Tarun Vijay
Indian Express
Posted on
TitlThe gentleman spoke at last! Author: Tarun Vijay Publication: Indian Express DatAugust 9, 2001 We became prisoners of our own sharafat. He came and badmouthed everything about us. Kargil, Mukti Bahini, Sushma, Freedom Struggle, Jihad. Then he played smart on home turf. His Excellencies and His Excellencies! Every one was counted during his thanksgiving service, from Manbir Singh to the ADCs. Except one. And everybody knew who he was. What great diplomacy did the General play! So he said everyone was falling in line, Kashmir, yes, Kashmir, His Excellency Jaswant Singh, Vajpayee Saheb, they were all very nice guys. Very understanding. But someone did play something and he had to return home midnight. Khali haath! The nation wanted to know from Mr Vajpayee what happened during those long six hours of one-to-ones. What was being negotiated that made him nostalgic in Islamabad? Earlier Vajpayee-speak in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was dull and almost monotonous because he read the statement. This time he spoke to the nation, and he spoke out well. I‚m sure by this time he felt the pulse of the nation. People were getting uneasy over the arrogant General‚s charade-talk and the seemingly silence of the lamb-like diplomat-stalwarts. ŒŒHow many certificates of good conduct would you like to collect, Sir?‚‚ people were asking. This deadly hobby, history tells us, always ends up with some Kargil or worse, a Pervez! You may give him Taj Mahal, but he loves to shoot bullets. Vajpayee was hurt indeed and it showed up during his remarkably candid speech on Tuesday. He has cleared the air and emerged as the same old Atal Behari, giving the clarion call to the nation to defend its sovereignty and assuring people of his leadership. He made the General return khali haath, and it was his decision. ŒŒThe General vitiated the atmosphere when he termed terrorism as a freedom struggle,‚‚ he said. ŒŒKashmir may be a piece of land for them, but for us it is a part of our life, our zindagi.‚‚ ŒŒWe are talking peace from a point of strength and not because we are tired or our army has fatigued,‚‚ was the rebuff. He spoke about Ghulam-Kashmir, about Kashmir‚s part given away to China, made a dig at the General‚s demand to know the wishes of the people of Kashmir. ŒŒWhen you took over, did you try to know people‚s wishes,‚‚ he asked! He was witty and Mr Acid-Aiyar got the taste of it. No one makes him even represent the party he defends with all the arsenal of abuses at his command. Scindia smiled, naturally. Vajpayee did what a nice guy could do. He chose to forget Kargil, he tried to ignore the fact that this man, the General in hurriedly worn civils, remains the most despised name in the Indian households, where every day Kargil was fought and martyrs saluted. Vajpayee invited the General with such fanfare that it drew criticism from his best friends too. But he stuck to his guns. Peace, he said, is needed and peace I shall talk. Look at the response the Indian people gave ˜ wholehearted support. That‚s the Hindu psyche at work. Whether it is named, in a sarcastic way, Prithviraj Chauhan-Mohammad Ghauri syndrome or anything else. Readily trusting, pardoning the most untrustworthy, compromising even at the cost of the dearest ones, and maintaining a baffling calm in front of arrogance-incarnate. That‚s how we have been all these years. Every nook and corner of this Hindu land witnesses havans and yajnas for world peace! Every bit of rituals ends with a Shanti Path, a peace-prayer, every prayer calls for the good of all, not just the followers of Hindu Dharma. Between India and Pakistan, the main difference is of the ideologies. They demanded partition, not us. They made millions of people leave their hearth and homes, not us. And we accepted it, thinking it would bring peace. Immediately after the ghastly bloodbaths, they wanted a loan of 52 crores. Nehru and Patel opposed but the Mahatma, a devout Hindu, sat on fast and had the loan delivered. Next thing that happened to us was the so-called tribal attack on Kashmir and we lost two-thirds of it. Every milestone of our relation with Pakistan is marked with deception, a mockery of accepted norms of behaviour and a strange hatred for the Hindus believed to have bequeathed by foreign Islamic invaders. That‚s the lineage Pakistan loves to position itself in. And wrongly for sure, because foreign invaders never did any good for the local converts. An Indian Muslim is as Indian as any Indian Hindu. A Pakistani is as local as any pre-1947 Indian or a Saudi in Riyadh, he has nothing to do with the invaders and he genuinely belongs to Taxila, Harappa and the legacy of Dahir and this has to be understood. Unless this hatred in Pakistan‚s eyes is removed, and it ceases to look at us through the Jihadi Islamic eyes, you may try any number of Lahores or Agras, the barbarism in the Valley will continue. That‚s what we have to address now. Softly Vajpayee unveiled the steel in him. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.ofbjp.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A worldwide community of BJP's friends, supporters and activists: Friends of the BJP - Worldwid http://www.ofbjp.org/fob ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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