Rahul Gandhi is spot on but what is the Congress doing about it? TK Arun

Rahul Gandhi is spot on but what is the Congress doing about it?
TK Arun

18 December 2010, 12:21 PM IST

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cursor/entry/rahul-gandhi-is-spot-on-but-what-is-the-congress-doing-about-it#comments


It is completely ridiculous for the Congress to be defensive about Rahul Gandhi’s reported remark that Hindu radical groups are potentially a bigger threat to India than jehadi terrorists. Hindu communalism can lead to civil war, while jehadi terrorism cannot, by itself.



If India’s Hindu majority, who are more than four-fifths the population turn communal, the idea of India as a plural, democratic nation that manages to forge unity out of diversity will cease to be even a goal. The idea will not just die; rather, it will be killed in a pool of blood, a very large pool that can drown not just the lives of innocents of all faiths but also India’s promise of prosperity on a fast track.



Radicalisation of small sections of the minorities does not have the same potential. But this does not mean nor suggest that minority communalism deserves kindler, gentler treatment. It needs to be stamped out with vigour. And it needs to be stamped out with vigour precisely because minority communalism becomes a handy justification for majority communal ideologues to spread their virus among the populace at large.



The Congress is allowing the jehadis free run if not actually promoting them, has been the cry of the Hindu right and its ideologues, ever since the news broke of the Wiki leak on Rahul Gandhi. The implicit juxtaposition of Hindu communalists with jehadis from Pakistan as mutually exclusive categories is downright silly. A leadership that is aware of the threat immanent in possible communalization of the majority would be doubly determined to guard against jehadi terror. Jehadi terror can create mayhem of the sort we saw in the attack on Mumbai in November by Pak-trained terrorists, that is bad enough, but it can also give a boost to Hindu communalism, which can lead to civil war.



This should be obvious to all Congressmen who swear by Gandhi, who was killed by a Hindu communalist, and Nehru, who understood the sources of danger to the idea of India with utmost clarity. But, clearly, Congressmen today have no such clarity. And this is the criticism that Rahul Gandhi has to face.



The Congress has degenerated from the party of Gandhi and Nehru to a party of powerbrokers. Since power is more important to the party than the end to which it must be wielded, the Congress compromises with both Hindu and minority communalism. How else can anyone explain successive governments of Maharashtra, led by the government, failing to act against communal actions by the Shiv Sena, for example.



The continued social backwardness of Muslims is not just against the interests of the community but also a source of vulnerability for India’s national security. In the interest of social justice and to strengthen social cohesion and national security, concerted government action to end that backwardness is an urgent imperative. But if that imperative is articulated in a political idiom that tells both Muslims and Hindus that the Congress is trying to curry favour with Muslims, it only serves to feed the threat which Rahul Gandhi rightly identified as being more grave than the threat from Jehadis from across the border.


http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cursor/entry/rahul-gandhi-is-spot-on-but-what-is-the-congress-doing-about-it#comments


Anand Srivastava says:

December 18,2010 at 07:50 PM IST

Policy of appeasement at such extent simply for the vote bank politics is really shameful. I wonder how any national party like congress can afford to give comments like this. India is secular not because pseudo secularist like Digvijay Singh and Rahul Gandhi but it is because more than fourth-fifth of the total population i.e. Hindus are secular, tolerant and believe in democracy, pluralistic society and also because the basic principle of Hinduism does not teach hatred and even provided shelters to different religions without any fear. I can’t make out what is the moral right of Mr. Man Mohan Singh to ask the American and Chinese leadership to mention Pakistan as the epi -centre of all terror in India specifically for the 26/11 blast at Mumbai when powerful leader from his party like Digvijay Singh indicates Hindu terror behinds Karkare’s Death and Rahul Gandhi one step further talks to US embassy and compares lascar-e -toiba with so called Hindu terror. There should be no ambiguity in the foreign policy. I am afraid that it is high time to admit that India’s internal and external security is in great danger under the leadership of congress party.

KKK says:

December 18,2010 at 09:06 PM IST

Minority communalism cannot lead to civil war, Mr. Arun? What about Partition? And Partition based on Muslim separatism was presided over by Gandhi and Nehru, remember!


Dinesh_10 says:

December 18,2010 at 06:06 PM IST

If wikileaks is right and Rahul has made such a statements it just dilutes Indias stand against Pak and its state sponsored terrorist policy. I waoul only conclude Rahul as very immatured politicians and Indans have to be very careful in choosing its leaders in future. Further such staments from Rahul only weakens the moral of Indian aremd forces who have sacrificed their lives but have no pilitical recognition as a Martyr.


AJAY SINGH says:

December 18,2010 at 05:44 PM IST

this party is full of mentally sick people ,you name it and u got it,digvijay singh,rahul gandhi, manish tiwary, jayanti natrajan, manu singhwi who are just sick enough to shoot their mouths without even thinking that they are in power powered by hindu votes only and the day findus stop voting for them they will rott

(Reply to tamanna)- KKK says:

December 18,2010 at 09:16 PM IST

You are wrong -- organizations like the Al Qaeda, LeT, Indian Mujahideen, etc., are not promoting terror due to lack of development. They are doing it as a jihad in the name of Islam and Allah, because they believe that their religion orders them to destroy the unbelievers. No Hindu organization calls for terrorism or jihad, whether in the name of Hinduism/ Lord Ram, or for any other reason. How can individual Hindus indulging in attacks be compared to a massive international Islamic terror network?

Subramanian says:

December 18,2010 at 04:01 PM IST

In the worst ever communal clashes of the past century immediately after partition of India at the behest of some congress leaders, particularly Nehru thousands of Hindus were killed in Pakistan and equally Muslims were killed in Bengal! But the surviving Hindus from Pakistan had to bear the brunt and came to India as refugees and the then Government spent huge sums of money to rehabilitate them in several refugee camps across north India. If my memory is not wrong, the hapless victims of Muslim community in India did not cross the border but remained in India and were provided succor by our Government. Even today, Muslims in India are being treated with honor and dignity and only radical Muslims are being condemned. Therefore the argument that if the Hindu majority takes to terror, the plurality of India will be killed in a pool of blood! The very fact that Hindus follow the Sanathana Dharma of tolerance is a reflection of their pluralistic living and some hard core Hindu Outfits cannot be generalized and applied to the entire Hindu majority! If the government wants to tackle terrorism, then those power have to be very careful in their utterances and cannot afford to ramble away whatever comes to their mind! The responsibility of those in power is much greater than those in opposition, who are always functioning as watch dogs and the opinion of opposition cannot be brushed aside as interference in the internal matters of the ruling party!


P N Eswaran says:

December 18,2010 at 03:57 PM IST

Your logic that Muslim communalism is going to provoke Hindu communalism which is dangerous are you suggesting that the cause is to be attacked or the effect? Your sterile Logic overlooks the basic fact that Islamisism is rooted in Islam and is a global phenomenon. While Hindu fundamentalism is a reaction to Islamisism and is rooted in Hindu insecurity security and not Hinduism.The so called secular forces compromise Hindu and national security.

Aparajita Singh says:

December 18,2010 at 01:59 PM IST

Rahul Gandhi says that Hindu terror outfits are more dangerous than muslim terrorism.Who takes Rahul Gandhi seriously?? His comments are juvenile..he needs to go back to school..Even Rakhi Sawant if, given a chance will fare better than our beloved Yuvraj..Highlight the poverty and corruption and illiteracy..they are eating up the nation..Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi have already smeared muck on your faces..its high time you guys shifted gears and wrote on the real issues.


Sachetak says:

December 18,2010 at 12:46 PM IST

Thank God, RAHUL Gandhi, with his comment, has proved his IDIOCY. The Congress's dream of projecting him as the Crown-Prince or the next PM has taken a beating. Rajiv Gandhi was a DISASTER but RAHUL would be a CATASTROPHE. The whole NATION knows this now. Muslim vote bank cannot be won over by such comments, rather it has taken away a large chunk of Hindu votes away from Congress.