Living in a country so badly bruised by the repeated military takeovers and burdened by the ever increasing weight of ideational contradictions I have allowed vision not to become too clouded by the usual propaganda. I think the fortunate people of institutionalized democracies should also try not to inhale too much of propaganda and always vouch for the freedom of speech. Frankly so with the exception of some Hindutva parties I have never viewed Indian leaders given to communal digressions. I have always believed that the Indian leaders mostly from the Congress or the Left consider communalism nothing but a baser ploy not worthy of being employed. This in my view again with the exception of the BJP has been a great achievement of the Indian democracy and state secularism. I therefore was seriously tiffed to see Indian hawks, government and the media baying for Union Minorities Affairs Minister A R Antulay’s blood for he had simply stated his opinion.  Antulay had made a remark which hinted that Karkare’s assassination benefitted more the Hindu hardliners than Pakistan. It is worth pointing out that Mr Karkare who was martyred in the Mumbai attacks was probing the case of the Malegaon attack. A serving Colonel Purohit had been apprehended and was under investigation not only for the involvement in the Malegaon incident but also in the Samjhota Express attack. Karkare was regularly receiving death threats and Gujarat CM and BJP hardliner Narendra Modi had repeatedly asked for his removal. Exactly at a time when it seemed Purohit would crack, Karkare was killed in the Mumbai attacks. Could it be a coincidence? Or did the “terrorists” in Pakistan had anything to gain from Karkare’s assassination? If it was a coincidence then ofcourse it is to be believed that god or the natural causation was unhappy with the work of Karkare. If Pakistanis wanted him dead then it would highlight something far too dangerous: a nexus between the Pakistani Muslim jihadis and the Hindutva hawks in India. In other words globalization of terror beyond the usual boundaries of faith. But both these assertions seem ridiculous. At least the first one does albeit bolstering the cause of the saffron brigade. The case of Colonel Purohit and his cohorts was widely reported in the Indian press just before the attacks. Initially there was state of denial with the assertions that a Hindu could not be a terrorist (a vocation perhaps reserved only for a Muslim). But then Rajeev Gandhi was not killed by a Muslim. 
Now that Anatulay has made this comment there are people seeking  his resignation and presenting him akin to weakening the case of India against Pakistan. Consider Javed Akhtar who demands his stepping, “In fact, I am extremely disappointed, horrified and shocked that this statement could come from a Central Cabinet minister. A statement like this at this point of time is weakening the case of India in the international community as well as giving some kind of leverage to Pakistan.” What Mr Akhtar? What case are you talking about? Can an honest opinion harm a government’s stance? Is that too a crime in a democracy? Mr Antulay has expressed these views because this is what appeals to him. This could be either because if there exists any substantial evidence against Pakistan his government has not shared it with him or else because there exists no such thing at all. In either case the Union government should have given his views thoughts seriously. But is it? I think not.
Unfortunately this attitude on the part of Congress, started with the demise of Rajeev Gandhi and Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s becoming the  head of her party. Mrs Gandhi if you remember is an Italian born. Don’t take me wrong. I am not challenging her loyalty. No I think she is more committed to Indian nationhood than many of the Indian Hindutva fundos. What I am pointing out is a delicate matter, a cultural matter at that. Either she knows that she can be attacked on her foreign origins and hence in order to prove herself more loyal than an average Indian she caves in to the BJP’s blackmail or else she is culturally blind to the seriousness of the communal polarization that has burgeoned under BJP’s stewardship hence insensitive to the needs of a secular state under such pressure. How else would you explain the choice of Shankar Singh Waghela in Gujarat even after Modi sponsored carnage there? Waghela belongs to the same moronic brigade. She is a woman of integrity and a lovely person, a person who has truly sacrificed her original nationhood for the country of her love, another Mother Teresa if you would. But she needs to remember that Mother Teresa never left the wisdom of her own world behind when she came to India, nor should Mrs. Gandhi. If you remember this blogger and columnist vehemently criticized Umma Bharti and another BJP lunatic who had challenged her foreign origins and hence convinced her not to run for premiership. But India’s communal issue is quite delicate and she should not be seen contradicting Congress’s secular value system. This is time to give up hotheadedness and give the other possibilities a thought. Mr Antulay after all has not committed no sin in merely stating his opinion. I am sure truth in this sad hour is more important than any real or fictional case against Pakistan.
As for the case against Pakistan the Indian government has not provided any substantial proof. You are guilty of taking politicians, your politicians, too seriously. The so called evidence you are pointing to fails the standards of rational thought. Like what? Consider the possibilities. You say that the man confessed of being a Pakistani. You know that any man can break under the torture of the South Asian interrogates and succumbing to the pressure make any statement you like. Likewise, you claim that a Pakistani man has confessed of fathering him. Now through the channels that brought you this information, I am sure there must have been some more credible evidence. For instance the pictures of the alleged terrorist with his alleged father. You say that he has spent so much time in Pakistan so there must be more than one person who knew him and hence could furnish visual evidence. The video of the so called father making this statement. And above all, the DNA matching. You know Michael Mullen was in Pakistan before any foreign politician. You know it the Pakistani establishment cannot take American pressure. Let me tell you that all of the three Pakistani villages called Faridkot were combed for evidence. None was found. The place is cordoned off since then to preserve the possibility of evidence there. Had they found any evidence believe me the evidence should have reached the Indian government by now and running on your channels. Governments are not run on pure conjectures. Believe me if your government had any substantial evidence in this age of modern media and internet it would have been up and running on television. What you are doing is inhaling the propaganda of the politicians. The congress party has already inhaled it. It is time to end this denial state and investigate all possibilities. People other than Muslims or Pakistanis can also be terrorists. Today only a minority affairs minister is saying this. Tomorrow secular Hindus will say nothing less.

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