The S S Ahluwalia Chat
Questions Ahluwalia did not answer
Journo (Fri Nov 6 1998 7:49 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, what have you done to persuade Punjabis and Delhiites that H K L Bhagat/Sajjan Kumar/Jagdish Tytler are guilty of the 1984 riots? WHY HAVEN'T YOU OPENLY DECRIED THEM?
Sanjay Naik (Fri Nov 6 1998 7:49 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Is it not true that the Sikh community has turned against the Congress and become BJP sympathisers, thus harming the secular fabric of our country?
Barnala (Fri Nov 6 1998 7:50 IST)
Ahluwaliaji, I am from Canada. Don't you think no political party is interested in nailing the 1984 guilty? What should we do now?
Goldie (Fri Nov 6 1998 7:51 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Do you have any support base among the masses? You became a Rajya Sabha MP because of sycophancy and shouting skills. So how can you be called a leader?
Sanjay Naik (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:0 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Do you think the Congress will win the elections in Madhya Pradesh?
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:2 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, you accuse the Congress of having sycophants. But the Indian population considers you and Prof K K Tewary to be the #1 sycophants. Your comment on the desire to be Madam's servant and the esteemed professor's comment desiring to be her dog are now famous. What do you say to this?
Sridhar Hejib (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:17 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Can you give a brief as to who is responsible for terrorism in Punjab? Some people still believe Bhindranwale was a product of the Congress party.
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:20 IST)
What do you think of Kehar Singh's hanging? Why did you not protest against it? Even Justice Chandrachud, who was one of the judges who sentenced Kehar Singh to death, felt remorse later. Is the life of a Sikh expendable just to satisfy The Dynasty?
Jiban Mukherjee (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:21 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Do you think terrorism in Kashmir will subside like in Punjab? If not, why?
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:22 IST)
Why do you answer questions selectively? Please take my suggestion to Madam. Ask her to take sanyas from politics. All Congressmen should join her.
Jiban Mukherjee (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:28 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Do you ever want to contest elections from any seat? If yes, which one? And besides politics, what are your other interests?
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:28 IST)
Weren't events like the 1984 massacre inevitable, when socialism unavoidably rests on all-powerful personality cults? If you kill the leader of a personality cult, inevitably the followers will go berserk. Shouldn't we then avoid promoting such destructive personality cults?
Goldie (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:29 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, do you think we Sikhs should have listened to Mohammed Ali Jinnah and accepted a separate homeland for Sikhs in 1947? Sometimes I regret that the Sikhs never had a good leader during the independence struggle, isn't it?
Sheroo (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:32 IST)
Goldie, you have to agree that the British sowed the seeds of divide and rule that led to Hindu-Muslim clashes and a mess like Pakistan. Vallabhbhai Patel, Nehru and others agreed with Jinnah, and Gandhi, who was so accessible to the public, got shot by his disgusted RSS follower, Nathuram Godse.
Goldie (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:34 IST)
But what is wrong. We could have our separate homeland. And we would have a separate identity and would have never faced problems from Hindus or Muslims, isn't it? In fact, we could become the peace messengers for these two countries. :) :)
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:35 IST)
Goldie, how could Jinnah have been promoting a homeland for the Sikhs when he grabbed most of Punjab for himself? Makes no sense to me.
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:35 IST)
Sheroo: the divide and rule policy emanated from the Congress. Who invented terms like KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi, Muslim)? It was Nehru and his party, not the British. Do you agree, Mr Ahluwalia?
Sheroo (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:36 IST)
By that same token, Goldie, Kashmir would have split from India long ago and we wouldn't have had trouble from Pakistan anymore. But why should India have been cracked up so much since 1947?
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:39 IST)
Goldie: And what would happen to non-Sikhs living within the 'homeland'? Why should a homeland be based on religion? Isn't that why Pakistan has caused so much mischief all these years?
Sheroo (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:40 IST)
Call it nuisance, not mischief.
Goldie (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:39 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, don't you think Jinnah was right in having Pakistan? After all, the Muslim community would have created more problems had Pakistan's Muslim population also been with India, isn't it?
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:45 IST)
Goldie: Isn't it true that Pakistan has sought to create problems for Muslims in India, in the hope of fanning more flames for its own advantage? In which case, don't ethnic-based states -- particularly sectarian ones -- tend to create problems rather than being solutions?
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:38 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, can you explain why the Congress has been engineering riots? Hyderabad was known for riots until NTR took over. All riots stopped when he came to power. It was peaceful for 7 years, until the Congress came back. With the return of the congress, the riots returned!!! STOP KILLING US.
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:41 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, isn't it true that the Congress has an inherent tendency towards personality cults? Isn't it true that they tend to gear themselves towards fawning around a particular leader, rather than promoting an agenda or a viable set of principles?
Arvind (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:42 IST)
Does the Congress have any plans to move away from propagating clannish rule?
Sheroo (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:43 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, there are many people to support that cause. You should only go out in the open and ask for help.
Sanjai Kukreti (Fri Nov 6 1998 8:54 IST)
Arvind: How can the Congress survive without a personality cult? Because they are merely an agglomeration of divergent special interests, they would tear the organisation apart without a central figure to idolise. They have no ideology or agenda, so all they can do is rally around a central figure for unity.
As we can see, that has its own dangers, such as when Indira was assassinated. That's why a party should be based on a set of beliefs, rather than merely revolving around a person. Isn't this what Congressmen are trying to resurrect in the form of Sonia Gandhi?
Why should she be the party's head? What qualification does she have? What experience, what record does she have? None. The partymen don't want her for any reason other than to be their figurehead. That's the way the Congress works. It can't exist or function without an idol.
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