(This is a reprint from NewsBred.)
Cop Tukaram Omble (left) gave up his life to nab 26/11 terrorist Kasab
(Image by newsbred.com) Details DMCA
Brahma Chellaney, a trusted voice, laments in Hindustan Times today that Indians suffer from a short memory.
He cites three instances around the macabre 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, which lasted four days.
One, that nobody remembers Tukaram Omble, a junior police officer who held the barrel of Kasab's AK-47 on to his chest to make sure it hits only him and his other colleagues could swoop on the Pakistani terrorists unharmed.
Two, that all the 10 Pakistani terrorists were wearing red string wristbands for Hindus that Pakistan-American David Headley got for them from Mumbai's Siddhivinayak Temple. But for Kasab's confession, the narrative of "saffron terror", peddled so in Manmohan Singh's government as witnessed in 2006-2007 blasts in Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid and Samjhauta Express, would've received another heavy coat.
Three, that the Kartarpur Corridor had its cornerstone laid on the 10th anniversary of 26/11. One could imagine Pakistan's generals and politicians doubling up in mirth at Indians' absence of memory.
I bring all this up to drive home a larger point. People don't remember because in-your-face newspapers decide that for you. They decide what you remember and what you don't. Often what they hide is more relevant than what they choose to reveal.
So they ensure you remember "Karkare" because Pragya Sadhvi has taken his name and never Tukaram Omble.
That you remember Modi, Shah, Yogi Adityanad as divisive and not Omar Abdullah who has given call for two Prime Ministers in the country. Or that Mehbooba Mufti has warned "Hindustanis" they would be wiped out from the history books.
That Rahul Gandhi could lie on the shoulders of Supreme Court for his "Chowkidar Chor Hai" agenda but you wouldn't know a thing why Rahul Gandhi himself is on bail in the National Herald case. That Rahul Gandhi's shady deals with evidence is in public domain; India's finance minister (Arun Jaitley) subsequently held a press conference on the matter but not a line is to be seen in any mainstream English daily of the country.
That Supreme Court could induce "mediation" on the matter of Ayodhya but not in equally contentious "Sabrimala" issue.
That the settlement of Rohingyas is a human-rights issue but not 5-lakh Hindus displaced from Kashmir.
Not a word on same Rohingyas, at least a lakh of them, and how they are settled in Jammu when under Article 35A other Indians can't buy property in J&K.
That stopping Bangladeshi infiltrators is a human-rights issue but allowing persecuted Hindus from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, is an attempt to erode the cultural compass of a state.
That even after helping a Muslim and a Dalit to become the President of India, BJP is an anti-Dalit party and not Abdullahs and Muftis who have refused voting rights to lakhs of "Valmikis", brought from Punjab on that explicit promise in 1957 to fill the post of "safai karamcharis" (sweepers) on strike.
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