By: Anjali Patel
anjali_patel111@yahoo.com
February 23, 2004

Mulayam singh yadhav declared that all UP schools be closed on Friday noon so that Muslims students can offer namaz (The order was modified to allow the District Magistrates to use their judgement based on the local community). What may follow next is probably a government holiday on Fridays, All school will have a mosque inside them so that Muslim students can offer namaz every day & ultimately the Sharia law for all and India declared an Islamic country. Is this we call Secularism, where are the secularist in media to criticize Mullha Mulayam as they do to Dr Joshi. Does secularism mean the 85% Hindu students have to suffer due to 15% or less Muslim students. The Indian medias silence on this issue shows how double standards are followed for Hindus and Muslims.

- We have to redefine secularism as appeasement of Muslims and negligence of Hindus. In a time when country's like France are banning head scarf to uphold the values of secularism, India is bending backwards to Islamize education.

- The same follows in West Bengal where the Communist government spends 150 Crores every year on Madarasas, while not giving single paisa to Hinduism related education. And what do they teach in these madarsas, To hate and kill Kafirs ( Non believers).

- The Karnataka government has gone one step further by diverting all the revenues generated by temples to fund Madarasas. They have also declared that Only Muslim divorced women ( No Hindus, Christians or Sikhs) will be paid Rs 500 every month for rest of her life, why not apply the same rule to Hindus, Christians and Sikhs. Don't forget that it was the Muslims in the shah Sano case that opposed the payment of alimony by husbands and now shamefully demand that the government pay the divorced Muslim women.

- The courts in India also have double standards, when 9 of a Hindu families are burnt alive in Radhabai chawl during the Bombay riots and all the criminals where released by court not a single newspaper cared to carry out the story but when the accused in Best bakery case were released due to lack of evidence the Indian media was furious and questioned the judicial system in Gujarat, the NHRC went overboard criticizing Gujarat government why not the same standard when Hindus are killed. Let me ask the Shekar kapoors, Sharmila Bose, N Rams and Kuldip Nayars of media why are they silent now?

- Double standards of Indian media: After seeing the coverage of the Gujarat riots on TV, I noticed a striking difference. During the riots, the stories on the news were about how the  minority families were suffering, rendered homeless by angry Hindu mobs, etc. But when Akshaydharm temple in Gujrat was attacked and 54 Hindus murdered I watched the news on TV for a full two hours and there was no mention of the grieving family members of the victims, not even a mention of the security personnel who sacrificed their lives. But there was one about how minority people have lined up in the hospitals to donate blood for the injured. This, with a screen shot of a hospital where young people were shown donating blood and a clip of the blood-bank staff talking about how blood is uniting people.

I guess, when man bites a dog, it's a story.

Anjali Patel