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By: V Sundaram, IAS, Retd. May 03, 2006 Views expressed here are author’s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is at the bottom. 
FeedbackThe "pseudo-secular, Islam-embracing, Christianity-coveting, anti-Hindu" UPA government in New Delhi can only throw up its hands in despair whenever any innocent Hindu gets killed in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Now, an Indian engineer K Suryanarayana from Andhra Pradesh has been beheaded by the Taliban in Afghanistan. When the news of Suryanarayana"s abduction reached government of India, the government ought to have issued a warning to the Taliban along the following lines: "We strongly condemn this act of abduction. It is a blatant violation of human rights. We as a sovereign nation demand that our innocent citizen who has gone to Afghanistan to eke out an honourable livelihood should be released forthwith. Let it be understood that such acts of blatant terrorism and inhuman cruelty cannot but have their own repercussions in India in a manner which cannot be foreseen. Don"t dismiss the tolerant non-Muslims of India as impotent flocks of sheep. Do not view our political civility as a weakness." Issue of some such statement may not have helped in saving the life of Suryanarayana. Yet at the same time, it would have at least given a strong message to the world that the government of India is not neutral between life and death in regard to the lives of Indian citizens abroad, particularly those working in a Muslim country. This is not the first time Indians have been killed by terrorists. In the first case, in December 2005, Maniappan Raman Kutty, a driver with the Border Roads Organisation, was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan, which threatened to kill him within 48 hours. The State and Central governments did nothing. E Ahamed (the MP from Kerala), Minister of State for External Affairs, did nothing in the matter. That driver"s decapitated body was found by the roadside. In the second case Sijo Jose, was held as a prisoner by the Americans in an army jail in Iraq. The government of Kerala appealed for his release and the Central government intervened. The prisoner was released and reunited with his family. In the third case, Naushad, a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to lose an eye because in a scuffle he had blinded a Saudi in one eye. The Islamic law in Saudi Arabia states literally that an eye for an eye is the punishment for the crime. However, the Chief Minister of Kerala pleaded for clemency. E Ahamed pleaded for clemency. There were questions in Parliament. Thus this became an international cause celebrity. In the fourth case, a few years ago, when a person called Samkutty was kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq, the government of India quickly established contacts with the Iraqi government, sent a member of the Minorities Commission to Iraq, and secured his release. The Pioneer newspaper said "Many people in Kerala were reported to be angry that the Central and State governments had failed to save Maniappan Raman Kutty"s life. His relatives like Anandan and Krishnankutty, who were Maniappan Raman Kutty"s uncles and ex-servicemen, blamed the State and Central governments for having failed to save their nephew"s life. They wondered as to why the State government did not send a Minister to New Delhi to strive to secure the release of Maniappan Raman Kutty. Many of the Hindu Congressmen in Kerala who wanted to remain incognito blamed E Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs, for having remained inactive and silent in respect of Maniappan Raman Kutty whose life could have been saved if only he had reacted in the same way in which he had reacted in respect of Samkutty. They recalled how Samkutty, hailing from neighbouring Mavelikkara, was rescued after a terrorist group abducted him in Iraq a few years ago. At that time, New Delhi had acted quickly by establishing contact with the Iraqi government and also sent Minorities Commission member John Joseph to Iraq to secure Samkutty"s release. The Union government's persistent efforts paid off, and Samkutty was brought home safely. In the case of Maniappan Raman Kutty, the Union government chose to remain in a state of stupor and failed to act fast and decisively. In respect of Naushad, several Rajya Sabha Members from Kerala and other States, demanded immediate intervention by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to save an Indian national who was facing the threat of his eye being gouged out as a punishment under Shariat Law for having injured a Saudi national in a scuffle." Now it can be asked as to what is the difference between these cases other than the fact that the some of them died a gruesome death, while the lives of three of them were saved. For the "pseudo-secular" government in New Delhi there is a fundamental, vital and overriding difference arising from the following Congress thumb rule of politics: One was a Hindu, Maniappan Raman Kutty, two were Christians Sijo and Samkutty and one a Muslim, Naushad. There can be no clearer indication of the valuelessness of a Hindu man's life. The "pseudo-secular" finding of UPA government is that a Hindu's life is without any value. But a Christian man's life, and a Muslim man's eye, are of overriding value. The "effete" UPA government's attitude towards the recent murder of Surayanarayana, is eerily reminiscent of the Saudi Arabian system of blood money. In Saudi Arabia when a person gets killed or is put to death by another, the perpetrator has to pay blood money, or compensation, as follows: * 100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man * 50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman * 50,000 riyals if a Christian man * 25,000 riyals if a Christian woman * 6,666 riyals if a Hindu man • 3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman This hierarchy is based on the Islamic legal definitions of human rights and is rooted in the Quran and Sharia (Islamic law). This above framework seems to have been accepted with pseudo-secular gusto as a policy plank by the de jure Prime Minister flanked and sustained by the de facto Prime Minister, with a batch of impotent clowns called Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State, dancing like dastardly dervishes around them both, for dealing with not only with all cases of deaths of Indian citizens abroad caused by Muslim terrorists but also in dealing with other vital national issues affecting the welfare and destiny of all the people of India. In respect of Suryanarayana, being a helpless Hindu, it is not surprising that none of the Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh took up the matter with Manmohan Singh. If he had been a Christian, Dr Y Samuel Rajasekar Reddy would have taken up the matter with the Pope in Rome and all the International Christian Organizations for the immediate release of Suryanarayana. The calculated "pseudo-secular" silence of the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh is despicable and deplorable. If Suryanarayana had been a Muslim, there would have been riots all over India and all the Mullahs of India would have met Prime Minister who in turn would have braced himself into an unnatural posture of combat readiness by air-dashing E Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs, to Afghanistan for obtaining his immediate release. Indeed the "dastardly ways of pseudo-secularism" of UPA government are no longer hidden or mysterious or unknown. The UPA government in New Delhi gets politically and emotionally surcharged as a bounden duty arising from the declared national commitment to the anti-national policy of minority appeasement only in respect of terrorists" threats or acts affecting the lives of Muslim and Christian citizens of India working abroad. Lives of "communal", "saffronised", "obscurantist", "superstitious", "listless" and "helpless" Hindu citizens of India working abroad are treated as of no consequence. They are viewed as pseudo secularly contemptible, politically disposable, diplomatically expendable, socially damnable and culturally consignable - to death and oblivion. Three cheers for "pseudo-secularism!" Tail piece: Government of India's message to all the Hindus of India is clear: "Convert! Migrate! Or Perish! Omino pseudo- secular men! V Sundaram, IAS, Retd.
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