Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Playing both sides of the Iranian field

The recent (sham) elections in Iran has captured the headlines world wide not by the joke which is the Irananian democratic setup, but rather the creative use of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc. by the Iranian opposition to voice their anger against the injustice meted to them by the mullahs.
Chindu in its usual grandstanding view tries to please both sides.
It sings some paens to the Ayatollah,
Thirty years after momentous events brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to the fore as Iran’s man of destiny, his Islamic revolution has skidded into uncharted territory.

Then Chindu skids randomly across the scene and voices a phony surprise over the election and the recent order of a partial recount.
The cake though is this statement,
Only a free, fair, and credibly monitored fresh election can heal a nation that is treading a thin line between fear of theocratic authoritarianism and hope of genuine reform that is not in conflict with the revolution’s fundamentals.

WTF! The revolution of Iran was aimed at bringing the entire population into Islamic law. It suppressed opinions of more than half the population, brought the economy to its knees with various practices and wars. I'm shocked that a newspaper which talks about liberty and freedoms of minorities within India would openly support a totalitarian rule and the crazed mullahs who run that country.


Thanks kuttychathan for raising this issue.

5 comments:

kuttychathan said...

When chindu talks of the liberty & protection of minorities, it does not include the Hindu minority outside India.
I have never seen the chindu writing about Hindus in Pakistan or Bangladesh. When the Hindus of Malasia protested peacefully against discrimination, the chindu's sympathy was with the Muslim majority there.

Anonymous said...

Why outside India? Chindu is not concerned by the plight of the Hindu minority within our own country! How many editorials/op eds/special reports has Chindu written about the misery of the Kashmiri Hindus, internally exiled?

On the contrary, every article about the Kashmir issue invariably ends up lamenting about the supposed "alienation" of the Kashmiri population (Muslim, of course).

Down south, Hindus have almost become (if not already) minority in Kerala, a prospect which should have pleased secualr Chindu.

Anon #1 said...

Thank you for highlighting the last line of chindu edit.
That creates a strong doubt in my mind about whom the chindu is serving? chinese or some unknown muslim masters ??

cbcnn_Pilid said...

DD,

Good point. But this is the rhetoric of the moderates/reformers now fighting the government in Iran - that the values of the revolution have been forgotten and their aim is restore them (whatever that means). Their sloganeering is also aimed to resurrect the sentiment of 1979 (the 'Allahu Akbar' chanting from rooftops). Mousavi apparently played a key role in the movement then.

kuttychathan said...

Pilid, let me add one more point...Thousands and thousands of people were shot dead during the so called Islamic revolution in Iran,even without any trial(ofcourse they were "enemies of revolution"). Even today hundreds are killed in Iran every year for "unislamic practices". I would like to know whether Chindu condones those killings.
Remember... when Afsal Guru, accused in Parliament attack case was condemned to death by the Supreme Court, Chindu wrote an editorial demanding abolition of capital punishment.