Satyamev Jayate: Hey Ram, Indian leadership in
Auckland shot the messenger this Independence Day
Thakur Ranjit Singh
[This article was given to Indian Newslink newspaper in Auckland, which had incorrectly quoted
Thakur Ranjit Singh and led a lynch mob against Thakur for saying some home
truths about India on his Facebook posting. This was Thakurs correction which Indian Newslink and its editor, Venkat
Raman did not publish for obvious reasons.]
This episode opens with the Indian lynch mob after head
of an Auckland journalist. He is purported to have posted comments on Facebook,
deemed offensive by Indian politicians and some leaders. This makes a good
script for a Bollywood movie. Here is an honest-speaking journalist, who speaks
some home truths about his grandfather’s country. Indian leadership in
Auckland, with a media and some political opportunism, makes a villain of him.
He is chased out of his muhalla - his street, the house is burnt and emotionally-charged
people, prompted by media, stone this “villain” to death. Truth should never
interrupt a good script. And that is where the film ends with everybody dancing
around his dead body and chanting “bharat mata ki jay, mera bharat mahaan…”
Thank God I am not in India, or by now, I would have
been that dead body. That is the advantage all NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) have
in this civilised democracy - where we still (supposedly) have freedom of
speech. That journalist is none other than yours truly, Thakur Ranjit Singh.
What were the truths that Thakur said in his Facebook
posting? [Please see link (s) under each heading to substantiate what I said]
1)
India has been judged the worst country for a woman to live (by G 20 survey).
2)
Indians have hoarded the largest amount of black money in Swiss Banks
http://myeconomist.wordpress.com/indias-black-money-in-swiss-bank/
(1.5 billion in Swiss bank)
3)
India has one of the most corrupt politicians in the world.
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-03-29/news/29358042_1_civil-servants-national-level-wikileaks-report
(India among the most corrupt nations surveyed by PERC)
4)
India has done very well economically, but this wealth has failed to reach many
of the needy, with very heavy unequal distribution of wealth.
5)
In the Olympics India failed miserably.
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/indias-olympic-program-under-spotlight-again/
(New York Times)
Things that Thakur said you should do during
Independence Day in front of Indian Flag:
1) Bow your heads
and pray for a miracle to salvage the name of a once proud country, so once
again we can say we are proud to be an Indian
2) Pray for a
prosperous, honest conscientious and caring nation where all have equality and
share in the economic cake.
What Thakur said about Fiji?
1) I am proud to be Fijian, and thank my grandfather for
running away from India in 1915 for
a new home in Fiji.
What
Thakur did not say, but was misrepresented by media, Indian Newslink:
1) I never said I am NOT proud to be an Indian.
2) I never said ‘bow your head in shame” I said bow your heads in prayers.
3) I never said India is economically backward – I
praised its economic development, but criticised its distribution.
This is what the Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said
on the eve on India’s Independence Day: “Anger against the bitter pandemic of corruption is legitimate, as is the
protest against this plague that is eroding the capability and potential of our
nation. There are times when people lose their patience...” It was one such time for me.
India’s
Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh said the following in his Independence Day
speech: “We will continue our efforts to
bring more transparency and accountability in the work of public servants and
to reduce corruption...” So I wonder what different I said that riled these
distant NRIs?
Indians can say things because of blind nationalism and misplaced
patriotism. What I am perturbed by is
comments by former Fijians in Indian Newslink
of 1 September, 2012. In what I said above, what did Sunil Chandra, President
of Waitakere Indian Association, find “unacceptable”? What were “derogatory”,
Ahmed Bhamji? And Vinod Patel, who heads Mega Mitre 10 and is President of
Hindu Council of New Zealand (HCNZ), surprised me most with his boorish,
blinkered and vitriolic statement that borders on defamation of character. He
calls me a “failed journalist?” Last year I graduated with Masters in
Communication Studies with Honours from Auckland University of Technology (AUT)
after doing a 300 page research thesis on media and politics in Fiji. Does he
question the standard of AUT? Since when did he become a media commentator and
analyst? He blames me for writing without base and research and having hatred
in my writings. I had earlier worked at HCNZ and at one time had been president
of Hindu Elders Foundation and Chaired media section of their Hindu Conference
earlier this year. I still remain Media Officer for Waitakere Indian
Association and Waitakere Ethnic Board and head Sanatan Media Watch. I can also
question his suitability to head HCNZ with such non-substantiated and divisive
views, but I will not, but vote with my feet. HCNZ has strenuously attracted
only a handful Fijians, they will have one less now.
And Venkat Raman, editor of Indian Newslink has been using my free services, feature journalism articles and opinions for some 8
years and had occasionally praised me for this.
And he publishes this defamatory and unsubstantiated diatribe of Vinod Patel
in his paper which any respected editor would
question, especially against a person he knows personally. I find this
strange. I appreciate that as a journalist and media commentator, I have been
thorn to some people. Writing honestly about vice in society has been my trait
and for that I make no apologies, and even had tussles with the way HCNZ
operates. I believe that if you are a popular and likeable journalist, you are
not doing your job; if you rile or annoy people, and they hate you, you must
have done something right. I have been fired by two diametrically opposed Fijian
Prime Ministers for speaking truth. One is Qarase (serving jail term) and
another one is Mahendra Chaudhry, now in courts for abusing his position. Compared
to these, my suspension as Vice President of WIA due to pressure from Indian
leadership is like a Sunday picnic.
The instigator of this, Sunny Kaushal is a Labour politician
who can now proudly tell his son in Labour Party youth that he should never be
truthful and fearless like Thakur, team up with the right influential people
and politicians, hide truths, curtail free speech that offends your mother
country, befriend media-wallahs and you will become a successful Indian politician
in NZ.
No Indian leader or politician can teach me the history
of Girmit of my grandfather. He ran away to escape poverty and atrocities back
home, seeking better life elsewhere. I grew up listening to Bhagat Singh’s
revolution from my grandfathers’ 78 RPM HMV wind-up gramophone. That is why my
heart bleeds when it appears the sacrifices of these revolutionaries-“saheeds”
went in vain, with the current situation in India.
People are completely wrong in comparing this episode to
Paul Henry saga. I am a Fijian of Indian descent and judged things from my
knowledge of India and have substantiated each allegation with media link, in
many cases, written by Indians themselves. All those slating me are well-off
NRIs, majority from one or two particular prosperous states, very few migrants
are from downtrodden states, and hence they have little overseas voice. I chose
to speak bluntly on behalf of my downtrodden cousins in Karauli, Rajasthan in
India where I went in 2003 to trace my roots and was shocked to see how the Maharaja
still rules, Mandirs are his commercial arms and religion is for sale. Independence
has yet to reach Indians almost the population size of USA.
Perhaps
my only crime is to have used English idiom that perhaps many Indians do not
properly understand. Calling “every Englishmen and his dog” does not mean I am
calling or comparing England to a dog. It is just a way of emphasising “all’ or
‘everybody” Similarly; I have said nothing about dog and India. I hope Indian community
leaders understand this.
Nobody to date
can honestly say what I have said wrong or untruthful, they just merely
appeared to have joined the lynch-mob started by a labour politician, seeking
my scalp, hiding behind generalisations like “unacceptable”, “derogatory”, “bad
attitude”, ‘deplorable,” “very disturbing” and so on. Only one person agreed
with my right to free speech. Contrary to
Mahatma Gandhi’s teachings, it may now be an Indian sin to speak the truth. However,
I feel it is still not a Kiwi sin to do so.
What an irony
that on the Independence Day of the largest democracy on earth, Indian
leadership in New Zealand shot down few of the strongest pillars of free world,
democracy and principles of Independence - free speech, media freedom and - truth.
Together with it, they have shot the messenger as well. Hey Ram!
[E-mail: thakurji@xtra.co.nz]
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