Every one is entitled to have his
or her own opinion however disgusting, hilarious or funny ,. Everyone, including
the Defense Minister. Sadly in this
country with a population of 1.2 billion, everyone except the common man enjoys
the privilege to have an opinion.
Manohar Parrikar, the current Defense Minister of India looks and
behaves like a common man but unlike the later who fears to have his opinion
and fears to come out with one even if he has one came out with one only to be
slammed by one Ms. Ramya the experienced Kannada actress who knows better and
easier ways to crawl into goods books of corridors of power unknown to hardworking
Mr Parrikar. Mr Parrikar feels Pakistan is a hell. Ms. Ramya feels it isn’t.
Pakistan is very much like India and people there very much like us insists Ms.
Ramya.
Islamic Republic of Pakistan came into being on 14th August
1947 and comprised of areas of Muslim majority. It was born out of ambitions of
Mohammed Ali Jinnah and Muslim league to create an Islamic state. India on the
other hand chose to be a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic and a secular
state in preference to being ‘ Hindustan’ where equality, freedom and justice
would be guaranteed to one and all irrespective of his religious identity to
ensure all around progress of one and all. During the partition several
elitist Indian Muslims chose to migrate
to Pakistan. The list included actresses like Noorjehan and Suraiyya , Music
directors like Ghulam Muhammed only to be termed as ‘ Mohajirs’ whose careers
lost its sheen and were doomed in the much fancied Islamic state. On the other
hand, Muslims who chose to be a part of Secular India progressed irrespective of
their religious identities or their roots whether it was Dilip Kumar, Manoj
Kumar, Dev Anand or Raj Kapoor from the past era or an Adnan Sami, Ali Fazal,
Ali Zafar, Nusrat Fateh Ali, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ghulam Ali or Atif Aslam of
the present era who are accepted and successful in India despite being Pakistani. And yet if Ms. Ramya thinks people
are same here and there all we can say is she is entitled to her own opinion.
However, how can people who chose to be a part of an Islamic Republic be
equated with people who chose secular credentials over religious identities can best be explained by
Ms. Ramya.
Certainly Pakistan is not a
hell. Its actually a haven - a shelter,
a refuge for fundamentalists – after all Osama Bin Laden the dreaded Al- Qaeda
chief and the world’s most wanted terrorist was found here in Abbotabad. It’s a
home to Taliban, Hafiz Saeed, Dawood Ibrahim . In those terms India can seldom
equate Pakistan – aleast I cannot recall any notorious criminal having sought
refufuge in India for past sixty nine years. Maybe Ms. Ramya can help us with
our poor and may be biased memory. India and Pakistan have engaged in wars on
three occasion 1965,1971 and 1999. All three wars were a result of Pakistani agressions and it lost all three of them. Violating treaty Pakistan still holds
a part of Kashmir – Pakistan occupied Kashmir unlike India. Where’s the
equality Ms. Ramya. Are you suggesting that we are equally notorious and have
indulged in violations as our ‘havenly’ neighbours. Having said this I would
sincerely criticise the call for Ms. Ramya to be charged with sedition. After
all we are a Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic and we guarantee our
citizens absolute freedom of expression and we are not Pakistan. But then the
other side of the coin is Mr Manohar Parrikar is entitled to his opinion as
much as Ms Ramya or for that matter any other Indian. If he feels Pakistan is
hell it’s his point of view, however, blasphemous, ridiculous or hilarious, and
the same should be respected as much as Ms. Ramya’s point of view is expected
to be heard and repected.
Ms. Ramya is quite young and expectedly ignorant of
Congress culture of standing by the ruling Government in the matters that
concern national pride and integrity as seen during the Kargil war. Openly
criticising the Defense Ministers statement over a sensitive and important
issue concerning our notorious neighbour may not necessarily go down well with
10 Jamnpath bosses as expected by Ms Ramya and if it does the whole mutation in
the Congress Culture may not go down well with the people only to further the
woes of Congress in forthcoming elections.
- Bhushan Sarmalkar,
27 August 2016.
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