On Jaswant Singh’s Jinnah

So Jaswant Singh writes a book about Jinnah and he is thrown out of his political party. And not only that, the Indian State has banned the book.

there are many issues involved here. first, given that the constitution of India is a secular one I dont know why they are making a big deal out of the views of a person. and i dont have a problem with the party expelling him. the party is a extreme right party and it would be expected of it. but a country like india, that prides itself as the biggest democracy in the world would let a book be  banned, thus effectively saying that it does not care much about the freedom of speech, speaks volumes about the kind of secularism being preached there. so you can say anything as long as it is not against the official version.

wait, havent we seen that in so many other fascist states? werent the Taliban the same type? why do the standards change from event to event.

seems like India is a democracy; but it is a democracy of Hypocrisy.

shoe throwing is the new black

the Iraqi press has made atleast one notable contribution to the world politics; throwing shoes at the leaders. President Bush was the first one, and the tradition has continued. someone tried to throw a shoe at Manmohan Singh. whether the shoe is black or brown, it seems like Shoe throwing is the new black.

war talk peace talk

ever since the Mumbai hotel siege, we have been hearing constant war talk. sometimes it goes cold and then hot again. India had talked of attacking Pakistan unilaterally, according to some of the local newspapers here. Pakistan has said that it would defend its borders. Pakistan has urged for peace several times and has said that its insistence on peace should not be taken for weakness. Sonia Gandhi has said almost the same words. and yet the tension continues.

part of this indian aggression could be attributed to the fact that india thinks that it is now a super power. that it can do anything and, like the United States, no one will say anything. part of it has to do with the Indian media. so is India really thinking of acting unilaterally? or is all the hot talk just singing along the media?

here is the situation. both the countries have nuclear capabilities. both can deliver these weapons to huge distance. the use of nuclear weapons in this case would be disastrous. there would be countless deaths. Is a Nuclear Holocaust is what is wanted by the Indian Media or by the Indian Politicians?

whoever fires the first shots will be responsible for all the deaths that this war would bring. people’s lives, not superficial patriotism, is what they should be focusing on.