Modi’s Men and their Mean Machines

Phew! what a venom! What a biased ranting and raving!

And then you wonder why there are Hindu extremists and Hindutvadis.

Despite your claims, feeble efforts to portray yourself as neutral
you come across as a frenzied partisan communalist.

FarzanaVersey {``A 32-year-old man was burnt alive by a crowd of 1,500, two days after the demolition.
.... Those who have faith believe. And those who want to prove that their beliefs are supreme make a spectacle of their own faith.
.... When you pray you are essentially talking to your soul. Why, then, let that private conversation become a tamasha?
...He should start with his own party’s Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who started dancing the minute actor Feroz Khan made some negative comments about Pakistan, calling him a “true nationalist”. ``}


Farzana,

I love the way you fuse various seemingly unrelated events into your central theme for many of your articles. You tie together bits and pieces of news into a tidy bundle to expose the hypocrisy and mental disease afflicting society`s holy cows. Once again, you have authored a moving, informative, but very scathing sarcasm against bigotry, jingoism, and chauvinism. You didn`t state it openly, but to me it`s obvious that you are more incensed at the murder of the 32-year old man than at the demolition of the dargah. I agree with you - our priorities should always be with the sanctity and preservation of human life.

I am delighted at your consideration of prayer as a private conversation. I too feel the same way. Often, I don`t feel like joining other believers in a jamaat type prayer, preferring to say my own words to my own God, in my own way, in the privacy of my own soul.

Finally, please go easy on Feroz Khan. He is an extrovert and certainly not a diplomat. From what little I know about the incidence, his Pakistani host Fukhr-e-Alam was the instigator. Regardless, the Government of Pakistan had no right in expelling Feroz and not allowing him to proceed to Karachi. I see this as another Lahori attempt to dominate Karachi`s affairs. :) Thanks.

#1,
Chup hoja salley!

She is darned right.
Since when an old Sufi Dargah is an enroachment?
Dargah came before the Municipality office came.

Gujrat is becoming a hotbed of communal activities, and she is right BJP is using that as a trend setter for other parts of India.

When did Muslims in Gujrat fought against Hindus? I have never heard of that.
In U.P yes, I agree sometimes Muslims initiate the riots, but the poor Gujju Muslims does not deserve this, and all sensible Indians need to condemn this violence without any hesitation.

This gives a very bad face to India overseas and whole world looks at India as communal country.

They are taking unnecessary Panga.

Dear Farzana:

``Surely, we cannot bring in history on every occasion and most certainly not to justify the acts of elected leaders in a democracy.``

Well said!

When I read about the news, I initially thought that it was the usual noise against municipal authorities doing their job, until I found out, as you have pointed out, that this ``encroachment`` has been there since more than a century. Modi may not have been directly involved in this affair - he probably has nothing to gain politically at this point and was doing alright with his newly-acquired image of an efficient administrator - but he has created a climate in Gujarat where any communal administrator can create a mischief with impunity; more than likely, the purpose was to provoke a riot and that purpose was achieved.

The municipal authorities may not have done anything illegal in demolishing this dargah, which according to the reports, was reverred by both Hindus and Muslims; if so, they were wongfully legal.

These Muslims who are in BJP.

I dont now how they manage their daily lives?

My dad used to know Sikandar Bakht, and personally he was a very likeable person. But his views on BJP and India, surprise me......

bharath #1 {``Phew! what a venom! What a biased ranting and raving!
And then you wonder why there are Hindu extremists and Hindutvadis>``}

Bharath Bhai,
On this one, you are acting too much like a jingoistic chauvinist. Please try to read the same article that I read. Farzana is against religious bias whether in the tamasha of public prayer or in the demolition of harmless relics to gain votes. She is also pointing out the pusillanimous behavior of notorious crusaders for justice. There are Hindu extremists and Hindutvadis, just as there are Muslim extremists and Jihadists, because of unsupervised and insincere procreation. Relax and do try to keep an open mind. Thanks. :)

#1

What`s wrong with the article? FV`s just asking why a 200 year old dargah was demolished? Was any reason given? And after 2002 shouldn`t this be handled a little more sensitively, even if the dargah had to go?

What`s being built there, that it was so imperative to knock it down?

Does anybody have any details on the demolition?

i thought things in india cannot be demolished that easily, you need a court order. was there none in this case?

what next, sidhi-vinayak tample since its a traffic nightmare?
how about burying haji-ali under a flyover?

Doesn’t India have an Imminent Domain like we have in Pakistan, where State can demolish any place to build what it wants?

Warrier Ji, the State is widening the road, and the Darghah stood smack in the middle of it. Some compromise should have been worked out. Why are people so messed up?

#7, swarrier {``FV`s just asking why a 200 year old dargah was demolished? ``}
Warrier,
I think that she is more upset at the murder of the 32 year old man who was just driving his car. I have never been to Gujarat and from what I have been reading and hearing, I don`t think I will even try. What a shame that a country on the threshold of modernity has to put up with this gang of Nazis in one of its more ``advanced`` states?

Re: # 8
Jang, remember Arthur Phillip Dent`s house. I think the court order may have been there, and either nobody paid attention to it, or it was being contested.
I think I will concur with DM`s analysis here, somebody wanted to provoke a riot.

temples, dargahs and gurdwaras are on numerous roads and streets...many a times standing in the middle of it....but now that they are there, government should find out an alternate to traffic rather than demolish them...that is assuming that was the real reason to demolish this dargaah in question, which it does not seem to be.

I have seen some gurdwaras and dargaahs in East Punjab go up right on the roads in the alst 20 years...such encroachment should be stopped no doubt.

that crummy crazy jihadi-imitating Hindutva basatrd is hell bent on destroying the intercommunal harmony and tarnish the progressive image of India....

warriorji, typically no civil servant will do this without a court order. its his neck on the line. if there is a stay, they patiently wait exchanging pan-tambaku. demolitions tend to be always politically touchy even if its a mere pan thela, and more the reason why they do it by the book.

there was an incident when comissioner of nagpur was going around with a buldozer, he would wait with a buldozer, get a phone call that the signing is done and immediately bulldoze to avoid any phone calls from politicians etc. his argument was all he needed was the magistrate signature, and he was all set. in one case i heard the shopkeeper was shouting i have advaniji on the mobile phone..chandrashekar ignored him.

I thought, in India, a dead Muslim was a good Muslims; but now it seems like them Hindus are after dead Muslims too.

Re: # 9
Kul
I`m not saying it shouldn`t have gone. But if its 200 years old it can`t be an encroachment. I know a road in Ville-Parle that was widened. It has a tree right in the middle of it. They did not cut down the tree. It`s still there and people drive around it on the new wide road.
That`s why it would be good to know the details leading up to this demolition.

Salim
8 people were killed. Not just the poor person in his car. This is definitely for political mileage.


Modi like quite a few other politicians is an unscrupulous man. Yon Cassius has a lean and hungry look.