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Showing posts from March, 2017

Racist Attacks on Africans in India (near Delhi) - Reaction to an 'Expert Opinion'

One of my friends from Kenya referred to an article on the recent racist attacks on Africans in India by one Kul Bhushan who had been a newspaper editor in Kenya for three decades. In the article, the writer more or less advises the Indian authorities on combating prejudice and violence against Africans in India. This is my response to the views expressed in that article, which was shared by my friend. The article, sadly, is a shameful and disgusting way to 'advise' the Indian authorities. The writer is more worried about the negative economic impacts of the racial hate crimes in India than the real roots of these recurring racist crimes. That isn't surprising given the Indian capital's search for investment opportunities in Africa and the need for cordial relations to pursue those goals. The writer indirectly, without appearing to say it, makes statements that are rooted in the prevailing racial prejudices among many Indians against the blacks. Are  there really s

Liberals Must Unitedly Fight Back - Reaction to Harish Khare’s article

Harish Khare hits the nail on the head with his call “India’s Liberals Need to Stop Complaining and Start Fighting”. Yes, indeed! They must unitedly fight back, rather than bicker among themselves or blame the voters! However, I disagree with some of the main arguments. The most important one is that the fight back ‘calls for a morally superior politics’. In a general sense, that is a cliche or a truism. On the other hand, doesn’t it give an impression or imply that the anti-liberal, far right-wing, and anti-secular politics in comparison has acquired some kind of ‘moral superiority’? Even as it refers to “instances of outbreak of political immorality and expediency” from the side of the triumphant Hindutva-Right-Wing (HRW), most of the article seems to discuss the fall from grace of the parties whom Khare calls “presumed mascots and practitioners of secularism” (INC, SP, BSP, etc.). The focus is on what he considers as the “loss of secular faith” by the voters because “the presumed