Murder on Helm Street

All this talk about BJP wooing the Muslim voters is correct. But what is wrong in it? In an election, all the parties have every right to project themselves in a manner they like. Slowly and surely, the Muslim voters will realise that up to now the Congress party has used them as a vote bank to further its cause while doing nothing worthwhile for the betterment of Muslim population.

regards

Further to my previous post, L.K.Advani prefers playing kingmaker. Should you be interested, I had profiled some of the key players in the article `The Unmaking of Gujarat`, and the strategies they adopt:
http://www.chowk.com/show_article.cgi?aid=00001682&channel=civic%20center&start=0&end=9&chapter=1&page=1

#647 by rajsinghi1:

[Quote: `` He will set up another `mukhota`, if at all.``

I do not want to read something in this which is not there so I am asking/requesting, could you please elaborate on what do you mean by setting up another mukhota? Reason I am asking for clarification is that in the past, it has been said, it is ABV who is/would be a mukhota (Govindacharya said, ABV is/would be) . So are you saying something on the lines of, ABV is a mukhota, and now another would be found? ]

Yes, indeed, this is what I meant. We must see that ABV was/is not a `mask` in the narrow sense; he is the face that the BJP feels is acceptable to the moderates, even among the Hindus. This is the strategy I have consistently talked about here -- of getting a `mukhota` to lessen the blow of the hardliners, while continuing to play footsie with them. Everyone knows that today the RSS/VHP/Bajrang Dal cannot be ignored.

Interestingly, as the article posted in #648 shows, it is the Muslim clerics who are responding to the BJP. Fanatics cut across all religious lines.

Farzana Versey


Quote:


`` He will set up another `mukhota`, if at all.``

I do not want to read something in this which is not there so I am asking/requesting, could you please elaborate on what do you mean by setting up another mukhota? Reason I am asking for clarification is that in the past, it has been said, it is ABV who is/would be a mukhota (Govindacharya said, ABV is/would be) . So are you saying something on the lines of, ABV is a mukhota, and now another would be found?

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#643 by harimau:

{[And even so-called reports have a clear slant, with their timings designed to help certain political parties or friends in high office.]

Does that include the exit polls that give Andhra to the Congress and show that the NDA is now neck-and-neck with the Congress nationwide?}

There are several exit polls and the fact that their versions vary should tell us something.

[I am NOT selectively cynical. I have a completely jaundiced view of politicians of all stripes! ;-) ]

I was talking about the media, and you did not catch the reference!

[Re Sonia, it does take a TamBrahm to come up with the proper cynical view. ``Cho`` Ramaswamy seems to have remarked (and this was reported by S. Gurumurthy) that Sonia would not be a factor in politics despite being Rajiv`s widow if only she had been of African origin. Precisely! ]

Not quite. Widows in our part of the subcontinent have a `divine` right, or so it seems. MGR`s widow came out from hiding (it is another matter that the other woman got the better of her), Lakshmi Parvathi and even the Mumbai don Ashvin Naik`s widow, Neeta, made some headway. Therefore, I think the African origin is a bit of s stretch...here we are talking about dynasties; if it was only skin colour then Sonia Gandhi would have a lot of support, which she clearly does not have.

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#645 by arjun_m:
[and what`s this obsession with muslim majority areas anyway? what`s your point? That only muslim majority areas will elect muslim politicians and only muslim politicians can protect the interests of muslims....

muslim pols enforcing the an Islamic agenda in a muslim dominated area is just as reprehensible as a hindu politician enforcing a hindutva agenda in a hindu majority country....]

You obviously do not know what I am talking about. My post #630 is clear enough. My position is not about Muslim politicians at all. I have already said it. Read.

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dost-mittarji (#640):

We can only wait and watch. Advani will not change. He will set up another `mukhota`, if at all. I am certain about this...and you read it here first:)

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Ref FarzanaVersey #639

[And even so-called reports have a clear slant, with their timings designed to help certain political parties or friends in high office.]

Does that include the exit polls that give Andhra to the Congress and show that the NDA is now neck-and-neck with the Congress nationwide?

[And people like you will be selectively cynical and hit out at the ones who at least do not even claim objectivity and clearly enunciate their views as their views:) ]

I am NOT selectively cynical. I have a completely jaundiced view of politicians of all stripes! ;-)

However, I want the NDA to win power at the center for another 5 years because: they will complete the highway projects, probably connect more regional cities to the highway network, add another 200 million cellphone users in the country, build a couple of modern airports in the country (hopefully NOT named after Sonia Gandhi!), probably start on the building of more ports along the coast and more people would be able to buy cars, two-wheelers and the like, and hopefully Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion will pop off while he is out of power leading the DMK to splinter into a thousand pieces and giving Soysauce the opportunity to immolate himself because of his grief over the death. Despite the high price of gasoline in the US, I would send over 10 gallons to Soysauce to aid him in this purpose.

Re Sonia, it does take a TamBrahm to come up with the proper cynical view. ``Cho`` Ramaswamy seems to have remarked (and this was reported by S. Gurumurthy) that Sonia would not be a factor in politics despite being Rajiv`s widow if only she had been of African origin. Precisely!

And of course it is I who offered the acid test of Sonia`s commitment to India: shoot Rahul Gandhi dead and see how long before she gathers Priyanka and her brood and flies off to Italy!

Ref #638:

[The change in the BJP is not for what it can give, but what it can get. As one rival political ad pointed out, it has privatised the thriving public sector companies.]

The BJP is attempting to privatise what it can sell. If it is going to be Indian Oil, ONGC, BSNL, etc., at least the money they earn from selling parts of these off will go to paying off the accumulated deficits of public sector companies that runs into trillions of rupees.

Who screwed up the sale of that loss-making airline Air India? After Tata and Singapore Airlines jointly bid on it, enough injunctions were obtained from various courts that they both backed off and we reached a stage where NOBODY in the world even wanted to put in a bid! As my lawyer friend in Chennai put it, it is possible in India to get an injunction from some court on any matter. We now have an airline that not only has three times as much staff as the worst-run airline in the world but has only now woken up to the fact that most Indians go to the west coast of the US for their Silicon Valley jobs and is finally offering a flight from India to Los Angeles. With this kind of commercial acumen, I am surprised these idiots even attracted a bid from Singapore Airlines!

Dear Farzana: (# 638):

``PPS: There are only two Muslim majority areas in India -- Kashmir and Kishenganj in Bihar. ``

I can also add one more. It is city of Moradabad in U.P. It has about 55% muslim population. M.P., or M.L.A. used to alternate from Hindu and Muslim communities.

Regards and have fun.
Anil

I have not been able to find the interview of Mr Jaswant Singh to which I referred to earlier. However, this (following) is what he is supposed to have said in the Parliament, in 2001, with regard to muslim majority areas in Indias.

Quote:


Asserting secularism was embedded in Indian nationalism, the minister said New Delhi rejected the two-nation theory on the basis of which Pakistan was created.

Stating that 85 to 90 per cent of people in the Kashmir valley were Muslims, he said there were several areas across the country which had Muslim majority.

“What am I to do? I cannot put them in a railway rake and sent them to Pakistan. I cannot do that,” he said while pointing out New Delhi made no distinction on the basis of religion, caste or creed.

Farzanaji:
``Trust me, this will last only till the elections are over.

``Advani is clearly the hard face of Hindutva and nothing he says will ever convince people that he wants anything other than a Hindu rashtra.``

My reading is somewhat different. I think that Advani is preparing himself to take over from Vajpayee and realizes that, to be acceptable to his coalition partners, he has to change his image. And this will continue after the elections.

As far as the long-term goals of the BJP about a hindu rashtra are concerned, I agree with you and this will remain so as long as the RSS is the real force behind it.

harimau (#632):

[Actually, Kapil Sibal is just too glib. The man thundered that if the Congress gets elected, they would enact a law banning all persons who collaborated with the British from holding high offices in the country. He implied that this would mean that any RSS member would be unable to hold office but very conveniently forgot to tell the assembled people that it is precisely the coalition partners of Congress such as the Communist Party, the All-India Muslim League and the DMK who would fall victim to this law.

And of course I didn`t see a single member of the media or the analytical columnists point this out in the Indian press/TV. So much for intelligence in the media! Let us not talk about the common populace. ]

When I said too sophisticated, I wasn`t flattering the man; there is something untrustworthy about him, just the way he keeps smiling...what he says has little currency.

Re. the media not taking it up, do you think it is important enough? Although we are on opposite sides politically, I hope you realise that the media is a parasite at most times. Very little analysis. Press releases are shamelessly passed off as reports with a byline! And even so-called reports have a clear slant, with their timings designed to help certain political parties or friends in high office. And they don`t even have the grace to call what they write an opinion piece; they have `sources`, which no one bothers to question, and because they have organisational backing, they automatically gain respectability. And readers believe this semi-quasi reliance on `sources`. And people like you will be selectively cynical and hit out at the ones who at least do not even claim objectivity and clearly enunciate their views as their views:)

dost-mittarji (#631):

[But I do think that there is some tussle going on in the BJP between those who want a dilution of Hindutva]

Trust me, this will last only till the elections are over.

[Advani may be part of this group - may be willing to present a softer face of hindutva to seek greater acceptability.]

Advani is clearly the hard face of Hindutva and nothing he says will ever convince people that he wants anything other than a Hindu rashtra.

I have already said that the BJP was merely building on the liberalisation policies of Manmohan Singh; its reservations ideas come from Mandal...therefore all it has to offer is a specific cultural nationalism; alas, this is non-inclusive. And Vajpayee himself said on TV that he is convinced had Godhra not happened Gujarat would never have taken place. He is refusing the make a difference between the work of goons and state-sponsored terrorism.

The change in the BJP is not for what it can give, but what it can get. As one rival political ad pointed out, it has privatised the thriving public sector companies.

PS: I hear that it is Smriti Irani after all contesting against Sibal; thank god, that Bukhari is not anywhere around...

PPS: There are only two Muslim majority areas in India -- Kashmir and Kishenganj in Bihar.

Dear Dost-Mitter (#635 dost-mittar)

I wanted to mention that Bhagirath Palace, was built and donated to courtesan / dancer in RedFort Mogul court. She lived there and entertained the rich and famous of those days. I have seen Bhagirath Palace getting transformed into a commercial center from a residential center with several families living, in what one single courtesan lived in the opulence.

Anil

Dost Mittar



Quote:

`` There are not too many consituencies in India with muslim majorities outside Kashmir; the two that come to mind are Rampur in UP and, I believe, Kishen Ganj in Bihar which is represented by the BJP minister, Shahnawaz Hussain. ``

As I recall, Jaswant Singh, as foreign minister of India, during his interview on Hard Talk with Tim Sebastian mentioned ( actually he kind of shot back)that there are 9 (figure could have been 7 if not 9) muslim majority areas/constitutencies in India.

Above is just for information only.