why it has become so cool to hate india

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Why Has It Become So Cool To Hate

India?http://www.indiacause.com/NL_030510.htm------------------Arindam Banerji,

the author of this article, took the usual route of going from the IITs, through

a Ph.D in the US, to finally working in sundry research labs. Currently, he is a

scientist of some repute, you know the kind whose ideas actually get used by

people, and an entrepreneur, with, he says, not much success. Some day, he

says, he'll go back to India, but for now, as time permits, he is a writer and

political thinker on South Asian geo-political issues.--------Saturday morning,

last week was a bad one for me - the first thing I read, was an article from

Dilip D'Souza. He pontificated,"Then what do we say about those who might plot

against the obscenity that blights their land, as Stauffenberg did, who fight

to free India of it? Are they patriots? If so, what if they welcomed a force

from abroad that toppled this hypothetical regime, as many Iraqis did? Are they

still patriots?" - rediff.comI was stunned. D'Souza a recognized and very

visible journalist, was insinuating and subtly recommending a foreign invasion

of India to get rid of the current government; pretty much like the US did in

Iraq. Let's be sure of one thing- I will die defending D'Souza's right to

criticize, fight legally against, decry or vote out of office the current

Indian government - but, calling for foreign invasion?? Now, that's beyond

hate.All this, when I was just beginning to get over the fact that after the

Indo-Pakistani thaw had been announced, Praful Bidwai gleefully announced that

India "must give up its inalienable right to Kashmir". No word on strategic

goals for India, nothing about not rewarding terrorism.When did this happen?

Leading journalists, openly publishing anti-India, hate-India propaganda in

Indian dailies, and not a word is said - not a single editorial, no public

criticism, nothing? When did it become so cool to hate India?Before we sink

into the rhetoric of calling me a scoundrel for bringing up the patriotism

issue, let us look at what's really happening.Blame India firstImmediately,

after the Nadimarg massacre of 24 Indians, including women and children,

Farzana Versey wrote a scathing article, criticizing the Kashmiri Pandits,

blaming them for leaving the valley - essentially the they-asked-for-it

point-of-view. Times of India editorials and Kuldeep Nayar came out and blamed

the Government of India. Mind you, not a word - not one word, criticizing

either the Pakistani generals or the LeT. Akhila Raman blamed India directly

and of course, a columnist in Greater Kashmir blamed the Pandits for it all.All

these people, subtly yet completely undermined the case the GOI was trying to

build in international media on the persistent and genocidal nature of

Pakistani terrorism. In essence, these Indians equated the victims with the

perpetrators, and made the case on behalf of Pakistan. After all, nobody in

international media would cast any doubt on "Indian" writers, when they place

the blame on GOI and the Pandits for such a heinous massacre.The jury had

declared their verdict - the ever-so erudite Hafeez Sayeed who postulated

"Killing Hindus is the way to move forward" came out looking lily-white, while

4-year old Suraj, who died in his mother's arms was found guilty - he was an

Indian, you see.Remember, the Chitisingpora incident where 35 Sikhs were killed

- some Indian journalists even those writing in international publications,

declared that the GOI was to blame. It took an American, Bobby Bearak of

NYTimes to chase the whole thing down and visit the home of one of the

perpetrators in Pakistan.No matter what happens and how it happens, it is India

that is at fault, Indians are responsible. Journalists tell me that they must

remain balanced. That word again?The whole balance thing - never allow any good

news on IndiaThis balance thing, happens not just about the Hindu-Muslim issue

or India-Pakistan issues. Let me give you another example from a different area

- Mr. Vishal Thapar's article on the LCA/Tejas in the Hindustan Times. As you

may have heard about the LCA was renamed to Tejas, yesterday. Here is how it

was projected in one of the most widely distributed national newspapers in

India:"For those ecstatic at the projection of the Tejas' , this all means that

the 'Made in India' tag as a symbol of indigenous capability, a sobering

thought. Its engine is American, its avionics a combination of French, Israeli

and Swedish components, and its carbon composite wings Italian.Given that the

three basic components of an aircraft are the engine, airframe and avionics,

'swadeshi' pride gets a dose of reality."In spite, of the fact, that a simple

internet search, would have given Mr. Thapar access to all possible details on

LCA - he either chose not to do so or prefers to remain balanced. So, let us

take each of his facts one by one.What he did not tell you was the GE engine is

a test engine, to be replaced soon by an India's Kaveri. Another fact, the most

advanced fourth generation fighter called Grippen, also uses the same GE

engine, but nobody calls the Swedish Grippen non-indigenous. It also turns out

that the new fifth generation aircraft from the US (F/A22) uses Israeli

avionics. Truth is, that apart from a few measly displays, almost everything

else in the LCA's avionics- Mission Computers, Radar, Display Processors,

Avionics LRU's, databus associated control equipment -is Indian[Nitin, BRF].

The composite wing technology was co-developed with the Italians - in fact,

some of the associated software was sold by INDIA to Airbus.No mention of the

most-advanced Fly-by-Wire technology in a fourth-generation aircraft, no

mention of the sale to Airbus - simply the balanced approach to hide India's

accomplishments.Remember, the Americans cherish their flights to the moon, in

spite of the fact, that many of the leading scientists were Nazi Germany's

rocket scientists. They cherish their jet aircraft which was helped

tremendously by Nazi German designs of jet aircraft.So, why was it so important

for us to sound balanced - was it important enough to hide the facts and true

achievements? Note - not a single clarification issued by the Hindustan Times

either. It is fair to point out however, that the Hindu carried a much more

positive article on LCA on the next day.Of course, not to be left behind the

ever so-prolific India hater, Praful Bidwai writes"India . . . ranked 54th of

55 countries in an IT survey by International Data Corp. Its score is 871,

compared with China's 915, or the US's 5041. (The highest is Sweden's 5062, the

lowest Pakistan's 719.) The penetration of Indian households by PCs is under

one-fifth the world average. Today, it stands at three machines per 1000

people."Probably true - but, no mention of the fact that the Indians are

designing some of the most advanced routers in the world, they are at the

fore-front of telematics technology and developed the first products on web

services, which has now become a $50B technology. So, why the lack of balance

on this issue? Would not serve our purpose to make India look good, would it,

now.Protest and you get called NamesEverybody has heard about the Bangladeshi

infiltration into India. Most people do not know that large parts of the border

areas are now run, owned and practically ruled by Bangladeshis. I have nothing

against Bangladeshis - but, when they come to my country, ethnically cleanse

Indians out of large areas, happily help the ISI and demand sovereignty for

areas that they are squatting on, I have a problem. However, the fact that I

have said the above, labels me a Hindu Fascist and supremacist. Never mind,

that in the last 17 years in the US, I've never visited a temple - never, mind

that I've probably spent more time in a catholic church in my life-time than a

Hindu temple - I'm still a fascist.The recommendations from the Farooquis,

Pamelas and Bidwais is very clear - let the flow of Bangladeshis continue.

Imply they, that there is nothing wrong in the steady arabization of most of

the border areas and even secession is fine - whatever happens, we must not

listen to the fascists. I'm sorry this is not OK with me - I'm concerned about

the great Indian culture - the one that includes Syrian Christians, Sikhs,

Buddhists, Jains and Muslims, as much as it does Hindus. Unfortunately, we

become fascists for trying to stem the tide of Bangladeshi Taliban from

entering our country, the same people who for long had an "enemy property act",

essentially treating minorities as enemies.Not only, will many news dailies

prevent the publication of anything that is strongly pro-India or happens to

protest anti-India activities; but, the name calling against the pro-India

crowd definitely gets published. All of you must have heard about the

slanderous IDRF campaign, but how many of you got to read the excellent

de-bunking done by the Friends of India - very, very few. This seems to happen

more and more frequently these days -· protest against subsuming India

within groups and academic departments that call themselves South Asian (not

Indian) - you're a fanatic· protest against Romila Thapar's writings -

you're a Hindu supremacist· protest against stopping charity to innocent

Indian kids through false and unproven allegations - you're RSS, VHP or

worseOpenly anti-India activitiesKamal Mitra Chenoy, a professor from JNU,

actually testified before the USCIRF on Gujarat, with the sole purpose of

having sanctions declared on India. While, what happened in Gujarat was vile

and reprehensible, how does it make sense to help other countries declare

sanctions on India? Who does it hurt most? As a Friend of India member

wrote,"In other words, here was an Indian zealously participating in a charade

meant to impose hardship on his own country, collaborating with a wing of a

government that his own comrades are given to routinely denouncing as

"imperialist" and hegemonist."Canvassing for anti-India acts are the norm now.

The Indian Muslim Council, in the US, very rightfully concerned about what

happened in Gujarat, is openly courting and canvassing congressmen and

congressional staffers on "Hindu fanaticism". Very thoughtful, but how do we

expect the US Congressmen to help? Take action against India!!Mind you - I'm

happy to join their protests in front of the Indian embassy, if they spend an

equal amount of time, protesting the killing of twice as many Indians (as

killed in Gujarat) every year by Islamic terrorists. Or, will they please tell

their US legislators, that India actually has minorities, but minorities have

for the most part vanished in the rest of South Asia (Bangladesh has gone from

33% to 7%). Will they please tell, the Americans that from negligible numbers,

Andamans now have 60% Christians? Why not present the whole picture - who does

it help not to do so?Everyday in the Bay area, Indian speakers are feted by

large crowds of Indians and Pakistanis, for claiming how bad India is? How the

Hindus are killing all the Muslims? Association of words like genocide, fascist

and fundamentalist with India are common. Not a word on the Islamic terrorism

that kills thousands every year, not a word on state support for it, not a word

on the complete ethnic cleansing that has happened in the rest of South Asia (3%

minorities in Pakistan, down from 20%) - no, that would offend our Pakistani

friends.Our own, Arundhati Roy, who feels compelled to go all over the world

and announce that "India is an artificial state", recently along with some

other anti-India stalwarts attended a meeting to remember Marxist-Leninist

separatist Naxals. Mind you, these are the same Naxals who recommend

partitioning the country and happily extort and kill innocent Indian citizens.

The Bidwais, Pandeys and Roys had to honor them, but, would they ever visit the

families of soldiers who died at Kargill? Nope, and nobody called them on it -

no protests, no editorial scolding.Our politicians outdo all this. While

Congress and the left encourage anti-India elements to settle in India, the

right has proposed sundry localized sun-of-the-soil theories. All this just to

win a few votes. Who does this hurt? You, me and India. I'm not suggesting that

all Indian politicians become honest - that would be a stupid expectation. But,

where is our press? Where are the national scolds, which are handed out so

readily when we dare to kill a terrorist or two, without reading them their

rights? Never surprises me that, more people jumped up to help the professor

who facilitated the Parliament attack; than ever did to help the Sikh widows of

the 1984 riots.National Lack of ConfidenceI'm keenly aware of the impact of

history on national psyche and attitudes - let's face it, at least in the

recent centuries, we Indians have been raped, massacred and indoctrinated with

gay abandon. But, history in itself is not an acceptable excuse - where are our

leaders? Leadership means breaking the mold - not just our politicians, but our

managing editors and our news outlet owners - they just standby, they don't

feel the need to direct their ire.I have come to believe that our educational

institutions have a role here. Passing through the IITs, nobody ingrained in me

or my friends, the arrogance to believe that we could do intellectual work

better than the best in the world. Result - we all end up believing, like Mr.

Vishal Thapar above, that Indians cannot do the kinds of things that the

Anglo-Saxons can - how could they? Other educational institutions are worse -

try holding a pro-India, anti-Pakistan program in JNU - chances are you'll get

beaten up. Writes Vrin Parker, an American who has spent time in India,"After

having been forced to learn a lot misinformation about India in American

schools I became fed up . I began my own research and soon discovered that it

was the Indians themselves . who are at the root of all the nonsense taught

about Hindus in the West."Acceptance as NormalIt isn't what D'Souza said that

has surprised me - it is that this has become accepted behavior in India.

Nobody protests, when Arundhati makes up stories that make the Gujarat

incidents much worse than they actually were (and they were bad enough), nobody

blinks when Bidwais of the world spew their anti-India venom day in and day out,

nobody cries foul when anti-India groups are feted by prominent/respected

Indians within India and nobody editorializes when Indians go around canvassing

foreign governments to take actions against India and Indians.When did this

happen? When did it become so acceptable to hate-India openly?Please do not get

me wrong - we Indians have our faults. Our caste-system, our riots, corruption,

fundamentalism, most of our politicians, extreme poverty and our apathy to all

this. Protest against all this, change it, elect someone else, expose it, and

write about it - that's all patriotic. But asking for foreign invasion,

supporting secessionists, canvassing for US sanctions, inviting arabized

Bangladeshis into India, absolving Pakistani terrorism or minimizing Hindu

deaths is NOT - it's anti-India.Remember, that there is a lot of good - ask the

Tibetians who have taken refuge in India, ask the Chakma Buddhists, ask the

Bangladeshi Hindus, ask the Pakistani Hindus, ask the Afghans who're being

treated and taught by Indians, ask the CEOs of the top five technology

corporations in the world and ask the Bangladeshis who remember. Let's not hide

all this or minimize it, but let's not be satisfied with it, either.Arindam

Banerji

Discover your Indian Roots at - http://www.esamskriti.com, 700 pictures, over

140 articles.To mail - exploreindia (AT) vsnl (DOT) net, to Un write

back.Long Live Sanatan / Kshatriya Dharam. Become an Intellectual

KshatriyaGenerate Positive Vibrations lifelong worldwide.Aap ka din mangalmaya

rahe or Shubh dinam astu or Have a Nice DayUnity preceedes Strength Synchronize

your efforts, avoid duplication.THINK, ACT, INFLUENCE, to Un write

back.Create Positive Karmas by being Focussed, controlling senses, will power &

determinationNever boasts about yr victory and successKnowledge, Wealth,

Happiness are meant to be sharedBe Open Minded, pick up what yu like from the

world

 

Stop cribbing, ACTION is what the Indian scriptures talk aboutTake the battle

into the enemy camp, SET THE AGENDA, be proactiveIn an argument, no emotions,

be detached, get yr facts right, then attack with the precision of a missile