The Silence of the
Killers vs. The Silence of the Dead
Shrikant G. Talageri
I just saw a news item on the internet, and for some reason it again brought to my mind the distinction between two opposite tendencies which seem to be produce the same effect: in this case the effect is the silence that people maintain on certain topics. Is it worth an article? Well, my childhood ambition always was to be a journalist, or more specifically a “column” writer in some magazine or journal who, as a regular columnist, could always set down his thoughts in print on any and every subject as whim took him. I never became a journalist, but then isn’t a blog also a medium to express one’s feelings on any and every subject as one’s whim or mood dictates? So, my thoughts on this vague-seeming topic: The Silence of the Killers vs. The Silence of the Dead
This thought came into my head when I saw an article on the internet on NDTV.com titled “"You Burn...": Israel's Post On Los Angeles Wildfires Draws Backlash Amid Gaza War”:
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/you-burn-hospitals-israel-039s-solidarity-message-on-california-wildfires-draws-backlash-amid-war-on-gaza-7441207
As per this article, the Embassy of
Israel to the USA https://x.com/IsraelinUSA put up the following tweet about
the large scale destruction caused by fires in South California (an item of
disaster-news which has been going viral in the last few days):
Our hearts are with the residents of Southern California as
wildfires continue to impact communities. Israel stands in solidarity with
those affected, and we send strength to the brave firefighters and first
responders working tirelessly to protect lives and homes.
How has Israel supported disaster relief?
Why do wildfires threaten religious sites?
What are long-term effects on affected communities?
Apparently, this innocuous
tweet, expressing nothing but concern (whether deep heartfelt concern or the
automatic formal concern which every country in the world feels it necessary to
express in such matters and on such occasions) led to a flood of hate tweets
and hate comments on the question of Palestine (which is totally unconnected
with the subject of the tweet by the Embassy) from all those suffering from
the new hateisraelitis disease which, initially promoted
by woke people and Islamicists, has now become a raging epidemic even among
sections of “committed Hindus”!
Two exemplary tweets are given in
the article:
https://x.com/talhaahmad967 (Talha Ahmad) tweets:
You burn
hospitals and refugees on a live stream.
https://x.com/RadhikaBarman5 (Radhika Barman) tweets:
Why does this heart not beat for Palestine?
Here we have two hate tweeters. The first is a Muslim, and his hate motive can, in a manner of speaking, be understood. This is the type of Muslim who feels that Muslims can do anything to non-Muslims, but no non-Muslim has a right to do anything to Muslims even in retaliation. Not a fair or just way of looking at things: but then it is time to stop making unrealistic expectations of fairness and justice from anyone.
The second is a rabid Hindu-hating woke activist with a Hindu name. She is apparently a virulently anti-Hindu writer who has authored a book titled “The Sangh Parivar Psyche – Understanding Indian Right Wingers”. One could, in turn, ask this woke hate-activist the question: “Why does your heart beat only for Palestinians, but not for Kashmiri Hindus or Pakistani and Bangladeshi Hindus?” But it would be a waste of time and a futile exercise. She is as clear in her mind (as the Muslim tweeter is in his) that Anyone can do anything to Hindus (and Jews), but no-one (and certainly not a Hindu or a Jew) has a right to do anything to Muslims even in retaliation.
This second tweeter shows this vicious double-standard-attitude on other matters as well. Another and newer tweet by her in response to an ANI news item “Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appoints office bearers for its newly formed ‘Sanatan Sewa Samitis’” is as follows:
Point A: if you give a religious wing then how different are you
from bjp and how secular is it? Point b: why are highly intellectual and highly
moral individuals who conclude neither inc nor bjp is good for nation silent on
this? Point c: why no OBC here? Cringe soft hindutva
Again, she cares two figs that anyone could ask her the question “Have you ever raised this question when every single party, including the BJP has ‘religious wings’ in the name of ‘minorities’ or even directly in the name of Muslims? Why were you always ‘silent on this’?”. She doesn’t care because she is an open anti-Hindu activist whose unashamed and unapologetic creed is that everyone in India (and especially Muslims) has rights except Hindus. So, her hate motive can also (like that of the Muslim tweeter), in a manner of speaking, be understood: it is open and undisguised.
The silence that people like these two tweeters maintain on the matter of atrocities against Kashmiri, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Hindus (and against Jews in Muslim countries), and in the matter of politicians having special concerns for non-Hindus (especially Muslims) and not having (and not even having the right to have) special (or even equal) concerns for Hindus, is the Silence of the Killers: the silence of the assassins who move silently in the dark of the night to kill their victims or targeted people. As I wrote above, it can, in a manner of speaking, be understood: it is at least open and undisguised.
But there is the other silence: the Silence
of the Dead. The silence of dead, or progressing-towards-death,
races and communities.
It is not only Islamist Muslims and woke Hindus who are silent on matters concerning the annihilation of Kashmiri, Pakistani and Bangladeshi Hindus (and against Jews in Muslim countries), and in the matter of Indian politicians of all hues having special concerns for non-Hindus (especially Muslims) and (and not even having the right to have) special (or even equal) concerns for Hindus. And in fact also in the matter of Hindus being eighth-class citizens within India, something which has always been vaguely known to Hindu activists but which has been highlighted in ruthless detail in the most concise, near-complete and effective way recently by Anand Ranganathan in his monumental and seminal book “Hindus in Hindu Rashtra – Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid”, BluOne Ink LLP, NOIDA, 2023.
Equally silent on all these matters are the political “Hindutvites”: the “Hindu” political leaders who ask for and get votes in the name of Hindutva, the “Hindu” “intellectuals” who regularly expound their views on Hindu issues from every public pulpit, stage and social medium, and finally the teeming millions of common Hindus who fervently believe they are being true Hindus by becoming sycophantic blind bhakts (devotees) of the “Hindu” political leaders and by voting for them during elections. And in the case of these unprincipled hypocrites, it is not the Silence of the Killers, it is the Silence of the Dead.
For ten years, these crooks had absolute power in India. In all this time, pauper politicians among them became multi-millionaires or billionaires, their political opponents were poached, eliminated or intimidated by the unscrupulous misuse of state bodies like the CBI, ED and I/Tax Dept., and forests and environment were ruthlessly destroyed (for mercenary purposes). But, most prominently, minorities were super-privileged, and anti-Hindu apartheid enforced, with even greater vigor and rigor than ever happened under any “secular” regime: not a single step was taken up in respect of even any one of the various issues highlighted in Ranganathan’s book: and renaming of towns, districts and railway stations, building of massive statues of older-era political icons, and taking credit for the building of the Ram Temple (built on the blood of the kar sevaks shot dead by Padma Vibhushan Mulayam Singh, and on the sweat and tears of innumerable individual politicians belonging to the Congress and Hindu Mahasabha and of course lay members of the Sangh Parivar and sections of the devout Hindu populace) were the only “Hindu” things done by the “Hindu” regime and lauded as “Hindu” acts by the bhakts.
As a result of all this. the coalition of anti-Hindu forces has become galvanized as never before. Today, the waqf board is busy claiming ownership of, and taking possession of, “waqf lands” all over the country: the inhabitants (a variety of Parsis, Gujarati Hindus and even Bohras) of a massive building in my own area in South Mumbai were reportedly forcibly evicted last year without being given reasonable notice or compensation, and the waqf authorities have demolished the building and started reconstruction of a massive “tower” in the heart of a Hindu locality: the residents apparently found out too late that no court can or will even admit any plea against any takeover by the waqf board! But the wonderful part of it is that there has been such an absolute and complete silence on this whole issue that no-one seems to even know about any of this: I myself came to know about it indirectly only a few weeks ago (through a person whose relative resided in that building and was rendered homeless). The Silence of the Dead.
But this is only the beginning: the Silence will remain in force till the year 2028, when another approaching General Election will again make these and other such issues temporary (election-time) talking-points for the “Hindutva” political crowd.
For this crowd, Hindu issues matter only at two times:
1. When Elections are round the corner.
2. When an opposition political leader says or does
something anti-Hindu and provides them with a subject for coffee-table and
social-media propaganda.
And what is happening is only the beginning: already, the waqf board has fired its next salvo, in what will be a continually accelerating one-sided war, by declaring that 55 bighas of the land on which the Kumbh Mela is being held belongs to the waqf. Anand Ranganathan has put up a detailed tweet on this subject:
https://x.com/ARanganathan72/status/1875915459981365544
But the issue is being subjected everywhere by
everyone (especially the “Hindutva” chatterati) on all public media and
fora to the same Silence of the Dead that is
characteristic of a dying race. For the bhakts, the glories of the great
achievements of the “Hindutva” political leaders cover every possible
issue except those that really matter for Hindus (or indeed for India). While
nothing has been done on any important issue in the ten years of Absolute BJP
Rule, and nothing is likely to be done in future as well, the sycophants among
the “Hindu” “intellectuals” are busy crediting the Great Leader
with all kinds of spectacular achievements everywhere else but in
Hindu India, for example the resignation of Justin Trudeau in Canada (the
title line of the video says: “jo Modi se takrayega, choor choor ho jayega”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74DmgHKJK8c
So, perhaps in reality the future for Hindus is bright: if India goes out of Hindu hands, we still have Canada: maybe, in a few decades, the Mahakumbh may be held in Canada? So, so far as matters concerning Hindus within India are concerned, perhaps the Silence of the Dead is the best policy?
No comments:
Post a Comment