From: raghu@nairobi.eecs.umich.edu (Raghu Mani)
Subject: Re: (misleading) Indian Express Advertisement re: RJB 
Organization: University of Michigan EECS Dept., Ann Arbor, MI
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 19:11:56 GMT

In article <1993Jan20.152021.1@ttd.teradyne.com>, dave@ttd.teradyne.com writes:

|> Mr Pramadhnath Sastry,
|> 
|> Let me assure you that almost all NRIs here in the Greater Chicago area are in
|> full agreement with this advert. We, the NRIs, are sick and tired of anti-Hindu
|> elements in India who seek to destroy Hinduism. 

Which "anti-Hindu" elements are you talking about? There is nothing the matter 
with Hinduism - it is flourishing and there is no secret conspiracy to destroy it.
Yes, there is a lot of antagonism between the Muslim and Hindu communities, but
that isn't going to destroy Hinduism - not in a million years. 

|>                                                 It is about time that our
|> government understood that it cannot treat the majority of India's population
|> as second rate citizens. 

Hindus - second rate citizens? In what way? Today, almost every position of power
in both the political as well as the commercial sphere is being occupied by 
Hindus. If a Muslim reaches any of these positions, it is because the Hindus let
him. The average Muslim is, in fact, worse off than the average Hindu. He is 
poorer and is worse educated. Sure, the government has pandered shamelessly to
the Muslim leaders - but this hasn't helped the average Muslim. If anything, 
the Muslim leaders are deliberately keeping the their followers backward in 
order to maintain control over them. 

|>                         As yuo live in India, you are no doubt aware that in
|> all cases it is the Muslims that start the riots. Yet our government does
|> nothing to stop them. Why this partiality towards the muslims? 

*You* might be aware that it is only the Muslims who start riots - I am certainly
not aware of anything of the kind. It is my personal experience that Hindus are
just as likely to provoke a riot as Muslims. And what do you mean by saying that
the government has done nothing to stop them - if anything, the government has
sone nothing to stop the Hindus when the go on a killing spree. Witness Bhagalpur
a few years ago and Bombay recently - in both cases, Hindus went on a killing 
spree and the police looked the other way and, at times, even joined the Hindus
in killing Muslims. I am not saying that the Muslims are always the victims -
I am aware of quite a few cases where Muslims have been the aggressors - but 
please don't make Hindus out to be injured innocents.

|> It is about time that we told the anti-Indian pro-pakistan muslims and our
|> anti-Hindu leaders that the HINDUS WILL NO LONGER TOLERATE THE INTOLERABLE,
|> THEY WILL NO LONGER ACCEPT THE UNACCEPTABLE AND THEY WILL NO LONGER BEAR THE
|> UNBEARABLE. 

So what do you do to demonstrate this "intolerance"? You go and provoke the Muslims
by destroying a mosque which, regardless of what the BJP and VHP say, did mean
something to the Muslim community! This is not going to solve *any* problem. If
there were some Muslims with anti-India feelings before the incident, there will
now be even more. If there were Muslims who were inclined to start a riot before
this happened, now there will be even more. Let us face it - Muslims and Hindus
in India are stuck with each other - the only solution to the Hindu-Muslim 
problem is to draw the Muslim away from the Mullahs and into mainstream Indian
society - and if there were some Muslims who were indeed moving away from the 
Mullahs before the incident, now that number would certainly have decreased.

|> 
|> Jai Hind.
|> 
|> Raj Dave
|> 

Raghu Mani
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian