Murder on Helm Street

I must say that Ms.Versey`s articles seem to be getting to be
more like Veeresh Maliks - completely disjointed, meandering and totally
meaningless.

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Whine, cry and then do a little more whine and cry.... what`s new. There is a reason why Brahmaputra river always overflows. There is yet another whining moron there... commie Arundhati Roy.

My Serbian colleague told me something interesting the other day... back in the old days of soviet, Russians had a common theme in all of their movies. Their movies always had crying, whining and always ended in sorrow.

excellent article Farzana :-)

why must the Muslim brothers vote for either the BJP OR Congress? Isn`t there a third option? Can`t they use their votes tactfully? And is there no Muslim political party in india whom they can vote for? If not, why not? In close elections they could then well hold the balance of power?
I hope you can answer my questions insha Allah!

ps Even though Pakistan are losing the cricket--I love Irfan Pathan! A great prospect and he said `alhamdulillah` loads of times in his interview after one of the one dayers...seems very pious..i heard his abu is a muezzin?

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The obfuscations in the BJP vision document reminds `US` of the need to have a clearer `political` focus of the Indian muslims. Jingoistic discourses about `US` which puts ONLY the religious identity of Indian muslims as the prime election issue is what needs to be avoided at this hour. Competitive communalism is a good way to consolidate a religious groups` vote around its relgious identity- and it is time `WE` got around this hype about the MALAFIDE we keep on imputing on other groups just to consolidate `OUR` votes.

I still fail to understand why the mandir issue should now figure in ANY election manifesto. The earlier it is understood the better it would be for us to politially marginalize the maulavi and Imam of my masjid. Article 370 is a vestige of the stupid communal politics that was played in 1947. The earlier it is scrapped out of Indian constitution the better it would be to put partition pangs in the dark history. Civil code remains at best an attempt to re-introduce discussion on practices associated with religion in the public realm- the best way to get the BJP to mull over it would be to first let the gay activists and the atheists present their issues before discussing muslim personal law .

Finally, communal politics is typically a forte of those who want you to `feel good` about yourself by making you forget the fire burning in one`s houses and seek the cause of the seering pain at the fire burning outside- such a mindset which has been typically nurtured by our local maulavi because they become important in deciding `political` issues. And it is easy to accuse others of making you impotent when you have already sold off your balls to your favourite maulavi.

//... They must feel good even if they feel impotent...//

DOn`t vote for BJP - go for congress or ... SP, BSP, TDP, CPI etc. etc. - there are plethora of parties to choose from. There are no shortage of people/parties who vouch in favor of secularism.

BJP is begging for your votes - that should make you feel potent not impotent - because your enemy is finally bowing in front of you.

Quit whining. You have plenty of options.

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RefNaqshbandi #8

[why must the Muslim brothers vote for either the BJP OR Congress? Isn`t there a third option? Can`t they use their votes tactfully? And is there no Muslim political party in india whom they can vote for? If not, why not? In close elections they could then well hold the balance of power?]

Yep. The All-India Muslim League is alive if not well in India. The last time those idiots got a bunch of Muslim votes, we ended up with Pakistan. Since there is very few areas contiguous to Pakistan where the Muslim League is likely to secure a majority of seats, I think you guys can dream about Pakistani enclaves in Old Delhi, Shahjahanabad, Lucknow, etc.

By the way, Kapil Sibhal the Congress spokesperson is thundering that if the Congress gets elected to power, they will bring a law banning any party that collaborated with the British against holding any electoral offices in India. That might rule out anybody running on the Muslim League, DMK, and Communist tickets in India... these all happen to be Congress` allies in the current election, so we all know how empty that threat is!

Farzana says, ``Now this is another slippery issue. Again double-speak. How can you talk about promoting “religious freedom” and then favour a ban on conversions? Don’t conversions constitute the right to choose your religion?``

Is the religion being chosen freely? If the offer is a pukka house in your native village and a job in Saudi Arabia in return for becoming a Muslim, is that a conversion out of conviction or out of economic circumstances?

Doesn`t the ban on religious conversions equally ban conversions FROM Islam to Hinduism? Why is it that every Muslim assumes that it only prevents conversions from Hinduism to Islam? Is it because of the ``once a Muslim, forever a Muslim`` and ``stone that apostate to death`` policies will prevent the converted Muslim fom straying from the flock and so conversions would indeed be a one-way street from Hinduism to Islam/Christianity?

It appears match is fixed long time ago.
It is made such way and lot off money is spent for ``victory``.
This ``victory`` will help feel good thing to Bjp. That is reason BJP allwed to go team. If india looses ``feel good`` will evaporate and Soniya congress will get benefit.
I am not sure why F V assume BJP is going to win? My feeling is probably strength of all parties will be almost same as old national assembly/

Well it all depends how the PARIWAR goes.

Bush`s war on terror has helped BJP in multiple ways. Most, it has drawn away focus from its communal acts like Gujrat and Kashmir etc.

No matter what spices you use, Indian Curry remains a curry. The basic ingredients of BJP approximate are RSS, Verat Sammelan, Jan Sangh and Joshi. So it will remain that way. In a changed environment, these radical aspirations are being met behind a facade of democracy and what Kautilya called, RUTAYUDDHA.

Just to qoute Beni Prasad:

``Hindu political thought has a spirit, a milieu, an atmosphere of its own as different from their western counter parts as Hindu personality, temperament and outlook are different from what one finds in Western Europe. Hindu thought does not fall under any of the accepted categories of western speculation. It stands by itself``.

Foreskin not withstanding, be prepared for the grind.

Cheerios

About UCC
From a 100% Indian board. Extracts from a few posts.
Quote
“In the current state in which the Indian Muslim community finds itself, and given that the most rabid of anti-Muslims institutions are the loudest proponents of the UCC, they (Muslims) may be excused for looking upon the UCC as a de-Islamisation vehicle.

Reality with the Muslim electorate is that most of them have not the foggiest notion of UCC. But they do have a very strong distrust of the state, and unless that changes, a UCC will be perceived as an element is the general conspiracy of dis-empowerment. Not very conducive to it`s acceptance.

Much as not having a UCC is pandering to Muslims, trumpeting UCC is an instrument used by rightist Hindu politicians to pander to their communal constituencies. In the ensuing noise, the purpose is lost.

So it seems as though a) apart from the name, we don’t know what the UCC is and b) that it is `the` thing to have is taken for granted.

To put things in perspective, the 93% of the Muslim masses are concentrated in urban ghettos: they are overwhelmingly converts from Hindu depressed classes - weavers, ironmongers, butchers, and all manner of skilled workers of the old Hindu fold who have converted over time.

The intellectuals amongst the Muslims are mostly from amongst the old Qasbah clans and the landed gentry, the so-called intelligentsia. Amongst them are the Syed clans, the Sheikh clans and the Pathan clans (Rampur, Malihabad/Qayamganj). They are a handful of people completely out of tune with the Muslim masses, and relatively better off.”
Unquote

93% of the Muslim population in ghettos is an alarming number. That is almost 140 million people. This clearly appears to be completely disproportionate to Hindu population in Ghettos. If only about 20% of the Hindu population is in Ghettos, we are talking about another 160 Million people in Ghetto. Almost 30% population of a country lives in Ghettos and here people are berating poor Pakistan. People on this board, that are writing books about minorities and poverty problems in the other countries of the subcontinent, may wanna think about what is cooking in their own backyard.

Economy
Here are some numbers:
http://www.nationmaster.com/ and cia.gov

India’s population will grow to approx 1.3 billion by year 2015. The current Economic growth rate is almost 4.3%. Urbanization currently is at 28%(Pak current 33%) it is projected to be 33.5% in 2015.(Pak at 40% in 2015) After all this talk about India’s huge growth 2/3 of Indian population would still be in small towns and villages in year 2015.
The current per capita GDP is about $570. It is doubtful, but even if it is doubled in the next 10 years we’re still looking at a country with one of the lowest per capita income in the world. May be better from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka but not by much.
Time to take a little breather from chest pounding may be……..

Some other Interesting numbers
Access to sanitation India 72% Pakistan 80%
Drinking water availability India 84% Pakistan 90%
Labor force - by occupation- India
agriculture 60%, services 23%, industry 17% (1999)

Is it true that India only has about a couple of hundred miles of four lanes highway between Mumbai and Pune? Rest of the country connected on two lane or one lane highways or mostly on dirt roads. That is pathetic and India is still shining?????

The year was 1998. India had thumped its chest and declared itself nuclear. Indians brimmed with pride and what Jay Leno had to say ``Indians can build nuke bombs but they can`t build decent toilets.``

Hi Farzana, once the percentage gets past about 20%-22%, which it does with Muslims in many many constituencies, then (a) it is not a minority anymore and (b) it gets fractured enough in a democracy to self-cancel. So, nada you theory boss. So your vote like the middle class vote will serve the same purpose as the olive in the vodka.

Dear Satyamvada-without-chutney . . . hunh?

Ref HP #14

[Is it true that India only has about a couple of hundred miles of four lanes highway between Mumbai and Pune? Rest of the country connected on two lane or one lane highways or mostly on dirt roads.]

Yep. That is what India got under 50 years of Congress mis-rule. Even the Bombay-Pune highway was built under the BJP government in the Center.

The BJP govt is also building the North-South, Eat-West corridors and the 4-lane highway linking Delhi, Bombay, Chennai and Calcutta for a total of about 14,000 kilometers. Should be ready by 2007.

As Advani said, if Sonia Gandhi is able to take her show on the road, she should thank the BJP for providing the roads!

[That is pathetic and India is still shining?????]

India is shining because it returned loans from all but 7 countries AHEAD of the repayment schedule. India is shining because it is now a DONOR nation under the IMF. India is shining because its forex reserves go up by a billion dollars or more a month. India is shining because its currency now sells for Rs. 43.85 to a US$ as opposed to Rs. 49. We may pay more for our imported goods but it means we can afford it and we are not screwing the world like China by keeping our currency artificially low. India is shining because the Indica car is being sold in the UK under the Rover badge. India is shining because Tata Motors can and has bought Daewoo`s truck manufacturing plant in South Korea. India is shining because Hyundai exports car from its Chennai plant to Mexico and to Europe. India is shining because we sell close to 700,000 cars a year in India as opposed to a measly 45,000 a year of the 1950s Fiats and Morris Oxfords under Congress mis-rule. India is shining because we have 40 million tons of food in our warehouses and export rice and wheat around the world today as opposed to importing food. India is shining because its college grads have money to burn in cities like Bombay, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore and they do burn it. India is shining because of its brand-new metro railway in Delhi and Hyderabad.

Screw the lazy, illiterate Biharis and UP bhaiyyas. Screw the frikking Muslims if they want to look in the Koran for answers to tomorrow`s problems instead of in the latest books on engineering and computer science. Screw the frikking Commies and left-wingers in the Congress. We don`t have time for these nay-sayers. They should continue electing either foreign b!tches like Sonia or foreign ideology like from Mao-era China and keep losing elections.