From
India's Surreal "Secularism"
For several weeks, the nation's foreign-owned media channels have been bombarding the Indian public with doctored tapes of election speeches purported to have been made by BJP's candidate from Pilibhit - Varun Gandhi. Just last year, when video-tape evidence emerged of a vote-buying scandal of gargantuan proportions that implicated the Congress in serious and criminal improprieties, these same media channels refused to air the videos or pass any judgement on the criminal behavior of the Congress-led government.
But in the case of Varun Gandhi, the common dictum of "innocent until proven guilty" was conveniently ignored. Not only was he given few chances to respond, all the English translations (of even what he was supposed to have said) were crude (and deliberate) distortions.
Yet, in interviews, Varun Gandhi appeared thoughtful, mature and intelligent - hardly the crude rabble-rouser that was portrayed by the "secular" media. Unlike the alarming spin that was put on the whole episode, he came across as engagingly disarming and convincingly honest.
He calmly noted how he had prefaced his remarks with the key word "aatank" which was cynically edited out from the broadcasted videos. "Aatank" - the hindi word for terrorism had set the context and tone for his election speech. Moreover, he had pointedly targeted criminal and illegitmate elements of society who dared to "raise their hand against Hindus". "Haath Uthana" or raising ones hand is a commonly understood figure of speech that typically refers to any hostile act that causes harm or violence. Hindi speakers know fully well the use of (muhavaras) metaphors in colloquial speech. "Haath Katna" - "cutting the hand" - was a continuation of the metaphor.
(Even in English there is an expression "don't cut off the hand that feeds you" where the act of cutting of the hand is entirely metaphorical and refers to terminating the relationship.)
The meaning of Varun Gandhi's electoral remarks was quite clear. He was prepared to do what it took to prevent hostile acts by criminal terrorists. As he further noted, he had never mentioned any specific community by name.
Yet, such was the guilty conscience of India's perverse political class that they all heard the word "Muslim" even where it was never used.
As the distortions grew, context disappeared: "Haath Uthana" was mysteriously translated into "Ungali Uthana" - i.e. raising ones finger - which means something entirely different. "Haath Katna" (cutting hand) became "Gala Katna" (cutting throat).
Truth in translation was abandoned, and outright lies were invented to the point where suddenly everyone was talking about how Varun Gandhi had spoken of cutting off the necks of all Muslims. The criminal terrorist that Varun Gandhi had alluded to had now morphed into "all Muslims" and Varun Gandhi's opposition to hostile acts against Hindus had been diabolically projected as an unprovoked threat against "innocent" and "helpless" Muslims.
As a groundswell of sympathy and enthusiasm emerged for the falsely maligned young leader, "secular" political leaders scrambled to make heard their calls for Varun Gandhi's immediate electoral disbarment and arrest. The lynch mob was now ready - (not to tackle the very real and debilitating scourge of Islamic terrorism) - but to emasculate any Indian who dared confront the evil that lurked on Indian soil - that had already taken the lives of thousands of hapless Indian citizens.
Even as known criminals such as Salman Khan and terrorist gun-runner Sanjay Dutt were out on bail and campaigning or seeking permission to run as electoral candidates, Varun Gandhi was denied bail and compelled to surrender to judicial custody as though he were a common criminal.
Notwithstanding the sentiments of millions of citizens who were consumed with outrage against the vile shenanigans of the Indian "secular" mafia. Madam Mayawati chose to react with an iron fist. Fearful of a powerful electoral wave that might favor the BJP and sweep away her ambitions to become Prime Minister, the "Messiah" of the Dalits ordered her underlings to charge Varun Gandhi under the terms of the "National Security Act".
While the numerous aiders and abbettors of Islamic terror were basking in the fresh air and bright sun of Azamgarh, an Indian political leader who had attempted to raise the issue of peoples security had been placed behind bars on trumped up charges. In India's fiction of a "secular" state, the whistle-blower was in jail - the criminals were free.
Our readers might recall that in recent months, several senior leaders of the BSP had been indicted for extortion, blackmail and murder, and thanks to a compliant Congress, criminal investigations by the CBI on Mayawati's own unexplained (and probably ill-begotten) fortune had been stopped.
But this was not something that would consume the Indian media's attention. If honest government workers were being coerced into paying astronomical bribes to Mayawati's political agents, that was not news during an election campaign. If Mayawati's achievements in office were hard to spot - that too was not news. If the government of the Dalit "Messiah" was failing in the provision of BPL (Below Poverty Line) cards to the poor in UP - that too was not newsworthy. After all, she had the blessing of Prakash Karat - India's "secular" Ayatollah.
Instead of exposing the abject poverty of ideas that benights India's caste-obsessed politicians like Mayawati or Mulayam, or the Goonda Raj that inevitably results from their political avarice, India's "secular" brigade had behaved like pimps for the underworld.
What causes the Indian polity to degenerate into such depths of depravity? Has the Indian psyche become so numbed by centuries of Islamic invasions and conquest that the ghosts of their former marauders still enslaves their better instincts? Did they become so inured to bowing and groveling before their former masters that they cannot stop even now?
Why must every Hindu impulse for safety and security twisted into something contemptuous and dangerous? Why must every attempt at Hindu resurgence be squelched as though it were a psychopathic crime?
Has any leading Muslim politician spoken out against the growth of criminal mafias and terror cells in Azamgarh? Has any "secular" Indian politician demanded pro-active investigation into such and other terror cells that have emerged throughout the Gangetic plain and elsewhere in the nation. Have any hate-spewing Islamic clerics ever been called to justice?
Yet - every instance of Islamic obduracy and paranoia (vis-a-vis terror investigations) is given enormous weight and importance. Pro-Jehadi politicians are at liberty to spread all manner of rumors and conspiracy theories so as to obstruct even unbiased and objective criminal investigations into links that some Muslims have with terror cells and terrorist activities. Indian "Human Rights" activists routinely side with Muslims who resist questioning and refuse police cooperation as though the victims of terror have no "human rights" whatsoever? The very parties who think nothing of hobnobbing with accused terrorists have now applauded Varun Gandhi's outrageous internment.
In India's surreal "secularism" right is wrong and wrong is right.
That is why, perhaps, every gallery of modern art in India has on display paintings of severed limbs and floating organs in hideously colored space. The "secular" Indian artist may not quite know why he or she is drawn to painting scenes - ghastly and nightmarish, but with a brain full of surreal "truths" - it is little wonder.
The "secular" Indian has developed a taste for the surreal and the ugly. And should the rare individual seek to present a hint of truth or beauty, he or she had better develop nerves of steel, because in India's surreal "secularism" nothing can be more seditious than truth or beauty.
Perhaps that is why another truth teller - Taslima Nasreen was turned away.
