If I say - the curfew and media gag is unjust in Kashmir, that doesn't mean I won't stand for the justice of Pandit exodus.
- That doesn't mean I am a separatist sympathizer. That doesn't mean I don't pay attention to incidents where our "Atoot ang" Kashmiris are hassled, ill-treated and outcasted, and that is of course including their own state.
- That also doesn't mean I will stand with Internet trolls and shout - 'Go back to Pakistan' to Muslims, Kashmiri or otherwise.
- That doesn't mean I will not speak for the injustice of the pogrom in 2002. Or in 1984.
If I say - the secret execution and underlying statement of Afzal Guru's hanging made me uneasy, that doesn't mean I am crying foul because he was a Muslim.
- That doesn't mean I am crossing out his involvement for the training he got in Pakistan and his involvement in the Parliament attack.
- That doesn't mean - I don't think his trial, with or without Mr Ram Jethmalani's statement in 2006, that Guru didn't get a fair trial and shouldn't be hanged and then completely going back on his own words after getting RS ticket from BJP in 2010 - was fair and square.
- That doesn't mean - I don't see how the government is stating in bold fonts- Mess with us and we will choose an apt time and tighten the collective conscience noose around your neck again and hang you for 8 minutes.
If I say - Owaisi and Togadia cases are two peas in a pod and should be treated equally, it doesn't mean I didn't see only one of them was arrested.
- That doesn't mean I don't see the Hajj subsidy as something that symbolically is more harmful for Muslims than the collective prejudice of Mumbai and Gujarat's landlords who won't give houses to Muslims.
- It doesn't mean I like seeing more of the constant cries of 'I am a victim' tune that the Muslims sing and so few of them in the slick corporate corridors.
- It also doesn't mean I won't laugh at the generalizations that they have multiple wives ( in this age and economy) more children, are wife beaters, and live in dense ghettos usually in the most poor localities of any city. And it doesn't mean that prejudices against Muslims don't run in the education and corporate sectors.
If I say - the current situation in India depresses me it doesn't mean I don't have hope for this country.
- It doesn't mean I wont choose this country over any other to live in if I had a choice among many.
- It doesn't mean I will stop carrying a screw driver and a pepper spray in my bag.
- It doesn't mean I won't scream hoarse for India when there is an India Vs Pak. It doesn't mean I will stop getting goosebumps when I hear Jan Gana Man. It doesn't mean I will stop saying or hoping, 'It will be alright.'
Someday, one day.
