INDIA'S JASWANT MOMENT

Ghalib Sultan

Secular, Democratic, Shining and Incredible---these were the adjectives with which India marketed itself. No one except Indians---Hindoo Indians---used these descriptions of India. Shining India took a fall when Indians themselves rejected this classification by the BJP and they did this by voting the BJP out and the Congress in. The general feeling in India was that poverty, corruption, crime and the miserable state of the common man were the realities that could not exist under the Shining India label therefore this label and its creators must go.

Of course there were other unsavory matters associated with the BJP. The support of fanatic, intolerant Hindu militant organizations. The botched Ram Mandir controversy that all but destroyed India's secular image. The holocaust in Gujerat when mad Hindoos killed thousands of Muslims aided abetted and ignored by the Modi administration. Then there were the foolish utterances by Arun Gandhi in his short sighted bid for a political career. There were indirect consequences of these events---terror attacks by Hindoo mobs on Muslims and Christians, atrocities by security forces in insurgent areas like Kashmir and all of the north eastern states, Hindoo terrorism with involvement of military personnel (attack on the train Samjotha Express) , terrorist-criminal mafia involvement in the Mumbai incidents and political appeasement of Hindoo militancy for votes.

There were also direct consequences. The increase in violence and scale of operations in Kashmir and North East---both racked by separatist movements. The emergence of Muslim militant movements and attacks by them in retaliation to Hindoo terrorism. Stepped up brutality and violation of rights by India's security forces---the rape and murder of two teenage girls in Shopian Kashmir and the more recent murder of Kashmiri youths are just two examples of many such incidents.

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