23 Comments

It’s not a rant that I just enjoyed reading .

A fair observation by the author. And I do resent the way India is being receptive to the sinister Imran’s plan.

Today, the Imran guy is settling up a condition to include the Kashmir in the dialog !

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Why don't you write such articles in Indian Express itself? I hope they will publish it since they claim of being liberal .

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I am surprised I discovered this blog today. Need this to be in more mainstream media, else it’s the intellectuals ( 🤣🤣🤣) like me that end up reading and the message does not reach a wider audience. Many commmon people would appreciate this while thinking out aloud...exactly what I too was thinking but, could never frame my thoughts it this way.

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No one cares about him, actually most of us didn't hear about this guy till last week. We made a nothing to a world famous person, ala markle. These people should be countered by articles like these and made irrelevant slowly. We need people like you in mainstream. Blogs are good but Quality publications are important and I see only couple with very less reach.

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This guy seems to me a sick frustrated individual. He rants well but

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That's an excellent post mortem of PB Mehat. To wit He's much ado about nothing

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Hats off Prof RS! BPM and Kanhaiya Kumar are actually same species in evolutionary trajectory seperated possibly by English. So all the fuss kicked up in the media by the Left Liberals(what an oxymoron) is typical of what they do best. In Tamil, proverbial advice to those going on long journeys, is never pack a bandicoot with the food for the journey. Ashoka University Founders should remember that when they hire people to build a world class educational institution.

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Prof. Rajeev, the text from the Indian Express Article that you have included here, as a call to Riots by Mr. Mehta, actually refers to his claim that the govt. is using the mob, brute power or mobilization to bring the CAB into effect. It is the last paragraph in his article where he shares his suggestion on how to oppose CAB. But it does not appear to be a call to Riots. I am pasting that para here: "Political and ideological mobilisation outside the law to convey the sense that Indian citizens will not stand for a Republic that is discriminatory, fearful and panders to its own worst instincts. Only then may even the judges move."

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Sorry, but what exactly does "Political and ideological mobilization outside the law..." mean?

In a democracy shouldn't the elected representatives decide what is good for the country and its people? If you disagree with the elected representatives' actions then the right way to go about it is to democratically vote them out of office. To a layman like me "the govt. is using the mob, brute power or mobilization to bring the CAB into effect" seems like pompous nonsense by someone who has taken leave of reality. Just my opinion of course. Others can disagree.

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Whether the govt is right or left, there is a possibility that a law it may enact, could be wrong. Whenever that is the case, those who feel it's wrong, will need to educate and mobilize the masses, before the next vote happens. So, political and ideological mobilization can and should happen before elections - both the right and the left can do it. The key question is different - it is whether CAB is right or wrong. My main point however was that the author of this article needs to make his article factually accurate at one point

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Enlightened with insight.

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Absolutely delightful

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A onderfully written piece that bursts the myth surrounding many recent leftie related episodes, primed on PB Mehta and his achievements in research and teaching, the equivalent of Rahul Gandhi in political mainstream

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author

thank you. i'm still baffled as to why pbmehta is considered a great public intellectual

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What a tedious rant!

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author

so now you know what it feels like to read any of mehta's opeds.

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Touche 😂 However, I notice a common thread among those who write against whatever you call the other side... that is, start by discrediting a person before addressing (or sidestepping) issues raised by him/her. If that passes for reasoned argument, I don't have much to say. However, my comment in this instant case had more to do with the length of your piece than your criticism of PBM.

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Addressing his issues would be to give a thread bare explanation on how the CAA is not discriminatory towards the minority. Or on how the government is not Fascist. Or on how no media personnel are being hounded for their anti-government reporting. Or answering baseless, unsubstantiated, flaky accusations PBM and his ilk have been hurling at the government since 2014. By the way, these so called reasoned arguments are never responded to by the disgruntled lot. They just repeat the accusations from different platforms, in different tones and tenor, paraphrased and rehashed, in screams or in murmur, from within India or abroad, day in and day out. Reasoning with them would have been a tedious exercise.

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There is no need to discredit PBM. He discredited himself, especially with that repulsive anti-CAA rabble-rousing.

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What you considered a tedious rant, was a no holds barred takedown to others. More power to your pen, Doc.

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Ha ha ha! If it is "discrediting a person before addressing the issues", then that is some comeuppance for the so called "liberals", leftists & communists. Because the leftists & communists perfected this art, & so called liberals copied this lock stock & barrel. Good if it is being deployed as a counter now. Although I don't think that is the case. Mehta leaves so many loopholes in his long winding arguments that there is enough space to critic him. He started writing OpEds in Indian Express in 2008 or so & his verbose stuff caught folks' attention at least for sometime.

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As a general rule, originality helps. It's no great achievement to mimic someone else's tactics lock, stock and barrel. Sound arguments are downed in the din.

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*drowned

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