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Modern India’s modern myths

It is my belief that the first column of a New Year should try to be cheerful no matter how bad the times. So, despite the attempt to bump off our new Home Minister in Guwahati on New Year’s Day I am not going to say more than one sentence about terrorism this week. Here is that sentence. May t ....Read more

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GoodBy: Harish | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 12:56:25 PM Reply | Forward Great article. Talveen Singh shows that our Indian media is not only about psuedo secular idiots like tarun Tejpal, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt. Good show

i wanted to say this for a long timeBy: siddharth | Wednesday , 7 Jan '09 0:29:06 AM Reply | Forward well said..

SecularismBy: Ramakrishnan | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 12:51:39 PM Reply | Forward Secularism was a phrase coined by an Englishman in 18th century which meane the state should remain neutral in matters of religion. England did not adopt the same > The Anglican Church is the state religion. Israel is a Jewish State. So are many of the progressive Western democracies, Christian. USA and Australia are secular countries but had ensured all indigenous religions were destroyed before so declaring. It is not better to talk about Islamic States. In liberal Malysia minorities are not even allowed to protest peacefully. Even then no body calls them communal or obscurantis. The communal word in English dictionary has been reserved for Hinduism. Secularism is being used as stick to beat the so called majority community India and much of this self inflicted by so calld secular Hindu intellectual to get clapping from others. Secularism has never been followed or understood in India in its real sense

indiaBy: shiney20000 | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 11:55:12 AM Reply | Forward Brilliant article. Finally someone from mainstream Indian media has the courage to call the bluff of Islamic fundamentalists and their logic

SecularismBy: Kishore | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 10:45:53 AM Reply | Forward Excellent article! I wish more people read it and appreciate what India has to offer rather than always complain about what India is doing for Muslims? They should visit places like Pakistan, Bangladesh or China and see for themselves how minorities are treated. I wish our national leaders wake up and stand up for our Bharat! It really bothers me that our so called leaders always appeasing Muslims rather than appeasing the whole of India.

Pseudo Seculars are the EnemyBy: Anthony | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 9:49:03 AM Reply | Forward Tavleen Singh has stirred up a lot of insecurities among the pseudo secular lot. Fact is that the Muslims would be better off befriending the BJP as the BJP is less prone to creating communal riots. Even the Gujarat riots were a reaction to the train burning done by Muslims in Godhra. Unfortunately, the reaction hit people not directly involved in the same. Further the media has exaggerated and allows exaggeration of the death toll of Muslims, which was 500 as per GOI figures given in Parliament by the Congress Minister. The grand alliance of pseudo seculars will ensure that the Muslims seek victimhood perennially and deny themselves a share of India's prosperity that is clearly the envy of our neighbouring failed states.Am sure that Muslims, and I assume that the vast majority is interested in earning a good livelihood and keeping their families happy, must resent being equated with a lunatic fringe that has Jihad on its mind. These pseudo seculars are the enemies of Muslims.

modern india´s modern mythsBy: punam | Monday , 5 Jan '09 15:22:27 PM Reply | Forward you are the rare sane voice in a jungle of confused and arrogant so called intellectuals of indian media. Keep it up, we love you for what you represent. punam

Hidden AgendaBy: Ratnesh | Monday , 5 Jan '09 11:10:13 AM Reply | Forward Ms.Singh would do better by declaring her intentions and the point she wants to make unambiguously. By terming all English speaking secular liberals as people who cannot speak even one Indian language and have a difficulty in understanding the idea of India, is she trying to play to the gallery of vast nos. of people who cannot speak English, have a limited world view and are religious fundamentalists? By alleging that the Babri demolition, the Gujarat state sponsored pogrom and the general conditions of muslims had nothing to do with 9/11 etc, is she making the point that these instances have no contributing effect to terrorism in India? What is the point she wants to make when talking of 'Hindu India' of the pre-muslim and christian invasions? I am what Ms.Singh would call a secular, English speaking, liberal Hindu and I stand as much for the idea of a united, peaceful and prosperous Bharat as any self-proclaimed nationalist. And I don't tolerate being called a leftist for that.

seriously?By: siddharth | Wednesday , 7 Jan '09 22:43:09 PM Reply | Forward are you retarded?

dont know if this is obstinacy or ignoranceBy: Ravishekar | Monday , 5 Jan '09 11:45:12 AM Reply | Forward Mr Ratnesh, you should be searching for your roots before calling yourself a liberal Hindu. And so much for your attack on Ms Tavleen, who has attempted to stir up our sentiments for forgetting our glorious past. The past that this great country of our has had is divest of Muslims Christians or Buddhists. These cultures are very recent to say the least and they have been allowed to merge with our ethos and in return the same cultures would like to deny the country its rightful place based upon the country's past by refusing to follow the norms of the country. Acceptng a common civil code - should be a good beginning if you can convey this to the so called secular and liberal people of this country.

Its neither, its patriotismBy: Ratnesh | Monday , 5 Jan '09 12:50:31 PM Reply | Forward I know my roots well as I live on the ground and keep my eyes open. Rather than harking back to 2000 years ago, I prefer to look forward. The belief that Muslims, Christians and Buddhists are trying to deny the country its rightful place is exactly the kind of divisive and 'my-religion-is-superior-to-yours' ethos which is anti-India, both ancient and modern. Yes, I agree with common civil code but also that if there are reservations, they should not be ltd to Hindus (SC/ST/OBC)and advantages such as tax breaks should not be ltd to HUF. If Hinduism is in danger, the danger is from within from people who want to convert it to mono-thiest and ritualistic from its glorious pan-thiestic, spiritual and introspecting philosophy. I don't deny the country's glorius past, instead I recognise that we can re-achieve it only if we concentrate on the task of nation building as one people not as various ethnicities distrusting each other. Just because I object to your vitriol against non-Hindus, doesn't mean I am less patriotic. That's what you and the author need to understand.

No hidden agendaBy: ravikiran | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 10:26:00 AM Reply | Forward Mr Ratnesh,Nice to know you are a patriot and no one doubts it. What Tavleen says is that a vast majority of Indian especially Hindu Indians do not know about Hindu culture, any Indian language. Ignorance can be forgiven but a show of superiority of their second grade western knowledge is unaccepatable. It is a fact that India had its glorious innings much before the advent of muslims and english. Do you know much of the OBCs were once our rulers who were driven to desperation by atrocities of muslim rulers. We are secular because we are Hindu. The essence of this country is Hindu but that does not mean there is no space for muslims and christians. They are free to practise their religion and culture. Can any citizen of islamic /christian country make this statement with complete honesty? Think...

courtesy bhima rao ambedkarBy: poovannan | Tuesday , 6 Jan '09 20:27:20 PM Reply | Forward dear ravi its not because of hinduism but dr bhimarao ambedkar anyone can practise their religion here. read the teachings of golwalkar and savarkar and their ideals. they r a manu saudi based on manu smriti where muslims and christians r 2nd class citizens.nice to hear that barbers/carpenters/gypsies/goldsmith/ironsmith/farm labourers(real obcs)as rulers.most of the christians/muslims r obc/sc converts.they form a major part of caste associations in tamilnadu(kindly see the office bearers of caste associations of nadars/kallars/vanniyars/udayars etc.there r many instances were arranged marriages happen between hindu and christians of the same caste.there was no glorious past for the sc and obcs and hope democracy makes 21 st century theirs

Brave Tavleen SinghBy: Ronald Brijlall | Monday , 5 Jan '09 11:02:03 AM Reply | Forward Wow - I can't believe that a major English Newspaper Columnist(not of the "fanatic" Hindutva kind) has the guts and intellectual honesty to write this.You are brave Ms. Singh.India needs to respect it's Hindu past. It is wrong to infer that respecting the Hindu past would be at an expense of Muslim safety.I thinks large groups such as the BJP and RSS understand that the nation will be better off it takes care of its minority. Look at South Africa which is now suffering for what it did under apartheid. Hindu groups are smarter and need to convey to the public that they are following the eternal Hindu ethos of tolerance and inclusiveness. While the Liberal, left intellectuals play a role in denying a great Hindu past, the hindus themselves need to do a better job with PR and articulating and putting out their views.

INDIAS MODERN MYTHSBy: nravisankar | Monday , 5 Jan '09 10:09:58 AM Reply | Forward indias GDP was 32% upto 11th century. but one must analyse why that had dwindled later. The reduction is mainly on account of the invation of west asian muslim communities thru afgan as a country. Even the national geography's article few years ago clearly pointed out that afgan's habitants for centuries have been having the only job of fighting as an army, sometime for its own and for sometime as a rented out army. In such a cas neither it will prosper nor it will allow others to prosper. Even today every 5 year old boy in afgan is given a AK47 as a birthday gift. Then how such a community will come out of the clutches to be described as 'not destitue poor'My be we need another Kurushetra for defeating the adharma.

Get your facts straight, please.By: Jayadevan | Monday , 5 Jan '09 11:52:48 AM Reply | Forward I do not contest Tavleen Singh's contentions. She obviously knows more than all of us put together. I would like a few clarifications from a lesser mortal. Is GDP expressed as a ratio? If you are talking of India's share in world GDP decreasing, could we not feel that other countries also started to progress at this time? Was this not the time when the caliphates had empires stretching over three continents and were at the forefront of civilization? And the Muslim invasions were responsible for the decline in our GDP? Ever heard of Sher Shah Suri, who abolished all tariff barriers to trade, built the GT road and established the rupiah? Ever heard that foreign trade, mostly exports, increased during this time of decline of GDP? If having having the sole occupation of fighting, mostly as mercenaries is a disqualification, the the remnants of the Huns who are called Rajputs today share that. So by Indian lights, the Afghans are in good company. I do appreciate that a people who can only fight are basically parasites. So the almonds, walnuts and figs and other produce from Afghanistan were actually imports from some other country. Thanks for the information. Sir, you are fit company for Tavleen Singh. Ignorance and the capacity to shout it from the rooftops are the same in any language. The Muslims are our eternal foreign hand, to be blamed for purdah, the caste system, the genetic tendency to baldness that runs in my family, the population explosion (having four wives each)...

INDIAS MODERN MYTHSBy: nravisankar | Monday , 5 Jan '09 10:01:55 AM Reply | Forward The author pity about muslim destitues need a review. Sufficient opportunities have been given to all to enter the education system in vouge. But how many muslims want to learn through the common syllabus in schools? Also the government has added fuel to the fire by constitutionally recognising the castes and communities in various forms. WHY CAN'T THE MODERN INDIA BRING A UNIFORM CIVIL CODE FOR ALL THE PEROSONS OF INDIA. THEN WE CAN PROUDLY SAY WE ARE INDIAN CITIZENS. THE ROLE OF MEDIA IS VERY IMPORTANT IN THIS ASPECT OF NATION BUILDING. BUT UNFORTUNATELY NONE OF THE MEDIA ARE EVEN PREPARED TO CONTEST THE RECOGNITION OF THE CASTE IN CONSTITUTION. IF SO, MANY WOULD HAVE SUPPORTED THE IDEAS OF ARUH SHORIE' IDEOLOGIES.

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