Dear Mr. Shourie (from Gaurang Vaishnav)

Dear Dr. Arun Shourie:

Namaste.  A few days back you came down hard on Modi government. You made an uncharitable remark that “The Modi government believes that managing economy means “managing the headlines” and that people have started recalling the days of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.” I didn’t like it but you are an expert on the subject and I am not, so I swallowed it. You further said, “The way to characterize policies of the government is – Congress plus a cow. Policies are the same.”  http://m.timesofindia.com/india/This-government-is-Congress-plus-a-cow-Arun-Shourie-says/articleshow/49544316.cms?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=TOI

That was a cheap pot shot and insulting to Hindu sensitivities. Yet, I let it ride thinking that even the best of the people lose balance sometimes in anger and say things that they later regret.

People have surmised that you are frustrated because you were not given a ministerial position in the new government, not even a place in the Niti Ayog. I didn’t agree with that assessment. I didn’t think you were that petty and hunkering after name and fame.

Having known your contribution to BJP and your scholarly and philosophical mind, having read your books, I have held you in high regards for decades, so I did not want to label you as another Modi hater just because of that one interview.

Then came another of your interviews with NDTV. It opened my eyes and changed my perception.  I want to pick only a few points from that interview and tell you that Mr. Shourie, you are wrong.

http://www.indiatvnews.com/politics/national/pm-modi-keeping-silent-just-to-win-bihar-elections-arun-shourie-33514.html

(1) “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is deliberately maintaining silence on incidents like Dadri lynching while his ministerial and party colleagues kept the issue alive merely to win Bihar elections.”. Maybe he is and that is a prudent way; if you had the good of the country at the heart and didn’t want Congress or its proxy to rear its head again, you would have kept quiet too. And why should he comment? Just because it was a Muslim death? Why did you not mention that he should make a statement also on the murder of Prashant Poojary, a Hindu by Muslims? So you are also falling in media trap of labeling Modiji as a PM of Hindus only.

(2) You cited a Pakistani analyst to say that “while the neighboring country was trying to get out of the pit, India was slowly going down its way.” So now, to you suddenly an analyst from Pakistan carries more weight? And is Pakistan really trying to come out of the pit? It doesn’t look like looking at what they are doing in Kashmir.

(3) You have said “the writers, authors and artists were conscience-keepers of the country and their motives cannot be questioned.”  Ha, ha, ha! So where was their conscience in 1984 Sikh genocide, in 1989 when Pundits in Kashmir were massacred, in 2002 when 58 Hindus were burnt alive at Godhra in a railway coach when Professor Joseph’s hands were cut by the Jehadis in Kerala? So these guys’ motives cannot be questioned but Modi’s can be?

(4) ” Praising scientists like P M Bhargava and Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, who have expressed concern over these incidents, you questioned how these people can be called rabid, a term used by Arun Jaitley.”  One only needs to do a Google search on Bhargava to see where his ideological loyalties lie.  Bhargava has been supporting AAP from the very beginning and has leftist, pro-Naxal leanings. He is not a neutral, ‘oh, so ever gentle soul.’ Mr. Murthy is a Ford Foundation Trustee. Do we need to know more?

(5) ” These people have contributed immensely to the country and those who attacked them have not read a book in the last 20 years. Those who cannot write two paragraphs are sitting in judgement over writers.”  This is so absurd an argument that it takes the cake. If we were sitting in judgement of their literary work, the argument would make sense; here we are judging their action of Award Vapasi and political motive behind it, which doesn’t require literary skills but common sense.

Your strident support of politically motivated writers and artists’ return of awards makes it crystal clear that in the last innings of your life, you have thrown away your wicket. You are so enamored with your righteousness that you have lost all sense of proportion. Up until now, I thought that Advaniji was the only icon whom I had held in high esteem and who had failed BJP and the nation at the crucial juncture. Now I know that he is in good (!) company.

I am one of 1.25 billion Bharatiyas. Though I happen to reside away from Bharat, my heart beats for Bharat. I blog, twit and use Facebook. I am not a scholar; I have not written incisive books; I have not been a minister; I have not been a darling of think tanks and conclaves; I am not a speaker; hey, I am not even a member of BJP. Yet, I dare say that Shourie Ji you have lost it. All your lifelong contributions have come to a naught because you have decided to become a tool in the hands of Adharma, i.e., in the hands of anti-Modi, anti-Hindu, and to an extent, anti-Bharat media. It is no different than Bhishma or Dronacharya deciding to side with the Kauravas.

Finally, I can write “more than two paragraphs” and I have read 50 or so book in last twenty years.

May you find peace within.

Gaurang G. Vaishnav

Edison, New Jersey, USA

(facebook: <vicharak1>, twitter: @vicharak1)