Rightists Never Represent Legitmate Grievances

Chetan Bhagat's op-ed, To Maharashtra With Love, reflects the attitude of passive approval without which parties like MNS cannot possibly thrive.

The argument that the MNS has, in a manner, come to represent legitimate grievances of a section of Maharashtrian population doesn't really hold much water. For one, Maharashtra does house a large number of poor but then one should not forget that India as a whole houses a third of the world's poor.

Salaam-Namaste...And Moving On

Is Vande Mataram un-Islamic ? When @bdutt tweeted asking for inputs on the controversy i knew my reply had to be much beyond 140 characters, so here it goes...

Yes,technically it is un-Islamic,worshiping any entity other than GOD is un-Islamic as even the most deviant Muslim will tell you. And its not just the Muslims,every monotheistic creed would have problem accepting it. The SGPC for instance has taken a stand against it.¹ and so have many Christian groups.² In fact, almost all non-Hindus would have a problem with it if they are true to their creed, after all, as Rabindranath  Tagore said in his letter to Netaji -

"Of course Bankimchandra does show Durga to be inseparably united with Bengal in the end,(emphasis mine) but no Mussulman [Muslim], christians and Arya Samajis can be expected patriotically to worship the ten-handed deity as 'Swadesh' [the nation]. This year many of the special [Durga] Puja numbers of our magazines have quoted verses from Vande Mataram - proof that the editors take the song to be a hymn to Durga".3

Masala Movies And Pluralistic Indian Society

This afternoon I was watching RDB on Star and the just deceased Prakash Mehra's Khoon Pasina on Sab. Its a common knowledge that RDB spawned entire generation of conscientious citizens who were unwilling to take injustice lying down. Candle-light vigils, protests and participation did influence the outcome of the high profile Jessica Lall and Priyadarshini Matoo murder cases.