Terrorism – The Greatest Threat to India

One of the greatest threat India is facing in the 21^st century is that of terrorism, both from inside and outside of its territory. For the past six or seven weeks, India is reeling under maoist attacks.

While the government has succeeded in curbing terrorist attacks from outside after 26/11, it has failed miserably in tackling maoist activities. There is no unity inside the government or the UPA regarding this issue. While the Home Minister is in the view that we have to use air force against the maoists, some others are in the view that we cannot use air force against our own people. But these people should answer some questions; should the people who wage war against India be considered as Indians? Should the people who abide by the Constitution of India have any right to live safely and peacefully in India? Whatever reasons the maoists or the human rights activists put forward, they cannot justify the killing of innocent civilians and jawans.

We have one of the top air forces in the world today. Then why the government is hesitating to use it against the maoists? These forces are meant for securing the life and property of Indians. The government is reiterating the need for a two pronged strategy for dealing with the maoists; one prong being military action and the other being development in these areas. But this two pronged strategy seems to be in a deadlocked situation now; how can development reach in an area where the maoists are frequently blowing up roads and rails? How can the government get the support of the people in curbing maoist activities without development in these areas? So this approach should be revisited, in my opinion. There should be more coordination among the Central and State governments.

The Government of India should show the courage to suppress the maoist activities at any cost. Neither the Government nor the Opposition should look for cheap political gains from this issue. The maoists should be swept out of Indian soil at the earliest. The Indian Government should have the courage to do what Mahinda Rajapaksa has done in Sri Lanka. It was because of the courage shown by Rajapaksa that Sri Lanka finally ended the almost three decade long civil war. 

Is Devotion a Sin?

According to a study conducted by a leading news channel, the devotion among youths are on a rise. It is good for every human to believe in some good spirit, whether it be Jesus, Allah or Iswar. No matter by what name you call this spirit.


Humans have proved that you can even market God. This type of marketing strategy has already gained popularity in God’s Own Country. Temples are mostly leveraging the weakness of a section of people to their business. You may even see ads on tvs and news papers about temples and Gods – come here, do this and fulfill your dreams. ‘Saptaham’, ‘Navaham’, ‘Pongala’ – there are a lot of 3G Marketing Tools used by these Marketing Gurus. There are a lot of people who are annoyed about this. The devotion should be in your mind rather than displaying it to others. If devotion is in your mind, it will reflect in your thoughts and actions. Now it has become a symbol of status for at least some people to go to shrines.


Before ten years how many temples were having these rituals? Now how many temples are conducting these rituals? There is a spontaneous increase in the number of temples because of its success in a few others. Other than the priests, a lot of people are now making their living out of this. So every year they have to come up with some new ideas. Like other businesses there is stiff competition in this field also. In our country, how many shrines are running to serve the people rather than for business?


This is the age of fake gurus. They are very good at fooling people and taking away cash and other valuable things. And what is even more disturbing is we Keralites, who claim to have achieved 100% literacy here, are also vulnerable to this.


Now it has become a de facto standard to bring everything to the street, whether it is a protest or a festival, thereby disrupting the normal life of people. At least we should restrain from doing this on the major roads where a disruption in traffic may cause unexpected results. I accept that all these are modes of recreation for a few people but it should not be done at the expense of inconvenience to a majority of others.


Looking into all these facts, I’m forced to conclude that devotion is sometimes a sin. There should be a limit for everything. Everyone should define that limit according to our shrewdness. If you think that I’m an atheist, you are wrong. I’ve strong belief in God but not superstitious. I’m really looking forward for a day when the mentality of our people change and our society becomes a good one for humans to live.