Javed Akhtar rips apart Pak. journalist

[Ram]

Just once - in the '98 elections. My philosophy for elections and voting in India is that one should always vote for the best candidate rather than a party based on an 'ideology'. There are too many bad people in each party to vote for an ideology. However, if you vote for the best candidate you just might get a bunch of good people in the parliament to make a difference.

BJP under Vajpayee had a very good nationalistic message. Things begin to unravel when they begin to go on all these ridiculous rath yatras.

[The Outsider]

BJP under Vajpayee had a very good nationalistic message. Things begin to unravel when they begin to go on all these ridiculous rath yatras.

I don't think so. BJP was a non entity when I was growing up. They had two seats in the Lok Sabha in the '84 elections - every single big leader of BJP suffered humiliating defeats. The '84 elections were the genesis of their brand of communal and opportunistic politics. In the '89 elections they aligned with as disparate ideologies as Janta Dal and CPI, just to have a significant presence in the parliament. And once they saw VP Singh polarize the country with his Mandal agenda, they came up with the overtly fanatical brand of Hindutva by raking up the Babri Masjid issue. Not many would be even aware that a court case regarding the Babri Masjid dispute is registered in Indian (then British) courts since 1920s. No one gave a damn about the entire thing or was even aware of the case or the dispute. It was in '87 when Rajiv Gandhi opened the locks to the temple for the general public that the entire situation escalated. Till that time there was a court order to allow one designated priest to perform pooja twice a year there, alone. In the background of the Shah Bano case, the BJP and right wing Hindu elements saw this as a hijacking of their Hindu support. Coupled with VP Singh's Mandal which was drawing away a significant percentage of Hindu voters away from BJP and negating their electoral forage, it formed the driving force for BJP to take over the mantle of the Babri Masjid dispute - the repercussions are there for us to see even till today. So, the BJP never ever had a nationalistic message to convey. It was and still is just another opportunistic Indian political party. It's just that Vajpayee was a top BJP leader who coule rise above this kind of garbage on occasions and deliver to the country, like Manmohan Singh is now for a dysfunctional Congress.

[kumble_rocks]

I don't think so. BJP was a non entity when I was growing up. They had two seats in the Lok Sabha in the '84 elections - every single big leader of BJP suffered humiliating defeats. The '84 elections were the genesis of their brand of communal and opportunistic politics. In the '89 elections they aligned with as disparate ideologies as Janta Dal and CPI, just to have a significant presence in the parliament. And once they saw VP Singh polarize the country with his Mandal agenda, they came up with the overtly fanatical brand of Hindutva by raking up the Babri Masjid issue. Not many would be even aware that a court case regarding the Babri Masjid dispute is registered in Indian (then British) courts since 1920s. No one gave a damn about the entire thing or was even aware of the case or the dispute. It was in '87 when Rajiv Gandhi opened the locks to the temple for the general public that the entire situation escalated. Till that time there was a court order to allow one designated priest to perform pooja twice a year there, alone. In the background of the Shah Bano case, the BJP and right wing Hindu elements saw this as a hijacking of their Hindu support. Coupled with VP Singh's Mandal which was drawing away a significant percentage of Hindu voters away from BJP and negating their electoral forage, it formed the driving force for BJP to take over the mantle of the Babri Masjid dispute - the repercussions are there for us to see even till today. So, the BJP never ever had a nationalistic message to convey. It was and still is just another opportunistic Indian political party. It's just that Vajpayee was a top BJP leader who coule rise above this kind of garbage on occasions and deliver to the country, like Manmohan Singh is now for a dysfunctional Congress.

Good post , Got to agree with this.

[seedhi]

Realistically' date=' neither am I. But I feel that after the latest round of protests in Kashmir, coupled with the fact that they will die out till next summer with winter setting in soon, there would be a genuine debate on Article 370 and perhaps, just perhaps, it might lead to a debate on a Uniform Civil Code.[/quote']Things are all set to go the opposite way, forget repealing article 370, I wont be surprised if we end with a pre-1953 status for Kashmir with a different PM, flag, currency, judiciary with only Defense, communications and foreign policy being in the purview of the Centre. As it is none of the constitutional mechanisms like the RTI, Vigilance Commissioner etc are extended to J&K which makes it a black hole for Indian money with zero accountability. As far as the Uniform Civil Code - the mere utterance of these three words can brand you as communal. And the hypocrisy - the same people who oppose it tooth and nail in India will not mind sending their sons and daughters to the US/UK/Australia which have UCC.

[seedhi]

BJP under Vajpayee had a very good nationalistic message. Things begin to unravel when they begin to go on all these ridiculous rath yatras.

Not quite .. the rath yatra of 1990 only strengthened the BJP exponentially and eventually led to ABV as the PM. There would have been no Vajpayee era had it not been for the Ayodhya movement.

[Ram]

Not quite .. the rath yatra of 1990 only strengthened the BJP exponentially and eventually led to ABV as the PM. There would have been no Vajpayee era had it not been for the Ayodhya movement.

Yes, the Ayodhya movement was instrumental in catapulting BJP into the national foray, but they try to wring the last ounce of life from an already long-dead horse even now, which hasnt worked for them at all.

[Ram]

So, the BJP never ever had a nationalistic message to convey. It was and still is just another opportunistic Indian political party. It's just that Vajpayee was a top BJP leader who coule rise above this kind of garbage on occasions and deliver to the country, like Manmohan Singh is now for a dysfunctional Congress.

Of course, thats totally true. But in 2004, they really did try to run on a development/nationalism plank. First, there was this whole 'Bharat Uday' media campaign. Then, there was all the focus on the economic policies (especially disinvestment of PSUs')

[Ram]

Btw, I dont think the word 'liberal' applies to Indian politics. We have 3 main groups of political forces - The Congress, BJP and the left. The other minor state parties (ADMK/DMK, Trinamool Cong, TDP, JD(U), JD(S), BJD, Samajwadi party, BSP etc) essentially ally with either the Congress or th BJP based on the season. I dont know if any one group can be called a liberal, unless of course you want to term the Left's anti-privatization, pro-govt ownership economic agenda as being 'liberal' (I dont think it is liberal, but just socialist) . I think the word liberal is so much more than just economic policy, its also about stands on social issues. In that aspect, there's hardly anything that divides our political parties.

[seedhi]

So, the BJP never ever had a nationalistic message to convey. It was and still is just another opportunistic Indian political party. It's just that Vajpayee was a top BJP leader who coule rise above this kind of garbage on occasions and deliver to the country, like Manmohan Singh is now for a dysfunctional Congress.

If that were so then BJP would have dropped its demand for uniform civil code or repealing article 370 - both nationalist positions - to curry favor with muslims or with Kashmiris. You gave the example of BJP having revived the Ayodhya case. But it is also the only party that speaks about uniform civil code, no body else does so. Same with repealing article 370. Same with the IMDT Act in the North East - a ridiculous law in which the police cannot even question someone suspected of being an illegal immigrant unless it already has concrete proof. The law was declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court but the UPA-1 govt refused to repeal it. The security forces all over the country are in favor of POTA like law - again it is mostly the BJP which supports it. The Congress has it for Maharashtra and Delhi but denies other states the benefit of such a law. So we have a ridiculous situation where our national anti-narcotics laws are far stronger than our anti-terror laws. There are any number of clearly nationalist positions that are articulated only by the BJP amongst all major political parties. Even today as the debate rages on Kashmir, it is the BJPs line which coincides with the position of the army that AFSPA should not be diluted or removed as part of an appeasement plan. The Congress is divided on it.

[seedhi]

May I also add that BJP is again the only party which raises the issue of illegal immigration especially from Bangladesh. Our "secular" parties are more concerned with a vote bank. Some, like Ram Vilas Paswan have openly advocated giving every Bangladeshi automatic Indian citizenship. During NDA time, the fencing with Bangladesh was taken up in earnest. LK Advani also had a law passed which denied automatic citizenship to children born in India to illegal immigrants.

[seedhi]

People also tend to overlook the biggest achievement of BJP/Vajpayee - the Pokhran nuclear tests in 1998. I mean which govt would have the balls to authorize nuclear tests within 2 months of taking office? At that time Manmohan Singh was the Leader of Opposition the Rajya Sabha - he declared that the sanctions would cripple India. But Vajpayee handled the aftermath so expertly that within 2 years US had lifted most of the sanctions and Bill Clinton was dancing with rural women in Rajasthan. I cant even imagine someone like Deve Gowda, IK Gujral or even Manmohan Singh authorizing nuclear tests and declaring India a nuclear weapons state. PVN had tried but failed. Imagine having to face an aggressive China without a credible nuclear deterrence. Even pakistan had acquired deliverable nukes by 1990 tested and gifted to them by China.

[The Outsider]

If that were so then BJP would have dropped its demand for uniform civil code or repealing article 370 - both nationalist positions - to curry favor with muslims or with Kashmiris. You gave the example of BJP having revived the Ayodhya case. But it is also the only party that speaks about uniform civil code, no body else does so. Same with repealing article 370.

Lip service. If the BJP were genuinely interested in these issues, they would have brought them up in the parliament at least for discussion - granted they were nowhere close to a two thirds majority to implement these things, but they could have displayed their position on an official national platform.

Same with the IMDT Act in the North East - a ridiculous law in which the police cannot even question someone suspected of being an illegal immigrant unless it already has concrete proof. The law was declared to be illegal by the Supreme Court but the UPA-1 govt refused to repeal it.

Firstly, IMDT was never applicable all across North East, only in Assam. The reason behind IMDT was a movement started by the right wing groups of Assam where they were launching complaints against any and every Muslim, claiming them to be illegal immigrants. Don't you think such indiscriminate, widespread filing of complaints should have some checks and balances? I agree that IMDT was not the ideal solution, but you have to understand the background for the law and why it was implemented in only one state. As far as I know, the law is not currently in existence. Can you provide some reference which says it is still in force?

The security forces all over the country are in favor of POTA like law - again it is mostly the BJP which supports it. The Congress has it for Maharashtra and Delhi but denies other states the benefit of such a law. So we have a ridiculous situation where our national anti-narcotics laws are far stronger than our anti-terror laws.

Hmmm...so the Congress is against anti terror laws and yet has them implemented and functioning in two states governed by it? Please note the irony of your statement.

There are any number of clearly nationalist positions that are articulated only by the BJP amongst all major political parties. Even today as the debate rages on Kashmir, it is the BJPs line which coincides with the position of the army that AFSPA should not be diluted or removed as part of an appeasement plan. The Congress is divided on it.

Only articulated through lip service for which so many people fall into the trap of what is at it's core an opportunistic, fundamentalistic party. What did they achieve or try to achieve on these nationalistic fronts when they were in power? Had the country's foreign minister escort terrorists to Afghanistan under state protection, even after the hijacked aircraft was sitting on an airport in India for a good half hour?

[The Outsider]

Things are all set to go the opposite way, forget repealing article 370, I wont be surprised if we end with a pre-1953 status for Kashmir with a different PM, flag, currency, judiciary with only Defense, communications and foreign policy being in the purview of the Centre. As it is none of the constitutional mechanisms like the RTI, Vigilance Commissioner etc are extended to J&K which makes it a black hole for Indian money with zero accountability. As far as the Uniform Civil Code - the mere utterance of these three words can brand you as communal. And the hypocrisy - the same people who oppose it tooth and nail in India will not mind sending their sons and daughters to the US/UK/Australia which have UCC.

Let's see. I think Article 370 is on it's way out depending on how the movement pans out. But to add a caveat that I don't think Article 370 should be repealed completely, but amended into something like what governs HP today - where you can own and set up a business and then buy residential land, but you cannot just buy residential land and become a resident. I know it goes against the grain of the completely free movement ideals, and I would not want it to be an everlasting act either. But there should be a buffer of 15-25 years for the state to progress, so that the local people can be brought up to speed with the rest of the system against whom they will be competing with. Regardless the party, everyone recognizes the strategic importance of Kashmir from a political as well as a defense point of view. And there is no way that India will give up Kashmir, unless it actually loses the territory in a war - a highly unlikely scenario.

[seedhi]

Lip service. If the BJP were genuinely interested in these issues' date=' they would have brought them up in the parliament at least for discussion - granted they were nowhere close to a two thirds majority to implement these things, but they could have displayed their position on an official national platform. [/quote']BJP has discussed these issues several times in the Parliament. Private members bills have been introduced by BJP MPs in the past on Uniform Civil Code. The issue of Article 370 is a bit more vexed as it (seemingly) requires the J&K assembly to abrogate it.

Firstly, IMDT was never applicable all across North East, only in Assam. The reason behind IMDT was a movement started by the right wing groups of Assam where they were launching complaints against any and every Muslim, claiming them to be illegal immigrants. Don't you think such indiscriminate, widespread filing of complaints should have some checks and balances? I agree that IMDT was not the ideal solution, but you have to understand the background for the law and why it was implemented in only one state. As far as I know, the law is not currently in existence. Can you provide some reference which says it is still in force?

I am not clear whether the law is still applicable, the Congress govt did file an appeal against the SC verdict. The Congress CM of that state Traun Gogoi proclaimed a few years ago that there is not a single illegal Bangladeshi in Assam. The IMDT Act had outlived its utility long long before the SC judgment.

Hmmm...so the Congress is against anti terror laws and yet has them implemented and functioning in two states governed by it? Please note the irony of your statement.

The Congress is the biggest opportunist in this matter. The Parliament passed the POTA law during the NDA time. Prior to 2004, Congress ruled Maharashtra passed a similar MCOCA law on top of it, which was made applicable to Delhi also. In 2004, the Congress govt at Centre revoked POTA but MCOCA stayed in Congress ruled Maharashtra and Delhi. So the other states were deprived of a stringent anti-terror law whereas Maharashtra and Delhi still had MCOCA. When, for example, Gujarat assembly adopted the GUJCOCA, a carbon copy of MCOCA, the Congress ruled centre refused assent which is required for implementation. So the situation is that for the same crime in Maharashtra the police have a much more powerful law, whereas across in Gujarat the police dont have that law. And the Congress govt refuses any attempt to rectify this situation. On the other hand, a person caught of narcotics related crimes can be subjected to a stringent law all over the country, but not someone who has been caught for terror related activities.

Only articulated through lip service for which so many people fall into the trap of what is at it's core an opportunistic, fundamentalistic party.

How is this lip service? For example BJP is opposed to more autonomy in Kashmir, and NDA govt rejected a resolution passed by the J&K assembly calling for restoration of pre-1953 status. More recently the BJP opposed the dilution of and removal of AFSPA in the all party meeting and I believe this was crucial is stalling the misguided move. The other parties dont even give lip service to so many nationalist positions. Had it not been for the BJP there would be an almost monolithic political opinion on uniform civil code, article 370, illegal immigration, anti-terror laws etc, which would have been a great shame. At least I am grateful that there is a major party that articulates these views, and as long as this situation continues I believe the BJP will remain a force.

What did they achieve or try to achieve on these nationalistic fronts when they were in power? Had the country's foreign minister escort terrorists to Afghanistan under state protection, even after the hijacked aircraft was sitting on an airport in India for a good half hour?

It is still incomparable to emasculating the Indian military and leading India to a humiliating defeat in 1962, and ceding thousands of square miles of Indian territory. Our ordnance factories were producing coffee makers while our soldiers fought in freezing conditions without ammo, and often died fighting guns with bare hands. I guess that was pretty nationalist of the Congress, right?

[seedhi]

Let's see. I think Article 370 is on it's way out depending on how the movement pans out. But to add a caveat that I don't think Article 370 should be repealed completely, but amended into something like what governs HP today - where you can own and set up a business and then buy residential land, but you cannot just buy residential land and become a resident. I know it goes against the grain of the completely free movement ideals, and I would not want it to be an everlasting act either. But there should be a buffer of 15-25 years for the state to progress, so that the local people can be brought up to speed with the rest of the system against whom they will be competing with. Regardless the party, everyone recognizes the strategic importance of Kashmir from a political as well as a defense point of view. And there is no way that India will give up Kashmir, unless it actually loses the territory in a war - a highly unlikely scenario.

I really dont see the cause of your optimism. The centre is already talking of more autonomy. As much as I would want J&K to scale down article 370 as you write, the drift is towards the other side. The liberal media is openly siding with the autonomy demands. Add to that the Arundhati Roys are already in overdrive calling for giving up J&K. People like Gautam Navlakha can now get away with calling Kashmiri Pandit organizations like Panun Kashmir neo-fascist and praise Syed Geelani in the same breath on national TV. I just hope the Indian public opinion is not swayed by these people who have no stake in the integrity of India.

[straighttalk]

as far as india and china are concerned, india had and has no chance to compete with china be it militarily or economically. china is a powerhouse in all senses while india is just starting the race. the only place india is ahead of china is in political clout and diplomatic acceptance. the gap between india and china is almost similar to that between india and pakistan. i was on a recent visit to china and i was just simply mind blowingly amazed at their advancement from transport and urban infrastructure. the research that is going on in their labs etc are comparable to western standards and is far far far ahead of the obsolete stuff that is usually undertaken in india. i was really impressed by this sad and hard bit of truth. the best bet for india is to develop its economy and global position without competing against china but rather cooperating with it. at the same time to develop a credible deterrence against the Red Dragon hegemonic designs in the Indian Ocean and South East Asia. The early India understands that energy is going to control the world and goes to LED lighting designs, efficient HVAC systems, works on bette cleaner and greener energy systems and sources, the better India will be in the future. But I hardly see any concerted effort towards the same. Countries like USA and China have stolen a huge march on us. We should look for technological self sufficiency and then export to really compete with the world, rather than developing a burgeoning urban middle class doing back end stuff for the advanced countries. it is shameful that the growth of our economy is fueled by a majority of our hard core engineering graduates being attracted towards glorified web designing and back end support.

[seedhi]

as far as india and china are concerned' date= india had and has no chance to compete with china be it militarily or economically. china is a powerhouse in all senses while india is just starting the race. the only place india is ahead of china is in political clout and diplomatic acceptance. the gap between india and china is almost similar to that between india and pakistan. i was on a recent visit to china and i was just simply mind blowingly amazed at their advancement from transport and urban infrastructure. the research that is going on in their labs etc are comparable to western standards and is far far far ahead of the obsolete stuff that is usually undertaken in india. i was really impressed by this sad and hard bit of truth. the best bet for india is to develop its economy and global position without competing against china but rather cooperating with it. at the same time to develop a credible deterrence against the Red Dragon hegemonic designs in the Indian Ocean and South East Asia. The early India understands that energy is going to control the world and goes to LED lighting designs, efficient HVAC systems, works on bette cleaner and greener energy systems and sources, the better India will be in the future. But I hardly see any concerted effort towards the same. Countries like USA and China have stolen a huge march on us. We should look for technological self sufficiency and then export to really compete with the world, rather than developing a burgeoning urban middle class doing back end stuff for the advanced countries. it is shameful that the growth of our economy is fueled by a majority of our hard core engineering graduates being attracted towards glorified web designing and back end support.

India DID have a chance of competing with China. Till about 1960s we were on a similar level of development. But the 1970s and 80s were lost due to political messes all over the country. Now China is far far ahead. But we are still a democracy. But even as a democracy, there is no question we underperformed for two decades - 1970-90.

[ViruRulez]

Thanks for posting. Watched a few other interviews of Javed Akhtar too in recent times and I am quite impressed with his unbiased talk. Way to go. One more thing I liked about his talk which some people have been complaining is that he mentioned RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal and not BJP. I would not call BJP communal and he also did not say so and that is very good. Rest I would concur about his RSS, VHP, Bajrang Dal and Muslim League points. Frankly speaking if a person like me ever comes to power in India, I would have banned all types of fanatics from all religions, caste, creed etc. especially anyone indulging in violence or hatred. If anybody wants to do something for his religion, caste etc. then they should work for the country instead. Enough of this bloody vote bank politics in India. There should be uniform civil code in India and all fanatics and vote bank politics should end. I really hope that a unbiased party dedicated to only and only India and development emerges instead of votebank and petty politics but I am not sure if I would see it in my lifetime.

[ViruRulez]

as far as india and china are concerned' date= india had and has no chance to compete with china be it militarily or economically. china is a powerhouse in all senses while india is just starting the race. the only place india is ahead of china is in political clout and diplomatic acceptance. the gap between india and china is almost similar to that between india and pakistan. i was on a recent visit to china and i was just simply mind blowingly amazed at their advancement from transport and urban infrastructure. the research that is going on in their labs etc are comparable to western standards and is far far far ahead of the obsolete stuff that is usually undertaken in india. i was really impressed by this sad and hard bit of truth. the best bet for india is to develop its economy and global position without competing against china but rather cooperating with it. at the same time to develop a credible deterrence against the Red Dragon hegemonic designs in the Indian Ocean and South East Asia. The early India understands that energy is going to control the world and goes to LED lighting designs, efficient HVAC systems, works on bette cleaner and greener energy systems and sources, the better India will be in the future. But I hardly see any concerted effort towards the same. Countries like USA and China have stolen a huge march on us. We should look for technological self sufficiency and then export to really compete with the world, rather than developing a burgeoning urban middle class doing back end stuff for the advanced countries. it is shameful that the growth of our economy is fueled by a majority of our hard core engineering graduates being attracted towards glorified web designing and back end support.

Frankly speaking it would be unfair to compare China with India because both economies are completely different. China cannot have internal problems easily being a communist country where things can be done by the rule of the stick instead of individual freedom. They wont have any religious problems etc. too as China promotes State Atheism. China has atleast 40-60% atheists and the Chinese govt. is working hard on creating more atheists. In fact, I had seen a video the other day of a Chinese school and I was hell lot of surprised to see the morning prayer and oath in the school. In the school assembly they were forced to take oath that they would only follow Marx and that they do deny to follow any religion on earth. I was like WTF when I saw that as I never thought a country like China would force its people to become atheists and even take their morning oaths in that direction. Not to mention the red communist flag was also flying infront of the small kids while they were made to take the oath. So, it is not right to compare exactly to China as I could understand that it would be a lot easier for everything to be enforced in China whereas not possible in India. And China's economic development would also burst one day. The day their exports are screwed up their economic bubble would also burst. India has a lot more balanced economy and the only hurdle on the way is the tremendous level of corruption in every level in India. To be frank even the other democratic BRIC country Brazil is also facing the same and so are other developing democracies like South Africa but Brazil especially is trying to rectify. I hope we also take that step soon though I am not sure that will happen very soon. Hope that I am proven wrong and a new unbiased non-votebank based non-corrupt political party emerges and comes to power in India whose only aim is to work for the economic development of the nation.