Typing Test

10:00

Which University in the United States of America will allow its students to raise slogans praising Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists responsible for 9/11 attack and raise slogans against its own government? Be they Harvard and University of California, Berkeley or Davis? Or be it the American College in Washington itself? No sensible student community would ever attempt that in the first place. Assuming for a moment that some misguided students do go on a rally praising Bin Laden, can they expect their police accept their dubious explanation that they were exercising their right to 'freedom of expression'? It doesn't matter which Party is in power, Republican or Democrats, you can expect a stern action right away with the approval of the entire country. Will President Francois Hollande allow a rally say by some students from Sorbonne University in Paris supporting the organization which killed 130 people in Paris November last year by bombing various localities in Paris under the same banner of freedom of expression? If we know how swiftly Hollande acted saying 'France is at war' against the attackers, one can be reasonably sure even protesters wouldn't have been spared either. Will President Putin keep quiet if students run down their own country, Russia? Or for that matter Saudi Arabia? Will any government? Both USA and France are champions of free thinking that allow their citizens maximum freedom of expression. Yet, will they allow their countrymen praise perpetrators of worst kind of terror attack on its own people? No country in any civilized world would allow this. Protesters, of course have a right to question the government on any of its policies, actions it has taken and take the matter to the streets. But they have no right to raise anti-national slogans and raise slogans praising a terrorist who was behind the attack on India's Parliament House during the session. Well, in the premier Jawaharlal Nehru University ( JNU) a section of students did exactly try that, and when the police acted against them, they cried it was against freedom of expression! The case against Afzal Guru went on for years and after due process of law, after the highest court in the country found him guilty and pronounced death penalty, he was given the punishment he deserved. Pandit Nehru our first Prime Minister once called our Parliament a 'Temple of democracy' when India became the largest democratic nation in the world. Some terrorists dared to attack Parliament House in 2001 when the House had just adjourned an hour ago. Policemen guarding Parliament killed the terrorists and died in the process. The irony is that what our first Prime Minister Nehru stood for seems to have been forgotten. The policemen who died in the Parliament attack in Delhi, Hanamanthappa who died in Siachen last week, the thousands of soldiers who die in Kashmir or Mumbai policeman Tukaram Ombale -- they all didn't make the ultimate sacrifice for no reason. They gave their lives so that you, I and some useless students of the kind that shouted slogans against the country may live in peace. What is freedom? That is what made Ombale hold on to Kasab even while knowing he was going to die from the bullets he took; that is what Hanamanthappa and nine more faced Siachen at 19000 feet in -40 C and many thousands who die in the border fighting terrorists. The policemen guarding Parliament died while making sure the terrorists did not succeed. Attack on the sovereignty of the country whether it is across the border, or within, is non-negotiable for any country including India. This should be understood by some leaders too. Will any television newscaster say Hollande over-reacted by sending his planes to bomb those who were involved in the attack? Well, in India there are some questioning government's action in arresting hooligans masquerading as students shouting, 'Ladthe Rahenge Bharath ki barbadi tak' ( Our fight will go on till India is finished). If this is not sedit