Truth Hurts

from the Indian Express - the infamouse modi speech;

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WHAT MODI SAID AT BECHARAJI

‘Should we run relief camps? Open child producing centres?’

On September 9, the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra rolled into Becharaji, where Chief Minister Narendra Modi delivered his by now infamous Hum paanch, hamare pachees speech. This is the speech that the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) now wants a text of for its apparently inflammatory content. And this is the speech that the Gujarat Government claimed that it had been unable to trace a copy of—Modi’s Principal Secretary P K Mishra had earlier told The Indian Express: ‘‘Since the government has neither any tapes nor a transcript of the CM’s speech, it is not in a position to send the same to the NCM.’’ Excerpts from a translation of an audio recording of the speech, courtesy NDTV:

Power hungry people are out to defame Gujarat. At such a time, the five crore people of Gujarat will gain strength from the blessings of Becharaji to build tomorrow’s glorious Gujarat.

We are dubbed Hinduwadi because we have allocated Rs eight crore towards the development of Becharaji. Is it our fault? Are we communal?

The Congress also accuses me of bringing the Narmada waters to the Sabarmati river in the month of Shravan. But the dam has already been built... I want to ask the Congress, why do you object if people on the banks of the Sabarmati derive spiritual peace through the Narmada waters brought in the month of Shravan? When you come to power, you are free to bring water during Ramzan.

When we allocate funds for Becharaji, they do not like it. And if we bring Narmada waters in the month of Shravan, then too they say they dislike it. So what should we do? Do we go and run relief camps? Should we open child producing centres?

We want to firmly implement family planning. Hum paanch, humare pachees (We five, our 25) (laughs). Who will benefit from this development? Is family planning not necessary in Gujarat? Where does religion come in its way? Where does community come in its way?

The population is rising in Gujarat, money isn’t reaching the poor? What’s the reason? They make a beeline, fix cycle punctures (Audience laughs).

If Gujarat is to be developed, then an economic system has to be developed where every child born in Gujarat gets education, manners and employment. And for this, those who are multiplying population at a rapid rate will need to learn a lesson. If we object to population growth, then too they dislike it. Will someone please tell me is there any (such) country in the world? Is there BJP rule in China? Yet, China has enacted laws to control population growth. Arrey, what does religion have to do with this?

We talk of madrasas. Madrasas have flourished in Gujarat. A child has a right to primary education. But a child going to a madrasa is deprived of primary education. What will such a child do once he grows up?

Those who have got no education, and got only religious education, would they not become a burden on Gujarat?

We started thinking about madrasas in Gujarat. When we express concern over madrasas, they call us communal. Why? The Communist government in West Bengal applies laws in madrasas, curbs their activities, and it is still secular? And if we try to regulate madrasas in Gujarat, we are dubbed as communal? After all, any institution has to be regulated.

If Gujarat needs peace, a long-term plan has to be drawn. The merchants of death will not be allowed to run their activities in Gujarat as they like.

And as I sit here at this seat of strength, standing at the feet of mother Becharaji, I want to assure you that the high seat (of power) may go today or tomorrow, but I will not allow the merchants of death who want to destroy Gujarat and harass the innocents to settle here.

Gujarat needs prosperity, it needs peace. Gujarat is forging ahead on the unity and strength of its five crore people. The days are gone when Dawood Ibrahim sitting in Karachi could instruct the merchants of death here and Gujarat could be set on fire. We will not allow this.

What for? For power? Power may go today or tomorrow. We have not applied Fevicol on the chair. We are sitting at the feet of the people of Gujarat. If people feel we are performing, they will welcome us, otherwise they will throw us out.

If the Congress is afraid of going to the people, then they should come out openly and say that since they are sure of their defeat, the election should be delayed. Indira Gandhi had done it too. You do it, who’s stopping you?

But no, they abuse Gujarat and Gujaratis instead. If you abuse Gujarat, that is not acceptable to us. Come out openly and give us a fight if you are strong enough. Why do you escape instead?

It is I who has been defamed. Yet, I am ready to go to the people. You go straight to Italy, plead with the Election Commission to stop polls. But we are not like you, we are proud of approaching the people. We take pride in applying the dust from people’s feet onto our foreheads.

Italy’s daughter has insulted Gujarat and its five crore people. The land of Sardar Patel is insulted. This has got to be explained. Sanjay (Gandhi) was only Maneka’s husband. Yet, it is his samadhi that lies in Delhi, not that of Sardar Patel. The Congress is out to erase Sardar Patel’s name, but beware.

TRUTH LIBERATES

Recently I had been to an ``aunum``, kerala festival in Australia. All of the local malayalees were dressed in traditional clothes, the dishes were so traditional that they are no more popular in kerala. Even they managed to get banana leves to eat on.

Tradition is like an endangered animal, in its natural habitat it is being anhilated by the introduced species. It has to survive in the sncuary of the zoos, in foreign countries. The day is not far off when malayalees will be traveling to australia to experience authentic aunum celebrations.
If that is what the evolution dictates, then truth should be a liberating experience.

I cant stand it when desis living in the west start getting precious about Indian culture and fashion being used and explored in music and popular culture. Seriously. What is this mentality that puts boundaries around “our” heritage. People griping because white women start wearing bindi’s and mehndhi. There is one reason why this happens, in England anyway, because there are one million Indians that live here and white people get curious and grow up side by side with Indians…when I was growing up in Birmingham half my school were goray and kale and lots of them could speak Punjabi because we would teach them the swearwords and then they would come to Diwali parties with us because it was fun and they could have samosas and kebabs, and the girls sometimes wear shalwaar kameez because they think it looks elegant, so whats the big deal? No! They have violated ``our`` ``precious`` ``pure`` ``holy`` ``Eastern`` culture! Oh no!

The Dr Dre track is wicked, but you go to an Indian nightclub over here and you will hear reggae and bhangra and hip-hop being played side by side. Its not cultural appropriation or any other kind of thing, its just people using different things because they work together and sound good. This silly begrudging because “our” culture is being used and appreciated by others, oh wow, how terrible. How many times have I read a convoluted thesis about western cultural imperialism and all that garbage written by some smart-arse sociology student. So lame. It’s a sign of the vitality of British and American popular culture that it is alert to the new. And in England anyway the MASSIVE talents of the super cool Indian youth who are innovative, creative and great in their proud re-shaping of Indian music and culture. And there’s nothing as culturally void and tokenistic as the desi decrying their “pure” culture being appreciated by the “goray”.

And what is “East” anyway. I have never been able to work it out. The “East” is used variously whenever some people wish to describe, the Arab middle East, South Asia, or East Asia (China Japan etc). The implication being that everything east of Suez is one amorphous melange of exotica that can be surmised as being the “other”. Forget that. I think the Indo-Pak culture stands on its own and shouldn’t be lumped in with other orientalist constructs, or Arabic or Chinese culture for example. There is no differentiation, no subtlety in this at all.

So there.

(Sameer you should listen to Punjabi MC. He has been doing hip-hop like Truth Hurts for years now except with Punjabi music. Did you know also there is this gora who grew up in Punjabi area of London called Hounslow who is one of the top bhangra DJ’s in England?? Long live cultural miscegenation!)

oh yeah hira if you are being ironic I apologise then I dont include you in the above, but I cant tell you see...

The best Indian song sung by an american artist was a Sanskrit song sung few years back by Madonna in her album ``Butterfly``. Does anybody remember?

Personally I don`t think it`s such a big deal. How many Bollywood movies copy Western plots (and I mean really copy scene for scene) and how many Indian songs have taken Western tunes and reset them to Hindi lyrics? Turnabout is fair play, if you ask me, and Addicted is at least somewhat of an original idea.

when i first heard the song, i was like `holy $hit` what the hell is this.....but it grew on me.

missy elliott fuses eastern music into her music as well....way before `truth hurts.`

but isnt that a good thing?? Fusion - an accquired taste perhaps but always good in the long run. And it injects much needed color in this bland culture. There are a lot of artists out there attempting the same thing - from Karsh Kale to Cheb Mami(??) who I was told was - apparently Israeli!! And I havent seen Truth yet!! And talking of gota - that was the rage 2-3 years ago - gaudy tissue with heaby gota in each and every dept store display. I wonder what will happen when they discover mithai pink benaras sarees.
And I also think people get carried away when it comes to fusion food - after all technically speaking shortbread cookies are nankhataee (my personal fav) and dosas are essentially crepes and empnadas are samosas - so it is more of an overlap rahter than fusion. Ignorance !!

I had mixed feelings about listening to `Addictive`, and watching the video...but I don`t begrudge Truth Hurts for using a song that wasn`t necessarily a gem in the annals of Hindi film songs.
Some hip-hop/rap/black artists, from early on have been experimenting with eastern music...middle eastern/african/indian music, because for them it`s like going back to `the roots`....the lament here is valid, i`m sure, but in terms of musique, Kipling has been proven wrong, both in the east as well as the west.

Addictive is a good remix song. I could not believe listening when I heard it for the first time on car radio. You are right about eastern culture entering mainstream western culture. Previously the best example was chinese food and pockets of believers and practitioners of eastern philosophies. It will certainly enrich western music if not one shot or short lived like many other experiments before this. Indians are also experimenting and reggae-Indian music remixes have been quite popular for a while. Wait until you see Indian folk (not the movies song) enters western music. I can`t wait to listen fusion of carnatic, rajisthani and panjabi folk in english songs.