06-29-2005, 02:45 PM
(fwd)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The popular Indian TV Show "Darshan" operating on MHz (Channel 56) broadcast an interview on June 25, 2005, of Naffisa Ali, a Muslim activist in India. She initially spoke on the subject of aids. However, during the ensuing conversation, Ms. Ali made a statement highly objectionable to the Hindus of the Washington Metropolitan area, and to the Hindus in general. She brought up the issue of the Godhara incident and stated that it was a conspiracy by the Hindus against the minority, the Muslims. She called Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in India, a Hitler of Gujarat. Such a statement on a Public TV channel is not only an irresponsible and infantile, patently anti- Hindu, slur, against a democratically elected and greatly respected leader of India, but also a gross and malicious distortion of widely known facts and historical perspective involved. Â
The Hindus must not silently tolerate such anti-Hindu statements on Public channels. The media is supposed to be neutral, and not biased against any community or religion. We, the Hindus of the DC Metropolitan area as well as of the USA as a whole must raise a voice to register our strong objection to such broadcasts on a Public channel.
The Indian organizations of the DC area, including the OFBJP, the VHPA and the Gujarati Samaj, request you to please sign a petition, to call on phone, or to write a letter to the Darshan TV, demonstrating and setting for the record your objection against the June 25, 2005 broadcast of Naffisa Ali's interview. Darshan's email address is darshan@darshantv.com, telephone number is 703-671-7777, and fax number 703-671-0931. Please express your opposition to the said broadcast in large numbers, demanding that the Darshan program management submit to the Hindu community a clarification and an apology for airing such a biased and inappropriate interview.
In this connection, needless to say, the Darshan TV, Ms. Naffisa Ali, and others making reference to the Gujarat communal riots conveniently forget just what led to the riots - the Godhra incident. A railway compartment carrying innocent Hindu devotees returning from a pilgrimage was purposely set on fire by Muslim mobs. A large number of men, women and children perished, charred to the bone. Many say perhaps this ghastly incident occurred under the instigation of the ISI of Pakistan, constantly following the tactics of spreading unrest and terror to build Hindu-Muslim communal tension in India, to their benefit. Innumerable such acts of terror engineered by Pakistan have taken place in India, including daily infiltration of terrorists, trained and equipped in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, into India to kill innocent men, women and children; attack on the Indian Parliament House in New Delhi; and on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat, to mention just a few. The Indian Hindus have meekly tolerated these bloody incursions for years. For over a thousand years, the Indian history is replete with Muslim tyranny on the majority Hindus without any retaliation or reaction on part of the complacent and tolerant Hindus. If the Godhra incident incited a riot in Gujarat in which, by the very nature of riots, people of both the communities lost their lives, the cause-and-effect relationship of the riot should not be forgotten. One must heed to history to avoid its tragic repetition. A communal riot is no doubt a painful and tragic event for all. But pretending as if the Godhra incident did not take place, or was not the sole cause of the Gujarat riots that followed undoubtedly injuring both the communities, would be the height of folly. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The popular Indian TV Show "Darshan" operating on MHz (Channel 56) broadcast an interview on June 25, 2005, of Naffisa Ali, a Muslim activist in India. She initially spoke on the subject of aids. However, during the ensuing conversation, Ms. Ali made a statement highly objectionable to the Hindus of the Washington Metropolitan area, and to the Hindus in general. She brought up the issue of the Godhara incident and stated that it was a conspiracy by the Hindus against the minority, the Muslims. She called Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat in India, a Hitler of Gujarat. Such a statement on a Public TV channel is not only an irresponsible and infantile, patently anti- Hindu, slur, against a democratically elected and greatly respected leader of India, but also a gross and malicious distortion of widely known facts and historical perspective involved. Â
The Hindus must not silently tolerate such anti-Hindu statements on Public channels. The media is supposed to be neutral, and not biased against any community or religion. We, the Hindus of the DC Metropolitan area as well as of the USA as a whole must raise a voice to register our strong objection to such broadcasts on a Public channel.
The Indian organizations of the DC area, including the OFBJP, the VHPA and the Gujarati Samaj, request you to please sign a petition, to call on phone, or to write a letter to the Darshan TV, demonstrating and setting for the record your objection against the June 25, 2005 broadcast of Naffisa Ali's interview. Darshan's email address is darshan@darshantv.com, telephone number is 703-671-7777, and fax number 703-671-0931. Please express your opposition to the said broadcast in large numbers, demanding that the Darshan program management submit to the Hindu community a clarification and an apology for airing such a biased and inappropriate interview.
In this connection, needless to say, the Darshan TV, Ms. Naffisa Ali, and others making reference to the Gujarat communal riots conveniently forget just what led to the riots - the Godhra incident. A railway compartment carrying innocent Hindu devotees returning from a pilgrimage was purposely set on fire by Muslim mobs. A large number of men, women and children perished, charred to the bone. Many say perhaps this ghastly incident occurred under the instigation of the ISI of Pakistan, constantly following the tactics of spreading unrest and terror to build Hindu-Muslim communal tension in India, to their benefit. Innumerable such acts of terror engineered by Pakistan have taken place in India, including daily infiltration of terrorists, trained and equipped in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, into India to kill innocent men, women and children; attack on the Indian Parliament House in New Delhi; and on the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat, to mention just a few. The Indian Hindus have meekly tolerated these bloody incursions for years. For over a thousand years, the Indian history is replete with Muslim tyranny on the majority Hindus without any retaliation or reaction on part of the complacent and tolerant Hindus. If the Godhra incident incited a riot in Gujarat in which, by the very nature of riots, people of both the communities lost their lives, the cause-and-effect relationship of the riot should not be forgotten. One must heed to history to avoid its tragic repetition. A communal riot is no doubt a painful and tragic event for all. But pretending as if the Godhra incident did not take place, or was not the sole cause of the Gujarat riots that followed undoubtedly injuring both the communities, would be the height of folly. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->