Rahul’s War Cry.By Ashok Malik

Dear Friends, I am reproducing the following article by Ashok Malik as published in The Pioneer dated April 19^th.2007.As always it is an enlightening read.I am neither arrogant nor “audacious enough” to even think about commenting on such a personality, all I can say is we need many more “Saner” voices like Ashok.A must read for all Prudent Indians.I could have posted the link alone but as on the Pioneer Site, links do get change every day.So,Here is the complete post.

Prudent Indian.

Rahul’s war cry.

Ashok Malik

Why is Pakistan’s defeat in 1971 being linked to the emotions of UP’s Muslims? They can vote against the Congress if they wish. But surely the reason cannot be that a Congress Government won a war that dismembered Pakistan 36 years ago?

Earlier this week, Mr Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP and potential leader, told an election meeting in Uttar Pradesh that his family was responsible for the division of Pakistan, caused by the Indian victory in the Bangladesh War of 1971.

Despite the hyperbole, there was a kernel of truth in what the young Gandhi said. His grandmother, Mrs Indira Gandhi, was the Prime Minister when the war was fought. Her decisive leadership and determined resolve not to succumb to Western pressure provided the political underpinning to the military triumph.

Nevertheless, there was near unanimous belief, shared by vast sections of the Congress, albeit privately, that Mr Gandhi’s statement was a bit over the top. The response to it was a mix of the predictable and the perplexing.

A BJP spokesman accused Mr Gandhi of a “monarchic mindset”. The JD(U) spokesman went one better and charged the MP from Amethi with sabotaging the “peace process” with Pakistan, though it was slightly unclear why the opposition NDA should worry about that. The Congress, embarrassed and confused as usual, pleaded Mr Gandhi was stating a historical fact, one that had to be “viewed holistically in sum, substance, essence and spirit”.

Yet, in all the analyses and commentary that followed the election meeting boast, one factor stood out. Everybody seemed to agree that the Congress’s chances of winning back the Muslim vote in Uttar Pradesh had been severely dented.

Sample two newspaper reports. Speaking to The Indian Express dated April 17, the Shia leader, Maulana Kalbe Jawad, said, “He should also admit now that it was his family and not Mohammed Ali Jinnah who was behind the Partition… Rahul earned some Muslim votes by claiming that the Babri Masjid would have been saved had any of his family members been in power then. He has lost more votes by kicking off this row.”

Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahal, member of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, concurred, accusing the Gandhi family of “conspiring to divide neighbouring countries”.

On the same day, Hindustan Times interviewed Muslim intellectuals at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Saifi Kidwai, PRO of AMU and reader in journalism, was quoted as saying, “People were quite agitated this morning… I’m afraid the Congress cannot win back Muslims by making such statements.”

Quite naturally, without any hesitation or self-doubt, an issue related to Pakistan has become synonymous with the emotions and sentiments of Uttar Pradesh’s Muslims. If the VHP or the Bajrang Dal - or even the more extreme elements in the BJP, the types who usually produce incendiary CDs - had made this comparison or seen things in such a context, there would have, of course, been an outcry.

The linking of Indian Muslims to Pakistan would have been deemed politically incorrect and almost treasonous, a breach of “secular” sensibilities. Yet it was being fairly openly done here - and by the intellectual leadership of the Muslim community itself!

The point is no longer whether the Nehru-Gandhi family single-handedly won India the keys to Dhaka or whether it did not. That issue has been overtaken by attitudes towards an Indian military victory against Pakistan and the implicit acceptance that not all sections of the Indian populace need to share its satisfaction or joy.

Consider the facts. In 1971, India was ruled by a Brahmin Prime Minister, backed strongly by a Dalit Defence Minister (Jagjivan Ram). Three Generals of the Indian Army played leading roles in planning and executing what was one of the greatest war stories of the 20th century. In order of seniority, they were a Parsi, a Sikh and a Jew.

The soldiers who cut and fought their way to the Race Course in Dhaka, where the defeated Pakistani General surrendered, came from all parts of India, representing every community, every religion. As an enterprise, the 1971 war symbolised all that India aspires to be - united on a national issue, strategically and militarily deft, yet morally in the right, rescuing the underdog even if it has to defy the world in doing so.

One outcome of the war was the break-up of Pakistan. The defeat was the catalyst. The Punjabi warlords from Lahore and Rawalpindi, led by the infamous Tikka Khan, the “Butcher of Bangladesh”, had already torn apart Pakistan and denied the Bengali Pakistani/proto-Bangladeshi his due share of political power or even human dignity. Bangladesh had already been born; India was only the midwife.

Yet today even mildly triumphalist talk of that war is deemed politically incorrect. It is considered perfectly acceptable that some people decide Muslims need not celebrate - and can even mourn - a military and political reversal for Pakistan.

It is thought just and fair that those who refer - in however gauche a fashion - to a historical event in which Islamabad did not come out smelling of roses are liable to be punished by 19 per cent of the voters of Uttar Pradesh.

This unconscious and seamless tagging along of north Indian Muslim interest with the well-being of Pakistan serves nobody, least of all the ordinary Muslim in Meerut or Mau or Moradabad. It only sows suspicion and inevitably reaps a backlash.

Mr Gandhi could have been attacked by the so-called intellectuals for personalising history, for being obsessed with his personal and political legacy, for unnecessarily making a non-partisan foreign policy issue part of domestic electoral discourse. To accuse him of upsetting the Muslim voter is ridiculous.

The controversy has shown, yet again, that there is a dangerous divorce between Left-liberal intellectuals - and AMU has an abundance of these - and the national mainstream, which is why the two have very different perceptions of 1971. It would be a pity if a compromised bunch of Muslim religio-political leaders and closet Communists were allowed to hijack the agenda for an entire people.

It is time for the ordinary Muslim in Uttar Pradesh to stand up for, and stand by, his and her country. The choice is theirs. They can vote against the Congress if they wish. But surely the reason cannot be that a Congress Government won a war that dismembered Pakistan 36 years ago?The Picture above is my choice.PI.