Then and Now ..,

That was then, this is now - S E Hinton

Then,
I did nod with you and agreed your view,
To make you smile.
You walked along with me, my friend,
Happily all the while.

Now,
I am hoping you'd still be there for me,
Even though you disagree.
But, as I stand by my belief and make my point,
You walk far away, ignoring me.

Hypocritical !!

They (the hypocrites) think to beguile Allah and those who believe, and they beguile none save themselves; but they perceive not. (The Holy Quran, 2:9)

A tale of two Cases (or judgements) !!

Case 1 :

Moulana Noor ul Huda, a respected and widely traveled, 50 year old maulana from Deoband, Uttar Pradesh. Moulana has travelled atleast 25 times to and fro to London.

Moulana Noor ul Huda was again traveling to London via Dubai and had boarded the Emirates flight EK511. He helped his co-passengers with their hand luggages, and took his seat. As the flight was about to take off, he was on a phone call, talking to his folks at home, and he uttered a simple, non-ambiguous statement in Urdu -- "Flight ab pandrah(15) minute mein udne waala hai" which in english means "The flight is about to take off in 15 minutes" Nothing suspicious about it.

A neurotic co-passenger seated next to him, misinterprets the statement and takes it to mean that the plane is about to explode. It was impossible for her to misunderstand him unless she had primed herself to do so — by looking upon his countenance, whose distinguishing feature is a flowing Muslim-esque beard.

Moulana was grounded and detained by the police. Still nothing suspicious was found in his baggage or any record against him. However, the police still filed a case against him. “We booked Noor-ul-Huda for mischief under Section 425 IPC on the basis of the woman’s complaint. We are investigating who he was talking to. We have produced him in court,” said Dr O P Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI Airport).

A case was booked and Moulana was locked in dark dungeons of Tihar Jail along with abuses and investigation, and released after a few days, when nothing could be proved against him. The Police were left ashamed and red-faced.

This is not the first instance of a mainstream Indian being a little too eager to suspect Muslims of the worst not because of what they happen to be doing, but because of who they are. The police and the security agencies are routinely guilty of this fault, which became glaringly obvious after the Batla House ‘encounter’ in Delhi, when all the Muslims of the district of Azamgarh were pilloried.

Case 2:

Pramod Muthalik - Chief of the well known notorious , hate-mongering saffron group "Sri Ram Sene". known for ordering his "army" for beating women in public, and killing a 80 year old maulvi in Dakshin Kannada district, and a lot more criminal cases pending.

A TV news channel Headlines Today and Tehelka jointly operated a sting operation in which Pramod Muthalik Chief of Shri Ram Sene was caught on camera for accepting bribe to hold riots across Karnataka. Chief of Shri Ram Sene Pramod Muthalik said that he could hold riots in Muslim dominated areas in Bangalore and Mangalore. Pramod asks the reporters in guise to meet Prasad Attavar, VP, Sri Ram Sene, who is in Mangalore Jail for a number of cases against him and Vasant Bhavani head of Bangalore sene.

The Jailors/Police allow Prasad Attavar to discuss procedure and planning to hold riots while behind bars.

TV news channel airs all the video tapes openly on TV. The police, the government, public respond but do not arrest Pramod or his aides or the Sene stating there is no strong evidence and there is no case/fir lodged on this case.

A lot more details on the above two cases can be obtained on the internet and news websites. These incidents happened almost around the same time, second week of May 2010.

Its shocking that the judiciary system /security system acts so different in above two cases. One, a well known reputed personality talks in layman terms, there is no suspicion at all and is clear "miscommunication" but still arrest is made, case is booked and an innocent is put behind bars. On the other hand a well known criminal record holding, jail serving group openly declares eagerness to run riots and kill innocents, but still the police need proof, and no arrest is made on lack of substantial evidence.

India is the worlds largest democracy. A secular country. A country of many races, religions, castes, languages all living under one roof. These are the sweet sugar coatings we all feel proud when we hear but what we fail to look into is the bitter disgusting mindset, the racial profiling, the injustice of the police, the mis-treatment of the security of this country, the corruption, etc filth right under this coating.

We make fun of each other at incredibly close quarters in every mohalla, and it has never hurt anyone because it is a cyclical game. Bengalis disparage Biharis, who make fun of Oriyas, who find Tamils laughable, who think Punjabis are weird, who believe that Bengalis are a hoot. Whoever you are, someone, somewhere, is laughing at you. There’s no way you can win, and no way you can lose. The even-handed culture of the game keeps it just that, and prevents it from turning into a simulacrum of war.

I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to stitch it together again. I do not know if we all are true Indians with respect to being proud to be a part of diverse culture and still stay united. What I do know is I am made to feel to be an Indignant Indian.