SIMI's charity included blowing bombs all over the country that uses shrapnel such as nails and marbles to hurt people. How many bombs has RSS blown and how many buildings has RSS brought down? Only ALLEGATIONS have been made by political opponents to show the agency down. Other than that, even the law has proven them not guilty of terrorism. You still want to compare RSS to SIMI? A typical excuse of pseudo-secularists to defend their foreign-backed votebanks. Have you ever wondered why I myself being a technical minority am saying this? Think about it.
You're missing the argument. Completely. My characterization of the RSS as a 'fascist' organization is based
not on their, alleged or real, actions. It is based on their ideology, the same ideology that, by the way, they preach: in their official documents and autobiographies, in their speeches and edicts and in their 'motivational speeches' to shakha
pramukhs. To wit, that characterisation is not based on any legal jurisprudence, it is based on what comes out of the horses mouth. Have you ever read any official RSS literature? I urge you to read 'We Our Nationhood Defined'.
Second. There is no immediately 'pejorative' connotation to the word 'fascist'. You seem to be taking it with all its colloquial contours and attending to it a meaning that doesn't precisely fit. Here is what the key features of a 'fascist' indication are:
- Calling for a return to the 'ancient traditions of race'
- A hierarchical, militant, 'corporatist' social structure
- A cult of leadership
- Calls for National self reliance
- An Aggressive Nationalist foreign policy
Am I a fascist? In those respects. I think so.
Where does the problem lie? The problem is where the RSS tries to impute a singularity of culture, of roots, of 'heritage' to all society. That is simply not possible. Our identity of nationality is based on a citizenship. It supersedes our religion, our cultural uniqueness, our quirks, our language, our skin tone and everything else. It does not subsume them. When the RSS tries to imply that everyone must return to a certain 'ancient way of life', it is implying a way of life that is uniquely Hindu. That may be ok to some Hindus. It is not infact ok to many. And it is certainly not ok to all. It is
not ok to the minorities: the Sikhs, the Catholics, the Muslims, the Parsis, the Animists, the Atheists and the Jews. Who the heck is the RSS to speak for them?
That is the problem with the RSS lack-of-integrationist approach. It aims to uniform, not to integrate. India is built upon principles of "Unity in Diversity", not upon "Unity in Unity". That is the only way this country works. By building upon and strengthning an identity that is "supra-" to all our other identities. Not by destroying them.
To wit, the SIMI also has claim to doing 'charitable work'. the J-u-D also has claim to doing 'charitable' work: charitable work in Pakisthan- like distributing free food, blankets and tents during the flood. But it is a
terrorist organization. We all know that. And we know that, despite of the fact that a court has not indicted them. They have not been prosecuted by the Army, the Government or citizen groups. My point: is that therefore a parameter for labeling them anything else?
As for the 'pseudo-secularist' bullshit, it reeks of the same bit that all fundamentalists of your 'persuasion' have. As for the 'foreign-backed votebanks', let's see your ' proof ' on that.
Sorry isn't the word enough to make all our aches go away. The government is given taxes from our side to protect us; I have 3 brothers in the armed forces who risk their neck everytime these so called "mis-guided innocent youths" decide to go bomb happy. Having family in nationalist societies to know their truth deep enough is very different from those who have families in institutions following same nobles ideologies and who genuinely risk their necks for the nation unlike the "sorry" that your India-style secular (not genuine meaning of secularism which is "separating religion from state" and not specific appeasement). We don't want your sorry because we are not some hapless beggars. We want action.. And we rely on this bloody government by paying our taxes and don't take the law in our hands because we have a respect for the national setup. In the past when the so-called "secular" leaders have run away with tails between their legs, our people have tackled menace far superior alongside foot soldiers of Indian army shoulder to shoulder with whatever meagre resources our villages had then. And it doesn't take us long to take weapons and start doing clean up again.
Again, you are resorting to the emotional to win a counter-argument. My 'sorry' is purely apologetic. Don't take it to be reflective of anything else. You are not the only one with problems. Right down my street, I see people living in the most miserable conditions. And they do that in a city with sky-rocketing prices, sky-high rental rates and sky-rocketing urban displays of wealth. You think you've got problems getting by, think about how many more problems these have getting by on what you have in a city with inflation-driven-by-the-rich, cornered by politicians, urban gangsters, poverty and a competition so intense you need to squeeze your self barely to breathe.
My "India-style secular" by the way is exactly what your RSS wants. A return to a pre-independence, dharmic social structure that will have 'separated' religion from state, insofar as its legal implications go, but will have entrenched a particular form of religion in social structure, which is where it matters most.
Your 'respect' for the national set up is what is
expected of you. Lest you put yourself in the same category as the SIMI and the Maoists.
And FYI <For Your Information> My definition of a 'secularism' is not based on any 'Western-style' definition, because I know it will never work in a place like India. It is based on the one we have now: an inclusiveness of all religions, all cultures and identities, insofar as is legally, jurisprudentially and socio-politically possible. As much as you love your religion, others love theirs too.
But we expect the government to do it because it is their duty and dharma to do what it right.
It is indeed. And we all do.
Chidambaram is shameless to declare the "color" of terror much before even the judiciary had declared it, but has no words to say apart from "we condemn terrorism" when it comes to some other specific communities. This.. is pseudo-secularism and an insult to national oneness. Rahul Gandhi's pathetic comments is another proof of how much that Italian knows about this country, its culture, the concept of our way of life and his interest in this country apart from power.
Of course, terrorism has various colours. Saffron, green, blue and red or white or black or whatever colour you want to impute to Christianity. I have seen it first hand. So please, don't give me the bullshit about Hindus not being involved in terror. And I'd say that to you, to my muslim friends and to my Sikh and Christian friends. If you want to zip your eyes shut, and wait for the 'technical' judgment in a legal system so obviously plagued with malfeasance and debauchery, go right ahead.
Israel, Russia, Singapore, United States, France, Switzerland are also democracies and FAR MORE transparent and genuine democracies than us. Democracy doesn't mean cowering in front of a bunch of whining votebanks. That is anarchy. Lot of difference.
Hey listen, that comparison was based on
your comparison of Indian religious freedom vs. the Middle East. You think Israel doesn't go to great lengths to 'appease' its minority Arab populace? With the zoning laws, the demolishment of West Bank settlements, the special restrictions on soldiers, on East-orthodox groups and the rest? Where the hell are you? You think France doesn't? With respect to the Roma and the Sinti and social services for its minority Arab populace? And that is based on what, the Burqa ban? You think the United States doesn't? Or Switzlerand, based on its minaret ban? Have you seen the extents to which Swiss schools and offices go, to 'accommodate' their minority Turk, Ukrainian and Eastern European populace? It's downright disturbing, even to a so-called 'inclusionist' like me.
