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Death for a terrorist Mamata in the House |
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Stalemate in Manipur
Bid to make NWFP more Islamic
Some zest for life!
Struggle for gender justice Parents should outsource worrying, too Defence notes
From the pages of
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Death for a terrorist THURSDAY'S Supreme Court verdict in the Parliament attack case is, certainly, a landmark judgement. By upholding the death sentence of Mohammad Afzal, a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant, the Bench consisting of Justice P. Venkatarama Reddi and Justice P.P. Naolekar has sent a stern message to the terrorists that they have to pay for their diabolical actions. What is most significant in its 271-page verdict is that the apex court did not have even a shred of doubt about Afzal’s complicity in the hatching of the criminal conspiracy to attack Parliament with the use of explosive substances on December 13, 2001. Nine people, including eight security personnel, were killed on that day after five terrorists stormed the heavily-guarded Parliament House before being shot dead by the security guards. The court has rightly justified capital punishment on Afzal as the attack was the “gravest crime of enormous severity” and a classic case in the “rarest of rare” category. Equally significant is the court’s order absolving Shaukat Hussain Guru of all charges except that of “concealing the conspiracy to wage war against the state”. Consequently, his death sentence has been commuted to 10 years in jail together with a fine of Rs 25,000. The acquittal of Delhi University’s Zakir Hussain College lecturer S.A.R. Geelani for lack of evidence will strengthen the common man’s faith and confidence in the judiciary. Of course, the Supreme Court said a spectre of suspicion hung over him because of his behaviour at the time of the attack. But then, as the court rightly maintained, suspicion alone is not sufficient to convict a person. Geelani’s acquittal is bound to disappoint the Delhi Police which claimed to have “solid proof ” to nail its case. Obviously, the apex court was not satisfied by the piece of evidence presented by the prosecution — a tape of telephone conversation. In fact, the POTA court had convicted Geelani, Afzal and Shaukat and all the three were given death sentence. However, the Delhi High Court, while upholding the conviction of Afzal and Shaukat, acquitted Geelani and Afshan Guru, another accused. The Supreme Court ruling reinforces the fact that as the terrorist attack on Indian Parliament was an attack on the very soul of the world’s largest democracy, the culprits involved in the heinous crime deserve no mercy.
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Mamata in the House TRINAMOOL Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has literally brought the House down with her unparliamentary conduct in the Lok Sabha where she hurled a bunch of papers at Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal and then put in her own resignation. Ms Banerjee’s disorderly behaviour is a flagrant violation of both parliamentary norms and decency. By all accounts and any standard, her fit of fury in the House is highly objectionable. It would be most unfortunate if Lok Sabha members took a view of the development that is influenced by considerations of whether they are in the treasury or opposition benches. What is at issue is the dignity of the House and the decorum with which proceedings should be conducted, and this cannot be done if members turn unruly and fly off the handle. Regardless of their grievances, no matter how serious or long-standing, no member should take recourse to the kind of unparliamentary acts that Ms Banerjee indulged in. Parliament is not an arena for throwing tantrums, and even less for showing blatant disrespect to the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. These are exactly what Ms Banerjee is guilty of. The fact that she did so, breaking the bounds of reason and restraint, suggests that either the bottled-up frustration, of failing to make any headway against her opponents in West Bengal and at the Centre, exploded in uncontrollable anger; or, that in her desperation to find a way out of her ineffectual political position, she enacted the resignation drama. Whichever the cause, her conduct is inexcusable. Nevertheless, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee acted rightly in rejecting her resignation from the Lok Sabha. Although the stated ground for rejection is that the resignation is not in “the proper format”, it is clear that Mr Chatterjee did not want to let her quit in a moment when she had lost control of herself. Ms Banerjee may not appreciate the gesture if she was looking for a stormy exit route. Given her record of dramatic resignations, if only to grab attention, she may well feel deprived of a fitting climax that could have earned her some mileage. Whether she remains a member or chooses to resign, Ms Banerjee must make amends for her misconduct on the floor of the House.
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Stalemate in Manipur IT is no credit to the Centre that it has allowed the situation in Manipur to go from bad to worse. The fact that Home Minister Shivaraj Patil was absent when the call-attention motion was initiated in the House seems to be indicative of the general apathy with which New Delhi has been treating the 45-day problem. No party to the crisis, however, can be absolved of blame. The Ibobi government was needlessly provocative with its declaration of June 18 as Manipur Integration Day, and its subsequent handling of the law and order problem has been anything but exemplary. As for the protesting Nagas, they are being singularly insensitive to the woes of their Manipuri brethren. Internecine conflict between different ethnic groups in the North East is definitely making a longterm resolution of the problems there difficult, but that cannot be an excuse for the Centre. The June 18 declaration was intended to commemorate the Manipuri Meitei “martyrs” of 2001 who died protesting moves to separate Naga dominated districts into a greater Nagaland. The Nagas were immediately up in arms. Government buildings were torched, and the All Naga Students Association of Manipur sponsored blockade of the two highways connecting Imphal causing great hardship to the people. The Centre’s negotiations with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) have not exactly gone off well, with their leader Thuingaleng Muivah mostly holding on to a hardline stance. The ceasefire has been extended only by six months, instead of the expected one year, and reports suggest that the various options being considered for a resolution include a Kashmir type status, and even a separate “Naga force,” along with a sympathetic consideration of NSCN’s greater Nagaland dream. All steps should be taken to clear the blockade and ensure that essential commodities are reached to the people. No piecemeal solution will help in the long run. A weakkneed strategy of shying away from tough decisions will prove extremely dangerous, and it is the common people of the North-East who will bear the brunt of the fallout.
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I am always doing things I can’t do. That’s how I get to do them. — Pablo Picasso
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Bid to make NWFP more Islamic PAKISTAN'S central polarisation between Islamic identity through ideology and being a nation-state has exploded yet again in a first-rate political crisis within the ruling groups. Islamabad establishment has trouble managing the Centre’s relations with NWFP’s MMA Ministry (MMA being a six disparate religious party alliance). CM Akram Durrani of the NWFP has had the highly controversial Hasba Bill passed by the Provincial Assembly. It has put the Central Government in a spot and liberal people in the country are apprehensive and critical. The Hasba Bill had evoked fear: it would lead to Talibanisation of at least the NWFP. It is intended to enforce the Islamic Sharia. It would involve creating a parallel system of justice, propaganda and policing of thoughts to enforce morality. Its sanction is the Islamic injunction of promoting virtue and fighting vice. Opponents of the Bill say it involves a new police force to persuade people to observe Islamic rites like prayers and fasting. If it is anything like Saudi Shurtas, it would force people to leave their shops and work places at prayer times and herd them into mosques. As the Federal Government has said the real purpose of the Bill is to make the Chief Minister of Frontier king in the province and all others will become helpless subjects. That is the MMA design. The Governor has broadly hinted that the ministry will be sacked. In the event, the Centre has not asked the Governor to take over. It is seeking the advice of the Supreme Court on a reference; but the apex court can only adjudicate on the passed Bill being ultra vires of the Constitution or not. Obviously the Centre wants to spread the responsibility thin for possible action against either the ministry or the Governor’s refusal to sign the Bill. The Supreme Court would probably stay the signing by Governor for an indefinite duration of hearings in the top court. The matter is likely to remain undecided for many months. To be sure, MMA leadership comprises astute politicians. They have carefully chosen this moment for passing the Bill. Local government elections will be held next month. If the Centre is seen taking harsh action against the MMA, the latter can go round accusing the Kafir Centre of opposing the enforcement of Sharia. That would be good for vote-catching, especially in the Frontier. If the Centre procrastinates for long, the MMA can claim credit for having implemented Sharia but the Musharraf regime has prevented the enactment. That too means more votes and sway over the NWFP after the polls. Islamabad cannot escape the dilemma over what it should do. By imposing Governor’s Raj, or getting the Bill somehow invalidated or stayed, the MMA can project being a victim of injustice from anti-Islamic forces in power. It is a tough situation for Musharraf. If he lets things drift, even then the MMA will claim credit for implementing Islamic injunctions. It is true, the Bill is not acceptable to the true devout of all sects. There happens to be a constitutional body called Council of Islamic Ideology which is mandated to examine all pieces of legislation to see whether it passes the test of a law not being repugnant to Quran and Sunnah. The CII had given a long list of objections to the Hasba Bill and held it inadvisable. Behind MMA’s calculation about vote getting in upcoming local government elections. Their gaze is focused on the election due in 2007. The MMA wants to win that election. Its top leaders do not expect a countrywide victory but they do hope to make substantial gains over the present position in which the MMA controls one-third of the National Assembly and one province under its full control and another (Balochistan) in which it dominates a coalition with fractious King’s party: PML (Q). The MMA is anxious to make dents in major parties’ vote banks, including the ruling party (Q League) in Punjab and Sindh. Its position in these provinces so far has been marginal; as a political force, mullahs are virtually ignorable in Punjab and Sindh. Would they be able to make advances in the two eastern provinces? Who knows? And Musharraf’s expediencies — need for votes for his own election as President — can yet bring surprises. What makes the Centre’s position anomalous is the fact that President Pervez Musharraf has actually depended on unavowed MMA support and will yet do in 2007. His crucial make-or-break constitutional amendments could be passed by Parliament only with MMA votes. As for Parliament to be elected in 2007, everyone believes that no party is likely to get a decisive majority. Musharraf wants to be elected President of Pakistan in 2007 and that will require a lot more votes that the King’s party can deliver. That limits his option of taking strong action against the MMA. Musharraf has made “enlightened moderation” his slogan, mainly for US benefit. His dependence on MMA may run against western opinion. How long can he keep this virtual alliance secret? But Musharraf, while wanting its support, does not also want the MMA to grow too big. It is military’s old policy that no political party should become so popular as to challenge the Army’s supremacy. Indeed Musharraf’s coup was intended to preempt the possibility of any political party being able to subordinate the Army. Which is why Musharraf has never countenanced Benazir Bhutto’s and Nawaz Sharif’s return because their voter appeal is independent of military’s support. Musharraf has enabled Q-League to effect so many defections from the PPP and the PML (N). He remains determined to prevent any political role for Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, although they would take away substantial political space from the MMA, promoting the goal of enlightened moderation, if he has actually intended it. The problem springs from the oldest conundrum facing Muslim Pakistanis. It boils down to the question about identity. Mullahs are relying on the fib that Pakistan was meant to enable Muslims to live like true Muslims: i.e. its creation was an Islamic compulsion. Therefore, its laws and Constitution must be based on Quran and Sunnah. In real life, Quran has many interpretations, all authentic for various sects, and Sunnah is not an agreed or codified body of Prophet’s sayings. Thus, creating a uniquely Islamic state will, given Muslims’ bewildering diversity, mean unending conflict among Muslims. The only Islam-based state — according to Sunni Hanafi fiqh — was Taliban’s Afghanistan, with Mullah Umar being an autocratic ruler who was religious, political and military head of all Muslims. Such a Caliph would lock up Muslim women into homes, close girls schools, force Muslim men not only to keep beards but never to trim them or play football in shorts. There is no injunction in Quran or commonly agreed Hadith of the Prophet for any specific Islamic state. This ideology is based on the slogan that Quran provides for all situations from cradle to grave. This is a thin ice to skate to find remedies for all life’s problems in Quran or Islam. Real choice is among some version of a Mulla Umar or the modern statecraft of democracy. The trouble in Pakistan is that no one speaks the plain truth that all religious autocracies will subvert human rights of all, Muslims and non-Muslims. Truth is that military’s policies have been to discredit politicians, though it has not been wholly unsuccessful. Only, they have not succeeded brilliantly either. Meanwhile, they have destroyed national unity on basic issues.
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Some zest for life! FOR the past couple of years, I had been seeing her regularly on my early morning walks. I would get the whiff of a heady perfume whenever she and her companion would cross me as I took rounds of the sector garden. She looked fiftyish and made a pretty picture with her short hair and attractive salwar suits. What would also draw my attention to the couple was that they always held hands as they swiftly traversed the zigzag paths of the garden. Their pace would never slacken even for a moment as they chatted non-stop. I often wondered about their need to hold hands… maybe her husband had low blood pressure or some other problem. Then recently I was pleasantly surprised to see her coming towards my house with another woman. They had come to visit our new tenants. After an hour so, my tenant Radha came to see them off. Seeing me, she introduced me to the two women. I greeted them and told the “pretty” one that I often saw her in the morning. She smilingly responded that she hated missing her walk. After the two had left, Radha told me that the “pretty” aunty had been her former neighbour. “She had been the first one from the neighbourhood to welcome me when I’d shifted there. Her enthusiasm for life’s really infectious. She’s the life of that locality, and loves to interact with all age groups, especially children. A gracious hostess, she spoils you silly when you call on her. She makes you feel special by preparing homemade snacks and serving tea herself.” “She’s fond of dressing up, too,” I quipped, recalling her tasteful designer suits. “Yea, extremely so,” continued Radha. “In fact, she would always prod me to remain well turned out too. And, complimenting is something one could learn from her. She floors you with compliments if she finds you are wearing something special and different. If she would notice that my hair needed a cut or my eyebrows required care, she would gently suggest a visit to the parlour. Aunty was extremely helpful too when my son was advised a high-protein diet by the doctor. We are vegetarians, so she would make it a point to send him a boiled or half-fried egg or omelette every day. “And with her husband remaining busy with his business, aunty keeps herself occupied with her group of friends. She enjoys tambola, and has joined at least five to six kitty parties.” Even as I was losing interest taking in the pastimes of this well-heeled housewife, Radha went on ecstatically, “It is amazing isn’t it that she has such zest for living?” “Yea, yea,” I mumbled. “Especially,” continued Radha, “since she’s blind….”
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Struggle for gender justice Over the past few months we have seen how the BJP has targeted the Congress for compromising on constitutional rights of Muslim women. Notwithstanding the Congress’ own shoddy record on human rights, part of the BJP’s strategy is now to address Muslim issues from within a constitutional and ‘secular’ framework, and to underscore the growing threat of Muslim communalism to the Indian Constitution. This partly explains the party’s criticism of Aligarh Muslim University’s reservation policy. While attacking the Congress for promoting religion-based reservation, the Hindutva bastions have probably forgotten that the BJP government in 2003-04, reopened the whole issue of 50 per cent Muslim quota. Though the issue of Muslim reservation deserves critical consideration from all political parties, the BJP’s stance springs from its ingrained antipathy to Muslims and their religion, and thus somewhat thwarts the possibility of any fruitful political debate. Likewise, by focussing on Imrana, the BJP is trying to strengthen its agenda of divisive politics. But its stance smacks of hypocrisy, given the party’s track record on gender-related issues. The BJP has suddenly taken on a progressive stance, when it comes to the rights of Muslim women. In the case of Imrana, for instance, it is trying to reopen the national debate on the uniform civil code, and the Muslim personal law has become the target of its attack. Not surprisingly, as it did so in the case of Shah Bano, the BJP is harping on Imrana’s right to “equality” and “justice” within a constitutional framework. One shudders to recall the mass rape and murder of Muslim women during the Gujarat carnage in 2002. What did Narendra Modi’s government do? one may ask. Or what did the BJP, which was in power at the Centre, do? Before the party leaders venture to embark on a national debate on reforms in Muslim personal law, and the need to make it compatible with constitutional guarantees of equality and dignity for women, it may do well for Hindutva stalwarts to atone for the brutalisation of Muslim women in Gujarat. Equally appalling is the fact that while the BJP leaders are so passionately fighting for giving justice to Imrana, they are completely silent on the ways in which Hindu women in U.P. and elsewhere have become the worst victims of patriarchy, religious orthodoxy and violence in recent years. Only last month, a Hindu woman, a mother of six children, who happened to be a village rickshaw-puller’s wife, was tied to a pole in full public view in Khalilpur a village of Bijnor district in U.P., after the panchayat found her guilty of “immoral conduct”. The villagers cut off her hair after tying her to a pole, and then whipped her. Her public flogging elicited no response from the BJP leaders, or from any other major political party for that matter. The BJP leaders are busy needling the Congress and the Samajwadi Party to bring justice to the Muslim rape victim. Fair enough. Certainly, violence against women is an issue in U.P. Yes, it is violence that stalks women everywhere. In U.P. women are shot for bearing a girl child. They are assaulted because they happen to be women. But that’s not what the Hindutva hardliners are talking about. Why are they only talking about violence against Muslim women, and that too the violence that is inflicted from within the Muslim community? Why have the Hindutva hardliners not spoken against the Sati of Ram Kumari in Banda in U.P., which took place on May 7, 2005. It is now a historical fact that Ram Kumari had cried out for help after jumping into the pyre. Today, villagers revere Ram Kumari as “the ideal Indian woman”. Have we come a long way from 1829, the year Sati was legally banned in colonial India? In fact, several pieces of gram sabha (village committee) land have been allotted for the construction of Sati temples all over Banda. One such temple that is being currently constructed is to honour Javitri Devi, a widow who committed Sati in 1981, and the site is now commemorated as “Sri Sati Mata Javitri Devi Temple” in Jaari village in Banda district. This is not all. The Rajasthan government has glorified the Sati temples in its latest guidebook, Rajasthan ke Lok Devi Devta (Folk Deities of Rajasthan). Imrana of Muzaffarnagar and Ram Kumari of Banda, a victim of ‘Sati’, have something in common. For one, both are victims of patriarchy and religious orthodoxy. Their plight denotes the Indian State’s failure to impart gender justice and protect women’s rights. Religious authorities, in league with panchayats, define and determine the course of women’s lives. Political parties and state governments alike encourage their subordination. The fatwa against Imrana or the religious sanction given to the performance of Sati testifies to a dangerous intertwining of political, religious and patriarchal ideologies in recent years. The BJP, for one, has been on the forefront of redefining an aggressive notion of family, community and nation, subjecting women to a religiously informed tradition. Not surprisingly, the “tradition” of Sati feeds into the Hindutva ideology and perpetuates an image of woman as a passive, ascetic, self-effacing wife and daughter dying for a “noble” cause. Do the BJP leaders then have any moral authority to critique the Muslim personal law, criticise what they call their “obnoxious religious practices” and talk about Imrana’s rights and dignity as a woman? Their acerbic attack on the Muslim community and Islam will only introduce a communal element in the political debate on gender justice within a pluralistic framework. The BJP seems to be setting up a double standard of political morality. Isn’t it time for political parties to engage in self-introspection, accept reality and for once give some serious thought to women’s rights as dignified and equal citizens of this country? Only then Imrana will be given rightful justice. The issue is not just of injustice against Muslim women. Atrocities against women have been on the rise all over the country. Violence against women is a feature of everyday life. The struggle for gender justice is not reducible to a particular religious community. It concerns all women. All religious communities have oppressive practices and rituals, which deny and violate women’s rights and choice. To speak for one cause and to be silent on another is to the detriment of women’s interests and welfare in the long run. At best, this would just mean, to borrow George Orwell’s phrase, “the punishment of the guilty by the guilty”.
**** The writer teaches history at Miranda House, University of Delhi.
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Parents should outsource worrying, too IN a recent edition of People magazine, there was a description of a new parenting trend: outsourcing. Busy moms and dads can pay someone to teach their children to ride a two-wheeler, to potty-train their toddlers, to bake cupcakes for a birthday snack at school or sew Scout badges on a uniform. And, on the ABC News Web site, there was a report on the increasing number of parents who attend classes and support groups or hire coaches to make them better parents. Finally, a cover story in New York magazine profiled Isabel
Kallman, the “Alpha Mom,” an energetic new mother who has plans for a 24-hour cable network of the same name that will provide nothing but expert advice for other new mothers. Excuse me while I take a nap. This movement into over-parenting or hyper-parenting or socio-parenting or micro-parenting is giving me a headache. Neither child has made any of the choices toward which I have steered them. I might as well have been talking to myself for 20 years. And I don’t think there is a course, book, coach or television network that would have made a difference. (Except for my favorite parenting book of all time: “Get Out of My Life; But First Could You Take Me and Cheryl to the Mall?” by Anthony E. Wolf. I don’t know if it made me a better parent, but it kept me sane during the process.) Between Dr Phil and Supernanny and the tragic spate of missing children, the media have given parents plenty of reason to doubt their own abilities and to fear the results of their own incompetence. The lousy economy has made parents fearful for their own jobs, and that makes them want to script their children’s future to ensure success and financial security. Add to that the fact that every parent thinks her child is gifted and talented and every parent thinks her child should start on every sports team, and you have a recipe for unrelenting pressure. On the parents. On the kids. And on the teachers and coaches and other professionals who come in contact with these parents and these kids. Having just crossed a couple of preliminary thresholds in this business — and watched my fellow parents do the same — I can say with authority that almost none of this stuff matters. I swear, you could send your child to be raised by the animals in the forest, like Mowgli in “The Jungle Book,” and as long as everybody loved everybody, as the animals did Mowgli, everything would turn out all right, as it did for Mowgli. The only outsourcing I have ever done is the housework — and not because I wanted to spend more quality time with my children. One of the toughest things for parents to learn is how little they have to say about how happy or successful their children grow up to be. Food, safety and love (probably in that order) are what we are called upon to provide. The kids are supposed to take it from there. I was reminiscing with my friend Linda recently about our time as parents of toddlers. She reminded me that I would have shed my skin if my daughter had chosen to wear a pretty nightgown to pre-school, or two different shoes, as hers did. And she reminded me that I might have fainted if it had been my child who chose a sanitary napkin after his father told him to pack a napkin in his lunch box. I admit all of this is true. But hindsight is 20/20, and you can learn from my hyperventilation. Relax and hang out with your kids, because it won’t be your boss or your co-workers weeping when you are gone. Trust your instincts because they spring from the deep well of love that you have for your child. No one else can do more than dip a bucket into that well. Talk to your kids a lot, but listen more. Be their consultant, not their boss, whenever you can. Keep your children close for as long as they let you. Hug them and kiss them whenever you feel like it. They are only pretending to hate it. Then stand back and let their personalities unfold. Because you don’t have any other choice.
— LA Times-Washington Post
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Defence notes THE Parliamentary Committee on Defence has recommended the setting up of a maritime security advisory committee (MSAC) under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which would not only institutionalise the security element in the country’s port sector but also help deal with security matters and prescribe measures specially in the post 9/11 scenario. The committee has observed that the Directorate General of Shipping is the competent authority and equipped with enough resources to handle security matters as envisaged in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. The committee recommended that even if the directorate oversaw the functions in the shipping sector, the setting up of the MSAC was essential for securing maritime environment. It recommended that all port facilities and Indian vessels should have comprehensive security plans evolved by the port authorities and shipping companies in conjunction with the Navy and the Coast Guard. Why air crashes? Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the expert committee on aircraft accidents has found that planes having older technology, including MiG-21s, are more prone to accidents. New technology aircraft incorporate improved design features which provide for better air safety. The committee has also found that pilot error constitutes 43 per cent of the aircraft accidents in the Indian Air Force and this trend is found in all aviation organisations around the world. Aircraft accidents due to technical defects account for 39 per cent of the mishaps. Speaking in Parliament, the minister also said that the committee has submitted its report and has made wide-ranging recommendations towards improving pilot training, covering all aspects of pilot selection, upgradation of pilot requirements, induction of new “computerised pilot selection system at the Air Force selection boards, simulator training flying, focused training and closer monitoring of the pilots by supervisors. Robbers target soldiers Soldiers are being targeted by organised gangs of robbers military personnel in some parts of the country and it has become a matter of concern for the authorities at the Army headquarters. Troops are being advised to desist from befriending strangers while travelling in order to avoid the risk of getting cheated and drugged. As part of a drive, warning messages against the threat are being displayed on closed circuit TVs and announcements are being made at railway stations and bus terminals. The Military Police has also been instructed to patrol “sensitive” railway stations.
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From the pages of Loyalty and disloyalty
Some of our contemporaries seem to be very much exercised over the charge of the disloyalty and sedition that has lately been levelled against our countrymen by anonymous correspondents in Anglo-Indian papers. The apparently pro-Boer remarks in which some native Indian journals have been indulging have evidently given rise to the notion that the news of the temporary check that the British arms received in South Africa has been hailed with delight in this country! A doubt as to the loyalty of our countrymen towards the British Raj being sincere and heartfelt can arise in the minds of such Anglo-Indians only as know that they have done little to win the esteem and affection of the people. Every Englishman, or for the matter of that every European in the country, has in his keeping the good name of England for magnanimous fair-dealing towards the alien races subject to her sway. In his relations with the members of the subject community he ought always to bear this fact in mind. Every white man in India, however insignificant he may be in point of rank or wealth, carries a great load of responsibility on his shoulders in that he is regarded as a representative of the ruling race by the masses.
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The ways of the sages are before us. Some of us think them foolish. Some know them to be wise. We see that which we wish to see. — Book of quotations on Hinduism Who is the great driver? He is the one who can hold the chariot back even when the horses are pulling uncontrollably. That man who can hold back his rising anger is indeed the driver of his mind. — The Buddha Material objects have symbols; not so the spirit. Then how can we see it with our physical senses? — The Upanishads The King must employ different methods to know the true motivations of his generals. No one should be trusted blindly to carry on the cause. Age, years of servitude, friendliness are no barriers to going over to the enemy’s camp. — The Mahabharata
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THE national hysteria in the Imrana case demonstrates the hypocrisy of political parties on women’s issues. The BJP’s criticism of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party for their relative inaction in this case speaks of how gender issues are being manipulated by the major political parties. And when gender intersects with religious issues, the debate becomes even more acrimonious at the expense of the victim’s choice and identity.