Recently I decided to check out the comments feature in the new Chindu beta. I posted a couple of posts on the article Mohammad Ali Jinnah as ‘The Hindu’ saw him. But when I checked the 47 comments (at the time of writing this post) I did not find my post. Of course my post was critical :)
Here are some of 47 out of the 47 supportive posts.
Have you posted your comments? What is your thought on the censorship of comments?
Here are some of 47 out of the 47 supportive posts.
A delicate and concise biography of Jinnah.
from: Santosh Kalyan C
An unbiased view, totally based on well thought-out and superbly worded prose. The last words of hope in the editorial, which have remained only as mere words till date, are testimony to what Jinnah did not expect or could imagine when he created a state on religious grounds.
from: Shiva Kumar Malapaka
Very well written and what a concise summary of a great man. Alas the vision that this man saw for that nation lies in tatters.
Thanks for reproducing.
from: Haris
This shows the correct study of the situation then.The name of the Editor of the "Hindu" who had contributed this marvellous study could have been also published.
from: Senthilkumar
Have you posted your comments? What is your thought on the censorship of comments?
Posts
7 comments:
Three things.
Firstly, if you haven't checked it out yet and also if you want to have a hearty laugh at the end of reading an article, please read Vidya's illuminating piece on how Congress is better than BJP in "accomodating internal critisicm". http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/22/stories/2009082255820900.htm
Secondly, I believe that moderation of comments should mean that abusive language should be filtered out and not criticism! And another major drawback I find with moderation is that there will be no flow of discussion amongst readers. You will have to post now, someone will read it tomorrow, his response will come back to you day after tomorrow, by which time the world would have moved on! I haven't left any comments till now though. If possible, read through comments on political articles in rediff - most of them are outrightly entertaining!
Thirdly (well, actually this was what I originally wanted to ask :) ), the whole Jinnah thing has opened up a can of worms. Now, people are more freely discussing the actual fact that Nehru is as much responsible for partition as Jinnah was. A day will definetely come when we will be bold enough to openly discuss that Gandhi is also responsible. Unfortunately, all along our schooling we are plainly taught that "Jinnah wanted Pakistan, and to avoid bloodshed, Gandhi accepted. And so Nehru became PM of India". That's it.
The advent of internet has allowed the flow of information to increase manifold and now we are able to see the complete picture. However, my reading on this topic has still been limited and wanted to ask you/the readers to share thoughts on how you/they view the 1945-1950 period in our history?
Chindu's editorial mentions this -"he was, next to Gandhiji, the most powerful leader in undivided India." This is a very bold statement, but I wonder why we are never taught from this angle in our schools. The more damaging statement in the editorial is this - "And the dream became a reality overnight, and perhaps no man was more surprised at his success than Mr. Jinnah himself."
Who were those who were responsible for his dream to turn into reality so quickly? Can a country really be formed "overnight"? Why are we shying away from talking about it? If you are eulogizing Jinnah, does that imply Nehru and Gandhi are solely at fault?
MMS recently said, we cannot choose our neighbours, but isn't this precisely that?
Well, I guess the spate of questions might not stop :), so will end the post here ;-). But am really curious to know different viewpoints, other than "Brilliant editorial"!
- Sudhir
Or, perhaps your sub-standard rants are considered critical only by you.
Sudhir,
Thanks for providing us of Vidya's article, will be sure to check it out.
Rather than moderation, they could go for automated censorship, but that opens its own can of worms.
The key issue which has not been discussed is how the British allowed Jinnah to gain so much power.
Think of this, in their divide and conquer policy they always wanted a strong Muslim leadership to counter the Hindu majority. Jinnah probably provided that balance to Gandhi (as did Ambedkar from the Dalit front).
But you are right, hopefully this will start a process to provide the people a more accurate version of history.
Aryan Culler,
People like you who cannot form a proper grammatical sentence should not comment on others abilities.
DD... Have you really expected chindu & ram to mend their ways? Chindu is a news paper caught in a down-spiral. There is nothing much to hope for.
kuttychathan,
I'm always a glass half full person. Lets hope for the best here :)
DD - just curious :) ... what was your comment to that editorial? :) I am betting it hasn't been accepted yet ;-)
- Sudhir
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