The Case of Sharrukh Khan: a man with a Flawed Thinking

Recently in Abudhabi, I was watching a Pak TV channel. It pained me to listen that Sharrukh Khan felt insecure in India. The program went on to quote him verbatim and as a patriotic Indian all this looked very bad. I expected Sharrukh to rebut this program,but till date it has not happened.

Sharrukh Khan is a Muslim star in a predominant Hindu country. He has risen up on the back of this vast Hindu populace. This is not a cliche, but a fact of everyday life. Sharrukh is nothing without this mass support from a predominant Hindu fan following. One wonders how Mr. Khan is feeling insecure in India with millions adulating him. For Sharrukh Khan to feel insecure is a traversity of Indian secularism.

I am reminded of an earlier star Dilip Kumar(Yusaf Khan) who also was involved in dubious actions. This man strutted about the stage in 1962 as patriot, when China attacked India. But come the 1965 war with Pakistan and Dilip Kumar failed to laud the Indian war effort or condemn Pakistan. One wondered where his loyality was. Sharrukh has not covered himself with glory and has shown that basically he is a small man with a petty mind. I wonder he knows about Muslim leaders like Maulana Azad and Humuyan Kabir who left Jinnah to be with Gandhi. Sharruks actions should not condoned. Its about time somebody thre the gauntalet and picked it up.India is too great a country to be trivalized by a man who cannot see beyond the horizon

Muslim Stars dominate Hindu India Cinema

The Indian movie industry has now come of age and serious movies are also being made that cater to the world market. But there is a dichotomy that is hard to explain as in a country with a overwhelming Hindu population, the major top stars all profess the Moslem religion. Thus the top stars of the Hindi films like Saif Ali Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman khan et all are Moslems. Though i

s as well but the popularity of the Moslem stars is unrivaled.

It is not only the Moslem film stars who rule the roost in India but even all other departments of film craft like direction, music, editing, songs etc are dominated by the minority community. But the fact remains that the Moslem stars have endeared themselves to the vast majority of Hindus who literally adore them. Thus any talk of discrimination against the minority community is perhaps redundant.

We have leaders like Bala sahib Thackeray and the Viswa Hindu Parishad who cater to Hindu revivalist thought. But even these organizations are unable to dent the popularity of the Moslem stars. Moslem stars have always ruled the Hindi film world ever since the movie industry was launched in India. In the earlier period just after independence most of the Moslem stars adopted Hindu names. The most prominent being Yusuf khan who adopted the name Dilip Kumar. But in the present age most Moslem stars are proud to flaunt their religion and again their popularity has not diminished among the Hindu masses.

The King of the Mumbai film world is Shah Rukh Khan who has endeared himself to the Indian public with a variety of roles. He is one star who is versatile and does justice to all his roles. The trend of male heroes is not an exception as female Moslem stars are also making a name for themselves. Prominent being Katrina kaif. One can truly say that Indian secularism has come of age.

Case of the RED LIGHT BANDIT, a man who raped in the Last Century

Caryl Chessman is a unique name, in the sense he must be one of a few of a tribe who turned writers while in prison. Chess man remained on death row for 12 years before he was executed by the gas chamber in 1960. During this period he also authored 4 books and inspired a film by Hollywood. One is reminded about this case now, as America has an endemic crime record and the killings at Connecticut are nothing new. Chessman was an average American but he had a streak of violence in him. His modus operandi was simple. He traveled on the roads in California with a red light on top of his car. People believed him to be a cop and pulled up when he signaled them to stop. Thus he got the name “Red Light bandit”.

After the cars pulled up Chessman would rob the passengers and in case the driver was a girl he would drag her out of the car for sex, rape and oral sex. Two cases that were proved in court were the case of 17 year old Mary Alice Meza who under threat performed oral sex on Chessman and 22 year old Regina Johnson who was dragged 22 feet from the car to a clump of trees and raped.

In 1948 Chessman was arrested and put on trial. He was sentenced to death for a total of 17 offences of rape and robbery. A peculiar aspect of this case was the death sentence awarded. At that time kidnapping was an offence that merited the death penalty. The fact the girl Regina Johnson was dragged 22 feet from the car made the application of kidnapping charge stick to Chessman and he was awarded the death sentence in 1948.

Chessman claimed he was innocent but he could not give much proof on this account. He earned a reprieve from the gallows on a number of occasions as eminent persons argued to save his life, but his luck finally ran out and on 2 May 1960 was executed

Is Raj Thackeray Correct: All Crimes of Rape and Murder are done by Biharis?

Raj Thackeray is a maverick politician who is prone to making sensational and provocative statements. For this many FIR’s have been filed against him. Not for a moment will I support Raj Thackeray, but having said that it is important we analyse the crimes of rape and women in India. There is no doubt that the socio- economic situation in Bihar is bad. The caste divide is extreme, so much so that people will be surprised to know that in Patna even the Police billets are segregated on caste lines.

The second point that must be emphasised is that Bihar is a feudal state where the women have been subjugated and made second class citizens. Add to this the caste equation and you have a deadly concoction of the worst case of socio economic scenario one can think off. Bihar is almost a lawless state, despite all efforts of Nits Kumar the state remains steeped in obscurantism and backwardness. Industrial production is nonexistent and jobs are difficult to come by. With the loss of the mineral rich areas to Jharkhand, Bihar has almost empty coffers.

Thus the pressure to migrate to other states is extreme and many Biharis migrate to Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay for a livelihood. When this crowd leaves Bihar they mostly leave their families behind and work single in the metropolis. Conditioned by a feudal background these Bihar men are easily susceptible to crime. There is no doubt that a large number of crimes of rape and other sex related matters can be traced to people from Bihar. Unable to visualize a freedom of girls in dress and demeanor, that they have not seen in Bihar these Bihari workers are easily swayed and base thoughts come to them resulting in crimes of rape.

Unfortunately this also applies to Eastern Utter Pradesh which is also the sister state of Bihar in terms of obscurantism and backwardness. Perhaps the only solution is to not only enact stringent laws, but also improve the socio- economic scenario in Bihar and UP. Incidentally it is not only Raj who has articulated these thoughts but the Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit has also earlier gone on record with the same observations. The fact is the Bihar and UP constitutes 40% of India’s population and curbing this menace of rape and crime by men of this state is no easy task

The Memoirs of Field Marshal Keitel

Hitler's Chief Planner Field Marshal Keitel was a member of Hitlers inner circle. He was involved in all plans and decisions since 1938 and thus was an active participant in the conduct of the war. At the end of the war he was arrested by the Allies and tried for war crimes against humanity. Keitel was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Once the verdict was handed down at Nuremburg, Keitel wrote his memoirs in about 6 weeks. He completed his memoirs and requested as a soldier that he be shot to death . This request was refused and he was duly hanged. Thus ended a sordid chapter in German history. Keitel in his memoirs has tried to present his point of view. But sadly throughout the book there is no remorse that he was part of the greatest killing machine in history. Keitel tries to keep upthe image of a professional army, but he has nothing to say about his many controversial orders which he signed that besmirched the uniform of the officer corps of the German army. The fact that he did ever try to moderate the inhuman orders of Hitler clearly stand out.

The Memoirs The memoirs are interesting to read. In particular his account of the last days of the Reich and the German surrender are interesting. The surrender is graphically presented and one gets a view of that period through German eyes. Keitel I am afraid has little sympathy. Perhaps he thought that he would get away by claiming that he only obeyed orders as a soldier. But it did not work. There were too many orders to kill jews, communists, Allied raiding parties were sentenced to be shot in an order signed by him which went against the Geneva convention. Keitel had to pay for his crimes. Thus his last request to be shot was rejected and he was hanged.