Pseudosecularism in India

Loans: Should religion be a deciding factor?

2007-01-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

Loans: Should religion be a deciding factor?
Applying for a loan? Your religion could become a deciding factor! The government has asked the Indian Banks' Association to set aside 6 per cent of the total loans given by the banking sector to members of the minority communities.

In a letter dated January 9, the banking division under the ministry of finance has told the IBA to examine a proposal to set aside 15 per cent of priority sector lending in all categories for minority communities.

The Bharatiya Janata party has termed this move 'vote bank politics' of the ruling Congress and has pointed out that viability, collateral security and creditworthiness of the borrower should be the criteria for loans disbursement.
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Just when you think reservation (read minority appeasement) can go no further, here comes this. And why do I keep getting surprised? As an outraged reader comments below the article:

"...Then it is going to be some roads of country reserved ONLY FOR minorities, Then some electricity connections reserved ONLY FOR minorities then, some cities reserved ONLY FOR minorities..."

Muslims must have first claim on resources

2006-12-10T22:48:00.000-08:00

Muslims must have first claim on resources

New Delhi, December 9: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said plans for minorities, particularly Muslims, must have the 'first claim' on resources so that benefits of development reach them equitably.

"We will have to devise innovative plans to ensure that minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are empowered to share equitably the fruits of development. These must have the first claim on resources," he said in his address at the 52nd meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) in New Delhi.
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Last month, the Prime Minister favoured 'fair share' for minorities in government and private jobs as he spoke at the meeting of the National Commission for Minorities.
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Why limit the minorities to "first claim"? Make it "full claim". Though the way things are going, I won't be surprised to read such a news soon. And I was labouring under the illusion that Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister of India, and not the PM for Minorities.

Paswan wants job quota for all Muslims

2006-11-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

Paswan wants job quota for all Muslims

NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9: Union minister and LJP leader Ramvilas Paswan has demanded that all Muslims should be given reservation in government jobs, and backward Muslims should be given reservation in legislature too.
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Paswan said his party has deliberated upon the necessity and Constitutionality of reservations for Muslims and concluded in its favour.
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The LJP leader also joined the list of UPA members who are opposed to death sentence for Saddam Hussein. “LJP wants the Indian government to make all possible efforts to get the verdict reversed. We consider the sentence totally unjustified,” Paswan said.
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How much more blatant can he get? Why did we even have a partition? If Paswan had been there in 1947, there would have been no partition. There would be just one state--Pakistan. Guess all this is part of his efforts to unite the two countries into one. India? What's that?

PM favours 'fair share' for Muslims

2006-11-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

PM favours 'fair share' for Muslims

New Delhi, November 2: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday favoured a "fair share" for minorities in central and state government as well as private sector jobs.
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"It is essential that communal peace and harmony should be maintained and the minorities get a fair share in central and state government and private sector jobs," he told a conference of state minorities commissions in New Delhi.
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Promise them everything. Who stops them from studying and concentrating on education instead of identifying with jehadis? Not having a fair share is their fault. Look at the Parsis. They are an even smaller minority. How did they "grab" such an unfair share of the developmental pie? Change within and the world will change. Wait for the world to change and you will wait forever.

Lalu to move Supreme Court on Godhra

2006-10-16T02:57:00.000-07:00

Lalu to move Supreme Court on Godhra

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday hinted that the United Progressive Alliance government will challenge in the Supreme Court the Gujarat high court's verdict declaring the U C Banerjee Commission on the Godhra train blaze as illegal.
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On October 13, the Gujarat high court had declared as 'unconstitutional, illegal and void' the setting up of the U C Banerjee Committee to investigate the cause of fire in in S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express at the Godhra railway station in February 2002.
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Isn't it such a pity that our mighty pseudosecularists have none other than Lalu Prasad as their saviour? Don't the psecs feel embarrassed when their lofty ideals rest on the shoulders of the man-who-steals-from-cattle? The Banerjee committee indeed! A "fact-finding" mission to conclude that the kar sevaks set themsevlves alight to malign peaceful Muslims.

Protesting for a killer

2006-09-27T04:47:00.000-07:00

First Look: Protesting for a killer

Protestors took to the streets of Srinagar, demonstrating against the death sentence given to Jaish-e-Mohammed militant Mohammed Afzal, the mastermind of the December 13, 2001, attack on the Indian Parliament.
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Guess stomach-churning stuff like this can happen only in beloved India. And then, "their" patriotism should never be questioned. What a sick joke! The biggest irony will be that some of our most pseudosecular leaders will sympathise with these lunatics. One would think that had the attack on Parliament succeeded, maybe there would be some way bullets would avoid the pseudoseculars and strike only the "communal" leaders.

Well, well. Just when I thought this couldn't get worse. Chew on this:
J&K CM seeks clemency for Afzal

New Delhi, September 29: In a latest twist of developments, the J&K Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Mohd Afzal's death penalty, asking him to intervene in the matter.

The Chief Minister is also seeking presidential clemency for Afzal. ...

For once, I am speechless. What if... what if it had been Ghulam Nabi himself in the Parliament that day... Well, if ifs and buts were pots and pans, you know.

Don't let terror tarnish Muslims: PM

2006-09-05T03:03:00.000-07:00

Don't let terror tarnish Muslims: PM

New Delhi, September 5: Regretting that terrorism has created a wrong impression of radicalisation of the entire Muslim community, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday warned that the adverse consequences of the "prevailing insecurity" among minorities, especially Muslims, could be "extremely deleterious for our polity".

The responsibility to ensure that this does not happen lies squarely upon all of us," he said addressing the Chief Ministers' conference on internal security.
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Really surprising how many wrong impressions one can have of this particular community. The Holy Quran is misinterpreted, the words of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) are misinterpreted, and now acts of terrorism are being misinterpreted. A shame on the majority community for misinterpreting everything. Our pseud-secularists won't mind being blown to bits, but they don't mind dying of political correctness.

Vande Mataram not mandatory: Cong

2006-08-22T00:47:00.000-07:00

Vande Mataram not mandatory: Cong

New Delhi, August 21: Endorsing Union HRD Minister Arjun Singh's views, Congress on Monday said the direction to educational institutions on recitation of 'Vande Mataram' was not mandatory but 'voluntary in nature' and any community was free to recite it or not.

Congress party and the country is proud of the national song 'Vande Mataram' which had electrified our freedom fighters and who made umpteen sacrifices.

Even then if a community or group feels otherwise, they are free to recite it or not. We agree with the Union minister Arjun Singh in this regard", party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said.
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What a sad fall for the Congress. The nationalist leaders of the pre-Independence Congress must be turning over in their graves. Why call Vande Matram a national song if it is up to communities (and we all know who haha) to sing it or not? If a community finds the national song insulting, then get the hell out of this nation, man.

Mother, I cry for thee!

Six cases dropped against Muslim hardliners

2006-08-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

DMK govt ordered six cases dropped against Muslim hardliners in TN

TIRUNELVELI, AUGUST 6:Barely two weeks after it was sworn in, Tamil Nadu’s DMK government ordered that cases be dropped against 12 Muslim fundamentalists, all followers of Kichaan Buhari, an Al Umma sympathizer and key accused in the Coimbatore serial blasts.
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The six cases, relating to desecration of idols of Hindu deities in villages surrounding Melapalayam near Tirunelveli, were at the trial stage in the district court when the GO (MS No. 431 dated May 27, 2006) was issued by the state Home department, ordering the Tirunelveli district collector to drop the cases.

The accused, initially detained under the National Security Act, had obtained bail. Senior policemen in Tirunelveli are shocked by what they term the DMK government’s “blatant sympathy” for the Muslim fundamentalists.
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Tamil Nadu is already under the grip of Christian proselytizers, but this kind of blind appeasement is going to cost Hindus in the state. It won't take long for the ill-effects of this attitude to be felt. What can shake the Hindu out of his centuries-old apathy?

Boys gone astray, Minister?

2006-07-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

Boys gone astray, Minister?
But the Intelligence establishment under the UPA is in denial. The comfortable theory about terrorism is that it is imported into this country. And that is still true. But the UPA, it seems, simply can’t accept that jihad now has a domestic manufacturing facility. Shivraj Patil wants us to think of boys gone astray. But his men have done little about massive recruitment by banned SIMI splinter groups, which head-hunt for jihadis by using Gujarat riots as a motivational tool.
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But let the UPA not say it doesn’t play politics with terror. And because it has allowed politics to infiltrate anti-terror policy, the total number of terrorist modules busted in 2005 was only a third of the figure in 2004 (the UPA came to power in May 2004).
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With Mufti in Kashmir applying the healing touch policy, and Shivraj Patil doing the same to Naxalites, Manmohan Singh bent on disarming India, and everybody in Cong. only able to view a particular community as the holiest of the holy, what wonder is it that Mumbai suffers again? It wasn't the first time, and it won't be the last.

J&K CM blames BJP for politicising attack

2006-06-13T02:10:00.000-07:00

J&K chief minister blames BJP for politicising attack

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, while condemning the terrorist attack on Jammu bus stand on Monday morning in which one person was killed and 31 injured, blamed the Bhartiya Janata Party for trying to give political colour to the incidents of Jammu and Kashmir.

After visiting the injured at the Jammu medical hospital Azad told newsmen that if the BJP leaders had not made provocative statements during their rallies in Jammu last week, the terrorists would not have responded in the manner they did.

Senior BJP leaders Vinay Katiyar and Sahib Singh Verma had offered to pay Rs 1 lakh to anyone who killed a terrorist.
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Had to rub my eyes. So it was the BJP's fault that the terrorist attack occurred. Of course it is not the fault of the terrorists themselves because they were provoked by such provoking statements. Looks like Ghulam Nabi is giving his healing touch to the problem (does he think there is any problem?) just like his predecessor Mufti Mohammed Syed.

Saudi media praises Arjun Singh's "secular" character

2006-06-04T23:28:00.000-07:00

Arjun Singh's 'secular character' praised

Riyadh, June 1: The Saudi media has heaped praise on the visiting Union Minister for Human Resource and Development Arjun Singh, describing him as a very ‘seasoned politician’ and an ‘icon of Indian secularism’.
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"Perhaps the most important lesson to learn from Arjun Singh is his respect for all whether they are part of a minority or the majority," said the paper. "It was he who purged the hatred and intolerance from the textbooks of India after the BJP's fall from power, ensuring a secular future of freedom for people of all faiths in India." ...

Duh! This is not even funny. Or is it? Arjun Singh is secular; we all knew that long ago, didn't we? The Indian media showering praises on him is not unheard of, but Saudi media talking of secularism... OK, I will take this as a joke, because if I take it seriously, I might choke to death spluttering with incredulity :-)

Survey on Christians in BJP-ruled states

2006-05-25T01:24:00.000-07:00

After Muslim survey, now Christian one in BJP states is Antulay’s idea

NEW DELHI, MAY 24:When the Pope disapproved of laws he said were affecting religious freedom in some Indian states a few days back, the central government had reacted strongly.

But now the Congress-led government has asked the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) to conduct an “on the spot assessment” of complaints of atrocities on Christians in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan — all ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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Doesn't matter how Hindus are treated in countries like Bangladesh or Pakistan. Why should anyone bother about that? And what are the "atrocities" on the minorities here? That the poor Christians cannot convert Hindus as and when they like? All this based on the Pope's comments?

UP Muslims float own political party

2006-05-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

Assam win has UP Muslims floating own political party

LUCKNOW, MAY 15: Inspired by the success of Badruddin Ajmal’s Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) in the recent Assembly polls, Muslim political outfits and leading scholars in Uttar Pradesh today launched a political party, the Peoples’ Democratic Front (PDF), to contest the UP Assembly polls next year.
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...PDF candidates would be fielded in the state polls as “there are 147 constituencies in UP where Muslims can ensure victory of their candidates”...

The pseudosecular media will love this. Thanks to Maulana Mulayam, we know where UP is headed. If Hindus still can't wake up and smell the coffee and unite, they will start paying the jaziya soon.

Dargah demolition avoidable?

2006-05-04T23:36:00.000-07:00

Dargah demolition could've been avoided: Centre

New Delhi, May 4: The Vadodara administration could have avoided demolition of a dargah in view of the people's sentiments associated with the old shrine, Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal is understood to have stated in a report to the government.
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Sure, why not? At any cost, do not hurt the sentiments of the minority community. First the Hight Court pulls up the Vadodara admin for not razing illegal structures, and then the Supreme Court stays the order. And look at Indian Express, article after article on the front page about the trouble in Vadodara, simply because it is Modi's land. But totally mum about the 32 Hindus killed in Kashmir which happened just two days prior to this (see previous post). That is pseudosecularism in all its glory.

On eve of talks: 32 Hindus killed

2006-05-01T23:48:00.000-07:00

On eve of talks: 2 strikes, 32 Hindus killed in J&K

DODA & JAMMU, MAY 1: Two days before the Prime Minister’s scheduled meeting with the Hurriyat leadership, suspected militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba struck in a big way, killing 19 Hindus, including a 9-year-old girl, after herding them out of their homes around midnight Sunday in the remote Kulhand area of Doda district.

In another attack last evening, 13 Hindus were abducted from the Basantgarh area of Udhampur district and subsequently murdered. While four bodies were recovered last night, security forces came across the remaining bodies today.
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Talks, talks and more talks. Who is the govt. trying to convince and about what? Meanwhile, die, Hindus, die. You are expendable. Let the policy of the healing touch be applied till there are no Hindus left in Kashmir.

Godhra v/s Marad

2006-04-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Kerala sits on riot report indicting Cong govt, Muslim League

KOCHI, APRIL 25: The judicial commission probing Kerala’s worst communal massacre in Marad in 2003 has severely indicted almost every arm of the Congress-led United Democratic Front Government: politicians, police officers and top bureaucrats.

It has also found that the massacre was a planned conspiracy involving extremist organizations, including those funded from abroad, organisations, it said, successive state governments have used to cultivate "vote banks".
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So if the report is about Godhra, oops... post-Godhra, then the report (even if it is concocted by the great secular Lalu) occupies the media for years. But take Marad, where 8 Hindus were massacred, then it is time to sweep the report under the carpet. Pseudosecularism doesn't get more typical than this.

Up and running

2006-04-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

The title of the blog is tautological. Pseudosecularism exists nowhere else in the world but in India. But I let the full title remain, if the whole context is needed for other readers who may not be aware of the circumstances in India.

Haven't charted out the course for this blog yet. Hope to do weekly posts.