The endorsement and support given to the Khilafat Movement(for reinstating the caliphate in Turkey) by the Congress remains the turning point in Indian History. It was this event which chained the Indian Muslim forever to the complex global Islamic Diaspora. Khilafat movement became the catalyst for pro Pakistani agitations across the country. Whenever a political party in India brings up an emotional issue(but mostly irrelevant) to gain political mileage among a particular community it sets the stage for turbulent times ahead. History has shown us numerous examples of catastrophic consequences of pampering the religious right. America learned it the hard way with experiences in Afghanistan, iran and Iraq. India learned it with the Shah bano case and subsequent demolition of Babri masjid. But I wonder why the erudite and sensible men of communist party made the same mistake in the 2009 loksabha elections in kerala. It was one of those campaigns which made me sick. I saw more posters of Palestine refugees and tasleema nasreen in ernakulam than the vypeen water issue or the infrastructure woes of cochin city. An extremist who was famous for his inflammatory speeches against the hindus was paraded for all the campaigns of the Marxist party (I don’t want to call him a terrorist like the media here, as it is not proved, but he is a fundamentalist for sure). The Marxist party stooped to despicable depths to woe Muslim mind. They called the nuclear deal anti muslim, they brought in Iran issue to garner votes while easily forgetting the price raise issue, the security lapses which resulted in bomb blasts across the country.
I expected a Hindu backlash in kerala like the way it happened against the congress in 87( after shah bano case) . But something interesting happened. Muslims at large voted against this unsolicited sponsorship of communist party for their fight against global isolation. Muslim mind in kerala was mature enough to understand that if they fall for this appeasement politics they will be further isolated from the society. Last time when they fell for appeasement from the congress party after Shah Bano case, a scourge was born which slowly divided the Indian society and painted Muslims as terrorists. Last time when they voted for petty appeasement politics they got BJP, they didn’t want to create another one. I salute all the muslims who voted against this outrageous communal politics.
A candidate of CPM who lost this time once compared Mata Amritanandamayi, a popular spiritual leader to Silk Smitha(the actress famous for her skin show in movies). Though I am not a follower of Amritananadamayi, I was wounded by this open desecration of a Hindu Symbol by a prominent leader. The party leaders used to openly offend priests (of all religions) by using very bad language till very recently.
This time the whole dynamics changed. A young Turk famous for her vandalism during the days of CPM’s crusade against self financing colleges in Kerala shamelessly visited every Bishop houses (the de jure owners of the self financing colleges she attacked) in her constituency seeking votes. She created 3 orkut accounts to ask votes comfortably forgetting that her party used to conduct strikes against computers. When CPM put up posters of her opponent having dinner with tasleema nasreen, her opponents put up posters of her garlanding Tasleema. One question that remains is who in Kerala really care what Tasleema writes???? .This Young Turk’s opponent who is considered as one of the most influential leaders among power brokers in Delhi became a central minister after his electoral success. A funny rumour that I heard about this minister was when another wannabe congress candidate (who came up from the students wing of congress) went to Delhi with multiple recommendation letters from Bishops of Kerala, the central Minister went with just one letter to the party high command and that letter was from the Pope. But I can’t vouch for the veracity of this rumour. Finally as a cherry on the top of the sundae of hypocrisy, another communist party in Kerala conducted a shilanyas for the spiritual Guru of the prominent Nair community in a private property reminiscing the days of ramajanmabhoomi movement. This happened in the capital city when the communist party junior finding that their incumbent MP was more interested in football commentary and movie acting fielded a candidate with the right surname to attract the majority caste. But soon they found out that simply a surname won’t fetch votes for a person put up against a scholar who got doctorate at the age of 22. So they took up a dormant issue, the demand to create a memorial at the birth place of the majority community’s spiritual leader. But interestingly once the Communist party leader took up the issue every party leader including the scholar fawned at the might of this community. But for those who dreamt of making kerala a laboratory of caste and communal politics like Bihar or Gujarat, met with the same fate of the Behenji who thought erecting Ambedhkar memorials (sometimes her own statues) translates to electoral success.
So hats off to malayali you showed the world once again that you are different............
All the people who have met me in my lifetime would swear one thing about me; I am very much passionate and emotional about what I believe in. The last one year has been grossly unkind to me. I am jobless, at the bottommost point in my life so far and by far going through the least happening period. But I was able to see life in a whole new light quite unlike what I used to. I never used to lose an argument. Neither my friends nor my family members could tolerate me arguing. As Hari once said when I sense I am losing my case in a conversation I get angry thus preventing myself to be on the losing side. Last year just after our college we had a Global Leaders Summit in IIM Ahmedabad (it was a mock UN session). I had this argument with two of these hot chicks (my rule remains blonds are fools or simply beauty and brain can never coexist in a female body). I couldn’t tolerate them getting the focus of the group with their perfect accent and cute faces. So I figured out their flaws which was simply the absolute ignorance about UN( which by the way is not a cardinal sin) and its history. I brought up bait which they promptly caught in the session after our argument and as expected they were made to apologize on their complete lack of knowledge about UN proceedings. I remember relishing the shame on their cute faces. It was just one of those instances where I took an argument to a personal level and made a diatribe which would make any person think twice before having a conversation with me.
Fast forward one year and I have patiently listened to some of the worst insults showered upon me and that too without rebutting any of those. Some of them were so bad and harrowing that when my friends heard about them they were appalled by my numbness towards such verbal abuses. Many of them came from people close to me, which makes these vilification more special. I don’t know why I am listening to them. One thing is sure; I have started taking things more lightly. The bottom line is when you lose self respect you don’t care what people think or say about you. I don’t believe in the theory that ‘what you are is what you think about yourself’. The thoughts, comments and suggestions of the society have a profound effect on your character and mental state. Once you see that these things don’t have an effect, you should conclude that you don’t care where you are going. It is like catching a wrong train due north thinking it was going east and turning a deaf ear to all the fellow travellers who are telling you the train is going west. Their comments or instructions may be wrong, but you should atleast weigh the possibility of you being wrong.
A different way to look at it is I am trying to endure the pain rather than fight it. It is called fatalism. It is a really bad belief where you attribute all your successes and failure to destiny. A fatalist is a wimp who doesn’t believe in his strength, who cares least about failures and successes. I don’t make it a point to continue an argument or take it forward with people other than my really close friends. This is a huge departure from my real character. I see myself confused unable to figure why I am like this these days. I am not writing this as a sequel to my earlier depressing posts. It is an earnest attempt to figure out what has happened.
Has the gunthroat gone silent
But why, the gun is supposed to shoot
Has the gun gone out of bullets?
Has it run out of targets?
Has it gone rusty?
Or is it simply because the gun thinks it has turned to a feather?????
