TWO-FACED ADVERSARY

Raven Gale

India celebrates Holi by test-firing a Pakistan-specific nuclear
capable missile, to disprove its "spirit of togetherness, harmony and
tolerance".

On March 23, 2008, on the day of India's religious festival Holi,
President Pratibha Patil said, "The festival of Holi brings joy and
happiness, which imbibes the spirit of friendship among people of all
faiths".

In a separate message, Vice President Hamid Ansari said, "This
festival portrays our great tradition of 'Unity in Diversity' by
transcending all distinctions and bridges the social gap by uniting us
all in a joyful celebration of sprinkling of colours."

Dr Manmohan Singh in his message said that "The festival symbolizes
the country's spirit of togetherness, harmony and tolerance".

On the same auspicious day, India test fired the Agni-I, a medium-
range nuclear-capable ballistic missile capable of hitting most
targets in Pakistan.

23rd March is the day Pakistan celebrates the commemoration of the
adoption of the historic resolution which became the driving force for
the creation of an independent Muslim homeland.

The timing of the Agni-I experiment therefore sends a very hostile
message to Pakistan and presents the image of India never having
reconciled to the reality of this independent and sovereign nation.

Rather than attempting to intimidate Pakistan, India needs to focus
both its energy and capital on putting some truth into its claims of
secularism, on "spirit of togetherness, harmony and tolerance"

India might remind itself that it accounts for 40 per cent of the
world's poor, which is more than in the whole of Africa. And that in
the last two years, more than 218,000 people across the country
committed suicide mainly due to poverty, family feud, strained
relationship with loved ones, dowry harassment, and the health
problems posed by the meagre allocation of less than one percent of
its gross domestic product (GDP) for health.

It might also make note of the fact that the pervading caste system
effectively leaves lower caste Hindus as an oppressed majority in
India's power structure. The upper castes (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and
Vaishyas ) that constitute 10 per cent of the total Indian population
claim close to 80 per cent of the jobs in sectors such as software,
biotechnology, and hotel management.

Apart from this, crimes against Dalits occur every 20 minutes in India
while the number of Muslims killed in the past few years across the
country are on a steady rise. In addition, the Justice Rajinder Sachar
Committee report has admitted that 138 Million Muslims across India
are severely under-represented in government employment, including
Public Sector Units.

As if that were not enough most of its bordering countries blame India
for meddling in their affairs.
If then India is to make good on its claims of stability, secularism
and progress and be an inspiration to its neighbours, it might look in
some direction other than testing nuclear capable missiles.
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