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October 5, 1998
ELECTIONS '98
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How Readers reacted to Varsha Bhosle's last column
Date sent: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 14:44:56 -0700 Excellent article! Well written! For NRIs, who have very little access to details from India, this article offered insight as to WHY the Srikrishna Commission Report is biased. Prakash
Date sent: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 10:05:00 +0100 The press is biased -- accepted. It's a known fact that newspapers like Navakaal, Saamna and the other Urdu papers are mere mouthpieces for these communal forces and nothing more than that. Me being a Mumbaikar, have experienced the riots and have seen the brutalities committed by the rioters as well as the police. If Muslims kill a couple of havaldars, it doesn't give havaldars the right to go on a cleansing spree or turn a blind eye towards the murders committed by Hindus, at least this is what I got from your column. Muslims invaded India and demolished thousands of temples. Hindus retaliate by demolishing the Babri Masjid. Muslims reacted to the Babri Masjid demolition by setting fire to a group of people at the Radhabai chawl. Hindus killed Muslims in retaliation across Bombay. Muslims then reacted (finally) by setting off the blasts in March and fled to Pakistan. So what are the Hindus now waiting for ...?? If I start writing for a paper and add fiery masala to the language used above, specially when the tension between the Hindus and Muslims is at its peak, I don't think either of these will ignore the newspaper. It will only add fuel to the fire and that's what these newspapers tried to do. To summarise, I really don't agree with such committees and investigative teams. I believe in one thing: "Hit the iron when it's hot and not when it's cold, you heat it up and then bang on it." Basically what we need is a CID and CBI free from the control of the "netas." In all, your column does create a flutter inside me, I couldn't resist writing back to you on what I felt about your column on Rediff. Mahesh 'Mashya'
Date sent: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 17:37:57 -0400 Welcome back Varsha!! It was quite some time that your column did not appear on Rediff. Anyway, I savoured reading couple of your previous articles!! Your article on the Srikrishna Report was very informative. I hope the 'so-called pseudo-secularists' read your article.
Ashok A Shetty
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 16:48:24 -0700 (PDT) I enjoyed Ms Bhosle's analysis of the Srikrishna Report. It was refreshing to see a critical perspective of this report as opposed to partisan, biased commentaries. Thanks for the critique.
Chetan Gandhi
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 14:25:14 -0400 If Varsha Bhosle considers the Srikrishna Report biased towards the Muslims, I guess all she could do was come out with this article that is biased towards the Hindus. Which she did. However, that does nothing to address the real issue. Which is -- who's to blame? There have always been problems between the two communities. But the rise in tension and violence that culminated in the Bombay riots is a direct result of the BJP's exploitation of the religious sentiments of the Hindus and the deplorable demolition of the Babri Masjid. There can be no justification for this. Ms Bhosle offers one -- "the erasure of the insult by Babar." Would she be equally supportive if a horde of Buddhist monks demolished a Hindu temple to erase the insult of the desecration of Buddhist monasteries by Hindus? "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." I hold L K Advani and Bal Thackeray responsible for the Babri Masjid demolition and the carnage that followed. They have the blood of thousands on their heads. Leaders must take responsibility for their actions as well as the consequences thereof.
Sanjay Rao
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 15:10:48 PDT Can Varsha Bhosle tell me what does Hindutva mean? And please spare me the rhetoric. Charles Assisi
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 14:06:10 EDT If a mother has two sons, and the elder one who is bigger in size bullies the younger one, she will always favour the younger one even if she knows that the younger one is wrong. That's because she wants to safeguard the younger one from the older son. That's what a good Constitution should do in dealing with its majority and minority and that's what this Srikrishna Report is all about. I don't know what's with Varsha Bhosle. She seems to be so intrigued by the idea that Shiv Sainiks involved in the riots were reacting to Muslim fanaticism. She doesn't want to believe that killing a human being is wrong. Riots in any form is bad even if it was being provoked from the other side. We all know what happened after the bomb blasts in Bombay, we never needed a report on it, but the report was there to pinpoint the people responsible for it. Bombay is a great city, very much like NYC in nature but there is a big difference -- Bombay cannot be called a metropolitan because there are elements in Bombay who think that Bombay is only for Maharashtrians and nobody else. Some time ago they hated southies, now they have a new enemy in Muslims, God knows who comes next. Bombay is our biggest symbol outside India and if that has to survive we must get rid of these kind of elements. Unfortunately, I think Varsha, who I am sure is an intellectual person also thinks on those lines only. Anurag
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 14:49:50 +0900 Please keep Varsha out!! It's a shame that such a wonderful and informative site of yours allows fanatics like Varsha to write. I am thankful to you for keeping her out for so long, but what brought her back? Is there a shortage of good writers out there in cyberland? I don't want to spoil my day by reading an article from an immature writer who is always cribbing like a five-year-old. Permi
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 23:42:09 -0400 As a teenager I was tempted to read silly books in my free time. Those writers wrote with great passion and seemed to have a one track mind. I loved to read books which glorified (my) traditions and were indifferent to other religious and ethnic communities. It felt good and I therefore believed in them fanatically. I was very judgmental and was in love with my faith. But with time I had to grow up. I had to compromise to the fact that I was no longer a teenager and the world had more religions and ethnic groups than I could count. I came to understand that as a citizen of a democratic country I had a responsibility to think and act in constructive ways. I knew that India was not a small village consisting of a group of families with a common culture and lifestyle. This led to my interest in serious education (research degree) about various cultures and groups. As I went further in my pursuit, I discovered that when people have a fanatic love for 'their own;' they harm their communities more than they help. Varsha Bhosle's love for her 'own' (which is very selective) is a typical example of the literature I often read. What is she trying to prove? Is she trivialising the criminal acts of Sena fanatics? Is she suggesting that there is a group of so-called secularists in India who favour the Muslims over the Hindus? Is that the reason that the Muslims are so backward economically and educationally compared to the Hindus? Or will she be satisfied by depriving them of their existence all together, she is certainly not convinced about their mass murder during the Bombay riots (which is no secret)? Her zeal to correct history by understanding the sentiments of the goons who demolished the mosque is very interesting. Ah love, love for her own! Love is really blind! But before writing another article she better get her eyesight checked for the sake of educated people.
Seema Jayant
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 20:35:20 -0700 Varsha Bhosle's articles are spiteful, painfully one-sided, and of distorted facts. Her only aim is to get some attention, but the fact is that she is gaining it in a notorious way. When the so-called Bombay riots happened I was there in Bombay. As an unbiased person not belonging to any of these religions, I think it's my duty to put the facts before the readers. The Bombay riots were well planned. Bal Thackeray and the Shiv Sena had no hold in Maharashtra villages during that period. Thackeray's only stronghold was among college and school dropouts or under educated or illiterate Hindu youths in Bombay. Thackeray injected Nazi-like Maratha sentiment in them and his big brother BJP broadened it to Hindu sentiments. This inspired them to destroy the Babri Masjid. To fish in this muddy water the underworld in Bombay (under ISI-controlled Dawood) killed a few innocent Hindus to turn away the attention of the police from them so that they could easily prosper in their business. Thackeray also did his fishing in the riots and thereby captured power in Maharashtra. The Commission is pointing its fingers towards Thackeray for this. It was not any Muslim organisation that spearhead the riot, but ISI controlled it through Dawood and his hit men. The aim of Varsha Bhosle is to appease Thackeray and get a Rajya Sabha ticket. Nothing else..... That's why she is trying these Gobbelsian distortion techniques. Rediff should avoid these type of distorters.
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 19:55:57 -0700 Thanks for an excellent article. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, my blood temperature did rise, as it always does whenever I read about the 'noble' deeds of our Pinko/Secularist brigade. We needed this. Otherwise 'Dilip Dear' was going berserk with his 'objective' analysis. Murali
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 21:02:34 -0400 First I would like to give you a warm welcome, I missed your articles for a long time. I just finished reading your article and would like to express my views. Your article is very articulate and deals with facts in a very proficient manner. I am sure Dilip D'Souza and his likes, who constantly harp about the Srikrishna Report must be hiding behind their own articles now. I completely agree with you that the English press/media in India is totally biased. But, this is very apparent that they have, are and will keep on forwarding their own version of construed stories to fulfill their agenda. What is happening in the recent past is that these very same leftist fanatics who constantly talk about secularism while at the same time call for "minority rights" that too in a democracy, have been on the defensive and have resorted to an even more aggressive misinformation campaign. Your present article is very thoughtfully presented and deals with rational arguments based on the Srikrishna Report. It clearly presents the other side of the story that was till now very well tucked under the carpet by leftist fanatics who would go to any extent to prove their point based on their ideology. I would like to encourage you to write such thought provoking articles which present the facts without any bias or prejudice on such controversial issues. After all you are the only "rational" columnist I have come across on the Rediff news site. Keep up the good work! Sanjay Achharya
Date sent: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 00:53:13 EDT Keep it up Varsha! I think this should be able to open the eyes of Dilip D'Souza. Besides this I will also request you to write something on a dangerous trend started by Mulayam Singh Yadav when he in a public meeting asked for Rs 2,000 crores for Pakistan and drew thunderous applause from the Muslim audience listening to him. I think this might turn into something really ugly unless journalists like you expose this conspiracy of so-called secularists. Moreover, Mr D'Souza, would you like to make some comments on this new trend being set up by your so-called secularist gods? Vimal Kansal
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 20:33:09 -0400 Till now, I seriously believed in the report. But after reading this column, I am beginning to have doubts on the report. The serious inconsistencies which have been pointed out by Varsha definitely needs serious consideration. Also, she does seem to raise certain honest and brave questions about the nature of Hindus. This column was certainly an eyeopener that one should not believe blindly in reports, even if they are written by 'unbiased' judges. Swaminathan
Date sent: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 14:44:03 -0700 What an excellent article! This is the first article on Rediff that has ever spoken in favour of Hindus. I agree with Varsha that this commission does not deserve the paper that it has been written on. It is a world proven fact that violence is always a part of Islam. Killing of non-Muslims (kafirs) is considered a holy act for Muslims and they are promised a wonderland in heaven if they do that. This is the very basic reason that has always started violence in Muslim areas, be it Bombay, Meerut, Kashmir, Indonesia, Palestine, Turkey, Bosnia, Pakistan or any place in the world where Muslims are in majority. But the very fact that Muslims in India must understand is that they are in MINORITY. I must congratulate Ms Varsha Bhosle for an excellent article. I hope Rediff continues the trend for positive articles like these. Vij D'Souza |
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