Blogging Ban in India: The Official Word!!

Just got an email from the desicritics.org yahoo group where a member of SAJA – Sree Sreenivasan – had asked the Indian Consulate about India’s ban on blogs. Here is the official word:

From: A.R.Ghanashyam <dcg@indiacgny.org>
Subject: Blog Issue in India

July 19, 2006

Dear Sree:

Reference our discussions and correspondence on the issue of blocking of blogs blogs in India, we had taken up the matter with the authorities concerned in
the Department of Telecommunications in the Government of India and the facts are as under:

A two-page write up containing extremely derogatory references to Islam and the
holy prophet which had the potential to inflame religious sensitivities in
India and create serious law and order problems in the country appeared in a
blog facilitated by well known search engines. The matter was immediately taken
note of by our CERT (Computer Emergency Response Team) and the Department of
Telecommunications (DOT) was informed of it. The DOT took up the matter
forthwith with the search engines and instructions were also issued to all
Internet providers to block the two impertinent pages. Because of a
technological error, the Internet providers went beyond what was expected of
them which in turn resulted in the unfortunate blocking of all blogs.
Department of Telecommunications have now clarified the issue and the error is
being rectified and it is expected that normalcy in respect of blogs will soon
be restored.

This is for your information.

A.R. Ghanashyam
Deputy Consul General
New York

The question of course, that babus need to answer is what is derogatory? And if anyone from the Muslim community reads something online and goes around doing violence – is that a behavior of a sane person? Instead of intropection and thought – what we see is outright rejection of the extremist ingredients in the entire structure!!

Why should the state be good to a hypothetical individual whose constitution has been ASSUMED to be extremist as a default?

And how does the Indian Government think of the various sites that show up talking derogatory – ok thats an understatement – stuff about Hinduism??

Just like nothing succeeds like success… one can say that nothing succeeds like Extremism too! Be an Extremist – with a “moderate” outlook and lo and behold.. the world will tread softly around you. Your extremism and thin skin … and lack of introspective mindet will be your SAFEGUARD!

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