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Saturday, April 11, 2009

Communalism and Indian Politics

During the recent G 20 summit,US President Obama said that India and Pakistan's greatest enemy should be poverty, not each other.
So rightly said, but will we listen?
The battle for ballot has started in India for the Parliamentary elections. Main point discussed among political parties are hate speeches. The debate in the media is who is more communal than other. One party is trying to raise fear among majority while the other party is trying to cash in on the fear of minorities and backward classes.
Why communalism plays such a prominent role in Indian politics?
The most important division in India is between the rich and the poor. Mumbai is the prime example with small number of people with large wealth and large number of people with almost nothing live side by side. This is an explosive situation. People will start asking questions and may even revolt. What to do?
The religion, region and to some extend caste come to the rescue of the rich. So the Ram mandir, Maratha pride and Islamism are invented to prevent unity of the poor. The poor Muslim labourer is lynched by a mob for 'preventing' the building of Ram Mandir. The poor train passengers are killed by Islamist bombs as a revenge. The Bihari coolie is be-headed by poor and unemployed Marathi youth for Maratha pride.
The rich laugh all the way to the bank.
Who ever wins it is a win-win situation for them.

11 comments:

  1. "During the recent G 20 summit,US President Obama said that India and Pakistan's greatest enemy should be poverty, not each other.
    So rightly said, but will we listen?"


    Yeah ,right. India has waged conventional wars against Pakistan in the past and is carrying out a proxy war for the last 20 years.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree, and the truth here gave me goose bumps!!!

    I always think this is an explosive situation... but also such a horribly sad situation.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here's something to cheer you - an opportunity to win an award - specially just only for you, personalized contest Mr er Mr .. Mr blogger....
    Please Guess and Win the 55 Words Fiction Correct Guess Award

    http://indianhomemaker.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/55-words-she-waited-to-be-alone/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good point Charakan.

    Thanks to our british masters, our politicians have learnt very well the dirty tricks of the trade - in India if you want to have a meteoric rise in politics or if you want to win votes - what would one do? "divide and rule" or "unite and lead"? which one would be easier ?

    The answer seems pretty obvious given the diversity in India.Doesn't it? And our politicians unfortunately have taken the easier route.

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  5. IHM,The political basis of Communalism is preventing the unity of the poor.Whether in India,Pakistan or any other country in the World it is the same.

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  6. Nastik, welcome to the blog.This is not related to the electoral politics alone.If we need better infrastructure,better schools, better health care,better wages,more social security etc we should fight unitedly for it.Whether you are Hindu,Christian,Muslim or Sikh our needs are similar.Communalism is the tool used by the powerful to prevent such united action.

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  7. Which indian political party can give me freedom?

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  8. welcome to the blog kashmiri youth, freedom from what?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Self Loathing MallusApril 16, 2009 at 8:22 AM

    Never trust a self-loathing Mallu who preaches Secularism. He has no backbone. He respects only those who spit on him:

    http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=1722&eid=5

    The communal vs secular issue has never been far from the surface, though today the CPM has forced the issue into the open. No, not by putting communal forces in their place but by joining hands with rabid parties like the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) led by the incendiary Abdul Nasser Madani.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice blog. Only the willingness to debate and respect each other’s views keep the spirit of democracy and freedom alive. Keep up the good work. Hey, by the way, do you mind taking a look at this new website www.indianewsupdates.com . It has various interesting sections. You can also participate in the OPINION POLL in this website. There is one OPINION POLL for each section. You can also comment on its news and feature articles.

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    Kindly go through the entire website. Who knows, it might just have the right kind of stuff that you are looking for. If you like this website, can you please recommend it to at least 5 of your friends. Your little help would help us in a big way.

    Thank you,

    The Future Mantra








    Nice blog. Only the willingness to debate and respect each other’s views keep the spirit of democracy and freedom alive. Keep up the good work. Hey, by the way, do you mind taking a look at this new website www.indianewsupdates.com . It has various interesting sections. You can also participate in the OPINION POLL in this website. There is one OPINION POLL for each section. You can also comment on its news and feature articles.

    You also get Live Cricket , News Updates, Opinion Polls, Movie Reviews and Mobile Phone Reviews in this website.


    Kindly go through the entire website. Who knows, it might just have the right kind of stuff that you are looking for. If you like this website, can you please recommend it to at least 5 of your friends. Your little help would help us in a big way.

    Thank you,

    The Future Mantra

    ReplyDelete
  11. Brilliant blog, I had not noticed mytake-charakan.blogspot.com previously in my searches!
    Continue the great work!

    ReplyDelete

Comments are welcome especially if you do not think like me. But anonymous comments behind masks and those not relevant to the post are not encouraged.