Lindsay Pereira: Our favourite 'kick ass' policy

Even as the country rejoiced the armyrsquos strikes some demanded that Pak artistes be asked to leave the country PicPTIA small number of people want Pakistani artistes to be lsquokicked outrsquo on account of the fact that some Pak nationals may or may not have launched terror attacks somshyewhere in India These people want Pakistani artistes to be taught a lesson so they can go back to their country and exhort their people to stop indulging in terrorism of any sort Itrsquos hoped that this ldquostrong messagerdquo mdash presumably to be given over an evening of light entertainment featuring works by aforementioned artistes mdash will be taken seriously by terrorists who as history has taught us have always considered messages from artistes and ceased their bloody activities almost instantlyldquoWhat do Pakistani artistes have to do with terrorismrdquo a journalist asshyked one of the people who have been frothing at the mouth and demanding that Pak artistes be sent backThe response was another question ldquoWhat if any of these Pakistani artistes does a recce and passes on information to terrorists for attacksrdquo Itrsquos a valid argument because again as history has taught us terrorists have always planned attacks on other countries by first infiltrating them in the guise of pop singers and movie stars These singers and actors then presumably use their acting and singing skills to carefully study enemy territory after which they transmit sensitive information using codes cleverly embedded in catchy songs and film dialogues enabling terrorists to plan attacks Irsquom assuming this is how the West was wonI donrsquot think we should just stop at Pakistani artistes though I think representatives of any country which has harmed India in some way directly or indirectly should be kicked out The kicking is important becaushyse simply escorting them to airports and ensuring they depart wouldnrsquot send the right message We should kick out all foreign artistes because they should pay for what their countrymen do outside If an Indian national is mugged in Paris all French artistes in India should be asked to leave Indian citizen assaulted in Loshynshydon Kick out the English artistes And naturally all Americans living in India should be kicked out at once simply because of what their countryrsquos military does to so many other countries If artistes donrsquot pay for what their armies do who willI tried thinking what have the people who want Pakistani artistes kicked out ever done for India I assume they must be great patriots mdashroutinely sacrificing their lives for the motherland The only thing I foushynd after an enormous amount of time on Google is that some of these people had become rich under mysterious circumstances Some were builders despite never actually having worked a day in their lives Some of them didnrsquot actually do anything except threaten people around Bombay They threatened them on Valentinersquos Day tore down signboards if they werenrsquot in a language of their choosing and sometimes assaulted people for not hiring their friendsBesides kicking out artistes is easy mdash they are mostly nonviolent and unarmed They use words music and pictures to get their messages across And these messages are wasted on people who can barely read or write mdash people who think that dancing to item numbers on the streets is what Indian culture is all about People who take it upon themselves to speak for the rest of us because usually the rest of us canrsquot be bothered to speak upI wonder what we ought to do to people who are supposedly Indian but continue to harm other Indians nonetheless What do we do about people who have problems with the North Indians the South Indians and just about any other Indian from across the country who decides to move to Bombay What do we do about people who give out homes only to members of their own communities People who insist that only their kind of food is to be cooked in a certain neighbourhood People who insist on thrusting their habits and customs upon everyone else simply by claiming to speak for a majority Are they doing something great for India Are they not causing as much harm if not more than terrorists at our borders More importantly arenrsquot their actions affecting a hell of a lot more peopleIf I were in charge of this country I know the exact people I would want kicked out of here And probably they wouldnrsquot be Pakistani artistesWhen he isnrsquot ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom