ULTAPULTA
Much ado about a mohalla
Jaspal Bhatti

Everything is considered fair in making the election atmosphere murkier in India. Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh has accused that while on a poll inspection, the Election Commission’s man K.J. Rao has referred to an area in Bihar as a ‘Pakistani Mohalla’ According to Singh, this reference is an insult to the Muslim community.

I don’t know in what context Rao had referred to the area as a ‘Pakistani Mohalla, but I want to know that in today’s context of friendship with Pakistan, was it praise or an insult to the Muslim community?

Many films are being made on the Indo-Pak frienship. Lyric writers are coining new words to forget the past and forge new friendship bonds. How can then ‘Pakistani Mohalla’ be described as a negative word?

If people refer to Southall as mini-Punjab, do they intentionally insult Punjabis? In Punjab, we call many areas as Bhaiya colonies as these are dominated by labourers from UP and Bihar. In no way is it any insult to any community. Political leaders should refrain from communalising the election atmosphere.

If Rao had said so in a derogatory manner, he must apologise. If he made the remarks in good faith, even then he should apologise for depriving the political parties of a chance to vitiate the atmosphere.

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