09-16-2007, 01:32 AM
<b>Unabridged edition of secular extremism</b>
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Government's initial disregard of the protests was based on both political calculation and a mindset. It was presumed that the issue would not have a political impact because the BJP was presumed to be in disarray and, in any case, there is no such thing as a Hindu votebank<b>. Political calculations apart, the affidavit was based on a mindset based on the assumption that Hindus, being by and large non-dogmatic and internally divided, can easily be trampled upon - a luxury that organised minorities don't accord to decision-makers. If artistic and academic freedom can be invoked to defend the portrayal of Hindu deities in very disagreeable ways, the commitment to a scientific temper could be cited as the reason for debunking the entire Ramayan tradition. LK Advani may well be right in describing this phenomenon as the logical corollary of pseudo-secularism: Sado-secularism.</b>
<b>The furore over the ASI affidavit has forced the secularists to take note of Hindu outrage. It has, for example, triggered an amusing one-upmanship battle between the handlers of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh over who first directed the relevant department to withdraw the affidavit</b>. Would such damage control measures have been initiated had the UPA's captain and non-playing captain not realised that there may be a high electoral price to be paid for being so utterly insensitive to Hindu feelings?Â
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Government's initial disregard of the protests was based on both political calculation and a mindset. It was presumed that the issue would not have a political impact because the BJP was presumed to be in disarray and, in any case, there is no such thing as a Hindu votebank<b>. Political calculations apart, the affidavit was based on a mindset based on the assumption that Hindus, being by and large non-dogmatic and internally divided, can easily be trampled upon - a luxury that organised minorities don't accord to decision-makers. If artistic and academic freedom can be invoked to defend the portrayal of Hindu deities in very disagreeable ways, the commitment to a scientific temper could be cited as the reason for debunking the entire Ramayan tradition. LK Advani may well be right in describing this phenomenon as the logical corollary of pseudo-secularism: Sado-secularism.</b>
<b>The furore over the ASI affidavit has forced the secularists to take note of Hindu outrage. It has, for example, triggered an amusing one-upmanship battle between the handlers of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh over who first directed the relevant department to withdraw the affidavit</b>. Would such damage control measures have been initiated had the UPA's captain and non-playing captain not realised that there may be a high electoral price to be paid for being so utterly insensitive to Hindu feelings?Â
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