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'They are willing to sell the honour of their religion for a few brownie points'

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 20:35:11 +1000
Subject: War of words

The article by Rajiv Shukla is crap. Pakistan will defame India. This is a sick joke. There is no country which cares two hoots for Pakistan except India. In Pakistan Christians are hounded and killed. But no so-called Western country with clout has raised a finger. Only the breast-beating Shukla-types go gaga about the so-called "secularism" where Hindus are compelled to suck up to Muslims and Christians.

Yogi Datta
Canberra

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 17:10:55 +0530
Subject: War of words

Rajiv Shukla personifies the tragedy of India. Now that it has been proven by the police of a Congress-ruled state that the VHP was not behind the church blasts in Karnataka, where will Shukla hide his face? I mean, when will these jokers stop? They are willing to sell the honour of their religion for a few brownie points.

Manish Maheshwari

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 21:19:56 +0530
Subject: War of words

A very good article. Good perspective. Keep it coming. I like it.

Subbiah Yadalam

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 10:45:02 EDT
Subject: War of words

Your column just does not make sense. On one hand you say that the attacks against Christians are the handiwork of Pakistan's ISI. And then you somehow end up putting the blame on the VHP! Anything that goes on in this country, it's always the VHP that is to blame even though you yourself state that the VHP is not behind the recent attacks.

It's high time people stopped blaming the VHP for things it has not done. Some irresponsible Christian leaders owe the VHP an apology, and so do you. It is not the VHP that is creating social tension. It is people like you who create social tension by writing articles intentionally to pit one community against another. You know very well that the VHP is not behind the blasts and yet you state that the VHP is to blame. How much more ridiculous can it get?

K Misra

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 11:01:07 -0500
Subject: War of words

Could you please hire someone a little more intelligent to analyse political events? Also, someone who can actually write without using two cliches in every sentence?

Ramesh Rao

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 23:57:43 +0530
Subject: War of words

Thank you for this nice article. Rajiv Shukla has rightly pointed out that the western Christian bloc is thoroughly disgusted with the happenings here. All that they observe (or anybody for that matter) are provocative statements made by irresponsible members of the VHP and RSS.

It is interesting to note Shukla's point that Vajpayee doesn't care for their words. But he should care for the image of the country. In his position as prime minister he should stop this nonsense and let the image of India be good in all sectors and nations of the world. If he cannot do this, he should relax elsewhere, not in the prime ministerial chair! It is a costly relaxation, friends.

Sam Paul

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 18:28:47 -0700
Subject: War of words

The tragedy of India is that most of its so-called mainstream journalists like Rajiv Shukla are mediocre and ignorant, more interested in being 'politically correct' than in the quest of truth. Plus, we do not have any bold investigative journalists like they have in the West.

Take the case of the above article. Even without waiting for the inquiry reports, the author, the Communists and Christian fundamentalists went on blaming the VHP and the Sangh Parivar blasts. Mr Shukla goes on to say that "Pakistan knows that by blaming India's ruling party of the atrocities, they can isolate India among Christian countries." Does Mr Shukla know that the West knows that Christians are killed in Pakistan on a daily basis, either by the government or by Muslim fundamentalists? Does he know that Amnesty International brought to the attention of G-7 the plight of Christians and Hindus in Pakistan? Does he know that despite all this, and despite Pakistan being an Islamic country, the West has not 'isolated' Pakistan?

For the enlightenment of ignorant people like Mr Shukla, the West is not 'Christian' in the sense he uses that word. Hardly 10 per cent of the US population goes to church. The western leaders are very smart and savvy unlike our Lalloos and Basus. Their dealing are based on economic and strategic security issues, not on some religious bias. Israel, which is a Jewish country, is USA's best ally although a lot of Christian fundamentalists in the US call the Jews 'Christ killers'.

Dave Singh
Lincon Heighs, NY
USA

Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2000 23:55:02 -0500
Subject: War of words

A piece of trash. Perpetuates the 'blame game'.

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