What’s wrong with Akhanda Bharat, Mr. Aiyar ?

Our uninterrupted, uninterruptible Kumbhakarna  is at it once again, this time in a long weepy article in Tehelka outlining his world view on the Indo-Pak talks. The style is quite different from his public appearances on television where his abrasive non stop observations (preventing anyone else from speaking) would fray the nerves of his most patient listeners.

The first thing one notices in this weepy piece is his unhealthy preoccupation with Mohammed Shah Qureshi’s sartorial style, his wealth, and his flamboyant  ways. Mani is obviously impressed with all that. The present writer noticed that Qureshi needs to take elocution lessons. His manner and delivery are certainly not top drawer quality. Incidentally, Mr. Aiyar , the Pakistani elite have amassed great wealth on the backs of the rural poor in Pakistan. Only 2% of this elite pay taxes. And it is this elite that is trying to get away to Western capitals and also worm their way back into Bharat, now that the Frankenstein they cultivated to deal with Bharat is on its way to their hometowns.

This is what the much hyped Aman ki Asha (Hope for  Peace)was all about ! And our Kumbharna who writes with eloquence about the jawans who die in Siachen of frost bite,
has not noticed that his Pakistani friends are not impressed. And in case he has not heard, the war mongering General Kayani has been appointed to his third term !

Somewhere in this weepy article Mani Shankar Aiyar mentions  Mahatma Gandhi who
was recently described (and correctly ) by Tarun Vijay as Bharat’s greatest gift to humanity. However, the Mahatma was afterall a finite mortal, as he would be the first to admit. His Himalayan blunder was his support of the Khilafat Movement, a retrograde movement if ever there was one,in Turkey.

In India, it led a maniacal mob of Muslims in Kerala in 1921 to massacre nearly a lakh of
Hindus, in the most ferocious manner. Our JNU historians like to describe this massacre
as the Moplah Revolt against Hindu landlords ! The majority who were massacred were
from the general population, including poor landless labourers (some of them also Muslim). The ferocious mob planted an Islamic flag to show their aim.
 

The mob was defeated. As Kautilya, another of Bharat’s gifts, puts it: One does not tolerate illness or enemies.

Mani should read some of his Kautilya. At the very least he can recall Santayana’s well honed phrase that he who forgets his history is doomed to repeat it.

But now our weepy Kumbhkarna wants all hostilities and injustices to be forgotten. He writes as if Bharat is at fault for the breakdown in those idiotic talks between the two foreign ministers, which should not have in the first place happened at all ! Talk to have talks, is Mr. Aiyar’s recommendation.

The notion that Pakistan is waiting for an uninterrupted, uninterruptible dialogue can only be hailed as gospel truth by someone who has not noticed that the many examples he quotes (the U.S.negotiating with Viet Nam, at the end of the war, for instance) have no relevance in this situation. Can any serious student of politics take this nonsense seriously ? Does he believe the people of Bharat can be fooled by these stories ?  

And what  is wrong with the phrase Akhanda Bharat ? He utters it, stumbles over it in fear, as if he were mentioning a criminal phrase. Yes, it is Akhanda  Bharat’s civilization heritage Mr. Aiyar, that is its strength. And that includes knowing who your enemy is. It includes Shivaji’s
well prepared meeting with his enemy in which he bested him. It includes the millions of Hindus who fought the barbaric invaders.

It includes the millions who refused to convert at the point of the sword . It includes the
millions of Hindus who go to Amarnath year after year, and not stay home to receive
Mohammed Qureshi  for dinner.

Our Kumbhakarna hypocritically claims to defend and work for the  Bharat of his myopic imagination,even while his partners across the border are plotting to continue what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto called administering a thousand cuts to Bharat. Regret to say Mr. Aiyar, that your sartorial friend who wants to be seen as the first ambassador of Indo-Pak unity should do his homework  first. His image building can wait.

As for our Kumbhakarna, the advice to him is : move over and let competent people
govern the country. His Party has made a mess of it in the last 60 years. The advice to
him and the silent PM whose lips move as if he is being guided by a ventriloquist is this:

1.Leave Pakistan to stew in its own juice. Except for the minimal routine contacts, leave that country alone. It has been listed among the failed states of the world.
2.Attend to improving Bharat’s defences.
3.Attend to improving internal security.
4.Take up some work with Panchayati Raj where you can work for the welfare
the village poor. That will remind you also of the poor in Pakistan. It will get
you out of this unhealthy preoccupation with the Pakistani elite.
  5. Share this advice with your Aman ki Asha friends.

( The writer is  a Political Scientist who taught at a Canadian university)

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