I have a suggestion to defeat the crude attempts to divide the country. An element of flexibility is needed from the Muslim clergy to tide over the crisis created by Modi and Shah. Deoband can issue a Fatwa in this matter if found possible under the Islamic theology. The suggestion is that Muslims should be temporarily allowed to go to temples without losing their religion. They may be also allowed to adopt Hindu names till Modi and Shah are in power without losing their faith. They should be allowed to pretend that they are Hindus while remaining as true Muslims in belief. I am sure in the long history of Islam, some stalwarts of the Islam faith must have pretended that they were non- Muslims to save their lives. Modi cannot invent a foolproof system to distinguish a pretending Hindu from a true Hindu and the survey on the basis of religion will fail. If Modi makes any effort to separate the true Hindus, many non-practising Hindus also will suffer and that will make Modi a dreaded man even among Hindus.
In the bargain I expect the Muslim community also to become less rigid in their attitudes.
nice idea. alternatively, we hindus can all temporarily become muslims, why don’t we do both? this is not sarchastic – it is to say that solidarity comes from both sides.
Why don’t you ask Indian muslims to support India by opposing the Pakistani/Bangladeshi majority sneaking into India. It should be fair because Pakistani/Bangladeshi majority community was responsible for making those muslim states by dividing India.
India doesn’t need those radicals back here.
Bangladesh was not made as a muslim state – read history.
“We end up speaking [AT] people all the time.” Mostly true, especially when emotions / stakes are high. Happens in the business world all the time, too.
This was a brave and useful experiment to conduct for which the author should be commended and recognised.
The author clearly understands how Humans communicate ie verbally and non-verbally. Intent is often conveyed non-verbally which is why using emojis in text can help tremendously with conveying context and emotion.
Conversationalists and facilitators understand this well.
The sense of a neutral space is also very important.
Muslims must protest as Muslims, using the symbols, clothing and chants they want. The idea is not to accede to uniformity under pressure from the majority.
No. India needs to be careful about bigots of all colours including obnoxious bhakts like you.
Wrong. You just exposed yourself as an left-liberal, intolerant bigot by spitting hate at a man with a different opinion.
Spare us the false equivalence. Spewing venom at another religion isn’t just holding, “a different opinion”. It is bigotry.
By making CAA an anti muslim issue, everyone is making a big mistake and handing over a major divisive issue to BJP. All should welcome CAA but also demand that Kashmiri Pandits be settled in Kashmir immediately and then persecuted muslims or economic migrants who have crossed over to India should be given citizenship as well. This will create a positive atmosphere in the country and BJP cannot exploit it as Hindu versus Muslim issue. Just because some step benefits non muslims, one can’t start blindly opposing them as anti muslims. Accept its logic and then demand extra from the government. And why not create a fund for their resettlement, minimum income support and not burden the government? NGO should get funds from their foreign sources for such humanitarian activities. I am sure billions will flow in for this worthy cause. Let us all discuss this at the next meeting!
It is NOT, its a failure on all fronts, economic, social, anything…. Stop dreaming and start looking at real numbers.
Interesting and innovative experiment.Kudos to the writer
to take so much effort and also substantial risk!
But I doubt it will have any impact in the real world
for at least 2 reasons
1) the reach of such discussion will be limited as compared to
the spread of social media
quantity does trounce quality sometimes.
2)”spoke till late in the evening over bottles of wine”- This phrase is very revelatory.
No I am not for a moment being judgmental or prejudiced, but its
is quite obvious that the crowd was quite a sophisticated and
perhaps articulate crowd.The wine culture in India is limited to
a very thin upper elite crust in society.So a soul-searching discussion among such
urbane and well healed crowd may be possible, but what
about the vast majority out there who are not as resourceful?Indulging
in a meaningful group discussion needs a fairly large range of social and language skills.
It is far more easier and of course,more prevalent to settle an argument resorting to threats
and violence.
However the take away maybe that if we genuinely want to understand complex issues
and contribute meaningfully to society then there are no short cuts.We need to go the extra mile
to meet people face to face and get our backsides off the chair.
Try doing such a debate in Delhi and the result could be participants coming to blows. Tell you what, all M & S supporters support them only and only for one reason alone- ‘we hate Muslims and M & S implement our hate in their governance’- Period. Rest of all their arguments like development, nationalism, CAA, JNU, Luv Jihad, etc etc are nothing but pathetic excuses. The country is now dominated by hate-drums of Hindutva and it is doomed. Frankly, I have fallen out of love with it and nothing about it (success or failure) affects me any more.
M & S: LOL!! dont be disillusined, be active – your M&S comments shows your creativity – use it for the end of the reign of messrs s&m (by the way, they are mainly S, did not see any sign of M yet).
I have a suggestion to defeat the crude attempts to divide the country. An element of flexibility is needed from the Muslim clergy to tide over the crisis created by Modi and Shah. Deoband can issue a Fatwa in this matter if found possible under the Islamic theology. The suggestion is that Muslims should be temporarily allowed to go to temples without losing their religion. They may be also allowed to adopt Hindu names till Modi and Shah are in power without losing their faith. They should be allowed to pretend that they are Hindus while remaining as true Muslims in belief. I am sure in the long history of Islam, some stalwarts of the Islam faith must have pretended that they were non- Muslims to save their lives. Modi cannot invent a foolproof system to distinguish a pretending Hindu from a true Hindu and the survey on the basis of religion will fail. If Modi makes any effort to separate the true Hindus, many non-practising Hindus also will suffer and that will make Modi a dreaded man even among Hindus.
In the bargain I expect the Muslim community also to become less rigid in their attitudes.
nice idea. alternatively, we hindus can all temporarily become muslims, why don’t we do both? this is not sarchastic – it is to say that solidarity comes from both sides.
Why don’t you ask Indian muslims to support India by opposing the Pakistani/Bangladeshi majority sneaking into India. It should be fair because Pakistani/Bangladeshi majority community was responsible for making those muslim states by dividing India.
India doesn’t need those radicals back here.
Bangladesh was not made as a muslim state – read history.
“We end up speaking [AT] people all the time.” Mostly true, especially when emotions / stakes are high. Happens in the business world all the time, too.
This was a brave and useful experiment to conduct for which the author should be commended and recognised.
The author clearly understands how Humans communicate ie verbally and non-verbally. Intent is often conveyed non-verbally which is why using emojis in text can help tremendously with conveying context and emotion.
Conversationalists and facilitators understand this well.
The sense of a neutral space is also very important.
Muslims must protest as Muslims, using the symbols, clothing and chants they want. The idea is not to accede to uniformity under pressure from the majority.
We need to be strategic. This is the time for Muslims to let others take on the struggle. If we seek our rights, they will shut us up,”
These lines proves it all, India needs to be careful about this green Arabic religion and it’s nefarious design on India.
No. India needs to be careful about bigots of all colours including obnoxious bhakts like you.
Wrong. You just exposed yourself as an left-liberal, intolerant bigot by spitting hate at a man with a different opinion.
Spare us the false equivalence. Spewing venom at another religion isn’t just holding, “a different opinion”. It is bigotry.
By making CAA an anti muslim issue, everyone is making a big mistake and handing over a major divisive issue to BJP. All should welcome CAA but also demand that Kashmiri Pandits be settled in Kashmir immediately and then persecuted muslims or economic migrants who have crossed over to India should be given citizenship as well. This will create a positive atmosphere in the country and BJP cannot exploit it as Hindu versus Muslim issue. Just because some step benefits non muslims, one can’t start blindly opposing them as anti muslims. Accept its logic and then demand extra from the government. And why not create a fund for their resettlement, minimum income support and not burden the government? NGO should get funds from their foreign sources for such humanitarian activities. I am sure billions will flow in for this worthy cause. Let us all discuss this at the next meeting!
Stop making a jab at BJP for everything. It is doing everything a 1000 times better those idiots politians and you filthy hypocrites.. ?
It is NOT, its a failure on all fronts, economic, social, anything…. Stop dreaming and start looking at real numbers.
Interesting and innovative experiment.Kudos to the writer
to take so much effort and also substantial risk!
But I doubt it will have any impact in the real world
for at least 2 reasons
1) the reach of such discussion will be limited as compared to
the spread of social media
quantity does trounce quality sometimes.
2)”spoke till late in the evening over bottles of wine”- This phrase is very revelatory.
No I am not for a moment being judgmental or prejudiced, but its
is quite obvious that the crowd was quite a sophisticated and
perhaps articulate crowd.The wine culture in India is limited to
a very thin upper elite crust in society.So a soul-searching discussion among such
urbane and well healed crowd may be possible, but what
about the vast majority out there who are not as resourceful?Indulging
in a meaningful group discussion needs a fairly large range of social and language skills.
It is far more easier and of course,more prevalent to settle an argument resorting to threats
and violence.
However the take away maybe that if we genuinely want to understand complex issues
and contribute meaningfully to society then there are no short cuts.We need to go the extra mile
to meet people face to face and get our backsides off the chair.
Try doing such a debate in Delhi and the result could be participants coming to blows. Tell you what, all M & S supporters support them only and only for one reason alone- ‘we hate Muslims and M & S implement our hate in their governance’- Period. Rest of all their arguments like development, nationalism, CAA, JNU, Luv Jihad, etc etc are nothing but pathetic excuses. The country is now dominated by hate-drums of Hindutva and it is doomed. Frankly, I have fallen out of love with it and nothing about it (success or failure) affects me any more.
M & S: LOL!! dont be disillusined, be active – your M&S comments shows your creativity – use it for the end of the reign of messrs s&m (by the way, they are mainly S, did not see any sign of M yet).