Monday, December 22, 2008

An embarrassment called Antulay

It is still a strange dilemma that seems to have gripped the Indian national Congress under whose tutelage Mr A. R Antulay grew into a reasonably ranked political leader. His alleged back-door maneouvres many claim also helped him to remain in the saddle as the Chief Minister Of Maharashtra, something I think as inconceivable for an Indian Muslim to attain in such a largely polarized state . However he was given the grace by the majority community to even hold that position in a very sensitive state which differentiates within its own strong hindu ranks.

It is therefore rage which one feels when a senior politician like Mr Antulay gets away or rather gets others to sway over his most loose comment of the century. To fantasize about Mr Karkare and his gallant compatriots to be done in by a conspiracy from hindu zealots is nothing but sheer madness in the least. That after the unfolding of the events following their death makes Mr Antulay and his theory a big insult to the nation.

His remarks have been most delightfully seized by the “terrorist state of Pakistan” to counter India’s foolproof case against the rogue ISI and their handy comrades the LeT, in the Mumbai attacks. Their media are simply brandishing this hallucinatory Indian as their new weapon in their desperate attempt to camouflage the terrorist stink of their rabid country.

The Congress should therefore show some character. While the BJP is shamelessly using this issue to further their vote bank , the congress seems to be unduly worried that any action against Mr Antulay would erode their own bank. This dilemma is sure to cost the congress its most hardened supporters including myself.

For surely there is a limit to swallowing an insult. This is not an insult to a party politician. It is above petty politics. Politicians are used to give and take insults. But when someone covertly empathises with the enemy in such a brazen manner the reaction from the Congress should have been instant. Instead we find that the Congress is weighing its pros and cons keeping the upcoming elections in mind.

Antulay in the meanwhile is catching on a wagon of supporters. A breed of sidelined political actors are emerging from nowhere to carve their niche and finding common cause with him to add confusion to the already muddy issue. Politics which had taken a severe beating from citizens after the Mumbai terror, is now re-surfacing its ugly head with all these political furnitures trying to find their own space in the bloody ground of Mumbai’s terror carnage. These people will take India and all Indians to the gutter of death.

If the congress had been swift in its action we could have shown how we deal with such rabidly dissenting voices without considering their merit in an election. The BJP is another hawk waiting for its own pound of flesh from this issue. And so the real Indian has gone to sleep since the partition of our country. Our severed arm is however vibrant and determined to see our end.

The more the congress drags its feet on this issue the more I hope are their chances of losing the next election.

TheBigIndian

1 comment:

zo said...

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Cheers
Zoram