- Sep 24, 2004
- 139
- 395
BETWIXT & BETWEEN: Good & Evil
Like clockwork every year, November occupies us with both or one of two realities: either the Gurpurab (birth anniversary) of Guru Nanak who was born in 1469 half a millennium ago, or the horrendous and ineptly attempted genocide of the Sikhs in India by mobs and hooligans of the Indian government.
The first marker we celebrate, the second we rue with equal passion. The second event dates from 1984 and resulted in the murder of several thousand Sikh men, women and children in attacks perfectly orchestrated and timed in many cities across India.
True that this second matter is relatively new with no significant antecedents prior to the times of 1984 when it all seemed to start, but it has not been entirely ignored; it has just been purposefully muddled.
Ten government inquiries initiated under pressure failed to find more than a handful of the guilty. Justice and compensation are notable by their absence.
The few movies made on the matter have been seriously censored or banned. Witnesses have been bribed or threatened to change their testimony. Evidence has been mishandled or lost. Books have suffered the same fate – the scissors of the censor or banning their distribution and sale in India. Individuals who spoke out bravely and forthrightly lost their jobs.
The root of the problem really lies in the fact that many of the guilty are either politically connected or serving in high places in the Indian government. An honest accounting will mean that these people would lose their immunity in a corrupt system. The whole system of protection and corruption would come apart. And then what would these privileged classes do?
Under the current Indian law to write insultingly about the head of the government is a crime. So courage is a rare commodity and expensive. Freedom of expression remains somewhat like a mirage.
Ergo, many of these hoodlums and their corrupt leaders and managers occupy high position within the Indian government or in its political machinery; I point to Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler, Dharam Das Shastri and countless others of their ilk.
Let me briefly contrast this with another event a few thousand miles away.
The New York Times (November 11, 2011) carried an item buried on page 8 that I think would have packed a more instructive and effective punch as a page one headline.
Moshe Katsav, 65years old, served as the President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. It is largely a titular, ceremonial but distinguished position. He resigned two weeks before his term ended. The charge against him was that he had raped women before he became president and during his presidency as well.
A deal was made that he would not spend any time in jail if he would resign. He agreed but later reneged and decided challenge the judicial process. A lower (district level) court found him guilty of rape and sentenced him to seven years in jail.
The former president appealed to the Supreme Court that upheld the lower court … and lost. Moshe Katsav starts his sentence on December 7, 2011.
Some lessons: No one is above the law. Much of the legal proceedings were conducted while he was in office. Not even the highest office in the land is a bar to justice. In their ruling the judges wrote: A deep shadow descends on the State of Israel that a person who served as a government minister, a deputy prime minister and president perpetrated acts such as those…It is a most difficult spectacle to see a man who was once the country’s symbol of state going to jail.”
Mind you I am not an unquestioned admirer of Israel, its territorial expansionism and treatment of the Palestinians, but then nor are the Palestinians very clear headed, innocent or consistent when they reject the right of Israel to exist. But these are different matters – and difficult.
India, like many old societies of the world, is a culture of shame and honor. Excesses, driven by one or the other of these two imperatives, are not uncommon
I have not yet seen any minister of the Indian government or any honcho of the politically connected class, present or former, hauled up in a judicial court and held accountable for his misdeeds.
Will it happen? Based on past evidence, not at all … certainly not in my lifetime!
Am I hopeful? Absolutely, like a fool!
IJ Singh
Like clockwork every year, November occupies us with both or one of two realities: either the Gurpurab (birth anniversary) of Guru Nanak who was born in 1469 half a millennium ago, or the horrendous and ineptly attempted genocide of the Sikhs in India by mobs and hooligans of the Indian government.
The first marker we celebrate, the second we rue with equal passion. The second event dates from 1984 and resulted in the murder of several thousand Sikh men, women and children in attacks perfectly orchestrated and timed in many cities across India.
True that this second matter is relatively new with no significant antecedents prior to the times of 1984 when it all seemed to start, but it has not been entirely ignored; it has just been purposefully muddled.
Ten government inquiries initiated under pressure failed to find more than a handful of the guilty. Justice and compensation are notable by their absence.
The few movies made on the matter have been seriously censored or banned. Witnesses have been bribed or threatened to change their testimony. Evidence has been mishandled or lost. Books have suffered the same fate – the scissors of the censor or banning their distribution and sale in India. Individuals who spoke out bravely and forthrightly lost their jobs.
The root of the problem really lies in the fact that many of the guilty are either politically connected or serving in high places in the Indian government. An honest accounting will mean that these people would lose their immunity in a corrupt system. The whole system of protection and corruption would come apart. And then what would these privileged classes do?
Under the current Indian law to write insultingly about the head of the government is a crime. So courage is a rare commodity and expensive. Freedom of expression remains somewhat like a mirage.
Ergo, many of these hoodlums and their corrupt leaders and managers occupy high position within the Indian government or in its political machinery; I point to Kamal Nath, Jagdish Tytler, Dharam Das Shastri and countless others of their ilk.
Let me briefly contrast this with another event a few thousand miles away.
The New York Times (November 11, 2011) carried an item buried on page 8 that I think would have packed a more instructive and effective punch as a page one headline.
Moshe Katsav, 65years old, served as the President of Israel from 2000 to 2007. It is largely a titular, ceremonial but distinguished position. He resigned two weeks before his term ended. The charge against him was that he had raped women before he became president and during his presidency as well.
A deal was made that he would not spend any time in jail if he would resign. He agreed but later reneged and decided challenge the judicial process. A lower (district level) court found him guilty of rape and sentenced him to seven years in jail.
The former president appealed to the Supreme Court that upheld the lower court … and lost. Moshe Katsav starts his sentence on December 7, 2011.
Some lessons: No one is above the law. Much of the legal proceedings were conducted while he was in office. Not even the highest office in the land is a bar to justice. In their ruling the judges wrote: A deep shadow descends on the State of Israel that a person who served as a government minister, a deputy prime minister and president perpetrated acts such as those…It is a most difficult spectacle to see a man who was once the country’s symbol of state going to jail.”
Mind you I am not an unquestioned admirer of Israel, its territorial expansionism and treatment of the Palestinians, but then nor are the Palestinians very clear headed, innocent or consistent when they reject the right of Israel to exist. But these are different matters – and difficult.
India, like many old societies of the world, is a culture of shame and honor. Excesses, driven by one or the other of these two imperatives, are not uncommon
I have not yet seen any minister of the Indian government or any honcho of the politically connected class, present or former, hauled up in a judicial court and held accountable for his misdeeds.
Will it happen? Based on past evidence, not at all … certainly not in my lifetime!
Am I hopeful? Absolutely, like a fool!
IJ Singh
