IBN does a retake!

Surprise!

In what is being touted as a 'rejoinder' to Ms. Ghose's rather patronizing conclusions in her published article a couple of days back, IBN has published this write-up by one Mr. Omair Ahmad. It is an interesting read and in short Mr. Ahmad crunches a few numbers to conclude that after all India's prisons are NOT full of muslims.

I applaud IBNs decision to publish this because between playing the much romaticized pseudo-secular, inclusive observer or the quintessential devil's advocate, jounalists, especially in these times when political correctness seems to be the end of imagination, fail to do the basic thing - which is not to pander to sentimentality but to look at information objectively and provide the reader/viewer the data he/she needs to draw conclusions around what has been presented.

In our quest to apologise to history and to appear as be making things right we must not run overboard. The Hindu majority in India happens to be fact. Just as the christian majority of the west of the muslim majority of the middle-east. But somehow, Indians, for far too long, have chosen to be rather parochial - always looking 'down' to the muslims and chirstians and 'displaying' Mother India's benovelance by spreading the arms out to 'lift' them from the obscurity of a non-Hindu Indian life.

And this has not always worked. For every Shah Bano, there is a Godhra and for every Mandal there will be an Ayodhya. The government has always looked at building walls around the minority communities(not just religious minority, but even regional minorities) in India either by legislation or by charity(doling out crores of rupees in fancy 'packages'). The is no genuine effort to address the issues faced by minorites by the fact of their being under-represented in the social structure. Its always been symbolic. The Hindus are here. We will listen to you, not because you are an Indian, but because our ancestors spent their lives killing yours.

The media, with its reach and influence, has unfortunately succumbed to this craze. TV Channels and newspapers want to appear non-partisan than to epouse the truth.

While getting carried away by political correctness may seem fashionable, Indians must realize that our job is as much to pass on to our next generation an India that is united and strong as it is to fix problems of the past, if not more. And that will happen only if the votebanks of today - political, economic and social are dismantled and no new ones are erected.

PS: Wonder if IBN sneaked in some correctness by getting a Muslim to refute a Hindu's delusions....