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Editorial
The Sole Question: A Question of
Your Soul
"But what kind
of a defence is this? If I have a feeling that I have not got
justice, or if I feel that you are not seeing my point of view,
should I throw my shoe at you?" The Aaj Tak TV anchor was seething
with anger when a middle level leader of the Akali Dal in
Delhi
tried to half-justify the shoe throwing by Jarnail Singh.
"Media ke liye
yeh sharam ki baat hai," a well-meaning journalist was full of more
rage than was visible on Jarnail Singh's face moments earlier.
To the TV
anchor, our point is simple. If his sister had been raped, his
father and brother had been killed, his son had gone half mad and
his mother had been sitting on dharnas for 25 years only to see that
those who did all this to her were now planning to sit in Parliament
and make laws for her, it would be okay with us if the anchor threw
a shoe. It took 25 long years, a clean chit to the killers and a Lok
Sabha ticket for that shoe to come hurling, Mr Anchor. Whatever
happened to the simple who, when, why, how, where of journalism?
To the
sharam-ki-baat-hai journo, the point is simpler. Bilkul sharam ki
baat hai. The media's 25 year long patient wait is a matter of
shame. What is he waiting for? Another shoe? At times, dying of
shame is a courageous act. Try it. Only the good people die of
shame.
There will be no
end to those now panning Jarnail Singh, his newspaper included. It
is the best weapon to prevent what could create further problems. If
Jarnail Singh's shoe flinging triggers a real search for answers and
some soul searching, it will be a troublesome journey. So naturally,
the best way is to take the moral high ground: "How nice of Mr
Chidambaram to have pardoned Jarnail Singh!" Really. How nice of him
and all his colleagues in the Congress to look forward to sharing
the hallowed precincts of Parliament with the Tytlers and the Sajjan
Kumars!
How nice it must
have been to make Tytler a minister in Manmohan Singh cabinet! How
nice of the Congressmen not to ever broach the subject of who killed
the hundreds of Sikhs in 1984!
It is time the
fight takes a new turn. Jarnail Singh's act should now trigger a new
way forward. It is the responsibility of Sikhs only to ensure that
killers of innocent citizens be punished. Good men and women who
live in Delhi are sharing the city with large number of people who
killed the Sikhs. If they feel it is fine with them, so be it.
If this is the
kind of India that the country's Hindus, Muslims, Christians want,
then so be it.
Why must the
Sikhs continue to try and force the simple democratic norms? Is it
only the duty of the Sikhs that men who led killer mobs should not
sit in Parliament?
What has
happened to the so-called Civil Society? They will only speak in
seminars and workshops? Whatever happened to the larger public space
where it should have become difficult for a Congress politician to
breathe? What has happened to the spirit of common good that
inspires US and UK to cancel Modi's visa but encourages Indian
business leaders to see a potential Prime Minister in him?
It is time to
understand the larger web of capital flows intertwined with human
rights debate. It is time to see how neo-liberal capital and decline
of values go hand in hand. It is time to understand how soft
Hindutva is neither a Congress monopoly nor harder variety a BJP
patented plan. Brahamnism forces move together, in tandem. The
crooks are very well networked. All the Tytlers and all the Babu
Bajrangis are real friends.
It is time the
good networked too.
It is time the
Sikhs take a stand, a very strong stand, on Gujarat riots, on
Kandhamal, on Dalit issue, on caste discrimination. It is time the
Muslims fend for others. It is time the Hindus took on the
brahamanical elements themselves. The widows of 1984 can’t do
everything themselves. Please lend a hand. It is a question of your
soul.
8
April 2009
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