This afternoon, I got discussing politics on the lunch table. My speech:
"My problem with the Congress starts from the time when they were negotiating with the British on behalf of India. They divided the country, created the biggest massacre known in modern history, and no one turned back and asked them what the F were you doing? Why did India not hold its leaders accountable for the partition?
Likewise, in 1984, the people who were here, who saw what Rajiv Gandhi and his goons did to 3000 people in 3 days flat, in the most gruesome manner. These people saw what happened and still voted for the Congress. To me, that means that these people support the massacre that happened in 1984. There is, to my mind, no other explanation."
Someone on the table said, "why rake up the past? look at that they are doing now. The people who were responsible for 1984 and partition are both not here."
This post is to answer that question.
Because that past is not settled. Because everyday, it haunts a few thousand of us. Both , the partition and the 1984 riots. And Bhagalpur. And Bhopal Gas. And Godhra. They have to be raked up because under the ashes are smouldering cinders - not willing to die out. Waiting for their chance to become an inferno.
If the Congress does not need to answer for its past misdeeds, then rapists don't have to be punished after 7 years, and murderers after 10 years?
When does a crime become "old"? For the perpetrator, the minute it is done. For the victim, never. India was the victim of a crime in 1947 - the worst possible betrayal by its own people. And I feel like a victim. That is why I cannot stop talking about the past. Because there is no closure. Anywhere.
"My problem with the Congress starts from the time when they were negotiating with the British on behalf of India. They divided the country, created the biggest massacre known in modern history, and no one turned back and asked them what the F were you doing? Why did India not hold its leaders accountable for the partition?
Likewise, in 1984, the people who were here, who saw what Rajiv Gandhi and his goons did to 3000 people in 3 days flat, in the most gruesome manner. These people saw what happened and still voted for the Congress. To me, that means that these people support the massacre that happened in 1984. There is, to my mind, no other explanation."
Someone on the table said, "why rake up the past? look at that they are doing now. The people who were responsible for 1984 and partition are both not here."
This post is to answer that question.
Because that past is not settled. Because everyday, it haunts a few thousand of us. Both , the partition and the 1984 riots. And Bhagalpur. And Bhopal Gas. And Godhra. They have to be raked up because under the ashes are smouldering cinders - not willing to die out. Waiting for their chance to become an inferno.
If the Congress does not need to answer for its past misdeeds, then rapists don't have to be punished after 7 years, and murderers after 10 years?
When does a crime become "old"? For the perpetrator, the minute it is done. For the victim, never. India was the victim of a crime in 1947 - the worst possible betrayal by its own people. And I feel like a victim. That is why I cannot stop talking about the past. Because there is no closure. Anywhere.
