|
||||
Random Thoughts 27 Feb 2013
Bengal is sitting on a powder keg
It is rare for the policeman
to be killed on duty. It is inconceivable that a policeman can be shot dead in
daylight] surrounded by colleagues, while his shooter escapes. Yet, under chief
minister Mamata Banerjee’s watch, that is precisely what happened to sub
inspector Tapas Choudhary on Tuesday, February 12, in the heart of Kolkata.
Media reports that trinamool
leaders also told the police to arrest people from rival parties and keep off
their own people. To its credit, Kolkata police went about its job competently
and soon arrested Suhan and some of his associates. So far, all the people
implicated in the crime seem to have links with the Trinamool. At the time of
writing. Iqbal, one of the main accused, is on the run.
Today, both the Congress and
CPM allege that Banerjee ‘s administration is trying to derail the
investigation, because it points to people in the Trinamool. This is not hard
to believe.
Since coming to power nearly
two years ago, Banerjee and the party she leads have adopted a shockingly
casual attitude to law and order in the state. One evening, Banerjee herself
marched to a thana to order the release of her party’s goons. After a
horrifying rape at Park Street, Banerjee initially denied the crime. After
Kilkata police arrested some of the people involved-and proved that the rape
had, indeed, occurred –Banerjee had the lead investigator, Damayanti Sen,
transferred to another job.
Parallel to the process of
emasculating the police, Banerjee is determined to prop up the goons who are the
Trinamool’s real foot soldiers. Most of these people are petty enforcers and
extortionists, who come to the aid of politicians when required. Bobby Hakim’s
relationship with Iqbal illustrates this well.
Devoid of ideology,
discipline and internal organization, the Trinamool is not constrained by
anything other than Didi’s whims. And Didi has shown, again and again, her
utter contempt for the law and the machinery to enforce it. This can only end
in tears.
Adopted from TOI, Abheek Barman
ASSASSINATION
OF A SONG
A young girl band is
silenced in Kashmir after a fatwa. Where will the infringement on freedoms
stop?
Hindustani vocalist Shubha
Mudgal believes that “tradition is never static. And rules can never be
imposed”. But the rules in Srinagar are being imposed by a man who blames women
for getting raped and insists that men cannot be blamed if something wrong
happens to women. “If they want they can sing in front of their mothers and
sisters,” Bashir-ud-Din told reporters on February 5.
Aneeka says she is “too
little to know whether music is un-Islamic” as the Grand Mufti decreed. But
thanks to ‘wise’ men like him, the teen trio has done some serious growing up
in the past week.
Section of
society have clamped down - On music and art as they have a very narrow
understanding of tradition.”
Adopted from India Today
Closing
the mind
The narrative of
hyper-nationalism and constant outrage at artistic expression is dominant
today. There is no alternative narrative. This is dangerous for India.
The narrative of
hyper-nationalism, hurt sentiments, constant outrage at artistic expression is
dominant today. There is no alternative narrative, no alternative voice, no
counter-argument to those daily upholding their religious, nationalist and
regional credentials. Unless a robust alternative narrative emerges both in
politics and in society, newer generations will continue to tear down
paintings, burn novels and send out bloodthirsty war cries against, “traitors”
and “anti-nationals”, because they will not know any better.
Adopted
from HT-Sagerika Ghosh
