Tough talk

The editorial in the latest issue of Organiser titled 8216;Is Congress serious?

The editorial in the latest issue of Organiser titled 8216;Is Congress serious? Terror talk easier than fighting terror8217; observes: 8220;It is welcomed that the UPA has at last woken up to the fact that a more effective legal framework aided by a more sophisticated investigative mechanism is needed to insulate the country against the possibility of future terror attacks. Better late than never. The Congress has for the last four and a half years been telling the country that the existing laws are good enough to fight terror.8221;

It adds: 8220;The new law being envisaged is akin to the MCOCA of Maharashtra. It is not much different from POTA passed by the NDA, which the UPA made a campaign issue in the 2004 Lok Sabha poll and repealed after it assumed office. The UPA terror talk sounds like poll talk simply because its intentions are not above reproach. Even as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Bill was being debated in the Lok Sabha, senior Congress Minister for Minority Affairs Abdul Rahman Antulay stunned the nation with his obnoxious remarks on the Mumbai terror attack on November 26, alluding to a Malegaon blast inquiry link.8221;

Hindu terrorism?

In an opinion piece titled 8216;Terror against India8217; David Frawley writes: 8220;I was raised a Catholic and grew up in the United States. I have been to India more than twenty times over a thirty-year period and have visited many gurus and ashrams. I have seen a few bigoted or conservative Hindus here and there, but overall Hindus are the most tolerant and accepting of all religious groups. Unlike most Biblical traditions, Hindus do not claim that theirs is the only path and if you don8217;t accept their religion, you will suffer eternal damnation or at least never receive the favour of God. Instead they teach you methods of Yoga and meditation so that you can experience the Divine for yourselves and in yourself, freeing you from any dependency upon institutions or dogmas.8221;

He adds: 8220;Under the pretext of Hindu terrorism, terrorism is being enacted against Hindus in India today. Hindu nuns are being stripped of their human rights, subject to narcotic testing that is illegal in the rest of the world, and tortured. Clearly such treatment would never be given in India by the police to a Christian nun. Even in India, evidence gained in this manner is not admissible in a court of law, yet it seems to be not only admissible but unquestionably true in the Indian media, which builds a case of Hindu terrorism based upon the torture of Hindus and allegations built upon that torture. What is the brazen face of terrorism they are showing us among Hindus? Not a Bin Laden, not a Taliban taking over a country and turning it into a terrorist state, not an attack on India8217;s Parliament, but a Hindu nun and her two wheeler 8212; even though polygraph tests, torture and narcotic drugs injected into her have failed to produce a confession.8221;

Compiled by Suman K. Jha