The Devil's Pygmies

In an interview with PA Sangma who ran for President last year, this is what KaranThapar said to him:

“Mr Sangma, even if you look at the BJP, who you said a moment ago had increased their support for you to 26-28 per cent, are using you… as a stepping stone over the bridge to Jayalalithaa and Naveen Patnaik. Mr Sangma you are a tool. You are a part of a strategy that supports their convenience. That’s why they are supporting you, not because they believe in you”.

Imagine, someone calling a presidential candidate a “tool”. Ever since that day I have nicknamed KT “The Tool”. KaranTool (KT) is the son of late General PN Thapar under whom India lost the 1962 war to China after which he resigned in disgrace. Naturally, that makes KT an expert in how the Army lives and conducts itself. So after Narendra Modi’s speech to ex-servicemen in Rewari (Haryana) on September 15 KT has a load of advice for him in “Lessons the Army can teach Mr Modi”. Where does he write it? Of course, in one of the members of the Unholy Trinity called Hindustan Times. Fair enough! We can all learn lessons from the Army. It always amazes how the soldiers’ legs are exactly in alignment in a march-past, how when they hold the rifles they’re aligned too. When they stand in rows or columns, the space between two soldiers is almost exactly the same. These are routines that come with a lot of training and practice. The soldiers help each other in getting these routines right. Okay! So when KT writes balderdash, who endorses him and seeks “action” not “abuse”? This guy Ram Guha, the “eminent distortian”! Here’s what Guha tweeted:

Alright Guha, what action do you want against some stupid analogy that KT draws because Modi addressed an ex-military crowd? Oh by the way, I wonder if Guha thinks calling a presidential candidate a “tool” is action or abuse. Let him ponder. So one writes crap the other endorses by scratching his back. Guha and KT are like two random hearts that fell in love with each other because they hate Modi. So what does KT really have to say? I’ll just pick a few samples and that will tell you the general idea of his whole article.

Regiments of the Indian Army, depending on their character, have their own mandirs, masjids, gurudwaras or churches. They have regimental maulvis, pandits, granthis, and priests. The Commanding Officer participates in all religious festivals. On Eid he will happily wear a topi. On other occasions a tikka or a pagri… An article in Daily Bhaskar.com (16/9) says: “(The) Army is the only place where you can see a maulvi conducting the proceedings of Janmashtami as Panditji was on leave.”… The truth is you can serve in the Army for years without being conscious of the religion of your colleagues. It simply doesn’t matter except in their private lives… Fortunately, Mr Modi has realised the Indian Army is the country’s most secular institution. In fact, he wants us to “take lessons in secularism from the Army”. Perhaps he should be the first.

Those are excerpts and anyone wanting to read the full crap should visit the HT page. While claiming to be “public intellectuals” (As Cacafonix fondly describes them) these guys don’t pause to look inside and think for a moment. KT probably wrote the article before the Nairobi massacre where the terrorists killed 39 and injured another 200. They were kind. They first asked all Muslims to leave. The Mail even reports: “Charles Karani, 41, an IT engineer, said: ‘I hid under a car with my daughters, and I saw the men line up maybe 40 people and ask them who was Muslim, and if they were to prove it by saying the name of the Prophet’s mother. Those who got it wrong were shot”.

Most of us have been to school. Kids wear the same uniforms, attend the same classes and learn the same lessons. People from different religions work in the same office and share the company’s mission. If a group of Indians were to travel on a ship with other nationals and it were to sink, who do you think the strong Indians will save first? Would they ask whether you are Hindu, Muslim or Christian? This is what morons like KT and Guha don’t get. That when you travel the same journey and share the same mission, religions and prejudices tend to take a back-seat. This is even more so when one is in the Army and is trained to combat enemies of the state. Imagine a Hindu and Muslim playing in the Indian cricket team. The Hindu is not going to say “I won’t take the catch off that bowler because he is Muslim” and vice-versa. Whether it’s a sinking ship, an office, a school, a cricket team or the Army, the members have a “shared cause” and they live and operate in a very controlled or mission-oriented atmosphere. That is not true for society at large.

The politicians and the political party these two guys so lovingly support and the news media have divided the nation so much that Indians as a whole DO NOT share many causes. These may be political, economic or social causes. When laws are made based on religion and caste the shared mission is eroded. When crimes of one community is overlooked, the shared mission is eroded. When SoniaG and MMS visit only Muslim victims of communal riots, the shared mission is eroded. The Army’s shared mission is fortunately not eroded so far but the politicians and media are working hard at it. The Army doesn’t have separate rules for Hindus or Muslims. It doesn’t even disclose the religion-wise composition of its members although one govt Committee did make an attempt to “sickularise” the army too. They wear the same uniform. They become one. They aren’t constantly bothered whether someone wears a skull-cap, tilak or a pagdi. The politicians and media will constantly bother and remind you of who wore a skull-cap and who didn’t and make it a national issue. That’s how stupid KT and Guha are. They have a very poor understanding of “structured organisations” with a uniform “mission”.

Society thrives in identities and prejudices; religion, colour, caste, creed, race, sexual-orientation. You won’t find KT or Guha complaining about ads for fairness creams, would you? It’s a reality only fools will deny. Narendra Modi didn’t create these. The best that Modi has done to combat this is “Sabka Vikas” and “India First”. On his stupid shows KT still sounds like “Pakistan First” and in an interview Madhu Trehan asked him why he was being seen as a “Paki agent”. KT may deny, but who created that perception? People? Or was it Modi?

The most classic line you will hear is that “Justice is blind”. Let me expand that line: “In this courtroom... justice is blind in matters of race, creed, colour, religion or sexual-orientation”. I love great lines from movies as most of us do (Video: 2.10 mins):

That’s a scene from the famous movie “Philadelphia” where Tom Hanks is sacked because he has AIDS. I wonder if KT or Guha would like to work with someone who has AIDS. I wonder if they would like to work with people not buying their vicious ideology while calling others “abusive”. The answer to the judge by Denzel Washington is simply stunning:

“With all due respects your Honour, we don’t live in this courtroom, do we?”

The Devil’s pygmies who pose as historians and media anchors would do well to learn that lesson. With all due respect to these Fiberals who distort and lie all the time, all of us don’t live in the Army, do we?