With the lopsided growth of science and technology, the world seems to have developed in the various fields. But a close study of the situation prevailing around us reveals that this development is at the cost of certain virtues like truth and justice. The Machiavellian strategy of telling a lie so many times and with so much force and dexterity that the listeners might come to believe it as a gospel truth, is gaining ground. Gone are the days when politicians and statesmen used to stick to truth and honesty. Now generally they have lost the sheen so far as morality is concerned. They love to protect their vested interests without caring a fig about the loss of virtues and its repercussions on the country or her citizens.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 1 March drew sharp criticism for comments equating ‘Zionism’ to ‘a crime against humanity’. Addressing the UN Alliance of Civilizations conference in Vienna last week, Erdogan complained of prejudices against Muslims. He said Islamophobia should be considered a crime against humanity “just like Zionism, like anti-Semitism and like fascism.”
This is nothing new. Relations between Turkey and Israel have been strained since 2010, when nine Turkish activists were killed after Israeli commandoes stormed a flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip. And Tel Aviv has resisted Ankara’s pressure to apologise and pay compensation. Erdogan sharply criticised Israel earlier as well. In 2009 he stormed out of a debate with the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, after telling him “you Israelis know how to kill”.
Keen observers of global developments, especially in West Asia, would agree to this remark of his, for it is Zionism that has led the Jews to usurp the sacred land of Palestine, erect their settlements over there and has been creating havoc for the Palestinians in their own homeland. Their crimes against humanity are right from the burning of Masjid al-Aqsa to the atrocities of sorts till this day including elimination of Hamas leaders, continuing siege of Gaza and bombarding Palestinian civilians. What Erdogan has said is in the fitness of things. But, as the Zionists and their supporters would have it, he had to receive criticism from the practitioners and supporters of Zionism. It is as if calling a spade spade is a crime today.
Back home, our Union Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde said in no ambiguous terms that the training camps of RSS and its allies are promoting terrorism in the country. In support of this view, Union Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh also came out with a list of “at least 10 persons arrested for their involvement in a spate of terror attacks in different parts of the country, who had links with RSS or its affiliated organisations”. This remark of Shinde endorsed by Singh is quite true and in the larger interest of the nation. But the mounting pressure exerted by Machiavellian forces made our Home Minister eat humble pie. It is high time our politicians and statesmen paid heed to what is true and just as well as what is in the interest of the nation and the citizens.