Spot the Differences

It’s a sickening sense of déjà vu. Another blast at the Delhi High Court within months. Since our bureaucrats and politicians practised their trademark inertia between the previous blast and now, there were no CC TV cameras in the vicinity. And the political parties have started trading charging of incompetence and unwillingness to fight terrorism.

So has nothing changed? Well, no, 2 things have changed. Firstly, the politicians got boo’ed when they went for their photo-ops, sorry, I meant when they went to visit the victims at the hospital. The other difference? Digvijay Singh hasn’t come out to blame the RSS or Hindus in general. Then again, maybe I am being too hasty; maybe Digvijay Singh will accuse some Hindu outfit in the next few days.

While the government always says that one shouldn’t associate a religion with terrorism, the United Colours of “Secularism” apparently doesn’t include saffron, as per Digvijay Singh.

Comments

  1. KumarSeptember 11, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    While the government's inability and incapacity is too well known to waste time discussing it, it must also be admitted that in a country like ours, the terrorists get the advantage of just bombing any crowded place and kill as many innocent people as possible. For example, the terrorists may enjoy killing mercilessly any number of innocent babies and children and weak women too, and it would be easy for them. But they avoid that kind of thing only because this reason: the unquestioning financial support they usually get from some quarters may start dwindling due to the adverse publicity.

    Now, how to protect everything, everywhere, every time? Since the terrorist can be devoid of any good feeling and absent in values, they enjoy the success of their evil designs once in a while. The situation is very difficult indeed.

    However, my gut feeling is that these terrorists are not going to win in the end. If there is truth and justice even to some extent in this world, the worst evil taking over mankind like that simply cannot happen. We will all start standing up against this evil, maybe slowly at first, but most certainly as time passes. We will grow in strength. And vanquish it.

    Since a good percentage of Muslims are not unwilling to consider, let alone admit, that their society is the breeding ground of the jihadis with hate-filled minds, it is unlikely that much can be expected from that religion to check their breed of terrorism. The average Muslim fails to see that the good side of Islam is virtually drowned by the madness of the evil jihadis. The negative connotation of the word 'jihad' is overwhelming. And yet, the average Muslim stands by the terrorists, mostly due to the unwillingness to consider, "That should not be the way for us." They only repeat, "Other people do not understand us!"

    Whatever one might say, that is not the case with other major religions. They are not inherently supporters of terrorism, driven entirely on the basis of fundamentalism-driven rousing. It is more difficult to bring in the Buddha or the Christ in support some mindless terrorism. Whereas just a call for "jihad" is enough for many Muslims to join a fight, not knowing what is the real issue! "The issue is about the Muslims versus the Kafirs" is sufficient reason for many Muslims to decide on which side to take! They do not feel the need to understand the cause of the struggle or are they given to analysis of other possible ways of resolution. Such inability to think in a balanced way is the very reason why the fanatics are going to lose in the end. (Some of them believe God Himself supports them, based on the "logic" that God supports only one religion (i.e. theirs!) irrespective of any behavior of the believer. Let's wait and see if God "obeys" them or not! Is God above them or are they above God to decide on what He wants and whose side He should be?) No mindless fanatic wins in the end. Fanatics emerging victorious in the end can never never happen, because they invariably self-destruct!

    As to Digvijay Singh speaking the way he does, it is too well known. Actually if he utters something sensible it will surprise many! It is not that the Congress is happy with his words; actually they prefer to use him for diversionary purposes. What else to do when the party lacks clear-direction policies, they are devoid of right actions and have no ability at all for good governance?

    Having said all this I would like to finally add that if the Hindus have a higher capacity to criticize themselves for their faults, more than the people of other religions, that by itself is not a big fault. Only, they need to know when to feel confident, how to have the right degree of introspection and finally refuse to go the way of the religious fanaticism and fundamentalism. Would the refusal for introspection and corrective measures make any society a better one?

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