Check out Arundhati Roy’s article on the recent tragedy is Mumbai.
If there is a controversy around can Arundhati Roy be far behind? The article is very long but as always brilliantly written so you could read easily without ever feeling that the author is rambling.
Arundhati Roy’s eternal anti-establishment radar is firmly in tact. So as expected she blames India and its religious Hindu-right. However, if you read the entire article, towards the end you will notice that she is partly responding to a tirade against her on TV.
While the Sangh Parivar does not seem to have come to a final decision over whether or not it is anti-national and suicidal to question the police, Arnab Goswami, anchorperson of Times Now television, has stepped up to the plate. He has taken to naming, demonising and openly heckling people who have dared to question the integrity of the police and armed forces. My name and the name of the well-known lawyer Prashant Bhushan have come up several times. At one point, while interviewing a former police officer, Arnab Goswami turned to camera: “Arundhati Roy and Prashant Bhushan,” he said, “I hope you are watching this. We think you are disgusting.” For a TV anchor to do this in an atmosphere as charged and as frenzied as the one that prevails today, amounts to incitement as well as threat, and would probably in different circumstances have cost a journalist his or her job.
Apart from this part of the article which is clearly in defense of the personal attack against her, the rest of the article brilliantly captures all aspects of the recent Mumbai attacks and its aftermath as well as the larger context with specific reference to past events. Definitely worth reading!
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