Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Nine Hindu pilgrims dead in India's Jammu after militant attack, police say By Reuters There was a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir (what is the new name after dividing the state into three parts?). I can see some of you who don’t otherwise post “political” opinions about it. Honestly, I’m happy to see all of you sticking your neck out. I’m not suggesting I know better but do you know what terrorism or terrorists mean? Forget dictionary meaning or legal definition. In your head, what does it mean? Is it terrorism when a section of people in Manipur are mercilessly killed, their houses are burnt, women approach police and police hand them to a mob from the majority community and later videos of them being paraded go viral; Is that terrorism? There’s murder, burning, rapes and still, it doesn’t sound like terrorism. Why is it? Is it because the media is not calling it so? Or because so many of you are not posting “I condemn terrorists rampaging havoc in Manipur”? Okay. Okay. Manip...

    We are against terrorism. Aren’t we? I don’t remember anyone defending Ajmal Kasab. Or for instance Masood Azhar. But now I doubt we were against terrorism then or are now with respect to Azhar for instance. We have just elected ‘Sadhvi’ Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused awaiting trial in the 2008 Malegaon bombings with astounding margin nonetheless. That doesn’t fit into fighting terrorism, does it? There are other things to read from this and previous elections too. By and large, we all despise hate speech and also to an extent hate religious fundamentalism. Remember Zakir Naik? He was hounded and rightly so. But then we have just elected Ananth Kumar; again with a huge margin, yes, a man well-known for hate speeches. And in case we forgot, we have Ajay Mohan Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath, the less talked about him the better. What do these tell us? This doesn’t say much about us hating terrorism or despising hate speech; in fact, it shows us warmly embracing it. Then ...

Politicians may believe, people may believe but journalists should never take anyone on face value, not even army. Their only ally is truth and truth alone. We seem to have forgotten the basic principles of journalism all along and have comfortably turned ourselves into the extension of government in power. Would you believe if someone tomorrow came to you and claimed he slapped another guy? If this supposed event occurred inside closed doors, probably one will seek proof now that the guy you claim you’ve slapped is denying it. Second, if there is no proof, then you may pass the information as hearsay that he claims he “slapped” the other guy which is perfectly legitimate statement. But nowhere you are supposed to claim the authenticity of the “slap” by yourself if you are a neutral authority whose sole aim is to bring out the truth and call people’s bluff; that is if you are a journalist. If you are a politician, a friend of the party who “slapped” then that’s an altogether ...

“72 year old nun gang raped in WB & Mamata Banerjee cries foul over Gharvaapasi! Are you a woman? And what kind of a nation are we? ‪ #‎ Shameless” was my post on Facebook, to which a friend replies that I’m blind to atrocities happening to Hindus…” He could have been right if I had said, a Christian nun is gang raped and no Hindu is outraging enough, which I didn’t. And why should I? It surprises me, in fact makes me feel pathetic to even think of saying something as such. If only one goes through a week’s news, he or she will know at what disastrous stage India has reached. Rape is the fourth most crime in India. If 2013 figures of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB )   are any indicator then 92 women were raped daily in India. And yes, it comprises of all religion, class, creed and other ethnicities. Rapist as such doesn’t ask the girl if she belongs to this or that particular religion. He is a beast who commits crime without giving damn to the land of the law or an...