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Trapped in a beard: Asian Age
New Delhi, Sept 05: When facts become inconvenient, what do we do? Change the facts? Change the subject?
New Delhi, Sept 05: When facts become inconvenient, what do we do? Change the facts? Change the subject?
Two bomb blasts rip through the heart of Mumbai on a placid afternoon, and 50 innocents die. Instant accusations are always motivated, even when justified. Silence is one way out: why name the guilty when the guilt is yet to be proven.
But silence can become fertile territory for speculation, or for mischief. It is no palliative to anger, and it is the duty of a politician to ensure that the reaction does not degenerate into corrosive revenge. Home minister Lal Krishna Advani signalled towards the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a terrorist organisation that advertises mayhem as a badge of honour. To many this sounded like a tired accusation, but the astute home minister had a purpose. He was doing what he could to divert wrath towards a known enemy, aware that anger against Indian Muslims could demand a terrible price.
Maharashtra’s chief minister Sushil Shinde, whose common sense is wiser than the pyrotechnics of his leader, took another approach. He changed the subject. Like others, he mourned Mumbai’s dead, and then celebrated Mumbai’s recovery. There is no doubt about it; Mumbai behaved heroically. It answered terrorism with a buoyant Sensex. The terrorist aims to both destroy and provoke. The series of attacks in Mumbai are designed to disrupt the vibrant pulse of the Indian economy as well as spread a sense of fear. Normalcy is the sharpest slap on the face of the terrorist.
But the fact remains that Mumbaikars believe that the bomb blasts are the work of Muslim groups, working with or without the help of organisations across the partition line. You cannot deal with this volcanic social problem by shoving it under a liberal carpet. Its periodic eruptions will destroy liberalism itself. We need to face the truth if we want to shape its future. But truth must also be honestly defined. Public discourse in a democracy is conducted through language, and if the language is not accurate, distortion will create a twisted reality.
Two bomb blasts rip through the heart of Mumbai on a placid afternoon, and 50 innocents die. Instant accusations are always motivated, even when justified. Silence is one way out: why name the guilty when the guilt is yet to be proven.
But silence can become fertile territory for speculation, or for mischief. It is no palliative to anger, and it is the duty of a politician to ensure that the reaction does not degenerate into corrosive revenge. Home minister Lal Krishna Advani signalled towards the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a terrorist organisation that advertises mayhem as a badge of honour. To many this sounded like a tired accusation, but the astute home minister had a purpose. He was doing what he could to divert wrath towards a known enemy, aware that anger against Indian Muslims could demand a terrible price.
Maharashtra’s chief minister Sushil Shinde, whose common sense is wiser than the pyrotechnics of his leader, took another approach. He changed the subject. Like others, he mourned Mumbai’s dead, and then celebrated Mumbai’s recovery. There is no doubt about it; Mumbai behaved heroically. It answered terrorism with a buoyant Sensex. The terrorist aims to both destroy and provoke. The series of attacks in Mumbai are designed to disrupt the vibrant pulse of the Indian economy as well as spread a sense of fear. Normalcy is the sharpest slap on the face of the terrorist.
But the fact remains that Mumbaikars believe that the bomb blasts are the work of Muslim groups, working with or without the help of organisations across the partition line. You cannot deal with this volcanic social problem by shoving it under a liberal carpet. Its periodic eruptions will destroy liberalism itself. We need to face the truth if we want to shape its future. But truth must also be honestly defined. Public discourse in a democracy is conducted through language, and if the language is not accurate, distortion will create a twisted reality.