--- On Thu, 8/28/08, Mario Goveia <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Mario responds:
> >
> The old and tired Nazi shibboleth is extravagant
> hyperbole when applied here, and the
> "second-class"
> citizen allegation doesn't fit either. There are
> still enough checks and balances in the Indian
> political system and its judiciary to protect most
> minorities,
---------------------------------
Shibboleth? Mario, what's that? Something you drink after a sherbet? Did you
know that the US was the last country to acknowledge that the Nazis were indeed
committing atrocities against the Jews. They refused to help them and turned a
blind eye even as refugees streamed into other European countries, desperate
for help.
How depraved does a country have to be, to cheer on while a young women is set
on fire and left to die? What catastrophe do we have to wait for to realise
that we have indeed gone over the abyss, that things aren't getting better and
that we had better develop a spine and do something about these extremists.
What checks and balances are you talking about in an Indian democracy? A check
and a balance ensures that history does not keep repeating itself. In India, we
have the same virulent episodes being repeated again and again, and they are
gaining momentum.
But like the US in the 1940s, do keep telling us about shibboleths. For all our
sakes, I hope you are right.
selma
