(Most Hindus are naive and historically it has been easy to CON them. Simple slogans – “Garibi Hatao”, “Aam Admy” is what it took to fool them. Other simplistic slogans conning many Hindus include “Right”, “Center Right”, and these are often covers for maliciously peddling SickuLiarism and anti-Hindu hate, while feigning understanding and sympathy. These perversions result in half baked and ignorant efforts to describe India’s problems, prescriptions that are not rooted in native realities, and destined to fail. Many of the people shaping these anomalies define themselves based on western frame works – as right of center, or conservative, or classical liberal, or libertarian etc. Insightful would tend to call such people as Sickuliar Right or HINO (Hindu in Name Only) or BINO (Bharatiya in Name Only) or IBCDs (Indian Born Confused Desis) or simply confused desis. Let us define these people and the anomalous positions they are projecting as SickuLiar Right, for convenience and also because many of them seem to have discomfort asserting their native identities in public space. Cunning among them wear a native facade exceedingly well (Mein Bi Hindu Hoon Deceit), but the mask slips as you scrutinize their positions on substantive issues. Here we catch Swapan Dasgupta while his mask is slipping. Not a surprising media crooks like Rajdeep Sardesai etc introduce Swapan Dasgupta as “Rightist”, “BJP sympathizer” etc. Best selling Author, Rajiv Malhotra has a lot to do with the masks slipping from the faces of closet SickuLiars. Rajiv’s work has resulted in organized efforts at abusing/undermining/demonizing him)
Writing in Open Magazine, Swapan Dasgupta (SD) pens lots of canards. The goal of course is to confuse further the already bewildered Hindus. This post was a quick review on the Swapan piece.
SD writes
As someone firmly committed to the dismantling of protectionist barriers, I argued that the media could hardly claim special status.
At a superficial level, SD’s take on media looks a reasonable take. Let us examine this further. AB Vajpayee actions, listening to such half baked wisdom, resulted in India’s main stream media becoming what it is today – corrupt, controlled by dubious and a den for crooked. To understand the effect of dismantling that SD cites, read on about one of Delhi’s media mughals – NDTV Prannoy Roy.
The real issue when we are dealing with the economy as always is the national interest, and creation of level playing field. Apart from the government, incumbent businessmen do try to impose self-serving protectionist barriers often under the cover of “free market”, and “right to choice” shibboleths. For eg – check out Bill Gates specious defense for GM food.
SD goes on quixotically
The choices confronting the BJP aren’t unique. Almost all Centre-Right political formations have at some time or another been forced to determine the relative weightage to be accorded to market economics and national culture. This wasn’t much of a problem in the West in the days when there was a cosy Right-Left consensus over an ever-expanding state. Till the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan reshaped the political agenda, Right-wing parties were either staid ‘conservative’ parties emphasising the virtues of the Establishment, tradition, humane capitalism and benign (but robust) nationalism or groups that were inspired in different ways by militarism, street fights and flag waving.
SD has a penchant for foreign christian constructs. Reagan BTW was an avowed christian & had a major role in Pakistan going nuclear. Christian center right idol Winston Churchill is guilty of crimes as bad that of Catholic German Hitler. (Unorganized nature of the Hindu & poor Hindu leadership have resulted in Christian hate-mongers getting away with their serial hate and crimes).
Even in the west, Thatcher and Reagan are passé. Further their prescriptions were for a different context not applicable to India.
SD rambles on
The marginalisation of yet another pillar of conservative political belief has been equally dramatic. Till about the first seven decades of the 20th century, the established Christian churches were known to side quite unequivocally against the forces of the Left. In post-War Italy, the Catholic church was the most formidable and dependable bulwark against the Communists; in Britain, the dominant Church of England was also described as the ‘Conservative Party in prayer’; and in the United States, the equation of church and conservatism (extending along formal party lines) was almost complete. The social upsurge that began in protest against the Vietnam war and soon came to embrace issues such as race and gender led to a steady secularisation of European (and to a lesser extent, American) society.
Swapan completely “omits” the Christian Left – liberation Theology and its impact. Church just being a right organization is a hogwash. For example, not many Indians know that Prakash Karat, Marxist Communist Party, General Secretary is also a bible expert and who was guided/recommended by liberation theologian, Reverend Duncan Forester for scholarship to Edinburgh University. Reverend Duncan taught at Loyola Chennai and most probably had a role in creating other dubious “worthies” – N Ram & P Chidambaram.
SD won’t tell you that there is a crucial difference between USA and India. Left of Center in US is Christian as well. Jimmy Carter et al are as “Christian” as they come. Evangelist goals received strong support in Clinton administration. Obama announced candidacy from the Church. Sonal Shah (for Hindu origins) and Namratha Randhawa (for being a Sikh) were hounded. Namratha had to behave christian (Nikki Haley). Similar was the case with Piyush (Bobby Jindal), a christian nutcase. Further, the Church intimately collaborates with the Corporates. Gates Foundation for e.g. works w/ Christian fascist World Vision, a notorious fundamentalist organization, which fought in Supreme Court for the right to recruit exclusively Christians.
In India, as noted earlier, left has deep and intimate links to the christian church and is vehemently anti-Hindu. SD’s christian west inspired deductions just don’t apply for India.
SD continues and injects lies here:
The BJP fought the 1991 election on the Ram temple issue. In 1996, cultural nationalism was not that prominent but it was the memories of the Ayodhya demolition that ensured Atal Behari Vajpayee’s failure to secure a parliamentary majority after 13 days. What is significant is that since then, the BJP has fought its electoral battles over leadership, the promise of good governance and, in 2004, on an out-and-out economic platform.
In 1996 BJP did not have the numbers. As long as BJP was committed to Ram and Hindu interests, its growth remained Northwards. BJP’s downfall is correlated to its pandering of those hostile. 2004, BJP lost because they lost UP. UP voters penalized BJP for betraying Ram.
The reinvention formula perpetrated on poor L K Advani, to re-make him a secular led to disastrous results, and was among the factors responsible for BJP’s southward slide. Advised by ‘know all‘ journos, LK Advani turned ‘secular’. NDTV feted him in late 2008 in the run up to the 2009 LS elections by no less than its lifetime achievement award . Seculars in Delhi clapped. Of course nobody noticed that in the secularization process BJP’s vote base shrunk, and LK Advani’s reputation was in tatters among the people that mattered – BJP’s potential voters. LKAdvani ended up downsized as did his party.
HINOs have been at work wanting NM to commit similar political suicide and more importantly undermine Hindu interests. Already, “Right of Center,” Sadanand Dhume has pitched in for a winner Modi to betray his Hindu voter. SD’s piece chimes in now. All these show the Sickuliar & Christian nervousness at a Narendra Modi Lok Sabha win. Earlier, the sickuliar crowd wanted Narendra Modi to apologise for post Godhra. Now they have other self-serving suggestions. These require to be trashed.
Narendra Modi win will be effective and take the nation on the path to development only if he is able to make SickuLiars irrelevant. And this will require ruthless weeding out of anti-Hindu SickuLiars and sepoys from the Power Architecture.
