who died defending your faith & your lands. What have you done for your people who continue to die even today, simply because they are stupid and their government doesn't care. Do you repay this debt by defending the likes of Maqbool Fida Hussain?

In Northern Indian there are hardly any Hindu Historical Monuments, why? Why is the Sun Temple of Konark not in the list of world heritage sites, which is a much older and has a much more brilliant architecture than either the Taj, or Humauns Tomb or the Qutub Minar all of which are in that list from India. The Qutub Minar, being built by the rubble of destroyed Hindu temples and this is written in the Encyclopedia and is not false propaganda. I think we have taken this level of freedom, love and brotherhood too far, be slapped on one cheek and turn the other. We will not survive like this and neither will our freedom or our religion.

Geelani, convicted of Masterminding the Parliament attack was sentenced to death by the Supreme court a year back, why has his hanging been stalled by the Govt of India, the answer is simple, Vote Bank Politics. The Muslims are a united and thus a consolidated vote bank, the Hindus though, a fast depleting majority, are divided on caste lines and thus not really a Majority which clearly explains the pandering of Muslims by political parties in our country because being united they are a bigger vote bank.

And they make the Hindus believe through media that nothing is wrong and that its all our fault because if the Hindus see the truth then these political parties will no longer have a free day. This pandering is a dangerous trend because it will in the future become the cause of a lot of strife.

There should be a single law applicable to all the people, why have different law for Hindus and different for Muslims and others. Why this distinction, if the country is one and everybody equal then why different laws? If the Hindus are ready to accept a Uniform Civil Code then why are not the Muslims people ready for this, if they are as liberal as everbody makes them out to be. Infact it is very important, to protect the future of this nation, that such a code be implemented, better face little trouble now and secure the future rather than face no trouble now and destroy the future, don't you think? Or like others you believe "kal kisne dekha hai?" or "are tab hum thodi na zinda honge, hamme kay?" If one law is implemented then there can be no Vote Bank Politics and everybody will truly be equal. The interests of the Nation & of innocent people should be above all, even above a flawed concept of democracy which rests on Vote Banks, don't you think?

My correspondent has raised some interesting points, such as:

1. the perceived "difference" in the cases of Taslima Nasreen and Maqbool Fida Hussain
2. the so-called "tolerant" nature of Hinduism and thus its non-fundamentalist nature
3. the global nature of Islamic terror
4. the various wrongs inflicted upon Hindus
5. the need for a uniform civil code
6. the fact that Geelani, who masterminded the attack on the Indian Parliament, has not yet been hanged, even though he was condemned to die by the Supreme Court

To take the case raised point by point--If anybody is offended by the facts raised by Nasreen or the art created by Hussain, they have an option--do not open that book and do not visit that art gallery. Find an intelligent way to defend your position, other than banning the work and condemming the artist. Hussain's depiction of goddesses as nudes has a long tradition in art, both ancient and modern. The problem is that our education system does not enable people to appreciate the varieties of art housed in our museums. We are merely taught the names of artists--Hussain, Jamini Roy, Souza, Amrita Shergill, Vivan Sundaram--we are not taught to see their work and how it fits into the tradition of Indian and international art.

The fact that Hindus have chosen to act in almost as barbaric a manner as their Muslim fellow citizens did during the Salman Rushdie fracas proves that Hindus can be as fundamentalist (or would like to be as fundamentalist) as their Muslim fellow citizens. Also take a good look at what happened in Gujarat in 2002.

Yes, there is a very strong fundamentalist strain in Islam. And it is there due to several historical factors that go as far back as the Mongol invasion of Baghdad in the Middle Ages (which did much to destroy the questioning and questing strain in Islam) and are as recent as the use, by the western powers, of Islamic fundamentalist ideology, to fight Soviet communism in Afghanistan. Basically, Islam has been facing a crisis from the Battle of Lepanto (16th Century) to the formation of Israel (1948)--this crisis is very similar to that faced by the Hindu society in India from the conquest of Sindh by the Arabs to the takeover of India by the British. Both societies feel endangered and threatened by a stronger power. Their response is to shut out the world--refuse to learn anything new, insist on their own superiority, strike out to destroy. However, shutting out the world does not end the problem--the world has to be understood and engaged with, new technologies have to be learned and mastered till the society that feels threatened realises that it can use peaceful means to assert its will.

Now, when we begin to talk about the so-called greatness of ancient Indian culture, I begin to have my doubts. We all have a tendency to mythologize the past, which we believe to have been better than the present. The commonly held belief of the greatness of Hindu culture is provided by my correspondent--Taxila and Nalanda (both being Buddhist universities--Nalanda is where Hiuen Tsang went to pick up Buddhist texts when he visited India in Harsha's reign); the general belief that there was no poverty--yet Fa Hien speaks of people not having to lock doors (was that because they had nothing to safeguard?); the freedom of women was gradually circumscribed from the Vedic ages onwards--between the 2nd Century BC and the 2nd Century AD it became an accepted fact that women were to remain under male tutelage. This is when the laws of Manu were promulgated. Incidentally, we also must thank him for adding iron to the laws of caste--that is what led a lot of low-caste people to convert in an effort to improve their economic and social lot. When reconversions have taken place, temples built for the reconverted communities have always been separated from those built for caste Hindus. And you're wondering why so many people would rather be Sikh, Christian or Muslim?

Yes, many monuments that once belonged to the ancient period of Indian history (not just Hindu but also Buddhist and Jain) must have been destroyed, if not by the wicked Islamic conqueror, than by time and neglect. If you want to see modern monuments almost crumbling into dust, take a good look at Nehru Place. It was to be a showpiece for Indian technology--I would call it a slum. If Indians can be so careless about their environment today, why should they have been any more careful in earlier ages? And, now that we're talking about Kashmir, do tell me the name of that Kashmiri king (a Hindu!) who went about destroying Hindu temples so that he could take over their wealth? Sounds like an ancient Indian Henry VIII.

We have to continue to work at peace with Pakistan--we are both nuclear power nations and we have to ensure that we do not inadvertantly set off a modern-day Armageddon. I'm sure a lot of Americans and Soviets must have been angry about the numerous efforts to make peace during the Cold War. It's not a sign of weakness or a pandering to vote bank politics, but solid common sense. And the people who come here from Pakistan are not the same who kill civillians and armymen in Kashmir or the ones who plant bombs, not just in Hindu religious places but also in Ajmer Sharif, where everyone goes. These people are like you and me--they want a life of safety and peace.

Re: Geelani--if he has been condemned to death by the Supreme Court, as stated, he must have appealed for a stay of execution or sent a mercy petition to the President of India, as is his right under Indian law. Unlike the US, we do not deprive terrorism suspects or terrorists of their rights under the law. Or would you rather we emulated the US and went in for Guantanamo Bay? This hasn't stopped attacks against the US forces in Iraq.

The uniform civil code is really something that can come about only with time. For those who believe in other faiths, the fact that they live amongst people whose ancestors swallowed Buddhism whole is frightening--take a look at what M. J. Akbar says in India: The Siege Within. Forcing a uniform civil code on Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis will not work--it will take another sixty years before this happens. Why? Because most of them will not want to be governed by a law code based on Hindu law alone. Their perception is that since Hindus form the bulk of the population, Hindu law will be used to govern their personal lives. Hence the horror of the uniform civil code and the BJP's decision to drop it.

Everybody, it seems, is out to appease the fundamentalists, whether they be saffron, green or dark blue. Especially so, if the appeasers happen to be politicians. Taslima Nasreen has decided to withdraw some lines from the second volume of her memoirs, Dwikhandita, because her descriptions of 1980s Bangladesh under military rule hurt the sentiments of the Jamaat-ul-Islami. Of course, this was after Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian foreign minister, suggested that those seeking asylum in India should take care not to hurt the sentiments of their fellow citizens. Her decision has been warmly welcomed by CPI(M) representatives, despite the fact that Comrade Prakash Karat had at one time thundered against the bourgeois parties’ inability to fight fundamentalism. Meanwhile, in Amritsar, the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), controlled by the Shiroman Akali Dal, installed the portrait of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in the Golden Temple museum. Evidently, this was a demand voiced by radical groups, who had supported the present president of the SGPC in his quest for a third term of office. And in Gujarat, the Congress is busy making a friend of Gordhan Zadaphia, home minister of Gujarat during the 2002 riots and now estranged from Narendra Modi.Of course, he cannot be admitted to the party but he can campaign against Modi...

If all this were not happening for real, I’d think I was witnessing a farce. Does the Jamaat support all that was done by Bangladesh’s military rulers in the 1980s? Are the radicals, who demanded the installation of Bhindranwale’s portrait in the Golden Temple museum, aware that he acted as Mrs. Gandhi’s stooge in creating an anti-Akali wave in Punjab? Have they read Mrs Gandhi’s Last Battle? Of course, the reason why Zadaphia is so popular with the Congress during election season is not far to seek.

What does this mean for the ordinary Indian citizen? Well, it means that any party that is in politics today sees power as the highest goal. None of them have principles. None of them are capable of seeing the country as one entity, as the founding fathers saw it. None of them will die for the country or for any principles, if asked to do so. And if you blame the border security guard or a policeman for taking a bribe to let a suspicious character go, only to find out later that the character was a dangerous terrorist, please think of the politicians who have made it their life’s business to appease all shades of fundamentalism, to bow down to all the little Hitlers, in an effort to remain in power for yet another term.