Don’t blame Narendra Modi for the demise of the idea of India
killed is from the Pandit Sunderal Committee, then the actual number in the report is between 26,000-40,000, with the religion of the casualties not clearly identified. Mishra shows himself up not as a true critic, let alone friend of India, but as partisan, motivated, and unreliable.
Don’t commentators listen when President Ram Nath Kovind pitches for “compassionate society” or Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorts citizens against religious intolerance or hatred? Why don’t they find a single positive thing to say about India’s numberless achievements? Why does international media subject India to such scathing criticism when failed states such as Pakistan or authoritarian regimes such as China are seldom held accountable? Whenever anyone needs an excuse to sledge us, it is such unbalanced India-trashers who are sure to be quoted. No wonder Mishra earned the sobriquet of “general hater-in-chief of anything Indian.” But as he himself once confessed, “My dominant feeling every day is one of great ignorance.” We should take him at his word here and discount his rants.
To end on a positive note, a great civilisation, society, or state must not be overly touchy. Such hypersensitivity only reveals our own insecurities. To so seek the approbation and sympathy of friends and foes alike is unnecessary. This, indeed, was Jawaharlal Nehru’s undoing. An elephant does not slow down, let alone, stop at every barking cur. Similarly, India must move forward calmly, purposefully, and confidently to reassert her economic, cultural, political, and military power, not only in the region, but also in the world. But in doing so, we should never deviate from the path of dharma or righteousness. Therein lies our manifest destiny. destroying,” she told me.
Indian Ladies in the UK campaigns on behalf of victims of domestic abuse and spousal abandonment. They say that hundreds of women find themselves abused and exploited due because the husband can easily cancel his partner’s visa, leaving his wife in limbo.
But the problem here is much, much bigger. Indian women are being abandoned by British-born Indian husbands not just in the UK, but in India too.
Amanjot Kaur Ramoowalia, who runs the charity Helping Hapless in Chandigarh, says there are around 15,000 women just in Punjab who have been left abandoned by their husbands from Europe, America or Canada. “He [the groom] comes here and he asks for a massive dowry. They marry. He takes the money and enjoys the honeymoon. Then he never comes back,” she says.
The plight of these women should shame us. I feel disgusted that British-Indian men are exploiting women for their money; I feel angry that UK law makes it easy for abusive men to put women’s lives in jeopardy and Indian law makes it very difficult for women to divorce these fraudsters.
But most of all I’m ashamed that Indian men are able to use Indian traditions of izzat and shame to silence women and abuse them without repercussions.
Anjalika Sharma told me she was so ashamed of what was happening to her, she did not want to raise the issue. But her mind has changed. “Now I am determined to get him arrested. This is the right decision, to put him in jail.”
I hope she and many more women like her get the justice they deserve.