A brazen attack, and flooded plains
6 terrorists attacked a part of the disputed temple complex at Ayodhya, where 13 years ago the Babri Masjid was demolished. They were going after the makeshift Hindu temple on the site, and were killed without causing much damage. One bystander, a woman, was killed in the crossfire.
It's taken over the Indian papers today, but unless there are bad follow-up riots or protests, it might be just another dumb, desperate, and pointless Lashkar-e-Taiba event.
The bigger, 'real' concern of the moment might be the flooding in Gujurat. The livelihood of millions of people is affected. It elicits less interest, because it lacks dramatic symbolism or the element of surprise (there is flooding virtually every year somewhere in India).
It's taken over the Indian papers today, but unless there are bad follow-up riots or protests, it might be just another dumb, desperate, and pointless Lashkar-e-Taiba event.
The bigger, 'real' concern of the moment might be the flooding in Gujurat. The livelihood of millions of people is affected. It elicits less interest, because it lacks dramatic symbolism or the element of surprise (there is flooding virtually every year somewhere in India).
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Unfortunately the 'real' concern for the Chief Minister of Gujarat isn't the flooding in his state. Today he announced monetary rewards for the security personnel at Ayodhya (the UP govt has already done that!), and demanded the re-activation of the draconian Prevention Of Terrorism Act. His party has ordered 'strong nation wide protests' too.
It's not true to say the floods in Gujarat don't elicit any interest -- at least in the media, they certainly do. Newspapers and TV channels have been full of the floods for the past few days. But that doesn't mean an attack in Ayodhya, which could have far-reaching ramifications as far as communal relations are concerned, is not an issue. It's an attack that has the potential to spark riots and aggravate already fragile relations between Hindus and Muslims in India -- and so needs as much attention.
Sunshine woman,
Fair enough. It's true, there's been quite a bit of coverage of the floods as well.
I guess what I'm saying is, I'm frustrated about Narendra Modi's approach to things (as illustrated by Anand's comment).
So terrorists if they're muslim, and jewels of this great nation if they're hindu and do the same thing, did i get that right?
Anangbhai,
I don't know what you're talking about. Please explain.
Too many of the terrorist attacks turn out to be "dumb and desparate". It looks fishy that people with state of the art weapons and lots of money can't come up with a little more mature and effective plans.
It's true that the terrorist attack has been needlessly blown out of proportion by the media as well as the top political brass. They are behaving like kids. I agree that floods in Guajarat are a much more serious issue and I think the media is covering it adequately.
Amrit
http://www.writingcave.com
I think (hope) anangbhai is referring, not to you, but to general coverage and attitude towards the masjid destruction as opposed to the recent attack.
As a counter, I would suggest that court order asking CBI to investigate LK Advani is suggestion that at least the judicial system remains nominally impartial.
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