BaKhabar, October 2013, Page-5 [Brace yourselves, riots are coming + Education of Indian Muslims and politics of their leaders]

Brace yourselves, riots are coming ...

.... By Sohaib Zaman <itsmeonlinetoday@gmail.com>

BJP has chosen Narendra Modi as their PM candidate for 2014 elections. I have always seen movies showing the real face of the society. These days villains are the toast of the town with the likes of Aamir Khan playing a negative role in Dhoom 3 and Vivek Oberoi in Krrish 3, but they are heroes and are just playing a role but they as villains are able to garner huge limelight even more than the hero. So now moving on to the society with a relevance of movies, Modi’s anointment has shown that movies and society goes hand in hand. Villains being the toast of the town and now a real villain getting the same treatment like a hero doesn't go down well with me and with all the liberals of the country. Every movie has a trailor first, but here the movie was shown before a trailer could have been made. Gujarat riots proved to be the perfect launchpad for the new blue eyed boy of the BJP. The production cost was huge for a newcomer, 5000 killed and many homeless in the Gujarat riots proved to be the costliest launchpad for a rookie politician. The box office report was an all time blockbuster in the history of Indian politics. BJP won the Gujarat elections by a huge margin. Narendra Modi established himself as a bankable option among all the biggies in the BJP and slowly slowly he moved upstairs. Advani already dumped by the BJP and nobody to give him a close fight, Modi emerged as the solo hero in the BJP. Muzaffarnagar riots was the trailer before his rise for the top post. It is not a hidden fact that BJP will go all out for the 2014 elections. The ghosts of the 1989 Rath Yatra and the communal riots that paved way for the BJP to win the elections in 1998 might be repeated again. The general elections are not too far now and BJP has to decide its plan of action as soon as possible. Modi being the producer and director of this movie will call the shots and its not too tough to guess what the action plan might be.
What is the reason behind so much negativity for the BJP and RSS? We are a democratic country and everybody has equal rights in this country. Why do we hate Hitler so much? The reason was his brutality and the way he killed so many people just to fulfill his desire. It is not the story that started in 1989 with Advani’s Rath Yatra, it was already in full flow even before the independence. Hindu Mahasabha and RSS were the leaders of the fanatic minded people and they always dreamt of a complete hindu nation, but the constitution gave everybody equal rights and India’s foundation was laid on secular principles. There is no space for a religious political party in a secular set up. BJP lost their most trusted ally in JD(U) and the statement was clear that India wont entertain anybody who will try to divide it on religious basis. Modi is the new blue eyed boy of the BJP and all the cacophony regarding his appointment is the PR work of BJP’S cyber cell. There are too many examples that would make my case strong that RSS and its wings are not suitable for a secular country like India. The brutal killing of Graham Staines by the Bajrang Dal in 1999 or the killing of the christians in Orissa that led to the breaking of an alliance between BJP and Biju Janta dal. The assassination of our father of the nation by a hindu fanatic who was the member of the RSS is an another example of the way this party deals in fulfilling its ambitions.
There is no scope of a religious party and fanatic minded leaders to rule a democratic country like India. How could a section of the society accept a person to be their head of the state when they know that the person along with his party dislike them completely. BJP led NDA were given a chance by the people of India to prove that they regard people from every caste creed and religion but in just 5 years of their rule, Gujarat happened. How could anybody trust a person whose hands are in blood. There are zillions of evidence to prove that Modi led BJP is just not suitable for a secular country like India. There work ethics is just to divide the people in the name of religion and riots are always a way to polarise the hatred. There couldn’t be any smoke without fire and if BJP is accused of riots and dividing the people in the name of religion, they have proved it time and again. My question to the BJP people is what is the need to address the Sadhus and Pandits when its election time. Why can’ t BJP fight an election with an eye on development and why can’t the BJP regard and respect people from every religion. India is a country of 120 crores and they have to respect all 120 crores. Why do they speak about a section of the society? Why speaking for 85 crores only, what about the rest 35 crores? Why a section of the society feel scared when they hear that BJP might come to power? There are so many questions and the people have witnessed the polarization that led to the riots and killings of innocents and BJP have always benefitted from the riots. Modi’s appointment to lead the BJP in 2014 polls has added fuel to the fire. Brace yourselves, riots are coming.

Under The Shadow of Swords

- By Arbaz Fahad <arbazfahad@rediffmail.com>

One year is too small a period to judge the leadership of a nation that had suffered almost six decades of dictatorship. By this yardstick, ouster of the Mohammad Mursi’s government cannot be justified, given the fact that he could not have succeeded in stemming, let alone reversing, the rot. Yet Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood are not free from the blame of squandering the opportunity to restore the people’s faith in democracy. The Opposition—divided as it is in disparate groups ranging from worst kind of salafis to liberal democrats—too cannot be spared of the charge of being impatient with the pace of things. Between themselves, the Brotherhood and the Opposition have provided the Army and perhaps the old Mubarak loyalists the ideal opportunity to sneak back into the power. Mursi should have been aware that the mandate they had won was not decisive enough to ride roughshod in matters of decision making in a nation emerging from three decades of puppet regime of Hosni Mubarak. They should have avoided ‘Ikhwanizing’ the administration as was evident from appointing 12 city mayors, assigning five major ministries, deputing seven provincial Governors and 13 counselors to Governors, from among their cadres. Media too suffered at the hands of Brotherhood with nearly 200 scribes being interrogated during the one-year reign. Several editors were removed at the Government’s behest. There appeared little scope for cheer on economic front from the beginning itself. The national wealth had already concentrated in the hands of extremely small coterie of military-backed tycoons and industrialists. Much of the tax reforms introduced during the year only annoyed the ones who began to feel the heat of the new powers-that-be. The nation witnessed over 500 public demonstrations and a similar number of strikes. The IMF refused to loosen its purse strings while highly influential petrol lobby kept defying the Government fiats and there was no let-up in energy crisis. The Opposition, weak and heterogeneous as it was, should have cooperated with Mursi in steering the nation out of the political mess and precarious economic crisis during the year. It didn’t. Perceiving the restiveness in the ranks of the Army and expecting its support in removing Mursi and the Brotherhood, it has only helped the former by default, thereby proving its immaturity. Overall, Mursi’s ouster is a great setback in restoring the popular rule in Egypt, the largest and the most enlightened Arab nation. Army’s itch for power and its incapacity to fulfill the popular aspirations are too well known to predict the future.
The crisis currently hitting Egypt is an open wound evident even to those who do not follow the political fight between an interim government struggling for control and the supporters of a deposed president refusing to admit defeat. It’s seen in the regular violent episodes that leave scores dead, usually on the side of those supporting the reinstatement of President Mohamed Morsi. It’s visible in the burnt and gutted buildings in Giza, Nasr Square and Rabaa. It takes form in regular, random clashes between people on the street, paranoid, shouting, arming themselves with clubs and forming civilian roadblocks all over the city.
It’s no wonder then the possibility of Egypt falling into failed state status - a government failing in legitimacy and providing basic services and functions - or spiralling into a civil war - has dominated much of the international discourse on the country’s future. International analysts, pundits and diplomats warn that if left unchecked, the violence in Egypt could escalate into civil war. However, Egyptian commentators disagree. They say that the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opponent to the military-backed government, could never become an effective armed group, and is losing support. Besides, the Brotherhood has never threatened war to achieve its aim of the return of its president. However, the country faces the very real danger of becoming a failed state, according to political analyst Amr Adly, if the political crisis continues to drag on. The country was teetering on the brink of failure even before the latest bout of violence. The 2013 Fund for Peace Failed State Index ranked Egypt’s status as critical, naming it the 34th least-stable country out of 178. Given the political instability, a month-long declared state of emergency called by the interim regime (extended for two more months), and the disruption of banking and financial markets, the situation does not look set to improve for some time to come.
Economically, the country has been struggling for some time, and the recent political upheavals have not helped the recovery if any attempts were made towards that.
“We will have a long transitional period, and with that comes all the instability and violence that will continue to endanger state institutions,” said Adly. Government bonds and the EGX30, Egypt’s security stock index, have slumped. Shops and restaurants in most quarters of the capital remained closed for a third day as cash machines ran dry in downtown Cairo. Even the $12 billion or so in aid from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait is unlikely to get Egypt through the current turmoil. “This can’t support Egypt’s transitional period for more than five or six months – maybe a year. It can’t be counted on as the Brotherhood counted on money from Qatar during Morsi’s time,” said Adly. He added that the current interim government “does not have a political mandate to tackle the economic issues – this isn’t a caretaker government that can cut expenses, cut subsidies and raise taxes.
And what’s really needed for economic stability – political stability – is nowhere in sight. Still, Adly noted that the Brotherhood was a non-ruling minority and had no chance of getting the sort of support needed to be a real threat to the state.
For Egypt to find stability, what is needed is a "process of national reconciliation". The need of the hour is that some interlocutor who is trusted by all sides who can sit the parties down and get them to come to terms with one another rather than this zero-sum 'it's us or you' mentality that is being adopted right now". Given the recent misgivings in Syria, we don’t expect foreign intervention in Egyptian affairs any sooner. It is imperative for the Brotherhood to regain the popular support and adulation that escalated them into power following the abdication of Hosni Mubarak. Simultaneously, the tide of time demands that the brotherhood makes common cause with the army- until the deluge of time does not turn in their favour.
Leo-on-Mohammad-saw