A new bill brought to the parliament seeks to identify all alleged terrorists with made-up Hindu names in a giant step forward for secularism. The bill was introduced today by law minister Prithviraj Chouhan to thunderous applause from the ruling benches even as non BJP members of the NDA looked zapped at the sudden development and were unsure how to react.
The Bill seeks to address concerns raised by several NGOs and the international community at large on the unusually high concentration of minorities in the lists of wanted terrorists released by various security agencies. “If India is 70% Hindu, then how is it possible that 95% of all alleged terrorists belong to minority community. Statistically it is impossible”, a visibly pleased member of the communist block said to the media waiting outside the Lok Sabha and pledged support to the UPA on this ‘much delayed’ amendment to the IPC.
The Bill also requires intelligence agencies to use photoshop to remove any visible religious markings such as beards, ceremonial markings, headgear etc from the pictures of wanted terrorists to ensure that only secular photographs were circulated to investigating officers. The addition of specifically hindu markings such as a 'tilak' are considered acceptable to lend authenticity to the photograph. Several retired judges and police officers pointed out that this would make on-the-ground identification of suspects impossible, especially now since the police would not even know their real names. Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress spokesperson, came down heavily on such criticism as ‘baseless and not grounded in reason’. Mayawati too denounced such views as being motivated by manuvadi tendencies in a bid to placate the ruling party after her recent garland-gate scandal.
BJP, the main opposition party, tried to stage a walk-out in protest but the high average age of its members made the walk-out a slow affair and took the intended sting out of the bite. The party is expected to call a chintan baithak in a few weeks to discuss this development with the Bill virtually assured of being passed with an overwhelming majority. Shiv Sena and MNS that were initially opposed to this Bill came out in support after a closed door meeting with Sharad Pawar assured them that no Maharashtrian names would be used.
The media and film industry largely welcomed this move with the Times Group extending the ‘Aman Ki Aasha’ to within India as well. Emraan Hashmi said that this Bill will now help him buy a flat in Bombay where he had alleged that religious discrimination had prevented him from staying. Azharuddin, the ex-captain of the Indian cricket team, welcomed the Bill as well only adding “Only if this would have come a few years earlier, some hindu sounding cricketer would have been dismissed for my match fixing activities and I could have been playing till today. The IPL is a real money spinner, even if you take the fixing part out of it”. Only Shah Rukh Khan looked uncomfortable with this development as he and Karan Johar were seen rushing new posters of his film "My name is Khan" with the title changed to "My name is Kumar" and significant portions are expected to require re-dubbing.
The UN General Assembly welcomed this step forward by India with several countries walking up to Sashi Tharoor to shake his hand even as he was busy tweeting. Pakistan hailed the move but added that in their country they have been blaming problems on Hindus for the past six decades. "India is well behind the curve on this front" the Pakistani ambassador was overheard commenting to his counterpart from Bangladesh. The Indian PM, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the Congress chief are already set to be contenders for the current year's Nobel peace prize.
The Bill seeks to address concerns raised by several NGOs and the international community at large on the unusually high concentration of minorities in the lists of wanted terrorists released by various security agencies. “If India is 70% Hindu, then how is it possible that 95% of all alleged terrorists belong to minority community. Statistically it is impossible”, a visibly pleased member of the communist block said to the media waiting outside the Lok Sabha and pledged support to the UPA on this ‘much delayed’ amendment to the IPC.
The Bill also requires intelligence agencies to use photoshop to remove any visible religious markings such as beards, ceremonial markings, headgear etc from the pictures of wanted terrorists to ensure that only secular photographs were circulated to investigating officers. The addition of specifically hindu markings such as a 'tilak' are considered acceptable to lend authenticity to the photograph. Several retired judges and police officers pointed out that this would make on-the-ground identification of suspects impossible, especially now since the police would not even know their real names. Abhishek Singhvi, the Congress spokesperson, came down heavily on such criticism as ‘baseless and not grounded in reason’. Mayawati too denounced such views as being motivated by manuvadi tendencies in a bid to placate the ruling party after her recent garland-gate scandal.
BJP, the main opposition party, tried to stage a walk-out in protest but the high average age of its members made the walk-out a slow affair and took the intended sting out of the bite. The party is expected to call a chintan baithak in a few weeks to discuss this development with the Bill virtually assured of being passed with an overwhelming majority. Shiv Sena and MNS that were initially opposed to this Bill came out in support after a closed door meeting with Sharad Pawar assured them that no Maharashtrian names would be used.
The media and film industry largely welcomed this move with the Times Group extending the ‘Aman Ki Aasha’ to within India as well. Emraan Hashmi said that this Bill will now help him buy a flat in Bombay where he had alleged that religious discrimination had prevented him from staying. Azharuddin, the ex-captain of the Indian cricket team, welcomed the Bill as well only adding “Only if this would have come a few years earlier, some hindu sounding cricketer would have been dismissed for my match fixing activities and I could have been playing till today. The IPL is a real money spinner, even if you take the fixing part out of it”. Only Shah Rukh Khan looked uncomfortable with this development as he and Karan Johar were seen rushing new posters of his film "My name is Khan" with the title changed to "My name is Kumar" and significant portions are expected to require re-dubbing.
The UN General Assembly welcomed this step forward by India with several countries walking up to Sashi Tharoor to shake his hand even as he was busy tweeting. Pakistan hailed the move but added that in their country they have been blaming problems on Hindus for the past six decades. "India is well behind the curve on this front" the Pakistani ambassador was overheard commenting to his counterpart from Bangladesh. The Indian PM, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the Congress chief are already set to be contenders for the current year's Nobel peace prize.
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