The View from the Right

COVER STORY

The cover story entitled 8216;Mau burnt as Mulayam fiddled8217; is a six-page detailed 8220;investigation8221; on the riots that broke out on October 13. It claims that 8216;8216;99 of the victims8217;8217; were Hindus and 8216;8216;if any Muslim suffered, it was due to action of security forces against the rioters.8217;8217; Disputing the official toll figure of 14, the report says the unofficial figure 8216;8216;is believed to be more than 200 dead, 500 injured and over 300 missing.8217;8217; No evidence, though, is provided to substantiate this belief. Writer Pramod Kumar also notes how 8216;8216;Muslims have criminalised and communalised the region8217;8217; through the uncontrolled mushrooming of madrasas and mosques and warns that the Mau riots 8216;8216;appear just a beginning of a larger disaster. The Hindus, whichever political party they support, are going to face serious troubles.8217;8217;

POLITICS PLUS

The article under this subheading by Ashoke Dasgupta entitled 8216;Marxism is dead but UPA keeps it alive8217; attacks CPI and CPM for carrying the deadwood of Marxism but, confusingly, also criticises them for not being Marxist enough. It says,8216;8216;Once a political party commits itself to Marxism, it has to wage political class struggle for the establishment of socialism. The two communist parties minus policies to achieve socialism are, in this way of assessment, two ghost parties that deceitfully exhibit as if they have not bonded themselves in a coalition submitting themselves to the hegemony of Sonia8217;s party.8217;8217; It concludes with the dire prediction that 8216;8216;a weak, aimless Sonia party8217;s coalition government under the stranglehold of ghost Marxists8217;8217; is turning India into a soft state 8216;8216;which may be the initial steps to becoming a banana republic.8217;8217;

DEBATE

The reprinted article under this rubric by Anthony Browne in Brussels gives an objective account of the debate raging in the Netherlands on the Dutch government8217;s proposal to ban the burqa. The author quotes opposition to the move and notes how the Netherlands 8216;8216; has become less liberal8217;8217; over the years in its attitude towards immigrants. Curiously, the main blurb in the piece does not figure in the actual article at all. It says, 8216;8216;Why can8217;t India implement similar measures 8230;like the Dutch are doing? Well, we know the answer, the vote banks and secularism that support fatwas against Imrana or Sania. Secularism of the Indian kind, which does not exist anywhere else, is dangerous not only to the security of India but also to civilisation in general.8217;8217;

REPORT

A report on the three-day Hindu Dharmacharya Sabha conference in Mumbai from October 16-18 notes the presence of two special invitees to the conference 8212; VHP leader Ashok Singhal and Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy. The report extensively quotes Swamy8217;s speech on how Hindus are under siege today but are not speaking out enough. 8216;8216;It is not enough if today8217;s Hindu is pious or rich. What matters is the mindset of the Hindu that recognises that India shall forever be a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors are Hindus or those we accepted in our land as refugees Parsis, Jews and Syrian Christians. Such Hindus must always retaliate in a deterrent way when attacked even mildly,8217;8217; Swamy is quoted as having said to the acharyas who gave him 8216;8216;a prolonged ovation.8217;8217;

Compiled by Manini Chatterjee