The great Indian Hypocrisy

I found this article and like to share with you all. Worth a read.
http://www.krishworld.com/politics/k...n-hypocrisy-2/
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The great Indian hypocrisy

Barkha Dutt asks this very sensible question.

Our schizophrenia as a people is astounding. Right now we are consumed with self-righteous indignation over how Mohammed Haneef, an Indian citizen and an initial suspect in the Glasgow bomb blast, is being treated by the Australians. In his humiliation, we see a sinister attack on our national pride. In the decision to scrap his visa, we see the premature death of our own emigration dreams. We want our government to be less effete in its intervention. We think this is about racism, not terrorism.

In itself, this is a worthy (if slightly selfish) and laudable emotion. By all accounts, the 27-year-old doctor from Bangalore is being victimised, hounded and tortured. A magistrate has already ruled that there is no evidence to link Haneef with the bombing conspiracies in either Glasgow or London. And yet, an innocent man continues to be held in solitary confinement with the ludicrous explanation that the solitude is actually designed to give him more ‘privacy’. Haneef has eloquently argued his own innocence, describing himself as a “Muslim with moderate views” who believes that “every drop of blood is human”. When Australian Prime Minister John Howard still goes on to declare grandly that he is “not uncomfortable” with the young doctor’s continued detention our outrage is spontaneous and entirely legitimate.

But, what if Haneef had been arrested in Bangalore instead of Brisbane? What if a suicide bomber had rammed his explosives-laden car into the airport at Srinagar, instead of Scotland? And what if our investigating agencies had then told us that Haneef was a dreaded terrorist because he had loaned his mobile sim card to one of the men involved in the attack? Would we have been as concerned then about whether an innocent man had been locked away? Would we have demanded transparency from our judicial process on the grounds that the evidence was sketchy? Or would we have simply ranted about how India is a soft State and Islam a factory for fundamentalists? We have branded the Australians as racist, but would we have called ourselves communal?

Well, the answer is “Hell No!!”. When the Delhi police killed a very old man, who can’t even walk, inside the parking garage and when the then deputy PM jumped up and down in joy next to his dead body, the whole country rejoiced the killing of the so called “terrorist”. The man who rejoiced on the side of the old man’s body was called the current day Sardar Patel and his party was considered to be strong on security. When a so called alleged terrorist, Afzal Guru, was awarded death sentence without offering him proper judicial remedy to defend himself, the whole country rejoiced and called anyone who asked for a fair trial and reconsideration of death penalty as terrorist supporters. A big chunk of the so called Indian electorate supported Bush’s Iraq invasion because it was an attack on the enemy (read muslims). This is the country which considered outrageous legislation like POTA as a mark of our strength. There is no way our great Indian citizens would have done the same thing if he was arrested inside India. The only reason why Indians are whining in this case is because of the reverse racism they have towards Australians and their own fear that it can happen to them one day.

Having said that, I want to ask the same question to the Indian media. Would they have done the same if the arrest had happened inside India? The answer in this case is also “Hell No!!”. As I told earlier, a big chunk of Indians have outsourced their thinking ability to the media. Under such a scenario, it is the duty of the media to be not hypocritical. I wish Ms. Dutt had asked the same question to her colleagues in the media too.

Update: Times of India carries a news item which lists similar atrocities in India.