“Rebel with a cause”

Your editorial "Rebel with a cause” (Parsiana, October 7, 2009) is very pro-Kobad Ghandy. How can you condemn and admire a man who is responsible for the loss of so many innocent lives in the most brutal way? After being underground for decades this Maoist has been arrested, and surprisingly the media is rather soft on him. This is probably because at the end of the day he is a Parsi, and we are seen as a lovable, honest, khaanaar peenaar (eat, drink and be merry) race. But to us it is shocking. How can any Zoroastrian justify brutality? His is the same language as that of the jehadis (terrorists), so the question of condoning him is out of the question. Let’s not hesitate in calling a spade a spade!

Is this the way to improve the lot of the downtrodden, by taking up sophisticated arms, brutally massacring innocent police personnel, laying mines and disrupting the country by blasting off railway tracks and highways, frightening the common man into fearful submission? How can you find any justification in what the Naxalites are doing, for this so-called "larger cause?” If they are serious about their cause, they need to be united, stand for elections and bring about the change that they want. This is the only legitimate way. Deviating from it is the way terrorists work.

All this talk about "we believe a democracy which respects people cannot be established in this country under the given system,” is futile. Pray, is there any better democracy in the world where some section or the other does not feel victimized? Does that mean terrorism is the only option? Don’t make a hero of Ghandy. He comes across more as an individual with a separatist ideology similar to that which is prevalent in Kashmir!

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

vadhakim@yahoo.com