A 'Right' response?

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The Sangh siding with the 'Hindu terror' accused is deeply disturbing news. Notwithstanding the political overtones of such a move when elections are just a few terror attacks away, one would think that blast accused aren't exactly very cool people to hang out with. Not exactly for the 'right' reasons, this kind of political posturing has the danger of further deepening that communal divide the country is staring at.

Now as a 'yuppie' (as a friend called me recently) one doesn't give as much as a secular/pseduosecular as long as the hazelnut flavour in the cappuccino stands out distinctly...you get the whiff! The BJP's claim of the Maharashtra ATS's investigation into the Malegaon/Modasa blasts being politically motivated however, puts a question mark on the impartiality of these investigations. The question mark auto-extends to the investigations into the more recent 7/11 blasts and by default the investigations - and hence the trial - of the 93 serial blasts! And the dilemma that I find myself caught in while I sip that hazelnut cappuccino is whether to trust the ATS with conclusions it is arriving at after investigating into these blasts that ripped apart many a limb. I mean after all the vanguard of Indian 'nationalism', the 'it' party of patriotism, the BJP has called the ATS partial! Won't that affect my ability of believing what the agency says not just about Malegaon and Modasa, but also just about anything and everything that it's ever investigated! I'm after all a journalist and a skeptic! Cause and effect or vice-versa!

The point is I don't know any longer whom to believe! Till a short while back terror attacks would take place; we would do the drill, names with beards (real and imaginary) would be booked as the perpetrators, we would digest the details of 'lightening speed probes' and forget the attacks as an extension of an Osamanic ideology that's promising the high heaven to the young Muslim men. Our home minister would change jackets and screech he can't reveal much, read 'I don't know much' and all would be well with the broadband connected world...back to enjoying that Hazelnut cappuccino. But now that the colour of terror has changed to saffron, BJP and a whole lot of other nationalists/pseudosecularits are doing second takes.

Honestly I'm not surprised that the saffron brigade is involved, howsoever politically incorrect that might sound. The politics of hatred and division was coming to a head anyways. What shocks me is the Army ofiicer's alleged involvement. One can perhaps overlook the human rights excesses that it's usually involved in, in the conflict zones of Kashmir and the North East. But, if indicted, there is no excuse whatsoever for its alleged role in planning terror attacks to kill and maim the very people it's meant to protect. The olive green can't afford to acquire even a shade of saffron.

At a time when 'Obamamania' sweeps the world and even beggars scream change, we are caught in a cycle of mistrust, misinformation and make-believe. Lets please get out of our big and small, real and imagined ghettos and behave like the next big thing that we want the world to recognize us as. Lets think and live as a country, not as communities.

A lot of my 'right' friends would be itching to get to the end of this and brand me 'Madrasa Bred'. My name leads them to believe that. 'If only!!!' My grand mom would've exclaimed. May her soul rest in peace. Amen.