[Assam] Armed Revolution is an Outdated Concept
Chan Mahanta
cmahanta at gmail.com
Sat May 22 20:31:41 PDT 2010
>On May 22, 2010, at 8:31 PM, kamal deka wrote
>Well,let me try once again.It means--to assume that someone is stupid.
*** Really?
"Take someone for an idiot and take someone for a fool" --- actually
means
to assume someone is a fool? Well, I learn something everyday.
Anyway, I will let that be. Now for the real topic:
**** I don't know Kamath from Adam. He may be a genius, or a saint or
a hothead or a scoundrel or even a fool. I really don't care. Have no
need to.
My opinion of the writer of that piece of trash was formed entirely by
what I read.
*** Oh, I will readily admit that Kamath's persona is not necessarily
defined
by what he wrote in that one piece. I am not attempting to judge his
life or his life's work.. I was merely judging the piece posted by
Nava Thakuria.
And my assessment remains rock-solid. It is a profoundly idiotic piece
of
commentary.
Why ? I already explained several points. But there is more. I will be
pleased to
take it apart line by line, if I had to, even though I would find it
to be an altogether
useless exercise, knowing where you stand. Instead, perhaps YOU could
tell us HOW Kamath made thoughtful or useful or wise observations or
recommendations. That would do two things:
A: Show others how my assessment is faulty or malicious or otherwise
uncalled for, putting me in my place.
B: Remove the doubts and help persuade those who are doubtful, to your
point of view. No better way to do it.
So go right ahead and tell us about all the wisdom embedded in that
article
that yours truly and others have missed. Rest assured I will chime in
with
my two cents.
Shall we?
> You want evidence in the form of videos as to how these barbarians
> react after carrying out carnage on civilians? It is really sad and
> embarrassing to read such a feeble display of reasoning.
> What do you think--these " unblemished saints ",who have been
> indoctrinated to embrace terrorism, weep full of bucket after
> traumatizing unarmed civilians over and over again.
*** You don't really have to. But I must admit that your certitude
about them bad folks' gloating or celebrating after killing innocent
civilians would not come from ordinary people with a rudimentary
sense of fairness, UNLESS they know of it either first-hand or have
hard evidence, as in a video. That is why I made the point I did.
Here I have another couple of questions: Why is it sad to seek such
evidence?
Is it because you felt I don't trust you enough :-)? And why is it
embarrassing?
Is it because it is such a self-evident thing that everyone knows
about, like
which direction the sun rises and a fellow man asking about it is
embarrassing?
Or something else? Or is it another case of hyperbole on steroids?
> What do you think--these " unblemished saints ",who have been
> indoctrinated to embrace terrorism, weep full of bucket after
> traumatizing unarmed civilians over and over again.
*** Did I say I do? Or did you just imagine that I do? And did I call
them
"unblemished saints" or even mere, garden variety saints? Or did you
manufacture those attributes for me :-)? Furthermore, do they have to
shed buckets of tears to prove that they don't go celebrating the
killing
of innocent civilians? Must the two be like you and your shadow?
Can't one be independent of the other?
>Nihilistic--because of their belief that destruction of existing
> political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
*** That is in the eye of the beholder. Just as Kamath might see
bombing them to smithereens as the only viable solution to the
problem and you might agree, they too could view the system you hold
dear as something that must be destroyed to bring in real change
to what has hurt them so.
Examples of such purging and cleansing are rife in modern
human history, and some of it had been essential to the ensuing
success in some of these societies. So such nihilism is not necessarily
a negative attribute to be condemned in all instances.
>Do you really want me to laud these terror squads as " Gandhian with
> gun"?
**** Do I need to? I have no problem with viewing them as people
who have been so pushed to the wall, that they would take it no more
and took to arms.
> But that will be,I am afraid,as persuasive as " celibate
> rapist"!!!
**** No need to be challenged with such an eventuality. I did not
call them Gandhian with guns and I don't have to hold them up on
a pedestal as saints to be understanding of their plight and their
response with the fight.
That simple.
> It will be extremely unfair to sit in judgement on a person like
> Mr.Kamath by projecting him as an idiot.I,for one,will never be able
> to summon up my guts to classify him as such.-:)
> You want evidence in the form of videos as to how these barbarians
> react after carrying out carnage on civilians? It is really sad and
> embarrassing to read such a feeble display of reasoning.
> What do you think--these " unblemished saints ",who have been
> indoctrinated to embrace terrorism, weep full of bucket after
> traumatizing unarmed civilians over and over again.
> Nihilistic--because of their belief that destruction of existing
> political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
> Do you really want me to laud these terror squads as " Gandhian with
> gun"? But that will be,I am afraid,as persuasive as " celibate
> rapist"!!!
> KJD
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, May 22, 2010 at 4:29 PM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>> Better yet,if one uses the idiom that goes " Take
>>>
>>> someone for an idiot and take someone for a fool".
>>
>>
>> *** I try to understand what my literate friends say, even if it
>> may not be
>> very flattering.
>> I suspect this ain't either. But what does it mean? And it is an
>> IDIOM?
>>
>> Then, what happens when one uses it?
>>
>> Well, I must BE an idiot, not being able to fathom such a, well,
>> common
>> IDIOM .
>> Or am I ?
>>
>>
>>> These terror
>>>
>>> masters tend to rejoice in murders after carrying out their evils on
>>> innocent civilians.
>>
>> *** Hmmm! That is not nice!! Any videos to prove? There must be some
>> to back up such examples of certitude.
>>
>>
>>> These are the same dim-wits,who are immune to
>>>
>>> persuasion and dialogue and passivity is judged as weakness.
>>
>>
>> *** Whose passivity are we alluding to? GoI, GoC, PC, MaSi, who?
>> Dimwits can never be persuaded. Otherwise they won't be dimwits.
>> Will they? So what is the plan to make them steel-trap-minded,
>> persuable people? Bomb them to smithereens? Call them names?
>> Unleash assamnet wordsmiths with their fanciful 'gaali's? Or just go
>> rah-rah with the steel-trap-minded sekuritywallah, Sri Kamath?
>>
>>
>>> I do not find any better way to style these terrorists other than
>>>
>>> bunching them as cretins.
>>
>>
>> *** That MUST hurt. I know, I can get rough with my words at times.
>> But call anyone CRETINS? No, I won't go that far. Not if he were my
>> worst
>> enemy. That is cruel and unusual punishment. An idiot perhaps, in
>> certain
>> contexts. But surely NOT cretins. I couldn't if I wished. I don't
>> know any
>> French.
>>
>>> Never mind.He,who lives by the sword,dies by the sword.
>>
>> *** Now THAT is a true piece of ACTIVE ( as opposed to PASSIVE)
>> call for action!
>>
>>
>>> At some point
>>>
>>> of time,these scumbags will surely be taking unilateral route to
>>> hell
>>> hole.
>>
>> *** Hell hole? Wow, that sure sounds like something worse than just
>> plain
>> HELL.
>> Like some uber-heck? Really? So, does that mean nobody needs to
>> fret over
>> them cretins?
>> They are destined to uber-heck, so let us go home and uncork some
>> bubbly,
>> since
>>
>>> their Machiavellian and nihilistic design will come to an end
>>> soon.
>>
>> :-)
>>
>> PS: I did have some fun with this. But seriously, come on K.
>> You know a whole lot better than this. Why don't you wait
>> until you have some time to respond with something thoughtful
>> instead of shooting from the hip like this and missing the target
>> by a mile
>> :-)?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On May 22, 2010, at 2:22 PM, kamal deka wrote:
>>
>>> Very well said.Better yet,if one uses the idiom that goes " Take
>>> someone for an idiot and take someone for a fool".
>>> I could not agree more with Kamath,who has touched upon a very
>>> topical
>>> and timely issue with respect to those terror gurus.These terror
>>> masters tend to rejoice in murders after carrying out their evils on
>>> innocent civilians.These are the same dim-wits,who are immune to
>>> persuasion and dialogue and passivity is judged as weakness.The top
>>> leaders have been living high off the hog while others are left in
>>> the
>>> hole.I do not find any better way to style these terrorists other
>>> than
>>> bunching them as cretins.
>>> Never mind.He,who lives by the sword,dies by the sword.At some point
>>> of time,these scumbags will surely be taking unilateral route to
>>> hell
>>> hole.Their Machiavellian and nihilistic design will come to an end
>>> soon.
>>> Regards,
>>> KJ Deka,
>>> Texas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 11:23 PM, Nava Thakuria <navathakuria at yahoo.com
>>> >
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> please mind it.
>>>> It is easier for a perfect idiot to term other as idiots
>>>> outrightly.
>>>> nava thakuria
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>>> From: Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at gmail.com>
>>>> To: A Mailing list for people interested in Assam from around the
>>>> world
>>>> <assam at assamnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Sat, May 22, 2010 2:34:01 AM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Assam] Armed Revolution is an Outdated Concept
>>>>
>>>> Every now and then we see articles that are written by idiots
>>>> containing
>>>> little more than idiocy, and circulated as wisdom to take note.
>>>> But this one
>>>> takes the prize for a perfectly mindless one.
>>>>
>>>> cm
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On May 21, 2010, at 3:53 PM, Nava Thakuria wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.sentinelassam.com/editorial/story.php?sec=3&subsec=0&id=36719&dtP=2010-05-22&ppr=1#36719
>>>>>
>>>>> Armed Revolution is an Outdated Concept
>>>>>
>>>>> The poor are told that violence alone will solve their problem
>>>>> when
>>>>> violence does nothing of that kind. It will only add to their
>>>>> prevailing
>>>>> misery
>>>>> How long do we have to wait for the traitorous Naxalite
>>>>> rebellion to be
>>>>> quelled? The UPA government is looking like a standing joke. If
>>>>> we are to
>>>>> believe Home Minister P Chidambaram, the government will get rid
>>>>> of the
>>>>> Naxals before the term of the UPA-II ends. Does he know how the
>>>>> former West
>>>>> Bengal Chief Minister Siddartha Shankar Ray did his job?
>>>>> After what happened at Dantewada, one of the poorest districts
>>>>> in India
>>>>> with 66 per cent of the 7.2 lakh population of tribal origin,
>>>>> the UPA
>>>>> government should have stepped down and fresh elections should
>>>>> have been
>>>>> held. That the Naxalites should have succeeded in killing 74
>>>>> members of the
>>>>> Alpha Company of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in an
>>>>> ambush at
>>>>> Chintalnar indicates the sheer impudence of the Naxalites.
>>>>> Apparently,
>>>>> throughout the tribal belt extending to an estimated 200
>>>>> districts, Naxal
>>>>> cadres number more than 10,000. What is more shocking and
>>>>> shameful is that
>>>>> these forces have the tacit support of so-called intellectuals
>>>>> like
>>>>> Arundhati Roy, who needs to be questioned. The exact number of
>>>>> Maoists is
>>>>> open to guesswork, but again, according to another count, they
>>>>> number
>>>>> “several thousand” and are well-equipped with Insas Rifles,
>>>>> AK-47s, grenades
>>>>> and rocket launchers, additionally capable of making Improvised
>>>>> Explosive
>>>>> Devises (IEDs).
>>>>> Furthermore, they are also supported by an excellent intelligence
>>>>> service.
>>>>> From where did the Naxalites get their weapons? Who stitched their
>>>>> uniform? It is claimed by Minhaz Merchant, chairman of a media
>>>>> group, “that
>>>>> powerful vested interests benefit from the Maoist insurgency”
>>>>> and that “the
>>>>> financial nexus between politicians, businessmen and Maoists
>>>>> thrives in a
>>>>> manufactured environment of lawlessness”. Are our intelligence
>>>>> agencies
>>>>> aware of who these “politicians and businessmen” are? Should not
>>>>> they be
>>>>> interrogated? Importantly, should not the Congress Party, which
>>>>> has been in
>>>>> power for the last six years and more, have given serious
>>>>> thought to what
>>>>> has been going on under its very nose?
>>>>> The usual charges are that the tribals have been deprived of their
>>>>> forest lands, that they have been denied access to jobs and
>>>>> other sources of
>>>>> living, that they have been denied access to education, and
>>>>> that, by and
>>>>> large, they have been largely ignored. Surely, all these charges
>>>>> can be
>>>>> effectively met without having to take resort to violence? If
>>>>> the late Nana
>>>>> Saheb Deshmukh could work wonder in his own chosen tribal field in
>>>>> Maharashtra, surely others, equally deeply committed, can
>>>>> replicate his
>>>>> success? Is violence the only way to draw the attention of the
>>>>> powers-that-be for the betterment of tribal life? Several
>>>>> intellectual
>>>>> supporters of Naxalism have expressed their views like Varavara
>>>>> Rao,
>>>>> activist Himanshu Kumar and another one of the kind known as
>>>>> “Kishenji”.
>>>>> To begin with, why does not the Government of India ask them to
>>>>> submit
>>>>> detailed plans to help tribals? Surely that is not too much to
>>>>> ask? Instead
>>>>> of attacking the government for establishing Salwa Jadum— in the
>>>>> face of
>>>>> sustained violence — did the government have any other option?
>>>>> Cannot our
>>>>> intellectuals change their mindset and provide the government
>>>>> with a
>>>>> well-thought-out plan to bring tribals into the mainstream of
>>>>> Indian life?
>>>>> Has anyone prevented them from developing a positive outlook
>>>>> towards tribal
>>>>> enrichment? One gets the clear impression that some of our
>>>>> mentally sick
>>>>> intellectuals prefer to romanticize the concept of “revolutionary
>>>>> terrorism”, rather than to take over the earthy task of working
>>>>> out concrete
>>>>> proposals to enrich tribal life. It sounds terribly romantic to
>>>>> wage war
>>>>> against the country in the name of tribal needs, and the blame
>>>>> lies entirely
>>>>> on the UPA government for its soft-kneed approach towards every
>>>>> issue
>>>>> hurting
>>>>> the motherland.
>>>>> This columnist has in the past suggested the setting up of the
>>>>> separate
>>>>> Indian Tribal Service, parallel to the Indian Administrative
>>>>> Service, to
>>>>> serve exclusively in tribal areas, so that tribal needs and
>>>>> requirements are
>>>>> identified and fully met. Roads can be laid down. Schools can be
>>>>> established. Medical attention can be provided. Jobs within the
>>>>> tribal
>>>>> jurisdiction can be created, and a rich and meaningful life can be
>>>>> guaranteed to the tribal population. That is obviously not what
>>>>> our
>>>>> revolutionaries want. They want glamour, publicity. Our screwball
>>>>> intellectuals want to go back to the twenties and thirties and
>>>>> plan
>>>>> ‘‘revolution’’. They want to raise funds through intimidating
>>>>> and blackmail,
>>>>> make secret arms purchase, transport them under the very nose of
>>>>> the police
>>>>> and bring death and destruction. The very concept of an “armed
>>>>> revolution”
>>>>> is stupid in this day and age. It invites administrative
>>>>> reaction during
>>>>> which many innocents would
>>>>> inevitably get killed. One activist, Himanshu Kumar, is quoted
>>>>> as asking
>>>>> why, granting Naxalism is a problem, that poor people are
>>>>> “attracted to
>>>>> politics that will end in death”. The answer is obvious. The
>>>>> poor are told
>>>>> that violence alone will solve their problem when violence does
>>>>> nothing of
>>>>> that kind. It will only add to their prevailing misery. But how
>>>>> is one to
>>>>> convince Naxalites that the prescription they offer is out of
>>>>> fashion and
>>>>> today one has to turn to out-of-box solution for known problems?
>>>>> One thing is obvious: the government of the day must undertake
>>>>> massive
>>>>> public works and welfare schemes. Andhra Pradesh’s State
>>>>> Economic Adviser Mr
>>>>> Somayajulu has been quoted as saying that economic development
>>>>> and welfare
>>>>> schemes have transformed the Maoist scene in his State to the
>>>>> point that
>>>>> Maoism has lost its attraction for the once unemployed youth.
>>>>> Maoist
>>>>> incidents in Andhra Pradesh fell from 576 in 2005 to 62 in 2009,
>>>>> Maoist
>>>>> killings from 211 to 17, and police deaths from 25 to zero. What
>>>>> was done in
>>>>> Andhra Pradesh can be duplicated in Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand.
>>>>> But there,
>>>>> surely, are other ways to help tribal people earn and decent
>>>>> livelihood like
>>>>> production of pappads to making of dolls which can be marketed,
>>>>> not just in
>>>>> India but worldwide. And, at the administrative level, there has
>>>>> to be a
>>>>> proliferation of government offices equipped with the latest
>>>>> communication
>>>>> technology. But one thing is absolutely a must. And that is to
>>>>> treat Maoists
>>>>> not as fellow citizens, but as traitors and murderers. No mercy
>>>>> should
>>>>> be shown to them. Their headquarters have to be bombed. An
>>>>> organization
>>>>> responsible for the killing of upwards of 6,000 innocent people
>>>>> from 1996 to
>>>>> 2009 has to be wiped out of the surface of the earth.
>>>>> Importantly, the
>>>>> Maoists should get the message that there is a strong government
>>>>> in Delhi
>>>>> which will not accept armed rebellion anywhere and those who
>>>>> indulge in will
>>>>> have to pay a heavy price.
>>>>> MV Kamath
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> assam mailing list
>>>>> assam at assamnet.org
>>>>> http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
>>>>
>>>>
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