“McCarthyism’s Indian rebirth”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13praful.htm
bq. So vicious and depraved is this campaign that the Library of Congress is unlikely to reverse Prof Thapar’s appointment. But other US institutions and universities might want to play safe and avoid appointing Indian scholars of Left-wing or anti-communal persuasion.
Wouldn’t that be something. So Mr. Bidwai equates Left-Wing == ant-communal. Let’s see for a moment what that means in the state of West Bengal where some Left-Wingers are conducting elections.
“Where violence rules”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309252
bq. The day after BJP leader and Union Minister Tapan Sikdar was attacked, an RSP minister had to flee from a group of CPI(M) assailants. A probable reason why the violence has now affected all parties inside and outside the ruling coalition is that the Left Front parties are fighting among themselves in as many as 11,000 of the 58,000 panchayat seats ? the internecine contests this time being up from 4,500 on the last occasion.
So the Left-Wingers are not only attacking BJP leaders, but also of their own kind. Do we need people who justify this ideology in the United States ? And this is just the most violent elections in India, in a state which has been ruled by Left-Wingers for almost three decades.
“Bengal’s bloodied poll”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3019053.stm
bq. “This is easily West Bengal’s most violent elections in recent memory and brought back memories of the early 1970s when the state was rocked by massive violence,” said Pradip Bose, Bengal’s leading political sociologist known for his work on political violence in the state.
Then later I have no option but to agree with Bidwai when he says this:
bq. This will seriously vitiate the intellectual climate in India and the US. That’s why this witchhunt must be stopped. All those who believe in critical inquiry and free debate (free from both intimidation and censorship) must stand up against this explosion of bigotry and vile communalism.
Yes, we must all stand up against the explosion of bigotry and vile communalism that is happening in West Bengal. We should also prevent people who justify all these from coming to United States. Since I am an NRI and since I am motivated by long distance or ‘Green Card’ nationalism , I have to take this illiberal stand. Thank you.
RaviKiran, in another amazing display of raw talent that makes him the envy of Indian Bloggers, managed “to blog about this”:http://www.ravikiran.com/?RequestId=275 before me.
More Praful Bidwai Jokes
Published
You rock! Good take on the situation 🙂
Great comments! Bidwai forgot to add anti-capitalist, or anti-imperealist, or is that implied?
Anyway, the whole concept of communists running for elections is odd. Its sooo bourgious.
A tragedy on two fronts
Praful Bidwai claims that McCarthyism is alive and well in India, among the Hindu brigade.
Which it is.
Unfortunately enough, Bidwai is foaming at the mouth himself in this article. For instance, Bidwai?s ire over the online petition opposing the appointment of Romila Thapar is ironic. After all, here are a number of people using democratic and peaceful means to air their views. What?s wrong with that? From what little I’ve read, quite a few of the comments on this petition are silly and vapid. But McCarthyism? That?s a big stretch. I?m not quite sure what logic Mr. Bidwai uses to make this astonishing leap [grin]
Getting back to the situation in India: An extremely disturbing phenomena has been the rise of goons (the Shiv Sena, the Togadias and other nasties), in some instances sponsored by the State, who use violence to drive home their narrow-minded agenda and squash any voices that disagree.
Some of the issues that these goondas have set their sights on are extremely petty: Valentine?s Day, Kentucky Fried Chicken, women wearing jeans and other such earth-shattering events.
This is absolutely horrific, and it’s a shame that more people don’t speak up.
Tragically, I don?t think Bidwai and the leftist-Marxist crew have much of a leg to stand on. That?s because Bidwai and his ilk (especially the JNU worthies) have been peddling pabulum for so long, that even when they?re right for once (as in the case of the intolerance spreading through India), their credibility is low, to say the least.
The cry wolf fable, rehashed?
RaviKiran and JK have some less-than-positive comments on Bidwai.
Prashant, What I have found from the JNU types is that they think only they can have opinions. When you equate their anti-war stance to a pro-Saddam feeling, they shout. But when you say a word against them, then you are labelled as a member of the Sangh Parivar and for them that nails the argument.
Interesting blog. You guys seem to have so much time and venom to highlight Praful’s work.
What a joke!
Not as interesting as your saying this on a post published 3 months ago – We are actually in the month of August now, and our current cause is India’s Freedom struggle.
Save the Snark! It suits us better 🙂
Mindful, Praful has time and venom to degrade India. So we have to find the time and venom to return the favor
Hi,
I am an Indian proud of our great civilization. But to see this commie B****** deride India and Indians with impunity makes me really mad. His hatred of America, the Middle-class in India as well as Indian Civilization is so intense that he called India’s fastest growing export-the software programmer a ‘coolie’. The comment is so stupid that it does not even deserve a reply. But this guy…belive me..is some ISI agent or a Chinense Paid Spy..
Make your opinion heard directly to him.. His E-mail address is: prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in
send your ‘love’ letters to him…and tell him what low-life he is for deriding India.
Jai Hind
A proud Indian Muslim
Lovely comments, Salim – Thanks for the email address info too 🙂
Now that ‘champak’ is floating around, this section of varnam has definitely crapped up !!!
Allah Akhbare – i just did a google search for sardar vallabhai patel’s belief in God and found prafulbhai’s comment that some indians were engaged in “worship of militarised caricatures of personalities such as Sardar Vallabhai Patel’s (the “authentically” all-Hindu “Iron Man”, as opposed to the “effeminate” Gandhi or the “Westernised” Nehru influenced by Macaulay and Marx).” i don’t know what effeminate means but i think he’d love living in a western country where few are sexually repressed. that way he can get laid more often.