[Assam] From the Guardian UK, Arundhati Roy

[Ram Sarangapani]

C'da,

Thanks for forwarding this 'masterpiece' :).

As usual, AR is good, really good at getting my goat. It is unfortunate,
that someone like AR who has the capacity to influence public opinion, could
write with such slanted views.

First, she seems to take the hotels (The Taj & Trident) to task -

AR: "We're told one of these hotels is an icon of the city of Mumbai. That's
absolutely true. It's an icon of the easy, obscene injustice that ordinary
Indians endure every day." and on and on.

Then she takes up her crusade (hehehe!) against the India media for
concentrating only on the hotels & the Jewish Center as opposed to the
railway station where many of India's poor were killed.... then she goes on
to blame the whole darn thing on everyone from the Indian govt., RSS,
Bajrang Dal, some TV anchor and what not .. and all the way to the West and
US' war on terror. Well, actually, not everyone, she does seem to give a
pass to the main actors here - the terrorists.

Well, let me explain, as best as I can.

Blaming the hotels (for their blatant display of oppulence):
What does she expect of 5-star hotels? That they display India's poverty?
She seems to want the hotels to cringe everytime the word Dalit, Narmada or
poverty or 'India's proverty index' is mentioned?

Does this lady not want any signs of oppulence, or capitalism in India?
Hotels are businesses, and they will do what businesses do to attract and
keep their customers.

AR: "If the police are right about the people they have arrested as
suspects, both Hindu and Muslim, all Indian nationals, it obviously
indicates that something's going very badly wrong in this country."

Well what's wrong AR? Would she have been happy if only Muslims or only
Hindus were arrested? The terrorist that is alive is now proven to be from
Pakistan (not an Indian national). In fact, Pakistan's leading newspaper,
The Dawn, interviewed the parents of Kasab in Pakistan.
There could have be some Hindus too. Some Hindus have been arrested (I think
in Spain) for this exact same thing  - supplying cell phones to terrorists.
But those sales seem to be driven by greed ($$) , and not by some ideology.

And yes, if they were suspected, they ought to be arrested - doesn't matter
their nationality or religion is. If what she says is true, then the police
have been fair in their arrests.

The media:
AR: "The Indian media, however, was transfixed by the rising tide of horror
that breached the glittering barricades of India Shining and spread its
stench in the marbled lobbies and crystal ballrooms of two incredibly
luxurious hotels and a small Jewish centre."

Right, what about AR herself? Is she also transfixed by the Mumbai attacks?
The media sells what it thinks its viewership/readership likes.

And obviously, just like AR, the readership/viewership loves sensationalism.
There is no sensationalism if this horrible incident were to happen in
Timbuktu. Would there be any sensationalism if there were no 5-star hotels,
or Westerner casualties, or the glitz of Mumbai?

IMHO - she wouldn't have written this article if it weren't for the
publicity.  Why did she not write a hot-shot piece after the Guwahati
blasts, and in The Guardian?
The reasons are quite simple - she would get more mileage from Mumbai?

Bajrang Dal, RSS & the LeT:

AR seems to be lost in her own ramblings.
The attacks in Malegaon (know little about it - as there was not much
publicity :)) by Bajrang, RSS are not anything most of us are proud about,
nor are some of the ravings of some lunatic RSS guy (never heard of till she
brought him up).

IMHO the RSS, Bajrang etc  are reactionary forces more intent on political
aspirations, and using violence if required. They use religion as a tool to
agravate and cause havoc for political gains. Politics for them is a
forethought, and religion an afterthought.

On the other hand, LeT etc are more in tune of spreading religion thru force
if necessary. Politics for them is only an afterthought.

IMHO, it does no good for Indians in general and anyone affected to cloud
the issues of Mumbai or Guwahati.

Efforts by AR to bring in media bias, oppulence in the hotels vis-a-vis
poverty in India, Dalits, the poor, RSS, Bajrang, Malegaon, poverty index
etc (she did not bring in Narmada) is her own attempt to muddy the waters -
so in the end it looks like, what happened in Mumbai was really NOT the
fault of the terrorists.

In any blast, there are a few of actors. The  victims, perpetrators, the
authorities, and the voters. All efforts ought to be concentrated on these.
Short term goals should be to help the victims, and build a case against the
perpetrators by the authorities. The long term goals  should be to prevent
future attacks, and maybe look for 'root-causes' .

So much for now.

--Ram