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Journalism of Courage
The vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, may not know it, but he has just proved Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf right. On Friday, Kishore put forward an argument that may, just may, have passed muster in the medieval ages but rings plainly monstrous today. Referring to the Jhajjar outrage, in which five young Dalit men were lynched by a mob for allegedly slaughtering a cow 8212; even though this was disproved subsequently 8212; Giriraj Kishore argued that the life of a cow is more precious than that of a human being. In other words, he came perilously close to actually justifying the carnage in Harayana.
How does Musharraf come into this? Remember how the Pakistan general in his ineffable fashion had launched on a diatribe against India at the 57th Session of the UN General Assembly in September? Remember what he said? To refresh memories, here8217;s a quote from the speech: 8216;India8217;s belligerence also reflects the chauvinistic ideology of the Hindu extremist parties and organisations. Rising fanaticism in India has targeted Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and even the scheduled caste Hindus8230;8217; When the general uttered these words, India found them to be preposterous. Prime Minister Vajpayee, when his turn came to address the assembly, made it a point to state that 8216;we are proud of the multi-religious character of our society8217;. Yet, here goes a senior functionary of an organisation fraternally linked to the PM8217;s party giving vent to thoughts that conform perfectly to Musharraf8217;s dark scenario. Truly, with affiliates like these, the BJP government needs no enemies; with organisations like these on the rampage, the country needs no enemies.
