Religious Terror in an Emerging India

I did come across some good readings today. Posting the links here.
Apologies for not putting up anything original.

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PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES ON AN EMERGING INDIA

Age is not the graying temples or the crinkles around your eyes, or the constant backache. Instead it is the faded memories of your life – like snapshots left exposed to the direct light for a little too long. Age is also progress, as you try and remember the past and sync it with your present.

In the wee hours of the morning, just when the sun was trying to rub sleep out of its eyes, I stepped into the front yard of my childhood home, mind and body ravaged by the transcontinental time drift. A slight cold drizzle fell as I cupped my first cigarette of the day.

As a kid, it was my favorite time of the day: waiting for my grandfather and after him my father to walk me across the street to the school bus stop. Three decades later, things were very different. Instead of the crow’s craw or chirping of the sparrows, all I heard was the bleat of the horns. And when that subsided, the audible whoosh of an ultra modern Metro zipping on the overhead tracks.

Read More

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DEMOCRACY'S COLLAPSE INTO NEAR RELIGIOUS TERROR

While Americans have been focused on the war on terror, Iraq, and the future of democracy in the Middle East, democracy has been under siege in another part of the world. India – the most populous of all democracies, and a country whose Constitution protects human rights even more comprehensively than our own -- has been in crisis. Until the spring of 2004, its parliamentary government was increasingly controlled by right-wing Hindu extremists who condone and in some cases actively support violence against minorities, especially the Muslim minority. Many seek a fundamental change in India's pluralistic democracy. Despite the recent electoral loss, these political groups and the social organizations allied with them remain extremely powerful. The political future is unclear.

Read More (also see part ii, iii, iv and v)

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