Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Bangladesh war hero is history

It is true enough that those who do not learn from history are condemned to a repeat performance. However in order to learn from history one must first appreciate the importance of history. Indians have never ever written a proper history book (as opposed to propaganda), all the write-ups from the past have been composed by foreigners. Since there is so little evidence on record, there are broad possibilities for manufacturing new evidence (interpretations) by marxists and westerners,which are then subject to furious condemnation by the Hindutva brigade (as insult to hindus and hindusim). But it is clear that the origin of the problem lies not in our stars but in ourselves.


If our leaders had any sense (and shame), INS Vikraant would be converted into a museum and the history of the Bangladesh war should be re-told with a focus on the victims (all of them) not victors. While all groups suffered it was primarily the Hindus who were exterminated or driven out of the country to lead life as refugees in India (where they would face extreme prejudice in Dandakaranya and elsewhere). Hindu homes even had charming yellow stars painted on them. People were shot on the spot depending on whether they were circumcised or not. The powers that be kept quiet at that time because they wanted to focus on bangla nationalism (and punjabi racism) and not the hindu-muslim divide. But why the silence after such a long time?

To be sure all this is not conspiracy just incompetence on a grand, incomprehensible scale.
The decommissioned aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, INS Vikrant, which played an important role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war, has been sold for Rs 60 crore. "The auction process of INS Vikrant was completed last week and a company named IB Commercial Pvt Ltd won the bid," said a defence source here tonight.



Earlier, the Maharashtra government had expressed its inability to maintain Vikrant, the Indian Navy's first aircraft carrier which was commissioned in 1961. It was decommissioned in January 1997.

In January 2014, during the hearing of a public interest litigation which opposed the plan to scrap the ship, the Union ministry of defence told the Bombay high court that it had completed its operational life.
 While the Maharashtra government stated that to preserve it as a museum would not be viable financially. The high court subsequently dismissed the PIL.  The Majestic-class aircraft carrier, purchased from Britain in 1957, played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

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regards

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