Re: Horseplay in Harappa: Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
— RAW sponsored Hindu extremist organizations like Shiv Sena launch
sudden violent campaigns against Muslim showbiz stars of Bollywood
— RAW’s Anti-Muslim campaigns were geared up in India soon after the
9/11 through extremist outfits
— RAW’s deep involvement in extremist activities alarms global
clandestine community
— Shiv Sena Chief publishes Editorials, written by RAW as he himself
is merely a cartoonist and cant write even a single editorial
— Sena Chief in 2002 announced forming Hindu Suicide squads to attack
Pakistanis
— US may initiate action against Hindu extremist groups under
Executive Order 13224, Section 219 of INA and Section 140(d)(2) of FRA
Act, 1988-89
— RSS, Bajrang Dal jointly training Hindu militants arriving from US,
Europe, Austria, Africa and South East Asia at Sarojini Nagar near
Lucknow
— Ex-Generals engaged by Hindutva to train militants
By Makhdoom Babar
(Additional reporting by Christina Palmer in New Delhi, Kapil Verma in
Mumbai and Sandra Johnson in Washington)
While the leading Bollywood celebrities, belonging to Muslim community
are being grilled by Hindu extremist and militant organizations,
mainly the Mumbai-based Shiv Sena, for one reason or the other, the
venom of the Hindu extremists has ring the alarm bells across the
globe as the situation makes this country with over one billion
population, even more fragile than the Taliban dominated Afghanistan
in the direction of extremism and militancy, reveal the investigations
of The Daily Mail.
These investigations of The Daily Mail disclose that the latest wave
of blitzes of Hindu extremists against Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan,
Saif Ali Khan and Aamir Khan are not simply reaction of some
extremists over pro Pakistani cricketers remarks by these Muslim
heroes of Indian movie world but it actually is a motivated campaign
against Muslim celebrities of the Bollywood, arranged and organized by
Indian Intelligence agency RAW as RAW has a history of practicing the
same for years, but in past the volume and gravity of such campaigns
remained limited to just an arm twisting level.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that though the Khans of Bollywood
are being grilled by the Hindu Extremist outfits for showing moral
support to Pakistani cricketers in the backdrop of their humiliation
at the IPL auction, none of the Hindu extremist organizations or
individual dared to show any reaction against any Hindu celebrity for
showing the same support to Pakistani cricketers. These findings
indicate that the Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachan easily got away
after making the similar remarks that the Khans are being grilled for.
The Indian Newspaper The Tribune reports “Ignored by the IPL
franchisees, Pakistani cricketers found support from Bollywood icon
Amitabh Bachchan, who lamented the snub and said it should not have
happened. He said: “There are people who admire them and they have
many good players. This should not have happened,” the words, which
are not different from Shah Rukh Khan’s remarks.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that RAW had been following the
policy of keeping Indian Muslim celebrities to be cut down to the
size, fearing that Muslims, if left to be on top notch positions, can
someday influence the society to go for peace with Pakistan, which is
not suitable for RAW at all. These findings indicate that in the past,
RAW has been arm twisting the Khans of Bollywood by fixing them in one
case or the other and then publicizing these cases even if it was the
killing of a bird by Saif Ali Khan or hunting a deer by Salman Khan.
The Daily Mail’s findings also indicate that last year’s humiliation
of Shah Rukh Khan at a US airport by the immigration officials was
also organized by RAW. Shah Rukh Khan was detained at Newark airport
in August last year for security check-up by US officials. Shah Rukh
Khan was detained for questioning by the US officials even after
telling them that he was a movie star. The Daily Mail’s findings
indicate that the RAW operative of its underworld mafia wing were
behind giving some false tips to the US officials against Khan.
The Daily Mail’s investigations indicate that Shiv Sena is one of the
main militant extremist Hindu organizations that RAW nurtures while
the party Chief Bal Thackeray takes complete dictation from RAW
bosses. RAW also funds a newspaper, owned, apparently by Thackeray in
which RAW gets its anti-Muslim and ant-Pakistan material regularly
printed. These findings indicate that the editorial that Thackeray
publishes in his newspaper with his own name are also written by RAW
officials as Thackeray is merely a cartoonist and cannot write even a
single editorial. Further more the use of word in his speeches and the
use of words in his editorial clearly prove that the brain behind
Thackeray’s spontaneous speeches and that of the editorials is not the
same.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the venom that the Hindu
extremists have recently shown to prove their being staunch anti-
Pakistan forces, when Pakistan and India were struggling hard to
evolve peaceful relations and with RAW being on the back of this
extremism and militancy of Hindu fanatics, the global clandestine
community as well as the governments are deeply shocked, considering
the development take both India and Pakistan to the stage of a war.
This has been noticed with a very serious consideration that while
Pakistan’s ISI is making all out efforts to eliminate militancy and
extremism from the country, India’s RAW, on its part, is actually
promoting the militancy and extremism in India.
According to well-placed official sources, Washington and its allies
in global anti-terror war have now very strongly started believing
that Hindutva Brotherhood and other Hindu fanatic groups, particularly
those, attached to Sangh Parivar are getting organized on the pattern
of Taliban and Hindutva network has got all the potential to become
even more lethal than Al-Qaeda and other Muslim extremists' militant
groups.
Announcement of formation of suicide squads by Bal Thackeray, was more
than enough to ring the alarm bells at Washington after which the US
and other Western agencies recommended a strong and timely action
against such Hindu groups. US believes that if not checked and stopped
timely, these Hindu extremists can become a permanent threat to the
world peace and the ongoing global anti-terror war will have to open
another front and this time in a nuclear State with every possibility
of nuke weapons landing into the hands of these extremists, having
deep roots in Indian Armed Forces and Delhi nuclear command
infrastructure.
,The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that top US officials are not
ready to buy that the Indian government would be able to take a solid
step in this direction and thus they recommend a direct US action
under the relevant legislations.
Highly credible diplomatic sources revealed that a number of Indian
organization involved in saffron terrorism, religious bigotry and hate
mongering politics are under strict scrutiny of the United States with
some likely to be placed on the State Department’s list of Foreign
Terrorist Organizations under Section 219 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) as well as blocking of their assets and finances
and fund raising in terms of the Executive Order 13224.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that although new saffron
organizations are having mushroom growth in India on a routine basis
under the patronage of RAW and the Sangh Parivar umbrella of Hindutva
like-minded groups, the organizations particularly being watched are
the RSS, VHP including VHP America, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Shiv
Sena, Hindutva Unity, Hindutva Brotherhood, Soldiers of Hindutva,
Saffron Tigers, Hindu Jagran Manch, Hindu Student Council of America,
American Hindus against Defamation (AHAD) and Savarkar Darshan.
The above groups fall under the definite of terrorist organization
under numerous US legislations such as Section 140 (d) (2) of Foreign
Relations Authorization Act 1988-89 which defines “terrorism as
premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non
combatant targets by sub national groups…” or Chapter 8 of INA which
describes engagement in terrorist activity including community,
inciting to commit, plan or gather information on potential targets
and soliciting funds for a terrorist activity as culpable offences
under US law. Section 2l (d) (i) of Executive Order also defines
terrorism as a violent act dangerous to human life, property or
infrastructure.
According to The Daily Mail’s findings RSS and Bajrang Dal have joint
terrorist training camps at several locations in India where large
number of Hindu trainees even come from USA, Europe, Australia, Africa
and South East Asia. These trainees are imparted ‘Shakha’ (daily
military regime and discipline) preparing them for ‘Dharma’ Yudh
(Religious Holy War).
The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal that one such terrorist
training camp is at Sarojini Nagar in Awadh region near Lucknow.
Bajrang Dal, RSS and subsidiary groups’ terrorists are trained in use
of fire arms, explosive, knives, daggers, trishuls (Hindu religious
javelin having three prongs) guerrilla warfare, sabotage, booby
trapping, ambush and surprise attack tactics, close quarter encounters
and assault techniques, as well as combat with minimal use of weapons
such as clubs and martial arts. Even women of Durga Vahini are trained
in these camps though their main training centre is in Kampur. Over a
100,000 terrorists have been trained to a high degree of
sophistication in these camps while those who have received
preliminary training are countless. The training is imparted by former
Special Commando Group personnel of Indian Armed Forces, many of whom
got premature retirement after lucrative offers from RSS and BD. The
Chief Trainer and Instructor at Sarojini Nagar is also said to be a
retired military personal formerly belonging to the Elite Commandos
Squad of Indian Army, Sardar Bhupendra Singh. The Bajrang Dal convener
in Uttar Pardesh state Bihari Mishra is also reportedly responsible
for the camp. A target of training 200,000 has been set for mid-2012.
Most trainees are students and youth with some as young as 8 to 13
years old.
Highly credible diplomatic sources confided to The Daily Mail that the
US has been much concerned on the phenomenal rise in Hindu
fundamentalism for the past few years, particularly the Hindu fanatics
started comparing themselves with Muslim extremists like Osama Bin
Laden after he emerged as a very power Muslim extremist.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that many observers in US have
pointed that the Sangh Parivar groups call for ban on conversion to
any religion except Hinduism and at the same time they profess openly
to reconvert those who adopted any religion other than Hinduism,
through use of all means including force and financial blockade.
According to its own claims VHP reconverted 5000 tribal Christians to
Hinduism in Sundargarh district of Orissa state alone, during the last
two years. It is pertinent that Sundargarh is one of the Bajrang Dal
strongholds where numerous incidences of terrorizing and victimization
of Christian tribal folks have been reported. The element of coercion
in these re-conversions cannot be therefore ruled out.
According to The Daily Mail’s findings, the US officials made strong
talk with their Indian counterparts during conversations not reported
to media, over the unabated rise of Saffron terrorism and the
exceptional proliferation of Hindu extremist militant organizations,
while the State Department kept a low key public profile on the
matter. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USIRF)
on the other hand took cognizance of the crimes committed against the
humanity in the name of religion by the Sangh Parivar Hindu
fundamentalists and held a hearing on Gujarat violence a few years
back. The USIRF Commissioner Ms Felice Gaer also took strong note of
the incitement and twist to the violence in Gujarat by the VHP of
Ameirca Inc. to portray the Hindus as the victims. In a damage control
exercise the VHPA’s President Jyotish Parekh hastily sent a letter to
Ms. Gaer in which he called ‘killing of Muslims as well as Hindus
despicable”. Noteworthy is the fact that the official press release of
VHPA, still maintains “condemnation of 58 Hindus at the hands of
Muslims in Sabarmati Express and despicable aftermath without
mentioning the victimization of Muslims by Hindu militants”. It thus
attempts to create an impression that Hindus suffered in the aftermath
also. By inference this VHPA’s position implied that the carnage in
Gujarat was a reaction to the Godhra incidence and hence justified.
This is further deplorable since India’s own forensic lab has
established that the fire on the Sabarmati Express was started from
within the compartment, which incidentally only had Hindu passengers
in it.
In her opening remarks USIRF Commissioner Ms. Felice Gaer expressed
concern over the reports including that of India’s own National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) that the communal violence in Gujarat was
carefully planned ahead by the government of Gujarat in which, members
of state cabinet and police force were fully implicated. She expressed
serious concern over the association of increased violence against the
minorities with the rise in Hindu nationalist groups in India. She
conveyed the disquiet of the Commission that the “US government had
not spoken out forcefully against attacks on Muslims in Gujarat”.
The testimony of Robert M. Hathaway representative of Woodrow Wilson
Think Tank was very revealing. Hathaway disclosed that though in
public posture the US kept a low key on the Gujarat violence, in
comparison to Japan and Europe, the US officials separately made
strong representation to the Indians over the daylight terrorism by
the Hindu fanatics. He nonetheless called on the Congressmen
particularly known as India sympathizers to speak out their dismay and
condemnation of the tragedy. He pointed that there was a direct
linkage between the international war against terrorism and the
Gujarat mayhem. He stressed that inaction by the US government (over
the rising terrorism by the Hindu fanatics) “would strengthen the
belief of many in the Islamic world that Americans somehow value a
Muslim life less that of other religions and the present war was not
directed against terrorism but Islam”. Therefore the US aimed to
“utilize the tragedies of September 11 to carry out long-desired plans
to repress Islamic world.” Hathaway disclosed to the Commission his
grave horrific encounter with a senior Indian official who “expressed
no remorse over the violence nor recognized that a great tragedy had
taken place.” The official in fact tried to justify the violence as a
natural cause and effect reaction of the Hindu community and attempted
to shift responsibility on the so called cross border Jihadis.
Hathaway recommended an official inquiry into financial transactions
involving of US anti-terrorism laws and other statues by Indians
residents in the US and Americans of Indian origin in transferring
substantial sums of money to groups and organizations in Gujarat and
else-where in India that are directly linked to violence over there.
He also recommended inquiry into fund raising activities in the United
States by groups implicated in violence in Gujarat. He quoted that
responsible sources who believed that the funds raised and sent from
the US were being used to promote religious bigotry and called for
action in banning fund-raising by such groups in line with the action
taken in respect of similar groups in other countries. Interestingly
the official fund raising appeal by Bajrang Dal and VHP calls on the
Hindu community to donate generously and at least “five per cent of
their income to Hindu movements that will ensure that Hinduism will
prosper in spite of attacks from Islam and Christianity”.
Other speakers testified that nine out of every 10 dollars spend by
the Hindu fanatics to carry out Gujarat carnage came from sources in
the United States and Europe. The Sangh Parivar has been successfully
running the pogrom of terror to establish a Hindu ‘Rashtra’ (State) in
India whose ethos are based on Hindu supremacy and where Muslims and
Christians are rank outsiders. Ms Teesta Setalvad eferred the “recent
state-sponsored genocide of Muslims as a brutal expression of this
ideology of an exclusive Hindu state that has no place and accords no
equal citizenship to other confessions of faith”.
DMIC investigations have revealed the there is a remarkable similarity
between the Aryan chauvinism of Hitler’s Hazi party, Mussolini’s
Fascist Party and the ideology of the Hindutva organizations of Sangh
Parivar and their affiliates. In fact the founder of RSS Dr Keshav Rao
Baliran Hedgewar was impressed by Hitler and even went to Europe to
meet him. He could not have an audience with Hitler but managed to
meet Mussolini of Italy. It was on the pattern of the pogrom of these
two of his ‘ideologues’ that Hedgewar based the organization and
regimen of his RSS. VHP was later formed in 1966 as a social and
cultural wing of RSS but to act as a political pressure group in India
and abroad. The use of Aryan symbol of racial chauvinism Swastika by
Hindutva organizations is only a tip of the iceberg in this regard.
Noteworthy is also the use of Nazi oath of allegiance “Loyalty is our
Honour” by some Hindutva organizations while drafting new members. Of
interest is also their slogan “Hinduize the politics and militarize
the Hindus”.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that in its propaganda campaign to
establish bona fide nature of charitable work VHP America professes
that it was a non-profit tax-exempt organization. One of the so-called
charitable works listed by VHPA is the sponsoring of Ekal Vidyata
(mythological religious schools) in nook and corners of India. In fact
thousands of such schools have been opened in India through financing
of VHPA and other VHP branches worldwide. Now these Ekal Vidyatas are
nothing more than the Hindutva hate laboratories according to many
independent reports including that of Human Rights Watch and even
India’s own National Human Rights Commission. HRW assesses the two
schemes of ‘vidya sahaks’ and ‘edal vidya’ as the heart of Sangh
Parivar’s pogrom of “saffronisation” process. In Gujarat alone the
state government hand-picked 20,000 RSS diehards and appointed them
teachers in the state run schools replacing the incumbents. Alongisde
the ‘saffronisation’ of state education system is the programme of
private Ekal Vidyata schools. These schools and education outfits are
no more then hate churning and indoctrinating joints. The State of
Gujarat has been changed the school textbooks and curriculum from 1998
onwards replacing them with hate-filled texts against the minority
communities accusing them of undermining the divine
‘Dharma’ (religion) of Hinduism by converting Hindus of lower caste
and economic strata to other religions. Many observers in the US are
regarding these mythological schools as worst than the Taliban
sponsored Madaris and recommending a concrete action to stop their
sponsorship to indicate even handed approach of US towards extremism.
They regard these schools as volcanoes of bigotry about to explode and
having effects even beyond India. The schools and ‘vidhyata’ teachers
systematically ostracize and ghettoize Christian and Muslim children
reminding one of the similar treatments meted onto the Jewish children
in the Nazi Germany.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that the VHP’s so-called “Points of
Hindu Agenda” makes its Aryan racial jingoist clear. The very first
point describes the establishment of Aryavarta (Land of Aryans) or
Arya Rashstra (State of Arvans) as the prime objective of VHP and
calls on the like minded Groups and political parties to support this
cause. The Agenda deplores the secularist elements within India and
regards ‘Hindutva’ and nationalism as synonymous. It seeks to
establish Gau-Seva (cow serving) Ministries at Union and State level
to oversee complete ban on slaughter of cows and their progeny. The
agenda calls for banning conversion to any religion other then
Hinduism and stoppage of remittance fund provision to missionaries
involved in conversion activities. At the same time it wants to make
teaching of Hindu culture and dharma (religion) compulsory, thereby
defying the fundamental human right of choice of religion.
Simultaneously, it declares the activities related to ‘pooja’ (Hindu
Prayers), construction of Mandirs (Hindu Prayer Centres) exempt from
payment of government taxes. It also calls for enactment of Hindu
blasphemy laws to make any activity deemed disrespectable or
undesirable to Hindu faith and culture a penal offence. Further it
wants to withdraw all constitutional privileges, rights and quotas
granted to minorities, scheduled castes (castes other then Aryan
castes) scheduled tribes (Adivasis) and other depressed classes. The
Minority Commission of India, established since the time of British to
ensure protection and realization of basic rights of minorities is
also sought to be disbanded.
The VHP stalwarts like Sandhya Jain openly accuse involvement of
“American interest in violation of (what he calls) religious freedom
in India and blames Sonia Gandhi of playing to American gallery in
visiting Christian Dang. Community (following its victimization by the
Bajrang Dal Hindu zealots). He accuses the Church of fanning the
centuries’ old caste and class difference in India to proselytize.
Another Hindutva ideologue Amberish K Diwanji professes that
‘Christians cannot face Islamic anger and consider Hindus a soft
target. He propagates a conspiracy theory according to which “the US
wanted to destabilize the (Indian) central government” and hatching an
“international conspiracy to defame Hindu parties”. He alleges that
the Joshua 2000 at Colorado Sprints USA set aim at working on the
scheduled castes and Vanvasi (forest/bush tribes) to convert large
magnitudes to Christianity. He goes on to accuse the “US missionaries
and their clients in India as sponsors of secessionist movements and
terrorism”.
The Daily Mail’s findings indicate that propagation of hate and
bigotry keeps no limits in case of subsidiary organizations such as
Bajrang Dal Hindutva Brotherhood, Savarkar Dharshan etc. One such
leader Jawan Karthik of Bajrang Dakl regards that the only solution to
“Muslim-Christian Problem” is “to have a supper diabolic offensive
forcing them to accept Hinduism”. He calls on the “Hindus to
Militarize and place a ban on recruitment of other faiths to enter
into Indian Army”. He argues that it was “immaterial whose government
was in power, the community that hand majority in the Armed Forces
will decide the future identity of Hindustan.” These Groups’ bring in
mythological references from Hindu religion books such as Ramayan,
Mahabharat, etc. calling for ‘Dharma Yudha’ (religious Holy war)
against Muslims and Christians. Human Rights Watch has also cited such
tendencies of RSS, BD and like-minded groups in its reports stating:
“Western thoughts and civilization are perceived as enemies of Hindu
culture. Religions like Islam and Christianity are depicted as alien
to India. RSS wanted the entire gamut of social life to be designed on
the rock bed of Hinduism. A goal now collectively pursued by Sangh
Parivar”.
In their odium and hate these Groups do not even spare the India’s
spiritual and founding father Gandhi. They call his principles as
bogus. In words of K. S. Sukarshan a prominent RSS leader, “Hindu
Vedas” (religious teachings) tell us that if a man slaps you and you
do not retaliate with two slaps you are not worthy of being called a
man. These Hindutva leaders even go to the extent of regarding
Gandhi’s assassin Nathuramji Godse as a towering warrior of Hinduism.
Another target of the abhorrence of the Sangh Parivar group is the
saintly figure of Mother Teressa who devoted her life to the
betterment of Indian poor leaving her country of birth to settle
there. VHP accuses Mother Teressa of proselytizing and converting
Hindus to Christianity under the garb of charity. They blame her of
projecting a poor image of India in order to raise large funds abroad.
Mother Terrassa is further accused of squandering charity money on her
treatment abroad. Perhaps most outrageous of the allegations is her
having links with criminals and mobsters. Ridiculously she is also
blamed of projecting a poor image of India even after her death as
tens of thousands of reports who turned up to cover her funeral
flashed India’s poverty to the entire world.
http://dailymailnews.com/0210/02/FrontPage/FrontPage1.htm
...and I am Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
It’s time to rethink ties with Sena: Katiyar
Neena Vyas
It is time for the Bharatiya Janata Party to re-think its decades-old
ties with the Shiv Sena, party general secretary Vinay Katiyar said
here on Tuesday.
His remark was almost immediately approved by the party spokesperson
Rajiv Pratap Rudy who said as a senior party leader Mr. Katiyar had
every right to express his views on a matter that seriously concerns
national integration. He further reiterated the party position as
clarified by the president Nitin Gadkari, who on Monday, had said the
Constitution gave the right to every Indian to live and earn his
livelihood in any part of the country.
The “Mumbai belongs to all” snub to the Shiv Sena and its breakaway
outfit the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has been administered by
the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and, more importantly, by the
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been camping in Bihar.
It was then that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat
joined the issue followed quickly by the BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
The ‘Mumbai belongs to all’ cry was also heard from Davos where
industrialist Mukesh Ambani made that point, thus directly attacking
the ‘Marathi Manoos’ line taken by the Sena and the MNS.
Congress backtracks
Recently, the Congress-led Maharashtra government had to quickly go
into reverse gear after reiterating an old law regulating issue of
taxi driver licences in Mumbai requiring them to be domiciled in
Maharashtra for 15 years and being proficient in Marathi.
The issue, party leaders admit, concerns the whole of India and cannot
be seen through the lens of one State election in Bihar due later this
year. But, there is no doubt that the politics in Bihar is what is now
dictating the categorical statements countering the Sena position that
are now coming from the Congress and the BJP.
‘Local language must prevail’
“Language cannot be the basis for discriminating against North Indians
or South Indians. Yes, in every region the local language must prevail
and get pride of place. But language cannot be the basis for attacking
people, assaulting them or burning their business establishments. We
cannot compromise on the issue of national integration,” Mr. Katiyar
continued.
The BJP, which feels, its electoral base in Bihar may have shrunk with
Mr. Gandhi successfully reviving Bihari interest in the grand old
party, cannot afford to be seen as a cosy Sena partner when the Sena
is seen attacking Biharis in Mumbai, party leaders admit. But, they
also add, unlike the Sena, the BJP is a national party and simply
cannot afford to project such narrow regional interests without a
national vision.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article99457.ece
RSS preparing ground for Sena-BJP split
3 Feb 2010, 0339 hrs IST, Abhiram Ghadyalpatil, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: The RSS is learnt to be silently working out a separation plan
between BJP and the Sena. By articulating its pan-Indian views on this
contentious issue, the RSS has also tried to send out the message that
it is a mainstream player, political observers feel. A top BJP leader
pointed out that the RSS’s intervention has compelled Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi to speak his mind on this issue.
“One can gauge the amount of goodwill and nationalist sentiment that
RSS has generated in its favour by the stand Congress was forced to
take. While RSS has not said anything new, the timing of the
statements was such that it sent out a very good message across the
country about the organisation. Now, an even bigger number of people
will consider RSS a mainstream player,” said the BJP leader requesting
anonymity.
A senior RSS functionary and member of the organisation’s central
executive told ET that RSS had actually created an “ideological
context” for BJP to gradually move away from the Sena in Maharashtra.
“It will be a slow divorce but it is sure to happen. We have given BJP
a solid ideological foundation to part ways with the Shiv Sena,” an
RSS functionary told ET.
A Nagpur-based RSS observer said the dormant tension between BJP and
Shiv Sena is now coming to the fore with the advent of MNS. “As the
political wing of RSS, BJP, to a great extent, has to practice what
RSS stands for. The cultural nationalism that BJP swears by and Nitin
Gadkari knows too well is nothing but politics of aggregation. So
while the Shiv Sena will try to exploit its original vote-bank, BJP
cannot go against RSS and its own ideology of cultural nationalism,”
the RSS observer said.
A large section of RSS cadres and Maharashtra BJP functionaries
believe there has been a method to the Parivar fountainhead’s recent
statements on the migrant-versus-natives issue. RSS chief Mohan
Bhagwat’s statement that Mumbai belonged to all Indians is being cited
by the cadres as a cue to BJP. RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav promptly
followed this up by asking Sangh volunteers in Maharashtra to protect
North Indian migrants if they were attacked by the Shiv Sena or
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
“RSS chief knew the political implications of his statement. He knew
that the BJP would be asked to come clean on this issue and he had
even laid down an ideological framework for BJP to formulate its
strategy,” said a state BJP functionary who comes from the RSS.
Another BJP leader said the actual split may happen when major
municipal corporations in Maharashtra go to polls in early 2012. “We
may leave the decision to form a pre-poll alliance with Shiv Sena to
local units,” said the BJP functionary. This means the party will
leave it to local units to choose its partner, if they wish.
What makes the mission separation easier for RSS is the appointment of
Mr Gadkari as the BJP chief. An RSS-designated president, Mr Gadkari
has in the recent past has strained his relationship with the Sena and
his association with Uddhav Thackeray has been particularly turbulent.
“Gadkari is the right man for this long overdue job,” said the state
BJP functionary.
Protests against EU team's Kandhamal visit, five held
3 Feb 2010, 1248 hrs IST, ET Bureau
BHUBANESWAR: Five Bajrang Dal activists have been held for staging
protests against a European Union (EU) delegation that will visit
Orissa's Kandhamal district to interact with riot victims.
The Bajrang Dal workers were detained on Tuesday evening from the
airport here, police said.
The slogans began shortly after the 11-member EU delegation, which is
scheduled to visit Kandhamal district on Thursday, landed in
Bhubaneswar. The team was whisked away from the airport amidst tight
security while the protesters were nabbed.
The EU delegation is scheduled to meet senior state officials on
Wednesday before heading to Kandhamal, about 200 km from here.
The district had witnessed widespread violence after the murder of
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and
four of his aides at his ashram on Aug 23, 2008.
The VHP, Bajrang Dal has demanded that the visit be scrapped as it
could create fresh tension in the region that is now returning to
normalcy.
bademiyansubhanallah
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
(From left) Nitin Gadkari, Madandas Devi, Bal Apte and Rajnath Singh
New Delhi, Feb. 3: Before Nitin Gadkari can find his bearings, a
senior leader from the RSS, Madandas Devi, and another from the BJP,
Bal Apte, have started packing the party apparatus with their
nominees.
Devi and Apte were contemporaries in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP), the Sangh’s student front, and “share an agenda to
promote former ABVP activists to important party posts”, said a former
BJP official now in the Sangh.
The ongoing organisational elections apparently facilitated the Apte-
Devi alliance. Apte, a vice-president, was tasked to oversee the
elections started by BJP chief Gadkari’s predecessor, Rajnath Singh.
They apparently picked former ABVP leaders and workers to head the
BJP’s state units in the garb of finalising the choice through
“consensus” rather than elections. Although the party units in many
big states have not held the elections yet, the trend in the
relatively smaller ones — such as Karnataka, Goa, Kerala and
Uttarakhand — indicates that the ABVP may be the RSS’s route to foster
its political ambitions.
In bigger states like Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Bihar, an effort is on to identify former ABVP candidates for top
state slots. For instance, in Punjab, Kamal Sharma, a former ABVP
secretary, has emerged a frontrunner. So, too, in Madhya Pradesh,
where erstwhile ABVP worker Narendra Singh Tomar’s “successful” tenure
is being cited to buttress the case for a successor from the student
pool.
However, Apte insisted that his antecedents had no bearing on the
selections. “It is incidental. Whoever is the rising star is naturally
chosen and if he or she happens to be from the ABVP, well and good.”
Devi seems to have distanced himself from the exercise — officially
the RSS is supposed to be “hands off” the BJP — but many recall his
interventions in the affairs of the party and the government in the
NDA era. He had arrogated to himself the role of a conduit between the
RSS and the government or the BJP, steering them through several
crises.
In the Sangh, however, his activism was viewed as “politicking”. Devi
was part of an all-party delegation the Centre had sent to Srinagar
when Amarnath pilgrims were attacked by militants in 2000. He was also
seen to have sided with the government in the faceoffs then Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had with the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
When the BJP lost power in 2004 and became embroiled in internal
dissension, Devi was “advised” by the Sangh seniors to lie low. Now,
however, some feel he is trying to turn active again. “It seems he
can’t keep away from the BJP and he has found an ally in Apte,” a
former ABVP member on the BJP’s margins said.
The ABVP has nurtured some of the BJP’s best-known leaders, such as
Arun Jaitley, Narendra Modi, Ananth Kumar, Sushil Modi and Dharmendra
Pradhan. So while some believe the student organisation should
continue as the BJP’s nursery — given the ABVP’s rapid growth and the
need to raise a constituency of youths — there is some uneasiness at
the way in which Apte and Devi are going about. “It looks like they
are raising their own constituency of loyalists. Such an agenda must
be thwarted,” a source said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100204/jsp/nation/story_12064378.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
The European diplomats at the meeting with DGP MM Praharaj in Cuttack
on Wednesday. Picture by Badrika Nath Das
Bhubaneswar, Feb. 3:
An 11-member team of diplomats from eight European countries today
interacted with the director-general of police, senior police officers
and representatives of civil society for an update on the post-riot
situation in Kandhamal.
“They expressed satisfaction over the measures taken to usher in peace
after the 2008 communal violence,” DGP M.M. Praharaj told The
Telegraph.
The team also congratulated the police for ensuring peaceful Christmas
celebration for the past two years, said Praharaj.
“The team members wanted to know the action taken against the culprits
involved in the communal violence,” said a senior police officer.
The team — which faced protests from Hindu organisations, including
the Bajrang Dal, upon their arrival last night — was told that more
than 800 criminal cases had been registered against the culprits and
chargesheets of 75 per cent cases had been filed. Trials were going on
smoothly at various courts in Kandhamal. Investigation into important
cases including the nun rape case was being conducted under the
supervision of Supreme Court, said sources.
The delegation — led by Christopher Manet, the counsellor (head of
political affairs) of European Commission delegation to India —
comprised diplomats from Hungary, Polland, Ireland, Italy, the
Netherlands, Britain, Finland and Sweden.
Later, they interacted with media and civil society representatives.
“We are diplomats and we have no mandate to conduct any study of
communal situation,” said one of the diplomats during the interaction.
The team members, however, said they would tour Kandhamal during the
next couple of days.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik said: “They have come on a short visit
to see the post-riot situation. They will monitor what has been done
in the (riot-hit) area.”
In the evening, the team met Cuttack-Bhubaneswar diocese archbishop
Raphael Cheenath and held discussions for over an hour. However, the
contents of the discussion were not disclosed.
“It’s a private visit,” said Father Joseph Kalathil at Bishop’s
House.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100204/jsp/nation/story_12063404.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
NALIN VERMA
Arun Jaitley (right) and Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi
in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar
Patna, Feb. 3: A day after Rahul Gandhi observed that Bihar hadn’t
changed, Arun Jaitley said those who had failed to see a change in the
state in the past four years of NDA rule had got “blinkers on their
eyes”.
“Economists and social scientists have noticed how Bihar has wriggled
out from its historical backwardness and has undergone a sea change in
the past four years. But the change is not visible to certain people,”
the BJP general secretary said.
Though Jaitely did not name anyone, it was amply clear who he was
referring to. Only yesterday Rahul had said: “Bihar has not changed.
The state needs transformation.”
But Jaitley recalled how the state lagged behind under Congress and
RJD which together ruled it for 55 years. “Bihar was at the bottom on
the scale of development,” he said.
About his experience of visiting the state before Nitish Kumar came to
power in 2005, Jaitely said: “My workers usually suggested that I
return to Patna from the rural areas after sunset. I remember that
there were no roads in many areas I had travelled. If there were roads
at all, they were too bad to drive on.”
Quoting The Economist, the BJP leader said: “The reputable magazine
has picked up Bihar to tell the tale of growth in the state. But it
has observed that Bihar can be on a par with Maharashtra and Gujarat
if the present pace of development goes on for 18 more years. You can
imagine where the Congress and the RJD had taken it to.”
Jaitely’s arrival here fuelled speculation about a change of
leadership in the faction-ridden state BJP unit. BJP strategists are
in search of a new state president to replace Radhamohan Singh by
someone from the upper castes who have been its major support base in
Bihar.
Of late, the BJP feels the upper castes might gravitate towards a
“resurgent” Congress that’s trying to revive itself in the state.
Moreover, speculation was also rife that Jaitely might have come on a
mission to rein in dissidents.
But Jaitely refused to comment on party affairs. “I was fortunate to
be in-charge of Bihar BJP when the NDA came to power. In the process
of formalising ties between the BJP and JD(U) in 2005, I befriended
many NDA workers. I have just come to offer my good wishes to the
workers,” Jaitely said.
NDA grapevine has it that a senior leader of national stature, Jaitely
rushed to Patna to counter the Congress’s efforts to cash in on the
“growing popularity” of Rahul among youths ahead of state elections
due later this year.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100204/jsp/nation/story_12062648.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
Reporter
Thursday, December 31, 2009 AT 02:14 AM (IST)
PUNE: Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Hindu’ Group N Ram will receive the
‘Lokmanya Tilak Journalist Award’ from the Kesari Mahratta Trust.
Announcing the name on Wednesday, Kesari, Editor-Trustee Dr Deepak
Tilak said that the trust confers the National Award for excellence in
journalism on a personality whose contribution to the field of
journalism and reporting is of national importance.
He said that Kesari would celebrate its 129th foundation day on
January 4 and the award ceremony would coincide with the celebrations
in Kesari Wada at 6 pm. The award comprises Rs one lakh and a
memento.
Dr Tilak said that the trust has established this award to recognise
the immense contribution of Lokmanya Tilak to Indian journalism and to
honour a journalist who has shown similar shades of courage and
fearlessness in his journalism.
Ram has contributed articles to the Economic and Political weekly, the
Social Scientist and also publications such as the Quarterly Journal
of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, New Delhi.
The Late Jayantrao Tilak Award will also be bestowed on the same
evening.
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/SakaalTimesBeta/20091231/5235947647880954791.htm
bademiyansubhanallah
Bhagwat
PTI Wednesday, February 3, 2010 23:43 IST
Panaji: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat today
said Bangladeshis illegally staying in India should be sent back to
their countries.
Bhagwat, addressing a gathering of swayamsevaks in Goa, said the
government should identify and pick up Bangladeshis staying without
valid documents in the country and cancel their names from ration
cards and electoral roll, if required.
"There is provision in the law to form internment camps for these
illegal people to shelter them before being deported to their parent
country," he said. Referring to issue of illegal Bangladeshi
immigrants, Bhagwat termed it as a political plot of Bangladesh
government to add the territory to their mainland.
"The vision document prepared by Bangladesh after its separation from
Pakistan itself has mentioned that since the country is short of land,
it will try to acquire more land from neighbouring areas," he said.
"The government should at least now act against illegal migration by
keeping aside their vote bank politics or else the day will come when
they will get muscles in the political system," he warned.
Bhagwat is down in Goa for the first time after taking over as RSS
chief. "Join RSS and be the part of groups, who are ready for self
sacrifice for the country," Bhagwat appealed.
The RSS chief said that RSS cadres rushes for the rescue in any kind
of natural calamities or tragedies before even police or other
government machinery can reach.
"This is because of the strong feeling to serve the country, which is
nurtured in the heart of swayamsevak," he said.
RSS chief quotes Hollywood film to explain climate change
Published on : Wednesday 03 Feb 2010 22:06 - by IANS
Panaji, Feb 3 : Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat
is in sync with Hollywood. He tried to explain the perils of climate
change using the recent Hollywood blockbuster "2012" as an example at
a public meeting here Wednesday.
"Climate change is an issue which is in focus. Everyone says that if
it is not settled, then the world will end. People have even predicted
dates like Dec 21, 2012. Movies have been made and we watch it,"
Bhagwat said referring to the John Cusack-starrer Hollywood film,
which quotes an ancient Mayan calendar that predicts that the world
would end Dec 21, 2012.
"Of course, climate is a serious issue. But the world will not end
that way (as shown in the film), but it is a worrying thing. It
worries people when they see the movie," Bhagwat said, addressing a
few thousand uniformed RSS workers and the audience.
Underlining the importance of preserving the environment and
maintaining climatic balance, Bhagwat said that countries like the
Maldives and Nepal had already tried to convey the seriousness of the
issue by holding cabinet meetings under water and at Himalayan heights
respectively.
Bhagwat said that the deteriorating climate situation demanded an
urgent switch in lifestyle and change from materialism and consumerism
to living in tune with nature.
Copyright Indo Asian News
http://www.littleabout.com/news/65444,rss-chief-quotes-hollywood-film-explain-climate-change.html
RSS chief visits Goa, pays tribute to freedom fighters
STAFF WRITER 14:25 HRS IST
Panaji, Feb 3 (PTI) Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan
Bhagwat today paid tributes to martyrs and freedom fighters in Goa who
fought to liberate the state from Portuguese rule.
Bhagwat is on his first ever visit to Goa, where RSS has 100 branches
and claims to have 25,000 active swayamsevaks (volunteers).
The RSS chief would be addressing cadres this evening at Campal ground
in Panaji city.
In a brief ceremony held today at historic Azad Maidan here, Bhagwat
offered floral tribute at the memorial of freedom fighters.
Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar, BJP Member of Parliament Sripad
Naik, RSS's Goa chief Subhash Velingkar were among those present in
the ceremony.
RSS officials stated that there are around 100 shakhas (branches) of
the outfit in the state. RSS formally began its work in the state in
1962.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/498111_RSS-chief-visits-Goa--pays-tribute-to-freedom-fighters
Friday, February 5, 2010
Parochial politics for fistful of votes
The ‘Mumbai for Mumbaikars’ chant of the Shiv Sena and MNS is driven
by vote-bank politics, says Kalyani Shankar
If anyone wonders what is happening in Maharashtra, the simple answer
is: “It is the Marathi vote, stupid!” The sudden spurt of violence and
“Mumbai for Mumbaikars” chorus by the two Senas — the Shiv Sena and
the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena — has entirely vitiated the atmosphere.
Unfortunately all political parties, including the BJP and the
Congress, are indulging in vote-bank politics. The ruling Congress is
unable to rein in the two Senas while the BJP, with the support of the
RSS, has taken on the Sena for the first time openly. In short, they
are all getting ready to face the 2012 Mumbai civic elections and also
the Bihar Assembly election.
The Shiv Sena lost Mumbai — its citadel — in the recent Assembly poll.
Mr Bal Thackeray is upset that his party did not win a single seat in
Mumbai and has lost Thane, which it had held for four decades. What
better way than to go back to the Marathi manoos?
For old-timers, it is a replay of the 1960s when the Shiv Sena was
formed with Mr Bal Thackeray asking the “lungiwallahs” to leave Mumbai
so that locals could get jobs. The trick was to publish the names of
south Indians from the telephone directory.
He was able to hold the attention of the youth for the past five
decades. In fact, Mr Bal Thackeray as well Mr Uddhav Thackeray, apart
from Mr Raj Thackeray who heads the MNS, fail to understand that the
character of Mumbai has changed radically. Mr Bal Thackeray is unable
to digest that his own nephew Mr Raj Thackeray, who is copying him to
the hilt, may overtake him.
The two Senas have held the city to ransom, some times attacking
Biharis, or Bangladeshis or Muslims, or film stars and even cricketers
all these years. They spread a message of hate and narrow
parochialism, which is abhorred by the rest of the country. Where were
they at the time of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack? As Mr Rahul Gandhi
has said, it was the north Indians who saved Mumbai.
The Sena is an old and time-tested senior ally of the BJP for more
than 17 years. But ever since their humiliating defeat in last year’s
Assembly poll, the two parties have been sharpening their knives
against each other. The BJP feels that the MNS has damaged the Sena
while the Sena thinks that BJP workers did not work wholeheartedly.
With distrust growing gradually, the rift was bound to widen.
In the past the Shiv Sena has embarrassed the BJP by its strident
stand. For instance, the rift came to the fore when the Shiv Sena
chose to vote for Ms Pratibha Patil in the presidential election,
ignoring the BJP’s candidate, Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. The BJP
supports statehood for Vidarbha while the Shiv Sena opposes it.
Mr Bal Thackeray his son believe in shocking people with their
parochial statements. The Sena had to backtrack when it took on
cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. Over the past few days Mr Bal Thackeray
has criticised Mr Mukesh Ambani and objected to Bollywood superstar
Shahrukh Khan’s statement on IPL ignoring Pakistani cricketers.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena have changed over the years. The BJP is a
national party while the Sena remains a regional party. The BJP had to
put its core issues on the back-burner while the Shiv Sena had no such
compulsion. There is a leadership change in the BJP whereas Mr Bal
Thackeray continues to retain his hold on the Shiv Sena.
The equation between the BJP and the Shiv Sena also has changed
gradually. There is a leadership change in the RSS too. By
coincidence, the RSS Sarsanghachalak, Mr Mohan Bhagwat, the BJP
president, Mr Nitin Gadkari, as well Mr Bal Thackeray belong to
Maharashtra. If it suits the Shiv Sena to play upon regional
sentiments, precisely for the same reason it does not suit the BJP or
the RSS to do so because of their pan-Indian outlook.
Yet, it needed Mr Mohan Bhagwat to step in and put things in
perspective following the latest spat over “Mumbai for Mumbaikars”. It
was Mr Bhagwat who called on the RSS cadre to protect north Indians in
Mumbai. The RSS and the BJP have a larger arena to cover in north
India. Maharashtra politics could have an impact in Bihar where
Assembly election is coming up. It is necessary for the BJP to keep
the JD(U) in the NDA.
The latest controversy, raked up by the Maharashtra Government’s move
to give new taxi permits only to those who know hoe to read, write and
speak Marathi shows the political game of the Congress. Chief minister
Ashok Chavan claims to have reversed the decision but the damage has
been done.
Why is the Maratha strongman and the NCP chief Sharad Pawar keeping
mum? Is the NCP hunting with the hounds and running with the hare? The
Centre and the State Government must wake up and restore normalcy in
Mumbai, and make sure that Indians can live anywhere in the country.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/233863/Parochial-politics-for-fistful-of-votes.html
COMMENT
Being Indian
4 February 2010, 12:00am IST
More voices have joined the opposition to the exclusivist politics of
Shiv Sena and its breakaway group, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Following statements from Mumbai civil society luminaries and the RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat, senior politicians across political parties have
criticised Sena's myopic view of Mumbai as the exclusive preserve of
Marathi speakers. Their interventions are most welcome.
Among the latest critics of Sena's hate agenda is Congress general
secretary Rahul Gandhi. At a public interaction in Patna, Gandhi
asserted that every part of India belongs to every Indian. His
intervention prompted even Maharashtra Congress leaders, so far
conspicuous by their silence on Sena's hate politics, to talk about
the unity of the country and that everyone, irrespective of their
regional or linguistic origins, should get equal opportunities. These
leaders, especially since they run the government in Mumbai, must now
act on their words. However, Gandhi's political rhetoric regarding the
role of NSG commandos from UP and Bihar has created a controversy. A
headcount of the regional origins of those who fought to save Mumbai
is pointless. The only relevant point is that the nation was united in
repulsing the terrorist strike. Gandhi's logic limits the idea of
being Indian to a framework defined primarily by a citizen's response
to national security. National security is, of course, important. But
we need to go further and define citizenship in terms of rights
enshrined in the Constitution.
Interestingly, BJP president Nitin Gadkari invoked the constitutional
provisions that guaranteed the right of every Indian citizen to live
and work in any part of the country when he supported Bhagwat's
criticism of the Sena. On Tuesday, senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar
reiterated Gadkari's view and argued that the BJP must rethink its
alliance with the Sena. According to Katiyar, the Sena's political
position threatens national unity. Language, he argued, can't be the
basis for discrimination or for attacking people and businesses. Wise
counsel, of course. We hope that Katiyar's and other sangh parivar
leaders' notion of national integration includes opposing all forms of
discrimination, not just on the basis of linguistic and regional
identities but religious as well.
That's possible if the Constitution is taken as the touchstone to
define the rights of an Indian citizen. The Constitution protects not
just the right of Indians to live and earn a livelihood anywhere in
the country but also the right to freedom of speech and expression.
Political parties like the Congress and the BJP must remind the Senas
that the threats issued to Shah Rukh Khan for speaking favourably
about Pakistani cricketers are unconstitutional and, hence,
unacceptable.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/Being-Indian/articleshow/5531979.cms
A Game of Fear
Feb 05 :
"Sena thesis pernicious... all Indians are free to live and work in
Mumbai", says Union home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. This was
the headline in most newspapers on Tuesday. We cannot, however, ignore
the fact that Mr Chidambaram’s denunciation
of the Shiv Sena-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) campaign against non-
Marathis in Mumbai comes only after the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) chief, Mohan Bhagwat, came forward to denounce the "Mumbai for
Maharashtrians" theory of the two Senas. Mr Bhagwat’s denouncement is
significant because Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is an ally of the
Bharatiya Janata Party for the elections in Maharashtra; despite that,
Mr Bhagwat refused to compromise and stands firmly by his nationalist
sentiments.
But Mr Chidambaram’s and the Congress leaders’ denouncements lack
credibility. Recently, the Congress chief minister of Maharashtra,
Ashok Chavan, stirred the political witch’s brew by first announcing
that only Marathi-knowing, long-term residents of Maharashtra would be
eligible for taxi-driver licences in the state capital. The Congress
Party headquarters did not express its displeasure immediately; it
waited for angry reactions to come in and then issued a statement
distancing itself from the move.
Next day, the Maharashtra chief minister retracted his statement and
amended the controversial license provision to include "any local
language, including Hindi and Gujarati". He, however, failed to add
what others have said, including cricket’s top star Sachin Tendulkar’s
statement that the nation welcomed with a rousing applause — that
India comes first, Maharashtra later.
Mr Chavan and the Congress leaders’ hypocrisy is all too evident — for
the TV cameras they say that Mumbai is open to all citizens of India
but what has their government, which has been ruling Maharashtra for
the last 10 years, done to secure that position? It is complete lack
of political will on the part of those in power that the lives and
limbs of Indian citizens working in Mumbai are not safe from thugs who
threaten to impose parochialism. It’s probably this weakness that
forced the RSS chief to declare that he would ask "swayam sevaks" to
protect Indian citizens from parochialism.
The insincerity of Mr Chavan and his party bosses in New Delhi is also
evident from their studied tepid response whenever their protégé Raj
Thackeray indulges in histrionics or mob tactics. Mr Raj Thackeray has
openly defied the law and threatened physical harm to migrant people
in the commercial capital of the country. His goons have damaged taxis
belonging to drivers from other states, beaten up migrants arriving in
Mumbai, and destroyed public property.
If you follow the way Mr Chavan and his Nationalist Congress Party
"Sancho Panza" tilt at the windmill of parochialism you would very
clearly see that the two have no interest in fighting this gathering
storm. Their immediate priority, probably, is to contain the Shiv Sena
by using the MNS against it.
What happens if this leads to competitive militancy as it did in
Punjab? Perhaps the Congress is not bothered about the long-term
impact as long as it can retain short-term gains. This alone can
explain its states falling over each other to define their regional
agenda and creating a scenario where the concept of India implodes and
dies. It is the same myopia that created a Frankenstein out of Sant
Bhindranwale in Punjab that is now drawing Maharashtra into the vortex
of a regional conflict.
The jinns are already out of the bottle in Mumbai. The competitive
militancy between the two Senas has now targeted Shah Rukh Khan, the
topmost star in Bollywood. Mr Khan has been open in condemning the
Indian Premier League’s (IPL) exclusion of Pakistani players. Several
others, including Mr Chidambaram, have not spared the IPL bosses for
their attitude towards the Pakistani players. But Mr Chidambaram
should be more concerned about how Mumbai law and order is being held
hostage by the two Senas and their diktat.
Can India survive if in its prime city what should or should not be
done is decided by
some political elements outside the government? The quiet submission
of Mumbai’s theatre owners to the threat from the Shiv Sena on playing
Mr Khan’s film has demonstrated that it is not the Mantralaya’s writ
that is running in the city. But this is, perhaps, the chicken coming
home to roost for the Congress which promoted Mr Raj Thackeray to
counter Mr Bal Thackeray.
This issue would provide yet another launching pad for the Shiv Sena
to extend its writ and erode public confidence in the state’s law and
order machinery. Also, for Mr Bal Thackeray it is politically
necessary to counter his rival Mr Raj Thackeray’s goons who are
clandestinely backed by the ruling Congress.
With hindsight we can now believe what was stated much earlier — that
Mr Chavan was deliberately stirring the pot when he suddenly announced
a month ago that the eligibility for taxi licenses would be changed to
favour Maharashtrians. This could put Mr Bal Thackeray’s Sena on the
defensive against Mr Raj Thackeray’s Sena. After all, the Congress is
bound to have the last laugh as the two Senas fight it out.
However, Mr Chavan’s calculations seem to have gone awry and Mumbai is
in the grip of a fear psychosis with the two Senas alternatively
calling the shots. Mr Chavan needs this sort of divisive politics as
his own throne is shaky. Former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao
Deshmukh has not forgiven Mr Chavan for marginalising him, not through
a trial of strength but through the blessings of the party high
command.
The Deshmukh-Chavan rivalry forces the incumbent chief minister to
constantly stoke the fire to save his own skin by demonstrating to the
high command that he is in command and that he can play the
"Maharashtra for Maharashtrians" game through Mr Raj Thackeray’s MSN.
So while all this is in the "family", the victims are the people of
India — the environment in Mumbai cannot be allowed to be vitiated
without it affecting the economic growth of the entire country.
By Balbir K. Punj
Posted: Wed, Feb 3 2010. 9:45 PM IST
Economy and Politics
Shiv Sena risks isolating itself
Analysts say the BJP, which is preparing for the forthcoming assembly
election in Bihar, is considering a break from its state allies in
order to protect its support base and maintain its national party
character
Santosh K. Joy and Liz Mathew
New Delhi: Maharashtra’s main opposition party, the Shiv Sena, appears
to have risked isolating itself by antagonizing the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), its ally of at least two decades, as it escalates its
rhetoric against north Indians and takes on the likes of Shah Rukh
Khan and Mukesh Ambani.
The BJP, which is preparing for the forthcoming assembly election in
politically crucial Bihar, is considering a break from its state
allies in order to protect its support base and maintain its national
party character, say analysts.
Also See The saffron vote split ( Graphic)
The Shiv Sena, founded by Bal Thackeray and currently led by son
Uddhav Thackeray, has been forced to take an extreme position because
of its frustration with the loss of vote share to breakaway group,
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which is headed by Raj Thackeray, nephew
to the older Thackeray.
Film star and team owner Khan has been targeted for his comments that
he regretted the omission of Pakistani cricketers from the Indian
Premier League. Others facing the party’s ire include Congress general
secretary Rahul Gandhi, Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani
and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat for
criticising the Shiv Sena’s stance against north Indians.
With the aim of consolidating votes among ethnic Maharashtrians, the
Shiv Sena and MNS have been waging a campaign against north Indians,
especially those from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, accusing them of taking
away jobs from locals.
In the 13 October assembly election, the MNS won 12 seats, mainly in
the Mumbai-Thane region, a traditional Shiv Sena stronghold. The Shiv
Sena’s vote share has come down from 19.97% in 2004 to 16.26% in 2009,
as the MNS got 5.7% of the votes.
Mumbai-based psephologist and political analyst Jai Mrug says the
tirade by the Shiv Sena is a survival tactic.
“They are trying to reinforce their brand. The Shiv Sena and the MNS
are competing for the same space—Marathi pride,” Mrug said. “The Shiv
Sena needs to reinforce itself as a brand and it has to make value
statements very often, reminding the people about it.”
The timing of the campaign is crucial, said B. Venkatesh Kumar,
professor of political science at Mumbai University, coming ahead of
the golden jubilee of Maharashtra Day on 1 May, marking the
anniversary of the state’s creation.
The Shiv Sena came to prominence in the 1960s with its campaign
against south Indians, eventually dominating local elections. The
party gained wider support in the 1980s after it took on a Hindu
nationalist hue and allied with the BJP, coming to power in the state
in 1995.
This time, the targets don’t seem to be as willing to bend before the
Shiv Sena’s fury.
While Bollywood director Karan Johar chose to apologise to MNS chief
Raj Thackeray for using “Bombay” instead of “Mumbai” in his movie,
Khan said he would not retract his comments as he did not violate the
Indian constitution. Rahul Gandhi also criticized the parties for
their anti-north Indian stand, saying Mumbai belonged to all Indians.
The BJP also seems to be determined to stick to its stand, which
signals that it may be looking to exit from the alliance. “It is time
for the party to rethink its decades-old ties with the Shiv Sena,” BJP
general secretary Vinay Katiyar said.
Although a parting of ways may not happen soon, the BJP is preparing
the ground for snapping ties with the Shiv Sena, said Mrug. “There are
two reasons for that—the current president Nitin Gadkari is not very
comfortable with the Shiv Sena and there is a larger thinking in the
BJP that it has lost its initiative to grow in many states because of
its junior partners,” he added.
Ruhi Tewari also contributed to this story.
Graphic by Ahmed Raza Khan / Mint
http://www.livemint.com/2010/02/03214430/Shiv-Sena-risks-isolating-itse.html
bademiyansubhanallah
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Feb. 4:
The BJP was more forthright in its defence of Shah Rukh Khan today
after yesterday’s caution and condemned the Shiv Sena’s threats of
violence against those who screened My Name is Khan.
Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “We do not support the
violence. If the Sena does not have a problem with the film, why are
they indulging in violence? The Sena spokesperson branded Shah Rukh
Khan as an enemy of the nation. We think this is incorrect. As an
actor he has enhanced the country’s prestige.”
Yesterday, another BJP spokesperson, Prakash Javdekar, had said: “The
BJP does not accept politics in games. Games should be games,”
reacting to the star’s comment that Pakistani players should have been
chosen at the IPL auction.
Encouraged by the praise RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat got from liberal
opinion-makers for unequivocally condemning the Sena’s attacks on
north Indian settlers in Mumbai, the BJP decided not to blunt the
advantage that came its way after years.
“We also have to re-brand ourselves and discard some of the baggage we
are carrying from (Narendra) Modi and Varun Gandhi. The mood of the
nation is pro-Shah Rukh Khan and we cannot go against the tide as the
major Opposition,” an office-bearer said.
But old habits may prove hard to shed.
Immediately after Prasad’s statement of support for Shah Rukh, members
of the BJP women’s wing met President Pratibha Patil and almost asked
her to ban Draupadi, a book in Telugu chosen for the Sahitya Akademi
Award this year, because its “derogatory” representation of
mythological characters would “hurt” Indian culture.
Led by Indore MP Sumitra Mahajan, the BJP women handed over their
letter of protest, appended with excerpts from the book, to Patil.
The women’s wing claimed Patil had agreed with the delegation’s stand
that the “derogatory” representations of mythological and religious
personages amounted to “hurting” Indian culture.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100205/jsp/nation/story_12069658.jsp
...and I am Sid Harth
bademiyansubhanallah
February 5th, 2010 ians
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is known for his short
temper. And he is showing it much too often these days – apparently
weighed down by unabated dissidence in his Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and relentless barbs from the opposition.
Twice in the last fortnight he has made intemperate comments and once
yelled at his party legislator in full public view.
Obviously upset at Governor H.R. Bhardwaj’s reference in his Republic
Day speech to church attacks the previous day, Yeddyurappa startled
people with his remark that the hands of those indulging in such
incidents should be “chopped off”.
He made the remark Jan 27 at a public meeting near Karwar in Uttara
Kannada district, about 500 km from Bangalore. A few hours later the
chief minister said he did not mean it and was referring to strict
action that his government would take against people vandalising
places of worship.
The opposition Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) have lampooned
him for the remark.
The chief minister also had a spat with party legislator Chandrasekhar
Patil Revoor over his complaint of not being taken in the chief
minister’s car to the function! Angry at Revoor raking up the issue in
his speech, Yeddyurappa got up from his seat and shouted “why are you
raising these issues. Finish your speech”.
Yeddyurappa was at it again five days later. He told a public meeting
in Gulbarga, “You should tell the people who criticise me that you
will slit their tongues”.
Congress workers in Gulbarga and Yeddyurappa’s home district Shimoga
have filed police complaints against him for the statement.
Yeddyurappa, Karnataka’s first BJP chief minister, apparently feels
hemmed in by the various pressure groups within the party that have
come up on caste lines.
Groupism based on caste has become so rampant in the party that a
section of Dalit legislators held a meeting here over “inadequate
representation” in the government Jan 30, a few hours after Nitin
Gadkari arrived in the city on his first visit after becoming BJP
president.
The party has 42 Dalit legislators and over 15 of them, led by Higher
Education Minister Arvind Limbavali, met Jan 30, the day state BJP
unit’s new president K.S. Eshwarappa assumed office in the presence of
Gadkari.
Yeddyurappa was also under pressure in the last fortnight from
legislators belonging to the Vokkaliga caste to nominate someone from
their community to fill three legislative council seats.
There are about 17 Vokkaliga legislators in the BJP. The chief
minister bowed to the pressure and nominated Kannada actor Jaggesh
Wednesday. The actor had defected to the BJP after winning the May
2008 assembly elections on the Congress ticket. He was rewarded with
the post of vice-chairman of the Karnataka State Road Transport
Corporation.
Yeddyurappa, however, suffered a jolt when Governor Bhardwaj rejected
the nomination of V. Somanna, a former minister, to the council.
Somanna and Yeddyurappa belong to the Lingayat caste.
Bhardwaj said he could not agree to nominate a ‘defector’, causing
severe embarrassment to an already harassed Chief Minister.
http://www.thelatestnews.in/what-makes-yeddyurappa-blow-his-top/30527.html
Advani’s club of 4 at play, Gadkari at sea
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
NEW BOSS
Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Feb. 5: The RSS may have a serious problem on its hands
because the “Dilli 4” cabal it wished to marginalise is digging in its
heels while BJP president Nitin Gadkari appears to be at sea.
Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar and Sushma Swaraj — who
have little in common apart from being L.K. Advani’s protégés and
spending long years in the BJP in senior positions — are parcelling
out whatever states they can among themselves so that even if Gadkari
formally appoints prabaris (minders) when he forms his team, they can
control the turfs by proxy.
OLD FAVOURITES
(From Top) Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth
Kumar
Certain “territories” controlled by regional chieftains like Narendra
Modi are strictly out of bounds. But Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which
figure on the A-list of states, are considered fair game because there
is no Modi to keep them out.
Gadkari was therefore “advised” to hold his first meeting on Uttar
Pradesh today at Naidu’s residence against the wishes of former BJP
president Rajnath Singh. He was told that when Naidu was the BJP
president, he took “special interest” in Uttar Pradesh and knew “every
district and kasba (hamlet) like the back of his hand”.
Rajnath, who like Naidu is unemployed, is trying to recapture his
moorings in his home state. But a Rajnath aide admitted his boss had
been trumped by Naidu who had Jaitley, Sushma and Ananth on his side
in expanding his reach in north India.
Sushma and the rest have an interest in keeping Naidu out of the
south, specifically Karnataka, from where he was elected to the Rajya
Sabha.
Jaitley and Sushma have engaged themselves substantively with
Karnataka in the past. The former had delivered for the BJP its first
southern state. Sushma had fought against Sonia Gandhi in Bellary.
Although she lost the election, she maintained her association with
the Karnataka BJP networks.
Jaitley is trying hard not to let go of Bihar, of which he was in
charge when the BJP-Janata Dal (United) won in 2005. As an Opposition
leader in the Rajya Sabha, he cannot hold a formal party position.
His Bihar backers are, therefore, clamouring to let him oversee the
elections in the state again this year on the plea that he has a
rapport with chief minister Nitish Kumar.
As the battle on the power chessboard spills over from the Centre to
the states, other players like Ananth and Sushma have also set their
sights on Bihar. They have visited the state often in the past.
A former Uttar Pradesh BJP president said if the “intrusions” from New
Delhi got aggressive, the state leaders would do what they had done in
the past to stave them off: “bury our differences and build a wall
against such leaders”.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100206/jsp/nation/story_12073951.jsp
BJP looks for Raje successor .
Friday, 05 February 2010 20:27 .
Jaipur, Feb. 5: Though the Rajasthan Assembly session is scheduled to
begin from February 22, the BJP has not been able to finalise the name
of the leader who will succeed former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
Ms Raje has already had submitted her resignation from the post of
Leader of the Opposition.
Ms Raje had participated in a meeting of the saffron party’s Leaders
of the Opposition, called by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, in Delhi and
it raised a ray of hope of among her supporters. Her supporters feel
that the party top brass still accepts Ms Raje as only leader in
Rajasthan, but sources in the party said she will be placed in Delhi
as national general secretary soon.
The saffron party is waiting the outcome of panchayat raj elections
and after that a change will be made in the state. The party’s warring
sections posed a united face before going to the panchayat elections
as the high command directed its leaders.
Ms Raje and state party chief Arun Chaturvedi had addressed a joint
press conference in a bid to show unity.
Ms Raje had paid a visit to Shekhawati region to prove her popularity.
Despite all, pro-RSS elements in party refused to accept her as their
leader.
Narayan Bareth
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
Feb. 5: BJP chief Nitin Gadkari on Friday inaugurated the e-
registration for delegates who would be attending the party’s national
council meeting. The two-day meeting is beginning from February 18.
The Party’s national executive is scheduled for February 17. Both
meetings would take place in Indore. Mr Gadkari, after registering his
name, said the party plans to use technology for wider political
mobilisation and opinion making.
COMMENT
Fastest Draw In Town
TNN, 6 February 2010, 12:00am IST
shootouts once got physicist Niels Bohr wondering why heroes never
lose gun-battles. To find out, he staged toy-gun fights and bang!
Every action, he concluded, had an unequal reaction that was
instinctive, superfast. The quicker draw is he who draws second, not
aggressors who pick the fights. That's why, in Clint Eastwood
westerns, reactive good beats proactive bad and ugly (even if for a
few dollars more).
A study using 'lab-duels' endorses Bohr's shot in the dark, but with a
catch. Those who react are faster, on average, by 21 milliseconds. The
dud bullet is that a 200-millisecond reflex time also decides fate.
So, the quick and the dead may be the same gunslinger. Except when
your drawing plus reaction time combined beats the adversary to the
trigger. Or if you're Quick Gun Murugan. Mind it, we do have a few
such fast draws around the country.
Drawing second against Maharashtra's Senapatis, Rahul Gandhi's been
bang on target saying India is for Indians. Shooting back, Shiv
Sainiks tried to stop him entering Mumbai but their black flags
misfired when Rahul stormed their 'citadel', state CM in tow. State
authorities deserve praise for the protective bandobast that helped
Rahul fire his winning shots about Indians being free to travel cross-
country. If only they'd used even half the ammo to protect migrants
under daily attack, Rahul wouldn't need this duel in the crown.
UP's seeing a different rapidfire exchange. When Amar Singh sniper-
attacked Mulayam, he didn't expect retaliatory fire. Mulayam countered
with maximum force: expulsion from the party. The end of Amar prem,
however, saw an ex-right hand reach for his holster, John Wayne-style.
Amar Singh's weapons of choice range from trashing SP's 'dynastic'
politics to exposing its 'dubious' links. That's not counting the two
Jayas - Prada and Bachchan - taking (pot) shots on his behalf. Not
every gun - the samajwadis are realising - has a silencer.
Meanwhile, Mamatadi's arming against Bengal's Left with sit-ins,
protests and mass signature campaigns. The Marxists drew first,
planning a "Brigade rally" and announcing an anti-Trinamul resistance.
This, despite Mamatadi's superior firepower. Consider her 23rd volley
as writer against "CPM terror". Her new book revisits Nandigram 2007,
exhuming a police firing the Left wants to bury. And the masterpiece
is called Nandi-Maa. Truly, there's no telling what can hit the red
brigade inside this firebrand's rifle range.
With untested shooting skills, BJP's Nitin Gadkari is aiming high.
Come February 10, Delhi's Jantar Mantar will find him, BJP-wallahs in
tow, gunning for the UPA - read gunning for glory - on price rise.
Will the good Doctor in the PMO and the lady at 10 Janpath react?
Unlikely. Both seem to believe the best way to disarm the opponent is
to act (react?) as if he doesn't exist. In short, every action has an
equal and ever-abiding non-reaction. Now that's what you call the
fastest draw in town.
Friday, February 5, 2010
MUCH ADO ABOUT MARATHI MANOOS
It is difficult to understand what is the issue at stake in
neighbouring Maharashtra for all that hot air blown by every party
making Mumbai to look like on big hot air balloon? By now, people have
become familiar with the mindset of Shiv Sena or its modified version
Maharashtra Nava nirman Sena. Whenver they have to face the electorate
in Maharashtra – elections to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation is in
the offing - they have been raising this slogan that “Maharashtra is
for Maharshtrians”. Who said it is not?
The very rationale behind the formation of linguistic states is that
it would give a sense of belonging to the people who speak the same
language. Whether the Constitution makers anticipated that the
political class in the country would stoop down so low to become
parochial to the core or not, they, in their wisdom and remarkable
foresight, gave us the fundamental right to freedom of movement.
Let’s be fair to Sena. This freedom is being threatened not only in
Maharashtra but in Andhra Pradesh as well. (I will come to that a bit
later) What is the provocation for the present cacophony of voices in
the business capital of India?
Buoyed by his relative success in wooing the people of Uttar Pradesh,
heir apparent Rahul Gandhi wanted to open an account for his party in
Bihar which is going to the polls later this year. How to do it? He
has to tickle the ego of Biharis who were at the receiving end in
Maharashtra. He put his foot in the mouth when he said that it was
Commandos from Bihar and UP, who fought the terrorists in Mumbai and
saved the city from total destruction. First of all, this is a highly
objectionable statement because this only confirms the divisive
mindset of this fledgling politician. One cannot and should not look
at the linguistic or regional background of NSG commandos for after
all they belong to the nation. They fought not for Mumbai but for the
honour of the entire nation. However, to be fair to Rahul, his
statement that Mumbai is for all Indians is unexceptionable.
This statement was like giving a flower garland to a monkey. Remember
Tendulkar had earful from the Sainiks when he made an innocuous
statement that ‘he was Indian first and Maharashtrian next’. What one
fails to figure out is what exactly ageing Thackeray or his cohorts
want when they attack anyone who says “Mumbai is for all Indians”. Are
they trying to emulate the mindset of DK and DMK of Fifties when they
were harping on secession? No, ultra-nationalist Thackeray stoutly
denies that Sena ever advocated separating Maharashtra from the rest
of the country. In his own typical style, the ageing Sena leader
taunts Rahul that his party does not need lessons from Prince Rahul
especially since his party Congress was responsible for the division
of the country.
Saamna editorial also echoed similar sentiments. “Sena had never said
Mumbai was not part of India nor could seeds of separation be ever
sowed on Marathi soil”. Fair enough! Why then this war of words and
threats?
Yes, when it comes to threats, the image of the Maharashtra Congress
and government stands sullied. It was the state chief minister Ashok
Chavan who asked the cab drivers in the state, who are mostly from
northern states, to learn to read and write Marathi to qualify for
driving licence. This veiled threat was enlarged by Raj Thackeray, who
incidentally was the Frankenstein of the Congress to corner Shiv Sena,
to indulge in criminal intimidation.
The one who was caught in this crossfire was Shah Rukh Khan. Is he not
entitled to his opinion on the composition of IPL? Sainiks want an
issue and Khan gave it on a platter like Rahul Gandhi. Khan’s posters
are torn, there are attempts to stop the screening of his film “My
name is Khan”. Well, this may sound quite familiar to the people of
Andhra Pradesh. It is only recently they witnessed the tamasha over
“Adhurs” film starring junior NTR, and various attempts to disrupt the
shooting schedules of different film productions in the Telangana
region. Were there not threats against the Andhra/Rayalaseema leaders
from undertaking tours in Telangana districts? Entrepreneurs from the
coastal districts were lumped together as “capitalists” with the tone
and tenor being as though the capitalists are “sinners” or “looters”,
and warned against entering Telangana.
A legal luminary and former Solicitor General , while commenting on
Maharashtra developments, says “This fascist trend, if not uprooted,
can extend to other areas and lead to divisiveness...” Is he not aware
that it has already spread to Andhra Pradesh with the slogan
“Telangana Jago, Andhr awale Bago”. We can’t blame him. The problem is
with the media and its priorities. For the national media what happens
in Mumbai or Delhi is earth-shaking development whereas what happens
down South is fit for only 30-second round up. Did the national media
give the same importance to divisive tendencies that were in play in
AP as they are playing up in Maharashtra now.
Be that as it may, let us revert to Maharashtra. A refreshing
development is that the decades-long ally of Shiv Sena , Bharatiya
Janata Party and its mentor RSS have called the bluff of the ageing
Tiger. Both Mohan rao Bhagavat and his protégé Nitin Gadkari opposed
discrimination on the basis of language and violence against people
coming from other States.
Here again, it is not without political motives and certainly not
because of Constitutional niceties. BJP and JD(U) are fighting the
elections together in Bihar and if BJP does not send the right message
to the Biharis, like Rahul did, coalition has to incur the wrath of
Bihar voters. However, Rahul being a novice, he did not know how to
orchestrate his political strategy and gave a handle to Sena bosses.
While pandering to Bihari sentiments in Bihar, BJP seems to have taken
the calculated risk in Maharashsra because Sena, anyway, is a dying
force with Uddhav failing to shape up to his octogenarian father’s
belligerence and MNS being a sideshow of the Congress. BJP’s game plan
seems to occupy the “right” space that will be up for grabs after the
senior Thackeray calls it a day.
Posted by S R Ramanujan at 4:30 AM
http://ramanujanwrites.blogspot.com/2010/02/much-ado-about-marathi-manoos.html
Saif Ali Khan was awarded Padma Shri.
This created a furore.
An agonized Bal Thakeray penned the epic ‘Padma Ghotala’
Taporifying Saif,
Unalloyed jealousy I would say
Bishnoi’s staged a protest
Didn’t understand what for..
The nation debated for a while
And lost interest
If Obama can win the Nobel, then
Saif might as well keep the Padma Shree
Tit for Tat…
Salman Khan and Rakhi Sawant will have to wait till
Next year, sad to say..
And Shah Rukh Khan?
Oh, he has his cup full..
With Shiv Sena baying for his blood..
The entire clan is out
Fangs bared, claws extended
Tigers on rampage
Burning posters and effigies
That’s all they are capable of
Paper tigers, burning bright…
Setting fire to buses
Making life miserable
On the streets of Mumbai
Reasserting their claim to
Being the real tapori’s
The real idiots
A senile man and two jerks
Screwing up lives
Fragmenting a nation forged out of non violence and suffering
Through their divisive politics
And mindless violence
Speak Marathi if you want to live here, they yell
What for?
Language is for communication
Why stuff it down our throats
But they slap, they coerce,
They rip off our clothes
The police, impotent
Standby and watch the fun
No law to shackle the goons
No will to restrain
Treating these thugs with kid gloves
Sterility masquerading as legendary tolerance!
Narendra Modi
The author of “My experiments with carnage”
Believes that politics
Is the means to alleviate poverty
So we are told
By none other than Nitin Gadkari
The BJP president
It seems Gandhiji believed it too…
Reflected glory
Or the meeting of Titans?
Great minds think alike! [Chorus]
Modi is a man of many faces
We have seen but a few…
The revelation…
The saintly incarnation..
The angel in the demon..
The true Avataar..
It might soon come to pass
Meanwhile
Let us suspend disbelief
And wipe off that silly smirk
http://tailrace.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/national-anthem/
Nitin Gadkari briefs to media
Watch Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUPDLYDRD4c&feature=youtube_gdata
bademiyansubhanallah
Aryavrt is a parallel Government of the world established on the
divine orders through His Holiness 1008 Shri Parashuram Swamy to
revive moral values among human races, who are being exploited by
rulers, clerics and media due to their ignorance. Every one may
support this Government in the interest of one's own survival. Apt
Friday, February 5, 2010
Re: FOR THE TIME BEING OUR COMMON ENEMY IS CONGRESS GOVERNMENT AND
POLITICIANS
My take:
Note! Aryavrt Government and Abhinav Bharat are fighting war against
immoral usurper and lethal cultures. Our Bharat had several warriors,
social reformers, saints and even kings. None of them fought against
the root cause of human miseries viz. Christianity, Islam, Socialism,
and Democracy. They had been fighting wars against the symptoms, not
the sources. These cultures are invented to rob and enslave one and
all. These cultures must go else human race won't survive. Since 300
B.C. we are the first to fight against real enemies. Help us, else get
ready for doom.
I have got demolished Babri structure. Nay! I had submitted affidavit
in the hand of thief Manmohan Singh Librhan on Jan 15, 2001. The
affidavit was stolen by M.S. Librhan and is not on record. I filed
writ petitions for ban of Koran in apex court, got replaced statue of
Gandhi with revered Pandit Nathuram Godse on 30-01-1997. I have been
discharged in criminal cases against Azaan on 26-02-2005 and Islam
04-02-2010. I am accused in Malegaon mosque blast conspiracy. For
details you can read my following blogs,
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/04/judgment-on-azaan.html
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/04/judgment-of-pci.html
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/09/constitution-supports-genocide-of.html
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/09/conversion-is-crime-with-human-races.html
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/08/repatriation-of-qaba.html
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2007/08/ahimsa-non-violence-impossible.html
Now I am seriously ill after poisoning by Tihar Jail doctors. If you
wish to survive, may help Aryavrt Government by just publishing the
following facts,
Christianity and Islam are cults. It is time to wake up and realize
that these cults are threat to humankind and there can be no co-
existence with Muslims and Christians. As long as Muslims and
Christians believe in Muhammad and Jesus, they are a threat to others
and even to themselves. Secularism and Multiculturalism is bankrupt
against Judaism's, Christianity's & Islam's demand for every
civilization to submit. {Azaan, (Koran, 2:191-194 and 8:39) and
(Bible, Exodus/ Chapter 20 / The Ten Commandments/ Verses 3 and 5 and
Luke 19:27)}. The culture of tolerance collapses in the face of the
sacred intolerance of dualistic ethics. Intellectuals respond by
ignoring the failure. Muslims and Christians must leave their
Christianity and Islam, discard their cultures of hate and join the
rest of humankind as fellow humans, or non-Muslims and non-Christians
must separate themselves from them, ban Christianity and Islam, end
the immigration of Muslims and Christians and slay those, who plot
against humanity and refuse to integrate. Christianity and Islam are
incompatible with humanity and morality. These are warring creeds
{(Koran 2:216 and 8:65) and (Bible, Matt 10:34 and Luke 12:49)} that
use democracy to destroy humanity and to establish itself as a
worldwide dictatorship. The only way to avert the clash between this
barbarity and civilization and a world disaster, is to expose the
fallacies of Christianity and Islam and demystify them. Muslims and
Christians must be weaned from Christianity and Islam for humanity to
live in peace. Aryavrt Government is here to do it. Would any one
among you support us?
Yours faithfully,
Ayodhya Prasad Tripathi, (Press Secretary)
Aryavrt Government
77 Khera Khurd, Delhi - 110 082
Phone: (+91) 9868324025/9838577815
Email: arya...@gmail.com
Blog: http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com
Web-site: http://www.aryavrt.com
Read my eBook 'Wary of Sonia on Web-site: http://www.aryavrt.com
If you feel that this message be telecasted, donate us. Rush your
contribution in the account of Manav Raksha Sangh Account No.
016001020168 ICICI Bank Ltd. Else keep ready for your doom. Remember!
Whoever you are, you won't be able to save your properties, women,
motherland, Vedic culture & even your infants. Choice is yours,
whether you stick to dreaded usurper Democracy & get eradicated or
survive with your rights upon your property, freedom of faith & life
with dignity?
On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 7:50 AM, Hemant Panchpor
<hemantp...@yahoo.com> wrote:
Dear Surajjee:
I totally agree with you. I am on my 'field trip' to India, Nepal and
Tibet starting April 3rd. I am planning to visit many important
leaders including Shri Bal Thackerey (I think, we must be ready for
second option of violence to protect Dharm) in Mumbai, Dr.Athavale of
Sanatan Dharm (silent movement of educating people about Dharm) in
Goa, Shri LK Advani of BJP and Shri Mohan Bhagwat of RSS. Also, I am
willing to meet Shri Narendra Modi, but the appointment is not yet
fixed. I will be visiting Nepal leaders while in Nepal, and Tibetan
leaders while my pilgrimage to Kailas Mansarovar to get Ashirvad from
Shri Shiva.
We can work together. But a word of caution! There are some
'selfish' guys who want to put their names in 'history' by taking
credit of our working hard. I warn you to include those guys but keep
them away from our 'selfless movement'.
Bye, and take care,
Yogi Hemant Panchpor alias Aadeshnath
416-653-8125 Toronto, Canada
http://filedby.com/author/AADESHNATH/2896575/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Aadeshnath
--- On Tue, 2/2/10, suraj prasad <sura...@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: suraj prasad <sura...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: FOR THE TIME BEING OUR COMMON ENEMY IS CONGRESS
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICIANS
To: hemantp...@yahoo.com, greatindi...@gmail.com
Cc: t.a...@ymail.com, kata...@aol.com, gir...@aryasamaj.com,
arya...@gmail.com, pranab.cha...@gmail.com,
ramkara...@yahoo.com, dr.a...@yahoo.com,
deepakas...@gmail.com, georgebu...@yahoo.com,
pratap...@yahoo.co.in, vakm...@rediffmail.com,
ramb...@stolaf.edu, pac...@yahoo.com, sekar...@yahoo.com,
abhu....@gmail.com, pand...@hotmail.com, asho...@gmail.com,
chandr...@gmail.com, balv...@msn.com,
onedigit...@com.cast.net, djp...@gmail.com, kpaig...@yahoo.com,
vi...@chauthaiwale.com, gdes...@gmail.com, sekharv...@gmail.co,
krishto...@yahoo.com, onedigit...@comcast.net,
in...@jrmobilestore.com, sreevidya.r...@gmail.com,
mandirpremb...@yahoo.com, neil_imp...@yahoo.com,
ajoy...@gmail.com, nishka...@yahoo.com,
karamvi...@gmail.com, kt1...@excite.com, srima...@yahoo.com,
s_muk...@rediffmail.com, sanjayb...@yahoo.com,
nyaya...@yahoo.com, hersh_...@yahoo.com, ds...@aol.com,
saku...@yahoo.com, esams...@suryaconsulting.net,
bhagav...@yahoo.ca, shiv...@gmail.com, desai...@yahoo.com,
usha...@hotmail.com, anan...@hotmail.com, dilip...@aol.com,
deb_man...@yahoo.co.in, djp...@aol.com, ashvi...@yahoo.com,
abhin...@hotmail.com, dili...@yahoo.com, manish...@gmail.com,
raor...@gmail.com, neil...@gmail.com, gajender...@gmail.com,
bharat...@gmail.com, ni...@gmail.com, prasad...@gmail.com,
tarun...@yahoo.com, indira...@yahoo.com,
anil....@hofstra.edu, td...@ft.newyorklife.com, rama...@yahoo.com,
hdam...@aol.com, mahesh....@gmx.com, snd...@yahoo.com,
girish...@gmail.com, vhp.new...@gmail.com, gov...@gmail.com,
adity...@hotmail.com, vhpin...@gmail.com, vishw...@gmail.com
Received: Tuesday, February 2, 2010, 3:24 AM
By the way, protest in comments section of the links:
http://www.timesnow.tv/articleshow/4337546.cms
Rahul Gandhi insulting Marathi martyrs now !
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20100202/814/tnl-rahul-has-insulted-martyrs-of-26-11.html
He was partying during Mumbai attack -
http://satyabhashnam.blogspot.com/2008/12/rahul-gandhi-party-after-mumbai-attack.html
If every part of India truly belongs to all Indians as Raul Baba says,
then why Art. 370 in Muslim majority Kashmir and innerline permits
like visas in northeast Christian majority states of otherwise Hindu
majority India!?
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/india_belongs_to_all_indians_rahul_gandhi.php
http://ibnlive.in.com/conversations/topic/109543-1-37
UPA only knows corruption, neporism and loose talk -
http://in.news.yahoo.com/48/20100202/814/tnl-nobody-retires-in-upa.html
My proposal for Sangh Parivar & Hindus role to save India from
Bangladeshis - Since, these 5 crore illegal foreign Muslim invaders in
India is ever growing through normal births and more infiltrations!
Then they are turning almost majority in east India including
Jharkhand, Bengal and Assam besides forming colonies in metro cities
and helping anti-national Jihadis like HUJI from Islamic Bangladesh
and more:
a) Turning Indian labourers jobless and forcing them to take less
payment by working in sub-human conditions and increasing competition,
b) Depleting food stock and scarce water resources of us by feeding on
ours,
c) Destroying ecology by polluting and occupying forest and other open
green spaces,
d) Disturbing peace and harassing real Indians through rape, murders
and criminalization of society in their majority areas,
e) May soon demand many more partitions of India, etc:-
1) Local Parivar organizations unitedly collect data on these illegals
in their area and organize mass movements for their ouster by Govt,
2) Organize Nation wide protest meetings, Yatras, etc,
4) Force employers not to employ them,
5) Gandhian non-cooperation and 'Bangladeshi Bharat Choro' movement,
6) Cut the resources like water supply, electricty to their slums,
7) Force shopkeepers by force ro making them understand not to sell
rations to them,
8) Re-occupy lands occupied by them and distribute to landless
agricultural Hindu labourers like CPM did and still getting some poor
votes for it
9) Create resistance force where they are raping and kidnapping our
daughters and killing our brothers,
10) Finally, if all the above fail we go for direct action (we are
willing to participate) like liberation of Ram Janmabhoomi by
forcefully beating and ousting them (remember the are invaders and
even killing them can't be sin or a legal crime) to save the Nation or
else what's our use!?
On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 10:38 IST Hemant Panchpor wrote:
You are right! I have visited Planning Commission for almost 12 years
while in India. It is run by Western Government, though in the West,
they do not speak about it. It is a double standard 'hypocricy' to
control the world. I have first hand experience of what I am talking.
Bye, and take care,
Yogi Hemant Panchpor alias Aadeshnath
416-653-8125 Toronto, Canada
http://filedby.com/author/AADESHNATH/2896575/
http://www.youtube.com/user/Aadeshnath
--- On Mon, 2/1/10, warrior <greatindi...@gmail.com> wrote:
From: warrior <greatindi...@gmail.com>
Subject: FOR THE TIME BEING OUR COMMON ENEMY IS CONGRESS GOVERNMENT
AND POLITICIANS
To: "Arun Thaker" <t.a...@ymail.com>
Cc: Kata...@aol.com, "Arya PathikGirish C. Khosla"
<gir...@aryasamaj.com>, arya...@gmail.com,
pranab.cha...@gmail.com, ramkara...@yahoo.com,
dr.a...@yahoo.com, deepakas...@gmail.com,
georgebu...@yahoo.com, pratap...@yahoo.co.in,
VAKM...@rediffmail.com, ramb...@stolaf.edu, pac...@yahoo.com,
sekar...@yahoo.com, Abhu....@gmail.com, pand...@hotmail.com,
Asho...@gmail.com, Chandr...@gmail.com, Balv...@msn.com,
Onedigit...@com.cast.net, Djp...@gmail.com, kpaig...@yahoo.com,
vi...@chauthaiwale.com, gdes...@gmail.com, sekharv...@gmail.co,
Krishto...@yahoo.com, Onedigit...@comcast.net,
In...@jrmobilestore.com, Sreevidya.r...@gmail.com,
Mandirpremb...@yahoo.com, Neil_imp...@yahoo.com,
Ajoy...@gmail.com, nishka...@yahoo.com,
Karamvi...@gmail.com, kt1...@excite.com, srima...@yahoo.com,
s_muk...@rediffmail.com, sanjayb...@yahoo.com,
nyaya...@yahoo.com,
hersh_...@yahoo.com, ds...@aol.com, saku...@yahoo.com,
esams...@suryaconsulting.net, bhagav...@yahoo.ca,
shiv...@gmail.com, desai...@yahoo.com, usha...@hotmail.com,
Anan...@hotmail.com, Dilip...@aol.com, deb_man...@yahoo.co.in,
DJP...@aol.com, ashvi...@yahoo.com, abhin...@hotmail.com,
dili...@yahoo.com, manish...@gmail.com, raor...@gmail.com,
neil...@gmail.com, Gajender...@gmail.com,
Bharat...@gmail.com, Ni...@gmail.com, prasad...@gmail.com,
tarun...@yahoo.com, Indira...@yahoo.com,
Anil....@hofstra.edu, Td...@ft.newyorklife.com, Rama...@yahoo.com,
sura...@yahoo.com, Hdam...@aol.com, Mahesh....@gmx.com,
snd...@yahoo.com, girish...@gmail.com, vhp.new...@gmail.com,
gov...@gmail.com, adity...@hotmail.com, vhpin...@gmail.com,
vishw...@gmail.com, hemantp...@yahoo.com
Received: Monday, February 1, 2010, 3:31 PM
WE ARE FOOLED BY WESTERN COUNTRIES FROM LAST 300 YRS THEY WANT MUSLIMS
AND HINDUS TO FIGHT AND IN THAT THEY GAIN ALL BENEFITS CONGRESS GOV IS
SOLD OUT TO WESTERN COUNTRIES.
SAVE INDIA.
On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 3:29 PM, warrior
<greatindi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW INCOME INCREASE REDUCES FOOD.THIS PIG IS GIVING SUCH A PATHETIC RESPONSE TO INDIANS.HE WANT GMO TO COM TO INDIA AND KILL PEOPLE.PROCESSED FOOD MORE DISEASES MORE FOREIGN MEDICINES AND TEHNOLOGY MORE MONEY GOES TO US AND EUROPE.
>
>HE WAS WORLD BANK TOUT BETWEEN 1986-1990 and then he BECAME FINANCE MINISTER.HE USED TO TAKE 1RS SALARY INITIALLY BECAUSE WORLD BANK USED TO GIVE HIM SEPERATE DOLLARS
Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. Go to
Yahoo! Answers and share what you know at http://ca.answers.yahoo.com
http://aaryavrt.blogspot.com/2010/02/re-for-time-being-our-common-enemy-is.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Posted on February 6, 2010 by Moin Ansari
There are several faces of fascist terror in Bharat (aka India). There
is the Saffron Brigade of Bajrang Dal, the RS Sang, Siv Sena and a
plethora of others that follow the policy of Hinduist nationalism and
exclusion of the minorities and Non-Hindus.
The Nationalist Congress Party and Varun Gandhi represent the other
face of fascism. Mr. Gandhi has clearly said that his main focus is
not jobs or economic development but Ganga (the river Ganges), Gao
Mata (cow), the determination to brainwash the youth and to build
temples.
While the Senas, the Sangs, and the Dals have been exporting terror
around Bharat and across the borders. The US should declare these as
terror organizations and ban them.
BULANDSHAHR (Uttar Pradesh): Contrary to new party chief Nitin
Gadkari’s campaign for development, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP
Varun Gandhi
Saturday said the party should focus on the Ganga, safety of cows and
care of temples.
Price rise is an issue alright, but we should not forget what our
party was formed for. We should not compromise on our self-respect,”
he said while addressing a rally at Shikarpur here.
“If we don’t fight for our self-respect, the Ganga (river), Gau mata
(cows), our temples and the youth, then everything else will fall
apart,” he added.
He said he has constructed around 200 temples in his parliamentary
constituency of Pilibhit with his own money.
•Mumbai belongs to Marathi people only– Thackeray threatens with
weapons
•Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
•Wives & daughters Mortgaged in India
•Linguistic chauvinism and national unity
“While I was coming here. I saw many minars on the way. But I don’t
have any problem with that. What I feel bad about is the poor
condition of our temples today. They are the signs of our faith and we
should do everything to take care of them,” Gandhi said.
Even as slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” raged on, Gandhi said: “I will
ensure that no cow slaughter takes place here and if you hear of any
such case, you can call me any time and I will be there. We will get
our hands cut off, but won’t let any cow get slaughtered”.
Gandhi said the country wants strong leadership today.
“People want a completely new kind of politics. They don’t want
leaders to sit in their bungalows and not visit their constituency.
Unlike others, even after I won the elections, I regularly keep
visiting my constituency,” he said.
Gandhi also spoke about issues of land acquisition and the plight of
farmers. Varun wants BJP focus on the Ganga, cows and temples
IANS, 6 February 2010, 07:04pm IST
NEW DELHI: Having taken over as the youngest BJP chief, Nitin Gadkari
is keen to include young people along with experienced ones in his
team of office-bearers that will be finalised after BJP’s national
council meeting at Indore by the end February.
The names doing the rounds for inclusion in Gadkari’s team include
Varun Gandhi, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Anurag Thakur and Shahnawaz
Hussain. Of the seasoned lot, there is a possibility that former
Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje may step out of her state and
join the central party organisation as one of the general secretaries.
While Shahnawaz Hussain, the party’s MP from Bhagalpur in Bihar, was
already heading the minority morcha in the Rajnath Singh regime,
Siddhu has been essentially limited to BJP’s campaigns during
elections and has no experience in the organisational set-up. The same
goes for Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi. Son of Himachal Pradesh chief
minister P K Dhumal, first-time MP from Hamirpur, Anurag Thakur, may
not have much experience in the party’s organisational affairs but he
has been involved with the state’s cricket association.
Under Raje, BJP lost the last assembly elections in Rajasthan, but the
party admits it had more to do with factional fights within, rather
than her performance as CM. She defied former party chief Rajnath
Singh’s diktat some months ago to first quit as leader of opposition
in the state, with a majority of BJP MLAs backing her. She finally
quit, but refused to join Singh’s team which was offered to her.
Soon after he took over as party chief, Gadkari told TOI that he
wanted a good mix of youth and experience. He was keen on including
people in their 30s and 40s in his team.
“I want young people, ideally those in their 30s and 40s, in the team,
alongside some experienced leaders and the entire team should be in
place by the end of February,” Gadkari had said when asked about his
preference while making the organisational changes.
The new BJP president, who took over in December from Rajnath Singh,
had also declared that he “prefers people who get things done”, and
would want this message to be displayed on his office table.
In what could be an indication of things to come in BJP, Gadkari had
said he believed in resolving every issue at the earliest, rather than
delaying it and thereby getting complicated. Varun, Sidhu in Gadkari’s
sights for youth brigade, Mohua Chatterjee, TNN, 31 January 2010,
04:47am IST
http://rupeenews.com/2010/02/06/the-other-face-of-fascism-in-delhi-varun-gandhi/
Mumbai belongs to Marathi people only– Thackeray threatens with
weapons
Posted on February 3, 2010 by Moin Ansari
Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
•Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people only– Thackeray
threatens with weapons
•“Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian
mummy,” Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
•Referring to the 105 people killed during the Sanyukta Maharashtra
Movement dating back to the 1920s, he said, “Have 105 martyrs
sacrificed their lives so that Mumbai becomes a dharamshala (guest
house)”.
•Multiplexes and single-screen theatres in Mumbai have taken off
posters and hoardings of Shah Rukh Khan’s My name is Khan following an
order by the Shiv Sena. Cinema managements declined to come on record,
but their fear of violence by Sainiks was apparent Tuesday, and there
appeared to be some doubt over the film’s release, scheduled for
February 12. Indian Express
The growing balakanization of Bharat (aka India) is seen by many
analysts as a growing menace for the world. The resurgence and growth
of the Fascist Hinduist Mahasabah extremsits that has its genesis in
the 1940s, is now waging open war agains the central government in
several states. Current the religious Ram Raj Saffron banner has been
raised in the capital or currency and commerce of the country. Shiv
Sena has publicly announced that it will not allow the Pakistanis and
the Australians to play in the state of Maharashtra or in Mumbai its
capital.
This growing fascism afflists many parts of Bharat–much of it reeling
from the territorial expanisionism of the Read Marxist and Naxalites
who control 40% of the land mass of Bharat.
Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people, Thackeray
“If anyone is going to murder this truth, he will have to face weapons
of Maharashtra”.
In a growing feud with the Indian National Congress run by the Italian
Mummy Mrs Sonia Gandhi–the Shiv Sena has attacked the successor to the
throne of the Indian National Congress–the son of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi
(who was assisinated by a fanatic Hindu).
Mumbia is up in arms–and Shiv Sena is proclaiming the city as a
bastion of the New Hindu revival.
The rest of impotent Bharat watches in horror as the Thackerays
(father Bal and nephwew) threaten Delhi with violence. Shiv Sena is
bent on ethnically cleansing the city of all “foreigners”.
•What is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)? What does Raj Thackeray
want?
hindi-Marhati split: Shiv Sena, MNS impose Mumbai for Maharashtrians
only
•Sena vs. RSS: Saffron Fascists fight to lead Maharashtra secession
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena today stepped up its attack on Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on the “Mumbai for all Indians” remark, raking up Sonia
Gandhi’s foreign origin.
“Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian
mummy,” Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’.
“The ‘Prince of Congress’ is totally frustrated and it is in this
frustration he has insulted Marathi people and Maharashtra,” he said.
The Sena leader said Mumbai was not a “dharamshala” (guesthouse) of
the country that “anyone comes to Mumbai, spits here and leaves.”
Referring to the 105 people killed during the Sanyukta Maharashtra
Movement dating back to the 1920s, he said, “Have 105 martyrs
sacrificed their lives so that Mumbai becomes a dharamshala (guest
house)”.
There is a lot of tension between the locals and those who went to
Mumbai to seek a living.
“Saying that Bihari commandos protected Mumbai during the 26/11
attacks is like insulting the sacrifice of policemen like Hemant
Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and Tukaram Omble,” he said,
referring to the Congress leader’s remark that NSG men from North
India were involved in vanquishing terrorists during the terror
attack.
Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people, Thackeray maintained
and added that “If anyone is going to murder this truth, he will have
to face weapons of Maharashtra”.
The Congress leader yesterday asserted that India is for all Indians
and people have a right to go anywhere.
“I am really not interested in what Bal Thackeray or Raj Thackeray
have to say. Frankly, I am interested in one concept that India
belongs to Indians and every part of India belongs to every Indian”,
he had said at a press conference in Patna.
“In Mumbai (during the 26/11 attacks), men in the NSG were from Bihar,
UP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra. At that time they
(Sena) did not say that those from Bihar and UP should be taken out.
India has to move forward and all have to be taken forward,” he had
said. Sena hits out at Rahul, says Mumbai not for ‘Italian mummy’ PTI,
3 February 2010, 09:17am IST
Shining India:The impediments. The Center is now responding to the
Shiv Sena xenophobia in Mumbai.
NEW DELHI: Slamming the Shiv Sena for its controversial “Mumbai for
Marathis” slogan, home minister P Chidambaram on Monday said such a
“pernicious” thesis has to be rejected and the city belongs to all of
India. they are competent to manage the situation,” Chidambaram said.
“We reject the thesis of Shiv Sena. Mumbai belongs to all of India and
all Indians are free to live and work in Mumbai,” Chidambaram told
reporters.
“As a matter of policy, we reject the theses of the Shiv Sena and the
MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena). These are pernicious theses and they
have to be rejected,” he said.
The home minister said that the Maharashtra government was “competent”
to handle the situation in Mumbai after the Shiv Sena Sunday objected
to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) view that the city is for
all Indians.
“If the government of Maharashtra seeks our advice, we will advise
them. But I am sure
Thre is intense anti-Hindi feeling in the Bharati (aka Indian) state
of Maharashtra. This is not new–this is decades old. Letters sent to
many Maharashtra cities if written with Hindi addresses end up in the
garbage can. Official letters sent in Hindi are not responded to. Some
sort of English has been used to bridge the gap between the center and
state.
The current rioting has been stirred up by Shiv Sena which is leading
the “Mumbai for Maharashtra” campaign forcing others to learn the
language or leave Mumbai.
Bharati states are based on language. The current rioting in Mumbai
and Maharashtra was inevitable. The formation of states on the basis
of language and ethnicity was wrong. Bharat had 560 states. It tried
to amalgamate the states into linguistic havens. The Language based
havens have not become xenophobic forcing Delhi to form fifty such
states–each seeking its own agenda and all seeking some distance from
Delhi in terms of sovereignty and secession. Kashmir and Assam for
example want total independence from Delhi. Othe states are in varying
degrees of confusion and chaos–putting the entire idea of “India” into
flux.
•Shiv Sena, known for its Marathi chauvinism, began to make its
presence felt, mainly through the vituperative utterances of its
leader, Bal Thackeray, against outsiders. Now, a breakaway group,
•the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Bal Thackeray’s nephew,
Raj, has made its appearance. One India
•Claiming to stand for the Marathi manoos (men), their politics of sub-
nationalism is marked by violence against immigrants and perceived
“aliens” – whether south Indians in the 1960s, Muslims in the nineties
or north Indians today. One India
•Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has demanded 80
per cent of the jobs in private companies be reserved for the Marathi
speaking habitants
•Raj Thackeray, chief MNS had given a statement that MNS will bring
taxi operations in Mumbai to a standstill if permits are not given to
Marathi persons only, they will simply not allow any relaxation in the
policy.
•It was on Wednesday that the decision was taken by the cabinet to
give taxi permits to those who resided in Maharashtra for 15 years and
who could speak, read and write Marathi. Little About
•Mumbai , Jan 26 (ANI): The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena (MNS) distributed Marathi language alphabet books to north Indian
taxi and auto rickshaw drivers as part of an exercise to teach them
Marathi. One India
•MNS activists asked taxi drivers to learn the language within 40 days
or else return to their native places.hey also pasted pamphlets on
taxis and auto rickshaws. One India.
•The Sena is angry with Khan for backing the participation of
Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. Sainiks gheraoed SRK’s home in
suburban Bandra Sunday, and have been ripping the film’s posters at
several places in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Indian Express
•“We can’t release the film and put our audience under threat unless
the matter is resolved,” said a senior executive of a national
multiplex chain on condition of anonymity. Indian Express
Raking up once again the sons-of-the-soil issue, the Raj Thackeray led
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has demanded 80 per cent of the jobs
in private companies be reserved for the Marathi speaking habitants.
It seems increasingly likely that Bharat will either explode like
Yugosaliva or implode like the Soviet Union.
bademiyansubhanallah
Posted on January 31, 2010 by Moin Ansari
The evils of Xenophobia has destroyed many cities and countries.
Germany ruled by the Nazis were so enamored by their race and language
that they wanted all Germans under a single government.
The rise and rise of the RSS and Shiv Sena have complicated the
politics of Bharat (aka India) and their popular support shake the so
called secular foundations of the country which was formed as an anti-
thesis to religion, and race.
Today, the bigoted racists who murdered Mohandas Gandhi are running
the center of commerce and currency of Bharat (aka India). The Shiv
Sena is run by one of the worst racists on the planet–Mr. Bal
Thakaray. His nephew runs another racist outfit now called MNS. Both
organizations are threatening all HIndi speaking people to leave their
state of Maharashtra. This is very similar to what the General
Mankeshaw thugs did in Bengal and this is exactly what is happening in
Gujarat.
Maharashtra is for Maharashtrians say the Shiv Sena and the MNS. There
is insanity in their logic. Their goal is to give employment to the
suffering farmers of their state. Their inane logic appeals to the
people of Mumbia and Maharashtra. If they throw out or scare away the
penury stricken Cab drivers, then the farmers can get jobs in Mumbai
The Shiv Sena is on a rampage in Mumbai and may destroy Bollywood. It
has come out against many of the major Bollywood actors, and is waging
an Anti-Hindi campaign in Mumbai and the entire state. This cannot be
good for Mumbai, nor for Bollywood.
•Mumbai belongs to Marathi people only– Thackeray threatens with
weapons
•Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
•Wives & daughters Mortgaged in India
•Linguistic chauvinism and national unity
After targeting Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan for his remarks on
Pakistani cricketers, Shiv Sena has now targeted the Nawab. It is Saif
who is
Saif Ali Khan More Pics
at the receiving end of Shiv Sena’s brickbats. Sena executive
president Uddhav Thackeray called the actor a tapori (vagabond) who
did not deserve the Padma Sri award. The protest came after government
announced the Padma Shri for Saif and Saif commented that, ‘The honour
should’ve been given to someone more senior’
Recently, members of the Bishnoi community also protested against
Saif. They demanded withdrawal of the Padma Shri to him and burnt
Khan’s effigy in Jodhpur. The community cited the pending court case
against him under the Wildlife Protection Act for killing two black
bucks while shooting for Sooraj Barjatya’s film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’
in October, 1998.
In 2009, Kareena and Saif starrer ’Kurbaan’ also was in the news, when
Shiv Sena protested against the posters of the film showing Kareena’s
bare back.
The press is full of reports of Salman Khan and SRK being boycotted by
the Shive Sena and also Political parties of Rajastan. Recently Shah
Rukh Khan mentioned that Pakistan cricketers should not have been
ignored for the recent edition of Indian Premier League tournament.
The Shiv Sena leader and of course “brain washed” partisans have today
protested in front of SRK house and hailing that Shahrukh Khan must go
to Pakistan if he want to speak about Pakistan Players. A cheap
mentality of the political group of course.
Hundreds of policemen were on spot to maintain law and order but
somehow it is hard to control “ban zozo san poil”. The demonstrators
were also targeting Amir Khan and based on his recent movie 3 idiots,
they were labeling SRK and Amir as 2 idiots.
My Name is Khan is to be released soon.
Bharati states are based on language. The current rioting in Mumbai
and Maharashtra was inevitable. The formation of states on the basis
of language and ethnicity was wrong. Bharat had 560 states. It tried
to amalgamate the states into linguistic havens. The Language based
havens have not become xenophobic forcing Delhi to form fifty such
states–each seeking its own agenda and all seeking some distance from
Delhi in terms of sovereignty and secession. Kashmir and Assam for
example want total independence from Delhi. Othe states are in varying
degrees of confusion and chaos–putting the entire idea of “India” into
flux.
•What is the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)? What does Raj Thackeray
want?
•Hindi-Marhati split: Shiv Sena, MNS impose Mumbai for Maharashtrians
only
•Sena vs. RSS: Saffron Fascists fight to lead Maharashtra secession
If The Shiv Sena is successful, or even partially successful–it will
impact one of the biggest industries of Bharat–Bollywood. Can
Bollywood survive Shiv Sena?
Failed States. The Shev Sena vials of hate about “Mumbai for
Maharashtrians only” is more insidious than the most vocal Nazi racism
that was built on ethnic cleansing and deportation of “aliens”. The
Shiv Sena “war against North-Indian’s” is more profound than the
chauvinistic malevolence of the KKK that propagates the racial
superiority of a race. The Thakaray’s supremacy vitriol against the
“Italians” is actually rhetoric against all Christians. When the
ignoble Sena bans Australian cricketers from Mumbai–it is actually
spewing malignity and malicious venom against all people of European
origin. The villainous Sena’s ethnocentrism opposing Mayawati is
really its misogynic policy of continued enslavement of the Dalits.
The Sena’s obnoxious diatribes against Jews and the Chinese are not
isolated murmers–they are part and parcel of the Swastika heralding
philosophy that sees Hindu dominance over all other faiths and races.
The Shiv Sena vitriol against Muslims is disguised as a tirade against
the Khans. While the press reports and the Shiv Sena TV and newspaper
outlets simply mention “Khan”, the term term ”Khan” implies all
Muslims. Shiv Sen’a odious campaign against “foreigners” in Mumbai is
to displace and move out all Muslims and all North Indians from
Maharashtra, by coercion, and intimidation. The Shiv Sena squalid
outbursts against all Australians, Nepalese, and Bangladeshis is an
outburst against humanity. India intoxicated by meager success is
blind to real self-portrait of caste infested penury and
balkanization
India’s Security nightmares: Naxalites, Mioram, Tamilland, Khalistan,
7 sisters of Northeast, 450 million Untouchable Dalits, Kashmiris, 150
million Muslims. Mumbai the commercial center of Bharat (aka India)
today looks and feels like Pre-Weimar Germany, where the Jews lived in
fear of being deported and killed. Bharat’s Maoist insurgency
Cracks in India: 40% of “India” not under Government control. Blaming
the ISI cannot dampen the 89 Indigenous Indian insurgencies. The
Thackerays are using the Gujerat model where the blatant genocide of
3000 Muslims forced out 300,000 Muslims. mr. Modi’s machine ensures
that hese poor souls cannot return to their villages.
•Kashmiris: Pakistanis stand with you as always
•The great Indian climb down-Delhi changes tune, offers high-level
talks
•Kashmir accepted as disputed: On top of Indo-Pakistan talks agenda
The current virulence of the Shiv Sena is nothing new to South Asia.
Shiv Sena’s KKK type of philosophers Lala Hardayal said this in the
40s–and this part and parcel of the Thakaray philosophy:—
“I declare that the future of the Hindu race, of Hindustan and of the
Punjab, rests on these four pillars:
(1) Hindu Sangathan [extermination by murder or deportation],
(2) Hindu Raj,
(3) Shuddhi [conversion] of Moslems, and
(4) Conquest and Shuddhi of Afghanistan and the Frontiers.
So long as the Hindu nation does not accomplish these four things, the
safely of our children and great-grandchildren will be ever in danger,
and the safety of the Hindu race will be impossible. The Hindu race
has but one history, and its institutions are homogeneous. But the
Musalmans and Christians are far removed from the confines of
Hindustan, for their religions are alien and they love Persian, Arab
and European institutions. Thus, just as one removes foreign matter
from the eye, Shuddhi must be made of these two religions. Afghanistan
and the hilly regions of the frontier were formerly part of India, but
are at present under the domination of Islam. . . .Lala Hardayal in
Pratap of Lahore.
The venomousness of the Shiv Sena and related bodies have to be seen
in the light of the philosophy of those that the Thakarays worship.
Already the Mumbai violence is pushing investments out of the state.
Many multinationals are looking at ways to get ouf of Mumbai.
AHMEDABAD: Hardik Shah, who deals in real estate in Vapi town of south
Gujarat, is a busy man these days. Vapi has been a favourite location
for industrialists from Mumbai who want to set up plants in Gujarat
because they find the state more investor friendly.
On Wednesday, he was with a client near Sanjan trying to identify land
for a medium-sized petrochemical unit. “Of late, inquiries from Mumbai
have increased substantially for suitable land near Maharashtra’s
border with Gujarat. These people are upset with parochialism in and
around Mumbai,” says Shah.
Obviously, Amitabh Bachchan is not the only Mumbaikar who is rooting
for Gujarat. The shrill tone of ‘Amchi Mumbai’ is driving investments
towards Gujarat. S Sukeja, director of a firm which makes cranes,
says, “Though we are based in Mumbai and we had planned some expansion
in Thane, we have now decided to relocate the new unit to Gujarat.”
This, according to government officials, has pushed up realty prices
by at least 10 to 15 per cent in just the last two weeks. “Normally,
realty deals in Gujarat take place only after Uttarayan. But the
trouble in Mumbai has only spurred interest here,” a collector of a
south Gujarat district told TOI.
“Of late, investors from Mumbai and Hyderabad have come here due to
political disturbances there,” said Jaxay Shah, president of
Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India
(CREDAI), Gujarat chapter.
That this should happen in a year when both states are celebrating
their golden jubilee is also significant. The hype around Swarnim
Gujarat is creating an air of positivity around the state at a time
when its neighbour is trying to slam the doors on ‘outsiders’.
So, be it a large infrastructure firm, which is planning to shift a
substantial part of their operations from Mumbai to south Gujarat, or
a leading company that is close to setting up a steel plant in the
state instead of Maharashtra, the list is growing long.
“The number of inquiries from companies in Maharashtra has certainly
gone up in the past one year ever since the Marathi ‘manoos’ thing
started,” say senior state government officials. “Some of these
investors are of course Gujaratis who are feeling increasingly
uncomfortable in the neighbouring state,” he said. Thank the
Thackerays: Mumbai pushing investments to Gujerat. Times of India.
http://rupeenews.com/2010/01/31/will-shiv-sena-marhati-xenophobia-destroy-bollywood/
...AND i AM sID hARTH
bademiyansubhanallah
There are no bad debts in Bundelkhand (India).
If a man cannot repay a loan in cash, a wife or daughter will often do
just as well.
As authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh seemingly look the
other way, women in drought-prone, impoverished Bundelkhand, a cluster
of 13 forgotten districts that lies along the borders of the two
states are paying the price for bad loans with their liberty.
“Make me happy and the debt will be waived, he would say to me,” says
Anita (name changed), her teeth gritted in rage.
She was 17 when a powerful moneylender in Sipri Bazaar, Jhansi, first
came to her parents’ home and declared that he would take in kind what
they had been unable to repay in cash.
Anita’s illiterate father had taken a loan of Rs 5,000, but signed a
deed that said the sum was Rs 50,000.
A labourer with no assets, he had no hope of repaying the loan. He had
to let his daughter be led away by the moneylender.
For the next six months, the moneylender allegedly returned
repeatedly, taking Anita away and sending her home a few hours later.
Finally, in April 2007, Anita walked from his house to the local
police station and filed a case of rape and aggravated assault.
“He got bail in a few hours,” she says, the rage returning to her
face.
The practice of women being used as collateral shot into the news
early last month, when another man from Jhansi who had allegedly lost
his wife to a moneylender began a fight to get her back.
The moneylender had allegedly passed Kalicharan’s wife Kusma Devi on
to an acquaintance, Deshraj, in a nearby village.
When he was questioned, Deshraj showed district officials a Rs 10
stamp paper that said he and the woman were married.
The case caught the attention of the National Commission for Women
(NCW), which sent in a team to investigate. The UP Congress unit also
set up a team to look into the matter.
Though Yasmeen Abrar, the head of the four-member NCW team, declined
to comment in detail before she submitted her report to the Union
government, she told reporters: “It is a matter of investigation how
this woman came to live with another man. We think this is not an
isolated case. We intend to dig deeper into this issue in the region.”
Abrar said she also planned to look into what action the
administration was taking in the matter.
“This is neo-feudalism,” says Bhagwat Prasad, director of a local non-
profit that fought against this practice in the local tribal community
in the early 1990s.
“The wealthy have all the power and women are considered an extension
of a man’s property and assets.”
There is no record of how many women are suffering in this way, Prasad
adds.
“With suicides, there is a dead body, so everyone has to sit up. Here,
the women are faceless and voiceless, invisible victims of an
invisible crime.”
As far as the administration is concerned, however, there is no neo-
feudalism.
“There is no such thing going on,” said Uttar Pradesh Principal
Secretary (Women and Child Welfare) Amal Verma. “If you know of any
cases, why don’t you send them to us and we’ll investigate.”
Meanwhile, about 115 kilometers from Anita’s one-room mud hut, victims
turned culprits as an enraged couple in Barora village hit back at
another powerful moneylender in 2006.
When Mahesh Chandra offered to waive a Rs 2,500 loan and throw in an
additional Rs 500 in exchange for Bhagwati Devi (30), her husband
Chandrabhan (34) lunged at the man with just the towel he held in his
hands.
The police report says the couple ended up strangling Mahesh Chandra,
and were arrested for murder. Bhagwati, a mother of four, spent the
next two years in jail. Chandrabhan is still in prison.
Now, Bhagwati supports her family by selling trinkets and cosmetics to
village girls. “I’m lucky if I can afford a few bananas for the
children every day,” she says.
“And I don’t know how long I can afford to keep them all in school.”
Pankaj Jaiswal, Hindustan Times. Jhansi/Chitrakoot,
October 05, 2009.
First Published: 00:00 IST(5/10/2009).
Last Updated: 01:35 IST(5/10/2009).
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/uttarpradesh/Mortgaged-Wives-daughters/Article1-461225.aspx
http://rupeenews.com/2009/10/05/wives-daughters-mortgaged-in-india/
bademiyansubhanallah
introspect, resolve its huge race, caste & religious imbroglios
Posted on November 28, 2008 by Moin Ansari
India has a few blind spots. It does not know about the blind spots.
There is no one to show her the blind spots. India, a youthful country
overrun by youngsters eking out a subsistence living in the mirage of
Bollywood is unable to look at itself with any semblance of realism. A
star struck destitute and impecunious populace is proud of evanescent
and unattainable trophies, venerating educational institutions it can
only brag about (never get admitted to), Billionaires it can worship
on statistic charts and luxuries that it can dream about.
Inebriated by blindness towards a the goal of superpower status this
populace is unable to see the deep cavities within its boundaries.
Young xenophobic India votes for those that are hegemonistic and
autochthonous. Its leadership impervious of the needs of the penurious
is focused on expansionism and destabilizing its neighbors. It behaves
like crack-addicts overwhelmed by blind hatred for Buddhists (the real
ones who are not Hindu), Dalits, Christians and Muslims–this
leadership doesn’t have a clue of what the white world thinks of
Indians– unavoidable supplicators at best and disposable computer
coolies at worst!
The [Indian] DRDO had difficulty marrying high concepts with sound
engineering. Thus many major systems on the drawing board did not
become potent weapons. Although it had a staff of 30,000, 51
laboratories and a US$2.5-billion budget, the organization operated
under technical and critical-component constraints for the last 50
years. It has spent more than US$50 billion and produced very little.
The army has had many problems with the INSAS rifle developed by the
organization, and nobody wants the main battle tank it developed. Its
many tactical missiles have never met their defined parameters, and
the Kaveri engine for light combat aircraft has been under development
for three decades. WORLD VIEW NEWS SERVICE. Israel’s Military Supplies
to India By Hari Sud Special to Salem-News.com
All cannot be measured in concrete and steel. Even in that Bharat lags
behind every other country in the world. The land of the Ganges has
lost its moral compass and ethical turpitude. Let us borrow a page
from the archives of history and what was written in “The Republic” a
long time ago. Reading the excerpt may help us differentiate the
reality of what is Bharat today and what the ideal should be.
“Think of the considerateness of the city, its entire superiority to
trifles, its disregard of all those things we spoke of so proudly when
we were founding our [ideal] city; we said that, except from
altogether extraordinary natures, no one could turn out a good man
unless his earliest years were given to noble games, and he gave
himself wholly to noble pursuits. Is it not sublime how this city
tramples all such things under foot, and is suprememly indifferent as
to what life a man has led before he enters politics? If only he
asserts his zeal for the multitude, it is ready to honour him.”
(Pg. 254, The Republic, Translation by Lindsay, 1954, London: JM Dent
& Sons)
The poor of India, the Dalits, the scheduled classes, the Christians,
the Naxalites and the Muslims left behind the onward march towards…
march towards what? No one know. Ask the irredentist Akhand Bhartis
who hated the vivisection of Mother India. Wars with all her
neighbors. All this for the reabsorption of all states surrounding it
into a huge monolith which may have existed for 80 years under the
reign of Ashoka. Many question whether the mythical king ever existed.
Ashoka’s kingdom is the Nirvana of India. Few Indians know that Ashoka
is as fugacious as his mythical kingdom. Did Ashoka exist? Did Pandit
Radhakantta create him for James Princep in 1837. Ashoka’s name first
appeared in British journals when the White man was writing “Indian
history” (James Princep was the first to coin the term “Ashoka). But
don’t tell the pundits (the real ones, not the talking heads on Fox
and CNN)–thier entire life depends on churning out the youth who
believe in Akhand Bharat. A brianwashed nation unable to comprehend
simple facts like–if one cannot control the current states, how can it
control hundreds of millions that are forced into “India”–especially
if the million are belligerent and don’t want to be part of the mess
called “India”. However these are details that are not mentioned in a
nation that resembles Weimar Germany–fed on a steady dose of hatred,
xenophobia and hostility towards real and perceived enemies.
Psephocracy is a form of government decided by “elections”.
Orientalists will tell us all that the Greeks supposedly invented the
ballot box when they voted with the psephos or ‘pebble’ in ceramic
urns. Psephologyis the study of elections and voting, and a
psephologist is an electoral scientist or analyst. In a psephocracy,
the media is focused on inconsequential events and issues while the
pullulating millions are unable even to see the affluence of those who
manipulate the electorate through fear mongering and other tested
mechanisms
Illusionary Democracy depends on Psephocracy as a way to legitimize
the dictatorship of dynastic plutocracy-as practiced in the Brahamin
corridors of power in India.
What happens after elections in a Psephocracy? Nothing. Elections
simply endorse the will of the plutocrats who perpetually remain in
power.
The seduction of the New East India Company overwhelms the senses of
those who begin thinking of themselves as a new USA. Has the “East
India Company” ever allowed any nation to compete with it and thus
eliminate it? The Chinese are smart. Unfettered by the trappings of
“democracy” they only allow limited access to the “East India
Company”. The Indian nation tipsy by a shrinking $41 Billion call
center industry (mislabeled and embellished as the IT industry) does
not have the wisdom or the sagacity to see through the game. Too busy
cajoling the USA, it has not only forgotten its roots, it is moving
towards self-destruction. Like the 18th century India is ready to be
pillaged and raped.
•Mumbai: Intoxicated India deaf & blind to internal terror. Unable to
introspect, resolve its huge race, caste & religious problems
•Hinduvata: All Indian Muslims brace for Gujarat type of violence
•Who did it? “This is not India’s 9/11″-Christine Fair: Communalism,
penury, racism, caste disparty are destroying the Indian Union
•Bigotry, Racism fuel Creeping Fascism in Berlusconi’s Italy
•Mumbai terrorrism: Long term economic impact on India
For too long the media in India has been significantly successful in
disorienting, deflecting and mesmerizing the minds of urban folks into
imagining a country that is not up to par because it is behind the
West in so many ways. This state of stupor persists, but there is now
an increasing awareness in some circles at least, that India’s
postures about its growth, success and international stature can
overnight become a hollow dream, if the word gets around that India
has treated its first citizens with violence, deprivation,
displacement and eventual genocide. The hollowness behind the growth
figures, much of which has limited authenticity when seen in terms of
the high current account deficit, high unemployment, incredible rise
of prices, is also becoming evident even among the India- shining
crowd. Despite all the bravado that Kamal Nath and Montek Ahluwalia
indulge in, in Davos (after all they would all be seeking
International jobs, very soon) the baseline figures of India’s
economic progress are quite undermined with the phenomenal rise in
poverty, illiteracy, infant malnutrition, farmer suicides and poor
potable water facilities and sanitation related fatalities India For
Selective Assassination Of It’s Own Citizens? By Trevor Selvam, 1
January, 2010, Countercurrents.org
India is like a millstone on South Asia. It has kept all of South Asia
in poverty. Now it is beset with humongous problems–the harvest of
sowing seeds of destruction in her neighbors. When the tide rises all
boats float up. When the tide sinks all boats go down. India is a dead
weight on South Asia. In the process all of South Asia is doomed to
another century of penury and poverty.
•About 370 BC, Plato wrote: “A democracy is a state in which the poor,
gaining the upper hand, kill some and banish others, and then divide
the offices among the remaining citizens equally.”
The Indian press has been sensationalizing the Mumbai terror. The
Hinduvata will be using it to win elections. Indian officials are in a
quandary. They are “rapt withal” unable to blame the internal
terrorists or the mafia, forced to blame others. Pakistan is the
favorite kicking boy of the media. Drunk with a false sense of
“superpower status”, India is incapable of taking stock of its own
internal issues. Indians are inebriated with the panglossian gloss
perpetuated by Bollywood and a Western press pushing India towards a
collision with China. India today it totally incapable of
introspection and taking corrective actions.
We can count three possible elements that have contributed greatly to
the marginalisation of Indian Muslims, something that Musharraf hinted
at but was unable to clearly spell out. One set of reasons are
contained in the Sachar Committee report requisitioned by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh.
It vividly described the hapless state of India’s 150 million Muslims
and recommended urgent measures in education and employment to stem
the rot. Another element in the Muslim issue is the Shrikrishna
Commission’s report on the 1993 violence in Mumbai. It found the state
and police complicit in brutal violence against the city’s Muslims,
mostly slum dwellers. No one has been indicted. Nor has anyone been
held responsible for the demolition of the Babri mosque in 1992 in
spite of numerous commissions and court cases that are going on. Gen
Musharraf did not list these issues but he was, probably broadly
hinting at some of them as factors that required focus to weed out the
threat of terrorism in India.
Big applause for hypocrisy By Jawed Naqvi, Thursday, 12 Mar, 2009 |
06:49 PM PST
It’s population is full of glee at the misfortunes of its neighbors,
Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The Indian Union is sending
space rockets but cannot feed its people. There is something
fundamentally wrong with a mentality that laughs at the destruction of
the Marriot and blames the world for the carnage in Mumbai. There is a
pathological problem with the the leaders of a country that sends $1
Billion to Afghanistan in a fools gold irridentist and revanchist
errand to prop up a puppet President in Kabul. There is no moral
compunction in supporting the Mayor of Kabul whose writ does not
extend beyond Kabul. All this in a Quixotic mission to encircle
Pakistan and extend Indian influence to the Amu Darya and beyond.
A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with
the power knowledge gives. A popular government without popular
information or the means of acquiring it is but a prologue to a farce
or a tragedy, or perhaps both.” James Madison
India is behaving a like a pumped up balloon Michelin mascot; pumped
by the Americans who need crutches to needle China; pumped up by the
British who cannot fight the good war in Afghanistan and expect India
to clean up the mess that they have made.
The world is strapped with an unimpressive Indian Prime Minister who
delivers written speeches without passion and without any moral
convictions. A henpecked Indian Prime Minister has pointed to a
“foreign hand” a pointed finger at “Pakistan and or Bangladesh” which
itself is a euphemism for Muslims and Islam.
Nehru with all his faults and infatuation with Socialism at least had
the ability to make a speech. Indira Gandhi for all her frailties
could handle herself and present a positive image of India. Dr.
Manmohan Singh makes the imbecilic Pakistani President look like a
giant. Pranab Mukherjee makes the low IQ Gilani look like Einstein.
What is wrong with a “democracy” that cannot produce leaders?
sound political decisions concerning means as well as ends require not
only reliable knowledge of such things as economics, geography,
sociology, and military strategy, but also something like moral
competence, the question arises as to how this sort of preparedness
can be acquired. Plato’s emphatic answer is: by a sound and systematic
education. No good government—democratic or otherwise–is possible
without an adequate amount of knowledge and understanding. It is for
this reason that education is the most central concern of Plato’s
Republic. (From Jorn K. Bramann: Educating Rita and Other
Philosophical Movies)
http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/PlatoRep.htm
In a blind orgy of insane hatred the Indian population supported eight
years of Bush–just because he bombed four Muslim countries, and
threatened a couple of other three of them long time Indian allies.
All notion of independence and non-alignment were thrown into the
Indian ocean–all under the lure of the ephemeral transfer of
technology (ToT) which will never happen. No corporation in the world
will give up it “Coke formula” and commit hari kari.
It would be interesting to know what Luxemburg would have said about
the democratic election of Hitler. (She was murdered by vigilantes
before Nazis officially assumed power.) 20th century history provides
intriguing support for both Lenin’s and Luxemburg’s position. On more
than one occasion “the masses” were dangerously ignorant during this
century of world wars and genocide, and what many of them actively or
passively supported cannot always be written off as a tolerable
learning experience. From Jorn K. Bramann: Educating Rita and Other
Philosophical Movies) http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/PlatoRep.htm
RAWs trail of terror: Indian Bomb blasts in Pakistan . In 1971 India
RAW orchestrated a fake hijacking and used this as an excuse to stop
Pakistani overflights over India. The hijackers disguised as Kashmiri
militants, however were Indian intelligence agents. Several years ago,
an attack on the Indian parliament was used to place 300,000 Indian
soldiers on the Pakistani border Eventually they withdrew.
•Dhaka Diary: RAW 2008: An Instrument of Indian Imperialism by Isha
Khan Dhaka Bangladesh.
•http://rupeenews.com/2008/08/09/raws-trail-of-terror-indian-bomb-
blasts-in-pakistan/.
•India intelligence: “‘the aim of RAW is to keep internal disturbances
flaring up and the ISI preoccupied so that Pakistan can lend no
worthwhile resistance to Indian designs in the region.”
•“Hindu Terror” tearing India apart in all out Civil War: High case
Hindu vs Chritians, Dalits & Muslims .
“It’s even unclear whether it’s a real group or not,” said Bruce
Hoffman, a professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown
University and the author of the book “Inside Terrorism.“
Hoffman he said the attacks, which he called “tactical, sophisticated
and coordinated,” perhaps pointed to a broader organization behind the
perpetrators. Bruce Hoffman, a professor at the School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University and the author of the book “Inside
Terrorism. Terrorists’ identity remains a mystery By Mark McDonald and
Alan Cowell, Published: November 27, 2008. NY Times.
The Voltaires of India are quiet, too scared to question the carnage.
The mighty Indian media controlled by corporatism has become more
obsequious than Pravda or Izvestia. Icons of the press freedom like
Tehilka cannot survive amid the tough commercial environment. Bigotry
sells. Pakistanphobia sells even more. The words of Arundhuti Roy are
either marginalized or ignored because she is labeled as a communist.
Other than the Murdock media, the world media is skeptical about the
Indian media’s innuendo and sensational finger pointing at Pakistan.
The Indian officials are now backing off from their knee jerk reaction
on blaming Pakistan for any and all evil in India. Banglore Billet:
Indian Muslims And The Media By Nigar Ataulla
Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict
Management who has close ties to India’s police and intelligence, said
the attack was a departure from past assaults waged over Kashmir.
Other such attacks had targeted Indian legislators, not Westerners.
Security officials said it was too soon to make a connection to
Pakistan…”It would be premature … to reach any hard-and-fast
conclusions on who may be responsible for the attacks
“The earlier generation of terrorist groups in India were mostly
linked to Pakistan,” Gunaratna told the AP. “But today we are seeing a
dramatic change. They are almost all homegrown groups. … They are very
angry and firmly believe that India is killing Muslims and attacking
Islam.”
British-based Jane’s Information Group said it thought the attackers
could be Indian but that taking hostages suggested a wider anti-
Western agenda.
“Until now, terrorist attacks in India have targeted civilians, often
in busy market or commercial areas, and in communally sensitive areas
with the intention to foment unrest between Hindu and Muslim
communities,” said Urmila Venugopalan, Jane’s South Asia analyst.
“This stands in contrast to the national issues that appeared to
motivate Indian Mujahideen,” Venugopalan said. Associated Press
writers Pamela Hess in Washington, Gregory Katz and David Stringer in
London, Lee Keath in Cairo and Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi contributed
to this report.Clues point to domestic terrorists in India attack
By PAISLEY DODDS -Friday, Nov. 28, 2008
The knee jerk reaction of the Indian media is to blame the neighbors.
“Deccan Mujahideen” has never been heard of before and seems to be a
made up name to malign Muslims–a favorite tactic of the Hinduvata
extremsits. India: Interaction of Hindus in power with Muslims
The big American chains all have hotels there, and there are many more
distinctly American targets. The Taj and the Oberoi are owned by
Indians. My guess is that there will be a lot of Indians involved, and
that this will generate a lot of domestic outrage.
This doesn’t strike me as Deccan (the Deccan plateau stretches over
much of central and southern India). I would be very surprised if the
people who did this actually came out of the area. It’s not an area of
any particular significance for Islamic terrorism. It isn’t as though
there’s a Deccan separatist region. Fareed Zakaria. Newsweek
Why is the Indian media so immature? Why does sensationalism override
journalistic sanity? Why is breaking news the Deity on which truth and
altruism is sacrificed on a daily basis? It is pedagogical to note the
speed at which the fingers point towards Muslims in general and
Bangladesh and Pakistan in particular. Hardly had the ink dried on the
news story on the Samjhota Express when the fingers were pointed at
Pakistan and Bangladesh. It turned out that the culprits who blew up a
train going to Pakistan turned out to be members of the Indian Armed
forces with links to the BJP, RSS, Mr. Advani and Mr. Modi.
“There’s absolutely nothing Al Qaeda-like about it,” she said of the
attack. “Did you see any suicide bombers? And there are no
fingerprints of Lashkar. They don’t do hostage-taking and they don’t
do grenades.” By contrast, Gohel in London said “the fingerprints
point to an Islamic Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group.”Christine
Fair, senior political scientist and a South Asia expert at the RAND
Corporation. Terrorists’ identity remains a mystery By Mark McDonald
and Alan Cowell, Published: November 27, 2008. NY Times.
Fareed Zakaria in a seminal speech on Indian democracy says that
Indian “democracy” is shackled by vested interests and powerful
lobbies that place the profits of the few over the profits of the
pullulating millions steeped in penury and kept down by caste or
religion. Under the facade of a secularism, India remains a
conglomeration of opposing conflicts ready to explode like Yugoslavia
or implode like the USSR. The BJP orchestrated an attack on the Babri
Masjid and demolished it. As a result it unleashed communal violence
against Muslims. The BJP used the attack to win the elections. Many
Pakistanis are wondering, if this attack on Mumbai is also part of a
some sort of plan. RAW facts on South Asia- India fails to occupy
countries
ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Pakistan’s foreign minister on Thursday asked India
to wait for proof from an investigation before blaming anyone for
involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks that have killed over 100
people.The statement was a response to a televised speech by Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in which he said that those behind
coordinated attacks against Mumbai were based “outside the country”
and warned “neighbours” who provide a haven to anti-India militants.
In 2002 unidentified murderers thugs and killers attacked a train full
of pilgrims. For two weeks the identity of the ruffians were kept
secret and fingers were pointed at Muslims. A campaign all over
Gujarat was waged to blame the murder on Muslims. There was a plan. As
a result pre-planned mobs massacred 2000 innocent Muslims and
Christians. Tehelka and other Indian media sources implicated Narendar
Modi in the Gujarat riots and Mr. Modi has been refused a visa to
visit the USA.
Indian intelligence officials were also investigating whether Mumbai’s
criminal underworld could be involved.”It’s a possibility,” Sahni
said. Ajai Sahni, head of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict
Management who has close ties to India’s police and intelligence.
Associated Press writers Pamela Hess in Washington, Gregory Katz and
David Stringer in London, Lee Keath in Cairo and Muneeza Naqvi in
New Delhi contributed to this report.Clues point to domestic
terrorists in India attack
By PAISLEY DODDS -Friday, Nov. 28, 2008
India: Why are Hindus violently assaulting Christians? Rupee News for
the past several years has been discussing the Indian support for
terrorists in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. India has
been playing with fire. Goyem: India support for Frankensteins will
create blowback. it appears that the analysis of Rupee News was
correct.
Deccan is a neighborhood of the Indian city of Hyderabad. The word
also describes the middle and south of India, which is dominated by
the Deccan Plateau. Mujahedeen is the commonly used Arabic word for
holy fighters. But the combination of the two, said Gohel in London,
is a “front name. This group is nonexistent. Sajjan Gohel, a security
expert in London.” Terrorists’ identity remains a mystery By Mark
McDonald and Alan Cowell, Published: November 27, 2008. NY Times.
In the aftermath of the Samjhota Express, the Babri Masjid and
Gujarat, anything can be expected in India. India today reminds the
world of the Wiemer republic where Nazi sympathizers held sway and
blamed each and every German misfortune on the Jews. The German
parliament, the Reichtag was finally burned and this was used as an
excuse to turn Germany into a Nazi state. There are many parallels
with the rise of the Nizis and the rise of the Hindu extremist
Hinuvata in India.
INDIA: Dr. Ilaiah, persecuted Dalit author of “I am not a Hindu”. Many
in the press have been saying for the past few weeks that the BJP will
stage some spectacular attack to spark ethnic rioting and then use the
communal card to come to power. Narendar Modi has done this in Gujarat
before. An attack on a train was staged and then more than 2000
innocent people, mostly women were raped, murdered and burned. India’s
Securithy concerns: Naxalites, Kashmir, 7 Sisters & Communalism
Recently several Hinduvata members in the Indian army were arrested in
blowing up the Samjhota Express train which plies between Pakistan and
India. Indian Red Saffron terrorism in India: Roots & funding in USA
“Indians will have a strong incentive to link this to Al Qaeda. ‘Al
Qaeda’s in your toilet!’ But this is a domestic issue. This is not
India’s 9/11.” Christine Fair, senior political scientist and a South
Asia expert at the RAND Corporation. Terrorists’ identity remains a
mystery By Mark McDonald and Alan Cowell, Published: November 27,
2008. NY Times.
BLA – A threat to international peace by Ahmad Shah Baloch: “The BLA
is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies, which are trying to
create instability in the areas bordering Iran and Afghanistan.”.
Expose on RAW by Isha Khan of Dhaka Bangladesh
All of Mumbai is pretty much under Martial Law. Mumbai in total
control of the terrorists. There is total and absolute anarchy in
Mumbai. Many in the press have been saying for the past few weeks that
the BJP will stage some spectacular attacks to spark ethnic rioting
and then use the communal card to come to power. Narendar Modi has
done this in Gujarat before. An attack on a train was staged and then
2000 innocent people, mostly women were raped, murdered and burned.
India’s Securithy concerns: Naxalites, Kashmir, 7 Sisters &
Communalism
Sudra Holocaust: Genocide of 1 million Dalits in India since 1947:
About three million Dalit women have been raped and around one million
Dalits killed from the time of Independence. This is 25 times more
than number of soldiers killed during the wars fought after
independence. That is why Dalits do not need Aryan culture or Hindu
Dharma based on caste any more. …” [Dr. Tulsiram]
Sajjad Karim, an MEP for the North West of England who was a member of
an EU delegation visiting Bombay said he had seen a gunman opening
fire in the lobby of Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.Speaking via mobile phone,
he said: “I was in the lobby of the hotel when gunmen came in and
people started running … A gunman just stood there spraying bullets
around, right next to me. I managed to turn away and I ran into the
hotel kitchen and then we were shunted into a restaurant in the
basement.” “We are now in the dark in this room and we’ve barricaded
all the doors. It’s really bad.” Outside the Taj hotel, injured guests
were being stretchered away on the hotel’s golden-coloured luggage
carts. The weekly Standard
India worse than Barkino Fason on World Hunger Index and lightly
better than Haiti. It is the hungriest in South Asia NEW DELHI –
Coordinated terror attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India’s
commercial capital, Wednesday evening, targeting at least two five-
star hotels, the city’s largest commuter train station, a historic
movie theater and a hospital. A fire raged inside the Oberoi Hotel, a
luxury hotel that is popular with foreigners, according to the police.
Television footage showed the charred shell of a car in front of the
train station, Victoria Terminus, apparently from the impact of an
explosion. A nearby gas station was blown up.New York Times. November
27, 2008, Death Toll Rising in India in Coordinated Attacks, By SOMINI
SENGUPTA
•Eat Rats:Indian officials ask starving Indians to eat rodents (BBC)
•Indian girl Infanticide-Female Foeticide: 1 million girls killed
before or after birth per year
At 1 a.m., local time, two guests trapped inside the Taj Hotel, which
is next to the iconic Gateway of India, said by telephone they heard a
fresh explosion and gunfire in the old wing of the hotel.
•SECULAR INDIA? Christian genocide in Indian Orissa-pictures
•Real bombs-Fake encounters, torso with fake beard: Hinduvata
connection?
The Maharashtra state chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, told the
private CNN-IBN station that the military had been called in to assist
local police. He said there had been five to seven targets in the
attacks, concentrated in the southern tip of the city, known as Colaba
and Nariman Point. New York Times. November 27, 2008, Death Toll
Rising in India in Coordinated Attacks, By SOMINI SENGUPTA
0) The Mumbai underworld is run by some of the most ruthless dons in
the world. Indian “cricket” is now beset with the world’s worst
gambling mafias whose tentacles run all the way to South Africa and
Australia. There is ample evidence in the hands of the Indian Police
which is forcing it to back off the finger pointing towards Pakistan.
However it is now too embarrassed to say it. Instead of telling the
world the truth, it is now trying to hide the facts under the cloak of
“Dawood” etc. It is more profitable for the Indian Police to keep the
attention away form the real problems with Mumbai by blaming the
rotting decay at a “foreign powers”.
1) The Indian faces a debilitating Maoist insurgency that controls
more than 40% of the landmass of the Union of India. Just a few days
ago, Prime Minister Manmohan SIngh called it India’s biggest security
threat.
2) India faces several secessionist movements across the breadth of
the territory under its “control”. Almost every state has an
insurgency. The worst ones are in the Northeast of India in the seven
states surrounding Assam.
3) Kashmir is a one of the major headaches for New Delhi. Despite 61
years, the Indians have not been able to convince the Kashmiris that
they are Indian. On August 14th, 2008 Srinagar saw the largest and the
biggest demonstrations against Indian Occupation. According to
Andhurti Roy the Indian journalist, Kashmir was awash in green
Pakistani flags and the youth were chanting pro-Pakistani and anti-
Indian slogans. BLA – A threat to international peace by Ahmad Shah
Baloch: “The BLA is the creation of Indian intelligence agencies,
which are trying to create instability in the areas bordering Iran and
Afghanistan.”. Expose on RAW by Isha Khan of Dhaka Bangladesh
4) The Indian extremists Hindu movement led by the BJP, the RSS and
the bigots who belw up a train load of civilians going to Pakistan.
MUMBAI: One of the prime culprits of Malegaon bomb blast, Dayanand
Pandey alias Sudhakar Dwivedi, used to secretly film those who visited
his ashram, including policemen, top intelligence officials,
businessmen and bureaucrats, investigations revealed on Thursday.
Police sources said Pandey’s laptop computer and a flash drive were
seized and had been sent for analysis to the Forensic Science
laboratory in Bangalore. Police found Pandey had been filming all his
visitors in Kanpur and the Indian-held Kashmir through a camera and
stored the recordings in his laptop computer, that he had owned since
2005. The computer also has photographs of Pandey with several
religious leaders, politicians and bureaucrats. After his arrest,
public prosecutor Ajay Nisar had told the court that Pandey had
directed Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit – the arrested
Indian army officer – to arrange explosives for the Malegaon
explosion. Pandey had also arranged a meeting between Purohit and
Ramji, another accused who is wanted in the case. Pandey is believed
to have told the ATS that he had joined the Air Force wing of NDA in
1989 but had dropped out in 1990. Police claimed to have recovered a
boarding pass of Kingfisher Airlines, a cheque book, a pass book, an
ATM card, a debit card, a passport and a pen drive from Pandey. Police
said that Pandey was in constant touch with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur
while Ajay Rahirkar, treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, provided a ‘huge
sum’ of money to Pandey. app
chhotemianinshallah
A composite culture
A.G. NOORANI
CARINE MARTINEZ/GAMMA
The Taj Mahal, the epitome of Mughal architecture.
The Magnificent Mughals; Editor, Zeenat Ziad; Oxford University Press,
Pakistan; pages 317; Rs.1,295.
South Asia: A Historical Narrative by Mohammed Yunus and Aradhana
Parmar; Oxford University Press, Pakistan; pages 267; Rs.250.
THE Sangh Parivar demands that India's minorities should accept Ram as
a symbol of nationhood. But it is strangely reluctant to own up the
Mughal past of India's history. From Akbar downwards, if not earlier,
they were thoroughly Indianised, to use the world coined by the Jan
Sangh in 1970. But even Akbar is given short shrift. The BJP's White
Paper on Ayodhya (1993) refers to it as a period "when barbaric aliens
were ruling the country" (page 20). It readily accepts the British
interpretation of Indian history, dividing it into the Hindu and
Muslim periods. Sushil Srivastava has shown how the Ramjanmabhoomi
myth was also fostered by British officials (The Disputed Mosque: A
Historical Inquiry; Chapter IV on "British Policy and Religious
Revivalism in Awadh"). Historians like Romila Thapar have rendered
great service in combating the falsehoods.
So do these two volumes published in Pakistan. Zeenat Ziad was
Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Karachi and rose
to high positions as banker. But South Asia history, especially the
Mughal period, was an abiding interest. A highly successful lecture
series, which she organised at the Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D.C., inspired this book.
It is a feast for the eyes, so rich and well chosen are the
illustrations in colour, and a work of high scholarship. Each of the
ten essays is written by an internationally acknowledged expert on the
Mughal period. Catherine B. Asher, Associate Professor, Department of
History, University of Minnesota writes on Mughal architecture. Prof.
Ellison B. Findly, Head, Department of Religion and Area Studies at
Hartford and author of Nur Jehan and Ananda, among other works, writes
on the lives and contributions of Mughal women. The legendary
Annemarie Schimmel, who died tragically in an accident recently,
writes on religion. Professors Shamsur Rahman Faruqi and Irfan Habib,
who need no introduction to Indian readers, contribute, respectively
essays on Urdu literature and the economy. Prof. John F. Richards, a
noted historian and author of The Mughal Empire, writes an essay on
the subject. Other authorities write on literature, music, imperial
Mughal painting, music and dance and coinage and monetary system.
Milo C. Bleach, Director, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery at the Smithsonian, contributes a Foreword.
Zeenat Ziad writes an Introduction; at once incisive and moving. Bar
Aurangzeb, the Mughals encouraged Sufi saints. "The literature, music,
architecture, art, and even dance of the Mughal era were inspired and
influenced by Sufi thought." Spain honours its Moorish past. Why
cannot the Sangh Parivar? The editor rightly remarks that "the
subcontinent's culture without the Mughals would be inexplicable". The
essays prove that amply.
MOHAMMED YUNUS, a product of the Aligarh Muslim University, rose high
in Pakistan's diplomatic service. He teaches Political Science at the
University of Calgary, Canada, where Aradhana Parmar teaches at the
Faculty of Communication and Culture. She taught at the University of
Delhi for a decade. Both scholars are deeply interested in South Asia.
In a remarkable, almost unique, partnership they teamed up, as their
preface says, "to provide a rational and systematic appraisal of
correct historical knowledge on South Asia... the main purpose of this
book is to bring together two different perspectives - Hindu and
Muslim - on the Indian past and to grasp the past of South Asia as a
whole. The authors in combination offer their judgment and experience
to provide a unique, comprehensive, and modern account of the South
Asian continent".
They begin with the "evolution of the term `India'" and proceed from
"the dawn of the Indian civilisation" to the last chapter on Indian
nationalism. They promise another volume analysing the causes of
India's Partition at the dawn of its Independence; easily one of the
10 greatest tragedies in recorded human history. If this volume is
anything to go by, the next will be well worth waiting for. It is
lucid in style and carries its scholarship lightly. It deserves to be
prescribed as a textbook in all the countries that comprise South
Asia. No greater praise can there be for a book on history.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620000707500.htm
COMMUNALISM
At a Hindutva factory
DIONNE BUNSHA
in Ahmedabad
An account of a visit to a training camp run by the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad.
PICTURES: DIONNE BUNSHA
Rifle training in progress at the VHP training camp in Patan, northern
Gujarat.
THE gates to the empty school were wide open. But inside there was a
bamboo barricade. Two rifle-toting Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)
workers, in trademark khaki shorts, patrolled the entrance.
The sound of gunshots greeted us as we drove in. Rifle training was
under way.
I asked if I could take some photographs. That enthused the
instructors. Suddenly, they stood steady and shouted instructions in a
more authoritative manner. But soon the `seniors' intervened. "Why do
you want to take pictures?" asked one of the organisers, whose hair
and moustache were cropped close, in military style. "All you people
from the English press want to give us a bad name. Next, you will
publish these pictures and say we are running a terrorist camp," he
said. My denial fell on deaf ears. "It is girls like you from the
English press who have made us notorious. Except some, others have
short hair, and are very modern. They don't respect Bharatiya culture.
Show me your visiting card. I want to know where you are coming from,"
he said.
He was a bit perplexed when he saw "The Hindu" written on the card.
"See, we are on the same side," I joked. But he was not convinced.
"Who is your editor?" he demanded.
"His name is N. Ram. Dekho, hum dono Ram ki seva karte hain (Both of
us are working in the name of Ram)," I told him. Finally, he smiled,
and said: "Come, meet our leader."
I was ushered in to meet `the leader' from Delhi, Surendra Jain. "So,
you are from The Hindu. We have asked that newspaper to change its
name. It always criticises us," he said. Immediately, the others were
on guard. "Let them keep writing. It's good to know what our
detractors think. The more they write, the more we go forward," he
boasted. "It's thanks to the bashing that Modi won the Gujarat
elections. People felt that it wasn't correct. We reacted in such a
quiet way. Yet, we got so many abuses," he continued.
I changed the topic and tried to get some information about the camps.
"For the past 13 years, we have been running these camps. The basic
aim is to prepare workers who are `desh bhakts', to organise the youth
to protect the country and the religion. This summer, such camps are
being run in 35 places across the country," Surendra Jain explained.
"It's not the duty of just the state to protect the country. It's also
the duty of all citizens. No one looks at all the social work we do.
We did rehabilitation work during the Kutch earthquake. We have opened
cow shelters all over the country. We are not anti-Muslim. We are the
enemy of any person who hates India," he asserted.
After that, `the leader' spoke to the young trainees on "the
uniqueness of the Hindu religion". A good part of his speech was
composed of put-downs of other religions.
"We know that Christianity started around 2,000 years ago. We can
trace the birth of Islam to around 1,400 years back. But no one knows
when Hinduism was born. The first person on earth was born in the form
of a Hindu. The history of Hinduism is as old as humanity itself,"
Surendra Jain revealed. Some of his insights would startle both
historians and theologians. Yet, they might well be in tomorrow's
textbooks.
An instructor demonstrates lathi-wielding skills at the training
camp.
"Christians and Muslims have killed crores of people and destroyed
cultures in the name of religion. The history of their religions is
tainted with blood. Hinduism is the only tolerant religion. Both
Christianity and Islam say that non-believers have no right to live.
They can launch jehad against them. Finish them off," he said.
Then came the call for action. "In Gujarat, you have shown the way
forward to the rest of the world. You have shown us the path to deal
with jehadis. It was a victory of our religion," he said. "The concept
of `ahimsa' has been interpreted wrongly. It doesn't mean cowardice.
It doesn't mean we don't respond when attacked. To bear injustices is
not written in the Hindu religion... We are the ones who believe in
the immortality of the soul. Yet, we are the ones most afraid of
death. The jehadis have no fear of death. They learn this at an early
age in the madarassas [religious schools]. We must also end our fear
of death."
His speech reached a frenzied pitch. It got progressively shriller as
he tried to mesmerise his audience. The speech was followed by a lunch
break, when no one was allowed to speak. Finally, I got a chance to
speak to the participants. Who are these boys? Where do they come
from? What draws them to the camp?
Prajapati Hargovandas (20) joined the camp after a colleague
introduced him into the Bajrang Dal. An engineering student, Prajapati
works in Gandhinagar in a company that manufactures weighing scales.
His father is a farmer-cum-moneylender. "After attending this camp, I
feel all Hindus should sign up to protect our religion against
Muslims. I will go back to my village and invite the Bajrang Dal to do
a trishul distribution ceremony there," he said.
But what is the need for a trishul?
"We should have weapons to protect our religion and our country.
Muslims should be removed. They are spreading terrorism, communal
violence and anti-social activities."
What did he learn at the camp?
"We learn yoga, judo, karate, obstacle courses. There are discussions
on religion and national issues. We are taught how to protect our
country, and if there is a conflict between Hindus and Muslims, on how
to deal with it. How to respect elders. What to do in a mandir. What
to do if an earthquake strikes."
But what is the need to learn rifle shooting, judo?
"It is necessary for self-defence. If there is a riot, and if the
Bajrang Dal sends us to fight terrorists, we should know how to fight
and use weapons."
Said Manubhai Satvara (26), a marginal farmer and casual labourer from
Sami in Patan district: "In our village, some Muslim boys teased a
Hindu boy while he was praying in school. A fight broke out. After
that, I was told to join the Bajrang Dal. All Hindus should unite -
whether they are Patels, Thakurs or any other caste."
There is little doubt that it is a feeling of belonging that attracts
many to the Sangh Parivar. "I am handicapped. But after joining this
camp, I don't feel so. Everyone works together. My self-confidence has
increased," said Bharatbhai Vadher (25), a farmer. "When I was a young
boy, I remember how one of the girls in our village was taken away by
a Muslim boy. No one spoke out against this. That memory still haunts
me. I will unite all Hindus in my village to see that something
similar doesn't happen again," Bharatbhai said.
Some of the camp trainers are full-time VHP members. They live in the
local shakha and work without any pay. The Sangh looks after their
basic needs such as food and shelter. "I live in the shakha
headquarters and travel in surrounding villages to recruit new
members," says Devraj Desai (22), a rifle-training instructor, from
Dhansura village in Sabarkantha district. "I was in the Army for one
year. One of my uncles died while serving in the Army and another lost
his leg. After that, my family asked me to leave the Army. I always
wanted to work for the nation, so I joined the Bajrang Dal in 1999,"
Devraj recalled.
For many, Hindutva is a family tradition. "I was in the RSS [Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh] since I was 10 years old. My entire family is part
of it," says Ashok Vaghela (30), the lathi instructor, who is a small
trader from Ahmedabad. "The Bajrang Dal teaches you more about
security work compared to the RSS. But both have the same goals - to
create a Hindu Rashtra. The Islamic and Catholic movements are a
threat to our country. Islam is spreading terrorism. Christians are
converting poor Hindus," Vaghela asserts.
Both instructors and participants recite the same lines. Their
education is complete. So is the military-like discipline. "We can't
talk to you until our senior gives us permission," the instructors
said. All interviews were conducted under the close supervision of the
camp organiser, who prompted the participants when necessary. As soon
as the whistle blew, a young boy who was being interviewed jumped up
and said he wanted to leave.
The boys had to sit through another `knowledge' session, which I was
not allowed to attend. I tried to listen, catch snatches of the
enlightened discourse. The speaker was telling the boys how to prepare
for emergencies such as a riot or an earthquake. One of the organisers
observed that I was listening. "He is telling them what they should do
in case there is any civil disturbance," he said.
The organisers told me that they had changed their plans. Instead of
the evening physical training session, there would be a march through
the town to make people aware of the VHP's public demonstration and
trishul distribution ceremony the next day. Soon, I was asked to
leave. "We have let you stay here for long enough. It is time that you
left," said the organiser, who had initially interrogated me. After
being treated to such a generous helping of VHP-style Bharatiya
culture, I did not persist. I left immediately. As we drove out, the
guards at the gate had put down their rifles and were taking a nap,
oblivious of the `awakening' that was happening within.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620003210000.htm
COLUMN
In search of Gandhi and Godse
HARSH MANDER
The communalisation process under way in India clearly has an impact
on people of Indian origin around the world.
DURING a hectic schedule of speaking engagements that recently
buffeted me across the length and breadth of the United States, I
witnessed a diaspora in tumult, even more polarised, divided and
wounded, than the middle classes in India today. With battle lines
drawn everywhere, courageous, secular and progressive elements
sometimes seemed under siege. Muslims of Indian origin were in the
throes of anguish, often internalising their anger as an intensely
personal sense of hurt and loss. I saw recurring signs, during my
travels, of the heart-breaking near death of faith and hope.
The Gujarat carnage - the stunning brutality of the mass violence, the
impunity of the state authorities, the depths of the social divide,
the success of the economic boycott and above all the electoral
endorsement of the massacre - has convinced many living in the
prosperity of their adopted country, of the threat of the imminent
death of Gandhi's India; and of the fact that minorities in the India
of the future will have to come to terms with second-class
citizenship. Their dark sense of despair and alienation is clouded
further by the post-9/11 scenario in the U.S., with the swirling winds
of public prejudice, militarisation, brutal and unethical wars and
racial profiling of all Asian Muslims by the government.
Zahir Janmohammed, a 25-year-old graduate and third-generation
expatriate from India, poignantly evoked this sense of bewildered
loss: "I have been searching for Gandhi for several years. But after
spending months in Gandhi's homeland, Gujarat, I fear he may be
dead".
His grandparents migrated from Gujarat to East Africa in the 1920s.
His father, expelled by Idi Amin's regime in Uganda in 1971, made a
fresh start in California, where Zahir was born. He was a vegetarian
and revered Gandhi. It was natural that he encouraged Zahir to return
for a year to Gujarat to reclaim his legacy. Zahir volunteered to work
with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in a slum in Ahmedabad.
Weeks after his arrival, the city and much of Gujarat was convulsed by
the most brutal sectarian blood-letting after Partition, following the
torching of a railway compartment in Godhra.
Zahir volunteered to work in the relief camps for the battered
survivors of the pogrom, where he tried to share with them a little of
their agony. But he encountered bigotry everywhere, even among
friends. No one restrained the members of the NGO with which he
worked, when they openly taunted minorities. The mother of his host
family, a hospitable and affectionate Hindu, said to him: "Well you
know beta, those Muslims go to the relief camps because they get free
food there". His stomach heaved at the memories of the relief camps,
with their pervading stench of human excreta, urine and crowded
tents.
Returning months later to his home in California, a shaken Zahir found
himself frozen when a shop-keeper asked him his name. A year
afterwards, he joked bitterly when he saw me off at the airport, "Be
careful, your air ticket has been booked on the Internet by a
Muslim."
Zahir, a sensitive, reflective young man still struggling with the
unhealed wounds of his trauma in Gujarat told me: "The Gujarat carnage
has changed my life" - a refrain I heard echoed over and over again in
many parts of the U.S. Among those whose lives were altered
irrevocably were a large number of deeply idealistic young American
Indian Muslim men and women, trying to come to terms with the
situation in which their community finds itself. Many were trying to
contribute by raising money for relief and rehabilitation, or lobbying
with both the U.S. and Indian governments, or building networks with
secular, progressive groups. I was touched by the way they dealt with
their intense internalised sense of personal tribulation and
privation, by constructively working with resolutely preserved
resources of faith and hope, for reclaiming and defending pluralism
and democracy both in India and the U.S.
In New York, Ubaid Shaik, a neurophysician with gentle manners and a
passion for justice, was engaged for many years after he migrated to
the U.S. in the African American civil rights movement. He was so
wrenched by the Gujarat massacre that he launched the Indian Muslim
Council to promote values of pluralism and tolerance with particular
focus on the Indian diaspora in the U.S. He barely sleeps a few hours
each night, so that he can find time for this work even after a
punishing schedule in the hospital besides commuting for four hours
daily, and taking care of a large and loved family. He has been joined
in this enterprise by young professionals from cities across the U.S.
In Seattle, I was drawn to Javed, a software engineer who, after
Gujarat, tirelessly collects money for relief as a volunteer for the
Indian Muslim Relief Committee, which was formed in 1983 following the
Nellie massacre by a compassioned and energetic biochemist Manzoor
Ghauri. After Gujarat, an energetic elderly nuclear engineer in
Chicago, Imtiaz Uddin, pulled himself out of retirement to establish a
forum for the defence of secularism.
A number of committed secular academics in universities across North
America, including Biju Mathew, Shalini Gera, Vinay Lal, Angana
Chatterjee, Abha Singhal and many others came together in the wake of
the Gujarat massacre, to put together the Stop Funding Hate Campaign,
which painstakingly collected extremely damaging evidence on the
funding of organisations belonging to the Sangh Parivar by Indian
Americans.
In many universities I also met young members of secular development
organisations such as Asha (founded by Sandeep Pandey) and the
Association for India's Development. Many of them shared the grave
disquiet about the assaults on pluralism in India, and wanted to
contribute to efforts to defend secularism. But among some members, I
also did find ideological confusion, reflected in their sympathy to
parts of the Hindutva ideology or claims that many NGOs in India were
`neutral' to the turbulent communal divide.
For Jayashree and Ashok, a young couple in Seattle, a major segment of
their daily life is devoted to volunteer work for Asha. Ashok spends
many evenings and week-ends away from his work in a computer company,
singing old Kishore Kumar songs in a band cobbled together to raise
funds for development work in India. Stirred by accounts of the
continuing distress of families in rural Gujarat, the couple has
resolved to raise funds for them. Both dream of abandoning their well-
paid positions and returning soon to India, to work for advancing the
cause of education. In most cities, mainly first-generation young
Indian Americans, many of them engineers, attempt to engage
constructively with development organisations and social movements in
India.
MEETING these two groups of young people of Indian origin, those
belonging to the Muslim organisations and those with organisations
like AID and Asha, I was struck by how similar many of them were -
idealistic, impassioned and sincere. They were also of the same
professional profile - software professionals, university students,
social science researchers, and so on. Yet, they rarely met and worked
together. The claims by AID and Asha that they never consciously kept
youth from the minority communities out and that it just happened,
mirrored arguments a few years ago about why most development groups
`just happened' to have mainly men.
Also, with both sets of groups of socially committed young Indians of
American origin, I observed their remarkable insularity from social
justice movements in the U.S. Except for Ubaid, the remarkable doctor
who founded the Indian Muslim Council and a young physics teacher in
Detroit, I rarely encountered any young people of Indian origin -
first or second generation - who were involved in civil rights causes
of African Americans, or those who volunteered to work for causes of
deprivation and injustice in the U.S. like homelessness. For Ubaid, it
was only the state complicity in the Gujarat bloodbath that persuaded
him to pull back from his work in the cause of human rights in the
U.S., and, instead involve himself in efforts to safeguard these
rights in the deeply loved country of his birth.
Many Indian Americans involve themselves in political events in India
with an immediacy and passion, to an extent that it is sometimes
difficult to remember that one is not in India, but on the other side
of the planet. During my visit, for instance, people followed and
analysed every reported word of hate speeches by Praveen Togadia and
the confused, unsteady responses to these by state authorities in
India, with greater concern than in many bylanes of India itself. A
multiplicity of deep emotional chords continue to bind millions of
people of Indian origin who choose to live and work in the most
powerful nation in the world, to the ancient land in which they and
their parents were born.
Many Indian Americans spoke about how precious the pluralism of the
Indian tradition and their identity as Indian Muslims were to them.
Quaid Saifee, a young computer executive in Detroit, spoke of his days
in an engineering college in Indore. "I was the only Muslim in my
entire class. My friends always used to adjust their plans, when we
went out to see films, or for dinner, so that I could offer namaz at
the prescribed hours. When any vegetarian friends came home for food,
my mother would wash out the entire kitchen in advance, so that their
food could not be touched by meat. There was so much love between us.
Where has all of this gone?"
The visit confirmed to me how closely the turbulent recent history of
the dramatic rise of right-wing religious fundamentalism and the
politics of hatred in India, is related to and nourished by the Indian
diaspora in the U.S. An influential segment of this diaspora is
ideologically committed to the politics of Hindutva, and shares its
irrational malevolent hostility towards minorities, and uncompromising
opposition to the vision of a pluralistic, democratic India with
genuinely equal citizenship for people of all faiths, caste and
gender.
Going beyond its enormous financial support, exposed by the Stop
Funding Hate Campaign, is its ideological nourishment from the U.S.,
in the form of minority bashing literature, web sites and propaganda.
The temples are one of the only spaces where the majority of Hindu
Indian Americans meet on a regular basis, and these are reportedly
increasingly controlled by Hindutva elements that actively promote
their divisive ideology. Youth summer camps to assist second
generation Indians to learn about their `culture' are also used as
powerful vehicles to propagate their intensely partisan vision of
Indian culture, history, society and politics. There were many Indian
Americans who believe that the U.S. is growing into the most
influential fortress for the rallying of the forces of Hindutva after
the Indian state of Gujarat.
There is also evidence of influential political alliances with
powerful sections of the U.S. ruling political establishment.
Especially in the aftermath of 9/11, and the wars against Afghanistan
and Iraq, the U.S. government and major segments of the media and
public opinion are actively engaged in the demonisation of the Islamic
world. This has led to a growing opportunistic alliance between the
domestic and global policies of the U.S. government and the domestic
politics of the Indian government. Hardline Israeli elements and the
government of Israel are also joining this axis.
The impact of all of this on the Indian diaspora is to create an
uncompromising, unprecedented divide between people of Indian origin
who are born into the Hindu and Muslim faiths. This spills into even
second and third generation Indian Americans, and increasingly
characterises social relations even in universities, with increasingly
strident organisations of students owing open allegiance to Hindutva
playing an active role in most U.S. universities.
People I met in many cities recognised, especially, the need to work
with young people of Indian origin in the U.S., including those of
second and third generation, in order to strengthen their commitment
to pluralism, peace and justice. Spaces like places of worship need to
be reclaimed from fundamentalist elements; young people need authentic
humanistic teachings of their respective faiths. Secular avenues also
need to be built to enable them to acquire an undistorted picture of
what constitutes Indian culture, its syncretic, pluralist, tolerant
character, but also its traditional injustices of caste and gender.
They also need to be brought in touch with the social justice issues
of the adopted country, which is now home for them and their
children.
Everywhere, there was great enthusiasm for building an Aman Parivar,
or family of peace, as an alternative to the Sangh Parivar. This is
envisaged as a very loose and broad platform of people and
organisations that are committed to join hands to fight the mounting
poison of communal hatred and divide, and to defend to reclaim and to
strengthen pluralism, secularism, justice, humanism and democracy. It
would bring together anti-communal religious, cultural and
professional organisations with a range of liberal, left, democratic
and development organisations.
ON May 19, 2003, the day I returned to India, a call was given by
Hindu Unity, the U.S.-based wing of the Bajrang Dal, which is the
youth front of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), and by the Hindu
Mahasabha to celebrate Nathuram Godse's birth on May 19 "to send a
message to the enemies of humanity that we will fight and even die to
protect the basic principle of Hinduism". It further denigrated Gandhi
by saying: "Gandhi was a downright pacifist, without guts and
scruples. His constant preaching to his fellow Hindus, to be non-
violent at all times, even in the face of aggression, paralysed the
manhood of India, mentally and physically..'
The undisguised poison of this appeal, and the outrage of many groups
of Indian Americans that followed, symbolises the struggle that
convulses the Indian diaspora in the U.S. The struggle is to find its
soul, whether in the message of love and tolerance of Mahatma Gandhi,
or in the twisted legacy of his assassin Nathuram Godse.
In the dark storms of bigotry, of wars of collective vengeance that
sweep our world today, does anyone in the U.S. or India have an answer
to the question that young Zahir Janmohammed asks each of us, both as
a challenge and a plea:
"Could Gandhi still be alive? Somewhere, in someone?"
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620003010200.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Charge-sheet in Ayodhya case
MOHAMMED YOUSUF
L.K. Advani.
ON May 31, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a
supplementary charge-sheet against Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani
and seven others, including Union Human Resource Development Minister
Murli Manohar Joshi, former Union Minister Uma Bharti, Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinay Katiyar and Vishwa Hindu Parishad
chief Ashok Singhal, in the Babri Masjid demolition case in a Special
Court in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. The report, filed by CBI counsel
S.S. Gandhi, contains the statements of 39 witnesses, besides
documents and press reports relating to the investigation of case No.
198/92 by the agency after September 10, 1993. The development has led
to fresh demands from Opposition parties, especially the Communist
Party of India (Marxist), that Advani and Joshi should quit the
government to enable the CBI to pursue the prosecution of the case in
an unbiased manner.
V. SUDERSHAN
Murli Manohar Joshi.
The CBI had filed its consolidated charge-sheet against most of the
accused in the case before the Special Court of Additional Chief
Judicial Magistrate, Lucknow, on October 5, 1993. The supplementary
charge-sheet had to be filed after the Supreme Court upheld the Uttar
Pradesh government's notification setting up a Special Court in Rae
Bareli to deal with the charges. The accused face charges of inciting
communal feelings that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid on
December 6, 1992.
In February 2001, the Allahabad High Court had quashed the charges
against Advani and others, citing a procedural lapse, which resulted
in the State government transferring the case to a special CBI court
without due consultation with the High Court, as required under the
law. The Uttar Pradesh government, led by Bahujan Samaj Party leader
Mayawati, issued the notification to set up the Special CBI court in
Rae Bareli following persistent demand from civil rights groups and
Opposition parties.
K. PICHUMANI
Uma Bharti.
The BJP considers the Babri Masjid demolition case as an instance of
political victimisation because its senior leaders supported or
participated in the Ramjanmabhoomi movement for the construction of a
temple at Ayodhya. The party argues that the accused in the case need
not quit their posts because it does not involve corruption or moral
turpitude. In the past, faced with Opposition demands for the
resignation of the Ministers, the Central government maintained that
the investigating agency was free to do its job. Recently, the party
boasted about the independent and professional approach that marked
the arrest by the CBI of the Personal Assistant to the Union Minister
of State for Finance, Ginjee N. Ramachandran, in a bribery case. The
arrest led to the immediate resignation of Ramachandran, who
represented the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
If the CBI's 1993 charge-sheet could be considered a case of political
vendetta, its supplementary charge-sheet could hardly be considered
one. Thus the BJP's and the Vajpayee government's claim to moral high
ground in politics stands exposed for its lack of consistency.
V. Venkatesan
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620006413300.htm
GOVERNMENT
BJP as big brother
V. VENKATESAN
in New Delhi
Yet another round of ministerial changes at the Centre, and a large
share of the posts go to the BJP reflecting the latest power equations
within the ruling coalition.
The newly inducted Union Ministers with President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam,
Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani at the Ashoka Hall in
Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
IN July 2002, when Home Minister L.K. Advani was named Deputy Prime
Minister as part of a major reshuffle of the government and the
Bharatiya Janata Party leadership, some sections of the media
described it as the beginning of the end of the Atal Behari Vajpayee
era. The reshuffle that was carried out on January 29 this year that
saw Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan swapping their roles in the party
and government respectively, strengthened this impression. This
embarrassed Prime Minister Vajpayee, who in the subsequent months
sought to convey, through subtle gestures, the impression that he
continued to wield authority despite the pressures of leading a multi-
party coalition and a ruling party reeling under the Hindutva
brigade's bombardment. But in the absence of any substantive moves by
the Prime Minister, these moves hardly convinced observers that his
authority had been restored.
One such signal has been the Prime Minister's so-called desire to rise
above what are merely the party's interests and acquire the stature of
a statesman during his remaining period in office. Knowing that this
would require his keeping a distance from, or maintaining a position
of ambivalence on, the BJP's divisive agenda, Vajpayee once expressed
the need to carry the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) experiment
beyond the next Lok Sabha elections. Vajpayee hinted that the BJP
wanted to contest the next elections by itself, without any tie-up
with the NDA partners, but that his own view was that the party should
opt for a coalition government at the Centre even after securing a
majority of its own.
If the allies found this reason enough to continue to repose their
confidence in Vajpayee's leadership of the coalition, they probably
had no better alternative. Again, Vajpayee's announcement on May 8
favouring a resumption of dialogue with Pakistan put him at odds with
the stand of the BJP and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh. Striking a posture that was out of sync with the
position of the BJP, he said in Parliament that India's insistence on
the cessation of violence in Kashmir as a prerequisite for the
resumption of a dialogue with Pakistan may not be realistic.
Political observers were quick to describe Vajpayee's peace initiative
as a sign of his growing assertiveness within the BJP and the
government. Therefore, when he announced in Manali, Himachal Pradesh,
where he had gone for a holiday after the Budget session of
Parliament, that he intended to undertake a reshuffle of his Ministry
in order to accommodate Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and
relieve certain "over-burdened" Ministers of the additional portfolios
that they held, many people assumed that this time he would really and
truly exercise his prerogative as the Prime Minister.
GAUTAM SINGH/AP
Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee at a rally in Kolkata.
However, even as preparations for the swearing-in of the new Ministers
on the evening of May 24 were under way, Vajpayee was kept in the
dark. The handful of leaders - Advani, party president M. Venkaiah
Naidu and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh - whom he consulted with
regard to the reshuffle, apparently misinformed him on whether Mamata
Banerjee had been consulted about the portfolio being offered to her
(the Prime Minister all but admitted this fact to mediapersons after
the swearing-in ceremony) and on her party's second nominee for
inclusion in the Ministry, Sudip Bandopadhyay.
The BJP's choice of Bandopadhyay for the position of a Minister of
State, without consulting her, forced her to refuse the invitation to
join his Cabinet. She stayed back in Kolkata to register her protest
against the failure to fulfil the norms of coalition dharma. Vajpayee
had no option but to agree to include her in his Cabinet in the next
reshuffle, after due consultations with her on a second nominee.
Vajpayee also withdrew the invitation extended to her bete noire,
Bandopadhyay, to join the Ministry.
The episode raised questions about the intentions of the group of
leaders the Prime Minister had consulted. Did the Advani-Venkaiah
Naidu duo want to block Mamata Banerjee's re-entry by choosing
Bandopadhyay without consulting her? While the leaders of all the
other allies had the freedom to name their choices for inclusion in
the Ministry, there was no convincing reason why Mamata Banerjee was
denied this privilege. For instance, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray was
duly consulted before Subodh Mohite was inducted as Minister for Heavy
Industry and Public Enterprises.
If the intention was to split the Trinamul Congress, this was hardly
achieved as the party rallied around Mamata Banerjee with regard to
her decision not to join the Cabinet. This situation forced Venkaiah
Naidu to promise the maverick from West Bengal that she would be
consulted by the Prime Minister before the next set of changes in the
Ministry, which would be carried out after Vajpayee returned from his
overseas trip. However, Vajpayee himself appeared to make light of the
episode by attributing her failure to make it to the Cabinet to
""troubles created by the Samata Party'', although the real reason
appeared to be resistance within the BJP itself to her reinduction. A
relatively mellowed Mamata Banerjee later reiterated that her party
would remain in the NDA. And, realising that her protest had had its
impact, she attributed the episode to a communication gap. The
uncertainty over the portfolio that she is likely to be given
eventually, however, continues. It is unclear whether she will settle
for the Coal portfolio that was being offered to her.
Vajpayee could not fulfil his second objective behind the reshuffle
either. Although he wanted to relieve Ministers Arun Jaitley, Arun
Shourie and Sushma Swaraj of some of their portfolios (each of them
held more than one key portfolio), none of them appeared to be ready
to agree to it. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) would have liked
the key Commerce portfolio, held by Murasoli Maran before he took ill,
to be allotted to another of its nominees. However, Jaitley, who held
the Commerce portfolio along with Law and Justice, was unwilling to
let go of it. The DMK had to be satisfied with a promise that Maran
could continue as a Cabinet Minister without portfolio.
The BJP's obsession with keeping key portfolios with its nominees
limited the Prime Minister's choices outside the party. Vajpayee, it
appears, wanted to bring in National Conference leader Farooq
Abdullah, but with Advani and Venkaiah Naidu unwilling to let him
deprive any BJP Minister of key portfolios, Abdullah could not be
offered one that matched his stature.
DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP
Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh, who resigned as Union
Agricultural Minister, speaks to mediapersons in New Delhi on May 24.
The reshuffle is significant for the price the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP) managed to extract from the Prime Minister for its Ayodhya
campaign. The inclusion of the BJP MP from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh,
Swami Chinmayanand, as Minister of State for Home, was a signal that
the Prime Minister was hardly in a position to resist the demands of
those advocating the pursuit of a divisive communal agenda. Swami
Chinmayanand's induction under Advani suggested that the Deputy Prime
Minister wanted to give the VHP a say in the running of his Ministry,
which is responsible for the maintenance of internal security. This
step has also cast a shadow over perceptions of the Centre's
objectivity in dealing with communal issues.
Swami Chinmayanand had figured prominently in Advani's rath yatra as
it travelled through Uttar Pradesh in 1990. He was a founder-member of
the Ramjanmabhoomi Mukti Yagya Samiti that was set up in 1984 to lead
the movement for a Ram temple. He continues to be on a VHP committee
that seeks to facilitate the construction of a temple at the disputed
site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Vajpayee's response to
apprehensions about Swami Chinmayanand's inclusion in his Ministry was
enigmatic. Asked by mediapersons whether it signified the return of
hardline Hindutva, he did not deny it, but said it was up to them to
read any meanings in his decision to induct him.
The reshuffle was preceded by the resignation of Agriculture Minister
and leader of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Ajit Singh. He quit, refusing an
offer from Vajpayee to take another portfolio. Ajit Singh had resorted
to public criticism of the NDA government's functioning. His refusal
to accede to the demands of Andhra Pradesh for a greater quantum of
calamity relief than what had been offered, made matters worse for
him. Ajit Singh, the RLD's lone MP in the Lok Sabha, was inducted into
Vajpayee's Cabinet last year to facilitate the support of the RLD's 14
MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj
Party-BJP government. However, the Mayawati government is no longer
dependent on the RLD's support for its survival, as it has since
gained the support of a splinter section of the Congress(I) and some
minor parties, and consequently has a comfortable majority in the
Assembly. The BJP pretends that Ajit Singh's exit from the Ministry
does not matter to it, but fears that it would increase the party's
dependence on the BSP, and also erode the party's support among Jats,
whose loyalty Ajit Singh claims, in Rajasthan. Rajasthan is due to go
to the polls soon.
Vajpayee inducted BJP general secretary Rajnath Singh as the
Agriculture Minister. He had left the Ministry in July 2002 as part of
an exercise intended to revamp the party. His return suggests that the
BJP wants him in the government in order to retain the support of
Rajputs in U.P., who are apparently displeased with the BJP's
continued support to the Mayawati government. It is also true that the
BJP wants Rajnath Singh to be in the government rather than in the
party, as he is being seen as an impediment to efforts to strengthen
ties between the BJP and the BSP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
The occasion of the reshuffle was marred by the resignation of
Minister of State for Finance Ginjee Ramachandran, a nominee of the
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), following the arrest of
his personal assistant in a case of alleged bribery on May 23. The BJP
leaders forced him to quit, following an uproar by the Opposition,
even as the Prime Minister offered to induct another nominee of the
MDMK in Ramachandran's place. The MDMK lost no time in reminding
everyone that as in the case of Defence Minister George Fernandes, who
quit in the wake of the Tehelka expose but returned to the Ministry
later, Ramachandran could return to the Ministry even before absolving
himself of wrong-doing.
Among the other changes that Vajpayee made, the shifting of Shahnawaz
Hussein from Civil Aviation to Textiles was one whose rationale was
unclear. If he was inefficient as the Civil Aviation Minister, how
could he be moved to an equally important Ministry? Kashiram Rana was
shifted from Textiles to Rural Development, while B.C. Khanduri, the
Minister of State for Surface Transport, was given the Cabinet rank,
apparently as a reward for good work he had done. This raised the
question whether there was only one Minister of State who deserved to
be promoted among 50 Ministers of State.
The BJP now has a disproportionate share of positions in the Ministry
- 22 out of 31 Cabinet berths, four out of seven positions of
Ministers of State who hold independent charge of a Ministry and 35
out of 42 positions of Ministers of State. BJP Ministers hold all the
important portfolios - except Defence and Railways that are held by
the Samata Party's George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar respectively.
With 79 members, the Ministry has nearly exceeded the limit on the
maximum size of a Ministry, 10 per cent of the strength of both the
Houses, that is proposed to be imposed by the Central government
through legislation. With the promised induction of the Trinamul
Congress nominees, the size of the Ministry could cross 81. That will
perhaps go to make it the biggest Union Ministry since Independence.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620004703000.htm
GOVERNMENT
A Minister's exit
V. VENKATESAN
KAMAL NARANG
Gingee N. Ramachandran.
UNION Minister of State for Finance Gingee N. Ramachandran resigned on
May 23 amid high drama. Ramachandran, who was in Chennai on May 22,
was initially disinclined to quit after his personal assistant, R.
Perumalsamy, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
in New Delhi while accepting Rs. 4 lakhs from Indian Revenue Service
officer Anurag Vardhan. It was alleged that the amount constituted
part payment for facilitating his transfer from New Delhi to Mumbai.
Vardhan, a Deputy Commissioner with the Income Tax Department in New
Delhi, was also arrested by the CBI. According to CBI sources, he had
struck a deal with a Chennai-based chartered accountant, A.
Krishnamurthy, who acted as the middle-man in the deal. Vardhan's name
was on the list issued by his department, of officers due for
transfer. The CBI claimed that it had seized Rs.3.05 lakhs from
Vardhan's house, and Rs.69 lakhs and blank cheques for a total of Rs.
85 lakhs from Krishnamurthy's house.
Initially, even as Ramachandran stated that his conscience was clear
on the issue, Bharatiya Janata Party president M. Venkaiah Naidu
defended him saying that there had been no allegation that the
Minister himself was involved in the scandal. With the reshuffle of
the Ministry scheduled to take place on May 24, the issue threatened
the credibility of the government. A view emerged within the
government that had the swearing-in of the new Ministers not been
planned, Ramachandran could perhaps have been allowed to continue in
office until any material directly implicating him in the scandal
emerged.
However, an image-conscious government decided to use a scapegoat to
bolster its own image. After CBI Director P.C. Sharma had briefed the
Prime Minister on the matter, Ramachandran was advised by Deputy Prime
Minister L.K. Advani to put in his papers. But neither the government
nor the BJP had any explanation why different yardsticks were being
applied for George Fernandes, the Samata Party leader who was allowed
to rejoin the Cabinet before he was absolved of the charges against
him that stemmed from the tehelka affair, and Ramachandran. The latter
leader represents the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK),
another ally of the BJP.
The CBI arrested Perumalsamy, his accomplice S. Padmanabhan, Vardhan
and A. Krishnamurthy, and obtained court orders for their custodial
interrogation. While CBI sources indicated that it could interrogate
Ramachandran also, doubts remained whether those who had been netted
constituted just the tip of the iceberg. If Ramachandran indeed had a
role in the transfer of officials, he may have to convince his
interrogators that he followed a transparent policy under which there
was minimal scope for political interference. The Finance Ministry put
on hold the transfer orders pertaining to 54 Deputy Commissioners and
Assistant Commissioners of Income Tax that had been issued on May 21.
The recruitment of Perumalsamy as personal assistant by Ramachandran
despite certain objections from Finance Ministry officials on the
basis of his antecedents, also raises questions. As the ramifications
of the scandal unfold, the buck, it appears, may not stop with
Ramachandran. For, MDMK leader Vaiko, now in jail in connection with a
case filed against him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA),
it is alleged, had a hand in Perumalsamy's choice as Ramachandran's
personal assistant.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620004003200.htm
UPDATE
Riot witness turns hostile
THE proceedings in Gujarat's fast-track court to try the cases
relating to the communal pogrom, suffered a setback when Zahira
Sheikh, the key witness in the BEST Bakery massacre in Vadodara,
turned hostile. She had said that she had seen the burning of 12
people, many of them were her relatives, when the bakery, which was
owned by her father, was set on fire by a mob on March 1 last year.
Based on her detailed testimony and identification of the culprits,
the police had charge-sheeted 21 persons.
But, in the court, Zahira went back on all the statements she had
submitted to the police. She denied seeing the mob. She said that she
was hiding in her house upstairs and did not see what was happening in
the bakery below. Soon after her testimony, Zahira was escorted out of
the courtroom by local Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Madhu Srivastava.
She refused to speak to the press and did not return to her house for
a few days.
Her family members too backtracked on the statements given to the
police. Before Zahira testified in court, her elder sister Sahera and
brother Nafitullah had turned hostile. After Zahira's court
appearance, her mother Serunissa and younger brother Nafibullah
retracted their earlier statements and said that they were unable to
identify any of the mobsters.
Earlier, Zahira had spoken out against the accused and the first
information report (FIR) was based on her complaint. On several
occasions, she had provided the police with detailed testimonies
against the accused. The police had taken her statement soon after the
incident when she was admitted to hospital.
Human rights activists fear that several cases may go the way the BEST
Bakery case has gone because witnesses are under immense pressure and
fear the consequences of testifying against the accused, many of whom
are politically powerful. "Very few riot accused are punished for this
reason. Witnesses turn hostile because they have to live within the
same community as the accused. They are either intimidated or paid
off," says a criminal lawyer.
The communal violence cases have been fraught with problems from the
start. Initially, the police refused to record statements. When they
did, they did not include all the details mentioned by the witnesses.
Moreover, the police filed group FIRs instead of separate cases for
each complaint. Already, the police have closed around half of the
4,252 cases, citing lack of evidence.
Even when the remaining cases reach the courts, getting the witnesses
to testify may be difficult. Many people fear that the BEST Bakery
case may be an ominous sign.
Dionne Bunsha
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620006313300.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Truth management
BHASKAR GHOSE
The U.S. media's role as the purveyor of `facts' that the Bush
administration wanted the world to believe has shattered their image
as the standard-bearer of free and unbiased journalism.
JASON REED/REUTERS
Private Jessica Lynch arrives at the Andrews air force base, near
Washington, on April 12.
TIME was when to the media - in countries where they were free - the
one principle that was most sacred, and totally non-negotiable, was
the reporting of facts, the truth, no matter how terrible or
unpleasant it was. That, after all, was the media's job, reporting the
truth. And if any one entity placed great store by it, and patted
itself continually on the back for being the standard-bearer of this
maxim, it was the media - print and electronic - of the United
States.
That time is now over, for the Americans at least. After the attack on
Iraq, their role as standard-bearer of free and unbiased media has
collapsed. The U.S. media have emerged, on such a comprehensive scale
that nobody ever believed was possible, as the agent and mouthpiece of
the U.S. government propaganda machine, the willing, if unknowing (at
least in some cases) purveyors of facts as the U.S. government wanted
them to be seen by the world. And those indeed would have been the
facts the world would have accepted, given the gigantic size and reach
of the U.S. print and electronic media; and the fact that the media of
many lesser networks and publications depended on the facts given by
the giant U.S. media machine.
But there were other networks and agencies at work, those not under
the spell of the U.S. government, and thanks to them we now can see
the `facts' as the U.S. media have reported them about Iraq for what
they really are. And the metaphor for all this is the reporting of the
dramatic rescue of Jessica Lynch, the blonde, pretty and young U.S.
private who was wounded in the fighting. The facts are well known, but
a brief recap will set the context.
Private Lynch was a part of the U.S. Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance
Company, and her unit was ambushed near Nassiriyah. Nine of her
comrades were killed and she was taken by Iraqi soldiers to the local
hospital. It is what happened subsequently that constitutes the
metaphor.
John Kampfner, writing in The Guardian on May 15, describes in detail
how correspondents were summoned in the early hours of April 2 and
told that Private Lynch had stab and bullet wounds, and was slapped
about in her hospital bed and interrogated. A `courageous' lawyer,
Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, risked his life, the correspondents were
told, to alert the Americans about Private Lynch's condition. Just
after midnight, U.S. Army Rangers and Navy Seals stormed the
Nassiriyah hospital, shouting "Go! Go! Go!" in true Hollywood style,
and `rescued' Private Lynch, taking her by helicopter to safety and
freedom. All this was captured by night-vision television cameras of
the military.
Kampfner says in his article, "Her rescue will go down as one of the
most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a
real insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the
Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which
America hopes to present its future wars."
The whole episode, he goes on to reveal, was a hoax, something that
was staged for television, for the gullible audiences in the U.S.
Private Lynch had no stab or bullet injuries - she had a broken arm, a
broken thigh and a dislocated ankle, injuries which the doctor who
treated her in the hospital, Dr. Harith al-Houssona, categorised as
RTA, or road traffic accident. When the U.S. forces stormed the
hospital there were no Iraqi soldiers there; they had all left two
days earlier, and the Americans knew that. When the advance U.S. party
landed in Nassiriyah, their Arabic interpreter asked a waiter in a
local restaurant, Hassan Hamoud, where the hospital was. "Are there
any fidayeen there?" he was asked. Hamoud says "I told them no". But
the Americans stormed the hospital anyway, with their night-vision
television cameras, recording the event for posterity.
They stormed the building shouting the regulation "Go! Go! Go!" like
all American soldiers in all war films, restrained a doctor and even
hand-cuffed a patient to a bed-frame and, of course, got Private
Jessica Lynch out. This by itself sounds grotesquely funny, but it
gets even funnier.
Dr. al-Houssona had actually tried to return Jessica Lynch to the
Americans two days earlier. She was taken to an American check-post in
an ambulance. Ambulances are usually marked prominently with a red
cross on both sides and on the roof, the bonnet and the back door, and
there is no reason to believe that this ambulance was not. The
Americans opened fire on it, forcing the driver to flee back to the
hospital!
Well, it is not the first time that news has been manipulated; we have
had our moments of managing the truth in Kargil, notorious among them
being a television shot of soldiers moving resolutely up a
mountainside, arms at the ready. For a moment the camera of one news
team panned a little too much to the left, and we saw (only for a
moment, I grant you) the battery of television cameras and reporters
for whose benefit the `advance' was being staged. The Russians have
not done badly either, managing the truth in Chechnya, but in the most
basic manner possible - they simply kept every correspondent out and
issued official versions of events to whoever wanted them.
But the compromise made by the U.S. media becomes much more momentous
as it is the media in that country that have done more to uncover the
truth behind events and expose cover-ups and witch-hunts than anywhere
else. The exposure by Ed Murrow of the sadistic, cold-blooded
inquisition by Senator Joseph McCarthy, Walter Cronkite's revelation
of the Vietnam campaign for the bloody, cruel and senseless slaughter
that it was, and the unwavering investigation by Woodward and
Bernstein into the Watergate scandal which made President Nixon resign
- all these made the U.S. media appear to be not merely committed to
the truth, whatever the cost, but incapable of being drawn into any
kind of publicity campaign by any authority, whatever the pretext. And
that has been lost in Iraq, a loss of which the `rescue' of Private
Jessica Lynch is a metaphor.
But that is also all her rescue is, a metaphor. In itself it is just
an instance of news manipulation that has been exposed. Far more has
been happening, and from much earlier - in fact, from shortly after
9/11. As the U.S. government prepared itself militarily, it clearly
did no less in terms of its management of news and the latent fears in
the people. In the name of patriotism a xenophobic hysteria swept the
country; there were many who were unaffected, true, but there were
those who killed foreigners, or attacked them merely because they
looked foreign. It would be too much to ascribe it all to unstable
minds; something had induced those feelings. That same something made
radio and television stations black out the songs of a group of female
singers called the Dixie Chicks, because they said that they were
sorry to have been born in Texas, the state to which George W. Bush
belongs.
This is the real management of truth, of facts. It is this `managing'
which successfully dismisses Edward Said as a hysterical, unbalanced
person; it is this that dismisses the protests by hundreds of
thousands of people across the U.S. and Europe against the attack on a
weak, defenceless country like Iraq as the activities of `some focus
groups'. Iraq has a dictator who must be removed, the managers of
truth successfully convinced even discerning columnists; they also
persuaded them completely that other dictators are reliable friends.
Some years ago a shrewd political leader who wanted absolute power
realised that to get it he had first to control the purveying of truth
without seeming to do so. He did it so well that one wonders if the
managers in Washington did not study his methods. His name was Adolf
Hitler.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620001308800.htm
chhotemianinshallah
The wrong kind of quotas
PRAFUL BIDWAI
The move to reserve jobs for the "economically backward" upper castes
is fundamentally ill-advised. It sits poorly with the original, and
still valid, rationale of reservations for Dalits as people who are
socially excluded and whose human dignity is denied.
Outside the venue of a meeting of the BJP's national office-bearers in
Jaipur, a demonstration demanding reservation for the upper castes.
It has been called a "master stroke" and an "astute" move to weaken
the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) savarna (upper caste) base in
Rajasthan while boosting the Congress' chances of winning elections.
The Ashok Gehlot government's dramatic May 21 announcement that it
would reserve 14 per cent of state jobs for economically backward (EB)
layers among the upper castes - over and above the 49 per cent
reserved for Dalits and Adivasis and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) -
took the BJP by surprise. In the short run, it may yield some votes
for the Congress in Rajasthan.
The move has since snow-balled way beyond Rajasthan. However, it is
deeply fraught, indeed profoundly ill-advised. It will probably end up
helping the BJP consolidate its dwindling savarna support-base in
crucial northern States such as Uttar Pradesh. It is likely to hurt
the cause of secular politics based on a commitment to equity and
social justice. More fundamentally, reserving jobs for the EB is
morally incompatible with a rational concept of positive
discrimination relevant to Indian realities.
Broadly speaking, the idea of creating EB job quotas falls in the same
category as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh's proposal to
ban cow slaughter (and promote cow worship and use of cow's urine).
Both measures are instances of political manoeuvres called
trasformismo in early 20th century Italy, a phenomenon to which the
great theorist Antonio Gramsci paid close attention.
Trasformismo, which literally means transformation, is the tactic of
appropriating your opponents' agenda, or stealing their clothes so to
speak, in order to weaken their support and strengthen your chances of
survival. This is different from countering or confronting your
opponents by launching a campaign based on your own distinctive
agenda. V.P. Singh used such a counter-tactic in 1990 to fight the
mandir (Ayodhya temple) movement with Mandal (adoption of the Mandal
Commission report to create quotas in Central government jobs for the
OBCs).
Trasformismo is problematic by its very nature because one's opponents
set the core agenda in the first place, usually on their terms. They
can always reclaim it. The gains from the tactic are typically
shortlived and are particularly paltry when the substance of the
agenda sits ill with the basic thrust of one's political ideology,
programme and appeal.
In the present case, the BJP has already appropriated Gehlot's
proposal. Its general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, originally dismissed
it as a mere "political gimmick on the eve of elections." Some
Rajasthan BJP leaders also characterised it as an awkward response to
the on-going agitation for reservations by upper-caste groups under
the banner of the Social Justice Front (SJF) chaired by BJP legislator
Devi Singh Bhatti. Some called it "Gehlot's googly". Others were more
confused. The Rajasthan Brahman Mahasabha rejected the EB quota idea
as "an attempt to befool the Brahmin community and gain political
mileage." (It wants poor Brahmins to be explicitly included in the OBC
category.)
However, the BJP quickly understood the political potential of the EB
quota and made a U-turn. It called an emergency meeting of State
leaders in Jaipur a day before the May 25 national office-bearers
meeting there. Mahajan himself took an SJF delegation to meet Advani,
who reportedly told it that its demand was "genuine" and that a
national commission would be set up to study the viability of creating
upper-caste quotas.
The very next day, BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu announced that the
party had taken up the demand with Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee, who "assured us that a commission would be set up soon."
Venkaiah Naidu stated that the demand was part of the BJP's original
agenda. "The BJP at its Bhopal national executive meeting in 1985
itself had asked for such reservation," he said.
The Congress, for its part, is equally keen to claim parentage for
savarna quotas - its spokesperson S. Jaipal Reddy emphasised that the
Narasimha Rao government issued an executive order in 1991giving 10
per cent reservation to the upper castes, which was struck down by the
Supreme Court. He also recalled that the party promised EB quotas in
its manifesto for the 2002 Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) Assembly elections.
The Congress is trying hard to prevent the BJP from getting political
mileage out of the issue. It accuses the BJP of resorting to "dilatory
and diversionary tactics" by proposing a national commission. Instead,
it wants a constitutional amendment right away; a commission could be
created as part of the amendment process. Gehlot has since written to
Vajpayee saying EB quotas are "necessary for the nation as a whole on
the principle of equity and equality. I am confident that the
initiative ... will have a salutary effect on social fraternity in all
sections of society."
It is hard to predict which of the two contenders will win the quota
contest. The issue is important for both. The Congress lost most of
its upper-caste base in the north long ago, although it has begun to
attract some Brahmin and Rajput support in U.P., where these castes
are disillusioned with the BJP because of its alliance with the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). There is a "Rajput revolt" against the
coalition because of Mayawati's detention of Raghuraj Pratap Singh
under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). The Congress is eager to
strengthen its savarna appeal. It reckons that if it can make a dent
in the Brahmin-Rajput-Bania vote in U.P., Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh, it could win the coming round of Assembly elections.
The BJP is desperate to win back its eroded northern upper-caste
support. In U.P., its savarna base is in tatters and it lives in
mortal fear of losing even what is left of its OBC support, thanks to
its alliance with Mayawati. It can win this year's Assembly elections,
which hold the key to the next Lok Sabha elections, only if it can
appeal to its core constituency - the savarnas. It sees the EB quota
as the key to this. The savarna quota idea has the BJP salivating. The
Indian Express quotes a party office-bearer: "This reservation is
going to be the Ram-baan (panacea) for all our ailments. Just watch
out! Once we are able to work on this, we will beat our adversaries
hands-down, even in U.P."
In the long run, the BJP may be better placed than the Congress to win
savarna support. For one, its Hindutva core ideology has an upper-
caste bias. The BJP, especially the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is
attached to the Greater Traditions within Hinduism, including the
smritis and Brahminical scriptures, not the Little Traditions that are
popular among the "lower" castes and Dalits. For another, the savarnas
are "naturally" attracted to the BJP's pro-globalisation, pro-
privatisation policies, which favour the elite (itself largely
composed of upper-caste Hindus). The sarvanas' bond with the BJP, all
the way down to the village level, is far stronger than that with the
Congress because of the BJP's conservative image and its leaders'
profiles. .
The Congress lacks a coherent upper caste-friendly identity and risks
losing some of its support, particularly among the urban poor, Dalits
and Adivasis by pushing for EB quotas. This would be even truer of
other secular parties - most emphatically the Left but also caste-
based or regional parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the
Rashtriya Janata Dal, the BSP, the Telugu Desam Party, the Akali Dal
and various Janata Dal factions
It must be pointed out that the BJP's greatest political success
arises not so much from a rapid spread of Hindu communalism as from
its dramatic creation of a unique confluence between Hindutva,
militant nationalism and a sharply defined upper-caste identity. This
confluence is reflected more powerfully, among the business classes,
professionals and the media, than the size of the BJP's vote would
suggest - roughly a fourth and nowhere near the Congress' vote-share
when in power.
HOWEVER, a far stronger argument against EB quotas flows from the
ethical rationale of reservations for Dalits, some of it set out in
Constituent Assembly debates and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's writings. This
starts from a clear recognition of the truth that Dalits have for
centuries faced an explicit, structured and systematic denial of their
human dignity, and exclusion from public life and the political
community on grounds of descent. The denial of their humanity was
sanctioned by the dharmashastras and other scriptures beginning with
the Manusmriti. Anti-Dalit discrimination based on ritual "impurity"
and "untouchability" has received religious legitimacy as no other
obnoxious practice in Indian society has.
Reservations for Dalits were above all an acknowledgement of this
horrifying injustice and were conceived as a means of bringing these
victimised people into the social and political mainstream. This was
the moral rationale of Article 16 of the Constitution, which creates
the right to equality of opportunity and employment in public offices,
but with the proviso, under Article 16(4), that the state can reserve
appointments for under-represented "backward classes of citizens".
Following this comes Article 17, which abolishes untouchability.
Reservations for the upper castes cannot possibly have such
justification. The savarnas were never excluded from the mainstream or
discriminated against on grounds of descent and ritual purity. Nor
have they, by any stretch of the imagination, faced a denial of their
human dignity. The scriptures, which they interpret, never sanctioned
discrimination against them as a group, although the caste hierarchy
has its pecking order.
Secondly, the real function of quotas in jobs and educational
institutions is not so much to create opportunities for individuals to
improve their condition as to uplift and empower a whole community of
underprivileged people whose aspirations were crushed for centuries.
The function is political. This too does not apply to savarnas,
however poor some of them might be. As a group, they are privileged
and hence undeserving of preferential treatment. This does not deny
that there are some underprivileged, socially backward savarnas who
are under-represented in government employment. Of course, there are.
This is a society of "competing inequalities" and injustices. But
reservations are not meant, and should not be used, to address the
grievances of individuals or small sub-groups.
Finally, the idea of savarna quotas, when equated or assimilated to
reservations for Dalits, obscures the quality of discrimination,
disadvantage and oppression that the wretched of the Indian earth
face. To this day, Dalits are killed, made to carry human excreta on
their heads, humiliated in a hundred ways and raped - just by virtue
of being Dalits - with impunity and by the invocation of "custom" or
"tradition". (see "The terrible reality of the 160 million",
Frontline, June 4, 1999 and "Costly retreat from social reform",
Frontline, October 25, 2002.)
There is no other group in society, not even among the OBCs, to whom
this description applies. Even an economically better-off Dalit
remains socially disadvantaged. Dalit children grow up in homes where
they are exposed to few books and newspapers and where they learn
"dialects", rather than the "standard" language that the savarnas
speak. Their ability to compete with upper-caste children is severely
hampered.
It is wholly absurd to assume some kind of essential equality between
Dalits, the OBCs and upper castes. The poorest of Brahmins can
excommunicate a Dalit or impose ritual insult or punishment upon her,
however rich she might be. The abuse of Dalits is banned by law but it
is widely prevalent.
It might be argued that some of the reasoning for reservations for
Dalits does not fully apply to the OBCs and hence no fuss should be
made about savarna quotas too. The first argument misses the point
that the logic of the Mandal report is to break the savarna
stranglehold on government jobs and the professions. The second
argument is totally mistaken too. There is a case for positive
discrimination in favour of the OBCs but none for the savarnas.
This does not mean that nothing should be done to help certain savarna
groups which remain under-represented in public employment because
they are economically backward, for example Brahmins in Himachal
Pradesh, parts of Garhwal and pockets of eastern U.P. A case for some
kind of affirmative action can be made, such as setting up special
schools or vocational guidance facilities, and even for declaring that
the government will encourage under-privileged savarna groups to apply
for certain jobs.
However, this does not even remotely create a basis for the strongest
form of positive discrimination, which is what job quotas are. Such
measures are not compatible with the Supreme Court ruling in the 1992
Mandal case that nobody can be "debarred from a government job solely
on the basis of his income or property-holding." One can only hope
that we will not have to wait for a legal verdict to quash the savarna
quota move and that it will be opposed politically.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620002810400.htm
COLUMN
The dubious new alliance
JAYATI GHOSH
The Indian government's foreign policy shift towards the United States
and Israel augurs ill for peace in the region and for India's own
development prospects.
AP
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres with Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee in New Delhi in August 2000. A file photo.
THERE was a time when India was seen, internationally, as an
originator and major force in the Non-Aligned Movement, a leader of
the developing world, and generally a bulwark against imperialism.
Much has changed since then. Imperialism is, probably, stronger than
ever, but the world is muddier and more confused, and the Indian
government has clearly abandoned any effort to project itself as anti-
imperialist in any way.
This has been evident for some time in economic policy, with the right-
wing Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government accelerating the process of liberalisation, which is based
on the hope of attracting much more foreign capital into the country.
But the shift in strategic and foreign policy terms has possibly been
even sharper. In the past few years, the NDA government has
systematically dismantled the entire edifice of the independent
foreign policy based on non-alignment, which was created in the post-
Independence period.
Instead of an independent international stance, the current Indian
government has moved ever closer to both the right-wing George W. Bush
administration in the United States and the hawkish Ariel Sharon
regime in Israel, especially after September 2001. This closeness has
hardly been affected at all by the latest evidence of the aggressive
militaristic expansion of the Bush administration in the Iraq war.
Indeed, the current intention of the Union Cabinet (albeit temporarily
delayed) to send Indian troops to Iraq to participate in the U.S.-
dominated colonial control over that nation exemplifies this trend.
Already, India is the largest market for high-tech Israeli weapons,
accounting for almost one half of Israel's arms exports. Israel has
become the second largest supplier of arms to India, after Russia.
Israel has already provided India with sea-to-sea missile radars and
other similar systems, border monitoring equipment and night vision
devices. This new arms exchange has the blessings of the Bush
administration, which recently cleared the sale and delivery of
Israel's new Phalcon reconnaissance aircraft to India. This sale had
been stayed when the border tensions with Pakistan were at their
height in 2002, and a similar sale to China had been disallowed. But
now, apparently, the U.S. government thinks that such Indo-Israeli
military cooperation is all to the good. In addition, recently there
have been reports of Indo-Israeli plans to collaborate on the
development of a missile defence system, using the basic technology of
Israel's Arrow anti-missile system, which was developed jointly with
the U.S.
Such hardware exchange between India and Israel is supported by other
forms of military cooperation as well, all under the benevolent gaze
of Washington. Several thousand Indian soldiers are being given
specialised "anti-insurgency training" in Israel. In Israel, strategic
thinking looks upon the Indian Ocean as a useful and desirable
location for military infrastructure, using the cooperation of the
Indian Navy. Apparently, Israel has already conducted tests on the
possibility of launching nuclear warheads in the Indian Ocean off the
Sri Lankan coast.
All this has been encouraged and abetted in India and in the U.S. by
playing up to the anti-Muslim sentiment implicit within the ruling
BJP. Recently, the Prime Minister's National Security Adviser (whose
very designation is unabashedly copied from the U.S. administration's
nomenclature) Brajesh Mishra visited the U.S. It was the first time
that a representative of the Indian government actually attended and
addressed a gathering of the American Jewish Committee, a right-wing
Zionist lobby.
Even more than his presence at that function, what he said was enough
to confirm the common attitude of the current Indian government with
such right-wing anti-Islamic groups. Mishra is reported to have argued
that only a core of "true democracies" such as the U.S., Israel and
India can effectively fight terrorism, because they are the prime
targets and therefore must form an alliance. This alliance, according
to Mishra, should not dither in this war by trying to define terrorism
or discussing its causes. Rather, the implicit argument would be that
it is apparently enough to decide that all terrorists come from a
particular religious source.
This appalling conclusion was actually confirmed by Home Minister L.K.
Advani in an interview with Fox News. Advani said: "Terrorism in so
far we have seen it on September 11 or December 13 has a common source
and that common source has described the U.S., Israel and India as its
three main enemies." Brajesh Mishra, at the meeting with the American
Jewish Committee, apparently ridiculed the distinction sought to be
made between terrorists and freedom fighters. (What, then of our own
Bhagat Singh, to quote only one example?) He is also quoted as saying
that "another fallacy propagated is that terrorism can only be
eradicated by addressing the root causes". In other words, political
solutions are a waste of time, whether in Jammu and Kashmir or in
Palestine. Surely, this unqualified aggressive stance would have made
even hardened Zionist hawks sit up in some surprise. Not surprisingly,
the American Jewish Committee has announced that it is soon setting up
an office in New Delhi.
BUT this alliance of the junior partners should not distract us from
the potentially even more lethal cosiness of the Indian military and
strategic establishment with the U.S. administration itself. This
entails no less than the complete subordination of Indian interests to
those of Big Brother, and associated complicity in the growing number
of misdeeds that U.S. imperialism is engaging around the world.
India holds a very prominent place in the U.S.' National Security
Strategy, which was released in September 2002. It is, apparently, a
policy document that bears the personal stamp of President Bush. The
long-term strategic purpose of the U.S. in building up its alliance
with India is really to contain, and possibly eventually destroy, the
growing power of China in the Asian region and in the world. This has
been explicitly recognised by many within the Bush administration.
A recent 130-page report from the Pentagon, "Indo-U.S. Military
Relationship: Expectations and Perceptions", a classified version of
which was first disclosed in Jane's Foreign Report, makes this quite
clear. The document argues: "China represents the most significant
threat to both countries' security in the future as an economic and
military competitor." It quotes an unnamed U.S. admiral as saying that
both the U.S. and India view China as a strategic threat, "though we
do not discuss this publicly".
The document goes on to observe that U.S. relations with its
"traditional" allies in Asia - South Korea and Japan - have become
"fragile", and concludes that "India should emerge as a vital
component of U.S. strategy". According to the report, China's rapid
military modernisation, its impressive economic growth, and even its
relatively independent foreign policy, are all seen as threats by both
the U.S. and Indian establishments.
In any case, there has been a significant increase in military
cooperation between the two countries, which has been inadequately
discussed in the Indian media or in civil society generally. After the
lull immediately following the nuclear tests at Pokhran, military ties
between the two have expanded greatly in the last few years. There has
been a resumption of U.S. defence hardware sales and joint military
exercises. These exercises have included Indian paratroopers working
with their U.S. counterparts in Alaska, joint military airlift
operations in India that included a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo
aircraft, and U.S. and Indian military personnel taking part in the
Shanti Path 03 peacekeeping exercises in India.
The U.S. and Indian militaries are also planning to conduct their
first joint exercise with fighter aircraft. Indian and U.S. Navies
have been jointly conducting a number of exercises that include anti-
submarine training, and combating piracy. For more than a year now,
they have been jointly patrolling the heavily-traversed Straits of
Malacca, a region where China's Navy is also vying for control.
Encouraged by the U.S., the Indian Navy has launched a 30-year
programme to construct a fleet capable of projecting power into the
South China Sea. All this military intimacy was expressed in the
recent Malabar IV exercises, which coordinated the efforts of Indian
and U.S. battle groups, including cruisers, destroyers, frigates,
submarines, aircraft, and several thousand personnel.
The pathetically anxious attempt of the government to send Indian
troops to help shore up the colonising occupation of Iraq by the U.S.
and British forces in Iraq would only be an extension of this general
trend. But so much of this is occurring without the knowledge of the
Indian public, that we may one day wake up to find that the Indian
government has even allowed U.S. military bases in the country. And we
will then have our own government trying to persuade us that it is in
our own interests.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. The people of
India have little to gain - and much to lose - from an increase in
levels of military tension with China, and from a potentially
debilitating competitive militarisation. Not only will there be
massive diversion of badly needed public resources, but the increased
instability of the region would also lead, ironically, to less
security and less democracy for ordinary people.
That is why our policy-makers are already thinking ahead to find ways
of justifying this entire new strategy. When there is such a shift in
military strategy, there has to be some attempt to find intellectual
justification for it. And what better instrument for such
rationalisation, than through a "think-tank" specially set up for the
purpose? The rightwing in the U.S. has actually made a fine art of the
exploitation of these "think-tanks" to push through ideas and policies
that would have been completely rejected in the more liberal
conditions that prevailed earlier.
According to Disinfopedia, the "encyclopedia of propaganda", "a think-
tank is an organisation that claims to serve as a centre for research
and analysis of important public issues. In reality, many think-tanks
are little more than public relations fronts, usually headquartered in
state or national seats of government and generating self-serving
scholarship that serves the advocacy goals of their industry
sponsors". In the U.S., there are twice as many conservative think-
tanks as liberal ones, and the conservative ones tend to have much
more money.
The one that is relevant for our purposes is the recently created U.S.-
India Institute for Strategic Policy, based in Washington. It is the
outcome of a series of quiet meetings between the U.S. and Indian
governments, which have also pushed all the military cooperation. The
Institute is closely aligned with the ultra-conservative Centre for
Security Policy, which has strong ties with the Republican Party. Many
of its members have served or are serving in senior posts in the
Ronald Reagan and George Bush Jr administrations.
The Central government has not been shy about touting its close links
with the U.S. government, and the new Institute is not likely to be
either. But the potentially greater significance of this Institute is
not in the involvement of U.S. hawks, but in the drawing in of Indian
"experts" to justify this new Indian association with U.S. militarism.
Tragically, we now have to be prepared for our own Indian "strategic
analyst" apologists to be even more closely involved in the
intellectual exercise of justifying the Indian government's open and
enthusiastic subordination to the long-term goals of U.S.
imperialism.
Volume 20 - Issue 12, June 07 - 20, 2003
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2012/stories/20030620005411900.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Punjab Newsline Network
Tuesday, 09 February 2010
CHANDIGARH: Deputy Chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's orders to
Deputy Commissioners to honour Akali workers and leaders, to the
extent of handling down list of names, has ruffled alliance partner,
the BJP.
The party feels that SAD and BJP as alliance partners were running a
coalition government not a “private limited company”, a statement
quoted after an emergent meeting of the state BJP presided over by
newly elected president Ashwani Sharma.
The release explained that this response was in reference to the
alleged distribution of lists of Akali workers to DCs at a meeting
held here which was presided over by Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal as
well as omission of the saffron party from the ongoing government
advertisement campaign. It also said the BJP held the prestige of the
SAD-BJP workers on an equal footing and that any attempt to undermine
this or differentiate between workers was unacceptable.
The meeting, which included Ashwani Sharma and Manoranjan Kalia
condemned what it said were attempts to humiliate the BJP. It decided
to convey its displeasure to the SAD and take a commitment that such
incidents would not happen again. SAD spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema,
however, denied any list of party workers had been supplied to DCs the
meeting. He said the Deputy CM had only passed “routine instructions”
that DCs should not ignore public men.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/23228/38/
Ambika Soni condemns Punjab govt action of giving SAD leader's lists
to DC's
Punjab Newsline Network
Tuesday, 09 February 2010
ROPAR: Ambika Soni, AICC general Secretary and Union Minister for
Information and Brodcasting on Tuesday strongly condemned Punjab
Government action of handing over lists of select SAD workers to
Deputy Commissioners to keep them in good humour.
Talking to media persons here after presiding over meeting of
monitoring comittee of center aided works, Ambika Soni said that AICC
flay attempts by Akalis to politicise the administration. "I condemn
it", she stated.
Ambika Soni while replying toa question said that center government
has decided to keep pending fresh applications of TV channels to
prevent misuse of electronic media. She said that presently 520 TV
channels were operating and many of them didn't have adequate
infrastructure.
She informed that center government has written to regulatory
authority to frame comprehensive rules to grant licence to the TV
channels. The fresh applications would be considered after rules are
framed, she said.
Ambika Soni said that Ropar district of Punjab has been selected to be
pilot district of all center government schemes and all the schemes
would be implemnented here with full vigour. She said that Ropar would
become a model district for center sponsored schemes. She said that a
system is being set up to bring uniformity in welfare schemes for BPL
families.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/23241/38/
Thackeray attacks Rahul Gandhi again, now for calling Mumbai
'Bombay'
Punjab Newsline Network
Tuesday, 09 February 2010
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's again hit out at Congress
General Secretary Rahul Gandhi.Lashing out at the Rahul Gandhi in the
latest the editorial in party mouthpiece Saamna, Thackeray said,
"Rahul Gandhi repeatedly called Mumbai as Bombay in a speech before
students during his four-hour trip here last week.
“Those people who want to break off Mumbai from Maharashtra always
refer to the city as Bombay,” Thackeray said in the edit.
He went on to dub Gandhi's recent Mumbai's visit as the 'funeral
procession of Congress' taken out by Marathi people.
Also launching an attack against the Minister of State for Home Ramesh
Bagwe, for carrying Rahul Gandhi's shoes, Thackeray said, "The
minister should be ashamed to stoop so low."
"Rahul Gandhi is not a Mahatma Gandhi so that his shoes should be held
close to the heart," the party mouthpiece added.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/23239/191/
SAD-BJP govt raising terrorism and Naxalism in Punjab: Bhattal
Punjab Newsline Network
Tuesday, 09 February 2010
CHANDIGARH: The SAD-BJP government has started raising the terrorism
and Naxalism in the state, holding the UPA government responsible for
it. Instead, the Badals would do well to acknowledge their failure in
controlling the law and order situation in the state, Said Rajinder
Kaur Bhattal, leader of Opposition in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
Talking to media on Monday, Bhattal said Badals should stop blaming
the UPA government at the Centre and accept their failure on all
fronts.
Bhattal said, Congress Legislature Party was looking forward to the
Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha where the ruling SAD-BJP
alliance would be made accountable for heaping misery on the people of
Punjab.
“The blame for the tragic death of ETT teacher Kiranjeet Kaur in
Kapurthala on Monday lies with the state government for its failure to
notify the agreement it had reached with the agitating teachers.
“Now by postponing the elections to the NRI Sabha, the SAD-BJP
government has given yet another evidence of its shrinking popularity
base. Sensing its rejection, the SAD would now ask for deferring the
SGPC elections,”she said.
To cover up its failures, Badals has started blaming the UPA
government at the Centre for its interference in the religious affairs
of the Sikhs as well as for discriminating against the state in
allotment of funds and new schemes.
The SAD has also gone back on its commitments made in its election
manifesto on promising free supply of power and water to farmers. “We
will raise all these issues on the floor of the House,” said Bhattal,
holding that the incumbent government had no right to stay in office
because of its complete failure on all fronts.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/23222/38/
Sid Harth
Express News Service
Posted: Tuesday , Feb 09, 2010 at 0229 hrs
New Delhi:
Amazing BharatanatyamWest Bengal to Waste BengalApathetic
PoliticianThe S philosophy of vyaSa With RSS affiliate Swadeshi
Jagran Manch (SJM) spearheading a campaign against introduction of Bt
brinjal and Sangh boss Mohan Bhagwat too speaking out against it, BJP-
ruled Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh went the Uttarakhand way today,
announcing a ban on commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal.
Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said he did not expect
everybody to be happy with the keenly awaited decision planned to be
announced before February 10.
Speaking at a news conference in Kochi, Ramesh said: “I have to be
sensitive to the public opinion, be responsible to science. I have to
look at the interest of consumers, producers and think of conservation
of bio-diversity and yet think of the need to reduce the use of
pesticides. It is not easy to make a decision and I do not expect
anybody to be happy with what I will decide.”
In Bangalore, Karnataka Horticulture Minister Umesh Katti said “the
state will ban commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal... we have already
written to the Centre seeking its deferment”.
The Himachal Pradesh government also decided against Bt brinjal saying
“trials on assessing its harmful effects on health, environment and
ecology have not been conclusively conducted”. A cabinet meeting
decided that unless satisfactory answers to questions pertaining to
the crop are found, the state government will not promote it, stated
an official release.
Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are BJP-ruled states and
Ashwini Mahajan of the SJM, which has been at the forefront of the
campaign against introduction of Bt brinjal, said they had written to
all chief ministers about a month ago, seeking a ban.
Uttarakhand became the first state last week to formally enforce a
ban, with Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” citing the
“sensitive nature of the state’s diversities “that needed to be
protected”.
Representatives of a group of states, protesting the introduction of
Bt brinjal, met at a conference in Thiruvananthapuram last Wednesday.
Kerala, Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Karnataka, Rajasthan, Orissa, Punjab, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were
represented at the meet.
At the end of public hearings, Ramesh said he had received letters
from chief ministers of West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh opposing Bt brinjal and the Tamil
Nadu Chief Secretary had orally communicated a similar view.
Comments (3) |
Irrelevant heading
By: Indi | 09-Feb-2010
Its not only BJP ruled states, even congress ruled states like AP are
also opposing. Why bring politics even in these. BT brinjal is some
thing unnatural. Why hurt the farmers by bringing in which is
unnatural. Why jairam ramesh is keen on not so natural brinjal. Media
should be unbiased the the heading of this news item is highly
irrelevant. So far the concerned politicians have not spoken about the
advantages of the bt brinjal. It is totally useless issue.
Why not we reverse all strains of rice and wheat
By: rajkumar | 09-Feb-2010
Indi, if farmers are being really hit, then why not we go back to 30
years and start growing what we where doing - famine and starvation
was rampant. Why not we also ban all hybrid cows and undo the milk
revolution. !!!!
What harmful effects ????
By: rajkumar | 09-Feb-2010
It is a shame BJP is taking very narrow line ignoring the common
people need for food. It is important we embrace more and more
scientific methods to become self sufficient in food productions and
feed our country people - every year 2 million Indian children dying
because of starvation. Almost 51% of the Indian children are having
less food - going hungry every day. BJP state I will tell you what are
the common problems we face: 1. No safe roads - we and our children
cannot walk in the roads. 2. Our children have no place to run and
play. 3. Sewers, garbage and mosquitos are every where. Every sq ft
you turn you are bitten by Mr Msquito and our children suffer fever
and all diseases. 4. Pernial water problem. 5. Vegetables and pulses
are expensive - 51% indian children are starving. 6. No clean toilets
anywhere in the country - we can travel every where but you to endure
this rotten place.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/3-bjpruled-states-take-parivar-line-no-bt-brinjal/577437/0
Govt refuses permission to Bt Brinjal
Agencies
Posted: Tuesday , Feb 09, 2010 at 1618 hrs
New Delhi:
Facing intense opposition from within and outside, government on
Tuesday refused to give a go-ahead to commercial cultivation of Bt
Brinjal, a genetically modified version of the vegetable that is said
to be more resistant to pests.
Announcing a cautious approach of the government, Environment and
Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh said there was ‘no clear consensus’
among the scientists and stake-holders on giving permission to Bt
Brinjal and more studies needed to be conducted. “There is no over-
riding urgency to introduce it... When the public sentiments have been
negative, it is my duty to adopt a cautious, precautionary andn
principle-based approach," he told a hurriedly-called press conference
which was originally scheduled for Wednesday.
“I will not impose a decision till such time independent scientific
studies establish safety of the product from long-term view of human
health”, Ramesh said. He said it was a difficult decision to take but
he had to balance many issues of science and society and producer and
consumer.
However, he made it clear that Tuesday’s decision applied only to Bt
Brinjal and does not cover future of genetically-modified crops, be it
ladyfinger, cabbage or rice.
Ramesh's decision came after a series of public consultations in seven
cities across the country, that often turned acrimonious. A number of
state governments, including Congress-ruled Andhra Pradesh, have
publicly opposed the introduction of Bt Brinjal.
Comments
Kudos to Jairam
By: Arun | 09-Feb-2010
Kudos to Jairam Ramesh for standing upto Sharad Pawar and Monsanto. He
has been sensible and sensitive to the reaction from the public and
scientists. I feel we should all be indebted to him. Now, I hope the
government won't remove him from the environment ministry and dump a
yes-man.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/govt-refuses-permission-to-bt-brinjal/577715/
Hindu leader offers olive branch to Kerala Christians
Published Date: February 9, 2010
The leader of a right-wing Hindu group has held out an olive branch to
the heads of three Churches in Kerala in a bid to improve its
relations with Christians and Muslims.
“Our discussions were fruitful and on a friendly note,” Ram Madhav,
spokesperson of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, national
volunteers corps), told UCA News.
RSS is the umbrella organization of Hindu radical groups blamed for
spearheading violence against Christians and Muslims in Gujarat,
Orissa and other Indian states.
Madhav noted that there was apprehension among religious minority
groups toward his organization.
He blamed some political parties for painting the RSS as anti-
minority.
“But there is no truth in it. We want to clear those apprehensions and
fears and pave way for a healthy dialogue,” he said.
Muslim leaders in his organization would hold discussions with Islamic
leaders, he said.
In Kerala, Madhav met Bishop Joshua Mar Ignathios, president of Kerala
Catholic Bishops’ Council, and heads of two factions of the Orthodox
Church and the Marthoma Church.
Madhav said he was invited by the Church leaders to their meeting on
Feb. 24 in Kerala’s Kollam town where RSS head Mohan Bhagwat is
expected to attend.
Bishop Ignathios confirmed the meeting. Madhav “came to the bishop’s
house and we had a brief meeting,” he told UCA News and added he told
the RSS leader about Christian concern over violence against
minorities in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian
people’s party).
BJP, India’s main opposition party, is considered the political arm of
Hindu radical groups.
Bishop Ignathios said he also told the RSS leader that the Church does
not encourage “forced conversions” as the Hindu radicals allege.
The RSS initiative comes as Kerala prepares for state legislative
assembly elections scheduled for April 2011. Christians and Muslims
constitute 41 percent of the state’s electorate.
According to Fr Paul Thelakat, editor of Church weekly
“Satyadeepam” (light of truth), RSS and BJP have realized their anti-
minority politics would not help them gain power in Kerala.
He says India would experience peace and harmony if the BJP and RSS
changed their policies against minorities.
SOURCE
Hindu leader soothes Kerala Church leaders (UCA News)
http://www.cathnewsasia.com/2010/02/09/hindu-leader-offers-olive-branch-to-kerala-christians/
RSS Kerala unit all set for Bhagwat’s visit
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 8 –
The Kerala unit of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is all set to
welcome their chief Mohan Bhagwat on his maiden visit to the state Feb
24 and 25.
Bhagwat will visit Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram, P.Gopalan Kutty, an
RSS activist, told IANS.
‘The major event will happen in Kollam on Feb 24 where he will address
RSS activists in the state. The gathering will be attended by over a
lakh members in full uniform from all over the state,’ said Kutty.
IANS
http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/02/rss-kerala-unit-set-bhagwats-visit.html
Sid Harth
February 9th, 2010 - 10:48 pm ICT by ANI -
New Delhi, Feb 9(ANI): Nitin Gadkari was elected as the Bharatiya
Janata Party’s President for a three-year term in the national capital
on Tuesday.
Gadkari, former Maharashtra BJP unit chief, succeeded Rajnath Singh at
the end of latter’s tenure.
He was nominated as the new BJP chief by the party’s parliamentary
board in December last year.
Gadkari’s election to the post of BJP chief would be ratified at the
national executive and national council convention to be held in
Indore later this month.
On Tuesday, General Secretary of the party and the Returning Officer
for the elections Thawar Chand Gehlot declared this after the
conclusion of the elections in the national capital.
“I make announcement of the result. Nitin Gadkari has been elected as
the national President of the Bharatiya Janata Party and I invite
Nitin Gadkari to come and accept the certificate of his election,”
Gehlot said.
Gadkari’s nomination came in the wake of BJP’s defeat in the last
general polls.
The defeat in the 2009 May elections sparked months of infighting and
a leadership struggle in the BJP. (ANI)
BJP condemns Kandhamal arrests
TNN, 9 February 2010, 10:38pm IST
BHUBANESWAR: BJP has alleged that the state government continues to
harass the people of Kandhamal district by foisting false cases
against them in connection with the 2008 ethno-communal violence.
It said the government had been deliberately doing it only to project
a false image of itself and under pressure from several groups bent on
destroying the country's culture and religion and disturbing communal
amity.
It cited the recent arrest of six persons at Muniguda in Rayagada
district and said the party had long been suspicious of the
government's move and more so in the backdrop of the recent EU visit
that has been severely opposed in public.
"BJP had rightly suspected the hidden agenda of the visiting EU
delegates, who had come to Orissa to influence the police
administration and the judiciary dealings with cases registered in
2008," senior BJP leader Ashok Sahu said.
The EU delegates met the DGP on February 4, after which the police has
become high-handed and vindictive to appease the visiting foreign
dignitaries.
"Immediately after their departure, the police arrested one at K
Nuagaon in Kandhamal district and six at Muniguda in Rayagada
district.
Orissa Police has not also failed to deal with the Maoist menace, it
has also been arresting people in connection with concocted cases.
Such conduct by the police would further erode public confidence in
the system, which has failed to deliver justice to the people," the
senior BJP leader alleged.
'We will not allow screening of My Name Is Khan'
IANS, 9 February 2010, 09:57pm IST
BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa unit of the Bajrang Dal Tuesday threatened to
disrupt the screening of Shah Rukh Khan's movie "My Name Is Khan"
across the state if the actor does not apologise for his alleged "pro-
Pakistan" statement.
"We will not allow the screening of the film in the state," Subash
Chouhan, national co-convenor of the Bajrang Dal, said.
The much-awaited film, which is slated for a global release Feb 12, is
already facing threat from the Shiv Sena in Mumbai. Sena activists
Tuesday attacked some theatres in the city where the film is to be
screened.
"Shah Rukh has behaved like an agent of Pakistan by advocating the
cause of Pakistani cricketers participating in the Indian Premier
League," Chouhan said.
A senior state police official, however, said anybody attempting to
disrupt the film's screening would be dealt with as per the law.
BJP to oppose religion-based reservation: Joshi
Published on : Tuesday 09 Feb 2010 20:00 - by IANS
Kolkata, Feb 9 : Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli
Manohar Joshi Tuesday said that reservation in the name of religion is
"unconstitutional" and his party would oppose it.
"Any reservation in the name of religion is unconstitutional. It's a
conspiracy to divide the nation. The BJP will oppose this move," Joshi
said at a press conference here at Kolkata Press Club.
He said the West Bengal government had decided to adopt the Ranganath
Mishra Commission's recommendations when the centre has not taken any
concrete decision on it.
"Backwardness in India has no connection with religion," he added.
The Left government in West Bengal Monday announced 10 per cent
reservation in government jobs for other backward classes among the
Muslims.
Talking about Maoist violence in West Bengal and other eastern India
states, Joshi said the central government must hold talks with all the
state governments to resolve the Maoist issue.
"The Congress has been hand and glove with the Maoists in states like
Andhra Pradesh but now when the cat is out of the bag the Home
Minister P. Chidambaram is busy holding meetings across the country,"
he alleged.
"We had pointed this when a police official was abducted by the
Maoists and was declared prisoner of war, we had warned him... the
talks should have started then only... better late than never," he
said.
Joshi also blamed the central government for its "wrong policies"
which led the food price rise and inflation across the country.
"The price rise is solely due to the wrong policies of the Congress-
led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Although the major
responsibility lies with (Agriculture Minister) Sharad Pawar but it is
the entire government that has to share the blame for this continuous
price rise," he said.
Copyright Indo Asian News
http://www.littleabout.com/news/67843,bjp-oppose-religion-based-reservation-joshi.html
Sid Harth
City
‘Nobody can shake BJP govt’
Mangalore:
“Nobody can shake the BJP government in the State. B S Yeddyurappa
will continue in his office as the Chief Minister in the remaining 40
months period too,” asserted newly appointed BJP State President K S
Eshwarappa.
Addressing party workers at a felicitation programme at the Town Hall
here on Monday, Eshwarappa said that the party will bag more than 150
seats in the next assembly election and form a government with
absolute majority. “Party workers should work for the party adhering
to its principles. It is party more prominent than leaders,” he said.
Ensuring social justice to all and upliftment of Dalits and backward
class are the major objectives of the party, he added.
“Those in the opposition brand BJP as an anti-minority and anti-Dalit
party. They called BJP a Brahmin party, later they termed it a
Lingayat party. But nobody has questioned when a Muslim group imposed
‘fatwa’ on ‘Vande Mataram’ song,” he lamented.
“Now I challenge the opposition that tomorrow members of all community
including Muslims and Christians will also join BJP in large number.
We will strive to bring Muslims and Christians also to the mainstream
of the society,” he asserted.
Earlier, addressing a press meet at the party office here he said that
his priority will be to build the party according to the wishes of the
workers.
More concentration will be given to build party in those
constitutions, where BJP candidates could not win in previous
election. Booth-level committees of party workers will be formed to
make the party storng, he added.
No forceful acquisition
To a query on issues related to acquisition of land for new power
projects in the State, Eshwarappa said that government will not
acquire land forcefully. “If we need power supply, we have to
establish power projects. If people had raised objection to Sir
Vishweshwaraiah’s ambitious projects, the KRS project would not have
been a reality,” he said. Proposals of all new power projects being
initiated with an aim to cater adequate power supply to the future
generation, Eshwarappa said and warned opposition not to halt
development works in state by playing politics. It was due to lack of
political will in previous governments that the power shortage crisis
situation has been created, he added.
Home Minister Dr V S Acharya, District-in-Charge Minister J Krishna
Palemar, MPs D V Sadananda Gowda, Nalin Kumar Kateel, Coastal
Karnataka Development Authority Chairman B Nagaraj Shetty, Mangalore
City Corporation Mayor M Shanker Bhat, MLCs Capt Ganesh Karnik, Kota
Srinivas Poojari, MLAs N Yogish Bhat, Mallika Prasad and S Angara were
present.
DH News Service
ZP chief Bhandary in BJP meet
It was a surprise for all BJP workers and leaders that Zilla Panchayat
President Santhosh Kumar Bhandary, who was elected from Congress,
attended BJP’s felicitation programme at the Town Hall.
Bhandary not only offered a garland to Eshwarappa, but also sought the
blessings from new State President by touching his feet.
User Comments
By: Ranga
On: 09 Feb 2010 09:26 am
Yeddi will make karnataka 2nd most progressive state aftr Gujarat
Yeddys budget had encouraging news for several sections of the
population — farmers, high school students, officials, researchers,
patients, alike. The decision to send 1000 farmers abroad on a study
tour will expose them to different types of farming methods. Further a
provision of Rs 750 crores as a support price for farm produce is good
news. Yeddi has given a fillip to ornamental fishery and has given an
impetus to the establishment of goshalas for the protection of milch
cattle. Extending free power to farmers with upto 10 HP pumpsets,
introducing e-tendering to bring in transparency, allotting Rs 2 crore
for reviving the river Arkavathy and establishing 500 foot bridges in
the Malnad to bring connectivity to remote villages, are all
heartening to note. CM also deserves to be congratulated for providing
free health insurance to poor families. Another noteworthy point, is
the support given to the development of sandalwood cultivation, green
villages and medicinal plants
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/51593/nobody-can-shake-bjp-govt.html
Chop off arms of Bajrang Dal, VHP or resign:Siddaramaiah to CM
Bangalore, Feb 7 (PTI):
The war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition continued
with senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah today challenging Chief
Minister B S Yeddyurappa to "chop off the arms" of Bajrang Dal, VHP
and Srirama Sene or quit office.
"Yeddyurappa now has to chop off the arms of Bajrang Dal, Srirama
Sene, Pramod Mutalik (Srirama Sene leader) and VHP. Let him chop off
now that it has come to know (who is behind church attacks in
Karnataka)", Siddaramaiah told reporters at Kollegala in
Chamarajanagar district.
"If he can't chop off, he has to leave his chair (has to resign)," the
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly said.
Last month, perturbed over a church attack, Yeddyurappa asked the
people to chop off the arms of desecrators if they catch them.
Earlier this month, Justice B K Somasekhara Commission of Enquiry,
which probed attacks on Christian prayer halls in 2008, submitted its
interim report without clearly identifying the perpetrators.
But it added that "a strong impression is created" that Sangh Parivar
groups are mainly responsible for the attacks and that top police
officials and district administration colluded with them "directly or
indirectly".
User Comments
By: Raju
On: 08 Feb 2010 09:28 am
Sidda, you have defected 20 times for the sake of power and
licking ... for votes, you talk about Religious attacks etc ...
By: Indian
On: 08 Feb 2010 02:41 pm
As you said, For the same of Power, he already licked many senior
politicians....a... Nothing is remaining for him, that is the
reason,he is barking whatever he feels.
By: secular
On: 08 Feb 2010 08:53 am
Wrong precedence by Govt - allowing EU delegation to visit Kandhamaal
in Orissa on Feb 2nd and 3rd. Who are these EU teams to tell us what
to do and not to do how to govern ? Are we a colony of EU or a
Soverign Republic? Did UPA send a delegation" to Malaysia when Hindus
were killed– when they can humiliate Lal Bahadur shastri and PV
Narasimha Rao what else can we expect from this Govt – What about
Kashmiri pundits sufferings, Victims of Marad massacre and innumerous
incidents where majority have been butchered - Jai Hind
By: Uma
On: 08 Feb 2010 08:52 am
The bias secular Govt and media is evident in the hyper excited
reporting of the church attack. Their selective amnesia is amusing.
Did these raise any voice in support of amaranth pilgrims protest or
against Sabramati carnage,durga pooja protest or other innumerour
atrocities on Hindus all over Bharath Nobody talks about the killling
of Swami Laxmanananda and his 4 associates, burning of the Radhabai
chawl that killled 16 people, which provoked sharp reaction from the
Hindu community, Godhra train carnage and Marad killling which was
buried silently by so called seculars. They never react on lakhs of
Hindus being displaced from Kashmir or innumreous atrocities on
hindus. These opportunists are no better than traitors of the past who
are ready to sell the dignity of the country for their selfish gains.
By: sundar
On: 08 Feb 2010 07:05 am
Mr.siddaramaiah should know what his tongue wades.He should be the
first person to be treated like what he has uttered for his shameless
utterances. His party is much worse than the others in communal
disturbances.Let him be treated by all other communities in the same
manner as he wants to do with bhajrang dal or any other outfits.
Sundar
By: bye
On: 08 Feb 2010 09:11 am
Dear Sundar,anybody question the way of functioning BJP Govt a fit
candidate for admitting to Mental hospital.We hope some of state
lawyers run out of money to send greeting card to mental Hospital
patients.
By: KRV
On: 08 Feb 2010 06:36 am
Mr. Siddaramaiah should tone down the rhetoric. What punishment would
Siddaramaiah order for those who denigrate Hindu Scriptures and those
who use profane and vulgar language against Hindu Gods and Hindu
Heritage and Hindu Culture. He should not promote violence, being
elected to a public office. He is degrading himself. He should watch
his language, since he appears to speak well according to media
reports. He should note that Hindus will not tolerate ill treatment in
their own land of Bharat by those who practice and try to impose alien
culture and religion on not well educated and innocent Hindus. Surely,
a day will come when Hindus will get united and protect their well
respected Heritage and the Vedic Philosophy and Hindu way of living
all over the World.
User Comments
By: Raju
On: 08 Feb 2010 09:28 am
Sidda, you have defected 20 times for the sake of power and
licking ... for votes, you talk about Religious attacks etc ...
By: Indian
On: 08 Feb 2010 02:41 pm
As you said, For the same of Power, he already licked many senior
politicians....a... Nothing is remaining for him, that is the
reason,he is barking whatever he feels.
By: secular
On: 08 Feb 2010 08:53 am
Wrong precedence by Govt - allowing EU delegation to visit Kandhamaal
in Orissa on Feb 2nd and 3rd. Who are these EU teams to tell us what
to do and not to do how to govern ? Are we a colony of EU or a
Soverign Republic? Did UPA send a delegation" to Malaysia when Hindus
were killed– when they can humiliate Lal Bahadur shastri and PV
Narasimha Rao what else can we expect from this Govt – What about
Kashmiri pundits sufferings, Victims of Marad massacre and innumerous
incidents where majority have been butchered - Jai Hind
By: Uma
On: 08 Feb 2010 08:52 am
The bias secular Govt and media is evident in the hyper excited
reporting of the church attack. Their selective amnesia is amusing.
Did these raise any voice in support of amaranth pilgrims protest or
against Sabramati carnage,durga pooja protest or other innumerour
atrocities on Hindus all over Bharath Nobody talks about the killling
of Swami Laxmanananda and his 4 associates, burning of the Radhabai
chawl that killled 16 people, which provoked sharp reaction from the
Hindu community, Godhra train carnage and Marad killling which was
buried silently by so called seculars. They never react on lakhs of
Hindus being displaced from Kashmir or innumreous atrocities on
hindus. These opportunists are no better than traitors of the past who
are ready to sell the dignity of the country for their selfish gains.
By: sundar
On: 08 Feb 2010 07:05 am
Mr.siddaramaiah should know what his tongue wades.He should be the
first person to be treated like what he has uttered for his shameless
utterances. His party is much worse than the others in communal
disturbances.Let him be treated by all other communities in the same
manner as he wants to do with bhajrang dal or any other outfits.
Sundar
By: bye
On: 08 Feb 2010 09:11 am
Dear Sundar,anybody question the way of functioning BJP Govt a fit
candidate for admitting to Mental hospital.We hope some of state
lawyers run out of money to send greeting card to mental Hospital
patients.
By: KRV
On: 08 Feb 2010 06:36 am
Mr. Siddaramaiah should tone down the rhetoric. What punishment would
Siddaramaiah order for those who denigrate Hindu Scriptures and those
who use profane and vulgar language against Hindu Gods and Hindu
Heritage and Hindu Culture. He should not promote violence, being
elected to a public office. He is degrading himself. He should watch
his language, since he appears to speak well according to media
reports. He should note that Hindus will not tolerate ill treatment in
their own land of Bharat by those who practice and try to impose alien
culture and religion on not well educated and innocent Hindus. Surely,
a day will come when Hindus will get united and protect their well
respected Heritage and the Vedic Philosophy and Hindu way of living
all over the World.
By: mylara
On: 08 Feb 2010 05:45 am
Well said future CM of karnataka.These two Rahu and Ketus should be
kicked out the indian culture who are behind the attack on
Minorities.You are a Gutsy Guy.You can rule being a chief minister and
not get muled and ruled like the incumbent seedless,always crying
yeddi.
By: Indian
On: 07 Feb 2010 09:21 pm
Earlier, for same reason, action was taken against Mr.Varun Gandhi by
stupid Congress. Now BJP and other should demand for action against
this Mentally unstable Siddaramaiah and suspend him from Cabinet.
People should agitate and protest till action is iniiated. This is
criminal offense and may lead to communal voilence.
By: VPS
On: 08 Feb 2010 12:50 am
Karnataka is a beautiful land, a heaven on earth. The soil is fertile
and productive. The people are good. However, our polititian are the
biggest monkeys. Varun called Pawar and Maya, Rananna and Surpanakha,
respectively. He has never been to Karnataka. His grandmother could
easily exploit the morons like Sidda... The polititians are the main
weakness of the great state of Karnataka.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/51358/chop-off-arms-bajrang-dal.html
Yeddyurappa Govt has become 'bankrupt'; alleges Siddaramaiah
Bangalore,Jan30 (PTI) :
Congress in Karnataka today alleged that the BJP government had not
implemented relief works in flood ravaged areas.
The Government headed by Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has become
"bankrupt" as it has not spent funds from its coffers, Opposition
Congress leader in the Karnataka state Assembly Siddaramaiah told
reporters.
Even as the Centre released Rs 1678 crore funds for relief works, the
state has spent only Rs 1626 crore, which indicated that the
government could not even utilise resources provided by the Centre,
but repeatedly harped on "step motherly treatment" by the Centre, he
said.
He described the BJP government as "most insensitive and
irresponsible".
People sheltered in relief camps are living in a pathetic condition
without even basic needs, Siddaramaiah, who returned after visiting
Bijapur, Bagalkot, Dharwad and Gadag, the worst flood affected
regions, said.
"When people are in distress,government embarked upon an extravaganza
to celebrate the 500th anniversary of coronation of Vijayanagar
emperor Krishnadevaraya spending more than Rs 40 crore. Do we require
such events at this hour of crisis?", he asked.
He flayed the move to hike milk price by Rs two to Rs three per litre,
alleging that the government had not paid subsidy to milk producers in
the last four months.
Siddaramaiah blamed the government for ''postponing' elections to
Bruhut Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, city corporation.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/49769/yeddyurappa-govt-has-become-bankrupt.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Tuesday, 09 Feb, 2010
Narendra Modi, chief minister of India’s Gujarat state, gestures at a
polling booth in Ahmedabad. — Photo by Reuters Media Gallery
A glimpse of India A glimpse of India Narendra Modi, chief minister of
Gujarat, celebrated Jan 26, India’s Republic Day, by parading the
constitution of India on an elephant.
No doubt he was reaffirming his oath to uphold the country’s supreme
law, which enjoins on him as a state’s chief executive to treat all
his citizens equitably, irrespective of their religious affiliation.
Mr Modi has long hankered to become the prime minister of India and
were he to do so, he would assume responsibility for the security of
roughly 150 million Muslim citizens of India, vastly greater than the
five million under his purview today in Gujarat. Twice he has tried to
ascend the throne of Delhi, and twice he has failed.
This article argues that the Gujarat riots of 2002 and the ensuing
discrimination that is widely perceived to be practised against the
Muslims of Gujarat have almost irrevocably stained his name. The only
way to realise his grand ambitions is by rehabilitating his Muslim
citizenry. In doing so, he will have almost nothing to lose, and
everything to gain.
Muslims constitute only about nine per cent of Gujarat’s population.
The riots of 2002 left a once-thriving community with a ghettoised
existence. Suspicion and exclusion have been their lot ever since.
The riots left their scars, but not on them alone. Mr Modi too has
suffered. While he won subsequent state elections, his party’s, (the
Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP) projection of him as a mascot in two
national elections cost it dearly. In 2004, dethroned Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee squarely blamed the Gujarat riots for his defeat
even while his colleagues felt that their ‘Shining India’ election
slogan was what went awry for them.
In 2009, many BJP stalwarts projected Mr Modi as their prime
ministerial candidate, once again to receive a stunning rebuke at the
hands of voters. As before, solitary voices in the party questioning
Mr Modi’s credentials were stilled.
The new president of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari, recently lauded Mr Modi
as an ideal chief minister and a true follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the
BJP’s parent organisation, who elevated Mr Gadkari to his current
position, too commended Mr Modi for rapidly bringing the Gujarat riots
under control. This daily din of praise comes not just from the party
brethren but also from leading Indian industrialists and film
personalities, all keen to grab a slice of Mr Modi’s vibrant Gujarat.
It would not be lost on him though how he has been confined to his
home state, bested by the relatively obscure Mr Gadkari for the top
job in the BJP, remaining just a parochial leader whose primary
purposes seem to be to enrich the coffers of the moribund national
party and be trumpeted around at election time to inspire the party’s
hard-line Hindutva base — all the while knowing this raison d’être is
not serving him well to realise his life’s goal.
His predicament is not new. His mentor, L.K. Advani, very effectively
played the foil of the strongman to the BJP’s moderate face, Mr
Vajpayee, only to have his own prime ministerial dreams come to nought
because voters remained unconvinced of his liberal testimonials.
Adding insult to injury surely would be how Mr Modi has been
blacklisted by the United States for his alleged anti-Muslim
proclivities, even as the Americans themselves stand accused by some
of launching a global crusade against Islam. A case almost of the pot
calling the kettle black. Even Mr Modi’s most ardent supporters admit
that his image needs to be repaired for him to play the global role
demanded of India’s premier.
Gujarat has given birth to some of history’s greatest personalities,
Mahatma Gandhi among them. Even lesser politicians such as India’s
first and thus far only Gujarati prime minister, Morarji Desai, have
been able to burnish their secular credentials over time and make
themselves palatable enough to the electorate. With such examples
before him, what stops Mr Modi from taking a U-turn?
Applying a balm to the wounds of Gujarat’s long-suffering Muslim
population would not jeopardise his Hindutva base around the country.
Instead he might just win some, though surely not all, Muslims over.
He might even escape the taunts of being a merchant of death levelled
at him by political adversaries and in turn, not get provoked into
making distasteful ethnic barbs of his own at the Gandhis, which only
end up making him look acerbic and unfit to hold high office.
Since the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984, India’s fair name
has been blotted by pogroms against religious minorities, which seem
to strike every decade with clockwork regularity. By that calendar,
another fit of violence is impending. While nobody has been brought to
justice for the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, victims have received some
compensation from the state. No such succour has been provided to the
mainly Muslim communities affected in Mumbai or Gujarat.
These periodic episodes of murder and mayhem are a millstone around
India’s neck. The Congress party has evaded guilt for 1984 through
astute posturing and succeeded in recapturing the political high
ground. High time then that Mr Modi follows suit. He need not have a
change of heart. Politics after all is the art of the possible. As the
only leader with a mass base in his otherwise comatose party, if he
doesn’t strive to resuscitate it with his customary efficiency, who
else will?
bademiyansubhanallah
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
Varun Gandhi
New Delhi, Feb. 9: Varun Gandhi’s latest outburst might defeat the
plans of certain Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and BJP lobbies to get
him an important party post.
At a rally on Saturday in Shikarpur, western Uttar Pradesh, the
Pilibhit MP reportedly said he would stop cow slaughter even if “our
hands are chopped” and contrasted the area’s “dilapidated” temples
with the “gleaming” mosque minarets.
The remarks revived memories of the 2009 elections when Varun
allegedly threatened to “cut off the hand” that dared attack Hindus,
polarising Uttar Pradesh Muslims towards the Congress.
A member of the BJP’s minority cell, which is verifying the media
reports, said: “He has enough Sangh and BJP supporters who believe a
Gandhi scion should get the status he deserves. But such people are
doing irreparable damage to the party.”
Varun’s parivar backers want him to head the BJP youth wing. “This is
a safe job because as a youth leader, he can sound aggressive without
offending sensibilities,” a source said.
The minority cell member, however, argued: “Varun’s profile doesn’t
depend on a post. He draws attention also as an MP. Anything he says
will have a huge impact.”
Varun claimed party president Nitin Gadkari had offered him the Uttar
Pradesh BJP chief’s job when he met him Monday. “I said ‘no’ because I
don’t have any experience, although on the ground I am the only one
working (in the BJP),” he said.
Like cousin Rahul, he said the only thing he wanted to do for the next
three years was “understand Uttar Pradesh as a mass leader and not a
party functionary”.
Uttar Pradesh BJP sources said a proposal to make Varun the state unit
chief had “briefly” been considered before being shot down. “We made
it clear that all of us, Hindus and Muslims, would revolt if this was
done,” a Brahmin leader said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100210/jsp/nation/story_12088570.jsp
Sangh magazines give away Gadkari story
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi, Jan. 1: Nitin Gadkari’s coronation as BJP chief got wall-to-
wall coverage in Sangh weeklies Organiser and Panchajanya, underlining
the importance of the decision to the parent outfit that had tried to
distance itself from the move.
“It is an extraordinary political event in the BJP, unparalleled. It
is the first time that any political party in India has picked up an
ordinary and relatively inexperienced worker and placed him right on
top,” Baldev Sharma, editor of the RSS’s Hindi mouthpiece,
Panchajanya, said.
“It shows the faith the decision-makers reposed in him. So we have
given it the coverage it deserves.”
Sharma’s editorial in the issue dated January 3 said: “Organisation
and ideology sustain the life of any political party and Gadkari has
demonstrated his commitment and priority for both. The BJP was known
for its organisation and ideology and had gained popular support and
confidence on account of these. The new leader’s clear message is that
these features will regain their primacy again.”
The political situation, he added, was fraught with challenges, the
biggest of which was restoring credibility in the BJP’s trademark
slogan of a “party with a difference”.
The editorial was complemented by interviews with BJP functionaries
Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, both of whom were
confidants of Gadkari’s predecessor Rajnath Singh and, by conventional
wisdom, unlikely to find a place in the new team.
Rudy, who recently withdrew his remarks opposing the BJP’s tie-up with
the JMM in Jharkhand, said: “It is not necessary that only Delhi
leaders have the required experience and competence. The BJP is not a
family-owned company. Its uniqueness is that it is able to pick
competent and experienced persons from any corner of the country
because a BJP worker does not belong to a region, he belongs to the
country.”
Like Panchajanya, the January 3 issue of the Organiser heralded
Gadkari’s arrival with a large cover picture captioned “New BJP presi-
dent promises a new beginning…”
A report on his first visit to his hometown Nagpur after becoming
party president spoke of the “unprecedented and historic” welcome
accorded to the city’s “beloved Nitin”.
An article by a Nagpur-based writer and swayamsevak, Virag Pachpore,
carried recommendations from non-BJP leaders, including Congress
veteran Datta Meghe and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Chhagan
Bhujbal.
While Meghe described Gadkari as “intelligent, very practical,
efficient and generous” with a range of friends from Amitabh Bachchan
to Ratan Tata, his Congress colleague Babasaheb Kedar said Gadkari’s
appointment was a “matter of pride for every Vidarbhaite”.
Despite the Sangh’s denial that it had anything to do with Gadkari’s
appointment, Pachpore’s piece gave the game away.
“RSS sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat on a number of occasions
voiced his concern over the rumblings, infighting and differences in
the BJP and underlined the need for a change in the leadership,” the
article said.
“Although he did not project any name, the choice ultimately fell on
the young leader from Nagpur.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100102/jsp/nation/story_11934560.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
Express news service
Posted: Friday , Feb 12, 2010 at 0242 hrs
New Delhi:
Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu has now joined the group
of political leaders raising questions over the reliability of
Electronic Voting Machines. BJP leader L K Advani had triggered a
debate on the subject last year.
BJP national executive member GVL Narasimha Rao has now come out with
a book titled Democracy at risk! Can we trust our Electronic Voting
Machines? The book, a compilation of a series of media reports, and
Rao’s own accounts, is the BJP’s take on the issue. While the book
would be released on Friday by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Rao has
also invited a couple of computer experts from the USA to show “how
the EVMs can be hacked”.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/BJP-member-s--book-on-EVMs/578908
EC rejects BJP charge about EVM malfunction
Agencies
Posted: Sunday , Jul 05, 2009 at 2126 hrs
New Delhi:
Election Commission said that it is satisfied about the foolproof
working of electronic voting machines.
Rejecting BJP's charge of malfunctioning of the electronic voting
machines (EVMs), the Election Commission tonight said it was satisfied
about their foolproof working and it would consider measures to clear
the apprehensions of political parties.
"The EC is amply satisfied about the non-tamperability and the
foolproof working of the EVMs. The Commission's confidence in the
efficacy of the EVMs has been fortified by the judgments of various
courts and the views of technical experts," the Commission said in its
press note reacting to reports about the technological vulnerability
of EVMs.
The Commission would, however, consider all the points raised and
apprehensions expressed recently by various political leaders and
individuals regarding EVMs and take all necessary measures to clear
doubts about use of EVMs in elections.
The EC's clarification came in the wake of BJP leader L K Advani
demanding reintroduction of ballot papers in elections, beginning with
the Maharashtra Assembly polls and three other states, observing that
there was every possibility of malfunctioning of EVMs.
Noting that the Commission came across reports regarding technological
vulnerability of the EVMs for possible manipulation, the EC referred
to the Karnataka High Court hailing the EVMs as "a national pride".
Referring to former Delhi Chief Secretary Omesh Sehgal’s claim that
"rigging of EVMs was very much possible", the Commission said said
that Sehgal had handed over a letter when he met Chief Election
Commissioner Navin Chawla on June 30.
However, no demonstration on the tamperability of the EVM has been
given by Sehgal to the Commission or to its officials, nor has the
Commission ordered any enquiry, as reported in a section of the Press,
the EC clarified.
"The Commission receives complaints, petitions and letters from
various quarters on electoral issues including the matters related to
EVM. All these complaints are looked into for taking necessary action,
if any is required," it said.
Observing that an analogy was drawn to electronic voting systems
adopted in various foreign countries and their experience with
electronic voting, the EC said the Commission has in the past,
provided opportunities to the complainants to prove their points on
the alleged vulnerability of EVM. So far, no one has been able to
demonstrate to the Commission that EVM can be manipulated.
45 Comments |
Thank you for appreciation.
By: Twentysecond Century | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 16:34:43 PM
I agree it is expensive, Some of you have backup plan to support this.
Budget 2009 assigned 120 Crores for biometric ID and also donations to
Electoral trusts to get 100% deduction in computation of tax of the
donor, What more do we need? Let's donate for the good cause and
remove these parasites who have been coming to power by rigging booths
in the name of humanity, religion, and poverty. Well the world is gone
beyond 22nd century and we still sit in 18th century, still have
pebbled roads that Roman's built in their era centuries ago. Go to a
village we see huts, lamps and pebbled roads. There is no need to
fight over these useless political parties, these are time tested
barbarians who dwell on blood of poor Indians. We must elect the best
party that would lead us into next century. TECHNOLOGY IS THE ANSWER
TO KILL THESE ILLITERATE PARASITES. WE MUST LOOK FOR FRESH HORIZON
PARTY in the next five years. NO CONGRESS, NO BJP. TIME TO CHANGE AND
REINVENT WHEEL.
EVMs can be tampered.
By: shanthanu | Monday , 6 Jul '09 18:08:08 PM
Why should Omesh Saigal who has written a letter to Election
Commission be asked to demonstrate in public how it is possible to
tamper with the EVMs. If he proves, it should be accepted. If not
rejected. Instead EC is quoting court ruling which cannot be the basis
for a technological solution. And so many people calling names for
those who have expressed their apprehensions after the report is
uncalled for.
Response to Twentysecond Century..
By: Guruji | Monday , 6 Jul '09 18:04:15 PM
Twentysecond Century.. what brilliant idea dude! It is going to cost a
fortune but I am sure it is worth it. The whole system that you have
suggested can even be developed as a package and sold to other
nations. There is not doubt such a a system will be appreciated by any
democratic country in the world. I fully agree with your suggestions
as much as I disagree with the words of Mr. Advani who wants, as in
everything, to move one step backward and re-introduce the ballot
paper mechanism (so that his pet thugs can have a good time subverting
the democratic system in the name of Hinduism).
EVM - BJP
By: Neduncheziyan | Monday , 6 Jul '09 17:20:48 PM
If BJP and Comunists won this election, there is no problem for EVM
but they failed, there is problem in the EVM. They are taking like
school children. Even Weak no no strong Advaniji and Gunda no no saint
Modiji own their seats EVM working very very good and loosing
election, the same EVM working very very bad. Once the vicket fax say
the grapes are not good because its too high.
Pakistan ki aulaad Bharat ko bhi banaega Swatwala Pakistan.
By: DR.STRIPPED CHOR | Monday , 6 Jul '09 16:23:07 PM
Sanghi and al-qaida like talibans are liars they are stripped searched
when so ever they visit any foreign country no one has any kind of
trust in them. Even the liar Advani and his coffin-in-law George
Fernandes get stripped searched on their trips abroad. How could we
the people of this country inject these sorts of petrol pump liars to
represent us Hindus in our parliament, because they cannot even
represent themselves.
22nd Century
By: Twentysecond Century | Monday , 6 Jul '09 16:19:57 PM
We live in 22nd Century, the EVM should incorporate Fingerprint
scanning with ID, Retina scanning and upload to a common database
online connected to a central server with Firewall and VPN (168 Bit
encryption). The server side database will store the data, check for
repetition and then give OK to the voter for casting his/her vote.
With this system the vote will also be counted simultaneously. The
result can be published online and also on same day. Also, the EVM can
generate and issue the voter a magnetic/chip embedded plastic voted
card this can be used as permanent ID for this Indian national country
wide. Further, if there are "n" EVM online, you can monitor which EVM
goes offline at any given point of time. In remote locations you can
connect the EVM's through satellite or Wireless networks or on Broad
band connections. It will be better to go for satellite links else
they will rig the telephone polls.
Cost !!!
By: Saibaskar | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 8:08:35 AM
Good suggestion but what about the cost? Government can afford that
sort of money only if all Indian black money in Swiss bank is brought
back and that will not happen for another 5 years thanks atleast
partly for the EVM for ensuring that.
Cost !!!
By: Saibaskar | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 8:08:21 AM
Good suggestion but what about the cost? Government can afford that
sort of money only if all Indian black money in Swiss bank is brought
back and that will not happen for another 5 years thanks atleast
partly for the EVM for ensuring that.
Not acceptable
By: Called Indian | Monday , 6 Jul '09 14:07:26 PM
EC's explanation is not acceptable.It is their duty to find out the
correct method of voting in which only BJP should be able tamper.Of
course, they can try to put in a program in the EVM itself to meet
their demand.
BJP Go to hell...
By: Guruji | Monday , 6 Jul '09 14:03:05 PM
For a month, the whole world watch with awe as the elections were
conducted in India. Many of the leading newspapers in the world
carried out how a supposedly backward nation like India is using
latest technologies to conduct the largest democratic exercise on the
planet. Indophobes around the world squirmed and jumped like eggs
boiling in a bowl as the EVMs become one more example of an Indian
ingenuity that did not fit into their stereotyped impression about
India. Now some morons from BJP want to discredit all of that... All
because they lost the elections and got the beatings that they
deserved.. Why don't these morons just go to hell..
"Sanghis... who are being proud know this"
By: Abdul Sattar | Monday , 6 Jul '09 13:58:59 PM
Listen, I am clear in my mind that RSS is not my cup of tea. But if
someone calls them anti-national, I feel he needs psychological help
Mysterious
By: Ram | Monday , 6 Jul '09 13:28:40 PM
All the TV channels have exactly predicted the poll outcome and the
results are matching with their forecasts. TRUTH is the important
weapon in the hands of GOD and anyone trying to tamper with truth will
face the consequences. The manipulation of EVM is like a Football
fully pumped with air (Hyping done by the TV channels) and the ball is
pressed hard into a pond of water. The harder they try to suppress the
TRUTH, the football filled with air will build it's counter force and
untimately TRUTH will come to surface. You don't need to wait longer
to know the EVM fraud and it will surface very soon.
45 Comments |
I'm 100% convinced that elections were rigged
By: Chandra SG | Monday , 6 Jul '09 13:07:37
Taking the instance of elections in AP.There was a cross voting from
TDP to Congress... this is completely absurd..!! Also... TDP which was
ahead of Congress in initial rounds.. jumped ahead in subsequent
rounds...!!TDP and Congress were neck to neck in Assembly polls... but
Congress literaly swept.. Parliament elections... this is completely
absurd considering the situation on the ground!!
Attitude of the "Minorities"
By: AK Bhattacharya | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:44:26 PM
I am shocked and stunned at the response of the few "minorities" in
these comments. Have you already assumed that you are ruling this
country, so much so that any mention of the word "BJP" makes you rave,
rant and curse without even looking at what's inside? Have you assumed
that all Hindus are dead, or inevitably hurtling towards their doom?
Now I am getting the feeling that the one-or-two Hindu names who have
used expletives are also "minorities" under masked names. Furthermore,
although I would love to believe that the democratic system in India
is faultless, this gang-up makes me feel sinister international forces
are at play and the charges of tampering need to be neutrally
investigated forthwith.
EVMs/EC
By: SudhirP | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:36:26 PM
Many people are talking about EVMs and saying when congress lost
elections then even they could've said this . Let me tell you that it
was the BJP which first introduced EVMs in 2004 elections and they
lost . BJP introduced this in the right earnest
EVM manipulation
By: M.S.Kamath | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:24:31 PM
EVM manipulation may be possible. But, going back to ballot papers is
foolishness, because large scale manipulation is possible there. It is
also required to have tamper-proof electoral rolls. There was a large
scale tampering of the rolls during the 2009 general elections in
Karnataka. BJP should also address this issue. Why did it happen?
Instead of casting a doubt on EVMs, BJP should come out with solid
proof of manipulation. The EVMs used where different political parties
have won, should be inspected on a random basis by technical
personnel, to find out the truth. It is very unfortunate whenever BJP
won in various state elections earlier, this sort of a doubt never
crossed BJP stalwarts. BJP should not appear like a trouble maker.
BJP stop trying to fool people
By: Guruji | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:22:36 PM
Post vajpayee bjp has fast degenerated into a ragtag bunch of
hooligans who can resort to any mechanism in their power grabbing
quest. Lies, decpetion, violence and all sorts of regregressive ideas
seem to be the cornerstone of this party. I used to hate congress but
the bjp in its current avatar make the congress looking like an angel.
The evms that these people are crowing about are exported to many
countries some of which are the so called developed nations. None of
those countries have reported any problems. How come bjp found them to
be faulty that to only in places where they lost. Why is it difficult
for these pseudonationalists to understand that vast majority of
indians do not subscribe to the flawed ideology.
EVM
By: SudhirP | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:08:05 PM
Many people are talking about EVMs and saying when congress lost
elections then even they could've said this . Let me tell you that it
was the BJP which first introduced EVMs in 2004 elections and they
lost . BJP introduced this in the right earnest
B.J.P should not expect
By: KUMAR | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:03:00 PM
The B.J.P should not expect any favourable reply from the Election
Commission. The present Election Commission is being headed by Mr
Chawla who is on the payroll of Sonia Gandhi leader of the congress
party what else can you expect from this man. Gone are the days when
the Election Commission of India was headed by an efficient straight
forward person Mr Seshan.
EVMs and function----
By: romesh.sharma | Monday , 6 Jul '09 11:51:15 AM
EVMs or any other machine in any form can never be absolutely Fool-
Proof.Its not the question of Mal-Functioning but question of
Manipulations.These machines can be easily manipulated that too with
remote-control.They were manipulated during 2004 and this with great
caution and fool-proof technics.EC itself doesn't function and is a
corrupt institution playing in the hands of greater bidder and from
whom they expect better career.So is with Indian CBI and judiciary as
well.Here in India its something like-JIS KI LAATHI USKI BHAINS.The
arrogance with which they work and arrogate to themselves depicts
their culpable attitude of covering invidious distinctions done.BJP
and every other Party has the right to ask scrutinize and ask for
explaination for wrong doings.To add once again its ridiculous that
her are only three guys from minority and they must speak all against
BJP/RSS while they don't have least knowledge about both.Such guys are
the reason of mal-function of whole Govt system
EVM Malfunctioning
By: Dr A M Siddiqui | Monday , 6 Jul '09 11:39:33 AM
BJP leaders are hypocrats. Wherever congress lost, it is the same
EVMs. You try to understand the real situation.
Heart broken
By: John | Monday , 6 Jul '09 11:31:11 AM
The BJP and its supporters are really heart broken. They simply can't
get any clue about what Indians think. So they keep on loosing in
elections. This is the problem with fanatics, they can't think out of
the box. The BJP can't sustain in the political arena with their
current agenda like Ram temple issue or cow slaughter. The people of
Indian want development, employment, better education standards,
peace, etc. Not massacres, riots, hatred, etc. The educated society of
India can't even dream a second about a government like that of in
Iran or the Taliban Afghanistan.
Sanghis..who are being proud, know this..
By: Jem Hassan | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:56:23 AM
Your RSS was founded by few zealous anti-nationals in 1925...exact
22yrs before our independence.But you never fought for this nation's
freedom nor supported any freedom movement.The contribution to our
freedom from you is zilch and beyond than you killed the man gave us
freedom from British..and the cost was his life...all these years you
denied Godse is not RSS but why you keep his çhitah basma'in your head
quarters?..why you keep his picture in your head quarters if he was
not admired?..why you RSS leaders never condemn what Godse done was
wrong?...so stop your hypocrisy..double standards...we Indians got
your skin...no need to hide anything...have the courage to admit the
truth that you were always working against the nation's interest and
you remain with only one interest..that's distruction of our
nation!...and show us one example of your great contribution to this
nation..since its foundation!..nothing!
EVM malfunction
By: natarajan | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:55:53 AM
Why only blame BJP? If congress had lost the election they would have
also blamed the EVMs.As seen over the years the politicians have the
tenacity to take opposite view on any issue when they are in power are
out of it.They seldom take a view on national interest whether it be
water sharing or nuclear issue.Let us remember that EVMs are a good
and dependable for a free and fair election.We have seen in the days
of ballot how booths are captured and ballot papers are shoved in
after stamping the same for a particular party.we have not heard such
a thing happening after EVMs.and for doing such fraud on EVMs it may
need help multiple agencies like manufacturer,election officials
etc.and cannot be done in isolation.So my vore is for EVM.
Dont Reject. and demand; but prove the allegation wrong.
By: KP Pillai | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:43:34 AM
Before rejecting it prima facie (which is done to save the skin of
Election Commission), the EC should respect the feeling expressed by
the Leader of India's Opposition parties. EC has the responsibility to
prove that the allegations are wrong. Rejecting it outrightly is a
high handed culture, lacking democratic norms.
Hindus
By: Ram Nath Babu | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:29:10 AM
This is in reference to Mr. Upadhyaya's letter. We Sanghis are better
than you people on any given day. As much as you have right to believe
in the policies and programmes of a particular party, others too hve
the same right in a democracy. We all cannot think in the same
wavelength as you think. Godse had his own reason for assassinating
Mr. Gandhi. He was perhaps a Hindu fundamentalist, but has nothing to
do with Sangh parivar. Better you read and learn more, before
commenting on public forum, as half knowledgement is too dangerous.
Master of Double Standard
By: Anvar | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:27:01 AM
BJP once again proved that they are Masters in Double Standard. They
used SMS, Internet and all kind of latest Technologies for Election
Propagation and now they revert back to Stoneage by suggesting Ballot
Boxes. Election loss made them crazy to talk like this. if there are
any malfunctining, we need to rectify it, instead of throwing
outrightly. I ask BJP not to use Telephones, Mobiles, computers and
all kind of latest technologies any where in their offices as well as
houses, as there are lot of malfuctionings are possible on these
electronics. BJP has become a rediculous party. After the election
people are watching BJP cautiously. BJP will be a forgotten party, if
they behave barbarically.
EVM CAN BE MANIPULATED 3
By: n.krishna | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:07:54 AM
CIA helped to modify the EVM machine embedded software and the chip is
being made in Japan. In TN the exit polls showed the sweeping of seats
by Jayalalitha. But the DMK with the manipulation of voting
machines,were able to get many seats. The whole thing was planned in
the congress war room with the help of CIA. When Pakis can print our
currency notes with the same serial number of notes being printed in
Indian security press and distribute the same even before Indian
government distributes its own currency in India, it is a simple
matter to plant people at ECIL to help modify the embedded software
with the help of the CIA. No political party has the clout to check
this type of fraud by congress. EVMs can be easily tweaked Times of
India 5 Jul 2009, bit.ly/13A8JU
EVM CAN BE MANIPULATED 2
By: n.krishna | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:03:15 AM
Sonia had planted the emergency tainted Chawla as CEC to help her
manipulate the EVMs. Another EC Qureshi is more loyal to the King than
the King himself and he proved it in many ways to Sonia. So the
process of randamisation of EVMs for distributing to various polling
booths will not stop this EVM scam. Another thing that is done is the
alphabetical arrangement of the buttons based on the local language
and this information is readily available with the CEC. In Tamil Nadu,
where the EVM were stored had some myserious power cut. The exit polls
of CNN IBN predicted the sweep for Jayalalitha’s AIADMK. Yet the next
day CNN IBN changed that prediction under some myserious advise. Many
EVMs showed that what ever candidate’s button is pressed, the votes
were going only to the congress party. The icing in the cake was the
visit of US embassy personnel to L.K. Advani and Chiranjeevi, to show
that they were thinking that NDA and Prajarajyam will sweep the polls
EVM CAN BE MANIPULATED 1
By: n.krishna | Monday , 6 Jul '09 10:01:58 AM
What the Indian public was not aware is the fact that the EVM machines
were manipulated by the congress. The whole thing was planned in the
congress war room with the help of CIA. One should understand that
during the 2004 election, CIA had planted operatives in Delhi in a
villa that actively helped the Congress party. This time the CIA help
had gone much deeper. To understand the modus operandi, one should
know how EVMs are functioning. All EVMs have an embedded software and
ECIL, which developed the first Indian TV etc. developed this
software. The detailed programming is known only to ECIL engineers and
not revealed to outsiders. When Pakis can print our currency notes
with the same serial number of notes being printed in Indian security
press and distribute the same even before Indian government
distributes its own currency in India, it is a simple matter to plant
people at ECIL to help modify the embedded software with the help of
the CIA.
comment
By: celina | Monday , 6 Jul '09 9:36:08 AM
I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be
sorted out because it’s not about the individual but it can be with
everyone.trial attorneys
Is it mere coincident?
By: H Srinivas | Monday , 6 Jul '09 9:35:42 AM
Then the stooge of Congress, Mr Chawla has to explain why Chidamdaram
was delcared defeated earlier and later declared elected. The same is
the case of Maneka Gandhi and many others. In most of the states, the
story is the same and most of the cases, it is congress who was the
beneficiary of such a incident. Is it merely a coincidence or part of
bigger plot. When we have corrupt people like Chawla you cannot have
anything but corrupted system.
Election Commission should look into what the Supreme Court
asked them to do in 2004, but no action have been taken by EC so far
By: Dipak Ghosh | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:57:22 AM
In 2004, the Supreme Court’s First Bench, comprising Chief Justice V.
N. Khare and Justices Babu and Kapadia, directed the Election
Commission to consider the technical flaws in EVMs put forward by
Satinath Choudhary, a U.S.-based software engineer, in a PIL. But the
EC has failed to consider his representation. What Advani is saying
makes sense- its too serious a thing to allow a system which is not
fool proof.
EVM
By: Rajesh | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:46:30 AM
Some CongI agents have infiltrated into the secret software of the
machine and manipulated the results. T. Nadu, Andhra, Kerala, Delhi,
UP, Gujrat and Maha. Please diclare the election null and void
BJP NEVER think in positive way
By: Divyesh Raythatha | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:37:19 AM
Advani opposes any act of UPA government whether it is valid or not.
BJP will come out with Bharat rathyatra, a waste of time and money.
BJP will also start boycotting the parliament proceedings anytime.
These are all NEGATIVE attitude and approaches. Advani cannot prove
that EVM had tempered with. There is no point in this allegation.
Modern Day Booth capturing
By: shailesh | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:35:13 AM
This could be Modern Day Booth capturing practised by the Congies!!!
how can BJP be responsible for your bad physical and mental hygine
By: sarma | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:30:47 AM
i think instead of making silly comments and making a joker out of
self, we must geniuenly look into the matter and rectify it. this is
democratically tackling the issue in a democracy.few un answered
questions are 1. why this doubt has risen, 2. why few countries
refused EVMs. 3 how it can be tampered and it should
demonstrated. 4.think of all possible happennings like a psychopath
with high IQ. 5. and for GOD's sake stop blamming the BJP, sanghi ,
etc for everything even if it is genuine.BJP and sangh cant be
responsible for your common cold and all the diarrheas you get.
There is substance in the allegation
By: Udit Chandra | Monday , 6 Jul '09 8:20:43 AM
There is substance in allegation as no where in any law or any act
take it election commission act or other acts it is written that
electronic voting machine be used..ballot is considered as the basic
essence of voting right..even one the most developed country America
has ballot box...these machines were introduced as an experiment and
just after that became a trend..so i think ballot paper should be
reintroduced..Udit ChandraAdvocate
EVMs
By: Dr M M Tiwari | Monday , 6 Jul '09 6:58:40 AM
I don't think the EVMs can be misused in favor or against any
candidate.The suspicion as raised by BJP are not
sustainable.Election,whether with the help of EVMs or ballot boxes is
always fair till the polling team and the agents of different
political parties at the polling center are working honestly.I have
worked in many elections as a presiding officer and in other
capacities but never found that there could be any
manipulations.Whosoever loses always suspects that some foul play has
been adopted.I believe,in the elections any manipulation is possible
only at the polling center and that is possible only if the whole
polling team,the agents and the public present there fully agree to
make some foul play,which is quite impossible.No one can doubt the
identity and the integrity of the persons working in the polling
team.Yes in rare case the EVM may not work and if it happens it is
changed there only.Also micro observers,observers and other officers
visit the polling centers.
substance
By: anil | Monday , 6 Jul '09 6:16:59 AM
The contention is correct. Any computerised standalone system can be
infiltrated. Instead the suggestion of online voting on the lines of
ATM cards are more appropriate
No point blaming BJP/Sanghi/or anybody else
By: Kishore Roy | Monday , 6 Jul '09 6:13:50 AM
It is very curious to see how Indians have stoped so low like Brahm
Upddhya. BJP's allegation has to be scientifically verified.
Indians(Hindus/Muslims/Christains all) are known all over the world
for their dishonesty. EC is no exception. So better to go for ballot
paper, we are not in a hurry to know the result. Election of
Chidmambaram is already under cloud who was trailing till the last
point but emerged victorious all of a sudden. Let us go back to fool
proof system. There is no "stone age" here. Developing countries have
already rejected EVM.
Back to StoneAge
By: StoneAge | Monday , 6 Jul '09 0:55:23 AM
If given a chance Advaniji and his brilliant team will even suggest
all to go back to the Stone Age!Why not suggest something that's would
help us all out in future Election? A better technology, a better
system? But No! We just should go back to the stone age... I mean
Ballot boxes!! ha!BTW, I was thinking of Voting machine similar to the
ATMs. Give AMT card like Voter IDs. Voters should be able to vote for
his state/region/city from any part of India! Now thats the future,
Advani.....ji.
EVMs' Malfunction
By: J.N.Mahanty | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 23:02:09 PM
I think there is substance in the allegation. Earlier, Mr. Oomesh
Sehgal had submitted a Note on the tampering of EVMs and that many
advanced Countries in the West have rejected the EVMs.While following
the counting operation in recently held elections in Orissa, there was
News report stating that some EVMs had registered more Votes than the
'total Number' as per the Voters List. There was also a News report
stating that 3 BJP Candidates for three Constituencies of Bhubaneswar
City, had registered almost same number of Votes ( 12000 plus) in
their respective Constituencies and were defeated by huge margins. It
cannot be a mere coincidence!Perhaps there is enough ground for taking
the matter to the Court of Law.
maal function at EC
By: james | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 22:54:36 PM
Can the EC prove that the EVM had not tampered with or were not
malfunctioned.?
You have stooped to very low levels...
By: Brahm Upadhyay | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 21:44:50 PM
You (BJP) guys have already stooped so low, because your sanghi aim is
to rule this country like the mullahs are ruling Iran.Your only
contribution to this country was the murder of the Mahatma. Your gift
to our nation was Nathu Godse and yet you call yourselves Hindus, go
and drown yourselves in chullu bhar paani.No Hindu from any decent
family behave like osama-bin-laden, but every sanghi behaves and act
like him.You have not only stooped to cheap levels, but you also stole
the national wealth disguised as nationalists.Shame on you chaddi
jokers.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ec-rejects-bjp-charge-about-evm-malfunction/485321/0
Advani has doubts about EVM, wants ballot papers back
Suman K Jha
Posted: Sunday , Jul 05, 2009 at 0409 hrs
New Delhi:
BJP leader L.K. Advani has demanded the reintroduction of ballot
papers in elections, beginning with the Maharashtra Assembly elections
in October, and three other states later this year.
“We should revert to ballot papers unless the Election Commission is
able to ensure that Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) are foolproof
and every possibility of their malfunctioning is taken care of,”
Advani told The Sunday Express here on Saturday.
While the Election Commission, during the recent general elections,
once toyed with the idea of using ballot papers instead of EVMs
(essentially due to large number of independent candidates in states
like Tamil Nadu), this is the first time that a mainstream political
party has raised questions over the reliability of EVMs.
Citing the instances of Germany (which has banned electronic voting
altogether) and the US (which has elaborate guidelines for voting
through EVMs), Advani stressed that “no one was raising any questions
like rigging or malpractices in the elections”, but larger questions
about the “possibility of EVMs’ malfunctioning...must be addressed”.
Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, however, said the “poll panel was
absolutely satisfied that EVMs couldn’t be manipulated” and that a
technical committee headed by former IIT-Madras director, P.V.
Indiresan, appointed by a parliamentary sub-committee, was in place,
“to ensure this”.
After the recent elections, some state units of the BJP had levelled
allegations of “malpractices through EVMs”. The issue also figured in
a meeting of the BJP’s newly-elected MPs last month.
The debate over the possibility of EVMs’ malfunctioning was reignited
with former Delhi chief secretary Omesh Saigal claiming that “rigging
of EVMs was very much possible” and that a programme written by a
junior programmer showed that the final results could vary “if the pre-
programmed code number was keyed in into the machine”.
14 Comments |
Advani's doubts
By: Tarsem Mohan | Tuesday , 7 Jul '09 0:17:22 AM
I have closely watched the EVM's as Presiding Officer and as
superviser in many elections. Rigging an election with Ballot paper is
much easier than with an EVM. EVM is a very rugged and temper proof
machine. Moreover if one malfunctions then it can be replaced by
another one. I think Advani should concentrate more on policies of his
party than those of Eelection commission otherwise EVMs or no EVMs it
will be dooms-day for his pa(r)ty. Or he has another option-Quit.
Bad Loser
By: Anant | Monday , 6 Jul '09 18:43:16 PM
BJP is a bad loser. Advani instead of reading the writing on the wall
that says "people of India reject religious and divisional politics"
Mr Advani is blaming the EVMs. EC of India is an independent entity.
Does Mr Advani want his VHP/RSS take control of EC or does he want his
shiv Seniks to control the ballet papers? Shame on BJP and the old man
Advani.
EVM RELIABILITY
By: N.V.SANKARAN | Monday , 6 Jul '09 12:32:48 PM
I think Mr. Advani has a point. However, we cannot rule out the
possibility of any man-made machine malfunctioning. The solution will
be to have proper and intensive quality inspection of each machine by
expert technicians/engineers, instead of selecting samples from
different lots and checking. While the electronic/mechanical problems
can be minimized by proper quality checks and preventive maintenance,
the man-made problems of booth capturing, EVM capturing and tampering
with the EVMs can be prevented only by providing tight security. It
would be too idealistic to presume that the EVMs are 100% tamper-
proof. Since they are man-made, it can be tampered with by committed
criminals like computer-hackers.
ADVANI KI ANTHIM ICHCHA:::::::::::PHIR SE NIKLEY LEKAR RICKSHAW-----
ADVANI WANTS TO RIG BALLETS WITH HIS BAJRANGI GOONS?
By: Bharti Engineer | Monday , 6 Jul '09 11:29:01 AM
THIS OLD MAN MUST RETIRE. FIRST HE WAS CONFUSED OVER HINDUTVA NOW OVER
EVMS
EVM dependability.
By: G.Vasudevan | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 21:01:18 PM
The problem of EVM malfunctioning or rigging can be verified very
easily. Let an independent body of technical experts examine and
analyse selected percentage of instruments and report back. Will the
EC accept such a process?
mr.
By: ashok lal | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 19:49:50 PM
One assumes the BJP led State Governments are in office based on
results thrown up by these same electronic voting machines.
Irresposible statements on a great achievement
By: nagaraj | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 18:34:49 PM
Within 2 hours after start of counting, the whole world including the
statement makers were aware what the final result will be. No other
country has conducted a smoother election even when the contest was so
close. In addition so many trees are saved for not using paper. It is
surprising that even Election commision who got the machines validated
by experts have not retorted. 'Doctoring' a million machines spread
out the country where every party gets different sl.nos only a few
days before elections,can only be done thro a satelite!. To settle
this issue for ever,Election commision should handover some machines
used to political parties to do research on their own and come out
with their findings. It is sad a country's achievement is questioned
by responsible politicians without substantiating their statements
with valid proof and get away . This will only demotivate the
innovaters who come up with great solutions for the problems ailing
the country. JAI Bharat Mata ki.
FAKE GANDHI,FAKE QUALIFICATION AND NOW FAKE VICTORY
By: PK | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 16:33:06 PM
the Election Commission had entrusted the work of manufacturing EVMs
to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bangalore, and Electronics
Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), Hyderabad.But according to her,
these two companies had outsourced the manufacturing of
microprocessors used in the EVMs to a foreign country in complete
violation of the provisions of the Constitution.Nesargi said that
neither the Parliament nor any constitutional authority had authorised
the EC or the BEL/ECIL to outsource the manufacture of micro-
processors.According to her, microprocessors lodged in the EVMs could
be monitored with the help of a remote control; and in Nesargi’s view,
this is what transpired in Bidar.
advani on electronic voting
By: thommen | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 14:02:49 PM
The bad carpenters always complain about the tools.
retired
By: gopalrao | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 13:19:40 PM
No opposition parties are raising the issue of price increase on food
items.
Sqn.Ldr
By: gopalrao | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 13:16:40 PM
It has taken a long time to question the rigging of EVMs. As per the
news before the election no one wanted the congress back. Then how is
it that congress got the maximum votes? To start with the opposition
parties have no guts to question. On this issue atleast they should be
united.
EVMs
By: Denzil B Atkinson | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 9:55:13 AM
There are huge possibilities that EVMs were programmed to ensure that
'rigging' took place. After all we have the world's best expertise in
electronics and there is nothing impossible for them to tamper with,
be it for good or bad.There have been volumes of money transferred
towards ensuring such illegal methods are adopted. We can see it
happening on all railway bookings, chiefly 'Tatkal.' There is a
necessity to have every vote on an EVM electronically registered.
Centralised equipment have to be put in place. We know that there is
nothing in this country that can be 'foolproof.' Meteorologists
predict rain, there is none. When they predict a sunny day, there is
rain. And they too depend on data from extremely expensive electronic
systems.Our Airports, railway and bus stations; parks
Late Realization
By: Rajesh | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 8:28:51 AM
From Congress' insistence on Navin Chawla as CEC, was the outcome of
general election favoring Congress (I) not predictable. Look at the
way Chidambaram was announced as the victor after he lost, after the
phone call intervention from Navin, the loyal worker of Sonia. It is
surprising that BJP instead of raising this as a core issue for its
electoral reverses, is fighting within itself. BJP Guys, pls do your
home work, read the article of Dr Subramaniam Swamy in Organizer and
even seek SC intervention in this. The country requires LK Advani and
not Sonia whose only credential is having wedded to Indian royal
family. IT is never too late. Apart from this, unless money power is
checked there is no way we can claim that people vote on their own
right. Again look at the way money was lavishly given in cover to
voters in South TN, in spite of TN Election Commissioner Naresh being
honest and apolitical.
Impariatil investigation of Misuse of EVM
By: dksharma | Sunday , 5 Jul '09 7:58:06 AM
The matter should be investigate by the highest committee of the
nation i.e,technical experts ,Former chief judges impartial, other
social activist ,Election commission members etc. It is very important
that fact should be brought in front of nation about
mishandling ,misuse etc.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/advani-has-doubts-about-evm-wants-ballot-papers-back/485248/
BJP wide open, eyes wide shut
Ravish Tiwari
Posted: Saturday , Jun 13, 2009 at 0334 hrs
New Delhi:
Sinha is understood to have been upset over recent appointments by L K
Advani in the Parliamentary party.
Just a fortnight ago, they elected L K Advani to lead the party in the
Lok Sabha and “authorised” him to appoint its new faces in both
Houses. Now the top brass are openly questioning him and his decision
in what has become a very public fight over the spoils of defeat.
So barely minutes before BJP president Rajnath Singh imposed a gag
order on leaders from airing their views in public and warned of
disciplinary action today, vice president Yashwant Sinha quit from all
his posts in the party and urged others to do the same in a four-page
letter marked to his chief and circulated among the party’s core
group.
In that letter, Sinha hit out at what he called the “conspiracy of
silence” in the party over the electoral debacle and the “rat race for
posts” from “whatever goodies were available.”
“It appears as if some people in the party are determined to ensure
that the principle of accountability does not prevail,” he wrote, “so
that their own little perch is not disturbed.” While Sinha underlined
that the party leadership’s “reluctance to introspect and introspect
comprehensively” on the BJP’s second successive defeat in the Lok
Sabha elections was the key reason behind his move, the subtext was
clear.
After Jaswant Singh’s letter earlier this week, Sinha’s note that “BJP
puts a premium on failure,” exposes the deep resentment in a section
of the party over the appointment of Arun Jaitley as Leader of the
Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj as Advani’s deputy in
the Lok Sabha.
That Rajnath Singh’s term also ends this year has added another
dimension to this internal war — who will be the next party chief.
“We failed to carry out a review after our defeat in the last election
(2004). I am getting a sinking feeling that once again there is a
conspiracy of silence. We are shying away from pin-pointing our
weaknesses and fixing responsibility. We are hoping that time shall
heal our wounds,” Sinha wrote.
“Advaniji set a fine example of accountability by declining to take up
the position of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha. It was an
eminently appropriate and dignified decision,” said Sinha and then
rubbed it in. “He was persuaded to continue. So have the others who
wanted to take responsibility and resign, it appears as if some people
in the party are determined to ensure that the principle of
accountability does not prevail so that their own little perch is not
disturbed. Separately, in our anxiety to distribute amongst the few
higher mortals in the party whatever goodies were available, we
completely disregarded the parliamentary party constitution in the
election of the office-bearers of the parliamentary party on May 31.
It is difficult to avoid the impression that in the BJP we put a
premium on failure.”
Jaswant’s note, too, had raised a similar point when he asked for a
link between “performance and reward.”
“...While one of the one hand, the BJP is avoiding a systematic
appraisal of its performance, on the other, those who were responsible
for the management of the campaign have already made their views
public through interviews and articles in the media, drawn their
conclusions, apportioned blame and given themselves a clean chit.
Those of us who actually toiled in the field and took all the risk
have not even been heard,” Sinha said.
Calling for the party to implement “its own Kamraj Plan,” Sinha said
all office-bearers of the party and the parliamentary party should
resign from their posts which should then be filled up through the
“process of election laid down by our constitution.”
Sinha’s resignation also questions the writ of the party leadership.
Evidence: Rajnath Singh feigned ignorance about Sinha’s resignation
while asking leaders not to air their views in public. “It has been
decided that, henceforth, all party leaders and functionaries should
refrain from formally or informally sharing any views or inputs
outside the party forums such as the media or any other platform,
about the internal deliberations within the party or share any
information that might negatively impact the image of the party,
failing which they will invite disciplinary proceedings against
themselves,” Rajnath Singh said.
The fact that the BJP chief chose to impose his orders “henceforth”
ignoring the earlier public airing of views by Arun Jaitley and
Jaswant Singh indicated his inability to act against “erring” senior
leaders.
It was probably in this context that the BJP, which chose not to
accept the resignation of some of its state unit chiefs owning moral
responsibility for the party’s poor performance, was today quick to
accept Sinha’s resignation without delay.
Denying the charge that there was disarray at the top, Rajnath said
that the “BJP leadership stands united” and an “exhaustive and
collective exercise” of analysing the poll results had begun. “The
entire process will culminate in a detailed Chintan Baithak after the
conclusion of this session of Parliament in August,” he said. This put
a question mark on the party’s national executive, slated for June
20-21, but there was no official word on it.
In his letter, Sinha also raised substantive political points: the
party’s need to introspect on its “basic tenets”, the campaign style
of leaders, the faces projected and the language used.
More importantly, Sinha pointed out the need to understand the mood of
demographically different group of voters, notably, that of
“minorities, first-time voters, women, SC/STs, the urban middle class,
the government employees” along with that of farmers and the
industrial workers. “Which is the vote bank we have lost? Which is the
vote bank we have gained?,” he asked.
Yashwant Sinha is a real patriot
By: Madan Varma | Thursday , 18 Jun '09 3:45:43 AM
If there is one politician in India who puts the country first it is
Yashwant Sinha. The rest, all of them, are nothing but narcississtic,
self-promoting, opportunists. The fact thaat Sinha is an ex-professor
of political science helps. Whaat a thoughtful and analytical letter.
God Bless You, Mr. Sinha, God Bless India, and may God Save India from
its rotten to the core politicians.
FAULTS ARE THICK WHEN LOVE, COOPERATION AND PATRIOTISM IS THIN
By: B SGANESH, BANGALORE | Monday , 15 Jun '09 21:41:38 PM
There is an adage when love is thin faluts are thich. In Indian
politics coopertion and ggovernance are almost insignificant,
squabbles and non-coperation is thick. B SGANESH, BANGALORE
Yashwant sinha - a good riddance for BJP
By: v kumar | Monday , 15 Jun '09 15:10:58 PM
That yashwant sinha has resigned from all party position is a great
news . BJP would benefit enormously if he had resigned from the party
membership also. It was Mr Sinha during his tenure as Finance Minister
who paved the way for BJP debacle by reducing interest rates on PPF,
the sole means of living for middle class people ( BJP's committed
voters) .These voters would never return to BJP unless Yashwant Sinha
is kicked out of BJP. He should be shown the door ASAP
Yashwant Sinha -Good riddance for BJP
By: v kumar | Monday , 15 Jun '09 15:05:39 PM
That yashwant sinha has resigned from all party position is a great
news . BJP would benefit enormously if he had resigned from the party
membership also. It was Mr Sinha during his tenure as Finance Minister
who paved the way for BJP debacle by reducing interest rates on PPF,
the sole means of living for middle class people ( BJP's committed
voters) . He should be shown the door ASAP
Last 1000yrs of tradition - Hindus being massacred
By: Indian | Monday , 15 Jun '09 13:49:19 PM
Muslims and most of the Hindus are only used to see Hindu massacred
without counter response.We wont mind the last thousand years of
"tradition" to continue- Hindus being killed, Hindu sons and daughters
being kidnapped and Hindu women being raped in broad day light-
without any anger in Hindus and any remorse in Muslims.Hence we hate
BJP's hindutva agenda
BJP IS DOOMED
By: Ganesh Ram | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 21:15:19 PM
As a congress supporter,i don't see BJP coming out of this hole(a
crater pit).Congress will continue to rule India and Rahul Gandhi
looks like a fantastic and visionary leader.
conspiracy
By: rohit | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 19:20:52 PM
Rajnath Singh, if he has any iota of honesty left in him should vacate
political sphere along with leaders like Advani. This is what happens
to those who ditch Hindus and Hinduism.Rajnath, Advani and company are
destroying BJP so that Antony under instructions from Sonia which came
from America via Pope is cunningly destroying India so that the nation
can be occupied by US just like US has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq.
Armed forces should resign en masse to prevent loss of innocent
soldiers. The deals have been canceled in name of bribery but congress
will fail to bring out culprits. In fact the bribes have not been paid
to Congress that is why defense deals are canceled.
It is our bad luck if we have BJP even as our opposition
By: charan gill | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 17:12:18 PM
It is pleasing to see BJP being discussed on such a n extensive
scale.It is difficult to spot anyone defending BJP in
Punjab.Expression of relief at its defeat is the common scene.I have
never met any BJPwala in my Forty years of active political life who
might have ever tried to narrate the role of its leaders in the
freedom struggle.Its history is a history of its anti congress crusade
and its communal mobilization on the basis of its two nation
theory.Such a party does not even deserve to be an opposition.It is
our bad luck if we have them.On the other hand communists played a for
more glorious role in our freedom struggle and they were far ahead
than Jan Sangh in the first LS.It is our bad luck that they failed to
sustain their ground because of repeated blunders based on their false
anti congress perceptions.We should hope they will be reformed and
will occupy their role as a healthy opposition and show the BJP its
total irrelevance in the future polity of great indian nation.
BJP's FUTURE
By: S Sridhar | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 16:20:31 PM
BJP has to reinvent itself. It should come out of the clutches of RSS.
Today's youth want jobs and economic growth. The party has to project
a moderate modern face like Arun Jaitley and back him to the hilt. The
divisive agenda will not help. They need to make themselves more
acceptable in the regions like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal.
They should be beware of leader like Raghul Gandhi who is determined
to rejuvenate his party. BJP can come back to power provided they
position themselves as a responsible centrist party.
RECOUNTING CANNOT ALTER THE VOTING IF EVMS ARE USED
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 16:02:27 PM
The control units have protocol to electronically transmit results
back EC. EVM data of previous elections, gives the number of votes,
each party got from each booth. Through the controlling units,
remotely using sophisticated codes to its transreceiver embedded in
the controlling units CIA changed the results in favour of congress.
For 2009 Election at the Sivaganga loksabha constituency in Tamil
Nadu, P. Chidambaram was the congress candidate, M. G. Devar of BSP,
Rajakannappan of AIADMK, Shakthivel of DMDK, Ramaswamy of PT and some
14 other individual candidates. The day of counting, 16th May, there
was a heavy drama. The Congress Candidate P. Chidambaram was declared
defeated by his rival Raja Kannappan of AIADMK by 3000 votes. P.
Chidambaram who is in the knowhow of the CIA’s role in EVM, asked for
a recounting. Then P. Chidambaram was declared elected by a marginal
vote of 3,354. The total number of votes P. Chidambaram got was
3,34,348 and RajaKannappan got was 3.30,994.
EVM chip comes from Japan
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 15:56:25 PM
In 2004, the stupid BJP had adopted Electronic Voting Machines (EVM)
for its elections to the Parliament with 380 million voters had cast
their ballots using more than a million voting machines. The Indian
EVMs are designed and developed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)
and Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). The System is a
set of two devices running on 6V batteries. One device, the Voting
Unit is used by the Voter, and another device called the Control Unit
is operated by the Electoral Officer. Both units are connected by a 5
meter cable. The Control Units has Three buttons on the surface, one
button to release a single vote, one button to see the total number of
vote cast till then and one button to close the election process. The
result button is hidden and sealed, It cannot be pressed unless the
Close button is already pressed. Unfortunately the microchip used in
EVMs is manufactured in Japan and CIA programme in it cannot be
detected.
Moderate within hawks....
By: Roy Choweller | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 15:23:54 PM
To put it bluntly Arun Jaitly is the face BJP should project as the
next generation leader. Personally speaking, the party will be an
effective opposition this time around
Europeans banned EVM
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 15:10:58 PM
Ireland had EVM in 2006. In April 2009 they scapped it after spending
51 million euros for the machines. Germany’s Supreme Court ruled in
2008 March that e-voting was unconstitutional because as the average
citizen could not be expected to understand the exact steps involved
in the recording and tallying of votes. Dutch Nedap machines used in
Germany were even less secure than mobile phones and could be hacked
without voters or election officials being aware of it. In October
2006, Netherlands banned all electronic voting machines. In 2004, the
Supreme Court had directed the EC to rectify, flaws in EVMs shown by
Satinath Choudhary, a US based software engineer. But the EC did not
do anything. EVMs from Dhone malfunctioned in the 2009 election, and
EVM stopped polling for three hours and many could not vote. AIADMK
complaint to the EC rigging of elections due to EVMs and demanded
reversion to the ballot paper. The win of Y Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy
in AP was also due to AVM fraud.
Why BJP lost
By: Kersi | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:49:00 PM
I have been a BJP supporter in the past. It has good people like
Shourie, Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha, Sushma, etc. However, over the last
few years, the BJP is percieved by Indians as the party of women
beaters (Ram Sene, VHP, Bajrang Dal?), minority bashers (Gujarat/
Orrisa?) anti development (Indo-US civil nuclear deal?) and terribly
narrow minded and dogmatic (anti Valentines Day?). Can any sensible
Indian who has development on his mind and would like to better his or
her standard of living ever vote for the BJP under the circumstances.
The party will have to reinvent themselves and modernise or perish
forever. The problem is that there are a lot of angry old men in the
BJP spewing hatred and envy all the time.
cia had taken over india from 2004
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:41:13 PM
Takeover over of India, by CIA was done in 2004 using in a limited
scale modifying our voting machine embedded software of the chip. But
for the 2009 Parliamentary election, with the help of the CEC the
emergency criminal the christian Chawla and the muslim EC Qureshi, the
EVM fraud had gone to the national level. CIA had replaced the chip
itself with an identical looking chip with embedded software and
Controlling Unit of the EVM’s embedded with a wireless transmitter/
receiver, for remote password access. This method of manipulation
became clear when the home minister P. Chidambaram who was a
candidates for 2009 Election at the Sivaganga loksabha constituency in
Tamil Nadu, was declared lost. Then P. Chidambaram Congress candidate
asked for a recount and lo, he was declared a winner. In a
computerized environment such error can never occur and indicate the
manipulation of the EVMs by CIA that helped the CIA agents Sonia
Gandhi and CIA agent Manmohan to come back to power.
CHIDAMBARAM IS AN ILLEGAL WINNER
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:39:32 PM
The control units have protocol to electronically transmit results
back EC. EVM data of previous elections, gives the number of votes,
each party got from each booth. Through the controlling units,
remotely using sophisticated codes to its transreceiver embedded in
the controlling units CIA changed the results in favour of congress.
For 2009 Election at the Sivaganga loksabha constituency in Tamil
Nadu, P. Chidambaram was the congress candidate, M. G. Devar of BSP,
Rajakannappan of AIADMK, Shakthivel of DMDK, Ramaswamy of PT and some
14 other individual candidates. The day of counting, 16th May, there
was a heavy drama. The Congress Candidate P. Chidambaram was declared
defeated by his rival Raja Kannappan of AIADMK by 3000 votes. P.
Chidambaram who is in the knowhow of the CIA’s role in EVM, asked for
a recounting. Then P. Chidambaram was declared elected by a marginal
vote of 3,354. The total number of votes P. Chidambaram got was
3,34,348 and RajaKannappan got was 3.30,994.
TAMIL NADU HAD SEEN GROSS MANIPULATION OF EVMs
By: n.krishna | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:38:04 PM
In Tamil Nadu more strange things had happened. DMK government had
switched off the power to the area where the new EVMs were stored and
no one was allowed to that area. This was done to confirm the
manipulation of EVMs and its controlling units. In Central Chennai
constituency in particular, the EVMs were so manipulated that pressing
of any button resulted in the vote accruing to the DMK candidate of
the ruling party. In Virudhunagar constituency, 25,000 additional
votes were recorded on the machines than the number of voters. In
Dindigul constituency, when button was pressed on DMDK symbol, the
light on the Congress symbol was lit up. Many EVMs were so manipulated
that, one additional vote was recorded for the ruling party symbol for
every 5 votes recorded. When such malpractices and frauds were
detected, no attempt was made to replace the EVMs in a wholesale
manner. Despite representations and ccomplaints were made to the
Election officials, no action was taken by EC.
this is bad news
By: himanshu | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:31:11 PM
this will be really bad if we as india loose BJP a option other than
Congress. 1. Why media is against BJP. 2. it was bjp leadership who
took the highways so seriously and nobody couldnot realise how
business is increasing. this is really bad from india. 3. what people
think, rahul, manmohan are leader. yes. congress and other parties too
have leaders but no way these two can be called leaders. 3. congress
is ruling india (50 yrs), and still we hope for minimal
infrastructure. why we are so reulctant to give other people a
fraction of chance of what congress has enjoyed. 4 there are millions
of people in india, who votes for congress just becuase of its name
resemblence with pre freedom Congress Party. vote for persons who
whave come from scratch. not rahul who as a job and written homework
travelling and enoying life.It will be really nice to have a strong
party other than Congress for india;s good future. if bjp is gone,
there will be void for years to come which can be really bad.
BJP wide open-eyes shut
By: Dharam Pal Karkara | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 14:21:35 PM
The best way to avoid the collapse of the party, as we will see in
days to come, would have been for Advani to step down as leader of the
Parliamentary party and the leader of the opposition,and formally hold
elections to elect a leader by voting or consensus. By hush hush
parleys to resign and then regain the position have done him no
credit. This undemocratcic and meek functioning of the party will cost
it very dear. As for Rajnath Singh he has never appealed to the
sympathisers of the party as a leader. Now he and his men are trying
to throw out the people who have the experience and commitment to
deliver. If this slide continues the country will be without a
worthwhile opposition. A depressing situation indeed. When the party
could have strenghtened its internal democracy and help the congress
to drive the upstart regional outfits to irrelevance it is itself
loosing ground.
India needs united BJP
By: Bharat jyoti | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 12:46:55 PM
A successful democracy not only need strong gonernment but also a
strong opposition. BJP should now accept that the policy of previous
government was accepted by the people thats why he came to power
again. Now he must show unity for the sack of country. Definately he
need to introspect what went wrong and should concentrate on issue
which better help the country.
Media
By: Amit | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 12:41:35 PM
You numbskulls, the media wasn't anti bjp or bought out, it just
presented the the true picture, which is that the bjp is an ugly
stinking bunch of bigots who want to turn Hinduism into their fiefdom
so that they can lord over Hindus like the Saudis do over Muslims.
Hindus are made of cleverer stuff and will not allow such diabolic
plans to succeed.P.S.: You lost!
BJP future
By: ssridhar | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 12:26:47 PM
BJP has tocome out of the clutches of RSS. Youth of today does not
want ram temple. What he needs is employment and economic
prosperity.under Vajpayee governmnent they did a good job. But in an
era of coalition they need to find partners where they are not strong
like in Tamil Nadu,Kerala, West Bengal etc. For that divisive agenda
will not help. It will only drive people like jayalalitha, mamata. So
they nneed to projectr a modern moderate face like Arun Jaitley and
back him fully.
Yashwant Sinha's Letter
By: M.S.Kamath | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 11:56:46 AM
India needs a resposible opposition party to challenge both the
Congress party as well as to contain self-serving regional parties. It
has a very good chance of occupying that space if it works for one
India. It should drop the Hindutva agenda which is divisive politics.
It is another form of vote bank politics. Hate campaigns cannot bring
people together. BJP has one leg in the past.It should be concerned
about today's India. Yesterday's India is dead and gone. Zero
tolerance to corruption and terrorism should be part of its agenda. It
should move away from the present socialism practised by all the
parties which is nothing but fraud played on the poor by the parties
since independence. It is sure to win elections with the right type of
economic pragrammes,provided it works sincerely. It is running several
state governments where it can show its
efficiency now.
expected results
By: monu | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 11:51:14 AM
I agree with think again.They don't even know to Highlight the
mistakes of Govt.Sleeping opposition.Big blow to divide and rule
policy.They believe that only upper castes are Hindus.Not at all
bothered about problems of people.Politicians who remain in a/c rooms
till election time
BJP's failure
By: Dildum | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 11:37:20 AM
So long as BJP entertains hatred politcs, they will never win
election. How can religious fanatics like Modi can rule India? BJP
needs to understand the complexity of Indian societies.
BJP....poor leadership
By: Mallika Bajpai | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 11:09:59 AM
I see that BJP has lost credibility and has a very insignificant and
effective leadership. For example, of all the presidents in its
history this is the first time someone from 2nd line of leaders is the
President. It clearly shows the ineffective way of handling the party
affairs - from handling the press to answering the internal problems.
Last few years almost all the leaders with few exceptoins have aired
public displeasure and in some cases even left the party. Serious
amongst them include - Suhma swaraj, Arun Jaitely, Vinay Katiyar,
Bhairon Sigh Shekhawat, Jaswant singh, Yashwant Sinha, Madan Lal
Khurana, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharti. And funny part is ones who are
missing the list above are really enjoying the most, you can easily
see if they can match the skills required to ne national leaders -
Ruddy Pratap, Mukhtar Abbas, Venkaiah Naidu, Ravi Shankar,etc....very
sad where BJP is heading
BJP v/s media
By: ramesh k | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 11:08:18 AM
BJP's main political enemy is the media! Congress comes second only.
So, BJP must set up a strategy to normalize the media first, before it
starts fighting its real political enemies like congress! But it is a
very difficult task to bring the media into terms, especially like IE,
NDTV, TOI etc. Any way good luck to BJP, hope they manage to stay
afloat!
Inherent contradiction
By: Raj Chopra | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 10:58:33 AM
The comments in these columns by BJP's supporters reflect the confused
state in which the party finds itself now. The BJP can never project
itself as a national party as it represents only a section of Indian
society. Unless they change their charter, I don't see how they will
win a majority in the Lok Sabha on their. But then, if the party
changes its charter and becomes a secular party, it won't be the BJP
anymore. There lies the inherent contradiction.
Problems of Democratic BJP
By: vivek | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 10:58:18 AM
BJP being a democratic party is bound to have internal problems, which
media will hilight. If media knows the reasons why BJP failed in
elections while pursuing "its agenda", then they should let BJP know.
But to expect them to be same as Congress without merging with
Congress does not make sense. They will be always short of the Gandhi,
Nehru factor.
Sinha another Ram vilas
By: george | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 10:55:22 AM
The bureaucrats are defacto politicians as they constantly rub with
them. Most bureaucrats are very good at speaking but very poor
decision makers.Please read recent article on Indian bureaucrats,their
ranking is lowest in a survey of 140 odd countries.Sinha was in the
Chandrashekar Govt. as minister, joined BJP as he sensed that they
would come to power, became a minister in Vajpayee Govt. Now that he
is out of power for more than 4 years, he is putting the blame on
others. He himself agrees he is not a tall leader. He will join some
other party to become a minister. Good riddance for BJP.
Congress and Western Conspiracy
By: rohit | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 10:07:57 AM
Rajnath Singh, if he has any iota of honesty left in him should vacate
political sphere along with leaders like Advani. This is what happens
to those who ditch Hindus and Hinduism.Rajnath, Advani and company are
destroying BJP so that Antony under instructions from Sonia which came
from America via Pope is cunningly destroying India so that the nation
can be occupied by US just like US has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq.
Armed forces should resign en masse to prevent loss of innocent
soldiers. The deals have been canceled in name of bribery but congress
will fail to bring out culprits. In fact the bribes have not been paid
to Congress that is why defense deals are canceled.
Bunch of Fools
By: os | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 9:39:19 AM
A bunch of fools always gives a bunch of shit.
Goon culture
By: OsamaBinLaden | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 9:24:49 AM
It is good for the country that Advani and his bunch of jokers did not
come to power. If they were back people like Togodia, Varun, Mutalik
would have brought taliban culture to India
BJP LOST
By: N.H.NANDWANI | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 9:20:17 AM
INDIAN MEDIA HAS TREATED BJP LIKE UNTOUCHABLES AND RELIGIOUS
TERROSITS, AS IF THEY ARE GOING TO WIPE OUT WHO ARE NOT HINDUS, THAT
IS THE RWEASON CONGRESS WINS BECAUSE THEY DIVIDE HINDUS AGAINST EACH
OTHER AND WIN ELECTION . IF IT WAS NOT FOR ARAYSAMAJ, RSS OF 80 YEARS
BEFORE HINDUS WILL STILL SLAVES JAIHIND
people are at wrong side
By: Anil | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 8:55:31 AM
Remember, the people of Bihar keep electing RJD (Lalu Prasad Yadav)
for many terms and we know what Lalu has done to Bihar. Similarly the
people of India keep electing Congress for last two and many more
terms and we know what congress has done to India in last more than
fifty years. Congress has done exactly the same thing to India what
RJD did to Bihar and still people are electing it!!!. The people of
Bihar and India were fool when they elected the louse Govts. It is
needless to say that country has suffered a lot and will suffer
because of corrupt and wrong policies.
Look Ahead BJP
By: M.V.Muthu | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 8:36:21 AM
Both Sinha
BJP is a divisive party
By: Charanjit | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 8:05:08 AM
The people have put BJP where they belong, in the back benches. Their
fundamentalist politics can make Indis go under. The people have
elected the best party at this time. Sonia the gori widow has
checkmated these seasoned politions pretty well. She has kept herself
clean of any appearance of corruption or misuse of power. That is a
big reason for where she is. She has allowed Manmohan and Co do the
management, while keeping the lunatics in her party under control. She
seems to be getting good advice from her handlers. I give her high
marks for a foriegn born person with no experience in politics.
BJP down under
By: dineshbabbar | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 7:30:38 AM
BJP is like a company without any systems and responsibly.You can
imagine a party who lost in the elections is fighting post , what
would have been the situation - if they had come to power.
Dr
By: Das | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 5:48:19 AM
BJP has alienated large section of its supporters, urbane middle
class, by its policies which were just plain suspect, downright stupid
and bordering fascism. The fact that in BJP-ruled state hoodlums were
allowed to get away brutalising young men and women just because they
were in pubs has had massive negative publicity for the party. Its
ironic when young India is being exposed to global culture; an
intellectual lightweight like Sushma Swaraj is undemocratically
hoisted as the leader of opposition. This is a woman is best
remembered for idiotic all rants against models for “overexposure”.
How regressive and daft from a culture that gave the world Ajanta
Be Nice to BJP
By: Jacob Mudanthangili | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 5:40:45 AM
A strong and responsible opposition is a key ingredient of successful
democratic process. After the election defeat, BJP is trying to find
their voice.Disappointments and difference of opinions are part of
that process. BJP will strengthen if they can control religious
radicalism and see the Indians as one without cast or religion. BJP
has a good conservative economic policy which can be beneficial to our
country. Let us wish then well.
Two reasons for BJP's loss
By: Shiv | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 5:28:25 AM
1.The sold out media. Ver very clever, systematic negative anti BJP
compaighn by the media.2. Deviation of BJP from its core Hindutva
politics.If BJP solves these two issues and projects Modi as PM for
next elections, it will come back. However, to fight a very clever,
organised and powerful media will be a tough task.
BJP = Big Joke Party
By: Think Again | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 4:52:18 AM
They dont know what the people wantThey dont know how to give it to
themThey dont know how to talk about what they do
rajnath and sinha
By: peshori ahuja | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 3:23:29 AM
Sinha took a very hasty step. Rajnanth did not take a minute to accept
the resignation that proves he wanted to get rid of Sinha.Sinha could
say all that he wanted to say in BJP's leadeship meetings. Whatever
Rajnath might have done Sinha's observations would have come out
through the media reporters. By no account Rajnath could stop the
press. If he had barred press his guilt would have been proved.By
resigning Sinha his posts he has lost the hold on BJP. Hopefully he
does not leave the party and revitalises it from within.
BJP stands for Big Joke Party
By: Think Again | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 2:58:29 AM
They dont know what people wantThey dont know how go give it to
themThey dont know how to tell people about what they do
BJP is a party with failed agenda of HINDUTVA
By: M M Haque | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 2:56:53 AM
Now after the crushing defeat, BJP is unable to define itself. They
even do not know their agenda of failed Hidutva.Yes Mr. Jaswant Singh
has rightly pointed it out. The ugly faces of MODI and VARUN GANDHI
has damaged the most. This party has now become a Political Pariah of
Indian Politics. Every losing partner of NDA has said that BJP and its
communal politics are responsible for their defeat. So it is a sinking
ship. No one would like to board on it.
BJP will never come to power if it remains a party of a section of
Hindus of India
By: M M Haque | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 2:51:17 AM
Now after the crushing defeat, BJP is unable to define itself. They
even do not know their agenda of failed Hidutva.Yes Mr. Jaswant Singh
has rightly pointed it out. The ugly faces of MODI and VARUN GANDHI
has damaged the most. This party has now become a POLITICAL PARIAH of
Indian Politics. Every losing partner of NDA has said that BJP and its
communal politics are responsible for their defeat. So it is a sinking
ship. No one would like to board on it.
BJP and resginationof Sinha
By: Shadi Katyal | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 2:42:58 AM
When a prty is run by hateful people like LK ADVANI who preach hate,
the Indian public have shown the real direction. Can these old foggies
not listen to majority. Total defeat in many states indicate that
Indians like SECULARISM and PEACE. BJP let people of Bajrang Dal and
Ramsena roam freely creating havoc and threatening and even beating
women and expected to win. Time to wake up and take the pulse of the
nation whcih tells you please close up your shop as we donot want any
riots and mahem like gujrat
Wake up before its too late
By: Arvikam | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 1:05:05 AM
The party has to analyse the reasons for defeat with sincerity. No
need to spare anyone however great a leader he might be. What yeshwant
sinha is saying makes sense to me. I have been a swayamsevak and a BJP
supporter. The party is no more a party with a difference. There is a
need for strict discipline and ground work. RSS needs to ease out old
leaders in the BJP and lend/infuse some young blood. Excellent
organisation people like Govindacharya, BAbulal Marandi, Uma bharti
have been either expelled or made redundant. RSS needs to do some
serious thinking on this. BJP cannot put its house in order hence RSS
has to take control now. The following are my suggestions:1. Bring new
young people into the party and train them.2. The PR handling is very
bad. For example even the spokesperson of RSS ram madhav also looks
bad for me on TV. 3. The extreme elements like Ram sene, bajrang dal
etc who raise their heads in BJP states even though not associated
with RSS have to dealt sternly.
comments dont appear
By: subbarao | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 0:16:39 AM
Why is that comments dont appear anymore.Is it due to technical
problems or because some one did not like them.
End of narkistan.
By: SWAMI DEVRAM | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 23:37:38 PM
Local Indians and Pakistanis are correctly attacking the sanghi and
talibans. While the former is being attacked with votes and the latter
is being attacked with guns and ammunition.
Every bad thing comes to an end.
By: DR.PETROL PUMP CHOR | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 23:28:57 PM
Every bad thing comes to an end.BJP has to dissolve, because there is
no future for chauvanists, sanghis or taliban.
Best thing to happen
By: Anirud | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 23:17:52 PM
This is good for BJP in the long run if it hopes to stay a national
party. It has not seen the worst yet but it will very soon. Until it
is rid of the Parivar, it cannot be in touch with the polity. Rajnath
is in the self-destruct mode, and it is good for the party. The faster
it happens, the better for them because more time to prepare for
2014.
We, the people of India want to know how the party functions.
By: Ram | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 23:10:18 PM
The BJPs are afraid to have a transparent agenda because they are 99%
liars( I mean the leaderships); that is why they think that anything
air in the public is against the reputation of the party. The
communists finally accepted that opposing nuclear agreement and the
Nandigram issue are the two major issues that alienated them with the
voters. It is time for the BJPs to accept their mistakes in
public(i.e. giving priority on emotional issues,like, Ram mandir etc.
rather than on important issues for the public,like employments, rural
upliftment etc.) Yashwant Sinha is right to have air his view in
public- it unmask their true nature to the citizens of India.To the
BJP I say, mend your ways, and tell it to the public; the people will
surely accept you in the future.Jai Ho
lk advani
By: subbarao | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 22:52:45 PM
Dear Sir: When the Raja of Tanjore, a substantial state south of
Madras found himself in complicated money dispute, Mr. Wellesley
offered him an annual income of 40,000 pounds in exhange for his
territory.Forty thousand pounds was a huge sum; the Raja accepted and
Tanjore became British. This should tell that the character of our
leaders including that of Mr. Advani who is as good as this Raja of
Tanjore who cared less for his people and just went after profit for
himself and dumped his subjects to street dogs. This type of selfish
people are a plenty among our leaders and rulers of India today. They
would do anything to get into seat of power and try to get easy money
and have a cushy life for themselves and their children. That is what
Mr. Advani and all our leaders are. They would do anything to get into
the seat of power. In India the basic rule is: get elected through
deception and by duping public and get a job through connection as Mr.
Singh did to become PM.
It is a collective effort of anti-BJP forum
By: rajmohan k | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 22:19:43 PM
If BJP did not accept Mr. Sinha's resignation, the media, especially
Indian Express and NDTV will see that it is accepted, because it is
their agenda to create maximum trouble within BJP, if no trouble, then
make as usual the false propaganda against BJP! However, the present
crisis is only an eye-opener for BJP, i am sure they will go for an
introspection and correct the mistakes and clear differences between
themselves and come back once again as a strong party, the main
reason: Becasue it is a NATIONALIST PARTY, it cannot get
disintegrated. Temporary set back is not for ever, the leaders will
realize their mistakes and definitely they will correct and come back!
BJP
By: Anant | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 22:10:08 PM
BJP has no chance in hell to win anything as long as leaders like
rajnath Singh, Advani,Modi, Jaitley etc etc are in forefront. To be
honest BJP has not got any leader of stature. Jaitley swings and bends
which way the wind blows. He has no strength of character. Advani put
forward no agenda except abuse MM Singh. Ravi Shankar was the same and
can't tell difference right from wrong. Less said about Rajnath Singh
better it is. His leadership including people like Sinha, Jaswant
Singh, Shourie could not tell that majority of Indian public does not
want divisional politics and Hindutva as good as dead. BJP jokers were
projecting Varun Gandhi and Modi as future leaders whereas majority of
public want development and security.When willBJP realise that people
like Tytler,Modi,VHP bosses have no place in modern India. If BJP want
to exist then the party must move to right of centre and become all
Indian party and not just a Hindu party. The existing BJP should be
scrapped.
Kulkarnies etc spoiled the chance of Advani
By: n.krishna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 22:05:22 PM
BJP shows the basic nature of Hindus, which is the crab mentality. The
BJP president Raj Nath Singh, looks and behaves like a Kirana store
owner and lack charisma or organizational abilities. I don’t
understand why Sudheendra Kulkarni, an idiot, who brought out the
Secular Jinnah theory to describe, the most successful British spy,
and terrorist of the 1946 Direct Action Jinnah. Jinnah was also a
pedophile, who had relationship with a minor Ruttie who became later
his future wife Jinnah was having a relationship with his own sister,
which was later witnessed by Ruttie, and due to this Ruttie ran away
from Jinnah. Jinnah and even his sister were murdered by the Paki
generals as per the reports of MQM. Such a stupid Maharastrian
Kulkarni was put up by BJP to represent LK Advani shows the low
intellectual level of these old men of BJP.
Put the cousin of Sonia as BJP president
By: n.krishna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 22:01:55 PM
What BJP should do is to ask Sonia to head BJP after leaving the
congress. If there is no white skin, to whom the congressmen cannot go
and fall at the feet, then congress party will be worse than the BJP.
BJP can also import a foreign white lady to head the party and all
these infighting will simply disappear. Alternately BJP can ask Sonia,
whether she has any cousin to head BJP. There is nothing to be ashamed
of, as all BJP leaders will be happy to fall at the feet of another
white skin as the congressmen are doing now. After all when NDA was in
power, the steroid filled traitor Vajpayee was run not by BJP, but by
Sonia, through the CIA agent Brajesh Misra, whose daughter was married
to an Italian. Vajpayee was just a dummy of Brajesh Misra.
BJP org is run by idiots
By: n.krishna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:59:47 PM
For the BJP to come to power, many worked hard and donated money. But
when BJP was in power, not one leader, met any of the grassroot level
workers. While NDA was in power BJP sympathizers were not put in
postions of influence, but the Traitor Vajpayee installed all
christians and anti BJP fellows. BJP even had some minority cells in
some states, and the church had put their people to collect
information about the working of the BJP. So for the 2004 election, it
became very helpful for the congress party and for the christian
community. The church identified people who voted for BJP earlier and
send teams to influence them. But the foolish Vajpyee was given the
impression by the christian media that his name is being put up for
nobel price and that the NDA was shining. The stupid Vajpayee thought
he will come back to power. Even for the 2009 election, many
sympathizers volunteered to work for BJP. But no one in the
organization bothered about them as BJP org. is run by idiots
BJP will remain strong and grow irrespective of what minorities
think, or English media does. Because its
rooted in India.
By: Tatha Mukehrjee | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:49:56 PM
Yaswant Sinha is not going anywhere as commented by some fundoos here.
He is very much in the party and will remain so. Funniest thing is
those who are opposing BJP here are doing for Babri- as if building
Ram temple is communal, but keeping babri is not so. BJP WILL ALWAYS
REMAIN POWERFUL AND GROWING IRRESPECTIVE OF WHAT MINORITIES THINK, OR
ENGLISH MEDIA DOES. Vande Mataram
DON'T BLAME ANYBODY EXCEPT THE ENGLISH MEDIA OF INDIA
By: Kav | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:46:51 PM
B.J.P should never point fingers to anybody for its defeat .The main
reasons why B.J.P lost was because most pathetic negative campaign
launch by remenant of Britsh Rule , the English media . Times of India
and specailly Bharkha Dutt of N.D.T.V whose crusade was to demean -
defame - distort the facts and humilate B.J.P spoke person and the
party .They were following Red Communist agenda to weaken B.J.P ,so
commies can join the pathetic Congess to form next election.While
sitting in U.K. ,I watch the electronic media which made our stomach
churn . It was most pathetic of journalistnorm to misguide and
misrepresents the public of India , so Dynasty can come to power
again.Sorry , I have to write this N.R.I.
How many people read TOI
By: sahadevan | Sunday , 14 Jun '09 9:59:37 AM
How many people in India read TOI or Indian express or watch NDTV or
CNN-IBN to get influenced during voting. Most villages in India do not
have a TV or a public library with daily news papers and all of them
voted against BJP. You guys like the commies are not willing to see
the truth.
India will not smell, because rubbish is thrown in dustbin.
By: TraUmaji | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:45:04 PM
Taliban
L.K. Advani
By: subbarao | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:41:53 PM
Dear Sir: When ADHRAMA takes the place of DHARMA it generates disputes
and destruction as happening now with BJP. Advani acted in ADHARMIC
ways: First he presented BJP as a party which guards Hindu basic
values which was getting eroded under Congress rule since communists
like Mr. Dange and Basu supported Congress after Nehru period. After
election, during BJP rule, Advani discarded all promises he made to
Hindus of India and thus made Hindus to live in a state of
disappointment through his actions of betrayal of the Hindus and thus
destroyed the BJP support base in UP as well. He insulted India by
allowing FBI for the first time to have an office in India duing his
rule. He strangely met US ambassador during elections and made Indians
look at him to be as Mir Jaffer who met Mr. Watts under a tree in
Palasse. First he said that he wanted to resign as BJP-Parliament
leader. Later he stage managed events to retain that post. He set a
course for destruction of BJP like Gorbachav of USSR.
Pakistan ki aulaad-bharat ko banayega Pakistan.
By: Bella Gupta | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:33:33 PM
Pakistan ki aulaad-bharat ko banayega Pakistan.Advani, Rajnath,Sushma
Swaraj should resign and shut BJP, because it is a anti-Hindu
party.Their agenda is to inject talibanism into our Hindu Dharma.
JUG JUG JIYE HINDUATAN::::::::::::::::::ADVANI JAO PAKISTAN
By: Indian Engineer | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:23:11 PM
GOOD JOB YASWANT-LOH PURSH(self styled), Melted like wax-Advani is
nothing but a Scare Crow-He is a slave of RSS-he was kicked on very
place many times by RSS-He has no courage to take a decision-he was
just a puppet-He started abusing Manmohan Singh out of inferiority
complex-this Chaddiwala after drinking urinecola can never think
positive-he was responsible for rapes, murders demolistions and
burning of minority homes.-Advani is not a civilized man - his dhoti
is the symbol of his stoneage thinking
RSS Chaddiwalas (Urine cola peenewalahs) must stop interfering with
politics.Tey preech hatred,
divisveness-why not a Dalit become RSS president?
By: Indian | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 21:01:29 PM
All Dalits and backward classes, Minorities shall realize that , put
together they are the majority.RSS/BJP represent only the 5% of
uppercast lunatics.They oppose Valentine day, their children celebrate
it in Europe and USA.They talk of Hindutva they never make a Dalit
thier president,They talk of patriotism, they never work for
freedom.They talk of nationalism, they killed Gandhi.RSS/BJP/VHP ARE
THE TERROR ORGANIZATIONS SPREADING COMMUNAL HATRED IN INIDA.RSS HEAD
QUARTER MUST BE DEMOLISHED, THEY NEVER HOISTED NATIONAL FLAG.
ADWANI SHOULD LEAVE
By: Pravesh Gunjan Jha | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:55:33 PM
bjp has nt a good leadership after ATAL BIHAR I BAJPAYEE . Murli
manohar joshi is a good leader but party kept him side . yashwant
sinha take a good step
Agenda
By: Anil | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:38:02 PM
Voters read BJP's writing on wall-- -Fools! vote us to power because
we even support opposing sides....
Sinhas Resignation
By: M.sanaulla | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:33:01 PM
Well done Mr Sinha. Many more good leaders of so called BJP will
resign sho. BJP whose motto is to demolish everyone and rule will not
work. How long the old horses hold. Chaddiwals rule the loike of
Advani and Rajnath. Both the leaders are jast Nikammas in their own
words.
Sorry,,.You deserve it...
By: P V Varghese | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:28:59 PM
BJP did forget onething about India that Its an youngisthan..When BJP,
RSS, SRS, Shiv Sena and VHP tried to oppose valentines day and other
days of youth, and tried to impose Talibanism within Young Indians,
they did not remember that majority of Indian voters belong to
Generation Next. Lood at the mandate of India. Mr. Adwani said about
the weekest primeminister of India and now he is already retiring from
active politics. They boo Kalavathys in parliament and Congress got
maximum seat in UP. We young Indians surely know that BJP is good for
nothing, even for executing its own agenda, its really pathetic,
otherwise give me a reason why they could not construct Sri Ram Mandir
in Ayodhya when they ruled Centre. They talk about terrorist attack
and our strongest home minister was instrumental when he released the
most dangerous terrorist in Kandhar and that terrorist went on to
perform another deadly attack in Mumbai. NOW ATLEAST TRY TO BE A
SOLID, ACTIVE AND CRITICAL OPPOSITION
Not to worry
By: Udit Chandra | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:25:54 PM
the darkest period of night is just before the sunrise.....the sun of
BJP will definitely rise....SO DONOT WORRY...
BJP president Rajnath Singh accepts Sinha's resignation
By: N.V.SANKARAN | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:15:58 PM
Contrary to what Mr. Yaswant Sinha and all detractors and opponents of
the BJP, including the mainstream media(both print and visual) it was
not due to Modi or Varun Gandhi that the party faced such a loss. In
fact, it the then PM Mr. Vajpayee's one foolish action that triggered
the BJP's downslide. After the 2002 Gujarat riots, Mr. Vajpayee also
joined the chorus and publicly censured Mr. Modi, when the entire
party should have actually stood by Mr. Modi, until he was found
guilty by any courts of law complicity in the riots. That single
action by Vajpayee gave the strongest ammunition to the anti-BJP
brigades. Look at the Congress party. They have never disowned or
censured the prime accused in the 1984 Delhi riots or Mr. Narasimha
Rao for inaction at the time of Babri Masjid demolition. These fickle
minded people like Sinha, Mishra and Jaswant Singh who cannot take the
election loss with maturity are liabilities for the party and the
sooner they left, the better for the party.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 3
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 20:05:13 PM
This will be the final nail on the coffin of the BJP, because if these
voices are not heard. And the honest introspection does not happen,
BJP will stick to the same course of hardline Hindutva, supposedly â
€˜strong leadership’, archaic policies, that will pretty much bury
the BJP until the next elections. When the learned people in BJP (very
few at that) like Arun Jaitley, Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, and
Sudhendra Kulkarni say that the hardline Hindutva agenda has to go, it
needs to go! The way in which Varun Gandhi was defended and then given
a ticket to contest the elections, dealt a scathing blow on the
results of the BJP. This many in the BJP believed, should have been
highly condemned and Varun Gandhi should have not been allowed to
contest in the elections.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 8
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:52:10 PM
Well the thing is, as much as I like the congress to govern this
country, I would also like to see a responsible and formidable
opposition to be present as well. If the true introspection of this
party does not happen, and they don’t vacate all of their negative
policies like Hindutva, religion based politics, hardline stances and
move towards being progressive and futuristic, BJP will die a
premature death and we will see sick small regional parties assuming
this position, that will be detrimental to the stable future
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 7
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:50:51 PM
And any show of dissent by the juniors would be considered as mutiny
and they would be reprimanded, debarred or expelled for their â
€˜indiscipline’, however correct they might be. The inescapable
quality of the BJP is its ‘arrogance’. Even in the face of this
stinging defeat, BJP refuses to climb down from its high horses and be
truthful about the situation. Its response can only be read as dumb
brazenness. And its this arrogance, that is helping the likes of
Advani, Rajnath Singh and the RSS to hold positions of power within
the BJP. Rajnath singh, knows that the BJP reshuffle after the
elections is due and the axe will fall on him. So he is using his
seniority to sidline everyone who is asking for the frank
introspection and trying to desperately stick to his position without
any care for the future of the BJP. This is the same strategy used by
various members of the BJP, trying to hold onto positions with the
party cadre, even though they are clearly not worthy of it.
BJP should hold it "Chintan Baithak" sooner
By: ishwar | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:50:25 PM
BJP should hold it "Chintan Baithak" as soon as possible t=rather than
delaying it till after post Budget session of the parliamnet. Let all
its leaders speak their minds out. There are a few obvious choices
that the party can make in regards to the policy and priorities. The
leadership issue in the party should not be talked about till the
elections are held on state level which is due in next couple months
anyways. If the party leaders simply hold on for the next five years,
Congress owuld somehow score more than one self goals and open the
doors for its ouster in next general elections. Just stay together and
wait. By the way, Jaswant Sinha's resignation has more to do with
personal aspirations than the concern for the party.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 6
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:49:48 PM
The problem is that the future of the BJP is not being seriously
looked objectively. In fact, the future is not even being looked at
all completely. Failure is a strange animal, it brings out the true
intentions of everyone when it unfolds. As long as the good times
prevail, everything is hunky dory, but when failure strikes, everyones
guard is up. This is especially true for a right wing religious party
like BJP. It often accuses the Congress of having dynastical politics.
But BJP, though it talks about individual credit, it basically
operates on seniority or being dictated by the RSS. If there is a
junior is more capable of taking over the reins of party, he/she will
not be able to do so, because the ‘seniors’ of the party have to â
€˜respected’ and should be given preference, however, ignorant, dumb
or archaic they might be.
Need Revision
By: Babu | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:49:21 PM
This is result of leaders who guide the masses with emotions and
sectarian policies. They may get short term results. This is high time
for BJP to shun policy of communalism and reconstruct the party at
secular principles in order to emerge as viable alternative to
Congress. In this regard Advani damaged the party more than any other
leader.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 5
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:47:21 PM
Modi, another hardline campaigner was another blunder, that the BJP
thought would extract mileage for them for garnering votes , because
of the progress report card that he produced for Gujarat. They thought
people would just let go and forget all the genocidal crimes in
Gujarat in the past and get attracted to his ‘charisma’. And the
BJP, who couldn’t even wait with the supposedly ‘PM material’
Modi had, went on to project him as the ‘PM in waiting’ and
started promoting him as one even when the Advani was the candidate
for PM! The people not only rejected Modi as a leader of national
appeal, but also gave him an under performance in his own state! How
the mighty have fallen!
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 4
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:46:23 PM
But I believe, this was just Advani’s last attempt at raising the
Hindutva issue, because he had lost all hope of winning the elections
by then, based on the issues that BJP was fighting the elections. He
thought because he couldn’t personally raise the hardline Hindutva
issue in its crudest worst, the proxy Varun’s raising it, would sway
the divisive votes to the BJP. This not only did not work, because
people wont be fooled anymore of these stupid divisive agendas), but
it backfired on the BJP big time! People were just repulsed by the
utterances of Varun Gandhi, and couldn’t believe, it was a young
person in his 30s speaking like this.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 2
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:43:27 PM
Rajnath Singh is caught in a bind. He knows that he owns the moral
responsibility for the defeat. He really doesn’t have a clue, the
clueless man that he is, as to what needs to be done to gather the
pieces and start resurrecting the BJP. So he is doing what he knows
best, playing slimy politics! He is waiting in silence for the storm
of introspection, to blow over. He does not want it, cause it will
mean the end of his political career and he does not want others in
the party to raising these concerns. So when the educated lot of the
BJP, people like Arun Jaitley, Sudhendra Kulkarni, Jaswant Singh and
Yashwant Sinha talk about honest and frank instrospection of the partyâ
€™s failure. The ignoramuses of the party just want to look the other
way or want to reprimand the ones raising it.
bIPIN
By: Bipin | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:40:01 PM
BJP should learn lesson and reorganize itself to function as a strong
and constructive opposition. A strong opposition is an essential
ingredient of Parliamentary form of Government. The Party members and
Leaders should take steps to stop the infighting, be it at the grass
root level or at the top level. Absence of Young Turks like Pramod
Mahajan has become quite evident now.
BJP lost its plot completely – Part 1
By: Sujeet Ramanna | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:37:13 PM
The coming apart of the BJP at the seams is under way. Yashwant Sinha
has just raised another war cry in this direction. This seems imminent
from the kind of ‘conspiracy of silence’ (as Sinha puts it) has
been prevalent after the humiliating defeat of the BJP at the
Hustings. The question is why this deafening silence, instead of
introspection and fundamental course correction. While, the
introspection has been scheduled for august. There are positions in
the lok Sabha, that are have been awarded to people in the party, that
the others are not happy about. So even before the introspection,
there are decisions being made that are making people inside the
party, wary of their political future. While the first people in the
BJP, that should have taken responsibility for this defeat should have
been L. K. Advani and Rajnath Singh. But after the initial turning
down at being the leader of the Opposition post, Advani, the cunning
person that he is, came back quickly to grab it.
RAJANATH SINGH NEEDED TO TAKE SANYAS TO HIMALAYAS.
By: manish goyal | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:27:54 PM
RAJANATH SINGH IS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEFEAT OF BJP FIRST IN
THE ASSEMBLY POLLS IN DELHI AND RAJASTHAN AND SECONDLY AT LS
ELECTION.HE SHOULD TAKE OVER THE FULL RESPONSIBILITY AND RESIGN.HE
SHOULD TAKE SANYAS.HE IS A LIABILITY TO BJP.HE HAS NO LEADERSHIP
QUALITY.HE IS A REGIONAL LEADER NOT A NATIONAL LEADER.IF BJP IS TO
SURVIVE ABD REVIVE HE SHOULD TAKE SANYAS TO HIMALAYAS.
BJP president
By: sher | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:26:15 PM
The BJP President presided over BJP's demise in UP and weakenned them
nationally. Congress's best bet to keep them down is to esnure that
there is no change in BJP leadership.
Rajnath Singh needs to go
By: Vijay Vikram | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 19:22:36 PM
I think this is a welcome move. Rajnath Singh is busy trying to give
the impression that everything is hunky dory and hide the obvious
fissures in the party's senior leadership. If individuals within the
party won't be allowed to introspect on the party's defeat they will
be forced to do it outside the party hierarchy. I hope this isolates
Rajnath ... Read moreSingh further and prevents any possibility of his
re-election.What I don't like is Sinha's criticism of Sudheendra
Kulkarni and Arun Jaitley's op-eds. Jaitley might have had political
motivations in exonerating himself from managerial blame but Kulkarni
ran a fantastic campaign. The public must be made aware of the
intellectual debate in the party. I think that highlights the
intellectual vitality of the party if nothing else.
BJP should stand united
By: S.Nair | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 18:56:37 PM
At this point of time all the leaders of the party should be united.
Senior leaders like Jaswant Singh n Yeshwant Singh should work for the
part reorganisation rather than fighting for posts. They should come
out of this mentality n work for the party's future prospect. Leaders
like Uma Bharti n Kalyan Singh also had such mentality n see now what
there position is?????
Medfia propaganda and mendacity.
By: DILIP/FRANCE | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 18:07:46 PM
Barking chors seldom bites, keep barking and shouting tosh. Remember
BJP is bigger than any personality or cult. It is a matter of time
before BJP becomes the biggest and the strongest party in India. In a
greater scheme of design slowly and surely the buliding blocks are
falling into places.It will take many many Congress chors and Hawala
dalals to write off BJP. Stop frothing at the mouth, you will choke
yourself boy. Stick to dhanda bhaji and conning pious hindus, at which
you lot are experts.
Yashwant Sinha resigns, Rajnath looks the other way
By: PCB | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 18:01:02 PM
BJP should not change. Parampujya Advaniniji should continue till
physically possible for him. In hindu culture juniors should not fight
for power. If Advvaniji has appointed his favoriates in possistion of
power, there is nothing wrong. Internal democracy is Western concept.
In Hindu culture elders are respected as stated by Susmaji. BJP's
support base will expand amoung Backwards, ST/SC's and adivasis in
future as all of them are now convinced Hidusim is in danger. This is
not infighting but Chintan Manthan. At the end of this BJP will be
stronger.
Godse Ki santhan, Followers of Khaki Chaddiwalas, Promotors of
Urinecola, never dream to rule again.
By: Civilzation speaks | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:48:11 PM
RSS ki NAJAYAZ AULAD - See these fellows have soo much grudge on
Gandhi family, they are the successors of GODSE the killer of
Gandhi..There is no compare of MMS in entire nation, leave alone liars
of BJP.The dream of Chaddiwalis will never come true.They won by
mistakes of minorities in 1999, the minorities were annoyed with
congress beacuse of its PV Narasimha Rao(whose half burnt body was
eaten away by dogs). The minorities voted against congress.Now that
under Sonia?RAHUL?MMS congress has kicked out all chaddiwalas,
Minorities found a ray of hope.The ghost of Babri Masjid demolition
and Gujrath Riots will always haunt BJP and Khaki Chaddiwalas
Crisis? what Crisis,?
BJP will come out stronger.
By: DILIP/FRANCE | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:41:14 PM
Doomsyaers,petrol chors,fraudstars and crooks are in frenzied ga ga to
write off BJP's obituary.Keep hoping that will never happen. BJP will
be the biggest and the strongest party, soon to be in India.Crisis?
what Crisis?BJP is biiger than any personality or symbol. Party that
has no time for chors, dakus and scamstars, nor give any importance to
fake hindus and tosh.It is time all the dead woods are cleared off the
aparathics and repalced with fresh,young, dynamic and savvy leaders,
who can act with more vibrancy,responsibly,accountability,commincate
effectively and with integrity. A change is as good as a rest.BJP with
essence needs a botox make over, inorder to shed its dour,decaying and
tired image.It was only yesterday perol chors were busy lining their
pockets, with tax payers monies,through Hawala.Back off dude and get a
life.
High Level Conspiracy
By: rohit | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:34:03 PM
Rajnath, Advani and company should resign if they have even a single
desire to do some good deed. They are destroying BJP so that Antony
under instructions from Sonia which came from America via Pope is
cunningly destroying India so that the nation can be occupied by US
just like US has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq. Armed forces should
resign en masse to prevent loss of innocent soldiers. The deals have
been canceled in name of bribery but congress will fail to bring out
culprits. In fact the bribes has not been paid to Congress that is why
deal is canceled.
Yes, and...
By: Amit the cosmic chihuahua | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 18:17:24 PM
Aliens! You forgot the aliens! I tell you it's those green buggers
behind all this
Lessons
By: rohit | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:16:01 PM
Rajnath Singh, if he has any iota of honesty left in him should vacate
political sphere along with leaders like Advani.This is what happens
to those who ditch Hindus and Hinduism.
BJP needs to think and reorganize
By: Ajay Kumar | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:14:18 PM
Some one had to initiate the process and it was Yashwant to put the
act. Why is there so much of premium on failure as Sri Sinha has
rightly highlighted in his communique. Performers and thinkers like
Govindacharya, Kalyan Singh, Uma Bharati have been shown the doors and
liabilities and the biggest one like Sri Rajnath Singh get the coveted
position to lead ( though he has none such caliber to do so). Sri
Sinha, had the courage to atleast speak up and lead the change
process. BJP thinkers must understand the reasons for the frustration
of a person certainly more intellectully capable than Sri Rajnath
Singh. Let good sense prevail and BJP realise the past errors of
throwing committed people out of the party. Or else, BJP would go into
the pages of history.Bravo Sinha
Own and learn from mistake
By: Snehal | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 17:05:57 PM
Rajnath Singh and Advani-ji should own the defeat. That will be more
graceful. Collective ownership is denial, it won't help resurrect the
party. It has still lot of promise. India needs responsible political
force and BJP can be one.
Had BJP won?
By: SC Aggarwal | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:47:33 PM
Sir, Leaders like Mr. Yashwant Sinha are opportunistic. Had BJP won
there would not have been any letter writing by Mr. Yashwant Sinha
against BJP leadership? Had BJP won leaders like Mr. Yashwant Sinha
and Mr. Jaswant Singh would have been External Affairs Minister or
Finance Minister. Everthing would have been well. The problem is that
none of leaders like Mr. Yashwant Sinha or Jaswant Singh has been made
even leader of opposition or deputy leader of oppositon in the
Parliament. Had they been made there would have been no problem. Now
what to do? Even if Mr. Yashwant Skinha had been opposition leader in
Parliament, Mr. Jaswant Singh would have revolted., The misfortunate
in BJP is this that there are persons like Mr. Sudheeran Kulkarni who
are said to be lleaders of BJP. In my opinion, let there be immense
fighting at the Centre in BJP but BJP will be stronger and stronger
till Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states work for the welfare of the
masses.
current leadership of BJP must own responsibility
By: anil tiwari | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:44:41 PM
The current leadership of BJP instead of owning responsibility for the
parties defeat is simply passing the buck. This entire flok LKA
Opposition in dissaray
By: Hary Nambiar | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:41:00 PM
Opposition in disarray - Advani has done damage to the party by
highlighting Jinnah. Besides, his age is a serious set back. Rajnath
Singh has expressed his unwillingness to lead the Party. He has also
shown his unwillingness to consult his colleagues. So, in the interest
of the party’s future, both of them need to step aside. The party
has been trimming itself in one pretext or another. There are similar
leadership problems in other opposition parties too. The opposition
disarray is not in the larger interest of the society. It will only
help increase opportunism and corruption in the Congress party and
promote incompetent people to leadership. Both Sinha and Singh are
experienced leaders. They must exercise restraint.
JUG JUG JIYE HINDUSTAN - ADVANI JAO PAKISTAN:::::::SCAHCHEY KA BOL
BALA ::JHOOTEY ADVANI KA MUNH KALA::::::::BJP SHALL BE
DISSOLVED::::::::::::NEHRU SAID "JAN SNGH , RSS KI
NAJAYAZ AULAD HAI":::::::
By: Indian Engineer | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:37:17 PM Rep
SHAME SHAME PUUPY SHAME:THESE INDIAN TALIBANS SHALL BE COMPLETELY
KICKED OUT OF INDIA.YASHWANT SINHS WAS ONCE UPON A SOCIALIST LEADER.HE
AND JASWANT SINGH ARE NOT GIVEN POSITIONS BEACUSE THEY ARE NOT FROM
RSS CADRE.EXCEPT BRAHMINS, NOBODY HAS FUTURE IN BJP/RSS.ALL HINDUS
SHALL REALIZE, WHY RSS DOES NOT MAKE A SCHEDULED CAST/DALIT, IT'S
PRESIDENT?WHY NOT A SHEDULE CASTE OR BACKWARD CLASS PERSON CAN'T
BECOME PRIEST?RSS IS DIVISIVE, IT DIVIDES HINDUS VS MUSLIMS, IT
DIVIDES UPPERCASTE HINDUS VS BACKWARD HINDUS.IT IS TIME ALL THE
CIVILZED PEOPLE LEAVE RSS/BJP.REMEBER THE FATE OF P.V.NARASIMHA
RAO(RSS MEMBER), HIS CORPSE WAS EATEN BY DOGS.
this is right thing
By: yogendrasingh | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:35:05 PM
yashwant sinhas step is right
CommentsPost comment119 Comments |Stage Managed
By: Shirish | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:34:18 PM
As has been reported by Indian express on numerous ocassions, Rajnath
Singh's simple gameplan is to create so much disarray in next few
months that by the time his term comes to an end, party has no option
but to give him a 2nd term. Every action of his is designed to meet
this objective. He hates the progressive face of the BJP - Arun
Jaitley. He got Jaswant to protest Jaitley's appointment, got Yashwant
to resign (minutes before his press conference!!) and then promptly
declared that no-one should speak to the media, as 'henceforth' stern
action will be taken. Why 'henceforth'?? One can easily see your
gameplan Mr Rajnath Singh. He is the worst president ever to have
occupied this position in BJP. As Sudheendra Kulkarni rightly says
Advani worked very hard for Vajpayee, but there was no Advani to work
for Advani. Very aptly summed up by Sudheendra. Rajnath's entire ploy
pre-poll and post-poll has been to sabotage Advani.
Emotionally attached with BJP
By: BJP Indian | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:00:21 PM
India will be orphaned without BJP. There are large number of people
in India who look at the BJP as more than a political party: it is an
emotional commitment. People from other parties won't understand that.
There are millions of people who are product of Nationalist movement
and they will support LOTUS even if there is no leader left in the
Party as BJP is not a leader based but a cadre based Party.
In reply to bp Indian
By: TrueTalk | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 18:06:21 PM
Well said.........thanks.
Good
By: Geeta Sachdev | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:59:12 PM
Welcoming step by Sinhaji many more will follow.
Even viagra will not help this party to uplift itself.
By: Upadhyay | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:56:20 PM
Even viagra will not help this party to uplift itself.Because BJP not
only discredited us Hindus with their extremist views, but they also
tried to inject talibanism into our Dharma.Sinha has done the most
correct thing by resigning.
Rajnath singh and l k adwani should resign their post
By: AMITABH RANJAN JHA | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:54:01 PM
yashwant sinha is not alone unhappiest person to bjp top leadership .
a wrong management team is working in bjp . Rajnath singh and l k
adwani should take responsility too loose in loksabha . they should
resignation to their post
Sinhaji has done the right thing.
By: Dharampal | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:51:46 PM
Sinhaji has done the right thing.
The 'remote-control' of the taliban like sanghi clan form Nagpur has
lot its batteries.
By: DR.CASH CHOR | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:49:59 PM
The 'remote-control' of the taliban like sanghi clan form Nagpur has
lot its batteries.
Another hit wicket.
By: Bella Gupta | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:45:16 PM
Another hit wicket.
I love watching the circus.
By: DALIP/FRANCE | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:40:45 PM
no comments, but ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha
From now on I will never vote for BJP.
By: Vichter Kumar Bhatia | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:39:10 PM
From now on I will never vote for BJP.
Yashwant Sinha has done the right thing.
By: Ramesh | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:37:25 PM
Yashwant Sinha has done the right thing by resigning from a taliban
like party.
BJP geni is out of the bottle
By: DR. GODSE GOODBYEWALA | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:30:07 PM
Raj Narain did one of the biggest mistake when he allowed the taliban
like sanghis to enter his political bus. These sanghis not only
spolied the name and reputation of our Hindu Dharma, but they blotted
our entire country in the eyes of the entire world. Sinha has taken
this step and many more BJPs will follow. Even Rajnath is bound to
resign.Despite losing the elections the liar Advani is still the main
leader of the opposition.
Dr. Gudbyewala crap
By: Not a Gandhi Psycophant | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 16:24:54 PM
Amusing and entertaining are the softest words I can use for your
nonsensical utterances. Gandhi chamchay, why cant u see the reality
that MMS continues to be the PM despitenevere ever winning any
election? You know what, that is because u r either a crook or a fool
coz only a crook or a fool can support those goons called Gandhis and
their creed.
Political party or a petrol pump clan?
By: DR.PETROL PUMP CHOR | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:21:46 PM
BJP is a party which mixes religion and politics like osama-bin-laden.
This party has been correctly totally rejected by the people of our
country, and now its leaders will abandon this sinking ship one after
one.BJP leaders innerly know as a matter of fact that their party has
no future, because even we Hindus do not want these taliban likes to
represent us anywhere.
BJP needs strong leadership
By: Neetu Banga | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 15:12:50 PM
This is just begining. BJP needs strong leadership for keeping party
jointly unless the day are not far when there people too join UPA. Its
seem no one like to support LK Advani as opposition leader, it is best
he should step down and youngesters should given chance to play strong
role in party command.
Time to heal the wound
By: R.Bhakther Solomon | Saturday , 13 Jun '09 14:56:52 PM
It is unfortunate that the leaders of BJP have not come to terms with
the reality/ground situation. It is true that BJP was defeated in the
election. It does not mean the 2009 is the end of the road to BJP. It
only means that the BJP leadership must introspect the reasons for the
failures and should try to build up the party in a constructive way by
being a principled opposition party in the parliament. Who can provide
the leadership towards this new vision? The senior leaders only can
provide the vision, mission and the strategy to the party to pull it
up from the down. All those who have enjoyed the power and perks when
the Party was in power have more responsibility in this. Again, few of
these leaders were elected to the house because people felt that they
will provide good governance principles not only to the BJP but also
to the ruling party. Therefore I would urge the leaders to be at peace
for some time and then after a year or so act the way they want.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-wide-open-eyes-wide-shut/475997/0
bademiyansubhanallah
INDIA THE BELOVED. I am so happy that, in India, women are treated as
totally equal with males. All this talk of widows fearing persecution,
of young brides fearing the flames, is giving a bad impression of our
Beautiful Bharat.I could go on for hours but would prefer that you
visit my website at :-
http://www.webspawner.com/users/hindusthan
Let us strive to improve our image. Let us show the world that we do
really love the "Dalats", the Christians and all minority groups, the
sufferers of leprosy, the victims of AIDS.
By Sid Harth on Thursday, December 23, 1999 - 07:06 am:
A country that is set amongst one of the oldest lands to be occupied
and settled by humans is and always was a mystery. The world has gone
from steam engine to intergalactic space adventures, whereas, bunch of
"vaanara" subhuman, your average village idiots in India are still in
those good old days of sorcery, witchcraft, magical rites, conniving,
conspiring, breaking all laws of the land as also destroying whatever
that keeps the social unit stable.
In Bihar, a basket case state where humans are treated more like
objects to be easily manipulated, cheated, mistreated,
maladministered, strapped to slavery, bondage, inhuman treatment,
stabbed, shot and hounded from pillar to post.
Very troubling events always happen in that godforsaken land of
Buddha, Mahavir and many hundreds years of emperors and holy men
people are declaring poor destitute women as witches, raping them and
killing them off.
In Karnataka bunch of rowdy RSS rascals, rogues and ruffians are
destroying what is history, does not mean it was a good history. In
Delhi, saffron simians are biting and scratching each others and
conspiring to bring in their hidden agenda thru back doors as they
want those nasty days of Babri demolition to be relived for
posterity.
Two private bills were introduced, maybe, a third one too which have a
distinct RSS stamp of approval on them. One was to keep Sonia Gandhi
from ever becoming the prime minister. The other to erect the Rama
temple, a core plank in the dominating BJP partner of a coalition. The
third is uniform civil code that may bring in some relief to the
Muslim women by offering them the protection of the secular/Hindu
laws.
All this monkey business as usual has a silver lining as tomorrow, BJP
boys are going to table the women's quota bill as it is. It means if
passed it would, for the first time in the history offer women of the
country a fighting chance to assert their fundamental rights and be
recognized as equal partners in the coming new millennium.
As such good and bad things are happening, Bihar is planning to
introduce a law to ban the witchcraft killing. What this law does is
very much symbolism. The Tribal society of Bihar and some other places
have never been accepted in the majority Hindu community. Their
ancient beliefs and cruel practices have neither diminished but have
taken a form of animalistic abandon.
As Brahmin boys in business suits are declaring white skinned, Italian
born widow of former prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi without any remorse,
Tribal of Bihar are raping poor helpless women and taking their lives
by ganging on them.
What is true in society is true in politics. Forever and more these
Brahmin warlocks, warlords and voodoo witch doctors have laid a siege
of sorts on Sonia, a naturalized citizen of India. Kargil war was
initiated and executed to show her macho male side of these Brahmin
•••••••• of low IQ and even lower morality.
If Bajrang Dal and VHP goons disturb the peace in Karnataka, if the
same hoodlums start scaring the Tribal of Dangs district of Gujarat,
If renewed attacks on Muslims is as real as at the time of Babri
demolition, what good these saffron simians have done to claim a round
of applause, as their president, Kushabhau Thakre is asking?
One Japanese tourist was raped by the employee of Delhi hotel, not an
unusual occurrence. It happened in Bangalore to, perhaps in Goa also.
Chest thumping Hindu mohter ••••••• have little time to take note of
such heinous Hindu activities as they are perpetually hooked to Mecca
and Muslims of the world when they take a breather in demonizing the
Christians, imperial Americans, Portuguese rulers and clergy of some
five hundred years ago, Muslim marauders of some thousand years ago.
Is that some kind of Hindu reality where real things are left to their
own devices and a Zandewalan script becomes all important beacon light
to go rampaging, looting, raping, and killings of innocent women?
Thanks to the Deccan Herald dated December 23, 1999.
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec23/edst.htm
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec23/edits.htm
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec23/top.htm
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec23/lead.htm
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec23/datta.htm
Sid Harth..."Imagine these Hindu hoodlums are setting the American
values on fire, are you safe from them?"
--
http://www/zonezone.com/users/elcidude
http://indiafamily.net/talk/messages/80/1571.html%3F982877822
chhotemianinshallah
SRS gives bandh call in Karnataka tomorrow, police steps up vigil
PTIFriday, February 12, 2010 19:18 IST Email
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Bangalore: The BJP government in Karnataka today put police on high
alert ahead of Valentine's Day to counter the threat by right-wing
outfit Shri Rama Sene to disrupt the celebrations.
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Congress demands arrest of Pramod Mutalik
Rama Sene's threat against Valentine's Day celebrations
The Rama Sene also gave a call for a Karnataka Bandh tomorrow to
protest against the attack on its founder Pramod Mutalik allegedly by
Youth Congress activists here yesterday.
As parts of Karnataka witnessed protests from Sene activists over
blackening of the face of Mutalik at a debate organised by a local tv
channel in an open air theatre, police took at least 100 Sene workers
into preventive custody.
Gearing up to meet the situation, chief minister BS Yeddyurappa
chaired a high-level home department meeting and directed police to
take strict action against trouble makers.
"The government will not tolerate any attempt to disturb peace and
tranquillity," Yeddyurappa warned.
Bangalore City police nabbed two persons for questioning in connection
with yesterday's attack on Mutalik and launched a drive to take anti-
social elements into preventive custody.
City police commissioner Shankar Bidari said those who want to
celebrate Valentine's Day festivities, which falls on February 14,
could go ahead and in case of any obstruction, they could seek police
help.
"We will maintain vigil. Those celebrating Valentine's day should not
cross the limits. Same rule applies to moral policing," Home Minister
Dr V S Acharya said, sending a clear warning to Sene activists.
Attack on Muthalik undemocratic: Janata Party president Swamy
PTIFriday, February 12, 2010 21:26 IST Email
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Chennai: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy today described as
anti-democratic, blackening of the face of Sri Rama Sene leader Pramod
Mutalik and demanded the arrest of suspected youth Congress activists
behind the incident.
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SRS gives bandh call in Karnataka tomorrow, police steps up vigil
Congress workers torch six buses, police jeep in Karnataka
Two arrested in connection with attack on Pramod Muthalik
Congress demands arrest of Pramod Mutalik
Rama Sene's threat against Valentine's Day celebrations
"The attack is indeed anti-democratic and lawless, even if Mutalik has
indulged in similar actions earlier in Mangalore," Swamy said, in an
apparent reference to Sene activists assaulting women in a pub in
Mangalore in 2008.
In a statement in Chennai, he said no one should be allowed to take
the law into their hands and engage in 'vigilante justice' and
demanded the arrest of youth Congress leaders allegedly behind the
incident under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.
He also expressed "surprise" at Maharashtra chief minister Ashok
Chavan's statement that security cover for Shiv Sena leader Uddhav
Thackeray would be withdrawn if he opposed the screening of the Shah
Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan,
saying "security is given on objective grounds of threat perception"
and after being decided by the home ministry.
He termed Chavan's statement as 'irresponsible' and demanded a public
apology from him.
Congress workers torch six buses, police jeep in Karnataka
PTIFriday, February 12, 2010 18:29 IST Email
Share
Mangalore: Congress workers torched six buses and a police jeep at
Hulkoti,about 10 km from here today in protest against a garland of
slippers being placed on a statue of a late veteran party state
leader, allegedly by Sri Rama Sene activists.
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The Sene activists were suspected to have carried out the act to give
vent to their anger against blackening of the face of their leader
Pramod Mutalik and attempt to assault him, allegedly by youth Congress
workers in Bangalore yesterday.
Police also resorted to lathicharge to disperse the Congress workers,
agitated over the slipper garland being placed on the statue of K H
Patil last night, police said.
Four Congress workers have been arrested and 20 Sri Rama Sene's
activists taken into preventive custody with regard to
last night's incident, police said.
Prohibitory orders have been clamped till 1800 hours of February 14 as
a precautionary measure.
Meanwhile,the bandh call given by Sri Rama Sene activists in Mangalore
was a "total failure" with life proceeding normally, barring some
stray stone-pelting incidents by them, Superintendent of Police
Subramanyeshwara Rao told PTI.
"Eleven Sri Rama Sene activists have been arrested and 24 taken into
preventive custody in this connection", he said.
Two arrested in connection with attack on Pramod Muthalik
PTIFriday, February 12, 2010 15:24 IST Email
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Bangalore: Two persons have been arrested and three taken into custody
for questioning in connection with the attack against Sri Rama Sene
founder Pramod Muthalik here while protesting over his outfit's
agitation against celebrating Valentine Day.
You may also want to see
Attack on Muthalik undemocratic: Janata Party president Swamy
SRS gives bandh call in Karnataka tomorrow, police steps up vigil
Congress workers torch six buses, police jeep in Karnataka
Congress demands arrest of Pramod Mutalik
Rama Sene's threat against Valentine's Day celebrations
"A clipping from an electronic media channel indicates the culprits
belonged to the youth wing of a political party. This information is
important for us and we are looking into it", city police
commissioner, Shankar Bidari told reporters here.
He said those wishing to celebrate Valentine's day were free to do so
and couples could lodge a complaint at the nearest police station if
anyone prevents them.
Police have already begun a drive to prevent any untoward incidents on
Valentine's Day on February 14, he said and warned of stringent action
against those who take the law into their hands.
Home minister, V S Acharya, briefing reporters, said
chief minister, B S Yeddyurappa would meet officials today to review
law and order to ensure a peaceful Valentine's Day.
Mutalik was attacked yesterday allegedly by some youth Congress
workers as he was getting ready to participate in a debate on
Valentine's day, organised by a local Kannada channel. The activists
barged into the event, dragged him out, blackened his face and also
tried to assault him.
Congress demands arrest of Pramod Mutalik
PTIFriday, February 12, 2010 15:22 IST Email
Share
Bangalore: The Congress today demanded arrest of right wing Sri Rama
Sene Chief Pramod Mutalik for threatening to disrupt Valentine's Day
celebrations but distanced itself from the incident of blackening his
face and attempted assault.
The Congress demanded the arrest of the Sri Rama Sene chief for
threatening to disrupt Valentine's Day celebrations.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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SRS gives bandh call in Karnataka tomorrow, police steps up vigil
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Accusing Mutalik of creating law and order problem, KPCC president RV
Deshpande told reporters he should have been taken into preventive
custody by now. "But Government has not done it. He should be arrested
immediately."
A day after some youths, allegedly belonging to Youth Congress,
blackened Mutalik's face and attempted to assault him when he was
getting ready for a TV debate on Valentine's day, Deshpande said his
partymen were not involved.
Deshpande said he, however, condemned such attacks.
He also defended the observance of Valentine's day and other events
like Father's day, saying "everyone has the right to celebrate and
none can interfere. Sri Rama Sene cannot dictate. The BJP government
is hand in glove with the Sene".
On the state government's proposed legislation banning cow slaughter,
he said there was no need for enacting a legislation to ban cow
slaughter and government could implement the act already in force by
the Centre.
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_congress-demands-arrest-of-pramod-mutalik_1346811
chhotemianinshallah
-By Sameer Hashmi
Indian polity has always been considered the reason for all major
problems in the country. History is a testimony that Indian politic’s
proximity with religion and money has proved to be the most dangerous.
Last week three major controversies occurred in different parts of the
country exposing the volatile nature of our polity yet again.
The Koda Scandal-The Madhu Koda case exposes yet again the nexus
between politics and corruption. People are not startled or bemused at
this exposure as they have got used to these scandals which have been
part & parcel of our polity since independence. The only thing to
watch out for is that, was Khoda actually involved in the multi crore
scam or is he a victim of a political conspiracy.
Investigating agencies claim to have strong evidence to nail Koda and
his associates. This investigation might throw up more political names
in the days to come.
The Karnataka Shame-The most shameful poltical story of the week was
the Karnataka political crisis. The strong Reddy brothers from Bellary
held the whole state at ransom for two weeks. Chief Minister
Yeddyurappa was stationed in the national capital to save his job.
Meanwhile 57 shameless BJP MLAs who were supporting the Reddy brothers
were enjoying 5 star luxaries in Hyderabad. All this drama was
happening at a time when the state of Karnataka was trying to get back
to normalcy after the floods exterminated northern part of the state
last month. The floods claimed more than 200 lives and affected 18
lakh people. Instead of working together along with the bureaucacy to
rehabilitate the citizens, the Bellary brother were busy in political
bargaining with the BJP central leadership in New Delhi. The series of
events saw CM Yeddyurappa breaking down in tears in front of the
television camera for not been able to work for the flood victims
blaming the Reddy brothers. Surprisingly the very next day he was
feeding cake to Janardhan Reddy in front of the media after truce was
called by the two warring sides. The Reddy brothers played a principal
role in this whole reprehensible act but Yeddyurappa’s leadership
would have become immortal had he resigned during this period and got
back to Karnataka to concentrate on the rehabilitation work. Probably
the government would have fallen given that the 57 shamless BJP MLA’s
supporting the Reddys would have withdrawn support from the
Yeddyurappa led government but his stature would & credentials would
have bolstered several folds. But alas!! These things are only a
mirage in Indian politics.
To sing or not to sing?-Lastly, the most dangerous contorversy of all
was the Vande Matram song issue. The issue which emanated again thanks
to Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind’s ‘Fatwa’ against ‘the singing of Vande
Mataram’. This issue is not new and has been doing rounds in political
& religious circles for centuries. According to some Muslim clerics,
certain stances in the song ‘Vande Matram’ are against the basic
belief of ‘Islam’. In order to avoid this controversy, the Congress
had set up a committee after independence which dropped the
objectional stances from the song. The issue should have been settled
there, but this latest Fatwa was definitely un-called for. Despite
knowing right wing Hindu groups’ fascination with the Vande Matram
issue the Ulema initiated the controversy. Not only did it create an
unwanted controversy which many Muslims don’t agree to but also gave a
chance to some elements to raise communal temperature again.
The question of singing or not singing Vande Mataram violates the very
basic right of an Indian citizen. The right wing Hindu groups want
Muslims to sing Vande Matram to test their loyalty which is absurd.
Similarly the Ulema issuing a ‘Fatwa’ not to sing is ridiculuos,
especially given that the corrections to objectional parts were made
long back. It’s an individual’s right to sing or not to sing. No one
can impose its stand on any individual.
All the above issues are a chilling reminder of the vulnerable nature
of our Indian polity & society. And it also underlines the fact that
no matter how much as a nation India achieves on the global level, the
real battle is to conquer these domestic viruses which continue to be
our biggest weakness.
http://www.behindindia.com/india-news-stories/article/political-11-11-09.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Feb 12, 2010 at 2007 hrs
Thiruvananthapuram:
Nitin Gadkari said his party is not supporting its ally Shiv Sena in
its protests on MNIK issue.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari said his party is not supporting its ally
in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena, in its protests against the release of Shah
Rukh Khan’s starrer ‘My Name Is Khan’.
“We are definitely not with Sena on this issue. We are two different
parties,” he said in reply to questions on the issue at a meet-the-
press here.
He also said his party does not agree with the Sena slogan that Mumbai
is for Mumbaikars. “We believe that Mumbai is for all Indians. We
believe in unity in diversity.” However, Gadkari dared the Congress
and the Left to proclaim that Srinagar was also open to all Indians
like Mumbai. As long as Article 370 was in force, Indians from other
parts cannot not buy land and live there, he said.
On the assault of Sriram Sene chief Pramod Mutalik in Bangalore
yesterday, he said the BJP had no direct or indirect connection with
the outfit. However, he said it was not proper for anybody to take law
into their hands anywhere.
To a question on his description of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad
Pawar as “cricket minister”, Gadkari said Pawar was always engaged in
cricket. “Let him play cricket, but let him not play with the lives of
people,” he said alluding to price rise affecting common man.
Gadkari said West Bengal government’s move to introduce 10 per cent
quota for Muslims was part of vote bank politics for exploitation. BJP
was not against minorities but was against terrorism, he said.
30 Comments |
bjp talk like a mature
By: manish | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 4:40:39 AM
i like a bjp stand for srk. this thing bjp doing before election may
be less lose.
BJP, SS and others are already hand in glove
By: Anwar | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 4:00:45 AM
One doesn't need BJP to accept that.. members of the BJP are more
often than not members of these other organisations, so what's the
point of BJP washing its hands away.
A refreshing face of BJP
By: vbpulla | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 3:53:39 AM
Gadkari is really a refresingly new face of BJP= so much better than
times with Rajnath singh. He is witty, articulate, focussed and
balanced in views,and atlast i feel BJP is going to see good electoral
results.
A flop show
By: YD | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 3:45:59 AM
A friend of mine has seen the movie and his verdict is that movie
would have been a flop on its first day. It, now, seems that Johar and
SRK had realised it and SRK started praising Pakistan and origin of
his father as Pakistani and IPL should have selected Paki players to
create a controversy, just before the release of the movie. It seems
the film revolve around a Hindu widow and her son who decided to live
with a mentally challenged Muslim guy called "Khan". Cann't see
anything exciting in the plot.
Meenu Rathore change your thinking!!!
By: Solid Snake | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 3:33:29 AM
Meenu Rathore, isn't it obvious that if the majority of people are
against Bal-Quaida on this issue this means that you are
misunderstanding the entire issue. You need to change your thinking,
not the other way around. Learn about the issues, democratic concepts
and ideas about freedom and personal choice (so long as doesn't
physically hurt someone). Let me put it this way if a group of crazy
pagals thinks that 2 2=5 and thinks everyone else is wrong and they
start to break property and bully everyone else into agreeing this,
what do you say? Even I'm saying prove 2 2=5 and I will listen but no
to violence and destruction. But I won't agree because majority think
2 2=4 and we can prove it. Similar in politics. You and your group
think in a certain way, majority of Indians and world (in 21st
century, not past) think in different way because we think deeper
about issues, and as time passes we always try to improve society.
Sena doesn't make society better, they intimidate!!
Isolate Regional, Linguistic and divisive Organizations and Parties.
By: Jose Kallidikil | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 3:10:36 AM
BJP President Mr. Nitin Gadkari's response was timely and his stand
rejecting Siva Senas narrow outlook deserves appreciation. Mr.
gadkari's position rejecting the Sena stand will send a powerful
message to the Sena leadership to abandon their irrational stand over
Mumbai. Not only that BJP has electoral alliance with Siva Sena in
Maharashtra, Mr. Gadkari is a Maharahtrian too. That is why his stand
on this issue attracts more media and popular attention. It is a clear
message to the sivasena that they are being isolated on this issue all
over India including Maharashtra. National Political Parties whatever
may be their ideology, will have a National Outlook and view the whole
nation as one. In order to preserve the unity of the country and
persue developmental policies, we need strong govt's at the center
ruled by National parties with a clear majority. Coalition Govt's at
the center depending its survival on narrow minded regional parties
should be discouraged.
what is BJP
By: amolsagar | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 3:03:47 AM
when was BJP with their own. They came to power promising the hindus
about Ram Mandi but made a big U turn when faced with the reality. Now
they are trying to be liberal. You know the problem with the liberals,
they abuse their own. Gadakari doesn't even know what BJP stands for?
Controversy on MNIK
By: Mr.Chirayath | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:43:27 AM
Onthe background of 26/11 started the anechdote that the entire
country were against pak, in the meantime SRK just opined to include
pak cricketers in IPL by forgetting the peoples emotion and feelings
was a misfortune. For that, he has now been regretted and apologized.
So the chapter must be closed. Further, any violence taking place, the
militant Shiv sena will be held responsible. Now the MNIK could be
played at all theatres in the country without any deterrent. More over
the militant shiv sena should be warned as well, when they are taking
the LAW in their own hands that, this militant group would have to be
forbidden. India had started its own autonomy after independance with
Democratical, Constitutional and a Secular Government of India.This
system and values must be pursued and uphold further.Religious and
ethnic minorities will not be dis- criminated as true or untrue
Indians. There are existed only INDIANS.
Opportunist BJP
By: Aman | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:32:48 AM
Too, late! It would have been credible, if this comment would have
come at least two days ago. Not after Mumbaikar's giving a kick at
Thakeray's butt!
Misconception
By: Javid Qadri | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:31:31 AM
Dear all Hindu brothers,My eyes have seen how Indian muslims have
persecuted pakistanis in Saudi arabia,when arguments used to take
place to show the patriotism and our hidu brothers used to remain
silent.Very unfortunate to doubt muslims because of political gains.
(Javid Qadri United Kingdom)
PRICE RISE
By: Yamuna Das Gangawale | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:27:54 AM
Sir/Madam, looking at the size of Gadkarijee, it seems if he ate nine
pumkins & double the amount of sitafal in one go. No wonder the prices
of vegetables are going upwards.
BJP is Cong B Team!
By: Gurunath Prakash | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:11:20 AM
Nitin dude! Please watch the movie before commenting.We appreciate
standing by Ideology, if you do not have a ideology, join Congress
(the present one led by (mummia italiana)!
REMOTE -CONTROLLED MUKHOTA.
By: DR. LAW | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 0:39:35 AM
Sir, Gadkari is the remote -controlled mukhota of the sanghparivar
whose outfits are the RSS,VHP,Bajrang Dal, Ram Sene etc.His batteries
are fully controlled by Advani & Lady Hitler (Sushma Swaraj).This is
the same parivar which systematically misused our Hindu Dharma a la
osama-bin-laden style. We Hindus have already louded our voice against
the said organisations,and that is the main reason that BJP got voted
out of office.BJP & its sister networks have systematically blotted
our Hindu image all around the world.I am very surprised to read
Gadkaris statement in which he has gone against the facist Shiv Sena,
but, I do not believe any more in BJP nor its sister networks, because
there is no difference between them and the most fanatic element from
Pakistan with al-qaida or jihadi connections. We Indians, particularly
Hindus, need a new kind of opposition than these nincompoops who use
religion as shield to shield their dirty and corrupt agenda.
get away from sena
By: maher | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 0:07:32 AM
Now, Mr Gadkari can you just split from shiv sena. BJP is losing in
maharashtra because of shiv sena why the hell are you not fighting
alone. ALSO it is very intersting to know that SRINAGAR is not for all
indians, this is very surprising to me, CAN CONGRESS EXPLAIN THIS?
What is this ? Democratic or Communist
By: Naren | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:40:20 PM
Seriously, Shiv Sena should be banned forever, and this has something
to do with Amitabh. He is now playing Rao sahib(Sarkar2) behind this
drama and trying to prove his prowess. Khan is King of Bollywood and
nothing could really stop him !!
Minorities and Terrorism
By: Khader Syed | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:39:14 PM
Mr. Gadkari, hats off to you. What your party leaders like ABV, LKV
couldn't say all these years, you said it. Your party BJP's ideology
is well known. It has been evolved around anti-Muslim and anti-
downtrodden section of Indian nation. I think you should take this
minorities are terrorist ideology to logical conclusion. Already India
has voted you out twice and you have lost the argument. Your buddies
SSena, MNS, Ram Sena are now getting their own medicine, you should
also expect the same unless you have something positive to offer to
Indian Public. Do have any except for Ram Mandir, anti-Muslim planks?
BJP is getting sickuliar, but it is time for Shiv Sena to go national
By: JP | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:30:34 PM
We condemn the violence of Shiv Sainiks in Mumbai, yet we agree with
what Bal Thakrey is saying in MNIK controversey against SRK. It is
time for Shiv Sena to go national and engage with voters eloquently on
real issues of congress led corruption, division, vote bank politics,
failed policies like reservation by dividing hindus. There are ample
opportunities to engage Indians on so many issues that exist in
corrupt congress raj. Indians will appreciate more if Thakreys can
think beyond mumbai and engage Indians to issues that matter. BJP may
go to bonkers to call it sickuliar like congress, but the ideology of
hindutva is not communicated properly by BJP and Shiv Sena can shape
India's future under the moral guidance of legendry Shivaji maharaj.
We hope Raj and Uddhav are reading this blog.
Gadkari over MNIK
By: Vali patel | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:21:42 PM
Dear President why u came very late over Sharukh v/s S.sena we would
apreciae if u came out with flying color against thakare hope u do not
come late in future like this issue
So Mr. BJP, minorities are Terrorist!
By: Khader Syed | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:07:54 PM
Mr. Gadkari, hats off to you. What your party leaders like ABV, LKV
couldn't say all these years, you said it. Your party BJP's ideology
is well known. It has been evolved around anti-Muslim and anti-
downtrodden section of Indian nation. I think you should take this
minorities are terrorist ideology to logical conclusion. Already India
has voted you out twice and you have lost the argument. Your buddies
SSena, MNS, Ram Sena are now getting their own medicine, you should
also expect the same unless you have something positive to offer to
Indian Public. Do have any except for Ram Mandir, anti-Muslim planks?
get out if you dont like it
By: raj | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:10:52 AM
If you have such a problem then you should go live in saudi arabia and
see how you like it there. And as for your previous comment about
population, you people have grown more than 10 times since
independence which is 3 times more than the average of other
communities. Stop breeding like rabbits and then talk.
Get the true side of anti BJP parties
By: manish | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 1:26:37 AM
Hi Khader, if you think congress SP or CPM are pro muslims are you are
grossly wrong, they have done nothing to educated muslim society, they
want muslims in india to remain uneducated so that they can take
advantage and show carrots all the time... wake up call for you
Keep it up
By: Ordinary swayamsewak | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:04:17 PM
At last after a long time BJP got someone who talks with logic. Maybe
your (our) party does good in next elections. It's about time to break
the dynasty RAJ.
Congress double standard ad NDTV's congress support
By: Chandrakant Marathe | Friday , 12 Feb '10 23:03:31 PM
I am an exasperated viewer of NDTV channel and am writing here because
Indian Express is a partner of NDTV. I reject Shiv Sena's policy of
violence but get frustrated when I hear discussions on NDTV when its
anchors Nidhi Rajdan, Barkha Dutt and others conveniently scuttle
legitimate arguments against congress put hiv Sena and BJP
spokespersons and cover up for congress. When there was a repeatedly
asked question on congress party's violent protest against film
Jhenda,the argument was never takenforward. On the discussion about
congress party's vote bank politics in Azhamgarh, Mani Shankar Iyyer
spoke his rhetoric for 90% of the discussion time and the anchor did
not stop him. I am asking Indians to voice their concerns on this
gross congress promotion by a channel NDTV whicg unfortunately is
occupying a large media space. People should vandalise such one sided
media houses if the country has to have a rational and unbiased
information.
we know
By: raj | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 2:13:20 AM
The media is a puppet of the communal party known as Congress.
Everyone knows it my friend.
bjp not with sena
By: MEENU RATHORE | Friday , 12 Feb '10 22:42:11 PM
BJP IS NEVER WITH THEIR OWN PARTY PEOPLE SO WHAT DO U EXPECT. I DON'T
KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE SIDING WITH SRK HE WAS WRONG ALL THE WAY AND NEVER
REGRETTED WHAT HE SAID TILL THE MOVIE RELEASE BECAUSE HE WAS PLAYING
GAMES WITH THE EMOTIONS OF PEOPLE. I AM WITH U BAL THAKERAY.
After 26/11 all Pak lovers should be punished
By: Rak | Friday , 12 Feb '10 22:33:03 PM
Thakerayji, Distribute free DVDs of this movie, once his revenue if
affected. This pak lover will come licking yr feet. He will wag his
tail start singing National Anthem.
Rak: Licking and Suc**ng is the previlage of your cult in Maharashtra
By: Indian | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 4:18:50 AM
Yes licking the feet and carrying chappals is the previlage of some of
maharashtarian cults. The three idiots of Thackery family are making
mokery of Marathas.
To Rak or should I say Rakh
By: aryan | Saturday , 13 Feb '10 0:48:10 AM
I think people like you should lick thier own A.. before saying
something like that. He is the son of a freedom fighter and a patriot
himself. I am sure your ances tors were traitors just like most sanngh
parivaar members of that period, during the british rule
What has reservation to do with terrorism?
By: Khader Syed | Friday , 12 Feb '10 21:53:47 PM
Mr. Gdakari's assertion that "BJP was not against minorities but was
against terrorism, he said...", why is he comparing terrorism with
minorities or reservation for them? what is resemblance here in the
debate for Pr and anti reservation debate? Unless he is saying Muslims
are terrorist and therefore they should not be given reservation.
Actually he is speaking teh truth about his party and its ideology.
Its ideology is based on anti-muslim emotions. Anything related to
Muslims is anathema to BJP. RSS and its tentacle groups. One need to
gloss over the ruckus they created on the release of year 2000 census
figures showing increase Muslim population due to clubbing of J & K
population. Even after Census Bureau clarified the case for increase
in numbers, the BJP did not had the stomach to say they stand
corrected. This is the ideology of BJP.
mr
By: Sam | Friday , 12 Feb '10 21:25:52 PM
Thank God that Siv Sena was snubbed nicely and squarely.If they would
have succeeded, BJP would be rejoicing instead of not supporting Siv
Sena BJP is a double face threat to all Indians
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mr/579045/#postComment
Is Chavan Maha CM or SRK's bodyguard, asks Thackeray
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Feb 13, 2010 at 1040 hrs
Mumbai:
What different work has Chavan done for the last seven-eight days:
Thackeray on Chavan
Continuing his tirade against Ashok Chavan, Shiv Sena chief Bal
Thackeray on Saturday asked whether the Congress leader was the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra or Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan's
bodyguard.
"Is Chavan the chief minister of Maharashtra or actor Shah Rukh Khan's
bodyguard? If it is the latter, then he should adorn the uniform of a
security guard and stand outside Khan's 'Mannat' bungalow here,
saluting the passers-by," Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena
mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
"What different work has Chavan done for the last seven-eight days,"
Thackeray asked and flayed Chavan for "siding with Pak-lover Khan."
The entire police force has been used as Khan's "slave and domestic
help", Thackeray said, referring to the police action against Shiv
Sainiks during the agitation against SRK-starrer 'My Name Is Khan'.
"The only thing that remains is to erect a marble memorial for Kasab
and his nine dead accomplices and ask policemen to salute it," the
Sena chief said.
Thackeray had yesterday accused Chavan of "succumbing to vote-bank
politics and deploying tight security with AK 47s to ensure that
Khan's film release was smooth."
"He arrested thousands of Shiv Sainiks and beat them up till they bled
and put them in jail. In the end there was no place remaining in jail.
For one Khan, how weak and helpless the Chief Minister has become," he
had said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/is-chavan-maha-cm-or-srks-bodyguard-asks-thackeray/579316/
K'taka Govt directs police to step up vigil on V-day
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Feb 12, 2010 at 1107 hrs
Bangalore:
Bracing itself to counter the threat by right wing Sri Rama Sene to
disrupt Valentine's Day celebrations, the BJP government in Karnataka
on Friday directed police to step up vigil at all sensitive places.
"We will maintain vigil. Those celebrating Valentine's Day should not
cross the limits. Same rule applies to moral policing too," State Home
Minister V S Acharya told reporters here after holding a meeting with
top police officials.
The meeting comes in the wake of some youths, allegedly belonging to
the Youth Congress, blackening the face of Sri Rama Sene founder
Pramod Mutalik here yesterday.
"I condemn such attacks. Congress should restrain their workers",
Acharya said, referring to the incident which occurred when Mutalik
was getting ready to take part in a debate on Valentine's day,
organised by a local Kannada TV channel in an open air theatre.
The youths barged in the event and dragged Mutalik from the stage and
blackened his face and also tried to assault him.
"It is (V-Day) not our culture. The culture of some other country
should not be imposed on us", Acharya said, but immediately added that
his remarks should not be labelled as opposition to Valentine's day
celebrations.
The state has sizeable population which supports moral policing and
its critics, he said and pointed out that none had come forward to
lodge formal police complaint even today over the attack on girls at a
pub in Mangalore in 2008, allegedly by Sene activists.
"Even visual media has not been cooperating in providing evidence", he
said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ktaka-govt-directs-police-to-step-up-vigil-on-vday/578968/
Modi defeats VHP plans: film opens to packed houses
Express News Service
Posted: Saturday , Feb 13, 2010 at 0336 hrs
Ahmedabad:
An employee of a local theatre in Vadodara garlands the poster of Shah
Rukh Khan on the opening day of My
Name is Khan
A quiet word from the Modi government ensured that My Name is Khan
released to packed houses in Gujarat on Friday, despite early morning
protests and sporadic attacks by the VHP and Bajrang Dal in Ahmedabad
and Rajkot.
In Navsari, it was the VHP in fact which stood guard to allow the
screening, taking on fellow Parivar activists from the Gauraksha
Samiti who had warned theatre owners against the release of the film.
With police deployed in strength and the theatres assured security,
fans queued up to watch the film.
The Modi government’s reaction was in stark contrast to the one two
years ago when Aamir Khan’s film
Fanaa was stalled in the state by the VHP and Bajrang Dal over his
Narmada dam remarks. Later, Parzania, a film based on the 2002 Gujarat
riots, was not allowed to be screened.
Denying that there was any “change” in the stance of the government,
Minister of State for Home Amit Shah said: “In earlier cases, the
multiplex owners themselves decided not to screen the movies. This
time they wanted to, and we are assuring them full protection. It is
the government’s responsibility to maintain law and order. If need be,
we will give them additional security.”
Modi and the VHP have not been on the best of terms in recent times.
With their protest fizzling out, Bajrang Dal Ahmedabad city secretary
Ashwin Patel claimed they were only “requesting peacefully for a
boycott”.
“Our protests continue, those who believe in Hindutva will not watch
the movie... The government can do what it wants,” he said.
VHP South Gujarat joint secretary Utkarsh Patel said: “We had humbly
requested theatre owners and people not to screen the film. We thought
we achieved our aim because many kept away.”
DGP S S Khandwawala said orders had gone out across the state to take
all possible measures to ensure security.
Navsari VHP spokesperson Ashok Gajera denied that their decision to
stand guard at theatres to allow the screening showed their
differences with others in the Parishad.
“We have friendly relations with theatre owners in Navsari. It is our
duty to protect them from anti-social elements. So we decided to guard
them,” he said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/modi-defeats-vhp-plans-film-opens-to-packed-houses/579230/0
Khan finds friends in Delhi
Sahim Salim
Posted: Saturday , Feb 13, 2010 at 0022 hrs
New Delhi:
Guarding My Name Is Khan: Policemen at Sheila Cinema in Paharganj Ravi
Kanojia
Amid tight security and reports of damage to some cinema halls
screening the film, My Name Is Khan opened to packed houses in the
Capital on Friday.
Most cinema halls put up “houseful” signs. Many hopefuls were seen
hanging around ticket counters of several theatres expecting last-
minute cancellations.
While armed policemen were stationed outside each theatre screening
the movie in the Capital, private security at the halls was also
tightened, the police said.
Many welcomed the film’s release with drum beats, music and
firecrackers — some tried to send a message across to the Shiv Sena by
burning posters of the party and its leaders. The Sena had targetted
the film after actor Shah Rukh Khan refused to apologise for favouring
the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the Indian Premier League.
The first sign of trouble was reported from Janakpuri, West Delhi,
late on Thursday night when three men, all reportedly inebriated,
threw stones at Satyam Cinemas inside the Janakpuri District Centre
around 12.30 am. They shouted “Jai Bal Thackeray”, and tore the film’s
poster at the theatre.
A policeman present at the spot chased them away and arrested one of
the troublemakers, an officer said.
“The arrested person is a Class XI student, identified as Brij Mohan.
He was inebriated,” the officer said. “He is a resident of the
adjacent Hassal slum area and has no affiliation to any political
party.”
Around 11 am on Friday, after the film’s release, some protestors,
reportedly belonging to the Shiv Sena, tore a poster of the film on
the Akshardham-Pandav Nagar crossing in East Delhi. They fled before
the police could intervene.
Elsewhere, in Nizamuddin, a group also tried to tear a poster of the
film. “They were roaming around the Nizamuddin Dargah and wanted to
take down a poster on one of the streetlights,” an officer said. “But
policemen on the beat were already warned about their presence and as
the group tried to bring the poster down, a constable chased them
away.”
On the other side of the city, residents near Delite Cinema near Delhi
Gate welcomed the release with drums — they celebrated the film’s
release by shouting “We are all Khans”.
The group, led by MLA Shoaib Iqbal, also burnt effigies of Shiv Sena
chief Bal Thackeray and son Uddhav Thackeray.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/khan-finds-friends-in-delhi/579124/0
Friday no show, Saturday may be
Express News Service
Posted: Saturday , Feb 13, 2010 at 0529 hrs
Pune:
A deserted Westend Theatre on Friday
MNIK worry hits fundraiser plan
The uncertainty over screening of My Name Is Khan in the city spoilt
the weekend of movie buffs and cast a shadow on a plan of Young
Indians (YI) to raise funds for slum children from the 6-pm show at
Inox, if screening takes place on Saturday. YI, the city youth wing of
the Confederation of Indian Industry, which had planned to block 250
seats at Inox scaled it down to 100, as they are not sure what will
happen on Saturday.
“We have booked only 100 tickets as against the plan of 250 due to
problems the movie faced. The funds were to be used for helping
children good at sports but who do not have access to good training
owing to fund shortage. We also had a second plan to invest the money
to adopt a tribal school. But with just 100 seats, we are doubtful of
the amount we will collect,” said YI spokesperson Monika Trivedi.
When contacted, general manager of Inox, Bipin Jha, said the mutiplex
would go with the decision of others multiplexes in the city.
Rasika Wakalkar of YI said, “In spite of the movie being screened in
Mumbai, people are apprehensive. We are getting calls from invitees
about Saturday’s show. There is not much we can do. It all depends on
the multiplex managements.” Unless the decision comes, nothing certain
could be said, said another manager at Inox. “In the morning, we will
inform YI in case the event is cancelled,” he said.
Trivedi said she had been receiving calls from guests apprehensive of
security even if the film is screened. “In case screening happens, it
will be under police protection. However, it is not easy to convince
people. We are also planning to serve snacks and drinks to make it
more like an event,” she said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/friday-no-show-saturday-may-be/579287/0
Police hint at underworld hand
Express News Service
Posted: Saturday , Feb 13, 2010 at 0050 hrs
Mumbai:
SHAHID AZMI
Shah rukh khan Investigators probing the murder of 26/11 terror attack
accused Fahim Ansari’s advocate Shahid Azmi suspect that the attack
was the work of professionals recruited by the underworld. They said
the nature of weapons used and the manner in which the murder was
carried out on Thursday indicated the involvement of an underworld
gang.
According to sources, one of the weapons used was a 9 mm pistol and
the other a 7.65 mm pistol. Police claimed that those who had ordered
the hit on Azmi had been identified, and they were close on heels of
the shooters.
On Thursday, three unidentified men had entered Azmi’s Kurla office on
the pretext of meeting him and fired four rounds at him.
The police have prepared sketches of two suspects on the basis of
descriptions provided by Azmi’s peon . They have also recovered two
sets of fingerprints from the office.
“The manner in which the murder was carried out indicates a
professional hand. The weapons used were pistols and not country-made
revolvers. They also held a pistol to the forehead of the peon who
started shouting after Azmi was shot, and let him live. In underworld
hits, the assailant usually kills only the chosen target,” said a
senior police officer who did not wish to be named.
Incidentally, on July 22 last year, Azmi had filed a complaint with
the police claiming he had been injured in what he said was a
deliberate accident.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that before the attack took
place, the assailants had visited Azmi’s office only to be told by his
peon that he was yet to arrive. According to Kurla police, the men had
kept a watch on the office before they carried out the murder.
A call made on the cell phone of Azmi’s assistant at 7.20 pm, asking
for him, is also suspected to be a pretext to ascertain whether Azmi
was in office. “The peon claims that around 7 or 7.10 pm, he left the
office and was on his way to fill water from Azmi’s house, located on
the other side of the lane, when the three men met him and asked him
in Hindi where Azmi’s office was. The peon told them that Azmi was yet
to arrive and the men asked him to call his boss. After he refused,
they had gone away. The peon told Azmi about the men, when the latter
asked him to see whether they were still around. The peon had found
the men outside and brought them in,” an officer said.
The statement given by peon Indersingh Kirtisingh said all the three
were slightly built. “The entire incident happened between 7.30 and
7.40 pm when I escorted the three men into my boss’ cabin. Suddenly,
two of them whipped out pistols. A long-haired man pointed the pistol
at my head and ordered me to flee if I feared for my life. And when I
was rushing out, I heard the gunshots.” .
The men ran in the direction of the Mithi River but the statement did
not mention whether they fled in a vehicle.
The police, meanwhile, have provided protection to Ejaz Naqvi, the
lawyer of 26/11 co-accused Sabahuddin Ahmed.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/police-hint-at-underworld-hand/579150/0
Troublemakers have to compensate victims: Police
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Feb 12, 2010 at 1323 hrs
Mumbai:
Police have arrested 665 more Shiv Sainiks on Friday morning as a
preventive measure
Sending a stern message to troublemakers protesting against the
release of 'My Name is Khan', Mumbai police on Friday said it would
apply provisions of a law against them which stipulates that those
inflicting damage will have to compensate the victims.
"In case of any damage caused by protestors, we will ensure that the
victim gets the compensation. Section 51 and others of the Bombay
Police Act, which will pave way for the victims to seek compensation,
will be applied against the agitators," Joint Police Commissioner (Law
and Order) Himanshu Roy said.
"Our utmost priority is to ensure everything goes fine and apply stern
sections of the IPC, the Bombay Police Act and others against the
troublemakers," he said.
Against the backdrop of the decision by multiplex chains owners in
Mumbai to have a limited release of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer MNIK post-
noon on Friday, no untoward incident was reported, Roy claimed.
Meanwhile, police have arrested 665 more Shiv Sainiks on Friday
morning as a preventive measure, taking the total number of the
outfit's workers put behind the bars to 2,665 since Tuesday.
Comments (2)
Charge their leaders for the already incurred secuirty expense
By: raj | 12-Feb-2010
Bombay police should apply the necessary law and recover the cost of
security that has been burnt due to the foolish and anti-national act
of Shiv Sena, VHP and Bajaran Dal. I understand the Maharasthra
government has already lost more than 25 crores. This should be
recovered immediately.
RESPECT FOR MUMBAI
POLICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By: DR.LAW | 12-Feb-2010
MUMBAI POLICE ZINDABAAD. THEY HAVE TAKEN THE RIGHT STEP TO COUNTER
THESE FACIST AND NAZI LIKE SHIV SENA. BAL-QAIDA MUST BE PUT BEHIND
BARS.BJP & SHIV SENA MUST BE BANNED IN INDIA, BECAUSE NOT ONLY THEY
BLOT US HINDUS, BUT THEY HAVE TARNISHED THE ENTIRE IMAGE OF INDIA ON
GLOBAL LEVEL.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/troublemakers-have-to-compensate-victims-police/578997/
My Name Is Khan
Shubhra Gupta
Posted: Friday , Feb 12, 2010 at 1625 hrs
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Jimmy Sheirgill, Sonya Jehan, Zarina
Wahab
Director : Karan Johar
Rating: ****
Okay, let me come right out and say it. `My Name Is Khan’ is a very
good film. It says what we have been trying to hear in a world gone
determinedly deaf, in a way that’s new, and for the most part, warm
and engaging.
All Muslims are not Osama followers. All Muslims are not flying bombs.
All Muslims, in short, are not terrorists. That is the burden of
Rizwan Khan’s message, and it is one he picks up and walks with,
through the length of America, in his search for justice and a fair
hearing, which he believes only the president of the country can
provide.
Rizwan ( SRK) is a man with Aspergers Syndrome, a kind of high-
functioning autism which most often comes equipped with a brilliant
brain, but distressingly few social skills. He discovers the root
cause of his `difference’ only when he arrives in the US, as a
shambling, inept adult, to live with his resentful-but-dutiful younger
brother ( Sheirgill) and sympathetic sister-in-law ( Jehan). But he
finds refuge in completely unexpected quarters, with a single mom
( Kajol) and her young son.
Part of this kind of film’s credibility depends upon how well the lead
player takes on the mantle of a disabled person. Don’t go looking for
Dustin Hoffman, whose superb channeling of a savant in `Rain Man’
introduced the world to people with Aspergers Syndrome. Shah Rukh’s
playing of Rizwan is that of a star taking on a character, very
different from a pure actor (someone like Irrfan, say) doing the same
thing . His shuffling gait and rocking is not something common amongst
most people with Aspergers ( that’s more characteristic of the
classically autistic), but his inability to meet someone’s gaze, and
the sheer inappropriateness and the appalling directness of his
conversation is spot on. The fact that he’s shed as much of his
intrinsic Shah Rukh-ness to take on so much Rizwan makes this his most
actorly, most powerful performance : he makes us believe that his
being different is as much part of him, as is his religious identity.
Being Rizwan is not just about being an Aspergers person. Being Rizwan
is also not just about being Muslim. Being Rizwan is about being
human.
As the woman who takes him under her wing, Kajol starts off too bright
and chirpy but quietens effectively as the film goes along : this is
one of her best parts, too. The other characters, Sheirgill as the
younger brother who disliked that most of their `ammi’s ( Wahab)
attention would be on the older one, Jehan as the hijaab-wearing
`modern’ Muslim woman, both the kids, one Indian, the other American,
who have substantial parts, even Vinay Pathak, who has a hilarious
walk-on, are well written.
But the real bravery award should go to director-producer Karan Johar,
who dispenses with the designer preciousness of his previous films to
come as close as this to something real, something important. He sets
it all up beautifully, and looks set to carry it through but loses his
conviction towards the end by drumming up a forced climax. In trying
to make Rizwan Khan more heroic than he already is ( the script
conjures up a devastating flood somewhere in Georgia, which Rizwan
tries to stem : catch any true-blue Aspergers person even wanting to,
forget about actually dealing with a crisis of this order of
magnitude), the smooth arc of the film is derailed.
But till then, it’s all just right. It gives this Khan enough time to
play that Khan, with a mix of unabashed emotion that leads to wet eyes
( keep those hankies ready, it is a KJO film, after all ) and absolute
sincerity : an Aspergers person is not capable of guile. It is both
the role of a lifetime, and a platform to say the things that need to
be said.
`My Name Is Khan’ is that rare big-budget Bollywood starry vehicle,
which uses familiar devices to create new meaning. Watch it.
Comments (4)
Movie Review - MY NAME IS KHAN
By: Prasad Satkalmi | 12-Feb-2010
THERE WAS CITIZEN KANE TILL NOW. NOW ONWARDS THERE SHALL BE CITIZEN
KHAN%u2026 RIZWAN KHAN Movie buffs and filmmakers will get me what it
means. Amidst all protests and all stories against SRK, this film asks
for only one thing%u2026 Peace. Global peace in all senses and in all
ways. Period. 5.5 stars out of 5 stars. 0.5 star extra for all the
patience shown by SRK against the protests by a communal party and yet
coming out as a winner.
about film
By: ANAND J S | 12-Feb-2010
my name khan is a good movie . SRK out sanding perfomans. this movie
is super hit....................
Given an Honest opinion
By: G.Sriniwasan | 12-Feb-2010
The writer's personal view cannot be thrust on the readers.MovieBUFFS
have their own Brain and use their logic to decide the fate of a
movie.Journos are not members of NOBLE PROFESSION.They are Saleable
Commodities and it appears this writer has SOLD HIS SOULD FOR A
FARTHING to write this review.Mindyou,Moviegoers cannot be FOOLED
irony
By: maqsood | 12-Feb-2010
kinldy check the review in hinudustan times and ndtv, we can make out
that this is an PAID REVIEW.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/my-name-is-khan/579024/0
bademiyansubhanallah
STAFF WRITER 14:25 HRS IST
New Delhi, Feb 12 (PTI) BJP chief Nitin Gadkari today said his party
was not against Electronic Voting Machines or use of technology in
elections but wanted paper back-up as it had still not been proved
that EVMs were tamper-proof.
"The system should be modernised. We are not against modernisation or
against EVMs but only want paper back-up," Gadkari said at the launch
of "Democracy at Risk", a book on EVMs and their susceptibility to
tampering by psephologist G V L Narasimha Rao.
Gadkari insisted that reservations about EVMs were not confined to the
BJP alone and many other political parties, including the Orissa unit
of Congress, were wary of its use.
"On the one hand, we say voting percentage should be increased and
voting should be made mandatory and on the other hand, people cannot
vote (due to tampering of EVMs).
http://www.ptinews.com/news/513985_Not-against-EVMs--but-need-paper-back-up--Gadkari
Shahrukh-starrer 'My Name is Khan' released in Pune
STAFF WRITER 13:1 HRS IST
Pune, Feb 13 (PTI) Cinema houses including multiplexes here released
Shah Rukh-starrer 'My Name is Khan' today after its successful
screening in Mumbai.
The decision to go ahead with screening of 'MNIK' was taken at a
meeting of theatre owners who had refrained from releasing the movie
in the city yesterday.
A heavy 'police bandobast' was in placed at various cinema halls that
decided to show the Karan Johar film.
A steady stream of cine-goers was seen at the theatres after bookings
of the film opened for the afternoon show.
Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Ramesh Bagwe has appealed to
cinema owners and citizens not to pay any heed to the threats issued
by Shiv Sena against screening of the film.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/515298_Shahrukh-starrer--My-Name-is-Khan--released-in-Pune
Ram Sene-sponsored bandh evokes mixed response
STAFF WRITER 12:10 HRS IST
Bangalore, Feb 13 (PTI) The Karnataka bandh called by right-wing
outfit Sri Rama Sene to protest the blackening of its leader Pramod
Mutalik's face allegedly by youth Congress activists evoked a mixed
response today.
In Udupi district, unidentified persons pelted stones at the residence
of senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Oscar Fernandes
and also at that of former minister Vasantha Salian at Kaup in the wee
hours.
Vehicular movement was affected in coastal districts of Udupi and
Mangalore. Operators suspended bus services in Udupi after Sene
activists forcibly stopped them and hurled stones on a few vehicles,
police said.
Traffic was also affected in Mangalore, Gadag, Belgaum and Hubli,
where the Sene men forced shop owners to down their shutters.
More than 200 persons were taken into preventive custody here last
night.Police have beefed up the security in the state to avert any
untoward incident.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/515238_Ram-Sene-sponsored-bandh-evokes-mixed-response
BJP to launch campaign against Omar
‘PC Talking CM’s Language’
GK NEWS NETWORK
Srinagar, Feb 12: The Bhartiya Janta Party has decided to launch a
country wide campaign against the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, for
his “anti national policies.”
“Omar Abdullah is encouraging anti-national policies and elements. The
BJP rejects centre’s move to grant amnesty to militants stranded in
Pakistan administered Kashmir. ”BJP’s newly elected state president,
Shamsher Singh told Greater Kashmir.
He said that BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari would visit Jammu
in last week of February and the modalities of the campaign would be
finalized after his visit.
Singh said that Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, was talking Omar’s
language.
“The Home Minister endorsing Omar Abdullah’s proposal proves that both
centre and the state are hell bent upon ruining India.”
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/today/full_story.asp?Date=13_2_2010&ItemID=78&cat=1
Nitin Gadkari in Gandhigiri mode
NDTV Correspondent, Friday February 12, 2010, New Delhi
BJP President Nitin Gadkari is in Gandhigiri mode. He has told
partymen to work like an NGO and reconnect with the people at the
grass-root level.
First he refused to dress in khadi like the usual neta now he has
asked partymen to reconnect to the aam admi by working like NGO
workers.
To implement Gadkari's Gandhigiri, the BJP may have to:
Operate free tuition centres and career counseling for students
Distribute free text books
Toy banks in slums
Setting up health clinics, blood donor lists
Free health assistance to old and disabled
The message in this is to regain credibility. The BJP has to work for
the aam admi, not just be a political opponent.
The BJP's Antyodaya is perhaps an open admission that the party has
lost touch with the grassroots. Though party leaders deny it -
insiders admit this is the RSS' response to Rahul Gandhi's rural
forays.
That is why the first Antyodaya workshop was for young MPs.
Anurag Thakur, BJP MP, "If we work for people then only our base will
expand."
Gadkari's critics say this is mere tokenism, but his supporters say,
for too long BJP has been in news for fighting strident Hindutva,
this, however, is a positive signal.
Comments
Posted by Preeti on Feb 12, 2010
RSS does a lot of good work for aam admi. Please take the time to
revisit what RSS men were doing to help the tsunami victims. But sadly
no one reports that.
Posted by Ravi on Feb 12, 2010
If Rahul Gandhi does it..... All the media go ga ga about that........
If BJP does it, media reports it with sarcasm.... People like us need
the media to be unbiased. I am loosing my hopes on the Indian media.
Posted by Ravi on Feb 12, 2010
If Rahul Gandhi does it..... All the media go ga ga about that........
If BJP does it, media reports it with sarcasm.... People like us need
the media to be unbiased. I am loosing my hopes on the Indian
media.
Posted by Ramesh.V.Naivaruni on Feb 12, 2010
The change in the outlook of the partymen was necessary in the current
context of political matrix in the country. Nitin a management
graduate will put into use his skills that he has learnt to make it
more appropiate to reconnect the party with the common Man. Unlike
other political outfits BJP when it was formed was a very disciplined
party with a leaning on the RSS philosophy and firstly they had the
urge to serve the people which propelled it to make it to the Ruling
party at the Centre but the same power corrupted them and cost was its
discipline and instead of loyal worker it was liquour baraon, mining
baron, paper baron and corporate Baron took the role and Mafia was
also involved in its party affairs and to retain power BJP too like
other parties used every thing to stay afloat and in doing so they
compromsed in their philosophy of serving the country which inturn
serving the people. Having said all this, this is just not the case
with BJP alone they just fell into the compulsions of political
reality started ajusting their values based approach to political
reality and told the country still they are what they were and that
was farce and people rejected them in the last husting and still they
were able to retain some states but again there were compromises and
the legacy still continues. Nitin with all his RSS leaning comes from
a busness background and it is possible for him to re-root the value
system in the realistic terms and approach that he has adopoted should
be fetted and he should be deligent to organise and re-communicate the
lost values and standards in BJP and bring them back to basics.
Ramesh.V.Naivaruni Bangalore
Price politics: Advani, Gadkari meet PM
2 min 09 sec
Wednesday, Jan 20, 2010 , India
The BJP has stepped up pressure on the Centre over the price rise
issue, with a high-profile delegation led by LK Advani and party
president Nitin Gadkari meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on
Wednesday.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1194871
No show for MNIK in Nanded, Pune
1 min 40 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , India
Maha CM Ashok Chavan and Home Minister R R Patil may have managed to
secure a release for MNIK in Mumbai ironically theatres in their own
home districts of Nanded and Sangli have succumbed to Sena's pressure
and have decided not to show the film.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201252
BT baigan ka bharta
19 min 03 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , India
The Great Indian Tamasha takes a look at the debate over introducing
Bt brinjal and what the government is doing about it.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201249
Have Mumbai defeated the Shiv Sena?
39 min 23 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , India
Even after the Shiv Sena threat, the people of Mumbai came out in
large numbers to watch SRK's film My Name Is Khan. But have they
really defeated the Shiv Sena? We debate.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201241
MNIK house full in US, Canada
1 min 37 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , United States
Monday is a President's Day holiday in the US and so MNIK has the
opportunity to earn strong box-office receipts over the long weekend
holiday.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201245
Leander Paes roots for SRK
1 min 48 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , India
Tennis ace Leander Paes speaks out in support for Shah Rukh Khan, says
what the Bollywood actor said was his personal opinion.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201236
SRK walks the red carpet in Berlin
1 min 35 sec
Saturday, Feb 13, 2010 , India
My Name Is Khan premiered at the Berlin film festival. Shah Rukh Khan,
Kajol and Karan Johar were there, with some fans waiting 11 hours
under the snow to get a glimpse of SRK.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201220
MNIK release: Who won? Who lost?
2 min 02 sec
Friday, Feb 12, 2010 , India
With the Shiv Sena protests on My Name Is Khan being diffused, the
Maharashtra government was quick to claim victory, but it was a
commercial victory for multiplex owners who were able to cash in on
its success.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201016
Friday, Feb 12, 2010 , India
Shah Rukh's movies are known to be very popular with the international
audience and it's generating considerable buzz at the Berlin Film
Festival where some people paid 1000 euros for a ticket to the show.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1200986
Gauri Khan: Shahrukh is happy the film's released
0 min 53 sec
Friday, Feb 12, 2010 , India
On Friday evening, Shah Rukh Khan's wife, Gauri, went to Cinemax
cinema in Versova to watch My Name Is Khan.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1200974
First show of My Name Is Khan in Bangalore
1 min 43 sec
Friday, Feb 12, 2010
Fans in Bangalore have ensured packed shows, stressing that they want
to support Shah Rukh Khan for having the courage of his convictions,
and for refusing to apologize to the Shiv Sena.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1200905
Security and Eager Crowds Greet Bollywood Film
European Pressphoto Agency
Mumbai police officers arrest a woman as she protests against the
movie ‘My Name Is Khan’ outside the Fun Cinema multiplex during its
release in Mumbai on Friday.
By JIM YARDLEY
Published: February 12, 2010
MUMBAI, India — With thousands of police officers providing security,
the latest blockbuster from Bollywood’s biggest star opened Friday,
despite threats and protests from a radical political party that had
vowed to block the film in this capital of India’s movie industry.
The Mumbai police arrested at least 50 members of the Shiv Sena
political party on charges of rioting and unlawful assembly after they
tried to disrupt the screening of the film, “My Name is Khan,” Indian
news outlets reported. Some smaller theaters, anxious about possible
violence, chose not to screen the film, but the city’s major
multiplexes went ahead and were rewarded by packed audiences. People
flocked to the film in other cities across India.
Both sides claimed victory on Friday. Shiv Sena leaders said their
protests forced many theaters to cancel screenings, while the film’s
star, Shah Rukh Khan, who is attending an official premiere in Berlin,
sent a message to his fans via Twitter saying he was “humbled by this
show of love & kindness.”
The controversy is rooted in a standoff between Mr. Khan and Shiv
Sena’s leader, Bal Thackeray. For years, Mr. Thackeray has intimidated
Bollywood with threats to disrupt movie openings. Eager to excite his
base of supporters in the Hindu right wing, Mr. Thackeray and his son,
Uddhav, pounced on a recent comment by Mr. Khan about Pakistani
cricket players.
Last month, a controversy erupted after no Pakistani players were
selected in the recent draft of the Indian Premier League. Mr. Khan,
who owns a team in the league, said some should have been included, a
sentiment expressed by others, including India’s home minister.
But Mr. Thackeray demanded an apology from Mr. Khan, saying he had
insulted Mumbai, given the 2008 terror attack here by militants
trained in Pakistan.
Without an apology, Mr. Thackeray threatened to unleash a protest by
his party members, known for a history of violence. Many analysts say
Shiv Sena deliberately focused on Mr. Khan because he is Muslim. The
party has led campaigns against Muslims and others.
Mr. Khan did not apologize, and the situation became a national
political melodrama. Ashok Chavan, chief minister of the state of
Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai, vowed that Shiv Sena would not
disrupt the film, and the police made precautionary arrests of an
estimated 2,000 party members. Mr. Chavan, a member of the Congress
Party, attended a matinee on Friday with other state leaders.
In the morning, some theaters still had not decided whether to go
forward. At the CR2 multiplex in the Nariman Point area, more than 50
police officers were posted outside, many holding nightsticks as they
milled about.
“We are here to protect them,” P. A. Repale, a police inspector, said
of the theater owners. “Whether they run the show or not is up to
them.”
By afternoon, many theaters began showing the film to packed
audiences, according to news reports. Elsewhere in India, the film
opened to big audiences, with reports of a few incidents of minor
violence and vandalism. In New Delhi, the movie was showing on 70
screens, some showing it more than 10 times during the day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/world/asia/13mumbai.html
My Name Is Bal Thackeray1
In the middle of the Shiv Sena’s rampage against Shah Rukh Khan’s My
Name Is Khan in Bombay, came the delightful news that someone had
blackened Pramod Muthalik’s face in Bangalore just as he was preparing
to oppose Valentine’s Day celebrations on Sunday.
I think it is rich that he should describe the act as “undemocratic”
and against freedom of expression – as though such freedoms are the
prerogative of just the bigots of this country and the rest of us have
no democratic rights or freedom to do as we please, at all!
But that also brought to mind the fact that perhaps the Shiv Sena in
Bombay has been the biggest loser this Valentine season. They are the
original party poopers of Valentine’s Day celebrations – there was a
time when Bal Thackeray had become synonymous with the term. I recall
a friend in a raging fight with her husband who would not take her out
to dinner one Valentine’s day one year. When this musty and old-
fashioned gent started a spiel on Indian culture and traditions, my
friend walked off in a huff, muttering, “There is no fun in asking Bal
Thackeray out to dinner, anyway!”
Now the sainiks have no time to mount an attack as of yore on card and
gift companies who might want to make a killing as people celebrate
their love for each other. In any case, they have no reason. The Shiv
Sena is now in the hands of Thackeray’s son Uddhav and he has no love
lost for his divorced sister-in-law, Smita.
According to my information from inside Matoshree, the Sena only ever
took up the anti-Valentine’s Day cause purely for reasons of personal
pique. When they started the campaign sometime in the late Nineties,
Smita was very thick with her father-in-law Bal Thackeray. And
Thackeray Sr was pretty miffed one December when a very well-known
card and gift company –which puts up huge Valentines Day hearts and
arches all across urban India — refused to sponsor his daughter-in-
law’s Mukti Foundation event in the battle against AIDS.
I am told that they had burnt their fingers the previous year – they
were not paid their share of the dues even after several reminders and
appeals and so decided to cut their losses by determining never to
sponsor such an event ever again. None of Thackeray’s cajoling,
pleading or threatening would budge this company.
So when Valentine’s Day came around a few weeks later in February,
Thackeray decided to get even. For years after that the Sena
vandalised all card shops and gift outlets on Valentine’s Day – and
then, one year, it abruptly ceased. It must have been a coincidence
surely that by then the reins had been handed over to Uddhav and his
brother divorced that year. I believe Uddhav saw no point in opposing
something that had caught on like fire, particularly for someone he
considered no longer a member of the Thackeray household; indeed for
someone he felt had no claim to the Thackeray name any longer.
It is also significant that Raj Thackeray actually encouraged the
celebration of love soon after he formed his Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena –he put up posters encouraging youths to learn ball room dancing
(though that stopped after the first year when he received flak for
encouraging westernisation among Indian youth).
Today, the whole world has seen how Shah Rukh Khan has stood up to Bal
Thackeray and refused to pay up – yes, at the end of the day, that is
what, I believe, this was all about. The Sena targeted Shah Rukh only
because he had a film coming up and knew that producers and
distributors would rather buy off the trouble than risk vandalisation
and block crores of rupees riding on their films (that’s what Karan
Johar did after all vis-à-vis Wake Up, Sid and Raj Thackeray). I
salute Shah Rukh for keeping producers and distributors, too, from
giving in to such low blackmailing tactics.
However, very few people know that much before Shah Rukh, one card
company in India had silently determined not to give in to cheap arm-
twisting and risked – even suffered – vandalisation and monetary
losses for years before the Sena got off its back and the celebration
of love began to happen in Bombay in right earnest.
Of course, the individual for whom these obstructionist activities
were undertaken was herself organising highly expensive celebratory
dinners for couples at her various restaurants across the city much
before the vandalisation ceased, quite exposing the duplicity of the
Shiv Sena in its campaigns – a point that has now been underscored by
Raj Thackeray. For the first time I agree with Raj – if the Sena can
allow cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan to go forward
unfettered, then they have an ulterior motive in targeting Shah Rukh
Khan.
And that is not because he is Muslim or supported Pakistani cricket
players. It is because he had a film coming up which had nearly a
billion rupees riding on it. And opportunities like these are not
something to let go of — if Your Name Is Bal Thackeray.
(32 votes, average: 4.63 out of 5)
10 Responses to “My Name Is Bal Thackeray”
Vijay Jung Thapa Says:
February 12th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Very nice blog Sujata — timely and intuitive.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Thanks, Vijay
J E JAFFER Says:
February 12th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Bal Thackeray has nothing to give to people of mumbai but trouble,
he is seating at home with how many policeman guarding him what for..
people should stand up n vote him out n police should charge him for
all the trouble .
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
That’s what the police threatened today — they will charge the Shiv
Sainiks for all the damage to property. Now the Sena is seeking refuge
in a Shahrukh tweet and hinting about withdrawing the agitation.
Ramesh N Says:
February 12th, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Completly agreed…. whenever such things happen, people used to be
quite. For a change, justice starts to prevail. Ex: blackened Pramod
Muthalik’s face, Rathore’s face hit and now SRK’s movie running house
full….. great.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 7:09 pm
You need just one person to show the way. Shahrukh just did that.
Manish Kumar Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Nice article Ms Anandan, and I pity the card company which had to face
losses for years for having refused the donation. I wonder if this
information would have helped earlier when the anti valentine days
agitation were at their height. Nevertheless, it just reiterates my
beleif that all the political parties (and I really mean all of them)
always have an ulterior motive behind any cause that they take up.
Kushal Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Great piece, Sujata. But I’m with Manish - not only the Sena(s) but
ALL political parties have ulterior motives behind their causes.
Kushal Reply:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Btw, do you suppose the Sena will demand a cut of MNIK’s takings since
they have practically driven the whole nation to watch it, just to
take a stand?
Anil Says:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Not much debate when Nilesh Rane a congress MP held Maharashtra to
ransom on the film Zhenda. He even managed to have the film release
postponed. Nice government sponsored promotion for MNIK. 24 hours
prime time coverage. Great going. Keep it up
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/02/12/my-name-is-bal-thackeray/
Stung Sainiks force shops to shut
TNN, 13 February 2010, 05:43am IST
MUMBAI: Frustrated over the release of ‘My Name Is Khan’, despite a
diktat from their leader Bal Thackeray that the film should not be
screened, Shiv Sainiks forced several city shopkeepers to down their
shutters on Friday afternoon.
According to Viren Shah, president of the Federation of Retail
Traders’ Association, small groups of Shiv Sainiks started threatening
shopkeepers in several areas at around 3.30 pm. The areas included
Dadar, Matunga, Sion, Kurla, Chembur, Grant Road, Nana Chowk and
Girgaum. Shopkeepers were threatened with violence if they did not
roll down their shutters. Most of the traders panicked and immediately
closed their establishments.
“Since most of the policemen were posted at cinema halls where the
film was being screened, there were hardly any policemen in shopping
areas. The Sainiks took advantage of this and terrorised the
shopkeepers,’’ Shah complained. “Several traders called up our office
and complained about the Sena’s tactics,’’ he added.
In Chembur, a group of Sainiks tried to enter K-Star mall, where the
film was being shown. Following a police lathi-charge, they fled from
the scene. They then went to a nearby showroom, which had a Shah Rukh
Khan hoarding, and pelted it with stones. Fearing violence, the
showroom’s owner had earlier shifted the vehicles displayed from there
and because of this no cars were damaged. Here, too, the police
resorted to a lathi-charge.
Former corporator Tukaram Kate of the Sena and seven of his associates
were arrested. A senior police official said Kate and his team would
be made to compensate the showroom owner’s for the damage caused.
“The police force was fully backed by home minister R R Patil, which
boosted our morale and helped the release of the film. For the second
time in a week, the Sena was shown its place. The first was when it
threatened to disrupt Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the
city,’’ an additional commissioner observed.
Many people watched the movie just to convey the message to the Sena
that its old tactics would not work anymore. “If it is okay for Bal
Thackeray to entertain Javed Miandad, then what is the harm if Shah
Rukh opines that Pakistani cricketers should be permitted to play?’’
asked a cine-goer at Inox, Suman Gupte.
Mumbai calls Sena bluff as MNIK opens to full house
Prafulla Marpakwar & Bharati Dubey, TNN, 13 February 2010, 01:51am IST
MUMBAI: Film exhibitors and the movie-going public, with generous help
from the government machinery, came together on Friday to show
political vandalism its place in Mumbai.
`My Name Is Khan', the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer whose release the Shiv
Sena had vowed to oppose tooth and nail, opened in 35 out of the 63
screens that were slated to release it across Mumbai. Given the
indecision among exhibitors and in even government circles on
Thursday, Friday's show was superlative.
The entire government and the Congress-NCP machinery was out in full
force to ensure that the possible no-show turned into a gradual and
dignified rebuttal of the politics of blackmail and violence. From
state home minister R R Patil to his colleague, Naseem Khan, to Mumbai
North MP Sanjay Nirupam, the Democratic Front brigade presented a
unified face to take the wind out of the Sena's sail.
But TOI learnt that all this might not have been possible without a
nudge from the Centre and a thinly veiled warning to the state
government that Central paramilitary forces would be deployed in
Mumbai if the state government failed to ensure that the movie had at
least a symbolic release.
Sensing that he had the support of the establishment, Khan himself
became a little less circumspect in his tweets. One of the first
tweets of the day had him expressing ``wholeheartedly regret''. ``If
anything I have said wittingly or unwittingly to have disturbed any
sentiments (sic), I wholeheartedly regret,'' he said in that tweet.
After some time, another tweet followed, the timing coinciding with
the news that the film had finally been released in Mumbai: ``Just
hearing some media reports. Just so all know... what I say here is for
my fans across the world. That's all.'' This tweet made it clear what
his message for the Thackerays was.
But, if the movie released in Mumbai and Khan was in a position to
tweet his messages, he would have to be grateful to the Centre. In an
extremely embarrassing turn of events for the state government, Union
home secretary G K Pillai convened a special meeting in New Delhi with
senior ministry and Intelligence Bureau officials to review the law
and order situation in Mumbai in the wake of the Shiv Sena protests
against Khan's comments on the non-inclusion of Pakistani cricketers
in IPL.
``It was an embarrassing situation for us. It was the first time that
the Union home secretary had held a special meeting to review the
state situation following an agitation launched by a political party.
Such review meetings are usually convened to take stock of the
situation in the event of a terror strike or a bomb blast,'' a state
home department official told TOI.
Officials admitted it was Khan's proximity to the Gandhi family that
ensured the release of the movie. Chavan had been personally
monitoring the situation for a week even as Patil was negotiating with
exhibitors and theatre owners. Over 2,500 hard-core Sena activists
were arrested in the run-up to the film's release and Chavan backed it
up by threatening to withdraw the security cover provided to Uddhav
Thackeray and withdrawing the security given to a section of senior
Shiv Sena legislators.
A confident Chavan rubbed it in after Friday's show. ``The Marathi
manoos is fed up with the Shiv Sena's vandalism,'' he said,
complimenting people for ignoring the Sena's threats and thanking
theatre owners for having faith in the government. ``No political
party should impose its will on people in a democracy,'' he added.
But it was Friday's meet in New Delhi that finally turned the tide.
``When a message reached New Delhi that chances of the film releasing
on Friday were bleak, the Centre made it known to both Chavan and
Patil that it was their responsibility to ensure a safe release,'' he
said.
It was after that that Chavan and Patil had late-night deliberations
with exhibitors and there was a fresh round of discussions on Friday
morning, when a section of theatre owners agreed to exhibit the film
if the home minister was himself present at one of the multiplexes. It
was initially proposed that both Chavan and Patil would attend the
inaugural show but the CM later changed his mind and chose to monitor
the situation from his official residence.
Patil did the star turn at Inox, Nariman Point, accompanied by over
100 constables and officials in uniform and plain clothes. He stayed
there for less than five minutes and a similar scene played it out in
about a dozen theatres across Mumbai, with plain-clothed policemen
sometimes outnumbering the crowd; the first three rows at every
theatre remained empty or were peopled by policemen. But the fact that
35 of the 63 screens actually showed the movie - with all indication
that the others, too, would follow suit - had exhibitors crowing in
delight. Nagpur, too, followed Mumbai in having screenings after some
indecision in the morning though no plex in either Pune or Navi Mumbai
released MNIK on Friday.
Limited release of 'My Name Is Khan' post noon
TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES, 12 February 2010, 11:43am IST
MUMBAI: Multiplex chains in Mumbai have decided to have a limited
release of Shah Rukh Khan's movie 'My Name Is Khan' post noon on
Friday.
Multiplex owners met this morning at Fun Cinemas in suburban Andheri
where it was decided that each multiplex chain will open one of its
properties in Mumbai to screen the film and see how it goes, a source
told PTI.
The film would be screened in all theatres outside Mumbai, as there is
no trouble, the source said.
However, most of the single screens have decided not to release the
movie.
The Shiv Sena has threatened to disrupt its screening, protesting the
actor's remarks favouring inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL-3.
Manoj Desai, owner of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir single-screen
theatres has also decided against releasing the film. "Shiv Sainiks
tore the screen at Maratha Mandir even before the release of the film.
Why should I take chances."
The film, which released worldwide today, ran into trouble with Shiv
Sena trying to disrupt the screening protesting Khan's comments on
Pakistani players in IPL 3.
In an embarrassing show of no-confidence in the Congress-led state
government, multiplex and theatre owners on Thursday had decided not
to release the Shah Rukh Khan flick in Mumbai and other parts of the
state on Friday.
Tinsel town insiders reacted with shock and dismay at the possible no-
show of the movie in Bollywood capital and were calculating financial
losses but civil society in Mumbai said the loss went much beyond the
movie's profit-and-loss economics. The general feeling was that the
multiplex owners' fears exposed an enormous lack of confidence in the
government's ability to take on political blackmail and provide
protection against vandalism.
The multiplex owners' apprehensions, besides being a major
embarrassment for Chavan and the government, had put huge pressure on
Khan to make it up to the Thackerays as a film's performance in Mumbai
can make or mar its overall fortunes. A teleconference between the
actor (in Berlin) and the producers came off in the evening, when Khan
was formally told of Mumbai theatre owners' decision, but the mood in
the Khan camp was downbeat even before that.
Khan stuck to his decision not to ``apologise'' to anyone but the
`tweets' he sent out during the day were markedly conciliatory. ``(I)
feel awful that Balasaheb and Uddhav have misconstrued my words. The
reactions of the Sena workers seem to make me believe that. Don't want
mayhem, anger and violence 'cos of our beautiful film which talks
about repairing a bruised and divided world. I hope my tweets clear
this cloud of confusion. I hope peace prevails and the city is at
rest. Nobody wants Mumbaikars or their property hurt and destroyed,
least of all me. This also is the last time I clarify or say anything
on this topic. This is not a justification, it's just reiterating the
facts,'' he said. But he seemed to have resigned himself to the no-
show. ``Now what happens with the release, the film, is the film's
fate,'' he tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi articulates Nehruvian vision of modern India (Comment)
February 12th, 2010 SindhToday
The first major intervention which Rahul Gandhi made in government
policy was on the nuclear deal. But for his support, Manmohan Singh
would not have been able to secure the party’s backing for it.
In fact, the prime minister had virtually given up any hope when he
said that life would not come to an end without the deal. That was
after Sonia Gandhi had conceded that the communists had a point in
their objections.
Clearly, it was Rahul’s championing of the deal which ultimately won
the day. What his initiative showed was that he was capable of guiding
the party (and, therefore, the government) along the path chosen by
him – and even in a direction which was not initially favoured by his
mother.
The same determination to set the agenda was also evident from his
preference for the party to go it alone in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in
the general elections. It was considered too daring a venture at
first, but the unexpectedly good showing by the Congress in Uttar
Pradesh where its tally of parliamentary seats jumped from nine to 21,
demonstrated that Rahul’s reading of the popular mood was right.
Since then, much of the young general secretary’s efforts have been
directed at enabling the Congress to return to its golden days in the
years immediately after independence when it towered over the Indian
political scene like a colossus.
The endeavour may not succeed, of course. Or it may take a long time
to become reality. However, Rahul’s objectives may not relate solely
to the question of turning the Congress into the Grand Old Party it
once was in terms of seats in state assemblies and in parliament. An
equally significant intention is to achieve this end by winning back
the Muslim and Dalit votes in order to revive the old, unbeatable
upper caste-Muslim-Dalit support base, which was the Congress’s
forte.
Why this combination collapsed is, of course, well known. First, the
Muslims began drifting away during the Emergency of 1975-77 when they
felt that they were being specifically targeted during the family
planning drives orchestrated by Sanjay Gandhi. Then the exodus became
more pronounced following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
While the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the nineties saw
the upper castes turning to it in increasing numbers from a confused
Congress, the appearance of a combative Dalit-oriented party like the
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) led to the erosion of the Congress’s
traditional influence on the community.
True, some of Rahul’s efforts to resuscitate the old equations have
been amateurish, as when he told a rally that the Babri Masjid would
not have been demolished if a Nehru-Gandhi was at the head of the
government. It is also undeniable that one of the reasons why the
Muslims have been trickling back to the Congress is the failure of
leaders like Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav to retain their trust
because of their failures of governance.
In this respect, BSP’s Mayawati has proved to be a more formidable
opponent. Even then, the fact that Rahul’s forays into Dalit villages
have unnerved her is evident from her somewhat tasteless comment that
Rahul washed himself with a “special soap” after spending time with
the Dalits. The crude jibe underlined her attempt to rekindle the old
casteist prejudices for her own partisan purposes.
But even more significant than these attempts by the young Congress
leader to woo specific groups was the bold stand which he took against
the rabble-rousing tactics and vandalism of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai,
forcing the Congress-led government to act against the Sainiks after
many years.
As in the case of the nuclear deal, Rahul was overturning his party’s
habit of mollycoddling the Sainiks in order to placate the Marathi
vote bank. The Congress’s cynical cossetting of these parochial
elements began in the 1960s with the propping up of the Shiv Sena
leader, Bal Thackeray, for use against the communist trade unions, and
in failing to take any substantive action against him and the Sainiks
for involvement in the Mumbai riots of 1992-93 after the Babri Masjid
demolition.
More recently, the state government was not only seen to be “soft” on
the Maharashtra Navnirman Samiti (MNS) despite its role in attacking
Hindi-speaking taxi drivers from north India, but the administration
also played its own parochial card by once saying that prospective
drivers must know Marathi if they wanted their licences.
It was only when Rahul made it clear during a visit to Mumbai – which
he called Bombay perhaps to irritate Bal and Raj Thackeray – that he
was dead against such localism that the government decided to crack
down on the Sainiks by arresting more than 1,600 of them in connection
with their protests against Shah Rukh Khan’s latest film, “My Name Is
Khan”.
What is clear from Rahul’s support for the nuclear deal, plans for
reviving the party and firm stand against the Shiv Sena and the MNS is
that he wants to take the Congress back to the days of his great
grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, when it was a modern, secular party
which stood for pluralism against the narrow-minded insular politics
of the regional outfits.
(13-02-2010-Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached
at agan...@mail.com)
[LM1]
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/104556.htm
Indian MP sees bright future for Saudi women
K.S. Ramkumar I Arab News
Najma Heptullah
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s consistent effort to raise the status of women
has impressed Indian parliamentarian Najma Heptullah.
“During my brief visit to the Kingdom, I interacted with women and
their organizations in Riyadh and Jeddah, and am convinced about the
manner in which the Kingdom is going ahead with tackling women’s
issues, especially in further improving their position in society and
creating employment opportunities,” she said in an interview with Arab
News over the weekend.
Najma, who performed Umrah recently, said a major stride taken by the
Kingdom is in appointing a woman as minister.
“I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that Nora bint Abdullah Al-
Fayez, a well educated former teacher, was made deputy education
minister in charge of a new department for female students. This is
just one example to show that women can look forward to better
opportunities in the future,” said Najma, a leader of the opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former deputy chairperson of the
Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament), who has been working for the
cause of women through her political career spanning several decades.
Speaking about Indian Muslims, the veteran parliamentarian said:
“Although, some Muslims have been doing exceptionally well, there is
still a lot to be done for those who belong to the lower strata of
society.”
“They need to be educated and trained, and gainfully employed,” she
said while emphasizing that the federal and state governments in India
need to show their seriousness in raising the status of Muslims in the
country.
Asked about the events unfolding in Mumbai and elsewhere in the
country on the release of a movie “My Name is Khan,” Najma said: “It’s
nothing but one-upmanship between Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and
his estranged nephew Raj Thackeray, who heads the rival Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena.
“Each time one Sena makes a statement or takes a stand on some issue
or the other, the other Sena makes a move adopting a challenging
posture, thus taking Mumbai and Maharashtra state ransom. This has
nothing to do with the movie or its makers or actors,” Najma said,
adding that she hoped the law and order situation would not worsen.
On the move initiated by India for a secretarial level talks with
Pakistan, she said she welcomed it as such interactions would pave the
way for normalizing relations between the two neighbors. She said she
was keeping her fingers crossed on the outcome of such talks as
“Pakistan has not shown its seriousness in recognizing that its land
was being misused by terrorists for plotting against India.”
Bachchan finally breaks his silence on Shahrukh-Shiv Sena issue
After many wondered what was keeping Amitabh Bachchan tight lipped on
the Shahrukh Shiv Sena issue, the Big B has finally broken his
silence.
In a recent event, Amitabh spoke on the subject. He was reluctant to
answer the question first, but however when the question was repeated
twice, he replied back saying, "I think the topic has been stretched
way too far. We should be talking about peace and harmony." It seems
he didn't like the way things turned out to be.
Amitabh's association with Bal Thackeray has been very well known.
This could be the reason why Big B didn't comment on the issue
earlier.
With the issue of SRK-Shiv Sena still on, SRK's film is scheduled to
release todayand it is good that Big B's wish to talk about peace and
harmony is followed upon.
Meanwhile Shahrukh and his flick MNIK became a target of Shiv Sena's
ire, when Shahrukh favoured the inclusion of Pakistani players in
IPL.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people only– Thackeray
threatens with weapons
bent on ethnically cleansing the city of all “foreigners”Rahul Gandhi
Bharati states are based on language. The current rioting in Mumbai
and Maharashtra was inevitable. The formation of states on the basis
of language and ethnicity was wrong. Bharat had 560 states. It tried
to amalgamate the states into linguistic havens. The Language based
havens have not become xenophobic forcing Delhi to form fifty such
states–each seeking its own agenda and all seeking some distance from
Delhi in terms of sovereignty and secession. Kashmir and Assam for
example want total independence from Delhi. Othe states are in varying
degrees of confusion and chaos–putting the entire idea of “India” into
flux.
Shiv Sena, known for its Marathi chauvinism, began to make its
presence felt, mainly through the vituperative utterances of its
leader, Bal Thackeray, against outsiders. Now, a breakaway group,
the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Bal Thackeray’s nephew,
Raj, has made its appearance. One India
Claiming to stand for the Marathi manoos (men), their politics of sub-
nationalism is marked by violence against immigrants and perceived
“aliens” – whether south Indians in the 1960s, Muslims in the nineties
or north Indians today. One India
Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has demanded 80 per
cent of the jobs in private companies be reserved for the Marathi
speaking habitants
Raj Thackeray, chief MNS had given a statement that MNS will bring
taxi operations in Mumbai to a standstill if permits are not given to
Marathi persons only, they will simply not allow any relaxation in the
policy.
It was on Wednesday that the decision was taken by the cabinet to give
taxi permits to those who resided in Maharashtra for 15 years and who
could speak, read and write Marathi. Little About
Mumbai , Jan 26 (ANI): The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena (MNS) distributed Marathi language alphabet books to north Indian
taxi and auto rickshaw drivers as part of an exercise to teach them
Marathi. One India
MNS activists asked taxi drivers
Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood? to learn the
language within 40 days or else return to their native places.hey also
pasted pamphlets on taxis and auto rickshaws. One India.
The Sena is angry with Khan for backing the participation of Pakistani
cricketers in the IPL. Sainiks gheraoed SRK’s home in suburban Bandra
Sunday, and have been ripping the film’s posters at several places in
Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Indian Express
“We can’t release the film and put our audience under threat unless
the matter is resolved,” said a senior executive of a national
multiplex chain on condition of anonymity. Indian Express
Raking up once again the sons-of-the-soil issue, the Raj Thackeray led
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has demanded 80 per cent of the jobs
in private companies be reserved for the Marathi speaking habitants.
It seems increasingly likely that Bharat will either explode like
Yugosaliva or implode like the Soviet Union.
Posted by the taxidriver786 at 2:11 PM
http://muslim786malaysia.blogspot.com/2010/02/will-shiv-sena-marhati-xenophobia.html
‘King’ Khan says his regret tweet meant for fans, not Shiv Sena
By ANI
February 12th, 2010
BERLIN/MUMBAI - Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan has issued a fresh
tweet a short while ago, saying that the regret that he had expressed
earlier for the disturbances surrounding the release of his latest
film-My Name is Khan (MNiK) — was not directed at the right-wing Shiv
Sena, but meant for his fans.
Khan expressed his regret on social networking site Twitter over his
alleged remarks favouring the inclusion of Pakistani players in the
third edition of the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament.
“I thank you all for this… apologise for giving stress over the last
few days… and now truly know the meaning of being humbled. Lov you all
so much,” Shah Rukh posted on his twitter.
Wishing his fans, he wrote: “…a big thanks. Happy Birthday… best of
luck for exams… and happiness. I am humbled by this show of love and
kindness. So don’t know what else to say. Overwhelmed and promise will
make India proud with my hard work,” he wrote.
The film, which tells the story of a Rizwan Khan (Shah Rukh) coping
with events in post 9/11 America, released Friday with over 2,000
prints.
It opened amid uncertainty in 63 theatres in Mumbai following protests
by the Shiv Sena, which has opposed the film to protest Shah Rukh’s
comments favouring the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the Indian
Premier League.
“Am I gushing too much and regretting too often. Well, let me. It’s
the first time I am a fan of my audience… a huge hug. You all are
rockstars. Will you all give me your autographs and pose for pictures
with me… will keep it in my heart forever. My name is fan and I am not
a star… you are.
“I promise will only make wonderful films from now on forever. All the
ones that missed the mark and didn’t please you… ooops …sorry again.”
An earlier tweet had said: “If I have said anything wittingly or
unwittingly, have disturbed any sentiments, I express whole-hearted
regret.” This, he said, was meant for his fans and not the Shiv Sena.
Around ten multiplex owners in Mumbai decided to go ahead with the
screening of the movie, while the single screen theatres decided
against showing the movie for the time being, fearing violence.
The Shiv Sena was upset with Khan’s statements that Pakistani
cricketers should be allowed to play in the Indian Premier League
(IPL) inspite of the 26/11-terror attack. (ANI)
Civil War in India: Unrest, rioting in Mumbai: 1200 Shiv Sena men
arrested
Written by Moin Ansari World Feb 12, 2010 There is much acrimony
between Delhi and Maharashtra.
They can’t even agree on the name. The Indian National Congress calls
it by its old name Bombay, and the Shiv Sena leaders, the Thackarays
insist on calling it by its older name. The Shiv Sena version of
history tells them that the name of the city was Mumbai.
■Sena vs. RSS: Saffron Fascists fight to lead Maharashtra secession
■City state of Bombay: Independent Republic of Maharashtra
■Mumbai belongs to Marathi people only– Thackeray threatens with
weapons
■Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
■Shining India:The impediments.
Mr. Bal Thakery Hinduvata extremist Hindu of India “Those who don’t
join us will be considered enemy states” Nehru declared. Many
acquiesced, some didn’t. All met the force of arms. The tensions still
simmer after 60 years of independence from the British.
The British know how to rule, the Socialistic Mr. Nehru didnt.
The glue that kept them together was a strict code of socialism, and
lots of browbeating. After 1980, things began to unravel. The opening
of the markets and economic freedoms now is impacting Bharat like the
pressures on the USSR forced its implosion. Bharat will either implode
like the USSR or explode like Yugoslavia.
Today the progeny of 560 states want to be free of Delhi in varying
degrees of independence. Assam, Kashmir and the Naxals which control
40% of the land mass of Bharat (with no central authority) want
nothing to do with Delhi. Other states want autonomy or a loose
confederation with Delhi.
In the case of Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, a fascist organization is
hell bent on ethnically cleansing the state. The center, recognizing
Mumbai’s importance as the commercial capital of Bharat, want to make
Bombay federal Union territory like Delhi. This would similar to the
District of Columbia for Washington.
This is the basis of the clash.
Modi & Hindu fundamentalist Modi in “India” funded by US Gujaratis.
Governor Bobby Jindal is financed by Indian American Hotel Association
and he supports the IAHA which funds Modi
Christians in India raped & murdered by Hinduists supported by network
in the US
Indian Gujarat Genocide Page
Will Shiv Sena Marhati xenophobia destroy Bollywood?
MUMBAI: In a major crackdown, city police have arrested over 1,200
Shiv Sainiks ahead of the release of Shah Rukh-Kajol starer ’My Name
Is Khan’after the party stepped up its protest against the film over
the actor’s IPL remarks. ( Watch Video )
The 63 theatres across the city that would screen Karan Johan directed
‘My Name…’ have turned into fortresses with heavy deployment of
police. ( Watch Video )
“In the last 24 hours, over 1,200 Shiv Sainiks have been arrested.
While 955 were arrested under the preventive action, the rest were put
behind bars for different cases, including for protesting outside the
theatres, vandalising screens among others,” said Ramesh Bagwe,
minister of state for home affairs said.
The Sena activists, including office bearers, were charged with
rioting, damaging property, unlawful assembly and trespassing, police
said. Some people roaming near Broadway cinema at suburban Borivali
today were picked up on suspicion that they might cause trouble.
Both Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Police Commissioner D
Sivanandhan have held out the assurance of a smooth release of the
film on Friday.
Tight security has been provided to 63 theatres across the city.
Guidelines have also been issued to all police stations by the city
police chief regarding security arrangements.
“We will provide all the security. I appeal to the people of
Maharashtra to go and watch the film and not to be scared by such
threats. In fact, I am also going to watch the movie,” Chavan said.
The Sena renewed its threat not to allow the release of the film days
after party supremo Balasaheb Thackeray said there would be no
disruption in the screening.
Khan has refused to tender any apology as sought by the Sena, saying
he has not said anything wrong, which he needs to retract. Maharashtra
govt cracks down on Shiv Sena, 1200 arrested AGENCIES, 10 February
2010, 06:21pm ISTText Size:|Topics:Shiv Sena, MNIK release, My name is
Khan Mumbai
Right now the Shiv Sena is at odds with the RSS on the amount of and
level of autonomy that Maharashtra should have. The xenophobic RSS
wants Ram Raj in the state and the country. To this end, it is opposed
to the Hindu speaking Northern Bharatis. The language barrier is only
the tip of the iceberg. The Shiv Sena has led the “Mumbai for natives”
and the “Mumbai for Maharashtrians” campaigns that remind the world of
the Serbian ethnic cleanisng of areas that they controlled. The
campaign is directed against all those who do not belong to the
particular gods that the Shiv Sena worships. Language, and ethnicty is
the core of the Shiv Sena campaign.
The RSS’s Saffron Brigade wants Ram Raj in Bharat, but it wants to
portray their soft image in other states where they want to win
elections.
There are many cracks in Bharat–geographic, caste, ethnic, socio-
economic, religious, and theocratic. This is just the begining of the
bankanaization of Bharat. Top 3 Wanted Murderers
Upping the ante, Sena leader Manohar Joshi said, “We will not allow
the movie to be released. Shah Rukh should first apologise to
Balasaheb (Thackeray) and then only we can talk with him.”
In the wake of the protests, leaves of the city policemen have been
cancelled to ensure their full presence. Personnel from State Reserve
Police Force and Home Guards will also be deployed at the theatres,
police said.
Karan Johar, director and co-producer of the film, said the film will
be released as scheduled after he was assured by the Police
Commissioner that adequate security will be provided.
Meanwhile, cinema halls have stopped advance bookings for ‘My Name Is
Khan’ following violent protests by Shiv Sena activists.
Multiplex chains like PVR and Cinemax withdrew their advance bookings
for the film, as did single-screen theatres like Mehul in Mulund and
Shreyas in Ghatkopar, their officials said.
“We have shut the advance bookings for the film as of now. It may open
around 4pm today but nothing is certain at present,” Girish Wankhede,
deputy general manager (corporate communication) of Cinemax, said.
Pramod Madhve, an official from Mehul Theatre, said: “Nothing about
the film’s release is fixed yet. We hope to receive updates by
tomorrow. But the advance bookings have been shut for now.”
A Shreyas Theatre official said: “Bookings have been closed as of now,
we should be in a position to tell you about the release by tomorrow.”
According to TV channels, major multiplexes like PVR, Big Cinemas,
Adlabs and Fun Cinemas too have closed their advance booking windows
for ‘My Name Is Khan’. Maharashtra govt cracks down on Shiv Sena, 1200
arrested AGENCIES, 10 February 2010, 06:21pm ISTText Size:|Topics:Shiv
Sena, MNIK release, My name is Khan Mumbai
■Shiv Sena, known for its Marathi chauvinism, began to make its
presence felt, mainly through the vituperative utterances of its
leader, Bal Thackeray, against outsiders. Now, a breakaway group,
■the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Bal Thackeray’s nephew,
Raj, has made its appearance. One India
■Claiming to stand for the Marathi manoos (men), their politics of sub-
nationalism is marked by violence against immigrants and perceived
“aliens” – whether south Indians in the 1960s, Muslims in the nineties
or north Indians today. One India
■Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has demanded 80
per cent of the jobs in private companies be reserved for the Marathi
speaking habitants
■Raj Thackeray, chief MNS had given a statement that MNS will bring
taxi operations in Mumbai to a standstill if permits are not given to
Marathi persons only, they will simply not allow any relaxation in the
policy.
■It was on Wednesday that the decision was taken by the cabinet to
give taxi permits to those who resided in Maharashtra for 15 years and
who could speak, read and write Marathi. Little About
■Mumbai , Jan 26 (ANI): The Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena (MNS) distributed Marathi language alphabet books to north Indian
taxi and auto rickshaw drivers as part of an exercise to teach them
Marathi. One India
■MNS activists asked taxi drivers to learn the language within 40 days
or else return to their native places.hey also pasted pamphlets on
taxis and auto rickshaws. One India.
■The Sena is angry with Khan for backing the participation of
Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. Sainiks gheraoed SRK’s home in
suburban Bandra Sunday, and have been ripping the film’s posters at
several places in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. Indian Express
■“We can’t release the film and put our audience under threat unless
the matter is resolved,” said a senior executive of a national
multiplex chain on condition of anonymity. Indian Express
MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena is asking MNS chief Raj Thackeray some
uncomfortable questions, after Matoshree Builders, a company
controlled by the MNS chief, demolished an old chawl at Parel, a Shiv
Sena bastion, and started construction of a tower here.
Sena area chief Ajay Choudhary has put banners and hoardings
sarcastically requesting the MNS chief to make sure all artisans,
architects and other workers at this site are ‘Marathi Manoos’ and the
buyers of these posh flats are also ‘Marathi Manoos’.
The banners are to remind Raj Thackeray of his demand that those who
speak Marathi and are born in Maharashtra should be given priority for
jobs in the state. While raising these issues, the area chief
questions the MNS if it will stick to these demands while constructing
this tower.
Parel has a special place in the history of Shiv Sena; it was here the
party grew rapidly since it was dominated by textile mills and most of
the population consisted of Marathi manoos. It was this area in Mumbai
that helped the Shiv Sena end the Left parties’ domination over trade
unions.
Raj Thackeray, after breaking away from Shiv Sena and forming his own
party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena or MNS, has targeted this area
to marginalize rival Uddhav Thackeray.
A senior Shiv Sena leader has told MTonline that a similar strategy
would be used wherever Matoshree Builders began construction of towers
in Mumbai.Employ ‘Marathi Manoos’ only, Sena reminds Raj Thackeray.
Sunil Ghume, Maharashtra Times, 10 February 2010, 11:49am IST
The same ideological struggle between Ram Raj and a veneer of
secularism is being waged in Gujarat with Shiv Sena’s sister party
rules. Gujarat is Mr. Modi’s fiefdom and like Mr. Thakaray in Mumbai,
he will continue to asphyxiate all notions of secularism out of
Gujarat.
There is much tension in Maharashtra, and it goes way beyond the
screening of Shah Rukh Khan’s latest movies which shows the plight of
a Muslim in Post-9/11 America. Shiv Sena is angry at the portrayal of
an innocent Muslim caught in the cross-fire–because such a portrayal
disagrees with their image of Muslims who are cold calculated killers,
good for nothing lazy bums.
Many of Bharat’s neighbors have faced similar ethnic tension. In the
70s the Awami League of Bengal used the same tactics to build up
hatred, and provoke the army into action. In the 80s and 90s, the
Tamil tigers used the same tactics of ethnic cleansing to try to force
the center to meet its demands. In Nepal the Maoists used violence to
make themselves heard. In today’s Bangladesh, the Chamka and the
tribals of Chittagon HIll tracks use the exact same tactics to
pressure Dhaka for inference–a grim reminder to the Awami League that
a country formed on Bengali nationalism has not place for Non-
Bengalis. The Bengalis of Muslim Bengal had hoped that a secular
country based on ethnicity would appeal to the Hindu Bengalis and they
would join Bengal in a Greater bengal. Of course the Hindu Bengalis
rejected that appeal and Bangaldeshis had to search the Two Nation
Theory to justify their existence as a country. The old copies of the
TNT were dug up by Bangladeshi nationalists and put forward in front
of the nation. The musical chairs of Awami League and Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP) is playing havoc with the national identity of
Bangladesh which changes every decade. They however are still united
against incroporation into Bharat.
Today Maharashtra defines the very same centrifugal forces. The Policy
action today does not ported well for the unity of Bharat. Today the
Maharashtrians are being jailed and killed. This will create huge
resentment among the Marhatis who will then seek some sort of autonomy-
thawarting the centers attempt to take away their beloved capital.
The odd voice of linguistic chauvinism, the fallout of the
reorganisation of the states in 1955, has been heard in some areas off
and on. The real purpose has been to gain votes in the name of the
‘stepmotherly treatment’ meted out to a particular community. It must
be admitted that slogans in the name of language or caste has helped.
The only state where parochialism has been constantly fostered by the
Shiv Sena is Maharashtra. The group even won an election with the
support of the BJP, on the slogan ‘throw out outsiders from
Maharashtra’. Bihari labourers were beaten up, something which Raj
Thackeray, nephew of Bal Thackeray, repeated after breaking away from
the Shiv Sena. Kuldip Nayyar
■Mumbai belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi people only– Thackeray
threatens with weapons
■“Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian
mummy,” Thackeray said in an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
■Referring to the 105 people killed during the Sanyukta Maharashtra
Movement dating back to the 1920s, he said, “Have 105 martyrs
sacrificed their lives so that Mumbai becomes a dharamshala (guest
house)”.
■Multiplexes and single-screen theatres in Mumbai have taken off
posters and hoardings of Shah Rukh Khan’s My name is Khan following an
order by the Shiv Sena. Cinema managements declined to come on record,
but their fear of violence by Sainiks was apparent Tuesday, and there
appeared to be some doubt over the film’s release, scheduled for
February 12. Indian ExpressThe growing balakanization of Bharat (aka
India) is seen by many analysts as a growing menace for the world. The
resurgence and growth of the Fascist Hinduist Mahasabah extremsits
that has its genesis in the 1940s, is now waging open war agains the
central government in several states. Current the religious Ram Raj
Saffron banner has been raised in the capital or currency and commerce
of the country. Shiv Sena has publicly announced that it will not
allow the Pakistanis and the Australians to play in the state of
Maharashtra or in Mumbai its capital.This growing fascism afflists
many parts of Bharat–much of it reeling from the territorial
expanisionism of the Read Marxist and Naxalites who control 40% of the
land mass of Bharat.
This iterative cycle of violence will escalate unless Delhi makes some
fundamental changes to its thinking. In all this the people of Mumbai/
Bombay suffer, because the uncertainty will surely impact the
cosmopolitan city and its hallmark, the movie indnustry.
http://www.daily.pk/civil-war-in-india-unrest-rioting-in-mumbai-1200-shiv-sena-men-arrested-16014/
Options
Blog Mantra
An open letter to Uddhav Thackeray – By Rajdeep Sardesai
Dear Udhavjee,
At the very outset, my compliments for the manner in which you’ve
literally ’stolen’ the headlines from your cousin Raj in the last
fortnight. After the Assembly election defeat last October, there were
many who had written you off as a weak, namby-pamby politician, who
would be better off doing photography. But now, it seems that the
‘fire’ which burns inside Bal Thackeray is alive in the son too. After
years of struggling to establish yourself, you have finally discovered
the mantra for success as a Shiv Sena leader: find an ‘enemy’,
threaten and intimidate them, commit the odd violent act, and,
eureka!, you are anointed the true heir to the original ‘T’ company
supremo.
Your cousin has chosen to bash faceless taxi drivers and students
from North India, soft targets who are totally unprotected. You’ve
been much braver. You’ve actually chosen to target national icons:
Sachin Tendulkar, Mukesh Ambani, Shah Rukh Khan, powerful figures who
most Indians venerate. Shah Rukh is no surprise since the Sena has
always been uncomfortable with the Indian Muslim identity. Forty years
ago, your father had questioned Dilip Kumar’s patriotism for accepting
an award from the Pakistani government. You’ve called Shah Rukh a
traitor for wishing to choose Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. That
your father invited Javed Miandad, the former Pakistani captain and a
close relation of Dawood Ibrahim, to your house is a matter of record
that we shall not go into today.
I am a little surprised that you chose to question Ambani and
Tendulkar though. The Sena has always enjoyed an excellent
relationship with corporate India. Why then criticise India’s biggest
businessman for suggesting that Mumbai belongs to all? After all, no
one can deny that Mumbai’s entrepreneurial energy has been driven by
communities from across India. The diatribe against Sachin is even
more strange. He is, alongwith Lata Mangeshkar, Maharashtra’s most
admired and recognised face. Surely, you will agree that Sachin
symbolizes Maharashtrian pride in a manner that renaming shops and
streets in Marathi never can.
Of course, in-between some of your local thugs also attacked the IBN
Lokmat office. I must confess that initially the attack did leave me
outraged. Why would a political outfit that claims to protect
Maharashtrian culture attack a leading Marathi news channel? But on
reflection I realized that we hadn’t been singled out: over the last
four decades, the Shiv Sena has targeted some of Maharashtra’s finest
literary figures and journalistic institutions. That you continue to
live in a colony of artists while attacking artistic freedom remains
one of the many tragic ironies in the evolution of the Sena.
Just before the Assembly elections, you had told me in an interview
that you were determined to shake off the Shiv Sena’s legacy of
violence. You spoke of the need for welfarist politics, of how you
were saddened that rural Maharashtra was being left behind. I was
impressed by the farmer rallies you had organized, by the fact that
you had documented farmer suicides in the state. I thought that Uddhav
Thackeray was serious about effecting a change in Maharashtra’s
political landscape.
I was obviously mistaken. Farmer suicides still continue, the after-
effects of drought are still being faced in several districts, but the
focus is now squarely on finding high profile hate figures. You claim
to have a vision for Mumbai. Yet, on the day the Sena-controlled
city’s municipal corporation’s annual budget revealed an alarming
financial crisis, your party mouthpiece, Saamna, was running banner
headlines seeking an apology from Shah Rukh Khan. You asked your Shiv
Sainiks to agitate against Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Mumbai, but why
have you not asked them to wage a war against the water cuts that have
made life so difficult for millions in the city? At one level, I can
understand the reasons for your frustration. The Congress-NCP
government in the state has been thoroughly incompetent: the last
decade has seen Maharashtra decline on most social and economic
parameters. Yet, the Shiv Sena has been unable to capture power in the
state. Your war with cousin Raj has proved to be self-destructive. The
Assembly election results showed that a united Sena may have offered a
real challenge to the ruling alliance. In fact, the Sena and the MNS
together garnered around 43 per cent of the popular vote in Mumbai-
Thane, almost seven per cent more than what was obtained by the
Congress-NCP combine. Yet, because your vote was split, you won just
nine of the 60 seats in the region, a result which proved decisive in
the overall state tally.
Your defeat seems to have convinced you that the only way forward is
to outdo your cousin in parochial politics. It’s a strategy which has
undoubtedly made you a headline-grabber once again. Unfortunately,
television rating points don’t get you votes or goodwill. There is
space in Maharashtra’s politics for a regional force, but it needs to
be based on a constructive, inclusive identity.
Tragically, the Shiv Sena has never offered a serious social or
economic agenda for the future. Setting up the odd wada pav stall in
Mumbai is hardly a recipe for addressing the job crisis . Why hasn’t
the Sena, for example, started training projects to make Maharashtrian
youth face upto the challenges of a competitive job market? Why
doesn’t the Sena give regional culture a boost by supporting Marathi
theatre, literature or cinema? The wonderful Marathi film,
“Harishchandrachee Factory”, nominated for the Oscars, has been co-
produced by Ronnie Screwvala, a Parsi, who like millions of other
‘outsiders’ has made Mumbai his home. Maybe, I ask for too much.
Tigers, used to bullying others for years, will never change their
stripes.
Post-script: Your charming son, Aditya, who is studying English
Literature in St Xaviers College, had sent me a collection of his
poems. I was most impressed with his writing skills. Let’s hope the
next generation of the T company will finally realize that there is
more to life than rabble-rousing!
Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra!
About Rajdeep Sardesai
Rajdeep Sardesai comes with 20 years of journalistic experience during
which he has covered the biggest political stories in India. Prior to
setting up his own channels, he was the Managing Editor of both NDTV
24X7 and NDTV India and was responsible for overseeing the news policy
for both the channels. He has also worked with The Times of India for
over five years and was the city editor of its Mumbai edition at the
age of 26. During the last 20 years, he has covered major national and
international stories, specialising in national politics. He has won
numerous other awards for journalistic excellence, including the
prestigious Padma Shri for journalism in 2008, the International
Broadcasters Award for coverage of the 2002 Gujarat riots and the
Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award for 2007. He has won the
Asian Television Award for talk show presentation and has been News
Anchor of the year at the Indian Television Academy for six of the
last seven years. He is presently the President of the Editors Guild
of India. He has done his Masters and LLB from Oxford University and
has also played cricket for the Oxford University team.
October 20, 2008...7:39 pm
Raj Thackeray – King of Mumbai Or is he a Crackpot ?
He is a leader of a regional political party operating in Maharashtra,
India. It was founded on the 9th of March 2006 in Mumbai after
splitting of the parent party Shiv Sena. He and his party recently
attacked north Indian aspirants for railway jobs demanding that only
Maharashtrians be recruited to fill vacancies in Central and Western
Railway.
He dared Maharashtra government to arrest him and warned the state
will have to “regret” the consequences in the event of that.” Arrest
me and be ready to bear the consequences…. you will have to regret,”
Thackeray, who was attending a ceremony at Bahadursheikh Naka in
Chiplun, said. “If Raj is arrested, entire Maharashtra will be set on
fire,” .
If Raj Thakre is Pro Mumbai then why the hell does he wants
Maharashtra to burn? In a seperate incident a school on Maharashtra
Bhawan premises in kanpur was on Monday vandalised by Dalit Panther
activists who were protesting against attacks by Raj Thakeray-led MNS
members. Will Raj Thackeray and his supporters help Maharashtrians if
they are thrown out of other states?
- I’m From Goa. And would like to say that if we go by Mr. Raj
Thackeray’s logic then I guess we should be sending back truckloads of
Maharashtra’s who come here in droves and thus depriving the Goan
Youth the opportunities.
- Shoot the bas****. The Government needs to show that it’s got a
spine to protect the constitutional rights of every citizen.
- Arrest and throw this guy in Kashmir Valley. Let this idiot and his
followers fight for something which is good.
- One guy challenging the entire police force of a state “arrest me if
you can” is a shame on Maharashtra govt.
It is disturbing to see that employees of Jet Airways sought the help
of the MNS when they were given the pink slip. It is as if they were
contracting the mafia to serve their private needs.
The party has taken a cue from the Shiv Sena which built its political
base in Maharashtra in the 1960s and 1970s by promoting an aggressive
agenda . It worked then , but it won’t now.
MNS is noting but a threat to national unity.
Albert Einstein once said ” Any fool can make things bigger, more
complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius-and a lot of
courage-to move in the opposite direction.” I hope our government
makes the right move this time
http://blogmantra.org/2008/10/20/raj-thackeray-king-of-mumbai-or-is-he-a-crackpot/
bademiyansubhanallah
Politics for development is Gadkari’s mantra
Neena Vyas
The Hindu Nitin Gadkari asserted that though the BJp was proud to be
associated with the RSS, the decisions of the BJP were made without
any external influence. File photo.
Over 5,000 delegates to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s annual national
council meeting will gather at Indore on February 18 and 19, to ratify
the election of Nitin Gadkari as party president, authorise him to
appoint his team of office-bearers, reconstitute important party
panels, and, hopefully, help find a new direction for the BJP, which
suffered a debacle in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Preceding the two-day session is a daylong meeting of the national
executive committee, comprising 200-odd members, where the agenda for
the council and resolutions would be finalised. It seems the
leadership has decided to focus on price rise and security issues
related to Kashmir, naxalism, Pakistan and China in the context of the
political situation in which the BJP as the main Opposition has yet to
find its feet.
To try and connect to the aam aadmi, the party brass have decided to
stay in a tented township, named after the former president Kushbhau
Thakre, being readied in a 90-acre area on the outskirts of the city,
BJP vice-president M.A. Naqvi said.
Mr. Gadkari’s new mantra for the BJP is ‘Politics for development.’
While its ideological issues relating to Hindutva are not to be
forgotten, the effort would be to look hard at issues that concern the
people and are in line with their aspirations. The party is especially
worried that a large chunk of its urban middle-class support base
seems to have shifted its loyalty to the Congress, and the view is
that an effort must be made to correct this situation.
As one party leader put it on Saturday, after a long time some new and
younger faces on the podium will mark the generational change in the
BJP. Along with Mr. Gadkari, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley as leaders
of the Opposition will get the top slots. L.K. Advani as the party
veteran and chairman of the parliamentary party will, of course,
continue to enjoy an eminent position.
The outgoing president Rajnath Singh and the former presidents Murli
Manohar Joshi and M. Venkaiah Naidu will also be given due
importance.
Mr. Gadkari has let it be known that he does not like the idea of
opposition for opposition’s sake. He does not see it as the duty or
obligation of the Opposition to oppose everything the government does.
Perhaps he is acutely aware that when Mr. Advani ran the party’s
parliamentary strategy from 2004 to 2009, the main tactic was to stall
Parliament on any possible excuse. That clearly proved counter-
productive.
At that time, the party’s criticism of the government’s handling of
terrorism was reduced to the demand that the Prevention of Terrorism
Act be brought back. Contrary to that strategy, at the recent Chief
Ministers’ conference, delegates from the BJP-ruled States paid
handsome compliments to Home Minister P. Chidambaram on being quick to
respond to States’ demands related to security issues.
One leader said the party might be forced to “think beyond caste
politics” that has influenced its strategy for decades with
diminishing returns, especially in the Hindi heartland States.
Would the BJP emulate Rahul Gandhi’s tactics? The answer was a
resounding “No,” but party leaders admit that things might be changing
in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and the BJP must be ready to revise its
strategy accordingly.
The three-day conclave is to end with a public rally where the party,
to use Mr. Naqvi’s words, will “blow the conch” to herald the
“political struggle against anti-people policies of the UPA
government.”
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article106151.ece
'My Name is Khan' imbroglio gives Shiv Sena a bad name
14 Feb 2010, 0011 hrs IST, Shantanu Nandan Sharma, ET Bureau
Friday was Shivaratri, but not the Sena’s day. Cine-goers in Mumbai,
which houses one of the world’s largest film industries, snubbed the
Shiv Sena as they came out in huge numbers to watch Shahrukh Khan
starrer ‘My Name Is Khan’. And that ended the high-voltage political
drama that unfolded weeks ago after the Bollywood star voiced in
favour of the inclusion of Pakistani players in IPL, leading the Sena
targeting his movie.
But as Khan’s fans thronged the city’s multiplexes which suspended the
morning shows in the wake of Sena staging protests outside the
theatres, the battle was already won. Yes, the Maharashtra government
made a serious attempt to ensure law and order by deploying
unprecedented security coverage outside the cinemas and made many a
symbolic gesture including the decision of the state chief minister
Ashok Chavan and home minister RR Patil to watch the movie in a hall
on the day one of the release, but ultimately, it was more a victory
of the people than the state.
It’s however not the first time that citizens of India’s financial
capital have fought back adversities and followed their heart. On many
occasions, the entire country saluted the spirit of Mumbaikars who
went back to work as usual even after they became victims of terror
and flood.
In fact, it was not clear as late as Thursday night whether movie
buffs would be able to watch MNIK in Mumbai threatres as multiplex
owners were reluctant to take the risk even as more Sena activists
were taken into preventive custody. Police even assured that the
government would invoke the provisions of Bombay Police Act to
compensate the victims and damages suffered to their properties.
By the time the movie was released, over 2,000 Sainiks were arrested
as a preventive measure though sporadic protests continued in some
part of the city. The state government used many other tactics to tame
the Sena including issuing of a stern warning to Shiv Sena’s executive
president Uddhav Thackeray that his security could be withdrawn if he
broke the law.
In fact, the government had earlier withdrawn security coverage of a
few Shiv Sena leaders who protested during Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit
last week.
Once the film was released in Mumbai after many a hiccup, the 44-year
old actor said he was overwhelmed by the support of Mumbaikars. He
tweeted, “I thank u all for this..apologise for giving stress over the
last few days...& now truly know the meaning of being humbled. lov u
all so much (sic)”.
Though politically the Congress scored a few brownie points by
Gandhi’s stunt of taking a Mumbai local (train) to show solidarity
with Mumbaikars, the Sena on the other hand was at the receiving end
from day one of the controversy.
It first asked the actor to apologise for his comment which he had
made in favour of Pakistani players before unleashing attacks on the
softer target, MNIK. By the time the movie was released, the Sena was
miles away from its own family members, RSS and BJP.
Even on Friday, BJP president Nitin Gadkari reiterated that his party
did not support its ally in this entire saga of protest against the
release of Shahrukh’s movie. Gadkari said his party did not buy the
Sena’s slogan of Mumbai is for Mumbaikars.
After all, Khan’s magic overpowered the Hindutva bond of the larger
Sangh Parivar. It is now left to see if MNIK becomes the genesis of
someone’s identity crises soon enough. The imbroglio has already given
it a bad name.
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI Sunday, February 14, 2010 15:19 IST
Bhopal: Chief ministers of six BJP ruled states in the country will be
in Indore for three days from February 17 to run their goverments from
there.
The six who will be in Indore for three days are led by Madhya Pradesh
chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and comprise Narendra Modi
(Gujarat), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh), Prem Kumar Dhumal (Himachal
Pradesh), Ramesh Pokhriyal (Uttarakhand) and B S Yedurappa
(Karnataka).
The tents where the six propose to stay have been made hi-tech to
enable the chief ministers to keep an eye on events in their
respective states.
The chief ministers will be able to give directives to officers in
their states from the tents themselves.
Strict security arrangements will be put in place for all the six
dignitaries.
BJP cheers Sena's flop show
Shubhangi Khapre
Sunday, February 14, 2010 21:14 IST
Shiv Sena’s failure to halt the release of My Name Is Khan has brought
much cheer to the BJP, which said, “It is good for us.”
Initially, the BJP leaders had decided to make common cause with Sena
over Shah Rukh Khan's remark — that Pakistan cricketers got a raw deal
by not being selected for the cash-rich Indian Premier League.
But, as the Sena started displaying its aggression, the BJP steered
clear of the pitch allowing Khan and Uddhav Thackeray to fight it out.
What irked the BJP was Sena's decision to equate the Pakistan issue
with MNIK. The BJP, which has decided to chart an independent path,
was never going to jump into the battle. As a general secretary said,
“There was no question of extending our cadre support to Sena as
nobody from their side approached us.”
Now, after the flop show, the BJP has heaved a sigh of relief. As a
party member put it, “It is good for us. It gives us more space to
expand our networking in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra.”
SRK missing as CM fought Sena
Chief minister Ashok Chavan, who fought a lone battle with the Shiv
Sena to ensure the release of MNIK, does not have any grouse against
alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
He did not even expect much support from senior Congress ministers or
MPCC leaders who were eagerly awaiting Chavan’s discomfort on the
issue thus paving the way for their rise in the government.
However, what upset the CM was the conduct of Khan and the other
producers who, after pledging to fight the Sena till the end, suddenly
disappeared from Mumbai to promote the film overseas.
A close Chavan aide revealed, “Last week, the entire unit (of MNIK)
went to Varsha (CM's residence) pledging to take to the streets in the
battle against Sena.” It was after the team left Mumbai that Chavan
was forced to make an appeal to Sena to resolve the issue through
political dialogue. It is a different matter that Sena did not heed
his advice.
Why blame Pawar alone?
The NCP may be a pygmy compared to the Congress but when it comes to
displaying aggression, nobody can beat them at home.
After the bashing Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has got at
the Centre for price rise (food grains, sugar, etc), the party has
decided to turn the tables on the Congress. Senior leaders have short-
listed Union cabinet ministers to point out how accountable their
ministries are for inflation.
Interestingly, it starts with prime minister Manmohan Singh, followed
by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, power minister Sushil Kumar
Shinde, petroleum minister Murli Deora, road transport and highways
minister Kamal Nath and industry and commerce minister Anand Sharma.
Meanwhile, insiders indicated that Congress-bashing of Pawar was also
aimed at scoring points against the NCP but after the Congress Working
Committee (CWC) met, the prime minister held long discussions with
Pawar. A bid to smoothen ruffled feathers, perhaps, and keep some
dirty linen out of public glare?
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/comment_bjp-cheers-sena-s-flop-show_1347882
Sena makes dent in earnings of My Name Is Khan
Prithwish Ganguly / DNA
Sunday, February 14, 2010 0:27 IST
After seeing a limited release in Mumbai on Friday, My Name Is Khan
(MNIK) was shown in almost all theatres, except a couple in and around
the Shiv Sena headquarters, on Saturday.
Although the Shiv Sena has said that it will continue its protests
against Shah Rukh and the film, no Sena cadres were seen anywhere near
any of the theatres showing MNIK.
Sources say that the Hindu right wing party has conceded defeat at the
hands of Mumbaikars who have shown no fear and ventured into the
theatres despite a hovering cloud of violence and vandalism by Sena
supporters.
Although the film has released practically everywhere by now, theatre
owners are a wee bit worried, especially about night shows.
“We are keeping a close watch on night shows and hoping there’s no
violence. There is a risk of course, but we are satisfied with the
protection the state government has provided us. We have opened the
film at all our properties,” said Shirish Handa, CEO of Fun Cinemas.
The Sena, though, has managed to create a dent in the fortunes of the
movie, as trade experts say that the movie stands to lose around Rs3
crore in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra. At the domestic market,
the film garnered approximately Rs8 crore on the first day but
analysts say that it would have taken home Rs11 crore if the movie had
got a wider release.
“The opening’s huge. However, if the film had got a bigger release, it
would have collected a lot more since the anticipation for MNIK was
great,” said trade analyst Taran Adarsh.
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_sena-makes-dent-in-earnings-of-my-name-is-khan_1347559
My Name Is Khan receives positive reviews from US media
PTI Sunday, February 14, 2010 13:24 IST
Washington DC: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan starrer 'My Name Is
Khan', which hit as many as 119 theaters in the US and Canada has
received some great reviews from American mainstream media.
"At its best 'My Name Is Khan,' set mainly in America, is an affecting
fairy tale about the perils of goodness," said The New York Times in
its review of the movie.
"Khan' is one of a handful of Hindi films ('New York,' 'Kurbaan')
about Indians living in a paranoid, post-9/11 America, and there's
something fascinating about looking at this country through a
Bollywood lens, even when the story is a kind of fairy tale," the
daily said.
"Skillfully directed by Karan Johar and with an evocative score by
Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy, 'Khan' jerks tears with ease, while teaching
lessons about Islam and tolerance," The New York Times added.
One of the most noted film magazines in US, Variety, in its review,
said, "This riotously overstuffed and enormously enjoyable drama races
forward with incredible drive."
Terming MNIK as "a sweeping epic in the melodramatic Bollywood
manner", The Los Angeles Times said the movie emerges as a potent,
engaging and timely entertainment.
'My Name Is Khan' is a potent, energetic heart-tugger and Khan and
Kajol, major Bollywood stars, are highly appealing and equal to the
demand of their emotion-charged roles," the daily said in its review
of the movie.
My Name Is Khan runs to packed houses in Karachi
PTI Sunday, February 14, 2010 18:23 IST
Karachi: Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan is turning out to be a
hit big with the moviegoers in this Pakistani city with the film
running to packed houses.
Shah Rukh Khan
"Normally the 3 and 6 o'clock shows have reasonable attendance and the
late night show is packed but this time we have been witnessing full
house for all three shows which is remarkable," Nadeem Mandviwalla,
owner of Nishat cinema, said.
The movie was released on February 12 in two main cinema theatres and
also at the only multiplex which is screening it
on two halls with four daily shows to cope with the rush.
"The fact that the Shiv Sena made such a big issue of Shah Rukh Khan's
statement about Pakistani cricketers has also added to the interest in
the movie," Mandviwalla said.
It is also the first major Shah Rukh Khan movie to be released in
Pakistan since the government allowed screening of Indian movies in
cinema halls two years back.
"In the last two years this is the first proper Shah Rukh Khan starrer
that has been released in Pakistan," another cinema manager said.
Long lines and rows of cars can be seen parked on the busy M Jinnah
road outside the two big cinema halls that are screening My Name Is
Khan, causing miseries for the traffic police who are finding it
difficult to cope with the rush.
"Definitely My name is Khan has generated lot of interest in Pakistan
and also contributed significantly to the cultural and arts scene, but
overall I think the release of Indian movies is good for us as it
means people have some entertainment to look forward too," art critic,
Muneeba said.
Chavan's ignorant politics responsible for Pune blast: Uddhav
Thackeray
PTI Sunday, February 14, 2010 17:33 IST
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray held chief
minister Ashok Chavan's 'ignorant politics' responsible for Pune
blast, which killed nine people and left 56 injured.
"It is the sin of Chavan that killed nine innocents in the terror
attack," Uddhav said at Sena mouthpiece Saamana today.
The security at sensitive parts was diverted to ensure release of Shah
Rukh Khan's My Name Is Khan, Uddhav said. The government even could
have called the army for protection, he added.
"The bomb blast could have been avoided if the same security was given
at appropriate places," the Sena leader said.
The Sena's politics of hate has backfired
Anil Dharker
Sunday, February 14, 2010 21:20 IST Email
My Name is Khan is now not just a film, it’s a watershed. Not in film-
making, but in the political life of Maharashtra. Its elevated status
has nothing to do withitsquality or content, both of which are
irrelevant in the current context.
Its elevation to a special level is due to the Shiv Sena’s new-found
will to self-destruct.The roots of the Khan controversy go back to the
last two elections — the national general elections and the
Maharashtra state assembly elections.
From being the pre-eminent party in the state, the Shiv Sena found
itself in fourth place. Even the most basic analysis of the voting
pattern showed that this was not the result of a steep decline in the
Sena’s popularity but the result of vote division by its splinter
group the MNS.
Notwithstanding that, panic set in the Thackeray camp. Until then the
old patriarch Bal Thackeray enfeebled by age and illness was content
to pass on the levers of party power to son Uddhav, but the shock of
the election results made him grab them once again.
This is also a response to the largely held belief that Uddhav was too
soft a leader and lacked the dynamism of his cousin Raj Thackeray.
The role of Raj Thackeray in the My Name is Khan controversy has gone
unnoticed. For a very good reason too: He has played no role at all.
Whether it was Bal Thackeray’s fatwa against Australian cricketers or
his diatribe against Sachin Tendulkar, Raj has been strangely quiet.
He has, it seems, been content to watch the unfolding drama from the
sidelines, neither willing to be an active participant nor an
applauding or disparaging spectator.
He has, in fact, shown political savvy none of us suspected him of.
What he has been doing is watch quietly as the Sena, guided by his one-
time mentor, shoots itself in the foot again and again. For Raj, the
biggest challenge must be to keep his grin in check.
I may be wrong of course. The nephew’s silence may be a result of the
spate of legal cases against him in different parts of the country.
The nephew’s silence may be just temporary.
It may just be a case of the wily old uncle stealing the thunder back
from the cheeky young nephew who had stolen it in the first place. If
that is so, Raj may be biding his time and waiting for the right
opportunity to unleash another wave of violence, in which case poor
Mumbai will be in for a prolonged state of siege.
On the other hand, it may be because Raj Thackeray has read the
signals which Bal Thackeray, stuck in a time warp, cannot see: that
the country has moved on since the time the Shiv Sena first came into
being in the 1960s, and the people of Maharashtra and Mumbai are no
different.
The old guard of the BJP, the LK Advanis, the Murli Manohar Joshis and
their chaddi colleagues haven’t realised this either, which is why the
party is floundering so badly too. In this changed national scenario,
the electorate has different aspirations: It wants the politics of
development, not the politics of hate.
If Raj Thackeray has indeed read these signals the MNS will be in for
a major course correction. Ironically, the man who is temperamentally
much more suited to take this new path is Uddhav, and left to himself
without the large presence of his father looming over him, perhaps
that’s the road he would have traveled.
But he is a prisoner of his father’s larger than life persona and in
his shadow he will have to stay.The criminal neglect of areas like
Vidarbha, the unchecked slide of Mumbai city into paralysis are just
two instances of why Maharashtra needs a strong regional party for
which the interests of the state will be paramount and which will
therefore push that agenda with a vigour that has so sorely been
missing for so very long.
The Sena debacle in the My Name is Khan agitation may be the starting
point of a political formation of that kind. We can only watch and
keep our fingers crossed.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_the-sena-s-politics-of-hate-has-backfired_1347888
Editorial
Code of conduct
Sunday, February 14, 2010 21:18 IST
In the struggle between the politics of hate and the will of the
common man, the latter appears to have clocked a victory.
The Shah Rukh Khan starrer, My Name is Khan, which had been at the
epicentre of the controversy, had a tremendous opening, with ordinary
citizens thronging the theatres to watch their favourite hero in
action.
Normalcy is restored, thanks to the sanity of the ordinary citizen who
has clearly given a thumbs-down to the politics of hate orchestrated
by the Shiv Sena. The government of Maharashtra, for once, also pulled
up its socks to send a strong message to rabble-rousers that such
madness won’t be tolerated.
But the matter should not end here because the entire episode points
to a much bigger crisis — the breaking down of law and order. And it
is a recurrent phenomenon in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country, all
too often over trivial issues blown out of proportion by political
posturing.
The politics of dissent is an intrinsic part of democracy. However
what we get to witness in India is not mere dissent but hooliganism, a
brazen display of muscle power.
Every time a party has to protest against any issue, its cadres will
storm the streets, damage public and private property and hold cities
and citizenry to ransom. More often than not, the government is a mute
witness to such wanton acts.
If a protest turns into a barbaric display of power, it shows nothing
but irresponsibility not only of the so-called motivated cadres, but
also of the political establishment, which foments, instigates and
orchestrates such dissent.
Why should things reach such a stage that a government will have to
deploy thousands of policemen to ensure a movie is screened at
theatres? Why should an officegoer or a school kid be so frightened
that they cannot leave home?
Why should life have to come to a grinding halt? The courts have
already taken strong positions against bandhs and such protests need
the same strictures.
As representatives of a civilised society, our political leaders
should wake up to their primary responsibility of ensuring a smooth
public life. If all political parties cannot chalk out a code of
conduct for protests and demonstrations, then they must at least learn
to respect the rule of law.
It might require a strong political will and the urge to resist
temptations of short-term political gains, but it is time to set that
ball rolling.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_code-of-conduct_1347886
My Name Is Khan is handshake between India and the West
Meenakshi Shedde / DNA
Sunday, February 14, 2010 1:00 IST Email
Berlin: Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, and Karan Johar got a hysterical red-
carpet welcome and a rousing reception for the screening of My Name Is
Khan at the Berlinale Palast at the Berlin International FilmFestival
on Friday night.
Hundreds of German fans jammed the avenues leading to the Palast in
-6ºC and snow to catch a glimpse of the stars.
The film is a love story, with Shah Rukh Khan presenting the Muslim
point of view after 9/11, and is being distributed by Hollywood giant
20th Century Fox worldwide.
Bollywood already has a loyal core fan base in Germany and Europe.
Moreover, Germany has a significant population of Muslims, including
immigrants from Turkey, Iran, and other Islamic nations, so there is a
high level of interest in the film.
“My Name Is Khan is an important handshake between the Indian film
industry and the Western world,” said Uli Gaulke, German film-maker
and a fan of Hindi films, whose feature-length documentary
Leinwandfieber (Comrades In Dreams) was shot in Satara, India, and
nominated for the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
“It is the first film that tries to force a discussion on the very
important topic of terrorism post-9/11, and the Muslim point of view
on it, in the US and the rest of the world," said Gaulke. "And to
carry this discussion through the very famous Bollywood actor Shah
Rukh Khan is very good and an important move.”
Gaulke, who was at the Berlinale premiere of My Name Is Khan, was
earlier also happy to be swept up by the infectious energy of Farah
Khan’s Om Shanti Om and danced joyously in the Kino International
Theatre in Berlin where the film premiered at the Berlin film festival
in 2008.
“The decision of Hollywood’s 20th Century Fox to back My Name Is Khan
is connected to many larger issues,” Gaulke continued. “It
clearlywants to open up the discussion on the Muslim point of view
post-9/11.
"But it is also connected to the new leadership of a black president
in America, and the connection Hollywood wants to make with India as a
growing socio-economic power, whose images of Bollywood influence the
Western world.”
Commenting on the German response at the premiere, he said, “Germanyis
a very multi-cultural society that includes Muslims, so there is an
audience for this film in our big cities, and it is an opportunity to
open the discussion here in Germany.
"Initially, the audience may have been disappointed that there was no
dancing in a Bollywood film, but the film more than makes up with its
intense drama. It is the first time I am seeing a Bollywood film with
dramatic storytelling that is nearer our own Western cinematic
tradition. It is wonderful how the story develops, linking the Hindu-
Muslim problem in India to the larger issue of Muslims after 9/11.”
The film opens in German theatres in May. Said Karan Johar in an
exclusive interview before the Berlin premiere, “I’m very excited to
be at the Berlin film festival in the official selection. Germans love
Shah Rukh Khan as well as our commercial films, and he ‘is’ the film.”
Explaining the intention behind the film, Johar said, “I wanted to
give humanity a voice and religion a platform. Every religion has
beautiful things to say. Shah Rukh has talked to me so much about
this, and there are books that say amazing things. I thought, why not
put it into a narrative with an emotional heart? So Rizvan Khan
actually lives the teachings of religions.”
Did the film expect to do good business worldwide, but especially in
Islamic nations? Johar said, “The story is connected with Islam, but
thanks to Fox, it is a wide-spectrum release. It had a world premiere
in Dubai, and will screen in the Middle East, including Egypt, where
we have ordered 30 more prints than usual. In the UK, it had the
highest opening ever, taking in £1,23,000 in just one day, even more
than 3 Idiots, which took £1,21,000 in two days.”
Said Shah Rukh Khan, “Yesterday, a German told me My Name Is Khan is
naïve. But that is the most beautiful part of the film. When we are
children, we are innocent. We are taught inherent goodness by our
parents, about loving your fellow beings. As we grow older, we become
more complex and complicated. My character’s simplicity is untouched
by these complications, and that takes him to a higher plane.”
Jutta Hausler, 50, a German housewife and mother, was on a higher
plane just being in the vicinity of her favourite film star. She had
come all the way from Hanover for the Berlin premiere along with her
son Sven, 32, an engineer in the German Navy.
Hausler was completely unashamed to stand on the pavement in the snow,
along with the other giggling teenage fans of Shah Rukh Khan outside
his hotel in Berlin, and squealed with excitement when she caught a
glimpse of Shah Rukh Khan in the lobby through the glass revolving
doors.
“I love Shah Rukh Khan," she said. "He is a natural actor, true to
himself and others, and honest. I have seen all his movies, including
Don, Swades, and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.
"I love Bollywood films because they are bigger, they are about love
and families — and life as it is,” she said. Prost to that!
Meenakshi Shedde is India consultant to the Berlin film festival and
curator to film festivals worldwide.
CCTV of hotel 'O' captured visuals of Pune blast
PTI Sunday, February 14, 2010 19:43 IST
Last updated: Sunday, February 14, 2010 21:24 IST
Pune: The Maharashtra police today said it has obtained the CCTV
footage of the frontal area of the German bakery at the time of the
blast, which killed nine persons, including two foreign nationals, and
injured 60.
Close Circuit Television (CCTV) of a five star hotel 'O' had captured
frontal open area visuals of German bakery during the blast and Anti-
Terrorist Squad (ATS) has taken the possession of the footage, said
Inspector General (Law & Order) Rashmi Shukla.
"The bakery has no CCTVs. The hotel, which has CCTVs, is located
opposite the bakery. The ATS is now analysing the footage," she said
but refused to reveal the length and contents of the footage.
Under the supervision of state police chief AN Roy and state terrorism
squad chief K P Raghuvanshi, four separate ATS teams headed by DIG
(ATS) Ravindra Kadam have been formed to speed up the probe.
"These teams have been formed to look into different aspects of the
investigation," she said. Asked if any team had gone out of
Maharashtra as part of its probe, Shukla refused to comment but the
sources said one team has left for other states. She said all the
deceased have been identified.
They are Sayyed Abdul Gani(26) from Iran, Nadia Macerina(37) from
Italy, Ankik Dhar(24), Anandi Dhar(19) and Shilpa Goenka(23) of
Kolkata, T Sundari(22) of Bangalore, Bineeta Gadani of Mumbai, Shankar
Pansare (40) and Gokul N of Pune.
Among the 60 injured, 12 are foreigners --- five from Iran, two from
Nepal, one each from Taiwan, Germany and Yemen and two from Sudan.
Twenty have been discharged while the rest are undergoing treatment at
different hospitals in Pune including Jehangir, Ruby and Sasson.
Forensic report to establish the nature of explosives used in the
blast was awaited, Shukla said. Policemen have been asked to remain
alert and security at vital installations, religious places,
commercial and industrial establishments has been beefed up. The
establishments belonging to US and Israel have been given added
protection.
To a query, Shukla denied that there were leads to indicate that the
blast was targeted at foreigners. She said the accused in the blast
case were booked under relevant sections of the IPC, Indian Explosive
Act, Arms Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in Bund garden
police station in Pune.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_cctv-of-hotel-o-captured-visuals-of-pune-blast_1347829
bademiyansubhanallah
Sanjay Jog / Mumbai February 16, 2010, 0:58 IST
BJP chief also to speak on party discipline at national executive.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari will chant a new mantra for Ramrajya
(welfare state), good governance and antyodaya (taking benefits of
development to the last person) in the ensuing national executive
slated for February 17, followed by a two-day national executive
meeting at Indore. The proposed mantra will be in addition to the
BJP’s much-debated slogan of Sangathan (Organisation), Samrachana
(Constructive Work) and Sangharsh (Fight for cause).
Gadkari told Business Standard on Monday, “The adverse effect of
Soviet Union model accepted by India are now quite visible as poverty
has risen by 12 per cent. The BJP will strive for a welfare state and
‘antyodaya’ to reduce poverty and increase job opportunities so that
benefits of progress reach the last person. This will be possible
through good governance.” He emphasised on effective implementation of
public private partnership (PPP) whereby reliance on budgetary
allocation for various developmental projects can be reduced.
Gadkari said: “Agriculture and agri-processing, decentralisation of
industry, exploring renewable energy sources to meet rising demand,
irrigation and water management projects will have to be implemented
on war footing. Besides, state-level employment generation projects
need to be implemented in a time-bound manner.” These issues would
find place in the economic resolution.
In its political resolution the party is expected to spell out its
strategy of rewards and punishments for the party members and
reiteration of zero tolerance for indiscipline. Gadkari would also
explain his move to bring in accountability for party members.
Moreover, the political resolution would at length took stock of the
situation of internal security and reiterate its stand that terror and
talks cannot go together. Meanwhile, Gadkari at a three-and-half hour
meeting with the Karnataka chief minister and his council of ministers
on Monday asked the BJP-led government to prepare a time-bound
programme for making the state load-shedding free in next two years
and launch a new policy for employment generation. Gadkari said the
Karnataka government had also been asked to carry out auditing of the
government schemes and payment of the beneficiaries of several schemes
be deposited to banks.
A K Bhattacharya: Brinjal politics
If a public debate ended in a near-ban on Bt brinjal, the next review
could well end up the other way
A K Bhattacharya / New Delhi February 16, 2010, 0:56 IST
Non-governmental organisations have been celebrating ever since
Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh announced a moratorium
on the commercial use of Bt brinjal in India.
Bt brinjal, a genetically modified vegetable, had been developed to
make it resistant to attacks by the most common variety of pests,
thereby raising prospects of its increased output without any
associated costs usually incurred on pesticides. While most government
scientists endorsed the genetically modified variety of the vegetable
and even the Genetic Engineering and Appraisal Committee (GEAC), a
government body, approved its use, several NGOs had voiced their
concern over safety.
In a remarkable display of strength and well-orchestrated campaigns,
NGOs staged protest rallies across the country and made their views
known to Ramesh at the many public hearings the minister held to
review, the GEAC decision to allow commercial use of Bt brinjal. Views
of most scientists from the Department of Biotechnology and the Indian
Council of Agriculture Research were set aside. Also ignored were the
views of the agriculture minister, the science and technology minister
and the human resources development minister. Not surprisingly,
therefore, NGOs are celebrating their victory in their battle against
Bt brinjal. Ramesh’s decision to place a moratorium on
commercialisation of Bt brinjal, they point out, is nothing but a step
away from a ban on its use.
That is significant. Mind you, the moratorium is only a step away from
a ban. It is not yet a ban. NGOs may not have fully realised the
implications of what Ramesh has achieved in the last six weeks of
public hearings and consultation with a host of civil society groups,
activists, scientists and NGO representatives.
This is what a democratic government ought to do! A government body
had cleared the use of Bt brinjal. If a minister had to reject that
finding, he was required to hold public consultation and use his
conclusions from those public hearings to put the use of that
technology on hold. This is exactly what Ramesh did.
If NGOs are celebrating today, they should recognise that Ramesh can
use the same instrument of public consultation to take another
decision a few months later that may not necessarily agree with their
viewpoint on Bt brinjal. If Ramesh is now a paragon of correct
behaviour and NGOs are complimenting him for his transparent and
democratic style of functioning, they should not sulk when Ramesh
revises his and the government’s stance on Bt brinjal after subjecting
the technology to another review.
Indeed, the minister has stated that there would be further tests in
more reliable laboratories and the regulatory system would be
strengthened. Moreover, there are indications that the Bt brinjal
issue might be discussed either in Parliament or at a meeting of the
National Development Council. Who knows, the government’s final stand
on Bt brinjal may undergo a change after this exercise.
NGOs should note that subscribing to the idea of a democratic decision-
making process can be a double-edged sword. Participants in the debate
should be prepared to welcome whatever be the final decision. It is
like taking part in an election. If you win, celebrations are in
order. But if you lose, accept the verdict and cannot cry foul.
This is precisely how the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government
under Manmohan Singh has been trying to tackle knotty policy issues.
Bt brinjal is one such example. The other example is the question of
removing subsidies on petroleum products. Last year, the UPA
leadership had asked Kirit Parikh, who was then a member of the
Planning Commission, to recommend what measures needed to be taken to
relieve the government of its subsidies burden on account of the oil
sector.
About a fortnight ago, the Parikh Committee submitted its
recommendations on how the government could link its petroleum product
prices to the market. If the government were to accept these
recommendations, prices of petrol, diesel and liquefied petroleum gas
would go up by varying margins. Petroleum product prices have always
been a political issue in India. Even as the Union Cabinet examined
the recommendations of the Parikh Committee, opposition political
parties, including the Left, decided to oppose any move to raise
prices.
Even the Trinamool Congress, a partner of the UPA, threatened the
government with protest rallies against any move to increase petroleum
product prices. Last Sunday, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli
Deora was closeted with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and examined
the implications of the Parikh Committee’s recommendations. The
administrative issues with regard to the proposal for an increase in
petroleum product prices have been resolved by now. What remains to be
tackled now is to bring round the political leadership both within the
UPA and outside.
Opposition political parties and even UPA partners may feel good that
their voices are being heard. But this is a classic case of political
management of a tricky issue of raising prices. By involving different
stakeholders in the decision- making process and prolonging the
discussion with political parties on the imperatives of an increase in
petroleum product prices, the UPA government is only ensuring a safe
and secure implementation of its decision.
Like in the Bt brinjal case, there may be a moratorium on a petroleum
product price hike for a few days or a few weeks. But at the end of
reviews and consultation, the government will take a decision that it
wants to take.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/a-k-bhattacharya-brinjal-politics/385823/
Gadkari to unveil his vision for BJP at Indore
New Delhi, Feb 16
Having outlined the broad contours of his political thinking,
Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) new president Nitin Gadkari is expected
to unveil his vision and ideological roadmap for the party at its
Indore conclave beginning Wednesday.
Chosen to head the BJP last December as part of a generational change
in leadership after its two successive defeats in the Lok Sabha
elections, Gadkari, 52, has refrained from making any tall claims
about the party's electoral prospects.
He has instead declared his resolve to work towards bridging the vote
difference with the Congress by focusing on minorities, weaker
sections and unorganised sector labour through the "politics of
development".
One of his more radical and talked-about ideas is a performance audit
of national office-bearers. His aides said details of the exercise
were still being thrashed out, but Gadkari has indicated that office-
bearers in his new team will spend at least 10 days a month in states
under their charge. The BJP president is expected to announce his new
team after the Indore conclave.
Another of Gadkari's aims is to persuade partymen to view politics not
as a means of achieving personal ambitions but "as an instrument of
social change".
The BJP went through a phase of inner bickering after the 2009 Lok
Sabha poll defeat and Gadkari appears keen to prevent any such
recurrence.
"Our president has already outlined that he wants to galvanise the
party in multiple ways...bringing more harmony, a functional culture
where mutual trust and respect are the cornerstone," Vinay
Sahasrabuddhe, a political aide of Gadkari, told IANS.
To address any apprehensions among his colleagues about his ambitions,
Gadkari indicated he would not contest elections during his
presidential term of three years. The BJP president emphasised he had
not come to Delhi with any agenda but made it clear that he would not
be a puppet in anybody's hands.
For a leader who is new to Delhi and national politics, Gadkari has
made a few moves to show that he does not want problems in the party
to fester.
He called warring leaders from Rajasthan to Delhi and ended their
meeting only after ensuring a truce. In Punjab, which is among the
states Gadkari has visited since assuming charge as president, he
intervened to persuade the Shiromani Akali Dal to agree to the state
BJP's demand for rollback of power rate hike for domestic, commercial
and industrial consumers.
"He is a good listener and talks frankly. He has raised a ray of
hope," party secretary Prabhat Jha, a Rajya Sabha MP, told IANS.
The BJP president's website `nitingadkari.in' provides telephone
numbers and links to reach him.
Party leaders said an obvious advantage for Gadkari was his strong
connection with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as it reduces
the scope of complaints against a person who has been anointed by the
ideological torchbearers of the Hindutva championing fraternity.
However, there is a section which feels Gadkari's informality and
openness could be construed as his weakness in the "protocol-
conscious" polity of Delhi.
Gadkari has a diverse experience, which is considered a huge strength
by his admirers. He has achievements as a minister, entreprenuer and
social worker and has risen from the ranks to become the party's
youngest president. Before his elevation as party president on Dec 19,
Gadkari was chief of the BJP's Maharashtra unit.
"The ready image of a leader in the present day polity is of a
particular nature. But he (Gadkari) is a non-conventional politician,"
said Sahasrabuddhe.
Gadkari, he added, brings with him new energy and has been able to
generate a lot of hope in the party.
Gadkari's election as BJP president will be ratified by the party's
two-day national council meeting at Indore. The council meeting will
be preceded by a meeting of the national executive.
(Prashant Sood can be contacted at prash...@ians.in)
Last updated on Feb 16th, 2010 at 09:32 am IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a115203.html
Gadkari, Sushma to visit blast site
New Delhi, Feb 14
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari and senior leader
Sushma Swaraj are to visit Pune Sunday and meet the victims of the
terror attack, party sources said here.
"Both Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari will visit the blast site and
the victims of the terror attack," a party official said.
Nine people were killed and at least 57 injured in a bomb explosion
Saturday evening in the popular German Bakery in Pune, which is
frequented by foreigners.
Last updated on Feb 14th, 2010 at 13:16 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a114809.html
BJP stir paralyses train traffic in Surat for two hours
Express News Service
Posted: Tuesday , Feb 16, 2010 at 0546 hrs
Ahmedabad:
My friend SRK MNIK becomes a hit!Gul calls Army Chief spinelessAmazing
Bharatanatyam The train movement in Surat was severely affected for a
couple of hours on Monday, thanks to a BJP-sponsored Rail roko andolan
against alleged discrimination to Gujarat on various issues. This left
a cascading effect up to Ahmedabad where some trains
were rescheduled. Later, 62 protestors from Surat and 21 from Udhna
were rounded up.
At Surat, many passengers had to take state transport buses to reach
their destinations after hundreds of agitators walked up to stations
to stop the rail traffic from Bharuch to Vapi. The stir call was given
by Navsari MP C R Patil.
The protestors led by Patil and Surat BJP president Purnesh Modi
ensured that several Mumbai and Ahmedabad bound trains were stopped.
The agitation lasted for two hours with Divisional Railway Manager
Girish Pillai giving a written assurance to Patil to look after their
concerns.
The issues raised include replacement of steel girders of the road on
bridge no 449 and 441, early commencement and completion of Udhna
Jalgaon doubling of track, cleanliness of Surat station platforms 1
and 2, extra sleeper coaches in Surat Bhusaval passenger train, more
frequency for Valsad-Vadodara and Surat-Amravati trains, restoration
of Shatabdi-type AC special between Bandra and Surat with a halt at
Navsari, introduction of Surat-Ahmedabad fast passenger, raising of
emergency quota at
Surat, increasing frequency of Surat-Puri and Surat-Varansai Express.
Meanwhile in Vadodara, lack of coordination between the local and
Surat BJP members was visible, due to which the agitation lost steam
there.
MP and city Mayor Balkrishna Shukla attributed low attendance to
issues being Surat centric.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-stir-paralyses-train-traffic-in-surat-for-two-hours/580340/0
BJP chief likely to get ousted Bharti back
If the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin
Gadkari has his way, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti
could be back into the party soon.
By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
Published: 00:00 February 16, 2010
New Delhi: If the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president
Nitin Gadkari has his way, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma
Bharti could be back into the party soon.
Bharti was expelled from the party for an indefinite period of time in
December 2005, when her claim to return as the Madhya Pradesh chief
minister was overlooked in favour of Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
BJP sources are abuzz with talks that Gadkari would try to push for
revocation of Bharti's expulsion during the three-day conclave of the
party, starting in Madhya Pradesh city Indore from Wednesday.
Gadkari, who was nominated by the BJP parliamentary board as the new
national president of the party in December, was formally elected to
the post on February 9.
According to the party constitution, election of the new president
needs to be ratified by the national council. Soon after his
nomination to the post, Gadkari had publicly stated his desire to
bring to the fold leaders who had left the party over the years.
The list included names of Bharti, former Jharkhand chief minister
Babulal Marandi, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh and
former foreign minister Jaswant Singh.
Blocked
While Marandi's Jharkhand Vikas Morcha has become an ally of the
Congress party, Kalyan Singh's return to the fold was blocked by
Gadkari's predecessor Rajnath Singh who has taken up the onus of
reviving the party in his home state Uttar Pradesh.
Jaswant Singh's case may come up for review at a later day since he
has merely served six months in wilderness.
There is, however, no problem in getting the once firebrand saffron-
clad leader Bharti, who had virtually disbanded her political outfit
Bharatiya Janshakti Party.
Even Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is not
opposed to her return since he has consolidated his position and is
rated as a popular and successful chief minister.
He does not feel threatened by Bharti any more and may insist on
keeping Bharti busy in the national politics, so that she does not
interfere much at the state level.
Sources close to Gadkari say that he has approval of the parent body,
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), to bring back those who had left
the party if it can strengthen the BJP.
Gadkari himself is seen as the RSS choice as the BJP chief.
Gadkari may discuss Bharti's return at the national executive meeting
which precedes the two-day national council meeting and later move a
formal motion to revoke her expulsion before the party's parliamentary
board during the Indore conclave itself.
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/bjp-chief-likely-to-get-ousted-bharti-back-1.583629
Centre assures security for BJP’s Indore meet
The Union Government on Monday assured to provide whatever support
needed by the Madhya Pradesh Government to ensure a foolproof
protection for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive
meeting.
The BJP is scheduled to hold its national executive meeting in Indore
from February 17 to 19.
Buzz up!“BJP national executive in Indore will have fool-proof
security arrangements. Yesterday’s terror alert issued by the Ministry
will cover the delegates and the venue,” sources said.
On Sunday, Union Home Ministry issued a fresh advisory putting Delhi,
Indore and Kanpur on high alert after Pune bomb blast, which occurred
on February 13.
Senior BJP leaders like L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, besides party president Nitin
Gadkari will take part in the three-day conclave. (ANI)
http://eindore.com/2010/02/15/centre-assures-security-for-bjps-indore-meet/
Your Call with Nitin Gadkari
23 min 58 sec
Watch Video
Sunday, Feb 14, 2010 , India
This week on Your Call, BJP's new president Nitin Gadkari talks about
the migrant and economic situation in Maharashtra and more.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1201337
Hamari Bhartiyata
Friday, 05 February 2010
“ We do not believe in any linguistic, religious or regional identity
that discriminates or
differentiates. The presence of any language, regional or religious
identity in a place
is also a fact in India….. This is also the strength of India.”
http://nitingadkari.org/home.aspx
Prime Shows
Watch Video
Your Call with Nitin Gadkari 23:58 Added to quicklist This week
on Your Call, BJP's new president Nitin Gadkari talks about the
migrant and economic situation in Maharashtra and more.
http://www.tubaah.com/details.php?video_id=128196
MUST READ: Nitin Gadkari's presentation on Food Inflation. Excerpts:-
http://www.bjp.org/content/view/3156/394/ Excellent study o the
issue!
11:07 PM Feb 10th from web
http://twitter.com/BJPSupporter/statuses/8951328582
Sid Harth
STAFF WRITER 18:39 HRS IST
Indore, Feb 16 (PTI) Ahead of its key meeting aimed at strengthening
the opposition alliance, BJP today skirted the demand that the party
dump Shiv Sena from the NDA on the issue of "Mumbai for all".
"We have been saying that Mumbai belongs to the entire nation and our
viewpoint is clear," party leader Anant Kumar said replying to a
volley of questions on demand from party general secretary Vinay
Katiyar that BJP should snap ties with Shiv Sena and whether there was
need to redefine the relations between the two parties.
"We are of a clear view that each city belongs to the entire nation,"
he said, seeking to dismiss suggestions that the party could pay
dearly in the Assembly elections in Bihar scheduled by the year-end if
it failed to break ties with the Sena.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/520545_BJP-skirts-demand-that-it-should-dump-Shiv-Sena
Cong slams BJP over post-Pune blast remarks
STAFF WRITER 20:13 HRS IST
New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Congress today criticised BJP for its remarks
after the Pune blast saying the opposition party's statements give a
message to the world that India's political class does not have
unanimity on the issue of fighting terrorism.
"The remarks made by BJP since Sunday is very irresponsible and
opportunistic. A responsible opposition should not do it.
"Whether India has to hold talks with Pakistan or not is to be decided
by the government but the way in which the top leadership of BJP has
made statements on the issue sends a message to the international
community that India's political class is not unanimous on the issue
of fighting terrorism," party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.
Tewari also said, "I feel that BJP perhaps feels happy from inside
when such unfortunate incidents take place in the country as they get
a chance to bake their political bread.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/520829_Cong-slams-BJP-over-post-Pune-blast-remarks
bademiyansubhanallah
17 Feb 2010, 0646 hrs IST, Devesh Kumar, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: More than anything else, BJP’s national council, which
kicks off its two-day-long meeting at Indore on Thursday, will be
remembered more for the ability of its new national president, Nitin
Gadkari, to forge a unity of sorts among its squabbling leaders and to
script a turnaround in the party’s fortunes, which has taken a severe
knock in the last six years.
The nation council, which will put its seal of approval over Mr
Gadkari’s election as the new BJP president at the Indore conclave,
will be preceded by a day-long meeting of the party’s national
executive. While the delegates will be expected to debate, and pass,
the customary resolutions, attention will be riveted on the revival
roadmap being scripted by Mr Gadkari.
The party has had a harrowing time in the past six years, not only
losing two consecutive general elections, but also ceding considerable
ground to its rivals in the crucial Hindi heartland states of Uttar
Pradesh and Rajasthan. After a series of battering at the central and
state levels, cadre morale is at an alltime low. The ceaseless
infighting among its so-called second-generation leaders has made the
organisation’s deficiencies and shortcomings more glaring.
The perception that it was the RSS which was now calling the shots as
far as major organisational decisions were concerned has made the
party leadership’s task of scripting a revival that is much more
difficult. The impression has gained more credence of late as most of
the new state presidents who have taken charge under the new
dispensation are believed to have been handpicked by the RSS. The
youth and the middle classes, who formed the core of BJP’s support-
base when it picked up momentum in the late 1980s and early 1990s, are
no longer so enamoured of the party, and have been gradually shifting
their allegiance to Congress.
Seen against this backdrop, Mr Gadkari has his task cut out. He’s
aware that he’s been handed over the party’s steering at a very
difficult time, and doesn’t hesitate from admitting that he faces a
long haul ahead. But beyond emphasising the role of bridging the
deficit trust among his party colleagues and exhorting them to embrace
social development, he’s offered very little clue of the kind of
politics he’s going to pursue in the coming days. How’s he going to
bring about a change in his party’s fortunes in states such as UP? How
does he plan to woo back the youth and the middle classes?
In states where BJP has very minimal or no presence at all — and there
are several in this category — how does he plan to sell BJP as an
attractive destination? How does he plan to posit the saffron party as
a real and credible alternative to Congress? How is he going to strike
a balance between the coalition compulsions and the organisational
pulls? How does he intend to take the party workers back to an
agitational mode? These are questions which Mr Gadkari will have to
address in the coming days.
To his credit, Mr Gadkari has, since taking over the reins of the
party, made a concerted attempt to bring all leaders together. He has
gone out of his way to seek the advice of his seniors in resolving
crucial organisational and ideological issues. He has also taken care
to present the image of being a balanced and a thinking leader, who
was willing to rise above petty issues.
The national council, during its meeting, is expected to deliberate
upon issues such as price rise, internal security threats arising from
terrorism and a spurt in Naxal violence across the country. The
delegates are also expected to discuss ways to clean up rivers Ganges
and Yamuna, and the threat posed to their very existence by
environmental pollution.
BJP to hold protest against Centre’s failure to tackle terror on
February 25
Posted: Wednesday, Feb 17, 2010 at 0154 hrs
Sharad Pawar's ShenanigansPoor Sarath FonsekaMy friend SRK MNIK
becomes a hit!
The BJP will hold a demonstration against inflation and terror attacks
at the Jhulelal Park in the Chowk area of Lucknow on February 25.
Party national president Nitin Gadkari is expected to be present for
the demonstration, said Lucknow MP Lalji Tandon. The party will
protest against the Centre’s lackadaisical attitude towards terrorists
because of which people continue to live under fear, added Tandon. He
said that the party will also protest against the Central and state
governments’ ‘failure’ to control price rise.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Indore to see BJP in search of renewed hope
PTI | Indore
After missing the bus for the second successive time in the Lok Sabha
polls, BJP is putting its act together at the key meet here by
formally ratifying the presidentship of Nitin Gadkari, the youngest
ever party chief whose immediate task is to make the organisation
effective and broaden the NDA.
The meeting of the National Executive and the National Council is
important for the march forward of the main opposition as it is the
first such meet after BJP's shock defeat in the May 2009 Lok Sabha
elections that saw Congress-led UPA shaking off the opposition
challenge once again.
Since then, the BJP has taken a number of steps including bringing in
52-year-old Gadkari from Maharashtra to the centre-stage and making
Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok
Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively.
The changes are being seen as a generational shift in the major
opposition with party veteran LK Advani, 83, being made the
Parliamentary Party Chairman, a move that indicates that he has taken
a backseat.
The emergence of Gadkari, Swaraj and Jaitley as the new power trio has
come at a time when the ruling Congress has seen that a young Rahul
Gandhi has come to the fore and become the key leader in the ruling
alliance along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress
President Sonia Gandhi.
Indore is important for the BJP as it is expected to mark the
beginning of a new strategy to reach to the people with Gadkari, a
leader with a management background, making it known that his priority
was to approach the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe, Minorities and
Other Backward Classes.
Gadkari, who has declared that he plans to increase the BJP vote share
by 10 per cent to relegate Congress to the second position, has also
sought to bring a new culture in the party by telling workers that
they should work more and talk less.
The message is primarily to party leaders at various levels whose
approaching the media too often has turned counter-productive and has
laid bare the problems within the party.
In fact, the emergence of Gadkari, a newcomer to national politics,
due to the blessings of RSS is being seen as a way to curb the D-4,
the four Delhi leaders – Swaraj, Jaitley, former president M Venkaiah
Naidu and general secretary Ananth Kumar, who were said to be working
at cross purposes which had not gone down well with the RSS.
Gadkari has played a unifying role against the backdrop of intense
differences among the top brass when his predecessor Rajnath Singh was
at the helm.
His presidential Address and the political resolution are expected to
indicate BJP’s strategy for winning new friends to make the party-led
NDA strong.
BJP's strained relations with long-time ally Shiv Sena over 'Mumbai
for all' is likely to cast a shadow over the meet.
The party does not want to lose Shiv Sena while being wary of
antagonising another trusted ally JD(U) in Bihar, especially when the
latter is going to face the electorate later this year.
The conclave is being held at a juncture when the common man is facing
the brunt of price rise and terror has raised its head yet again with
a blast in Pune and talks with Pakistan was being resumed later this
month.
BJP takes no chances with security at Indore conclave
PTI | Indore: With intelligence inputs that its national meet could be
a possible terror target after the Pune blast, BJP is not taking any
chances about the security of its senior leaders -- many of whom face
threats from terrorists and naxals.
Senior BJP leaders, top police officers and bureaucrats of the Madhya
Pradesh government and intelligence officials discussed threadbare all
issues related to the security at the 90-acre venue of the three day
conclave starting on Wednesday.
Around 1,300 tents, including 25 VVIP tents for the senior most party
leaders, have been put up.
"Several police personnel are being deployed in and around the venue
in plainclothes to keep a watchful eye," said a senior BJP leader.
More than a dozen watch towers have already been set up for making the
venue safe.
CCTV cameras have been installed all over the area while passes are
being issued even to workers to prevent any intruders from sneaking
inside.
Metal detectors and several check-points have come up at the venue.
"There is a concern about security here but there is nothing to worry
about it," BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
Kumar and party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were rushed to
Indore yesterday to take stock of the preparations with special
emphasis on security after reports came in that terrorists may strike
in Delhi, Kanpur or at Indore in the wake of the blast in German
Bakery at Pune on Saturday.
The Central intelligence agencies and the state and local units are
working in co-ordination to pre-empt any untoward incident, an
official at the venue said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is closely
monitoring all arrangements.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/236470/Indore-to-see-BJP-in-search-of-renewed-hope.html
Sid Harth
Suman K Jha
Posted: Thursday , Feb 18, 2010 at 0345 hrs
Indore:
Nitin Gadkari cautioned top leaders against indiscipline and one-
upmanship.
With rare candour, BJP’s new president Nitin Gadkari today asked
party leaders to stop nibbling at each other’s turf and, instead, work
to raise their own stature. In his first address to the party’s
national executive here, Gadkari cautioned top leaders against
indiscipline and one-upmanship, stressed on a Dalit agenda, and, for
the first time, asked the party to involve RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in
a party function that the BJP plans to organise shortly at Pathankot.
While Gadkari will deliver his formal “presidential speech” tomorrow,
when the two-day BJP national council gets underway, he chose to use
the opening day of the three-day session — one-day national executive,
followed by two days of national council meet — to set out his “own
priorities” for the party.
“It was an in-house session today — the presidential speech would be
delivered tomorrow,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said. But that
was only for the record.
For Gadkari hit out hard at rampant factionalism in the party. He told
the 250-odd members of the national executive: “Apni rekha badi karein
naa ki doosron ki rekha chhoti. Jinko party ne sab kuch diya hai, unki
vajeh se party ko mushkil na face karna pade,” (You must not run
others down; the party has faced difficulties due to those who have
got so much from the party).
“Although I started on a tentative note, I am far more confident
today, after having received support from all senior leaders,” a
leader present at the national executive meet quoted Gadkari as
telling the delegates.
Gadkari’s other two interventions, however, suggested changes in the
offing. Referring to a suggestion made by the Punjab unit of the BJP,
Gadkari said: “I don’t believe in protocol.
Punj (who looks after Punjab state BJP) recently suggested to me to be
the chief guest to unveil a bust of Shyama Prasad Mookerjee at
Pathankot. I suggested that let Mohan Bhagwatji and L K Advaniji do
the honours there and I would be there as any other leader”.
Mookerjee had visited Pathankot as part of his long-drawn struggle for
“complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the test of the
country” and the BJP, as also the RSS, regards Mookerjee as one its
ideological mentors.
This was, however, for the first time that Gadkari — conceived to be
close to the RSS sarsanghchalak — didn’t shy away from suggesting that
the party involve Bhagwat for a function conceived by the party.
After listing antyodaya as the party’s ideological compass (serving
the last man in the line), Gadkari sought to espouse a “Dalit agenda”
for the party. After visiting (B R Ambedkar’s birthplace) Mhow
yesterday to garland the statue of Ambedkar, he visited a Dalit home
where he had a meal (something that Congress general secretary Rahul
Gandhi has been doing for sometime). Gadkari urged party leaders not
to worry about electoral dividend but “work compassionately” for
Dalits.
Gadkari also spoke about the challenges on the foreign policy front.
He said that while the threat from Pakistan was all too evident, the
threat from China required urgent attention too, and that an all-India
programme would be organized by the party soon.
The BJP plans to bring in two resolutions tomorrow: one on national
security, and the other on price rise.
Comments (4) |
Adopt developments as mantra
By: Indi | 18-Feb-2010
Congress and upa is doing no service to the country. It is because of
no good opposition, they came to power this time around too. Had BJP
been a much stronger opposition party, things would have been
different. They should identify individuals who could take the country
forward. All the bullies in the party should be shown the door.
Availability for the country, accountability, discpline should be main
motto of BJP. If at all had BJP been a constructive opposition,
certainly congress would have been shown the door. Also, BJP should
adopt development of the country as the main agenda. Narendra Modi has
been a model chief minister and gujrat has developed leaps and bounds
in his rule. Thats the reason congress is jealous of the developments
under Modi and every time rake up the communal issue to appease there
muslims vote banks. BJP should work to strengthen the country and not
there own party. BJP should bring in a tough anti terrorism law and
ignore barking of pro pakistan politicians
Right on track
By: Ram Nath Babu | 18-Feb-2010
Mr. Gadkari is right on track. The principal opposition party was
lying idle derailed for some time now and it is heartening to see
someone is taking pain to bring it back to rail. If only the other
leaders follow Mr. Gadkari, it is only a matter of time before BJP
once again becomes a force to reckon with. Keep it up Mr. Gadkari,
India needs BJP and YOU.
China
By: Ajit Panicker | 18-Feb-2010
Yes Mr. Gardkari nailed it on the Head, China is the sleeping Lion,
who is creaping in to Indian teretory, people of India should wake up
to the realty and understand that it is China who is funding the other
bodering state to go in war with India, so we need to Nib the Bud once
in for all, open up dailouge and make them understand that Pls do not
use the old tacticks , Live and let live, we care for our childrens so
should you and your country men.
Nitin Gadkari is facing tough time with BJP leaders quarrel and
infighting in the party
By: Dr. Divyesh Raythatha, USA | 18-Feb-2010
Nitin, as BJP President is facing troubled time and a tough situation
of infighting of leaders. This is the usual standard, attitude, and
behaviour of BJP leaders. Arrogance and abusive language inside the
party and with political opponents is the style of BJP leaders. Nitin
is worried of this sniping at each other. This is the main reason of
defeats in last two loksabha elections. Nitin might be repenting to
accept the position as President, but at least he has the guts to tell
the leaders openly. Unless they improve, there is no future for BJP.
Is Left-wing Fascism the gravest threat to democrasy in India?
Column and Opinions
The barbaric attack on the security personnel by Maoists in West
Bengal has brought to the fore the discussion on the threat of Left-
wing extremists to the democracy in India. Prime Minister of India, Dr
Manmohan Singh referring to Maoists in particular, has described the
Leftist extremist movements, the gravest threat to India's internal
security[a]. These militant movements are seen to be the single
biggest threat to both the democracy and human rights in India. It
should be noted that other leaders of the country including Former
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajapayee, Leader of Opposition L K Advani
and RSS Sarasanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat have been constantly warning
the Government of the designs of Left-wing extremists in India. In a
welcome change in the Government’s approach, the Home Minister P
Chidambaram has targeted the hypocrisy of the sympathizers of the Left-
wing extremists who otherwise make all the noises about human rights
violations but maintain a deafening silence when innocent civilians
are massacred by Left-wing extremists. This article provides a brief
on the phenomena of Left-wing Fascists movement in India.
An Introduction
Left-wing Fascist groups in India are a set of groups based on Left
ideology that have shown militant tendencies and have been part of
violent incidents of massacres and sabotage in India. These groups
have been characterized by their authoritarianism, intolerance and
terrorism[1].
The groups can be categorized based on those who have chosen to remain
outside the democratic process and have led the armed rebellions and
those who although have not actively proclaimed violent methods but
have been involved in acts of violent suppressions and other human
rights violations such as in Nandigram. Many of the former have been
listed as the Anti-revisionist left parties of the world[2] and
include Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Communist Party
of India (Maoist).
Maoists
Incidents of violence by the Leftist groups have often been labeled as
"Red terror" or "Red terrorism"[3]. The Left-wing extremist groups
have also been compared with the [[Taliban]] with respect to their
violent means[4], guerilla ideology, anti democratic movements[5] and
kangaroo justice.
Violent Means
Most Leftist groups in India have proclaimed that violent struggles
form the core to their ideology[6]. Prominent among them are the
Maoists, who have claimed responsibility for the killings of numerous
civilians and security personnel.
Figures computed by the Ministry of Home Affairs and presented before
the Parliament indicate that 4067 civilians had been killed between
2000-07 by the Leftist Extremist violence in India.
The victims include unarmed civilians, tribal[7] women, children[8],
senior citizens[9], security personnel and democratically elected
representatives.
Year Victims of Left terror
2000 550
2001 564
2002 482
2003 513
2004 566
2005 677
2006 678
2007 37
(to 31 January 2007)
Source: computed from Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) annual reports
(various years), and statement by the union minister for home affairs,
Shivraj Patil, in the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on 6 March
2007.
Disruption of Democracy
Maoists have been known for boycotting elections and also unleashing
violence to disrupt elections in many parts across India. They have
also attacked civilians who have defied the boycott calls given by
them [10].
The Maoists have claimed responsibility for killings of prominent
political leaders in Central and Southern India, most of them
democratically elected. Prominent among the killings are tribal
leaders Sunil Mahato[11] in Jharkhand Anup Marandi[12] . They have
also routinely been involved in massacre of civilians and
policemen[13]
The Asian Center for Human Rights in its report on the Maoists has
reported crimes such as kidnapping and extortion by the Maoists. The
Left-wing extremists are also known to use "Kangaroo Justice" trials
and order the killing of captured politicians and their comrades who
surrender to the security personnel[14].
Marxists
While the Maoist groups have chosen to remain outside the democratic
setup in their attempts to overthrow it, there are many other groups
who have transformed into political parties and contested elections.
But they too have been part of perpetrators of massacres of innocent
civilians and comrades of other Leftist groups. Prominent among them
are the Marxists constituted by CPI(M)
Nandigram Massacre
The Nandigram controversy started when the Marxist led Government of
West Bengal decided that the Salim Group of Indonesia would set up a
chemical hub under the SEZ policy at Nandigram, a rural area in the
district of Purba Medinipur. The villagers and farmers whose land was
to be acquired for the project resisted these attempts by the West
Bengal Government. A massive attack with thousands of policeman and
ruling party workers was launched by the Marxist Government to clear
off the resistance. Police shooting killed 14 and injured at least 70,
which included women and children. This "state sponsored" attack on
the "unarmed civilians" came in for criticism as being
"Fascist"[15].
Gopal Krishna Gandhi, the then Governor of West Bengal and grandson of
Mahatma Gandhi, criticized the state government over its handling of
the Nandigram incident, speaking of the incident as "cold horror" in a
press statement[16]
After the incident, the Government and the administration were
allegedly seen openly supporting the "private army" of the ruling
party and the cadre of CPI(M), in leading atrocities on the people who
resisted the land acquisition. The ruling party workers are also
alleged to have taken the help of local criminals mostly involved in
dacoity cases for their "operation". The Times of India reported
"criminals were given money in advance and given a free-hand to bring
whatever they could from the empty homes once the operation is
complete. Sources said one such group that has returned to Onda came
with motorcycles" looted from the resisting villagers.[17]
Criticism also has come in from their own colleagues when Dr. Ashok
Mitra, long time Finance Minister of the Government of West Bengal
(and a veteran CPI(M) leader) criticized the government and his party
stating that till death he will remain guilty to his conscience if he
keeps mum on the happenings in Nandigram. He stated that the CPI(M)
leadership was “blind of hubris and the party has turned into a wide
open field of flatterers and court jesters dominated by 'anti-
socials'”[18]
The Intellectual support for the violence
The divisions in the Left-wing with respect to the violence have been
reflected in the intellectual circle too. Left intellectuals around
the world have been known for their selective criticisms of the
violence by different Leftist groups. Some have been seen openly
justifying one or other form of violence.
In an article coauthored by Vijay Parshad, the George and Martha
Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International
Studies at Trinity College, he puts the blame of the incidents
squarely on the opposition parties and also calls the protest by the
peasants, an agitation derived from the "neo-rural rich"[19]
Naom Chomsky's letter
A letter authored by Naom Chomsky, Vijay Parshad and other Marxist
scholars from various Universities in the US, addressed to "Our
Friends in Bengal" , at the peak of Nandigram violence read “We hear
from people on both sides of this chasm, and we are trying to make
some sense of the events and the dynamics. Obviously, our distance
prevents us from saying anything definitive. We continue to trust that
the people of Bengal will not allow their differences on some issues
to tear apart the important experiments in the state (land reforms,
local self-government)”.[20]
Ironically, it never bothered to condemn the massacre and also ended
up creating a huge rift between the left factions. The letter was seen
by many rival Left factions as a justification of the violence and
support to the Neo-liberalism propounded by Buddadeb Bhattacharya.
Naom Chomsky among others was criticized for his hypocrisy of not
condemning the violence and for siding with its perpetrators. It was
also seen by many as an attempt to admonish those who had taken to
streets protesting the Left front Government over the Nandigram
massacare[21].
A strong response was issued by Mahashweta Devi, Arundhati Roy, Sumit
Sarkar, Uma Chakravarty, Swapan Chakravorty and other Leftists
activists based in India belonging to the rival group of Leftists,
mostly the sympathizers of Marxists. They felt that Chomsky et al,
given "their distance from events in India," had fallen prey "to a CPM
public relations coup". After criticism of the letter, one of the
signatories of the letter, Susan George, withdrew her signature from
the letter [22], splitting wide open the divisions within the Left
intellectuals.
Support for Maoists
But ironically, many Leftist academicians and activists who have been
critical about the violence in Nandigram have supported the militant
movements of the Maoists and other Leftist groups.
Arundhati Roy, a Leftist intellectual and activist, who has been
critical about democracy in India, while admitting that the Maoists
have been guilty of "unspeakable atrocities", views the militant
movements as leading a protest with popular support and that they are
fighting injustice of the Government. She says "''I have no doubt that
the Maoists can be agents of terror and coercion too. I have no doubt
they have committed unspeakable atrocities. I have no doubt they
cannot lay claim to undisputed support from local people — but who
can? Still, no guerrilla army can survive without local support.
That's a logistical impossibility."[24]
The author of this white paper can be reached for feedback and
comments on paramav...@gmail.com
References
[1] India's Naxalites: A spectre haunting India,
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7799247.
These organizations include the different Maoist groups and some
Marxists and the Marxist- Leninist groups.
[2] Leftist Parties of the World: Anti-Revisionists http://www.broadleft.org/antirevi.htm
[3] Red Terror: Six cops killed in Landmine blast in Jharkhand
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Red_terror_Six_cops_killed_in_landmine_blast_in_Jharkhand/articleshow/3994905.cms
[4] M.S.N. Menon : Maoists deserve Taliban fate
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/blog/eyeonasia/archives/2007/11/indias_communis.html
[5] Manjeet Kripalani : India's Communists and the Nuclear Deal
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011207/edit.htm
[6] Left-wing Extremist group: Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-
Maoist)
[7] Massacre of the innocent [http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/19/stories/
2006071904991000.htm]</ref>,
[8] Maoists Kill Eight in Jharkhand
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/maoists-kill-eight-in-jha...
</ref>
[9] Naxals kill senior citizen in Gadchiroli
http://news.indiainfo.com/2009/01/30/0901302034_naxals_kill_senior_citizen_in_gadchiroli.html
[10] Ehtasham Khan, In Chatra, democracy wails under Naxalism
http://in.rediff.com/election/2005/feb/03khan.htm
[11] JMM MP Mahato shot dead by naxals http://www.hindu.com/2007/03/05/stories/2007030513330100.htm,
[12] Naxal attack kills Marandi's son
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070030852
[13] Maoists claim responsibility for Chhattisgarh massacre
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/mar/26maoist.htm
[14] The Naxal conflict in India: Killings down, armament up
http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2006/135-06.htm
[15] Maoists own responsibility for attack on Buddhadeb http:\
\www.ibnlive.in.com/news/maoists-own-responsibility-for-attack-on-
buddhadeb/77713-3.html?from=rssfeed
[16] Sense of cold horror: Governor http://www.screenindia.com/news/sense-of-cold-horror-governor/25728/
[17] How CPM recaptured Nandigram
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/How_CPM_recaptured_Nandigram/articleshow/2533801.cms
[18] You are not what you were - Ashok Mitra http://sanhati.com/articles/446/
[19] Sudhanva Deshpande and Vijay Parshad, Communism in Bengal, The
Political Economy of a Crisis, [http://www.counterpunch.org/
prashad05232007.html
[20] Chomsky and other intellectuals on Nandigram,
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/22/stories/2007112255861300.htm
[21] The hypocrisy of Chomsky over Nandigram,
http://indiainteracts.com/columnist/2007/11/24/The-hypocrisy-of-Chomsky-over-Nandigram/
[22] The Left is Right http://www.tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=Ne081207The_Left_Is.asp
[23] It's outright war and both sides are choosing their weapons,
Arundhati Roy in conversation with Shoma Chaudhury
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main28.asp?filename=Ne310307Its_outright_CS.asp
http://www.sanghparivar.org/is-left-wing-fascism-in-india-the-gravest-threat-to-democrasy
Kerala: Stage set to welcome Mohan Bhagwat
16/02/2010 16:09:22 Dipin Damodharan
God’s own country Kerala is ready to welcome Dr Mohan Bhagwat, the
patriarch of the world’s largest cultural organization Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
He will address the public function held on Feb 24 at the Ashram
ground in Kollam. Over one lakh swayam sevaks (RSS volunteers) in
uniform are expected to attend the meeting. Let us have an eye on the
profile of Mohan Bhagwat.
Mohan Bhagwat, a veterinary doctor by profession is the sixth
Sarsanghchalak (chief) of the nationalist organization, who succeeded
K S Sudarshan in last year. He is the youngest to assume the top post
of Sangh after Madhav Sadhashiv Golwalkar (1906-1973).
Mohanji Bhagwat, with the looks of RSS founder Dr Keshav Rao Hedgewar
hails from a small town called Chandrapur in Maharashtra. He was born
on Sep 11, 1950 to a family of RSS activists. His father Shri.
Madhukar Bhagwat was the president of Chandrapur zone of RSS and also
served as the Prant Pracharak of Gujarat.
Mohan Bhagwat completed his schooling from Lokmanya Tilak Vidyalaya
and had graduated in Veterinary sciences and Animal husbandry from
Punjab Rao Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola.
Mohanji’s unbounded love for his Motherland forced him to quit his
Masters course in Veterinary sciences and he engaged in full time
Sangh activities towards the end of 1975 when the country was in
emergency period.
After working underground during emergency he became the Pracharak of
Akola in Maharashtra in 1977 and rose within the organization to
become Pracharak of Nagpur and Vidarbha region. He became in-charge of
physical training for RSS cadres across the country in 1991, a post he
held till 1999.
When Rajendra Singh and HV Seshadri decided to step down as RSS chief
and general secretary respectively due to poor health in 2000, KS
Sudarshan was nominated the new chief and Mohan Bhagwat rose to the
post of general secretary for three years.
He got re-elected to the office in 2003 and 2006. And in last year
Shri Mohan Bhagwat became the sixth Sarsanghchalak of RSS.
As a vibrant speaker, intelligent thinker and a pleasant person,
Mohanji has inspired hundreds of youths to dedicate themselves for the
motherland.
He is a down-to-earth, practical and pragmatic man with an iron
determination. He is a decisive man of action and a disciplined man of
organization. Through his selfless service, Mohanji is become one of
the most venerated leaders of RSS.
Mohan Bhagwat’s first official visit to Kerala is going to be a
crucial one as the state has become a hub of religious extremism. The
Sangh Parivar in Kerala is all set to welcome the head of their
family.
Dr.Vijaya Rajiva
17/02/2010 12:58:12 Kerala will surely welcome Mohanji!
I first saw Shri Bhagawat in an interview given to Times Now, with
Arnaub Goswami. Very impressive !
The intrepid Arnaub who is contradicting everyone was silent, most of
the time.
This is because he was interviewing a man who knew what he was talking
about !
Ramadasan
17/02/2010 09:59:46 Welcome to PP Sarsangha chalak
Many Hindu girls are being lured by evangelists and jihadis and
converted to semetic relgions. Only RSS can save Kerala Hindus by
bringing them under one umbrella so that Kerala hindus will be able to
resist cultural invaders. I wish the function a grand success.
Sunil Madhav
16/02/2010 23:38:27 Swagatham
Swagatham to Honourable Mohan Bhagwatji !
Krishnamoorthy
16/02/2010 21:52:08 Sarsanghachalak's visit to kollam
Dear Sir,
Its a good brief profile on Mohanji. This public function is part of
RSS system that after taking the post of Sarsanghchalak, the chief
visits 25 odd cities in India.This is not too late but should have
been conducted 5-6 years before. The devisive and caste politics have
gone to such an extent the Hindu unity is not at all present in the
state. The need for a hindu unity is to be nailed to each and every
hindu in the state otherwise Kerala will become a Kashmir in another
20-25 years time. To achieve this a good planning with a detrmined
mind is required which I feel can be done by RSS alone. One more thing
which I need to highlight is the resistive arm which RSS is trying to
do against the Marxists has in some way got a negative thinking in the
minds of youths in kerala which diminishes the image it has carried as
a cultural organisation for the past 80 years.
All the best for the function
Jai bharat mata
http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=10430&SKIN=K
India Security endangered, says Gadkari
Wednesday, 17 February 2010 02:29 .
Indore, Feb. 16: Setting the broad thrust of the three-day BJP
national executive meet beginning on Wednesday amid unprecedented
security arrangements, national president Nitin Gadkari said never
before had the country’s security been so endangered.
Talking to the mediapersons at the sprawling 90 acres Kushabhau Thakre
Nagar, he said plans were afoot to grant autonomy to J&K, Chinese had
crossed over into Indian territory and were clamouring for Arunachal
Pradesh, Maoists were threatening armed insurrection, bomb blasts
continued to recur, and yet some in the ruling party were talking of
making a tourist paradise of a terrorist hotbed like Azamgarh. Behind
it all was wrong politics and bad governance.
Mr Gadkari argued though politics was an instrument of social change
and desperately in need of good people, not all good people needed to
join politics.
While political participation was the responsibility of political
workers, inculcating a political consciousness was everyone’s
responsibility. Especially since almost all the ills facing the
country could ultimately be traced to bad governance. "Rajya nahi
samaj badlana hoga."
Only then would talking of development and progress make any sense.
Skewed priorities, said Mr Gadkari, had produced a society in which
the truly meritorious became an IAS officer, the guy who got first-
class a chief engineer, and the thrice failed a minister.
Changing this required building a political consciousness like in the
US/West where it was common for three people in a family to have
different political preferences. This could be achieved only through
systematic education of the electorate.
Sudhir Singh
INDORE, February 18, 2010
Varun posters all the way
Neena Vyas
PTI BJP leaders Shahnawaz Hussain and Varun Gandhi at the party's
National Executive Committee meeting in Indore on Wednesday.
Varun Gandhi, who made news during the 2009 Lok Sabha election
campaign for his hate speech against the minorities, seems to be
desperately trying to project himself as a youth leader a la Rahul
Gandhi.
On the way from the airport to the city, where the BJP’s three-day
conclave got under way on Wednesday, any number of taxis could be seen
carrying his posters — wearing a fiery saffron pare (turban) and
proclaiming him as Vartman ki Awaz, Bhavishya ka agaaz, Yuva hriday
Samrat Varun Gandhi (The voice of the present, the hope of the future,
conqueror of the hearts of the youth, Varun Gandhi). The posters seem
to have been designed to reinforce the buzz that he is trying to
become president of the BJP youth wing, Yuva Morcha. How this will
play out remains to be seen.
Party president Nitin Gadkari has let it be known that he hopes to
reorganise his team of office-bearers and other party committees and
morchas by mid-March, when the ongoing organisational elections will
also be completed.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article108439.ece
chhotemianinshallah
Sanjay Jog / Indore February 19, 2010, 0:24 IST
Though BJP, under the leadership of Nitin Gadkari, has launched an
exercise to consolidate its position while pursuing coalition
politics, it is in a state of dilemma as far as Bihar is concerned.
The saffron part is in a fix whether to go alone or keep its alliance
with JD(U) to regain power in Bihar where assembly elections are
slated for October-November.
Differences between BJP and JD(U) on issues like governance,
projection of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi as prime
ministerial candidate and failure to rein in Varun Gandhi ahead of the
2009 Lok Sabha polls, are well known.
A section of the saffron party believes its presence has been
overshadowed by JD(U) and particularly by Nitish Kumar. This group
advocates that the party should contest the assembly elections alone,
especially when there has been increase in the urban seats in the
delimitation exercise. Some BJP leaders also argue that the party has
no scope to grow because of JD (U)’s big brother role.
Leaders, who preferred not to be quoted, agreed that severing ties
with JD(U) might prove suicidal. However, they argued that BJP if
finally decides to keep its alliance, can extract more seats from
JD(U) during seat sharing. “One thing is clear: BJP on its own cannot
mobilise muslims, minorities and dalits, while JD(U) cannot afford
erosion of upper caste support,” they said.
Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who has a good rapport
with Nitish Kumar, asserted that the his party’s over 14 years of
alliance with JD(U) would continue and it was on a strong wicket.
“Clearly, JD(U) is in a big brother role. However, BJP has also
strengthened its position. I do not see any problem in the
continuation of alliance and thereby, win the ensuing assembly polls,”
he said. Former civil aviation minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “The
alliance will continue to be in place as both the parties are
confident to come back to power.”
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bjp-instatedilemma-in-bihar/386192/
Ex-CM will launch campaign against govt
Press Trust Of India / Chennai/ Bangalore
February 19, 2010, 0:45 IST
JD(S) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy today
said he will soon launch a movement over “maladministration” of the
BJP government. Kumaraswamy’s announcement comes close on the heels of
his father and JDS chief H D Deve Gowda launching a “farmers awakening
tour” to protest alleged acquisition of farm land for creation of land
bank.
“I have been accused of being responsible for BJP coming to power in
Karnataka. I will have to do something now.I plan to launch a campaign
against maladministration of BJP government, which has put up its
decisions for sale,” Kumaraswamy told reporters here.
Flaying Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s governance, he alleged that
finances were in a shambles and development had come to a halt.
“Yeddyurappa now says his coming budget will have more programmes for
farmers. What happened to those announced in his last budget,” he
asked.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ex-cm-will-launch-campaign-against-govt/386125/
Gadkari asks Muslims to be generous
Sanjay Jog / Indore February 19, 2010, 0:26 IST
In a rare gesture, BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday called upon
Muslims to be generous towards the sentiments of Hindus and facilitate
the construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya “to herald a new era of
amity” in the country. Gadkari after formally taking over as the party
president at a two-day national council meeting here said in his
maiden address that he did not see a satisfactory solution to the
issue through courts. He was quick to add that Muslims could construct
a mosque at an alternative site.
Gadkari, who had shied away from this topic ever since his elevation
to BJP president’s post in December, reiterated the party’s commitment
and resolve to build the Ram temple in Ayodhya. “There was a big
national movement for this and a litigation is also pending, which may
not offer a perfect solution because one party would lose and the
other may win,” he said.
Gadkari’s call to the Muslims is crucial as he has already announced
his resolve to increase BJP vote share at least by 10 per cent by
breaking new grounds and taking new initiatives. He has also exhorted
party members to become active in reaching out to various sections,
including dalits, Muslims, SCs & STs, and other backward classes. He
made a beginning by having dinner with a BJP dalit corporator in
Indore on Monday.
At the same time, Gadkari slammed the Congress and Communists for
their move to introduce religion-based reservations in education and
employment for Muslims. He said it was purely to pursue votebank
politics.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/gadkari-asks-muslims-to-be-generous/386191/
Just a landmark
Business Standard / New Delhi February 18, 2010, 0:43 IST
The BJP is a bit embarrassed by the press handouts that its
representatives are sending for the Indore meeting. One such SMS
invite, for Ananth Kumar’s press conference, gave the address as
“Omaxe City” in Indore. It turns out the grounds for the tented
accommodation are right across Omaxe City in Indore, and the address
was used more as a reference point than anything else.
No snakes please
Business Standard / New Delhi February 16, 2010, 0:01 IST
The BJP’s forthcoming meeting in Indore appears to have run into a bit
of a problem. While setting up the tents for those attending the
meeting, it was found that the site was full of snakes. Snake charmers
have been pressed into service, to play music to entice the snakes out
of the area.
Devangshu Datta: No to competitive intolerance
In the battle to defend fundamental rights, one should be prepared to
undergo many hardships
Devangshu Datta / New Delhi February 13, 2010, 0:03 IST
In the battle to defend fundamental rights, one should be prepared to
undergo many hardships. However, watching My Name is Khan (MNIK)
crosses the line. Not even my ardent support of freedom of speech and
artistic expression will lead me into three hours of likely purgatory.
It is precisely because MNIK seems an unremarkable work that one can
focus with clarity on the real issues in Shah Rukh Khan versus the
Shiv Sena (SRK Vs SS). Where politicians have interfered with free
speech, there’s usually been some focus on content.
Not here. Nobody is arguing about the artistic merits of MNIK. The
Sena is plain and simple demanding the right to punish anybody who
dares to disagree publicly with its party line. That is plain and
simple wrong.
Actually, content is always irrelevant when attempts are made at
censorship. SRK or anybody else, has the right to make as good or bad
a movie as he can. Anybody has a right to watch or not watch it, just
as they have a right to choose ice-cream flavours.
The controversy arose from something much more morally complex. There
has been no credible official explanation for the lack of enthusiasm
in the IPL auctions for Pakistani cricketers. There have been several
“off-the-record” explanations — parsing those for meaning is not very
useful.
However, whatever SRK may feel about the subject, both as an
individual and an IPL franchisee, he does have a right to say it. The
SS has every right to disagree with his opinions. But they don’t have
the right to muzzle him.
Obviously, the SS hopes to gain vote share in the upcoming Mumbai
municipal elections by creating a row centred on SRK-MNIK. It hopes
this will help it compete with the MNS, which has opted instead to
play the racist card.
That the SS and the MNS between them could find no campaign issues
other than competitive intolerance shows great paucity of imagination.
It would be a different matter if Mumbai was a squeaky-clean
environment where everything worked perfectly. That is scarcely the
case.
Anybody with even cursory knowledge of the western megapolis is aware
of its problems. Choked transport, poor utilities, corruption in land
registration, deteriorating law and order, high rates of inflation,
etc., are all dominant concerns for residents, like elsewhere in
India.
Unfortunately, remedying any of those lacunae would require governance
skills. Those are harder to acquire than rhetorical ability. The
average Mumbaikar, wherever he or she may hail from, would vote for
anybody who could knock 20 minutes off the daily commute, and deliver
better water, power and sewage services. Instead, the MNS promises to
drive out private transport operators, while the SS promises to muzzle
anybody who disagrees with its posturing.
Both the SS and the MNS are taking big bets with their respective
strategies since they have abandoned all ambitions at national level.
The SS has broken off with the BJP. The MNS has ensured no party with
any North Indian exposure can afford to ally with it.
There is a suo moto petition before the Bombay High Court to take
action against political leaders who incite vandalism. That would be
grist to their mill since it would give them a chance to put muscle on
the streets.
In the long run, the only thing that may work against the escalation
of competitive intolerance is the ballot. If both parties lose ground
in the munis, they would be forced to rethink their respective
platforms. Mumbai’s residents have received much acclaim for their
stoicism in the face of hard knocks. It would be great if they proved
they were smart as well by refusing to endorse either of these
divisive and unimaginative agendas.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/devangshu-datta-no-to-competitive-intolerance/385564/
BJP chief shows his musical side, others follow
Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times
Indore, February 19, 2010
First Published: 00:06 IST(19/2/2010)
Last Updated: 00:08 IST(19/2/2010)
After two days of hard politicking, the BJP conclave in Indore struck
a different chord with an evening of music and gaiety.
Taking the stage on Thursday, party president Nitin Gadkari showed his
fun side by singing the pensive ‘Zindagi kaisi hai paheli hai, kabhi
ye hansaye, kabhi ye rulaaye’ from the Rajesh Khanna-starrer Anand.
As the audience cheered him on, many joked in hushed tones that this
was Gadkari’s way of conveying how life can swing unexpectedly — like
it did for him, with a little help from his well-wishers in the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Next to take the mike was MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who
sang a tune from another Rajesh Khanna-starrer, Safar. The song —
‘Nadia chale, chale re dhara’ — was all about endurance and
commitment.
The evening was planned for Bollywood singer Suresh Wadkar but it was
the political performers who stole the show.
Madhya Pradesh Industries Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya — the man
credited with organising the conclave — let the good times roll by
singing Chaudhawin Ka Chaand.
Among those seen clapping loudly was senior BJP leader LK Advani.
BJP threatens stir over fund embezzlement
Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Feb 18 – The State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
today threatened an all out campaign against the State Government on
the issue of embezzlement of NC Hills Autonomous Council money worth
Rs 1,000 crore.
It has also demanded resignation of Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on
moral grounds after the exposure of involvement of Ministers,
bureaucrats and others made by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)
on the scam.
Further, the party said, the UPA Government at the Centre should also
take steps to dismiss the State Government after the NIA exposure.
In a statement here, BJP State spokesman Kulendra Daulagupu said that
his party would raise the issue in the Parliament, Assembly and court,
besides taking it to the streets. The scam has emerged as one of the
biggest cases of embezzlement of public money in the country,
Daulagupu said.
Daulagupu has also called for steps against Lt Gen Ajai Singh the then
Governor of the State for his alleged involvement in the scam.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb1910/at06
Antyodaya is BJP’s ideological compass, says Gadkari
Milind Ghatwai, Suman K Jha
Posted: Friday, Feb 19, 2010 at 0007 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Feb 19, 2010 at 0007 hrs IST
Indore: In his first address to the party’s national council after
taking over as BJP president, Nitin Gadkari, whose election was
ratified here on Thursday, asserted that Deendayal Upadhyay’s
antyodaya will be the party’s ideological compass. At the same time,
“good governance and good economic policy”, which he said were
“witnessed under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government”, along
with a ‘nationalistic’ stance on foreign policy and terror would be
the party’s poll plank.
Gadkari cited BR Ambedkar and former RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras to
emphasise his party’s drive to reach out to the Dalits. And, almost as
a post-script, towards the end of his hour-long speech, he touched
upon the Ram Mandir issue.
“If I don’t mention it, I will be accused of reneging on the party’s
core issues. The matter is sub-judice , so I would not like to say
much. But, the ongoing research shows that there existed a Ram temple
at the Ayodhya site. Ram is a symbol of our cultural nationalism, as
also our heritage. I appeal to my Muslim brethren to give us the small
stretch of land there so as to enable us to build a Ram temple. This
would mark a new chapter (in Hindu-Muslim amity). We would help our
brethren from the Muslim community to build a grand mosque at some
other place,” said Gadkari, to thunderous applause from the 4000-odd
delegates attending the two-day national council here.
The new BJP president also seized the occasion to showcase the party’s
future face. Sushma Swaraj was hailed as an ‘excellent orator’, Arun
Jaitley as an ‘intellectual’, and Narendra Modi for “providing a
governance model that is being hailed and emulated elsewhere”.
Significantly, Modi’s name was initially projected by some quarters in
the party as a candidate for the BJP chief’s post.
While reaffirming his commitment towards a ‘10%-plus’ strategy to
catch up with the Congress’s vote percentage, Gadkari said the
outreach programme towards Dalits “was not driven by electoral
concerns”. “Babasaheb Ambedkar taught us about social equality so I
sought his blessings at the outset of the party meet. (Former RSS
chief) Balasaheb Deoras had said at a convention in Pune that if
untouchability is not a crime, then there’s no crime in this world. We
are committed to working towards eradicating untouchability,” said
Gadkari, adding that his visit to the house of a Dalit worker here
yesterday “was not a photo opportunity”.
Gadkari’s interventions on national security...
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Antyodaya-is-BJP-s-ideological-compass--says-Gadkari/581581/
HomeAboutPrivacy PolicyVolunteer FormFeedMaharashtra Elections
We all are privy to the transition that the BJP is going through. This
must have surely raised Congress’s hopes of electoral success in the
upcoming assembly elections. The assembly elections in Maharashtra are
crucial in this regard where the Democratic Front government has a
dismal performance to defend. It may be right opportunity for an
organized opposition to rest power from the ruling coalition, which is
facing anti incumbency of two terms and is struggling with grassroots
dissonance. It is also likely that the anti incumbency voters have
realized who the actual beneficiaries are in case they vote for MNS
and other smaller outfits. This should likely benefit the Saffron
alliance.
Let us know what you think should be the issues this election and your
expectations from a BJP-Shiv Sena government, if voted to power.
Haryana Elections
It is no surprise that the Hooda Government, following Congress’s
super showing in the Lok Sabha elections, dissolved the legislature
and called for an early election. The Congress is obviously confident
of its good showing yet again in the assembly elections. While it is a
fact that the Congress has traditionally felt the heat against strong
alliance in Haryana, it faces no such formidable opposition this time.
The BJP has walked out of alliance with INLD over seat sharing
disagreement. Haryana elections are dominated by caste politics and
the BJP’s appeal in the past has been restricted to urban and upper
caste. This is perhaps an opportunity for the BJP to increase its
support base amongst other sections of the society and evolve as a
dominant player in times to come. This is something that the Friends
of BJP would be delighted with. There is always a prospect of post
poll alliance with the INLD. Importantly the political equation in the
state will also depend on how Bhajan Lal’s Haryana Janhit Congress and
the BSP perform.
Let us know the key issues BJP should raise in Haryana and what is the
role that you would like it to play in State politics.
August 26, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 21 Comments Sudheendra
Kulkarni
by Vijay Vikram
I can’t say that I ever fully understood Mr Kulkarni. I have always
found his columns and other public utterances abstruse and rather
dense, thereby finding it difficult to get a handle on his political
philosophy. A rare exception to this general rule was Kulkarni’s open
letter to L.K. Advani that argued for a recasting of RSS-BJP relations
in the aftermath of the original Jinnah controversy. Essentially, Mr
Kulkarni wanted to free up the party from micromanagement by Sangh
interlopers - an admirable sentiment. His abstruseness apart, Mr
Kulkarni emerges as a thinking man who represented a sober nationalism
that attracted many to the party in the first place.
Kulkarni is not by any stretch a political figure of comparable
national prominence to Jaswant Singh. His departure though is at least
as disturbing because it represents the growing flight of intellectual
capital away from the party. The cerebral right-wing talent the BJP
managed to attract in the NDA years that made it the natural party of
governance is being gradually weeded out. Arun Shourie, a modern day
polymath is a virtual pariah, Yashwant Sinha has quit all party posts
and the Jaswant Singh brouhaha is still playing out. It does seem that
the party is turning to a certain atavism after the defeat. Swapan
Dasgupta has argued that the once broad church of the Bharatiya Janata
Party - accommodating strident Hindu assertion with centre-right
nationalism - is turning into a sect with the former emerging as the
overriding paradigm. Perhaps then, it is time for the urban Indian
with his newfound cosmopolitanism to resurrect that ill-fated nexus of
Parsi free thinkers, conventional nationalism and free enterprise.
August 26, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 68 Comments Effective
Government Spending
by Sudipto Das
I might be sounding like a broken record when I always criticize the
‘popular’ schemes like “National Rural Employment Guarantee” or on-the-
house loan waiving. Even a layman in economics understands that to
keep the wheel of economy of a country rolling it’s very essential to
keep the consumers alive. It’s often argued that, thanks to these
popular schemes, India hasn’t seen the worst of the recession in the
past one year. Well, I don’t accept that. That’s too short term a
perspective. In reality the government has already made a deep hole in
its pocket. We’ll see serious long term impacts if the government
spending is not controlled.
The ongoing drama with the swine flu has shown how much vulnerable our
government is when it comes to disaster management. Thank God, that
the flu is still restricted to the affluent class mainly in tier one
cities. Just imagine what would have happened if the flu had attacked
the hinter lands of our country? Even in the few cities, the
government is not capable of providing with the basic infrastructure
like the testing equipment. Even the masks required as a precautionary
measure are not available in the market. Government is in dire need of
cash for buying the testing equipments. I know that the panic with
swine flu is a little exaggerated, but still the point remains that
the government is not able to spend money in the way it should have in
order to tackle the situation.
India’s total sending on health is just around 5% of the GDP, out of
which only one fifth is government spending. This is a ridiculous
amount of money. It’s seems like a joke that Mahatma Gandhi had said,
“Health is Wealth”. The demographic dividend, that every one is
talking about now-a-days, would be a myth if we don’t have healthy
children growing up to strong adults. Government has a great role to
play.
Let’s see some statistics (Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/country/in-india/hea-health)
Metrics Statistics Rank in world
Access to sanitation 72% 77th
Drug access 0% 152nd
Hospital beds 0.9 59th
per 1,000 people
Physicians 0.6 19th
per 1,000 people
Water availability 1,880 cubic meters 123rd
These are just a few statistics. There are many such terrible things
that we need to improve and that require serious government
expenditure. I’m very sure that anyone, irrespective of his or her
level of intelligence and financial background, would value the
settting up of an efficient health center in his or her village than
anything else. I just wonder what the government has been doing in all
these aspects.
August 24, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 29 Comments We are all
Hindus now: Newsweek column
From Newsweek:
America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation
founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of
us continue to identify as Christian (still, that’s the lowest
percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or
Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus
live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on
Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are
slowly becoming more like Hindus and less like traditional Christians
in the ways we think about God, our selves, each other, and eternity.
…here is another way in which Americans are becoming more Hindu: 24
percent of Americans say they believe in reincarnation, according to a
2008 Harris poll. So agnostic are we about the ultimate fates of our
bodies that we’re burning them—like Hindus—after death. More than a
third of Americans now choose cremation, according to the Cremation
Association of North America, up from 6 percent in 1975. “I do think
the more spiritual role of religion tends to deemphasize some of the
more starkly literal interpretations of the Resurrection,” agrees
Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard.
August 23, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 10 Comments Of Jinnah,
Jaswant and Hanuman…
by Vijay Vikram
It is no secret that the BJP high-command has avoided any attempt at
genuine reflection on the reasons for defeat in the 2009 General
Elections. In fact, the emerging consensus within India’s miniscule
right-wing intelligentsia is that the BJP never quite recovered from
the defeat in 2004 and continued on with the 2009 campaign on
autopilot. Admittedly, the media strategy in 2009 was excellent: The
clever subversion of the Congress’ triumphalist ‘Jai Ho’ with the
sober ‘Bhay Ho’ jingle and the inclusion of young, IT-savvy talent for
LK Advani’s personal image boosting initiative are cases in point. All
this however, could not hide the rot at the base of the party. This
defeat was a political defeat. It was not about image management. It
was not about re-packaging Hindutva in more modern prose. The
electorate rejected India’s version of a conservative party
wholeheartedly.
Rajnath Singh and his ilk realise this. They realise that if the party
sat down and did some actual chintan at the Chintan Baithak, their
variety of conservatism would be declared an electoral liability in
newly aspirational India. The resulting restructuring of the BJP would
inevitably cut short the political careers of certain sections of the
party. Like any political animal, this group’s primary impulse is to
survive in the face of looming obscurity. It is in this context that
the shock expulsion of Jaswant Singh must be viewed.
While Jaswant Singh’s sacking may not be a case of calculated news
management as Vinod Mehta of Outlook suggested on a current affairs
programme, it definitely hints at a totalitarian impulse aimed at
homogenising the party and smothering legitimate intellectual
expression.
As it happens, the period of history that this political controversy
has thrown up is equally fascinating. Jaswant Singh has propounded a
contrarian reading of Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s political philosophy. He
is by no means the first to interpret Jinnah as a calm, secular
politician. But, Mr Singh’s public role ensures that the book and the
arguments contained therein receive an inordinate amount of media
attention as compared to any other piece of scholarly work. The crux
of his thesis, as I am given to understand is that history has been
unfair to Jinnah. In a sense, Jinnah’s complicity in the Partition of
India has been exaggerated and that of Nehru’s Congress has been
underplayed - perhaps in order to make for a more comfortable
nationalism for the Indian masses to subscribe to.
The pork-eating, cigar-smoking Jinnah clearly does not make for a very
good poster boy for the Two Nation Theory and Pakistani nationalism.
Jaswant Singh’s argument is that Jinnah’s mutation from secular
nationalist to communal scaremonger was caused by his desire to carve
out a space in Indian politics that he could call his own in the face
of increasing Nehruvian hegemony. Jinnah then, crafted a constituency
that evolved into Pakistan. He reserved his antipathy for Nehru and
the Congress, not the Hindus. The idea of Pakistan, which germinated
in the brain of Cambridge student Choudhary Rahmat Ali in 1932 become
a potent political weapon in the hands of Jinnah.
Perhaps it was a tad indiscreet for a practicing politician of
national prominence to indulge in revisionist accounts of the founder
of Pakistan whilst he remained a serving member of a political party.
Winston Churchill for example, waited till his retirement from active
public life before publishing his account of the Second World War.
This abrupt expulsion however, smacks of an increasingly insecure
leadership in the BJP that is keen to preserve the status quo and
prolong its spell in power. The party is likely to lurch from one
controversy to the other till the time a new generation of charismatic
leadership is allowed to emerge. Jaswant Singh in the meantime has all
the time in the world to write.
August 21, 2009 | Filed Under Contributions | 135 Comments What is
the Nation we want to be? (Part 2)
by Amit Malviya
Possible Solution
Dr Subramanian Swamy on 19Jul09 speaking in Darmouth, Mass in US,
advocated the concept of Brihad Virat Hindutava and argued its
relevance to bring about a renaissance in the current secular India’s
value system and thus create a unified patriotic and spiritual
society. At present, he said, the Indian nation is slowly but surely
sliding into a crass one-dimensional society of material pursuits
which can lead to the nation’s Balkanisation.
Dr. Swamy was delivering the Special Public Lecture as guest of
honour, to the delegates of the 18th International Congress on Vedanta
held for three days at the campus of the University of Massachusetts
at Dartmouth. Dr. Swamy said that Hindu civilization has lasted so
long, in fact the longest, is because it was a society that had found
a blend and harmonization of material pursuits with spiritual values.
He further elaborated : “In the 19th century, Swami Vivekananda had
propagated the concept of Brihad{Greater} Hindutva, while Sri
Aurobindo and Veer Savarkar who had spoken from different
perspectives, advocated a Virat[virile] Hindutva. All these
revelations were made to the people in pre-political de-colonised
India. But unfortunately after becoming free, the academia and
political power went into the hands of Marxists and Macaulayists who
were determined to reduce the Hinduness of Indians to a minimum of
acceptability labeling it as obscurantist and politically chauvinist,
or communal and fundamentalist, and make out the concept as a danger
to secularism. He said that the history of Hinduism disproves these
charges, but the slander continues. Now to end the current moral
degeneration in a democratic dispensation in India, he would advocate
propagating a synthesis of Vedanta, Brihad and Virat concepts.
Dr. Swamy declared that time has come to confront the Marxist and
Macaulayists and challenge them to a debate a new synthesis of Brihad
Virat Hindutva if they dare to debate.
Challenges
This is essentially a great concept but the challenge lies in
implementing it without being perceived as exclusive and pro Hindu.
The pseudo secular-communal divide in the country is so mis-propagated
and wide that being pro nationalist and cultural is invariably seen as
pro Hindu and hence not secular. This debate has gone on for far too
long and is ingrained in people’s psyche now. The challenge is to
overcome this and instill cultural pride and feeling of patriotism in
the people of India and build an inclusive spiritual society. The
concept also needs to be articulated in simpler terms so that the
common man can understand and relate it to his daily life. Unlike most
ideologies it should be contemporary and progressive. This is easier
said than done !
It would be great to hear what you think.
August 3, 2009 | Filed Under Amit Malviya | 215 Comments What is the
Nation we want to be? – Food for Thought
by Amit Malviya
A friend recently wrote a very poignant observation on the US society.
Several questions were inherent in his comments. I am taking the
liberty of producing the content of the mail here.
Quote
One very significant aspect of the US society that we noticed here was
the absence of strong bonding in society, even at the nuclear level.
Though the country might have progressed economically and
technologically, there seems to be a void in the social sphere. Also
people seem to be driven by rules of society but with little passion,
there seems to be an underlying sense of resentment, which is very
subtle and may even be invisible to them.
This is a great country which promotes freedom of speech and has a
good non-discriminatory judicial and religious system but there is so
much emphasis on being independent and protecting one’s personal space
that people are living lives of isolation even though functioning
according to the rules of society. So they are resorting to alternate
means to satisfy their longing for being cared for, but none of it is
giving them the happiness that they seek. The proponents of their
religion are also not helping much since they seem to be ill equipped
to understand the root cause of the malaise, themselves being a
product of the same system.
The reason I mention this is because I see a turn for the worse in our
Indian society as well. Embracing capitalism in all its glory seems to
be draining the life forces from our social ecosystem as well.
Material possessions are increasingly being projected as the means to
a happier life.
It makes us marvel at the great insight which the creators of our
religion had. It is so relevant for anyone practicing it and goes
beyond barriers of Time, Space and Community. A lot of organizations
are leading a resurgence of such a society and doing great work but I
am not sure if they are being able to keep pace with the change. There
seems to be an inherent though hidden aspect of capitalism which
promotes greed and leads to deterioration of values. Not sure about
other countries, but Japan seems to have been able to balance a strong
family oriented culture yet promoting capitalism.
I feel it is better to have sanity in our social structure than aim
for economic prosperity at the cost of our social balance.
Unquote
The question that we need to ask ourselves is - What is the Nation we
want to be ? Do let us know what you think ?
Tomorrow: Possible solution and challenges
August 2, 2009 | Filed Under Amit Malviya | 8 Comments Didigiri
by Sudipto Das
Mamta Banerjee has provoked the media to coin a new term - didigiri.
It’s not that we didn’t have fiery didis or behens in the past.
Margaret Elizabeth Noble, christened ‘Sister’ Nivedita by
Rabindranath, was no doubt a fiery didi or behen. Generally Rani
Lakshmibai is not thought as a didi, nevertheless, she was indeed a
fiery lady. History will point us to so many fiery didis. But still
the term ‘didigiri’ was never used for any of them. It seems to have
been reserved forever for Mamta-didi. That’s indeed an achievement
for our beloved Didi, but I can’t say if it’s a great or ‘un’great
one!!
Didi’s recent surprise victory in West Bengal is being perceived by
her as the attestation of her electorate to her fiery opposition,
often quite irrational, to land acquisition by the government for
private companies. Her oppsotion has cost West Bengal the prestigious
Nano factory from the Tatas. It’s true that the way West Bengal
government has handled the entire issue of land acquisition was indeed
very undemocratical and heinous. Some credit surely goes to Didi for
bringing the Left front government in West Bengal at task. Without her
opposition the nation won’t have known the atrocities and the
corruptions that the Left has been indulging in over the past three
decades in Bengal and elsewhere. But at the same time it’s also of
utomost interest to make sure that the path towards industrialization
of rural India is not met with such blockages. It’s here that BJP has
to play a great role as opposition in the center.
It’s beyond doubt that to provide the growing population of India with
effective employment (not the type of NREGS) industrialization is the
only way. Agriculture doesn’t generate enough revenue compared to the
people employed in it. The much needed employment and keeping pace
with the high GDP growth need extensive industrialization. China’s is
a very good example how industrialization can impact GDP and overall
economy. It’s not recommended to follow everything that a communist
and closely guarded China did. Nevertheless, there are several things
that are worth following. For industrialization, the foremost thing
that government has to do is setup an efficient policy for procurement
of land that not only has a human face but also makes proper business
sense. It’s here that the opposition can play a great role in bridging
the gaps between UPA & Didi and help the country in a big way.
Land acquisition is a double edged sword which has to be handled with
lot of care and prudence. The people who can be negatively impacted
immediately are the ones whose lands are acquired. But in the long run
the same people would be benefited in several ways once the industries
are setup. It’s the role of the political parties to work at the grass
root levels and explain the long term benefits of industrialization.
Also at the same time the land deals should be very transparent and
financially viable both parties - those whose lands are being acquired
and the industries. The Left did really a very shoddy job in making
the dealings transparent. But what Mamta did was actually throwing the
baby along with the bath water.
I’m sure with the increased focus on industrialization, the issue of
land acquisition would crop up in several states and one of the most
important things that the government has to finalize is a good and
efficient policy for it. I’d like to see BJP doing a really great job
here to counter Didigiri!!
August 1, 2009 | Filed Under Sudipto Das | 4 Comments Shame at Sharm
Al Sheikh
by Amit Malviya
It is often said that diplomacy is an art. It is evidently clear by
now that both Dr Singh and Mr Krishna are inept at handling high level
diplomacy. This has been reinforced by the way we as a Nation have
responded to less than fair treatment being meted out to Indian
students in Australia, concessions given away to US in the End User
Monitoring Agreement compromising India’s security and sovereignty,
accepting caps on emissions at the Climate Change summit, avoidable
faux pass when Hillary Clinton (remember Krishna got a lesson from
Hillary on how to exchange dossiers) visited India and most recently
the sell out to Pakistan at Sharm al Sheikh.
It is no coincidence that the opposition, media, intelligentsia,
opinion makers and even a section of the Government is seeing India’s
strategic position being compromised in the understandings /
agreements recently entered into by the Government.
It is without doubt that the joint statement issued by India and
Pakistan at Sharm al Sheikh has severely compromised India’s position.
It has a) accused India of fomenting trouble in Baluchistan and b)
delinked the composite dialogue from action on terror. Inclusion of
these references in the joint statement violates India’s stand against
Pakistan. Never in the past has India ever given such concessions to
Pakistan. Following the joint statement, a report has appeared in Dawn
saying that Pakistan has handed a dossier to India highlighting its
role in Baluchistan and attack on Srilankan players in Lahore. Not
that one should loose sleep over the Dawn report, we also can’t deny
the fact that we have handed over the advantage to Pakistan.
PM, the nice man he is, has defended this joint statement by saying
that India has nothing to hide. This is a nice statement if it came
from a political novice and not from the head of a State. The MoS in
the External Affair Ministry, Shashi Tharoor, has a completely
different take on the joint statement. He said that such joint
statements are not legally valid and therefore should not be a matter
of concern. Was he trying to imply that the document that the PM has
signed is not even worth the piece of paper it is printed on or does
he not know that in 1965 we handed over the Haji Pir Pass (critical to
dominate the LoC) despite the military objections as part of one such
joint agreement or including the words “outstanding issues” in the
1972 Shimla Agreement allowed Pakistan to revive the Kashmir issue all
over again.
I am sure he is a smart man to realize the blunder but he obviously
sees himself more as a politician than a former diplomat. While a
statement like this could have cost him his job in UN, he is only
ensuring that he is furthering his political career by defending the
PM.
The Foreign Secretary has gone on record saying that it is a case of
bad drafting (I hope that is indeed the case). Former diplomats have
pointed out that the joint statement should include only what both the
countries agree on. If there is a point of disagreement, then it
should not find its way to the joint statement. But still the
Government and Congress Party continue to defend the joint statement,
at least in the public domain. Their compulsion is understandable.
As the PM rises in the House today to clarify the statement, it is
likely that he will not have anything credible to say beyond what we
already know. Nevertheless the country has the right to know why is
the Congress led Government gambling with India’s pride ? Is it that
Mr Singh realizes that he has very little time in office and wants to
make a mark for himself in history ? While Dr Manmohan Singh will be
remembered as the Regent who stood guard till the crown prince was
ready to take over, he is clearly getting ambitious. This was evident
in the way he defended the Nuclear deal and now his attempts to script
a new chapter in Indo-Pak diplomacy. While I wish him luck, I only
hope he will not compromise India’s interest. This I hope is not much
to ask.
I also wonder sometime, purely based on how we as a Nation come across
on global stage, that we have lost sense of pride, the realization
that we are a power house and have a dominant role to play in the
region. We dismiss trouble, which could potentially destabilize us, in
neighbouring states as “their internal matter”. Assault on Indian
students is a mere Law and Order problem of Australia. Can you imagine
US reacting to injustice against their countrymen in another country
in the same vein ? How do we explain our tolerance to repeated
terrorist attacks on India ? Are we too resilient or perhaps don’t
like confrontation to the extent that we are ok even if we appear weak
and timid ?
It is time that we got up and faced the world as a self assured Nation
capable of dominating world politics. Aspiring to be a super power is
also about behaving like one !
July 29, 2009 | Filed Under Amit Malviya | 29 Comments
chhotemianinshallah
PTI, Feb 18, 2010, 02.07pm IST
INDORE: In an obvious attack on Congress general secretary Rahul
Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari said on
Thursday that his party did not believe in dynastic politics.
In his first presidential address at the BJP leadership meet here, he
thundered that neither his father nor grandparents were prime
ministers.
"I was a simple worker of a party and today I am its president. This
can happen only in the BJP. The BJP is not like other political
parties where dynasty rules," Gadkari said.
"My father was not the prime minister of the country, neither were my
maternal great grandfather nor grandmother. We are a party with a
difference."
Gadkari's remarks were clearly aimed at Rahul Gandhi, whose father
Rajiv Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi and great grandfather
Jawaharlal Nehru were all prime ministers.
Before his speech, the national council ratified the presidentship of
Gadkari. Senior leaders hailed his ascendance and garlanded him.
Gadkari was named the BJP president in December. He took charge this
month.
silvaraj mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 03:31 PM
same this advice put forward to your r coaliation partners of
shivsena,and past partner of TDP,when sibu soren was in UPA That time
he was untouchable, and Tainted Minister but your same party now
supporting in Jarkand, is it now purified man? please dont double
speak.sasanka kolkata 18 Feb, 2010 04:43 PM
Silvaraj and Co. You stupid gandhi chatus .. Gadkari is talking about
BJP not Shiv Sena or anybody else. People like you who supports the
gndhis , the Mullah SRK , the ISI agents english media has brought
this country into a messDaniel India 18 Feb, 2010 09:07 PM
Few can disagree on dynastic politics, but the BJP President even
though not from any dynasty can't hide from the fact that he too was
nominated/selected to the post because of parivar that controls BJP
from outside. BJP is thus not an alternative to a dynasty parties
unless it's independent.vishal UK 18 Feb, 2010 04:21 PM
I always find muslims type comments with changed hindu names.... i
think u can ask same question to sonia gandhi who has created raj
tahkrey like indira created bhindranwale... i think congress is on a
monoplistic track andwill meet its end soon "bhujta diya bhujne se
pehle bahut fadfadta hai"TONY toronto 18 Feb, 2010 04:19 PM
YOUR PARENTS, GRAND PARENTS AND GREAT GRAND PARENTS, MATERNAL,
PATERNAL WERE BUSY THINKING OF THEM SELVES, THEIR PROBLEMS AND HOW TO
GET THEIR DAILY BREAD, TO FEED YOU, SO THAT YOU CAN BECOME THE
PRESIDENT OF BJP. SORRY MR. GADKHARI BY CRITISING ANYONE YOU R GOING
TO GET MUCH FURTHER.sreekanth Mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 05:25 PMMr. Tony I
know u r rome origin and support only Rahulolly florida 18 Feb, 2010
08:46 PM
u r south riigin and learn to respet other religions u r no better
than gadkari or any religious fanatic no matter what religion u follow
there is no religion that teaches hatred only greed and people who
have nothing better to doS.N.Singh Bangalore 18 Feb, 2010 04:07 PM
BJP does not have any principle when they formed govt.with most
corrupt party like JMM whose leader Sibu Soren is most tainted leader
of India and openly supporting Naxalites and given parliament and
assembly tickets to naxalites. belongs to naxalites
cadres.channamallikarjun Bangalore 18 Feb, 2010 04:01 PM
Gadkari is bang on Target !ramdulari patna 18 Feb, 2010 03:59 PM"In an
obvious attack"neha Pune 18 Feb, 2010 03:59 PM
Can anyone tell me why these people cry over dynasty.Ashok Mumbai 18
Feb, 2010 03:54 PM
Gadkari is right when he says that the BJP does not believe in
dynastic rule which is actually the main cuase of the poor development
of the country. Since the independence, except for a few years, only
one family has ruled the country and the results show that India is
still a poor nation.sunita hyderabad 18 Feb, 2010 03:53 PM
Mr President of the BJP party please let us know whether your
children / nephews/ nieces will come to politics or not.Melroy Dubai
18 Feb, 2010 03:49 PM
The point which needs to be kept in mind is whether the Congress or
BJP are contributing in a positive manner to the development of the
country, dynasty politics is not an issue to be looked into. It is
shameful that our politicians indulge in petty talk.Rahul UAE 18 Feb,
2010 03:47 PM
The future of India is on the hands of BJP!!Umesh delhi 18 Feb, 2010
03:46 PMThough I respect Gadkari, a leader the BJP was waiting for
decade! But unfortunately his comment on Rahul Gandhi does not fit
Gadkari's image as of today. Does Gadkari mean that Mukeshpadman
Bengaluru 18 Feb, 2010 03:41 PM
these bjp leaders never learn lesson. BJP party should concentrate on
country rather than targeting individual. BJP party is also not saint
regarding dynasty. Many BJP leaders in state give ticket to their sons
and their relatives.rajiv bangalore 18 Feb, 2010 03:37 PM
Yes. Mr Gadkari is true. But the other bitter fact is people want
development and jobs. They are not bothered whether the PM is from a
dynasty member or not so long as there is development and peace. In
case of BJP and with allies like Shiv Sena and Sibu Soreb, it clearly
shows its stand.Randy Mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 05:35 PM
Though Congress abolished the Kingdoms of India, it itself is behaving
like the biggest empire with dynasty politics. Then why did you
abolish the Kingdoms? Because they were Hindu? Or because you wanted
to become the new empire yourself? Congress has to answer this
question.sunil Kuwait 18 Feb, 2010 05:27 PM
No tit for tats, just one question to me as an Indian, is Rahul most
qualified to be in this position.Deepak London 18 Feb, 2010 08:43 PM
god knows.... but his mom thinks so... who cares about public
opinion.naresh kerala 18 Feb, 2010 05:25 PM
if bjp does a mistake like jmm coalition, it becomes national news. if
congress does grave mistakes like goa,jharkand foul plays,tainted
ministers,that is forgotten.thats the mentality of some. but guys, bjp
is best among the worst, congress being the worst.Come out of dynasty
politicsAJ Gurgaon 18 Feb, 2010 05:23 PM
Is that the only differentiating factor they have? PV Narsimha Rao,
Sitaram Kesari, and now Manmohan Singh, all reached the top of INC
(First two were INC presidents too).Rajesh Nigeria 18 Feb, 2010 05:23
PM
These are your frustrations Gadkari.It appears that you have not
learnt anything from your poll debacle. Dynasty or otherwise, look at
Rahul's visionRonald Udupi 18 Feb, 2010 05:21 PM
What is the harm if your ancesters were leaders? Greapes are sour mr.
Ghadkari! You proved that u r no better than others at BJP and its
friends!venkatesh mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 05:19 PM
Mr. Gadkari instead of attaching Rahul you should tell the people what
BJP will do for the country. People know what is BJP and its policies.
BJP think it is always right to oppose the Congress and its policies.
Politics of hatred will never succeed in our country. Work for
betterment of the people.Felix India 18 Feb, 2010 05:18 PM
Gadkari's father was not killed serving the country, neither was his
grandmother.ANIL NASHIK 18 Feb, 2010 04:52 PM
NOBODY IS INTERESTED IN WHOSE FATHER WAS WHO. HOLDING A POST IS NOT
THE END OF THE SHOW. SHOW WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THE COUNTRY. YOUR ARE
CRITICISING RAHUL GANDHI, THEN WHY ARE YOU IMITATING RAHUL GANDHI?
WHEN ARE YOU PLANNING FOR A LOCAL TRAIN (OR IS IT A METRO) RIDE?
Subhash Gabon 18 Feb, 2010 05:18 PM
BJP will be finished if they don't work for the welfare of nation.
They must adopt different approach. Dharam, Jaati and region ki
politics will not work anymore. Only the work for nation and it's
people will work. Jiske Ghar shishe ke hote hain vo dusaro pe pattar
nahi Pheka karate, Gadkari sahab.Amar Chennai 18 Feb, 2010 04:51 PM
He has a very valid point. I am not seeing Vajpayee's Son or Advani's
Daughter lining up to take over the party unlike COngress, Sena, DMK,
JD etc...subhash Gabon 18 Feb, 2010 05:13 PM
Mr. Gadkari, you are not different than any other politicians. All of
you are concerned only for yourself and not for nation. Your
spokeperson said that no leader is bigger than Part. Is your party
bigger than Nation?venkatesh mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 05:10 PM
In a democracy like ours first a person has to get elected by the
people. After that the majority party elect a leader and then with the
supporting parties elect a leader to become PM. It is not that a
person of a particular family can become a PM on his own.D.K.Pradhan
Hyderabad 18 Feb, 2010 05:02 PM
It is better if Gadkari takes reforms within his cadre. By attacking
Rahul he is going to loss his own image. If you see the talent in
Rahul why do not you appreciate him.Anonymous Anonymous 18 Feb, 2010
04:40 PM
After Shiv Sena, though BJP is no more in the lime light of the
public, again it is the time of BJP to be shunted out by the Public
for such outrageous remarks. If one's parents, grand parents were not
PM's then why make a hue and cry????Roshan Mangalore 18 Feb, 2010
04:34 PM
In BJP ruled karnataka one Reddy fly has four MP/MLA's. They are
plundering state wealth in illegal mining. Yet, BJP has immaculate
silence maintained.Monty Mumbai 18 Feb, 2010 05:02 PM
This completely true. This Nehru Gandhi family things that India is
their fiefdom.The problems of India still persists from the date of
Independence is because of these undeserving people at the helm of
affairs.
BJP to screen My name Is Khan
Yahoo! India News - Submitted: 05-Feb-2010 The Shiv Sena may be
threatening to stop the screening of Shahrukh Khan starrer My Name Is
Khan but this has not stopped Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Shaina NC
from organising an exclusive screening of the film, for selected
audience, in the capital on Friday. » Full Story on Yahoo! India News
Comments (17)
Destiny
Basically, we the people of India are fooled easily. That is the
reason why people like Thackeray can ignite a row on the issues of
religion, language, place and states and casts. People like them are
worshiped by millions of us. So first we should be prosecuted for
allowing them to rule our emotions and for blindly giving them power
to speak on behalf of us. As far as this question of prosecution,
there should not be any prosecution, they should be hanged without
trials. I am DESTINY and I support MYNAMEISKHAN . I am from MUMBAI.
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Sachin
For balanced decision please have a look at first 6 comments about
news in Buzz "' HC asks state: What action on Thackerays, Rane for
vandalism? '"
I am not member of Shivsena or any other party.Main problem is some TV
media which is is more like imbalanced or provoking than saviour .
I also think Indians should return from Australia , instead of staying
to create dispute between nations just for education of
'few'students .
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Mohammed…
not correct
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Acharya…
INDIA'S TOP MOST BRAND :
INDUSTRY TYPE : ISLAMIC TERROR INDUSTRY
CHAIRMAN : SHAH RUKH KHAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR : SHABANA AZAMI
MANAGING DIRECTOR : KARAH JOHAR
BRAND STATEMENT : ISLAM IS NOT TERROR
BRAND ENDORSEMENT : RAHUL GANDHI & DIGVIJAY SINGH
BRAND EQUITY : VICTIMS OF 26/11
BRAND AMBASSADOR :P. CHIDAMBARAM
BRAND IMAGE --ME HU NA ,,, CHAK DE INDIA,,,, MY NAME IS KHAN ...
BRAND LOGO : AK 47 & RDX
BRAND UNDERTAKERS : HINDUS OF INDIA
BRAND WARRIORS : CONGRESS ...INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
BRAND FUSION : 26/11 ...KARGIL....LAL CHOWK...BATALA HOUSE
BRAND FISSION : ATTACK ON THE THACKREY'S+RSS+BJP
BRAND MODEL : PARTNERSHIP TYPE
BRAND FETISHIZING : INSA ALLAH
BRAND PROMISE : SECULARISM BLA BLA BLA
BRAND COMMUNICATOR : NDTV + STAR PLUS
BRAND INSPIRATION : AL QAEDA / LeT ETC ETC
(2) Replies posted 05-Feb-2010 |
-
Sid | Edit Profile
Jithu
Oh! God,when will another Kasab come to kill these two nastic
creature "Acharya and Yogesh".
(1) Reply posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Prasannaku…
It seems that people are biased with Shivsena. It is boldly stated
that media persons are playing politics to raised their TRP. Why media
should raised question now that, Mumbai belongs to whom ? Mumbai is
capital of Maharashtra and Maharashtra is part of India. Our great
Chief Minister also realized now, while issuing license to taxi driver
that, they need knowledge of Marathi, Probably, he was not aware that
such rule is subsisting in law since last few years. The Chief
Minister changed his stand within 24 hrs.In Belgaum, Marathi speaking
people are threatened at every stage. Why the similar principle is not
being applied there and Marathi is respected ? Are we not in
Democratic State ? In A K Hafizka College, Mumbai, any student
observed speaking in Marathi, is fined Rs. 25/- It is the SIN of
Congress and the Local Government ruled their and having not taken
positive action for the development of these state.
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Acharya…
INDIA'S TOP MOST BRAND :
INDUSTRY TYPE : ISLAMIC TERROR INDUSTRY
CHAIRMAN : SHAH RUKH KHAN
VICE CHAIRMAN : KASAB
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR : SHABANA AZAMI
MANAGING DIRECTOR : KARAH JOHAR
BRAND STATEMENT : ISLAM IS NOT TERROR
BRAND ENDORSEMENT : RAHUL GANDHI & DIGVIJAY SINGH
BRAND EQUITY : VICTIMS OF 26/11
BRAND AMBASSADOR :P. CHIDAMBARAM
BRAND IMAGE --ME HU NA ,,, CHAK DE INDIA,,,, MY NAME IS KHAN ...
BRAND LOGO : AK 47 & RDX
BRAND UNDERTAKERS : HINDUS OF INDIA
BRAND WARRIORS : CONGRESS ...INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
BRAND FUSION : 26/11 ...KARGIL....LAL CHOWK...BATALA HOUSE
BRAND FISSION : ATTACK ON THE THACKREY'S+RSS+BJP
BRAND MODEL : PARTNERSHIP TYPE
BRAND FETISHIZING : INSA ALLAH
BRAND PROMISE : SECULARISM BLA BLA BLA
BRAND COMMUNICATOR : NDTV + STAR PLUS
BRAND INSPIRATION : AL QAEDA / LeT ETC ETC
(1) Reply posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Manoj
acharya father is muslim and his mother is hindu,that's why he is
nescafe( na khafffffiiiiiiiii)
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Acharya…
ALL HINDUS OF INDIA UNITE LIKE JEWS OF ISRAEL AGAINST INSLAMIC TERROR
INDUSTRY ....I BET NO ONE CAN DARE SUPPORT PAKISTAN ....DEPORT THEM TP
PAK AND SEIEZE THEIR PASSPORTS ...PLEASE DO NOT FUND THESE
PEOPLE ...THEY R REAL CRIMINALS HIDING IN INDIA TRANSFERRING & SHARING
THEIR EARNINGS THROUGH IPL ..THESE FUNDS ARE BEING USED FOR SUPPORTING
TERRORIST TRAINING CAMPS IN PAK
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Acharya…
GOVT . OF INDIA HAS FORGOTTEN 26/11 LIKE SRK BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T FEEL
THE LOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS OF LIVES IN 26/11 DATS Y TALKS
STARTED BY CONGRESS ...IF WE HINDUS DO NOT UNITE AND OBJECT TO SUCH
ACT ..WE SHALL BE INSULTING THOSE WHO LAID THEIR LIFE FOR HINDUSTAN
AND IN FUTURE NO ONE WILL FIGHT THE TERRORISM ...ITS NOW UP TO U TO
DECIDE
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
zain
due to sick people like Acharya and Yogesh other people's minds are
being spoiled india belong to each n every indian , no matter wats his
religion is u both are so sick take a break guys....
jai hind
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Acharya…
INDIA'S TOP MOST BRAND :
INDUSTRY TYPE : ISLAMIC TERROR INDUSTRY
CHAIRMAN : SHAH RUKH KHAN
VICE CHAIRMAN : KASAB
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR : SHABANA AZAMI
MANAGING DIRECTOR : KARAH JOHAR
BRAND STATEMENT : ISLAM IS NOT TERROR
BRAND ENDORSEMENT : RAHUL GANDHI & DIGVIJAY SINGH
BRAND EQUITY : VICTIMS OF 26/11
BRAND AMBASSADOR :P. CHIDAMBARAM
BRAND IMAGE --ME HU NA ,,, CHAK DE INDIA,,,, MY NAME IS KHAN ...
BRAND LOGO : AK 47 & RDX
BRAND UNDERTAKERS : HINDUS OF INDIA
BRAND WARRIORS : CONGRESS ...INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
BRAND FUSION : 26/11 ...KARGIL....LAL CHOWK...BATALA HOUSE
BRAND FISSION : ATTACK ON THE THACKREY'S+RSS+BJP
BRAND MODEL : PARTNERSHIP TYPE
BRAND FETISHIZING : INSA ALLAH
BRAND PROMISE : SECULARISM BLA BLA BLA
BRAND COMMUNICATOR : NDTV + STAR PLUS
BRAND INSPIRATION : AL QAEDA / LeT ETC ETC
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Seikhahmed
due to sick people like acharya and yougesh other mind are being
spoiled india belong to each an indian no matter whats religion is you
both are so sick to a break guys .go to hell
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
__A_YAHOO_…
no problem for srk by stopping film in one stste?????????????
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
Jeet
WELL A BRILLIANT PUBLICITY STUNT ,WHERE BOTH SHIV SENA AND SHAH RUKH
KHAN ARE THE PART OF THE ACT AND BOTH ARE PARTNERS.
HOW FOOLISH WE ARE..HA HA HA
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
ritesh
We are Indian first then from any other state and religion. But my
question is we Indians are inviting Pakistanis in our country and
giving them a lot of respect and love but Is this is happening in
Pakistan too? No my friends...... We have to save our country...
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Sid | Edit Profile
ritesh
INDIA'S TOP MOST BRAND :
INDUSTRY TYPE : ISLAMIC TERROR INDUSTRY
CHAIRMAN : SHAH RUKH KHAN
VICE CHAIRMAN : KASAB
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR : SHABANA AZAMI
MANAGING DIRECTOR : KARAH JOHAR
BRAND STATEMENT : ISLAM IS NOT TERROR
BRAND ENDORSEMENT : RAHUL GANDHI & DIGVIJAY SINGH
BRAND EQUITY : VICTIMS OF 26/11
BRAND AMBASSADOR :P. CHIDAMBARAM
BRAND IMAGE --ME HU NA ,,, CHAK DE INDIA,,,, MY NAME IS KHAN ...
BRAND LOGO : AK 47 & RDX
BRAND UNDERTAKERS : HINDUS OF INDIA
BRAND WARRIORS : CONGRESS ...INDIAN MUJAHIDEEN
BRAND FUSION : 26/11 ...KARGIL....LAL CHOWK...BATALA HOUSE
BRAND FISSION : ATTACK ON THE THACKREY'S+RSS+BJP
BRAND MODEL : PARTNERSHIP TYPE
BRAND FETISHIZING : INSA ALLAH
BRAND PROMISE : SECULARISM BLA BLA BLA
BRAND COMMUNICATOR : NDTV + STAR PLUS
BRAND INSPIRATION : AL QAEDA / LeT ETC ETC
This is Correct.....
Proud to be Hindu and Indian...
posted 05-Feb-2010 |
Congress ideas in BJP discourse
Poornima Joshi
Indore, February 18, 2010
The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national executive meeting that
started on Wednesday hardly threw up any new ideas.
The saffron leadership was reduced to merely responding to issues
taken up by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.
Whether it was BJP president Nitin Gadkari's imitation of Rahul
Gandhi's sleepovers at Dalit homes by sitting cross-legged in
councillor Priti Karotia's kitchen to have dinner, comparing B.R.
Ambedkar to Martin Luther King or launching a shrill attack on
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for demanding a fair trial
for slain 'terrorists' in the Batla House encounter, the BJP strategy
seemed to be shaped in response to the agenda set by the Congress.
In view was a rather sad attempt - for a young party that used to
conjure up ever new ideas to market the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's
(RSS) Hindutva agenda in the first 30 years of its inception - to
repackage Hindutva in a contemporary jargon.
Issues such as the Ramjanmabhoomi, abrogation of Article 370 and the
Uniform Civil Code were replaced by a shrill rhetoric against
"minority appeasement". It was alleged that pacification was visible
during Digvijay's recent visit to the " terrorist village" of
Sanjarpur in Azamgarh, home to the Batla House dead - and a return to
the RSS-brand of austerity. An attempt to display this asceticism was
seen in the arrangement of accommodation - tents pitched on the
outskirts of Indore.
On the same lines, the theme of antyodaya i.e. 'serving the last man
in the queue', a concept promoted by BJP ideologue Deen Dayal
Upadhyaya, was drummed up. Accordingly, the afternoon session of the
national executive was largely devoted to discussing price rise and
its repercussions on the aam admi. The future social agenda was
reflected in the symbolism of Gadkari's dinner at the Dalit
councillor's home, a visit to Ambedkar's birthplace and his comparison
to the US civil rights icon. "Ambedkar was the Martin Luther King of
India. In his quest for a just and egalitarian society, he accorded
justice to the less privileged. We in the BJP remain wedded to
Ambedkar's dream of a casteless and just society," Gadkari told the
delegates in his inaugural speech.
The strongest message of the day was delivered by a strident attack on
the Congress's handling of terror, especially the ruling party's stand
on the Batla House encounter in which 'terrorists' from Sanjarpur were
killed in a encounter with the Delhi Police.
Gadkari said: "Some leaders in the Congress have turned a terrorists'
village into a tourist destination. This is appeasement politics at
its worst… The war against terror should not be sacrificed at the
altar of vote-bank politics. The whole country should rise above
partisan politics. We in the BJP will take our fight against
terrorism, extremism and price rise to the streets." Human rights
activists, teachers of the Jamia Millia Islamia near which Batla House
is located, and the families of the dead termed the encounter as "cold-
blooded murders" and have been demanding a judicial inquiry into it.
The Congress and Digvijay, in particular, have maintained that there
should be a fair trial so that no doubts remain about the veracity of
the police's version of the incident.
Singh even recently visited the Uttar Pradesh village to convince the
people that justice would be done to the bereaved families.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/84539/India/Congress+ideas+in+BJP+discourse.html
BJP looks for inspiration in tents, have to combat snakes
Milind Ghatwai
Posted: Thursday , Feb 18, 2010 at 1027 hrs
Indore:
L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Murli Manohar Joshi and
Shivraj Singh Chauhan at BJP National Council meet in Indore.
Only time will tell whether the BJP finds inspiration in tents but the
symbolic rural ambience created at the venue of its three-day meet
does seek attention.
Spread over 90-acre, the venue includes an upcoming township and a
vast stretch of agriculture land. Named after its former president
Kushabhau Thakre, known for his simple lifestyle, the venue off the
Agra-Bombay highway has cattle and goats tied near tents meant for
deliberation for that special effect.
A few leaders have left the tents citing illness, security and lack of
facilities as reasons the 5000-odd common delegates are not so lucky.
Unlike the VVIP tents that have all the comforts, the rest are
modest.
"We sincerely want to give the message to delegates not to hanker only
after city life and urban voters, and we think we have successful to
some extent,’’ said a Rajya Sabha MP from Madhya Pradesh.
The organizers had to combat the very potent threat of snakes
slithering into tents by getting snake charmers and keeping them ready
for any eventuality.
The artificial setting also includes vendors who sell anything from
groundnuts to carrots to jaljira. Though they are dressed
appropriately, the vendors with prominent identity badges don’t charge
anything.
Battery operated vehicles ply guests from the entrance to tents and
venues for deliberations. Cycles have also been provided for effect
and leaders had cycled their way around the venue before the meet
began.
There was a talk of getting cycles meant for women for a similar photo-
op for the senior leaders belonging to fair sex. Women delegates have
been accommodated in flats built on the township.
Though the party claimed that most of its guests have adjusted
themselves in tents there was a tremendous pressure on the hotels in
the state’s commercial capital, which boasts of more room than any
other city. Maybe because of hundreds of security personnel who have
poured into the city following the reported terror threat to Indore.
Some leaders reportedly booked hotel rooms in nearby Dewas and Ujjain
should things go wrong in tents at nights.
The party had a tough time defending its decision to turn to tents
from hotels that once characterized the party. Party spokesman Prakash
Javadekar, however, maintained it was not a big issue because, ``many
of us have lived in tents from our RSS days.’’ He said twice in the
past meets guests were accommodated in tents.
Javadekar said the talk that tents were luxurious and that hotel
accommodation would have cost less does not hold any water. The tents
have cost much less, he said. When told that VIP tents had ACs, he
quipped, "it’s so cold inside that they should have heaters."
Comments |
Mr.
By: Jai Singh | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 21:14:03 PM
Whom are these backward looking politicians trying to fool? Whom are
they trying to impress? Do they really think that the people of India
are imbeciles and don't know these cheap populist stunts? How pathetic
can the BJP get to revive its dwindling fortunes?
B.J.P. VISION TO STRENGTHEN ORGANIZATION
By: RAJAT KUMAR MOHINDRU , JALANDHAR CITY . | Thursday , 18 Feb '10
20:20:20 PM
B.J.P. National President Mr Nitin Gadkari is young , efficent having
a visionery eye-que How to bring the B.J.P. led alliance N.D.A. to
Power . Mr Gadakari is known for his simplicity , clear hearted
speech , having a vision to give direction to the organization , a
major concept that No body is above organization . His vision the in
B.J.P. even the ground level worker has the potential power to reach
the highest post of an Organization , as the Party is once again
stressing on the concept of PARTY WITH A DIFFERENCE . No doubt the
Party ideology is for a united India , a strong India , A developed
India , The issue regarding the Tents is not an issue because in a
democratic system every person has the right of freedom , expression .
It is clear that Mr Nitin Gadkari vision has been highlighted that
what concept B.J.P. is having in future and How to strengthen the
oganization having ideology of Deen Dayal Upadya , Shama Parshad
Mukeerji , Kushubai Thakre , Dr Baldev Parkash and other
Advani should leave us alone
By: Justincase | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 16:33:44 PM
Sir, Pakistan based terrorists seems to smile when they see this
nincompoop Advani. This man is not only a blot on us Hindus, but on
our entire nation. Beside his involvment in different scams, he still
is the person who fully remote-control Gadkari likes. His alleged role
in Hawala and his alleged association with Dawood Ibrahim is most
disturbing. This person is capable of bombing our own nation with our
own nukes under the cover of bombing our enemies.
New face of BJP
By: DR.LAW | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 16:02:25 PM
Gadkariji represent a new face, he seems to have eaten 20 pumkins and
double the amount of sitafal and bananas in one go.
Tents of Distinction
By: George P. Joseph | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 15:28:06 PM
Quote The venue off the Agra-Bombay highway has cattle and goats tied
near tents meant for deliberation for that special effect. The 5000-
odd common delegates are not so lucky. Unlike the VVIP tents that have
all the comforts, the rest are modest. Unquote Keep away Mr. Sasi
Tharoor genre off both the area where cattle and goats tied near tents
as well as VVIP tents where possibility of to be tied Elephants &
Horses as symbols of distinction.
singhu
By: sarvadeosingh | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 15:13:33 PM
It is really a good thing that top BJP leadership is trying to
understand that they should work for the ideology of the party and not
for their own personal achievement.The faction-ism in the party must
be finished.They should work united to achieve the long cherished goal
of the party.The party must try to bring the youths in main
functionaries of the party and attach it with common people.
A New BJP Requires Fundamental Changes
By: Asokan Vengassery | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 13:58:18 PM
There is no doubt that Gadkari presents a new face to the BJP. He has
proved as a man of ideas. He is young and pragmatic, courageous and
charismatic, forward and open-minded, and appears to be genuine. Even
though this is a good start, BJP still requires to make some
fundamental changes in its attitude and policies if it want to replace
or compete with the ruling Congress. The general perception, however
biased, still is that BJP is for the rich. Majority of its supporters
are urban and caste Hindus. Its secular credentials are in question as
minorities as well as the backward and dalit population keeps a
distance from the party. BJP needs to recognize that India has been a
secular nation, and our cultural ethos demands that. Even though in
the short-term religious passions may bring benefits, in the long-run
an Indian mind cannot tolerate bigotry and prejudice. BJP genuinely
try to be inclusive of all people. Gadkari%u2019s perceived views on
destroying the caste barriers is commendable. However, words are
supposed to be followed by actions. This means sacrifices by the
privileged at the various levels of the party structure as well as a
revamping of its policies and priorities. A healthy India requires a
powerful and competent alternative political force. Only BJP can
satisfy that role in the current context.
Time to think
By: Chandra | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 13:39:01 PM
In a today%u2019s scenario, it is media that makes public opinion
rather than any particular political part because of its mass reach.
So the congress is using this strategy for a long time to control
media (by any means). If BJP has to come to power and bring change, it
needs to have media support. Every BJP supporter should buy shares of
the media company and then as a group of shareholders, influence news
makers. See TOI and NDTV 24X7 coverage when it comes to the congress
and BJP, anyone can find the difference very easily. BJP should avoid
gimmicks to gain attention. Always remember, stumbling is not falling.
Think about farmer, and then think about average citizen interests
%u2019 first and then make strategy accordingly.
Simple living and high thinking is the demand of the time!!!!
By: shashi yadav | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 13:27:21 PM
Time has come to put the house in order.The need is to change the
philosophy and see the demand and requirement by the citizens.BJP
really need to reform their agenda and the way of working towards the
goal.Be honest to your work.No need to show off and make unnecessary
effort which in turn looks like an artificial effort and leaves a bad
taste in the mind of the people.They cannot afford to loose their
ground by silly mistakes.Do everything from the heart,not to please
poor. They are no fools ,they read your actions well. Mean
business.That is the only way of survival in future elections. Do
something really tempting ,to give boost to the general public.Take a
serious note of their requirements and make a proper plan to overcome
those problems.You need to win the heart and mind of the people to
come back again with a bang.Have a new vision ans mission,which can
really benefit the nation and the people. Debate.
tents- A new ploy !
By: Ramdas Naik | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:40:53 PM
Tents are the new tokenism of the BJP to attract attention!They need
to focus on ways to take all Indians forward, not just sections !
draw
By: Ravi | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:20:15 PM
The writer has tried to draw a caricature of BJP. However BJP is any
day better than a Congress which appeases terrorists for votes. Ask
the families of those young ones killed in Pune. Maybe writer like as
above will only understand pain when one of his own are killed in the
terror strikes.
Javadekar - You Moron
By: Whatzin Aname | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:13:39 PM
AC means 'air conditioning' not 'air cooling' so covers both coolers
and heaters.
What a load of crap
By: Whatzin Aname | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:11:44 PM
The entire BJP has aged with Advani. I knew this would happen the day
the moron went on a Rath Yatra. They have absolutely no ideas.
hahaha
By: nathan | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:56:12 PM
Nice to see ur the person of ideas..hahahaha
No need Inspiration be a true servant of people of India
By: rajkumar | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:02:28 PM
There is no need to have special inspiration. BJP needs to look deep
within and see whether all is well in its family. The answer is no!!!.
The leaders are at each other throats with knives. Well you cannot
create gaint banners and use money to spin "India Shinning" - but at
what cost. BJP has been sent to political wildrness. This is simple
charter I propose: 1. Work for down trodden. 2. Build an inclusive and
peaceful India with all religions. 3. Drop your agenda of Hindu based
party. Instead create an agenda for working and upliftment of low
caste people. Now you are party of business man, caste Hindus and
people who kill others to show that you are very religious and
protector of Hindus. 4. Break all links with contractors and
opportunity based politics - Karnataka and Jharkahand are fine
examples. 5. Apologise to all families who have been slaughetered and
killed by your actions and words. And dedicate for people and we will
love you
BJP, Media and News Headlines
By: Nitin Mathur | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 12:01:09 PM
It is unfortunate that the media in the country has only looked at
Tent arrangements as a talking point of BJP Indore Conclave. The BJP
strategy to make the media persons stay in the Tents has hit the
Bull's Eye and given BJP the Front Page Headlines it desperately
wanted in the Media. The media will do well to highlight what is the
new approach which Nitin is proposing, be it: 1) Cosying up with
Dalits 2) stand on leaders rushing off to Media with News Bytes for
Cheap popularity 3) Influence of RSS 4) Role for Muslims in new BJP 5)
Moderate talks/ Varun Gandhi Hawkish approach to reach out to
electorate. Indore BJP leader Vijaywargiya has used Tents as a ploy to
gain Political Mileage and attention. That Advani and other BJP
leaders had to be provided with modern comforts in Tents is a
reflection of the shallowness discrimination which marks BJP. Hope BJP
acts responsibly and cleans the area once this conclave is over. BJP
needs new ideas beyond cheap symbolism for votes.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-looks-for-inspiration-in-tents-have-to-combat-snakes/581339/0
You are here: Home Top Story BJP leaders quit tents for hotel Skip
to content.BJP leaders quit tents for hotel .
.Indore, Feb. 17: The BJP’s extravaganza and eco-friendly
arrangements to house leaders and functionaries on 90 acres of land is
facing flak from virtually all corners. The party has spent over Rs 30
crores putting up air-conditioned tents with proper facilities in an
eco-friendly ambience.
While on one hand the Congress has launched a scathing attack on the
BJP over the jamboree, on the other some of the top BJP leaders have
started abandoning the venue in search of greater comfort. Leaders
like Mr Rajnath Singh, Mr Varun Gandhi and Ms Maneka Gandhi have left
their tents for hotels. The leaders complained of water scarcity and
uncomfortable beds. Incidentally, the party has spent over Rs 2 crores
on water facilities.
The top BJP leadership is also facing criticism over expenses from
within. That the BJP was all set to spent Rs 30 crores on its three-
day national executive had first appeared in this newspaper on
February 15.
Some BJP leaders have questioned the amount spent on this three-day
meet. The issue came up for discussion on the first day of the
national executive on Wednesday. Sources in the party said the issue
was raised by a section of Madhya Pradesh leaders. This particular
section virtually demanded an explanation to why the party had to
spend such an "exorbitant amount" to set up over 1,000 tents and
provide other facilities on 90 acres of land. They felt accommodation
in hotels or guest houses would have been "cheaper" and that such
"wasteful expenditure" could "dent" the image of the BJP.
However, the other section defended the move and said this was an
attempt to "bring the leaders and cadres together". It was also argued
that keeping them within 90 acres would also make interaction between
leaders and functionaries "easier".
YOJNA GUSAI
Many BJP leaders say no to eco-friendly tents at conclave
Indore, Feb 18
Many Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who have converged here for
the party conclave, late Wednesday opted not to stay in the eco-
friendly tents citing "health problems", party officials said.
Sources said those who have opted to stay in hotels rather than in
1,300 tents erected at Kushabhau Thakre Nagar, 10 km from here,
include former party president Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in
the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh,
MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.
"I am not staying in the tents but my heart is still here," said
Sinha, a party MP.
When asked about leaders not staying at the party conclave, party
spokesperson Prakash Javdekar said: "Some leaders have health
problems. In such a case it is necessary for them to stay in hotels."
He added that Rajnath Singh was "down with viral fever".
Former union minister Maneka Gandhi and her son and MP Varun have also
reportedly left the venue.
Around 1,300 tents have been put up for around 5,000 delegates of the
national executive and national council. Of these 25 are for the
VVIPs.
Last updated on Feb 18th, 2010 at 00:37 am IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a115744.html
chhotemianinshallah
Kiran Tare / DNA
Friday, February 19, 2010 1:49 IST
Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) national conclave being
held in Indore bears a strong imprint of Maharashtra. But
surprisingly, a bigwig from the state, former deputy CM Gopinath
Munde, does not find a place on any of the hoardings put up at the
convention site.
Indore has been flooded with BJP hoardings in the wake of the national
conclave, and one can easily spot party president Nitin Gadkari, party
stalwart LK Advani, leader of opposition Sushama Swaraj and general
secretaries Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar’s images on
the hoardings. But Munde’s is conspicuous by its absence.
“You will not find any hoarding bearing Munde’s image at the
conclave,” said a senior BJP leader from Maharashtra. “I do not know
why, but it may because of the groupism,” he said.
On Thursday, when Gadkari was officially declared the president of the
party, he was felicitated by the top brass of the party, including
Advani and Munde. When Munde garlanded him, Gadkari tried to touch his
(Munde’s) feet.
Later, Gadkari said, “No one in our party should touch the feet of the
leaders who are not too old. You can touch the feet of Advaniji or Dr
Joshiji (Murli Manohar Joshi), but not mine. We are a party with a
difference, and we have to show it through our behavior.”
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_gopinath-munde-finds-no-place-in-bjp-enclave-hoardings_1349699
Nitin Gadkari offers to rebuild Babri Masjid
Nistula Hebbar & Kiran Tare / DNA
Friday, February 19, 2010 2:00 IST
Mumbai, Indore: BJP president Nitin Gadkari unveiled his “new deal”
for the BJP at the party’s national council meet, including an offer
to build a grand mosque to replace the Babri Masjid, although at an
alternative site.
The deal he offered was that of a “kinder, gentler” approach to
minorities, an inclusive agenda regarding Dalits and rural India, and
an assurance to his partymen that performance would be rewarded.
Scarcely had Gadkari made his speech that party spokesperson Rajiv
Pratap Rudy had to do a little backtrack operation, saying the Mosque
offer was conditional, meaning it would “happen at an appropriate time
after due consultation with all parties.” Sources say a stern phone
call came from the VHP, which asked the BJP top brass how such an
undertaking could be given on behalf of the Sangh Parivar.
Gadkari’s hour-long speech made little mention of the Ram Mandir
issue, but got the most applause when he “appealed” to Muslims that
they voluntarily give up their claim to the Ram Mandir complex in
return for an alternative site “where the BJP will help build a grand
mosque.”
The message most delegates seem to come away with was that Gadkari and
the RSS appeared to have come to the conclusion that the party had
peaked electorally as far as its current electoral base was concerned
and was looking to add to it. Gadkari said as much in his speech. “I
aim to increase our vote share by at least 10% to our existing base,”
he said. This 10%, according to Gadkari’s calculation, would come from
Dalits, tribals, the rural population, youth and even minorities.
“When I landed in Indore, I decided to first go to Mhow, the
birthplace of Babasaheb Ambedkar, for his blessings. There I ate at a
Dalit councillor’s house, but I made sure that this was not enacted in
front of TV cameras, as for me the fight against untouchability is not
a political strategy but a firm conviction,” he said, clearly alluding
to AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
While his plans for the party’s political issues were articulated at
length, he did not forget to address the party’s internal issues.
“I promise I will set up a system of internal evaluation and
accountability, and institute an award for the best-performing MLA,
MLC, MP and ministers,” he said. He would also set up a team to look
into getting together a vision 2025 for the party and its plans.
Significantly, Gadkari’s centrist approach stands in contrast to his
predecessor Rajnath Singh’s, who had warned the party of deviating too
much from the hindutva ideology.“In the 1980s there was a great
rivalry between Pepsi and Coke and while Pepsi retained its USP and
worked on its strengths, Coke tried to experiment with it basic
flavour, leading to Pepsi’s ascendance. This can well happen
anywhere,” Singh had said during his last speech as party president.
Between the hardline and centrist agendas, it seems as though Gadkari
is throwing his weight behind the latter.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nitin-gadkari-offers-to-rebuild-babri-masjid_1349660
BJP's inertia
Friday, February 19, 2010 0:17 IST
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari hit the right
notes all right: homage to BR Ambedkar, tough words for squabbling
senior leaders and crooning the Manna Dey number from the Hrishikesh
Mukherjee-directed 1970 vintage film Anand about life being a teaser.
He has, however, stayed within the familiar parameters of rhetoric and
gesture. This may not be enough to get the party out of the rudderless
state it has slipped into after it was shocked by the 2004 Lok Sabha
poll debacle. The party accepted the 2009 defeat with less fuss. There
was a sense of resignation, which was more passive than philosophical.
There is the proverbial silver lining — the party rules in several
states, on its own as well as with allies and retains a chunk of
political space if not mind space in the country.
Gadkari’s task of reviving the political fortunes of the party at the
national level will have to wait till 2014. He is not exactly self-
deprecatory when he says that he is an outsider to the hothouse of
party politics of Delhi. He wants to leverage his image of the humble
worker who used to paste party posters in town and is now leading it.
It is a good advertising story for the party, but the BJP cannot rest
on those laurels.
For the moment, it is not clear whether BJP’s romance with Hindutva is
over or not. Its leaders tend to return to ideological certitudes when
the big, bad world of politics proves to be difficult even as they
recognise that Hindutva has lost its resonance. Perhaps, what is
needed is for the party to get out of the myth conjured up by LK
Advani: that he brought the BJP to centrestage because of his
successful Hindutva-driven rath yatra of 1989-90.
The truth may be different. In the 1990s, people were looking for an
alternative to the Congress and its jaded ways. The third front
governments crumbled and it was then that BJP appeared to be a viable
alternative. Social forces were also mobilising for and against the
Mandal report. The mandir agitation helped the BJP to harness
temporarily favourable winds to build momentum. The Tina factor
helped. The BJP could again ride to power on this factor alone, if not
in 2014 then in 2019. But this is passivity at its worst. If all the
party can do is wait till the tide turns away from its political
rivals, then it cannot build a long-term future. No party can be built
on inertia.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_bjp-s-inertia_1349637
BJP amends constitution, raises number of women office-holders
PTI
Thursday, February 18, 2010 22:56 IST
Indore: Having already changed its constitution to provide 33 per cent
reservation for women in all party posts, the BJP today carried out
another amendment increasing the number of women in cadre posts.
As against 27 office bearers till now, after the new amendment to the
BJP constitution at the National Council today, there will be 39
office bearers. Of these, 13 will be women and three will be from SC/
STs.
The total strength of the National Executive has also been increased
from 80 to 120. The number of women in this body will be 40 now.
The new amendment has been made to keep the number of men office
bearers intact while appointing more women to meet the 33 per cent
criteria.
In 2008, BJP amended its constitution to provide 33 per cent
reservation to women in its cadre posts. However, it has not given
reservation to women in the selection of candidates for elections to
Parliament or state assemblies.
After today's amendment, which was moved by vice president Bal Apte,
the number of general secretaries will go up from seven to 10. This
includes a general secretary (organisation) who represents the RSS in
the party.
The number of vice-presidents and secretaries will also change but the
party did not specify the number.
When the reservation was not in force the strength of women office-
bearers was much less compared to the men office-bearers. But now the
total strength itself will rise to 80 in the National Executive when
this was the total number earlier.
Nitin Gadkari sings, enthrals BJP top brass
PTI
Thursday, February 18, 2010 19:35 IST
Indore: Jury may still be out on whether BJP's new president Nitin
Gadkari has the ability to tone up demoralised party cadres but he
definitely had them humming when he sang an apt song on life being a
mystery which gives unexpected moments of laughter and pain.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari
The BJP leaders held a cultural programme yesterday evening after the
national executive meet in Indore to relax and enjoy themselves. While
such programmes are known to bore the audience to death, this one was
an exception as Gadkari,
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his commerce
minister Kailash Vijayvargiya were the star performers.
Vijayvargiya, who was a bhajan singer and cashed in on his popularity
to enter politics, entertained the audience with his songs. The former
Indore mayor then told his audience, comprising BJP top brass, that
Gadkari was also a good singer but would sing only if senior leader LK
Advani gave his nod.
Advani readily gave his assent and Gadkari chose a Manna Dey song from
Hrishikesh Mukherjee's famous movie Anand to enthral the audience.
As it turned out, Gadkari had the audience spellbound with 'Zindagi
kaisi yeh paheli hai, kabhi yeh rulaaye kabhi yeh hasaaye'.
While many were impressed, some could not help wondering if Gadkari
chose the song to send a message to his party that its dark days would
end and success would shine on the fortunes of the main opposition.
Chouhan, who, according to some party leaders, grabs the slightest
opportunity to exercise his vocal cords, sang 'Nadiya chale, chale re
dhaare'. While many felt his singing abilities need to be worked upon,
this song was also quite inspirational in nature.
Vijayvargiya, who is also the main organiser of the three-day national
council and executive meet in Indore, is a popular singer among the
locals and is respected for his talent even in the party. He sang the
classic 'Chaudhvi ka chand ho' and another song.
The meet venue is witness to folk dances and programmes showcasing
local culture every evening and draw a sizable crowd of party
workers.
With one more day to go and Bollywood personalities like Hema Malini
and Shatrughan Sinha around, some more entertainment cannot be ruled
out, said party sources.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nitin-gadkari-sings-enthrals-bjp-top-brass_1349561
Rajnath Singh apologises for mistakes, improper decisions
PTI
Thursday, February 18, 2010 19:23 IST
New Delhi: Former BJP president Rajnath Singh, whose tenure witnessed
bitter infighting among leaders especially after the 2009 Lok Sabha
debacle, today apologised for any mistakes or wrong decisions during
his term.
"There may have been mistakes...There could have been improper
decisions and you should forgive me for the mistakes," said Rajnath.
At the same time, he said whatever decisions were taken by him in his
capacity as party president were comparable to King Vikramaditya,
known for his just rule.
"I was also sitting on the Vikramaditya throne," Rajnath said, adding
the aim was to take just decisions though some improper decisions may
have been taken.
As if conveying a message to those who threw a challenge to his
presidentship during his tenure, Rajnath told party cadres, "Your
respect for this chair should not diminish."
He sought to downplay the loss in the 2009 general elections but said
all was not lost for BJP as it was big party with governments in six
states.
Invoking former US president Richard Nixon's statement, Rajnath said,
"A man is not finished when he is defeated but he is defeated when he
quits."
Rajnath expressed the hope that the next government after the 2014
elections would be by a BJP-led coalition.
"On the failure of today, we should strive to remove the deficiencies
of the past by working in the present and focussing on 2014 so that we
can regain power," Rajnath asserted.
"We should move with a positive approach and with confidence," he
said.
Rajnath insisted that BJP will be decimated if it moves away from its
core ideology.
Citing the corporate war between cola giants Pepsi and Coke, Rajnath
said, "To beat Pepsi which was selling more, Coke adopted its formula
but its sales dipped by 60 per cent. It then realised that its
consumers, who were used to the original taste, had starting consuming
Pepsi."
He admitted that the Lok Sabha poll results were not up to BJP's
expectations as it was hoping to win up to 175 seats.
"We wanted to make LK Advani prime minister and regret that this could
not be achieved," he said.
Sid Harth
during an event in Indore. PTI Photo Photograph (1)
Gadkari's appeal to Muslims: Give up Ayodhya claim
STAFF WRITER 17:58 HRS IST
By Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi and Sunil Gatade
Indore, Feb 18 (PTI) Bringing to the fore yet again the party's pet
issue, new BJP President Nitin Gadkari today said Ram temple in
Ayodhya is its soul and appealed to the Muslims to adopt a "generous"
attitude by giving up their claim on the disputed site.
In his Presidential address at the opening of the two-day National
Council here, he also spoke on issues seeking to broadbase support for
the party like wooing Dalits and minorities and the need to instill a
new work culture in the organisation without resorting to sycophancy.
Leaving no one in doubt about the party's stand on issues like Ayodhya
and alleged minority appeasement, 52-year-old Gadkari, the RSS choice
for the post, said "the BJP stands fully committed to the construction
of a grand temple in Ayodhya".
http://www.ptinews.com/news/524231_Gadkari-s-appeal-to-Muslims--Give-up-Ayodhya-claim
bademiyansubhanallah
Thursday, February 18, 2010,16:38 [IST]
New Delhi, Feb.18 (ANI): Taking a dig at Bharatiya Janata Party's
Antakshari, which it termed as a 'cultural programme' during the
ongoing national executive meet in Indore, in which party president
Nitin Gadkari mesmerized party's top brass with his singing abilities,
senior congress leaders at All India Congress Committee (AICC) have
said it's a 'good thing' to keep the jobless BJP leaders occupied.
Buzz up!Congress Spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed on Thursday said: "Having
lost elections most of the senior BJP leaders are without work so this
is good exercise to keep themselves occupied."
"Its good that BJP is doing constructive work by singing and dancing
in Indore and they are not resorting to divisive policies," said
Ahmed.
However, taking a swipe at Gadkari's visit to a Dalit household
recently, which is being viewed as an imitation of Congress General
Secretary Rahul Gandhi's style of politics, the Congress leaders said
BJP is fast picking up things from Congress and adapting its ways and
means.
The Congress leaders have also cited Lal Krishan Advani' appointment
as NDA chairperson as another imitation of United Progressive
Alliance's structure. (ANI)
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/18/congresstakes-a-dig-at-bjps-antakshari.html
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 18:32 HRS IST
Indore, Feb 18 (PTI) 'Go to the grassroots' appears to be the new
mantra of the BJP under Nitin Gadkari, who today hailed Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi for the way he cultivates his constituency.
"I have learnt this from Narendra Modi. At the time of election, I had
been touring my constituency on scooter. What first needs to be looked
after is the booth," said Gadkari, who is seeking to bring a new work
culture in the BJP.
"Do not come to Delhi. Do not meet the leaders. Work in your area.
Your C R (confidential report) will be written there. Your ticket will
not depend upon the likes and dislikes of leaders," Gadkari said in
his brief remarks before the conclusion of the National Council here.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/526286_Gadkari-hails-Modi-mantra
Vasundhara Raje skips meet, BJP rift widens
Palak Nandi, TNN, Feb 20, 2010, 02.10am IST
JAIPUR: The visible cracks in the state BJP only got wider with party
heavyweights -- former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, former state
president Om Prakash Mathur and senior MP Ramdas Agarwal -- giving the
national executive in Indore the miss. State party president Arun
Chaturvedi, however, attended the meet.
According to party sources, the three have cited personal reasons for
not attending the party's national meet but their absence has raised
eyebrows in the state's political circles, even giving rise to
speculations that Raje would soon be replaced as the leader of
opposition in the state assembly.
Mathur and Agarwal along with Raje had previously raised their voices
against the organisational elections, which had led to the elections
being deferred. With all three keeping away from Indore, party members
believe that it was a concerted attempt on their part.
"The party high command had invited all the newly elected district
presidents of the state to Indore, in a way, accepting them. The Raje
camp had demanded that elections be held again and hence, this was
probably their way of protesting," said a senior leader from the state
who attended the meet.
"Apart from Chaturvedi, no prominent leader from the state
participated in the meet. It was whispered that both Raje and Mathur,
who were likely to be offered a post in the national team, have now
ruined their own chances," said one of the district presidents.
Raje is also reportedly upset with the party high command for not
agreeing to her condition of someone from her camp replacing her as
leader of opposition. Raje had handed over her resignation from the
post to the party high command reportedly on the condition that she
would be made part of the national team and that she would pick her
successor. However, the party high command had turned down the second
condition.
Even before the members had left for Jaipur from Indore on Friday
evening, speculation over Raje's replacement was ripe. It is rumoured
that Raje would soon personally hand over her resignation to assembly
speaker Deependra Singh Shekhawat and that it is highly unlikely that
she would continue as the leader of opposition through the budget
session which begins on Monday.
Senior MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari and former MP Manvendra Singh could not
attend the meet owing to personal reasons.
INDORE, February 20, 2010
BJP opposes caste-based reservation for minorities
Neena Vyas
The Bharatiya Janata Party has opposed reservation for Scheduled Caste
Muslims and Christians.
In a resolution decrying the recommendation of the Ranganath Mishra
Commission on reservation for minorities, the party’s Indore conclave
said this would be contrary to the Koran and the Bible. Parliament had
no jurisdiction to change the basic tenets of the Christian and
Islamic faiths that do not recognise the existence of caste in their
communities.
Party leaders described the move as a “conspiracy” to divide the
country.
The BJP said the step was “not only unconstitutional but would also
create bad blood between minorities and Hindu Dalits and other
backward classes.”
“The Ranganath Mishra Commission cannot dictate or thrust its opinion
on the Christian Pope or Muslim maulvis…reservation would amount to a
formal introduction of a caste system in Islam and Christianity, thus
changing the basic tenets of these religions, which is outside the
jurisdiction of both Parliament and the judiciary and also contrary to
the provisions of the Koran and the Bible,” the resolution said.
One party leader claimed that “70 per cent of Muslims were already
covered by the 27 per cent OBC quota.” The party is apparently
objecting to the creation of a quota within that quota for OBC Muslims
and other minorities.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article109951.ece
BJP on a ‘future’ trip
By Gayathri Nivas
With the national leader-ship of the BJP in total dis-array, the seeds
of dissent have been sown in Karna-taka, targeting the CM.
Less than a year ago, on April 5 to be precise, an sms emanating from
the BJP website www.lkadvani.in, made a solemn promise to voters ahead
of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections: Terror-free India, hunger-free
society, debt-free farmer, worry-free middle class, Income Tax
exemption benefit for 3.5 crore families with incomes up to Rs 3 lakh
a year, student loans at 4 per cent and Advani as prime minister, if
voted to power.
In short, the BJP promised ‘Ram rajya,’ though it skirted the
Ramjanmabhoomi controversy. Of course, the party did not have to meet
its promises as it suffered its second consecutive defeat in the Lok
Sabha elections. Instead, it went for a generational shift with
veteran L K Advani making way for Sushma Swaraj as leader of the
opposition in the Lok Sabha, and the lacklustre Rajnath Singh being
replaced as party president by a much younger Nitin Gadkari.
Like the story of the Emperor’s delusion that he is wearing new
clothes, the BJP continues to make new promises, targeting the next
Lok Sabha polls in 2014. The party’s national council meeting in
Indore, gave Gadkari his first big platform after taking charge, to
broadcast his gameplan.
Mosque for mandir
He spoke of increasing the party’s vote share by 10 per cent by
breaking new ground, envisioned a grand Ram temple at the demolished
Babri masjid site in Ayodhya if Muslims showed generosity towards
Hindu sentiment to herald a new amity, handed out the olive branch to
dalits by invoking B R Ambedkar and making a special mention of
disgraced former party chief Bangaru Laxman, who belongs to the
Scheduled Caste.
In a display of well practised large heartedness, which he prescribed
as an essential ingredient of statesmanship, the new BJP chief even
offered to build a mosque in the vicinity of the Ram temple, that is
if space permitted it. Gadkari also announced a scheme of awards for
the best performers among the party’s office bearers at various
levels, elected representatives and even ministers.
So, it might be said that the die has been cast to take on the
Congress, whose front line comprising Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and
Rahul Gandhi, has grown stronger by the day since the party’s LS poll
win in May last. “Ours is not a dynastic party,” said Gadkari,
obviously flaying Rahul’s inherited political lineage, which includes
three prime ministers.
Gadkari’s ire is understandable, considering the BJP’s own dilapidated
front line with Advani fading into the background, his detractor Mohan
Bhagwat controlling the BJP’s ideological moorings — the RSS, and a
still unsure Gadkari himself at the helm. Bringing in Sushma Swaraj
and Arun Jaitley as leaders of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and the
Rajya Sabha respectively, is an indicator that the BJP is planning for
the future but the second line leaders, including Venkaiah Naidu and
Ananthkumar, rarely see eye to eye.
Make no mistake, all this is having its direct impact on Karnataka. A
conspiracy is on within the ruling BJP in the state, not involving the
usual suspects — the Bellary Reddy siblings and their comrade
Sriramulu. It is being coordinated meticulously, with the plotters
taking the view that the upcoming budget and other engagements on the
anvil, such as the municipal and panchayat elections, cabinet
reshuffle, boards’ and corporations’ appointments etc, are less
important than destabilising Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, in the
hope of replacing him.
Whether it will work, or whether Yeddyurappa will manage to reassert
his authority, no one can be sure, though the hunch is that it’s not
going to be easy to unseat him.
Enjoying support
Yeddyurappa enjoys overwhelming support from his powerful Lingayat
community, which has begun to look upon him as their long-lost leader.
The RSS’ Karnataka unit is flush with Lingayat leaders as well, making
it a double advantage for Yeddyurappa. So, any uncouth move to replace
the chief minister will not augur well for the party. Hence, the
strategising to engineer his own fall.
The first salvo was fired during Gadkari’s recent visit, it is said.
When the new chief told partymen to stop infighting and anti-party
activities, an impromptu group meeting was promptly staged by an
Ananthkumar protege to convey the impression of disunity and lack of
control within the state unit.
The replacement of Yeddyurappa’s trusted lieutenant and state chief
Sadananda Gowda with K S Eshwarappa, a known baiter, was another
strategy to disarm the chief minister. But Yeddyurappa retaliated by
taking charge of the lucrative energy portfolio, which was held by
Eshwarappa as minister.
The next bid is to control the party ticket distribution for the
corporation election. Some anti-Yeddyurappa camp loyalists have been
strategically positioned for this, says the rumour mill.
The total disarray of the BJP at the national level and the absence of
any immediate future for the party are the main reasons behind the
renewed clamour for power in the state. The seeds of fresh dissent
have been sown. Post-budget climate will decide who might reap the
harvest.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/53729/bjp-future-trip.html
Price rise ‘dirtiest tax’ on poor: BJP
Deepak K Upreti Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Feb 19, DHNS:
The BJP on Friday described price rise as “the dirtiest tax” on the
poor. It also said lack of political will and “rampant corruption at
all levels in the government are the reasons” for the sky-rocketing
prices.
The BJP gave a warning to the ruling UPA dispensation to take urgent
steps to control prices. The party said it would take to the streets
in a big way “and use all parliamentary tactics” against the
government’s policies.
The six-page resolution passed by the BJP national council here said
“it is now accepted” by all that the Indian economy went into a
downturn well before the global financial crisis in September 2008.
The government used the crisis as an opportunity to hide its
“misdeeds.”
The resolution said the recession also gave the government an excuse
to announce a stimulus package in an election year to serve its
“narrow political interests.” This led to an increase in budgetary
deficit to an unsustainable level. The resolution pointed to the
C&AG’s adverse comments on the practice of concealing the actual
deficit by showing expenditure on petroleum, food and fertiliser
subsidies below the line.
The resolution sought to explain that unbridled budgetary deficit
resulted in inflation, which was further compounded by mismanagement
on the supply side. Consumer price inflation in India was the highest
in the Asia-Pacific region. Price rise is the single most important
issue in the country. The party decided to “gherao” Parliament on
April 25.
Corruption at all levels in the government also led to price rise.
Many “members of the cabinet have made money through future trading in
commodity markets. Out of the total transaction in commodity exchange,
only 1 per cent resulted in delivery. The rest was pure speculation,”
the resolution alleged.
The party said prices can be brought down if there is political will,
administrative determination and honesty. The Congress lacks all these
aspects.
Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha said Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, as Union finance minister from 1991 to 1996, had brought
country’s price index to a record high of 10.6 per cent. And now as
prime minister, Sinha said, Singh is to take the whole sale price
index by March 31, 2010, to more than 10 per cent.
Advani to continue ‘Patriotic yatra’
New Delhi, dhns: BJP patriarch L K Advani is to continue his
“patriotic yatra” that he said began in 1942-43 in Karachi. Giving his
concluding remarks at the BJP National Council, Advani, 82, recalled
that on the day he quit his office as Leader of the Opposition in the
Lok Sabha, a daily headlined the news as: “Rathyatri to step down from
his rath today.” He said his reaction was that his “rath yatra” which
commenced at Somnath in 1990 ended at Samastipur about a month later
but his real ‘yatra’ was still on. “My real yatra, a patriotic yatra
with the RSS, is still on, and will continue,” he said.
BSY tells Centre not to hike fertiliser prices
Indore, dhns: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Friday
expressed his “shock” at the Centre’s move to hike prices of
fertilisers, and demanded a roll back “in the interests of farmers.”
Addressing the concluding session of BJP National Council here,
Yeddyurappa said the rise in fertilisers prices, particularly urea,
is “a big blow” to the poor farmers, already hit by erratic monsoon
and floods in some parts of the country.
Yeddyurappa, who opted for hotel accommodation, addressed “the tent
conclave” of the BJP in English, Hindi and Kannada. “During the past
one-year the economic policies of the Central government reflect a
sense of shift rather than any set of coordinated actions to bring the
economy to its potential growth level and to help the poor,” he said.
The biggest failure of the Centre, he said, has been in managing the
inflation. The chief minister also said it is an irony that when the
food stocks have touched 65 million tonnes the poor are still unable
to afford their daily requirement of food grains.
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/53668/price-rise-dirtiest-tax-poor.html
BJP opposes Centre's move on urea
Sanjay Jog / Indore February 20, 2010, 0:20 IST
The Cabinet decision on Thursday to raise urea prices by 10 per cent
and allow the industry to fix the prices of other fertilisers has
given the principal Opposition party, the BJP, a shot in the arm.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is up in arms against the
price rise, strongly criticised the Cabinet decision. Senior BJP
leader L K Advani termed the decision as anti farmer. Similarly, BJP-
ruled states deplored the Centre’s move and called for its immediate
withdrawal.
The decision, which would take effect from April 1, is expected to
help the government reduce its fertiliser subsidy bill by Rs 50,000
crore in this year.
At the concluding session of a two-day national council meeting of the
party here, Advani said, “The Centre has meted injustice towards
farmers at a time when food inflation is quite high.”
Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Chouhan led a scathing attack
against the Centre, and said the decision on fertilisers would create
further hardships for farmers. He was quite categorical that the
Centre should withdraw the urea price rise at the earliest and made a
strong pitch for the development of special agriculture zones.
B S Yeddyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka, said, “As far as hike in
urea price is concerned, it is a draconian move and farmers will be at
loss.” He held the Centre responsible for the burgeoning inflation and
alleged it was due to the Centre’s badly managed fiscal policies.
According to Yashwant Sinha, BJP leader and former finance minister,
the murderous price rise is the single most important issue in India
today. A resolution moved by him said: “While price rise no doubt is
the single most important issue today, there are other major areas of
concern in the economy also. All the present ills of the economy,
including the unbearable price rise, are the result of the UPA
government’s mismanagement.”
The BJP, according to him, believes the most important reason for this
price rise, apart from incompetence and lack of leadership in the
government, is the rampant corruption at all levels. “Members of the
Cabinet have made money through futures trading in the commodity
markets. Out of a total transaction of Rs 4.50 lakh in the commodity
exchanges, only 1 per cent resulted in delivery, the rest was pure
speculation,” he said.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bjp-opposes-centre%5Cs-moveurea/386287/
BJP accuses Congress of religion-based QUOTas
Sanjay Jog / Indore February 20, 2010, 0:18 IST
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has decided to increase its
vote share by reaching out to Muslims, Dalits and other backward
classes, today blamed the Congress for promoting religion-based
reservations and alleged the ‘grand old party’ was sowing seeds for
another partition of India.
Rejecting the Rangnath Misra Commission Report, BJP’s former president
Venkaiah Naidu strongly criticised the Congress and its government for
introducing religion-based reservations, dishonouring the Constitution
and judiciary.
“The reservation based on religion was opposed by the Britishers and
later by the committee headed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Even
Jawaharlal Nehru had written to all states against religion-based
reservations. Ironically, Congress does not want to respect its
leaders and recall history, but wants to play a vote bank politics,”
Naidu said.
He also deplored the commission’s recommendation to provide
reservation to converts. He alleged this would encourage more
conversions in the country. “If the government decides to grant
scheduled cast status to converts, it would amount to formal
introduction of caste system in Islam/Christianity and thus change the
basic tenets of these religions, which is outside the jurisdiction of
both the Parliament and the judiciary,” he said.
According to Naidu, as Islam and Christianity don’t recognise a caste
system, demand for grant of scheduled caste status to the converts is
not only unjustified, unconstitutional and irrational but also
difficult to implement. Naidu declared the BJP would launch an
agitation against the Centre’s move to introduce reservation to the
converts.
Ram Nath Kovind, chief of BJP’s front for scheduled castes, observed
that if the Centre was really serious to improve the living standards
of the converts, it can be done by providing some special facilities
and dispensations and not by inclusion in the scheduled caste list. He
claimed the appointment of the Rangnath Misra Commission was prima
facie based on political considerations and if the same was accepted
by the UPA government, it would be done purely on political
considerations.
The party also revived its demand for the introduction of a common
civil code in the country. “There should not be any problem in the
launch of common civil code after reaching at an consensus,” Naidu
said.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/bjp-accuses-congressreligion-based-quotas/386288/
BJP slams UPA govt inaction
Spl Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 19 – The main Opposition party the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) has slammed UPA Government, cautioning it against Chinese
designs and Beijing’s bid to divert the Brahmaputra River.
Satellite photographs have now indicated diversion of Brahmaputra
waters by China before the river enters India. Such diversion is
likely to create future problems leading to ecological and economic
devastation in the North Eastern States.
“The BJP is seriously concerned that the Government of India has
failed to respond to this increased assertion by the Chinese,” the
political resolution adopted at the end of the national executive at
Indore in Madhya Pradesh said.
Launching a scathing attack on the ruling UPA Government, BJP alleged
that the Congress Party sought to doctor the census data to hide the
demographic transformation in Eastern India.
The BJP is of the firm view that the vote bank politics of the UPA is
responsible for a weak Kashmir policy and the worsening internal
security situation. Its inability to respond to the Chinese assertion
betrays moral bankruptcy plaguing the UPA leadership, the political
resolution said.
Islamabad has stepped up its endeavours to internationalise its claims
on Jammu and Kashmir. China, on its part, has demonstrated a new
belligerence over its claims on Indian Territory, particularly
Arunachal Pradesh, the national party noted.
Singling out handling of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and
intrusions by China, the highest policy making body of the Party said
there is unquestionably an increased show of assertiveness by China.
Its objections to Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh
and the Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang were gratuitous interference in
the affairs of India. China has consistently been non-cooperative in
the matter of settling all border issues with India, the draft
resolution said.
The joint mechanism for resolution of these issues between China and
India has not been able to function effectively. Even the extent of
the border dispute is not being adequately crystallized. Efforts are
on by China to set up projects on India’s borders adverse to India’s
interest. All these warrant a befitting reply from the Indian
Government, the BJP opined.
The last meeting between the Special Representatives of India and
China was held on August 8 last year to ensure that ‘peace and
tranquillity should be maintained along Indo China border pending a
final solution to the border issue. However, there have been wilful
violations by China of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
After the Chinese aggression in 1962, there has been no change in the
LAC. The Government of India has been giving the Chinese the benefit
of doubt by saying that these violations are on account of a
‘differing perceptions’ about the LAC.
The Chinese government has started issuing visas to Indian passport
holders belonging to the States of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal
Pradesh on independent pieces of paper and not stamping the visa on
their passports. This is consciously intended to give a message that
China does not consider both these States to be a part of the Indian
Territory and these visa applicants to be Indian citizens.
Addressing the national executive, BJP leader M Venkhaiah Naidu said
the illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into Eastern India has been
sanctioned and condoned by successive Congress Governments on the
grounds that the foreigners happen to be Muslims.
Census figures were sought to be doctored, when they suggested a
religious demographic transformation of large parts of eastern India.
The IMDT Act, which was struck down by the Supreme Court, was re-
introduced by the backdoor. The Supreme Court has struck down the
latest notification too.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/detailsnew.asp?id=feb2010/at08
Koda scam: BJP criticises transfer of IT director
STAFF WRITER 19:25 HRS IST
Jamshedpur, Feb 19 (PTI) The Jharkhand unit of BJP today hit out at
the Centre for transferring I-T director Ujjwal Chaudhary, the chief
investigator in the Rs 2,000 crore money laundering scam involving
former chief minister Madhu Koda.
"Chaudhary's transfer was deliberate as it was done mid-way of the
investigation and intended to hush up the probe," senior BJP leader
Saryu Roy told a press conference.
The former MLA alleged the transfer was done after the Income Tax
department recovered some documents against some leaders following
recent raids at various location across the country.
The investigating agency stumbled upon a diary during a raid at the
premises of a person named Ashok Chinkara at Karol bagh in Delhi in
which names of "some national leaders as well as leaders of Jharkhand
were mentioned", he claimed.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/526485_Koda-scam--BJP-criticises-transfer-of-IT-director
Indore, February 19, 2010
I am entitled to a holiday: Advani
Neena Vyas
Senior BJP leader L.K. Advani addresses the pary's National Council
meeting in Indore on Friday. Photo: A.M. Faruqui Related
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani on Friday expressed his wish
for ‘chutti’ (freedom) from the rough and tumble of politics, as he
recalled his 67-year-long political journey, from Indore to Indore.
He was giving a valedictory address to the party’s National Council.
Proclaiming his journey to be one of ‘deshbhakti’ (patriotism) and
‘rashtraseva’ (service to the country), Mr. Advani said he felt that
he, too, was entitled to a holiday, freedom from the daily grind.
Mujhe bhi chutti milni chahiye, he said, noting that he had been
repeatedly told by colleagues that he must stay on as “you have the
experience.”
He was the oldest member of the party, he said, adding a “generational
change” was natural, but the BJP had set an example for all other
parties by the “smooth” manner in which it was done. He had the
responsibility to ensure “depth” in leadership, and that he had done.
In the parliamentary party, this was done by December 2009, when his
younger colleague Sushma Swaraj became the Leader of the Opposition in
the Lok Sabha and another colleague, Arun Jaitley, had earlier been
appointed the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. The change
in the organisation leadership was effected here in Indore, where
Nitin Gadkari’s election as party president was ratified.
He talked about the possibility of the BJP forming a government at the
Centre in 2014. “If we get a chance at the Centre, I would like to
implement the ‘ladli’ scheme [implemented successfully for girl
children in Madhya Pradesh] throughout the country,” he said.
He questioned the 2009 Lok Sabha poll verdict. “Did the Congress
deserve the 2009 ‘janadesh’? The answer lies in the current situation
in the country. If there is an election today, price rise alone will
ensure its defeat,” he said.
He said nothing hurt the party more than the picture of a divided
house. Mr. Gadkari was absolutely right in saying that individual
ambitions must always be subservient to the party’s best interest, Mr.
Advani said, though some delegates had indicated that those remarks
were aimed at some senior leaders, including Mr. Advani.
Some media reports had signalled the end of his ‘yatra’ when he quit
his position as the Leader of the Opposition, making way for Ms.
Swaraj, Mr. Advani said. But, besides the Somnath-Ayodhya ‘yatra,’
which in fact ended in Samastipur where he was arrested, he had
embarked upon many ‘yatras.’ However, his ‘yatra’ of ‘deshbhakti’ and
‘rashtraseva’ started in 1943 in Indore, the city he visited first
after his stay in Sind (in Pakistan) where he was born. In 1943, he
took part in a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh training course, and now he
was again in Indore, making him recall his long political journey.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article109707.ece
Do you think BJP president Nitin Gadkari's offer to build a grand
mosque to replace the Babri Masjid, albeit at another site, will
materialise?
Friday, February 19, 2010 19:39 IST
BJP president Nitin Gadkari unveiled his “new deal” at the party’s
national council meeting, which included an offer to build a grand
mosque to replace the Babri Masjid, but at an alternative site.
The deal he offered was that of a “kinder, gentler” approach to the
minorities, an inclusive agenda regarding Dalits and rural India, and
an assurance to his partymen that performance would be rewarded.
Scarcely had Gadkari made his speech than party spokesperson Rajiv
Pratap Rudy had to do a little backtrack operation, saying the mosque
offer was conditional, meaning it would “happen at an appropriate time
after due consultation with all parties”.
Do you think the BJP president's offer to build a grand mosque to
replace the Babri Masjid, albeit at another site, will materialise?
Advani hints at generational shift, makes seniors nervous
Nistula Hebbar & Kiran Tare / DNA
Saturday, February 20, 2010 0:32 IST
Indore: Senior BJP leader LK Advani ended the party’s three-day
conclave in Indore by indicating that his generation was handing over
charge not just to the second generation of leaders in the party, but
a newer, younger “third or fourth generation”.
Advani’s statement gave a good indication that party president Nitin
Gadkari’s new team may well be made up of an entirely new lot of young
leaders like Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur,
among others. This has discomfited many senior “second generation”
leaders in the party.
While signaling the change of leadership, he also made it clear that
he was not yielding his role as senior-most party leader, rather he
was recasting himself as the man midwifing the change. With the RSS’
influence increasing in the party, Advani tried to give Gadkari a
catechism on how to tread the fine line between the Sangh and popular
politics. “Deendayal Upadhyaya, when he was president of the party,
said the concept of akhand Bharat could be adapted to mean a
confederation of India and Pakistan, rather than it being one entity,”
he said.
This is clearly an attempt to tell Gadkari that too rigid a line on
organisational or political matters is not a good thing. The inclusive
line that Gadkari seemed to take in his speech on Thursday seemed to
be an effort to toe the middle path in the heavily-divided party.
At the end of the three-day conclave at Indore, where the attention
appeared to be more on tents than substance, Advani explained the
rationale behind the camp approach. “We wanted a tent city not for
austerity, but the feeling of camaraderie and togetherness that it
engenders,” he said.
Advani’s speech was the last item on the agenda of the conclave, which
may have ushered in a new deal in the party, but seems to have no easy
answers to the problems plaguing it still. Infighting is still a huge
issue, as well as a deep identity crisis, in terms of the party’s
relations with the RSS and how much say should be allowed to the Sangh
Parivar in its affairs. Gadkari’s middle path, of espousing soft
Hindutva and following RSS’ organisational strictures, is a new
experiment yet to be
Congress hits out at Advani, terms him 'perennial PM-in-waiting'
PTI
Friday, February 19, 2010 19:33 IST
New Delhi: Congress today took potshots at LK Advani for his remarks
that it would badly lose if Lok Sabha polls are held now,terming the
senior BJP leader a "perennial prime minister-in-waiting" who is
living in a "dream world".
"Advani is again living in his dream world. He would like election to
happen every week because he still dreams of becoming the prime
minister, which he could not. He is a perennial prime minister-in-
waiting," party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters at the
AICC briefing.
Singhvi was reacting to Advani's remarks made on the last day of the
two-day National Council meeting of BJP in Indore. The BJP leader
claimed that Congress would badly lose if Lok Sabha elections are held
now as people are feeling that they
have been "cheated" by those who came to power in the name of the
common man.
The Congress spokesman said Advani should realise that he would never
become prime minister even if elections are announced once again.
Singhvi also attacked the BJP leader for his criticism of home
minister P Chidambaram over the issue of surrender policy
for Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) militants, saying it is unfair for
Advani, who himself was home minister in the past, to have made such
remarks.
"Advani should not fish in troubled waters and instead look at the
record of his own home ministership, which was marked by many
unfortunate tragic incidents. Moreover, it (the issue of surrender
policy for youths who had crossed over to PoK for militant training)
is a policy, which is yet to evolve," Singhvi said.
bademiyansubhanallah
Coomi Kapoor
Posted: Saturday , Feb 20, 2010 at 0124 hrs
The message from Indore is clear. Under the newly appointed BJP
president, Nitin Gadkari, the line between the party and the RSS is
getting blurred. The focus has shifted from personalised politics to
team spirit. Even the poster display at the party’s national
convention venue made a point about collective leadership. Formerly,
cutouts of the party’s big two, Vajpayee and Advani, dominated such
conclaves (even if the previous president Rajnath Singh tried
unsuccessfully to convert the twosome into a triumvirate.) At the
Indore convention, however, the pictorial display of party leaders was
more broad-based than ever, with even relatively junior leaders like
Shahnawaz Hussain, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ananth Kumar finding space in
the pantheon. Narendra Modi, who has emerged as the BJP chief minister
to be watched, was not singled out for special attention. At photo
opportunities, the aim was to accommodate as many as possible in the
frame.
The no-nonsense Gadkari reiterated the RSS philosophy that individuals
should swallow their egos and work as faceless entities in a true team
spirit. There was no room for private ambitions and undercutting of
colleagues. And he did some plain-speaking at the closed door meeting
of the national conclave: “The problems in the party are not because
of grassroot workers but because of those who have benefited much.”
Just six months back, individual ambitions were very much on display
in the normally disciplined party. Senior leaders who felt they had
been sidelined engaged in acts of defiance and mud-slinging. The
jostling for positions of prominence in a post-Advani scenario ended
abruptly with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat ruthlessly moving in to take
over the badly demoralised party. His candidate for BJP president was
the relatively unknown Gadkari, who fitted the Sangh’s preferred mould
of a disciplined soldier with dedication and common sense and a
willingness to follow orders. Bhagwat wanted an end to personalised
politics in the party and leaders giving unnecessary sound bytes to
television. A sentiment echoed by Gadkari at Indore, where he said
that not everyone is required to speak to the media, the job should be
left to those authorised.
The RSS touch was also evident in the “back to the roots” theme of the
convention. BJP leaders who have got used to the soft life of the
cities and five star hotels were ordered to move into tents. They had
to shiver through the night in freezing temperatures and make do with
shoddy toilets and erratic water supply. The auditorium walls were
coated with mud and straw and cows, goats and chickens wandered around
to add to the rural ambience. To get into the spirit of things, some
leaders rode cycles while others chomped away on fresh carrots,
corncobs and radishes. Such Spartan living is an integral part of the
RSS training camps and no doubt very valuable for character-building,
but cynics might question its utility for a modern party in the 21st
century.
Gadkari stressed the point that “the party is greater than the
individual, but the philosophy is greater than the party.” He made it
clear he did not plan to stray from the BJP’s core Hindutva agenda,
which the RSS believes the BJP deviated from in the past. Which is why
Gadkari felt compelled to raise the Ram mandir issue in his speech.
But instead of former president Rajnath Singh’s brusque, no arguments
approach, Gadkari extended a hand to Muslims. He appealed to the
minority community to give up the piece of land in Ayodhya, in return
for which the party would help the community build a mosque close by.
The party president, whose election was ratified at the meet, is
conscious that for the BJP to remain a major political player it has
to expand its base and reach out to sections of the electorate which
it has often ignored in the past. Gadkari emphasised the importance of
scheduled castes for the party. Unfortunately, his gesture of staying
with a Dalit family displayed an appalling lack of imagination. By
following Rahul Gandhi’s lead, Gadkari, instead of earning goodwill,
was simply accused of being a copycat. In fact, one of Gadkari’s
problems in reaching out to young people will be to avoid looking as
if he is imitating Rahul. This can be a tough act given the hype and
glamour surrounding the Gandhi scion. Even when the RSS-BJP took the
lead in taking a stand against the Shiv Sena over sons of the soil in
Mumbai getting favoured treatment, it was Rahul who grabbed the
headlines. To succeed in his mission, Gadkari needs more than just
goodwill, common sense and determination. He needs a farsighted vision
and the strength to occasionally bypass the RSS when it comes to
projecting a forward looking, inclusive, and liberal party image.
Comments (1) |
Balanced article
By: Hemant | 20-Feb-2010
A very thoughtful and fair article. BJP needs some strong leadership
at this juncture. The media is never going to give BJP fair coverage.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/regroup-to-conquer/582085/0
Gadkari plea to Muslims an insult to kar sevaks: Sena
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Feb 20, 2010 at 1034 hrs
Mumbai:
In a fresh rift with its NDA ally, Shiv Sena on Saturday flayed BJP
chief Nitin Gadkari for his appeal to Muslims to adopt a "generous"
attitude on the Ram temple issue, saying it was an insult to hundreds
of kar sevaks who became "martyrs" in the movement.
"Appealing to Muslims (to help in building Ram temple) is an insult to
hundreds of kar sevaks who became martyrs during the Ram temple
agitation," Sena chief Bal Thackeray said in an editorial in party
mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
He made a "sincere appeal" to BJP that it should stick to the Hindutva
ideology.
"The Prime Minister of this country says Muslims have the first right
over India's resources and 80 crore Hindus tolerate it meekly. Muslims
have everything and Hindus don't even have their Ram temple. Things
have come to such a level that Hindus have to plead to Muslims (to
allow Ram temple)," Thackeray said.
"Gadkari has appealed to Muslims. Exactly to whom has he appealed
because the leadership of radical and jehadi Muslims is no longer in
India but in Pakistan, where terror outfits wield the remote,
dictating Muslims in India what to do and how to behave," the Sena
chief, who belongs to Gadkari's home state, said.
Thackeray asked "If permission of Muslims is to be sought for building
the Ram temple, why was the temple agitation launched in the first
place?"
"Hindus could have fallen at the feet of the Imam of Jama Masjid and
got a piece of land for Ram temple. It was easily possible. But Hindus
have shed blood for the Ram temple," he said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/gadkari-plea-to-muslims-an-insult-to-kar-sevaks-sena/582225/
Sid Harth
21 Feb 2010, 0135 hrs IST, Devesh Kumar, ET Bureau
INDORE: After a two-day brainstorming session, BJP workers who had
converged at Indore for their party’s national council meeting,
started packing up to return for their respective native places. As
they set foot on the battery-operated vans and golf-carts to reach the
main exit point, one could feel a sense of quiet optimism emanating
from them. “I am confident Nitin Gadkari ji will be able to set things
back on track. He’s after all one of us, who’s risen from the ranks to
reach the president’s post. He has stuck posters and written wall
graffiti in his youth,” remarked a district-level leader from Kota in
Rajasthan.
Such sentiments were expressed by many as they started leaving
Kushabhau Thakre Grameen Parisar, the sprawling township that had been
converted into makeshift venue for three-day national executive-cum-
national council, held primarily to ratify Mr Gadkari’s coronation as
the new BJP chief. The 53-year old leader from Maharashtra is neither
a powerful and mesmering orator in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee mould, nor
has exhibited any great organisational skills in his earlier stints,
but he still managed to raise the hopes of most party faithfuls that
they may be able to see a turnaround in their fortunes after suffering
a series of electoral setbacks across the country.
In his inaugural address at the BJP’s national council on February 18,
Mr Gadkari did not exactly set the venue on fire with his utterances.
Yet his speech was businesslike, and showed that he meant business.
His “I-am-of-you” remark was embraced warmly by the nearly 5,000
delegates who had come from all parts of the country. It immediately
struck an emotional chord with them. “It’s a matter of great fortune
for me that I could become the party president. I’ve worked as an
ordinary worker all my life. I used to stick posters and do wall-
writing in my earlier days. I could never imagine that I’d one day
occupy the post held in past by Atalji and Advaniji,” he remarked
amidst a round of applause.
Mr Gadkari then proceeded to indulge in some plainspeak, warning the
leaders that they’ll have to perform, or get ready to perish. He asked
the assembled gathering to go back to the villages and work for the
party’s well-being. “Your CRs will be written their, and not in New
Delhi,” he said.
After taking over the reins of the party in late December, Mr Gadkari
has been busy dusting things up, sending a shape-up-or-get-ready-to-
pack-up message to his colleagues repeatedly. He’s been asking them to
shed their arrogance, and reconnect with the workers. “There must be
no hypocrisy in our behaviour. We must practice what we preach,” he
said.
After the deliberations at the Indore national council ended, it was
clear that Mr Gadkari had set a limited agenda for himself –that of
arresting the party’s decline, ending the internal wrangling among the
top leaders which had taken a heavy toll on the cadre morale in the
past few years, and rejuvenating the organisational set-up by ushering
in a generational shift at all levels of the hierarchy.
He has told the party workers that sycophancy and palm-greasing will
no longer be the criteria for the distribution of election tickets and
allocation of organisational posts. The quota system will end.
“Tickets will not be distributed on the basis of proximity to leaders.
You’ll have to work hard to secure them,” he told the national
council.
In the immediate run, the 53-year-old leader from Maharashtra, who has
the RSS’ full backing in his mission, has made it clear that he wants
the back-biting and infighting at all levels in the party to halt
immediately. The fact that he enjoys the complete trust of the Nagpur
establishment is helping his case. But he is also doing this by
endearing himself to everyone. In his inaugural address, he spent a
good half-an-hour saying good things about almost every other senior
leader, past and present. He had a special word of praise for Gujarat
chief minister Narendra Modi, hailing his state as the most well-
governed state. When his political adversary from Maharashtra, Mr
Gopinath Munde came up to felicitate him on being formally crowned as
the BJP president, he bent down to touch his feet. The former
Maharashtra deputy chief minister hugged him warmly.
People close to the new BJP president point out that Mr Gadkari nurses
no great ambition. “His first and foremost task is to stop the
infighting among the top leaders and rebuild an atmosphere of mutual
trust. “If he can succeed in doing that, that will be enough,” a
senior leader remarked.
Aware that the BJP, in its present avatar, cannot hope to win back the
trust of the youth and the middle class unless it sheds its hard-line
image and expands its social and geographical base, Mr Gadkari has
been busy repackaging the party to make it more appealing to these
sections. His offer to the Muslims to help them build a mosque in
Ayodhya in return for an assurance they will give up their claims over
the disputed Ramjanmabhoomi site may have been received with hostility
by the VHP and other militant sections, but it has been hailed as a
bold move by the others. On arriving in Indore on February 16, his
first destination was a visit to adjoining Mhow, the birth-place of
the Dalit icon, the late Dr Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.
In his speeches too, Mr Gadkari has been harping on the need to look
beyond the party’s core constituency, and embrace sections such as the
Muslims, SCs and STs. He has also been striving hard to project the
BJP as being development-oriented. “For me, politics is just an
instrument of ensuring socio-economic change,” he has said on several
occasions.
But will he be able to attain what he has set out to accomplish? His
endeavour is certain to be resisted by the old guard. At the just-
concluded national council, there were two strains clearly visiting –
those who were all for change, and those who wanted the party to
remain cocooned in a time warp. Former BJP president Rajnath Singh and
party general secretary Vinay Katiyar represented the second category.
Mr Singh, with his “Coke-and-Pepsi formulation, warned the party that
it’ll be doomed if it turned a new leaf and jettisoned its traditional
image. Mr Katiyar, in his intervention on the campaign being planned
to clean the rivers Ganga and Yamuna, delved deep into mythology to
build a case, triggering yawns among the members.
Mr Gadkari’s ability to turn things around will also be dependent on
the composition of his team of office-bearers. If he persists with the
old-guard, comprising mainly of no-changers, his efforts will not
succeed to any great extent. But he shakes things up and builds a
young, energetic team, packed with younger faces, his efforts will get
a big boost. As it is, he’s hamstrung with a rather small talent pool.
It remains to be seen who all are presented as his army generals.
He told his party colleagues that they’ll have to come out of their
comfort zones and take to the streets to able to mount any meaningful
challenge to the Congress.
Change we must: Advani
20 Feb 2010, 0306 hrs IST, Devesh Kumar, ET Bureau
INDORE: BJP parliamentary party chairman L K Advani has said the party
should refashion its thinking according to the changing times than
staying
cocooned in a time-warp.
Addressing the valedictory session of BJP’s national council meeting
here on Friday, Mr Advani backed the process of generational shift
being executed in the party leadership at all levels. ``The tradition
of creating leadership depth has been an integral part of BJP and even
the Bharatiya Jan Sangh. Even when Atalji and I were leading the
party, we took conscious steps of encouraging younger and promising
leaders. Many of them have proved to be outstanding leaders with a
nation-wide reputation,’’ he said.
Talking about his generation of leaders, which included former prime
minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the late Nanaji Deshmukh, Mr Advani
said they were groomed by former BJS president Deen Dayal Upadhyaya
and described him as his role-model who was an organiser par-
excellence.
It was this ability which had set BJP apart from the other parties, he
claimed. ``In electing Mr Nitin Gadkari as our new president, we have
demonstrated our commitment to many cardinal principles that set us
apart from other political parties. The first and foremost among them
is the leadership pool available with the party. BJP has a lot of what
can be called the leadership depth. Mr Gadkari belongs to what is
generally regarded as the third generation. His team, I am sure, will
comprise several persons from the fourth generation.’’
The second distinguishing feature was the absence of dynastic politics
in the party. ``Although all of us belong to the BJP parivar, we have
no parivarvaad, no dynasty, when it comes to selecting our president
and our leadership,’’ he said. ``It’s unfortunate most political
parties in India have become victims of dynastic rule, with Congress
leading the pack. We are truly proud of being different because, in
doing so, we serve a very important tenet of democracy — that all men
are born equal. Congress, by contrast, believes in the Orwellian
theory that `all men are born equal, but some are more equal than the
others.’’
Mr Advani laid great stress on the need for the party to change its
thinking in tune with the times. To drive home his point, he recounted
a conversation Deen Dayal Upadhyaya once had with Socialist leader Ram
Monohar Lohia on why Jan Sangh was not a choice among Muslim voters.
Lohia reasoned that it could be because Jan Sangh was advocating the
cause of `Akhand Bharat.’
To this, Upadhyaya replied, Akhand Bharat did not mean merging
Pakistan to India after a conquest. ``It would entail the people of
the two countries coming forward and voluntarily working together as a
confederation.
Lohia, Mr Advani recalled, asked whether Jan Sangh colleagues would
accept such a proposition. ``Deen Dayalji replied in the affirmative.
He was of the firm view that parties can survive only if they changed
their thinking in keeping with the times,’’ he said.
Mr Advani, by putting forth this argument, signalled his full support
to the changes being sought to be set in motion by the new party
president to make BJP more acceptable socially and in newer areas. Mr
Gadkari, in his inaugural address at the national council meeting on
Thursday had asked party colleagues to strive hard to expand the
organisational base by embracing sections such as Muslims, SCs and
STs. ``It is only then the party could execute its pledge of making
21st century the century of India,’’ Mr Advani added.
While expressing his disappointment over the party’s second
consecutive defeat in the Lok Sabha polls, Mr Advani asked party
workers to learn to take things in their stride. ``We have drawn the
right lessons from this setback and we will apply this lessons and
forge ahead. There is no need for despair and despondency,’’ he
said.
LK warns govt against ‘wrong steps’ on Kashmir
Mohua Chatterjee, TNN, Feb 20, 2010, 02.14am IST
INDORE: The BJP on Friday upped its ante on Kashmir and warned the
government against taking any "wrong" step, saying the issue could
turn into the "biggest political confrontation" in Independent India
-- bigger than even the Ayodhya movement -- if the Centre attempted
anything that might reverse the clock to the pre-1953 position in the
state.
Senior leader L K Advani, in his concluding address at the party's
national council meeting here on Friday, said, "There has been a
fraud... no meetings or discussions were held, yet a report on Kashmir
was prepared and submitted. We are shocked to gather that the Congress
government is seriously toying with the idea of reversing the clock
back, and restoring the pre-1953 position. I wish to warn New Delhi
that if there is any move in that direction, the government will be
inviting the biggest political confrontation free India has seen, and
the BJP will spare no sacrifice to thwart New Delhi's unholy
intentions."
The tough rhetoric comes after the BJP's estimate that the forthcoming
talks between India and Pakistan have been brokered by the US and
could result in major concessions to Islamabad on Kashmir as part of a
larger gameplan to secure Pakistan army's involvement in the war on
terror.
"No BJP worker can forget that in 1953, constitutional position on J&K
was that the national tricolour was not permitted, President of India
had no authority, the Supreme Court, the Election Commission and the
CAG had no jurisdiction there and no Indian citizen was allowed into
the state without a permit," Advani said.
Winding up the three-day BJP conclave that saw Nitin Gadkari take over
as the youngest ever party president, Advani endorsed the path that
the new chief has chosen. Advani told the party to follow Deen Dayal
Upadhyay as a role model, who worked "selflessly" for the party and
most importantly, "adapted to changes in the political environment
while remaining committed to the core ideology of the party".
Trying to drive home the point, Advani explained how "Deen Dayalji had
redefined the core concept of Akhand Bharat" during a conversation
with Ram Manohar Lohia. "Upadhyay told Lohia that in the changed
situation, it stood for forming a confederation of nations through
consensus and did not mean annexing any nation by attacking it,"
Advani said.
He also quoted Upadhyay to say that BJP should not be anti-Muslim and
almost endorsed Gadkari's line of inclusive politics. On the question
of sticking to the party's core ideology, Advani picked up the Kashmir
issue.
Making it clear that he was playing the role of a "guide" for his
party by handing over the baton to generation next, Advani emphasised
that his yatra that began in 1953 for nation building had not ended
yet. The party veteran invoked the Jan Sangh's first national movement
led by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who sacrificed his life to ensure that
"constitutional distortions" with regard to J&K had been corrected.
At BJP conclave, Gadkari eases into role of boss
Mohua Chatterjee, TNN, Feb 20, 2010, 02.05am IST
Gadkari comes into his own at party conclave
Mohua Chatterjee/TNN
Indore: "Zindagi, kaisi yeh paheli hai, kabhi yeh hasaye, kabhi yeh
rulaye (Life is a puzzle: just as it gives you reason to smile, it
also makes you weep." There possibly could not have been a better song
for Nitin Gadkari to choose. He was the performer and the audience was
5,000 delegates of a party that he has been asked to lead.
At 52, he had not just surprised almost all in the party to become the
youngest BJP president but he too was surprised when the call came to
move from small town Nagpur to the national Capital and take on a
trouble-ridden party infested with warring leaders. That taking on the
reins of a party where troubles seem to have only begun is something
that a pragmatic Gadkari surely realised and hence he talked of the
puzzle, in Manna Dey's words from the 70s hit.
He was a nobody that anybody knew in Delhi. The name, they said, was
difficult to even pronounce in the north Indian mainland, beyond which
BJP finds it difficult to look. But Gadkari did arrive on a cold
winter day last December, without enough woolens that could keep him
warm in the unfriendly clime.
But not only did he settle in, he survived the initial chill and in a
matter of two months, has emerged as the man who may not be the face
of BJP yet like A B Vajpayee or L K Advani but has surely taken charge
of the squabbling outfit. And that is what a young Yuva Morcha leader
said on his way back from the conclave. "The boy who stuck posters for
the party is party chief. The message that every average worker got
from that is even I can grow in this party," the leader said.
Even two weeks ago, when he was formally elected party chief and held
his first press conference with a power point presentation on price
rise, the national media blurred him out. But as the three-day
national executive and council meeting of the party wound up here,
Gadkari made it clear that he means business. And he has dominated
media space by laying down his own rules for the game, telling seniors
in the party that respect cannot be commanded, it has to be earned,
that there is no need to fall at the feet of seniors and garland them
to grow in politics, rather it is time that one's work speaks for his
worth and such diktats that could even shock some in the party, full
of sycophants. That every leader and worker needs to do refresher
courses and will be assessed for their performance has established new
norms in the party.
In so doing, he has not broken away from the party grandees who have
been condescending towards him, and anxious to play the mentor to the
"outsider". His swipe at the entrenched set in the Ashoka Road
headquarters should also earn him the goodwill of the cadre which has
seen the party fritter away opportunities because of squabbles among
"leaders".
But he has been careful not to place himself on a pedestal. That may
be Gadkari's style but it also seems to be a conscious decision.
Knowing full well that he would hurt egos amidst a galaxy of seniors
he has to work with, the new chief chose to position himself as one of
many, while listing out the dos and don'ts in very clear terms, even
to seasoned seniors.
When he says people with small hearts cannot do big things, it is not
easy for many to take it... but they did. The hard talk that came like
the one on the closing day when he told partymen, go down to the
ground level and work, "aapka CR (career report) wohi banega", there
was a tone of a plea, but he was surely giving out the order.
He looked comfortable in his jacket, with the chill gone and the
season changing into spring that will surely be his. What happens from
here on will be interesting.
National Magazine | Mar 01, 2010
AP
Suited, booted BJP chief Gadkari bursts into song as national leaders
hold the line
politics: bjp
Met The New Boss At The Picnic?
The Gadkari show at Indore: film songs, a welfarist line, a gentler
pitch on Ayodhya
Saba Naqvi
Saffron Wash
•The BJP president blames senior leaders for the rot that has set in
•Gadkari changes tack, say Ram temple no longer an election issue
•Appeals to Muslims to give up land, promises mosque along with temple
•Partymen want an answer to Rahul Gandhi for the 2014 general election
•CMs Raman Singh, Narendra Modi set the agenda, focusing on terrorism
and the fight against Maoists
***
When BJP president Nitin Gadkari decided to burst into song at the
party’s national executive council last week, he chose the old classic
from Anand—Zindagi kaisi hai paheli/kabhi yeh hansaye/kabhi yeh rulaye
(Life is such a riddle/sometimes it makes us laugh/sometimes cry). The
new party president has been put up in a tent with a portly Ganesha
painted on the entrance in a huge makeshift village on the outskirts
of Indore. He is even being driven around in a battery-operated van.
The signals are there, the BJP under this portly, genial chief is
looking at new beginnings.
Gadkari apparently is also a man for long speeches, even for
admonishing senior leaders (refer to his cutting comment that the
party’s problems came not from the small leaders but from the big ones
who have got everything from the BJP but want more at any cost). So
who was he picking out—was it L.K. Advani for his refusal to quit
after the Lok Sabha defeat, was it Rajnath Singh for his troubled
presidency? Or was it a jibe at the war between Sushma Swaraj and Arun
Jaitley? Nothing was clear, but the next day he described Sushma as a
great orator and Jaitley as a genius. A leader speculated the
reference was to the bad year after the LS defeat when Arun Shourie
(absent here) trained his guns on the party, Advani quit as Leader of
Opposition only after long negotiations with the RSS, and the BJP came
off looking foolish for the way it expelled Jaswant Singh for his
Jinnah book.
Still, some things were the same. The usual Vajpayee couplets, for
instance, except that Gadkari was not dhoti-clad. In pants and jacket,
he looked more the local businessman than a national leader. There
were subtle shifts though. He took up the Ram temple issue—but
inverted the pyramid somewhat, saying it was not an electoral issue
anymore. In fact, in a conciliatory note, he added the party would not
be averse to a mosque being built in Ayodhya alongside a Ram temple.
He even appealed to the Muslims to give up the land for this equitable
exchange. Whether this gentle, inclusive tone lends heft and
crediblity to Gadkari on the national stage will have to be seen. But
for now, with the RSS’s full endorsement, he is certainly being taken
seriously by the BJP. The consensus is that after the debacles of the
last few years, the party needs to heal. The old guard is now truly
irrelevant, change is inevitable. In the short term, the party appears
ready to give Gadkari a chance. As a partyman joked, “In our tents,
with flushes that don’t work, we are bonding with each other and
recovering from the past....” If the buzz is right, minor skirmishes
will surely erupt when the president announces his new team after some
weeks. At the national level, the party has to recover a lot of lost
ground.
It was finally up to the chief ministers to reinforce the importance
of the BJP. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh and his Gujarat counterpart
Narendra Modi articulated the BJP’s position on national security most
forcefully—both represent two poles in the two critical battles being
waged in India, against Maoists and terrorists. Their positions
actually reveal the manner in which the BJP continues to shape
national discourse. Modi, as always, with his digs at the UPA
government (“the Dilli Sultanate”)—as a regime committed to
protecting the “rights of terrorists” rather than fighting them. How
is the government getting ready to talk to Pakistan when it cannot
talk to the Opposition in India, he asked. He claimed the Centre had
sent instructions that the security agencies only use ammunition to
practise shooting once in three years because of a shortage in
supplies. “I will pay for the ammunition. Terrorists practise shooting
three times a day and this is their response! I want barood
(gunpowder),” he thundered.
After Modi’s dramatics, it was Raman Singh on the Maoist menace with
his goli ka jawab goli se (a bullet for a bullet). He said people who
were blackening his state’s name for the Salwa Judum exercise would
learn when the disease spreads to their region. He ruled out talks
with Maoists and said his government refused to be sitting ducks and
was now pursuing and shooting Maoists in the jungles. While Modi
sought tougher laws (“I’ll handle the terrorists in Gujarat, I worry
about the rest of India”), Raman wanted the Centre to initiate an
integrated action plan on the Maoists.
Both men spoke on the resolution on national security introduced by
Jaitley. Predictably, it was a strong critique of the UPA’s
willingness to talk to Pakistan and an indictment based on the BJP’s
pet peeve, ‘the politics of appeasement’. Jaitley also took a dig at
Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh, saying terror-stained Azamgarh has
become a place of political pilgrimage for Congress netas.
Ironically for the BJP, though, Gadkari’s political pitch has a few
echoes of the Congress method—what with visits to Dalit homes, the aam
aadmi rhetoric, and a little minority appeasement of his own. This
fluidity about the ‘right’ party line underscores the fact that the
BJP is unsure how to recover its political equilibrium, and
simultaneously put up a credible face to take on Rahul Gandhi in 2014.
At a recent party meet, an MP from Assam raised the Rahul question,
asking how the party planned to meet the challenge. Advani told her to
stick to issues relating to her state. Delegates at Indore admit they
are worried. Gadkari’s response has been to promise a team packed with
younger faces. But youth alone will not work. The real problem for the
BJP is that it has stopped looking attractive to an entire generation.
The RSS-inspired generation change has begun. Now the new faces are
awaited.
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264352
Today's Edition | Saturday , February 20 , 2010 |
Time to quit, says Advani
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
Advani
Indore, Feb. 19: L.K. Advani today indicated he was ready to hang up
his boots.
“I feel I should be relieved,” the veteran leader said at the BJP’s
national council meeting here, pointing out that the “generational
change” in the party was almost over with Nitin Gadkari’s takeover as
president.
The 83-year-old also said he was the oldest among the 5,000 delegates
at the conclave.
But Advani, who still micro-manages the party’s affairs, made it clear
he was more than available to guide party “youths” and emphasised his
centrality in the process of transition to signal that even now he
should not be seen as a push-over.
“This generational change is necessary. In the last quarter of 2009,
my comrades in the party and the (RSS) parivar said the BJP should
benefit from my experience and I should be around to facilitate the
generational transition,” Advani said on the last day of the meet.
He said the appointment of Sushma Swaraj and the re-appointment of
Arun Jaitley as leaders of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya
Sabha had taken care of one aspect of the transformation.
“Now even the organisational-level generational change has been done.
I don’t know to which generation Gadkari belongs, the second or third.
But I hope his team will also have members of the fourth generation.”
The faces on the posters plastered in Indore presaged the BJP’s new
managing team: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Shahnawaz Hussain, M.A. Naqvi and
Rajiv Pratap Rudy are Gadkari’s contemporaries.
The “fourth generation” Advani mentioned didn’t find a place in the
posters. But Piyush Goel, Vani Tripathi, Shaina NC, Smriti Irani and
Arati Mehra, some members of this so-far concealed phalanx, are likely
to find a place as Gadkari’s aides.
The third layer of the new hierarchy is made of chief ministers feted
by Advani, especially Gujarat’s Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh’s
Shivraj Chauhan. Modi was lauded for cleaning up the Sabarmati and
taking its waters to drought-prone Kutch and Saurashtra, and Chauhan
for correcting the male-female ratio in his state with his “pro-women”
schemes and letting Narmada waters flow to Gujarat.
Advani held up Gadkari as an example of the BJP’s claim to being a
“party with a difference”. “We are part of the same Sangh parivar. But
there is no scope for parivarwaad (dynastic politics) in our party,”
he said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100220/jsp/frontpage/story_12129254.jsp
After 67-yr yatra, Advani intends to quit
Faraz Ahmad
Tribune News Service
Indore, February 19
The three-day BJP jamboree concluded here today with veteran BJP
leader LK Advani finally indicating his intent to call it a day, a
demand from the RSS and sections of his party that had been gathering
momentum since the May 2009 General Election.
Advani also implicitly confirmed for the first time that he was under
pressure to quit. “In the last quarter of 2009, in my discussions with
my party colleagues and the parivar (RSS) I had assured them that I
would see to it that by early 2010 a smooth generational transition
takes place in both the Parliamentary wing as well as the
organisational wing of the BJP. The parliamentary change over was
completed in December 2009. I feel satisfied that with this session,
even at the organisational level, the new party president has taken
over,” said Advani. “In this gathering, perhaps, I am the oldest. As
the oldest person I, too, am entitled to some well-earned leave.”
Advani mentioned that he suggested Indore for the venue of the
convention because it was the first Indian town he visited way back in
1943 when he came here for his Officers’ Training Course (OTC) with
RSS after joining the parivar. “For me, this 67-year journey from
Indore to Indore has been really inspiring and fruitful.”
The octogenarian BJP leader stated, “I recall that on the day I quit
office as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and handed over
this responsibility to Sushma Swaraj, a New Delhi daily headlined that
morning’s news as ‘Rathyatri to step down from his rath today’.”
But he also hinted that notwithstanding the completion of his
political journey in Indore, he was readily available to the party for
future guidance saying, “Literally, my Rath Yatra may have commenced
at Somnath in 1990 and ended at Samastipur a month later. But my real
yatra, a patriotic yatra began in 1942-43 with the RSS, is continuing
and will continue.”
Also, Advani could not get over the fact that he could not become the
country’s Prime Minister. He refused to acknowledge the Congress’
victory in 2009 either and said, “They (the Congress) did not deserve
this mandate. If elections were to be held today, this government
would go and we would be able to win easily.”
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100220/main5.htm
Advani Tells BJP Not to Get Demoralised By Election Defeat
Posted by Vamban on Feb 19th, 2010 16:38:02
Indore, Feb 19 – Calling upon party workers not to get demoralised by
election defeats, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani said
Friday that the party had successfully braved setbacks in the past.
Addressing the BJP national council meeting here on its last day,
Advani said that the party won only two seats in the 1984 Lok Sabha
election but it bounced back within five years.
‘Getting demoralised or losing confidence after an election defeat is
not the sign of a good worker,’ the former deputy minister said.
Advani’s remarks followed the BJP’s defeats in two successive Lok
Sabha elections. It was voted out of power in 2004 and it failed to
dislodge the Congress in 2009.
Beginning his speech by greeting six BJP chief ministers, two deputy
chief ministers and other party leaders, Advani said the BJP was a
party with a difference because it was not run on dynastic lines.
‘We belong to Sangh Parivar (Sangh family) but there is no scope for
dynastic politics (in BJP), ‘he said.
Advani said many political parties were promoting dynastic politics
‘on the lines of the Congress’.
Speaking about himself, Advani said he attended his first Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) training camp at Indore in 1943 and added that
his political journey since then had been ‘inspiring and fulfilling’.
Advani, who is chairman of the BJP parliamentary party, said it was he
who suggested holding the party conclave at Indore.
He said the purpose of leaders staying in tents at the party conclave
was not to cut down on expenditure but to experience camaraderie and
commitment.
Some 5,000 delegates have gathered near Indore city for the three-day
national executive and national council meetings that end Friday.
Almost all the party members are living in a sprawling tented
accommodation.
http://www.vamban.com/advani-tells-bjp-not-to-get-demoralised-by-election-defeat/
Indore to see BJP in search of new friends, renewed hope Zeenews
2010-02-16
Indore: After missing the bus for the second successive time in the
Lok Sabha polls, BJP is putting its act together at the key meet here
by formally ratifying the presidentship of Nitin Gadkari, the youngest
ever party chief whose immediate task is to make the organisation
effective and broaden the NDA. The meeting of the National Executive
and the National Council is important for the march forward of the
main opposition as it is the first such meet after BJP's shock defeat
in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections that saw...
Watch Video (Twelve segments)
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/02/16/Indore_to_see_BJP_in_search_of_new_friends_renewed_hope/
BJP, Congress lock horns over Saran’s resignation
TNN, Feb 21, 2010, 12.55am IST
NEW DELHI: The bewilderment over Shyam Saran's sudden resignation as
Prime Minister's special envoy on climate change seems poised to turn
into a political slugfest with BJP and Congress locking horns over the
issue.
On Saturday, BJP alleged that Saran had to go because of his
resistance to UPA government's bid to dilute the country's stand in
climate change negotiations, attracting allegation of irresponsibility
from the Congress.
The BJP attributed Saran's departure to his reservations against
environment minister Jairam Ramesh's attempt to "weaken" India's
negotiating stance on emission cuts.
"It is a fact that he was opposed to weakening of India's position on
climate change as far as emission cuts are concerned. Why an honest
adviser of the government, who had the country's interests in mind, is
not able to continue?" agencies quoted party spokesperson Ravishankar
Prasad saying.
Congress rebuted the charge, with spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi
retorting that BJP has lost its sense of balance and focus. "It is
unheard of for the opposition to speak on appointments and departures.
For them to base their reaction on press speculation shows their
superficiality and irresponsibility. In this process BJP is
embarrassing not just itself but also Shyam Saran," Singhvi said.
Prasad insisted that the government needed to explain the reasons
behind Saran's decision to quit. The BJP spokesperson said that a
similar explanation was needed also for Menon's appointment as NSA
against the "backdrop of highly detrimental initiatives taken in
Kashmir in the fight against terror and meek submission in dialogue
with Pakistan?"
This is "a very disturbing scenario", he added.
Saran resigned on Thursday, triggering surprise in political and
bureaucratic circles. The former foreign secretary, who had just been
offered the rank of MoS, is believed to have taken the extreme step
after recognising that the government wanted the environment minister
to drive the climate change negotiations.
Prasad claimed that Saran's differences with environment minister
Jairam Ramesh on emission cuts were a known fact. Saran, who announced
his decision to quit on Thursday, was the Prime Minister's special
envoy on climate change.
New Delhi, February 20, 2010
Does Cong have a patent in visiting Dalit homes, asks BJP
PTI
PTI BJP National Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at the
Congress for remarking that BJP President Nitin Gadkari was aping
Rahul Gandhi. File photo Related
Taking strong exception to Congress’ remark that its chief Nitin
Gadkari was “aping” Rahul Gandhi by visiting Dalit households, BJP
today asked if any particular party has a patent to do so.
“Is it the patent of the Congress? But what is truly disturbing is
that they have alleged that we are aping Rahul Gandhi. Congress
spokesperson needs to learn that the real leader who worked for uplift
of Dalits was Mahatma Gandhi. If they don’t do their homework, at
least don’t insult Mahatma Gandhi,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar
Prasad said here.
He also wondered why Congress was “so cagey” about Nitin Gadkari
having lunch with Dalit workers and supporters of the party.
Referring to Gadkari’s visit to Dalit households in Mhow - the
birthplace of Dr B R Ambedkar - Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi
had yesterday said that “imitation is the best form of flattery and
BJP is indulging in flattery without limitation.”
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/article110236.ece
BJP says no need to react to Thackeray's criticism of Gadkari's
statement
Saturday, February 20, 2010,10:23 [IST]
New Delhi, Feb 20 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday
said that it was not in the business of always reacting to statements
issued by leaders of other parties, even if they were key allies.
Buzz up!Senior party leader Ravishankar Prasad said: "We (BJP) don't
need to or feel the need to react," when asked to comment on Shiv Sena
supremo Bal Thackeray's criticism of BJP president Nitin Gadkari's
appeal to the Muslim community on the Ram Temple issue.
Prasad, however, said that while both the BJP and the Shiv Sena were
allies, their political philosophies were distinct and separate, and
therefore, views on issues would naturally be different.
He was reacting to an article in Saamna, the Shiv Sena mouthpiece,
where Bal Thackeray wrote, "Appealing to Muslims (to help in building
Ram temple) is an insult to hundreds of kar sevaks who became martyrs
during the Ram temple agitation."
"Gadkari has appealed to Muslims. Exactly to whom has he appealed
because the leadership of radical and jehadi Muslims is no longer in
India but in Pakistan, where terror outfits wield the remote,
dictating Muslims in India what to do and how to behave," the Sena
chief added, before questioning, "If permission of Muslims is to be
sought for building the Ram temple, why was the temple agitation
launched in the first place?"
Urging the BJP to stick to the Hindutva ideology, Thackeray said,
"Hindus could have fallen at the feet of the Imam of Jama Masjid and
got a piece of land for Ram temple. It was easily possible. ut Hindus
have shed blood for the Ram temple." (ANI)
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/02/20/bjpsays-no-need-to-react-to-thackerays-criticism-ofgadka.html
bademiyansubhanallah
.New Delhi, Feb. 20:
The new BJP chief, Mr Nitin Gadkari, insisting on disciplining the
saffron heavyweights, is all set to be hit by a desert storm. Former
Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje fired the first salvo when
she not merely boycotted the national
conclave in Indore but also refused to step down as Leader of the
Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. After the debacle in the
Rajasthan Assembly election, the BJP had been asking for Ms Raje’s
resignation.
Under pressure she had assured former BJP chief Rajnath Singh that she
was willing to quit the post. Though she tendered her resignation to
the BJP parliamentary board, she is yet to submit it to the Assembly
Speaker. Now, with Mr Gadkari at the helm of party affairs, Ms Raje,
in a change of stance, has refused to step down or hand over her
resignation to the Assembly Speaker.
"She is not willing to be another Uma Bharti," a close associate of Ms
Raje said. Ms Raje is believed to have told the party leadership that
they "can take any action they want to, but she will not step down".
Party sources disclosed that though Ms Raje cited personal reasons for
not attending the BJP national executive, her absence raised eyebrows
in BJP circles. There is also talk of the party leadership
contemplating strict action against her.
Sources said this U-turn by Ms Raje had left even Mr Gadkari puzzled;
he had last month claimed that the Rajasthan problem was over. Mr
Gadkari had held a meeting with Ms Raje and some senior leaders of the
state unit where Ms Raje had assured Mr Gadkari that she would submit
her resignation at the earliest to the Assembly Speaker. Sources
disclosed that Mr Gadkari was planning to accommodate her in his new
team as a party general secretary.
With the Rajasthan Assembly session starting from February 22, the
state unit is looking to its central leadership for a decision.
Yojna Gusai
Nitin Gadkari hums Ram-Rahim tune
BJP on Thursday sought to reach out to the Muslims by assuring the
community that it’ll help them in constructing a mosque in Ayodhya if
they gave up their claims on the Ramjanmabhoomi temple at the disputed
site. “Today I appeal to the Muslim community to be generous towards
the sentiments and feelings of the Hindus and facilitate the
construction of a grand Ram temple. I can assure them that, in return,
we’ll help them construct a mosque at an adjacent site,” BJP president
Nitin Gadkari said.
Help us build Ram temple, Gadkari tells Muslims
By IANS
Friday,19 February 2010, 21:28 hrs
Indore: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Thursday
called upon Muslims to help build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Addressing the party's national council here, he said the BJP was
fully committed to construct the temple at the site where the 16th
century Babri mosque was razed by a mob in December 1992.
"Litigation is also pending for (the) resolution of this dispute,
which may not offer a perfect solution because one party would lose
and the other may win.
"Today, I appeal to the Muslim community to be generous towards the
sentiments and feelings of Hindus and facilitate the construction of a
grand Ram temple. This would herald a new amity and reinforce the bond
for a resurgent India."
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Help_us_build_Ram_temple_Gadkari_tells_Muslims-nid-65626.html
20 February 2010
Lyrics and Video of Zindagi, Kaisi Hai Paheli with English Translation
- Anand
Anand is a Hindi movie written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
and released in 1970. It starred Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and
Sumita Sanyal.
A great song .
Watch the Video Zindagi, Kaisi Hai Paheli by Rajesh khanna as well as
Nitin Gadkari below the Hindi ,English lyrics of song Zindagi, Kaisi
Hai Paheli
Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye
[ What is life , Life is like a puzzle ]
Kabhi to hasaaye kabhi ye rulaaye
[ Which sometimes makes us smile which sometimes makes us cry]
Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye
[ What is life , Life is like a puzzle ]
Kabhi to hasaaye kabhi ye rulaaye
[ Which sometimes makes us smile which sometimes makes us cry]
Kabhi dekho man nahi jaage
[ Sometimes heart , soul keeps dreaming , do not wake up ]
Peechhe peechhe sapno ke bhaage
[ Which keeps following the dreams]
Hey hey..
Kabhi dekho man nahi jaage
[ Sometimes heart , soul keeps dreaming , do not wake up ]
Peechhe peechhe sapno ke bhaage
[ Which keeps following the dreams ]
Ek din sapno ka raahi
[ One day the dreamer will ]
Chalaa jaaye sapno se aage kahan
[ Go away beyond the dreams where does the dreamer go ]
Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye
[ What is life , Life is like a puzzle ]
Kabhi to hasaaye kabhi ye rulaaye
[ Which sometimes makes us smile which sometimes makes us cry]
Jinhone sajaaye yaha mele
[ The people who organized parties here ]
Sukh dukh sang sang jhele
[ The people who faced, shared happy times as well as sad moments
together ]
Jinhone sajaaye yaha mele
[ The people who organized parties here ]
Sukh dukh sang sang jhele
[ The people who faced, shared happy times as well as sad moments
together ]
Wahi chunkar khaamoshi
[ Those same people quietly without telling any one ]
Yun chale jaaye akele kahan
[ Where does those people go away alone - talks about death ]
Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haaye
[ What is life , Life is like a puzzle ]
Kabhi to hasaaye kabhi ye rulaaye
[ Which sometimes makes us smile which sometimes makes us cry?]
Watch the Video song Zindagi, Kaisi Hai Paheli from movie Anand
Watch the video Nitin Gadkari new BJP President singing song Zindagi,
Kaisi Hai Paheli from movie Anand
http://realityviews.blogspot.com/2010/02/lyrics-and-video-of-zindagi-kaisi-hai.html
bademiyansubhanallah
http://www.dailypioneer.com/237426/A-%E2%80%98moth-eaten%E2%80%99-Ind...
A ‘moth-eaten' India?
By Chandan Mitra
Foray
The Pioneer
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A small but influential section of public opinion in India has been
pleading for "flexibility" in the Government's approach to the
Kashmir issue. Some important opinion makers have, in fact, gone on
record to suggest that India will gain, not lose, stature if it gives
up the Kashmir Valley in order to buy peace with Pakistan. At any
rate, we will stop bleeding in the Valley and the world would look
upon us as a mature, self-assured, emerging global power once the
"thorn" of Kashmir is removed. They argue that none other than
Jawaharlal Nehru internationalised the issue by scurrying to the UN
in 1948 and pledged India to conduct a plebiscite in the State.
After losing nearly 1,00,000 lives in 22 years of insurgency, isn't
it high time that Delhi considered this "out-of-the-box" solution?
And if that is not quite practical yet, what about joint sovereignty?
Why can't undivided J&K have a united quasi-Parliament thereby
abolishing borders and giving equal say to India, Pakistan and the
"people" of the State over its destiny?
Washington, which loves such complex arrangements that facilitate a
permanent foothold for itself in strategic regions, (erstwhile
Yugoslavia being a case in point) has privately pushed this line for
long. There may not be too many takers for such abject capitulation,
but the fact that these views are increasingly aired in public
appears to have put the Government on the defensive. Under pressure
from Washington, New Delhi stonewalled the legitimate demand to call
off the proposed Foreign Secretary-level talks despite last week's
blast in Pune.
This section of appeasement peddlers are, therefore, certain to
overlook the menacing threat conveyed earlier this month by Jamaat-
ud-Dawa (euphemism for Laskhar-e-Tayyeba) deputy chief Abdur Rahman
Makki. Speaking at a Kashmir Day rally in Islamabad on February 5,
the fire-spewing Makki not only let slip that Pune was on their
radar, but also declared that jihad was also to be waged against the
alleged denial of river water to Pakistan. This is a very significant
addition to Pakistan's agenda, doubly important because it is a
"secular" inter-governmental matter rather than emotional or
Islamist. The annexation of Kashmir on grounds of its denominational
character is a declared jihadi objective. But Talibani/jihadi forces
had so far refrained from dovetailing this issue with other disputed
matters between India and Pakistan.
The specific reference to river waters suggests that despite
pretending to have no truck with jihadis, the Pakistani Government is
covertly in cahoots with them and could well have prompted the
hardliners to raise the water issue to bring additional pressure on
India. Further, it is also likely that the jihadis believe it is a
matter of time before Pakistan's civilian Government collapses and
hard-line groups seize power in Islamabad with the support of ISI.
They have thus initiated the process of understanding matters of
statecraft so they can play an effective role in a future Government
-- a chilling prospect indeed.
This brings us to the fundamental question: Will Pakistan's blood-
feud with India ever end? Will Islamabad be satisfied even if, for
argument's sake, Delhi agrees to part with the Kashmir Valley? All
these years, Pakistani leaders across political hues kept harping
primarily on Kashmir, former President Musharraf candidly declaring
it to be the core issue. After resisting this classification for some
years, India succumbed, saying it was ready to discuss Kashmir if
Pakistan addressed our concern over cross-border terror. At Sharm-al-
Sheikh, India bent down further agreeing, first, to delink terror
from talks acknowledging Pakistan too was a victim and, second, to
bring Balochistan on the table. Events of the last few months
culminating in Delhi's latest genuflection clearly establish that the
Sharm-al-Sheikh joint declaration was not a case of "bad drafting" as
the Government wanted us to believe. It was, in fact, a formal
statement of India's revised position which also amounted to quietly
admitting Pakistan's charge that we have fomented disaffection in
Balochistan.
A pattern is now rapidly falling into place. First Pakistan forced us
to agree, howsoever reluctantly, that Kashmir was indeed the "core
issue". Second, it got us embroiled in the problem of Balochistan
whose mere mention in an official document was sufficient for
Islamabad to claim victory.
And finally, by getting jihadis to talk about the water dispute,
Pakistan has ensured that the arena of its conflict with India
continues to widen. As it gets its way on one, it pushes forward a
second and then a third. Shrewdly assessing the Obama
Administration's burning desire to exit Afghanistan soon, Pakistan is
cunningly seeking to get more and more pressure mounted by Washington
on Delhi.
Meanwhile, India's humiliation at the London conference and the
conclave in Turkey confirms Islamabad's resounding diplomatic success
in excluding India from the core group on Afghanistan. Having
convinced the West that it is as much a victim of jihadi terror as
India, Pakistan has also managed to put India on the back-foot over
Kashmir. The US is breathing down our neck to concede "something" on
J&K without insisting on visible progress in clamping down on the
masterminds of 26/11. It is a measure of Delhi's pathetic
helplessness that JuD/LeT supremo Hafiz Sayed, his No 2 Rahman Makki
and all luminaries of the Rogue's Gallery of terror cock a snook at
us and hold public rallies pledging a bloodbath for Kashmir's
"liberation", while India meekly pleads for immediate resumption of
talks with a triumphant Pakistan!
As far as the issue of water is concerned, there is frankly nothing
to discuss. The Baglihar Dam on the Chenub was referred to the World
Bank by Pakistan and the independent arbitrator gave a go-ahead to
India with a few suggested modifications. Under the Indus Water
Treaty of 1955, India is entitled to the use of the waters of Ravi,
Beas and Sutlej while Pakistan has legitimate rights over Jhelum and
Chenub, but the usage is subject to certain conditions. India has
adhered to these in constructing the Baglihar Dam, which will
generate 450 MW of electricity for power-starved Kashmir, but the
flow of Chenub waters to Pakistan will not be blocked.
The jihadi threat to forcibly extract more water from India clearly
flies in the face of international agreements and counter-guarantees.
In any case, jihadis probably neither comprehend the details of such
binding agreements, nor do they care for international opinion. The
opening of the water front by jihadi groups is aimed solely at
aggravating alleged Pakistani angst against India, thereby
legitimising their ongoing campaign of terror. Makki's bloodthirsty
diatribe, saying that "denial" of water justifies targeting cities
like Delhi, Kanpur and Pune, that is, places way beyond Jammu and
Kashmir, gives the game away.
Who knows what more will be added to the jihadi wish-list in the
years to come? Hyderabad, Junagadh, Assam, Kolkata? Jinnah complained
in 1947 that he had been tricked into accepting a "moth-eaten
Pakistan". The jihadis are carrying forward the promised 1,000-year
war to reduce India to a moth-eaten entity, within and without.
Related link:
19-Feb-2010
The Indus Water Treaty- Its Dynamics and Reverberations
By Dr. S. Chandrasekharan
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers37%5Cpaper3676.html
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
bademiyansubhanallah
Padmini Sivarajah, PTI, Feb 19, 2010, 03.17am IST
Madurai: One of Tamil Nadu's best known ancient temples is seeing a
revamp that may not go down well with conservationists. The sanctum
sanctorum of Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple in Madurai is being
air-conditioned at a cost of Rs 30 lakh to provide a cooler
environment to priests and devotees. In the process, however,
frescoes and carvings on the walls and ceiling of the 1,500-year-old
structure are being blocked.
The edifice has many natural vents which act as a natural cooling
system. But with trees disappearing from the surroundings of the
temple and concrete structures taking their place, the temple
environs have become stuffy and according to the priests, it is
difficult to stay inside for more than an hour. ‘‘The air inside
becomes hot and we develop headaches,'' said a priest.
A donor has now come forward to air-condition the sanctums of goddess
Sri Meenakshi and Lord Sundareswarar. Huge steel pipes will bring in
cooled air from two 18-tonne air conditioners and vents would
circulate the air in the area where devotees gather for darshan.
Sundaram (82) of North Veli street in Madurai, who has been
frequenting the temple right from his childhood, said, ‘‘Earlier
entering the temple after walking in the hot sun was very relieving
since the interior was cool. But over the past 10 to 15 years, I have
noticed that it becomes extremely hot inside the sanctum sanctorum,
primarily because of the large crowds that visit the temple. The
proposal for the air-conditioning is a welcome move.''
Temple sources said high-rise buildings and traffic pollution had
contributed to the heat inside the temple. Speaking to TOI, joint
commissioner of Shri Meenakshi temple K Rajanayagam said the AC work
would be completed in a few weeks.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Madurai-temple-AC-threatens-...
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
bademiyansubhanallah
Obama writes and Paki-Hindusthan talks begin. Bomb blasts can go
on...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Obama writes and Paki-Hindusthan talks begin. Bomb blasts can go
on...? Is this how Hindusthan sends a message to Paki after the Pune
jihadi terror attack of 13/2?
Hon'ble Manmohan ji, who is running the foreign policy of the
nation? And, who is taking action to counter the jihadi bomb blasts
even after the Mumbai terror strike of 26/11?
S. Kalyanaraman
U.S.-Pakistan cooperation has led to capture of Afghan Taliban
insurgents
By Karin Brulliard and Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, February 19, 2010
. . Pakistan's decision to go after the Afghan Taliban leadership
reflects a quiet shift underway since last fall, said officials from
both countries, who cited a November letter from President Obama to
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari as a turning point.
The letter, which was hand-delivered by U.S. national security adviser
James L. Jones
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/James_L._Jones , offered
additional military and economic assistance and help easing tensions
with India
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/countries/india.html?nav=el
,
a bitter enemy of Pakistan. With U.S. facilitation, the Indian and
Pakistani foreign ministers have agreed to meet next week, the first
high-level talks between the two countries since terrorist attacks in
Mumbai in late 2008.
The letter also included an unusually blunt warning that Pakistan's
use of insurgent groups to pursue its policy goals would no longer be
tolerated.
The letter's delivery followed the completion of a White House
strategy review in which the administration concluded that stepped-up
efforts in Afghanistan would not succeed without improved cooperation
from Pakistan.
In explaining Pakistan's shift, sources also cited regular visits to
Pakistan by U.S. officials, a boost in intelligence-sharing and
assurances by Washington that a military push in southern Afghanistan
would not spill into Pakistan. The United States also promised
Pakistani officials that it has no intention of abandoning the region
once that offensive ends.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/18/AR201...
bademiyansubhanallah
Agencies
Posted: Thursday , Feb 18, 2010 at 2042 hrs
Chennai:
In a virtual rebuff to the BJP which on Thursday harped on its
commitment to construct a Ram temple at Ayodhya, VHP said it was a
religious issue and political leaders should stop talking about it "to
seek more votes".
"We totally disagree with it. The issue is not political and therefore
they should not speak. It is a religious issue. Building a temple or
mosque should not be decided by the BJP or Congress. It should be
decided by religious leaders," VHP International President Ashok
Singhal told reporters here.
Singhal's reaction came when asked about BJP president Nitin Gadkari's
speech at the party's National Council meeting in Indore, where he
reaffirmed its commitment to build a "grand" Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Political parties should not interfere and the decision on
constructing a temple or mosque should be left to religious leaders,
Singhal said.
"Political leaders should not speak (about the temple issue) to seek
more votes," the leader of the VHP, spearheading the Ram Mandir
movement, said.
Singhal, who was here in connection with the launch of the web-based
Vishwa Hindu News Division, also opposed Shiv Sena's "Mumbai for
Marathis" campaign.
"The whole of Bharat belongs to Bharatiyas. There are people who are
trying to divide our society. Its
unconstitutional," he said, adding that he would discuss the issue
with Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
14 Comments |
People are not interested in any religious building - We want peace
and development
By: Dr. Divyesh Raythatha, USA | Friday , 19 Feb '10 8:34:19 AM
It is true that Ashok Singhal talks more sensible than BJP President
Nitin Gadkari and Shivsena's Thakarey. But he doesn't have right to
teach us the religion. Nitin should come out of the impression from
Advani and Mohan Bhagwat. He is more like a puppet in hands of these
two guys. If he cannot do anything good for the party or country, he
should go back home to Nagpur and concentrate in his saree business
again. Nitin, please control your language and don't try to create
another incident like demolishing Babri Masjid followed by karsewaks'
services following to Gujarat riots of 2002 resulting in killing of
2000 innocent people. Don't try to sink already damaged and wrecked
BJP ship into deep waters.
Am I borne to be ruled?
By: Ashish | Friday , 19 Feb '10 12:59:35 PM
Dr. Sahab.. you know.... if BJP is wrong and others are right then we
will have the moral right and command to correct them... ig
Question... Am I borne to be ruled??... its cynical to say one right
and another wrong... its all about power game for series of scandals..
look behind the history of India... we have habit of this... curse all
and do nothing to be responsible enough to actually have the
changes....
Keep off Ram temple issue
By: shadi katyal | Friday , 19 Feb '10 6:58:40 AM
The best thing to sooth the wounded feelings of all Indians is to
build a hospital or a park . Has Bombay bombing and now terrorist
attacks hot taught anything. Does the nation wish to continue spewing
hate. Time to boot people like singhal out and let us all work and
build the nation. Has the elections not told BJP and RSS as well VHP
that people are fed up with religious fanatics
VHP is worried about losing the funding
By: Aman | Friday , 19 Feb '10 5:14:05 AM
I think VHP is worried that BJP might ask the share from Millions of
Dollars of funds being collected by VHP from people of Indian origin
living abroad, in the name of Ram Temple.
VHP do not dare to teach us religion
By: kumar | Friday , 19 Feb '10 1:49:25 AM
Request the people to build a mammoth mosque and temple at Ayodhya.
This should be followed by having world class facilities and a very
beautiful garden by govt for tourists . This should be made the
monument of peace. The govt should bring in act that the mammoth
structure should be erected but no prayer should be allowed. Ram or
Allaha were great beings with greatability to help humans, why do we
fight on their name. they would be in pain that we are fighting. BJP
or any part , we need development. We do not need anyone to teach how
to believe in self and pray god or not. Hey VHP/Shiv sena or any dog
politician, do not dare to teach us on how we should believe in god or
self. stop the f nonsense. These politicians and their family live
lavish life in western world. so do bot dare to take india to darke
age Give us development , create jobs, make India a powerful nation
with very strong R&D base. Bring development to each and every Indian
Who cares a damn .....
By: Roy | Friday , 19 Feb '10 1:34:25 AM
what you or the parties who support your idealogy do...the people of
India have had enough of your rabble rousing...the BJP is on the verge
of becoming an Hindi belt party. Please do not use the word Congress
in your ranting Singhal....it tarnishes the image it has. Stick to
your ilk...thats all & do what you do best
Bharat ki Pehchan kya hai...............
By: Rajeev Ranjan | Friday , 19 Feb '10 9:02:06 AM
What Image ?????? Let them continue for some more time and India will
looses whatever Indian it has.
VHP makes sense for a change!
By: Surendra | Friday , 19 Feb '10 1:07:45 AM
Ashok Singhal seems to have more sense than these idiots from BJP and
Thakrey's party.
Is Ashok sick ?
By: DR.LAW | Friday , 19 Feb '10 0:28:31 AM
A complete 100% u-turn by Ashok Singhal is indicating, that we Hindus
are fleeing them (VHP and its sister networks) all around the world.
Their suspicious plans in the West are under microscope.One does not
know as to what criterion the US based Terrorism Research Center, the
US think tank on issue of terrorism has used, but it has gone on to
label RSS, the patriarch of Hindutva organizations, BJP, VHP, Bajarang
dal etc., as a terrorist outfit. RSS shares this category with other
organizations defamed in different parts of the World as terrorists
like Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Hamas etc.
United States......
By: Rajeev | Friday , 19 Feb '10 9:05:49 AM
Our country shall strive for its owan image building rather than
getting a certificate from US. As far as US reports and brandings
go... They only serve US interests,, guess u must follow closely their
plan and actions in Pakistan and secondly remember Glacier meliting
and all that climate shit.... They were also reports from US.....
Please do not quote US branding as the gauge to judge...
When will Hindus stop criticizing themselves
By: Ash | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 23:21:55 PM
All religions should respect each other. A temple was demolished at an
Hindu holy site by Mughals, and a Masjid constructed over that site.
It would be similar to someone now demolishing the most holy Muslim
site, and constructing a church there. For Muslims that site is not
holy, a better Masjid can be built nearby, and will build great peace
with Hindus, for a long time. However Congress and politicians will
not let peace happen between Hindus and Muslims, as they will lose
their political agenda. Also when will Hindus stop criticizing
themselves and unite?
Indirectly VHP itself makes the issue political, and BJP came to
power on this issue.
By: pamameen | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 22:44:56 PM
The part of Babri Masjid particularly the hall and the open front
court yard used for Namaz should be in the hands of the Muslims, no
compromise on this. The Muslims may come forward to offer the outer
campus in which the Ram Chabutra was situated. Let the Hindu Brothers
build a Ram temple there. The Muslims can not allow the Babri Masjid
site to be used for building a secular monument because there are many
sites at Ayodhya to build such places. Regardless of whether Babri
masjid was built in 1528 after demolishing a standing Mandir or on the
ruins of an ancient Mandir or on a plain land, does not hold enough
legal score. Because Babri Masjid had been under the continuous
possession of Muslims for 421 years ( right up 1949). The Ram
Janambhoomi Mandir has no claim under the General Law of Adverse
Possession. And illegal occupation since 1949 can not create a title.
The Muslim community has the decency to say that we will accept the
final judicial verdict of the SC.How about VHP?
BJP coninues on the divisive path
By: Aman | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 22:07:49 PM
BJP has no constructive ideas! It is disappointing to know that BJP is
one of the major polical party, on the national level. Too bad for
Indian Democracy!
hinduism has no papacy
By: v.seshadri | Thursday , 18 Feb '10 21:37:22 PM
the vhp should understand they have no papal powers over the religion
and temples of all hindus, however long the beards of their self-
styled swamis..
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/keep-off-ram-temple-issue-vhp-tells-political-parties/581465/
bademiyansubhanallah
Anup Dutta
Bhopal, February 22, 2010
It was a show of frugality that gave many saffron party members the
blues.
Nearly 800 out of the 4,400 BJP delegates who were made to put up in
tents during the party's three-day national council and executive
meeting in Indore felt under the weather.
A total of 518 party members visited the allopathic health centre at
the conclave venue, while 225 participants sought ayurveda or unani
remedies to treat their ailments.
The common complaints ranged from headache, body ache, cough and cold
to diarrhoea as well as other gastrointestinal problems. Also, medical
advice was largely sought by those who stayed in ordinary tents as
against the VVIP ones.
"Most patients who suffered from fever, cold, body ache and gastro-
related problems had come from faraway places such as Karnataka,
Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh," L. R. Shrivastav,
one of the doctors on duty, said.
During the three-day stay, many participants staying in tents had a
harrowing time because of mosquitoes and the stiff breeze.
On Wednesday, the first day of the meet, Madhya Pradesh chief minister
Shivraj Singh Chauhan was seen demanding more mosquito repellent to
keep the bugs at bay. And BJP president Nitin Gadkari sought extra
blankets to shield himself from the chill.
"I wish the mediapersons had stayed here to see how we have forsaken
five- star comfort. I had to use two blankets at night," Gadkari said.
He added that he was unable to sleep for two nights because the tent
walls were too thin to provide protection from the cold winds.
What was left unsaid was the fact that 25 of the tents - including
those of Gadkari and Chauhan - offered VVIP comforts such as air-
conditioners, double beds, sofas, dressing tables, personal computers
and even solar panels for hot water.
They also had separate drawing rooms, attached toilets and visitors'
sections. Each VVIP tent had two mini-tents for security personnel
too.
The claims of austerity made about the exercise also rang hollow,
considering that at least Rs 1 crore was said to have been spent for
setting up the tents. In addition to this, a substantial amount was
shelled out for transportation. Footing the bills of many delegates
who preferred to stay in hotels meant a further escalation in the
total expenditure.
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, former party president
Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma
Swaraj, Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and MP Navjot Singh
Sidhu did not stay in the tents citing "health problems". Former Union
minister Maneka Gandhi and her MP son Varun left the venue on the
first day of the meet saying they had to reach Delhi to attend to a
family member who was to be operated upon the next day.
Some of the party members who visited the health centres at the
meeting venue were Balkeshwar (Mumbai) MLA Mangal Prabhat Loda,
Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha national general secretary Kasam
Venkateshwarlu and Jabalpur (West) legislator Harenderjeet Singh
(Baboo).
"We received nearly 600 OPD patients mostly suffering from cold,
cough, body ache, headache, diarrhoea, high sugar levels and high
blood pressure," Dr Madhu Margaret, caretaker of the OPD, said.
Chief organiser and Madhya Pradesh industry minister Kailash
Vijaywargiya admitted that several BJP delegates reported sick. He
attributed this to a sudden drop in temperature at the venue.
"A special team of doctors and paramedical staff was made available at
the camp. The healthcare centre also had a mini operation theatre for
emergency cases," Vijaywargiya said.
But a source revealed that the majority of participants who were
unwell complained of gastrointestinal problems and held the food
responsible for it. Interestingly, special arrangements had been made
to dish out traditional Malwa cuisine which has a sprinkling of
Gujarati as well as Rajasthani delicacies.
While the Malwa fare may have been appealing to the taste buds, many a
delegate had a tough time digesting it. This translated into brisk
sales for the herbal medicine shop situated in a makeshift bazaar at
the site.
In a nutshell, the BJP's rank and file wasn't exactly at home roughing
it out.
Conclave sidelights
As many as 1,300 tents, including 25 for VVIPs, were put up.
The 25 VVIP tents were airconditioned and had a double bed, sofa,
dressing table, PC and solar panels for hot water.
At least Rs 1 crore was reportedly spent for just setting up the
tents.
The rent of an ordinary tent for three days was estimated to be Rs
1,500.
Hundreds of cars were deployed to ferry those guests who had opted for
hotel stays.
Four doctors were on round-the-clock duty.
Indore was chosen because it is in the Malwa region - a nursery of the
RSS.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/85098/India/Swollen+sickbay+at+BJP's+tent+meet.html
chhotemianinshallah
Suman K Jha , Milind Ghatwai
Posted: Monday , Feb 22, 2010 at 0421 hrs
Indore:
Nitin Gadkari, L K Advani at a meeting of the NDA in New Delhi on
Sunday.
ATAL Bihari Vajpayee’s long pauses and generous sprinkling of poetry,
L K Advani’s slow assertion of his point and occasional recitation of
poetry seemed to have given way to the oratorical skills of the new
leaders who spoke fast, almost impatient to convey what they had to
say, at the BJP’s three-day national executive-cum-council meet here.
What was on display was new party president Nitin Gadkari singing
songs on the first day, with MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan
too chipping in with a song.
Although the two stalwarts did get their due in posters and hoardings,
they were referred to mostly in the past tense elsewhere. The
exhibitions at the venue had good schemes implemented in the BJP-ruled
states rather than old photographs.
The generational shift in the party was quite obvious, and Advani, who
spoke only once in public but rarely drew applause in his long speech,
admitted this. He said Gadkari belonged to the second generation and
his team might have representation from the third, or even the fourth
generation.
For a party raring to take on a resurgent and youthful Congress (to be
led by its general secretary Rahul Gandhi in not too distant future),
Gadkari used the three-day meet to bring a semblance of order in the
BJP that appeared on the verge of implosion only a few weeks ago.
With the RSS firmly backing him, the new president gave an impression
that he was in command. Holding the mike in his hand, he conducted
proceedings like a moderator, setting deadlines for speakers and
stopping them to make announcements. More than once — first in his
opening closed-door address, and later in public — he warned that
seniors have to perform. “Havame baat na kare, chahe kitne bhi bade
neta ho (don’t talk in thin air, no matter how big the leader is),” he
said.
Comments (1) |
Good signs for BJP
By: Parth | 22-Feb-2010
The BJP, is, after all, on the track. Gadakari in command is a good
sign. Let us hope the party will play a good, responsible and strong
opposition the country so much needs. The NDA government led by AB
Vajpayee had sown the seeds of many things that, political analysts
say, laid a sound foundation for our economy and introduced quite a
few healthy changes in the political system. The BJP can very well
grab power in the next general elections if people find it performing
well as an opposition. All the best Mr. Gadakari and your party!
Scepticism about Gadkari melted away at Indore: Advani
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, February 22, 2010
First Published: 15:16 IST(22/2/2010)
Last Updated: 15:20 IST(22/2/2010)
The "initial scepticism" about Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) new
president Nitin Gadkari melted away at the national executive and
national council meeting in Indore last week, veteran leader LK Advani
said on Monday.
When participants arrived at Indore last week, Advani said, they were
worried about Gadkari's abilities to inspire confidence in the party
cadres "seemingly disheartened and disappointed by two successive
setbacks in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 and 2009".
But the situation changed rapidly.
"In those three days I could see all the initial scepticism rapidly
melting away so that when the delegates left Indore on the third day
all their doubts had been replaced by a mood of optimism and
confidence, and a strong feeling that the attributes of transparent
frankness and forthrightness that they had been able to discern in the
new president were exactly what the party needed at this point of
time," Advani wrote in his blog Monday.
Advani, who was appointed as working chairman of the National
Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday, added: “... having attended all
such gatherings in the past I am in a position to affirm that seldom
before have I seen delegates so upbeat, and enthusiastic participants
in every single programme at the session as I have seen this time.”
Gadkari was chosen to head the BJP last December as part of a
generational change in leadership after its two successive defeats in
the Lok Sabha elections. His election as BJP president was ratified at
the Indore session attended by nearly 4,000 delegates.
Advani backs Gadkari reform plan
Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times
Indore, February 20, 2010
First Published: 01:38 IST(20/2/2010)
Last Updated: 01:43 IST(20/2/2010)
Senior BJP leader LK Advani came out in full support of new party
chief Nitin Gadkari’s prescription to revitalise the BJP to enable it
to take on the Congress in the next Lok Sabha election due in 2014.
Wrapping up the party’s three-day mega conclave on Friday, Advani
asked all leaders to junk their old ways of thinking and adapt to a
new approach that is in tune with the changing times — as outlined by
Gadkari.
The party chief had called upon the cadres to engage in politics for
development and good governance and to resolve thorny issues such as
the Ram temple through conciliation and dialogue with Muslims.
“Gadkari is absolutely right in saying that individual ambitions must
always be subservient to the party’s goals,” said Advani, asking the
5,000 delegates to help the new party chief succeed in his tasks to
prove the BJP’s “commitment to development-focused politics and
governance”.
Advani said a “new and positive phase in the BJP’s life has begun
under (Gadkari’s) youthful leadership”.
Advani also sought an end to the disquiet and despair among a section
of the BJP and Hindutva hardliners — articulated by former party chief
Rajnath Singh — over Gadkari’s plan to focus more on development-
oriented and governance issues rather than on the Ram temple and other
controversies that don’t enthuse voters any more.
Gadkari, in turn, virtually read out the riot act to wayward BJP
leaders, saying their appraisals in future would be made on the basis
of their work in villages. Those who perform would be rewarded with
nominations to contest the next elections.
“I assure you that those people who do a good job will be rewarded and
those who don't will lose out. Tickets won’t be given on the basis of
likes and dislikes. No empty talk will be encouraged. You better do
solid work on the ground to connect with the people. When the
government is in the wrong, as in the case of issues such as the price
rise, Kashmir and internal security, play the role of a vigilant
opposition. Our mantra will be team work and a collective approach,”
he said.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india/Advani-backs-Gadkari-reform-plan/Article1-510798.aspx
BJP embraces Gadkari, formally
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 10, 2010
First Published: 01:02 IST(10/2/2010)
Last Updated: 01:03 IST(10/2/2010)
Nitin Gadkari was on Tuesday formally elected unopposed as the ninth
president of the BJP, six weeks after he took over the reigns from
Rajnath Singh as the acting president. Gadkari, who turns 53 in three
months, is the youngest president of the 30-year old party.
As elected president, Gadkari is now entitled to announce his new
team.
But he will appoint his team of office-bearers only after the party's
national council meeting in Indore on February 18 and 19, which will
ratify his election.
Though Gadkari was chosen by the party's ideological fount, the RSS,
to lead the party for the next three years, the BJP had to complete
elections in 19 state units to meet the criteria of its rules that its
organisational polls must be completed in half of the states.
Elections in 19 states were completed, but nominations came from only
13 states. Papers from key states including his home state of
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, however, could
not be filed as their units are yet to complete internal polls.
Gadkari said BJP would work as a responsible “constructive and
development-oriented” opposition. He would also strive for increasing
the party's vote share by at least 10 per cent and turn BJP into a
“party with a difference” before the next polls.
Senior party leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh and M.
Venkaiah Naidu, were among those present when Gadkari's election was
formally announced.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/BJP-embraces-Gadkari-formally/Article1-507215.aspx
Post-Indore, it’s advantage Gadkari
Pankaj Vohra, Hindustan Times
February 21, 2010
First Published: 23:21 IST(21/2/2010)
Last Updated: 23:23 IST(21/2/2010)
The crucial meeting of the BJP’s national council in Indore has set
the agenda for the party both in terms of who will get positions of
prominence in future and the core issues. A seemingly confident party
president Nitin Gadkari sent out a message to the cadres that
functioning will be more broad-based thereby implying that the days of
coterie politics are over. However, time will tell whether he will be
able to contain the all-powerful coterie owing allegiance to L.K.
Advani.
The mega conclave acted as a unifier to an extent but, at the same
time, the filmi touch provided by Gadkari’s rendering of a popular
song of the 70s took away from its seriousness. At one level, the BJP
looked like a party of stage performers. The party’s desire to get to
the core issues was reflected in the president’s reference to the
construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and also how the saffron
brigade has to keep up with the changing times.
Significantly, Advani’s relevance to the party seemed to have
diminished despite his attempts to assert his supremacy by repeatedly
referring to his role over the years and making Sushma Swaraj and Arun
Jaitley leaders of the Opposition. He expressed a desire to take
“leave” but at the same time said that he will continue to be a rath
yatri, meaning that he was not going to retire from active politics.
Gadkari, of whom few people had any expectations, was unambiguous
during the conclave in telling the workers that their appraisals would
depend on their work in villages and that they should not waste time
touching the feet of various leaders in Delhi. He made it clear that
in his regime, positions of prominence will be based on performance
and that this would also determine who gets tickets. The direct
implication of this was that many Rajya Sabha leaders who had become
important in party affairs in the past few years would have to connect
with the masses. Second, the days of drawing room politics were over
and it was time the party took to the streets to enlarge its vote
share rather than play the politics of manipulation.
The agitational aspect highlighted by Gadkari seemed to send the right
kind of signal to the workers who have been wondering why its
leadership has not resorted to street protests on the price rise
issue, Kashmir and internal security problems. The street protests
have, at best, been token. This means the new chief may have to look
at leadership in all states.
The Indore conclave also showed how much Rajnath Singh’s relevance has
diminished. He seemed more a leader of the past than the present. The
RSS imprint on the meeting was also evident from the fact that the
Ayodhya matter came up and it was felt that it should be resolved
through dialogue. It was also made clear that there would be a
distinction between the ‘functional’ and ‘ornamental’ teams. Without
naming anyone but admitting that there was a power struggle in the
party, Gadkari sought to tell his colleagues they should contain their
personal ambitions and not harm the overall interests of the outfit.
Many things will fall in place once the new president re-constitutes
his national executive and other bodies like the parliamentary board
and the election committee. In fact, nominations to these bodies will
demonstrate whether the party is going in for a more broad-based
strategy or will remain in the clutches of the old coterie. The Indore
conclave will go down as an event that launched Nitin Gadkari, a man
who was considered a nobody on the national stage. His success will
depend on how he provides new direction to the party, which has lost
its moorings. Round one to the new BJP chief. Between us.
chhotemianinshallah
Suman K Jha
Posted: Saturday , Feb 20, 2010 at 0253 hrs
Indore:
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj
A strong case of inclusion of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj
Singh Chouhan in the party’s top bracket was made on the concluding
day of the three-day BJP meet today with Leader of Opposition in Lok
Sabha Sushma Swaraj batting for the MP Chief Minister.
On Thursday, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari sought to showcase party’s future
faces — Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Narendra Modi had come in for
a special mention in his speech.
Sushma today demanded to know how Chouhan could have been excluded
from this grouping as she cited the social infrastructure in Madhya
Pradesh (as against the physical infrastructure in Gujarat) to argue
Chouhan’s case.
Making amends, both Gadkari and L K Advani later applauded Chouhan for
undertaking social initiatives for the girl child like the Laadli
Laxmi Yojna.
“Gujarat good governance ka model ho sakta hai, lekin Madhya Pradesh
government samvedanshilta ka model hai (Gujarat may have provided a
model of good governance, but Madhya Pradesh has, similarly, provided
a compassionate government,” said Sushma. Earlier in the day, Chouhan
had cited his state’s statistics to show how the sex ratio had swung
in favour of girls in the last five years in the state (there are 1017
girls born for every 1,000 boys while five years ago, the
corresponding figure was 920:1000,” said Chouhan.
Both Gadkari and Advani later profusely praised Chouhan for the social
initiative. “I had said that we would introduce this initiative at an
all India level if voted to power in the elections,” said Advani.
A day after Modi got thunderous applause on the issue of national
security — while seconding the resolution on national security and
Jammu and Kashmir, moved by Arun Jaitley — Sushma struck a chord with
the women members saying how the issue of price rise “affected women
the most.”
“Yashwant Sinhaji has already moved a detailed resolution on price
rise, and I would take the government to task in Parliament, but there
has been a maximum demand from the women members to speak here on the
price rise issue, which explains the current mood in the country. We
must make our programme to gherao Parliament on April 21 on the issue
of price rise a huge success,” she said.
The power-play and the churning in the party had another dimension on
display on the concluding day of the BJP’s national council — the
omnipresent RSS. In his speech, Advani referred to his RSS roots on
many occasions. He recalled that he had done his first year RSS
training at Indore (the RSS has a training programme spread over three
years), and also said that “all of them belonged to the wider Sangh
Parivar.” There was a Golwalkar connection as well.
“On Feb 9, Nitin Gadkari was elected as the party president. That was
the birthday of Guru Golwalkar, according to Hindu calendar. And
today, is the birthday of Guru Golwalkar according to the English
calendar. The recent election of a new party president establishes
that the BJP is the party with a difference, and I congratulate Nitin
Gadkari,” said Advani. Gadkari, incidentally, draws strength from his
proximity to the RSS.
Comments |
Modi-BJP does not represent all Gujarat!
By: Ravi | Monday , 22 Feb '10 9:51:23 AM
Sonam, Problem is not with Gujaratis, but with the BJP, I am a
Gujarati and Modi has turned Gujarat into a police state. On top of
that, the 2002 role of his government has tainted the name of Gujarat
beyond the borders of India and all over the world. You might not know
this but1 in every 2 Gujaratis voted against the BJP in recent
elections. In most seats they won by a small margin. And these are
usually the people who are scared into voting without any reason
Dynasty, Gujarat MP
By: Sonam, Texas | Sunday , 21 Feb '10 1:17:04 AM
Both CMs belong to backward classes and are very good in administering
a corruption free rule. The congresswallas are dying to promote clown
prince to the throne in Delhi. Foolish Indians are voting them back to
power, Indians deserve this. BJP never encouraged any dynasty politics
at all. People talking about Gujaratis (im not a gujarati) beware, you
have no reason to make any negative comments on them. The held Indian
flag high wherever they went, very hardworkinh result oriented and
politically savy. Not the pseudosecularists we see all across nation.
In a counter to Modi, Sushma says Shivraj govt ‘compassionate’
By: Dr.R.K.D.Goel | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 23:06:12 PM
If the BJP will continue with hard core policy of the hindutya, than
the BJP have no future. In globolisation hard core hindutya can't
survive. We don't have now grass root RSS workers. All want good
living with all comforts of life. Now BJP cadre is no more a
discipline party. We should revive the RSS to give good workers to
BJP.
GADKARI, BJP, AND RSS
By: peshori ahuja | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 11:42:47 AM
Dear Gadkari Ji, We have read your speeches. You have said so many
things that affect BJP. In the context of discipline you have said
"Think what party has done for you". But unfotunately but you omitted
to note that for Advani Ji you have given impression "Think what
Advani Ji has done for the party". 2004 election was lost because of a
false cry "India ShininG" and 2009 election was lost because the party
followed the diction of Advani Ji to oppose neuclear deal. About
yourself you have indicated that you would go by RSS. The president of
any party is the leader and he/she is supposed to lead. If you are to
by the dictions of others then you are no leader. Dear Mr. Gadkari,
you are a political leader and in the political field you should be
independent.
Shivraj
By: K Sahasi | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 11:30:26 AM
It is good to keep Shivraj in the upper echelon of BJP. He has ethics
and is a cultured man. However Modi has sinful hands. Must be ejected
from core group, if BJP wants to look genuinely non relious party
having secular outfit. Rest is only rhetoric. Prices have risen but
salaries and wages have also trippled after BJP has been dethroned and
UPA 2 handed down a big relief to all.
This is how you praised growth?
By: Dharmesh | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 11:01:27 AM
Social vs Physical growth? Can you explore the differences? this is
complete stupid piece of journ's...how low you goana go just bow to
stupid bartender? Why dont you go better goand dance in night
club...you could earn more........bastered
Strong opposition is needed for a better India. BJP can do it,
if.....
By: Jay | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 7:21:30 AM
BJP will not have any better future if they fail to introduce fresh
(previously apolitical), reasonably honest and well qualified
professionals like Arun Shourie in the party. Old generation of RSS
henchmen cannot guide the main opposition party of India to present an
alternative of resurgent Congress party lead by Rahul Gandhi. BJP also
should formulate a institutional way to promote able leaders (true
leaders, not typical political leader like Rajnath Singh) in
organizational hierarchy and policy making. Age and blind loyalty
towards higher authority (within the party) or RSS should be abolished
to promote young leaders. Else the future of BJP will never be
improved.
Sushma says Gujarat a good governance model. Is killing of thousands
in riots a good governance model?
By: Dr. Divyesh Raythatha | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 5:43:59 AM
Sushma Swaraj knows how to conveniently forget killing of two thousand
innocent people by BJP government in Gujarat riots, but she remmembers
what any government is supposed to perform. This attitude of BJP
leaders is disgusting. They need to come out of self showmenship. Poor
gadkari is already tired of the ongoing infight of BJP leaders and
poor fellow is consistently requesting to stop quarrelling.
Sushma says-----
By: romesh.sharma | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 15:42:39 PM Rep
Hey Mr you are nothing but crookest of the crooks,meanest of the
mean,dirtiest of the dirty,lowest of the low in charcter and
intellect.Its your attitude and those who think the way you do which
is disgustingly abominable.You idiot must know and realize its only
couple of months Gadkari has taken the leadership and his approach is
direct moving towards the best of the Party and the Nation;that is
bringing the communities together which are divided through
misconceptions and interpretation,infused by pseudo-seculars of
Congress and co.Don't blabber and stop to blame BJP or Modi for what
had happened in Gujrat.Learn to appericiate the good deeds/work of
others or stay in balance.
BJP
By: ashok | Saturday , 20 Feb '10 5:38:32 AM
IE has a habit of sensationalizing the news when it comes to BJP.
Otherwise, how does inclusion of Shivraj Chauhan challenges Modi? Both
Modi and Chauhan are role model CMs, unlike many Congress non-
performing CMs.
Advani elected NDA working chairman
TNN, Feb 22, 2010, 01.01am IST
NEW DELHI: Senior BJP leader L K Advani on Sunday was unanimously
elected as the working chairman of NDA.
Keeping in view the indifferent health of NDA chairman Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, leaders of the BJP and its allies created the new space for
Advani. The veteran had been recently replaced as leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha by Sushma Swaraj.
In a similar move, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who had been the acting
convenor of the Opposition grouping, was designated the convenor
replacing an ailing George Fernandes.
The proposal for Advani's appointment was moved by Yadav while the one
for his elevation as NDA convenor was made by Swaraj.
BJP chief Nitin Gadkari was among the leaders present at the meeting.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Advani-elected-NDA-working-chairman/articleshow/5600484.cms
BJP puts LK Advani in Vajpayee's chair
Nistula Hebbar / DNA
Monday, February 22, 2010 0:21 IST
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s real estate problem in
Parliament was solved on Sunday with its parliamentary party chairman
LK Advani being made “acting” chairperson of the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) till chairperson Atal Bihari Vajpayee is “fully fit”.
Thus, Advani will now vacate his leader of the opposition office space
for his successor Sushma Swaraj, and will occupy Vajpayee’s till-now
vacant office. The decision was taken at an NDA meeting on Sunday,
where floor co-ordination in Parliament among allies was also
discussed.
Party president Nitin Gadkari called on former prime minister Vajpayee
and took his consent on Saturday evening.
Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav has been made NDA convener.
He had been acting convener in place of the ailing George Fernandes.
“This formally marks the end of the Vajpayee-Advani era in all aspects
of the party,” a source said.“The fact remains that till Vajpayeeji is
around, he will remain NDA chairman out of our respect for him, even
though he has not been active for some time,” a senior party leader
said. “Atalji’s nameplate will not be removed. Instead, Advaniji’s
nameplate will be added outside the office,” the source said.
This budget session will be the first in which the opposition will be
led by Swaraj in the last six years. She is expected to infuse new
energy into the parliamentary party’s attacks through her oratorial
skills and her network among political leaders courtesy her time as
parliamentary affairs minister in the NDA government.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bjp-puts-lk-advani-in-vajpayee-s-chair_1350946
BJP undertaking social engineering again
Shubhangi Khapre / DNA
Monday, February 22, 2010 0:44 IST
Mumbai: The BJP under Nitin Gadkari is making a serious attempt to
bring the Dalits, tribal people, and other backward castes back as an
integral part of its organisational politics. The party reckons that
unless it revives the concept of social engineering in letter and
spirit, its growth will remain a dream.
BJP politician Madhav Bhandari said, “Our opposition to religion-based
reservation is to safeguard the quotas accorded to the Dalits, tribes,
and OBCs.”
In a step forward, the BJP, while continuing to swear by Hindutva,
urged Muslims to accept a Ram temple at Ayodhya in return for a grand
mosque in the neighbourhood. It was an attempt to portray a moderate
face.
A senior BJP general secretary said, "Striking a balance to ensure
that we don't deviate from our ideology while ensuring growth remains
a formidable task."
But Dalit writer Arjun Dangle said, “The moment the BJP reasserts its
ideology, it automatically keeps Dalits and Muslims away. It is not a
question of rebuilding one masjid. The moot point is, why did they
demolish the existing mosque?”
The leadership knows it is not easy to woo the lower castes, more so
when the Congress is consolidating its base. But one positive aspect
was the generational change at the national conclave, a source said.
The average age of the 5,000 delegates was below 50.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bjp-undertaking-social-engineering-again_1350961
Gadkari's mosque offer a damp squib
Javed Ansari
Monday, February 22, 2010 0:19 IST
Two days before the BJP national executive, a senior BJP leader phoned
to say that I should watch out for a “new and out of the box”
proposition that his party was likely to make on the Babri Masjid —
Ram Janmabhoomi issue.
He also told me that the announcement in Indore would go more than
half way in resolving the contentious issue.
I waited in hope and anticipation, silently praying that the much
promised “announcement” would finally put an end to the bitterness and
rancour between the two communities.
I have always believed that much of the mistrust, suspicion, bad blood
and divide among Hindus and Muslims can be traced to the demolition of
the Babri Masjid. And as someone who has lived through those times,
and seen at first hand some of the suffering and pain that ordinary
Indians had to go through, I began to dream of a future in which my
child would never again have to go through something so divisive and
bloody.
For a few days, I began to believe that we as a nation had matured,
and like South Africa were prepared to make a clean breast of
everything and bury the past.
To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. Gadkari’s
much-anticipated announcement not only fell short of what I was given
to believe would be a path-breaking proposition, it was actually a
damp squib. He merely repeated what the VHP had, at one stage, said in
the early days of the mandir movement. Predictably, it was rejected by
the minority community.
The subsequent reaction of the Sena, VHP and the so-called Muslim
leaders proved to be a painful reminder of what is festering inside.
Thearguments on the title suit are likely to be completed in the next
couple of months, and with both sides showing no inclination to bury
the past and geton with life, the mandir-masjid issue might well come
back to wreck our lives.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/comment_gadkari-s-mosque-offer-a-damp-squib_1350945
Gadkari leaves alliance fate to Munde
Kiran Tare / DNA
Monday, February 22, 2010 0:43 IST
Mumbai: The BJP’s central leadership has left to its Maharashtra unit
the decision on whether to continue its alliance with the Shiv Sena in
the state. While the central leadership is not keen on continuing the
alliance, it hasn’t objected to it either.
Following the BJP’s national executive meeting in Indore last week, a
senior BJP politician said the fate of the saffron alliance will be
decided mainly by Gopinath Munde, Eknath Khadse, and Vinod Tawde. “Of
course, the opinion of Nitinji [party president Nitin Gadkari] will
also matter,” he said.
The BJP’s central leadership is not too pleased with Sena executive
president Uddhav Thackeray, for two reasons: his “unfriendly”
behaviour with BJP leaders and the issues he has been raising for the
past few years. The BJP also believes the Sena is losing ground with
the rise of the MNS.
“Uddhav has created a shell around himself,” said the BJP politician.
“A message that Uddhav did not show respect to our senior leaders like
LK Advani and Narendra Modi has reached our leaders.”
The Sena’s agitation against granting statehood to Vidarbha and its
stand on the Australian cricketers has also irked the BJP. “Our
leaders believe Uddhav is concentrating on less important issues
instead of issues like inflation, which actually affect the common
people,” the politician said.
When contacted, Gadkari asserted that the alliance with the Sena will
remain intact, but said the decision rests with Munde, Khadse, and
Tawde. “If they want, we will continue with the alliance,” he said. “I
hope they take into account the party’s prospects in the state without
the Sena.”
Gadkari himself had had a tough time dealing with Uddhav Thackeray
when he was BJP leader in Maharashtra. Thackeray had refused to
discuss seat-sharing with him during the general elections of 2009.
And despite repeated requests, Gadkari failed to get an appointment
with Sena leader Bal Thackeray for more than seven months.
After the death of his brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, Munde played a
key role in reducing the rift between the parties on many occasions.
The most recent instance was when he prevailed upon the BJP to let go
of the Guhagar assembly seat for the Sena’s Ramdas Kadam in the
October 2009 assembly election. Kadam lost.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_gadkari-leaves-alliance-fate-to-munde_1350960
Promotion for Sushma, Munde in opposition ranks
Published on : Monday 22 Feb 2010 15:23 - by IANS
New Delhi, Feb 22 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj
Monday occupied the seat earmarked for leader of opposition in the
front row in the Lok Sabha, reflecting the generational change in the
country's main opposition party.
Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani, who was earlier the leader of
opposition, sat on the third seat in the first row, next to Swaraj.
The first seat in the opposition bench is reserved for the deputy
speaker.
Monday was the first day of the budget session.
Gopinath Munde, the new deputy leader of the party, has been elevated
to the front row. Munde, who had been sitting in the second row till
the last session, now sits on the fourth seat on the first row near
Advani.
Party general secretary Ananth Kumar, who used to sit in the front row
moved to the second row, on the seat earlier occupied by Munde.
Former BJP presidents Rajnath Singh and Murli Manohar Joshi, however,
retained their seats in the front row.
On Dec 18, Advani handed over the baton of the leader of opposition in
the Lok Sabha to Swaraj and assumed charge as the first chairman of
the BJP parliamentary party.
Swaraj was earlier the deputy leader of BJP in Lok Sabha.
During the winter session of parliament, expelled BJP leader Jaswant
Singh had lost his front row seat in the opposition ranks and had to
move to the third row.
Singh, 71, was given seat number 371 in the third row in the Lok Sabha
which falls in the fifth block accommodating members from smaller
parties. He was not present in the house Monday.
Copyright Indo Asian News
http://www.littleabout.com/news/72818,promotion-sushma-munde-opposition-ranks.html
BJP government in Karnataka now eyes panchayat polls
B. S. Satish Kumar
Party to hold brainstorming session in Bangalore on Thursday
Party plans to contest at least 90 per cent of seats
BJP wants to spread presence at grassroots-level
BANGALORE: Setting its eyes on the forthcoming gram panchayat
elections to increase its presence in the grassroot political bodies,
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka is holding a
brainstorming session in Bangalore on February 25 to prepare for the
polls.
Sources in the BJP said the presidents of the district units will
participate in the session besides prominent State leaders. The
meeting is expected to be held after the joint session of the State
legislature and will be followed up with meetings at micro-level —
zones and districts.
The party plans to contest at least 90 per cent of seats in the
panchayat polls which are being held for the first time after the BJP
assumed power in the State. The party considers these polls as an
opportunity to spread its presence in the grassroots-level politics
where its presence is still to gain in strength.
With legal efforts on to seek the postponement of the Bruhat Bangalore
Mahanagara Palike elections, the party has decided to focus attention
on the panchayat polls.
Reshuffle in mid-April?
The ministerial aspirants in the BJP are eagerly waiting for the
presentation of the State budget as the party has been stating that
any ministerial reshuffle and reconstitution of the boards and
corporations would take place after the budget.
However, sources in the party made it clear that the reshuffle would
be taken up only after the budget session of the legislature and that
too after the panchayat polls. Going by the present indications, the
ministerial reshuffle may take place some time in the middle of
April.
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/22/stories/2010022255430600.htm
‘Farmland being acquired for industrial purpose’
Correspondent
Karwar: The former Chief Minister S. Bangarappa said on Saturday that
the State Government was acquiring farmland for industrial purpose,
ignoring the interests of farmers.
He was addressing a public rally organised by Janapara Vedike at
Kumta.
Struggle
Farmers should launch a struggle against the Government for its “anti-
farmer” policy, he said.
Referring to the development projects taken up during his tenure as
Chief Minister, he said Chief Minister Yeddyurappa visited temples and
maths and gave them funds. No Chief Minister of the State had done it
earlier.
Stating that he was not against temples and maths, Mr. Bangarappa said
funds should also be given to places of worship and institutions of
other religions.
Mr. Bangarappa urged the people to oppose projects that destroyed the
Western Ghats. The Yeddyurappa Government had taken up the Tadadi
project in Uttara Kannada, but stopped it after people’s opposition.
He criticised the Government for its “failure” to prevent attacks on
churches and mosques.
Ashwin Kumar, T.N. Shrinivas, Harish Shetty, Raju Adi and R.G. Naik
were present.
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/22/stories/2010022252010300.htm
‘Congress not interested in toppling BJP Government’
Special Correspondent
CHICKABALLAPUR: Union Minister for Law and Justice M. Veerappa Moily
on Saturday said the Congress would not make any attempts to topple
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the State.
Addressing the Chickaballapur District Congress workers’ convention
here, Mr. Moily said that if Congress president Sonia Gandhi decides,
the BJP Government in the State could be brought down in a day.
But Ms. Gandhi, who had sacrificed the Prime Minister’s post in the
past, would never support such things and the Congress would not
resort to such unholy acts, he said.
People themselves should “snatch the power” from the BJP and hand it
over to the Congress and the party workers should prepare the public
for that, senior Congress leader said.
Mr. Moily said AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi was bound to become
Prime Minister in future.
Mr. Gandhi did not accept the Minister’s post as he wanted to
strengthen the party, he said while emphasising that the Congress was
not after power.
Mr. Moily, who is Chickaballapur MP, said the Centre and the State
together had planned a drinking water project for the arid
Chickballapur district at a cost of Rs. 2,500 crore.
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/22/stories/2010022255020500.htm
Sid Harth
Untouchability of Nitin Gadkari and Rahul Gandhi
February 21, 2010 – 6:42 pm
Both Congress and BJP have started their propaganda for the next
parliamentary elections. They exhibit a similar game plan towards
Dalit and Untouchability confirming that they are one and the same.
Both Gadkari and Rahul appear clean personally not loaded with any
liability of the past, are considered future Prime minister
candidates. But they are too childish to deal with untouchability
BJP is starting a fresh innings under a new captain. Mr. Nitin Gadkari
who is crowned as the leader of the political wing of Hindutwa brigade
is projected as a balanced leader accommodating all sections of
society. This maneuver is to show him as another Vajpayee of soft
Hindutwa to win back the friends and allies solely to recapture the
power.
Mr. Nitin Gadkari
In the recent annual national council meeting of BJP gathered at
Indore on February 18 and 19 Gadkari admitted that “The issue of
untouchability is a part of our political commitment.” But Mr. Gadkari
has ignored the reality that Dalit people are now enough sensitized to
understand that it is not the “issue of untouchability” but the
“untouchability” itself which is a part of the Indian establishment.
Mr. Gadkari could not elaborate on his plans to eradicate
untouchability since there can be no such plans in BJP who believe in
Hindutwa a brand of racism in which Dalit are considered lesser than a
cow.
Mr Gadkari had painfully undertaken a trip to the late Babasaheb
Ambedkar’s birth-place Mhow to show his respect to Dr Ambedkar and he
declared later “Dr Ambedkar’s philosophy and activism was akin to that
of Dr King,’’ In one of the media reports it was phrased as “Gadkari
lavished praise on the father of the Indian Constitution” Is it so
lavish a praise for Ambedkar to put him on par with Martin ? Mr.
Gadkari in his effort to praise Ambedkar to gain votes has exposed
himself his inability to praise a great leader. His comparison shows a
deep entrenched ignorance about the life and times of Ambedkar and his
achievements.
Why Mr.Gadkari cannot compare the activism of Gandhi with Ambedkar as
for as untouchability is concerned? Why he should invite Martin Luther
king?
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in 1869 – and died in 1948. He is
more known to the world as a symbol of Non Violence and not as an
annihilator of Indian caste system. He on the other hand was in favour
of continuing the inhuman caste system and argued to justify it.
Gandhi said
1. I believe that if Hindu Society has been able to stand it is
because it is founded on the caste system.
2. The seeds of swaraj are to be found in the caste system. Different
castes are like different sections of military division. Each division
is working for the good of the whole….
3.A community which can create the caste system must be said to
possess unique power of organization.
4.To destroy caste system and adopt Western European social system
means that Hindus must give up the principle of hereditary occupation
which is the soul of the caste system. Hereditary principle is an
eternal principle. To change it is to create disorder. I have no use
for a Brahmin if I cannot call him a Brahmin for my life. It will be a
chaos if every day a Brahmin is to be changed into a Shudra and a
Shudra is to be changed into a Brahmin.
5.The caste system is a natural order of society. In India it has been
given a religious coating. Other countries not having understood the
utility of the caste system, it existed only in a loose condition and
consequently those countries have not derived from caste system the
same degree of advantage which India has derived. These being my views
I am opposed to all those who are out to destroy the caste system.
We can see that BJP which aims for a Hindu based society should fully
endorse above pointed views of Gandhi. Therefore BJP is the party
which can implement Gandhian caste principles and cannot follow
Ambedkars vision on untouchables. BJP is a political party with open
exclusive agenda for Muslims and secret exclusive agenda for Dalit.
Our state and propaganda machineries are at work to show Gandhi as a
leader who fought against untouchability and caste which is false. The
struggle Gandhi undertook against untouchability was only a part of
his gimmicks to show himself as a leader of all. Gandhians cannot
explain why untouchability continue even after the work done by their
Gandhi . Ambedkar has answered that question.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1889 and died in 1956. He is more
known to the world as a fighter against caste and untouchability.
Ambedkar said that
1.“Gandhism is nothing but the philosophy of the rich and the
privileged class and Mahatmas may come and go but untouchables will
remain untouchables.”
2.”Gandhi is the greatest enemy the untouchables have ever had in
India.”
It is the history recorded at Pune where Gandhi used his non violent
method against non violent oppressed people to prevent untouchables to
get political freedom. He proved to be a Hindu fanatic. If another
Hindu terrorist killed Gandhi it was not for his breaching of Hindu
laws on untouchability but for his compromise towards Muslims.
Martin Luther King, Jr was born in 1929 and died in 1968. He is known
to the world as a leader who lived and laid his life for the
emancipation of Black americans and for their civil rights. He was
influenced by Gandhi regarding nonviolence. While visiting India he
said
“Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the
method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to
oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a
real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal
principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe,
and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”
Martin’s reference “ oppressed people” are the whole of Indian people
under the rule of oppressor British empire and not the untouchables.
If we go through the life of these three leaders their cause, their
opponent and their methods of struggle, comparing Ambedkar with Martin
shall be considered as one idea from a poorly read person. Ambedkar
was born before Martin and died before the death of Martin. Ambedkar
is a contemporary to Gandhi. Only Martin can be called as Ambedkar of
America. Gadkari’s comparison is as inappropriate as saying “ The
acting ability of Rajkapoor was akin to that of Amitab Bachan”. Mr.
Gadkari’s comment reveals the manuwadi mentality of always putting the
dalit intellectuals below someone else.
If Mr.Gadkari lacks any theoretical sense he also miserably fails in
his symbolic gesture towards Dalit as he simply imitates Rahul Gandhi
in dining with Dalit. Mr. Gadkari went to the house of a local BJP
corporator Preeti Karosiya who hails from the Dalit Valmiki community
for lunch. By citing this, the media focussed his pet theme as
‘Antyodaya’, serving the last man in the queue. They cannot explain
why a Dalit is always a last man for so many centuries.
Mr. Rahul Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi, the young leader of the Congress party, has cultivated a
habit of visiting Dalit households in Utter pradesh as instructed by
his image building team to win over Dalit votes. This was even
criticized by BJP but now the new BJP president himself is practicing
the same old tactic due to lack of imagination.
Dalit have witnessed enough such scenes in the last 63 years. If we
narrate a story “ Dalit girl- buttermilk -Prime ministers” it will run
like this.
“In 1960, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited a Dalit hut and took a glass
of buttermilk from a 10 year old girl. In 1970 the girl turned 20 and
Indira Gandhi came to the same hut and took a glass of buttermilk. In
1990 the she turned 40 and gave a glass of buttermilk to Rajiv Gandhi.
Now she is a grand old woman living in the same hut and was asked to
give a glass of buttermilk to Rahul Gandhi in front of media. Standing
nearby in the same hut is a 10 year old dalit girl a grand daughter
waiting to offer a glass of buttermilk to the grand son of Sonia
Gandhi. Everytime Dalit loss a glass of buttermilk and gain nothing
but India gets a prime minster from a royal family “
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati had criticized Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi’s visits to Dalit homes
His “Dalit-prem” (affection for Dalits) is a “mere eyewash”,
“He goes through a tedious purification process at home after such
visits, washes himself with a special soap,”
A more thoughtful remark came from Ramdas Athawale the leader of
Republican Party of India from Maharashtra
“The casteism and social disharmony will not go away just by visiting
Dalit colonies or shaking hands with Dalit people… Rahul should marry
a Dalit girl to bring in a true social revolution. I shall ask Sonia
Gandhi to select a Dalit girl for Rahul,”
But according to great soul Mahatma Gandhi interdining and
intermarriage cannot promote national unity. Gandhi categorically
declared
1. I believe that interdining or intermarriage are not necessary for
promoting national unity. That dining together creates friendship is
contrary to experience. If this was true there would have been no war
in Europe…. Taking food is as dirty an act as answering the call of
nature. The only difference is that after answering call of nature we
get peace while after eating food we get discomfort. Just as we
perform the act of answering the call of nature in seclusion so also
the act of taking food must also be done in seclusion.
2. In India children of brothers do not intermarry. Do they cease to
love because they do not intermarry? Among the Vaishnavas many women
are so orthodox that they will not eat with members of the family nor
will they drink water from a common water pot. Have they no love? The
caste system cannot be said to be bad because it does not allow
interdining or intermarriage between different castes.
Then why Gadkari and Rahul ignore the words of Father of our nation
Mahatma Gandhi in interdining but are not going for intermarriage? The
truth is that both do not want to disturb the institutionalized
untouchability. As predicted by Ambedkar, Mahatmas will come and go
but untouchability will remain in one or other form. Similarly Rahul
and Gadkari will come and go.
Gadkari and Rahul aspire to become prime minister not for eradicating
caste and untouchabilty but to strengthen it so as to keep the Dalit
to be last in the que always.
http://truthdive.com/2010/02/21/untouchability-of-nitin-gadkari-and-rahul-gandhi/
Featured, India
1st January, 1818: ‘The Battle of Bhima Koregaon’ in Maharashtra
January 1, 2010 – 12:11 pm
Fight against Manusmriti - the story of a heroic battle of a small
Dalit army in alliance with British against a larger army of Brahminic
kingdom.
“If we wish to be free, we must fight. Shall we gather strength by
irresolution and inaction? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to
be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty
God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me
liberty or give me death.” – Patrick Henry (March, 1775)
Manusmriti, a collection of ancient Hindu laws stipulating a social
order with caste hierarchy. This inhuman text is still considered holy
by Hindu fundamentalists and the leaders of Hindu mutts
The history of India is nothing but the fight/struggle between
untouchables and the so called upper castes. Historians who ought to
be rationalist, have always misled the masses and never showed the
true colors of Indian History. Hence, this battle has also been lost
into history and no reference is found in any history book.
January 1st 1818, everyone around the world was busy in celebrating
the ‘new year’, when everyone was in cheerful mood. But a small force
of 500 untouchable soldiers were preparing themselves for battle. Who
knows this battle was going to write the future of ‘Brahmin Peshwa
Baji Rao-II’? It wasn’t just another battle; it was a battle for self
respect, esteem, and against the supremacy of Manusmriti. This battle
is important in history, as everyone knows that after this battle the
rule of ‘Peshwa Rao’ ended.
In the early 19th century, the Maratha Empire led by Peshwa Baji Rao
II was gradually diminishing due to internal dissents and setbacks in
the previous Anglo-Maratha wars. Maharashtrian society under Peshwas
had followed the nastiest kind of social discrimination wherein the
lower strata of society such as untouchables were confined to
stringent Brahmanical laws and subsequently their mobility and
development were impaired. The untouchables had suffered the most in
the 2000 year old caste system. But regimes like the Brahmincal
Peshwas are the best examples where untouchables and the lower caste
groups experienced horrendous and worst form of social humiliations to
carry broom sticks on their backs and earthen pots hung on their necks
wherein they released their spit.
This battle took place on January 1st, 1818, near the banks of Bhima
River in Koregaon (north-west of Pune) between the small forces of
‘500 untouchables’ (Mahars) soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 1st
regiment of ‘Bombay Native Light Infantry’ and Peshwa soldiers.
‘Bombay Native Light Infantry’ was headed by ‘Caption Francis
Staunton’. Compared to the ‘500 untouchable soldiers’ Brahmin Peshwa
Rao’s force was large in numbers - more than 20,000 horsemen and 8,000
infantry soldiers. After walking down more than 27 miles distance from
Shirur to Bhima Koregaon without rest or reprieve, without food or
water ‘500 untouchables’ fought so bravely for 12 hours and won the
battle. The battle ended not only with victory over Peshwa but it
become responsible for the end of ‘Peshwai’ in Maharashtra.
This battle had unusual significance for many reasons. First, the
British army fought this battle with a minuscule army expecting the
worst, especially after their experience of the Pune Regency.
Secondly, the battle of Koregaon was one of the most important events
which helped tear down the Peshwa Empire and subsequently the Peshwa
had to abdicate. Thirdly and most importantly, it was an attempt by
the untouchables of Maharashtra to break the shackles of the age-old
caste order.
Second Bajirao Peshwa was the most unpopular amongst his subjects due
to his pleasure loving and avaricious attitude. Being the last amongst
the Peshwa dynasty, he was extravagant in his dealings and emptied the
treasures of his ancestors. He was the first Maratha to have fled from
the British attacks instead of fighting them.
The Peshwa’s troops inexplicably withdrew that evening, despite their
overwhelming numbers, giving the British an important victory. The men
of the 2/1st Regiment Bombay Native Infantry, who fought in this
battle, were honored for their bravery. The official report to the
British Residents at Poona recalls the “heroic valour and enduring
fortitude” of the soldiers, the “disciplined intrepidity” and “devoted
courage and admirable consistency” of their actions.
Much praise was showered on the Mahar Sepoys of the Bombay Army who
endured the rigours of difficult marches when rations were low and
disease was high among men and animals. Whether they were charging
ahead or were besieged or taken prisoner-of-war, whether they were
storming fortresses or making tactical withdrawals, they always stood
steadfast by their officers and comrades, never letting down the
honour of their Regiments. Similar anecdotes are recorded in the
written histories of the Mahar Regiment and Bombay Army. All
demonstrate that most Mahars soldiers were dedicated and courageous.
This Battle was commemorated by an obelisk, known as the Koregaon
Pillar (Vijay Stambh), which featured on the ‘Mahar Regiment’ crest
until Indian Independence. The ‘Vijay Stambh’ reminds us ‘together we
can achieve anything’. The monument has names inscribed of twenty two
untouchables (Mahars) killed there, erected at the site of the battle
and by a medal issued in 1851. Today, the monument still “serves as a
focal point of Untouchable (Mahar) heroism”. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
used to visit Bhima Koregaon (Shaurya Bhomi) every year on 1st January
to pay homage to the great Mahar soldiers of The Bhima Koregaon
Battle.
On New Year eve, rather than visiting pubs, dancing and enjoying over
beer bottles, pay rich tribute to the heroes of ‘Battle’. One step
ahead we can suggest or request all of you that in remembrance of the
untouchable soldiers who fought and died for self respect and esteem
in ‘Bhima Koregaon Battle’ over the haughty, superior and arrogant
‘Savarnas’. This all will show respect, our commitment, courage and
awareness towards our rich history.
Diary
Paramacharya Chandrashekarendra Saraswati: God, Women and Languages
11 Comments January 2, 2010 – 9:30 am
Late Paramachariya (Chandrasekaraendra Saraswathi of Kanchi Mutt)
is considered by the devotees of Kanchi Mutt as the most respected
great Hindu saint of the last century. His devotees belong to all
sections of society although mostly the Tamil Brahmins celebrate him .
He is said to be respected even by non-believers. His ‘words of
wisdom’ are collected in the Tamil book “Deivaththin kural” (Divine
Voice). He is promoted as the unmatched god man of the people from
Tamilnadu and other regions.
But it is interesting to note his view point on languages other than
Sanskrit, specifically Tamil. I read a narration by Agnihothram
Ramanuja thathachariyar in his book “Hindu matham enge
pokirathu” (Hindu relegion - Where towards?). Thathachariya was once a
close aid of Paramachariya. He used to have discussions with
Paramacharya only in sanskrit, because Sankarachariya normally spoke
in Sanskrit. I am interested to share my reading with our friends.
One evening Mr. Arunachalam of Chettinadu visited Kanchi mutt. Mr.
Arunachalam was an industrialist and such rich people normally
commanded respect at Kanchi Mutt. He wanted to have the blessings of
Paramacharya and he requested Mr. Thathacharia to arrange for a
dharshan. By that time Paramacharya had completed his daily dharshan
to the public and finished his bath. He was preparing for conducting
the evening rituals. Mr. Thathachriya informed Paramacharya about the
visit of Mr. Arunachalam.Paramacharya told Thathachariya that he could
not meet Arunchalam because he had taken bath and that he would have
to take again if he had to meet Mr. Arunachalam, and therefore
instructed Thathachariaya to inform Arunachalam that Swamiji was
observing silence (mouna viratha) and hence he could not meet anybody.
Paramacharya was strictly following one practice; between each puja,
if he happened to talk in Tamil, he would take bath to wash out the
sin. What was the sin? According to him speaking in Tamil was a sin
because the language was non-divine (neecha bashai). By this witness
Thathacharya we can conclude that Paramacharya resorted to speak a
soft lie to avoid speaking in Tamil to stick to his orthodox
practice. The lie may be with an intention of not to offend the
feelings of a rich Tamil man who could donate money for the mutt.
There is another interesting anecdote about Paramacharya in the same
book. When Jawaharlal Nehru decided to bring a law to grant property
rights to Hindu women, Paramacharya vehemently opposed that idea .
The reason told by Acharya was that as per Manu Smiruthi women were
barred from holding property. It can also be recalled that the tactics
of ‘mouna viratha’ was practiced once by Paramacharya when Indira
Gandhi wished to meet him. The venue of the meeting was a “well” on
either side of which Paramacharya and Indira Gandhi were present.
Paramacharya only listened to Gandhi at that time and did not even see
her. Reason? Mrs. Gandhi was a widow! However there were instances
when he could say some words to Mrs. Gandhi too. Perhaps it should be
time bound poojas of orthodox rituals which prevented to speak in
Tamil or to a woman or a widow!
Kanchi mutt is now led by jeyendra saraswati, one who is involved in a
murder case and a supporter of untouchability.
But we cannot say that Paramacharya followed orthodox ways strictly.
For example, when his deputy Jeyendra saraswathi deserted the mutt he
initially refused to take him back on his return citing that Jeyendra
missed the poojas of Saturmasya vrata. But he relaxed and
accommodated Jeyendra after learning that the Kanch Kamatchi amman
temple could be taken over by the Government according to the rules if
the trustee was dead without appointing another member or went mad or
missing. Jeyendra was the trustee for that revenue earning temple!
The Hindu religion as constructed in the last century is a
conglomeration of innumerable number of ideas, practices and rituals.
The virtue for guiding the life of an individual should be the essence
of any religion in practice and philosophy. Many outdated
fundamentalist theories such as Manu Dharma and practices are still
followed by Hindu Mutts and the godmen. This is regrettable. They are
expected to change according to the times in favour of equality of
people and their languages. Christianity spreads by serving sermons in
Tamil and if Sanskrit is insisted still in Poojas it will not serve
the Hindu religion in the long run.
A Christian Father Jagath Kaspar arranged for releasing Hindu
religious book Thiruvasagam audio by Ilayaraja . He organises annual
festival Sangamam for Tamil folk and classical performances with music
and dance. But our orthodox Hindu brothers seek Sanskrit in Puja,
castes among priests, Telugu in music, Hindi in Central jobs, English
for software and wish to give the last place to Tamil. How can we we
claim to be an egalitarian and fair society. They/We need to think
about this.
http://truthdive.com/2010/01/02/paramacharya-chandrashekarendra-saraswati-god-women-and-languages/
BJP might take disciplinary action against Vasundhara Raje
PTI
Sunday, February 21, 2010 21:51 IST
New Delhi: The case of former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara
Raje, who is refusing to take the post of national general secretary
offered to her as she feels it will lessen her hold on her state, has
the BJP top brass mulling over disciplinary action against her and her
team.
The party is thinking of suspending some senior leaders close to Raje
to send her a message that she should fall in line and work at the
national level, BJP sources said.
Raje kept away from the National Executive and Council meetings of the
party in Indore though she sent some of her emissaries to discuss her
case with the BJP top brass. Her son and BJP MP from Jhalawar Dushyant
Singh was present.
Raje's reported excuse that she had to attend to an old relative was
too flimsy a reason for the top leaders to accept though publicly they
were forced to give the same reason for her absence.
Though Raje's supporters from Rajasthan reportedly did not get an
audience with BJP President Nitin Gadkari, they did convey to the top
leadership that it was best if she continued as Leader of Opposition
in the Rajasthan Assembly.
Gadkari had offered Raje the post of general secretary in his team.
However, now that Raje is expressing her reluctance, Gadkari would be
in an embarrassing position.
"Raje told the leadership that after losing the last assembly
elections in December 2008, she does not want to run away to the
Centre as that may affect her credibility and hold over the state.
"She feels in Delhi she will just be one of the several leaders," a
senior leader said.
The BJP central leadership will have to take a call on the issue at
the earliest as the Assembly session begins in Rajasthan and Raje's
resignation from post of leader of opposition has still not been
submitted to the speaker. Moreover, Gadkari is set to announce his
team by February-end and cannot wait endlessly for Raje to agree.
February 28, 2010
A secret secession move in progress?
Jammu leaders oppose Omar’s proposal to invite terrorists from PoK
From Khajuria S Kant in Jammu
The Government should have a clear policy on the rehabilitation of
Kashmiri Hindu migrants, PoK, West Pak refugees and migrants from
other parts of Jammu region. It should also have a clear-cut policy
for farmers, traders, industrialists, unemployed youth and show
concern about price rise instead of talking about the resettlement of
terrorists.
AFTER the Union Government put a seal of approval on the Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah’s amnesty to Kashmiri terrorists, who had
crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), several Jammu-based
political and social groups reacted sharply to the decision,
threatening that initiation of such a move would invite massive
protests in the region.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has warned the Union Government against
its amnesty policy for rehabilitation of terrorists under-going
training in PoK camps, and has decided to launch a nation-wide
agitation against the move which will begin from Jammu on February 25,
the day of Indo-Pak foreign secretary level talks.
BJP state president, Shamsher Singh Manhas told this reporter that BJP
will not tolerate any compromise on national interests and the Party
will launch a Praja Parishad type movement throughout the country from
February 25. The protest on February 25 will be led by BJP national
president, Nitin Gadkari, he said, adding the Party will also gherao
the Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, during his visit to City of
Temples on February 17 on the issue.
Shri Manhas said during the NDA rule, India had made General Musharraf
agree that the land of Pakistan will not be used for any terrorist
activities against India. The UPA Government had said that it will not
hold parleys with Pakistan till the terrorists involved in the 26/11
terror attack are punished by Pakistan. But later they started
parleys, he added.
While criticising the Central Government’s appeasement policy towards
the separatists and anti-national elements, he said the Party is ready
to pay any price for protecting the national cause.
They are going to rehabilitate the people who have been living in
Pakistan for over 20 years, were married in that country and have
children also. The Government is concerned for those who destroyed the
state and not for the law-abiding citizens who were forced to flee
from different parts of J&K by terrorists.
"The eagerness on part of the National Conference over this issue can
be understood because of its dubious role all along. This move
provided credence to the allegations that many of the misguided youths
were sent across the borders in Pakistan by the then ruling leaders of
the National Conference in late eighties," the BJP president alleged.
Shri Manhas remarked, "If the ultras residing in PoK can get liberty
for their return to this state after the expiry of twenty years, then
why not those who had migrated to Pakistan during the troubled days of
1947 and had opted the citizenship of that country but still are
having their properties being looked after by the Custodian Department
in Jammu and Kashmir?"
The Government should have a clear policy on the rehabilitation of
Kashmiri Hindu migrants, PoK, West Pak refugees and migrants from
other parts of Jammu region. It should also have a clear-cut policy
for farmers, traders, industrialists, unemployed youth and show
concern about price rise instead of talking about the resettlement of
terrorists, he said.
Brigadier (Retd.) Suchet Singh, convener Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh
Samiti, accused the Home Minister of announcing the amnesty for the
terrorists who are operating against India from PoK. He said the Union
Home Ministry has totally surrendered before the anti-national
elements and such a policy will not only boost the morale of
terrorists and separatists in the state of J&K but also endanger
national integrity and security
Making a scathing attack on the Union Government, he said the Home
Minister is so much eager to please such elements that he overlooked
the objections of his own cabinet colleague and former Chief Minister,
Ghulam Nabi Azad that there is no guarantee that the youth, who had
crossed the LoC to join the terrorist training camps established by
Pakistan in PoK, will not prove to be a security threat. It simply
shows that the Union Cabinet Ministers are not themselves in agreement
on the issue, he added.
The Samiti leader has appealed to all the social, political and
religious organisations, students’ and teachers’ bodies, traders,
advocates, transporters and industrialists to go to masses and educate
them about the ill-effects of the so-called surrender policy. He urged
them to organise protest rallies and other types of demonstrations and
mobilise public opinion against the Government policy.
Various Kashmiri Pandit organisations including All State Kashmiri
Pandit Conference, Panun Kashmir and J&K Vichar Manch recently formed
an amalgamation, which has expressed its serious concern over the
Union Government’s surrender policy.
It, while rejecting the surrender policy, said the proposed move of
the Government for the rehabilitation of those terrorists who have
gone across the LoC for arms training is fraught with dangerous
consequences.
It said these very terrorists called now boys are the killers of
Kashmiri Pandits in the Valley and minority Hindus and nationalist
Muslims in Jammu region. The attempt of two NC ministers to equate
their return with the return of KPs is simply the outcome of a sick
mentality.
It further said the KPs are the victims of genocide and ethnic
cleansing at the hands of these very terrorists and will never allow
any Government to bring them back at the peril of national security.
As a result of the actions of these terrorists, a full-fledged
community of half a million people was forced to leave Kashmir and has
been living a refugee life for the last 20 years, it added.
The convenor of the Refugee Sangharsh Morcha, Narinder Singh said, "If
the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram understands that PoK is an
integral part of India and thinks it fit to rehabilitate terrorists
from there, he should have first considered rehabilitation of PoK
refugees who are being victimised from many years." He informed that
it has been decided to rope in various social and political outfits
for a serious consideration on this issue and has also been decided to
launch a comprehensive agitation against it if such a move is
initiated by the Government.
Similarly, Jammu and Kashmir People’s Forum, an amalgamation of
several social groups, also castigated the ruling dispensations at the
Centre and the State. "In competition to expand his party’s base in
different constituencies, Omar has started pursuing the agenda of
separatists by way of proposing to the Centre to formulate a policy to
grant amnesty to thousands of terrorists. Now being induced by the
likes of Omar to return to Kashmir for purposes, which appear to be
motivated," Ramesh Sabharwal, state convenor, JKPF, said. He pointed
out that it is the most ridiculous proposal which, if implemented,
will deteriorate the already disturbed situation and make the task of
security forces further difficult to save the lives and property of
innocent civilians.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=41
February 28, 2010
Gadkari’s clarion call
Country first, forget self and work to make India great
By A Special Representative
The BJP chief was blunt in telling party leaders at a closed-door
meeting on the first day of the party’s national conclave that they
have to have "a big heart" to achieve the "targets".
"We should not feel vulnerable. After all, we are in power in nine
states, we have over a 1,000 MLAs and a little less than 200 MPs. We
also control several municipal corporations, municipalities and zila
parishads.’’ -Nitin Gadkari
THE BJP chief, Nitin Gadkari has "diagnosed" the cause of many ills
the party is facing - political aspirations of some senior leaders who
have already got a lot from the party.
"The problems in the party are not because of grassroots workers but
because of those who had benefited much. They will have to think
whether their political career is important or party ideology and
expansion of the organisation," said Gadkari.
The BJP chief was blunt in telling party leaders at a closed-door
meeting on the first day of the party’s national conclave that they
have to have "a big heart" to achieve the "targets".
In being so candid, Gadkari left an impression. He asked the party
workers to turn the mirror inwards and see the mess that the party
finds itself in today.
Gadkari, who’s the youngest BJP president, used the platform provided
by the national executive to make his candid assessment of the party’s
present-day state of affairs. "The average worker wonders why should
he continue working for the party when he has got nothing in return.
The question arises when he sees that the senior leaders, having
tasted power, were only furthering their own interests,’’ he
asserted.
He presented a strong critique of the Manmohan Singh government’s
handling of the prices issue and the internal security front, and said
that his party would take to the streets to draw the people’s
attention to the government’s goof-up on the twin issues. While
assailing the ruling combine for viewing internal security through the
narrow prism of vote-bank politics, he reiterated that the decision to
review peace talks with Islamabad was taken under American pressure.
A large part of his speech was devoted to making an honest
introspection of the ills plaguing the party. "All political leaders
should remember that respect can only be commanded, and not be
demanded," he said.
The BJP president said: "We should not feel vulnerable. After all, we
are in power in nine states, we have over a 1,000 MLAs and a little
less than 200 MPs. We also control several municipal corporations,
municipalities and zila parishads.’’
Gadkari, however, tried to steer clear of any controversy by
suggesting that he got the support of his seniors when he landed in
the national capital with apprehensions that he would not be able to
match the expectations of the party.
Sources close to the party chief suggest that he was trying to drive
home the point that his success or failure as the national president
would be the reflection of the support that he would receive from the
central leaders throughout his tenure.
His address was followed by another speech by outgoing chief Rajnath
Singh, who said the role of the president was like that of King
Vikrmaditya - who has to be just, fair and take everyone along.
There has to have, Gadkari suggested, some kind of an accountability
for electoral losses due to faulty distribution of tickets and assured
the party that he would consider winnability and other factors before
giving away tickets.
To drive home his point, the former chief of Maharashtra BJP quoted
party patriarch Atal Behari Vajpayee, saying, "Chhote man se koi bada
nahi hota, toote man se koi khada nahi hota (Small-minded can’t aspire
to be great, demoralised can’t stand up)," and asked party leaders to
keep "nation first, party second and self last".
He told party leaders not everyone was required to speak to the media
and the job should be left only to those who were authorised. Gadkari,
who has also promised to bring a new work culture, advised the leaders
to progress through their work and not by belittling others.
"While projecting your line bigger, you should not show the lines made
by others are smaller," he asserted. At the same time, Gadkari called
upon party men to work for party’s cause, noting "a man is not
finished when he is defeated but he is defeated when he quits".
A day after he visited Mhow, Ambedkar’s birthplace, garlanded his
statue and had food at the house of a local Dalit leader; Gadkari
tried to reaching out to the largest section of the electorate,
especially the Dalits and the backward sections of society. "We have
to fight against social untouchability and create a society of
equals," Gadkari said at the inaugural session of the meet.
Former Maharashtra BJP chief who took over from Rajnath Singh as the
national president in December last, had been insisting on increasing
BJP’s vote share by at least 10 per cent by reaching out in regions
where the party has no or little presence so far.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=2
February 28, 2010
Protest in Delhi over award to blasphemous novel
Draupadi is a great character depicted in Mahabharat but in the book
she has been described to be a woman of low character and is
attributed with sleazy expressions and immoral laisons with the great
characters.
THE activists of Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, Akhil Bharatiya
Sahitya Parishad, Hindu Manch, Rashtriya Sevika Samiti and many other
organisations of Delhi stormed the Kamani Auditorium on February 16
when the Sahitya Academy organised a function to honour the
controversial Telugu writer Dr Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad for his novel
Draupadi.
As the writer was called on the dais for presenting the award, some
people sitting among audience stood up and started shouting slogans
against the writer. They jumped over the dias. Some of them also threw
shoes, slippers and other things on the writer. Later, the police took
the agitating activists out of the auditorium.
In his novel Dr Prasad has presented Draupadi in highly objectionable
manner and used highly immoral words for her. The activists demanded
immediate arrest of the writer and also withdrawal of the award to
him. The function had to be cancelled due to the protest.
The protestors were led by Shri Dinanath Batra of Shiksha Bachao
Andolan Samiti, Shri Pravin Arya of Akhil Bharatiya Sahitya Parishad
and Shri Jaibhagwan Chauhan of Hindu Manch. Later, talking to
Organiser Shri Pravin Arya said the chairman of the Sahitya Academy
should apologise to the nation for honouring the blasphemous writer
who insulted Draupadi. He warned if the chairman did not apologise for
this misdeed, they would continue their protest and would also stage
dharna outside the Sahitya Academy.
Talking to Organiser Shri Dina Nath Batra said Draupadi is a great
character depicted in Mahabharat but in the book she has been
described to be a woman of low character and is attributed with sleazy
expressions and immoral laisons with the great characters. He said the
fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression cannot hurt the
religious sentiments of others. Dr Batra has also written a letter to
the chairman of Sahitya Academy Sunil Gangopadhyaya demanding
immediate cancellation of the award.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=7
Presidential Address By Shri Nitin Gadkari at National Council meeting
of the BJP, Indore (Madhya Pradesh) – 18 February 2010
Thursday, 18 February 2010
PDF Format Hindi http://www.bjp.org/images/pdf/feb_18_2010_h.pdf
BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
Presidential Address
By
Shri Nitin Gadkari
BJP National President
National Council meeting of the BJP
Indore (Madhya Pradesh) – 18 February 2010
Dear delegate brothers and sisters,
As I stand before you at this meeting of the National Council of the
Bharatiya Janata Party, I am overwhelmed by happiness, humility and
pride. There are moments in one’s life when words fail to adequately
express one’s emotions. This is one such moment in my life, the most
important indeed.
I am happy because I can feel the tidal wave of enthusiasm and energy
of the delegates of my Party who have congregated here in the historic
city of Indore. It is you who bring the hopes and the aspirations, as
also the dedication and determination, of millions of party
karyakartas and supporters across the length and breadth of our great
country. In you I see the same commitment to serve the Motherland that
I had seen when I, as a young Party volunteer, had attended the
founding conference of the BJP in Mumbai in 1980.
I am humbled by the enormous trust and confidence that the National
Council has reposed in me. I had never in my life expected that I
would be called upon to shoulder the responsibility of serving as
President of this great party. I know, and I will state it without any
hesitation, that there is no dearth of persons with requisite
leadership capacity in our Party and there are many other leaders who
too could have shouldered this responsibility. Yet, the party
leadership and you unanimously elected me to occupy this position. I,
as a disciplined soldier of the Party, accept this responsibility with
a sense of mission.
Why this moment fills me with immense pride is because the honour of
presiding over the BJP has been bestowed on somebody who is basically
a Karyakarta. I do not have a pedigreed surname. I do not even belong
to a political family. I was born in an ordinary family in Nagpur. I
learnt my first lessons in patriotism and social service in RSS and
ABVP.
A Party of karyakartas
When I say that I cut my teeth as a ward-level political worker by
canvassing for the Jana Sangh, in my early teens I am not telling
anything new to you. Many of us have started from activities like wall-
painting and poster pasting. Remember, for you and me when we move in
cities like Mumbai traveling in crowded trains is a regular affair
since we all are common citizens who routinely experience the daily
suffering of the common commuters.
The journey of my political life is by no means unique to me. Indeed,
all the past presidents of the BJP were committed karyakartas who grew
up from the grassroots. Therefore, I regard my becoming the Party’s
all-India president as a tribute to the BJP’s proud tradition of being
a party of karyakartas. BJP is not a party controlled by a family or
a dynasty and this is what distinguishes the BJP from most political
parties in India, where the highest office is being treated as the
birthright of members of a particularly dynasty. This is what
underscores the BJP’s deeper commitment to the ideals of democracy.
This is what we mean when we say that the BJP is a Party with a
Difference.
Our glorious heritage: Sacrifice of Dr. S.P. Mukerjee and Pandit
Deendayal Upadhyaya
My first duty is to pay my most heartfelt respects to the immortal
memory of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukerjee and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya,
whose life and teachings have inspired us since the beginning of our
political journey in 1951, when the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was born.
Their vision will continue to guide us forever.
Proponent of the Ekatma Manva Darshan or Integral Humanism, Pandit
Deendayal Upadhyay was one of our visionary founding fathers. It was
he who established that the spirit of nationalism and upliftment of
the down trodden together can evolve a political philosophy and
attract all sections of the society. Through his untiring efforts he
created a niche for a political party for all patriotic people.
Today I seek the blessings of the two tallest leaders of my party,
whom I have always regarded as my ideals ─ Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
the Founder-President of the BJP, and Shri Lal Krishna Advani, who has
made a seminal contribution to the growth of the party. Respected Shri
Atalji can no longer actively participate in party activities due to
his age and ill health. However, his legacy of wise and balanced
approach to national affairs, his widely adored personality, and his
enormous contribution to nation-building as one of India’s best Prime
Ministers, make him a source of strength and pride for the BJP. With
all of you, I pray for his good health.
It is my good fortune that I can count on Respected Shri Advaniji’s
margdarshan. As someone whose own political yatra began with the
formation of the Jana Sangh, and who has witnessed and participated in
almost all the major developments in national politics in the past six
decades, Shri Advaniji is a rare link which connects the past and the
present of the BJP. His dedication, selflessness and tireless service
make him a leader to emulate by the younger generation of political
activists.
My sincere and respectful thanks to Shri Rajnath Singhji, my immediate
predecessor. He ably provided leadership to the Party when our
organisation was facing several challenges. On behalf of the entire
party, I wish to place on record our appreciation of his service.
Today it is my bounden duty to remember with gratitude many great
leaders of the party, who are no more but from whom I received
inspiration, encouragement and political training. I offer my deep
respects, my aadaranjali to the late Kushabhau Thakre and Rajmata
Vijayaraje Scindia. I also pay homage to the countless ordinary
karyakartas who have sacrificed their lives for the cause of the
Party. Thousands of party workers have been working for our Party
without expecting any position for years together and I salute them at
this occasion.
What I have learnt from the great leaders as well as the ideal
karyakartas is the motto that guided their lives: NATION FIRST, PARTY
NEXT and SELF LAST. This has been, and will continue to be, our
guiding principle. I urge all my party men to follow it, since this
alone can enable us to become better servants of the people and make
the BJP a better instrument of nation-building. Remember that
Nationalism is our inspiration, development through Good Governance
for Antyodaya, our ultimate goal.
Indore: Seeking inspiration from Ahilyabai Holkar
The BJP believes that political office is not a piece of
ornamentation. Rather, it is an opportunity to perform one’s duty of
serving the people righteously and selflessly without any
discrimination. Indeed, a person occupying high office must treat even
his or her own near and dear ones on par with others. I am reminded of
this as our National Council is meeting here in Indore, the city that
has immortalized the hallowed memory of one of the greatest rulers in
India’s history ― Punyashlok Rajmata Ahilyabai Holkar. I pay tribute
to this Philosopher Queen of the Malwa kingdom, whose devotion to
justice was legendary. She did not hesitate to order the killing of
her only son under the elephant feet for indulging in gravely criminal
activities. An embodiment of wisdom, goodness, firmness and virtue,
she worked tirelessly for the upliftment of the common people,
especially the tribal communities. India is now a democracy. However,
from ideal rulers like Ahilyabai Holkar, we should learn the lessons
of impartial and fair approach for good governance and people’s
welfare.
After reaching Indore, I also visited MHOW, the birth-place of
Bharatratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar to pay my tributes to his memories.
Dr. Ambedkar was a true Humanist who gave voice to the voiceless. His
life best teaches the values of social justice and Samajik
samarasata. I offer my adaranjali to this towering leader of all of
us.
Let us build on our achievements!
Friends, the National Council is meeting at a time when important
developments are taking place both at the national and international
levels. Some of these developments have far-reaching significance for
India, presenting both daunting challenges as well as historic
opportunities for a big leap forward.
Our Party too faces stiff challenges, which we must candidly admit,
objectively understand and resolutely overcome. However, let the
challenges before the BJP not cloud out from our view the real
opportunities that we have. Let us strive collectively to overcome the
recent temporary setback and bounce back with renewed vigor. Let us
not forget that we are a Party with presence in every nook and corner
of this country. We have our own governments in six states and we are
governing in alliance in another three states. In another three states
we are the Principal Opposition party. We have been in power in about
20 states at one time or the other. Let us now build upon what we have
achieved so far. There are some states where we are yet to become a
significant political force. Let us win the confidence of all sections
of the society in every part of our country and make every effort to
give our fellow countrymen what they deserve: Good Governance!
The world order is fast changing in favour of Asia
Our party is synonymous with Nationalism. Bringing back the lost glory
to our motherland is our duty. And this we have to do against the
backdrop of the transformation that is now taking place in the world
order. The global domination by the West --particularly by the United
States of America-- is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Last
year’s financial meltdown and economic recession in western countries
is not to be seen as a minor downturn. They have had a deep impact on
their economic activities. Unemployment is high. Western countries
are waking up to the unsustainability of high-cost, wasteful and
excessively consumerist lifestyles – not to speak of the unsustainable
levels of military spending to maintain their global hegemony.
As a consequence, the centre of gravity of the world economic order is
irreversibly shifting from the West to Asia. Undoubtedly, China has
been a big beneficiary of this change. But the fact that India also
can quickly emerge as a major global power is now being recognized by
more and more people around the world. No major problem affecting the
world -- climate change, global economic slowdown, restructuring of
the global financial architecture, or how to tackle the scourge of
international terrorism -- can now being discussed without seeking
India’s participation and cooperation. I regard this change as a
historic opportunity for India, perhaps the greatest opportunity since
Independence. This is the opportunity to rise as a strong and
prosperous nation that has a strong voice in the comity of nations.
We in the BJP must recognize this opportunity. Let us evolve an
appropriate response that reflects in our political activities, our
policies and in the functioning of our governments, including local
bodies. We are an India First party and have no hesitation in
extending support and cooperation to the central government, and non-
BJP governments in various states, wherever and whenever they are
taking the the nation forward in the direction of this historic new
opportunity.
Situation in Nepal
BJP considers Nepal not just our neighbour but an integral and revered
part of our civilisational community. It is abode to the sacred and
mighty Himalayas who are both a sustainer and protector of our
civilization. The BJP is as committed to the security, well being and
progress of Nepal as it is to India's We are deeply concerned over the
troubled situation in Nepal. The BJP urges the Govt of India to
reestablish the closest possible fraternal bonds between India and
Nepal and defeat the evil designs of foreign and foreign aided forces,
hostile to both the peoples.
Needed: A common national approach to strategic issues
While saying this, I also want to urge the leaders of the United
Progressive Alliance to adopt a nationalist approach, based on
dialogue and cooperation with the opposition, on all strategic issues
affecting the vital interests of the nation. They failed to do so at
the time of forging the Indo-US nuclear deal; and again while
evolving India’s stand at the Copenhagen climate change summit. They
also failed when the financial crisis in the West impacted India’s
economy severely. Unfortunately, the same attitude of not taking the
opposition into confidence continues in respect of two critical issues
that have a direct bearing on the unity, integrity and security of the
nation. Incidentally, both have their origin in the grievous mistakes
committed by the Congress governments in the past. Because of these
mistakes ― which the Congress leadership of today refuses to
acknowledge ―, India has had to pay a heavy cost and suffer hugely for
the past several decades.
The first concerns India’s relations with China. The BJP favours
friendly, good neighbourly and cooperative relations with China, as
befits two ancient Asian civilizations. However, now that China is
emerging as a global power, its attitude towards India is far from
being friendly. Because of China’s intransigence, there has been
little progress in the talks to resolve the border dispute. On the
contrary, Beijing’s totally untenable and unacceptable claim on
Arunachal Pradesh is being frequently expressed in many offensive
ways. Recently, our own government has admitted that China has made
incursions into Indian Territory in other stretches of the border.
This cannot be taken lightly, as the government indeed seems to be
doing. China’s growing military presence in India’s neighbourhoods,
including reports of Beijing’s plans to set up a military base in
Pakistan, are also a matter of concern. The BJP demands that the
government hold appropriate consultations with the opposition on a
strategic approach to India-China relations. BJP believes that China
will appreciate the fact 2010 is not 1962. Peaceful co-existence is
the only way for the two historic civilizations to engage with each
other. At this point let me share with you that we have appointed a
Five Member study group headed by our former Chief Minister of
Uttarakhand Shri. Bhagatsingh ji Koshiyari to look into the lurking
threats to our border with China.
Jammu and Kashmir
The second important issue is that of Jammu and Kashmir. For all
Indians, and especially for any BJP worker, Jammu and Kashmir has
become the symbol of sacrifice. It was here that Dr. Shaymaprasad
Mukherjee dedicated life for the true spirit of National Integration.
On the issue of Jammu and Kashmir, the UPA government is heading in
the wrong direction, with dangerous implications for India. It seems
to be yielding to external pressures for compromising India’s long-
held position that J&K, including Pak-occupied Kashmir, is an integral
part of India. Within J&K, the National Conference-Congress coalition
government is taking an accommodative approach to Pak-supported
separatists. Far from making any moves for complete constitutional
integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the Union of India, the UPA
government appears to be coming round to the view that Kashmir
deserves to be treated separately. From this position, yielding to
actual separation is but a step away. The BJP warns the UPA and
cautions our countrymen, including right-thinking people within the
Congress party and its allies that the present course of events will
lead to the logical culmination of the original blunder committed in
1947. We will never let this happen. We are prepared to make any
sacrifices for ensuring that J&K remains an integral part of India.
----In this context, the Party reiterates its strong opposition to any
composite dialogue with Pakistan at this juncture.
While on J&K, I wish to make another important point. In recent times,
there has been much debate on whether or not Mumbai belongs to all
Indians. This is a needless controversy. My position, and the position
of the BJP, is very clear. All of India belongs to all Indians,
without any discrimination on the basis of caste, religion, ethnicity
and language. We firmly believe in the constitutional guarantee under
article 19(1) (e) giving us the right to reside and settle in any part
of the territory of India. This provision aids and enables national
unity and integration. It is on the basis of this principle that we
have always stood for complete constitutional integration of Jammu and
Kashmir with the nation. We have always recognized linguistic,
regional and religious identities as a reality of India but all these
identities eventually converge into a larger national identity of
Indianness. There is absolutely no question of any conflict in these.
I am, however, both amazed and saddened that no leader of the Congress
party has stood up to say that, just like Mumbai, Srinagar also
belongs to all Indians and that Indians from other parts have the same
rights of domicile and employment in Kashmir. In the least, the
Congress party, which is in power both at the Centre and in J&K, must
take all the necessary steps to ensure the return of lakhs of forcibly
displaced Kashmiri Pandits to their own homes.
Vote-bank politics is intensifying threats to India’s internal
security
The BJP believes that national security, external or internal, is
always above narrow political or social considerations. Our Party has
a proud tradition of supporting the government of the day whenever
India’s security is endangered. Similarly, when the BJP-led NDA
government was in office at the Centre, it actively sought the views
and cooperation from other parties in evolving its responses to issues
of national security. This healthy tradition should be strengthened by
one and all.
In view of the developing security environment in our neighbourhoods,
India’s defence preparedness must not be lowered under any
circumstances. Utmost vigilance and more effective strategies are also
needed to tackle the twin threats to India’s internal security ―
namely, jihadi terrorism and Naxalism. The government’s performance in
dealing with terrorism in its first stint was absolutely disastrous.
The Pak-sponsored 26/11 terrorist attack on Mumbai forced it to
correct some of its mistakes. However, the manner in which the
investigation into the 26/11 attack is being carried out raises grave
doubts. There are reasons to believe that the government seems to be
uninterested in probing the local links of the planners and
perpetrators of the attack.
The bomb blast in Pune is a stark reminder of the fact that pampering
of suspected terrorists nullifies the element of deterrence of our
internal security regime. Besides, such pampering also is an insult to
the memories of those police officers who have sacrificed their lives
fighting terrorists. Some Congress leaders have converted suspected
dens of terrorists as places of Political Pilgrimage. Repeated visits
of politicians to those areas have emboldened the enemies of the
nation. Secondly, our diplomatic initiatives with Pakistan lack
clarity, consistency and firmness. On this entire backdrop and
especially after the blasts in Pune I must put the BJP’s firm view
that talks and terror never can go together. The UPA must realize --
and I am sure there are some nationalist minded leaders who would
appreciate our view -- that when terror stalks India, not talking with
Pakistan is a legitimate diplomatic option. Unfortunately, the UPA
government is not continuing the Vajpayee government’s policy of
building a broad international consensus against terrorism that could
isolate the ideological sponsors of jihadi terrorism. The
international community must be made to recognize that Pakistan’s
ruling political and military establishment is relying on jihadi
terrorism as an instrument of achieving secession of Kashmir from
India. Therefore, any legitimacy given to Pakistan’s stand on Kashmir
is a sure way of weakening India’s battle against terrorism.
I am constrained to note that the Congress party is refusing to view
the threat of terrorism without short-term vote bank considerations.
For example, senior leaders of the party are publicly endorsing claims
that action by the Delhi police at Batla House, in which a senior
officer was killed, was a fake encounter. The BJP must, and the BJP
will, continue to raise its voice of warning and protest against the
Congress-led government’s wrong approach to dealing with the issue of
jihadi terrorism.
No faith based reservations
Votebank politics is also having a free run in the haste with which
both the Congress and Communists are proceeding to introduce religion-
based reservations in education and employment for Muslims. The BJP
supports every effort for socio-economic development of our Muslim
brethren through greater spread of education. Indeed, their
backwardness is an eloquent testimony to how the Congress party has
only exploited them for its own political gain. But the concept of
religion-based reservations goes against the letter and spirit of the
Indian Constitution. Besides, it does not even lead to the all-round
development of the community as a whole. Rather, it is a divisive move
that will harm the unity and integrity of the country in the long run,
besides encouraging religious conversions. The move to extend the
benefits of reservation to Dalit Christians will also have the same
harmful effect. The fact that the Congress and some other parties are
disregarding even court orders in this matter makes the matter more
serious. The government must not go ahead with religion-based
reservations. The BJP will oppose any such move tooth and nail.
The Naxal threat
Naxalism, the second major threat to India’s internal security –
indeed, to our democratic system itself ― must be countered with a
firm hand. Both the theory and practice of Maoism are completely alien
to everything that India holds in high esteem. Let us not forget that
foreign forces are actively fomenting unrest in India and encouraging
Maoists to exploit the situation. The BJP urges the government to show
absolutely no lenience towards Maoist leaders. We also urge the so-
called civil rights activists not to dress up this murderous ideology
in clothes of legitimacy. Of course, all-out efforts should be made to
accelerate pro-poor and corruption-free development in areas affected
by Naxal violence.
Situation in the North-East
The BJP is worried about the situation in Assam. The state government
continues to develop cold feet while dealing with terrorist and
secessionist elements as also the Bangladeshi infiltrators. In the
case of Assam, after the Assam Accord, was signed between the Centre,
the State, and the All Assam Students Union (AASU), with its thrust on
detection, deletion (from voter's list) and deportation of illegal
migrants, a deadline of 31 March 2010 was set for updating the
National Register of Citizens (NRC).This so called updating is an eye
wash as the fact remains that the original NRC itself is not in proper
order. We believe that a new NRC is the need of the hour. How long
would the Congress-led governments at the Centre and the State wait
before Assam witnesses creation of a region of foreign nationals
within its own boundaries? In view of the forthcoming elections in
Assam, we very strongly demand that both the Central Government and
the Election Commission must ensure that no Bangladeshi infiltrator is
allowed to vote.
BJP is naturally concerned as Manipur also continues to be in the grip
of terrorist groups. Here, the government machinery is completely
paralyzed and public life is continuously allowed to be held hostage
by the underground terrorists. In so far as developing infrastructure
for development in this region is concerned, the Government has done
precious little even after the creation of DONER ministry.
I must also attract your attention to the fact that the Government’s
weak kneed approach has already affected the moral of our internal
security establishments. Be it jihadi violence or Maoist violence, an
important question that the nation must debate and come to the right
conclusion is this: Do the police and security forces who sacrifice
their lives in battling these anti-national elements not have any
human rights?
Lack of a holistic vision of development is weakening India
Friends, when I see the unrest and conflict in society-- be it due to
some identity issue or issues like growing number of the poor,
unemployment, starvation, and unabated suicides of the farmers I ask
myself: “What is at the root of these problems?” The two conclusions
that I have come to are that, firstly, all these problems are rooted
in the wrong economic policies and bad governance that have plagued
our country almost since Independence. Secondly, the solutions to
these problems cannot be found in a piecemeal manner to satisfy this
or that section of society. Ours is a nation of immense diversities.
Every section of our society has legitimate aspirations. But the
fulfillment of these aspirations has to be a part of the holistic
approach guided by what is good for the nation as a whole. Harmony and
balance are the cornerstones of the architecture of every creation of
Mother Nature. Why shouldn’t the same be true about the human
society?
The harmonious development of individuals and society was the hallmark
of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s treatise of ‘Integral Humanism’, which
the BJP regards as its guiding philosophy. Unfortunately, it is
nowhere to be seen in the scheme of things of policy makers in our
country. The Congress party, which has ruled India for the longest
period since Independence, has followed policies that have resulted in
severe imbalances in development. These imbalances are both social and
geographical in nature. In our march towards economic prosperity,
often our people are encouraged to violate the ethical traffic
signals, with the rich and the powerful leading the way. This is a
harmful impact on the moral, social and cultural fabric of India.
The first and foremost task in correcting India’s development
imbalance is to follow the principle of Antyodaya ― eradication of
abject poverty, provision of the basic necessities of every Indian
family, and ensuring that the last man in society gets the first
opportunity to rise in life. This is what Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma
Gandhi, Deendayal Upadhyaya and other saintly figures in India had
emphasized. Long before I entered politics, I was moved by the
following lines from Sant Tukaram. I continue to seek inspiration from
these lines even today.
Je kaa ranjle gaanjele, tyaasi mhane jo aapule!
Tochi saadhu olakhaava, Dev tethechi jaanaava!!
(One who embraces the disadvantaged and opppressed, the downtrodden
and the suffering as his own, is a true saadhu or a pious person. God
dwells in his/her abode.)
Therefore, I urge all my party men to rededicate themselves to the
ideal of Antyodaya
ANTYODAYA
Let me share with you that we have recently launched an innovative
Campaign namely Antyodaya Abhiyan. This is a campaign that promotes
politics for development through social work. We want all our party
workers, our organisational units as well as all our elected
representatives at every level to take up at least one Service (SEWA)
and Development (VIKAS) project in their respective areas. Through
this our workers should try and reach out to the disadvantaged
effectively. It has always been our thinking that Politics is the
instrument for social and economic transformation. We all are now
expected to make a resolve and reinstate the element of Sewa in the
political culture of this great nation. If you make a determined
effort, you can easily take up such activities and derive satisfaction
of serving the last person in the queue. We will have a proper
mechanism set up within the party to train our workers, guide them and
to monitor their work. A monograph outlining the concept and
methodology of Antyodaya Abhiyan is being published. We have also put
up an exhibition of some illustrative Seva projects here at the venue
of this national council meeting.
The key to Antyodaya at the public policy level is in enabling the
economy to produce gainful and sustainable livelihoods. In the Indian
context, it means that the test of success of economic growth is
whether our agriculture and rural economy are so revitalized that
productive employment and high quality of life are ensured in rural
areas. We must admit that India has not passed this test. The huge and
rapidly growing divide between cities and villages, and also the
disparities within cities and villages, is a matter of concern.
Is this not Garibi- Badhao?
The failure of the Congress policies has been affirmed by official
sources themselves. A committee headed by Prime Minister's Economic
Advisor, Dr. Suresh Tendulkar, has revealed recently that the
population of the poor in India has increased by 12 per cent.
Furthermore, it has stated that poverty in rural India stands at 42
per cent, and not 28 per cent as was estimated earlier. Contrast this
with the stark fact that, in recent years, the wealth of a small
section of India’s rich has increased astronomically. Is this not a
warning signal that a policy review is needed?
A similar disclosure has come last week from the United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), whose data
punctures holes in the UPA government’s tall claims about their
achievements. UNDESA data has revealed that, in 2009 alone, 1.36 crore
more people became poor. This shows that the Congress-led government,
far from achieving the goal of ‘Garibi Hatao’, has actually succeeded
in ‘Garibi Badhao’.
Unchecked price rise is distressing both the poor and middle classes
Further, this government has squarely failed in stopping suicides by
distressed farmers. Failure in providing jobs to the unemployed
coupled with rising prices has made life miserable for many of our
disadvantaged countrymen. I must emphasise here that it is not the
poor alone who are rendered vulnerable by the wrong policies of the
government. The middle classes too are getting impoverished by
skyrocketing prices of all essential items. In the run-up to the last
parliamentary elections in May 2009, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
had promised that his government would unveil a 100-day action plan to
roll back prices. He seems to have completely forgotten his promise.
Indeed, the rise in prices since the return of the UPA to office has
been the steepest in recent history. It’s as if our Economist-Prime
Minister has completely lost control over ― and even interest in ―
bringing the prices down. Rather than taking firm and effective anti-
inflationary measures, the government is about to raise the prices of
petrol and diesel, which is bound to have a cascading effect on the
entire economy. While the woes of the aam aadmi are increasing, the
government has begun an internal blame-game; with Congress leaders
blaming NCP leader and agriculture minister Sharad Pawar for the price
rise, and vice versa. In the process, the cardinal principle of
“Collective Responsibility” of the Cabinet has been thrown to the
winds. The BJP puts the onus squarely on Prime Minister Dr. Singh and
the UPA Chief Smt. Sonia Gandhi for the government’s failure to
reverse the price rise. Remember; whenever Congress government is at
the Centre, prices rise and people suffer whereas whenever there is a
non-Congrss government, essential commodities become cheaper.
I must also point out here that a huge Commodity Exchange Scam has
added to the price rise. Against the turnover of Rs.4.5 lac crores,
actual delivery of the essential commodities at the Commodity
Exchanges is less than 1%, i.e. less than Rs.4, 500 crores. The
speculative, manipulative transactions at the Commodity Exchange
created hugely artificial volume of the essential Commodities like
Wheat, Sugar, Chana, Jeera, Potato and this has added to the price
rise. We have already demanded a probe by setting up a Joint
Parliamentary Committee into this Maha Ghotala.
The quality of the performance of UPA during the last eight months
after it got a renewed mandate has raised several questions. Does this
government really want to check rising prices of essential
commodities? Is this government capable of preventing suicides of
farmers? Can this government effectively end growing unemployment?
India needs a new model of development and governance
Friends, since we are a party in the opposition at the Centre, it is
our duty to oppose and resist the wrong policies of the government. We
shall perform this role resolutely. Nevertheless, the people expect
more from us. As a party that has governed at the Centre, and that
aspires to do so again; it is also our duty to evolve practical
solutions to the multifarious problems that India has been facing.
Neither the people nor we are happy with India’s socio-economic
development, which is full of imbalances, and also with its
governance, which is full of corruption and inefficiency. As I have
said earlier, most problems before the nation have very little to do
with caste, creed, language or such other factors. They are rooted in
the wrong policies of development and wrong kind of governance. I must
point out here that to day, the nation has an energy shortfall of
55000 Megawatts and we have no stocks of coal for power generation
under the 12th plan. This Energy Deficit is making this great nation
development starved, thanks; mainly to the absolute lack of
foresight.
We in the BJP are proud of the initiatives and achievements of the NDA
government. Now, based on our experience of governance at the Centre
and in the states we should conceptualise, propagate and implement an
alternative model of development and governance. I regard this to be
one of the most important tasks before the Party.
Let me share my thoughts on this subject. India has come a long way
since 1947, when under the influence of the Soviet model; the
government gave state-run enterprises primary role in the nation’s
economy. The past six decades have seen an enormous growth in the
capabilities of India’s entrepreneurial class. The same period has
also shown that, by and large, governments cannot run economic
activities efficiently. It is time for India to abandon the old model
completely by redefining the role of government in economics. The
government's duty is confined mainly to strategic planning,
legislation of sound laws and their effective enforcement. The actual
business of performing economic activities should be left to non-
governmental enterprises.
When I talk of enterprises, by no means do I refer only to big
corporates. Our small and medium enterprises have immense potential,
which, unfortunately, has been stifled by wrong policies and
insensitive governmental functioning. Even the enormous energy of
cooperatives has been smothered. Moreover, government enterprises have
been reduced to grazing grounds for corrupt politicians ― which is
evident in the manner in which the Prime Minister has allowed his
colleagues to loot national resources in civil aviation,
telecommunications, textiles, coal and mining and other sectors.
Further, unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats have formed a nexus
with unscrupulous businessmen, and this has resulted in an alarming
spread of corruption and criminalization at all levels. Unfortunately,
even law enforcement agencies and sections of the judicial system
apparently have become a part of this nexus. Breaking this nexus, and
encouraging healthy entrepreneurship, ensuring lawful and people-
focused economic growth, has to be the objective of government’s role
in the economy.
‘Gaon Chalo’: BJP’s new vision of technology-enabled Gramodaya
Ending the systemic neglect of agriculture and rural development is
the first requirement of an alternative economic model for India. The
goal of ‘Gramodaya’ was very dear to both Mahatma Gandhi and Deendayal
Upadhyaya. Congress leaders paid only lip service to rural India. They
neither truly understood its potential nor cared for its needs. The
foremost requirement today is to redesign government policies to
ensure a massive flow of public and private investments into
agriculture and rural infrastructure. Capital should be made available
to farmers and rural entrepreneurs at low cost and on easy terms. This
can help augment land and water resources, set up value-addition agro-
processing and develope new high-yielding farm practices, including
organic farming. A number of rural infrastructure development works
can be taken out of inefficient government departments and entrusted
to rural entrepreneurs and farmers’ bodies with people’s supervision.
Rural areas should have the same priority for power supply as urban
areas.
I would like to emphasise another important requirement of an
alternative development and governance model. In spite of the Congress
party’s tom-tomming of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments,
there has been no effective financial and administrative empowerment
of panchayati raj institutions and municipal bodies. I am, therefore,
of the view that at least 10% of the Central tax revenues should be
transferred directly to gram panchayats and municipal bodies.
Similarly, funds under the Special Component Plan for the SCs and
Tribal Sub-Plan for the STs, should be fully devolved for the welfare
of these communities and utilized with their democratic participation.
Esteemed party colleagues, I am stressing the need for unleashing
Rural India’s growth potential not out of bookish learning but out of
practical experience. For example, encouragement to rural tourism and
wildlife tourism has resulted in good roads and hotels being built by
local entrepreneurs even in certain tribal areas. There are examples
to show that a cow, a Neem tree and a family make a sustainable
economic unit.
The goal of India’s alternative development model should be ― “GAON
CHALO”. Rural India will begin to bloom with the provision of good
roads and public transport, world-class telecom and IT facilities,
24x7 power supply, availability of pre-cooling plants and cold
storages near markets, water and other basic needs, efficient
financial services and market connectivity. This will attract new
types of high-skilled and high-value enterprises in rural India. The
new advances in information technology, bio-technology, nano-
technology and energy-saving and material-saving sciences in the 21st
century indeed hold the promise of decentralizing and dispersing
production and other economic activities. The compulsions of
environment protection have made this a global imperative. Therefore,
all our policies should be geared to hasten this transformation. Not
only should we stem distress migration of rural populations to urban
areas, but also create conditions for urban people to go and live in
India’s Modern Villages. Let the BJP become the harbinger of this New
Vision, appropriate to the needs and conditions of the 21st century.
Agonies of the unorganised labourers
Friends, let me also attract your attention to the problems faced by
those in the unorganized sector. Agriculture labourers in rural areas
as well as hawkers, taxi and rikshaw drivers, construction labourers,
porters and vendors in urban and semi-urban areas are facing
innumerable survival threats. BJP notes an urgent need to pay
attention to their grievances. Let me also touch upon the condition of
Traditional Artisans, particularly the five subgroups of Viswakarma
community, viz. Blacksmith, Carpenter, Bronze smith/Coppersmith,
Sculptor and Goldsmith, the descendants of the divine architect, Lord
Viswakarma. The Central government has numerous schemes for
handicrafts but none of them cover the interest of all these
traditional artisans. Their grievances need to be attended as they are
the largest segment after agricultural labour.
Our Performance in Governance
Friends, I am happy to note that BJP-run state governments are
actually moving towards realizing the vision of Antyodaya. Gujarat has
succeeded in supplying 24x7 power supply to all its villages. Its
recent initiative of holding Garib Kalyan Melas is also very
commendable. Bihar too has made a remarkable progress under the NDA
government there. Here in Madhya Pradesh, Ladli Lakshmi and several
such schemes have achieved a remarkable success. Chhattisgarh
government's success in accomplishing the Herculean task of improving
the Public Distribution System deserves compliments. Karnataka
Government is perhaps the first State Govt. to have prepared a Vision
2020 plan and started implementing the same and I compliment the state
for this. Similarly, Himachal Pardesh under BJP rule is likely to
become the first Carbon-neutral state while Uttarakhand has ambitious
plans for energy generation. In Punjab too we are taking new
development initiatives and I am sure our new Jharkhand government
will also perform well. This certainly should not make us complacent
and we must further better our performance in governance. If we come
across some examples of good governance in non-BJP states, I am sure
we will try to replicate them and strive for a quality transformation
in Governance.
Some new initiatives
Let me now dwell upon some new initiatives that I plan within the
party organisation.
We are planning a major nationwide campaign for building the
capacities of our party workers, party functionaries and elected
representatives at every level. This Prashikshan Maha-Yojana will be
given a final shape very soon. I expect every Party worker to
participate in our training programmes and serve the party in a more
result oriented manner. We are planning a three phase structured
Training Programme for party workers. Comprehensive syllabi for all
major sections of Party rank and file will also be drafted very soon.
We are also launching e-training programmes. It must be stated here
that while selecting Party workers for shouldering responsibilities,
their ability, their capacity to deliver the goods will be given more
importance and hence it makes sense to get trained and build our
capacities. I call upon all our State Units to try and set up Training
Centres as well as Research and Development wings within the Party
units.
We will also be reviewing the performance of all, our Party office
bearers at various levels; elected representatives, MPs and MLAs and
even ministers. Those who perform will be rewarded. We are planning to
institute awards at the national level to the best performing MP, MLA
or MLC and even municipal councilor and a Sarpanch. A detailed scheme
for this will be unveiled soon. This will send a right signal that
performance gets rewarded leading to some inspiration for non-
performers as well. As I have indicated earlier, Performance will be
the key to an individual’s progress in our Party. I appeal all our
Party organisational units as well as elected representatives and even
governments to prepare your own Annual Performance Reports. Writing
such reports will not only help us promote greater accountability but
also let Party organisation asses one's performance.
We are also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate
organisation of the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All
patriotic citizens, especially all young professionals who look
forward to BJP as an instrument of making India a resurgent republic
are welcome to join this forum.
We will also be using all modern communication technologies to
galvanise our party. We know the limitations of technology and nothing
can replace person to person contact. And yet, we will launch a
project Technology for Political Mobilization in a phased manner. We
will reach out to the younger generation through the avenues they
commonly frequent and through technology provide them a vehicle for
their political participation.
Through this, I appeal all our State governments to revisit their
Youth Development Policies and come out with programmes with greater
emphasis on employability enhancement of the youth.
I take pride in the fact that while there are many women-led political
parties, BJP is the only Party that has 33% reservations for women
within the organisation. But quotas alone are not enough. All our
brothers will have to change their mindset and ensure that women are
given grater scope and are helped in every way for their own
empowerment. Our society will be empowered when women are empowered.
In the sphere of public policy as well as Party organisation,
Nationalism, Development, Poverty Alleviation, Ethical Values and
Discipline would be the cornerstones of our positions. We will try to
develop a culture of cohesiveness in the organisation but will also
have zero tolerance to indiscipline. Let us remember that we are seen
very rightly as a party with conventional values and ethics and it
would not be proper for us to tolerate any form of corruption
anywhere.
Ram Temple at Ayodhya
The BJP stands fully committed for the construction of a grand Ram
Temple at Ayodhya. There has been a big national movement for this in
which many Karsevaks lost their lives as well. Litigation is also
pending for resolution of this dispute which may not offer a perfect
solution because one party would lose and the other may win. Today I
appeal to the Muslim community to be generous towards the sentiments
and feelings of Hindus and facilitate the construction of a grand Ram
Temple. This would herald a new amity and reinforce the bond for a
resurgent India.
BJP’s INDIA VISION 2025
I believe that India has all the resources, natural as well as human,
to grow to its full potential. We can indeed create a better tomorrow,
with our own resources, to provide education for all, healthcare for
all, housing for all, employment for all, and a better future for all
the billion-plus people of India. If this has not been possible so
far, it is due to a lack of good policies and good governance.
However, it is not enough for the BJP to just criticize others for
following wrong policies; rather, we should take the lead in
presenting superior policies. We should not just talk about the
problems before the nation, but be in the vanguard of offering
practical and effective solutions.
With this in mind, I have decided to constitute a group of Party
workers and supporters to prepare an INDIA VISION 2025 document. The
group will comprise senior leaders of the Party who have served in
important positions in the central government, serving and former
chief ministers and ministers in state governments, MPs, MLAs and
mayors, and also domain experts who are sympathizers of the BJP. I
appeal all our supporters and others as well to send me their
suggestions for this Vision Document.
I also take this opportunity to appeal all of you to leave no stone
unturned to reach out to the underprivileged sections of the society
such as the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and minorities in a big
way. People are waiting for political workers who would respond to
their agonies and aspirations. They are keen to join us provided we
connect with them. Remember, we just can not afford to fail. Let us
make a collective resolve to increase our vote share at least by 10%
by breaking new grounds and taking new initiatives.
Let us remember that India can not become a super power just because
we all want it to be. We will have to work for transformation. We will
have to revisit our objective for being in public life. Why should we
seek inspiration only from getting a party post, a ticket in elections
or a berth in the ministry, etc? Can we not derive inspiration from
the higher purpose and power of politics ― such as the desire to bring
a smile on the faces of underprivileged brethren; to end the distress
of farmers that has forced thousands of them to commit suicide; to
eliminate malnutrition that is killing tens of thousands of tribal
children; to create employment opportunities for our talented youth?
Isn’t the goal of making India a strong nation once again powerful
enough to motivate us?
My dear Party colleagues, the path ahead is not easy for us. It is
full of challenges, some of which I have tried to highlight in my
remarks. We should neither expect quick success, nor work with that
motive alone. We should neither get disheartened by temporary
setbacks, nor get overjoyed by immediate achievements. Our yardstick
of success is how much, and how fast, we move in the direction of
making India achieve all-round progress and regain its glory and
greatness.
Our vision is to build an India that is free of bhookh (hunger), bhay
(fear) and bhrashtachar (corruption), and also free of vishamata
(inequity) and anyaay (injustice) of all kinds. We want to build a New
India that is swavalambi (self-reliant), samarthyavaan (capable) and
parakrami (achiever of impossible feats). We want to build an India
that has peace and harmony within, and strives ceaselessly for peace
and harmony in the entire world. An India whose ancient intellectual-
material prowess, cultural light, civilisational genius and spiritual
force is revived and taken to unprecedented new heights…. Remember,
the 21st century undisputedly is that of India, our great Bharatmata!
Vande Mataram.!
http://www.bjp.org/content/view/3162/394/
Sid Harth
Press Trust Of India
Jaipur, February 22, 2010
First Published: 10:38 IST(22/2/2010)
Last Updated: 11:21 IST(22/2/2010)
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today quit as Leader
of the Opposition in the Assembly after a meeting of the BJP
legislature party ahead of the start of the state Budget session.
After having defied the party high command for months to step down
from the post following BJP's poor performance in
Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Raje had sent her resignation to it on
October 23 last year but the letter was not forwarded to Speaker
Deependra Singh Shekhawat.
She submitted her resignation to the Speaker this morning, BJP whip R
S Rathore told reporters here.
Rathore said the election of the new leader of opposition would take
place within a week after consultations
with the party high command.
He said senior party leaders would come here in a day or two to talk
to them to evolve a consensus on the issue of new leadership.
"Till then, the Deputy Leader of the party Ghanshyam Tiwari will lead
the opposition," he said.
Quoting Raje's resignation letter, Rathore said she would remain a
"disciplined worker of the party and continue
to raise public voice in the House.
"Raje as a Leader of Opposition fulfilled her Constitutional
obligations and responsibilities in the House
since 2008," he said.
February 28, 2010
Rashtrarishi Sri Guruji
A comprehensive reference volume for nationalist thinkers
By Virag Pachpore
Many books, articles and other materials are available on Sri Guruji’s
life and mission. Seven volumes were brought out by the Bharatiya
Vichar Sadhana in Hindi immediately after his demise in 1973 and 12
volumes titled ‘Samagra Guruji’ were published in his birth centenary
year and so on. During the birth centenary year many such attempts
were also made in different provinces to bring out Sri Guruji’s
thoughts and deeds in various languages.
About the Book: Rashtrarishi Sri Guruji Shatabdi Visheshank,
Publishers: Swadesh-Bhopal Group of Newspaper, Sri Radhika Prakashan
Pvt. Ltd., Swadesh Bahvan, 26-A Press Complex,Maharana Pratap Nagar,
Bhopal-426 011, Total pages 654, Price- Rs 1,500/- Price for
educational institutions and libraries, Rs 1,100/-
SWADESH, a leading newspaper group of Madhya Pradesh published from
Bhopal and its Editor Shri Rajendra Sharma deserve best of the
compliments for bringing out an excellent and comprehensive
commemorative volume on Sri Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar, popularly
known as Sri Guruji-the second Sarsanghachalak of Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on his birth centenary.
The volume titled Rashtrarishi Sri Guruji Shatabdi Visheshank is a
rich treatise which highlights the philosophy, life and achievements
of this legendary leader. It not only touches all the aspects of Sri
Guruji’s life and mission, but also contains all shreds of thoughts of
Sri Guruji which hitherto were not published anywhere. This is a new
reference volume for all those who want to nourish and spread the
nationalist thinking and who belong to the nationalist school of
thought.
Many books, articles and other materials are available on Sri Guruji’s
life and mission. Seven volumes were brought out by the Bharatiya
Vichar Sadhana in Hindi immediately after his demise in 1973 and 12
volumes titled Samagra Guruji were published in his birth centenary
year and so on. During the birth centenary year many such attempts
were also made in different provinces to bring out Sri Guruji’s
thoughts and deeds in various languages. But the volume published by
Swadesh group stands tall in this crowd of literature on this great
personality of the last century. The difference lies in its
comprehensive nature. It is a source of varied information on Sri
Guruji. Anyone who wants to gather any information relating to Sri
Guruji or his times, can get it from this volume.
Sri Guruji accomplished this seemingly difficult task as a leader of a
team of youths of extra-ordinary capabilities and dedication inspired
by Dr Hedgewar, till he breathed his last on June 5, 1973. He toured
each and every part of Bharat twice a year during his stint as
Sarsanghachalak for 33 years. He exhibited deep insight into the
challenges and issues confronting the society. Endowed with
astonishing memory Guruji with his extensive correspondence, inspired
hundreds of workers to dedicate and sacrifice their lives at the altar
of the motherland, and also enthused thousand others to serve the
society.
The greatest achievement of his era was foundation of Vishwa Hindu
Parishad and declaration by Shankaracharyas and saints of all sects
and religious streams to denounce untouchability. Saints and seers of
various religious persuations in the Hindu society congregated on one
platform and announced unanimously that untouchability had no sanction
in Hindu Dharma. At the same time they threw open the doors for those
brethren who, for some historical or other reasons, got converted to
non-Hindu sects, and now wanted to return to their ancestral fold.
This single event of religious reform bestows on Sri Guruji an eminent
place amongst the distinguished personalities and saints of his time.
Sri Guruji with his peculiar vision on long-term national interests
warned the national leadership on a number of important issues. When
passions ran high in favour of formation of linguistic states, he
proclaimed without mincing words that all the languages of Bharat were
national languages and conceitedness in any language should not be
allowed to become a breeding ground for divisive elements.
Sri Guruji was an exceedingly bright star in the galaxy of epoch-
making saints of Bharat. He was representative of that Bharat of the
last century, which was diligent for social transformation yet
preferred to protect its eternal, spiritual and cultural values.
This volume of Swadesh group highlights all these traits of his life
and mission in the best possible manner. The material incorporated in
this volume has a variety of information for the swayamsevaks, its
admirers, for its critics, and others. The volume contains thoughts of
Sri Guruji in his own words expressed from time to time and also
includes essays on Sri Guruji by various personalities who were in
close contact with him in RSS and in other social and national
fields.
More remarkable is the inclusion of articles on Sri Guruji by members
of the young generation who have not seen him or rarely came in his
contact. Their assessment of this legendary leader is at par or even a
step ahead of those who lived with Sri Guruji.
This volume and thoughts expressed in it are extremely useful in
today’s social, national and economic perspective if we want to check
the accelerating downward trend of values in social and national
life.
Swadesh group and its Editor need to be complemented for doing this
yeoman service to the nation and its people at this critical and
challenging juncture.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=32
February 28, 2010
Opinion
Dismantle Devaswom Boards
State has no right to loot temple funds
By Ravi Varma
The newly created statutory bodies-Travancore Devaswom Board, Cochin
Devaswom Board, Religious Endowment Board and Guruvayoor Temple
Committee-mainly and only consist of those nominated by the elected
legislators and ministers having Hindu names. But being the nominees
of so-called secular political parties, most of them are either
atheists or sown non-believes in Hindu temple culture, tradition and
rituals.
A secular Government led by Communist and their allies had even
appointed a Christian by name Baby as their nominee to the statutory
Guruvayoor Sri Krishna Temple Committee for controlling and managing
the religious affairs of the famous Temple. It was only after angry
agitation by Hindu devotees that he resigned from his post. Besides,
under the statutory autonomous status conferred on the Board, members
of the Boards are not answerable or accountable to any other
constitutional authority
IT is high time to take up the following for the judicious
consideration or rational analysis and sagacious judgment of Honable
High Court of Kerala to decide as to whether in the context of the
below-explained reasons, administrative decisions and the consequent
activities of the State and Central Government-the Executive-are
volatile of well understood provisions of the highly acclaimed Indian
Constitution in spirit and ethical value and in the back ground of the
ancient cultural tradition and heritage of the country.
As per the popular understanding and the dictionary meaning of terms,
secularism, a government is committed to secular principles, has
nothing to do with and also prohibited from indulging in the religious
matters or any section or community in the country, whether they
belong to majority community or minority religious community.
Otherwise, the state is particular religious state like Islamic or
Christian or Buddhist State. In short, a scholar state does not
interfere or indulge in the religious affairs of any section of the
country’s population. But contrary to the secular precepts the present
elected state and Central Government always interfere even in the
purely religious affairs of the Majority Hindu Community alone. This
is violative of the secular principles incorporated in the
Constitution, But the same Executive, misinterpreting relevant
provisions of the Constitution, also refrains from interfering or
indulging in the religious affairs of Muslim and Christian religious
minorities in the country. It is very clear from the administrative
decisions and actions of the Kerala Government that they are not only
partial to minority religious community thus promoting minority
communalism and disharmony between communities but also bent upon
destroying and disintegrating Hindus religions and the majority Hindu
Community through the destruction of temples and denigrating Hindu
religions.
It is in the same context of anti-Hindus secular policies of the
secular government of Kerala, either led by the secular congress party
or communist parties, the elected "Secular" Government of Kerala has
passed a legislative Bill and has taken over only Hindu temples,
trusts, their asserts and related affairs including the revenue from
Hindu devotees, their donations and endovements, and entrusted their
ownership, management and control to specially constituted statutory
bodies like Travancore Devaswom Board, Cochin Devaswom Board and
Guruvayoor Temple Committee. The secular government then started
appointing their own nominees on these Devaswom boards. Being the
nominees of the secular legislators and ministers, they are also
invariably atheists or some times sown non-believers in Hindu religion
and traditional temple culture. They even refuse to take oath in the
name of God or inside any major Hindu temple before taking over the
temple administration like the traditional Thantris or Brahmin
Poojaris appointed in different Hindu temples for conducting pujas and
other connected religious rituals exposing their true commitment to
atheism.
But before Independence and introduction of the newly adopted Indian
Constitution, all temples in Kerala State including their assets,
revenue and management and Control of the traditional religious
affairs were handled traditionally by reputed Nair Tharavads, Groups
of Brahmin families, different royal families and sometimes even
singly. And at state level, they were traditionally entrusted with
Chiefs of local royal families-Samudirins, Chirackal and other
families in Malabar region, Travancore and Cochin Royal families in
their respective kingdoms, besides, Pandalam Royal family in the care
of the famous Sabarimala Sasta temple and Kodungallur Raja in the case
of Kodungallur Durga temple. Since they were all Hindus and committed
to Hindu religion and temple culture, they were very particular about
the strict observance of all temple matters as per the local
traditions and satisfaction of the Hindu devotees. In case of any
dispute or difference of opinion, the concerned authorities or the
royal houses had taken a final decision but only after consulting
local community leaders, Thantries and vedic schalarism... the past.
Since Hindu kings of Travancore and Cochin, they were the sovereign
rulers-and therefore, had temperal and religious authority in their
states. But they never misused their sovereign power to bring the
Mosques, Churches, and related trusts under the control of Hindu
Maharajas. That is the traditional Hindu concept and practice of the
secular principles which show respect and tolerance to the beliefs and
practices of different religious communities in their Hindu states.
Once the royalty was abolished and the new secular constitution was
adopted, as the basis of administration, ideally, normally and
ethically, the democratically elected secular government of Kerala-led
by the secular Political parties like congress or communists with
their allies who swear by the high principles of secularism, should
have refrained from blatant interference in the religion affairs of
the majority Hindu community and instead, voluntarily entrusted the
ownership, control and management of their temples, muths and related
trusts and religious affairs to Hindu Community. The only reason for
the state to take over the ownership, control and management of all
matter connected in the Hindu temples excluding those of Ezhava
temples Kudumbi temples and Konkani temples -seems to be because they
were earlier vested in the Deveswom departments in the secretariats
under the ruler of Travancore Maharajah and Cochin Maharaja. When
royalty was abolished and after the adoption of the Indian
Constitution, ruling power were vested with the new Constitutional
authority and naturally all the departments in the respective
government secretariats also revolved to it. As a matter of fact,
under the previous rule of the Hindu Maharajas, all affairs of the
states were looked after and accounted for, by various departments in
the government secretariat like public work, forest, excise and
revenue department, Devaswom department also was located in the same
secretariats because the concerned Maharaja, was directly in charge of
all department including that of Devaswom. Since the abolition of
royalty, only secular and sovereign authority should have been taken
away from the previous regime and not the traditional non-secular
religious affairs, like the Devaswom departments in the same
secretariats. The state’s majority Hindu community had raised
objection only to the transfer of authority of Hindu temple and
related religious affairs from traditional Hindu authorities to the
new secular authority. Besides, the same secular authority had not
taken over similar religious matter connected with Muslim and
Christian religious Communities and their Mosques, Churches and their
related trusts and religious teaching institution and transferred the
power to manage and control them to a new Minority Religious authority
through a similar special Bill as done in the case of Majority Hindu
religious Institutions in the state. This is partial and distorted
version of their secular precepts and is violative of the Indian
Constitution both in spirit and ethics.
The newly created statutory bodies-Travancore Devaswom Board, Cochin
Devaswom Board, Religious endowment Board and Guruvayoor Temple
Committee-mainly and only consist of those nominated by the elected
legislators and ministers having only Hindu names. But being the
nominees of so-called secular political parties, most of them are
either atheists or sown non-believes in Hindu temple culture,
tradition and rituals. Under above context, once a secular government
led by Communist and their allies had even appointed a Christian by
name Baby as their nominee to the statutory Guruvayoor Sri Krishna
Temple Committee for controlling and managing the religious affairs of
the famous Temple. It was only after angry agitation by Hindu devotees
that he resigned from his post.
Besides, under the statutory autonomous status conferred on the Board,
members of the boards are not answerable or accountable to any other
constitutional authority and hence they are a law unto themselves.
This is one of the main reasons to breed and spread corruption in
almost all transactions and activities of administration in various
departments of the Boards, both in Travancore area and Cochin area. In
the case of Hindu Religions Endowment Board’s administration of
Malabar temples, less said, is the better. In the famous temple like
Thaliparambu Siva Temple, Annapurneswari Temple, Trichambaram
Srikrishna Temple and many others though, there are arbitrarily
appointed fit-men or chiefs of royal families likes Chirackal Royal
family, accounts of these temples are invariably manipulated under non-
ethical and corrupt practices under various pretexts and is well known
to local Hindu community. Imagine that very often Bhandarams kept
inside Annapoorneswari temple are reported to have only very few
pieces of gold, silver and other costly items besides coins-some times
nothing at all even though one of the main offerings there is alrupams-
images of Gods-made of gold or silver metals. It is also the practice
of the concerned authorities of the endowment aboard to somehow get
the signature of the fit-man and nominal chiefs of the families,
sometimes under Coercion. All these are well-known to the local Hindu
devotees and are also well-documented and brought to the public
through several inquiry reports. Latest among them is the Sree
Paripoornan Committee report regarding the malpractices and rampant
corruption in the case of temples administered under Travancore
Devaswom Board where according to inquiry report, even political
interference is also citied as one of the causes for the prevailing
corruption. Same is true in the case of temples under Conchin Devaswom
Board also, though not at that level.
(To be concluded)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=38
February 28, 2010
Open Forum
The Ranganath Misra Commission Report
A tool for vote bank politics
By Ram Nath Kovind
THE Ranganath Misra Report is not unanimous. The report recommends,
amongst other things, 15 per cent reservation to minorities in
education, Central and State Government jobs and social welfare
schemes in the OBC quota. Out of 15 per cent, the report recommends 10
per cent to Muslims and remaining 5 per cent to other minorities. It
also recommends the inclusion of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in
the list of Scheduled Castes. However, Smt Asha Das, its Member
Secretary has submitted her dissenting opinion opposing the inclusion
of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims in the category of Scheduled
Castes.
At present all minorities including the so called Dalit Muslims and
Dalit Christians are entitled to reservation of 8.4 per cent out of 27
per cent reservation meant for OBC. If the reservation percentage for
minorities is increased from 8.4 per cent to 15 per cent, then the
share for OBC will be reduced to 12 per cent only, thus causing
injustice, humiliation and social disharmony to OBC, whose population
is estimated at 52 per cent as per the Mandal Commission Report.
The reservation percentage based on population is permissible under
the Constitution only to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (15
per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively) and to no other section of the
society.
It may be difficult to fault the rationale adopted during British
rule, and continued after Independence, behind identification of
depressed classes/scheduled castes on the basis of untouchability
related disabilities which were peculiar to the Hindu society, arising
from a highly rigid caste system. The Scheduled Castes Order of 1936
was based on "caste" and its application to the Hindu religion is
apparent from the fact that paragraph 3 of the Order issued on April
30, 1936 provides clearly that "No Indian Christian shall be deemed to
be member of a Scheduled Caste". The Constitution (Scheduled Castes)
Order, 1950 was based on the Constitution (SC) Order of 1936 and
adopted the same criteria for identification of castes i.e. practices
and prejudices arising from untouchability that had plagued Hindu
society for centuries and had resulted in the social, educational and
economic backwardness of the castes enlisted. The 1956 and 1990
amendments to the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 have been
justified on the ground that the Sikh and the Buddhist religions were
primarily home-grown sects within the Hindu religion rather than being
independent religions in the nature of Christianity or Islam . Besides
they draw support form explanation II below Article 25 of the
Constitution which provides that reference to Hindu in Sub-clause (b)
of clause (2) of Article 25 shall be construed as including a
reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jain or Buddhist religion.
The Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order 1950 enlist those castes,
identified on the criteria of extreme form of social, economic and
educational backwardness arising due to age-old practice of
untouchability because of caste system, an inherent feature of Hindus
social structure. This is in conformity with the Provisions of Article
341 of the Constitution. This also get support from the debated in the
Constituent Assembly which recognised that "the Scheduled Castes were
a backward section of the society, handicapped by the practice of
untouchability and that this evil practice of untouchability was not
recognised by any other religion". The observation of the Commission
that the caste system in India prevails in all religions irrespective
of the Islam and Christianity claiming otherwise. This view, being
illogical, is unacceptable. These two religions proclaim their social
structure free from caste system, untouchability and caste-based
discrimination. The Ranganath Misra Commission cannot dictate or
thrust its opinion on the Christian Popes or Muslim Maulavis.
If the Government decides to grant Scheduled Caste status to the
converts, it will amount to formal introduction of caste system in
Islam/Christianity and thus changing the basic tenets of these
religions, which is outside the jurisdiction of both the Parliament
and the Judiciary and also contrary to the provisions of Quran and
Bible. According to the Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) and
Indian Christian Righteous Action Forum (ICRA) leaders Shri RL Francis
and Shri Joseph G Anthony the report is a "Pill worst than disease"
and the reservation based on religion is not only unconstitutional, it
would also create bad blood between minorities and the Hindu Dalits
and OBCs. They further added that "PCLM and ICRA Forum, an independent
body of Christians, opposes the Ranganath Misra Report and have urged
the Government of Dr Manmohan Singh to ignore its recommendations.
Even though those who profess Christianity or Islam were never treated
as Scheduled Castes in British India or in India after Independence,
efforts have been made from time to time to seek conferment of
Scheduled Caste status on persons of Scheduled Caste origin professing
Christianity. Private Members Bill had been moved more than once. The
National Convention of the Parliamentary Forum of the Scheduled Castes/
Scheduled Tribes in 1992 also passed a resolution for extending
reservation facility to persons of Scheduled Caste origin to
Christianity. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950
(Amendment Bill) was also prepared in 1996 though never introduced.
The views of the various Central Ministers/Departments and State
Governments were obtained in this regard. They drew attention to the
debate of the Constituent Assembly and pointed out the difficulty for
determining the precise number of persons who would be covered. The
absence of any suggestion on the cut-off date for determining who
would benefit was also pointed out. It was also mentioned by several
states and commissions that there was no justification for including
Scheduled Caste converts to Christianity in the list of Scheduled
Castes. There would be enormous difficulty in identification of the
original cast in the absence of authentic records.
There is a ceiling on the reservation percentage fixed by the Supreme
Court at 50 per cent. The reservation percentage at national level has
been earmarked, on the basis of 1961 census, 15 per cent to the
Scheduled Castes 7.5 per to the Scheduled Tribes and 27 per cent to
the OBC. The total comes to 49.5 per cent which is nearer to 50 per
cent. Those who plead reservation to the converts outside 15 per cent
quota meant for the Scheduled Castes, are not possibly aware of the 50
per cent ceiling.
(The author is a former Rajya Sabha MP and a Supreme Court Lawyer.)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=31
February 28, 2010
A study of the conversion of Kashmir to Islam
A Muslim Missionary in Mediaeval Kashmir, Kashinath Pandit, Voice of
India, Pp 294, Rs 350.00 (PB)
IN this English translation of the Persian work Tohfatu’l-Ahbab, the
biography of Shamsud-din Muhammad Araki, an Iranian missionary of
Nurbakshiyyah Sufi order in Kashmir, who is reported to have visited
Kashmir for the first time in AD 1428. Tohfatu’l_Ahbab is a record of
his mission in Kashmir.
The book is divided into two parts - the first gives a description of
the serious professional study of Islamic theology and tradition
undertaken, the rigorous penance after Sufi practices and nerve-
breaking training prescribed for a spiritualist to attain perfection
and become an accredited and admired Sufi saint. These details would
interest scholars and believers who want to know more about the making
of Sufi preceptors and Sufi orders; the second part describes how the
missionary Araki translated religious injunctions into practice for
spreading his faith and culture in Kashmir by a systematically worked
out plan of brute force. This part describes how Araki destroys
temples like Bakhi Renu, Udran, Vetalun temple, Tashwar temple,
Perezehyar temple, Kuther temple and Achhabal temple to raise mosques
to replace them.
Kashinath Pandit describes how the 13th-century Mongol incursions into
the vast Asian region and across the great Himalayan watershed,
particularly landlocked Kashmir weakened the area due to inter-group
rivalry among its courtiers, nobles and Damara chiefs. In the first
quarter of the 14th century, invaders from the north and west
succeeded in overthrowing the 2,000-year-old Kashmiri Hindu ruling
house, grab political power and lay the foundation for the Kashmir
Sultanate.
This book is meant only for historians and researchers. -MG
(Voice of India, 2/18 Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110002.)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=24
February 28, 2010
A woman terrorist as vicious and more
The Mother of Mohammed: A Woman’s Extraordinary Journey into Jihad,
Sally Neighbour, Jaico Books, Pp 358, Rs 295.00 (PB)
IN October 2001, when American cluster bombs were raining down on
Afghanistan in retaliation for the September attacks on the United
States, the Al Qaeda and the Taliban members were on the run. An
Australian woman named Rabiah Hutchinson, a member of the jehadist
elite known among her fellow fugitives as ‘Umm Mohammed’-mother of
Mohammed-was also trying to escape from the cluster bombs.
It was the time when Al Qaeda and Taliban encampments were being razed
to the ground and the occupants were fleeing to the mountains on the
Afghan-Pakistan frontier or escaping across the border into
neighbouring Iran. Afghanistan too was trying its best to rout out the
Al Qaeda perpetrators, their Taliban hosts and anyone who supported or
sympathised with them. Rabiah recalls much later, "The next four
months - it was just living like you can’t imagine. Every few days
we’d have to move and the Americans would find out our position and
they’d attack. You can’t imagine in your wildest dreams - you’re
fearing rape and torture and mutilation and death. Sometimes the
Apache helicopter would come down so low you could see the pilots
sitting in them. They were shooting women and children in the back
from Apache helicopters when they were running."
Born and brought up in Mudgee, New South Wales, Rabiah seems an
unlikely jehadist. But this former country girl turned marijuana-
smoking beach bunny and hippy backpacker is today a veteran of the
global holy war.
Rabiah and her children were forced to spend three months on the run
in Afghanistan, before they escaped across the desert border into
Iran, where they were detained under house arrest by the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards.
-MG
(Jaico Publishing House, A-2 Sir Phirozshah Mehta Road, Fort,
Mumbai-400001.)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=25
Jauary 28, 2010
Legal hurdles on Muslim quota
By Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay
KOLKATA: The State government is set to face a legal hurdle in
implementing its decision for reservation of 10 per cent of government
jobs for Muslim OBCs with the BJP saying it would move the court
against the government’s decision.
"The Andhra Pradesh High Court has showed us the way and we are going
to challenge the State government’s decision in the Calcutta High
Court. What the State government has done is unconstitutional as you
cannot provide reservation on the basis of religion," said the BJP
president Rahul Sinha over the phone from Delhi. He said he would take
up the matter with party president Nitin Gadkari and the State unit
will observe a protest day on the issue.
The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh enacted a law on June 23,
2007 providing for 4 per cent reservation in education and government
jobs to 15 backward communities among the Muslims. After a lot of
legal wrangles, the High Court today declared the Act null and void.
The West Bengal government itself became skeptical whether its
decision on reservation for Muslims could be implemented. "The Andhra
High Court’s order will have to be kept in mind. We will have to be
ready for everything because somebody can go to court," said Abdus
Sattar, Minister of State for Minorities.(Courtesy: NaidnI Express)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=29
ruary 28, 2010
TogadiaSpeak
Not soft, Bharat is the chosen target
By Dr Pravin Togadia
RECENTLY, there was a jehadi attack on Pune and the same cliché word
was used to describe places like Pune, Bengaluru, Jaipur etc-that is
"soft target". Who used it? All political parties, governmental
spokespersons, officers, pseudo-secular social thinkers and their
friendly media. This is the basic blunder being done in tackling
jehadi terrorism in Bharat. There is nothing like a soft or hard
target here. This is jehad against Bharat and this is a hardcore war
against Bharat and against Hindus. Those who describe any place
attacked by jehadis as soft target do not really understand the very
purpose of the attack. They attack all those who are not like them and
that’s all. Therefore from their beginning, the strategy has been to
conquer those who oppose them either by force or by killing. From
Jordan to Iran, from Afghanistan to Pakistan and from Malaysia to
Indonesia, this has been their chosen strategy. Bharat has fought this
aggression for centuries even under their rule for 400 years and
unfortunately even today fighting the similar aggression even in
democracy! After conquering 2/3rd world, their chosen target is Bharat
and, therefore, there is nothing like a soft target when any place in
Bharat gets attacked by jehadis; it is always a chosen target, because
entire Bharat is their chosen target.
When we all would try to explain this concept of jehad and how
dangerous it is to the nation, most pseudo-seculars would condemn it
as an outdated blah-blah until 9/11. This was when the US of A started
using jehad word to explain as to why Osama attacked them then and
even before in Yemen in the sea, that somewhere in Bharat some people
started realising the larger conspiracy in many such attacks in Bharat-
be it Kashmir 1990 or Mumbai March 12, 1993, and many of them later.
Some rightly realised that even 1947 Partition was a planned political
jehad by Jinnah. Historians started explaining earlier invasions and
rules by many Islamic invaders on Bharat as an attempt of jehad and
not just looting. Yet, up until Mumbai attack on 26/11, for many so-
called pseudo-secularist, the word jehad was not only a taboo but also
was ‘an extreme reaction by mad people like Togadia’. Now the same so-
called secular social thinkers and media are using the word jehad to
describe such attacks as on Pune, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi and so on.
Not that the well-meaning people in Bharat’s Army and various
investigating agencies did not know that those were jehadi attacks.
Many government lawyers even had enough knowledge that there is
something called an Al-Qaeda manual which teaches a jehadi how to plan
not just the attack but also the escape, excuse and is caught, then
how to mislead and misguide the police and other authorities and even
then it goes out of hand then how to bring women from the family to
shout on the streets or to blame the investigating authority (army/
police/courts-all) and claim torture etc. Umpteen of times our
security forces have been a prey to this dirty strategy of "blame
jehad". We saw a recent glaring example in Shopian case.
But the more unfortunate part of this entire bloody war is that
knowing fully well the larger war called jehad our security forces and
other investigating agencies feel helpless while handling the
attackers. This is only due to the political parties who, in the
process of wooing Muslim votes, bend so much backwards that the
jehadis exploit the entire democratic system to further attack and
then get away with it. Ruling political party’s key man visiting
Azamgarh is the most disgusting example of this vote-bank beggar
mentality.
Another strange argument is made-perhaps prompted by the Islamic PR
machine-that is because the youth in Bharat is unemployed, Muslims in
Bharat are poor and therefore they turn to such destructing ways. Oh!
How so poor they are! There is nothing more ridiculous than this
argument. From stock market jehad to jungle fire jehad and from Love
Jehad to bomb jehad-the world has seen it all-Bharat has seen it all
and yet if vote-crazy parties are slapping this baseless argument on
the face of the Bharat’s wise people then these parties are in for a
rude shock. People in Bharat know it all. They know that these jehadis
attack Bharat not because these jehadis are poor or unemployed, but
because they have chosen Bharat as a target for an all-out war. That’s
the reason even Pak’s PM dares to say, "If only six people from Pak
can take entire Mumbai hostage then imagine what will happen if our
full army attacks Hindustan!"
Where does a mustard-sized nation get such courage to slam Bharat? US?
UK? Any other nation? May be or may not be. But this little Pak gets
this strength partly because all Muslim nations stand united with any
aggression on any non-Islamic nation. Funding, training, providing
weapons and hi-tech systems for any type of jehad is their duty and
they do it. The questions is: Do our governments do their own duty to
truly understand who is the real enemy and fight that enymy with a
complete will? No. Our governments do not. Why? As sad as it may sound
but only for votes they put our nation at the greatest risk. Letting
the attackers use and misuse our democratic system and over and above
that glorifying them for that is not tragic for Bharat anymore. It is
angering the people of Bharat who can see through all types of dirty
politics. If they think that by siding with them and terming every
encounter fake, jehadis would spare them in their final attack, then
our political parties are living in a fool’s paradise. History proves
otherwise. Take the side of truth, protect the nation now with the
fullest strength and that’s the only way. All common people in Bharat
know that no Pakistan can attack Bharat without local support and most
also feel the growing presence of such large pockets of mini-Pakistans
in Bharat.
The second work on war-footing our political parties must do is to
destroy such mini-Pakistans in Bharat by first opening J&K for all to
stay and make properties. Then by obliterating the safe havens that
help the attackers find shelter and other support. This may sound
extreme but ask our security forces and police. They would say this is
not enough. True. Political parties and media must stop giving such
jehadi attackers any sympathy through intellectual and actual support.
Not elections, but nation’s safety must be their goal.
Hindus in Bharat have been made chosen targets by jehad and if our
governments have no political will to protect Bharat, then Bharat
knows how to protect Bharat! For ages Hindus have survived and emerged
stronger. Even after losing so much of ancient territory to jehadis,
Hindus are strong in Bharat. All they need is the strongest political
will. Bharat knows how to handle all those who treat Bharat as a
chosen target. Let’s all together chalk out a strategy and democratic
action plan for this. As a beginning, let’s work towards creating a
stronger political will for this.
(The author is a renowned cancer surgeon and secretary general of VHP.
He can be contacted atdrt...@gmail.com)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=333&page=40
Sid Harth
Updated on Tuesday, February 23, 2010, 19:34 IST
Indore: Attacking the BJP, its former general secretary and ideologue
K N Govindacharya has described it as a party "suffering from internal
conflicts and contradictions".
Govindacharya alleged that the Nitin Gadkari-led party lacks
experience and has not done its homework properly on various issues
including Ram Temple.
"The BJP is caught in the web of internal-conflicts and contradictions
and now it is not possible for it to manage it," he told PTI.
"It appears there is a conflict going on within the party on the issue
of liberalism and fanaticism and the same reflected during its meeting
here from February 17-19," the senior leader said.
Referring to Gadkari's appeal to Muslims on the Ram Temple issue, he
said the latter's views cannot be taken seriously. "It reflects that
he has less experience, had not done his homework well and lacks
coordination".
Advising Gadkari to "think well before commenting on any sensitive
issue", the 66-year-old leader said politics is a field of fire where
lack of knowledge is not pardonable.
He said Gadkari had taken over the reins of the party in a difficult
situation.
Terming BJP as the 'Saffron Congress,' he charged that corporate
culture is ruling the party where the place of leaders are taken by
the managers and that of workers by the employees.
-PTI
http://www.zeenews.com/news606507.html
Kalyan Singh’s JKP to teach 'cheaters BJP, SP' lesson
Posted On: 23-Feb-2010 18:46:13
By: Ravi Srivastava
Lucknow: Feeling cheated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the
Samajwadi Party (SP), Jan Kranti Party (JKP) president Rajveer Singh
today said he and his father Kalyan Singh would teach ''these
cheaters'' a lesson.
Mr Singh said; ''Cheaters SP and BJP would be eliminated in the next
Assembly election in 2012. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would also
suffer but the Congress may get advantage in some seats.''
He said if expelled SP leader Amar Singh wanted to join the JKP, he
would welcome him. However, Mr Amar Singh has not contacted him yet.
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chhotemianinshallah
The BJP lost the 2004 elections to the Congress party coalition.
BJP's macho nationalism' becomes its Achilles' heel, THE INDEPENDENT
Newspaper article from: The Independent (Bangladesh) ...to pressure
Pakistan to control its jehadi groups. Or...scenario have made the BJP
realise that its talk...of the coalition, the BJP finds itself
restrained...cannot be implemented. The BJP does not have the
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BJP moves indicate battle for Bihar is still on
Newspaper article from: India Abroad ...Abroad 10-09-1998 BJP moves
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has been criticized...the party's damage-control exercise includes
plans...
JASWANT REBUFFS BJP ON HOUSE PANEL POST.
Newspaper article from: Mail Today (New Delhi, India) ...would not
quit and if the BJP wanted, they could sack him. Unfortunately for the
BJP, it cannot sack him...they are not entirely in control of the
situation. According...in the House, he can still do that. He only
has...on the matter. But the BJP, too, is not going to...
Jaswant not to quit PAC post despite BJP request.
Newspaper article from: Mail Today (New Delhi, India) ...would not
quit and if the BJP wanted, they could sack him. Unfortunately for the
BJP, it cannot sack him...they are not entirely in control of the
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http://answers.encyclopedia.com/question/bjp-still-control-137107.html
Article: BJP's macho nationalism' becomes its Achilles' heel, THE
INDEPENDENT
Article from:The Independent (Bangladesh) Article date:June 28,
2002Author:Sunil RamanCopyrightProvided by ProQuest LLC. All inquiries
regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to
customer service. (Hide copyright information) Related articles
THE continuing standoff between the armies of India and Pakistan does
not augur well for the peace and prosperity of South Asia. Tension has
somewhat eased in the past few weeks after intervention by the United
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Article: BJP needs to create a separate identity.
Article from:Gulf News (United Arab Emirates) Article date:August 29,
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Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or
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It was more than a storm in a tea cup. Jaswant Singh's book on
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The Hindustan Times; August 30, 2009 ; 608 words... of guard at the
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ideological level, the party is bankrupt. If it rose from just four
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The Hindustan Times; February 24, 2006 ; 541 words... party sources
said. BJP President Rajnath Singh ... in the first major RSS meeting
after he took ... following a spat with RSS on the Jinnah issue ...
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http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-206814724.html
Article: BJP moves indicate battle for Bihar is still on
Article from:India Abroad Article date:October 9,
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India Abroad
10-09-1998
BJP moves indicate battle for Bihar is still on
With Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee indicating that his
government was keeping its options open on invoking Article 356 to
impose President's rule in Bihar, the controversy over the Cabinet's
recommendation seeking the dismissal of the state government is far
from over.
In an interview on board his aircraft while returning to India, given
after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government had "accepted"
President K.R. Narayanan's decision to return the Cabinet's
recommendation on the Rabri Devi government's dismissal, Vajpayee
declared: "A mafia rule prevails in Bihar." He said the…
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http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-22069356.html
Article: JASWANT REBUFFS BJP ON HOUSE PANEL POST.
Article from:Mail Today (New Delhi, India) Article date:September 1,
2009CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd. This material
is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group,
Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or
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THE BJP'S efforts to dislodge Jaswant Singh from a prestigious
parliamentary committee failed on Monday as the defiant leader refused
to quit the post at their request.
The BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her
counterpart in the Rajya Sabha S. S. Ahluwalia landed at Singh's
residence at Teen Murti Lane in the afternoon.
The purpose of this unexpected visit apparently was to ask him to
resign from the post of the chairman of the parliamentary Public
Accounts Committee ( PAC).
The BJP had recommended Singh as their nominee for the post during the
budget- cummonsoon session while Yashwant Sinha and Gopinath Munde
were appointed…
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http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-207035203.html
Article: Jaswant not to quit PAC post despite BJP request.
Article from:Mail Today (New Delhi, India) Article date:September 1,
2009CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd. This material
is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group,
Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights or
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THE BJP'S efforts to dislodge Jaswant Singh from a prestigious
parliamentary committee failed on Monday as the defiant leader refused
to quit the post at their request.
The BJP's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her
counterpart in the Rajya Sabha S. S. Ahluwalia landed at Singh's
residence at Teen Murti Lane in the afternoon.
The purpose of this unexpected visit apparently was to ask him to
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Accounts Committee ( PAC).
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http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-207035249.html
bademiyansubhanallah
TNN, Mar 3, 2010, 06.19pm IST
Pravin Mahajan dies in hospitalMUMBAI: Pravin Mahajan, who was
sentenced to life imprisonment for killing brother & BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan, died in a Thane hospital on Wednesday evening, family sources
said.
Pravin, 50, who was serving his life imprisonment, is survived by his
wife and two children Kapil and Vaishali both of whom are college
students.
Pravin Mahajan had been admitted to the Jupiter hospital in December
2009 following a brain haemorrhage and had been in coma since then.
He had been put on life support system and was struggling for life but
failed to recover at the Hospital where he was admitted, a close aide
of the family said. However, hospital authorities did not issue any
official word on the developments and most family members also
declined to comment.
In a dramatic murder that shocked the country, Pravin Mahajan had
killed his elder brother Pramod Mahajan on April 22, 2006 in his
Mumbai home. The high-profile BJP leader succumbed to his wounds 12
days later on May 3.
Pravin Mahajan was sentenced to life by a sessions court for
fratricide on Dec 18, 2007. He was released on 14-day parole on
November 27, 2009 after three-and-a-half years in prison and was
supposed to return to prison when he suffered the stroke and was
hospitalized.
Following is the chronology of the Pramod Mahajan murder trial
April 22, 2006: Pravin Mahajan shoots Pramod Mahajan at his Worli
residence.
April 22, 2006: Pravin surrenders before the Worli Police.
April 23, 2006: Pravin sent to police custody by Bhoiwada court.
April 27, 2006: Cops record statement of Mahajan's family.
May 03, 2006: Pramod Mahajan succumbs to his injuries and dies at a
city hospital.
July 14, 2006: 650-page chargesheet filed before Bhoiwada court for
charges under IPC Section 302 (murder) and Section 449 (house
trespass).
July 24, 2006: Pravin files for bail application before Sewri sessions
court.
July 30, 2006: Pramod Mahajan's murder case committed to the sessions
court.
August 01, 2006: Sessions judge Abhay Thipsay rejects Pravin's bail
plea.
Sept 01, 2006: Harshad Ponda appointed as defence lawyer by Pravin.
Sept 08, 2006: Special prosecutor Srikant Bhatt withdraws from the
case.
Sept 25, 2006: Special prosecutors Ujjwal Nikam and Niteen Pradhan
appointed by the state.
Jan 23, 2007: Pravin pleads not guilty.
March 21, 2007: Trial commences at the sessions court.
March 23, 2007: Rekha tells the court that she saw Pravin firing
bullets at her husband.
April 10, 2007: Rekha tells the court that Pravin had threatened
Pramod and demanded Rs one crore.
April 11, 2007: Brother-in-law Gopinath Munde tells court that Pravin
had sent threatening SMS to Pramod.
April 18, 2007: Supplementary chargesheet filed in Mahajan trial.
May 11, 2007: Key eyewitness and Pramod's domestic help, Mahesh
Wankhede, deposes before the court.
Oct 15, 2007: Pramod's daughter Poonam Mahajan identifies Pravin
before the court and breaks down after cross-examination.
Oct 29, 2007: Pravin shocks the court by stating that he had not
killed his elder brother.
Oct 30, 2007: Pravin makes allegations about Pramod's character in the
court.
Nov 1, 2007: Defence witness B Harikrishnan tells the court that SMS
can be manipulated.
Nov 16, 2007: Harikrishnan manipulates an SMS in a demonstration
before the court.
Nov 22, 2007: Sarangi admits to having sent an SMS to Pramod, says SMS
was tampered.
Nov 30, 2007: Advocates start final arguments.
Dec 03, 2007: Prosecution says money is the motive for murder.
Dec 06, 2007: Judge S P Davare begins dictating the judgement as both
defence and prosecution conclude arguments.
Dec 17, 2007: Court holds Pravin guilty in the case.
Nov 27, 2009: Released on 14-day parole
Dec 11, 2009: Pravin Mahajan lapsed into coma following a suspected
brain hemorrhage.
March 3, 2010: Pravin Mahajan dies
Pravin Mahajan leaves behind unanswered questions
PTI, Mar 3, 2010, 07.11pm IST
MUMBAI: Pravin Mahajan, who lived with his wife and two children in a
modest apartment in Thane near here, was an unknown figure until the
morning of April 22, 2006 when he shot his brother and prominent BJP
leader Pramod.
On that day, Pravin drove to the Worli residence of elder brother
Pramod Mahajan. After a brief, tense conversation, Pravin (who was
carrying a licensed revolver) shot Pramod and then went to a police
station and surrendered.
From that day onwards, Pravin became a national enigma. Very little
was known about him, and about his motive for killing Pramod, who was
then one of the important and high-profile politicians at the national
level.
Pramod passed away 13 days later, on May 3. Pravin was convicted for
the murder by a Mumbai sessions court, and sentenced to life
imprisonment on December 18, 2007.
However, even during the trial the prosecution could not pinpoint the
actual motive. Pravin's lawyer took the stand that he did not shoot
his brother.
Even in his latest interview after he was released on furlough from
Nashik prison last month, Pravin maintained that "I did not kill
Pramod".
Born to a school teacher, Pravin (50) was the youngest of the five
siblings.
As an elder brother, it was Pramod who found for Pravin his bride
Sarangi. Pravin settled down in Thane, working as a consultant.
Apparently, in the last five-six years before Pramod's death, their
relations began to sour. Evidence submitted by prosecution during the
trial indicated that they had disputes over financial transactions.
His other brother, Prakash Mahajan, alleged after the publication of
'Maza Album' that Pravin and his family were living off Pramod's
money.
Though other members of Mahajan family severed ties with him after the
murder, Sarangi stood by him through the trial and afterwards.
He was released on furlough on November 27. Just when the 14-day leave
was about to expire, he complained of headache and blood pressure, and
was taken on December 11 night to Jupiter hospital in Thane.
He arrived in an unconscious state and was diagnosed with severe brain
haemorrhage. He went into coma from which he never recovered.
Apart from his wife, he is survived by two college-going children
Kapil and Vrushali.
Pravin Mahajan pens 'revealing' book on brother Pramod
IANS, Apr 12, 2009, 01.04pm IST
MUMBAI: Barely three weeks before the third death anniversary of the
late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, his brother
Pravin -- undergoing a life-term for killing him -- has come out with
a tell-all book.
The book entitled My Album -- around 175 pages -- will be published in
Marathi and English soon.
In the book, which Pravin said was inspired within the confines of the
prison walls where he is currently lodged, he has dwelt upon several
aspects of his elder brother's personal, professional and political
life, his principles, his political associates, etc, many of them not
exactly laudatory.
In a statement, Pravin's wife Sarangi said: "This book should be
treated as an ordinary book. It doesn't include any of the court
statements which were in-camera."
However, Sarangi made it clear on Sunday morning that this book is not
an autobiography of her husband, merely an authentic account of
certain incidents in his life which he experienced.
"It is not directed against any individual, party or group and should
not be construed as such," she declared.
Recalling his association with his elder brother, Pravin said that
Pramod did everything his way by either "buying" everybody or
"scaring" them into submission to his will.
"He symbolized everything in politics, he was a fixer, dealer, double-
dealer, conspirator, etc, just like Amar Singh," he has written.
Once, Sharad Pawar had saved Pramod from a major problem. In 1998,
Pramod had committed a blunder while filling up his nomination form
for Rajya Sabha elections. He had shown his profession as "Advisor to
Prime Minister", which was an 'office of profit'.
This was brought to Pramod's notice by Pawar. Pramod immediately
rectified it by giving a back-dated resignation letter from his
advisory post. The reason, Pravin explained, was that there were seven
seats and eight contestants. If Pramod's papers had been rejected,
then Pawar's arch-rival Suresh Kalmadi would have been elected
unopposed.
Pravin said that in 1984 during the Lok Sabha elections, Pramod
declared that politics was his "mission" not "profession". "Then, when
did he slip?" the younger brother asks.
He said that between 1998 and 2004, Pramod handled several Lok Sabha
and assembly elections around the country. Election times were when a
lot of money flowed into the party coffers which he used for "personal
pleasure pursuits". He never revealed the sources of his funds to the
party and even told Pravin never to do so, the book extract says.
Discussing the family front, Pravin said that his entire family as
well as sister-in-law (Pramod's wife) Rekha and her children have
suffered a lot.
He cited several disturbing instances in this regard:
"Will my mother deny that Pramod once raised his hand to beat her and
isn't Gopinath Munde (sister's husband) aware of this?
"Did Rahul Mahajan (Pramod's son) once not complain to me about his
(prospective) wife Shweta's loose character?"
"Did Poonam Mahajan (Pramod's daughter) once not tell me how her
father went with some friend to Europe/US in 1992, bringing tears to
my eyes? What do Prakash Mahajan (another brother) and Pratima Mahajan
(his wife) have to say about this?"
He said that Pramod had become arrogant with his position in the party
and the knowledge that he was in the midst of all leaders, ranging
from Pawar to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, Pravin said.
On April 22, 2006, Pravin had gone to Pramod's house in Worli and
pumped several bullets into his abdomen. After an unsuccessful battle
for survival, Pramod passed away on May 3 that year, leaving a void in
the BJP.
After a trial by the court, Pravin was sentenced to life imprisonment
and is currently in jail.
He has said in the introduction to the book that he could picture his
entire life like a "documentary film" compelling him to put it down on
paper.
Pramod Mahajan's killer, Pravin, released on 14-day parole
PTI, Nov 27, 2009, 02.10pm IST
MUMBAI/NASHIK (MAHARASHTRA): Pravin Mahajan, sentenced to life
imprisonment for killing his brother, the late Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, was on Friday released on parole for 14
days on medical grounds, a family member said.
"He has been released a short while ago on some purely personal
medical reasons," the family member said.
Pravin was pronounced guilty and awarded life sentence by a Mumbai
court in December 2007 for killing his elder brother Pramod at the
latter's flat in Worli. Pramod had succumbed to fatal bullet wounds in
a city hospital on May 3, 2006.
Injured ego made Pravin kill Pramod Mahajan
PTI, Jul 19, 2006, 03.04pm IST
MUMBAI: Greed for money and injured ego were the two main reasons that
prompted Pravin Mahajan to kill his elder brother and BJP General
Secretary Pramod Mahajan, according to the chargesheet filed by police
in a court last week.
The 650-page chargesheet contains the statements of Pravin and 58
witnesses, including Rekha Mahajan, wife of late Pramod Mahajan and
the domestic servant who allegedly saw Pravin firing shots at his
brother at the BJP leader's residence in Worli on April 22.
The chargesheet also reveals how Pravin had allegedly planned the
murder and executed it with a pre-meditated mind.
Pravin has told the police that he had differences with Mahajan for
the past 20 years and although the latter was helping him financially,
he (Pravin) felt it was not enough.
According to Pravin, his brother did not talk to him in public and
also he had no access to Mahajan and had to reach him through his
(Pramod's) secretary, which he could not tolerate and felt that his
brother was humiliating him.
As per Pravin's statement, on April 22 he had planned to kill his
brother if family issues were not settled and with that in mind he had
set out from his Thane house at 5:20 am in his car. It took him nearly
two hours from Thane to Worli and in between he stopped on the way to
ponder over the plan to kill Pramod.
Pravin said that on reaching his brother's house he had initiated
talks on family ties but Mahajan continued reading newspapers. Then
Mahajan reportedly switched on a sports channel on the TV and ignored
him, Pravin stated.
Pravin gets life term for killing Pramod Mahajan
INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK, Dec 18, 2007, 03.46pm IST
MUMBAI: Pravin Mahajan was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday
for killing his brother and BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
The younger brother of the prominent BJP leader Pramod Mahajan was
convicted for murder and house trespass with intention to commit a
serious offence.
Special prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam had sought the maximum punishment of
death by hanging on Tuesday for the accused.
While convicting Pravin, Sessions Judge SP Davare had relied on the
statements of Pramod's wife Rekha, servant Mahesh and his own
statement to his brother-in-law and BJP leader Gopinath Munde while on
way to the hospital after being shot at on April 22, last year.
Pravin had fired three bullets at his elder brother at the latter's
residence. Mahajan died after battling for his life for 12 days in a
hospital here.
Davare said the prosecution's case had inspired "every confidence."
CPM goes soft on Mahajan in Shivani murder case
TNN, Aug 17, 2002, 01.38am IST
KOLKATA: Union parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan earned
respite from the unlikeliest of allies, the CPM, on Friday, while
facing allegations in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case.
CPM state secretary and Politburo member Anil Biswas said in Kolkata
that the party would not demand Mahajan’s resignation unless he was
charge-sheeted and convicted. “This is our policy. We cannot seek his
resignation on the basis of allegations. The Centre should probe the
case and let people know the truth,” said Biswas. But why are the
Marxists clamouring for the resignation of petroleum minister Ram Naik
in the wake of the petrol pump scandal?
“Corruption charges are different. If he (Naik) steps down, it would
facilitate a fair investigation. It seems the BJP has surpassed the
Congress in corruption at high places,” argued Biswas.
CPM leader in the Lok Sabha and well-known lawyer Somnath Chatterjee
also felt that unless specific charges were made and evidence found
against Mahajan, the allegations would not be legally tenable. But he
accused the government of derailing the probe into the three-year-old
murder case.
Left Front partner and Forward Bloc veteran Ashok Ghosh, however,
wanted Mahajan to relinquish his job “on moral ground” if there was
“prima facie evidence” of his role in the murder.
Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said, “If
such charges were levelled at me, I would have resigned.”
VVIP visits to Mahajan cause concern
PTI, Apr 24, 2006, 05.18pm IST
MUMBAI: It has been a virtual procession of the nation's leaders,
Bollywood stars, top industrialists and sundry making a trip to the
Hinduja Hospital where high-profile BJP leader Pramod Mahajan is
battling for his life.
Known for his networking across the political spectrum, it is not
surprising that Mahajan enjoys tremendous goodwill and that there has
been a constant stream of visitors to meet his family and convey good
wishes for his recovery.
With television cameras beaming live pictures across the country, it
has become almost obligatory for visiting VVIPs to pose for a national
audience and some have even turned instant doctors updating the media
on Mahajan's health, even if that has been at variance with what the
doctors say.
Bollywood stars and the political biggies have attracted large crowds
causing near chaos in front of the hospital. Police have had a tough
time handling the crowds and clearing the way for the VIPs and hapless
visitors to other patients in the hospital.
Doctors have issued medical bulletins on the BJP General Secretary's
health but many a leader have chosen to do their own medical briefing.
BJP Spokesman Prakash Javadekar has parked himself at the hospital to
deal with the media and has sometimes conducted even the doctor's
briefing.
Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK
Advani, Rajnath Singh, Jaswant Singh, Arun Jaitley, Amar Singh, Bal
Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna, Chief
Minister Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states and
others political bigwigs have been among the VVIP visitors.
Film and television stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and
her lyricist husband Javed Akhtar, Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Smriti
Irani and industrialists Mukesh and Anil Ambani have all been there.
Mahajan, of course, is unable to receive the visitors who meet members
of the distraught family to convey their good wishes.
But medical experts take a dim view of VVIP parades in such
situations. Such visits are "uncalled for" as they put pressure on the
relatives and close friends who have to answer queries throughout the
day despite being physically and mentally tired, says Prof PK Dave,
former Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
Straight Answers
Roshni Olivera, TNN, Aug 13, 2002, 05.29pm IST
Ram Naik, Petroleum Minister, on the recent petrol pump scandal
Isn’t the PM’s decision to cancel petrol-pump allotments a blow to
your ministry and to you?
The PM took this decision after a controversy erupted. The PM held a
meeting with LK Advani, Jaswant Singh, Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj
and myself, at which we discussed the pros and cons of the issue.
Taking into consideration public interest and the need to re-establish
probity in public life, the decision to cancel petrol-pump allotments
was taken. This is not a personal blow in any way — it is not a
reflection on my personality.
But the fact remains that a large number of petrol pumps and LPG
agencies were allotted to relatives and friends of BJP functionaries.
There is a prescribed procedure under which the 59 Dealer Selection
Boards (DSBs) all over India select applicants. The ministry or the
minister does not interfere in the selection process. Among the
applicants, some may have political affiliations with the BJP, some
with the Congress, some with other parties, and some may have no
political association at all.
To what extent were you involved in the allotment process?
In the past three years, I did not give a single petrol pump out of
turn or under the discretionary quota. Everything was decided by the
DSBs.
In such a situation, will there be an inquiry into the role of DSBs?
There has been no specific complaint by anybody for the government to
initiate an inquiry. Besides, the DSBs were headed by retired high
court and sessions court judges.
By levelling similar allegations against the Congress when it was in
power, is your government trying to justify its own actions?
Not at all. In fact, more than 110 MPs presented a memorandum to the
PM congratulating him on his bold decision. They have suggested that
since the DSBs have been in existence since 1983, allotments to people
since then —most of whom were Congress beneficiaries —should be
probed.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi-times/Straight-Answers/articleshow/18973132.cms
Vivek Moitra's last rites performed in Mumbai
PTI, Jun 4, 2006, 01.16pm IST
MUMBAI: The mortal remains of Vivek Moitra, the long-time secretary to
late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan who died under mysterious
circumstances, were cremated at the Turbhe crematorium in Navi Mumbai
on Sunday.
Mumbai BJP chief Prakash Mehta was among the party leaders who
attended the funeral.
Moitra's body was brought here from Delhi on Saturday night at 11 pm
and shifted to the Municipal Hospital at Vashi where it was kept for
the night.
On Sunday morning, the body was brought to the home of Moitra's
parents at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai and later taken to Turbhe
crematorium.
Moitra's body, kept in the mortuary of AIIMS in New Delhi after
autopsy, was handed over to his relatives and BJP MP Haribhau Rathore
on Saturday after the completion of official proceedings.
He was declared dead on arrival at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi in the
early hours of Friday after a party at late Mahajan's residence that
was attended by Mahajan's son Rahul and four others.
Rahul too was hospitalised in a critical condition and is still
undergoing treatment.
The post-mortem examination of Moitra's body revealed traces of
poison, hospital sources said.
Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of students
through the Right to Information Act?
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Damodar (Damu) Naik sent an RTI query to
the education department seeking details of students' addresses, date
of birth and their phone numbers. The department forwarded the letter
to schools asking them to reply to the MLA directly. Some 95% schools
have responded, says Naik, though some parents have objected to the
MLA being given details of their children. Naik says the query was for
him to know whether the department had such details of students
available.
Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of students
through the Right to Information Act?
Resident Editor, The Times of India, Goa
P.S. You may also SMS or email your views. Mail us on
mytimes...@timesgroup.com with `RTI' mentioned in the subject
line. To SMS, type MTMV, leave a space, type ‘RTI’, leave a space,
type your comments and your name and sms to 58888. * Charges
applicable. Rs 3 per SMS.
Posted on Friday, February 19, 2010 10:53 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
That's great news... Maybe I should also raise an RTI query and take
out address details of all the girls in the neighbouring schools..
Posted by Shitij @ 3/3/2010 2:10 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
THANK YOU
Posted by SESLISOHBET @ 3/2/2010 7:24 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
THANK YOU
Posted by SESLISOHBET @ 3/2/2010 7:23 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
RTI doesnot mean taking out personal info of anyone.
Posted by affiliate @ 3/1/2010 3:26 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Obviously the objective is to acquire database. Why is the question?
Posted by Ranjan @ 3/1/2010 10:23 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
~Any thing done by BJP is wrong.
This is a secular country. We cannot allow the fundamentalists to do
anything.
Am i right.? lol...
Posted by Vasu @ 2/28/2010 8:06 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
No RTI does not permit this as no purpose is served by this.Personal
information cannot be sought.
Posted by a.p.misra @ 2/28/2010 12:43 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
DANGEROUS FOR STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS!!!
Posted by GOAN @ 2/27/2010 4:22 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
No one has the right to know the personal details of others. The
schools should have refused to provide this information and I feel
those who have done it have committed a crime. Right to Information
act must be clearly defined if there is any ambiguity. There must be
some government department whose advice could be sought on such issues
Posted by S L Gera @ 2/27/2010 9:53 AM
# bvlgari watches
Interesting thing!
That's awesome! I can't wait to get into it.
This looks awesome! Thank you for your information!
Posted by bvlgari watches @ 2/27/2010 6:59 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
It's not acceptable to handover personal details of students to any
person. Schools shouldn't have given such information to MLA. It's an
incorrect decision by the department asking schools to respond to
MLA's inquiry.
Posted by Sudhakar Jonnalagadda @ 2/26/2010 2:07 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
what is wrong to what mla has done he must be doing some projects or
schemes for them first u should understand for what he got this let
him clarify this and then make issue out of it dont put nose just to
drag the issue
Posted by viresh @ 2/26/2010 1:26 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Regardless of weather or not Damu Naik has a good intention to use
them, It is a pathetic state of affairs that such sensitive
information is available to anyone who can ask for it.
RTI was a great step towards bring around the much needed,
transparancy in India's administrative department.
Perhaps, we need a law to restrict RTI from encroching upon people's
personal information.
Posted by Amit @ 2/25/2010 9:01 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Its not just wrong, its a shame. but in India, anything is possible!
His agenda may be to target to girl students and their parents by
blackmailing etc. Have we forgotten how a police officer Rathore
messed up with a teenage girl?
Political parties meddling with common man is very common to say the
least. But we cant expect any action taken, as no politician,
terrorist or politically supported goon gets any conviction in less
than 20 years, if at all.
Posted by AP @ 2/25/2010 6:19 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Doesn't the resident editor have a modicum of journalistic
responsibility or an iota of sense to seek the reason from the MLA
himself and publishing it as part of the question? Did he rise to the
position of RE from his knees?
Posted by Alo @ 2/25/2010 5:52 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
The students are not public servant. The MLA is unjustified and
illegal to ask the personal information about the students. Any body
can ask about the MLA's details under RIA.
So, legal action should be inititated against this.
Posted by Tk Rai @ 2/25/2010 4:11 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Thanks for providing a forum for some Muslims to vent their hatred of
BJP and VHP !
Posted by Ami @ 2/25/2010 6:16 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
One can never trust a party like BJP. They simply believe in hate
politics, divide and rule, caste division, division on basis of
religion. Everyone knows what they did in Gujarat under the
supervision of Modi. May India be always safe from BJP and its alikes.
JAI HIND
Posted by F.Hindu @ 2/24/2010 3:12 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
a case must immediately book against him and put him behind bars for
life long, so that in future no one should think about dirty politics.
school authorities must take strong action against him.
Posted by parent @ 2/24/2010 12:24 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
If heez asking it for the purpose of study of mobile usage by
students, heez correct. Mobiles are the biggest culprits divertions
students from studies & facilitating/encouraging/starting point of
love which is Full stop for studies.
Posted by Chandu @ 2/24/2010 11:14 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
What the hell he is doing with student list? What authority he has to
indulge in student activities? Only BJP, VHP etc. can do such
activities to make themselves big Lords. Schools shud not provide such
details & if they have done parents bodies shud sue the schools.
Posted by ramanna @ 2/24/2010 3:30 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Like the VHP and Bajrang Dal, who during the Gujarat riots 2002 were
armed with the voters list so that they were able to selectively
target and pinpoint muslim houses even in Hindu areas and managed to
burn and destroy them. Maybe the MLA has somthing similar going in his
mind.
Posted by rty @ 2/23/2010 11:33 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
its disgusting to see that there is no support for clean and honest
mla...mla work is for legislation...inorder to bring a bill in
assembly to ban mobile in schools...there is need for a study...
damu naik wanted to know and survey how m
any school children use mobile and which area location students carry
mobile phones
so freinds this is real fact which i have told to u..i have met him
personally and spoke with him in this regard.
Posted by Durgadas kamat @ 2/23/2010 10:13 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
court should ask the MLA as why does he wants this details from teh
students. And anyways Students are not public servant so there is no
need to disclose , School unions should slap notice on these kind of
stupid MLA's who are jst to hog limelight
Posted by Nabeel @ 2/23/2010 4:13 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
NO, It doesn't make any sense. This shuould be investigated as why
Naik needs details of students. I doubt if passes it to Pak
terrorists.
Posted by Aly @ 2/23/2010 3:25 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
isn't there a privacy Act in India which prohibits release of personal
info to unauthorized parties?
for all we know, this MLA dude can be selling this info to Paki
terrorists who may enter and settle down in India and claim to be
Indian citizens and spread their mayhem.
even more disgusting are the schools that have serviley forwarded
details of their students to this Most Loutish Asshole.
Posted by pk @ 2/23/2010 8:39 AM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Students are not public servants and should be beyond the perview of
the RTI Act. This means any terrorist can steal the identity of a
student by obtaining all the personal information of genuine students!
Posted by Suresh @ 2/22/2010 8:19 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
no, this is not correct. No excuse shoyuld be tolerated and schools
should not revert back to him as RTI doesnot mean taking out personal
info of anyone.
Posted by amy @ 2/22/2010 3:51 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
no, this is not correct. No excuse shoyuld be tolerated and schools
should not revert back to him as RTI doesnot mean taking out personal
info of anyone.
Posted by amy @ 2/22/2010 3:50 PM
# re: Is BJP MLA Damu Naik justified in seeking personal details of
students through the Right to Information Act?
Asking these deatils is useless as there are chances that these
details can be misused in future.
Posted by jiya @ 2/22/2010 3:48 PM
http://o3.indiatimes.com/mytimes/archive/2010/02/19/5001429.aspx
Swami Nithyananda’s Scandal Video with a Famous Tamil Actress Shown on
Sun News Live
March 2, 2010, By Ayako Smith in World
A video of Swamy Nithyananda’ having sex with a top tamil actress was
broadcasted on Sun news live and has shocked people across India.
In Nithyananda’s scandal video, he can be seen getting intimate with
an actress whose name happened to start with “R” leading to
speculation if it is Ragasudha or Ranjita.
The video was broadcasted on the famous tamil channel called SUN TV
and the Tamil actress’ face was masked in the video. People have now
called Nithyananda a fraud for making people believe that he is a
Swami.
Nithyananda is supposed to be a Swami (spiritual person) and this
shocking video of him in bed with an actress has only shown how some
people take the common person’s faith for granted.
It still has to be verified if this is the truth or a scam.
http://timesofindia.hotklix.com/Hotklix/link/News/India/Another-guru-in-a-sex-scandal
Woman linked to Pramod Mahajan denies reports
S Balakrishnan & Sandhya Nair, TNN, Nov 1, 2007, 01.38am IST
Alaknanda Pangal has vehemently denied that she and Mahajan shared a
special relationship (TOI Photo)
MUMBAI: The state BJP has been going through pangs of anxiety
following reports in the media of the late Pramod Mahajan's alleged
proximity to a woman from Borivli, one Alaknanda Pangal.
Mahajan, who was the BJP's general secretary and powerful front liner
in Maharashtra, was allegedly killed by his brother Pravin last year.
Alaknanda, who is in her late thirties, vehemently denied that she and
Mahajan had shared a special relationship.
"There was no question of my being close to Pramod," she told TOI on
Wednesday. "He was such a big leader whom I, a small-time worker of
the BJP, could not even access, leave alone get close to. Pramod, like
the Saibaba temple at Shirdi, was a shraddhasthan (object of worship)
for me and will continue to remain one even though he is no more."
The daughter of a BJP worker, Alaknanda, who lives in IC Colony in
Borivli, said she joined the party's mahila wing in 1997 to follow in
the footsteps of her mother, who was active in the Dhule district of
north Maharashtra.
Alaknanda herself is the mother of a 13-year-old daughter. She did not
want to speak about her husband.
"Yesterday, I had gone out of my home when my friends called me on my
cellphone to tell me about reports linking me with Pramod and that my
daughter too had been mentioned," she said. "I rushed home to watch
television and I was shocked to hear the lies being spoken about us.
Only a shikhandi (eunuch) could have made such cheap allegations. My
daughter is 13 years old. If anybody knew anything, then why did that
person wait for 13 years? The lives of public personalities are open
to constant scrutiny. It is not possible to conceal any liaisons."
Asked if she was considering legal action, she replied, "I am studying
the issue and consulting my friends. It will take a few days for me to
formulate my response." She added, "If I was guilty I would have
locked my flat and hidden somewhere to avoid the media. But I have not
done that. I am very much here in my flat. I have nothing to fear."
Given that a year has passed since Mahajan's death, the state BJP has
decided to gradually come out of his shadow. "In future, you will see
fewer posters with Mahajan on them," a senior BJP leader said.
chhotemianinshallah
By: John Malhotra
Friday, 5 March 2010, 17:30 (IST)
The spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, Fr. Anand
Muttungal, has hit out at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief
Mohan Bhagwat for his statement that "Indians were Hindus and if one
was not a Hindu he could not be an Indian."
"His logic is faulty and it is a blatant negation of Indian
Constitution and disrespect to the secular fabric of India," responded
Muttungal, who chided the RSS for "trying hard eighty-four years to
indoctrinate the secular conscience of this country to buy its concept
of Hindu Rashtra."
At a gathering of Hindus in Bhopal, Bhagat reportedly said, “Jesus
Christ was a revered figure and so was Prophet Mohammad, but India
could not be united in their names."
Responding to the statement, Muttungal in an article titled "Warning
Bell to RSS", said it was "an indirect call to incite communal
passion."
"He tells people that Lord Jesus and Prophet Mohmmad are revered
figure but in their name, India cannot be united because they are not
Indians. Any person with common sense would understand that it is a
silly logic. How could one believe this for the simple reason that
this organization continues to praise a western infamous figure Hitler
even today," wrote Muttungal.
"He also went on to say that western life style we should not embrace.
It is very interesting to see him standing in shorts and Shirt, a
purely western dress. This organization needs to abandon its western
identity," he added.
Says Muttungal, "negative publicity is more publicity" and it is a
general principle that works in the media.
"If we analyse the statements made by this organization about
Christians regarding religious conversion, it must be honestly told
that it has given wide publicity to Christianity and it's work in the
country," he noted.
"People are made to think seriously, what is it that makes Christians
to work hard with all these abuses. There is an eagerness created
among a good number people to know more about Christians. It is a
warning bell to the RSS that it can no more go ahead with it's
poisonous ideology against this nation and its constitution."
Copyright © 2010 Christian Today
http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/priest-rebukes-rss-chiefs-hindutva-view/5210.htm
Ganesh Sovani's Blog
Just another WordPress.com weblogMF Husain saga depicts the duplicity
of pseudo secularists !
Defiance unabated
Ever since the celebrated painter Mr.
Husain's nude Bharatmata
Makbool Fida Husain declared his intention to settle down at Doha,
Qatar and accept her citizenship, the media in India has virtually
gone crazy.
Series of articles, debates, public views, edits are being scribbled
down and published day after day in news papers by many, mostly
blaming the Government of India over its failure to ‘protect the world
renowned painter’. !
Electronic media too is also not far behind. In fact, there seem to be
a stiff competition between Pranab Roy’s NDTV 24 X 7 and Rajdeep
Sardesai’s CNN IBN (both known for their perennial left leanings) in
outsmarting each other in airing the special reports, programmes,
debates, surveys, opinion polls, talks, etc. in which the entire
emphasis is on the bashing up Hindu organizations like RSS, VHP,
Bajrang Dal, etc. for being primarily responsible for hounding the
painter hailing from Lord Viththal’s holy place of Pandharpur in the
Solapur in the Western Maharashtra State of India.
On the TV shows, the likes of Anjali Ela Menons (has she taken
Husain’s vakalatnama?) have been blatantly attacking Hindu
organizations for being solely responsible for Husain’s exist from
India.
Times Now which has undoubtedly maintained its credibility by not
aligning with any one on any issue, ever since it was launched three
years ago, has consistently maintained through its ebullient anchor
Arnab Goswami that MF Husain has gone record by saying that it were
the commercial considerations that have influenced him more in
accepting Qatari citizenship, as he is involved in a multi million
project kicked up by first lady of Kingdom of Qatar.
On his part, the RSS Chief Mr. Mohan Bhagwat has categorically gone on
record by saying that his organization was never and is not averse to
MF Husain in staying back India, as he is the citizen by birth and
there was no danger to his life from anyone in India.
However, other Hindu outfits like VHP and Bajrang Dal have
consistently maintained that bare footed painter must apologize to the
whole nation as he has denigrated Goddess Saraswati and Bharatmata by
depicting them in nude in the past and exhibiting in the public
gallery. It’s not a first instance of these Hindu outfits seeking an
apology from the controversial painter! These have been demanding it
ever since Husain ventured into these mischievous acts few years ago!
After the news of Husain securing Qatari nationality broke out in the
last week, Shiv Sena Chief Mr. Bal Thackeray, true to his own style
and character lambasted the painter in his typical ‘Thakri’ language
through an edit of Samana in its edition dated 2nd February and have
gone to the extent of accusing MF Husain as treacherous for having
ditched his own motherland which have given him name and fame. In fact
Samana in the same issue carried a front page interview of Husain’s
maternal brother Kutubuddin Bohri, who too has flayed his brother
painter for ditching India and fleeing to a foreign land.
It’s not a coincidence that until Bal Thackeray wrote on him, Husain
had not opened up his mouth on the whole affair. But barely within
twenty four hours after Samana carried an editorial on him, Husain
gave his maiden interview to Gulf edition of Malayalam Manorama and
tried to clear off the air. But sadly, his defence is totally
unconvincing and he still seems to be defiant in his attitude and has
not expressed any remorse or regret for hurting the sentiments of the
majority of the Indians with his over zealous caricatures.
While the BJP reacted on the same lines, as its parent body RSS did,
Congress, as is its wont has been taking some what an ambivalent stand
on this episode. Though home minister Mr. P. Chimdambaram attempted to
assure Husain that his government would do all it can to protect the
nonagenarian painter, should he returns to India. Apart from PC,
Congress is not coming out firmly on this issue. Can it be seen that
the Congress is bit cautious now, as the UP assembly elections are not
far away, as any attempt to stoutly defend Husain from Congress
platform might cause any dent on its Hindu votes from UP ?
The moot question that arises in this matter, is why the pseudo
secularists are not condemning Husain’s act of depicting the Hindu
characters, Saraswati and Bharatmata and , etc. in a denigrating
manner? Their entire lobby, both in the media and also in the society
is turning a Nelson’s eye to it under the garb of ‘freedom of
expression’ of the painter? Till this date, one has yet to see even an
isolated condemnation of Mr. Husain from any so called ‘liberal’!
Even when Husain was confronted with on numerous TV shows in the past,
before he fled to Europe in 2007, whether he will dare to depict any
female character of other religions (apart from Hindu) on the canvas,
he was virtually dumb founded and skipped the poser.
The secularist and those who are clamoring for Husain’s ‘freedom of
expression’ are conveniently forgetting that when a Danish cartoonist
had drawn a caricature of Prophet Mohammad, none of them had spoken of
freedom of expression of Copenhagen cartoonist ! In fact, none could
afford to say so, as Islam does not permit the depiction of Prophet
Mohammad by any manner and by any means and any attempt to draw his
picture or caricature is treated as a ‘blasphemy’!
If Islam prohibits the depiction of any caricature of Prophet
Mohammad, then the sentiments of Muslims on that score needs to be
respected all over the world. There can’t be any dispute or any debate
on that. One has to accept this reality, whether you like it or not.
In nutshell, if the sentiments of Muslim community can be hurt by a
Danish painter’s misadventure, then why not the Hindus have the same
right to vent their feelings or an outrage over MF Husain’s grossly
erroneous act?
One must appreciate that even after Husain’s mischievous act came to
the fore, Hindus did not vandalize any gallery or personal property of
Husain or there was not even a slightest thought (leave alone attempt)
to touch Husain’s person ! Also no one issued any award to those, who
can harm the painter. Therefore the tolerance level of Hindus needs to
be appreciated and all that which they did was to take a legal
recourse and knock the court doors and bring him to the book!
Why the pseudo secularist are having double standards in measuring an
outcry over the Danish cartoon and Hindu’s reaction over Husain’s
mischievous acts and deeds? It’s all hypocrisy!
The saddest truth is that Husain’s perversity while depicting the
Hindu goddess Saraswati and Bharatmata has indirectly got a universal
acclamation, under the garb of ‘freedom of expression’ and which is
blown up out of proportion by the section of the media, with scant
regard to the sentiments of Hindu community. Can the sentiments be the
monopoly of any single community?
Mr. Husain has been facing hundreds of criminal cases all over the
county under section 295 – A of Indian Penal Code (which is
cognizable, non bailable and having punishment of three years and it
is warrant triable before the Magistrate). It is pertinent to note
that practically all the magisterial courts in the country have ‘taken
cognizance’ of Husain’s ‘deliberate and malicious act’ of hurting the
sentiments of Hindu community.
Wherever the criminal cases were filed against him, neither any of
such Magisterial court has discharged him u/s. 239 of Criminal
Procedure Code. (no the sufficient evidence exists to proceed with the
trial) and no High Court in the country or even an Apex Court has
‘quashed’ the FIR filed against him or stayed any such trial faced by
Mr. Husain. This is sufficient to construe that there is a sufficient
material and a definite case to prosecute him.
The moot question now, is what would be fate of the criminal cases
which have been filed and pending against him all over the country?
Well, if one were to talk in legal parlance, should he remain absent
(which is bound to being away from India), first a bailable warrant,
then a non – bailable warrant and then a proclamation. This would be
sequence of things to happen in case of Mr. Husain who is barely five
years away from completing a century of his life.
Husain is so wise, that to save himself from prosecution back home in
India, he has taken a citizenship of such a country which is rather a
Kingdom in first place and where the ‘word’ democracy does not exist?
Also, India and Qatar have no extradition treaty! This is sufficient
to conclude that all the criminal cases pending against him would turn
out redundant in the matter of time and incumbent government would not
make any effort to bring him back to face the trials, even if they are
compounded and placed for the hearing in any single court.
All in all, the Husain saga has depicted the duplicity of pseudo
secularist in the country, who has different standards in measuring
the religious sentiment of the different communities at different
times.
Can there not be a single non – Hindu citizen in this gigantic country
called India having a population of 1.25 Bn, who can come forward and
strongly condemn Husain’s’ mischievous acts of denigrating Hindu
Goddess Saraswati and Bharatmata?
The truth is there is none. That’s the tragedy of Bhratmata!
Published in: Uncategorized on March 6, 2010 at 12:11 am
http://ganeshsovani.wordpress.com/2010/03/
India Can Make Progress if Run on Hinduism: Bhagwat
Bhopal | Feb 28, 2010 PRINT SHARE COMMENTS
Asserting that India would make progress only if run on the lines of
Hinduism, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said here today that those who were
Indians were Hindus and if one was not a Hindu he could not be an
Indian.
"For us the word Hindu did not mean any religion but a way of life,"
he said at the annual function of the local RSS and the Hindu Samagam
here.
He said that the Union Finance Minister had in his budget speech
quoted from Chanakaya but this was totally out of context.
Bhagwat said that what Chanakaya had said was valid for his times and
not the present-day India.
The RSS Chief hit out equally at America and China for trying to
undermine India in a number of ways.
Bhagwat said that while America dumped rejected and cheap drugs in
India, China was making attempts to make sure that it alone was the
most powerful power in South Asia.
He said that as part of this efforts, China was playing an active role
in Nepal while at the same trying to cow down India.
Before Bhagwat's speech, a large number of Swayamsevaks gave a
demonstration of various physical exercises.
The RSS Chief said that the partition of the country in 1947 did not
lead to any good for anyone in the sub-continent.
Bhagwat said that till today Pakistan had not prospered as a nation
although it continued to be a headache for India at many times.
He said that Pakistan always used the Kashmir issue to create problems
with India and that the problem can be resolved only with the merger
of POK with India.
We were so meek that we went for talks with Pakistan although it used
the time taken by talks to prepare for more terrorist attacks, he
said.
The RSS Chief said the same thing applies to the manner in which the
Centre was getting ready to hold talks with Naxalites.
Filed At: Feb 28, 2010 22:25 IST , Edited At: Feb 28, 2010 22:25 IST
FILED IN: RSS , Mohan Bhagwat
© Copyright PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution
of any PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without their prior written consent.
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Comments
Mar 02, 2010 02:17 AM
5 "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said here today that those who were Indians
were Hindus and if one was not a Hindu he could not be an Indian."
This is a stupid definition.
"The RSS Chief said that the partition of the country in 1947 did not
lead to any good for anyone in the sub-continent"
If partition had not happened, there would be far fewer hindus in this
country. The dude has got everything wrong.
Like his predecessor, this guy is an idiot and shows it everytime he
opens his mouth.
Ganesan, Nj
Mar 02, 2010 02:10 AM
4 Swami Vivekanand defined Hinduism for the modern age. Now Mohan
Bhagwat and the RSS are trying to undefine it!
Anwaar, Dallas
Mar 01, 2010 12:44 PM
3 > "RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said here today that those who were
Indians were Hindus and if one was not a Hindu he could not be an
Indian."
He also said that those who were Sanghis were delusuional and if one
was not delusional one could not be a Sanghi.
> "For us the word Hindu did not mean any religion but a way of life."
Is it very hard to call our way of life "the Indian way of life", and
leave the word "Hindu" for matters of faith, worship, festivals, rites
etc. Why is the RSS so much against Hinduism?
Anwaar, Dallas
Mar 01, 2010 09:44 AM
2 --"Bhagwat said that while America dumped rejected and cheap drugs
in India"
And THIS is his only gripe with America ?!!
dev raya, Bangalore
Mar 01, 2010 09:39 AM
1 --"Mohan Bhagwat said here today that those who were Indians were
Hindus and if one was not a Hindu he could not be an Indian."
What a supremely presumptuous little prick. Does he need to be
reminded that Hinduism itself is not Indian ? If he is not comfortable
with the Constitution he should find another country to emigrate to.
dev raya, Bangalore
http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?675519
Body in Nitin Gadkari's car: HC tells CID to investigate
Jaideep Hardikar / DNA
Saturday, March 6, 2010 0:37 IST
Mumbai: Dissatisfied with the police investigation into the death of
Yogita Thakare, the seven-year-old daughter of BJP president Nitin
Gadkari’s maid, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court on
Friday handed over the case to the state CID.
Vimal Thakare, the girl’s mother, had filed a petition more than three
months ago seeking a CBI investigation. A bench of justice AP Lavande
and justice Pradeep Varale, however, directed the state CID to
investigate the matter.
Yogita’s body was found in the boot of Gadkari’s car parked at his
Nagpur home in May 2009. Gadkari, who was the BJP’s state chief then,
was not in the city when the body was found. Jayant Patil, the then
home minister, gave a statement in the legislative assembly that
Gadkari had nothing to do with the death.
The girl’s family, however, suspected foul play. Her mother moved the
high court alleging loopholes in the police investigations. She wanted
a CBI inquiry into her daughter’s death.
A guard informed Vimal Thakare about the incident after a local
doctor, called by Gadkari’s office employees, pronounced her dead. The
vehicle was parked just four metres away from the main gate where a
guard was on duty the day the body was found. He is one of the crucial
witnesses in the case.
“The court rejected a CBI inquiry, but gave it to the CID,” Dr Anjan
De, complainant’s lawyer, said. “We are still to get a detailed copy
of the verdict.”
Prosecution lawyer Nitin Sambre said the court found discrepancies on
two counts — the car’s make and the different perceptions of the cause
of her death. While the post-mortem report said Yogita died because of
suffocation, Dr Saira Merchant, the head of Indira Gandhi
Medical College’s paediatric department, said in her report that
Yogita could not have died of suffocation.
The high court bench pulled up the Nagpur Police over
loopholes in the investigations — from the spot inquest to the
interrogations of Gadkari’s employees.
Yogita, it came up during one of the hearings, was undergoing
treatment for sickle cell anaemia and congenital heart disease. The
prosecution maintained during the hearing that the girl’s death was
natural and there was no foul play.
Bal Thackeray targets Maharashtra governor over `Mumbai for all'
remark
PTI
Saturday, March 6, 2010 11:16 IST
Mumbai: After batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and industrialist
Mukesh Ambani, Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan is the latest
to face the Shiv Sena ire for saying that Mumbai belongs to all.
"Saying that migrants will continue to come to Mumbai is akin to
betrayal of Maharashtra," Sena chief Bal Thackeray said in an
editorial in party newspaper Samana here today.
The governor had said yesterday that "anybody can live in Mumbai. Only
Mumbai can compete with itself. The rich, middle class and the poor co-
exist here".
In an informal interaction with media persons, his first since taking
over the gubernatorial post, he said though civic and infrastructure
facilities needed to be upgraded in the megapolis, migration from
other parts of the country cannot be curbed.
Terming governors who reside in the sprawling Raj Bhawan by the
Arabian Sea here as "Congress pensioners", Thackeray said, "Raj Bhawan
has lost touch with people's sentiments, thats why you say such
things."
"Had Sankaranarayanan been the governor of Karnataka, would he have
dared to say let hordes of migrants come to Bengaluru," Thackeray, who
has earlier targeted Tendulkar and Ambani over their `Mumbai belongs
to all' remarks, said.
"Mumbai has been made into a dharamshala. The only way to stop the
influx of migrants is to start a permit system to impose curbs on
those coming here," Thackeray said.
Why does Raj want Nitin Gadkari as CM?
Shubhangi Khapre / DNA
Thursday, May 7, 2009 2:39 IST
Mumbai: Less than a week after polling was held in the state for the
Lok Sabha elections, the process of churning in mainstream parties for
the state assembly polls in September has already begun.
Sensing that the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has managed to
strike a positive chord with Marathi voters, whispers within the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to consider MNS chief Raj Thackeray as a
possible poll partner for the state elections are growing louder.
Raj has embarked on a mission to ensure that estranged cousin Uddhav
Thackeray does not become chief minister of Maharashtra. Raj has
declared state BJP president Nitin Gadkari as the most suitable
candidate for chief ministership of the state.
Whether by sheer coincidence or design, Sena chief Bal Thackeray has
already suggested that son Uddhav not throw his hat into the ring for
the CM's post. In his Saamna editorial, Thackeray wrote, "The
kingmaker should refrain from power and position." Uddhav, too, has
never made his ambition public. But his party has been projecting him
as the next CM if the Sena-BJP is voted to power this September.
A senior BJP general secretary said, "We will have to explore all
possible options, including the MNS, for the assembly polls. We cannot
depend on the Shiv Sena alone."
A Sena leader said, "We have to ascertain how serious the BJP-MNS
nexus is. Is the BJP using the Raj factor to put the Sena on the back
foot, and extract a hard bargain in the assembly?"
Everybody is waiting to see if Raj can get 6% votes of the total of
41% to get the Election Commission reckoning for the party symbol. A
possible NCP-Shiv Sena nexus for the assembly polls is also being
debated. The Congress has already complained against the NCP's attempt
to sabotage their 10 seats in the Lok Sabha polls, and pressure is
mounting within the Congress to sever ties with the NCP for the
assembly election.
Saffron poll managers admit that there is mistrust among the top Sena-
BJP leadership. The growing BJP-MNS bond will further complicate this
partnership.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_why-does-raj-want-nitin-gadkari-as-cm_1253615
Raj Thackeray favours Nitin Gadkari's formula on Babri Masjid
Kiran Tare / DNA
Tuesday, February 23, 2010 1:29 IST
Mumbai: While Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray disagreed with BJP
president Nitin Gadkari’s idea of rebuilding the Babri Masjid on an
open plot near the Ram temple in Ayodhya, his nephew and MNS president
Raj Thackeray has welcomed it cautiously.
Babri Masjid“Why was the BJP not this wise earlier?” Raj commented to
reporters at Chopda in Jalgaon district on Monday. “Had they taken the
same stand in the past, there would not have been riots all over the
country and innocent people would not have lost their lives. [But]
there is no point discussing the old matter and recalling old
memories.”
Raj was in Chopda in connection with a court case regarding violence
by MNS workers over the issue of migrants last year. He was granted
bail on a personal bond of Rs7,000.
Last week, Gadkari had mooted the idea of rebuilding the mosque,
demolished by a frenzied crowd of extremist Hindus on December 6,
1992, at the BJP’s national conclave in Indore.
“I appeal to the Muslims to cooperate in building a Ram temple at the
[disputed] site in Ayodhya,” Gadkari said. “I assure [them that] we
will help them build a mosque at a nearby open space.”
Thackeray had dubbed Gadkari’s idea an insult to the memory of the
karsevaks who were killed in Ayodhya during the Ram Janmabhoomi
movement. “Only a Ram temple will be built in Ayodhya,” he had said.
“There is no need to seek the permission of Muslims for that.”
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Babri Masjid Action Committee have
also opposed Gadkari’s idea.
Gadkari shares a good rapport with Raj. “In my opinion, Nitin Gadkari
is the right person for the chief minister’s post in Maharashtra,” Raj
had said before the October 2009 assembly elections in the state.
Bal Thackeray slams Nitin Gadkari over Ayodhya
Surendra Gangan / DNA
Saturday, February 20, 2010 11:24 IST
Last updated: Sunday, February 21, 2010 0:31 IST
Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has slammed ally Bhartiya Janata
Party and its chief Nitin Gadkari for the latter's appeal to the
Muslim community to co-operate in constructing the Ram Mandir and
agreeing to build a Masjid on the adjacent land at Ayodhya.
Bal Thackeray
Thackeray, in the edit in Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamana, has termed
the BJP proposal as an insult to the Kar Sevaks who 'fought' and lost
their lives for the Ram Mandir on the disputed land.
The edit says, "If the Muslims were to be persuaded to co-operate to
build the mandir by Hindus, why was the movement in Ayodhya launched
by the Hindus? If we had to surrender to the imam of the Jama Masjid
by falling on his feet for a piece of land for the mandir (instead of
fighting for it), we would have easily got the land for the mandir
then. The option was more convenient, but the Hindus chose to fight
for their right and hundreds had to sacrifice their lives.
The edit raised the question about the right of Babar over Ayodhya.
"Babar was invited by the Muslim emperor to support him in India. Ram
came to Ayodhya hundreds of years before Babar came here in 1528.Babar
was an aggressor and there is no reason why Muslims should fight for
the Masjid named after him against Hindus in their own country," it
stated further.
Thackeray also slammed prime minister Manmohan Singh for his statement
in the favour of Muslims. "The PM said that Muslims have the first
right over the resources of the country. 80 per cent Hindus tolerate
this meekly. Muslims have everything and Hindus don't even have their
Ram mandir. And now the BJP wants Hindus to plead to Muslims for the
temple," he said.
Political observers feel this as one more sign of increasing
differences between the parties. Thackeray criticized the BJP on
various issues including statehood to Vidarbha and alleged atrocities
on Marathi speaking people in BJP-lead Karnataka.
http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_bal-thackeray-slams-nitin-gadkari-over-ayodhya_1350218
LK Advani heaps praise on Nitin Gadkari's forthrightness
PTI
Monday, February 22, 2010 20:19 IST
New Delhi: Nitin Gadkari's forthrightness has been able to melt away
the despondency set in by two successive setbacks in the Lok Sabha
elections and turned the BJP upbeat at the just concluded Indore
conclave, senior leader LK Advani said today.
In his latest blog posting, Advani said that before the three-day
Indore conclave, the question bothering BJP delegates was whether
Gadkari will be able to inspire confidence in the party cadre,
"seemingly disheartened and disappointed by two successive setbacks in
the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 and 2009?"
Advani said he could see the "initial scepticism rapidly melting away"
and when the delegates left the venue, their doubts were replaced by
optimism and confidence.
As compared to previous such programmes attended by him (Advani),
"seldom before have I seen delegates so upbeat, and enthusiastic
participants in every single programme at the session as I have seen
this time," Advani, who was elected working chairman of NDA, said.
The BJP leader said the delegates had a strong feeling that the
"attributes of transparent frankness and forthrightness that they had
been able to discern in the new president were exactly what the party
needed at this point of time."
At the National Executive and Council, attended by nearly four
thousand delegates, Gadkari was able to interact with senior state BJP
representatives and BJP chief ministers at a single combined conclave
for the first time.
Ex-devotee seeks to expose 'Krishna Leela'
D Ram Raj / DNA
Sunday, March 7, 2010 0:51 IST
Chennai: The Chennai police on Saturday booked a fresh case against
spiritual guru Swami Paramahamsa Nithyananda on a complaint filed by
his former devotee Nithya Dharmananda alias K Lenin of Athur in Salem
district. The Chennai police also decided to transfer the case to
Karnataka, where Nithyananda (who has his spiritual headquarters at
Bidadi, about 30km from Bengaluru) reportedly “betrayed” the trust of
his devotees. Lenin accused Nithyananda of “misbehaving” with
“beautiful” women and “forcing” them into compromising positions with
him. Lenin also handed over a CD containing “raunchy bed room” scenes
of Nithayanda to the police commissioner of Chennai.
Lenin in his complaint stated that he was spiritually attracted
towards Nithyananda in 2004. In 2006 he shifted to the ashram in
Bangalore as a staunch devotee, he said. There he found Nithyananda
misbehaving with “innocent women” stating that he was incarnation of
Lord Krishna and beautiful women devotees were his gopis. He would try
to hug and molest them. Some disturbed women devotees stopped visiting
the ashram, while one woman also tried to commit suicide, Lenin
alleged. Lenin also claimed that he often found “actress Ranjitha” and
Nithyananda in compromising positions. Lenin claimed that he was very
upset as well as spiritually let down by his guru and hence decided to
secretly tape Nithyananda’s romp with Ranjitha in December 2009,
Chennai police commissioner T Rajendran told reporters on Saturday.
Lenin also alleged that Nithyananda had threatened to “kill” him on
February 18 and February 19 this year when he visited Salem for the
inauguration of his new ashram. Nithyananda suspected Lenin of
secretly taping his “bedroom scenes”, invited him into his van and
threatened to kill him. Lenin, however, escaped from the clutches of
Nithyananda by stating that he wanted to answer nature’s call. Lenin
asked the police to save the innocent “masses” from the clutches of
“Nithyananda”, who had blatantly betrayed their trust, according to
the complaint. “As all the incidents reportedly occurred in Karnataka,
we have decided to transfer the case to that state,” Rajendran stated.
“Tamil Nadu DG [director general Latika Saran] has already spoken to
her counter part in Karnataka and necessary action will be taken. We
are willing to fully co-operate with the Karnataka police during
investigations in the case,” he said. A case was also registered
against Nithyananda in Coimbatore. According to Coimbatore police
sources, they were trying to find out the exact whereabouts of
Ranjitha as they wanted to question her on her alleged “sexacapades”
with Nithyananda. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports stated that
Nithyananda could also have harboured links with the LTTE. “He may
have sheltered some LTTE leaders in his Bangalore ashram, but it needs
to be confirmed,” sources said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_ex-devotee-seeks-to-expose-krishna-leela_1356122
Communal ideologues forced MF Husain to leave India: Digvijay Singh
PTI
Saturday, March 6, 2010 15:54 IST
Indore: Terming as "very unfortunate" Qatar's conferring citizenship
on renowned Indian painter M F Husain, Congress leader Digvijay Singh
said here today that he (Husain) was forced to accept it due to
harassment from people having communal ideology.
MF Husain "Acceptance of Qatar's citizenship by famous artist like
Husain is very unfortunate. It is a big defeat of those people whose
ideology is liberal and who believe in communal harmony," Singh told
reporters here.
He said that due to constant attack from people with communal
ideology, Husain had to live a life of self-exile and finally he was
forced to accept Qatar's proposal to become its citizen.
However, the Congress general secretary refuted the charge that the
Indian government had failed to give adequate protection to Husain who
was facing attacks from saffron activists for making controversial
paintings of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
"There was no problem to the government from Husain but when the heart
of an artist breaks up, it takes long time to heal it," Singh said.
Amidst opposition attacks on the hike of petrol and diesel prices, he
said that there had been many fold increase in fuel prices during the
NDA regime.
"After presenting a comparative study of it, we will put this fact
before the people," the Congress general secretary said.
I've not abandoned India: MF Husain
PTI
Thursday, March 4, 2010 20:34 IST
Thiruvananthapruam: Renowned painter MF Husain today said he has not
abandoned India and accepted Qatari citizenship because of "some
technical reasons and artistic conveniences".
Talking to Malayalam channel Manorama News from Dubai, he said "I have
not abandoned India. Though I consider myself a world citizen, I am
accepting Qatari citizenship because of some technical reasons and
artistic conveniences."
Husain, who could not come to Kerala to receive the state government's
Raja Ravi Varma Award conferred on him two years ago, said it was for
the state government to remove
legal obstacles in his way.
"If the Kerala government is serious about Raja Ravi Varma Award, it
should try to remove the legal obstacles," Husain said when asked
whether it was not time for him to come to Kerala to receive it.
Husain was chosen for Kerala's highest honour for artistic excellence,
instituted in memory of the renowned Indian painter Varma, in 2008.
But the government has not been able to present it to him since he has
been living abroad.
When the artist's comments on the award were brought to his notice,
Kerala culture minister MA Baby told PTI that the state government
would explore the possibility of presenting the award to him.
He, however, said efforts by the Kerala government alone was not
enough to remove the legal obstacles. The Centre should take steps to
clear legal hurdles before the artist to enable him come to India, he
said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_i-ve-not-abandoned-india-mf-husain_1355285
It's all over, confirms MF Husain
ND Prashant / DNA
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 1:24 IST
Doha: The enormity of the loss may take some time to sink in, but it’s
now clear that MF Husain will no more remain Indian. “It’s all over.
I’ve just completed the final formalities,” said the artist to an
anguished Indian fan at the immigration department in Qatar’s capital,
Doha.
As the barefooted Husain sat with his paintbrush-shaped walking stick
among the crowd looking at the ticking counter numbers, the sense of
resignation in the 95-year-old was hard to miss.
“Could an apology have helped sort out things?” he was asked.
“How long can I wait? It’s been 12 years, and even the Supreme Court
has given the judgment,’’ he answered. But he clarified that the India
connection was too strong to be over. “My artwork is still based on
India and it flows through me and I shall still continue to work on
it,” he said.
Husain was forced into exile in 2006 after some fundamentalist outfits
launched a virulent attack on him for his portrayal of Hindu deities
in the nude. His paintings were vandalised and, worse, nearly 900
cases were filed against him. With no sincere help coming from the
government to protect him, he left for Dubai.
As his number approached, Husain, dragging his weary legs, moved from
the second row to the first. He then pulled out a small book from his
pocket and started reading it. It was the Quran. He was probably
praying for last-minute divine intervention.
An aide then walked up to him with some documents and once the maestro
signed them, it was all over.
As he dragged himself out of he office to a waiting car, the fan could
not help mutter, “Sir, we love you.”
“I know son, there are a lot of people out there who love me, but…,”
Husain said and moved into the car.
The fan sighed. The next artwork the painter does will not be from the
‘Picasso of India’.
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_it-s-all-over-confirms-mf-husain_1354100
Will MF Husain's humiliation hurt our image internationally?
DNA
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 1:59 IST
Mumbai: Government should have stood by him
Till date the government has not taken a stand on this issue at all.
This shows that the government doesn’t bother about the great artist
or perhaps they are afraid of some reaction from fundamentalists. In
the future, if some organisation honours him, then we will be the
first to ‘reclaim’ him. The Indian government is surely responsible
for hounding away Husain.
Kunal Sejpal
Let him be at peace wherever he is
Many are of the opinion that we should make an exception and grant
Husain dual citizenship, but this will lead to more controversy. He
has taken a decision so we should let him stay peacefully wherever he
feels at ease. But this will encourage extremists to continue
targeting people and have their say. His paintings offended people and
he should have been more responsible.
Yesha B
Don’t let forces of intolerance prevail
It is sad that Husain, a prolific painter, chose to give up his Indian
nationality. Another writer Taslima Nasreen also couldn’t get Indian
citizenship following her struggle with a small group of hardliners.
Both are victims of fundamentalists. A celebrity of international fame
being denied Indian citizenship and another harassed at the time of
extending her visa, speaks volumes of the hollowness of the
government’s secularism.
Sayyad Naqvi
Not right to treat a great artist shabbily
What’s the point discussing it now, when MF Husain has already
accepted citizenship of Qatar and decided to move on? It’s a great
loss to India, but for how long can one expect a 95-year-old to wait
for decent treatment from his home country? I don’t think there is any
space for freedom of speech for artists or even filmmakers these
days.
Mitesh Bora
His choice of country is surprising
It’s sad that the Picasso of India has been meted such treatment.
However now that he has taken a decision his well wishers seem to have
been roused from their reverie. Such an incident will tarnish India’s
image and prove that we are intolerant. Also surprising is that Husain
has taken citizenship of a country like Qatar which doesn’t offer much
freedom of expression.
Amita Mehta
Sangh ideologue slams MF Husain
PTI
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 19:31 IST
Thiruvananthapruam: Painter MF Husain, who has accepted Qatari
nationality, has come under attack from a leading Hindutva ideologue
who accused him of "maligning" India's image before the world by
creating an impression that it is a nation of fundamentalists.
"He is deliberately trying to create an impression that Islamic
countries have more freedom than India," said P Parameswaran, director
of Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram here.
On Husain's claim that he enjoyed more freedom in Qatar, he sought to
know if he would be "bold enough" to exercise his artistic freedom and
paint Islamic symbols.
"What kind of artistic freedom is he talking about? Is painting Hindu
gods and goddesses and even Bharat mata in bad light the ultimate test
of artistic freedom? Has freedom no restriction or limit,"
Parameswaran told PTI.
"If Danish newspapers can apologise for carrying cartoon of Prophet
Muhammad, why can't Husain apologise for hurting the sentiments of
people of the country? Husain had actually got what 'he deserved and
probably what he desired'," he said.
On how he saw erotic murals and sculptures in Hindu temples, he said
great Indians like Swami Vivekananda had openly condemned and
described such paintings as "degenerate and grotesque caricatures" and
not true Indian art.
"Nobody now admires them. No artists reproduce such paintings except
Husain. Great Indian artist Raja Ravi Varma produced hundreds of
portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses and won worldwide acclaim," he
said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sangh-ideologue-slams-mf-husain_1354867
Security will be provided to MF Husain: Government
PTI
Thursday, February 25, 2010 19:55 IST
New Delhi: Describing self-exiled eminent artist MF Husain as the
"pride of India", the government today said it is willing to provide
security to him and that no case is pending against him in any of the
courts in the country.
Responding to questions from the media on Husain being conferred
honorary citizenship by Qatar, Union home secretary GK Pillai said,
"there is no case against MF Husain. Supreme Court has quashed all the
cases against him."
The home secretary went on to say that the Government was ready to
provide security to the 95-year-old artist, if he planned to return to
India.
"He (Husain) is the pride of India," foreign secretary Nirupama Rao
said adding, "I would like him to feel safe and secure in India".
Husain has been living abroad for nearly four years following a spate
of legal cases in the country over his controversial paintings of
Hindu goddesses and a hate campaign against him.
Several cases were filed against him by people protesting his
portrayal of Hindu goddesses in the nude. His house in India was
attacked and art works vandalised by fundamentalists.
The Union Government had approached the apex court for the expeditious
disposal of cases across the country over his controversial paintings
so that his early return could be ensured.
The Delhi high court in May 2009 had quashed criminal proceedings
against the painter, saying his paintings were an expression of
creativity.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_security-will-be-provided-to-mf-husain-government_1352590
MF Husain misses India, despite Qatari nationality: Gurudas Shenoy
Monica Jha
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 10:57 IST
Artist Gurudas Shenoy has known MF Husain for a long time. The two
have in fact watched Hum Aapke Hain Kaun 44 times in the city. He
tells DNA that Husain’s decision to accept Qatari nationality was not
a betrayal of India, and that the painter immensely loves the country,
its culture and traditions.
How have you and the city of Bangalore been associated with Husain?
I know him and understand him well. I stay with him when I go to Dubai
or London. He usually stays with us when he comes to Bangalore. He was
a great friend of my father, artist GS Shenoy. He used to say that
Ramakrishna Hegde and my father were the two people responsible for
his association with Karnataka. He is sponsoring and also writing for
a coffee table book about my father.
We, at our studio, had many of his works, which have been shifted to
various places after the studio closed down two years back. He loved
dosa, sambar, rasam and karela chips at our house. He also loved to
eat dosa at Airlines Hotel and follow it up with a Rajkumar film. He
loved walking around the city. We have together watched Hum Aapke Hain
Kaun 44 times in Bangalore.
Is Husain’s adoption of Qatari nationality a loss to India?
An artist lives in his works. Husain is wherever his works are. He
cannot be limited to one country. But, it (his decision) is sad for
the country. I wish people had realised what his presence meant. But,
he is Husain. He is unpredictable. He cannot stay at a place for more
than six days.
Many say Husain showed a lack of faith in India and betrayed India.
People go to the US for jobs and take up American nationality. Do we
call it betrayal? An Indian scientist goes to another country, wins a
Nobel Prize. We still call him an Indian.
How can one term Husain’s decision to adopt Qatari nationality a
betrayal?
Whatever was said about the efforts being made to bring him back
seemed just superficial talk. Was there any concrete effort made? No.
But he has nothing against anybody. He says all Indians are his
countrymen and that he loves them.
His heart is here. He is missing India, Indian cinema theatres and all
the action here. He loves India, its culture and traditions. Husain
is, in fact, currently working on a series of paintings based on
India.
Will Qatar be more tolerant to Husain’s ideas and works than India?
You must see what is happening in Qatar now. They are spending
millions of dollars to set up art museums.
What is Husain doing right now?
He is 95 and is working tirelessly. Husain is working on a series of
100 paintings on Arab civilisation since the time of the Babylonians.
BJP: No objection to Qatar citizenship for MF Husain
PTI
Thursday, February 25, 2010 20:56 IST
New Delhi: The BJP today said it had no issues with controversial
painter MF Husain being offered citizenship by Qatar, adding everybody
had a right to reside anywhere in the world but when it came to
creative pursuits one should not hurt sentiments of others.
"On this earth, every person has the right to live anywhere. So, we
don't want to blame Husain if he accepts this offer of citizenship
made by Qatar," deputy leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia
said.
Husain has been living in Dubai and London for the past few years
since he had to flee from India when he faced opposition from some
sections for his controversial paintings depicting Hindu Goddesses in
the nude.
Ahluwalia said the main issue was why Husain could not live in India.
"Every painter, writer, journalist and those involved in other
creative pursuits should keep in mind that while they are engaged in
painting or writing... they should not do anything which hurts or
harms the sentiments of others," he said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_bjp-no-objection-to-qatar-citizenship-for-mf-husain_1352618
CPI (M) MP pleads for bringing back MF Husain
PTI
Thursday, March 4, 2010 13:33 IST
New Delhi: A strong plea for bringing back renowned artist MF Husain,
who has become a citizen of Qatar after living in self-imposed exile,
was made by a CPI(M) member in the Lok Sabha today.
Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Ramachandra Dome said Husain has
been an artist of international repute and it was sad and "shameful
for the country" that at an old age, he had to stay abroad. He sought
to know the government's stand on the matter and whether it has taken
any decision to bring Husain back.
There was no response from the Government. Ninety-five-year-old Husain
has been living in self-imposed exile in Dubai for the last five years
following threats from some fundamentalists. Recently he was offered
citizenship of Qatar which he has accepted.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cpi-m-mp-pleads-for-bringing-back-mf-husain_1355102
India is my soul, but it has rejected me: MF Husain
PTI
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 14:38 IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Renowned painter M F Husain, who has accepted
Qatar nationality, feels that the attack against him by right wing
outfits in India that forced him into exile for 12 years was targeted
at art and
self-expression rather than his Muslim identity.
"I have not intended to denigrate or hurt the beliefs of anyone
through my art. I only give expression to the instincts from my soul,"
the 95 year-old painter said in an interview to Malayalam daily
'Madhyamam' from Qatar capital Doha.
Husain said it was with "deep pain" in his heart that he was giving up
Indian citizenship. "India is my soul. But the country has rejected
me," he said.
"India is my motherland and I can never hate the country. But the
political leadership, artists and intellectuals kept silent when Sangh
Parivar forces attacked me. How can I live there in such a situation?"
he asked.
Husain said he knew that 90% of Indians loved him and a small
minority, including a handful of politicians were the only people who
were opposed to him.
"I am happy that there are people in all parts of the world who love
me," he said.
He said successive governments in India had failed to ensure
protection to him during repeated threats from right wing extremists.
"For politicians, only votes are important. No government had called
me back to India till now. They are inviting me when another country
offered me citizenship. How can I trust the political leadership now,"
Husain said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_india-is-my-soul-i-still-love-the-country-mf-husain_1354695
SC gives relief to MF Husain
Rakesh Bhatnagar
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 23:24 IST
New Delhi: MF Hussain won't have to appear before a court in Bhopal
that has summoned him on July 27 to face criminal proceedings started
by a man whose religious sentiments were hurt by Hussain's painting
Bharat Mata.
The SC on Tuesday afternoon stayed the Bhopal court's order on a
complaint accusing the 90-year-old artist of having outraged religious
sentiments of the people with his controversial paintings. Judges also
restrained the trial court from conducting further proceedings.
The Bench also ordered that Hussain's petition for transfer of his
case from Bhopal to Delhi be clubbed with other such petitions filed
by him which were already pending before the apex court.
Meanwhile, a Meerut court on Tuesday directed the police to register a
case against the artist for allegedly making objectionable paintings
of Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ashok Pathak passed the order on
a complainant's grievance, which held that Hussain's painting on the
website had "hurt" his religious feelings.
On May 12, the apex court had stayed the execution of a bailable
warrant issued by a Pandharpur court in Maharashtra against Hussain.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sc-gives-relief-to-mf-husain_1043779
Media Syndicate
Essential News for educative purposes - A program of 'Education
Informal'
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The convoluted logic of RSS exposed once again ....
In a recent press gathering, the chief of RSS, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat has
said:
1. “He who is an Indian is a Hindu and he who is not a Hindu is not an
Indian.”
2. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said that those who were Indians
were Hindus and if one was not a Hindu he could not be an Indian.
3. "For us the word Hindu did not mean any religion but a way of
life,"
We need to look at it a little closely to find out what MB must have
meant by this. Some of my friends tell me that this has always been
the stance of the RSS.
There are some very interesting consequences arising out of this.
Firstly, since MB(RSS) has not defined what a Hindu is, and what an
Indian is, this statement is like "Something that we do not know" is
same as "Something that we do not know". Fair enough. MB and RSS have
enough space for maneuver.
Therefore we have some interesting questions for the RSS. What is the
way of life that is called by the name Hinduism? And who is an Indian?
Let us try and analyze what these terms can not mean.
Let us call the present geopolitical entity India as India-GP.
Similarly let us call the so called geographical Akhand-Bharat of the
RSS India-AB. The passport holders of India-GP as Indian(s)-GP. Let us
call those who live south-east of the Hindukush valley and in the
peninsular region as Hindu-GP. If we add the Tibetan region to this
Hindu-GP, we term it as Hindu-AB. Let us call the yet to be defined
"way of life" WOL, and those who are Hindus by this way of life Hindu-
WOL.
There are two interesting observations to be made here. India-GP,
India-AB, Hindu-GP, Hindu-AB are geographic regions. Hindu-WOL is not
a geographic definition.
MB's statement consists of two parts besides mentioning that by the
term Hindu, MB meant Hindu-WOL.
a. Every Indian is a Hindu,
and
b. A person who is not a Hindu can not be an Indian.
We have following questions:
0. How do we determine who is a Hindu-WOL?
1. Are there Hindu-WOL residing outside India-GP? If yes, then in what
sense does MB mean that they are Indians? Does RSS advocate issuing
Indian-GP passport to them?
2. Are there people who are not Hindu-WOL within India-GP? If yes,
what does RSS recommend towards non-Hindu-WOL living in India-GP? For
example, are they to be thrown out of the India-GP?
3. What is the attitude of the RSS towards the government representing
the India-GP state?
There is one easy path that RSS can take. They can define that a Hindu-
WOL respects all religions. This leads to a funny situation that a
Hindu-WOL need not respect Hinduism-WOL, and yet can be a Hindu-WOL .
The compulsion to respect Hinduism-WOL is absent because Hinduism-WOL
is not a religion!
Another question is: Does a Hindu-WOL have to respect those religions
who are bloodthirsty against them, for example those who have vowed to
destroy Hindu-WOL?
Mr. MB, now the time is here to stand up and be counted. Your
convoluted language will not work. The least you can do to allay these
misgivings is to make your notions of Hindu and Indian very very
clear, preferably giving examples. Hiding behind the veil of secrecy
and ambiguity will be counterproductive.
Posted by samAlochaka
2 comments:
P Kalyan said...
This is a great article. On the day RSS defines "Hindu" clearly, it
will be dead!
March 4, 2010 9:01 AM
samAlochaka said...
PK, why do you say so? Is it not possible that RSS will get some new
supporters?
March 4, 2010 11:15 AM
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/convoluted-logic-of-rss-exposed-once.html
Media Syndicate
Essential News for educative purposes - A program of 'Education
Informal'
Friday, March 5, 2010
At the very least, Muslims need to be educated by Mr. Anees Jillani
Mr. Anees Jillani, a regular contributor to Indian Express has
recently written an article.
Let Shahmira Oad’s body rest in peace:
The universe has existed for more than four billion years, and it may
last several more billion years. And maybe even for infinity. The
scale is beyond our comprehension, and the least we all can realise is
the fact that all religions are recent occurrences when placed on this
mammoth time scale of four billion years.
Discrimination on the basis of religion thus makes no sense, but it
seems that some who have appropriated the role of mediators between
ourselves and a higher truth are determined to prove that some people,
on the basis of their religious affiliation, are more equal than
others, even to the point of not allowing the dead to rest in peace.
Sheeraz Qureshi, a maulvi claiming to hold a master’s degree in
Physics, is leading a crusade in a village in Sindh, in Pakistan, to
remove the body of a Hindu girl from a Muslim graveyard. Seventeen-
year old Shahmira Oad, the daughter of Bachayo Oad, a resident of
Hala, died on April 28, 2009, and was buried at the Khudabad
graveyard, three kilometres southwest of New Hala town.
Shahmira Oad’s relatives buried her there only after receiving
permission from the locals, including the caretaker of the graveyard.
But Sheeraz Qureshi and other religious elements are quoting fatwas
pronounced by some traditional religious leaders that only Muslims are
allowed to bury their loved ones in Muslim graveyards.
All religions are supposed to be in conformity with the basic human
values. It is doubtful if any religion calls for exhuming the body of
a poor 17-year-old Hindu girl from a Muslim graveyard because her body
is ‘defiling’ the graveyard. If anything, the removal of the body is
likely to desecrate it and such an act would defile everybody buried
there.
Shahmira’s family and the Hindu community in the area, which is not
surprisingly poor, has been getting threats about her body. The local
notables, instead of telling off the cleric not to rake up such a
mindless issue, are pressuring the poor family to remove the body.
Shahmira’s grave is not even located anywhere close to the other
graves in the graveyard, not that it would have made any difference.
It is about five metres away from other graves. Despite this, in order
to save her body from defilement and avoid a clash in the community,
her family has expressed willingness to build a boundary wall around
her grave.
The issue is fast threatening to turn into communal imbroglio and a
suit has been filed in the court of a civil judge for removal of the
grave. The judge is under immense local pressure. The opponents are
saying that they “will not keep silent until the bones of the strange
girl are thrown out of the graveyard”.
There are some sane voices in the community opposing the exhumation of
the body on the grounds that several graveyards in the Sindh province
are common burial grounds for both Hindus and Muslims. For instance,
the graveyards alongside the famous shrines of great Sufi saints, like
Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Sachchal Sarmast, Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed,
and other spiritual leaders, are open for burial regardless of
religion.
It is said that Islam is the most tolerant religion. But if this is
how we behave then what would distinguish us from the upper caste
Hindus in Indian villages who refuse to permit people of lower castes
to use the same well to draw water? Ganga is a holy river for all the
Hindus; should the Hindus then forbid persons belonging to all other
denominations from using its water?
We all feel the pinch when something happens to a Muslim and an
Islamic symbol, like the mosque but we have no qualms about the
religious feelings of others. Almost every Muslim in the world was
saddened by the destruction of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992. But we
don’t even think for a second about the conversion of innumerable
Hindu and Sikh temples in the whole of Pakistan to schools, police
stations, offices and sometimes even for keeping cattle. We cannot
imagine such a thing happening to a mosque but have no objection to
treating the religious places of others with utter contempt.
We all resent the recent ban on minarets in Switzerland; many of the
Swiss and Europeans themselves are saddened by this development. But
have we ever thought about the complete ban on construction of
churches and temples in the whole of Saudi Arabia and in most of the
Gulf countries? Non-Muslims are not even permitted to enter the cities
of Mecca and Medina and we consider it our human right to even get
elected to the parliaments of the so-called Christian countries, and
acquire as much property as we can.
When will we in Pakistan learn to remember the basic truth that
whatever we give to others, good or bad, it comes back, many times?
Shouldn’t then we give more and more of what we want for ourselves to
others so that the same will come back to us in greater quantities? We
need to overcome our historical inability to follow the ethic of
reciprocity, and to understand that it applies to all humans, and not
merely to Muslims. Only when this is accomplished will religiously-
related oppression, and mass murder cease. We all can make a beginning
in this respect by letting Shahmira Oad rest in peace at her last
resting place forever with Muslims as her neighbours.
(The author is a prominent Pakistan Supreme Court lawyer. E-mail:
a...@Jillani.org)
A relatively decent piece of writing, given that it is coming from
some muslim author in Pakistan. He has brought out certain very
disturbing facts to the fore and he must be commended for the same.
Some of these important facts about Pakistan, Islam and Muslims have
been laid bare:
Disdain for non-Islamic religions:
1. But we don’t even think for a second about the conversion of
innumerable Hindu and Sikh temples in the whole of Pakistan to
schools, police stations, offices and sometimes even for keeping
cattle. We cannot imagine such a thing happening to a mosque but have
no objection to treating the religious places of others with utter
contempt.
Further disdain for non-Muslims:
2. But have we ever thought about the complete ban on construction of
churches and temples in the whole of Saudi Arabia and in most of the
Gulf countries? Non-Muslims are not even permitted to enter the cities
of Mecca and Medina and we consider it our human right to even get
elected to the parliaments of the so-called Christian countries, and
acquire as much property as we can.
The game so far of Pakistan:
3. When will we in Pakistan learn to remember the basic truth that
whatever we give to others, good or bad, it comes back, many times?
Historical inabilities of Islam and Muslims:
4. We need to overcome our historical inability to follow the ethic of
reciprocity, and to understand that it applies to all humans, and not
merely to Muslims.
Of course there are certain truths which have been indicated
obliquely, here we state them forthrightly.
Mr Jillani wrote:
1. All religions are supposed to be in conformity with the basic human
values.
Yes, all or most religions, except Islam, which is erroneously thought
of as a religion. Towards a non-muslim or an apostate, Islam is in
conformity with the utmost inhuman values.
2. It is said that Islam is the most tolerant religion.
It is erroneously said so. It is the most intolerant of all
ideologies.
3. But if this is how we behave then what would distinguish us from
the upper caste Hindus in Indian villages who refuse to permit people
of lower castes to use the same well to draw water?
Upper caste Hindus refused only during some period. It is to be
remembered that the lower caste people, even then, had their own
wells. This is unlike Islam and Muslims, where non-Muslims can not
have their shrines.
It is important for those who are saner amongst the muslims to realize
many of the facts which have been pointed out here.
However, more importantly, we, as non-muslims, should not be lulled in
to benign optimism or complacence. We must always remember that Islam
can not be reformed.
Once those who are sane amongst the muslims, see these two facts in
conjunction, that Islam is evil, and that Islam can not be reformed,
they will realize that the only course left for the saner amongst
muslims is to leave Islam.
Posted by samAlochaka
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/at-very-least-muslims-need-to-be.html
Media Syndicate
Essential News for educative purposes - A program of 'Education
Informal'
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The question of who an artist is .. revisited
Before her retirement from Stella Maris College, Dr.Hilda Raja used to
write columns regularly in The Hindu. It is conjectured that even
after retirement, she used to write once in a while. Though she has
sent the following letter to Ram in personal capacity, she sent copies
to some of her friends.
For those who may not know, Mr. N Ram is the chief editor of the
famous news paper The Hindu.
The following is the text of her letter.
Dear Ram,
I have taken time to write this to you Ram-for the simple reason that
we have known you for so many years- you and The Hindu bring back
happy memories Please take what I am putting down as those that come
from an agonized soul. You know that I do not mince words and what I
have to say I will-I call a spade a spade-now it is too late for me to
learn the tricks of being called a ‘secularist’ if that means a bias
for, one, and a bias against, another.
Hussain is now a citizen of Qatar-this has generated enough of heat
and less of light. Qatar you know better than me is not a country
which respects democracy or freedom of expression. Hussain says he has
complete freedom-I challenge him to paint a picture of Mohammed fully
clad.
There is no second opinion that artists have the Right of Freedom of
expression. Is such a right restricted only to Hussain? Will that
right not flow to Dan Brown-why was his film-Da Vinci Code not
screened? Why was Satanic Verses banned-does Salman Rushdie not have
that freedom of expression? Similarly why is Taslima hunted and
hounded and why fatwas have been issued on both these writers? Why has
Qatar not offered citizenship to Taslima? In the present rioting in
Shimoga in Karnataka against the article Taslima wrote against the
tradition of burqua which appeared in the Out Look in Jan 2007. No
body protested then either in Delhi or in any other part of the
country; now when it reappears in a Karnataka paper there is rioting.
Is there a political agenda to create a problem in Karnataka by the
intolerant goons? Why has the media not condemned this insensitivity
and intolerance of the Muslims against Taslima’s views? When it comes
to the Sangh Parivar it is quick to call them goons and intolerant
etc. Now who are the goons and where is this tolerance and
sensitivity?
Regarding Hussain’s artistic freedom it seems to run unfettered in an
expression of sexual perversion only when he envisages the Hindu Gods
and Goddesses. There is no quarrel had he painted a nude woman sitting
on the tail of a monkey. The point is he captioned it as Sita. Nobody
would have protested against the sexual perversion and his
orientatation to sexual signs and symbols. But would he dare to
caption it as ‘Fatima enjoying in Jannat with animals’?
Next example-is the painting of Saraswati copulating with a lion. Here
again his perversion is evident and so is his intent. Even that lets
concede cannot be faulted-each one’s sexual orientation is each one’s
business I suppose. But he captioned it as Saraswati. This is the
problem. It is Hussain’s business to enjoy in painting his sexual
perversion. But why use Saraswati and Sita for his perverted
expressions? Use Fatima and watch the consequence. Let the media
people come to his rescue then. Now that he is in a country that gives
him complete freedom let him go ahead and paint Fatima copulating with
a lion or any other animal of his choice. And then turn around and
prove to India-the Freedom of expression he enjoys in Qatar.
Talking about Freedom of Expression-this is the Hussain who supported
Emergency-painted Indira Gandhi as Durga slaying Jayaprakas Narayan.
He supported the jailing of artists and writers. Where did this
Freedom of Expression go? And you call him secularist? Would you
support the jailing of artists and writers Ram –would you support the
abeyance of the Constitution and all that we held sacred in democracy
and the excessiveness of Indira Gandhi to gag the media- writers-
political opponents? Tell me honesty why does Hussain expect this
Freedom when he himself did not support others with the same freedom
he wants? And the media has rushed to his rescue. Had it been a Ram
who painted such obnoxious, .degrading painting-the reactions of the
media and the elite ‘secularists’ would have been different; because
there is a different perception/and index of secularism when it comes
to Ram-and a different perception/and index of secularism when it
comes to Rahim/Hussain.
It brings back to my mind an episode that happened to The Hindu some
years ago.[1991]. You had a separate weekly page for children with
cartoons, quizzes, and with poems and articles of school children. In
one such weekly page The Hindu printed a venerable bearded man-fully
robed with head dress, mouthing some passages of the Koran-trying to
teach children .It was done not only in good faith but as a part of
inculcating values to children from the Koran. All hell broke loose.
Your office witnessed goons who rushed in-demanded an apology-held out
threats. In Ambur,Vaniambadi and Vellore the papers stands were burned-
the copies of The Hindu were consigned to the fire. A threat to raise
the issue in Parliament through a Private Members Bill was held out-
Hectic activities went on-I am not sure of the nature and the
machinations behind the scene. But The Hindu next day brought out a
public apology in its front page. Where were you Ram? How secular and
tolerant were the Muslims?
Well this is of the past-today it is worse because the communal
temperature in this country is at a all high-even a small friction can
ignite and demolition the country’s peace and harmony. It is against
this background that one should view Hussain who is bent on abusing
and insulting the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Respect for religious
sentiments, need to maintain peace and harmony should also be part of
the agenda of an artist-if he is great. If it is absent then he cannot
say that he respects India and express his longing for India.
Let’s face it-he is a fugitive of law. Age and religion are
immaterial. What does the media want-that he be absolved by the
courts? Even for that he has to appear in the courts-he cannot run
away-After all this is the country where he lived and gave expression
to his pervert sadist, erotic artistic mind under Freedom of
Expression. I simply cannot jump into the bandwagon of the elite
‘secularist’ and uphold what he had done. With his brush he had
committed jihad-bloodletting.
The issue is just not nudity-Yes the temples-the frescos in Konarak
and Kajhuraho have nude figures-But does it say that they are Sita,
Sarswati or any goddesses? We have the Yoni and the Phallus as sacred
signs of Life-of Siva and Shakthi-take these icons to the streets,
paint them -give it a caption it become vulgar. Times have changed.
Even granted that our ancients sculptured and painted naked forms and
figures, with a pervert mind to demean religion is no license to
repeat that in today’s changed political and social scenario and is
not a sign of secularism and tolerance. I repeat there is no quarrel
with nudity-painters have time and again found in it the perfection of
God’s hand craft.
Let me wish Hussain peace in Qatar-the totalitarian regime with zero
tolerance May be he will convince the regime there to permit freedom
of expression in word, writing and painting. For this he could start
experimenting painting forms and figure of Mohamed the Prophet-and his
family And may I fervently wish that the media-especially The Hindu
does not discriminate goons-let it not substitute tolerance for
intolerance when it comes to Rahim and Antony and another index for
Ram.
I hope you will read this in the same spirit that I have written. All
the best to you Ram.
Dr Mrs Hilda Raja,
Vadodara
Let us congratulate Mrs. Raja for making a point so well. It is a lady
once again who has to come to the fore. It was Ms. Shobha De who had
exhibited great courage (I guess Ms. Simi Grewal too), though both of
them later chickened out, as they were being hounded out. It is a pity
that there was no man who supported them.
Coming back to this letter, it reads nice. However, being a very
cultured and a sensitive lady, Mrs. Raja has still minced words. She
has, in a very friendly note, merely pleaded with Mr. Ram to exhibit
reasonable fairness.
In my opinion, Mr. N. Ram, the chief editor of The Hindu is not just a
DF, he is a coward, national-cultural suicide inciting DF. Hypocrisy
is his art.
I also disagree with Mrs. Raja on her recommended constraint of
artistic freedom. I would rather request to articulate a principled
stand on the freedom of expression, which does not thwart truth.
Having been a contributor to the MSM (Main Stream Media), she must
surely be capable to doing this.
I also do not wish Hussain any peace in Qatar. May he be cut to
pieces! May not even these pieces not rest in peace!!
Posted by samAlochaka
1 comments:
Anonymous said...
It would be far better if people like Mrs. Raja would educate new and
budding writers about the prevailing hypocrisy in the media.
The Hindu has been secular for a far longer period, and it is strange
that Mrs. Raja is noticing it so late.
This is so typical of a hindu mindset. Being an activist upholding
idealism, making unlimited compromises, and then finally having seen
the dim light, exhibiting shock, amazement, and anger.
Every time there is a terror-attack, the political leaders shed
crocodile tears using the same technique.
What is far more important to decide what the future course of action
should be
It would be very kind of Mrs. Raja to express her forthright views on
this aspect.
March 5, 2010 4:17 AM
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/question-of-who-artist-is-revisited.html
Media Syndicate
Essential News for educative purposes - A program of 'Education
Informal'
Friday, March 5, 2010
Bhyrappa echoes Mrs. Raja's thoughts in his comments on Hussein
Episode
Noted Kannada writer Mr. SL Bhyrappa has said that:
A section of the media had been commenting that the “banishment” of
the renowned artist M.F. Husain was a “national shame”. But how many
of Mr. Husain's paintings had reflected his views on the religion he
belonged to had remained to be clarified, he said.
Now this man is talking sense. Please recall that Mrs. Hilda Raja
expressed similar emotions when she wrote:
Nobody would have protested against the sexual perversion and his
orientatation to sexual signs and symbols. But would he dare to
caption it as ‘Fatima enjoying in Jannat with animals’?
and
Now that he is in a country that gives him complete freedom let him go
ahead and paint Fatima copulating with a lion or any other animal of
his choice. And then turn around and prove to India-the Freedom of
expression he enjoys in Qatar.
Now here is man who has echoed what a lady has said with due rational
consideration. Of course both of them arrived at their conclusions
independently.
Let us wish there are more and more of them saying more and more of
the same and sane things.
Posted by samAlochaka
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/bhyrappa-echoes-mrs-rajas-thoughts-in.html
Media Syndicate
Essential News for educative purposes - A program of 'Education
Informal'
Monday, March 1, 2010
Who among these two are artists? MF Hussein or Tasleema Nasreen, or
both?
Ms. Taslima Nasreen is known to be an ardent critic of certain
practices in Islam. A Kannada translation of her article has sparked
violence leaving two persons dead and many injured. The news is here.
Now the question is, if MFH can paint whatever he wants to paint, why
can't Taslima write whatever she wants to write? And where is the Main
Stream Media, Ms. Sharmila Pataudi, The Artists of India, The
Government of India? Why aren't they expressing outrage and anger? All
of these are conspicuously absent, though their silence is eloquent.
Of course it was only yesterday that this happened. But I bet that the
whole of this bunch will remain silent.
I am anxiously waiting for the reaction of the BJP, and the RSS on
this. I surmise that the BJP and the RSS will advocate restraint in
artistic freedom lest it should hurt the sentiments of any section of
society. The MSM, The Government, The artists will term the publisher
of the translation and the translator as mischief monger and
antisocial elements. However, before they have opined, we can still
give them a small benefit of the doubt against all odds. However,
don't be disappointed if you are disappointed!
But don't forget to ask the question: Who among these two are artists?
MF Hussein or Tasleema Nasreen, or both?
Posted by samAlochaka
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/who-among-these-two-are-artists-mf.html
The age of reason
Thursday , March 04, 2010 at 11 : 43
The Only Major Religion To Emerge in 20th Century. Watch Online
VideoAds by Google
What if freedom of speech is untouched and untainted by religion? Why
does freedom of speech and expression get challenged just at the
threshold where religion seems to rear its head? Why is Hindu or
Muslim way of life as distinct and separate from the bedrock that
constitutes way of life for the entire humanity?
Are we to assume Socrates did deserve a death he ordained for himself
for having spoken his mind. A mind that laid bare the arrogance and
sham of the powers-that-be. Was Plato wrong in disseminating his
guru's Republic? Was not Buddhism pushed out of this country for
having challenged the dominant religious thought process of the times
and having laid bare the chinks in its armour?
Should we leave Thackerays and Bhagwats of this world to interpret one
of the oldest religions for any one of us. If Husain is accused of
painting Hindu pantheon goddesses in nude, what degree and intensity
of religio-sexual freedom are we espousing lending ourselves to
worshipping the symbolic phallus grounded in a symbolic vagina in the
most detailed manner? Should not the practice be discontinued because
it rebels against our sense and sensibility? Faithfuls all over have
obviously devised better ways to appease their gods. But this one
takes the cake.
What harm would be brought upon a Muslim woman divorcee if the law of
the land grants her alumni as against a shariati adalat which imposes
primitive justice? Why should economically weaker sections of the
society, across religions, be denied benefits of reservation? Or are
they condemned to live a life coloured by caste and religious bias and
tainted by that ultimate bias - poverty? Did not those who claim to be
Aryans encroach on the rights of the native aboriginals when they
settled in India and claimed it to be their own land?
Did Shah Rukh deserve such an acrimony for what he said? Prove that he
is NOT a better Indian than you and me. Prove that Husain is not as
much an Indian as you and me. Prove that Indian Muslims deserve to
come under the right-wingers' swords because somebody planned and put
aflame innocent passengers on board a train or per chance a train
bogey caught fire. And because somebody's god of small things differs
in imagery than yours.
The onus to prove anything is on Raj Thackeray, Bal Thackeray, Modi,
bigoted religious preachers and on a government that takes pride in
tom-toming secularism but every so often is found weak-kneed in
tackling the slightest ho-hum by religious fundamentalists. The onus
to come out clean on our inconsiderate ways of interpreting 'us'
versus 'them,' on our own parochial ways of juxtaposing relationships
in the backdrop of our sustained ignorance lies very much on us as a
collective band that constitutes a society rather than on one Shah
Rukh Khan or a MF Husain. Because at the end of it all what we help
build is an impenetrable layer of fanaticism around us that does not
allow space for freedom of speech and expression.
For these are the same forces who will pin you down to a number game
because that is one domain they claim confidence of having an edge
over reason. If surveys could have delivered the country of all its
ills and controversies a grand Ram temple mounted with a gold-polished
Hindu-ite symbol jutting out of its structure would have been adorning
the Ayodhya sky right above the disputed site as the potent symbol of
militant Hinduism.
But for past two decades and more, society has precisely been hijacked
by the thought process of a political class defined by the RSS and its
'Hindutva' affiliates. For the Sangh Parivar, symbols of the Ramayana
as envisaged in Valmiki and Tulsi Ramayana are the unquestionable
symbols of faith which every 'Hindu worth his salt' must adhere and
propagate.
For the record though there are as many versions of Ramayana followed
across south and South-East Asian countries which put Ram and Ravana
in a different light than the characters described in Valmiki's
Ramayana. A Buddhist jataka (tale) of Ramayana projects Ram and Sita
as siblings. In a Thai version of the Ramayana, Hanuman is not a
celibate but far from it, he's quite a ladies man who loves to do a
peeping-Tom when in Lanka. Ravana, along with Ram is worshipped as a
great sage in Buddhist and Jain versions of the Ramayana. There are
certain versions of the Ramayana written from Sita's perspective who
claims victory over Ram. Jyotiba Phule, Periyar and Babasaheb Ambedkar
had a different take on Valmiki's Ramayana from a purely caste-based
angle. In their version Ram is more or less a symbol of upper caste
out to subjugate the original inhabitants of this great land.
The point in question is also not whether Husain could or should have
retained Indian citizenship. The issue is not about citizenship at all
and those harping on it, whether inadvertently or not, are playing in
the hands of those who espouse rabid sentiments. What if those brush
strokes were brought to fall on the canvas by a Hari Krishna than a
Husain. Would he still been forced into exile by our samaj and become
the object of abject hate. Or the same samaj would have treated him
differently because he belongs to majority faith. But again we already
have answered this double-speak years ago because we did not reserve
such sentiments for Husain's contemporary from the field of Hindustani
music going by the name of Pandit Ravi Shankar. No ho-hum was raised
when Ravi Shankar quietly settled in the US accusing the Indian
government of not recognising his achievements enough. But Panditji
was conferred the Bharat Ratna soon enough. He has been living in the
US past over two decades, and now only visits India along with his
daughter Anoushka, purportedly to establish her in a land that gave
him international fame and considered him as one of its 'Ratnas'. But
when Husain takes up Qatari citizenship his faith is questioned and
being brought in direct clash with civilisational pundits.
What kind of democratic liberalism and inclusiveness are we professing
that feeds on suspicion and gets threatened by a mere brush stroke.
Inclusive development is all about taking the path of reason. It is
about all-round sahishundta ( tolerance ) - a trait eroding,
unfortunately, at a speed faster than opening a software fired by
Windows 7. We will but only have ourselves to blame for its
extinction, much as the falling count of tigers in India.
Clarification from Anoushka Shankar pertaining to the above post:
1. My father has never taken citizenship anywhere outside of India
though he has been offered it his whole life!
2. He "visits" India every year despite the health risks posed to him
here to "establish" the music centre he has sweated blood to build on
his own private funding and which he chose to build in India and not
abroad. So while I'm totally against the fuss about Husainji and think
it's ridiculous, I don't think my father should be inaccurately
dragged into this.
Posted by Prabhat Shunglu
Total Comments: 1
Posted 2010-03-04 14:53:44 : By ibrahimrasool
Hello Prabhat,
Its true that some fanatics are going overboard in reacting to
critique or offbeat views on their religion. Its saddening that two
civilians have been killed in some orchestrated protests in Karnataka
in response to the publication of an article purportedly written by
Tasleema Nasreen. The fundamentalists behind these protests should be
vehemently condemned.
But at the same time, we should not fail to identify malafide attacks
on religious beliefs. We can not give a free chit to anyone who, in
the guise of creative thinking, spews slur on religion.
Anyone who wants to critictize religion should go the extra mile and
explain to the public the honest intentions behind their criticisms.
Today in this digital era, there is a variety of media for one to
express his views and substantially justify the same. They should not
dare to think that they can attack any faith indiscriminately and then
take refuge in the clout of progressive thinkers.
If they do so, then they can't expect any sympathy from public if they
are outsmarted by their fanatic counterparts.
Whatever be the intentions of MF Hussain, Rushdie or Tasleema Nasreen,
they failed to explain their good intentions to the public at large.
And we faithfuls hate to see someone abusing our religion.
Head-On
Prabhat Shunglu
Prabhat has been a journalist for the last 19 years. Began his career
as a cub reporter with The Statesman before moving on to The Pioneer
and The Times of India. Was a member of the core team of reporters
that helped launch 24-hour news channel Aaj Tak. Extensively reported
from war zones of Kargil, Afghanistan and Iraq. Covered national and
Assembly elections in J&K, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Punjab and
Madhya Pradesh. And disasters like Gujarat earthquake. Headed the
North India bureau of Star News. Currently, Editor-Special Assignments
with IBN7.
Previous Posts
+ The Sangh Parivar and the 'Ajit' factor
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/prabhatshunglu/2416/53573/the-sangh-parivar-and-the-ajit-factor.html
+ Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri: Cracking the political Sudoku
+ Reel nahi, apun ko real Gandhigiri maangta!
+ Advani out, Varun is the new star on BJP horizon
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/prabhatshunglu/2416/53285/advani-out-varun-is-the-new-star-on-bjp-horizon.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/prabhatshunglu/2416/61604/the-age-of-reason.html
Editorial
Political maturity
Thursday, March 4, 2010 23:23 IST
There is an ongoing case at the Bombay High Court which should serve
as an exemplar for political protests across the nation. In January
2009, a group apparently led by Shiv Sena MLA Sitaram Dalvi caused
some damage to a hotel in Mumbai after a labour dispute went wrong.
Dalvi was fined about Rs8 lakh. The police identified Dalvi because he
wrote a letter to the police asking permission to use a loudspeaker.
Dalvi is now contesting the fine, claiming that the courts should
approach his party leader Bal Thackeray to pay the fine as he has paid
Rs2 lakh and cannot pay any more.
The question of damage to property by political workers has now
started to bother the judiciary in India. For a long time, it was seen
as a legitimate form of protest and most parties just expected either
the government of the day or the private citizen to put up with the
damage. In some way, this was a legacy of our colonial past where
freedom fighters were ranged against a foreign alien power.
However, that argument has not been viable for the past 60 odd years.
The government belongs to all of us — so in some sense, political
vandals expect us to pay for their irresponsible behaviour. And
private citizens also have rights in a free and independent India.
Both these facts have dawned on us only in recent times and the courts
and the local administration have both refused to turn a blind eye to
damage caused by political protestors.
The Mumbai case once again underlines the need for political maturity
in India. We need to find ways to have disagreements which do not
descend into violence. The recent disturbances in Karnataka where some
members of the Muslim community objected to an alleged article by
exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen — which she has denied
writing — sadly led to deaths and to damage. The violent reaction
after allegations of sexual misconduct by godman Nithyananda Swami in
Tamil Nadu is another example of quickly things can get out of hand.
This court case against the Shiv Sena leader in Mumbai serves as a
salutary lesson to political parties accustomed to using destruction
and turmoil as bullying tactics. The people, the judiciary and the
administration have seen through their bluff. By hitting back where it
hurts people the most — in their pocket — the courts may well have
found the way to instil some discipline into the formally
irrepressible.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/editorial_political-maturity_1355367
Bhosle on Mumbai: Uddhav lashes out at Raj
Padmanabha Venugopal
First Published : 04 Mar 2010 03:21:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 04 Mar 2010 02:15:38 PM IST
MUMBAI: The browbeating between the two estranged cousins espousing
the Marthi manoos cause continued to hit the headlines in Maharashtra
with their bitter succession battle being fought in the people’s
court.
On Wednesday, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray
criticised MNS chief Raj Thackeray and said that those present at the
Pune function should have reacted to singer Asha Bhosale’s remark that
Mumbai belonged to all Indians.
The MNS chief was among the guests at the cultural evening organised
by a Marathi television channel.
Raj, who spoke after Asha at the function, did not react to the views
expressed by the singer.
However, they were seen exchanging views after the function and it was
not clear what transpired between the two.
Shiv Sena and its head Bal Thackeray had met with widespread protests
for criticising cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Reliance chairman
Mukesh Ambani similar comments.
Comments Ppl who comments on Raj Thackarey should first learn, write &
speak marathi ant then should give rest of explanations.............
By sudesh
3/5/2010 10:49:00 PM
Throw out all religion people from maharahtra who can't speak in
marathi.........................
By bhakti
3/5/2010 10:41:00 PM
Raj Thackarey will be the Emperor of Maharashtra in coming future
By rajesh
3/5/2010 10:37:00 PM
Raj Thackarey will be the Emperor of Maharashtra in coming future
By rajesh
3/5/2010 10:37:00 PM
Mumbai belongs only to maharahtra & MARATHI MANOOS
By swapnil
3/5/2010 10:31:00 PM
Personal views should always be welcomed, there no need to react so
violently to what one says, there's a right of expression for all the
people across India. If one side says something then the other side
cant be stopped to speak up on the same topic differently. It's called
code of conduct in humanity. All the time criticizing and raising up
voice against who so ever doesnt favour you is wrong.
By Sayoni
3/4/2010 9:52:00 AM
Dear Thakerays, Shun regional feelings. Let us make India great in the
eyes of world. You people should become national leaders and not mere
regional leaders. Do not restrict yourselves to only Mumbai. There is
huge world outside Mumbai. B. Raghunath Rao
By B. Raghunath Rao
3/4/2010 8:37:00 AM
bademiyansubhanallah
Manoj Mitta, TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 02.28am IST
Shortly after foisting his nominee as president of the main opposition
party at the Centre, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat came up last Sunday with
a controversial formulation: “He who is an Indian is a Hindu and he is
who is not a Hindu is not an Indian.” This should put in perspective
the modest budgetary allocation of Rs 1 crore two days earlier for
“containing population decline of small minority communities”.
The idea of India, clearly, has two conflicting interpretations. One
sees India as a melting pot in which all the Indians are reduced to
Hindus. The other views the country as a salad bowl in which all
communities retain their distinct identities. Though both
interpretations have their constituencies, only the latter conforms to
India’s binding obligation under the International Covenant of Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR) to prevent its majority community from
swallowing up minorities.
Article 27 of the ICCPR says: “In those States in which ethnic,
religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such
minorities shall not be denied the right in community with the other
members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and
practise their own religion, or to use their own language.”
The political friction in India is not over minuscule “ethnic”
minorities such as Parsis and Jews but over those perceived mainly as
“religious” minorities such as Muslims and Christians. In the rather
peculiar RSS perspective, Muslims and Christians could not be
classified as minorities at all because, as Bhagwat’s predecessor K S
Sudarshan put it, most of the members of those communities shared the
“same blood and same ancestors” with the Hindus and that they had only
changed “the way of worship.”
Given the extent to which Hindutva ideology has compromised the
constitutional commitment to secularism, it is no surprise that India,
for all its claims to being a liberal democracy, finds itself on the
US “watch list” of 12 countries where violations of religious freedom
are engaged in or tolerated by governments. It is poor consolation
that the US puts India’s neighbours, Pakistan, China and Myanmar, in
the even more dubious category of 13 egregious violators, “countries
of particular concern”.
But the erosion of minority rights has not only been by Hindutva
forces. If the BJP has been unable to live down its complicity in the
2002 Gujarat riots, Congress is accountable for many more such
episodes of communal violence over the decades. The avowedly secular
party is also vulnerable to the charge of discriminating against
minorities in some of the laws piloted by its governments.
The law restricting the benefits of reservation to Dalits who remain
within the Hindu fold is a case in point. If a Dalit converts to Islam
or Christianity, he is stripped of his SC status. The pretence that
just the act of conversion would rid him of the effects of centuries
of discrimination betrays a state bias to tie him to the majority
religion.
Congress also acquiesced in the enactment of a series of anti-
conversion laws eroding Article 25 of the Constitution, which
guarantees “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and
propagation of religion”. Disregarding the Constituent Assembly debate
on the import of Article 25, the Supreme Court upheld two anti-
conversion laws in 1977, ruling that the freedom to propagate could
not be taken as “a fundamental right to convert any person to one’s
own religion”.
The verdict, however, has had little credibility in the UN. For,
Article 18 of ICCPR expressly says that freedom of religion includes
“the freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.”
In 1993, the human rights committee monitoring ICCPR further clarified
that this freedom entailed the “right to replace one’s current
religion with another”. India is still nowhere near measuring up to
such international standards. Hopefully, proposals like the equal
opportunities commission will help reduce the gap.
Pravin Mahajan's widow knocks at Parivar door
Bella Jaisinghani , TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 03.13am IST
MUMBAI: Three days after her husband died, Sarangi Mahajan, the widow
of Pravin Mahajan, spoke of her ambition to join politics and sought
blessings of the Sangh Parivar. She said she will travel to meet RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat in her native Nagpur to chalk out plans, possibly
in a bid to join the very BJP that her brothers-in-law, Pramod Mahajan
and Gopinath Munde, have led from the front.
Pravin, who died at a Thane hospital, was convicted for killing his
brother, Pramod. Apart from the fact that her father and brothers have
had a long association with the RSS, Sarangi — during her college days
— was an active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP), the BJP's students' wing. That contact has, obviously, not
diminished over the years.
As she mourns her husband, the 43-year-old is coming to grips with
life as a single woman, albeit with the strong support of her
immediate family. Surrounded by twin children Kapil and Vrushali,
whose final college exams are coming up in April, brother Prasad
Pulliwar and her mother, Sarangi met TOI at her home in Thane's Jinja
Apartment on Saturday. In one part of the house, Pravin's ashes lay
awaiting immersion.
Recalling their conversations with Pravin during his 10 days of
furlough last December, young Kapil says his father never complained
about the conditions in jail. "Little did we know he was not receiving
his medication for diabetes and blood pressure," he rues.
The family says it has no objection to the secret portions of Pravin's
testimony coming out in the open. "It was not we who asked for an in-
camera trial. The prosecution did so," Sarangi says.
Sunday, March 07, 2010
Not even a pretense
Despite knowing better, I still get surprised when I happen to
encounter blatant media bias such as this
Dismissing India's tradition of religious and cultural pluralism,
Rashtriya Swayam- sevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday
said, "He who is an Indian is Hindu and he who is not a
Indian." [Emphasis Mine]
Now while RSS may or may not be subverting "India's tradition of
religious and cultural pluralism" elsewhere, it is not doing in this
instance. Mohan Bhagwat was trying to make a case for national
integration on the bases of shared heritage. Except in the typical
muddleheaded manner of RSS apparatchik argue such issues he appealed
to etymology. This is what it means, Hindu is a loan word from Persian
meaning people living near river Sindhu, similarly India is a loan
word from Greece meaning land of river Sindhu, this means Hindu is
same as Indian.
Now I don't care much for this argument, (as the argument Hinduism is
not a religion but a way of life, which is predictably forwarded by
Mohan Bhagwat), but as the saying goes never attribute to malice what
you can attribute to stupidity.
http://lifeandsomething.blogspot.com/2010/03/not-even-pretense.html
The case for Bt brinja
Bibek Debroy
Posted: Thursday , Mar 04, 2010 at 1626 hrs
New Delhi:
Moratorium on Bt brinjal cannot be open-ended. While controversy
continues, the core issues must be addressed because this isn't just
about brinjal but other crops (rice, wheat, tomatoes, potatoes) also.
First, agro research is increasingly private sector driven. This isn't
the 1960s. Wishing that public sector research delivers is neither
here nor there. Instead, one should improve public sector research and
extension.
Second, private sector research is driven by the motive of profit, not
altruism. Consequently, lambasting the profit motives also gets
nowhere.
Third, research in agro chemicals, fertilisers, pesticides and
transgenic crops is resource intensive. We are never going to get a
perfectly competitive world of small enterprises driving innovation.
That may have happened in England during the Industrial Revolution and
it can still happen in some sectors (ask Anil Gupta at IIM-A) but is
unlikely in agricultural research of the kind we are talking about.
Therefore, we will have a world of big and bad MNCs.
Fourth, if significant fixed costs are involved, they have to be
recouped and prices will be higher than what marginal cost pricing
suggests. At best, these are arguments for better use of competition
policy instruments.
Fifth, evidence does suggest that Bt crops improve productivity and
reduce use of fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides. True, this
evidence can be questioned. But as far as I can make out, no one has
questioned whether these changes take place. They have questioned the
degree (not as high as seed companies claim) and subsequent immunity
in pests.
Sixth, Indian productivity levels are low and Bt offers one option of
increasing productivity. It is not the only option and the country can
take a decision not to use Bt. However, more importantly, shouldn't
farmers have the right to choose non-Bt over Bt, instead of the choice
being precluded?
Seventh, at some point there must be finality. It may be the GEAC
(Genetic Engineering Approval Committee) or the proposed National
Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA). GEAC has been criticised
over what it did and did not do and about its composition and
expertise. Similar reservations have been expressed about the proposed
NBRA.
These issues should have been sorted out before referring Bt brinjal
to GEAC. After all, there can't be a national referendum on something
like this. That's like saying budgets should be prepared through
referendums. There will be proposers and opposers but the empowered
body has to take a balanced call on food safety.
Eighth, food safety is always probabilistic, it is never certain.
Often side-effects surface later but that is part of life. Ninth,
beyond safety, there is the question of consumer's right to
information --- separating non-Bt from Bt-food. Given the unorganised
nature of our agriculture, that's probably impossible.
Comments (2) |
It is just another product.
By: Sanjay Kapoor | 05-Mar-2010
Bt brinjal is just another product and should just be treated like
that. It success would be driven by market forces just like any other
product. If consumer want to buy it, farmers will sow it. If farmers
sow it, seed companies will make money and the profits that seed
companies make would be driven in turn by the equation of supply and
demand. If GEAC hasn't done its home work properly, it would
disintegrate and if the Gov't hasn't done its job well in constituting
and overseeing GEAC it would pay its price some way or the other
during next elections. Its not that a person will die of eating one
meal of Bt brinjal, come on, we should at least have this much faith
in our scientific community and in case pests develop resistance we
still have our (NON BT) germplasm to fall back on. We all use
diclofenac for pains and not aspirin anymore, but do you seriously
think that diclofenac would still be there if we hadn't used aspirin
in 80s?
Whose choice?
By: Saini | 04-Mar-2010
"However, more importantly, shouldn't farmers have the right to choose
non-Bt over Bt, instead of the choice being precluded?" I am sure you
realize that a consumer's right to choose between bt and non-bt is far
more important than a farmer's right to choose. If you can't ensure
consumer right to choose by not labeling the bt crops your whole
argument breaks down. I will choose non-bt brinjal over bt and no
brinjal over bt and I don't have any agenda
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-case-for-bt-brinjal/586837/0
Maha governor in Thackeray's line of fire
Ambarish Mishra, TNN, Mar 7, 2010, 03.45am IST
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray has reiterated his demand, which
he made way back in the 1980s, for a permit system to keep a firm
check on people's influx into Mumbai.
"Those in power should read Article 19 (5) of the Constitution that
empowers the government to put fetters on freedom of movement if it
poses a threat to public good, or impinges upon the rights of other
groups and communities. It is time the government exercised these
powers," said Saamna in a leader comment on Saturday. Thackeray is the
editor of Saamna.
The Sena mouthpiece severely criticised Maharashtra governor S
Sankaranarayanan for his recent statement that Mumbai belonged to
every Indian and that there cannot be a check on people from other
states moving into Mumbai.
"By making such a statement, the governor has shown disrespect to
local sentiments. As governor he eats Maharashtra's salt. He should
not have said such things," Saamna added and wondered if
Sankaranarayanan would have made a similar statement about, say,
Bengaluru or Chennai, if he was the governor of Karnataka or Tamil
Nadu. "Do you think Mumbai is a dharmashala?" the article asked.
Former Shiva Sena Legislator Put Charged With Hefty Fine
Posted by Sunil Sonkar on Mar 6th, 2010
By SHUBHAJIT Chakraborty
Mumbai, March 6 – A former Shiv Sena legislator Sitaram Dalvi has been
charged by Bombai high court for vandalism in a five star hotel
organized against retrenchment of some employees. He was asked to
compensate by coughing up Rs 5 Lakh to the hotel. The ruling is the
result of of petition filed by public and private organization against
the vandalism of political parties.
Mr. Dalvi, a former MLA from Andheri had led the Sena to ransack Hotel
Sahar Intercontinental in January 2009 against the recession of
employees.
Bombai High Court has granted one day to Sena leader to find any
possibility of compensate from the party’s fund. Mr. Dalvi said in his
petition that he was unable to contact Sena Chief Bal Thackeray,
executive president Uddhav Thackeray or senior leaders such as Sanjay
Raut. After hearing, the division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and
Justice Mridula Bhatkar granted Mr. Dalvi to deposit Rs. 5.88 Lakh on
Monday.
“This is not a question of money, but is a question of what signal
should go to the people. This breaking of property, burning (of) buses
and trains must be banned,” Justice Desai said.
The bench cited 2009 Supreme Court judgment that said the damage
caused to private or public properties by political parties should be
recovered from the parties alone. The bench said political parties had
full right to sit in dharna and to protest but couldn’t damage any
property in the course of time.
In January 2009, over 500 workers had staged a dharna outside Hotel
Sahar Intercontinental, close to the airport, to demand the
reinstatement of 21 sacked employees. The group had vandalised the
hotel when the management refused to give in to the demand.
http://www.dailynews365.com/national-news/former-shiva-sena-legislator-put-charged-with-hefty-fine/
Political Leaders Failed To Protect Against Right-Wing Outfits Says M
F Husain
Posted by Sunil Sonkar on Mar 4th, 2010
By SUNIL Sonkar
Thiruvananthapuram, March 04 — Celebrated painter and artist M F
Husain said intellectuals, artists and political leaders in India went
into silence when he was targeted by the right-wing outfits and they
forced him to leave India. The artist also said that he still loves
India, but the country doesn’t need him.
He said in an interview with Doha edition of Kerala-based daily, “I’m
am saying this with deep pain in heart.” Husain also added that
successive Indian governments was not able to protect him and it
became difficult for him to stay in India.
Husain said, “Now, they’re asking me to come back (but) when I was in
exile there was no one to speak for me.”
“No government recalled me. Now they are asking me to return after
Qatar offered me citizenship,” he mentioned further.
The artist said that he can’t trust a political leadership as all of
them refused to protect him and asked, “Is there any surety that I
would be protected in India?”
Husain added the cases that has been lodged against him had infringed
upon the basic right of his to express himself. He said, “It’s a move
against art and the artist’s self-expression. I never intended to hurt
anyone’s sentiments through art.”
He further said to the daily, “I only expressed my soul’s creativity
through art.” He said art language is universal and people who love it
beyond all narrow viewpoints were his strength. He said he enjoys
complete freedom in Qatar. ‘‘Now Qatar is my place. Here no one
controls my freedom of expression. I’m happy here.”
Since 2006 M F Husain has been living in abroad. He said that if he
gets opportunity, he would visit India.
Government Welcome M.F. Husain, Invite Him To Back Home
Posted by Sunil Sonkar on Feb 26th, 2010
By SHUBHAJIT Chakraborty
New Delhi, Feb. 26 – The eminent Indian artist M.F Husain who was
forced to flee nation because of radical groups and conferred Qatar
nationality – was welcome to return home whenever he chose by centre.
Union Home Secretary G.K Pillai assured a security to the artist when
he return back to India.
Mr. Pillai said that he was always welcome to India whenever he wanted
to be. “If he is willing to return and feels the need for security, we
will provide it.”
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao described him as a pride of India and
said they would like him to feel safe and secure in India.
However, there are still to be officially declared that whether the
government would persuade Mr. Husain to return.
“The controversy over Mr. Husain staying away from India for so many
years was not just a law and order issue; it called for a political
response and that did not come from the government.” Government
official said.
The Congress confirmed government responsibility to give full security
to Mr. Husain if the artist want to return home.
“I don’t think we need to invite an Indian national back home.” Party
spokesman Manish Tewari said.
Mr. Tiwari blamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliate
for the self imposed exile of India’s celebrated artist. Further, he
asked civil society to stand up and banish the bigotry of a few
people.
Earlier, the radical forces created problems and resulted exclusion of
Mr. Husain from the first India Art Summit mounted in the capital in
2008. In December 2007, an exhibition of his recent paintings at the
India International Centre was closed for a day following threats from
‘Hindu organisations.’
While the RSS opted not to comment officially – maintaining that this
was not a big national issue that required an immediate reaction and
Mr. Husain should face the Indian legal system just like all other
Indians – the Bharatiya Janata Party said every individual was free to
acquire citizenship of any country.
http://www.dailynews365.com/national-news/government-welcome-m-f-husain-invite-him-to-back-home/
chhotemianinshallah
Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
Mridu Rai
Paper | 2004 | $28.95
320 pp. | 5 x 8
Paper $20.00
Full Text of this book, thanks to the Google.
http://books.google.com/books/princeton?hl=en&q=Hindu+Rulers%2C+Muslim+Subjects%3A&vid=ISBN9780691116884&btnG.x=15&btnG.y=10#v=snippet&q=Hindu%20Rulers%2C%20Muslim%20Subjects%3A&f=false
Disputed between India and Pakistan, Kashmir contains a large majority
of Muslims subject to the laws of a predominantly Hindu and
increasingly "Hinduized" India. How did religion and politics become
so enmeshed in defining the protest of Kashmir's Muslims against Hindu
rule? This book reaches beyond standard accounts that look to the 1947
partition of India for an explanation. Examining the 100-year period
before that landmark event, during which Kashmir was ruled by Hindu
Dogra kings under the aegis of the British, Mridu Rai highlights the
collusion that shaped a decisively Hindu sovereignty over a subject
Muslim populace. Focusing on authority, sovereignty, legitimacy, and
community rights, she explains how Kashmir's modern Muslim identity
emerged.
Rai shows how the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir was formed as
the East India Company marched into India beginning in the late
eighteenth century. After the 1857 rebellion, outright annexation was
abandoned as the British Crown took over and princes were incorporated
into the imperial framework as junior partners. But, Rai argues,
scholarship on other regions of India has led to misconceptions about
colonialism, not least that a "hollowing of the crown" occurred
throughout as Brahman came to dominate over King. In Kashmir the Dogra
kings maintained firm control. They rode roughshod over the interests
of the vast majority of their Kashmiri Muslim subjects, planting the
seeds of a political movement that remains in thrall to a religiosity
thrust upon it for the past 150 years.
Review:
"Rai's contribution lies in the extremely thorough and painstaking
documentation that she provides when tracing the marginalization of
the native inhabitants of Kahmir, the chicanery of the British, and
the fecklessness of the Dogra rulers. Her account of the growth of
Muslim religio-political consciousness in the early part of the
twentieth century . . . unearths a wealth of detail. . . . Rai's book
is a useful one. Those interested in understanding the background of
the continuing tragedy in Kahmir will find much to consider in her
substantial account of the historical backdrop."--Sumit Ganguly,
Journal of Asian Studies
Endorsements:
"Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects is a brilliant work of historical
scholarship that will become indispensable reading for all those
interested in the modern history and politics of the subcontinent. It
a pioneering historical study of rights, religion, and regional
identity in Kashmir that could also inspire future studies on other
regions of the subcontinent."--Sugata Bose, Harvard University
"This is a major contribution to Kashmir studies and should set the
standard for the next generation of publications on Kashmir.
Challenging the existing literature, this work is heady and fresh--and
deserves attention."--Alexander Evans, King's College London and the
Royal Institute of International Affairs
"Mridu Rai's book reminds us powerfully of the crucial importance of
colonial history to the present. She is able to de-essentialize
religion and secularism in the Kashmir conflict, which is very useful
in light of India's secularist claims and the ways in which some
sociologists have theorized those claims. Carefully researched and
lucidly conceptualized and written, this book forwards an important
thesis on an important topic."--Peter van der Veer, University of
Amsterdam
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements x
Abbreviations xii
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1: Territorializing Sovereignity: The Dilemmas of Control and
Collaboration 18
CHAPTER 2: The Consolidation of Dogra Legitimacy in Kashmir: Hindu
Rulers and a Hindu State 80
CHAPTER 3: The Obligations of Rulers and the Rights of Subjects 128
CHAPTER 4: Contested Sites: Religious Shrines and the Archaeological
Mapping of Kashmiri Muslim Protest 183
CHAPTER 5: Political Mobilization in Kashmir: Religious and Regional
Identities 224
Conclusion 288
Glossary 298
Bibliography 305
Index 319
Book Review
Mridu Rai. Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the
History of Kashmir. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2004. Pp.
xi, 335. Cloth $65.00, paper $22.50.
Chitralekha Zutshi. Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity,
and the Making of Kashmir. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Pp. xvi, 359. $35.00.
Ever since the India-Pakistan near war of 2001–2002, we have been
subject to an incessant flow of words on the Kashmir conflict. Sadly,
this deluge has done little to enhance our knowledge of the subject.
Bar changing the odd adjectives, adding a little detail, or inserting
the views of the proverbial man on the street, little has been added
to Sumit Ganguly's Crisis in Kashmir: Portents of War, Prospects of
Peace (1997) or Victoria Schofield's Kashmir in Conflict: India,
Pakistan, and the Unending War (2000). Two new histories have been
widely applauded for constituting a happy break with this dismal
tradition. Little attention has been paid, however, to the
considerable theoretical and empirical problems presented by Mridu
Rai's and Chitralekha Zutshi's books. 1
Both Rai and Zutshi deal with a critical period in the history
of Jammu and Kashmir: the century of Dogra monarchical rule that
preceded the independence of India and Pakistan, and the division of
the state between the two powers in the course of the war of 1947. It
was in this period that the welter of territories that constitute
modern Kashmir were welded together under a single power, a
consequence of Britain's handing over of the region to Maharaja Gulab
Singh, a prince who sided with the empire's war of conquest against
the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. Like the other semi-independent states of
princely India, Kashmir witnessed a constant struggle for influence
between the monarchy and the imperial government. It was to become the
site of a number of other contestations: of monarch against democrat;
of empire against nationalist; of Hindu against Muslim; of peasant
against landlord. 2
Rai sees this century as one in which a "Hindu State" was
formed, the consequence of the Dogra monarchy's search for legitimacy.
Lacking any real basis for its sovereignty over the peoples whose
destinies it now controlled, it responded by inventing a history in
which the Dogra dynasty represented both the Hindu faith and Rajput
martial tradition. Rai maps this process by carefully documenting the
Dogra monarchy's growing control of Hindu religious practice in
Kashmir, notably through state-controlled trusts. Since the state was
Hindu in character, Rai concludes, "religion and politics became
inextricably intertwined in defining and expressing the protest of
Kashmiri Muslims against their rulers" (pp. 16–17). 3
Zutshi arrives at similar conclusions, but with considerably
more attention to nuance and detail. Her study of the workings of
Dogra rule suggests the need for a careful examination of what, if
any, meaning the notion of a "Hindu state" may have actually had to
contemporaries. There was, Zutshi's narrative suggests, no unilinear
project of Hinduization under the Dogras; rather, there were complex
and fluid processes of collaboration and conflict among various
categories of elites, both Hindu and Muslim. Kashmir's small Brahmin
community, the Pandits, whom Rai sees as key collaborators of the
Dogra project, emerge at least one point in Zutshi's book as its most
bitter opponents. Notions of a homogeneous Kashmiri Muslim identity,
Zutshi's analysis suggests, need to be tempered by an understanding of
the working of caste, class, and ideology.
Customer Review
The Challenging Natures of Kashmir, May 25, 2007
By T. Dodge
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
"Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects" covers the macro historical, social,
religious, and political highlights in Kashmir from about 1840 to
1950. It is a fascinating view into a world far distant but fearfully
close as two modern nuclear armed adversaries seek domination over the
mystical lands of Kashmir. This is a book of essential preliminary
understandings to the current situation in the region and of the
volumes I have encountered is the best. I hope the author contemplates
another book dealing with the post 1947 era. For those seeking recent
political happenings, I suggest "Kashmir" by Sumantra Bose.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1TLIUMBUTBR1D
Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of
Kashmir
by Mridu Rai
maryum's review
excellent book!!! really worthwhile reading and very meticulous
research on the impact of colonialism on kashmir. one of the few books
that looks at the kashmiri conflict from the perspective of the
kashmiris and not as a pawn in an india-pakistan chess match.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/370620
Paper $20.00
31% off regular price
Paper: $28.95 ISBN13: 978-0-691-11688-4
File created: 10/18/2009
Questions and comments to: webm...@press.princeton.edu
Princeton University Press
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLV, No 38
Book Review: ’The Hindu-Muslim Divide : A Fresh Look by Amrik Singh’
Sunday 9 September 2007
[(BOOK REVIEW)]
The Hindu-Muslim Divide : A Fresh Look by Amrik Singh; Vitasta
Publishing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; 2007; pp. XIV+238; Rs 345.
It is ironic that around the time we are celebrating 60 years of
India’s independence, the subject under discussion here is the Hindu-
Muslim divide, instead of it being harmony between members of
different communities in our free country. But one has to face the
facts and hence this discourse.
The author of the book under review, Dr Amrik Singh, starts it with a
painful note: “As generally recognised, the Hindu-Muslim divide has
existed in India for about thousand years. The partition of India into
India and Pakistan in 1947 was the latest instalment in this
longstanding dispute.” (p. 3) But soon he sounds a note of optimism:
“But one thing is clear that, despite signals to the contrary, the two
warring communities are nearer an understanding with each other than
ever before.” No convincing reason is provided for the optimistic
note, and the author goes further and adds that the situation is
likely to change in about half a century or more (what a satisfying
thought!), even though it is stated: “In these matters, no one can be
precise.”
It is not very easy to agree with the author’s assertion about the
thousand year old Hindu-Muslim divide. For, India is known for its
composite culture, and quite a good part of the last thousand years
have been known to be marked by considerable harmony with some
aberrations. But aberrations are at times unavoidable and even the
intra-community conflicts and divisive trends have been there in the
concerned groups. When the Pakistani leader, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
during the more fanatic phase of his political life (something the
author makes a reference to) had talked about a thousand year war, his
bravado had the future in mind.
One would, in fact, like to go back to much older times, than the last
thousand years. It may be pointed out that composite culture had been
the feature of India even before the beginning of the first century
AD. The contributing influences all these years had been the teachings
of Gautam Buddha, the Vedic and Vedantic ideals of tolerance and
spiritual values, the disarming qualities of the Sufi value and the
noble sentiments of the Bhakti movement, and, more recently, the
thoughts of personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Maulana Azad, Altaf
Husain Hali and those believing in secular ideals among other factors.
While the commingling of Sufi and Bhakti ideals is an extremely
cherished heritage of the past, the state of confrontation, in recent
times, one has to admit, between the campaign of Tableegh and Shuddhi
(mentioned by the author while stating the effort of Hinduism for
‘semitisation’) (p. 132) is a tragic episode in our saga of composite
culture : like a bad dream one would perhaps like to forget.
EVEN without agreeing fully with the basic statement of the author
with regard to a thousand year old divide one would like to praise him
for covering the subject of Hindu-Muslim divide in a very
comprehensive manner particularly in the recent past. Dr Amrik Singh
has covered the entire ground by recounting how the spirit of mutual
understanding and conciliation gave way to conflict between the
Muslims and Hindus. Much discussion is available about the factors
responsible for this conflict leading to the partition of the country
along with its independence, the roles of leaders of the two
communities during those traumatic years and, indeed, the shape this
conflict has taken in today’s India.
The book is in the form of notes on different subjects relevant to its
theme, probably written at different points of time. But it contains a
wealth of information on the nature and cause of the divide—the
machinations of the British rulers, the folly of partition, the
practice of separate electorates, and even the complexities of adult
franchise and a joint electorate, the polarisation between the two
communities, the present concept of Hindutva and many other factors
that the author has painstakingly gone into. The author has laid great
emphasis on the need for pluralism and for a policy “in the direction
of reducing the Hindu-Muslim divide and work towards what has been
described as pluralism,” as he puts it.
Dr Amrik Singh has given some very perceptive opinions of acknowledged
experts on Hinduism and Islam, some approvingly while others with his
note of critique. Consider the quote from the eminent historian, Prof.
M. Habib (whom he describes as the “tallest historian of medieval
India”):
A Hindu feels it is his duty to dislike those whom he has been taught
to consider the enemies of his religion and his ancestors; the Muslim,
lured into the false belief that he was once a member of a ruling
race, feels insufferably wronged by being relegated to the status of a
minority community. Fools both! Even if the Muslims eight centuries
ago were as bad as they were painted, would there be any sense in
holding the present generation responsible for their deeds? It is but
an imaginative tie that joins the modern Hindu with Harshvardhana or
Asoka, or the modern Muslim with Shahabuddin or Mahmud.
“That these words were written several years after the partition makes
them even more relevant than they would have been otherwise,” says Dr
Amrik Singh and every rightly. (p. 200) Members of both the
communities can gain from introspecting in the light of the late
historians’ observation.
At another place, the author quotes Girilal Jain who, according to
him, “apart from being a leading journalist, was a keen student of
Hinduism”: Unlike the Muslims, the Hindus do not possess a vision of
the future, which is rooted in the past for a variety of reasons, one
of them being that, unlike the Muslims, they have not been able to
invent a golden age which can be located in any kind of history and
that they cannot invent one. While, they would, if challenged, vaguely
own up all Indian history up to the beginning of the Muslim invasions
of north India in the 11th century, they do not identify themselves
with any particular period. Indeed, they have little sense of history.
So how can they have a golden age and how can a people without such a
sense engage in revivalism? What can they seek to revive? Hinduism is
an arbitrary imposition on a highly variegated civilisation, which is
truly oceanic in its range. Such a civilisation cannot be enclosed in
a narrow doctrine. It cannot have a central doctrine because in its
majestic sweep it takes up all that comes its way and adapts it to its
over-widening purpose, rejecting finally what is wholly alien and
cannot be accommodated at all. Attempts have been made to build
embankments around this ocean-like reality to give it a shape and
definition. But these have not succeeded. The spirit of India has
refused to be contained. To put it differently, Hinduism has refused
to be organised. By the same token, it has refused to be communalised.
(p. 135)
Amrik Singh reacts to Jain’s stipulations: “While it is true that
Hinduism has refused to be organised and it has refused to be
communalised, how is it that today we witness what Nehru once
described as ‘non-Muslim aggression among Muslims’?” The author says
that this phrase of Nehru occurs in one of his letters addressed to
the Chief Ministers after the police action in Hyderabad.
IN the context of the Hindutva philosophy, it would be relevant to
consider the following quote from the late K.R. Malkani who became
known as the Editor of the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, and an ideologue
of the Bharatiya Janata Party:
The Muslim Indian should realise that Hinduism is not a religion, but
a culture. That he is Muslim by religion but Hindu by culture. Let
Indonesia with its Muslim religion and native Hindu culture be the
model for the Muslim in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. (p. 138)
Malkani’s prescription is not possible, says Amrik Singh, either in
terms of physical or political considerations or in terms of their
historical evolution. “While Hinduism has a hoary tradition behind it,
the pre-Islamic traditions in Indonesia are not even clearly defined.”
Incidentally, at the time of writing this review a mammoth gathering
of Muslim men and women with hijab (about 100,000) including scholars
and religious leaders from different parts of the world, is
deliberating in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, in search of ways to
establish a single Muslim government in the Islamic world (on the
ideals of Khilafat-e-Islamia) largely at the initiative of a group of
Indonesian Muslims. But that is another story that needs to be
considered in its own context.
The author feels that the effort to remove the present divide has
largely to be on the part of the Congress party. The removal of the
divide is linked with economic and political development of the
country. He says, “The Congress—currently in power—owes it to the
Muslims to bring them at par with others and thereafter involve them
in the process of development, both economic and political. The
Congress also has the further obligation to help the Muslims to draw
abreast of others socially.” (p. 191)
The author says that in seeking to separate from India, they (the
Muslims) followed a path which culminated in the partition of India in
1947. In the ultimate analysis that was a mistake, which Jinnah and
those who followed him had made. “Since the kind of Islamic future
that the Muslims of the subcontinent had aspired for themselves is
running into problem, sooner or later the thinking of the Muslim world
will make them learn from experience and come to terms with the
changed reality. But when? It is difficult to answer this question,”
the author says.
The author is of the view that the solution to the Hindu-Muslim divide
is linked, to a great extent, with the normalisation of relations
between India and Pakistan. The problem in India cannot be isolated
from the problem in Pakistan. The triumph of fundamentalism will be
bad for Indian Muslims as well. An end to confrontation would help
remove the divide in India, he says.
What, according to the author, is the prospect of the Hindu-Muslim
divide disappearing?—one may ask. He talks very enthusiastically of an
Indian version of globalisation. This globalisation is the result of a
“new mix of policies”, that are going to help all Indians including
Muslims.
He states: What has made it easier for India to adjust to the changing
world relatively more easily is partly because Hinduism is more
adjustable to the logic of the contemporary idea of development. If
India succeeds in this experiment, as seems to be happening, the
Indian Muslims too can before long, become a part of this experiment.
Currently, they are somewhat estranged from the mainstream. (p. 225)
Dr Amrik Singh would want the Indian Government to push ahead
vigorously with the spread of education and the Indian Muslims to give
evidence of some “political initiative” and “political maturity”.
According to the author, the confrontation with the United States now
“...is partly coming in the way of the Islamic world breaking with her
past”. If the US were not so confrontationist, he says, things in the
Islamic world would to some extent start changing, “sooner than is
happening at the moment”. According to him, India’s role in this
context is “positive, if not also praiseworthy”. And, India’s version
of globalisation can prompt others, even those in the Islamic world,
to move in that direction.
Dr Amrik Singh feels that if what is stated above happens, the “Hindu-
Muslim divide in India will gradually weaken”. More than that, he
says, this would give rise to “a new era in world history in more than
one sense”. What happens in India, according to him, would be of
considerable historical significance. “Indeed, it can also prove to be
a development of a wider economic and cultural significance.” Amen!
The reviewer, a veteran journalist who worked for several years in
Mainstream, currently edits the periodical Alpjan.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article302.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 28
Day One in Calcutta
Monday 30 June 2008, by From NC’s Writings
Ten years ago, in the afternoon of June 27, 1998, Nikhil Chakravartty
breathed his last. Remembering him after 10 years, we are reproducing
some of his finest reports, editorials and articles that appeared in
this journal and elsewhere over the last sixty years. We are also
reproducing the speech that our former President, K.R. Narayanan,
delivered while unveiling N.C.’s portrait at the Press Council of
India (New Delhi, February 28, 1999), and publishing several
reminiscences by those who knew him intimately.
The following report by Nikhil Chakravartty, the Calcutta
correspondent of People’s Age (published from Bombay), appeared in the
weekly’s August 24, 1947 issue (it was wired from Calcutta on August
17, 1947) under the following headlines : ‘End of a Nightmare and
Birth of New Dawn!’; ‘Calcutta Transformed by Spirit Of Independence’;
‘Hindus, Muslims Hug Each Other In Wild Joy—Tears Roll Down Where
Blood Once Soaked The Streets’.
Frenzy has overtaken Calcutta. It is a frenzy which no city in India
has ever felt through the long years of thraldom under the British.
When the clock struck midnight and Union Jacks were hauled down on
August 15, 1947, the city shook to her very foundations for a mad
frenzy overtook her 40 lakh citizens. Nothing like this has ever
happened before.
I have racked my brains for hours; I have looked up all despatches in
the Press; but still I find no adequate words to communicate the
unforgettable experience that has overwhelmed me in the last three
days. It is like a sudden bursting of a mighty dam: you hear a
deafening roar of water sweeping away everything in the flood. It
comes with a crushing suddenness and strikes with the strength of a
thousand giants.
That is how all of us in Calcutta have felt in the last few days—all
of us, old or young, man or woman, Hindu or Muslim, rich or poor. In
this mighty sweep of the flood none was spared. And the floods carried
off a lot of dirt and stigma of our slavery.
Calcutta is Reborn
ONE hundred and ninety years ago, it was from Calcutta that Clive set
out of conquer this land of ours and it was this city which was the
seat of all his vile intrigues that divided our ranks and brought
about our defeat. But today in the sweeping torrent of freedom all
that has been wiped away, and once again this beloved city of ours
stands out clean and full of radiance with the glow of lasting
brotherhood.
Everybody felt nervous about August 15. Weeks ahead authorities were
on tenterhooks; more police and military were being posted to ensure
peace. Ministers would not permit meetings in the open to celebrate
the transfer of power, afraid that the goondas might create trouble.
East Bengal Hindus were nervous that one little spark in Calcutta
might throw the entire province into the flames of a civil war;
Muslims were panicky that they might be finished off in Calcutta and
many had left the city.
Gandhiji had already moved his camp to one of the most affected areas—
Belliaghata—and cancelling his East Bengal trip, had decided to spend
a few days here with Suhrawardy. But even he was disturbed by rowdy
goondas, backed by communal groups, accusing him of being an enemy of
Hindus. News from the Punjab was bad. On the whole an uncanny fear
gripped everybody and the day of independence seemed like a deadline
for disturbances.
But how wrong were our calculations! With all our pretensions of
knowing our people, with all the prophecies and warnings, bans and
precautions, no one really knew how the people—common men and women
among both Hindus and Muslims—would come forward to celebrate August
15. It was this unknown factor, which in every turn of history is the
determining factor, that has made all the difference in our
calculations and the actual happenings on that day.
People’s preparations for the celebrations of the day went on briskly,
though imperceptibly. The demand for Tri-colours knew no bounds;
whatever be the material, whatever the make, every flag was literally
sold out. Even the poorest of the poor, coolie, scavenger or rickshaw-
puller, bought the Jhanda. In paras and mohallas boys and girls were
getting ready practising drills or formations, organising Prabhat
Pheris. Party differences, personal bickerings, etc. were forgotten.
Discordant voices there were, but they did not matter. Mahasabha first
raised the slogan of black flags, but then piped down and declared non-
participation. But all the prestige of Shyamaprosad could not make any
impression on the very people whom he had swayed during the Partition
campaign.
Forward Bloc and Tagorites also opposed the celebration on the ground
that real freedom was yet to be won. But despite the fact that
thousands of Bengali homes paid homage to Netaji that day hardly a
handful abstained from participation. Every school, factory, office,
every home—be it a mansion or a bustee—awaited the great day with
hearts full of jubilation.
As the zero hour approached, the city put on a changed appearance. On
the streets, people were busy putting up flags and decorating
frontage. Gates were set up at important crossings, bearing names of
our past titans like Ashoka or our martyrs in the freedom movement.
The atmosphere was tense; should there be a new round of stabbings or
shootings among brothers, or should there be return to peace and
normalcy?
All Barriers Broken
THE first spontaneous initiative for fraternisation came from Muslim
bustees and was immediately responded to by Hindu bustees. It was
Calcutta’s poor toilers, especially Muslims, who opened the floodgate,
and none could have dreamt of what actually took place.
Muslim boys clambered up at Chowringhee and shouted, “Hindu-Muslim ek
ho” and exhorted the driver to take them to Bhowanipore. But the
driver would not risk that and so they came up to the border only.
But then all of a sudden in the very storm-centres of most gruesome
rioting of the past year—Raja Bazar, Sealdah, Kalabagan, Colootolah,
Burra Bazar—Muslims and Hindus ran across the frontiers and hugged
each other in wild joy. Tears rolled down where once blood had soaked
the pavements. “Jai Hind”, “Vande Mataram”, “Allah-ho-Akbar” and above
all renting the sky “Hindu-Muslim ek ho”.
Curfews were ignored; men rushed out on the streets, danced, clasped
and lifted each other up. It was all like a sudden end of a nightmare,
the birth of a glorious dawn.
As midnight approached, crowds clustered round every radio set and
Jawaharlal’s ringing words sent a thrill round every audience,
“Appointed day has come —the day appointed by destiny..”
With the stroke of midnight, conch-shells blew in thousands, conch-
shells blown by our mothers and sisters from the innermost corners of
our homes—for the call of freedom has reached every nook and corner.
And with the conch-shells were heard the crack of rifles and bursting
of bombs and crackers. The very arms that were stored so long to kill
off brothers were being used to herald the coming of freedom.
A torchlight procession started in North Calcutta. Tram workers, in
all spontaneity, brought out a couple of trams crowded with Hindus to
the Nakhoda mosque and were feted by Muslims with food and drink. In
Burra Bazar, Muslims were treated the same way and all embraced one
another. Hardly anybody slept that night—the night choked with
passionate emotions welling up in so many ways.
As the morning came the city was already full of excitment and
pavements were thronged with people. Prabhat Pheris came out singing
songs of the national struggle. Boys and girls marched through the
streets with bands and bugles—bright and smart, free citizens of
tomorrow.
Flag salutations in every park, in every school and office. Buses
plied free, giving joy rides to thousands. Trams announced that all
their returns would be sent for relief. And they ran till late at
night along all mixed routes which were closed for the past year.
At the Government House, our own Government was to unfurl the
Tricolour, but invitees were confined to Burra Sahibs and officials,
the rich and elite, Ministers and Legislators. They came in big cars,
many with their wives dressed in all their fashionable clothes.
Government House—People’s Property
COMMON people, those that have made freedom possible, they too came in
thousands, but they were kept outside, beyond the huge iron gates. Why
must this be so? Why must this occasion be celebrated in the way the
White Sahibs have done so long?
I watched that crowd growing restless every minute and found among
them the very faces that you come across in the streets every day or
at the market or in your own home: babu, coolie, student, Professor,
young girl and shy wife—all jostling with each other, impatient at
being kept out. Sikh, Muslim, Bhayya and Bhadralok clamoured for the
gates to be opened and when that was not done, they themselves burst
into the spacious grounds and ran up towards the Governor’s stately
mansion.
The burst into the rooms much to the annoyance of the officials and
perhaps also of the marble busts of many of the White rulers that have
never been disturbed in their majesty.
For hours they thronged there, thousands over thousands of them,
shoving out many of the ICS bosses. But it would be a slander to say
that they were unruly. How little did they touch or damage? Had they
been unruly, as somebody had reported to Gandhiji, the whole place
would have been a wreck in no time.
They went there for they felt that it was one of their own leaders who
had been installed as their Governor. And when the annoyed officials
ran up to Rajaji to complain to him about the crowd swarming into the
rooms, C.R., it is reported, replied: “But what can I do? It is their
own property. How can I prevent them from seizing it?”
The sense of triumph, of pride that we have come to our own could be
seen in the faces that entered the portals of the Government House. It
is symptomatic of August 15 no doubt. For though there were
restrictions and curtailments to real freedom in the elaborate plans
the Dominion Status, the people—the common humanity that teems our land
—have taken this day to mean that that have won and no amount of
restrictions will bar the way, just as no policeman could stop the
surging crowd that broke into the Government House.
Outside, all over the city, houses seemed to have emptied out into the
streets, lorries came in hundreds, each packed precariously beyond
capacity; lorries packed with Hindus and Muslims, men and women.
Streets were blocked and the people themselves volunteered to control
traffic.
Rakhi Bandhan Again
LORRY-LOADS of Muslim National Guards crammed with Gandhi-capped young
Hindu boys shouted themselves hoarse “Jai Hind”, “Hindu-Muslim ek ho”.
Somebody in Bhowanipore waved a League flag under a Tri-colour. What a
sight and what a suspense. But the days of hate were over and all
shouted together, “Hindu-Muslim ek ho!”
A batch of Hindu ladies went to Park Circus to participate in the flag
hoisting. They tied rakhi (strings of brotherly solidarity made famous
during Swadeshi days) round the wrists of Muslim National Guards. And
the Muslim boys said, “May we be worthy brothers!”
Hindu families, quiet and timid Bhadralok families, came in hundreds
to visit Park Circus with their wives and children in tikka gharries
piled by Muslims. Muslims, well-to-do and poor, visited Burra Bazar,
and Ballygunge in endless streams. And this was going on all these
three days.
They are all going to paras or mohallas they had to leave or where
they had lost their near and dear ones. Today there is no area more
attractive and more crowded than the very spots where the worst
butcheries had taken place. As if to expiate for the sins of the last
one year, Hindus and Muslims of Calcutta vied with each other to
consecrate their city with a new creed of mighty brotherhood.
On the evening of August 16, one year back, I sent you a despatch
which could describe but inadequately the mad lust for fratricidal
blood that had overtaken Calcutta that day. To mark the anniversary of
that day I visited the crowded parts of Hindu Burra Bazar and the
Muslim Colootola where in this one year hardly anyone passed alive
when spotted by the opposite community. But this evening Muslims were
the guests of honour at Burra Bazar and Hindus, as they visited
Colootola, were drenched with rose-water and attar and greeted with
lusty cheers of “Jai Hind”.
On the very evening, at Park Circus, was held a huge meeting of Hindus
and Muslims. Suhrawardy, J.C. Gupta, MLA, and Bhowani Sen spoke. It
was here that Suhrawardy asked the Muslims to go and implore the
evicted Hindus to come back to Park Circus.
At Belliaghata, Gandhiji’s presence itself has brought back hundreds
of Muslim families who had to leave in terror of their lives only a
few weeks back. And Gandhiji’s prayer meetings are attended by an ever
increasing concourse of Hindus and Muslims—themselves living symbols
of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Reports from Bengal districts also prove that this remarkable upsurge
of solidarity was not confined to Calcutta alone. In Dacca, despite
panic, Hindus and Muslims jointly participated in the celebration of
Pakistan, and Muslim leaders themselves intervened in one case where
the Congress flag was lowered, and the flag was raised again.
Everywhere Hindus showed response by honouring the Pakistan flag.
Joint Hindu-Muslim demonstrations were the marked features of the
occasion.
Reports from Comilla, Kusthia, Dinajpore, Krishnanagore, Munshinganj,
Malda and Jessore, all show that August 15 had passed off in peace and
amity. Only local fracas were reported from Kanchrapara, but the great
and good tidings from Calcutta eased the situation there.
In this mighty flood of freedom and brotherhood there is yet the sense
of suspense, for it came with such an incredible suddenness and
magnitude that many think it is too good to last long. It is like
holding a precious glass dome in your hands while you are in suspense
that it might fall and break at any moment.
Spontaneous assertion of people’s will for freedom and brotherly
solidarity needs to be harnessed in lasting forms and that is where
our leaders will be tested in the coming weeks.
Whatever happens, August 15 will be cherished for Calcutta’s grand
celebration on the eve of the end of the dark night of slavery and the
dawn of freedom. Calcutta yesterday was the symbol of our servitude
and fratricidal hate. Calcutta today is the beacon-light for free
India, asserting that freedom once resurrected can never be curbed or
destroyed, for all our millions of Hindus and Muslims together are
ready to stand together as its proud sentinels.
(People’s Age, August 24, 1947)
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article801.html
Mainstream Weekly
VOL XLV No 21
1857 In Our History
Monday 14 May 2007, by P C Joshi *
[(The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Great Indian Revolt
of 1857 is being observed this month. Though the spark for the Revolt
was lit by Mangal Pandey at Barrackpore earlier the same year, the
Revolt actually began in May at Meerut: on May 6, 85 sepoys of the 3rd
Bengal Cavalry at Meerut refused to use the cartridge, the cause of
the rebellion—all of them were placed under arrest; on May 9 these
sepoys were brought to a general punishment parade at the Meerut
Parade Ground, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment and stripped of
their uniforms. When the 11th and 12th Native Cavalry of the Bengal
Army assembled at the Parade Ground on May 10, they broke rank and
turned on the Commanding Officer Colonel Finnis who was shot dead—this
was the first incident of Revolt at Meerut; thereafter the sepoys
liberated the imprisoned sepoys, attacked the European Cantonment and
killed all the Europeans who could be found there. Then in conjunction
with the Roorkee sepoys, called to Meerut following the uprising, they
marched to Delhi where the first major incident took place on May 11
with the killing of Colonel Ripley.
We are carrying here excerpts from a seminal article “1857 In Our
History” by the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of
India, P.C. Joshi, whose birth centenary is being observed this year,
to mark the occasion. This article was presented at a symposium held
to observe the centenary of the 1857 Revolt in 1957; later it was
published alongwith other articles presented at the symposium in book
form (also edited by P.C. Joshi) by the People’s Publishing House, New
Delhi. —Editor)]
The few contemporary Indians who wrote on 1857 did so for the British.
The dominant British attitude is revealed in entitled, “The Bengali
Press, How to Deal with It”, published on August 9, 1896, in Pioneer,
a very influential British organ of the times:
We know how Englishmen within the memory of living men treated their
own newspaper writers… If a gentle and graceful writer forgot himself
so far as to call the Prince Regent ‘an Adonis of forty’ he got two
years’ ‘hard’. If a clergyman praised the French Revolution and
advocated Parliamentary reform and fair representation, he was
condemned to work in iron manacles, to wade in sludge among the vilest
criminals.
The writer advocated the infliction of the same punishment on an
Indian who dared to write on the Indian Mutiny of 1857.1
Indians thus had no say in this controversy but our rebel ancestors
with their heroic deeds and by shedding their warm blood had made
their contribution more eloquent than words....
It is inspiring to recall here what Marx thought of the 1857 national
uprising. As early as July 31, 1857, on the basis of Indian mail
carrying Delhi news up to June 17, he concluded his unsigned
newsletter to the New York Daily Tribune with these words:
By and by there will ooze out other facts able to convince even John
Bull himself that what he considers military mutiny is in truth a
national revolt.2
India’s historians may go on arguing and differing about the character
of the 1857 revolt but the mass of the Indian people have already
accepted it as the source-spring of our national movement. The hold of
the 1857 heritage on national thought is so great that even Dr R. C.
Majumdar concludes his study with the following words:
The outbreak of 1857 would surely go down in history as the first
great and direct challenge to the British rule in India, on an
extensive scale. As such it inspired the genuine national movement for
the freedom of India from British yoke which started half a century
later. The memory of 1857-58 sustained the later movement, infused
courage into the hearts of its fighters, furnished a historical basis
for the grim struggle, and gave it a moral stimulus, the value of
which it is impossible to exaggerate. The memory of the revolt of
1857, distorted but hallowed with sanctity, perhaps did more damage to
the cause of the British rule in India than the Revolt itself.3
The controversy whether the 1857-58 struggle was a sepoy revolt or a
national uprising can be resolved only by squarely posing and
truthfully analysing the character of the contestants on either side
and the nature of the issues—political, economic and ideological—
involved in this struggle. In short, a sound historical evaluation
demands that who was fighting whom and for what be correctly
stated....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE British conquest of India implied not only the imposition of alien
rule but, something worse still, a pitiless destruction of the
traditional Indian social order itself and disruption of its own
normal development towards a new order. Marx was the only thinker of
the period who studied this tragic phenomenon scientifically and
formulated the role of British imperialism in India in such a correct
manner that his conclusions were borne out by the subsequent
researches of Indian scholarship and they helped Indian patriots to
understand Indian reality better and give a progressive orientation to
Indian national thought.
As early as 1853 when the Indian situation was being debated in the
British Parliament on the occasion of the renewal of the East India
Company’s Charter, Marx stated in an article entitled “British Rule in
India”: All the civil wars, invasions, revolutions, conquests,
famines, strangely complex, rapid and destructive as the successive
action in Hindustan may appear, did not go deeper than its surface.
England has broken down the entire framework of Indian society,
without any symptoms of reconstitution yet appearing. This loss of his
old world, with no gain of a new one, imparts a particular kind of
melancholy to the present misery of the Hindu, and separates Hindustan
ruled by Britain, from all its ancient traditions, and from the whole
of its past history… It was the British intruder who broke up the
Indian handloom and destroyed the spinning wheel…British steam and
science uprooted over the whole surface of Hindustan, the union
between agriculture and manufacturing industry.4 ...
After the conquest of Bengal and eventually throughout India, the
method of enforced and unequal trade was used to loot India and this
led to its economic ruination. R. P. Dutt states how the situation
underwent a qualitative change after the British became the ruling
class in India, how methods of power could be increasingly used to
weight the balance of exchange and secure the maximum goods for the
minimum payment.5
By the end of 18th century and much more clearly by 1813-33, a shift
had come over British policy towards India. After a period of
primitive plunder and the systematic ruination of Indian trades and
crafts, the British bourgeoisie, with the completion of their
Industrial Revolution, began to use India as a dumping ground for its
industrial manufactures and, above all, textiles. Marx noted this
sharp shift, and, in one of his articles during 1853, wrote:
The whole character of trade was changed. Till 1813 India had been
chiefly an exporting country while it now became an importing one; and
in such quick progression, that already, in 1823, the rate of
exchange, which had generally been two-sixth per rupee sunk down to
two per rupee. India, the great workshop of cotton manufacture for the
world, since immemorial times, became now inundated with English
twists and cotton stuffs. After its own produce had been excluded from
England, or only accepted on the most cruel terms, British
manufactures were poured into it at a small or merely nominal duty, to
the ruin of native cotton fabric once so celebrated.6
The policy of the East India Company also annihilated the independent
merchant bourgeoisie as well as the artisans and craftsmen. Prof
Ramkrishna Mukherjee describes the process in the following words:
Along with thus turning the Indian artisans ‘out of this ‘temporal’
world’, as Marx remarked caustically, proceeded the liquidation of the
Indian merchant bourgeoisie. Monopolising Indian products for the
English meant that the Indian merchants could no longer survive. Only
those could maintain their profession who acquiesced in becoming
underlings of the Company or of its servants engaged in private inland
trade in India or of the private English merchants residing in India
for the same purpose. Otherwise, they had to find a new source of
livelihood. Not only were the Indian merchants prohibited from buying
commodities directly from the producers which were monopolised by the
English, but the agents of the Company and its servants forced such
goods on the Indian merchants at a price higher than the prevailing
one.7
By annihilating the independent merchant bourgeoisie, which to some
extent also fulfilled the role of the manufacturing bourgeoisie, the
monopolist East India Company destroyed that very important class in
Indian economy which could be their rival.
Another aspect of this phenomenon is noted and analysed by K. M.
Panikkar in the following words:
With the establishment of European trade centres in the main coastal
areas of India, there had developed a powerful Indian capitalist
class, closely associated with the foreign merchants, and deriving
great profits from trade with them… The Marwari millionaires of Bengal
have become the equivalent of the compradore classes of Shanghai of a
later period …The emergence of this powerful class, whose economic
interests were bound up with those of the foreign merchants and who
had an inherited hatred of Muslim rule, was a factor of fundamental
importance to the history of India and of Asia.8
These Indian agents of the Company and of the British merchants were
called gomasthas and bannias and played the role of sub-agents of
foreign capital and a pro-British role in the 1857 uprising.
How did intelligent Indians react to the above economic situation and
policies?
It is useful to quote Allamah Fazle Haq of Khayrabad, an eminent
Muslim scholar of the traditional school who took a leading part in
the 1857 revolt and was transported for life:
Having seized power they (the British) decided to bring under their
hold the various sections of the people by controlling eatables, by
taking possession of the ears of corn and grain and giving the
peasants and cultivators cash in lieu of their rights of farming.
Their object was not to allow the poor men and villagers a free hand
in buying and selling grains. By giving preference to their own
people, they wanted to control the cheapening or raising of the rates
so that the people of God might submit to their (Christian) policy of
monopoly, and their dependence on them (Christians) for their
requirements might force them to meet the purpose of the Christians
and their supporters, and their desire and ambitions which they had in
their hearts and the mischiefs and evils which they had concealed in
their minds.9
In the above background, the appeal of the manifesto issued by Bahadur
Shah on behalf of the insurgent centre at Delhi had its own
significance. The manifesto appealed in the following words to the
merchants: It is plain that the infidel and treacherous British
Government have monopolised the trade of all the fine and valuable
merchandise such as indigo, cloth and other articles of shipping,
leaving only the trade of trifles to the people and even in this they
are not allowed their shares of the profits, which they secure by
means of customs and stamp fees, etc., in money suits, so that the
people have merely a trade in name. Besides this, the profit of the
traders are taxed with postages, tolls, and subscriptions for schools,
etc. Notwithstanding all these concessions, the merchants are liable
to imprisonment and disgrace at the instance of complaint of a
worthless man. When the Badshahi Government is established all these
aforesaid fraudulent practices shall be dispensed with and the trade
of every article, without exception, both by land and water shall be
opened to the native merchants of India who will have the benefit of
the Government steam-vessels and steam carriages for the conveyance of
their merchandise gratis; and merchants having no capital of their own
shall be assisted from the public treasury. It is, therefore, the duty
of every merchant to take part in the war, and aid the Badshahi
Government with its men and money, either secretly or openly, as may
be consistent with its position or interest and forswear its
allegiance to the British Government.10...
The economic and political operation of the East India Company in
India led to a systematic squeezing of our national wealth which has
been described by India’s economic historians as the economic drain.
Let us examine this as it existed on the eve of the 1857 revolt.
There was the so-called Indian Debt, which was incurred by the Company
in order to consolidate its position in India and to spread its
influence further through expeditions and wars, and at the same time,
paying high dividends to share-holders in England, tributes to the
British Government since 1769 and bribes to the influential persons in
England.11
R. C. Dutt makes the following comments as regards the genesis and
mechanism of this Indian Debt:
A very popular error prevails in this country (England in 1903) that
the whole Indian Debt represents British capital sunk in the
development of India. It is shown in the body of this volume that this
is not the genesis of the Public Debt of India. When the East India
Company cessed to be the rulers of India in 1858, they had piled up an
Indian Debt of 70 millions. They had in the meantime drawn a tribute
from India, financially an unjust tribute, exceeding 150 million, not
calculating interest. They had also charged India with the cost of
Afghan wars, Chinese wars and other wars outside India. Equitably,
therefore, India owed nothing at the close of the Company’s rule; her
Public Debt was a myth; there was a considerable balance of over 108
millions in her favour out of the money that had been drawn from her.
12
Montgomery Martin, an Englishman with sympathy for the Indian people,
wrote as early as 1838:
This annual drain of £ 3,000,000 on British India amounted in 30 years
at 12 per cent (the usual Indian rate) compound interest to the
enormous sum of £ 723,997,917 sterling; or, at a low rate, as $
2,000,000 for 50 years, to £ 8,400,000,000 sterling! So constant and
accumulating a drain even on England would have soon impoverished her;
how severe then must be its effect on India, where the wages of a
labourer is from 2d. to 3d. a day?13....
Prof Ramkrishna Mukherjee goes even further and states:
A total picture of this tribute from India is seen to be even greater
than the figure mentioned by Martin in 1838. During the 24 years of
the last phase of the Company’s rule, from 1834-35 to 1857-58, even
though the years 1855, ’56 and ’57 showed a total import-surplus of £
6,436,345—(not because the foreign rulers had changed their policy,
but because some British capital flowed into India to build railway in
order to prepare her for exploitation by British industrial capital),—
the total tribute which was drained from India in the form of ‘home
charges’ and ‘excess of Indian exports’ amounted to the colossal
figure of £ 151,830,989. This works out at a yearly average of £
6,325,875, or roughly half the annual land revenue collections in this
period!14
The above was the grim reality, grimmer than any ever witnessed in the
whole course of India’s age-old historic development. As Marx stated,
there cannot, however, remain any doubt but the misery inflicted by
the British on Hindustan is of essentially different and infinitely
more intensive kind than Hindustan had to suffer before.15
The British, under the East India Company’s rule disrupted the whole
economic order of India, they turned the traditional land system topsy
turvy, they smashed the trades and manufactures of the land and
disrupted the relationship between these two sectors of the Indian
economy, systematically drained the wealth of our country to their
own, and destroyed the very springs of production of our economy.
Every class of Indian society suffered at this new spoliator’s hands.
The landlords were dispossessed and the peasants rendered paupers, the
merchant bourgeoisie of India liquidated as an independent class and
the artisans and craftsmen deprived of their productive professions.
Such unprecedented destruction of a whole economic order and of every
class within it could not but produce a great social upheaval and that
was the national uprising of 1857. The all-destructive British policy
produced a broad popular rebellion against its rule.
Within Indian society, however, those productive forces and classes
had not yet grown (in fact early British policy had itself destroyed
their first off-shoots) that could lead this revolution to victory.
The revolt of 1857 as also its failure were both historical
inevitabilities. But it also was a historical necessity, for after it
followed those modern developments..., from which emerged the modern
national liberation movement of the Indian people and those new social
forces which led it to victory.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE religious factor played a big part in the revolt in 1857. The
British statesmen and chroniclers exaggerated and deliberately
misinterpreted the role played by this factor to prove their thesis
that the 1857 uprising was reactionary, revivalist and directed
against the progressive reforms that they were introducing in Indian
society. The early generation of English-educated Indian intellectuals
swallowed this imperialist thesis uncritically because they themselves
had suffered under the old reactionary religious influences. A true
historical outlook demands that we do not forget the historical stage
which Indian society had reached on the eve of 1857, the ideological
values which would be normal to this society and the ideological forms
in which the Indian people could formulate their aspirations....
It is abundantly clear... that the British rulers purely for their
imperialist motives were out for some decades preceding 1857 to
culturally denationalise India by the method of mass conversion to
Christianity. This was seen as a menacing danger by the mass of
Indians, irrespective of their viewpoint whether it was Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan or Bahadur Shah, whether it was the enlightened Bengali
intellectual in Calcutta or the Nana Saheb at Bithoor, by the mass of
sepoys both Hindu and Muslim. Thus when the religious factor played a
big role as it did in the struggle of 1857, it was as a part of the
national factor. The mass of Indians took up arms to defend their own
religions and they were fighting not only in defence of their religion
but to defend their way of life and their nationhood. Of course, there
were several reactionary features within Indian society but then the
only healthy way to change them was through the struggle of the Indian
people themselves.
This is not all. Our rebel ancestors used religion to advance the
revolutionary struggle. They did not let religion stupefy them. But
they used religion to get the strength to fight the Firinghis.
A proclamation was issued at Delhi with royal permission urging upon
the Hindus and Muslims to unite in the struggle in the name of their
respective religions.
To all Hindus and Mussalmans, citizens and servants of Hindustan,
officers of the army now at Delhi and at Meerut send greetings:—it is
well known that in these days all the English have entertained these
evil designs—first, to destroy the religion of the whole Hindustani
army and then to make the people by compulsion Christians. Therefore,
we, solely on account of our religion, have combined with the people
and have not spared alive one infidel, and have re-established the
Delhi dynasty on these terms. Hundreds of guns and a large amount of
treasure have fallen into our hands; therefore, it is fitting that
whoever of the soldiers and people dislike turning Christians should
unite with one heart, and, acting courageously, not leave the seed of
these infidels remaining.16
When the struggle in Oudh after the fall of Lucknow was on the
downgrade, and insurgents were heroically fighting defensive and
mostly losing battles, the captured sepoys used to be asked by the
British why they had joined the revolt. Their answer used to be:
The slaughter of the English is required by our religion. The end will
be the destruction of the English and all the sepoys—and then, God
knows!17
The Rajah of the Gond tribes was living as a pensioner of the British
at Nagpur. He had turned a traditional Sanskrit sthotra recited in
worshipping the devi into an anti-British hymn. The London Times of
October 31, 1857 gives the translation of the prayer: Shut the mouth
of the slanderers and Eat up backbiters, trample down the sinners,
You, “Satrusamgharika” (name of Devi, ‘destroyer of enemy’) Kill the
British, exterminate them, Matchundee. Let not the enemy escape, not
the wives and children Of such oh! Samgharika Show favour to Shanker;
support your slaves; Listen to the cry of religion. “Mathalka” eat up
the unclean, Make no delay, Now devour them, And that quickly, Ghor-
Mathalka.
During the siege of Delhi, British agents repeatedly tried to
transform the joint Hindu- Muslim struggle into a fratricidal Hindu-
Muslim civil war. Even as early as May 1857, British agents began
inciting the Muslims against the Hindus in the name of jihad and the
matter was brought before Bahadur Shah.
The king answered that such a jihad was quite impossible, and that
such an idea an act of extreme folly, for the majority of the Purbeah
soldiers were Hindus. Moreover, such an act could create internecine
war, and the result would be deplorable. It was fitting that sympathy
should exist among all classes… A deputation of Hindu officers arrived
to complain of the war against Hindus being preached. The king
replied: ‘The holy war is against the English; I have forbidden it
against the Hindus.’18
Thus did our rebel ancestors use religion to organise and conduct a
united revolutionary struggle against foreign domination. In the
historic conditon of 1857, the ideological form of the struggle could
not but assume religious forms. To expect anything else would be
unrealistic and unscientific.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE British text books on Indian history contained only the story of
the “atrocities of the mutineers,”—dishonouring of women, killing of
children and so on. The reality, however, was the opposite. Again, the
early generation of educated Indians like Savarkar and others began
exposing from British sources themselves the story of unprecedented
British atrocities against the Indian people. During the non-
cooperation movement of the twenties, the British terror during 1857
was related to Jallianwallabagh to rouse the people to struggle more
valiantly and unitedly than our ancestors had done during 1857.
Thereafter came Edward Thompson’s The Other Side of the Medal which
tried to put across the thesis that there were atrocities on both
sides which are best forgotten.
The question of questions is: can the two sides be put on the same
plane? Can the crimes committed by the enslavers of the people be
equated with some mistakes and excesses committed by the fighters for
freedom? The two cases are different....
If tales of Indian “terror” are largely mythical, British brutality
got even Lord Canning worried. On December 24, 1857, the following
Minute appears in the proceedings of the Governor-General-in-Council:
…the indiscriminate hanging, not only of persons of all shades of
guilt, but of those whose guilt was at the least very doubtful, and
the general burning and plunder of villages, whereby the innocent as
well as the guilty, without regard to age or sex, were
indiscriminately punished, and in some cases, sacrificed, had deeply
exasperated large communities not otherwise hostile to the government;
that the cessation of agriculture and consequent famine were
impending; …And lastly, that the proceedings of the officers of the
Government had given colour to the rumour…that the Government
meditated a general bloody persecution of Mohammedans and Hindus.19...
In the History of the Siege of Delhi, written by an officer who served
on active service, it is graphically described what the British
officers did on the way from Ambala to Delhi.
Hundreds of Indians were condemned to be hanged before a court-martial
in a short time, and they were most brutally and inhumanly tortured,
while scaffolds were being erected for them. The hair on their heads
were pulled by bunches, their bodies were pierced by bayonets and then
they were made to do that to avoid which they would think nothing of
death or torture—cows’ flesh was forced by spears and bayonets into
the mouth of the poor and harmless Hindu villagers.20
How the sepoy and the civilian, the guilty and the innocent alike were
butchered by the British victors after the capture of Lucknow is
described below by one of them:
at the time of the capture of Lucknow—a season of indiscriminate
massacre—such distinction was not made and the unfortunate who fell
into the hands of our troops was made short work of—sepoy or Qudh
villager it mattered not—no questions were asked; his skin was black,
and did not that suffice? A piece of rope and the branch of a tree or
a rifle bullet through his brain soon terminated the poor devil’s
existence.21
What happened in the countryside, between Banaras, Allahabad and
Kanpur during General Neill’s march through the area is described by
Kaye and Malleson in the following words:
Volunteer hanging parties went out into the districts and amateur
executioners were not wanting to the occasion. One gentleman boasted
of the numbers he had finished off quite ‘in an artistic manner’, with
mango trees for gibbets and elephants as drops, the victims of this
wild justice being strung up, as though for past-time in ‘the form of
a figure of 8’.22...
Pandit Nehru has rightly stated the problem of race mania as it faced
our insurgent ancestors and faced us subsequently in the whole course
of our struggle for freedom.
We in India have known racialism in all its forms ever since the
commencement of British rule. The whole ideology of this rule was that
of the Herrenvolk and the master race, and the structure of Government
was based upon it; indeed the idea of a master race is inherent in
imperialism. There was no subterfuge about it; it was proclaimed in
unambiguous language by those in authority. More powerful than words
was the practice that accompanied them, and generation after
generation and year after year, India as a nation and Indians as
individuals were subjected to insult, humiliation, and contemptuous
treatment.23...
Our forefathers suffered and bled during 1857. Subsequent generations
kept up the struggle and went on making the needed sacrifice. If after
independence we forget our past experience and began to consider
British imperialism as our new friend instead of our traditional foe,
we will not be able to safeguard Indian independence nor discharge
India’s duty towards the struggling colonial peoples in Asia and
Africa...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN the broad historical perspective of India’s struggle against
British domination what needs being stressed is not the limitation and
narrowness of the 1857 uprising but its sweep, breadth and depth. The
1857 uprising stands sharply demarcated from all the earlier anti-
British wars of resistance fought on Indian soil.
The first is the sheer vastness of the area covered by the 1857
uprising and the still wider sympathy and solidarity it commanded. It
is admitted by all historians and chronicles, British and Indian
alike, that the 1857 national insurrection was the biggest ever anti-
British combine that had so far been massed in armed struggle against
British authority in India.
The second is the qualitative difference between this and all other
anti-British wars. In the earlier wars people of a single kingdom,
which very often coincided with a specific nationality, fought single-
handed. For example, the Bengalis alone fought at Plassey. The same in
the Karnatak and the Mysore and the Maratha, the Sikh and the Sind
wars. Earlier attempts at broader combinations had failed. But during
1857 people of various castes, tribes, nationalities, religions, who
had lived under different kingdoms rose together to end the British
rule. It was an unprecedented unity of the Indian people. Marx, the
most far-sighted thinker of the age, duly noted this new phenomenon.
Before this there had been mutinies in the Indian army but the present
revolt is distinguished by characteristic and fatal features. It is
the first time that the sepoy regiments have murdered their European
officers; that Musalmans and Hindus, renouncing their mutual
antipathies, have combined against the common masters; that
‘disturbances, beginning with the Hindus, have actually ended in
placing on the throne of Delhi a Mohammedan Emperor’; that the mutiny
has not been confined to a few localities.24
As it is important to stress the above positive aspect of the 1857
national uprising, it is equally important to state its negative
aspect and state which decisive areas and sections of the Indian
people did not join the national uprising and how some were even led
to supporting the British side. There were several factors involved
but let us examine the main, the national factor. The Gurkhas and the
Sikhs played a decisive role on the side of the British. The Nepal war
had been fought by the British with the help of the Hindustani Army.
Rana Jung Bahadur, who was centralising Nepal under Ranashahi, was
promised by the British a permanent subsidy and large tracts in Terai
and he brought his Gurkha soldiers down, in the name of revenge, for
subduing Oudh.
The Sikhs had their own historic memories against the Moghuls and
after initial hesitation the British were able to recruit the
unemployed soldiers of the Khalsa Army and the retainers of the Sikh
princes and sardars.
From the Marathas the heir of the Peshwas had risen in revolt but the
Maratha princes had their own rivalries and historic feuds both with
the Nizam in the South and the Moghuls in the North.
The Rajputana princes had their own historic memories of earlier
Moghul and later Maratha domination, besides their being under British
grip now.
These historic memories from the past of our feudal disunity kept the
people of large parts of the country paralysed and moved by their
feudal self-interest the Indian princes helped the British usurpers.
Nehru has put the whole position in very succinct words:
The revolt strained British rule to the utmost and it was ultimately
suppressed with Indian help.25
As it is true that the 1857 revolution was the biggest national
uprising against British rule, so it is equally true that the British
were able to suppress it by using Indians against indians. Divide and
rule was the traditional British policy and they used it with
devastating effect during 1857....
The peasant was anti-British but his outlook was confined within his
village, his political knowledge did not go beyond the affairs of the
kingdom in which he lived under his traditional Raja.
The political-ideological leadership of the country was yet in the
hands of the feudal ruling classes. They shared the general anti-
British sentiment but they feared their feudal rivals more. They were
a decaying class and their historic memories were only of the feudal
past of disunity and civil wars and the vision of a united independent
India could not dawn upon them.
Love of the country in those days meant love of one’s own homeland
ruled by one’s traditional ruler. The conception of India as our
common country had not yet emerged. Not only did the feudal historic
memories come in the way but the material foundations for it, the
railways, telegraph, a uniform system of modern education, etc., had
not yet been laid but had only begun.
The conception of India as common motherland grew later and the great
experience of 1857 rising helped it to grow. The London Times duly
noted the rise of this new phenomenon.
One of the great results that have flowed from the rebellion of
1857-58 has been to make inhabitants of every part of India acquainted
with each other. We have seen the tide of war rolling from Nepal to
the borders of Gujarat, from the deserts of Rajputana to the frontiers
of the Nizam’s territories, the same men over-running the whole land
of India and giving to their resistance, as it were, a national
character. The paltry interests of isolated States, the ignorance
which men of one petty principality have laboured under in considering
the habits and customs of the other principality—all this has
disappeared to make way for a more uniform appreciation of public
events throughout India. We may assume that in the rebellion of 1857,
no national spirit was roused, but we cannot deny that our efforts to
put it down have sown the seeds of a new plant and thus laid the
foundation for more energetic attempts on the part of the people in
the course of future years.26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHAT was the aim of the insurgents, what sort of a political and
social order did they seek to establish in India? A sound
characterisation of the 1857 struggle depends upon the correct answer
to the above problem. For it will help to decide whether it was
reactionary or progressive.
It is amazing that there is virtual agreement on this question between
not only British and some eminent Indian historians but also some
foremost Indian political leaders.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has stated his opinion thus: Essentially it
was a feudal outburst, headed by feudal chiefs and their followers and
aided by the widespread anti-British sentiment… Not by fighting for a
lost cause, the feudal order, would freedom come.27
Dr Majumdar’s conclusion is: The miseries and bloodshed of 1857-58
were not the birthpangs of a freedom movement in India, but the dying
groans of an obsolete aristocracy and centrifugal feudalism of the
medieval age.28
Dr Sen, the official historian, improves upon and carries forward the
Prime Minister’s characterisation:
The English Government had imperceptibly effected a social revolution.
They had removed some of the disabilities of women, they had tried to
establish the equality of men in the eye of the law, they had
attempted to improve the lot of the peasant and the serf. The Mutiny
leaders would have set the clock back, they would have done away with
the new reforms, with the new order, and gone back to the good old
days when a commoner could not expect equal justice with the noble,
when the tenants were at the mercy of the talukdars, and when theft
was punished with mutilation. In short they wanted a counter-
revolution.29...
One can understand British statesmen and historians advancing the
thesis of the Old Man vs. the New, of their own role being progressive
and the insurgent cause reactionary, in sheer self-defence. But when
Indian leaders and historians repeat the same old British thesis the
least one can say is that they are mistaking the form for the
substance. It is true that the 1857 uprising was led by Indian feudals
(but not them alone!) and they were not the makers of events, nor sole
masters of India’s destiny. There were other social forces of the
common people in action during this struggle and they had brought new
factors and ideas into play. It is a pity Drs Majumdar and Sen and
Pandit Nehru have given no thought nor weight to them. If we study
them carefully and seriously, the conclusion is inescapable that
during the 1857 national uprising, the popular forces were active
enough, healthy in their aspirations and clear-headed enough in their
ideas to prevent a reactionary feudal restoration in India.
One of the great positive achievements of the 1857 uprising acclaimed
with justified pride by the Indian national movement has been the
noble attempt to forge, and sustained efforts to maintain, against
British machinations, Hindu-Muslim unity for the successful conduct of
the struggle.
Playing upon Hindu-Muslim differences had become so much a part of the
flesh and blood of the British representatives in India that Lord
Canning spontaneously began thinking, when the first signs of the
storm burst during May 1857, whether the Hindus or Muslims were behind
it? Kaye states the problem and the significance of the new situation
facing the British rulers: But, before the end of the month of April,
it must have been apparent to Lord Canning, that nothing was to be
hoped from that antagonism of Asiatic races which had even been
regarded as the main element of our strength and safety. Mohammedans
and Hindus were plainly united against us.30
The British officials, however, did not give up but persisted in the
policy of stirring Hindu- Muslim dissensions. “I shall watch for the
differences of feelings between the two communities,” wrote Sir Henry
Lawrence from Lucknow to Lord Canning in May 1857. The communal
antipathy, however, failed to develop; Aitchison ruefully admits:
In this instance, we could not play off the Mohammedaa against the
Hindu.31
The insurgent leaders were fully aware of this disruptive British
tactic. Allamah Fazle Haq, himself a Muslim revivalist, wrote: They
(the British) tried their utmost to break the revolutionary forces by
their tricks and deceptive devices, make ineffective the power of the
Mujahids and uproot them, and scatter and disrupt them…. No stone was
left unturned by them in this respect.32
The insurgent leaders consciously laid great stress on Hindu-Muslim
unity for the success of the struggle. Bahadur Shah, the sepoy
leaders, the learned Ulema and Shastris issued proclamations and
fatwas stressing that Hindu-Muslim unity was the call of the hour and
the duty of all. In all areas liberated from British rule the first
thing the insurgent leaders did was to ban cow-slaughter and enforce
it. In the highest political and military organ of insurgent
leadership Hindus and Muslims were represented in equal numbers.33
When Bahadur Shah found that he could not manage the affairs of state,
he wrote to the Hindu Rajas of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Alwar that if
they would combine for the purpose (of annihilating the British) he
would willingly resign the Imperial power into their hands.34
An insurgent Sikh regiment in Delhi served under a Muslim commander.35
Such instances can be multiplied....
There is another very important aspect of this problem. Hindu-Muslim
unity was one of the important keys in deciding the fate of the issue.
The British side knew it and tried their hardest and best to disrupt
it. The Indian side also knew it and did their utmost to realise and
maintain it. But this by itself would be a static statement of the
problem. The better Hindu-Muslim unity was forged in the insurgent
camp, the longer the struggle could last; the longer the struggle
lasted, the more chances the popular forces got to come to the fore
and the more the ideological-political influence of feudal forces
became weakened; the more the feudal forces weakened the less chances
were left of a feudal restoration. Such is the dialectics of all
popular and national struggles. During the last phase of the struggle
in 1857-58, the feudal forces stood thoroughly exposed and weakened.
The popular forces were not yet powerful, conscious and organised
enough to overwhelm them and carry on the struggle to victory. What
actually took place was British victory and not feudal restoration.
When the modern national movement began in the next generation, the
glorious heritage of Hindu-Muslim unity was taken over from the 1857
struggle and the next two generations gave a more and more democratic
programme to the conception of Hindu-Muslim united front against
British domination.
The British side also learnt its lesson from this historic phenomenon.
Forrest in his Introduction to State Papers, 1857-58, states:
Among the many lessons the Indian Mutiny conveys to the historian,
none is of greater importance than the warning that it is possible to
have a revolution in which Brahmins and Sudras, Hindus and Mohammedans
could be united against us, and that it is not safe to suppose that
the peace and stability of our dominions, in any great measure,
depends on the continent being inhabited by different religious
systems…. The mutiny reminds us that our dominions rest on a thin
crust ever likely to be rent by titanic forces of social changes and
religious revolutions.36...
Inside the disintegrating feudal order that was India of those days,
new currents of democratic thought and practice were arising; they
were not yet powerful enough to break the old feudal ideological bonds
and overwhelm British authority; they were menacing enough to make the
real Indian feudals seek a new lease of life as a gift from the
British after beseeching due forgiveness for having joined the
insurgent cause.
The destruction of the ancient land system in India and the law on the
alienation of land stirred the whole countryside into action against
the government whose policies had made the old rural classes, from the
zamindars to the peasants, lose their lands to the new section of
merchants, moneylenders and the Company’s own officials, and which had
played havoc with the their life. The large-scale peasant
participation in the 1857 uprising gave it a solid mass basis and the
character of a popular revolt. The Indian peasants fulfilled their
patriotic duty during 1857.
Peasants joined as volunteers with the insurgent forces and, though
without military training, fought so heroically and well as to draw
tributes from the British themselves... At the battle of Miaganj,
between Lucknow and Kanpur, the British had to face an Indian
insurgent forces of 8000, of whom not more than a thousand were sepoys.
37 At Sultanpur, another battle was fought by the insurgents with
25,000 soldiers, 1,100 cavalry and 25 guns and of these only five
thousand were rebel sepoys!38 After the fall of Delhi, the British
concentrated upon Lucknow. As the British massed all their strength
against Lucknow so from the villagers of Oudh came armed, peasant
volunteers for the last ditch defence of their capital city. In the
words of Charles Ball, The whole country was swarming with armed
vagabonds hastening to Lucknow to meet their common doom and die in
the last grand struggle with the Firangis.39
After the fall of Bareilly and Lucknow, the insurgents fought on and
adopted guerilla tactics. Its pattern is contained in Khan Bahadur
Khan‘s General Order:
Do not attempt to meet the regular columns of the infidels because
they are superior to you in discipline, bandobast and have big guns
but watch their movements, guard all the ghats on the rivers,
intercept their communications, stop their supplies, cut their dak and
posts and keep constantly hanging about their camps, give them (the
Firinghis) no rest!40
Commenting on the above, Russell wrote in his Diary:
This general order bears marks of sagacity and points out the most
formidable war we would encounter.41
The heavy responsibility for carrying into practice the above line of
action and aiding the scattered insurgent forces to prolong the anti-
British war of resistance fell on the mass of the peasantry. All
contemporary British chronicles of the story of this war in
Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Oudh and Bihar contain numerous stories of
how the Indian peasantry loyally and devotedly carried out the behests
of the insurgent high command. Let us take only one example:
Even when the cause of the mutincers seemed to be failing, they
testified no good will, but withheld the information we wanted and
often misled us.42
In a national uprising that has failed, the role and contribution of
any class can best be estimated by the amount of sacrifice it makes.
Measured in these terms, the peasantry is at the top of the roll of
honour of the 1857 uprising. Holmes states:
The number of armed men, who succumbed in Oudh, was about 150,000, of
whom at least 35,000 were sepoys.43 ...
The rural population as a whole rose against the new land system
imposed over their heads by the British rulers. Secondly, that the
pattern of struggle was to eliminate the new landlords created under
the British regime, destroy their records, hound them out of villages
and seize their lands and attack all the symbols of British authority
especially the kutchery (law-court), the tehsil (revenue office) and
the thana (the police outpost). Thirdly, the base of the struggle was
the mass of the peasantry and the rural poor while the leadership was
in the hands of the landlords dispossessed under the British laws.
Fourthly, this pattern of struggle fitted into the general pattern of
the 1857 national uprising, the class struggle in the countryside was
directed not against the landlords as a whole but only against a
section of them, those who had been newly created by the British under
their laws and acted as their loyal political supporters, that is, it
was subordinated to the broad need of national unity against the
foreign usurper.
Talmiz Khaldun’s thesis that during this uprising “The Indian
peasantry was fighting desperately to free itself of foreign as well
as feudal bondage” and that “the mutiny ended as a peasant war against
indigenous landlordism and foreign imperialism” is thus an
exaggeration. There is no evidence whatsoever that the Indian
peasantry during this struggle decisively burst through the feudal
bonds either politically or economically to transform a broad-based
national uprising into a peasant war. On the other hand all the
evidence that is known is to the contrary....
The Indian peasants made a compromise with the traditional landlords
in the interests of the common struggle but the landlords became
terrified by this alliance when they saw it in the living form of a
revolutionary popular struggle. Gubbins, who had wide personal
experience of Oudh and other Eastern districts, states:
Much allowance should, no doubt, be made in considering the conduct of
the Indian gentry at this crisis, on account of their want of power to
resist the armed and organised enemy which had suddenly risen against
us. The enemy always treated with the utmost severity those among
their countrymen who were esteemed to be friends of the British cause.
Neither their lives nor their property were safe. Fear, therefore, no
doubt entered largely into the natives which induced many to desert us.
44
Narrow class interest and fear of the “armed and organised” masses,
whom the British rightly called “the enemy,” ultimately led the Indian
feudal gentry to desert the revolutionary struggle and seek terms with
the foreign rulers. The situation led to feudal treachery and
suppressoin of the national uprising, and not to the strengthening of
feudalism in the minds and the later movement of the Indian peasantry
and the people.
Dr R.C. Majumdar himself quotes the Supreme Government “Narrative of
Events” issued on September 12, 1857:
In consequence of the general nature of the rebellion and the
impossibility of identifying the majority of the rebels, the
Magistrate recommended the wholesale burning and destruction of all
villages proved to have sent men to take active part in the rebellion.
45
This is how the British understood the peasant contribution to the
1857 uprising. Could there be a restoration for the feudal order in
India on the shoulders of such a peasantry?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 1857 uprising is a historic landmark. It marks the end of a whole
historic phase and the beginning of a new one. On the British side it
finished the Company’s rule and led to direct government under the
British Crown. The period of rule of the merchant monopolists of the
East India Company ended and the dominance of the industrial
bourgeoisie of Britain in the affairs of India began. On the Indian
side, the revolt failed but the Indian people got that experience
which enabled them to build the modern Indian national movement on new
foundations and with new ideas, and the lessons of 1857 proved
inestimable. Both sides drew and applied their lessons from the 1857
experience in the subsequent period. The British were the victors,
they went into action soon; we were the vanquished, we took longer.
From their experience of the 1857 uprising the British rulers sharply
changed their policy towards the Indian feudal elements, and
discarding the old policy of attacking their interests, they adopted a
new policy of reconciling them as the main social base of their rule
in India. The Indian people from their experience of the Indian
feudals drew the lesson for the next phase of their movement that
their anti-British struggle to be successful must also be an anti-
feudal struggle. Those who were so far regarded by the Indian people
as their traditional leaders were now rightly considered as betrayers
of the 1857 uprising and the Indian puppets of the British power.
As regards the Indian princess, the policy of annexations was given
up. Queen Victoria in her Proclamation promised them:
We shall respect the rights, dignity and honour of native pricess as
our own. Very candidly Lord Canning in his Minute of April 30 noted:
The safety of our rule is increased and not diminished by the
maintenance of native chiefs well affected to us.
How the Indian national movement understood the post-1857 British
policy towards the princes is best reflected in Nehru’s Discovery of
India where he states that the retention of the native states was
designed to disrupt the unity of India,46 Indian princes playing the
role of Britain’s fifth column in India.47....
The Army was reorganised after the sepoy mutiny, which had set the
country aflame. The proportion of British troops was increased and
they were primarily used as an “army of occupation” to maintain
internal security while the Indian troops were organised and trained
for service abroad to subjugate Asian and African territories for
British imperialism. The artillery was taken away from the Indian
hands. All higher appointments were reserved for the British, an
Indian could not even get the King’s Commission nor get employment in
the Army headquarters except as a clerk in non-military work. The
Indian regiments were reorganised on the principle of divide and rule
and recruitment confined to the so-called martial races.
But in the long run nothing availed the British. The memory of the
sepoys’ role during 1857 never died not only in the memory of the
Indian people but also of the Indian armed forces. As the modern
national movement grew, it could not leave the Indian Army, however
“reorganised”, untouched. During the 1930 national struggle, the
Garhwali soldiers refused to fire at the Indian demonstrators at
Peshawar. During the post-war national upsurge after a series of
“mutinies” in the Indian Army and Air Force, the Royal Indian Navy
revolted on February 18, 1946 and the next day the British Prime
Minister announced the dispatch of the Cabinet Mission to India and
negotiations for the independence of India began.
The Indian administrative machine was reorganised as a colossal
bureaucratic machine with Indians employed only in subordinate
positions, all real power and responsibility resting in British hands.
The Queen’s Proclamation had promised that there would be no racial
discrimination against the Indians in employment in government
services. The reality, however, was different...
After 1857, politically, even Sir Syed Ahmad Khan had suggested that
Indians should be included in the Legislative Council to keep the
government in touch, with the people. In 1861 the Indian Councils Act
provided for the inclusion for legislative purposes of non-official
members. In 1862, three Indians were so nominated. These legislatures,
in which real power remained with the exclusive British Executive,
were used by patriotic Indian statesmen as tribunes of the Indian
people and to unmask British policies and thus aid the growth of the
national movement. The British tactic of divide and rule, however,
succeeded in another way. The institution of separate electorates for
the Muslims was the first expression of the poisonous two-nation
theory which ultimately resulted in the partition of the country at
the very time of gaining independence.
The British Government, which claimed credit for early social reform
measures like banning of sati, widow remarriage, etc., after the
experience of 1857 and its subsequent alliance with the Indian feudal
reaction became the opponent of all progressive social measures.
Hindu law was largely custom and as customs change, the law also was
applied in a different way. Indeed there was no provision of Hindu Law
which could not be changed by customs. The British replaced this
elastic customary law by judicial decisions based on the old texts and
these decisions became precedents which had to be rigidly followed…
Change could only come by positive legislation but the British
Government, which was the legislating authority, had no wish to
antagonise the conservative elements on whose support it counted. When
later some legislative powers were given to the partially elected
assemblies, every attempt to promote social reform legislation was
frowned upon by the authorities and sternly discouraged.48
The British Government thus became the defender of social reaction in
India, after 1857!
The British overlords had created an English educated Indian middle-
class to get cheap and efficient and denationalised Indian cadres for
the lower essential rungs of their administration.
Educated natives took no part in the sepoy mutiny: despite the charges
to the contrary, they heartily disapproved of the revolt and showed
themselves faithful and loyal to the British authorities throughout
the course of that crisis.49
The above is not wholly true. Dr Sen states: Even this small minority
(of modern educated Indians) were not unanimous in the support of the
Government. An educated Hindu of Bengal complained of ‘a hundred years
of unmitigated active tyranny unrelieved by any trait of generosity’.
“A century and more of intercourse between each other,” he adds, “has
not made the Hindus and the Englishman friends or even peaceful fellow
subjects.”50
Calcutta was the biggest centre of these modern educated Indians. They
were at the time themselves concentrating upon the struggle against
Hindu orthodoxy and the religious terms in which the cause of the
insurgents was clothed repelled them. Because of their historic origin
and the limitations of their political experience they wrongly
identified progress with British rule. They were not, however,
“faithful and loyal” in the sense Earl Granville imagined them to be,
servile to the British rulers. This was proved in the very next year
after the 1857-58 uprising was suppressed when the Bengali
intelligentsia stirred the whole of Bengal in solidarity with the
Indigo Revolt, with the peasants of Bengal and Bihar who were victims
of unimaginable oppression and exploitation of the British planters.
Again it was Surendranath Banerji who took the initiative to run an
all-India campaign against lowering the age for the ICS, which
patently went against the Indian candidates. Then came the campaigns
regarding the IIbert Bill and racial discrimination in courts and the
Vernacular Press Act and so on. As the new intelligentsia saw more and
more of India under the British Crown all their illusions about Queen
Victoria’s 1858 Proclamation being the Magna Carta of Indian liberties
gradually evaporated and they began to agitate for political reforms.
In 1882 the Grand Old Man of Indian nationalism, Dababhai Naoroji,
wrote: Hindus, Mohammedans and Parsees alike are asking whether the
British rule is to be a blessing or a curse...This is no longer a
secret, or a state of things not quite open to those of our rulers who
would see.51...
Even before 1857, From India a policy of imperial expansion was
planned and the British Government of India was set on the perilous
road of conquest and annexation in the East for the benefit of
Britain, but of course at the cost of the Indian tax-payer.52
Thus Malacca and Singapore were occupied, Burma conquered, Nepal and
Afghan wars conducted and the Persian war managed.
The age of the Empire, based on India, began after 1857. India now
became in fact no less than in name a British possession. The Indian
Empire was at this time a continental order, a political structure
based on India, and extending its authority from Aden to Hongkong.53
In this period, Afghanistan and Persia were made virtual British
protectorates, expeditions and missions were sent to Sinkiang and
Tibet in the North and the British position in South-East Asia and
China consolidated.
“The continental involved a subordinate participation of India”54 as
policemen, traders and usurers, and coolies in the plantations of
Britain’s growing colonies. Indian resources and manpower were thus
used not only to conquer but maintain and run Britain’s colonial
Empire.
This, however, was only one side of the picture. As part of winning
foreign support for the Indian uprising Azimullah Khan, Nana’s
representative, is reported to have built contacts with Russia and
Turkey. Rango Bapuji, the Satara representative, is also reported to
have worked with Azimullah. Bahadur Shah’s court claimed Persian
support. All this was in the old principle that Britain’s enemies are
our friends. But Britain was the colossus of that period, and the
feudal ruling circles of these countries could never be in any hurry
to come to the aid of the Indian revolt. They could at best exploit it
and await its outcome.
This was, however, not the attitude of democratic circles in these and
other countries... there was in all democratic circles of the
civilised world great sympathy for the Indian uprising. Great and
historic is the significance of the Chartist leaders’ solidarity with
the Indian national uprising. Modern British labour movement dates its
birth from the Chartists. Modern Indian national movement dates its
birth from the 1857 uprising. What a new fraternal vision emerges from
the memory that the British proletariat and the Indian people have
stood together ever since the beginning of their respective movements.
The Chinese date the birth of their modern anti-imperialist national
movement from the Taiping uprising as we date ours from the 1857
uprising. The Chinese paper (presented at the symposium on the
centenary of the 1857 Revolt) documents the hitherto unknown story
that the Chinese people responded sympathetically to the 1857 uprising
and the Indian sepoys deserted to the Taipings and fought shoulder to
shoulder with them against the common enemy. Marx noted the new
phenomenon that the revolt in the Anglo-Indian army has coincided with
a general disaffection exhibited against supremacy by the Great
Asiatic nations, the revolt of the Bengal Army being, beyond doubt,
intimately connected with the Persian and Chinese wars.55
Thus the great national uprising of 1857 laid the foundation for the
worldwide democratic solidarity with the Indian struggle in its next
phase and our new national movement built itself on healthy
internationalist traditions. For example, in the twenties, the Indian
national movement vigorously opposed the imperialist policies in the
Middle East and expressed solidarity with the Egyptian struggle under
Zaglul Pasha, in the thirties it expressed practical solidarity with
the Chinese people’s struggle against the Japanese invaders and the
worldwide anti-fascist movement and so on. It was thus no accident
that after the achievement of independence India emerged as a great
world power championing the cause of world peace and the liberation of
all subject nations....n
[*NOTES
1. Major B.D. Basn, Rise of The Christian Power in India, (1931), p.
953.
2. Marx, unsigned article, “The Indian Question”, New York Daily
Tribune, August 14, 1857.
3. Quoted by R.C. Majumdar, The Sepoy Mutiny and Revolt of 1857, p.
278.
4. Marx, “The British Rule in India”, New York Daily Tribune, June 25,
1853.
5. R.P. Dutt, India Today, p. 98.
6. Marx, “The East India Company—Its History and Results”, New York
Daily Tribune, July 11, 1853.
7. Ramkrishna Mukherjee, The Rise and Fall of the East India Company,
p. 174.
8. K.M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance, p. 99.
9. Allamah Fazle Haq of Khayrabad, “The Story of the War of
Independence 1857-58”, Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society,
vol. V, pt. 1, January 1957, p. 29.
10. National Herald, May 10, 1957.
11. Mukherjee, op. cit., p. 223.
12. R.C. Dutt, The Economic History of India in the Victorian Age, p.
xv.
13. Montgomeny Martin, Eastern India, Introduction to vol. I.
14. Mukherjee, op. cit., pp. 224-25.
15. Marx, “The British Rule in India”, New York Daily Tribune, June
25, 1853.
16. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 229.
17. Charles Ball, Indian Mutiny, vol. II. p. 242.
18. Sir T. Metcalfe, Two Narratives of the Mutiny at Delhi, pp. 98-99.
19. Quoted by Edward Thompson, The Other Side of the Medal, pp. 73-74.
20. Quoted by Savarkar, Indian War of Independence, p. 134.
21. Majendie, Up Among the Pandies, pp. 195-96.
22. Kaye & Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, vol. II, p. 281.
23. Nehru, Discovery of India, p. 281.
24. Marx, unsigned article, New York Daily Tribune, July 15, 1857. 25.
Nehru, op. cit., p. 279.
26. Quoted by Savarkar, op. cit., pp. 534-35.
27. Nehru, op. cit., p. 279.
28. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 241.
29. S.N. Sen, Eighteen Fifty Seven, pp. 412-13.
30. John Williams Kaye, A History of the Sepoy War, vol. I, p. 565.
31. Quoted by Asoka Mehta, The Great Rebellion, p. 42.
32. Fazle Haq, op. cit., p. 33.
33. Vide Talmiz Khaldun’s paper “The Great Rebellion” presented at the
symposium held on the occasion of the centenary of the 1857 Revolt.
34. Metcalfe, op. cit., p. 220.
35. Ibid., Jeewanlal’s Diary, under date 26 August.
36. G.W. Forrest, op. cit., vol. II, p. 150.
37. On October 5, 1858. See Col. G.B. Malleson, Indian Mutiny of 1857,
Vol. III, p. 287.
38. On February 3, 1858. See Ibid., vol. II, p. 334.
39. Ball, op. cit., vol. II, p. 241.
40. Quoted by Asoka Mehta, op. cit., pp. 51-52. Also Savarkar, op.
cit., p. 444.
41. W.H. Russell, My Diary in India in the Year 1858-59, p. 276.
42. M.R. Gubbins, An Account of the Mutinies in Oudh, p. 53.
43. T.R. Holmes, History of the Seopy War, p. 506.
44. Gubbins, op. cit., p. 58.
45. Majumdar, op. cit., p. 217. 46. Nehru, op. cit., p. 284. 47.
Ibid., p. 268. 48. Nehru, op. cit., p. 285. 49. Earl Granville,
February 19, 1858, in the House of Lords in reply to the charges of
the President of the Board of Control, Lord Ellenborough.
Parliamentary Debates, 3rd series, CXL VIII, 1858, pp. 1728-29.
50. Quoted by Sen, op. cit., p. 29.
51. Dadabhai Naoroji, “The Condition of India”. Correspondence with
the Secretary of State for India, Journal of the East India Affairs,
XIV, 1882, pp. 171-172.
52. K. N. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance, p. 105.
53. Ibid., pp. 162-163.
54. Ibid., pp. 164-165.
55. Marx, unsigned article, New York Herald Tribune, July 15, 1857. *]
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article107.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI No 41
Dissecting Anew Hindu-Muslim Ties And Partition
Wednesday 1 October 2008, by Amarendra Nath Banerjee
[(BOOK REVIEW)]
HINDU-MUSLIM RELATIONS IN A NEW PERSPECTIVE BY PANCHANAN SAHA
(FOREWORD BY DR ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER); BISWABIKSHA, KOLKATA; PP.
FORWORD +392; RS 300.
Hindu-Muslim relations are very much complicated—the knottiest problem
in Indian history. Since the advent of Islam in the Indian
subcontinent more than millennium years ago, India faced a powerful
challenge from a militant and vigorous religion with an egalitarian
appeal. India failed to stem the tide of the rapid spread of Islam due
to internal squabbles and degeneration of society. In the caste-ridden
Brahminical society the lower castes were denied proper human rights.
They were not only socially degraded but also economically exploited.
It is no wonder, therefore, that millions of them welcomed Islam as a
religion of deliverance and to gain human dignity. The theory of
social liberation seems to be right for substantial reasons in
Islamisation in India. Swami Vivekananda had rightly said:
The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the
downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have
become Mohammedan. It was not the sword that did it all. It would be
the height of madness to think that it was all the work of sword and
fire.
But it does not mean force was not at all applied in Islamisation.
However, the major role was played by the Sufi saints and Pirs in it.
Nevertheless, wholesale Islamisation did not take place in India like
Afghanistan, Persia and other countries perhaps due to the inherent
strength of the Hindu philosophy in spite of its many drawbacks.
The advent of Islam produced tremendous reactions in India. Hinduism
wanted to protect itself by going into its inner shells with stricter
caste rules and regulations. But this hardly helped in preventing the
egalitarian influence of Islam on Hindu society. The Bhakti movement
was its product.
But living hundreds of years side by side, eating the same grain from
the common fields, drinking the same water and inhaling the same air,
the Hindu and Muslim societies and religions underwent profound
changes. Islam of India today is not the same as what it was when it
arrived. Hinduism also could not remain the same. Both the religions
had influenced each other. There was some kind of assimilation between
the two in spite of frequent clashes and mutual hostility. But
unfortunately a composite Indian nation has failed to emerge
assimilating the two major religions in India due to various factors
which led ultimately to the partition of the country.
Dr Panchanan Saha’s new book, Hindu-Muslim Relations in a New
Perspective, is projected on a large canvas from the advent of Islam—
gradual Islamisation and its causes, conflict and assimilation,
sprouting of the seeds of separation by the conscious British policy
of divide-and-rule, Hindu-Muslim revivalism and the short-sighted
policy of the Indian political leaders which ultimately led to the
communal carnage and partition of India.
In the chapter, “Conflict and Assimilation”, Saha emphasises the role
played by the Sufi saints, Bhakti movement as well as attempts of the
Mughal Emperor, Akbar, and his great grandson, Dara Shiko, to help the
process of reconciliation between the Hindus and Muslims. But
unfortunately this process was not properly taken forward due to
various factors, particularly the emergence of Wahhabism and Hindu-
Muslim revivalism.
♦
IN his analysis Saha has been seldom swayed by emotion; rather he has
remained mostly faithful to rationalism. He holds that the causes of
spread of separatism among the Muslims of India are to be found in the
refusal of the already matured Hindu bourgeoisie in sharing power with
the newly emerging Muslim bourgeoisie. Muslim bourgeoisie developed
later due to their empathy to British rule and Western education.
Saha has sympathetically discussed the Fourteen Points of M.A. Jinnah
in this direction and the rejection of the Congress to share power
with the Muslim League in Uttar Pradesh after the elections of 1936
and to collaborate with Fazlul Haque in Bengal for forming a secular
Ministry. It seems class interest played a more decisivie role in
making this choice than the greater interest of the country.
There is a simplistic explanation of Hindu-Muslim cleavage by putting
the sole responsibility on the British policy of divide-and-rule. But
Saha appears to be correct when he cites Tagore—“The Satan cannot
enter unless there is a hole to get in.” Tagore believed that division
among Hindus and Muslims existed and the cunning British rulers
utilised it to prolong their rule.
In his last chapter, entitled “Was Partition Inescapable?”, Saha has
not traversed the beaten tracks of numerous scholars of partition. He
has used substantial Pakistani literature on partition to prove his
point.
There is an enigma why Gandhiji, in spite of opposing partition on the
basis of religion tooth and nail, ultimately accepted it as a fait
accompli. The Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, lamented that
they were thrown to the wolves. What went on behind-the-scenes is a
mystery to this day.
It seems that the Hindu big bourgeoisie wanted an unchallenged market
even in partitioned India. They seemed to think that a truncated
Pakistan would not be viable. Whatever the reasons, it is evident that
had the Indian leaders shown true sagacity and leadership free of
class or emotional bias, there might have been a Confederation of
India based on the Cabinet Mission’s Plan which the Congress initially
accepted but subsequently refused to do so for reasons that are
unknown. Hence it is not inappropriate to quote The Times of India:
It is legitimate to enquire who is responsible for this debacle. ….
the parties concerned, the Congress, the British Government and the
Muslim League, are all more or less responsible, although on the facts
set forth, the Congress should get the first prize.
One could have expected that such a serious book should have remained
free from printing and editorial errors.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article957.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol XLVI, No 50
Hindu Terrorism: The Shock of Recognition
Wednesday 3 December 2008, by Badri Raina
Epigraph
“Underlying these religions were a common set of beliefs about how you
treat other people and how you aspire to act, not just for yourself
but also for the greater good.”
(Obama in his interview about Religion given to Cathleen Falsani,
March 27, 2004; cf. to his mother’s teaching about the validity of
diverse faiths and the value of tolerance.)
I
So, now, India is home to “Hindu” terrorism. Departing from the more
usual banner-appelation, “Saffron Terror”, I wish the fact to be
registered that saffron is drawn from the stamin of a delicate and
indescribably pretty mauve flower grown exclusively in my home valley
of Kashmir, and exclusively by Muslims. My inherited memories of it
are thereby sweet and secular to the core. Also, saffron when used to
grace milk products, Biryani, or to brew the heavenly kehwa is a thing
of the gods truly.
It is only when it is coerced against the use of nature to colour
politics that it rages against the sin. Then, don’t we know, what
gruesome consequences begin?
I think it proper, therefore, to stick with the more direct and honest
description, “Hindu” terrorism, since, much against their grain, even
India’s premier TV channels are now bringing us news of “Hindu”
terrorism, so compelling the materials gathered by the investigating
agencies thus far. This despite the fact that in my view the term
“Hindu” trerrorism is as erroneous as the term “Muslim” terrorism.
Even though not a religious man myself, I am able to see that being
Hindu or Muslim by accident of birth has no necessary connect with how
one’s politics turns out to be in adult life. A plethora of specific
contexts and shaping histories are here provenly more to the point.
II
It was way back in 1923 that Savarkar, never a practising Hindu
(indeed a self-confessed atheist) had first understood that from this
benign term, “Hindu”, could be drawn the toxic racial concept
Hindutva, and made to serve a forthrightly fascist purpose. That
Brahminism had always been a socially toxic form of Hinduism was of
course an enabling prehistory to the new project.
He it was who established Abhinav Bharat in Pune (1904), that
theoretical hotbed of twice-born Brahminical casteism against which
low-caste social reformers such as Phule, Periyar, and Ambedkar were
to struggle their whole lives long.
Such casteism was made the instrument of communalist politics to serve
two major objectives: one, to overwhelm and negate the specific
cultural and material oppressions of the low-caste within the Hindu
Varna system , and two, to elevate the low-caste as a warrior of a
common “Hindutva” army against the chief common “enemy”, the Muslim.
Such an army has been seen to be needed to salvage the “real” nation
from this so-called common enemy who continues to be represented to
this day by the RSS and its hydra-headed “educational” front
organisations as an “invader” still bent on seeking to convert India
into an Islamic theocratic state.
Aided in these mythical fears and constructions by the British during
the crucial decades leading upto Independence, India’s majoritarian
fascists continue thus to keep at bay all consideration of secular
oppressions based entirely in the brutal social order of Capitalist
expropriation.
Savarkar thus counselled how a resurgent nation could result only if
“Hinduism was militarised, and the military Hinduised”.
Clearly enough, the serving Army Colonel, S.P. Purohit, and the other
retired Major, one Upadhyay, who the Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad)
tells us, are at the centre of the Malegaon terrorist blasts of
September 29, 2008, alongwith Sadhvi Pragya and the rogue-sadhu,
Amreetanand—and very possibly complicit in half-a dozen other blasts
as well—seem to have heeded Savarkar’s advice to the hilt.
Indeed, in his narco-test confessions, Colonel Purohit, sources have
told some TV channels (Times Now), admits to his guilt and justifies
his actions as retribution for what he thinks SIMI (Student’s Islamic
Movement of India) have been doing. He is understood to have further
indicated that the rogue sadhu, Amreetanand, nee Dayanand etc., has
been the kingpin and chief coordinator and devisor of several other
blasts carried out by this cell, including the blasts at the revered
Ajmer Dargah (Mausoleum of the 12th century Sufi saint, Chisti, which
to this day draws devotees across faiths the world-over), and at
Kanpur.
The ATS are now busy exploring the routes through which huge sums of
money have been brought into the country for such terrorist activity
as hawala transactions, and whether the RDX, suspected to be used in
the Malegaon blast, was procured by Colonel Purohit through Army
connections. It is to be noted that Purohit has been in Military
Intelligence, and serving in Jammu and Kashmir, where it is thought he
made contact with the rogue sadhu, Amreetanand.
(Indeed, as I write, news comes of the ATS claiming that Purohit
actually stole some 60 kilos of RDX which was in his custody while
doing duty at Deolali, and that in his narco-test confession he admits
to passing it on to one “Bhagwan” for use in the blast on the
Samjhauta Express train in February, 2007.)
Needless to say, that alongwith the courts, we will also require that
the ATS is actually able to obtain convictions rather than merely pile
on evidence which may not be admissible in law.
To return to the argument:
As I suggested in my last column, “Notions of the Nation” (Znet,
November 4), Hindutva militarism since the establishment of the Hindu
Mahasabha and the RSS has been inspired by the desire to emulate and
then better Muslim “aggressiveness” seen as a racial characteristic
that defined “Muslim” rule in India, and rendered Hindus “limp” and
“cowardly”.
Thus, if Savarkar established Abhinav Bharat, Dr Moonje, an avowed
Mussolini admirer who in turn inspired Dr Hedgewar to establish the
RSS on Vijay Dashmi of 1924 (victory day, denoting the liquidation of
the Dravidian Ravana by the Aryan Kshatriya warrior, Ram), established
the Bhondsala Military Academy at Indore (1937). It now transpires
that this academy has been playing host to the Bajrang Dal for
militarist training routines etc., and its Director, one Raikar, has
put in his papers. Unsurprisingly enough, both these institutions are
now under the scanner.
III
Over the last decade, terrorist blasts have occurred in India across a
wide variety of sites and in major cities and towns.
Many of these blasts have taken place outside mosques and known
Muslim- majority locations, as well outside cinema halls that were
thought to be showing movies inimical to Hindu glory.
Briefly, these sites are: cinemas in Thane and Vashi in Maharashtra,
Jalna, Purna, Parbhani, and Malegaon towns, again all in Maharashtra—
and all areas of high Muslim density, in Hyderabad outside a famous
old mosque, and in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat.
Curiously, in the Surat episode, some sixteen odd bombs were found
placed along the main thoroughfare in tree branches, on house-tops, on
electric poles and so forth. Not one of them however exploded. This
was thought to be the result of defective switches. Curious
circumstance that; besides the wonder that Ahmedabad’s Muslims could
find such sprawling access to such strategic locations without Modi
knowing a thing.
Yet, regardless of where the blasts have taken place, almost without
exception the Pavlovian response of state agencies as well as, sad to
say, media channels has been invariably to point fingers of suspicion
and culpability towards one or the other “Islamic” outfit.
Often, young Muslims men have been rounded up in the scores and held
for days of brutal questioning without the least prima facie evidence.
Nearly in all such cases, however reluctantly, they have had to be let
off.
The most recent case is that of some fifteen young Muslims picked up
after the Hyderabad blasts. Tortured with electric shocks, they have
nevertheless been found to be innocent and let go.
Indeed, after the gruesome blasts in the Samjhauta Express—a train
service of reconciliation and confidence-building between India and
Pakistan—in which some 68 people were burnt to cinders, 45 of them
Pakistani citizens, fingers were immediately pointed towards the SIMI.
Yet, the ATS of Mumbai now suspects that this may also be the doing of
the “Hindu” terrorists in custody. These speculations have been raised
by the circumstance that the suitcases that held the bombs had Indore
labels on them.
Just as the ATS now suspects that more than half a dozen blasts (the
two at Malegaon, in 2006 and 2008, at the cinemas in Thane and Vashi,
at Jalna, at Purna, at Parbhani, provenly at Nanded and Kanpur) have
all been the handiwork of “Hindu” terror groups.
IV
For some years, reputed civil and human rights organisations, and
individual members of civil society that have included journalists,
judges, lawyers, writers, artists, teachers, students, and labour
organisations, besides organised Muslim fora and Left parties, have
been cautioning both state agencies and media conglomerates to:
• desist from the Pavlovian haste with which some one or other Muslim
group is immediately named and labelled literally within an hour of
the occurrence of a blast, thus contributing to the maligning of the
entire Muslim community;
• to consider the possibility that groups other than those involving
Muslims could be involved;
• to refrain from covering up prima facie evidence which points to
such possibilities; indeed, where such evidence seems conclusive, as
the complicity of the Bajrang Dal at Nanded and Kanpur;
• to ponder the question as to why Muslims should effect blasts within
their own localities or outside their mosques;
• to weigh the consequences for the Muslim psyche of the failure of
the state to prevent repeated pogroms against them, and to find or
punish the guilty; not to speak of active state connivance in those
pogroms (Moradabad, 198o; Nellie, 1983; Hashimpura, 1987; Bhagalpur,
1989; Mumbai, 1992-93; Gujarat, 2002, to cite just the more recent
ones);
• to permit transparency in the matter of police investigations with
due regard for the Constitutional rights of those held in custody—such
as visitation, access to legal defence, norms of the recording of
confession and other evidence etc.;
• to respect the obligatory presumption of innocence until anyone is
juridically found guilty;
Time and again these cautions and rightful prerogatives have been
trampled under foot.
Aided by the loud biases of the corporate media which have tended to
reflect the predilections both of free-market imperialism and
comprador urban middle class sentiments in India’s metropolitan towns,
India’s state agencies and that “all-knowing” species, the
Intellegence expert, who seems ever present to reinforce anti-Muslim
prejudice, have tended to feed massively into the politics of the
Hindu Right-wing.
For years on end, India’s chief malady has been sought to be seen to
reside in “Islamic” terrorism, and in the complicit refusal of the
secularists to allow draconian preventive laws to be brought back on
the books. Not in poverty, malnutrition, disease, absence of health
care or clean drinking water, or lack of steady work among the urban
poor, or the ousted tribals, disenfranchised farmers, chronic failure
of primary schooling and so forth among some 75 per cent of Indians.
And most of them belonging to the Muslim, Dalit, and Tribal
communities.
And to repeat for the nth time, this three-fourths of Indians able to
spend just or under Rupees Twenty a day, all according to the
governments’ own Arjun Sengupta Committee Report.
Not to speak of the venomous communalisation of the polity, the
alienation and ghettoisation of the minorities, and the state’s
failure or unwillingness to carry through schemes that could redress
these maladies.
As to new terror laws, the government of the day may protest that it
has all the laws it wants, and more; as well as the fact that the
worst terrorist attacks took place when laws like the dreaded POTA
(Prevention of Terrorism Act) was on the books during the tenure of
the NDA regime led by the ultra-”nationalist” BJP. Small dent is made
by any regime of empirically-founded facts, or fair-minded arguments
on the right-wing fascists and their fattened constituency.
V
Now, of course, a radically transformed milieu is unravelling.
Photos and videos are doing the rounds that show the “Hindu”
terrorists currently under investigation in close and intimate
proximity to top leaders of the RSS, the VHP, and the BJP as well.
Had POTA indeed been on the books today, such evidence would have
authorised the police to put them all behind bars on the charge of
associating with those under investigation for “terrorism”. And all
that without any recourse to bail either.
Predictably, nonetheless, after some days of dumbfounded
crestfallenness (remember that the main electoral plank of the BJP in
the elections now under way in several states and in the soon-to-be-
held parliamentary polls is the failure of the Congress to eradicate
“terrorism” because of its “minority appeasement” policies), the Right-
wing fascists are back to brazen form.
Even as the projected Prime Ministerial candidate, Advani (the high-
point of whose career remains the successful demolition of the Babri
mosque) seeks to strike a stance of caution, party hard-liners have
taken to peddling outrageous theories.
As a complement to the well-known Pavlovian hunch that “all terrorists
are Muslims”, we are now told by the likes of Rajnath Singh, the party
President, that “no Hindu can be a terrorist”, that is to say even
when he or she is found to be one.
This for the reason that what the ordinary man calls “terrorism” is in
fact “nationalism” where any Hindu be involved. Live and learn.
Other than that, it is both interesting and laughable that spokesmen
and women of the BJP are today reduced to gurgitating every single
argument that Muslims and civil rights organisations have to this day
voiced:
• presume innocence until found guilty;
• desist from the “political conspiracy” to malign a whole community;
• do not let enemies of the Hindu-right propagate fake evidence
against them, since all evidence against them must be fake in
principle;
• and most outlandishly, do not communalise terrorism; that from
India’s rank communalists who have done nothing but communalise
terrorism ever since we remember!
VI
Even as these new developments point to a potentially mortal combat
among “Hindu” and “Muslim” terror groups, I venture to think that the
situation also offers opportunities of far-reaching redressal for all
three axes that matter: the state and its agencies, the party-
political system, and the polity generally.
First off, if, as has been the case, the Congress’ secular credentials
have consistently been vitiated by, willy nilly, playing second-fiddle
to Hindu-communalist appeasement, the denuding of the Hindu-Right
offers it the opportunity of a lifetime to assert the supremacy of the
constitutional scheme of things, without fear or favour.
It is indeed a circumstance that can now help the Congress and other
secular parties to come down like a ton on communalism of all shades
that underpin the fatal subversion of the secular republic without the
need for apology.
In this endeavour, its greatest inspiration must come from two factors
on the Muslim side of the issue:
one, that over the last year every single major and influential Muslim
cultural and religious organisation has publicly, and repeatedly,
denounced through speech, act, and fatwa “terrorism” as un-Islamic and
a rightful candidate for punishment under law;
and, two, that without exception they have pleaded only and ever for
fair and just treatment at the hands of the authorised instruments of
state, both when victimised by pogroms and suspected as culprits; and
for credible pursuit of those that persecute them.
Not once has any Muslim organisation worth the name suggested that
Muslims have any claims that override the cosntitutional regime of
laws and procedures pertaining to all citizens of the Republic.
All that in stark contrast to the refusal, however camouflaged or
strategised, of the RSS and its affiliates to accept either the
secular Constitution or the notion of secular citizenship.
It is to be recalled that the RSS tactically acquiesced to
acknowledging the primacy of the national flag over its own saffron
one in 1949 as a quid pro quo to its release from the ban imposed on
it after Gandhi’s murder.
To this day it seeks to overthrow the Republic as constituted by law
and to replace it by a theocratic Hindu Rashtra wherein the
prerogatives of citizenship will be determined not by secular,
democratic equality but racial difference among Indians (all that
brutally codified in Golwalker’s two books, We, and Our Ntionhood
Defined; and, the later Bunch of Thoughts which explicitly designates
Muslims as the nations’s “Enemy Number One” in an exclusive chapter).
However Hindu cultural politics may have come to infect sections of
the fattened urbanites, the Congress must show the conviction that
none of these in this day and age would be willing to back what is
explicitly “terrorist” activity, indistinguishable from any other,
once the matter is proven.
This then is a fine moment to release a new energetic politics that
recharges the conviction and inspiration of the non-discriminatory
humanism that informed the leaders of the freedom movement, and thus
to disengage whatever popular base the Hindu-Right has built over the
years since the demolition of the Babri mosque from its fascist
leaderships and cadres.
Just as, in fact, many BJP supporters are busy thinking whether they
are indeed willing to carry their love of Muslim-haters quite to the
point where those other dreams of Indian super-powerdom are seriously
jeopardised by a war of competing terrorisms.
It is also a golden opportunity for the Congress-led UPA, should it
come back to power, to take a hard look at the communalist virus that
has infected law-enforcement agencies over the decades, and to make
bold to effect reforms of a far-reaching character, such as include
the recruitment of Muslims and other “minorities” in due proportion to
the forces, and not just among the lower ranks.
Speaking of the Army, some three per cent Muslims are today among its
ranks—some sixty years after Independence. And I won’t make a guess as
to how abysmal might in fact be its share among the officer core,
colonel and above. And wouldn’t I dearly like to take a peek into what
sort of Indian History is taught India’s future officers at Khada-
kvasla and Dehradun? Truly; and who does the teaching as well.
VII
As to the BJP: it has another opportunity as well, namely, to
reconstitute itself as a secular party on the Right, bearing full
allegiance to the Constitution in letter and spirit (remember now that
among other things on the street-level, the NDA regime led by the BJP
did constitute a Constitution Review Committee—an ominous enough move
that, thankfully, was duly aborted in course), and shunning once and
for all its enslavement to the RSS and its fascist vision of India,
its history, culture and state.
Failing to do so, the BJP may succeed in causing further mayhem; but
it is highly unlikely now to attain the sort of ascendance it seeks
through fair means and foul.
Most of all, the BJP must understand that the Muslims of India, and
Christians as well, have the inalienable right to live and work in the
country on the terms set by the Constitution, not by the RSS or the
Sangh Parivar.
And, conversely, that the BJP itself is as subject to those
constitutional stipulations as any another collective of Indians who
practice their beliefs and politics.
Let the BJP notice the epigraph chosen for this column; it comes from
the new President-elect of the one country that the BJP adores. Or
will it now, with a Black man at the helm?
A different voice floats from there.
Time for the BJP to change its langoti, and say “yes we can” also be
peaceable and law-abiding citizens of the Republic of India. And to
prize and protect its magnificent plurality like all sensible and
humane Indians.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1067.html
Mainstream Weekly
Mainstream, Vol. XLVII, No 34, August 8, 2009
Will RSS see the Ground Reality and join to Salve India‘s Core Values?
Sunday 16 August 2009, by Sailendra Nath Ghosh
Of late, the RSS has been accusing the BJP of inconsistency and also
of failure to convey the real meaning of Hindutva. The BJP has
certainly been inconsistent. It has been in two minds because like the
Congress, it, too, is preoccupied, not with any principle or any
concern for correct ideation, but with the slogan that can help it
capture power. But on the question of the real meaning of Hindutva, is
the RSS itself clear and consistent? It has a very large and committed
cadre. Why does it depend on the BJP to “convey the real meaning”? To
what extent has the RSS itself succeeded in conveying the supposedly
real meaning?
The RSS has been saying that anybody who regards India as his/her
motherland and a holy land is a Hindu and that the Indian Muslims are
Mohammadi Hindus and the Indian Christians are Isahi Hindus and so on.
Now, there is a large body of people who plainly call themselves
Hindus. They are not the followers of any one Prophet or of any one
Book. They have a large body of sacred books – the Vedas, the
Upanishads, the Geeta and Puranas. They venerate many Rishis and adore
some maryada-purushes like Lord Rama and Lord Krishna. How should they
be described? They cannot be called Ramiah Hindus or Krishnaiah
Hindus. They would not like to be called Sakti-ite Hindus, or Shivaite
or Vaishnavaite Hindus. Saktism, shaivism, and vaishnavism have got so
merged in their thinking that they are partly sakta, partly shaiva and
partly vaishnava. They worship all these principles as different
manifestations of the one Supreme Reality in differing circumstances.
If they are to be called “Sanatan dharmis” or in brief, “Sanatanis”,
why did the RSS not launch a movement insisting that the members of
the community, now plainly called Hindus, add a prefix “Sanatani” to
bring consistency? Not to do that would mean they would continue to
describe themselves as Hindus by religion, and again, as Hindus by
nationality. This becomes ridiculous.
Hinduism is no particular religion. It is a philosophy of religions.
The great nationalist leader, late Bipin Chandra Pal, described
Hinduism as a “confederal principle of co-existence of all religions”.
In deference to this spirit, the RSS had composed a verse in which the
names of pious Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Jains were included
as persons to be remembered and revered early every morning, before
beginning the day’s work.
Socio-Cultural Heritage got Degraded
IF this is Hinduism, how does Hindutva differ from it? The RSS’s
cryptic answer is, Hindutva is the concept of “geocultural
nationalism”. Implicitly, it says that long before India’s political
unification, India had achieved cultural unification from Jammu and
Kashmir to Kanyakumari, and from Arunachal and Meghalaya to Saurashtra
through the medium of two great epics, the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, and the Geeta (which is truly a part of the Mahabharata).
These great works of the ancient Indians, then universally called
Hindus, had imparted values of parental love, filial duties, brotherly
love, unshakeable fidelity to the spouse, the monarch’s obedience to
the people’s wishes, the triumph of dharma over the mightiest wrong-
doer—that is, values to be cherished in perpetuity. Hence Hindutva is
value-orientation, the RSS claims. But can the RSS deny that during
the so-called Hindu period, caste hatred had taken firm roots as a
value? In ancient India, desertion of the wife for no fault of hers
also had become a tradition, as in the case of Sita. Murder of a
shudra for reading the Vedas was sanctioned by the social ethos.
Merit of Religio-Confederal Concept
THE RSS needs to accept that the ancient Hindus had, at a certain
stage, come to indulge in regressive social discrimination. The
obverse side of “geocultral nationalism” was socio-cultural dominance
of the higher castes and of the males among them. In the sphere of
philosophical concepts, however, the ancient Hindus were the most
liberal and the highest in cosmopolitanism (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam).
Hence if the RSS does not want to nurture caste inequality and gender
inequality, it should give up its “geo-cultural nationalism” (read the
socio-cultural concept) of Hindutva. If it seeks to promote the
philosophy of co-existence of all faiths, which is the ideal of
Hinduism, it should opt for the religio-confederal concept of
Hindustaniyat. The Muslims of this country have no problem with this,
because they have been traditionally describing themselves as
Hindustanis. The word Hindustan itself came from the verbiage of the
Iranians.
Four Cardinal Considerations
THE RSS needs to recognise four things. First, the usage of a word in
a restricted sense over centuries changes the original acceptation of
the word. Secondly, the Koran not only teaches the oneness of the
Creator. Its esoteric message is the unity of all of creation. The
bigots fail to see this. Hence, for ages, the raging controversy
within Islam, in the words of the eminent historian, the late Prof
Mohammad Habib, has been “between Wahdat-ul-wujud (God is everything)
and Wahdat-ush-shuhud (everything comes from God)”. Those who believe
in the former become attuned to tolerance, amicable relations between
all religious and racial communities and (Emperor) Akbar’s doctrine of
sulh-I-kul (Universal Religious Peace). The doctrine of Wahdat-ush-
shuhud led to the worship of external shariat (shariat-i-zahiri) and
communal hatred. (Vide Prof Habib’s Foreword to Dr S.A.A.Rizvi’s book
“Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India in the Sixteenth and
Seventeenth Centuries”)
From the above, it follows that the pious people in other faiths
should help in resolving the worldwide intra-Islamic controversy in
favour of the former. Declaration of the principle of confederal
principle in religion in India would largely help resolve Islam’s
global problem and be a powerful blow against bigotry, for world
peace.
Thirdly, India’s religio-philosophy’s contribution to Sufism in Islam,
and Islam’s contribution to spurring religious reform movements in
India constitute a glorious chapter in the world’s history. Historians
agree that the growth of Sufism in early Islam was inspired as much by
its internal urges as by the influences of Buddhism, the Vedanta and
the Hellenistic religions. Islam’s strident call to equality was
wedded to the Arabian nomadic tribes’ aggressive traits. It needed an
Indian response. This provided the spark for the religious reform
movements led by Ramananda, Kabir, Namdev, Tukaram, Guru Nanak and Sri
Chaitanya. To talk of inequitous socio-cultural Hindutva as the motto
is to belittle the fruitful intermingling of the religio-philosophical
thoughts of early Islam and its contemporary Hinduism.
Sharing is a positive value within Islam. Sharing the means of
sustenance is also an ideal of Hinduism so much so that Swami
Vivekananda had proclaimed that the “Hindu ideal is socialistic”.
Hence there is considerable convergence between the pristine Islamic
and Hindu spirituality.
Fourthly, all the ideals of love and selfless service which the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata had taught are getting eclipsed under the
influence of the now globally dominant commercialism, selfism, and cut-
throat competitivism in the name of efficiency. To restore ancient
India’s sublime values, we need a joint fight of all people against
the West’s consumerist and acquisitive philosophy of life and its
accompanying paradigm of development. The Biblical value of universal
love, the Koranic value of Raham and the Upanishadic teaching “love
others as you do yourself” can join together to beat back the narrow
self-centric modes of thought. For this also, the fascination for the
word “Hindutva” needs to be given up to salve the basic values.
Hinduism’s ideal is synthesis, ever higher synthesis. It requires
reconciliation by dissolving the sources of conflict in every
unfolding situation. Its ideal is integration of the heart and the
head (that is, emotion and intellect) of every individual; integration
of individuals with the society; integration of the communities by
elevation to newer peaks of harmonious existence. Its form of address
must, therefore, be such as has a psychological appeal to all people.
The language of negativism, or a language that has the flavour of bias
against any group is alien to the spirit of Hinduism. We need
inclusivism in letter and spirit.
Inclusivism is not an apologia for overlooking anybody’s hateful,
divisive or separatist trends. But to successfully fight separatism,
we must have a robust faith in the ultimate victory of the cause for
universal good and the preparedness to make sacrifices for it. Success
is assured if the approach is positive. Mere criticism/condemnation of
any trend without a pointer to the workable alternative serves only to
widen the gulf. It defeats the national purpose.
True, the virulent anti-Hindu, anti-Shia mujaddid movement in the 16th
century, the bigoted ulama’s secretive conspiracies against Emperor
Akbar’s policy of religious tolerance in the 16th century, the wave of
Wahabi Jihadism from Arabia in the 18th century, the ani-Hindu tirade
of the later-day incarnate of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in the late 19th
century and the mayhem for a separate homeland for the Muslims led by
the later-day incarnate of Mohammad Ali Jinnah were all abominations
and deserved condemnation. But the turning of the usually unruly
Pathans into the volunteers of non-violence led by the Frontier Gandhi
( Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan) was an index of the wonder that communal
harmony and national unity could achieve.
Indian Muslims had no Pathological Separatism
IT must not be imagined that the Indian Muslims had always been under
separatist influence. It is well known that in undivided Punjab,
undivided Bengal and in Sind and the NWFP, and Balochistan, that is,
in the Muslim-majority States which were to constitute Pakistan later,
the Muslim League’s influence was meagre. In the elections to the
provincial legislatures and the Central Assembly in 1937, just a
decade before the Partition, the Muslim League had cut a sorry figure.
In Punjab, it contested only seven out of 84 Muslim reserved seats and
won only two. In Bengal, out of 117 Muslim reserved seats, it had won
only 38. In Sind out of 133 Muslim reserved seats, it had secured only
38. In the NWFP, the League was trounced. The League did not get even
a single seat in the Central Assembly. This showed the Muslims could
be mobilised for national purposes if the national leadership could
act wisely and avoid falling into traps.
True, a decade later the results were reversed. The Muslim League won
all the 30 reserved seats for Muslims in the Central Assembly and 428
seats out of 492 reserved seats for Muslims in provincial
legislatures. That happened because the elections were held in an
atmosphere in which no civilised country would ever allow an election
to take place. The ambience was vitiated by the British rulers’
intrigues, the Imams’ fatwas and false propaganda blitz that in the
event of Muslim League’s defeat, the Muslims would not be allowed to
congregate to offer prayers or to bury their dead and that the
madrasas would all be closed. The Indian National Congress, which had
the necessary moral resources and international prestige, could have
asked for postponement of the elections unless there was a stoppage of
the false propaganda and a calming down of the tempers. Moreover, it
should never have agreed to the elections— a virtual referendum —
being held on the basis of restricted franchise in which only 10 per
cent of the population had the right to vote!
Deadly Poison Mix of Ruling Party’s Pseudo-Secularism and RSS’
Hindutva
IN post-independence India, the ruling Congress party, in the name of
secularism, has been following a policy of appeasing the bigoted
Muslim clerics. Thereby it encouraged “minority aggressivism” and
further fuelled the communal fire. But Hindutvavad was no answer to
this. Instead of mitigating the communal fire, it only served to
corroborate Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s and later Jinnah’s thesis that the
Muslims and the Hindus were two separate nations. What was needed
instead was the pointer that concessions to the clerics were only a
cloak for neglect of the Muslim masses’ material, intellectual and
spiritual interests. Only Mahatma Gandhi’s kind of response could have
been effective. During his Noakhali tour, with his ever-present
declaration of Universal Love, he had challenged the communalist
leaders to show him where the Koran had enjoined the killing of people
of other faiths. Could the RSS challenge the communalists the way the
Mahatma did?
One only wishes that the Mahatma had shown the same grit by standing
steadfastly with Maulana Azad and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in resisting
Partition.
Hinduism’s unique teaching is: “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”
Hinduism also teaches: “Love others as you do yourself.” “Love has the
power to heal.” The Biblical teaching, too, is Universal Love. The
Koran teaches Khuda’s Raham pervades the universe. Criticism by the
way of pointer to the error is essential. But criticism without
concern for the welfare of the wrong-doer is of no avail.
Half-hearted Compromise is no Solution
IN its latest meet, the BJP’s National Executive has tried to make a
compromise between the RSS’ clamour for Hindutva and many of the BJP
leaders’ belated realisation that the Hindutva slogan alienates not
only the Muslims, Christians and large sections of the Dalits, but
also the secular “caste-Hindus”. L.K. Advani’s middle-path declaration
that the party would not accept “any narrow, bigoted, anti-Muslim
interpretation of Hindutva” indicates it is unable to shed its
fascination for the word it has so long been pledged to. In fact, the
BJP would not be able to shed it until the the RSS realises how, by
sticking to this word, it is hampering national unity and also
defeating its own cherished values. This tightrope walking by the BJP
will not have the healing touch. This will not unify the people.
Clearly discarding Hindutva and accepting Hindustaniyat will not mean
any loss of face. This will rather show the courage to steer a change
propelled by the depth of patriotic fervour.
If the RSS and/or the BJP could drop Hindutva as its motto, it would
be able to challenge the Muslimist bigots more effectively. Like Dr
Rafiq Zakaria and in one voice with all truly secular people, it will
be able to tell the bigoted clerics:
During the British rule, you accepted the replacements of the Koranic
punishments by those which the then rulers had imposed in their civil
and criminal courts. At that time, you acquiesced in the banning of
the stoning of the adulterous to death, though this ban violated the
Koranic injunction. You paid interest on the loans taken from the
banks though it was prohibited by the Koran. Now, you raise a hue and
cry about carrying out some essential reforms in Muslim Personal Law
even though some Muslim countries have already enacted them. In
protest against the Supreme Court’s righteous verdict in the Shah Bano
case, you got enacted a law of maintenance which has thrown many
Muslim women divorcees to the streets. ‘Triple talaq at one go’ is
barbaric and against the spirit of the Koran; still you cling to it.
After it drops the outmoded Hindutva slogan, it would be able to mock
the shariat enthusiasts in the manner of Akbar Allahabadi: “The Shaikh
advised his followers, why do you travel by train when you could
travel on camel’s back?”
Writing on the Wall
MAYBE, all these pleas will fall flat in the RSS leadership’s ears. In
that case, the RSS should read the writing on the wall: the RSS will
break up or become moribund. Despite its claim of being a monolith
with no divergence of views among its members, the RSS will face a
grave existential crisis if it does not change its tune in keeping
with the times. There are already sufficient indications. In the1980s—
I forget the exact year—I was invited by Deendayal Research Institute,
headed by Nanaji Deshmukh, to give a series of lectures on my ideas of
environment and development. Lala Hansraj Gupta was in the chair. When
I came to say “Hinduism is no religion. It is a way of life”, I heard
an exclamation in endorsement: “Exactly. Those who talk of ‘Hindus,
Hindus’ but have no interest in the lives of Muslims are not genuine
Hindus.” The voice was Nanaji’s. I was pleasantly surprised because
Nanaji was a prominent RSS member and I did not expect this from an
RSS leader of his stature. Later I had many discussions with him, in
course of which I asked him: “Why don’t you tell your opinions to
Balasaheb Deoras?” He told me that he was writing down his viewpoints
but these would be published after his death. Presumably, he did not
want to annoy the RSS leadership for fear of their non-cooperation in
his other constructive activities at Gonda or Chitrakut.
I know some senior BJP leaders who would be happy if Hindutva is
dropped as the guiding principle. How long can the RSS keep such
people together under the banner of Hindutva? The slogan of Hindutva
does conjure up fear of “Hindu cultural domination” in the minds of
today’s non-Hindus, even if Hindu Rashtra is ruled out. Rationalising
has its limits.
If the RSS changes its archaic ideas and accepts Hindustaniyat as the
religio-confederal principle, it can play a much larger role on the
national horizon. During invasions by China and by Pakistan, its
volunteers played a very useful role in mobilising the people against
the invaders, and working as service providers to our military and
internal security forces. It also played a significant role in
regulating traffic and maintaining law and order even-handedly. In
recognition of this, the then Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri,
invited the RSS leadership to be a member of the National Security
Council. In times of violent attacks on the Sikhs following Indira
Gandhi’s assassination, it did laudable work in giving shelter and
succour to the Sikhs. Dr Hedgewar had links with Bengal’s legendary
revolutionary leader, Trailokya Nath Chakrabarty also known as
‘Maharaj’; and therefore, this nation’s hero, Subhas Chandra Bose, had
even thought of utilising the RSS’ organisational skill in raising a
nationalist volunteer force. During Jayaprakash Narayan’s anti-
corruption and anti-Emergency movements and Bihar flood relief, the
RSS had earned fulsome praise from JP.
Will the RSS let all this goodwill to be besmirched or lost by its
dogmatism and obsolete ideas? It needs to realise that its Hindutvavad
does stir up, among its unthinking followers—which is by far the
larger part—fanaticism, blind prejudices and hatred against all those
who now refuse to see themselves as “Hindus”. If the RSS did not
suffer from the Nelson’s eye syndrome, it would have seen that a large
section of the Dalits and even the Sikhs, who were once the vanguard
of saving the Hindus from forced conversion, do not now like to be
counted as Hindus.
The author is one of the country’s earliest environ-mentalists and a
social philosopher.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article1571.html
Mainstream Weekly
VOL XLV No 01
Sachar Committee Report : A Review
Tuesday 24 April 2007, by Anees Chishti
The report of the High-Level Committee appointed by the Prime Minister
under the chairmanship of Justice Rajindar Sachar, retired Chief
Justice of the Delhi High Court, to study the ‘Social, Economic and
Educational Status of the Muslim Community of India’, has been a
subject of wide discussion in the press, among parliamentarians and
other politicians as well as in other informed sections of the
society.
The seven-member Committee had as its members eminent personalities
like Sayid Hamid, former Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim
University and currently Chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, Prof
T.K. Oommen, former Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and a
sociologist of world renown, among others. Dr. Abusaleh Shariff, Chief
Economist, National Council of Applied Economic Research, who is noted
for his perceptive research on various issues of national concern, was
the Member-Secretary. There was no woman member: surprising, as the
condition of women is very important for any survey of the social
scenario among the Muslims. And, the Committee has tried to look at
the predicament of the Muslim women in as good a manner as it could.
The Committee had several consultants from different disciplines and
had commissioned specialists on various aspects of the subject under
coverage to write papers for its use in its study of the complex
issues.
The Committee collected data from the various Censuses, the National
Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), banks and, of course, from the
Central and State Governments.
The members of the Committee visited different parts of the country to
assess the grassroots situation and grasp the realities by experience
rather than merely with the help of statistics brought to their desks
by investigators. The Committee tried to sift the perception of
members of the Muslim community (as well as of non-Muslims) and
understand the nature and magnitude of the community’s grievances, to
be able to judge the veracity or otherwise of the expressions of
negligence and deprivation.
Most of the grievances of the community are common knowledge and those
who have access to the Urdu press in different parts of the country
are fully aware of the endless stories of ‘woes’ and ‘miseries’ of the
community. But a systematic study of these grievances had to be made
and the Sachar Committee ventured to do that. We shall deal with the
grievances briefly later but, first, a review of the findings of the
Sachar Committee in different areas of its concern.
II
It would be appropriate to begin a survey of the Sachar Committee’s
findings with the fundamental issue of education. The literacy rate
for Muslims in 2001 was, according to the Committee’s findings, far
below the national average. The difference between the two rates was
greater in urban areas than in rural areas. For women, too, the gap
was greater in the urban areas.
When compared to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the growth
in literacy for Muslims was lower than for the former. The female
urban enrolment in literacy ratio for the SCs/STs was 40 per cent in
1965 that rose to 83 per cent in 2001. The equivalent rate for Muslims—
that was considerably higher in 1965 (52 per cent)—recorded a figure
of 80 per cent, lower than the figure for the SCs / STs.
According to the Sachar Committee’s findings, 25 per cent of Muslim
children in the 6-14 age-group either never went to school or else
dropped out at some stage.
The disparity in Graduate Attainment Rates between Muslims and other
categories has been widening since the 1970s in urban and rural areas.
According to the Sachar Committee, only one out of 25 undergraduate
students and one out of 50 post-graduate students in ‘premier
colleges’ are Muslims. The percentage of graduates in poor households
pursuing post-graduate studies is significantly lower for Muslims:
Hindus General (29 per cent); SCs/STs (28 per cent); OBCs (23 per
cent); Muslims (16 per cent). The unemployment rate among Muslim
graduates is the highest among all Socio-Religious Categories (SRCs),
poor as well as non-poor.
In the midst of the widespread discussion about the role of madrasas
in the life of Muslims, it is interesting to note that only three per
cent of Muslim children go to madrasas.
Some figures of the Committee are very revealing, when the situation
of OBCs is considered. In education upto matriculation, graduation and
employment in the formal sector all OBCs lag behind in terms of the
all-India average. Muslim OBCs (that have been defined here a little
later) fall below the Hindu OBCs in all categories. And, General
Muslims fare the worst being behind both Hindu and Muslim OBCs.
An important cause for the low level of attainment of Muslims in
education is the dearth of facilities for teaching Urdu and other
subjects through the medium of Urdu (mother tongue) in lower classes,
the Committee points out. It cites the better examples of Karnataka
and Maharashtra in this context. These two States are much better
equipped with Urdu medium schools at the elementary level. Karnataka
has the additional feature of concurrent facilities for English medium
as well in a good number of schools, the Committee points out.
In an indirect reference to the utility of reservation, the Committee
says that the SCs/STs have reaped advantages of targeted government
and private efforts thereby pinpointing the importance of ‘affirmative
action’.
Employment
According to the findings of the Sachar Committee, Muslims have a
considerably lower representation in jobs in the government including
those in the Public Sector Undertakings compared to other SRCs.
According to these findings, in no State of the country the level of
Muslim employment is proportionate to their percentage in the
population.
It is pointed out that the situation of government jobs is the best in
Andhra Pradesh where a “fairly close” representation (in proportion to
the population) has been achieved. Other States with a better picture
of representation are: Karnataka (8.5 per cent job share in a
population proportion of 12.2 per cent); Gujarat (5.4 per cent against
9.1 per cent); Tamil Nadu (3.2 per cent against 5.6 per cent).
According to an analysis, in all other States, the percentage of
Muslims in government employment is half of their population
proportion. The highest percentage figure of government employment for
Muslims is in Assam (11.2 per cent) even though it is far less than
the State’s Muslim population (30.9 per cent).
The most glaring cases of Muslims’ deprivation in government jobs are
found in the States of West Bengal and Kerala where, according to
common perception, egalitarianism has been the cherished norm in all
walks of life. In West Bengal where almost 25 per cent population
practises the Muslim faith, their share in government jobs is a paltry
4.2 per cent. In Kerala the Muslim representation in government jobs
is 10.4 per cent, a figure that is short of half of their population
percentage. In Bihar and UP the percentages of Muslims in government
jobs are found to be less than a third of their population
percentages. Those governing these States need to monitor their
actions to bring the situation in conformity with their professed
objectives and claims.
There are some factors that need to be considered in view of the low
employment figures for Muslims on an all-India basis. The Sachar
Committee observes that the low aggregate work participation ratios
for Muslims are ‘essentially’ due to the much lower participation in
economic activity by the women of the community. Also, a large number
of Muslim women who are engaged in work do so from their homes rather
than in offices or factories. Their figure in this regard is 70 per
cent compared to the general figure of 51 per cent
There is a high share of Muslim workers in self-employment activity,
especially in urban areas and in the case of women, the Committee
points out. Whether this trend is due to compulsion or their non-
expectation for jobs in the government or non-government formal
sector, or due to their inclination for certain types of work that are
done best under a self-employment scheme, would be an important
subject for study. The fact has to be considered that Muslims in
regular jobs in urban areas are much lower in numbers compared to even
the SCs/STs. And, surprisingly, the Muslim regular workers get lower
daily earnings (salary) in public and private jobs compared to other
socio-religious categories, as the Committee points out.
The point that needs special notice is that, according to the
Committee’s findings, Muslim participation in professional and
management cadres is quite low. Their participation in security-
related activities (for example, in the Police services) is
considerably lower than their population share (four per cent
overall).
In the context of employment of Muslims at the level of the Central
Government, the Committee’s findings are very revealing. In the Civil
Services, Muslims are only three per cent in IAS, 1.8 per cent in IFS
and four per cent in IPS. (While the figures are shockingly low
compared to the population percentage, the fact also needs to be
considered that there were only 4.7 per cent Muslims among the
candidates at the Civil Services examinations in 2003-04. The figure
would be almost identical for other years.)
In the Railways, 4.5 per cent are Muslims and, significantly, ‘almost
all’ (98.7 per cent) are in low level positions. Are you listening,
Laloo Prasad Yadav?
Figures for other Departments are: Education 6.5 per cent, Home 7.3
per cent, Police Constables (for which no special educational
qualifications are required) six per cent.
Also to be considered is the finding that in the recent recruitments
by State Public Service Commissions, the employment of Muslims has
been as low as 2.1 per cent.
Minorities other than Muslims are not placed as delicately as the
Muslims. According to the Committee’s findings, 11 per cent of Group A
jobs are with minorities other than Muslims. Deprivation of Muslims in
the State judical set-up seems to be among the most worrying aspects
of their overall backwardness.
The data collected by the Committee in this sector are about all
levels of the officers and employees: Advocate Generals, District and
Sessions Judges, Additional District and Sessions Judges, Chief
Judicial Magistrates, Principal Judges, Munsifs, Public Prosecutors,
and Group A, B, C and D employees. The overall Muslim presence of 7.8
per cent in the area of judiciary in 12 States with high concentration
of Muslim population is considered very low by experts.
To come back to an old theme, in West Bengal with a Muslim population
of over 25 per cent, the figure of Muslims in ‘key positions’ in the
judiciary is only five per cent. In Assam with a Muslim population of
30.9 per cent, this figure is 9.4 per cent. Surprisingly, in Jammu and
Kashmir (where the Muslim population is 66.97 per cent), the
community’s share in the State judiciary is only 48.3 per cent. Andhra
Pradesh once again scores over other States in terms of equitable and
even more than equitable sharing of jobs: Muslims have a share of 12.4
per cent in the State judiciary against a population share of 9.2 per
cent.
Experts feel that for an inclusive democracy, an equitable share for
all sections of the society in the judiciary is essential: it creates
greater public confidence in the judicial process. It would be useful
to survey the situation in this regard in some other developing and
developed countries to be able to arrive at some remedial measures for
this crucial sector of decision-making.
Health and Population
Along with education and employment, health and population welfare are
the other areas that have to be assessed for estimating attainments of
any society. The Sachar Committee has done this exercise in a
comprehensive manner.
First, the overall population picture: According to the 2001 Census,
the Muslim population of India was 138 million (13.4 per cent of the
total population). This figure is estimated to have crossed the 150
million mark in 2006. According to the estimate cited by the
Committee, the share of the Muslim population would rise ‘somewhat’
and stabilise at just below 19 per cent in the next four decades (320
million Muslims in a total population of 1.7 billion). There are many
areas where the Muslim population is 50 per cent or more; and in nine
out of 593 districts (Lakshadweep and eight districts of Jammu and
Kashmir) the Muslim population is over 75 per cent.
On the positive side, the period 1991-2001 showed a decline in the
growth rate of Muslims in most States. According to the Committee’s
findings, the Muslim population shows an increasingly better sex ratio
compared to other Socio-Religious Categories. Infant mortality among
Muslims is slightly lower than the average. (It is beyond the
Committee’s understanding how Muslims should have a child survival
advantage despite lower levels of female schooling and economic
status.) Life expectancy in the community is slightly higher (by one
year) than the average, and this should again surprise many.
The Committee’s finding is important that the Muslim child has a
significantly greater risk of being underweight or stunted than is the
case with other Socio-Religious Categories: the risk of malnutrition
is also ‘slightly higher’ for Muslim children than for ‘Other Hindu’
children. This again seems to be a contradiction vis-à-vis the
reported child survival rate.
Economy
Related to the existing economic condition of Muslims is the issue of
providing legitimate support by state and private agencies for the
members of the community to improve their position. One would like to
examine the situation with regard to trends in the support system of
existing instruments. Banks have been seen as an important source of
credit to support citizens’ economic and commercial ventures. The
picture regarding bank loans to members of the minority is not bright,
according to the findings of the Sachar Committee. It says that the
share of Muslims in ‘amounts outstanding’ is only 4.7 per cent. This
figure is 6.5 per cent in the case of other minorities. Further, on an
average the amount outstanding per account for Muslims is about half
that of the other minorities and one-third of ‘others’.
The pity is that, according to the report, many areas of Muslim
concentration have been marked by many banks as ‘negative’ or ‘red’
zones where giving loans is not advisable. Something would, indeed,
have to be done to put an end to such blanket bans, particularly in
view of the Committee’s finding that very large numbers of Muslims are
engaged in self-employment ventures.
The Reserve Bank of India’s efforts at banking and credit facilities
under the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for the welfare of
minorities have, according to the Committee’s findings, mainly
benefited minorities other than Muslims, thus “marginalising Muslims”.
Apart from the formal banking sector there are two other institutions
that are meant to extend loans to the disadvantaged for economic
ventures: the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation
(NMDFC) and National Backward Classes Finance and Development
Corporation (NBCFDC). For loans from the NMDFC, one has to obtain a
guarantee from the concerned State Government. According to the
Committee, this is the biggest hurdle in the processing of loan
applications. And members of minority communities are very adversely
affected due to this factor.
Poverty Factor
The Committee has found that substantially large proportion of Muslim
households in urban areas are in the less than Rs 500 expenditure
bracket. According to calculations mentioned in the Committee’s
report, using the Head Count Ratio (HCR), overall 22.7 per cent of
India’s population was poor in 2004-05. In absolute numbers, this
amounts to over 251 million people spread across India. The SCs/STs
together are the most poor with an HCR of 35 per cent followed by
Muslims who record the second highest incidence of poverty with 31 per
cent people below the poverty line. The H(indu)-General is the least
poor category with an HCR of only 8.7 per cent and the OBCs hold the
intermediary level HCR of 21 per cent, which is also close to the all-
India average.
The Committee has observed that the inequality is higher in urban
areas compared to rural areas in most States. It says that poverty
among Muslims is the highest in urban areas with an HCR of 38.4 per
cent. Significantly, the fall in poverty for Muslims, according to the
data provided to the Committee, has been “only modest during the
decade 1993-94 to 2004-05 in urban areas, whereas the decline in rural
areas has been substantial”. Poverty leads to neglect, or the other
way round: the Committee found a “significant inverse association”
between the proportion of Muslim population and educational and other
infrastructure in small villages. Areas of Muslim concentration are,
somehow, not well served with pucca approach roads and local bus
stops.
An analysis by the Committee showed a fall in the availability of
medical facilities with the rise in the proportion of Muslims,
especially in larger villages. A similar but sharper pattern can be
seen with respect to post/telegraph offices.
Affirmative Action
Under the existing constitutional provisions, affirmative action in
the form of reservation cannot be possible for the entire Muslim
community even though, according to the findings of the Sachar
Committee, the entire community has been left behind in terms of
education, employment and economic status. A way can be found to lift
a significant segment of the community’s population if social
stratification is defined and officially accepted within the Muslim
community. It could be done in case of Hindus, and subsequently for
Mazhabi Sikhs and neo-Buddhists in terms of caste demarcation. But it
would not be easy to have official acceptance of the caste principle.
The resistance against acceptance of social stratification on caste
lines among Muslims would come largely from the clerics and other
orthodox sections of the Muslim community itself which would be
adamant in its insistence that caste does not exist within the
community. This, even though the fact is that, whether one likes it or
not, the Muslim community is divided with caste demarcations almost on
the lines of the Hindus. A via media has to be found for a clearly
defined backward class like the OBCs among the majority community.
The Sachar Committee has talked of the issue of social stratification
among Muslims. It points out that the 1901 Census had listed 133
social groups, “wholly or partially Muslim”, in India. This
classification thus recognised the fact of social stratification in
the community. The Committee has identified different groups of
Muslims based on studies by sociologists. The community, according to
these studies, as mentioned by the Committee, is placed into
two broad categories , namely, ashraf and ajlaf. The former, meaning
‘noble’ (emphasis added), includes all Muslims of foreign blood and
converts from higher castes. While ajlaf, meaning ‘degraded’ (emphasis
added) or ‘unholy’, embraces the ‘ritually clean’ occupational groups
and low ranking converts. In Bihar, UP, Bengal, Sayyads, Sheikhs,
Moghuls and Pathans constitute the ashrafs, The ajlafs are carpenters,
artisans, painters, graziers, tanners, milkmen, etc. According to the
Census of 1901, the ajlaf category includes “the various classes of
converts who are known as Nao Muslim in Bihar and Nasya in Bengal. It
also includes various functional groups such as that of Jolaha or
weaver, Dhunia or cotton carder, Kulu or oil presser, Kunjra or
vegetable seller, Hajjam or barber, Darzi or tailor, and the like.”
The 1901 Census also recorded the presence of a third category called
Arzal: “It consists of the very lowest castes, such as Halalkhor,
Lalbegi, Abdal and Bedia.” The Committee has taken note of the fact
that the Presidential Order (1950), officially known as Constitutional
(Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950, restricts the Scheduled Caste status
only to Hindu groups having “unclean” occupations. Their non-Hindu
equivalents have been bracketed with the “middle caste converts” and
declared OBCs.
The Committee has noted that at least 82 different social groups among
Muslims were declared OBCs by the Mandal Commission (1980). Owing to
this declaration many Muslim social groups got reservation in
different parts of the country under the Backward Classes category.
Only two States, Kerala and Karnataka, have provided reservation to
the State’s entire Muslim population (minus the creamy layer). The
roots of this policy have to be traced to the colonial days.
In Karnataka (the erstwhile princely state of Mysore), affirmative
action started in 1874 (with 80 per cent posts in the Police
Department having been reserved for non-Brahmins, Muslims and Indian
Christians). In Karnataka today, all Muslims with income of less than
Rs 2 lakhs per annum enjoy four per cent reservation in jobs and
admission to institutions in the category of ‘More Backwards’. In
Kerala Muslims enjoy 12 per cent reservation, with some other
communities and social groups too being provided reservation.
Tamil Nadu, which had a tradition of reservation to Muslims since
1872, withdrew such reservation following independence. Currently even
though there is no reservation in the State on the basis of religion,
nearly 95 per cent Muslims have been provided reservation as Backward
Classes, according to the data provided by the State Government to the
Sachar Committee. Significantly enough, reservations in Tamil Nadu
stand at 69 per cent, much above the limit of 50 per cent fixed by the
Supreme Court. Looking at the state of public employment for OBCs the
Committee found that unemployment rates were the highest among Muslim
OBCs when compared to Hindu OBCs and Muslims General. In the formal
sector (government/PSUs), the share of Muslim OBCs was much lower than
those of Hindu OBCs and Muslims General.
At the workers’ level, the Committee estimated that out of every
hundred workers about eleven were Hindu OBCs, three were Muslims
General and only one was a Muslim OBC.
The Committee had divided public employment into six ‘agencies’ of the
Central Government including PSUs and universities. It found that the
Hindu OBCs were under-represented. But their under-representation was
less than that of Muslim OBCs in five out of the six agencies, less
than that of Muslims General in three out of the six agencies. In the
State services the Committee found that Muslim OBCs had a better share
at the Group A level, but their presence was insignificant at other
levels.
In the context of Muslim OBCs, the Committee concluded that the
abysmally low representation of Muslim OBCs suggests that the benefits
of entitlements meant for the Backward Classes are yet to reach them.
The Committee also concluded that “the conditions of Muslims General
are also lower than the Hindu-OBCs who have the benefits of
reservations”.
III
While the Sachar Committee has done a laudable job of assembling a
huge body of data and presenting it in an easily digestible manner, it
has not been as meticulous in formulating its recommendations. Perhaps
it was due to the fatigue after an enormous amount of legwork on a
national scale and the subsequent analysis of the compiled information
that its members had to do in about 15 months of actual work, coupled
with the desire of submitting its report rather urgently and the fact
that much of the information about its findings had already been
accessed by a section of the press. In view of the mind-boggling
findings and the very sensitive nature of the ground it was traversing
a very comprehensive matrix of recommendations should have been
presented by an able and competent panel blending experience and fresh
thinking. Unfortunately this could not be achieved by the Committee.
The most important recommendations of the Committee can be summarised
as under:
• Creation of a National Data Bank (NDB) where relevant data about
different socio-religious communities could be stored to facilitate
any study and subsequent action.
• Setting up of an autonomous Assessment and Monitoring Authority
(AMA) for a regular audit of the benefits of different programmes of
the government reaching the concerned communities or groups.
• Establishing an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) to examine and
analyse the grievances of deprived groups, the inspiration
understandably for it coming from the Race Relations Act, 1976 of the
United Kingdom that finds mention in the Committee’s recommendation.
• Exploring the idea of introducing some incentives to a ‘Diversity
Index’ in the realms of education, government, and private employment
and housing programmes. Special mention has been made of a possible
programme of incentives to colleges and institutions under the
University Grants Commission linked to diversity in the student
population.
• Evolving some sort of a ‘nomination’ procedure for enhancing the
levels of inclusiveness in governance.
• Certain measures like removal of anomalies in Reserved
Constituencies for General Elections against complaints of declaring
Muslim concentration areas as SC/ST reserved seats.
• Institutionalising evaluation procedures for textbooks, alternate
admission criteria in regular universities and autonomous colleges;
cost friendly reasonable hostel facilities for minority students as a
priority; making teacher training oriented to ideals of pluralism;
state-run Urdu medium schools for primary education in mother tongue;
ensuring appointment of experts from minority community on interview
panels and boards; linking madrasas with higher secondary schools
facilitating shift of students who might opt for a mainstream
education system after a few years; recognition of degrees from
madrasas for competitive examinations (a recommendation hard to find
acceptance in any section of concerned quarters); on the economic
front, provision of financial and other support to initiatives built
around occupations where Muslims are concentrated and that have growth
potential.
The above suggestions have given considerable food for thought with
regard to the panacea for deprivation of the Muslim community in
various spheres. But a more comprehensive and concrete programme
should have been suggested by the Committee.
This task could have been performed best by the able members of this
panel who had travelled far and wide and acquainted themselves with
the grassroots realities rather than leaving it for another possible
committee for a start from a scratch. This was essential to get action
initiated on the basis of its findings instead of letting this venture
too meet the fate of the earlier Gopal Singh Committee over two
decades ago that had similar findings (although it had a narrower
coverage than the Sachar Committee). Now it is for the Prime Minister
and his government to decide the future course of action to remedy the
situation regarding the travails of the Muslim community.
IV
Much of the Sachar Committee’s endeavour was in pursuance of the
perception among Muslims of utter neglect and apathy, and even
suspicion, towards the Muslim community on the part of governmental
agencies—right or wrong! An oft-repeated remark by many members of the
community was that Muslims carried a double burden of being labelled
as ‘anti-national’ and as being ‘appeased’ at the same time. Or,
whenever any act of violence or terror occurs Muslim boys are picked
up by the police. “Every bearded man is considered an ISI agent,” the
Committee has quoted someone as saying. It was also pointed out that
“social boycott of Muslims in certain parts of the country have forced
them to migrate from places where they lived for centuries.”
The Committee has also observed that identification of Urdu as a
Muslim language and its politicisation has complicated matters. A
worrying observation is that Muslims do not see education as
necessarily translating into formal employment. And, many a time
madrasas are the only educational option for Muslims.
On the economic front, the Committee observes that liberalisation of
the economy has resulted in displacement of Muslims from their
traditional occupations, thus depriving them of their livelihood.
The Committee has reported that there were many complaints of Muslims’
names missing from electoral rolls. It could not look into the
veracity or otherwise of this complaint. But what the Committee found
in case of complaints that a number of Muslim concentration Assembly
constituencies are declared as ‘reserved’ seats for the SCs
(deliberately?) should certainly worry those involved with the work of
delimitation of constituencies. Its analysis of reserved
constituencies for SCs in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal proved
that there was truth in the allegation of the members of the minority
community in this regard.
With the perception of Muslims not being quite favourable to official
agencies, the revelation of the findings of the Sachar Committee with
regard to over-representation of the community in the country’s
prisons, reported (before the submission of its report to the Prime
Minister) by The Indian Express, in its series of reports entitled
‘The Missing Muslim’, created a sensation. The Urdu press was on fire
and questions were asked why prisons were the only place where Muslims
were over-represented compared to all other communities and in some
cases their representation being much higher than their population
proportion.
In Maharashtra, the percentage of Muslim jail inmates in all
categories was found to be way above their share in the population
(share in population: 10.6 per cent; share in prison inmates: 17.5 per
cent). In Gujarat the position was: share in population: 9.06 per
cent; share in jail inmates: over 25 per cent). The situation was on
similar lines in other States too although the jail inmate share might
not be as bad in other States as in the States mentioned above.
Following the submission of the report to the Prime Minister, The
Indian Express reported that the data with regard to prisons were
edited out of the Sachar report, following the concern expressed on
these figures in different quarters. Some observers felt that the
prison figures should not have been omitted, as they would have given
a clear picture of some of the Muslim grievances with regard to the
more sensitive issues.
The remedy for the travails of the Muslim community can be found
largely by the community’s bolder initiatives in the field of
education that would empower them as nothing else would.
The government, on its part, seems to be ready for whatever remedial
measures can be adopted by its different agencies. The recent
initiative taken by the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, K. Rehman
Khan, to arrive at a consensus for action on an all-party basis,
through a conclave of Muslim MPs (including some from the Bharatiya
Janata Party, which has been very critical of the very appointment of
the Sachar Committee), seems to be a significant one. One only hopes
that such an initiative would have the support of the government and
some concrete steps would be taken without much delay.
http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article95.html
bademiyansubhanallah
There is a popular saying about the newly appointed president of BJP,
Nitin Gadkari … that he manages to elicit results with the least of
efforts. It was with great pomp that Gadkari had raised the apt issue
in Indore that the party was in need of combative people, not of
sychophants or yes-men. But it is not hidden from anyone as to how
serious the gentleman, whom Gadkari himself kept portraying as Mr
Genius from Indore to Delhi, is about political issues. Even
otherwise, in Gadkari’s regime the people who were first appointed to
various posts are all known to be the flagbearers of the practice of
doing the rounds of the powers that be. For example, the newly-
appointed president of Punjab BJP Ashwini Sharma or Khimi Ram,
Himachal’s executive president who has been made a full president by
Gadkari. The BJP president wanted to send Prabhat Jha as the president
of Madhya Pradesh BJP; in Bihar he is advocating the need of handing
over the reins to another loyal-tag owner Mantoo Pandey alias Mangal
Pandey. One Alok Kumar has been appointed the chief of the all India
training camp of the party. Or the saffron flag of aggression of the
yes-brigade is flying high during the Gadkari rule.
Gadkari's Govindacharya
BJP president Nitin Gadkari has started the process of selecting his
team. But for Gadkari, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is the most important
person right now and if sources are to be believed then Gadkari’s is
moving fast forward on Sahasrabuddhe’s brains. In a way Sahasrabuddhe
is working as the political secretary of Gadkari. This association is
exactly like the relationship Govindacharya once shared with Advani.
Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte are also going to play an important role in
identifying and selecting the new team for Gadkari. In view of the
importance of the forthcoming Assembly election in Bihar, Leader of
Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley is being made the in-
charge. One finds it difficult to recall if earlier a Leader of
Opposition had played the role of an election in-charge. What kind of
a precedent is being set by Gadkari?
Poll
Is BJP a sinking boat?
Yes (67.12%)
No (32.88%)
BJP too trying to earn some brownie points
Anita Saluja
First Published : 07 Mar 2010 03:49:00 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Sensing that history may be created on the centenary of
International Women’s Day in India, if the Rajya Sabha succeeds in
passing the controversial Women’s Reservation Bill, enabling 33
percent reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State
Assemblies, the BJP on Saturday lent a helping hand to the UPA
Government.
The BJP core group meeting, which was convened by BJP president Nitin
Gadkari, appealed to all political parties to vote in favour of the
Women’s Reservation Bill.
After the meeting, leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, “The
BJP was the first party to demand one-third reservation for women in
Parliament and state Assemblies. It has promised the Centre full
support to the Bill in the Rajya Sabha.” Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was optimistic of the passage of the
Women’s Bill in the Upper House and said that on its own, the BJP was
mobilising support for the Bill.
Claiming that the BJP has always stood for empowerment of women, being
the first party to give one-third reservation to women in the party
organisation, Gadkari said that it had issued whip to all the party
members of Rajya Sabha.
He said that it was the NDA Government, which first moved the Bill in
Parliament and mooted the idea to set apart 33 percent of the total
seats in Parliament and state Assemblies for women in BJP National
Council meeting at Vadodara.
Unlike in 1996, when the BJP was riven with dissensions on the Women’s
Reservation Bill, with firebrand leader Uma Bharti opposing the
legislation inside the Lok Sabha, this time around, there is no
dissenting voice.
Uma Bharti is no more in the BJP and with Sushma Swaraj leading the
party in the Lok Sabha, no one dares to challenge her ruling. “We have
to prove our own credibility,” remarked a senior leader from the Rajya
Sabha.
Apart from the three Yadavs, Mulayam Singh of the SP, Lalu Yadav of
RJD and Sharad Yadav of JD (U), the BJP alliance partner in
Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena, is also opposing the Bill in its present
form.
Comments
Right & time demand step by leading political parties in national
interest.
By Kapil Pathak
3/7/2010 10:04:00 AM
I don’t want to make a show of it
BJP youth wing leader Poonam Mahajan spills the beans on why she
skipped her brother’s big fat TV wedding
By Anand Holla and Vickey Lalwani
Posted On Monday, March 08, 2010 at 03:12:45 AM
The Mahajans have a way of making it to the headlines. This time it is
Rahul, who tied the knot, for the second time, with a 21-year-old
Bengali model and item girl in a televised event on Saturday which was
attended by his mother, but not his sister.
Poonam Mahajan-Rao
Poonam Mahajan-Rao, who had always stood by her elder brother during
the darkest phases of his life - the drug scandal for instance – was
missing from the scene.
This sent the media and commentators in a tizzy, as Rahul and his
spokespersons found themselves struggling to deal with speculations
that Poonam, who is a BJP youth wing leader, wanted to stay away from
the reality drama.
After considerable effort, Mirror managed to speak to Poonam. “I am a
very private person, and for me, an event like a marriage is a private
affair.” However, Rahul’s ‘private affair’ was a high-voltage mega-TRP-
driven event with millions watching it live as it unfolded. When asked
why she didn’t join in the much-watched ceremony, Poonam defended, “I
am the kind of person who prefers to sit at home rather than make a
show out of things. I even keep my son’s birthday party as private as
possible. That’s how I am.”
Incidentally, Poonam was very much around when Rahul married his
childhood sweetheart Shweta in a private ceremony in 2006. They
divorced two years later.
Speaking about her own wedding which was a low-key affair, Poonam
said, “Ten years ago, I made a choice of getting married to the person
I wanted to. Now, Rahul has made his choice and being his sister
support him entirely.”
Rahul with his newly-wedded wife Dimpy Ganguly after the reality show
concluded
When asked if there are any differences within the Mahajan family over
Rahul’s choice and decision, Poonam said, “Rahul is my elder brother
and his decisions are totally his. I will be there for him just like
I’ve always been there for him, even during the tough times. I wish
him all the luck with this marriage. Together, we want to take forward
our father’s legacy by helping each other.”
Not just Poonam, missing from what was purported to be Rahul’s big day
was his uncle Gopinath Munde, BJP national general secretary and MP.
Munde has been constantly by the side of late BJP leader Pramod
Mahajan’s family since he was shot dead three years ago by younger
brother Pravin.
BJP sources said Munde along with national president Nitin Gadkari and
leader of state legislature Eknath Khadse were in Nashik for their
felicitation. “The felicitation programme was finalised few months ago
and Munde had accepted the invitation. In fact he made it a point to
attend the Nashik event as his absence at previous felicitation event
in Aurangabad was being blamed on intra party tussle with Gadkari,’’ a
party leader remarked.
But the speculations over Poonam’s absence refuse to die down. “Poonam
may have deliberately avoided not to attend the much publicised
wedding show for political reasons. She is keen to establish herself
politically and does not want to get embroiled in any controversy,’’
the source said.
Parties divided, but government determined to push women’s bill
PM says the Centre is moving towards providing one-third reservation
for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures
By PTI
Posted On Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 04:12:40 AM
New Delhi: Affirming his commitment to women’s empowerment, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said the Government is moving
towards providing one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and
state legislatures.
Inaugurating the women’s leadership summit here, he said the
Government is committed to social, economic and political empowerment
of women, whatever effort and resources the task might take.
Minister of State (Independent Charge), Women and Child Development,
Krishna Tirath welcomes Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the
inauguration of the Women’s Leadership Summit 2010
The Women’s Reservation Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation of
seats for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies is expected to come
up in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.
Observing that reservation for women in local bodies has
revolutionised governance at the grass-roots level, he said, “We hope
to give this movement of political participation of women further
fillip by increasing the number of seats reserved in Panchayats and
city and town governments to 50 per cent.
“More significantly we are moving towards providing one-third
reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures," he
said.
UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, in a message read out by Women and Child
Development Minister Krishna Tirath, said women in the country have
broken glass ceilings but those in rural areas have not been able to
avail of many opportunities.
LS Speaker Meira Kumar said that though Indian tradition provides high
status to women by worshipping them as gods, the practise is reversed
in society.
The three-day summit being held as part of women's day celebrations
would be attended by women achievers from all fields.
JD-U divided
However, sharp divisions have emerged among the opponents of the Bill
with Bihar Chief Nitish Kumar supporting the measure, pitting himself
against his party President Sharad Yadav who is opposed to it.
SP also opposes
The Samajwadi Party, which opposes the Bill in its present form, on
Saturday said it will register its “protest” on Monday. The SP has
suggested reservation within reservation for OBC women, not more than
20 per cent.
BJP supports
Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of the Bill, BJP
sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since
the UPA coalition was in minority in the RS, the onus of getting it
adopted was with the main opposition.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting
of the party Core Group to discuss the Bill.
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News -
Nation§id=3&contentid=2010030720100307041240664ef9a81db
JD(U) Hints At Softening of Opposition to Women’s Bill
New Delhi, March 7 – With the numbers favouring the passage of the
women’s reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha Monday, the Janata Dal-
United (JD-U), a prominent party opposing it, Sunday indicated a
softening of its position.
JD-U chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Ali Anwar Ansari said the party
will consider the opinion of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in
support of the bill, which seeks to reserve 33 percent seats for women
in parliament and state legislatures.
‘A meeting of JD-U MPs will be held at party president Sharad Yadav’s
residence Monday morning. We will take a unanimous decision,’ Ansari
told IANS.
The JD-U has not issued a whip to its MPs to either support or oppose
the bill.
Ansari said the bill is expected to be passed by the upper house of
parliament and ‘there is no point of opposing it for the sake of
opposition’.
‘We are taking the opinion of all our members and a decision will be
taken,’ he said.
Ansari, who spoke to both Yadav and Nitish Kumar Sunday, ruled out the
possibility of the party abstaining from the vote on the bill.
Nitish Kumar, who will lead the JD-U charge in campaign for Bihar
assembly elections later this year, Saturday spoke in favour of the
bill.
With more and more parties coming out in favour of the legislation,
the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained
its only two vocal opponents. Both parties are demanding quotas for
backward classes and minorities within 33 per cent reservation for
women. While the SP has 11 members in the Rajya Sabha, the RJD has
four.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has 12 members in the upper
house, has not opened its cards yet with regards to the bill.
For the bill to be passed, it has to be supported by two-thirds of
those present and voting. This figure should also be at least 50
percent of the total number of members in the house.
With an effective strength of 233, the Constitution (108th Amendment
Bill), 2008, needs support of 155 members in the Rajya Sabha if all
the members are present.
While the combined strength of the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) and the Left – three main supporters of the bill – comes to 138
in the upper house, many other parties, including the DMK, AIADMK,
Biju Janata Dal, National Conference, Nationalist Congress Party and
Shiromani Akali Dal have expressed their support for the path-breaking
legislation.
With the ruling Congress having timed the consideration of the bill
with the International Women’s Day and party president Sonia Gandhi
making a strong pitch for its passage, the BJP too has joined the race
to claim credit.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who appealed to all parties to support
the bill, said the party was conscious that the ruling coalition was
in minority in the Rajya Sabha. He said the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) government had first moved the bill in parliament.
The Constitution (108th Amendment Bill), 2008, provides for
reservation of one-third seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies
for 15 years from the date of commencement of the Act on rotation
basis.
The proposal to provide such reservation to women has been pending for
the last 13 years due to lack of political consensus.
Posted by Vamban on Mar 7, 2010 @ 6:00 PM
http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/
Latest News
•Lok Sabha Adjourned for Fourth Time
http://www.vamban.com/lok-sabha-adjourned-for-fourth-time/
•BJP Condemns SP, RJD for Tearing Up Women’s Bill
http://www.vamban.com/bjp-condemns-sp-rjd-for-tearing-up-womens-bill/
•Women’s Bill Moved, Torn to Shreds in Rajya Sabha
http://www.vamban.com/womens-bill-moved-torn-to-shreds-in-rajya-sabha/
•JD-U Joins SP, RJD to Protest Women’s Bill
http://www.vamban.com/jd-u-joins-sp-rjd-to-protest-womens-bill/
•85 Million Women Missing in India, China: UNDP
http://www.vamban.com/85-million-women-missing-in-india-china-undp/
http://www.vamban.com/jdu-hints-at-softening-of-opposition-to-womens-bill/
BJP to oppose any proposal for autonomy to Kashmir
By IANS
January 19th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Tuesday said his party will oppose any proposal for granting autonomy
to Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking at a function here to mark 20 years of exodus of Kashmiri
Pandits from the valley, he said a solution to the Kashmir problem
should be found within the parameters of the Indian Constitution.
“We will oppose autonomy with full force. If such a proposal comes to
Parliament, we will be against it,” he said.
Gadkari termed as “dangerous” the report of Justice Saghir Ahmad - who
headed the working group on Centre-State relations - recommending
giving autonomy to the state. The report was submitted to the Jammu
and Kashmir government last month.
The BJP chief blamed the Congress for the problems in Jammu and
Kashmir. “Congress has messed up things in the state,” he said, adding
that the “mistakes” should not be repeated.
The function was organised by the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Foundation.
Dhumal ordered tap on Virbhadra Singh’s phone, CD tells
By IANS
January 19th, 2010
SHIMLA - In another twist to the corruption cases against union Steel
Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh, a new audio
compact disc (CD) from an unknown source was circulated here Tuesday
in which Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal is purportedly directing the
vigilance chief to tap the phones of the couple.
Two other CDs were also released here — one audio in which Dhumal was
heard talking about former union ministers Sukh Ram and Shanta Kumar
and the other video in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parliamentarian Virender Kashyap was shown accepting some cash in
regard to granting permission to an educational institute in the
state.
In the alleged conversation recorded in the first CD, Director General
of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas asked Dhumal regarding Singh and his
wife’s phone tapping. At this Dhumal replied: “Do it.”
Manhas then said: “Yes, we will do it, we will do it. If the CID
(Criminal Investigation Department) is doing it, its staff will leak
it.” Dhumal replied: “This is right.”
Dhumal and Manhas allegedly also talked about some Rs.25 crore (Rs.250
million).
However, a senior police official said there was no proof of the
authenticity of the CD. “It is released when the vigilance is almost
ready to start within a month the prosecution against Virbhadra Singh
and his wife,” he said.
The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009,
under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The complaint against Singh
alleges misuse of his official position and criminal misconduct when
he was the chief minister of the state in 1989.
Interestingly, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD released
by Singh’s political adversary Vijay Singh Mankotia in 2007.
Meanwhile, Dhumal refuted the allegations in the new CD. He told IANS
on phone from Delhi Tuesday: “Right now I am not in the state. I have
not seen the CD and not even heard about it. I am not in a position to
comment on it.”
“The government machinery is not involved in phone tapping of Singh
and his wife. It’s just a white lie,” he added.
The CD that showed BJP parliamentarian Virender Kashyap talking to
someone on the issue of granting permission to an educational
institute in the state was recorded April 17, 2009 when Kashyap was
only a party activist.
In the conversation, Kashyap was insisting and telling the person
sitting opposite to him to first complete the formalities and then
seek formal permission. The CD also showed Kashyap being offered some
cash, which he hesitantly accepted.
However, Kashyap was not available for comments.
Prosecution against Virbhadra likely within month: Police
By IANS
January 1st, 2010
SHIMLA - Police is likely to start within a month the prosecution
against union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha
Singh in corruption cases registered against them, an official said
here Friday.
“We are still awaiting a few forensic reports from a Central Forensic
Science Laboratory (CFSL)… most likely the prosecution against
Virbhadra Singh and his wife would start within a month,” Director
General of Police (Vigilance) D.S. Manhas told reporters.
Regarding the questionnaires sent to the couple, Manhas said: “We got
the replies to the questionnaire. Both the questionnaires have about
25 questions.”
The cases against Singh and his wife were registered Aug 3, 2009, by
the state vigilance and anti-corruption bureau under the Prevention of
Corruption Act.
The complaint against Singh alleges misuse of his official position
and criminal misconduct when he was chief minister of the state in
1989.
According to police, they were booked on the basis of an audio CD
released by Singh’s political adversary Vijai Singh Mankotia in 2007.
In the CD, Singh was heard referring to some monetary transactions on
the phone with former Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer
Mahinder Lal, who is now dead. The CD also contained recordings of his
wife and some industrialists.
Manhas said that four of the nine people identified in the CD are
dead.
“Four are dead out of the nine accused. It is still to be decided that
who is the main accused,” the police official added.
Singh has already refuted the allegations, saying the state’s ruling
Bharatiya Janata Party was trying to malign him.
Revival of Friends of BJP
March 8th, 2010
I was part of a small team from Friends of BJP that was invited to
attend the BJP National Council meet in Indore in mid-Feb. It was
quite a gathering - over 5,000 people brought together from all over
the country.
Among the announcements made was that of the revival of Friends of
BJP.
Here is what Nitin Gadkari said in his Presidential Address: “We are
also planning to revive Friends of BJP, an associate organisation of
the non-member Well Wishers of the party. All patriotic citizens,
especially all young professionals who look forward to BJP as an
instrument of making India a resurgent republic are welcome to join
this forum.”
We will be back with more details soon. My hope is that we can help
bring about a change in India’s political and policy climate in the
coming years.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Santosh // Mar 8, 2010 at 10:29 am
Rajesh,
I was one of the individuals who wanted BJP voted back to power in
2004 because of what they achieved in their last term. And I firmly
believe that BJP was pro-reforms in their term.
But seeing what India has been able to achieve in last 6 odd years
shouldn’t be undermined. Ofcourse, Congress isn’t the reformist that
most urban Indians want and India has managed the growth because of
sheer efficiencies of private enterprise.
For what we have achieved in last 6 years, I don’t go all out against
them. Today, I don’t see any reason why BJP should be supported -
There is no great leader remaining whom we can trust to take our
country forward. They don’t play the role of constructive opposition
at all. They find baseless arguments in blocking/ criticizing every
Congress move.
I fail to understand what is it that you see so strongly in BJP to go
& support them. I don’t to vote for a government shouts from roof-top.
I want a clear plan of what they would do & who is the team that is at
work. Unfortunately, I don’t see either.
2 Alok Mittal // Mar 8, 2010 at 11:17 am
What is really needed is not revival of Friends of BJP, but revival of
BJP itself. I think Congress has won a lot of erstwhile BJP supporters
over the past 6 years; and BJP has lost a lot of supporters over the
past 2 years. There is a critical distinction between the two, and the
latter can only be addressed by the BJP leadership itself.
3 Adarsh Jain // Mar 8, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Alok and Santosh,
I think for the future of the country there should be a worthy
opposition. After Nitin Gadkari became party president, I believe BJP
is ready for transformation and play the role of constructive
opposition till next election
http://emergic.org/2010/03/08/revival-of-friends-of-bjp/
India's women quota bill triggers uproar in parliament
Foreign 2010-03-08 17:23
NEW DELHI, March 8 (AFP) - An attempt by India's government to pass
legislation reserving a third of all seats for women in parliament
provoked uproar on Monday as opposition politicians forced repeated
adjournments.
The government had been confident that the Women Reservation Bill,
which has been stalled for 14 years, would gather the required votes
to pass in the upper house on Monday after being presented on
International Women's Day.
The upper house was adjourned twice on Monday as politicians opposing
the bill shouted down speakers and refused to allow the introduction
of the proposed legislation and a scheduled debate.
The ruling Congress party, its allies and the main opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have pledged their support in public, but
several socialist parties oppose it.
They argue that the law, which would reserve a third of seats for
women in the parliament and state assemblies, would lead to a monopoly
by upper-caste women at the expense of lower caste and religious
minority Muslims.
"We are not anti-women but we want reservations for women hailing from
minority and backward classes first," Mulayam Singh Yadav, a leader of
the pro-Muslim Samajwadi (Socialist) party said outside parliament.
Attempts to pass the bill have been blocked by various political
groups in the past who have demanded separate quotas for women from
Muslim and low-caste communities.
Yadav said the bill was an attempt by the Congress and the BJP to
appease the rich and the influential upper class.
The controversial proposal to reserve 33 percent of seats, first
introduced in parliament in 1996, would dramatically increase women's
membership in both houses of parliament where they now occupy about
one in 10 seats.
Because the bill involves a constitutional change, it needs the
approval of two-thirds of legislators in the upper house after which
it will go before the lower house where it also requires a two-thirds
majority.
Women currently occupy 59 seats out of 545 in the lower house. There
are just 21 women in the 248-seat upper house.
"Our government is committed towards women empowerment. We are moving
towards one-third reservation for women in parliament and state
legislatures," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a women's leadership
summit on Saturday.
Sonia Gandhi, president of the Congress party and regarded as India's
most powerful politician, has thrown her weight behind the bill,
saying she attaches the "highest importance" to it.
It will be a "gift to the women of India if it is introduced and
passed" on International Women's Day, she told party lawmakers last
week.
Political analysts said the government was testing the waters by
introducing it in the upper house first instead of the lower house,
where most proposed legislation is sent.
Some accused the government of playing politics by seeking to appease
women by proposing the legislation but without having any realistic
chance of it passing.
Politics in India has traditionally been a male bastion, but women now
hold prominent positions, including President Pratibha Patil and Sonia
Gandhi. India has had one female prime minister, Indira Gandhi.
Panchayats -- local governing bodies in towns and villages -- already
reserve a portion of their seats for women and experts say the move
has given women greater status in their communities. (By Rupam Jain
Nair/ AFP)
MySinchew 2010.03.08
http://www.mysinchew.com/node/36074
Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
The Prime Minister is holding emergency meetings with his senior
ministers to discuss the Women's Bill and the impact of Lalu Prasad
and Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing they will withdraw their support to
this government. (Read & Watch: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to
govt)
Lalu and Mulayam have said the Women's Bill is being forced upon them
by the Congress, and that it does not protect the interest of Dalit
and Muslim women.
The Rajya Sabha is meant to vote on the bill today.
For the Women's Bill, the government is not worried about the numbers
because the Opposition - the BJP and the Left, along with smaller
parties, are in favour of the bill.
However, the Finance Bill has not yet been passed. And that's what the
government is worried about.
The UPA government believes that without Lalu and Mulayam's MPs, it
can still count on 274 votes in favour of Pranab Mukherjee's budget.
The number of votes required to pass it is 273. So the government's
margin is tiny. And that's what the BJP and Left will try to exploit.
Both have already attacked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee over the
budget, in particular, over the hike in petrol and diesel prices. The
government's key allies including the DMK and Mamata Banerjee have
also expressed their concern over the fuel hike, and the government's
new numbers weaken its position if it finds it must negotiate with
these allies.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/why-lalu-mulayam-exit-worries-government-17380.php
Women's Bill: Mulayam, Lalu withdraw support to government
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
The Congress-led UPA government finds itself in a spot. Set to table
and get the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, it now
has to contend with the threat of withdrawal of support from two
traditional opponents of the Bill - the Samajwadi Party and the RJD.
Both parties have announced they are withdrawing support to the UPA
government over the Bill. While the government does not need their
support to pass this Bill, since the BJP and the Left will vote in
favour, it will find itself on an uncomfortable, wafer-thin majority
for other legislation, like the crucial Finance Bill, without the
buffer of the 22 Samajwadi Party MPs and 4 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha.
(Read: Why Lalu-Mulayam exit worries government)
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Yadav have said they oppose the Women's
Bill because it does not protect the interests of minorities and Other
Backward Castes.
The bill reserves 33% seats for women in Parliament and in state
assemblies.
"Reservation should be for Muslims and Dalits," said Mulayam Singh
Yadav.
"The government is trying to force the bill upon us. The Congress
does not listen to anyone. The bill must bring the Asli Bharat
forward...the Congress is leaving women and Muslims behind, " said
Lalu.
The government is in a huddle right now on what next steps should be.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is holding meetings with senior
colleagues like Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Parliamentary
Affairs Minsiter PK Bansal to evolve a strategy.
Not to press ahead with the Women's Bill today will mean a big loss of
face, especially given that the Bill is close to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi's heart and the many statements that she and other
Congress leaders and ministers have already made. But the party cannot
risk Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav actually carrying out
their threat and officially withdrawing support.
Along with the BSP, the two parties have already ensured that
Parliament proceedings are anything but smooth. As Lok Sabha opened in
the morning, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh rushed to the Well of the
House.
In the Rajya Sabha too, the SP and RJD disrupted Question Hour. Here
they demanded the implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report first. (Read: Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill)
Both Houses reconvened at noon only to be adjourned again.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mulayam-lalu-to-withdraw-support-to-government-17373.php
Chaos in Parliament over Women's Bill
Press Trust of India, Monday March 8, 2010, New Delhi
Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Lalu Yadav have announced the withdrawal of
their outside support to the UPA government over the Women's
Reservation Bill.
The government is attempting history in the making, but the
proceedings have got off to a very rocky start. There was chaos in
both the houses when they opened on Monday morning.
Rajya Sabha:
The Rajya Sabha witnessed unprecendented scenes leading to an
adjournment for the third time on Monday as determined SP, RJD, LJP
and BSP members entered the well of the House, ripped off mikes and
tore up papers in an attempt to stall the Women's Reservation Bill
from being taken up for consideration.
An attempt was made to snatch the Bill from the Chairman's table which
was prevented by marshals. However, they snatched some papers from the
Secretary General's table and tore them up.
Mr Kamal Akhtar of Samajwadi Party, Mr Sabir Ali of LJP and Mr
Gangacharan Rajput of BSP along with other party members spearheaded
the stalling tactics. Some of them then got on the reporters' table in
the well of the House.
All members of various political parties were on their feet. Seeing
these antics many looked shocked.
The ruling Congress party members, especially women, were seen making
a protective ring around Law Minister M Veerappa Moily who will move
the Bill for consideration.
Shocked over these developments, the Chairman adjourned the House till
3 pm.
Earlier, the House was adjourned twice within minutes of assembling as
members of the SP, RJD, LJP, and BSP raised slogans from the well of
the House demanding implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission
report.
Lok Sabha:
The Lok Sabha was adjourned for the third time on Monday afternoon
when SP, RJD and JD(U) members trooped into the well protesting the
Women's Reservation Bill in its present form.
When the House, which was earlier adjourned twice on the same issue,
reassembled at 2 pm, members of these parties led by RJD chief Lalu
Prasad, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) President Sharad Yadav,
stormed the well shouting slogans.
As the slogan-shouting continued, Trinamool Congress members including
its chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, were seen singing the
famous song - "We shall overcome some day".
Other Trinamool members, including Minister of State for Health Dinesh
Trivedi, chief whip Sudip Bandopadhyay and cine-star turned MP
Shatabdi Roy, were heard singing the song in the House.
As the din continued, Deputy Speaker Karia Munda adjourned the House
till 3 pm.
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/rajya-sabha-adjourned-after-uproar-over-womens-bill-17368.php
BJP too to quit JAC?
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:43:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The BJP is contemplating quitting the Telangana political
JAC and evolve its own programme of action to rouse public opinion in
favour of separate Telangana State.
The State leadership of the party wants to strengthen the party’s base
at ground level in villages. It will have `Jai Telangana’ slogan in
Telangana areas and `Jai Andhra’ in Andhra districts.
The party’s approach to Telangana that all legislators should resign
and force a constittutional crisis has changed after it encountered
opposition within the party. Those who opposed it argued that MLAs of
neither the Congress nor the TDP resigned.
This was the reason why these elements got together and ensured the
election of Kishan Reddy as the party’s State president who too
subscribed to the idea and refused to resign. In such an event, the
point that is being discussed at length is why stay in the JAC when
the party is not in a position to honour its decisions (of quitting
the Assembly).
To make this easy for Kishan Reddy’s supporters, the BJP National
Committee too expressed displeasure over the BJP continuing in the JAC
and wanted it to make an honourable exit from the panel so that it
would not be misconstrued by the people.
Already, the ABVP, which has an ideological affiliation with the BJP,
is carrying on the movement for Telangana without joining the JAC and
has already made a mark. The BJP wants to toe the same line so that it
will be able to preseve its identity and strengthen its base.
The Stare party leadership has asked the district units to organise
Telangana programmes in districts only in the name of the party and
will not have anything to do with the JAC. This apart, the JAC leaders
are not on good terms with the new chief of the State unit.
Comments
PEOPLE AND STUDENTS OF T-REGION REJECTED KCR/TRS & TRAITORS IN
TELANGANA CONGRESS FOR PUBLICITY STUNTS AND RESIGNATION DRAMAS AND KCR/
TRS MP NOT RESIGNED AGAINST THEIR OWN ADVISE TO OTHERS AND KCR
ATTENDING RAJ BHAVAN DINNER EVEN AFTER KNOWING THE WITH SRI KRISHNA'S
TOR- SEPARATE-T NOT FEASIBLE HAS GONE AGAINS THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
TRS/KCR WILL REALISE THIS IN BYE-ELECTION RESULTS THAT IS WHY KCR/TRS
MP NOR RESIGNED.
By JAC-T= KCR/TRS+KO-DANDA ONLY.
3/8/2010 1:19:00 PM
BJP demands bill on bifurcation
Express News Service
First Published : 08 Mar 2010 05:42:00 AM IST
HYDERABAD: The BJP State Council has demanded that the Centre
introudce a bill in Parliament for bifurcation of the State.
The council, which met here yesterday, said in its political
resolution that the constitution of the Justice BN Srikrishna
Committee was intended to prolong the issue and saw no need for the
party to make a presentation to the Srirkrishna panel since it
beleived that the committee’s purpose was other than formation of two
States.
“Bifurcation of the State is the only answer to backwardness of the
two regions,’’ it said and criticised other parties for their
dichotomy on the issue.
By another resolution the council expressed concern over the
deteriroration of administration which led to increase in the prices
of essential commodities as well as breakdown of law and order.
The murder of Sri Vaishnavi in Vijayawada and the hooch tragedy in
East Godavari district were indicative of the breakdown of the law and
order machienry, the council said. It alleged that the State
Government had miserably failed to come to the rescue of people
affected by the unprecedented floods in Kurnool, Mahaboobnagar,
Krishna and Guntur districts.
Though the Centre annoucned Rs 1,000 crore for mitigation of the
suffering of the flood-affected people, the funds had so far not been
transferred, it pointed out.
A resoultion said that the adminsitraion was in a state of suspended
animation with Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was asked to step into
the shoes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy who died in a helicopter crash,
being unable to perform.
By another resolution the party demanded that the State should take
immediate steps for controlling the prices of essential commodities
which have been going through the roof and supply power for nine hours
to the farm sector to save standing crops.
Lalu declares 'war' against women's Bill
TNN, Mar 8, 2010, 05.42am IST
Women's Bill: 'Conspiracy to eliminate minorities'PATNA: RJD chief
Lalu Prasad on Sunday declared he will fight tooth and nail against
women's reservation Bill. "Yuddh hoga (There would be a war)," he
thundered and added the OBC brigade will roll up sleeves against the
move.
Lalu said BJP and Congress are making a 'historical blunder' by
issuing a whip to their MPs to vote for the Bill in its present form.
"If they (Congress and BJP) think they will get women's votes, they
are mistaken. It's a male-dominated society (where women go by what
their menfolk say while voting). If I ask my wife, Rabri Devi, to vote
for a particular party, do you think she will vote for another party?"
he asked at a presser and added nowhere in the world women get
reservation in legislative bodies.
Even if it has to be given, there should be quota for deprived
sections within this reservation, Lalu said and added the faces of
women belonging to minority community, backward castes, Dalits and
tribals should be visible through this reservation. "The quota should
be for those who cannot enter the legislative bodies on their own," he
said.
By introducing the Bill, the RJD leader said, the Congress is trying
to divert people's attention from main issues like price rise,
unemployment, growing regionalism and threat to national security.
"The BJP and Congress want to get votes of Muslims, Dalits and OBCs,
but they do not want to safeguard their interests," he said.
Lalu hit out at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar for changing tack on
the issue. "Nitish is a `bahurupiya' (a master of disguise)," Lalu
said, recalling Nitish earlier gave a note of dissent as a member of
the parliamentary committee which looked into this issue.
Also, Nitish's party colleague and JD(U) national president Sharad
Yadav once declared he would consume poison if the women's reservation
Bill in its present form was introduced. "By advising Sharad to ensure
the passage of the Bill now, Nitish has shown his real face to the
Muslims, Dalits and OBCs," Lalu said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/opinions/5656141.cms
. BJP, Justice Sagheer in agreement on Kashmir Accord
Working Group Report on Centre-State Relations-V
Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Mar 7: The historical comment of former Prime Minister late
Indira Gandhi “The clock could not be put back in this manner” is
central theme of ‘some kind of restoration of autonomy’ recommended by
Justice Sagheer Panel on centre-state relations and clearly, in
contrast to vehement claims of ruling coalition.
The recommendation is in agreement with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
led union cabinet’s decision on Autonomy resolution of Jammu and
Kashmir on July 5, 2000. The then union cabinet while rejecting
autonomy resolution of then National Conference (NC) led government in
Jammu and Kashmir had accepted that there is a clear case for
devolution of more financial and administrative powers and functions
to the states alongside taking suitable steps to ensure harmonious
centre-state relations in the light of the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission.
Interestingly, the union cabinet had then rejected autonomy resolution
by referring to Kashmir accord, more commonly known as Indira-Sheikh
Accord. It had said that issue of restoring constitutional situation
in Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 position had been discussed in
detail by late Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah with former Prime Minister
late Indira Gandhi in 1974-75. The decision had noted that agreement
signed after these negotiations had affirmed that provisions of the
Constitution of India already applied to the state of Jammu and
Kashmir without adaptation or modification are unalterable.
Justice (Retd) Sagheer in his report on Pages 93 and 94 has referred
to speech of former Prime Minister late Indira Gandhi in the
parliament on February 24, 1975 in which she had remarked, “The
constitutional relationship between state of Jammu and Kashmir and the
union will continue as it has been and extension of further provisions
of constitution to the state will continue to be governed by procedure
prescribed in Article 370.”
Justice Sagheer further notes, “Sheikh Abdullah was very anxious that
to start with, the constitutional relationship between the state and
the centre should be as it was in 1953 when he was in power. It was
explained to him that the clock could not be put back in this manner.
Mirza Afzal Beg pressed for transfer of provisions relating to
fundamental rights to state constitution, removal of the supervision
and control of Election Commission of India over elections to the
state legislature and the modification of Article 356 to require the
state government’s concurrence before imposing president’s rule in the
state.”
Late Indira Gandhi while outrightly rejecting these demands had said,
“It was not found possible to agree to any of these proposals. I must
say to the credit of Sheikh Abdullah that despite his strong views on
these issues, he has accepted the agreed conclusion.” After this,
Justice (Retd) Sagheer has referred to clause 3 and 4 of the Kashmir
Accord.
The panel while referring these two clauses has concluded that if any
provision of the constitution of India had been applied to the state
of Jammu and Kashmir without adaptations and modifications, then such
modifications are unalterable. But with respect to provisions applied
with adaptations and modifications, it was agreed that they can be
altered or repealed by an order of President under Article 370 but
each individual proposal in this behalf would be considered on its
merits;
“With a view to assuring freedom to the State of Jammu and Kashmir to
have its own legislation on matters like welfare measures cultural
matters, social security, personal law and procedural laws, in a
manner suited to the special conditions in the State, it is agreed
that the State Government can review the laws made by Parliament or
extended to the State after 1953 on any matter related to the
Concurrent List and may decide which of them, in its opinion, needs
amendment or repeal. Thereafter, appropriate steps may be taken under
Article 254 of the Constitution of India. The grant of President's
assent to such legislation would be sympathetically considered,”
Justice Sagheer has noted from the Kashmir Accord as relevant to
present discourse on autonomy.
Concluding debate on autonomy, Justice Sagheer Ahmed has referred to a
Supreme Court decision in Sampat Prakash vs. State of Jammu and
Kashmir in which it was held that inspite of the dissolution of
constituent assembly of Jammu and Kashmir, the constitutional
provisions could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir with
such adaptations and modifications as the president may deem fit. It
is after these referrals that Justice Sagheer has recommended for
examining the question of autonomy in the light of Kashmir Accord.
Interestingly, the ruling coalition through 10 page recommendatory
notes of report had claimed that Justice Sagheer had recommended what
National Conference (NC) led government had proposed central
government through a resolution properly passed and vetted by more
than 60 members of state legislative assembly on June 26, 2000. The
resolution which was rejected by the then BJP led NDA government on
July 5, 2000.
[Kashmir Times]
Related news
:. Saghir reports to Omar, 24 Dec 2009
http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showheadlines.php?subaction=showfull&id=1261696873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&var0news=value0news
Posted on 08 Mar 2010 by Webmaster
chhotemianinshallah
RSS believes only Hindus are Indians!
Ram Puniyani
RSS is one of the major organizations in the country which influences
and controls different political and semi political organizations,
calling themselves as Sangh Parivar. It does claim to be a cultural
organization, but it is implementing its political agenda of achieving
Hindu Nation by creating organizations, which implement its ideology
and political agenda at different layers, by different means. While
its progenies claim that they are autonomous, their autonomy is a
‘controlled autonomy’, the boundaries of their autonomy are decided by
RSS, which directly or indirectly controls them. It is due to these
facts that the statement of the Sarsanghchalak (Chief) of RSS cannot
be taken lightly, they tell us about the political ideology of this
combine and give the indication of the dynamics of politics which this
organization is going to implement in times to come.
It is in this light that what Mohan Bhagawat said on 28th February
(2010) in Bhopal at Hindu Samagam needs to be understood and taken as
a warning signal. While speaking on the occasion, Bhagwat said that
those who were Indians are Hindus and one who was not a Hindu he
cannot be Indian. He reiterated that Hinduism is not a religion, it is
a way of life and that if Hindus become stronger, Nation will become
stronger.
At one level there is nothing new in this formulation. There is a
change in presentation format and intensity of their definition of
Hinduism and Hindus. The starting point of RSS ideology is Savarkar’s
definition of Hindu being one who regards this land from Sindhu
(Indus) to sea as holy land and father land. Here there is a clear
indication that followers of those religions which did not originate
in India are not Hindus, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Jews and
Zoroastrians are out of the ambit of this definition.
After this first round of elimination comes the statement that the one
who is not a Hindu cannot be an Indian. Here the story becomes
complete, to deny citizenship status to all the followers of these
religions. Another of the favorite line of RSS is dropped in here;
that Hinduism is not a religion but a way of life. This formulation at
a time was upheld by court judgment, but can this be ideologically
true? Is it theologically valid? How does one define religion, and how
does one define way of life. Way of life is a much broader concept
than religion. Way of life includes; regional nuances, culture, food
habits, social associations, the struggle for livelihood and much more
come under this umbrella. Many a times, people of different religions
have a way of life which has a big overlap, and mostly people of same
religion may have a way of life which is very different from each
other.
The way of life of Kerala Muslim was much closer to the Kerala
Christian and Hindu, the way of life of a Punjabi Hindu may be very
different from the way of life of a Bengali Hindu or a Hindu settled
in Mauritius or UK and USA. People do adjust and adapt to each other
cutting across their religious faith. That’s how the syncretic
traditions and culture developed and flourished in India. That’s how
we have Ramdeo Baba Pir in Rajasthan with following amongst Hindus and
Muslims and we have Satya Pir in Orissa revered by people of all
communities. Who can forget saints like Kabir who united the society
along the moral values coming from different religions, and who can
ignore the fact that the Sufi saint shrines are frequented by people
of all religions. In Mumbai the Mount Mary Church of Mahim is a place
where people from all religions light the candles and pay obeisance to
Mother Mary.
The formulation ‘way of life’ has been deliberately propped up to
confuse the scope of religion. While religion is itself a very broad
category, including moral values, rituals, holy books, way of worship,
presence of clergy and specific festivals, that does not exhaust the
term way of life, which is much broader to begin with and is ever
expanding, ever changing, ever trying to attain newer paths due to the
process of social transformation, which is the key to social progress
and community life.
Coming to the formulation, ‘Hinduism is not a religion’, it is a mere
eye wash to get legitimacy to put forward Hinduism’s claim to be the
sole religion here in India. It is a clever ploy to impose Hindu
religion on minorities. RSS knows like most others that Hinduism is a
religion. Surely it is not a prophet based religion but it does have
most features which qualify for it being called a religion. Mere
absence of a prophet does not make it non-religion. As there is no
prophet in Hinduism many ideologies, philosophies and faiths can
survive within its pantheon. These range from the Atheist Charvak
tradition to the belief in multiple Gods and Goddesses, to monotheism,
to the concept of formless God, to the concept of God which is
primarily based around virtuosity. But still Hinduism does qualify as
a specific religion all the same. Hinduism has holy books, holy
deities, rituals, specific philosophy, holy symbols like cow etc. Even
RSS literature makes it clear that Hinduism is a religion. The oath
admininistered at the time of joining RSS does mention Hinduism as a
religion. Its books taught in various Sarswati Shishu mandirs etc. do
refer to Cow as the Holy mother for Hindus, its biggest ever political
campaign was in the name of Lord Ram’s temple in Ayodhya.
It is a deceptive and clever move by RSS to talk in many languages and
dish out various formulations about Hinduism and Hindus. The idea is
either to impose it on those who are not Hindus or to co-opt others
into Hindus pantheon under the ploy that all are Hindus. Surely at one
time the word Hindu began as a geographical category, for all those
living on east of river Sindhu (Indus). After that the various locally
prevalent religious traditions got clubbed as Hinduism and these
traditions on one side were those based on Purush Sukta of Vedas
(Brahmanism, caste hierarchy) and on the other, traditions which
refuted Brahmanism (Shamanic traditions of Nath, Tantra, Bhakti Siddha
etc,) Like most religions Hinduism is also diverse one, but it is
religion all the same.
So formulation that those who are not Hindus are not Indians is a big
insult to Indian Constitution. India became a nation through it
struggle to get independence. The national movement, which led the
people against British colonial powers also acted, played the role of
uniting people of all regions, religions, castes and gender into a
single identity of Indian ness. Interestingly RSS which is talking of
India, patriotism etc. was not a part of national movement. Its
patriotism was sleeping when the whole nation was struggling against
British rule. On the contrary one of its trained pracharak of RSS went
on to kill the spirit of Indian-ness, father of the Indian nation,
Mahatma Gandhi. Contrary to what RSS says people of India rejected the
ideology of RSS, its politics all through. Not only Hindu nationalism
of RSS but also the Muslim Nationalism of Muslim League was also
dumped by the people of India. It is only due to British Policy of
‘divide and rule’ that communalists like Muslim league and RSS
survived, and the latter has hit back from the decade of 1980 due to
multiple factors.
Indian Constitution is the embodiment of the values of national
movement, the movement for getting freedom of the country. It is based
on the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Equality is
mentioned to indicate that irrespective of religion, caste and gender,
we are equal citizens. The ideas being propagated by RSS and its
progeny are against the grain of Indian nationalism, against Indian
Constitution, so there is an urgent need that we counter the communal
ideology of RSS.
To say that nation will become strong if Hindus become strong, is
again in total violation of the soul and spirit of Indian nationalism.
The people of all religious communities have contributed to the making
of this nation. People of all religious communities constitute Indian
nation. The myth of Hindu unity or for that matter the unity of any
people along religious lines had no place in History neither it has
any relevance in today’s society. The states are formed on
geographical lines and only those ideologies which are inclusive of
all have a place in History. The exclusive, divisive notions like the
ones’ of RSS, Muslim League of yesteryears and Muslim Communalism of
today and Christian Fundamentalism prevalent in parts of West,
deserve to be put in the dustbin, deserve to be rejected lock stock
and barrel.
What does Hindu becoming strong mean. Today majority of Hindus are
living below poverty line, problem of unemployment, displacement,
regionalism and communalism are breaking the back of poor of the
society. The whole notion of strength is misplaced. Strength of a
community lies in its economic status, social security and human
rights. And to talk of Hindu strength in the language of RSS is quite
intimidtory to the non Hindus living in the country. We have to cater
for all the religious communities and in addition to implement
affirmative action for weaker sections of society.
We need to understand that the whole ideology and propaganda of RSS is
against the values of Indian nationalism and should be treated with
the contempt which such anti national ideas deserve.
Posted on March 13, 2010
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main44.asp?filename=Ws200310RamPuniyani.asp
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's comments on 'Hindu's upsets BJP's game-plan
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s assertion that “every Indian is a Hindu” may
upset Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s plans to
court Muslims in the BJP-ruled state.
At a gathering of Hindus in Bhopal yesterday, Bhagwat had said: “He
who is an Indian is a Hindu and he who is not a Hindu is not an
Indian.”
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief had also said Christianity and
Islam were alien faiths in the sense that they originated outside
India.
“Jesus Christ was a revered figure and so was Prophet Mohammad, but
India could not be united in their names,” Bhagwat told the 50,000-
plus gathering at the Hindu samagam (congregation) in the Madhya
Pradesh capital.
The Sangh boss, however, qualified his “Hindu India” remark by saying:
“For us, the word Hindu does not mean any religion but a way of life.”
A galaxy of BJP leaders, including state home minister Uma Shankar
Gupta, were present at the meet, wearing khaki half pants and white
shirt, the traditional attire for an RSS drill. They carried a lathi,
too.
Without naming any religion, Bhagwat went on to say: “They talk of
peace and service but force their deities down the throats of others.”
Bhagwat then said Hinduism was the only religion that respected
diversity, while “other religions preach that only we will go to
heaven while the rest will end up in hell.”
They also say unity is impossible without uniformity, and thrust their
ideology on the rest, Bhagwat added.
Targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Bhagwat said: “How can
someone of the level of the Prime Minister say, in violation of the
Constitution, that they (minorities) have the first claim over
resources?”
It was an allusion to Singh’s statement sometime back that minorities
had the first right to resources, but then Singh’s comment had come in
the context of the widespread socio-economic backwardness among
minorities.
The RSS chief also wondered why Singh was ignoring the plight of the
displaced Kashmiri Pandits while offering pardon to separatists and
militants who, Bhagwat said, were killing innocent Muslims in the
Valley.
The criticism was aimed at the recent amnesty scheme for youths who
had crossed over to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
“Peace talks (with Pakistan) only helped extremists to regroup,”
Bhagwat added. “I don’t know if it’s nasha (intoxication) or vote ki
asha (hope for votes). Baki sab ke liye ek nyay aur Hinduon ke liye
anyay (there’s injustice for Hindus but a separate yardstick of
justice for the rest),” Bhagwat said.
Minutes after Bhagwat’s speech, BJP leaders were heard discussing its
implications. Some ministers, who didn’t want to be named, wondered
whether it would affect Chauhan’s sustained bid to woo the minorities.
In the Lok Sabha polls last year, the BJP’s 29 candidates from Madhya
Pradesh got about 30 per cent Muslim votes — almost 10 times that of
the national figure of 3.7 per cent Muslim votes the party got.
In the recent civic polls, as many as 82 Muslim councillors won on the
BJP symbol.
Some leaders feel Muslim support for the BJP has more to do with the
chief minister than the party. Chauhan has been consistent in saying
that he does not believe in “Moditva” — a dig at fellow BJP chief
minister Narendra Modi — or a strong anti-minority posture.
“I believe in carrying all sections of society for the greater good of
society,” Chauhan had said at a minority meet, pointing out that most
of his successful schemes — like funding marriages — were inclusive in
nature.
A substantial number of the 1,00,000-odd newly-weds who have benefited
from the Kanyadan project are Muslims.
Date : 02/03/2010. News by Newsofap.com
Bhagwat ready for talks with CPI(M)
Thiruvananthapuram | Friday, Feb 26 2010 IST
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat said his
organisation was ready for talks with its arch political rival CPI(M)
in Kerala.
Participating in a meet-the-press programme here yesterday, he said,
''We offered a sit and talk together for peace. But there was no
reply.'' Asked about the clashes between the RSS and the CPI(M), he
said his organisation would never indulge in any kind of violation.
The RSS chief reiterated that the RSS was against violence and always
wanted peace. ''Our only objective is integrity, security and
administrative stability of the country,'' he added.
Rejecting the reports that the RSS was helping the BJP in elections he
said, ''The RSS was not working with any political party. We do not
have any political motives. Our aim is to bring national
integration.'' Talking about the reservation policy he said it should
be based on economical and social backwardness, and the the RSS was
opposed to any reservation policy based on religion. When asked about
construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya, he said it should be built
there as it was the birth place of Lord Rama.
http://www.24dunia.com/english-news/shownews/0/Bhagwat-ready-for-talks-with-CPI-M/5483350.html
Diversity of the nation being exploited: RSS chief
Staff Reporter
— PHOTO: C. SURESH KUMAR
Disciplined: RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat arriving to address a State
meeting of the organisation in Kollam on Wednesday.
KOLLAM: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat
has said the Central government is taking no clear stand on countering
cross-border terrorism despite continuing attacks on the country.
He was addressing a ‘pranta sanghik’ (State assembly) of the RSS here
on Wednesday.
The RSS veteran said the diversity of the nation is being exploited by
forces across the border to keep the nation divided. The forces who
are trying to gain control over the world are ruled by selfishness and
extreme intolerance. They nurse a wishful thinking that they can
achieve a world of their own. This is impossible because unity needs
uniformity, and the world is not uniform.
Intolerance
Intolerance also creates problems. The votaries of intolerance resort
to even mass killings to make others toe their line. Only Hindutva
tolerates everything in the world. The foundation of the RSS is based
on Hindutva. Though some may term Hindutva as obsolete, in reality,
Hindutva is not only modern but post-modern as well. Even the votaries
of capitalism are working overtime to make the country toe the line of
the United States. Countries that form just 4 per cent of the world
are trying to take over the entire resource of the world. Only the
Hindu society takes a genuine stand against such selfish outlook. So
only Hindutva can save the world. Hindutva is not an ism but a ‘vishwa
darshan’ that can lead the world. The unity of Hindus is imperative
for the dawn of a better world. For the past 85 years, the RSS has
been striving for that unity. One has to experience the RSS to get a
true picture of the organisation, he said.
The RSS leader said all those living in India are Indians and they can
go to any part of the country. This means not only to Mumbai but to
Kashmir as well. But why Kashmir is being kept isolated for the vast
majority of Indians, he asked. Even when courts state that religion-
based reservation is unconstitutional, the West Bengal government is
implementing such a reservation policy.
The RSS chief said India needs a swadeshi policy. The country does not
need Bt brinjal. Instead of promoting a mechanisation spree, the human
resource potential of the country has to be utilised.
Mr. Bhagwat’s address in Hindi to an assembly of one lakh swayamsevaks
in uniform from all over the State was translated into Malayalam by
RSS pranta pracharak A. Gopalakrishnan.
RSS pranta karyavah P. Gopalankutty introduced Mr. Bhagwat to the
assembly. This is his first visit to the State after taking over as
sarsanghchalak. Assembly organising committee president V.
Ramachandran Nair presented a traditional lamp to Mr. Bhagwat.
Gadkari is a puppet President of BJP appointed by Mohan Bhagwat and
Advani. Do you think, he has any of his own independent views except
to convert the party into an entertainment musical party?
March 1, 2010
Prabhu Chawla Answers...
Gadkari is quite young and would like to grow in stature and
acceptability. If he doesn't deliver, he will become history at an
early age. He faces a huge challenge of facing his seniors who are
determined to control his mission and movements.
-Divyesh
divy...@yahoo.com
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/AskPrabhuStory?Qid=86265
Mumbai tamasha
Malini Bhupta
February 4, 2010
When in doubt, Uddhav Thackeray always pulls out the trump card, Bal
Thackeray, from his pack in the hope that it's one ace that will never
fail with the Marathi manoos. Well, guess what. It seems to have
boomeranged badly if public perception is any indication.
Uddhav has dragged Bal Thackeray out of retirement to rescue the Shiv
Sena.Ever since he lost the elections, Shiv Sena President Uddhav has
struggled to first explain the defeat, then the rise of his cousin Raj
Thackeray and, of course, what his party stands for. Not too long ago,
when Raj floated the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), he had
proclaimed that he had "no desire to follow his uncle's brand of
politics". But defeat has replaced bravado with desperation.
The ensuing farce in the streets, in television studios and in the
Twitterworld is no less dramatic than any Mumbai tamasha.
SHAH RUKH KHAN
"It was humiliating to see none of the Pakistani players being picked
up. The issue could have been handled better."
SAAMNA
"If Shah Rukh wants Pakistani players to play, he should go to Karachi
and Islamabad to play with them."
In less than three months of losing the Maharashtra Assembly
elections, the Thackerays have antagonised the younger generation they
tried so hard to woo.
In the past one month, the Shiv Sena has launched verbal assaults on
national icons like cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, actors Shah Rukh Khan
and Aamir Khan and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and
poured vitriol on Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi.
Worse, Uddhav has had to drag the original Shiv Sainik, Bal Thackeray,
out of retirement to rescue the Shiv Sena from the mess.
Marooned without an idea or ideology, Uddhav has predictably sought to
reincarnate the old party plank of Marathi manoos, which was used
against south Indians in the 1960s. It is arguable whether the plank
exists but even if it did, Uddhav and his cohorts lack the charisma
and the political acumen of a Raj Thackeray to carry it off.
Raj's men have been hitting out at soft targets like taxiwallahs and
students from north India, but have been careful not to touch iconic
personalities like Ambani or Tendulkar.
In desperation and in the name of the old tiger, Uddhav's men are
running riot in the party's editorial mouthpiece Saamna, taking
potshots at high-profile people to ensure space in national dailies
and TV channels.
Desperation has resulted in suicidal lunacy. Why else would a party
target born-and-bred in Mumbai Marathi manoos Tendulkar? Not
satisfied, the Sena attacked Ambani for something he said in faraway
London.
MUKESH AMBANI
"We are all Indians first. Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi belong to all
Indians. That is the reality."
SAAMNA
"Marathi people have as much right over Mumbai as Mukesh Ambani has
over the Reliance empire. Don't meddle in the issue of Marathi
manoos."
What has made the battle more interesting is some of the high-profile
names from Bollywood and business coming out against petty politics.
With the likes of Ambani and Tendulkar protesting against parochial
mindsets, the choices aren't easy given that on the ground there isn't
such a big issue.
Says Atul Kulkarni, Marathi actor of Rang De Basanti fame,
"Politicians are trying to foster a feeling of insecurity in the minds
of Marathis so that they can gather support. We have to be more mature
as citizens and voters to see that today it's Marathi versus non-
Marathi, tomorrow it will be Muslim versus Hindu."
The party think tank--if there is one--is obviously cut off from
GenNext. Aspiration is the calling card of this generation and with
half of India under the age of 25, political parties are queueing up
at colleges and universities to woo the next poll voter, not damn
their icons.
Uddhav and company have obviously not realised that the GenNext of
2010 is very different from the GenNext of the 1960s when Bal
Thackeray started the party. This is best reflected in a chorus of
demands from a cross section of the populace for the Government to
act.
With Mumbai becoming a bone of contention, representatives from
business and Bollywood say it's about time the Government decided on
the fate of the city and its people.
MOHAN BHAGWAT
"Mumbai is for all Indians... nobody can prevent Indians from moving
to any part of the country in search of employment."
SAAMNA
"This city belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi manoos. If RSS wants to
talk of protecting Hindi, they should do it in the south first."
Actor Manoj Bajpai says, "I am ready to leave the city and go back to
my state, but for that the Government has to amend the Constitution.
If that is not the case it must ensure the safety of its citizens.
This debate has been going on for too long now and needs to be
resolved."
Social activist Alyque Padamsee wonders whether the Congress is
frightened of the Shiv Sena and the MNS, which is perhaps why Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan is fortifying himself behind the walls of
Mantralaya, while the Shiv Sena and the MNS are running wild burning
taxis and beating up north Indians.
He asks, "What has happened to law and order? Why is the prime
minister not speaking out? There is a deafening silence from Delhi at
a time when people are looking for answers."
Chavan backtracked on his 'licence for local cab drivers' within 24
hours.With Assembly elections due in Bihar later this year, the rant
against north Indians and Biharis by the parochial political class in
Maharashtra has become a hot potato for both the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) and the Congress at the national level.
Not surprisingly, Chavan and the Congress did a U-turn on his policy
on taxi licences for "locals only" within 24 hours.
RAHUL GANDHI
"I am not interested what Bal Thackeray or Raj Thackeray has said. I
am interested in one concept that India belongs to Indians and every
part of India belongs to every Indian."
UDDHAV THACKERAY
"Rahul Gandhi has insulted the bravery of martyrs like Hemant Karkare,
Ashok Kamte, Vijay Salaskar, Tukaram Omble, all daring Marathi
policemen, and NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan."
BAL THACKERAY
"Mumbai may belong to all Indians but how can it belong to an Italian
mummy?"
On January 31, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat--
a Marathi manoos in every sense of the Sena definition--delivered a
huge body blow to the Sena by declaring that "Mumbai is for all
Indians… nobody can prevent Indians from moving to any part of the
country in search of employment".
Always careful of its nationalist image, the RSS obviously decided to
step in to stem the damage that its association with the Sena was
wreaking on the BJP. Almost on cue, newly coronated BJP President
Nitin Gadkari echoed the sentiments of the Sangh Parivar chief.
The babel of words has resulted in open sesame--everyone is taking an
opportunity to score brownie points as politicians have elections to
fight. Politicians and activists are competing in the studio-to-studio
byte race. Raj declared he would be addressing a rally and the press
on February 3.
Within hours Uddhav, who had sworn off the press and found reason to
praise the newly released Rann to criticise the media, also held a
press conference. After reacting to Rahul's comment on north Indian
NSG commandos being flown in to Mumbai during 26/11, Uddhav and his
team went into a huddle looking for a new strategy.
On February 3, he slammed the Congress Government by calling the chief
minister anti-Marathi. He didn't even spare the RSS. Not to be left
out, Chavan--under pressure from allies and the leadership in Delhi--
met with the press.
Raj Thackeray has been taking pot shots at north Indians.In true
Congress tradition, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress chief Manikrao Thakre
declared that "Rahul Gandhi played a crucial role and took a stand on
an issue of national importance. He meant that the whole nation comes
together in a time of crisis and does not think if he's a
Maharashtrian."
While Uddhav has been on a rant and rave mission, cousin Raj has come
up with his own salvo. Addressing a rally on the same day, Raj
rubbished Rahul's statement that "north Indians saved Mumbai during
26/11". He asked why Rahul and his predecessors did not bother to
develop Uttar Pradesh though all of them contested elections from the
state.
Raj says, "Rahul's grandmother Indiraji had appointed General
Arunkumar Vaidya, a Maharashtrian, to lead Operation Bluestar to
eliminate terrorists in Amritsar. We never said that Maharashtra saved
Punjab."
This cub didn't even spare the industrialists and took pot shots on
RSS functionary Ram Madhav and Ambani for their "Mumbai for all"
remarks. He says, "They say Mumbai belongs to India. When did I say
Mumbai belongs to Afghanistan or China? I am not against the country's
integrity. The 26/11 attack was Delhi's intelligence failure and you
are blaming Maharashtra for that."
SACHIN TENDULKAR
"Mumbai belongs to India. I am a Maharashtrian and I am extremely
proud of that, but I am an Indian first."
SAAMNA
"You were not even born when the Marathi manoos got Mumbai and 105
Marathi people sacrificed their lives for it."
The problem is one of objective. In their quest to outdo Raj, Uddhav
and the Shiv Sena have not just antagonised national icons and
alienated their own followers, they seem to be on the verge of losing
their oldest ally, the BJP.
With the RSS asking their Sangh Parivar to protect north Indians in
Maharashtra, the rift between the BJP and the Shiv Sena has come out
in the open. It's a well-known fact that Gadkari and Uddhav have never
been the best of friends and that the BJP at one time was actively
considering tying up with MNS because of Uddhav's highhandedness.
With the BJP coming out in the open with its stand against
regionalism, its alliance with the Sena seems to be skating on thin
ice. By likening the Sena's view on Mumbai to Article 370 and granting
special status to Jammu & Kashmir, Gadkari has made it clear to the
BJP's alliance partner that it's not going to remain silent on the
Sena's regional agenda.
The fussilade of poor publicity seems to have hit home at Matoshri. In
a face saving move, Uddhav has softened his stance on demanding an
"apology from Shah Rukh Khan".
AAMIR KHAN
"If he were to select IPL players he would do so only on the basis of
their performance and not nationality."
SAAMNA
"Aamir and Shah Rukh have been proved as '2 Idiots' as both are making
statements supporting Pakistani cricketers."
Uddhav says, "We have no issues against Shah Rukh Khan's film (My Name
Is Khan) and neither have we told any theatre owner not to screen his
film. Our problem is with his stand on Pakistani players. It is up to
him now whether to change his stand or stick to it."
For now, there seems to be a commercial break in the tamasha, but both
the Centre and the state Government will have to act if they don't
want the nation's commercial capital to be turned into the theatre of
the absurd like in a banana republic. Both the Centre and the state
will have to address the concerns arising out of Mumbai.
Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director of
Ogilvy & Mather, puts it succinctly for the political class, "The
Government must have a proper discussion, not in the media, and convey
it to the public at large; else people will live with insecurity.
There has to be a dialogue on what kind of a country we are and where
do people stand in the city of Mumbai."
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/82486/Mumbai+tamasha.html?complete=1
India should protect Husain: Rushdie
Abhijit Dasgupta
New Delhi, March 12, 2010
Author Sir Salman Rushdie took the Indian government to task for not
acting positively in the MF Husain case and said modern India was
giving itself up to extremism, both Hindu and Muslim, and narrow
sectarian thinking which was inimical to Gandhi's ideals. "This is
increasing at a phenomenal rate lately," he added.
Delivering the keynote address on the first day of the India Today
Conclave in New Delhi on Friday, Rushdie said, "Freedom is not a tea
party. It has to be strongly argued. Disagreement with whoever wants
to stifle your freedom has to be strongly fought. You have to shout at
the frontier to protect your borders."
Rushdie, in his first comment on the Husain affair, said it was indeed
sad that India was showing its closed mind."Tolerance is not an alien
idea to us, Indians. If I am not allowed to write, I would rather not
write."
He said it was strange that that the Indian government was allowing
this to happen to Husain. "Britain helped me in 1989 though I was not
a supporter of the party in power. That is what I would call a
principled stand. Surrender in such cases only multiplies the problem.
Politicians sadly need to develop the backbone which they lack. Even
the media in India should say enough is enough."
"Husain's plight is a distress. It is scurrilous, shameful. He is a
loss to India. And ugliest is the language being used against him. He
is even being jeered at for being old. This is a proud face of a
philistine India."
"There is nothing wrong in not liking his art. You can easily opt out.
A painting is a finite space of art. If it offends, don't enter that
space. The best way to avoid getting offended is to shut a book. I
think that option is clear. The worst thing is that artists are soft
targets...we do not have armies portecting us."
"Violence and its ugly sisters, both Hindu and Islamic, have to be
resisted. They must be rebuffed. To appease it is the best way to
ensure their growth. I am afraid India is gloing that way."
Saying that the Indian government's stand was "inadequate," Rushdie
said that this responsibility was now extending to the entire society
as well. "The Indian government is weak...it should publicly display
Husain's paintings. If we are not doing so, then we are not following
Gandhi's vision."
Rushdie said that he was amazed at the way some sections were taking
on people like Shah Rukh Khan, Sachin Tendulkar and "even ban a
proposed film on Nehru (Indian Summer which was not made last year
after the Indian government apparently asked for changes in the
script). Then we have the sad case of writer Taslima Nasreen...this is
not the India I would like to see. India is everywhere now. 3 Idiots
is on 42nd Street. Rahman is in Hollywood. It's a great feeling.
Indian artists are carving out space everywhere."
Calling it a "culture of complaint" which was not unique to India
earlier, Rushdie said that the proponents of this culture were bent on
defying themselves "against whatever offended them...that is in the
heart of Husain's crisis. In matters of culture, the mob rules. That
is the tragedy."
"My case cannot be a parallel. People opposed to The Satanic Verses in
1989 have changed their stand since then," he said. Aroon Purie's
introductory Speech for Rushdie | Spl: India Today Conclave 2010
Rushdie said art was never seen as a vocation like medicine and law by
the general public. "We are not taken as serious people, and even
nudes are treated as foreign culture. That is absurd. We need a better
understanding of art and artists."
Rushdie ended by quoting from Rabindranath Tagore's Where the Mind is
Without Fear, standing up to exit with "...lead my country awake."
Talking about Pakistan, Rushdie said, "It is a curious bird. Two wings
and no body. It was insufficiently imagined. It reinforces that
religion is not sticky enough glue to keep a nation on ground. The
religious parties in Pakistan don't even get one per cent of the
votes. The people want democracy. The country is in a mess."
Asked about his famous fan following among young women and the secret
behind it, Rushdie quipped, "The use of narcotics. I basically drug
them and take them to the room."
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87946/India+should+protect+Husain:+Rushdie.html?complete=1
RSS gets a new publicity facelift
Piyush Srivastava
Lucknow, January 10, 2010
Badly in need of a facelift, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and
some in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have taken a leaf
out of the Congress's book. Uncharacteristic of the RSS, its
sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat's three-day visit to Lucknow was
publicised through two dozen hoardings across the city.
They were, however, reportedly removed by Saturday morning. The
Congress was recently criticised for a move to put up hoardings of
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
along national highways. RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya defended the
hoardings. "Such things are not common practice in the RSS. But we
have not prohibited it," he said.
It has been the RSS's practice to spread its message through door-to-
door signature campaigns. It only displays posters and banners of its
inspirational figures such as Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and M.S.
Golwalkar.
"Things may change with time. People publicise religious programmes by
putting up hoardings and posters. If the Lucknow unit of the RSS
believes it is necessary, they can do it," Vaidya said.
There were an estimated 6,000 shakhas (RSS units) in Uttar Pradesh
after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.
Their numbers increased to 10,000 in 2000, when Atal Bihari Vajpayee
became the prime minister. But by April 2004, during the Lok Sabha
election, the number declined to 5,000.
Kanpur, considered the biggest centre of the RSS in UP, had 450
shakhas in 2000. There are only 12 now.
L.T. Joshi, a veteran journalist and RSS activist in Nagpur said over
the phone: "If there is a public programme, workers can use publicity
material." Vidyasagar Shukla, BJP MLA from Lucknow East, had ordered
some hoardings for display in Hazratganj.
"Since Bhagwat was visiting the city for the first time, we decided to
welcome him in a big way," Shukla said.
He said it was necessary because the RSS wanted to increase its
membership and the number of shakhas across the state.
For Bhagwat's visit, over a dozen membership counters were opened at
various places, including at the offices of the RSS, the VHP and the
BJP. Members of the Sangh Parivar worked overtime to bring youths into
the RSS fold.
RSS workers were asked to collect the bio- data of people below the
age of 50 who had joined the Sangh in the past five years. The data
will be used to understand what future roles the members could be
assigned.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/78475/RSS+gets+a+new+publicity+facelift.html?complete=1
Do you think the RSS is changing nowadays? The RSS chief is coming in
news frequently.
December 31, 2009
Mohan Bhagwat, the new chief of the RSS, is trying to do something new
so that the 85-year-old RSS is more acceptable to the new generation.
He is more visible and accessible. But that is not enough. He has a
very difficult task ahead of him.
-Asked by Rohit
E-mailroh...@gmail.com
March 14, 2010
The breast-beating over a blasphemous artist
By Shachi Rairikar
SINCE M.F. Hussein has accepted the citizenship of Qatar, the
lobbyists are out again making sure not to miss this opportunity to
promote their anti-Hindu agenda. Much is being said about the "Freedom
of Expression" or the lack of it in India and the blame is being put
on the Hindu right.
The same hue and cry did not arise when Taslima Nasreen was not only
denied Indian citizenship but also asked to leave the country.
Hundreds of thousand Bangladeshi Muslims are illegally residing all
over India and have become a pain to our law and order situation.
However our secular politicians have been illegally legalising their
residential status and providing them ration cards to increase their
vote bank. Some secular politicians have openly recommended legalising
all the illegal Bangladeshi residents. And our secular media has been
supporting the influx of these illegal residents claiming that they
provide cheap labour and domestic help (as if we don’t have our own
unemployed poor). But we could not provide refuge to one Taslima
Nasreen because she had while using her freedom of expression offended
the Muslim minority. No cry about freedom of expression came from even
the fourth column.
The same freedom of expression was used by a Danish cartoonist to make
cartoons of Prophet Mohamed and there were violent protests all over
India. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had then conveyed great concern
to the Denmark government and condemned the publication of cartoons
that hurt the sentiments of the Muslim population. No voices were
heard in support of the cartoonist or his freedom of expression.
When M.F. Hussein abused his freedom of expression to represent Hindu
deities in vulgar fashion, the secular polity, intelligentsia and
media expected the Hindu majority to look at this pervert action as
artistic expression. After, widespread protests, Hussein could have
settled the issue by tendering apology to the Hindus but he did not do
so. Instead to make matters worse, in a television interview when
Hussein was asked why he had painted Mahatma Gandhi in a dhoti and
Hitler naked he had replied that Hitler is worthy of hate and deserves
to be portrayed so. When he was asked whether he applied the same
logic to the lewd portrayal of Hindu deities, he declined to answer
saying that the matter was sub-judice. Any expert on law or even a lay
man will know that a simple answer that he did not see Hitler and the
Hindu Gods and Goddesses in the same light would not have invited the
court’s fury or have gone against him in the case proceedings. But
Hussein chose to allow the prevalent common sentiment - that he had
deliberately shown insult to the revered Hindu figures - consolidate.
It is interesting to note that Hussein has painted Prophet’s daughter
Fatima, Mother Teresa, his own mother and daughter, fully clothed and
with grace.
They say once bitten, twice shy. But this probably does not apply to
an obstinate mind which is bent upon proving his point, however
inadequate it might be. Long after the obscene depiction of Hindu Gods
and Goddesses, Hussein undertook another offending act by depicting
Bharat Mata in the nude. Only the likes of the so-called social
activist Nafisa Ali could see it as "a female form in all its purity".
For the rest of the masses it was an insult of the greatest kind to
our motherland.
After widespread protests, number of court cases and a non-bailable
arrest warrant, Hussein was forced into self-exile. Hussein left the
country stating that "matters are so legally complicated that I have
been advised not to return home".
The same UPA government which had asked the Danish government to
refrain from publishing stuff that hurt the religious sentiments is
now trying to get Hussein back into the country. No words of
condemnation for Hussein, no concern for the hurt sentiments of the
Hindus. Instead, the home minister is welcoming him home and is
promising him complete security. Shashi Tharoor and few others are
advocating honouring Hussein with Bharat Ratna "for his dedication and
courage to the cultural renaissance of his beloved country". Does
denigrating Hindu deities and icons amount to cultural renaissance? It
appears that the government is party to this malicious anti-Hindu
agenda.
Hussein, in his arrogance, deliberately chose to ignore the sentiments
of the majority of Indians. He inflicted wound and even after knowing
that the people were hurt, he never cared to make an effort to heal
the pain. Now, when he feels deep pain in heart that India rejected
him, why should Indians care for him? As you sow, so you reap. Only
the secularists with their pre-defined agendas, loyalties (?) and
motivations (?) can mourn for the loss of Hussein. For the majority it
is hard to find a reason to sympathise with him. The most common
reaction to Hussein’s exit is "Good riddance to bad rubbish".
Hussein chose freedom of expression over his country and his people.
He chose to give up his motherland to enjoy complete freedom. Hussein
says that he is happy in Qatar, enjoys complete freedom and no one
controls his freedom of expression there. So be it but it would be
interesting to see the outcome if he utilises his new found freedom to
depict any of the Quranic figures or the Qatar royalty with the same
offensive artistic expression which he had used for the Hindu
deities.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=335&page=6
March 14, 2010
Opinion
It’s a shame Pakistan is hoodwinking India
Take the battle to its logical end or let the enemy pay
By Joginder Singh
Indo-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level February 2010 talks, which were
supposed to break the deadlock and goad Pakistan to take action
against terrorists in Pakistan, have ended in a deadlock. Pakistan has
described the dossiers of terrorists in Pakistan given by India as a
piece of literature and a fiction. Falling foul on India, the
Pakistani leader of the delegation said Pakistan does not believe that
India should lecture us and demand that Pakistan should do this or
that.
THERE is a justifiable frustration, disappointment and rage over the
repeated terrorist attacks sponsored by Pakistan on Indian soft
targets. In its efforts, it is aided and abetted by the motley Indian
groups, who are known by various names, like Indian Mujahdeen, Lashkar
or students organisations of Muslim communities. They are sympathetic
to Pakistan and to motley terrorist organisations there. Most
terrorists, their masters and sympathisers, are confident that
inadequate, outdated Indian laws would enable them to have escape
routes galore. Perhaps they are not mistaken. How can you have any
independent witness present, when army is fighting the terrorists from
across the border in the thick forests or at great heights in the
mountain?
Even assuming that one is present, nobody is that stupid to come and
depose in the court and risk his limbs and life from the dreaded
terrorists or their supporters. It is applicable not only in the cases
of terrorists, but also all the disruptionist and separatist elements
like the Naxalites or Maoists or the groups of North East. It is a
outrageous and an unbelievable logic and the highest degree of self-
flagellation, that does not put the victims and his perpetrator on an
equal footing.
India’s problems and their solutions lie in India. India has been
pleading and begging Pakistan all the time to control its terrorists.
Now it wants Saudi Arabia’s help. Are we so weak that we cannot make
the cost of terrorism so prohibitive in terms of life, money and
intrusion, that anybody entering the country with a nefarious
objective, should not only think twice but hundred times before
entering the country. This can be done by finishing them at the entry
point.
It is true that democracy should respect the law and go by a legal
system. But a question to be asked is what law the terrorists observe
except the law of killing the civilians and security forces, at any
conceivable chance they can get.
It is true that Indian police, in most states, enjoy a reputation of
being trigger happy and cutting corners in collecting evidence or
taking short cuts for the disposal of the cases by disposing off the
criminals. But it is also true that police like millions of countrymen
feel frustrated when the known terrorists or criminals get away on
purely technical grounds thus undoing all the labour put in.
Indo-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level talks, which were supposed to
break the deadlock and goad Pakistan to take action against terrorists
in Pakistan, have ended in a deadlock. Pakistan has described the
dossiers of terrorists in Pakistan, given by India as a piece of
literature and a fiction. Falling foul on India, the Pakistani leader
of the delegation said Pakistan does not believe that India should
lecture us and demand that Pakistan should do this or that.
It is one of the ridiculous approaches, as whenever, any negotiations
are held, each side puts across what it wants others to do. The world
all over believes that Pakistan is the fountain of terrorism and has
been running both with the hunter and the hunted.
Pakistan’s foundations rest on the hatred of India, particularly the
majority of Indians that is Hindus. First total ethnic cleansing was
done in Pakistan in driving out the non-Muslims from that country,
followed by doing the same in Kashmir valley by its agents. There
cannot be half heartedness in fighting terrorism and terrorists.
When it is a question of survival of the country, one can learn
lessons from some other countries like Israel. It is believed that
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorised Mossad, the
country’s spy agency to kill senior Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mahbouh
in Dubai in November 2009. There were no tears shed in Israel by any
Human Rights-wallahs there.
Incidentally all such operations all over the world are authorised by
the political executive, though no official records exist for the
same. Israelis have built up a reputation of tracking down and
assassinating terrorists no matter wherever they may be hiding in the
world.
There can be no fullproof collection of intelligence or discovering
all the local contacts and sleeper cells of the terrorists or their
supporters.
The only option left is to pay the terrorists in their own coin and
pay them with compound interest wherever they may be. This is what
exactly USA has done or is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Pakistan has always either directly undertaken or used motley groups
of jihadis or disgruntled Indian groups, including the gangsters, as
an element of its state policy.
Covert operations in the interests of the country are undeclared
policy of all countries all over the world. India’s record on covert
operations has been colourless or nil. Instead of fighting or acting
against terrorism, we have been only reacting to it and never made
sure that the terrorists get the retribution they deserve. Terrorism
is not going to end by sweet talk at any level. Prime Minister himself
has admitted that India does not know as to whom to talk in Pakistan.
He indicated that there are so many power centres that talking to one
and getting a commitment might and would be undone by others.
Theoretically, there is a Government in Pakistan, but in actual
practice the dilemma of the Prime Minister is genuine. Our self-
respect demands that we should stop begging Pakistan to control
terrorists in its country. Instead our message should be to them "Do
your worst, but do not blame us, you reap what you sow".
What we do within our own borders, should be our outlook. But above
all we should mean business in tackling terrorism and take this battle
to its logical end. The security and intelligence forces can do it,
only if the Government wills it and means it. Talks and sweet talks
can succeed only if we talk from a position of strength. Smile, for
everyone lacks self-confidence and more than any other one thing a
smile reassures them.
(The writer is former Director of CBI India and can be contacted at
joginders...@hotmail.com)
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=335&page=11
March 14, 2010
The Moving Figer Writes
Don’t be soft with Naxalites
By MV Kamath
Maoists blew up nearly 300 schools in India between 2006 and 2009.
This was followed by Naxalites recruiting children to do the dirty
work. The trouble is that, apart from West Bengal where police have
literally ceased to be police, in other States police/population ratio
is pathetic. Consider these facts: Now Delhi has 3953 police officers
to every square mile of its territory, while Chhattisgarh has just 22,
Jharkhand 50 and Bihar 59. The United Nations has recommended that 220
police officers be available for every 10,000 population. India has an
average of just 125.
WHEN will all these Maoist killings stop? Is there no end to their
brutality? Of course, the blame lies entirely on the far-Left radical
communists supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Mao,
like Stalin, was not a simple ideologist. He was a murderer,
responsible for the deaths of millions of his countrymen in cold
blood. He was no friend of the poor. Nor are today’s Maoists in India,
the so-called Naxalites. They are professional murderers in the name
of seeking justice for the tribals. They are believers in armed
liberation whatever that means. Home Minister P Chidamabram says that
is it not his intention to kill Naxalites because "they are our own
people". Nonsense. The Naxals don’t treat innocent fellow citizens as
"our people". The killing of innocent people has been going on since
1996 when 156 were murdered.
According to Home Ministry records, in the last twenty years the
Naxalites have killed more than 6,000 people and expressed no regrets.
The most recent killings at Sildah in West Bengal resulting in 21
jawans being charred to death is true to Maoist character. They
understand only one language: State force. West Bengal is a pathetic
case. Under the guidance of the CPM and of its face mask the late
Jyoti Basu, police were inveigled into Marxism and the CPM ideology in
the 1970s. In the circumstances they have shown a marked reluctance to
fight Naxalites. The policemen in Sildah were totally unprepared for
the Naxal onslaught. Even their rifles were not in working order. They
could not shoot more than one bullet. It is not their fault. The fault
lies squarely with the Communist Buddhadev Government which, by now,
has destroyed police commitment to their profession.
To destroy Naxalism, one must first totally eliminate communism from
our political system, making it illegal. The State must show no mercy
to professional killers who, according to India’s Intelligency Agency,
the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) exercise control over 92,000 square
kms in 220 districts spread in twenty states. There apparently are
20,000 Naxalite armed cadres actively engaged in carrying out a "war",
aided and abetted by some 50,000 civil caders working in various mass
organisations under spurious names. And supporting these gangsters are
hundreds of "intellectuals" who should know better.
The worst enemies of India are not the tribesmen in whose name
Naxalies kill and loot, but our misled "intellectuals" whose icon is
Charu Mazumdar who divided people along class lines, naming police,
landlords and corrupt politicians as "class enemies" to be eliminated.
The viciousness of the Naxalites extends beyond the so-called "class
enemies". According to United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Maoists blew up nearly 300 schools in
India between 2006 and 2009. This was followed by Naxalites recruiting
children to do the dirty work. The trouble is that, apart from West
Bengal where police have literally ceased to be police, in other
States police/population ratio is pathetic.
Consider these facts: New Delhi has 3953 police officers to every
square mile of its territory, while Chhattisgarh has just 22,
Jharkhand 50 and Bihar 59. The United Nations has recommended that 220
police officers be available for every 10,000 population. India has an
average of just 125. In a major study on police Reform in India, JY
Umranikar IPS has noted that there are only 518 rural police stations
in Maharashtra as against 3,035 recommended by the National Police
Commission. What is worse is the fact pointed out by the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Home Affairs in its 88th report that "today we
have a police force which is highly politicised and politically
polarised (which) has become a pawn in the hands of its masters". In
return, the Report said, "the policemen get political patronage, which
has become necessary for their survival". But things apparently are
changing.
According to Express News Service (February 14), five Border Security
Force (BSF) battalions - about 5,000 personnel will be moving into
Malkangiri District and adjoining areas in Orissa to counter Naxals
who are desperately seeking a safe haven following operations in
Chhattisgarh. The inter-State border will be sealed with check points,
just as it is being done on the Maharashtra side. In Maharashtra’s
Gadchiroli district- the worst Maoist-affected in the state - the
government has apparently agreed to recruit some 3,000 tribes people
into the police force to be trained for anti-Naxal operations. Home
Secretary GK Pillai is quoted as saying that "once the full employment
of forces come, we should be able to clear Gadchiroli of all Naxal
elements within a year".
It is not clear what kind of training the tribes people will get,
considering most of the Naxalites are tribes people themselves. How
prepared the Security Establishment is to tackle Naxalite terror was
last exposed on March 15, 2007 when Naxalites attacked and killed 55
Security Personnel in Chhattisgarh. According to a report, "cowardice,
desertion by Security Personnel, too much dependence on locally-
recruited Special Police Officers (SPOs), delayed rescue operations,
lack of proper training were identified as the key reasons for the
killings by Naxalites. In the circumstances hiring tribals to fight
tribals cannot be a recommended suggestion. One suggestion put forward
to control the Naxalites is to "saturate" tribal areas with
development plans. A better idea would be to create an entirely tribal
administrative service (TAS) with powers to locate areas needing
development and authority to use appropriate funds without having to
go through administrative hassles. But first and foremost, the
government must dislodge the so-called "instigating the tribals to
armed revolt. The enemy of the country is not the poor uneducated
tribal but the well-educated urban intellectual who has sold his soul
to the long-exposed inhuman ideology of western societies - a mocking
of which was made in China by a barbarian called Mao-Tse-Tung. We
don’t have to be soft towards such characters who, behind the veneer
of toplevel education, are traitors seeking to destroy the essential
unity of the country and deserve no pity. Of late Mr Chidambram seems
to have realised it. As he told the New Delhi Indian Women’s Press
Crops recently, there can be no "half-way approach" towards the CPI
(Maoists). Those who take up the sword must perish by the sword.
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=335&page=10
August 28, 2005
Seshadriji is no more
From Our Correspondent
Veteran Sangh leader and Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh of
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Hongasandra Venkataramaiah
Seshadri, popularly known as H.V. Seshadri, passed away at 6.57 p.m.
in Bangalore on August 14. He was 81. He was unwell for the last few
days and was hospitalised following fracture in his thigh. RSS
Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat, Sahsarkaryavah Shri Madan Das and Shri
Suresh Soni were beside him when he breathed his last at Keshav Krupa,
the Karnataka Prant Sangh Karyalaya in Bangalore.
Seshadriji had a fall after the prarthana at Prashanti Kutiram Sangh
shakha on July 17 and fractured his thigh. He was operated upon on
July 21. He was discharged from hospital on July 28 and was brought to
Keshav Krupa. On August 5, when he developed breathing problem and his
blood pressure dropped, he was rushed to the Intensive Care Unit
(ICU). Later, he was kept on a ventilator due to breathing problem,
blood pressure and infection. A Mahamritunjay jaap and ayushmaya yajna
were also performed in Bangalore on August 11 for the recovery of
Seshadriji.
As the news of Seshadriji?s passing away spread in the city, thousands
of Swayamsevaks and workers of various social and political
organisations, thronged Keshav Krupa for a last darshan and to pay
tribute. Senior Sangh adhikaris including Sarsangha-chalak Shri K.S.
Sudarshan, and leaders of other RSS associate organisations rushed to
Bangalore to pay homage.
He was cremated at the Chamajapet crematorium in Bangalore on August
15 with full honour. The funeral procession was about 2 k.m long.
Thousands of Swayamsevaks participated in the funeral procession. The
nephew of Seshadriji, Dr H.R. Nagendra, performed the last rites. The
dignitaries present at the funeral included RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri
K.S. Sudar-shan, Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat, Sahsarkaryavah Shri
Madan Das, Shri Suresh Joshi, and Shri Suresh Soni, former Prime
Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, BJP president Shri L.K. Advani,
senior BJP leader Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Gujarat Chief Minister Shri
Narendra Modi, former union minister Shri Rajnath Singh, Madhya
Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Babulal Gaur, Jharkhand Chief Minister
Shri Arjun Munda, BJP leaders Pramod Mahajan, Prof. Bal Apte and Ved
Prakash Goel, VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal, SJM leaders Shri S
Gurumurthy and Muralidhar Rao, Haribhau Vaze, Sadanand Kakade, Shri
Brahmdev Sharma ?Bhaiji?, organising secretary of Vidya Bharati and
other elders of Sangh and its associate organisations. Last respects
were also paid by NDA Convenor Shri George Fernandes and senior
Congress leader Shri C.K. Jaffer Sheriff at Keshav Krupa.
Born in Bangalore in 1926, Seshadriji was a reputed thinker, writer
and dedicated social worker. He had a brilliant scholastic career and
secured top grade throughout. He completed his Master?s degree in
chemistry from Bangalore (then Mysore) University with a gold medal.
He became Sangh Pracharak in 1946 and since then had continuously been
traveling through the length and breadth of the country to promote a
plethora of social service activities and nationalist causes,
providing inspiration and guidance to a whole generation of youth.
Initially he was a Pracharak at Bangalore and later of the Mangalore
zone during 1953-56. In 1960 he became the Prant Pracharak for
Karnataka and in 1980 became the Kshetriya Pracharak (south zone) to
co-ordinate the Sangh activities in the four southern states of
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. He rose to the
position of Akhil Bharatiya Sahsarkaryavah and subsequently became
Sarkaryavah in 1987. He continued in that high office for nine years
and after that he worked as Akhil Bharatiya Pracharak Pramukh.
Having been constantly in touch with various segments of society and
equipped with a sensitive mind, H.V. Seshadri became a prolific writer
and contributed articles for several decades to Vikrama weekly,
Utthana monthly, Organiser weekly, Panchajanya Hindi weekly and
periodicals in virtually all major languages. His writings were highly
popular and thousands of readers eagerly awaited his articles. He
developed a unique style of his own, combining analytical skill and
felicity of expression. He made name as an orator too and his lectures
have always been a treat for listeners.
He wrote numerous books including Yugavatara (on Shivaji), Amma Bagilu
Tege (Essays), Chintanaganga, Tragic Story of Partition, Bhugilu (on
Emergency struggle). His Torberalu, a collection of essays with social
themes, won the Karnataka State Sahitya Akademi Award in 1982. His
other work includes RSS?A Vision in Action. He wrote hundreds of
articles on current social themes and authored countless topical books
and booklets. Many of his writings have been translated into various
other languages. He made a major contribution in communicating
nationalist thoughts and the Sangh ideology to the masses.
As a special invitee, he addressed the World Hindu Conference in New
York in 1984 and Hindu Sangam at Bradford (U.K.) in the same year.
Though occupying the highest office in the Sangh, he led a simple,
austere life, being ever accessible to one and all, exemplifying the
ideal of simple living and high thinking.
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August 23, 2009
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat terms
Sharm el-Sheikh a diplomatic faux pas
By Virag Pachpore
Shri Bhagwat said that the reference to problems of Balochistan
included for the first time in any dialogue between the two
neighboring countries is not a good omen for India. The UPA government
has not bothered to take the Opposition into confidence on matters of
such diplomatic importance and thereby failed to maintain transparency
in such sensitive matters.
"Inclusion of the reference to Balochistan and dropping of action
against terrorism as a precondition to resuming the dialogue with
Pakistan was a serious blunder. It exposed the chinks in diplomacy of
Government of India. This has not only brought the issue of happenings
in Balochistan to the notice of the global community, but has also
created a confusion within the country vis-à-vis our foreign policy
and transparency therein."
These views were expressed by RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri Mohan Bhagwat
at the "Meet the Press" programme organised by the Nagpur Union of
Working Journalists (NUWJ) at Tilak Patrakar Bhavan in Nagpur on
August 3, 2009. Shri Bhagwat is the second Sarsanghachalak to
participate in this programme after his predecessor the late Balasaheb
Deoras, who had interacted with the scribes 38 years ago.
Criticising the Prime Minister for his diplomatic failure at Sharm el-
Sheikh in Egypt in issuing the joint statement with his Pakistani
counterpart, Shri Bhagwat said that the reference to problems of
Balochistan included for the first time in any dialogue between the
two neighbouring countries is not a good omen for India. The UPA
government has not bothered to take the Opposition into confidence on
matters of such diplomatic importance and thereby failed to maintain
transparency in such sensitive matters.
In reply to a question on China’s expansionist attitude, the RSS chief
cautioned the countrymen and the government to maintain a strict vigil
to thwart any such evil move by the Chinese dragon. He referred to the
warnings issued by great visionaries like Swami Vivekananda 110 years
ago, Shri Ras Behari Bose and the second Sarsanghachalak of RSS Shri
Guruji Golwalkar about the Chinese expansionist designs. Now the
Chinese dragon has almost spread its tentacles to encircle India. It
has established a good foothold in Nepal, Pakistan and Myanmar (Burma)
and is even helping Sri Lanka in restricting India’s strategic and
diplomatic movements.
Shri Bhagwat stated that China always considered India a major rival
in its international designs and as such it is trying to spread its
influence in the neighbouring nations to squeeze India diplomatically.
China had earlier attacked India in 1962. Now also it has staked claim
over Indian territories of Arunachal Pradesh, he said and urged the
countrymen, government and political parties to understand this
serious threat emanating from the recent Chinese movements along the
bordering regions in the Indian subcontinent.
Challenges facing India
The Sarsanghachalak expressed concern over the lack of preparedness on
the part of the central government to meet any security threat from
within or outside the country. External and internal security is the
major challenge confronting the country right now. "We are not
prepared at the government, administrative and society levels to meet
any eventuality that threatens our security," Shri Bhagwat said and
added that we must be ready to face and frustrate any move that
threatens our sovereignty and territorial integrity forthrightly.
The other challenge staring at the country is pertaining to
development. "We need to develop our own model for the all-round
development of the country and the society and need not imitate the
models of others. We can borrow knowledge and technology but we should
mould that in accordance with our needs and requirements for
development. This is called ‘swadeshi vision’, Shri Bhagwat said while
replying to a question.
Support to reservation
Strongly advocating the need for providing reservations to the weaker
sections of the society, the RSS Sarsanghachalak stressed on setting a
workable time limit and identifying the real beneficiaries. "The
architects of the Constitution provided reservation for those people
who had suffered social discrimination in the past. Those who had not
suffered any such discrimination should not have been provided any
reservation except on economic criteria. But now this provision is
being used for political benefits by the parties in power. We need to
create a situation where such reservations are not required. This is
necessary because the policy of reservation is only dividing the
society further in different sections and groups and creating a socio-
political friction," he said.
The RSS chief advocated for forming a new impartial high-powered
national committee to go into the various aspects of reservation
policy. This panel should decide the guiding principles of reservation
policy and also fix the time-frame for its continuance.
Missionaries-Maoists nexus
Though strong proofs could not be given to suggest a nexus between the
Christian missionaries and Maoists in Kandhamal in Orissa, Shri
Bhagwat said missionaries considered Swami Laxmanananda a strong
hindrance in their proselytising activities in Orissa. They had even
threatened the swami with life. But the swami was killed with an AK-47
rifle. Does that mean that missionaries possess such weapons?
Therefore, it is very difficult to make any such statement. But locals
in Kandhamal area believe in such a nexus between the two.
EVMs and voting right
Replying to a question on allegations of tampering with the electronic
voting machines (EVMs) and making voting mandatory, Shri Bhagwat said
that the Election Commission should probe the complaints about the
EVMs and dispel the confusion from the minds of the people. As regards
voting, he said the RSS supports 100 per cent voting and believes in
creating awareness among the voters in this regard instead of making
it mandatory.
Service projects
Shri Bhagwat said that the RSS is not averse to change according to
changing times. "But we feel the change should come as a unanimous
move so that we remain firmly rooted to our basic ideology and yet
move forward with the changing times and situation", he clarified
adding that a perfect balance between elasticity and rigidity should
be struck while incorporating changes in the organisation.
He clarified that there is no such concept as "fail" or "pass"
swayamsevak in the RSS. The Sangh is giving good training and trying
to inculcate moral values in its swayamsevaks that too without any
sanction. The basis of our work is pure love and affection. It is left
to swayamsevaks as to how they should work within the society. There
had been a great inflow of new workers in the RSS after the Emergency
and the Ayodhya movement. Those new-comers had not gone through the
rigors of RSS training. So there might have been some cases here and
there but that did not damage the credibility of the Sangh. On the
contrary, it has increased manifold in the recent times, he claimed.
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September 24, 2006
A Report
Golden jubilee celebration of Sadhna
Our victory is certain as we are following the path of dharma?
Mohan Bhagwat
(FOC)
Sadhna, the noted Gujarati weekly, has turned 50. Started in 1956 with
the blessings of Shri Guruji, the second Sarsanghachalak of RSS, today
it has 24,000 dedicated subscribers and lakhs of readers in 225
tehsils and 6,000 villages of Gujarat and other parts of the country.
To celebrate its golden jubilee year, Sadhna organised a two-day
national convention of senior journalists and editors of nationalist
newspapers and magazines in Ahmedabad on August 24. Prominent
journalists and editors, who participated in the convention, included
Shri D.G. Lakshman, editor of Hosdiganta (Bangalore), Shri
Lakshmishankar Katakukke, editor of Vikram, Shri Jaikrishan Gaur,
editor of Swadesh (Indore), Shri Rajendra Sharma, editor of Swadesh
(Bhopal), Shri Anand Mishra ?Abhay?, editor of Rashtradharma (Lucknow)
and assistant editor Shri Vijay Kumar, Shri Krishan Kumar Asthana,
chief editor of Devputra, and editor Shri Vikas Dave, Shri Jagdish
Prasad, editor of Brij Samvad (Agra), Shri Sadgopal, editor of
Vijaybhartam (Tamil Nadu), Shri Narayan Sewayar, editor of Veervani
(Karnataka), Dr Vijay Sarathi, editor of Jagriti (Andhra Pradesh),
Shri Jagbandhu Mishra, editor of Rashtradeep, Shri S.B. Patwari,
executive editor of Vivek and chief editor Shri Makarand Mule, Shri
Gopal Sharma, editor of Mahanagar Times, Shri Vidyadhar Thate, editor
of Ekata and editors of all Vishwa Samvad Kendras.
Inaugurating the convention at Vishwa Bharati Auditorium near
Gandhinagar, Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan Bhagwat said the word ?national?
signifies not only the whole country but it also symbolises the
nationalist persons. He said there are a number of nationalist
journalists in the country who never compromised with the national
interest. Talking about the present challenges facing the country, he
said four kinds of fascist forces dominate today?Islamic
fundamentalism, aggressive Christian missionaries, economic and
secular intellectual fascism. He stated that the leftist secularists
in the intellectual field are so strong that they started vote-bank
politics on Vande Mataram also, which binds the motherland in one
thread. Speaking at the concluding session, Shri Bhagwat said the
Sangh influence in the media is growing regularly as new dedicated
people are joining the field. ?Our victory is certain as we are
following the path of dharma,? he said.
Shri Suresh Soni, Sahsarkaryavah, said strategies should be chalked
out to counter the challenges, rather than holding discussions on
them. He further said a tendency appears to be spreading all over the
country to ridicule everything connected with Hindutva. He called on
the Hindutva workers to be active in every field of the society to
counter the campaigns by leftists and secularists.
Shri Vidyutbhai Thakkar, a noted Gujarati writer, said publishing a
magazine continuously for 50 years is in itself a sadhna and in the
case of Sadhna it could be possible because it is moving with an
ideal. Giving details of the convention, Shri Mukesh Shah, editor of
Sadhna, said Sadhna did not change its path despite various hurdles it
faced during the last 50 years. He remarked that since the time is
changing rapidly the responsibilities of journalism are also changing.
He remarked that Sadhna has always fulfilled its social
responsibility.
In the second session, Shri Kalpesh Patel of Rajkamal Printing Press,
and a software engineer Shri Apoorva Ashar apprised the participants
of the new printing technologies. In the last session on August 25,
veteran Sangh Pracharak Shrikant Joshi discussed the preparations by
the magazines and newspapers during the birth-centenary year of Shri
Guruji.
Prof M.C. Varshneya, Vice-Chancellor of Anand Agriculture University,
spoke about the geography of the country and also people?s faith to
it. Noted columnist Smt Sandhya Jain cautioned mediapersons against
the dangers of foreign investment in media. She said even the Hindi
newspapers published from Delhi appear influenced by the people of
Jawaharlal Nehru University. Citing the example of excavations in
Ayodhya, when the clinching evidences proving a temple there were
found, she said the media did not provide the correct information and
truth to the readers. She asked why the Human Rights Commission, which
made hue and cry over the human rights violations in Gujarat, forgets
the pain and sufferings of the Hindus of Jammu and Kashmir, who have
to become refugee in their own country.
Shri Amritbhai Kariwala, Kshetra Sanghachalak, Shri Pravinbhai Otiya,
Prant Pracharak and other Sangh adhikris, Shri Amitbhai Shah, Minister
for Home in the state government, Shri Bhupendra Singh Chudasama,
Minister for Agriculture, Shri Bharat Barot, Minister for Rural
Development, Shri I.K. Jadeja, Minister for Urban Development, Shri
Vajubhaiwala, state BJP president, Shri Keshubhai Patel, former Chief
Minister of Gujarat, Shri Vishnu Pandya, former editor of Sadhna and
Shri Saurabh Shah, editor of Vichardhara, also attended the
convention.
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January 29, 2006
Shri Guruji birth-centenary celebrations to begin from February 24,
2006
FOC
The central theme of the year-long activities planned to celebrate the
birth-centenary year of Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar popularly known as
Shri Guruji, which begins from February 24 with a grand inaugural
function in Nagpur, is social harmony (Samajik Samrasta). The
concluding ceremony of the celebration will be organised in New Delhi
on February 18, 2007.
Noted saint and founder of Bharatmata Mandir, Haridwar, Swami
Satyamitranand Giri has unanimously been elected chairman of Shri
Guruji Birth-Centenary Celebration Committee. The first all-India
meeting of the committee was held in New Delhi on January 18. Besides
RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan, Sarkaryavah Shri Mohan
Bhagwat and Swami Satyamitranand Giri, about 100 eminent members of
the committee including Shri Ashok Singhal, VHP president, Dr Ajit
Phadake, Urologist, Mumbai, Dr Ashok Kukade (Maharashtra), Shri
Jagmohan, former Union Minister, Shri Akhtar Hussain, working
president of Sarv Panth Samadar Manch, Dr Habibur Rahaman from
Aligarh, Shri Abraham Varghese, co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch,
Dr Bhai Mahavir, former Governor of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Yogendra
Mohan Gupta, Chairman of Jagaran group of companies, and others were
present at the meeting. Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee could not attend the
meeting due to sickness.
Briefing the mediapersons in New Delhi after the meeting on January
19, Swami Satyamitranand Giri said the society would be awakened
during the countrywide year-long mass awareness drive. ?Hindu rallies
will be organised at the block level all over the country. Meetings of
caste and religious leaders will also be held with the objective of
promoting social harmony. Seminars, symposia, lectures, etc. will also
be organised to propagate the ideas and vision of Shri Guruji,? he
said adding that committees are also being formed at states and
districts level to undertake the activities in a big way.
?Hindu rallies will be organised at the block level all over the
country. Meetings of caste and religious leaders will also be held
with the objective of promoting social harmony. Seminars, symposia,
lectures, etc. will also be organised to propagate the ideas and
vision of Shri Guruji.?
?The year will be celebrated as social harmony year. This year the
Sangh activists will visit the backward and Vanvasi areas of the
country. Besides cleanliness and health, educational and other
activities will be conducted among them. The talented students from
slum areas will be provided with the best tutors from reputed schools
in the evening so that they can score good marks in the exams. The
addicts will be persuaded to leave addiction. The people belonging to
high society will visit the lower-class areas and besides mingling
with them will share meal with them. By and large we have been reading
and teaching the Gita for years. But now the time has come to realise
it in the practical life,? said the former Shankaracharya of Bhanupura
Peeth.
He said during the year-long celebration the honest people like
farmers, labourers, etc. would be publicly honoured to boost their
morale. He said the people of the society would be motivated to expose
the corrupt people in their localities and this would be done in
presence of those people against whom there would be allegations of
corruption.
Talking about Shri Guruji he said, ?Under Shri Guruji?s stewardship
the RSS grew by leaps and bounds expanding its horizons into all
corners of the country as well as all walks of life. He inspired and
infused life into several prominent organisations, which have today
become massive movement. A visionary he was, he sent several prominent
RSS workers into various socio-cultural fields. As a statesman he gave
invaluable guidance to the nation on several important and imminent
national concerns.?
He pointed out that besides 53 prominent saints and spiritual leaders
of the country as patrons, a team of 122 members, belonging to
different spheres of social life, had been constituted for the birth-
centenary year celebration. Justice (retd.) M. Rama Jois, former Chief
Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and former governor of
Jharkhand and Bihar, is the working president of the committee.
Prominent businessman from Andhra Pradesh Shri G. Pulla Reddy and Dr
Narendra Prasad, an eminent surgeon from Bihar, are the vice
presidents. Dr Bajrang Lal Gupta, economist and senior functionary of
the Sangh, will act as the secretary of the committee, which will have
eleven joint secretaries from various regions of the country. (FOC)
Some prominent members in the birth-centenary celebration committee
Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee : Former Prime Minister
Shri Mohan Bhagwat: Sarkaryavah of RSS
Shri Jagmohan : Former Union Minister
Shri N. Vittal : Former Vigilance Commissioner
Dr Bhai Mahavir : Former Governor of Madhya Pradesh
Justice Sushant Chattopadhyaya : Former Chief Justice of Orissa High
Court
Shri Ashok Singhal : VHP President
Shri Yogendra Mohan Gupta : Chairman, Jagaran Group of Companies
Shri M.V. Kamath : Senior Journalist
Shri Muzaffar Hussain : Senior Journalist
Dr A. Sukumaran Nair : Former V.C. of Kerala University
Prof. Veda Nanda : VC of University of Denver, Colorado, USA
Dr Mahesh Upadhyaya : Former VC of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Dr Habibur Rahaman : Aligarh University VC (former)
Shri Jawagal Srinath: Cricketer
Smt. P.T. Usha: Noted international athlete
Shri Geet Sethi : Billiards champion
Shri Jaspal Rana : Ace shooter
Smt. Sonal Mansingh : Noted dancer
Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman : Noted violinist
Shri Vishwa Mohan Bhatt : Creator of Mohan Veena
Shri Bharat Gopi : Noted film personality
Shri Chittaranjan Kolhatkar : Noted film personality
Shri Rajdutt : Noted film director
Dr Vijay Bhatakar: Internationally renowned scientist
Dr Madhav Chitale: Internationally known water management specialist
Shri B.K.S. Iyenger : Renowned Yoga guru
Dr Badrinath: Shankra Nethralaya, Chennai
Dr S. J. Nagalothi Math : Pathologist, Bangalore
Dr Ajit Phadake : Urologist, Mumbai
Dr Mahip Singh: Noted writer
Shri Narendra Kohli: Noted novelist
Prof. Rambhau Shevalkar: Noted literary person
Lama Chosphel Zotpa: President, Himalaya Bouddha Sanskriti Sabha
Shri Bikram Bahadur Jamatiya: Patron, Jamatiya Hada, Tripura
Shri Akhtar Hussain: Working president, Sarv Panth Samadar Manch
Shri Abraham Varghese: Co-convenor of Swadeshi Jagaran Manch
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Gadkari sends rehab signal
RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
New Delhi, March 12: Nitin Gadkari has signalled he is ready to
placate the “old guard” that has felt marginalised after he became BJP
chief.
The party is expected to recommend Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant
Sinha — both seen as part of the group — as the heads of two key
parliamentary committees, apparently with Gadkari’s blessings.
The move also indicates that the BJP president will have a say in the
affairs of the party’s parliamentary wing, unlike the impression given
by the RSS after Gadkari took over that he would concentrate only on
the organisation.
Joshi is tipped to become chairman of Parliament’s public accounts
committee (PAC), replacing colleague Gopinath Munde, whose term ends
in August.
The PAC chief vets the accounts of all public undertakings submitted
by the CAG.
Sinha will take Joshi’s place as chairman of the standing committee on
finance. He has so far been heading the external affairs panel.
Joshi and Sinha were part of the 60 and 70-plus age groups who found
themselves relegated to the fringes after the RSS decided to give the
BJP a “youthful” look to take on a Congress driven by Rahul Gandhi and
his young team.
A leader also said the move presaged Gadkari’s new team of office-
bearers, likely to be unveiled next week, will have a “blend of age
and youth.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100313/jsp/nation/story_12212021.jsp
THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK
THIS ABOVE ALL - KHUSHWANT SINGH
All smiles
All politicians are glib talkers — they have to be able to win
people’s support. Indian politicians go further: they say one thing,
mean something else and do what suits them. The best examples of this
brand of double-speak are the speeches of Mohan Bhagwat, head of the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He maintains that the RSS is a social
organization that has nothing to do with politics. He repeated this
not so very long ago and told the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata
Party to sort out their differences. A couple of weeks later, he
ordered L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh to relinquish their posts of the
leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the BJP president
respectively. Bhagwat went further and said that the new leaders
should not be Dilliwallas but should hail from other parts of India.
Lest people had any doubts left in their minds, he nominated Nitin
Gadkari, a fellow Brahmin from his home-town, Nagpur, and a successful
minister of the public works department in the Maharashtra government,
as Rajnath Singh’s successor. Very dutifully, the BJP leaders made
suitable speeches accepting Bhagwat’s diktat, but quickly passed an
amendment to their constitution and created a new post for Advani
while preparing to welcome Gadkari. The latter arrived in Delhi, was
duly garlanded by everybody, warmly embraced, had pedas popped in his
mouth (he is fat enough), and all appeared hunky dory. Bhagwat then
retreated to Nagpur and reiterated that the RSS does not meddle with
politics.
You can be sure that Gadkari’s attempts at refurbishing the image of
his party will be thwarted not by the leaders of the opposition but by
men like Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Advani has no
intention of retiring gracefully. The word, sanyas, does not exist in
his dictionary.
Gadkari says that he will instil the spirit of national culture in the
people. That sounds nice. But while doing so he must tell us whether
he approves of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, as does Bhagwat. It
is not an outdated or an irrelevant question: it is in the minds of
most Indians. It is the acid test of secularism. Gadkari must spell
out the role of religious minorities — Muslims, Christians and Sikhs —
in the BJP. Giving two or three Muslims important posts in the party
will not fool anybody. The BJP has had three showpieces on its rolls —
Shahnawaz Husain (member of parliament), Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and
Najma Heptullah (member of the Rajya Sabha). None of the three carries
any weight in their own community.
The same applies to the Sikhs. The BJP’s partnership with the Akali
Dal is one of convenience, as they have nothing in common. The BJP has
two Sikhs to display: the cricketer, Sidhu (MP), and S.S. Ahluwalia,
once chief noisemaker of the Congress, now chief noisemaker of the
BJP. I have not heard him make one coherent speech in the Rajya Sabha,
and Navjot Singh Sidhu is better known for his wisecracks on
television shows than for his speeches in the Lok Sabha. Both men are
self-promoters without any political principle.
Gadkari has to find genuine supporters of his ideology from the
minority communities or do without them. I wish him luck in contending
with leaders of the ruling party as well as with detractors in his own
party.
(Courtesy: J.P. Singh Kaka, Bhopal)
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100109/jsp/opinion/story_11956648.jsp
RSS cobbles caste unity
NALIN VERMA
Patna, Dec. 25: Just days after installing his protégé Nitin Gadkari
as BJP president, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat met Hindu leaders of
different castes in an attempt to unite various communities in Bihar.
Bhagwat — on the last day of his three-day tour of the NDA-ruled state
— had a series of closed-door meetings with Kushwaha Samaj chief
Prahlad Sharma, Patwa Samaj chief Ramanarayan Mandal and others — a
step seen as RSS’s bid to overcome the caste barrier, which plays a
great role from marriage to politics in the Hindi belt.
Probably in a bid to introduce “modernity” in what is referred to as
the primordial concept of RSS, Bhagwat advocated for inter-caste
marriage, too. “People of various castes should tie the nuptial knot
among themselves. They should also dine together as no Hindu caste is
untouchable,” he said.
Sources in the RSS hinted that the right wing Hindu outfit would
organise meetings of various Hindu caste leaders at block and district
levels to follow up on what Bhagwat has done in Patna.
Describing caste as a “big hurdle” in the way of uniting the Hindus,
Bhagwat said that the Hindus should adhere to the philosophy of
Hindutva rather than castes. “The answer to all problems, including
global warming, infiltration and social unrest, lies in Hindutva,” he
said.
Incidentally, the number of RSS followers is not increasing in Bihar
despite the Hindu outfit sharply raising the number of its camps and
schools across the state. For example, RSS camps, according to
sources, have gone up to 1,150 from 750 in 2004 and the number of
Vidya Bharati Schools has shot up from 425 in 2004 to 750. But many of
these schools and camps stay unattended in the countryside with people
not evincing interest in them, according to the sources.
The RSS, the sources added, is also miffed at the government headed by
JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar does not take notice of the Hindu outfit’s
schools unlike his Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi, whose
government has adopted many of the Bharati Vidya Mandirs for providing
financial and logistical assistance.
On the other hand, the BJP ministers, including deputy chief minister
Sushil Kumar Modi and others, appeared in the RSS’s traditional khaki
shorts and white shirts at a meeting addressed by Bhagwat here today.
“We owe our roots and rise in politics to the RSS, the head of the
Sangh Parivar, which also has the BJP in its fold. How can we even
think of appearing in other uniform?” asked a senior BJP leader.
Besides Modi, legislative council chairman Tarakant Jha, Giriraj
Singh, Aswhini Choubey, Nandkishore Yadav, Ramnarayan Mandal (all
ministers), former Union minister Ravishankar, former Gujarat governor
Kailashpati Mishra and several others had attended the meet.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091226/jsp/nation/story_11908916.jsp
View from the Right
Suman K Jha
Posted: Thursday , Mar 04, 2010 at 0155 hrs
The RSS mouthpiece Organiser has a cover story titled “Centre has
failed to tackle terrorism, protect citizens’ lives says Mohan
Bhagwat”, which talks about RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s recent trip to
Kerala. The news report says: “The 40-acre Ashramam Maidan in Kollam
city on February 24 evening became a picture of Kerala’s Hindu might
and patriotic spirit with over 1,00,000 disciplined RSS volunteers
lining up in full uniform to salute sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat at
the Prant Sanghik. The event proved to be the declaration of
resoluteness of Kerala’s Hindu mind to fight all cultural and
political degradations and to work selflessly for the welfare of
humanity and uphold forever the spirit of Hindutva”.
The piece adds: “Addressing the meet, the RSS chief, who was on his
first visit to Kerala after becoming the sarsanghachalak, reminded the
swayamsevaks and Sangh supporters that the problems of the country
could be solved only through the selfless power of Hindutva. ‘Only
Bharat, with its basic philosophy of Hindutva, can show the right path
to the entire world,’ he said.”
The RSS organ further quotes Bhagwat as saying: “There is an
accusation that Sanatan Dharma is Sanatan but not modern. But studies
in several universities around the globe have revealed that the
essence of Sanatan Dharma and Hindutva is post-modern. The major
problems facing the world are extreme intolerance, selfishness and
greed”. He is also quoted as saying: “Our borders are unsafe. China is
intruding into India and firing, while the government of India is
suppressing facts and playing hide and seek. Pakistan is pushing
jihadis into India for blasts and jihadi strikes. Sikhs are beheaded.
But the government of India has no stable or strong policy vis-a-vis
China and Pakistan.”
News fit to sell
In its editorial titled “Make a distinction between news and
propaganda,” the RSS mouthpiece says: “The media can both be the
poodle and the watchdog. But of late, it is becoming more of the
poodle than the watchdog. The government of India in a recent advisory
to TV channels directed them to avoid giving undue coverage to
terrorists and terror groups and cover such events with great
responsibility and sensitivity. The advisory, in fact, was long
overdue”.
It adds: “Every terror attack has, of late, unfortunately become a
kind of veritable celebration and overkill for most channels. The
media, especially the electronic, has been indiscriminately featuring
terrorists, with their family history, interviews and the so-called
Karachi plot to destroy India with unbelievable fanfare and a
persistent obstinacy. Of equal concern is the obsessed regularity with
which soft stories on the D-Company are telecast on certain channels.
All that the terrorists want is publicity and speculation about their
motives, missions and methods. That is the way these underground
outlaws operate and try to advance their agenda, if they have one.”
The editorial goes on to say: “This brings us to the subject of the
business of selling news space. After liberalisation, the corporate
interest has come to dominate politics, policy format and media
coverage. As a consequence, matters that once used to come to us as
press notes, now get splashed on the front pages as exclusive. It is
propaganda that often comes as breaking news. The adage that news is
something somebody wants to hide, is no more a dictum for the post-
globalisation media. In this context, the advice of the Editors Guild
of India to the Election Commission of India to take strong action
against both politicians and media persons who violate the disclosure
norms of election expenditure and publicity, failed to generate the
desired public interest. Such issues are often buried somewhere inside
between advertisements in a single column and go unnoticed”.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/view-from-the-right/586588/0
chhotemianinshallah
> by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
> this post may be reposted several times.
Jai Maharaj
From Encyclopedia Dramatica
Jai Maharaj IS undisputedly the biggest troll/trollspammer in the
universe! SERIOUSLY! Consider this:
He has atleast 100,000 posts on Usenet
He just won't die
He's been literally living on Usenet ever since it came into
existence
All of his posts are copypasta of articles advancing his point of
view; none of his posts have any moral, spiritual or commercial value
Considered to be a major factor contributing to the downfall of
Usenet
Contents [show]
1 Usenet Abuse and Crossposting Faggotry
2 Asstroll-ogy
3 Real Identity
4 Some Theories and Answers to the puzzle
5 Theory and Timeline based on the above facts
6 More Research7 How to Annoy Jai Maharaj
Usenet Abuse and Crossposting Faggotry
What makes Jai Maharaj the biggest pest on usenet is his crossposting
all over usenet with daily news articles suggesting a vicious anti-
christian and anti-muslim slant….and vegetarianism. (Vegetarianism was
invented by high caste Hindoos to exterminate the lower caste ones by
starvation). Jai claims to have been around since the predecessor to
the Internet, ARPANET was started. But again, all he did was hijack it
as a tool for his bullsh*t astrology and Hinduism. As of now, there
are 100,0000 [Update: 110,000 and climbing] of his rubbish postings
dumped all over usenet, clogging newsgroups and modem speed. All his
posts contain a signature with links to his site. As one user noticed,
his postings tend to attract a certain idiotic fringe of superstitious
Hindoos who then find the link to his website at the end of the post.
Jai Maharaj Likes... Jai Maharaj Dislikes...
Asstrology Scientists
Vegetarianism Meat-eaters
Hindu caste system (he's high caste) Members of Hindu low castes
acting uppity on Usenet...even if they are second generation
Americans!
Living in USA USA
Trolling and stalking Being trolled and stalked
Homo porn Hindu porn http://www.flickr.com/photos/haberlah/55690106/in/set-1206444/
Hindu high caste Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu lower castes
Being Anonymous Being trolled by Anonymous
Hinduism Any other ism
Does Jai Maharaj ever write on his own? If he could, he wouldn’t be
spamming across usenet like a nut, he would be a writer. His usual
response never goes beyond 4 lines and only consists of a screaming
outburst against “xtians” and “muslims” and anyone who disagrees with
him. But he compensates for this lack of expression by digging up IP
addresses and obtaining locations, real names and phone numbers of his
enemies, which he posts online for his devoted Hindoo pimps to
harass….or in the case of Sidharth, he notifies the authorities
alleging “child abuse”. Its no surprise that Jai is the most despised
entity on Usenet and the entire Usenet community eagerly awaits the
day he will post his last.
The Mahabully, the best psychological compilation on Jai Maharaj ever.
Written by o...@cts.com and can be found here. It details his attacks
on several Usenet posters, his masturbation confessions and his IRA
sympathies. To quote :
“The Mahabully lusts for the prestige and fear that an Ascendent
Hindustan would inspire, and prefers that this is realised at the
expense of his race enemies. His own voice is mean-spirited, immature
and violent. The Mahabully, like other bullies, forms the nucleus of a
coterie of bullies and wanna-be bullies. His kangaroo courts attract a
cabal of marginal, schizoid personalities. The Mahabully may pursue a
vindictive vendetta against anyone who dares to hold them accountable,
perhaps using others' resources and contemptuous of the damage caused
to other people and organisations in pursuance of the vendetta. The
Mhabully 'is greedy, selfish, a parasite and an emotional vampire'.
The Mahabully imposes on others a self-aggrandising falsehood, a
living lie, which is constantly buttressed by additional distortion
and lies. The Mahabully is quick to conjure with injurious terms like
'terrorist'yet it is he himself, Jay Stevens aka Jai Maharaj, who
might fairly be accused of terrorism IMO. For example, he has
advertised a terrorist training video on Usenet.
More Resources
Jai Maharaj's bullshit on Usenet.
http://groups.google.ca/groups?as_q=&num=10&scoring=r&hl=en&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&as_ugroup=&as_usubject=&as_uauthors=Jai+Maharaj&lr=&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=&as_mind=1&as_minm=1&as_miny=1981&as_maxd=2&as_maxm=12&as_maxy=2007&safe=off
R Johnson has the second best compilation on Jai which can be found
here.
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Jay+Stevens&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=890778936.233210%40iris.nyx.net&rnum=1
A FAQon Jai Maharaj.
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/minifaqs/jai.maharaj.miniFAQ
Dr. Jose Mariachi’s Compiled Killfile on Jai
http://www.geocities.com/drjosemariachi/jay_faq.html#bb
Jerry Guzzman’s description of jai whom he claimed to have met Jai
Maharaj. According to him, Jai derives some sado-masochist psychotic
pleasure from people paying attention to him, whether positive or
negative.(Proof that jyotshi/Brahmin Hinduism adversely affects mental
capacity?)
Asstroll-ogy
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish
Jai Maharaj preys on ignorant Hindu fools who don’t even know the
internet is on computers….and to whom a message posted in English to
usenet is the equivalent of India test firing another ex-russian junk
missile. Jai has his pimps in India fleece these ignorant fools of
their money by offering them bullshit jyotshi predictions. In
addition, Jai Maharaj seeks to push the rest of the jyotshi scammers
off his turf by copyrighting catch phrases like “prediction registry”,
“holistic jyotshi” and “mantra”! His bullshit jyotshi atrology can be
seen at work at his websites, such,
Main Asstrollogy page of Jai
Another Asstrollogy page
http://www.flex.com/~jai/
More Asstrollogy
How the scam works is that some idiot Hindu who cant type or
comprehend stumbles upon his usenet posts and follows the above links
embedded in his signature…….and voila! Meet jai, the predictor of
their future happiness and well being. Since hardcore materialism,
hate and penis worship wash away the remaining intellect of his
adherents, they are more than willing to part away with their money
for a little guidance from a cyber-jyotshi …….and what is there to say
when the bullshit jyotshi boasts clients (unnamed of course….ahem)
among all the rich and powerful running this planet? Even the
whitehouse is said to havee declared war on timing outlined by Jai!
Don't believe me? Read him right here.
Jai’s jyotshi scam simply consists of juggling various assumptions and
screaming glory when any one of them work out. Whats worse, Jai isn’t
even putting up a realistic Nostradamus like fooling game……instead he
is lousy enough to let his anti-christian and anti-muslim bias leak
into his predictionsas well. Again, one has to subscribe by
contributing to his PayPal account to get access to his bullshit
predictions on future events.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/PayPal
http://www.flex.com/~jai/registry/white.html
Real Identity
This is the only known photograph of Jai Maharaj. It appeared on an
asstrollogy website. The following information also appeared: "Jai
Maharaj, P.O. Box 1919, Waianae, HI 96792-6919, USA, Tel:
1-808-521-8808, Email: jyot...@aol.com (Synthetics - NO, Uparatnas -
YES, Flawed gems - NO) - SERVICE: I both choose gems and also supply
gems loose or set in jewelry"Jai Maharaj's own website has a very
brief but pompous bio that runs as follows:
http://www.mantra.com/jyotish/quotes.html
Jai Maharaj, who lives in Hawaii, USA, was born and raised in Varanasi
and later in other northern cities. He has been active in campaigns
for both the conservation of time-tested wisdom and the progress of
Bharat. His education and life experience include spirituality, health
and medicine, architecture and engineering, law and business, and
activism in several areas. He has also battled the enemy as a soldier
in the armed forces at the border in Kashmir. Jai Maharaj is a
consultant for a think tank with the government, organizations and
individuals as clients. He is an ordained Vedic-Hindu priest. He hosts
a popular, comprehensive and well maintained news website News Plus .
He monitors news worldwide concerning India and also participates
actively in many discussion forums.
According to Mike (mi...@zang.com),
Jay Stevens hung out on Hawaii's GT Power BBS network in the late 80's
early 90's. I'm talking like 89-90, in that area. While my memories of
him specifically are vary vague, they do carry a general feeling of
chronic irritation. One can be very confident to add IBM compatibles
as his platform of choice, as Hawaii's BBS scene in that period was
heavily platform segregated, and GT Power was a very pro-PC
environment, and had a large military subculture. Nothing I remember
indicates that he was in the military, however.
He is also described as being in his 60s.
In addition, several addresses have been posted on Usenet purportedly
belonging to him. They are of course, yet to be verified, but anyway
here they are:
JAY R STEVENS : 4305 ALLA ROAD APT 7, MARINA DEL RAY, CA 90292
4086, GLENCOE AVE, MARINA DEL RAY, CA 90292 Tel: 310-823-3461
3940, LUTHERAN CIR, SACRAMENTO, CA 95826 ... right near the Sacramento
burb of Manlove
3168 BRAND ST, IRVINE, CA 92606 Tel: 310-375-8510; DOB: May 1940; AGE:
63; E-Mail:j...@mantra.com; ISPs: FLEX NET
A Whois search of Jai’s Mantra.com reveals the following:
Registrant:Mantra Corporation (MANTRA-DOM),P. O. Box 1919, Honolulu,
HI 96792-6919 US
Administrative Contact:Maharaj, Jai (JM225) j...@FLEX.COM
Mantra Corporation
P. O. Box 1919
Waianae, HI 96792-6919 US
(808) 581-8808 fax: 999 999 9999
Technical Contact:Wong, Del (DW403) d...@FLEX.COM
P.O.Box 22481
HONOLULU, HI 96822-2481 US
(808) 539-3790 fax: (808) 539-3793
In the early days of the Internet, Shyamasundara Dasa had an ugly
business dealing with Jai, whichallowed him these personal tidbits:
Date of birth: Oct 7, 1946, 9:15AM
Place of birth: New Delhi, India
Real name: Jai Mathura (but was using Jai Stevens)
Address: as given above
Phone: 808-948-4357
FAX: 808-696-3217
Usenet user Reginald Perrin managed to dig up the incorporation papers
of Mantra.com. He managed to come up with information that Jay Stevens
(Jai Mirage, Jai Maharaj) is one of the founding officers (the other
being Joan Miller) of Mantra Corporation, which was incorporated in
Hawaii on November 30, 1990 issued 1000 shares. It's an astrology scam
masquerading as a business consulting and marketing outfit, with 2
shareholders.
From a Hawaii state web site:
NAME: MANTRA CORPORATION
STATUS: A
CONSENT:
SIM-NAME:
DATE-INC: 11/30/1990
TERM: PER
DATE-EXP:
ADDRESS: P. O. BOX 1919 WAIANAE HI 96792 6919
PURPOSE: BUSINESS CONSULTING, MARKETING,ADVERTISING AND RELATED
SERVICES
SEC DEALER:
VOTE:
VOTE DATE:
REPORTS=> CURR-YR: LAST-YR: 1993 PRIOR-YR: 1992
DELINQUENT:
OFFICERS AS OF 11/30/1990
STEVENS,JAY R POSITION: *P/S/D
MILLER,JOAN E POSITION: *V/T/D
STOCK AS OF 11/30/1990
COMMON SHARES: 1,000 PAID IN:
1,000
PAR-VAL:
TRAN-DATE--ST-TYPE-REMARKS
11/30/1990 C ART ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION
As you can see, mantra.com is incorporated in the name of JAY R.
STEVENS and we can safely assume its his real name. Joan Miller may
either be Jai's Indian wife with a changed name, or a a chickin.
Dell Wong
As you can see in the technical contact of Mantra.com, a certain Dell
Wong is listed. Dell Wong can be several things:
1.An employee/frontman of Jay Stevens
2.A business partner of Jay Stevens
3.A legal alias of Jay Stevens. (under law, it is possible to have a
legal alias provided its listed with the authorities)
4. A completely non-related entity who has become guilty by
association with flex.com, which hosts mantra.com and appears to be
complacent towards Jai's trolling activities.
It has been assumed that Del Wong is nothing but Jay Stevens’
frontman, whom Jay uses in his real legal and business affairs. Del
Wong has been ruled out as being an alias of Jai since his photodoes
not resemble a desi. He may be local Hawaiian or Chinese.
Or who knows? It could be Jai. Well anyway, the contact info of of
Mr . Wong from a Hawaii government tax site is as follows:
Agent Name DEL WONG
Agent Address 2800 WOOD LAWN DR STE 254
HONOLULU Hawaii 96822
United States of America
Business Entity Name FLEXNET, INC.
Record Type Master Name for a Domestic Profit Corporation
File Number 99105 D1
Status Active
Purpose TO PROVIDE HIGH-SPEED COMMERCIAL INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
FOR HAWAII BASED ORGANIZATION COMPANIES AND INDIVIDUALS;
Place Incorporated Hawaii UNITED STATES (Same as mantra.com)
Incorporation Date 03/13/1995
Mailing Address P O BOX 22481 HONOLULU Hawaii 96823-2481
United States of America
Xref Name 1 FLEX NET
Term PER
Some Theories and Answers to the puzzle
The great mystery regarding jay Stevens is why his ISP, FLEX.COM has
never kicked him off than take the trouble and complaints, especially
since he pays a measly $9.95/ month to stay online. The most plausible
answer is that Jay Stevens owns Flex.com through Dell Wong! It seems
Jay originally sneaked into the United States disguised as one of the
thousands of mass produced computer coolies. In his initial years, his
computer coolie skills blossomed but once he managed to escape the
work gang and apply for permanent residence, he reverted back to being
the bullshit jyotshi hatemonger he always was. However, before his
computer skills waned, his computer coolie skills helped him set up
Hawaii’s first ISP, Flex.com and once the cash started flowing, jay
discovered there was plenty of time to spend on his vedic jyotshi
asstrollogy as well as pursuing his hates.
Many have wondered how Jay manages to stay online 24/7 and yet retain
his humanity. The answer is that when he is not cross posting hate, he
is managing Flex.com. In other words he is half robot half demon.
A WHOIS of Flex.com reveals the following:
Registrant:
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Created on: 24-Sep-91
Admin. Contact:
wong, del d...@flex.com
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
(808) 539-3790 Fax --
Technical Contact:
wong, del d...@flex.com
flexnet inc.
p.o.box 22481
honolulu, Hawaii 96823-2481 United States
(808) 539-3790 Fax –
Del Wong (or Jai Stevens?) is the founder-owner of Flex.com.
Theory and Timeline based on the above facts
http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/
Jai Maharaj/Jay Stevens sneaked into the United States as an average
grade mass-produced computer coolie. Here are some facts derived from
an online interview between Caroline Wright and ‘Dell Wong’, who
happens to sound more like Jai.
Studied at University of Hawaii at Manoa(might be a good idea to ask
them)
ran a bbs for eight years prior to that got kicked out by U.H., got
his sister in-law in trouble by abusing her internet access
privileges.
Then started ISP service in July 12th 1994 under several different
names, such as Flex.com (of which he indicates had its first employee
named Kristin Paulo who started Hula.net)
He was also involved in the setup of several local Hawai ISPs Did Web
programming with Jeff Tupa who became webmaster and system
administrator for Flex.com. *Tupa is said to have left on 12/29/03.
Had a partner by the name Del Wong
Though the respondent in this interview is referred to as Dell Wong,
it sounds exactly like Jai. And since it was conducted via email, it
is more than probable that Jai was on the other end. For example, this
interview is located on the Flex.com website in the "who are we" tab.
Rather than give a brief info on the company and its history, we find
an online interview with Caroline Wright entitled "Curiousity Killed
the cat." Further, there are too many arrogant and vague comments made
through the interview which sound more like Jai. This interview was
conducted in January 2000, but don’t be surprised if Jai removed or
edited it.
Consider these arrogant and nonchalant comments in the interview which
are a trademark of Jai.
Lots of prospects get put off by our/my "attitude", but heck, FlexNet
is Del Wong.
I don't bother anymore reading the dang thing. As I said before our
present modem situation is crappy. But again, by the time this article
comes out, we will again rock in that department. No worry.
(Caroline Wright asks)Who is the staff of FlexNet? Are you a one-man
band? Is Missus Wong still helping you out? Is Flex your only
business, or do you have other irons in the fire? What are they?
(Jai/Wong answers)Everything is secret. Don't Tell, Don't Ask.
The question of Jai owning Flex.com has surfaced before on Usenet.As
usual, Jai brings forth his sockpuppets to dissuade people from
further pursuing the topic. Take this thread,
Siva K Sundaram wrote:Dr. Jai Maharaj (supposed) real name is Jay
Stevens (based on Net info,one can't know for sure if that's his
actual real name). His web site's domain name, mantra.com, identified
as belonging to Mantra Corporation,has an IP address (206.126.0.13)
matching the domain for the Hawaiian ISP flex.com, which Mr. Stevens
(probably) owns and runs.
To this, a sockpuppet of Jai responds:
Jay Stevens doesn't own or run shit! He's a mercenary for the VHP,
paid by a well-known Indian doctor who "operates" from Houston. I say
he's a mercenary, because he does not live what he purports to preach,
and because he is paid for the propaganda and recruitment efforts.
Flex.com is *not* owned or operated by Jay, but they do host some
services for him, for a fee, of course. His spamming, discerning
readers will note, stems not from flex.com(which has a stern policy in
that regard), but from a no-holds-barred Usenet provider called
Altopia:
A more intelligent Usenet user writes:
Right, that's discernible from examining the source of his posts, that
he uses Altopia for his NNTP services. However, I can't buy the claim
that flex.com merely hosts services for Mr.Stevens. The domain names
flex.com and mantra.com map to the same IP address.If flex.com merely
hosted services for mantra.com, then mantra.com would have to map to a
different IP address.(Note that Jai may have corrected this)So Mr.
Stevens' (if that's his real name) relationship with flex.com is
clearly More than just being a customer. And there's evidence that Mr.
Stevens is trying to hide that fact. He has a web Page at http://www.flex.com/~jai
which suggests that he's a customer of that ISP. He also has a
separate page for his "organization", http://www.mantra.com (address
206.126.13.34), which also suggests a pure customer relationship,
since The address apparently is on the flex.com subnet. However, the
following is unusual. Since mantra.com has the same IP address as
Flex.com, one should expect to reach the flex.com web site by entering
Mantra.com as a URL in a browser, but this does not happen! Rather,
the HTTP Server "magically" recognizes the mantra.com name and
redirects the request to 206.126.13.34, to www.mantra.com! Further
evidence that Mr. Stevens is trying To hide his more intimate
relationship with flex.com.
More Research
Please contact Anonymous and request more research.
How to Annoy Jai Maharaj
Respond to his Usenet posts with a copypasta of this article.
Accuse him of murdering rival asstrollogers
Create an online game in which vegetables have to escape from being
eaten by him
Call him Pakistani
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Jai_Maharaj
Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
View Full Version : Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
Dr. Gay Maharaj
Dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj
http://members.tripod.com/sid_e_slicker/india10.html
By Sid Harth
The heinous Hindus like a fake doctor, rather a dog-tor, Hindu
hoodlum, Dr. Jai Maharaj and yours truly have a running feud. This
fundamentalist Hindu terrorist tries to irritate me, apparently for no
reason. It is going on for good four years. In this time I wrote and
posted nearly five thousand articles on all subjects imaginable,
basically showing the heinous Hindu character.
This ding bat dog-tor, however, in the same period, or approximately
so, have stolen copyrighted material from reputed media and posted
under his fake name, Dr. Jai Maharaj nearly fifty thousand articles,
according to Deja.com archives.
I cannot compete with that kind of demonic output. Dr. Jai Maharaj
should thank god for that kind of energy, drive and single minded
pursuit of Hindu ****, that is exactly what his posts are and always
were. What is that idiotboy's problem? Perhaps schizophrenia, perhaps,
multiple personality disorder, perhaps advance stages of brain trauma.
Whatever is his case against yours truly, not clear to me nor is it
clear to his Hindu hoodlum cabal.
This hoodlum has just about accused every single leader of the world,
every single religion of the world, every leader of opposition in
India, including but not limited to Sonia Gandhi, Roman Catholic wife
of former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, who was mercilessly
murdered by Hindu fanatics such as Dr. Jai Maharaj, imagine that.
The over abundance of filth he posts, no one is capable of reading it
no matter how many hours one can spare for that dishonorable duty.
Apart from being a spam meister, this gangeskhan reposts several of
his very lenghthy, sometimes hundreds of pages long material, not just
once but several times.
Dr. ding bat dog-tor's feud with me is not unique. He has gone after
several other newsgroup posters and writers, not the same thing. This
saffron **** sheriff considers himself not only a great Hindu moralist
but like an idiot that he is, breaks his own pumped up false image,
right thereafter. Of all the material he posts none is penned by him,
except a headline, all caps venomous headline. His signature includes
a Sanskrit mantra, "Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti." Literally it means the
be peace, repeated three times for stress.
However this ding bat has no peace in his deluded mind as he comes out
brandishing his excaliber as a war mongering monkey. There is your
typical Hindu filthy thinking and filthier philosophy. Comes directly
from one black Hindu god, lord Krishna.
All fine and well for me as if not this ding bat ****ting around we
would, most probably, not be able to portray a typical Hindu American,
safe in America which allows free speech and due protection under the
law. Dr. Jai Maharaj loves free speech as much as I do. His free
speech falls in the category, which is excluded under the US
constitution gurantees. One cannot cry fire in a crowded theater, with
or without valid reasons.
Ds. Jai Maharaj not only cries, not that womanly cry either, cry of a
warrior, blood curdling cry of American native, wrongfully called
'Indian.' The cry is shrill, obnoxious, fearful and incendiary, to say
the least. Hindu hoodlums love him, adore him and play his game. Good
for the village idiots, I say. I am least disturbed as to the fact
that dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj has both secret and not so secret
groupies. It just proves that an idiot can be village idiot Hindus'
messed up Messiah. Who else do you think ought to lead bunch of ****
worms than king of all **** worms, idiotboy, dog-tor Dr. Jai Maharaj?
The problem is with his lies. He lies, lies some more and to cover his
tracks, lies on top of it. If according to ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai
Maharaj, Hindu religion is the best in the world how come he has to
defend it so vigorously? Shouldn't the best product in the world,
including the best mouse-trap get the people knocking the doors?
This rats' asshole has serious problem with his logic. Let us for
argument's sake consider dog-tor Dr. Jai Maharaj's argument that Hindu
religion is the best and the Hindu culture is the best add to that as
a corollary, Hindu gods, all thirty-three millions of them are the
best, practitioners of Hindu religion are the best, citizens liveing
in India and practicising faithfully their cherished religion are the
best, make it anything and everything related to Hindu religion is the
best, for
argument's sake only.
Dt. Jai Maharaj's outrage against the world has no place. The value or
the price of a diamond is determined by the demand and supply of that
unique product. De Beers, the world monopoly decides how many diamonds
be marketed and at what price. No matter what is actual production or
actual demand the price is kept high to make diamond value at a
specific, luxury level.
If Dr. Jai Maharajs antics can be considered equal to De Beers cartel,
keeping the value of Hindu religion at ridiculously high level it
serves no purpose. No one is interested at Dr. Jai Maharaj's
artificially held value of Hindu religion. There is no great rush to
migrate to Hindu religion. The contrary is true. great many people
have abandoned it, if not stopped being rigorous practitioners of Dr.
Jai Maharaj brand of Hindu religion.
Under the circumstances, his hue and cry and his illegal, immoral
attitude towards all is unjustified. No matter how many times I said
that Hindu religion is a gutter religion it makes no difference to the
practitioners of that religion. They still follow their conscience or
personal choices to stick with it.
Shouldn't this ding bat dog-tor take a hint that it is the personal
choice of Hindus against overwhelming evidence against their religion,
their society, their history and culture that keeps it in place. I do
not believe that this ding bat dog-tor has that simple logical truth
seeking imagination.
Du. Jai Maharaj need not offend or defend anyone. God takes care of
that. I don't suppose this idiotboy has what it takes to add two and
two. Most probably, it would be five, three or twenty-two.
Sid Harth..."Show me a defender of Hindu culture and I shall show you
an idiotboy, dog **** eating, ding bat dog-tor, Dr. Jai Maharaj."
Dr. Gay Maharaj
http://www.cyclingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-55500.html
'na he na he he's is rotan baba 'who rolled up kulu manali in northern
hindustani.
`I've always `wondered who this chickensucker "Jai Maharaj" was. I
knew `for certain he wasn't a real Hindu. I did a Google `search on
"Jai Maharaj" + "Jay Stevens", and dozens of `hits popped up. Thanks
for the lead.
%:%:%: The Proto Jai Maharaj Periodic %:%:%: %:%:%: Informational
Posting %:%:%:
1. Who is Jai Maharaj?
Jai Maharaj is the 'Voice of Mantra Corporation'. Though it is seen
as
just one poster posting all the stuff on Usenet, it is widely
suspected
that Jai is not the only contributor.
2. What newsgroups are home to Jai Maharaj?
You're kidding. Any newsgroup on Usenet, forums on Compuserve,
practically anything anywhere anytime is home to Jai Maharaj. Just
post on any of the following groups on Noosenet and Jai is very eager
always to share his wisdom with any group.
Jai's wisdom is presently available on the following groups:
alt.astrology sci.med.nutrition rec.food.veg soc.culture.indian
alt.culture.hawaii (he says "Come over to alt.culture.hawaii" but he
JAI MAHARAJ UNCUT AND UNWASHED
Dean T Dean!!!!!! You got the afternoon off from your poor yet honest
dad's fast goat turd franchise and you...
never posts there)
The Usenet graph of Jai Maharaj in a brand of vedic astrology :
3. What do you need to do to get in the good books of Jai Maharaj?
Well, say that Vedic astrology is good. Don't ever be a animal person-
eater. Also see Q. 4. Also ask Virendra on alt.astrology.
4. What do you need to do to get in the bad books of Jai Maharaj?
Just flame him on Usenet for 5 days. It helps if you are quite
"popular" or "widely known" on a newsgroup. Else you aren't worth Jai
Maharaj's time. Say that Vedic Astrology is a fake. Or that Mantra
Corporation is misusing Internet-Usenet by advertizing using the 4-
line .sig.
5. What is common between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer?
Both have claim to being one of the most "popular" persons on Usenet.
Jai has accused lots of people with "LIBEL". JP has slapped virtual
lawyers on many.
6. What is different between Jai Maharaj and John Palmer?
John has his own machine and his own domain. Jai gets on to U. of
Hawaii and accesses Freenets from there.
John has a knowledge of sendsys while Jai doesn't. Jai is quite known
to accuse people of sending mail plants when there wasn't any sent.
But Jai is working hard to be a JP.
7. What is the mark of a Jai Maharaj posting?
It always starts with a -=Namaste=- and ends with a -=Om Shanti=-.
oops.. sorry. Always ends with the 4 line .sig.
He posts usually from his accounts as:
Exposed Arindam Banerjee's tactics of abuse 3302
Dr. Jai Maharaj Yawnnn.... Still peddling the same old lies. I'll
reply (yet again) with the same...
Your tax dollars at work!
Till date, he has never been seen from a commercial account. Once in a
while, mantra corporation (which has the same mcimail number
apparently its distilled wisdom.
8. What do I do if I don't want to see Jai's postings at all?
There is a wonderful mechanism on bulletin board systems called
"Killfile". Use it.
is the freenet he is using. Also you can send a nice 'thank you' note
for every posting he does. He appreciates it very much.
9. Why this FAQ?
There are countless people on Usenet who still don't know Jai Maharaj
and this humble effort on my part will probably enable people from far
and wide to get to know the personality of Jai.
btw, there is also a alt.fan.jai-maharaj (the newgroup was sent by
spread the Jai Maharaj message for the good of the world.
Contributions to the FAQ most welcome. If anyone wants to take over
the FAQ, you are most welcome to. Please post everything on the
newsgroup.
Every effort has been made to present facts. Corrections welcome on
that count from anyone, be it from Jai Maharaj or John Palmer.
Jai anon.penet.fi. Jai Jai Maharaj. Jai Julf.
-=Om Jai Maharaj=-
This posting can be circulated on any non-profit media. You can make
copies for educational use.
Brought to this forum by a caring anon.penet.fi user. Please post this
as a reply to jai's messages while snipping his message. Spread to all
corners of the creation. ÐÐ
JAI MAHARAJ BUSTED....CONNECTION TO FLEX.COM EXPOSED! VERSION 1.0
(OR PROOF THAT HINDUISM HAS LETHAL SIDE EFFECTS)
JAI MAHARAJ's CONNECTION TO HINDU personS.....
Jai Maharaj is in bed with Hindu persons and the Hindu equivalent
investigated by the Mumbai police for promoting liquidate of non-Hindu
Indians. The Hinduunity website has a "hitlist" page with names and
addresses of non-Hindu Indians against whom it openly incites
violence. The "hitlist" can be viewed here:
Mumbai Police Investigates hinduunity: VSNL, INDIA's Govt is blocking
the site. Israeli funded Hindu hate criminal Rohit Vyasman, who was
kicked off his ISP addr.com, runs the site. The site currently has its
own server and requires no ISP. The
Created On:01-Mar-2000 00:32:20
UTC Sponsoring Registrar:R164-LROR Registrant ID:GKG-C00000E47E
Registrant Name:Rohit Vyasmaan PO BOX 174 East Norwich NY 11732 US
Phone:+1.2089785264
There is proof that the Israeli person outfit outlawed by the UN,
Kahane.org runs the website, since it carries a link to Kahane.org as
well as Israeli propaganda.
In addition, the two servers of the website are : NS1.YESHUA.CC
(Yeshua is a Jewish name)
Name Server:NS2.GWSYSTEMS.CO.IL
(IL is the subdomain for Israel)
"When Addr.com dropped HinduUnity.org as one of its clients, Vyasman
called Guzofsky's office in Brooklyn. Guzofsky is a follower of Rabbi
Meir David Kahane, a Brooklyn-born, former member of the Israeli
Knesset, who called for the expulsion of Arabs from Israel. Guzofsky
connected Vyasman to Gary Wardell, a businessman in Annandale, VA.
Wardell's web service business now hosts both the HinduUnity.org and
Kahane.org sites. The two sites also have a mutual link." Link:
Jai maharaj frequently posts links to this website as well as
material. Whats more, he is a member of the members only forum area
where Hindu fanatics meet and discuss upcoming riots and
buttbuttinations in India.
Did Jai Maharaj help Rohit Vyasman set up Hinduunity.org on his own
servers?
the WHOIS of which is as follows: Registrant: Himalayan Academy
(XGZAGUWGCD) 107 Kaholalele Road Kapaa, HI 11111 US
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact: Japendra
107 Kaholalele Road
Kapaa, HI 11111 US
808-822-7032 fax: 808-822-4351
The other website contained in Jai's signature is
http:www.hindunet.org, the WHOIS of which is as follows: Registrant
ID:DOTR-00243868 plus 1 Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Inc. P.O.
Box 722098 San Diego CA 92172 US Phone:+1.8584844564 Admin.
ID:DOTC-01366589 Admin Name:Ajay Shah
Note that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is the Nazi-KKK equivalent of with
it enbreastles him to an investigation.
JAI MAHARAJ BEHIND HATE CRIMES IN HONOLULU?:
Oct.22,2002: The FBI and Honolulu police have launched a hate crime
investigation into who left hundreds of anti-Muslim leaflets at Oahu's
only mosque yesterday morning. The leaflets were breastled "ATTENTION
RAG-HEADS" and included a threat against Muslims. The leaflets,
according to the group, said "every curry fund-raiser will be checked
to ensure that funds are not being funnelled to support person groups.
Anyone found in violation will be strapped with explosives and shipped
to Iraq. MAY GOD (NOT ALAH) BLESS AMERICA!!" Source:
Exposed Arindam Banerjee's tactics of abuse 3300
I don't know about him. These two I talk about pretend to be concerned
about Hindus and Hinduism. In reality...
Jai Maharaj resides in Honolulu (we will get to that later). The point
is, if he dedicates his entire day crossposting hate messages against
muslims and posts a link to the Hindu equivalent of the KKK, the VHP
in every post, don't you suppose he might be tempted to get physical?
But since he is a coward Hindu, you can expect him to be involved only
in anonymous hate crimes like the one mentioned above.
There are two peculiar features regarding the aforementioned hate
crime: 1. The reference to "curry fundraisers" seems to be aimed at
deflecting attention from the perpetrator (Jai?) who himself is of
"curry" Asian Indian origin. 2. Allah mispelt as Alah seems to be
deliberate to deflect attention towards Jai and portray the image of a
white Christian perpetrator who happens to be ignorant of spelling
Allah. Deliberate? You bet.
CONTACT THE HAWAII POLICE DEPARTMENT AND TELL THEM WHY YOU THINK JAI
DID IT....REMEMBER, TIPS ARE ANONYMOUS AND YOU COULD BE REWARDED IF
JAI
GETS BUSTED!
Honolulu Police Department 801 South Beretania Street Honolulu, HI
96813
Deputy Chief of Police Paul Putzulu: 529-3975
Police Vice-Drug Tip Hotline: East Hawaii: 934-"VICE" (934-8423) West
Hawaii: 329-"ZERO-ICE" (329-0423) Non-emergency Information and
Complaints: 935-3311
JAI MAHARAJ's FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF CHILD ABUSE
Jai maharaj has a file on him in the California Police Department
after he notified the police that a anti-Hindu Usenet poster
"Sidharth" of Pennsylvania was a child molester. The police
investigated the affair and discovered that Jai had led them on a
false trail. To quote Sidharth:
"His (Jai Maharaj's) latest charge against me is so ridiculous that I
ignored it altogether as typical Hindu blasphemy. The charge is that I
abuse children. This charge was made by one Sujata Londhe, another
covert Hindu person of Morrisville, Pennsylvania. Sujata Londhe has
since been inactive for one or more reasons. She never could prove the
charge nor bunch of Brahmin sh*t loaders who acted on her
William Grosvenor sick Jew hater using fake names. Google William
Grosvenor
U.S. Soldier Recalls Horror of Nazi Camp Published: 5-8-05 MAUTHAUSEN,
Austria (AP) - Bodies stacked like firewood. A concrete slab where
dead...
"This ding bat dog-tor, however, in the same period, or approximately
so, have stolen copyrighted material from reputed media and posted
under his fake name, Dr. Jai Maharaj nearly fifty thousand articles,
according to Deja.com archives." Read Sidharth's article at:
On another occasion, Jai Maharaj accused a usenet user disagreeing On
another occasion, Jai posted private imfo on a non-Hindu Indian so
JAI MAHARAJ IS THE KINGPIN OF A VEDIC-JYOTSHI BULLSH*T ASTROLOGY
SCAM!
Jai Maharaj preys on ignorant Hindu fools who don't even know the
internet is on computers....and to whom a message posted in English to
missile. Jai has his pimps in India fleece these ignorant fools of
their money by offering them bullsh*t jyotshi predictions. In
addition, Jai Maharaj seeks to push the rest of the jyotshi scammers
off his turf by copyrighting catch phrases like "prediction registry",
"holistic jyotshi" and "mantra"! His bullpoo jyotshi atrology can be
never took off. Guess jyotshi bullsh*t and news analysis simply don't
mix.
How the scam works is that some idiot Hindu who cant type a sh*t (and
naturally devoid of comprehension) stumbles upon his usenet posts and
follows the above links embedded in his signature.......and voila!
Meet
jai, the predictor of their future happiness and well being. Since
hardcore materialism, hate and privates worship wash away the
remaining intellect in the minds of his Hindu adherents, they are more
than willing to part away with their money for a little guidance from
a cyber-jyotshi .......and what is there to say when the bullsh*t
jyotshi
boasts clients (unnamed of course....ahem) among all the rich and
powerful running this planet? Even the whitehouse declares war on
timing outlined by Jai! (something he pulled out of his butt). Check
it out here:
scam simply consists of juggling various buttumptions and running
around naked when any one of them work out. Whats worse, Jai isn't
even putting up a realistic Nostradamus like fooling game......instead
he is lousy enough to let his anti-christian and anti-muslim bias leak
into his predictions as well. See subscribe by contributing to his
Paypal account to get access to his bullsh*t predictions on future
events.
JAI MAHARAJ IS A CROSS POSTING USENET ABUSER
http://www.barossa-region.org/Australia/WHO-IS-JAI-MAHARAJ.html
monkey pees in its own mouth [gross]
monkey pees in its own mouth [gross]
0:10
Added: 1 year ago
From: capinfox
Views: 70,039
All Comments (46 total)
Loading...SuperJusto22 (4 days ago) groossssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!! !!!
1
greenorange75 (5 days ago) ATHF FTW
criticalbitch1987 (1 week ago) go on my son !!!!
Bravyanz0r (1 week ago) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WTH?!
KhanioProductions (2 weeks ago) Give this comment a thumbs UP! lol
watermeloncutie16 (2 weeks ago)I think that is so sad that monkey
needs some water
RonixEnclave (3 weeks ago) I had to do that when I was lost in the
desert for 4 days.
lolaap1234 (3 weeks ago) This is fucking sad he needs to get water
australianicon (1 month ago) this monkey is doing what i do almost
every day
volcomdaddy (1 month ago) i just really hate monkeys so much!!!!!!!
SantaTheEmo (1 month ago) makes me thirsty.
Fartknocker0990 (1 month ago) i hope no one is getting ideas........
InYourFaceNewYorker (1 month ago)That's not a monkey, that's a
chimpanzee, considered one of the great apes. Chimps are the closest
cousins of humans. Wow, our close cousin is peeing in his mouth. ;)
krisrod8 (2 weeks ago) do you look like a monkey?
xochequetsal (1 month ago)stupid monkey!
sich69 (1 month ago) ^_^
isin1998 (1 month ago) o_o omg omg o_o
AshleyWyles (1 month ago) eh mi god that was so disgusting!! EW
mercen144 (2 months ago)likes the comments
Rexd101 (2 months ago) Monkies are awesome. They can survive in the
desert because they have something to drink. As long as they keep
drinking it they can store it for later. Fucking awesome huh.
Shanzap (2 months ago) uhm
u can only drink ur pee once
after that the salt and acid in it will kill u
u have to wait for ur system to cleanse again
well I dunno for monkeys
cause clearly this monkey must do it all the time
leightontang (2 months ago) OH MY GOSH THAT DISGUSTING!!!!!!!!!
Rubbatubby8 (2 months ago) Same here
Sm00thCriminaal (2 months ago) lol refreshing....homemade lemonade
with a twang to it.
yamahaTRAIL (2 months ago) @Sm00thCriminaal hahahahhaha
kslaopuwmuil (2 months ago) we love monkeys they are sooooo cute
(sweet)
5/5
dasbakon (2 months ago) Chimpanzees are not monkeys, they are apes.
kslaopuwmuil (2 months ago) Shit dude, get a life instead of being a
smartass.
nolifer
thecorduroysuit (2 months ago) Comment removed by author
Comment(s) marked as spam Show
Comment(s) marked as spam Hide
thecorduroysuit (2 months ago)Well, dasbakon is absolutely right,
Chimps ARE apes, not monkeys. It`s pretty sad when people equate
intelligence with ``Having no life.``
95gobbler (2 months ago) that monkey got its colors messed up the
pees are suppose to be green not yellow
bearspark (3 months ago) lol
iStocop (3 months ago)if he's thirsty he gotta do wat he gotta do.
joshdodds94 (3 months ago) Curtis Juch..... HarHarhehehaHRahr
Katieboo1996 (5 months ago) gross
samangelo11 (7 months ago) what happened to the other 9
ToontownMad2605 (7 months ago) I counted 1. :S
xluckyx (7 months ago) i demand my other 9 clips >:[
Nathanpq7 (7 months ago) there wuz only 1 vid not 10
robnobhob (7 months ago) hahah xD
Comment(s) marked as spam Show
Comment(s) marked as spam Hide
monkeylover098 (7 months ago) dude u suck 4 that
ThePhoenix815 (11 months ago) where's the other 9?
DJSFAMOUS (8 months ago) exactly
hazzaslim (1 year ago) rofl
skilla2k8 (1 year ago) hahahahaha woodzy
WoodzyBoi2K8 (1 year ago) lol
http://www.youtube.com/comment_servlet?all_comments&v=5Fj37OTTmm4&fromurl=/watch%3Fv%3D5Fj37OTTmm4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Fj37OTTmm4
Crazy gorilla eating his own poo
Crazy gorilla eating his own poo
1:21
Added: 3 years ago
From: chaqlee
Views: 264,967
All Comments (552 total)
zrx7769 (3 days ago) thats not a gorilla, its a nigger
pinoyrules15 (5 days ago) THATs a GORRila talents No one human CAn't
Do that....
silphantom (5 days ago) WhY aRe YoU TyPing LiKe ThIs??
zrx7769 (3 days ago) um, no your wrong
dxdxliu (1 week ago)recycling
bluelite7x (1 week ago)Orangutans piss in their mouths, gorillas eat
their shits, and terrorists blow themselves up. As intelligent as
primates are, they can clearly be fucked in the head!
TheBrawlMaster (1 week ago) This zoo dont feed him enough, so he has
no choice to recycle his poo.
devywevy1996 (1 week ago) if i wasnt sick before i dont know what i
am noww.
truelypink (1 week ago) African American Style!!!
KhanioProductions (2 weeks ago) that is not wat gorillas would do in
the wild, that gorilla is hungry and mentally fucked
vlcmarijn (2 weeks ago) 50 cent
Irokashi (2 weeks ago) Now we know what the gorillas get for diner.
darylklein13 (2 weeks ago) yum yum yum
thats fucking gross
garyf7777 (2 weeks ago) Is this Iyanna Washington?
Selwof (2 weeks ago) this is recycling in its base form, good to see
other creatures making a difference. . .
jaqu19 (2 weeks ago) damn, that is one fucking crazy gorilla!
toasterhead91 (3 weeks ago) petty goss... i saw a goilla eat his
poop, puke it up, then eat the puke tho X_X
Smaejdah (3 weeks ago)He wanted to give those fucking people a little
show :D
zaffe93 (3 weeks ago) what a poor black person
Jan8991 (3 weeks ago) seroiusly poor gorilla
louandmikes (3 weeks ago) 1 word Nasty
14ethank (3 weeks ago) that is beyond gross.
ACmilanfan80 (1 month ago) how does ur shit taste u niggaa
DahnD (1 month ago) My dog eats horse shit O.o Not to mention
frogs...
knarftretsom (1 month ago)YAAY ITS MY LANGUAGE =)
Netherlands ;D
4devilking4 (1 month ago) poor garilla
his hungry T.T
GIVE HIM SOME FOOD!!
his a poor animal who eats poop because his hungry GIVE HIM
FOOOOOOD!!!
specialkid94 (1 month ago)i gues he wanted it his way o.o
yamablaster14 (1 month ago) Finger lickin good yum!! Haha
80gamer (1 month ago) doesnt that make u wanna kiss jim
vicktrickly72 (1 month ago) better than 2 girls 1 cup, and 2 girls 1
finger, and 4 girls fingerpaint...
planes3333 (4 weeks ago) @vicktrickly72
whats that mean??
vicktrickly72 (4 weeks ago) it means STOP WATCHING THINGS EAT WASTE
you might find yourself doing it
GermanysF1nest (1 month ago) baaaaaaaaaaaaaaah pervert
lmr2727 (1 month ago) leave him alone!!!!! dogs do that too, you
know! jeez!
Joshuaguss (1 month ago) LOL 0:33 The gorilla see everybody's laughing
at him, and it looks like he's asking "You never ate poo".
93bendzsi (1 month ago) Also the dogs do thats as well
VibrantBeautyBaBy (1 month ago) Left overs I guess? LoL!
SiCcCkKk!!!!! HAHAHA!
cburrezzy (1 month ago) i know his breath STANKIN!
lauzama (1 month ago) whats wrong that gorilla
80gamer (1 month ago) either its on crak or that poo is going strait
to its head
davidhamburg1996 (1 month ago) wtf ?!?!? LOOOOL !!!!!
GameSpazzProductions (1 month ago)there was probably a recycle sign
somewhere in the zoo.
toaking54 (1 month ago) insane
Shadow247night (1 month ago) That's just messed up!
emokekz890emokekz (2 months ago) leave him be, he's trying to eat for
crying out loud.
gtardude1 (2 months ago)i meen a straght face my dad mesed me up
gtardude1 (2 months ago) whats funny is he eats it with a strait
Ardefoc (2 months ago) Mmm Nutrients
emmanuelrio911 (2 months ago) what an idiot... yuck i lost my
appetite
Tyguy161 (2 months ago) *pukes*... man hes really mackin' down
triplepoopsmith (2 months ago) this is gross but hilarius
hagertyh (2 months ago) That zoo must not give them enough to eat :
( LOL
watermelonhorsey123 (2 months ago) this made my mouth have herpies :
&
khanhq (2 months ago)1 gorilla
1 zoo kinda like 2 girls 1 cup lol
spmommy4 (2 months ago) Rofl
fuzzwarmy (2 months ago) This gorilla is not crazy. Gorillas get
their vitamin B12 and other important nutrients from insects and their
own feces. Zookeepers rarely if ever feed insects to captive gorillas,
so captive gorillas are forced to rely solely on their feces for B12.
soccrplyr10 (2 months ago) the cameraguy said ratemypoo
nrobnas43 (2 months ago) the gorilla says, " This tastes like shit".
cutehannahful (2 months ago) OMG!!!!! I Think i'm gonna throw up!!!
gerrardjake (2 months ago) damn hes downing that like a champ
Sm00thCriminaal (2 months ago) @gerrardjake it must of thought it
seen a peanut
TheIrinucka (2 months ago) i feel sick :-&
MRDOGSWIPE (2 months ago) Oh My Goodness...idk what to say...
MrEmejias (2 months ago) the gorilla is looking at everybody like
"haven't you ever eaten poo?".
Joshuaguss (2 months ago) LOL 0:10 That Gorilla is wondering why a-lot
of people keep watching him eat. 0:40 Look at him, everytime he take a
bite, he looks and see people staring and laughing at him.
1:09 So I guess he said "I'm gonna finish my food when everybody
leave."
Zebbe190 (2 months ago) the gorilla is looking at them like:
-Can you do that, phff!
:)
SillyGoober23 (2 months ago) apes do sometimes do that...there is
usually undigested nuts, fruit, or vegetables that they can
smell...or the Zoo keepers aren't feeding them :-)
DrToonhattan (2 months ago) Haha, that guy at 1:03 looked like he was
going to be sick.
I don't blame him.
But isn't the whole point of poo being really smelly so that animals
don't eat it?
Or maybe it just had a cold.
RaiMX (2 months ago)He is just saying: Look at my poor life - I'm
eating my own shit!
Mas18J (3 months ago) Ieeelllhhh Hij eet gewoon zn eigen poep op!
Haha
HugeChunkySkidmark (3 months ago) I like the part where the monkey
eats the shit
themelanator1 (3 months ago) thats fucking funny when he eats shit
amelie1416 (3 months ago)at least they won't have to clean up his
poop
cryptex220 (3 months ago) wtf?
INTHETREE71 (3 months ago) naasty....
way worse than my neighbors dog Kimmy.... she ate her poo too.....
The thing is is that they crave vitamins so an alternative would be
fesies, also known as shit ! HAHA But this was funny!
unstopable410 (3 months ago) you are one sick and gay nasty mother
fucker
ZzXDGXzZ (3 months ago) lol!! thatd be funny toofbar
welubsoursheet (3 months ago) YUMMY!!!! He makes me so wet. What team
does he play for?
truckdog19508 (3 months ago) thats a gorilla genious, not a baboon,
ya fucken uber tard
MarioLuigification (3 months ago) O.O DX
3rdDragunov (3 months ago) What a stupid fucking animal, that's
fecies, dumb fucking retarded baboon. Some one throw him some patatos
to eat at least?
CazAttack57 (3 months ago) lol yummy
3ej6 (3 months ago) hes just playing mind games
youdead179 (3 months ago) MMM CHOCALATE MUFFINS!!!!!!
HomicideTroop901 (3 months ago)dude
smallin45 (3 months ago) OMG~!
mtgPirate (3 months ago) He must be REALLY hungry..
toofbar3 (3 months ago) 2Gorillas1cup?
FROZENUSER (3 months ago)who doesn't likes to eat poo?
matt4c4 (3 months ago) Comment removed by author
shirey812 (4 months ago) hey, less work for the employees, lol
yomomma41 (4 months ago)hey he's thinking GREEN alright! lmao
RECYCLE!!!
lol
CanadiaNecro1 (4 months ago) They do it in the wild too.
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) :O THAT'S NASTY...welp, this proves
that we're defendantly related to apes!!
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) CRAP! SPELLED DEFIANTLY WRONG...
CaveatCartoonShows (4 months ago) wait...that's not how you spell it
either...
BrittanyBrittanyable (4 months ago) LMFAO! *spits* That was sooooo
gross but halarious. Them damn zoo owners need to feed him!
treasuredroperX (3 months ago) He has leaves to eat...
NoMercyForTheWeak001 (4 months ago) ooh dude! my eyes!
dittocopys (4 months ago) you are not alone 0_0
TappaJ123 (4 months ago) wow!!!!!
sChOoLmIsSeR (4 months ago)He must of enjoyed that..
karts565 (4 months ago) söö sitta
MrMickeyd1112 (4 months ago) pause at 0:10 Something funny
bitches?!?!?!
greendaylover4 (4 months ago)ha ha yeah lol good one
taeyatalkalot (4 months ago) It was gross buy so funny lol
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BLACKOUT319 (4 months ago) Marked as spam i almost threw up
starlinayei (4 months ago)2GIRL1CUP HELPER
gayskunk (4 months ago)its accully normal for some animals to do
this, rabbits do it to regain certain nutriants, much like a cow
vomits in its own mouth and chews on it, its just instinct
snewso (4 months ago) musta been hungry
AznLiishii123 (4 months ago)that was very disturbing to see, yet i
cant stop watching it!
darthkevster (4 months ago) yum yum lmao
TFloydProductions (4 months ago) taste even better the second time!!!
1
sergen121 (4 months ago) feel sorry for his wife
crotchfungus (5 months ago) Well they are vegetarian, so I guess its
okay
Mars5890 (5 months ago) lol
YtothemuddafukinT (5 months ago) Man, you'd think they'd give the man
who just won a Nobel Peace Prize better chow than that!
woozie442 (5 months ago) It's dinner time at the white house!
aodessey (4 months ago) you're fucking sick
halfahuman (5 months ago) 1:09 D=
12kirkhinrich12 (5 months ago) That's recycling!
annhelen88 (5 months ago) haha, kuleste mest demonstrative monkey
hoho :)
DeiFanGirl94 (5 months ago) damn, he's so pervert!!
...
xD
Kacicka999 (5 months ago) Damn ...
XDiScONeCtX (5 months ago) Yummy.
cheemoguy (5 months ago) barf!!!
OffTheDeepEnd101 (5 months ago) nastiehh
bindass99945 (5 months ago) this bez of fucking zoo peoples, not
giving proper
food to wild animals :( i feel really pity for that gorrillaaaaaaa
Jarrith4291 (5 months ago) I really think the incessant giggling of
the camera man intensifies the effect...
EvilToiletTaco (5 months ago) RECYCLE
jeffreyhrz (5 months ago)why does it smell like shyt everytime i see
this video?
GlitzAndGlamour1 (5 months ago) i think i died a little on the inside.
5superbreasons (5 months ago) yum
cfhscheer (5 months ago) o_0
aznrichgirl (5 months ago)awhhh): i bet thts jus a super bad zoo who
doesnt feed the animals T_T
xHahaElly (5 months ago) Maybe he was hungry ):
XxGameadickxX (5 months ago) talk about potty mouth
savanah37615 (6 months ago) ewewewewewewewewHAHA
trxrida10 (6 months ago) LOL SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
druha10304 (6 months ago)drafted number 6 by the new york knicks.
x001m69 (5 months ago) NO, I think this ape looke like a New England
Patriot
duerdum9 (6 months ago) haha cool gorilla!
TheBrawlMaster (6 months ago) 1 gorilla 1 cup
crazystarwarsguy1006 (6 months ago) humans: holy shit its eatin its
own poop!!!!
gorilla: yum takes like apples I WANT MORE
peter12331 (5 months ago) HAHAHAHAH
buckatunnaboy (6 months ago) Man, that's some good sh*t!!! LOL!
emochild987 (6 months ago) lol black ppl.....
xxHATESxTHExWORLDxx (6 months ago)LMFAO
Moving4Motion (6 months ago) He just wants a hot meal :D
THEANIMEPERV (6 months ago) i remember when my dog use to do that
LMAO. XD.
5w545 (6 months ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply ew, freaking
gross
blueears1 (6 months ago) Good examle of recycling we all shud recycle
our poo.
Fredwiener (6 months ago) Recycle fail
xerke (6 months ago)wow how sad how far he needs to go to get
attention
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gta4ratman (6 months ago) Marked as spam HEY!
dont knock it till you try it
welshwarrior123 (6 months ago) Marked as spam bet his breath smells
like shit
tree003a (6 months ago) now all that gorilla has to do is burp in
your face!
luncheon198 (7 months ago) NOMNOMNOMNOM
greenket (7 months ago) this is some original 2girls 1cup
SeAz00n (7 months ago) Gorilla and poo! :D
xTSxPUNISHER (7 months ago) mmmmmm taste haha
bleachjunkie (7 months ago) My dog does that... O.o
crazyds123456789 (7 months ago) Must tought it was a banana or he
must be reallly really hungry
and omg he likes it O-o
daniellos333 (7 months ago) why didnt u name the title "insane gorilla
eating its own shit"
SketchyFingers12 (7 months ago) i wonder how it tastes...
raniman999 (7 months ago) OMG NASTY!
theforrestwhaley (7 months ago) i saw a gorilla eat his own puke at
the bronx zoo
CherylVooren (7 months ago) this is Artis @ holland =]
thinkinrich (7 months ago) DONT WASTE IT U MOTHERFUCKER
BaileytheHedgehog112 (7 months ago) what a crazy fucking bastard!!
they say monkeys are smarter than us??
JoshDaGoodfella (7 months ago) Gross, and they say monkeys are smarter
than us?!!
But then again, I suppose some Youtubers do eat their own poop, I'm
looking at you trolls!
Pufflestudio09 (7 months ago) Crazy Gorilla: THIS IS MY POOP I MUST
EAT!
People: I don't wanna eat it anyways nasty ass.
Crazy Gorilla: Well you can't have any, I LOVE POOP!
StyrbjornStarke (7 months ago) thats one hungry nigga!
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ccsecond (7 months ago) Marked as spam Nom nom nom
skateshiz1 (7 months ago) haha :)
KievThug24 (7 months ago) oh shit..that is totally crazy!!!!
36jemm (7 months ago) 1 gorilla 1 hand 0_o
Metalsonic136 (8 months ago)Dont Watch If Your Eating Cheese
whiplash1one (8 months ago) imagine if u had to kis him after that
Martoh1 (8 months ago) Mmmmm, tasty
crazyds123456789 (8 months ago) i remember seeing a rino eating its
own crap
GlitzAndGlamour1 (8 months ago)I only watched 10 seconds and i was
gagging the hole way through.
headmanboy30000 (8 months ago) you are what you eat
LinksLightArrows (8 months ago) people think we evolved from these
dumb animals...
DetroitRick1 (8 months ago) This gorilla is the shit.
bakerman93 (8 months ago) no wonder why the others call him shit
face
VisionDivine (8 months ago) S0_0
universalmind3000 (8 months ago) O_o
bigdsears (8 months ago) Today I ate my own poop in front of the
human's. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since
it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely
made condescending comments about what a 'funny gorilla' I am.
Bastards.
Zadaxes (8 months ago) wtf
illybang (8 months ago) Eating feces occurs in the wild and often
occurs at a more frequent rate in zoos. Ingestion of feces is thought
to have nutritive value. For example, ingested feces may help in the
utilization of B vitamins that are manufactured in the lower gut.
Beneficial bacteria that aid digestion are also replenished.
Videogamefan1992 (8 months ago) I bet the gorilla had great breath
after that.
funspot101 (8 months ago) what do we say when the smoke alarm goes
off and mom's cooking?
" Dinner's Ready! "
k00lGuy (8 months ago) ugh! gross... zookeeper aint feeding these
goriilas or something. They end up eating their own shit.
Billster05 (8 months ago) the zookeepers must be feeding them
something otherwise they would have no shit
gabeo8 (8 months ago) People:Lmfoa HAHAHHAHA BlaaarghRawr
Gorilla:I can chew on poo and not be embarassed by it *omnomnomnom*
ShitOnAPlatter (8 months ago) Check Out The Blonde @ 1:02 I Wouldn't
Mind Eating Her Poo !
eckels3000 (8 months ago) HAHA LMFAO!!!!!
backpacc (8 months ago) O_O
BmWbEaSt11 (8 months ago) i like to eat my own poop...especially
diarrhea...i like the runny feeling in my mouth
mummomies45 (8 months ago) lol if gorilla would throw the zookeeper
in face with that
Timverbaz (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
xBLaKHearTx (9 months ago) omgomgomg!
*vomits*
LoL!
CowsAndCrows (9 months ago) zookeeper wont clean my cage.. so ill do
it myself
Mbsaysfasho (9 months ago) haha thats a good one
FFatboy911 (9 months ago) WELLLL...i guess if your hungry and you
just laid out last nights supper..you might as well eat it O.O
fuckblackmetal (9 months ago) orrible...
dmaninfan (9 months ago)That gorilla is gangster...
Mark01656 (9 months ago) i bet he wishes he hasd some hot sauce or
some mouth wash for later lol
haloveiwer (9 months ago)what do you want im just eating my poo i
thought you humans do that too?
sololamer (9 months ago) WHy do they pick the stupidest gorillas to
put in the zoo.
Piccolo49 (9 months ago) POO POO
thinkinrich (9 months ago) he needs some tortilla
eresputo (9 months ago) need some you mama!
thinkinrich (9 months ago)your mama eats every day
tonnysaidno (9 months ago) I ate pancakes in the morning and get
constipate. My goodmother gave me exlax and I push, and push, and
push, and shat 1 pancake and a half. I guess the other 5 and a half
were absobed by my body.
thinkinrich (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
thinkinrich (9 months ago) Comment removed by author
babycatmilker (9 months ago) oh man im getting hungry watching this
BeltaiTheImp (9 months ago) if i were the gorilla id ask for apple
sauce
pinoyrawr (10 months ago) nasty
houtman45 (10 months ago) its nutrious lol
AgentCROCODILE (10 months ago) OMGWTFBBQ Sauce anyone?
PurpleStorm8 (10 months ago) Lol, the guy at 1:05 was about to spew.
eleszar1 (10 months ago) OKEY so NOW I GO TO BED BEFORE I SLEEP I EAT
POO ! YUUUMI
specialtaskforceswat (10 months ago) I already eat my poo with
ketchup and somtimes bbq sauce for a treat
yourneverknowblah (9 months ago) lol
taste4love (10 months ago) DEAMIT, so thats why they are so strong
and muscled, im gonna start making that sheet at home... i poo, and
then i will eat my poo with ketcchup...and after 2 weeks, my muscles
will get stronger
BFMVpwnage5168 (10 months ago) that's what i call EXTREME RECYCLING
iiBubblez (10 months ago) That's so mean...
lahijadelchale (11 months ago) Next video......2 GORILLAS 1 CUP!!!!!
demilavatojr9 (11 months ago) NOT POO I WAS THERE IT WAS HIS FOOD
HaloMania2k (10 months ago) me to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
videolover61 (11 months ago) Dont try that kids...it will screw up
your breath!!! lol
sierraonezero (11 months ago)Love the finger lickin' action around
0:50, that's some gooooood stuff!
GeorgeA2k8 (11 months ago)Another gorilla and a cup and we might just
have a video...
chubster0101 (11 months ago) Two Gorillas One cup there is another
way a man in a gorilla suit
Meixafuhellzman2 (11 months ago) HAHAAHAHAAHA!
ducksmasher09 (11 months ago) 1:10 LMFAO!!!
succexy11 (11 months ago)Oh, my god! Are they not feeding the
gorilla? Or do they do that in the wild, too?
BeatboxKingS (10 months ago) Because they eat plants and small bugs.
All their poop is safe to eat i guess because its not so potent by
greasy foods ect.
kanonekraftschuss (10 months ago) No, it is pudding, not poo.
BeatboxKingS (10 months ago) I dont know if your being sarcastic
But thats not pudding
lol
monkeys,Gorillaz, primeapes are known to eat their own poo
They dont know the difference between a high balanced diet
to an all you can eat shit buffet
XD
Joshuaguss (11 months ago) That Gorilla walked away 1:09, because he's
just like human beans, he don't like people staring at him eating. He
will finish his dinner when those people leave.
wogboyz109 (11 months ago) ooooooooooo man i feel sick
TaylorVSMike (11 months ago) i did want attention so he ate his own
poop and after he probably went to the back to throw up
Himalicious (11 months ago) it wants attention.. it got
attention! :D
Vhakkox (11 months ago) This is some funny shit.
GIUSSEPPE1987 (11 months ago) save the chimps and gorillas save the
chimps
GoodSmellingStink (11 months ago) Gorillas get more and more like
humans everyday. They even recycle their trash.
Southparkisdshit (11 months ago) thats just grose!
cammycool3 (11 months ago) I think he thinks ''Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm''
DarkShadowRage2 (11 months ago) 1 Gorilla1 cup?
nukynk (11 months ago) 1 gorilla, NO cup
yuurepoer (11 months ago) Dude !
kit99999999 (11 months ago) Lol hes tryin to lose weight
kit99999999 (11 months ago)this stupid ass monkey eatin his ugly ass
shit ohhh shit his daily dessert
VioletBoyTV (1 year ago)I think im gonna puke
ProjectRedfoot (1 year ago) he looks pissed about eating it too!
lawlawl.
"im eating poo god damnit..."
BerserkGorilla5 (11 months ago) Gorillas always look angry. XD
jyoeun86 (1 year ago) his breathe smells like SHIT!
Cathrynlee (1 year ago) Fat bastard
theturdbucket1 (1 year ago) whats so wierd i do that all the time
BitchyPagentQueen (1 year ago) How disgusting, I am appalled!
Could he not have used some matters and a knife and fork?
:D
999roby (1 year ago) its ugly.....you must take a fork and a knife
JohnsLazy (1 year ago)do they not feed him enough of what he likes?
iLuKaS2oo9Baby (1 year ago) He relly is crazy
chevytruck123 (1 year ago) Thats sick!
mama2815 (1 year ago)does that mean the zoo is not feeding its animals
enough that this fella had to eat his own excrement?
keribery1235 (1 year ago)maybe its that or that he just expirementing
(i cant spell that right)
pydec3ption (1 year ago) That would be funny if he threw it at the
window
boribori90 (1 year ago) that's just....not even necessary.
JWcolour (1 year ago) Don't knock it til ya try it.
Vhakkox (1 year ago) 1Chimp1Poop.
mbudd121 (1 year ago) 1 gorilla no cup
cynikal12345 (1 year ago) hahhhahahah
scargill8 (1 year ago) HAHAHA I was there when this happened I think
VEGAN0011 (1 year ago)mmm gorilla say better than a mcdonalds
KataarSolo (1 year ago) if the only things you ate were oranges and
bananas, your poo would still have nutrients in it too, but humans
consume afr too many chemicals, and processed foods which are high in
salt and fat, or high level bacterial produce, which means our poo is
toxic
you could actually eat some gorilla poo in a survival situation and it
would keep you going....
or would it?
you decide
myoppositelife (1 year ago) i thought they were suppose to be smart
or somthing
coney10000 (1 year ago) all thaat is goning to happen is that it will
come back out...
endnami (1 year ago) is that normal behavior?
Stifaan (1 year ago) love the laugh
moonguy16 (1 year ago) Holy Crap
Retardidape (1 year ago) Well...his whole face probably smells of
shit XD
klobyshuffle (1 year ago) His breath smells like shit!!!! lol
HackToob (1 year ago) 2 gorillas 1 cup
niddster77 (1 year ago) its funny how the filmer is just laughing his
ass off
SilverAsakura (1 year ago)cut the crap.
lottore (1 year ago) thats horrid even 4 a gorilla
Brizco888 (1 year ago) that is soo gross!
RockOutGurl167 (1 year ago)this is halrious but gross at the same
time haha
rikiboum (1 year ago) Anarchist monkey !
vergil43 (1 year ago)NATHAN!
quoththeraven929 (1 year ago) why?
porscheflat (1 year ago) To him...it's finger-lickin' good...
negrote4 (1 year ago) whats more delicious than your own dump?
Inikalord (1 year ago) YUCK!!!
narutoop1 (1 year ago) siiiiiiiiiiiiccccck
emilio911911 (1 year ago) dude!!!!thats just nasty!!!!
janderson2000 (1 year ago) I wonder if he craps out bananas after
eating the poop
loundon2 (1 year ago) i wanna eat his poo and then fuck it and make
babies 100x with it so my dick is covered in poo
then i suck my own dick cuz its cool like that
EmptyNutShells (1 year ago) that is literally the sickest thing i've
heard my whole day o_O
for that, you should feel proud :D
teeku666 (1 year ago)lol 2 gorillas 1 cup
XD
spnky92 (1 year ago) hey i saw some thing like this on a porn website
with asians...oh...yea haha
TenTen902 (1 year ago) Reply 2 girls 1 cup rrreeemmmiiixx LMFAOO!
techmasterflash (1 year ago) Olivia says that's some good cucka mun!
MiniMi3z (1 year ago) OMFG! how can he be so fucking stupid!
wearejusthumanbeing (1 year ago) in nature they can eat whenever they
want, maybe he was too hungry
beebabe411 (1 year ago) shame they have no food :''(
littleFlecker4 (1 year ago) mmmmmm gooddd seconds and thirds yum
Gtrplyr1 (1 year ago) 2 girls 1 cup google it..
ifyoureadthisyousuck (1 year ago) itd be good if he chucked it up over
the enclosure haha "hits people"
hiddeninja (1 year ago) omg so disgusting...ew but nice vid
OmgPanda1 (1 year ago) at 18 sec he stops chewing he probably
like,"Wtf are you guys laughing at?!"
mrtallhall (1 year ago) its kimbo!
sleepypoodle (1 year ago) So that's what George Bush does in his
spare time.
ajrunke (1 year ago) wow get over it...you lost in 00 and 04
sleepypoodle (1 year ago) I think it is quite clear who LOST judging
by your
economy and employment figures, hopefully the majority of Americans
have learned from this fiasco.
Evilman661 (1 year ago) yum lol
bleachandnarutoareth (1 year ago) People shouldn't bang on the poor
ape's cage. That is cruel. As if he wasn't having a bad enough time
already.
gnamp (1 year ago) bad time?- he's got a shit-eating grin
FluffiFish (1 year ago) I guess but he didn't seem very annoyed.
kokoykiko (1 year ago) masarap na tae yan
SoCalstylez858 (1 year ago) lol
jiya560 (1 year ago) shit kkakakakaknaiainaniniainaniiii iii mukang
tae
shanchilly (1 year ago) yuck
suluama2002 (1 year ago) that is jacked up. ๏̯͡๏)
Zollehx (1 year ago) Show Hide 0 Marked as spam Reply ๏̯͡๏)
Titanium267 (1 year ago) ๏̯͡๏)
promethiusboy (1 year ago) its all about recycling baby
SoCalstylez858 (1 year ago) hahaha ! oh shit im laughing my ass off
right now at that comment1
ajauregui67 (1 year ago) mmmm that looks good
Bigmike3122 (1 year ago) i guess they dont feed them enough
orinkly (1 year ago) Don't do this at home
mjfangirl123 (1 year ago) eww discustint but funny! im watching it
again
disciple111 (1 year ago) that gorrila is gettin SHIT faced
what1ever2guy3 (1 year ago) lol
TheSnake1588 (1 year ago) I actually saw a Baboon carrying some poo in
it's mouth like a dog carrying a tennis ball on the same day of the
posting of this comment. (I was at the zoo)
videomana123 (1 year ago) HAHAH THIS IS FUNNY
WizKidProductions (1 year ago) we evolved from that? COOOL!
ScopedOut7 (1 year ago) lmao
rainbowkittyy (1 year ago) omg i threw up in my mouth a little
iluvgtasan (1 year ago) That is the most discusting thing i have ever
seen!
leafzzzzzzz (1 year ago)2 GIrls 1 CUP OMFGGGGg
porscheflat (1 year ago) I would've said umm..chocolate...but that
shyt didn't have the correct color to even look like chocolate.
That's straight POOO from the ground up!! ;-( and he didn't even FLUSH
it down with water.
PatriciaXavier1991 (1 year ago)Menhame :)
ukbnpok (1 year ago)benz tucks into some wedding cake made by
apesworth
JoeJonasLover989 (1 year ago) like ooooooooo wtf is this maybe it
tastes like choclate
kits18 (1 year ago) looks delicious!! :D
TatakCrazy (1 year ago) WTF!!!Rofl
opennskyy (1 year ago) Oh, please. Some animals, such as Nonhuman
Apes, eat their feces to get more nutrients. They just give food a
"second go" thru their digestive systems to try and obtain every
vitamin/nutrient they can out of it.
najib351 (1 year ago) looks like the zoo ran outta bannanas so he had
to make his own
XxGiveMeMalicexX (1 year ago) I'm dying of laughter at what
poopalina821 said to poopbams2
rofl.
ThyRampage (1 year ago)Can I have the leftovers?
MALAKAS0 (1 year ago) LoooooooL
alxuan (1 year ago) 1 gorilla 1 cup lol
fullthrotle2007 (1 year ago) lmao rofl, thats some good SHIT
jwuonog (1 year ago)Okay, there are a lot of videos of the gorillas
eating poop. Why do they do this?
vegeto245 (1 year ago)thats finger licking good
Roofusx (1 year ago) i just threw up
chickenflavoredbutt (1 year ago) hahahahahahahahahahahahah
vegeto245 (1 year ago)u left sum
tigereye247 (1 year ago) poobams2 you are some gross dropping freak
99mik123 (1 year ago) that monkey is giving me ideaes
tjlawson20 (1 year ago) disgusting vile creature
dooby99 (1 year ago) this monkey is my idol
IronChariots (1 year ago)That's not his poo, it's mine.
1takeachance1 (1 year ago) :o I thought it tasted a little wierd XD
PooBams1 (1 year ago) wow thats really fasinating. You guys know it
does not taste all that bad. I mean if you are in the mood for it it
actually goes quit well with pee. I mean ya, you guys should try it.
PooBams2 (1 year ago) u fjucking retrad! thats gotta be bed fo yo heff
system yall be'z knowin!
poopalina821 (1 year ago) what the HELL did you just say?????
runescapesex (1 year ago) gadverdamme mischien ruikt hem stront nog
naar banaan die dat heeft gegete
hunycupz7608 (1 year ago) he must be sick or sumthin
paramountpics101 (1 year ago) oh.. shit
masterjason21 (1 year ago) Dutch man :P haha
welke dierentuin was het?
where is that zoo?
babbocke (1 year ago) there so stupid why all scientis sa a our
antsesters where from moneky
k9saurus (1 year ago)not all gorillas do this... and they are people
who do it too
Comment(s) marked as spam Show
Comment(s) marked as spam Hide
masterjason21 (1 year ago) Marked as spam 2 girls 1 cup ;)
andyswVids (1 year ago) They just assume that we came from apes and
that we share 95% of dna as they do. This isn't true, in fact, only 1%
of our "protein" dna matches to monkeys. 95% of the 1% matches.
Couldn't you believe that people thought that they came from monkeys?
haha.
bleachandnarutoareth (3 months ago)what are you two? where the fuck
did you learn to spell
babbocke (3 months ago) wth did u find my comment i watched this shit
mabe 1 year ago
InvincibleGamer1 (1 year ago) hahaha!!! Poor gorilla!!!
Alidore4 (1 year ago) this makes me wana go 2 the zoo
Tjac (1 year ago) Show Hide +3 Marked as spam Reply the gorillas
like "Fine you people whant a fucken show here ya go A' holes!"
Dagulag (1 year ago) bah i hope the glass breaks and they gorilla
gives the children a big bad punch to their ugly heads
Dagulag (1 year ago) that monkey aint crazy think bout how youd feel
when youd have to eat your own shit because youd die otherwise... not
funny and that retarded children punch at the glass till the monkey
gets crazy ... stupid assholes
emac085 (1 year ago) you dunbshit. u act like if they dont feed him at
the zoo.
xemxjayx (1 year ago) shows how much they feed them in zoos.
witchking3434 (1 year ago)rofl root of all evil!
p.s. thats still gross
witchking3434 (1 year ago) rofl root of all evil!
p.s. thats still gross
saborguerito (1 year ago)LOL he's like. FINE bitches. you want to see
a show! HERE YOU GOOOOO!!!! LOL
grazatt (1 year ago) Maybe it was just some chocolate some one threw
to him?
yalcinkaya123 (1 year ago) oh my god......
what shall i say about that...?
jakewr1996 (1 year ago) why does this come up on related videos of me
singing?
tastybitepizza (1 year ago) You are setting yourself up for: "Boy
singing songs from Rent & the American national anthem = a gorrilla
eating feces."
tastybitepizza (1 year ago)You are setting yourself up for: "Boy
singing songs from Rent & the American national anthem = a gorrilla
eating feces."
MATSAROK (1 year ago) hahahahahahahahahahahah
upperBeastsider (2 years ago)CRAZY gorilla.
Typhvs666 (2 years ago) HAHA
eckels3000 (2 years ago)Lol! I watch this every day!
raymundciesielski (2 years ago) I do this all the time! :D
theguywhodoesnothing (2 years ago) that is what me and family does
ever night. On Friday night my sis eats her dieareah naked.
luffyguy (2 years ago)my fish eat their own poo
luffyguy (2 years ago) my fish eat their own poo
ToffeeChips19 (2 years ago) This is normal. They do this in the wild.
They eat there poo to get more vitamins and minerals.
sidderzmx (2 years ago) is that my mom?!?!?
dackjaniels555 (2 years ago) yeah.. didn't you know your mom is very
famous in the world of scat!
tubeyouguy161406 (2 years ago) you are what you eat, you SHITBAGS!
englandrob94 (2 years ago) lmao, its probably gone mad after being
trapped in that small enclusre for so long
heyjeySigma (2 years ago) at 17 secs he stops munching. He must be
thinking "wtf are laughing at u fuckers?"
lol that's what happens when u dont feed the pets.
fiddop (2 years ago) thats harsh ...see what happends to animals when
stuck in a cage?..was in a zoo in india ..and believe me that was
nothing but depressing , monkeys stuck alone walking the exact same
steps all day =/
1sandstar1 (2 years ago) Ya gotta eat what you can to survive in the
zoo.
mortal886 (2 years ago) hes eating his own poo because they probably
didnt feed him for a long time....they don't even care about the
gorrila , hes probably hungry man!
greenash20 (2 years ago) tat is nasty
cuteblueyedblonde (2 years ago) ok you do realise that hes doing that
because he is stuck in a cage and is bored and has probly gone crazy
so has nowt better to do. thats what human beings have reduced this
creature to. oh yea its sooooooooo funny NOT!
TheTeddybjorn (2 years ago)that is not true. a lot of animals
(including the mountain-gorilla) eats their own poo. since it's
apperently very nourishing.
cuteblueyedblonde (2 years ago)how do u know that its good to eat
crap? and i have read enough and seen enough to realise they dont do
it willy nilly. there is no nourishment in poo, it is a waste product.
TheTeddybjorn (2 years ago) I'm not saying that it's good to eat it..
at least not for humans. but for some reasons gorillas tend to eat
their own poo. I'm no expert on gorilla poo but apparently when they
eat they only get a small part of the energy they need from their
food, the rest is left in their poo. at least I think so. but anyway,
they DO eat their own poo
daganboy (2 years ago) yay!
fattoldpig (2 years ago) monkey see monkey do
linutas (2 years ago) fuuuuu
austin23cook (2 years ago) ALSO ANOTHER THING.... WERE ONLY 12% of dna
away from that 0.o soz bout the caps
austin23cook (2 years ago) ok i got 2 things to say to this
1) its 96% the daily value of YUMMEH
2) I LOVE THE SPECES WHO EAT THEIR OWN FECES !!
TUROKS (2 years ago) Gay
ryann23naks (2 years ago) what kind of gorilla is that?!! his already
crazy..
vietaznboy123 (2 years ago)peanit butter o.o
111oir111 (2 years ago)whats a fucking aboriginal!
miranduhh112 (2 years ago) now that is just plain disgusting!
jugg300 (2 years ago)funny i seen a hamster eat dog terds for
dinner....it weird!!! nice tho lol
redscarf (2 years ago) I wanna french that gorilla
Deathzilla7 (2 years ago) y the fuck do animals eat shit...?
NemesisX24 (2 years ago) animals eat their feces because their
digestive systems do not get all of the potential vitamins and
minerals from the food the first time around. They re-eat it so they
can get the rest of the nutrition from the food. Thanks :]
irondroid (2 years ago)armf yum yum pooya!
startrigg (2 years ago)They called him Alex After the manager of man
utd. he's also full of shite!
mypantsaremario (2 years ago) Dont film your mum thats mean
ateo75 (2 years ago) Does anybody know why gorillas behave like
that ?
Send me a message, please.
by Antonio
JASONWCACURA (2 years ago) It's either that or finger your mother.
They tend to prefer poo.
lazarus280 (2 years ago)why are you guys saying eww? i eat mine all
the time but first i put mine in the oven for few minuets then let it
cool down then add little bit of salt and pepper. and a glass of milk.
Belive me... You'l wanna try it.
thedeadtruth (2 years ago) you know you arent funny?
WhiteLionness (2 years ago) lol i find it kinda funny..
shawn9911 (2 years ago) ur botfucking funny. your just a 54 year old
virgin living in your moms basement
thedeadtruth (2 years ago) oh of coarse im not talking about the
video it was lazarus's response that isnt funny and if im 54 what are
you? 89?
im 14 go kill urself and make the world a little better
kanney91 (2 years ago) xD thats all xD
shawn9911 (2 years ago) really sick but sad. thats what happens when
u put animals in captivity
weissry1 (2 years ago) This is not dependent on captivity. Animals in
the wild do this as well based on their diets.
Psycrologist (2 years ago) Was that 50Cent ? I couldn't see his theeth
with all that shit on them
Gansutitron (2 years ago)se ve que con el I.P.C por las nubes ya no
tienen ni para pienso animal... así vamos acabar cualquier día!!!
davidburman (2 years ago) dude ive seen al ur comments speek some god
damn english
mrjon75 (2 years ago) i gagging! give that thing a banana!
hotsauce2147 (2 years ago) dude..
ohayousun (2 years ago)erm, never waste anything you can eat, XD
earthwormjim88 (2 years ago) i eat poo its nice
vamppyra333 (2 years ago) Es que cetais en France ca?
dmsanct (2 years ago) 1 gorilla 1 poo xD
al27balas (2 years ago) Pobre animal, privado de libertad y reducido a
ser un espectáculo para turistas. No debe tener muchas cosas que hacer
y por eso se come su propia mierda, no creo que sea un comportamiento
natural en su especie.
surfingmushroom (2 years ago) it must have been the best thing he ate
and he just had to have some more!! lol
zoltan65 (2 years ago) en ese zoo no les deven dar de comer jajajaja
kanfor (2 years ago) ¿qué hace aquí Otegui?
nueve26k (2 years ago) HAHAHAH! This is the best gorilla eating poo
video in the world. Look how serious his face is.
Maivkab (2 years ago) Hhahaha.. Looks like the guy who recorded this
was really have a laugh!!! This is some funny as shiet!!!
k1ll3r5c07736 (2 years ago) nothin wrong with tht. i do it all the
time.
HeartlessPeople (2 years ago)aawh gatverdamme :P
eigen poep eten XD
SRB2Pheonix (2 years ago)
hey, at least theyre reduce reuse and recycle... their crap... T-T
DaKoonNco (2 years ago) the gorilla probubly went fucking insane in
that zoo.
Astralnaut (2 years ago) Gorillas in the wild eat their feces as
well.
Jetli390 (2 years ago) *shit*
Guest3791140 (2 years ago) EEEEWW!!!my god!my god!!i think im gonna
puke???! omg!!don't the fucking ppl in the zoo feed them!!???fuck
man!!
Fransouah (2 years ago)Dogs do that too.
Is that a visitor banging on the window at the end?! What a moron..
dragonkinga (2 years ago) god thats disgusting
x0roy0x (2 years ago) omfg man!!!!!
XD..lol
mrtazr (2 years ago) that gorrila has been in there to long thats wy
hes doin that
TheMan4462 (2 years ago) WTF?!?!?!?
CrabKing88 (2 years ago) what the hell? man, hes got nothing better
to eat,
damn it.
adambombiswaycool (2 years ago) *barf*
starum7845 (2 years ago)is this in taronga zoo i saw a monkey eating
its poo
chewie133 (2 years ago) toronga zoo that place rings a bell( were is
it)
**metallica**
iSHYTmyPANTS (2 years ago) that sick bastard
frankzito1 (2 years ago) He doesn't even cringe
hellogoodbyetoyounow jeez need more zookeepers huh?
teamixr (2 years ago) that is so buuhahlaauhaa cough....that was funny
bllaahhhh....!
Gimilli (2 years ago) great thing to teach the kids at the window
HAHAHA
christian1122 (2 years ago)i bet the zookeepers dont feed him
vers0014 (2 years ago) Whats so weird about that?
godrocks112 (2 years ago)i eat that, it's better than pizza
i0like0french0fries (2 years ago) its better then sum1 elses init
haha
lebanon4evur22 (2 years ago) eeeww.. i almost threw up X-P
cashdude84 (2 years ago) Reply mmmmmmmmmmhhhh i ned sum of watever he
is on
n im not talknig bout poop lol jk
cashdude84 (2 years ago) mmmmmmmmm he must b full of shit
XTHHaseo (2 years ago) LOL LOL LOL LOL
nilos77 (2 years ago) he is sick from all those people over there
watching him is sad
MaximusDread (2 years ago) Yea, I always thought it was kinda sick how
zoos keep animals locked up in confined areas just for our amusement.
It's almost as sick as the fashion industry that slauter wildlife for
their fur.
Loopyjoe19 (2 years ago) Why do they not shave thefur off?
MaximusDread (2 years ago) Good point. I guess a tranquilizer gun
would do the job. But what would you do after you shaved an animal's
fur? would you send them back into the wild stripped of their fur
completely naked, or would you keep the animal sedated in a holding
cell until his fur grows back? Either way it's still bad news for the
bears. (terrible movie-reference LOL).
Loopyjoe19 (2 years ago)they could put them back in the wild...
wonder what they would look like - probably weird - anyway they could
keep them under watch and find alot the when it grows back.
not sure how they could do it with elephants and their tusks though.
alien6crowe (2 years ago) yes .. youshoudl also stop driving yoru
car.. IT IS POLLUTING TEH EARTH YOU CRAZY CUNT> and PLEASE stop using
electricity... save it.. switch to candles and STOP USING
ELECTRICITY>>
787310 (2 years ago) WHOA,WHOA,WHOA!NO NEED TO GET CRAZY! I mean
global warming and all that 5H17 is bad, BUT YOU ARE CRAZY ALIEN! NO
CARZ?NO ELECTRICITY?
whosyourdada (2 years ago) yes.
Assiman (2 years ago) is that really so funny?
pkyoubad (2 years ago) tasey i would eat my own poo if it tasted like
candy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh0OGko3TjA&feature=related
chhotemianinshallah
Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times
Delhi, March 15, 2010
First Published: 00:26 IST(15/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:30 IST(15/3/2010)
A blend of new faces and old hands will make up BJP president Nitin
Gadkari’s new team that he will announce on March 16 to end the three-
month-long suspense in the party.
That day marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year.
Those tipped to become general secretaries include former Rajasthan CM
Vasundhara Raje, former Jharkhand CM Arjun Munda, spokesperson Ravi
Shankar Prasad, Orissa leader Dharmendra Pradhan, and Himachal Pradesh
minister J.P. Nadda.
While Ananth Kumar, Ram Lal Agarwal and Thwar Chand Gehlot will remain
general secretaries, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who was vice-president in
Rajnath Singh’s team, will be made general secretary, BJP sources
said. Navjot Singh Sidhu will also become a general secretary, while
Yashwant Sinha is expected to remain vice-president.
Among new secretaries, Gadkari is likely to induct Varun Gandhi.
Though Varun has sought a bigger profile, his mother Maneka is
persuading him to accept the role in view of the assembly polls in
Uttar Pradesh, the sources said.
Anurag Thakur, the young MP from Himachal Pradesh, will take over as
BJP yuva morcha chief, his predecessor Amit Thakker may be included in
Gadkari’s team as a secretary. Shahnawaz Hussain, who is heading the
BJP minority cell, may become a secretary. Among the women in the BJP
chief’s team, Smriti Irani and Saroj Pandey will be secretaries.
Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar is likely to be elevated as vice-
president as are former Uttarakhand chief minister B C Khanduri and
former Delhi BJP chief Harshvardhan.
In keeping with the party’s decision to provide 33 per cent
reservation to women in the organisation, Gadkari intends to have at
least 13 women officer bearers and at least 40 national executive
members.
BJP names Rajay Sabha candidates from Punjab, Himachal
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, March 15, 2010
First Published: 17:07 IST(15/3/2010)
Last Updated: 17:08 IST(15/3/2010)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to field Avinash Rai
Khanna in Punjab and Vimla Kashyap in Himachal Pradesh in the Rajya
Sabha elections.
In Punjab, three seats are expected to go to the ruling Akali Dal-BJP
combine and two to the Congress. In Himachal, the lone seat is
expected to go to the ruling BJP.
The decision was taken at the central election committee of the BJP
that met on Monday with president Nitin Gadkari in the chair.
The last date for filing nominations is March 16. Polling, if
necessary, will take place March 26.
The terms of Rajya Sabha members from Punjab -- Sports Minister M S
Gill, former minister Ashwani Kumar and D P Sabharwal (all Congress)
and V S Bajwa (Akali Dal) -- are ending April 9. The term of Akali Dal
member Naresh Gujral will end March 22.
In Himachal, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma's term ends April 3.
BJP sets up panel to probe Bareilly clashes
HT Correspondents, Hindustan Times
Lucknow, March 13, 2010
First Published: 21:49 IST(13/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:23 IST(14/3/2010)
As Bareilly continued to remain on the boil for the 11th day on
Saturday, the BJP set up a three-member committee to inquire into the
communal violence.
The committee is headed by former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, an MP
from Aaonla that is adjacent to Bareilly. Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath
and Meerut MP Rajendra Agrawal are the other two members, a party
release said.
On Saturday, a mob set fire to shops and vehicles in Qutabkhana and
Subzi Mandi areas, while curfew continued in the five police areas of
Kila, Baradari, Premnagar, Subhash Nagar and Kotwali. Fearing that
violence might spread to other areas the district administration did
not relax the curfew.
The ADG (Law and Order), Brij Lal, said that in order to restore
communal harmony the district administration was holding meeting with
the citizens. “The people residing on the outskirts of the city were
also invited to the meeting. Adequate police force was deployed and
the situation was under control,” he said.
The district administration is being blamed for mismanagement. “It’s a
clear case of mishandling by the district administration,” a police
officer said. “Tension was limited to four police areas, later it
spread.”
“On several occasions the decisions taken by the district
administration was by-passed and directives came from Lucknow that
curfew should be relaxed,” said a police officer posted in Bareilly.
The intelligence department, too, reportedly failed to alert the
administration.
The BJP is blaming the Mayawati government for the clashes. Trouble
began on March 2 during the Barawafat procession. A minor communal
clash led to curfew.
Maulana Tauquir Raza Khan, president of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council,
was arrested for his “rabble-rousing speech” that had led to communal
tension. He was released after some groups said Muslims would boycott
the BSP rally in Lucknow on March 15.
Gadkari support for Modi, state explores legal options
HT Correspondents, Hindustan Times
Ahmedabad/New Delhi, March 13, 2010
First Published: 01:31 IST(13/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:33 IST(13/3/2010)
A day after the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigating Team
(SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat riots summoned Chief Minister Narendra
Modi for questioning, the state said it was exploring legal options
before it.
“Whatever are the right legal options available we will explore them
and, accordingly, what is required to be done would be done,” Gujarat
government spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas said, adding that the state
government and Modi would cooperate with “the process of law”.
The SIT, which has summoned Modi to appear before it on March 21, was
acting on a petition filed by the widow of former Congress MP Ehsan
Jafri, who was murdered during the riots by a mob in Ahmedabad’s
Gulbarg Society.
The state Congress on Friday questioned the conduct of the Nanavati
Commission, set up to probe the riots.
“People have lost faith in the commission, (which is) operating for
almost eight years,” Congress leader Arjun Modhwadia said. “Even the
officers appearing for questioning are tutored by their seniors as
what to answer the commission.”
The BJP has come out in support of Modi, with party chief Nitin
Gadkari saying the Gujarat BJP leader would make a good prime
minister.
“We will cooperate with the judiciary, but we will back Modi one
hundred per cent. The events (riots) were unfortunate, but the blame
cannot be focused on Modi,” Gadkari told Headlines Today. “The UPA
simply wants to shoot Modi politically by using the CBI.”
This is the first time Gadkari, who took over in December, has
endorsed Modi for the top slot.
“He (Modi) is a role model for development politics,” he added. “A
decision on the party’s prime ministerial candidate will be taken by
senior leaders and the parliamentary body, but Modi is fully competent
– he has the ability, capacity and potential to lead this country.”
Smita hails Sonia Gandhi for women’s quota bill, praises Raj
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, March 11, 2010
First Published: 01:23 IST(11/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:24 IST(11/3/2010)
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s estranged daughter-in-law Smita on
Wednesday hailed Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi for getting the
women’s reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha.
“Mahatma Gandhi secured Independence for India. After so many years,
Sonia Gandhi has given freedom to the women masses of this country,"
she said at a press conference.
When asked about joining any political party, Smita — she is
reportedly keen to join the Congress — said she would join a party
that gives scope to her ambitions. “I can join any party,” she added.
Apart from Sonia Gandhi, Smita also praised Maharashtra Navnirman Sena
president Raj Thackeray, who is her brother-in-law, and Bharatiya
Janata Party leaders Nitin Gadkari and Sushma Swaraj.
“Like Balasaheb, Raj too has created his party out of nothing.
However, I don't approve his plank [against north Indians],”she said.
Dismissing Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray, as a leader who
is not on par with his father, she said: “There is a huge difference
between the leadership qualities of the two.”
Uddhav’s rise in the Sena had resulted in her downfall in the party’s
power circle.
On using the Thackeray surname though she is legally separated from
her husband and son of Sena chief, Jaideo, Smita said the Thackerays
gave her an identity and that’s why she would continue to use the
name.
BJP looks to gain mileage from support
Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 07, 2010
First Published: 00:49 IST(7/3/2010)
Last Updated: 00:52 IST(7/3/2010)
The BJP will not let the Congress walk away with all credit if
Parliament passes the Women’s Reservation Bill.
A day after a whip to its MPs to back the bill, party leaders did not
mince words in saying that since the UPA coalition was in minority in
Rajya Sabha, the onus of getting it adopted was with the main
opposition.
Party chief Nitin Gadkari called an emergency meeting of the core
group on Saturday to discuss the bill.
“The core group unanimously decided to ensure passage of Bill,” he
said.
“The BJP is conscious of the fact that the UPA is in a minority in
Parliament. The BJP appeals to all parties to support this Bill. The
BJP has directed all its members to be present in Rajya Sabha and
ensure the passage of this Bill.”
Gadkari also made it clear that the role of the BJP in the passage of
the bill could not be underplayed.
“The BJP had first mooted the idea of this Bill in 1995 at its
national council meeting at Vadodara. The NDA had at first moved this
bill in Parliament. The BJP is the only political party that has
provided for one-third reservation in the party organisation for
women.”
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the bill was a
dream of two senior leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.
BJP determined to get Women's Bill passed in Parliament
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, March 06, 2010
First Published: 15:50 IST(6/3/2010)
Last Updated: 15:53 IST(6/3/2010)
Asserting that it was determined to ensure passage of Women's
Reservation Bill in Parliament, BJP on Saturday sought to make
political capital on the issue by stating that since the UPA coalition
was in minority in Rajya Sabha, the onus of getting it adopted was
with the main opposition.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari today convened an emergency meeting of the
party Core Group to discuss Women's Reservation Bill, which is set to
be tabled in Rajya Sabha on March 8.
"The Core Group unanimously decided to ensure passage of the
Constitution Amendment providing for one-third reservation for women
in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies," Gadkari said in a statement.
BJP has already issued a three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs to be
present and vote for the Bill in the Upper House on Monday.
"The BJP is determined to ensure the passage of this Bill. The Bill
shows national aspiration and society has been waiting for it for the
last 15 years," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
He said since the government is in a minority in Rajya Sabha, BJP
understands that it would have to play an important role in getting
the Women's Reservation Bill passed there.
It’s all about respect
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D Raja
March 04, 2010
First Published: 23:28 IST(4/3/2010)
Last Updated: 23:30 IST(4/3/2010)
A comedy of errors is on display in both Congress and BJP camps. While
it was an abhorrent sight to see Congress leaders trying to play
messiah to India’s Dalits some months ago by merely eating in Dalit
households, we now have the BJP playing catch-up with party president
Nitin Gadkari ‘doing a Rahul Gandhi’ by having lunch in a Dalit home
last month.
But what is downright comic is the Congress’s knee-jerk reaction to
Gadkari’s gesture. Congress spokespersons claimed that their party has
facilitated the “elevation of Dalits to [the positions] of Chief
Justice of India and Lok Sabha Speaker”. This is the same Congress
that had silently watched the then President K R Narayanan getting
dragged into a media controversy on the issue of him supposedly
overstepping his constitutional role and seeking to impose a policy of
affirmative action on the judiciary.
The Congress also seems to have forgotten that it was the Telugu Desam
Party that ensured the elevation of a Dalit to the post of Speaker for
the first time in the choice of G M C Balayogi, that too in a BJP-led
NDA regime.
The Congress and the BJP are not only trying to hoodwink the Dalits,
but they are also fighting it out for the elusive Dalit votebank in
Uttar Pradesh. Gadkari stated last month that Dalit leader B.R.
Ambedkar was like American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
Someone should tell Gadkari that by the time the struggles of King Jr
and others led to equal rights for African-Americans in 1964, it had
already been 14 years since Ambedkar had introduced civil rights in
the Constitution of India, having already achieved getting political
rights and the right to representation in political offices and
employment for Dalits as early as 1932. Next, Gadkari will say that
Mahatma Gandhi was like Martin Luther King Jr, rather than the other
way round. It is entirely a different issue that Indian and US
societies are alike in denying civil rights to their oppressed
communities.
The Congress is equally at fault for not criticising BJP leader Arun
Shourie for his book, Worshipping False Gods, in which the author
makes ridiculous attacks on the Dalit icon. One would go on to say
that the Congress has done nothing to further the ideals of Ambedkar
and has shown no interest in the upkeep of the Ambedkar Foundation
created by the National Front government during the leader’s centenary
celebrations. It was the NDA regime that bought the Ambedkar Memorial
on 26, Alipore Road in Delhi and also pushed the 81st, 82nd and 85th
amendments of the Constitution in favour of creating reservations for
Dalits.
It is time the Dalits call this Congress-BJP bluff. If the BJP and the
Congress indeed care for Dalits, both the national parties should
first ensure that the practice of manual scavenging is eliminated from
the states ruled by these parties in the next one year.
They should also ensure that these scavenging families never have to
fall back into this ignoble profession. They should also earmark a
part of the annual Budget under the Scheduled Castes sub-plan for
Dalits to make sure that enough is spent on the educational and
economic uplift of Dalit communities. This, especially at a time when
the budget of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has
decreased in the last Budget.
The first issue for any political party is to respect the rights of
Dalits. They should also respect the rights of Dalits to protest,
demand and claim remedies, safeguards and action from the government
that ameliorate their conditions quickly. Let’s first learn to respect
Dalits. Then maybe one day they will invite us home for lunch.
D. Raja is National Secretary, Communist Party of India and Rajya
Sabha member
The views expressed by the author are personal
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/columnsothers/It-s-all-about-respect/Article1-515245.aspx
Misra panel: BJP’s chance to win over OBCs?
Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 03, 2010
First Published: 01:31 IST(3/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:33 IST(3/3/2010)
With a government-appointed panel calling for reservation for
minorities, the BJP senses an opportunity to find favour with the
Other Backward Classes (OBCs) among Hindus.
The Ranganath Misra Commission has recommended 15 per cent quota for
Muslims in education and employment.
In case the recommendation falls foul of law — the Supreme Court has
capped reservation at 50 per cent and the provision will push it way
beyond the ceiling — a minority sub-quota within the OBC bracket has
been suggested. It means that from within the 27 per cent quota for
the OBCs, 8.4 per cent will be for minorities.
While the Mandal Commission, set up with a mandate to identify
educationally and socially backward, said the OBCs constituted 52 per
cent of India’s population, the National Sample Survey Organisation
put the figure at 41 per cent.
Though the government has not set a timetable for adopting the
suggestions, the Misra report can lead to political realignments.
The Congress can gain Muslim support, particularly in Uttar Pradesh
and Bihar. The Muslim-Yadav alliance nurtured by Mulayam Singh Yadav
and Lalu Prasad in UP and Bihar, respectively, could be tested as the
two groups will be in fight for the same quota pie.
And this is where lies an opportunity for the BJP to attract OBCs to
its fold — in line with new chief Nitin Gadkari’s emphasis on widening
the party’s social base. Traditional base of the BJP is upper caste
Hindus.
“We’ll oppose any attempt to take away the rights of backward Hindus
and give them to minorities,” deputy leader of Opposition in the Lok
Sabha Gopinath Munde, an OBC leader, said.
The BJP’s rise to power in the 1990s was accompanied by substantial
non-Yadav OBC mobilisation in the Hindi belt, particularly in UP,
which has 80 Lok Sabha seats.
From 45 per cent in the 1996 Lok Sabha polls in the state, the BJP’s
non-Yadav OBC vote share fell to 28 per cent in the 2004 polls,
according to the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies. Recently, most of its candidates for the 11 UP assembly by-
polls forfeited their security deposit.
OBC vote can be crucial to the party’s revival.
Personal ambitions ruining BJP: Gadkari
Shekhar Iyer
Indore, February 18, 2010
First Published: 00:57 IST(18/2/2010)
Last Updated: 01:22 IST(18/2/2010)
The crisis in the BJP was not because of small leaders but the “over
ambitious” senior leaders who were seeking more and more in terms of
posts and perks for themselves, said party president Nitin Gadkari on
Wednesday.
Gadkari’s plain-speak came at a closed-door session on the opening day
of the three-day conclave of the party’s national executive near here.
BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad briefed reporters later.
“Our problems come not from small leaders but from the big ones, who
have got everything and yet are wanting more at any cost,” Gadkari was
quoted as having said.
Who did he mean? He didn’t name anyone.
“The party chief has only sought to present before the conclave the
weaknesses of the BJP that will have to go,” Prasad said, adding, “He
is asking everyone to think of the party.”
The closed-door session was attended by party seniors such as L.K.
Advani and Gadkari’s predecessor Rajnath Singh.
Advani endorsed Gadkari’s statement and said leaders’ egos was the
main problem.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was also present.
Party sources said Gadkari could be referring to the leadership tussle
that followed defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, with L.K. Advani
wanting to retire.
Gadkari listed “personal ambition” as the single most debilitating
ailment plaguing the BJP.
With the RSS fully behind him, a confident Gadkari bluntly told the
leaders instead of seeking to pull down others, they should raise
their own bar of performance for optimum result.
He criticised the tendency of leaders to rush to the media with their
issues when things did not go their way.
Gadkari’s remark was seen by other BJP leaders as intended to serve as
a warning.
At 52, Gadkari is the party’s youngest president. And was brought in
by the BJP’s mother organisation, the RSS, to effect a generational
change, and give the party a young and dynamic leadership.
Since taking over, he has largely kept his peace with the party
stalwarts.
So far, at least.
The Wednesday speech is likely to go down in the party’s history as
the equivalent of Rajiv Gandhi’s radical promise to rid the Congress
of powerbrokers at his party’s centenary session in 1985.
Have a large heart, Gadkari pleaded with the seniors.
Chote dil se bade kaam nahi hota. (Small hearts and minds cannot
achieve big things.) Think of the country first, then the party and
yourself last, Gadkari said.
Acknowledging that distribution of ticket during the elections was a
sore issue, Gadkari said the ground rule should be that tickets must
be given only to those who were popular and could win.
“But, what we find is that everyone seemed to think of their future
only and not that of the party,” the party chief was quoted as having
said.
BJP to support separate Vidarbha in Parliament: Gadkari-Munde
2010-03-14 22:10:00
Last Updated: 2010-03-15 07:45:44
Nagpur: BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and party Deputy Leader
in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde on Sunday assured to support separate
Vidarbha issue in Parliament when ever the UPA government brings the
Telangana state bill.
"Now the time has come when BJP will not allow UPA to move bill for
creating Telangana alone but will ensure that UPA includes separate
Vidarbha also in the Parliament", Gadkari and Munde told a public
rally here at Yeshwant Stadium, citing their party's unconditional
support to Women's Reservation Bill brought by the Congress-led UPA
government early last week.
Uddhav: Won't allow Mumbai to be separated from Maharashtra
Chief Ministers of BJP-ruled states Dr Raman Singh, Ramesh Pokhriyal,
and Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Raghuwar Das were prominent
who addressed the gathering.
BJP's young legislators Sudhir Mungattiwar (Ballarpur) and Davendra
Phadanvis (Nagpur-South-West) who took out "Yuwa Jagar" yatra, an
awareness campaign for youth from Shegaon (Buldana) and Chandrapur
respectively, on Sunday culminated their yatra into a public rally.
Munde, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, in a clear
signal to the alliance partner Shiv Sena, said as to why there should
not be two states of Marathi speaking people.
Statehood call shuts down Maharashtra's Vidarbha region
"When there can be many Chief Ministers from Hindi speaking states,
there was nothing wrong when two Marathi speaking Chief Ministers
occupying offices," he said.
Uddhav: Won't allow Mumbai to be separated from Maharashtra
2010-02-06 23:00:00
Last Updated: 2010-02-07 00:15:45
Pune: Alleging the UPA government is conspiring to separate Mumbai
from Maharashtra, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray
tonight said his party would oppose such a move and continue to take
to the streets to fight and keep the state undivided.
"On the lines of a separate Vidarbha, Congress government at the
Centre is planning to carve out a separate Mumbai state aligning the
metropolis with neighbouring Thane and Raigad," he said here, adding
the Sena would fight tooth and nail against the design to weaken and
factionalise Maharashtra.
Thackeray calls Shah Rukh 'traitor', no apologies says actor
Thackeray who was speaking during his public interview by noted
compere Sudhir Gadgil at S P College ground here, said his party's
stand against creation of separate Vidarbha was firm and undiluted
despite the contrary view of its ally BJP on the issue.
Thackeray alleged that Congress-led UPA was planning to create a
separate Mumbai state as the region generated maximum tax collection.
Thackeray calls Shah Rukh 'traitor', no apologies says actor
2010-02-06 20:50:00
Last Updated: 2010-02-06 21:58:45
Mumbai: On a day when Bal Thackeray labelled him a "traitor", Shah
Rukh Khan on Saturday stuck to his comments on Pakistani players in
IPL saying there was nothing "anti- national" and ruled out meeting
the Shiv Sena supremo on his own to sort out the controversy.
"I have not said anything that is anti-national or anti-Indian. I
stand by what I said and I would like to say that may be the group has
misunderstood me. There is no other reason because I have not said
anything I should feel sorry about," Khan, who arrived here after a
whirlwind promotional tour of New York, London and Berlin, told
reporters.
"I think what I said has been misconstrued. I am pro good relationship
with countries. I think we all are...," he said.
Asked if he would go to Thackeray's home 'Matoshree' to explain his
position, Khan said he had gone to the "senior" leader's residence
whenever he was called.
"I have been there so often. Yes, I would like to go and have drink
with him. But on this matter, I don't see...there is no reason for
going and asking...but if my stand needs to be explained to someone, I
have already done it. I don't think there is an issue on that front,"
Khan said.
In an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Thackeray wrote, "A Khan named
Shah Rukh tells us to love Pakistan but nobody feels suffocated due to
his treachery. Traitors, do whatever you want to do with the blessings
of Congress. Sena won't stop you..."
The actor, however, made it clear that he did not want to join issue
with Sena, describing Thackeray as an "elderly gentleman" whose
company he enjoyed.
'Bullying' not to be tolerated, says Maharashtra CM
2010-02-06 18:40:00
Last Updated: 2010-02-06 19:14:04
New Delhi: Maharashtra government on Saturday said it will ensure
security for screening of movies of actor Shah Rukh Khan, under Shiv
Sena threat for favouring inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in IPL,
and asserted that it will act against anyone trying to "bully"
others.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said violation of law and
order by anybody will be dealt with strictly.
"All movies, be it of Shah Rukh's or anybody else's, if it is approved
by Censor Board, it will run and the government will protect it,"
Chavan told reporters at the sidelines of the Chief Ministers'
conference on price rise here.
"Even I will go and watch those movies," he said.
"We will make sure that not only Shiv Sena, but any person or any
organisation trying to create disturbance is dealt with strictly as
per the law of the land," he said.
The Chief Minister was replying to a question related to controversy
surrounding the movie star who is under attack by Shiv Sena for his
remark on Pakistani cricketers.
The Sena has threatened not to allow the release of Khan's upcoming
film 'My Name is Khan' on February 12.
Against the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mumbai remaining free
of any untoward incident despite Sena's call to show him black flags,
he said, "I do not want to take credit. I am happy about one thing
that they (Sena) understood it.
"I have said that the state will function as per constitution. The
government will take action against anybody who tries to bully
someone," Chavan said.
http://sify.com/news/bullying-not-to-be-tolerated-says-maharashtra-cm-news-national-kcgsEfabbfd.html
IANS
Statehood call shuts down Maharashtra's Vidarbha region
2010-01-20 11:40:00
Last Updated: 2010-01-20 11:58:49
Nagpur: Long distance and local services were disrupted, state
transport buses stoned and most private and government offices closed
as the daylong shutdown for a separate state of Vidarbha, to be carved
out of Maharashtra, began Wednesday.
Maharashtra police deployed heavy security in Nagpur and other major
towns of the 11 districts where the shutdown called by 68 political
parties and groups - Vidarbha Nirman Sangram Samiti (VNSS) - evoked a
spontaneous and enthusiastic response, the organisers said.
'All schools, colleges, a majority of government offices and over a
lakh commercial and business establishments in entire Vidarbha have
taken part in the shutdown,' said Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS)
chief Kishor Tiwari.
The Vidarbha region comprises the districts of Nagpur, Chandrapur,
Gondiya, Bhandara, Gadchiroli, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, Buldana,
Akola and Washim, with a total population of 30 million.
As part of the shutdown, the long distance Vidarbha Express was halted
briefly by the agitators, while attempts were made to stop other
trains entering from north, east and south India at various points,
railway officials said.
After suicides, shutdown hits life in Telangana
Huge traffic snarls were witnessed at the state's borders with
Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh as vehicular movement on the national
highways was stopped by pro-Vidarbha agitators.
Similarly, all traffic also came to a standstill on the state highways
and district roads in the entire region.
Nagpur city was deserted as all public and private vehicles remained
off the roads and commercial establishments downed shutters.
In Yavatmal, a group of 50 farm widows squatted outside the State Bank
of India office raising slogans for a separate state and for justice
to the farmers.
In several Yavatmal villages, rallies were taken out and local leaders
demanded a separate state of Vidarbha for the region's development.
People also enacted farmer suicides, consuming poison or immolating
them as crowds cheered and raised a chorus for a separate state.
r suicides, shutdown hits life in Telangana
2010-01-20 10:30:00
Last Updated: 2010-01-20 10:39:58
Hyderabad: Normal life in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the
Telangana region came to a halt as a 48-hour shutdown called by the
Joint Action Committee (JAC) of students began Wednesday to protest
the delay in the formation of a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh.
Since Monday, two students have killed themselves over the issue.
State-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) suspended its bus
services while shops, business establishments and educational
institutions remained closed.
All political parties have supported the shutdown. The JAC called for
a strike after two students, depressed over the delay in carving out a
separate Telangana state, committed suicide.
K. Venugopal Reddy, a final year student of MCA, set himself ablaze at
Osmania University here late Monday. Suvarnamma, a first year BSc
student in Mahabubnagar district, set herself ablaze late Tuesday.
Tension prevailed at Osmania University campus for the second
consecutive day as students continued their protest with the body of
Reddy. The JAC leaders, who sat in front of the Arts College building
with the body through Tuesday night, said they would not allow it to
be moved unless all MPs and state legislators from the region resign
in support of the Telangana statehood demand.
In an attempt to shift the body, police brought additional forces to
the campus on Wednesday morning.
The self-immolations triggered angry protests by students across
Telangana. The students' JAC called for a two-day shutdown Wednesday
and Thursday.
The politicians' JAC, which comprises all parties including the ruling
Congress, has supported the shutdown for Wednesday.
The JAC also announced that all elected representatives would submit
their resignations from Wednesday and those who have already done so
would press for their acceptance.
Five legislators of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and one of Praja
Rajyam Party (PRP) began a sit-in at the house of assembly speaker
Kirankumar Reddy on Tuesday night, urging him to immediately accept
their resignations. The speaker, however, sought two to three days to
take a decision.
With the legislators continuing their protest, the police took them
into custody. They were later released.
All 39 legislators of main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have
also decided to press the speaker to accept their resignations.
http://sify.com/news/after-suicides-shutdown-hits-life-in-telangana-news-education-kbuk4biegdg.html
Maneka Gandhi stopped from entering riot-hit Bareilly
2010-03-14 12:50:00
Noted animal-rights activist and Aonla MP Maneka Gandhi, who is
heading the three member panel appointed by the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) to monitor the situation in riot-hit Bareilly was on Sunday not
allowed to enter the city.
Sources said police personnel stopped Gandhi near Ghaziabad, while
enroute to Bareilly.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari had sent a three-
member team to riot-hit Bareilly to take note of the prevailing
situation.
Bareilly has been tense for several days following the release of a
cleric, who was arrested on charges of inciting clashes.
Mobs torched about 20 shops in the old Bareilly area on Saturday
though curfew was in force in most parts of the city affected by
communal violence. The authorities have rushed additional forces to
the city.
The Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered the closure of all
educational institutions there, and provided the police with a
helicopter to monitor trouble-hit areas. Uttar Pradesh Police had last
Monday (March 8) taken into its custody Maulana Khan, the leader of
Ittehad-e-Millat Conference. He was later released on Thursday (March
11) evening.
The right-wing Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal criticising his release soon
turned into action following which there was a violent backlash and
curfew was imposed in the areas of the city. (ANI)
Many new faces in Gadkari's new team; Anurag to be new BJYM Head
New Delhi, Mar 14: Many new faces will be find a place in BJP
President Nitin Gadkari's new team and the name of Himachal Pradesh
Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal's son Anurag Thakur, an MP, has been
given the party's nod for the post of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
Chief, party sources said today.
The decision to appoint Anurag to the post of BJYM is likely to raise
the hackles of those in the party who have been raising their voice
from time to time against dynasty politics, they added.
Rajnath Singh, during his tenure as BJP President, had appointed his
son Pankaj Singh as the Head of the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJYM,
but had rolled back his decision, saying that would set a wrong
precedent in the party and would only encourage dynasty politics.
Party MP from Pilibhit Varun Gandhi along with BJYM Chief Amit Thakar
is likely to be given the post of secretary. It might also court
controversy in the party as Varun had been at the centre of a storm
due to his alleged hate speech in the run-up to the Lok Sabha
elections last year.
Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda, youth leader Dharmendra
Pradhan and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will be
made general secretaries in the new team of Mr Gadkari, which will be
announced on March 16 on the occasion of Hindu New Year Gudi Padwa,
almost three months after he took over the reins of the saffron party,
sources informed.
Party Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad is being promoted to the post
of general secretary.
Ananth Kumar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ramlal have also been roped in the
new team of Mr Gadkari as general secretaries.
Yashwant Sinha, J P Nadda, Kalraj Mishra, Kiran Maheshwari, Saroj
Pandey, Karuna Shukla will also be there in the team.
Saroj Pandey is likely to be made Bharatiya Janata Mahila Morcha
chief.
The number of office-bearers and members of national executive has
also been increased, the sources added.
--UNI
BJP secy blames Bapu for Partition
Vikas Pathak, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 15, 2010
First Published: 23:54 IST(15/2/2010)
Last Updated: 23:55 IST(15/2/2010)
The BJP hasn’t said the last word on Partition yet.
Months after Jaswant Singh blamed Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel
for the country’s division on the eve of Independence and invited
expulsion from the BJP for praising Pakistan founder MA Jinnah, party
leader Balbir Punj has pointed the finger at Mahatma Gandhi.
The BJP’s national secretary and Rajya Sabha member has blamed Gandhi
for the “original sin” that culminated in Partition.
“Gandhiji’s unstinted support for restoration of Khilafat in faraway
Turkey in 1920s ultimately led to the Partition…,” Punj writes an
article in a booklet, Vikalp (Alternative).
Khilafat movement (1919-24) was aimed at restoring the office of the
Caliph abolished by the British.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “Muslim First” policy is in the same
tradition, he adds.
The booklet was released in the presence of BJP president Nitin
Gadkari and senior leader L.K. Advani on the February 11, the death
anniversary of Jan Sangh ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Jan Sangh was
the predecessor of the BJP.
Indian nationalism was always Hindu, says Punj. It was from Gandhi’s
time that Hindus got demoted to the status of a mere community. Salwa
Judums and the recent Orissa outbursts against evangelism (read
Kandhamal riots) are truly nationalist in nature, says Punj.
“All this history writing is because the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh) was conspicuously absent during the national movement,” said
Jyotirmaya Sharma of Hyderabad Central University, an expert on
Hindutva politics.
Punj’s argument underlines the inconsistency of the Sangh Parivar in
resolving Gandhi, who is alternately condemned and appropriated.
While the BJP claims to follow Gandhian ideas right from its inception
in 1980 — in the first session former prime minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee had invoked “Gandhian socialism” — glimpses of the pre-
Partition Hindutva critique of Gandhi as “pro-Muslim” does make its
way into the Parivar’s discourse now and then.
Bareilly yet to simmer down
Pioneer News Service | Lucknow
Curfew extended to more areas
With four more shops being gutted in curfew-bound areas of Bareilly
and resentment brewing among members of the majority community over
the release of riot accused Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, the situation
in the strife-torn city remained tense on Saturday.
However, no further clashes were reported from anywhere since Friday
night. Earlier, on Friday evening, nearly 20 shops at a local
vegetable market were reduced to ashes, which the administration
claimed was due to a short-circuit and not orchestrated by any group
as was being alleged.
ADG (Crime, Law & order) Brij Lal claimed that the fire incidents were
due to short-circuits and claimed that if the situation remained
incident-free, the administration might relax curfew from Sunday.
As per reports, some shops in Subash Nagar area were reduced to ashes
and locals immediately alleged that it was the handiwork of a
particular community which indulged in wanton arson. However, ADG Brij
Lal and DM of Bareilly shot down the claim saying that it was due to a
short-circuit.
The fire was doused by the fire-tenders soon after they learnt of the
incident on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, a large section of a community took to the streets to
protest the manner in which riot accused Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan was
released by the police.
The agitators claimed that the administration succumbed under the
pressure of a Cabinet Minister and bailed out Tauqeer claiming that
there were no evidence against him and that his arrest was made on the
basis of an FIR.
Sources even claimed that former DM Asheesh Goel was shunted out
because he refused to give a clean chit to the riot accused cleric and
release him as he believed that the administration had sufficient
grounds for his arrest.
The Maulana’s release fuelled tension in Bareilly on Friday. Members
from the community took to the streets in protest and torched business
establishment, vehicles and engaged in heavy brick-batting which left
50 persons injured, including a dozen cops and the SP City.
Following the violence, eight senior officers were rushed to Bareilly
to defuse the situation and curfew was extended in Subash Nagar area,
beside reimposing dusk to dawn curfew in the four police circles
stations, where curfew was earlier relaxed.
Meanwhile, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has appointed a three-member
team of senior party leaders led by Maneka Gandhi to visit the riot-
hit Bareilly and submit a report on the events there. “We will be
leaving on Sunday for Bareilly and will be back by evening,” Maneka
told PTI in New Delhi. The team, consisting of Maneka, Gorakhpur MP
Yogi Adityanath and Meerut MP Rajendra Agarwal, is expected to submit
a report to the party president on the steps taken to control the
riots and the relief given to the affected people.
COMMENTS BOARD ::
secular media
By vinay chandran on 3/14/2010 12:03:34 PM
when the majority community is attacked the socalled secular media
ignores it.
when it is the other way round they make a big fuss about it.
The Truth of Bareilly Riots
By Aditya on 3/14/2010 11:29:02 AM
It was a usual 12 wafaat procession going on for many years (mind it
Bareilly is great seat of Sunni Muslim school). The city has
unparalleled history of communal harmony and pluralistic life style.
No one among my parents and uncles remembers anything ever going wrong
between hindus and muslims for past as many decades as can possibly be
remembered by living generations. Then what went wrong???!!!
This procession was scheduled on the very day of Holi but in line with
the communal tolearance
Why Is this Incident Ignored by English News Channels
By Rajeev - UK on 3/14/2010 3:52:28 AM
Why are national english TV news channel not showing this news at all.
Its surprising that a leader who preached hate was released due to
pressure of roiters, this is India and Not SWAT valley. Where are the
secular leaders now why isnt that leader put behind the bars again.
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Sid Harth
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For religious demographics of the Republic of India, see Religion in
India.
A Statue of Shiva.
A Statue of the Buddha.
A Statue of Jain deity Bahubali.
Indian religions are the related religious traditions that originated
in the Indian subcontinent,[1]
namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, inclusive of their
sub-schools and various related traditions. They form a subgroup of
the larger classes of "Eastern religions" and also Indo-European
religions . Indian religions have similarities in core beliefs, modes
of worship, and associated practices, mainly due to their common
history of origin and mutual influence.
The documented history of Indian religions begins with historical
Vedic religion, the religious practices of the early Indo-Aryans,
which were collected and later redacted into the Samhitas, four
canonical collections of hymns or mantras composed in archaic
Sanskrit. These texts are the central shruti (revealed) texts of
Hinduism. The period of the composition, redaction and commentary of
these texts is known as the Vedic period, which lasted from roughly
1500 to 500 BCE.
The late Vedic period (9th to 6th centuries BCE) marks the beginning
of the Upanisadic or Vedantic period.[2][3] This period heralded the
beginning of much of what became classical Hinduism, with the
composition of the Upanishads, later the Sanskrit epics, still later
followed by the Puranas.
Jainism and Buddhism arose from the sramana culture. Buddhism was
historically founded by Siddhartha Gautama, a Kshatriya prince-turned-
ascetic, and was spread beyond India through missionaries. It later
experienced a decline in India, but survived in Nepal and Sri Lanka,
and remains more widespread in Southeast and East Asia. Jainism was
established by a lineage of 24 enlightened beings culminating with
Parsva (9th century BCE) and Mahavira (6th century BCE).[4]
Certain scholarship holds that the practices, emblems and architecture
now commonly associated with the Hindu pantheon and Jainism may go
back as far as Late Harappan times to the period 2000-1500 BCE.[5][6]
Hinduism is divided into numerous denominations, primarily Shaivism,
Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Smarta and much smaller groups like the
conservative Shrauta. Hindu reform movements such as Ayyavazhi are
more recent. About 90% of Hindus reside in the Republic of India,
accounting for 83% of its population.[7]
Sikhism was founded in the 15th century on the teachings of Guru Nanak
and the nine successive Sikh Gurus in Northern India[8]. The vast
majority of its adherents originate in the Punjab region.
Common traits
Aum
Sometimes summarised as "Dharmic" religions or dharmic traditions,
(though the 'subtler' meaning of Dharma or dhamma differs per
religion); Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism share certain key
concepts, which are interpreted differently by different groups and
individuals.[9][10][11]
Common traits can also be observed in both the ritual and the literary
sphere. For example, the head-anointing ritual of abhiseka is of
importance in three of these distinct traditions, excluding Sikhism.
Other noteworthy rituals are the cremation of the dead, the wearing of
vermilion on the head by married women, and various marital rituals.
In literature, many classical narratives and purana have Hindu,
Buddhist or Jain versions.[12]
All four traditions have notions of karma, dharma, samsara, moksha and
various forms of Yoga. Of course, these terms may be perceived
differently by different religions. For instance, for a Hindu, dharma
is his duty. For a Jain, dharma is righteousness, his conduct. For a
Buddhist, dharma is usually taken to be the Buddha's teachings.
Similarly, for a Hindu, yoga is the cessation of all thoughts/
activities of the mind.[13]
For Jains, Yoga is sum total all physical, verbal and mental
activities.
Rama is a heroic figure in all of these religions. In Hinduism he is
the God-incarnate in the form of a princely king; in Buddhism, he is a
Bodhisattva-incarnate; in Jainism, he is the perfect human being.
Among the Buddhist Ramayanas are: Vessantarajataka,[14]
Reamker, Ramakien, Phra Lak Phra Lam, Hikayat Seri Rama etc. There
also exists the Khamti Ramayana among the Khamti tribe of Asom wherein
Rama is an avatar of a Bodhisattva who incarnates to punish the demon
king Ravana (B.Datta 1993). The Tai Ramayana is another book retelling
the divine story in Asom.
Prehistory
"Priest King" of Indus Valley CivilizationEvidence attesting to
prehistoric religion in the Indian subcontinent derives from scattered
Mesolithic rock paintings such as at Bhimbetka, depicting dances and
rituals. Neolithic agriculturalists inhabiting the Indus River Valley
buried their dead in a manner suggestive of spiritual practices that
incorporated notions of an afterlife and belief in magic.[15]
Other South Asian Stone Age sites, such as the Bhimbetka rock shelters
in central Madhya Pradesh and the Kupgal petroglyphs of eastern
Karnataka, contain rock art portraying religious rites and evidence of
possible ritualised music.[16]
The Harappan people of the Indus Valley Civilization, which lasted
from 3300–1300 BCE (mature period, 2600-1900 BCE) and was centered
around the Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys, may have worshiped
an important mother goddess symbolising fertility,[17]
a concept that has recently been challenged.[18] Excavations of Indus
Valley Civilization sites show small tablets with animals and altars,
indicating rituals associated with animal sacrifice.
Vedic tradition
Vedic period
Main article: Historical Vedic religion
See also: History of Hinduism
See also: Vedas, Upanishads, and Brahmanas
The Vedic Period is most significant for the composition of the four
Vedas, Brahmanas and the older Upanishads (both presented as
discussions on the rituals, mantras and concepts found in the four
Vedas), which today are some of the most important canonical texts of
Hinduism, and are the codification of much of what developed into the
core beliefs of Hinduism.
The Vedas reflect the liturgy and ritual of Late Bronze Age to Early
Iron Age Indo-Aryan speaking peoples in India. Religious practices
were dominated by the Vedic priesthood administering domestic rituals/
rites and solemn sacrifices. The Brahmanas, Aranyakas and some of the
older Upanishads (such as BAU, ChU, JUB) are also placed in this
period. Many elements of Vedic religion reach back to early Bronze Age
Proto-Indo-Iranian times. The Vedic period is held to have ended
around 500 BCE.
Akshardham the largest Hindu temple in the world.Specific rituals and
sacrifices of the Vedic religion include:
The Soma cult described in the Rigveda, descended from a common Indo-
Iranian practice.
Fire rituals, also a common Indo-Iranian practice (See
Zoroastrianism):
The Agnihotra or oblation to Agni.
The Agnistoma or Soma sacrifice (including animal sacrifice) .
The Agnicayana, the sophisticated ritual of piling the Uttara fire
altar.
The Darsapaurnamasa, the fortnightly New and Full Moon sacrifice
The Caturmasya or seasonal sacrifices (every four months)
a large number of sacrifices for special wishes (Kāmyeṣṭi)
The Ashvamedha or horse sacrifice.
The Purushamedha, or sacrifice of a man, imitating that of the cosmic
Purusha and Ashvamedha
The rites referred to in the Atharvaveda are concerned with medicine
and healing practices, as well as some charms and sorcery (white and
black magic).
The domestic (grihya) rituals deal with the rites of passage from
conception to death and beyond.
Vedanta
Main article: Vedanta
Hindu Swastika
The period of Vedanta (Sanskrit : end of Vedas), typically thought to
have begun around 600 BCE, marked the end of the evolution of the main
Vedic texts; it also accompanied the transformation of the semi-
nomadic nature of the Indo-Aryan tribes to agriculture-based polities,
as they increasingly formed permanent settlements in the Indo-Gangetic
plain and other parts of Northern India. This period was foreshadowed
by the Brahmanas that interpreted the four canonical Vedas in various
fashions, which finally led to the Upanishads. While the ritualistic
status of the four Vedas remained undiminished, the early Upanishads
mainly relate to spiritual insights. At this time, the concepts of
reincarnation, samsara, karma, and moksha began to be accepted in
ancient India outside the sphere of the priestly establishment i.e.
the Brahmana class. Some scholars think that these new concepts
developed by aborigines outside the caste system,[19] others detect
Sramana or even Ksatriya influence. These concepts were eventually
accepted by Brahmin orthodoxy, and were to form much of the core
philosophies of the later epics and Hinduism, as well as, against a
different philosophical and religious background, in Buddhism and
Jainism.
Astika and Nastika categorization
Main articles: Āstika and nāstika, Hindu philosophy, and Buddhism and
Hinduism
See also: Adi Shankara and Charvaka
Astika and nastika are sometimes used to categorise Indian religions.
Those religions that believe that God is the central actor in this
world are termed as astika. Those religions that do not believe that
God is the prime mover and actor are classified as nastika religions.
From this point of view the Vedic religion (and Hinduism) is an astika
religion, whereas Buddhism and Jainism are nastika religions.
Another definition of the terms astika and nastika, followed by Adi
Shankara, classifies religions and persons as astika and nastika
according to whether they accept the authority of the main Hindu
texts, the Vedas, as supreme revealed scriptures, or not. By this
definition, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva Mimamsa and
Vedanta are classified as astika schools, while Charvaka is classified
as a nastika school. By this definition, both Buddhism and Jainism are
classified as nastika religions since they do not accept the authority
of the Vedas.
Shramana tradition
Main article: Shramana
See also: Gautama Buddha and Mahavira
A statue of Gautama Buddha.
A statue of Mahavira.Vedic Brahmanism of Iron Age India co-existed and
closely interacted with the parallel non-Vedic shramana traditions.[20]
[21][22][23]
These were not direct outgrowths of Vedism, but separate movements
that influenced it and were influenced by it.[24]
The shramanas were wandering ascetics. Buddhism and Jainism are a
continuation of the Shramana tradition, and the early Upanishadic
movement was influenced by it.[25][26][27][28][29][30]
The 24th Jain Tirthankar, Mahavira (599–527 BCE), stressed five vows,
including ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-
stealing) and aparigraha (non-attachment).
The historical Gautama Buddha, who was a Buddha, was born into the
Shakya clan of Angirasa and Gautama Rishi lineage,[31]
just before the kingdom of Magadha (which lasted from 546–324 BCE)
rose to power. His family was native to Kapilavastu and Lumbini, in
what is now southern Nepal.
The Ajivikas and Samkhyas, both of which did not survive, also
belonged to the sramana tradition.
Rise and spread of Jainism and Buddhism
Main articles: Pre-sectarian Buddhism, Indian Buddhism, Silk Road
transmission of Buddhism, and Jain community
See also: History of Buddhism and History of Jainism
Further information: Mauryan period and Gupta period
Buddhist Mahabodhi Temple
Both Jainism and Buddhism spread throughout India during the period of
the Magadha empire. Scholars Jeffrey Brodd and Gregory Sobolewski
write that "Jainism shares many of the basic doctrines of Hinduism and
Buddhism."[32] and scholar James Bird writes, "But when primitive
Buddhism originated from Hindu schools of philosophy, it differed as
widely from that of later times, as did the Brahmanism of the Vedas
from that of the Puranas and Tantras."[33]
Palitana Jain TemplesBuddhism in India spread during the reign of
Asoka the Great of the Mauryan Empire, who patronised Buddhist
teachings and unified the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century BCE.
He sent missionaries abroad, allowing Buddhism to spread across Asia.
[34] Jainism began its golden period during the reign of Emperor
Kharavela of Kalinga in the 2nd century BCE.
Both Jainism and Indian Buddhism started declining following the rise
of Puranic Hinduism during the Gupta dynasty. Buddhism continued to
have a significant presence in some regions of India until the 12th
century. Jainism continues to be an influential religion in Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Period after 200 BCE
Main articles: decline of Buddhism in India, Hindu philosophy, and
Pala Empire
Further information: Puranas
After 200 CE several schools of thought were formally codified in
Indian philosophy, including Samkhya, Yoga, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Purva-
Mimamsa and Vedanta.[35]
Hinduism, otherwise a highly polytheistic, pantheistic or monotheistic
religion, also tolerated atheistic schools. The thoroughly
materialistic and anti-religious philosophical Cārvāka school that
originated around the 6th century BCE is the most explicitly atheistic
school of Indian philosophy. Cārvāka is classified as a nastika
("heterodox") system; it is not included among the six schools of
Hinduism generally regarded as orthodox. It is noteworthy as evidence
of a materialistic movement within Hinduism.[36]
Our understanding of Cārvāka philosophy is fragmentary, based largely
on criticism of the ideas by other schools, and it is no longer a
living tradition.[37]
Other Indian philosophies generally regarded as atheistic include
Classical Samkhya and Purva Mimamsa.
Between 400 CE and 1000 CE Hinduism expanded as the decline of
Buddhism in India continued.[38] Buddhism subsequently became
effectively extinct in India but survived in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
There were several Buddhistic kings who worshiped Vishnu, such as the
Gupta, Pala, Malla, Somavanshi, and Sattvahana.[39]
Buddhism survived followed by Hindus. National Geographic[40]
edition reads, "The flow between faiths was such that for hundreds of
years, almost all Buddhist temples, including the ones at Ajanta, were
built under the rule and patronage of Hindu kings."
Post-Vedic development of Hinduism
Main article: History of Hinduism
A Statue of Lord Vishnu.The end of the Vedantic period around the 2nd
century AD spawned a number of branches that furthered Vedantic
philosophy, and which ended up being seminaries in their own right.
The output generated by these specialized tributaries was
automatically considered a part of the Hindu or even Indian
philosophy. Prominent amongst these developers were Yoga, Dvaita,
Advaita and the medieval Bhakti movement. The modern day popular
movements were the ones founded by Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo,
Raja Ram Mohan Roy among others.
In the latter Vedantic period, several texts were also composed as
summaries/attachments to the Upanishads. These texts collectively
called as Puranas allowed for a divine and mythical interpretation of
the world, not unlike the ancient Hellenic or Roman religions. Legends
and epics with a multitude of gods and goddesses with human-like
characteristics were composed. Two of Hinduism's most revered epics,
the Mahabharata and Ramayana were compositions of this period.
Devotion to particular deities was reflected from the composition of
texts composed to their worship. For example the Ganapati Purana was
written for devotion to Ganapati (or Ganesh). Popular deities of this
era were Shiva, Vishnu, Durga, Surya, Skanda, and Ganesh (including
the forms/incarnations of these deities.)
Bhakti Movement
Guru Ravidas - a figure from the Bhakti EraThe Bhakti Movement began
with the emphasis on the worship of God, regardless of one's status -
whether priestly or laypeople, men or women, higher social status or
lower social status.
The movements were mainly centered around the forms of Vishnu (Rama
and Krishna) and Shiva. There were however popular devotees of this
era of Durga.
Vaishnavism
The most well-known devotees are the Alwars from southern India. The
most popular Vaishnava teacher of the south was Ramanuja, while of the
north it was Ramananda.
Several important icons were women. For example, within the
Mahanubhava sect, the women outnumbered the men[41],
and administration was many times composed mainly of women.[42]
Mirabai is the most popular female saint in India.
Sri Vallabha Acharya (1479–1531) is a very important figure from this
era. He founded the Shuddha Advaita (Pure Non-dualism) school of
Vedanta thought.
Shaivism
The most well-known devotees are the Nayanars from southern India. The
most popular Shaiva teacher of the south was Basava, while of the
north it was Gorakhnath.
Female saints include figures like Akkamadevi, Lalleshvari and Molla.
Recent groups
The largest religious gathering ever held on Earth, the 2001 Maha
Kumbh Mela held in Prayag attracted around 70 million Hindus from
around the world.Main articles: Religion in India, Hindu reform
movements, Hindutva, and Communalism (South Asia)
The modern era has given rise to dozens of Hindu saints with
international influence. For example, Brahma Baba established the
Brahma Kumaris, one of the largest new Hindu religious movements
teaches the discipline of Raja Yoga to millions. Representing
traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Prabhupada founded the Hare Krishna
movement, also international with many followers. In late 18th century
India, Swaminarayan founded the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Anandamurti,
founder of the Ananda Marga, has influenced many worldwide. Through
all these new Hindu denominations traveling international, many Hindu
practices such as yoga, meditation, mantra, divination, vegetarianism
have become absorbed by new coverts and others influenced.
Sikhism
Harmandir Sahib or The Golden Temple of the Sikhs.Main article:
Sikhism
See also: History of Sikhism, Sikhism and Jainism, Sikhism and
Hinduism, and Sikhism in India
Sikhism originated in fifteenth century Northern India with the
teachings of Nanak and nine successive gurus. The principal belief in
Sikhism is faith in Vāhigurū— represented by the sacred symbol of ēk
ōaṅkār [meaning one god]. Sikhism's traditions and teachings are
distinctly associated with the history, society and culture of the
Punjab. Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs (students or
disciples) and number over 23 million across the world.
Although it began as a relatively neutral faith system that proposed
to include the best practices of Hinduism and Islam, over time its
Gurus led followers in various rebellions and battles against the
Islamic Mughal rulers of the time, most notably against Aurangzeb.
Status in the Republic of India
Main article: Religion in India
See also: Legal Status of Jainism as a Distinct Religion
In a judicial reminder, the Indian Supreme Court observed Sikhism and
Jainism to be sub-sects or special faiths within the larger Hindu fold,
[43]
and that Jainism is a denomination within the Hindu fold.[44]
Although the government of British India counted Jains in India as a
major religious community right from the first Census conducted in
1873, after independence in 1947 Sikhs and Jains were not treated as
national minorities.[45]
In 2005 the Supreme Court of India declined to issue a writ of
Mandamus granting Jains the status of a religious minority throughout
India. The Court however left it to the respective states to decide on
the minority status of Jain religion.[46][47]
However, some individual states have over the past few decades
differed on whether Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs are religious
minorities or not, by either pronouncing judgments or passing
legislation. One example is the judgment passed by the Supreme Court
in 2006, in a case pertaining to the state of Uttar Pradesh, which
declared Jainism to be undisputably distinct from Hinduism, but
mentioned that, "The question as to whether the Jains are part of the
Hindu religion is open to debate.[48]
However, the Supreme Court also noted various court cases that have
held Jainism to be a distinct religion.
Another example is the Gujarat Freedom of Religion Bill, that is an
amendment to a legislation that sought to define Jains and Buddhists
as denominations within Hinduism.[49]
Ultimately on July 31, 2007, finding it not in conformity with the
concept of freedom of religion as embodied in Article 25 (1) of the
Constitution, Governor Naval Kishore Sharma returned back the Gujarat
Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2006 citing the widespread
protests by the Jains[50]
as well as Supreme Court's extrajudicial observation that Jainism is a
"special religion formed on the basis of quintessence of Hindu
religion by the Supreme Court"[51]
See also
Indian philosophy
History of Yoga
Religion in India
Religious thinkers of India
Ayyavazhi and Hinduism
Buddhism and Jainism
Indology
Notes
^ Adams, C. J., Classification of religions: Geographical,
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007. Accessed: September 5, 2007
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/497215/classification-of-religions
^ Indiana University "India Studies Program" Passage to India, Module
http://www.indiana.edu/~isp/cd_rom/mod_10/mod_10_x.htm
11. "Upanishads came to be composed already in the ninth and eighth
century B.C.E. and continued to be composed well into the first
centuries of the Common Era. The Brahmanas and Aranyakas are somewhat
older, reaching back to the eleventh and even twelfth century B.C.E."
^ [1] Paul Deussen, Philosophy of the Upanishads, Pg. 51. "these
treatises are not the work of a single genius, but the total
philosophical product of an entire epoch which extends [from]
approximately 1000 or 800 BC, to c.500 BC, but which is prolonged in
its offshoots far beyond this last limit of time."
^ Harry Oldmeadow (2007) Light from the East: Eastern Wisdom for the
Modern West, World Wisdom, Inc. ISBN 1933316225 – "Over time, apparent
misunderstandings have arisen over the origins of Jainism and
relationship with its sister religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. There
has been an ongoing debate between Jainism and Vedic Hinduism as to
which revelation preceded the other. What is historically known is
that there was a tradition along with Vedic Hinduism known as Sramana
Dharma. Essentially, the sramana tradition included it its fold, the
Jain and Buddhist traditions, which disagreed with the eternality of
the Vedas, the needs for ritual sacrifices and the supremacy of the
Brahmins." Page 141
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Oldmeadow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wisdom
^ Indiana University, Module 9, "Passage to India" One is left largely
with scholarly guesses, but it is intriguing to entertain the
possibility that traditions of ritual bathing, some sort of tradition
of meditation or Yoga, possible proto-types of Shiva and a mother
goddess, and a cult of sacred animals, all of which are prominent
features in later Hindu traditions, may indeed be traceable ultimately
all the way back to the third millenium B.C.E., and possibly earlier
to the Baluchistan and Sind village cultures that go back to time
immemorial.
http://www.indiana.edu/~isp/cd_rom/mod_09/mod_09.htm
^ Indiana University "India Studies Program", Module 6 The passage to
India: "As mentioned earlier in our brief summary of the religions of
India, the Jain tradition is one of the oldest traditions in India and
may go back as far as Indus Valley times, that is, to the second
millenium Before the Common Era (2000-1500 BCE), although the precise
origins of the tradition are not yet fully known"
http://www.indiana.edu/~isp/cd_rom/mod_06/mod_06.htm
^ "Major Religions of the World Ranked by Number of Adherents".
Adherents.com.
http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html. Retrieved
2007-07-10.
^ Adherents.com. "Religions by adherents" (PHP).
http://www.adherents.com/misc/rel_by_adh_CSM.html. Retrieved
2007-02-09.
^ Frawley, David. From the River of Heaven: Hindu and Vedic Knowledge
for the Modern Age. Pg 27. Berkeley, California: Book Passage Press,
1990. ISBN 1878423010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Frawley
^ Encarta encyclopedia [2]"Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism share with
Hinduism the concept of dharma along with other key concepts, and the
four religions may be said to belong to the dharmic tradition.".
Archived 2009-10-31.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encarta
^ Westerlund, David Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide
Resurgence of Religion in Politics page 16 "may provide some
possibilities for co-operation with Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, who
like Hindus are regarded as adherents of ‘dharmic' religions."
^ c.f. Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. "Jainism > Jainism, Hinduism, and
Buddhism"
^ "yogascittavrttinirodhah" Sutra 1 of Patanjali's Yogadarshana
^ Pollock, P. 661 Literary Cultures in History:
^ Heehs 2002, p. 39.
^ "Ancient Indians made 'rock music'". BBC News. 19 March 2004.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3520384.stm. Retrieved
2007-08-07.
^ Fowler 1997, p. 90.
^ Sharri R. Clark, The social lives of figurines : recontextualizing
the third millennium BC terracotta figurines from Harappa, Pakistan.
PhD dissertation, Harvard 2007
^ “This confirms that the doctrine of transmigration is non-aryan and
was accepted by non-vedics like Ajivikism, Jainism and Buddhism. The
Indo-aryans have borrowed the theory of re-birth after coming in
contact with the aboriginal inhabitants of India. Certainly Jainism
and non-vedics [..] accepted the doctrine of rebirth as supreme
postulate or article of faith.” Masih, page 37.
^ S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism
and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West (1972): "Alongside Brahmanism
was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its roots going back to
prehistoric times."
^ Y. Masih (2000) In : A Comparative Study of Religions, Motilal
Banarsidass Publ : Delhi, ISBN 8120808150 Page 18. "There is no
evidence to show that Jainism and Buddhism ever subscribed to vedic
sacrifices, vedic deities or caste. They are parallel or native
religions of India and have contributed to much to the growth of even
classical Hinduism of the present times."
^ Dr. Kalghatgi, T. G. 1988 In: Study of Jainism, Prakrit Bharti
Academy, Jaipur
^ P.S. Jaini, (1979), The Jaina Path to Purification, Motilal
Banarsidass, Delhi, p. 169 "Jainas themselves have no memory of a time
when they fell within the Vedic fold. Any theory that attempts to link
the two traditions, moreover fails to appreciate rather distinctive
and very non-vedic character of Jaina cosmology, soul theory, karmic
doctrine and atheism"
^ S. Cromwell Crawford, review of L. M. Joshi, Brahmanism, Buddhism
and Hinduism, Philosophy East and West (1972): "Alongside Brahmanism
was the non-Aryan Shramanic culture with its roots going back to
prehistoric times."
^ Karel Werner, The Longhaired Sage in The Yogi and the Mystic. Karel
Werner, ed., Curzon Press, 1989, page 34. "Rahurkar speaks of them as
belonging to two distinct 'cultural strands' ... Wayman also found
evidence for two distinct approaches to the spiritual dimension in
ancient India and calls them the traditions of 'truth and silence.' He
traces them particularly in the older Upanishads, in early Buddhism,
and in some later literature."
^ Gavin D. Flood (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge
University - Press : UK ISBN 0521438780 - “The origin and doctrine of
Karma and Samsara are obscure. These concepts were certainly
circulating amongst sramanas, and Jainism and Buddhism developed
specific and sophisticated ideas about the process of transmigration.
It is very possible that the karmas and reincarnation entered the
mainstream brahaminical thought from the sramana or the renouncer
traditions.” Page 86.
^ Padmanabh S. Jaini 2001 “Collected Paper on Buddhist Studies”
Motilal Banarsidass Publ 576 pages ISBN 8120817761: "Yajnavalkya’s
reluctance and manner in expounding the doctrine of karma in the
assembly of Janaka (a reluctance not shown on any other occasion) can
perhaps be explained by the assumption that it was, like that of the
transmigration of soul, of non-brahmanical origin. In view of the fact
that this doctrine is emblazoned on almost every page of sramana
scriptures, it is highly probable that it was derived from them." Page
51.
^ Govind Chandra Pande, (1994) Life and Thought of Sankaracarya,
Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 8120811046 : Early Upanishad thinkers like
Yajnavalkya were acquainted with the sramanic thinking and tried to
incorporate these ideals of Karma, Samsara and Moksa into the vedic
thought implying a disparagement of the vedic ritualism and
recognising the mendicancy as an ideal. Page 135.
^ A History of Yoga By Vivian Worthington 1982 Routledge ISBN
071009258X - "The Upanishads were like a breath of fresh air blowing
through the stuffy corridors of power of the vedic brahminism. They
were noticed by the Brahmin establishment because the yogis did not
owe allegiance to any established religion or mode of thought.. So
although, the Upanishads came to be noticed by Brahmin establishment,
they were very largely saying what may well have been current among
other sramanic groups at that time. It can be said that this atheistic
doctrine was evidently very acceptable to the authors of Upanishads,
who made use of many of its concepts." Page 27.
^ A History of Yoga By Vivian Worthington 1982 Routledge ISBN
071009258X: "The idea of re-incarnation, so central to the older
sramanic creeds is still new to many people throughout the world. The
Aryans of the Vedic age knew nothing of it. When the Brahmins began to
accept it, they declared it as a secret doctrine. […] It will be seen
from this short account of Jains, that they had fully developed the
ideas of karma and reincarnation very early in history. The earliest
Upanishads were probably strongly influenced by their teachings.
Jainism the religion, Samkhya the philosophy and yoga the way to self
discipline and enlightenment dominated the spiritual life of Indian
during the Dravidian times. They were to be overshadowed for over
thousand years by the lower form of religion that was foisted on the
local inhabitants by the invading Aryans, but in the end it was
Sramanic disciplines that triumphed. They did so by surviving in their
own right and by their ideas being fully adopted by the Brahmins who
steadily modified their own vedic religion." Page 35.
^ The Life of Buddha as Legend and History, by Edward Joseph Thomas
^ P. 93 World Religions By Jeffrey Brodd, Gregory Sobolewski
^ P. 66 Historical researches on the origin and principles of the
Bauddha and Jaina religions: embracing the leading tenets of their
system, as found prevailing in various countries; illustrated by
descriptive accounts of the sculptures in the caves of western India,
with translations of the inscriptions ... which indicate their
connexion with the coins and topes of the Panjab and Afghanistan.by
James Bird
^ Heehs 2002, p. 106.
^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1967, p. xviii–xxi.
^ Radhakrishnan & Moore 1967, p. 227–249.
^ Chatterjee & Datta 1984, p. 55.
^ "The rise of Buddhism and Jainism". Religion and Ethics—Hinduism:
Other religious influences. BBC. 26 July 2004.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/hinduism/history/history_2.shtml.
Retrieved 2007-04-21.
^ Durga Prasad, P. 116, History of the Andhras upto 1565 A. D.
^ January 2008, VOL. 213, #1
^ Ramaswamy, P. 204 Walking Naked
^ Ramaswamy, P. 210 Walking Naked
^ Supreme Court observation, Bal Patil vs. Union of India, Dec 2005 In
various codified customary laws like Hindu Marriage Act, Hindu
Succession Act, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act and other laws of
pre and post- Constitution period, the definition of 'Hindu' included
all sects and sub-sects of Hindu religions including Sikhs and Jains
^ Supreme court of India, in the judgement of Bal Patil vs. Union of
India, Dec. 2005. The Supreme Court observed in a judgment pertaining
to case of Bal Patil vs. Union of India: "Thus, 'Hinduism' can be
called a general religion and common faith of India whereas 'Jainism'
is a special religion formed on the basis of quintessence of Hindu
religion. Jainism places greater emphasis on non-violence ('Ahimsa')
and compassion ('Karuna'). Their only difference from Hindus is that
Jains do not believe in any creator like God but worship only the
perfect human-being whom they called Tirathankar."
^ [Supreme Court observation, Bal Patil vs. Union of India, December
2005
http://www.judis.nic.in/supremecourt/qrydisp.asp?tfnm=27098]
The so-called minority communities like Sikhs and Jains were not
treated as national minorities at the time of framing the
Constitution.
^ Syed Shahabuddin. "Minority rights are indivisible". The Tribune.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051125/edit.htm#4.
^ Supreme court of India, in the judgement of Bal Patil vs. Union of
India, Dec. 2005. In an extra-judicial observation not forming part of
the judgment the court observed :"Thus, 'Hinduism' can be called a
general religion and common faith of India whereas 'Jainism' is a
special religion formed on the basis of quintessence of Hindu
religion. Jainism places greater emphasis on non-violence ('Ahimsa')
and compassion ('Karuna'). Their only difference from Hindus is that
Jains do not believe in any creator like God but worship only the
perfect human-being whom they called Tirathankar."
^ (para 25, Committee of Management Kanya Junior High School Bal Vidya
Mandir, Etah, U.P. v. Sachiv, U.P. Basic Shiksha Parishad, Allahabad,
U.P. and Ors., Per Dalveer Bhandari J., Civil Appeal No. 9595 of 2003,
decided On: 21.08.2006, Supreme Court of India) [3]
^ Gujarat Freedom of religions Act, 2003
^ "Religious freedom Bill returned". The Indian Express. 2007-07-31.
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/207905.html. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
^ The Times of India, 11 Mar, 2008 In his letter dated July 27, 2007
he had said Jainism has been regarded as "special religion formed on
the basis of quintessence of Hindu religion by the Supreme Court".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Gujarat_govt_revokes_conversion_amendment/articleshow/2853456.cms
References
Chatterjee, S; Datta, D (1984), An Introduction to Indian Philosophy
(8th ed.), University of Calcutta, ASIN: B0007BFXK4
Fowler, JD (1997), Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic
Press, ISBN 1-898-72360-5,
http://books.google.com/books?id=RmGKHu20hA0C
Heehs, P (2002), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual
Expression and Experience, New York: New York University Press, ISBN
0-814-73650-5
Oberlies, T (1998), Die Religion des Rgveda, Wien
Radhakrishnan, S; Moore, CA (1967), A Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy,
Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01958-4
Rinehart, R (2004), Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and
Practice, ABC-Clio, ISBN 1-57607-905-8
External links
Statistics
"Census of India 2001: Data on religion". Government of India (Office
of the Registrar General).
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
Constitution and law
"Constitution of India". Government of India (Ministry of Law and
Justice).
http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/welcome.html. Retrieved 2007-05-28.
Reports
"International Religious Freedom Report 2006: India". United States
Department of State.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2006/71440.htm.
Retrieved 2007-05-28.
Categories:
Indian religions |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Indian_religions
Religion in India |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Religion_in_India
Religious comparison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Religious_comparison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_religions
Aboriginal Spirituality
A resource on aboriginal spirituality
Aboriginal Spirituality
Spirituality for Indigenous Australians takes many forms. Some
Indigenous Australians share the religious beliefs and values of
religions introduced into Australia from other cultures around the
world, particularly Europe. But for most people religious beliefs are
derived from a sense of belonging-to the land, to the sea, to other
people, to one's culture.
Aboriginal spirituality mainly derives from the stories of the
Dreaming.
We recommend this article: Aboriginal Spirituality - 1, and also this:
Aboriginal Spirituality - 2.
Aboriginal Spirituality
Aboriginal Wisdom
Collin Fischer (CJ), aboriginal wisdom keeper and medicine man will
share the wisdom of his aboriginal ancestors.
Aborigine
A word Usually referring to the original inhabitants of Australia
(also called "Abos"}They are a shamanic people who have lived in
Australia for over 10,000 years. Their term for the astral world is
"The Dream Time". Ayers Rock. an unusual rock outcrop in central
Australia, is regarded as a vortex, and is regarded as sacred by the
aborigines.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Mandala as Symbol of the Universe Mandala,
which literally means circle, largely associated with religions and
cults of India and Tibet, was also used as a potent symbol by the
American Indians, the original inhabitants of Central America, and by
the aborigines of Australia.
Across cultures, the universe is represented as a series of concentric
circles, maybe as a model of the solar system. In Tantra, the central
point represents Mount Meru around which the earth is situated, and
the concentric circles represent the cosmic aspects of the universe,
like energy fields and atmospheric zones. In Hindu and Buddhist
interpretations, the centre of the Mandala is the ultimate divine
principle uniting the object and the subject as they spin out of the
centre. This may refer to the cosmos or to the human body.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Australian Aboriginal art -
Religious and cultural aspects of Aboriginal art
Traditional Aboriginal art almost always has a mythological undertone
relating to the Dreamtime of Australian Aborigines. It originated
around 500 years ago. Many modern purists will say if it doesn't
contain the spirituality of aborigines, it is not true aboriginal art.
Wenten Rubuntja, an Aboriginal landscape artist says it's hard to find
any art that is devoid of spiritual meaning; "Doesn't matter what sort
of painting we do in this country, it still belongs to the people, all
the people. This is worship, work, culture. It's all Dr ...
See also:
Australian Aboriginal art, Australian Aboriginal art - Aboriginal
painting, Australian Aboriginal art - Bark painting, Australian
Aboriginal art - Carvings and sculpture, Australian Aboriginal art -
Other art, Australian Aboriginal art - Religious and cultural aspects
of Aboriginal art, Australian Aboriginal art - Graffiti and other
destructive influences, Australian Aboriginal art - Modern Aboriginal
Artists, Australian Aboriginal art - List of contemporary Aboriginal
artists, Australian Aboriginal art - Famous sites of Aboriginal art
Ayers Rock
A large sandstone outcropping that rises from the desert in central
Australia.
It is the most sacred site of the Aborigines and is place of
pilgrimage from all over the globe. In aborigine myth it is said that
there was a great battle here (perhaps the War in Heaven of
Revelations) in which creation was thrown out of Dreamtime (the Astral
World) and began to live in the material world.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Corrientes - History
In 1516, Juan Díaz de Solís commanded the first expedition to reach
the area populated mainly by Guaraní aboriginals, but his expedition
was attacked and Solís perished in the adventure. Sebastián Gaboto
established in 1527 the Sancti Spiritu fort upstream of the Paraná
River, and in 1536 Pedro de Mendoza reached further north into the
basin of the river, searching for the Sierras of Silver. Juan Torres
de Vera y Aragón founded on April 3, 1588 San Juan de Vera de las
Siete Corrientes ("Saint John of ...
Aboriginal Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Santa Fe Province - History
The aboriginal tribes who inhabited this region were the Tobas,
Timbúes, Mocovíes, Pilagás, Guaycurúes and Guaraníes. They were
nomadic, lived from hunting, fishing and fruit recollection. The first
European settlement was established in 1527, at the confluence of the
Paraná and Carcarañá rivers, when Sebastián Gaboto, on his way to the
north, founded a fort named Sancti Spiritu, which was destroyed two
years later by the natives. In 1573 Juan de Garay founded the city of
Santa Fe in the surroundings of present town Cayastá, but the city was
moved bo ...
Aboriginal Spirituality: Encyclopedia II - Bahá'í Faith and Education
- Type of education
The type of education that is written about in the Bahá'í writings
does not point to one type of education. There are many conceptions
about what constitutes education, and what subjects should be taught.
For example, aboriginal people who followed a tradiional subsistence
lifestyle were considered by many as uneducated, although they had a
stock of knowledge required to function in those societies. On the
other hand, if absolutely any form of education would fulfill the
requirement — as anthropologists assure us that every culture
"educates" ...
See also:
Bahá'í Faith and Education, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Purpose,
Bahá'í Faith and Education - Type of education, Bahá'í Faith and
Education - Moral and spiritual education, Bahá'í Faith and Education
- A Useful trade or profession, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Literacy,
Bahá'í Faith and Education - Languages, Bahá'í Faith and Education -
Other subjects, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Pedagogical issues,
Bahá'í Faith and Education - Responsibility, Bahá'í Faith and
Education - Environmental factors, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Bahá'í
education in practice, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Ruhi sequence of
courses, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Core curriculum, Bahá'í Faith
and Education - Fundamental verities, Bahá'í Faith and Education -
Mashriqu'l-Adhkár, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Social and economic
development, Bahá'í Faith and Education - Praise for teachers
Aboriginal Spirituality: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on
Dravidians
Dravidians. A group of tribes inhabiting Southern India; the
aborigines.
Aboriginal Dreaming
An English expression adopted by Australian Aborigines to convey ideas
that, though related in their thought, are not usually denoted by a
single word in any of their languages.
One sense is that of a primordial epoch, the Dreaming or Dreamtime,
when beings with remarkable powers arose from the ground, descended
from the sky, or appeared from over the horizon. They gave the earth
its shape by creating physical features (often from parts of their own
bodies), fixed life in species form, established human culture, and
gave everything its name.
These creative beings, who in their totality are the ultimate
explanation of all things, are themselves called Dreamings (roughly
equivalent to the anthropological term totems).
Their significance to the Aborigines is not merely historical but
personal and social, for each individual and group gains a distinctive
identity through its association with one or more Dreamings. In many
regions it is held that such beings reincarnate themselves as humans,
or that they left relics behind that, to this day, are sufficiently
potent to impregnate women.
This sense of oneness, in which past and present, spirit being and
human being, are somehow fused, is also seen in ceremonies in which
the actors wear designs and make movements symbolic or mimetic of what
the Dreamings did in the Dreamtime. By extension, from these two
senses of Dreaming, the Aborigines form other expressions, such as
Dreaming-place (a site at which a Dreaming was active and left
something of itself) and Dreaming-track (an imagined path along which
a Dreaming traveled from place to place in the primordial epoch).
Contrary to what is sometimes suggested, the term has no necessary
connection with the verb to dream, even though present-day revelations
to humans by Dreamings normally occur while the recipient is in a
dream or trance state.
See Astral World.
Sun - Moon
Sun
(1) The sun may be a symbol of the self (i.e. your true and total
self), or of the conscious ego.
(2) It may symbolize intelligence, as distinct from intuition.
Moon
From prehistoric times the moon has been regarded as the source of all
fertility. It governs ocean tides and rainfall, menstruation and
birth. (Even when seen as male, the moon has been associated with
fertility: for example, in Australian aboriginal tradition, the moon
makes women pregnant.) It therefore symbolizes (the possibility of)
personal growth.
Sun, Moon, Intelligence, Intuition, Conscious ego, Fertility, Ocean
tides, Rainfall, Menstruation, Birth, Aboriginal tradition, Aboriginal
spirituality, Pregnant, Pregnancy, Personal growth
Aboriginal Spirituality: Alternative Health Dictionary on Didgeridoo
vibrational healing
didgeridoo vibrational healing: Group of techniques, of Australian
aboriginal origin, promoted by the Emerging Light Center of Queens, in
New York City. It helps to remove blocks. Its theory posits spiritual
centers and a personal spiritual being with a reachable core.
A didgeridoo (also spelled didjeridu) is a hornlike wind instrument,
generally three feet long, of hollowed, petrified eucalyptus bark.
Aborigines use it to produce a sound that effects healing on an
energetic or spiritual level. This sound expands one's aura.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Bhons
Bhons (Tibet, Tibetan). The followers of the old religion of the
Aborigines of Tibet; of pre-buddhistic temples and ritualism; the same
as Dugpas, "red caps", though the latter appellation usually applies
only to sorcerers.
Quetzo-Cohuatl (Mex.). The serpent-god in the Mexican Scriptures and
legends. His wand and other "land-marks" show him to be some great
Initiate of antiquity, who received the name of "Serpent" on account
of his wisdom, long life and powers. To this day the aboriginal tribes
of Mexico call themselves by the names of various reptiles, animals
and birds.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on Ulupi
Ulupi (Sanskrit). A daughter of Kauravya, King of the Nagas in Patala
(the nether world, or more correctly, the Antipodes, America).
Exoterically, she was the daughter of a king or chief of an aboriginal
tribe of the Nagas, or Nagals (ancient adepts) in pre-historic America
- Mexico most likely, or Uruguay.
She was married to Arjuna, the disciple of Krishna, whom every
tradition, oral and written, shows travelling five thousand years ago
to Patala (the Antipodes). The Puranic tale is based on a historical
fact. Moreover, Ulupi, as a name, has a Mexican ring in it, like "
Atlan ", " Aclo ", etc.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Spiritual Theosophical Dictionary on
Tassissudun
Tassissudun (Tibet, Tibetan). Lit., "the holy city of the doctrine"
inhabited, nevertheless, by more Dugpas than Saints.
It is the residential capital in Bhutan of the ecclesiastical Head of
the Bhons - the Dharma Raja. The latter, though professedly a Northern
Buddhist, is simply a worshipper of the old demon-gods of the
aborigines, the nature-sprites or elementals, worshipped in the land
before the introduction of Buddhism.
All strangers are prevented from penetrating into Eastern or Great
Tibet, and the few scholars who venture on their travels into those
forbidden regions, are permitted to penetrate no further than the
border-lands of the land of Bod.
They journey about Bhutan, Sikkhim, and elsewhere on the frontiers of
the country, but can learn or know nothing of true Tibet; hence,
nothing of the true Northern Buddhism or Lamaism of Tsong-kha-pa. And
yet, while describing no more than the rites and beliefs of the Bhons
and the travelling Shamans, they assure the world they are giving it
the pure Northern Buddhism, and comment on its great fall from its
pristine purity.
Uragas (Sanskrit). The Nagas (serpents) dwelling in Patala the nether
world or hell, in popular thought ; the Adepts, High Priests and
Initiates of Central and South America, known to the ancient Aryans;
where Arjuna wedded the daughter of the king of the Nagas - Ulupi.
Nagalism or Naga-worship prevails to this day in Cuba and Hayti, and
Voodooism, the chief branch of the former, has found its way into New
Orleans.
In Mexico the chief "sorcerers ", the " medicine men ", are called
Nagals to this day; just as thousands of years ago the Chaldean and
Assyrian High Priests were called Nargals, they being chiefs of the
Magi (Rab.Mag), the office held at one time by the prophet Daniel. The
word Naga, " wise serpent ", has become universal, because it is one
of the few words that have survived the wreck of the first universal
language. In South as well as in Central and North America, the
aborigines use the word, from Behring Straits down to Uruguay, where
it means a "chief", a "teacher and a " serpent ".
The very word Uraga may have reached India and been adopted through
its connection, in prehistoric times, with South America and Uruguay
itself, for the name belongs to the American Indian vernacular. The
origin of the Uragas, for all that the Orientalists know, may have
been in Uruguai, as there are legends about them which locate their
ancestors the Nagas in Patala, the antipodes, or America.
Aboriginal Spirituality: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Sanskrit
Sanskrit [from Sanskrit sanskrita or samskrita]
The ancient sacred language of the Aryans, originally the sacred or
secret language of the initiates of the fifth root-race. The Sanskrit
language possesses voluminous and valuable works in prose and in
verse, some of which, like the Vedas, date back, in the opinion of
certain scholars, to the years 30,000 BC or even far beyond. Almost
every phase of philosophic thought, expressed and studied in the West,
is represented in one form or another in ancient Hindu literature.
Besides this, these old Sanskrit writings are replete with recondite
subjects dealing with the wondrous potentialities of the human spirit
and mind, the building and destruction of worlds and universes, etc.
The Sanskrit language, derives from one of the earliest of the Aryan
tongues, a lineal descendant of an Atlantean progenitor.
"In ancient times in India, and in the homeland of the Aryans before
they reached India by way of Central Asia, this very early Aryan
speech was used not only by the Aryan populace, but in the sanctuaries
of the Temples was taken in hand and developed or composed or builded
to be a far finer vehicle for expressing abstract religious and
philosophic conceptions and thoughts. This tongue thus composed or
developed by initiates of the Aryan stock, because of this formative
work upon it was finally given the name Sanskrita, signifying an
original natural language which had become perfected by initiates for
the purpose of expressing far more subtle and profound distinctions
than ordinary people would ever find needful. So great was the
admiration in which the Sanskrit language thus perfected was held,
that it was commonly said of it that it was the work of the Gods,
because it had thus become capable of expressing godlike thoughts:
profound spiritual subtleties and philosophical distinctions. Thus it
was that Sanskrit is really the mystery-language of the initiates of
the Aryan race; as the Senzar of very similar history was the mystery-
language of the later Atlanteans; and is still used as the noblest
mystery-language by the Mahatmas.
"Sanskrit was not known as a spoken tongue to the Atlanteans in their
prime, but in the degenerate or later times of Atlantis, when the
earliest Aryans already had appeared on the scene of history, this
early Aryan speech above alluded to, was already in existence; and the
Aryan initiates were then in the course of perfecting it as their
temple-language or mystery-tongue . . . Thus Sanskrit was not spoken
among the Atlanteans, nor can it therefore be called an Atlantean
language; although its verbal roots of course go back to earliest
Atlantean times, but only its verbal roots" -- G. de Purucker
"The Vedas, Brahmanism, and along with these, Sanskrit, were
importations into what we now regard as India. They were never
indigenous to its soil. There was a time when the ancient nations of
the West included under the generic name of India many of the
countries of Asia now classified under other names. There was an
Upper, a Lower, and a Western India, even during the comparatively
late period of Alexander; and Persia (Iran) is called Western India in
some ancient classics. The countries now named Tibet, Mongolia, and
Great Tartary were considered by them as forming part of India. When
we say, therefore, that India has civilized the world, and was the
Alma Mater of the civilizations, arts, and sciences of all other
nations (Babylonia, and perhaps even Egypt, included) we mean archaic,
pre-historic India, India of the time when the great Gobi was a sea,
and the lost 'Atlantis' formed part of an unbroken continent which
began at the Himalayas and ran down over Southern India, Ceylon, and
Java, to far-away Tasmania" (Five Years of Theosophy 179).
Blavatsky states that Sanskrit has never been known nor spoken in its
true systematized form except by the initiated Brahmins. This form of
Sanskrit was called -- as well as by other names -- Vach, the mystic
speech, which resides in the sounds of the mantra. "The chanting of a
Mantra is not a prayer, but rather a magical sentence in which the law
of Occult causation connects itself with, and depends on, the will and
acts of its singer. It is a succession of Sanskrit sounds, and when
its strings of words and sentences is pronounced according to the
magical formulae in the Atharva Veda, but understood by the few, some
Mantras produce an instantaneous and very wonderful effect" (BCW
14:428n). This Vach, or the mystic self of Sanskrit, was the
sacerdotal speech of the initiated Brahmins and was studied by
initiates from all over the world.
"It is admitted that, however inferior to the classical Sanskrit of
Panini, the language of the oldest portions of Rig Veda,
notwithstanding the antiquity of its grammatical forms, is the same as
that of the latest texts. Every one sees -- cannot fail to See and to
know -- that for a language so old and so perfect as the Sanskrit to
have survived alone, among all languages, it must have had its cycles
of perfection and its cycles of degeneration. And, if one had any
intuition, he might have seen that what they call a 'dead language'
being an anomaly, a useless thing in Nature, it would not have
survived, even as a 'dead' tongue, had it not its special purpose in
the reign of immutable cyclic laws; and that Sanskrit, which came to
be nearly lost to the world, is now slowly spreading in Europe, and
will one day have the extension it had thousands upon thousands of
years back -- that of a universal language. The same as to the Greek
and the Latin: there will be a time when the Greek of Aeschylus (and
more perfect still in its future form) will be spoken by all in
Southern Europe, while Sanskrit will be resting in its periodical
pralaya; and the Attic will be followed later by the Latin of Virgil.
Something ought to have whispered to us that there was also a time --
before the original Aryan settlers among the Dravidian and other
aborigines, admitted within the fold of Brahmanical initiation, marred
the purity of the sacred Sanskrita Bhasha -- when Sanskrit was spoken
in all its unalloyed subsequent purity, and therefore must have had
more than once its rise and fall. The reason for it is simply this:
classical Sanskrit was only restored, if in some things perfected, by
Panin. Panini, Katyayana, or Patanjali did not create it; it has
existed throughout cycles, and will pass through other cycles
still" (Five Years of Theosophy 419-20).
Aboriginal Spirituality
Spirituality for Indigenous Australians takes many forms. Some
Indigenous Australians share the religious beliefs and values of
religions introduced into Australia from other cultures around the
world, particularly Europe. But for most people religious beliefs are
derived from a sense of belonging-to the land, to the sea, to other
people, to one's culture.
Aboriginal spirituality mainly derives from the stories of the
Dreaming.
We recommend this article: Aboriginal Spirituality -
1, and also this: Aboriginal Spirituality -
2. Aboriginal wisdom,
Aboriginals,
Shaman,
Healer,
Native spirituality,
Australia
ARTICLES RELATED TO Aboriginal Spirituality
Aboriginal Spirituality: : Spiritual Sitemap I - A
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 666,
2012,
10 000 dreams interpreted,
13 major types of magic,
23-day cycle,
28-day cycle, a course in miracles, a priori, a.d., aaron, aaronic
order, abaddon, abductee, abduction, aberration, abominable snowman,
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chhotemianinshallah
I fully understand – and love Hussain’s paintings and art work --
knowing where he comes from (Bollywood poster art). I’ve called the
immensely popular Baba Ramdev “an idiot” on TV and got enough hate
mail. In Bombay, despite the Shiv Sena’s threats, I continue to edit
and publish a gay and lesbian magazine called ‘”Bombay Dost” and have
even sent copies to Bal Thackeray for reviewing in his stupid
newspaper ‘Saamna”. I even wrote a letter to his nephew to get out of
Bombay as it belonged to my Mother’s family (her family temple still
stands safe from Muslim marauders at Banganga at South Bombay’s tip at
Walkeshwar (Walu means sand and Keshwar is another name for Shiva with
his matted hair).
India is a huge jigsaw puzzle and you must love the whole picture to
understand how to navigate it. For example, I would support Taslima
Nasreen because she is a Muslim who challenges Islam from “within
Islamic tradition”. I will NOT support Hussain because he is a Muslim
suddenly seeing “purity”: in depicting Hindu goddesses in the nude. He
happens to be Muslim and let him interpret Islam from within Muslim
tradition and not give me lectures how much of Tulsidas’ Ramayana he
knows. When asked why he did not paint Mohamed’s wife Ayesha in the
nude, his answer was:” But Muslims won’t tolerate that” says it all.
You must know Hinduism takes to “shashtrarth” (shredding the
scriptures and analyzing them ruthlessly) seriously and I have stood
within orthodox gatherings of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad known as the
most intolerant of the right wing Hindus and talked about “Our
Homosexual Heritage” without a single person throwing stones at me. I
dare Hussain or any Muslim gay man to do that at a gathering of devout
Muslims. Or Christians for all I care. One of my Christian kids did
that at a Christian-Muslim gathering and they threw shoes at him. He’s
converted to Kali worshup in retaliation...
If you don’t know your India then don’t interpret it for these damn
Feringis and their followers. I don’t care to say more than that.
Hinduism will find her feet and she will find it though every kind of
discourse and discussion. But that will be W-I-T-H-I-N the four
corners of the Indic Dharma as even the Akali-Sikhs are realizing
after their followers got beheaded in the cesspool called Pakistan.
India will win in the end
Ashok Row Kavi
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60545
Husain and Hinduism
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No one has said Husain "hates Hinduism". He is accused of treating
without respect the objects of Hindu worship. It does not matter what
Hindu holy books he has read, or even what he thinks of them.
If he wants to be judged by the same standards as devout Hindu artists
who have depicted sexuality as an aspect of the divine he must enter
the same devotional path. To do anything else is to be a hypocrite..
Bhaskar Menon
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60561
None owns a religion
Back To Main Letters
No one owns a religion, God or the books, they are public universal
figures and respected by any one who chooses to, but every one has a
right to speak about it; good, bad or ugly. Freedom of speech
ultimately brings the justice and balance to the society.
The loud Muslims, Jews, Hindus or Christians do not represent the
overwhelming majority of the people and I hope the media catches that,
and shares it with the universe.
Prophets Cartoons became a mess, because a few Muslims chose to make a
mess of it, despite the appeal including my own, to follow the
prophet's example; to pray for goodwill to prevail. Muslims did not
care about the Fatwa on Rushdie, a few Bushes among them carried it
forward any way, despite the majority' non-consensus. The more these
radicals show irritation, the more the temptation to irritate.
We represent the views of a great majority of moderates, but some of
us in public are gutless, if we don't condemn the cartoons, or Hussain
himself, then we are bad guys; the right wingers are a few but have
the capacity to bark in concert... and ascribe as though majority of
Muslims or Hindus support them.
As a Journalist, what would you do to communicate to the world at
large, that the outrage does not represent the majority?
Mike Ghouse
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60560
India is a mess, says travel writer
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The overwhelming reasons for why India is NOT a good place to live in,
despite all of its current and expected continuing economic boom.
If you are Indian, or of Indian descent, I must preface this post with
a clear warning: you are not going to like what I have to say. My
criticisms may be very hard to stomach. But consider them as the hard
words and loving advice of a good friend. Someone who’s being honest
with you and wants nothing from you.
These criticisms apply to all of India except Kerala and the places I
didn’t visit, except that I have a feeling it applies to all of India,
except as I mentioned before, Kerala.
Lastly, before anyone accuses me of Western Cultural Imperialism, let
me say this: if this is what India and Indians want, then hey, who am
I to tell them differently. Take what you like and leave the rest. In
the end it doesn’t really matter, as I get the sense that Indians, at
least many upper class Indians, don’t seem to care and the lower
classes just don’t know any better, what with Indian culture being so
intense and pervasive on the sub-continent. But here goes,
nonetheless.
India is a mess. It’s that simple, but it’s also quite complicated.
I’ll start with what I think are India’s four major problems–the four
most preventing India from becoming a developing nation–and then move
to some of the ancillary ones.
First, pollution. In my opinion the filth, squalor and all around
pollution indicates a marked lack of respect for India by Indians. I
don’t know how cultural the filth is, but it’s really beyond anything
I have ever encountered. At times the smells, trash, refuse and
excrement are like a garbage dump.
Right next door to the Taj Mahal was a pile of trash that smelled so
bad, was so foul as to almost ruin the entire Taj experience. Delhi,
Bangalore and Chennai to a lesser degree were so very polluted as to
make me physically ill. Sinus infections, ear infection, bowels
churning was an all to common experience in India. Dung, be it goat,
cow or human fecal matter was common on the streets. In major tourist
areas filth was everywhere, littering the sidewalks, the roadways, you
name it. Toilets in the middle of the road, men urinating and
defecating anywhere, in broad daylight.
Whole villages are plastic bag wastelands. Roadsides are choked by it.
Air quality that can hardly be called quality. Far too much coal and
far to few unleaded vehicles on the road. The measure should be how
dangerous the air is for one’s health, not how good it is. People
casually throw trash in the streets, on the roads.
The only two cities that could be considered sanitary in my journey
were Trivandrum–the capital of Kerala–and Calicut. I don’t know why
this is. But I can assure you that at some point this pollution will
cut into India’s productivity, if it already hasn’t. The pollution
will hobble India’s growth path, if that indeed is what the country
wants. (Which I personally doubt, as India is far too conservative a
country, in the small ‘c’ sense.)
More after the jump..
The second issue, infrastructure, can be divided into four
subcategories: roads, rails and ports and the electrical grid. The
electrical grid is a joke. Load shedding is all too common, everywhere
in India. Wide swaths of the country spend much of the day without the
electricity they actually pay for. Without regular electricity,
productivity, again, falls.
The ports are a joke. Antiquated, out of date, hardly even appropriate
for the mechanized world of container ports, more in line with the
days of longshoremen and the like. Roads are an equal disaster. I only
saw one elevated highway that would be considered decent in Thailand,
much less Western Europe or America. And I covered fully two thirds of
the country during my visit.
There are so few dual carriage way roads as to be laughable. There are
no traffic laws to speak of, and if there are, they are rarely obeyed,
much less enforced. A drive that should take an hour takes three. A
drive that should take three takes nine. The buses are at least thirty
years old, if not older.
Everyone in India, or who travels in India raves about the railway
system. Rubbish. It’s awful. Now, when I was there in 2003 and then
late 2004 it was decent. But in the last five years the traffic on the
rails has grown so quickly that once again, it is threatening
productivity. Waiting in line just to ask a question now takes thirty
minutes. Routes are routinely sold out three and four days in advance
now, leaving travelers stranded with little option except to take the
decrepit and dangerous buses.
At least fifty million people use the trains a day in India. 50
million people! Not surprising that waitlists of 500 or more people
are common now.
The rails are affordable and comprehensive but they are overcrowded
and what with budget airlines popping up in India like Sadhus in an
ashram the middle and lowers classes are left to deal with the over
utilized rails and quality suffers. No one seems to give a shit.
Seriously, I just never have the impression that the Indian government
really cares. Too interested in buying weapons from Russia, Israel and
the US I guess.
The last major problem in India is an old problem and can be divided
into two parts that’ve been two sides of the same coin since
government was invented: bureaucracy and corruption.
It take triplicates to register into a hotel. To get a SIM card for
one’s phone is like wading into a jungle of red-tape and photocopies
one is not likely to emerge from in a good mood, much less satisfied
with customer service.
Getting train tickets is a terrible ordeal, first you have to find the
train number, which takes 30 minutes, then you have to fill in the
form, which is far from easy, then you have to wait in line to try and
make a reservation, which takes 30 minutes at least and if you made a
single mistake on the form back you go to the end of the queue, or
what passes for a queue in India.
The government is notoriously uninterested in the problems of the
commoners, too busy fleecing the rich, or trying to get rich
themselves in some way shape or form. Take the trash for example,
civil rubbish collection authorities are too busy taking kickbacks
from the wealthy to keep their areas clean that they don’t have the
time, manpower, money or interest in doing their job.
Rural hospitals are perennially understaffed as doctors pocket the
fees the government pays them, never show up at the rural hospitals
and practice in the cities instead.
I could go on for quite some time about my perception of India and its
problems, but in all seriousness, I don’t think anyone in India really
cares. And that, to me, is the biggest problem. India is too
conservative a society to want to change in any way.
Mumbai, India’s financial capital is about as filthy, polluted and
poor as the worst city imaginable in Vietnam, or Indonesia–and being
more polluted than Medan, in Sumatra is no easy task. The biggest rats
I have ever seen were in Medan!
One would expect a certain amount of, yes, I am going to use this
word, backwardness, in a country that hasn’t produced so many Nobel
Laureates, nuclear physicists, eminent economists and entrepreneurs.
But India has all these things and what have they brought back to
India with them? Nothing.
The rich still have their servants, the lower castes are still there
to do the dirty work and so the country remains in status. It’s a
shame. Indians and India have many wonderful things to offer the
world, but I’m far from sanguine that India will amount to much in my
lifetime.
Now, have at it, call me a cultural imperialist, a spoiled child of
the West and all that. But remember, I’ve been there. I’ve done it.
And I’ve seen 50 other countries on this planet and none, not even
Ethiopia, have as long and gargantuan a laundry list of problems as
India does.
And the bottom line is, I don’t think India really cares. Too
complacent and too conservative.
Sean Paul Kelley
(Sean Paul Kelley is a travel writer. He founded The Agonist, in 2002,
which is still considered the top international affairs, culture and
news destination for progressives. He is also the Global Correspondent
for The Young Turks, on satellite radio and Air America.)
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60440
Taslima Nasreen’s statement
Back To Main Letters
Taslima's article sparks violence in Karnataka, 2 killed, the article
is followed by my commentary and Quotes from Quraan.
The Indian Muslim clergy and the leadership needs to jump in on this.
As an individual she has the right to express her opinions whether we
agree or not, as much as any one has a right to condemn her
statements.
The major mistake Muslims are making is not to have a debate with her
on the issues, that's the civil and democratic thing to do. She will
lose the debate "She told the Muslim women to burn the Burqa" as if
she will start wearing a skirt if a westerner says "Burn the Saree, it
is a sign of backwardness". Neither is a sign of backwardness, it is a
culture that has evolved and no one will drop what they are used to on
the sound of a word 'drop'. In a democracy, people should have the
freedom to speak; the best way to combat a bad idea is to offer good
ideas to compete.
The major mistake Muslims are making is not to have a debate with her
on the issues. They did not have enough faith in their culture or
religion to debate. Taslima would have easily lost in a debate from a
few intellectuals and most likely she would not have gone on the
attack binge.
Ms. Nasreen is a bellyacher and not a reformer. A reformer brings
solutions to the issues and presents his or her research and asks the
scholars to review and build consensus for a gradual acceptance of the
proposed ideas. Instead, she agitates and builds resentment and does
exactly opposite of what she claims to do; reform. Her approach is
wrong and her statements may please the Islam-bashers and earn some
circulation. However, her opinion does not affect the world or the
religion of Islam.
The take of Quraan on this at: Link:
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/03/taslimas-article-sparks-violence-in_01.html
Mike Ghouse
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=59726
Dr. Abdul Kalam's Letter to Every Indian
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Why is the media in India so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our
achievements?
We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories
but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?
We are the first in milk production.
We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.
We are the second largest producer of wheat.
We are the second largest producer of rice.
Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a
self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such
achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and
failures and disasters.
I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was
the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken
place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had
the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed
his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture
that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments,
deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=59530
On line petition to Penguin re. Doniger’s book
Back To Main Letters
http://www.petitiononline.com/dharma10/petition.html This is an
earnest request to you to sign the online petition and forward it to
your friends for signature.
The petition to the Penguin Group asks for an apology for the
publication of the factually incorrect and offensive book “The Hindus-
An Alternative History” by Wendy Doniger. We expect Penguin Group to
withdraw the book immediately. “The Hindus: An Alternative History” is
rife with numerous errors in its historical facts and Sanskrit
translations. These errors and misrepresentations are bound and
perhaps intended to mislead students of Indian and Hindu history. .
Throughout the book, Doniger analyzes revered Hindu Gods and Goddess
using her widely discredited psychosexual Freudian theories that
modern, humanistic psychology has deemed limiting. These
interpretations are presented as hard facts and not as speculations.
Doniger makes various faulty assumptions about the tradition in order
to arrive at her particular spin. In the process, the beliefs,
traditions and interpretations of practicing Hindus are simply ignored
or bypassed without the unsuspecting reader knowing this to be the
case. This kind of Western scholarship has been criticized as
Orientalism and Eurocentrism. The non Judeo-Christian faith gets used
to dish out voyeurism and the tradition gets eroticized... .
We emphasize that this defamatory book misinforms readers about the
history of Hindu civilization, its cultures and traditions. The book
promotes prejudices and biases against Hindus. Can Penguin’s editors
really be incompetent enough to have allowed this to pass to
publication? If this is not deliberate malice, Penguin must act now in
good faith. As concerned readers, we ask PENGUIN GROUP to: 1. WITHDRAW
all the copies of this book immediately from the worldwide bookshops/
markets/ Universities/Libraries and refrain from printing any other
edition. .
2. APOLOGIZE for having published this book “The Hindus: An
Alternative History”. This book seriously and grossly misrepresents
the Hindu reality as known to the vast numbers of Hindus and to
scholars of Hindu tradition. PENGUIN must apologize for failure to
observe proper pre-publication scrutiny and scholarly review. Vishal
Agarwal
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=58891
Indonesia restores Hindu temple
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I am pleased to see Indonesia Highlighting and restoring the Hindu
Temple, they are indeed following Islam, which forbids one to
desecrate a place of worship. I commend Suwarsono Muhammad for this
initiative, it is time we live the will of God; Co-existence and
harmony with life and matter.
Mike Ghouse
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=58048
India and China
Back To Main Letters
I think Hoagland is baiting India. We gain nothing from being too
close to the USA which can never get out of its hobbyhorse of a Paki-
Hug.
Rubbing China the wrong way will not help. Every reasonable effort:
diplomatic, strategic alliances with the ring of Sinophobia and last
but not the least, an effort to build a string of pearls around China
is the way out of any direct confrontation with China.
Even if we maintain our pace of growth at 7.5 per cent for the next 25
years, China will still far outpace us and become an economy 30 times
our GDP by 2025 by the estimates of the World Bank.. There’s no way, a
third rate government that is soft and kowtows to every Pakistani
threat can face China. Even in our soft power we are losing. Recently
China has even reclaimed Buddhism and Sanskrit as it’s intellectual
property whereas here we have secularists and shadow Islamists playing
footsie with our Hindu culture.
China has always been a ‘hard power” it knows that the power on earth
is its to grab and the heavens are everybody property. India knows
nothing because it has learnt nothing from the Arthashastra – the
people (Jana) must be kept happy and then alone the State becomes
strong as Chanakhya said so firmly.
China and India had over 40 per cent of the world’s industrial
production and trade in the early 15th and 16th century before the
white tribes swept out of Europe.and the barbaric Muslim lands and
ruined one of the greatest civilizations on earth, as Will Durant
noted so vividly..
Together we can make the planet anew. But maybe the human race is
fated to flounder on the rock of the monotheistic God born in the
deserts of West Asia. If we don’t know our own Karma, then it’s no use
trying to live out others’. That would be truly against Dharma.
Not that this political class in India has a clue of its own
historical importance. China never had a soft power ideological core.
Its hard shell hides a very soft underbelly. Just as the whole of East
Asia under its belly felt its fist, it imported everything “soft” and
“spiritual” from India. That’s why they are so rich and diverse and
stand up to China, which itself found its spine only with the wisdom
of the Buddha was grabbed by it by sending pilgrims into India. Unlike
the religions of West Asia, India didn’t export its religion or
spiritual wealth. Only peoplecwho understood its value came and drank
from this huge font of wisdom.
. Now India is adrift and China’s star on the ascendant. I salute it.
Truely and sadly
Ashok Row Kavi
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=57717
India as viewed by a Pakistani intellectual
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Here are some mind-boggling facts about India, a country that was
known as a "third world" nation barely 20 years ago – written by a
Pakistani. By Dr Farrukh Saleem, former Pakistani journalist,
Executive Director Center For Research and Security Studies
• 12 percent of all American scientists are of Indian origin; 38
percent of doctors in America are Indian; 36 percent of NASA
scientists are Indians; 34 percent of Microsoft employees are Indians;
and 28 percent of IBM employees are Indians. Sabeer Bhatia created and
founded Hotmail. Sun Microsystems was founded by Vinod Khosla. The
Intel Pentium processor, that runs 90 percent of all computers, was
fathered by Vinod Dham.
• Rajiv Gupta co-invented Hewlett Packard's E-speak project. Four out
of ten Silicon Valley start-ups are run by Indians. Bollywood produces
800 movies per year and six Indian women have won Miss Universe / Miss
World titles in the last 10 years.
• • The four richest Indians can buy up all goods and services
produced in a year by 169 million Pakistanis and still be left with
$60 billion to spare. • The four richest Indians are richer than the
forty richest Chinese. • Regardless of what Forbes or any other
western press may report, on 29 October 2007, as a result of the stock
market rally and the appreciation of the Indian rupee, Mukesh Ambani
became the richest person in the world, with net worth climbing to US
$63.2 billion (Bill Gates, the richest American, stood at around $56
billion). Indians and Pakistanis have the same Y-chromosome
haplogroup. We Pakistanis have the same genetic sequence and the same
genetic marker (namely: M124). We have the same DNA molecule, the same
DNA sequence. Our culture, our traditions and our cuisine are all the
same. We watch the same movies and sing the same songs. What is it
that Indians have and we don't?
• INDIANS ELECT THEIR LEADERS!!!!! And India thinks of construction of
its own nation, unlike some other nations who are more concerned with
the destruction of other's. Sam Koshy, Winnipeg
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=56378
India in Afghanistan
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By Jeremy Kahn
What’s more dangerous than being an American in Afghanistan? Being an
Indian in Afghanistan. On Oct. 8, 09 a car bomb exploded outside the
Indian Embassy in Kabul, killing 17 people and wounding 76. The attack
came 15 months after another bomb damaged the embassy and killed 58,
including the Indian defense attaché. On Feb 26 2010 a Kabul terror
strike killed seven Indians. Elsewhere in the country, Indian workers
have been victims of suicide attacks and kidnappings.
Although rarely discussed in the West, India is a key player in the
Afghan conflict. New Delhi has long sought to keep friendly
governments in Kabul as a bulwark against archrival Pakistan. India
pledged more than $1.2 billion in reconstruction aid to Afghanistan,
making it the country’s fifth-largest donor and the biggest within the
region. There are at least 4,000 Indian workers and security personnel
employed on reconstruction projects in the country. India also opened
an air base in Tajikistan, its first on foreign soil, to supply its
Afghan operations.
All of which makes Pakistan very nervous. Pakistan has accused India
and Hamid Karzai’s government of covertly supporting militants who are
challenging Islamabad’s authority over Baluchistan, an oil- and gas-
rich province in southwest Pakistan. Some believe Islamabad’s military
and intelligence services have allowed the Taliban safe haven in
Pakistan largely because they view the Afghan insurgents as a proxy
force against India. Indian and Western intelligence services found
strong evidence that Pakistan’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services
Intelli-gence, helped plan the July 2008 Indian Embassy bombing in
Kabul. And, while India is still investigating the latest attack on
its embassy, Afghan ambassador to the U.S. Said Jawad wasted no time
in pointing the finger at Is-lamabad again.
The new Great Game being played out between India and Pakistan in
Afghanistan has complicated matters for the U.S. and its NATO allies.
“While Indian activities largely benefit the Afghan people,” Gen.
Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, wrote
in his recent report to President Obama, “increasing Indian influence
in Afghanistan is likely to exacerbate regional tensions and encourage
Pakistani countermeasures in Afghanistan or India.” Evidently, the
road to peace in Afghanistan runs not just through Kabul and
Islamabad, but Delhi as well.
Corruption in India
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By Shashi Tharoor
One of the questions people keep asking me since my entry into
politics is what we can do about corruption. What would I do, one
citizen recently asked in an on-line chat, if I became the “concerned
authority”? No such prospect — the Vigilance Commissioner isn’t a
Member of Parliament! — but in fact corruption is a national malaise
and a social ill, not just one that a “concerned authority” can solve.
We are all complicit — those who demand bribes and those who give
them.
But one of the things that intrigues me is the extent to which
corruption is a middle-class preoccupation, when in fact the biggest
victims of corruption in our country are in fact the poor. For the
affluent, corruption is at worst a nuisance; for the salaried middle-
class, it can be an indignity and a burden; but for the poor, it is
often a tragedy.
The saddest corruption stories I have heard are those where corruption
literally transforms lives for the worse. There are stories about the
pregnant woman turned away from a government hospital because she
couldn’t bribe her way to a bed; the labourer denied an allotment of
land that was his due because someone else bribed the patwari to
change the land records; the pensioner denied the rightful fruits of
decades of toil because he couldn’t or wouldn’t bribe the petty clerk
to process his paperwork; the wretchedly poor unable to procure the
BPL ["Below Poverty Line"] cards that certify their entitlement to
various government schemes and subsidies because they couldn’t afford
to bribe the issuing officer; the poor widow cheated of an insurance
settlement because she couldn’t grease the right palms … the examples
are endless. Each of these represents not just an injustice, but a
crime, and yet the officials responsible get away with their exactions
all the time. And all their victims are people living at or near a
poverty line that’s been drawn just this side of the funeral pyre.
One of the reasons that I was an early supporter of economic
liberalization in India was that I hoped it would reduce corruption by
denying officialdom the opportunity (afforded routinely by our license-
quota-permit raj) to profit from the power to permit. That has
happened to some degree, especially at the big-business level. But I
underestimated the creativity of petty corruption in India that
leeches blood from the veins of the poorest and most downtrodden in
our society. No one seems to be able to do anything about it, but I’d
like to try. I’d welcome any ideas readers might have to set me on my
way.
A Catalyst for Development
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Dr. Thomas Abraham
People of Indian origin (PIO) constitute a global community of over 22
million people. It is bigger than many countries of Europe. It has
been estimated that, PIOs living outside India has a combined yearly
economic output of about $250 billion, about one third of the GDP of
India. Whether they come from Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia,
the Caribbean or Europe, they are Indians in body and spirit. Almost
all of them maintain their Indian cultural traditions and values. They
seem to have meaningfully integrated in their countries without losing
their ethnic identity.
Looking at the numbers of the NRI/PIO communities, we see the
following:
North America (Mostly USA & Canada) 3.2 Million
South America (Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Surinam, Jamaica, etc.) 1.6
million
Europe (U.K., Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, etc.) 2.5
million
Africa (South Africa, Mauritius, East African countries, etc.) 2.5
million
Middle East (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.) 3.5 million
Far East & South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Mayanmar, etc.) 3.5
million
Pacific Island (Fiji, Australia, New Zealand) 0.7 million
Srilanka and Nepal 4.5 million
Total 22.0 million
Note: Since hard numbers have not been available, these are
approximate estimates and obtained from individual country statistics
and from the report of the High Level India Diaspora Committee
appointed by Govt. of India
With over 22 million people of Indian origin living outside India, a
new global community of Indian origin has been developed. Most people
of Indian origin have become highly successful in business and
professions. If their professional expertise and financial resources
are to be pooled together, it will benefit not only people of Indian
origin but also their countries and India. In addition, people of
Indian origin could assume a new role in providing help in case of
crisis to their communities around the world.
Of the 22 million, about 50% constitute the first generation
immigrants from India and their immediate families, generally termed
as non-resident Indians (NRIs). This is the group one should reach out
for investments and for business and technology collaborations in
India. This group also has taken great interest in India’s
developments. Where are these communities? They are spread across the
Middle East, USA, Canada, U.K. and other European countries, Australia
and Southeast and Far Eastern countries.
Need for Mobilizing the Community
As a first step toward bringing our communities together, the Indian
American community, under the leadership of the National Federation of
Indian American Associations, took the initiative to organize the
First Global Convention of People of Indian Origin in New York in
1989. The triggering point for the global Indian community to come
together was, when an elected Indian dominated government in Fiji was
thrown out by a military dictator in 1987. At the First Global
Convention, the major issue of concern to everyone was human rights
violations, be in Fiji, Guyana, Trinidad, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
U.K. and even in the U.S.A. with “Dot Buster” issue. The Global
Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) was formed at this
convention to help in networking our communities and take up issues
such as human rights violations of Indians around the world. GOPIO
filed petitions at the UN and a concerted effort was made to fight
these issues.
Changing Objectives
In the last one decade, the whole world has changed, so are the people
of Indian origin (PIO) communities. Since our first global convention
of people of Indian origin, Indian dominated parties were elected to
power in Fiji, Guyana and Trinidad. South Africa has several Indians
as ministers in the government. The late Dr. Chheddi Jagan, former
President of Guyana, Mr. Basdeo Panday of Trinidad and Mr. Mahendra
Chaudhry of Fiji were present at GOPIO’s first convention who went on
to become the President and Prime Ministers of their respective
countries. For a while, in the 1990s, we in the GOPIO felt that human
rights violations or being in political sideline are not major issues
for global Indian communities. After several brain-storming sessions
and conferences, GOPIO concluded that creating economic opportunities
by pooling our professional and financial resources is a platform to
bring our communities together. Economic progress of countries with
large PIO population and India should be one of the priorities of PIOs
as global citizens. Our ultimate goal should be to make our movement
working toward on issues of poverty, education and social justice of
our people. As we network globally, it should not only help our
communities to achieve economic progress, but also help the larger
communities we live in.
As global citizens, we PIOs have a stake in the new globalization
scenario where the closed net economic boundaries of countries are
already broken. In the new economic scenario, GOPIO Business Council
has been formed to cater the needs of small and medium businessmen
from our PIO community to network and promote collaborations. GOPIO
has also set up GOPIO.Connect to help and promote NGOs who are
involved in India developmental activities.
The last decade also saw PIOs becoming enormously rich, thanks to the
information technology revolution. Although many of them left India
with a meager amount of dollars or pounds in their pocket, with their
dedication and hard work they became successful in the West and in
particular the USA, Canada, U.K. and other European countries. Now our
community is growing in large number in Australia and New Zealand. The
PIO populations in all these countries are expected to increase in
this decade. Therefore, PIO communities will have important roles to
play in all these countries.
Development Initiatives by NRIs/PIOs
With large number of NRIs/PIOs taking active interest in developments
in India, several new non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been
launched in the US, Canada, Europe and countries in the Middle and Far
East to promote education, health care and developments including
water management, rural development and self help programs. NRIs and
PIOs are also increasingly supporting several NGOs in India in a range
of developmental, educational and social programs. With the net worth
of the NRI/PIO baby boomer generation increasing, tremendous
opportunities are provided for the govt. agencies and NGOs in India to
reach out more NRIs/PIOs to interest them to help in India
developmental activities.
Role for Govt. of India
Till the middle of 1970s, the Government of India did not take any
interest in non-Resident Indians (NRIs), a definition which was given
by the Reserve Bank of India when they wanted the Indian banks to
attract NRI deposits. In the 1980s, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
invited a few NRIs to come back to India to help in development of
some core sectors including telecommunications. In the 1990s, with
economic liberalization by Narasimha Rao/Dr. Manmohan Singh team, an
impetus was provided for NRIs/PIOs to become more active in the Indian
scene.
Also, in the year 2000, a High Level Indian Diaspora Committee chaired
by Dr. L.M. Singhvi, was set up by the government of India to look
into the issues of NRIs and PIOs and to explore avenues of
opportunities for NRIs/PIOs to help India. The committee after
visiting several countries submitted a report with several
recommendations. The best news to NRIs/PIOs was provided by the
Vajpayee administration in January 2002, i.e. to accept the some of
the recommendations of the committee. Later, the Govt. of India
organized the first Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in New Delhi in
January 2003 followed by three more such meetings in the month of
January in New Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in 2004, ’05 and ’06
respectively.
India government also decided to provide dual nationality to NRIs/
PIOs. The Indian Parliament passed a legislation to grant dual
citizenship to NRIs/PIOs in December 2003 and again in 2005. The dual
citizenship card was issued officially at the PRB-2006 in Hyderabad.
This will help to bring 22 million people of Indian origin living
outside India closer to India. It will help to mobilize professional
and financial resources of NRIs/PIOs for India’s development. Also, it
is of great sentimental values to PIOs/NRIs living outside India to
feel that they are now part of Mother India
India Govt. is now going a step further to grant voting rights for
Indian citizens living outside India in the Assembly and Parliamentary
elections, provided they are in the constituency at the time of
elections. This will make NRIs feel full participants for India’s
developmental activities. GOPIO had passed resolution on this at its
convention in Zurich in 2000 and has been campaigning on this issue
since then.
Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (MOIA)
GOPIO had campaigned for this new ministry similar to the Ministry for
Overseas Chinese in China. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fulfilled
this demand in 2004. The new ministry has been organizing the annual
PBD. However, we see a bigger role for MOIA in reaching out all those
NRIs/PIOs who could contribute to India’s development. The ministry
also should work with groups such as GOPIO and other organizations to
motivate more NRIs/PIOs to take active interest in India in all areas
of investment, business, technology transfer, development and
charitable activities. There should be separate cells in MOIA to
promote each of these activities.
GOPIO.Connect
Initiated in 2002, GOPIO.Connect acts more as a catalyst to help NGOs
in India and outside to promote their activities as well as to provide
exposure to more NRIs and PIOs. The objectives are as follows:
• Capture and understand key developmental need areas in India where
NRI/PIO community can help
• Organize interactive sessions with NRI/PIO run civil service
organizations on India development issues to widen awareness
• Research on key development-related laws and highlight their
enforcement issues for NRI/PIOs
• Provide help to execute development projects in India
• Encourage NRI/PIOs to research key development-related trends in
India at academic institutions to facilitate new policy
recommendations in various government ministries
NRI/PIO’s Role for the Motherland/Adopted Countries
There are enormous opportunities for NRIs/PIOs to get actively
involved in India’s development as well as support various social
service activities. Many NRIs and organizations have taken major
initiatives in supporting their former schools and colleges, some have
set up schools and colleges in their villages and towns, while others
have been supporting social and environmental causes. The same level
of activities can be initiated by Indo-Caribbeans, Indo-Fijians and
other such communities who live in the developed countries. In the
next level of activities, different nationality segments of our PIO
communities such as Indo-Caribbeans or Indo-South Africans should form
partnerships with other PIO and NRI communities for the development of
their former adopted countries.
Looking to the Future
A former American Ambassador to India, Frank Wisner was quoted at a
speech in 2002 “Linkages between our two societies need to be
developed.” This is where, GOPIO and PIO communities around the world
can play a major role, i.e. to develop linkages between societies,
i.e. Indians with Dutch, Indians with Americans, Indians with
Australians, etc. Diplomats to countries come and go, business
delegations between countries come and go. However, the lasting bond
between countries will take place when we as global citizens develop
linkages. When an issue comes, we as global PIOs should focus upon
them and try to influence the opinion makers in whatever countries we
live in to take right decision and action. We need to build coalitions
with like-minded communities to make our voice heard. Whether it is
India related issues or human rights violations or violations of civil
and political rights in countries such as Fiji, Trinidad, Zimbabwe,
Africa or the Middle East, we have an important role to play.
NRI/PIOs as global citizens have done a great job in building good
image for their Motherland in their respective countries. NRI/PIOs
have worked behind the scene to create interest among companies to
take interest in India. If right opportunities are created, NRI/PIOs
could become solid and life long partners of India’s development as
well as those countries with large PIO population. And in turn, we are
making our contributions to the world’s development and peace, as it
is said, “Vasudeva Kudumbakam”, “World is one Family.”
***
Dr. Abraham has been serving the NRI/PIO community for the last 33
years. He served as the first president of the Federation of Indian
Associations of New York in 1976 and the National Federation of Indian
American Associations in 1980. Dr. Abraham currently serves as the
Chairman of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO)
which he founded in 1989 and as a Founder Board of Director of Indian
American Kerala Center in New York. Dr. Abraham is Vice President of
Business Communications Co., a leading industry and market research
firm based in Norwalk, CT, USA.
Climate Change Discord
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By Chandru Arni
Without doubt, the conference on Climate change and Global warming was
a fiasco, failure and a retrograde step. It even went back on the
Kyoto Protocol, held in 1997 in Japan where 37 industrialized
countries committed themselves to a reduction of 6 greenhouse gases to
as much as 5% of the 1990 level.
The reasons:
1. It was a wrong place and a wrong time for the meet. Copenhagen, a
chilly city made even more icy in December. The delegates shivered and
probably wished the temperature to be a few degrees warmer and some
sunlight! How could these delegates (90 % of who did not know enough
of the subject believe that the Earth getting warmer by a few degrees
can destroy itself?)
2. The conference had too many countries in participation. It was a
merry mix-up with hundreds of politicians and delegates confusing the
issue. This is one of the reasons that United Nations General Assembly
cannot take any meaningful decisions. Most of them are skeptics, and
do not accept anything based on scientific predictions and demand
physical evidence.
3. Every politician had been warned to put the country before the
Earth. Patriotism towards the country was more important than saving
the Earth.
However he was told that he must show concern for the Earth.
4. Every politician was told NOT to commit to a figure or, if he is
pushed to commit to some small figure he should ensure it could not be
verified. If he is accused of not showing concern he should indulge in
a blame game. Without these “protections” he could not face the
Parliament (or a Senate) on his return.
5. Most of the Politicians and delegates not having a technical
background should have undergone a small scientific instruction course
before attending the conference lest they talk without the desired
seriousness.
6. Lastly, all the countries recognized in advance that nothing
substantial will be achieved and waited for a political agreement to
mess around in platitudes and show a consensus. The Heads of the big
countries could spare just a day or two to get a final agreement –
shows their seriousness and commitment.
COMMENT
The setting of goals for achieving stabilization of greenhouse gas
concentrations in the atmosphere and carbon emissions at a level that
would prevent dangerous interference with the climate system and
temperatures not to go higher than 3
degrees WILL NOT be achievable for the next 20 years unless the above
state of affairs stop and someone who knows takes charge
Why is our Earth warming up?
The concentration of carbon in living matter is almost 100 times
greater than its concentration in the earth. So living things extract
carbon from their nonliving environment. For life to continue, this
carbon must be recycled.
The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere is gradually and steadily
increasing. The, CO2 in the atmosphere retards the radiation of heat
from the earth back into space which and is referred to as the
“greenhouse effect”. With this effect the Earth gets warmer; in other
words these gases regulate our climate by trapping heat and holding it
in a kind of warm-air blanket that surrounds the earth and warm the
earth. If we don’t have any such blanket the Earth will on the other
side become far too cold for our existence. We must have this balance
But we have gone the other side and this increase is surely caused by
human activities:
Examples of malpractices and disregard
1. Burning natural gas, coal and oil - including gasoline for
automobile engine
2. Deforestation
3. Some farming practices and land-use changes
These are caused by Greenhouse Gases than Carbon Dioxide like methane
( caused by burning forests, flatulence of cattle produces methane
that is expelled, etc).Growing rice has an adverse environmental
impact because of the large quantities of methane and this can be
reduced by better agricultural practices like draining paddy fields.
4. Luxury of man: Chlorofluorocarbons, a totally human luxury (used in
refrigerators and aerosol cans,)
5. Rise in Human and Cattle population.
6. Increase in Environmental pollution
What are the effects of global warming and the greenhouse effect?
1. Weather changes. Even a small increase in the global temperature
would lead to significant climate and weather changes, affecting cloud
cover, precipitation, wind patterns, the frequency and severity of
storms, and the duration of seasons.
2. Temperature. Rising temperatures would raise sea levels as well,
reducing supplies of fresh water as flooding occurs along coastlines
worldwide
3. Sea levels rising: and global warming is at least part of the
cause.
If the sea level were to rise in excess of 4 meters almost every
coastal city in the world would be severely affected, Long-term
changes are mainly caused by temperature (because the volume of water
depends on temperature). The rise is also due to melting glaciers
(irreversible phenomena) caused by global warming.
4. Land. Millions of people also would be affected, especially poor
people who live in precarious locations or depend on the land for a
subsistence living.
Solutions
1. Saving energy and Life style changes and “throw away” practices. Be
frugal. Use Carpools.
2. Using Government and Media to highlight the problems and offer
solutions. Pour more money into research activities for clean energy.
3. Plant trees and support Organic farming (In simplest terms, organic
farming is a form of agriculture that avoids any use of synthetic
chemicals or Genetically Modified Organisms.)
4. Use Alternative energy rather than coal and petroleum
a. Using Solar power: solar cells capture the heat from the sun and
store it.
b. Using wind power: Wind turbines capture the energy of moving air
and convert to electric y
c. Biofuels: Converting organic matter into fuel (ethanol, marine
algae
d. Nuclear energy: It is a source of clean energy but is only a
temporary solution. It has the drawbacks of disastrous consequences of
accident and getting rid of nuclear waste.
e. Use of CFL (compact fluorescent light bulbs) for lighting. If a
building’s indoor incandescent lamps are replaced by CFLs, the heat
produced due to lighting will be reduced. Its environmental advantages
are big because of its lower energy requirement. For a given light
output, CFLs use 20 to 33 percent of the power of equivalent
incandescent lamps. If a building’s indoor incandescent lamps are
replaced by CFLs, the heat produced due to lighting will also be
reduced.
f. Use of hydrogen
A hydrogen vehicle is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel
for motive power. The power plants of such vehicles convert the
chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy (torque). With
further research and development, this fuel could also serve as an
alternative source of energy for heating and lighting homes,
generating electricity, and fueling motor vehicles.
Challenge for Haiti
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By Todd Moss
As the international response to Haiti’s earthquake shifts from
emergency rescue to longer term reconstruction, things are inevitably
going to get harder. There are some very good ideas floating out
there, not least Michael Clemens’ golden door visa proposal and Jeff
Sachs’ urging for a recovery trust fund (It’s too bad he couldn’t
resist swathing the idea in jabs at the donors and the United States).
But as the donor community starts making that shift and planning
projects, Joshua Nadel, a professor of Caribbean history, has this
very good reminder:
A top-down, donor-driven reconstruction that excludes Haitians will be
seen as paternalistic and will likely join the litany of failed
development projects in the country; in order to get it right,
Haitians need to sit at the table.
This seems obvious: “participation” and “ownership” are standard
buzzwords of the development planning set. But making this dynamic
work in practice is challenging in the best of situations. In Haiti,
this is even trickier since many of the institutions of the Haitian
state have been destroyed and many officials, police, and other
leaders have died. Yet if the donors take the shortcut of just doing
their own thing, I suspect Nadel’s prediction will, sadly, turn out to
be right.
National shame or national scandal?
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By Jeffrey Simpson
Somewhere between a national shame and a national scandal lies
Canada’s export of asbestos.
The federal government promotes asbestos exports – they have risen
sharply in the past year – despite the fact that the use of asbestos
has all but disappeared in this country. Why? Because scientists,
governments, industries and unions have concluded that the product can
lead to a variety of health-related problems and, in some cases, to
death.
Indeed, while the federal government promotes exports, a multiyear
construction project is refitting the Parliament Buildings, among
other reasons to remove asbestos. What our parliamentarians won’t have
in their buildings apparently will be in buildings in the developing
world.
The reason the federal government will not stop defending asbestos is
politics – Quebec politics, in fact. The asbestos produced in Canada
comes from Quebec, from the Jeffrey and LAB Chrysotile mines that
employ about 700 people. A large town in Quebec is even called
Asbestos.
No federal government has had the courage to say: Enough is enough!
We’re not exporting to developing countries any product we won’t use
at home for health reasons. Fear of offending Quebec has put a sock in
the mouth of federal governments, and fear of losing a few votes has
forced Quebec governments into acrobatic flights of hypocrisy to
defend the indefensible.
This week, Quebec Premier Jean Charest has been making headlines
outside Quebec, attacking Ottawa for questioning his government’s
intention to impose strict vehicle-emission standards. It’s all a lot
of blah-blah because Quebec’s rules are going to be superseded by new
national regulations in the U.S. and Canada.
Beating up on Ottawa is good politics, regrettably, in Quebec, but it
so happened that these attacks came from far away – from India, in
fact, where Mr. Charest was leading a Quebec trade delegation
promoting his province’s exports, including asbestos.
It was reported in the Quebec media that asbestos represents 11 per
cent of Quebec’s exports to India, a tidy sum of $427-million. Half of
India’s asbestos comes from Quebec, of the chrysotile variety with
fibres so fine they can penetrate some filtration masks and so enter
lungs, where they can create a variety of health problems, including
lethal ones.
On the eve of Mr. Charest’s visit, scientists from 28 countries urged
him to stop exporting all forms of asbestos. A hundred scientists said
the province won’t use asbestos at home because it can cause death,
while promoting it “where protections are few and awareness of the
hazards of asbestos almost non-existent.” Even some brave scientists
in Quebec, where criticism of asbestos exports has been often regarded
as “anti-Quebec,” urged the Premier to act.
But Mr. Charest said it was up to India to act if it felt asbestos led
to health problems. He was accompanied by a representative of an
asbestos lobby group that receives money from both the federal and
provincial governments; his group, he said, gives information to
asbestos users about its possible risks. In other words, caveat
emptor! Meantime, it’s business as usual for Quebec’s asbestos
exports.
Happily, some elements of the Quebec media have been all over this
story, slamming the Premier’s evident hypocrisy and noting how it
tarnishes Quebec’s precious international image. But, by extension,
the export also tarnishes Canada’s image because, Quebec pretensions
notwithstanding, most people abroad don’t even know where Quebec is,
whereas they do know about Canada.
Ottawa is intimately involved in this dirty game, too. It even sends
diplomats to international meetings to frustrate any worldwide action
against asbestos. And Canadian taxpayers are soiled by this export of
a dangerous product that is scarcely, if ever, used in this country.
Face up to it: Canadians, in their moral superiority, might think our
country has an unsullied international image, especially in
environmental matters. The reality is that those in the fisheries
business know how poorly we have managed some of our stocks. Europe
and the rest of the world are utterly repelled by the slaughter of
seals, and no amount of public-relations campaigning and political
posturing will alter that reality.
The tar sands are a growing PR nightmare, as is Canada’s weak
greenhouse-gas emissions record. To these are added the ongoing export
of asbestos from Quebec, exposing the province’s hypocrisy and
tarnishing Canada’s reputation abroad. (The Globe and Mail)
(See related article under Weekender)
Jeffrey Simpson is a columnist for the Globe and Mail.
Pakistan “Going To The Dogs”?
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By Virginia Moncrieff
Burnt and bombed schools, harsh religious edicts, strict rules of
dress, the total subjugation of women is now a way of life for most
citizens of the beautiful Swat Valley in northern Pakistan.
Swat is a stunning area of the world. It’s often called the
Switzerland of Asia, though for my money, it has a landscape that is
far more awe-inspiring than anything Europe can offer. Now it is
almost entirely over run by Taliban who are ruthless in their demands
on the citizens.
Cruelty is a feature of Taliban rule, under the guise of proper
Islamic practice, and Swat is receiving bucket loads of cruelty,
daily. “Un-Islamic” activities like dancing and singing, listening to
CDs and watching DVDs or being clean-shaven are now outlawed. Buses
playing music for their passengers are bombed for promoting “vulgarity
and obscenity” that “gravely offends pious people.” Girls are banned
from attending school under threat of violence and death.
The Taliban advance into Swat is only now being reported. While the
lawless badlands of the Afghan border areas have attracted much hand
wringing, the Talib have crept into sophisticated, cultural Swat -
nowhere near Afghanistan - and are now ruling the place with an iron
fist.
Pakistani political analyst Farrukh Khan Pitafi told the Huffington
Post from Islamabad that the free-for-all enjoyed by the Taliban stems
from bloody-minded opportunism dating back to the Pervez Musharraf
government.
“It is evident that the Musharraf’s strategy of allowing the Taliban
to grow in order to exploit western fear(s) of them (taking) over to
garner support for his rule is either beyond the control of the
government now or then. Some segment(s) of the power elite has not
given up that ploy.
“It has never been possible for any radical group (to flourish)
without the tacit support of at least some elements in the
establishment. It is my belief that Musharraf consciously allowed
these elements to thrive,” says Mr. Khan Pitafi. “At that time it
seemed convenient but now this movement is spinning out of control.
There is a chance also that some pro-Musharraf elements within the
civil military bureaucracy are still in touch with the Taliban in
order to destabilize the democratic government.”
“Ruthless murderers” is how Asif Ali Zardari, the new Pakistan
president described the Taliban in Swat, as he started making the
right noises about taking them on. He has sent in 12,000 army troops
to do battle with the estimated 4,000 Taliban who are running the
Valley. Reports from Swat suggest that not terribly much “doing
battle” is taking place; troops stay within their barracks, and
failing to protect those that the Taliban publicly threaten to kill
(and usually do).
Farrukh Khan Pitafi is is convinced that solutions must be found from
within and not through the advice or intervention of the United
States, which will create further difficulties for the national
administration’s fight against the insurgents.
“The speed with which the Taliban movement is destroying peace and
progress of the country is heartrending and baffling,” he says. “The
government right now is so unstable that it can hardly confront the
demon of Talibanization. Is there any solution? Well it certainly is
not more US across the border attacks for they inflict pain and give
the Taliban an excuse to further expand. The only solution then is to
strengthen the democratic government, do away with the remnants of
Pervez Musharraf and the retrogressive religious politicians and help
the federal and provincial governments improve coordination. This
seems an arduous process but unless these things are done the country
essentially is going to the dogs.”
India Sees Terrorism Threats
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By VIBHUTI AGARWAL
NEW DELHI—India put its security apparatus on high alert following
intelligence reports of two possible assaults in the air— one from a
plane hijacking, the other from paragliders, officials said.
Also Friday, the U.K. raised its terrorist-threat level to severe from
substantial, but declined to say why it was doing so.
Indian Officials said the Pakistan-based terrorist group Lashkar-e-
Taiba was behind both threats. The group was responsible for the
November 2008 terrorist siege in Mumbai.
On Friday, the home ministry, which is in charge of internal security,
issued a security alert to all airports and airlines following an
intelligence notification of a plot to hijack a plane.
“We have reliable information of a planned plane hijack by terrorists.
We have advised the civil aviation ministry to take necessary steps,”
said Omkar Kedia, a home ministry spokesman.
Airport security was tightened following the warning. Sky marshals
were deployed on certain flights and passengers were being subject to
more intense security screening, he said.
Later Friday, U.K. Bansal, an official at the home ministry, said: “We
have intelligence reports that LeT has purchased 50 paragliding kits
from Europe with an intention to launch attacks on India.” No other
details were available.
India celebrates one of its biggest holidays of the year, Republic
Day, on Tuesday.
Indian interior ministry recommends extra security measures for
India’s flagship airlines. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The alerts came two days after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
traveling in the region, warned of efforts by al Qaeda and its
affiliates to destabilize South Asia and trigger a war between India
and Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they became
independent nations in 1947. In December 1999, Islamic militants
hijacked an Air India flight from Nepal’s capital, Katmandu, to
Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. It ended when New Delhi released
three Islamic terrorists in exchange for 167 passengers and crew.
The U.K.’s move Friday reversed a lowering of the threat level in
July. The U.K. reduced the threat level from critical to severe in
July 2007. A spokesman for the home office referred questions to a
statement from the home secretary.
The United Kingdom’s security experts says they fear an attack from
female suicide bombers. Video courtesy of Fox News.
“The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has today raised the threat to
the U.K. from international terrorism from substanital to severe. This
means that a terrorist attack is highly likely, but I should stress
that there is no intelligence to suggest than an attack is imminent,”
said Home Secretary Alan Johnson.
Mr. Johnson said the terror-threat level is under constant review and
is based on a wide range of factors.
US leads global relief effort for Haiti
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By Paul Woodward
As the survivors of Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake struggle in
worsening conditions, three US presidents came together on Saturday to
launch a fundraising effort across America. With his two predecessors
at his side, the US president appealed for national unity in support
of the people of Haiti.
“Flanked by two of his immediate predecessors – George W Bush and Bill
Clinton – President Barack Obama announced yesterday the launch of a
new fund-raising effort for Haiti and vowed a sustained US commitment
to rebuilding the island nation in the aftermath of the devastating
earthquake,” The National reported.
” ‘By coming together in this way, these two leaders send an
unmistakable message to the people of Haiti and to the people of the
world,’ Mr Obama said, speaking in the White House Rose Garden. ‘In
these difficult hours, America stands united. We stand united with the
people of Haiti, who have shown such incredible resilience, and we
will help them to recover and to rebuild.’”
The BBC noted: “When US President Barack Obama announced that one of
the biggest relief efforts in US history would be heading for Haiti,
he highlighted the close ties between the two nations.
” ‘With just a few hundred miles of ocean between us and a long
history that binds us together, Haitians are our neighbours in the
Americas and here at home,’ he said.
“Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have indeed become neighbours of
Americans.
“Some 420,000 live in the US legally, according to census figures.
Estimates of the number of Haitians in the country illegally vary
wildly, from some 30,000 to 125,000.
“It is a sizeable diaspora which wants to see quick and decisive
action from its adopted homeland.
“Desperate to see aid getting through to friends and relatives, many
expatriate Haitians have welcomed President Obama’s decision to send
up to 10,000 troops to help rescue efforts.”
On his blog at The New York Times, Nicholas D Kristof noted a concern
expressed by some Americans: that American generosity towards Haiti
has done little to alleviate the country’s troubles in the past. He
pointed out, however, that US aid to its impoverished neighbour falls
short of the contributions coming from many other more distant
nations.
“The United States contributed $2.32 per American to Haiti over the
last three years for which we have data (about 80 cents a year).
That’s much less than other countries do, even though Haiti is in our
hemisphere and has historic close ties to the US. For example, Canada
contributed $12.13 per person to Haiti over three years, and Norway
sent $8.44. … Other countries that contribute more, per capita, to
Haiti than the US are Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, France,
Switzerland, Spain and Belgium. True, there are more Americans, so
collectively our aid amounts to more than one-quarter of the pot in
Haiti, but that’s only because we’re such a big country. Given the per
capita sums, we have no right to be bragging about our generosity in
Haiti.”
Meanwhile, The Guardian reported: “The Haiti earthquake death toll is
predicted to reach 200,000 as relief workers struggle against looting
and logistical nightmares that have delayed vital supplies of food,
water and medical help.
“International aid has begun to reach the capital, Port-au-Prince,
four days after the quake destroyed much of the Haiti’s
infrastructure, from hospitals and prisons to the presidential palace
itself.
“The Red Cross said a convoy of trucks carrying a ‘huge amount’ of aid
from the Dominican Republic was due to arrive in the capital this
afternoon, bringing a 50-bed field hospital, surgical teams and an
emergency telecommunications unit.
“The supplies and medical teams had to be sent in by land because
‘it’s not possible to fly anything into Port-au-Prince right now’,
said Paul Conneally, the charity’s spokesman in Dominica. ‘The airport
is completely congested.’
“Mark Pearson of the charity ShelterBox said: ‘It’s utter chaos at the
airport. Buildings have been completely destroyed, the hospital has
been destroyed. It’s a full scale emergency, there’s so much
destruction.
” ‘The priority at the moment is search and rescue and then after that
emergency shelter provision, so obviously there’s frustration. There’s
no fuel and people are hunting for water. It’s difficult to put the
scale of destruction into words.’”
The New York Times said: “Countries around the world have responded to
Haiti’s call for help as never before. And they are flooding the
country with supplies and relief workers that its collapsed
infrastructure and nonfunctioning government are in no position to
handle.
“Haitian officials instead are relying on the United States and the
United Nations, but coordination is posing a critical challenge, aid
workers said. An airport hobbled by only one runway, a ruined port
whose main pier splintered into the ocean, roads blocked by rubble,
widespread fuel shortages and a lack of drivers to move the aid into
the city are compounding the problems.
“Across Port-au-Prince, hunger was on the rise. About 1,700 people
camped on the grass in front of the prime minister’s office compound
in the Pétionville neighborhood, pleading for biscuits and water-
purification tablets distributed by aid groups. Haitian officials said
tens of thousands of victims had already been buried.”
Time magazine said: “An armada of US warships is steaming toward
Haiti, to be joined by at least one Coast Guard cutter en route from
the Pacific via the Panama Canal - and manned and unmanned aircraft.
Within two hours of the quake, one of the globe’s biggest warships,
the carrier USS Carl Vinson, was ordered from off the Virginia coast
toward Haiti, swapping its jet fighters for heavy-lift helicopters as
it steamed south at top speed. Three ships, including the Vinson and
the hospital ship USNS Comfort, boast state-of-the-art medical
facilities that will care for injured Haitians. Thousands of troops
are on their way to Haiti or already there, running the airport and
clearing ports for many more to follow. Up to 10,000 troops will be in
Haiti or floating just offshore by Monday.
“It fell to State Department spokesman PJ Crowley to clarify a
delicate point: ‘We’re not,’ he insisted, ‘taking over Haiti.’
Strictly speaking, that’s true: Haiti remains a sovereign country, and
there are 9,000 UN peacekeepers already there, charged with
maintaining security. But as death stalks those smothered beneath the
rubble of pancaked buildings, and poor sanitation triggers outbreaks
of dysentery and other diseases, one nation in the world has the
muscle to quickly make a difference. That’s why the US is racing aid
to the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere. If things get worse,
the US - fairly or unfairly - will be blamed by many for not doing
enough.”
India’s growth prospects raised to 9%
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by Sunil Kashyap
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself an economist of international
repute, hoped double digit GDP growth rate for the economy in next
couple of years given to potential and enormous opportunities present
in India.
Urging NRIs at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, Dr. Singh expressed
government’s commitment to provide investment friendly environment in
the country by reducing all hurdles for setting up project in India.
His assurance came a day after steel tycoon LN Mittal counted
challenges for executing mega projects in the country.
Addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora, the PM said, “I
recognize the frustration well-wishers feel when they lament why
things don’t work faster or why well-formulated plans and policies
don’t get implemented as well as they should be.”
The PM’s projections can make economists and analyst to revise their
forecasts besides strengthening the common belief of India achieving
the past glories of economic growth leaving behinds the worst of
global slowdown.
Government has been expediting investment in road and infrastructure
projects through increased public spending besides taking a slew of
measures for cutting red tape, resolving legal issues and making land
acquisition simplified for setting up industries.
America’s long way to social development
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By Dr. John Samuel
United States of America, the most economically and militarily
advanced country, has a long way to go if it wants to be a socially-
developed country as well. It is hoped with his rhetorical elegance
and intelligence, Barack Obama would be able to help the country to
make significant progress in this direction.
With America’s economic leadership being challenged by China, the U.S.
needs to make the advance called for in social development to remain
ahead of other nations as a progressive and productive one on earth.
Its democracy is nothing unique considering that there are several
countries that can claim to be even more democratic since, unlike in
the U.S., it is not money alone that determines the successes or
failure of politicians in other democracies.
Among the social development factors, one of the most important is the
ability of a nation to provide essential services such as health care
for its people. It is a basic human need to get health care without
becoming bankrupt in the process. Several million American are
becoming increasingly unable to meet its horrendous costs in an
economy with more than one in ten unemployed. It is not certain even
the watered-down health care bill would have a smooth voyage in terms
of passage. It is unfortunate that many of the developing nations of
the world are blinded by the past economic success of the U.S. and
even in health care matters they follow the awful American example.
A second indictor of social underdevelopment in the U.S. is the
predominance and prevalence of the notion that the individual is
responsible for his/her safety and security. In most other countries,
the state takes over this function entirely and a police force is
responsible for the protection of individuals. It is unfortunate that
Americans live as if they are in a society that existed 200 or more
years ago when wild animals roamed and lack of law and order was the
norm and the individual needed protection from hostile forces using
one’s own devices such as guns. When the gun lobby bribes politicians
to support their cause of selling even more weapons of mass murder, as
seen in the numerous incidents of shootings by deranged individuals,
it would not be easy to change course despite the fact that there were
more gun death per 1000 population the U.S. than in any other country
in the world. Only an amendment of the Constitution of the country can
help. The Constitution is for the people, not the other way around.
This is not easy unless in the second term of his office, President
Obama turns his attention to this waxing issue.
A third indicator of social underdevelopment is the rising power of
fundamentalism among religious groups. Here the reference is not to
Islamic fundamentalism alone, but Christian fundamentalism as well.
Religious fundamentalism – Islamic, Christian or Hindu – is a danger
to smooth functioning of any society. “Live and let live” should be
the way of the future if unnecessary conflicts and deaths are to be
avoided. The state may not be able to play a direct role here.
Finally, it is the fundamentalism that leads to state executions as a
means of those who have supposedly committed a serious crime, at times
of innocent people. The state has to business to take away anyone’s
life though for the protection of society, it can take away the
freedom of dangerous individuals. European countries and Canada have
succeeded in abolishing capital punishment. In some U.S. states also
capital punishment is not allowed.
There could be other instances of lack of social development that
needs mention. We invite our readers to come up with suggestions.
Happy New Year to all.
Dr. John Samuel is the President and Managing Editor of South Asia
Mail.
Is Climate Change for Real?
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By Amit Bhattacharya
The hard talk is on at Copenhagen. In the huddle are negotiators from
more than 192 nations, trying to forge a common plan to save the
planet. At last count, 110 world leaders were slated to gather in the
Danish capital for end-of-summit declarations that may well lay the
ground for a fundamental retooling of the global economy.
Beyond the hope, hype and bickering about who pays how much to whom,
lies a plain fact - there’s near-total consensus among governments of
the world that fossil fuel emissions have been leading to a critical
rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases, which in turn is causing global
temperatures to rise and changing the Earth’s climate patterns.
Ironically, this consensus totally breaks down when civil society
begins to talk about climate change. The Internet is replete with
assertions of climate change being the “biggest scam of the century”.
Okay, you may argue that internet is also full of accounts from
victims of alien abductions and creationists who denounce evolution.
Society’s loony fringe often has exaggerated presence on the Internet.
Except, with the climate debate, it’s not exactly the loony fringe.
Consider this: Of the top 12 bestselling books on climatology in
Amazon.com, only three - one by Al Gore and two by leading climate
scientist James Hansen - present the mainstream scientific view on the
subject. As many as five other books deny human induced climate change
in some way or the other.
Look at opinion polls. A survey conducted in the US by the respected
Pew Research Center in October showed a 14% drop in the number of
Americans who thought there was solid evidence that the Earth was
warming from 71% who had said yes to the question in April 2008, to
57% in October 2009. Only 36% of the respondents thought humans were
causing it, down from 47% last year.
Then there is the “climategate”episode, in which leaked emails of
British climatologists proved at least to some people that scientists
were cooking data to fit their models.
That the Earth is steadily warming has itself been denied by some
experts. They point out that the global temperatures haven’t really
gone up since 1998, and the graph has been more or less flat since
then (despite the 2000-2009 decade being the warmest on record). There
are others who say that the warming trend of the last century is part
of a natural cycle and not human-induced; that human activities
haven’t reached the critical scale to impact climate. Many of these
experts point to waxing and waning of solar activity to explain
temperature variations on Earth.
All this brings us to the point of this post: Governments of the world
are convinced about the warming effects of greenhouse emissions, but
are the people? Is the science of global warming settled?
During the course of a climate change fellowship I attended in the US
last month, leading climatologists spoke on the subject. The insights
we got were both revealing and troubling. To answer the second
question first - yes, the science behind what’s causing the Earth to
heat up seems pretty settled. A few notable dissenters aside, an
overwhelming majority of climatologists believe there’s strong
evidence to show that fossil fuels are causing the warming.
It’s not just about individual scientists. The study of climate change
is a multidisciplinary system science. Like any science of this
nature, there are things that are well established and areas which
aren’t as clear, that is, where competing explanations exist and some
parts that are yet speculative. Understanding is built and unbuilt
through accumulated evidences over decades.
As Stephen Schneider, professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental
Studies at Stanford University and a preeminent climate change expert
put it, understanding climate is like understanding the world economy:
it’s never solved by one new piece of information. And the answers are
never in plain yes or no, but in degrees of certainty.
For instance, to understand whether human activity was leading to a
rise in global temperatures, scientists had to build climate models
based on observed data and make predictions. These models predict an
overall warming trend. Temperature data of the last 100 years, and the
last 50 years, bear this out. Since there are two possible outcomes in
the data set “warming or cooling” there’s a 50% chance that this
prediction was random.
There’s more. The models also predict that middle of the continents
warm up more than middle of oceans. Again, observations show that’s
the case. Models predict stratosphere cools, lower atmosphere warms.
Right again. Models predict the stratosphere cools because of ozone
depleting substances and relative damping. They also predict that
there’s more warming at night than the day. Yet again, the models get
it right.
Put together, these models leave a statistical possibility of just 5%
that all these correct predictions were arrived at by pure chance. In
other words, the statement that humans through fossil fuel emissions
are warming up the planet has a scientific accuracy of around 95%.
That’s a very high degree of certainty. No other competing explanation
of the observed data’s natural cycle or solar activity comes anywhere
close to the robustness of this theory. (Of course, there’s still a 5%
chance that the warming is being caused by a factor that’s yet
unknown; but can we risk our planetary future on this basis?)
To return to the first question: Why are so many people not convinced?
There are two main reasons why this is so. The first one is obvious:
There are strong vested interests in letting people believe that
warming is a myth; or that the issue is far from settled. It’s no
surprise that a lot of climate change deniers get funds from
multinational oil conglomerates. There are websites that carry lists
of who gets funded by whom. (There would, of course, be some genuine
non-believers in the mix, but oil funding is the ugly, predominant
truth.)
The second reason is the way the science works and the way scientists
communicate it. Climate science is all about probabilities, not
certainties. And scientists are careful about throwing in all the
caveats while making their points. On the other hand, people who are
cherry-picking facts to suit their slant are forceful and definitive.
No guessing which set of speakers would leave a more lasting
impression on primetime TV.
There’s no denying that climate is the most politicized and
contentious science of our times. But on one side is method and
rigour, and on the other, half-truths and slant. At stake is a planet
called Earth.
South Asia and climate change
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By Simon Tay
Climate change is a critical and pressing issue we are faced with
today. In South Asia we are increasingly exposed to the results of
climate change, such as the latest typhoons and floods in the region,
causing loss of lives and damage to property as well as displacing
families and increasing the spread of tropical diseases.
There is also the risk of rising sea level and increasing
temperatures. A recently released report from the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) shows that South Asia is likely to suffer more from climate
change than elsewhere in the world. There will be considerable
economic costs too, with a projected 7-8 per cent loss in GDP, unless
climate change is addressed.
It is an issue, on which developed and developing countries should
come together. Yet differences and suspicions remain.
Copenhagen meetings are going on to reach a consensus on a new climate
agreement. However, after Barcelona, it seems that the negotiations
have not progressed so far that a new legal framework will be ready
for Copenhagen. A realistic outcome will probably be a political
framework which can form the basis for future negotiations on the post-
Kyoto treaty.
South Asian countries need to think about their position on the
international stage. We all see the need to bring together the US,
India, China and south-east Asia, and mediators can help bring these
nations together. Singapore and other countries in the region could
very well play that role.
If we do not, we risk having larger and more powerful countries coming
to agreements alone and the decisions risk being made without our full
attention and participation.
The world is also looking at alternative sources of energy. It is
clear that some countries are more able and capable to deploy energy
saving mechanisms such as windmills and water/tidal turbines. Solar
energy, though a good solution, is still very expensive and presently
is not optimal.
Without the big nations on board, it may be understandable that other
nations approach Copenhagen cautiously. A solitary commitment by any
single nation cannot solve this global challenge.
Simon Tay is Chairman, Singapore Institute of International Affairs
(SIIA) and former chairman of Singapore National Energy Agency
Stephen Harper in world affairs
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By Bruce Anderson
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s trip to China garnered huge coverage
at home, and likely helped his political fortunes somewhat.
First of all, it was a distraction from the politics of Afghan
detainees, and the week wasn’t kind to the Conservatives on that
issue. Almost anything is better than having lots of voters focus
exclusively on pictures of heavily redacted documents and watch some
increasingly effective opposition prosecution of the issue.
Beyond that though, the Prime Minister is working hard to position
himself as competitive with Michael Ignatieff when it comes to what’s
important on the world stage. His rising profile as the nation’s top
diplomat also continues the process of softening his personal image.
That he amiably absorbed the shots Chinese leaders inflicted about the
lack of a prior visit seemed in contrast with a more prickly reaction
we might have seen earlier in his career.
Conventional wisdom holds that Canadians feel conflicted about China,
anxious to enhance our trade opportunities on the one hand, but
reluctant to look indifferent about the human rights abuses in that
country. Over the years I’ve done public opinion research in this
area, that’s not exactly what I’ve seen.
For one of the world’s great selling nations, our citizenry is
actually a bit tentative about the importance of international
commerce. When it comes to trade agreements, we’ve often had a foot on
the brake and a foot on the accelerator at the same time. For many,
the apparent success of Nafta has softened opposition to the concept
of free trade, but not yet translated into a full-on embrace of the
philosophy.
Most Canadians are very hesitant about any notions of free trade with
China, and tepid at best about investment by Chinese state enterprises
in the Canadian resource sector. This comes from a reflexive worry
about our ability to compete with bigger players, and a longstanding
instinct not to bargain away our natural resources birthright.
We’re also less passionate than we used to be about involving
ourselves in the social rights agendas of other countries. We are
fatigued with the idea of nation building in Afghanistan. We don’t
always feel confident knowing when and where our voice is needed in
other trouble spots, how forceful our interventions should be in order
to be helpful, and whether we can really avoid being brushed off. Our
collective attentiveness to global issues has been slipping for years,
which contributes to this uncertainty.
A renewal of Canadian interest in international affairs would be a
good thing for Canada. Doing so requires this type of intense focus
from our political leaders, and benefits from vigorous competition
between parties to help inform and clarify our choices. Whatever
policy we make around trade and investment flows with China, whatever
role we choose to play in promoting human rights or fighting
collective environmental problems, it can’t help but be in our
interests to make these decisions on a more broadly informed basis.
That’s why many observers likely hope that the Prime Minister’s
extensive foreign policy work this year was about more than connecting
with targeted segments of Canadian voters, and winning a few more
seats, but instead signals a new era of active Canadian outreach. And
why most of the same observers also welcome the fact that the Liberals
have talented people like Michael Ignatieff, Bob Rae and trade critic
Scott Brison to provide a serious and thought provoking challenge to
the government.
Obama Reassures Singh On U.S.-India Ties
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By Don Gonyea
As a sign of India’s rising stature, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was
treated to the first state visit of Obama’s presidency. The two
leaders pledged to strengthen their economic ties, and Obama
reiterated the importance of the U.S. relationship with India.
Obama tried to assuage growing concerns by many in India that the
relationship between these two nations is being eclipsed by a greater
U.S. outreach to China, India’s neighbor.
That was the broad message of all of the White House events Tuesday.
“It will be another opportunity to convey to the prime minister and
the people of India, as India assumes its rightful place as a global
leader in this century, that you will have no better friend and
partner than the United States of America,” Obama said.
“I was deeply impressed by President Obama’s strong commitment to the
India-U.S. strategic partnership and by the breadth of his vision for
global peace and prosperity,” Singh said.
“After eight years — some of those years in which we did not have, I
think, either the resources or the strategy to get the job done — it
is my intention to finish the job,” Obama said.
But a weak Afghan government, the country’s mountainous terrain and
the tenacity of the insurgents all add up to a very difficult task, no
matter what the strategy.
A poll published Wednesday by USA Today shows support for Obama on
Afghanistan plummeting. Three months ago, 56 percent approved of his
handling of the issue. Now 55 percent disapprove.
Any big buildup is likely to displease much of the American public as
the war enters its ninth year, with casualties rising.
Obama predicts that the public will give him a fair hearing when he
presents his case: “I feel very confident that when the American
people hear a clear rationale for what we’re doing there, and how we
intend to achieve our goals, that they will be supportive.”
The president has the Thanksgiving weekend to finalize his strategy
for Afghanistan, and his plan for selling that strategy both at home
and abroad.
HARPER AND INDIA
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By Rana Sarkar
There are few more important things Prime Minister Stephen Harper can
do for the future of the Canadian economy in our lifetimes than start
free-trade talks with India. Against the backdrop of aging
populations, thickening borders and the unlikely return of the U.S.
consumer as the global ATM – and in order to build the foundation for
competitiveness beyond the current downturn – we need to think
differently and act quickly to reduce our reliance on a single
partner.
We need to diversify into the big trading markets of the European
Union, Brazil, China and India. Given global multilateral trade talks
are mired in the sands of Doha for the foreseeable future, Canada’s
preference for bilateral pacts has proven a good instinct. With NAFTA,
and an EU free-trade deal in the works, we have secured two of the
largest markets, but Brazil remains tied up in its own regional
trading regime and China seems forever complicated. And so India
stands out as the next great opportunity for Canada.
Frankly, the timing could not be better. India is keen to expand its
global trade footprint and is selectively engaging in large deals of
its own, including ones with the EU and South Korea. But it is also
keen to get a foothold in the North American market. A quiet visit by
the Indian commerce minister to Ottawa in September has set the stage
for diplomatic dialogue on a comprehensive economic partnership – a
commitment to talk about talks. The Prime Minister should follow up
aggressively in India this week and stake his claim for full-blown
free-trade discussions.
“ Most countries got the memo circulated at Davos a few years ago”
An agreement will not happen overnight and will likely take years to
negotiate. But seizing on this initiative is rich with symbolism of
our intent to engage the New India and will help us jump the snaking
cue of the global great and good forming in Delhi. Most countries got
the memo circulated at Davos a few years ago: India, like China before
it, emerged from the global economic realignment as one of the great
players of the 21st century. It is now the fourth-largest economy in
the world in purchasing power parity, having grown at 6 to 9 per cent
over two decades, and will be, barring calamity, one of the big three
within 30 years.
Its self-sustaining growth is now past the tipping point – not fuelled
by exports alone but by a private sector composed of millions of
entrepreneurs, domestic consumption and new global ambition. India is
set to become one of the great global consumer markets in the decades
ahead as its North American-sized middle class flex their credit cards
and the country brings half a billion of its poorest into the global
economy for the first time.
Underwriting this growth has meant converting two enormous challenges
into strengths. India’s democracy, long viewed as a handicap to
growth, is now widely regarded as a source of multilayered strength,
able to see off complex challenges from security threats to brokering
the aspirations of the fast urbanizing poor. India’s billion-plus
population, once a Malthusian trap, now looks more like a demographic
dividend featuring a young population (half under 25) set to grow
rich(er) before they grow old – similar to postwar America and
Europe.
A Canada-India free trade agreement would likely be focused primarily
on investment, labour mobility and services – fears of job losses and
a flood of cheap exports are overblown. The China-U.S. relationship,
often citied by critics of trade arrangements between developed and
big emerging markets, is instructive: Job losses and cheap imports
have occurred precisely because trade and investment liberalization is
lacking, creating a situation where China has depressed its currency
to dampen consumption and drive exports that are bought by U.S.
consumers increasingly through debt – debt that is, in turn, financed
by the Chinese. This, of course, will not be the case with Canada’s
trade with India.
With similar democratic institutions, Commonwealth heritage and strong
diasporic links, Canada and India have much in common institutionally,
making an agreement possible. What is required now is a greater level
of political and corporate-sector commitment – and a little
imagination – to make it a reality. (The Globe and Mail)
Rana Sarkar is president and executive director of the Canada-India
Business Council.
Mohammad Akbar: Canada should strengthen trade relationship with India
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By Mohammad Akbar
In light of news that China has overtaken Canada as the number one
exporter to the U.S., it makes more sense than ever that we stop
putting all our eggs into one basket.
Canada should seek to diversify its trade for the same reasons that an
investor diversifies his or her portfolio—to get better gains and
reduce risk.
Canadian businesses are concerned by the potential upheaval in North
American trade amid the emergence of a “Buy American” mentality and
the likelihood that NAFTA may be placed back on the negotiation
table.
This is an opportune time for Canada to rethink its approach towards
international trade. We can and should open as many doors around the
world as possible for our businesses by moving toward free trade with
the world’s largest and fastest growing economies.
Preferential trade agreements or free trade agreements are becoming
very popular around the world as many countries become increasingly
disenchanted with the multilateral trade regime established under the
World Trade Organization.
I would suggest this is a very good time to be thinking of building a
stronger trade relationship with India.
The Indian economy has grown by more than nine percent for three years
running—growth that has been supported by economy-wide reforms, huge
inflows of direct foreign investment, rising foreign exchange
reserves, and a flourishing capital market.
Furthermore India is interested in building regional and bilateral
trade relationships and has entered into in number of them with the
zeal of a new convert. It is currently negotiating a free trade
agreement with the European Union and has signed an agreement to
cooperate in trade, investment, and energy issues with the U.S.
The Indian government is looking at alternative energy sources and has
also signed a wide-ranging nuclear treaty with the U.S.—an area that
can be exploited by Canada due to its comparative advantage in the
energy sector.
The Indian services sector, which accounts for more than 50 percent of
its GDP, is another tremendous opportunity for Canada .
Canada also has strong immigration ties with India that are currently
not reflected in trade relations. Over the last five years, trade
between the two countries has only amounted to about US$4 billion.
In this age of globalization, economic relations are a key to
strengthening political and foreign relations. A bilateral agreement
with India could yield meaningful strategic benefits.
India is an important country for Canada because of its geographical
location and its emerging role in global politics. Greater market
access to India and its one billion people will also help reduce
Canadian businesses’ vulnerability to the ups and downs of the U.S.
market. That will expand production here at home and create more jobs
while at the same time providing a cheap source of imports for both
goods and services.
In short, free trade with India would not only be a tremendous benefit
to Canadian business but would also establish Canada’s presence
politically and socially in one of the world’s great emerging
markets.
Mohammad Akbar is a professor of economics in the school of business
at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
Singh’s US visit is rich with symbolism
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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s upcoming state visit to the US
would be reinforcement of America’s friendship with India. The trip
will be a test of India’s willingness to follow through with
acquisitions of civilian nuclear technology and ‘to agree to a test
ban’.
‘The first state visit under the Obama administration is rich with
symbolism,’ ‘It will solidify the US-Indian relationship under a
Democratic president.’
Obama administration has many officials who were skeptical of the
India-US civil nuclear deal. ‘The visit will be a test of India’s
willingness to follow through with concrete acquisitions of civilian
nuclear technology, and to agree to a test ban.
Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit the US Nov 24.
The Obama administration early on learned to de-hyphenate India and
Pakistan, he said, adding ‘The challenges facing Pakistan’s survival
from within are driving relations there and are of a more urgent
nature than the slowly but steadily developing relationship with
India.
For Americans and Europeans, the terrorist origins in Pakistan are as
alarming as they are to Indians. US officials understand well,
perhaps better than some in the Bush administration that India is
pursuing improvements in its external circumstances along every
azimuth.
‘The relationship is important, and increasingly so, but it is not
exclusive in either direction. Both nations are pursuing their
interests with a cool eye and a sense of balance. This is a healthy
basis for long-term cooperation where the interests coincide.
The US and India share concerns about the terrorist threats we face.
We have a common interest in globalisation occurring in an orderly
fashion and a host of other issues. In those efforts, our allied
efforts will be critical.
Douglas H. Paal, is vice president for studies at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace.
Religious Freedom in India
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Lalit K Jha
A US government report on Monday praised the religious freedom in
India despite mentioning instances of attacks on religious minorities,
and lauded the “independent” judiciary and a “vibrant” civil society
for acting against violations whenever they occur.
The annual report on International Religions Freedom, between July
2008 and June 2009, released in Washington by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, also mentioned the Mumbai terror attacks in which
extremists targeted luxury hotels, a crowded railway station, a Jewish
centre, a hospital and restaurants.
It, however, criticised the police and law enforcement agencies for
often not acting swiftly to effectively counter violence and attacks
by extremists.
“In general, India’s democratic system, open society, independent
legal institutions, vibrant civil society and press all provided
mechanisms to address violations of religious freedom when they did
occur,” the State Department said in its annual report.
In its section on India, it said, although vast majority of citizens
of every religious group lived in peaceful coexistence, “some
organised societal attacks against minority religious groups
occurred,” and accused enforcement agencies for not acting swiftly in
many cases.
It also mentioned the violence in Kandhamal in August 2008 after the
killing of Swami Lakshmanananda by individuals affiliated with the
Maoists. The violence claimed 40 lives and left 134 injured, it said.
“Although most victims were Christians, the underlying causes that led
to the violence have complex ethnic, economic, religious and political
roots related to land ownership and government-reserved employment and
educational benefits,” it said, adding that police arrested 1,200
persons, including a Maoist leader and registered over 1,000 criminal
cases.
According to several independent accounts, an estimated 3,200 refugees
remained in relief camps, down from 24,000 in the immediate aftermath
of the violence, the report noted.
It said numerous cases remained in courts, including those related to
the 2002 Gujarat violence, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, and the more
recent attacks against Christians, and some extremists continued to
view the ineffective investigation and prosecution as a signal that
they could commit such violence with impunity.
The State Department report said government officials responded to a
number of new and previous violent events, helping to prevent communal
violence and providing relief and rehabilitation packages for victims
and their families.
It also praised leaders of religious groups for making public efforts
to show respect for other groups by celebrating their holidays and
attending social events, and for protesting cases of violence against
other communities.
“Muslim groups protested the mistreatment of Christians by Hindu
extremists… Christian clergy and spokespersons for Christian
organisations issued public statements condemning anti-Muslim violence
in places such as Gujarat,” it said.
After the Mumbai strikes, religious leaders of all communities
condemned the attacks and issued statements to maintain communal
harmony, the report said.
Lalit K Jha is a talented and results-oriented journalist with
extensive experience reporting upon international affairs and
government operations for leading national newspapers and wire
services.
Taliban Terror in Pakistan
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By Walid Phares
Taliban Terror in Pakistan
The war between the Taliban and Pakistan continues to accelerate. Just
last weekend, Pakistan’s army responded to a long string of Taliban
attacks by launching a massive ground operation in Waziristan.
But through this already-long fight, the press and other observers
have only focused on the continuing bloodshed rather than the fact
that the Taliban continue to launch suicide bombers and other types of
attacks inside Pakistan’s cities against its police and military
forces. We warned that the Taliban’s war on Pakistan’s government and
civil society, would widen since the assassination of Prime Minister
elect Benazir Bhutto in December 2007. And so it is today.
It is unfortunate, but nevertheless true, that he most important
events – the worst events — in this war have yet to happen. And
analysts must focus on the lessons learned so far so that the worrying
projections can be accompanied with parallel policy suggestions.
The jihadi campaign in Pakistan was planned years ago, but the
electoral victory in 2007 of the secular Party of the People, headed
traditionally by the Bhutto clan, triggered an acceleration of the
Taliban general offensive. Initially the Mullahs of the most radical
Salafists on the face of Earth – in partnership with al Qaeda — wanted
to seize Pakistan gradually, with further infiltration. They were
building their “Emirate” sanctuary in Waziristan and beyond, while
penetrating the intelligence agencies and other segments of the
bureaucracy.
But since September 2008 when Benazir’s widower Asif Ali Zardari was
elected as new President and as he clearly pledged to fight
“terrorism,” the Taliban leaped to preempt his designs. In one short
year, they escalated their attacks reaching a point 60 miles from
Islamabad last April. That week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton said that Zardari’s government was “abdicating to the Taliban
and the extremists.”
In fact when the Jihadist forces entered the Swat valley and began
heading towards the capital’s suburbs, the country’s Government was
tested strategically. I told Fox News then that this was a “red line.”
Crossing it towards Islamabad meant a Taliban advance all over the
country. But if the Army would cross it in reverse, it would mean a
full fledge war against the Taliban. And in fact it did happen, as we
can see today. So what are the lessons so far?
Taliban Forces
First, the Taliban and their jihadi allies have clearly shown that
they have cells capable of conducting terror attacks way beyond their
enclaves. Hence one needs to expect protracted violence in urban
zones. The armed Islamists aren’t a new force appearing only this
year, but a network growing for decades. Now is their time to try to
take out the secular government.
Second, the attacks against the military headquarters and bases, never
performed before, can be copycatted against more dangerous locations,
including nuclear sites: storage locations, launching pads or delivery
systems. It is a question of time before such a scenario could
materialize.
Third, assassinations are still possible. As with the late lady
Benazir, the Taliban knows that achieving such goals can trigger even
wider clashes inside the country.
Fourth, the present Pakistani government is strategically decided to
fight and dismantle the Taliban enclaves in the Northwest provinces.
If this government fails, such an opportunity will not happen again
soon. All of these factors indicate that this is the last card been
played, in this generation, against the jihadists of Pakistan.
Fifth, the Taliban war on the secular government in Pakistan shows a
determination to take over that country. It also shows that the notion
of a “moderate Taliban” has no connection to reality. Otherwise the
Pakistani Muslim Government would have found these alleged “moderate
Taliban” and mobilize them against the bad guys. It didn’t happen and
it won’t.
Hence, based on these findings, the following are strategic
recommendations for the US Administration to consider seriously:
a. As Pakistan’s armed forces and its government are waging a counter
campaign on the Taliban, Washington must refrain from regurgitating
the myth of “cutting deals with the good Taliban” as an exit strategy
for Afghanistan. Such a hallucination would crumble the determination
of anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan and would weaken the resolve of
the Pakistanis engaged in their own national counter terrorism
campaign against the Taliban.
b. The Obama Administration must help Zardari’s government discretely
and at the demand of the latter. US and Pakistani leaders should
coordinate efforts without exposing this cooperation to jihadist
propaganda
c. The Obama Administration must rapidly extend resources to General
McCrystal in Afghanistan so that the pincer movement against the
regional Taliban can happen at the same time. Now that the Pakistanis
are on the offensive in Waziristan, NATO and Afghan forces must take
the offensive on the other side of the border. The Taliban must not be
enabled to fight one adversary at a time, by massing all their
resources in two countries against one foe then move to the next.
I am sure US and NATO strategists and Pakistani decision makers have
this in mind. But we need to make sure US decision makers do not have
other plans in mind. Otherwise, if the pincer strategy is not
performed, we may lose not one but two countries in the region to the
jihadists, one of them being already nuclear.
*****
Dr Walid Phares is the Co-Secretary General of the Transatlantic
Parliamentary Group on Counter Terrorism and a senior fellow at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracy.
http://www.southasiamail.com/blog/
The World is What it is: Authorized Biography of VS Naipaul
By Patrick French
Review by Cyril Dabydeen
A curmudgeon, there’s no question, as far as rumours go about V. S.
Naipaul, Nobel Laureate and Booker Prize winner, benighted by the
Queen for being litterateur par excellence. He’s both celebrated and
derided, all at the same time. But why? The recent Authorized
Biography by Patrick French is still hotly discussed in literary
circles; mention the name V.S. Naipaul, and you’re bound to get a
terse reaction, even with vitriol, often contrapuntal or just
contrarious. Many Caribbean intellectuals are fraught over him for his
damning comments about race and Africa; at conferences I’ve heard the
call for his books to be burned. His spat with the other Caribbean
Nobel Laureate, Derek Walcott, is well-known (a la “V.S. Nighfall”);
yet Walcott has acknowledged Naipaul’s superb craftsmanship as a
master stylist bent on changing the novel’s “bastardized form”--as
Naipaul sees it.
Naipaul has said, “I became a writer to be free.” And maybe too free
he is: his earliest books about India such as An Area of Darkness and
A Wounded Civilization caused quite a stir. But Naipaul’s novels from
the earliest, such as A House for Mr Biswas, to the later books like
The Enigma of Arrival and A Bend in the River are classics, or near
classics. Indeed the Nobel Prize Committee 's citation of Naipaul's
award was for his "incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to
see the presence of suppressed histories," and singling out The Enigma
of Arrival (1987) for its "unrelenting image of the placid collapse of
the old colonial ruling culture and the demise of European
neighbourhoods."
Maybe therein lies the problem or dilemma, jaundiced as Naipaul’s view
may be. And the Muslim fundamentalist world has come in for much of
his criticism in books such as Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey
and Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples.
Late distinguished post-colonial critic Edward Said would describe
what he calls Naipaul’s “funny moments... at the expense of Muslims,
who are ‘wogs’ after all as seen by Naipaul's British and American
readers, potential fanatics and terrorists, who cannot spell, be
coherent, sound right to a worldly-wise, somewhat jaded judge from the
West."
Yet Said acknowledged in his Reith Lectures Naipaul’s "extraordinary
antennae as a novelist," of his "sifting through the debris of
colonialism and post-colonialism, remorselessly judging the illusions
and cruelties of independent states and the new true believers...."
This distilled view is juxtaposed with Naipaul’s earlier expression in
Middle Passage (1962): "History is built around achievement and
creation; and nothing was created in the West Indies,” which caused
furore among some West Indian intellectuals; and Naipaul has gone on
to speak of "the colonial smallness [of Trinidad] that didn't consort
with the grandeur of my ambition."
Naipaul has influenced a whole slew of writers, including this writer–
as well as many modern-day Indians like Amitav Ghosh. Indeed, “it was
Naipaul who first made it possible for me to think of myself as a
writer,” Ghosh has said as he grew more comfortable with the
indwelling life of the mind. The most well-known Chinese-American
writer, Ha Jin, told us (when I was a juror of the Neustadt
International Prize for Literature at the University of Oklahoma) how
he would read Naipaul all the time on his train journeys in the US,
with a similar response to Ghosh’s; Ha Jin was a fellow juror.
Recent book reviewers of the French Biography have commented on
Naipaul’s treatment of his wife, Pat (he met her at Oxford), and
perhaps she was his best editor and confidante; and French quotes
Naipaul as saying “I have killed her”; Pat died of breast cancer. His
unsentimental self is what we have and being unequivocal about art as
well as equally satirical about politics as Naipaul assesses old and
new societies, often unsparing about the latter.
About himself and India, Naipaul has said: “I cannot belong to India
for the simple reason that I don’t know the language.” Naipaul, of
course, is of Indian forbears: the grandson of an indentured sugar
cane worker–of Brahmin caste--brought from Uttar Pradesh by the
British to the Chaguanas plantations in Trinidad. And you would think
that Naipaul would hate the British for this. But he has said, in
l979, perhaps too forthrightly: "I do not write for Indians, who in
any case do not read. My work is only possible in a liberal, civilized
western country"; and the enigma echoes: "The thing about being an
Indian, and it remains true of Indian writing now, is that it seems to
work without history, in a vacuum."
Misanthropic, if not satirical, Naipaul continues to excite or
intrigue, perhaps for just being outrageous with trenchant utterances
like his egregiously famous: "The dot means my head is empty":
referring to the bindi Hindu women wear; or, on Pakistan: "The
Pakistani dream is one day there'll be a Muslim resurgence and they
will lead the prayers in the mosques in Delhi"; and of Britain, it’s
“a country of second-rate people--bum politicians, scruffy writers and
crooked aristocrats."
In French’s Biography, there are touching elements, such as Naipaul’s
obsession and praising of his writer-father Seepersad Naipaul, and
about the family squabbles pitting the Capildeo clan (on his mother’s
side) with the Naipauls (on his father’s), all which rivets the
attention, as one is also acutely aware of Naipaul seeing “mimic men”
in the colonial setting with all that’s banal or incongruous.
V.S. Naipaul keeps seeking out other meanings in a diasporic new world
order by setting his gaze on more than imaginary homelands (as Salman
Rushdie does), always with troubling enigmas and, on occasion,
mutinies, if a million or more in India–which still beckons. Indeed,
he is the sum of his books; the novels always tell more than the
biography; and Naipaul affirms Marcel Proust’s axiom: of "the
secretions of one's innermost self, written in solitude and for
oneself alone that one gives to the public,” seen in his own
imaginative outpouring. But maybe with Naipaul controversy never ends:
the latest is about his Pakistani-journalist wife Nadera Naipaul’s
spat with Winnie Mandela over an interview-article in the UK’s Evening
Standard touching on Nelson Mandela’s patriarchal image. Read on!
Cyril Dabydeen’s novel, Drums of My Flesh (TSAR Publications) won the
Guyana Prize for Best Book of Fiction and had been nominated for the
prestigious IMPAC/Dublin Prize for Literature.
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60443
Media, entertainment seen as $24 bn industry in India by 2014
Mumbai, The $13 billion Indian media and entertainment industry is
seen growing 13 percent annually over the next five years to net
revenues of $24.25 billion by 2014, says a report released Tuesday.
The study by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI) made the projection based on the recovery staged by
the industry in the last quarter of 2009, which, it feels, will
continue in the future.
The growth will be driven by factors like favourable demographics,
high economic growth, strong fundamentals, expected rise in
advertising revenue and increasing penetration, adds the study,
conducted jointly by consultancy KPMG.
“The media and entertainment industry represents the face of consumers
in India,” said FICCI secretary general Amit Mitra, after the study
was released by Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan at the Frames
2010 conference.
“It is a part of our daily life and touches maximum number of people.
So despite the challenging last year, I’m excited by the potential of
the industry to even grow beyond 13 percent per annum over the next
few years,” Mitra said.
Others who attended the inaugural event at India’s commercial and
entertainment hub included actors Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif and
filmmakers Yash Chopra and Karan Johar.
Speaking on the session, Shah Rukh Khan said the three basic needs of
every Indian — food, clothing and shelter (roti, kapda aur makaan) —
appeared to have been fulfilled for most.
“There is now a fourth desire and that is entertainment and movies are
a popular source of this fourth requirement. Another concept popularly
emerging and posing to have a great future is sport entertainment,” he
said.
“We are at the threshold of a huge burst on the entertainment arena in
India and entertainment is the packaging of a growing economy.”
As per the FICCI-KPMG study several factors augur well for the
industry, notably the potential for growth in media reach, impact of
digitisation and convergence, better consumer understanding,
innovation and enhanced penetration of regional markets.
The study also gives the following estimates of the size of various
segments of media and entertainment industry in 2009 and the
projection for 2014:
Television: From $5.71 billion to $11.58 billion
Filmed Entertainment: From $1.98 billion to $3.09 billion
Print Media: From $3.88 billion to $5.97 billion
Radio: From $173 million to $364 million
Music: From $184 million to $382 million
Animation: From just $71 million to $1.03 billion
According to the study, gaming will be the fastest growing sector in
the media and entertainment industry. This sector grew 22 percent in
2009 and is expected to expand by 32 percent per annum to reach $711
million by 2014.
http://www.southasiamail.com/news.php?id=60556
PakNationalists - Bal Thackeray 'Wanted' By Pakistan
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4:33 PM Posted by com puter
© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
in any medium
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Indian Hindu Terrorist Bal Thackeray 'Wanted' By Pakistan
Thackeray issued a call to form Hindu suicide squads, "to take the
Muslims head on". Labeling them as "trouble makers", Balaji called for
them to be wiped out from the country to make India secure. Urging
Hindus to start referring to India Hindu rashtra" (Hindu nation), the
Shiv Sena militant leader maintains that only "our religion [Hinduism]
is to be honored here" and then "we will look after other religions".
At least two senior retired Indian military officers answered Bal
Thackeray's call to set up the suicide squads in India.
By S.M Hali
The Daily Mail of Pakistan
Wednesday, 17 March 2010.
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM
According to reports, the eighth Indian dossier containing more
"details" on the Mumbai terror attacks has been handed over to the
Interior Minister, Mr. Rehman Malik by Foreign Secretary Salman
Bashir.
India had submitted the dossier last week at the one-point Foreign
Secretary level talks, seeking "strict action" against Jamaat-ud-Dawah
(JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed, who is alleged to be the mastermind of the
26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. India had submitted three dossiers, one
of them concerning the handing over of Saeed and 34 others wanted by
India.
However, after the talks, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir had
commented that evidence presented by New Delhi against Saeed was "mere
literature" and India did not have enough proof against him. Earlier,
New Delhi had expressed "severe concern" over Islamabad's "inaction"
against Saeed. India needs to accept the fact that Pakistan's free and
fair judiciary, whose independence was acclaimed by India too, had
examined the evidence against Hafiz Saeed, after he was arrested in
the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks. In light of the data presented by
India as "proof" incriminating Hafiz Saeed, the independent judiciary
in Pakistan had considered it inadequate to convict him thus he was
set free. India, which boasts of an independent, fair and free
judicial system in its own country, should realize that it has Ajmal
Kassab in its custody, who is alleged to be the sole survivor of the
attackers involved in the Mumbai carnage. Despite Ajmal Kassab's
signed "confession", video footage of the assailants and hundreds of
"witnesses" of the heinous crime, Indian judicial system is yet to
declare Mr. Kassab guilty of any crime. India will have to put faith
in Pakistan's judiciary or provide solid evidence of Hafiz Saeed's
involvement in the gory episode.
India had also expressed dissent over Islamabad allowing Saeed to make
'provocative and insidious' statements against India during a
television interview. Saeed had declared an open 'Jihad' against India
in the interview. "If India is not ready to talk on water and Kashmir
then Pakistan should wage a war against India. JuD will fight along
with the Pakistan army," the Jihadi leader had said.
Hafiz Saeed's comments may be termed provocative but surely it is not
a serious crime meriting his arrest and handing over to India. If it
were so, India's own firebrand demagogue Bal Keshav Thackeray,
popularly known as Balasaheb Thackeray, who is the founder and chief
of the Shiv Sena, a hardcore Hindu terrorist, Marathi ethnocentric and
extremist party, must be taken cognizance of. The hothead, highly
vocal radical leader, in his vitriolic comments seldom hides the venom
he harbors for Muslims and Pakistan. In 2002, Thackeray issued a call
to form Hindu suicide squads, "to take the Muslims head on". Labeling
them as "trouble makers", Balaji called for them to be wiped out from
the country to make India secure. Urging Hindus to start referring to
India Hindu rashtra" (Hindu nation), the Shiv Sena militant leader
maintains that only "our religion [Hinduism] is to be honored here"
and then "we will look after other religions".
At least two organizations founded and managed by the retired Indian
Army officers namely Lieutenant Colonel Jayant Rao Chitale and
Lieutenant General P.N. Hoon (former commander-in-chief of the Western
Command), answered Bal Thackeray's call to set up the suicide squads
in India. Lieutenant General Hoon claimed, Thackeray instructed him to
set up the training camps. Another Balaji follower is Indian Army's
serving Lieutenant Colonel Srikanth Prasad Prohit, wanted by Pakistan
for his complicity in torching the Samjhota Express which took a toll
of 59 Pakistani passengers. Bal Thackeray continues to publish
inflammatory editorials in his party's newsletter, Samna
(Confrontation). When explaining his views on Hindutva he has
conflated Islam with violence and has called for Hindus to "fight
Islam". In an interview in Suketu Mehta's book 'Maximum City', he
advocates the hanging of Indian Muslims and mass expulsion of Muslim
migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. One of his more acerbic
statements needs attention: "They [Muslims] are spreading like a
cancer and should be operated on like a cancer. The... country should
be saved from the Muslims and the police should support them [Hindu
Maha Sangh] in their struggle just like the police in Punjab were
sympathetic to the Khalistanis."
Balasaheb Thackeray criticized and challenged Indian Muslims through
his party newspaper, Samna, around the time the 16th century Babri
Masjid was demolished by members of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) in the northern town of Ayodhya, on December 6,
1992. The razing of the mosque was followed by a mass genocide of
Muslims. The Justice Srikrishna Commission of Enquiry, which
investigated the ensuing communal riots in Mumbai, named Thackeray for
sparking anti-Muslim violence, which led to more than 1,000 deaths in
several ensuing riots, many by having kerosene poured on their bodies
while alive and then being burned to death. The Srikrishna Commission
found that Thackeray was personally responsible, not only for inciting
the mobs through his incendiary speeches, but also directly
coordinating the movement of the rioters. In a deposition before the
Srikrishna Commission a witness alleged Thackeray coordinated much of
the January 1993 Mumbai carnage. Yuvraj Mohite claimed, "Balasaheb
ordered that not one Muslim be left alive to stand in the witness box,
and asked his men to send the additional police commissioner, A A
Khan, to his Allah." Balaji later announced: "I am proud of what my
boys have done. We had to retaliate and we did. If it was not for us,
no one would have controlled the Muslims." He has since made more
inflammatory statements regarding Muslims, and reiterated his desire
for Hindus to unite across linguistic barriers and to see "a Hindustan
for Hindus" and to "bring Islam in this country down to its knees".
I rest my case for readers to decide themselves, whether Balaji
Thackeray should be handed over to Pakistan to face trial for his
crimes against humanity or not? Surely there is enough evidence to
convict him.
This op-ed was published by The Daily Times. It is reproduced here
through a special arrangement.
© 2007-2009. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com & PakNationalists
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted
in any medium
without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
http://pak-nationalists.blogspot.com/2010/03/paknationalists-bal-thackeray-wanted-by.html
bademiyansubhanallah
NEW DELHI, March 16 (APP) Nitin Gadkari, a new young leader of
Bhartiya Janata Party gave his party a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) colour when he inducted over a dozen Sang men in the new
organisational set up.
BJP, which was defeated in the last Lok Sabha elections is undergoing
organisational changes to give it a new face – a young face by
restructuring the party. Nitin Gadkari was also appointed as young
leader in the main opposition party a few months back.
Nitin Gadkari, who is also a man from RSS appointed emerging Hindutva
icon Varun Gandhi, known for his hate speech against Muslims during
last Lok Sabha elections as party’s one of the fifteen secretaries.
Tarun Vijay, former editor of RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya, became one
of the six BJP spokespersons. Another RSS man, Ram Nath Kovind, who
headed the BJPs scheduled castes cell, was also appointed as a party
spokesperson.
Former general secretary (organisation) Sanjay Joshi, another RSS man
is expected to be taken in the party.
Ram Lal, a RSS swayamsevak will continue to hold a powerful position
of general secretary (organisation). Of the 10 general secretaries
appointed by Gadkari, four are RSS men. They include, besides Ram Lal,
Narendra Singh Tomar, Thavar Chand Ghelot and Jagat Prakash Nadda.
Some of the RSS men inducted into the party’s organisational setup
include Bhagat Singh Koshiyari (vice-president), Kirit Somaya
(secretary), Kaptan Singh Solanki (national executive member) and Nana
Shamkule (national executive member). Vinay Katiyar, a hardliner, was
made a vice-president.
Senior party leader Yashwant Sinha could not find any prominent
position in the new organisational set up.
Bollywood actress Hema Malini and television actress Smriti Irani were
inducted as vice-president and secretary respectively. Actress Kiron
Kher (wife of Anupam Kher) was also brought in as a member of the
party’s national executive with a purpose to draw crowd.
The new set up reflected the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan
Bhagwat’s diktat on the need to give the party a youthful look.
For the first time as many as 12 women national office-bearers have
been appointed in a list of 36 that includes 11 vice-presidents, 10
general secretaries (not counting 2 joint general secretaries) and 15
secretaries.
http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98718&Itemid=2
Opinion » Editorial
March 18, 2010 New-look Team Gadkari
Even as the Women's Reservation Bill struggles to stay the course, the
Nitin Gadkari-led Bharatiya Janata Party has demonstrated exemplary
support to the cause of female empowerment by allocating close to a
third of its party posts to women. This is a message as much to the
Bill's biggest and loudest champion — the Congress party — as to the
obstructionist Yadav troika of Mulayam Singh, Lalu Prasad, and Sharad
Yadav. Although the Congress was the first to decide in principle that
women should get a critical share of party posts, Congresswomen
continue to be a largely invisible lot. In allocating generous space
to women at various levels in the party hierarchy, the BJP has shown
that gender justice need not become hostage to legislative battles.
Team Gadkari also scores in bringing a blend of experience and youth
to the table. Old hands expectedly dominate the party's parliamentary
board while a fair sprinkling of young people, drawn from diverse
social backgrounds, have made it to the lower echelons of power.
When Mr. Gadkari beat competition from a range of heavyweight insiders
to become the BJP chief, not many thought him capable of finding his
way in the factional minefield that the BJP has become in recent
years. The new incumbent was inexperienced in realpolitik, and
moreover, the shadow of Jhandewalan loomed large over his appointment.
In the event, Mr. Gadkari has proved that he has a better grip of
politics and party affairs than most of the veterans. The confidence
has begun to show — especially in Parliament where Arun Jaitley and
Sushma Swaraj have emerged as formidable team leaders. It was at Mr.
Jaitley's instance that the Women's Reservation Bill came to be
debated before being put to vote in the Rajya Sabha. His speech in
support of the Bill reflected bipartisanship of a kind sorely lacking
in Indian political discourse. More importantly — without prejudice to
what this newspaper thinks about the BJP's disintegrative political
programme and ideology — it came across recently as a sober party
capable of making its point skilfully, without resorting to drama and
bad behaviour. There is also a flip side to the new thrust. Team
Gadkari includes the disagreeable and intemperate Varun Gandhi, who
has been rewarded with the prize post of party secretary. The
accommodation of the young man from a famous lineage, whose vitriol
against Muslims fetched him a prison stay during the 2009 general
election, is a concession to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. As long
as the BJP remains a child of the shadowy RSS, it will not be able to
resist the temptation to play communal politics — which has proved to
be its undoing again and again.
Keywords: Bharatiya Janata Party, Nitin Gadkari, Congress party, Arun
Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
Comments:
While complementing Mr.Gadkari, the editorial couldn't resist the
temptation to have a dig at BJP's ideology, its RSS connection and of
course Varun Gandhi. Did BJP, while in power at the Centre, do any
harm to the Muslims. Of course there were the Gujarat riots during
that period. But what happened in Gujarat was not different from the
anti-Sikh riots by Congressmen after Indira Gandhi's assasination. But
the latter was long forgotten by the media, while Gujarat and one of
Varun Gandhi's election speeches remain a weapon in the armoury of the
media to beat BJP with. When nearly a billion people of the country
are reeling under the impact of prices of essential commodities going
through the roof, the media is not agitated. It allows the government
to get away with lame excuses and no action. But when a garland of
notes was given to Mayawathi by her supporters the media was busy
jeering at her. When the investigators called Chief Minister Modi as
part of the investigation of the Gujarat riots, a gleeful media had
nothing else to talk about for days. The media seems to think that the
opposition is a nuisance and a road block for progrss. The fourth
estate is clearly forgetting its mission. A post script: this writer
is not a BJP or a BSP supporter.
from: K.Vijayakumar
Posted on: Mar 18, 2010 at 12:30 IST
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/article253979.ece
NEW DELHI, March 18, 2010 Sharad Pawar favours 33 per cent quota for
women
Gargi Parsai
PTI Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar at the Parliament House in
New Delhi. Photo: PTI
Putting at rest all speculation about his views on the Women’s
Reservation Bill, Nationalist Congress Party leader and a key ally of
the United Progressive Alliance government, Sharad Pawar, said here on
Thursday that he favoured a 33 per cent reservation for women in the
Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies. ``The Bill should be passed [in
the Lok Sabha] as it is,’’ he said.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Kharif Campaign, 2010,
here on Thursday, Mr. Pawar said there is no reservation for
minorities or the Other Backward Class under the Constitution.
``Therefore, first let the Bill be passed with 33 per cent reservation
for women. We don’t want the quota to be reduced,’’ he categorically
said.
To a question, Mr. Pawar said he did have a talk with Samajwadi Party
leader Mulayam Singh (who is insisting for a quota within quota or for
a reduced percentage of reservation for women) but as far as he was
concerned, he does not want the quota of 33 per cent to be reduced.
Asked about the controversy over the comments made by former Congress
spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Mr. Pawar said, ``that chapter is
closed. These things can happen.’’
Asked if he was seeking an apology from Mr. Chaturvedi, who has since
been divested of his position as a Congress spokesman, Mr Pawar said,
``No.’
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article254505.ece
KOLKATA, March 18, 2010 Initiative to ensure menstrual hygiene among
rural women
Ananya Dutta
When women in rural areas are asked to spend Rs.15 on a packet of nine
sanitary napkins, they respond by saying they would rather continue to
use rags and spend the money on their husbands or children.
But the Gender Hygiene Programme (GHP) launched here three years ago
is attempting to change this attitude towards menstrual hygiene. The
programme, under way in five districts in West Bengal, involves self-
help groups (SHG) manufacturing inexpensive sanitary towels from
cotton and tissue paper. The napkins are then sold by the same women
to others in the village.
The set-up requires a capital of Rs.1,600 and assures the women
involved, an average income of Rs.900 a month. It may not be the most
attractive economic option available to an SHG, but it is self-
sustaining with a steady source of income. At the same time, it
promotes hygiene, said Dhrubajyoti Ghosh, GHP project director and an
environmental sanitation engineer.
The programme suffered hiccups with some partner non-governmental
organisations backing out or some SHGs closing shop and even had
issues with quality control, but after three years, the GHP has been
able to come up with a standardised product.
“The pads made by us are the cheapest option available and, at the
same time, are marketed without providing any subsidy,” Dr. Ghosh
said.
Even though the Indian Council of Social Science Research is
responsible for research and the implementation of the GHP, and the
programme is backed by the State government. There is no subsidy
involved.
However, the government set-up is essential in promoting the programme
as ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers and women involved
with the Integrated Child Development Services are being roped in to
spread the message. The district administration in Bankura is now
trying to induct all 32,000 women from various SHGs as users.
“Implementing such a scheme requires both administrative backing and
political will,” said Ashish Sinha, a Bankura district administration
official.
However, Dr. Ghosh felt the issue of menstrual health must have a
wider approach. “The total sanitation programme has been going on for
about 30 years, but there is a need to redefine sanitation.”
No one has ever considered the safe disposal of menstrual fluids, Dr.
Ghosh said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article253925.ece
March 18, 2010 Women's Bill
Women should not look at the reservation Bill as empowerment. Do we
seriously believe that a hard working woman will contest elections?
Will the political parties give her a ticket?
Only women with strong political and financial backgrounds will be
brought to the forefront and allowed to be a part of the legislature.
The plight of poor women will remain unchanged.
Pooja Panickar, Kozhikode
The political support for the women's quota Bill should not cease with
it being passed. Money and background should not be criterions in the
selection of candidates. Women from all sections, particularly
underprivileged sections, should be given chances; then only will the
need for having such a reservation be met. The problems of the
underprivileged sections will be addressed only when they are
represented.
Swarnalatha, Omalur
Reserving seats for women in the legislature is acting out of pity
instead of letting women come to power on their own potential. Hard
work will be degraded by a sense of entitlement. Let merit prevail
irrespective of sex.
Solung Khya Sonam, Itanagar
It is ironical that Parliament, which was debating the women's quota
Bill just a week ago, is now fighting over the currency garland
offered to a woman Chief Minister. Valuable time of the august body is
being misappropriated for such non-issues. Nobody seems to bother
about the unattended legislative business.
Newspapers should republish historic debates and discussions in
Parliament from their archives to pave the way for healthy debates in
Parliament.
Rajeswari Janakiraman, Chennai
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/letters/article254055.ece
KOCHI, March 18, 2010 Divorced Muslim women entitled to maintenance
Special Correspondent
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday ruled that a
divorced Muslim woman's right to claim maintenance under Section 125
of the Criminal Procedure Code did not stand “extinguished” if payment
under Section 3 of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce)
Act 1986 had not been made by her former husband.
The Bench comprising Justice R. Basant and Justice M.C. Hari Rani made
it clear that a divorced Muslim woman would be entitled to claim
maintenance from her former husband till she remained a divorcee.
However, her remarriage or actual payment of maintenance or fair
provision under Section 3 of the Act shall “extinguish” her right to
claim maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The court ruled that a pronouncement of talaq remained valid only if
attempts for reconciliation by two arbitrators in terms of Islamic
laws were made before such pronouncement.
If such efforts for reconciliation failed, it shall be decided that
there had been a “reasonable cause” for such divorce.
The reasonableness of such substantive cause for divorce could not be
justifiable by a court.
The court made this ruling while dealing with a Muslim divorce case.
The court observed that it was assumed that a Muslim man could
unilaterally end his marriage by pronouncing talaq without the
intervention of a court.
This provision was arbitrary. Though it might offend the notion of
gender justice, such practice was well settled in the country. Such a
divorce was considered perfectly valid.
The Supreme Court did not appear to have addressed the issue so far.
The obligation of hapless Muslim women to suffer polygamy and
arbitrary termination of marriage by pronouncing talaq without court
intervention appeared to offend the fundamental rights guaranteed
under the Constitution.
The court observed that these issues would have to be addressed by the
secular State.
The issues could not be pushed under the carpet by the legislature or
the constitutional courts. The court expressed the hope that the
legislatures would soon address the issue.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article254054.ece
NEW DELHI, March 17, 2010 Sushma: we’ll attend all-party meet on
women’s Bill with open mind
Neena Vyas
The Hindu The BJP will have an open mind on possible amendments the
govt. may propose before the Women's Bill is taken up in the Lok
Sabha, party leader Sushma Swaraj has said.
Related
Politics of Women's Reservation Bill
No proposal to dilute women’s Bill: Congress
No dissent note by Lalu Prasad on Women’s Bill
All views can be considered: Pawar
Women’s Bill will be tabled next month, says Moily
India takes a giant leap for womankind
The 14 years journey of Women’s Reservation Bill
Fearing virtual revolt, BJP cracks the whip
Mulayam fears male representation will dwindle in Parliament
Women get one-third share in Gadkari team
Barack Obama and women MPs do not alone mean equality and justice
Remark being interpreted as willingness on BJP’s part to dilute
provisions
In the Rajya Sabha the Bharatiya Janata Party may have dittoed the
Women's Reservation Bill as presented by the government, but it will
have an open mind on possible amendments the government may propose
before the measure is taken up in the Lok Sabha.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj was
categorical on this when asked whether the party would stick to the
position it adopted in the Rajya Sabha or approach the subject with an
open mind, if and when an all-party meeting was called.
“We will go to the all-party meeting with an open mind,” Ms. Swaraj
said, refusing to discuss hypothetical questions what the party's
stand would be if there was a proposal to dilute the 33 per cent
reservation to 20 or 25 per cent or if the issue of sub-quotas for
backward caste women or other groups were to come up.
The “open mind” remark has already begun to be interpreted as a
willingness on the part of the BJP to dilute the provisions. For, the
party has in the last few years been a strong votary of increasing
women's representation by making it mandatory for political parties to
give at least 33 per cent ticket to women, an idea rejected by the
Left and described by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun
Jaitley as a non-starter for increasing women's representation.
The BJP has been very clear that it will not support any sub-quota for
Muslim women as it is opposed to any religion-based reservation. On
the backward caste quota, the party will take a stand as and when, and
if at all, the issue comes up. Now there are no quotas for backward
castes and therefore there cannot be a backward caste sub-quota for
women.
Party leaders are worried that while the BJP is trying to take some
credit for supporting the women's Bill in the Rajya Sabha — without
its support the Bill could not have been adopted — it would invite the
charge, as would the Congress, of short-changing women if it were to
agree to any dilution.
On Wednesday, Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Jaitley, in a joint statement, said:
“The BJP was committed to the Bill. The BJP lent a loud and clear
support but also wanted the dignity of the House maintained … and it
was the Opposition-dominated House that had approved the Bill despite
mismanagement by the government.” .
But the party's worry now is that many of its MPs do not want it to be
proactive on this subject. They have in fact charged the leaders with
“helping the Congress” push the Bill through, when there was no need
for the Opposition party to do so. If the issue were to be prised open
once again at an all-party meeting or at a series of consultations
with parties, the BJP would have to calibrate its stand, keeping its
commitment to the Bill and yet not be seen to be actively pushing it
as its MPs do not want that.
As of now, the party leadership is not only supporting the 33 per cent
reservation Bill but is also justifying to the hilt the rotation of
reserved seats. Mr. Jaitley, in fact, was one of the few speakers who
lauded this aspect of the Bill, much to the annoyance of fellow BJP
MPs.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article253976.ece
New Delhi, March 17, 2010 No dissent note by Lalu Prasad on Women’s
Bill
Special Correspondent
THE HINDU Congress Spokesman Jayanthi Natarajan is confident that the
Women's Bill will get passed in the Lok Sabha in its original form.
Related
NEWS
Sharad Pawar favours 33 per cent quota for women
Sushma: we’ll attend all-party meet on women’s Bill with open mind
Politics of Women's Reservation Bill
No proposal to dilute women’s Bill: Congress
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad did not give any dissent
note to the Women's Reservation Bill when it was discussed in the
Parliamentary Standing Committee.
In fact, Mr. Prasad, who is a member of the Committee, attended only
one meeting, the Congress said on Wednesday. However, the dissent note
over reserving 33 per cent for women in the Lok Sabha and State
Assemblies came from two members of the Samajwadi Party.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj
Party have been opposing the Bill from the beginning and insisting on
a quota for the backward class and Muslim women within the quota.
“Only two members from the Samajwadi Party, Virendra Bhatia and
Shailendra Kumar, gave a note for reducing the quota from 33 per cent
to 20 per cent. A similar demand was made by some members of the
Congress also, but unofficially,'' a party leader said.
At a routine party briefing, Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan
said the Women's Reservation Bill would not be diluted and it would be
brought and passed in the Lok Sabha in its original form.
“We are fully confident that all our allies will be with us and the
Women's Reservation Bill will be passed in the Lok Sabha,'' she said,
ruling out any reduction in the quota despite the Nationalist Congress
Party suggesting that a reduction could lead to a consensus.
“No pressure from allies”
Denying pressure from the allies to reduce the percentage of
reservation, Ms. Natarajan said it would be discussed with the allies.
But the government was committed to passing the Bill in the present
form.
She said the Standing Committee on the Bill had considered all aspects
and come to the conclusion that the Bill should be passed as it was.
Any changes, if required, could be introduced subsequently.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article253928.ece
Volume 22 - Issue 24, Nov. 19 - Dec. 02, 2005
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
LEGISLATION
In defence of women
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
A new Bill proposes amendments to the existing laws to widen the scope
of the definition of rape and to deal with other forms of sexual
assault on women and minors.
SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
Girija Vyas, Chairperson of the National Commission for Women,
addressing the media at Parliament House in August following a gang
rape on a bus in Najafgarh.
IN 1996, the minor daughter of a government employee was molested by
her father and his friends. The incident evoked public outrage and
drew the attention of women's organisations, lawyers' groups and
concerned individuals to the need for a system to deal with child
molestation and child rape, but nothing much happened in the case. It
was not rape, the court averred, as there was no "penile-vaginal"
penetration. The culprits were punished under Section 354 of the
Indian Penal Code (IPC), which provided for a maximum punishment of
two years.
Laws relating to rape and sexual assault have remained more or less
unchanged since the introduction of the IPC in 1860. It was only in
1983 that some amendments to the rape law was made. Now, for the first
time, a comprehensive piece of legislation covering almost every
aspect of sexual assault against women and minors has been drafted at
the initiative of the All India Democratic Women's Association
(AIDWA). It is called the Criminal Law Amendment Bill. It is based on
the 172nd report of the Law Commission to amend laws relating to
sexual assault in Sections 375, 376, 354 and 509 of the IPC, the
relevant sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, and
the Indian Evidence Act. When it becomes law, the legislation will be
called the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2000.
The Bill recommends changes in the CrPC and the Evidence Act in order
to make the procedures fair and sensitive to victims of sexual
assault, including minors. The National Commission for Women (NCW) has
backed this legislation. At a two-day national consultation organised
by the NCW, the draft Bill was discussed in detail in the presence of
women activists, lawyers and senior police officers from various
States.
Broadly based on two Bills, one framed by the Law Commission in its
172nd Report, 2000, and the other drafted by a sub-committee of the
NCW in 1992, the Bill drafted by Kirti Singh, president of the Delhi
unit of the AIDWA, seeks to redress almost all the weaknesses in the
present law. Women's organisations have found from experience that the
existing laws neither define nor reflect all kinds of sexual assault
undergone by women. There is a standard notion of rape - the
penetrative one - while other forms of penetration by other parts of
the body as well as by objects have never come under the ambit of
sexual assault. Neither has protracted sexual assault or incest been
addressed adequately. Recognising these lacunae, the Supreme Court in
Sakshi versus Union of India had suggested that the legislature bring
about the required changes. Subsequently, the apex court directed the
Law Commission to examine the law and suggest changes.
The draft Bill seeks to do away with outdated notions of "outraging
the modesty" of women, embodied in some sections dealing with
molestation and eve-teasing. Supreme Court advocate Kirti Singh, also
an advocate of the Supreme Court, said that the Bill was a complete
overhaul of the IPC sections concerned. The 1983 amendments did not
question the patriarchal definition of rape. Talking to Frontline, she
said that the piece of legislation sought to incorporate the notion of
rape as experienced by women themselves, and not what a man perceived
rape to be. Every aspect, be it penetrative sexual assault or non-
penetrative sexual assault as applicable to every possible category of
victim and even marital rape, has been covered in the Bill. It is a
progressive piece of legislation with extensive procedural amendments
applicable to every kind of sexual assault. The Bill is particularly
sensitive to sexual assaults on minors.
THE definition of rape under Section 375 has been enlarged,
incorporating international legal standards. The offence is now called
sexual assault rather than rape, at the suggestion of the Law
Commission and the NCW sub-committee. However, the Bill drafted by
AIDWA has a more nuanced approach to sexual assault, defining it as an
offence committed by a man against a woman, rather than making it
gender-neutral. It also distinguishes this from child sexual assault,
which can be committed on a child of either sex by a man or a woman.
Sub-sections within Section 375 deal in detail with forms of sexual
assault on women as well as minors.
Significantly, the Bill redefines consent whereby the absence of
resistance cannot be deemed as consent. Consent is only the
unequivocal voluntary agreement by a person to engage in sexual
activity. This is important because under the existing law, if a woman
alleging rape does not have any injuries on her person, she is often
disbelieved and the absence of her consent is not considered at all.
Also, while raising the age of consent to 18 years, the Bill makes the
provision that consent would be a valid defence if the complainant was
between 16 and 18 years and the accused not more than five years
older. The Bill, therefore, recognises the prevalence of consensual
sexual activity between young people.
The Bill recognises new categories of aggravated sexual assault, in
addition to the already existing ones on custodial rape introduced in
1983. Under the existing law, punishment for the general category of
rape is a minimum of seven years in jail and 10 years for custodial/
aggravated rapes. The Bill now provides for cases of sexual assault on
a minor below 16 years, on a pregnant woman, and on a person afflicted
with mental or physical disability. Also included is sexual assault by
a person in a position of economic, political or social dominance and
aggravated sexual assault of a persistent nature that has the
potential to cause bodily harm.
One other important and somewhat debatable aspect is that the Bill
proposes to take away from the courts the power of discretion to award
less than the statutory minimum punishment. The Bill calls this a
"seemingly harsh amendment", but considers it necessary in the context
of courts awarding much less than the statutory minimum punishment for
reasons that the women's movement has found unjustifiable. And there
have been cases where no reasons were cited at all when courts awarded
light sentences. During discussions on the Bill at the NCW convention,
there seemed to be no overwhelming support for the death penalty for
those accused of sexual assault.
The Bill also deals with marital rape and proposes punishment for rape
within marriage. It proposes the deletion of Section 354 of the IPC
dealing with molestation, on the grounds that it does not make a
distinction between an adult and a minor. Instead, it has suggested
introducing Section 376 D to deal with all possible ramifications of
unlawful sexual conduct. The Bill holds that molesting a minor and an
adult are two different crimes and the punishment accordingly should
be different.
Instead of the definition of molestation as "sexual assault committed
with the intention of outraging the modesty of a woman" in Section
354, the Bill defines molestation as "touching with a sexual purpose
and without the consent of the woman". A higher punishment has been
recommended for molestation of minors by people who may be de jure or
de facto guardians of the victims.
Similarly, the Bill redefines Section 509 which deals with sexual
harassment. As in molestation, sexual harassment is now punishable
only when it is done with the intention of outraging the modesty of a
woman. The Bill states that words and gestures made with a sexual
purpose are punishable and that sub-sections under the redefined
Section 509 would deal with such offences committed against minors as
well.
Asha Sinha, Inspector-General of Police, CID, Jharkhand, said that one
reason for the non-registration of cases of sexual assault was the
insensitivity of both the police and the public. She explained that
sexual assault was seen as a social crime and so successful handling
of such cases was not usually seen as a reflection of policemen's
performance. The police in Jharkhand recently started a grievance cell
and she recommended fast-track courts and compensation for each
category of violence against women.
It was learnt that Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who was present
on the first day of the convention, expressed his appreciation of the
comprehensiveness of the Bill, which is expected to be tabled during
the winter session.
Almost 10 years have passed since the infamous Jhaku case, as the 1996
incident came to be known, but assaults against minors continue
unabated. An analysis of the rapes committed over the past decade
shows that 30 per cent of the crimes have been committed against
minors.
Statistics of the National Crime Records Bureau show that in 2003,
there were more than 15,000 cases of rape and 32,000 cases of
molestation. There is reason to believe that many crimes against
women, including rape, do not get reported or registered because of
the stigma that the victims could attract. Many cases do not reach the
trial stage for lack of evidence.
The proposed amendments are expected not only to increase the
reporting of sexual assaults, but also to facilitate speedy trials and
convictions. While women's groups are aware that law by itself may not
be able to bring about the required drop in the rate of crimes against
women, they hope that the amendments, if passed by Parliament, will go
a long way in challenging social stereotypes.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2224/stories/20051202002910500.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 14, July. 07 - 20, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
WOMEN'S RIGHTS
An inequitous proposal
A proposed Bill on the removal of ceiling on monthly maintenance
payable to wives and other dependents as laid down in Section 125 of
the CrPC leaves Muslim women out of its purview.
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
in New Delhi
IN a move that could benefit women faced with the prospect of divorce
and possible destitution, the Union Law Ministry has decided to
introduce a Bill that would seek to amend Section 125 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The amendment would remove the existing
ceiling of Rs.500 on the monthly maintenance payable for such women,
and for dependents such as parents and children. The ceiling was fixed
in 1955 and retained in CrPC, 1973. The amendment would also seek to
expedite the grant of interim maintenance.
RAJEEV BHATT
A group of Muslim women. The issue of maintenance for them has to go
beyond political considerations.
An increase in maintenance has been a long-standing demand of women's
movements and was articulated as early as in 1974 - in the Committee
on the Status of Women in India report. The CSWI report, "Towards
Equality", stated: "The inclusion of the right to maintenance in the
Criminal Procedure Code has the great advantage of making the remedy
both speedy and cheap. The underlying principle is to prevent
vagrancy, which usually leads to commission of crimes. From this point
of view, it seems unjustified to limit the total amount of maintenance
for all dependent persons to Rs.500."
Amendments to provisions in four acts, namely, Section 36 of the
Indian Divorce Act, 1869, Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
and Section 39 of the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act 1936 and Section
39 of the Special Marriages Act, will be made so that applications to
the court for interim maintenance are disposed of within 60 days of
their filing.
However, once again there is silence on the issue of payment of
maintenance to Muslim women. The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on
Divorce) Act, 1986 that became law in the wake of the Shah Bano
judgment, had stirred a debate over its adequacy with regard to
payment of maintenance for Muslim women. The Supreme Court in Mohd
Ahmad Khan v Shah Bano Begam and others held that if a divorced woman
is able to maintain herself, the husband's liability ceases with the
expiry of the period of iddat (three menstrual courses after the date
of divoce, that is, roughly three months), but if she is unable to
maintain herself after the period, she is entitled to have recourse to
Section 125 CrPC. This decision led to a controversy and in order to
dilute the judgment in the Shah Bano case, the Muslim Women's Bill,
later to become the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce)
Act, 1986, was passed. Women's organisations are critical of the Act.
They are opposed to it primarily because it denies Muslim women the
option of exercising their rights under the provisions of secular
legislation, which the CrPC is.
Women's groups and secular-minded people hold the view that it is
unfair to continue to deprive Muslim women the benefits of the secular
provisions of the Acts. The first time around, the Muslim Women's Act
had deprived Muslim women, on grounds of religion, of the rights under
Section 125 CrPC. The Act was seen as violative of the principle of
equality before law. According to "Judgment Call", a document
published by Majlis, a legal advocacy centre based in Mumbai, the Act
provided two sets of remedies depending upon the jurisdiction of the
High Court. While in some States she was entitled to a fair and
reasonable provision, in addition to maintenance during the iddat
period, in others her right to maintenance was confined to the iddat
period. The 1986 Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court. The All
India Muslim Personal Law Board (AMPLB) has, however, defended it.
Given the circumstances under which the Act came into being and the
mixed support it received from members of the Muslim community as well
as organisations of women and advocacy groups, it was evident that the
issue would be resurrected. In fact the debate over a uniform civil
code, reforms in personal laws and the applicability of secular
legislation to everybody never really died down. When minority
politics and issues took firm shape in the 1990s following the
demolition of the Babri Masjid, the issue of providing for fair
maintenance to divorced Muslim women was put on the backburner.
The Centre for Women's Develop-ment Studies (CWSD), while welcoming
the removal of the ceiling on maintenance and other legal reforms,
regretted the continued exclusion of Muslim women from "benefits under
a law that they had enjoyed since 1898, particularly when these
amendments are contemplated to be extended to the Hindu, Parsi, Indian
Divorce and Special Marriages Acts." The Joint Women's Programme (JWP)
and the Muslim Women's Forum wanted the benefits to be extended to
Muslim women. JWP secretary Jyotsana Chat-terjee said that the
organisation would make a representation to the Law Minister on this
issue. The All India Democratic Women's Association has held that
while the space for secular legislation should be expanded, existing
personal laws should undergo reforms so as to become more gender-
just. Indu Agnihotri of AIDWA recalled that a private member's bill in
the Lok Sabha, moved some years ago by Sushila Gopalan of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist), had sought the removal of the
ceiling on maintenance.
AIDWA in a statement welcomed the Law Ministry's initiative and
suggested that the law be strengthened by providing that, in the event
of conflicting claims about a husband's income, the wife's statement
should be accepted and the onus would be on the husband to disprove
it. It suggested changes in the disqualifying norms for receiving
maintenance.
Regretting the exclusion of Muslim women from the purview of the
proposed amendments, Sona Khan, a Supreme Court advocate, questioned
the constitutionality of the 1986 Act. One of the advocates who
appeared in the Shah Bano case, she told Frontline that the denial to
Muslim women of benefits available to other divorced women under
secular provisions was discriminatory. She maintained that Section 127
(3) (b) CrPC ensured that if a woman received any relief after
divorce, under any customary or personal law, "she shall not be
entitled to the benefit of seeking maintenance under Section 125."
Khan claimed that the dower or mehr (a consideration for entering into
the contract of marriage and payable by the husband) that the Muslim
woman had a right to receive either at the time of marriage or anytime
later, has been unfairly equated with the right to maintenance under
Section 125. The Shah Bano judgment had interpreted and justified the
secular provisions by using the provisions under personal and
customary law, and according to Khan the judgment is law even today as
it has not been overruled by the Supreme Court. Even the dower, Khan
held, was most of the time waived by the wife on the first night of
marriage.
DEFENDING the Muslim Women's Act, 1986 is the AIMPLB. Hasina Hashia,
member of the AIMPLB and an associate professor in Jamia Millia
Islamia university, is categorical that Muslim women are not entitled
to maintenance beyond the iddat period and that Section 125 CrPC
cannot apply to them. Section 5 of the 1986 Act lays down that only if
the divorced woman and her former husband exercise their option to be
governed by Sections 125 to 128 of the CrPC will their case be
considered under it.
Hashia told Frontline that accepting maintenance beyond the iddat
period was haraam (illegitimate) under the Shariat as all relationship
between a man and his wife would have ceased. After that she could be
supported either by her relatives or the Wakf Board. She said that the
AIMPLB was demanding a lower ceiling for maintenance for Muslim women
and that if a lump sum could be decided depending upon the income of
the man, it would not go beyond the tenets of Muslim personal law. The
concept of Mata (a parting gift to serve a social purpose) as espoused
by some sections of the Muslim intelligentsia could be explored. The
Board is yet to have a final opinion on this concept, which finds
mention in the Koran.
All solutions, Hashia maintained, are to be found within the
parameters of the Shariat. She recommended the setting up of Dar-ul-
Qaza or Islamic courts to resolve disputes of all kinds.
Sabiha Hussain of the CWDS, who has done a considerable amount of work
relating to issues of Muslim women, said frivolous excuses were often
given for divorcing Muslim women. She quoted a study conducted during
1998-99 involving 10 Muslim women from a mixed socio-economic
background in Bihar. Some had been divorced for not cooking what they
had been asked to cook, yet others were divorced for not possessing
good looks and so on. Some of them did not get maintenance even for
the iddat period and at the time of divorce, no witnesses were
present. Only two got back their mehr after three months of the
divorce.
A seminar in May organised by the CWDS and the Majlis on the issue of
maintenance rights of Muslim women debated the provisions of the
Muslim Women's Act, 1986 vis-a-vis benefits under Section 125 CrPC.
While some like Flavia Agnes of the Majlis felt that a fresh look at
the Act was necessary, others felt that the Act needed to be
interpreted in such a way as to make it more gender-just given the
Indian social realities. The seminar, which witnessed divergent views,
finally recommended that personal laws of all communities be
strengthened in order to make them more gender-just and to weed out
gender discrimination; that the Muslim Women's Act, 1986 be
strengthened to uphold positive and gender-just interpretations and
that the ceiling on the amount of maintenance payable under Section
125 CrPC be removed.
The issue of maintenance for Muslim women has to go beyond any
political considerations and it is the executive's responsibility to
ensure that no community is discriminated against in the formulation
of a legislation. The silence on the issue of Section 125 CrPC vis-a-
vis Muslim women's maintenance points to the fact that considerations
other than respecting the personal laws of a community have been at
play. It reflects the government reluctance to open what it sees as a
veritable Pandora's box. What is surprising is that it does not seem
to care much about the sentiments of the minorities while dealing with
other issues concerning them.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1814/18140890.htm
Volume 17 - Issue 06, Mar. 18 - 31, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
A committed fighter
Geeta Mukherjee, 1924-2000.
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
THE death of Geeta Mukherjee, veteran parliamentarian and Communist
Party of India (CPI) member, has had two immediate consequences. In
political terms, the CPI has lost a gritty and indefatigable
representative; and for young communists there is one few er of the
old guard to emulate. Geeta Mukherjee had undergone heart surgery in
1990 but that did not deter her from continuing with her party and
parliamentary activities. She was the Deputy Leader of the CPI in the
Lok Sabha.
K. RAMESH BABU
As chairperson of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the
Women's Reservation Bill (which provides for the reservation of one-
third of the total number of seats in State Assemblies and Parliament
for women), she was determined to see the bill rea ch its logical
conclusion. On March 3, a day before she succumbed to a heart attack,
Geeta Mukherjee vehemently protested on the floor of the House against
the Bihar Governor's decision to invite the National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) to form the governm ent in the State. She condemned the
action as "undemocratic".
Close friends recalled that though she was unwell, she wanted to
attend Parliament in the wake of the developments in Bihar and the
controversy over the Gujarat government's decision to allow its
employees to take part in the activities of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS). Although she was equally committed to other issues, her
chief preoccupation since 1996, when she took over as chairperson of
the Joint Select Committee, was to ensure the passage of the Women's
Reservation Bill. She even reported ly turned down a ministerial berth
in the I.K. Gujral government on the grounds that she wanted to
concentrate fully on the bill. She strived to carry everyone along
with her on the Women's Bill issue, including those who wanted a
separate quota for Othe r Backward Classes (OBCs). With her strong
political convictions and ideological commitment, Geeta Mukherjee was
liked by people across party lines.
Mukherjee, went to school in Jessore, now in Bangladesh, was born as
Geeta Roy Choudhary in a middle class family. Her father was a Rai
Bahadur, a title bestowed upon him by the colonial rulers. As a
student, Geeta Mukherjee joined the Bengal Provincial Students
Federation (BPSF) in 1939. At that time, the BPSF was leading an
agitation demanding the repatriation and release of persons imprisoned
in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. She was the secretary of the
Students Federation from 1947 to 1951. Geeta Mukherjee studied Bengali
literature and graduated from the Ashutosh College in Calcutta. In
1942, she joined the CPI and married Biswanath Mukherjee, who was
already an established student communist leader. Geeta Mukherjee first
came into the limelight during the postal workers' strike of 1945. On
July 29, 1945 she addressed a rally, where she was the only woman
student speaker.
When the Communist Party was banned in 1948, she and Biswanath
Mukherjee were detained without trial for six months in the Presidency
Jail, Calcutta. Geeta Mukherjee was best known for her active role in
the student, peasant and women's movements. For ma ny students of the
1960s, she was a role model. She remained with the CPI after the
Communist Party split in 1964. She was elected to the West Bengal
Assembly, in 1967 and 1972, from Tamluk constituency in Midnapore
district. In 1978, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Panskura and
represented that constituency since then.
Geeta Mukherjee was elected to the National Council of the party in
1978 and to its National Executive in 1981. She was elected one of the
national secretaries of the CPI at the 17th Congress of the party held
in Chennai in 1998. Geeta Mukherjee thus bec ame the first woman
secretariat member of any Indian communist party. Paying tributes to
her on the occasion of the International Women's Day on March 8,
women's organisations observed that under her chairpersonship the
report of the Joint Select Committ ee of Parliament on the Women's
Reservation Bill was completed in record time.
Geeta Mukherjee participated in various agitations including those
taking up the cause of women beedi workers. However, she took
particularly strong positions on gender issues. Amarjeet Kaur, general
secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women ( NFIW), the
women's wing of the CPI, said that on the dowry issue, Geeta Mukherjee
was keen that CPI cadres practised what they said in public.
An Executive Council member of the NFIW since 1965, Geeta Mukherjee
was also a member of the National Commission for Women in 1988 and of
the National Commission on Rural Labour in 1986. She was also a member
of the Press Council.
Geeta Mukherjee always wanted the mass organisations of the party to
keep her posted on the issues and developments so that she could raise
them in Parliament, Amarjeet Kaur said. Before raising a question, she
ensured that she had a good understanding o f the subject.
In Geeta Mukherjee's life, there was no contradiction between theory
and practice. A diehard optimist, she was a person of humility,
simplicity and absolute ideological conviction. Her colleagues recall
that despite the split in the Communist Party in 19 64, the political
upheavals in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s
and early 1990s, Geeta Mukherjee's commitment to the people's
democratic revolution remained undiluted.
Geeta Mukherjee wrote some books for children. Bharat Upakatha
(Folktales of India) and Chotoder Rabindranath (Tagore for Children)
are two of them. She translated in Bengali Bruno Apitz's classic Naked
Among Wolves. She loved poetry and used to read and recite Kazi Nazrul
Islam and Rabindranath Tagore.
A passionate and compassionate political activist, as described by
President K.R. Narayanan, Geeta Mukherjee has left a void not only in
the communist movement but also in the women's and other democratic
movements in the country.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1706/17061060.htm
Volume 23 - Issue 25 :: Dec. 16-29, 2006
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
WORLD AFFAIRS
Sex and the state
RAFIA ZAKARIA
The euphoria surrounding Pakistan's new law on "protection of women"
ignores the fact that the Hudood laws are still intact.
ANJUM NAVEED/AP
President Pervez Musharraf with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on
December 5 at a women's conference in Islamabad, where he promised
more legislation to protect the rights of women.
ON November 16, Pakistan's National Assembly passed the patronisingly
titled "Protection of Women (Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill 2006". The
Bill, which has since been passed by the Senate, was introduced to the
populace in a televised address by President General Pervez Musharraf,
who called it a "major achievement". International media, continuing
their affair with Pakistan's "enlightened" dictator, also celebrated
the new law as a much-awaited respite for Pakistan's rights-
impoverished female population. In their euphoria for a "good news
story" emerging from an otherwise troubled region of the world, few of
the commentators bothered to look at the concrete provisions of the
Bill. Even fewer bothered to consider whether the celebrated Bill
would assuage the scourge of jurisdictional confusion that exists
between the Sharia and civil courts.
The Bill purports to amend clauses in the controversial Zina and
Hudood Ordinances, which were promulgated by General Zia-ul-Haq in
1979. As per the provisions of the Bill, only sections of which have
been released to the public, rape or zina bil jabr will be tried under
the Pakistan Penal Code instead of under the Zina and Hudood
Ordinances. This change of jurisdiction, politically spun as rescuing
rape victims from the arduous requirement of "producing four adult
male witnesses" to accomplish a prosecution, is meant to draw
attention away from the fact that the Zina and Hudood Ordinances have
not actually been repealed. Adultery continues to remain a crime
punishable by death and minorities and women continue to count as half
witnesses in hadd cases. The celebrations surrounding the passage of
the Bill also ignore the fact that the Council of Islamic Ideology, a
constitutional body set up to review the Zina and Hudood Ordinances,
explicitly stated in its 2006 report that "piecemeal amendments to the
Zina and Hudood Ordinances would not bring them into accord with the
Koran and Sunna".
Furthermore, the effectiveness of the jurisdictional changes
introduced by the Protection of Women Bill is further reduced by the
fact that it introduces the new crime of "lewdness" or "fornication"
to the Pakistan Penal Code. Section 496B, Clause 7, of the Pakistan
Penal Code, now forbids consensual sex outside of marriage and
requires those engaging in it to be punished by five years'
imprisonment and a fine of Rupees 10,000. In a lackadaisical attempt
to deter false charges, lawmakers have also chosen to include a "qazf"
provision in the law that would impose the same punishment on those
making false charges of fornication. Happily citing this provision as
a built-in mechanism against misuse, lawmakers knowingly chose to
ignore the fact that the same provision exists in the Hudood
Ordinances against those bringing false charges of adultery and has
never once in 27 years been used to punish someone making a false
accusation of adultery. Capitalising on the political tractability of
the existing jurisdictional confusion, government proponents of the
Protection of Women Bill also tout its "firewall" provision that will
ostensibly prevent rape victims from being tried under the fornication
clause if they are "unable to prove their rape charges".
In an editorial published in Daily Times, Asma Jehangir of the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan termed the Bill "a victory for no one".
In her astute discussion of the provisions of the Bill, she pointed
out that the unamended portions of the Zina and Hudood Ordinances
continued to discriminate on the basis of sex and religion and
economic status. Pointing to the law of Qisas and Diyat, which was
also left untouched by the Bill, she says: "Murder can be waived or
compromised but zina can still be punished with stoning to death. A
person who can pay his way out of death penalty or manoeuvre a
compromise can be set free but lesser offences can beget
imprisonment."
Her emphasis on the class dimension of vulnerability to legal abuse at
the hands of the state is an important basis for evaluating this new
Bill. Records of women imprisoned under charges of fornication or
adultery under the Hudood Ordinances reveal that it is Pakistan's poor
women who are most frequently victimised by the state's unchecked
power in legislating morality in the name of Islam. Therefore, while
the promised jurisdictional changes under the Bill may place a
placating Band-Aid on a festering wound, they fail to address the
reality that a poor woman who chooses to file a rape charge still
faces incredible challenges that are rudely ignored by this
politically inspired piece of legislation. The case of Mukhtar Mai,
the courageous gang-rape survivor from Meerwala, is a testament to the
limited utility of the legal changes sought by the law. The very fact
that her rape case was tried not just in a Sharia court or a civil
court but also in a "special terrorism court" shows how jurisdictional
rules can easily be superseded by governmental directive in an
essentially undemocratic system where courts in general have limited
legitimacy.
Judging legal changes in Pakistan by evaluating the legitimacy that
Pakistan's legal institutions actually possess goes against the
predilection of elite Pakistani scholars and their Western
counterparts bent on celebrating General Musharraf as the heaven-sent
liberal scion saving Pakistan from the mullahs. The elite in Pakistan
have little or no reliance on the legal system as a means of dispute
resolution. The poor, intimidated by the jurisdictional morass created
by the hodge-podge of civil courts, federal Sharia courts and special
terrorism courts, lack the material resources and, understandably, the
will to navigate a system whose primary aim seems to be to serve the
objectives of those in power. In the unlikely event that a poor person
is able to secure a conviction from a court, few if any mechanisms
exist for it to be enforced against the other party, particularly if
they happen to be powerful or command material resources. Predictably,
the most high-profile cases ever tried in Pakistani courts are those
brought by those holding the reins of government against former rulers
accused of corruption. Ultimately, Musharraf's rise to power with the
aid of unilateral constitutional amendments sharpens the irony of his
being celebrated as someone responsible for instituting the rule of
law in a militarised state.
The leniency of the Pakistani public to the legal or constitutional
usurpations of power of the Musharraf administration is ultimately
also a product of the self-perpetuating cycle of institutional
weakness that maintains the status quo. In a simplistic yet
illuminating calculus, the Pakistani public, fed up with the slew of
corrupt civilian governments of the past decades, supports the
military administration because it maintains law and order through
force. In turn, the military administration, adept at maintaining its
hold over Pakistani politics, refuses to pour the billions of dollars
of aid money it regularly receives into the court system, which if
truly legitimate and powerful, could check the military's claim to
power. The legal system thus remains impoverished, under-funded and
ultimately powerless, while the current administration can manipulate
world opinion through the pretence of legal changes to gain political
mileage. The hollowness of the legal institutions ultimately enables
them to be symbolically manipulated as agents of change and harbingers
of the rule of law while never actually threatening the omniscient
hegemony of the military. One recent instance that demonstrates the
farcical status of Pakistan's courts in curbing state power is the
imprisonment without charge of dozens of women belonging to the Baloch
Bugti tribe in a government effort designed to force their husbands,
fathers and brothers out of hiding. Of course, the legal basis for
such an action, which no court could possibly sanction, has yet to be
explained.
Even more depressingly, the military is hardly alone in perpetuating
this cycle. Past civilian administrations, led either by Benazir
Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, have been equally reticent to strengthen a
court system that might ultimately be a check on their own power. In
the context of the Protection of Women Bill, the liberal Pakistan
People's Party(PPP) as well as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement(MQM) has
joined the Musharraf administration in supporting the changes and
heralding the birth of what is being called a new configuration in
Pakistani politics. Indeed, supporting the legislation bears political
rewards for both, since it marks their recognition of the reality that
in the eyes of the aid-giving West, being "enlightened" means
supporting President Musharraf.
The louder the mullah-dominated Muttahida Majlis Amal (MMA) protests
against the Bill, the more resplendent the bounty of dollars of which
the Musharraf administration, and now even the PPP and the MQM, may
partake of. This new coalition of corrupt authoritarian liberals
against religious zealots is particularly worrisome if one remembers
the denouement of the Iranian Revolution which was presaged by just
such a Western-supported political configuration. And what about the
Pakistani women in whose name these reforms are undertaken? Stuck
between Musharraf and the mullahs, they must accept the meagre scraps
of half-hearted changes promised by the Protection of Women Bill, or
shudder in fear of an MMA government that will relegate them to their
houses and force them into burqas.
To keep this fear alive, since it stands to benefit so much from the
ominous threat it represents, the Musharraf administration has done
little to thwart the passage of the Hasba Bill in North West Frontier
Province. This new Bill, which was adopted by the NWFP provincial
government days before the passage of the Protection of Women Bill in
the National Assembly, revives the medieval institution of "mohtasibs"
or "moral police". In yet another parallel system of justice, these
mohtasibs will now patrol the streets of the province to insure that
"society is guided by the Sharia". Vigilante groups have already begun
the process by standing guard outside universities and turning away
women students not covering their heads as well as harassing
minorities under a variety of pretexts.
Human rights organisations in Pakistan and abroad have denounced this
"give and take" attitude of the Musharraf administration that has now
become proficient at maintaining liberal pretences and legitimising
itself as the bastion of anti-extremism, while also appeasing the MMA.
Civil society organisations such as the Aurat Foundation, the Women's
Action Forum, Sungi and ANAA have all protested against the Bill.
Minority rights organisations such as the National Solidarity of Equal
Rights have highlighted the reality that Hudood laws left untouched by
the legislation prevent non-Muslims from being either full witnesses,
judges or even lawyers in cases brought under the Hudood Ordinances.
According to Amna Buttar, president of ANAA, "the new law removes a
noose but fires a bullet" in continuing to retain the many provisions
that may be used to persecute women in the name of regulating sex and
morality. This equivocation, which sees legislating on sex as a means
of ensuring the moral life of society, ignores the reality that moral
wrongs when legislated upon by the state give the latter inordinate
power in making the lives of ordinary citizens completely vulnerable
to unchecked and indiscriminate intrusions and abuses of power.
In the final analyses, the debate surrounding the Women's Protection
Bill must focus on the status of the rule of law in Pakistani society.
The duplicitous rhetoric of curbing extremism by promoting militarism
masks the grotesque mess of parallel jurisdictions and inaccessibility
to justice for both male and female citizens of Pakistan. The Asian
Development Bank reports that Pakistan received $1.1 billion in United
States aid to fight the "war against terror" last year and is
scheduled to receive another $900m this year. A total of $3.7 billion
has been given to Pakistan by the U.S. since January 2002. It is safe
to assume that not a cent of this bounty has been used to revive
Pakistan's weak and failing legal institutions. Unless Western powers
realise that victory in the war against extremism hinges not on
propping up authoritarian regimes but on long-term investment in
strengthening democratic and legal institutions, Pakistani women will
continue to bear the unjust burden of misogyny and discrimination.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2325/stories/20061229000306200.htm
Volume 24 - Issue 05 :: Mar. 10-23, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
LEGISLATION
Self-help doubts
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
Opposition grows to the microfinance Bill on the grounds that it,
among other things, excludes the big players in microfinance.
G. KRISHNASWAMY
In Hyderabad, the office of the Mutually Aided Cooperative Thrift &
Credit Society, which helps members of self-help groups.
THE heightened allocations to the social sector and the rhetoric of
women's empowerment notwithstanding, a Bill meant to guarantee
financial services to women and other disadvantaged sections has run
into rough weather. The Ministries of Women and Child Development and
Rural Development are not in agreement with certain provisions of the
Micro-Financial Sector (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2007, which
they believe has been drafted in haste.
The main objective of the Bill is to provide for the promotion,
development and orderly growth of the microfinance sector in rural and
urban areas so as to offer an enabling environment to ensure that the
people, especially women and certain disadvantaged sections, have
universal access to integrated financial services of banks.
Another objective is to regulate the functioning of microfinance
organisations. In its previous avatar it was known as the National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2006. The
Bill was first drafted in 2000 with the objective of giving a
legalised structure to microcredit and microfinance organisations.
According to a note prepared by the Department of Economic Affairs
(Banking Division) in the Finance Ministry, the Bill was formulated
after consultations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and the Indian
Banks' Association (IBA).
The logic was that "many microcredit-providing institutions such as
MFIs [microfinance institutions] and SHGs [self-help groups] have been
repeatedly stressing the need for regulation of this sector in view of
its rapid growth and fear of less-than-credible institutions dealing
with the poor and illiterate people." But the main problem with the
Bill is that it excludes the big players in microfinance.
The Bill demonstrates perhaps that the talk of "inter-sectoral"
convergence is just rhetoric. It also brings out the lack of inter-
Ministerial discussion and deliberation.
For instance, the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (RMK), set up in 1993 under
the Ministry of Women and Child Development to provide credit to poor
rural women, has been left out from the to-be-constituted microfinance
development council (MDC), whose objective is to advise NABARD on
matters relating to microfinance.
The council will have two women nominees, who may not necessarily
represent the Ministry of Women and Child Development. This, said a
senior woman bureaucrat, was ironical as 90 per cent of microcredit
borrowers were women. Women and Child Development Minister Renuka
Choudhary said the Bill was inimical to the interests of poor women.
Excluding the RMK was a big surprise, considering that it has
benefited 5,68,000 women so far. The Bill has also run into trouble
from women's organisations and those closely involved with SHGs.
The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) believes that
while the microfinance Bill ought to be rejected outright, there is
also a need to look at the working of SHGs over the past two decades.
According to AIDWA, unlike women's and people's science groups, the
Government of India and other high-profile NGOs viewed SHGs as banking
institutions whose savings needed to be mopped up in order to ease the
burden of public investment.
Among the problems facing SHGs, it said, was the exclusion of a great
number of poor people from the formation of SHG federations because of
definitional problems and the lack of representation of women in the
decision-making processes. Said Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary,
AIDWA: "Instead of replacing formal credit institutions, the SHGs are
designed to function as groups to ensure efficient transactions and
repayments on a limited credit-based agenda. This works against the
inclusion of issues such as domestic violence, sexual and reproductive
rights and political participation. Such issues are then addressed by
women `in spite of' rather than as a legitimate agenda of the SHGs."
Main objections
The main objections to the Bill are that it excludes from its purview
non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and companies registered as
not-for-profit under Section 25 of the Companies Act; these two
categories of companies deal with 90 per cent of microfinance. The
Bill, instead, seeks to regulate societies, cooperative societies and
trusts registered under State laws, also called microfinance
organisations (MFOs), which handle only 10 per cent of such services
in the country.
These smaller organisations could also get into trouble, given the
conditionalities such as profitablity, 15 per cent capital adequacy
ratio (that is, the capital base of the organisation should comprise
at least 15 per cent of its outstanding loans), three years'
experience and NABARD certification.
Nevertheless, the Cabinet and the Group of Ministers has cleared the
Bill and it is likely to be tabled in the current session of
Parliament.
The concern among non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved with
SHGs is that MFIs, profit-oriented as they are, may introduce
practices that might corrupt the SHG model itself. They also feel that
the conditionalities are harsh considering that even commercial banks
were required to have a capital adequacy ratio of only 8 per cent.
Thomas Franco Rajendra Dev of the Mahalir Association for Literacy
Awareness and Rights (MALAR), a federation of SHGs in Kanyakumari
district, said repayment rates were, by and large, very good and that
was one reason why MFIs wanted to enter the picture in a big way and
that too without many regulations.
He said MFIs in Andhra Pradesh used coercive methods to make women
repay their loans and added that he knew of many instances of such
harassment. He said that in the last seven or eight years, a lot of
SHGs and microcredit institutions had been formed with the sole
purpose of obtaining and disbursing loans. Only in some States,
especially Kerala, where linkages had been made between literacy,
political empowerment and economic empowerment within SHGs, the
poorest among the women had benefited and emerged as a force.
Incidentally, estimates of the number of SHGs in the country range
from seven million to more than a crore. The demand for micro-credit
is estimated to be close to Rs.1 lakh crore. Until December 2006,
24.82 lakh SHGs had been credit-linked with a cumulative bank loan of
Rs.13,720.82 crore. As on January 25, 2007, about 24.33 lakh SHGs,
with a bank loan of Rs.10,895 crore, had been formed under the
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana of the Ministry of Rural
Development. Last year alone, Rs.65,000 crore was disbursed as
microcredit.
V. RAJU
At Sattenapalli in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district in July 2006, a
victim of harassment by microfinance companies is consoled by National
Commission of Women member Nirmala Venkatesh. The companies wanted the
girl to repay the loan taken by her mother who is no more.
But there are doubts whether it can help rural poverty. Franco
Rajendra Dev said it was an illusion that microfinance alone would
eradicate poverty; it had to be accompanied by other measures,
including land reforms, which was the experience of both Kerala and
West Bengal. The Integrated Rural Development Programme, which began
in 1979, he said, failed to reduce poverty, as it was unconnected with
the other causes of poverty.
He said that within MALAR, which was based on the People's Science
Movement model, nearly 10 per cent of the women had improved their
quality of life; handloom weavers had become owners of looms, pottery
workers had turned owners and women had opened grocery shops and got
into lease cultivation.
While this was a positive outcome, the main problem was the small net
profit in these ventures and the challenges of the market. There was a
lot to learn from the Kudumbashree model in Kerala, where the poorest
of the poor among women were identified under the Asraya scheme and
marketing outlets were provided for their SHG products. In West
Bengal, too, 16 government departments were involved in SHGs in one
way or other. There was a separate Ministry for SHGs as well. The
marketing of the products was allowed through the public distribution
system (PDS).
Critics of the Bill accused the major players of charging high rates
of interest and resorting to other irregularities, including inhuman
methods of recovery, which, in States such as Andhra Pradesh, even
drove women to commit suicide. The majority of the borrowers were
women, organised into SHGs or otherwise. Last year, the Collectors of
East Godavari and Krishna districts submitted a report each to the RMK
about women committing suicide because of harassment by the MFIs. Most
of the suicides were reported from Guntur, East Godavari and Krishna
districts.
In Krishna district, of the 19 unnatural deaths of women in 2005-06,
10 were confirmed to have committed suicide. In general, the district
administration's observations were that MFIs imposed a non-
transparent, flat rate of interest instead of a simple interest on the
diminishing principal amount; the periodicity of repayment was weekly
instead of monthly, the insurance policy of MFIs was such that
premiums were collected without giving any policy; and they used
methods of recovery that were demeaning to women, including making
them stand in the hot sun, locking up their homes and even advising
them to commit suicide.
In raids on the local offices of some of the MFIs operating in the
district, signed cheques, blank, signed plain sheets of paper, and
home-site pattas and land title-deeds were seized.
Contentious proposal
One of the proposals in the Bill is to allow MFOs that have a capital
base of Rs.5 lakh to mobilise thrift. Such a move, critics argued,
would restrict the expansion of the capital that was being created by
SHGs. They said group savings were normally used in an emergency, but
if MFOs were allowed to mop up the thrift, the purpose of SHGs would
be defeated and women would find themselves again at the mercy of
moneylenders.
Sources in the RMK said the word "thrift" was a clever way of defining
"public deposit" as the RBI had not prescribed any "safety norms" for
banks that accepted public deposits. This could allow unscrupulous
MFOs, as also moneylenders who could register as MFOs, a backdoor
entry and accept not only savings from people but also lend at very
high rates of interest. Another worry was that caste and communal
organisations could enter the fray, especially if the Bill allowed
them to collect deposits through thrift.
The Bill does not provide any cap on the rate of interest, especially
when there were known instances of MFIs charging flat rates of 15 to
30 per cent and using unethical means of recovery. On the other hand,
there was a cap of Rs.50,000 on borrowing. There were objections to
NABARD functioning as the regulatory body because it was
insufficiently manned in the districts and there could be a conflict
of interest as it was a promoter of SHGs and NGOs. "A promoter cannot
be a regulator," said Franco.
Yet another criticism has been that State governments were not
consulted during the formulation of the Bill despite the fact that
many of the MFOs were registered under State laws.
The controversy over the Bill also comes in the context of a
widespread SHG movement comprising mainly of poor women in the
villages. The experience of the SHGs has been a mixed one, depending
on the level of political awareness and rate of literacy and social
and political organisation in the States. The possible enactment of
the microfinance Bill has caused consternation among groups working
with SHGs.
A two-day national consultation organised by Nirantar, an organisation
that deals with gender and education issues, debated the implications
of the Bill as well as the role of the SHGs.
More than 40 organisations from 19 States participated. The conference
discussed a study prepared by Nirantar, titled "Examining empowerment,
poverty alleviation, education within self-help groups" and a broad
consensus emerged on the positive and the negative outcomes of the
experiences of women in SHGs.
The study was done among 2,750 SHGs, the majority of them formed under
government programmes, in 16 States. The survey revealed that the
benefits had not percolated equitably to all women and most of them
had not received any capacity-building inputs for the past two years.
The experience differed from State to State and on the level of
political consciousness as well.
At the consultation itself, the consensus was that the microfinance
Bill would do more harm than good to rural women. It sought a wider
consultation with all the stakeholder before the Bill is passed.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2405/stories/20070323002409700.htm
Women's Reservation Bill
The Women's Reservation Bill is the one subject that has been most
talked about and the least acted upon. Now, one can easily visualise
that the Bill stands the 'brightest' chance of getting drowned in the
din and noise of tehalka.com. But the singular d isservice meted out
to the women's issue has, unfortunately come from no less a person
than Chief Election commissioner, M.S. Gill. (See his interview in
Frontline dated March 16, 2001.)
To quote Gill: "My solution is simple. Instead of amending the
Constitution every other day with all the negative points it involves,
have a simple amendment in the RPA (Representation of Peoples Act)
where all you would say is this: all parties that hav e their
recognition and privileges of the Commission shall retain these only
for so long, at every election they fight in every State they put up X
percentage of women candidates."
With this simple solution, Gill wants us to believe that the
proportion of women which is only '8 per cent in Parliament and
Assemblies over the last 50 years' will overnight jump from 8 to 15 or
20 per cent, even if a little less than 33 per cent of th e ticket is
given to women by the political parties.
The Frontline correspondent who interviewed Mr. Gill has chosen to
describe his solution as 'unique'. Unique indeed - not as a solution
but as a way of scuttling the whole issue.
Gill, at least for the record, asserts that gender justice is
certainly his priority but not higher than his loyalty to the
Constitution. He does not want the fault of political parties to visit
on the Constitution. So he wants the Constitution to be lef t
undisturbed by gender considerations. He ascribes the fact of women
not being given the ticket to an adequate extent to the fault of
political parties. He declares: "The flaw is that women are not
getting space in the political parties. Guaranteed spac e. Assured
space."
Gill's solution can at best only guarantee party ticket for women in
elections. It will certainly not ensure their presence in Parliament
or Assemblies unless a specific number of constituencies are mandated
to return only a woman as the representative.
We have on hand our own experience with regard to the elections to
local bodies. Only the 83rd amendment to the Constitution has given
the women the guaranteed and assured space in the local bodies. Not
before. Not otherwise than by reservation.
The delay over passing of the Bill is of course a matter of serious
concern not only to women, but also to all those who genuinely seek
women to be empowered. But, it cannot be an alibi for pushing through
a non-serious and frivolous proposal, from which ever quarters it may
emanate.
W.R. Varada Rajan
Received on email
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1807/18071290.htm
Volume 24 - Issue 25 :: Dec. 22, 2007-Jan. 04, 2008
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Lacunae in law
V. VENKATESAN
India’s legal response to violence against women has by and large been
characterised by the absence of sympathy for the victim.
RAJESH KUMAR SINGH/AP
At a rally in Allahabad on December 8 to create awareness about the
Domestic Violence Act.
The World Human Rights Conference in Vienna recognised gender-based
violence as a human rights violation in 1993. In the same year, the
United Nations, through a declaration, defined violence against women
as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to
result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to a
woman, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary
deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
In 1995, the U.N.’s Special Report on Violence Against Women added
“violence perpetrated or condoned by the State” to this definition.
Because of the social group to which she belongs, in times of war,
riots and ethnic, caste or class violence, a woman may be raped or
brutalised as a means of humiliating the community to which she
belongs. Male perception of the female sex and women as the property
of men contributes to this extreme form of gender violence.
It may be worthwhile to look at India’s legal response to the first
two of these three major forms of violence, namely, violence against
women in the private and public domains, and discern what many
observers have noted as the absence of attitudes sympathetic to women
among those enforcing or interpreting these laws.
Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which defines the rape of
a woman by a man, has an important exception: sexual intercourse by a
man with his wife, the wife not being under 15 years of age, is not
rape. Thus “marital rape” as an offence is outside the purview of
Indian criminal law.
The introduction of Section 376A in the IPC somewhat limits this
exception. Under this Section, a man who has sexual intercourse with
his wife who is living separately from him under a decree of
separation or under any custom or usage, without her consent shall be
punished with imprisonment up to two years and shall also be liable to
pay a fine.
Comparison with the punishments prescribed in the IPC for other
categories of rape brings out starkly the bias in the law in favour of
judicially separated men. The IPC prescribes a minimum sentence of
seven years for those convicted in non-custodial rape cases and 10
years in the case of custodial rapes.
The Law Commission has rejected proposals to repeal the marital rape
exception on the grounds that it would amount to “excessive
interference with the marital relationship” (Review of Rape Laws,
172nd Report, 2000, Chapter 3, page 14).
Clearly, some of the ingredients of Section 375 apply also to marital
rape. These include the commission of the offence by the man against
the victim’s will and without her consent. The assumption that a woman
forsakes her right to refuse consent for sexual intercourse with her
husband as long as the marriage persists has been questioned by many
feminist scholars. Such an assumption would inevitably mean that the
law treats women as the property of their husbands.
In R v. R (Rape: Marital Exemption) (1991), the House of Lords widened
the scope of criminal liability by declaring that a husband could be
charged as the principal offender in the rape of his wife. This
decision obliterated the protection of the husband from such
prosecution under the doctrine of marital exemption. The wife was
supposed to have given a general consent to her husband as a natural
implication of the marriage. This has now become an outmoded view of
marriage in the U.K.
Cruelty by husband
Section 498A – inserted into the IPC in 1983 – is a major legislative
measure to tackle cruelty by a husband or relatives of the husband.
Under it the offender could be punished with imprisonment for up to
three years and also be liable to pay a fine. The Amendment Act, which
introduced this Section in the IPC, had the objective of combating the
menace of dowry deaths. Section 498A covers both physical and mental
abuse. It is felt that Section 498A’s scope is limited as it is silent
on other kinds of cruelties involving psychological, economic and
sexual abuses. The Section defines cruelty as any act that drives a
woman to commit suicide or cause grave injury or danger to life.
The same Act also introduced Section 113A to the Indian Evidence Act
to raise a presumption regarding the abetment of suicide by a married
woman, if the suicide took place within seven years of her marriage.
Her husband or such relative of her husband would be presumed to have
abetted her suicide in such a case.
In 1986, the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act introduced Section 304-
B in the IPC to define dowry death. The court shall presume that an
accused person caused a dowry death if the death of the woman is an
unnatural one and it happened within seven years from the date of
marriage. The woman must have been subjected to cruelty, relating to a
demand for dowry, in the immediate period before her death.
The Domestic Violence Act, enacted in October 2006, provides for,
among other significant reliefs, the right to residence in the shared
household, the right to protection orders, and the mandated return of
Stree-dhan (dowry), besides giving courts the power to restrain the
alienation of assets. It defines violence in all its dimensions, from
the physical to the sexual and the economic. This definition was taken
from the U.N. Model Code on domestic violence and from the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women, to which
India is a party. It applies to not only married women but also women
in live-in relationships and daughters/mothers facing violence in
domestic relationships.
One year on, the Act is not exactly a success story. Lawyers
Collective, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), which was largely
involved with this law in its formative stages, undertook the task of
evaluating enforcement using available data. Its report shows that the
main users of this law are women in matrimonial relationships. A few
widows have used it to prevent dispossession, and some young girls
have prevented forcible marriages by fathers.
The major breakthrough the law achieved was the declaration of the
right to reside in the shared household. The law makes a clear
distinction between the ownership of the shared household and the
right to reside in it. What the law does is to grant the right to
reside and not to be dispossessed, except by authority of law.
Indira Jaising of Lawyers Collective wrote in an article published in
Indian Express on October 26: “This provision suffered a major setback
at the hands of the judiciary. The Supreme Court, even before the ink
on the Act was dry, declared in a judgment (S.R. Batra v. Taruna
Batra) that a woman could claim this right only in relation to a
household owned/rented by her husband. This means that if her husband
lives with his parents and she has her matrimonial residence there,
she cannot claim right to residence there. The judgment not only
overlooks the law itself, it also overlooks the existing social
reality of the joint family, which continues to be the predominant
pattern.”
The report prepared by Lawyers Collective documents how several courts
have refused relief to women on the basis of this judgment. It
demonstrates that in India women have lesser protection than tenants,
who cannot be evicted except by the procedure established by law.
Anti-rape law
Under Section 375 of the IPC, a man is said to commit rape if he has
sexual intercourse with a woman under any of the six specified
circumstances. They are: i) it should be against her will; ii) without
her consent; iii) when her consent has been obtained by putting in
her, or in any person whom she is interested in, the fear of death or
of hurt; iv) when she consents believing that he is her husband,
whereas he is not; v) when she consents by reason of unsoundness of
mind or intoxication or administration of stupefying substance; or,
vi) when she is under 16 years of age. The provision also says that
penetration is sufficient to constitute the sexual intercourse
necessary for the offence of rape.
Researchers have found serious gaps in using this provision to secure
the conviction of alleged rapists. Pratiksha Baxi says in her article
in the book The Violence of Normal Times (edited by Kalpana
Kannabiran, Women Unlimited, New Delhi, 2005), that the popular
perception that women commonly lie about being raped inflects medical
jurisprudence and in the testimony to rape.
She points to one of the medico-legal propositions that acquires an
axiomatic status that an able-bodied adult woman cannot be raped by an
unarmed man. According to her, in the trial courts, the view is that
women have the natural ability to resist rape by crossing their legs.
Here, she says, the male body is not thought of as a weapon, and
women’s ability to resist is seen as given in nature.
When she conducted interviews with experts at the Forensic Science
Laboratory, she found that the practice of using lie-detection tests
on raped women was common. She added that medico-legal textbooks did
not prescribe the use of lie-detection tests on raped women, and to
the best of her knowledge the documentation regarding such tests did
not enter at the trial or appellate level.
For the victim, the process of testifying itself adds to her trauma.
Pratiksha Baxi notes that it makes her relive the rape and humiliates
her. Trial court Judges, she finds, recognise emotional distress
produced by the testimony not as a sign of suffering but as a sign of
complicity in a lie.
She adds: “The cross-examination of the victim itself produces trauma.
It attacks the reputation and veracity of the victim. It makes her
relive the rape and humiliates her. The production of trauma by the
law itself is a serious issue that severely compromises the mental
health of rape survivors.”
Another issue in establishing rape is the ethics of the two-finger
test. The test was evolved as an answer to the medico-legal problem
that in some cases the hymen might remain intact (especially in female
children) despite repeated instances of penile penetration. The answer
was found in partial penetration, which denoted penile penetration of
the vaginal orifice irrespective of whether the hymen was ruptured or
not.
The test is performed by a technique that is in a mimetic relationship
to the act of penile penetration. The test replaces the notion that
the presence or absence of the hymen can by itself signify virginity
or its absence. It is a technique that verifies whether the hymen is
broken or not, and whether it is distensible or not.
The substitution of the erect penis, Baxi points out, rests on the
precarious desexualisation of the clinical practice. She adds:
“The line between the two-finger test (as if it were a surgical
procedure) and assault is a thin one, which is determined by whether
the medical examination is carried out with or without the consent of
the patient. Medical jurists have been aware of the mimesis in their
emphatic recommendation that doctors must secure the patient’s consent
for this test. Consent then converts assault into a medical test.”
Baxi further asks: “The issue of consent is constitutive, for to
refuse the test is interpreted as evidence of a false complaint. It is
not clear what this consent entails. Did it imply consent to allow the
medical jurist to penetrate her with her consent or is it consent
towards allowing the state to produce signs of her own subjection?”
And, how are the results of the test interpreted? When two or more
fingers are easily admissible in the vagina, the patient might be
characterised as being “used to sex” or “habituated to sex”. The word
habituated, Baxi says, lies in the realm of interpretation, deriving
its meaning from the medico-legal domain, for the word does not appear
in any statute. The words “habituated”, “habitual, or “used to sexual
intercourse” continue to appear in appellate judgments and animate the
legal discourse in trial courts.
Baxi argues that if the hymen acts as a sign it does so
retrospectively after the technique is deployed on the victim’s body.
Thus while the “natural” state of the hymen is not reliable, it is a
technique which allows for a verification of the actual by
substituting the penis with two fingers.
The interpretation of the findings of the two-finger test provided in
the medico-legal certificate of the victim is transcribed as
“habituated to sex” or “used to sex”. If a victim is categorised as
habituated, it is assumed that she must have experienced regular
sexual intercourse and this sexual intercourse must have been
consensual.
Baxi quotes a defence lawyer who had been practising criminal law in
the trial court as saying that if doctors give a certificate saying no
sign of injury and write that she is habituated, the advantage of this
goes to the accused.
Thus, medico-legal techniques such as the two-finger test result in
symbolic re-rape of victims. The phallocentric law insists on doing
mimetically to the victim what the accused rapist did to her, in order
to know that rape was real.
Outraging modesty
Section 354 of the IPC provides for a punishment of up to two years
with fine to anyone who assaults or uses criminal force on any woman,
intending to outrage her modesty. But the provision does not define
modesty.
The Supreme Court, in a recent judgment, defined modesty in this
Section as follows: “Modesty is an attribute associated with female
human beings as a class. It is a virtue which attaches to a female
owing to her sex. The act of pulling a woman, removing her sari,
coupled with a request for sexual intercourse, is such as would be an
outrage to the modesty of a woman; and knowledge, that modesty is
likely to be outraged, is sufficient to constitute the offence without
any deliberate intention having such outrage alone for its object.”
As rape is constituted, only penetration is present. In cases where
sexual assault does not lead to penetration, the prosecution is
inclined to invoke Section 354 against the accused, which results in
milder punishment.
Section 511 of the IPC deals with punishment for attempting to commit
offences that are punishable with imprisonment for life or other forms
of imprisonment. It provides that when an offence is attempted to be
committed for which no specific punishment has been provided for in
the code, an offender will be punishable with half the longest term of
punishment that is prescribed for committing the respective offence.
In other words, a court can convict the accused for attempted rape.
Yet courts have in general been reluctant to do so even when the
accused has been caught while attempting rape. Ranjana Kaul, a member
of the Delhi Commission for Women, points out in an article that they
often rely upon the technicality of the absence of penetration to rule
out attempt and have invariably imposed on the accused the relatively
minor punishment of imprisonment up to two years for molestation.
"The emergence of sexual harassment as a wrong and a form of
discrimination against women has been articulated exclusively by the
Indian courts, and has not been enacted into any statute," says Ratna
Kapur, in her book, Erotic Justice.
Sexual harassment
The inability of Section 354 of the IPC to address adequately the
claims of sexual harassment ultimately led to the filing of a class
action petition in 1997 in the Supreme Court. The petition was brought
by certain social activists and NGOs to assist in finding suitable
methods for the realisation of the true concept of “gender equality”
and to prevent sexual harassment of women in all workplaces through
judicial process, to fill the vacuum in the existing legislation.
The Supreme Court held in this case (Visakha v. State of Rajasthan)
that sexual harassment is a clear violation of the rights under
Articles 14, 15 and 21 of Constitution. One of the logical
consequences of such an incident is also the violation of the victim’s
fundamental right under Article 19(1)(g) “to practise any profession
or to carry out any occupation, trade or business”. Such violations
attract the remedy under Article 32 for the enforcement of these
fundamental rights of women.
The court defined sexual harassment to include such unwelcome sexually
determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication) as: a)
physical contact and advances; b) a demand or request for sexual
favours; c) sexually coloured remarks; d) showing pornography; or e)
any other unwelcome physical verbal or non-verbal conduct of a sexual
nature.
The court directed all employers or persons in charge of the
workplace, whether in the public or private sector, to take
appropriate steps to prevent sexual harassment, and create mechanisms
for the settlement or prosecution of complaints. It laid down 12
guidelines in this regard and declared that these would constitute the
law of the land until the legislature took further action.
Ironically, Parliament took almost 10 years after the Vishaka judgment
to prepare a draft Bill on sexual harassment. The draft Bill, the
Protection of Women Against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2007,
is yet to be introduced in Parliament.
REFERENCES
1. Ratna Kapur, `Erotic Justice'; Permanent Black, New Delhi, 2005.
2. Kalpana Kannabiran (ed.), `The Violence of Normal Times'; Women
Unlimited, New Delhi, 2005.
ONLINE
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33866
http://www.judis.nic.in/supremecourt/qrydisp.aspx?filename=13856
http://prsindia.org/docs/draft/draft_sexual_harassment_bill.pdf
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2425/stories/20080104242502000.htm
Volume 16 - Issue 17, Aug 14 - 27, 1999
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
SOCIAL ISSUES
'Dowry deaths' in Bangalore
Investigations by a women's group in Bangalore point to a high
incidence of unnatural deaths among newly married women following
dowry-related incidents, with the persons responsible for them largely
being acquitted.
PARVATHI MENON
in Bangalore
HOARDINGS put up by the traffic police at prominent places along
Bangalore's traffic-congested roads exhort reckless drivers to go
slow. Grim statistics loom over traffic snarls - 704 men and women
died in traffic accidents in the city in 1997, 726 in 1998, and 168
until June 1999. Reckless driving is truly a problem in India's sixth
largest metropolis, and the seriousness with which it is being
addressed is gratifying to the citizens of the city.
There is, however, another category of deaths that occur on a daily
basis in the city, for which no such public recognition or concern is
awarded. These figures far outnumber traffic-related deaths (or indeed
any category of avoidable death). They are exclusively of women -
mainly young, newly married women. In police records they are
classified under three specific categories, which invoke different
sections of the law. They are "dowry murders" (committed by the
woman's husband or members of his family for additional dowry or non-
payment of promised dowry); "suicides" (forced or voluntary, but in
most cases related to dowry demands); and "accidents" (a majority
classed under "stove-burst" or "kitchen-accident"). Deaths under these
three categories add up to an alarming figure. In Bangalore city,
1,133 women died in murders, suicides and accidents in 1997, 1,248 in
1998, and 618 till mid-July 1999.
K. GOPINATHAN
A police officer examines the body of Bhagyamma, a young mother who
hanged herself in Kengeri, near Bangalore. In her suicide note, which
she wrote on her legs in order to avoid its detection until the police
arrived, Bhagyamma blamed her husband for her death.
On an average, therefore, almost one hundred women have been dying
violent deaths every month in the privacy of their homes. And these
are the official figures. When 44 persons died of plague by September
1994 in Surat, the epicentre of the plague outbreak of that year, the
epidemic assumed the proportions of a national crisis. Yet, public
acknowledgement of the unnatural deaths of young women in Bangalore
city is restricted to perfunctory two-line news items in the daily
newspapers, where they are reported as "accidents" or "suicides" over
"dowry harassment". Thereafter, they drop from public consciousness
into the anonymity of a police or court 'case'.
A dowry murder comes under a distinct class of violence. Motivated
mainly by greed, the crime is committed within the four walls of a
home on an unsuspecting wife by her own husband or his family; there
are rarely any eyewitnesses who are prepared to give evidence against
the murderers. The large number of these deaths is an indication that
the law is not a sufficient deterrent for those who commit these
crimes. Nor have these grotesquely violent murders sparked the kind of
social outrage that could pressure the government and its law-
enforcing machinery into acting swiftly and firmly in enforcing the
law. The scale of this problem, its causes and consequences, have not
been adequately acknowledged by the state and its agencies, the media,
or the public at large.
"Such figures certainly impress upon us the need to relook at what we
understand by the police classification of 'unnatural deaths'," says
Donna Fernandes of Vimochana, a women's organisation which first
uncovered the horrifying dimensions of the problem in Bangalore. "Our
investigations have proved that for large numbers of married women,
the right to live in safety and in a climate free from intimidation
and violence is under great threat. Why is there this social unconcern
when women are dying in such large numbers?"
DOWRY-RELATED violence against married women by the families they
marry into is a phenomenon that is on the increase all over the
country, particularly in urban areas where such violence gets reported
on. Women's groups have been engaging with this issue at various
levels in different parts of the country. In the absence of comparable
data from other cities, it may be premature to conclude that the high
incidence of unnatural deaths of young women in Bangalore is, in some
way, a problem specific to this city. What has put Bangalore on the
map of cities with a high incidence of dowry-related atrocities
against women is an exceptional research-cum-social-intervention
project by Vimochana. This study has, for the first time, quantified
this problem and put it firmly in the public realm. Vimochana's
sustained two-and-half-year campaign on the issue of unnatural deaths
of women resulted in the setting up, on April 7, 1999, of a Joint
House Committee on Atrocities against Women to investigate these
deaths and make recommendations for their prevention. The Joint
Committee, which was chaired by BJP MLA Premila Nesargi, presented its
report on July 1.
There are therefore two detailed public documents on the phenomenon of
the high rate of unnatural deaths of women in Bangalore - the
Vimochana documentation and campaign material and the House Committee
Report. There is also detailed, month-wise statistics compiled and
maintained by the State Crime Records Bureau, which Vimochana has
collated and analysed in its study. Together these provide a reliable
database on the numbers of women dying; the classification of their
deaths by the police (whether murder, suicide, accident); the ways by
which they die (burning, hanging, poisoning, and so on); the reasons
for the death; the nature of the police investigation into each of
these cases; the reasons for the slow pace of judicial redress; and
the reasons why so many dowry death cases end in acquittal of the
accused. Vimochana's database, which it began compiling from early
1997, also includes a detailed register of the women who are admitted
into the burns ward of the Victoria Hospital, their ages, marital
status, reasons for death, and case details.
Unnatural deaths and stove-bursts
In the early phase of the study, as it collated police statistics,
Vimochana noted a major anomaly between its figures and those of the
police. It found that a large number of deaths were being classified
in police records as "accidents" under "UDR" (Unnatural Death
Register). The category of "dowry deaths" in a technical sense only
included those cases that had been booked by the police under the
relevant sections of the law . The "accident" cases that were closed
for want of evidence, however, were largely due to "stove-bursts" or
"kitchen accidents". On the basis of its follow-up investigations with
the families of the victims of these so-called accidents, Vimochana
came up with some startling findings that changed the whole perception
of this social problem, the assumptions that underlay it, its causes
and the course that remedial action must take. Vimochana alleged that
a large number of murders and suicides, punishable under law, were
being made to look like "accidents" by the husband and members of his
family. These cases were closed by the investigating police officers
for want of hard evidence of a crime. When a professional eye looked
at the whole category of unnatural deaths (and not just "dowry
deaths"), the number of women dying in suspicious circumstances rose
sharply. Vimochana's contention is that a large number of the cases
simply escape detection and punishment in the prevailing social
conditions.
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
A burns victim in a Bangalore hospital. There is evidence to suggest
that a large number of murders and suicides of young married women are
made to look like stove-burst "accidents".
Frontline attempted an independent assessment of some of the findings
of the Vimochana study, as well as of the House Committee Report. Data
provided to Frontline by the police department for Karnataka as a
whole show that out of 3,826 deaths recorded as accidents in 1997,
1,715, or around 50 per cent, were connected with fire accidents,
including stove and cooking gas cylinder bursts. V. Gowramma, a
Vimochana activist and the recipient of this year's Neerja Bhanot
award (which was instituted in memory of the 23-year-old Pan Am
airhostess who died showing exemplary courage in helping passengers
escape during a hijack attempt in Karachi in 1986), says: "We found
that of 550 cases reported between January and September 1997, 71 per
cent were closed as 'kitchen/cooking accidents' and 'stove-bursts'
after conducting investigations under Section 174 of the Code of
Criminal Procedures." When the cause of death in a majority of
registered dowry death cases is due to burning, such a high rate of
"stove-burst" accidents involving daughters-in-law can hardly be
regarded as natural or coincidental.
"It is an unfortunate fact that in a strictly legal sense, an
accidental stove-burst is not an offence under the law," Bangalore
City Police Commissioner L. Revannasiddaiah observed to Frontline.
"However, what is the use of an investigation if it does not arrive at
the truth? If there are two or three stove-burst accidents in a day,
in which only daughters-in-law die, we must look behind the formal
facade and take up investigations immediately." Noting that the police
are now trying to do this, he asked: "Have you ever heard of a mother-
in-law or a husband dying in a stove-burst?"
Since September 1997, two Vimochana volunteers have been posted
permanently at the burns ward of the Victoria Hospital, where most of
the serious burns cases in the city are admitted. "About seven cases
are admitted on an average every day, with the numbers going up to ten
following certain traditional festivals, when it is the practice for
women to be sent to their natal homes with additional demands for
dowry," explained Donna Fernandes. "The burnings usually take place
past 1 a.m., well past cooking time, which itself throws the 'stove-
burst' theory into doubt. Women come with burns of 70 per cent and
more, and on their death leave behind babies and small children."
There are several reasons why murders or forced suicides often get
registered as a "stove-burst". "The first reaction of a woman who has
been burnt by her husband or his family is to say it is a stove-
burst," says Rudrappa Hanagavadi, Special Executive Magistrate for
Bangalore, who is reponsible for the conduct of inquests in cases
relating to women who have died under suspicious circumstances. "Her
dying declaration, which is supposed to be taken in private by the
policeman in the presence of a doctor, is invariably a public
procedure, and she is afraid to tell the truth." Members of the
husband's family often threaten to harm her children and her natal
family if she does not say she was injured in a cooking accident.
Often, relatives and friends of the victim are reluctant to raise
doubts about the nature of the death as they fear harassment by the
victim's husband and his family. They also do not want to get involved
in laborious police and legal proceedings. The police, for their part,
do not try to penetrate this community resistance to look for evidence
of what really could have happened.
THERE are pressures on women to conceal the truth about what happened
to them even when they know they are dying. This correspondent visited
the Victoria Hospital burns ward on July 13 . On that day, five women
were admitted. There was Shabrin Begum, 20, who had been married for
one month, and had been admitted with 90 per cent burns; Selvi, 18,
married for two years and admitted with 80 per cent burns; Lalitha,
married for eight years and admitted with 80 per cent burns; Aniyamma,
40, with five children, admitted with 60 per cent burns; and Rehana
Taj, 15, from Kolar district, unmarried, and admitted with 45 to 50
per cent burns.
In her first dying declaration, Shabrin, an articulate PUC student,
said she was injured in a kitchen accident. In her second declaration,
she said her husband and mother-in-law set her on fire; based on this
declaration, the police have filed cases against them under Sections
498(A) and 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (FIR Crime No. 479/99
filed on July 16, 1999 at the Madivala police station). Selvi gave
three dying declarations: in her first declaration she said she was
injured in an accident; in her second declaration, she said she had
attempted suicide; in her third declaration, she alleged that her
mother-in-law attempted to murder her. A case has been booked under
Section 302 of the IPC (FIR Crime No. 261/99 filed on July 16, 1999 in
the Srirampura police station). Lalitha gave two dying declarations,
the first saying that she was injured in a kitchen accident, the
second that she did it to herself out of "despair". Her relatives did
not wish to file a complaint, and Lalitha herself said nothing about
dowry demands. With tact and persuasiveness, the police could have
elicited the real causes behind Lalitha's despair. But her case (UDR
No. 17/99) was closed as a suicide after her death on July 16, 1999.
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
At Vimochana's office premises in Bangalore, Donna Fernandes (left)
and V. Gowramma (centre). Vimochana's study has quantified for the
first time the problem of dowry-related atrocities against women in
Bangalore.
Who is dying and why?
* Manjula smiles shyly from out of her marriage photographs. She was
married in May 1998, when she was just 18, to Vruthesh Prasad, a
mechanic in the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. Her father
gave her a dowry worth almost Rs.2 lakhs. Manjula used to complain to
her mother and sister that she was being harassed by her husband, his
brother and other members of his family for more dowry, but her family
told her she must adjust and that they would try to meet the demand.
On July 7, 1999, more than a year after her marriage, Manjula was
dead. She was found in her brother-in-law's bathroom, a pool of blood
under her head and between her legs, her upper torso and face burnt.
Her husband's family said she had committed suicide (there was a tin
of turpentine and a box of matches lying near her), but her own family
filed a police complaint. A case has been booked against four persons
under Section 498(A) and 304(B) of the IPC (FIR Crime No. 388/99).
* "I never imagined that he would be like this," a shaken B.P.
Krishnaswamy said of his son-in-law, H. Narasimhamurthy, a primary
school teacher at Bapu Palika Mahila Prautha Salai in Yeshwantpur.
Krishnaswamy trades in vegetables. His daughter, B.K. Rojavathi, a
primary school teacher in Seshadripuram Primary School in Yelahanka,
narrowly escaped an attempt on her life by her husband. She was
married in May 1999; her husband was given a dowry of Rs.30,000 in
cash and another lakh of rupees worth of jewellery and household
goods; soon after the marriage, Rojavathi's husband and father-in-law
demanded more dowry from her. On July 16, her husband, under the
pretext of taking her to a temple, took her instead to the isolated
Soldevanahalli forest and tried to strangle her with a chain that she
was wearing. When that was not successful, he returned with a can of
kerosene from his scooter, and poured it over her. A forest guard saw
him just as he tried to light a flame. Narasimhamurthy fled the scene,
the police were informed and Rojavathi was quickly taken to hospital.
Cases have been booked against her husband under Sections 498(A) and
307 of the IPC (FIR Crime No. 446/99 filed on July 16 at the
Nelamangala police station). He is absconding, as is the rest of his
family. Rojavathi, the whites of her eyes suffused with blood owing to
the effects of strangulation, and her body bruised from the blows she
sustained, is slowly recovering from her injuries and shock.
* H.T. Indira, a young wife and mother, died in November 1998; her
husband's family tried to pass it off as suicide by hanging. A charge-
sheet (CC No. 2033/99) was filed within a month of her death under
Sections 498(A) and 304(B) of the IPC; it names four accused - her
husband P.Thyagaraj, brothers-in-law P. Sivakumar and P.
Krishnamurthy, and mother-in-law Padmamma. Says Indira's sister
Chandramma, who has undertaken to fight the case: "My sister suffered
unspeakable torture for more dowry. A week before her death, they
threw her out of the house with the child and she slept on the steps
that night. She told a neighbour that she was leaving as she could
bear it no longer." According to Chandramma, Indra's brother was to
have brought her home but she died before that. "This is not a
suicide, I know," asserts Chandramma. "My sister was forced to commit
suicide."
These three recent incidents share a certain pattern of social
behaviour and individual response. The giving of dowry, an act illegal
in itself, is not perceived by the victim's families as socially
condemnable, or as having made the woman's position vulnerable right
from the day of the marriage. The husband and his family view her
primarily as a money-source and increase their pressure until it
results in her death or suicide. What is also significant is the
absence of support structures for the woman - a counselling centre, a
shelter home, concerned neighbourhoods - which could prevent the worst
from happening. She cannot even turn to her own family when in the
throes of distress.
SOME broad generalisations have been made from the database now
available on unnatural deaths of women. Its victims are generally
young (Vimochana's study, in fact, looks only at the death of married
women between the ages of 18 and 40), and in a large number of cases
the death occurs within the first two years of marriage. A large
number of victims (and perpetrators of the violence) are from poor or
lower middle-class backgrounds, although this is not an issue that
affects poor women alone. In most cases, the woman would have
undergone mental and physical harassment prior to her death. Lastly, a
majority of dowry murders and suicides are by burning. Police figures
made available to Frontline on suicide deaths alone show that more
than 50 per cent of suicides are committed by the woman setting
herself on fire. In one of the several studies that Vimochana
undertook, it found, for example, that out of 711 women who died in
1998 under unnatural circumstances, 454 died of burns. Significantly,
441 were between the ages of 18 and 30.
"In 90 per cent of the cases I deal with, the women are from poor
backgrounds," Hanagavadi told Frontline. "Migrants, like construction
workers and those who live in slums, account for a large number of
those involved in such cases."
The House Committee recommendations
Vimochana and the House Committee concur on one point. The special
laws that are in place to deal with atrocities against women are
undermined at every stage of investigation at both the police and
judicial levels. The House Committee made exhaustive recommendations
covering every stage of the police investigation and judicial
procedure - the registration of the complaint when a death or injury
under suspicious circumstances takes place, the preparing of the First
Information Report (FIR), the recording of a victim's dying
declaration, the inquest proceedings, the post-mortem and forensic
investigations, the framing of the charge-sheet, and the judicial
process after that. The Committee presented five draft bills to the
House dealing with atrocities against women. One of these, the
Karnataka Prevention of Domestic Violence and Atrocities Against Women
Bill, 1999, deals specifically with the issue of marital violence and
dowry-related deaths.
The investigative process
While the reasons for the large number of violent crimes against women
must be sought in a fast-changing social and economic milieu which
reinforces rather than retards patriarchal notions and values,
accountability for the failure to prevent such crimes must be shared
by the institutions of civil society: the legislature, the police, the
judiciary, and, to some extent, the media as well. The death of a
woman in unnatural circumstances has to go through two procedural
tiers. The first is investigation by the police and the inquest
officer (a government official at the level of a district magistrate)
with assistance from doctors who perform the post-mortem as well as
forensic experts. Upon the thoroughness of this investigation depends
the fate of the case once it gets admitted into the courts. This is
the second procedural tier. If the charge-sheet in a particular case
has sound investigative backing, it will have a much better chance of
standing up in a court of law.
Deaths, whether murders or suicides, that are related to the
relentless demand for dowry constitute a special category of crime.
Given the cultural context, tremendous social pressures operate upon
the victim and her family, pressures that seek to obscure truth and
scuttle the investigation. In Bangalore, there is a groundswell of
resentment among the families of victims and activist groups against
the police department for what is perceived as a lack of thoroughness
and integrity in pursuing cases of unnatural deaths among women. The
House Committee was severe in its criticism of police investigations
and set out elaborate recommendations on how the investigative
mechanism could be sensitised, streamlined and improved.
''There is only one institution in this society that is charged by law
to intervene in a situation like this, and that is the police," says
Revannasiddaiah. "But you must understand this institution too is a
product of this society. We have not been structured, resourced,
motivated and kept in readiness to meet this requirement, and we too
proceed on the old track." But he adds that the old mind-set of the
police force is changing and that he is making a conscious effort to
sensitise the force in its perceptions and investigative approach
towards domestic violence against women.
The Vanitha Sahaya Vani was set up seven months ago by the police
department for women in distress to call in for help and counselling.
While this was initially welcomed by women's activists, it has come in
for some criticism as the success of this facility, they say, is now
being measured in terms of the numbers of "reconciled" cases, and not
by the additional number of offences detected. For a woman desperate
enough to call the help-line, advice to "adjust" to the unequal terms
of her marriage closes one more door or escape route.
Under Revannasiddaiah's initiative, the police department worked with
Vimochana and a group of concerned IAS officers to bring out a manual
of guidelines for investigating offences against women. He has also
constituted a new forum, Parihar, under the police department, which
he hopes will meet the needs of women in crisis - in homes or at
workplaces.
Registration of a complaint
The House Committee Report has drawn attention to the need for the
police to register a complaint immediately after receiving information
about grievous injuries sustained by a woman under suspicious
circumstances. "After they receive a complaint the police should go to
the house and seal it off, which they do not always do," notes
Hanagavadi. They tend to wait until the death of the woman, by which
time valuable evidentiary material slips out of their hands. The FIR
must, on the basis of initial investigations, book a case under the
relevant sections of the law. "Who decides whether a death in
suspicious circumstances is a murder or a suicide or caused by a
cooking accident or a stove-burst?" asks Donna Fernandes. "If done by
an incompetent investigating officer, a chance of a cursory
investigation is very high. We believe from our investigations that
the temptation to classify and reduce unnatural deaths as accidents
and suicidal burns is high as it reduces workload and suits the
purposes of reporting." Members of families of victims who testified
before the House Committee had grievances relating to the FIRs and the
carelessness with which they were made. It is mandatory for a Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP), and in cities an Assistant
Commissioner of Police, to investigate all cases of attempted suicide
and death, under suspicious circumstances, of young married women
within the first five years of marriage. However, according to
Vimochana activists, the police do not always follow this injunction.
The dying declaration
The recording of the statement of the victim, which often becomes her
dying declaration, is a part of the investigative procedure, but it
often turns into a procedure for absolving the real perpetrator of the
crime. It is quite common to find a burns victim giving more than one
dying declaration. Meant to be recorded in privacy, the dying
declaration is often taken in the presence of the victim's husband and
his relatives. As mentioned earlier in the story, when this
correspondent visited the burns ward of Victoria Hospital, there were
three women who gave more than one dying declaration each. One of
them, Selvi, gave three in the course of one afternoon. "Such a case
is unlikely to stand in court. The defendant lawyer will present it as
conflicting evidence," a Special Public Prosecutor in Bangalore told
Frontline.
The inquest
A crucial part of the investigative process, the inquest, is to be
conducted by an officer of the level of a magistrate. He must visit
the spot of the death, examine the body, collect physical and verbal
evidence, and give a report that indicates the cause of death. Both
Vimochana and the House Committee have recommended that the inquest be
made an independent inquiry accountable to a higher review committee.
The House Committee has also recommended that the magistrate hold a
public hearing within a week of the woman's death, at which all
evidence, including the post-mortem and forensic reports, should be
presented. The final report should be a public document.
"Because of the alarming increase in the incidence of dowry-related
deaths, Assistant Commissioners were appointed to assist Tahsildars in
conducting inquests," explains Special Executive Magistrate Hanagavadi
as we drive to Kengeri where he is to conduct an inquest in the case
of a death by hanging that had been reported. "It is a horrible job,
seeing the deaths of young women every day." As an Assistant
Commissioner, Hanagavadi has three other charges and is on the move
the whole day. The post of Special Executive Magistrate (SEM) was
created in March 1998 to look exclusively into unnatural deaths of
women. A person is appointed to it for a year and this is extendable
by another year. Bangalore has two SEMs.
A large crowd had gathered outside the one-room dwelling where
Bhagyamma, a young wife and mother, had hanged herself from the
ceiling; her four-month-old baby lay in a crib nearby. On examination
of her body, it was found that she had written her suicide note on her
two legs, obviously hoping that it would escape detection until the
police arrived. In it she squarely blamed her husband, a groundsman at
the stadium of the Sports Authority of India, for her death. She could
no longer bear his torture, the suicide note said. She asked that her
child be taken care of by her mother after her death. Bhagyamma's
inquest report (No.42/99-2000) was sent on July 20, 1999 to the
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court.
The judicial process
Once a case enters the courts, it often takes months for it to be
heard and tried. In Bangalore, there used to be only one Special Court
to try cases of atrocities against women. By August 1998, there were
1,600 pending cases in the court, "the highest pendency rate for a
sessions court anywhere in the country," a Special Public Prosecutor
told Frontline. Three new courts were set up that month to clear the
backlog of cases. The average time taken for a case to be disposed of
is six to seven years.
There is a high rate of acquittals in cases of dowry murders or
suicides. The same Special Public Prosecutor told Frontline that of
the 730 cases pending in his court at the end of 1998, 58 resulted in
acquittals and only 11 in convictions. At the end of June 1999, out of
381 cases pending, 51 resulted in acquittals and eight in
convictions.
What are the reasons for this? Families of the victims, ignorant of
the law and its procedure, get demoralised with the long wait before a
case can be decided. "In 90 per cent of the cases, witnesses turn
hostile," the Special Public Prosecutor told Frontline. "Money plays a
major role. Since most of the aggrieved families are poor, they are
willing to make out-of-court settlements. It is common to find that
during the trial, they will suddenly change their story and say that
the victim had a health problem or that her death was an accident. In
fact, in eight of my cases, the parents gave their second daughter in
marriage to the same person after the case was filed!" The second
reason, according to him, is the "perfunctory police investigation"
that spoils the case right from the start. The "half-hearted
presentation of cases by the prosecutors who are burdened with 10 to
12 cases at any given point of time" is yet another reason he cites
for the high rate of acquittal. However, the "most important reason"
according to him "is the liberal view taken by the judiciary in cases
of dowry deaths."
Vimochana, in collaboration with the National Law School University,
proposes to have a public hearing before a Truth Commission from
August 15 to 17, 1999 in Bangalore. The Commission will comprise
representatives of the Law Commission, former judges, lawyers and
women activists. Complaints from parents who have lost daughters in
suspicious circumstances, in which justice was not perceived to have
been done, will be heard. The findings of the Truth Commission will be
made the subject matter of a public interest petition before the
Supreme Court with a view to bringing relief to the aggrieved
families. Geetha Ayappa, a lawyer who has been working with Vimochana
in the campaign, looks ahead to a new stage of pressing for action:
"We will use the evidence we get to invoke the Supreme Court's
intervention to protect a woman's right to life."
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1617/16170640.htm
Volume 24 - Issue 17 :: Aug. 25-Sep. 07, 2007
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU • Contents
COLUMN
The shadow of child abuse
R.K. RAGHAVAN
It is debatable whether the law alone can tackle the serious problem
of sexual abuse of children.
S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
Children taking part in a rally in Chennai as part of a campaign
against child abuse. A file picture.
I’m a 37-year-old woman, sexually abused as a 6-year-old by a man now
aged 47; he is still out there, somewhere, living, working, breathing
in a street near you. The experience has haunted me all these years.
Six years ago I star ted confiding in certain people around me (though
not my family members) and it became apparent that three women and
three men in my social circle had been sexually abused as children.
THIS is how a reader responded recently to a Sunday Times (London)
article on the menace of child assault, which is often inexactly
described as paedophilia. Paedophilia also covers even non-assaults in
which a mentally sick person derives immense gratification from merely
looking at pornographic images of children. The evil is definitely not
something unknown to mankind. History is replete with instances of
uninhibited child sexual abuse by those who co mmanded wealth and
wielded authority. These persons were guilty of outrageous practices,
which hardly, however, caused social indignation. Public opinion was
not stirred by these practices because the common belief at that time
was that these were a prerogative of royalty and affluent landholders
and that making a noise about them would only exacerbate the problem.
The prohibition of child marriage in India through the Child Marriage
Restraint Act of 1929 was at least partially motivated by the need to
protect children from being treated as mere sexual toys. The Offences
against Children (Prevention) Bill, 2007, which has been in a state of
limbo with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, is another
example of an endeavour to curb the exploitation of children. The
point that is debatable is whether law alone can tackle the problem.
The global incidence of child abuse is still substantial enough to
cause worry. While sexual abuse of children can encompass an entire
continuum from fondling to rape, according to Crime in India 2005 (the
official publication of t he Union Home Ministry), more than 4,000
girl children were raped during the year (a 13 per cent increase over
2004). Also, there were 145 cases of procuring of minor girls and 28
of buying girls for prostitution, both sharp rises over the previous
year. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
(NSPCC) in the United Kingdom reported that about 16 per cent of all
women and 7 per cent of all men interviewed by it said that they had
been sexually abused before they were 12. Further, more than 90 per
cent of all sex and violent offenders were prone to reoffend,
indicating that sexual assault of children was too serious a matter to
be left solely to the police.
The media undoubtedly gloat over celebrity misbehaviour with children.
Whether it is for commercial gain or pure enlightenment, such coverage
has helped to arouse noticeable public interest in a subject that
normally repels civilised human beings. The British press was until a
few days ago full of the trial of Chris Langham, the award-winning
stage comedian who was accused of having had sex with a teenager years
ago and was also in possession of pornographic child images. While he
has been cleared of the former charge, the jury found him guilty of
downloading pictures of child abuse on to his home computer.
Langham’s case raises several points. First is the ease with which
many in society are able to hide their perversions for a considerable
period of time. They get caught very late in their lives when they
have already caused plenty of damage to their hapless victims, and any
penalty in the form of incarceration means little to them. We must,
however, feel gratified that destiny does catch up with at least a few
who indulge in child sexual abuse. Such instances should deter those
who wrongly believe that their status in society is a guarantee
against exposure. This is why everything needs to be done to ensure
that victims do not suffer in private and are unafraid of the
consequences of going to town against their aggressors. The role of
the media and social action groups in facilitating this process can
hardly be exaggerated.
Secondly, Langham’s exploits confirm the widely held impression that
cyberspace offers alluring opportunities to paedophiles. Those who
protest against policing cyberspace will understand from the Langham
case the hollowness and unreasonableness of their stand. Cyberspace
panders unwittingly to trusted and seemingly respectable people in
society who masquerade as upholders of the rights of children but are
inclined to abuse the latter in the shadow of their private moments.
It is for this reason, if not for anything else, that monitoring of
the Internet by law enforcement agencies has become a sad necessity.
Finally, a major argument that the 58-year-old actor put forward in
court was that his was not a crime but an aberration, the consequence
of his own victimisation when he was a child of eight. When Langham
downloaded questionable images, not only was he researching for one of
his plays – a claim considered facetious by one of his fellow-actors –
but he was also apparently trying to dissect his own childhood
experience.
Whether Langham’s defence is truthful or not, it brings us to the
question, how relevant is one’s childhood experience to one’s conduct
later on in life? While Langham’s deposition to the magistrate in his
defence is more the rule rather than an exception, it is the belief
that the insidious impact of child sexual abuse often does not allow
many child victims to lead optimal lives as adults.
An effective therapy
Eileen Vizard’s research (reported in detail in Newstatesman; August
9) is an eye-opener of sorts. Vizard is a consultant with the NSPCC,
which recently co-authored a major study on “Links between Juvenile
Sexually Abusi ve Behaviour and Emerging Severe Personality Disorder
Traits in Childhood”. This three-year study covered 280 identified
juvenile sexual abusers, 10 per cent of whom were women. Most of their
victims were relatives, friends and acquaintances, which is the usual
relationship proximity for adult child sex abusers as well. While
child-on-child sex abuse is hardly ever considered or even taken
seriously, the stark fact remains that one-third of convicted child
sex offenders reported their sexual interest in children even as young
teenagers, besides also starting their patterns of sexually abusive
behaviour from that age. Vizard’s research, like many others before,
counters the belief that exposure to child pornography is not all that
harmful. The stimulus provided by online images of sexual activity
involving children affirms for most people a hitherto reprehensible
fantasy. Often, the ensuing rationalisation also leads to a repetition
of similar behaviour towards other children.
Andrew Durham, who works for the Warwickshire Council in the U.K.,
affirms this explicitly: “When young people see adults abusing
children on the Net, it normalises what is being done.” What is of
some consolation is Vizard’s view, which is also widely subscribed to
and is the focus of much research, that cognitive behavioural therapy
is effective in “dealing with feelings and impulses in a non-damaging
way”.
The significance of Vizard’s study is its emphasis on the treatment of
child abusers. But then, how do we supervise and manage juvenile sex
offenders in the community once they are sent back to us after serving
their sentences? I tend to agree with Minette Marrin’s (“We need more
than jail for child abuse”, The Sunday Times, June 3) view on the
administration of antiandrogen drugs and antidepressants, even if such
a course is only partially effective.
What is more essential is keeping track of such offenders once they
are out in society so as to prevent them from reoffending. This
requires a good information system and an informant channel. Sex
offender registries, like those that exist in the U.K., have their own
share of failings, even in that far less populous country with a
better overall understanding of sexual violence against children.
Coupled with some counselling, such registration can take reasonable
care of the tendency of some convicts to lapse into delinquency. While
the recent establishment of the Technology Coalition and the Financial
Coalition Against Child Pornography is a welcome initiative, it would
be a cause for a lot more cheer if there were a substantial
involvement from the information technology (IT) and financial
industry in India as well.
In this context, Tulir – Centre for the Prevention and Healing of
Child Sexual Abuse (CPHCSA), Chennai, an organisation that addresses
itself solely to the problem of sexual abuse of children, is indignant
that a proposed Bill to amend the Information Technology Act, 2000,
has dropped an expert committee suggestion that a comprehensive
definition of “child pornography” should find a place in the Act. This
is in spite of India having ratified the Optional Protocol to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child
prostitution and child pornography. It is ironic that the lawmakers of
a country that is synonymous with IT are myopic to the transnational
nature of the crime of possession and distribution of images of child
abuse, a fact that has a huge impact on the rapidly widening contours
of sexual crime against children everywhere.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2417/stories/20070907506208400.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 24 :: Nov. 21-Dec. 04, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Victims always
VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN AND
AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA
The S.C. and S.T. (Prevention of Atrocities) Act has failed to make
Dalits any safer.
RANJEET KUMAR
An innocent survivor amidst scattered bodies, a scene after the
Ranveer Sena's carnage of Dalits at Shankarbigha in Jehanabad district
of Bihar on the eve of Republic Day in 1999. Dalit rights activists
say the Ranveer Sena, a private militia of Bhumihar landlords which
terrorised Dalits in the 1990s, is regrouping.
THE ascent of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to power in
Uttar Pradesh on May 13, 2007, was seen as a defining moment in the
politics of Dalit empowerment in the country. The Scheduled Caste
(S.C.) leader of an avowedly “Dalit assertive” party had been Chief
Minister earlier too, but the difference this time was that her party
came to power on its own, without needing the support of other parties
and independent members.
Thousands of Dalits who gathered in the State capital, Lucknow, on
that day expressed the hope that atrocities against the S.Cs would
decline drastically under the new “single-party” regime. Many social
activists and observers who spoke to Frontline then also hoped that a
single-party government under a Dalit Chief Minister in the country’s
most populous State would have a salutary effect on Dalits’ condition
elsewhere in the country too.
Approximately a year later, papers and documents presented at a two-
day international seminar on Uttar Pradesh, organised by the Observer
Research Foundation (ORF), a Delhi-based think tank, provided an
indication of the situation on the ground. The papers documented that
“within a month of the [Mayawati] government’s assumption of office,
seven Dalits were killed in Muzaffarnagar, while three Dalit women
were raped in the same district”. The papers also revealed that
reports from areas such as Rae Bareli, Mohanlalganj, Lakhimpur Kheri
and Mahoba were of a similar nature and that atrocities against Dalits
continued in spite of the political gains made by the BSP.
The presentations at the seminar pointed out that the political
leadership found it difficult to implement what was perhaps its most
important Dalit empowerment programme – the allotment of patta land to
Dalits – on account of strong anti-Dalit sentiments within the
administration.
A field study presented at the seminar revealed that in scores of
villages in western Uttar Pradesh, in districts such as Baghpat,
Muzaffarnagar and Meerut, Dalits were unable to occupy patta land
allotted to them because of intimidation and in some cases even
physical prevention by upper-caste groups. Not surprisingly, sections
of the police and the administration were hand in glove with the upper-
caste elements. Such was their allegiance to the caste interests that
even repeated orders from the Chief Minister’s Office to the District
Magistrates failed to have any effect in a number of cases.
The National Crime Record Bureau’s (NCRB) statistics for 2007 for
crimes against members of the S.Cs and the Scheduled Tribes (S.Ts)
corroborated the presentations made at the seminar. The figures showed
that Uttar Pradesh topped the list on atrocities against the S.Cs and
the S.Ts, with 2,113 cases out of a total of 9,819. The data also
indicated a 10.2 per cent increase in crimes against the S.Cs and the
S.Ts at the national level. Uttar Pradesh accounted for 20.5 per cent
of all cases in India. The BSP’s argument was that under the
“friendly” Mayawati regime more S.C. members made bold to register
cases against their oppressors.
There was merit in this argument, but the fact remained that Dalits
were at the receiving end in large parts of Uttar Pradesh, where the
politics of empowerment of the S.Cs and the S.Ts, the protection of
their interests, their physical safety and the assertion of their
constitutional rights had acquired, in comparative terms, the highest
political and electoral acceptability.
Social and political observers hark back to an observation made by
B.R. Ambedkar to explain this context. Ambedkar had said: “History
shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is
always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have
willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to
compel them.”
Long-standing apartheid
Twenty years after the passage of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the vociferous advocacy
of the same by almost all political parties and even the rise of the
politics of S.C.-S.T. empowerment across the country, it seems that
the quantum of “sufficient force” visualised by Ambedkar would have
been colossal. As the case of Uttar Pradesh indicates, the effective
implementation of the Act would take a lot more than electoral
victories and increasing political space.
The gaps in the implementation of the Act stand in stark contrast to
the convictions that underlay its enactment. In simple terms, the
legislation aims to prevent the various forms of offences by persons
other than members of the S.C. and the S.T. against members of these
communities. But studies have shown that it has systematically been
prevented from achieving its goal. A number of factors have
contributed to this, but the most important is the caste and class
prejudices in society. These prejudices have got institutionalised,
through religious and social practices, into a unique system of long-
standing apartheid. That they have a class character is also evident;
the Dalit and Adivasi communities that are discriminated against
constitute almost 80 per cent of India’s poor.
The S.C./S.T. Act is seen to be empowering as it is the first
legislation to use and define the term “atrocities” committed against
the S.Cs and the S.Ts. Introducing the Bill, the then Union Law
Minister, B. Shankaranand, said the normal provisions of the existing
laws, such as the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Protection of Civil
Rights Act (PCRA), 1955, had been found inadequate to check the
atrocities, gross indignities and offences against the S.Cs and the
S.Ts. Therefore, the Act prescribes harsher punishments than the
punitive measures detailed in the IPC and the PCRA, which used only
the term “offences” vis-À-vis caste-related crimes.
The Act also introduced an executive system specifically to govern
justice for the S.Cs and the S.Ts in cases of 22 broad types of
atrocities relating to socio-economic discriminatory practices, which
are listed in it. This system should comprise special courts, a
special public prosecutor, nodal officers in each State, an S.C. and
S.T. protection cell, and State-level and district-level monitoring
and vigilance committees to identify atrocity-prone areas, and a
special officer appointed by the district head to look after each case
of atrocity. In actuality, in most States the full system has either
not been constituted or has been functioning ineffectively.
Gaps in implementation
ANU PUSHKARNA
Activists of the Dalit Sena staging a demonstration in New Delhi on
July 21 demanding action from the Bihar government to check atrocities
on Dalits.
The gaps in its implementation could be studied at two levels – the
executive and the judiciary. The National Human Rights Commission
(NHRC) noted in its 2002 report: “Under-reporting is a very common
phenomenon and the police resort to various machinations to discourage
S.C./S.T. [persons] from registering their cases, to dilute the
seriousness of the violence, to shield the accused persons from
arrests and prosecution.”
A study done by National Dalit Movement for Justice (NDMJ), part of
the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), showed that
between 1992 and 2007 only 33 per cent of the atrocity cases were
registered under the S.C./S.T. Act. The majority of the cases were
registered under IPC sections and 1 per cent under the PCRA. It also
showed that the conviction rate of cases under the S.C./S.T. Act was
just 3.3 per cent for the country as a whole.
The figures at the level of the judiciary are equally pathetic.
Between 1992 and 2007, as many as 80 per cent of the cases heard by
the special courts (created under Section 14 of the Act) were not
registered under the Act. In 95.1 per cent of the cases charge sheets
had not been filed. The monitoring advisories set up in States on an
ad hoc basis by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MSJE)
and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) noted that in many cases the
police wilfully neglected the S.C./S.T. Act and did not register first
information reports (FIRs). Among the recommendations made were the
setting up of special police stations and the launching of awareness
campaigns about the Act.
The Ahmedabad-based Council for Social Justice (CSJ) has collected
documents of 400 cases pertaining to 2004 filed under the S.C./S.T.
Act in Gujarat. There are some startling revelations in them. Despite
Section 18 of the Act restricting anticipatory bail in atrocity cases,
anticipatory bail had been granted in 320 of the 400 cases.
Valjibhai Patel, secretary CSJ, told Frontline: “Rule 4(1) of the Act
says that there should be two panels of advocates in atrocity cases –
a state-appointed public prosecutor and a panel created by the
district head. In most of the cases, we see no such panels. The Act
states that an officer below the rank of DSP [Deputy Superintendent of
Police] cannot investigate the case. Many of the accused have been
acquitted by courts just because the case was investigated by officers
below the rank of DSP. I have seen in Gujarat rape cases of Dalits
being sent to Lok Adalats meant for only compoundable offences.”
Plight of women
Dalit women face the worst atrocities as both women and Dalits. A
seminal study conducted by the NCDHR (“Dalit Women Speak Out”, 2006)
enumerating the experiences of 500 Dalit women from Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh presents a shocking picture of the
conditions they live in. The study records the violence – physical,
sexual and mental – inflicted on Dalit women. The study reinforces
calls for comprehensive preventive measures to be put in place to
eradicate caste discrimination and violence against Dalit women, in
conjunction with measures to help Dalit women achieve their rights.
Valjibhai Patel says that though the Act mentions punitive measures
against negligence, to date not a single official in India has been
punished despite serious violations of the Act all over the country.
He says the judiciary should also be made accountable, not just the
police and the district administration. “There are many cases of
atrocities where the accused has been punished under the IPC but has
been acquitted under the S.C./S.T. Act. In Gujarat, one of the
professors who raped his Dalit student got life imprisonment but was
acquitted under the S.C./S.T. Act. The Khairlanji case is a big
example where the people now serving the death penalty were acquitted
under the S.C./S.T. Act. How is this possible? This means there is
some problem in investigation and pursuance of the Act,” he says. The
CSJ has filed a petition in the Supreme Court regarding the violation
of the Act, the first hearing of which will be on December 3.
Budget and policy
The MJSE is responsible for the implementation of the S.C./S.T. Act.
To implement the Act effectively, the MSJE has to provide for special
courts for the trial of offences and for the relief and rehabilitation
of victims of such offences. The Ministry provides financial resources
for the implementation of the Act through the Special Central
Assistance (SCA) from the Union government, which is 50 per cent of
the total expenditure of the States and the total expenditure of the
Union Territories.
However, the allocation of funds every year under the SCA has seen a
steady decline. Under the Act taluk- and mandal-level officers are
responsible for disbursing compensation and this work has to be
monitored by the District Magistrate/Collector and the district
monitoring and vigilance committee. Separate funds have to be given to
police stations/courts towards travelling allowance/dearness allowance
(T.A./D.A.) of victims and witnesses on FIR investigation and it has
to be monitored by the Superintendent of Police (S.P.) and the
District Judge (D.J.). There is also clear direction in the Act that
arrangements should be made for maintenance expenses and reimbursement
of medical costs of victims of atrocity.
In 2008, the Dalit Arthik Adhikar Andolan, also a part of the NCDHR,
looked into the actual budget for the S.C./S.T. Act in each State and
estimated the amount every State actually needed for its proper
implementation. Its calculations have been done on the basis of the
number of compensation cases in each State, the average cost of
running the present number of special courts and special police
stations, and relief and rehabilitation measures for victims specified
in the Act.
The results in all the States reveal that the actual budget allocated
for the Act is much less than what is required. This is despite the
fact that both the Central government and the State governments share
the amount made available for the programme under the special
component plan. Uttar Pradesh ranks the highest in terms of this
deficit, and its figure stands at a staggering Rs.1,640 crore.
Rajasthan, also a State with one of the highest rates of caste crimes,
is second with Rs.1,157 crore, and Bihar follows with Rs.1,085 crore.
According to the actual budget allocated, as shown in the MJSE annual
report, Uttar Pradesh, since 2007, ranks the highest in the allocation
of funds for the Act, with around Rs.950 crore, followed closely by
Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Among the big States, the lowest
allocation is in Bihar, with just Rs.27 crore. Chhattisgarh’s
allocation is Rs.40 crore. In Haryana, which has one of the largest
numbers of caste crimes, the allocation is only Rs.60 crore. In the
South, Tamil Nadu ranks the lowest, granting around Rs.235 crore.
An NCDHR analysis of the qualitative investments of the Central
government shows that in this year’s Budget the amount spent on wage
labour, school education, basic health, shelter, nutrition and primary
necessaries involving Dalits is 62.44 per cent of the total special
assistance funds. In sectors where the upper classes dominate, such as
higher education, entrepreneurial development, and land and asset
building, the allocation is 37.56 per cent. State budgets present a
similar trend. Most of the funds still go to the traditional
occupation of Dalits, such as cleaning, agricultural labour, leather
works, and so on, which is in contrast to the theme of the SCP of
systematic empowerment of Dalits in all sectors of production. It
therefore does not surprise when the S.C./S.T. Act, a tool for legal
empowerment of Dalits, lacks funds for its implementation.
The aggressive pursuit of neoliberal economic policies by governments
at the Centre and in many States over the past decade has also
resulted in an increase in atrocities against the S.Cs and the S.Ts.
Ironically, even the Uttar Pradesh government is not free from such
ventures. The government’s ambitious 1,047-kilometre-long Ganga
Expressway project, connecting Greater Noida near Delhi and Ballia in
eastern Uttar Pradesh, was expected to acquire 64,000 hectares of
land, 70 per cent of which is agricultural land. A number of observers
and social analysts pointed out that this acquisition would militate
against the basic livelihood of a large section of Dalits who were
into share-cropping with upper-caste, land-owning farmers.
According to NCRB data since 2005, Uttar Pradesh ranks the highest in
the number of cases of caste atrocities, followed closely by Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Gujarat. “Acts like
these empower and help organise Dalits. With greater awareness about
the Act, we have seen a rise in caste atrocities every year,” said
Sirivella Prasad of the NDMJ.
The trend clearly shows that caste atrocities have increased with
greater social and economic mobility of the S.Cs and the S.Ts which
disrupts the exploitative status quo of a feudal society.
Many activists note that atrocity cases happen when Dalits try to
avail themselves of legal resources; assert their right over land,
water, and livelihood; assert their right to choose their occupation;
attempt to participate in the cultural life of the community; assert
their right to vote; and are victimised to satisfy the superstitions
of dominant castes (witchcraft, human sacrifice). With respect to the
S.Ts, activists say most of the atrocities happen when they try to
organise themselves politically against the combined exploitation of
government officials and industrial goons in the hinterland.
However, the Act is not clear about the rules with respect to social
and economic boycott of the S.Cs and the S.Ts and there is an ongoing
advocacy campaign among Dalit groups to seek amendments to certain
provisions of the Act to make it stronger. Said Colin Gonsalves of
Human Rights Law Network: “Unless the institutional caste bias is
systematically done away with at the policy level and proper action is
taken against negligent officials, violations will continue to happen.
The legal system has failed the S.Cs and the S.Ts. The Act is a clear
instance of wonderful legislation but useless implementation. Our
judiciary needs at least 15 per cent reservation for the S.Cs right
from the lower courts to the Supreme Court. The Rajasthan High Court
has not had a single Dalit judge since Independence – absurd for a
State that ranks very high in caste crimes.”
To put it simply, caste is a combined social system of occupation,
endogamy, culture, social class and political power, which has
historically been exploitative for Dalits and Adivasis. In this
context, the S.C./S.T. Act and its status echo Ambedkar’s words: “This
condition obtains even where there is no slavery in the legal sense.
It is found where, as in caste system, some persons are forced to
carry on the prescribed callings which are not their choice.”
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2624/stories/20091204262400400.htm
chhotemianinshallah
NDTV Correspondent, Friday March 19, 2010, New Delhi
Having to contend with both silent sulks and open attack from within
his party, BJP's new president Nitin Gadkari has stoutly defended his
choice of people for his new team of office-bearers.
On the controversial inclusion as Secretary of Varun Gandhi, a man the
party had in the past sought to distance itself from after his hate
speeches, Gadkari said exclusively to NDTV: "Varun Gandhi should be
given a chance, why hold the past against him?"
Gadkari also made clear that, "Those who have complaints about the new
team should speak to me, not the media," a barb at partymen like actor
Shatrughan Sinha, who had criticised the new president for leaving out
"the most deserving people". (Read: Shatrughan slams Gadkari)
The actor had particularly talked about the exclusion from the team of
veteran Yashwant Sinha, saying the team was constituted without
consulting "people who matter like my friend and leader of opposition
Sushma Swaraj and some other top leaders".
Gadkari countered the charges by saying: "It's wrong to say that
Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded because they are Advani
detractors... It's not possible to include everyone on the team."
The BJP chief, who was reported scrambling for approval from the RSS
for his list of office-bearers hours before he announced the names,
however, maintained that there was no pressure from the RSS on team
selection.
He also sought to clear the air on the inclusion of a number of
celebrities as senior office-bearers by saying, "The celebrities we
included are also committed party workers, they are not just
celebrities." Getting in people like Hema Malini as Vice President and
Navjyot Singh Sindhu and Smriti Irani as Secretaries is seen by many
as a move by Gadkari to use known faces strategically in his bid to
revive and re-popularise the BJP. The Sangh's choice of workers is not
personality-based.
In the broad-based interview, Gadkari talked about the summons to
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the Supreme Court-appointed
Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into 2002 Gujarat riots
cases. "Modi is a big leader of our party, the SIT summons make no
difference", Gadkari said.
Talking exclusively to NDTV in Mumbai, Gadkari also commented on the
issue of partners Shiv Sena targeting non-Maharashtrians in the city.
"We believe Mumbai is for all Indians, but just because we have some
differences with the Shiv Sena, doesn't mean it will impact our
alliance," he said.
Nitin Gadkari's new team for BJP
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/nitin-gadkaris-new-team-for-bjp-17797.php
Gadkari sheds kilos for a lean makeover
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/nitin-gadkari-in-youngistan-17791.php
Gadkari, RSS differ over his new team
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/gadkari-rss-differ-over-his-new-team-17787.php
Gadkari's new team: Comeback for Varun, Raje?
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/gadkaris-new-team-comeback-for-varun-raje-17713.php
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/give-varun-gandhi-a-chance-gadkari-18105.php
Shatrughan slams Gadkari's team, says 'new wine in old bottle'
18 Mar 2010, 2122 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI: Upset over being ignored by BJP president Nitin Gadkari, actor-
turned-MP Shatrughan Sinha on Thursday became the first party leader
to
publicly criticise the composition of the new team of office bearers,
saying it was "new wine in old bottle".
While there have been reports of unease among some leaders, Sinha was
forthcoming in an interview claiming some of the "most deserving"
people have been left out in the much-awaited team announced on
Tuesday.
The 'Bihari Babu' dubbed Gadkari's team, touted by the party as an
effective blend of youth, experience and women, as "new wine in old
bottle and, if we include bodies like the party's parliamentary board,
old wine in old bottle".
Without naming anyone, he said some of those inducted could have been
avoided.
For the record, Sinha refuted suggestions that he was a contender for
any post. He felt that senior leader and former union minister
Yashwant Sinha should have been included with an eye on Bihar assembly
elections due in October this year.
Yashwant Sinha, a former leader of opposition in the Bihar assembly,
has held key portfolios at the centre including those of Finance and
External Affairs.
"Bihar assembly polls are most crucial for the party in the near
future, yet a leader of the calibre of Yashwant Sinha has been kept
out of the team. Some of the people who could have been avoided have
been taken at the cost of some of the most deserving people," he
said.
"I have always treated Gadkari like a younger brother and friend.
Nevertheless, the composition of the new team, personally speaking, is
unfortunate and I am quite unhappy."
Sinha claimed that the team was constituted without consulting "people
who matter like my friend and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha
Sushma Swaraj and some other top leaders".
"Being a senior and matured leader, I do not want to break party
discipline by making any undesirable comments but I am certainly
worried and to a certain extent unhappy with the composition of the
team," he said and went on to add that "most partymen are unhappy but
there is time and we will wait and watch."
Party insiders said Sinha was unhappy over the appointment as general
secretary of Ravishankar Prasad, a fellow Bihari and Kayastha
casteman.
Sinha, one of the star campaigners for the party in the past several
assembly and parliamentary elections, wanted a greater role for
himself in the Bihar polls, sources said.
Deserving people not in Gadkari team: Shatrughan
19 Mar 2010, 0352 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: BJP’s perennial dissenter Shatrughan Sinha is at it again.
This time, he has attacked party president Nitin Gadkari for not
including
“deserving” leaders in his team.
Mr Sinha, who has been eyeing a party post, couched his criticism in
his “angst” over the denial of a place in the new team of office-
bearers for former Union minister Yashwant Sinha. “Bihar assembly
polls are most crucial for the party in the near future, yet a leader
of the calibre of Yashwant Sinha has been kept out of the team. Some
of the people who could have been avoided have been taken at the cost
of some of the most deserving people,” he said. Incidentally, Mr
Yashwant Sinha represents Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh in the Lok Sabha.
Mr Shatrughan Sinha also insinuated that the list was prepared without
any consultation. “The team was constituted without consulting people
who matter like my friend and leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
Being a senior and mature leader, I do not want to break party
discipline by making any undesirable comments, but I am certainly
worried and to certain extent unhappy with the composition of the
team,” he said.
His attack seemed directed against the BJP president as he dismissed
his team as “new wine in old bottle”. To Mr Sinha, the parliamentary
board was “old wine in old bottle”.
Mr Sinha has been at loggerheads with the BJP leadership for a long
time. He had refused to campaign for the NDA in the 2004 Bihar
assembly polls after Mr Nitish Kumar was named as the alliance’s chief
ministerial candidate.
But he made peace with the JD(U) leader after he was declared as the
BJP’s candidate from the Patna Saheb Lok Sabha constituency in 2009.
But for Mr Kumar’s backing, he would not have made it to the Lok
Sabha. Within his own Kayastha community, he did not have much support
as his candidature came at the cost of another legitimate claimant Mr
Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Sinha stirs up hornet’s nest on Gadkari team, BJP quiet
Express news service
Posted: Friday , Mar 19, 2010 at 2340 hrs
New Delhi:
An embarassed BJP on Thursday refused to react to party leader
Shatrughan Sinha’s criticisim of the newly-constituted team of party
office-bearers.
Earlier in the day, the actor-turned-MP said “some of the most
deserving people” have been left out of Nitin Gadkari’s team.
Specifically referring to the exclusion of former Union Finance
Minister Yashwant Sinha, the Patna Sahib MP stressed that Sinha had
held key portfolios at the Centre and in states, and that he was also
a former leader of opposition in the Bihar Assembly.
“Bihar Assembly polls are most crucial for the party in the near
future, yet a leader of the calibre of Yashwant Sinha has been kept
out of the team. Some of the people who could have been avoided have
been taken at the cost of some of the most deserving people,” Sinha
was quoted as saying.
Shatrughan Sinha is considered close to Yashwant Sinha, but he is not
on the best of terms with Ravi Shankar Prasad, who has been elevated
as a general secretary and chief spokesperson.
Sinha further said the team was constituted “without consulting people
who matter like my friend and leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj and
some other top leaders”.
“Being a senior and matured leader, I do not want to break party
discipline by making any undesirable comments but I am certainly
worried and to a certain extent unhappy with the composition of the
team,” he was quoted as saying. Prasad, however, refused to comment.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Sinha-stirs-up-hornet-s-nest-on-Gadkari-team--BJP-quiet/592738
Old faces dominate new BJP prez’s team
Shekhar Iyer, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 17, 2010
First Published: 00:52 IST(17/3/2010)
Last Updated: 01:01 IST(17/3/2010)
The big changes that BJP president Nitin Gadkari promised to bring
when he took over three months ago are still far away, judging by the
new team of office bearers he announced on Tuesday.
Gadkari picked many old hands and a few new faces, leaving many
aspirants disappointed even as he sought to perform a balancing act by
giving ample representation to various factions and social groups.
Rajnath Singh, who had to make way for Gadkari, appeared to have
succeeded in ensuring most of the office bearers close to him when he
was president, remained undisturbed in Gadkari’s reshuffle.
Among the other nine general secretaries, at least four are Rajnath
Singh’s core followers, led by former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun
Munda.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje was also made general
secretary, honouring the commitment made to her in return for her
stepping down as leader of the Rajasthan opposition.
Gadkari’s personal stamp was reflected in the choice of Himachal
Pradesh minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, as a general secretary, whom he
was associated closely with during their days in the Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad.
The RSS, which pitched strongly for Gadkari being made president, has
reasons to be pleased, with many of its men allotted key positions.
They include Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Murlidhar Rao and Tarun Vijay,
former editor of RSS mouthpiece Panchajanyaya.
In a bid to show 33 per cent went to women, Gadkari filled the
national executive with leaders like Maharashtra BJP youth wing leader
Shaina N. C., film star Kiron Kher, Poonam Azad (wife of former
cricketer Kirti Azad), and Shobhatai Phadanvis.
Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, who were critical of the party after
the poll debacle, retained their membership of the national executive.
List of new BJP team
Hindustan Times
New Delhi, March 16, 2010
First Published: 17:10 IST(16/3/2010)
Last Updated: 17:24 IST(16/3/2010)
Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has announced party's
National Executive. It consists of 121 members, including 13 vice-
presidents, 10 general secretaries, 15 secretaries and one treasurer.
As provided for in the BJP constitution, the office bearers include as
many as 13 women, 33% of the total number. In all, there are 40 women
members. Besides, the president has also constituted BJP's
Parliamentary Board. The names of the members of the Central Election
Committee, Morcha Presidents and Conveners of different cells besides
some other functionaries will be announced later.
Office Bearers
President: Shri. Nitin Gadkari
Vice-Presidents
1. Shri Shanta Kumar
2 Shri Kalraj Mishra
3 Shri Vinay Katiyar
4 Shri Bhagatsingh Koshiyari
5 Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
6 Smt. Karuna Shukla
7 Smt. Najma Heptullah
8 Smt.Hema Malini
9 Smt.Bijoya Chakravarti
10 Shri Purushottam Rupala
11 Smt. Kiran Ghai
12
13
General Secretaries
1 Shri Ananth Kumar
2 Shri Thavarchand Gehlot
3 Smt.Vasundhara Raje
4 Shri Vijay Goyal
5 Shri Arjun Munda
6 Shri Ravishankar Prasad (Chief Spokesperson)
7 Shri Dharmendra Pradhan
8 Shri Narendrasingh Tomar
9 Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda
10 Shri Ram Lal (Organisation)
11 Shri V. Satish (Jt.Gen.Sec.Org)
12 Shri Saudan Singh (Jt.Gen.Sec.Org)
Secretaries
1 Shri Santosh Gangwar
2 Smt.Smriti Irani
3 Smt.Saroj Pande
4 Smt.Kiran Maheshwari
5 Shri Tapir Gao
6 Shri Navjot Singh Siddhu
7 Shri Ashok Pradhan
8 Shri Varun Gandhi
9 Shri Muralidhar Rao
10 Dr. Kirit Somaiyya
11 Dr. Laxman
12 Captain Abhimanyu
13 Smt.Arati Mehra
14 Shri Bhupendra Yadav
15 Kum.Vani Tripathi
Treasurer
Shri Piyush Goyal
Official Spokespersons
Shri Prakash Javdekar
Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy
Shri Shahnawaz Hussain
Shri Ramnath Kovind
Shri Tarun Vijay
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
Members
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Shri Lal Krishna Advani
Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi
Shri Bangaru Laxman
Shri Venkaiya Naidu
Shri Rajnath Singh
Smt. Sushma Swaraj
Shri Arun Jaitley
Shri Bal Apte
Shri Yashwant Sinha
Shri Gopinath Munde
Shri S.S.Ahaluwalia
Shri Arun Shouri
Shri Balveer Punj
Shri Chandan Mitra
Smt. Mridula Sinha
Shri Shatrughan Sinha
Shri Kaptansigh Solanki
Smt. Sumitra Mahajan
Smt. Jayavantiben Mehta
Dr. Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
Shri Sheshadri Chari
Smt. Anita Arya
Dr. C. P. Thakur
Shri Dilip Singh Judeo
Smt. Sudha Yadav
Shri Ramtahal Chaudhari
Smt. Maneka Gandhi
Shri Yogi Adityanath
Shri Lalji Tandon
Shri Hukumdev Narayan Yadav
Dr. J. K Jain
Dr. Anil Jain
Shri Arun Singh
Shri Nalin Kohli
Shri Jayprakash Agrawal (Surya)
Smt.Punam Azad
Smt. Rekha Gupta
Smt. Pinki Anand
Shri Hari Babu
Smt. Shanta Reddy
Smt.Sukhada Pande
Shri Bhupendrasingh Chudasama
Shri Balubhai Shukla
Shri Omprakash Dhankad
Shri Vinod Khanna
Smt. Kiran Kher
Shri Arjun Meghwal
Shri Subhash Mehriya
Smt.Suman Shringi
Shri Manavendra Singh
Shri Omkarsingh Lakhawat
Shri H. Raja
Smt. Lalitha Kumar Mangalam
Shri M. T. Ramesh
Shri C. H. Vijayshankar
Smt.Gouri Chaoudhari
Shri Bijoy Mahapatra
Smt. Surama Padhi
Smt. Shobhatai Phadanvis
Shri Mahesh Jethamalani
Smt. Shaina N C
Smt. Manisha Chaudhari
Shri Nana Shamkule
Smt. Kanta Nalavade
Smt. Louis Marandi
Shri Sunil Singh
Shri Faggansingh Kulaste
Shri Virendra Kumar Khatik
Smt. Nirmala Bhuriya
Shri Satpal Malik
Dr. Vijay Sonkar Shastri
Shri Manoj Sinha
Smt.Sarla Singh
Shri Rambux Verma
Shri Hukum Singh
Shri Sudhanshu Trivedi
Shri Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti
Shri Ajay Tamta
Smt. Shanti Mehra
Smt. Ranjana Sahi
BJP National Executive
Permanent Invitees
Chief Ministers
Shri Narendra Modi
Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan
Dr. Raman Singh
Shri Premkumar Dhumal
Shri B. S. Yediurappa
Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank
Deputy Chief Ministers
Shri Sushil Modi
Shri Raghuvar Das
Ex-Governors
Shri Kedarnath Sahni
Shri Kailashpati Mishra
Shri V. Rama Rao
Ex-Chief Ministers
Shri Sundarlal Patwa
Shri Keshubhai Patel
Shri Madanlal Khurana
Shri B. C. Khanduri
Shri Nityanand Swami
Shri Kailash Joshi
Shri Babulal Gaur
Shri Manohar Parrikar
Legislature Leaders
Shri Ganga Prasad
Dr. V. S. Acharya
Prof. Vijay Kumar Malhotra
Shri Eknath Khadse
Shri Bhausaheb Phundkar
Shri Ghanashyam Tiwari (Officiating)
Shri Om Prakash Singh
Shri Nepal Singh
Shri Mission Ranjan Das
Shri Chaman Lal Gupta
Shri K. V. Singhdev
Shri Manoranjan Kalia
Shri Tamigo Taga, (Arunachal Pradesh)
Shri Anil Viz
Chief Whips in Parliament
Shri Ramesh Bains
Smt. Maya Singh
Parliamentary Party Secretary and Jt.Sec.
Shri Ramkripal Sinha
Shri Shanmuganathan
Others
Shri O.Rajgopal
Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya
Shri Kesarinath Tripathi
Shri Devdas Apte (Bapu Apte)
Shri Sadanand Gowda
Shri Tanveer Hyder Osmani
Dr. Harsh Vardhan
Shri. Vidyasagar Rao
Shri Bandaru Dattatreya
Shri Vinod Pande
Shri M. Bharot Singh
Shri Rajen Gohain
Shri Ramen Deka
Shri Nilmani Dev
Shri Vishnudeo Sai
Shri Naresh Bansal
Shri Harendra Pratap
Shri Rambilas Sharma
Shri Maheshwar Singh
Dr. Nirmal Singh
Shri Rajendra Bhandari
Shri Stayapal Jain
Shri Gulabchand Katariya
Shri Ramdas Agarwal
Shri L. Ganeshan
Shri C. K. Padmanabhan
Shri Tathagat Roy
Shri Shripad Yesso Naik
Shri Rampyare Pande
Shri Anant Nayak
Shri Prakash Mehta
Shri Vinod Tawde
Shri Amit Thakar
Shri Suresh Pujari
Shri R. Ramkrishna
Shri Om Prakash Kohli
Dr. Ramapati Ram Tripathi
Shri Ashok Khajuriya
Shri Mange Ram Garg
Shri Jagdish Mukhi
BJP National Executive
Special Invitees
Shri Padmanabh Acharya
Shri Sukumar Nambiyar
Shri Baldev Prakash Tandon
Shri Vijay Kapoor
Shri Arun Sathe
Shri Nand Kishor Garg
Dr. Vaman Acharya
Shri Jagdish Shettigar
Shri Alok Kumar
Shri Arun Adsad
Shri S. Sureshkumar
Shri C. S. Parcha
Shri Gajendra Chauhan
Smt. Anandiben Patel
Shri Amit Shah
Shri Kishansingh Sangwan
Shri Govind Karjal
Ramji Rishidev
Shri Banvarilal Purohit
Shri Haribhau Bagde
Shri Chaitanya Kashyap
Shri Hriday Narayan Dixit
Shri Tanveer Ahmed
Shri Rajesh Shah
Shri Rajendra Agrawal
Shri Bhupendra Thakur
Shri Harjit Singh Grewal
Shri Ravikant Garg
Shri Suvarn Saleriya
Col. Bainsala
Shri Siddharthanath Singh
Shri Uday Bhaskar Nayar
Smt. Kavita Khanna
Shri Amitabh Sinha
Shri Ashutosh Varshneya
Shri Ajay Sancheti
BJP Parliamentary Board
Shri Nitin Gadkari, Chairman
Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Shri Lal Krishna Advani
Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi
Shri Venkaiya Naidu
Shri Rajnath Singh
Smt. Sushma Swaraj
Shri Arun Jaitley
Shri Bal Apte
Shri Ananth Kumar (Secretary)
Shri Thavarchand Gehlot
Shri Ram Lal
http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/List-of-new-BJP-team/520507/H1-Article1-519745.aspx
Labouring to keep alive
March 18, 2010
First Published: 23:08 IST(18/3/2010)
Last Updated: 23:10 IST(18/3/2010)
When it comes to infusing our laws with the finest principles
possible, India has no parallel. It’s when we come to implementing
these laws that we find many a slip between the proverbial cup and
the lip. Perhaps most deceptive of them all is India’s labour and
industrial practices. Blessed — or, if one looks at it with a
different perspective, cursed — with large deposits of iron ore,
mining is big business in the district of West Singhbhum in Jharkhand.
With the demand for iron ore increasing to fuel national industrial
development, a negative correlation to the length of people’s lives
and health index has become increasingly noticeable. Thousands of
mineworkers, including young boys and girls, suffer from siderosis, a
lung disorder that is caused by prolonged exposure to red (mining)
dust. The lifespan of these workers, who have no or minimal protective
gear, in this region is a shocking 40-45 years. In the meantime, in
21st century India’s national capital New Delhi, a committee appointed
by the Delhi High Court has found workers at Commonwealth Games-
related construction sites not being paid minimum wages and, in many
cases, being made to work overtime for no extra remuneration. Their
living conditions are appalling and in many cases they are bereft of
any sanitation facilities.
In both semi-urban and urban cases, we are dealing with serf-like
conditions while on paper we are chugging along a First World
trajectory. Laws are being openly flouted with the State turning a
blind eye and seemingly only concerned that ‘the work’ is done. Some,
like Jharkhand deputy chief minister, prefer to put such ‘chalta hai’
issues on the backburner (he has asked for a report). That the working
conditions of miners is appalling in this country, more so if the
mines are illegal and that many of the workers don’t work with
protective gear is an old story. What should be a new story if India
is to protect itself from charges of being uncaring towards its own
people is the implementation of laws.
Whenever Indian workers are mistreated abroad, especially in the Gulf
States, we spare no effort in criticising — and rightly so — foreign
governments. But the conditions here are, in many cases, no better. As
job opportunities shrink in rural India and a construction boom takes
place all across, more labourers will enter the cities. This is a
labour class that needs basic protection and policies relating to
special target groups such as women and child labour. There was a time
when labour unions held the nation’s development to ransom. We can’t
now have a callous State holding the lives and livelihood of our
workers hostage in the name of progress.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/edits/Labouring-to-keep-alive/Article1-520657.aspx
Face The Nation: Varun no match for Rahul
CNN-IBN
Published on Wed, Mar 17, 2010 at 23:21, Updated on Thu, Mar 18, 2010
at 00:50 in Politics section
ANALYSIS: Experts discuss the Gandhi vs Gandhi politics on Face The
Nation.
The (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has unveiled its new list of office
bearers and the list includes Varun Gandhi. Varun Gandhi, first time
MP from Pilibhit, is best known for his inflammatory pro-Hindutva
speeches during the general elections last year, speeches for which he
was jailed under the National Security Act. Now the BJP has ended his
isolation within the BJP and made Varun an office bearer with the rank
of secretary. CNN-IBN on Face The Nation asked: Can Varun Gandhi
compete with Rahul Gandhi?
Congress, BSP trying to trap Varun: Rajnath
IANS
Published on Wed, Apr 01, 2009 at 13:14, Updated on Wed, Apr 01, 2009
at 13:43 in Politics section
RALLYING FOR VARUN: Rajnath Singh said that the BJP was firmly
standing behind Varun Gandhi.
Raipur: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Rajnath Singh on
Wednesday asserted that Varun Gandhi was being "politically and
legally" supported by the party. He accused the Congress and Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP) of "exploiting" the National Security Act (NSA) to
"trap" the BJP nominee in Pilibhit in the Lok Sabha polls.
"What is happening with Varun Gandhi is unfortunate. He is being
harassed and the BJP condemns it," Rajnath Singh said at a press
conference in Raipur.
The 'other' Gandhi, the BJP nominee from the Utar Pradesh Lok Sabha
seat, is now in jail on charges of vilifying Muslims in his campaign
speeches.
"The information I have been getting from Varun Gandhi's secretary is
very disturbing. The episode is a shame for the nation. The BSP and
Congress are trying to trap him," Rajnath Singh said.
"I wanted to personally meet Varun Gandhi but he is jailed in Uttar
Pradesh and I am campaigning in other states. So I have asked Venkaiah
Naidu to meet him and express the party's support. The BJP is
politically and legally rallying behind Varun Gandhi," the BJP
President said.
Varun on D-gang hitlist, moved to Etah jail
Trailing Varun Gandhi: From Pilibhit to Etah
"His detention under the NSA is shameful. It is the joint act of the
Congress and BSP. Where do they want to lead the country?" asked
Rajnath Singh.
The Uttar Pradesh government had on Sunday invoked the NSA against
Varun Gandhi, the BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from the seat held earlier
by his mother Maneka Gandhi, for his reported hate speeches and mob
violence during his arrest on Saturday.
"The Congress and BSP have created an Emergency-like situation by
exploiting the NSA. Varun Gandhi has no criminal record," said the BJP
President.
For reasons of security, Varun Gandhi was shifted from the prison in
Pilibhit to a jail in Uttar Pradesh's Etah town at around 1:30 hrs IST
on Wednesday.
"There is a threat to Varun Gandhi's life. The centre, Uttar Pradesh
government and Election Commission should take note of this and ensure
foolproof security for him," said Rajnath Singh.
"The Congress and BSP have crossed all limits to gain political
mileage. They are playing with fire. The BJP will not remain quiet,"
he added.
BJP, Cong may stun SP, BSP; due to Gandhis
Pallavi Ghosh / CNN-IBN
Published on Sat, May 02, 2009 at 01:06, Updated on Sat, May 02, 2009
at 09:20 in Politics section
New Delhi: After three phases of polling, it appears the Congress and
the BJP may well be doing better than expected in the key state of
Uttar Pradesh with the potential losers being the SP and the BSP.
So has Rahul Gandhi's “go it alone” policy and BJP’s Hindutva slant
clicked? Ground reports suggest so. Muslims, having turned their back
on the Congress after the Babri demolition, are doing a rethink after
Mulayam embraced Kalyan Singh.
The good news for BJP is that Brahmins are tiring of Mayawati's social
engineering which has now begun targeting the Muslims.
It was Rahul's idea to walk it alone in the crucial state despite
having taken the Samajwadi support during the trust vote. But a bitter
SP thinks Rahul's romance with this idea will be shortlived.
There are smiles on BJP faces, having once boasted of big names from
the state, the party was groping for a foothold. Now, after three
phases of polling, the Hindutva strategy, which was not overplayed
except in Pilibhit, may have clicked.
And as the Congress and the BJP prepare for the last two phases, it
will be Gandhi versus Gandhi as Rahul and Varun take each other on.
The national parties are relying on the same family tree to reap a
harvest in Uttar Pradesh.
Six from state get pride of place in Team Gadkari
Express News Service
Posted: Wednesday, Mar 17, 2010 at 0233 hrs
Lucknow:
With six of its leaders being given prominent place in the 121-member
national committee of the BJP, the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit has
certainly managed to find a good place in national president Nitin
Gadkari’s team.
Out of the 13 vice-presidents, three are from the state — Kalraj
Mishra, former national general secretaries Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and
Vinay Katiyar. Among the 15 secretaries in Team Gadkari, three are
again from UP — former Bulandshaher MP Ashok Pradhan, former Bareilly
MP Santosh Gangwar and Pilibhit MP Varun Gandhi. Out of the six
official spokespersons, one is from the state — Ramnath Kovind, who
represents the party’s Dalit face.
While Naqvi is one of the prominent Muslim faces from the state,
Katiyar is a firebrand leader and Mishra a veteran. Among the
secretaries too, Santosh Gangwar is a six-time MP and a former Union
minister. After his defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the party
was said to be looking to suitably place him at the national level.
Ashok Pradhan was one of the primary reasons for former chief minister
Kalyan Singh to leave the BJP and is said to have a good base in
Bulandshahr and surrounding districts. And at a time when Singh is
building the base of his new party in this area, Pradhan being lifted
to secretary’s post is certainly strategic.
Varun Gandhi, a first-time MP from Pilibhit and son of Maneka Gandhi,
is the party’s youth face not just in UP but also, on the national
chart. And together, the trio will represent western UP, where the
party is trying to regain grounds with its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal
drifting away.
Gadkari has also given 33 per cent of the posts to women, thus
becoming the first party in the country to give reservation to women
in their organisation. Here too, Uttar Pradesh has been given a “fair
share” with Aonla MP Maneka Gandhi, Mahila Morcha president Sarla
Singh and Saadhvi Niranjana Jyoti being made members of the national
executive. “It is good that even women leaders from UP have been
inducted in the committee. The state has potential and these women
will prove it,” said Vinay Katiyar.
Apart from these “cream” posts, many other leaders from the state have
also found a place in the team. These include Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
Murli Manohar Joshi, Rajnath Singh, Maneka Gandhi, Hukum Singh, Satpal
Malik, Rajnath Singh, Yogi Adityanath, Keshari Nath Tripathi and Lalji
Tandon as members, Hriday Narain Dixit as special invitee and Om
Prakash Singh and Nepal Singh as legislature leaders.
The party’s state unit has thanked Gadkari for giving representation
to UP. State BJP vice-president H N Dixit, who has also been inducted
as a special invitee, said that by including 34 leaders from UP,
Gadkari has shown his trust in the state unit.
“These leaders will certainly strengthen not just state campaigns, but
also national campaigns,” he added.
It is also expected that more faces from Uttar Pradesh will find a
place in the national scene, as the convenors of different cells and
Morcha presidents will be announced in the days to come.
Comments (1) |
Im-mature Varun
By: Ganesh Singh | 17-Mar-2010
Gadkari ji wants to please every one. But if you want to strengthen
your party, you will have to take some tough decisions. you were gr8
in saying that party and his policies makes people and not vice versa
but at present situation you are again doing the same thing. Including
immature persons like Varun Gandhi in your team shows to which level
you are going to please others. Varun has won because of the gr8 work
done by his mother Manekaji not because of his controversial speeches.
I dont know why RSS is intersted in projecting Varun as youth face.
Did they want to pick someone only from elite people of BJP. Can't
they pick some leaders from ABVP as youth face. If they really lack so
they must work with their ground workers to find out someone instead
of proposing Varun.
Gadkari's inclusive act may open old fissures in BJP
Nistula Hebbar / DNA
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 0:45 IST
New Delhi: Nitin Gadkari was the answer of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) to the leadership crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), driven listless by debilitating factionalism and ego clashes
not long ago. After three months as BJP president, Gadkari had a task
on hand: To give the party a sense of direction. As he came out with
his list of office-bearers on Tuesday, the jury was still out.
The BJP president’s list of 121 office-bearers is a blend of youth and
experience, Hindutva hardliners and doves, and several other
conflicting strains in the party. However, if a team is supposed to be
a statement of intent, Gadkari’s is not one. At best, it reflects his
inclusive approach and his seriousness to promote third and fourth
generations of leaders.
The new BJP team has 13 vice-presidents, 10 general secretaries, 15
secretaries and one treasurer. The party also announced its 81-member
national executive. While several faces have made their debut — actor
Hema Malini as vice-president, and Varun Gandhi, Vani Tripathi, Smriti
Irani and Arti Mehra as secretaries — there is a feeling that many
older faces have been unduly rewarded.
Gadkari’s new team was being closely watched in the context of
factionalism in the party and the RSS’s demands.
Despite a disastrous record as party president, senior leader Rajnath
Singh has managed to get key posts for his people. Three general
secretaries — Thawarchand Gehlot, Narendra Singh Tomar and Vijay Goel
— owe loyalty to him. This means Singh would continue to have a say
under the new dispensation.
In the parliamentary board, the most important body of the party, LK
Advani holds sway.
Except for Rajnath Singh, Murli Manohar Joshi and Thawarchand Gehlot,
all other members — Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and parliamentary
board secretary Ananth Kumar — are Advani loyalists. The arrangement
might also open a can of worms for Gadkari.
While RSS nominees like Varun Gandhi, Muralidhar Rao and Tarun Vijay
have been accommodated, it was expected that Rao would get a better
position. Gadkari, who is trying to project a soft image of himself,
had to accommodate hardliners like Vinay Katiyar to please the mother
organisation.
The biggest disappointment to those expecting Gadkari’s list to be a
departure from the past was the absence of a Muslim face in any
effective party position. While Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Najma
Heptullah have been made vice-presidents, a largely decorative post,
Bhagalpur MP Shahnawaz Hussain, who was tipped to be general secretary
in this team, was adjusted as one of the spokespersons. No Muslim
finds a place in the party’s parliamentary board either.
The list appeared a little skewed in favour of one state and against
some others. For example, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh appeared very
well represented, with the former getting one vice-president in Hema
Malini, three secretaries and the party treasurer Piyush Goel. Out of
the 10 general secretaries, two — Thawarchand Gehlot and Narendra
Singh Tomar — are from Madhya Pradesh.
“We cannot help but compare this to Karnataka’s case, which is the
party’s first government in the south, and apart from Ananth Kumar,
who has always found space at the centre, only Vijayshankar from the
state has been made a member of the national executive,” said a senior
leader.
Women have found ample space in the new team. With 40 out of 121
members being women, the party has kept its promise of 33% quota for
them in organisational posts.
The party’s chief spokesperson and newly appointed Ravi Shankar
described the team as a blend of the young and the old. What it might,
however, do is end the ceasefire in the party and give fresh impetus
to the party’s many discontented elements.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_gadkari-s-inclusive-act-may-open-old-fissures-in-bjp_1359938
Orissa deploys force to prevent Togadia's Kandhamal visit
PTI
Friday, March 19, 2010 17:18 IST
Phulbani (Orissa): In the face of VHP's international secretary
general, Pravin Togadia's proposed visit to Kandhamal in Orissa this
evening defying ban, the district administration has deployed police
and a magistrate at the entry point to the riot-hit town to prevent
him, official sources said.
The district administration has also imposed prohibitory orders under
section 144 of the CrPC to stop Togadia and other members of the VHP
from visiting the town, additional district magistrate
(ADM),Kandhamal, Arnanchal Das said.
The VHP leader had yesterday challeged the state government to arrest
him as he was all set to defy the ban order. "I will enter to
Kandhamal along with 100 sadhus," Togadia said.
The district administration is also contemplating steps to seal road
at Madhapur, the entry point to Kandhamal district.
Kandhamal witnessed widespread riot from August 2008 till October 2009
following the killing of VHP leader Lakhsmananda Saraswati.
Togadia to defy Orissa govt's ban on his visit to Kandhamal
PTI
Thursday, March 18, 2010 23:10 IST
Bhubaneswar: Defying the Orissa government's ban on his proposed visit
to Kandhamal, VHP leader Pravin Togadia today announced his plan to
forcibly enter into the communally sensitive district tomorrow.
"I will go to Kandhamal along with 100 sadhus as per prior programme,"
Togadia told reporters after addressing a public meeting in Nuapada
district.
The VHP's firebrand leader also challenged the Naveen Patnaik
government to arrest him.
"I am ready to be arrested than succumbing to the state government's
undemocratic decision", he said adding that it was not possible for
him and the VHP to cancel the programme.
"While the state government spread red carpet to welcome the European
diplomats to Kandhamal, it is not proper to clamp ban on the entry of
a Hindu leader," he said.
The administration of Kandhamal imposed prohibitory order under
section 144 of the CrPC at many sensitive places.
"If Togadia or any other person try to defy the ban, action would be
taken in accordance with the law of the land," additional
superintendent of police (ASP), Kandhamal, CR Das said.
Das said the district administration would not tolerate if any one
tried to disturb peace in the area.
BJP cautions Orissa govt over ban on Pravin Togadia's Kandhamal visit
PTI
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 22:39 IST
Bhubaneshwar: Terming the decision to ban the visit of the VHP leader
Pravin Togadia to Kandhamal district as 'whimisical', the BJP today
warned that the Orissa government would be reponsible if communal
harmony was disturbed at any place over the issue.
MF Husain accepting Qatar nationality victory for Hindus: Pravin
Togadia
Nitin Gadkari offers to rebuild Babri Masjid
"Chief minister Naveen Patnaik will be held reponsible if communal
tension Arises in Kandhamal and other parts of the state over the
government's whimisical decision," a statement issued by the state BJP
said.
The saffron party's reaction came a day after the Kandhamal district
administration denied permission to Togadia to enter Kandhamal
district, which had witnessed riots last year and the year before.
"While the government offered a red carpet welcome to diplomats from
nine European countries, there is no point in putting a ban on
Togadia's visit," party's vice-president Ashok Sahu said.
The firebrand VHP leader was scheduled to visit Kandhamal on March 19
and spend a night in Phulbani town.
Togadia's three-day Orissa visit would start from tomorrow, state VHP
general secretary Gouri Prasad Rath said.
Sid Harth
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
BOOKS
Circular reasoning
T. JAYARAMAN
The author loses sight of the possibility that the decline of religion
is indeed the long-term trend in modern industrial societies.
Meera Nanda’s writing occupies a distinctive intellectual niche in the
academic and media discourse on the nature and practice of secularism
in India. In a major book, Prophets Facing Backward, and in a number
of academic papers, essays and media articles (and two short
collections of essays), she has brought to bear a perspective on this
question that distinguishes her work from a wide variety of other
writers and scholars engaged with this theme.
Her work so far has been marked by the special attention she has paid
to the relationship between science and secularism in the Indian
context. Going beyond the limitations of the arguments over the
Nehruvian vision of the link between secularism and scientific temper,
she has drawn attention to the much larger role of science in the
debate between secularists on the one hand and Hindu communalism on
the other. In Meera Nanda’s account, the ideological machinery of
Hindu communalism in the 20th century has drawn sustenance from a more
pervasive and widespread neo-Hinduism, central to whose world view is
the idea that Hinduism provides a uniquely “scientific” perspective in
the spiritual quest. While all fundamentalisms have some form of
exceptionalism as part of their ideological foundations, Hindutva’s
particular brand arises from this allegedly unique “scientific” nature
of Hinduism as compared with all other religions.
Meera Nanda has argued convincingly that it is the widespread
acceptance, overtly or otherwise, of this brand of Hindu
exceptionalism, even by those who were in many other respects in the
secular camp, that rendered Indian secularism vulnerable to attack
even before a full-scale attack was mounted on it by a resurgent
Hindutva in the late 1980s. Meera Nanda has argued, again
convincingly, that all modern trends in Hinduism, given their tendency
for an uncritical acceptance of this notion of Hindu exceptionalism,
render themselves vulnerable to being co-opted into the ranks of
Hindutva. She has provided an engaging account in Prophets Facing
Backward of the different stratagems that neo-Hinduism adopts in the
pursuit of the “scientificity” of Hinduism, often on the basis of
loose pseudo-scientific analogies between the language of science and
the vocabulary of Hinduism. The contemporary brand of Indian pseudo-
science that is actively championed by Hindutva, an Indian parallel as
it were to the well-known link between evangelical Christianity and
the American brand of pseudo-science, is in Meera Nanda’s view rooted
in this aspect of neo-Hinduism. In her short book titled The
Ecological Wrongs of the Religious Right, she has explored the
particular case of the neo-Hindu and Hindutva version of religion-
inspired pseudo-science in the realms of biology and ecology.
In her latest work, The God Market, Meera Nanda turns to explore a
somewhat different aspect of this link between contemporary Hinduism,
the professed secular nature of the Indian state, and Hindutva. The
focus here, in her own words, is on the “changing trends in popular
Hinduism”, and the overall aim is to describe how “modern Hindus are
taking their gods with them into the brave new world and how Hindu
institutions are making use of the new opportunities opened up by
neoliberalism and globalisation”.
The crux of the argument in the book is that there is a causal
connection between economic reforms and the rise of popular Hindu
religiosity. Meera Nanda argues that economic reform, while
encouraging a “neoliberal market economy [sic]”, is also “boosting the
demand and supply for religious services in India’s God market”, and
the progressively greater embedding of a new Hindu religiosity in
everyday life, in both public and private spheres, is aided by the new
political economy. With the withdrawal of the Nehruvian state from the
social sector, a new state-temple-corporate complex is emerging to
fill the space as a consequence of the state actively seeking
partnership with the private sector and the Hindu establishment. The
rising tide of popular religiosity among the Hindu middle classes in
the era of liberalisation is a consequence of this religiosity being
deliberately cultivated by an “emerging state-temple-corporate complex
that is replacing the more secular public institutions of the
Nehruvian era”. This rising tide of popular Hindu religiosity
continues to feed the forces of Hindutva, assisting among other things
in the routine conflation of the domain of the national with the
domain of Hinduism.
The idea that globalisation is in some way intimately connected with,
or is even perhaps one of the drivers of, the many fundamentalisms
that we see in the world today is an idea that has respectable
patronage, including, among others, the eminent historian Romila
Thapar. In the Indian context, it has been widely noted that the
challenge to the Nehruvian vision of secularism and scientific temper
has risen in the same era as the era of economic reform and the right-
ward shift in Indian foreign policy, away from the vision of India as
the leader of the non-aligned world towards a vision of India as a
global player aligned strategically with the United States and the
developed world. In opposition to the view that the Sangh Parivar is
somehow anti-globalisation and that self-reliance is somehow equally a
Parivar slogan (a view aided by the activities and attitudes of the
Swadeshi Jagran Manch, a Parivar outfit), commentators on the Left
have argued that Hindutva is no less pro-economic reform and that it
is equally at home with liberalisation and globalisation.
Nevertheless, few have argued for a causal nexus between globalisation
and the rise of popular Hindu religiosity as closely as Meera Nanda,
or shown the two to be as directly knit as she portrays in this new
book.
OBVIOUS PROPOSITION
Much of the book appears to be actually devoted to arguing the much
weaker proposition that contemporary Hindu institutions are actively
utilising the opportunities provided by the modern world to further
their cause. One may argue that this is a somewhat obvious proposition
with a wealth of examples, which can be picked even from casual
observation, to back it up. Religious preaching or fundamentalist
propaganda can reach out much further in the era of instant
communication. Cable or satellite television broadcasts provide many
opportunities that are utilised by all manner of religious or
fundamentalist organisations. A wide variety of Hindu institutions and
neo-Hindu cults, ranging from the religious trust and administration
associated with the temples at Tirupati and Tirumala to the
organisations associated with religious personalities such as Sai Baba
or Mata Amritanandamayi, run educational institutions and even modern,
officially recognised universities. Hindu organisations and cults
administer a range of charities and organisations dealing with health
and medicine. Hindu organisations have proliferated around the world
and have struck especially strong roots where there is a numerically
significant and well-heeled Indian diaspora. The diaspora followers of
Hindu organisations are also an important source of funds, as well as
prestige and visibility, for Hindu and Hindutva organisations. After
all, what credibility or oomph would a guru or swamiji possess without
at least a small retinue of non-resident Indians and preferably
foreigners?
Meera Nanda covers much of this kind of ground with many apt
illustrations in the second, third and fourth chapters of her book.
One may certainly agree with her in the characterisation that she
offers of the three significant dimensions of contemporary popular
Hindu religiosity, namely the invention of new rituals, the
gentrification of the gods and the booming guru culture. Indeed, much
of the characterisation is based on scholarly work available on the
subject. The existence of a booming guru culture and its links to
Hindutva is of course somewhat obvious.
However, it is arguable whether these examples really lay a basis for
her claims of the emergence of a state-temple-corporate complex. It is
certainly true that the Indian state has increasingly weakened secular
credentials after the rise of Hindutva and the success of Hindutva-
related political forces in being elected to govern both at the Centre
and in the States. Much has been written, including by Meera Nanda
herself, regarding the attempted de-secularisation of government
consequent to the electoral victories of the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), especially at the Centre. The Sangh Parivar penetration of the
government was a major issue in the period of BJP rule, but a timid
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government refused resolutely to
“detoxify” (to use the late Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s fine phrase)
government institutions, especially in the educational sector, which
was a prime Parivar target.
It is also true that corporate India, despite some initial misgivings,
has learnt to live peaceably with Hindutva. BJP-ruled States have been
no less eager to roll out the red carpet for the captains of industry
both from home and abroad. Several major corporate houses also have a
long record of involvement in charitable work relating to religious
institutions. Corporate houses have demonstrated their willingness to
put secularism on the back burner and prioritise their short-term
economic and financial interests (as with the house of Tatas and the
Modi government).
What is unconvincing is the overarching claim that these examples
point to the emergence of something that merits the rather grand
appellation of a “state-temple-corporate” complex. Indeed, corporate
houses are uncomfortable with a militant Hindutva that disturbs law
and order and stable governance and were certainly more than satisfied
with the return of the UPA to power. Many institutions of the Indian
state are willing to act and do act to protect secular values at
critical moments. The critical issue here is to recognise the
ambivalence of the state and the corporate sector in relation to
secularism and not to one-sidedly use as evidence only their non-
secular or anti-secular actions. Regrettably, in the author’s “take no
prisoners” style of argument, there is little room to understand or
explore this ambivalence. Either the state is secular in full measure
in the classical sense of the term or it must necessarily be
considered entirely anti-secular.
In the event, the author herself can identify only two areas where
this complex [sic] is significant, the first being education and the
second, tourism. Even in these two sectors, the claim that the state
and the private sector are working together to promote Hinduism seems
less than credible. It is certainly true that the increasing
privatisation of education is also utilised by Hindutva-related
organisations to set up their own institutions, like numerous others.
However, Meera Nanda’s claim that what the BJP government could not
establish by way of Hindu-centrism of education is being accomplished
by privatisation requires more evidence than is presented in the
book.
Many would agree with Meera Nanda’s view that secular education is a
public good that the state ought to provide to all its citizens
without throwing them at the mercy of faith-based or cult-based
institutions. But to proceed from the relative absence of state-run
educational institutions and the ideological space that this affords
Hindutva to the claim that “economic globalisation and neoliberal
reforms have created the material and ideological conditions in which
a popular and ritualistic Hindu religiosity is growing” is a leap that
seems unwarranted.
SANDEEP SAXENA
Birla Mandir in New Delhi, illuminated on the occasion of Janmashtami
on August 14.
The argument is even thinner in the case of tourism, where the
author’s argument is based on the state’s, and occasionally corporate
houses’, support for religious tourism. Even this reviewer, who is no
votary of religious pilgrimages, is constrained to point out that
tourism in India, untouched by the religious inclination, is a modern
construct. For the newly rich as well as those of the poor and middle
classes who have small disposable surpluses, religious pilgrimage is
likely to be the first form of tourism. In another direction,
occasions for the mass display of popular religiosity such as the
Kumbh Mela certainly call for the intervention of the government in
the interest of common safety and security. To take all instances of
government regulation of religious tourism uncritically together and
to read into it the emergence of a state-temple-corporate complex does
not seem to aid a critical understanding of the link between popular
religiosity and secularism. It is of course true that religious
pilgrimage sites are happy hunting grounds for Hindutva groups to
further their ideological campaign, and specific issues relating to
some popular pilgrimage sites such as the Amarnath caves can certainly
provide grist to the Hindutva mill.
Popular religiosity is a complex phenomenon, especially in the
presence of many ideological forces and undercurrents in a society in
a state of transition, even if not rapid transformation. It is a
phenomenon that has many layers to it, as activists and scholars on
the issue of communalism have come to recognise across the country.
The book unfortunately displays little inclination to engage carefully
with this literature. Perhaps in the author’s perception such theories
do not belong to the class of “the most cutting-edge social theories
about globalisation and the resurgence of religion” that she promises
the reader in the introductory chapter.
Given the thinness of the author’s evidence relative to the weight of
the theoretical conclusions that she wishes to draw, it is
unsurprising that the theoretical considerations in the book are among
its weakest and most unconvincing sections. The first chapter on
globalisation covers ground that would be quite familiar to most of
the author’s likely audience in India. It is a chapter that leaves one
with the impression that the book is really meant for a non-Indian
audience. But it is in the last chapter that the insufficiency of the
theoretical perspective that Meera Nanda brings to bear on the problem
is most evident as the author showers a series of “cutting-edge social
theories” on an unwary reader.
In substance, the author is in sympathy with the perspective, most
notably espoused by the sociologist Peter L. Berger in his later work,
that the secular project has essentially failed. Berger famously
recanted in 1999 his earlier vision of the inevitable decline of
religion, arguing that the supernatural has not lost its plausibility
in the modern world. While Meera Nanda believes that this is
applicable to India, she disagrees with Berger’s argument that this
persistence of religion lies in the economic fact of the undermining
of life’s certainties for the majority of the population and the
appropriation of secular values by the rich. She, quite correctly,
points to the fact that contrary to what Berger suggests, popular
religiosity in India has also significantly risen among those who have
benefited enormously from economic reform and that popular religiosity
grips both the well-to-do and the poor.
Of course, in transposing Berger’s argument to India, Meera Nanda
(along with Berger) loses sight of the possibility that this
resurgence of religion could well be a short-lived phenomenon and that
the decline of religion is indeed the long-term trend in modern
industrial societies.
NEOLIBERAL PERSPECTIVE
For the subsequent part of her argument the author moves on,
approvingly, to what she calls the “neoliberal” perspective on
religion, the next in her shopping list of theories. This is indeed
curious because while she has always been dismissive of the Marxist
view of religion, labelling it as reductionist, she turns now to a
view that fully merits the label. In this demand-supply view of
religion, espoused by Rodney Stark and his academic collaborators,
there is indeed no room for the notion of secularisation. Religion
always exists, so the argument runs, because there is a need, or a
“demand”, for it. Whether it will be satisfied or not is a question of
the “supply” of appropriate religions that are efficacious in
responding to it. In this view, secularisation is an illusion created
by the lack of appropriate supply to meet the demand for religion over
brief historical periods. Social facts such as the fall of church
attendance and overt religious observance do not mean the progress of
secularisation as the persistence of personal belief points to a
“potential demand” that is not being met by existing religious
institutions.
UNCLEAR RATIONALE
It is from this perspective that the author formulates the proposition
mentioned at the outset of this article, namely, that it is the
neoliberal market economy following globalisation that is boosting the
demand and supply for religious services in India’s God market. The
rationale for this proposition is completely unclear as she appears to
conflate the application of a demand-supply or market perspective on
religion with the nature of religiosity in an era where economic
policy is dominated by the market perspective.
But what is even stranger about the turn that her argument takes is
that, in this demand-supply perspective, the weakly secular character
of the Indian state is indeed a virtue that has led to greater
religious plurality, as evidenced by the wide variety of cults and
sects and religions in India. How then does the author square the
circle, reconciling her use of the neoliberal perspective on religion
after having railed against Hindutva and upbraided the Indian state
for having forsaken secularism? There is indeed no direct answer that
the author provides. All she can offer the curious reader is the
somewhat feeble response that indeed a pure market for religion would
not be problematic, but it is the unfortunate extension of sacrality
to the realm of non-sacral entitites like the nation that is the
source of the problem. The circularity of her reasoning and argument
appears entirely to escape the notice of the author.
The book ends with an appeal for the creation in India of meaningful
secular spaces, where people may interact with each other without
reference to religious identities. Praiseworthy as this statement
undoubtedly is, it is small consolation for the interested reader who,
having followed the author into the blind alley of the demise of
secularisation and its abolition in the neoliberal perspective, is
left wondering where Indian society would find the resources for such
a transformation.
Meera Nanda’s work, as we have remarked earlier, is marked by a strong
tendency to ignore the multi-sided and often contradictory character
of social phenomena. While her perspective has helped shed light on
the social, intellectual and cultural resources that Hindutva can
mobilise, she has rarely been able to throw similar light on the
impulses for secularism in Indian society. One reason for this,
undoubtedly, lies in her resolute unwillingness to consider atheism as
an ally of secularism. She has always been insistent that movements
that are atheist miss the point about the need of the masses for
“meaning” in their lives, which can be met only by religion. That this
“meaning” could also be provided by the advance of a secular
imagination and the retreat of religion is not a prospect that she is
willing to consider.
Another reason lies in her view of ideological transformation purely
as an act of the mind without reference to any social and economic
preconditions for such a transformation. More fundamentally, Meera
Nanda has never reckoned with the possibility that any understanding
of religion in contemporary India needs to grasp the reality of the
incomplete modernisation of Indian society, rooted in the development
of capitalism in an era when it has essentially lost its critical
ideological impulse.
Meera Nanda’s passion for secularism will undoubtedly be shared by
many readers in India and elsewhere, and the many observations that
she has provided on various aspects of the Hindutva communal project
in Indian society are useful and important. Yet, regrettably, she has
little to offer in terms of a way forward from the current scenario
towards a more secular social order except rhetorical calls for a
meaningful, limited secularisation of society.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2626/stories/20100101262607900.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 01, Jan. 06 - 19, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
ANALYSIS
Outsider as enemy
The politics of rewriting history in India.
K.N. PANIKKAR
This is the text of a presentation made at a round table on the topic
of 'The Rewriting of History: Intellectual Freedom and Contemporary
Politics in South Asia', organised as a part of the International
Conference of North African and Asian Scholars (ICANAS) in Montreal
held from August 27 to September 1.
REWRITING of history is a continuous process into which the historian
brings to bear new methodological or ideological insights or employs a
new analytical frame drawn upon hitherto unknown facts. The
historians' craft, the French historian, Marc Bloch, whose work on
feudal society is considered a classic, has reminded us, is rooted in
a method specific to history as a discipline, most of which has
evolved through philosophical engagements and empirical investigations
during the last several centuries. No methodology which the historian
invokes in pursuit of the knowledge of the past is really valid unless
it respects the method of the discipline. Even when methodologies
fundamentally differ, they share certain common grounds, which
constitute the fiel d of the historian's craft. Notwithstanding the
present scepticism about the possible engagement with history, a
strict adherence to the method of the discipline is observed in all
generally accepted forms of reconstruction of the past. A departure
from such norms of the discipline tends to erase the distinction
between myth and history, which the forces of the Hindu rightwing,
actively supported by the present government, are seeking to achieve.
K. PICHUMANI
The makeshift temple that was erected at Ayodhya after the demolition
of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992. The organising principle of
the politics of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple was not only the
privileging of faith over reason, but also the ident ification of an
enemy who acted against the religious interests of Hindus.
The distinction is important, despite the undeniable connection
between history and myth. Although elements which constitute myth are
not verifiable like historical facts, myths do represent reality even
if symbolically and metaphorically. Myths are esse ntially illusory
representations of phenomena and as such do not help discover the
historicity of events and by the very nature of representation they
tend to mask the reality. Yet, there are no myths in which reality is
not embedded in some form, be the y origin, explanatory or
legitimatory myths.1 This integral connection between myth and history
facilitates the transmutation of the latter into the former and
through that change, the existing historical consciousness in society.
The rewritin g of history the Sangh Parivar has undertaken with the
connivance and collaboration of the government is essentially an
attempt at communal mythification, which lends ideological support and
legitimacy to the politics of cultural nationalism.
History as communal ideology
The communal interpretation of history has a fairly long tradition, at
least going back to the colonial times. The history of the subjected
that the colonial administrators and ideologues wrote, either as a
part of their intellectual curiosity or as a po litical mission,
essentially took a religious view of the past. Although James Mill's
periodisation of Indian history into Hindu and Muslim periods is
generally pointed out as an example of this colonial view, almost
every aspect of the social, cultural and political life was
incorporated into this religious schema. This view has had an abiding
influence on Indian historiography, with a large number of Indian
historians of vastly different ideological persuasions rather
uncritically internalising this i nterpretation. Thus the history of
India is seen through a series of stereotypes rooted in religious
identity. No aspect of society or polity has escaped this religious
view, be it social tensions, political battles or cultural
differences. Such an inter pretation of history has been a part of the
textbooks, both of school and college, for a long time, moulding the
historical consciousness of society and in turn the social
perspectives and behaviour of several generations. This divisive
notion of history was one of the several ideological weapons that
colonialism invoked to construct its legitimacy.
In the Hindu communal worldview and politics, the religious
interpretation of history has an entirely different import, even if it
shares much of the colonial assumptions. Unlike the colonial history
which mainly emphasises social divisions, despite invo king the
tyranny of the Yavanas and the Muslims, its focus is more on social
antagonism and political hostility, which differentiates the Hindu
communal from the colonial communal. The antagonism and hostility
encoded in the interpretative structure of t he former, which
identifies the 'outsider' as enemy, turn history into an ideology of
communalism. The politics of Ramjanmabhoomi temple is a good example
of the mediation of such history in the making of popular historical
consciousness. The organising principle of this politics was not only
the privileging of faith over reason, but also the identification of
an enemy who acted against the religious interests of the Hindus.
Among the variety of factors that define the relationship between
communalism and revivalism in India, history plays a central role. The
revivalist ideas were inherent in the social and religious reform
movements of the 19th century, circumscribed as the y were within the
boundaries of caste and religious communities. Yet, revivalism as an
influential tendency emerged only during the second half of the 19th
century. Bankim Chandra Chatterji, Dayananda Saraswathi and Swami
Vivekananda are generally consid ered the early protagonists of this
tendency. Inward looking in their intellectual orientation and engaged
in revitalising Hinduism and Hindu community, they tried to privilege
many ideas and institutions from the ancient past. However, their
perspective was communitarian rather than communal. Antagonism against
other religions and communities was not a part of their perspective.
Even when they were critical of other religions as in the case of
Dayanand, their attempt was to explore religious truth thro ugh a
comparative understanding of different religions. Dayanand after all
was as trenchant a critique of the practices of Sanatani Hinduism as
of other religions. So were Bankim and Vivekananda. These early
articulations of revivalist tendencies were no t rooted in relation to
the 'other' in terms of a community within society.2 It was more in
the nature of internal revitalisation and consolidation in the context
of colonial domination. Communalism, on the other hand, though it
subsumed several elements of revivalism, is firmly anchored on a
hatred of the 'outsider' who, it is held, is mainly responsible for
the distortions and eventual loss of the indigenous civilisational
achievements. Notwithstanding this distinction, revivalism transformed
itself into communalism which, among other things, was made possible
by the m ediation of communal history, which cast the 'outsider' in
the role of the enemy. The inward looking communitarian perspective,
which mainly characterised revivalism, merged with a suspicion
andhostility of 'the other'. This process is facilitated by a r
eligious interpretation of history which by locating the 'outsider' as
the cause of the decline in the fortunes of the community forms the
ideology of communalism.
The concept of the 'outsider', variously described as the Mleccha,
Yavana and Turuska, has been part of the social consciousness for a
long time. They were communities from both within and outside India
and their defining elements were primarily social a nd cultural. The
language, food habits, dress and a variety of other practices
underlined the otherness. The Aryans considered the indigenous
population as Mleccha and at a later stage those who came from
outside, like the Huns and the Muslims, were inco rporated into this
category. Although the otherness was often a source of conflict, both
inter and intra-community, the relationship with the other was not
characterised by continuous hostility and conflict.3 That the
relationship with the out sider in the past was based on
irreconcilable political interests is a construction of communalism
influenced more by political interests rather than by social reality.
Outsider as enemy
The demographic composition of India which reflects the coming
together of a variety of groups - racial, linguistic and ethnic -
during the course of the last two millennia raises the question who
the 'outsider' is in Indian society. According to the Ant hropological
Survey of India there are 4,635 identifiable communities, diverse in
biological traits, dress, language, forms of worship, occupation, food
habits and kinship patterns. Most of these communities have a mixed
ancestry and it is now almost imp ossible to identify their roots.
They could be traced to Proto-Austroloid, Palio-Mediterranean,
Caucasian, Negroid and Mongoloid. The racial component is also quite
varied, drawing from almost every stock in the world. This plurality
is also reflected in the number of languages in use. Apart from
thousands of dialects there are as many as 325 languages and 25
scripts derived from various linguistic families - Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-
Burman, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic, Andamese, Semitic, Indo-Iranian,
Sino-Tib etan, Indo-European and so on. The Indian society, as a
consequence, is a social and cultural amalgam with many of its
constitutive elements loosing their specific identity, at any rate
none existing in its initial pure form.4
The Hindu communal view of history strives to negate this historical
process by making a distinction between the original inhabitants of
the land and those who settled later. According to this view, all
those who migrated to India and their descendants a re foreigners and
therefore not part of the nation. Thus the Muslims, Christians and
Parsis, who are not indigenous to India and hence outsiders should
either 'Indianise' themselves or live like 'second class citizens
without any rights or privileges'.5 This naturally raises the question
who the original inhabitants were. Were the Aryans, to whom the upper
caste Hindus trace their lineage, indigenous to India? The opinion of
scholars of ancient history, based on archaeological and linguistic
evid ence, has been that Aryans had migrated to India, in all
probability in small groups, over a period of time.6 If this view is
correct, the assumption that the non-Hindu is the only 'outsider'
becomes untenable and the historical rationale for the Hindu nation
basedon Vedic lineage also becomes suspect. The present attempt to
invent the indigenous origins of Aryans, which is supported more by
speculation rather than tangible evidence, is rooted in an anxiety to
overcome this paradox. That the Hindutva historians are not hesitant
to fabricate evidence to prove their contention has been ably
demonstrated by Professor Michael Witzel and Professor Steve Farmer in
their recent article on the Harappan seal.7
The distinction between the indigenous and the 'outsider' is also
sought on the basis of the pure and the impure. The claim to purity,
traced to the idyllic past uncontaminated by the intrusion of the
'outsider', is an essential ideology of religious fun damentalism. One
among the various indicators of this distinction is food habit: those
who ate flesh and those who did not. It is now claimed by the
ideologues of the Sangh Parivar that the Aryans did not partake of
beef, although copious evidence exists , both literary and
archaeological, to the contrary. After a survey of the evidence from
various excavations since 1921, the doyen of Indian archaeologists,
H.D. Sankalia, has opined that "the attitude towards cow slaughter
shows that until the beginning of the Christian era the cow/ox were
regularly slaughtered for food and for the sacrifice etc., in spite of
the preaching of Ahimsa by Mahavira and the Buddha. Beef eating,
however, did decrease owing to these preachings, but never died out
completely". 8 The literary evidence from the Vedic and later periods
are also plenty. Panini, for instance, calls a guest a Goghna, which
means one for whom a cow is killed.9 Even Vivekananda refers to
instances of Rama and Krishna drinking wine and eating meat and Sita
offering meat, rice and wine to the river goddess Ganga in Ramayana
and Mahabharata. In fact, he considered the meat-eating habits of the
Aryans a virtue and attributed the decline of the Hindus in modern
times to the departure from it!10 Yet, the slaughter of cow and eating
beef are now invoked as signs of otherness in a bid to distinguish the
indigenous from the 'outsider'.
Apart from defiling the sacredness and purity of indigenous life, the
communal history also attributes to the 'outsider' a politically
disruptive role. The political history of India, in the account given
by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the progenitor of th e concept of
Hindutva, is a story of foreign invasions and Hindu resistance.
According to him, there were six major invasions of India, which were
successfully met by the Hindus. He characterises them as six 'glorious
epochs' in which the valour and brav ery of the Hindus overcame the
external threat. These 'glorious epochs' are the periods of
Chandragupta and Pushyamitra when the Greek invasions were repelled,
followed by those of Vikramaditya and Yashodharma who defeated the
Shakas and the Huns respect ively. In imagining the Hindu nation as a
historically constituted political entity, this religious view of the
conflict with the 'outsider' is a major factor.11
The consolidation and mobilisation of the Hindus are the main
objectives of the communal construction of history of which Savarkar
set a worthy example. Towards this political end, a systematic
attempt, embracing both the academic and popular histories, has been
on the anvil for quite some time, particularly during the last two
decades. The main thrust of this effort has been to further the
communal consciousness of history. Whenever the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) or its earlier incarnation, the Jan S angh, was able to gain
access to power they have not spared any effort to promote Hinduised
history at the expense of secular history. In 1977, at the instance of
the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS) the government of the Janata
Party, of which the Jan S angh was a partner, tried to withdraw the
history books published by the National Council for Educational
Research and Training (NCERT) on the ground that they were not
sufficiently Hindu in their orientation. In more recent times, the BJP
governments in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi have
revised their textbooks to introduce a communal view of the past,
highlighting the achievements and contribution of the Hindus and
undermining or misrepresenting the role of others. The present gov
ernment at the Centre, led by the BJP, has tried to lend support to
this effort by saffronising research institutions such as the Indian
Council for Historical Research (ICHR), Indian Council for Social
Science Research (ICSSR), Centre for Advanced Studi es (CAS) and so
on. Given the tradition of secular historical writing, these state
interventions to further the influence of communal history have
elicited strong resistance from the fraternity of professional
historians, as they have realised the danger the communal
mythification poses to the discipline of history.
Simultaneously, several initiatives have been taken to transform the
popular historical consciousness in favour of the communal. Among them
the setting up of Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti, with four hundred
branches all over the country, is particular ly significant. Its brief
is to prepare the history of all districts keeping as the ideal the
history written by P.N. Oak, whose main contribution is the
identification of every medieval monument as a Hindu structure.
Incidentally, Oak recently approache d the Supreme Court of India with
a request to declare the Taj Mahal a Hindu building. The Supreme Court
has indeed dismissed the plea stating that Oak seems to have 'a bee in
his bonnet'. But it has not deterred the Archaeological Survey of
India (ASI), under the influence of the Sangh Parivar, to look for a
Hindu temple under every medieval monument! The latest excavation is
at Fatehpur Sikri, a monument constructed by the Mughal Emperor Akbar,
from the vicinity of which Jain idols have been unearthed and promptly
identified as disfigured by Akbar. The present chairman of the ICHR,
B.R. Grover, who has distinguished himself by the statement that the
Babri Masjid had collapsed and not destroyed, saw even the hand of
Auragazeb in this disfigurement! Th e archaeologists of the Sangh
Parivar who are eager to excavate the site of every medieval monument
are totally indifferent to the danger the excavations might spell to
these heritage sites.
The Sangh Parivar, with the support of the government if possible and
without it if necessary, has been engaged in the construction and
dissemination of mythified histories which would help further its
religious politics. Among the innumerable examples o f such
mythification, the 'histories' of Ayodhya circulated during the
Ramjanmabhoomi campaign through political and religious networks,
using audio, video and print materials, are the most instructive. In
fact, mythified histories of Ayodhya considerabl y helped to propel
the campaign. The mythification mainly served two objectives. Firstly,
to prove the deliberate and hostile acts of the 'outsider' and
secondly, to invoke the tradition of resistance and struggle the
Hindus had waged since the 16th cent ury in defence of their faith.
These histories foregrounded many a myth as established 'facts' of
history which later found their way into the textbooks in schools in
BJP-ruled States and those run by the RSS.
In these 'histories' the desecration and demolition of temples by the
medieval Muslim rulers form a central theme, substantiating thereby
the iconoclastic beliefs as well as the religious fanaticism of the
followers of Islam. Such an interpretation, howe ver, overlooks two
significant facts of medieval history. First, as Richard Eaton has
shown in a recent essay, well before the coming of the Muslims to
India temples had been the sites for the contestation of kingly
authority. The early medieval history abounds in instances of
desecration and destruction of temples of their political adversaries
by Hindu rulers. The Cholas, the Pallavas, the Chalukyas, the Palas
and many others had indulged in this 'irreligious' act.12 Secondly,
most of the desecration and destruction took place when "Indo-Muslim
States expanded into the domains of non-Muslim rulers". Once the
territory was conquered and integrated into the kingdom, such
expression of 'fanaticism' rarely occurred. Tipu Sultan, for instance,
desecrated temples during his invasion of Malabar, but after the
conquest he gave generous land grants to several of them. Also he is
not known to have desecrated temples in his own kingdom. On the
contrary, when a Hindu religious institution like the Sringeri Mat was
plundered and destroyed by a Maratha chieftain, Tipu Sultan had met
the expenses for its reconstruction. Similarly the Mughal rulers
generally 'treated the temples lying within their sovereign domain as
state propert y' and 'undertook to protect both the physical
structures and their Brahmin functionaries'.13 Such an attitude
informs even the policy of Aurangazeb, as evident from his orders to
his officials to protect the Brahmins of Benares. The departure from
this general policy, however, occurred either at the time of war or
rebellion as in the case of th e desecration of temples in Orcha by
Shajahan and in Mathura and Benares by Aurangazeb. Thus political
exigencies rather than a 'theology of iconoclasm' were the driving
force behind the destruction and desecration of temples. Yet, the
communal interpret ation of history adopts a purely religious view to
stigmatise the present-day Muslims - described as Baber ke Santan
(children of Baber) - as enemy.
The stigmatisation of the 'outsider' as enemy is not an end in itself.
Its purpose is mainly political: to recall to memory a heroic
tradition of resistance against the 'outsider' and thus to stir the
Hindus out of their lethargy and, in the provocative words of Sadhvi
Ritambara, from their impotence, so that they consolidate and realise
their power. The communal 'histories' of Ayodhya have, therefore,
invented the myth of the heroic resistance to the demolition of the
temple in the birth place of Shri Ramachandra and the later efforts to
reclaim it. A pamphlet entitled, "Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Ka Rakt Ranjit
Itihas" (The Blood Stained History of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi), published
by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) claimed that at the time of the de
molition of the temple, 1,74,000 Hindus sacrificed their lives
fighting against the Muslims. The pamphlet then goes on to record the
77 battles fought thereafter to reclaim the temple in which 3,50,000
Hindus had laid down their lives. The reference to t he exact numbers
involved gives certain historical veracity, which though imaginary
facilitates the social acceptance of myth as history.14
This is not to argue that myths, though lacking historicity, are
'hollow tales' without any element of historical truth.15 The origin
of the myth of 77 battles, for instance, can be traced to an actual
historical incident, even if it was not l inked with the
Ramjanmabhoomi temple: a fight between the Muslims and the Hindus in
1855 over a temple located near the Babri Masjid and dedicated to
Hanuman.16 Interestingly, this battle was waged by a Muslim faqir who
claimed the existence o f a mosque below this temple. During the
course of the inquiry into this incident, conducted by an official of
the Nawab of Awad and the British Resident, the local inhabitants did
not refer either to the existence of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple or
conflic ts in the past between the Hindus and the Muslims over the
possession of the mosque.17 The myths about the Mandir was therefore a
later construction, in all probability an outcome of property disputes
and political interests.
Larger Context
The rewriting of history in which the Sangh Parivar is currently
engaged is not internal to the movements within the discipline of
history. It is integral to a larger and long-term project aimed at
reordering the secular character that informed the educa tional and
cultural policies of independent India. Towards this end, the Sangh
Parivar has already undertaken several initiatives. Prominent among
them are the changes in the content of education, the organisation of
a parallel school system and the cont rol over cultural institutions.
In the field of education the University Grants Commission (UGC) and
the NCERT appear to be pursuing a communal agenda. The UGC is
reportedly working on a uniform syllabus for the country and as a part
of it is preparing to introduce courses on Vedic stu dies, astrology,
palmistry and Hindu rituals. A band of Hindu pandits armed with
university certificates will soon be available, particularly to non-
resident Indians, to conduct the rituals at the time of birth,
marriage and death! The only consolation i s that the Chairman of the
UGC promises to provide such academic service to non-Hindus also. It
appears that the concept of university is undergoing revolutionary
changes inspired by the swadeshi ideas advocated by the Minister for
Human Resource Development. The UGC also insists that all universities
and institutions under them be subjected to the recognition of the
National Accreditation Council. It is feared that such a
standardisation will undermine the autonomy of universities and thus
facil itate the introduction of a 'national' curriculum.
The preparation of a 'national' curriculum framework for school
education is also the urgent task undertaken by the NCERT. The
discussion document released by the NCERT clearly underlines a change
from secular to religious education. Most of the suggesti ons in this
report have a revivalist and chauvinistic ring about them. It
advocates an indigenous curriculum which would 'celebrate the ideas of
native thinkers' among whom non-Hindus are conspicuous by absence. One
of the aims of the new curriculum is ' to inculcate and maintain a
sense of pride in being an Indian through a conscious understanding of
the growth of Indian civilisation and also contributions of India to
the world civilisations in its thoughts, actions and deeds'. The
external influences o n the shaping of the Indian civilisation are
completely overlooked. The concept of secularism itself is sought to
be given a religious meaning by suggesting that sarvadharma samabhava
would facilitate 'the view that religion in its basic form (dev oid of
dogma, myth and ritual) would draw younger generations to basic moral
and spiritual values'.18
Both the UGC and the NCERT appear to draw inspiration from the scheme
prepared by an RSS education outfit, Vidhya Bharati, and presented by
the Human Resource Development Minister to the conference of State
Ministers of Education in 1998. In the name of 'Indianising,
nationalising and spiritualising' education, the attempt then was to
replace secular education with an indigenous system rooted in Hindu
knowledge. To achieve that end, Sanskrit was proposed as a compulsory
subject in schools and the induct ion of the valuable heritage of the
Vedas and Upanishads in the curriculum from the primary to the higher
level, including the vocational stream. Besides these, Indian culture,
conceived in Hindu religious terms, was to form an integral part of
all cours es.19 The incorporation of Sanskrit and Indian culture into
the curriculum is in itself not an undesirable step, but that it
privileged the Hindu system of knowledge to the exclusion of others
amounts to an infringement of the tenets of a secular state. Althou gh
this scheme had to be abandoned due to secular opposition, it gave a
foretaste of the future, if and when the Sangh Parivar gained
sufficient political clout.
The attempt to Hinduise the system of education had, however, begun
much before the BJP gained access to government power. As early as
1942 the RSS had initiated steps to organise its own educational
network. Since then the number of schools run by the P arivar has
steadily increased. It is estimated that now there are about 70,000
schools under its management. And the VHP has recently announced its
intention to further expand its educational activities, particularly
in tribal areas. With the financial a nd administrative assistance
proffered by the present government, a parallel system of Hindu
education is being brought into existence, under the guidance of an
all-India organisation called the Vidya Bharati Shiksha Sanstan, set
up in 1978. It was to he lp this system that the Minister for Human
Resource Development recently mooted the idea of extending the
educational privileges so far enjoyed by the minorities under the
Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution to all others.20 The rather
well-organised attacks on Christians, who own a fairly large number of
educational institutions, are also rooted, at least partially, in this
interest, as it is not possible to capture the educational sector
without eliminating the Christians.
The curriculum of these schools is unambiguously Hindu and militantly
communal, be it related to history, politics or literature. The
textbooks, particularly of history, prescribed in these schools are so
oriented to lend legitimacy to communal politics by stigmatising the
'outsider' and valorising the Hindu. In the process, history is turned
into myth which tends to inculcate in the young minds a false sense of
religious pride and hostility to the members of other denominations.
Not only the entire cul tural tradition is appropriated as Hindu, the
past is represented as a saga of Hindu valour and bravery. In fact,
the defeat of almost every Hindu ruler at the hands of an 'outsider'
is reinterpreted as a victory. A good example of such mythification is
an account of the war between Muhammad Ghori and Prithviraj Chauhan.
In the second battle of Tarain, which Prithviraj lost, he was captured
and executed by Ghori. This historical event is described in one of
the textbooks as follows: "Muhammad Ghori kill ed lakhs of people and
converted Vishwnath temple and Bhagawan Krishna's birthplace into
mosques. He took Prithviraj to Gazni, but Prithviraj killed him there
with one arrow and Muhammad Ghori's corpse lay on the feet of
Prithviraj as if narrating the ta le of his sins."21
The main objective of the rewriting of history is to impart certain
historical legitimacy to communal politics. The way the Indian
national movement is represented in the textbooks used in RSS-
administered schools and the desperate attempt of the ICHR to suppress
the volumes of Towards Freedom are among the several ongoing efforts
in this direction. It is common knowledge that the RSS hardly had any
role in the national movement, except as active collaborators of
colonialism. Yet, the Sangh Pariv ar is keen on appropriating its
legacy, as it would give a much-needed national legitimacy. The
history of the national movement is therefore being rewritten to
establish that the RSS had indeed played a positive role in the anti-
colonial struggle. This requires the projection of its leaders as
freedom fighters on the one hand and the suppression of their actual
role, on the other. In such rewritten history incorporated in all
textbooks of Vidhya Bharati, the founder of the RSS, Keshav Baliram
Hedgewar, figures as a great leader of the anti-colonial struggle,
much ahead of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.22 In a textbook
prescribed by the Uttar Pradesh government, out of about 20 pages
devoted to the Freedom movement, three pages take up the contribution
of Hedgewar, who is credited with the leadership of the agitation
against the partition of Bengal.23
The successful projection of such a positive image of the RSS and its
leaders would depend upon the suppression or elimination of counter
factual evidence. That appears to be the brief of the ICHR, as evident
from the attempt to withdraw the volumes of < I>Towards Freedom. The
published volumes of Towards Freedom do not credit the RSS with any
role in the anti-colonial struggle. Instead there is evidence in them,
in the form of letters and speeches of its leaders, about its active
collaboratio n with the British colonial rule. The ICHR, now firmly
under the control of the RSS, is understandably eager to prevent the
publication of further volumes and withdraw the existing ones, as
they, being documentary histories, would expose the claims of th e
RSS. The knowledge about the role of the RSS, to which the public will
have access through these volumes, is likely to undermine the
nationalist credentials of the Sangh Parivar. It is this fear of
history, which has prompted the ICHR to make the rathe r desperate
move to withdraw the volumes from the Press. In the process all
institutional procedures have been violated and the academic freedom
of the authors has been infringed.
What the ICHR has tried to do rather clumsily and secretly - the
authors who were commissioned to edit the volumes were not even
informed, let alone consulted - is not an isolated incident, but part
of an anti-secular, anti-democratic rightwing agenda wh ich the
present government with the active participation of various arms of
the Sangh Parivar has been pursuing. Towards this end, secular opinion
has been systematically eliminated from all research institutions and
cultural organisations funded by the government and replaced by the
activists or loyalists of the RSS. There is also well-planned and
systematic vilification of secular intelligentsia, as evident from the
false and malicious accusations recently levelled against historians
by Arun Shourie, an RSS ideologue and a Minister in the present
government.
The freedom of expression is particularly under surveillance in the
cultural field. No effort is spared to suppress the long cherished and
historically evolved plural and secular traditions. The artists and
cultural activists who follow such traditions h ave been under severe
strain, often faced with threats and even physical attacks. Some time
back a panel on Ramayana, based on Jataka tales, displayed in an
exhibition on Ayodhya mounted by a cultural organisation, SAHMAT, was
destroyed by the members of the Sangh Parivar. M.F. Husain's paintings
and Deepa Mehta's films have also aroused the ire of the Sangh Parivar
for alleged disrespect to Indian tradition. On the whole, there is a
tendency to control the intellectual and cultural life in conformity w
ith a fundamentalist view. In the way such a view is implemented,
irrationally and aggressively, there are unmistakable signs of fascist
tendencies.
The instrumentalist role of the rewriting of history currently being
promoted by the government and the Sangh Parivar for defining and
demarcating the nation as Hindu, imparts to it an essentially
political character. The stigmatisation of the 'outsider' as enemy
validated by historical experience lends the rationale for the
communal programme of marginalising, if not externalising, the members
of other denominations. Derivatively, it also legitimises the claim of
the 'indigenous' to the nation. The oth erness of 'outsider' therefore
serves as a signifier for internal consolidation and homogenisation.
To the early ideologues of communalism, such as V.D. Savarkar and M.S.
Golwalkar, the religious interpretation of history was the necessary
ideological gr oundwork for recovering the Hindu nation. The present
engagement of the communal forces with history is with no other intent
which, if succeeds, would unsettle the secular character of the
nation. Therefore the current debate about history in India is as much
about the integrity of the discipline as about the future well-being
of the country.
K.N. Panikkar is Professor of Modern History at the Centre for
Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
1. Maurice Godellier, Perspectives in Marxist Anthropology, Cambridge,
1977, pp.207-09.
2. Tapan Roy Choudhry, Perceptions, Emotions, Sensibilities, New
Delhi, 1999 and John Zavos, The Emergence of Hindu Nationalism in
India, New Delhi, 2000.
3. Romila Thapar, 'The Image of the Barbarian in Early India' in
Ancient Indian Social History, New Delhi, 1998, pp.152-192; Aloka
Parasher, Mlecchas in Early India, New Delhi,1991 and Brajadulal
Chattopadhyaya, Representing the Other? Sanskrit Sources and the
Muslims, New Delhi, 1998.
4. K.S.Singh, People of India: An Introduction, New Delhi, 1995.
5. M.S.Golwalkar, We or our Nationhood Defined, Nagpur, 1947.
6. Romila Thapar, 'The Rgveda: Encapsulating Social Change' in
K.N.Panikkar et.al. (ed) The Making of History, New Delhi, 2000, pp.
11-40; R.S. Sharma, Advent of the Aryans in India, New Delhi, 1999
Shereen Ratnagar, End of the Great Har appan Tradition, New Delhi,
2000.
7. An advocate of this theory is a computer scientist based in North
America, N.S. Rajaram, who has authored two books, Aryan Invasion of
India (1993) and The Politics of History (1995). The arguments and
interpretations in these two books are found to be fictional and
historically unfounded. See Shereen Ratnagar, Revisionist at work: A
chauvinistic Inversion of the Aryan Invasion Theory, Frontline,
February 9,1996. More grievously Rajaram has been found faking
evidence by Michael Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard
University. For his findings and criticism see website,
http://www.Safarmer.com/horseseal/update.html (The authoritative
version of Witzel and Farmer's collaborative work on Rajaram's
supposed findings has b een published as a cover story in Frontline,
October 13, 2000.)
8. H.D. Sankalia, 'In History', Seminar, No. 93, May 1967, pp.12-16.
Also see Alan Heston, 'An Approach to the Sacred Cow of India',
Current Anthropology, Vol.12, No.2, April 1971 and Marvin Harris, 'The
Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle', Cultural Anthropology, Vol.
7, No. 1, February 1966.
9. P.V.Kane, History of the Dharma Shastras, Pune, 1975, Vol.ii, pp.
772-76.
10. Complete Works of Vivekananda, Vol.V, Calcutta, 1966, pp.477-498.
11. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History,
Bombay, 1966.
12. Richard M. Eaton, 'Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States' in
Essays on Islam and Indian History, New Delhi, 2000.
13. Ibid.
14. K.N. Panikkar (ed.), The Concerned Indian's Guide to Communalism,
'Introduction', New Delhi, 1999, p.xiii.
15. Paul Veyne, Did the Greeks Believe in the Myth?, Chicago,1983.
16. K.N. Panikkar, 'An Overview' in S. Gopal (ed.) Anatomy of a
Confrontation: Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumi Issue, New Delhi, 1991.
17. The details of this incident and the report of the enquiry are
available in Foreign Political Consultation, No.34, 28 December 1855,
National Archives of India, New Delhi.
18. National Curriculum Framework for School Education - A Discussion
Document, NCERT, New Delhi, 2000, p.24.
19. 'Conference of State Education Ministers and Education
Secretaries, October 22-24, Agenda Papers, Annexure.
20. Ibid.
21. National Steering Committee on Textbook Evaluation:
Recommendations and Report, NCERT, p. 6, New Delhi, 1998.
22. See Sanskar Saurab Series published by the Bharatiya Shiksha
Samiti, Rajasthan.
23. National Steering Committee on Textbook Evaluation:
Recommendations and Report, NCERT, p.14
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1801/18010730.htm
Volume 23 - Issue 01, Jan. 14 - 27, 2006
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COMMUNALISM
A saffron assault abroad
NALINI TANEJA
The Hindu Right's attempts to rewrite school textbooks on India and
Hinduism in California meet with stiff resistance from renowned
historians and scholars in the U.S. and abroad.
THE connections between communalist political strategies and textbook
revisions were explored in detail in the media when the Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) went about changing the syllabus of the National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and getting
school history textbooks rewritten while in government. But few would
imagine that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-linked
organisations were in a position to put their stamp on school
textbooks in California in the United States. The partial success of
the "education" wings of the Hindu Swayamsewak Sangh in getting many
of their revisions approved by the Curriculum Commission (CC) of the
California State Board of Education has caused a virtual
"international scandal".
The State Board of Education, California, is currently engaged in
approving the history/social science textbooks for grades six to eight
in schools, an exercise undertaken periodically. The Hindu Education
Foundation and the Vedic Foundation (based in the U.S.) have used the
occasion to push through "corrections" in the textbooks approved.
Shiva Bajpai, who constituted the one-member ad hoc committee set up
by the Board, succeeded in getting virtually all the changes requested
by these organisations incorporated into the textbooks. Professor
Emeritus at California State University, Northridge, and a Hindutva-
leaning adviser to the Board, Bajpai was proposed as expert by the
Vedic Foundation. That the Hindutva groups have not had a walkover is
thanks to the vigilance and commitment of the many academics involved
in Indian studies all over the world. Intervention by Professors
Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer in the form of a letter, signed by 50
other scholars, presented at a public hearing on November 9, resulted
in the Board reversing its initial approval of the pro-Hindutva
changes. Prof. Witzel is a well-known Indologist and has often taken
up the cudgels against Hindutva ideologues such as David Frawley, N.S.
Rajaram and Konrad Elst in the West.
Witzel's letter, endorsed among others by renowned Indian historians
Romila Thapar, D.N. Jha and Shereen Ratnagar, to Ruth Green,
President, State Board of Education, California, on behalf of "world
specialists on ancient India", voicing "mainstream academic opinion in
India, Pakistan, the United States, Europe, Australia, Taiwan and
Japan" on the issue, is now part of a concerted campaign encompassing
well-known scholars and hundreds of teachers and parents in
California.
These scholars make the important point that the "corrections"
proposed by the Hindu Right in the U.S. reflect political agendas
discriminatory to millions of people in India, especially the
minorities, `lower' castes, and women; and that such revisions have
already been debated thoroughly and rejected by academics and
progressive political opinion in India. Besides, they "do not reflect
the views of majority of the specialists on ancient Indian history,
nor of majority of the Hindus".
Asserting that "the proposed revisions are not of a scholarly, but of
a religious-political nature and are primarily promoted by Hindutva
supporters and non-specialist academics writing about issues far
outside their areas of expertise", the scholars have called on the
Board to "reject the demands by nationalist Hindu (Hindutva) groups".
From India, 12 historians have written to the CC to reject the changes
proposed by the RSS-linked organisations in the U.S.
Signatures opposing the sectarian changes have been pouring in by the
day and the Board, now alert to the issue, has constituted a new
Content Review Committee (among its members are Professors Witzel,
James Heitzman and Stanley Wolpert), which has put together a list of
recommendations that "allow for only such changes as meet the
standards of objective scholarship".
On the other side, the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic
Foundation protested the constitution of the Content Review Committee
and the inclusion of Witzel on it. They launched a campaign that the
"corrections" were incorporated through a proper procedure and claimed
that Witzel knew little about Hinduism and ancient Indian history.
They also asserted their right to represent Hindus in the U.S. and
their authority to decide what is the `authentic' depiction of
Hinduism and ancient Indian history.
Frantic mobilisation by Pranawa C. Deshmukh, a professor of physics at
the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, in support of the changes
suggested by the Vedic Foundation and the Hindu Education Foundation,
and the pressure of a host of organisations that constitute the
`parivar' in the U.S. resulted in many of the proposed changes in
textbooks getting the approval despite scholarly opinion being heavily
weighted against it.
The details of how this was achieved remind one of the way in which
RSS-sponsored revisions of textbooks were pushed through during the
BJP's tenure in power at the Centre. During the meeting for the
adoption of the recommendations of the Board by the CC in the course
of a public hearing on December 1 and 2, 2005, the members of the
Commission actually flouted the mandate of the Education Board. Of the
total 156 edits requested, the CC accepted 97 that conformed to what
the Hindutva organisations had proposed.
According to Witzel, "the proceedings of the CC meetings were highly
skewed, irregular and contravened the mandate given by the Board". The
Board had directed that the Commission approve only edits that
"improve the factual accuracy of materials". Instead, matters were so
arranged that several Commissioners had already left in the afternoon
of December 2, by the time this was voted on. Others abstained as they
did not know about the matter at hand (but with stacks of related
papers in front of them which they apparently had not read, including
the letter by more than 100 U.S. professors of Indian background and
others by groups of concerned Indian Americans). All were tired, and
one Commissioner, Stan Metzenberg, Professor of Biology at California
State University, Northridge, took the chance to push through
aggressively the Vedic Foundation's agenda. "The CC redefined their
mandate repeatedly, contravening the mandate of the Board that the
Commission should approve only edits that `improve the factual
accuracy of materials'; they allowed additional changes made from the
floor by Hindutvavadins to be inserted; they pushed through a
sectarian agenda that redefines Indian history and Hinduism," Witzel
said.
The Hindu Education Foundation appreciatively quotes Metzenburg as
saying: "I've read the DNA research and there was no Aryan migration.
I believe the hard evidence of DNA more than I believe historians."
However, finally it had to be agreed as: "Some historians believe in
the theory of an Aryan migration." He insisted that "Hindus should at
least be able to recognise their own religion when they read these
textbooks". In short, the textbooks must reflect popular common sense
rather than strive to mould/challenge popular common sense on the
basis of objective historical facts or the gains of scientific
enquiry.
Witzel puts it thus: "California has been hijacked by a saffron
agenda, worse by a sectarian saffron agenda. In this case, a strident
Vaishnava one that excludes Shaiva, Devi, Tantric, Lingayat and other
forms of Hindu worship and Darshana... The new CA [California] history
textbooks will reflect that."
Going by the "corrections" approved, the word "murti" means "God" (the
CC agreed to the Hindu request to change "statue" to "deity"), the
translation of "brahman" is "God", and all Hindus believe in God whose
name is Bhagwan.
The "corrections" demanded by the Hindutva organisations are integral
to the Sangh Parivar's political agenda in India, and similar to what
the BJP government was trying to do with the NCERT syllabus and
textbooks in social sciences, particularly history.
For example, among the "corrections" suggested is a clear attempt to
deny the integrality of the caste system in ancient India; it was
proposed to delete the reference altogether in one textbook. In
another, it was proposed that the picture of an untouchable be
removed. In yet another book, a reference to caste system as part of
Aryan society was replaced by: "During Vedic times, people were
divided into different social groups (varnas) based on their capacity
to undertake a particular profession." Another reference to caste is
to read as: "A late hymn of the Rg Veda describes the
interrelationship and interdependence of the four social classes."
On women, it was suggested that the references to gender bias in
ancient India were incorrect and insulting to Hindu society. Therefore
the line, "Men had many more rights than women" was to be replaced by,
"Men had different duties (dharma) and rights than women. Many women
were among the sages to whom the Vedas were revealed."
In another textbook, the changes included a specific addition that
"the recent archaeological proofs are negating the Aryan invasion
theory. The new theory suggests that Aryans were not the outsiders".
Elsewhere: "They [Aryans] were part of a larger group of people
historians refer to as the Indo-Europeans" is replaced with the
statement: "Some historians believe the Aryans were part of a larger
group of people known as the Indo-Europeans." "The Vedas came to form
the major beliefs of the religion called Brahmanism" is replaced with:
"The Vedas constitute the source of Hinduism." Early Aryan religion is
to be replaced with references to early Hindu religion.
Still other corrections follow the familiar pattern of ante-dating the
Rg Veda, confusing dates of Indus and Harappa city-based civilisations
with the Vedic civilisation, conflating Brahmanical practices with
Hinduism, describing the Vedas as the source and basic texts of
Hinduism, denying the plurality of gods worshipped through history in
favour of one God in different forms, depicting sudras as "serving all
classes" and doing "labour-intensive work" rather than serving `upper'
castes and so on. The current Hindutva preoccupations such as
asserting the sacredness of cows, vegetarianism and the Saraswati
civilisation myth have also found their way into the textbooks.
Tolerance is shown as "usual" for the time of Asoka in ancient India;
the references to technology, science and mathematics in ancient India
have been modified to enable suitable glorification; and negative
aspects of society are either deleted or presented as cultural
specificities rather than as oppressive ones.
THE moves by the Hindu Right in the U.S. are no flash in the pan. The
web sites of two of the organisations spearheading the Hindutva
campaign - the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation -
expressly state the revision of school textbooks in the U.S. as part
of their political agenda. They regularly "interact" with State
Education Committees that define school curriculum, conduct seminars
and training programmes for teachers and "create resources" for
parents who "wish to provide such opportunities for educators in their
own areas". There are fora of all kinds offering entertainment,
educational services and social support to youth. Alternative social
networks through bhajan mandalis, yoga centres, discussion groups,
special programmes and publications devoted to children, answer the
yearnings for roots and culture among immigrants. The RSS-linked
organisations have penetrated all these and are creating new ones all
the time. The entire effort is part of the RSS' larger goal to
"educate" Hindu children brought up in the U.S. to be "good Hindus"
and to "learn the truth about Indian history and culture", and
ultimately to finance their "social work" in India.
Not long ago, citizens' groups in India and North America exposed the
nexus between funding of charities in the West and the hate campaigns
and the expansion of communal networks of the Sangh Parivar in India.
Infusing hatred directly or through the educational set-up is not as
easy in the U.S. as it is through the Vidya Bharati schools and the
Ekal Vidyalayas in India. The strategy of the Hindu Right is different
in the U.S. It does the next best thing: it creates innumerable social
networks where prejudices are nurtured and fascist solutions to
problems legitimised, and glories of ancient India and Hinduism rule
the roost.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127000807700.htm
Volume 16 - Issue 9, Apr. 24 - May. 07, 1999
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
The DMK's turnabout
The circumstances surrounding the fall of the Vajpayee Government may
lead to a realignment of political forces in Tamil Nadu, where the
ruling DMK finds itself politically isolated.
T.S. SUBRAMANIAN
in Chennai
EVEN as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary
Jayalalitha helped push Vajpayee Government out of power, her
principal political rival in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister and Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi, stood politically isolated
from his erstwhile allies. Karunanidhi's gamble in deciding to support
the BJP-led Government in the vote of confidence, breaking ranks with
four allies - the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), the Communist Party of
India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Janata Dal
- failed.
Indeed, no party in Tamil Nadu has emerged with a creditable image
from the latest political battle. Clearly, it was not "national
security", as Jayalalitha claimed, but her personal agenda to get the
DMK Government dismissed and extricate herself from the corruption
cases she faces that in the end drove her to desert the BJP-led
Government. On the other hand, the DMK's volte-face and its voting
alongside the BJP made a mockery of its claims to upholding the
Dravidian legacy of combating communalism; Karunanidhi sought to
justify his decision by saying that "Jayalalitha's corruption is more
dangerous than communalism."
The TMC seems to have emerged relatively unscathed; the party made
known its stand opposing in equal measure the BJP's communalism and
the AIADMK's corruption. TMC president G.K. Moopanar did not yield to
pressure from the DMK, some other parties and film actor Rajnikant to
bail out the Vajpayee Government by voting in support of the
confidence motion or abstaining during the vote. Moopanar also
reportedly told Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi and other
Congress(I) leaders that his party would not support a Congress(I)-led
Government in which the AIADMK was a partner.
Soon after the Vajpayee Government was voted out, Moopanar, in a clear
reference to the AIADMK, said: "Corrupt elements cannot be allowed to
go out of one door and re-enter the government through another door...
The TMC hopes that the Congress(I) will adhere to the principles
contained in the (Pachmarhi) declaration and that the new formation
will fight the twin evils of communalism and corruption."
Sources in the Left parties said that the DMK had placed "personal
interests above national interests" and had lost out eventually.
Informed sources in the TMC and the Left parties said that the DMK had
stood on prestige and that its actions were motivated by a desire to
see that Jayalalitha did not get the "credit" for toppling the
Vajpayee Government. A Left leader said: "If the DMK had joined us,
the credit would not have gone to Jayalalitha. She has accomplished
what she set out to do."
Karunanidhi shrugged off the defeat of the BJP-led Government, saying:
"In a democracy, victories and defeats are common... I do not want to
pretend that I do not feel sad about the defeat." He said the reason
for the defeat was the "magnanimity" of Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C.
Balayogi in allowing Orissa Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang to vote on
the motion.
THE fall of the Vajpayee Government and the circumstances that led up
to it may lead to a realignment of political parties in Tamil Nadu.
The TMC, the CPI(M) and the CPI may part company with the DMK and
forge a new front, and the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(MDMK) led by Vaiko, which was a constituent of the BJP-led coalition,
may join it. The Congress(I) and the AIADMK may formalise an alliance
and may be joined by the PMK led by Dr. S. Ramadoss.
When it became clear that the AIADMK was preparing to withdraw support
to the Vajpayee Government, the BJP set in motion efforts to win the
DMK's support. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and Vajpayee spoke to
Karunanidhi on the phone on April 9 and 10 respectively and sought his
party's support. Informed sources in the BJP and the DMK said that
Karunanidhi told them that the DMK's ideology was opposed to that of
the BJP's Hindutva, and that in any case only the party executive
could take a decision.
The first indication that the DMK might strike out on its own came on
April 11, when newspersons asked Karunanidhi what strategy the DMK
would adopt in the light of the political developments in New Delhi.
Karunanidhi asked: "How can we be in a front in which Jayalalitha is a
part?" The DMK also came under pressure from the BJP, which pointed
out that over the past year the Prime Minister had not yielded to the
AIADMK's repeated demands for the dismissal of the Karunanidhi
Government. Vazhapadi K. Ramamurthi of the Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress
too spoke to Karunanidhi and told him that even if the DMK did not
support the BJP, it should do nothing that would assist Jayalalitha in
her efforts to topple the Government.
Even after the DMK indicated that it would go with the BJP, Moopanar
stuck to his stand. "We will always work against corruption and
communalism," he said. When Moopanar met Congress(I) leaders in the
first week of April, he put forward only one condition: a Congress(I)
government should not include the AIADMK.
DMK leaders Murasoli Maran, MP, and Health Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy
met Moopanar on April 12 in order to explain their party's stand. But
Moopanar made it clear that the TMC would have nothing to do with
either the AIADMK or the BJP and that it expected the DMK to take a
similar stand. No such assurance came from Maran and Veerasamy.
S. THANTHONI
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi. His
gamble in deciding to spport the BJP-led Government in the vote of
confidence, breaking ranks with his party's allies in the State,
failed.
Jayalalitha left for New Delhi on April 12, ruling out the possibility
of a rapprochement with the BJP because Vajpayee and Advani had spoken
to Karunanidhi.
On April 13 the DMK executive met and passed a resolution which said
that since Jayalalitha posed "the biggest threat to the State and the
nation, the DMK will not support any formation in which Jayalalitha
found a place directly or indirectly." Karunanidhi summed up his
party's intention when he said: "Jayalalitha's corruption is a bigger
threat than communalism." The resolution added that Jayalalitha was
bent on toppling the Government not because she opposed communalism
but because she wanted to extricate herself from the corruption cases
she was facing. Besides, the "one and only item on her agenda" was to
get the DMK Government dismissed, it said.
The DMK's stand shocked the Left parties. State CPI secretary R.
Nallakannu and State CPI(M) secretary N. Sankariah issued a joint
statement asking the DMK to reconsider its stand and take "a political
position which will be firmly against the BJP Government."
When Frontline met Nallakannu and Sankariah separately, they assailed
the DMK line that "Jayalalitha's corruption is more dangerous than
communalism." They agreed that Jayalalitha was monumentally corrupt
and that she had tried to extricate herself from the corruption cases
against her and that the BJP had aided her in this. But, they noted,
the five parties in the DMK-led front in Tamil Nadu had fought this.
However, when the AIADMK had withdrawn its support to the Vajpayee
Government because of "internal contradictions" and the Government was
about to fall, the five parties should back that move, they said.
Jayalalitha's corruption could be tackled later, after the Government
fell, they reasoned.
N. BALAJI
TMC president G.K. Moopanar. The TMC seemed to have emerged
relatively unscathed from the latest round; the party made known its
stand opposing in equal measure the BJP's communalism and the AIADMK's
corruption.
Sankariah said: "We will not protect anybody who is corrupt. The law
will take its own course."
Both Nallakannu and Sankariah squelched the DMK's fears that if the
Congress(I) formed a coalition government with the AIADMK as a
partner, the DMK Government would again be dismissed. Nallakannu said
that in the absence of a majority, the Congress(I) would not be able
to dismiss the DMK Government, and that in any case the Communist
parties would firmly oppose any such move. Nallakannu said that the
DMK's decision to support the BJP at this juncture "does not behove
Tamil Nadu's political background because the legacy of the Dravidian
parties is to oppose sectarian politics."
Informed sources said that Karunanidhi felt "insulted" that CPI(M)
general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet met Jayalalitha in Delhi on
April 14. CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan too met her the next
day.
Karunanidhi accused the CPI(M) and the CPI of initiating steps that
"certainly fragmented" the Third Front. He said: "I do not know what
prompted Mr. Surjeet to ignore the DMK and talk to Jayalalitha." He
wondered what had become of the assurances from West Bengal Chief
Minister Jyoti Basu and Surjeet that the DMK and the TMC were very
much a part of the Third Front and that a collective decision would be
taken. He accused the CPI(M) and the CPI of not consulting the DMK on
the fast-moving developments in New Delhi. He said he was sure that
the political parties which had lined up behind Jayalalitha now would
see her in her true colours at the appropriate time.
SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY
Jayalalitha with CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan at Ajoy Bhavan,
the CPI headquarters, in New Delhi on April 15. The circumstances that
led up to the fall of the Vajpayee Government may lead to a
realignment of political parties in Tamil Nadu.
CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury refuted Karunanidhi's
allegation that he had not been consulted by the Left parties. He said
the Central and State leadership of the CPI(M) had been in constant
touch with the DMK. If the DMK wanted to change its position, the Left
should "not be used as an excuse," he said.
With the defeat of the Vajpayee Government, the DMK, which is without
friends, may face tough days ahead in the political arena. Karunanidhi
admitted as much when he said that the DMK had been isolated from the
Left parties. "But we will not be isolated from the people," he
added.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl1609/16090210.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
CONTROVERSY
Artist’s alienation
V. VENKATESAN
Harassment by Hindutva fanatics and law enforcers made M.F. Husain
accept Qatari nationality.
V. GANESAN
THAT India’s pre-eminent artist, Maqbool Fida Husain, 94, had to
accept the citizenship of another country may well be the tragedy of
Indian secularism. On February 25, the Government of Qatar conferred
on him Qatari nationality, without his applying for the same.
Husain’s acquisition of Qatar’s citizenship will, in all probability,
raise questions about whether he can retain his Indian citizenship.
Under Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, any citizen of India who
voluntarily acquires the citizenship of another country shall, upon
such acquisition, cease to be a citizen of India. The key word here is
“voluntarily”. Therefore, when the Central government seeks to
determine whether he “voluntarily” acquired the citizenship of Qatar,
it may well consider the circumstances that left him with no choice,
apart from the obvious facts.
The story of Husain’s struggle for justice has to be traced to 1996,
when Hindutva forces were on the ascendant following their success in
electoral politics. In September 1996, an article by one Om Nagpal,
titled “Is he [Husain] an artist or a butcher?” appeared in Vichar
Mimansa, a monthly magazine in Hindi published from Bhopal. In the
article Husain’s depiction of the goddess Saraswati in the nude was
reproduced. The magazine’s editor, V.S. Vajpayee, had come across it
in the book Husain - Riding the Lightning by Dnyaneshwar Nadkarni.
Husain had drawn this in 1970.
Maharashtra’s then Minister for Culture and Shiv Sena leader Pramod
Navalkar, who came across newspaper reports of the article, and then
read the article, wrote to the Mumbai Police Commissioner informing
him of the material referred to in the article. The Mumbai Police
treated the letter as a complaint and registered a case on October 8,
1996, against Husain under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between
different groups on account of religion, etc.) and 295A (deliberate
and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any
class) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
These are provisions that cannot be invoked without the sanction of
the State government. The non-application of mind by the State
government, before granting sanction, thus sowed the seeds of bigotry.
Soon after, Bajrang Dal activists barged into the Herwitz gallery in
Ahmedabad’s famous Husain-Doshi Gufa art complex to destroy Husain’s
paintings. They ransacked the place and the damage was estimated at Rs.
1.5 crore. Damage was inflicted on all of Husain’s paintings,
including his depictions of the Buddha, Hanuman and Ganesha. The State
government’s reluctance to apprehend those responsible for the attack
encouraged a culture of impunity.
Artists in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad came out in a public expression
of solidarity with Husain. Husain, then in London, issued a statement
in which he said it was not his intention to hurt people’s feelings
with his art, but if he had, he regretted it.
Metaphoric art
Husain was born in a working class family of some means in Pandharpur,
Maharashtra. He intermittently attended the local college of arts in
Indore. At 17, he was apprenticed to a tailor; he also trained to
become a prayer leader. He moved to Mumbai in 1937 and lived for many
years in a slum. There he worked as an assistant to a billboard
painter, and then became a painter of signs himself. He also worked as
a furniture designer and as a toy maker. He painted determinedly
through all these phases.
His references to Indian culture are metaphoric. In fact, the
Saraswati sketch was really skeletal, an outline showing a woman as a
muse. It revealed Husain’s deft strokes. There was nothing in it that
could be called grotesque. As Rajeev Dhavan records in his book
Publish and be Damned: Censorship and Intolerance in India (Tulika
Books, 2008), it was the Vichar Mimansa headline calling Husain a
butcher that built up hatred against the painter and his works. In
fact, the publication should have been indicted for hate speech.
Since Vichar Mimansa was published from Madhya Pradesh, the
prosecutions should have been launched in that State. But there is no
legal bar to prosecute from any State where the publication was
distributed. This legal labyrinth prompted Hindutva forces to choose
Maharashtra, where the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party was in power,
rather than Madhya Pradesh, which was then ruled by a Congress
government led by Digvijay Singh.
Artists and historians had then sought to expose the vacuousness of
the protests by the Hindutva fringe groups. They pointed out that the
walls of the Hoysala temples depict a variety of Saraswati images, all
nude. Nudity was never questioned in Indian art. Experiments of early
Indian artists were much more daring than Husain’s.
Hate-mongers
On May 1, 1998, Bajrang Dal activists forced their way into Husain’s
South Mumbai home and created mayhem. They were ostensibly provoked by
one of his works exhibited in New Delhi. They interpreted that the
painting depicted Sita perched on the tail of a flying Hanuman, both
in the nude. Husain had never given a caption to this painting, and
the Hindutvavadis gave a free rein to their imagination.
This time, as in 1996, Husain suggested setting up a three-member
committee – an art critic, a lawyer and a representative of the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP) – that could go through his entire collection. He
said he was prepared to destroy immediately any work that the
committee found objectionable.
But the VHP-Bajrang Dal combine could not be pacified by these
concessions which, to many of Husain’s admirers, seemed unwarranted.
In 2006, Husain was accused of painting a ‘Naked Bharat Mata’ (nude
Mother India). The painting was put up for auction by Apparao
Galleries of Chennai. The title Bharat Mata was given by the
auctioneer without reference to Husain. Husain again apologised and
withdrew the painting from the charity auction.
SEBASTIAN D'SOUZA/AFP
M.F. Husain at the inauguration of his exhibition "...and not only 88
of Husain" at the National Art Gallery in Mumbai in Janary 2004.
Although Husain apologised to stop the hate campaign, he was innocent
and had no intention of painting something profane.
The hate-mongers remained dissatisfied. It was then that Home Minister
Shivraj Patil instructed the police chiefs of Delhi and Mumbai to take
“appropriate action” against Husain on the basis of an intelligence
input that Husain’s Bharat Mata and other controversial paintings of
Hindu goddesses could spark communal trouble. Newspaper reports about
the May 2006 advisory shocked the artistic community.
The advisory was based on the Law Ministry’s review of about six
paintings by Husain. The Law Ministry had concluded that a sound case
had been made for the prosecution of Husain. The United Progressive
Alliance government, which now swears by its resolve to give
protection to Husain if he returns to India, has no explanation why it
responded the way it did in 2006.
Artists such as Vivan Sundaram, Ram Rahman, Shubha Mudgal, Arjun Dev,
K. Bikram Singh, S. Kalidas, Krishen Khanna and Rajen Prasad wrote to
Shivraj Patil on May 8, 2006, to withdraw immediately the advisory, if
it had been issued, as such an action had never been taken earlier
against a visual artist. “The implications of such a step are very
serious and strike at the very foundations of our democratic polity,”
they wrote. They pointed out to Patil that Husain’s work is a
celebration of the multi-cultural and multi-religious life of
independent India. Though a Muslim, Husain has done a series of
paintings celebrating the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the
mythological traditions of other religions that have taken root in
India – such as Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism as well as
Islam. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on this acclaim.
Meanwhile, death threats were issued, putting a price on Husain’s
head. Ashok Pandey, who claimed to be the president of the Hindu Law
Board, offered a Minister from Uttar Pradesh Rs.101 crore to kill
Husain in response to the Minister’s offer of Rs.51 crore to any
person who assassinated the Danish cartoonist who had insulted the
Prophet.
In Gujarat, Jashubhai Patel, who was earlier president of the BJP unit
in Mehsana district, announced that he would pay one kilogram of gold
to anyone who gouged out the eyes of Husain and cut off his right
thumb so that he would never be able to make paintings of Hindu gods
and goddesses. The Congress Minority Cell in Madhya Pradesh offered Rs.
11 lakh to any patriot who would chop off Husain’s hands because he
had hurt Hindu sentiments. The call was issued by Akhtar Baig, who was
vice-president of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee in Indore.
If these threats dissuaded Husain from returning to India, he could
not be blamed for it. The police in these States did not take any
action against those who issued the threats despite their identity
having been revealed in the media. Such threats are covered under
Section 503 of the IPC (criminal intimidation), and punishment for
this offence under Section 506 is imprisonment up to seven years.
The same month, there was an exhibition of Husain’s paintings at Asia
House in London. A protest was organised by Arjun Malik of the Hindu
Human Rights Campaign against the exhibition and against the Japanese
firm Hitachi that had supplied plasma screens to the gallery for
better viewing. Asia House gallery succumbed to the pressure by
concluding the exhibition much before the scheduled date.
The controversy over the Bharat Mata painting was an invitation to
bigots to use legal means to harass Husain. In a sense, the legal
process itself was a punishment. A social worker filed a complaint
before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, in Indore, who summoned
Husain. Husain feared that his life would be in danger in Indore if he
appeared before the magistrate. A bailable warrant was then issued
against Husain. Soon other complaints followed.
Typical of these complaints was that neither the complaint nor the
summoning order referred to any sanction granted by the Central or
State governments – a mandatory requirement under Section 196 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). In a complaint registered in
Pandharpur, a non-existent provision, Section 501B IPC, was invoked on
the basis of which a non-bailable warrant of arrest was issued against
him by a lower court. The court directed the Kerala government to
present him in the Pandharpur court as and when he arrived in Kerala
to receive the Raja Ravi Varma Award for 2007. The basis of the
complaint was that Husain had hurt the sentiments of Hindus through
his painting of Bharat Mata. These multiple proceedings had the
chilling effect of distracting him from his obsession and love for
art. It also dissuaded him from returning to India from his self-
imposed exile in Dubai.
Landmark judgment
In December 2006, the Supreme Court directed transfer of all the
pending cases against him in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar to
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi. When the ACMM issued
a summons to Husain in three such cases, he filed a revision petition
in the Delhi High Court to quash the same.
Despite the ruling of the Delhi High Court on May 8, 2008, quashing
the summons, three cases are pending against him in the Sessions Court
at Patiala House in Delhi on virtually identical charges.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul delivered the landmark High Court judgment
in 2008. The essence of the judgment was that Husain’s Bharat Mata
painting is not obscene, as it is not lascivious and nor does it
appeal to prurient interests. The painting depicts India in a human
form, and the naked portrayal of a concept which has no particular
face does not qualify the as obscene, Justice Kaul reasoned. By way of
an abstract expression, Husain tried to elucidate the concept of a
nation in the form of a distressed woman; the aesthetic touch to the
painting dwarfs the so-called obscenity in the form of nudity, he
explained. He also disagreed with the view that the painting could
offend religious feelings.
The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against this judgment. But three
more cases are yet to be disposed of at the Patiala House District
Court, New Delhi. In one case, a first information report (FIR) was
registered against Husain, and the court ordered a police
investigation, which has not yet been concluded. The remaining two
cases have been transferred from other States to Delhi. It is clear
that after Justice Kaul’s judgment, these cases too needed to be
quashed by the District Court. The Delhi High Court quashed one such
case in 2009. The pendency of these cases made the prospect of his
arrest and harassment real if he returned to India.
Even though Home Minister P. Chidambaram promises full security to
Husain if he returns to India, the threat of vandalism against his
paintings still looms large. Organisers of any exhibition of modern
art, let alone art summits, now tend to exclude Husain’s paintings
from it.
Akhil Sibal, Husain’s advocate in Delhi, said: “The Government of
India has been a silent spectator to his harassment for 15 years. It
has taken neither any clear position nor any unequivocal step to
secure him, and those who support him, a harassment-free environment.
Let the government not be held hostage and paralysed by the shrill
voices of extremists.”
In the case decided by Justice Kaul, the Additional Solicitor General
while assisting the Court promised that he would advise the Central
government to take steps by way of appropriate legislative amendments
to prevent harassment of artists, sculptors, authors, film-makers and
so on in different creative fields. Justice Kaul hoped that this
aspect would get the attention it deserves and the legislature in its
wisdom would examine the feasibility of possible changes in law.
Justice Kaul had made it clear that the criminal justice system should
not be invoked as a convenient recourse to ventilate any and all
objections to an artistic work. The system, he warned, can cause
serious violations of the rights of people in the creative fields, and
this represents a growing intolerance and divisiveness within society
and poses a threat to the democratic fabric of the nation. Therefore,
he said, the magistrates must scrutinise each case in order to prevent
vexatious and frivolous cases from being filed and ensure that it is
not used as a tool to harass the accused. Rather than make empty
promises to Husain to guarantee his security if he returns to India,
the government may well initiate concrete action on the reforms
suggested by Justice Kaul.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270611500.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
CONTROVERSY
Shock and shame
S. ARNEJA
Artist Vivan Sundaram.
IN a recent interview to NDTV, Maqbool Fida Husain, the first global
modernist painter from India, made his decision to accept Qatari
citizenship sound like a practical imperative. He said since he had
found sponsors in London (United Kingdom) and Qatar to complete his
three projects on ancient civilisations, he would have to become a non-
resident Indian (NRI) because of the excessive tax structure
prevailing in India. He justified the decision by saying that even
film directors such as Roman Polanski and Ingmar Bergman had to leave
their countries.
He said: “Had I been 40, I would have fought them [attackers of his
art] tooth and nail but here I want to focus only on my work. I don’t
want any disturbance. I need all comforts and facilities to the
maximum.” He added: “These boundaries are only political boundaries.
The visual arts especially is a universal language; you can be
anywhere in the world but the work that you do has a strong link to
5,000 years of our great Indian culture.”
However, most artists in India expressed shame, sadness and shock at
Husain being pushed to the edge. They recalled Husain’s life and the
implications of his enforced exile.
The renowned Hindustani classical singer Shubha Mudgal says: “It is
tragic that we allowed this to happen. Having gone through what M.F.
Husain has, we are no one to tell him where to go or not. The
government is talking of disaster management now but where was it all
these years? Unfortunately, art does not transcend all boundaries of
prejudices and that prevents the artistic community from taking a
stand together. To top it all, there is no space for artists to get
together to discuss Husain and other issues such as censorship. If
this can happen to Husain, what can happen to many lesser-known
artists?”
The photographer Ram Rahman hesitates to use the word “controversial”
to describe Husain’s paintings. “We have to ask who made these
paintings controversial? Why use a discourse that has been defined by
right-wing militants? And how can we talk of Qatar’s freedom of
expression if Husain and other artists are being attacked in India?”
He is sceptical about the Indian government’s promise of security to
Husain. he said: “He is not a corporate honcho or a political leader.
He is a free bird. Would he be able to work in an environment he knows
is not conducive to work? All because you are letting the RSS
[Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh] and national politics, and not the
Constitution, define citizenry.”
In her recent essay “Modernist Myths and the Exile of Maqbool Fida
Husain”, the art historian Geeta Kapur profiles his exile in its
tragic, political and discursive meanings. She says that Husain faces
multiple exiles. According to her, “if an exiled artist is seen to
radiate a sense of self, an emanation of solitude, crucial to the
creative soul”, it was also crucial for Husain, facing so much apathy,
to impose on himself an exile in order to exercise uncompromised
understanding of ethical issues.
She goes on to write: “Husain is stereotypically a postcolonial artist
and his exile carries the entire burden of the citizenship/community
discourse in India… In post-Independence India, Husain’s visible
identity as a Muslim figured emblematically but was not overplayed,
since the secular was simply a taken-for-granted for all modern
artists. Now, 60 years hence, even as he (so admirably) refuses to
play the opposite role of an embittered Muslim or a national martyr,
he must rely on the modern artist’s sense of singularity to salvage
himself.”
The Husain issue has many political implications. Branding is a
contemporary political reality: someone who is a human rights activist
can be branded as a Maoist or someone speaking for minority rights can
be seen as a terrorist in a security-driven system. All these trends
recoil into suppression of free speech, the most important pillar of a
democratic society.
SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Film director Shyam Benegal.
In a liberal space, none of the artists discount the right of the
groups protesting against Husain but are critical of violent methods
to assert their point. The film-maker Shyam Benegal, known for his
socially sensitive cinema, says: “There is a convergence of the
politics of intimidation and the politics of identity in these times,
which creates the ‘other’ very easily. How can we just blame the right-
wing groups? It is an organised attitude. The Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute in Pune was ransacked in 2004 by the Sambhaji
Brigade, a cultural group of the Nationalist Congress Party.
Similarly, what happened with Shah Rukh Khan is absurd. There are ways
to protest because in a country that guarantees free speech,
sentiments can get hurt. We all have our ways to protest, but to say
you have no right to exist is a matter of concern.”
An important reading of Husain’s ostracism was done by Vivan Sundaram,
painter, sculptor and installation artist: “Visual images can have
many readings, and inbuilt into them are greater ambiguities. But
interpretation in a way that could make way for an attack is being
done by organised right-wing groups and not individuals.” When asked
whether Husain is trying to make a statement by accepting Qatar’s
citizenship, he said, “In a way, he is making some kind of a statement
that if you are insisting I should live in exile, then I will get rid
of this. Vigilance in the public domain is keeping India away from
many progressive thoughts. The government cannot just provide security
but it has to act consistently against fundamentalists. It is a
process, but the political leadership must stand up to it.”
In this polemic, what remains conspicuous is the government’s
emergence as a protector only when the issue of foreign nationality
surfaced. Geeta Kapur gives an explanation. She traces the transition
of an artist from a citizen to an interlocutor in the changed public
discourse. While, she says, the space for artists as citizens began to
be suppressed during the naxalite era of the 1960s and 1970s and then
during the Emergency, it became starker in the 1990s.
“The right-wing swing in Indian politics during the 1990s made the
‘othering’ process at work in the polity fully visible to the more
radical intelligentsia, as it also made visible the alienation of the
minorities and Dalits whose political struggles echoed through and
beyond the public sphere. The artist-interlocutor now undertook to
investigate the fault lines within civil society structures, as well
as to address the conditions of life that fall outside the protocols
of governances,” she writes.
By accepting Qatar’s citizenship, Husain precisely does this. For the
first time, perhaps, with Husain’s issue, citizenry engages with
minority rights and victimisation. These are issues of social
exclusion in terms of caste, gender and religion, which get lost in an
overarching identity of a ‘citizen’. It is in this context that Geeta
Kapur writes: “Husain’s exile is a personal tragedy and a national
shame. It is the exile of a modern artist, of a secular artist and,
more explicitly, a Muslim citizen-artist from secular India. Relayed
into each other, these aspects condense into a logic whereby it is
precisely as a secularist that Husain is accused.”
She goes on to say: “How ironic that antagonists as well as
protagonists should make it mandatory for Husain to publicly embrace
Islam and its metaphysics, endorse a sectarian identity, valorise the
Islamicate legacy, and interpret his present engagement with Arab
civilisation as an endorsement of his ‘originary/ethnic’ identity!
More ironical, that he must thereby shun not only the secular but also
the sovereign status he sought in the embrace of modernity.”
Faced with the empathy within the artistic community for Husain, the
Indian government has woken up to the need to bring Husain back to
India to salvage whatever little goodwill it may have among the
artists and liberal ideologues. But it needs to do more to convince
them about its sincerity.
By Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270611800.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
SOCIAL ISSUES
Khap terror
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
in Rohtak
Haryana’s caste panchayats continue to punish couples, practically
unchecked, for breaking “brotherhood norms”.
BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Azad Singh and Lakshmi, parents of Satish Berwal. The family has been
given police protection.
ON February 12, Meham town in Rohtak district, Haryana, saw a
citizens’ convention that was unusual in more than one sense. First,
it was being held from the ramparts of the Meham Chaubisi Chabootara,
a platform reserved for members of the Meham panchayat (a
conglomeration of 24 villages, better known as the Meham Chaubisi).
Second, the meeting was not dominated by any one caste. Third, it was
a congregation of secular and democratic groups, and a good number of
women participated in it. (Women had never attended meetings at that
venue since all caste and khap panchayats are male-dominated.) Fourth,
it was a meeting where caste and khap panchayats and their
undemocratic ways were roundly criticised. People from neighbouring
villages also attended the meeting and expressed their opposition to
the illegal acts of the panchayats.
The meeting reflected a growing anger against the actions of self-
styled khap panchayats. In early February itself, there were at least
three reported cases of panchayats ordering the expulsion of married
couples for having allegedly violated one community norm or the other.
Meham shot into notoriety 20 years ago following complaints of poll-
rigging and booth-capturing in an Assembly byelection. The election
had to be countermanded twice because of large-scale violence and the
murder of an independent candidate. The Meham Chaubisi has
historically played a crucial role in elections.
Bhaichaara victims
On January 31, Kavita and Satish, a young couple from Kheri Meham with
a nine-month-old child, were told by the khap panchayat that their
marriage three years ago was in violation of the gotra norm of
bhaichaara, or brotherhood. Kavita belongs to the Beniwal gotra and
Satish to the Berwal gotra, and their marriage had seemingly not
violated any caste or gotra norm. However, according to the bhaichaara
norm, girls belonging to a village’s dominant gotra could be accepted
in that village only as sisters, and not as wives. Of late, this has
been used to harass couples who either married out of their own choice
or whose marriages were arranged by their families.
Twenty-one members of the Beniwal gotra convened a meeting and decided
to expel Kavita and Satish from the village. Kavita could not stay in
the village as the wife of Satish, but the child could live with
Satish’s father, Azad Singh, the meeting decreed.
As a punishment for allowing the marriage to take place, the 65-year-
old Azad Singh was paraded around the village with a shoe shoved into
his mouth. Azad Singh’s family is among the poorer ones in the village
and belongs to a minority gotra. “We were told that we could stay on
in the village if we donated whatever land we possessed to the village
dera (a village shelter used by mendicants). As per the ruling, Satish
would become his own child’s uncle while I have to pay Rs.3 lakh for
the upkeep of my grandchild. How will I procure all the money for this
after giving away my land?” said Azad Singh.
Anil Rao, Senior Superintendent of Police, Rohtak, told Frontline that
the couple was now staying in Bhiwani district and that he had sent
word to the police authorities there to provide them security.
Kavita had, with support from her parents, who live in Bhiwani
district, approached the SSP with a detailed complaint, naming the
people who had convened the panchayat and humiliated her father-in-
law. She demanded action against the 21 gotra members involved in the
act. But the police registered a first information report (FIR)
without mentioning any names – reportedly owing to pressure from
influential people. Frontline learnt that at least two revenue
department employees and one panchayat samiti member were involved in
the humiliation of Azad Singh and in the decision to expel the
couple.
The SSP said that the police were doing everything possible to help
the couple and claimed that police intervention had forced the Meham
Chaubisi to reverse its judgment. A joint meeting of the Berwal and
Beniwal khaps resolved that the couple could live as man and wife but
outside their village. The Chaubisi also condemned the humiliation of
Azad Singh.
At Azad Singh’s house, emotions run high. “They have done their worst.
What more can they do?” said Azad Singh, referring to his humiliation.
While he and his wife Lakshmi are relieved to have police protection
against further assaults by members of the dominant gotra, they are
scared to say openly that they will bring their daughter-in-law home.
“What would you do if you are surrounded by the village toughs? But
how can a man and his wife reconvert as brother and sister?” wondered
an elderly relative of Azad Singh. However, she said that the
panchayat was right in its decision but others had influenced it
wrongly. Lakshmi wondered what would be the nature of her relationship
with her grandson, Raunaq, if her son and daughter-in-law were to see
each other as brother and sister.
It was shocking that none of the influential Berwal gotra members was
ready to stand by the family. Dharamraj, a former sarpanch of Kheri
village, said that the khaps’ decision, taken at a joint meeting of
the two khaps, was final. The role of an elected sarpanch, as has been
seen in most cases relating to such issues, is marginal. An older
citizen of the village told Frontline that an elected sarpanch was of
use only if he was influential and “strong”.
The police maintained a studious silence regarding the couple’s desire
to live together in their own village of Kheri. “Mindsets have to
change, and then there is the issue of bhaichaara that cannot be
disturbed,” said a police officer.
It is significant that the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu
notice of the issue and asked the Haryana government to file a reply.
The Director-General of Police told the court that the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, does not cover the activities of
khap panchayats. Equally significant is the fact that apart from the
Left parties and the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA),
which took up the cudgels on Kavita’s behalf, several individuals,
including veteran Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala, and
organisations such as the All India Lawyers’ Union, the All India
Kisan Sabha and a few youth organisations, denounced the undemocratic
diktats of the caste panchayat.
Apart from the Kheri incident, three other cases of caste panchayat
atrocities were reported in the recent past. A couple in Jind district
came under immense pressure to call off their engagement after a
section of residents of the boy’s village, Budalkhera, claimed that
the gotras of the groom and the bride had brotherly relations. The
Budalkhera panchayat declared that the marriage could not take place
in the village. The families of the couple resisted and finally, on
February 6, the panchayat reversed its order. But it ensured that the
wedding took place outside the village.
Similarly, on November 1 last year, a joint panchayat of the Garhi
Ballam and Sundana villages ordered a couple to leave the village for
violating gotra norms. The couple quietly left. No complaint was
lodged.
Curiously, on February 3, in a village in Hisar district, members of
the Scheduled Caste Dhanak community objected to a wedding and
banished the boy from the village, alleging gotra violations. That was
perhaps the first time that the Dhanak community had targeted one of
its own. Until then, only a section of the Jat community was found
raising vocal and violent objections on the grounds of gotra
violations. It was because of the intervention of some Left and
democratic organisations and the determination of the boy’s mother, a
widow who threatened to commit suicide, that the panchayat finally
relented.
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government’s record in taking on illegal
actions of caste groups is less than satisfactory. Such incidents are
as common as they were before, but many of them go unreported.
“There are so many more important issues – such as dowry, domestic
violence and livelihood issues. But we spend most of our energy and
time fighting the unconstitutional fiats of these self-styled
panchayats,” said Jagmati Sangwan, president of the State unit of
AIDWA.
She pointed out that though the government had promised to set up
shelters for couples who were being targeted by khap panchayats, to
date not a single one had come up.
The Rohtak SSP told Frontline that harassed couples could stay in the
police lines, sharing accommodation with other families until the
government shelters came up. “We can’t provide independent
accommodation for 2,000 couples overnight,” he said.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270604400.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
THE STATES
Facing flak
S. DORAIRAJ
in Chennai
The National Commission for Scheduled Castes criticises Tamil Nadu for
poor implementation of Dalit welfare measures.
E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN
A Dalit woman staging a dharna outside the Office of the Special
Tahsildar (Adi Dravidar Welfare) in Salem on June 16, 2008, demanding
a patta for the site of her house.
THE sharp criticism of the State administration by the National
Commission for Scheduled Castes for perceived inadequacies in
enforcing the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act, 1989, and in implementing various welfare measures
aimed at empowering Dalits has put the Tamil Nadu government in a
tight spot. Despite denials by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, who is
also a top leader of the United Progressive Alliance which is in power
at the Centre, NCSC Vice-Chairman N.M. Kamble’s remarks after a review
meeting in Chennai on February 18 have triggered a fresh debate on a
wide range of Dalit-related issues. These include different forms of
discrimination against Dalits, the lacunae in enforcing the S.Cs and
S.Ts (POA) Act, non-distribution of adequate cultivable land and house
sites to the oppressed sections, non-clearance of the backlog of
promotions, introduction of 3 per cent internal reservation for the
Arunthathiar community, and the lack of political will to end manual
scavenging.
The Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), led by
functionaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and several
Dalit organisations, which participated in the review meeting, made
their submissions to the commission. The NCSC dropped a bombshell by
pointing to the large number of pending cases and the low rate of
conviction in the State under the S.Cs and S.Ts (POA) Act. It did not
take lightly the failure on the part of the police to complete the
investigations in time in many cases. The commission also pointed out
that the details pertaining to the grounds for acquittal in many cases
were not made available to it. It substantiated its claims with a year-
wise break-up of pending cases, disposals and convictions.
The commission pulled up the government for not furnishing district-
wise and ward-wise information regarding the implementation of welfare
schemes for Dalits. The non-appointment of a liaison officer to take
care of the interests of Scheduled Caste government employees
particularly earned the NCSC’s ire. The commission also expressed
anguish over the lack of initiative on the part of the authorities to
retrieve lands that were assigned to the Scheduled Castes but were
still in the possession of non-Dalits. There are as many as 8,000 such
cases.
Top officials of the State government who attended the meeting assured
the NCSC of submitting the information required by it in a month. But
Karunanidhi took issue with the criticism the next day by announcing
that he would apprise the Centre, particularly Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, of his government’s performance in promoting the welfare of
Dalits.
Refuting the NCSC’s “barbed comments”, Karunanidhi came out with a
detailed statement highlighting the various welfare measures
implemented by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government after he
assumed office as Chief Minister for the first time in 1969. These
include decisions to raise the quantum of reservation for the S.Cs and
the S.Ts from 16 per cent to 18 per cent in 1971 and to earmark a
quota of 1 per cent exclusively for the S.Ts in 1990.
He said the State government had allocated more funds under the
Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP) than the earmarked 19 per cent. He
further said the allocations for divisible expenditure out of the
State Plan funds had grown from Rs.567 crore in 2005-2006 to Rs.2,615
crore in 2009-2010. It was his government that named the Law
University in the State after B.R. Ambedkar, he recalled. On the
commission’s contention with regard to the low conviction rate in
cases registered under the S.Cs and S.Ts (POA) Act, Karunanidhi said
just blaming the government counsel and the courts appeared to be the
motive behind the criticism.
Several Dalit organisations in the State, however, do not seem to be
convinced by the Chief Minister’s claims. Addressing a joint press
conference, Dalit leaders including Puthiya Tamizhagam president K.
Krishnasamy and Republican Party of India’s State general secretary
S.K. Tamilarasan accused the DMK government of attempting to find
fault with the NCSC.
They urged the government to come out with a White Paper in three
months giving district-wise and block-wise details on reservation in
jobs and education, distribution of land, and retrieval of ‘panchami’
land to promote the socio-economic conditions of Dalits in the State.
They also wanted the data on the allocation of funds under the SCSP
and development projects executed for Dalits in villages to be
released without delay.
P. Sampath, State convener of the TNUEF, said there was nothing wrong
in the NCSC Vice-Chairman’s observations regarding the manner in which
S.Cs and S.Ts (POA) Act cases were handled in the State. He said
compromises were reached in many cases at the intervention of the
police, who register counter-complaints from the dominant communities
against the Dalit victims. The bail applications of offenders are
seldom objected to by the police, he alleged.
He said State and district panels set up by the government to monitor
the implementation of the Act had become dysfunctional. In many cases,
investigations were not done by deputy superintendents of police as
laid down by the rules, he alleged.
Official data show that the rate of conviction in cases of atrocities
against Dalits is very low. According to information provided by the
Inspector-General of Police (Social Justice and Human Rights), there
were 18,752 cases – 4,445 fresh cases and 14,307 “brought forward”
cases – involving S.Cs before special courts between 2003 and 2009. Of
these, only 412 ended in conviction, whereas there were 3,354
acquittals. In 2009 alone, there were 420 acquittals against 29
convictions; 2,656 cases were pending at the close of the year.
Official sources acknowledged the prevalence of injustices such as
denial of rights to Dalits to worship in temples, bury or burn their
dead in common burial or cremation grounds; denial of passage to
graveyards; and denial of land, water and promotions.
V. GANESAN
N.M. Kamble, Vice-Chairman, National Commission for Scheduled Castes,
addressing the media after a review meeting in Chennai.
An issue that has come to the fore now is the 3 per cent special
reservation in the State for Arunthathiars in education and
employment. Replying to a query at the press conference held after the
review meeting, Kamble held that the sub-quota announced without
consulting the commission was “unconstitutional” and could be
challenged in a court.
However, Karunanidhi strongly defended the internal reservation for
Arunthathiars, who “are still at the lowest rung in terms of socio-
economic and educational status”. Recalling the Chief Secretary’s
letter to NCSC Chairman Buta Singh in this regard on November 25,
2008, he said that though, according to rules, any such proposal
should be brought to the notice of the commission, it was not
mandatory to get its consent. The Tamil Nadu Arunthathiars (Special
Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions including Private
Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Services
under the State within the Reservation for the Scheduled Castes) Act,
2009, was enacted after consulting a one-man panel, he pointed out.
The TNUEF has welcomed the Tamil Nadu government’s stand on this issue
though some Dalit organisations have threatened to challenge the Act
in court. Referring to the High Court’s direction that the Act must be
implemented with effect from April 29, 2009, when it came into force,
the TNUEF has urged the NCSC to ensure that it is carried out in tune
with Clause (5) of Article 338 of the Constitution. It also wants a
State Commission for S.Cs to be formed. The front has stressed the
need for raising the quota for Dalits by 1 per cent as the Scheduled
Castes constitute 19 per cent of the State’s total population of
624.06 lakhs as per the 2001 Census.
Sampath said the most contentious issue was the redistribution of
surplus land and wastelands to Dalits as land had become a status
symbol and was an important factor in solving livelihood issues.
Official sources say the government is keen to provide house site
pattas to roofless Dalit families.
According to them, 1,74,952 Dalit families were given house site
pattas from April 1, 2006, to May 31, 2009, under the one-time special
scheme to regularise encroachments on government poramboke lands. And
44,522 acres (one acre is 0.4 hectare) was distributed to 41,064 Dalit
families in five phases, from September 17, 2006, as part of
implementing the Chief Minister’s pet scheme of distribution of two
acres of wasteland to families of the landless poor. The government
has also announced that 11,660 house site pattas will be issued during
2009-2010. But Sampath said all these were only on paper and in many
places Dalits found it difficult to take possession of the lands which
were in the hands of dominant communities.
The NCSC’s review in the State has also paved the way for the revival
of the demand for retrieval of several thousands of ‘panchami’ lands
gifted to Dalits during British rule in the 1890s. According to
informed sources, only 1.26 lakh acres of the 12 lakh acres of
panchami lands were available now and most of these were occupied by
non-Dalits and industrial houses.
Significantly, the TNUEF and leaders of some Dalit organisations have
demanded that the Tamil Nadu government give serious consideration to
the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and other special assistance provided by
the Centre. They say that only by doing so will the government be able
to reduce the gap between Dalits and the rest of society and speed up
the process of integrating them with the mainstream.
The government has been claiming that the allocations are made under
the SCSP as per guidelines. Official data show there has been a steady
rise in the allocations from the earmarked 19 per cent in the last
four financial years. For instance, it was 20.87 per cent in
2008-2009, up from 19.09 per cent in 2005-2006, it says.
However, the TNUEF and the Dalit organisations have been accusing the
government of not allocating funds adequately under the scheme besides
diverting them to other schemes. The Chief Minister time and again has
attempted to allay the apprehensions of the Dalit organisations by
promising them that he would take the responsibility to see that not
even a small portion of the funds allotted for improving the status of
the S.Cs was diverted to other schemes.
But the TNUEF feels that Dalit organisations and political parties
should be vigilant as funds earmarked for Adi Dravidar welfare have
been diverted in the past. They allege that, for example, the
construction of quarters 10 years ago for 44 legislators representing
reserved constituencies was done with funds so earmarked.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270603800.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Less for the poor
PRAVEEN JHA
The UPA government seems to have grown complacent about its budgetary
allocations for the social sectors.
WITH clear indications of the economy reviving fast, the Union
government should have taken an expansionary fiscal stance not only to
accelerate growth but also to finance adequately the interventions
that promote social sector development. However, it has chosen to
revert to the path of fiscal conservatism, albeit gradually, with
Budget 2010-11.
A “calibrated exit strategy from the expansionary fiscal stance of
2008-09 and 2009-10”, which the 13th Finance Commission has
recommended strongly, seems to have been given shape to as the
government’s total expenditure is projected to fall from 16.6 per cent
of GDP (gross domestic product) in 2009-10 (Revised Estimates) to 16
per cent of GDP in 2010-11 (Budget Estimates). In tandem with the
compression of public expenditure, the fiscal deficit is projected to
fall from 6.7 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 (R.E.) to 5.5 per cent of GDP
in 2010-11 (B.E.), and the revenue deficit is estimated at 4.0 per
cent of GDP in 2010-11 (B.E.), significantly lower than the 5.3 per
cent figure for 2009-10 (R.E.).
As regards the policy direction suggested by the 13th Finance
Commission, both the Report of the Commission (tabled in Parliament on
February 25) and Budget 2010-11 indicate clearly that the next five
years will witness growing efforts by the government towards
elimination/reduction of deficits through compression of public
expenditure. Consequently, any significant boost to public expenditure
in the social sectors in the last two years of the 11th Five-Year Plan
(2010-11 and 2011-12) seems unlikely.
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government seems to
have grown complacent about its budgetary policies for the social
sectors. While Budget 2010-11 does pay some attention to a few of the
important sectors/issues such as women and child development,
development of minorities, rural housing and technical education, its
overall allocations and proposals for the social sectors (which
include education, health and family welfare and water and sanitation)
seem to fall far short of expectations.
As shown in Table 1, the allocation for social services (which in the
jargon of budgets in our country refers to social sectors such as
education, health and family welfare, water and sanitation, nutrition,
welfare of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward
Classes, and social security and welfare, among others) in the total
expenditure in the Union Budget has been stepped up from 8.9 per cent
in 2007-08 to 10.4 per cent in 2008-09. However, it remains at 10.4
per cent in the B.E. for 2010-11. As a proportion of GDP, the
government’s total expenditure on social services showed a somewhat
noticeable increase from 1.3 per cent in 2007-08 to 1.6 per cent in
2008-09; but it has been stagnant in the last two Budgets.
State governments continue to bear a significant share of the
country’s total public expenditure on social sectors – as per the
Reserve Bank of India’s document ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets
2009-10’, the total expenditure from Budgets of all States on social
services and rural development stood at 5.4 per cent of GDP in
2007-08, which increased to 5.8 per cent in 2008-09 (R.E.) and 6 per
cent in 2009-10 (B.E.). If we deduct the expenditure on rural
development from these figures and also exclude the double counting of
the Centre’s grants-in-aid to States in social services (which appear
both in the Union Budget and in the Budgets of States), the total
public expenditure in our country on social services could well be
around 6 per cent of GDP even in 2009-10.
Thus, despite the somewhat noticeable increases in the Union
government’s expenditure on social services, mainly during the UPA-1
regime, the country’s overall public expenditure on social services
continues to be very low. Before one jumps to the conclusion that
State governments are primarily responsible for this, one has to keep
in mind that over the past two decades the federal fiscal architecture
has been altered consistently in favour of the Union government.
The analysis of Budget 2010-11 by the Centre for Budget and Governance
Accountability (CBGA), New Delhi, shows that despite the increase in
the States’ share in Central taxes and duties to 32 per cent (from
30.5 per cent) and a number of specific-purpose grants recommended by
the 13th Finance Commission, the Gross Devolutions and Transfers (GDT)
from the Centre to the States would be 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2010-11,
which is almost the same as that in 2007-08 and 2008-09. This is
unlikely to reverse the disturbing trend of a decline in the share of
GDT in aggregate expenditure in State budgets. Hence, the primary
responsibility for the persistence of low public spending on social
sectors lies with the Union government.
The Union Finance Minister has claimed that his government has adopted
a number of budgetary policies to create entitlements for the poor
(over the past six years). However, it may be argued that the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is the only Plan scheme of
the Union government rooted in an entitlements-based approach. In
contrast, most of the social sector Plan schemes of the Union
government continue to follow a welfarist approach and provide low-
cost, ad hoc interventions. An entitlements-based approach towards
public provisioning in the social sectors would require a significant
strengthening of the regular and sustained government interventions in
these sectors, which does not yet seem to be on the government’s
policy agenda.
Spending on education
In 1966 the D.S. Kothari Commission had recommended that the total
public spending on education should be raised to the level of 6 per
cent of GNP (gross national product) by 1986. Subsequently, many
political parties reiterated this as a commitment in their election
manifestos; the UPA, too, promised it in the National Common Minimum
Programme (NCMP) in 2004. However, the overall public spending on
education continues to be way below 6 per cent of GDP; even in 2007-08
(B.E.), it was only 3.67 per cent of GDP (including the spending by
Central and State education departments as well as other departments.
The Union government’s total allocation for education in 2010-11
(B.E.) stands at 0.71 per cent of GDP, which is slightly better than
the 0.64 per cent recorded for 2009-10 (R.E.). However, such gradual
and small increases in the Budget outlays for education cannot result
in any visible increase in overall public spending on education in the
country.
In addition to the 0.71 per cent of GDP allocated in Budget 2010-11
for the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), States will be
given access to Rs.3,675 crore for elementary education under the 13th
Finance Commission grants for 2010-11. There has been a significant
stepping up in the outlay for the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
from Rs.550 crore in 2009-10 (R.E.) to Rs.1,700 crore in 2010-11.
Other areas showing increased outlays in Budget 2010-11 include the
adult education and skill development scheme, educational loan
interest subsidy in university and higher education, scholarship for
college and university students and the upgradation of existing
polytechnics and setting up of new ones.
In the current discourse on planning and government budgeting in the
country, there are very few benchmarks to assess the adequacy of
public spending on development schemes. In this context, the outlays
recommended by the Planning Commission for the 11th Five-Year Plan
period (2007-08 to 2011-12) could be treated as benchmarks, even
though the quality parameters underlying these benchmarks would hardly
be satisfactory. With just one more Union Budget left in the 11th Plan
period, at least 80 per cent of the outlays recommended by the
Planning Commission should have been made for Plan schemes during
2007-08 to 2010-11. However, the analysis by the CBGA (“Union Budget
2010-11: Which Way Now?”, available at www.cbgaindia.org) shows that
the total provisioning in the four Budgets during 2007-08 to 2010-11
has been only 12 per cent of the recommended outlay for the Rashtriya
Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, 36 per cent for teacher training and 46 per
cent for the UGC; the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the midday meal
scheme have fared better with 76 per cent and 65 per cent
respectively.
However, in the context of education, what is most disconcerting about
Budget 2010-11 is its complete silence on the financing of the Right
to Education Act, which the Union government is reportedly planning to
notify from April 1. There have been reports in the media about the
Union government’s initiative to modify the norms and unit costs under
the SSA so as to make the provisioning under this flagship programme
in line with the Right to Education Act. However, the allocation for
the SSA has been increased only by 14.5 per cent from Rs.13,100 crore
in 2009-10 (R.E.) to Rs.15,000 crore in 2010-11 (B.E.).
Meagre amount for health
The UPA made a commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme
(NCMP) in 2004 that the total public spending on health would be
raised to the level of 2 to 3 per cent of GDP, which was also
reiterated in the 11th Five-Year Plan. However, the combined budgetary
allocation (that is, the total outlays from both Union Budget and
State budgets) for health stands at a meagre 1.06 per cent of GDP in
2009-10 (B.E.). The Union government’s allocation for health (that is,
the budget for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare) shows a
negligible increase from 0.35 per cent of GDP in 2009-10 (R.E.) to
0.36 per cent of GDP in 2010-11 (B.E.). Thus, even after Budget
2010-11, the government is far short of the NCMP target of raising the
total public spending on health to 2 to 3 per cent of GDP.
In his Budget speech, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed
to include in the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana all those NREGS
beneficiaries who have worked (in the scheme) for at least 15 days in
the last fiscal year. While this is a welcome development, there are
several concerns pertaining to the implementation of the RSBY
(relating mainly to the role of private health insurance companies and
the private health care institutions), which need to be addressed. The
Budget allocation for the National Rural Heath Mission (NRHM) has been
increased only by 10.8 per cent, from Rs.14,002 crore in 2009-10
(R.E.) to Rs.15,514 crore in 2010-11 (B.E.). Given the huge
infrastructural gaps and the human resource crunch in the health
sector across the country, the budget for the NRHM should have been
increased significantly.
The allocation for the national disease control programmes has gone
down from Rs.1,063 crore in 2009-10 (B.E.) to Rs.1,050 crore in
2010-11 (B.E.), which is disturbing given that a number of diseases
covered under the scheme have witnessed increased prevalence in the
recent past.
The overall allocation for medical education and training has gone
down from Rs.3,256 crore in 2009-10 (B.E.) to Rs.2,679 crore in
2010-11 (B.E.). Within this, the most evident is the fall in
allocation for the establishment of AIIMS-type super specialty
hospitals, where the allocation has declined to the tune of Rs.700
crore. This is happening at a time when the budget allocation for
postgraduate medical education needs to be stepped up significantly to
fulfil the requirement of specialist doctors in the country. The
Finance Minister’s proposal for an annual health survey to prepare a
district health profile for all districts is a welcome step; but the
government would need to allocate adequate funds for this purpose. It
may be noted here that no allocation towards this has been made in
Budget 2010-11.
The persistence of low public spending in the country on social
sectors is also rooted in the small public resource base of the
country. In this context, it is disconcerting to note that with the
latest Budget the tax-GDP ratio for the Centre shows a small increase
from 10.3 per cent in 2009-10 (R.E.) to 10.8 per cent in 2010-11
(B.E.). Moreover, a liberal estimate of the amount of additional tax
revenue the government could have collected in 2009-10 if all
exemptions/incentives/deductions (both in direct and indirect taxes)
had been eliminated stands at a staggering 8.1 per cent of GDP. It is
ironical that exemptions of this magnitude, in fact, do not fit even
with the neoliberal rhetoric of fiscal consolidation, not to speak of
it being out of sync with the oft-repeated mantra of an “inclusive
growth by a caring and enabling government”.
Praveen Jha is on the faculty of the Centre for Economic Studies and
Planning, JNU. He is also the Honorary Economic Adviser to the Centre
for Budget and Governance Accountability, New Delhi. The article draws
substantially on the CBGA’s analysis of Union Budget 2010-11.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270602400.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
EDITORIAL
Not for ‘aam aadmi’
IN the course of his presentation of the Union Budget for 2010-11 to
Parliament, the Finance Minister made a passing reference to his
having presented the Union Budget way back in 1984. One is indeed
inclined to admire the longevity of Pranab Mukherjee’s occupation of
some Cabinet berth or the other through the last 25-plus years (with
some years in the Opposition and a brief period in political
wilderness). However, the ordinary people of our country are unlikely
to admire the Budget he has presented for 2010-11.
Consider the context in which the Budget has been presented. The
Economic Survey 2009-10, while providing a generally self-
congratulatory assessment of the government’s management of the
economy during 2009-10, reminds us that the agricultural economy has
done very poorly. Agricultural output is estimated to decline by 0.2
per cent over the current financial year in comparison with 2008-09.
This is even as industry in general and manufacturing in particular
are estimated to have done exceptionally well in recovering from the
impact of the global economic slowdown. The other disturbing feature
of the current economic context is, of course, the nearly 20 per cent
rise in food prices over the recent period. In fact, the Finance
Minister, in his Budget speech, said: “Since December 2009, there have
been indications of these high food prices, together with the gradual
hardening of the fuel product prices, getting transmitted to other non-
food items as well. The inflation data for January seems to have
confirmed this trend.”
The response of the Budget to these two key concerns, both of which
receive mention in it, has not merely been extremely inadequate. It is
likely to accelerate inflation and do little for agriculture. This is
evident from a look at the Budget proposals on indirect taxes. The
Budget proposes a partial rollback of the rate reduction in Central
Excise duties from 8 per cent to 10 per cent ad valorem on all non-
petroleum products. It restores the basic duty of 5 per cent on crude
petroleum. It also slaps a 7.5 per cent duty on diesel and petrol and
10 per cent on other refined products. In addition, the Budget
proposes enhancement of the Central Excise duty on petrol and diesel
by one rupee a litre each. This is a massive dose of indirect taxation
that will certainly be both highly inflationary and extremely
regressive in its impact, especially considering that incomes of most
working people in India are completely unprotected against inflation.
Besides stoking inflationary fires further, these moves will impact
negatively on agricultural output. Keeping in mind the likelihood that
the move to a “nutrient-based” regime of fertilizer subsidy that has
been announced by the government will result in significant increases
in the prices of fertilizers, one is appalled by the nonchalance with
which these measures have been proposed and defended vigorously
afterwards in and outside Parliament.
There is a certain asymmetry when it comes to the impact that a change
in indirect taxes has on prices in the Indian economy. When they are
raised, the additional burdens are almost invariably passed on to the
consumer. When they are reduced, there is no guarantee that the
benefits are passed on. Thus, while the reduction in excise and
customs duties last year represented a huge tax giveaway in the name
of a fiscal stimulus to the corporate sector, it is far from obvious
that ordinary people benefited by way of moderation in prices. This,
too, needs to be borne in mind in assessing the justifiability of the
reductions made last year and the increases being proposed now.
The regressive character of the Budget is also evident in the doling
out of tax concessions to the well-to-do. The proposals in respect of
direct taxes include the lowering of rates of personal income tax over
certain income slabs, a reduction in surcharge on corporate income tax
from 10 per cent to 7 per cent, and concessions for corporate business
entities in various forms. All these taken together are estimated by
the Finance Minister to result in a revenue loss of Rs.26,000 crore,
while his indirect tax proposals are estimated to bring in additional
revenues of Rs.46,000 crore in the net, taking into account some
concessions in indirect taxes as well.
What can one say about the expenditure proposals in the Budget? First
of all, the overall expenditure of the Union government proposed for
2010-11 constitutes an increase of 8.6 per cent over the corresponding
figure for 2009-10. Given the rate of inflation, this signifies little
increase in real terms, and may even imply a reduction. The proposed
increase in Plan expenditure is 15 per cent, which again would be a
rather modest increase in real terms. The non-Plan expenditure is
slated to decline in real terms, its increase over Budget Estimates
(B.E.) 2009-10 being only 6 per cent.
In terms of sectoral allocations, the rhetoric about agriculture and
rural development, as also the social sector, in the Budget speech is
not reflected in the allocations. The Central Plan outlay for rural
development in 2010-11 is Rs.55,190 crore as against the B.E. of Rs.
51,769 crore in 2009-10. The outlay for agriculture, irrigation and
flood control taken together has been enhanced from Rs.11,068 crore in
B.E. 2009-10 to Rs.12,834 crore in 2010-11, a modest increase in real
terms. Considering the persistence of an agrarian crisis across the
country for over a decade now (though the intensity varies across
States and regions and different social classes in the agrarian
population), this is a very inadequate response.
As for the much-hyped focus on the social sector, the Plan outlay for
all social services does increase by more than 22 per cent, but this
has to be seen against the present abysmal state of health and
education and the low base from which increases in recent years have
occurred. Moreover, if one takes into account the squeeze on the
finances of State governments, which account for the bulk of social
sector expenditures, the picture that emerges is hardly reassuring. In
fact, in education, the combined expenditures of the Central and State
governments still fall far short of the figure of 6 per cent of GDP
promised in the National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP) of the UPA
government of 2004-09. The same is the case for the health sector. The
current Budget does not even begin to address these concerns.
After having budgeted for a mere Rs.1,120 crore from “other capital
receipts” (read “disinvestment”) in B.E. 2009-10, the government has
gone ahead and disinvested public sector equity to an amount of Rs.
25,958 crore as per the Revised Estimates (R.E.), exceeding even the
proposal in the Economic Survey of 2008-09 that annually Rs.25,000
crore should be the disinvestment target. The B.E. for receipts from
disinvestment for 2010-11 is Rs.40,000 crore. Considering that market
capitalisation of listed Central public sector undertakings (PSUs) has
taken a beating in the stock market, the Finance Minister’s argument
that disinvestment is all about unlocking the values of PSUs hardly
holds water. The other misleading phraseology about “inviting people
to own shares in PSUs”, is, to say the least, disingenuous. Moreover,
the sale of shares of profitable PSUs contradicts the promise made in
the NCMP of the earlier UPA government.
Overall, Budget 2010-11 reflects two important aspects of the current
political context: Parliamentary elections are four years away and the
present UPA government does not need the support of the Left parties
to stay in power.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270600800.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
The march of neoliberalism
PRABHAT PATNAIK
Union Budget 2010-11 has given a forward thrust to the neoliberal
agenda in all the crucial sectors where "reforms" had been stalled.
KAMAL NARANG
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee addressing the media after the
Economic Survey 2009-10 was tabled in Parliament on February 25.
THE strategy underlying Budget 2010-11 is eerily reminiscent of that
of Margaret Thatcher. In pushing her “market-fundamentalist” agenda
against the working class and the trade unions, Thatcher had enlisted
the support of the affluent middle class. She had wooed the yuppies
and the city slickers of London’s financial district, and to this end
given direct tax concessions to the middle class, even while jacking
up indirect taxes on the poor and the working people in the midst of a
raging inflation.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has done almost exactly the same.
For pushing the neoliberal agenda, he has enlisted the support of the
affluent middle class by giving it direct tax concessions even as he
has jacked up regressive indirect taxes. Until now, neoliberalism in
India had been covered by a patina of concern for the aam aadmi. With
this Budget it has come of age; the patina is off.
The government claims that this Budget, too, is for the aam aadmi; but
that is unsustainable. The suggestion that persons earning in excess
of three lakhs of rupees a year, who are the beneficiaries of direct
tax concessions, constitute the aam aadmi, while the fisherman who
risks his life daily by venturing out to the sea for an annual income
of less than Rs.20,000, and who will be hit hard by the diesel price
hike, does not, can only be ironical.
There was a time when even as the government increased petrol prices,
it would spare diesel prices, since diesel and kerosene prices were
linked for technical reasons, and raising the former would necessarily
raise the latter, to the detriment of the poor. But such restraint no
longer prevails. Diesel prices have been raised and kerosene prices
will follow. Indeed, a whole lot of petro-product prices are going to
be raised as a consequence of the increase in import duty, that is, a
new round of price increases on top of what Pranab Mukherjee has
announced is in the offing. And if the Kirit Parikh Committee’s
recommendations for linking domestic petro-product prices to world
prices are accepted, which is likely, then these prices will be jacked
up even further in the coming months.
Any such linking of domestic petro-prices to world prices makes little
sense, since it would mean importing speculation-induced world oil
price fluctuations, which can be quite massive, into the domestic
economy, and hence making the domestic price-level as a whole a
plaything in the hands of international speculators. But the
government’s commitment to neoliberalism appears to outweigh any
concern over this.
Specious argument
This lack of concern is manifest even in Mukherjee’s argument for
raising the import duty on petroleum and the Central excise duty on
petrol and diesel, which is quite specious. Since domestic petrol
prices had not been raised adequately even when world crude prices had
crossed $130 a barrel, the government, he argues, has earned the right
to raise prices now, that is, the current price hike is a reward for
the government’s earlier abstinence. This is untenable since it is not
as if petrol prices had been lowered earlier and are now being
restored to pre-lowering levels. Besides, the biggest component of
petrol and diesel prices in the country consists of government taxes;
there is no logical compulsion therefore about raising taxes on this
commodity any further.
The “cascading effect” of the higher taxes on petrol and diesel, which
would raise the prices of these commodities by close to Rs.3 a litre,
has been much discussed. The government’s lack of concern, however, is
not just about the inflationary implications of this move but about
inflation in general. Since the food price rise, by the government’s
own admission, is because of supply shortages (even if these shortages
are artificially compounded by hoarding and speculation), the strategy
must be to throw government-owned surplus foodgrain stocks (that is,
actual stocks minus the minimum buffer stocks), which exceed 27
million tonnes as on January 2010, on the market. These stocks cannot
obviously be thrown on the open market, since speculators would then
buy them up gleefully, as had happened in 1972-73, and blunt their
anti-inflationary impact; they have to be released through the public
distribution system. But, going by the Budget figures, the government
has no intention of doing so.
The fact that the food subsidy is lower than that for 2009-10 by over
Rs.400 crore, suggests that the government does not intend to sell
these stocks through the PDS or merely hold on to them (for either of
these options would have raised the food subsidy, the latter because
of higher interest payments). It intends to do precisely what it
should not do, namely, sell them in the open market, which means that
it is not too concerned about inflation.
In fact, Mukherjee said as much in his post-Budget television
interview. He claimed that his way of combating inflation was by
augmenting supplies in the long run, for which he had taken steps in
the Budget, such as earmarking Rs.300 crore for 60,000 “pulses and
oilseeds villages”, Rs.400 crore for extending the “Green Revolution”
to the eastern region of the country, and Rs.200 crore for sustaining
the gains made in Green Revolution areas through “conservative
farming”. As for short-run measures, these, according to him, were
unnecessary since the inflation rate was coming down anyway.
Self-limiting phenomenon
The fallacy behind the argument about inflation coming down is often
not appreciated. Inflation, precisely when it hurts the people, is a
self-limiting phenomenon. It can be categorised into two kinds: one
caused by excess demand and the other by “cost-push”. Cost-push
inflation arises when some input cost (or excise duty as in the
present case) rises, which is “passed on” in the form of higher
prices; in response to this initial price rise, money wages rise,
which, in turn, is passed on in the form of still higher prices, and
so on. As long as each component of price keeps rising with the rise
in the price, to ensure that its share in total value does not
decline, the price rise continues ad infinitum. But if some cost
element, typically the wage cost, does not rise in tandem with the
price, then inflation eventually comes to a halt. But this also means
that the real wage rate comes down because of a cost-push inflation,
and this coming down is the reason for the end of cost-push inflation.
Much the same can be said of excess-demand-caused inflation. Such
inflation gets eliminated when someone’s demand is curtailed, and
typically the demand curtailed is of that group whose money income
does not go up as prices rise, that is, whose money income is not
indexed to prices. This is typically true of the working people,
especially of the vast mass of unorganised workers. Precisely because
their incomes are not indexed to prices, inflation hurts them, and
eventually comes to an end by squeezing them.
S. THANTHONI
The suggestion that persons earning in excess of Rs.3 lakh a year
constitute the `aam aadmi', while fishermen who risk their lives daily
by venturing out to sea (in the picture, a group of them in Chennai)
for an average annual income of less than Rs.20,000 and who will be
hit hard by the diesel price hike do not, can only be ironical.
In Latin American countries where inflation rates in the past have
quite often been quite phenomenal, the reason lies in the fact that
wages in such cases have been indexed to prices. In India, by
contrast, where wages are not indexed, inflation will necessarily
always come down, but it will do so precisely by hurting the poor. The
whole purpose of government action should be to prevent the
elimination of inflation through this odious mechanism, by attempting
its elimination in some other way, for example, by de-hoarding (which
adds to supply), imports (which do the same), and using the PDS (which
insulates the poor against a squeeze on their demand). But if none of
these things is done, inflation will still come down, but by squeezing
the consumption of the poor.
An example will make this last point clear. Let us start from a
situation where the supply of foodgrains is, say, 100 units and equals
the demand at a price of Re.1 a unit. The wage bill in the economy is
Rs.80, all of which is spent on foodgrains. Now, suppose supply falls
to 95, so that there is an excess demand of 5 units at the old price.
The price will rise, that is, inflation will set in. If all incomes
are indexed to the price-level, then this excess demand will never get
eliminated and hence inflation will continue ad infinitum. But if
wages are not indexed but other incomes are, then inflation will come
to an end when the price has climbed up to Rs.16/15 (or Rs.1.07), for,
at that price, the workers can buy only 75 units of foodgrains from
their total wage bill of Rs.80, which means five units fewer than
before; and this eliminates excess demand. So, inflation is self-
limiting precisely because the poor get squeezed by it.
Hence, when Mukherjee derives satisfaction from the fact that
inflation is coming down, even without the government’s doing anything
about it, that satisfaction is totally misplaced; the inflation coming
down in this way shows precisely that the people are being squeezed by
it. Likewise, when Mukherjee claims that the effect of petrol and
diesel price increases “will get absorbed” over time, he omits to
mention that this absorption can occur only by squeezing the poor (as
in the above example of cost-push inflation). Inflation’s coming down
does not mean that the world returns to its pristine state of
happiness. This coming down itself, far from being a source of
satisfaction, should rather be a cause for concern, because it is
necessarily at the expense of the poor.
Coming to Mukherjee’s “long term measures” for raising food supplies,
what exactly these are becomes an intriguing question. The proposed
expenditures on the “pulses and oilseeds villages” and the extension
of the Green Revolution are too trivial to matter. The reduction in
fertilizer subsidy, which will raise fertilizer prices, will, if
anything, have a negative effect on output. The thing he must be
pinning his hopes on, therefore, is the opening up of retail trade,
which allegedly will help in “bringing down the considerable
difference between farm-gate, wholesale and retail prices”. This view
is attributed to the Prime Minister, who believes that opening up
retail trade will increase competition.
“Opening up” retail trade necessarily means the induction of corporate
capital, including multinational corporations (MNCs), into this
sector, for which they have been clamouring for some time. We are,
therefore, being asked to swallow the argument that bringing in
monopolists to drive out myriad petty traders will increase
competition! Anyone who believes that bringing in monopolies reduces
the gap between farm-gate and retail prices should ask the coffee
producers of Kerala: they get a pittance for their crop even when
retail coffee prices are soaring. If the government genuinely wants
the gap between retail and farm-gate prices to close, it should get
the public sector to take on a larger role in the marketing of crops,
as the various commodity boards used to do before neoliberalism
prevented them from doing so.
Corporate hegemony
SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Since the food price rise is because of supply shortages, the strategy
must be to throw government-owned surplus foodgrain stocks, which now
exceed 27 million tonnes, on the market through the PDS. But the
Budget figures indicate that the government has no intention of doing
so. Here, at the mandi at Najafgarh, New Delhi, a file picture.
Besides opening up retail business, Budget 2010-11 announced a number
of other steps, such as private participation in storage, setting up
of private cold storage and cold room facility for agricultural and
marine products and meat, and the accessing of external commercial
borrowing for this latter purpose, all of which entail corporate
hegemony over peasant and petty production. And since finance for
setting up godowns and cold storage will be counted as agricultural
credit, and hence come under priority sector lending, much of the
ambitious target for credit support to “farmers” will actually go to
large corporate houses, and even to MNCs.
This Budget gives a thrust to the neoliberal agenda in other ways as
well. Disinvestment is to proceed apace, and is a major contributor to
the so-called “Miscellaneous Capital receipts” of Rs.40,000 crore,
even though there is no valid argument for it. Disinvestment is
theoretically no different from a fiscal deficit: the latter puts
government bonds into non-government hands, while the former puts
government equity into non-government hands; they are only different
forms of raising finance but with identical macroeconomic effects.
A Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission is to be set up to
“rewrite and clean up the financial sector laws to bring them in line
with the requirements of the sector”, a euphemism for “financial
sector liberalisation”. And there is an additional instrument for this
particular purpose: a Financial Stability and Development Council,
which is to be set up “to strengthen and institutionalise the
mechanism for maintaining financial stability”. Add to all this the
allocation of coal blocks for captive mining, and you find that in all
the crucial sectors where the “reforms” had been stalled, that is,
public sector, financial liberalisation and retail trade, this Budget
has given a forward thrust to the neoliberal agenda. But then what
about the increase in social sector and rural development outlays that
the Budget promises? This is a chimera. Central plan outlay on rural
development (all comparisons are Budget Estimate to Budget Estimate)
is slated to increase by a mere 6.6 per cent over 2009-10, which means
a real absolute decline; and the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) outlay is to rise by only 2.5 per cent.
As for Central Plan outlay on social services, the increase provided
under the Plan is significantly counterbalanced by a decline in non-
Plan expenditure in this sector. If we take the sum of Central Plan
outlay and non-Plan expenditure on social services, then the nominal
increase in 2010-11 over 2009-10 is only 12.5 per cent, which in real
terms means very little.
This is hardly surprising. After all, the total expenditure of the
Central government is expected to rise in nominal terms by a mere 8.6
per cent, which means stagnation in real terms. Within this overall
stagnation, large apparent increases on specific items are more likely
to be results of statistical jugglery or reallocation, rather than
matters of any substance.
The pushing of the neoliberal agenda requires inter alia a
neutralisation of opposition from State governments, and this can be
ensured only if their mendicant status is perpetuated. The 13th
Finance Commission, by keeping States’ share of taxes under Article
270 at 32 per cent (up marginally from the 30.5 per cent under the
previous Commission), compared with the 50 per cent demanded by most
State governments, has not helped matters. And the Central government
can be relied upon to compress its loans and grants to States, to
offset even such increases in revenue transfers that it is statutorily
required to make. In Budget 2010-11, for instance, while its statutory
transfers increase by 26 per cent over the current year, its loans and
advances rise by a mere 8.9 per cent. With such compression, one can
be sure that the States will continue to retain their mendicant
status.
Neoliberalism is clearly resuming its stalled march, adopting a
Thatcherite strategy for doing so. But the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government miscalculates by ignoring the fact that, unlike in
Thatcher’s Britain, the affluent middle class it is wooing is a
minuscule segment of our society, while those squeezed by
neoliberalism, the workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, and
petty producers, constitute its overwhelming majority.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270600400.htm
Volume 27 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 13-26, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Enabling whom?
JAYATI GHOSH
In keeping with the overall approach of an “enabling” state, the
Economic Survey has proposed to do away with food procurement and
distribution.
R. RAGU
At a fair price shop in Chennai. States with successful public
distribution systems are those that have such large numbers of BPL
households that their lists are close to being universal. But the
Economic Survey seeks to replace this system with food coupons for
targeted households.
THIS year’s Economic Survey contains a new and unusual chapter
entitled “Microfoundations of inclusive growth”. It is unusual because
it is largely theoretical, thereby providing an addition to the
generally descriptive review of the Indian economy over the past year
according to the government’s own perception. It also contains,
possibly for the first time in an Economic Survey, an explicit
statement of what might be described as the present government’s
economic philosophy and its approach to certain crucial questions of
economic policy. The fact that some statements in it found an echo in
the Finance Minister’s Budget speech confirmed that this was indeed
the case.
It is certainly welcome that the basic goal of economic policy is
identified as inclusive growth, recognising that “growth must not be
treated as an end in itself but as an instrument for spreading
prosperity to all” (page 22). Inclusive growth in turn is given a more
precise definition than is usual, as growth that improves the incomes
and other measures of conditions of life of the bottom 20 per cent of
the population.
This inclusive growth is to be delivered by a change in focus to
enabling government, which is seen as “a government that does not try
to directly deliver to its citizens everything that they need. Instead
it (1) creates an enabling ethos for the market so that individual
enterprise can flourish and citizens can, for the most part, provide
for the needs of one another, and (2) steps in to help those who do
not manage to do well for themselves”, for example by “directly
helping the poor by ensuring that they get basic education and health
services and receive adequate nutrition and food” (page 23).
It is immediately clear that this is a vision of the economy in which
it is taken for granted that the market mechanism generally delivers
the economically desired outcomes for most citizens, and the role of
the government is therefore mainly to ensure that such markets
function smoothly and to take care of the stragglers, “for there will
always be individuals, no matter what the system, who need support and
help”. This vision excludes the possibility of the process of market-
driven economic growth itself generating greater material insecurity
and impoverishment for a significant section. Trickle-down is seen to
operate for most of the population; for the bottom fifth, the
government has to step in.
Obviously, in such a framework, public delivery of essential goods and
services will necessarily be targeted to those that are defined as
poor. The chapter contains an eloquent argument in favour of
redefining the nature of public delivery to minimise direct
involvement of the state in favour of market-based mechanisms such as
coupons and vouchers targeted to the poor. This is what allows for the
claim that more can be achieved with less fiscal resources, by
eliminating the administrative costs of running large public schemes.
This would be a major departure from the current practice, with
potentially far-reaching implications in a very wide range of goods
and services that are seen to constitute essential socio-economic
rights. It is impossible to discuss all the different implications
here, so I shall briefly consider only the interventions proposed for
the food economy. The arguments have wide applicability with reference
to other sectors as well.
Managing the food economy
There is an extended discussion on how to manage the food economy,
which is only to be expected given that food price inflation is
clearly the most significant economic problem in the country at
present. Yet the discussion presents several different arguments which
turn out to be mutually inconsistent. In keeping with the overall
approach of an “enabling” state rather than an actively
interventionist one, it is proposed to do away with the existing
system of government food procurement and distribution. It is argued
that this is prone to corruption, adulteration and similar flaws, and
that it is necessary to craft policy that takes into account that
people are the way they are (not always ethically sound) and craft
incentive-compatible policies accordingly. So this is to be replaced
with a system of food coupons (of a certain value of money) given
directly to targeted households and which can be exchanged for wheat
or rice at market prices, giving the freedom of choice to households
about the shop from which to purchase.
This proposal betrays some ignorance about the background of the
current food subsidy and the purposes of the public system of food
procurement and distribution in India. These were (and fundamentally
remain) to provide farmers with a minimum price that covers their
costs, to ensure that basic foodgrain is transported from surplus to
deficit areas of the country, and to build up a system of buffer
stocks that protects the country from international price volatility
and external dependence. It is because the market mechanism was found
wanting in achieving any of these goals that such measures were deemed
necessary – and the persistence of such measures not only in India but
in many countries across the world (including most developed ones)
suggests that this is still the case. Food security within a nation as
large as India is not possible without ensuring the viability of food
production by domestic farmers and the existence of a national
distribution system that tries to reach deficit areas quickly. There
is no way that replacing this with a system of food coupons to
selected households can achieve these basic aims.
There is of course the further question of how to ensure that the
public at large – and the poor in particular - get access to
affordable food. This too is a current function of the public
distribution system (PDS), but it has been less than successful in
meeting it for a variety of reasons. The Economic Survey correctly
recognises the many problems in the existing system but tends to treat
the entire system as homogenous across the country.
There are States in the country (such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and to
a lesser extent Andhra Pradesh) where the PDS is a strong, functioning
and largely non-corrupt system, and there are other States where the
opposite is true. Surely, policymakers need to study and understand
these differences if they actually want to make the system work.
What is clear is that targeting tends to add to the problems, not only
because of the significant administrative costs associated with
identifying the poor and monitoring them but because of well-known
errors such as unfair exclusion from and unjustified inclusion in the
list of poor households. That is why the States with more successful
public distribution systems are those that have such large numbers of
declared below-poverty-line (BPL) households that their lists are
close to being universal. The Survey argues that the Unique
Identification System (UID) will solve that problem, but that is
believing that there can be a technological fix to what is essentially
a socio-economic problem. The UID card only identifies a person; the
description of that person as belonging to a poor or non-poor
household remains as cumbersome, problematic, politically charged and
administratively challenging as ever.
The Survey does provide some useful and interesting proposals with
respect to managing the foodgrain stocks and correctly argues for a
more flexible approach in releasing stocks that not only is responsive
to market pressures but also anticipates them. Indeed, the need to
prevent foodgrain allocation from becoming a political tool in the
hands of the Centre vis-a-vis the State governments is all the more
pressing in the light of recent experience. However, it should be
obvious that such a proactive role of the state in preventing food
price increases will not be possible at all if the entire system is
replaced with a system of food coupons!
There is another comment with direct relevance to the food economy
that deserves to be noted. In keeping with the overall perspective
that markets generally know best, the Survey argues for erring on the
side of less control whenever there is some doubt on the matter. This
is then used to suggest that a ban on futures trading in essential
commodities is unwarranted. “An enabling government takes the view
that if we cannot establish a connection between the existence of
futures trading and inflation in spot prices, we should allow futures
trade” (page 24). Yet there are at least two flaws in this argument.
First, as any econometrician would know, it is generally possible to
question any link between two economic phenomena, and so the argument
about whether future trading has been associated with significant spot
price changes will definitely continue well after all the cows have
come home. Yet globally, the existence of contango in commodity
markets (when prices in the futures markets are higher than the spot
prices, instead of lower as they would be if the market was only for
hedging against risk) has been seen as a sign that speculation has
driven changes even in spot prices. It is next to impossible to
provide a clear and explicit link that will satisfy those determined
not to see it.
Second, and perhaps more significantly, there are important conceptual
reasons to be wary of allowing futures trading in any commodity in
which there is significant public intervention in the form of minimum
support prices and so on because these provide an easy floor for
speculators. So this is not a case of allowing something because we do
not have enough information on either side of the argument, but
preventing speculative activity that can cause great harm even as its
possible benefits are minimal.
Enabling markets and empowering the citizenry
There are several other issues that are discussed for which similar
arguments could be made. But it is the broader perspective underlying
this chapter which deserves more careful consideration. The goal is
clearly benevolent: improving the economic conditions of the bottom
quintile of the population. Yet the means that have been proposed
suggest a lack of awareness of the political economy of both markets
and government in India and the social and economic context within
which policies are implemented. This is somewhat surprising because
within the chapter there is a discussion of the need to recognise
extant social realities even though it is more concerned with culture
and social norms.
The point is essentially this: both markets and government policies do
not function in a socio-political vacuum but within complex social
realities in which power relations are deeply entrenched. So it is not
that there are individuals all operating on level-playing fields, with
some having a few disadvantages such as lower income and assets and
less education. Rather, the processes of striving for power, and
keeping it, unfold through the medium of markets. The impact of
government policies depends upon the extent to which they enable
different sets of actors with different power positions to fight for
their rights or advance their own positions.
That is why “free” market functioning tends to accentuate existing
inequalities, both social and economic. To the extent that government
policies are aware of this and are designed to reduce this effect,
they are more successful. All economic policies therefore have
distributive implications, whether or not these are officially
recognised. A government that is genuinely enabling for the citizenry
as a whole and for the poorest citizens has to act decisively in their
favour, and also has to provide good quality public services that the
poor are not excluded from.
In such a context, it is worth stepping back and examining how much of
the declared goal of inclusive growth in the Economic Survey actually
informs the most recent policy statement of the government, the Union
Budget. Surprisingly, the most important initiatives constitute direct
attacks on the incomes of the bottom quintile of the population: the
hike in fuel prices and indirect taxes, which will definitely increase
the price of necessities; the reduction in food subsidy; the
embarrassingly small increases in funds for agricultural schemes,
especially in the most devastated regions; the paltry amounts
allocated to education and health, which cannot possibly ensure good
quality public provision that reaches the poorest. Conversely, the
enabling aspect of government is very clearly evident with respect to
big business, in the form of tax breaks, subsidies for agribusiness
and the like.
The problem is that enabling markets does not always translate into
empowering people: often the reverse is the case. Clearly, whatever be
the more sensitive statements made in the Economic Survey, the basic
philosophy of the government has not changed from an obsessive focus
on growth at any cost.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100326270603000.htm
bademiyansubhanallah
STAFF WRITER 15:59 HRS IST
Shimla, Mar 18 (PTI) Newly-appointed BJP general secretary Jagat
Prakash Nadda today resigned as cabinet minister in Himachal Pradesh
to take up his new assignment at the national level.
Nadda met Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal in assembly and submitted
his resignation which was accepted.
"Yes I have submitted by resignation to the chief minister," Nadda
told PTI.
"I have asked him (Nadda) to continue till the ongoing budget session
of the assembly," Dhumal said.
Nadda in his letter to the CM said that since he has been appointed as
national general secretary of the BJP he was resigning from HP cabinet
in accordance with the party's policy of 'one man one post'.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/570541_Nadda-resigns-as-HP-minister-to-take-up-natl-assignment
JP Nadda resigns as Himachal cabinet minister
Posted by Ravinder Makhaik on Mar 18th, 2010
Shimla: Forest minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on being appointed as BJP
general secretary today submitted his resignation as a cabinet
minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal ministry to take up his new
assignment at the national level.
Nadda met Dhumal in assembly today and submitted his resignation which
has been accepted.
“I have submitted by resignation to the chief minister,” Nadda
confirmed to My Himachal News.
“I have asked the forest minister to continue till the ongoing budget
session,” said the chief minister.
Nadda in his letter to the CM cited that since he had been appointed
national general secretary of party he was resigning from HP cabinet
in accordance with the party’s declared policy of ‘one man one post’.
http://himachal.us/2010/03/18/jp-nadda-resigns-as-himachal-cabinet-minister/19150/news/ravinder
Day curfew lifted in Bareilly
STAFF WRITER 12:37 HRS IST
Bareilly, Mar 20 (PTI) With the situation improving in riot-hit areas,
day curfew has been lifted in the city.
"The situation is completely normal and day curfew in five police
areas - Prem Nagar, Qila, Baradari, Kotwali and Subhash Nagar - has
been lifted between 5 am to 10 pm," officials said.
The situation had become a bit tense yesterday after six statues were
allegedly stolen from the ancient Jagganath Puri temple in Bada Bazar
area.
Protesting against the theft, members of a community blocked road,
which was later lifted on the assurance that the guilty would be
arrested soon.
Curfew was clamped in four of the six police areas of the city on
March 2 in the wake of communal clashes over a barawafat procession.It
was later extended to one more police area after fresh violence on
March 11.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573674_Day-curfew-lifted-in-Bareilly
BJP demands Raj Home Minister's resignation
STAFF WRITER 23:7 HRS IST
Jaipur, Mar 19 (PTI) Holding statewide protests, BJP today demanded
the resignation of Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal, alleging
he had threatened its MLAs in the legislative assembly.
"Besides Dhariwal's resignation, the Congress government should revoke
the suspension of two MLAs -- R S Rathore (whip) and Hanuman Beniwal
-- who were suspended in previous two sittings of the House," Arun
Chaturvedi, its state president, told a press conference here.
The Leader of the House and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has not been
present in the House for the last two days and should attempt to break
the deadlock, Chaturvedi said.
"If this is not done on March 22, the BJP will hold 'Jail Bharo' in
all district headquarters," he said.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Vasundhara Raje alleged the state
government's repressive tactics in the assembly were a reminder of the
British period.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573450_BJP-demands-Raj-Home-Minister-s-resignation
Praveen Togadia held for trying to walk into Kandhamal
STAFF WRITER 0:22 HRS IST
Bhubaneswar, Mar 19 (PTI) Firebrand VHP leader Praveen Togadia was
tonight arrested alongwith his supporters by the Orissa Police as they
tried to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district, defying a ban on their
visit.
Togadia, who arrived at Charichowk in Boudh district, neighbouring
Kandhamal, was held under Section 151 of the CrPc when they tried to
walk into Kandhamal district despite a ban, police said.
After they were asked not to proceed to the district, they initially
held a sit-in protest at Charichowk.
The VHP leader is now lodged at the forest inspection bungalow at
Charichowk, Lambodar Buda, Inspector-in-charge of Boudh police
station, said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573518_Praveen-Togadia-held-for-trying-to-walk-into-Kandhamal
Togadia released by Orissa Police
STAFF WRITER 12:11 HRS IST
Phulbani (Orissa), Mar 20 (PTI) Fireband VHP leader Praveen Togadia,
who was arrested while trying to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district
despite prohibitory orders, was today released by Orissa Police.
"Togadia was released on a bond and he left for Bhanjanagar in Ganjam
district," Kandhamal SP Pravin Kumar said.
The VHP leader was arrested last night under Section 151 of the CrPC
when he tried to walk into Kandhamal, along with supporters.
Earlier the state government had put a ban on Togadia's visit in view
of the communally-fragile nature of the district, which had seen
largescale communal violence in the wake of killing of VHP leader
Lakhsmananda Saraswati in August 2008.
Meanwhile, the district VHP unit of Kandhamal organised a 12-hour
bandh protesting Togadia's arrest.
While all shops and business establishments were closed, educational
institutions and government offices functioned as usual, police said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/573641_Togadia-released-by-Orissa-Police
Shahnawaz not to attend BJP spokespersons' meet
STAFF WRITER 14:12 HRS IST
New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who is
reportedly sulking after he was overlooked for the post of general
secretary by party president Nitin Gadkari, is likely to keep away
from a meeting of new spokespersons convened today by Leader of
Opposition Sushma Swaraj.
Swaraj is holding a meeting of the seven BJP spokespersons to decide
allocation of work and brief them about their new job.
Sources said the meeting was being held at the behest of Chief
Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad who is keen on getting his new team
cracking without any delay.
Sources close to Hussain said he is likely to keep away from the
meeting but insisted that this is due to his ill-health.
"He is a disciplined soldier of the party and will go with whatever
the party decides.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/572096_Shahnawaz-not-to-attend-BJP-spokespersons--meet
Dissent in BJP over Gadkari\’s new team – IBNLive.com
Published by admin on March 19, 2010 filed under Asian News
Headlines · Comments (0) The Hindu Dissent in BJP over Gadkari’s
new team IBNLive.com BJP’s latest worries- party President Nitin
Gadkari’s honeymoon period is over. His first challange will be Bihar-
and state party leaders anger might cost the party dearly as Bihar
will be going to polls later this year. Shatrughan Sinha and CP Thakur
… Everyone can’t be satisfied: Gadkari about dissent over his team
Economic Times Shatrughan vents ire at not being included in Nitin
Gadkari’s team Daily News & Analysis Dissent in BJP over Gadkari’s new
team India Today NDTV.com
http://asia.getsomenews.com/2010/03/19/dissent-in-bjp-over-gadkaris-new-team-ibnlive-com/
Raise complaints with me, not media: Gadkari
on March 19th, 2010
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Friday asked
party leaders to raise any complaints about his choice of a new team
with him and not with the media.
“Those who have complaints about the new team should speak to me, not
the media,” Gadkari told the NDTV news channel, a day after actor-
turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha’s remarks on the composition of the
new team of office-bearers announced Tuesday.
Sinha Thursday recited the lyrics of an old Hindi film song in answer
to a question about the new team. “Uff na karenge, lab see lenge,
aansu pee lenge (I will not sigh, will seal my lips and swallow my
tears),” he said, expressing disappointment that leaders like Yashwant
Sinha had been left out and the team had not been able to give a
message of dynamism.
“It’s wrong to say that Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded
because they are Advani detractors… It’s not possible to include
everyone on the team,” Gadkari said.
The BJP president also justified the appointment of Nehru-Gandhi
family member Varun Gandhi as party secretary, saying: “Varun Gandhi
should be given a chance, why hold the past against him?”
The party had sought to distance itself from Varun Gandhi after he
allegedly made inflammatory remarks during the Lok Sabha election
campaign last year.
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Aryan race
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with "Arianism" which was an early non-trinitarian
form of Christianity.
This article is about the racial theory. For the full range of
meanings of "Aryan", see Aryan. For Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian and
Jain spiritual interpretations, see Arya. For other uses, see Aryan
(disambiguation).
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in European
culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century.
It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-
European languages and their descendants up to the present day
constitute a distinctive race or subrace of the larger Caucasian race.
[1]
While originally meant simply as a neutral ethnic classification, it
was later used for political racism in Nazi and neo-Nazi ideological
form. It became a concept of scientific racism, and hence also in
other currents such as occultism and white supremacism.
Belief in the existence of an Aryan race is sometimes referred to as
Aryanism.
Origin of the term
Main article: Aryan
See also: Arya
The earliest epigraphically-attested reference to the word arya occurs
in the 6th century Behistun inscription, which describes itself to
have been composed "in arya [language or script]" (§ 70). As is also
the case for all other Old Iranian language usage, the arya of the
inscription does not signify anything but "Iranian".[2]
The region Aria as depicted by Waldseemuller in 1507The term Aryan
originates from the Sanskrit word arya, attested in the ancient texts
of Hinduism such as the Rigveda. Arya in Sanskrit holds the meaning
civilized or simply referring to an individual of higher
consciousness.
In the 18th century, the most ancient known Indo-European languages
were those of the Indo-Iranians' ancestors. The word Aryan was adopted
to refer not only to the Indo-Iranian people, but also to native Indo-
European speakers as a whole, including the Albanians, Kurds,
Armenians, Greeks, Latins, and Germans. It was soon recognised that
Balts, Celts, and Slavs also belonged to the same group. It was argued
that all of these languages originated from a common root—now known as
Proto-Indo-European—spoken by an ancient people who must have been the
original ancestors of the European, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan peoples.
The ethnic group composed of the Proto-Indo-Europeans and their modern
descendants was termed the Aryans.
This usage was common in the late 19th and early 20th century. An
example of an influential best-selling book that reflects this usage
is the 1920 book The Outline of History by H. G. Wells.[3] In it he
wrote of the accomplishments of the Aryan people, stating how they
"learned methods of civilization" while "Sargon II and Sardanapalus
were ruling in Assyria and fighting with Babylonia and Syria and
Egypt". As such, Wells suggested that the Aryans had eventually
"subjugated the whole ancient world, Semitic, Aegean and Egyptian
alike".[4] In the 1944 edition of Rand McNally’s World Atlas, the
Aryan race is depicted as being one of the ten major racial groupings
of mankind.[5] The science fiction author Poul Anderson (1926–2001),
an anti-racist Libertarian of Scandinavian ancestry, in his many
novels, novellas, and short stories, consistently used the term Aryan
as a synonym for Indo-Europeans. He spoke of the Aryan bird of prey
which impelled those of the Aryan race to take the lead in developing
interstellar travel, colonize habitable planets in other planetary
systems and become leading business entrepreneurs on the newly
colonized planets.[6]
The use of "Aryan" as a synonym for "Indo-European" or to a lesser
extent for "Indo-Iranian", is regarded today by many as obsolete and
politically incorrect, but may still occasionally appear in material
based on older scholarship, or written by persons accustomed to older
usage, such as in a 1989 article in Scientific American by Colin
Renfrew in which he uses the word "Aryan" in its traditional meaning
as a synonym for "Indo-European".[7]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigveda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Iranian_peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_American
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Renfrew
19th-century physical anthropology
Main article: Caucasian race
See also: scientific racism
The 4th edition of Meyers Konversationslexikon (Leipzig, 1885-1890)
shows the Caucasian race (in blue) as comprising Aryans, Semites and
Hamites. Aryans are further subdivided into European Aryans and Indo-
Aryans (the latter corresponding to the group now designated Indo-
Iranians).In 19th century physical anthropology, represented by some
as being scientific racism, the "Aryan race" was considered a subgroup
of the Caucasian (or Europid) race, essentially corresponding to the
speakers of Indo-European languages native to Europe, Persia and the
Indo-Gangetic plain in South Asia.
The original 19th-century and early 20th-century use of the term Aryan
referred to "the early speakers of Proto-Indo European and their
descendents".[8][9] Max Müller is often identified as the first writer
to speak of an Aryan "race" in English. In his Lectures on the Science
of Language in 1861[10] he referred to Aryans as a "race of people".
At the time, the term race had the meaning of "a group of tribes or
peoples, an ethnic group".[11]
When Müller's statement was interpreted to imply a biologically
distinct sub-group of humanity, he soon clarified that he simply meant
a line of descent, insisting that it was very dangerous to mix
linguistics and anthropology. "The Science of Language and the Science
of Man cannot be kept too much asunder ... I must repeat what I have
said many times before, it would be wrong to speak of Aryan blood as
of dolichocephalic grammar".[12] He restated his opposition to this
method in 1888 in his essay Biographies of words and the home of the
Aryas.[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cephalic_index
Müller was responding to the development of racial anthropology, and
the influence of the work of Arthur de Gobineau who argued that the
Indo-Europeans represented a superior branch of humanity. A number of
later writers, such as the French anthropologist Vacher de Lapouge in
his book L'Aryen, argued that this superior branch could be identified
biologically by using the cephalic index (a measure of head shape) and
other indicators. He argued that the long-headed "dolichocephalic-
blond" Europeans, characteristically found in northern Europe, were
natural leaders, destined to rule over more "brachiocephalic" (short
headed) peoples.[13].
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_de_Gobineau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacher_de_Lapouge
The division of the Caucasian race into Aryans, Semites and Hamites is
in origin linguistic, not based on physical anthropology, the division
in physical anthropology being that into Nordic, Alpine and
Mediterranean. However, the linguistic classification of "Aryan"
became closely associated, and conflated, with the classification of
"Nordic".
This claim became increasingly important during the 19th century. In
the mid-19th century, it was commonly believed that the Aryans
originated in the southwestern steppes of present-day Russia. However,
by the late 19th century the steppe theory of Aryan origins was
challenged by the view that the Aryans originated in ancient Germany
or Scandinavia, or at least that in those countries the original Aryan
ethnicity had been preserved. The German origin of the Aryans was
especially promoted by the archaeologist Gustaf Kossinna, who claimed
that the Proto-Indo-European peoples were identical to the Corded Ware
culture of Neolithic Germany. This idea was widely circulated in both
intellectual and popular culture by the early twentieth century,[14]
and is reflected in the concept of "Corded-Nordics" in Carleton S.
Coon's 1939 The Races of Europe.
Other anthropologists contested such claims. In Germany, Rudolf
Virchow launched a study of craniometry, which prompted him to
denounce "Nordic mysticism" in the 1885 Anthropology Congress in
Karlsruhe, while Josef Kollmann, a collaborator of Virchow, stated in
the same congress that the people of Europe, be they English, German,
French, and Spaniard belonged to a "mixture of various races,"
furthermore declaring that the "results of craniology...[are] against
any theory concerning the superiority of this or that European race"
to others.[10]
Virchow's contribution to the debate sparked a controversy. Houston
Stewart Chamberlain, a strong supporter of the theory of a superior
Aryan race, attacked Josef Kollmann arguments in detail. While the
"Aryan race" theory remained popular, particularly in Germany, some
authors defended Virchow's perspective, in particular Otto Schrader,
Rudolph von Jhering and the ethnologist Robert Hartmann (1831–1893),
who proposed to ban the notion of "Aryan" from anthropology.[10]
Indo-Aryan migration
Main article: Indo-Aryan migration
See also: Out of India theory
Models of the Indo-Aryan migration discuss scenarios of prehistoric
migrations of the early Indo-Aryans to their historically attested
areas of settlement in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent and
from there further across all of North India. Claims of Indo-Aryan
migration are primarily drawn from linguistic[15] evidence but also
from a multitude of data stemming from genetics,[16] Vedic religion,
rituals, poetics as well as some aspects of social organization and
chariot technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedic_period
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas
All discussion of historical Indo-Aryan migrations or Aryan and
Dravidian races remains highly controversial in India to this day, and
continues to affect political and religious debate. Some Dravidians,
and supporters of the Dalit movement, most commonly Tamils, claim that
the worship of Shiva is a distinct Dravidian religion going back to
the Indus Civilization,[17] to be distinguished from Brahminical
"Aryan" Hinduism. In contrast, the Indian nationalist Hindutva
movement argues that no Aryan invasion or migration ever occurred,
asserting that Vedic beliefs emerged from the Indus Valley
Civilisation,[18] which pre-dated the supposed advent of the Indo-
Aryans in India, and is identified as a likely candidate for a Proto-
Dravidian culture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalitstan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindutva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilisation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Dravidian
Some Indians were also influenced by the debate about the Aryan race
during the British Raj. The Indian nationalist V. D. Savarkar believed
in the theory that an "Aryan race" migrated to India,[19] but he
didn't find much value in a racialized interpretation of the "Aryan
race".[20] Some Indian nationalists supported the British version of
the theory because it gave them the prestige of common descent with
the ruling British class.[21]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._D._Savarkar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialized
Genetic studies
A genetic study in the year 2000 in Andhra Pradesh state of India
found that the upper caste Hindus were closer relatives to Eastern-
Europeans than to Hindus from lower castes.[22] However, a study
conducted by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in 2009 (in
collaboration with Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public
Health and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT) analyzed half a
million genetic markers across the genomes of 132 individuals from 25
ethnic groups from 13 states in India across multiple caste groups.
[23] The study asserts, based on the impossibility of identifying any
genetic indicators across caste lines, that castes in South Asia grew
out of traditional tribal organizations during the formation of Indian
society, and was not the product of any Aryan invasion and
"subjugation" of Dravidian people.[24]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_for_Cellular_and_Molecular_Biology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Medical_School
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_School_of_Public_Health
Occultism
Theosophy
Mme. Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, a lawyer, agricultural expert,
and journalist who covered the Spiritualist phenomena.Main article:
Root race
These debates were addressed within the Theosophical movement founded
by Helena Blavatsky and Henry Olcott at the end of the nineteenth
century. This philosophy took inspiration from Indian culture, in this
case, perhaps, from the Hindu reform movement the Arya Samaj founded
by Swami Dayananda.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Blavatsky
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steel_Olcott
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya_Samaj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Dayananda
Blavatsky argued that humanity had descended from a series of "Root
Races", naming the fifth root race (out of seven) the Aryan Race. She
thought that the Aryans originally came from Atlantis and described
the Aryan races with the following words:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_Race
"The Aryan races, for instance, now varying from dark brown, almost
black, red-brown-yellow, down to the whitest creamy colour, are yet
all of one and the same stock -- the Fifth Root-Race -- and spring
from one single progenitor, (...) who is said to have lived over
18,000,000 years ago, and also 850,000 years ago -- at the time of the
sinking of the last remnants of the great continent of Atlantis."[25]
Blavatsky used "Root Race" as a technical term to describe human
evolution over the large time periods in her cosmology. However, she
also claimed that there were modern non-Aryan peoples who were
inferior to Aryans. She regularly contrasts "Aryan" with "Semitic"
culture, to the detriment of the latter, asserting that Semitic
peoples are an offshoot of Aryans who have become "degenerate in
spirituality and perfected in materiality."[26] She also states that
some peoples are "semi-animal creatures". These latter include "the
Tasmanians, a portion of the Australians and a mountain tribe in
China." There are also "considerable numbers of the mixed Lemuro-
Atlantean peoples produced by various crossings with such semi-human
stocks -- e.g., the wild men of Borneo, the Veddhas of Ceylon, classed
by Prof. Flower among Aryans (!), most of the remaining Australians,
Bushmen, Negritos, Andaman Islanders, etc."[27]
Despite this, Blavatsky's admirers claim that her thinking was not
connected to fascist or racialist ideas, asserting that she believed
in a Universal Brotherhood of humanity and wrote that "all men have
spiritually and physically the same origin" and that "mankind is
essentially of one and the same essence".[28] On the other hand, in
The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky states: "Verily mankind is 'of one
blood,' but not of the same essence."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Brotherhood
Blavatsky connects physical race with spiritual attributes constantly
throughout her works:
"Esoteric history teaches that idols and their worship died out with
the Fourth Race, until the survivors of the hybrid races of the latter
(Chinamen, African Negroes, &c.) gradually brought the worship back.
The Vedas countenance no idols; all the modern Hindu writings do".
[29]
"The intellectual difference between the Aryan and other civilized
nations and such savages as the South Sea Islanders, is inexplicable
on any other grounds. No amount of culture, nor generations of
training amid civilization, could raise such human specimens as the
Bushmen, the Veddhas of Ceylon, and some African tribes, to the same
intellectual level as the Aryans, the Semites, and the Turanians so
called. The 'sacred spark' is missing in them and it is they who are
the only inferior races on the globe, now happily -- owing to the wise
adjustment of nature which ever works in that direction -- fast dying
out. Verily mankind is 'of one blood,' but not of the same essence. We
are the hot-house, artificially quickened plants in nature, having in
us a spark, which in them is latent".[30]
According to Blavatsky, "the MONADS of the lowest specimens of
humanity (the "narrow-brained" savage South-Sea Islander, the African,
the Australian) had no Karma to work out when first born as men, as
their more favoured brethren in intelligence had".[31]
She also prophecies of the destruction of the racial "failures of
nature" as the future "higher race" ascends:
"Thus will mankind, race after race, perform its appointed cycle-
pilgrimage. Climates will, and have already begun, to change, each
tropical year after the other dropping one sub-race, but only to beget
another higher race on the ascending cycle; while a series of other
less favoured groups -- the failures of nature -- will, like some
individual men, vanish from the human family without even leaving a
trace behind".[32]
It is interesting to note that the second subrace of the Fifth or
Aryan root race, the Arabian, is regarded by Theosophists as one of
the Aryan subraces. It is believed by Theosophists that the Arabians,
although asserted in traditional Theosophy to be of Aryan (i.e., Indo-
European) ancestry, adopted the Semitic language of the people around
them who had migrated earlier from Atlantis (the fifth or (original)
Semite subrace of the Atlantean root race). Theosophists assert that
the Jews originated as an offshoot of the Arabian subrace in what is
now Yemen about 30,000 BC. They migrated first to Somalia and then
later to Egypt where they lived until the time of Moses. Thus,
according to the teachings of Theosophy, the Jews are part of the
Aryan race.[33]
Ariosophy
Main article: Ariosophy
Guido von List (and his followers such as Lanz von Liebenfels) later
took up some of Blavatsky's ideas, mixing her ideology with
nationalistic and fascist ideas; this system of thought became known
as Ariosophy. It was believed in Ariosophy that the Teutonics were
superior to all other peoples because according to Theosophy the
Teutonics or Nordics were the most recent subrace of the Aryan root
race to have evolved.[34] Such views also fed into the development of
Nazi ideology. Theosophical publications such as The Aryan Path were
strongly opposed to the Nazi usage, attacking racialism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_von_List
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanz_von_Liebenfels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariosophy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aryan_Path
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racialism
The idea of the Northern origins of the Aryans was particularly
influential in Germany. It was widely believed that the "Vedic Aryans"
were ethnically identical to the Goths, Vandals and other ancient
Germanic peoples of the Völkerwanderung. This idea was often
intertwined with anti-Semitic ideas. The distinctions between the
"Aryan" and "Semitic" peoples were based on the aforementioned
linguistic and ethnic history.
Semitic peoples came to be seen as a foreign presence within Aryan
societies, and the Semitic peoples were often pointed to as the cause
of conversion and destruction of social order and values leading to
culture and civilization's downfall by proto-Nazi and Nazi theorists
such as Houston Stewart Chamberlain and Alfred Rosenberg.
According to the adherents to Ariosophy, the Aryan was a "master race"
that built a civilization that dominated the world from Atlantis about
ten thousand years ago. This alleged civilization declined when other
parts of the world were colonized after the 8,000 BC destruction of
Atlantis because the inferior races mixed with the Aryans but it left
traces of their civilization in Tibet (via Buddhism), and even in
Central America, South America, and Ancient Egypt. (The date of 8,000
BC for the destruction of Atlantis in Ariosophy is 2,000 years later
than the date of 10,000 BC given for this event in Theosophy.) These
theories affected the more esotericist strand of Nazism.
A complete, highly speculative theory of Aryan and anti-Semitic
history can be found in Alfred Rosenberg's major work, The Myth of the
Twentieth Century. Rosenberg's well-researched account of ancient
history, melded with his racial speculations, proved to be very
effective in spreading racialism among German intellectuals in the
early twentieth century, especially after the First World War.
These and other ideas evolved into the Nazi use of the term "Aryan
race" to refer to what they saw as being a master race of people of
northern European descent. They worked to maintain the purity of this
race through eugenics programs (including anti-miscegenation
legislation, compulsory sterilization of the mentally ill and the
mentally deficient, the execution of the institutionalized mentally
ill as part of a euthanasia program).
Heinrich Himmler (the Reichsführer of the SS), the person ordered by
Adolf Hitler to implement the final solution (Holocaust), told his
personal masseur Felix Kersten that he always carried with him a copy
of the ancient Aryan scripture, the Bhagavad Gita because it relieved
him of guilt about what he was doing — he felt that like the warrior
Arjuna, he was simply doing his duty without attachment to his actions.
[35]
Himmler was also interested in Buddhism and his institute Ahnenerbe
sought to mix some traditions from Hinduism and Buddhism.[36] Himmler
sent a 1939 German expedition to Tibet as part of his research into
Aryan origins.
Neo-Nazism
The Sun wheel is used as the symbol of the Aryan raceSince the
military defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allies in 1945, some neo-Nazis
have expanded their concept of the Aryan race, moving from the Nazi
concept that the purest Aryans were the Teutonics or Nordics of
Northern Europe to the idea that the true Aryans are everyone
descended from the Western or European branch of the Indo-European
peoples.[citation needed] "Moderate" "white nationalists" who embrace
what is called pan-Aryanism want to establish a democratically
governed Aryan Federation.[37] On the other hand, according to
Nicholas Goodrick-Clark, many neo-Nazis want to establish an
autocratic state modeled after Nazi Germany to be called the Western
Imperium.[38]
This proposed state would be led by a Führer-like figure called the
Vindex, and would include all areas inhabited by the Aryan race
(defined as non-Jews of European ancestry), i.e. Europe (includes all
of Russia), Anglo-America, South Africa (may include Rhodesia (now
called Zimbabwe)) with its white minority, Australia, New Zealand, and
southern South America (that is Chile, Argentina, eastern Bolivia,
southern Brazil, Uruguay, and possibly Paraguay.) Only those of the
Aryan race would be full citizens of the state. The Western Imperium
would embark on a vigorous and dynamic program of space exploration.
The concept of the Western Imperium as outlined in the previous three
sentences is based on the original concept of the Imperium as outlined
in the 1947 book Imperium: The Philosophy of History and Politics by
Francis Parker Yockey as further updated, extended and refined in the
early 1990s in pamphlets published by David Myatt. [39][40][41]
Various concepts of Aryanism and how they should be implemented are
debated on the Stormfront website.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Parker_Yockey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Myatt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormfront_(website)
Tempelhofgesellschaft
A neo-Nazi esoteric Nazi Gnostic sect headquartered in Vienna, Austria
called the Tempelhofgesellschaft, founded in the early 1990s, teaches
a form of what it calls Marcionism. They distribute pamphlets claiming
that the Aryan race originally came to Atlantis from the star
Aldebaran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Nazi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esoteric_Nazism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnostic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-volkisch_movements#Tempelhofgesellschaft_.28Gnostic_sect.29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcionism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_race#The_civilization_of_Atlantis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran
See also
Anatolian hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolian_hypothesis
Aryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan
Germanic peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples
Indo-Aryan migrations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Aryan_migrations
Nordic theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_theory
Nordic race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_race
Proto-Indo-Europeans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-Europeans
Indo-European language family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_language_family
Kurgan hypothesis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurgan_hypothesis
Race Life of the Aryan Peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Life_of_the_Aryan_Peoples
Scandinavism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavism
White nationalism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_nationalism
White supremacy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy
Philosophical:
Esotericism in Germany and Austria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esotericism_in_Germany_and_Austria
Thule Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Society
Germanic Neopaganism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_Neopaganism
Neo-völkisch movements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-v%C3%B6lkisch_movements
Third Reich specific:
Aryanization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryanization
Aryan paragraph
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_paragraph
Honorary Aryan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorary_Aryan
Ahnenpass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahnenpass
Aryan Games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_Games
Contemporaneous concepts of race:
Alpine race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_race
Armenoid race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenoid_race
Dinaric race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinaric_race
East Baltic race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Baltic_race
Iranid race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranid_race
Mediterranean race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean_race
References
Constructs such as ibid., op. cit. and loc. cit. are discouraged by
Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes as they are easily broken.
Please improve this article by replacing them with named references
(quick guide), or an abbreviated title.
^ Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate
Dictionary Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A.:1994--Merriam-Webster
See original definition (definition #1) of "Aryan" in English--Page
66
^ cf. Gershevitch, Ilya (1968), "Old Iranian Literature", Handbuch der
Orientalistik, Literatur I, Leiden: Brill, pp. 1–31 , p. 2.
^ Wells, H.G. The Outline of History New York:1920 Doubleday & Co.
Chapter 19 The Aryan Speaking Peoples in Pre-Historic Times Pages
271-285
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outline_of_History
^ H.G. Wells describes the origin of the Aryans (Proto-Indo
Europeans):
http://www.bartleby.com/86/19.html
^ Rand McNally’s World Atlas International Edition Chicago:1944 Rand
McNally Map: "Races of Mankind" Pages 278–279--In the explanatory
section below the map, the Aryan race (the word “Aryan” being defined
in the description below the map as a synonym for “Indo-Europeans”) is
described as being one of the ten major racial groupings of mankind.
Each of the ten racial groupings is depicted in a different color on
the map and the estimated populations in 1944 of the larger racial
groups except the Dravidians are given (the Dravidian population in
1944 would have been about 70,000,000). The other nine groups are
depicted as being the Semitic race (the Aryans (850,000,000) and the
Semites (70,000,000) are described as being the two main branches of
the Caucasian race), the Dravidian race, the Mongolian race
(700,000,000), the Malayan race (Correct population given on page
413--64,000,000 including half of the Malay States, Micronesia, and
Polynesia), the American Indian race (10,000,000), the Negro race
(140,000,000), the Native Australians, the Papuans, and the Hottentots
and Bushmen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dravidian_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_people_of_the_Americas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australoid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australoid_race
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoid_race
^ See, for example, the Poul Anderson short stories in the 1964
collection Time and Stars and the Polesotechnic League stories
featuring Nicholas van Rijn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_and_Stars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_van_Rijn
^ Renfrew, Colin. (1989). The Origins of Indo-European Languages. /
Scientific American/, 261(4), 82-90.
^ Mish, Frederic C., Editor in Chief Webster's Tenth New Collegiate
Dictionary Springfield, Massachuetts, U.S.A.:1994--Merriam-Webster
Page 66
^ Widney, Joseph P Race Life of the Aryan Peoples New York: Funk &
Wagnalls. 1907 In Two Volumes: Volume One--The Old World Volume Two--
The New World ISBN B000859S6O
http://books.google.com/books?id=s9UKAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage#v=onepage&q=&f=false
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Pomeroy_Widney
^ a b c d Andrea Orsucci, "Ariani, indogermani, stirpi mediterranee:
aspetti del dibattito sulle razze europee (1870-1914)", in Cromohs,
1998 (Italian)
http://www.cromohs.unifi.it/3_98/orsucci.html
^ OED under race, n.6 I.1.c has "A group of several tribes or peoples,
regarded as forming a distinct ethnic set. Esp. used in 19th-cent.
anthropological classification, sometimes in conjunction with
linguistic groupings."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OED
^ Speech before the University of Stassbourg, 1872, Chaudhuri, Nirad,
Scholar Extraordinary: The Life of Professor the Rt. Hon. Freidrich
Max Muller, Chatto and Windus, 1974, p.313
^ Vacher de Lapouge (trans Clossen, C), Georges (1899). "Old and New
Aspects of the Aryan Question". The American Journal of Sociology 5
(3): 329–346. .
^ Arvidsson, Stefan (2006). Aryan Idols. USA: University of Chicago
Press, 143. ISBN 0-226-02860-7.
^ The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration
Debate, Edwin Bryant, 2001
^ Trivedi, Bijal P (2001-05-14). [http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/
articles/05_01/Indo-European.shtml "Genetic evidence suggests European
migrants may have influenced the origins of India's caste system"].
Genome News Network (J. Craig Venter Institute).
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/05_01/Indo-European.shtml.
Retrieved 2005-01-27.
^ It is claimed that the Pashupati seal represents Shiva. J. Marshall
1931: Vol. 1, 52-55. Mohenjo-Daro and the IVC. London: Arthur
Probsthain.
^ Although most pro-Aryan migration theory scholars also agree that a
part of the IVC culture has influenced Hinduism. Renfrew says: "it is
difficult to see what is particularly non-Aryan about the Indus Valley
Civilization. Renfrew 1988:188-190. Archaeology and Language. New
York: Cambridge University Press
^ Bryant 2001:271, Talageri 2000. The Rigveda.
^ After all there is throughout this world so far as man is concerned
but a single race - the human race, kept alive by one common blood,
the human blood. All other talk is at best provisional, a makeshift
and only relatively true. (...) Even as it is, not even the aborigines
of the Andamans are without some sprinkling of the so-called Aryan
blood in their veins and vice-versa. Truly speaking all that one can
claim is that one has the blood of all mankind in one’s veins. The
fundamental unity of man from pole to pole is true, all else only
relatively so. Savarkar: "Hindutva". Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,
Savarkar Samagra: Complete Works of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 10
volumes, ISBN 81-7315-331-0
^ Erdosy 1995:21, The Indo-Aryans of ancient South Asia.
^ http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=11381027
^ Indians are one people descended from two tribes
http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_indians-are-one-people-descended-from-two-tribes_1292864
^ Aryan-Dravidian divide a myth: Study, Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Aryan-Dravidian-divide-a-myth-Study/articleshow/5053274.cms
^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and
Philosophy, Vol.II, p.249
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Doctrine
^ Ibid., p.200
^ Ibid., pp.195-6
^ The Key to Theosophy, Section 3
^ The Secret Doctrine, the Synthesis of Science, Religion and
Philosophy, Vol. II, p.723
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Doctrine
^ Ibid., p 421
^ Ibid., p.168
^ Ibid., p.446
^ Powell, A.E. The Solar System: A Complete Outline of the
Theosophical Scheme of Evolution London:1930 The Theosophical
Publishing House Pages 298-299
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas The Occult Roots of Nazism: Secret Aryan
Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology New York:1992 New York
University Press Chapter 13 "Herbert Reichstein and Ariosophy" Pages
164-176
^ Padfield, Peter Himmler New York:1990--Henry Holt Page 402
^ P.7, New Religions and the Nazis, By Karla Powne
^ Fundamentals of Pan-Aryanism:
http://forums.skadi.net/showthread.php?p=940600
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenvolk
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas (2003). Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric
Nazism and the Politics of Identity. New York: New York University
Press. pp. 221. ISBN 0-8147-3155-4.
^ Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism,
and The Politics of Identity New York: 2002--N.Y. University Press,
See Chapters 4 and 11 for extensive information about the proposed
"Western Imperium"
^ “Vindex—The Destiny of the West—Imperium of the West” by David
Myatt:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=423609919&blogId=497426085
^ [http://www.natvan.com/national-vanguard/130/index.html
"Space Exploration: An Expression of the Aryan Soul" by John Clarke
National Vanguard magazine Issue 130, January-February 2006:]
Further reading
The Arctic Home in the Vedas by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Arctic_Home_in_the_Vedas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_Gangadhar_Tilak
Arvidsson, Stefan. Aryan Idols. The Indo-European Mythology as Science
and Ideology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2006 ISBN
0-226-02860-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Arvidsson
Poliakov, Leon. The Aryan Myth: A History of Racist and Nationalistic
Ideas In Europe New York: Barnes & Noble Books. 1996 ISBN
0-7607-0034-6
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Poliakov
Widney, Joseph P. Google Books edition of Race Life of the Aryan
Peoples Race Life of the Aryan Peoples New York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1907
In Two Volumes: Volume One--The Old World Volume Two--The New World
ISBN B000859S6O
http://books.google.com/books?id=s9UKAAAAIAAJ&printsec=titlepage#v=onepage&q=&f=false
External links
The Aryan race
http://www.wisdomworld.org/additional/ListOfCollatedArticles/TheAryanRace.html
Indo-European Languages
http://www.bookrags.com/Indo-European_languages
Aryan by Kim Pearson
http://kpearson.faculty.tcnj.edu/Dictionary/aryan.htm
Iranian Branch of the Indo-European Family
http://www.nvtc.gov/lotw/months/february/IranianBranch.html
Races and Ethnic Groups of Iran
http://www.farhangsara.com/races.htm
Forensic Anthropology
http://www.port.ac.uk/departments/academic/biology/research/forensicanthropology/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
...and I am Std Harth
chhotemianinshallah
Sharad Pawar is not new to verbal abuse. Before Bal Thackeray cosied
up to him in recent times, he was wont to call the Maratha warlord the
most colourful names. Among the more mentionable of them were
`maidyancha pota ’ (a sack of flour) and a dog (I would rather not
repeat the Marathi as that sounds worse).He also continuously poked
fun at Pawar’s ample girth, saying he might be getting stuck in his
commode each morning. To be noted: Thackeray himself preferred Indian
toilets. Hotels he stayed at in Maharashtra had to modify their rooms
for the purpose and when he thought he might be thrown into jail by
Chhagan Bhujbal his primary concern, ahead of other comforts, was if
he would get an Indian toilet in his cell — though Michael Jackson did
use a Western one when he came calling at Matoshree in 1997!
Pawar was so sickened by all such politically irrelevant comments that
he warned Thackeray about the consequences: “I am from the rural areas
and a rural rustic can get more colourful abuse out of his mouth than
someone like Thackeray, city born and bred can ever fathom. So don’t
tempt me.’’ That shut Thackeray up quite adequately because he could
not be sure about how insulting Pawar could get or even if he could
match the latter’s vocabulary, word for word.
I guess Thackeray had reason to run scared. Because he knew Pawar
could say the worst possible things about somebody and still keep the
language parliamentary. Like the time in the Eighties — I recall I
was shocked out of my wits when he referred to then opposition leader
Mrinal Gore as `Pootna Maushi’.
Gore was a well-known socialist and she was very adept at her job as
an opposition leader. She was one of the primary persons who had
exposed Pawar’s alleged involvement in what we then referred to as the
`dereservation scam’. Decoded, this was simply that soon after he
became Chief Minister in 1988, Pawar decided that more than 250 plots
in Bombay which had been reserved for schools, gardens, hospitals and
other public spaces would be, well, dereserved and handed over to
private builders for commercial constructions. Pawar had overruled the
objections of both bureaucrats and municipal authorities about the
advisability of turning Bombay into more of a concrete jungle thus.
Gore tabled the whole list of the plots, along with a minute by minute
account of how they were dereserved, in the Maharashtra Assembly —
leading Chhagan Bhujbal, then the Shiv Sena’s lone legislator in the
House, to stick another unforgettable tag on Pawa: Bhookhandanche
Shrikhand Khalle (he has eaten shrikhand out of plots of land).
But while Pawar could brush aside such labels, what he could not get
over was the complete exposure of his integrity (since then wherever
Pawar goes, land scams, true or not, follow).
Why I believe Pawar’s abuse of Gore was unforgivable was because of
the choice of his words — which were not unparliamentary by themselves
but the circumstances under which they were uttered were downright
vicious. Pootna was the rakshasi who had been assigned by Lord
Krishna’s maternal uncle Kansa to poison the baby God through her
milk. Everyone knows the legend: how Baby Krishna bit her breasts and
destroyed both her and her evil purpose.
Gore had, at the time, been recovering from breast cancer and I
thought it was particularly nasty, downright mean and very hurtful of
Sharad Pawar to allude to a worthy opponent in such unpleasant and
personally painful terms. I was little more than a rookie at the time
and I recall rushing to Gore’s party office at the Vidhan Bhavan soon
after Pawar’s volley – I wanted to sympathise more than get a reaction
out of her to that insult.
However, Gore spoke of everything else but that abuse. And when I
asked her for a reaction, she said she had not heard anything at all
and there was no point reacting to something she did not know about.
Since Gore had very much been present during Pawar’s outburst, I
realised that she was either very hurt or very forgiving. In either
case, her response was very dignified and, in the absence of
television channels in that era, the whole episode was put to rest
almost immediately.
So, if an eon later, Satyavrat Chaturvedi now calls Sharad Pawar
another colourful name, I am not surprised that the Maratha strongman
should not find it too hard to forget and forgive. For Chaturvedi’s
terms of reference were neither personal nor could be too hurtful
(except to the extent that he chose to abuse at all) – those are
terms used almost like punctuation in many North Indian tongues. But
while MCs and BCs might be lingua franca in the North, I agree with
Pawar that it was quite unparliamentary language to have been used at
all.
Perhaps Chaturvedi should have taken lessons from Pawar before he got
abusive: on how to be parliamentary and unpleasant at one and the
same time!
Comments
One Response to “Whose abuse is it anyway?”
Rajen Kaushal says:
March 20, 2010 at 7:10 am
By far, conclusion is that unparliamentary language has no place on
high seats like CM. Thackerays comments are given more weightage by
Media otherwise, going by their political stature, they do not deserve
much weightage.
After exorbitant rise in food prices and sugar, Sharad Pawar’s
response was poor but going by Congress rules after independendence,
Congress, a party of capitalist never contained inflation and many
fold increase in food prices after independence is evident. Moreover,
while appointing ministers, Govt. must ensure that a person does not
become minister for industry from his home state. Maharastra houses
major sugar mills and Sharad Pawar should not have been Agricultural
Minister. What better or clean administration Manmohan Singh,
projected and perceived as honest man by Indians, provide?
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/03/19/whose-abuse-is-it-anyway/
Beat men fair and square
IF THE BILL DOES BECOME LAW, THOUGH,
I AM SURE AT LEAST THE YADAVS, WHO
ARE NOW OPPOSING IT VOCIFEROUSLY,
WILL BE AMONG THE FIRST TO BRING OUT
THEIR WIVES AND DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW TO
OCCUPY HIGH POSITIONS
Ihave always been agnostic when it comes to women’s
reservation: I am not against it per se, but I am not for
it either. My reservations about, well, reservation for
women is based on observation of how it has played out
in Maharashtra, which was among the first states to introduce
a 33 per cent quota for women in local self-government
bodies.
When I travelled to the villages, I noticed that most of
the women sarpanchs were wives of powerful men of the
area. Though it is getting slightly better these days, most
of these women did not take decisions on their own —
and if they did, their husbands would still beat them up.
In the cities, it was only somewhat better — the men
might not beat up women but the latter were certainly
puppets in the hands of their husbands.
I recall one particular woman corporator who had a
fairly bad reputation for just being who she was: the conservative
wife of a local party boss. Her husband took to
threatening people in her name and her mother-in-law
set up a desk right at her front door to rake in the earnings
— she personally counted the cash all day long!
It drove even members of her own party crazy. One of
them told me wryly, “I am against women’s reservation
only for this. Give a man a ticket and only he is corrupt,
give a woman a ticket and her whole family becomes
extortionists.’’
Of course, I did not agree with that perception and
ticked him off quite soundly.
I notice, though, that at least the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation (BMC) has got better over the
years. But several years ago former Chief Minister
Manohar Joshi had told us, after fielding women relatives
of Shiv Sainiks, quite unabashedly, “We are a purushi
(male) party. Electable women are very difficult to find.’’
However, when Bombay Mayor Shraddha Jadhav gave
away awards on International Women’s Day this year, all
top officials on the dais were women: Shailaja Girkar is
the Deputy Mayor, Mridula Joshi is the Municipal
Secretary and Manisha Mhaiskar is the Additional
Municipal Commissioner. One half was there on account
of the benefit of reservation; the other half had got there
on their own steam, perhaps pipping several worthy men
at the post.
So while I saluted all those women, my ambivalence
towards women’s quota continued, even as the UPA government
failed to have the Bill passed in Parliament on
Monday.
If the Bill does become law, though, I am sure at least
the Yadavs, who are now opposing it vociferously, will be
among the first to bring out their wives and daughtersin-
law to occupy high positions — yes, even the ‘par kati’
ones — remember Sharad Yadav’s obnoxious remark
about women with short hair? His wife has (or at least
had at the time he made that remark) short hair.
Next would be the girlfriends, as we have seen many politicians
promote their paramours even without the benefit
of reservations. I wonder how long it will be before the
common woman, without the benefit of a Godfather in
politics, gets an opportunity to enter a legislative body
on her own merit.
But if she did, I am not so sure it would be fair to restrict
women to constituencies for just five or ten years. Former
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had represented his constituency
in the Lok Sabha for ten terms — if not 50 years,
given several mid-term polls, this meant at least 40 years
at a stretch. Why should women not have similar right
to continue for as long as the voters want them?
If I were into electoral politics, I certainly would be
highly resentful at the injustice and unfairness of it all.
Yet, there is really no other way out of the situation. Which
once again reinforces my ambivalence about a quota for
women.
So it is just as well that I am not a politician with parliamentary
ambitions. I prefer to best the men at their
own game and beat them in their own backyards. As
Pratibha Patil did. And as many other exemplary women
are doing. ■ sana...@hindustantimes.com
http://www.hindustantimes.com/images/HTPopups/120310/10_03_M_MTR_16.pdf
How does she do it?
I have said all I wanted to say about my reservations about the
women’s reservation bill in my column anandan on Wednesday this week.
Like I said in the column, I am agnostic about the bill – I neither
believe in it nor do I knock it. I simply doubt that it will help at
all (help the common woman, that is).
But whatever my reservations, I am amazed at how Sonia Gandhi managed
to have the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, March 9. That
morning it looked as though not just the fate of the bill but also her
authority over her party was at risk. For, I know as a matter of fact
that many men in her party were as determined as Lalu and Mulayam
Yadav to ensure that it never became law and I thought they would
surreptitiously pitch in to scuttle the bill. But now I do not think
too many of them will dare voice their opposition.
I wonder what makes Sonia Gandhi take all the right calls and achieve
miracle after miracle in such quick succession. This particular bill
had been hanging in the balance for 14 years and when several more
stable governments could not manage to get it through, it really did
require a great deal of political will to push it at the risk of so
much endangerment of the UPA’s future.
I have heard people say quite often that we cannot find one single
Indian to rule this country and follow it up with the query: why
should Indians have to kowtow to the Italian bahu of Mrs Indira
Gandhi? In fact, I am looking to all those critics for an answer: yes,
really, why?
But I think I have a clue. And that came from a British diplomat to
quite another question. We were discussing how the Indian diaspora was
among the highest wage earners everywhere else in the world (and thus,
not surprisingly, they incurred the wrath of the locals in their
adopted countries for beating them to and keeping their jobs by sheer
dint of hard work). Yet, when it came to our own country, we were
among the poorest, most backward and taking too long getting anywhere.
The diplomat said, “Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that Indians
follow the rules to the `t’ wherever they live abroad. In India they
break the law all the time and so make it difficult for both
themselves and others to get along.’’
Then a Congress worker told me why he preferred Sonia Gandhi to her
husband, Rajiv. “She has a very European outlook on rules and honour.
She keeps her word and will not allow any violations. For example, if
the maximum age for a youth congress leader is 35, she will not allow
any one older to be elected to that post. No other considerations like
caste et al except what is stated in the rulebook. That is heartening
for the rest of us: we know we will eventually get there if we fit the
bill and no one can bring any untoward influence to bear upon her to
push us off the ladder. Even Rajivji was not so correct, he would
allow the occasional jugaad. ’’
That was a eulogy of his party president, of course, but I now wonder
if that is true. Perhaps she does bring a sense of honour and follows
the rules in everything she does and so succeeds more than others who
believe in, well, jugaad (manoeuvring people and situations to suit
their needs).
But on Tuesday, as she gave interviews to women journalists on
television, I was impressed by Sonia’s tone and pitch – happy but
thanking all the men for having made it possible. Gracious for their
support to both the Left parties and the BJP which have knocked her
endlessly over various issues but not gloating about it at all a la
the Yadavs, keeping a door open for the allies and, of course, very
self-effacing.
I say `self-effacing’ because when I first met her in Nasik several
years ago, after she first took over the party’s reigns in the middle
of an election in 1998 and miraculously helped a losing Congress win
45 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats from Maharashtra, she was quick to give
the credit to Sharad Pawar. And when we asked her about her role as
the Congress president, she said, “I am only the latest in a long
series of Congress presidents. Other Congress leaders have been around
longer than I have been and it is they who have done things for the
party, not me. I am still learning.’’
I guess she has learnt well by now and I remark upon another thing: in
the decade at the start of which even her own party men took her with
several fistfuls of salt to now, she seems to have muted the criticism
about her being a misfit in Indian politics and put their uncertainty
about her ability to deliver to rest.
The Congress is the most indisciplined, chaotic and irreverent party I
know. Yet they revere their party president more than the Shiv Sainiks
do Bal Thackeray or the BJP does its own succession of party chiefs.
Perhaps that is because she delivers to them nine times out of ten,
while others do not. But I continue to wonder: did Sonia Gandhi learn
it all at the feet of her mother-in-law or is she bringing a European
sense of commitment to her party that helps her defeat the might of
the BJP and its formidable allies in 2004 and return with an even
greater majority in 2009? And now give to Indian women what no man (or
even woman — most notably Indira Gandhi) has dared or cared to before?
(9 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, March 12, 2010 at 9:05 pm
28 Responses to “How does she do it?”
vijai lugani says:
March 13, 2010 at 3:25 am
she leaenedrned the political process in india under the leader ship
of mrs. indra gandhi and of cousrse from rajiv gandhi. she knows upto
this time how to bring together different political shades under one
umberala when requied, she does not believe in cast and creed.she is
hard worker and of couse haverahul and pryanka and some faithful
polrical advisers. the author of this artical is absoultely right in
every aspect and more ever she is not power hungry. if she does not
like some people she can show them door to get out.
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 3:13 am
Vijay Lugani,
If I write about the good qualities of my dhobi they’re not too far
from the ones that you wrote – hardworking, honest, faithful,
relatively selfless and mostly fair. For that matter these qualities
are universal and necessary to succeed in any profession. What makes
Sonia different from us is she finds herself married in to the most
politically influential family in our country where political power is
hereditary and party members are expected to bow to the whips of party
leaders.
Ajay says:
March 13, 2010 at 5:16 am
Interesting thoughts… However, I think many Europeans may feel that
Italian background is bit different from that of Western European one…
Ed says:
March 13, 2010 at 5:53 am
Take a dig on this topic at
[ http://pages.rediff.com/we-evolve/21809#allfeeds ]
The bill is only useful when it break the poverty lines, dynasty lines
…
It should be 35% (poor women), 35%(poor men), 30% (talented)
70% should be representative of poor.
It should be 35% (poor women), 35%(poor men), 30% (talented –
scientist, economist, etc)
THE BIG QUESTION IS how do we qualify to be
1 )Identify 70% – Poor & most popular 10 candiate representing Poor
People from certain region (MP/MLA area) to whom the Election
commision will fund campaign money
2 )To keep tap on Rich person whose campaign funds/money has to be
capped by Election commision and made almost equal to 1).
3 )Criteria to identify 30% (talented people)
Ways to find the list 1) and 2) and 3) is something ruling party needs
to think and debate instead of wasting time.
To gauge 1), we need to count the strongest of the following points by
Election Commision and more can be added by debates
A) Years of work
B) Have an open debate at ONE or TWO cantenders preferred location
agreed by each contenders,
let contenders speak what they have done and want to do.
Make people/choser stand in different locations on the debate ground
to exibit their support.
The count done to choose the top 10.
C) Ensure rotation between Male and Female, thus women whose work and
popularity is on her own rather than backing of GOONDAS should be
preferred for qualifying 1)
People backed by money and goonda power cannot qualify for 1)
D) Every term, Election commision can choose certain region by Gender,
thus they can choose between the women & men that qualify for 1) or
term when both women & men qualify for 1)
Debate should be there to decide if 2)candiates should be allowed to
contest irrespective of gender.
Cap/restriction of number of time(2 times max) a candiate can stand
for elections in a sequence.
Debate on how election commsion will enforce 1) on all parties and in
all regions.
Debate on how to lessen the dynasty and family business and bring
democracy by Election Commission criteria in 1).
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:11 am
Ed,
Because you write of so many different, often contradictory,
qualifications for running for office may be you should be our next
Election Commission.
Vijay Saini says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:36 am
Meekly following Sonia Gandhi is the slave mentallity. Although India
is a free country now, it would take us a very long time to get over
the slave mindframe. I think we are ripe and ready for foreign rule by
proxy. Any country can capture us in reality.
AB says:
March 13, 2010 at 7:56 am
Funny article, then lets elect Silvio Berlusconi as president of
India.Problem solved
Jitendra says:
March 13, 2010 at 9:18 am
I have never read such a degrading article. It is a shame that we
still have white man’s lackey amongst us. It is achivement of Mcaulays
education aystem that country continues to create such people even
after 62 years. She can do it because congis are a party of chamchas
and nincompoops including PM. Not a single congi has any moral, ethics
and no one is ready to stand up for the good of country. They only
stand up to save their chair and that depends of congi president. This
article talks of European values and commitment. Is author trying to
say that India does not have people with values and commitments. We
have plenty of people but stupid system of election where masses of
Idiots vote on the basis of caste, religion and personal loyalties.
What a stupid assumption on the part of author that Eurpeons are
better then us. In western coutries it is the system that works but
people are no different from us.
This bill is wrong because it will create rabris. Every from of
reservation and quota should be removed if country has to make any
progress. Otherwise mediocres will continue to stuff this country and
we will reamin a third world country forever. Singapore, Japan and
Malayasia are better than us without importing any whity. Have you
ever thought why we are still joke of the world after 62 years.
Reservation is an indication of failures of Govt economic and social
policies, and majority of the time Congi traitors have been in rule.
Wake up and get rid of banana spine and start believing in yourself
and it is shame that congis have imposed a whity on us. It hurts my
self respect.
LAKSHMANAN says:
March 13, 2010 at 9:32 am
Any type of reservations, on a permanent basis, is a threat to
liberty, standard of life, freedom and finally to democracy. See what
is happening in government due to reservations, especially reservation
policy in promotions. Merit is sidelined and in the name of social
justice many people occupy posts which they would not have got but for
reservations. It is not their fault and no one is worried about the
declining standard of Administration which is directly affecting the
generl public.
The introduction of reservation for women may be an eye opener in the
years to come and after 10 or 15 years every all shall join together
to undo reservations of any kind, I hope.
Nikhil says:
March 13, 2010 at 10:11 am
Oh god! When will journos stop sucking toes of the Nehru-Gandhi
family? Perhaps, never.
Bhukkal Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Thats the best summarisation of this article, Nikhil. Well the journos
are on fat pay packets….there is no responsible and honest journalism
left, they have to also buy flats in posh areas, salaries will cater
to their chai paani only… Shameless Creed, I wish there were Kiran
Bedis in Journalism as well.
Ekta B says:
March 13, 2010 at 11:07 am
Although an expat now, this is definitely the way I see things under
Sonia Gandhi in India, a very well written article indeed.
I have now lived overseas for the last 14 years and as someone who has
been given their fair share in an adopted and foreign land and made to
feel so at home, I must say it feels good to read that Sonia has
achieved in India (not from a political but recognition stand-point)
what we hope to achieve overseas as immigrant Indians.
I hope there are more people like her from different political
persuasions for it would make for a better and stronger India.
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 3:01 am
Ekta B,
To be where Sonia is in politics today, one has to first marry in to
the most politically influential family in a country where dynastic
politics reigns supreme. This privilege is found only in India and not
in the West. After looking at the success of political heirs in India,
I’m convinced humans are capable of being reasonably successful if
they’re thrown in any job.
As far as success of foreigners in India is concerned, we already do
it well in many different spheres.
Anil says:
March 13, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Basically I am against any kind of reservations. The historic bill
however was a necessity because of our historic suppression of the
female gender over thousands of centuries. The real necessity is the
empowerment to the women. The glaring example is in the way women are
treated in Army. The strangest thing is that people have totally
forgotten the most maligned PM Mr H D Devegowda (the humble farmer)
and his Law Minister Ram Das Khalap who tabled the bill for the first
time.
Anil Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
One more point about our Constitution. India gave voting rights to
women since its independence. USA gave voting rights to women almost
80 years after the blacks got to vote in 1870 !
Gopi Thomas says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Although I do not care about congress party and its politics, I do
admire and respect Mrs Gandhi. Like many, I was questioning her
selection, her “foreign” status, her commitment etc. I have come 180
degrees around, she is an exemplary leader, good disciplinarian. I
firmly believe now, that she at the core, is 100% “Indian”, much much
more than many of her followers or other Indians. I do believe she
wants to create a better and new India on the foundation of our
ancient and rich heritage. Originally it was the call of her husband;
now I truly believe, to her, it is now the call of the country.
Atul8 says:
March 13, 2010 at 8:52 pm
In all my years of international travel, I learnt a valuable lesson
about myslef and my countrymen…. we lack accountability & discipline.
Of course, controlling the congress coffers does help, but Sonia’
foreign roots are really an advantage in this Jugaad ridden society
Most important, normally europeans are not given to visions of
grandeur when in power, unlike in our case where the lust for that red
light on the car is more important than perforing their gievn jobs.
It has to be the European sense of commitment….all the way!!
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:02 am
Atul8,
If you think Sonia’s european heritage makes her special in Indian
politics, too bad we let the British go, is it not?
The European sense of commitment and discipline were not achieved
overnight by passing bills for quotas in European governments. If
you’re suggesting to overcome lack of accountability and discipline in
India through more political quotas, perhaps, you should continue with
your international travel till you see clear.
Atul8 Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 10:19 am
Nikhil,
My response in one line -
Too bad we did not embrace and carry forward the sense of discipline &
accountability when we let the British go.
You need to do something about your aggression – it is colouring your
usual objectivity
Nikhil Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Atul8,
The sense of discipline & accountability is not a British – or should
I say Italian – USP. Such characteristics are universal and cultivated
in societies where merit and systems are valued more than quotas and
personalities. We could not develop that sense because of intellectual
lethargy and we let ’some’ leaders off the hook when they dilute
democractic processes.
What you may see as aggression, I see it as a natural response to the
perfidy of the mainstream media. Happy international traveling, for
you.
Atul8 Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Nikhil,
Whatever we are, we have done unto ourselves – good or bad.
But when a discussion veers away from the issue to personalities, then
it becomes a clear indication that objectivity is losing out.
Musnt let that happen in the interest of a healthy debate.
Nikhil Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 1:14 am
Atul8,
Dear, the article revolves around hollow personality and not
substance. The comments will not be too far off, would they? I
fundamentally disagree with your point of view and I had to express it
in a sharp way.
Atul8 Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Nikhil,
You were not being sharp. You were being obtuse.
However, enough has been exchanged on this topic, and we should move
on.
Nikhil Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 5:31 am
Atul8,
It provoked you, that’s all I wanted. Enough said!
Harish says:
March 15, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Is ambika soni ghost writing these articles
You did hit it out of the park with the European honour bit maam…
stupid and rash…but..takes guts..the right wing is sort of like the
australian team in the early part of last decade on the internet…and
they are still reeling in shock and have not attacked this piece in
earnest even after two days…
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:07 am
This article truly reflects dark skinned Indians’ mentality…eternal
slaves
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 2:17 am
The Congress is the most indisciplined, chaotic and irreverent party I
know. Yet they revere their party president more than the Shiv Sainiks
do Bal Thackeray or the BJP does its own succession of party chiefs.
The first sentence is unadultyerated lie.. i have never seen any
congress man being anythgin beyond yesman to the nehru family figure..
Somehow this is being presented as virtue which it is not.
BJP is nto family rule Shiv sena could be another matetr altogether
but to ask BJP men to be supine and fawning liek congressmen towards
their leader is negating the intra party democracy of BJP. Everyone is
free to express hsi/per opninon noone need fawn like congressmen do to
the later of 10 janpath.
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I get a feeling that Anandan may be dreaming for Congress ticket in
2014..Good going..Why don’t you start licking feet of Sonia like
Barkha did recently.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/03/12/how-does-she-do-it/
Kill Bill, for men’s and women’s sake
Amid riotous scenes, India’s upper house passed a controversial
legislation to reserve a third of seats in federal and state
legislatures for women. The constitutional amendment “one that changes
the scope of India’s Constitution” is likely to scrape through the
powerful lower house, too. Despite overreaching itself, the government
of the day will probably survive.
In principle, empowering women is the way to go. Yet this triumph is a
zero-sum game. One participant’s gains can come only from another’s
equivalent losses. It seeks to pay Paul by robbing Peter.
This bill is deeply flawed because collateral damages have not been
addressed. Since it will be a zero-sum game, it will have a direct
bearing on representations of minority communities, backward castes
and marginalized women themselves. The Bill is anti-minority, anti-
backwards, and both anti-women and anti-men.
In a largely risk-averse political system, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi
can take the credit for pulling out a Bill that previous governments
“including those run by her own party” had abandoned, and for driving
it past dissenters whom she may in future need.
Imposing a 33 per cent quota seems momentous in a country where female
foetuses are aborted, wives spanked and women are paid less than a
third the male average in unorganized jobs. In reality, the quota can
add to the sort of disequilibrium current legislatures are made of.
Even setting aside the fact that some male MPs will naturally have to
step down for women, the proposed law fundamentally changes the basic
nature of India’s electoral representation.
With a 15-year shelf-life, 33 per cent of the seats will be blocked in
rotation and will be done in a way that a seat shall be reserved once
in three back-to-back elections. The revolving quota is the Bill’s
most serious flaw.
Two-thirds of candidates, men and women, will be unseated every time
and one-thirds will have no chance of being re-elected from the same
seat. This one-third will be left wondering if they will get to retain
their seats, depending on the outcome of the lottery.
On the whole, it will set off largescale churning “every single time”
that will make elections farcical. Electors will vote in, rather than
vote out incompetent representatives. With frequently changing
representatives, what would voters go by in deciding whom to elect?
The role of past performance in deciding a candidate’s fate will be
further lessened, thereby blunting the only weapon the common man has.
Constituencies will cease to matter for candidates. The veterans and
more guile among candidates will resettle themselves, pushing out less
iconic politicians.
Accountability will suffer because a candidate will less likely go to
the same voter every time. The voters’ powers to rate a candidate’s
performance will diminish, paving the way for a greater role of money
in deciding electoral outcomes.
A “sense of belonging” is part and parcel of Indian politics.
Constituencies are nursed by politicians who invest time, efforts and
money into the place they hope to get elected from.
Can we have compelling women leaders if they do not have strong
permanent political bases? The current Bill is paternalistic; it seeks
to make rolling-stone politicians of women, or “one-time players”, to
use women activist Madhu Kishwar’ words.
Several women’s rights organisations have highlighted these fault
lines. NGO Manushi advocates an alternative Bill, requiring political
parties to reserve nominations (tickets) for women, not seats.
Feminist fundamentalists, however, in their zeal, have failed to
appreciate the serious weaknesses hidden in the proposed amendment.
Though it will not exactly result in separate electorates, the women’s
reservation Bill, in spirit, moves towards that direction. But
proponents of the Bill deny such a possibility. Separate electorates,
theoretically, are those where electors and the elected belong to the
same community, sex or caste.
The Constituent Assembly “which served as India’s first Parliament
until it framed the Constitution” had overturned separate electorates
granted by the British government to minorities, especially Muslims
and Sikhs.,
Framers of the Constitution opted to keep the highest elected
institution free from preferential treatment, preferring the “first
past the post system”over proportional representation, save for time-
bound reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to enable
them to overcome disadvantages.
The Constituent Assembly initially included minority safeguards in its
Report on Minority Rights adopted in August 1947 and in the Draft
Constitution’s Part XIV. However, subsequent nationalist arguments
“situated in the immediate past history of Partition” paved the way
for a reversal of minority safeguards.
The principal arguments against it were that such rights were based on
caste and religion, and religion-based separate electorates had been
the immediate trigger for Partition. With the Muslim League and the
Sikh Panthic Party in disarray, Muslim and Sikh acquiescence on
reversing minority safeguards was ultimately secured.
The reversal was done by a close vote in the Constituent Assembly
Advisory Committee meeting, but key Muslim leaders, including Congress
leader Maulana Azad, abstained. (R. Retzlaff points out in “The
Problem of Communal Minorities in the Drafting of the Indian
Constitution” that the Constitution would have included political
safeguards for religious minorities had framing been completed during
the initial timetable fixed for it. Also see Rochana Bajpai’s Minority
Rights in Indian Constitution, Working Paper 30).
If the women’s Bill is passed in its current form, then a clear case
emerges for compensatory minority safeguards to be reactivated, not
separate electorates but reserved seats.
In fact, parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and
Muslim organizations have demanded a quota-within-quota in women’s
reservation.
Muslim representation in the federal legislature is dwindling: from 48
in 1985, it is 29 at present. In all 15 Lok Sabha elections, only 14
Muslim women have been elected. Kerala has two Muslim federal
lawmakers, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have 1 each. States such as
Mahrashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan have none..
The women’s reservation Bill is based on the presumption of
homogeneity in the status of women. Homogeneity is a stupid idea when
applied to assess communities horizontally. Not all women, like
Muslims, are equally disadvantaged or privileged.
Since privileged groups are always in a better position to leverage
concessions, the proposed amendment will help privileged women gain at
the expense of less-privileged ones. Though ideally, the highest
elected forum should be able to be free from all reservations, a quota
that specifically addresses maginalised women would have been
pragmatic.
The Congress, at his stage, clearly has not thought of the jigsaw
puzzle that awaits it. It is simply basking in the glory of a
political stunt. The BJP has eyes set on inroads through upper-caste
women. The Left’s euphoria matches Abdullah’s in this Urdu
proverb: begaani shaadi me Abdullah diwana (Abdullah is rejoicing at
an uninvited wedding).
(10 votes, average: 2.7 out of 5)
Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 8:04 pm
Filed under India · Tagged collateral damages, Congress chief Sonia
Gandhi, elections, India’s Constitution, legislation, Madhu Kishwar,
Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes
36 Responses to “Kill Bill, for men’s and women’s sake”
Gopi Thomas says:
March 14, 2010 at 9:48 pm
Churning, short terms etc are good; and an increased representation
for women is even better. Democracy works through elected
representatives voting on changes and issues. I do hope Lok Sabha
votes for this; and if they do, I hope people like Zia will shut up.
These are the same people who want reservation for this group of
people and that group of people; what is wrong with having seats
reserved for women?
Panchayaths, municipality, and Corporation elections (and mayoral
slots) in Kerala have been reserved for women in the last 15 years,
and it ahs produced real grass roots level progress. A bigger
representation by women in Parliamenta nd aswemblies will only do
good.
Vijay Bhatia Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Gopi, you are arguing in favor of increased representation of women in
Parliament and Assemblies. That of course is very much desirable. But
this bill, in its current form is a sure prescription of political
chaos.
What this bill means is that no male leader can represent same
constituency more than twice! And this will do no long term good for
women politicians either. Because, before they can gain ground and
experience, they will have to move on, since in next election cycle
the seat won’t be reserved!
Here is a very Rational take on this important issue (feel free to
comment):-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
[Reply]
Vijay Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:09 am
No one is arguing against a bigger representation by omen in
Parliament and assemblies will be good. The debate is about how to
achieve it.
The bill in its current form is sure recipe for political chaos.
Here is another rational opinion on this important issue:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
Bell Bajao Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
“Panchayaths, municipality, and Corporation elections (and mayoral
slots) in Kerala have been reserved for women in the last 15 years,
and it ahs produced real grass roots level progress. A bigger
representation by women in Parliamenta nd aswemblies will only do
good.”
Indeed! We’ve seen this happen in other parts of the company as well.
Reservation in panchayat has actually empowered women in villages and
has helped a lot in their upliftment.
VARUN SAXENA says:
March 15, 2010 at 1:53 am
Mr.Zia, the bill has certain Issues and to a certain the bill proposed
by Madhu Kishwar is in someways better.
But what I cannot understand is this. You said “The Bill is anti-
minority, anti-backward”. Can you pls explain How ?
How can women reservation bill be Anti Muslim ? How come just about
everything becomes Anti Muslim ?
I hope this bill passes with some modifications and not the
modifications which Mulayam and Laloo are suggesting but the ones
suggested by Learned People.
The only reason Mulayam and Laloo are against this Bill is that most
of the MPs’ of these 2 parties are big goons and only through these
goondaism of these goons alongwith folling Muslims and Lower Castes by
pitting them against Upper Castes do they win elections.
Now it can be safely said that more than 95% goons in INDIA would be
men. Henceforth with Women having 33% reservations the chances of
these parties winning Elections will be inversely affected
Ashish says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:21 am
I agree that while the objective is laudable, the bill as it stands
today is deeply flawed. I am not comfortable with the idea of having
no power over my MP (man or woman) who knows that he/ she will not
need my vote next time.
I liked the arguments put forward by Karan Thapar favouring changes to
the bill in his column earlier today.
Am I against reserving seats for women? No, I am not. But, this bill
in its present form; no, it does not appeal to me. MPs are not IAS
officers that they can serve one constituency (district) for 2 terms
and then move to another one for the next terms.
However, trust Zia to use the Women’s reservation bill to ask for
reservations for Muslims.
Way to go Zia; suck up to Mulayam now. Who knows, he might make you an
MLA/ MP from Delhi.
Vini says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:27 am
The headline of this post should be: Kill Bill, for men’s sake. After
all, all the rhetoric we have heard in recent days about the bill
being a threat to parliamentary democracy, equality… blah, blah,
blah…. including this blogpost… is simply a smokescreen to hide the
truth that no man wants to be caught admitting: That men, don’t want
to share power with women. Ever.
Yes the Bill has flaws, but those flaws can be addressed without
killing the Bill.
What I want to say here first is that I take extreme offense at the
use of the word ‘spanking’ to trivialize a serious issue like domestic
violence. Do you have any idea what domestic violence is? Perhaps not.
That’s why you treat it so flippantly.
As for the rest of the blog, it is all conjecture. You and all the
doomsayers don’t know if this bill will work till it is implemented.
It might just. And forget that old argument that it will be taken over
by elite women. So far it’s been elite men in charge.. so what’s wrong
with elite women having a go?
As for the problems of revolving quota that you bring up as the Bill’s
most serious flaw, I think you can argue the other way too. That is,
MPs from reserved constituencies will work extra hard in the reserved
constituency to ensure that they get a ticket when the seat is not
reserved any more because of the good work they would have hopefully
done.
Ashish Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 6:02 pm
@Vini,
Mr Zia can’t just win, can he ?
For the first time, Zia tried arguing for the majority (men!). And,
still, he finds very few supporters!
Not speaking for Zia here; just speaking for myself.
I support the objectives behind the bill; as a man. I see in India a
huge need to balance the power structure which is so tilted in favour
of men. Also, as others have pointed out in comments, an increased
representation for women is inversely correlated (or so we hope) to
the criminality quotient of our legislatures.
I do not wish this bill to be killed. I do however wish this bill to
be amended to somehow handle the rotation issue. Like I had said,
Karan Thapar made some excellent suggestions. So did the legal cell
head of the Shiv Sena on TV.
Ma’am, most men on this blog are not against the bill; please do not
make the mistake of thinking men oppose the bill. Far from it.
Certainly not because we will lose a chance to be an MP/ MLA… I doubt
any of us commenting here have realistically ever thought of
contesting elections.
All men are not Laloo Yadav/ Sharad Yadav/ Mulayam Yadav.. luckily all
women are not Mayawati, Mamata or Jayalalitha either who promote
women even less than men do.
May I also mention that I have a vested interest? As one with two
daughters, at least one of whom is seriously disinclined to study
(admittedly early days, she is just 6), I love the new career options
this bill opens up for her.
Vijay Bhatia says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:55 am
“I am not comfortable with the idea of having no power over my MP (man
or woman) who knows that he/ she will not need my vote next time.”
Excellent point Ashish!
Here is my take on this important issue, if you like:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
K says:
March 15, 2010 at 4:09 am
I dont understand what makes the women reservation bad but all those
other reservations (BC,SC,OBC etc.) good ? Both types are aimed at the
‘marginalized’ and both actually lower the quality of politicians we
elect and even more importantly, both a against the constitution which
lets the people decide who should represent them.
Quota has only helped influential sections of SC,BC,OBC. This is not
like a ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ where an unknown, marginalized dalit or
lady can make it to the parliament, no matter how much quota is
introduced.
As Sonia shockingly and sadly commented, people like Lalu will have
greater control over parliament and greater share of black money
because he has seven daughters and the power to field them in
elections.
peshori ahuja says:
March 15, 2010 at 5:41 am
Reservation itself means that the comunity, the religion, the class,
or any groupthat asks or gets reservation is not capable of attaining
the efficiency of the level that is attained by those for whom there
is no reservation.
Not only that but by asking or getting the reservation makes the
reserveds a second class citizens and it makes the clever politicians
more manipolative and powerful.
Vijay says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:14 am
For most parts I agree with Zia’s reasoning. This bill in it’s current
form is a sure recipe for political chaos. Political commitment by
parties is way to go.
Why political parties have to be coerced by laws? Where did the days
go, when parties used to organize “aandolans” for social cause? Why
not even congress want to field more women candidates, unless coerced
by the law?
This is anything but LEADERSHIP.
Here is another rational opinion on this important issue:-
http://rationalopinion.blogspot.com/2010/03/no-good-womens-reservation-bill.html
Joseph James says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:20 am
The writer bases his arguments against the women’s bill on the false
premise that the retention of a constituency by a sitting member is
the be-all and end-all of democracy. In an advanced stage of
democracy, every election will bring in new candidates as it is
happening in the southern states. In fact, a constituency must be
nursed by a party and not by individuals. At any rate, going by the
arguments of bill’s opponents like Zia, the candidates displaced by
the reservation are going to promote women from their families. This
will mean that, certain constituencies which were individual pocket
boroughs earlier will now become family pocket boroughs. Or ingenious
candidates will now start nursing two constituencies instead of one.
In short the electorate, now, stand to receive more attention from the
politicians, which isn’t a bad thing after all. Moreover, rotational
unseating is applicable only to men, not to women. So, performing
women members can continue to represent their constituencies even when
they become unreserved. This will push the female strength in the
parliament beyond the mandatory 33%. The argument that the bill
doesn’t address the grievances of marginalized women doesn’t hold
water either. As of today all women are marginalized. The quota within
quota can come in the second stage. After all this is a mere
beginning. Amendments can be introduced later to make it foolproof. It
must be given time to evolve like the anti-defection law. What’s most
worrying about the anti-bill movement is that it seems to be centred
around the Muslim interests. Even the socialist parties are
purportedly doing it please the Muslim minority. I do not think Islam
is as anti-women and anti-progress as it is usually made out to be.
Dr. P.K. Jha says:
March 15, 2010 at 8:43 am
Reservation in any form is bad, be it caste-based or gender-based or
religion-based. As Karan Thapar says, the whole issue of reservation
is an offense, for it leads to severe discrimination. The proposed
bill for women is no exception.
The women in favor of this bill are virtually projecting themselves as
handicapped. Strangely, they are the ones who also insist on gender
equality.
Every policy of reservation is initially deemed to end after a period
of ten to fifteen years, and this one is no exception. However, we
know from our experience that this kind of promise is basically a
hogwash.
There is still time for good sense to prevail. For heaven’s sake,
withdraw the bill.
sks says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:05 am
The fact is that a woman might actually do very well in 5 years to be
re-elected again. Why should anyone presume that they will not get
reelected! It might be the best strategy to break the current fiefdom
without performance!
By the way, which sane person uses the word spanked for abuse!
Shrinivas says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:22 am
Some of the objections to the bill are valid, but since for 60 years
the disparity, marginalization and backwardness of women is not
addressed by the the political system, only quota is the solution.
Though this is meant for 15 years, we can imagine this not going away
after that.
The people who suggest that let parties reserve % of candidacy to
women is not going to work, as we all know that just to satisfy the %
the parties will give tickets where they don’t stand a chance to win.
Now, about quota within quota, I believe being women, representing
women and fighting for women is a bigger cause than representing a
cast, community or a section of society. So let’s fight for the the
right cause first. These parties who are making hoopla about quota in
quota, did not bother to give tickets neither to women nor minorities
in the same %.
Sid says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:26 am
First of All welcome change from Zia Haq – atleast instead of calling
for Fatwa – he is trying to engage in a debate! However, it is NOT an
intellectual debate because:
1. For Muslims there are many forums & 80% our media is in FOREFRONT
to project their interests & represent their view points.
2. For OBC & SC, 63 years have gone by, except for their leaders
becoming Zillionaires, NO REAL improvements have been seen in their
lives. Many CMs ruled for long time (Laloo, Karunanadhi, Mulayam,
Mayawathi etc). Same is true of Muslims (all Bollywood big guns are
Muslims – do they donate any charity to good Muslim organizations?)
Money also comes from Gulf employed Muslims.
3. My wife should be writing this – but she is BUSY listening to
Bollywood songs, so SPIRITED men like me have to take up the cause of
WOMEN!
4. Most important – Laloo has commented – women’s bill OVER his dead
body – such GOLDEN oppertunity may NEVER again come in our life times,
so why NOT KILL TWO wonderful birds with one STONE. Don’t even THINK –
JUST go for the KILL by voting BLINDLY for women’s bill!
n s parameswaran says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:54 am
The people who call themselves secular, liberal and progressive are
the people who ask for communal reservation for Muslims under the garb
of ‘Monorities’. . When they practice ‘Communalism’ it is called
‘Progressive Politics’, and when Hindus object to it they are labelled
‘Communal’.
If muslims are backward then the reason is they want to be backward.
They never started or took admission in schools and colleges and
instead started “madarassa’, learnt Quaran by rote. Now how can they
get jobs which such ‘UN”Qualifications. Then they blackmail the
majority with cries of injustice and opression. Spineless parties like
Congress, Left and Opportunistic and unprincipled parties like RJD,
SP, DMK, AIADMK, JD(Secular), Left and the whole bandwagon of seculars
have fallen for this blackmail and ruined India.
MUSLIMS SHOULD NEVER EVER BE GIVEN RESERVATION UNDER ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES.
Tanuj says:
March 15, 2010 at 12:07 pm
The britishers used seperate electorate to divide & rule. By giving
reservation based on religion we would be doing the same. Who stops a
party to give a ticket to a muslim lady from one of the reserved
seats?
I think it is a landmark bill and should be supported by all.
Gurmeet says:
March 15, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I think this bill will prove to be a boon for all women, but
especially for Muslim women. Representation of Muslim women has so far
been very weak. When one-third of the seats are reserved for women, a
substantial number of muslim majority constituency will have to elect
a woman. There is an excellent chance that those constituencies shall
be represented by Muslim women. It is also likely that these women
will not be the burka or naquab clad women, who are oppressed by the
fundamentalists in the Muslim society, but would be more socially
progressive and liberated from the dogmas. This is likely because the
arduous task of reaching and engaging with the electorate will be so
much easier for the progressive Muslim women. These women will serve
as the role model of rest of the young women in Muslim society, which
will ultimately be a good thing both for the Muslims and therefore for
India.
Vini says:
March 15, 2010 at 2:57 pm
The headline of this post should be: Kill Bill, for men’s sake. After
all, all the rhetoric we have heard in recent days about the bill
being a threat to parliamentary democracy, equality… blah, blah,
blah…. including this blogpost… is simply a smokescreen to hide the
truth that no man wants to be caught admitting: That men, don’t want
to share power with women.
Yes the Bill has flaws, but those flaws can be addressed without
killing the Bill.
What I want to say here is that I take extreme offense at the use of
the word ‘spanking’ to trivialize a serious issue like domestic
violence. Do you have any idea what domestic violence is? Perhaps not.
That’s why you treat it so flippantly.
As for the rest of the blog, it is all conjecture. You and all the
doomsayers don’t know if this bill will work till it is implemented.
It might just. And forget that old argument that it will be taken over
by elite women. So far it’s been elite men in charge.. so what’s wrong
with elite women having a go?
As for the problems of revolving quota that you bring up as the Bill’s
most serious flaw, I think you can argue the other way too. That is,
MPs from reserved constituencies will work extra hard in the reserved
constituency to ensure that they get a ticket when the seat is not
reserved any more because of the good work they would have hopefully
done.
Ziauddin Shafi says:
March 15, 2010 at 6:59 pm
The simple fact is that, if you want to prevent a civil war in our
country, you will have to simply amend it and incorporate all the
demands that are being raised here. No, this is not a threat – nobody
can threaten a civil war damn it, this is just a forecast of shape of
things to come. Maoists on the rampage, Yadavs fully agitated, Muslims
further discriminated against and lesser represented in the power
share, Dalits more oppressed than before – and the high caste hindus
more getting more power in the process. This is a sure formula of
inciting a civil war – thank you congress, bjp and cpim – you are
about to do something which china, usa, europe & pakistan would have
loved to do – have a great civil war in india so that it receds back
to the middle ages – then it would be easier for the buccanneers of
the khyber to get in and set up shop. India had always suffered due to
the high caste hindus throughout its history – and alas would continue
to do so because of them.
S Singh Reply:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
Ziauddin
Nice “hope”!
Believe me, your hope will not happen. India is beyond that.
Skirmishes will be there, appeasing politicians will continue to
appease, country will progress at a rate less than what it could have.
A growing India uplifts all; the huge spending govt does on
disadvantaged will only grow.
If 10% of so called high caste Hindus control the whole India, one
should congratulate them on their skills.
Have you tabulated the “classification” of the top 100 richest
Indians ? Do you know how many Brahmins are in the richest 100? It is
4.
sanjeev says:
March 15, 2010 at 7:06 pm
@ Zia
i could guess that Zia will ultimately turn to his muslim
reservation.
You need a serious therapy of “reverse brainwashing”
I f these skull caps and three quarter pyajama’s got reservation then
this will be step towards another Pakistan in the making. Remember the
process started this way in 1909…Morley Minto Reforms
SKS Mumbai says:
March 15, 2010 at 9:31 pm
‘The Bill is anti-minority, anti-backwards, and both anti-women and
anti-men’
If we exclude the women and men, it would read like a pre-partition
Muslim League’s pamphlet.
‘Framers of the Constitution — —- —– save for time-bound reservation
for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to enable them to overcome
disadvantages.’
Except for the rotation part (clearly a problem), how is current bill
different from above?
‘The principal arguments against it were that such rights were based
on caste and religion and religion-based separate electorates had been
the immediate trigger for Partition’
Just immediate trigger? Or the whole basis?
Zia sahab, are you suggesting that proportional representation was the
way to go? We thought that all those wanted proportional (actually
more than proportinal with a veto as well) representation crossed over
in 1947.
‘With the Muslim League and the Sikh Panthic Party in disarray, Muslim
and Sikh acquiescence on reversing minority safeguards was ultimately
secured’
Indeed, after Mr Jinnah and Muslim League left India in 1947, Muslims
of India had nobody to represent them, exactly as Mr Jinnah had
insisted all along. Our Hindu Communal Leaders foolishly questioned Mr
Jinnah’s premise. (For Mr Jinnah and ML, Hindu communalism was
represented by Gandhi, Nehru and congress, rarely did they talk of
Hindu Mahasabha)
‘In fact, parties like Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and
Muslim organizations have demanded a quota-within-quota in the women’s
reservation’
Yup, the ‘Strongest Argument’ against the bill.
Mr Zia’s Final Conclusions:
Congress acted dumb, Left dumber.
The Bill is a victory for Hindutva driven Bramhin-Bania combine!!
Do we need any other reason to oppose the Bill?
Rajeev says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:17 am
The best thing will be to merge India with pakistan and name is
Greater pakistan. Gives muslims like Zia 100% reservation with right
to kill or convert non-muslims especially hindus.
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:45 am
One participant’s gains can come only from another’s equivalent
losses. It seeks to pay Paul by robbing Peter
Do you have same sentiments in matters of reservation for muslims..
Hypocricy at its very best
Zia Haq Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Unfortunately, of late, I haven’t been able to read up on the comments/
invectives that follow because of lack of time.
On your charge of hypocricy: What I said is up here for you to read
again. But Here’s what I didn’t say anywhere: that Muslims should get
separate electorates (something simply out of question) or political
reservation. On the contrary, I said: “Though ideally, the highest
elected forum should be able to be free from all reservations, a quota
that specifically addresses maginalised women would have been
pragmatic.” What does this tell you?
Even so, I am not against political reservation for women per se, but
not in the current form. I would much rather have political parties
give nomination to the extent of 33 per cent. Who or what stops them.
And please understand, I do not advcoate any quota on the basis of
homogeneity. I said so: “Homogeneity is a stupid idea when applied to
assess communities horizontally. Not all women, like Muslims, are
equally disadvantaged or privileged.” Therefore, I will never advocate
quota for all Muslims.
Understand that before I decide to write or take a position, I do
consider all relevant issues before arriving at an informed decision
and not simply think with a Muslim hat on. The Bill, in its current
form, suffers from inherent flaws. Its bearing on representations of
minority is one such flaw, among others. It is a given that Muslim
representation will be severely affected. And therefore it is a
legitimate concern. Moreover, blocking such a huge number of seats for
women in this way — I have argued — legitimises the demand for a quota
within quota for backward women, which will include Muslims, OBCs etc.
Nobody is even talking about Muslim political reservation. it’s not
required, not recommended and not demanded. The demand is for
political representation, not reservation.
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 1:48 am
NO muslim reservation in legislation.. we do not want start of another
pakistan movemenet.. this is how it all started in past..
Anil says:
March 16, 2010 at 2:08 am
See the thuggery of parties sekeing quota withitn quota.. these people
will make you belive as if they have bene emporing the women i within
their community caste only the general category women have faced
dicrmination. But fact is noone acroos the party caste creed lines
have bene empowering women. There is a common threat fo discrimantion
against women by their respective male folks.. Who stops these idiots
shouting for quota within quota from giving tickets to more and more
muslim and backward and sc/st and what nto women.
One fo the guy was saying woman; reseervation will dilute sc/st
reservation as if sc/st woman are nto sc/st.
These thuigs who support reservation when it’s conveneint to them are
suddenly parooting reservation pays peter by robbing paul..
Pahle ye akal nahin aai thi
ramesh says:
March 16, 2010 at 10:43 am
The mother of all the resavations is the resv. the muslims are allowed
tobe the resident non indians,
Rajeev Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Good one. We have 150 million pakistanis living in India barring
handful.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 17, 2010 at 9:14 pm
@Zia
@Zia
‘I didn’t say anywhere: that Muslims should get separate electorates
(something simply out of question) or political reservation’
What you said was this: Constituent Assembly would have approved
separate electorates (is that same as Minority safeguards?) but for:
1. fresh memory of partition, which made the nationalist arguments;
particularly effective, and/or
2. a weakened Muslim League (I omit Sikh part here); and/or
3. abstention by key Muslim leaders.
Of course, that does not mean that you wanted ’separate electorates’
or ‘political reservation’ for Muslims?
Nor does your following statement mean so:
‘If the women’s Bill is passed in its current form, then a clear case
emerges for compensatory minority safeguards to be reactivated, not
’separate electorates’ but ‘reserved seats’
Am I missing something?
For e.g. the difference between ‘reserved seats’ and ‘political
reservation’?
Or the similarity between
‘compensatory’ and ‘only for marginalised’?
Ashish Reply:
March 18th, 2010 at 10:30 am
@SKS
It has been established before that Zia resorts to generalities when
specifics are called for.. at any rate, he has his own idioms and
syntaxes. Deliberately vague or vaguely deliberate, a compendium of
Zia-isms will be a best-seller.
As for your question: am I missing something? well, yes. You are. You
are missing the point of this blog. The sole function of this blog is
to generate controversy by ill-advised and poorly researched comments
and boost eyeballs.. the visit stats look good on account of Zia,
Vinod Sharma et al.. they are stars.
Rajeev says:
March 18, 2010 at 1:33 am
All the muslims who are asking for reservation on caste basis should
revert back to Hinduism.
The reservation for SC/ST/OBC was introduced to fight casteism in
HINDU society. It was for HINDUS who were at the bottom of their
SOCIETY. There were many who chose to become muslims/xtians to escape
HINDU casteism. Now if they want to come out of caste opression, they
need to revert back to hinduism.
In the word of Shri Kancha Illiah “islam and xtianity are democratic
religion” so there is no chance of casteism being part of muslim/xtian
socities.
Rajeev says:
March 18, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Simple solutions-
1. If you are muslim and want reservation on caste, come back to caste
system in Hinduism and avail the reservation.
2. If you are muslim and want reservation on caste but don’t want to
revert to Hinduism, please pack your bags and go back to pakistan
where you guys have 100% reservation.
Budgeting for minorities
Although historically aware of its disadvantaged sections and their
special needs, India has decisively switched from ‘appeasing’ Muslims
— its largest minority — to budgeting for them.
Two things in recent years have helped institutionalise minority
budgeting. One is the creation of a minority affairs ministry by the
Congress-led UPA government in 2004 and, as a result, yearly budgetary
allocations made to it.Two, a high-level government survey in November
2006 that proved disadvantages faced by Muslims, followed up with
another one that recommended reservations.
Till now, an unproductive Hajj subsidy worth Rs 390 crore — which goes
in bankrolling the pilgrimage through discounted airfare — had been
the flagship largesse.
Even though government-funded religious travel is not unique to
Muslims, the Hajj subsidy has often been singled out as unfair.
The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva.
Karnataka’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government proposes
concessional Hindu pilgrimages to the temples of Udupi, Dharmasthala
and Saudatti in the southern Indian state.
In neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the Congress party-led government
subsidises the cost of travel for Christians visiting Jerusalem in
Israel and Bethlehem in Palestinian Authority. A subsidy is also being
planned, according to media reports, for Manasarovar Yatra in China.
Why should government fund religious jaunts? Either because we are a
welfare state unlike any other or it is a game of votes. Perhaps,
both.
Deploying tax revenues for affordable healthcare, education and
employment may be good economics but in an ancient holy land,
spiritual well being seems to deserve importance too. But competing
populism has definitely crept into it.
Show me an economically underprivileged Hindu who will find fault with
government help to make a dip in the holy Ganges a reality? Or a
Muslim quibbling over a lifetime visit to Mecca, courtesy government
help?
However, there is a growing demand from Muslims themselves for the
Hajj subsidy to be scrapped. While it gives Air India 150,000 assured
passengers every year (that’s the total number of seats on all Indian
carriers criss-crossing the country on any given day), helping it keep
afloat, the grant has been turned into a stick to beat Muslims with.
No Muslim asked for it in the first place.
Muslims are now calling for global and national open bids: whoever
offers the cheapest tickets gets to fly away with 150,000 prize
passengers. Fair enough.
“If the Hajj subsidy is withdrawn, it won’t hurt us. If scholarship
are cut, that would,” Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP from the All
India Majlis-eIttehadul Muslimeen party, told the Hindustan Times last
year.
There is a less obvious side to the Hajj subsidy. The subsidy itself
seems responsible for Muslim backwardness, given that it has enabled
governments to use it as a signature grant and avoid more basic
financial interventions.
However, the recognition that minorities can be predisposed to
experiencing disadvantages due to their numerical inferiority itself
has made planning and budgeting for them an integral part of most
developed countries.
Almost all of Europe and the US make special allocations of one type
or the other for their minorities.
Why do Indian Muslims need a helping hand?
The country’s Muslim population is 150 millions, making it the state
with the second-largest Muslim population, after Indonesia. Indian
Muslims experience serious disadvantages, low literacy and high
poverty rates.
Their literacy rates are well below the national average, while
poverty rates are only slightly higher than low-caste Hindus,
according to the November 2006 Sachar Committee report.
Muslims, mostly Sunnis, make up 13.4% of India’s population, yet hold
fewer than 5% of government posts and make up only 4% of
undergraduates in universities. The report also found that, despite
being self-employed at a far higher rate, Muslims trail other groups
in terms of access to credit.
Yet, they can influence elections, using their voting power to extract
concessions from parties who woo them.
Muslims are not uniformly disadvantaged. Those in south and west India
have been historically wealthier. In the north, Muslims were thrust
into abject poverty at once when their wealthier counterparts left for
Pakistan during the 1947 Partition.
Muslims in rural areas are less poor than in urban areas, where their
poverty rate of 38 percent is higher than any other population’s,
including low-caste Hindus.
Although no formal Muslim caste system exists, three groups of Indian
Muslims –ashraf, ajlaf, and arzal — indeed function as such. More
correctly, there is definitely a Muslim class system, if not a caste
system.
The ashrafs, thought to be of Arab ancestry, form the upper class
among Muslims, while the ajlafs are thought to be previously Hindus
who converted to Islam to escape the Hindu caste system. A third
group, the arzals, correlates to the lowest caste among Hindus.
The Sachar Report has provided exhaustive data on socio-economic
conditions of Muslims.
The Sachar report has been controversial, not just for highlighting
Muslim marginalisation but also because of its very mandate. Hindu
nationalists — led by the BJP — criticized the report, tainting it
with an old brush –- that of appeasement.
While it offers clear proof of Muslim marginalisation, there have been
debates about how to combat Muslim unemployment rates. The BJP is
averse to solutions focusing directly on Muslims but would prefer
general poverty alleviation.
All government outlays to pull a community out of backwardness can
look like appeasement, given the zeal for competing interests of
political leaders vying for power.
Has budgeting helped?
India’s 2010-11 budget has given 50% higher allocation to the minority
affairs ministry — up from Rs 1,740 crore to Rs 2,600 crore.
Cash flow to minorities — from bank loans to scholarships — peaked
during 2008-09, according to government data, as Muslims appeared to
be slowly overcoming a strong bias of banks in lending.
Public sector banks, which would turn down Muslim loan applicants
because they were considered “credit risk groups”, have disbursed a
staggering Rs 82,864 crore in loans to minorities during 2008-09.
Since the Reserve Bank has now turned its focus to 121 backward
minority districts with high Muslim population, as identified by the
minority affairs ministry, Muslims got a chunky pie of the credit
share.
Banks now have to compulsorily service Muslims in backward areas after
the Reserve Bank added minorities to its list of other priority
lending sectors, like agriculture and small-scale businesses in July
2007.
“We will be able to see the results shortly if not immediately,”
Planning Commission member Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, who heads the
minority sector, says.
Cash constraints are now easing, with banks achieving lending targets
set for minorities. In 2008-09, the Reserve Bank’s target was that 13%
of loans under priority sector lending should go to minorities and
banks were able to lend 12.4%. This was better than 2007-08, when the
target was 10.6% and actual sanctions 9.6%. Priority sector lending
accounts for 40 per cent of total loans, according to the federal
Reserve Bank of India norms.
Banks also opened 524 branches in minority concentration districts in
2009 and nearly 6-lakh minority students got scholarships. In 2008,
523 branches were set up.
The UPA government has earmarked a whopping Rs 7,000 crore for
minority welfare under the 11th Five Year Plan that concludes in 2012.
The government now plans to install national-level independent
monitors to track back how Rs 3,780 are being spent for minority
welfare under the “flagship multi-sectoral development programme”, in
which lawmakers will have a say for the first time.
The multi-sectoral programme, which helps set up anything from a
school to a water pump, applies to 90 districts countrywide where
minorities make up more than 25 per cent of the population and lag
behind significantly on crucial socio-economic parameters.
The government’s approach is such that creation of assets in these
districts should also benefit the majority communities as well. UP,
Assam and Bihar have the largest number of minority districts, with
21, 12 and 6 districts respectively.
These districts were selected on the basis of 10 indicators, ranging
from literacy to the number of inoculated children.
The government hopes evaluating schemes with a fine-toothed comb and
involving area MPs, an idea of minority affairs minister Salman
Khurshid, are moves that would customise the multi-sectoral scheme.
The government feels a quick appraisal is important to ensure rapid
implementation of schemes. “These national-level independent monitors
will report back two things: are schemes being implemented in the
right way and right place, according to Khrushid.
The scheme, in its second stage now, is also called being called a top-
up phase because money from the minority affairs will be now poured
into schemes of other ministries so that minorities benefit.
The Planning Commission is also evaluating massive spending on
minority welfare as it prepares for mid-term appraisal of the 11th
Five-Year Plan.
Planning Commission member Hameed is set to personally travel to five
regions for first-hand feedback from beneficiaries.
Lessons from Congressional Black Caucus
Some historic measures for minority welfare, including an exclusive
ministry, helped the Congress sail through the last general elections
for a second term in power.
However, Muslim lawmakers, whose numbers are dwindling over time, have
seldom used parliamentary mechanisms creatively to ensure Muslims get
a fair deal. A problem with Muslim leadership is that political
leadership has often overlapped with religious leadership.
Divided along sharp party lines, India’s Muslim lawmakers seldom get a
chance to work in unison. However, they could take a leaf out of the
Congressional Black Caucus.
The Caucus helped highlight the plight of US minorities with a two-
step process: by the congressional budget process called the Humphrey-
Hawkins debate and by moving alternate budget resolutions.
The struggle of minorities in the US helped them integrate into
society and as their clout grew, Congress became more responsive to
their needs. Geographical concentrations of some minorities in the US
have led to their greater representation, though it is far behind
their share of the population.
In the 2001-2003 Congress, for instance, African-Americans comprised
12 percent of the population, but just 8.3% of the House members;
Hispanics made up 13 % of the population and just 4.4 % of the House;
and women represented 51 % of the population but just 13.6% of the
House, and 13% of the Senate.
America’s annual budget project to thrash out budgetary solutions to
address backwardness of minorities is a lesson for both Indian
minority lawmakers and those opposed to minority-specific solutions,
like the BJP.
A beginning has been made but just a fraction achieved. After all,
every change for the better begins with a small minority.
(9 votes, average: 4.11 out of 5)
Posted by Zia Haq on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 11:09 pm
102 Responses to “Budgeting for minorities”
sanjeev says:
March 1, 2010 at 1:40 am
Mullah Zia
“The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva ”
This is less of a pilgrimage and more of india’s strategic and
geopolitical game plan to counter the chinese arguments of Arunachal
being historically part of China. and more imporatantly a tradition
which has been part ofindian civilzation.
Further this is a trekking expedition and not any luxury trip by an
aeroplane.which your ilk makes at taxpayers money.
I hope brainwashed mullahs like you might be aware that govt of India
also promote trekking to high altitude areas…through Indian
Mountaineering Federation (IMF). I myself has been part of some IMF
funded trekking expeditions to himalayas.
So in that way its not any exclusive and out of turn activity.
Further this yatra is open to all Indian citizens cutting across
religious lines…but Haj is not.
So don’t show your ignorance…rather write something about islamophobia
Mitra Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 11:10 am
Hey Sanjeev,
Whatever excuses and arguments you come up with, it is a fact that
Govt. of India subsidizes a Hindu pilgrimage just as it does for
Mulsims and Christians. Nowhere does the Govt. say they do it for
strategic reasons- and it is a rather absurd argument. So cool down
and try to control your hatred. Aren’t you guys always shouting about
how tolerant Hindus and Hinduism are? There is no way to infer that
from your churlish behavior! Learn to give respect to people and
debate like a civilized educated man- even when you keep making stupid
arguments. Jai Hind!
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
How can you expect an uncivilized Hindu terrorist to react when
confronted with facts? All I’ve seen on this blog, is people preaching
hatred and violence bypassing all logic and sense. None of their
comments make sense and I repeat NONE. But rhetoric is what helps them
feel superior, else they are cowed down by the uneducated minority so
easily. Let them have the comfort of the rhetoric and shameless
ignorance. Ignorance is bliss ya know?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
@Pandit sanjeev
“The Centre underwrites a part of the travel costs of the annual Hindu
pilgrimage to Kailash Mansarovar in Tibet, the abode of the Hindu god
Shiva ” ~~~> FACT
“This is less of a pilgrimage and more of india’s strategic and
geopolitical game plan to counter the chinese arguments of Arunachal
being historically part of China” ~~~~>FICTION …
“…and more imporatantly a tradition which has been part ofindian
civilzation” ~~~> Is that all you think about your own culture and
religion? Hang your head in shame. I pity you.
“Further this is a trekking expedition and not any luxury trip by an
aeroplane.which your ilk makes at taxpayers money.”
Does that make it a FREE expedition? The Government employs choppers
for your “safety” in the mountains, massive policing arrangements for
the crowd and at times they even arrange for fake shivlings (LMAO)
when you “God” fails to appear Will you please tell me who funds
these costs? IMO It is the taxpayers money and that includes Muslims
of this country. If you are so averse to Muslims, why don’t you shun
government spending? Lets just take an example – India’s third largest
software exporter Wipro is held by a Muslim billionaire. Over a lakh
of people are employed by the company and they pay huge taxes to this
government every year. Why don’t you ask your Hindu brethren to stop
taking up jobs in Wipro and making a living out of it? The tax they
pay is also funded by that very same Muslim -held company. Do you need
more examples? OK have you heard of the companies – Cipla, Wockhardt ,
Himalaya heath Care are only to name a few of them. What about the
crores of taxes, the “Khans’ of Bollywood pay to this Government and
the revenue that their movies generate directly or indirectly ( though
people employed and associated with the movies) Why would you like to
go on a “holy” trip on Muslim money? Should’nt you shun the Government
subsidy?
“I hope brainwashed mullahs like you might be aware that govt of India
also promote trekking to high altitude areas…through Indian
Mountaineering Federation (IMF). I myself has been part of some IMF
funded trekking expeditions to himalayas. So in that way its not any
exclusive and out f turn activity.”
So ? Doesn’t make sense honey! Try harder next time and come up with
some logic, not brain-dead arguments.
“Further this yatra is open to all Indian citizens cutting across
religious lines…but Haj is not.”
LMAO I pity you now!!
“So don’t show your ignorance…rather write something about
islamophobia”
Internet Hindus have time and again proudly proved their blissful
ignorance. I’m glad you are just another one of them!
raman says:
March 1, 2010 at 8:24 am
So, they need special budget for them , they need special care from
government otherwise they warn that some of them will turn into
terrorist or help them…..what kind of logic is this………
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
No one has argued that they will turn into terrorists if the
government doesn’t provide them with a separate budget. After all what
have all the subsequent governments done over all these years? They
have only pushed the minorities ( read Muslims ) to impoverishment and
under-representation without a voice. Anyone who dares speak for
Muslims is labeled a traitor or at best a supporter of Muslim League.
Anything that anyone even promises for Muslims ( let alone fulfill
them) is termed as Muslim Appeasement. How wonderfully naive.
Muslims have lived in ghettos with discrimination over the years in
this country and we don’t need any one to make nonsense announcements
for Muslims. We have lived with deprivation and can survive in our own
mumbling ways.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Oh BTW look what poverty has done to people in the rural areas. Will
you dare call the Maoists terrorists and traitors? The argument
against it is that they are our very own civilians although they can
murder people at will,kill innocents, behead people they hate and rape
and maim women. So what? after all they are Hindu civilians, they’ve
got every right to be protected in this country. A Muslim on the other
hand is picked up by the police at random without evidence or even
gunned down in cold blood is quickly labeled a terrorist by everyone.
Why make a distinction?
raman Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 12:51 am
Did I say I sympathize with Maoists, do not assume things…..
RE Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:07 am
No, I never said that. I am only putting across my point.
Ashish Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Dear RE,
the Maoists do not fight on religious grounds; the Indian state’s
“war” against them is also “secular”.
There is tremendous amount of blood-letting going on in the names of
protecting the rights of the economic underprivileged and the rights
of the state. I have not heard any Maoist (or any CPIML member) make
any invocation to religion.
I am not sure why you think the State treats the Maoists as “Hindu
civilians”. Care to explain?
SP Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:34 am
Maoists justify terror as a means of pursuing their goal of
overthrowing the Indian state just because they are poor and the
deprived citizens of this country? Common a very sizable population of
this country is below the poverty line. But the Government won’t fight
a war against them because these ‘Adivasis’ happen to be our ‘own’
people although they can engage the armed forces of this
coutry,massacre them at will, abduct ,kill and behead people at will.
A 20 something Muslim guy on the other hand is picked up at random/
even better shot in broad daylight, by the police and branded a
terrorist without even a shred of evidence The News channels hail the
police and the government and all we read is “20 something Islamic
Terrorist has been nabbed who has confessed to all the bombings that
ever happened in the country over the last 10 years”. How lame is
that!
Why is there such a discrimination in the treatment between the two? A
terrorist is a terrorist! Be it a Maoist or a certain Pragya Singh
Devi. Why does the mainstream political party come up in defense of
HINDU terror accused or label any muslim ACCUSED to be a terrorist?
The same goes with the Maoists – the Government won’t wage a war
against them just because they happen to be Hindus.
Anyone who challenges the state should be an enemy of the
state .Unfortunately that is not true for the Hindus of this country.
They can get away with mass orchestrated murders and live under state
protection. (‘92 ‘02 anyone?) And so is the case with the Maoists.
They are Hindus and by default saintly and hence cannot be treated as
terrorists.
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
@SP
I will again quote from my post “there is a tremendous amount of
bloodletting going on in the names of protecting the rights of the
economic underprivileged and the rights of the state.” I think I make
it clear that Maoists are fighting only in the name of protecting the
rights of the underprivileged.
And, what gives you the idea that the Government is not fighting them?
We can differ on whether it is a “war” or not. But the human rights
activists will certainly not agree with you that the government is
going easy on the Maoists. Unless of course you say that the likes of
Arundhati Roy are basically Hindu zealots and speak for the Maoists
only because they are Hindus.
Let me quote from your reply:
“A 20 something Muslim guy on the other hand is picked up at random/
even better shot in broad daylight, by the police and branded a
terrorist without even a shred of evidence The News channels hail the
police and the government and all we read is “20 something Islamic
Terrorist has been nabbed who has confessed to all the bombings that
ever happened in the country over the last 10 years”. How lame is
that!”
You know, this seems to be straight from the alleged situation in the
North-East; where the “war” between the state and the ultras have
resulted in several cases of human rights abuses that should be the
concern of any civilized society. The state of Manipur is a case in
point. May I however point out that the affected populace is not
Muslim in Manipur.
The Indian state is not perfect; far from it. Nor is the Indian
society. But, it is a worthwhile experiment is creating a multi-hued
culture. Thanks to our founding fathers and thanks to the economic
progress unleashed in the last 20 years, the benefits of modern living
are reaching many. If you argue that Muslims face systematic and
systemic discrimination, then you must be prepared to look within and
ask why is it that no other religion in India, including the Sikhs
(even after 1984) have a problem sharing space and prospering in this
country.
Looking at everything through the religious prism makes for noisy
debates but, makes you hostage to “benefactors” like Mamata Banerjee
and Laloo Yadav.
Mitra says:
March 1, 2010 at 11:05 am
Very interesting and informative discussion! Hope you keep monitoring
how well the minority welfare schemes are progressing- this is really
important. It is good we have a decent, honest man Salman Khursheed as
the Minister- politicians like him are relatively rare in India.
sanjeev Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 5:43 pm
@ Mitra
I can expect such sort of logic from naxal sympathisers like you….
Hope you forgot your bengali ilk got kicked by these so called
discriminated lots on 16 july 1946 (direct action day ).
Wait for some more decades another Pakistan will be demanded from your
home state. The demand will arise from your so called secular and left
ruled state.
Or else i can imagine you have admitted to dhimmi status or else burqa
clad.
Rajeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:05 am
This guy is muslim with hindu last name..just like Bhowmik (saba naqvi
bhaowmik).
sanjeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 1:54 pm
@ Rajeev
I M sure she is a girl and so brainwashed by so called leftist of
Students Federation of India (SFI).
She haven’t been able to come out of the vote bank politics of naxal
sypmathizers of JNU.
Mitra Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I am Hindu and I am not a woman. I won’t give you my first name as I
teach in an university and I have a website- I am afraid Hindu
nationalist vandals will try to bother me. I am not a Naxal
sympathizer and thats not what we are discussing. The Naxals are left-
wing extremists and you guys are right-wing extremists- every
patriotic Indian should condemn both equally. The day you guys will
learn to make an actual argument instead of spewing vile hatred and
prejudice, I will be happy to have a discussion.
sanjeev Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
@ Mitra
It is you who started labelling someone as sangh parivar or bajrang
bal member
Its welcome that you want positive debate..
Btw other people like me also work for govt organizations.
Nobody has time to bother except those with whom you empathise…hope
you remember the recent karnataka episode over Taslima nasreen article
episode. who resorted to rioting ?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
@Sanjeev pandit.
1. I hope you are not a disgruntled shudra who is not even allowed to
enter the temple by The Brahmins or you did not marry in the same
gotra and were hounded by your own goons. You sound very irked and
disgruntled so can I assume that someone in your family decided to
kill a female child or maybe your wife does not want to put on a
ghoonghat? Is there any reason why you are so pissed off with life?
2. Regarding rioting in Karnataka :
Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8544657.stm
“Police say Hindu groups joined the unrest in both places after
Muslims took to the streets. About 50 arrests have been made in
connection with the violence. ”
Muslims taking to streets to voice protest against something does not
mean they were rioting but as usual, people don’t have the guts to
accept the truth in this country. I am sure they did not pull you out
of you house and mob you down like the goons at RSS do under state
protection. Every citizen has the legitimate right to voice his/her
opinion but the fact of the matter is Hindu cowards started a riot.
Television images on “Times Now” , a clearly pro- hindutva ,pro- BJP ,
pro- right wing channel showed images of people with ORANGE flags with
“OM” inscribed on them. Now I can bet they were not Muslims. Secondly,
the Ram Sene called a bandh the very next day! WOW how did the entire
protest affect those cowards? Karnataka is BJP ruled so people have
the liberty to start a riot and get away with it just like Gujarat.
The Muslims are the ones who will be labeled terrorists any which way.
At least have the guts to accept the truth in public MORON
perpetual.dilettante says:
March 1, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Since you cite the government subsidies for the pilgrimage to Kailash
Mansorovar as a point to counter the annual Haj subsidies, numbers
around what the total outlay for the project is would have been
interesting for a fair comparison. Do not quite agree with your point
that the Muslims had not asked for the subsidies. The fact remains
that there were demands from certain quarters from within the
community for this step. Obviously the point whether or not they
represented the true sentiments of the community can well be debated.
However, your point around the government not subsidizing religious
pursuits is well taken. It needs to be applied irrespective of
religious affiliations of the vote banks, pressure groups, etc.
However, there is a bigger question here around the value of
affirmative action, specially in context of religious segments. That
is a point worth debating as well
Gopi Thomas says:
March 1, 2010 at 2:35 pm
If money would have solved Muslim “backwardness” , countries like KSA
would be producing qualified engineers and journalists and teachers
leave alone world class scientists. They recently opened a “world
class” university; minister E Ahmed represented India in the
inauguration ceremony – 80% of the student body was foreign students
whom they had ‘bought” with lucrative scholarships. A student from
Minnesota stated that he will have to spend $20,000 in a state Univ in
Minnesota; now he gets paid $20,000 affter all the expenses; he did
not know how long he could last there in KSA because the public
outside the walls of the Univ do not want a Univ there.
Why is Pakistan so backward with madrasites killing left and right,
with nosystem to speak of other than a rot corrupt military system,
if, as the author says “elite’ Muslims migrated to Pakistan.
Hyderabad (Telengana) was under Nizam rule for yearsa nd years. Why
are Muslims educationally so backward there?
Why iin Kerala they are still backward educationally (although they
are significantly better compared to all India Muslim average)? And a
smaller minority there, Christians, excelled in education,
industriousness, contributions..
The author talks about bank loans. Muslims are promoting “Islamic
Bank” as the right way of banking. I have seen Muslim students being
advised on some of their “exclusive” sites not to seek student loan,
and to take lower level job rather than pursuing higher studies with
student loans.
We have to bring all up to participate in a vibrant, growing India.
Money, if at all, is only a very small part of the equation. It is
attitudes, entrenched belief systems, uncompromising stickiness to a
set of rules formed in 650 when conditions were different, learning
Arabic (instead of English) etc etc. If these do not change, whatever
money is allocated, we will still have this dialogue of backwardness
fifty years from now, 100 years from now.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Your arguments are best very naive and you obviously know that. If you
still need an explanation, I’m ready to debate
sanjeev says:
March 1, 2010 at 5:55 pm
@ Gopi
Govt should resort to following Measures for development of muslims
1. Sharia laws
2. Islamic banking
3 Education only through madrasa: this should include courses on
geography and hisory of saudi arabia, science based on quran, arabic
language
4. Compulsory pilgrimage for all muslims to Haj
5. Freedom to kill as many as infidels as they wish so that they can
achieve ultimate aim: jannat with hooris
I think then they can have proper development of their personality as
well as material progress
Ziauddin Shafi says:
March 1, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Muslims of Hyderabad were never backward during the Nizam’s rule.
Since the last 30 years or so, the criminal nexus between MIM and the
Congress, who treat the Hyderabadi Muslims as their vote bank, have
deliberately worked against the education of Muslims in the city. So
much so that government schols functioning there do not have teaching
staff, water, electricity and toilets – forcing poor students to drop
out. Government-funded Urdu medium schools are in the worst possible
conditions – unbelievable is the word. Despite all these Muslim
traitors and “secular congress” traitors, the Muslims of Hyderabad and
Telangana are struggling to find their feet. The northern Indian
Muslims are comparatively better off – they have leaders like Salman
Khursheed and Sayyida who are sincere, honest and hard-working. Hope
they also come down to Telangana & Hderabad to look into the affairs
here.
Shoeb K Reply:
March 1st, 2010 at 11:19 pm
@Shafi
Are you implying that there was a “conspiracy” to deprive Hyderabad
Muslim students of education? Are you saying that Muslims in Hyd were
highly educated during Nizam rule and 30 years after independence, and
then due to misadministration or stupidity or conspiracy of leaders,
the education started going down???
How do other people (including the so called most backward DAaits
among us) get educated? Sam Pitroda, the telecom architect of India,
came from a Dalit background. Modern india has lakhs of stories like
that.
You may be right that some Muslim eladers and congress leaders
coluded. At the end of the day, our community has to look into
ourselves — are we doing right? Are we giving emphasis to education,
like other communities are giving? Or, are we satisfied iwth menial
trading jobs? Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and
standing on their feet? Do we give emphasis to readinga nd writing (at
a basic level as well as at a literary level)? Arent most of our
people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or no way? Do many of
us really interact with otehr religious members in an intimate way?
Unless we sort out these, we will always be blaming some others and
not doing the right thing.
Ashish Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
@ Shoeb K,
till today I did not know that Sam Pitroda came from a Dalit family; I
suspect very few others on this blog did either.
The great thing is, we don’t know and we don’t care. It is enough for
us that Sam Pitroda is what he is, a visionary with the gumption to
get things done.
Is Azim Premji a Muslim? Well, yes. Is he an example? Of course. Is he
an example only for Muslims?
” Modern india has lakhs of stories like that.” .. yes, and thank you
for making this simple statement.
Let’s worry about evolving a “post-religious” identity. We must.
The questions you raise are not limited to Muslims; I think the
Muslims as a community can benefit by making common cause with the
poor Hindus/ Jains/ Christians and demand that the government deliver
on education, women’s rights and childrens’ health and nutrition. Of
course, the community must play its part in ensuring that religion is
quoted as an argument to stymie those initiatives.
@Ziauddin Shafi I think you are not informed about the sorry state of
affairs in the northern part of the country. The lack of leadership
that you talk about, is even more pronounced in North and it shows up
in all the indices.
UI Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
@Shoeb K Reply:
“Are you implying that there was a “conspiracy” to deprive Hyderabad
Muslim students of education? ”
Why only in Hyderabad, look at the vitriol everyone spewed when there
was a proposal to set up a branch of AMU in Murshidabad, West Bengal.
AMU may not be an Oxford but education surely will help the most
deprived and the backward. Do you think it was fair to unnecessarily
criticize the setting up of a branch of AMU? You know what, you need
to get out of you comfort zone to see what people have done to Muslims
in this country. I am an engineer and I’ve seen the nasty face of
educators at every stage of my school/university. I was always singled
out because I was the only Muslim in the class who topped exams year
after year. It is exactly things like these that make people cringe
and say that they do. Accept the fact that there has been a targetted
marginalization of Muslim in this country
“How do other people (including the so called most backward DAaits
among us) get educated? Sam Pitroda, the telecom architect of India,
came from a Dalit background. Modern india has lakhs of stories like
that.”
Have you ever heard of something called reservations? When the most un-
deserving candidates are given preferences in places that matter, what
do you expect in this country? Abolish all forms of reservations or
apply them equally for ALL economically backward sections of the
society. Only then you will get a clear idea of what the reality is.
“You may be right that some Muslim eladers and congress leaders
coluded. At the end of the day, our community has to look into
ourselves — are we doing right? Are we giving emphasis to education,
like other communities are giving? Or, are we satisfied iwth menial
trading jobs? Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and
standing on their feet? Do we give emphasis to readinga nd writing (at
a basic level as well as at a literary level)? Arent most of our
people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or no way? Do many of
us really interact with otehr religious members in an intimate way?
Unless we sort out these, we will always be blaming some others and
not doing the right thing.”
You must be kidding my dear! You seriously must be kidding me! Talking
about things from the comfort of your home with a laptop in front of
you is something different than the stark poverty and alienation that
Muslims face in this country. Get out of the 5-6 Urban cities for
God’s sake. You cannot expect anyone to get a decent education unless
he is lucky like me or you, when there is abject poverty , when people
can hardly make ends meet if at all. I’ve seen most Muslims living in
ghettos even in so called urban cities where there is hardly a decent
school in the vicinity and you talk about education? Have you ever
wondered why Muslims are discriminated when it comes to getting a
rented house in a Hindu locality?
You talk about the status of women in our society( are you seriously a
Muslim or just using a Muslim name? )
“Do w e want our daughters get educated and working and standing on
their feet?”
Seriously? Any and every educated family that I know of and some very
poor families insist on their daughters going to school to get an
education. Esp when it comes to urban areas, people are more open to
allowing women to work. You seriously must be kidding me or you are
very detached from the society !!
“Arent most of our people victims of mullahs and maulavis, this way or
no way?”
Again you are making sweeping generalizations.
“Do many of us really interact with otehr religious members in an
intimate way?”
What do you mean by an Intimate way? Of course where the majority are
people from other communities, you mingle with them , at school , at
work , in your neighborhood. Living in ghettos does not mean that you
never interact with anyone!
A Banerjee says:
March 1, 2010 at 8:50 pm
The biggest enemy of the muslim community is the muslim himself. There
is an intersting article comparing muslims and jews. Although jews
consist of only 0.02 % of the world’s population, they have won 130
Nobel Prizes. Muslims are 20% of the world’s population, but have won
only 7 Nobels. I think that Muslims must stop this tirade of being
‘minorities’ and start working for themselves.
What has number to do with progress? If that be so the case then how
doyou explain the parsis who are doing so well for themselves?
The trouble with Mr Zia and other ’secular’ people is that they waste
their time and energy (please see that I am not mentioning ‘brains’)
brooding over some conspiracy theory or some ’sachar’ report instead
of using their time productively. This imacts the minds of young and
gullible muslim youth who start thinking that the entire nation is
against them.
Their was a very nice ad campaign by Idea in which Abhishek Bachhan
says that their will be no community, only mobile numbers. That’s the
way it should be…..
UI Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
BS
Anil Kumar says:
March 1, 2010 at 10:04 pm
All the religious pilgrimage subsisdy given to non-muslim you have
rehashed is the progeny of haz subsidy.> So muichy noise was made that
various state govts hand have bene forced..
No hindu no chrstian wnats thatsubsisdy only muslims are the one who
always need crutch for anything and everything..
They insisst that they will nto join mainstream education but they
must eb given job..
State of those hindus who confine themselves withitn the scriptute
study are not different we don;t see them cribbing..
If you want job start learnign physics chemistry math those Quran and
hadith reading is nto going to give you job..
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
“No hindu no chrstian wnats thatsubsisdy only muslims are the one who
always need crutch for anything and everything..
They insisst that they will nto join mainstream education but they
must eb given job..”
BS
Raju Kurien says:
March 2, 2010 at 6:51 am
The problem with Muslims is that they do not have a proper perspective
or they refuse to accept the reality. For example, This Javed Naqvi, a
reporter for DAwn, (a Pakistani based newspaper) always writes about
how bad it is for Muslims in india; how the goovernment goes on
destroying Muslims.. This guy is a Pakistani, living in and enjoying
Delhi, and he is always venomous about India– May be it is jealousy………
Muslims acn be a “suppressed moinority” (as they think) or an
aggressive contributor to national progress; they have to make that
choice..Government can go on pouring tax payers’ money for the so-
called upliftment; but the desire for upliftment and work towards
upliftment has to come from muslims themselves,a nd not througha ny
government programs.
sanjeev Reply:
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
@ Raju
This so called peace activist Javed Naqv is no less than Taliban. I
don’t know whether he is Indian national ?
Regarding the much admired masiha of muslims Justice Rajendra sachar’s
credentials…let me highlight one of high ideological fact : He is so
called human right and civil rights activists of Arundhati Roy gang.
We can seriously doubt his credentials as a judge of supreme court or
distinguished jurist. I thibk this sachar committee is all a game plan
of congress left combine.
Although i personally support the govt should do efforts to educate
and elevate living standard of all deprived citizens irrespective of
minority or majority.
But why only the special emphasis on muslims ?
Why can’t they start some programme for all poor people of india and
allocate separate budget targets for this group ?
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Now comes conspiracy theory LMAO
shiuli says:
March 2, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Budgeting for minorities is a much required factor, coz if the gov’t
does not we have big brain drain like MF Husain, escaping to Qatar,
taking Citizen-ship there. We have violent clashes over Taslima
Nasreen’s outcry; also The Great Khan who has already been awarded
Dato-ship in Malaysia, by calling Pakistan, Our Friendly Neighbour,
may condemn Indian Citizenship one fine day.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
BS
ramesh says:
March 2, 2010 at 3:36 pm
What is holding back the muslims, is their literalism in
religion ,which is evident in all their aspects.Why arent the Parsees,
christians or sikh held back.Because they have opend their minds.
Muslims consider everyone else as jews only, their born enemy.They
should see the broader sense of the message.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Because all the hatred,vile and discrimination is directed towards the
Muslims , not towards the Parsees , Christians and Sikhs
S Singh Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
So, there is no animosity to anybody except Muslims.. Could it be that
something is wrong with Muslism?
Why do Muslims have problem everywhere? Be Philippines, thailand, US,
UK, germanty. denmark, Switzerland — why even in the so called Islamic
countries ((OIC)? Oh why!
SP Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 3:36 am
The Problem is that you have become so ignorant that you cannot
comprehend History or Geography or Geo-Politics OR probably you don’t
wish to. At least don’t sound such a moron on the internet.
Ashish Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 12:07 am
@RE
“Because all the hatred,vile and discrimination is directed towards
the Muslims , not towards the Parsees , Christians and Sikhs”
poor souls! Muslims! No one loves them! Boo, hoo, hoo!
Rajeev says:
March 2, 2010 at 10:35 pm
I think instead of budgeting for minority (read MUSLIMS, MUSLIMS and
MUSLIMS), why don’t we send them to their land which we allocated for
them in 1947. The pakistan was meant for muslims of south asia. If you
muslims think, you are not getting fair deal, migrate to the land that
was created for giving muslims fair deal.
Jinnah also demanded same kind of things before partition to safegaurd
the interests of muslims. The then-congress decided not to give in to
Jinnah’s loony demands and agreed for partition. Now after 62 years,
we are being forced to agree to Jinnah’s demand or face terror ending
into another partition of country. How long can this blackmail go on?
Pl. show me a single country in the world where muslim minority has
outperformed other communities…None… Are all these non-muslims country
guilty of this or is the in the muslims gene to stay and ghetto and be
backward? Do you want Sachar to go in all those countries and then
produce a report implying that muslims are denied opportunities.
There is something very wrong with muslim mindset. They are
themseleves to blame for their misery. Why is that Hindus, jews,
chinese are doing so well in USA? Why is that non-muslims do better
than muslims in almost every country?
These muslims have to come out to their eternal victimhood syndrome.
L Mirza Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 12:12 am
@Rajeev
Many things you mention are right. For our country to propel, we need
to bring all into the equation. Youa re absolutely right that the
backwardness of msulims can eb squarely attributed to teh community
itself -its religiosu leaders, political leaders etce tc. A
fundamental aspect of Islam as oppsoed to various other “movements” ,
is that the role of the individual or individuality is suppressed;
hence no major innovations, initiatives, pathbreaking inventions,
methosds etc etc.
Government money will do only little. The mindset has to eb changed;
it ahs to come from within; and lot of forces work against that. It is
a real problem; as Zia mentioned in an earlier blog, muslims have to
handle it themselves.. They should know that the world would not wait
for this, and they will be left further behind if they do not acvt.
The sorry situation is that whether we like it or not, we have to
somehow solve this…
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Why don’t you leave this country instead if you hate the people living
in this country? Or is is that you have no place on this earth to call
a Hindu State? haha India is NOT a Hindu country. If you cannot live
here, go and find a place for yourself
Rajeev says:
March 2, 2010 at 10:39 pm
The Sachar report is not an extensive survey but a SAMPLE survey. We
have all seen how surveys have been proved wrong time and again.
The need of the hour for muslims is to shun excessive religiousity,
waste less time curing non-muslims and concentrate on education
followed by search for jobs. You can not be employed on high position
(IPS, IAS, Army etc.) till you get proper education. Even a police
constable in maharashtra police is graduate.
sanjeev Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:00 pm
@ Rajeev
I seriously doubt credentials of Rajendra sachar. he is an
ideologically indoctrinated person and not neutral, unbiased
researcher.
Just google his name..he has association with People’s Union for Civil
Liberties (PUCL)
In the recently arrested Kobad ghandy case his organisation has been
mentioned by delhi police among the naxal sympathisers.
I have personally attended many of the debates and discussions
frequented by this gang of naxal sympathisers like Gautam Navlakha,
Achin Vinayak, DSU, etc. their views clealry state that they are
chinese protege and they aim to bring china type revolution in india.
I seriously doubt how can such a person was appointed chairman of such
a committee.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
You need some money for education which they have been deprived of
over the years
Shoeb K Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
RE
So you are saying that somehow government “deprived ” them of
education, and now have to give them money for education??
Do you believe that our people (I assume you are a muslim) give utmost
importance to education like other commun ities? Even Baniya children
grow up reciting “vidya dhan sarv dhanal pradhan”.. What is our
children taught in Madrasi??
RE Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 4:05 am
No one is begging for alms here. It’s only the Hindus who beg for
Money & Jobs and you will keep begging for your lives. Don’t worry the
Government won’t take away your reservations any soon. You can
obviously beg for even more.
If you are going to tell me that ^%$^% like Mulayam Shi% and people
like him demand BS for Muslims, I pity you and your ignorance of the
reality of this country.
Secondly, you must be naive to think that people think in terms of
community when it comes to education. You must be so out of this world
my HINDU brother! (Using a Muslim name does not make you one) The fact
of the matter is, yes people want education for their children and the
fact of the matter is that a majority of the Muslim population in
India is living foot-to-mouth. I have grown up in a poor Muslim
neighborhood and you can bet a very good number of children went to
proper schools. They may not have been the DPS’s of this country but
yes everyone valued education.Economics is the major concern my dear,
not community based ignorance. When you cannot even earn Rs20 a day,
you cannot possibly dream of sending your child to a regular school.
I come from a Naxal affected place so you very well imagine the state
of affairs and to add to that I grew up in a Muslim neighborhood with
a couple of Madarsas. I can tell you, even people who have studied in
these very madarsas completed their education and then took up
respectable and decent government jobs ,quite unlike your Hindu naxal
brothers just 40-50 kms away from my place. A few of us were lucky
ones who grew up in middle class families, who could study in English
medium schools and landed up with jobs with MNCs. Unfortunately most
are not so lucky. You know what, either you have never seen poverty in
and around you so it’s very comfortable to pass sweeping remarks or
you are just another prejudiced and ignorant Hindu on the internet. If
you are the former (n I doubt it ) all I would ask you is to leave the
comfort of your house to visit a Madarsa .If you are the later, I can
only pity you
sanjeev says:
March 3, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@ Rajeev
Here is an interesting article from Tavleen Singh (who i think can’t
be labelled as sangh parivar member as she happens to be a sikh and
married to muslim
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=59288
I hope ignorant persons like mitra and other so called secularists
accept the true reality after going through this article or else they
will label Tavleen as sanghi.
sanjeev
Rajeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 2:45 am
Sanjeev,
Did you compare debate done on NDTV/CNN-IBN on MF Hussain and Taslima
Nasreen? It exposed the hypocrisy of Indian secualrism. I could not
control my laughter listening to arguements from Shabnam hashmi.
I have come to the conclusion that soft terrorist (ideological) from
muslim community are oxygen for all the terror activities in the
world. These are the people who should be arrested and may be
eliminated Isarael style.
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Yes people like you must be singled out Israeli style
[Reply]
sanjeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Here is another article exposing the hypocrisy of the so called
secular gang of india:
Its by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, from centre for policy research, new delhi
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/freedoms-our-defence/586662/
sanjeev says:
March 4, 2010 at 5:51 pm
@ Rajeev
sorry rajeev,
i have given up watching news on these sensationlist channels..i only
watch DD news or r news on FM gold radio.
i know this Indian secularism is a biggest joke in the world
Anything can happen in india in the name of secularism and freedom of
speech for the sake of minority (read muslim )
RE Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Two Losers in this country Pandit Rajeev and Pandit Sanjeev have got
HT Blog as the only place to vent their frustration. Is it something
else?
Ashish says:
March 6, 2010 at 11:24 am
After all these serious comments, I think we all need a comic break..
quoting from an email just received:
A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy
International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in
possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a
calculator.
At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes
the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not
identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying
weapons of maths instruction.
“Al-Gebra is a problem for us”, the Attorney General said. “They
derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on
tangents in search of absolute values. They use secret code names like
‘X’ and ‘Y’ and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns’, but we have
determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of
medieval with co-ordinates in every country.
As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, “There are 3 sides to
every triangle”.
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, “If God had
wanted us to have better weapons of maths instruction, he would have
given us more fingers and toes.’
White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more
intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is believed
that the Nobel Prize for Physics will follow.
Paritosh Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
ha ha ha ha . nice!!!
sanjeev says:
March 6, 2010 at 11:56 am
hilarious !!!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 6, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Why Physics?
They don’t award nobles for Maths or Philosophy? Time they did
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 6th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
@SKS
And these must be reserved for Muslims because of the historical
sidelining Westerners have done to them..
So far Muslims have not stated theat the nobels Jews received were
undeserving; so you have to give them credit!
Ashish says:
March 6, 2010 at 2:39 pm
when they run out of existing Nobels; one for each year Obama is in
office..
There is probably no rule against multiple Nobel awards for multiple
disciplines in the same year to the same person; while so far such a
rule would have been largely academic, I think with Obama, this rule
will soon be tested.
Literature Nobel is his for the taking .. with all the fiction in his
speeches (even if he has to share the Nobel with his speechwriters)..
Raju Kurien says:
March 6, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Mosab hasan Yousef, an ex Hamas leader, who later became a Mosad spy,
and converted to Christianity, has written a book titled “Son of
Hamas”. Wall Street journal interviewed him on his opinions,
perspectives….His father is also a leader of Hamas..
Do you consider your father as a fanatic? “he is not a fanatic; he is
a very moderate, logical person. What matters is not whether my father
is fanatic or not; he is doing the will of a fanatic God. It does not
mind whether he is a terrorist or a traditional muslim. At the end of
the day a traditional Muslim is doing the will of a fanatic,
fundamentalist, terrorist God. I know this is harsh to say. Most
governments avoid this subject..
“the problem is not in Muslims. the problem is with their God. They
need to be liberated from their God. He is the biggest enemy. It has
been 1400 years they have been lied to.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 10:08 am
So ‘Government funded religious travel’ (let’s call it GFRT) isn’t
‘Unique’ but only Haj subsidy has been targeted! So unfair!
Research does help, even if, of ‘directed’ kind, to pick facts, as
might be necessary for the ‘conclusion’ one has chosen to present. But
’secular’ journalism, at least here in India, is easier than that. For
facts aren’t needed nor is their careful selection and for those on
the cutting edge of secular journalism, fact invention is routine.
Certainly, by those standards, Mr Zia is struggling.
To come up with ‘govt funded religious travel’ or GFRT for questioning
the criticism of Haj subsidy, suggests that research was involved.
Instead of limiting himself to any one of either GFRT or subsidy, he
uses both and implied smartly, that only Haj subsidy is criticized,
without ever saying that both are/aren’t the same. But there may be
’small’ differences between the two:
Subsidy of course is subsidy.
GFRT does not seem to be a well defined concept, but Mr Zia must be
referring to the costs involved in provision of various facilities and
services provided by Govt. for the pilgrims. These costs include a
part for the services rendered in India and another for outside India.
For e.g. in case of Kailash Mansarovar, these are free medical
inspection, security, escort cover, insurance cover and communication
links and 4 days acco. provided by Govt of Delhi (at Delhi) etc, most
of these within India. Then there is also a Rs 3250/pilgrim payment
made by Govt to Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) for arranging
boarding and lodging on the Indian side.
Indian side expenses for Haj, include cost of Haj houses, built in a
number of state capitals (including a capital cost for the facility,
often funded by the concerned state govt. There is a dedicated Haj
terminal at Delhi Airport (can’t say for others), again involving a
capital cost. I am not sure if medical tests, security etc is involved
or not. There is also a fully dedicated Haj department maintained by
Air India throughout the year.
For expenses outside India:
In case of Mansarovar, nothing much is known. Possibly, the escort,
security and medical facilities continue to be provided on the chinese
side as well. Interestingly, complaints regarding poor facilities on
Chinese side are brushed aside by MEA, saying Chinese want a revision
in the rates (last set in 1995) for better facilities.
Foreign component of Haj expenses: expenditure on a contingent of
seasonal local staff, supervisors, data entry operators, drivers and
messengers, appointed in SA, a contingent of more than 600 personnel
(incl. about 135 doctors, nurses and paramedics) on short-term
deputation to SA, hospital facilities (about 100 beds) at Makkah,
Madinah, medicines, ambulances, facilitation and coordination centres
at Jeddah, Makkah probably, Madinah also.
What is also interesting to note, is the kind of answers MEA gives for
questions raised in LS or RS:
1. Whenever there is a broad query (broad as in, about ’subsidy’ and
‘other facilities’) the answer, in case of Haj; includes a number for
subsidy and another for expenses, while for Mansarovar, it is only one
figure.
2. When there is a precise question such as: ‘ whether the Union
Government has been extending ’subsidy’ ( no mention of facilities)
for pilgrimage of Indians abroad’, the answer never goes beyond Haj
( e.g. LS Unstarred Question no 3086 http://meaindia.nic.in/parliament/ls/2006/08/23ls07.html)
3. When a specific question was asked : whether Govt
would also consider providing any subsidy on the lines of subsidy
being provided for Haj Pilgrimage, the smart state minister for MEA
repeats the same Rs 3250 story (of course never uses the word subsidy
for this) and concludes with : ‘Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and Haj are
essentially different so far as the number of pilgrims (not enough
devotees? ) , mode of travel and the nature of terrain are involved.
Therefore, there may not be a direct comparison between the two!
http://meaindia.nic.in/parliament/rs/2006/05/11rs27.htm
Thus for some ’strange’ reason, Govt. has consistently failed to apply
the word ‘Subsidy’ in case of Mansarovar costs. This could mean either
a ‘consistent error’ or most likely an accounting conspiracy designed
to discriminate against the poor minority, and worst of all, signed
off by CAG as well!
For the sharper but unfortunately oppressed beings, another ’small’
difference :
- the total amount paid for 2002, 03, 04 for Mansarovar was around Rs.
0.43 Crs (or Rs 43 lacs), while for HaJ 2007 and 2008, it was more
than Rs. 44.00 crs.
-Haj subsidy that Mr Zia shows at Rs 390 crs is over and above that.
Not just that, it seems that subsidy figures for Haj continue to be
presented as ‘provisional’ for last 4-5 years. (i.e. besides the
subsidy).
Mr Zia could have checked a bit of History as well, as he has so
carefully listed out the ‘proposed’ subsidy in Karnataka and the one
announced in AP a ‘couple’ of years ago.
Clearly then, there isn’t ANY VALID reason to target Haj subsidy
alone!! Except the Discriminatory approach, what say Zia?
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 10:26 am
Can someone tell me whether, there is some difference between the
Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet (for which Govt ‘underwrites’ a part of the
cost, as indicated by Zia) and the Mansarovar, China (for which a
’subsidy’ is under consideration (as Zia says quoting media reports)
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 11:35 am
@SKS,
“Can someone tell me whether, there is some difference between the
Kailash Mansarovar, Tibet (for which Govt ‘underwrites’ a part of the
cost, as indicated by Zia) and the Mansarovar, China (for which a
’subsidy’ is under consideration (as Zia says quoting media reports)”
Only Zia can answer this.. but, on past performance, even if he deigns
to, it is likely to decry your tendency to split hairs..
SKS Mumbai Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
@Ashish
You mean just tendency?
That is all we do, apart from full time hate mongering, that is
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:03 pm
aha.. but, Mr Zia is a gentleman, not given to invectives
SKS Mumbai says:
March 7, 2010 at 11:34 am
‘Show me an economically underprivileged Hindu who will find fault
with government help to make a dip in the holy Ganges a reality? Or a
Muslim quibbling over a lifetime visit to Mecca, courtesy government
help?’
Now that is a profound question. Perhaps Zia can show us an
‘economically privileged’ Hindu who will find fault with government
help to make a trip to switzerland a reality, or riding a chauffeur
driven BMW (all expense paid) for that matter?
First of all what difference does it make, whether you are talking
about an economically privileged or underprivileged person here,
unless that bounty is meant for reducing that economic gap?
(BTW, I am not sure if Haj susbsidy is only for underpriveleged ones,
and even if, it is, the validity of above question does not change)
Secondly, on what basis does a secular Government decide that my all-
expense trip to swiss alps, is spiritually less important than
someone’s dip in Ganges and more importantly, why should a secular
govt be even required to measure spirituality quotient?
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
@SKS
I read somewhere that Haj subsidies were never requested by the
community. I believe it was instituted during the oil shock of early
1970s and institutionalized ever since. This may be one situation
where one smart politician created a permanent vote bank through this
master stroke.
ajay says:
March 8, 2010 at 10:10 am
those politicians who are using vote bank politics must be dealt with
severely.other people who easily get caugt by words of these soundrels
should apply there common sense
S Singh says:
March 8, 2010 at 5:29 pm
There is no dispute that everything possible should be done to uplift
ALL., to make all contributors to a great country and humanity.
Money should be spent wisely; it also should be spent on all who need,
not just Muslims.
Money is only one, and may be even a lesser part, as far as upliftment
of Muslims are concerned. Unlike Hindus, Christians, jews, budhists
etc they do not give much emphasis to education. It simply is not
their “core” belief. When Hindu and kids belonging to other religions
right from early ages are inculcated “Vidya dhan sarva dhanal
pradhan” , the focus of Muslim kids is memorizing Quran. After that,
they get into petty trades.
Unless education is considered as the most important factor and
embraced by the family and community, nothing will happen; complaints
will remain.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 8:20 pm
@Gopi
I don’t know, but it can’t be that simple.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Quote:
‘While it gives Air India 150,000 assured passengers every year
(that’s the total number of seats on all Indian carriers criss-
crossing the country on any given day), helping it KEEP AFLOAT, the
grant has been turned into a stick to beat Muslims with’
This is really all that it takes!
One article by a non-entity, (he/she could be anything, journalist,
activist, third rate self proclaimed intellectual, rabble rouser,
dancer, singer, whatever. Even if he wasn’t, that article alone will
make him a front ranking secular warrior), asserting that Haj subsidy
is really a subsidy for Air India.
Watch that dumb ‘assertion’ turn into a foundational truth for the
Indian secularrazzi, to be repeated so many times that, Hitler would
have them rather Goebbels.
It just does not matter that the fraudulent claim is immediately
thrashed to pieces by precise facts and irrefutable documentary
evidence, the ‘Truth’ once revealed, is the Divine Law for our secular
believers. To question the law is apostasy or a communal propaganda by
Hindutva forces, or as Mr Zia claims, a ’stick’ to beat poor Muslims
with.
For a moment, even if we accept that fraudulent claim, what changes
Mr. Zia? Muslims are still getting a subsidy, aren’t they? Or can you
book a return ticket for Patna-Delhi-Jeddah for Rs.12000 (or Rs 16000
for last year only)? Bulk discounts? Yes why not, we will see later
how much difference your direct chartering can make. Unfortunately
facts happen to be facts and if they are communal so be it (in the
meanwhile Mr Zia could check whether direct charter negotiations were
attempted at some point of time or not and what went wrong). Here are
the facts:
1. It isn’t 150,000 prize customers in the first place, the number for
2010 is more like 120,000 and that after annual increases of the order
of 10,000-15,000. approximately 50% of that is carried by Saudi
airlines.
2. Spare/standby aircrafts are a part of any commercial airlines
fleet, but they are primarily used when regular aircrafts are sent for
scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. Haj means 2-3 months of a steep
peak forcing most of the commercial airlines to opt for short term
leases, called wet lease. Being short-term, they are by definition
much more expensive than longer leases. It does not take an Einstein
to understand that the capital cost of the wet leased aircrafts will
have to be recovered from the passengers who fly during that peak
window. For e.g. If you look at the state electricity boards, their
normal procurement costs (for the pool) will rarely exceed Rs 4-5/
unit. But during peak months, the incremental power is often purchased
at Rs. 10-15/unit range. It matters, but little, that your requirement
for those few months constitutes a huge volume, the annual fixed cost
will still be recovered during those two months. Further, it seems
that many of the aircrafts have to undertake one trip without
passengers (i.e. no backhaul)
3. If AIR INDIA was really saving itself by grabbing the prized Haj
Service, why does it keep on requesting the Govt to allow other
airlines in the space? Isn’t that Monopolistic, Mr Zia ? Last publicly
known attempt was around 2008. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/haj-subsidy-has-air-india-fuming/360651/0
4. BTW Muslims anyway have the option of not going through Haj
committee and a large number of Muslims actually go through private
tour operators (~ 40,000 or so), so why are suffering the tyranny of
AI? Why? Especially when it also gives the so-unfair-stick to Hindutva
Guys ?
But all these are lies, a hindutva propaganda, sanghi hate mongering,
the only Truth and what we need to remember for ever is that, it is
not the ‘Poor Hajis’ but AI who is being subsidized. (soon we will
discover it wasn’t even AI, it were the vile Bramhins-Bania who were
fattening themselevs)
You know what, some 100 years down the line, secular historian will
cite these and assert Haj subsidy was a myth and contrary evidence
will be subjected to secular tools called contextualizing History and
presenting multiple perspectives and another 100 years Haj subsidy
won’t even be a subject.
S Singh Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Muslims will go on itching, bitching, scratching…
The only solution is dictatorship (why do you think almost all Muslim
countries are dictatorships?) or someother way of controlling, because
they respect power; they just cannot operate independently in a
democracy. Time and again it ahs been demonstrated that they cannot
form, suatain a democracy.
India will remain a democracy, meaning the scratching and bitching
will be with us for a long time, unless a region is converted to
another Pakistan and round up ALL Muslims to that region.
Rajeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
No all muslims should be packed up and sent to pakistan. No more
divisions for these ungrateful people.
Rajeev says:
March 8, 2010 at 9:07 pm
Is this RE another avatar of Soft-terrorits Bobby?
sanjeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:59 pm
@ Rajeev
Tonight i will get to meet biggest anti national..Javed Naqvi (dawn
reporter from delhi )
I want to ask him some tough questions ..
If any knowledge u can share about this nut ?
Rajeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Ask him just one thing. Is he Indian or Pakistani?
If he is Indian and beleives in secularism, why is he with Pakistan on
Kashmir.
Secondly ask him what happened to 20% hindu population of pakistans.
How many guharat massacre took place in Pakistan?
SKS Mumbai says:
March 8, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Aah Rs 390 crs isn’t it.
Last statement by Dr Tharoor pegs it at some Rs 826 crs for 2009!and
still counting all these numbers continue to be Provisional.
Rajeev says:
March 9, 2010 at 1:30 am
I have always wondered if Hajj performed on khairat of infidel nation
(India) is haram or Halal.
I am pretty sure that all the muslims perforing Hajj on donations
doled out by hindu-dominated India are commiting shirk and their hajj
is invalid according to Islam.
I guess most of the muslims are destined for jahannum.
S Singh Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Does not matter, as long as it is free.
It is the government we should blame; and by that voters like us. what
the politicians have done is one more way of institutionalizing
“minority” , this time with huge allocation. Now the bar of spending
is set high, and every following year it will be higher than the prior
year.
Like any government spending schemes, only 10% will go to the purpose;
other 90% will go to the b ureaucracy and contractors!
sanjeev Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
ha ha ha ha !
where else they can go ?
mulleh ki dor masjid tak
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
arey pandit ki langot apni dhoti sambhalo yaar
SKS Mumbai says:
March 9, 2010 at 9:35 pm
@Ashish
In RE, you have one of the original ones. His views on Premjee’s
Billions and stuff are part of the original curriculum. Don’t be
surprised, when you are told:
1. It is Indian Muslims living in the gulf whose earnings drive the
larger part of Indian economy.
2. That Indira Gandhi used her charm to get cheap oil from the house
of Sauds and thus Hindus have been living off Muslim charity for ages.
3.That there is a conspiracy under which muslim intellectuals are
being murdered and this has gone for many decades now.
4. That “Urdu” was eliminated as a language to prevent muslim
advancement.
5. Some more that I came across recently: the conspiracy against
Muslims also include: introducing “gate-keeper” mentality-type service
commission exams and entrance exams for professional courses .That a
scientist was picked to become a Muslim President of India, to
diminish OR extinguish his contribution to science.
That (hold your breath) Shahrukh Khan and Amir Khan have Hindu wives,
because they are rich and famous – and their wives will inherit their
crores.
6. Of course we all know about 9/11, 26/11, Karkare, Batla and types.
Recent violence in Karnataka on Tasleema’s article was also a Hindutva
conspiracy.(Confirmed already as I see)
7. Upper caste Hindus joined hands with British in a conspiracy to
weaken Islamic Kings, freedom fight was mainly a Muslim venture, but
Gandhi and Nehru forged another conspiracy to divide India, so that
Muslims were weakened.
8. His views on how state is dealing with Maoists because they are
Hindus shouldn’t surprise anyone. The difference lies, not in
perceptions but in definitions itself.
Reasoned debate is useless and anyway impossible. Facts must adhere to
’secular’ requirement else they are conspiracies. When even fairly
well ensconced people, from the core of mainstream, do not hesitate in
asserting nonsense like Haj subsidy is for Air India, never miss the
opportunity to impress you with Quranic wisdom, or to offer Quranic
justification while urging Muslims to seek education or to not hate
the jews, we know it isn’t just another problem.
This combined with the values our politicians operate on, will ensure
that we just have to live with it the way it is and just hope it does
not get worse during our or our children’s lifetime.
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 9th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
@SKS
There is more; especially with the advent of ex SIMI turned into PFI/
SDPI as a political party for the disadvantaged, “not just Muslims”:
1)Brahmins are colluding with USA/UK to make India a Jesustan
2)Reservations etc are farce; Brahmins control everything (i am still
looking for those powerful Brahmins!)
3) Muslims did well in the first 30 years of independence; then a
coordinated conspiracy started to marginalize them, to exterminate
their intellectuals
4)The elite Muslims migrated to Pakistan (we know how that has helped
PAkistan) and the real backward Muslims stayed back in India
5) Gandhiji was in collusion with Brahmins to marginalize Muslims
6)Lodhi and Gazni are not Muslims,a nd Somnath temple destruction
should not be attributed to Muslims
7)Babur loved all and did not destroy any places of worship
8)Auragazeb is maligned by Brahmins; he was a great king who cared for
all equally (and Akbar was not a great king)
9)Shivaji looted neighboring kingdoms, and have done more damage to
india than any Moghul or other foreign invaders have done
10)”Mapilla rebellion” in Kerala that happened with Khilafet was an
agrarian revolution and not one where muslims targeted and raped and
killed Hindus and destroyed their palces of worship
11) tipu Sultan was a benevolent king who did not destroy palces of
worship of Hindus and Christians (although history of Kerala clearly
traces his “patayottam” (rapid fight ) for the massive conversions in
Malabar area, including naming Calicut as Islamabad for a while
12)All the communal troubles are started by Brahmins to further
marginalize Muslims
List goes on
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 1:28 am
@SKS @Gopi Thomas
great compilations; SKS, great summary of the core arguments we have
heard on this blog over the last few months.
This blog has run out of ideas.. tired, tiresome and repetitive..
poorly researched and lately even without a central idea.
I can sense the next blog coming.. on why Ranganath Mishra
recommendations must be adopted. Stealing from a well known poster,
first seen in London, “Sachar spotted the cancer, Mishra has the
answer”.
Trying to remember some Muslim Maoist name; honestly can’t. By the
way, SP/RE/UI.. whoever/ whatever, I was in Lalbazar (Calcutta police
HQ) .. staying with a certain doctor employed with the police the day
Charu Mazumdar was brought in. I have heard enough stories of how
Naxals used to be handled by the Calcutta Police; suffice it to say
KPS Gill was really tame in comparison. Honestly speaking, I have
never ever thought about the religion of the Naxals; now that I do,
yes, you are right. All of these guys I heard of were Hindus-excepting
Jangal Santhal – even though I am sure they will be quite amused to be
called such. But, the brutality on both sides (Naxals and the state)
was totally secular. I hope I am not told next that Maoists and the
Government are in cahoots to rid the world of Muslims.
Hindus become Maoists because they just like to kill and are afforded
protection by the state; and Muslims do not- inspite of all the
discrimination, because they follow the religion of peace. Hmmm…..
Talking about KPS Gill; so, his forces killed Muslims and then dressed
them up as Khalistanis, correct? Just checking…
MMM’s (Much Maligned Modi) goons killed Muslims while his police shot
dead 400 Hindus .. inconvenient, but true.
Gopi, great item 4 on your list. Precisely..
SKS Mumbai Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
@Ashish
‘Honestly speaking, I have never ever thought about the religion of
the Naxals’
Hmm that shows your communal mindset, Bhai sahab.
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
@SKS
my communal mindset is well established on this blog.. garv se kaho…
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:52 pm
Arey bhai then stop living off Muslim money and Muslim oil. Dead
simple as that. You hate us like anything and yet want to live off our
money! hahaha great
RE Reply:
March 20th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
You didn’t answer my post cuz you DON”T have an answer . Stop being a
MORON for a change. You sound like a joker
SKS Mumbai says:
March 10, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Sorry guys, I underestimated the power of contextualisation and
perspectivasation and the time it might take to secularise the
history. It is faster.
See what India’s great son, Mr Kuldip Nair has to say about 26/11 and
Karkare:
Quote: More worrisome are the Hindu extremists rearing their head. The
murder of police officer Hemant Karkare, who was probing the Malegaon
blasts, was the doing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad or Bajrang Dal”
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/16-kuldip-nayar-politics-of-terrorism-hs-01
See how simple it is to present TRUTH. If you want first mover
advantage, it is time to write a Book :
November 26th 2008, Mumbai : Revolt of the oppressed against the vile
Hindu Elite.
You can try a Bharat Ratna for yourself and freedom fighter’s pension
for Mr Kasab
Ashish Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
@SKS
for a few pieces of silver.. Mr Nayar can be made to say anything..
He does not find a publisher on this side of the border anymore; don’t
judge him too harshly.. he needs to earn a living somehow.
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
@Ashish
I will take Kuldip against Naqvi (who also writes for Dawn) anytime!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 10, 2010 at 4:11 pm
@Ashish
the latest seems to be “garv se kaho hum internet hindu hain”
Rajeev Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Nice one…
Indian says:
March 11, 2010 at 9:59 am
Victim Swami Laxmanananda portrayed as a villain by biased media
Alarming 5 fold increase in Kandhamal Christian population from six
per cent in 1971 to 27 per cent in 2001 ,It began with the arrival of
Christian missionaries in the area who found the remote region very
conducive to conduct prosetylization amongst the poor tribals. The
conversions continued unhindered until the arrival of Swami
Laxmanananda who put strenuous efforts to stop conversions and help
reconversion to Hindouism as well. If not for his effort Kandhamal
would have been another Nagaland in the making where the separatist
movement has wrecked havoc in the state. The aggressive Christian
proselytization in Orissa today pitched previously peaceful tribals
into warring camps of Christians and non-Christian. This has has
vitiated the peace that has existed with various communities for
millenia. Next target is KARNATAKA and they are facing stiff
resistance from Hindus here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SKS Mumbai says:
March 12, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Another TRAIL BLAZING Research!!
Truth behind Sachin’s 200 runs Innings. Must Read
http://altnews.asia/content/2010/03/11/who-controls-fanatic-india-xi-dr-abdul-ruff-colachal-0
Author is one more feather in the crowded cap of our JN University of
Secular Research Sciences.
Ashish Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
@SKS,
does the JNU reserve seats for the mentally challenged?
sanjeev Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 7:54 pm
@ ashish
Infact it has become fashionable to criticize govt and hindus in JNU.
There is whole lot a generation mostly elite bengali who tretas it
fashionable to be politically correct and being anti national.
Unfortunately the leftist brigade have penetarted deeply in JNU
faculty where it has become fashionable to criticise anything indian,
Infact JNU has proved to be a factory of producing traitors in the
garb of liberal thinkers
sanjeev Reply:
March 14th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
@ Ashish
Yes there is reservation for such elements like Rauff in centres of
JNU in schools of languages and international relations. These centres
are for Urdu, Arabic, Persian, west asian studiess, etc.
In fact these centres are reserved exclusively of urdu-persian- arabi
speaking intellectuals.
Hence we used to call these departments as UPA
Gopi Thomas Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
It also shows people live in different planets. Also, it is like
Newton’s law. The more appeasement and more give aways, the more
demand for more and cries of discrimination. The person’s last name
sounds like a typical Kerala “house” name; and if he is from there, it
is an even “bigger” problem. Because whatever may be the issue in
other parts of India, they were part of the ruling coalition from
almost day 1; they got their district formed, they are one of the
richest groups etc etc.
SKS Mumbai says:
March 13, 2010 at 6:29 pm
@Ashish
Reservations for mentally challenged?
Interesting question , but for which levele admission or for faculty.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/they-call-me-muslim/2010/02/28/budgeting-for-minorities/
My Name Is Bal Thackeray
In the middle of the Shiv Sena’s rampage against Shah Rukh Khan’s My
Name Is Khan in Bombay, came the delightful news that someone had
blackened Pramod Muthalik’s face in Bangalore just as he was preparing
to oppose Valentine’s Day celebrations on Sunday.
I think it is rich that he should describe the act as “undemocratic”
and against freedom of expression – as though such freedoms are the
prerogative of just the bigots of this country and the rest of us have
no democratic rights or freedom to do as we please, at all!
But that also brought to mind the fact that perhaps the Shiv Sena in
Bombay has been the biggest loser this Valentine season. They are the
original party poopers of Valentine’s Day celebrations – there was a
time when Bal Thackeray had become synonymous with the term. I recall
a friend in a raging fight with her husband who would not take her out
to dinner one Valentine’s day one year. When this musty and old-
fashioned gent started a spiel on Indian culture and traditions, my
friend walked off in a huff, muttering, “There is no fun in asking Bal
Thackeray out to dinner, anyway!”
Now the sainiks have no time to mount an attack as of yore on card and
gift companies who might want to make a killing as people celebrate
their love for each other. In any case, they have no reason. The Shiv
Sena is now in the hands of Thackeray’s son Uddhav and he has no love
lost for his divorced sister-in-law, Smita.
According to my information from inside Matoshree, the Sena only ever
took up the anti-Valentine’s Day cause purely for reasons of personal
pique. When they started the campaign sometime in the late Nineties,
Smita was very thick with her father-in-law Bal Thackeray. And
Thackeray Sr was pretty miffed one December when a very well-known
card and gift company –which puts up huge Valentines Day hearts and
arches all across urban India — refused to sponsor his daughter-in-
law’s Mukti Foundation event in the battle against AIDS.
I am told that they had burnt their fingers the previous year – they
were not paid their share of the dues even after several reminders and
appeals and so decided to cut their losses by determining never to
sponsor such an event ever again. None of Thackeray’s cajoling,
pleading or threatening would budge this company.
So when Valentine’s Day came around a few weeks later in February,
Thackeray decided to get even. For years after that the Sena
vandalised all card shops and gift outlets on Valentine’s Day – and
then, one year, it abruptly ceased. It must have been a coincidence
surely that by then the reins had been handed over to Uddhav and his
brother divorced that year. I believe Uddhav saw no point in opposing
something that had caught on like fire, particularly for someone he
considered no longer a member of the Thackeray household; indeed for
someone he felt had no claim to the Thackeray name any longer.
It is also significant that Raj Thackeray actually encouraged the
celebration of love soon after he formed his Maharashtra Navnirman
Sena –he put up posters encouraging youths to learn ball room dancing
(though that stopped after the first year when he received flak for
encouraging westernisation among Indian youth).
Today, the whole world has seen how Shah Rukh Khan has stood up to Bal
Thackeray and refused to pay up – yes, at the end of the day, that is
what, I believe, this was all about. The Sena targeted Shah Rukh only
because he had a film coming up and knew that producers and
distributors would rather buy off the trouble than risk vandalisation
and block crores of rupees riding on their films (that’s what Karan
Johar did after all vis-à-vis Wake Up, Sid and Raj Thackeray). I
salute Shah Rukh for keeping producers and distributors, too, from
giving in to such low blackmailing tactics.
However, very few people know that much before Shah Rukh, one card
company in India had silently determined not to give in to cheap arm-
twisting and risked – even suffered – vandalisation and monetary
losses for years before the Sena got off its back and the celebration
of love began to happen in Bombay in right earnest.
Of course, the individual for whom these obstructionist activities
were undertaken was herself organising highly expensive celebratory
dinners for couples at her various restaurants across the city much
before the vandalisation ceased, quite exposing the duplicity of the
Shiv Sena in its campaigns – a point that has now been underscored by
Raj Thackeray. For the first time I agree with Raj – if the Sena can
allow cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan to go forward
unfettered, then they have an ulterior motive in targeting Shah Rukh
Khan.
And that is not because he is Muslim or supported Pakistani cricket
players. It is because he had a film coming up which had nearly a
billion rupees riding on it. And opportunities like these are not
something to let go of — if Your Name Is Bal Thackeray.
(38 votes, average: 4.53 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, February 12, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Bal Thackeray, Bangalore, blackened Pramod
Muthalik, Bombay, My Name Is Khan, rampage, Shahrukh Khan, Shiv Sena,
Valentine’s Day celebrations
102 Responses to “My Name Is Bal Thackeray”
Kushal says:
February 13, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Great piece, Sujata. But I’m with Manish – not only the Sena(s) but
ALL political parties have ulterior motives behind their causes.
Kushal Reply:
February 13th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
Btw, do you suppose the Sena will demand a cut of MNIK’s takings since
they have practically driven the whole nation to watch it, just to
take a stand?
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Ha, ha, ha! Tht will take some gall!
Anurav Reply:
February 14th, 2010 at 10:55 am
True. ALL political parties have ulterior motives but only a handful
like Sena keeps the city as hostage.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Agree, Bunny. But like Anurav says all political parties have their
agenda but only ones like the Sena hold the city to ransom
Kushal Reply:
February 16th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
I’m no advocate for the Sena(s), Sujata and Anurav. But I wonder how a
government can allow things to reach such a state that a party CAN
hold a city to ransom.
What about THOSE ulterior motives?
Harry says:
February 13, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Hi sujata, why didn’t u publish my comment.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
February 15th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Have no control over this , Harry
Anil says:
February 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Not much debate when Nilesh Rane a congress MP held Maharashtra to
ransom on the film Zhenda. He even managed to have the film release
postponed. Nice government sponsored promotion for MNIK. 24 hours
prime time coverage. Great going. Keep it up
Mohin says:
February 13, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Bal Thackare is a ordinary Man,is a not God,He is using ordinary
Peoples to him as Powerful
Certainly he fails.If i am CM of Maharastra Surely He will be
furnished.
Anil Kumar says:
February 13, 2010 at 10:13 pm
In the middle of the Shiv Sena’s rampage against Shah Rukh Khan’s My
Name Is Khan in Bombay, came the “delightful” news ..
See this is the problme with socalled educated class of India.. Here
this madam found that news delightful.
As much as I disapprove the nonsense of valentine’s day protest it’s
equally disturbing that people midn you educated one at that find this
vandalism when the recepient is their object of hate find it
delightful..
What is the difference between Muthalik’s army spreading nonsense and
these idiots who blackend his face that too in a panel debate..
Sane people shold be the last oen to endorse these behavious otherwise
you lose the right to complain when army of muthaliksfo the world go
on rampage
Rajeev says:
February 13, 2010 at 10:46 pm
I think it is SRK desperate attempt to equal 3 idiots collections by
any means…what a chichora khan!!!
Rajeev says:
February 14, 2010 at 12:20 am
This controversy started by SRK is just to promote MNIK so that his
movie can beat collections for 3 Idiot.
What a Chichora loser SRK is!!!
What fools we Indians are!!! This mediocre actor has taken this nation
for a ride with Congress in arms and media in his shoes.
By the way our Maharashtra police was so busy gaurding SRK’s movie
that they forgot to gaurd common people of pune (who have stood up to
Thackrey but forgot to stand up to terrorist sympathisers).
Rajeev says:
February 14, 2010 at 12:56 am
Let us see who gained and lost out of this controversy-
1. Congress – Gained political mileage in UP and Bihar by showing sham
sympathy towards north Indians in Mumbai. Gained political mileage
among muslim voters by supporting Shahrukh Khan and his pro-pakistani
stance (Pakistan is a great neighbor to have).
2. Rahul Gandhi – Has become a hero for UP and Bihar voters. By
supporting SRK, he has become hero of communal muslim voters and now
is going to Azamgarh to consolidate those gains.
3. Shiv Sena- After becoming irrelevant after MNS (Raj Thackrey)
hijacked its plank ably supported by congress led chavan govt., they
got an opportunity to get noticed. They miscalcuated big time because
they should know that India has moved on. We have now become immuned
to terrorism and are now more interested in making money. For us
escapist routes like movies are more important than lives of 200
Indians. As long as VIPs are not hurt, we don’t care and so does our
Media.
4. Media- Media got great TRP out of this controversy..loads of ads
and big money. The media under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi has also
started propaganda that rahul is next KING of India (Times of India).
This is the first time in the history of private television that
doordarshan stands ashamed in front of media’s pro-congress bias.
5. Aam Admi urf Ullu ka Pattha – Aam admi lost money on mediocre film
like MNIK, lost valuable time following useless pro-SRK and pro-Rahul
Baba story.
Nikhil says:
February 14, 2010 at 1:49 pm
Sujata,
UNHOLY NEXUS BETN BOLLYWOOD AND NEWS MEDIA IN INDIA:
Please read the article in Indian express today. They say it’s unique
in India where movie producers and stars own or have stake in the
content providers or business groups that own TV channels. This
furthers the deep suspicion in the MNIK controversy. SRK and Karan
Johar, most likely, are laughing their way to the bank. Shiv Sena
perhaps may’ve got a small share of it too. Who knows?
arvind says:
February 17, 2010 at 10:56 am
Thakray family jo khud mumbai ka nahi hai aur apne aap ko asli
mumbaikar batata hai , mumbai uski hai jo mumbai se sachha pyar karta
hai ,uske bare me sochta hai , ye logo ke bhawnao ko bhadkakar apne
roti ka intjam karte hai aur pure mumbai ke logo ke paise ko lutte
hai, pahle party banakar party fund ke paise se apna ghar chalate hai.
Agar thakray me himmat hai to north india jane wali kisi bhi train ke
genral compartment me baith kar dikhai, aur wo train non stopage ho to
shayad destintion tak pahunchte pahunchte wo history ke ek joker ban
kar rah jayenge . thakrey hosh me aao , nafrat ki aandhi mat failao ,
nahi to usi me mit jaoge .
Rajeev Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
It looks like a typical nautanki congressi speech.
shiuli says:
February 17, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Ms.Sujata, great insight. Enjoyed the subtle wit in your writing also
the way you put across your point, by not badgering it down the neck.
Ashish Kolarkar says:
February 17, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Thanks Sujata for revealing interesting secret motive of Thackeray’s
in public domain. I’m sure you have lot of such secrets to offer in
near future. Enjoyed your blog.
arvind says:
February 18, 2010 at 10:20 am
It’s real voice of truth indian , agar dam hai to thkray family ko
train me bitha kar dekh lo saath me tum bhi aa jana
AKshay_Marathi says:
February 21, 2010 at 6:39 pm
Hi..,
THIS IS REALLY DISAPPOINTING TO READ THAT , U ARE PORPOSEFULLY USIN
WORD BOMBAY.
U HATE THAKRE O.K. BUT WHY R U INSULTING WHOLE MARATHI BY REPEATNG
BOMBAY.
MAY BE ONE TO GET OUR LOST PRIDE AND TO SAVE FROM HUMILIATION FROM
INDIAN WE HAVE TO SUPPORT THAKRE.
PLZ. DO’T CALL IT BAMBAY IT IS MUMBAI.
Rajeev Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:47 pm
These jouranlist are extremist fascist who impose their ideologies on
others.
Arpit says:
February 24, 2010 at 1:36 am
Its was only the the publicity stunt by Bal Thackeray. He only wants a
topic every time to be in limelite, as he did when he was delivering
comments on north Indians in Mumbai……..nothing else…I think this type
of political party should be banned in India…I think they people wanna
run country as what they want………………
Earthling says:
March 11, 2010 at 7:28 pm
thakeray is a very bad boy…never will he do good in the face of
indians….corrupting mind sets of people and talking as if he is doing
all good for india…
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/02/12/my-name-is-bal-thackeray/#more-135
Happy Birthday, Netaji
As Bal Thackeray turns 83 on Saturday (January 23), I cannot help
recalling the politics of birthdays that I have witnessed over the
years.
The first political birthday party that I ever attended was that of S
B Chavan (father of Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Ashok Chavan),
sometime in the late Eighties.Sharad pawar had just merged his
Congress(S) with the Congress(I) and become Chief Minister the
previous year. And though Chavan Sr was inducted into the union
cabinet as Home Minister, I think he was mighty miffed at having been
summarily displaced to accommodate the Maratha warlord.
The move opened up a chasm between the so-called `loyalists’ in the
Congress and those who were Pawar’s acolytes. The bickering and
nitpicking went on for months, until Chavan’s birthday arrived on July
14 the next year. Without making any overt moves that might seem as a
campaign against the party high command (it was still Rajiv Gandhi
then), Congress loyalists thought they would use Chavan Sr’s birthday
to put Pawar in his place.
The party was held at a star hotel in South Bombay and a huge
chocolate cake was rolled in to stand under the chandelier in the main
ballroom of that hotel. The hosts had invited all and sundry,
including journalists, except for one very important person – Chief
Minister Sharad Pawar. They were full of glee as Chavan was
fashionably late at his own birthday party and crowed at how awful
Pawar might feel when he read about it in the papers the next day.
The birthday boy arrived an hour after he was scheduled to cut the
cake and we all gathered round him as he held the ribboned knife in
his hand and prepared to set the ball rolling. Even as those around
him clapped and sang the birthday tune, I turned round to see why
there was an unusual hush around the edges of that room.
Sharad Pawar was standing at the door and, even as Chavan cut a slice,
Pawar moved slowly towards the centre of the room. And before Chavan
could lift the slice and feed it to the person nearest him (I forget
who), Pawar was standing with an extended hand to greet Chavan a happy
birthday. A chagrined Chavan had to feed the cake to Pawar, instead;
they hugged and exchanged pleasantries even as many of the Congress
workers stood around in consternation..
Chavan graciously invited him to join the party but Pawar demurely
declined. He had another important meeting to attend, he said by way
of explanation, but had just dropped in as he was passing by the hotel
en route to this other function. He left in minutes but it took
several more for the others to regain their composure and continue
with the now subdued celebrations.
Next day, as I and another colleague nosed round Pawar’s office, we
were told in confidence by a close confidante that Pawar had heard
about the plan to cut him out of the party and was damned if he would
be defeated by a bunch of `upstarts’ or provide a lot of grist to the
mill of journalists who would have a blast the next morning. So he
decided to play party pooper-of-sorts (because that is what he had
turned out to be the previous night).
We were told that Pawar had arrived at the time given out for the cake-
cutting ceremony but sent a sniffer upstairs to find out how things
stood. He decided he would not be kept waiting for Chavan inside the
hotel and asked his cavalcade to circle round the locality of the
hotel several times until Chavan himself had rolled in (he had posted
some cops as lookouts). Pawar then timed his entry perfectly to
nonplus Chavan and his supporters with, “I heard you were having a
party for your birthday. So I decided to drop in myself and greet you
in person.’’
And then he went home. Satisfied that he had nipped any mischief in
the bud. Chavan never had another birthday party like that one again,
though his constituents would celebrate the day in his hometown off
and on over the years.
And as far as I remember, Pawar has only ever had one birthday party –
when he turned 60 nearly a decade ago. There was a five-star event
with the who’s who of India represented the previous evening. But it
was his public rally the next day that saddened me the most. For, even
then it was no secret that he was dying to be Prime Minister. Atal
Behari Vajpayee was in office at the time and Pawar was at pains to
explain to his supporters that it was still not too late for him. “In
this country no one becomes Prime Minister before they are 70,’’ he
said, though that was not strictly true – Indira and Rajiv Gandhi each
had been much younger. “Look at P V Narasimha Rao, he was half way
through his seventies before he became PM; even Vajpayee now is past
75. I am yet only 60. There is still plenty of time.’’
I wondered if his support base was shrinking and he needed to say that
to stop them from abandoning him altogether. Ten years later he is
still not PM and I wonder how much more time he would now need to get
to that high office.
But it is not just Congressmen who are fond of birthdays. Manohar
Joshi had had himself presented with a 60-diamond necklace on – what
else? – his 60th birthday in a very public ceremony in Bombay wherein
he laid claim to a flawless career stating proudly that no one could
find a breath of scandal against him. Bal Thackeray, then about to
turn 75, was at the time besieged with allegations that his nephew Raj
Thackeray had murdered middle-class professional Ramesh Kini and he
did not take that comment kindly. Joshi was out of office within weeks
and Thackeray barred anyone from going to town on his own birthday.
Joshi has never had another party again.
Nearly a decade later, Thackeray is still off a public celebration of
his birthday. Shiv Sainiks, though, have organised blood donation
camps, free distribution of grains et al to mark the event but the
Sena patriarch has decided to remain out of public view.
I think he is the wisest of them all. I am told he is superstitious –
kahin nazar naa lag jaye!
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:45 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Bal Thackeray, Maratha warlord, political
birthday party, Rajiv Gandhi, S B Chavan, Sharad Pawar
6 Responses to “Happy Birthday, Netaji!”
Dev says:
January 22, 2010 at 11:03 pm
And we’ll never know what became of Netaji.
Anil says:
January 23, 2010 at 11:36 am
Wish Pawar had used the same cunningness to improve agriculture sector
and bring down prices. He is just incapable of thinking big for the
country. The only person who really knew how to celebrate birthday in
a manner beffiting his personality was Chach Nehru. He really spent
quality time with children. Others have just aped him.
Ashish Kolarkar says:
January 23, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Due to such shrewdness and intelligence Pawar is in the limelight for
such a long time. He is too ambitious and believes in playing long
innings. Who knows one day this Maratha Sardar would hoist flag from
Lal Kila?
But it seems that Pawar is losing his popularity for his foot in mouth
comments recently. He seems to have all the problems but no soultions
to Offer to common man. He is bent on taking his role too casually.
Good that Thackeray Sr has finally realised that birthday bashes are
meant for sycophancy only and don’t serve any good purpose.
vipin malik says:
January 24, 2010 at 12:03 am
you remeber for netaji all indian popel it was great man
vipin malik says:
January 24, 2010 at 12:10 am
i am a fan of Netaji
Anil Kumar says:
January 24, 2010 at 3:51 am
These leaders who set goal in terms of this or that chair make me
cringe..
All these leader needs a plenary session with Narendra Modi..
Everytime anyone asks him about chairs his reply is I never lust for
chair I lost for work to be done target to be achieved with or without
chair.. Chair is not the destination and that’s how it should be..
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/01/22/happy-birthday-netaji/#more-131
Jhenda ooncha rahe…
14 Comments
Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar and Sarkar Raj are broadly thought to be
based on the life of Bal Thackeray. In large portions, the theme might
be taken from episodes from the Sena tiger’s life but the intelligence
and dexterity of managing politics that has characterised Amitabh
Bachchan’s portrayal of Sarkar in the two films have never been Bal
Thackeray’s forte.
Thackeray is an instinctive politician whose reactions have always
been spontaneous rather than well-thought out. Moreover, he has
thrived not on his programmes or issues of his making but on the
mistakes of other parties (in large measure, the Congress). For
example, the one and only time that the Shiv Sena came to power in
Maharashtra in alliance with the BJP was in 1995, soon after the 1992
riots and the 1993 bomb blasts when people thought and believed that
the Congress was playing far too many games and still remembered the
protectionist campaign of Shiv Sainiks through those burning weeks.
If the Sena was unable to return in 1999, 2004 and 2009 again, it is
because in these years, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress
Party, in alliance in Maharashtra, have largely done little wrong and
Thackeray has found no gap in the fabric to tear it apart.
But the Shiv Sena’s massive defeat at both the Lok Sabha and the
Assembly elections can be largely attributed to art — or at least
politics posing as art. Just before the Lok Sabha polls, Raj Thackeray
had helped to produce a film titled Mee Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje
Bhosale Boltoy (I, Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhosale, speak), with
Mahesh Manjrekar playing the title role, that was an indictment of the
complacence and laid-back attitudes of Maharastrians. It portrayed,
through film, the political point that Raj had been hammering at for
months: that the Maharashtrian is content with just a table, khurchi
ani pankha (a table, a chair and a fan). That he did not strive for
much more and allowed others to walk all over him. The film exhorted
Maharashtrians to become more combative in their own interest and,
like Oliver, never stop asking for more
It released in Maharashtra’s cinemas just before the producers-
multiplex imbroglio and so ran for weeks and weeks and had a great
hand in influencing a large number of Maharashtrian youth who went
right out and voted for Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Now the Shiv Sena has come out with its counter to that film – benami
again, like Raj’s production of Chhatrapati, but with no kid gloves on
this time. It appears to be a real-life account of the war between the
two cousins – indeed, from the stills released so far, it is very
difficult to spot the differences between the actors who play Raj and
Uddhav and the original cousins.
Titled Jhenda (Flag), it seems to be a mixture of truth and
exaggeration and some of the alleged falsehoods have already compelled
the producer to make some cuts and changes and promise to re-release
the film without the offending portions.
But while everyone — from Narayan Rane’s son to sundry Sena leaders —
are objecting to their unfair portrayals, the one man it lampoons the
most – Raj Thackeray – is uncharacteristically silent.
I haven’t seen Jhenda yet but I am told that there is a scene where
Raj’s character dons a skullcap and attends an Iftaar party. I don’t
know how true that portrayal is, for in all my years I at least have
not seen Raj Thackeray in a skull cap at an Iftaar party. When Raj
launched his MNS he did mean to be all inclusive and there are many
Muslims in his party who are devoted to Bal Thackeray’s nephew. Yet
they have all taken a so-called `mature’ decision not to agitate or
protest.
It could be because Raj well realises that any protest will only help
the film at the box office and more people will end up seeing his
portrayal in an unflattering light than they would if he just gives it
the royal ignore. But, a little bird tells me, Raj has also been cut
down to size and is no longer sure what his protests will lead to.
At the constitution of the current Assembly in Maharashtra, he
protested against Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi taking his oath in
Hindi. That has led to another non-bailable warrant from a court in
Madhya Pradesh (in addition to cases pending against him in courts in
Bihar and Jharkhand, just transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court))
and suddenly he has no Godfathers.
It is largely believed that the previous Congress government egged him
on against the Shiv Sena but the Assembly elections proved that Raj
was eating into even the Congress and the NCP voter base. So they have
no reason to nurture a Frankenstein’s Monster. But it may also be
true, as I have heard, that the Congress is also squeezing his
business interests to gag him into submission. Moreover, he needs to
keep is silence, again, to buy freedom for those of his MLAs who were
suspended for four years from the Maharashtra Assembly for beating up
Azmi for taking his oath in Hindi.
When I asked a top functionary in the government why those MLAs were
not expelled outright, he said, “If we had done that, it would have
led to by-elections and Raj Thackeray might have come back with a bang
and got more arrogant. This is our version of suspended animation; he
cannot now afford to create more trouble out of fear that there might
be more action that will actually pinch.’’
Without the alleged protection offered by the previous government, I
think Raj is now truly feeling that pinch. And the Sena is not far
behind in hoisting him with his own petard and, in addition, hoisting
its own flag — both the party standard and the celluloid variety.
But, still, I believe Chhatrapati …. was a far more intelligent film –
for one, it needed no cuts, for another it touched a chord with
Maharashtra’s youth — than Jhenda could ever be.
(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
Posted by Sujata Anandan on Friday, January 8, 2010 at 6:33 pm
Filed under India · Tagged Amitabh Bachchan, Bal Thackeray, bjp,
Congress, Lok Sabha polls, Mahesh Manjrekar, Raj Thackeray, Raj
Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Ram Gopal Verma’s Sarkar,
sarkar raj, Shiv Sainiks
14 Responses to “Jhenda ooncha rahe…”
Ashish Kolarkar says:
January 8, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Thanks Sujata for telling us about “Chhatrapati….” and its impact in
recent elections. I think so much has come in print/visual media about
Thackeray family that people have started losing interest in it. With
the desertion of Smita Thackeray the things have become too
intriguing. How come daughter-in-law basking under the glory of father-
in-law could leave the later at this stage for greater political
aspiration?
I’ve read a research paper which said that there is great similarity
in genes of nephew and Uncle. I think the Raj and Bal Thackeray prove
the theory. Raj has got cartooning and same eccentric nature from his
uncle. He is too unpredictable. He is on the threshold of finding his
identity after initial euphoria. It is time for him to invent more
tricks to be in the market with due help from ruling party.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Yes, there is great similarity — and even in terms of events history
is repeating itself vis-a-vis Rraj Thackeray. Will write about those
by and by
Anil Kumar says:
January 8, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Congress will keep him alive.> he need not woory.> Congress always
creates fransktein .
Punjab was gifted Bhindarwale in order to check Akali Dal. Congressi
have no scruples when it coems to snatchign power they care two hoot
about even national interest.
Maharashtra was first gifted Baal thackrey to check labour uninsit and
communist’s rise. now we haevRaj Thackrey to check Baal thackreey
Assam have ben figted crores of illegal bangaldeshi
List goes on and on.
Country can go to dogs as long as these gimmciks insure perpetuation
fo power of congress they are fair game for anythign and everything
Pankaj Reply:
January 9th, 2010 at 11:08 am
country is with dogs and *******!
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
You are right on all counts
bobby says:
January 9, 2010 at 1:28 pm
Raj may be silent also because there are no elections round the
corner.
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:17 pm
Well, the municipal elections are due next year which are crucila to
him in terms of his business interests across Bombay
Anil says:
January 9, 2010 at 11:31 pm
Narayan Rane and his son are doing more goonda giri than the entire
Thackrey clan put together. There is absolutely no unfair portrayal of
the the former. They should not crib. Any portrayal of their character
will be a milder version of their true self. Ranes have been the most
unscrupulous turncoats in Maharashtra politics. No fan of Shiv Sena
but Congress have won in Maratha land becuase of the infighting in
Sena. Haven’t seen ‘Zhenda’ but ‘ Mee Chhatrapati Boltoye’ by Mahesh
Manjrekar is a classic Marathi film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BmqdU0tpRk
Sujata Anandan Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
However, the producer of jhenda has given in and agreed to delete the
offending scenes — that’s muscle power for you!
Sujata Anandan says:
January 11, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Well, the municipal elections are due next year which are crucial to
him in terms of his business interests…
Joe Zachs says:
January 18, 2010 at 1:43 pm
After watching Sarkar, I admire Ram Gopal Verma for how he hoodwinked
the vested interest into believing that it is a film about “His life”
A real master move Varma.
Dev says:
January 22, 2010 at 11:08 pm
I am reminded of a dialogue in a popular Hindi movie – Jhanda jish
desh ke bhi ho, danda Indian hona chahiye.
Mob rules OK.
Praveen Saxena says:
January 28, 2010 at 12:05 pm
The fact of the matter is that Raj Thakeray is a creation of the
Congress Party and a beneficiary of the mad rush 24×7 news channels.
The Congress has played these tricks in all states Maharashtra,
Punjab, Assam etc. The Kashmir mess is a result of the negligence
shown by the Congress govt at a crucial time.
The country ends paying the price for the dirty politics of the
Congress Party
Ashwatthama says:
February 6, 2010 at 11:20 am
Well Jhenda is way far superior film than Mi Shivaji…
I found MSRBB very stereotype and melodramatic and on the other side
Jhenda is extremely realistic and brilliant.
http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/singly-political/2010/01/08/jhenda-ooncha-rahe%e2%80%a6/#more-126
‘Wrong of Pawar to seek Sena nod’
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Mumbai, March 20, 2010
First Published: 00:51 IST(20/3/2010)
Last Updated: 00:53 IST(20/3/2010)
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan has said it was wrong of people to go to
parties like the Shiv Sena to seek permission to screen a film or hold
cricket matches.
Chavan was referring to Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief
Sharad Pawar’s meeting with Sena chief Bal Thackeray before the IPL
started to get an assurance from the Sena that the matches in Mumbai
pass peacefully.
This was soon after the Sena, protesting the attacks on Indians in
Australia, said it would not allow Australian cricketers to play in
the IPL.
“Yes, it is wrong,” Chavan said in an interview to Vir Sanghvi for
CNBC-TV18’s programme Off the Record with Vir Sanghvi.
Sanghvi had asked Chavan if he approved of people going to the likes
of Thackeray for permission for holding matches or screening movies.
“Sharad Pawarji is a senior leader. He is in the Union
government and they say he went to discuss the IPL matches and issues
like that….Yes, there were a lot of eyebrows raised and asking why did
he go?” Chavan said.
Chavan, in reply to another query, also said the Sena was losing
ground and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will probably be the main
opposition.
Chavan also talked about the trouble he was having with alliance
partner NCP in handling the Mumbai police. “There have been political
problems,” he said. “I don’t deny that…”
The CM also admitted that there was “politicisation” of the police
force. “We have to select people with integrity…,” he said.
“Looking at the situation during 26/11, we have been cautious. We have
to put a stop to all this and see that proper people handle jobs of
equal importance and men of integrity and people with strength and
courage and the determination to fight, take charge.”
On factionalism in the Mumbai police, Chavan said there have been
differences but they have been sorted out.
Tune in to Off the Record with Vir Sanghvi on CNBC-TV18 at 8 pm on
Saturday and 9 pm on Sunday.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/mumbai/Wrong-of-Pawar-to-seek-Sena-nod/Article1-521102.aspx
Goondas, mind your own business
By Khushwant Singh
Did Shah Rukh Khan and the Maharashtra government score a decisive
victory over the Shiv Sena by showing ‘My Name Is Khan’ in Mumbai’s
cinemas?
Did liberal elements in Karnataka score over Rama Sene by blackening
the face of Pramod Muthalik? Many of us think so and hope both senas
have been dumped on the garbage heap. Unfortunately that is not so.
Shiv Sena’s balloon has no doubt been somewhat deflated but not burst.
It was the same when Rahul Gandhi travelled by suburban train, walking
down streets of Mumbai — a one time performance. And Muthalik has
wiped that soot off his face and is leading his storm troopers to
impose his will on people who do not agree with him.
My reasoning is simple: you cannot put down subversive elements
without having a strong government, which can effectively deal with
bullies. Their strength is their ability to damage property and rough
up people: No one wants to lose his property and get beaten up. The
most vulnerable are mill owners, cinema hall proprietors, eateries and
film people.
They will be eager to patch up with the Thackerays and the Muthaliks.
Take it from me that soon SRK will come to an understanding with the
Thackerays. It has been done before. Sunil Dutt and his daughter Priya
Dutt of the Congress sought Bal Thackeray’s blessings before the
elections. So did Pritish Nandi to become Sena’s nominee to the Rajya
Sabha.
Bal Thackeray is happy to receive important people at his residence,
Matoshree. They kowtow to him and touch his feet while he sits on his
throne draped in saffron robes and rudraksh malas, looking like a
patriarch of all he surveys. He aches to be loved to and is as liberal
in his blessings as he is in offering visitors chilled beer.
I have never met his recalcitrant nephew Raj Thackeray but his modus
operandi is much the same as his uncle’s. So I fear the present
euphoria generated by the release of ‘My Name Is Khan’ is going to be
short-lived. We have yet to build up a mass support of those who can
confront these senas’s goondas and teach them how to mind their own
business.
Bharatrihari
Almora-born Ramesh Chandra Shah was a professor of English in Hamidia
College, Bhopal, till 1997. However, he won acclaim as a Hindi poet
and novelist and was honoured with several awards. He stumbled on
Bharatrihari’s poems in Sanskrit and decided to learn the language; to
be able to translate them into English. I published some selections in
‘Yojana’ and ‘The Illustrated Weekly of India’. It is a privilege to
publish some more a third time. The translations are in rubai form and
read as well as Fitzgarald’s translations of Omar Khayyam.
‘Thus Spoke Bharatrihari’ is divided into three sections: Niti
(polity), Sringar (erotica) and Vairagya (asceticism). First I give
examples of Sringar:
You are so lucky if you can admire The lineaments of satisfied desire
In your young bride; suck at her honey’s mouth And let her languor in
your arms retire And:
The bookful blockheads preaching self-restraint Do not consider what’s
really at stake Love’s play on passionate breasts and thighs once
known Such amorous raptures who can ever forsake.
In the third verse he rues the futility of life spent in making love:
The joy companionship of women brings Ends in despair and
disillusionment
Self-knowledge is the only certain good Leading to calm of mind, all
passions spent.
Finally the search for salvation:
Blest are the saints who from all passions free Possess their souls
and live in ecstasy With boundless space as garment and a bowl Of rice
as food and woods as company.
And:
Drunk with delusion’s ever tempting wine We mortals fail to see the
spark Divine
Caught in the vicious whirls of nights and days Our soul ne’er stops
to think of its decline Dress Code
Henry Ford II, son of Henry Ford I, who felt that his father was
generally improperly dressed and did not adhere to the correct dress
code, had the following conversation with him:
Henry Ford II: Dad, you are the biggest manufacturer of cars and a
very renowned person in America. Then why do you dress so shabbily?
Henry Ford I: Yes. I dress the way I like, as everyone in America
knows me as Henry Ford.
Henry Ford II: But, when you go abroad, there also you dress in the
same way, even in poshest of places.
Henry Ford I: Yes, of course, abroad also I dress the same way,
because there no one knows me as Henry Ford.
(Contributed by Colonel Trilok Mehrotra, Noida)
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/58941/goondas-mind-your-own-business.html
chhotemianinshallah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Article 370 of the Indian constitution, which is of a temporary
nature, grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
Text of Article 370
In view of its importance the text of the article 370 (Without
amendments) is reproduced below:
Article 370 of the Constitution of India (Temporary provisions with
respect of the State of Jammu and Kashmir)
1. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution:
a. the provisions of article 238 shall not apply in relation to the
State of Jammu and Kashmir,
b. the power of Parliament to make laws for the said State shall be
limited to;
i. those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in
consultation with the Government of the State, are declared by the
President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of
Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of
India as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature
may make laws for that State; and
ii. such other matters in the said Lists, as, with the concurrence of
the Government of the State, the President may by order specify.
Explanation—For the purpose of this article, the Government of the
State means the person for the time being recognised by the President
as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the
Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja’s
Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948;
c.the provisions of article 1 and of this article shall apply in
relation to this State;
d.such of the other provisions of this Constitution shall apply in
relation to that State subject to such exceptions and modifications as
the President may by order specify
i. Provided that no such order which relates to the matters specified
in the Instrument of Accession of the State referred to in paragraph
(i) of sub-clause (b) shall be issued except in consultation with the
Government of the State:
ii. Provided further that no such order which relates to matters other
than those referred to in the last preceding proviso shall be issued
except with the concurrence of the Government.
2. If the concurrence of the Government of the State referred to in
paragraph
(ii) of sub-clause (b) of clause
(1) or in second proviso to sub-clause
(d) of that clause be given before the Constituent Assembly for the
purpose of framing the Constitution of the State is convened, it shall
be placed before such Assembly for such decision as it may take
thereon.
3. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of the
article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this
article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with
such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may notify:
Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the
State referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the
President issues such a notification.
4. In exercise of the powers conferred by this article the President,
on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State of
Jammu and Kashmir, declared that, as from the 17th day of November,
1952, the said art. 370 shall be operative with the modification that
for the explanation in cl.(1) thereof the following Explanation is
substituted namely:
Explanation—For the purpose of this Article, the Government of the
State means the person for the time being recognised by the President
on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the
*Sadar-I-Riyasat of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of Council
of Ministers of the State for the time being in office.
Implications of Article 370
This article specifies that except for Defence, Foreign Affairs,
Finance and Communications,(matters specified in the instrument of
accession) the Indian Parliament needs the State Government's
concurrence for applying all other laws. Thus the state's residents
lived under a separate set of laws, including those related to
citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights, as
compared to other Indians.
Similar protections for unique status exist in tribal areas of India
including those in Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland
however it is only for the state of Jammu and Kashmir that the
accession of the state to India is still a matter of dispute between
India and Pakistan still on the agenda of the U.N.Security Council and
where the Government of India vide 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord committed
itself to keeping the relationship between the Union and Jammu and
Kashmir State within the ambit of this article .
The 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord mentions that " The State of Jammu and
Kashmir which is a constituent unit of the Union of India, shall, in
its relation with the Union, continue to be governed by Article 370 of
the Constitution of India " .
Indian citizens from other states and Kashmiri women who marry men
from other states can not purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Indira-Sheikh_accord
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jammu_%26_Kashmir
See also
Article 356
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_356
PART XXI of Indian constitution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PART_Twenty_One_of_the_Constitution_of_India
References
Full text of the articlePDF (387 KiB)
http://lawmin.nic.in/coi/PARTXXI.pdf
Article 370 text from wikisource
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India/Part_XXI
^ Vasudha Dhagamwar (May 04, 2004). "The price of a Bill".
http://www.indianexpress.com/oldStory/46240/. Retrieved 24 March
2009.
External links
Background of article 370
http://rashtraman.blogspot.com/2008/08/article-370.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_370
Indian Opinion
A real Indian view of current affairs
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Article 370
article 370 was introduced to abide by the terms of J&K's accession.
The accession of J&K was conditional.
India desperately wanted to prove 2-nation theory wrong and wanted a
muslim majority region under its fold, also the strategic significance
of Kashmir and willingness of Kashmiri leaders to have separate state
for themselves (under protection of India) were the main reasons why
India went ahead for accession of J&K.
When Instrument of Accession was signed, constitution of India was not
ready. As per clause 7 of the Instrument of Accession, J&K was not
committed to accept the future Constitution of India.
In 1949 november when all the princely state heads and provincial
heads of Indian dominion were supposed to issue proclaimations making
Constitution of India operative in their respective states and
provinces, J&K refused such proclaimation refering to the clause 7 of
Instrument of Accession. This is because the draft form of
constitution refused separate constitutions for the states and J&K
always wanted their own separate constitution.
There was a legal imbroglio in this situation, the accession issue was
already with united nations and in such situations India has to abide
by its promise. This lead to Article 306-A of the draft Constitution
of India (which became article 370 in the actaul constitution).
Considering the overall situation prevalent, Article 370 was a major
step forward at that time. The Article at least paved the way for the
Republic of India to make several laws and provisions of the
Constitution of India applicable to Jammu & Kashmir State beyond the
strait jacket of the Instrument of Accession. Besides, Article 370 was
conceived as a temporary arrangement, with hopes of a full integration
in time to come.
Posted by Shailendra at 1:25 AM
Labels: article 370, India, J K, kashmir
2 comments:
kavi deependra said...
thank you very much ..for such valuable information...
kavi deependra
December 25, 2009 10:26 AM
Acme Consultants said...
This information cannot be considered as full information. Please give
the actual reason
February 27, 2010 4:11 AM
Post a Comment
http://rashtraman.blogspot.com/2008/08/article-370.html
SP, RJD pipe down, Govt not in a hurry for Women's Bill in LS
PTI
New Delhi, March 10, 2010
UPA allies SP and RJD on Wednesday piped down on their threat to
withdraw support to the government and the ruling coalition appeared
not to be in a hurry to press ahead with the Women's reservation bill
in the Lok Sabha.
A day after the Rajya Sabha passed the historic legislation, Trinamool
Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, whose party boycotted the voting, on
Wednesday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi who reportedly addressed
her concerns and assured her all parties would be consulted before the
historic legislation is brought before the Lok Sabha.
However, Banerjee continued to sulk over Congress attitude when she
walked away from the Rajya Sabha during the discussion on the Railway
budget after a Congress leader made a veiled attack on her suggesting
she was not following "Cabinet discipline".
The timing of tabling the bill in the Lok Sabha was a matter of
speculation amid reports that the Government does not want to take any
chance with the crucial money bills to be voted before the House
adjourns for a recess on March 16.
However, Law Minister Veerappa Moily dismissed any fears of threat to
the government on the issue of financial business saying government
had the numbers and there was no deliberate strategy to delay the
Bill.
Parliamentary Affairs minister P K Bansal gave no indication of the
Bill being brought before March 16, saying "We want everyone on board.
We will certainly try for a congenial atmosphere."
On the other side, the Bill's strong opponents SP chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who had threatened to withdraw
support over its passage, did not execute their threat today.
Women's Bill to be in place in two years
It will be more than two years after the Women's Reservation Bill is
passed in Lok Sabha for it to be implemented because of the long
subsequent legislative and other processes associated with it.
"It will take a minimum of two years. Just like the delimitation
process...a commission or a committee it will take two to two-and-a-
half years from now. The process is such," Moily told PTI.
However, he expressed confidence that the reservation of seats and the
identification of 181 of the 543 seats for women in Lok Sabha will be
in place "definitely" before the next Lok Sabha elections due in 2014.
Apart from reserving seats in Lok Sabha, the Constitution Amendment
Bill, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, seeks to provide
reservation for women in 1,370 out of a total of 4,109 seats in 28
assemblies.
The principle of reservation of seats for women will also apply to
seats reserved for SC/ST candidates.
The Bill also provides for rotation of seats reserved for women every
Lok Sabha.
Explaining the process, Moily said once Lok Sabha passes the Bill and
the President signs it it will be sent to all the states for
ratification.
At least 14 of the 28 states will have to ratify the legislation for
it to become a law. This process, Moily said, may take about nine
months.
Women's bill in LS likely on March 15
The Women's Reservation Bill, which has been passed by Rajya Sabha,
may be tabled in Lok Sabha on March 15 or 16 but a final decision on
it will be taken by the Business Advisory Committee which meets on
Friday.
"The BAC is meeting on Friday. It will have to decide the date," Law
Minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters when asked when the
Constitution (108th Amendment) bill would be tabled in the Lower
House.
Replying to questions, Moily said the bill could be tabled on March 15
or March 16.
He expressed confidence that the bill that provides for 33 per cent
reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies would have a
smooth sailing in the Lower House of Parliament too.
The bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha yesterday with overwhelming
majority, with 191 voting in favour and only one against among those
present in the House.
Moily said the government has some other agenda like the Finance bill
and some legislations to replace ordinances that are needed to be
taken up urgently.
Asked whether there was any plan to revoke suspension of the seven
Rajya Sabha members considering demands for the same, the Law Minister
evaded a direct reply and merely said, "The Congress and UPA
government are not interested in keeping out members of either Lok
Sabha or Rajya Sabha. That is not our legacy. Our legacy is to involve
everybody.
No quotas within quota, no threat to Govt: Moily
Government ruled out providing 'quota within quota' for OBCs and
Muslims in the Women's Reservation Bill and said there was no
deliberate delay in bringing the measure to Lok Sabha on perceived
threat to its stability.
Unfazed by threats of withdrawl of support by allies like SP and RJD,
the Government is absolutely confident and has no worries about
numbers in Lok Sabha or about passage of the money bills in the lower
house.
"There is no provision for sub quota for OBCs or minorities under the
present scheme of things in Constitution and also because there is no
data available even today on communities and castes under the census,"
Moily said.
BPCC suspends Lalu's relative, Tytler says no
Congress in Bihar suspended RJD chief Lalu Prasad's relative Anirudh
Prasad alias Sadhu Yadav for reportedly speaking against Women's
Reservation Bill, but AICC general secretary in-charge of state
affairs, Jagdish Tytler, said no such measure was taken against him.
"He does not stand suspended as announced by BPCC president Anil
Sharma earlier in the day," Tytler told reporters in Patna.
Yadav had personally explained his position to him stating that he
believed in the policies and programmes of the Congress, Tytler said.
"Yadav has explained to me that he was not averse to the party line on
the Women's Reservation Bill. "I have asked Yadav to explain his
position in writing to which he has agreed," Tytler said.
Yadav, brother-in-law of Lalu, said, "I have not said anything on the
issue. Since the assembly elections are around the corner, some vested
interests in the party are playing dirty politics to malign me."
Earlier in the day, the BPCC chief said, "We have taken a serious note
of Yadav going to the extreme step of violating the party lines on the
bill and suspended him with immediate effect."
According to reports, Yadav had threatened to resign from the Congress
to protest against its stand on the Bill. He had switched over to
Congress following differences with Lalu on allotment of party ticket
before the last Lok Sabha election.
AP Cong demands Bharat Ratna for Sonia Gandhi
Hailing AICC president Sonia Gandhi for getting the Women's
Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, women wing of the Andhra
Pradesh Congress demanded that she be awarded Bharat Ratna for her
valuable contribution for the empowerment of women in the country.
"We have faxed our demand to President Pratibha Patil already. We will
meet her soon and request her to confer Bharat Ratna on madam
Soniaji," state Mahila Congress president K Ganga Bhavani said in
Hyderabad.
She said a resolution has also been passed in this regard by the
Congress' women wing.
Gandhi Bhavan, the headquarters of the state Congress Committee, wore
a festive look with party members distributing sweets, bursting
crackers, lighting sparklers and dancing with joy over the passage of
the women's reservation bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The party members hit out at RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Samajwadi Party
supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata Dal (U) president Sharad Yadav
for opposing the bill.
"The behaviour of MPs who tried to snatch away and tear the papers was
abominable. If Lalu has so much love for dalits, then why had he made
his wife (Rabri Devi) chief minister. He could had made a dalit leader
the chief minister," T Venkata Ratnam, a woman Congress leader, said.
Related Stories
Govt firm on MPs' suspension
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87525/Top%20Stories/Govt+refuses+to+revoke+RS+MPs'+suspension.html
'TC wanted all-party debate'
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/87457/Top%20Stories/We+wanted+all-party+debate:+Mamata.html
Uproar over Women's Bill
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87478/42/Uproar+over+Women's+Bill;+LS+adjourned.html
RS passes Women's Quota Bill
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87352/42/RS+passes+Women's+Quota+Bill.html
Suspended MPs refuse to apologise
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/87509/42/Suspended+MPs+refuse+to+apologise.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story If the Congress starts supporting Common
Civil Code, eliminates Article 370, terminates all the casts/religion-
based reservations, where would you be?
March 3, 2010
None of these changes would affect my life. I trust democracy and
nationalist secularism.
-Asked by Shivram Gopal Vaidya
vaidyas...@gmail.com
More stories from ASK PRABHU
Why do you avoid answering the question that might put Muslim
hooligans and Congressmen in tight spot? Are you afraid of them? Do
they hamper your channels' day-to-day work?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89191/ASK%20PRABHU/Why+do+you+avoid+answering+the+question+that+might+put+Muslim+hooligans+and+Congressmen+in+tight+spot+Are+you+afraid+of+them+Do+they+hamper+your+channels'+day-to-day+work.html
Pakistan plays with our govt, like cat plays with a mouse, bleeding us
regularly. Yet our ministers run to defend tapori like pro-Pak
statements of some celebrities. What message does Pakistan get out of
this?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89190/ASK%20PRABHU/Pakistan+plays+with+our+govt,+like+cat+plays+with+a+mouse,+bleeding+us+regularly.+Yet+our+ministers+run+to+defend+tapori+like+pro-Pak+statements+of+some+celebrities.+What+message+does+Pakistan+get+out+of+this.html
How to elect honest politician where elections are based on money
power?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89189/ASK%20PRABHU/How+to+elect+honest+politician+where+elections+are+based+on+money+power.html
I take extra care of my children studying in convent as I see so many
improper tricks are applied to make them deviate religiously. Everyday
after school I force them into Quransharif. Am I communal to defend
our beliefs?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89188/ASK%20PRABHU/I+take+extra+care+of+my+children+studying+in+convent+as+I+see+so+many+improper+tricks+are+applied+to+make+them+deviate+religiously.+Everyday+after+school+I+force+them+into+Quransharif.+Am+I+communal+to+defend+our+beliefs.html
Sir, recently, I heard that India was rebuffed and snubbed in Tehran
and in Istanbul. Is this true? Why were we treated like this
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89187/ASK%20PRABHU/Sir,+recently,+I+heard+that+India+was+rebuffed+and+snubbed+in+Tehran+and+in+Istanbul.+Is+this+true+Why+were+we+treated+like+this.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story Mumbai is a part of India. Any Indian
can settle there. What about Kashmir? Do you and your channel support
the scrapping of article 370?
February 20, 2010
Why don't you read the Constitution of India? Many of us can't buy
land in many states in North East and even in Himachal. Article 370 is
part of our Constitution and it can be changed only by the state
assembly.
AIMPLB begins a new journey from Lucknow
Farzand Ahmed
March 21, 2010
The 38-year-old All India Muslim Personal Law Board [AIMPLB] that
stands for the protection of Shariat and Muslim Personal Laws seemed
to be rewriting its own history on the banks of Gomti in Lucknow when
it elected when it elected four new female members to the 51-member
executive committee. With this number of elected members of Board
increased to five. [There were 25 nominated women members in the 201-
member general body].
The AIMPLB representing all Muslim sects and schools of thought is
currently in session for the first time in Lucknow which once
threatened its existence.
It was on the ground of gender bias within the Ulema-dominated
organisation and deliberate neglect of growing plight of women that a
parallel all-women All India Muslim Women Personal Board [AIMWPLB]
headed by Shaishta Ambar was set up in Lucknow some five years ago.
Later Hazrat Tauquir Raza Khan, the spiritual head of powerful Barelvi
school of Sunni Muslims split the Board and floated AIMPLB [Jadeed].
It was followed by third split in January 2005 in Lucknow when well-
known Shia cleric Khateeb e-Akbar Maulana Mirza Athar set up a
separate All India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board. The founders had
alleged that AIMPLB had been neglecting views of Shia community and
not doing much for the Indian Muslims as a whole.
Despite splits and criticism AIMPLB stood firmly. However, many
members viewed the direct election of four women members---Rukhsana
Lari, Safia Naseem [both from Lucknow], Noorjehan Shakeel [Kolkata)
and Asma Zehra [Hyderabad] was seen as sign of Board's acceptance of
the fact it could no longer ignore the growing pressure from Women.
Naseem Iqtidar Ali Khan was till now the sole woman member in the
executive committee. She continues to be on the panel.
Earlier in January this year AIMPLB Secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani had
held the first ever direct dialogue with women in Lucknow and faced
their anger over various issues including the issue of Talaq
[divorce].
Expands to NE States
Maulana Rabey Hasni Nadwi, head of the Dar-ul-Uloom Nadavat-ul-Ulema,
the Lucknow-based Islamic Seminary, was unanimously elected the
president of the Muslim Law Board for the third successive term.
According Board Spokesperson Zafaryab Jilani another significant
feature of elections was the Board's attempt to expand its
representation in the north-eastern States and Ladakh. The
representatives from these regions were elected as term members.
While, Maulana Bilal was elected from Meghalaya and Syed Ahmed from
Tripura, the Independent MP from Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir), Ghulam
Hussain and Maulana Ata-ur- Rehman, AUDF (Assam United Democratic
Front ) MLA from Badarpur in Assam were elected term members from
Ladakh and Assam.
Announcing the results of the elections, the AIMPLB spokesperson,
Zafaryab Jilani said the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, K. Rahman
Khan and retired justice, Mohammad Qadri were made the life members of
the board. Jilani said these appointments were made against the eight
vacancies among the 102 founder members of the Law Board.
Kamal Farooqui, Qasim Rasool Ilyas, Saifullah Rahmani, Maulana Atiqur
Rehman Bastavi and Syed Athar Ali of Mumbai were the new faces elected
as term members. Besides, 10 members would be nominated by the Board
chairman.
History
All India Muslim Personal Law Board was established at a time when
"the then Government of India was trying to subvert Shariah law"
applicable to Indian Muslims through parallel legislation. Adoption
Bill had been tabled in the Parliament. Mr. H.R.Gokhle, then Union Law
Minister had termed this Bill as the first step towards Uniform Civil
Code. Ulema, leaders and various Muslim organisations convinced the
Indian Muslim community that the risk of losing applicability of
Shariah laws was real and concerted move by the community was needed
to defeat the conspiracy.
"It was a historic moment" claims Board adding "this was the first
time in the history of India after Khilafat Movement that people and
organisations of Indian Muslim community belonging to various schools
of thought came together on a common platform to defend Muslim
Personal Law.
First such meeting was convened at the famous Islamic Seminary at
Deoband on the initiative of Hazrat Maulana Syed Shah Minnatullah
Rahmani, Ameer Shariat, [Bihar & Orissa] and Hakeemul Islam Hazrat
Maulana Qari Mohammad Taiyab, Muhtamim, Darul Uloom, Deoband. The
meeting held a convention in Mumbai on December 27-28, 1972. "The
Convention was unprecedented. It showed unity, determination and
resolve of the Indian Muslim community to protect the Muslim Personal
Law".
All India Muslim Personal Law Board was born
The Board came into limelight for the first time when it intervened in
the Shah Bano case and pressured the Rajiv Gandhi government to blunt
the Supreme Court rule. The government had asked AIMPLB then headed by
highly revered Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, then Chief of Darul Uloom
Nadvatul Ulema [Lucknow] to come out with the amendment in sections in
the Criminal Procedure Code [Cr PC] relating to the issue of alimony
[that was against Shariat]. And the law was changed which the Sangh
Parivar took up as an example of Muslim appeasement. Later Board
intervened in the Babri Masjid movement too. But so far the Board has
confined itself to the cause of Shariat. It also launched movement to
reform the Muslim Society in 1986 against misuse of Talaq, vulgar
display of wealth in functions like marriage, dowry, female foeticide,
illiteracy among women and also to spread the understanding of Shariat
[Quoranic laws] among men and women.
Its campaign includes revival and strengthening of Dar-ul-Qaza [the
court of Qazi] to deal with the disputes relating to Muslim Personal
laws.
Failure
Critics say that the male & cleric dominated organisation has
neglected the plight of women and failed to take any effective steps
to protect the women from the curse of Triple Talaq [uttering Talaq
thrice in one sitting verbally]. However, Senior Board member Zafaryab
Jilani [also Board's legal advisor] said though the Board was aware of
misuse of Triple Talaq, the question was how to abolish it. He said
different sects and schools have different practices but all the main
four Schools among Sunni sect were almost unanimous in favour of
Triple Talaq. Scholars, he said, also quote numerous Hadis [rulings
and sayings of the Prophet] on this.
Its role in the Imrana case was criticised everywhere. Imarana of
Muzaffarnagar was allegedly sexually assaulted by her father-in-law
but when the issue was highlighted a Fatwa had declared her husband as
her "son". This had led to hue and cry by women groups. The Board had
sent an investigation team but it tried to cover up the issue.
It also failed to bring out an effective Model Nikahnama that could be
acceptable to women groups too. Yet this time again it evaded the
Women Reservation Bill which was being projected by a section of
Muslim political leadership that it was against Muslim women. The
Lucknow session focused on Librehan Commission report stressing that
all the people found guilty of destroying the Babri Masjid should be
prosecuted and punished. It has also opposed the proposed Communal
Violence Bill. The Board was of the view that the proposed Communal
violence Bill was 'most harmful' for Muslims as it would not fix
responsibility of the police and administration. AIMPLB spokesperson
Mohammad Abdur Rahim Qureshi told mediapersons "Muslims have been the
sufferers be it riots in Bhiwandi, Meerut, Nalanda, Bhagalpur or
anywhere". Qureshi said the proposed legislation would be discussed in
detail. The Board has also opposed the setting up of a Central Madarsa
Board.
Having done this, scholars attending the 21st Session in Lucknow would
spell out the future plans at public meeting on Sunday evening.
Abolish 370, says Bhagwat, Advani
Arvind Chhabra
Madhopur (Pathankot), March 20, 2010
Different leaders including RSS chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat and former
deputy prime minister L.K. Advani today raised demand to abolish
Article 370 from the constitution as they paid glorious tributes to Dr
Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, described as the first martyr of independent
India, who laid down his life for the principle of one nation, one
flag and one constitution. Various leaders had splurged in Madhopur in
Pathankot on the occasion.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, BJP president Nitin
Gadkari and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal were
among thousands who had gathered at the border point of Punjab-Jammu
and Kashmir (J&K) as it was here in 1953 he had started his campaign
to make J&K integral part of India and to make it possible for every
Indian citizen to visit J&K without permit. His life size statue was
unveiled and the place was named as Ekta Sathal.
Mohan Bhagwat gave a call to launch a second struggle to abolish
Article 370, the "last remaining symbol of disintegration." He also
demanded respectable rehabilitation of 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Hindu
migrants back in Valley, who are suffering in different parts of the
country.
Advani said that the struggle of Dr. Shayamal Prasad would be complete
only if Article 370 was repealed from the constitution. He said that
we became victim of British policy of disintegrating India even after
partition.
Gadkari, who also demanded repealing of Article 370 said that talks
with Pakistan would be futile till Pakistan continue to foment
terrorism from its soil.
More stories from North
'Thank God, we don't have a Thackeray'
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86961/LATEST%20HEADLINES/Thackeray+targets+Maha+governor+over+'Mumbai+for+all'+remark.html
Bhilai: Principal sends lewd SMSes to students; thrashed
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89030/India/Bhilai:+Principal+sends+lewd+SMSes+to+students;+thrashed.html
India ok with life term for Headley: Govt
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89024/India/India+ok+with+life+sentence+for+David+Headley:+Govt.html
Getting official access to Headley will help India: BJP
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89000/India/Getting+official+access+to+Headley+will+help+India:+BJP.html
Batla autopsy: Police in the dock
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/88969/India/Damning+Batla+autopsy+findings.html
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89176/India/Abolish+370,+says+Bhagwat,+Advani.html
Courtesy: Mail Today
Damning Batla autopsy findings
Aman Sharma
New Delhi, March 19, 2010
Eighteen months after the controversial Batla House 'encounter'in the
aftermath of the Delhi serial blasts, the post-mortem reports of the
victims are out and are drilling gaping holes in the police version of
the incident.
The post-mortem reports reveal that both the slain suspected
terrorists, Atif Ameen and Mohd Sajid, had injuries inflicted by a
blunt object, other than the numerous gunshot wounds on their bodies.
Sajid's post-mortem report also confirms he was shot three times in
the head with the bullets travelling vertically downwards, which was
visible in the photographs of Sajid's body published by MAIL TODAY
earlier.
The report says these three bullets having their entry wounds in the
scalp led to cranio-cerebral damage to the brain, causing Sajid's
death.
One of these bullets fired in the head exited from the back of his
chest, another came out near his jaw and the third one exited from the
back of his right shoulder.
There was another bullet shot behind his head.
How the police managed to shoot Sajid from above during an encounter
remains unexplained.
The report also confirms that Sajid has another bullet entry wound on
his right shoulder, which went vertically down and lodged in his
chest.
There were two more injuries on Sajid's body, which are non-firearm
wounds. How these wounds could be inflicted when bullets were being
fired from both sides, according to the police version, remains
unanswered.
These are injury numbers 13 and 14 specified in the post-mortem report
- the former is a four by two cm abrasion over the midline on Sajid's
back while the latter is a muscle-deep laceration wound of 3.5 by two
cm on the right leg. It is unexplained how Sajid could have got such
wounds before his death in a shootout.
The post-mortem report of Atif reveals his body was riddled with 10
bullets in the chest, abdomen, thighs, shoulder, neck and lower back.
He also has a nonfirearm injury - specified as injury number seven
which is an abrasion on his right knee.
The post-mortem reports have been furnished by the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC) in response to an application filed under the
Right to Information (RTI) Act by a Jamia Millia Islamia student Afroz
Alam.
The Delhi Police had persistently refused to share these reports over
the last 18 months. Even the NHRC had skirted the issue initially in
their report on the Batla House encounter though it went to great
lengths to explain the fire-arm injuries to Delhi Police inspector
Mohan Chand Sharma that caused his death.
The NHRC, in its report, had merely said that the post-mortem reports
of the two suspected terrorists mentioned injuries other than fire-arm
injuries but did not disclose more or investigate how injuries by a
blunt object could have been inflicted in a shootout. The autopsies of
Atif and Sajid were done three days after the encounter by a panel of
three AIIMS doctors of forensic medicine.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, who had been fighting to get the post-
mortem reports made public, said the autopsy reports reveal what the
Delhi Police have been desperately trying to hide.
"Blunt injuries mentioned in the autopsy could not have been caused in
a shootout. Obviously, there was some scuffle or the two boys were
beaten up before they were shot.
How can anyone explain the top of the head bullet injuries or the one
in the top of his (Sajid) right shoulder - with all bullets going
vertically down in the body?" Bhushan asked.
He added: "Pictures of the bodies had exposed these injuries. The
police were hence desperately trying to hide these post-mortem
reports.
The non-firearm injuries on both the back and leg of Sajid cannot be
explained. That is why we have been demanding an independent
investigation into the alleged encounter." A senior doctor at AIIMS,
who was associated with the autopsies, said he could not explain the
nonfirearm injuries on Sajid's body.
"But the other three or four gunshot wounds on Sajid's head and
shoulder is possible in a shootout… for example, the terrorist may
have fallen after taking a bullet in his leg and could have been
firing at the police lying down. So, such a pattern of injuries is
possible in such a volley of fire," he said.
But Bhushan rubbished the explanation.
"If Sajid was lying down and firing, there should be a hail of police
bullet marks on the walls of the room. But there was none in the room
where the shootout happened," he said.
The Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association also reacted strongly to the
contents of the autopsies. "Almost all entry wounds on Atif's body are
in the region below the shoulders and at the back of the chest, which
point to the fact that he was repeatedly shot from behind. In Sajid's
case, the entry points of the gunshots and the fact that all but one
bullet travelled downward suggests he was held down by force (which
also explain the injuries on the back and leg), while he was shot in
the back and head," said Manisha Sethi of the association.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/88969/India/Damning+Batla+autopsy+findings.html
Getting official access to Headley will help India: BJP
PTI
New Delhi, March 19, 2010
With extradition of Pakistani- American David Coleman Headley now
ruled out after he pleaded guilty to terror charges, BJP today said
this was a loss but official access to India to question him would
help prove to the world about Pakistan's involvement in the Mumbai
strikes.
"It (consequences of his pleading guilty before a US court) is a mixed
bag. As we cannot get extradition, it is a loss. But, at the same
time, we can get official access and can officially question him so
our dossiers (against Pakistan) will be more weighty," BJP
spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He asserted that though Pakistan may ultimately dismiss Headley's
confessions as "mere papers" and not evidences, the involvement of the
neighbouring country in the 26/11 terror attacks would be established
more firmly and be "very clear" to the world community.
"Now the trial of Ajmal Kasab (lone surviving terrorist in the 26/11
case) is winding up. So, I think we can expect the result in that case
also," he said.
Javadekar took a dig at the UPA government for making a "unilateral
offer" of foreign secretary-level talks to Pakistan inspite of its
continued support to terror.
"The real test of India lies in how it deals with Pakistan because
Pakistan has not changed a bit. It has not done anything, not taken
any credible steps....Terror continues, infiltration is growing. Still
government did a sudden U-turn and unilaterally offered talks," he
said.
This move had emboldened the Pakistani establishment, especially the
ISI, to simultaneously do business with India and plot terror,
Javadekar alleged.
He said it was ISI's policy to inflict a thousand cuts and wound
India.
Bhilai: Principal sends lewd SMSes to students; thrashed
Raghunandan Panda & Sunil Namdeo
Bhilai/Raipur, March 19, 2010
Parents of a Bhilai school students beat up its principal after he
allegedly sent lewd messages on their mobiles.
K.S. Chhabra, principal of famous school Maharishi Vidya Mandir, a
well known school in Chhattisgarh's steel city Bhilai, has been
accused of making obscene phone calls and sending lewd short messages
(SMSes) on some of his students' mobiles.
Chhabra even called them to his office in the school and at home, the
parents alleged. A victim recorded her principal's sickening demands
on her mobile and reported to the parents.
Enraged over the principal's gesture, the parents beat him black and
blue. They alleged that Chhabra's disgusting behaviour was going on
for a few years. They thrashed him all the way to the police station
until the policemen rescued him.
The police have started an enquiry into the matter and have recorded
calls by Chhabra as proof.
Bahadur, one of the parents of such students, said, "The principal
used to say that your children are failing. If you want them to pass
you will have to do everything I say."
Thank God, we don't have a Thackeray here: Dikshit
PTI
New Delhi, March 20, 2010
"Thank God, we don't have a Bal Thackeray," said Chief Minister Sheila
Dikshit on Saturday while calling Delhi a unique city where people
from across the country can live comfortably.
"We have varied culture and true cosmopolitan people. People from
Kerala to Jammu and Kashmir and to those from the North-East can live
here comfortably.
"Everyone knows what is happening in Mumbai (anti-north Indian
campaign). It certainly does not happen here. Thank God, we don't have
a Bal Thackeray here," she said about the anti-North Indian campaign
by the Shiv Sena and MNS.
Dikshit was speaking at an interactive session at a summit organised
by CII and the Wall Street Journal.
The chief minister also spoke about the uniqueness of Delhi, where
everything including its weather, is imported and the number of
heritage structures it has.
Related Stories
Mumbai: Sena chief targets Guv
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86961/LATEST%20HEADLINES/Thackeray+targets+Maha+governor+over+'Mumbai+for+all'+remark.html
Bal Thackeray lashes out at IPL
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/28488/42/Bal+Thackeray+lashes+out+at+IPL.html
Bal Thackeray flays Tendulkar
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/71045/42/Balasaheb+flays+Sachin+on+Marathi+remark.html
Sena chief attacks Chavan, Rahul
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video/82646/42/Bal+Thackeray+attacks+Chavan,+Rahul.html
ASK PRABHU
India Today ASK PRABHU Story As per our Constitution, an Indian can
stay or live in any part of India except Jammu and Kashmir. But some
political leaders, for their political gains, are opposing this. Is it
correct? I think the electronic media is more powerful to spread this
message.
March 3, 2010
The state of J&K enjoys a special status under Article 370 of the
Constitution. It doesn't permit people from other parts of India to
buy property in J&K. The BJP has been agitating for scrapping Article
370 but all other parties are opposed to such a move unless it is
proposed by the state assembly itself.
-Asked by Anil Kumar
anilkuma...@gmail.com
BJP believes in one nation one constitution: Nitin Gadkari
PTI
Saturday, March 20, 2010 21:37 IST
Madhopur (Punjab): Asserting it stands for "one nation one
constitution", the BJP today said the party is firm in its resolve to
scrap article 370 of the Constitution providing special status to
Jammu and Kashmir.
"The party stands for one nation one constitution slogan given by
Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee," BJP president
Nitin Gadkari said here on the occasion of unveiling of a statue of
the late leader.
He said the BJP will not dilute its stand on abrogation of Article 370
and there is a need to emulate Mukherjee, who "fought for scrapping of
permit system prevalent in those days which debarred people to enter
and move freely in Jammu and Kashmir".
Gadkari said his party is opposed to the Centre's policy on Kashmir,
which is mere appeasement to those who pose a threat to the nation,
and its mild approach to tackle Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.
Addressing the gathering, he said Pakistan continues to wage a proxy
war against India by sponsoring terrorism in J-K, while Naxalism is
posing an internal threat to the country.
The Centre has not yet come out with adequate measures to meet these
threats. The Government seems to be softening its stand on Pakistan
due to pressure of some foreign powers, Gadkari alleged.
"Kashmir is an integral issue and no talks with Pakistan can be
resumed unless it gives ample proof of striking hard on militants
operating from its soil.
"Pakistan should stop aiding and abetting terrorism in India," Gadkari
said.
Former deputy prime minister L K Advani in his address said while
Vallabh Bhai Patel and Mukherjee had a common resolve to see a strong
India, the British gave independence but with a rider that the rulers
of the erstwhile princely states could use their discretion on staying
with India.
Apparently referring to the "Mumbai for maharashtrians' issue, RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat, who unveiled the statue, said Hindus were forced
to migrate from Jammu and Kashmir but the country belongs to all
Indians and regional chauvinism does not hold any place.
Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who was also present
there, said Mukherjee's photographs would be put up in the gallery
here.
Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, state BJP president
Shanta Kumar, Punjab industry and local bodies minister Manoranjan
Kalia, Amritsar BJP MP, Navjot Singh Sidhu
were among those present on the occasion.
The place where the life-size statue of Mukherjee was erected was
named as 'Ekta Sthal'.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
A possible deconvolution for the convoluted logic of RSS: What Mohan
Bhagwat could have said ....
In a recent blog entry the chief of RSS, Mr. Mohan Bhagwat (MB) was
criticised for saying: He who is an Indian is a Hindu and he who is
not a Hindu is not an Indian.
A long and winding debate ensued. It was desirable to retain the
informal notions related to the words Hindu and Indian, and yet
certain specificity was needed for precision, unambiguousness and
substantiveness.
Mr. Thammayya, in one of his comments, had asked: Hey, I have another
suggestion. What do you think, MB should have told? Interesting to
know this.
I have recently outlined an abstract version of Hindu-WOL (Hindu Way
of Life), terming it, for various reasons, Sanatana Dharma. In light
of this article, here is my take on what MB could have said:
One of the essential underpinnings of an open and free mind regarding
religious truths is: There can be points of view regarding the Truth
and the ways of attaining the Truth which are seemingly quite
different from the ones I uphold but are equally valid.
Hindus pursue and practice such openness and freedom.
A belief in exclusive monopoly regarding religious truths and/or
insistence on one's concrete details regarding the same, is
inconsistent with this notion of freedom.
India, in our view, is a home-nation for Hindus. Those who are not
Hindus are not legitimately Indian.
Remarks:
0. The term Hindu is not defined comprehensively here. And yet,
whatever is essential for for the political debate is captured in
terms of the concepts of openness and freedom.
For example:
a. The term Hindu is free from geographical, racial, linguistic,
regional connotations and overtones.
b. So there can be Hindus residing as citizens of other nations.
1. Similarly, India, although not defined comprehensively, is hinted
in the last sentence, to be the current geopolitical entity, whose
citizens we are. This suffices for the political debate.
For example:
a. The term India is free from racial, linguistic, and regional
connotations and overtones.
b. Those, who are currently residing in India as citizens but do not
honor this openness and freedom are termed illegitimate citizens.
This allows us to use the terms "Hindu" and "India" with specificity
necessary for the relevant aspects of political debate, while
retaining the same informal notions regarding these words, which most
of us may entertain.
Nonetheless, this is still a tentative version, and is open to be
improved upon. Readers' suggestions are welcome.
Interestingly, a Dutch Politician, Geert Wilders has said many things
which RSS could have, and should have articulated long long ago. Some
of these are, I have provided links obtained from the same wikipedia
page: "not tolerate the intolerant", "Ban Koran like Mein Kampf", and
"There might be moderate muslims, but there is no moderate Islam".
However, as I have repeatedly alleged, owing to intellectual lethargy,
among those who are supposed to provide India with political
leadership, these things have not happened here in India.
Posted by samAlochaka
http://medsyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/possible-deconvolution-for-convoluted.html
Sid Harth
from Delhi University
Religious conversion has become the subject of passionate debate in
contemporary India. From the early 20th century onwards, it has
surfaced again and again in the political realm, in the media and in
the courts. During the last few decades the dispute has attained a new
climax in the plethora of newspapers, journals, and books whose pages
have been devoted to the question of conversion. Apparently, a large
group of Indians considers this to be an issue of crucial import to
the future of their country.
Generally Speaking, Religion is s system of faith and worship of
supernatural force which ordains regulates and control the destiny of
human kinds.
The Merrian Webster Dictionary defined , Religion as an organized
system of faith and worship, a personal set of religious belief and
practice, a cause, principle or belief held to with faith and order.
The Oxford Dictionary defined, Religion the belief in a super human
controlling power, especially in personal God or Gods entitled to
obedience and worship.
Swami Vivekananda perceives religion as - it is based upon faith and
belief and in most cases consist only of different sect of theories
that is the reason why we find all religion quarreling with each other.
1
According to Sage Aurobindo, The quest of man for God is the
foundation for religion & its essential function is the search for God
and the finding of the God. 2
Hinduism in the view of Dr. Radhakrishan is The main aim of the Hindu
faith is to permit image worship as the means to the development of
the religious spirit to the recognition of the Supreme who has his
temples in all beings.3
We can conclude from the above discussion that no universally
acceptable definition as to what exactly "religion" is. There appears
to be near unanimity that religion, generally, is a belief or faith in
the existence of a Supernatural Being and the precepts which people
follow for attaining salvation.
Religion may be regarded as belief and patterns of behaviors by which
human try to deal with what they view as important problems that can
not be solved through the application of known technologies and
techniques of organization. To overcome these limitations people turn
to the manipulation of supernatural beings and powers.
Religion consist of various rituals, prayers, songs, dances, offerings
and sacrifices, through which people try to manipulate supernatural
beings and powers to their advantages. These being and power may
consist of Gods and Goddesses, ancestral and other spirits or
impersonal power either by themselves or in various combinations . In
all societies there are certain individuals especially skilled at
dealing with these beings and powers and who assist other members of
society in their ritual activities. A body of myths rationalizes or
explains the system in a manner consistent with peoples experience in
the world in which they live.
Every individual has a natural entitlement of religious faith and
freedom of conscience , a right to adopt or abandoned any faith of his
own choice. In this sense freedom of religion and freedom of
conscience is fundamental right both constitutionally and
conventionally.
The freedom of religion and freedom of conscience has been recognized
under the international law. The General Assembly of united nations
adopted without dissenting vote on 10th December,1948 the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights recognizing fact that the entire humanity
enjoys certain alienable rights which constitute the foundation of
freedom, justice and piece in the world.
In order to give effect to the Universal Declaration of human rights
the members of the united nations of also adopted the two conventions
in 1966 in this concern:-
1. International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
2. International covenant on Civil and Political rights.
The Government of India by its declaration dated 10.4.1979 had
accepted Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the two
international covenants with certain reservations which do not cover
the right to freedom of religion. Apart from this the Constitution of
India also enshrines the freedom of religion and freedom of conscience
as fundamental rights under Article 25,26,27,28,30.
Religious Conversion is multifaceted and multi dimensional phenomenon.
Indian society is a pluralist and heterogeneous society with
multiplicity of races, religious cultural, castes and languages etc.
Religious Conversion has always been a problematic issue in India.
Every incident of conversion causes lot of hue and cry in society;
especially it causes nostalgic feelings to Hindu organization because
of its inherent socio- political. Rigid and Stringent caste system
prevailing in Hindu Religion is one of the most significant factors
behind the religious conversion. This is because of this caste system
Dalits ( in most comprehensive and inclusive sense the word Dalit
includes Untouchables, Shudras and Adivasis) are the most susceptible
section of the society to religious conversion . The other causes of
conversion are
1. Polygamy which is prevailing in Islam
2. To get rid of unwanted matrimonial ties.
3. To get reservation benefits.
Polygamy is a system wherein a male person his authorized to keep more
than one wife/wives where all the other wife/wives are still alive, or
where a male person is authorized to solemnize more than one marriage.
Polygamy is just opposite to the system of monogamy. In the past
almost all the societies in the world have been either polygamous or
polyandrous. Monogamy was never a rule but an exception. Amongst all
the religions resourceful persons were allowed to keep as many wives
as he can afforded. But Islam has been exception to his general rule.
The Prophet Mohd. ( 571 AD-632 AD) the last messenger according to
Quaran laid down the principle for his followers that a person may
keep as many as four wives only and that too only in exceptional
circumstances prevailing in those days. The Prophet had allowed the
followers of Islam to keep four wives at one time because of the
contemporary reasons. During the life of Prophet the Arabian society
was the society of innumerable tribal communities and war was constant
phenomenon of those days in Islam. Hundreds of wars were fought
amongst those tribals can themselves, sometimes in the name of Jehad,
sometimes in the name of religion, sometimes for the sake of
established political hegemony. Only men were allowed to participate
in the wars and not the women. One of the obvious consequences of
these wars was that innumerable women became widows. One of the most
burning problem before the prophet was that how to manage the lives f
these destitute widows and the children. Nobody was there take care
for these helpless widows and children. So the prophet evolved out a
workable solution of the problem. He permitted the men that every man
would keep as many as four wives along with their children. So that no
widow or child would die out hunger starvation or illness. Through the
system every widow and her children were taken care of.
Here two important points are worth mentioning that:
1. The permission given by the prophet to keep more than one wives was
not a permanent prescription for all the times to come. But it was
only a temporary provision just to manage the cotemporary problems.
Along with the provision of keeping for wives the prophet imposed a
mandatory conditions upon the persons who might keep more that 1 wife
that if a person keeps more than one wife he must have an equal eye
upon all the wives. That is the principle of equality which was to be
observed and not to discriminate on any grounds whatsoever.
2. Keeping more than one wife was not prescribed as general rule. But
only an exception and that is only to deal with the above mention
contemporary problem. But after the life of the profit, the Muslim
leaders especially in India have misinterpreted the dictates of the
prophet in his concern and started receiving undue advantage of this
dictate of the prophet. Muslim religious leader and Ulemas have
maintained that the dictate of the prophet to keep four wives was not
a temporary provision rather it was a permanent dictate for all time
to come. This is how they have misconceived the dictates of the
prophet and justified and legitimized polygamy almost 1500 years after
the life of the prophet.
It is significant to mention that the practice of polygamy has been
abolished even in the constitutionally declared Islamic states long
ago but in India this practice is still valid under the Muslim
personal law. It is also pertinent to mention that the practice of
polygamy is anti feminist and it is discriminatory against Muslims
women because polygamy is a unilateral right provided only to Muslim
men. Therefore, it is suggested that the privilege of polygamy should
not be given Muslim community under their personal laws and uniform
civil code is the need of the hour.
The Impact Of Religious Conversion
The religious conversion into Islam by a person from non Islamic faith
is not valid if the conversion is done for the purpose of polygamy.
Neither Islam nor the law recognizing any such conversion in India. In
the case of Sarla Mudgal vs Union of India4 a married Hindu male
converted in to Islam for the sake of solemninising another marriage
as polygamy is permitted in Islam. The Hon’ble SC held that conversion
in to another faith Ipso-facto does not dissolve the first marriage
because no one is allowed to take the benefit of his own wrong.
Moreover the court held that the married person converting into Islam
is not entitle to marry another woman after conversion. It was held to
be an act of bigamy prohibited U/S 17 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and
punishable U/S 494 of IPC and it was further observed that the second
marriage is void.
In Vilayat Raj vs Smt. Sunita 5 it was observed by the court that if
both the parties to the marriage were Hindu at the time of marriage ,
pre-nupital law i.e. Hindu Marriage Act applied even after conversion
in Islam.
In Lilly Thomas vs Union of India 6 it was observed that an apostate
husband is guilty of bigamy U/S 494 of IPC if he marriage another
woman after converting into Islam. It was observed that holding such
person guilty of bigamy is not violation of freedom of religion U/
Article 25 of the Constitution, hence, Section 17 of H.M.A. 1955 is
applicable.
From the above it is clear that after the pronouncement of the
aforesaid judicial verdicts, polygamy is no more a valued person for
religious conversion into Islam.
A person does not ceases to be Hindu nearly because he declares that
he has no faith in his religion. A person will not cease to be Hindu
even if he does not practice his religion till he does not renounces
his religion or starts living and behaving like an atheist or agnostic
or starts eating beef or insulting God or Goddesses. He does not
ceases to be member of the religion even if he starts expressing his
faith in any other religion , he continuous to be a Hindu Chandra
Shekharan vs Kulundurivalu7
If a person converts from Hindu religion to Sikh , Budhism or Jainism
he does not cease to be Hindu since all these religions do not fall
beyond the definition of ‘Hindu’ in the relevant section of Hindu
Marriage Act . He ceases to be Hindu if he converts into Islam
Christianity or Jews or Zoroastrain, conversion into these religion is
a ground for desolation of marriage for the other spouse and not for
the spouse who converts into any such religion ( U/S 13 H.M.A)
Under Section 80 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 if
the husband gets converted into Non-Hindu faith wife is entitled to
live Separately without forfeiting her right of maintenance but if she
herself also ceases to be Hindu, she looses her claim of maintenance
under the section, But she is entitled under section 24 of H.M.A in
1955 for pedente-lite and permanent alimony.
Special Marriage Act 1954 reflects the true sprit of Indian Secularism
as it is in consonance with India ‘s heterogeneity and multiplicity of
religious faith. Conversion does not make any effect on matrimonial
ties as the Act is the secular legislations and itself contemplate
inter caste and inter religious marriages.
The Indian Divorce Act, 1869- If the husband gets converted into non
Christian faith, wife is entitled for divorce but vice versa is not
possible. If wife gets converted into non Christian faith husband can
not apply for divorce. NANG vs LABYA8
Under Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 Section 4 says if a
wife renounces Islam, the marriage does not Ipso-facto dissolve unless
the circumstances warrant otherwise.
The picture is complete if we account for the fact that most of these
laws are aimed to keep the low caste Hindus within the fold of
Hinduism. And so while law prohibits conversion, 're-conversion' of
low caste Hindus is permissible. If a low caste Hindu who had
converted to another faith or any of his descendants reconverts to
Hinduism, he might get back his original caste In Kailash Sonkar. 9
Major Events Of Conversion
Major events of conversion are not reported unless they are
highlighted by media or a hue and cry is made by Hindu Organization.
Following are the major incidents of religious conversion in post
independence.
Nagpur:- The Ist and the biggest mass conversion which the country has
ever witnessed, took placed on the 14th day of October 1956. Place
Nagpur, Maharashtra, the city where the headquarter of Rastriya
Swayamsewak Sangh is situated. About a half a million Dalits said good
bye to Hinduism from their life and embraced Budhism under the
leadership of the greatest social reformer, the great visionary and
the prophet of Dalit emancipation Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
Meenakshipuram:- The significant event of religious conversion took
place on Feb 19th 1981 at Meenakshipuram of Kanyakumari District in
Tamil Nadu. Where 280 families got converted to Islam. All of these
280 families cited social reasons behind their conversion. These
reasons were persecution, ill treatment and humiliation they
constantly had to face at the hands of upper caste of Hindus which
made their lives miserable and worst than animals.
Dulina :- Another significant even t of religious conversion which
created a lot of hue and cry in the society took place at Gurgaon,
Haryana 2002. This all had happened after a very pathetic incident of
burning Five Dalits Alive by a mob of upper caste people in a police
station at Dulina in Jhajjar District in Haryana. Police remain silent
spectator. Now nothing was left for the families of these massacred
Dalits to remain in such a violent and hatred preaching system of
faith, where in Dalit have no place. All the five families of
massacred Dalits got converted in to Buddhism at Rabidas Mandir,
Gurgaon, Haryana on 28th October 2002 under the banner of All India
Confederation of SC/ST organization and the Lord Buddha club in the
presence of famous film director, All India Christian Council , Jamait
Ulma-I Hind and in the presence of Media Persons.
Another dimension of this event of conversion is that after these
event of conversion all the Saffron Hindu Organizations rushed to
these families and threatened them to face dire consequences on
account of the above said conversion. Due to assaults and threats and
under the pressure of these Hindu Organization, ultimately, these
sacred Dalit Families broke down and had to make a public statement
that we did not leave Hindu religion , we did not convert.
In July 2002 another incident of religious conversion took place
Guntur distt. Andhra Pardesh were 70 Dalits converted in to
Christianity.
Delhi:- In the year 2002 Udit Raj the Chairman of All India
Confederation of SC/ST Organizations and the Lord Buddha Club give a
national wide call for conversion. This conversion ceremony was
supposed to be performed at Ram Leela Maidan of Delhi . Around one
million Dalits were supposed to get convert into Buddhism.
The preparation regarding the conversion programme were on . This
nation wide call for the conversion got an unprecedented coverage in
national and international media. Dehydration to saffron Hindu
organization regarding such a massive programme of conversion, was
oblivious. These organization resorted all means to shut of the mouth
of media , so that this call may not reach the public at large. The
Ram Leela Maidan , where the programme was supposed to be organized ,
declared as prohibited area and Section 144 of Crpc was imposed in and
around the area, all borders of Delhi where from influx of Dalits, to
take Diksha, was possible were sealed. The Government was determined
to ensure by hook or by crook let the programme may not be organized.
Finally, the organizer had to change the spot for the proposed
programme . The Government could not succeed to curb the enthusiasm of
dalits and ultimately more than 10,000 Dalits succeeded to say good
bye to Hinduism and embraced Buddhism.
Right to freedom of faith is not a conferred right but a natural
entitlement of every human being. In fact law does not assign it but
it asserts, protect and insurers its entitlement. Indian Society has
nourished and nurtured almost all the established religion of the
world like Hinduism , Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism
etc. from it s time immemorial. Article 25 incorporates right to
practice, profess and propagation of faith not only this , the Article
guarantees the freedom of conscience. Right to possess adopt abandoned
faith is ascribed by a person since his birth. India is a
heterogeneous and pluralist society with multiplicity of faith and
cultures. India most fundamental code of governance. i.e. The
constitution of India also asserts, protects and ensures this right to
all individuals irrespective of their religions, under its various
provisions especially Art. 25.
Every human being has a natural entitlement of religious faith and
freedom of conscience and right to adopt or abandon any faith of his
own choice. This being so , the freedom of conscience has been
recognized as a basic human right both constitutionally and
conventionally.
The Constitution of India aims at securing freedom of religion and
freedom of conscience under Article 25 ,26,27,28,30 and at the same
time it seeks to create a harmony among all religions. Being suitable
to the pluralistic society and historical lineage . Such freedom needs
to continued. Any other policy will not be unconstitutional but also
extremely harmful and suffocative for the public. It. However, need to
be realized that an incessant process of transformation and change is
also going on as change is the rule of nature. The ideas , faith,
psyche, behavior and attitude of people have always been subject to
change, though, the factors of change are spatial and temporal. An
important aspect with respect to change of faith is the state of One’s
awareness and ignorance. More awareness and enlightenment does
definitely have an impact on the thought, belief and action of a
person, faith and elements of conscience. Thus as regards conscience ,
state of knowledge is itself under a constant process of change and
every human being is undergoing a metamorphosis of understanding with
continuing with continuing process of experience of life and
learning . Therefore , it is advisable to tie up someone to a
particular faith for all the times.
But in Indian perspective , an aspect of freedom of conscience which
has attained a problematic dimension , is the right to propagate
faith. The meaning of propagation is to promote , spread and publicize
one’s relating to his own faith for the edification of others. The
term propagation implies persuasion and exposition without any element
of fraud, coercion and allurement. The right to propagate one’s
religion does not give a right to convert any other person to one’s
own religious faith. It may be pointed out that the right to convert
other person to one’s own religion is distinct from and individual
right to get convert to any other religion on his own choice. The
later is undisputedly is in conformity with the freedom of religion
and freedom of conscience under Article 25 of the constitution while
the former is the subject of long prevailing controversy with
reference to propagation of faith.
Religious conversion has always been a very sensitive social issue not
only because of the reasons that it has psychological concerns of
religious faith but also because it has wider socio-legal and socio-
political implications. It has also been revealed by the recent
incident of conversion in Haryana, Madhya pardesh , Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat , Orissa and in Delhi ( in Delhi according to official sources
around 20,000 dalits got converted in to Buddhism in the year 2002
under the nation a wide call for conversion by Udit Raj , the leader
of Justice party). On the one hand due to these recent incidents of
conversion the Hindu Safforn Organizations like R.S.S., V.H.P., Shiv
Sena , Bajrang Dal. etc. have made a lot of hub-bub and not only this
Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister call for a nation
wide debate on conversion
The legislative history relating to the issue of conversion in India
underscores the point that the authorities concerned were never
favorably disposed towards conversion. While British India had no anti-
conversion laws, many Princely States enacted anti-conversion
legislation: the Raigarh State Conversion Act 1936, the Patna Freedom
of Religion Act of 1942, the Sarguja State Apostasy Act 1945 and the
Udaipur State Anti-Conversion Act 1946. Similar laws were enacted in
Bikaner, Jodhpur, Kalahandi and Kota and many more were specifically
against conversion to Christianity. In the post-independence era,
Parliament took up for consideration in 1954 the Indian Conversion
(Regulation and Registration) Bill and later in 1960 the Backward
Communities (Religious Protection) Bill, both of which had to be
dropped for lack of support. The proposed Freedom of Religion Bill of
1979 was opposed by the Minorities Commission due to the Bill's
evident bias.
However, in 1967-68, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh enacted local laws
called the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1967 and the Madhya Pradesh
Dharma Swatantraya Adhiniyam 1968. Along similar lines, the Arunachal
Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, 1978 was enacted to provide for
prohibition of conversion from one religious faith to any other by use
of force or inducement or by fraudulent means and for matters
connected therewith. The latest addition to this was the Tamil Nadu
Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Ordinance promulgated
by the Governor on October 5, 2002 and subsequently adopted by the
State Assembly. Each of these Acts provides definitions of
`Government', `conversion', `indigenous faith', `force', `fraud',
`inducement' (and in the case of Arunachal, that of `prescribed and
religious faith'). These laws made forced conversion a cognizable
offence under sections 295 A and 298 of the Indian Penal Code that
stipulate that malice and deliberate intention to hurt the sentiments
of others is a penal offence punishable by varying durations of
imprisonment and fines.
As early as 1967, it became evident that the concern was not just with
forced conversion, but with conversion to any religion other than
Hinduism and especially Christianity and Islam. In the Orissa and
Madhya Pradesh Acts, the punishment was to be doubled if the offence
had been committed in respect of a minor, a woman or a person
belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community. 10
Moreover, Jayalalitha government in Tamil Nadu has gone to the extent
of enacting ant-conversion legislation (Tamil Nadu prohibition of
forcible conversion ordinance 2003) to put a check on the incidence of
religious conversion. In April 2006 The Rajasthan Dharma Swatantrata
(religious freedom) Bill, introduced by the BJP government, was passed
by a voice vote. The Chattisgarh Government passed an anti-conversion
bill in form of Chattisgarh Religion Freedom (Amendment) Act, 2006
providing for a three-year jail term and a fine of Rs.20,000 for those
indulging in religious conversion by force or allurement. The Madhya
Pradesh Government also passed a controversial bill to amend the
state's Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 to prevent religious
conversion by force or allurement.
The contention of the Hindu organization is that most of the minority
religious organization, especially, Christian Missionaries are
actively involved in the activities of mass religious conversion in
the name of social service. According to them the target groups of
these Christian missionaries are generally illiterate and poor Dalits
and Poor tribes.
On the other hand many dalit organizations and Dalit thinkers have
perceived these recurrent incidents of religious conversions as great
events of Dalit emancipation from the clutches of the vicious Hindu
Caste System which is and has been a constant stigma on the face of
Indian society. According to them, Hindu Caste System is founded on
rigid and the stringent Caste hierarchy . Due to this inhuman and hate
worthy Caste system Dalits and Shudras (Untouchables) have always been
treated inhumanly, they have been subjugated, oppressed and persecuted
by the so called upper caste Hindus or Manu vadis in the name of
caste. Dalit thinkers also allege that Hindu Soceity could not make a
adequate reforms in Hindu religion during last more than 3000 years ,
so that a lower caste Hindu could not live with human dignity in Hindu
religion. According to them majority of Dalits and shudras
(untouchable) are illiterate deplorably poverty stricken and living in
sub- human conditions. They have been denied basic human rights even
after 59 years of independence, Moreover, in day today life they often
to face atrocities and exploitation at the hands of upper caste Hindus
in the name of caste. Hindu religion does not treat its all follower
alike, Hinduism discriminates against one segment of its followers vis-
à-vis the other and does not treat all of them equally. It has failed
to provide social dignity to dalit and shudras. Therefore, they think
that it is better to kick our such an obnoxious and suffocating
religion from one’s life and to convert in a religious which does not
discriminate against them in the name of caste and which given them
equal treatment and dignified human life. That is why Dalits and other
progressive minds have supported the incidence of mass religious
conversion and consideration them to great events.
We can conclude from the above discussion that any protest against
religious conversion is always branded as persecution, because it is
maintained that people are not allowed to practice their religion,
that their religious freedom is curbed. The truth is entirely
different. The other person also has the freedom to practice his or
her religion without interference. That is his/her birthright.
Religious freedom does not extent (sic) to having a planned programme
of conversion. Such a programme is to be construed as aggression
against the religious freedom of others.
Finally, as far as Hinduism is concerned, besides it being vindicated
as a way of life, efforts must be made to augment its role as a form
of religion, that is, Hinduism must be practiced as a religion that
upholds the principles of personal freedom, self-dignity, social
equality and economic security. This will reduce the chances of
transgression by way of conversion in any manner. Scriptures like the
Vedas, Upanishads and the Gita should gather larger weight age and
reach the necessary quarters for sufficient lobbying to match the
access and emotional respect gained by the Bible and the Koran. The
image of a Hindu will go up not by blaming others for conversion but
by creating conditions that will make conversion by and large
unnecessary for the fellow members of his religion.
Foot Note:-
1. The Complete Words of Vivekananda, (1),P. 127
2. Shri Aurobindo-The Life Divine , P. 699
3. Dr. Radhakrishnan-Religion and Society, P. 103
4. AIR 1995 SC
5. AIR 1983 SC
6. AIR 2000 SC
7. AIR 1963 SC 185
8. AIR 1924 , Rangoon , 263
9. (1984) 2 SCC 91
10. http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2002121700110200.htm&date=2002/12/17/&prd=op&
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Anti Superstition Law
Pritha Jha - IVth year law student - ILS law college, Pune
I
Introduction:
The history of the anti superstition bill began in 2003, when the
first draft of the anti superstition bill was tabled. It was called
the Jadu Tona Andhshradha Virodhi bill of 2003. This was the first
bill of its kind ever to be tabled anywhere across the country.
However, the bill was met with strong opposition by most parties as
the definition of superstition was considered too vast. What was
superstition and blind faith to one could possibly be belief and faith
to another. Amidst these arguments, the bill was finally passed with
some amendments. Although the bill was pending before the central
government for its approval for almost seven months, problems arose
when the elections began. The governor was of the view that since the
government was going to change, it would not be appropriate to put a
new law in place. Hence, as fate would have it, the bill did not come
into force. That however, was not the end of the journey and 2 years
later a new draft was tabled in March 2005 much like the one that was
tabled in 2003 with subtle differences and an amended version was
finally passed on the 16th of December 2005. This review examines both
the bills of 2005. The bill of 2003 was unavailable. Whereas the bill
of 2003 had been drafted by Mr. Narendra Dabholkar of the Andhashradha
Samiti, the bill of 2005 was drafted by Mr. Shyam Manav.
The Bills:
A first reading of both the bills gives one the feeling that the new
draft has included a lot more people in its purview and has also made
mild, some of the provisions of the older draft. The March draft uses
the words to protect the poor and ignorant people in the society
Against blind faith, ignorance and customs born out of blind faith in
the name of god...black magic by so called god’s men. The December
draft however uses the terminology of application to common people
customs thriving on ignorance and completely removes the usage of the
words blind faith...in the name of God and so called God’s men. It is
thus quite clear that the present bill recognizes the fact that it is
not just the poor and the ignorant who can be victims of tantriks and
babas but also the people of the upper classes that may be affected.
It also wishes to avoid opposition over the usage of the words God’s
men and in the name of God because practices and rituals practiced in
the name of God may be an expression of faith to some.
Short Title, Extent and Commencement:
The March draft of the bill was called the Maharashtra Eradication of
Black Magic and Evil Practices and Customs Act, 2005 whereas, the
final draft is called the Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic and
Evil and aghori Practices Act, 2005.
The word Customs has been removed from the title and the word aghori
has been inserted possibly because of the difficulty in defining the
word Custom as would cater to the needs of this bill.
Definitions:
The definition clause has been severely shortened in the December
bill. The earlier bill included definitions of Black Magic. Magical
remedy. However, this has now all been covered in one clause. All the
words have the same meaning as they have been defined in The Drugs and
Magic Remedies (objectionable advertisements) Act, 1954 and the
criminal procedure code, unless, they have been expressly defined in
the bill. However, there are still certain terms such as Aghori, jaran-
maran, buvabaaji, devi mata or dev devaski which find no definition in
the Bill.
A rather large definition had been provided for in the March bill for
practice of Black Magic or blind faith. It included practice by a
person or through another by claiming to possess supernatural powers
or divine powers or power of the spirit for treatment or for curing or
for healing physical and mental ailments thereby causing material or
financial loss to a human being. This definition would have thus
included other varied practices such as Voodoo, Wicca and Reiki. This
however has completely been removed from the present bill. This is
probably one of the biggest reasons why the present bill was labeled
as anti-hindu, because it does not seem to cover the practices of
other religions such as Islam and Christianity.
A noticeable change is that of the inclusion of Doctors and medical
practitioners in the present bill. The earlier bill expressly excluded
this class of people. This would have given a license to doctors to
practice black magic; hence it has rightly been included.
Registered medical practitioner as defined under the Drugs and Magic
Remedies Act 1954, means any person, -
(i) who holds a qualification granted by an authority specified in, or
notified under Section 3 of the Indian Medical Degrees Act, 1916 (7 of
1916) specified in the Schedules to the Indian Medical Council Act
1956 (102 of 1956); or
(ii) who is entitled to be registered as a medical practitioner under
any law for the time being in force ;in any State to which this Act
extends relating to the registration of medical practitioner;
Prohibition of Black Magic:
Both the bills prohibit the promotion, propagation and the practice of
Black Magic. The December Bill also prohibits the promotion, practice
and propagation of aghori practices. This also included people who
abet or attempt to commit any act punishable under this Act.
The March Bill provided that any person who contravenes the provisions
of the Act would be punishable with a term extending to seven years or
with a fine extending to fifty thousand rupees or with both. The
revised version of the bill however provides a minimum sentence of six
months extending to seven months along with a fine, the minimum limit
of which is provided at fifty thousand rupees. Hence the amended bill
comprehensively necessitates the imposition of both imprisonment and
fine.
Jurisdiction to try offences:
Both bills declare the offences punishable under the Act as cognizable
and non-bailable. No court inferior to that of a Metropolitan
Magistrate or a Magistrate of the First Class is permitted to try any
offence under the Act.
Offences by companies:
Both bills provide that if any offence is committed by a company then
every person in charge of and responsible to the company at the time
of commission of the offence for the conduct of its business would be
deemed guilty. It however, expressly excludes people who did not have
knowledge of the commission or people who had exercised all diligence
to prevent its commission. It also provides that if such an act is
committed with the consent or due to the neglect of any director or
manager or secretary or any other officer of the company who is
responsible for the exercise of due care then such a person would also
be deemed to be guilty under the Act.
A separate definition has been provided for a company under both the
bills which includes firms, an association of persons or body of
individuals, whether incorporated or not. Where the March Bill
includes trusts in the definition of a company, the December bill does
not. The reason for the exclusion of the same is unclear.
Vigilance officer:
There is a slight difference in the manner of defining the vigilance
officer in both the bills. The March draft provided that the vigilance
officer, who would be one or more police officers of the rank of an
inspector of Police, would be appointed for the whole State or such
part of the State as may be specified. However, the December draft now
changes this to one or more police officers for one or more police
stations as may be specified. The December bill thus does away with
the ambiguity of appointed police officers for parts of the State.
Where the duties of the Vigilance officer are concerned, most of the
duties remain the same. The earlier bill however, empowered the
officer to detect and prevent the contravention of the Act and to
report cases to the nearest police station within his jurisdiction.
However, the present bill lays a greater duty on the vigilance officer
because it requires him to take quick and speedy action in case a
complaint is filed at the police station by a victim. It also requires
him to give necessary advice, guidance and help to the concerned
police station. The rest of the duties such as collection of evidence,
performance of other duties as notified from time to time remain the
same under both the bills.
The March bill however, provided that the Vigilance officer shall
associate himself with the members of recognized organizations within
the area of his jurisdiction and co-ordinate with such organizations.
It further goes on to state what these recognized organizations would
be and what their duties would be. The bill stated that any social
organization which had been established and registered for not less
than two years under the provisions of the Bombay trusts Act, 1950 or
the societies registration Act, 1860 may apply to the state government
for recognition. It further provided that the government may accord
such recognition after due enquiries. It appears that the
Andhasharadha Samiti, being an organization which would fit in this
category wanted to be at the forefront of such activities while
drafting the bill. Being a recognized organization, the Vigilance
officer would then be forced to work in co-ordination with the
organization by virtue of section 6(3). This provision has been
deleted from the December Bill.
Power of Entry, Search etc:
The Act will give tremendous powers to the Vigilance officer as he
will have the power to enter and search any premises in which he has
reason to believe that an offence has been or is being committed. He
will also have the power to seize any instruments or material or
advertisements which he has reason to believe were being used for the
commission of the crime. It also gives him the power to seize any
other objects which according to him would help prove the crime. The
provisions of the criminal procedure code would apply to any search or
seizure under the Act as would apply to any search or seizure made
under the authority of the warrant issued under section 94 of the
Criminal Procedure Code.
Protection of action taken in good faith:
Common to both bills
The provisions of section 159 and 160 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951
shall apply to acts done in good faith by the Vigilance Officer as if
he were a police officer within the meaning of that Act.
Application of the provisions of the Code:
Common to both bills
The provisions of the Code shall apply to the investigation and trial
of the offences under this Act. Both the bills also go on to state
that this Act shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any
other law for the time being in force.
Publication of the fact of conviction:
Both bills make provisions for convicting courts to order the
publication of the name and the place of residence of the person
convicted in the local newspaper where the offence has been committed.
No such publication however, may be allowed until the appeal has
finally been disposed of.
Rules:
Both bills also make provisions for the making of rules to carry out
the purposes of the Act by notification in the official gazette. The
procedure for the making, modification and the annulment of such rules
has also been provided for under the Bill.
Power to remove difficulty:
This is an extremely ambiguous provision that had been put forth in
the bill of March which was removed in the new bill. It provides that
in case the State government encounters any difficulty in giving
effect to the provisions of the Act then the Government may take such
steps by notification in the official gazette as it may deem necessary
to remove such difficulty. Such an order, however, could not be given
before the passing of two years of the commencement of the Act.
Savings:
The bill of December 2005 provides for a provision which clarifies
that the Act would not apply to acts involving religious rites and
rituals which do not affect any person mentally or physically. This
has been done in order to avoid a religious uproar. It at the same
time however, also creates certain ambiguities as many acts can be
committed under the guise of being a religious act or a religious
ritual.
Schedules:
The schedule to the bill of March specified the acts which were
considered as offences. This has almost completely been changed in the
new bill and very little of the old bill has been retained. Whereas
the first bill listed out 27 practices, the new bill lists only 12.
The schedule to the March Bill included:
1) Under the pretext of expelling the ghost, assaulting by tying a
person with rope or chain, beating by stick or whip, to make the
person drink footwear soaked water, giving chili smoke, hanging a
person to the roof, fixing him with rope or by hair or plucking his
hair causing pain by way of touching heated object to organs or body
of a person, forcing a person to perform a sexual act in the open,
practicing aghori acts by chanting mantras, putting urine or human
excretion forcibly in the mouth of a person.
This clause has completely been retained. Only the words by chanting
mantras have been removed from the new bill in order to avoid
religious opposition. Chanting mantras need not necessarily be in
connection of aghori practices and is also used for religious
practices and to connect it with aghori would have caused religious
uproar.
2) Display of so called miracles by trying to create an impression of
existence of the things beyond or contrary to proven scientific rules
and to deceive, cheat or terrorize any person by propagation and
circulation of such practices. The wording of this section has
completely been changed and it now reads as follows:
Display of so called miracles by a person and thereby earning money
and to deceive, defraud and terrorize people by propagation and
circulation of so called miracles.
The intention of the legislators here appears to be that it is not the
belief of the people that should be attacked but only the people who
want to derive monetary gain out of display of miracles who should be
attacked. Even God is beyond scientific proof but the impression of
His existence cannot be challenged. Beliefs such as these cannot be
challenged under the guise of deception or terrorism. Another question
which arises is would magicians now be allowed to display their magic
for entertaining people? Although magic is not used always to
terrorize people, it does have that effect during the performance of
certain tricks.
3) Doing any inhuman act for search of precious things, bounty, water
resource in the form of karni, bhanmati and making or trying to make
human sacrifice by making jaran-maran, buvabaaji, devi mata or dev
devaski.
The following clause has been more appropriately drafted in the latest
bill and it now reads as follows: Doing any inhuman act in search of
precious things, bounty, water resource or for similar reasons in the
name of karni, bhanamati and making or trying to make human sacrifice
in the name of jaran-maran, or dev-devaski or to advice, instigate or
encourage committing of such inhuman acts.
The words buvabaaji and devi mata have been excluded and the other
words highlighted have been included. Thus not only the act itself but
also the instigation or the propagation of the act would comprise the
offence.
4) In case of dog bite, knowingly committing the act of giving
unscientific treatment of mantra tantra, gandadora and herbs, etc. to
a person infected with rabies instead of modern medical treatment or
preventing him from accepting the same.
Only a part of this clause has been retained and other bites such as
those of a scorpion and a snake have been included. A separate clause
had been put for snake bites in the earlier bill. This has now been
included in the same clause. Thus if a person is bitten by any of
these and such a person is treated by mantra tantra and ganda dora, it
would be an offence. The usage of herbs has been excluded. It is a
proven fact that herbs have medicinal value and hence its usage has
been allowed under the present bill unlike its prohibition in the
earlier one.
5) Piercing needle, and nails or other such objects in the arm,
tongue, chicks or any other part of the body, pricking pointed objects
in the body, whipping oneself, to bang oneself on the wall of temple
with intention of fulfilling the prayer made before God or commitment,
cutting oneself with a sharp instrument on one’s forehead and on any
other part of the body or to inflict self injury or committing any act
in public place which causes pain to normal human being in the name of
religious customs or traditions. This provision has completely been
removed from the present bill.
These acts need not be committed in religious faith. People pierce
their tongues even in the name of fashion. Again, a practice which may
not make sense to a person may make sense to another because he has
faith in it. Hence, such exhaustive provisions cannot be put into the
Bill.
6) Defrauding people, in the name of God and faith to have illicit
sexual relationship with women or men either natural or unnatural,
with or without consent of the person involved.
This provision has been deleted from the present bill because these
acts have already been declared to be illegal under the Indian Penal
Code and hence they are not necessary.
Instead, the following provisions have been included:
To create an impression that oneself is having special supernatural
powers, incarnation of another person or holy spirit, or that the
devotee was his wife, husband or paramour in past birth thereby
indulging in sexual activity with such person.
To keep sexual relations with a woman who is unable to conceive
assuring her of motherhood through supernatural powers.
7) Create or to propagate of inviting spirit of God or Goddess through
any person as a medium. This has been removed from the present bill
and the following has been included:
To create an impression by declaring that a divine spirit has
influenced one’s body or that a person has possessed such divine
spirit and thereby create fear in the mind of others or to threaten
others of evil consequences for not following the advice of such
person.
This provision makes clear that it is not merely the practice of
inviting a spirit that is causing harm but the fact that it is being
propagated in society causing fear in the minds of the people. This
needs to be stopped.
8) Assuring any woman to perform gopala santan ritual in the fourth
month of her pregnancy for birth of a male child, operating stomach by
fingers, diagnosing disease by placing stone, farshi (tile) on the
head, making use of improper and harmful methods to diagnose and treat
diseases and illness; claim to have divine remedies for abortion,
contraception, enhancement of physical satisfaction in the sexual act
for men and women, increasing their sexual powers, menstruation
problems, conceiving, etc.
In the disguise of offering motherhood by performing some divine act
or magical remedy keeping sexual relations with women who are unable
to conceive, deflowering them, keeping illicit sexual relations with
them.
This has now been removed and a short provision stating that claiming
to perform surgery by fingers or claiming to change the sex of a
foetus in the womb of a woman, has been put in place.
9) To spread threat amongst the people by way of invoking by mantras,
putting up a false show to make a person free from poisonous
infection, creating an impression that there is ghostly or divine
wrath causing physical injuries and stopping a person from taking
medical treatment and instead diverting him to practice aghori acts or
deeds.
The following provision in this regard has been included instead:
To create panic in the mind of public in general by way of invoking
ghosts by mantras, or threaten to invoke ghost, putting up a false
show to make a person free from poisonous infection by invoking
mantras or similar things, creating an impression that there is
ghostly or divine wrath causing physical injuries and preventing a
person from taking medical treatment and instead diverting him to
practice aghori acts or treatment, threatening a person with death or
causing physical pains or causing financial or psychological harm by
practicing or tend to practice mantra-tantra (chetuk), black magic or
aghori act.
10) In the name of jaran maran, karni or witchcraft (chetuk),
assaulting any person, parading him naked, excommunicating or
declaring any person as outcast or to expel a person from society or
put a ban on his activities, declaring such person as possessed by
evil spirit or incarnation.
To appear in the state of complete nakedness in the public place and
misbehaving with women by treating oneself as awaliya baba or baba
with divine power.
This has now been substituted by the following two acts:
By declaring that a particular person practices karni, black magic or
brings under the influence of ghost, or diminishes the milching
capacity of a cattle by mantra tantra, or create suspicion about such
person, or similarly accusing a particular person that he brings
misfortune to others or is responsible for spread of diseases and
thereby making the living of such person miserable, troublesome or
difficult, to declare a person as Satan or incarnation of Satan.
In the name of jaran maran, karni, or witchcraft assaulting any
person, parading him naked or put a ban on his daily activities.
11) To create an impression that insanity has been caused to a person
due to influence of ghost or divine power and to conduct mantra tantra
to cure him by way of sacrifice of hen or goat or any other animal.
Cheating people in the false hope of providing freedom from madness,
offering treatment to patients of serious or terminal illnesses by
offering stones with the powers of mantras, finger ring, bangle,
jogstick or thread, tait, ganda dora, etc, with such false hope.
This has now been replaced by: To create an impression that a mentally
retarded person is having super natural power and utilizing such
person for business or occupation.
The following provisions have also been removed:
Causing disturbance in society in general or creating panic or cause
intimidation by way of chanting Mantra or Tantrik action in the name
of exorcising a ghost or to free a person from the influence of ghost
or evil spirit.
By declaring that Devi, a spirit has influenced one’s body, create
disturbance by shouting and thereby spreading threat and disturbing
the general peace, declaring the names of the persons who has done
karni, etc, thereby making the living of such a person miserable of
difficult, to provide unscientific cure to psycho somatic conditions
such as giving angara, pendant, etc. to the people. Haunting a person
with an influence of ghost by practicing witchcraft which cannot be
proved with the help of modern science. Treating any disease with the
help of mantra tantra without authorized or recognized medical degree
under the law for the time being in force. Threatening a person with
death or causing physical pains or causing financial or psychological
harm by mantra tantra (witchcraft), Black Magic or by practicing
aghori treatment.
Trying to make believe burning of things, vanishing of things,
appearance of cross marks on the body, etc, as effect of bhanamati and
claiming treatment for the same. Claiming to perform miracle by
burying oneself in the ground. Under disguise of offering God’s
blessings, cheating people by way of accepting money or any other
belongings, by unlawful means. In the name of religion, Holy
Scriptures, God and Goddesses, display of false extraordinary powers,
indulgence in free sexual relations, adopting unethical and corrupt
means for cheating and duping people. Compelling women to enter into
prostitution and committing atrocities against them, by cheating them
under blind faith.
The following other provisions have been included:
With a view to receive blessings of super natural power to follow the
evil and aghori practices which cause danger to life or grievous hurt;
and to instigate, encourage or compel others to follow such practices.
Conclusion:
This is a noble effort of the legislators to put an end to the
atrocities being committed in the name of religion. Throwing people in
burning flames to cure people of Chicken Pocks, writing Ram on the
doors of the house to prevent the unholy ghost from entering the house
is becoming increasingly common these days. Although the intentions
are good, as has been seen in the past, not all legislations score
high marks where implementation is concerned. Some fail more so
because people refuse to follow them and because it appears to be
against the customs and traditions of the people. Literacy drives
would have been more appropriate for such a personal subject. No
committee has been put in place under this bill that would go around
educating people about the evil effects of these practices. Another
thing that comes across is that most of the acts named in the bill
would be offences in itself, the only difference is that their
commission under the guise of religious practice would henceforth also
be termed as an offence. Nevertheless, the success of the bill still
remains to be seen.
The author can be reached at :prit...@legalserviceindia.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/statl.htm
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submitted that the Part III of the constitution primarily carries the
common theme...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l392-Whether-Section-377-of-IPC-Constitutionally-Valid.html
Constitutionalism - changing paradigm: A constitution is a charter of
government deriving its whole authority from the governed....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l385-Constitutionalism---changing-paradigm.html
Doctrine of Frustration & Force-Majeure Clause: There is always a
sense of confusion when it pertains to Doctrine of Frustration....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l289-Doctrine-of-Frustration-&-Force-Majeure-Clause.html
Judicial Accountability & Separation Of Power: Judiciary Unlimited -
an unelected judiciary which is not accountable to anyone except its
own temperament has taken over significant powers....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l360-Judicial-Accountability-&-Separation-Of-Power.html
Article 370: Article-370 was created with a view that its existence
would be temporary. ...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l256-Article-370.html
Doctrine of pleasure and its proviso article 311 of Indian
Constitution: How these articles regulates the functioning of
government servants and what are the remedies available to
government..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l253-Doctrine-of-pleasure-and-its-proviso-article-311-of-Indian-Constitution.html
Right to Information in India: A democratic society survives by
accepting new ideas, experimenting with them, and rejecting them if
found ...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l188-Right-to-Information-in-India.html
Preamble- A Key To Open The Minds Of The Framers Of The Constitution:
The Preamble to a Constitution embodies the fundamental values and the
philosophy, on which the Constitution is based,
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/pre_mb.htm
Supreme Court the Final Pedestal of Justice: A law may be defined as
an assemblage of signs, declarative of a volition, conceived or
adopted by the sovereign in a stage...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/sc_c.htm
Constitution-Judicial Democracy: Judiciary is that branch of
government that interprets the laws or says what the laws mean &
democracy means a form of government...
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/thyg.htm
Doctrine Of Basic Structure (Constitutional Law): It is very difficult
to state a single and accurate definition of the term ?law? as it is a
general term and has different connotations for different people.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/thyg.htm
Racism - Society’s Cancer: Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and
institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on
their perceived or ascribed race....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/rac.htm
Dual Citizenship: The status of being a citizen of a specific nation
state, signifies a person’s legal status and carries with it numerous
consequences.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/dual_cet.htm
Writ Of Habeas Corpus For Securing Liberty: The concept of writ
essentially originated in England & to issue appropriate writ.....
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/wha.htm
Nature Of The Indian Constitution: Judicial Exposition: The
Constitution of India is not an end but a means to an end, not mere
democracy...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/c1onst.htm
Doctrine Of Constitutional Tort: Under the English Common Law the
maxim was "The King can do no wrong" and therefore, the King was not
liable for
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/dct.htm
Right to die- " To be or not to be?": The care of human life and
happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate
object
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/die.htm
Sustainable Development and Indian Judiciary:
Right to wholesome environment is a fundamental right protected under
Article 21 of the Constitution
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/jud.htm
Austianinan Concept Of Sovereignty: Austin places the notion of
sovereignty at the basis of his theory of law. Austin borrowed from
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/sover.htm
Legality Of Foreign Judgments: The article/paper aims to study the
binding nature of the foreign judgments i.e. judgments...
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/fore.htm
Constitutional Position of Jammu and Kashmir: Under Part XXI of the
Constitution of India, which deals with Temporary, Transitionalr ..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l281-Constitutional-Position-of-Jammu-and-Kashmir.html
Supreme Court is the final Pedestal for justice: the supreme is the
final and the highest authority for which a person ca go..
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l386-Supreme-Court-is-the-final-Pedestal-for-justice.html
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/constitution/const_home.htm
Written By : Deepika Bansal - Student Law
The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the land, which is
fundamental in the governance of India. The Constitution of India was
enacted on 26th November, 1949 and was adopted on 26th January, 1950.
The Draftsmen of the Indian Constitution took inspiration from
Constitutions all over the world and incorporated their attributes
into the Indian Constitution. For example Part III on Fundamental
Rights is partly derived from the American Constitution and Part 1V on
Directive Principles of State Policy from the Irish Constitution.
A Constitution should be a dynamic document. It should be able to
adapt itself to the changing needs of the society. Sometimes under the
impact of new powerful social and economic forces, the pattern of
government will require major changes. Keeping this factor in mind the
Draftsmen of the Indian Constitution incorporated Article 368 in the
Constitution which dealt with the procedure of amendment. Due to
Article 368 the Indian Constitution can neither be called rigid nor
flexible but in fact it is partly rigid and partly flexible. Articles
of the Indian Constitution can be amended by a simple majority in the
Parliament (Second Schedule, Article 100(3), 105, 11, 124, 135, 81,
137), or by special majority that is majority of the total membership
of each house and by majority of not less than two thirds of the
members of each house present and voting , or by Ratification by the
State Legislatures after special majority (Article 57, 73, 162,
Chapter 1V of Part V, Chapter V of P!
art V1, Seventh Schedule, representation of the State in Parliament
and provisions dealing with amendment of the Constitution).
During the 50 years of the Constitution, more than 80 amendments have
taken place. The founding fathers of the Indian constitution who
granted more rights to the people without balancing them with their
duties, perhaps did not foresee the emergence of present political
environment, wherein the political players of various segments in the
country are more interested in fulfilling their individual aspirations
than the aspirations of the people. There is an element of truth in
this
criticism. The fact is that the ease in the amending process of the
Indian Constitution is due to the one party dominance both at the
Centre and the State .Yet, on close examination it will be seen that
there were compelling circumstances which led to the constitutional
amendments. While some amendments were a natural product of the
eventual evolution of the new political system established under the
Constitution in 1950, there were others necessitated by practical
difficulties. The first amendment! took place in June, 1950.
The question whether Fundamental Rights can be amended under Article
368 came for consideration of the Supreme Court in Shankari Prasad v.
Union of India . It challenged the validity of the 1st amendent to the
Constitution. In this case it was held that a constitution amendment
will also be held valid even it abridges or takes away any of the
fundamental rights. A similar decision was given my the honble Supreme
Court in Sajjan Singh v. State of Rajasthan which challenged the
validity of the 17th amendent. In Golaknath v. State of Punjab , the
validity of the Constitution (17th Amendment) Act, 1964 was again
challenged, which inserted certain State Acts in Ninth Schedule. The
Supreme Court in its landmark decision overruled the decision given in
the Shankari Prasads and Sajjan Singhs case. It held that the
Parliament had no power from the date of this decision to amend Part
III of the Constitution so as to take away or abridge the Fundamental
rights. Eleven judges participated in this decision with the ratio
being 6 : 5. The judges were worried about the numerous amendments
made to abridge the fundamental rights since 1950. It apprehended that
if the courts were to hold that the Parliament had power to take away
fundamental rights, a time might come when these rights are completely
eroded. The Chief Justice applied the doctrine of Prospective
Overruling and held that this decision will have only prospective
operation and, therefore, the 1st, 4th and 17th amendment will conti!
nue to be valid.
It means that all cases decided before the Golaknaths case shall
remain valid. In order to remove difficulties created by Golaknaths
decision parliament enacted the 24th Amendment.
The amendment has made the following amendments :
(1) it added a new clause (4) to Article 13 which provides that
nothing in this Article shall apply to any amendment of this
constitution made under Article 368 .
(2) it submitted a new heading to Article 368 power of Parliament to
amend the Constitution and Procedure therefore. Instead of Procedure
for amendment of the Constitution.
(3) It inserted a new sub section (1) in Article 368 which provides
that notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, Parliament may, in
exercise of its constituent power may amend by way of addition,
variation, or repeal any provision of this Constitution in accordance
with the procedure laid down in the Article. Thus the 24th amendment
restored the amending power of the Parliament. The validity of the
24th amendment was challenged in the case of Keshavnand Bharati v.
State of Kerala . It challenged the validity of the Kerala Reforms
Act, 1963. but during the pendency of the petition the Kerala Act was
placed in the Ninth Schedule by the 29th Amendment. The question
involved was the extent of the amending power conferred by Article 368
of the Constitution. A Special bench of 13 judges was constituted to
hear the case. The Court by majority overruled the Golaknaths case
which denied Parliament the power to amend fundamental rights of
citizens. It held that the 24th amendment merely made explicit which
was implicit in the unamended Article 368. The Court held that under
the Article 368 Parliament is not empowered to amend the basic
structure or framework of the Constitution. After the decisions of the
Supreme Court in Keshavnand Bharati and Indira Gandhi cases the
Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976, was passed which added two
new clauses , namely, clauses (4) provided that no constitutional
amendment (including the provision of Part III) or purporting to have
been made under Article 368 whether before or after the commencement
of the Constitution (42nd Amendment) Act, 1976 shall be called in any
court on any ground. Clause (5) removed any doubts about the scope of
the amending power. It declared that there shall be no limitation
whatever on the constituent power of Parliament to amend by way of
addition ,variation or repeal of the provisions of the Constitution
under this Article. Thus by inserting this clause it was made clear
that the basic structure of the Constitution could be amended. In
Minerva Mills v. Union of India the Supreme Court by 4 to 1 majority
struck down clauses (4) and (5) of Article 368 inserted by the 42nd
amendment, on the ground that these clauses destroyed the essential
feature of the basic structure of the Constitution. Since these
clauses removed all limitations on the amending power and thereby!
conferred an unlimited amending power, it was destructive of the basic
structure of the Constitution. The judgment of the Supreme Court thus
makes it clear that the Constitution not the Parliament is supreme in
India. The Parliament owes its existence to the Constitution and it
cannot take priority over the Constitution. Therefore this landmark
decision ended the long controversy between the Courts and the
Executive.
The amendment process was incorporated in the Constitution by the
Draftsmen of the Constitution to help India adapt itself to the
changing circumstances. Society is never stagnant. It is ever-
changing. Therefore the amending procedure was made partly flexible so
as to make it easy for the Legislature. But the Parliament started
thinking that it has unlimited amending power. It assumed itself to be
the supreme law when the Constitution is the supreme law of the land.
The Parliament started making amendments which were destroying the
basic structure of the Indian Constitution. But after the landmark
decisions of Keshavnand Bharati and Minerva Mills the Court by its
power of judicial review has curtailed the amending power of the
Parliament. The amendments made by the Parliament can no more affect
the basic structure of the Constitution. But, looking at the ease with
amendments can take place depending on the whims and fancies of the
ruling government and the POLITICS IN THE POLITICS OF INDIA we cannot
say how long the rights of the citizens are safe and unobstructed.
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/pol.htm
Written By : Sachin Mehta
On 26 March 2002, the controversial anti-terror law, the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (POTA) was passed with 425 votes for the Act and 296
against, after a 10-hour debate in the parliament. The intensity of
the effects of the bill could be seen very clearly by the rejection of
the bill by the upper house of the Indian Parliament leading to a
Joint Session of Parliament, a measure that had taken place only the
third time in the past. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs justified
the initial Ordinance after the September 11,2001 terror attacks by
claiming an upsurge of terrorist activities, intensification of cross
border terrorism, and insurgent groups in different parts of the
country, despite the fact that the state of Jammu and Kashmir
witnessed a decrease in the terrorist incidents taking place in that
state.
POTA, though now has been repealed, lives as an example showing the
bold step taken by India in its fight against terrorism. The POTA had
during its days and even after its downfall, has made India a silent
spectator to serous ongoing debates between political parties, the
media, social activists and NGOs on certain provisions seen to be
draconian, within POTA.
Two years from the enactment of the POTA, a number of issues as to the
possibilities of misuse of the provisions of the anti terror law
including the targeting of minorities and using it against political
opponents had arisen. In Gujarat, all except one of the POTA detainees
are from the Muslim minority and in Tamil Nadu and UP too the
ostensible anti-terror law has been abused to book, without lucidity
and accountability, political opponents and underprivileged
communities respectively.
A decade long experience with a previous national anti-terror law, the
infamous Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Prevention (TADA) that
was in force between 1985-1995 gives legitimacy to the fear that the
misuse of such laws evoke among human rights activists, political
dissenters and minorities. Under the TADA, the conviction rate was
less than 1%, despite the fact that the confessions made to the
police, even though being given under torture, were admissible as
evidence.
The developments after the enactment of the POTA, including the
responses received by the POTA review committee show that the POTA is
worse then TADA. POTA provides for criminal liability for mere
association or communication with suspected terrorists without the
possession of criminal intent (Section 3(5) of the POTA). Section 4 of
POTA is similar to Section 5 of TADA in laying out a legal presumption
that if a person is found in unauthorized possession of arms in a
notified area, he/she is automatically linked with terrorist activity.
Section 48(2) provides for the option of pre-trial police detention
for up to 180 days. As under the TADA, where 98% of the cases never
reached the trial stage, this Section 48(2) could also be misused by
the police by keeping an accused for long periods of detention without
charge or trial. Special courts for trials are established under POTA
which are given the discretion to hold trials in non-public places,
like prisons, and to withhold ! trial records from public scrutiny,
thus preventing the independent monitoring of special court sessions.
Section 32 provides that confessions made to police officers are to be
admissible in trial, which has increased the possibility of coercion
and torture in securing confessions.
The provisions contained under the POTA were mostly contained in
existing laws, except those, which were contained in the Criminal
Procedure Code, the Indian Penal Code, the Evidence Act or the
Constitution of India. The Act effectively undermines the fundamental
tenet of the criminal justice system by putting the burden of proof on
the accused. But the Act also had some provisions, which were not
attacked for being against human rights. These provisions stated that
Confessions must be recorded within 48 hours before a magistrate, who
will send the accused for a medical examination if there is a
complaint of torture. Further a legal representative of the accused
can be present for part of the interrogation. Moreover police officers
can be prosecuted for abusing their authority. The POTA also provided
that victims could be paid compensation.
But these provisions could not act as an effective shield to protect
the Act from the criticism it received for its other provisions
abusing human rights. Those opposed to POTA had argued that existing
laws were sufficient to deal with terrorism. Within a year POTA had
already built up a dubious record and in some states it was already
dreaded as its predecessor. State governments, including opposition-
ruled ones, had not hesitated to use POTA to fix political opponents.
At the Peoples Tribunal on POTA and Other Security Legislation at the
Press Club in New Delhi on July 16,2004 a 629-page report based on
depositions made before the Tribunal by victims and their families
from ten states in India, as well as expert depositions by lawyers and
activists, showed that such security legislations grant sweeping
powers to authorities, which has led to misuse of these powers and
severe restriction of basic rights. At the same time, such
legislations do not address the political, social and economic roots
of the problem.
The tribunal concluded that the review of victim and expert testimony
showed that the misuse of the Act is inseparable from its normal use.
The tribunal stated that the statute meant to terrorise not so much
the terrorists as ordinary civiliansand particularly the poor and
disadvantaged such as dalits, religious minorities, adivasis, and
working people. Thus the tribunal recommended that POTA be repealed
and that too in such a manner that the POTA charges are deleted from
all existing investigations and trials. But, if the state so desires,
these may continue under other laws and charges.
Finally on September 17, 2004 the Union Cabinet in keeping with the
UPA government's Common Minimum Programme, approved ordinances to
repeal the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002 (POTA) and
amend the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Home Minister
Shivraj Patil said that the government would provide a sunset period
of one year during which all cases pertaining to POTA would be
reviewed by the Central POTA Review Committee. He added, There would
be no arrests made after the ordinance is promulgated. To fill the
lacuna that have been created due to the repeal of the Act, adequate
amendments were being brought to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act, 1967 to define a terrorist act and provide for banning of
terrorist organisations and their support systems, including funding
of terrorism, attachment and forfeiture of proceeds of terrorism, etc.
All terrorist organisations banned under POTA would continue to remain
banned, under the Unlawful Activities Act, after the repeal of the
Act. Some of the clauses contained in POTA, which will be completely
dropped in the amended Unlawful Activities Act, are: the onus on the
accused to prove his innocence, compulsory denial of bail to accused
and admission as evidence in the court of law the confession made by
the accused before the police officer.
The BJP government has slammed the Cabinet decision to repeal POTA as
politically motivated and compromising of the essentials of national
security. BJP spokesperson and former Law Minister Arun Jaitley said
if the amendments brought out under the existing laws after the repeal
of POTA are found to be inadequate, the BJP-ruled states would be
asked to come out with their own legislations filling up the lacuna.
But till such a step is taken many innocent victims of the POTA can
take a sign of relief and thank their stars that the reign of terror
under the stringent anti terror law POTA has come to an end.
http://www.legalservicesindia.com/articles/pota.htm
Written By : Sandeep Pathak, III year B.B.A.LL.B. (Hons.) National Law
University, Jodhpur
Olga Tellis v. Bombay Municipal Corporation (herein after referred as
Olga Tellis) was decided in 1985 by the five Judges Bench of the
Supreme Court of India. The Hon'ble bench comprised of C.J., Y.V.
Chandrachud, J., A.V. Varadarajan, J., O. Chinnappa Reddy, J., S.
Murtaza Fazal Ali and J., V.D. Tulzapurkar. This case came before the
Supreme Court as a writ petition by persons who live on pavements and
in slums in the city of Bombay. It was prayed by the petitioners to
allow them to stay on the pavements against their order of eviction.
The majority judgment (concurring by all the five Judges) was
delivered by Hon'ble Chief Justice Y.V.Chandrachud.
Factual Score of Olga Tellis
The writ petitions were filed by the slum dwellers and pavement
dwellers before the Supreme Court of India. This class of people
constituted nearly half the population of the city of Bombay. The
respondents - State of Maharashtra and Bombay Municipal Corporation
took a decision that all pavement dwellers and the slum or bust
dwellers in the city of Bombay will be evicted forcibly and deported
to their respective places of origin or removed to places outside the
city of Bombay section 314 of the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act,
1888. Pursuant to that decision, the pavement dwellings of some of the
petitioners were in fact demolished by the Bombay Municipal
Corporation. The petitioners challenge the order of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation of eviction as being unreasonable and unjust
without providing with alternative living facility. The petitioners
claimed right to livelihood as a part of their right under Article 21
of the Constitution that is right to life under Article 32. Moreover,
petitioners contended that sections 312, 313 and 314 of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation Act are invalid as violating Articles 14, 19 and
21.
Issues Considered by the Apex Court
1. That the order for the eviction of the pavement is the infringement
of their right to livelihood and in turn the encroachment over their
right guaranteed under article 21 of the Constitution.
2. That the impugned action of the State Government and the Bombay
Municipal Corporation is violative of the provisions contained in
Article 19(1) (3), 19(1) (g) and 21 of the Constitution.
3. That the procedure prescribed by section 314 of the Bombay
Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 for the removal of encroachments from
pavements is arbitrary and unreasonable.
Decision of Supreme Court
The decision of the Supreme Court in this case was based on the
humanistic approach of the judges and the Apex Court stepped into the
activist role. The Hon'ble Supreme Court held that the slum dwellers
must get the alternative shelter if they are evicted from the
pavements.Although, the eviction orders were held to be valid under
article 14 and 19 of the Constitution. Infact, the right to life was
once again enlarged to engulf the right to livelihood as being a part
of liberty of an individual. The decision of the Court also focused on
the concept of the welfare state and reliance though not expressly but
impliedly was placed on the Directive Principles of the State Policies
under the Constitution.
Rationale, Reason and Jurisprudence of Olga Tellis
The decision of this case essentially falls back on the premise of the
positivism. The judgment delivered by C.J., YV.Chandrachud is solely
based on the concept of the analytical positivism of Britain. The
letter of law was considered to be paramount. The Supreme Court
focused on both the premises, that is, reformation and superiority of
the law. In Para 28, Justice Chandrachud took the approach propounded
by Hans Kelson, where he considers constitution as a highest norm or
the Grundnorm. According to Kelson, Grundnorm is the basic norm which
determines the content and gives validity to other norms derived from
it. On this basis, Justice Chandrachud, observes in Para 28 that,
There can be no estoppel against the Constitution. The Constitution is
not only the paramount law of the land but, it is the source and
sustenance of all laws. Its provisions are conceived in public
interest and are intended to serve public purpose.
Furthermore, it is the theory of the "Father of the English
Jurisprudence" - Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) that was reiterated by
the Apex Court in true sense. Bentham talked about the reform of the
substantive law by the way of reforming the structure of law.
1. Law in the Reformative Process
This case can be said to be a decision that leads to the reformation
of the substantive law. Bentham divided the jurisprudence into two
parts, that is, expositorial (what law is) and censorial (what law
ought to be) .Olga Tellis has shifted the focus from censorial
jurisprudence to the expositorial jurisprudence by enlarging the scope
of article 21 of the Constitution and including right to livelihood
and right to shelter as a part of right to life. Justice Chandrachud
in Para 32 of his judgment states,
An equally important facet of that right is the right to livelihood
because, no person can live without the means of living, that is, the
means of livelihood. If the right to livelihood is not treated as a
part of the constitutional right to life, the easiest way of depriving
a person of his right to life would be to deprive him of his means of
livelihood to the point of abrogation.
This view of the Hon'ble Court clearly indicates the follow up of the
Bentam's philosophy of reforming the law through its structure. The
law as defined by Bentham is, an assemblage of signs, declarative of
violation, conceived or adopted by the sovereign in a state,
concerning the conduct to be observed in a certain case by a certain
person or class of persons, who in the case in question are or are
supposed to be subject to his power .Therefore, this although focuses
on the aspect that law is certain and laid down that is, positum, but
at the same time this definition is flexible enough to be cover a set
of objectives so intimately allied and to which there would be such
continual occasion to apply the same proposition . Therefore in the
present case when Justice Chandrachud states that ,"no person can live
without means of living" ,he is applying the Bentamite jurisprudence
to reform the law laid down under article 21 and at the same time also
utilizing the flexibility of his definition of law to equate the
intimately allied occasions of life, liberty and livelihood.
2. Hedonist Utilitarianism
Olga Tellis brought the concept of Benthamite philosophy of the
Hedonist Utilitarianism. Justice Chandrachud in Para 1 states that the
petitioners form almost half the population of the city. The fact of
such a large number of pavement dwellers in question caused the
decision to fall in their favour.The principle of utility by Bentham
stated that, out of various possibilities in a given case, one must
choose that option that gives the greatest happiness to the greatest
number .
The Bombay Municipal Corporation Act, 1888 laid down the law relating
to the pavement dwellers under section 312-314. It stated many
prohibitions on the housing and depositions of various items on the
pavements by the dwellers. Justice Chandrachud while deciding this
case entirely followed the PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY as given by Bentham
and held that the end aim of the legislator should be HAPPINESS of the
people and the GENERAL UTILITY must be the guiding principle. Apex
Court by making a balance sheet between the happiness or the utility
of the slum dwellers with the aim and object of the particular
legislation came to a conclusion that justice must be done only by
giving the redressal to the poor and needy pavement dwellers. Justice
Chandarchud in Para 49 states that,
Hearing to be given to trespassers who have encroached on public
properties? To persons who commit crime? There is no doubt that the
petitioners are using pavements and other public properties for an
unauthorised purpose. But, their intention or object in doing so is
not to "commit an offence or intimidate, insult or annoy any person",
which is the gist of the offence of 'Criminal trespass' under Section
441 of the Penal Code. They manage to find a habitat in places which
are mostly filthy or marshy, out of sheet helplessness. It is not as
if they have a free choice to exercise as to whether to commit an
encroachment and if so, where. The encroachments committed by these
persons are involuntary acts in the sense that those acts are
compelled by inevitable circumstances and are not guided by choice.
Here, as elsewhere in the law of Torts, a balance has to be struck
between competing sets of values.....
Therefore, the Apex Court had drawn a balance sheet and analysed the
Happiness and utility of the petitioners and the respondents. The
Court relied upon the Pelican book in Para 56 and states,
Malnourished babies, wasted mothers, emaciated corpses in the streets
of Asia have definite and definable reasons for existing. Hunger may
have been the human race's constant companion, and 'the poor may
always be with us', but in the twentieth century, one cannot take this
fatalistic view of the destiny of millions of fellow creatures. Their
condition is not inevitable but is caused by identifiable forces
within the province of rational human control.
In the above-mentioned finding by the Hon'ble Supreme Court it is
evidently clear that the reliance was placed on the "destiny of
millions of fellow creatures". It signifies the application of the
Bentham principle of utility in the outcome of the judgment of Olga
Tellis.
Bentham's justification of his utilitarianism is founded upon four
propositions. These are as follows,
1. All agents (as agents) seek a personal good.
2. Ultimately, all self-conscious agents aim at the same goal
(irrespective of the particular context in which the particular action
is performed).
3. That same ultimate goal is always the maximization of personal
pleasure (and the avoidance of personal pain).
4. The proper role of the state is to promote the greatest aggregate
pleasure within its community.
The four commands of utility for civic society in the Bentham's
Utilitarianism, upon which the aggregate happiness depends are
security, subsistence, abundance and equality. Out of the above,
security was the most important. Subsistence, abundance and equality,
however, all depended, in Bentham's view, on the paramount directive
of security. The decision given by the Supreme Court heavily relies on
the entire four propositions given by Bentham (above-mentioned).
Justice Chandrachud in the Para 2 of the judgment lays down the
emphasis on the slum dwellers right to life and reside in any part of
the country with dignity as other citizens of the nation. He stated
that an individual can live without security but cannot live without
"subsistence" the Supreme Court in the instant case holding that the
Right to livelihood and shelter as being an important component of the
Right to Life again establishes a nexus between subsistence and right
to livelihood once again confirming the abidance of the Benthamite
principle of utility. Moreover when the court established that if the
petitioners were evicted from their dwellings, they would be deprived
of their livelihood.
The due recognition is given to the fact that the number of the
pavement dwellers was huge and it constituted almost half of the
city's population. Therefore, the test greatest aggregate happiness
for the greatest number is also fulfilled. According to Jullias
Stone , by happiness of the community Bentham meant simply the
aggregate of individual surpluses of pleasure over pain. The greatest
happiness of the greatest number states that the pleasure and the
pains of the society are to be weighed at same plane. In this case
also the pleasure of the society was upheld and also the pain of
another section of the society (slum dwellers) was brought down.
Then Bentham's principle of utility becomes the principle that we are
always to act in such a way as to give as many people as possible as
much as possible of whatever it is that they want. I think that the
interpretation in Olga Tellis preserves the essence of Bentham's
doctrine, and it has the advantage of making it independent of any
special psychological theory.
Conclusion
To conclude, the whole Benthamite principle applied by Justice
Chandrachud on behalf of all the brother Justices can be summarized in
one sentence stated in Para 46 of the judgment, Human compassion
(happiness) must soften the rough edges of justice in all situations.
Thus, it can be concluded the Supreme Court adopted the Utilitarian
Principle in terms of the pleasure and pain calculus or the hedonistic
calculus of Jermy Betham.
Authored by Sandeep Pathak and can be reached at :
pathaksa...@rediffmail.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/case.htm
"Uniform Civil Code"
Written By : Gauri Kulkarni - Vth year law - Symbiosis Society's law
college, Pune
Introduction:
The mere three words and the nation breaks into hysterical jubilation
and frantic wailing. These three words are enough to divide the nation
into two categories - politically, socially and religiously.
Politically, the nation is divided as BJP, which propagates
implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (hereinafter referred to as
the UCC) and the non BJP including the Congress party, Samajwadi
party, who are against the implementation of the UCC. Socially, the
intelligentsia of the country, who analyse logically the pros and cons
of the UCC and the illiterate who have no opinion of their own and
succumb to the political pressure are at opposite poles. And,
religiously, there is a dangerous widening schism between the majority
Hindus and the minority community mostly the Muslims. Being a law
student, I would like to consider the legal implications of UCC.
I strongly support the crusade for the implementation of UCC and
homogenising the personal laws. I support it, not because of any bias,
but because it is the need of the hour. It is high time that India had
a uniform law dealing with marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance
and maintenance.
Indian case law:
Recently, the Supreme Court of India again called for a UCC. The
Supreme Court first directed the Parliament to frame a UCC in the year
1985 in the case of Mohammad Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum[1],
popularly known as the Shah Bano case. In this case, a penurious
Muslim woman claimed for maintenance from her husband under Section
125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure[2] after she was given triple
talaq from him. The Supreme Court held that the Muslim woman have a
right to get maintenance from her husband under Section 125. The Court
also held that Article 44[3] of the Constitution has remained a dead
letter. The then Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud observed
that,
"A common civil code will help the cause of national integration by
removing disparate loyalties to law which have conflicting ideologies"
After this decision, nationwide discussions, meetings, and agitation
were held. The then Rajiv Gandhi led Government overturned the Shah
Bano case decision by way of Muslim Women (Right to Protection on
Divorce) Act, 1986 which curtailed the right of a Muslim woman for
maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The
explanation given for implementing this Act was that the Supreme Court
had merely made an observation for enacting the UCC, not binding on
the government or the Parliament and that there should be no
interference with the personal laws unless the demand comes from
within.
The second instance in which the Supreme Court again directed the
government of Article 44 was in the case of Sarla Mudgal v. Union of
India[4]. In this case, the question was whether a Hindu husband,
married under the Hindu law, by embracing Islam, can solemnise second
marriage The Court held that a Hindu marriage solemnised under the
Hindu law can only be dissolved on any of the grounds specified under
the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Conversion to Islam and Marrying again
would not, by itself, dissolve the Hindu marriage under the Act. And,
thus, a second marriage solemnised after converting to Islam would be
an offence under Section 494[5] of the Indian Penal Code.
Justice Kuldip Singh also opined that Article 44 has to be retrieved
from the cold storage where it is lying since 1949. The Hon’ble
Justice referred to the codification of the Hindu personal law and
held,
"Where more then 80 percent of the citizens have already been brought
under the codified personal law there is no justification whatsoever
to keep in abeyance, any more, the introduction of the ‘uniform civil
code’ for all the citizens in the territory of India."
The Supreme Court’s latest reminder to the government of its
Constitutional obligations to enact a UCC came in July 2003[6] when a
Christian priest knocked the doors of the Court challenging the
Constitutional validity of Section 118[7] of the Indian Succession
Act. The priest from Kerala, John Vallamatton filed a writ petition in
the year 1997 stating that Section 118 of the said Act was
discriminatory against the Christians as it impose unreasonable
restrictions on their donation of property for religious or charitable
purpose by will. The bench comprising of Chief Justice of India V.N.
Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice A.R. Lakshamanan struck down the
Section declaring it to be unconstitutional. Chief Justice Khare
stated that,
"We would like to State that Article 44 provides that the State shall
endeavour to secure for all citizens a uniform civil code throughout
the territory of India It is a matter of great regrets that Article 44
of the Constitution has not been given effect to. Parliament is still
to step in for framing a common civil code in the country. A common
civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing the
contradictions based on ideologies."
Thus, as seen above, the apex court has on several instances directed
the government to realise the directive principle enshrined in our
Constitution and the urgency to do so can be inferred from the same.
Secularism v/s UCC:
The spine of controversy revolving around UCC has been secularism and
the freedom of religion enumerated in the Constitution of India. The
preamble of the Constitution states that India is a "secular
democratic republic" This means that there is no State religion. A
secular State shall not discriminate against anyone on the ground of
religion. A State is only concerned with the relation between man and
man. It is not concerned with the relation of man with God. It does
not mean allowing all religions to be practiced. It means that
religion should not interfere with the mundane life of an individual.
In S.R. Bommai v. Union of India[8], as per Justice Jeevan Reddy, it
was held that religion is the matter of individual faith and cannot be
mixed with secular activities. Secular activities can be regulated by
the State by enacting a law.
In India, there exist a concept of "positive secularism" as
distinguished from doctrine of secularism accepted by America and some
European states i.e. there is a wall of separation between religion
and State. In India, positive secularism separates spiritualism with
individual faith. The reason is that America and the European
countries went through the stages of renaissance, reformation and
enlightenment and thus they can enact a law stating that State shall
not interfere with religion. On the contrary, India has not gone
through these stages and thus the responsibility lies on the State to
interfere in the matters of religion so as to remove the impediments
in the governance of the State.
Articles 25[9] and 26[10] guarantee right to freedom of religion.
Article 25 guarantees to every person the freedom of conscience and
the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. But this right
is subject to public order, morality and health and to the other
provisions of Part III of the Constitution. Article 25 also empowers
the State to regulate or restrict any economic, financial, political
or other secular activity, which may be associated with religious
practice and also to provide for social welfare and reforms. The
protection of Articles 25 and 26 is not limited to matters of doctrine
of belief. It extends to acts done in pursuance of religion and,
therefore, contains a guarantee for ritual and observations,
ceremonies and modes of worship, which are the integral parts of
religion.[11]
UCC is not opposed to secularism or will not violate Article 25 and
26. Article 44 is based on the concept that there is no necessary
connection between religion and personal law in a civilised society.
Marriage, succession and like matters are of secular nature and,
therefore, law can regulate them. No religion permits deliberate
distortion[12]. The UCC will not and shall not result in interference
of one’s religious beliefs relating, mainly to maintenance, succession
and inheritance. This means that under the UCC a Hindu will not be
compelled to perform a nikah or a Muslim be forced to carry out
saptapadi. But in matters of inheritance, right to property,
maintenance and succession, there will be a common law.
Justice Khare, in the recent case[13], said,
"It is no matter of doubt that marriage, succession and the like
matters of secular character cannot be brought within the guarantee
enshrined under Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution."
The Chief Justice also cautioned that any legislations which brought
succession and like matters of secular character within the ambit of
Articles 25 and 26 is a suspect legislation. Article 25 confers right
to practice and profess religion, while Article 44 divests religion
from social relations and personal law.
The whole debate can be summed up by the judgement given by Justice
R.M. Sahai. He said,
"Ours is a secular democratic republic. Freedom of religion is the
core of our culture. Even the slightest of deviation shakes the social
fibre. But religious practices, violative of human rights and dignity
and sacerdotal suffocation of essentially civil and material freedoms
are not autonomy but oppression. Therefore, a unified code is
imperative, both, for protection of the oppressed and for promotion of
national unity and solidarity."[14]
Codification:
The biggest obstacle in implementing the UCC, apart from obtaining a
consensus, is the drafting. Should UCC be a blend of all the personal
laws or should it be a new law adhering to the constitutional mandate?
There is a lot of literature churned out on UCC but there is no model
law drafted. Many think that under the guise of UCC, the Hindu law
will be imposed on all. The possibility of UCC being only a repackaged
Hindu law was ruled out by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he
said that there will be a new code based on gender equality and
comprising the best elements in all the personal laws.
The UCC should carve a balance between protection of fundamental
rights and religious dogmas of individuals. It should be a code, which
is just and proper according to a man of ordinary prudence, without
any bias with regards to religious or political considerations.
Here is an overview of the essentials of the UCC:
Marriage and divorce:
The personal laws of each religion contain different essentials of a
valid marriage. The new code should have the basic essentials of valid
marriage which shall include:
(i) The new code should impose monogamy banning multiple marriages
under any religion. Polygamy discriminates against the women and
violates their basic human rights. Thus, monogamy should be imposed,
not because it is the Hindu law, but because it adheres to Article 21
of the Constitution[15] and basic human values.
(ii) The minimum age limit for a male should be 21 years and for a
female should be 18 years. This would help in curbing child marriages.
Punishment should be prescribed for any person violating this
provision. Also, punishment for other persons involved in such an act,
like the relatives, should be prescribed which would have a deterrent
effect on the society.
(iii) Registration of marriage should be made compulsory. A valid
marriage will be said to have solemnised when the man and the woman
sign their declaration of eligibility before a registrar. This will do
away with all the confusion regarding the validity of the marriage.
(iv) The grounds and procedure for divorce should be specifically laid
down. The grounds enumerated in the code should be reasonable and the
procedure prescribed should be according to the principles of natural
justice. Also, there should be a provision for divorce by mutual
consent.
Succession and inheritance: This area throws up even more intractable
problems. In Hindu law, there is a distinction between a joint family
property and self acquired property which is not so under the Muslim
law. The Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), formed under the Hindu law, run
businesses and own agricultural lands. Under the UCC, this institution
of HUF, peculiar to the Hindus, has to be abolished. There are also
fetters imposed on the extent to which one can bequeath property by
will under the Muslim law. Considering all these, the UCC should
include:
(i) Equal shares to son and daughter from the property of the father,
whether self acquired or joint family property. There should be no
discrimination based on sex in the matters of inheritance. The
provisions of the Hindu Succession (Maharashtra Amendment) Act, 1994
can be taken as guiding principles wherein the daughter of a
coparcener shall by birth become the coparcener in her own right in
the same manner as a son and have the same rights in the coparcenary
property as she would have had if she had been a son, inclusive the
right to claim by survivorship and shall be subject to same
liabilities and disabilities as the son.
(ii) Provisions for inheritance of the property of mother, which she
has self acquired or acquired through her father or relatives.
(iii) The provisions relating to will should be in consonance with the
principles of equity. There should be no limitations imposed on the
extent to which the property can be bequeathed, the persons to whom
such property can be bequeath and the donation of the property by will
for religious and charitable purpose.
(iv) The essentials of valid will, the procedure for registration and
execution of the will should be provided for.
(v) Provisions for gifts should not contain any limitations, though
essential of valid gift and gift deed should be specified.
Maintenance: The maintenance laws for the Hindus and Muslims are very
different. Apart from personal laws, a non-Muslim woman can claim
maintenance under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure. A Muslim
woman can claim maintenance under the Muslim Women (Right to
Protection on Divorce) Act, 1986. Apart from maintenance of wife,
there are also provisions for maintenance of mother, father, son and
unmarried daughter under the Hindu law. The UCC should contain the
following with regards to maintenance:
(i) A husband should maintain the wife during the marriage and also
after they have divorced till the wife remarries.
(ii) The amount of alimony should be decided on basis of the income of
the husband, the status and the lifestyle of the wife.
(iii) The son and daughter should be equally responsible to maintain
the parents. The reason for this being that if she claims equal share
of the property of her parents, she should share the duty to maintain
her parents equally.
(iv) The parents should maintain their children - son till he is
capable of earning on his own and daughter, till she gets married.
Thus based on these fundamental principles, an unbiased and fair UCC
can be framed which will be in consonance with the Constitution.
Working of UCC and the Indian scenario:
How foolproof will be the UCC? Will there be more abuse and less
obedience of UCC? Will UCC have negative effect on the society? Such
questions are bound to be raised after the implementation of the UCC.
All laws are formulated to be obeyed, but they are abused. This
doesnot mean that law should not be implemented. Similarly, there is a
great possibility of the UCC being abused, but this should not eschew
the Parliament from enacting the UCC; the social welfare and benefits
resulting from the implementation of UCC are far greater.
While explaining the reason for including Article 44 in the Directives
Principles, it was observed,
"When you want to consolidate a community, you have to take into
consideration the benefits which may accrue to the whole community and
not to the customs of a part of it. If you look at the countries in
Europe, which have a Civil Code, everyone who goes there forms a part
of the world and every minority has to submit to that Civil Code. It
is not felt to be tyrannical to the minorities."[16]
Some legal experts argue that progressive law is welcomed but a
suitable atmosphere must be created in which all sections feel secure
enough to sit together and cull out the most progressive of their
personal laws. But this can be answered by an example of Hindu law.
When the Hindu Code Bill, which covers Buddhist, Sikhs, Jains as well
as different religious denominations of Hindus, was notified, there
was a lot of protest. And the then Law Minister, Dr. Ambedkar, had
said that for India’s unity, the country needs a codified law. In a
similar fashion, the UCC can be implemented, which will cover all the
religions, whether major or minor, practiced in India and any person
who comes to India has to abide by the Code.
Not many know that a UCC exists in the small state of Goa accepted by
all communities. The Goa Civil Code collectively called Family Laws,
was framed and enforced by the Portuguese colonial rulers through
various legislations in the 19th and 20th centuries. After the
liberation of Goa in 1961, the Indian State scrapped all the colonial
laws and extended the central laws to the territory but made the
exception of retaining the Family Laws because all the communities in
Goa wanted it. The most significant provision in this law is the pre
nuptial Public Deed regarding the disposal of immovable and movable
property in the event of divorce or death. During matrimony, both
parents have a common right over the estate, but on dissolution, the
property has to be divided equally; son and daughters have the equal
right on the property. As the procedure involves compulsory
registration of marriage, this effectively checks child and bigamous
marriage.
The philosophy behind the Portuguese Civil Code was to strengthen the
family as the backbone of society by inculcating a spirit of tolerance
between husband and wife and providing for inbuilt safeguard against
injustice by one spouse against the other.
Commenting that the dream of a UCC in the country finds its
realisation in Goa, former Chief Justice of India Y.V. Chandrachud had
once expressed hope that it would one day "awaken the rest of bigoted
India."[17]
Conclusion:
The section of the nation against the implementation of UCC contends
that in ideal times, in an ideal State, a UCC would be an ideal
safeguard of citizens’ rights. But India has moved much further from
ideal than when the Constitution was written 50 years ago.
But to conclude, I would like to say that citizens belonging to
different religions and denominations follow different property and
matrimonial laws which is not only an affront to the nation’s unity,
but also makes one wonder whether we are a sovereign secular republic
or a loose confederation of feudal states, where people live at the
whims and fancies of mullahs, bishops and pundits.
[1] AIR 1985 SC 945
[2] "(1) If any person having a sufficient means neglects or refuses
to maintain- a) his wife, unable to maintain herself, or b) his
legitimate or illegitimate minor child, whether married or not, unable
to maintain itself, or c) His legitimate or illegitimate child (not
being a married daughter) who has attained majority, where such child
is, by reason of any physical or mental abnormality or injury unable
to maintain itself, or d) his father or mother, unable to maintain
himself or herself, a magistrate of the first class may, upon proof of
such neglect or refusal, order such person to make a monthly allowance
for the maintenance of his wife or such child, father or mother, at
such monthly rate not exceeding five hundred rupees in the whole, as
such Magistrate thinks fit, and to pay the same to such person as the
Magistrate mat from time to time direct: Provided that the Magistrate
may order the father of a minor female child refereed to in clause (b)
to make such allowance, until she attains her majority, if the
Magistrate is satisfied that the husband of such minor female child,
if married, is not possessed of sufficient means."
[3] "The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a uniform
civil code throughout the territory of India."
[4] AIR 1995 SC 153
[5] "Whoever, having a husband or wife living, marries in any case in
which such marriage is void by reason of its taking place during the
life of such husband or wife, shall be punished with imprisonment of
either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and
shall also be liable to fine."
[6] John Vallamattom v. Union of India AIR 2003 SC 2902
[7] "No man having a nephew or a niece or any nearer relative shall
have power to bequeath any property to religious or charitable uses,
except by a Will executed not less than twelve months before his
death, and deposited within six months from its execution in some
place provided by law for sak\fe custody of the Will of living
persons."
[8] (1994)3 SCC 1
[9] "(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other
provisions of this part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom
of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate
religion. (2) Nothing in this Article shall affect the operation of
any existing law or prevent the State from making any law - a)
regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other
secular activities which may be associated with religious practice; b)
providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu
religious institutions of a public character to all classes and
sections of Hindus."
[10] "Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious
denomination or any section thereof shall have a right- a) to
establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable
purposes; b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion; c) to
own and acquire movable and immovable property; and d) to administer
such property in accordance with law."
[11] Acharya Jagdishwaranand Avadhut v. Commissioner of Police,
Calcutta (1984)4 SCC 522
[12] Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India AIR 1995 SC 1531
[13] John Vallamattom v. Union of India AIR 2003 SC 2902
[14] Sarla Mudgal v. Union of India AIR 1995 SC 1531
[15]"No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty
except according to procedure established by law"
[16] Constitutional Assembly Debates Volume VII pg. 547
[17] Mohammad Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum AIR 1985 SC 945
Authored by Gauri Kulkarni and can be reached at :
miss...@hotmail.com
http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/ucc.htm
chhotemianinshallah
By Kanchan Lakhani
A state-level function was organised here today to pay homage to Dr
Shyama Prasad Mookherjee. Addressing a mammoth gathering, former
deputy Prime Minister LK Advani said: “Dr Mookherjee laid down his
life for the unity and integrity of the nation. He not only opposed
the permit system introduced for the people from outside J&K, but also
defied the permit restriction by entering the state on May 11, 1953.
The system itself was instrumental in creating differences among the
citizens of independent India.”
Stating Article 370 as dangerous for the unity and integrity of India,
Mohan Bhagwat of the RSS said the Article should be scrapped at
earliest to ensure safety of the people of Jammu and Kashmir from the
evil designs of terrorist outfits functioning from across the border.
He also dedicated the samarak of Dr Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, named as
Ekta Sathal, at Madhopur bridge on the Punjab-J&K border, near here.
BJP national president Nitin Gadkari also rued the fact that India had
failed to settle the J&K issue even after 62 years of Independence. He
alleged that the appeasement policies of the UPA government were
encouraging terrorism in the country. Demanding immediate repealing of
Article 370, he said Dr Mookherjee’s sacrifice would not go in vein.
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, in his brief address, said
martyrs belonged to the nation and not to any religion, cast or
region. Also present on the occasion were Himachal Pradesh CM PK
Dhumal, former CM Shanta Kumar, MP Navjot Sidhu, MP Avinash Rai
Khanna, BJP state chief Ashwani Sharma, BJP in charge (Punjab affairs)
Balbir Punj, and state ministers like Manoranjan Kalia, Master Mohan
Lal, Tikshan Sud, Luxmi Kanta Chawla and Swarna Ram.
via The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News.
http://amritsarmetro.com/2010/03/21/scrap-article-370-bjp-rss/
Researcher in new BJP vanguard
Poornima Joshi
New Delhi, March 21, 2010
BJP leaders aren't known to be "overqualified". But Nirmala
Seetharaman seems to have changed that image when she set foot in the
party headquarters on Saturday afternoon.
The saffron camp's media cell acquired a new profile with
Seetharaman's inclusion as spokesperson in BJP president Nitin
Gadkari's new team of officebearers.
An international trade expert with an MPhil from Jawaharlal Nehru
University's (JNU) Centre for Economic Studies and Planning,
Seetharaman was a researcher in the world's largest professional
services firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the UK.
Since she came back to India and settled in Hyderabad, the BJP's new
spokesperson has been engaged in research work in health, education
and rural employment. She is also part of running a model school
called Pranava in Hyderabad, and was a member of the National
Commission for Women. "I had finished PhD as well on textile trade
between India and Europe under the GATT regime, but could not submit
it," said Seetharaman.
So how did someone from JNU, known as the fourth bastion of the CPM
after West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, end up in the BJP? "I was anti-
Left and part of the free thinkers in JNU. But I never joined any
political party. In fact, till 2006, I was engaged in research. But
when the chance came, I signed up with the BJP," she said.
At a time when Gadkari is facing criticism about sacrificing quality
in favour of the glamour quotient in his team, Seetharaman was propped
up by the party to parry queries in this regard. "What is wrong if
women from the film world or any other profession join politics?
It will only add fresh ideas so essential for the growth.
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/89207/India/Researcher+in+new+BJP+vanguard.html
Cong has defied Nehru in its RS nominations: BJP
22 Mar 2010, 0726 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: BJP on Sunday kept up its attack on Congress for nominating
two of its defeated Lok Sabha candidates — Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar and
Ram
Dayal Munda — to the Rajya Sabha. BJP said the action amounted to
defying Jawaharlal Nehru’s stand on the issue.
“Pandit Nehru, in his speech in the House of the People on May 13,
1953, had categorically stated that such nominees (to Rajya Sabha)
should not represent political parties. There should be a high water
mark of literature, art or culture,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap
Rudy said.
“By nominating two active party members, Congress has defied the stand
taken by their guiding leader,” he said. Both Mr Aiyar and Mr Munda
had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha polls while contesting from their
constituencies in Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, respectively.
“It seems the RS has become a refuge for defeated Congress candidates.
Congress is making a mockery of the nomination category,” he said. He
quoted Gopalswamy Iyengar, a Constituent Assembly member, to drive
home his party’s point. “Iyengar in his speech in the Constituent
Assembly on July 28, 1947, said that those seasoned people who may not
be in the thickest of political fray, but who might be willing to
participate from art and culture should be given an opportunity
through such nominations.”
IANS
BJP leader calls for Hindu state again in Nepal
2010-03-22 17:20:00
A little-known Hindu organisation's call for reinstatement of a Hindu
state in Nepal received an unexpected support here from a visiting top
leader of India's Bharatiya Janata Party.
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh, who had arrived in Nepal Sunday to
attend the last rites of former Nepali prime minister Girija Prasad
Koirala, who was also the architect of a secular Nepal, said at a
press conference in Kathmandu Monday that he supported a Hindu state
in the Himalayan republic.
'We used to feel proud that Nepal was the only Hindu kingdom in the
world,' Singh said. 'I will be happy when Nepal is a Hindu state
again.'
The Indian leader said that there were other theocratic countries in
the world - including in the European Union and in South Asia.
'But no one is opposed to them,' Singh said. 'No one is appealing to
(the Islamic states of) Pakistan and Bangladesh to become secular. But
it was done in Nepal.'
Singh, who met Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and President
Ram Baran Yadav Monday prior to his departure, said Hinduism was a way
of life and tolerant of other religions.
'That is why India is secular,' he said. '(But) Pakistan separated
(from India) to become theocratic and look at the state of the country
today.'
Asked about the sectarian riots in western India's Gujarat state under
a BJP government, the BJP leader said his party condemned violence.
Singh also made a veiled attack against Nepal's former Maoist
guerrillas, who waged a 10-year war for a secular state and are now
the biggest party in Nepal following the election in 2008.
'Weapons belong to defenders of the state, not the masses,' he said,
obliquely referring to the allegation against the Maoists that they
have still retained weapons.
'In a healthy democracy, there shouldn't be arms in people's hands.'
The Indian leader said he had urged Nepal's leaders to implement the
new constitution on the basis of consensus within the May deadline.
Singh's remarks are likely to fuel a controversy in Nepal at a time
when several Hindu organisations are calling for a Hindu state.
A little-known group called the Vishwa Ekata Parishad set two buses
and a motorcycle on fire in Kailali district in farwestern Nepal
during a general strike called by them in western Nepal Monday.
The group is seeking to reinstate Hinduism as the state religion. An
anti-monarchy campaign led to parliament declaring the country secular
in 2006.
The new constitution is expected to consolidate the nature of the
secular republic.
However, ahead of the new constitution, Hindu groups have begun
raising demands for a Hindu state.
Last week, a National Religious Revival Campaign kicked off in
Kathmandu, attended by lawmakers and veteran politicians, making the
same demand.
There has also been a series of visits by Hindu preachers, including
controversial Indian Chandraswamy, who have been attending rituals
calling for a Hindu state.
The last of them, a nine-day ritual, was attended by three former
prime ministers of Nepal and deposed Hindu king Gyanendra himself.
Nepal's only openly royalist party, Rastriya Prajatantra Party
(Nepal), is demanding a Hindu kingdom.
Kamal Thapa, who was home minister in king Gyanendra's regime and
heads the royalist party, has warned of protests against the new
constitution unless the government holds a referendum ahead of it.
Thapa says people should be allowed to decide if they want a king and
a Hindu state through the referendum.
In the past, the party called a general strike in Kathmandu valley to
show its clout and also blockaded major ministries.
SEARCH http://sify.com/topics/Nepal.html
Advani blogs against Kashmir's autonomy
2010-03-22 15:20:00
Opposing autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir and restoration of the
pre-1953 status to the troubled state, senior Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leader L.K. Advani has said the party won't allow the
constitutional clock to be turned back and vowed to get Article 370
completely abrogated.
'All that the country wants is to move forward to the complete
abrogation of Article 370,' Advani said, referring to the
constitutional provision that gives special status to Jammu and
Kashmir in India.
'The nation will not allow the constitutional clock to be turned back
in respect to the state's integration with India,' the veteran BJP
leader blogged.
Before 1953, Jammu and Kashmir had a separate head called prime
minister. The Supreme Court, the Election Commission of India, and the
comptroller and auditor general had no jurisdiction over the state.
Only three departments, defence, currency and foreign affairs were
controlled by the Indian government.
Any Indian citizen wanting to visit the state had to acquire a special
permit to enter Jammu and Kashmir.
However, the permit system was later abolished and gradually the
clauses, which Advani called 'separatist provisions', were changed and
the article diluted.
This, Advani wrote, 'brought (Jammu and Kashmir) at par with other
states in these matters'.
'When in the name of Kashmir's autonomy, it is nowadays said that the
dilution of Article 370 that took place post-1953 must be undone, it
is all these wholesome provisions of the Indian constitution which are
sought to be once again scrapped in their application to the state of
Jammu and Kashmir,' he said.
'The nation's clarion call to the powers-that-be is that India will
never forget Shyama Prasad Mookerji's sacrifice,' he said remembering
the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder who entered Jammu and Kashmir in 1953
defying the permit system. Mookerji was taken to a prison where he
fell ill after a hunger strike. He later died.
http://sify.com/news/advani-blogs-against-kashmir-s-autonomy-news-national-kdwpubjefbh.html
BJP leader weighed in blood
NDTV Correspondent, Monday March 22, 2010, Ahmedabad
Weighing your leader in gold and silver is passé. How innovative can
your welcome be after Mayawati's money garland caught the eye of
everyone in the country?
A silver chair for Haryana Chief Minister Bhupendra Singh Hooda. A gun
salute for BJP general secretary Narendra Singh Tomar. Now try this.
The new state BJP chief in Gujarat, RC Faldu, was weighed in blood, 75
litres of it for his 75 kg of body weight. All that blood has been
kept in Vadodara for donation "to the needy".
The leader looked quite happy at the innovation as he sat on the giant
weighing scale. For the more conventional, he was also weighed in
coins.
Tomar, the BJP MP from Madhya Pradesh and general secretary, was
felicitated over the weekend with followers firing gunshots in the air
in Morena and a district-level office-bearer ended up injured.
Chief Minister Hooda said no to the silver throne and, it is reported,
a golden crown. But then Hooda belongs to the party that is taking its
austerity drive very seriously. In neighbouring UP, Chief Minister
Mayawati shall soon be accepting her third garland made of money.
Watch Video
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/bjp-leader-weighed-in-blood-18227.php
BJP general secretary’s show of gun power injures partyman
22 Mar 2010, 1010 hrs IST, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Even as BJP president Nitin Gadkari battles to contain the
fall-out of a fresh burst of dissidence within his party following
the
announcement of his team of office-bearers, one of his chosen few
decided to exhibit his clout by a brazen show of gun power and might
at Shivpuri in his home constituency.
Mr Narendra Singh Tomar’s first visit to his Lok Sabha constituency —
Morena in Madhya Pradesh — after being named a national general
secretary of BJP left at least one party activist injured during the
101-gun salute given by his followers. In a brazen show of strength
and muscle power, Mr Tomar, who’s also the outgoing state BJP
president, chose to exhibit his might by parading 101 gun-totting
supporters on the occasion. This act clearly violated the law, but no
could dare taking any action against him for the fear of inviting the
state government’s wrath. MP is ruled by BJP.
What is more shocking is that the incident took place in the very
presence of police and district officials who were there during the
controversial ceremony . Most of the arms used in the ceremony were
said to be illegal.
Mr Tomar’s action has added to the woes of the BJP president, who is
already facing a lot of flak for his non-application of mind in the
selection of his team of office-bearers and the members of national
executive. The process flew in the face of his opt-repeated assertion
that he would go strictly by performance-audit while naming persons to
head important organisational posts. It now turns out that allegiance
to party satraps played an important role in team-selection exercise .
Factors such as regional and castebalancing were completely
jettisoned.
With Mr Gadkari faltering in his first big test, doubts are already
being raised about his next major hurdle — that of appointing
presidents to head the party in politically crucial states of UP,
Bihar, MP and Maharashtra. With a rejuvenated Congress gearing up to
challenge BSP in Uttar Pradesh and the JD(U)- BJP combine in Bihar, it
remains to be seen whether Mr Gadkari goes purely by merit in
appointing leaders to head the party in these states, or falls victim
once again to the pulls and pressures being exerted by powerful
chieftains.
Madhya Pradesh: Gun salute goes wrong, BJP leader injured
Press Trust of India, Sunday March 21, 2010, Morena (Madhya Pradesh)
A BJP leader was seriously injured on Sunday after he was accidentally
hit by a bullet fired to welcome party's newly-appointed general
secretary Narendra Singh Tomar at a town near Morena in Madhya
Pradesh.
Tomar was being given a gun salute by party workers on his arrival at
Ambah town when one of the bullets accidentally hit BJP's divisional
unit vice president Subhash Sharma in the leg causing serious
injuries, police said.
Sharma was rushed to primary health centre and then to Morena district
hospital, which finally referred him to Gwalior Medical College
Hospital.
Watch Video
BJP dreams big for Bangalore
Express News Service
First Published : 22 Mar 2010 06:18:17 AM IST
Last Updated : 22 Mar 2010 08:58:03 AM IST
BANGALORE: There was confusion in the run -up to the BBMP elections.
Ticket distribution was chaotic and there were allegations that
candidate selection was not transparent.
There was no confusion. We had been discussing ticket distribution for
three months and finalised the candidates based on the suggestions of
the party workers. There may be minor differences but no major
problems.
Despite your promise of not letting it happen, people with criminal
background have gotten into the fray from the BJP.
There is no such instance. We have not given ticket to any such
elements.
What are the issues that the BJP feels could fetch votes? i) The
incomparable development work our party has done in Bangalore in the
last two years.
ii) The party is committed towards the development of Bangalore, well
reflected by the allocation of Rs 3,500 crore in the state budget.
iii) Our decisions have pleased Bangalore voters. For instance, take
our decision to bring in a legislation banning cow slaughter.
iv) People know that JD(S) and Congress have been playing a drama over
NICE, they have been shedding crocodile tears.
All international airports or important industries were all built by
acquiring land. Why oppose only NICE? BJP has been an urban party for
a long time, but you still have no single leader who can claim to
represent Bangalore.
Why such a void? There is no such void. We have many leaders. Such
problems exist in the Congress, which is why they had to go away from
Bangalore to decide on ticket distribution. We did it sitting in
Bangalore.
Mention five things you will do on a priority basis if you are voted
to power.
Ensuring drinking water in all the areas; laying underground
draianage, roads and necessary infrastructure in the newly-included
areas under the BBMP; developing and conserving lakes; making
rainwater harvesting compulsory; making Bangalore greener.
How many seats do you hope to bag? I am confident of getting a clear
majority.
What would the BJP do if it falls short of majority? Will it sit in
the opposition or engineer another ‘Operation lotus’? The first
question does not arise because we are confident of getting a clear
majority. If the Congress and the JD(S) make any political conspiracy
we are ready to counter them by manoeuvring the situation.
BJP, Bollywood Ishtyle13 Comments | Post Comment
Tavleen Singh
Posted: Sunday , Mar 21, 2010 at 0140 hrs
This has been a most depressing week when seen from the perspective of
a political columnist. The new president of our main Opposition party
announced his new ‘dream team’ to revive the BJP and his list would be
hugely funny if it were not so pathetic. There are three actresses, a
cricketer, a fashion designer, a sprinkling of ‘youth’ leaders and a
former chief minister who is a misfit among the actresses.
Vasundhara Raje is the BJP’s only leader in Rajasthan and instead of a
desk job in Delhi, should have been left as a formidable Opposition
leader in Jaipur. She lost the election by inches. But, it seems as if
the BJP has decided not to be a real Opposition party, only a
Bollywood version of one. It has to be said in Nitin Gadkari’s defence
that from day one, when he burst into song at that first convention in
Indore, he indicated that despite his ample girth, he is a
lightweight. Not a bad singer but pointless since we have enough real
musicians; what we need desperately is a real Opposition party.
If we had a real Opposition party, six million tonnes of food grain
would not be rotting in Punjab while Parliament is in session. In a
country in which nearly half our children are malnourished, it is
beyond sickening that the Government of India can get away with stupid
excuses like ‘not having enough warehouses’. Just put the wretched
grain in trucks and send it to organisations like Akshay Patra or just
give it free to village shops. Our TV channels did an excellent job
last week in emphasising that the grain is being eaten by rats while
children starve, but there is only so much the media can do. The rest
is in the hands of the Prime Minister and his Cabinet and why should
they do anything as long as there is no Opposition party to rub their
nose in the dirt?
If we had a real Opposition party, we would not be putting another Rs
30,000 crore of taxpayers money into ‘cleaning’ the Ganga and the
Yamuna until we know why twenty years of expensive effort failed to
clean our most sacred rivers. Before throwing more of our money down
the drain, should we not first be given some answers? One example. Why
was our money spent on building sewage treatment plants that do not
work when everyone knows that the only solution is to not allow any
sewage into these rivers in the first place?
But, what is the point in my depressing myself further with these
questions when I know that it is futile asking them until we have a
real Opposition party? If you need proof that we do not have one you
only need to have watched this last session of Parliament. In neither
the Lok Sabha nor the Rajya Sabha did we see the BJP raise any real
issues. Sushma Swaraj’s interventions have been heavy on elocution and
low on content. She ends up sounding like someone trying to win first
prize in a college debate. Arun Jaitley supported the Women’s
Reservation Bill as if his heart was really not in it. There is no
reason why it should have been. The Bill, as I pointed out in this
space last week, undermines the fundamental principles of Indian
democracy and should be strenuously opposed.
Even as I write those words, I slip further into gloom as the face of
Shri Lal Krishna Advani floats before my eyes. Not in the form of the
Hindutva hawk on that chariot to Ayodhya that left so much death and
hatred in its wake. But, as the tired, old man he now is. A tired, old
man who has nothing new to say, no future prospects, but who clings
shamelessly to the few crumbs of power that remain with him. In doing
so he destroys any chance the BJP has of renewal or even survival.
What was the point of him giving up his job as Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha if he refuses to give up control of the
parliamentary party?
The reality is that he has given up nothing. Mr Gadkari can take his
‘dream team’ of actresses and sportsmen and sing all the way back to
Mumbai and it would make no difference. There remains only one leader
in the BJP. He is a worn-out, jaded old man who appears determined to
destroy what remains of the party he once helped build. With only the
Commies on the Opposition benches, the Government can lapse safely
into complacent non-activity while we the people rely on our own
efforts to withstand a certain decline. Forgive me if I sound
seriously gloomy but it is a seriously gloomy time.
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter at tavleens
13 Comments |
Rotting Grain
By: K.C.Sharma | Monday , 22 Mar '10 16:51:07 PM
Rotting grain is really a shame when so many starvation deaths are
happening.But if the real figures can somehow, may be through RTI be
extracted from the Govt it will be found that so much money has been
spent on construction of go-downs and on the Food Corporation of India
that if the same money was spent by private traders there would be no
shortage of storage space.And grain would be available where required
through cash coupons distributed to the really needy. But the Govt
babu's and the socialistic politicians would have even then found a
way to pocket that money and the grain meant for the poor. You have
every right to rubbish the BJP but most of the blame lies at the door
of the socialistic dreams of our great leaders of fifties and sixties
who still control the mindset of our present leaders of the GOP.
Will BJP bounce back?
By: Neetu Banga | Monday , 22 Mar '10 12:16:43 PM
The party needs to stop talk on hard-line Hindutva and focus on
emerging as a true secular party.By inducting educated and positive
attitude people does not mean party will come back to power, it still
have long way to go to win the hearts of the people.
UNBALANCED CRITICISM
By: B.V.SHENOY | Monday , 22 Mar '10 11:56:56 AM
Tavleen Singh seems to have written this article with the editor
holding the secular gun to her head. The criticism of Gadkari and his
new team seems to be pointless and cheap. If Sunil Dutt can be a
politician, and the congress government can honour a dead actor
(M.G.Ramachandran) with Bharat Ratna (nothing less!), what is wrong
when Gadkari selects intelligent actors like Kiran kher for his
youthful team? Sidhu is a world reknown cricketer, a good human being,
a witty orator and a successful parliamentarian. Any party would feel
proud to have him in its national management team, But Tavleen has
nothing but derisive words for these young, politically savvy public
figures. By using vile language for Advani, you are only be exposing
your own lack of balance. Once in a way you may attempt writing about
the lady who runs the country from behind closed doors of 10 Janpath,
who doesn't know the A,B, C or D of Indian politics but lords over the
country. And please mind your language.
Corrupt Officers of FCI
By: Shiv M | Monday , 22 Mar '10 11:06:07 AM
FCI and its ministry has been making mockery of food storage System.
Dont they see how developed world store their grains in sylos and not
even a piece of grain goes waste and they can export same wheat to we
Indians with cheap prices with their so high labour cost. FCI
officials show these food grains as gone waste but at the same time
sell them to black market and pocket in 1000s of crores rs. this must
come to an end and no government agency should be allowed to buy and
misappropriate tha tax money of we common Indians. it's high time we
must stop these unchecked corruption or we and out chilren will die
out of malnutrition while these thugs and rats will get fatter and
fatter day after day.
TRUE OPPOSITION
By: NIRANJAN | Monday , 22 Mar '10 8:54:44 AM
OPPOSITION IN OUR COUNTRY IS ALWAYS TOO BUSY PULLING DOWN THE RULING
GOVT. BUT IT IS ALSO BUSY TRYING TO MAKE SURE THAT WHEN THE RULING
GOVT. COMES DOWN THEY HAVE THE BIGGEST BOWL TO COLLECT THE FALLOUT! I
WISH THE PARLIAMENTARIANS WOULD LOOK AT SOME DECENT COUNTRY'S SYSTEM
AND TRY NOT EMULATE POORLY RULED DICTATORSHIP LIKE COUNTRIES! ATRUE
OPPOSITION WOULD THINK FIRST OF THE COUNTRY AND THEN OF THE PARTY AND
THEN FOR INDIVIDUALS. IN OUR COUNTRY THE ORDER IS REVERSED.
How
By: Neelima Choahan | Monday , 22 Mar '10 7:53:38 AM
Dear Ms Singh, I am a great a admirer of yours. I have read you since
I was a child. I think you are the byword in Indian politics
commentary but what I cannot understand is how is that you manage to
criticize BJP even when you are berating the Congress. Or is it the
other way around? I hope we get rid of this useless government and of
course that cannot be done without a strong Opposition.
Professor Emeritus
By: DR. D. Prithipaul | Monday , 22 Mar '10 5:40:51 AM
Mrs. Tavleen Singh does not seem to get it. With the Prime Minister's
office sponsoring a third rate Bollywood actor with a Padma, it is
proof that the Government acquires its understanding of social
realities from Bollywood fillums. This being so Mrs. Singh's laments
function like mere whispers in the wind - however much she may be
right, as she always is. Is there a debate on the nature of the
reasons, for example, which she marshals against the allotment of a
third of parliamentary seats to women? How will the rural electorate
field its women candidates and what will be the criteria for the
selection of the latter?
STANGE TRUTH
By: V.K.CHAWLA | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 23:11:43 PM
IF THE BJP TAKES A ISSUE & MAKE RUCKUS IN PARLIAMENT , THE SO CALLED
MEDIA CRTICISE IT . EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT UPA GOVT. IS NOT WORRIED &
THEIR LEADERS ARE SAYING IT OPENELY THAT THEY GIVE TWO HOOTS TO ALL
THOSE WHO ARE CRYING - MEHANGAI - PRICE RISE, BECAUSE THEY KNOW HOW
THE THE POOR PEOPLE ARE FORCED TO VOTE FOR THEM BY CLAIMING ONLY THEY
ARE SECULAR
Nitin Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of
imagination.
By: Jay | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 20:15:55 PM
When the top level of any organization is occupied by mediocre people
they tend to choose mediocre or below people to work under him/her.
With more efficient and talented people they feel threatened. Nitin
Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of imagination. He
is neither a good orator like Vajpayee-Advani nor have we read good
scholarly article from him unlike many other BJP leaders like Arun
Shourie. He may be a points man for RSS within BJP, but he can never
re-invent or re-energize the fast declining BJP party organization and
establish it as the main viable opposition.
Bashing BJP
By: R. Kapoor | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 19:15:41 PM
Only yesterday a Bollywood person, Shatrugan Sinha, a BJP stalwart and
a cabinet minister in NDA bashed Gadkari for neglecting some senior
members in the 'dream' team. Bollywood influence in BJP goes back many
years and is nothing new, however, recently it has become fashionable
for parties to exploit its presence. Didn't MNIK score one over the SS
and MNS in Maharashtra recently? We should not forget how SP tried to
enrope Sanjay Dutt, while already having Jaya Prada and Jaya Bahaduri
Bachachan being MPs. Why should we not forget Raj Babbar winning in
general elections as a Congress party candidate. Bollywood or in other
words the cinema world in India has been very prominent in politics,
especially in the South. So, it is wrong to criticise BJP vis-a-vis
Bollywood influence. I do agree with Tavleen, however, that BJP is in
'gloomy time.' Was Gadkari a racehorse that is expected to win the
Derby? With all the pessimism around BJP, can these dark clouds
disappear. I think they would.
bitter truth
By: savita | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 18:45:38 PM
very well said tavleenji
Nitin Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of
imagination.
By: Jay | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 18:25:03 PM
When the top level of any organization is occupied by mediocre people
they tend to choose mediocre or below people to work under him/her.
With more efficient and talented people they feel threatened. Nitin
Gadkari is not an outstanding leader at any stretch of imagination. He
is neither a good orator like Vajpayee-Advani nor have we read good
scholarly article from him unlike many other BJP leaders like Arun
Shourie. He may be a points man for RSS within BJP, but he can never
re-invent or re-energize the fast declining BJP party organization and
establish it as the main viable opposition.
bitter truth
By: vikram | Sunday , 21 Mar '10 3:17:46 AM
Bitter truth. Tavleenji, you are great.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-bollywood-ishtyle/593498/0
Not summoned by SIT on March 21: Modi
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Mar 22, 2010 at 1813 hrs
Gandhinagar:
Modi's letter came following reports that he had boycotted the SIT
summons.
In an open letter, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said
he shall respond to the SIT probing the 2002 Gujarat riots ‘fully
respecting’ the law, as he refuted reports that he had skipped
appearance before the panel on Sunday.
"SIT had not fixed March 21, 2010 for my appearance. To say that I was
summoned on March 21 is completely false. I shall respond to the SIT
fully respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body
appointed by the Supreme Court," he said in an open letter.
Modi's letter came following reports that he had boycotted the SIT
summons. He said, "Truth cannot be suppressed. It is now my duty to
place before you the facts that brings out the importance of
understanding what the truth really is."
Elaborating his stand, he said, "After the 2002 Godhra incidents, I
had categorically said in the Vidhan Sabha and in public that no one
is above the Indian Constitution and the law, even if he happens to be
the chief minister of a state.
These are not mere words. My actions have reflected this statement in
its true spirit. I assure you that this would be my stand in the
future."
However, sources in the government said that Modi was seeking legal
help for which senior party leader and BJP MP in the Rajya Sabha from
Gujarat Arun Jaitley, who is a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, has
arrived in the city.
BJP sources claimed that Jaitley would be looking into the summons
issued to Modi and give his legal opinion on what steps should be
taken. On Sunday, when Modi was summoned, SIT office was kept open
during the office hours from 1030 hrs to 1810 hrs.
In connection with Zakia's complaint, SIT has already recorded
statements of a number of persons named in her complaint which
include, former minister of state for Home Gordhan Zadafia, BJP leader
I K Jadeja, former BJP MLA from Lunawada Kalu Malivad and sitting MLA
from Mehsana Anil Patel, former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, social
activist Teesta Setalvad, IG Shivanand Jha, some other senior police
officers and political leaders.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/not-summoned-by-sit-on-march-21-modi/594116/0
'Marathi vs non-Marathi' narrow political agenda: Chavan
Agencies
Posted: Monday , Mar 22, 2010 at 1636 hrs
Mumbai:
Ashok Chavan reiterated that his govt was committed to the welfare of
all people who live in the state.
Describing the "Marathi versus non-Marathi" issue as the narrow
political agenda of few politicians, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan on Monday said a placement agency owned by one such leader had
recruited 150 non-Maharashtrians.
"Their party's public stand says something and the leaders act
otherwise. I am not complaining," Chavan said without naming any party
during his reply to the motion of thanks to the Governor for his
address to the joint sitting of the state Legislature.
When the opposition benches asked Chavan to name the party and the
leader concerned, he said, "I would reveal the names at an appropriate
time."
Chavan said his government had an all-inclusive approach in its vision
for developing the state.
"Maharashtra belongs to all. My government is committed to the welfare
of all people who live here," he said.
Opposition members staged a walkout at the end of the Chief Minister's
speech criticising him for not spelling out the government's stand on
extension of statutory development boards whose term expires next
month.
He said his government was committed to the development of Marathi
language, art and culture.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/marathi-vs-nonmarathi-narrow-political-agenda-chavan/594098/
RSS feed: New BJP chief spikes journalists
21 March 2010
Coomi Kapoor in the Indian Express on the journalists’ contingent in
the new team of BJP office-bearers.
This entry was posted on 21 March 2010 at 10:07 am and is filed under
A bit of fun, Magazines, Newspapers, People, Television.
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/rss-feed-new-bjp-chief-spikes-journalists/
Sunday, September 13, 2009
BJP laments stab by ‘insider journalists’
PNS | New Delhi
It may still be trying to recover from the jolt dealt by insiders, but
the BJP believes that it has got another problem: ‘friendly
journalists’, who cannot remain ‘insider’ for too long.
An editorial in the latest issue of the party’s organ Kamal Sandesh
has dwelt on the issue. It says, “There are journalists who wish that
BJP should run as per their whims. Any person — journalist included —
has a right to offer advice and opinion but how can it be that a
political party should follow, without exception, the diktats of some
journalists. If that doesn’t happen, the political organisation turns
bad in their considered opinion.”
That is not the only complaint of the party. “A scenario in which
journalists should turn a tool in the hands of an individual
politician does not augur well for either of the two. Our effort
should be to create a healthy balance in which neither the journalist
is a weapon in the hands of a politician nor should the latter have to
act as a shield for journalists.”
Rajya Sabha MP Prabhat Jha, who is a former journalist and editor of
the party’s magazine, stops short of taking names. “This write-up is
not against an individual. This is what an aam karyakarta (normal
workers) of the BJP feels.”
The BJP has already made its displeasure widely known over some of the
articles and TV interviews by journalists and former journalists, who
had been closely associated with the party but later started behaving
like an ‘independent entity’.
Jha says, “Even while working in a political party, they (friendly
journalists) wish to maintain their separate identity, something
special and different from the rest of the lot. An impression also
gains ground among karyakartas that these people originally from
journalism are senior karyakartas.”
The BJP leaders would admit that this impression is not wrong too,
because they (friendly journalists) move about and communicate only
with higher echelons in the leadership and not with the lower rung of
political workers. “The respect and attention they get subject of envy
to others,” the editorial in Kamal Sandesh reads.
The same write-up adds, “It is true that it is their duty to report
but the questions remains: how, when and where. This is a matter that
these wielders of the pen should ponder over. They have to ensure that
in the process of the performance this onerous duty to present the
ideology to the nation, mutual confidence, faith and respect does not
fall a casualty.” And, the last word from the party organ: “We do
understand that journalism cannot be a synonym for bosom friendship
between a journalist and a politician. Yet, we have to stand firm at
our respective post of duty.”
http://dailypioneer.com/202162/BJP-laments-stab-by-‘insider-journalists’.html
Who are the journos ‘running & ruining’ the BJP?
25 August 2009
PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: Former Indian Express editor
Arun Shourie’s explosive interview with the paper’s current editor,
Shekhar Gupta, while revealing the deep schisms within India’s
principal oppostion party, the BJP, has also once again thrown light
on the less-than-professional role political journalists have been
playing.
For the second time in two months, Shourie targetted “The Gang of Six”—
a pack of half-of-dozen journalists who, says the Magsaysay Award
winning investigative journalist, have been used (abused? misused?) by
various different sections of the BJP.
On Gupta’s Walk the Talk interview for NDTV on Monday, Shourie said
his letter to the BJP president Rajnath Singh demanding accountability
in running the party had been dubbed as an act of indiscipline even
though that letter had remained confidential.
There were leaders, he says:
“…who had been planting stories against L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and
others through six journalists (and yet it’s not called
indiscipline)”.
At the BJP’s national executive meeting in mid-June, shortly after the
party suffered a “nasty jolt” in the general elections, Shourie had
gone so far as to say that “the BJP was being run by six journalists”
who were “damaging the party interest“.
On both occasions, Shourie hasn’t named “The Gang of Six”, but by
repeatedly talking about them has set tongues wagging.
However, the questions remain: is the BJP so feeble a party to be
felled by mere pen-pushers? If BJP leaders are using them to “plant”
stories against one another, are the journalists exceeding their brief
by allowing themselves to be used?
Is ex-editor Shourie sanctimoniously crying wolf or is this par for
the course in other parties too? Are editors and publishers of the
publications where the “Gang of Six” work aware of their journalists
being so used?
And if so, is it OK?
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/who-are-the-journos-running-ruining-the-bjp/
The sad and pathetic decline of Arun Shourie
16 February 2009
SHARANYA KANVILKAR writes from Bombay: Arun Shourie is one of the
strangest cases on the Indian intellectual landscape if not its most
disappointing. A living, walking, moving advertisement of how rabid
ideology can addle even the most riveting of minds, stripping it of
all its nuance and pretence; its very soul and humanity.
***
Once a fiery critic of Reliance Industries as editor of the Indian
Express, he was happy to deliver a eulogy at Dhirubhai Ambani’s first
death anniversary; even changing the law as minister to benefit
Reliance Industries, as alleged by the son of Girilal Jain, the former
Times of India editor who held shares in the company, no less.
Once a symbol of middle-class integrity and probity for various scams
unearthed his watch, his stint as disinvestment minister was
pockmarked with allegation after allegation (although an unattributed
Wikipedia entry claims he was ranked “the most outstanding minister of
the Atal Behari Vajpayee government” by 100 CEOs).
A slow, scholarly, Chaplinesque demeanour hides a cold, clinical mind
that piles the rhetoric and the stereotypes on the poor, the
marginalised and the disenfranchised while taking up high faluting
positions on terrorism, governance, internal security and such like,
through long, meandering essays whose opacity could put cub
journalists to shame.
And, as always, selectively twisting and turning the facts to fit his
preconceived conclusion, and hoping no one will notice.
To paraphrase Ramachandra Guha, Shourie has become the Arundhati Roy
of the right:
“The super-patriot and the anti-patriot use much the same methods.
Both think exclusively in black and white. Both choose to use a 100
words when 10 will do. Both arrogate to themselves the right to hand
out moral certificates. Those who criticise Shourie are characterised
as anti-national, those who dare take on Roy are made out to be agents
of the State. In either case, an excess of emotion and indignation
drowns out the facts.”
But what should disappoint even his most ardent fans, and there are
many young journalists, is how easily and effortlessly a pacifist
penman has regressed from “a concerned citizen employing his pen as an
effective adversary of corruption, inequality and injustice” (as his
Magsaysay Award citation read) to a hate-spewing ideological warrior
with fire blazing through his nostrils.
A son of a Gandhian who now openly advocates “two eyes for an eye and
a whole jaw for one tooth” with barely any qualms.
***
At a series of lectures in Ahmedabad on Saturday, Shourie bared his
fangs some more:
“India is still a passive country when it comes to taking a stand
against terrorism….
“It should, in fact, take an extremist stance and must prove that it
can also create a Kashmir-like situation in Pakistan.
“There are many places like Baluchistan, where a Kashmir-like
situation can be created but, “hum abhi bhi Panchsheel ke pujari hain
(We still worship the tenets of Panchsheel)”….
“Pakistan has been successfully carrying out destruction in India for
the last two decades and has still managed to escape problems, while
India on every occasion has failed to present a unified response to
terrorism and has suffered as a consequence….”
Really?
An eye for an eye? Two eyes for an eye? A jaw for a tooth?
In the name of Vivekananda, should India do unto Pakistan what
Pakistan has done to us? Is this a sign of vision on the part of a man
who some believe should be the next prime minister, or tunnel vision?
Is such barely disguised hatred and vengeance, hiding behind vedas and
upanishads, going to make the subcontinent a better place to live in?
Should the people of Pakistan, the poor, the marginalised, the
disenfranchised, pay the price for the sins of the generals?
Should a great, ancient civilisation become a cheap, third-rate,
neighbourhood bully?
Has Arun Shourie lost more than his soul and humanity?
Has Arun Shourie just lost it?
Photograph: courtesy The Hindu Business Line
http://wearethebest.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/the-sad-and-pathetic-decline-of-arun-shourie/
chhotemianinshallah
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 22: BJP President Gadkari denounced as propaganda
that Hindutva was against Muslims and said facts were misrepresented.
Terming Hindutva as the "spirit" of BJP, party President Nitin Gadkari
today said it cannot be a subject of political debate and lamented
that its image had overshadowed its real meaning.
"Whether someone likes it or not, the subject has been a matter of
debate for the last 40 years in politics. I feel people should know
the reality (of what Hindutva means) after serious thinking.
"It is a tragedy of image versus reality. Letters can change but not
the spirit. Hindutva is our philosophy, it is our spirit... which
cannot change," Gadkari said during the 'dedication ceremony' of over
100 professionals as volunteers for the BJP.
The function was followed by a talk on 'politics and Hindutva' in
which Gadkari said Hindutva cannot be a subject of political debate
and it can never be an agenda for any political party.
He termed as "propaganda" that Hindutva was against Muslims and said
people were "misrepresenting" the facts to further their vested
interests.
Maintaining that BJP was in favour of equality in social and economic
spheres for all, he said "We believe in the philosophy of 'vasudev
kutumbhkam' (world is one family)."
Gadkari alleged that "pseudo secularists" were deliberately attaching
religion with a terrorist and said the term 'secularism' is now being
used for minority appeasement.
"... terrorist has no creed, caste or religion.
Image of Hindutva overshadowed real meaning
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
A god fearing Hindu will not kill an innocent Muslim and similarly, a
god fearing Muslim will not kill an innocent Hindu, and if he is doing
so, then he is a terrorist who does not belong to any religion," he
said.
The BJP president said in a secular country, the government, the
judiciary and the media should be secular but an individual cannot be
secular.
He said it was necessary that the new generation was taught the real
meaning of Hindutva, adding, "A proper focus on the issue is the need
of the hour".
Speaking on the issue, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya said he had expressed
"concern" when Sudhendra Kulkarni, the close aide of BJP leader L K
Advani wrote after the party defeat in general elections that it
should distance itself from Hindutva.
He lamented that the "spirit" remained ignored but at the same time
appreciated that it was being remembered once again in 2010.
Vaidya said for BJP, distancing itself from Hindutva would mean
distancing itself from RSS and its core values.
He recalled that when the issue of BJP's relations vis-a-vis Hindutva
was being debated in 2004, he had said that BJP has moved along a
particular line from where it would not be appropriate to pull it
back.
"I had said that if BJP disassociates itself from Hindutva, then the
RSS would take a call on whether to keep Hindutva in politics or not,"
Vaidya said.
The BJP president said in a secular country, the government, the
judiciary and the media should be secular but an individual cannot be
secular.
He said it was necessary that the new generation was taught the real
meaning of Hindutva, adding, "A proper focus on the issue is the need
of the hour".
Speaking on the issue, RSS ideologue M G Vaidya said he had expressed
"concern" when Sudhendra Kulkarni, the close aide of BJP leader L K
Advani wrote after the party defeat in general elections that it
should distance itself from Hindutva.
He lamented that the "spirit" remained ignored but at the same time
appreciated that it was being remembered once again in 2010.
Vaidya said for BJP, distancing itself from Hindutva would mean
distancing itself from RSS and its core values.
He recalled that when the issue of BJP's relations vis-a-vis Hindutva
was being debated in 2004, he had said that BJP has moved along a
particular line from where it would not be appropriate to pull it
back.
"I had said that if BJP disassociates itself from Hindutva, then the
RSS would take a call on whether to keep Hindutva in politics or not,"
Vaidya said.
---IANS--
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/image-hindutva-overshadowed-real-meaning
Nityananda files writ in Karnataka High Court
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Bangalore, March 23: Self-styled godman Nityananda Swami, facing
allegations of involvement in sleazy activities, has filed a writ
petition before the Karnataka High Court seeking quashing of cases
filed against him by the Ramanagar district police.
Nityananda, who is at large ever since the video clippings of his
alleged sleaze activities involving an actress were telecast by
private channels on March two, contended in his petition yesterday
that he was innocent. 32-year-old Nityananda, alias Rajasekharan,
charged that one of his former discipline and driver Kurup Lenin had
conspired to defame him and his Ashram by levelling such allegations.
The whereabouts of Nityananda are a mystery. However, the followers of
Nityananda at his Ashram at Bidadi on the city's outskirts claim that
he is in Haridwar attending the Kumbh Mela. The writ is yet to come up
for the High Court registry, according to sources in the High Court.
Tamil Nadu police, which had registered cases under various sections,
including rape, against Nityananda, transferred them to the police in
Ramanagar, as the Ashram falls under it. Ramanagar police had re-
registered the cases against Nityananda.
-PTI
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/nityananda-files-writ-karnataka-high-court
No decision on direct access to Headley yet: US envoy
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 23: The US said Tuesday there had been no decision to
give India "direct access" to David Coleman Headley, the Pakistani
American terror suspect who has confessed to his role in the 26/11
Mumbai terror strike.
In a statement issued by the US embassy here, Ambassador Timothy J.
Roemer clarified Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake's
comment in Delhi Saturday. Blake had been asked by reporters if Indian
investigators would be allowed to quiz Headley. "My answer would be
yes," he said.
"As the Assistant Secretary indicated, the US is committed to full
information sharing in our counter terror partnership. In fact in this
case we have provided substantial information to the government of
India and we will continue to do so. However, no decision on direct
access for India to David Headley has been made," Roemer said in a
statement.
He added that the US department of justice will work with the Indian
government "regarding the modalities of such cooperation".
Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram had been upbeat about getting
access to Headley, after a phone call with US Attorney General Eric
Holder.
"It is my understanding," Chidambaram said, "that India would be able
to obtain access to Headley to question him in a properly constituted
judicial proceeding. Such a judicial proceeding could be either pre-
trial or during an inquiry or trial."
The National Investigation Agency was asked to form a team which will
travel to the US to interrogate Headley, who confessed in a Chicago
court to his role in the Mumbai terror attack that left 166 people
dead.
--IANS
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/no-decision-direct-access-headley-yet-us-envoy
Foreigners in Maharashtra will have to undergo a 'character' check
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Mumbai, March 23: The government has come up with the idea of
assessing the character of foreigners staying in the state and keeping
a strict vigil on their activities.
"We will check the records of foreigners and seek character
certificates from their respective countries," home minister RR Patil
said in the legislative council on Monday. "If we find that they have
a dubious record, we will ask their countries to take them back."
Patil was replying to a calling-attention motion on last month's
German Bakery blast in Pune. The issue of foreigners was raised by the
Shiv Sena's Neelam Gorhe. "What steps has the government taken to keep
a check on foreigners," she asked.
Patil said, "We have already started checking foreigners' visas and
taking action against suspect people." He appealed to citizens to
alert the police if they spotted anything suspicious.
The police already have a rule in place that requires flat-owners in
Mumbai to inform them if they give out their premises toforeigners.
Hotels and lodges in the city have also been told to inform the police
about guests from abroad. The owner of a South Mumbai flat, where US
terrorist David Coleman Headley stayed for more than six months, had
failed to inform police about his presence in the city.
Patil admitted in the council that the state had received specific
intelligence alerts about a possible terrorist strike at Chabad House
and Red Temple in Pune. On the day of the blast, chief minister Ashok
Chavan had said the state had had no inkling about a possible attack.
The Centre, however, said it had issued an alert in October 2009.
Patil asserted that the state police was competent to investigate the
German Bakery blast but would not hesitate to seek the help of other
agencies like the National Investigation Agency, CBI, IB, and the anti-
terrorism squads of other states. Last week, he had rejected an
opposition demand to hand over the probe to the CBI.
“Terrorists are changing their techniques every time," Patil said.
"We can neither deploy police everywhere nor frisk every single
person. There is only one solution — to strengthen the intelligence
system. For that we have set up the Maharashtra Intelligence Academy.
The first batch of this academy has completed its training and will be
operational soon."
---Agencies
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/foreigners-maharashtra-will-have-undergo-character-check
Muslim marriage age issue: Bombay HC notice to Centre
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Mumbai, March 23: The Bombay High Court today issued a notice to the
additional solicitor general who represents union government in a case
where marriageable age of Muslim girls has become an issue.
The notice was issued after the petitioner has the challenged the
constitutional validity of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA),
saying it violates freedom of religion.
The division bench of Justices D B Bhosale and A R Joshi also directed
that the girl, who is currently 15 years old, be produced in the court
on March 29, so that the judges may interview her.
Zakia Begum, the girl's mother, moved the High Court in January after
police took the girl into custody at the behest of child welfare
committee.
The girl's uncle had informed CWC that she was going to be married
off, in violation of PCMA. Police also filed a criminal case against
her parents for violating the act.
The parents have sought the custody of their daughter -- who is
currently in a shelter home and quashing of the criminal complaint.
Today, petitioner's lawyer Prakash Wagh told the court that the girl's
parents are ready to give an undertaking not to marry her off till she
turns 18. Similar undertaking has already been given to CWC, he said.
The judges said that before ordering her release from shelter home,
they would like to talk to her.
The judges also restrained the girl's family members from meeting her
till she is interviewed by them next Monday.
The Judges said that they would like to deal with the larger issue
involving conflict between Muslim personal law and PCMA. As per PCMA,
a girl cannot get married before she is 18 years of age, but according
to Shariat law, she can marry on reaching puberty.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board too has been impleaded by the
petitioner. Appearing for the Board, senior counsel Yusuf Muchhala
said the court will have to see if the issue involves "core beliefs"
of the religion.
Advocate Mihir Desai, representing two NGOs who have intervened in the
case to oppose the petition, said, "It cannot be said that if I do not
get married before 18, I am not a Muslim."
"Well, I did not get married before 18 myself," advocate Muchhala,
himself a Muslim, remarked, evoking laughter. He, however, said that
he would have to study original Islamic scriptures to formulate his
response to the petition, and that will take some time.
The hearing has been adjourned till March 29.
-PTI
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/muslim-marriage-age-issue-bombay-hc-notice-centre
‘Islamist extremists can destabilise Bangladesh’
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
New Delhi, March 23: Most of the Muslim population in Bangladesh
supports the secular state and abjures violence but Islamist
extremists have the potential to destabilise that country, say experts
from a leading Dhaka-based think tank.
“The Islamist extremists represent a minuscule proportion of the
population; nevertheless, the potential for Bangladesh to be
destabilised by these extremists is fairly strong,” says a paper by
Humayun Kabir and Shahab Enam Khan.
It speaks about the causes of militancy in that country. Titled
“Understanding the threats from Islamist Terrorism in Bangladesh”, the
paper was presented at a security dialogue organised here by the
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Bangladesh Enterprise
Institute (BEI).
Kabir is a senior research director and Khan a project director at the
BEI that has partnerships with many international agencies.
The paper says Islam in Bangladesh has always been defined by
tolerance, moderation and pluralism. Muslim-dominated Bangladesh has a
population of 160 million.
“In general, most of the Muslim population in Bangladesh support(s)
the secular state and abjure(s) the violence and distorted
interpretations of Islam that have plagued countries like Pakistan,
Afghanistan and some in the Middle East.”
Noting that Bangladesh has witnessed a sharp rise in terrorism
primarily from the mid-1990s, the paper points to four complex forms
of terrorism in the country - political, anti-state, ethnic and
social.
It says there exists a nexus between terrorist groups and smuggling
syndicates, criminal gangs and politically sponsored cadres to nourish
a supporting network for each other.
Citing 2007 statistics mentioned in a BEI report, the paper says
Bangladesh has 1,027 organised criminal groups, two insurgent groups,
five outlawed groups, at least four ideologically digressed groups
with militant intent, 16,062 criminals operating in various gangs and
762 politically sponsored criminal groups.
“Extremist groups such as Hijbut Tahrir, Harkat ul-Jihad-I-Islami-
Bangladesh, the militant jihadi Jamat-ul Mujahdeen Bangladesh or their
dissident groups are at the forefront of promoting religious terrorism
in Bangladesh,” the paper says.
The paper mentions that Bangladesh continues to be a transit and
launching point for Pakistan-based terrorist groups that target India
and Southeast Asia.
“Groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami retain
a significant presence in Bangladesh and have used its territory to
launch terrorist attacks against India…there is ample evidence to show
that the student front of Jamaat-i-Islami Bangladesh, Islami Chhattra
Shibir, also acts as an extremist group that resorts to violent
activities.
http://www.siasat.com/english/news/%E2%80%98islamist-extremists-can-destabilise-bangladesh%E2%80%99
Watch Five Videos: About 45 minutes worth of viewing. (Hindi, English)
Nation pays tribute to first martyr of independent India-Shyam Parsad
Mookherjee
JAGMOHAN SINGH
Monday, 22 March 2010
MADHOPUR(PATHANKOT): The Nation paid glorious tributes to Dr. Shyama
Prasad Mookherjee, first Martyr of independent India, who laid down
his life for a principle of one nation, one flag, one constitution.
Thousands of people led by Mohan Rao Bhagwat, Sar Sanghchalak,
Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, Lal Krishan Advani, former Deputy Prime
Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Punjab, Nitin
Gadkari, National President BJP and Prem Kumar Dhumal Chief Minister
of Himachal Pradesh fondly remembered the selfless sacrifice of Dr.
Mookherjee at the border point of Punjab-J&K border, from where in
1953 he started his campaign to make J&K integral part of India, to
make it possible for every Indian citizen to visit J&K without permit.
To perpetuate the contribution of Dr. Mookherjee towards unity and
integrity of the country, his life size statue was unveiled here by
all leaders naming the place as Ekta Sathal.
Speaking on occasion Mohan Bhagwat gave a call to launch a second
struggle to abolish Article 370, the last remaining symbol of
disintegration.
Bhagwat also demanded respectable rehabilitation of 3.5 Lac Kashmiri
Hindu migrants back in valley, who were suffering in different part of
country. Appreciating the Punjab Government for making glorious
attempt to perpetuate the memory of Dr. Mookherjee, Bhagwat criticised
Union Govt. for soft peddling Pakistan on issue of terror. Bhagwat
gave a call to launch second struggle to complete the integration of
J&K with India.
Speaking on the Occasion former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishan
Advani said that the struggle that Dr. Shayamal Prasad started in 1953
would complete only if Article 370 was repealed from the constitution.
He said that we became victim of British policy of disintegrating
India, even after partition of Pakistan. He recalled the contribution
of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, then Home Minister for integrating
princely states back into India. He said that the demand for autonomy
for J&K or restoring pre 1953 status would be suicidal for the
integrity of the country.
Paying glorious tributes to Dr. Mookherjee, Nitin Gadkari, National
President BJP rued the fact that India has failed to settle J&K issue
even 62 years after independence. He said that appeasement policies of
UPA government were encouraging terrorism and naxalism in the country.
Flaying UPA for starting talks with Pakistan under pressure of foreign
countries Mr. Gadkari said that talks with Pakistan would be futile
till Pakistan was fomenting terrorism from its soil. Demanding the
immediate repealing of Article 370, Gadkari said that Dr. Mookherjee’s
sacrifice would not go in vein.
Paying his humble tribute, Sukhbir Singh Badal Deputy Chief Minister
said that the present generation indebted to freedom fighters who laid
down their lives in the prime of their youth so that we could all
breathe in peace. He said that this statue of Dr. Shayama Prasad
Mookherjee would continue to guide and motivate present generation
about the value of his sacrifice in keeping India intact. Badal said
that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was eagerly waiting for this
momentous day but could not come here personally due to ill health.
Earlier, the leaders unveiled the statue of Dr. Shayama Prasad
Mookherjee that has been erected at the joint border of Punjab,
Himachal and J&K. A photo gallery showing the pictorial history of Dr.
Mookherjee’s contribution in freedom struggle was also inaugurated on
the occasion.
Thousands of people from Punjab, Haryana and J&K paid glorious
tributes to Dr. Mookherjee.
http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/view/24361/38/
To attract youth, Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiom
Express News Service
Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 0222 hrs
New Delhi:
BJP president Nitin Gadkari said: ' Hindutva cannot become any
political party's agenda.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday stressed on the need for a
modern idiom to articulate Hindutva for the youth, even as he said
that the Supreme Court’s 1995 description of Hindutva (wherein it
described it as “a way of life”) must be the touchstone while
explaining the idea.
“Hindutva cannot become any political party’s agenda,” Gadkari said by
way of explaining that it was “more of a way of life”. This was the
first time he spoke at length on Hindutva after taking over as party
president.
“From Vivekananda to the Supreme Court definition, the idea of
Hindutva has been variously discussed. Hindutva is not against any
religion. While Hindutva is our philosophy, there’s a need to employ a
new idiom to articulate it to connect with the youth,” Gadkari said
while speaking on “Hindutva and Politics” at a function to mark the
launch of an association of volunteers “that will promote the BJP
among the youth”.
“Our credo has always been ‘justice for all; appeasement of none’. A
true Hindu can never attack a Muslim, and a true Muslim can never
attack a Hindu. A terrorist, on the other hand, has no religion,
caste, or creed. It’s the pseudo-secular brigade that has unduly
highlighted the religion of terrorists who happened to be Muslims,”
said Gadkari.
The BJP president said that while a “democracy would always need truly
secular institutions”, individuals “can never become secular”. After
taking over as the party president, Gadkari has attempted to bring
about certain changes in the organisation, something that won the
approval of RSS ideologue M G Vaidya.
18 Comments |
Be agressive in highlighting the failures of UPA
By: R.C.Mohan | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 13:00:38 PM
BJP a party with great leaders at the top are still to win the
confidence of people in India although the party too advocate the
policy of secularism in its own way.Gadkari as president of the party
must come forward to highlight the failures of the present UPA
government in several areas. Manmohan Singh has failed in all fields
except in the economic arena thanks to his vast experience in the
affairs. In spite of a global recession, India could withstad the
melee because of Mr.Singh. But in all other fields he has miserably
failed and this fact should be highlighted by the BJP. In Law & Order,
Agricultural, Food Distribution,Controlling terrorism, external
affairs etc the present UPA Government has let down the people to a
pathetic state of affairs.Dividing the hindus and appeasing other
religions made them comfortable in hoodwinking the people to an
extend.Hence Gadkari has to be progressive by being agressive in
highlighting the failures of the UPA.All will get attracted naturally
Indian Prestorika for UPA
By: J.A. Mansuri | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:58:42 PM
Both UPA & NDA could reshape by learning for future strategies about
co-existence with & without difference in plural society. Observing
specific areas of SC and Constitution will lead to further polarize
society & national polity. Observing judiciary on Babri Masjid will
bring national integration. Vaccum in philosophy and cadre is on
surface amongst both groups.
Observing Judiciary
By: Ananth Seth | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 13:38:48 PM
Effective and just National Integration can only come after the
followers of Islam give up their false claim on Ayodhya and disown
pseudo-secularists and pseudo-intellectuals. Any other talk is nothing
but an "under cover" attack on the history and civilization of this
great country.
BJP back to winning trajectory
By: Chirag K. Shahc | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:58:34 PM
I sincerely wish that BJP wins next elections both in Banglore polls
and Bihar. It is high time a nationalist party gets its due.
BAD PERSONS
By: yusuf ahmed | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:39:36 PM R
a bad person is a bad person - a thug is a thug - let us not brand him
- region religion have nothing to do with badness - the new BJP
President is right - his thought process his mind set is on target -
reflects a mental over haul -
Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiom
By: subramanian | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:05:50 PM
The party's Top leadership is making good and sincere attempts to
rejenuvate BJP. The party has to attract down trodden and weaker
sections of Hindus to retain BJP as the main opposition party. Involve
all Indians across religious lines to become the ruling party.
Kangress bhagaoe,desh bachaoe
By: birju | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 12:02:36 PM
Gadkariji,way to go! demolish the evil party ruling us and install the
patriots in power!
Hindutava
By: Parminder Singh | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:35:17 AM
My dear brothers and sisters. If a particular word creates
misunderstanding, notwithstanding the intentions behind it, we should
reconsider modifying it. Suppose Akalis say that in Punjab, Sikhutava
be practised or christians in NE States say Christianava be practised
and Muslims say in J&K, Muslimism be way of life, it would definately
not be acceptable to others. I would suggest to Mr Gadhkari that he
should use the word Bharatism as the slogan and moto. While one may
have reservations or objections to any word which in any way seem to
be linked to a particular community or religion, none can have
objection to the word reflecting the country in which he or she lives.
Hinduvta
By: DRJ | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:57:24 AM
Can u advocate the same philosophy for Pakistan which is driving
hindus and sikhs out. India is perhaps the only country where
affiliations of Muslims and Christians are outside the country i.e
Mekka and Rome. Nothing wrong in beliefs. But the basic interest to
rest with the country which is missing and hels overseas interest to
destabilise the country.
Hindutva and Hinduism
By: soumik pal | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:52:50 AM
Nitin Gadkari's comments are better thought than the usual fare dished
out by the likes of Narendra Modi. But one should realize that
Hinduism, after all, is just a discursive field open to debate and
discussion. It is not monolithic. It is not a religion, it is a dharma
(there's a difference). And by all means is Hinduism inclusive unlike
the brand of Hindutva being promoted by BJP and it's more hardcore
allies like the RSS, VHP etc. Godhra riots and countless other events/
incidents bear testimony to that. And "Mantra", India is not a Hindu
nation.
What is the final solution
By: mun | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:13:58 AM
Whilst all these comments are true, there is still the real problem
India faces not now but about 100 years from now. By that time the
proportion of Hindus and others in particular Muslims will have
changed to a point that unrest becomes more frequent and violent. The
reason is Hindus might continue to say India is secular and indeed
practice religious tolerence, but unfotunately, Islam does not give
any choice to muslims. That is, there is only one way of being muslim,
which is the way quran preached originally. No muslim can accept a
State which is not based on quran. That means India can never enact a
law restricting muslims from marrying more than one wife, practice
family planning or any other practices even if they are archaic and
irrelevant to 22nd century. Is there a way out of this? If muslim
population is proportionately, more than Hindus will they allow Hindus
to live they want to live? No convincing answers to this yet.
Hindutva
By: MRR | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:01:19 AM
It is good start and it is upto verybody to ensure that they do not
elect the Pseudo secular's back to power in next election and give
this ideology a another chance to put in practise. Good luck
To attract youth, Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiomNew Delhi: BJP
president Nitin Gadkari on Monday stressed on the need for a modern
idiom to articulate Hindutva for the youth, even as he said that the
Supreme Court’s 1995 description of Hindutva (wherein it described it
as “a way of life”) must be the touchstone while explaining the idea.
“Hindutva can ....Read more
18 Comments |
Let and Let live - Hindutva idiom
By: kulmohan | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:52:41 AM
Let and Let live - Hindutva idiom. Nothing else would define the
essence of hinduism better
Let and Let Live
By: Indian | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:20:14 AM
Yea that is exactly what is happening with terrorirsts. We are letting
them leave and forgetting ourselves to protect. We are letting
terrorirsts live by voting politicians who are very careful not to
hang them despite of SC judgement
Hindutva
By: Mantra | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:38:19 AM
While the Honorable Supreme Court is absolutely correct in defining
Hinduism as a way of life, Hindu's also have certain beliefs and value
systems, which are unique to them. Hindu's like any other religion
believe in the supremacy of god,life and worship. It is therefore a
way of life to practice the three epitomes of any religion. Now
Islamic and Christian nations do give Bonus points to people or
citizens who practice the religion as endorsed by the state. Prime
examples are Malaysia,Israel, France, Australia, whole of Middle East
and to a great extent US and UK too. Now, as a nation, what is wrong
being a Hindu nation? What is wrong in being a Hindu? At the end of
it, India and Nepal are the only two Hindu nations! The consitution
does not need to hurt the religious sentiments of others, nor should
it curtail the rights of other minorities, however, it should not also
give bonus points and additional privileges to citizens of India of
minority beliefs.
Right
By: India | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 10:00:06 AM
Very good. Very rightly said.
Hindus-Divided
By: DRJ | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 11:02:47 AM
Nitinji is making good and sincere attempts to rejenuvate BJP. The
main flaw in BJP's policy is that it recognises only certain sections
as Hindus and rest all as sub servers. This discrimination is being
exploited by Congress. BJP has to learn to recongnise all sections of
Hindus.
Thanks to Indian Express
By: Swanand Bodas | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:35:52 AM
This has been BJP's agenda from JanSangh time. Hindutva by virtue is
comprehensive. The culture here is tolerent and harmonious but of
course is capable to teach a lesson to pseudo secularists who have
been dividing the country for their vote-bank politics. Whatever SC
had said was exactly stated by Veer Savarkar by defining Hindus as
those loving this country and being part of the culture of this
country. But due to Pseudo secular people and even worse media this
has always been prohibitted to come forward. So I must congratulate
Indian Express which at least has made it a news unlike almost other
media channels who are more worried about Rahul Gandhi's whereabouts,
where does he stay what does eat, whether Priyanka was with him or not
etc. than any other intellectual process. This country needs to bring
all religions, states on same level with no special religious laws to
Muslims and no special status to J&K. Only then the country becomes
united
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/To-attract-youth--Gadkari-seeks-new-Hindutva-idiom/594388
Info on 'cash at judge's door' case confidential: SC
Agencies
Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 1247 hrs
New Delhi:
In the midst of a raging controversy over closure of the 'cash-at-
judge's-door' case, the Supreme Court, which had denied that CBI had
approached the Chief Justice, now says the information is
"confidential".
The Court's interesting reply came on an RTI petition seeking details
whether the Chief Justice of India was approached by the CBI wanting
permission to prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav of Punjab and Haryana
High Court in the case.
"I write to inform you that the information sought by you...is
confidential and is exempted from disclosure under the section 8 (1)
(e) and (j) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, you have no right
to access the said information."
"Further as the information is not held by or under the control of the
CPIO, Supreme Court India, your request cannot be acceded to..." Raj
Pal Arora, Central Public Information Officer of the Supreme Court
said in an RTI reply.
The reply is in sharp contrast to a statement earlier issued by its
Secretary General M P Bhadran who said CBI did not approach the Chief
Justice of India in the case.
Justice Yadav's name had figured in the alleged scam after the
recovery of a mysterious bag containing Rs 15 lakh at the door of
another Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmaljit Kaur, which was
said to have been delivered there due to confusion over names.
Justice Kaur reported the matter to the police. Later, the probe was
given to CBI on the orders of administrator of Chandigarh.
The CJI had also appointed a three-judge committee to look into the
matter. The then Attorney General Milon Banerji had reportedly advised
the Law Ministry that there was not enough material to proceed further
in the matter.
A CBI court observed that the probe agency filed the closure report
after it failed to get sanction from the Chief Justice of India to
launch prosecution against her. Meanwhile, Justice Yadav was
transferred to Uttarakhand High Court after the decision of
collegium.
Applicant Abhishek Shukla had sought a reply from the Supreme Court
whether the CJI was approached by the CBI seeking permission to
prosecute Justice Nirmal Yadav.
Section 8(1)(e) of the RTI Act cited by CPIO Arora exempts disclosure
of information which is held "fiduciary relationship" whereas the
section 8(1) (j) exempts disclosure of information which is
"personal". In both cases, information can be given, if larger public
interest is served.
The Supreme Court has also refused to disclose the report of Justice
Gokhale Committee, constituted by the Chief Justice of India to probe
the allegations, a document which is reportedly accessed by some RTI
applicants already.
The apex court did not give the minutes of collegium meeting which
recommended the transfer of Justice Yadav to Uttarakhand High Court
after allegations of corruption surfaced against her.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/info-on-cash-at-judges-door-case-confidential-sc/594537/0
Tue, Apr 6 2010
NEW DELHI 6 Apr 2010 Right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party marks 30th
anniversary
The Hindu right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, India's main opposition
party, marks 30 years with plans for introspection. New party
president Nitin Gadkari aims to analyze the two successive defeats of
the BJP, which takes credit for the nuclear tests in 1998, for
starting the Indo-United States nuclear talks and for diffusing the
tensions of the Kargil War against Pakistan in 1999. The BJP dilemma
is whether to pursue the cultural nationalism (Hindutuva) agenda or to
move to the center to widen its political base.
The BJP and its political allies suffered a shock defeat in the
general elections in 2004 and failed to muster a parliamentary
majority. The party lost strength again in the 2009 general election.
The defeats were attributed to the bad performance of the party in
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
The party’s growing disciplinary problems were magnified with the
expulsion of former Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh in Aug 2009 for
writing a book on Pakistan's Founding Father Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
The BJP, in alliance with several other parties, was in power from
1998 to 2004, with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister and Lal
Krishna Advani as his deputy
The BJP was formed on 6 Apr 1980. It succeeded the Bharatiya Jana
Sangh, which merged with the Janata Party. The BJP was formed as a
separate party in 1980 after internal differences in the Janata Party
resulted in the collapse of its government in 1979.
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RELATED READING:
I have never spent a night in Delhi before (Nitin Gadkari’s interview,
DNA newspaper 20 Dec 2009)
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_i-have-never-spent-a-night-in-delhi-before_1325477
GenNext takes centre stage in BJP, 2 GenNext Sushma replaces Advani
(Hindustan times 17 Dec 2009)
http://www.hindustantimes.com/GenNext-takes-centrestage-in-BJP-Sushma-replaces-Advani/H1-Article1-487726.aspx
Bharatiya Janata Party
http://www.bjp.org/
BJP’s Nitin Gadkari Vs The Rahul Gandhi Dilemma (Tehelka Magazine 12
Dec 2009)
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Op121209bjp_nitin.asp
Advani took BJP from political margins to Cong challenger (CNN-IBN 18
Dec 20009)
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/advani-took-bjp-from-political-margins-to-cong-challenger/107374-37.html
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India urges caution as US mulls N-deal with Pak
Yesterday
New Delhi: India on Monday reacted with palpable unhappiness to
reports that the U.S. was willing to discuss a civil nuclear deal with
Pakistan, with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna drawing
attention to its “clandestine activities” in the field.
Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna
Mr. Krishna was guarded in his comments, but Opposition parties like
the BJP and the Left cautioned the U.S. against such a move. “The U.S.
should think whether this help is going to create more terrorism in
the world,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari said.
“I think, the U.S. would always look into the track record of every
country with which they are going for certain understanding or signing
a treaty.
“I am sure that the U.S. will constantly remember that the
proliferation of nuclear weapons was because of certain indiscretions
of certain countries and more particularly Pakistan and the
clandestine activities which they carried on,” Mr. Krishna said. He
said this aspect “will have to be kept in mind…I am sure the U.S.
will”.
Reports that the U.S. was willing to discuss with Islamabad a civil
nuclear deal, similar to that with India, were based on remarks
attributed to U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson who was
quoted as saying the U.S. was “beginning to have a discussion with the
Pakistan government” on the country’s desire to tap nuclear energy.
She noted that earlier America’s “non-proliferation concerns were
quite severe” but, “I think we are beginning to pass those and this is
a scenario that we are going to explore”. But there was no
confirmation of these moves from Washington.
U.S. Ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer sidestepped a question on
the issue, saying he was working on implementation of the Indo-U.S.
nuclear deal.
Mr. Gadkari also noted that Pakistan supports terrorism, and there
would be problems for the world if the U.S. gives nuclear technology
or defence help to it.
CPI leader D. Raja said the U.S. move reflected its “very narrow,
selfish vested interests”. He said the U.S. had so far been
encouraging arms race but now it was going to promote nuclear arms
race because of its “large business interest”.
Keywords: nuclear deal, S.M. Krishna, Nitin Gadkari, D. Raja, Timothy
J. Roemer, Anne Patterson, non-proliferation
- News Agencies
http://www.awamimarkaz.com/2010/03/india-urges-caution-as-us-mulls-n-deal-with-pak/
Nitin Gadkari draws flak from 3 BJP leaders from Bihar
PTI
Friday, March 19, 2010 20:24 IST
New Delhi: Four months after being appointed BJP president, Nitin
Gadkari faced his first challenge as discontent grew over composition
of his new team with atleast three senior leaders from Bihar making
their unhappiness known.
BJP set to defy whip over Women's Reservation Bill PM apologises for
Cong MP's remarks on Vajpayee Scuffle in RS,anger in BJP follows as
Liberhan report tabled
While former union minister Shatrughan Sinha aired his grievance
yesterday for being ignored, another former union minister C P Thakur
criticised Gadkari today saying the new team was "not balanced" and
"injustice" has been meted to out to him.
Another leader Shahnawaz Hussain, who was made one of the seven
spokespersons much below his expectations, also made
known his unhappiness by not attending a meeting of spokespersons
convened by the top leadership today.
With Bihar assembly elections due in October this year, these leaders
as also veterans like Yashwant Sinha were hoping for important
positions in the newly-constituted team.
Purnea MP Udai Singh is also said be disenchanted with his exclusion
from the list but has not come out in the open.
Gadkari, however, was unfazed, saying there were thousands of office
bearers and he could not satisfy everybody.
"As far as what I personally feel, I tried to accommodate everybody. I
can't satisfy everybody. As the president of the party, if anyone has
any problem, he has the right to discuss it with me," Gadkari told
NDTV.
Shatrughan Sinha was the first one to speak against the composition of
Gadkari's team when he announced yesterday that "most deserving"
candidates like Yashwant Sinha have been left out while some not so
competent people figured in the list.
Continuing to sulk, he said the goings-on in the party "did not augur
well" for NDA before the crucial Bihar elections. He also spoke of
"bossy and vested interests" asserting "I cannot compromise with my
dignity".
Though Shatrughan Sinha used Yashwant's name, he is himself
disgruntled.
CP Thakur went public today saying the team should have been balanced
and Maharashtra has been given more importance.
"Injustice has been done to me. My contribution to the party is
definitely not less than that of others...It should have been a
balanced team. The list should be revised," Thakur said.
Hussain, who was tipped to be a general secretary, is also unhappy as
he would have to work under chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Hussain was a union minister in the NDA regime while Prasad was a
minister of state and the former
considers himself a senior.
Moreover, Prasad has been made a general secretary addingsalt to
Hussain's wounds.
Interestingly, Shatrughan, Thakur and Hussain are from Bihar which
goes to polls in October. Their personal grievances may affect the
party's prospects, feel some party leaders.
Hussain kept away from a meeting of the spokespersons convened by
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj at the behest of Prasad. Sources
said when Swaraj called him about the meeting he said he was unwell
and could not attend.
However, his grievances are known to the party top brass. Sources said
Hussain himself is planning to take up the matter with Gadkari when he
arrives in the capital.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_nitin-gadkari-draws-flak-from-3-bjp-leaders-from-bihar_1361000
SIT summons: Lies & falsehood, cries Modi
DNA
Monday, March 22, 2010 19:13 IST
Last updated: Tuesday, March 23, 2010 1:38 IST
Gandhinagar: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Monday struck
back at his detractors and claimed that the special investigation team
(SIT) set up by the Supreme Court to look into the Gujarat riot cases
had not summoned him to appear before it on March 21.
Even as activist Teesta Setalvad was busy distributing copies of the
2007 Tehelka tapes in which various people were seen implicating Modi
in the riot cases, the chief minister issued a “carefully-worded
letter” stating that the “SIT had not fixed March 21, 2010, for my
appearance. The date… was invented by some vested interest”. But
Modi’s letter made it clear that he would respond to the SIT “fully
respecting the law and keeping in view the dignity of a body appointed
by the Supreme Court.”
Speaking on his behalf, senior BJP leader and Supreme Court lawyer
Arun Jaitley told a hastily-convened press conference that there had
been “no direct or indirect, or any form of request, by the SIT to
appear” before it. Emphasising repeatedly that “Modi will comply with
all legal obligations, show full respect and respond to the SIT as and
when a time is fixed,” Jaitley said the March 21 date had been wrongly
“leaked to the media by some vested interests trying to intervene with
the process of law”.
Jaitley did not spell out the date that Modi had been asked to appear
before the SIT or whether he would go in person for the meeting.
Neither did Modi’s letter clarify any of these facts. But he did
indicate by implication that he had been summoned by the SIT.
While Jaitley bashed the vested interests and the media repeatedly,
the fact remains that news of Modi being called was confirmed by SIT
chief RK Raghavan himself on March 11 to DNA as part of a telephonic
talk.
Jaitley, who flew down to Gandhinagar on Monday morning, held an
urgent media conference at the chief minister’s office to clarify on
his behalf. “The media has been misleading the people by disseminating
incorrect information that Modi was summoned by the SIT on March 21,
and that he did not appear,” said Jaitley.
“There have been campaigns running for the past eight years to defame
the Gujarat government and the chief minister.”
Taking a side swipe at the NGOs which were fighting for the cause of
the 2002 riot victims, Jaitley said as petitioners in the SC, these
NGOs should “ensure that there was no interference with the process of
law”.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_sit-summons-lies-and-falsehood-cries-modi_1362099
Watch lots of Videos:
http://article.wn.com/view/2010/03/19/Nitin_Gadkari_draws_flak_from_3_BJP_leaders_from_Bihar/
BJP reshuffle: What is Nitin Gadkari thinking?
March 20, 2010 17:15 IST
Sheikh Chilli is a well-known character in South Asian mythology. He
abounds in vision, dreams, and knows how to inspire people with his
talk. He is brimming with futuristic ideas, but has no idea how to
realise them: The most famous Sheikh Chilli story is how he decided to
cut a branch off a tree when he needed firewood, except that he was
sitting on the branch while cutting it.
Several in the Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] are reminded of
Sheikh Chilli while evaluating the team that the party's new
president, Nitin Gadkari [ Images ], announced earlier this week. Some
inclusions are inexplicable, omissions even more so. Promotions and
demotions don't seem to indicate any larger strategy the new president
may have in mind for the party.
First, the party amended its constitution to have a 120-member
national executive, up from 80 earlier: This is fine, as the president
thought he would benefit from wider consultation. But, see the list of
members in the executive, including a mysterious category called
'others' (for which there is no provision in the party constitution).
The resultant national executive has 190-plus members. It can only be
an insecure president who has to subvert the constitution, presumably
to have an executive packed with his supporters.
Now, the team itself. Of the 190-plus members, more than 25 are from
Maharashtra [ Images ]. Actor Vinod Khanna's [ Images ] wife Kavita is
an 'other'. But the party's former foreign and finance minister
Yashwant Sinha [ Images ] has not even been found worthy of being an
'other'. He's been dropped altogether. So has been another National
Democratic Alliance Cabinet minister, Jagmohan.
Those from Maharashtra are neither thinkers, nor professionals, nor,
in any way, expanding the intellectual frontiers of the BJP. They are
politicians mostly from the municipal and local body levels. So, no
doubt the BJP expects to sweep the local body elections in Maharashtra
-- but to build a national executive on the back of that talent?
It is clear that Gadkari wanted to end factionalism in the party and
thought that he would be able to do so by making the national
executive a rainbow coalition. So he has appointed Vasundhara Raje as
the general secretary. But he has also appointed Bainsla, her greatest
detractor and the biggest pain in her neck in Rajasthan [ Images ]
during her tenure as the chief minister, as an 'other'. Bainsla
represents the Gujjars in Rajasthan -- the caste in counterpoise to
the largely Congress-leaning Meenas. Why insult the Gujjars by giving
Bainsla an ornamental representation in the executive?
If the national executive is the vehicle for policy decisions by the
party, it makes sense that members from the state where elections are
due should have been chosen in larger numbers and with care. The
Bhumihars in Bihar (which goes to the polls in a few months) are the
biggest supporters of the Janata Dal - United-BJP-led government
there, and are seriously disenchanted with Nitish Kumar. The BJP could
have snapped them up if it had taken a little care. But, there isn't a
single Bhumihar from Bihar in the national executive. Instead, Kiran
Ghai, a Punjabi from Bihar, who has been a nominated member of the
legislative council, has been elevated as an office-bearer. In Bihar
politics, what is she expected to bring to the table?
At least two members from Uttar Pradesh [ Images ] (where the party is
all but finished) -- Ram Bux Verma and Ravi Kant Garg -- left the
party when they were denied nominations. Verma was a Rajya Sabha
member and the party could not give him another term because it didn't
have the numbers to renominate him. He quit the party and returned
later. He's a member of the executive. Garg represented Mathura and
left the party not once but twice after he was denied a re-nomination.
He, too, is in the executive. What sort of message does this send?
Assam has sent 14 MPs to the Lok Sabha. Rajan Gohain is an MP who has
served three terms. He, however, is not an office-bearer. Instead,
Tapir Gao from Arunachal Pradesh, which sends two MPs to the Lok
Sabha, is a secretary. Moreover, Gao represents the scheduled tribe
quota. So, the voice of the North-East region is heard through these
two and Bijoya Chakravarty, who has been appointed vice president.
The Parliamentary Board -- the highest forum of the party -- has 12
members, of which one is reserved for a scheduled caste and the
organising secretary's post is filled by an Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh representative. So, that leaves the president with 10 members
whom he has the freedom of choice to appoint. Of these, seven are
Brahmins. What happened to the BJP's big other backward class project
of social inclusion ?
No doubt, Nitin Gadkari has a plan for the BJP. It is not clear what
it is.
Aditi Phadnis Source:
Discussion Board
Showing 1-10 of total 57 messages
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/mar/20/bjp-reshuffle-what-is-nitin-gadkari-thinking.htm
BJP chief whip spills it out: 70% of MPs oppose Women’s Bill
J P Yadav
Posted: Thursday , Mar 11, 2010 at 0148 hrs
New Delhi:
Betraying the anxiety among MPs on how the women’s reservation Bill
will play out in their constituencies, the BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha
today claimed “at least 70 per cent of MPs” were against the Bill
while a senior BJP MP said he would defy any whip to vote in its
favour even though his party had offered it “unequivocal support” in
the Rajya Sabha.
Ramesh Bais, BJP chief whip in Lok Sabha, said there was strong
resentment among Lok Sabha MPs over the Bill and his party leadership
was engaged in placating MPs.
“At least seventy per cent of MPs are protesting against the women’s
reservation Bill and the way the party supported the Bill despite
marshals being used in Rajya Sabha. Top leaders of the party have
assured that grievances of the MPs will be taken into account,” Bais
told The Indian Express, adding that Murli Manohar Joshi and Yashwant
Sinha had already held the first round of discussions.
Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav, senior leader and BJP MP from Madhubani in
Bihar, declared he would defy any party whip in Lok Sabha and vote
against the Bill.
A former Union Minister, Yadav told The Indian Express: “If they issue
a whip (to vote in favour of the Bill), I will break it and vote
against it. Let them end my membership, I am not bothered. I am a
socialist and I cannot compromise on issues of social justice.”
He said he had asked the BJP leadership not to issue a whip in Lok
Sabha and allow MPs to exercise their choice. He also slammed the use
of marshals in Rajya Sabha to evict seven MPs who were opposed to the
Bill.
Yadav said the use of marshals amounted to “martial law” and his party
had been a “mute spectator”.
“History will not spare the BJP. The BJP was like Bhishmapitamah and
Dronacharya in Mahabharata who remained mute spectators to the
disrobing of Draupadi,” he said. Attacking the policy of his party to
support the Bill, he said the BJP would “decline further” if it
ignored the backward classes.
Yogi Adityanath, MP from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, too aired his
protest, wondering why the party had shown such eagerness to back the
women’s reservation Bill when there were more pressing matters on
hand.
Madhusudan Yadav, a first-time BJP MP from Rajnandgaon in
Chhattisgarh, too objected that the party leadership had not protested
the use of marshals to evict MPs from Rajya Sabha.
“The allies and supporters of UPA are protesting against the Bill.
They used the support of the Opposition to use marshals and bulldoze
the Bill through Rajya Sabha. We will not tolerate the use of marshals
in Lok Sabha,” Yadav told The Indian Express.
29 Comments |
BJP is in winning position
By: Danendra jain | Friday , 12 Mar '10 5:32:16 AM
There is no doubt in it that BJP will ultimately gain in election due
to their support to woman reservation bill .Details cannot be
mentioned but realised by true thinker of BJP cadre. It needs some
time to ponder over the issue and merely supporting or opposing for
the sake of support or for opposition will serve no purpose. When they
supported in Rajya sabha there a reason behind it.There is no change
in any part of the bill , they why BJP members have suddenly changed.
It means they did not apply mind in first case and nor they have
applied mind for their next course of action in Loksabha.However I am
of different view.Quota has not served any interest of SC ST or OBC
during last 60 years of freedom and it cannot be imagined that woman
quota will turn the table and bring about overwhelming change in
Indian administration which is ailing from corruption, or give relief
to Indian common men who are suffering from price rise or provide
safety to Indians who are afraid of terror attack or Naxal attack or
help Indian youth who are suffering from unemployment.
women's reservation bill
By: karan | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 13:55:11 PM
Is there any guarantee that the selected women in the parliment will
perform any better than men.Is there any assurance that they will
behave better than men. If one looks are likes of Indira , mayavati,
jayalalitha,sonia, renuka choudri, jayanti natarajan, rabri devi etc,
nothing gives us hope that they are here to change anything that is
happening today.This resrvation bill is a real wastefull exercise.This
only will become an extended family mater spilling in the public
domain with no commensurate benefit to the tax payer's money.One can
not forget the money that this lady renuka choudri splashed on
telephone bills, hotel bills etc only to be reprimanded by The then
Finance minister.
What a mess !!!
By: rao | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 13:05:22 PM
It has taken, as per one of the TV channels (probably govt mouthpiece)
14 long years, after the bill's inception. There must have been
various reasons why it could not come through,except that now as Mrs
Sonia Gandhi (the almighty of India) has taken it as a personal
challenge, the first hurdle was crossed. This is to say the least the
most pathetic situation, whichever way you look at it. Did any one
consider as to why it took 14 long years and would the same factors
(possibly justifying that time, the said reservation -- God knows
which factors) still hold good? We divide the country on all counts,
caste, religion and now gender basis. What is the point in having
reserved seats, which any way would be contested only by the clones
and controlled 'remotely' by others - whatever be the type of
reservation. Improve the lot of the deserving (irrespective of caste,
religion and gender) and the country would automatically prosper. Most
of the women feel such reservation as a disgrace
WOMEN'S BILL
By: kkjha | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:20:55 PM
every political party is exploiting the situation -some in the name of
religion,some caste ,others group of castes,look into the
history,yadavs were the most influential upper caste-now they are
backward,thanks to politicians,REMOVE ALL SORTS OF RESERVATIONS AND
WORK FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTRY
HAS THE COUNTRY PROGRESSED?
By: N.ASTI | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:12:38 PM
Under the leadership of Congress,UPA is trying to divert the mind of
public and sail smoothly thro' current session of Parliament without
addressing the burning issues of PRICE-RISE,SECURITY,DEBACLES IN
DEALING WITH PAK and so on.If a Govt is really working for the Nation
and not only Party-interest AT ALL COSTS,then Congress which ruled the
country for half a decade ,would have brought the living of
SC,ST,OBC,Minorities,Women at a level that none of them need
reservation and all Indians would have been at par in the
progress.Awareness was needed to be created among these masses for
removal of ignorance,Poverty and population rise(which is the biggest
hurdle in the progress).In its stead Indian Politicians ate away the
resources meant for AAM AADMI and throws on the bread of RESERVATION
to different categories,treating them as street dogs,and foolish
Indians enjoy this and get satisfied.
QUOTA BASED ON POVERTY IS IDEAL
By: B S GANESH | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 12:06:10 PM
My frank opinion is any type of quota other than for alleviating
poverty and improving the quality of life of poor people is a sort of
fraud on the nation. B S GANESH
No need of Reservation
By: Sanjay | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:46:43 AM
Why Reservation ? Sonia ,Mamata ,Mayavati ,Jayalalita ,Sushma swaraj
are Indias leading politicians without any
reservation.Presindent ,most influential politician of India are
women .They will come up by their merit.
100%
By: George P. Joseph | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:38:43 AM
Psychologically and the past experiments arrive at 100%, that is the
truth.
Women's bill
By: Bhaskar Kolnad | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:28:13 AM
It should have been 50% reservation for women ,not 33% as now now they
proposing.Even for this ,there is so much of opposition and
reservation.What equality are these top leaders preaching then . Sonia
says it is her husbands dream and many others also speak so much about
it. Double standard.
True face of Women-Bill
By: mohan | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 11:25:10 AM
It is not only the BJP but also many in the Congress Party is against
the bill. It is only due to the insistance of Sonia Gandhi it could be
moved in the RS.
True face of Women's-Bill----
By: romesh.sharma | Thursday , 11 Mar '10 14:55:38 PM
By now SoniaGandhi has known and is assured by her boot-lickers that
there will be some kind protests,agitations,yammering and blabbering
which won't last longer and the anti-bill people will cool down and
forget.This had always happened in India.Too susceptibles with very
short-memories.India is nomore or say was never real Democracy under
Congress rule.How a bill can get through which needs Constitutional
Amendment withough 2/3 majority support is clear sign of despotic
regime exercising colourful powers.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjp-chief-whip-spills-it-out-70-of-mps-oppose-womens-bill/589444/0
bademiyansubhanallah
By Our Staff Correspondent
MYSORE, JAN. 20. Members of Sri Digambara Jain Samaj here have
expressed anguish over reports of animal sacrifice at Girinar Hills in
Gujarat, which is associated with Bhagawan Sri Neminatha Tirthankara.
The community members observed a fast on Thursday to protest the cult
of animal sacrifice at Girinar Hills, which is gaining in prominence
in recent times.
Girinar Hills is a sacred pilgrim centre for Jains for it was here
that Sri Neminatha attained his salvation having preached non-violence
and compassion. It is customary for the Jain community members to
visit the spot at least once in their lifetime.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2005/01/21/stories/2005012114200300.htm
Out on a mission
As she takes yet another daring step, this time to set right the
disharmonious political system of Assam, Indira Goswami, the
celebrated writer, talks about her experiences to NITI PANTA.
BE IT a life threat for her controversial writings or a face-to-face
encounter with the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), nothing
daunts this intrepid explorer to continue writing on social or
political issues that the State has been grappling with for so many
years. One of the most celebrated writers in the vernacular and a
Jnanpith Award winner, Indira Goswami, talks about her experiences as
she takes yet another daring step to contribute to solving a
disharmonious political system of Assam.
Q: You are penning a book on the United Liberation Front of Assam
(ULFA). How did the idea hit you?
A: I accidentally visited the ULFA transit camp around 12 years ago.
Since I've had a great association with students all my life, some of
the students in Assam invited me for a talk by Bishnu Rabha, where I
discovered that those students were ULFA members. I was also invited
to visit their transit camp, which terrified me at first but I was
touched to see them involved in welfare activities despite having
taken up arms. A few days later, I learnt that all the boys I met were
killed in a military encounter, except for one, who was imprisoned and
continued to write to me. This incident inspired me to pen a book on
their life, which is still in progress.
Q: From a caste riddled world in "The Shadow of Kamakhya", and an
impassioned plea against animal sacrifice in "Chhinamasta" to life of
ULFA militants. It's a complete transition.
A: Most of my writings have a humanist theme. Animal sacrifice has
been an age-old tradition in Assam and surprisingly no one has ever
protested against such gruesome practices in the name of religion.
There was a hue and cry when I wrote against such an inhuman practice.
Although the priests of the Kamakhya temple protested the theme of my
novel and one of my old publishers even refused to publish my book, I
had the support of a large section of Assamese society and people like
Anuradha Barpujari - editor of a weekly. ULFA too has been a serious
problem in Assam for 25 years and there has been so much bloodshed. We
Assamese have witnessed a lot of killing in our State and I personally
have lost some of my colleagues and a close friend. This has to end
somewhere. All that is required is awareness among people which can be
effectively brought about by writing on such social and political
issues.
Q: You now play an intermediary between the Centre and ULFA.
A: It was a personal desire to help in this situation and if this one
step could change things I was most willing to take the plunge. I
don't like to be termed as a `mediator' but have simply requested the
government to talk to the militant group and my role ends here. Q:
There have been several attempts for negotiations earlier. Sanjay
Hazarika and even singer Bhupen Hazarika have sent appeals but in
vain.
A: It is for the first time in 25 years that ULFA has agreed for talks
with the Centre. I am not aware of the strategy of other people or do
not know why attempts of people like Sanjay Hazarika or Bhupenda
failed to show results. I saw ULFA Chief, Paresh Barua, who approached
me for the same - probably because I have known them for some time
now.
Q: Do you think your effort will bring results? Is your strategy any
different?
A: My strategy is a simple appeal to the government written after
consulting senior professors and my colleagues in Delhi University and
it requests the government to invite ULFA for negotiation.
Q: Are you positive about the negotiations taking place? How has the
government reacted to your plea?
A: The State government has agreed to support me, though the Centre's
approval is still awaited. Since ULFA is ready to negotiate it makes
things easier for the government. Q: Don't you think regional writing
is yet to make a mark in Indian literature?
Well regional writing has come a long way though it's still underrated
by Indian publishers. I can vouch that there are any number of
regional books through which publishers can popularise good writing.
I personally feel that English writers in India don't cover the
experience of real India. Without knowing the regional languages they
cannot write with a true sense of feeling.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 13, 2005
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2005/01/13/stories/2005011301350300.htm
Cuttack temples set to restart animal sacrifice
Correspondent
At least two goats are sacrificed every year, they say
Sacred places are turning into slaughterhouses, says social
organisation
CUTTACK: Notwithstanding the fact that animal sacrifices have stopped
in all Cuttack temples during Durga puja, the oldest Kali temple in
Bidyadharpur locality of Cuttack city is all set to restart the age-
old practice from this year.
“At least five persons have wished to offer sacrificial goats at the
altar of the Goddess on Friday night when the rituals of Kali puja
would begin around 12 O’clock midnight”, said the temple priest
Santosh Kumar Chatterjee.
Kali puja in Bidyadharpur is believed to be the oldest in Cuttack and
arguably began much before the Durga puja concept invaded into the
millennium city.
Like Durga puja, Kali puja too began here by Bengali communities.
Age-old practice
Following instructions from the district collector in 2003, the age-
old practice to propitiate the Goddess here had reportedly stopped. In
fact the local administration had claimed that no animal sacrifices
are done at any of the places of worship in the city.
But Chattarjee who has been associated with the Kali temple of
Bidyadharpur since 1973 pointed out that although, the number of the
goats sacrificed at the altar had reduced marginally, the practice was
never discontinued. “At least two goats of the local puja committee
are sacrificed every year”, he said.
Chatterjee said never ever the district administration has stopped us
from doing so. We have also not received any communiqué form the local
police station in this regard. “In fact a senior officer of the local
police station offered a goat for sacrifice last year which has
encouraged other common people to come forward to do the same”, he
asserted. Local puja committee head Mahendra Kumar Panda when
contacted said: “animal sacrifices in the Kali temple here is an age-
old practice and it has been continuing for the past 500 years”. How
can we stop it now, he asked?
Police denial
But the Chauliaganj police station inspector S.N. Behera when
contacted, he claimed that animal sacrifices are not done at
Bidyadharpur temple. It has been stopped since long, he said.
Meanwhile, People for Animal, a State-level social organisation which
has been campaigning against the animal sacrifices in places of
worship has taken strong note of the ill-practice. “In the name of
animal sacrifices to propitiate the Goddess, the sacred places of
shrines are turning out to slaughter houses which is sending a wrong
message in the society”, said Sanjib Das, the member secretary of the
social organisation.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/10/stories/2007111058300300.htm
Karnataka - Bidar
‘No’ to animal sacrifice sparks violence in Bidar
Staff Correspondent
People prevented from sacrificing goat
Four police personnel injured in stone throwing
Village residents allege police
high-handedness
BIDAR: Violence erupted after a few people were prevented from
performing animal sacrifice on the premises of a temple in Karpakpalli
village of Humnabad taluk in Bidar district on Monday.
The police said that they had prevented the people from sacrificing a
goat on the Gali Maramma temple premises. The ritual was part of a
three-day “jatra”. Irked by this, they started throwing stones at the
police. The police lobbed teargas shells and resorted to lathi-charge
to disperse the crowd. Four police personnel were injured and two
police vans damaged in the stone-throwing incident.
Superintendent of Police A. Subramanyeswara Rao said here on Tuesday
that the police had not fired in the air to disperse the mob. No
arrests had been made in connection with the violence. But cases had
been registered against more than 50 persons. The situation in the
village was under control, he added.
Additional police personnel from Humnabad, Bidar and Chittaguppa have
been deployed as a precautionary measure. Police officers have been
stationed there to assess the situation.
Deputy Superintendent of Police P.A. Korwar held a meeting in
Karpakpalli on Tuesday, urging the residents to maintain the peace.
The village residents said that they had not performed any animal
sacrifice. They alleged that the police had stopped them from
performing puja. The police had resorted to lathi-charge unnecessarily
and even women had been beaten up, they added.
About a month ago, some associations appealed to the people of the
village not to perform animal sacrifice during the “jatra”.
They had also sought the help of the police in this regard.
The police held meetings with the people of the village and asked them
not to perform animal sacrifice. The local police were told to take
steps to put an end to animal sacrifice in the village.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/13/stories/2008021356960400.htm
Opinion - Letters to the Editor
Ban animal slaughter
Sir, — It has become a fashion to condemn sacrifice of animals in
yajnas and temples. This is looked at by some groups as cruelty to
animals. If the whole country becomes vegetarian and adopts ahimsa as
a policy such a stand is justifiable. On the other hand, when millions
of animals are reared to be killed for being consumed as food, it is
sheer hypocrisy to criticise animal sacrifice.
There is greater need to condemn seafood export and meat export,
killing of cows and beef-eating. If animal sacrifice is done as per
religious beliefs, it should not be condemned unless we ban all animal
slaughter for any other purpose.
V.V.S. Sarma,
Bangalore
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/07/01/stories/2002070100021006.htm
Should we ban animal sacrifice in temples?
DO WE need to ban the practice offering animals and birds as sacrifice
during prayer in Hindu temples?
Does the State have the authority to police and ban animal sacrifices
of one religious group while allowing another to perform offering of
animals at prayer time.
Lord Krishna while listing the types of devotees based on the kind of
offering/kind of rituals one performs categorises them into (1) satvic
(peaceful, compassionate and calm), (2) rajasic (aggressive and
restive) and (3) tamasic devotees (very selfish and not concerned
about hurting others for one's own joy) based on the sankalpa
(intention), devatha invoked (name and form of the god invoked),
offering to the Lord and the method of prayer.
Not all devotion is satvic; therefore not all offerings are satvic.
From time immemorial the practice of offering animals during worship
as sacrifice is prevalent.
If one is allowed to kill a bird or an animal for his personal
consumption, there can be no extra harm to the animal or bird if it is
killed for the sake of offering.
The only thing that must be debated is the sensibilities of the satvic
person, who may be offering his prayers at that time, being offended
by the offering of animals or birds by those who choose a non-satvic
method based on his sankalpa and nature.
This is certainly very important. Just as smoking in public places is
banned, offering animal sacrifice in temples where predominant style
of praying is satvic is perfectly in order and needs to be done.
Just as certain places are reserved exclusively for smokers, certain
temples where traditionally animal sacrifices are done should be
allowed to continue the practice.
We should accept the fact that it takes all kinds of people to make
the world and we should frame rules and regulations taking this fact
into consideration.
If persons from other faiths can offer animals, if we can display
skinned animals sometimes with its tail intact in meat shops in public
shopping area in villages and small towns, how can we prevent animal
sacrifice in village temples where it is a time immemorial tradition?
What is necessary is proper regulation so that the majority of the
temples where the persons offering prayers choosing the satvic method
are free from animal sacrifices and allow the practice to continue
where traditionally it is much prevalent.
Hinduism is an all-inclusive way of life and therefore cannot exclude
non-satvic methods of offering prayers.
MANIKAM RAMASWAMI
http://www.hindu.com/op/2003/09/09/stories/2003090900130300.htm
Sacrificing an age-old practice
According to popular belief, the animal or bird sacrifice is only a
symbol of their `Nerthi Kadan' (thanksgiving), which, if not
fulfilled, would be construed as `unpardonable'.
THOUGH NOT far away from the Temple City, the Pandi Muneeswarar
temple, `Pandikovil' in local parlance, is located in an area free
from the humdrum of the urban life. Surrounded by lush green
paddyfields, an eerie silence prevails in and around the temple
complex now despite hundreds of devotees continuing to throng the
shrine.
"Animal or bird sacrifice is not allowed here!" screams a notice
board, put up by the temple administration at the entrance to the
complex, which had been a scene of ritual killings for decades
together.
Some of the devotees, who shun slitting or hacking animals and birds,
continue with the symbolic puja by offering pongal, flowers and money
to the deity. Still many are at a loss to understand how they can
propitiate the temple deities -- Pandi Muneeswarar, Andi and
Samayakaruppasamy -- without offering them goats or roosters.
Till August 30, scores of goats and fowls were sacrificed,
particularly on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays by the devotees who
thronged the shrine from different parts of the State, including towns
and villages in Madurai, Tiruchi, Virudhunagar, Theni, Ramanathapuram,
Sivaganga and Chennai districts, as a mark of fulfilment of their vow
to the deities. The blood-splattered mud floor around the Pandi
Muneeswarar temple stands a testimony to the age-old practice.
Now that the ritual has come to a grinding halt, the crowd of devotees
comprising mainly small and medium farmers and farm workers has also
grown thinner, thanks to the Government's order on August 28 banning
animal and bird sacrifice in temples. As it has been publicised, the
immediate provocation for the ban was the sacrifice of 500 buffaloes
at a village shrine in Tiruchi district recently. The Chief Minister,
Jayalalithaa, has written to the district authorities, asking them to
prevent the killing of animals and birds in the name of seeking the
blessings of gods. Calling for stringent action against the
`violators', she has pointed out that the Tamil Nadu Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals Act, 1950, and its subsequent amendment, also
banned such cruel acts on the temple premises.
The Government clamped the ban close on the heels of the Madras High
Court ordering notices to the Home Secretary and the DGP on a public
interest petition seeking the ban.
But ritual killings are not confined to the Pandi Muneeswarar Temple
alone, though it is a well-known fact that animal and bird sacrifice
is common in the State, more particularly in the southern districts.
It is practised in other parts of the country and prevalent among
different religious sects in many parts of the subcontinent from time
immemorial, historians point out.
The village deities, otherwise known as `folk gods', with regional
character, are installed mostly in roofless outdoor temples. As many
of these deities attract people in the lower strata of society, the
devotees have a `direct access' to them.
Unlike classical temples, where pujas are held as per `agamas', meat,
cigar and liquor are permitted for worship here.
As the relationship between the devotees and the deities is `personal'
without even a minimum role for intermediaries including the temple
priests, people believe that their god will help them fulfil any wish.
Childless couple seek the deity's grace to bless them with children
while unmarried persons plead for fixing elusive weddings.
Solution is also sought for family problems arising out of socio-
economic conditions. According to popular belief, the animal or bird
sacrifice is only a symbol of their `Nerthi Kadan' (thanksgiving),
which, if not fulfilled, would be construed as `unpardonable'.
Animal sacrifice, followed by common dining, is part and parcel of the
worship at the folk shrines. Till the enforcement of the ban, if
affordable sections sacrificed goats, the poor and downtrodden offered
the less expensive roosters.
Separate enclosures were installed near the temple for cooking the
carcasses returned to the devotees after the sacrifice was performed.
However, the head and a leg of the goat would be handed over to the
butcher, who slaughtered the animal. A fixed fee was also collected
from the devotees for chopping off the heads of goats, besides
skinning and de-boning the meat.
The Government's action has been given a new twist as it has come
close on the heels of its decision to support the demand for a ban on
cow slaughter. Several opposition parties have dubbed the move as yet
another proof of the ruling party's `pro-Hindutva slant', even while
systematically depriving the Dalits and backward communities of their
age-old cultural rights.
The ban will only pave the way for performing the sacrifice
clandestinely within four walls, they claim, citing the example of a
ruling party MLA, who reportedly offered `annadhanam' with the meat of
goats slaughtered near his residence in Dindigul district.
But the ban has been hailed by animal and bird lovers, apart from some
religious personalities, who claim that no book says ritual killing is
religious.
But there are many, who believe that the age-old custom will disappear
only through persuasion and education rather than through an official
ban.
S.DORAIRAJ
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 08, 2003
Special issue with the Sunday Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
RIVERS: JULY 01, 2001
Requiem for a river
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
The author is a winner of the Jnanpith award and is a Malayalam film-
maker and writer.
When the bridge across the River Bharatapuzha was completed in 1954,
the late Edasseri who had blazed literary trails with his poetic
force, looked at it with wonder and later wrote the poem "Kuttipuram
Bridge". It is a famous work, often quoted in the context of the eco-
aesthetics of Malayalam poetry. The poet marvelled at the engineering
skill. The bridge cost twenty-three lakhs of rupees, a formidable sum
at that time. He could visualise the thousands of vehicles about to
fly through the new highway. But he did not conceal his subtle fear
that the serenity of the riverside village might vanish in the near
future. The poem concluded on an apprehensive note:
S. Ramesh Kurup
"Oh Mother Perar, will you also change
Into a miserable gutter eventually?"
Perar or Nila (pet names of Bharatapuzha) did not turn into a gutter.
The poet never foresaw the calamity of sand-mining and he could not
imagine it as the desert strip, which it is now. Huge thickets grow on
the small mounds in the sand bed in several places. One can even see a
large casuarina grove right in the middle of the river between
Kuttipuram and Tirunavaya. They are partially hidden only during the
few days of heavy monsoon.
The river had inspired many of our major poets like Vallathol, P.
Kunhiraman Nair and Edasseri. For the commoners it was the sacred
Dakshina Ganga. Vallathol established the illustrious Kerala Kala
Mandalam on its banks in the village of Cheruthuruthy. A whole lot of
writers, singers and Kathakali artistes grew up in the villages close
to the river from Kalpathy to Ponani. So the river was often described
as the cultural stream of Malabar.
I have seen the terrifying form of the river during the floods of 1942
and 1944. We were safe in the ancestral house as it was built on an
elevated area beyond the stretch of paddy fields. The elders said the
worst flood was in 1924 when waters touched the foot hills.
The flood of 1944 is vivid in my memory. I was sent to the provision
shop to get something in the afternoon and instead of the short cut
through the fields I returned by the road bordering the river. The
river was alarmingly full. Elders were watching from several points.
Somebody shouted to me: "Run, boy, run. Any moment the water may rush
in through a breach." I ran at a terrific speed. By the time I reached
the steps to the house, water had gushed into the field. This flood
lasted for four days. There were so many relatives in the house who
had vacated from their riverside houses.
R. Prasanna Venkatesh/Wilderfile
We all took our daily baths from the steps below the main gate. During
the heavy monsoon the river hissed during the days and roared at
night, threatening to cut across and overflow. Yet we were not afraid
of the river. The dark misty mountains in the distance and the
ascending rolls of thick rain clouds were giving the necessary
warnings. Of course the flood damaged the dwelling of low lying areas.
Plantains and vegetables of those greedy farmers who encroached the
riverbed and did unauthorised cultivation, suffered. The villagers
generally kept the flat lands on either side of the river as flood-
plains. This minimised the force of the flood and incidentally
collected and stored large quantities of fertile top soil.
Bharatapuzha once boasted of a water transport system from Palakkad to
Ponani. Twin boats carrying agricultural produce to Ponani port used
to halt for the night at our ferry point. The oarsmen cooked their
food on the banks and rested till daybreak. From our courtyard we
could hear their friendly quarrels late in the night. An occasional
Mopla ballad also floated in the night air.
The whole village, except the very old, took their bath in the river
during summer. The water in the tanks was not good enough while
compared to the crystal clear running water, even though it was not
deep. The families without their own wells made their private water
holes in the riverbed for potable water.
During the summer, guests and relatives came to all the upper middle
class house from distant villages or towns like Calicut or Trichur.
For the adolescent males it was a festive occasion to watch discreetly
the sophisticated maidens chaperoned by elders going to certain
protected areas of the river for their evening ablutions.
The cattle also enjoyed a bath in the river - there were areas marked
for cattle - after a hot day's toil. If you could drive the cattle to
the river without their taking a bite from the paddy fields on either
side of the bund, then the grownups deemed you fit to enter the farm
work. (If you could read Ezhuthachan's Ramayanam without faltering,
your Malayalam education was complete!)
For me, the moonlit riverbed in the summer is a distant, but vivid
dream. We were never allowed to go there as it was a favourite
playground for the celestials. Villagers who got down at Pallipuram
Railway Station from a night train had to be careful while crossing
the river. If you did not disturb them, they would not bother you.
That was the perfect understanding between divine beings and mortals.
K. Ananthan
Our family deity was in Kodikunnath Temple, six kilometres away across
the river. We all believed in a legend that at some time in the past
there was only a poor widow and three children in our house. She used
to keep cows and every morning she would take the milk to the temple.
In return she got enough cooked rice for the day. Once the river was
full and the boatman did not dare to make it across. The widow
returned and told the children that there would not be any rice till
the river subsided. She gave boiled milk to the children and put them
to bed. At midnight someone knocked on the front door and she opened
it. There was an old woman on the door step all covered up and
drenched. The nocturnal visitor placed a brass vessel full of rice in
front of the widow and commanded: "Wake the children and feed them!"
Then the figure vanished. After the flood receded, on the fourth day
the widow went to the temple with the usual milk. She had kept the
rice vessel also with her to discuss the incident with the priest. The
priest was astonished. The vessel had been missing from the sanctum
sanctorum for the last three days.
So we all grew up loving and adoring the Mother Goddess who once
brought rice to our hungry ancestor.
We have a grandmother too, the mother of Kodikkunnath Goddess. She is
in the temple Muthassiar Kavu (grandmother's temple) near Pattambi.
According to one legend the Grandmother Goddess and her three
beautiful daughters (including the mother of Kodikkunnath) were
strolling along the river bed on a summer night. They saw a dance
festival by the Harijans and the youngest daughter was so carried away
by it, that she refused to go along when it was time to leave. The
mother ordered her to be with the Harijans and perform as their
guardian deity. This is the popular belief on the origin of Kanakkar
Kavu (Kanakkar is a sect of Harijans).
On another occasion the two sisters quarrelled after witnessing the
ritual of an animal sacrifice. As the younger one was so much
engrossed in the gory scene, the elder one parted company and settled
down in Kodikkunnath. The younger sister shifted to Kodungallur where
blood sacrifices were a common ritual until the immediate past.
Coming to the present, hundreds of lorries now wait in queue at every
point of access in every Panchayat all along the river. Roads are laid
right into the midrib of the river for quick mining and loading. The
thickets have grown into mini jungles in many places. They shield the
gamblers during the day and the illicit distillers at night.
It is not an unusual spectacle now in April and May to see, while
travelling through some villages by the river, long queues of women
with their coloured plastic pots waiting patiently for the water
lorry. The sub-soil water has receded so much that the wells on the
river belt have gone dry.
The river Bharatapuzha set the stage for many battles and historical
spectacles like Mamankam in the past. Noisy scenes are enacted even
now on the riverbed over territorial rights of mining and loading and
validity of official licenses. Long rows of heavy lorries block every
access to the river. You can no longer get a panoramic view of the
river. Instead, it is a vast scattering of mining pits.
To us, the river was another benevolent Mother Goddess. She discreetly
guarded our intimate dreams. Her deep chasms painfully received the
frustrations and shame of some of the erratic children. The departed
dear ones accepted the rituals of our obeisance under her watchful
eyes and left peacefully for their heavenly abodes.
The river which has often inspired me and which has witnessed my
growing up, affectionately tolerating my contradictions within, is
breathing her last.
I feel one of my filial bonds is about to be cruelly snapped. The
village is losing a colourful historical past, a nostalgic glory and a
cultural legacy. Yes, we have lost all of them, almost.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0107/01070480.htm
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2003/09/08/stories/2003090800700100.htm
A case for satvic food
CHENNAI, OCT. 15. How can food have any relevance to a person's
ultimate goal?
According to scriptures, eating is akin to conducting a homa, and
technically we are observing vaishvanara yagna when we are consuming a
meal. It is in the pit of the stomach that hunger, a sensation akin to
fire, is produced. This can be quenched only when we partake of food.
However, the nature of the ingredients of the food is important and
careful adherence to vegetarian meal is more in consonance with a
seeker's spiritual journey. In the Ramayana, sage Viswamitra sought
from Dasarata the assistance of Rama and Lakshmana to protect a yagna
from the evil forces which were showering entrails into the
sacrificial fire. Similarly, we are guilty of indulging in meaty food
in our daily diet which is but a reflection of the evil forces in our
spiritual life, said Sri Vidyasagara Madhva Theertha in his address at
the Indian Vegetarian Congress.
One should resist the temptation of eating meat, polluting the system
in the name of nutrition. Don't the Vedas sanction animal sacrifice,
some ask. Saint Madhwacharya argues against superficial study of
scriptures and prescribes analysis by exclusive application of "maha
vyakarna," the superior grammar. It will then be found that the cow
that is to be sacrificed is nothing more than a composition of flour
and ghee (clarified butter). Detailed analyses are found in the works
of the exponents of the Madhwa school of thought, such as Sri Vijendra
Theertha and Sri Narayana Panditacharya.
Some argue that whatever is offered to God should be consumed by the
seekers. Since the Vedas sanction animal sacrifice, consumption of
animal flesh is considered a just course of action by some. A few
others compromise when caught in a dilemma over meat — while adopting
animal sacrifice at yagnas, they are strict vegetarians in their food
habits. However, Sri Madhwacharya argues that there cannot be two sets
of rules for yagnas. The sacrificial fires at the visible homakunda
and the invisible fire pit (the stomach) are in principle the same.
The Vedas are for the uplift of people and as such they will not
advocate anything retrograde in a person's quest for liberation. To
the evolved, there is no dichotomy.
Over eons, violent modes of worship have been replaced with more
satvic methods. The scriptures have to be read and interpreted
carefully in both letter and spirit, and harmful practices should be
given up.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 15, 2004
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2004/10/15/stories/2004101500070900.htm
Beef eating: strangulating history
While one must respect the sentiments of those who worship cow and
regard her as their mother, to take offence to the objective study of
history just because the facts don't suit their political calculations
is yet another sign of a society where liberal space is being
strangulated by the practitioners of communal politics. [text Tag=blue-
tint][/Text]PROF. D. N. JHA, a historian from Delhi University, had
been experiencing the nightmares of `threats to life' from anonymous
callers who were trying to prevail upon him not to go ahead with the
publication of his well researched work, Holy Cow: Beef in Indian
Dietary Traditions.
As per the reports it is a work of serious scholarship based on
authentic sources in tune with methods of scientific research in
history. The book demonstrates that contrary to the popular belief
even today a large number of Indians, the indigenous people in
particular and many other communities in general, consume beef
unmindful of the dictates of the Hindutva forces.
It is too well known to recount that these Hindutva forces confer the
status of mother to the cow. Currently 72 communities in Kerala - not
all of them untouchables - prefer beef to the expensive mutton and the
Hindutva forces are trying to prevail upon them to stop the same.
Not tenable
To begin with the historian breaks the myth that Muslim rulers
introduced beef eating in India. Much before the advent of Islam in
India beef had been associated with Indian dietary practices. Also it
is not at all tenable to hold that dietary habits are a mark of
community identity.
A survey of ancient Indian scriptures, especially the Vedas, shows
that amongst the nomadic, pastoral Aryans who settled here, animal
sacrifice was a dominant feature till the emergence of settled
agriculture. Cattle were the major property during this phase and they
offered the same to propitiate the gods. Wealth was equated with the
ownership of the cattle.
Many gods such as Indra and Agni are described as having special
preferences for different types of flesh - Indra had weakness for
bull's meat and Agni for bull's and cow's. It is recorded that the
Maruts and the Asvins were also offered cows. In the Vedas there is a
mention of around 250 animals out of which at least 50 were supposed
to be fit for sacrifice and consumption. In the Mahabharata there is a
mention of a king named Rantideva who achieved great fame by
distributing foodgrains and beef to Brahmins. Taittiriya Brahman
categorically tells us: `Verily the cow is food' (atho annam via gauh)
and Yajnavalkya's insistence on eating the tender (amsala) flesh of
the cow is well known. Even later Brahminical texts provide the
evidence for eating beef. Even Manusmriti did not prohibit the
consumption of beef.
As a medicine
In therapeutic section of Charak Samhita (pages 86-87) the flesh of
cow is prescribed as a medicine for various diseases. It is also
prescribed for making soup. It is emphatically advised as a cure for
irregular fever, consumption, and emaciation. The fat of the cow is
recommended for debility and rheumatism.
With the rise of agricultural economy and the massive transformation
occurring in society, changes were to be brought in in the practice of
animal sacrifice also. At that time there were ritualistic practices
like animal sacrifices, with which Brahmins were identified. Buddha
attacked these practices. There were sacrifices, which involved 500
oxen, 500 male calves, 500 female calves and 500 sheep to be tied to
the sacrificial pole for slaughter. Buddha pointed out that aswamedha,
purusmedha, vajapeya sacrifices did not produce good results.
According to a story in Digha Nikaya, when Buddha was touring Magadha,
a Brahmin called Kutadanta was preparing for a sacrifice with 700
bulls, 700 goats and 700 rams. Buddha intervened and stopped him. His
rejection of animal sacrifice and emphasis on non-injury to animals
assumed a new significance in the context of new agriculture.
The threat from Buddhism
The emphasis on non-violence by Buddha was not blind or rigid. He did
taste beef and it is well known that he died due to eating pork.
Emperor Ashok after converting to Buddhism did not turn to
vegetarianism. He only restricted the number of animals to be killed
for the royal kitchen.
So where do matters change and how did the cow become a symbol of
faith and reverence to the extent of assuming the status of
`motherhood'? Over a period of time mainly after the emergence of
Buddhism or rather as an accompaniment of the Brahminical attack on
Buddhism, the practices started being looked on with different
emphasis. The threat posed by Buddhism to the Brahminical value system
was too severe. In response to low castes slipping away from the grip
of Brahminism, the battle was taken up at all the levels. At
philosophical level Sankara reasserted the supremacy of Brahminical
values, at political level King Pushyamitra Shung ensured the physical
attack on Buddhist monks, at the level of symbols King Shashank got
the Bodhi tree (where Gautama the Buddha got Enlightenment)
destroyed.
One of the appeals to the spread of Buddhism was the protection of
cattle wealth, which was needed for the agricultural economy. In a way
while Brahminism `succeeded' in banishing Buddhism from India, it had
also to transform itself from the `animal sacrifice' state to the one
which could be in tune with the times. It is here that this ideology
took up the cow as a symbol of their ideological march. But unlike
Buddha whose pronouncements were based on reason, the counteraction of
Brahminical ideology took the form of a blind faith based on
assertion. So while Buddha's non-violence was for the preservation of
animal wealth for the social and compassionate reasons the counter was
based purely on symbolism. So while the followers of Brahminical
ideology accuse Buddha of `weakening' India due to his doctrine of non-
violence, he was not a cow worshipper or vegetarian in the current
Brahminical sense.
Despite the gradual rigidification of Brahminical `cow as mother'
stance, large sections of low castes continued the practice of beef
eating. The followers of Buddhism continued to eat flesh including
beef. Since Brahminism is the dominant religious tradition, Babur, the
first Mughal emperor, in his will to his son Humayun, in deference to
these notions, advised him to respect the cow and avoid cow slaughter.
With the construction of Hindutva ideology and politics, in response
to the rising Indian national movement, the demand for ban on cow
slaughter also came up. In post-Independence India RSS repeatedly
raised this issue to build up a mass campaign but without any response
to its call till the 1980s.
While one must respect the sentiments of those who worship cow and
regard her as their mother, to take offence to the objective study of
history just because the facts don't suit their political calculations
is yet another sign of a society where liberal space is being
strangulated by the practitioners of communal politics. We have seen
enough such threats and offences in recent past - be it the opposition
to films or the destruction of paintings, or the dictates of the
communalists to the young not to celebrate Valentine's Day, etc., -
and hope the democratic spirit of our Constitution holds the forte and
any threat to the democratic freedom is opposed tooth and nail.
Prof. RAM PUNIYANI
A member of EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), Mumbai
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/08/14/stories/13140833.htm
Volume 21 - Issue 06, March 13 - March 26, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
The spread in the South
Hindutva has percolated to the nooks and corners of South India, and
the routes taken have often been socio-cultural and educational rather
than political. Reports from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
S.R. RAGHUNATHAN
At the Mahamaham in Kumbakonam, the VHP makes its presence felt during
the holy dip in the Kumbeshwara temple tank on March 6.
TAMIL NADU
A multi-pronged approach
"Tamil Nadu today is under the spiritual rule of Jayalalithaa." This
is a pious declaration made by P.C. Ramasami, Minister for Hindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments in the Jayalalithaa-led All India
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government in the State, at
Kumbakonam in Thanjavur district on March 6 after a ritual "holy dip"
to mark the Mahamaham festival. About 10 lakh devotees are estimated
to have taken a dip in the tank of the Kumbeshwara temple, along with
"priests carrying trishuls". The Sankaracharya of the Kanchi mutt,
Jayendra Saraswati, inaugurated the festival, which is described as
the "Kumbh Mela of the South" and is held once in 12 years. Numerous
Saivite and Vaishnavite mutt heads participated in the festival.
Ramasami told mediapersons that under the Jayalalithaa regime 2,822
temples had been renovated. The Minister's observations are indicative
of not only the government's priorities, but also the congenial
atmosphere in the State for the Sangh Parivar to exploit the
religiosity of the faithful to advance its communal and political
agenda.
The Hindutva forces were helped by the fact that they had the
Bharatiya Janata Party in power at the Centre and two successive
friendly governments in the State, the first headed by the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), an ally of the BJP until recently, and the
second by the AIADMK, an erstwhile ally of the BJP which is keen to
build bridges with the Sangh Parivar. The Sangh Parivar has been
largely successful in its attempt to make the best of the situation
because of the competitive political lines taken by the DMK and the
AIADMK in support of the Hindutva forces in order to make electoral
gain. Political observers criticised the Dravidian parties' tactical
line as a significant deviation from rationalism and self-respect, the
cornerstones of the Dravidian movement founded by `Periyar' E.V.
Ramasami. The Dravidian parties' competitive political support to the
Sangh Parivar gave legitimacy to the actions of the Hindutva forces
and contributed to their growth. Jayalalithaa's AIADMK has been the
more enthusiastic of the two in supporting the Hindutva cause. While
in power the DMK extended only passive support to the Parivar, without
concealing its reservations on issues such as a common civil code and
the construction of a temple in Ayodhya. The AIADMK government has had
no qualms in not only supporting many of its causes but also wresting
the initiative from the Hindutva forces by launching certain
legislative measures that even BJP-led governments in other States did
not resort to.
When, in 2002, the Jayalalithaa government brought in an Ordinance,
later made into a law with legislative approval, banning "forcible"
religious conversions through "financial allurement" or otherwise, the
move drew protests from many parties, including the DMK, then an ally
of the BJP at the Centre. The anti-conversion law was seen as one more
of the many pro-Hindutva measures taken by the Jayalalithaa government
since it came to power in 2001. These included the provision of
substantial financial assistance to renovate temples, grant of pension
to poojaris, and the `Annadhanam' scheme to feed poor Hindus in
temples. The government also introduced a scheme to conduct spiritual
classes in over 150 Hindu temples. Jayalalithaa also arranged for a
mass wedding ceremony for a hundred Hindu couples.
Even during her first term as Chief Minister, in 1991-96, she took
several measures that pleased the Hindutva forces. Apart from
renovating temples, she started Vedic colleges to benefit the priestly
class. She brought in an Ordinance to facilitate government
interference in minorities-run educational institutions, but had to
withdraw it amid protests. Her support to the kar seva at Ayodhya,
expressed at a meeting of the National Integration Council in November
1992, a fortnight before the demolition of the Babri Masjid is only
too well known.
Another controversial move by her government was the directive to the
administration to enforce strictly the law against animal sacrifice in
temples, which had been in cold storage for five decades (Frontline,
October 10, 2003). The Hindu orthodoxy had for long been demanding a
ban on such sacrifices on the grounds that the practice "polluted"
places of worship, most of which were even denied the status of
temples. The government's move to enforce the Act met with stiff
resistance, particularly from the oppressed people such as Dalits.
They claimed that it violated their constitutional right to worship
and sought to interfere with the form of worship of the disadvantaged
sections. The government order was also challenged in the Madras High
Court. The government, however, kept on justifying its action with the
support of the heads of religious mutts and State BJP leaders.
Ultimately, Jayalalithaa was forced to bow to the people's wish and
even annul the Tamil Nadu Animals and Birds Sacrifices Prohibition
Act, 1950.
The State government's willing cooperation in implementing some of the
priority issues on the Hindutva agenda has helped the Sangh Parivar in
the task of consolidation in the past five years. For instance,
Vinayaka Chaturthi processions organised in Chennai by the Hindutva
forces, which had in the first few years led to violent confrontations
with religious minorities, have spread to other places in the State.
Even the activists of the two principal Dravidian parties are now seen
in the Chaturthi processions with their own Vinayaka idols decorated
with party flags. Although their potential to cause violence has shown
a significant fall in recent years, the processions still cause
tension.
Another major step taken by the Hindu Munnani and the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) was to organise non-Brahmin poojaris of village temples
and secure governmental assistance for them. This was done in
pursuance of their plan to wrest control of thousands of village
temples, meddle with the existing forms of worship and ensure the
loyalty of lakhs of people in rural areas. According to A.
Sivasubramaniam, a researcher, the idea is to Brahminise these temples
by robbing Dalits and other backward communities of their natural
rights over these places of worship built by their ancestors mostly in
honour of slain heroes.
The VHP claims that it has built 120 temples in Dalit areas of Tamil
Nadu, where "persons from all communities can worship". It further
claims that because of this action untouchability has been "reduced to
a great extent in these areas". In fact, what Dalits in Tamil Nadu and
other States are demanding is not separate temples, but a reassurance
that their constitutional right to enter the mainstream temples will
be honoured. Dalits in many parts of the State have launched struggles
to assert their right to temple entry, but on no occasion has the VHP
or its allies thought it necessary to intervene on behalf of these
helpless people. In many parts of the State, the Parivar's workers are
not sympathetic to Dalits' struggles against casteist oppression; they
often depend upon leaders of the oppressive castes to carry out their
activities.
Education is another area in which Hindutva forces have made
substantial headway in recent years. In Tamil Nadu about 150 schools
are functioning under the guidance of the Vidya Bharati Akhil
Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, a Sangh Parivar organisation that aims at,
among other things, evolving "an integrated system of education in
conformity with the aims of Indian culture and its ideals of life". Of
these schools, 24 are Hindu Vidyalayas run by the VHP. Other schools
are under the control of many organisations, including the Vivekananda
Educational Society and the Vivekananda Educational Trust, both based
in Chennai. There has been a substantial increase in the number of
schools run by these institutions during the past five years. For
instance, schools under the Vivekananda Educational Society increased
from 10 in 1998 to 16 in 2003. Last year, the Society added a
residential school run on the "gurukula" model.
Most of these schools, located in the suburbs of Chennai, cater to
middle-class families. Over 17,000 students of the schools run by the
Vivekananda Educational Society are trained in music, dance, yoga,
physical exercise and so on. Besides Hindi, Tamil and English, they
are taught Sanskrit as a compulsory fourth language. In the name of
moral instruction they are taught Hindu epics and the Puranas.
An interesting practice in these schools is that the applications of
the students writing public examinations are taken to a temple nearby
and placed "at the feet" of the deities, invoking their blessings. All
students, irrespective of their religion, are compelled to participate
in this ritual. Teachers and students are expected to attend camps in
the name of "refresher courses" or "in-house training". At a certain
stage, students are taken to the Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari for
a 21-day camp run on the lines of a `shakha' of the Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). This camp is believed to serve the purpose of
recruiting cadets for the RSS. All schools have a prayer hall
displaying pictures of Hindu deities. One significant development with
regard to the Vidya Bharati schools in recent years is that they have
been increasingly using textbooks prepared by the National Council of
Educational Research and Training (NCERT), unlike in the past when
they used them only for the 10th and 12th standards. This may be
because NCERT books have now been doctored to suit the needs of
saffronised education. These schools, with the assistance of a trained
RSS worker, organise thiruvilakku poojas for women in temples and lend
space for holding RSS camps.
In university education, too, attempts are being made to introduce
subjects such as Vedic Astrology and Vedic Mathematics. However, these
face stiff resistance at university bodies such as the Academic
Council, the Senate and the Syndicate. For instance, when the
University Grants Commission's suggestion to start courses in Vedic
Astrology and Vedic Mathematics came up for implementation,
representatives of the Madurai University Teachers Association in the
various university bodies protested against the move and stopped it.
In the University of Madras, an M.A. degree course in Natya (Dance and
Theatre) was sought to be introduced with the blessings of Sangh
experts. At a meeting of the Academic Council, the proposal was
opposed on the grounds that the project had no scientific basis and
contained retrograde features in the name of "incorporating the
learning advantages of the centuries-old guru-sishya parampara along
with research and training methodologies of modern education". The
Vice-Chancellor had to shelve the proposal pending detailed
discussion.
There is no doubt that the increased activities of the Sangh Parivar
in recent years portend dangerous consequences for the communal
harmony in the State. However, these efforts do not seem to have
enabled the BJP to expand its political space in a big way. Its
influence does not appear to have spread to areas other than its
traditional strongholds, Kanyakumari and Coimbatore districts.
S. Viswanathan
KERALA
A switch in strategy
The supreme confidence, if not the menace, in the statements was
unmistakable, as the leader of the Marad Arayasamajam, the Sangh
Parivar's fishermen's organisation in the communally volatile Marad
village in coastal Kozhikode, introduced himself to Frontline in his
office in October 2003: "I was born here. I was brought up here. I am
a fisherman and have been a member of the Arayasamajam from the
mid-1970s. I have held all the important positions in the Samajam,
except that of the president. I rose through the Rashtiya Swayamsewak
Sangh (RSS). When my work proved a hindrance for everyday RSS `shakha'
activity, I joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, a party in which I have
held several important local responsibilities. Now I am the secretary
of the Arayasamajam. I have no hesitation in saying that all members
of the Arayasamajam (the entire fishing community at Marad) are RSS
supporters. Nobody sings a different tune here. Our activities are
fully supported by our leadership."
C.RATHEESH KUMAR
In Thiruvananthapuram, a Ganesha festival procession organised by the
Shiv Sena.
For months on end, after nine fishermen, eight of them Hindus, were
brutally done to death in a frenzy of communal revenge killings at
Marad in May last year (Frontline, November 7, 2003), T. Suresh, the
leader of the small Hindu fishing community in the village, literally
became the face of the Sangh Parivar in Kerala, making demands, posing
threats, rejecting proposals and keeping the State government
machinery on tenterhooks before agreeing to proposals that eventually
launched a peace initiative in the Muslim-majority village in north
Kerala. The Muslim families that fled the village fearing reprisals
have since returned and the tenuous peace holds. The Arayasamajam
office in the village is a veritable fortress secured by Sangh cadre.
During the strife it was the virtual government in the village, where
political parties feared to tread.
The Arayasamajam leader and the men who surround him perhaps symbolise
what the Hindutva combine is up to in Kerala.
The violence at Marad in May was a clear indication that the
intervention of a large number of majority as well as minority
communal organisations had started showing its ugly results in Kerala.
The leader of the Hindu fishermen in Marad was a symbol of a growing
body of men and women in Kerala who "bore the same vision and the same
dream and moved forward as one" in their belief that a "Hindu Kerala
is not a myth", that each one of them has to "take such a glorious
vision to heart" to bring to reality a Kerala that will become a
"laboratory for the Hindu way of life and vision, if not immediately,
soon, in future".
Recently, the Sangh Parivar announced an ambitious target for such men
and women: of spreading the activities of the Parivar to all regions
in the State by 2006, the birth centenary year of RSS leader Madhav
Sadashiv Golwalkar. The focus of its recent activities has been on
extending its influence among all sections of Hindus, especially
Dalits, fisherfolk and Adivasis, and gaining acceptance in the State
through persistent socio-cultural interventions (Frontline, December
2, 2002 and February 28, 2003).
In Kerala, the RSS-led growth of the Sangh Parivar has overshadowed
the activities of its political arm, the BJP, especially in the years
since the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The number of RSS `shakhas'
has increased from 4,300 in 2001 to 4,800. Its organisers claim that
the `Sangh' is active in all the 14 districts of the State, the
weakest links being the Christian belt of the high-range Idukki and
Wayanad districts and the predominantly Muslim areas of north Kerala.
According to RSS activists, over 10,000 locations have been
"identified" for active work and in 1,329 of them daily drills and
discussions take place for an hour each in the morning, evening and
night.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), too, has established its
organisational network in all parts of the State, resorting to emotive
actions such as the distribution of tridents and the controversial
construction of a temple within the Idukki dam area. More important, a
myriad RSS-backed socio-cultural organisations promoting communal
ideas in the field of education, literature, theatre, science and arts
and actively involved in the renovation and protection of temples have
made a visible presence in the State within a short period.
The Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti, a Parivar unit with the declared aim
of "building a temple-based organised society" and a "temple-based way
of life", actively promotes the renovation of small family temples
dotting the State and has gained control of the management of the day-
to-day affairs and conduct of festivals of a number of big ones.
`Balagokulam', a mass organisation for children with over 1,300 units
in the State, organises the high-visibility "Srikrishna Jayanti rally
and celebrations" in various cities and towns every year. Thousands of
children participate in the event. In addition, it runs Balasamskara
Kendras (children's cultural centres) at five centres; `Sowrakshika',
an organisation for the protection of children's rights; Mayilpeeli, a
magazine; and `Amrita Bharati Vidya Peetom', a centre for the
promotion of Sanskrit and Hindu culture.
Balagokulam claims a membership of over 26,000 children, who attend
weekly catch-them-young classes. The aim is to groom them as
leadership material for other Hindutva activities. As part of its 30th
anniversary, Balagokulam has announced the establishment of an
`International Sri Krishna Centre' in Kerala, to be developed as a Sri
Krishna pilgrimage centre in the State.
The Bharatiya Vichara Kendra, an intellectual forum for debate with
political opponents, was established in Kerala in 1982 after a sudden
spurt in RSS activity following frequent clashes between the Communist
Party of India (Marxist) and RSS activists in north Kerala. It has
more than 30 units in the State and brings out a magazine. Among other
activities, it conducts Gita, Yoga and Sanskrit classes.
Perhaps the most prominent and effective Sangh Parivar organisation is
the one that is involved in education, the Bharatiya Vidya Niketan. It
runs about 375 schools in all the districts with no government support
and purely on the initiative of the local Parivar cadre. Fifteen
schools, the majority of them in districts that have a sizable Muslim
or Christian population, follow the syllabi of the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE), with English as the medium of instruction.
The rest follow the State syllabus. Teachers are required to undergo
special training under a five-point programme, which includes physical
education, Sanskrit, yoga, value education and art and culture, all
meant to acquaint them, and eventually their pupils, "with the Hindu
way of life". Key organisers in such schools are from the RSS, even
though the organisation does not have any direct involvement in its
running.
In addition to Janmabhoomi, a daily newspaper, and Kesari, a weekly,
the Parivar has 10 regular publications in the State. The Swadesi
Science Movement, which has as its declared objective the development
of an "Indian approach to science" (it recently organised an
international conference on Ayurveda), and `Tapasya', an organisation
promoting art and culture, are also prominent Sangh Parivar
"recruitment agencies".
In the past few years, the Hindutva combine's voluntary activity has
had a new focus: the tribal and coastal areas of Kerala. Providing
free medical aid and education and running informal, single-teacher
schools for tribal children are some of the activities it undertakes
there. A 33-bed hospital at Kalpetta in the predominantly tribal
Wayanad district, for example, offers free food, medicines, in-patient
facitlity and diagnostic services to the tribal people. The Vanvasi
Kalyan Ashram has established its units in 52 tribal areas of the
State and is now engaged in meeting the "challenge" of Christian
missionary activity in those areas, offering competitive healthcare
and educational facilities.
Early last year, the attack on an American missionary, Joseph William
Cooper, in Thiruvananthapuram, almost coincided with the two-day
`Vanavasi Sangamom' organised by the Sangh Parivar at Mananthavadi in
Wayanad district, to promote the all-India game plan of "Hinduising"
tribal people. The high-profile conference, attended by top Sangh
Parivar leaders, was itself preceded by events orchestrated by the VHP
and other Hindutva organisations to "celebrate the reconversion of (a
few) Adivasis to Hinduism". The Matsya Pravartaka Sanghom, another RSS
family unit, recently started a mobilisation initiative, organising
`Sagara poojas' (worshipping the sea) and Hindu maha sammelans at
select centres in the coastal areas and near freshwater lakes.
This is but an example of the vast infrastructure the RSS-led Hindutva
organisations have established in Kerala, which it considers a sunrise
region for interventions tailored to bring about a fundamentalist
shift in the thinking of Hindus. But the Hindu community, whose
loyalties are divided among various political parties and coalitions,
castes and caste-based political groups, has so far given no
indications of helping the Parivar realise its dream.
For three days from January 24, the RSS held a "Pranteeya Karyakarthru
Sibiram" in Kollam, its first in 25 years in Kerala, where the
Hindutva vision and dreams were reiterated. Nearly 16,000 delegates,
ranging from leaders of 4,800 shakhas in Kerala to the top leadership
including Sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudarshan, participated in it. The
address to the delegates of the conference by P. Parameswaran,
director of the Bharatiya Vichara Kendra, was a clear exposition of
the Sangh Parivar's vision of the challenges it faced in Kerala and
its long-term prospects in the State. The following are certain
significant excerpts from his speech:
1.Compared to other States, Kerala has a "substantial population of
Muslims, organised Christian missionary activity and support for deep-
rooted, `anti-national' Communist way of thinking". The State's Hindu
population came down in a decade from 57 per cent to 55 per cent,
while the Muslim and Christian populations increased to 23.34 per cent
and 19.32 per cent. "Even while we take pride in the fact that Hindus
form 55 per cent of the population, we should not forget that the
`other side' is 45 per cent. Even though Hindus are described as the
majority, they should remember that they are neither organised nor
strong. That is why they do not have influence or participation in any
sector in the State."
2.The formation of united Kerala (from the erstwhile Malabar, Cochin
and Travancore regions) "had also created an imbalance in terms of
population", along with changes in the structure of government and
politics of the State. (From then on) Hindu society lost the position
and influence it had before. It lost its predominant position in the
economy, politics and the educational sector in the State. "Other
sections" came to prominence. "Minority community organisations
transformed themselves into political parties. An organisation that
was once described as a "dead horse" (the Muslim League) increased its
number of seats, its position and influence. It gained the strength to
shake Kerala to the core. It threw ordinary laws to the winds. The
result was that along with their pre-eminence in the politics of the
State, they gained in the fields of education, industries as well as
economically. Land came under their control. The state of Hindus
became pathetic. They did not get even the benefits due to 55 per cent
of the peopulation."
3.Though the RSS has grown in strength in Kerala with its extremely
complex social climate, it is unable yet to put the stamp of Hindutva
in all walks of life, even though "anti-Hindu, anti-national" forces
remain strong but divided among themselves. It is unable yet to spread
the message of Hindutva among such forces that continue to fight among
themselves.
4.The intention of the Sangh Parivar is not to create a Hindu
organisation, but the strengthening of Hindu society... to have its
influence in all fields of life, including the economy and education.
Its aim is to bring about a social transformation by organising Hindus
in all walks of society and grow as an organisation of Hindu society.
5.The Parivar finds it encouraging that the Hindu revivalism taking
place all over India "is finding its echo in Kerala too"; that "people
who once sabotaged such efforts were seeing them with respect now";
that "a new spiritual climate" is developing in the State; that the
number of `spiritual gurus' is growing in Kerala ; that the number of
believers too is growing; and that "the various religious and cultural
activities it organised in the hundreds of temples in the State are
being widely welcomed. It believes in cooperating with the spiritual
revival efforts controlled by organisations that have no link with the
Parivar. "Ours is not an isolated stream, but a huge Ganga that
accepts all such efforts."
6.The Sangh Parivar believes that the present climate is ideal for its
growth in Kerala. It believed that the people are waiting eagerly to
accept the Hindutva message. Critics have disappeared and the sound of
criticism has vanished. "Kerala today has two political coalitions
which are bereft of ideas and are ideologically in a state of vacuum
and need not be a hindrance for the Sangh Parivar's activities."
Parameswaran's statements are the clearest exposition yet of the
concerns, goals and strategies of the RSS in relation to Kerala from
its own leaders. Clearly, it is because its political goal often
seemed so elusive in Kerala that the Hindutva combine had, ever since
the 1990s, subtly shifted its fight onto a new battlefield - that of
winning the hearts and minds of Hindus through non-political,
religious and socio-cultural mediation, using a vast network of
organisations. It is a platform where it finds itself left to its own
winning deeds by secular formations, including the Left parties and
the Congress(I).
R. Krishnakumar
KARNATAKA
Mutts as political players
What will be the likely role of the mutts in Karnataka in determining
the outcome of the elections in the State? Though defined legally as a
religious establishment headed by a pontiff, the mutt plays a role
that extends well beyond the purely religious. The mutts in Karnataka
are sharply divided along caste and sectarian lines. They have emerged
as major and not-to-be-ignored political players in the present
milieu, offering direct or indirect support to political parties and
candidates.
The Madhwa mutts in the coastal belt have been vehicles for the spread
of Hindutva, both as an ideology and as an electoral force. There are
eight Madhwa mutts, which are the joint custodians of the Krishna
temple in Udupi - the Palimar, Adamar, Krishnapur, Puttige, Shirur,
Sode, Kaniyur and Pejavar mutts. The reigning pontiffs of the mutts
conduct worship at the Udupi temple by a system of rotation. The two
most prominent mutts that have long been the standard-bearers of the
Hindutva cause are the Pejavar and Adamar mutts. The pontiff of the
Pejavar mutt, Sri Vishwesa Tirtha Swamiji, is a founder-member of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and has been associated with the Ram
Janmabhoomi movement from its inception. He was present in Ayodhya
when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 and is a prominent figure
on all Sangh Parivar platforms both in Karnataka and elsewhere in the
country.
Speaking to Frontline from Udupi, the octogenarian head of the Pejavar
mutt said he actively propagated the message of Hindutva and spread
the aims of the Ayodhya movement by addressing meetings, rallies and
samaveshas (mass meetings). "I speak about it and answer questions. If
there is any wrong writing on these issues in newspapers, I reply
immediately. I know from the reactions at my meetings that the message
has spread very well in Karnataka." As a margadarshi for the VHP, he
had ensured that his mutt worked with the VHP on many activities, he
said, although the mutt also worked through its own organisations,
particularly in providing education and healthcare in tribal areas and
inaccessible hilly regions.
The Pejavar mutt, in particular, has given active patronage to the
samavesha, which has, in recent months, become the most popular method
of Hindu mass mobilisation in the coastal belt. Following the Gujarat
riots, the samavesha has become a frequent event, spreading now from
the cities to small towns and villages of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada
districts. "The town or village is first covered with plastic saffron
flags of the VHP. The meeting is usually held near a minority-
dominated area. Leaders of the VHP, like Pravin Togadia, spit fire and
venom in their speeches, which threaten the minorities and exhort
Hindus to build a Hindu Rashtra," said H. Pattabhirama Somayaji,
Professor of English at University College, Mangalore. "Mutt leaders
like the Pejavar Swamiji are frequent speakers at these meetings. In
fact, in the last 10 years the mutts have become the standard bearers
of Hindutva rather than formal political parties. Political leaders
depend more and more upon the Swamijis to get their message across."
With the emergence of the mutts as the rallying points for Hindutva in
this region, the distinction between the religious and the political
as different spheres of public activity has all but disappeared. "Most
religious functions have been saffronised," said Somayaji. Take
paryaya, a ceremony held every two years to mark the passing on of the
authority to conduct worship in the Krishna temple amongst the
pontiffs of the eight Madhwa mutts. From a ceremony confined to a sect
of Madhwa Brahmins in Karnataka, paryaya has virtually become a State-
level function for all Hindus and a major expression of the power and
prestige of the mutt concerned. This year's paryaya ceremony was
attended by a galaxy of persons prominent in public life in the State.
Even the myriad `little traditions' of Hinduism, like the Bhootakulas
- a popular form of spirit worship practised in the villages of
Dakshina Kannada district by members of the lower castes - have been
permeated by the colour, sound, speech and symbolism of Hindutva, said
Somayaji.
"I have lived here for the past 50 years and was saddened to see the
Udupi Krishna temple founded 7,000 years ago by the great
Madhwacharya, flying the flag of the VHP," said G. Rajashekhar, an
employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India and an active
member of the Souharda Vedike, an organisation that has been fighting
communalism. According to him, the Pejavar Swamiji welcomed and
blessed Pravin Togadia at a mammoth samajotsava held recently in
Udupi. The banners at the rally glorified Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi, and Togadia and hailed Dara Singh, the murderer of the
Australian missionary Graham Stains and his two sons, as the "saviour
of Hinduism". "We protested to the District Commissioner, after which
Dara Singh's name was removed from the banners," said Rajashekhar.
"The Pejavar Swamiji says he condemns the violence in Gujarat. Why
does he then continue to patronise Hindutva outfits that supported
it?"
Vishwesa Thirtha Swamiji of the Pejavar mutt with Karnataka Chief
Minister S.M. Krishna in Bangalore in February.
The Pejavar Swamiji told Frontline that though he might share a
platform with Modi or Togadia, he did not hesitate to disagree with
them publicly on some issues. "I argue with them and oppose them
whether it is the Gujarat violence or the issue of war with Pakistan
which Togadia supports and I oppose, or with Giriraj Kishore Acharya
who recently said that the life of a cow was more precious than the
life of a Dalit. I opposed them on all these issues," he said.
Although until very recently each Madhwa mutt had its own location of
caste influence, in recent years the mutts have tried to propagate
Hindutva across the caste divide. Mahatma Gandhi refused to enter the
Krishna temple on a visit to Udupi in the 1930s because untouchability
was practised there. Today, however, the mutts realise that for
Hindutva to have any relevance for the lower-caste segments of the
population, it has necessarily to be given political articulation and
distanced, at least in its rhetoric, from Brahminism. The mutts
realise that they cannot do this on their own and must associate
themselves with the political outfits of the Sangh Parivar, which use
the samaveshas as fora to make the call for the unification of Hindu
society.
One of Hinduism's attributes was its sanction for a plurality of forms
of religious practice. This non-threatening and accommodative element
of Hinduism is being erased systematically by the votaries of
Hindutva. Today, economically vulnerable castes like fisherfolk,
weavers, carpenters, barbers, cobblers and potters are being drawn
into the ambit of a militant Hindutva worldview. "It is clear from the
attendance at their rallies that the appeal of the Hindutva parties is
no longer to elitist Hindus but to Hindu society at large," says
Rajashekhar. Here too it is the Pejavar mutt that has shown the way.
Its pontiff has considerable influence with leaders both at the Centre
and in the State.
An influence far greater than that of the Brahmin mutts is exerted by
the Veerashaiva or Lingayat mutts on social and political life in
Karnataka. Veerashaivism grew out of a revolutionary 12th century
reform movement started by Basava against the stranglehold of
Brahminism on religion and society. Lingayats, or the followers of
Basava, are converts from various castes, and all castes have their
Lingayat converts.
The mutt became the functional nucleus of Basava's philosophy where
religion met its social purpose of providing free education and food
to all sections of the social order regardless of caste. Veerashaiva
mutts, which spread and consolidated themselves in the last decades of
the 19th century and in early 20th century, grew with state patronage
after Independence. Today, many Veerashaiva mutts are powerful
commercial entities that run hundreds of educational institutions.
They also control bulk votes and are therefore sought after by
political parties.
"The Veerashaiva mutts have, by and large, resisted the growth of
Hindutva in Karnataka as their founding philosophy is anti-
Brahminical," said K. Marulasiddappa, a well-known Kannada writer and
literary critic. On the other hand, the need for state patronage and
cordial relations with the party in power exerts a contrary pull on
them, which is why some Veerashaiva pontiffs have been less outspoken
than others against the politics of the Sangh Parivar. Some of the
major Veerashaiva mutts, like the Tumkur Siddaganga mutt, the Mysore
Suttur mutt, the Chitradurga Sirigere mutt, the Sanehalli mutt and the
Nidumamidi mutts and Belimath in Bangalore, the Gadag mutt and the
Muragha mutt in Chitradurga, have not endorsed the politics of
Hindutva. Some of the pontiffs of these mutts have actively opposed
it. "However, the hard fact is that it is caste, and not politics,
that eventually determines which party or candidate a particular mutt
supports," said Marulasiddappa.
"Political Hindutva is the new face of Brahminism, which the vaidika
mutts are spreading," Sri Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji of the
Nidumamidi mutt told Frontline. "While on the one hand they say that
Hindu society is one, they embrace casteism, patriarchy and
untouchability. They are using Dalits and Sudras for vote bank
purposes."
Scoffing at the samaveshas organised by the Sangh Parivar, where
"ready-made crowds comprising VHP, RSS and Sangh Parivar activists"
are ferried, the Swamiji, who is a frequent speaker on anti-communal
platforms, believes that a majority in all religions are peace-loving
and will defeat the designs of the communal forces.
"Lingayats believe in casteless, classless, secular principles," the
pontiff of the Gadag mutt, Sri Jagadguru Tontada Siddalinga
Mahaswamiji, told Frontline. The Swamiji was a recipient of Communal
Harmony Award 2001, instituted by the Government of India.
"Lingayatism differs radically from Hinduism. We are naturally against
the Hindutva concept and oppose its onslaught against the people at
large. On the other hand, the Vedic mutts, which are Hindu mutts,
support the Sangh Parivar and indirectly the BJP," he said.
Several leading Veerashaiva mutt heads were associated with the
founding of the VHP at its first Dharma Sansad in 1984, according to
Sri Shivarudra Mahaswamy, the pontiff of the Belimath Maha Sansthana
in Bangalore. "At that time, the VHP focussed on social reform within
Hinduism, which we supported. It was only after the Ram Janmabhoomi
movement started that these swamijis became disenchanted and left," he
told Frontline. The Swamiji himself stayed on in the VHP. He was
present in Ayodhya during the destruction of the Babri Masjid ("none
of us knew this would happen," he claims) and slowly began distancing
himself from the Sangh Parivar after that. "The final break with the
VHP for me came with Gujarat. I was the only Lingayat swamiji who
participated in all their functions, but after Gujarat I left out of
conviction. They think they are building a Hindu society - they are
only building hell," he said. Although wary of the BJP, the
Veerashaiva mutts are likely to support Lingayat candidates if they
are fielded by the party. The electoral outcome, particularly in north
Karnataka, will be influenced strongly by the way Lingayats vote.
The only religious caste leader of the Vokkaligas is the Swamiji of
the Adichunchungiri mutt, a powerful establishment with assets running
into crores of rupees. The Swamiji is as much of a political figure as
a religious one and is known to be close to the ruling Congress(I),
although he also accepts invitations to speak on Sangh Parivar
platforms. At a recent samavesha in Bangalore, the Swamiji is reported
to have said that just as Muslims and Christians have their own
countries, Hindus need theirs. He later retracted the statement,
claiming that he had been misquoted.
With his sizable wealth and vote base, the swamiji is much-sought-
after by political parties. Except on the coast, where the BJP will
have the backing of a sizable section of the mutts, in the rest of the
State the major non-Brahmin mutts appear to be tilting towards either
the Congress(I) or the Janata Dal(S). This will certainly have an
impact on the electoral chances of the BJP in this region.
Parvathi Menon
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2106/stories/20040326004900900.htm
Ashvamedha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ashvamedha (Sanskrit: अश्वमेध aśvamedhá; "horse sacrifice") was
one of the most important royal rituals of Vedic religion, described
in detail in the Yajurveda (TS 7.1-5, VSM 22–25[1] and the pertaining
commentary in the Shatapatha Brahmana ŚBM 13.1–5). The Rigveda does
have descriptions of horse sacrifice, notably in hymns RV 1.162-163
(which are themselves known as aśvamedha), but does not allude to the
full ritual according to the Yajurveda.
Gayatri Pariwar have been organising performances of a modernised
version of the sacrifice, not involving actual animal sacrifice, since
1991.
The Vedic sacrifice
The Ashvamedha could only be conducted by a king (rājā). Its object
was the acquisition of power and glory, the sovereignty over
neighbouring provinces, and general prosperity of the kingdom.
The horse to be sacrificed must be a stallion, more than 24, but less
than 100 years old. The horse is sprinkled with water, and the
Adhvaryu and the sacrificer whisper mantras into its ear. Anyone who
should stop the horse is ritually cursed, and a dog is killed symbolic
of the punishment for the sinners. The horse is then set loose towards
the North-East, to roam around wherever it chooses, for the period of
one year (or half a year, according to some commentators). The horse
is associated with the Sun, and its yearly course. If the horse
wanders into neighbouring provinces hostile to the sacrificer, they
must be subjugated. The wandering horse is attended by a hundred young
men, sons of princes or high court officials, charged with guarding
the horse from all dangers and inconvenience. During the absence of
the horse, an uninterrupted series of ceremonies is performed in the
sacrificer's home.
After the return of the horse, more ceremonies are performed. The
horse is yoked to a gilded chariot, together with three other horses,
and RV 1.6.1,2 (YV VSM 23.5,6) is recited. The horse is then driven
into water and bathed. After this, it is anointed with ghee by the
chief queen and two other royal consorts. The chief queen anoints the
fore-quarters, and the others the barrel and the hind-quarters. They
also embellish the horse's head, neck, and tail with golden ornaments.
The sacrificer offers the horse the remains of the night's oblation of
grain.
After this, the horse, a hornless he-goat, a wild ox (go-mrga, Bos
gavaeus) are bound to sacrificial stakes near the fire, and seventeen
other animals are attached to the horse. A great number of animals,
both tame and wild, are tied to other stakes, according to a
commentator 609 in total (YV VSM 24 consists of an exact enumeration).
Then the horse is slaughtered (YV VSM 23.15, tr. Griffith)
Steed, from thy body, of thyself, sacrifice and accept thyself.
Thy greatness can be gained by none but thee.
The chief queen ritually calls on the king's fellow wives for pity.
The queens walk around the dead horse reciting mantras. The chief
queen then has to mimic copulation with the dead horse, while the
other queens ritually utter obscenities.[2]
On the next morning, the priests raise the queen from the place where
she has spent the night with the horse. With the Dadhikra verse (RV
4.39.6, YV VSM 23.32), a verse used as a purifier after obscene
language.
The three queens with a hundred golden, silver and copper needles
indicate the lines on the horse's body along which it will be
dissected. The horse is dissected, and its flesh roasted. Various
parts are offered to a host of deities and personified concepts with
cries of svaha "all-hail". The Ashvastuti or Eulogy of the Horse
follows (RV 1.162, YV VSM 24.24–45), concluding with:
May this Steed bring us all-sustaining riches, wealth in good kine,
good horses, manly offspring
Freedom from sin may Aditi vouchsafe us: the Steed with our oblations
gain us lordship!
A coin created by Samudragupta I to commemorate the Ashvamedha ritual.
[3] The tethered horse is depicted on the left; the queen, carrying
ritual equipment, is on the rightThe priests performing the sacrifice
were recompensed with a part of the booty won during the wandering of
the horse. According to a commentator, the spoils from the east were
given to the Hotar, while the Adhvaryu a maiden (a daughter of the
sacrificer) and the sacrificer's fourth wife.
The Shatapatha Brahmana emphasizes the royal nature of the Ashvamedha:
Verily, the Asvamedha means royal sway: it is after royal sway that
these strive who guard the horse. (ŚBM 13.1.6.3 trans. Eggeling 1900)
It repeatedly states that "the Asvamedha is everything" (ŚBM 13.4.2.22
trans. Eggeling 1900)
Known historical performances
Pusyamitra Sunga is said to have performed the Ashvamedha rite after
he toppled Mauryan rule in 185 BC.
A historically documented performance of the Ashvamedha is during the
reign of Samudragupta I (d. 380), the father of Chandragupta II.
Special coins were minted to commemorate the Ashvamedha and the king
took on the title of Maharajadhiraja after successful completion of
the sacrifice.
There were a few later performances, one by Raja of Kannauj in the
12th century, unsuccessfully, as Prithviraj Chauhan thwarted his
attempt and later married his daughter. The last known instance seems
to be in 1716 CE, by Jai Singh II of Amber, a prince of Jaipur[4]
Performances in Hindu epics
illustration of the Ramayana by Sahib Din, 1652. Kausalya is depicted
slaying the horse (left) and lying beside it (right)Performances of
the Ashvamedha feature in the epics Ramayana (1.10–15) and
Mahabharata.
In the Mahabharata, the sacrifice is performed by Yudhishtira (Book
14), his brothers guarding the horse as it roamed into neighbouring
kingdoms. Arjuna defeats all challengers. The Mahabharata says that
the Ashvamedha as performed by Yudhishtira adhered to the letter of
the Vedic prescriptions. After the horse was cut into parts, Draupadi
had to sit beside the parts of the horse[5].
In the Ramayana, Rama's father Dasharatha performs the Ashvamedha,
which is described in the bala kanda (book 1) of the poem. The
Ramayana provides far more detail than the Mahabharata. The ritual
take place for three days preceded by sage Rishyasringa and
Vasista(1.14.41,42). Again it is stated that the ritual was performed
in strict compliance with Vedic prescriptions (1.14.10). Dasaratha's
chief wife Kausalya circumambulates the horse and ritually pierces its
flesh (1.14.33). Then "Queen Kausalya desiring the results of ritual
disconcertedly resided one night with that horse that flew away like a
bird." [1-14-34].[6] The fat of the sacrificed horse is then burnt in
ritual fire and after that the remaining parts of the body with spoons
made out of Plaksha tree branches(1.14.36,38-39). At the conclusion of
the ritual Dasharatha symbolically offers his other wives to the
presiding priests, who return them in exchange for expensive gifts
(1.14.35). The four sides of the Yagna alter is also donated to
priests who had done the ritual and it is exchanged by them for gold,
silver, cows and other gifts(1.15.43-44).[7]
The ritual is performed again towards the end of the poem, but in very
different circumstances. It figures centrally in the uttara kanda
(book 7) where it leads to the final major story in the poem. In this
narrative, Rama was married to a single wife, Sita, who at the time
was not with him, having been excluded from Rama's capital of Ayodhya.
She was therefore represented by a statue for the queen's ceremony
(7.x[citation needed]). Sita was living in Valmiki's forest ashram
with her twin children by Rama, Lava and Kusha, whose birth was
unknown to Rama. In its wanderings, the horse, accompanied by an army
and Hanuman, enters the forest and encounters Lava, who ignores the
warning written on the horse's headplate not to hinder its progress.
He tethers the horse, and with Kusha challenges the army, which is
unable to defeat the brothers. Recognising Rama's sons, Hanuman sends
them to Ayodhya where they are reconciled with their father, who also
accepts Sita back at court. Sita, however, no longer wishes to live,
and is absorbed by the earth. It is never stated whether the sacrifice
was completed, but after Sita's death Rama is said to have repeatedly
performed the Ashvamedha using the golden statue as a substitute for
his wife.[citation needed]
Some historians believe that the bala kanda and uttara kanda were
latter interpolations to the authentic form of the Ramayana, due to
references to Greek, Parthians and Sakas, dating to no earlier than
the 2nd century BCE[8]
Indo-European comparison
Main article: horse sacrifice
Many Indo-European branches show evidence for horse sacrifice, and
comparative mythology suggests that they derive from a PIE ritual. The
Ashvamedha is the clearest evidence preserved, but vestiges from Latin
and Celtic traditions allow the reconstruction of a few common
attributes.
The Gaulish personal name Epomeduos is from *ek'wo-medhu- "horse
+mead", while ashvamedha is either from *ek'wo-mad-dho- "horse+drunk"
or *ek'wo-mey-dho- "horse+strength". The reconstructed myth involves
the coupling of a king with a divine mare which produced the divine
twins. Some scholars, including Edgar Polomé, regard the
reconstruciton of a PIE ritual as unjustified due to the difference
between the attested traditions (EIEC s.v. Horse, p. 278).
Vedanta and Puranas
The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad (a mystical appendix to the Shatapatha
Brahmana and likely the oldest of the Upanishads) has a creation myth
where Mṛtyu "Death" takes the shape of a horse, and includes an
identification of the Ashvamedha with the Sun:[9]
Then he became a horse (ashva), because it swelled (ashvat), and was
fit for sacrifice (medhya); and this is why the horse-sacrifice is
called Ashva-medha [...] Therefore the sacrificers offered up the
purified horse belonging to Prajapati, (as dedicated) to all the
deities. Verily the shining sun [ye tapati] is the Asvamedha, and his
body is the year; Agni is the sacrificial fire (arka), and these
worlds are his bodies. These two are the sacrificial fire and the
Asvamedha-sacrifice, and they are again one deity, viz. Death. (BrUp
1.2.7. trans. Müller)
The Upanishads describe ascetic austerities as an "inner Ashvamedha",
as opposed to the "outer" royal ritual performed in the physical
world, in keeping with the general tendency of Vedanta to move away
from priestly ritual towards spiritual introspection; verse 6 of the
Avadhuta Upanishad has:
"Through extreme devotion [sam-grahaneṣṭi] he [the ascetic] performs
ashvamedha within [anta]. That is the greatest sacrifice [mahā-makha]
and the greatest meditation [mahā-yoga]."
According to the Brahma Vaivarta Purana (185.180),[10] the Ashvamedha
is one of five rites forbidden in the Kali Yuga.
In Hindu revivalism
In the Arya Samaj reform movement of Dayananda Sarasvati, the
Ashvamedha is considered an allegory or a ritual to get connected to
the "inner Sun" (Prana)[11] Dayananda in his Introduction to the
commentary on the Vedas[12] rejected the classical commentaries of the
Vedas by Sayana, Mahidhara and Uvata as medieval corruptions "opposed
to the real meaning of the Vedas" (p. 443) in order to arrive at an
entirely symbolic interpretation of the ritual: "An empire is like a
horse and the subjects like other inferior animals" (p. 448). Thus,
VSM 23.22, literally "he beats on the vulva (gabha), the penis (pasas)
oozes repeatedly (ni-galgaliti) in the receptacle" is interpreted not
in terms of the horse and the queen, but in terms of the king and his
subjects, "The subjects are called gabha (to be seized), kingly power
called pasa (to be penetrated)" (p. 454). This interpretation is
apparently based on a verse from Shatapatha Brahmana [13].
Following Dayananda, Arya Samaj disputes the very existence of the pre-
Vedantic ritual; thus Swami Satya Prakash Saraswati claims that
"the word in the sense of the Horse Sacrifice does not occur in the
Samhitas [...] In the terms of cosmic analogy, ashva is the Sun. In
respect to the adhyatma paksha, the Prajapati-Agni, or the Purusha,
the Creator, is the Ashva; He is the same as the Varuna, the Most
Supreme. The word medha stands for homage; it later on became
synonymous with oblations in rituology, since oblations are offered,
dedicated to the one whom we pay homage. The word deteriorated further
when it came to mean 'slaughter' or 'sacrifice'."[14]
arguing that the animals listed as sacrificial victims are just as
symbolic as the list of human victims listed in the Purushamedha[15]
(which is generally accepted as a purely symbolic sacrifice already in
Rigvedic times).
Other commentators accept the existence of the sacrifice but reject
the notion that the queen lay down with the dead horse. Thus Subhash
Kak in a blog posting suggests that the queen lay down with a toy
horse rather than with the slaughtered stallion, due to presence of
the word Ashvaka, similar to Shivaka meaning "idol or image of
Shiva"[citation needed]
All World Gayatri Pariwar since 1991 has organized performances of a
"modern version" of the Ashvamedha where a statue is used in place of
a real horse, according to Hinduism Today with a million participants
in Chitrakoot, Madhya Pradesh on April 16 to 20, 1994.[16] Such modern
performances are sattvika Yajnas where the animal is worshipped
without killing it,[17], the religious motivation being prayer for
overcoming enemies, the facilitation of child welfare and development,
and clearance of debt,[18] entirely within the allegorical
interpretation of the ritual, and with no actual sacrifice of any
animal, nor any sexual connotations.
Criticism and controversy
The earliest recorded criticism of the ritual comes from the Cārvāka,
an atheistic school of Indian philosophy that assumed various forms of
philosophical skepticism and religious indifference. A quotation of
the Cārvāka from Madhavacharya's Sarva-Darsana-Sangraha states:
“ The three authors of the Vedas were buffoons, knaves, and demons.
All the well-known formulae of the pandits, jarphari, turphari, etc.
and all the obscene rites for the queen commanded in Aswamedha, these
were invented by buffoons, and so all the various kinds of presents to
the priests, while the eating of flesh was similarly commanded by
night-prowling demons. [19] ”
The mock bestiality and necrophilia involved in the ritual caused
considerable consternation among the scholars first editing the
Yajurveda. Griffith (1899) omits verses VSM 23.20–31 (the ritual
obscenities), protesting that they are "not reproducible even in the
semi-obscurity of a learned European language" (alluding to other
instances where he renders explicit scenes in Latin rather than
English). A. B. Keith's 1914 translation also omits verses.[2]
This part of the ritual offended the Dalit reformer and framer of the
Indian constitution B. R. Ambedkar and is frequently mentioned in his
writings as an example of the perceived degradation of Brahmanical
culture.[20]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C4%81rv%C4%81ka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhavacharya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestiality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yajurveda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_T.H._Griffith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._B._Keith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar
See also
Horse sacrifice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_sacrifice
Animal sacrifice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_sacrifice
Purushamedha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purushamedha
Somayajna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somayajna#Somayajnas
Ashva
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashva
Notes and references
^ Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith, The Texts of the White Yajurveda.
Translated with a Popular Commentary (1899), 1987 reprint: Munshiram
Manoharlal, New Delhi, ISBN 8121500478.
^ a b Keith, Arthur Berridale (trans) (1914). The Veda of the Black
Yajus School Entitled Taittiriya Sanhita, Oxford, pp. 615-16
http://books.google.com/books?id=N1WiQzJutqkC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
^ Hoernle, August Friedrich Rudolf; Stark, Herbert Alick (1906). A
History of India. Cattuck: Orissa Mission Press.
http://books.google.com/books?id=d4MqAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
^ Bowker, John, The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, New York,
Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 103
^ Draupadi of great intelligence ... to sit near the divided animal."
Ashvamedha Parva, Section 89 [1]
http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m14/m14089.htm
^ Translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K. M. K. Murthy
http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga14/bala_14_frame.htm
^ Online version of the Ramayana in Sanskrit and English
http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga14/bala_14_frame.htm
^ The cultural Heritage of India, Vol. IV, The Religions, The
Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture
^ implicitly, in eṣa vā aśvamedho ya eṣa tapati "verily, that
Ashvamedha is that which gives out heat [tap-]"
^ Quoted in Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, A.C. (1975). "Srimad-
Bhagavatam". The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
http://vedabase.net/sb/5/7/5/en. Retrieved 2006-07-31.
^ as a bahuvrihi, saptāśva "having seven horses" is another name of
the Sun, referring to the horses of his chariot.; akhandjyoti.org
glosses 'ashva' as "the symbol of mobility, valour and strength" and
'medha' as "the symbol of supreme wisdom and intelligence", yielding a
meaning of 'ashvamedha' of "he combination of the valour and strength
and illumined power of intellect"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuvrihi
http://www.akhandjyoti.org/marapr05/article12.html?Akhand-Jyoti/2005/Jul-Aug/Ashvamedha/
^ Dayananda Sarasvati, Introduction to the commentry on the Vedas,
Meharchand lachhmandas Publications; 1st ed. (1981), Sarvadeshik Arya
Pratinidhi Sabha; 2nd ed. (1984) [2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayananda_Sarasvati
^ [3] Sh.Br 13:2:9:6 http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/sbe44/sbe44091.htm
^ The Critical and Cultural Study of the Shatapatha Brahmana by Swami
Satya Prakash Saraswati, p. 415
^ ibid., p. 476
^ Hinduism Today, June 1994
^ Ashwamedha Yagam in city,The Hindu http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/13/stories/2005101316990400.htm
^ Ashwamedhayagnam.org http://ww23.rr.com/index.php?origURL=http://www.ashwamedhayaagam.org/whyamy.html
^ Madhavacarya, Sarvadarsana-sangraha, English translation by E. B.
Cowell and A. E. Gough, 1904 quoted in Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya
(ed.), Carvaka/Lokayata: An Anthology of Source Materials and Some
Recent Studies (New Delhi: Indian Council of Philosophical Research,
1990)
^ B.R. Ambedkar, Revolution and Conter-Revolution in Ancient India
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvamedha"
Ashwamedha Yagam in city
Staff Reporter
HYDERABAD: A ritual that is termed by Vedic literature among the most
powerful and beneficial yagams, the Ashwamedha Yagam, will be
performed in the city from December 11 to 18.
The event, titled Vishwa Santhi Vishwa Kalyana Yagna, will have the
founder of Aananda Ashram P.V. Sesha Sai taking responsibility as the
`yaaga kartha'.
To be performed with the blessings of Sri Ganeshanada Bharthi
Mahaswami and several other `peetadhipathis' and Mutt pontiffs, the
Ashwamedha Yagam will be on the bright eleventh day of Margasira
maasam, coupled with Sunday and the Revati star, which falls on
December 11, 2005.
Contrary to popular perception, the said yaagam will have no animal
sacrifice. Instead, it will be a "satvik" yagam where animals will be
worshiped, according to the organisers.
Individuals and organisations interested in participating in the yagam
and other related activities can contact P.C. Sesha Sai over phone
numbers 27661613, 55581368 and 94404 22613 or email him at
shoda...@rediffmail.com, shoda...@yahoo.com and
shoda...@hotmail.com.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/13/stories/2005101316990400.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashvamedha
bademiyansubhanallah
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http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Shatrughan-treads-cautiously-on-Gadkari-issue/595567
Shatrughan treads cautiously on Gadkari issue
Agencies
Posted: Thursday , Mar 25, 2010 at 1341 hrs
Indore:
After pointing a figure at the BJP President Nitin Gadkari over the
composition of his team, actor-turned-politician and party MP
Shatrughan Sinha has now chosen to tread cautiously over this issue.
The Bollywood Shotgun, in his typical thunderous voice, said "Khamosh"
but added that he calls a "spade a spade" when the scribes asked him a
question in connection with Gadkari here last night.
The Patna Saheb MP, who was here to promote his son Luv Sinha's film
`Sadiyaan', said self-confidence was the key to his success in films
and politics.
To a question on BJP, the 64-year-old former Union Minister said he
was talking to the media in capacity of a father not a politician.
On March 20, Sinha had said it was unfortunate that senior leaders
like C P Thakur and Yashwant Sinha have been left out of Gadkari's
team, and that all was not well in the BJP.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Shatrughan-treads-cautiously-on-Gadkari-issue/595567
Kishenji might be injured or even dead, say police
Kolkata, March 26, 2010
First Published: 08:34 IST(26/3/2010)
Last Updated: 08:37 IST(26/3/2010)
Kishenji, the elusive Maoist leader, might have been injured in a 12-
hour-long gunbattle between the rebels and the security forces near
Lalgarh, around 160 Km southwest of Kolkata.
Kishenji, the elusive Maoist leader, might have been injured in a 12-
hour-long gunbattle between the rebels and the security forces near
Lalgarh, around 160 Km southwest of Kolkata.
A senior police official of West Midnapore, not willing to be quoted,
informed that Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji, was likely to be seriously
injured in the exchange of fire that took place at the Hatishol forest
close to Lakhanpur village, around 8 Km east of Lalgarh, since 6 am on
Thursday.
"Our ground level sources at Lakhanpur have informed us that around 15
Maoists have died in the battle. While a section of informers said
Kishenji suffered a bullet injury to his leg, another group said he
might be dead. We can't be sure till we find the bodies," the officer
said.
The 51-year-old Rao, CPI (Maoist) Politburo and Central Military
Commission member, better known as Kishenji, is in charge of the
eastern regional bureau for the Maoists.
The gunbattle started after the security forces were tipped off that a
group of PLGA guerrillas and Maoist leaders had convened at the
Hatishol forest, adjacent to Lakhanpur.
"The security forces reached the spot around 6 am and the gun battle
started. It went on for nearly 12 hours," the senior cop said.
Lakhanpur, where the gunbattle took place on Thursday, was the place
where Kishenji was reportedly cornered on October 22, when the rebel
leader was to release Atindranath Dutta, the abducted Officer-in-
Charge of Sankrail police station. It was at the same Hatishol forest
where he met with media persons and formally released Dutta the same
day.
2 comments
S.N.Singh 27 minutes ago
If Kishenji is killed, it will be serious setback for naxalites.This
will considerably help security force in tackling this problem.The
shooting of naxalites on spot is only solution left with the govt.All
out offensive against them must continue till this problem is finished
since trial & error method adopted in past has caused heavy
casualities on security forces & wastage of public money. State &
Central govt. must take speedy development works in backward areas to
eradicate poverty & other problems faced by rural people.The
corruption in all walks of life must be curbed to achieve rapid
development otherwise the needy will remain poor. This is need of hour
and no laxity in any respect should be done.The stringent punishment
for corruption must be given to culprits specially to unscrupulous
politicians.
Ivan 3 hours ago
3 people liked this.
Another good riddance...let this moron rot in hell
http://karmicsoliloquy.blogspot.com
Whistling comment not a slip of tongue, says Mulayam
Lucknow, March 26, 2010
First Published: 00:53 IST(26/3/2010)
Last Updated: 00:55 IST(26/3/2010)
Far from expressing regrets, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav
on Thursday defended his sexist remark about the kind of women the Lok
Sabha would see as members if they enter it through a quota.
Yadav had recently been criticised by parties across the political
spectrum for saying that the quota would enable elite women coming
into Parliament – the kind who are "whistled at by youths".
At a meeting of party MPs, MLAs and office bearers in Lucknow, Yadav
said he had made the remark deliberately and it was no slip of the
tongue.
Yadav said his statement "achieved its purpose of triggering a
controversy and leading to a discussion on the subject".
He said he was ready to hold more discussions on the issue.
The Samajwadi Party chief also propounded a convoluted theory that if
the bill is enacted into law, there would be no men in the Lok Sabha
after 11 years.
Advocating reservation for women within political parties instead,
Yadav said it should be made mandatory for parties to give 15 to 20
per cent tickets to women to contest elections. A resolution to this
effect was passed at Thursday’s meeting.
Asking the gathering to begin preparations for the assembly elections
in Uttar Pradesh in 2012, Yadav said the Samajwadi Party has a list of
250 people engaging in anti-party activities. But he chose not to
expel them.
Mohan Singh, Samajwadi national general secretary said it was most
likely that Chief Minister Mayawati would recommend elections well
before her term ends.
"Don’t think elections are far away. The way Mayawati has begun
holding rallies and sit-ins indicate that she has begun preparing for
elections and will not wait for the full term," he said.
1 comments
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majorretdvirendrasharma 45 minutes ago
If not the "Slip of tongue", then more the reason for Mulayam to tell
the country did he want his daughter-in-law to be whistled at by
becoming a MP?
Indian scriptures bar pre-marital sex: former CJ
Bangalore, March 25, 2010
First Published: 22:01 IST(25/3/2010)
Last Updated: 22:31 IST(25/3/2010)
Former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and BJP MP Rama
Jois on Thursday said Indian scriptures bar premarital sex and Indian
society still consider pre-marital sexual relationship not good.
Jois, also a former Governor, in a statement said "the oral
observations made by one of the judges of the three-judge bench of the
Supreme Court in the context of male and female having sexual
intercourse prior to marraige and question posed by the learned judge
Who says it is bad? has given rise to counter question: who says it is
good".
Quoting from scriptures, he said one of the nine directives of dhrama
prescribed by Mahabharata was "Prajanseveshu dareshu" one should
procure children only under wedlock which by necessary implication
bars pre-marital sexual activity between man and woman, he said.
"The object and purpose of marriage as declared by the Dharmasastras
was not merely to satisfy the mutual carnal desire of man and a woman,
though it did constitute the basis of the desire for marriage", he
said.
Jois also refers to various Indian scriptures that upholds fidelity
between spouses, mutual trust and discourages the 'discarding
attitude' of a spouse to pursue other gains.
An unequal burden
Sitaram Yechury
March 25, 2010
First Published: 20:38 IST(25/3/2010)
Last Updated: 20:41 IST(25/3/2010)
The Delhi government has brazenly announced an across-the-board hike
in the prices of essential commodities including fuel and cooking gas.
The message is clear: the burden of financing this year’s Commonwealth
Games is to be borne by the aam aadmi. This comes on top of the
inflationary content of the Union Budget, attested by the finance
minister when he informed the Rajya Sabha, “I will not be surprised if
it (inflation) reaches double digits in March itself.” He then went on
to justify that India has lived with higher rates of inflation in the
past and, therefore, this was no big deal.
This is not only a reflection of the audacity that accompanies a
government in its first (honeymoon) year. This, in fact, reflects the
international pattern of neo-liberal prescriptions that seek to emerge
from the global recession by burdening the vast mass of the people and
benefiting the corporates and the rich with the hope that the latter
through their spending will rejuvenate the economy. This year’s Union
budget reflects this philosophy when it doled out concessions to the
rich and hiked indirect taxes for the poor.
While we in India are being asked to prepare for a fiscal
consolidation to reduce our 6.5 per cent deficit, the 2009 US budget
sent by President Obama to its Congress has a $1.75 trillion deficit
or 12.3 per cent of its GDP. This comes on top of the over $10
trillion of bailout packages that were given last year in the name of
recovering from the crisis. The consequence of such a global trend has
increased the number of billionaires in the world by over 200 and
their aggregate capital has expanded by over 50 per cent. Recently,
Forbes reported that as of late 2009 the number of billionaires soared
from 793 to 1,011 and their total fortunes from $2.4 trillion to $3.6
trillion.
Given the global recession such massive accumulation in the hands of
the wealthy can only be put to good use on stock and raw material
markets leading to the creation of new financial bubbles that neo-
liberalism hopes will trigger growth-based on speculation. The seeds
of fresh crises are being sown by replicating the process, which in
the first place, created the current crisis. It is not surprising,
therefore, that oil prices that had hit an all-time low of $47-a-
barrel in December 2008 now stands over $80. Global financial indices
are also climbing steadily. A classic case is that of Russia which saw
a GDP decline of 7.9 per cent in 2009 but had double the number of
billionaires as its stock market grew by over 100 per cent. The result
is that the very same financial giants which caused the present crisis
are now announcing super profits. JPMorgan Chase announced a record
$2.7 billion profit in the second quarter of 2009.
As the bankruptcy crisis in Greece shows, much of this largesse to
make the wealthy wealthier is being done at the expense of massive
cuts in social security expenditures. In late January, the Greek
government adopted an austerity package worth $6.8 billion. In March,
it announced an additional package of saving an additional $6.5
billion. This has been financed by raising taxes, slashing social
security expenditures, increasing the retirement age, cutting the pay
of civil servants etc. This has naturally led to four successful
general strikes in the space of one month.
Many raised an eyebrow at the rise in the sensex post-budget. As India
is following these very neo-liberal prescriptions, this is not
surprising. In addition to tax concessions announced this year, the
budget documents show that nearly Rs 80,000 crore was ‘uncollected’
from the corporates and Rs 4,000 crore from high-end income-tax payers
last year. Instead, if this was collected and utilised for hiking
public investments in building our much-needed infrastructure, it
would have generated high levels of employment. The consequent
expansion of domestic demand could have spiralled the cycle of
sustained growth. This latter course, however, would have denied the
rich from making further quick super-profits.
This process is already feeding speculation in India. The total value
of trade in agricultural commodities in the commodity exchanges during
the fortnight ending January 31 increased by a huge 64.14 per cent.
The cumulative value of trade in agricultural commodities during the
year from April 1, 2009 to January 31, 2010, grew by a whopping 102.59
per cent, in absolute terms valuing over Rs 10.13 crore. Now any
forward trading can make profits only when the prices of these
commodities are higher than what they were when the trading initially
took place.
The aam aadmi is, therefore, faced with a double whammy attack — rise
in prices through official hikes and speculation. Like the spate of
general strikes and protests across Europe, India is bound to see the
rise in popular actions demanding that the government reverse these
policies. The jail bharo call given by the Left parties on April 8
will only be the beginning.
Sitaram Yechury is CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP
The views expressed by the author are personal
12-hr firefight in forest hunt for Kishenji: 2 dead, 3 held
Madhuparna Das
Posted: Friday , Mar 26, 2010 at 0327 hrs
Kolkata:
A CRPF commando was injured and two Maoists were believed killed in a
gunbattle that raged for over 12 hours today in a forest near
Lakkhanpur in West Midnapore where security forces suspect top Maoist
leader Kishenji was present. Three persons were detained from the spot
but identities were not disclosed.
A senior police officer said that intercepts of Maoist phone calls
suggested that Kishenji could have sustained injuries in the gunbattle
from 6 am to 7 pm.
As night fell, the CRPF personnel withdrew from the encounter site.
Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao called The Indian Express to check for
“news on Kishenji.”
CRPF Special Director General Vijay Raman said: “We had specific
intelligence input that Kishenji was present in the forest in
Lakkhanpur. Based on that input, our forces moved. A Maoist shelter
was spotted in the wee hours and we surrounded it. They started firing
and our forces retaliated. The intensity of the firing indicated that
a very senior leader was present at the spot who, as per the
intelligence input, could have been Kishenji.”
“We picked up three Maoists from the spot. We have handed them over to
police,” Raman said.
West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh, too, said a top Maoist leader was
present at Lakkhanpur.
“Based on the intensity of the firing, it can be presumed that a
leader of the stature of Kishenji was present there. We have arrested
some people from the spot,” he said.
Comments (2) |
Put Varavara Rao in jail
By: sunny | 26-Mar-2010
Varavara Rao is a animal not fit for our society. Its only in India
that he is allowed to roam free. He should be questioned deeply.
FIGHTING NAXALS
By: amitabh | 26-Mar-2010
THIS FIGHT ON BEHALF OF CORPORATE WORLD ONLY INTERESTED IN MILKING THE
POOR WOULD RESULT IN SOMETHING SO MESSY THAT INDIA WONT BE ABLE TO
COME OUT OF IT.AAM ADMI GOVT FIGHTING AAM ADMI. OR THESE CORPORATES
ARE AAM ADMI FOR CONG?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/12hrfirefightinforesthuntforkishenji2dead-3held/595912/
Bachchan row exposes chink in ‘link’
Express news service
Posted: Friday , Mar 26, 2010 at 0305 hrs
New Delhi:
Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan along with Amitabh Bachchan during the
commissioning ceremony sea link in Mumbai.
The Congress and its coalition partner, the NCP on Thursday took
different stands on the invite to Amitabh Bachchan to attend a
function to inaugurate the second phase of Bandra-Worli Sea Link on
Wednesday. While the Congress gave up its usual reticence to comment
on the actor and justified party leaders’ criticism of him, the NCP
saw nothing wrong in extending invitation to Bachchan.
CM Ashok Chavan, who has maintained that he was not aware of the
invitation to the actor, was learnt to have taken the same stance in
his clarification to the high command.
“The party is aware of what happened there. The CM has clarified the
situation. The question is not about Bachchan as a person or an actor.
There is resentment against him among party workers, but the reason is
not personal. Their anger is because of the fact that Bachchan is seen
standing by the side of Narendra Modi. In such a situation, Congress
workers have the moral right to do so (criticise),” said AICC media
cell head Janardan Dwivedi.
Senior NCP leader Tariq Anwar, however, justified the presence of
Bachchan at the function saying that even Opposition parties are
invited to official functions. “As far as Bachchan is concerned, he is
a celebrity. Such official functions are not of any political party.
Even the Shiv Sena and BJP are invited. Sachin Tendulkar was
contacted, but he was not available. It was not a Congress function.
There was no intention to create a controversy,” he said.
The controversy is being seen as having its roots in the groupism
within the Congress and the ambition of Mumbai Region Congress
Committee president Kripashankar Singh to become a minister in the
Chavan Cabinet. The invitation cards issued by the Maharashtra State
Road Development Corporation did not mention Bachchan as an invitee,
but advertisements mentioned him as a special invitee. NCP leaders
like Minister for Public Works Jaidutt Kshirsagar, who also heads
MSRDC, justified Bachchan being invited to the function on grounds
that he was a Mumbai icon. Singh, who did not attend the function,
said Congress leaders such as Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sushilkumar Shinde
should have been invited for the function, hosted by the MSRDC which
is controlled by the NCP.
Actor criticises manufactured rows
Express News Service
Thiruvananthapuram/ Mumbai
ENRAGED over the Kerala government’s decision to abandon the idea of
making him the state’s tourism ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan has
reacted sharply. The central leadership of the CPM had shot down the
state’s plan to rope in Bachchan, citing that the actor was doing the
same job for BJP-ruled Gujarat.
Bachchan also said the controversy over his presence at the
inauguration of the second phase of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link has been
“manufactured”. “A fresh controversy has been rapidly manufactured on
my involvement,” he wrote in a midnight post on his blog.
In response to Kerala decision, Bachchan wrote in his blog: “You want
to stop me from promoting tourism in a state because you have reason
to believe that there are political connotations to the event. This is
such rubbish. All I shall be doing will be working in a short film
that shall highlight the various places of interest in the state
(Gujarat) so that it encourages more tourists to visit the region. And
that is what I would precisely do when I would be asked to similar
acts in Kerala. It is a petty act of cheap convenience to prevent me
from doing that, and by pitting me against political connotations and
manoeuvres without paying any respect for the actual work that would
be done. Fair enough! I shall abide by the judgment of the state
government. I did not ask them for it, they came forward with the
invitation, I accepted. Now they want to decline it, fine. Not the
first time such incident has happened. Invitation to be the chief
guest at Goa International Film Festival and when I get there, they
decline it.”
Bachchan did not spare the media either. “It is a common Indian media
trait — finding fault at any cost to any act or event. Merit for the
moment and the work not interesting enough to sell and so de-merit the
moment. And in such matters if you could highlight a celebrity,
preferably from the film world, into the matter, you would have
discovered a way and means to keep the story rolling for a few weeks.
You take umbrage at my association with Gujarat, but never have the
guts or courage to stop a Ratan Tata, or an Ambani from investing in
the state and running successful factories and ventures there.
WITH PTI INPUTS
Comments (5) |
Amitabh Bachhan
By: Sharma | 26-Mar-2010
Dear Mr Bachhan: It is enough of you now. Please fade off and let
someone else come to centre stage. Since last half a centuary, there
is not a day when you were not mentioned in the News Papers. This had
made you very egoist and as if you are never going to go away. All you
should be doing now is social work and meditation. Instead, you have
become more hungry for praise and recognition, jealous of others being
popular.(like khans) Please do not ruin your own image.
The Bachhan heartburn
By: Kishore Karnad | 26-Mar-2010
How at all can Bachhan compare himself with Ratan Tata or Ambani? Both
have invested a lot of money and created hundreds of jobs bringing
properity to the State while Bachhan has only exploited the State and
pocketed a hefty fee for promoting tourism. And now he is upset at the
prospect of losing some money he could have made by selling Kerala.
This man will do anything for money. I pity India's rich- the
bachhankind!
Imaginary accusations..
By: Vikas | 26-Mar-2010
Kishore doesnt even know that Amitabh did not charge a paisa for being
the Brand Ambassador for Gujrat Tourism.This came out clealy in the
inteview by Pronoy Roy on NDTV. But Kishore has imagined Amitabh
"pocketing hefty money". Biased views can cause hallucinations.
BACHCHAN INVITED !
By: M S VAISHNAV M | 26-Mar-2010
THE ROW OVER INVITATION (and presence) OF AMITABH BACHCHAN AT 'SEA
LINK' FUNCTION SHOWS HOW POLITICS HAS HIT THE NADIR IN OUR COUNTRY !!
IT HAS BECOME A ROUTINE TO POLITICALISE EVERY EVENT/ISSUE WHETHER IT
IS PUBLIC FUNCTION, BOLLYWOOD SHOW OR A SPORTS EVENT !CLEARANCE FROM
POLITICAL MASTERS CONCERNED IS A MUST FOR THE SUCCESS OF EVENT !! THIS
HAPPENS ONLY IN MY COUNTRY. WE DO NOT READ ABOUT 'INAUGARATION
FUNCTIONS' /NAMING OF ANY PUBLIC PROJECT BY POLITICIANS/LEADERS IN ANY
OTHER COUNTRY !
Fuss rather than a furore....
By: Roy | 26-Mar-2010
over a has been trying ever so much to get into the limelight
again....yes we the right wing elements in these columns going all out
to justify an ICON status for this...a mere actor. The fact that he is
a so called brand ambassador for the extreme right wing polity in
Gujarat is why these elements want the nondescript individual in the
newz whilst sensible folks in Kerala....literate in every
sense...asked him to go to hell..rather be damned.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bachchanrowexposeschinkinlink/595899/0
Maya was buzzed, SPG won't let Rahul bee
Maulshree Seth
Posted: Friday , Mar 26, 2010 at 0320 hrs
Lucknow:
OpportunityDon’t Glorify NaxalismRole-Model MPs, MLAs!Vehicle called
Life The honeybees that swarmed Mayawati’s public meeting 10 days ago
created a buzz that seems to have affected the Special Protection
Group (SPG). Officers in charge of Rahul Gandhi’s security have asked
the Sultanpur district administration to remove beehives outside the
venue of a meeting the Congress general secretary is scheduled to
attend on Friday.
Several beehives outside Vikas Bhawan in Sultanpur were destroyed last
night. However, the bees returned during the day. A second operation
was planned for Thursday night.
Sultanpur District Magistrate S L Pande said SPG officers who came to
oversee security arrangements for Rahul’s visit asked for the removal
of the beehives.
District Chief Development Officer G Ram, who is supervising the work,
said, “Beehives are not new to any rural setup. There were four or
five beehives outside Vikas Bhawan; some have been removed. The
situation is being closely monitored along with the SPG. I cannot say
anything more.”
Amethi, Rahul’s Lok Sabha constituency, is part of Sultanpur district.
As local MP, Rahul presides over the meetings of the district
vigilance and monitoring committee which reviews development works.
Other MPs and MLAs from the district, and district-level officials are
members of the committee.
The meetings are held at Vikas Bhawan, a three-storey building which
is
the office of the Chief Development Officer. There are beehives on the
walls outside and on nearby trees.
Officials said the last meeting of the committee was held about a year
ago. “Then too there were beehives, but no one bothered,” said an
official. He said beehives on the building had been removed, but those
on the trees had not been disturbed.
A swarm of large honeybees invaded Mayawati’s rally in Lucknow’s
Ramabai Ambedkar ground on March 15. The BSP alleged a “conspiracy” by
Mayawati’s opponents, and the government ordered an inquiry. The
investigation, which was initially led by a DIG and DM of Lucknow, has
so far produced no results.
Maqsood Alam, Sultanpur district Congress president, said, “Like
others, we are concerned about the security of our leader, especially
after a big swarm hovered around the dais from where Mayawati was
addressing her rally. I went to Vikas Bhawan today and was happy to
see that the beehives were being cleared”.
Comments (1) |
Bee Hating
By: BG Subhash | 26-Mar-2010
It is a tragedy of Indian Democracy which gives opportunity to Bee
Hating Mayawati Aka Notewati Aka Malawati
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mayawasbuzzed-spgwontletrahulbee/595909/0
Bachchan a victim of 'fear' of Gandhi family in Cong: BJP
Agencies
Posted: Thursday , Mar 25, 2010 at 1346 hrs
New Delhi:
Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan and Amitabh Bachchan interact during
inaugural ceremony of north carriage way of sea link.
In the wake of the controversy over the presence of Amitabh Bachchan
at the inauguration of Bandra-Worli sea-link, BJP on Thursday batted
for the filmstar saying he has become a victim of the "feud" in
Congress and "fear" of the Gandhi family in the party.
"The Bandra-Worli sea-link is a national property and certainly not a
property of the Congress party. Every Indian has a right to be there.
Undoubtedly, Amitabh Bachchan is the nation's pride and a
distinguished Mumbaikar who has full credentials to be the chief guest
there," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
The Rajya Sabha MP criticised the Congress for "generating a
controversy" over invitation to Bachchan.
Resentment brewed in a section of Mumbai Congress over the invite to
Bachchan to the function where Chief Minister Ashok Chavan inaugurated
the sea link yesterday.
"It is beyond Indian tradition to invite and then insult. Bachchan
cannot be a victim of internal feud in Congress party, in particular
in Maharashtra and in general at the national level," Rudy said.
The BJP claimed that though the invitation to Bachchan had been sent
by the NCP minister in-charge of the department concerned, the "fear"
of the Gandhi family also played a role in the behaviour of the
Congress leaders.
"The fear of the Gandhi family and their likes and dislikes loom so
large that no sooner it would become a threat to democracy. This is
narrow-minded bigotry of the Congress party," Rudy alleged.
Bachchan, who is close to the Samajwadi Party, has not been on the
best of terms with the first family of Congress after Rajiv Gandhi's
death.
BJP also noted the reference made to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra
Modi in regard to the affair.
"Bachchan's mere association as brand ambassador of Gujarat is being
vilified by the Congress. A national icon is being derided for petty
political gains," Rudy said.
Comments (2) |
big B
By: KASIM | 26-Mar-2010
THIS EVER MONEY HIUNGRY BACCHHAN IS ALWAYS OVERACTING AND THIS TIME IT
IS TO HELP AMAR SINGH`S POLITICAL PROSPECTS,ISNT HE THE SAME BACHHAN
WHO WAS ACCUSED OF MAKING MONEY ON FILMS PASSING BY CENSORBOARD IN
INDIRA`S TIME,HE ALSO USED TO GO ON JAUNTS OF DYNASTY WITH PARAMOR
QUATTROCHHI,A MAN BECOMES SIMILAR TO THE COMPANY HE KEEPS,HE HAS
ALWAYS BECAUSE OF HIS PROFESSION BEEN WITH GREED AND MEDIA IS ALSO
REPAYING AMARSINGH THRU HIM,AS JOKERS AND MORONS LIKE AMAR AND LALLU
ARE GOOD FOR TV RATINGS.
True....
By: Roy | 26-Mar-2010
India nor Mumbai for that matter anywhere in India is just for any
political party but then your party...with its extreme right view
point...make Indians other than Hindus sans the poorer sections of
your community the right to be an Indian. This nondescript aging
individual gets mention & sympathy form the RSS controlle BJP simply
coz he chose to be the brand ambassador for the right
flag...ownership...of the state of Gujarat. Spread this canard amongst
your chaddiwallahs...the rest of India cares a damn about the
individual & the party you represent.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bachchanavictimoffearofgandhifamilyincongbjp/595569/0
Will take all steps to implement Muslim quota: Rosaiah
Agencies
Posted: Thursday , Mar 25, 2010 at 1409 hrs
Hyderabad:
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah has promised that his
government would take "all required legal steps" for implementing four
per cent reservation in jobs and education for backward class
Muslims.
"With all seriousness and sincerity, we shall take all required legal
steps to ensure that the benefit of reservation is extended to
Muslims.
Our ultimate goal is to protect the reservation for backward class
Muslims," Rosaiah assured the state Assembly even as the Special Leave
Petition filed by the state against the High Court judgment was being
heard in the Supreme Court today.
The Assembly discussed the issue at length today with all parties,
barring the lone BJP MLA, favouring the reservation. In fact, Leader
of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu and CPM MLA J Ranga Reddy wanted 10
per cent reservation for Muslims as per the recommendations made by
Sachar and Ranganath Misra committees.
"The government should lead an all-party delegation to the Prime
Minister to press for a Constitutional amendment for providing
reservation to backward class Muslims.
The state Assembly should also pass a resolution in this regard,"
Chandrababu said. Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen floor leader Akbaruddin
Owaisi too requested the same. Responding, the Chief Minister said the
government has no objection to this.
"Let me reassure you that we shall take required legal measures to
ensure four per cent reservation for Muslims by all means," Rosaiah
reiterated.
Earlier, replying to the debate on the issue, Minister for BC Welfare
M Mukesh Goud said 10,935 backward Muslim students availed of the
reservation benefits to pursue higher and professional education in
the last two years. Similarly, 83 candidates secured jobs in
government, he added.
10 Comments |
Muslim Reservation
By: A SINGHAM | Friday , 26 Mar '10 9:57:23 AM
DIVIDING THE PEOPLE ON RELIGION VERY SAD INDEED; BACKWARNESS CAN BE A
CRITERION IRRESPECTIVE OF FAITH, SO THAT UNDER PRIVILEGED CAN GET
CHANCE TO COME UP. THIS SHOULD NEVER BE TIED WITH RELIGION OR CASTES;
FOR YOU WILL FIND CREAMY LAYER TAKING ADVANTAGE OF IT, LEAVING THE
REALLY NEEDY BEHIND; AS IN CASE OF SC/CT, WITH FATHER IN IAS,
GRANDFATHER JUDGE, USING INFLUENCE SON GETS PRIORITY; RIDICULOUS AND
RETROGADE STEP, SURE. ALL PARTIES ARE OUT TO APPEASE MINORITY FOR VOTE
BANKS. MUST PUT FULL STOP TO THIS; MUSLIMS GOT A FULL COUNTRY BASED ON
(R)FIGHT, EH! AND ALL KNOW MUSLIM IN INDIA IS THE HAPPIEST PERSON,
COMPARED TO HIS OWN FATHERLAND NATIONS.
QUOTA TO MUSLIMS
By: M S VAISHNAV | Friday , 26 Mar '10 7:58:32 AM
EVERY RIGHT THINKING PERSON WILL AGREE THAT QUOTA SHOULD ONLY BE ON
BASIS OF ECONOMICAL POOR PEOPLE ANDNOT BASED ON RELIGION -THAT TOO NOT
FOR A'PARTICULAR' RELIGION ! IT SMELLS OF 'VOTEBANK' ORIENTED
GOVERNANCE !!
it should be there
By: krishna | Friday , 26 Mar '10 7:37:10 AM
Reservations have been a curse in our civilisations. We started with
100% reservations for brahmins for more than 2000 years and now we
have reservations for everybody with varying degrees
Muslim Quota-Damm the quotas
By: RAM | Friday , 26 Mar '10 6:56:04 AM
The Congress is all set to balkanise our country by pandering to this
quota . All right thinking citizens should unite to throw Congress out
of India.
Playing to the gallery
By: Shamefaced Indian | Friday , 26 Mar '10 6:06:16 AM
This is the worst kind of politics. Play upto all the backward classes
so that you can get votes. Such a shame!!
Stop robbing Peter
By: Deepa | Friday , 26 Mar '10 5:53:28 AM
When Ramvilas Paswan and Arjun Singh foisted a scheduled caste as
Chief Justice of India in the Supreme Court the eight bells began
tolling. So far only the Muslims seemed undivided, thanks to their
religious fervour. This was anathema to the Congress. With the help of
supreme court the Congress has successfully broken the Muslims to
divide and rule them. Only Nemesis has to wipe this evil Congress
Party which has become a curse for us.
Quota
By: manav | Thursday , 25 Mar '10 18:55:13 PM
What a shame.
Most Communal
By: Ram | Thursday , 25 Mar '10 16:36:43 PM
Using religion for votes, Congress is the most communal and of-course
they are trying to beat the Kolkatta CPI-M. If you have an idea to
uplift economically weaker sections, do that without checking which
God he prays to or which country he is affiliated to. Give
reservations to the economically weaker sections of the society
irrespective of caste, creed or religious faith. Even in Hinduism, the
castes were to perform one's duty and all the works are considered
equally important for the society, but this one was distorted by the
missionaries for their self interest.
Indian
By: Indian | Thursday , 25 Mar '10 16:36:15 PM
I think there should not be any quota on the basis of religion.
Initially the concept of reservation came for the Poor people. There
are many Rich people in Muslims also. How can a rich can get
reservation in Education Jobs etc... We need Reservation Review
By: Prabhjot Juneja | Thursday , 25 Mar '10 15:39:01 PM
He have reservation since 50 year. Its high time to look at loopholes
in the present system and also to review the benefits of present
reservation. It should be improved. Nobody denies that their is need
of reservation but at the same time nobody can deny the present system
is flawed and need to big time changes. It would be good to keep out
religion from all of this...histroy teached us the affect of religion
based reservations.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/willtakeallstepstoimplementmuslimquotarosaiah/595578/
BSP demo turns felicitation ceremony for bee-tamer Maya
Express News Service
Posted: Friday , Mar 26, 2010 at 0433 hrs
Lucknow:
Naseemuddin Siddiqui displays photographs of Sonia Gandhi with a
garland of currency notes at the party’s pardafaash protest in Lucknow
on Thursday.
OpportunityDon’t Glorify NaxalismRole-Model MPs, MLAs!Vehicle called
Life Sycophancy was the flavour of the day at the BSP demonstration
held in the state capital on Thursday to protest against the
“opposition conspiracies” against party chief and UP Chief Minister
Mayawati.
Successive speakers showered praise on Mayawati for her bravery in
carrying on with her speech in spite of the honeybees, which were
allegedly let loose to disrupt the March 15 rally.
A minister went so far as to proclaim that the bees did not sting
anyone because they accepted Mayawati’s supremacy. Another said the
Opposition conspiracy to cause a stampede at the rally fell flat when
the bees, instead of stinging anyone, simply welcomed Mayawati and
settled on the rooftop.
The other highpoint of the rally was PWD Minister Naseemuddin
Siddiqui’s display of photographs of Opposition leaders accepting
currency garlands and expensive items, purportedly downloaded from the
internet.
Among these was a photo of Sonia Gandhi purportedly wearing a garland
of 1,000-rupee currency notes, of L K Advani being offered a crown and
of Mulayam Singh Yadav being presented with a silver sword.
Mayawati had asked her partymen to organise protests across the state
on three issues — the sudden appearance of honeybees at the party
rally, the controversy over the currency garland and filing of two
PILs in the Allahabad High Court to stop the rally — as evidence of
the Opposition conspiracy to derail the celebration of 25 years of the
party’s foundation.
As the protests were held, she hopped into a helicopter for an aerial
view of the hotspots — including Lucknow, where all important party
leaders had gathered.
On the ground, meanwhile, Urban Development Minister Nakul Dube said
the honeybees accepted Mayawati’s supremacy and did not harm anyone at
the rally. The Opposition should also accept it and reconcile to the
fact that Mayawati is going to be the prime minister.
“People like you and me would have got scared after watching that huge
swarm arrive before us, but not Mayawati,” he said.
Likewise, party MLC Gopal Narayan Mishra blamed the “cheap tactics” of
the Opposition and praised Mayawati for keeping her composure in face
of the bees.
Rajya Sabha member Akhilesh Das exhorted the gathering to just think
of the consequences “had they (the opposition) succeeded in their
tactics” to cause a stampede.
The last word was left to Siddiqui, who said the conspiracy fell flat
when the honeybees “welcomed her (the CM)”. “They flew to the dais and
then took shelter on the roof,” he said.
Opposition bristles at Maya counter-sting
LUCKNOW: Opposition parties lashed out at the BSP for releasing
photographs of its leaders donning currency garlands and gold crowns,
describing it as a “futile bid” to justify the presentation of a multi-
crore garland to Mayawati at the party’s ‘maharally’ here. “Sonia
Gandhi does not require anyone’s certificate as all are aware that she
is in public life neither for power nor money,” said Congress leader
Akhilesh Pratap Singh. BJP
state unit president Hriday Narain Dixit said the two things (crown
for L K Advani and Mayawati’s currency garland) cannot be compared. SP
spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said people know that through the
garland, BSP leaders had tried to convert their black money into
white. PTI
Comments (2) |
No more tainted leaders, please.
By: Adv.Alby Raymond Parackal | 26-Mar-2010
People of India need rulers to be Scot-free from corruption in all
forms.It is quite unfortunate to blame another political leader and
try to belittle the tainted act which currently a Chief Minister has
done.
DALIT KI BETI
By: NIRANJAN | 26-Mar-2010
AGREED. BUT SONIA GANDHI HAS NEVER PROFESSED TO BE A POOR, DALIT
PERSON. SHE DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE MESSIAH OF THE POOR AND DOWNTRODDEN
PEOPLE. SHE DOES NOT INAUGURATE HER OWN STATUES! SO, MAYAWATI, PLEASE
DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF WITH ANYBODY. THERE ARE NOT TOO MANY
POLITICIANS WHO STOOPED AS LOW AS YOU HAVE!
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bspdemoturnsfelicitationceremonyforbeetamermaya/595957/0
Living together a part of right to life, not an offence: SC
Krishnadas Rajagopal
Posted: Mar 24, 2010 at 0243 hrs IST
New Delhi The Supreme Court threw its weight behind live-in
relationships on Tuesday, observing that for a man and a woman in
love, to live together is part of the right to life, and not a
“criminal offence”.
“If two people, man and woman, want to live together, who can oppose
them? What is the offence they commit here? This happens because of
the cultural exchange between people,” a special three-judge bench of
Chief Justice of India (CJI) K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak
Verma and B S Chauhan observed.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions filed by actress Khusboo to
quash 22 FIRs filed against her by Tamil activist groups and forums
for her alleged comments on pre-marital sex in interviews five years
ago.
“If living together is an offence, then the first complaint should be
filed against the Supreme Court, because we have permitted living
together,” the court said. It was referring to a 2006 judgment in
which the Supreme Court directed the administration and police across
the country to protect runaway couples from harassment, and to
initiate action against those resorting to violence.
“It is part of right to life to go away with someone you love,” the
bench said. The Supreme Court had earlier stayed a Madras High Court
order of April 2008, which allowed criminal proceedings against the
actress.
Khusboo was alleged to have said there was nothing wrong in “sex
before marriage”, provided girls were careful about pregnancy and
sexually-transmitted diseases. Her detractors argued that the implied
advice to the educated male to not expect virginity from modern girls
was “offensive” and a source of “public nuisance”.
To an argument that Khusboo’s comments on pre-marital sex would
mislead gullible youths and minors, the court said: “The scenario is
highly unlikely in this age of the Internet where we do not know what
our children are doing or where they are going or what pornography
site they are watching.”
To this, the lawyer appearing for one of the complainants, Miniammal,
a lawyer in Tamil Nadu, responded that “there should be some morality
in the comments made by people of prominence like Khusboo, who has a
temple in Tamil Nadu where she is worshipped as a goddess”.
“And this is how you revere your goddess, by dragging her to court?”
retorted Justice Verma.
The bench made it clear that Khusboo’s comments could at best be
termed as “personal opinions”, and did not amount to a cognizable
offence.
But the lawyer persisted that Khusboo’s comments on pre-marital sex
would lead to the “spoiling of the entire institution of marriage.
Statements like this can result in chaos in the society.”
Even as the CJI at this moment responded that people were better off
listening to themselves than to others, Justice Verma asked the
counsel to point out how many marriages were “spoilt” or how many
instances of chaos happened in the past five years because of her
comments on pre-marital sex.
The court said it cannot stop anyone from expressing their opinions
before reserving the petitions for final verdict.
Besides, the court said, Khusboo (who was present during the day-long
hearing) had said “nothing new” about the concept of living together.
Justice Chauhan pointed out that even the “ceiling limit” for the
construction of temples for twin deities like Radha and Krishna or Ram
and Sita were calculated under the consideration that they were
“husband and wife”.
Comments - 34
Need of the hour
by Dr. Vidyacharan Shukla on 26 Mar 2010
Indian culture is changing dramatically but in different colors.
Intrinsically, we are plagued with double standard that manifests time
to time in the form of litigation, complaints and blames just to hide
our own lusts. Premarital relationship was prevailed in everywhere
around the globe but Indian society preferred to suppress the facts,
instead face the truth. Philosophically, even we dream about the
physical relationship before marriage or after marriage, both are
considered to be sin if we follow any religions. No religions stops
anyone not living together and law of nature supports Khusboo bold
stand. It is sad that Supreme court has to intervene in this case but
giving decision in the favor of Khusboo shows the faith on the
judiciary. Supreme court judge cited beautiful example of Lord Krishna
and Goddess Radha, but the best example could have been Kanyakumari
with Lord Shiva, Droupdi with 5 Pandavas, and many more who are our
Ideals in Indian society.
Reply | Forward
Unwarrented Comments
by Varun on 25 Mar 2010
That the esteemed judges of The S.C impulsively brought in the example
of Radha and Krishna is totally uncalled for.People at such high posts
are not expected to make statements on a subject on which they
themselves are not clear.Shrimati Radharani had a single pointed
devotion towards Lord Krishna, an example of unconditional love in its
purest form.To bring in such pure relationships to justify the modern
generation's uncontrolled infatuation and their total unconcern to
moral principles shows their ignorance about their own scriptures and
even lack of common sense.It is requested to the judges not to make
such irresponsible comments ,and certainly not relating to any
religion,while dealing in cases in future.Please maintain the high
values and the standards of the supreme court.
Reply | Forward
Bring in Appropriate Legislation
by K.Suresh on 25 Mar 2010
The comment -%u201CAnd this is how you revere your goddess, by
dragging her to court?%u201D - is inappropriate. The concerned lawyer
never submitted that Kushboo is HIS goddess. And there was no need to
bring in Rama,Sita, etc into the comments. The court could have simply
said that as per existing laws, living-in does not constitute an
offense. It is for the legislature to bring in appropriate
legislation. And such laws always are always rooted in the cultural
and moral values practiced in society at that point of time. I can not
quote my ancestors in caves to justify using a club (wooden or stone)
on a woman.
Reply | Forward
bravo
by chandidas mishra on 25 Mar 2010
love the statements of the justices. bravo supreme court.
Reply | Forward
It is against Indian cultural values
by MAHARASHTRA TOP NEWS on 25 Mar 2010
Sir, I am Masumkhan, Chief Editor..MAHARASHTRA TOP NEWS, LATUR. Pre-
marital sex is not accepted in Indian culture. Supreme court wants to
examine current social and cultural status of Indian family, male and
female. If supreme court gives us God krishnas example it is very
different situation ....this is kalyug sir.
immoral decision
by k.k.jaitley on 24 Mar 2010
SC decision may have adverse impact on the institution of
marriage.this is also very shoking to find that decision maker find no
other way but to cite the the example of living together of Lord
Krisna and Radha to justify their vedict.I don't know from where they
find out that Krisna and Radha used to live together separately. Both
man and woman living together separately are vunerable to each other
and their living together without marriage will break the social
fabric. limitation on the freedom is as imporant as the freedom is.
some day the woman may approach the court alleging rap by the person
with whom she has live in relationship on one or the other pretex i.e
false promise of marriage by the partner.
LIVING TOGETHER
by Jason on 24 Mar 2010
Diverse suggestions and comments. Well freedom of expression.Morality
is judged by the society.India lost her moral values long time ago.
Equality for men and women. No. The corrupt arrogant old aged
'man'still in the view that he is in the nomadic 18th century 'as the
king' and women and children treated as 'salable property' - denying
their human rights as an individual..Look at the practice of marriage.
Indians in general still believe - to have a girl is a curse and must
give 'dowry'to have er married and the 'groom' and his parents demand
huge amounts of cash,gold in lakhs/crores.. Shame. What happended to
what these corrupt system of soceity preaches. Please try to correct
the wrongs.While the courts are to uphold the rights for each
citizen,justice is not granted to the poor and the less educated by
creation of such a group by the'rich-upper class'.One father sold
everything to get her well educated engineering daughter to a school
teacher paying ranson to the groo's parents
DISGUSTING DECISSION OF SC
by AFTAB ARIZVI on 24 Mar 2010
I disagree with the decision of the Supreme Court. Morality should be
the guiding principles for governance. If you have no morality, what
is the difference between human beings and animals/birds. The Court
was asking for sections of statutes for imposing morality. If there
are no enabling dstatutes, the Court should have asked the Government
to bring in suitable legislation. If living together is acceptable,
why not prostitution. The body of a woman is her property and if she
decides to give it on rent for a small period (which is what
prostitution is), why should we object? Tomorrow, I might abuse my
neighbour saying that it is part of my right to live my life the way I
want, why should anybody object. Similarly, if my neighbour decides to
retaliate physically, again why should you object as he has a right to
react the way he wants as part of his right to life.
Degeneration of social values
by Swapan Lodh on 24 Mar 2010
Apex court`s verdict will certainly shatter the fabric of the society
which has so fondly been built by our ancestors to guard against
degeneration.Steps had been taken by elders time and need based
decisions which became rituals and later custom on which based concept
of laws.Radha-Krishna and Ram-Sita could perhaps should better not be
brought in this case as these are epics and poetic imagination played
more significantly than anecdotes.
Great descision
by Shrey on 24 Mar 2010
I totally disagree with the comments that are given above. I am
surprised by the mentality of "Indian Citizens" that have posted
comments against apex court in which these people relate live-in
relation with sex and prostitution. If a boy and a girl are living
together under a single roof, it does not mean that they have sexual
relationship. And even if they have that sex-relationship than what is
wrong in that if both are adult and agree. You can't relate this
situation with prostitution as it is completely different thing.
Prostitution is business and not the love. Above people are like those
who can't come out of the pit which they have dug and hence they pull
others in to the same. Supreme court has done a great moral thing
which should persist. They didn't even tried to insult indian god as
they illustrated pure love between radha and krishna!
Indian Traditional Culture affected by this judgement? Really?????
by Married Indian Woman on 24 Mar 2010
First of all, Kudos to the counsel for giving a sensible judgement.
For all those true Indian culture protectors out there, the counsel
did not say that all couples should live-in and not marry. They have
mentioned that living together and pre-marital sex is not an offence!
If you think about it,most couples who live-in together usually are
very independent and are capable of thinking clearly. Also, someone
has spoken about AIDS... Come-on, most victims are from the lowest
strata of society, mostly due to senseless extra marital affairs.
Whether or not to marry someone is someone's personal opinion, it is
not upto anyone to force it upon them. All you fathers who have
daughters, if you want to raise your voice against something, raise it
against female infanticide, dowry system, women empowerment and
corruption. Jai Hind!
another undesirable import
by sakthiman on 24 Mar 2010
Such useless thoughts fit only rich and filth. Not for common people
who die for their values. I don't think Supreme court judgement in any
way influences the common man except that the institution has fallen
from grace.
Larger Picture
by R.Ramachandran on 24 Mar 2010
The SC has posed the question %u201CIf two people, man and woman, want
to live together, who can oppose them? What is the offence they commit
here?" In fact this question though put to the Counsel for the
Complainants, is to be directed against the Trial Court / High Court
Judges who did not ask this question in the first place and have
created a situation where the accused has to travel all the way to the
Supreme Court! If this is the kind of justice system that we have, we
shudder to think the recent lament of the SC that "it has limited time
at its disposal and it cannot be expected to hear every kind of
dispute.%u201D The SC also has conveniently discontinued hearing
petitions under Art. 32 which is a fundamental right of every citizen,
and asking the citizen to first approach the HC and then to come to SC
under Art.136. Now the SC says that the discretionary jurisdiction
cannot be invoked by every individual! Actions of SC are clearly
violative of the Constitutional provisions.
Pious to Evil
by Iquebal Ahmed on 24 Mar 2010
One more import of western filth into our pious culture! One more
attack on our pious culture after legalization of gay marriage by our
own judicial system!!
Evil and Immoral----
by romesh.sharma on 24 Mar 2010
These few words from Mr Ahmed speak volumes that one can write and
say.This move is the worst kind of immoral act of judiciary which is
time and again meddling into the absolute private,cultural and
religious affairs of the people.This all may be of some help/interest
of the socalled High-Society which is already deeply dyed in the
western colours.This malady will soon spread and the most ancient
beautiful culture and its traditions will diminish for-ever.Moreover
most westerns are fed-up and tired of such unions and discarding fast.
Right or wrong ?
by Gaurav Kaushish on 24 Mar 2010
RIGHT OR WRONG?? TIME WILL TELL. NORMS ARE SET FOR SMOOTH FUNCTIONING
OF THE SOCIETY AT LARGE BY THE SOCIETY ITSELF. EACH AND EVERY CASE CAN
NOT BE BROUGHT UNDER THE GARB OF LEGAL PROVISIONS.OFFENCES KEEP TAKING
PLACE EVEN WHEN THEY ARE DEFINED, AS SUCH, IN THE LAW OF THE
LAND.ALLOWING SOMETHING AS A MATTER OF RIGHT DOES NOT GUARANTEE ITS
EXERCISE BY THE INDIVIDUALS. SIMILARLY IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS TOO IS NO
CALIBRE FOR STRICT COMPLIANCE THEREOF. MADHYAM MARG (PAH OF
MODERATION) MAY BE OF SOME GUIDANCE. THE DEBATE IS OPEN,,,,,
God save Incredible India
by Raaj on 24 Mar 2010
What a great verdict.Today the world looks at India as a country with
a great culture, Spiritual heritage and tradition in which people live
with great family values. We should be proud about it as we have
preserved our culture and tradition against various invasions. If our
kids were to live like the western kids ignoring the Indian values, as
per the Supreme Court Judgement, God save India.
Whether bigamy is legalised now ?
by R Krishnamurthy on 24 Mar 2010
If a married man has a live-in relationship with another woman is it
perfectly correct under law. Supreme Court judgement is pointing
towards that.
sc on relationship
by kamal on 24 Mar 2010
SC HAS HURT MANY RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS BY QUOTING RAMA SITA KRISHNA AND
RADHA,THIS CERTAINLY IMPLIES THAT ONLY HINDUS HAVE OR FOLLOWERS OF
THESE DEITIES HAVE OBJECTIONS TO SUCH RELATIONSHIPS AND ANY OTHER
RELIGION DOES NOT OR WAS IT FEAR OF JEHADIS SO THAT NO ISLAMIC REVERED
ONES WERE MENTIONED IN THIS COURT CASE.SC JUDGES HAVE HURT THE
FEELINGS OF A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY AND THERE ARE LAWS AGAINST SUCH
ACTION,ONLY THEY CAN SUGGEST HOW THEY WILL OVERCOME THIS BLUNDER AND
THAT ALSO DURING THE SITTING OF THE HIGHEST COURT OF THE LAND.ALSO FOR
SC INFO ALL HINDU SECTS DONT WORSHIP RADHA ND KRISHNA,WHY ALWAYS DRAG
ALL HINDU SECTS INTO THIS CASE LIKE MEDIA.
Live-in Relationship
by Vaid S C K on 24 Mar 2010
Legal sanction granted by Apex court shall now bring forth many
problems specially for police and others who always look for
exploitation. If man and woman have been living togather for few years
without marriage then woman one day lodges complaint with police for
having been sexually exploited for number of years, what courts are
going to decide?
SC remarks subjudice
by drabc on 24 Mar 2010
Blissfully unawares the SC might have shown a contempt of court should
any other of such cases are before a judge anywhere in India! To
comment recklessly a can of worms might be marching onto the Supreme
Court.This was a most unhelpful intervention from the SC in a Civil
court matter
SC remarks subjudice
by drabc on 24 Mar 2010
Blissfully unawares the SC might have shown a contempt of court should
any other of such cases are before a judge anywhere in India! To
comment recklessly a can of worms might be marching onto the Supreme
Court.This was a most unhelpful intervention from the SC in a Civil
court matter
Living Together As Part Of Right To Life
by C.R. Panicker on 24 Mar 2010
I disagree with the decision of the Supreme Court. Morality should be
the guiding principles for governance. If you have no morality, what
is the difference between human beings and animals/birds. The Court
was asking for sections of statutes for imposing morality. If there
are no enabling dstatutes, the Court should have asked the Government
to bring in suitable legislation. If living together is acceptable,
why not prostitution. The body of a woman is her property and if she
decides to give it on rent for a small period (which is what
prostitution is), why should we object? Tomorrow, I might abuse my
neighbour saying that it is part of my right to live my life the way I
want, why should anybody object. Similarly, if my neighbour decides to
retaliate physically, again why should you object as he has a right to
react the way he wants as part of his right to life.
Is the nation going bohemian way ?
by K.Suresh on 24 Mar 2010
This is a ridiculous argument from the judiciary. In that case, the
same argument can be used to justify adultery. illicit relations,
extra-marital relations etc. Then why have laws against pornography,
exhibitionism. immoral traffic ? Does the SC want the whole nation to
resemble Goan seaside? BTW, when such an arrangement ends, is the
female partner entitled to alimony/compensation?
the nation going bohemian way ?
by CTZWORLD on 24 Mar 2010
Mr. Suresh, Kindly get a copy of the Immoral traffic(Prevention) act
1956. Pornography, exhibitionism. immoral traffic etc.. you described
are something different than cohabitation. Cohabitation is allowed
between persons who do not have legal spouses and they earn no benifit
by way of money or something else
the nation going bohemian way ?
by CTZWORLD on 24 Mar 2010
Mr. Suresh, Kindly get a copy of the Immoral traffic(Prevention) act
1956. Pornography, exhibitionism. immoral traffic etc.. you described
are something different than cohabitation. Cohabitation is allowed
between persons who do not have legal spouses and they earn no benifit
by way of money or something else
Someone finally has some brains
by Madhav on 24 Mar 2010
Awesome judgement especially about Khusbhu's case. Instead of wasting
their time, why don't these lawyers fight for the common man instead
of pursuing useless cases.
LIVING TOGETHER
by KRISHNAN.S on 24 Mar 2010
Shocking observations by the Highest Court.What would have been the
answer of the Supreme Court if only the counsel had a daughter.The
counsel replied to the judges that he has no daughter.So in future if
a minister/chief minister has no problem then he need not address that
issue.Let Supreme Court rethink on morality and answer so as to
advance the society in the right direction.Already the politicians
especially down South have more than 2 wives.Now even marriages may
not be required.Already one popular Tamil actor who has international
fame is reported to have said that he does not believe in marriages.Le
God save this country.
Hypocricy
by Mathew on 24 Mar 2010
Though I do not support pre marital sex or sex outside marriage, I
support the supreme court statement. If young people is going to be
mis guided by a statement of one person then these people are fools.
God has given every ones brains and most educated people can think
what is right and what id wrong. There are many in or midst who wear
the mask of morality and behind the scene are np worse than the people
they despise. Its high time we put an end to this hypocrisy.
Living togethr as part of Right to Life
by ashok bhatnagar on 24 Mar 2010
If law says living together is a way of life & not an offence what was
the crime of Swami Nityanand. Why media made such a big story & police
lodged complaints in a matter that was between the Swami & his
disciples. I think both the print & electronic media should apologise
to Swami Nityanand.
Re: Nithyananda
by Vinod Kumar Pavanghat on 24 Mar 2010
In the case of Nithyananda, media exposed only a lie. If he had openly
propounded a living in relationship, no body would have had any
objection. Use your brain....
LIVING TOGETHER AS PART OF RIGHT TO LIFE
by ashok bhatnagar on 24 Mar 2010
If law allow says living together is a way of life & not an offence
what was the crime of Swami Nityanand. Why media made such a big story
& police lodged complaints in a matter that was between the Swami &
his disciples. I think media should apologise to Swami Nityanand.
An unnecessary link
March 25, 2010
First Published: 20:52 IST(25/3/2010)
Last Updated: 20:53 IST(25/3/2010)
Who owns the Bandra-Worli sealink in Mumbai? We know who constructed
it. We know who inaugurated the first phase. We know who it is named
after. But who owns it? Who can legitimately claim that this sea link
belongs to them? The guys who built it and collect toll? The
governmentwalas for clearing permissions? The labourers who built it?
Can we dare to say that this piece of architecture belongs to the
people of Mumbai, those who can afford to travel on it to save commute
time as well as to those who cannot; who have to be content to just
look?
Now that that question is out of the way, here’s the next one. Who
owns Amitabh Bachchan? Clearly, his immediate family has an interest.
Clearly his friends, political and otherwise, have an interest. But
could you stretch it and say he belongs to lakhs of his fans, not just
in Mumbai or Allahabad but all over the world?
When Raj Thackeray huffs and puffs and calls for a boycott of Amitabh
Bachchan films in response to Jaya Bachchan’s insistence at a film
function to speak in Hindi because she is from Uttar Pradesh, we
denounce him as a thug. Bachchan points out that the Indian
Constitution has granted him the right to live in whichever part of
the country he chooses to. But, he also clarifies, his wife meant no
disrespect at all.
Raj’s uncle, Bal Thackeray, writes in Saamna that Amitabh Bachchan
belongs to the entire nation. So, that should settle the question of
ownership. But then he moves his sights onto another national figure,
Shah Rukh Khan. Bachchan belongs to India. Shah Rukh is a ‘Dilliwala’
who should pack his bags and go home, decrees senior Thackeray. Let’s
just say that logic doesn’t run deep in the Thackeray genes.
But — question three — what does one make of Maharashtra Chief
Minister Ashok Chavan, who is fast turning out to be a doppelganger
for the Thackeray parivar?
First comes Chavan’s astounding statement that taxi- drivers
(routinely bashed up by Raj and his goons for coming from Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh) must speak in Marathi — a statement that he later tries
to clarify is a requirement of some law in some statute book.
Now, saying it was a mistake to invite Amitabh Bachchan, arguably
India’s biggest film star, to the opening of the Worli-Bandra sealink
is — what? — plain stupid.
Chavan who shared the dais with Bachchan at the inauguration says in
hindsight that it was a mistake to have invited Bachchan because he is
the ‘brand ambassador’ of Gujarat. Had he known that he would be
sharing the dais with Bachchan, he would have stayed home, he says.
Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh, meanwhile, sparks off a
whodunit by saying he was not consulted about the invitation.
So, was it the NCP, the Congress party’s uneasy allies in the state?
Is there truth in the claim that the NCP wanted to inject a bit of
‘glamour’ into what would have undoubtedly been a dreary inauguration?
Sachin Tendulkar, another national icon who also happens to be a son
of the soil, was not available, so Amitabh Bachchan was sent a card.
What remains really now that the coconuts have been broken and the
sealink extension officially opened is the unedifying smallness of the
Maharashtra Congress. Bachchan is a national icon, he belongs to the
people who have a rightful claim to the sealink.
Inviting a man of the people, whoever invited him, was appropriate and
correct. Bickering about it after the event is ridiculous. Even more
ridiculous is Ashok Chavan’s attempts to claim the loony space so far
occupied by the Thackerays.
Namita Bhandare is a Delhi-based writer
The views expressed by the author are personal
Swati 1 hour ago
1 person liked this.
Maharashtra Congress and also the national Congress party is fast
losing credibility. I'm totally disgusted at the way they are treating
infrastructure development as their private property and insulting a
great icon, Amitabh Bachchan.
Sid 3 hours ago
It is HUGE conspiracy by Congress - they must have siphoned so much
money from the contractors of the project that they very well know
this Bridge may NOT stand long - as it is, it is built over the sea
and it has to face a furious Monsoon sea and very corrosive water all
other times! So, they asked Sonia to NOT attend the inaguration and
wanted NCP to get the blame. So conveniently they have found Amitabh's
shoulder to fire at NCP because Congres (Sonia & PM) are still
smarting under famous Pawar's meeting with Bal Thackery reagarding the
security of Australian players in IPL. Congres never forgets insults
suffered by it!
Sachin 4 hours ago
Sorry to say Namita , but you have not nalysed whole situation
clearly .
You have not viewed it from angle of Bachchan being Brand Ambassodar
of Gujarat. Is it not bad that some narrow minded politicians cites
reasons that some person should not be invited if he is brand
ambassador of a state whose CM is accused of riots. What baout
congress itself ? They are associated with Sajjan Kumar , Tytler.
So please analyse it from all angles and show your research work
instead of penning down emotions . HT columns were not that excellent
but now they are going off the track.
FlagLikeReplyReply
kush 6 hours ago
1 person liked this.
For inagurations of completed projects, we should stop inviting
politicians as they have no role in developments - it is rather that
despite of their best efforts to delay / scuttle the projects, we
still manage to complete the projects. Worli sea link took ten years
to complete - w/o political interference, it may have been completed
in 3-4 years - so what we need is no congressi neta or NCP - these are
all nincompoops we saw what happended in Mumbai on 26/11. Rather call
icon like Amitabh, Sridaran of Metro, Narayanmurthy of Infosys to be
present for ribbon cutings.
Ravin 6 hours ago
SHAME on Congress ! They have nothing better to do.
Get rid of them to save the country.
nachiket 8 hours ago
All Delhi based writers are talking about Mumbai & Maharashtra. They
talk little about Bihar/UP/MP and other states where real development
is stalled because of in-efficient politician. Raj Thackeray has done
fairly well in stopping 'HINDI-fication' of Maharashtra.
I am Pune Based IT-Professional
The views expressed by me are Public
RP 12 hours ago
Author claims that Chavan dictated that Taxi drivers in Mumbai must
SPEAK Marathi, not true, he said all the taxi drivers in Mumbai must
KNOW Marathi as Marathi is official language of Maharashtra and
Marathi is prerequisite as per Motor Vehicle Act 1989. But I guess we
should not be nit picking .....bash the Thakreys, lampoon the CM with
them and get away with any thing.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/An-unnecessary-link/H1-Article1-523248.aspx
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/f9b738e079fef9fb#
chhotemianinshallah
| March 26th, 2010 | By: Piyush Goyal
New Delhi: BJP president Nitin Gadkari is likely to reinduct expelled
saffron sanyasin Uma Bharti into the party and appoint her one of its
general secretaries. With Tarun Vijay and Varun Gandhi already in and
Ms Bharti likely to follow suit, it appears that Hindutva forces will
dominate Team Gadkari. Ms Bharti’s reinduction is likely to make life
difficult for senior moderate leaders like Arun Jaitley and M.
Venkaiah Naidu and the slightly more combative Sushma Swaraj.
BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani, who could get into
trouble over the deposition of an IPS officer in a Rae Bareli court on
Friday regarding the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, has
reportedly given the green signal to Ms Bharti’s re-entry into the
party.
On Thursday, Ms Bharti formally resigned from the Bharatiya Janshakti
Party, a political outfit that she had floated after being expelled
from the BJP.
Speculation was rife ever since Mr Gadkari became party chief that he
was trying to get hardliners back into the fold. But strong opposition
from moderate leaders like Mr Jaitley, Mr Venkaiah Naidu and Ms Swaraj
has held him back till now.
Sources said that after consultations with the top RSS leadership,
including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, Mr Gadkari was trying to make Ms
Bharti one of the party general secretaries. It may be recalled that
even after the BJP had expelled Ms Bharti, the RSS continued to
support her. The RSS mouthpiece Organiser had also attacked the BJP
over the expulsion. But with the moderates calling the shots in the
BJP till now, the RSS had failed to get Ms Bharti re-inducted into the
organisation.
However, some BJP leaders feel that despite the RSS’ wishes, it might
not be easy to get Ms Bharti rehabilitated, particularly in a senior
position in the organisation, due to the continued opposition of
certain senior leaders.
http://www.bharatchronicle.com/uma-bharti-rejoins-bjp-appointed-gen-secretary-5810
Citing Mumbai attacks, UK plans to improve marine security
| March 23rd, 2010 | By: Piyush Goyal
London: Britain plans to create a new maritime security agency to spot
and ward off any threats to its ports and shipping, the government
said on Monday.
Announcing plans for a National Maritime Information Centre, Security
Minister Lord West said a 2008 seaborne attack by militants on Mumbai
had increased fears about marine security. The 2012 London Olympics,
with its south coast sailing events, also posed particular problems.
The centre will bring together data about all UK-related maritime
activity by coordinating and sharing information across government
about dangers such as terrorism, piracy and drug smuggling. This would
allow better and faster decision-making.
The centre, to be based at the Defence Ministry joint headquarters in
Northwood, Middlesex, is due to begin work towards the end of 2010.
The British economy is highly dependent on sea ports: More than 90
percent of all freight by tonnage enters or leaves Britain by sea,
according to the British Ports Association industry association.
“The UK is reliant on the sea for its security and prosperity,” an
official statement said. “The continued rise of piracy incidents off
the Horn of Africa and the terrorist events in Mumbai in autumn 2008
have indicated the capacity and intent to exploit the sea to export
terror and unlawful activity.”
“There are also vast ungoverned spaces of the world’s oceans where
unlawful activity continues to destabilise states and regions, from
narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean to piracy off the Horn of
Africa,” the statement said.
In the Mumbai attack, ten men entered the port city in small boats and
struck targets including the main railway station, two luxury hotels
and a Jewish centre, killing 166 people.
India blamed the attacks on Pakistan-based militants and broke off a
peace initiative with Pakistan until Islamabad punished those it said
had planned the assault.
While most militant attacks around the world happen on land, the
spread of piracy off Africa may encourage more use of the sea by
politically inspired armed groups, especially if counter-terrorism
measures on land improve, analysts say.
The U.S. government this month warned ships sailing off Yemen’s coast
of the risk of al Qaeda attacks similar to a militant suicide bombing
of the U.S. warship Cole in Aden in 2000 that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Two years later an al Qaeda attack damaged the French supertanker
Limburg in the Gulf of Aden.
http://www.bharatchronicle.com/citing-mumbai-attacks-uk-plans-to-improve-marine-security-5778
Advani made hate speech on Babri demolition day: ex-PSO
Press Trust of India / New Delhi March 26, 2010, 14:44 IST
Rae Bareli, Mar 26 (PTI) In a setback to L K Advani in the Babri
Masjid demolition case, a senior IPS officer today told a special CBI
court here that the BJP leader made provocative speech at Ayodhya on
the day the structure was brought down 17 years ago.
Deposing as a prosecution witness in the case in which Advani and
other Sangh Parivar leaders have been accused of inciting violence,
1990-batch officer Anju Gupta said Sangh activists like Vinay Katiyar,
Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambhara also made provocative speeches.
Advani and other BJP leaders had repeatedly said that a Ram temple
will be built at the same spot where the 16th century mosque stood,
Gupta, who was the personal security officer of Advani during that
period, told the court.
After her deposition, Gupta was cross-examined by the defence. The
court later adjourned the hearing in the case to April 23 when cross-
examination of the IPS officer will resume.
Gupta told the court that Advani gave provocative speech at Ayodhya on
the day Babri Masjid was demolished. She said Advani wanted to know
from her what was happening at the disputed site. She told Advani that
people were trying to climb the domes and some of them fell down and
were hurt.
On hearing this, Advani expressed desire to go to the site and appeal
to the people to come down from the domes, the IPS officer deposed.
Gupta said after consultation with senior officials, the BJP leader
was told that it was not desirable for him to go there as any mishap
involving him may make the situation go out of control.
Advani then sent Bharti there but she came back after some time, Gupta
said. She also said that she saw people carrying tools like shovels
and rods.
While addressing a gathering Joshi said irrespective of what then
Prime Minister P V Narsimha Rao says, the temple will be built there
itself. "Let the mosque be built anywhere," he said, according to
Gupta.
Gupta also told the court that after the domes of the mosque were
brought down, Bharti and Rithambara hugged each other and distributed
sweets.
They also congratulated Advani and BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, she
said.
Gupta, who is currently posted with R&AW in Delhi, had earlier deposed
before the CBI, which probed the demolition of the 16th century
mosque.
She had made a detailed statement on the movement and activities of
various Sangh leaders, including Advani, during the incident of
December 6, 1992. It formed a key part of the criminal case the CBI
filed against Advani, Joshi, Bharti, Katiyar, Ashok Singhal, Giriraj
Kishore, Vishnu Hari Dalmiya and Rithambhara in 1993.
Newsmaker: The Reddy brothers
Karnataka's iron men
Aditi Phadnis / New Delhi March 26, 2010, 0:19 IST
The case over the legality of their mining operations has proved the
first check to the rise of the brothers’ ore empire.
Last week, the Supreme Court asked Gali Janardhana and Gali Karunakara
Reddy, brothers, ministers of tourism and infrastructure and revenue
respectively in the Karnataka government and owners of the Obulapuram
Mining Company (OMC), to stop iron ore mining on the Andhra Pradesh-
Karnataka border.
April 6 is the day the Survey of India is supposed to tell the Supreme
Court whether OMC’s owners encroached on a reserve forest to gouge out
vast reserves of iron ore.
The matter reached the Supreme Court after the Andhra Pradesh High
Court gave OMC conditional clearance to continue mining in response to
a complaint that they had not just encroached on land that was not
legally theirs, but had also altered the Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka
border to extend their jurisdiction to the neighbouring state.
The complainant’s contention was that the ruling party in Andhra
Pradesh — the Congress led by former Chief Minister, the late Y S
Rajashekhar Reddy — was in cahoots with the Reddy brothers in
Karnataka to allow illegal mines to flourish.
This is a long way from the Reddy brothers’ first steps in business.
Till some years ago, the Reddy brothers’ preferred form of transport
was the scooter, on which they used to roam villages and towns of
Bellary to raise money for their non-banking financial company which
ultimately had to be liquidated.
Today, a Union minister told Business Standard some months ago, the
Reddy brothers use a helicopter from their place of work to go home to
have lunch so that they can avoid the dust from the mines.
And in 2009, Janardhana Reddy was reported as having said to Telugu
newspapers, quite frankly, “The net worth of myself and my wife is Rs
115 crores. I own a helicopter that I bought for Rs 15 crore, a deluxe
bus for Rs 4 crore and cars worth Rs 5 crore. My group’s turnover in
2006-07 was Rs 2,008 crore for which I have filed IT returns. Out of
this, OMC, which is in the iron ore business, had a turnover of Rs
1,200 crore.”
He is 44. His brother, Karunakara Reddy is 46. In the declaration
before the Election Commission they have reported assets that add up
to much less, around Rs 200 crore.
How did the Reddy family make so much money? Families that owned land
in Bellary would mine iron ore and earn a modest profit. But
engineering in the west soon created machines that modernised mining
operations, making available with relative ease better quality iron
ore that could be found deeper down. This, and the demand from China
coinciding with the Olympics, sent demand for ore spiralling and the
Reddy family’s cash tills ringing non-stop.
Much of this money was invested in Brahmani Steels, a company that was
floated without any credit from banks to process ore from the mines.
Although opposition politicians in Andhra Pradesh, including
Chandrababu Naidu of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), charge that
Rajashekhar Reddy and his son Jaganmohan had a stake in Brahmani
Steels, the Reddy brothers say this is untrue.
Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government, in the parallel, is
wondering what to do about complaints that Brahmani Steels diverted
water from the Gandikota reservoir illegally to Brahmani steel.
For the Supreme Court the issue is simple: Did the Reddy brothers dig
mines on land where this is prohibited? Or are they, as they allege,
victims of political vendetta?
Hard to say, but if it is indeed political vendetta, it has little to
do with party politics. In Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
government led by B S Yeddyurappa is defending the Reddy brothers for
now.
Their association with the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh when
it was led by Rajashekhar Reddy (whom they describe as a “father to
us”) was fruitful for both and neither saw any contradiction in their
association.
When they became ministers after having bankrolled substantially the
BJP’s Assembly election campaign in 2009, they were irritated to find
BS Yeddyurappa not sufficiently deferential to them. They had a
powerful patron in Sushma Swaraj, who contested the Bellary Lok Sabha
seat against Sonia Gandhi. But they wanted their power acknowledged in
Karnataka.
So, they launched a Rs 25-crore drinking water supply project in their
mother’s name. A Rs 500-crore private project was launched to build
54,000 houses for flood-hit villages in six districts, bypassing the
state government, which of course, was having none of it. During a
heated exchange in the Karnataka Assembly, Janardhana Reddy said:
“People say we are worth Rs 100 crore. I want to correct it — we are
worth Rs 1,000 crore,”
The dénouement came with their bid to topple the BJP government in
Karnatka last year, a venture that was prevented by the chief minister
who sacrificed one of his most trusted civil servants to save his
government.
With that abortive coup, the brothers have established that they can
do that and more next time. Right now they appear to be in the rest
and recreation mode. Telugu and Kannada film magazines report that
Janardhana Reddy has now embraced another profession — the film
industry. His first venture was Buddhimanthudu, a Telugu version of
the Kannada film that was launched last year on Telugu new year.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/newsmakerreddy-brothers/15/13/389703/
SC bars Reddy brothers' company from mining in Bellary
BS Reporter / New Delhi March 23, 2010, 1:00 IST
The Supreme Court today stayed all further mining activities of
Obulapuram Mining Corporation in Andhra Pradesh, belonging to
Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy and his brother.
Related Stories
- SC warns it will collapse against deluge of appeals
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sc-warns-it-will-collapse-against-delugeappeals/01/01/89024/on
- SC notice to CBI on Satyam auditor's bail plea
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sc-notice-to-cbisatyam-auditors-bail-plea/01/01/89000/on
- SC refuses to stay trial against Jayalalithaa in DA case
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sc-refuses-to-stay-trial-against-jayalalithaa-in-da-case/01/01/88933/on
SC refuses to stay trial against Jayalalithaa in DA case
Earlier, the court had ordered status quo on an Andhra Pradesh High
Court judgment that had allowed mining activities. Today, a bench
headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan clamped a total stay till
further orders, in a setback to the Karnataka minister who is also a
mining magnate. The court also appointed an expert committee headed by
the Survey of India to review the mining areas and ascertain
allegations of large-scale encroachment of reserve forest for mining.
It granted the committee two weeks to file its report.
The Reddy brothers’ mining activities in the Bellary reserve forest on
the border of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had become intensely
controversial in recent times with the Andhra government banning it
and the high court lifting the prohibition.
Attorney General G E Vahanvati submitted that mining activities were
continuing despite the Supreme Court’s earlier status quo order and
the government ban.
By a November 25, 2009 order, the industries and commerce department
of the state government restrained the Obulapuram Mining Company,
Bellary Iron Ore Pvt Ltd, Mahabaleswarappa and Sons and the Anantapur
Mining Corporation from carrying out any mining activity involving
extraction of iron ore in the district. The high court on February 26
struck down the government order. Therefore, the state government
moved the Supreme Court citing a report of the Central Empowered
Committee which reported environmental depredations by the mining
companies.
SC notice to CBI on Satyam auditor's bail plea
Press Trust of India / New Delhi March 19, 2010, 20:36 IST
The Supreme Court today sought CBI's response on the bail plea of
Price Waterhouse auditor Subramani Gopalkrishnan who was arrested in
the Rs 7,136-crore Satyam Computer fraud for allegedly conniving with
its founder B Ramalinga Raju but did not grant him interim relief.
A Bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justices Deepak Verma
and C K Prasad granted three weeks to CBI to file its response.
The bail plea of Gopalakrishnan, who was also accused in the
accounting fraud at Satyam Computer Services along with another
auditor Talluri Srinivas, was rejected by the Andhara High Court in
December last year.
Srinivas had on February 3 obtained bail from the apex court on a
personal bond of Rs 20 lakh and two sureties of like amount and
surrender of his passport as the conditions for his release on bail.
The apex court had earlier this week dimissed the bail plea of
disgraced Satyam Computers founder and ex-chairman B Ramalinga Raju on
the ground that he had the propensity to influence the witnesses.
Raju has challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgement of
February 19 that dismissed his bail plea sought on the ground that he
was suffering from serious cardiac and liver problems.
The accused was arrested on January 24, 2009, on charges of conspiring
in the fraud, has been in judicial custody.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sc-notice-to-cbisatyam-auditors-bail-plea/01/01/89000/on
Press Trust of India / New Delhi March 19, 2010, 13:01 IST
In a set back to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the
Supreme Court today declined to stay the trial against her in a 14-
year-old disproportionate assets case being held in Karnataka.
A bench headed by Justice B Sudershan Reddy, however, directed the
trial court to fix a time frame for cross examination of the 42
witnesses after giving sufficient opportunity to Jayalalithaa.
The apex court passed the order by dismissing the SLP filed by the
AIADMK supremo challenging the March 10 verdict of the Karnataka High
Court which held that the trial court order taking congnisance of the
complaint on June 5, 1997, did not suffer from any illegality or
irregularity.
The case was transferred to a Bangalore court by the Supreme Court in
2003 during her chief ministership on a petition by DMK leader K
Anbazhagan saying the manner in which the Chennai trial court had
proceeded with the cases raised doubts over a free and fair trial.
Assailing the March 10 order of High Court, Jayalalithaa had submitted
the chargesheet did not make out any case against her.
The petition said the Special Judge, Chennai, had not applied his mind
and cognisance of the chargesheet of June 5, 1997, was taken
mechanically and added the case was transferred at the instance of her
political rival from Tamil Nadu.
The AIADMK chief is accused of amassing Rs 66.65 crore between 1991
and 1996 when she was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Her appeal
pointed out that the High Court did not address the specific issues
raised by her and, hence, its order was unsustainable in law.
She also contended that the entire proceedings were directed to harass
her and the High Court failed to take into account this aspect.
The High Court had rejected Jayalalithaa's plea for quashing a 1997
order of a Chennai trial court which took cognisance of Tamil Nadu
Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption's complaint that she
amassed wealth disproportionate to her known sources of income during
that period.
The High Court had said Jayalalithaa was "ably represented by eminent
lawyers", had participated in the trial of the case during which 200
witnesses were examined and cross-examined over a 13-year period.
"It is not open for her now to seek quashing of the proceedings on the
premises that the order taking cognisance of the offence passed on
June 5, 1997, is a nullity and is not in accordance with law," it had
said in the order.
SC warns it will collapse against deluge of appeals
Press Trust of India / New Delhi March 20, 2010, 16:05 IST
Deploring the practice of filing special leave petitions on frivolous
grounds,the Supreme Court has warned that it would "collapse" under
the burden if the rot is not stemmed and referred the issue to a
Constitution Bench to fix parameters for entertaining such pleas.
"If special leave petitions (SLPs) are entertained against all and
sundry kinds of orders passed by any court or tribunal, then this
Court after some time will collapse under its own burden," a bench of
Justices Markandeya Katju and R M Lodha observed in an order.
"Sadly the position today is that it is under such pressure because of
the immense volume of cases in the court that judges do not get
sufficient time to deliberate over the cases, which they deserve, and
this is bound to affect the quality of our judgements," it said
yesterday.
The apex court passed the order while dealing with an SLP filed by one
Mathai against the orders of a trial court and the Kerala High Court
which had dismissed his plea for second forensic examination of a
disputed will.
The bench said Article 136 which grants the apex court discretionary
powers to entertain appeals against the lower courts/tribunals has to
be used sparingly only in exceptional cases involving grave
Constitutional matters, serious miscarriage of justice and violation
of fundamental rights.
"Now-a-days, it has become a practice of filing SLPs against all kinds
of orders of the High Court or other authorities without realising the
scope of Article 136. Hence, we feel it incumbent on us to reiterate
that Article 136 was never meant to be an ordinary forum of appeal at
all like Section 96 or even Section 100 CPC.
"Under the constitutional scheme, the last court in the country in
ordinary cases was meant to be the High Court. The Supreme Court as
the apex court in the country was meant to deal with important issues
like constitutional questions, questions of law of general importance
or where grave injustice had been done," the bench said.
The apex court said it has limited time at its disposal and it cannot
be expected to hear every kind of dispute.
In 2009, almost 70,000 cases were filed in this Court of which an
overwhelming number were SLPs under Article 136. At present, all these
cases have to be heard orally, whereas the US Supreme Court hears only
about 100 to 120 cases every year and the Canadian Supreme Court hears
only 60 cases per year.
"However, it is for the Constitution Bench to which we are referring
this matter to decide what are the kinds of cases in which discretion
under Article 136 should be exercised," the bench said.
"In our opinion, the time has now come when an authoritative decision
by a Constitution Bench should lay down some broad guidelines as to
when the discretion under Article 136 of the Constitution should be
exercised, i.e., in what kind of cases a petition under Article 136
should be entertained," the bench said in its order.
The apex court said the Constitution Bench may also appoint am Amicus
Curiae to assist in the matter so that it can be settled after
considering the views of all the concerned parties.
Accordingly, it issued notices to the Bar Council of India, Supreme
Court Bar Association and the Supreme Court Advocates on Records
Association to file their response on the issue.
No comments, Babri case subjudice, says BJP
March 26th, 2010 SindhToday
New Delhi, March 26 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday
refused to comment on L.K. Advani’s former personal security officer
telling a Rae Bareli court that the BJP leader “looked euphoric”
before the Babri Masjid was razed, saying that the demolition case was
“subjudice”.
“The BJP won’t comment on that,” BJP spokesperson Ramnath Kovind told
reporters here when asked about the party’s reaction to the statement
by Advani’s former personal security officer Anju Gupta in a special
court in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh Friday.
Anju Gupta Friday morning testified before a court saying that Advani
“looked euphoric” on Dec 6, 1992, shortly before the demolition of the
Babri Masjid.
Gupta, who was then posted as assistant superintendent of police (ASP)
in the temple town of Ayodhya, was deposing before a special Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.
“Advani not only looked euphoric but also declared before the huge
crowds at Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992, that the Ram temple would be built
at the disputed site in the temple town,” she said.
Advani, Gupta said, “gave quite a provocative speech for which he was
applauded by his other party colleagues and the crowds”.
[LM1]
http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/2/120995.htm
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 12:15:39 PM (IST)
Bangalore: ‘Why Does BJP Yearn for Power in BBMP?’ Questions Kharge
Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)
Bangalore, Mar 24: Union labour minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, has
questioned the propriety of the BJP, which is reluctant to use central
funds for improving infrastructure in the city, in hankering to rise
to power in Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
“As per a decision to release Rs 22,000 crore for the development of
the city, the central government had released Rs 3,500 crore. However,
the state government has not made use of this fund,” he revealed at a
press conference held here on Tuesday March 23.
“Under National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM), the state used only 44%
of Rs 330 crore released. The centre had released Rs 643 crore for
modernization of storm drains in the city, but only Rs 243 crore has
been utilized. Under the Green City project too, the government spent
only Rs 6 crore as against Rs 177 crore released for environmental
conservation projects. The BJP is reluctant to develop the city. Why
does it want power in the City Corporation then?” he wondered.
Comments on this article
venu, mangalore\pune Thursday, March 25, 2010
Shridhar,, Oman . what she said was correct, the problem is not in
her. the whole bunch of politicians we have , thier upbringing was
with some problem
Shridhar,, Oman Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Dear Jayanti, I feel there is a problem in your upbringing or else you
would not have made fun of Kharge's personal weaknesses like health
and talking style..
ISMAIL K PERINJE, PERINJE/YANBU-KSA Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mr Nagesh Bangalore pls reply to Mr Karge's charges against BJP govt.
It is on record BJP only boastng of development instead developing
it's MLA's lust for power and money!!!!!!
Jayanti, Mangalore Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Kharge you cannot talk properly, you cannot walk properly. When you
talk you talk like a Bone is stuck to your throat. You and Dharam
Singh today is responsible for BJP coming to power in Karnatka. You
and Dharam were both hungry for the CM Chair and were very upset when
Krishna was bought into Karnataka by Sonia, telling him to leave the
Governor post of Maharashtra. Sonia knew he will be the Congress
candidate for CM post. But due to you and Dharam's objection Sonia had
to pull out Krishna to the Centre fearing a split in the party and we
lost elctions very badly as we had no proper candidate for CM post.
Now you are just barking anything by coming to Karnataka again and
again. Today Krishna would have been our CM if you and Dharam
supported his candidature. Now see what a mess BJP has created in
Karnataka. Not what you will do in BBMP elections ?
Citizens see red as CM, BJP prez paint the city
Sharan Poovanna
First Published : 26 Mar 2010 04:54:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 26 Mar 2010 08:48:48 AM IST
BANGALORE: While Bangalore’s netas are outdoing each other promising
heaven and earth and everything in between, once they are elected,
their election time antics are making life hell for many of
Bangalore’s citizens.
While the chief minister, Cabinet ministers, Opposition leaders, MLAs,
MPs and candidates to the BBMP council set the campaign trail ablaze
accompanied by innumerable followers and motorcades, the traffic
snarls born in their wake has become a major headache for
Bangaloreans.
On Thursday, Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and State BJP president K S
Eshwarappa put the show on the road and visited several wards in the
city — taking out processions and halting traffic along the way. The
CM’s convoy sealed one side of Mysore road by parking in the centre of
the road. Party supporters cheered their leaders’ speeches (all of
which promised great things for Bangalore’s populace) as students and
office goers bore the brunt of their shenanigans.
To cover maximum ground on the last day of campaigning, the CM’s
convoy visited as many wards as possible and during the day’s
whirlwind campaigning ended up stopping the entire traffic on Mysore
road once again — this time so that the CM could offer prayers in a
temple on the main road.
Later Yeddyurappa and Eshwarappa split ways to visit the wards on
their itineraries. The procession that started in Kuvempu Nagar moved
through Magadi Road, Kottige Palya, Leggere, Nandini Layout,
Rajajinagar and Mahalaxmi Layout, reaching Malleshwaram’s Deviah Park;
putting paid to all hopes the area’s residents might have had of a
decent day.
Electioneering by JD(S), Congress leaders too cause traffic jams
CM’s brigade blocks Mysore Rd
Bangalore, Mar 25, DHNS
Motorists can now breathe easy. Public campaign for the BBMP elections
has officially ended on Thursday evening.
With politicians, of all hues, hitting the road for campaigning on the
last day, motorists had a nightmarish experience having struck in
traffic jams. The worst affected were riders on the busy Bangalore-
Mysore Road, where Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa and his entourage
had blocked the traffic for nearly half an hour --between
Deepanjalinagar junction and Satellite bus stand - in the morning from
10.30 am to 11 am.
Yeddyurappa offered prayers at the Gali Anjaneyaswamy temple to
kickstart the day’s campaign. BJP State President K S Eshwarappa and
former minister V Sommanna accompanied the chief minister. Hundreds of
the BJP workers had gathered at the temple to welcome their leaders.
It is actually this stretch of Bangalore-Mysore Road which is very
narrow and it remains congested even on a normal day. Traffic block
caused by the chief minister only added to woes of motorists. Over and
above, supporters of these leaders created utter chaos by playing
drums and bursting crackers. Yeddyurappa was scheduled to arrive at
Gali Anjaneyaswamy temple at 9 am, but he was one-and-a-half hour
late. The presence of a large number of party workers, who were
waiting for Yeddyurappa to arrive, blocked the traffic on all by-lanes
around the temple.
“This is harassment of a worst kind. The leaders block roads to tell
motorists that they want to de-congest the city roads. We know they
(politicians) do nothing, and we have stopped worrying about it. It
will be of great help if they stop bothering us like this,” Nishanth,
a motorist struck on the Bangalore-Mysore Road, said.
Ditto was the scene near Prasanna theatre in Govindrajnagar and near
Nandini theatre in Mahalakshmipuram where the chief minister
campaigned.
This was true with leaders of all political parties. JD(S) State
President H D Kumaraswamy caused a traffic jam on Kanakapura Road,
Congress leaders B K Hariparasad and former union minister M V
Rajashekaran affected smooth flow of traffic on Srinagar and
Shivanagar main roads.
Mono rail for Bangalore
The Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Thursday said a mono rail
project will be taken up soon to end the problem of traffic jams in
Bangalore. “The Government is making preparations to take up a mono
rail project. We want people to keep their two-wheelers and four-
wheelers aside and take metro and mono rails to safely reach their
offices,” he stated at a public rally near Gali Anjaneyaswamy temple
on Bangalore-Mysore Road.
Comments
By: somu
On: 26 Mar 2010 09:22 am
Rtd.IPS officer K.C.Ramamurthy of CMR TRUST who run many collages
doing land Grabbing Activities DODDAGUBBI Athinatownship Layout.He
make the Land Grabbing Activity with support of Shanker Reddy Mafia
WITH Binami Names.This Rtd Land Grabber inflence the officials and
hope Government takes immediate action.We hope political party work
against such land grabbers.
By: Ram Sethi
On: 26 Mar 2010 06:44 am
Yeddi: Shobha Avaru Elli ?
By: BJP
On: 26 Mar 2010 09:52 am
Shobha avarege ratri susthagi malagidre....belage bega yedolake
agalila....benu novu ratri full kelsa with namma CM yeddi
By: R.Lambani
On: 26 Mar 2010 04:44 am
BJP only can give a good administration and work for the development
of all sections of the society. My request to all Bangalorians
including Muslims, Dalits vote only for BJP
By: bye
On: 26 Mar 2010 06:08 am
Dear Lambani,finally Lambanis going back to their original tanas under
this swami yeddi brigade controlled govt.
By: adivasi A
On: 26 Mar 2010 04:48 am
I too support you, this evil forces like Cogress and JDS should be
defeated at any cost
By: me
On: 26 Mar 2010 02:44 pm
I will support you too first thing is to throw bjp from power most
corrupt and selfish govt. Their one point programme is to make money
even by killing others by doing they try justify and few person like
lambani will believe and these try to tell other to vote bjp great
dumppy man
By: Ram Sethi
On: 26 Mar 2010 01:54 am
Yeddi : Where is Shobha Madam ?
By: bye
On: 26 Mar 2010 12:47 am
These CM and his Rowdy brigade planning to defeat lots of real cheddis
on who opposing the Nice real estate deal in the targeted areas like
Malleshpuram,Rajajinagar,Hanumathanagar,etc to continue their BBMP
danda with the help of Rowdy BBMP staffs.
By: dalit D
On: 26 Mar 2010 10:22 am
Mind it Mr. or Ms bye the RSS is with strong arm and arms to defeat u
such evil and devil forces and make win the people loving forces in
this BBMC election
Reply | Report abuse
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/60169/cms-brigade-blocks-mysore-rd.html
Horseplay in Harappa: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/f9b738e079fef9fb/29e89ff9c3ac525d
Troubled Tribal: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/e728acc31e0d52d7#
Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/ec479835613abd41#
Hindus'Tantrum: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/8a1efe054a3bf157#
I Write, Therefore I am: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/4cb1ce65c9d8f4c5#
Indian Morality Meltdown: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/37334fb34fbe6d7c#
Sex and CD Scandal: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3f5e2a3be4798e7d#
Not Required Indian, NRI: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/672c3ae8cc9b567c#
Why 'Marathi'?
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/4be9d2a2e20ab43f#
Telangana Tempest: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/b7da74ebd932a5fa#
Of States and Statesmanship: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/73c89074ecfe9966#
Sa for Sanskrit Pop: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/9f6d369c7793990f#
Black Money Monster: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/109aa8a66442ca6d#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/85f8a222fd275c15#
Indian Power-Pow-Wow, Wow!: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/54cba427083f4e4f#
26/11 Saga Continues: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/20d42cd9546b852b#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/008ed3e81dbcd9cc#
Of Justice and Injustice: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/dc3ba7935f641e60#
Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/a91a817395e54639#
Stop this terroristic activities of Shiv Sena
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/93908482518b9228#
BJP RIP: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/20def0d930fc511f#
Superpower Syndrome: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/b6aa5a8a1b675046#
Sangh Parivar Pageant: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/9c4ff65e38c4b924#
Sudharma, Sanskrit Newspaper: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/51f22c78acbc72b1#
Hindu Worldview: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/c8a515cc34f18a5a#
Shimla Shenanigans: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/64bddaf4fb04bac5#
bademiyansubhanallah
Archaeological theory in the light of contemporary computing
(sponsored by L-P Archaeology)
communitycomputing
multivocality
ontologies
representation
semantics
visualisation
www Gareth Beale (University of Southampton; gcb...@soton.ac.uk) and
Leif Isaksen (University of Southampton; lei...@googlemail.com)
Though once peripheral to standard archaeological practise, computers
have begun to reshape both our discipline and the way we think about
it. Not only is their deployment ubiquitous in academia and the
private sector, in less than a decade the internet has become the
dominant medium of communication and dissemination. This forces us to
reconsider the manner in which both archaeologists and the public
engage with information and to discuss the opportunities and dangers
which arise from digital archaeologies.
One of our chief goals will be to challenge the degree to which
digital archaeology is synonymous with quantitative methods and their
empiricist overtones. This is not intended as a criticism of either,
but rather as an opportunity to reappraise the relationship between
digital approaches and archaeological methodologies.
The session is intended to contribute toward an archaeological
response to a rapidly changing and increasingly complex digital world.
It will conclude with a panel discussion.
Semantics and the nature of data
Archaeological discourses are constrained by the semantics of our
world-views in a variety of ways. Developments in computer science
have increasingly enabled us to model the terms, categories and
relationships that form these ontologies but open questions still
remain. We would like to address such issues as
•The limits to (internal) representation and/or simulation of
archaeological entities
•The challenges of explicitly modelling ontologies
•Theoretical implications of combining information from different
discourses
Representation
Representations of archaeology tell us as much about our attitudes to
our discipline and the world around us as they do about our
interpretations of the past. Developments in computation have led to
an expansion in the scope and prevalence of virtual representations of
archaeology. In light of these changes we would like to address the
following issues:
•Visual conventions in the age of Moore’s law: embracing change
without sacrificing meaning
•Conceptualising an interface between a perceptual present and a
virtual past
•Ways in which we categorise virtual representations of archaeology
(e.g. GIS, Virtual Reality, charts and graphs, etc.)
Open & community access
Communication technology, and in particular the World Wide Web, has
had an enormous impact on social dynamics in the developed world and
its influence is increasingly felt in developing nations as well. We
wish to discuss themes such as:
•The Web as a reinforcing and disruptive mechanism in heritage power
structures
•Open Access rights to public and developer-funded research
•Multivocality and ‘trust’ in archaeological sources
http://www.tagconference.org/content/tag-20-archaeological-theory-light-contemporary-computing
Historical divide: archaeology and literature
Indology grew out of attempts to interpret Indian sources from
European perspective. Its legacy is archaeology without literature for
the Harappans and a literature without archaeology for the Vedic
Aryans. Any rewriting of history must begin by bridging this unnatural
gulf.
INDOLOGY, WHICH prominently includes history of the Vedic Age, is the
result of a historical accident. In 1784, Sir William Jones, an
English jurist in the employ of the British East India Company, began
a study of Sanskrit to better understand the legal and political
traditions of the Indian subjects. As a classical scholar, he was
struck by the extraordinary similarities between Sanskrit and European
languages, especially Latin and Greek. He went on to observe: "... the
Sanscrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of wonderful
structure, more perfect than Greek, more copious than Latin, and more
exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a
stronger affinity, both in the roots of the verbs and in the forms of
grammar, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong
indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three without
believing them to have sprung from the same source."
Though he was not the first European to recognise this connection —
that honour belongs probably to Filippo Sassetti, a Florentine
merchant living in Goa two centuries earlier — Jones was the first to
express it in scholarly terms. With this dramatic announcement Jones
launched two new fields — Indology and comparative linguistics,
notably Indo-European linguistics. To account for this similarity,
some scholars postulated that the ancestors of Indians and Europeans
must at one time have lived in the same region and spoken the same
language. They called this the Aryan language and their common
homeland the Aryan homeland. Following the Nazi misuse of the word
Aryan as a race, and the atrocities that accompanied it, the term has
fallen into disfavour. The preferred term today is Indo-European.
According to this theory, the ancestors of the Indians who used Vedic
Sanskrit to compose the Vedas and other related literature hailed from
a land outside India. Their original homeland has been placed in
locations from Germany to Chinese Turkestan, that is, everywhere
except India where the Vedic language and its literature have found
the fullest expression and endured the longest.
This is the background to the famous Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT) that
has dominated Indian history books for over a century. Based on
various arguments, but strongly influenced by biblical beliefs,
scholars like F. Max Mueller assigned a date of 1500 BC for the Aryan
invasion and 1200 BC for the composition of the Rigveda, the oldest
member of the Vedic corpus. The Bible is said to assign the date
October 23, 4004 BC for the Creation and 2448 BC for the Flood. This
was in the background when he gave 1500 BC as the date of the Aryan
invasion. Max Mueller himself in a letter to the Duke of Argyle, then
acting Secretary of State for India, asserted: "I regard the account
in the Genesis (of the Bible) to be simply historical." In his
defence, it must be recognised that he was by no means dogmatic about
his theories. Towards the end of his life, in response to some
critics, Max Mueller wrote: "Whether the Vedic hymns were written in
1000, 1500 or 2000 or 3000 BC, no power on earth will ever
determine."
Mismatch
What is remarkable in all this is the fact that the foundations of
ancient Indian history were being laid by scholars who were not
historians but linguists. In keeping with the political conditions of
the age — the heyday of European colonialism — it was inevitable that
colonial and Christian missionary interests should have intruded on
their work. Even Max Mueller, during the first half of his career, saw
it his duty to advance the interests of Christian missionaries,
though, towards the end of his life, he became a convert to Vedanta.
In addition, most of them had no scientific background — witness their
belief in the Biblical Creation Theory. There was also no archaeology
to guide them.
All these were soon to change. Beginning about 1921, Indian and
British archaeologists working under Sir John Marshall revealed the
existence of the ancient cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in the
Punjab and Sindh. Further excavation showed that they were part of a
vast civilisation spread over most of North India and even beyond.
This is now famous as the Indus Valley or the Harappan civilisation.
They were flourishing in the period from c. 3100 BC to 1900 BC, or
more than a thousand years before the postulated Aryan invasion.
Scholars from a wide range of disciplines including literature,
archaeology, architecture and even mathematics, began to study the
archaeological remains for clues to the identity and nature of the
civilisation.
At first sight, the discovery of the Harappan civilisation, spread
over the same geographical region as described in the Vedic
literature, seemed to invalidate the Aryan Invasion Theory. The
natural conclusion seemed to be that Harappan archaeology represented
the material remains of the culture described in the Vedic literature.
But for reasons that are too complex to detail here, prominent
historians soon rejected the idea of the Vedic identity of the
Harappan civilisation. They insisted that the Harappans were a pre-
Vedic (and non-Vedic) people who were defeated by the invading Aryans
and forced to migrate en masse to South India, later to be known as
Dravidians, speaking languages that are supposedly unrelated to
Sanskrit. Through this device, historians sought to preserve the Aryan
Invasion Theory and reconcile it with the existence of a much older
civilisation in the Vedic heartland. In this exercise it should be
noted that a theory postulated by linguists in the previous century
prevailed over archaeological evidence.
No evidence of invasion
This soon ran into contradictions. Archaeologists found no evidence of
any invasion or warfare severe enough to account for the uprooting of
such a vast civilisation. On the other hand, the decline of the
Harappan civilisation could be attributed to natural causes — in
particular, ecological degradation due to the drying up of vital river
systems and also floods. It is now known that a major contributor was
a severe 300-year drought (2200 — 1900 BC) that struck in an immense
belt from the Aegean to China. Recent research has shown that the
rainfall in some areas diminished by as much as 20 per cent. The
Harappan was one of several ancient civilisations to feel the impact
of this ecological catastrophe; others similarly affected were Ancient
Egypt and Mesopotamia to the west and China to the east.
The theory of Harappans as Dravidians has also proved to be far from
satisfactory. The Harappans, who were supposed to be the original
Dravidian speakers, were a literate people. There are some four
thousand examples of their writing from sites like Harappa, Mohenjo-
Daro, Lothal, Kalibangan and others, as well as dozens in West Asia.
Yet, the earliest examples of South Indian (or Dravidian) writing use
a version of the Brahmi script, which originated in North India. This
leaves us in the extraordinary situation where the migrating Harappans
took their language but not the script that they had themselves
invented. And they waited more than a thousand years to begin their
writing, borrowing from a North Indian script for the purpose.
In the light of all this, the situation regarding the primary sources
of ancient India may be summarised as follows: no satisfactory
explanation has been found to account for the separate existence of
Harappan archaeology and the Vedic literature, both of which
flourished in the same geographical region. On the one hand, there is
Harappan archaeology, the most extensive anywhere in the world, but no
Harappan literature. On the other, there is the Vedic literature,
which exceeds in volume all other ancient literature in the world
combined several times over, but no Vedic archaeological remains. So
we have archaeology without literature for the Harappans and
literature without archaeology for the Vedic Aryans. This is all the
more puzzling considering that the Harappans were a literate people
while we are told that the Vedic Aryans knew no writing but used
memory for preserving their immense literature. This means only the
literature of the illiterates has survived.
In the light of this incongruity, one may say that as long as this
gulf between archaeology and literature remains unbridged, there can
be no such thing as history. Neither the Harappans nor the Vedic
Aryans have a historical context, but only archaeological and literary
sources hanging as loose ends. So the first step in any writing (or
rewriting) of ancient history should be a systematic programme to
rationally connect Harappan archaeology and the Vedic literature.
These are the primary sources; the theories that are now in textbooks
are secondary, based on the perceptions of scholars of the colonial
era. More seriously, they contradict the archaeological evidence.
Vedic-Harappan connection
Fortunately some progress is being made in accounting for both
Harappan archaeology and the Vedic literature, though, to a large
extent, it owes to the work of outsiders. Some Vedic scholars have
noted that Harappan remains are replete with sacred Vedic symbols like
the swastika sign, the `OM' sign and the sacred ashvattha leaf (Ficus
Religiosa). No less dramatic is the discovery of the American
mathematician and historian of science, A. Seidenberg, tracing the
origins of Egyptian and Old Babylonian mathematics to Vedic
mathematical texts known as the Sulbasutras. As Seidenberg observed:
" ... the elements of ancient geometry found in Egypt (before 2100 BC)
and Babylonia (c. 1900 — 1750 BC) stem from a ritual system of the
kind observed in the Sulbasutras." This means that the mathematics of
the Sulbasutras, which are Vedic texts, must have existed long before
2000 BC, i.e., during the Harappan period. This is clear also from a
technical examination of Harappan archaeology, which displays skill in
town planning and geometric design, showing that Harappans must have
had access to the Sulbasutras. This gives a scientific link between
Vedic literature (Sulbasutras) and Harappan archaeology. (The
Sulbasutras should not be confused with popular books on Vedic
mathematics. These are modern works that have little to do with the
Vedas).
All this shows that progress can be made in explaining Harappan
archaeology and the Vedic literature if one is prepared to follow a
multidisciplinary, scientifically rigorous approach. The present
incongruous situation — of mismatch between archaeology and literature
— is attributable to two factors. First, an attempt to preserve a
theory created on the basis of insufficient evidence before any
archaeological data became available. Next, the fact that even this
theory and the foundation that it rests on were created by linguists
and other scholars whose understanding of science and the scientific
method left much to be desired.
Correcting past errors
Several historians have rightly expressed concern that history may
soon be written by individuals who lack the necessary knowledge of the
historical method. But far more serious is the fact that what is found
in textbooks today is based on theories created by men and women who
had no qualifications to write about them. They are based not on the
primary sources, but explanations that seek to fit the data to a
particular Nineteenth century worldview — the Eurocolonial. The
immediate task before Indian historians is to get back to the
fundamentals, ignoring the authority of scholars from the past, no
matter how great their reputations. Sri Aurobindo suggested that the
problem lies in the failure of Indian scholars to develop independent
schools of thought. In his words: "That Indian scholars have not been
able to form themselves into a great and independent school of
learning is due to two causes: the miserable scantiness of the mastery
in Sanskrit provided by our universities, crippling to all but born
scholars, and our lack of sturdy independence which makes us over-
ready to defer to European (and Western) authority."
This is not to suggest that we should either deny or reject the
findings of Western scholarship. Only we should not accept them
uncritically as authority figures. They were products of their time
and environment and the resulting weaknesses should be recognised.
Their contributions remain substantial, but cannot be treated as
primary knowledge. No less a person than Swami Vivekananda once said:
"Study Sanskrit, but along with it study Western sciences as well.
Learn accuracy, ... study and labour so that the time will come when
you can put our history on a scientific basis... How can foreigners,
who understand very little of our manners and customs, or our religion
and philosophy, write faithful and unbiased histories of India? ...
Nevertheless they have shown us how to proceed making researches into
our ancient history. Now it is for us to strike out an independent
path of historical research for ourselves, ... It is for Indians to
write Indian history."
His advice holds as good today as it did a century ago when he gave it
to a group of students. The recovery of history must begin with a
thorough study of the primary sources. The first step is to close the
unnatural gap between archaeology and literature.
N.S. RAJARAM
(The writer is the author with David Frawley of the book Vedic Aryans
and the Origins of Civilisation)
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/op/2002/01/22/stories/2002012200020100.htm
Theoretical issues in Indian Archaeology
Colonial ArchaeologyIndiaIndian archaeologyIndologyNew Archaeologypost-
processual
Ajay Pratap (Banaras Hindu University; aprata...@yahoo.com)
The purpose of this session is to take stock of theoretical issues in
Indian archaeology. Indian archaeology has come a long-way, since the
18th century, when those such as William Jones, James Prinsep and
Charles Wilkins, initiated the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It was the
founding of this society that spurred greatly the discovery of the
past of a nascently colonized nation. Many studies now exist about
this period (Singh, 2004) apart from the literature actually emanating
from this Society's Journal - The Journal of The Asiatic Society of
Bengal. In addition, The Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, Asiatic
Researches, The Journal of The Royal Society and The Calcutta Annual
Register are some of the Journals that contain the Oriental
Scholarship relevant to Ancient India and its archaeology. We would
invite contributions that critically examine the growth of archaeology
through this early period and the first formulations in India of the
surveys, findings, and methods of excavation closer to the decades
preceding independence. We also invite contributions that would look
critically at the growth of archaeological method and theory in India
in the post-Independence era. These would include theories of culture,
contact-diffusion models used widely to explain similarity and
differences in archaeological cultures, the establishment of the New
Archaeological method, as the most dominant method, in modern
archaeology, in India,for nearly half a century now. We also wish to
include a discussion of the impact of postprocessual archaeology on
Indian archaeology.
http://www.tagconference.org/content/theoretical-issues-indian-archaeology
Looking through the Lens of Archival Records: Archaeological Site
Formation in the Middle Ajay Basin, West Bengal, India
Archival RecordsIndiaMiddle Ajay BasinSite formationWest Bengal
Madhulika Samanta (University College London, UK)
Archaeological sites are regularly modified by different environmental
and cultural agencies and carry signatures of very recent activities.
Impacts of these activities are often over emphasized or completely
neglected in archaeological investigations. The present study area is
famous for its chalcolithic settlements and a part of the nuclear zone
of such settlements in Eastern India. Scholars of independent India
have carried out important excavations here and emphasized the
influence of recent floods on formation processes in the Ajay basin.
It has been argued that a significant number of these sites are in
secondary context which influenced the author to assess the nature of
archaeological sites situated in the Middle Ajay Basin. This area with
archaeological sites like Pandu Rajar Dhibi, experiences floods
regularly. Fortunately, the region boosts of a rich source of archival
records for the last two hundred years. These records contain general,
topographical and cadastral maps, reports of flood occurrences and
very recent data on highest annual gauge, maximum discharge of river
water, etc. The paper analyses sixteen maps of the region prepared in
the last two hundred years and twenty seven major flood events. These
maps are compared with each other to follow landscape changes after
floods with archaeological sites in the perspective. The settlements
deserted in the last two hundred years were also considered for
analyses. Recent changes in the landscape have been documented with
the help of maps published by the Survey of India and images produced
by Google Earth. Flood occurrences were documented from different
reports and analyses by meteorologists. The data on maximum discharge,
highest annual gauge of the recent years etc. - collected form the
Water Investigation and Development department of the province - aid
in understanding the nature of these events.
The paper suggests a majority of high energy floods in the last two
hundred years, were created by artificial embankments. Sites of the
pre embankment period were less affected by these floods than those of
the post embankment era. The river creates coarse grained deposits
(influenced by embankments) mainly along its banks and formed levees.
Therefore, it will be erroneous to consider sediment record of a site
as the only proxy for reconstructing paleofloods in this region. Later
floods are eroding these sediments rather than disturbing buried
archaeological deposits. Basically these are single event floods of
short duration, not powerful enough to leave lasting impression on the
sites. The phenomenon of river shifting, causing major impact on
archaeological site formation, is absent here. The deposits of these
sites are not in secondary context.
Promoting Cultural Heritage Awareness through Museums: Problems and
perspectives (West Bengal, India)
Sayan Bhattacharya (Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training,
Eastern India, India)
The preservation of our cultural heritage is one of the major social
responsibilities of our time. What our ancestors have created over a
long period depicts historical development, on which we build and draw
in order to frame our future.
This present paper deals with how we can manage the material cultural
heritage through museums (archaeological and historical) in West
Bengal with specific reference to Kolkata and case studies drawn from
the State Archaeological Museum, Kolkata. Kolkata (Calcutta), the city
of joy, was established in 1686 as a result of the expansion plans of
the British Raj, it is now the capital of West Bengal. The city has a
number of heritage buildings, monuments and museums (Indian Museum,
Victoria Memorial Hall, Asiatic Society, State Archaeological Museum,
Gurusaday Museum, etc). But unfortunately, like other metropolitan
cities in Indian, museums are still a ‘jadugarh’ (magical house) for
common people.
The State Archaeological Museum, West Bengal, houses an array of
antiquities. Presently this museum has five galleries (West Bengal
Sites and Sights, Paintings of Bengal, Sculptures of Bengal,
Excavation at Jagjivanpur and West Bengal Early Historic Period). This
museum also controls the district museums under the state government
of West Bengal and many local level museums representing their own
history and identity exist in the area. There is a lack of
communication and co-ordination between these museums and they are not
being run in accordance with the emerging trends in museum management.
As a result, these museums are lagging behind and are not so much
capable in attracting visitors regularly. The State Archaeological
Museum, as a nuclear museum, will be used to exemplify the various
issues of other museums in this state.
The main objectives of this paper is to explore how museums can assist
in ‘preserving the past, defining the present and educating for the
future’ as well as introduce fruitful interaction between participants
and researchers to assist in solving the various neglected aspects of
museum studies and cultural heritage management in West Bengal. The
discussion will explore the types of problems that are being faced at
the State Archaeological Museum and will ask: What kind of facilities
we are providing for the tourists? What are the probable solutions?
What kind of multidisciplinary approaches can we introduce for
maintaining a dynamic relationships between the tourists/students/
researchers and the Museums for promoting the cultural heritage of a
country like India?
The challenge of heritage
heritageinterpretationpost-processualpreservation
Nick James (University of Cambridge, UK)
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) describes its mission as
research, protection and regulation. It also maintains museums and a
programme of presenting monuments and publication. Research,
management and presentation complement each other but the respective
implications of these functions diverge somewhat. Contemporary social
and cultural developments in India expose the divergence between
research and presentation more clearly than before.
The function of research is the one most familiar to archeologists.
Although, in India, most of the research concerns the past, it
directly entails the Survey's functions of protection and regulation:
for discoveries to be made about the past, it is necessary actively to
protect the remains. Presentation and publication, equally, are
concerned, in the first place, with the archeological assets as
contemporary features, valued for education, tourism or other purposes
that are distinguished today as 'heritage'.
Now development and encroachment threaten archeological assets ever
more in India. Tourism is expanding rapidly and the number of visitors
to the principal monuments is rising. The implications affect the work
of most archeologists. They can be illustrated by the case of
Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar is well known for its many Medieval Hindu
temples and, near by, the earlier monuments at Dhauli and Sisupulgarh
and Khandagiri & Udaigiri. From some 10,000 residents in 1947, the
town has grown now to 1,000,000. The number of visitors to the
principal monuments more than doubled from 1990 to 2006. The increase
reflects a boom in domestic leisure and tourism and expansion of the
affluent and literate middle class. In effect, the monuments of
Bhubaneswar are being treated more now as heritage than as assets for
either worship or research. This can be seen not only in visitors'
behaviour but also in recent work by the ASI, the State Archaeology
service, the Municipal Corporation, the Indian National Trust for Art
& Cultural Heritage and public and private tourism organizations.
Archeologists must recognize the shifting balance of priorities in
their cultural environment. The function of public dissemination or
outreach must be enhanced. There are two principal problems. Without
sympathetic public awareness of archeology, the assets will quickly be
wasted. On the other hand, the sociological and economic processes of
diversification and integration tend to expose diverse points of view.
There is, among Indian archeologists, widespread reluctance to
acknowledge unconventional interpretations. If, then, archeological
research is not to be conflated, in popular opinion, with heritage –
the past with the present - the ASI, State services and non-government
organizations alike must not only protect and describe archeological
assets but also make more of a priority of explaining the nature of
both the evidence as such and the reasons for and the methods of
archeological management and research. This solution - to focus, like
the concern with heritage! On contemporary activity, in the first
place, rather than on the scientific deduction of the past - may work
not only for India but also in Europe, where debate about
archeological resources has grown for reasons similar to those arising
in India.
http://www.tagconference.org/content/challenge-heritage
The emergence of Prehistory: Looking at early initiatives in late
nineteenth-early twentieth century Bengal
Bengalemergenceethnologyprehistory
Basak Bishnupriya (University of Calcutta, India)
In recent years there has been a renewed interest in looking at the
emergence of archaeology as a discipline and its role in the
construction of the sub-continent’s past in the nineteenth-early
twentieth century. Yet, one strand of ‘academic inquiry’ remains
largely outside the purview of these works and which this paper wishes
to address. Discoveries of ‘chipped/polished stone’ or ‘rude stone
monuments’ belonging to remote antiquity, which started appearing in
accounts left behind by geologists employed by the Geological Survey
of India, civil servants, military officials and individuals variously
engaged in different professions in the colony, gave shape to a
different inquiry in the past in the second half of the nineteenth-
early twentieth century, bringing forth questions of human evolution,
race and the progress of civilization The germs of prehistoric
archaeology in the sub-continent may be sought in these early
writings, where the boundaries between prehistory, ethnology and
ethnography were often fuzzy. There has been substantial research on
the history of Victorian anthropological thought. Of late there has
also grown a voluminous literature on ethnological surveys and
ethnographic documentations in the sub-continent. Discoveries of stone
tools or stone monuments need to be situated in the backdrop of these
developments. In trying to understand the beginnings of prehistoric
research I am restricting myself to eastern and north eastern India
where one comes across a profusion of such writings, many published as
notes in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. These writings
are many-layered, in which typological descriptions of the artifacts
are interspersed with rich anecdotes, myths and legends of existing
indigenous communities.
The ongoing debate between processual and post-processual methods in
archaeology, in the context of Jharkhand, India
Ajay Pratap Reader (Banaras Hindu University, India)
This paper intends to elucidate the ongoing debate between processual
and post-processual methods in archaeology, in the context of
Jharkhand, India. This it does, by taking a fresh look at both
processualism and post-processualism in 2008, both of which, have a
significant place in theory and practice of Indian archaeology as on
date. This paper also intends to add that there are existing
indigenously developed tropes of archaeology within Indian archaeology
such as iconography, numismatics, epigraphy and so on, by the simple
argument that Indian archaeology and has had its inception through
oriental studies, in the 18th century, when doyens such as William
Jones, James Prinsep and Charles Wilkins, of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal, first started their researches (see Singh: 2004). Moreover,
the journals of Indian archaeology, such as Journal of Bihar and
Orissa Research Society, Journal of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute, Man in India, The Eastern Anthropologist, Purattatva,
Purakala, Man and Environment, to name just a few, along with numerous
text-books on the subject explicate the history, methods and theory,
in employ in Indian archaeology, sufficiently, for any reader of this
field, to acquaint themselves with developments in Indian archaeology.
In this context, therefore, in 2008, it is opportune, to discuss and
evaluate the relative merits and demerits of the impact of two alien
imports the “New Archaeology” and the “Post-processual archaeology”.
In this paper, we undertake such an analysis, using our own fieldarea,
The Rajmahal Hills, Dist. Santhal Parganas, Jharkhand, India, as a
case-study, through an ethnoarchaeological perspective, to evaluate
the relative merits and demerits of these two modern inputs into
Indian archaeology.
SEMINAR & WORKSHOP
We have been continuously holding weekly seminars in the Department
for the benefit of students, especially research scholars. In these
seminars, both the faculty members as well as research scholars
presented their research papers, which provided exposures & training
to young upcoming scholars. In addition to the weekly seminars, the
faculty members of the department have organised following Seminars:
The Middle Ganga Plains Through the Ages: Understanding Cultures
Through Archaeology, organised by Professor Vidula Jayaswal jointly
with Jnana Pravaha, Varanasi.
Recent Developments in Indian Archaeometallurgy organised by
Professor Vibha Tripathi jointly with Jnana Pravaha, Varanasi.
Recent Researches in AIHC & Archaeology organised by Professor
Vibha Tripathi, BHU, Varanasi.
NATIONAL SEMINAR ON THE GAGES CIVILIZATION : THE SHIFTING PARADIGM
Recently the Department has organised the above Seminar under the
Convener ship of Prof.Vibha Tripathi on 10-12, February, 2006. The
Seminar was sponsored by the UGC through its programmes SAP & ASIHSS
of the Department. The well attended seminar with nearly 150
participants from different parts of the country. The young
researchers were given equal opportunity to present their papers and
participate in the deliberations during the seminar. The academic
deliberations will be resulting in the publication of its Proceedings
very shortly.
RECENT SPECIAL LECTURES
In order to enrich the quality of research and also to expose our
senior students to the latest development in A.I.H.C. & Archaeology
with the collaboration of other academic institution, the Department
organised special Lectures by the eminent scholars of India and abroad
from time to time. Following special lectures and visits of scholars
were organised:
Prof. V.C. Srivastava, former Director, IIAS, Shimla delivered a
lecture on 'Recent Advances in the Field of AIHC & Archaeology' on 8th
January 2007.
Prof. Devendra Handa, Panjab University Chandigarh delivered a lecture
on 'Antiquity of Ancient Indian Coins on 21 March, 2007.
Dr. B.M.Pande, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi delivered a
lecture on 'Thanesar Excavations on 23 July, 2007.
A Chinese Delegation led by Prof Hua visited the Department on 20
November, 2007.
Dr. Cameron Petrei, University of Cambridge delivered a lecture on
'the Decline of Harappans and the Climat on 10 January, 2008.
RECENT SEMINAR
Contribution of Environment in shaping personality of individuals,
groups and nations is well established both by the studies of physical
and social scientists. There can hardly be a second opinion regarding
the significance of natural surroundings to the growth of social and
culture make up of ancient inhabitants of Indian sub-continent, on one
hand, and cultural environments influencing one and other regions,
from time to time, on the other. History of individual regions and
chronological levels, when viewed against the background of physical
and cultural environments would certainly be meaningful and holistic,
which is the theme of the proposed seminar. It may also bring forth
such ancient indigenous practices which revolved around preserving and
conserving natural surroundings, a major concern of the modern
society. Evaluation of concerns and destructions of physical and
cultural environments of ancient times is not only an exercise of the
restricted academic value, but may have wider implication stretching
up to the present times.
The long painstaking researches on ancient India, has fortunately,
brought to light various facets of past societies. But, often the
contribution of environment has escaped attention of the scholars. A
number of bio-diversities though are found in the historical
reconstructions, their full implications are not discussed. It is
proposed to give a platform to experts from various disciplines, the
Geology, Palaeo-botany, Archaeology, Indology, who can sit together
and evaluate the theme in a true scientific spirit, which will help
understanding makeup of cultures, and adaptation of biodiversities by
human groups of ancient India, from around 10, 000 BP to the early
medieval times.
It is proposed to divide the seminar into four main sections - Early
Holocene Climate & Cultural Adaptation, Palaeo-environment & Cultures
of 3rd to 1st Century BCE, Environment & Emergence of States & Cities
in the Ganga Plain and Environment as revealed from Art, Literature,
Numismatics & Epigraphy. Each of the sections will be addressed by one
or two scientists, who shall dwell upon the physical environments. The
other contributors of these sessions would assess archaeological and
literary evidence as to evaluate the culture adaptation to the various
palaeo-ecological niches. Besides presentations by the senior
scholars, the young researchers shall participate as discussants and
the post graduate students shall attend the deliberations as to get
exposure to the theme.
In addition to the Seminar, a Workshop on �Metals & Technology of
Early Indian Coins� is also being organized on this occasion for the
benefit of the students, research scholars and the faculty members
associated with teaching of the Numismatics. The workshop will deals
with the technology for minting coins and medals. The technology is
based on the utilization of metal blanks with similar diameters, one
being very thin, joined together by mechanical means during the
impartion of the surface details by the minting dies. The technology
requires the design and manufacture of a special geometry in the edge
of the thicker disk in order to make possible assembly of the metal
blanks. The proposed technology is based on a multi-stage
manufacturing process consisting of three cold metal forming
operations (preforming, rimming and coining) and one intermediate
annealing treatment. The annealing treatment is to be performed before
the coining operation. The goal is to restore the initial ductility of
the disk prior to the final coining stage. The workshop will also
focus on punching, die and casting techniques of ancient coins.
National Seminar on Environments of Ancient India Archaeological &
Leterary Critique
And Workshop on Metals & Technology of Early Indian Coins
(March 8-10, 2008)
(UGC Sponsored Programme under SAP & ASIHSS Schemes
SOUVENIR
VARANASI, A HERITAGE CITY & THE CULTURE CAPITAL OF INDIA Rana P.B.
Singh, Professor of Cultural Geography, BHU
DHANVANTARI, A GREAT SCION OF VARANASI
P.K. Agrawala, Dept. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ABSTRACTS
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS AS REFLECTED IN THE VEDIC LITERATURE :
Pranabananda Jash, Department of AIHC & Archaeology, Visva Bharati :
Santiniketan
CONTRIBUTION OF ASOKA TO ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS: Sayamtara Jash,
Department of AIHC & Archaeology, Visva Bharati : Santiniketan
ENVIRONMENT OF THE EARLY HOLOCENE OF THE MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN AS
REVEALED FROM THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS : V.D. Misra and J.N.
Pal, University of Allahabad
QUATERNARY STRATIGRAPHY OF THE GANGA : R.P. Pandey, Department of AIHC
and Archaeology, Jiwaji University, Gwalior (M.P.)
URBAN ENVIRONMENT, CULTURE AND FORMATION OF EARLY MEDIEVAL ORISSAN
STATE : L.N.Raut, Behrampur University, Behrampur
THE ANCIENT INDIAN CONCEPT & KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS
UNIQUE REALISTIC UTILIZATION FOR THE WELL-BEING OF INDIVIDUAL : Sunil
Kumar Dubey, Varanasi
ENVIRONMENT AND SETTLMENT PATTERN IN THE SARAYUPAR REGION : Mohd.
Naseem & Indrajeet Singh, Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ASHOKA AS A PROTAGONIST OF ENVIRONMENT : Arpita Chatterjee, Deptt. of
AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
NATURE, ENVIRONMENT AND COSMIC INTEGRITY IN ANCIENT INDIAN THOUGHT :
Rana P.B. Singh, Professor of Cultural Geography, Banaras Hindu
University
SACRED LANDSCAPES OF SIKKIM AND ITS ECOLOGICAL VALUE : G.K.LAMA,
Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ENVIRONMENT AND NBPW CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN: AN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CRITICS : Priyanka Chandra & Devendra Kumar Singh
Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
A BUDDHIST APPROACH TO ECOLOGY : Mukesh Kumar Singh and Sanjay Singh
Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ECOLOGICAL BACKGROUND AND RISE OF CULTURES IN THE MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN :
Umesh Kumar Singh, Department of Ancient History, Archaeology &
Culture, Udai Pratap College, Varanasi
ENVIRONMENT AND CHOICE IN DWELLING HOUSES AND SETTLEMENT PATTERN IN
MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN : Santosh Kumar Singh, Department of AIHC and
Archaeology, Devendra P.G. College Belthara Road, Ballia
ENVIRONMENTAL SETTING OF EARLY TAMIL LITERATURE AND CULTURE : Archana
Sharma, Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ENVIRONMENTAL CONSCIOUSNESS AS REFLECTED IN ARTHASHASTRA : A STUDY :
Dinesh Kumar Ojha & Alok Kumar Pandey, Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology,
BHU
ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN ADAPTATION IN EARLY HOLOCENE PERIOD IN BELAN
VALLEY: AN EVIDENCE OF ROCK ART : A.K.Dubey, Member, UP Higher
Education, Allahabad
THE ROLE OF STATE IN CONSERVING ENVIRONMENT IN ANCIENT INDIA : Anshul
Bajpai, Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology BHU
A STUDY OF THE NATURAL SYMBOLS ON THE OLD INDIAN COINS: WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO ENVIRONMENT : O.N. Singh, Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology,
BHU
BLACK COTTON SOIL : ENVIRONMENT & CULTURE : Pushp Lata Singh, Deptt.
of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ROLE OF CLIMATE AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE GROWTH OF SETTLEMENT OF THE
MIDDLE GANGA PLAIN:AN ARCHAEOLOGIACAL STUDY : Ashok Kumar Singh,
Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ENVIRONMENT IN ANCIENT INDIA: PEACE PERSPECTIVE : Pradeep Dhakal,
Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
HOW DID INDIANS MAINTAIN THEIR ENVIRONMENT : Harihar Singh , Deptt. of
AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
WATER IN VEDAS : Suman Jain , Deptt. of AIHC & Archaeology, BHU
ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS IN ANCIENT INDIA : Anuradha Singh , Deptt. of
History , BHU
HARAPPAN CIVILISATION AND PALAEOCOLOGY OF SOUTH ASIA : AN APPROACH :
Raj K. Sharma , Dept. of Mining Engineering BHU & D. P. Singh, Deptt.
of AIHC & Archaeology,BHU
http://www.bhu.ac.in/aihc/seminar.htm
DEPARTMENTAL PublicationS
Since long the Department has scheme of publishing researches of
eminent scholars from India and abroad. So far more than five dozens
volumes have been brought out. It has been regular in publishing its
journal Bharati and Monograph series. Bharati, Vol. 32 is now under
Publication.
BHARATI
(Bulletin of the Dept of A.I.H.C. & Archaeology)
No. 1, 1956-57, Eds. Sri D.C. Guha & Sri M.N. Singh.
No. 2, 1957-58, Eds. Prof. R.B. Pandey & Dr. V.S. Pathak.
No. 3, 1959-68, Eds. Prof. R.B. Pandey & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 4, 1960-61, Eds. Prof. Surya Kanta & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 5, 1961-62, Eds. Prof. Surya Kanta & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 6, 1962-63, Eds. Prof. V.S. Agrawala & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 7, 1963-64, Eds. Prof. A.K. Narain & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 8, 1964-65, Eds. Prof. A.K. Narain & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 9, 1965-66, Eds. Prof. A.K. Narain & Sri L.K. Tripathi.
No. 10-11 (combined), 1966-68, Central Asia Number Eds. Prof. A.K.
Narain.
No. 12-14, (combined),1969-71, Prof. V.S. Agrawala, Prof Vol. Eds.
A.K. Narain & Sri P.K. Agrawala.
No. 1, New Series, 1983-84, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 2, New Series, 1984-85, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 3, New Series, 1985-86, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 15, 1971-85, Prof. R.B. Pandey Volume Eds. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
No. 16, 1985-87, Prof. R.C. Majumdar Volume, Ed. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
No. 17, 1987-88, Ed. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
No. 18, 1988-89, Ed. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
No. 19, 1989-90, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 20, 1990-91, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 21, 1991-92, Ed. Prof. V.C. Srivastava
No. 22, 1992-93, Ed. Prof. V.C. Srivastava
No. 23, 1994-96, Ed. Prof. Prof. V.C. Srivastava
No. 24, 1996-97, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 25, 1998-99, Ed. Prof. P. Singh
No. 26, 2000-2002, Ed. Prof. V. Jayaswal
No. 27, 2002-2003, Ed. Prof. V. Tripathi
No. 28, 2003-2004, Ed. Prof. V. Tripathi
No. 29, 2004-2005, Ed. Prof. V. Tripathi
No. 30, 2005-2006, Ed. Prof. P. N. Singh
No. 31, 2006-2007, Ed. Prof. P. N. Singh
No. 32, 2007-2008, Ed. Prof. P. N. Singh (under publication)
MONOGRAPHS
1. From Alexandar to Kaniska by Prof. A.K. Narain.
2. Excavations at Sravasti-1959 by Dr. K.K. Sinha.
3. Skanda-Karttikeya : A Study in Origin and Evolution by Dr. P.K.
Agrawala.
4. Ramji Pandey, Kal Sahinta 2003.
5. The Excavations at Prahladpur by Prof. A.K. Narain & Dr. T.N. Roy.
6. Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings and their successors
(Supplement to Fleet's C.I.I., Vol. III),
1888,Part (Bibliography), by Shri R.S. Mishra.
7. Aspects of Early Jainism by Dr. Jai Prakash Singh.
8. The Disintegration of the Kushan Empire by Prof. B.N. Mukherjee.
9. History and Coinage of Skandagupta Kramaditya by Dr. J.P. Singh.
10. The Guru-Samhita : An Ancient Text on Weather Forecasting, by
Prof. Lallanji Gopal.
11. A Catalogue of the Greek and Indo-Greek Coins in the Department
by Dr. T.P. Verma.
12. Archaeology of Population, by Dr. Makkhan Lal.
13. The Aryans, the Veda and the Kaliyuga Era of 3102 B.C., by Shri
Kailash Chandra Varma.
14. Archaeology as Historical Science by Mr. Bruce Trigger.
15. An Approach to Indian Culture and Civilization by Prof. G.C.
Pande.
16. Models, Paradigms and the New Archaeology by Dr. Shivaji Singh.
17. Osteo-archaeological remains from Rajghat by Dr. Bhupendra Pal
Singh.
MEMOIRS
1. Seminar Papers on the Chronology of the Punch-Marked Coins, Eds.
Prof. A.K. Narain and Dr.
Lallanji Gopal.
2. Seminar Papers on the Local Coins of Northern India (c. 300 B.C. to
c. 300 A.D.) Eds. Prof.A.K. Narain,
Dr. J.P. Singh and Dr. Nisar Ahmad.
3. Seminar Papers on the Problem of Megaliths in India Eds. Prof. A.K.
Narain, Dr. Purushottam Singh.
4. Seminar Papers on the Tribal Coins of Ancient India (c. 200 B.C. to
400 A.D.) Eds. Prof. Lallanji Gopal.
Dr. J. P. Singh and Dr. N. Ahmad.
5. D.D. Kosambi Commemoration Volume Ed. Prof. Lallanji Gopal.
6. Position and Status of Women in Ancient India, Vol. I, Ed. Prof.
L.K. Tripathi.
7. Position and Status of Women in Ancient India, Vol. II, Ed. Prof.
L.K. Tripathi.
8. Buddhist Stupa in India and South-East Asia, Ed. Prof. L.K.
Tripathi.
9. Sati in Ancient India, Ed. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
10. Untouchabilty in Ancient India, Ed. Prof. L.K. Tripathi.
EXCAVATION REPORTS
1. Excavations at Sravasti - 1959 by Dr. K.K. Sinha
2. The Excavations at Prahladpur by Prof. A.K. Narain & Dr.
T.N. Roy
3. Excavations at Rajghat, Ed. Prof. A.K. Narain
Part I : The Cuttings, Stratification and Structures by
Dr. T.N. Roy.
Part II : The Pottery, by Dr. T.N. Roy.
Part III : Small Finds, by Dr. P. Singh.
Part IV : Terracotta Human Figurines by Dr. P.K. Agrawala.
A : - Text
B : - Plates
4. Paisara-A Stone Age Settlement of Bihar, 1991 by Prof. P.C.
Pant & Dr. Vidula Jayaswal.
5. Excavations at Narhan by Prof. P. Singh (1994)
HINDI PUBLICATIONS
Prachin Bhartiya Abhilekh - Sangrah, Edited by - Dr. Avadh Kishor
Narayan and Mani Sankar Shukla, Part-1 and Part-2
Saraswati By Sushila Khare
Puran Vishyanukramni (Vidhi and Aachar) vol -1 edited by Prof. Lalan
ji Gopal
Puran Vishyanukramni (Vidhi and Aachar) vol -2 edited by Prof. Lalan
ji Gopal
Kaal Sanhita by Dr. Ramji Pandey
http://www.bhu.ac.in/aihc/publication.htm
The Battle For Ancient India (An Essay in the Sociopolitics of Indian
Archaeology)
IDK201
by Dilip K. Chakrabarti
Hardcover (Edition: 2008)
Aryan Books International
ISBN 9788173053412
Size: 9.0" X 5.8"
Pages: 183
Our Price: $30.00
Preface
This volume is rooted in my Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the
Ancient Indian Past (1997) and demonstrates in the context of Indian
archaeology how the grip of "colonial Indology" is still an
intellectual force cutting across the national boundaries. Among the
archaeologists at least this trend of thought has been more visible in
the post-1947 period than in period preceding it. This book also shows
how the various current debates regarding Indian archaeology and
ancient history end up by being an issue of "progress versus reaction"
or "secularism versus communalism" and how such assertions are only a
reflection of the political expediency of the concerned scholars.
In its quest to underline the various sociopolitical subtexts of
opinions in the field of modern Indian archaeology, the book clearly
focuses on how these opinions have taken birth and evolved and what
exactly is their academic basis. Unless we are aware of the socio-
political ramifications of our archaeological opinions, it is unlikely
that we shall be able to form our own conclusions about them.
This book was written in September-December of 2006, and I am deeply
thankful to Dr. Rakesh Tewari and Professor Nayanjot Lahiri for kindly
going through the manuscript and offering suggestions. The
responsibility of all shortcomings rests with me. I am especially
indebted to my colleague Dr. Cameron Petrie who kindly procured for me
a copy of S.K. Chatterji's Modern Review article. It is dedicated to
my wife and daughter, both of whom have always striven hard to make my
academic life smooth and even. My daughter also took upon herself the
duty of taking down my field dictations and doing photography in the
field.
From the Jacket
A number of issues regarding the study of ancient India have recently
emerged in the public domain. The most important of them are the
Sarasvati Project, Aryan invasion theory, the textbook controversy in
India and California and the language of the Indus civilization. The
intensity of debate on each of these issues is reminiscent of
religious clashes. Much of this debate is also not limited to
professional historians and archaeologists. The mass of data and
opinions, which are currently available on the internet and have
frequently been published in the media, can no longer be ignored by
anybody interested in ancient India. Some professional analysis of
this development has long been called for. This book is in response to
this need. It first states the author's position on each of these
issues, but more importantly, critically examines their rationale. By
studying the socio-political implications of some of the current
assumption of Indian archaeology and by noting their associations with
different scholars and scholarly groups, it demonstrates that even the
apparently remote conclusions about India's prehistoric, protohistoric
and early historic past have sub-texts of various kinds and that these
sub-texts have different socio-political implications and agendas.
Dilip K. Chakrabarti is Professor of South Asian Archaeology in the
Department of Archaeology of Cambridge University. He has been awarded
D.Litt. (Honoris Causa) by M.J.P. Rohilkhand University, Bareilly,
where he delivered the University's Convocation Address in 2006. The
Asiatic Society (Calcutta) awarded him its S.C. Chakrabarti Memorial
Medal in 2007.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
I. The Theme 1
II. The Author's Own Approach and Beliefs 3
III. The Idea of India as a Colonized Land throughout History 9
2 'Sunrise' in the West: Different Strands of Indian Prehistoric and
Proto-historic Studies 35
I. The General Background 35
II. The Theme of 'Sunrise in the West' 39
III. Comments on Certain General Trends of Publications in Indian
Prehistory and Protohistory 42
3. The Sociopolitics of the Indus Civilization Studies 51
I. The Framework of the Ancient Indian 51
Past before the Discovery
II. The Discovery and the Early Hypotheses of the Excavators0 54
III. The Period between the Discovery and Associated 57
Reports, and the Publication of Marshall's
Mohenjodaro Report in 1931: R.P. Chanda
IV. The Formulation of the Dravidian Hypothesis: Suniti Kumar
Chatterji 64
V. Observations on Chanda and Chatterji 67
VI. John Marshall's "Mohenjodaro and the Indus Civilization" (1931)
68
VII. The Basic History of the Idea of Harappa-Vedic Relationship:
B.N. Datta to P.V. Kane and Others 69
VIII. More on the Dravidian Premise or the Question 83
of the Dravidian Authorship of the Indus Civilization
IX. The Current Politics of the Indus Civilization Studies 90
4 The Sociopolitics of Some Debates in Early Historic Archaeology 103
I. The Literature on the NBP 103
II. The Beginning of Writing 106
III. The Role of Iron in the Second Urbanisation 112
5 Summary and Discussion 117
Appendix 153
Bibliography 159
Index 167
http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDK201/
HARAPPAN HORSE: POLEMICS AND PROPAGANDA
Editorial Comment
As the Aryan invasion version of history has begun to crumble, there
are parties in Indian and Western academic circles that have a special
interest in preserving it. It is unnecessary to go into reasons behind
this beyond noting that considerations of politics and careers have
much to do with it. This is not unusual in any field: whenever there
is a paradigm shift, as is now the case with the Vedic-Harappan
convergence today, the old order suddenly finds the ground shifting
under its feet. A debate, at times acrimonious is natural and
inevitable in the circumstances. But what was unusual in this case was
the tactics adopted by a few of the participants, notably Michael
Witzel, the Prince of Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard. He went
beyond criticizing the work of N. Jha and N.S. Rajaram, to charging
that they, in their book The Deciphered Indus Script had fabricated
the image of a horse in order to show that the Harappan civilization
was Vedic.
In all this, Witzel's central claim was that the horse was unknown in
ancient India prior to the coming of the Aryan invaders who brought it
with them. Thus, the Harappans had no horses. Further, the spoke-wheel
was also unknown to the Harappans. But Witzel went further: he
insisted that any data that suggested otherwise must perforce be a
fabrication. This was the charge he leveled against N. Jha and N.S.
Rajaram in the summer of 2000 when the book The Deciphered Indus
Script reached the United States. He chose to ignore however that
comments on the 'Harappan Horse' was limited to two partial footnotes
in their book, which was about the decipherment and in no way
dependent on the Harappan horse. Jha and Rajaram chose to ignore these
charges other than issuing a press release that refuted Witzel's
charge with the help of photographs. (Witzel was assisted in his work
by one Steve Farmer with no credentials in the field other than making
extravagant claims. He seems to have disappeared from the scene.)
The situation reached a climax when Rajaram, in an article that
appeared in the national daily The Hindu (February 19, 2002) produced
evidence from well-known sources showing that horse remains had been
identified at Harappan sites going back several decades; he also
highlighted other important evidence like the Vedic river Sarasvati
that connect the Vedic and Harappan civilizations. This seemed to put
Witzel in an awkward situation. First, it showed that his claim of "No
Harappan horse," had no basis in fact. More seriously, it cast a cloud
on his tactics, suggesting that he was indulging in suppression of
evidence while simultaneously launching a personal attack on those who
disagreed with him. In all this the assumption seemed to be that his
position as an academic at a well-known university combined with
aggressive propaganda carried out at a high decibel level was enough
to override facts and logic. This predicament that Witzel found
himself in--the collapse of his scholarly reputation together with the
exposure of his unsavory tactics--may explain the ferocious tone of
his article given in this section. This was noted by the distinguished
archaeologist R. Nagaswamy who went on to systematically refute
Witzel's claims and method--calling the latter an example of reductio
ad absurdum.
While the Aryan invasion is dead, and the Vedic-Harappan connection
all but a reality, the series of articles that appeared in The Hindu
gives an idea of the 'debate' that is likely to be the last ditch
effort to save the Aryan invasion. We begin with Rajaram's article
that set the cat among the pigeons, followed by Witzel's response,
culminating in Nagaswamy's refutation of Witzel's claims and methods.
THEORY AND EVIDENCE
A historical theory must account for all the evidence and not
selectively accept and ignore data. Further, a man-made theory cannot
substitute for primary data.
N.S. Rajaram
Albert Einstein once said: "A theory must not contradict empirical
facts." He was speaking in the context of science, especially how
historians of science often lacked proper understanding of the
scientific process. As he saw it the problem was: "Nearly all
historians of science are philologists [linguists] and do not
comprehend what physicists were aiming at, how they thought and
wrestled with these problems." When such is the situation in physics
where problems are clear-cut, it is not surprising to see issues in a
subject like history being much more contentious. This is particularly
the case when trying to understand the records of people far removed
from us in time like the creators of the Vedic and Harappan
civilizations. As a result of some recent historical developments like
European colonization and Western interest in Sanskrit language and
linguistics, several myths and conjectures, through the force of
repetition, have come to acquire the status of historical facts. It is
time to re-evaluate these in the light of new evidence and more
scientific approaches.
When we come to these myths, none is more persistent than the one
about "No horse at Harappa." This has now been supplemented by another
claim that the spoke-wheel was unknown to the Harappans. The point of
these claims is that without the horse and the spoke-wheel the
Harappans were militarily vulnerable to the invading Aryan hordes who
moved on speedy, horse-drawn chariots with spoke-wheels. This claim is
not supported by facts: an examination of the evidence shows that both
the spoke-wheel and the horse were widely used by the Harappans.
(The idea seems to be borrowed from the destruction of Native American
civilizations by the Spanish and Portuguese 'Conquistadors'. The
Conquistadors though never used chariots.)
As far as the spoke-wheel is concerned, B.B. Lal, former Director
General of the Archaeological Survey of India records finding
terracotta wheels at various Harappan sites. In his words: "The
painted lines [spokes] converge at the central hub, and thus leave no
doubt about their representing the spokes of the wheel. ...another
example is reproduced from Kalibangan, a well-known Harappan site in
Rajasthan, in which too the painted lines converge at the hub. ...two
examples from Banawali [another Harappan site], in which the spokes
are not painted but are shown in low relief." ( The Sarasvati Keeps
Flowing, Aryan Books, Delhi, pages 72-3). It is also worth noting that
the depiction of the spoke-wheel is quite common on Harappan seals.
Horse and Vedic symbolism
The horse and the cow are mentioned often in the Rigveda, though they
commonly carry symbolic rather than physical meaning. There is
widespread misconception that the absence of the horse at Harappan
sites shows that horses were unknown in India until the invading
Aryans brought them. Such 'argument by absence' is hazardous at best.
To take an example, the bull is quite common on the seals, but the cow
is never represented. We cannot from this conclude that the Harappans
raised bulls but were ignorant of the cow. In any event, depictions of
the horse are known at Harappan sites, though rare. It is possible
that there was some kind of religious taboo that prevented the
Harappans from using cows and horses in their art. More fundamentally,
it is incorrect to say that horses were unknown to the Harappans. The
recently released encyclopedia The Dawn of Indian Civilization, Volume
1, Part 1 observes (pages 344 - 5): "... the horse was widely
domesticated and used in India during the third millennium BCE over
most of the area covered by the Indus-Sarasvati [or Harappan]
Civilization. Archaeologically this is most significant since the
evidence is widespread and not isolated."
This is not the full story. Sir John Marshall, Director General of the
Archaeological Survey when Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro were being
excavated, recorded the presence of what he called the 'Mohenjo-daro
horse'. Giving salient measurements, comparing it to other known
specimens, he wrote: "It will be seen that there is a considerable
degree of similarity between these various examples, and it is
probable the Anau horse, the Mohenjo-daro horse, and the example of
Equus caballus of the Zoological Survey of India, are all of the type
of the 'Indian country bred', a small breed of horse, the Anau horse
being slightly smaller than the others." ( Mohenjo-Daro and the Indus
Civilization, volume II, page 654.) It is important to recognize that
this is much stronger evidence than mere artifacts, which are artists'
reproductions and not anatomical specimens that can be subjected to
scientific examination.
Actually, the Harappans not only knew the horse, the whole issue of
the 'Harappan horse' is irrelevant. In order to prove that the Vedas
are of foreign origin, (and the horse came from Central Asia) one must
produce positive evidence: it should be possible to show that the
horse described in the Rigveda was brought from Central Asia. This is
contradicted by the Rigveda itself. In verse I.162.18, the Rigveda
describes the horse as having 34 ribs (17 pairs), while the Central
Asian horse has 18 pairs (36) of ribs. We find a similar description
in the Yajurveda also.
This means that the horse described in the Vedas is the native Indian
breed (with 34 ribs) and not the Central Asian variety. Fossil remains
of Equus Sivalensis (the 'Siwalik horse') show that the 34-ribbed
horse has been known in India going back tens of thousands of years.
This makes the whole argument based on "No horse at Harappa"
irrelevant. The Vedic horse is a native Indian breed and not the
Central Asian horse. As a result, far from supporting any Aryan
invasion, the horse evidence furnishes one of its strongest
refutations.
Man-made theories
All this suggests that man-made theories (like "No Harappan horse")
and those in linguistics cannot be used to override primary evidence
like the Vedic Sarasvati (described below) and the dominant oceanic
symbolism found in the Vedas. To see this we may note that South
Indian languages like Kannada and Tamil have indigenous ( desi ) word
for the horse-- kudurai-- suggesting that the horse has long been
native to the region. The same is true of the tiger ( puli and huli )
and the elephant ( aaney ). Contrast this with the word for the lion--
simha and singam --that are borrowed from Sanskrit, indicating that
the lion was not native to the South. A man-made theory in
linguistics, because it is not bound by laws of nature, can be made to
cut both ways. It cannot take the place of evidence.
In any field it is important to take into account all the evidence,
especially evidence of a fundamental nature. This can be illustrated
with the help of what we now know about the Vedic river known as the
Sarasvati. The Rigveda describes the Sarasvati as the greatest and the
holiest of rivers-- as ambitame, naditame, devitame (best of mothers,
best of rivers, best goddess). Satellite photographs as well as field
explorations by archaeologists, notably the great expedition led by
the late V.S. Wakankar, have shown that a great river answering to the
description of the Sarasvati in the Rigveda (flowing 'from the
mountains to the sea') did indeed exist thousands of years ago. After
many vicissitudes due to tectonic and other changes, it dried up
completely by 1900 BCE. This raises a fundamental question: how could
the Aryans who are supposed to have arrived in India only in 1500 BCE,
and composed their Vedic hymns c. 1200 BCE, have described and
extolled a river that had disappeared five hundred years earlier? In
addition, numerous Harappan sites have been found along the course of
the now dry Sarasvati, which further strengthens the Vedic-Harappan
connection. As a result, the Indus (or Harappan) civilization is more
properly called the Indus-Sarasvati civilization.
The basic point of all this: we cannot construct a theory focusing on
a few relatively minor details like the spoke-wheel while ignoring
important, even monumental evidence like the Sarasvati River and the
oceanic symbolism that dominates the Rigveda. (This shows that the
Vedic people could not have come from a land-locked region like
Afghanistan or Central Asia.) A historical theory, no less than a
scientific theory, must take into account all available evidence. No
less important, a man-made theory cannot take the place of primary
evidence like the Sarasvati River or the oceanic descriptions in the
Rigveda. This brings us back to Einstein-- "A theory must not
contradict empirical facts." Nor can it ignore primary evidence.
[This article, which supplied evidence that demolished Witzel's claims
once and for all, drew the following response from Witzel. It is not
hard to see that Witzel was concerned mainly with negating all
evidence--from equine data to the Sarasvati River! He also failed to
note that the possible presence of the 'Siwalik horse' for millions of
years is further evidence against his thesis of the horse as a late
arrival in India. Further, contrary to his claim, the 34 ribs of
Indian, Southeast Asian and some Arab horses is a genetically
inherited trait that cannot be wished away. Also, it is not just the
Rigveda that mentions the 34-ribbed horse, but the Yajurveda as well.
Editor]
HARAPPAN HORSE MYTHS AND THE SCIENCES
The horses found in the early excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa
do not come from secure levels and such `horse' bones, in most cases,
found their way into deposits through erosional cutting and refilling,
disturbing the archaeological layers.
Michael Witzel
In the Open Page of February 19, N.S. Rajaram posits a truism "A
theory must not contradict empirical facts," but he then does not
deliver on the `empirical facts.' As a scientist, he must suffer to be
corrected, bluntly this time, by a mere philologist and Indologist.
Philology, incidentally, is not the same as linguistics, as he says,
but the study of a civilisation based on its texts. In order to
understand such texts, one must acquire the necessary knowledge in all
relevant fields, from astronomy to zoology. It is precisely a proper
background in zoology, particularly in palaeontology, that is badly
lacking in Rajaram's, the scientist's, account. Instead, it is he, and
not his favorite straw man, the Indologist, who has created some new
"myths and conjectures ... through the force of repetition." Let us
deconstruct them one by one.
Harappan horses?
To begin with, he claims that "both the spoke-wheel and the horse were
widely used by the Harappans." He quotes S.P. Gupta, without naming
him, from a recent book ( The Dawn of Indian Civilisation , ed. by
G.C. Pande, 1999). According to Gupta the horse (Equus caballus) "was
widely domesticated and used in India during the third millennium BCE
over most of the area covered by the Indus-Sarasvati (or Harappan)
Civilisation. Archaeologically this is most significant since the
evidence is widespread and not isolated." Nothing in this assertion is
correct, even if -- or rather because -- it comes from an
archaeologist and inventive rewriter of history, S.P. Gupta. For
example, the horses found in the early excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa do not come from secure levels and such `horse' bones, in most
cases, found their way into deposits through erosional cutting and
refilling, disturbing the archaeological layers.
Indeed, not one clear example of horse bones exists in the Indus
excavations and elsewhere in North India before c. 1800 BCE (R. Meadow
and A. Patel 1997, Meadow 1996: 405, 1998). Such `horse' skeletons
have not been properly reported from distinct and secure
archaeological layers, and worse, they have not been compared with
relevant collections of ancient skeletons and modern horses (Meadow
1996: 392). Instead, well recorded and stratified finds of horse
figures and later on, of horse bones (along with the imported camel
and donkey), first occur in the Kachi plain on the border of Sindh/E.
Baluchistan (c. 1800-1500 BCE), when the mature Indus Civilisation had
already disintegrated.
Even more importantly, the only true native equid of South Asia is the
untamable khur (Equus hemionus, onager/half-ass) that still tenuously
survives in the Rann of Kutch. Both share a common ancestor which is
now put at ca. 1.72 million years ago (while the first Equus specimen
is attested already 3.7 mya.). The differences between a half-ass
skeleton and that of a horse are so small that one needs a trained
specialist plus the lucky find of the lower forelegs of a horse/onager
to determine which is which, for "bones of a larger khur will overlap
in size with those of a small horse, and bones of a small khur will
overlap in size with those of a donkey." (Meadow 1996: 406).
To merely compare sizes, as Rajaram does following the dubious decades
old Harappan data of Marshall, and then to connect the long gone
"Equus Sivalensis" with the so-called "Anau horse", resulting in the
"Indian country" type, is just another blunder, but Rajaram, the
scientist, is not aware of it.
Proper judgment is not possible as long as none of the above
precautions are taken, and when -- as is often done -- just incomplete
skeletons or teeth are compared, all of which is done without the
benefit of a suitable collection of standard sets of onager, donkey
and horse skeletons. Rajaram and his fellow rewriters of history thus
are free to turn any local half-ass into a Harappan horse, just as he
has already done (see Frontline , Oct./Nov. 2000) with his half-bull.
Further, the archaeologists claiming to have found horses in Indus
sites are not trained zoologists or palaeontologists. When I need to
get my teeth fixed I do not go to a veterinarian or a beauty salon.
Typically, S.P. Gupta (1999) does not add any new evidence, and just
repeats palaeontologically unsubstantiated claims that are, to quote
Rajaram, "myths and conjectures... through the force of repetition."
The Siwalik equid
In addition, Rajaram conjures up another phantom, the Siwalik horse:
"fossil remains of Equus Sivalensis (the `Siwalik horse') show that
the 34-ribbed horse has been known in India going back tens of
thousands of years." Standard palaeontology handbooks (B.J. MacFadden,
Fossil Horses, 1992) would have told him that the Siwalik horse, first
found in the northern hills of Pakistan, is not just "going back tens
of thousands of years" but is in fact 2.6 million years old. However,
it has long died out during the last Ice Age, as part of the late
Pleistocene megafaunal extinction of about 10,000 years ago (i.e. at
the end of the Late Upper Pleistocene, 75-10,000 y.a.: it is
reportedly found in middle to late Pleistocene locations in the
Siwaliks and in Tamil Nadu, and recently, as a "Great Indian horse" in
Andhra, 75,000 y.a.). But there is, to my knowledge, no account of a
Siwalik horse that even remotely approaches the date of the Indus
Civilisation -- nor does Rajaram quote any authority to this effect.
Nevertheless, in order to bolster his claim for the antiquity of the
"Vedic horse (as) a native Indian breed", he connects this dead horse
with the Rigvedic one, which is described as having 34 ribs (Rigveda
1.162.18). But, while horses (Equus caballus) generally have 18 ribs
on each side, this can individually vary with 17 on just one or on
both sides. This is not a genetically inherited trait. Such is also
the case with the equally variable (5 instead of 6) lumbar vertebrae,
as found in some early domestic horses in Egypt (2nd. mill. BCE) and
in the closely related modern Central Asian Przewalski horse (which
shares the same ancestor, 620-320,000 years ago, with the domestic
horse/Equus ferus).
As for the number 34, numeral symbolism may play a role in this
Rigveda passage dealing with a horse sacrificed for the gods. The
number of gods in the Rigveda is 33 or 33+1, which obviously
corresponds to the 34 ribs of the horse, that in turn is speculatively
brought into connection with all the gods, many of whom are mentioned
by name (Rigveda 1.162-3). But this is mere philology, not worthy of
"scientific" study...
In sum, even S. Bokonyi, the palaeontologist who sought to identify a
horse skeleton at the Surkotada site of the Indus Civilisation, stated
that "horses reached the Indian subcontinent in an already
domesticated form coming from the Inner Asiatic horse domestication
centers" -- just as they were imported into the ancient Near East
about 2000 BCE. Any zoological handbook would have told the scientist
Rajaram the same (MacFadden 1992).
In addition, the identification the Surkotada equid as horse by S.
Bokonyi is disputed by R. Meadow and A. Patel (1997). Even if this
were indeed the only archaeologically and palaeontologically secure
Indus horse available so far, it would not turn the Indus Civilisation
into one teeming with horses (as the Rigveda indeed is, a few hundred
years later). A tiger skeleton in the Roman Colosseum does not make
this Asian predator a natural inhabitant of Italy. In short, to state
that the "Vedic horse is a native Indian breed and not the Central
Asian horse" is just another fantasy of the current rewriters of
Indian history.
Nevertheless, Rajaram even repeats some of his own "myths and
conjectures, (which) through the force of repetition, have come to
acquire the status of historical facts," namely the old canard that
"depictions of the horse are known at Harappan sites, though rare" --
a case of fraud and fantasy that has been exploded more than a year
ago in Frontline (Oct./Nov. 2000). Apparently, he thinks, along with
other politicians, that repeating an untruth long enough will turn it
into a fact.
Spoke-wheeled chariots
Rajaram, in dire need of `Rigvedic' horse-drawn chariots for the
Harappan period, then introduces spoked wheels into the Indus
Civilisation: "terracotta wheels at various Harappan sites. ... The
painted lines (spokes) converge at the central hub, and thus leave no
doubt about their representing the spokes of the wheel."
The handful existing specimens of such terracotta disks may indeed
look, even to a trained archaeologist, like a spoked wheel --
especially when he wants to find Aryan chariots, just like Aryan fire
altars, all over the Indus area. But, they may just as well have been
simple spindle whorls, used in spinning very real yarn, not wild Aryan
tales. Further, "spoked wheel patterns" occur in cultures that never
had the wheel, such as pre-Columbian North American civilisations. In
other words, all of this proves nothing as long as we do not find a
pair of these "spoked wheels" in situ, along with a Harappan toy cart.
Normally, the wheels of such toy carts are of the heavy, full wheel
type (that is made of three interlocked wood blocks).
Rajaram then asserts, for good measure, that the "depiction of the
spoke-wheel is quite common on Harappan seals." This refers to the
wheel-like signs in Harappan script. Unfortunately, these "wheels" can
easily be explained as unrelated artistic designs (like in the N.
American case). Worse, they mostly are oblong ovals, not circles. A
Harappan businessman using a cart with such wheels would have gotten
seasick pretty soon. They are unfit for travel -- and for the
discerning reader's consumption.
Instead, the rich Rigvedic materials dealing with the horse-drawn
chariot and chariot races do not fit at all with Indus dates
(2600-1900 BCE) and rather put this text and its chariots well after
c. 2000 BCE, the archaeologically accepted timeframe of the invention
of the spoke-wheeled chariot in the northern steppes and in the Near
East. Again, Rajaram's fantasised "Late Vedic" Indus people have
scored a "first": they invented the chariot long before archaeologists
can find it anywhere on the planet!
"Aryan" chariots
There is no need to go deeply into his building up the straw man of
Aryan invasions (i.e. immigration of speakers of Indo-Aryan),
involving a need to "prove that the Vedas are of foreign origin." No
one today maintains such a theory anyhow. Instead, the Rigveda is a
text of the Greater Punjab, indicating a lot of local acculturation
but using a language and poetics that go back to the earlier Indo-
Iranian period in Central Asia (c. 2000 BCE).
Equally misleading is his caricature: "without the horse and the spoke-
wheel the Harappans were militarily vulnerable to the invading Aryan
hordes who moved on speedy, horse-drawn chariots with spoke-wheels."
As has been mentioned here a few weeks ago, nobody today claims that
the Indo-Aryan speakers arrived on the scene when the mature Indus
Civilisation still was flourishing and destroyed it, it in whatever
fashion. Instead, there is a gap of some centuries between the two
cultures, as the descriptions of ruins and simple mud wall/palisade
forts (pur) in the Rigveda indicate. Vedic texts tell us that the
pastoralist Indo-Aryan nobility fought from chariots, and the
commoners on horseback and on foot, with the local people ( dasyu ) of
the small, post-Harappan settlements who, like the Kikata, are said
not even to understand "the use of cows." Next to warfare there also
was peaceful acculturation of the various peoples in the Greater
Punjab, as is shown by the Rigveda itself.
As for a chariot use, a brief study of ancient Near Eastern warfare
would have done the `historian' Rajaram some good. It is clear to even
a superficial reader that after c. 1600 BCE the Hyksos, Hittites,
etc., used such chariots, not just for show and sport but also in
battle, such as in the famous battle of Kadesh between the Hittites
and Egyptians in 1300 BCE. Chariots were in fact used as late as in
Alexander's battle with Poros (Paurava) in the Punjab, or by the
contemporary Magadha army with its 3,000 elephants and 2,000 chariots.
Why then all this diatribe about the "Aryan" use of chariots in
favorable, flat terrain? (Not, of course, while "thundering down the
Khyber Pass"!)
Foray into linguistics
Mercifully, Rajaram has spared us, this time, his usual assaults on
the "pseudo-science" of linguistics, and instead tries his own hand at
it, and teaches us some Dravidian: kudirai `horse,' which should prove
that the horse has been native to South India forever. However, his
foray into linguistics is incomplete and misleading.
First, Tamil kutirai, Kannada kudire, Telugu kudira, etc. have been
compared by linguists, decades ago, with ancient Near Eastern words:
Elamite kutira `bearer', kuti `to bear.' The Drav. words Brahui
(h)ullii `horse' and Tam. ivuLi are derived from `half-ass,
hemion' (T. Burrow in 1972). Both words, far from being `native South
Indian', thus were coming in from the northwest.
Second, other Indian language families have such `foreign' words as
seen in Munda (Koraput) kurtag, (Korku) gurgi, kurki, (Sabara/Sora)
kurtaa, (Gadaba) krutaa, which are all derived from Tibeto-Burmese,
for example Tsangla (Bhutan) kurtaa, Tib. rta. We know that Himalayan
ponies have always been brought southwards by salt traders and with
them, of course, their names. There also is the independent and
isolated Burushaski (in N. Pakistan) with ha-ghur, cf. Drav. gur- in
Telugu guRRamu, Gondi gurram, etc., and the Austro-Asiatic Khasi (in
Shillong) kulai, Amwi kurwa', etc., -- all of which again point to a
northern origin. (For details see: EJVS 5-1, Aug. 1999,
http://users.primushost.com/india/ejvs, or: International Journal of
Dravidian Linguistics , 2001).
Far from magically proving, with one Dravidian word, that the "native
Indian horse" has been found in the South since times immemorial, the
"man made theory" of linguistics --just as the hard facts of
palaeontological science -- rather indicate that the words for `horse'
were imported, along with the animal, from the (north)western
(Iranian) and northern (Tibetan) areas. Genetics now add another
facet. The domesticated horse seems to have several (steppe) maternal
DNA lines (Science 291, 2001, 474-477; Science 291, 2001, 412; cf.
Conservation Genetics 1, 2000, 341-355), which fits in very well with
the several northern Eurasian words for it mentioned above. The
Eastern Central Asian words must be added; they all probably derive
from Proto-Altaic *mori (as in Mongolian morin, Chinese ma, Japanese
uma, and as surprisingly also found in Irish marc, English mare).
The Harappan Sarasvati
The case of the Vedic Sarasvati river (the modern Sarsuti-Ghagghar-
Hakra) is complex and cannot be dealt with in detail (see, rather,
EJVS 7-3, section 25). It must be pointed out, however, that the
Rigvedic Sarasvati is a river on earth, a `river' in the sky (Milky
Way), and a goddess, and as such Sarasvati is described in superlative
terms, once as flowing `from the mountains to the sea' ( samudra ).
However, this word has several meanings that must be kept apart:
`confluence, lake, mythical ocean surrounding the earth'; the sky,
too, is called a `pond'! To commingle all of this as samudra `Indian
Ocean' is bad philology.
In addition, far from emptying into the Rann of Kutch then, the
Harappan Sarasvati (`having lakes'), disappears as Hakra in the dunes
around and beyond Ft. Derawar in Bahawalpur, after showing signs of a
delta (playa) and of terminal lakes, just like its Iranian namesake in
the Afghani desert, the Haraxvaiti (Helmand) with its Hamun lakes.
Further, simple satellite photographs also do not show when a river
dried up, as the Ghagghar-Hakra has indeed done several times in its
different sections in recent millennia. This was shown in detail for
the Indus and Vedic periods by the former director of Pakistani
archaeology, Rafique Mughal, in his book Ancient Cholistan (1997).
Rajaram again is simply wrong as a scientist in asserting that the
river conveniently "dried up completely by 1900 BCE." Reality is much
more complex.
Actually, much of this has been known since Oldham and Raverty (1886,
1892). (Thus, I myself have printed a Sarasvati map, based on a
lecture of 1983, before the overquoted satellite photos of Yash Pal et
al. were published in 1984). However, we need many more close
observations such as Mughal's, with archaeologically vouched dates for
the individual settlements along the various sections and several
courses of the river.
Finally, the "oceanic descriptions" of the Rigveda imagined by Rajaram
and many other rewriters of history (such as S.P. Gupta, Bh. Singh, D.
Frawley) are based, again, on bad philology: their "data" are taken
from Vedic mythology, floating in the night time sky, and the like! Or
was Bhujyu abducted on another first, a Vedic airship?
[Witzel's article drew the following response from Nagaswamy, former
Director of Archaeology in Tamil Nadu. It appeared in The Hindu, March
12, 2002. Particular attention is to be paid to the section 'Problems
are Complex' where Mr. Nagaswamy dissects Witzel's methodology of
trying to negate evidence, and shifting arguments. Editor]
HARAPPAN HORSE
There is an urgent need to jettison from our textbooks the unproved
statements on Indian civilisation and consign them to academic
polemics, and keep the power mongering self-seeking Taliban
politicians out of educational field.
R. Nagaswamy
THE READERS have been following closely the debate on Harappan
civilisation, published in The Hindu in its Open Page. The latest
article by Michael Witzel (March 5) seems to be taking a partisan
view. Archaeologists have found certain artefacts and scholars are
trying to infer the meaning of the findings and in the process express
divergent views. Such debates are welcome to advance our knowledge
academically, no matter where it comes from. Unfortunately, Witzel's
present article reads personal rather than an academic presentation.
For example, he ridicules the other writer N.S. Rajaram personally by
repeating his name time and again, with personal digs in every
mention. Witzel is not free from the same fault that he attributes to
Rajaram, as in the example of horse in Harappan sites. He states the
horse bones found in the early excavations at Mohenjodaro and Harappa
do not come from secure levels, and such horse bones "found their way
into deposits through erosion cutting and refilling, disturbing the
archaeological layers." Neither does he say how he arrived at this
conclusion nor has he cited any report in support of his view.
Whatever the case may be, it only shows that horse bones were actually
found in the excavations at Harappan sites. In order to justify his
stand he writes that Marshal's Harappan data are "dubious and decades
old." One cannot throw away the data presented by Marshal as it is the
earliest available archaeological report and it is not possible at
this point of time to say suddenly that Marshal has not reported that
layers that were eroded and disturbed in places where horse bones have
been found. One may ask Witzel to state on what basis he says that the
layers that yielded horse bones in more than one site as at
Mohenjodaro and Harappa were eroded and disturbed and the bones got
mixed up? Does he want us to believe that in both the sites, the same
layers yielding horse bones got mixed up in eroded layers? There are
three major excavations conducted at Mohenjodaro and Harappa namely by
Marshal, Mackey and Mortimer Wheeler.
Reports of excavations
George F Dales, who was the last in the series to investigate the
sites, published his findings "Some unpublished, forgotten or
misinterpreted features on Mohenjodaro" in the book Harappan
Civilisation , published by the American Institute of Indian Studies,
1982. He has stated that the reports of all the three great
excavations including that of Wheeler are "incomplete and suffer from
serious losses." Dales states that there is "no end to speculation
that these claims have aroused but it is impossible to reach objective
conclusions with the published details." It is not at all possible to
assess that the layers were disturbed unless other factual evidences
are shown to approve the disturbed conditions.
Michael Witzel also states that conclusions cannot be arrived at with
incomplete bones. Yes. However there cannot be two sets of standards
in dealing with the matter. For example, he questions the views of
Rajaram, but does not show whether R. Meadow, whose conclusions he
supports, based his views on "a full skeleton or full sets of onager,
donkey, or horse skeletons." Further it is known that there are very
rare examples where the full skeletons of animals have been found in
excavations. Are we not aware that most of the reconstructions of
dinosaurs are based not on full skeletons? Archaeologists reconstruct
several cultures with broken pottery. At one place he admits that
clear examples of horse bones are found in Harappan civilisation after
1800 BCE, which still falls in the late Harappan period. Witzel has a
dig at archaeologists that they are not zoologists or palaeontologists
to comment on animal bones. This would apply equally to Witzel who is
not a trained archaeologist to comment on this science. No
archaeologist is expert in all fields but certainly consults experts
before expressing his comments on which he has no expertise.
Problems are complex
To sum up Witzel's arguments proceed on the following lines: (1) No
horse bone has been found in Harappan sites. (2) When pointed out that
they are found in some instances, it is said they are only fragments
and not full skeletons. (3) When pointed out they were found in more
than one site it is said the layers in which they were found ought to
have been eroded ones or disturbed. (4) When pointed out that the
reports of horse bones were not by present day archaeologists but by
the early pioneers it is said that those are dubious and decades old.
(5) When pointed out they were reported by archaeological excavators
then comes the argument that archaeologists are not trained zoologists
and palaeontologists to comment on horse bones (though by the same
argument no credence can be placed on Witzel's opinion as he is
neither an archaeologist nor a palaeontologist). Such arguments are
brought under reductio ad absurdum by logicians. More examples of
willful rejections of points can be cited throughout the article but
suffice to say that for an unbiased reader, the whole article reads
purely a personal attack on an individual writer and exhibits certain
amount of impatience to listen to other view. This does not mean that
I agree with either of the views on the Aryan problem except stating
that we are yet not in a position to go with either of the views for
lack of evidence and would prefer to wait for further discoveries.
The debate has undoubtedly focused on one aspect of Harappan
civilisation: the problems are complex and the data available are
inadequate to come to any conclusion. The vital question that is not
in the debate by the general reader is that in the past 50 years of
India's independence, the unproved inferential views of these
scholars, some of which have been proved totally wrong as in the case
of "the total massacre of the Harappans by the invading barbaric
Aryans", are fully incorporated in our school textbooks, right from
the third or fourth standards. Wheeler dramatised this theory
vehemently that invading Aryans destroyed the Harappan civilisation
and within ten years he was proved totally wrong by new finds of
several Harappan sites spread in space and time. And yet millions of
children of India have been indoctrinated and brainwashed with these
views for the past five decades, and that has caused immense damage to
scientific knowledge. Is there any one party in India today which will
repent for this incalculable damage? Are we justified in continuing to
brainwash our generations of children? Is it not time that we remove
these from school books and confine such debates to post-graduate
community of the country and our children are told only the factual
history. A perusal of the books would show enormous imbalances in
representing regional and dynastic histories. It may be seen, for
example, that South Indian history receives inadequate representation.
The rule of the Pallavas, Cholas or Chalukyas that lasted for over
four hundred years each and had glorious achievements in all fields
gets summary representation, when compared with Mughal rule and the
Colonial rule that did not last even half that period. South India has
witnessed exemplary democratic institutions at the village level for
several centuries in the medieval period that is yet to be brought to
the notice of the children. Surely there is no proportionate
representation.
While the Western history gets exalted position in all fields, the
history of South East Asia like Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos,
Vietnam and even China does not even get a cursory mention. There is
clearly an urgent need to jettison from the books the unproved
statements on Indian civilisation and consign them to academic
polemics, keep the power-mongering self-seeking Taliban politicians
out of educational field, and seek a proportionate place for Indian
civilisation in our textbooks. In fact Witzel has agreed to the need
to revise Indian history in his earlier article, which should be
entrusted to a body of unbiased and balanced academic body free from
racial, religious or political bias.
[ What Witzel has to do with this is unclear. His record so far does
not inspire confidence in his unbaisedness. His scholarly contribution
is also negligible-- he is known more for his personal attacks on
Indian scholars, especially Rajaram than any substantial contribution.
Also, are there not enough Indian scholars capable of writing Indian
history? Is it necessary to go to someone who struggling to save what
is left of his reputation, both as a scholar and as a human being?
Editor]
http://archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/harappan-horse.html
The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization and its Bearing on the Aryan
Question
Text of a lecture given on 29 September 1999 at Chennai’s Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT-Madras), at the invitation of the
students’ Vivekananda Study Circle. The talk was accompanied by a
slide-show illustrating various aspects of the life of the Indus
Valley civilization.
We in India often take pride in Indian civilization, in its
ancientness and great cultural traditions that go back to the dawn of
ages. This is a legitimate feeling, if you consider that Americans or
Australians, for instance, often take even greater pride in their
countries though they are about two centuries old ; of course, their
pride has to be mostly in their material achievements, since they have
had little to show by way of culture, especially nowadays. India, by
contrast, always laid stress on a deep culture before anything else,
and yet, contrary to a common misconception, she never neglected
material life either, except in recent centuries.
I would like to offer tonight some glimpses of the earliest
civilization on the Indian subcontinent, and to show that its high
practicality, and what we may call in our modern language its
“technological” accomplishments, deserve our admiration, as does the
cultural backdrop that made these accomplishments possible. I will
also take a brief look at its relationship with later Indian
civilization, and that will lead us to what is commonly known as the
“Aryan problem.” In doing so, we will be guided by an objective
scientific spirit, taking into account the most recent findings from
archaeology and other fields.
Advance of Archaeology
But first, let me note a strange fact. If you open any good book on
the great civilizations of the ancient world, aimed not at scholars
but at a wider readership, you will almost invariably find that
Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt are given pride of place ; then come, in
mixed order, ancient China, Greece, Central and South America, and the
Indus Valley civilization, also called the Harappan civilization.
Everyone agrees that this early civilization of the Indian
subcontinent was one of the largest in extent, that it made great
advances in crafts and technology, in trade and agriculture, and that
its social organization appears to have been one of the most
efficient, methodical and trouble-free ever ; still, in the end, it
will rarely be given more than a few pages where dozens will be
devoted to Mesopotamia or Egypt, and today, more than seventy years
after its discovery, its existence and accomplishments remain largely
unknown to the general public outside the subcontinent — and inside,
too.
In fact, almost everything about the Harappan civilization appears
mysterious at first sight : Who were its inhabitants ? What language
did they speak ? What beliefs and culture did they have ? What type of
government was able to hold it together ? What caused its decline ?
Why were its great cities abandoned ? Did great natural calamities
take place, or should we blame wars or invoke some invasions ? And
also : What connection is there between this ancient civilization and
those that followed on Indian soil, in the plains of the Ganga, for
example ? Is there a complete break between the two, as some Western
scholars assert, or can what we call Indian civilization be traced all
the way back to the Indus valley ?
Archaeologists, historians and experts from other fields have been
largely unable to agree on these fundamental questions. One reason for
this is the persisting lack of unanimity on the various decipherments
proposed for the Indus script, found on thousands of seals and pottery
pieces excavated from Harappan towns and cities. So their inhabitants
remain dumb to us, their thoughts and culture unfathomable — we are
left to admire their material skills, while scholars indulge in
“educated guesses” on the significance of the statues unearthed, the
figures engraved on the seals, the modes of burial, of government, and
virtually every aspect of Harappan life. Another reason is the very
small number of sites excavated, one to two per cent of all sites
identified as Harappan ; this means we have barely scratched the
surface, and many major findings are awaiting us a few metres
underground. To give just two examples, the site of Ganweriwala, in
the Cholistan region of Pakistan, is estimated to cover eighty
hectares, while that of Lakhmirwala, in India’s Punjab, is thought by
the Indian archaeologist J.P. Joshi to exceed 225 hectares — but
neither has been excavated. A third reason has been the nineteenth-
century hypothesis of an Aryan invasion into India, which insisted on
placing the origins of Indian civilization somewhere in Central Asia,
and therefore left the discovery in the 1920s of the Indus Valley
civilization wrapped in a cloud of confusion.
As a result, till a few years ago, the Harappan world was mostly
presented as anonymous and rather disembodied, with little to excite
our imagination in the way Egypt’s pyramids do. As one of those
general books I mentioned puts it, “The birth, life and death of the
Indus civilization remain three enigmas.”[1] Not very encouraging. But
the scene is fast changing : a lot of path-breaking excavations have
taken place in recent years, for example at Mehrgarh and Harappa, both
now in Pakistan, and in India at Dholavira and Rakhigarhri. Also, in
the last three years or so, a number of excellent new studies have
appeared on the Indus Valley civilization, written by Indian, American
and British archaeologists.[2]Scholars from other disciplines[3] have
joined them — sometimes also challenged them — some old misconceptions
are giving way, and a clearer picture is slowly emerging. In a few
years from now, we can expect this civilization to take its rightful
place as one of the greatest of the ancient world, with most of its
“enigmas” dispelled. Today, let us just try to take stock.
Some of the main sites of the Harappan civilization.
Note the concentration along the dry bed of the Sarasvati.
Physical Data
The most physical data about the Harappan civilization are clear
enough : As of last year, it was said to comprise more than 1,500
settlements, most of them small villages or towns, with only a few
large cities. Some of the “villages” covered more than twenty
hectares ; the cities, in comparison, often extended over some eighty
hectares — Mohenjo-daro up to 250 hectares, about the size of the
entire I.I.T. campus where we are gathered tonight. However, new sites
are added every week or month, and the U.S. archaeologist Gregory L.
Possehl, in a just published monumental study,[4] gives a detailed
list of 2,600 Harappan sites ! What the final figure will be is
anyone’s guess.
The total area encompassed was huge : over one million square
kilometres — more than ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia put together, or,
if you prefer, eight times the size of Tamil Nadu. The southern limit
was between the Tapti and the Godavari rivers, while the northern
limit was some 1,400 kilometres away in Kashmir (at Manda) — though
one site, Shortughai, is found still farther up, in Afghanistan ; as
of now, the easternmost settlement stands at Alamgirpur in Western
Uttar Pradesh, and the western limits were the Arabian sea and the
whole Makran coast, almost all the way to the present Pakistan-Iran
border.
If this civilization was named after the Indus, it is because the
first major settlements, Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, were found along
that river and its tributary, the Ravi. However, in recent decades,
exploration on both sides of the Indo-Pakistan border has brought to
light hundreds of sites along the dry bed of a huge river in the
Ghaggar-Hakra valley.[5] This lost river is now widely recognized to
have been the legendary Sarasvati praised in the Rig-Veda (which also
mentioned the Indus, or “Sindhu,” and all other major rivers of
Punjab). The course of the Sarasvati, south of and broadly parallel to
that of the Indus, has been studied and plotted in some detail not
only by geological exploration, but also by satellite photography and
recently by radioisotope dating of the water still found under the
river’s dry bed in the Rajasthan desert.[6] Since the sites found
along the Sarasvati far outnumber those in the Indus basin, some
scholars have made the point that the Harappan civilization would be
better named the “Indus-Sarasvati civilization.” For instance, the
giant sites of Ganweriwala and Lakhmirwala which I mentioned earlier
are located on the course of the Sarasvati, as are the better known
settlements of Kalibangan and Banawali. Of course, the name “Indus-
Sarasvati civilization” still leaves out a number of sites in Gujarat,
such as Lothal, but it stresses the importance of the Sarasvati river
as the major lifeline of this civilization, the Indus coming a close
second.
Whatever its name, when we speak of this civilization, we usually mean
its “mature phase” (also called “integration era”), during which the
great cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Ganweriwala, Rakhigahri,
Dholavira and others flourished. That phase is now usually dated
2600-1900 BC. But it was of course not born in a day : it was preceded
by a long phase called “early Harappan” or “regionalization era,”
during which villages kept developing and started interacting, and
also many technologies (pottery, metallurgy, farming etc.) were
perfected ; that early phase is now dated by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, a
U.S. archaeologist who has worked on many Indus sites, 5000-2600 BC.
It was itself the result of a long evolution between 7000 and 5000 BC,
which saw the emergence of the first village farming communities and
pastoral camps (as in many other regions of the world) : Mehrgarh, at
the foot of the Bolan Pass in the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, is the
best known example ; according to its excavator, the French
archaeologist Jean-François Jarrige, “The site covers an area of about
500 acres [200 hectares] with only pre-Harappan remains” and shows
“evidence of continuous occupation for more than three millennia prior
to the Harappan civilization.”[7]
The end of the mature phase is usually dated 1900 BC, when most of the
cities were gradually abandoned ; their remarkable civic organization
broke down, forcing people to go back to the villages. The most
probable cause was a series of natural catastrophes — earthquakes,
drastic changes in river courses, consequent depletion of the
Sarasvati, floods, but also a long drought over the whole region
(including West Asia), all of which ravaged agriculture, and perhaps
also excessive deforestation to supply wood to kilns and furnaces.
Another likely factor is a sharp reduction in external trade,
especially with Mesopotamia. But, while earlier generations of
scholars spoke of a total break in Indian civilization as a result of
this decline, archaeologists now agree that another phase, called post-
Harappan, post-urban or also “localization era,” and dated about
1900-1300 BC, followed, and went on to provide a smooth transition to
the first historical states in the Ganga region.
The Cities
What impressed the first discoverers of Harappan cities most was their
sophistication, which displayed town-planning of a level that would be
found only 2000 years later in Europe. Geometrically designed, the
towns had fortifications (for protection against both intruders and
floods), several distinct quarters, assembly halls, and manufacturing
units of various types ; some bigger cities had furnaces for the
production of copper tools, weapons or ornaments ; public baths
(probably often part of temples), private baths for most inhabitants,
sewerage through underground drains built with precisely laid bricks,
and an efficient water management with numerous reservoirs and wells
show that the ordinary inhabitant was well taken care of. Mohenjo-
daro, for instance, is thought to have had over 700 wells, some of
them fifteen metres deep, built with special trapezoid bricks (to
prevent collapse by the pressure of the surrounding soil), and
maintained for several centuries. Quite a few of those wells were
found in private houses. Dholavira had separate drains to collect rain
water and six or seven dams built across nearby rivers. “The fact that
even smaller towns and villages had impressive drainage systems,”
remarks Kenoyer, “indicates that removing polluted water and sewage
was an important part of the daily concerns of the Indus people.”[8] I
am sure that many of our villages in today’s rural India would be
quite happy with such an infrastructure — maybe the candidates at
present roaming our dusty roads in search of votes should study
Harappan public amenities !
Drains from individual houses
empty into a covered collective drain in Mohenjo-daro.
The well-known Indian archaeologist, B. B. Lal, writes in a recent
comprehensive study of this civilization :
Well-regulated streets [were] oriented almost invariably along with
the cardinal directions, thus forming a grid-iron pattern. [At
Kalibangan] even the widths of these streets were in a set ratio, i.e.
if the narrowest lane was one unit in width, the other streets were
twice, thrice and so on. [...] Such a town-planning was unknown in
contemporary West Asia.[9]
The houses were almost always built with mud bricks (sometimes fired
in kilns), which followed a standard ratio of 4 :2 :1, though the
actual sizes varied : bricks for houses, for instance, might be 28 x
14 x 7 cm, while for fortification walls they could be 36 x 18 x 9 cm
or even bigger. Walls were on average seventy centimetres thick (which
I suppose would be nearly three times the thickness of your hostel
walls), and many houses were at least two storeys high. A few houses,
perhaps those of rulers or wealthy traders, were particularly large,
with up to seven rooms, but they might be found right next to a
craftsman’s modest house. A number of big buildings, such as that
around Mohenjo-daro’s “Great Bath,” seem to have served a community
purpose, sometimes perhaps that of temples. Dholavira, in Kutch, even
boasts a huge maidan. It also has massive fortification walls, some of
them as thick as eleven metres, built in the earliest stage of the
city ; apart from standardized bricks, stones were also used there on
a large scale, undressed as well as dressed (note that stones were
perfectly dressed with just copper tools : iron was not yet known).
Map of one area of Mohenjo-daro (“HR area”),
as an example of complex town-planning 4,500 years ago.
Arts and Crafts
The Harappans were expert craftsmen. They made beads of carnelian,
agate, amethyst, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc. ; they manufactured
bangles out of shells, glazed faience and terracotta ; they carved
ivory and worked shells into ornaments, bowls and ladles ; they cast
copper (which they mined themselves in Baluchistan and Rajasthan) and
bronze for weapons, all types of tools, domestic objects and statues
(such as the famous “dancing girl”) ; they also worked silver and gold
with great skill, specially for ornaments. Of course, they baked
pottery in large quantity — to the delight of archaeologists, since
the different shapes, styles, and painted motifs are among the best
guides in the evolution of any civilization (let us remember that most
objects made of cloth, wood, reed, palm leaves etc., usually vanish
without a trace, especially in hot climates). We also know that the
Harappans excelled at stone-carving, complex weaving and carpet-
making, inlaid woodwork and decorative architecture. And, of course,
they engraved with remarkable artistry their famous seals, mostly in
steatite (or soapstone) ; those seals, over 3,000 of which have been
found, seem to have served various purposes : some commercial, to
identify consignments to be shipped, and some ritual or spiritual, to
invoke deities.
Dancing, painting, sculpture, and music (there is evidence of drums
and of stringed instruments) were all part of their culture. Possibly
drama and puppet shows too, judging from a number of masks. Statues
are not abundant, but refined, whether in stone, bronze or terracotta.
An ancestor of the game of chess has been unearthed at Lothal.
Children too were not forgotten, judging from the exquisite care with
which toys were fashioned.
A probable ancestor of the game of chess (in terracotta, from Lothal).
Trade, Shipping, Agriculture & Technology
In addition to a considerable internal trade in metals, stones and all
kinds of goods, the Harappans had a flourishing overseas trade with
Oman, Bahrain, and Sumer ; exchanges with the Sumerians went on for at
least seven centuries, and merchant colonies were established in
Bahrain and the Euphrates-Tigris valley. Of course, none of this would
have been possible without high skills in ship-making and sailing, and
several representations of ships have been found on seals, while many
massive stone anchors have come up at Lothal and other sites of
Saurashtra. For navigation, compasses carved out of conch shells
appear to have been used to measure angles between stars. A voyage
from Lothal to Mesopotamia to sell the prized Harappan carnelian
beads, which the kings and queens of Ur were so fond of, meant at
least 2,500 kilometres of seafaring ; of course there would have been
halts along the shore on the way, but still, 4,500 years ago this must
have ranked among the best sailing abilities.
The other, perhaps the chief mainstay of Harappan prosperity was
agriculture. It was practised on a wide scale, with hundreds of rural
settlements and extensive networks of canals for irrigation ; wheat,
barley, rice, a number of vegetables, and cotton were some of the
common crops. Mehrgarh, for instance, shows “a veritable agricultural
economy solidly established as early as 6000 BC.”[10] Kalibangan even
yielded a field ploughed with two perpendicular networks of furrows,
in which higher crops (such as mustard) were grown in the spaced-out
north-south furrows, thus casting shorter shadows, while shorter crops
(such as gram) filled the contiguous east-west furrows. As B. B. Lal
has shown, this is a technique still used today in the same region.
Any society capable of town-planning, shipping, refined arts and
crafts, writing, sustained trading, necessarily has to master a good
deal of technology. This was also the case here. Craftsmen often used
standardized tools and techniques, especially for the more complex
productions. A highly standardized system of stone weights, unique in
the ancient world, was found not only throughout the Harappan
settlements, but also two thousand years later in the first kingdoms
of the Ganga plains. (The weights were mostly cubes, but sometimes
also truncated spheres.) The first seven weights in the system
followed a geometrical progression, with ratios of 1 : 2 : 4 : 8 : 16
(by which time the weight had reached 13.7g) : 32 : 64, after which
the increments switched to a decimal system and went 160, 200, 320,
640, 1600, 3200, 6400, 8000 and 12,800. The largest weight found in
Mohenjo-daro is 10,865 grams. Now, if you divide its corresponding
ratio of 12,800 by the ratio 16, you get 800 ; multiply this figure by
the weight of 13.7 g found for the 16th ratio, and you get a
theoretical weight of 10,960g — a difference of only 95g with the
actual weight, or less than 0.9% ! I don’t think the weights used
today in our markets reach such precision, not to speak of those
traders who get their weights tailor-made !
In fact, the Harappans very much seem to be the inventors of the first
decimal system for measurement. Their town-planning, which makes much
use of geometry, partly relied on this decimal system. Let me quote
from S. R. Rao, an Indian archaeologist famous for his excavations at
Lothal and his undersea discoveries at Dwaraka and Poompuhar ; he
comments here on an ivory scale found at Lothal, engraved with nearly
thirty divisions regularly spaced every 1.704 mm :
It is the smallest division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze
Age. The width of the wall of the Lothal dock is 1.78 m [i.e. 1,000
such divisions ... and] the length of the east-west wall of the dock
is twenty times its width. Obviously the Harappan engineers followed
the decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes...[11]
I should point out that apart from the continuance of the Indus weight
system or agricultural methods into the historic period,
archaeologists have often highlighted how traditional craftsmen today
in Sindh, Punjab, Rajasthan or Gujarat still use techniques — in bead-
making or shell-working, for instance — very similar to those evolved
in Harappan times more than 4,500 years ago. Even some buildings
techniques are still in use, as B. B. Lal has pointed out.
But however impressive those technological achievements may be (and
there are many others), we should remember that they were not separate
activities, but always blended with the cultural life of the Harappan
world. As Kenoyer remarks,
Symbols of Indus religion and culture were incorporated into pottery,
ornaments and everyday tools in a way that helped to unite people
within the urban centers and link them with distant rural communities.
[12]
Government and Social Evolution
What we have seen so far, and very briefly, is only the most visible
features of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. The internal and
external mechanics of such a society are infinitely complex, and will
no doubt keep archaeologists racking their brains for some more time.
For example, while a few of them see the Harappan political
organization as an empire, with Mohenjo-daro as the seat of the
emperor and a number of “governors” in the regional capitals, others
are in favour of regional states, in view of the difficulty posed by a
single central authority over such vast distances without our modern
communications. Those regional states would have had identities of
their own (as evidenced from regional variations in arts and crafts),
but they would all have been united by a common culture, and also by a
common language (regardless of possible regional dialects). B. B. Lal,
for instance, brings a parallel between the Harappan society and the
Sixteen States or Mahajanapadas of later Buddhist times. This
hypothesis is strengthened by the lack of any glorification or even
representation of rulers on the seals ; even the few sculptures of
human figures found at Mohenjo-daro cannot be said to represent rulers
with any great certainty.
Whatever the truth may be, a few clear points stand out and meet with
general agreement :
First, a remarkable civic organization, which allowed streets in big
cities to be free from any encroachment for centuries together (can
our present Indian cities claim the same for just a few weeks ?). And
let us remember that Mohenjo-daro is thought to have sheltered at
least 50,000 inhabitants — almost a megalopolis for those times.
Secondly, a complete absence of any evidence of armies or warfare or
slaughter or man-made destruction in any settlement and at any point
of time, even as regards the early phase. Not a single seal depicts a
battle or a captive or a victor. True, there were fortifications and
weapons (the latter rather few), but those were probably to guard
against local tribes or marauders rather than against people from
other cities and villages. Fortifications were also often protections
against floods, and weapons must have been used mostly for hunting. So
far as the archaeological record shows, major disruptions in the
cities’ life were caused by natural calamities. In no other ancient
civilization is warfare so absent, and over such a long period of
time ; by contrast, other civilizations of the time consistently
recorded and glorified war feats. And our own modern “civilization,” I
need not remind you, is the bloodiest ever : a few days ago, a United
Nations report lamented the existence of more than 500 million small
arms in circulation — that means one gun or semi-automatic weapon for
every ten of us....
Thirdly, archaeologists now agree that the origins of the Indus-
Sarasvati civilization are to be found on the subcontinent itself. It
no doubt had extensive cultural and commercial contacts with other
civilizations, but its identity was distinct. In the words of Jim G.
Shaffer, a U.S. archaeologist who has worked on many Indus sites :
It is time to view the archaeological data for what it is, and not
what one thinks it is. Recent studies are just beginning to indicate
the real importance of Harappan studies, showing that in South Asia, a
unique experiment in the development of urban, literate culture, was
under way. Such a culture was highly attuned to local conditions and
not a mirror of Mesopotamia’s urban experiment....[13]
The Indus-Sarasvati civilization thus represented a long indigenous
evolution, spanning almost 6,000 years, and with no visible break or
disruption from outside. By any standard, this is a unique achievement
in human history.
But let us not forget that no society can survive long without a
culture to cement its members together and make their lives
meaningful. The very fact that the Indus-Valley civilization was able
to hold together for three millennia (if we include its early phase),
over an immense stretch of land, and with all the signs of social
harmony and stability, shows that it must have had a deep and strong
culture as its foundation. Let us now try to catch a glimpse of it.
The Aryan Problem
The relationship of the Indus-Saraswati civilization with the later
Indian civilization remains a subject of debate. Most of you probably
learned at school that the Harappan towns were destroyed by semi-
barbarian Aryans rushing down from Central Asia on their horse
chariots, and that the survivors among their inhabitants, assumed to
have been Dravidians, were driven to South India by the invaders.
Passages from the Rig-Veda were twisted and sometimes mistranslated to
show a record of such a physical and cultural clash. In many respects,
this is still the “official” theory, although, since the 1960s, when
the U.S. archaeologist G. F. Dales demolished all supposed evidence of
such attacks and slaughter, the theory has limited itself to saying
that the supposed Aryans, or Indo-Aryans or Indo-Europeans, to use the
present terminology, entered North India after the collapse of the
Harappan civilization.
But you may be surprised to learn that most archaeologists now reject
this invasion or migration theory, as they cannot find the slightest
trace of it on the ground, and it is unthinkable that the supposed
Aryans could have conquered most of India and imposed on it their
Vedic culture without leaving any physical evidence of any sort. Even
respected archaeologists of the old school of thought, such as Raymond
and Bridget Allchin, now admit that the arrival of Indo-Aryans in
Northwest India is “scarcely attested in the archaeological record,
presumably because their material culture and life-style were already
virtually indistinguishable from those of the existing
population.”[14] We are very far from the bloody invasion and cultural
war envisaged by Max Müller and other nineteenth-century scholars.
But even this tempered view is no longer acceptable to the “new
school,” whose foundation can be said to have been laid in 1984 by Jim
Shaffer. He wrote :
Current archaeological data do not support the existence of an Indo-
Aryan or European invasion into South Asia any time in the pre- or
protohistoric periods. Instead, it is possible to document
archaeologically a series of cultural changes reflecting indigenous
cultural developments from prehistoric to historic periods.[15]
Kenoyer, whom I quoted earlier, concludes in his recent beautiful
book :
Many scholars have tried to correct this absurd theory [of an Aryan
invasion], by pointing out misinterpreted basic facts, inappropriate
models and an uncritical reading of Vedic texts. However, until
recently, these scientific and well-reasoned arguments were
unsuccessful in rooting out the misinterpretations entrenched in the
popular literature.
[...] But there is no archaeological or biological evidence for
invasions or mass migrations into the Indus Valley between the end of
the Harappan Phase, about 1900 BC and the beginning of the Early
Historic period around 600 BC.[16]
I could quote similar opinions from many respected Indian
archaeologists such as B. B. Lal, S. R. Rao, S. P. Gupta, Dilip K.
Chakrabarty, K. M. Srivastava, M. K. Dhavalikar, R. S. Bisht and
others. The point is that the theory of an Aryan invasion or even
migration into India finds no evidence on the ground and has no
scientific basis whatsoever.
The biological evidence Kenoyer refers to relies on the detailed
examination of skeletons found in Harappan settlements. Kenneth A. R.
Kennedy, a U.S. expert who has extensively studied such skeletal
remains, observes :
Biological anthropologists remain unable to lend support to any of the
theories concerning an Aryan biological or demographic entity [...].
What the biological data demonstrate is that no exotic races are
apparent from laboratory studies of human remains excavated from any
archaeological sites [...]. All prehistoric human remains recovered
thus far from the Indian subcontinent are phenotypically identifiable
as ancient South Asians. [...] In short, there is no evidence of
demographic disruptions in the north-western sector of the
subcontinent during and immediately after the decline of the Harappan
culture.[17]
I hope you understand the implication : No invasion or migration
caused or followed the collapse of the urban phase of the Indus-
Sarasvati civilization around 1900 BC. What is still taught in our
textbooks about so-called Aryans is no more than imagination. The
Harappans were just Northwestern Indians of the time and continued to
live there even after the end of the urban phase (with some of them
migrating towards the Ganga plains in search of greener pastures). In
fact, archaeologists and anthropologists now reject the old notion of
race altogether. To quote from Possehl’s recent book which I mentioned
earlier :
Race as it was used in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
has been totally discredited as a useful concept in human biology.
[...] There is no reason to believe today that there ever was an Aryan
race that spoke Indo-European languages and was possessed with a
coherent and well-defined set of Aryan or Indo-European cultural
features.[18]
In simple terms, this means that, for science, there is no such thing
as an Aryan race, or a Dravidian race for that matter. Nor is there
for Indian tradition, in which the word “Arya” never meant a race, but
a quality of true nobility, culture and refinement. And so, if no
Aryan people invaded or entered into India, it stands to reason that
the Vedic culture was also native to the subcontinent, and not an
import. In fact, quite a few scholars and archaeologists today see a
number of clear Vedic traits in the Harappan culture. To cite a few :
the presence of fire-altars, an essential element of Vedic rituals ;
the symbol of a bull engraved on hundreds of seals, a Vedic symbol par
excellence ; the cult of a mother-goddess, of a Shiva-like deity, the
depiction of yogic postures, and of yogis or sages (judging from his
deeply contemplative appearance, the so-called “priest-king” was more
likely a yogi or a rishi than a priest). The famous Unicorn and the
three-headed creature, both depicted on many Indus seals, are
mentioned in the Mahabharata as aspects of Krishna, as N. Jha, an
Indian epigraphist, has shown. Indeed, quite a few symbols used in
later Indian culture, such as the trishul or the swastika, the pipal
tree or the endless-knot design, are found in the Indus-Saraswati
cities. Even its town-planning with three main distinct areas is
consistent with Rig-Vedic descriptions, as the Indian archaeologist R.
S. Bisht has argued.[19] So are trade and shipping, also extensively
mentioned in the Rig-Veda.
(Clockwise from top left :) A terracotta figurine from Harappa, in a
yoga posture;
seals depicting a Shiva-like deity, a unicorn, and a bull.
Moreover, let us remember the hundreds of settlements along the
Sarasvati, a river praised in the Rig-Veda, which confirms again the
identification between Harappans and Vedic people.
The decipherment of the Indus script would of course be the ultimate
test. I will just mention here that while attempts to read some proto-
Dravidian language into it have failed and are now abandoned, there
has been progress among those who see the language thus written to be
related to Sanskrit. N. Jha’s decipherment, proposed recently, appears
to be the most promising, simple and consistent, and once a major
study of it is published shortly,[20] we can expect a lively debate
among scholars to decide its value.
I am not touching here on a number of related issues, such as the
linguistic problem posed by a deep similarity between Sanskrit and
most European languages, since the verdict of archaeological evidence
is, to my mind, quite sufficient. Let me recommend to those interested
a brilliant study by a young Belgian scholar and expert on India,
Koenraad Elst, just published in India under the title Update on the
Aryan Invasion Debate. In it, he discusses most of those issues
threadbare and shows in particular that this linguistic affinity can
very well be explained without any sort of Aryan invasion.
One more remark before I conclude : Archaeological evidence in no way
contradicts Indian tradition, rather it broadly agrees with it (except
for its chronology). Whether from North or South India, tradition
never mentioned anything remotely resembling an Aryan invasion into
India. Sanskrit scriptures make it clear that they regard the Vedic
homeland to be the Saptasindhu, which is precisely the core of the
Harappan territory. As for the Sangam tradition, it is equally silent
about any northern origin of the Tamil people ; its only reference is
to a now submerged island to the south of India, Kumari Kandam, and
initial findings at Poompuhar show that, without our having to accept
this legend literally, we may indeed find a few submerged cities along
Tamil Nadu’s coast ; only more systematic explorations, especially at
Poompuhar and Kanyakumari, where fishermen have long reported
submerged structures, can throw more light on this tradition.
Not only Indian tradition, but a number of Indians with a far better
understanding of Vedic texts than that of Western scholars, for
example Swami Vivekananda, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Sri Aurobindo,
B. R. Ambedkar and many others, have vigorously dismissed the Aryan
invasion as a groundless conjecture intended to divide Indians for
colonial motives. They have correctly argued that the Indian people
have no memory or record of any such outside origin, and archaeology
is now increasingly confirming their insights.
Conclusion
I will end where I began. Would it be “chauvinistic” (to use a word
our modern Indian intellectuals are so fond of) to attribute the
greatness of the Indus-Sarasvati civilization to the Indian genius ? I
do not think so. Apart from its striking cultural continuity with
subsequent developments of Indian civilization, which makes up a total
thread of 9,000 years, it exhibits traits typical of the Indian
temperament : a bold enterprising spirit, a remarkable adaptability to
changing conditions, a cultural and spiritual content in the smallest
everyday activities, and, most importantly, a capacity for a broader
view, without which this huge area could not have had such a cultural
homogeneity free from major conflicts. Even its remarkable civic
sense, so lacking in today’s India, is yet part of the Indian
character ; I have observed that Indians are quite capable of it, but
contrary to well-disciplined Western peoples (the British or the
Germans, for instance), Indians will accept collective discipline only
once their hearts have been conquered ; mere authority and rules
cannot get it out of them.
All said and done, the people of the Indian subcontinent can
justifiably claim this ancient civilization as a central and inspiring
part of their heritage. But they should not forget to learn from it
the great lesson of the cycles of birth, life, decay, and rebirth of
Indian civilization, a lesson we need to keep in our minds especially
at the present moment.
Bibliography & Suggested Further Reading
(This list includes only books published this decade and accessible to
a general public with an interest in the Harappan civilization and the
Aryan question ; more technical or scholarly studies have not been
listed here.)
Allchin, Raymond & Bridget, Origins of a Civilization — The Prehistory
and Early Archaeology of South Asia (New Delhi : Viking, 1997)
Danino, Michel & Nahar, Sujata, The Invasion That Never Was (New
Delhi : The Mother’s Institute of Research & Mysore : Mira Aditi, 2nd
ed., 2000)
Deo, S.B., & Kamath, Suryanath, The Aryan Problem (Pune : Bharatiya
Itihasa Sankalana Samiti, 1993)
Elst, Koenraad, Update on the Aryan Invasion Debate (New Delhi :
Aditya Prakashan, 1999)
Feuerstein, Georg, Kak, Subhash & Frawley, David, In Search of the
Cradle of Civilization (Wheaton, U.S.A. : Quest Books, 1995 & Delhi :
Motilal Banarsidass, 1999)
Frawley, David, Gods, Sages and Kings — Vedic Secrets of Ancient
Civilization (Delhi : Motilal Banarsidass, 1993)
——, The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India (New Delhi : Voice of
India, 1994)
Gupta, S. P., The Indus-Sarasvati Civilization — Origins, Problems and
Issues (Delhi : Pratibha Prakashan, 1996)
Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley
Civilization (Karachi & Islamabad : Oxford University Press & American
Institute of Pakistan Studies, 1998)
Jha, N., Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals (Vanarasi : Ganga Kaveri
Publishing House, 1996)
Jha, N. & Rajaram, N. S., The Deciphered Indus Script — Methodology,
Readings, Interpretations (New Delhi : Aditya Prakashan, 2000)
Lal, B. B., The Earliest Civilization of South Asia (New Delhi : Aryan
Books International, 1997)
——, India 1947-1997 : New Light on the Indus Civilization (New Delhi :
Aryan Books International, 1998)
Mughal, Mohammad Rafique, Ancient Cholistan — Archaeology and
Architecture (Lahore : Ferozsons, 1997)
Possehl, Gregory L., The Indus Age : The Writing System (New Delhi :
Oxford & IBH, 1996)
——, The Indus Age : The Beginnings (New Delhi : Oxford & IBH, 1999)
Radhakrishnan, B. P., & Merh, S. S., eds., Vedic Sarasvati —
Evolutionary History of a Lost River of Northwestern India
(Bangalore : Geological Society of India, 1999)
Rajaram, N. S., Politics of History — Aryan Invasion Theory and the
Subversion of Scholarship (New Delhi : Voice of India, 1995)
Rajaram, N. S. & Frawley, David, Vedic Aryans and the Origins of
Civilization — A Literary and Scientific Perspective (New Delhi :
Voice of India, 1997)
Rao, S. R., Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization (New Delhi :
Aditya Prakashan, 1991)
Singh, Bhagwan, The Vedic Harappans (New Delhi : Aditya Prakashan,
1995)
Talageri, Shrikant G., The Rigveda : A historical Analysis (New
Delhi : Aditya Prakashan, 2000)
References
[1]Ruth Whitehouse & John Wilkins, L’Aube des Civilisations (“Dawn of
Civilization”, Paris : Bordas, 1987), p. 69.
[2] See in the Bibliography titles under Allchin, Gupta, Kenoyer, Lal,
Mughal, Possehl, Radhakrishnan and Rao.
[3] See in the Bibliography titles under Elst, Feuerstein, Frawley,
Jha and Rajaram.
[4] See Bibliography under Possehl, 1999.
[5] See Bibliography under Mughal.
[6] See detailed study in S. M. Rao and K. M. Kulkarni, “Isotope
hydrology studies on water resources in Western Rajasthan,” Current
Science, 10 January 1997.
[7] Jean-François Jarrige, “Excavations at Mehrgarh” in Harappan
Civilization, ed. Gregory L. Possehl (New Delhi : Oxford & IBH, 1993),
p. 79 ff.
[8] Kenoyer, 1998, p. 61.
[9] Lal, 1997, p. 95.
[10] Jean-François Jarrige, “De l’Euphrate à l’Indus,” Dossiers
Histoire et Archéologie (Dijon : December 1987), p. 84.
[11] Rao, 1991, p. 17.
[12] Kenoyer, 1998, p. 162.
[13] Jim G. Shaffer, “Harappan Culture : A Reconsideration,” in
Harappan Civilization, ed. Gregory L. Possehl (New Delhi : Oxford &
IBH, 1993), p. 49.
[14] Allchin, 1997, p. 222.
[15] Jim G. Shaffer, “The Indo-Aryan Invasions : Cultural Myth and
Archaeological Reality,” in J. R. Lukak’s People of South Asia (New
York : Plenum, 1984), p. 88 (emphasis mine).
[16] Kenoyer, 1998, p. 174 (emphasis mine).
[[17] Kenneth A. R. Kennedy, “Have Aryans been identified in the
prehistoric skeletal record from South Asia ?” in The Indo-Aryans of
Ancient South Asia, ed. George Erdosy (Berlin & New York : Walter de
Gruyter, 1995), p. 60 & 54 (emphasis mine).
[18] Possehl, 1999, p. 42.
[19 R. S. Bisht : “Dholavira Excavations : 1990-94” in Facets of
Indian Civilization — Essays in Honour of Prof. B. B. Lal, ed. J. P.
Joshi (New Delhi : Aryan Books International, 1997), vol. I, p.
111-112.
[20] Their book has since been published. See Bibliography under Jha &
Rajaram.
extracts
The Harappans were expert craftsmen. They made beads of carnelian,
agate, amethyst, turquoise, lapis lazuli, etc. ; they manufactured
bangles out of shells, glazed faience and terracotta ; they carved
ivory and worked shells into ornaments, bowls and ladles ; they cast
copper (which they mined themselves in Baluchistan and Rajasthan) and
bronze for weapons, all types of tools, domestic objects and statues
(such as the famous “dancing girl”) ; they also worked silver and gold
with great skill, specially for ornaments.
Michel Danino - A profile
Born in 1956 at Honfleur (France) into a Jewish family recently
emigrated from Morocco, from the age of fifteen Michel Danino was
drawn to India, some of her great yogis, and soon to Sri Aurobindo and
Mother and their view of evolution which gives a new meaning to our
existence on this earth. In 1977, dissatisfied after four years of
higher scientific studies, he left France for India, where he has
since been living.
Michel Danino participated in the English translation and publication
of Mother’s Agenda (13 volumes, Mother’s record of her yoga in the
depths of the body consciousness) and several books by Satprem
(Mother’s confidant and recipient of Mother’s Agenda). Michel Danino
also edited, among other titles, India’s Rebirth (a selection from Sri
Aurobindo’s works about India, available online ; first published in
1993, now in its 3rd edition, translated into nine Indian languages)
and India the Mother (a selection from Mother’s words, 1998).
Studying India’s culture and ancient history in the light of both Sri
Aurobindo’s pioneering work and archaeological research, in 1996
Michel Danino authored The Invasion That Never Was, a brief study of
the Aryan invasion theory. Intended primarily for the educated non-
specialist Indian public, the book has also been well received in
scholarly circles. A second, extensively revised and enlarged edition
was brought out in 2000; a third is scheduled for late 2003.
Over the last few years, Michel Danino has given lectures at various
official, academic and cultural forums on issues confronting Indian
culture and civilization in today’s world ; some of them have been
published under the titles Sri Aurobindo and Indian Civilization
(1999), The Indian Mind Then and Now (2000), Is Indian Culture
Obsolete ? (2000), and Kali Yuga or the Age of Confusion (2001).
Delving into the roots of Indian civilization, Michel Danino has
argued that its essential values remain indispensable in today’s India
— and in fact for all humanity in this critical phase of global
deculturization and dehumanization. Many of those lectures and a few
new ones are available on this homepage.
Michel Danino’s other fields of activity include Nature conservation;
his action for the preservation of an important pocket of native
tropical rainforest in the Nilgiris led to the creation of Tamil
Nadu’s first “watchdog” committee in which concerned citizens actively
collaborated with both the Forest Department and local villagers in
conservation work, also involving local teachers and hundreds of
students.
In 2001, Michel Danino convened the International Forum for India's
Heritage (IFIH) with over 160 eminent founder members, whose mission
is to promote the essential values of India's heritage in every field
of life.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/index.html
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/indus.html
http://archaeologyonline.net/artifacts/aryan-invasions.html
The Deciphered Indus Script :
Methodology, Readings, Interpretations
By N. Jha & N. S. Rajaram(Aditya Prakashan, New Delhi, 2000 269 pp.,
bibl., index, Rs. 950/-)
This book review by Michel Danino was published in The Organiser of 12
November 2000
One of the most unyielding riddles of Indian prehistory has been the
one presented by the Indus script—the mysterious symbols delicately
engraved on thousands of small steatite seals found in ancient cities
of the Indus or Harappan civilization. Those cities—the best-known of
them Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Lothal, Dholavira—date back nearly 4500
years, which makes the Indus script one of the oldest in the world,
contemporary with Mesopotamian cuneiform scripts or Egyptian
hieroglyphics, for instance. Most of those other ancient scripts, also
the Maya, the Linear B of ancient Crete, have been unravelled by
decades of scholarly labour, debate, even controversy, often also by
strokes of genius. Yet the Indus script has proved a hard nut to crack
and has resisted generations of savants of all kinds since it came to
light in the 1920s. So much so that whoever finally succeeds is
assured of going down to posterity ! So far, more than a hundred
solutions have been proposed by Western and Indian archaeologists,
epigraphists and other experts : some (such as Father Heras or Asko
Parpola) have read a Dravidian language, others (such as the well-
known archaeologist Dr. S. R. Rao) have found a type of Sanskrit, yet
others numeric codes or various symbol systems. But the fact remains
that no interpretation has met with general or even widespread
acceptance, and some scholars have even despaired of the script being
ever understood. As a result, any new claim of a solution—and they
keep coming up regularly—is met with scepticism, if not weariness,
rather than excitement.
There are good reasons for this pessimism. First, the lack of
agreement on the type of language underlying the script, as the
cultural background of the Harappan civilization remains itself a
matter of debate. Second, none of the inscribed seals, pieces of
pottery etc. found so far bears a bilingual text : were a text,
however short, to be found written in another script alongside the
Indus (as was the case with the famous Rosetta stone which gave
Champollion the clue to the hieroglyphics), we would get some definite
clues. Third, most of the inscriptions found so far are strikingly
short, usually under ten or fifteen characters, leaving much room to
conjecture and not enough to independent verification. Fourth,
scholars from different schools of thought have tended to work in
isolation rather than in collaboration, and that of course has done
nothing to hasten towards a solution.
One decipherment that has received some publicity in recent years is
that of N. Jha, an epigraphist and Vedic scholar, first proposed in
his brief book, Vedic Glossary on Indus Seals published in 1996. Soon
afterwards, N. S. Rajaram, a multifaceted scholar with several books
on ancient India to his credit, endorsed Jha’s work, and joined him in
further research on the script. Together they have published the book
under review, which offers a more thorough exposition of Jha’s
methodology and findings. The very fact that the book includes
readings for nearly 600 Indus inscriptions—something very few other
proposed decipherments have provided—should be enough to arrest the
attention of any objective student of the Indus civilization.
The book’s first chapters offers a background to the Indus Valley
civilization and the whole problem of a supposed Aryan invasion of
India at or just after the end of that civilization. Although the
“Aryan Invasion theory,” the child of nineteenth-century European
Indologists, continues to figure in Indian history textbooks, most
archaeologists—whether Indian or Western—have now rejected it, for the
simple reason that there is not a shred of evidence for it on the
ground, and it is inconceivable that such a massive disruption in the
history of the subcontinent would have left no physical trace of any
sort. On the contrary, the one fact that emerges from recent
archaeological investigations is the striking continuity of the Indian
civilization from pre- to post-Harappan times, and in the absence of
any sign of warfare or man-made destruction in the Indus cities, large-
scale natural calamities remain the best explanation for the slow
disintegration of the Harappan urban structure. Rajaram, the author of
most of the book’s writing, is forthright in his conviction that with
the Aryan invasion now out of the way, we need look no farther than
the Indus cities to find the Vedic Aryans : “The vast body of primary
literature from the Vedic period has been completely divorced from
Harappan archaeology. This has meant that this great literature and
its creators have no archaeological existence. In our view, the
correct approach to breaking this deadlock is by a combination of likes
—a study of primary data from archaeology alongside the primary
literature from ancient periods.”
There lies in fact the originality of Jha’s approach to the Indus
script. Struck by a verse in the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva, 342.73)
which records Yaska’s effort to compile ancient Vedic glossaries “lost
buried in the depths”, Jha wondered if there could be a connection
between Yaska’s Nighantu and the seals. That insight led him to
develop his method, and many of the words he reads on the seals are
indeed listed in the Nighantu. That in itself would prove nothing,
since many before Jha have read on the seals just what they were
expecting to find, but the elaborate consonantal system described in
the core of the book certainly presents at first sight a consistent
picture. According to Jha, the Indus script contained almost no
vowels, a feature too of several other scripts, such as ancient
Hebrew. Most of the signs are therefore consonants or composite
consonants. One notable exception is the famous U-shaped letter which
has caused so much ink to flow in the scholarly world : Jha sees in it
a “generic vowel” used to denote words beginning with any vowel. As
regards the large number of distinct signs used in the Indus script
(well over 400), many are accounted for as composite signs, some of
them showing an embryonic vowel stroke system, and the rest as
variants, not an unreasonable hypothesis as the Indus script covered a
very wide geographical area and at least a millennium. A number of
tables expound the values for the signs, and even a layman can note
that Jha and Rajaram do not depart from the attributed values.
In addition, Jha links the mysterious unicorn and the three-headed
creature often depicted on the seals to passages in the Mahabharata
describing just such symbols. This is a novel observation which,
script apart, deserves the attention of archaeologists.
So then, what do the seals tell us according to the authors ? They
yield Sanskrit words written in the pithy Sutra style. Some
inscriptions do contain names of gods, as was to be expected, for
example “Indra” next to the representation of a bull, a symbol often
associated with this god in the Rig-Veda. Agni, Rudra, Rama and Sita
and other deities also find mention.
The inscription on the famous Pasupati seal, reads isadyatta mara,
which is listed in the Nighantu (2.22) and means “evil forces subdued
by Isha,” Isha being another name of Shiva. But apart from such divine
invocations, more mundane messages are engraved, from “a kitchen” or
“mosquito” to “people are working by fire at night to stop the flow of
flooding waters.” If the readings are accepted, they provide a
surprisingly vivid picture of Harappan society.
Well-produced, wide in scope, written in a lucid and racy style, the
book is however not free of defects. The text tends to be repetitive,
especially in the first chapters, at times going round in circles. The
reproductions of the seals are generally poor, especially the one
supposed to represent a horse, which looks more like a line-drawing ;
in view of its importance (conventional archaeology asserts that the
true horse is never represented on the seals), the reader is left
wishing for a good photograph. Also, the pictorial motifs found on the
seals are sometimes questionably described (for instance those on the
seal called “Seven goddesses”). In fact, the interpretation of such
motifs often seems rather forced. Finally, the parallels with the
geometrical formulas found in the Sulba-Sutras are not sufficiently
worked out to be convincing.
All those limitations, however, are incidental, for the central
question is whether the script has finally been cracked or not. One
legitimate objection would be that the almost total absence of vowel
signs allows too much freedom of interpretation ; only a fuller
publication covering all known 3,500 seals, or else the discovery of a
longer text, could remove such a doubt. Expectedly, Jha’s decipherment
has been fiercely attacked by a few conventional scholars, who will
not bear to hear anything in the shape of a Harappan-Vedic equation—an
equation which yet makes a lot of sense from archaeological and
cultural standpoints. Expectedly too, none of those detractors has so
far bothered to offer a reasoned and detailed critique of Jha’s
methodology and its technical aspects—perhaps even to study them at
all. What is needed is an objective scrutiny by experts in an open-
minded scientific spirit, something rarer in the scholarly world than
one would expect. We may have to wait for a few years for the dust to
settle and a sober verdict to emerge.
If Jha’s and Rajaram’s work fails to stand the test of time, it will
only go to swell the long list of ingenious but discarded hypotheses
on the most ancient script of the subcontinent. If, on the other hand,
it has finally solved the riddle—or even taken a few real steps
towards doing so—then we shall hear about it again, and the
consequences for our understanding of the roots of Indian civilization
will be momentous.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/jha_rajaram.html
A review of ANTAIOS
(June 1996 issue)
This article, published in The Observer of Business and Politics of 5
April 1997, is a review of the Belgian magazine of Paganism, Antaios.
In our age of pervasive frivolity on the one hand and pseudo-
intellectuality on the other, it is a pleasant surprise to see an
outstanding magazine such as Antaios. Named after the giant wrestler
of Greek mythology who was invincible as long as he was in contact
with the earth, his mother Gaia, this biannual magazine comes to us
from Belgium and is published in French by a “European circle of
reflection on Paganism.” The word “Pagan” is a heavily loaded one in
the West, where it tends to call up anything from the crudest savage
to pictures of drunken satyrs dancing around a fire under the moon.
But here is something both more sober and deeper: people dissatisfied
with the Christian civilization and its one-track thought, its
primitive idea of conquering the world for a “one and only God, a one
and only Party or a one and only Market.” For a few decades now, such
movements have been multiplying in the West, in search of pre-
Christian roots and a richer ancient heritage whose surface has as yet
barely been scratched.
Not unnaturally, some of these movements have discovered a profound
kinship with Hinduism, the only living tradition with unbroken
continuity to the remotest past, and a culture which never tried to
lock up God and man within a rigid set of dogmas revealed for all time
to come. That kinship is central to the present 216-page issue of
Antaios, which focuses on the theme of Hindutva. The editorial sets
the tone with this apt quotation from Alain Daniélou, who did much to
open the West and more particularly France to the Indian world-view:
“I have tried to give a glimpse of the profound values of this
prestigious civilization, the only one to have survived among the
great civilizations of the ancient world, and whose contribution, if
it were better known, could bring about deep changes in the thought of
the modern world, and prompt a new Renaissance.” The editorial adds:
“India calls on us to rediscover the vision of archaic man so as to
better confront the challenges of the next millennium, which will at
once be post-Christian and post-rationalist. Everybody knows, without
having really read it, Malraux's often truncated sentence: ‘In the
face of the most terrible threat mankind has known, the task of the
next century will be to reintegrate the gods in man.’ As a matter of
fact, India has never broken her contract with her gods, this pax
deorum which is the foundation of any traditional society.... Hindutva
is a way of freeing ourselves from the deadly grip of Western
ideology.... With our Hindu brothers, our duty is to resist all
cultural genocides which our dying modernity is still ridden with.”
There follow several enriching interviews with thinkers in different
fields: historians, archaeologists, ethnologists, philosophers,
sociologists, who all share their vision of a world wider than the
Judeo-Christian mould would have it. Two interviews stand out in this
issue devoted to India: those of Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goel; they
are the two pillars of Voice of India, the publishing house which has
given us deep studies on the history and foundations of Christianity
and Islam and their impact on Indian society. Ram Swarup contrasts
these two Semitic religions with Hinduism, concluding: “The Hindu
tradition differs completely [from these conceptions]. In this
tradition, God resides in man's heart, and He is accessible to all who
seek Him in sincerity, truth and faith.... God reveals Himself
directly to the seeker and needs no specially authorized saviour, no
go-betweens.” When asked whether India can play a role in the present
“Pagan renaissance,” Ram Swarup replies: “I believe that Hinduism has
a very important role to play in the religious self-discovery of
humanity, particularly of Europe. The reason is simple. Hinduism
represents the most ancient tradition which is also still alive. It
has preserved in its bosom a whole spiritual past of humanity.” Sita
Ram Goel vigorously exposes the fatal narrowness of the so-called
monotheistic religions, and gives the hackneyed critics of the caste
system a very interesting rejoinder evidently based on his wide
scholarship: “The Western intelligentsia criticizes a caste system
that never existed in India, which the fruit of the imagination of
Indianists.... In India's literary and epigraphic sources, which are
more than abundant, we never meet Aryan invaders or this caste system
[they are supposed to have created], or also those shrewd Brahmins.
What we see is thousands of communities spread over the whole
territory and fulfilling all sorts of functions, economical, social,
cultural, administrative, political, spiritual and philosophical. The
genius of Hinduism consisted in allowing every one of these
communities to enjoy a maximum of autonomy within a wide cultural
consensus.... This concrete reality of India, of which indisputable
traces exist, has been totally ignored by Western research.” Sita Ram
Goel then traces the genesis of Voice of India, pointing out how
despite the seriousness of its publications, it has had to bear
official harassment and a complete blackout on the part of the
national press in India. “But no member of this tribe has ever
answered our criticisms of Christianity and Islam,” he adds.
The magazine's editor, Christopher Gérard, comments: “For Europeans
Pagans, these two writers are models. The link with our Paganism is
moreover clearly claimed, since they exhort us to rediscover our pre-
Christian heritage. Reading them, one seems at times to hear the voice
of Pagan Resistance fighters sprung from the past who recall us to our
sacred duty of memory.”
The following pages in this issue are dedicated to Alain Daniélou, who
spent many years in India; they include some little-known articles of
his, dealing in particular with the questions of caste, Hindu society,
the Hindu woman... Daniélou certainly penetrated deep into the Hindu
psyche, and sought to erase ingrained Western prejudices: “With rare
exceptions,” he writes in Castes, Egalitarianism and Cultural
Genocides, “we are witnessing under the steamroller of a so-called
Western egalitarianism the progressive disappearance of fine arts,
dance, music, traditional sciences and even languages of Africa and
other continents. Until the middle of the twentieth century, the
superiority of the white race, its civilization and religion, was
regarded in Europe as an indisputable fact. It took the excesses of
Nazism to call it somewhat into question. It is this conviction of the
superiority of Europeans and Christianity that served as an excuse for
colonial expansion. Christianity is theoretically antiracist, provided
everyone becomes a Christian and obeys the Church's arbitrary dogmas.
Islam too is antiracist if you become Muslim. Marxism is antiracist if
you accept its principles, its morality and class racism. One shudders
with horror when one sees the highest prelate of the Catholic Church
celebrate in 1984 the arrival in America of the Spanish, carrying the
‘Christian message,’ and when one thinks of the genocide this message
concealed and of the present state of Indians in so-called ‘Latin’
America. Those are the three ideologies that have endeavoured to
create in India religious and social conflicts....” Despite these and
many other remarkable insights, one may voice a word of caution
regarding certain notions (such as the Aryan invasion of India, the
phallic nature of the lingam, etc.) which Daniélou uses or develops,
perhaps little realizing that they are entirely the creation of a
nineteenth-century European scholarship imbued with precisely the
Christian prejudices he sets out to denounce.
This issue of Antaios will certainly generate genuine interest about
India in the French-speaking world, and we must wish this deserving
magazine and movement a rich and long pagan life.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/antaios.html
English: Lectures and Articles
Note : All articles / lectures below are copyrighted, but may be
reproduced in magazines / periodicals anywhere without further
authorization, provided : (1) the text is not edited in any way and is
reproduced integrally (it may however be split into several parts over
successive issues); (2) the article’s / lecture’s title and brief
introductory note are left unchange ; (3) the copyright shall remain
with the author; (4) upon publication, a complete copy of the issue of
the magazine / periodical containing the article / lecture is mailed
to Michel Danino (please contact over email for a postal address).
INDIAN CULTURE
Sri Aurobindo’s View of Indian Culture
Sri Aurobindo’s vision for his country has remained largely unknown in
India. A brief presentation.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/indianculture.html
Sri Aurobindo and the Gita
Sri Aurobindo’s view of some essential questions raised by the Gita :
peace vs. war, ahimsa vs. force and violence.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/gitalecture.html
The Gita and Integral Yoga
The relationship between Sri Aurobindo’s yoga and the yoga of the
Gita.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/integralyoga.html
The Gita in Today’s World
The Gita and the problem of action : Is the Scripture guilty of
warmongering?
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/gitain_todaysworld.html
ISSUES CONFRONTING INDIA
Effects of Colonization on Indian Thought
Why the Indian mind remains colonized, unable to view India’s heritage
from an Indian perspective.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/colonization.html
Is Indian Culture Obsolete?
Is India’s degraded condition due to her culture, or to a failure to
rejuvenate it?
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/cultureobsolete.html
Nature and Indian Tradition
Contrasts attitudes toward Nature in Western and Indian traditions.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/natureandindtradition.html
Kali Yuga or the Age of Confusion
How ill-defined concepts such as “God,” “religion,” “secularism” or
“tolerance” cause serious confusion in the Indian context.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/kaliyuga.html
INSIGHTS INTO ANCIENT INDIA
The Riddle of India’s Past
An overview of the Aryan problem.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/riddle.html
The Indus Valley Civilization and its Bearing on the Aryan Question
A glance at the material and cultural backdrop of the earliest
civilization of the Indian subcontinent.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/indus.html
Vedic Roots of Early Tamil Culture
Highlights underemphasized cultural roots of the earliest urban
developments in Tamil Nadu.
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/tamilculture.html
Reply to Frontline’s Cover Story of 13 October 2000
A reply to Frontline’s cover story by
http://micheldanino.voiceofdharma.com/frontline.html
chhotemianinshallah
@ the Complete Review
A Literary Salon & Site Review
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
and the attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Background - Chronology - Reactions
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
and the attack on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Background - Chronology - Reactions
For more information, please also see in this issue of the crQ:
James Laine’s Controversial Book by Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and
Amodini Bagwe
Attacking Myths and Institutions: James Laine’s Shivaji and BORI
- the Editors, the complete review
Introduction
On 5 January 2004 a group calling itself the Sambhaji Brigade
attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune, in
the state of Maharashtra, India. There was considerable damage done to
the holdings of this significant cultural repository, including to
irreplaceable and unique objects of historical and literary
importance. While not on the same scale, it was a catastrophe
comparable to the recent destruction and looting of libraries in
Sarajevo and Iraq, or the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in
Afghanistan, a devastating blow to contemporary civilization and to
the preservation of what remains of previous ones.
The attack was the preliminary culmination in a series of
increasingly disturbing and destructive events that were triggered by
the publication of James W. Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic
India (Oxford University Press, 2003). Laine's book sparked
controversy in India, leading Oxford University Press India to
withdraw it from the local market in November 2003. This did not
sufficiently appease those upset by the book. American professor Laine
had done some of the research for his book at BORI, and he thanked the
institute and some scholars affiliated with it in his
acknowledgements; the institute and its members were then targeted by
those angered by the book. In December 2003 one of those thanked by
Laine, historian Shrikant Bahulkar, was assaulted, his face blackened
by Shiv Sena activists. Then, in January, came the attack on the
institute itself.
While the attack was widely condemned, and over 70 of the
participants were arrested, Laine and his undertaking continue to be
denounced. Shivaji has now been banned, and Laine has been charged by
the authorities and appears to be subject to arrest if he returns to
India. Laine and his book -- and BORI -- continue to be used in what
appears to be an increasingly politicised debate.
These events are particularly disturbing because, unlike most
other recent incidents of large-scale cultural vandalism, they
occurred in a country at peace, and in a democracy -- a system that
depends on a tolerance for a plurality of opinions and on free
expression to properly function. Also striking -- and worrisome -- is
that the conflict has been framed as one centred around questions of
historical (in)accuracy and and (ir)responsibile scholarship, but
there has been little interest from many of those challenging Laine's
book to debate these questions, as they have answered them with mob-
rule and violence instead of counter-argument.
There has been much discussion about these events in India,
but, despite the supranational issues at stake, as well as the roles
played by an American professor and the world's largest -- and one of
the most respected -- university presses, international press coverage
has been very limited. The conflict is a complex one, and it is both
politically and religiously highly charged, centred around an
historical figure -- Shivaji -- who is not well known outside India.
In this introductory overview we try to present the necessary
background information to allow some understanding of the events that
have taken place. Other pieces in this edition of the complete review
Quarterly devoted to the subject are Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and
Amodini Bagwe 's essay on James Laine’s Controversial Book and our
commentary, Attacking Myths and Institutions: James Laine’s Shivaji
and BORI
A guide to what's at issue
Shivaji
Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj (also known simply as Shivaji or
Sivaji) lived 1627/1630 to 1680. A Maratha leader, he was fiercely
opposed to the Mughals that at that time controlled much of what is
now India, and was instrumental in establishing Marathi independence.
Crowned the first Maratha king in 1674, he is a founding-father figure
who is still highly revered in India, especially in the state of
Maharashtra (major cities: Mumbai (Bombay) and Pune); see, for example
the official Maharashtra state site, where a page is devoted to
Shivaji: the Maker of the Maratha Nation
Shivaji is also perceived as a specifically Hindu hero, having
established a Hindu empire in opposition to the Mughals (who were
Muslim, and foreign). While widely revered in India, Hindu-nationalist
groups have been particularly vociferous in allowing no criticism of
the man, his accomplishments, and the legends around him.
His name, of great symbolic value, is often invoked, especially
in recent years as a Hindu-focussed nationalism (and political
polarization) in India has been resurgent. So, for example, Mumbai
(formerly Bombay) airport has apparently been re-named: Chhatrapati
Shivaji International Airport.
For additional information, see:
Chhatrapati Shivaji - The Legend
http://www.chhatrapati-shivaji.com/
Shivaji at Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shivaji
Shivaji at Freeindia.org
http://www.freeindia.org/biographies/greatlkings/shivaji/
The Complexities of Shivaji by Vijay Prashad, at Proxsa (also at
HVK.org, where -- scroll down -- there is a response from
Bhalchandrarao C. Patwardhan)
http://www.foil.org/history/shivaji.html
James W. Laine
James W. Laine is the Arnold H. Lowe Professor and Chair of
Religious Studies at Macalester College; see his faculty page. He got
his B.A. from Texas Tech, and his M.T.S. and Th.D. from Harvard. See
also his Curriculum vitae.
James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India was
published by Oxford University Press. It apparently appeared in the US
and the UK in early 2003, and was then published in India in the
summer of 2003.
In describing the book Oxford University Press writes:
The legends of his life have become an epic story that everyone in
western India knows, and an important part of the Hindu nationalists'
ideology. To read Shivaji's legend today is to find expression of
deeply held convictions about what Hinduism means and how it is
opposed to Islam.
They also suggest:
Different sub-groups, representing a range of religious persuasions,
found it in their advantage to accentuate or diminish the importance
of Hindu and Muslim identity and the ideologies that supported the
construction of such identities. By studying the evolution of the
Shivaji legend, Laine demonstrates, we can trace the development of
such constructions in both pre-British and post-colonial periods.
It appears that Laine's focus on a shifting legend -- rather a
fixed-in-stone image of the man some groups insist upon -- and the
notion that the legend has been adapted for other purposes is among
the aspects of the book that has proved most controversial.
(Ironically, reactions by some groups that tolerate only their current
notion of the legend would appear to support at least Laine's
underlying thesis.)
The statement in the book that appears to have provoked the
greatest outrage is the mention that it has been suggested that
Shivaji's father was not Shahaji, Laine writing: "Maharashtrians tell
jokes naughtily that Shivaji’s biological father was Dadoji Kondeo
Kulkarni" (quoted, for example, in The Telegraph, 18 January). This
statement -- indeed, even the mere suggestion -- is apparently
considered an outrageous insult and defamation of Shivaji, Shahaji,
and Shivaji's mother, Jijabai (all highly revered). The claim is also
widely considered unfounded and gratuitous; apparently this particular
'naughty joke' is not familiar to most Maharashtrians (or at least
none appear to have come forward acknowledging that they've heard this
sort of banter).
In his acknowledgements Laine thanked numerous people, writing
also:
In India, my scholarly home has been the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute in Pune, and there I profited from the advice and assistance
of the senior librarian, V. L. Manjul. I read texts and learned
informally a great deal about Marathi literature and Maharashtrian
culture from S. S. Bahulkar, Sucheta Paranjpe, Y. B. Damle, Rekha
Damle, Bhaskar Chandavarkar, and Meena Chandavarkar. Thanks to the
American Institute of Indian Studies and Madhav Bhandare, I was able
to spend three productive periods of research in Pune.
Laine's thanks were apparently interpreted as a declaration of
scholarly complicity, and those named were among those targeted by the
groups opposed to Laine's work -- despite the fact that several
scholars attached to BORI distanced themselves from the book and were
among those demanding that OUP India withdraw the book.
Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India has not been
widely reviewed (in part likely because it is a scholarly work of the
sort generally mainly reviewed in academic journals, many of which
take longer to review titles than the mass media does). Among the few
reviews is V.N. Datta's in The Sunday Tribune (7 December), An image
that might be disturbing
For additional information see:
The OUP-USA publicity page ((Updated - 29 March): The book is no
longer listed in the OUP-USA catalogue)
http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Hinduism/?view=usa&ci=0195141261
The OUP publicity page ((Updated - 29 March): The book is barely
listed in the OUP catalogue)
To purchase Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
from Amazon.com
from Amazon.co.uk
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute is located in Pune. It was
founded in 1917 and is a leading repository of Indological manuscripts
and a renowned centre for scholarship.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040119/asp/frontpage/story_2802420.asp
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/spectrum/book4.htm
For additional information see:
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Shivaji.html
BORI at virtualpune.com
A learning house with a world-wide appeal, at the Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407198.cms
Sambhaji Brigade
A small, previously little known group affiliated with the
Hindu-nationalist organisation, Maratha Seva Sangh
Chronology
(Based on Ketaki Ghoge's chronology in his article, Rape of
culture leaves city in shock (Indian Express, 5 January), and other
mentioned sources. See also Anupama Katakam's article, Politics of
vandalism in Frontline (issue of 17-30 January) for a good overview
(and pictures).)
June, 2003: James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
published in India by Oxford University Press India.
November, 2003: Scholars affiliated with the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute (BORI), historians (including Jaysinhrao Pawar,
Babasaheb Purandare, Ninad Bedekar, and Gajanan Mehendale), and others
(including city MP Pradeep Rawat) called for the withdrawal of the
book. (See Scholar destroys own work on Shivaji, Manjiri Damle, Times
of India, 27 December)
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130003802800.htm
21 November 2003: Oxford University Press India apologised and
withdrew the book from the Indian market. (The book continued to be
listed in the OUP India catalogue until mid-January, but has since
been removed. The book remains in print and available outside India.)
22 December 2003: Shiv Sena activists confronted and attacked scholars
attached to BORI over their role in assisting Laine with his book.
Sanskrit scholar Shrikant Bahulkar was physically assaulted and his
face blackened (an act meant to shame him). (See Scholar destroys own
work on Shivaji)
25 December 2003: Gajanan Mehendale, who had previously called for the
withdrawal of Laine's book, went to the Shiv Sena offices to demand an
apology for the assault on Bahulkar. When none was forthcoming he
destroyed several hundred manuscript pages of his own unpublished
biographical study of Shivaji. (See Scholar destroys own work on
Shivaji)
28 December 2003: Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray personally apologised
to Bahulkar. The Times of India reported (29 December) that:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/388216.cms
Raj assured Bahulkar that such incidents would not be repeated and
that Sena activists would have to get a "clearance" from the toprung
leaders before embarking on such "aggressive campaigns" in the
future.
late December, 2003: James Laine faxed a statement apologising to some
Pune scholars. The Times of India reported Laine says sorry for
hurting sentiments (30 December), quoting:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/394299.cms
"It was never my intention to defame the great Maharashtrian hero. I
had no desire to upset those for whom he is an emblem of regional and
national pride, and I apologise for inadvertently doing so," he said
in a faxed message to some city scholars. "I foolishly misread the
situation in India and figured the book would receive scholarly
criticism, not censorship and condemnation. Again I apologise," the
American author said.
5 January, 2004: Over 150 activists from the Sambhaji Brigade attacked
BORI, ransacking the building, defacing books and artworks, and
destroying property. The extent of the damage is not clear at this
time -- especially regarding the irreplaceable manuscripts and
historical artefacts -- but appears to be considerable . Seventy-two
of the hooligans were arrested. (See also: 'Maratha' activists
vandalise Bhandarkar (Times of India), Helping Laine: Books, powada,
poem (Express News Service), and Mob ransacks Pune's Bhandarkar
Institute (Rupa Chapalgaonkar, Mid-Day))
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407226.cms
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=72609
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=38796
6 January: Mid-Day published Pune institute's desecration shocks
author, in which Laine comments on events and explains, inter alia:
My goal was not to establish my version of the true history of
Shivaji, but to examine the forces that shaped the commonly held
views. In so doing, I suggest that there might be other ways of
reading the historical evidence, but in making such a suggestion, I
have elicited a storm of criticism. I am astonished.
7 January: In the Indian Express Shailesh Gaikwad reports MSS chief’s
clout keeps govt away. Illustrating the government's disturbing
priorities (and a continued interest in appeasing populist elements)
State Home Minister R.R. Patil is quoted as saying:
We condemn the attack and also distorting of the history of
Chhatrapati Shivaji. The government is seeking legal opinion to
ascertain if any action can be taken against the author and also
whether the book can be banned.
9 January: At a press conference Sambhaji Brigade spokesman Shrimant
Kokate is reported (in the Times of India) to have expressed
pleasantries such as:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/416173.cms
"In fact, scholars should be happy that Bori is still intact," he
remarked. Kokate said that the brigade was "most unhappy" that
scholars who had helped Laine were "still alive" and demanded that
they face an inquiry or be handed over to the Brigade. Kokate
expressed his displeasure about the fact that the media had labelled
them as goons. "We will deal with the media later," he threatened.
In another report (Express News Service) he is quoted as saying:
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=38950
Those who fed him [Laine] with the offensive information should be
hanged by the government. If the government is unable to do so they
should be handed over to us.
Kokate was apparently not arrested for these inflammatory remarks.
Instead:
9 January: Charges were filed against James Laine and OUP India by the
Deccan Gymkhana police. The charges are registered under Sections 153
and 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code. (As A.G. Noorani notes in
Chhatrapati or bust (Hindustan Times, 27 January), Section 153A has
frequently -- but selectively -- been invoked over the past decade and
more, writing: "Section 153A is not invoked to suppress the VHP or the
Shiv Sena’s hate campaign but to suppress scholarly books unacceptable
to them.".) These sections read:
153. Wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot (...)
153A. Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of
religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing
acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony
(See also Case against Laine, OUP (Express News Service)
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=72977
and Pune police book American writer Laine (Times of India))
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/417192.cms
12 January: James Laine published a commentary piece, In India, 'the
Unthinkable' Is Printed at One's Peril in The Los Angeles Times; it
is, unfortunately, not freely accessible on the Internet. In it he
describes his interest in Shivaji, his book, early reactions to it,
and then the events that unfolded. He relates how, initially, the book
"even ranked up with Hillary Rodham Clinton's in the local list of
English-language bestsellers in Pune", and mentions:
Back in Pune this summer, I saw a couple of bland but positive reviews
in the Indian papers. I thought, "As long as they don't get to the
last chapter."
He concludes the piece:
The vast majority of Indians are appalled at what happened in Pune.
And yet no one has stepped forward to defend my book and no one has
called for it to be distributed again. Few will read it for
themselves. Instead, many will live with the knowledge that India is a
country where many thoughts are unthinkable or, if thought, best kept
quiet.
13 January: Mid-Day reports -- in an article with a very understated
headline -- OUP asked to shut Pune office. As the article explains:
Maratha organsisations supporting Sambhaji Brigade have now forced the
Oxford University Press showroom in Pune to down shutters. (...) They
told the employees there that (...) they should down their shutters or
else face consequences.
No arrests were reported.
http://www.mid-day.com/404.htm
14 January: Despite the fact that OUP had already withdrawn Laine's
book from the Indian market two months earlier, the Maharashtra
government moved -- eventually successfully -- to have Laine's book
banned, again citing Sections 153 and 153A of the Indian Penal Code.
(See reports from the Times of India (14 January) and Reuters (16
January).)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/421394.cms
http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=27624
16 January: Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee admirably spoke
out against the book-ban. The Times of India reported PM shoots from
the hip, upsets Shiv Sena, NCP, and quotes the Prime Minister as
sensibly stating:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/428426.cms
He said the "right way" to express disagreement was through
discussion. "Countering the views in a particular book by another good
book is understandable," Mr Vajpayee said, adding that he did not
approve of the ban on Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India by American
writer James Laine.
The Express New Service report, PM flags off Mumbai campaign, opposes
ban on Shivaji book, had it a bit differently, quoting the PM as
saying:
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=39370
"If you do not like anything in a particular book, then sit and
discuss it. Banning a book is not a solution, we have to tackle it
ideologically ... If differences of opinion remain after a issue is
discussed, the best way would be to come out with another good book on
the subject"
As the Times of India report also notes: "Ironically, the PM made this
observation at a function to unveil a majestic statue of Chhatrapati
Shivaji in the Sahar airport precincts."
Vajpayee's comments were immediately denounced, including by groups
allied with the PM's party. Indifferent to principles, at least one
person shifted the focus to what is really at issue:
"He should have kept mum, especially since elections are round the
corner," a senior Sena leader present at the function told TNN.
(See also PM not happy with ban on book on Shivaji in Mid-Day)
(Updated - 29 March): Unfortunately, once election time rolled
around, Vajpayee began singing a different tune; see entry of 20
March.
January 18: Politicians continued to seek to outdo one another in
their defence of Shivaji. Express News Service reports Antulay calls
for legal action against Laine (17 January), as senior Congress leader
A.R.Antulay attacked Laine, "urging the government to take all
necessary legal steps to punish him." He is also quoted as saying:
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=73576
"How can a dialogue be held if somebody is abusing your father and
mother ?" Antulay asked. (...) He said Shivaji was the pride of India
and Indians should not tolerate any humiliation of their heroes.
Meanwhile, The Hindu reported (18 January) that Chief Minister
Sushilkumar Shinde: "said it was 'not fair' to write such 'bad things'
about Shivaji."
http://www1.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/434030.cms
19 January: The Times of India reported (20 January) that MSS
threatens more attacks on BORI: apparently the Maratha Sewa Sangh
warned that: "the ‘Sambhaji Brigade’, would resort to more attacks if
students were made to collect money for rebuilding Bori." Despite such
threats, no arrests were reported.
21 January: The Times of India reported that Maratha group flays
Sambhaji brigade, describing a newly-formed group, Maratha Yuvak
Parishad (MYP), opposed to the use of Shivaji by activists "to further
their own political ends".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/437087.cms
22 January: The Times of India reported that Maratha outfit files
petititon against BORI. Maratha Vikas Sangh has apparently set its
sights even higher, having:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/439070.cms
filed a petition in the Bombay high court demanding that all documents
at BORI be seized by the union government. Refusing the let the James
Laine controversy die down, MVS has also demanded censorship on all
books that would be written on historical figures.
(This demand for a quasi-Soviet approach to ensure that the historical
record is kept ... straight apparently has not been widely embraced;
nevertheless, despite suggesting such a thing, the MVS is, amazingly,
still taken seriously.)
28 January: The Times of India reports 'Silent’ majority lodges
protest at BORI:
On Republic Day, inspired by a chain e-mail circulated over the last
two weeks, citizens made a beeline for the institute to register a
silent protest against the vandalism. This, despite a police warning
against gathering at the institute on R-Day. Every protestor dropped a
rupee coin in specially placed urns, as a token contribution towards
the restoration of the institute.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/448086.cms
March: Oxford University Press apparently withdraws all references to
Laine's book from all its online catalogues (previously information
had been available both at OUP-USA and the main OUP site). It is
unclear whether this is a move to remove the book from the market
entirely (including the US and the UK), or merely a defensive legal
maneuver (to preclude any liability claims).
16 March: Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani bravely maintained: "that
he was against banning any controversial publication". (See Advani
against banning controversial books (The Hindu, 16 March) and Advani
against ban on Laine's book on Shivaji (at NDTV).) This, of course,
led to:
http://www.ndtv.com/news/error.php
17 March: The Times of India reported of the Uproar in house as DF
defends ‘Shivaji’ ban:
Proceedings in both houses of the state legislature were stalled for
over two hours on Wednesday after the opposition Shiv Sena-BJP members
objected to the ruling coalition members’ suggestion that Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister K Advani
should apologise for disapproving of the state’s ban on the
controversial book Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, penned by
American scholar James Laine.
20 March: The pressure -- and election politics -- finally got to
Prime Minister Vajpayee as he kicked off the BJP election campaign in
Maharahstra, as he suddenly decided the government ban on Laine's book
was a pretty darn good idea after all. Not only that: he also felt it
necessary to assure his listeners: "We are prepared to take action
against the foreign author", and that this was "a warning to all
foreign authors that they do not play with our national pride".
See reports in Mid-Day (Shivaji is my ideal, says Vajpayee) and
Newindpress.com (Vajpayee kickstarts campaign with warning to foreign
authors).
late March: Seeing how well the fervent pro-Shivaji attitude played to
the crowds, and seeking to outdo all those who were satisfied with
merely bashing James Laine, state BJP president Gopinath Munde decided
he could profit by going after bigger fish closer to home and:
demanded a ban on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s classic Discovery of India
on the ground that a 1986 edition of the book contains remarks highly
derogatory of the Maratha king.
(See Ban Nehru's Discovery of India: State BJP, The Times of India, 19
March).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/568894.cms
Unfortunately, the overeager Munde apparently never looked at the book
in question: as The Times of India reported (21 March), Nehru's book:
"contains no such derogatory remark."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/572510.cms
A few days later even Munde had to admit as much -- excusing his zeal
on the grounds that: "I am a politician and not a scholar". But, just
so nobody would think he was going soft, he added: "there is no change
in my party’s stand -- it will not tolerate any insult to national
heroes like Shivaji". (See: Munde wriggles out of Nehru gaffe, The
Times of India, 25 March).
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/580909.cms
late March: Another crowd-pleasing, debate-stifling stunt: Pune police
commissioner D.N.Jadhav:
told reporters today that he was writing to Laine to summon him to
India for questioning. If Laine refuses the "request," the police
chief plans to move court. And if Laine ignores the summons, the
police will seek the help of CBI and Interpol, Jadhav said.
(See Day after showing off liberal face, Cong hounds US professor, The
Indian Express, 23 March.)
This at least got some international attention -- see the BBC's
report, India seeks to arrest US scholar -- and again seems to have
played very well in India, where everybody seemed to get really
excited about possibly involving Interpol (despite the fact that
Laine's whereabouts are well-known); see, for example, State to seek
extradition of Shivaji author (The Times of India, 23 March)
Unfortunately, as Vijay Singh noted at Rediff (27 March): Bringing
Laine back: Easier said than done. (In fact, it is clear that Laine
has not been charged with any extraditable offense.)
As usual, there was far more bluster than action: by 25 March the
headline was: No letter to Laine as yet (Indian Express, 25 March), as
(sensibly):
Police Commissioner D N Jadhav today said the police will not be
sending a letter to James Laine, the author of Shivaji: Hindu King in
Islamic India asking him to come to India till April 5 since a
petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court.
See also: Criminal action stayed against Laine (Mid-Day, 27 March).
http://www.indianexpress.com/storyOld.php?storyId=43617
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3561499.stm
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/576118.cms
http://us.rediff.com/news/2004/mar/27laine.htm
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=79907
Reactions
Almost no attention has been paid to the controversy
surrounding Laine's book or the attack on BORI outside of India.
Laine's opinion piece, In India, 'the Unthinkable' Is Printed at One's
Peril, in the 12 January issue of The Los Angeles Times, and an
article by Martha Ann Overland ("Vandals Attack Research Center in
India in Retaliation for Help It Gave to American Scholar") in the
Chronicle of Higher Education (issue of 23 January), neither of which
is freely available on the Internet, and a Star Tribune article by
Mary Jane Smetanka, Macalester professor's book incites a riot a world
away ((Updated - 29 March): now only available at WCCO), were among
the very few mentions in the American press.
((Updated - 29 March): With the calls for Laine's arrest at the
end of March there has again been some international coverage, most
notably Scott Baldauf's article, How a US historian sparked calls for
his arrest - in India, in the Christian Science Monitor (29 March).
See also Sara Rajan's A Study in Conflict (Time (Asia), 5 April).)
What reactions there have been in the academic community do not
appear to have made any impact or found any resonance outside those
limited circles. There also appear to have been no calls to withdraw
Laine's book, or ban it, anywhere outside India.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0329/p01s04-wosc.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,501040405-605550,00.html
In India , the attack on BORI has been widely (though far from
universally) condemned. The destruction of property, especially that
which is unique and of historical significance, and the threats
against scholars have been denounced in the press and in public. Prime
Minister Vajpee's approach, as reported in the Times of India, seems
to be the preferred one: "He said the "right way" to express
disagreement was through discussion" -- though even some of his
political allies denounced him for these statements and his opposition
to the book-ban.
Disturbingly, a significant minority has been willing to excuse
even the attacks on BORI as justifiable under the circumstances, and
while 72 of those responsible were arrested and charged, there have
been continued threats (both legal and physical) against BORI,
scholars associated with it, and against author James Laine.
As Laine noted in his 12 January piece in The Los Angeles
Times:
The vast majority of Indians are appalled at what happened in Pune.
And yet no one has stepped forward to defend my book and no one has
called for it to be distributed again.
Indeed, most of these events took place after Laine's book had
officially been withdrawn from the Indian market, i.e. essentially no
longer existed. The banning of the book and the attacks on BORI and
various scholars were thus clearly aimed not only at this specific
case, but at the whole enterprise of scholarship, and of freedom of
expression. Concerns about this have been raised in the media, but
Laine's book has received little support: there still appear to have
been almost no calls for it to be made available in India again.
Surprisingly, there has also been almost no criticism of Oxford
University Press' self-censorship and withdrawal of the book from the
Indian market. A rare mention can found is in the "Weekly Organ of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist)", People's Democracy, who properly
note (25 January):
The media have criticised the Shiv Sainiks’ pranks but not the
hastiness of the Oxford University Press in withdrawing the book even
before the matter became public or the government for banning the book
even before the matter was discussed in public fora.
There have been numerous opinion pieces regarding these
incidents. Among the disturbing trends they make note of is the uneven
use of Section 153A of the Indian Penal Code to limit expression, and
the politicising of what should be academic debates.
Among the opinion pieces are:
Dileep Padgaonkar on Myth against history (Times of India, 25
January), who finds these events: "drive home the point yet again that
in this country it is myth, not history, that ignites popular
imagination."
A.G. Noorani's Chhatrapati or bust (Hindustan Times, 27 January),
where he writes of what happened: "It was not an aberration. It is
part of a practice, connived at and condoned, during the past decade
and more."
Ananya Vajpeyi's Everything Foul and Unfair (The Telegraph, 19
January), where he suggests the most critical question is: "(A)re we
prepared to defend acts of violence perpetrated in the name of our
identity, our beliefs and finally, our sentiments ?"
An editorial in The Indian Express (7 January), in which the authors
argue: "We cannot have the mob write our history for us. Every time we
compromise on this principle, every time a publishing house allows
itself to recall a book, every time the authorities fail to punish the
vandals, every time politicians seize such issues for narrow political
gains, every time the barbarian at the gate is accommodated, we fail
not just our academics but our historical legacy of open
scholarship."
Rajeev Dhavan's Burn, Burn, Destroy (available at the Outlook India
site, 23 January), where he notes: "In the last decade or so, new
emerging patterns of social censorship seem to have eclipsed the
framework of legal censorship that has been bequeathed to India by the
British."
Nalini Taneja on Politics of Rightwing Sectarianism (People's
Democracy, 25 January), arguing: "In what has been happening today by
way of policing and censorship of culture, and to history teaching and
research, by way of verbal and physical attacks on democratic
expression, our state and media have a very definite role to play."
Sandhya Jain on Demeaning Shivaji, denigrating dharma (The Pioneer, 27
January, published here at HVK.org), who finds: "Having purchased and
read James Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India only after it
was officially withdrawn by the publishers, I cannot view the events
at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) as totally
unjustified."
Swapan Dasgupta on Reclaiming the Hindu Gods (The Telegraph, 30
January), who reports that: "Beginning sometime last year, American
Hindus have mounted a spirited attack on the bastions of Indology in
the North American universities" and believes: "The battle to reassess
Indian heritage in keeping with the achievements of Indians involves a
long haul. It will not be won by bans on offensive texts or McCarthy-
ite purges of the infuriatingly perverse. It has to be fought with
civility, argument, rigour and a sense of strategy."
Manu Dash, wondering: Feel-shame factor, anyone ? (The Statesman),
noting: "Our country has time and again failed to stay true to its
credential of tolerance."
Vaishnavi K. Sekhar finding: Historians rue attack on freedom of
expression (The Times of India, 24 March), noting that: "The casualty
of cultural censorship may be scholarship".
(Note that in considering reactions in India we are limited to
English-language material that is freely accessible via the Internet.
It should be clear that this material may well not be representative
of broader opinion, or even of media opinion. The Hindu and Marathi
language press may well have responded entirely differently.)
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and Amodini Bagwe's piece, James
Laine’s Controversial Book, published in this issue of the complete
review Quarterly, offers a somewhat different perspective, focussing
on what exactly it is about Laine's book that many find so upsetting.
There has also been some coverage of these events on weblogs,
most notably at Kitabkhana and Ryan's Lair (as well as at the Literary
Saloon).
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine0.htm
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
Attacking Myths and Institutions
James Laine’s Shivaji and BORI
commentary at the complete review
On 5 January 2004 a leading research institute in India, the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), was attacked (see here
for details). The mob that ransacked it ostensibly acted in reaction
to a book allegedly insulting one of India's great historical figures,
a 17th century leader named Shivaji (despite the fact that the book --
James W. Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India -- had been
withdrawn from the market by its publisher almost two months earlier).
In researching his book, Laine had worked at BORI years earlier, and
he thanked the institute and a number of scholars associated with it
in his acknowledgements -- reason enough for the Sambhaji brigadeers
to physically threaten and attack these men, and to destroy important
bits of Indian history.
What has happened with Laine's book and BORI is a terrifying
glimpse of intolerance and mob rule. It is particularly worrying
because it has happened not in a theocracy like the Taliban's
Afghanistan or a revisionist dictatorship such as Turkmenistan or
North Korea, but in a culturally diverse democracy.
It is some comfort that these events are being freely and
openly debated in India, and that the attack on BORI has been widely
(though, unfortunately, far from universally) condemned. Nevertheless,
events both before and after 5 January suggest that open debate and
tolerance for alternative viewpoints and opinions are far from welcome
by all.
It does all come back to Laine's book. It's title alone -- the
suggestion that there was ever an "Islamic India" -- has outraged many
(see Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan and Amodini Bagwe's James Laine’s
Controversial Book for this and other objections to the book). The
subject matter is one of India's revered historical figures, a 17th-
century king who managed to assert independence from the Mughals. In a
contemporary India that is again increasingly polarised by religion he
has become a particularly potent symbolic figure among some Hindus
groups. (India is subject to many possible divisions, including along
caste and linguistic lines, but the most prominent remains religion;
while a large majority of Indians are Hindu, it must be remembered
that the Muslim population in India exceeds that in any Arab or Middle
Eastern nation.)
In a commentary piece, In India, 'the Unthinkable' Is Printed
at One's Peril, published in The Los Angeles Times (12 January), Laine
describes his book as one about the: "narrative process, an account of
three centuries of storytelling that produced a tale that lived in the
minds of people celebrating Shivaji's legacy today". In the last
chapter he also: "entertained what I called 'unthinkable thoughts' --
questioning 'cracks' in the Shivaji narrative". It is these
unthinkable thoughts -- these different possible readings of Shivaji,
or rather the Shivaji-legend -- that were found so objectionable.
Blind, fanatical devotion to a set narrative is not unheard of,
though it is generally reserved for stories about religious figures.
In some circles, to hypothesise about Mohammed or Jesus, -- even when
one relies on sound historical evidence -- is still impossible (and
has led to similar book bans and physical assaults). Laine's alleged
blasphemy is more complex, because Shivaji is simply an historical
figure. While such figures are often also revered to an extent that
blinds some to their faults (there are those who are outraged by
discussion of the womanising ways of, say, Thomas Jefferson and Martin
Luther King junior), it is generally accepted that speculation about
such figures is permissible or even laudable. Indeed, if set
narratives weren't constantly questioned, if they were considered
inviolable, history -- written by those in power -- would be both
useless and, generally, grossly inaccurate.
Of course, Shivaji isn't 'simply' an historical figure, his
story having also been appropriated by Hindu-nationalist elements
using it for their own purposes. To question the legend as they would
see it is to question their entire cause. And, like flag-wavers
elsewhere, politicians have found that the Shivaji-name can
effectively be used in rallying the masses who pay attention only to
the glorious name and don't consider all the implications behind the
words. So deeply does the cry of 'Shivaji' resonate with a large
segment of the population (specifically in the state of Maharashtra,
but also elsewhere in India) that almost everything except the most
uncritical stance has been attacked.
Laine describes the initial reception of his book in India, in
the summer of 2003, as unremarkable. The book "ranked up with Hillary
Rodham Clinton's in the local list of English-language bestsellers in
Pune" and there were "a couple of bland but positive reviews in the
Indian papers". Eventually, controversy erupted -- but Laine's sins
had clearly not been self-evident: it took someone to point out the
implications of what he had written (i.e. to offer a particular
reading of his reading) to upset people. (As is often the case in such
situations, it also appears that most of those who were upset did not
actually read the entire text.)
What happened then is also disturbing: numerous people,
including scholars attached to BORI (and some who were thanked in the
acknowledgements) not only distanced themselves from the text but
called for it to be withdrawn from the market. Amazingly, Oxford
University Press India obliged, withdrawing the book in November.
Too little has been made of this self-censorship. While
publishers often practice some sort of self-censorship in not
publishing certain books in certain markets, it is usually in response
to clear, legal prohibitions: art books depicting nudes are
inappropriate for the Saudi market, Nazi propaganda for the German
one, etc. But in most such cases there are clear guidelines and
outright legal bans, meaning that any attempted publication would be
met with legal action by government authorities. Nothing about Laine's
book suggested it contravened any local laws, or public standards of
decency or morality. The fact that for several months it sold
reasonably well locally and received some review attention without
causing much uproar or even complaint reinforces this notion.
Laine's Shivaji was, ultimately (months after the book had been
withdrawn from the market), banned, the author and the publisher
charged under Sections 153 ("Wantonly giving provocation with intent
to cause riot") and 153A ("Promoting enmity between different groups
on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language,
etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony ") of the
Indian Penal Code. Yet the charges can only be made because groups
have chosen to use the book to promote enmity. This case -- and, as
commentators have shown, it is not a unique case of the application of
153 and 153A -- is, among many other things, one of political
correctness run amok. By engaging in criminal violence, but claiming
to have been provoked by someone else's pronouncements -- regardless
of how these were meant -- it seems any statement can become a
criminal one, with the determination whether it is or isn't resting
solely with the allegedly aggrieved.
Such an interpretation of the law does not foster dialogue or
harmony, but rather is an actual incentive for violence and discord.
Dislike what someone says ? Just go out and riot and then blame it on
the other's words. This is patently what happened in the case of
Laine's book.
The attacks on scholars and then on BORI, and then the banning
of the book, would have been disturbing under any circumstances, but
they are particularly so given that the book had been withdrawn from
the market and was no longer readily accessible. Oxford University
Press India backed down in the face of some pressure and withdrew the
book in November, 2003, not because it had been ordered to do so or
was legally required to do so, but because public sentiment (or at
least vociferous elements) seemed to oppose allowing the book to
remain available.
This gesture of appeasement (or rather wholesale abandonment of
Laine's book) did not have the (presumably) intended effect. Surrender
to irrational forces rarely does (odd that that's a lesson that people
just don't seem to learn). OUP India might have merely wanted to keep
the peace, and sincerely believed that withdrawing the book from the
market was the best way of doing so. Indeed, events might have
escalated had they not done so. Still, it is troubling that a leading
academic publisher was willing to be intimidated by a mob (prominent
and respected though some of those among it were) and not stand up for
freedom of expression. (Interestingly, there appears to have been no
effort to make any legal determination as to the permissibility of
this publication -- i.e. no one suggested at the time that, for
example, the book promoted legally actionable enmity, etc. Funny how
that only became a viable option after groups decided to riot.) In any
case, far from resolving the issue, OUP India's withdrawal of the book
appears to have pleased absolutely no one, dismissed on the one hand
as a token gesture that came far too late, on the other as an obscene
abridgement of academic freedom.
Physical attacks followed: first scholar Shrikant Bahulkar was
assaulted, then, two weeks later, came the attack on BORI. What
appears to have upset the factions involved in these acts is not
merely the dissemination of the ideas found in Laine's book (which had
been practically stopped with the withdrawal of the book) but the very
existence of such thoughts. The targets include some who had actually
distanced themselves from the book and argued for its withdrawal; in
the case of those who had been thanked in Laine's acknowledgements
even such repentance wasn't enough to protect them from being
attacked.
The attack on BORI was an assault on the whole scholarly
enterprise, suggesting that inquiry and speculation are inappropriate
or even unacceptable, and that instead only a single account and
interpretation of history (one, apparently, decided on by today's mob)
is permissible. From those academics that called for the withdrawal of
Laine's book, to OUP India doing just that, to the attack on BORI and
the continuing actions against Laine and his book, everything has been
done to stifle and suppress dialogue, when it is just the opposite
that is needed. Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee admirably said that the
proper way to counter objectionable ideas in a book was with other
books and open debate. The local government -- and the local thugs --
have instead closed off debate wherever possible.
The United States is an exception when it comes to freedom of
expression, and most countries have far stricter limits. It might seem
entirely reasonable that, much as Nazi literature is banned in
Germany, writing which might incite readers to violence (directly or
in response thereto) is suppressed or banned. At the very least,
however, the general approach (and the specific application of the
law) in India regarding freedom of expression over the past decade or
more is of concern.
It is clear that expression that actually exhorts to violence
is far more objectionable than expression which causes offence which
causes violence. In other words, Nazi tracts calling for the killing
of Jews are far worse than Jewish tracts which upset Nazis (by, say,
claiming that their ideas are foolish and based on unfounded premises)
and lead them to attack Jews. Laine's book proved upsetting (arguably
even: justifiably so) to a significant segment of the population, and
action was taken against it (first voluntarily, then physically, and
finally legally). Those responsible for the physical attacks were, at
least, charged with crimes, but the newspapers continue to be filled
with quotes from often prominent politicans and public figures with
what are clearly threats (against persons and property) -- expression
that is blatantly far more dangerous than anything Laine wrote and yet
that has gone largely unchallenged. This double standard is completely
unacceptable -- and very dangerous.
To outsiders the case for why Laine's book should be read,
discussed, and debated likely seems self-evident. Arguments that India
or its citizens are somehow too immature to consider Laine's
statements, or that the issue itself is simply too inflammatory, are
unconvincing. People do no need to to be protected from challenging,
foreign, or even unsupportable ideas; they do need protection from
those who answer any statements they find unpleasant or objectionable
with violence.
Events as they have unfolded teach all the wrong lessons:
rather than showing how difficult texts and ideas might be approached
and dealt with (admittedly not always an easy task), they suggest that
complete denial and obliteration (and the use of force to achieve
these) are acceptable. The result can only be intellectual and social
stagnation and decline. Threats and brute force, encouraged by self-
serving politicians (looking only towards the next election) and
political groups, can easily win the day -- they have here--, but the
long-term costs could be devastating to India.
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine2.htm
Volume V, Issue 1 -- February, 2004
James Laine’s Controversial Book
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
(New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2003)
by
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan & Amodini Bagwe
Please note that the views expressed herein are those of the
authors and not of the complete review.
While condemning the attacks on the BORI Archives in Pune and
on Prof. Bahulkar in the strongest possible terms, we wish to share
our views about Laine's casual scholarship on Shivaji as presented in
his latest book.
Some of his remarks suggest willful, calculated sensationalism
than honest scholarship. Despite his apology issued last month after
the OUP quietly withdrew the book from the Indian market (LINK), which
he has practically withdrawn as of now (LINK), there are many issues
that need both examination and comment. As Laine himself admits in the
book, he has cavalierly presented gossip and innuendo without an iota
of documentary substantiation, and then on that basis, proceeded to
construct his flawed argument. Naturally, we must question his motives
in undertaking such an exercise. This is important since next to
nothing has appeared in the media by way of comment on the actual
contents of the book.
It must be asserted that at no time in history has India been
Islamic. Indeed, how could it have been so, when it has always had a
majority of non-Muslims in its population ? True, following the waves
of Islamic invasions that began in right earnest around the 12th
century CE, certain parts of the country did have Muslim rulers who
imposed Islamic law on the entire populace they governed, but that
does not make India Islamic, since a non-Muslim majority continued to
follow their own religious tenets, come what may.
As for Hindu regimes, unlike Christian or Islamic ones, the
king could have no religion according to time-honoured mores. As an
individual, like any one of his subjects, he was free to profess and
practise his version of any one of myriad indigenous doctrines that
together constitute Hinduism; but as king, he necessarily had to be
secular, regarding all forms of religious expression with due
impartiality. Even a cursory study of Indian history clearly shows how
indigenous States encouraged even antipodal doctrines to flourish.
Therefore, with no king (including Shivaji) who was Hindu, and an
India that was never Islamic, the astonishing title -- ‘Hindu King in
Islamic India’ -- leaves one wondering about the extent of Laine’s
understanding of the subject he addresses with such authority !
Moreover, Laine himself must be aware that various Muslim
dynasties in India, whether Mughal, Bahamani, Adilshahi, Nizamshahi,
or many of the fragmented Sultanates, were then ruled by alien
invaders from Central and Middle Eastern Asia, analogous to Islamic
invasions of Europe. A major portion of the invading armies
constituted mercenaries with extra-territorial loyalties, including
Mongols, Turks, Arabs, Persians, Afghans, and Siddis from Ethiopia.
Viewing the book title from this perspective, the effort seems to be
more of a hasty hatchet job with questionable historical validity,
seeking to cash in on the post-9/11 global upsurge of interest in
Islam.
Coming to the most incendiary part of the book, leading to the
recent turmoil in Maharashtra, Laine reports outright hearsay on p.93:
"Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily suggesting that his guardian
Dadaji Konddev was his biological father" ! The reader may well wonder
whether such seemingly casual inclusion of injurious gossip related to
one's chief protagonist is a convention in serious cross-cultural
scholarship ! As a matter of fact, love and adoration of Shivaji is
the bottomline truth in the state, and we have never come across such
a motivated rumour until Laine’s book was published ! Outsiders fail
to understand that while Shivaji’s rugged forts stand testimony to his
great heroism in an all-too-brief tenure of forty years as a warrior
and strategist of epic proportions, it is upon the very hearts and
minds of the common populace that these nearly four centuries old
magical legends are etched to eternity: a testimony to the greatness
of a culture that has survived untold depredations and chicanery. In
fact, this is what makes the "Shivaji story" immune to fabrication to
suit contemporary designs of a handful of elite scholars and their
political instigators.
From the scholarly perspective, the wholly unsubstantiated
insinuation that Shahaji was not Shivaji’s "biological father" is
implausible, incredible and outrageous ! Unlike lax norms of familial
or marital propriety that characterize ‘civilized’ Western societies,
loose speculation about someone’s ancestry is a very serious matter
indeed even in contemporary Indian ethos, not to speak of conditions
almost four centuries ago. At that time, societal sanctions were
immensely more rigid and the consequences of their transgression, all
too tragic. A scandalous event like that implied by Laine would
scarcely escape immediate detection, judgment and censure. Anybody
indulging in such conduct would have courted severe social stigma,
especially someone like Jijabai who both hailed from and was married
into aristocracy. The progeny of an allegedly adulterous relationship
would never be accepted as king by a tradition-bound people who looked
up to the monarch as an incarnation of Divinity !
It must be asserted that Shahaji, who is superciliously alluded
to by Laine as an "absentee father", was forced to lodge his expecting
wife and yet-to-be-born child in the safe haven of the Shivneri fort
because of untold political uncertainty prevailing around the time
Shivaji was born -- and not, it must be mentioned, on account of any
estrangement between husband and wife. (Laine is in grave error when
he attempts to rewrite one of the most significant chapters in Indian
history, essaying an inappropriate imposition of a contemporary
Western paradigm upon the medieval Indian scenario).
Shahaji, who was practically ruling the Nizamshahi as Regent on
behalf of the minor Murtaza Nizamshah, was actively engaged in fending
off threats from both Shah Jehan and Adilshah, being constantly on the
run as a direct result. He was accompanied by his first son, Sambhaji,
who was killed at a young age in the Battle of Kanakgiri. After the
dissolution of the Nizamshahi in 1636, Shahaji’s subsequent service in
the Adilshahi took him to Bangalore, but he continued holding and
administering his old land titles in the Pune region through his
trusted Brahmin aide, Dadoji Konddev. Obviously, Shahaji was unable to
cover all the distance to Pune on a regular basis in those uncertain
times and the additional responsibility of bringing up the young
Shivaji devolved upon Dadoji. Shahaji took another wife in Bangalore,
as was customary in those days. From this second marriage, he sired
Vyankoji, the founder of the Thanjavur Bhosale dynasty, distinguished
by its patronage of both Tamil and Marathi culture and arts.
Shahajiraje thus bequeathed to India two distinct dynasties of
visionary rulers. All these facts are well documented and should
suffice to prevent irresponsible speculation on account of his absence
from the Pune region.
On page 91, Laine asks with an unnecessary soupçon of
dramatization,
Can one imagine a narrative of Shivaji’s life in which, for example:
Shivaji had an unhappy family life ? Shivaji had a harem ? Shivaji was
uninterested in the religion of bhakti saints ? Shivaji’s personal
ambition was to build a kingdom, not liberate a nation ? Shivaji lived
in a cosmopolitan Islamicate world and did little to change that
fact ?
Had Laine really read and gleaned anything from the references
listed at the end of the book, such perturbing questions would not
have arisen. For instance, it was practically de rigeur for men of
status in Shivaji’s time to have more than one wife. To go even
further back in history, let us recall that Lord Rama’s father too had
several queens. The custom had nothing whatsoever to do with practices
prevailing in a "cosmopolitan Islamicate world". However, isn’t having
several legally wedded wives very different from keeping a harem,
which latter may even include several official and unofficial
concubines ? Surely, Laine appreciates the essential difference !
Also, as revealed by numerous treasured documents of the era,
including correspondence between Ramdas and Shivaji, the latter was
spiritually surrendered to the former, of which fact Laine feigns such
complete ignorance ! With adequate answers to each one of Laine's
questions easily obtainable in his references, is his pretence
indicative of a deeper, sinister motive to compromise, restrain and
perhaps even destroy the extraordinary reverence in which Shivaji is
held ?
For a presumably accomplished scholar (LINK), who has spent
several decades in close contact with Maharashtra, it is amazing --
even distressing -- that Laine has understood almost nothing about the
veneration Shivaji commands in ‘native’ consciousness. In that sense,
his scholarship may well have been wasted ! For him to say now that he
had "foolishly misread the situation in India and figured the book
would receive scholarly criticism, not censorship and condemnation" is
appalling, at the very least. You can hardly foolishly misread a
situation that has existed for nearly four centuries, the study of
which is the declared intention of your scholarship, not to mention
the "love of the Shivaji story" you avowedly evince !
A similar exercise, as confessed by Laine in the case of a
Jesus Christ or a Thomas Jefferson (LINK), is entirely incapable of
provoking as vehement a reaction because these exalted personages do
not command the kind of supreme reverence in their specific locales
that Shivaji does in his.
No doubt Laine is aware how Christ’s popularity in the West has
been steadily on the decline, what with Church attendances falling
alarmingly, and the paucity of preachers needing imports from ‘third
world’ countries to supplant the dwindling numbers of octogenarian
White clergymen ! This observation is further supported by demographic
statistics indicating the exponential growth of the followers of
alternative philosophies, which cannot be attributed to new immigrants
alone.
As for Jefferson, in an exercise very reminiscent of the
present one, his greatness as a rationalist, especially his radically
piercing views on Christianity and its Church, (for example: "The
Christian God is a being of terrific character -- cruel, vindictive,
capricious, and unjust."), was sought by disadvantaged parties to be
compromised by the exposition of some tenuous incident in the
statesman’s life. But it is necessary to ascertain whether such
detractors, who authored the "widely varying accounts" about Jefferson
and Christ that Laine claims to have "seen", could be considered
persons of established scholarly reputation. Since serious scholars
would hardly ever countenance rumour or gossip as evidence, it was
more than likely that such criticism was penned by critics who had no
compunctions about relying on tittle-tattle to score a point.
Because Laine has indirectly questioned Shivaji’s paternity
without a shred of documentary evidence, he sadly gets categorized in
the latter class and his claim to a "love for the Shivaji story" falls
to pieces ! Incidentally, there are certain to be "other ways of
reading the historical evidence", but only if historical evidence, and
not malicious fabrication, is offered in the first place.
Laine ought to have grasped the reality that there just can be
no comparison between Shivaji and the likes of Christ and Jefferson
from the Indian, especially Maharashtrian, point of view ! The learned
author, in spite of his protracted contact with the region since 1977,
failed to realise that the "Shivaji story", as narrated in every
Maharashtrian home, has far more significance and enjoys immensely
greater credibility than all history taught in academia. And, by his
own admission, was it not the development of this "Shivaji story" that
he had set out to study ? Moreover, the growth in recent years of a
strong and eminently justifiable public perception that a vast
majority of academics have been indulging in wanton politicization of
scholarship at the expense of truth bolsters this awareness.
Furthermore, Shivaji is not merely a "Maharashtrian" hero, as
Laine not so subtly avers in his facetious apology. Shivaji was the
first Indian leader in relatively recent history to contemplate
political self-determination and successfully put it into practice at
a time when all others were blissfully unaware of both the existence
and possibility of such a thing ! This visionary quality elevates
Shivaji to a pioneering ‘national’ stature, head and shoulders above
all his peers and contemporaries. His exploits had obviously become
the stuff of legends in the course of his lifetime. Bhooshan, hailing
from the environs of the Mughal capital wrote epic poetry about him,
while Chhatrasal who traveled from Bundelkhand to seek employment with
him was bade to return to his territories and there establish his own
independence. The slant in Laine’s apology to localize and thus limit
Shivaji’s influence is not as innocuous as it appears, and is not
likely to be overlooked by discerning readers !
Indeed, since it takes the ‘authority’ of a White man to
convince us of the greatness of things indigenous, it would be
pertinent to quote historian Bamber Gascoigne:
"He (Shivaji) taught the modern Hindus to rise to the full stature of
their growth. So, when viewed with hindsight through twentieth century
glasses, Aurangzeb on the one side and Shivaji on the other come to be
seen as key figures in the development of India. What Shivaji began
Gandhi could complete …… and what Aurangzeb stood for would lead to
the establishment of the separate state of Pakistan." (The Great
Moghuls, London: Constable), (emphasis ours).
It is sad to see how all the years Laine spent in India were so
utterly in vain, if he has failed to note and appreciate this, the
most distinguishing and vital aspect of the "Shivaji story" !
There seems to be more to the book than mere scholarship. One
is reminded of what Thomas Paine wrote, in a slightly different
context perhaps, in the opening lines of his The Rights of Man about
Edmund Burke’s unwarranted interest in French affairs. It amply
illustrates a tendency to dabble that Laine evidently shares with
Burke:
"Among the incivilities by which nations or individuals provoke and
irritate each other, Mr. Burke’s pamphlet on the French Revolution is
an extraordinary instance. Neither the people of France, nor the
National Assembly, were troubling themselves about the affairs of
England, or the English Parliament; and why Mr. Burke should commence
an unprovoked attack upon them, both in Parliament and in public, is a
conduct that cannot be pardoned on the score of manners, nor justified
on that of policy." (London: J.M.Dent, 1993, p. 7).
With suitable substitutions, the sentiments expressed by Paine
could apply rather well to Laine’s avoidable blundering foray into
Indian culture and history. If, "as an American and a Christian",
Laine had, for instance, devoted more time to finding out why
enthusiasm for Christ is petering out so rapidly in his home country,
he might have been spared the pain of living through "the saddest day"
in his career ! But, prudent apprehension of censorship by the Moral
Majority and cessation of grants by funding bodies might perhaps have
served as an important deterrent in the case of similar misadventures
closer home !
It is the "Shivaji story" that transcends every conceivable
faction of Maharashtrian society and has always served as an
efficacious uniting factor, the demolition of which can be perceived
to serve powerful interests in present times. India in general and its
Maharashtrian Hindu population in particular have traditionally been
ultra-soft targets for a sundry assortment of deluded Indophiles
anyway, and the once-correct belief that one can get away with almost
murder has motivated several similar ‘research’ exercises in the
past.
Constituents of the more impulsive but perhaps less
sophisticated majority in Maharashtra are more likely than not to
smell in Laine’s dissertation the same intellectual chicanery
attempted through the purchase by British colonial masters (for a
princely sum of £ 3000, paid in easy installments, may it be noted !)
of Friedrich Max Muller’s erudition a century ago with the studied
intention of demoralizing a whole nation by denigration of its
antiquity, pre-eminence, culture, religion and history. It might be
perceived by the populace that one of its greatest cultural heroes is
being put under an iniquitous microscope with precisely that same
objective. Such heinous strategies may have worked beautifully under
colonial rule, but are less than likely to work now -- a reality Laine
appears to have dangerously overlooked. A significantly large
proportion of the Indian polity has begun ‘thinking independently’,
albeit to the detriment of brokers of international geopolitical
stakes. In this sense, the book might well qualify as yet another
attempt at fragmentation of the steadily developing strength of a
society that is waking up to a realization of the many historical
frauds perpetrated on itself for centuries.
If, unfortunately, promoting social discord was indeed a
purpose of the book, the attempt may have partially succeeded with
what happened at the Bhandarkar Institute; the first salvo has been
fired by pitting Maratha (whom Laine gratuitously refers to as being
from Shivaji’s own community) against Brahmin. Unless we desire lumpen
elements to take undue advantage of the fallout of the regrettable
BORI incident, concerted and well informed public opinion needs to be
nurtured to arrest and neutralize machinations of a wildly
proliferating class of pliable political paid pipers and their cohorts
in an amenable media ! Because Laine has blatantly used, in the matter
of Shivaji’s parentage at least, sources that cannot pass the test of
reliability even by a long shot, it is necessary for scholars to
scrutinize the entire work for its truthfulness, especially the
development of communalised identities upon which he dwells at great
length. All frivolous ‘scholarship’ needs to be unequivocally
discredited and disowned by intellectuals in the interests of veracity
and probity in academia.
While undeniably condemning the attack on the Bhandarkar
Institute archives with the plea that the guilty should not go
unpunished, should we not also examine the role of the so-called
'thinkers' who might perhaps unwittingly have assisted if not actually
set up Laine's mischief in the first place ? Laine mentions in his
Acknowledgments (p. viii) that his "scholarly home has been the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune" where he "profited
from advice and assistance". Once the BORI administration realised the
explosive nature of the book's contents, and how they were sitting on
a time bomb for all these months, it might have been appropriate for
them to issue a strong public denial and condemnation of the author,
in no uncertain terms, for his highly objectionable effort to convert
innuendo and gossip into a matter of documentary record.
It is up to Laine to inform his readers as to how and where he
dug up this disgusting rumour casting aspersions upon the character of
Shivaji’s mother, herself a figure of great veneration to all. She was
a single mother of great character and substance, the very
fountainhead of inspiration for Shivaji’s life’s work.
Needless to state, all this only applies if the real intention
behind the book was more than what Laine declares. But from even its
very title, the book comes through more like an exercise in
skullduggery, which is unfortunate !
If scholarly research funded through institutional grants is
undertaken with the altruistic aim of benefiting humanity, one wonders
how the present book can achieve that end! Scholars ought not to
forget that all institutions supporting them are rooted in their
particular indigenous ethos to which they must be accountable,
especially when the results are sought to be commercially exploited
through book sales.
The body fabric of a resurgent India, and particularly that of
a progressive state like Maharashtra, can well do without such vicious
‘scholarship’. We hope saner counsel will prevail in the currently
disturbed scenario, as a fitting tribute to its chief architect,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
- Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan & Amodini Bagwe
Note: an earlier version of this text was also posted at Hindu Vivek
Kendra.
About the authors:
Bhalchandrarao C. Patvardhan is a metallurgist and chartered
engineer; he can be reached at: kuru...@eth.net.
Amodini Bagwe is a research scholar and student of Yoga.
http://www.complete-review.com/quarterly/vol5/issue1/laine1.htm
The Complexities of Shivaji
Our modern consciousness harbors within itself rather peculiar ideas.
We pride ourselves on our tremendous advances from a pre-modern In
1668, Shivaji's repeated petitions to Aurangzeb won him the title
'Raja' and Chakan fort. After the Mughal treasury refused to reimburse
him for a trip he took to Agra, he took up arms again. With Aurangzeb
the battle was over power and resources, rather than on religious
grounds.
past which we almost universally see as depraved (at the very least in
economic and political terms). On the other hand, we turn to the past
for our heroes: and these heroes are absorbed without criticism (in
fact, criticism is tantamount to heresy in some circles). Thus,
America lauds its Founding Fathers (Jefferon, Madison, Hamilton,
Washington) even though these gentlemen practiced a form of slavery
which does not square with their genteel image. The Indian Republic
has immortalized Gandhi, which is one of the tragedies of our
contemporary world: Gandhi, the mischievous radical, is reduced to
being a statue rather than a living presence in our corrupt and
battered body politic. The Pakistani state has hallowed Jinnah, whose
virulent criticisms of theocracy are now not allowed to inform the
citizens of a state wracked by avarice and hypocrisy. The Rashtriya
Sevak Sangh and its American kin, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS),
have taken Shivaji as their icon (India West, 21 June 1996): that
adoption needs to be criticised for what it does to the historical
record.
At their 16 June Hindu Sangathan Diwas, the HSS hosted Shripati
Shastry (RSS) who recounted the life of Shivaji who (as India West
reports) "fought Mughal emperor Aurangzeb." "Hindu civilization,"
Shastry said, "had been battered by the constant brutal assaults of
foreigners. Shivaji challenged that attack." HSS also presented a play
by Bal Bihar students entitled 'Shivaji and Afzal Khan.' Reading this
story, I was startled by the ease with which our media allows such
presentations to pass by without comment. At the very least, the
historical record should be scoured to check if Shivaji indeed did
fight Aurangzeb to constitute 'Hindu civilization' and if he made it
his purpose to cleanse the subcontinent of 'foreigners.'
(1) Shivaji and Aurangzeb.
Shivaji Bhonsla (1627-1680) came from a family of Maratha aristocrats
and military bureaucrats. The first half of his career (until 1660) as
a fief-holder was consumed by his battle with the rather powerless
Sultanate of Bijapur. He was able to extend his power by making
alliances with Maratha hill chiefs and by ensuring that the Mughal
overlord was given a wide berth: Shivaji was not interested in taking
Delhi, only in forming a fiefdom in Aurangabad and Bijapur. In
November 1656, Aurangzeb and his amir, Mir Jumla, went ahead with an
old plan to take Bijapur at the death of the Sultan, Muhammad Adil
Shah. Shivaji was not a factor in the equation (for he was only one of
many factious nobles and zamindars). Shivaji was able to rout the
Bijapur army and Afzal Khan, commander of a Mughal force. of 10, 000.
In Shivaji's second phase (1660-1674), he extended his holding,
notably by destroying Baharji Borah who was reputed to be the world's
richest merchant. At Purander in 1665, Shivaji capitulated to Jai
Singh and Aurangzeb. In 1668, Shivaji's repeated petitions to
Aurangzeb won him the title 'Raja' and Chakan fort. After the Mughal
treasury refused to reimburse him for a trip he took to Agra, he took
up arms again. With Aurangzeb the battle was over power and resources,
rather than on religious grounds. Shivaji very comfortably petitioned
Aurangzeb to recognize him as a 'Raja,' a feat which would not sit
well with the HSS rendition of the man as a fighter for Hinduism.
(2) Shivaji and 'Hindu civilization'
In June 1674, Shivaji was crowned as a Hindu monarch. Since he came
from Shudra stock, the chief sent for Gagga Bhatta (the notable
Brahmin from Benares) to declare that Shivaji's ancestor's were truly
Kshatriyas who descended from the solar line of the Ranas of Mewar. He
was invested with the janeau, with the Vedas and was bathed in an
abisheka. A Shudra became a Rajput, but the bulk of the other dalits
remained in their misbegotten position at the bottom of society.
Shivaji's investiture was a political move which allowed him to exert
his power over hill chiefs who were not under his military control.
One would imagine that Shivaji would now eschew alliances with
Muslims, however, the first major alliance made by the monarch was
with Abul Hasan, the Qutb Shah Sultan. They began a campaign against
the Bijapur Karanatak, including the monarch's own half-brother,
Vyankoji Bhonsla. The Mughal r‰gime was left untouched by this 'Hindu'
king. The later Shivaji did not consolidate 'Hindus' to fight
'Muslims,' but he continued his trajectory of securing power in the
Konkan region. One might add that Shambhaji, Shivaji's son, raped a
Brahmin woman in December 1678: such facts often get lost in the blind
valorization of historical figures.
I have offered all these details for the simple reason that one must
not allow our contemporary politicians (and the HSS/RSS are
politicians) to define our historical record. There is a tendency to
simplify, which is tantamount to distortion. Shivaji claimed to be a
'Hindu' king when it suited him, but he acted (most of the time) as a
rebellious zamindar and hill-chief. History must remain more than
propaganda. The tragedy of the communalization of history is that
those who write these false histories are less interested in the past
and more interested in organizing people into bigoted groups.
Vijay Prashad
Vijay Prashad
Assistant Professor, International Studies
214 McCook Academic Building
Trinity College, Hartford, CT. 06106.
Ph: 860-297-2518.
http://www.foil.org/history/shivaji.html
Bonfire of cupboard of history
- Pune institute continues to count the losses from attack by Sambhaji
Brigade
ANAND SOONDAS
Satish Sangle among the ruins
Pune, Jan. 18: A bonfire crackles to life as the winter night descends
on the cheerless group of policemen guarding the ravaged library at
the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Drawn by the sudden
flicker, a firefly rushes in.
“That was sad,” says the institute’s Man Friday, Ganesh Bagade, who
calls himself assistant pressman, watching the insect perish.
“They tried to snuff out the institute’s life, too,” Bagade says,
recalling the Sambhaji Brigade’s attack on January 5.
Marauders belonging to the group, which champions the Maratha cause
like the Shiv Sena but was started to counter Bal Thackeray’s outfit,
ransacked the library in protest against American historian James
Laine’s book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India.
They believed Laine had indirectly questioned Shivaji’s parenthood in
a passage. The institute was targeted because the author had
acknowledged the assistance of some historians working there.
The damage to books and furniture has been estimated at Rs 1.5 to 2
crore, but scholars at the institute say each day’s search yields
realisation of further loss.
“It will take us about two years just to catalogue and piece together
the old books,” says Satish Sangle, the librarian.
“Each of us here cried that day. We felt so violated and abused,” says
Bagade as a policeman replenishes the fire with parts of a library
cupboard, breaking it with kicks at the joints.
Sanskrit and Pali texts — some of them 500 years old — were stored in
that cupboard.
On a visit to Mumbai on Friday, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee
condemned the attack and the ban on the book announced by the Congress-
led coalition of Maharashtra.
Pune cried as one after the attack. Schoolchildren marched and writers
called it the darkest day for a city known for its scholarship and
liberalism. A group of ragpickers, mostly children, collected Rs 165
and gave it to the institute.
Their 15-year-old leader said: “We were not privileged to get an
education but we know the worth of books.”
The Sambhaji Brigade has shown no remorse. “It is a Brahmin conspiracy
to malign Marathas and Shivaji,” says Pravin Gaikwad, the Pune unit
president of the Akhil Bharatiya Maratha Mahasangh, the brigade’s
parent organisation.
Gaikwad and his organisation are not done yet. Yesterday, he handed
over a four-point charter of demands to chief minister Sushil Kumar
Shinde.
It’s a “Brahmin conspiracy” because the so-called offending passage
says: “Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily that Shivaji’s biological
father was Dadoji Kondeo Kulkarni.”
Kulkarni, Shivaji’s limbless servant, was a Brahmin. The publishers
withdrew the book in November, the author sent an apology, but these
were not enough to stop the pillaging.
“We will not tolerate it when an American says that Shivaji’s
parentage is questionable and that because he was intelligent he
couldn’t have been a Maratha and was a Brahmin,” Gaikwad fumes.
Monetary estimates of loss leave the librarian distraught. “How do you
calculate the worth of a rare 6th century BC idol of the headless
Ganesha. Or the miniature silver photo album gifted by the Nizam of
Hyderabad. Or, for that matter, a 1648 AD treatise on the Bhagwad
Gita?” Sangle asks.
The institute specialises in ancient history, ancient Indian thought
and philosophy. It produced a Bharat Ratna in P.V. Kane who wrote
seven volumes of the Dharmashastra. After 50 years of labour, the
institute completed the first critical edition of the Mahabharata,
with its scholars poring over more than 1,000 manuscripts in different
languages.
“We never wrote anything on Shivaji or medieval history,” says M.G.
Dhadphade, a former honorary secretary at the institute.
The explanation cuts no ice with the brigade. “We want those who
helped Laine to be hanged and a CBI inquiry into the role of
organisations and individuals who passed blasphemous information on
Shivaji,” Gaikwad says.
The organisation now plans to take out a Shivaji rath yatra across
Maharashtra in February, threatening the institute with more
“punishment” if its demands are not met.
Apart from the “hanging” and the inquiry, it is demanding the freedom
of the 72 activists of the brigade rounded up after the incident.
“The fault is with us,” says Dhadphade. “We have lost our culture’s
most precious jewel — pluralism. Unknown to us, the Taliban had been
festering in our midst.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1040119/asp/frontpage/story_2802420.asp
Sunday, December 7, 2003
Off The Shelf
An image that might be disturbing
V.N. Datta
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
by James W. Laine. Oxford University Press, New Delhi. Rs 295. Pages
127.
THE reputation of leaders rises and falls like share prices. Heroes of
yesterday become the villains of today and vice-versa and so it is
with Shivaji, who is being subjected now to fierce controversies by
politicians and academicians in this country. To his admirers, Shivaji
was a nation-builder, a constructive genius and a brilliant military
general, who had crumbled the Mughal Empire in the most trying
circumstances weighted against him.
He is also credited with inspiring his countrymen with a fiery spirit
of patriotism and religious tolerance, but to his enemies, Shivaji
remains a "mountain rat", a guerrilla of the hills and a narrow-minded
fanatic Hindu rebel who, animated by vaulting ambitions and animus,
had indulged recklessly in plunder for the gratification of his
vanity.
The net result of his nefarious activities, his critics argue, was
anarchy and disintegration of the country, and paving the way for the
British colonial rule. James W. Laine addresses himself to answering
these two opposing views. Lane has two objects-to understand the 17th
century Shivaji, the kind of hero he was in the context of the
Maharashtrian culture, and to examine critically the growth of his
legend as it relates to narratives of the Maharashtrian, Hindu and
Indian cultures.
The author focuses himself primarily on the second object of
reconstructing the Shivaji legend on the basis of various types of
evidence such as ballads, poems, fiction, and some historical works.
In other words, this work is of historigraphical nature, which
examines the legend of Shivaji that has grown during the last 300
years.
The book is divided into five chapters with an appendix and notes.
Laine begins his story by showing how Shivaji after his defeat against
the Mughal army led by Mirza Raja Jai Singh became a Mughal vassal and
went to the Agra fort to enroll his son, Sambhaji, in the Imperial
service. Due to his own tactical skills, he escaped from the Agra
fort. Three years after the death of Jai Singh, he took the fort of
Simhagarh.
The author questions the general view that Shivaji's Maratha Hindu
nationalism was at war with the Muslims in the 17th century India.
According to Laine, Shivaji had employed pan-Indian symbols, not the
regional ones; and further, identities were fluid then and not
crystallised as separate. Sufis and Hindu saints walked a common
ground, and there was not a distance between the Hindus and the
Muslims.
Only some Muslim rulers did create ethnic trouble. The author asserts
that pre-modern Marathas did not understand identities and allegiances
in terms of Hinduism and Islam. Hence, Laine concludes, that to regard
Shivaji as an Indian is absolutely wrong and that myths woven round
him give a distorted picture of the reality.
The 17th century Maratha ballad writers based the heroic legend of
Shivaji as a heroic Chhatrapati of an independent Hindu kingdom on his
escape from the Agra fort, his killing of Afzal Khan, his encounter
with Shaista Khan, his conquest of Simhagarh, his coronation in 1674
and his dedication to his patron Goddess, Bhivani. Laine argues that
the ballad writers had deliberately skipped Shivaji's military service
under Adil Shah, his defeat against the Mughals, his loss of Poona,
his surrender to Aurangzeb, his readiness to become a Mughal vassal
with the aspiration of being designated Viceroy of the Deccan and
enlisting his son in the Mughal army. These omissions give a false
image of Shivaji, the author maintains.
Shivaji's image of an epic hero is further buttressed by another
Ballad writer, Permanand, who by tracing some genealogical evidence,
projects him a kshatriya of the Sisodia clan of the Rajputs. Laine
shows how the chronicles, the Bhakars, relate Shivaji's commitment to
Vaishnavism to Hinduism and his close association with the 17th
century saints, Tukaram and Ramdas. On the contrary, the author thinks
that the role of Maharashtra saints was more significant in the 18th
rather than the 17th century and that Ramdas was never Shivaji's
spiritual guide.
Despite Jotirao Phule's emphasis on Shivaji's low-caste heritage, the
ballads composed between 1869-2001 put Shivaji in a different
category. Except Grant Duff, who in his History of the Mahratta,
described Shivaji a plunderer and a freebooter, most Indian historians
and writers, including justice M.I. Ranade and B.G. Tikak, laud him as
the father of Indian nationalism and a liberationist. Ranade portrays
Shivaji as the architect of Maratha independence, who promoted
religious tolerance and the egalitarian status of women.
In justification of Shivaji's actions, Tilak cites Arjuna's example
from The Mahabharata. Tilak comments that great men are exempted from
following the strict standard of conventional morality. Indian leaders
such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Tilak, Annie Besant, Aurobindo Ghosh and poet
Tagore have paid eloquent tributes to Shivaji as a great national
leader and the builder of the country. The author treats such views as
flippant.
In the last chapter, the author acknowledges that there are different
ways of reading and writing the biography of Shivaji. History writing
is not a one-point programme; it is an interim report. Nor is it wise
to be a debunker. Laine maintains that there is no standard biography
of Shivaji. Rightly, the author asserts that the primordial view that
the Hindus and the Muslims were pitted against each other and ever
fighting is false.
It is regretted that despite inner inconsistencies, the narratives of
Shivaji' s life represent him in the BJP regime as a grand nationalist
Hindu symbol and ideology. Regrettably, the line between fact and
fiction is blurred. The fact is that Shivaji had lived in a
cosmopolitan Islamic world where identity formations were in the
making but not crystallised. This intellectually stimulating and
neatly textured book is disturbing. It questions the commonly held
views and opens a new ground for fresh thinking and research.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/spectrum/book4.htm
learning house with a world-wide appeal
TNN, Jan 6, 2004, 03.36am IST
PUNE: The renowned Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (Bori) is a
veritable treasure trove for scholars, researchers and students of
Indology and Orientology, which attracts scholars not only from India
but also from France, Germany, Korea and Japan.
The institute has over 1.5 lakh books in its library, 80,000 rare
manuscripts and the personal book collection of Ramkrishna Gopal
Bhandarkar, in whose memory the institute was founded. The institute
building is also a grade I heritage structure, listed for protection.
Although the state government gives an annual grant to the institute,
it has to depend on donations and earning from its publications to
make both ends meet.
At present, the state government owes Rs 28 lakh to the institute, the
annual expenditure of which is Rs 40 lakh and income, Rs 35 lakh.
At a meeting of people interested in Orientology on July 6, 1915, it
was decided to build an institute in commemoration of Bhandarkar's
outstanding work in the field.
He can be justifiably regarded as the foremost pioneer of scientific
Orientology in the country. The institute was finally founded on July
6, 1917. The event was intended to synchronise with his eightieth
birth anniversary.
The institute is a public organisation registered under Act XXI of
1860 and is administered by a regulating council.
It is partially supported by annual earmarked grants from the state
government, which nominates five representatives on the regulating
council and two on the executive board.
The institute has also received grants from the Centre and the
University Grants Commission for specific research projects.
The institute normally works through its four main departments —
Mahabharata and research unit, manuscripts, publication and
postgraduate teaching and research.
In 1919, the institute undertook a project to prepare and publish a
critical edition of the Mahabharata.
This enormous literary project (19 volumes containing 13,000 demi
quarto pages) was completed in 1966, and this historic event was
formally announced by the then president, S. Radhakrishnan, at a
special function held at the Mahabharata Institute on September 22,
1966.
Subsequently, the institute also prepared and published a critical
edition of the Harivamsa (two volumes containing 1,711 pages).
This was followed by the Pratika-Index (six volumes containing 4,805
pages) and the critically constituted text of the Great Epic, and the
Harivamsa (five volumes containing 3,150 pages).
The institute is now occupied with the last item in the great project
of the Critical Edition, namely, the Epilogue. The institute is also
preparing an exhaustive cultural index of the Mahabharata.
When the institute was founded in 1917, the then government of Bombay
handed over its entire collection of manuscripts (nearly 20,000) to
the institute.
The institute has, all these years, been looking after the
preservation, lending out and cataloguing of these manuscripts, and,
as government reports would testify, the work of the institute in this
connection has been most exemplary.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/407198.cms
Volume 21 - Issue 02, January 17 - 30, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
THE STATES
Politics of vandalism
ANUPAMA KATAKAM
in Pune
Invaluable books and artefacts have been destroyed in an attack on the
Bhandarkar Institute in Pune by members of the `Sambhaji Brigade'.
PHOTOGRAPHS: ANUPAMA KATAKAM
The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
ON January 5, the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in
Pune became the target of a horrific act of vandalism. A 150-strong
mob protesting against the institute's alleged involvement in
maligning the name of the Maratha king Shivaji barged into its
premises, ransacked the library, destroyed thousands of rare books,
ancient manuscripts, old photographs and priceless artefacts, and took
away some invaluable historical texts. The institute, one of the
country's premier research centres for Orientology, has become a
victim of what is now known as cultural terrorism and also the
politics of a caste feud in Maharashtra.
The attackers were reacting to a derogatory remark on Shivaji's
parentage, made by the American author James Laine in his book
Shivaji: A Hindu King in an Islamic Kingdom. In a biographical account
on the Maratha warrior, Laine writes that "the repressed awareness
that Shivaji had an absentee father is also revealed by the fact that
Maharashtrians tell jokes naughtily suggesting that his guardian
Dadoji Konddev was his biological father... ."
Apparently, unable to tolerate such a statement, the attackers - owing
allegiance to the "Sambhaji Brigade", a splinter group of the Maratha
Seva Sangh, an organisation active in "promoting the cause of the
Marathas" - targeted the BORI because one of the institute's research
scholars, Shreekant Bahulkar, is acknowledged in Laine's book. They
held him responsible for Laine's comment.
The controversy over Laine's book began in November 2003, when a group
of historians led by Dadasaheb Purandare, well known for his biography
of Shivaji, asked the publishers, Oxford University Press (OUP), to
withdraw the book. Their letter to OUP states: "Though we do believe
in freedom of expression, we cannot subscribe to the practice of
maligning the life and character of any person, especially of one who
commands the love, respect and admiration of crores of people and is a
source of inspiration to them, by casting baseless aspersions."
According to another historian of the group, "Laine's remark on
Shivaji' parentage is factually incorrect and there is not a shred of
evidence to support it." He told Frontline that if Laine were a
responsible historian, he would have realised that such a statement
without substantive evidence backing it would have serious
ramifications.
Furniture destroyed by the mob.
The OUP withdrew the book immediately and issued an apology. The
matter seemingly ended there. However, the historians reportedly held
a meeting to condemn the book and celebrate their victory in having
the book taken off the shelves. Shiv Sena activists, quick to react to
any disparaging remark on Shivaji, stormed into the BORI building and
blackened the face of Bahulkar.
Later Shiv Sena leader Raj Thackeray apologised to Bahulkar and the
Sainiks have since been trying their best to disassociate themselves
from the controversy. Laine too faxed an apology to the Sainiks and
the media, stating that neither Bahulkar nor the BORI was responsible
for the text in his book. On his part, Bahulkar explained that while
Laine was at the BORI 15 years ago, he had helped him translate some
Sanskrit and Marathi texts but had nothing to do with Laine's
conclusions.
"The Sambhaji Brigade came out of nowhere," says Bahulkar. "Obviously
there are some anti-social elements who wanted to create trouble and
they used the controversy as a tool to further their cause." The
attack appeared to have been planned meticulously. The attackers
barged into the premises, cut the telephone lines, broke up into small
groups of 10 and 15 and finished their task in half an hour. "This was
not a spontaneous reaction to a derogatory remark," he told Frontline.
But why did they react so late? It is hardly likely that any of these
people would have read the book. Who backed them or who organised
them?
THE Maratha Seva Sangh, which has claimed responsibility for the
attack, is an organisation that is extremely anti-Brahmin, says Ajit
Abhyankar, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Its
members wait for any opportunity to strike at the Brahmin community.
Many of them believe that the scholars of the State belong to this
community.
The battle between Brahmins and Marathas is very much part of
Maharashtra's history, and it now dominates its politics. Pune has
traditionally been a hotbed of such caste politics. It is alleged that
using the anti-Brahmin slogan, the Sangh instigates unemployed youth
to undertake anti-social acts such as the attack on the BORI.
In spite of the acceptance of blame, the police are yet to pick up any
key member of the Maratha Seva Sangh. Informed sources in Pune say the
Sangh's leader Purushottam Khedekar, a Public Works Department
engineer, is close to several Ministers in the ruling Democratic Front
government and, therefore, is unlikely to be touched. Khedekar
allegedly wields so much clout that his career in the government
remains on course though he has been arrested on corruption charges.
His wife Rekha Khedekar is a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of the
Legislative Assembly from Buldana district.
For the past six or seven years, says the source, Khedekar has been
working on the "Maratha cause". He and his band of followers went to
the various forts of Shivaji in the Sahyadris and placed Maratha Seva
Sangh signboards and flags - probably indicating some sort of
proprietorship over the area, says the source. Until the attack on the
BORI, Khedekar remained relatively unknown. Although there has been a
backlash, with several groups, political and non-political, condemning
the attack, Khedekar has managed to make some gains from the
publicity. The incident has given the Sangh an identity.
Volunteers help clean up the institute.
IRONICALLY, the Sambhaji Brigade destroyed a huge collection of books
on Shivaji and damaged a portrait of him, which the BORI had received
from the British Museum. "Is this any way to revere a king?" asks a
visibly shaken Saroja Bhate, honorary secretary of the BORI. Also
irreparably lost are: a 15th century, 10-inch idol of mundkata
Ganapati and Syrian clay tablet dated to 600 B.C. found in
Maharashtra. A version of the Mahabharata from Kashmir dated to A.D.
1000, is damaged partly.
The outpouring of help to the institute has been overwhelming.
Donations have poured in and students from all over have volunteered
to reorganise the library and clean up the mess. The much-needed funds
will be spent on buying furniture and computers, which were also not
spared by the attackers. "We are going to rise from the ashes," says
Bhate.
In 1917, R.G. Bhandarkar, a historian, founded the BORI as a
charitable institution with the aim of collecting rare and ancient
historical books and preserving manuscripts to help in research. The
then Government of Bombay handed over 20,000 manuscripts to the
institution, which it preserved and catalogued. Many of these were
destroyed in the attack. In 1919, the institute undertook an exercise
to publish a critical edition of the Mahabharata. The final outcome of
the project was a 19-volume, 13,000 demi quarto page publication,
which was completed in 1966. President S. Radhakrishnan formally
launched the publication that year.
The BORI attracts scholars from across the world seeking to research
topics in Indology and Orientology. It is unfortunate that such an
institution is caught in a controversy over what is apparently a non-
issue.
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2102/stories/20040130003802800.htm
Shivaji
Hindu King in Islamic India
James W. Laine
ISBN13: 9780195141269
ISBN10: 0195141261
Hardback, 144 pages
Jan 2003,
In Stock Price:$65.00 (06)
Shivaji is a well-known hero in western India. He defied Mughal power
in the seventeenth century, established an independent kingdom, and
had himself crowned in an orthodox Hindu ceremony. The legends of his
life have become an epic story that everyone in western India knows,
and an important part of the Hindu nationalists' ideology. To read
Shivaji's legend today is to find expression of deeply held
convictions about what Hinduism means and how it is opposed to Islam.
James Laine traces the origin and development if the Shivaji legend
from the earliest sources to the contemporary accounts of the tale.
His primary concern is to discover the meaning of Shivaji's life for
those who have composed-and those who have read-the legendary accounts
of his military victories, his daring escapes, his relationships with
saints. In the process, he paints a new and more complex picture of
Hindu-Muslim relations from the seventeenth century to the present. He
argues that this relationship involved a variety of compromises and
strategies, from conflict to accommodation to nuanced collaboration.
Neither Muslims nor Hindus formed clearly defined communities, says
Laine, and they did not relate to each other as opposed monolithic
groups. Different sub-groups, representing a range of religious
persuasions, found it in their advantage to accentuate or diminish the
importance of Hindu and Muslim identity and the ideologies that
supported the construction of such identities. By studying the
evolution of the Shivaji legend, Laine demonstrates, we can trace the
development of such constructions in both pre-British and post-
colonial periods.
Reviews
"A succinct, cogent study that is admirably well organized and
consistently insightful. Though brief, it makes a significant
contribution to the study of Indian history and religious studies."--
Journal of the American Academy of Relgion
"Shivaji is a succinct, cogent study that is admirably well organized
and consistently insightful. Though brief, it makes a significant
contribution to the study of Indian history and religious studies. In
one of the first studies to trace the longitudinal developments in the
biography of a major precolonial figure of India, Laine employs an
innovative approach that could well be adapted to other figures. In
addition, Laine makes valuable observations about the precolonial
history of 'Hinduism'"-- Journal of the American Academy of Religion
Product Details
144 pages; 5-1/2 x 8-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-514126-9
ISBN10: 0-19-514126-1
About the Author(s)
James W. Laine is a Professor of Religious Studies at Macalester
College.
http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/Hinduism/?view=usa&ci=0195141261
Danny Yee's Book Reviews
Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India
James W. Laine
Oxford University Press 2003
A book review by Danny Yee © 2004 http://dannyreviews.com/
In the second half of the 17th century, Shivaji rose from a minor
chieftain to an independent king, founding the Maratha kingdom. In
this study Laine looks not at Shivaji directly, but at the stories
that have been told about him and their development over the last
three and a half centuries. These have become entwined with the
construction of Maharahstrian, Hindu, and Indian identities, and Laine
begins with these, and with the risks of attributing anachronistic
self-identifications to Shivaji.
The earliest stories of Shivaji's life, from the 17th century, present
him as an epic hero. Along with stories of his birth and boyhood, key
episodes include the killing of Afzal Khan, the encounter with Shaista
Khan, the escape from Agra, and his coronation.
"when [Shivaji] could, he attempted to rule as an independent Hindu
monarch, to be a patron of his religious traditions, and to challenge
the hegemony of the Islamicate world around him. His predecessors and
successors were more accommodationist, less heroic, and less well
remembered. Moreover, the stories of their bravery were nowhere near
as good."
In the 18th century Shivaji became linked with the saints Ramdas and
Tukaram, though "stories of the saints' role in Shivaji's life have
more to do with eighteenth-century concerns than with actual events
from a century before". The complex intertwining of the religious and
political in the present encouraged the construction of a simpler
past, as "part of a general tendency to oppose a single universalistic
Hinduism to a single monolithic Islam".
In the last hundred and fifty years, biographies of Shivaji have
expressed "a host of different political and cultural interests".
Jatirao Phule used Shivaji's story as "a way of advancing an
antibrahmin reading of Maratha history", emphasising his low-caste
status, but "virtually every Maharashtrian writer after Phule saw
Shivaji as the father of a nation, a liberationist". K.A. Keluskar
downplayed his connection with the saints and emphasized his appeal to
followers of every caste, Lokmanya Tilak used him to support
opposition to British rule, and M.G. Ranade wedded his story to bhakti
("devotion"). Laine also looks at the presentation of Shivaji in
school texts, in the fictional works of Babasaheb Purandare, and on
web sites.
Looking at "cracks in the narrative", Laine explores the things left
out of traditional stories — and what these absences show about the
concerns of those who produced them. Shivaji came from a "broken
family", with separated parents, he probably had a harem, he showed no
interest in the bhakti saints, his ambition was to build a kingdom,
not liberate a nation, and he did little to change the "cosmopolitan
Islamicate world" he lived in.
The Shivaji stories have played a key role in the construction of
"Islam" and "Hinduism" in Maharashtra.
"The narrative of Shivaji's life, already reshaped by bhakti writers
by 1800, was thoroughly overtaken by the nationalist narrative in 1900
and has been sustained as a grand narrative of Hindu nationalist
identity, despite all the inner inconsistencies, anachronisms, and
communalism that imaginative enterprise has entailed."
It is hard to approach Shivaji without being influenced by the
political furor the book has inspired. It has been withdrawn from the
Indian market and banned in Maharashtra, while a scholar was assaulted
and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune ransacked just
because of mentions in Laine's acknowledgements. This thuggery is a
depressing illustration of the extent of communalism in Indian
politics, but also demonstrates the continuing significance of the
Shivaji stories — and the need to understand their evolution and
history.
Laine's openness may explain some of the animosity: his introduction,
for example, explicitly states his hope to "rescue [Shivaji's]
biography from the grasp of those who see India as a Hindu nation at
war with its Muslim neighbors". Shivaji is undeniably a scholarly
work, however, and few of Laine's critics have engaged with its actual
content. Though too slender to be entirely self-contained, it includes
enough background to be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of
modern Indian history.
March 2004
External links:
- buy from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195141261/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook-20
Related reviews:
- books about India + Indian history
http://dannyreviews.com/s/India.html
- more historiography
http://dannyreviews.com/s/historiography.html
- more history
http://dannyreviews.com/s/history.html
- books published by Oxford University Press
http://dannyreviews.com/p/Oxford_University_Press.html
Books at Amazon.com (more, Amazon.co.uk)
- Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India - James W. Laine
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195141261/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- The Life of Shivaji Maharaj, Founder of the Maratha Empire -
Nilkanth Sadashiv Takakhav
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1151535478/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- The Life of Shivaji Maharaj: Founder of the Maratha Empire -
Nilakantha Sadasiva Takakhav
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0030A0CI2/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
- Shivaji and Facets of Maratha Culture - Saryu., ed. Doshi
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0022TPFMK/ref=nosim/dannyyeesbook5-20
http://dannyreviews.com/h/Shivaji.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Watch Video
http://vodpod.com/watch/3274755-beautiful-people-with-nitin-gadkari-part-1-20310
Beautiful People with Nitin Gadkari Part 2 - 20/3/10
Watch Video
http://vodpod.com/watch/3274756-beautiful-people-with-nitin-gadkari-part-2-20310
MS - Believe in IK OANKAAR Member since:May 12, 2006
Total points:12001 (Level 6)
Resolved Question
How is team Nitin Gadkari?
So far I did not pay attention on his team but after reading comments
from Shotgun, I started reading and critically analyzing this national
counsel.
Karuna Shukla : niece of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajapayee
Varun Gandhi, Of course benefited because of his family background and
his provocative and controversial speeches.
Vasundhara Raje Scindia, daughter of late smt Rajmata Vijayaraje
Scindia, who else can trouble party leadership more than her.
Thavarchand Ghahlod, Vijay Goel both lost parliamentary elections and
Dharmendra Pradhan lost assembly elections, and all three general
secretory, but Yashwant Sinha missing from the list and Bihar
elections are approaching.
No general secretory from UP, only one member from Karnataka in team
Gadkari where BJP is in power.
Of course, Mr. Advani and RSS are never ignored in BJP.
From parliament to team Gadkari every where one can see, Mr. Advani's
team more than Mr. Gadkari's team, may it be leader of opposition, or
leader of NDA, or leader of BJP in Rajyasabha, or in team Gadkari
Anant Kumar, and Vasundhara Raje though Arun Shourie and Yashavant
Sinha did not find place.
And for RSS, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ram Lal, Varun Gandhi, Vinay
Katiyar, Thavar Chand Gahlot.
Mr. Gadkari had to leave out the deserving candidate like Shahnavaz
Husein from being General Secretory and accommodated as spokes person,
though he is three times MP and more deserving than many others.
And by the way there are 3 general secretaries from Lok Sabha and 6
from Rajya Sabha, and I am emphasizing more on general secretaries
because that position is considered as most important in BJP.
Now according to media news the Yuva morcha president will be Anurag
Thaukur, HP CM Prem Kumar Dhumal's son.
Yes lot of Young faces and more than 33% females in the team. A
positive sign, but I don't see lot of people with grassroots and mass
support.
What is your opinion on Team Gadkari? Would this team take BJP to Mr.
Gadkari's target to increase vote base to +10%? Did he keep his
promise that "People who work will be rewarded in BJP?"
2 weeks ago
Additional Details
Mr. Bull, I don't my question was how is team Gadkari as compared to
team Congress because that is already proven. But to answer your
question.
For your kind information, these just few examples, more you want, I
can produce a long list but I don't think that is the question here:
Late Madhavrao Scindia joined politics with Bharatiya Jan Sangh and he
was son of Late Rajmata Scindia. So it goes like this:
Late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia
=======================
Daughter: Yashodhara Raje Scindia
Son: Madhavrao Scindia
Daughter: Vasundhara Raje
Grandson: Dushyant Singh
I already mentioned about Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's family, now see
few more:
Rajnath Singh:
===========
Son: Pankaj Singh
Jaswant Singh
===========
Son: Manvendra Singh
B. S. Yeddyurappa
===============
Son: B. Y. Raghavendra
Madan Lal Khurana
===============
Son: Vimal Khurana
Daughter In law: Vandana Khurana
2 weeks ago
by Vijay D Member since:February 15, 2007Total points:9900 (Level 5)
Best answer 11%2613 answers
Member Since: February 15, 2007
Total Points: 9900 (Level 5)
Points earned this week: 54
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
This is team RSS with head quarters based in Nagpur. Full BJP has been
taken over by Marathi culture. The reason for fall of BJP in north
India is only because of the prevalent Marathi culture.
2 weeks ago
Asker's Rating:Asker's Comment:10/10
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100318173007AAvUPsH
A thought to ponder
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
“No true Muslim can kill a Hindu, no true Hindu can kill a Muslim.
Yet the pseudo-secularists insist on indentifying terrorists with
religion.
The state should be secular, the government should be secular but an
individual cannot be secular.”
sd/Nitin Gadkari
Life Sketch
A Visionary Performer
A visionary with great ideas and an innovative approach, an able
administrator who believes in attaining results , an iconic leader for
the party workers, a Leader of Opposition who keeps the government on
its toes when in opposition; a performer par excellence as a Minister
are the words that best bring about the profile of Nitin Gadkari. In
other words, here is a leader who has the ability to make democracy,
deliver!
For him politics was never confined to gaining power. He always looked
at it as an instrument for bringing about all round development of the
people. He believes that “Seva and Vikas”, (service and development)
lead the way for better public service, which in turn expands and
strengthens the base of the party, at the grass root level.
A Swayamsevak of the RSS to the core, for Mr Gadkari, social justice,
harmony and equality are matters of commitment. His skills in social
engineering , withstood the litmus test of electoral politics in the
recent Maharashtra assembly elections especially in the Nagpur
district.
His clear vision and perfect understanding of the needs of the masses,
has helped him to bring effective changes that have benefitted the
common man. In political as well as the social spheres Mr. Gadkari,
has always adopted an all encompassing approach. Antyodaya, (to reach
out to the last person on the social ladder) has always been the focus
of his development agenda. His willingness to accept suggestions and
implement the viable ones helped Mr. Gadkari to change the face and
functioning of the Public Works Department (PWD) of Maharashtra
Government during his very illustrious tenure as its Minister..
A Sincere Party Soldier
Mr. Gadkari began as a grass root level worker and has successfully
led from the front, several agitations and other programmes of the
BJP . He has worked in different capacities and has held varied
positions within the party, before taking up the post of Maharashtra
BJP President in 2004. As a true party soldier, he has all along
accepted whatever responsibility the party wanted him to shoulder and
has carried it out to the best of his abilities.
After taking over as Maharashtra BJP President in November 2004, Mr.
Gadkari visited almost every tehsil and knows countless party workers
by name. Due to his dynamism, development-oriented approach and
openness, the BJP has been able to bring various new sections of
society in its fold.
Early Days of Activism
Nitin Gadkari learned his initial lessons in nationalism and
patriotism at a very young age. He entered the political arena as a
student activist. He joined the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP) in 1976 and took active part in university elections. In 1979
he became the Secretary of Vidharbha region. Under his stewardship
ABVP won the elections for all positions in the Nagpur University
Students' Council. During his tenure he successfully organized the
28th National Convention of ABVP.
At the age of 24, he was elected as the Nagpur City President of
Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). In 1985 he became secretary of BJP
Nagpur City and he worked relentlessly to strengthen the party
organization in urban and rural areas of the district.
At the age of 32, Nitin Gadkari successfully contested elections for
Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur division Graduates
Constituency, spread over five districts, and became an M.L.C. He
repeated his successful performance four consecutive times in 1990,
1996, 2002 and 2008. Notably, he was elected unopposed in 2002.
Mr. Gadkari's success in the legislative politics runs parallel with
his organizational achievements in BJP. At the age of 35, he became
the General Secretary of BJP in Maharashtra. Under his leadership the
party organization spread its tentacles all over the state. The
party's spectacular victory in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation in
1992 elections, established his organization prowess beyond doubt. At
the age of 38, Mr. Gadkari was inducted in the Maharashtra Cabinet as
the Minister for Public Works. High level of result orientation and
performance marked his ministerial inning. He was Leader of Opposition
in Maharashtra Legislative Council at the age of 42. As a responsible
leader of opposition, he took up various important issues such as
farmer’s suicides and made the government listen to. He also came out
with out-of-box suggestions and viable solutions to address these
issues.
In 2004, Mr. Gadkari at the age of 47, became the President of BJP
Maharashtra State.
Mark on Governance:
Gadkari’s stint as Public Works Minister of Maharashtra (1995-99) made
him world-famous thanks to his resoluteness in swiftly completing mega
projects like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway or the network of 55 flyover
bridges in Mumbai at the costs way below the estimated expenditure.
During these four and a half years he left an indelible mark of his
style of governance on his department. He played a key role in shaping
the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana. During the NDA rule, the
Central PWD was revamped as per his suggestions. Mr. Gadkari
transformed Nagpur, making it one of the most beautiful cities of
India. His lasting contribution is his work for uplifting the poor and
the deprived.
His thrust area always has remained the economic and social upliftment
of the have-nots. A case in point is his work for the educated
unemployed. When he was Minister, he launched a scheme for qualified
unemployed civil engineers. They were allowed to register with the PWD
and undertake its assignments, estimated to cost up to Rs.15 lakh. Mr.
Gadkari provided work to around 30000 engineers through this bold
initiative. At the same time, Gadkari started a campaign to reward the
employees doing good work and penalise those shirking their
responsibilities. Every year since, the State Governor distributes
awards to outstanding PWD engineers on the birth anniversary of Sir M.
Visvesvaraya. Such pioneering efforts instilled a confidence among the
PWD personnel. Under Mr. Gadkari, they completed several prestigious
assignments in record time.
Mr. Gadkari’s two achievements stand out in particular. He pioneered
the concept of Public-Private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure
development. The BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model has the basis of
this concept. It is now implemented widely in India, thanks to this
initiative large budgetary funds were made available for rural road
development. The other is the up-gradation of norms for the
construction industry. Completion of mega projects in a time bound
frame, too, is his initiative. Establishment of a Maharashtra State
Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was one of his innovative
initiatives through which funds were raised from open market for
infrastructure projects for the first time in India
One of the first tasks Mr. Gadkari planned was to provide all-weather
road connectivity to the 13736 villages in Maharashtra. He noted that
they had remained unconnected even after 50 years of independence. He
remarked that it would take 350 years to complete the work through
annual budgets. As finances could not become available from government
coffers, he persuaded NABARD officials and obtained a soft loan of Rs.
700 crore for rural connectivity. Mr. Gadkari approached Naxalite-
infested areas where no road work was allowed by Naxalites. He secured
the assistance of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) to construct
roads and bridges, thus providing the tribals with easy and permanent
road access.
As Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Mr. Gadkari changed the
complexion of Nagpur and the district. Low cost housing schemes for
economically weaker sections, Markets for hawkers. Development and
beautification of prominent places like Deekshabhoomi, where Dr.
B.R.Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, were some of his noteworthy
achievements.
Social Outlook, Professional Approach
A successful entrepreneur, Mr. Gadkari tops the list of progressive
leaders who have profound concerns for socio-economic development and
environmental protection. His personality is a perfect mix of
entrepreneurship and social leadership. This has helped him in
creating organisations with social outlook and professional approach.
He has successfully utilized urban resources for creating employment
opportunities in rural areas. His sincere and deep interest in tapping
the conventional and non-conventional energy sources, to their
optimum, is visible through the various projects he has launched,
through his Purti Group of companies, in the region.
A co-operative supermarket competing with private malls and mega
markets; successful implementation of first private sector composite
2500TPD sugar factory in an area where even stalwarts rejected the
idea of starting a sugar factory; Ethanol plant of 1,20,000 ltrs; 26
MWT of Power Generation unit and Bio-fertiliser with the country's
first biodiesel pump are all examples of his commitment to implement
social schemes in a professional manner. His business group is also
running a solvent extraction Soyabean plant and a cogeneration power
plant of 8 mw capacity. Being an agriculturist, Mr Gadkari is the
first facilitator of solar fencing. He firmly believes in improving
the financial status of the farmers by increasing their purchasing
power, to bring about their all round development.
Mr. Gadkari has a taste for everything that is modern. He initiated a
process of setting up Software Technology Park in Central India. The
project of reusing the sewage water for Power Generation and
industrial use thereby saving clean water, speaks of his practical and
modern approach.
An Empathic Communicator
A powerful orator from his college days winning several awards has
evolved into communicator where he presents issues in a very point
wise logical fashion. He is perhaps the only politician who enthralls
lakhs of youth telling them importance of entrepreneurship and
development. Gadkari has established a record by attracting lakhs of
young people to watch his presentations on the theme of development.
Stadiums were overflowing with thousands of teenagers and youngsters
when he made public presentations on the potential of MIHAN
(Multimodal international cargo hub and airport at Nagpur) complex at
various places. There was not a word of politics in any of the
speeches or any appeal to instigate passions. On the other hand when
he is handling all important issues like fair prices for farm produce
he is very fierce and takes laks of farmers with him. The ability to
address diverse issues concerning to urban youth to the farmers to the
forest dwellers with same empathy and passion makes him very effective
in bonding with people at large..
A firm believer in Antyodaya :
Gadkari firmly believes in the concepts of Antyodaya, Integral
Humanism and trusteeship. More importantly, he has established that he
can walk the talk and make his commitment to the cause of people's
welfare reflect through his governance. It was under his leadership
that Maharashtra BJP contributed in the Annadata Sukhi Bhava Yojana of
a Voluntary Organisation and reached out to the widows of those
farmers who have committed suicides. Mr. Gadkari gave top priority to
constructing roads to tackle the problem of tribal malnutrition in
Melghat - Dharni belt of Amaravati district and provided all- weather
connectivity to the 91 remote villages of the belt. This connectivity
has changed the socio-economic profile of this belt with the incidence
of malnutrition coming down dramatically. It is his conviction that
each position and authority must have only one objective: welfare of
the public.
His Social Activities include
Adoption of 500 orphans of farmers who committed suicides due to
agrarian crises in the region.
Support for over 2000 BPL families for heart operations
Providing low cost housing for workers and the poor
A Globe Trotter
As someone who believes in learning things first hand, Mr. Gadkari has
traversed the globe in his quest to gain latest knowledge in varied
fields in which he is active. From water utilization in Israel to
water management in France, to sugar production in Brazil, to
infrastructure development in China, he has visited different
countries to understand the developmental processes going on in
different parts of the world. He has so far visited Israel, Italy,
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, China, Hong
Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Canada, Brazil and Sri
Lanka.
Personal
A sports enthusiast, Mr. Gadkari has particular interest in Cricket.
Married to Kanchan, the couple has three children – Nikhil, Sarang and
Ketaki.
Born - 27 May 1957 Nagpur, India.
Educational Qualification: - M. Com., L.L.B., D.B.M.
Positions Held in Public Sphere In Organisation :
1976-77 :Active member of ABVP and active participation in ABVP's anti-
Emergency work
1977 :Coordinator for Purogami Lokashahi Aghdadi's Vidarbha region
after Emergency was lifted.
1979 :Elected as Vidarbha region secretary of ABVP
1980 :Re-elected as Vidarbha region secretary of ABVP
1981 :Nagpur city unit President of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha
1985-86 :Nagpur city unit Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party
1988-89 :General Secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party's Nagpur city
unit
1989 :Elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Nagpur
graduate constituency.
1992-94 :General Secretary of the state unit of BJP
2004 :President of the BJP Maharashtra State unit
1995-99 :Government Cabinet Minister for Public Works Department of
Maharashtra State.
1999-2004 :Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislature Council.
1995-99 :Member of the High Power Committee for Privatization,
Government of Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Founder Chairman, Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation Ltd.
1995-99 :Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Govt. of Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Chairman, Mining Policy Implementation Committee, Govt. of
Maharashtra.
1995-99 :Chairman National Rural Road Development Committee, Govt. of
India. Chairman, Review Committee of CPWD, Govt. of India.
1995-99 : Chairman, Metropolis Beautification Committee, Govt. of
Maharashtra.
http://nitingadkari.org/lifeskectch.html
Youth leader
Nitin Gadkari was inspired to join the students’ movement by late
Dattaji Didolkar and Yashwantrao Kelkar, the two stalwarts who shaped
the avante garde students’ organization called Akhil Bharatiya
Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). As a fiery and sensitive youth leader, he
showed a typical aversion to injustice –be it in the form of fee hikes
or increasing political interference in education. His distaste for
lowering of standards of education and inertia of the youth became
visible during the various movements and agitations that he led, In
the very early stages of his political career, Gadkari exhibited his
capabilities to shoulder the higher responsibilities, which he would
be entrusted with in the future.
The young firebrand student leader made his foray into active politics
in the post Emergency era. He became the President of BJP Yuva Morcha
at the age of 26, which marked his entry into active politics. He
became the member of Maharashtra State Legislative Council at age of
32. And from here on, there has been no looking back. From the first
stint as a member of the Council in 1989 till date, Gadkari has left
an indelible mark on the politics of Maharashtra, his home state.
http://nitingadkari.org/youthleader.html
Minister
Driven since childhood by the philosophy of nationalism, Antyodaya and
concern for the underprivileged, Nitin Gadkari led various agitations
as a student leader in ABVP. He entered active politics after the
Emergency, which was imposed in 1975. In 1983 he was made president of
BJP Yuva Morcha. His attempt to enter the Maharashtra state Assembly
in 1985 was unsuccessful. He became the Member of Legislative Council
in 1989 and since then there has been no looking back.
Since 1989 till today, Mr. Gadkari has continued to be member of
Maharashtra Legislative Council, getting elected 5 times in a row from
the Graduate Constituency, comprising of over 2 lac voters, spread
across 5 revenue districts. He has worked his way up the ladder of
progress as State Secretary, PWD Minister, leader of Opposition, and
the State BJP President.
As PWD Minister for Maharashtra, from 1995-99, Gadkari left an
indelible mark on the development map of India. He was instrumental in
introducing and effectively implementing PPP (Public Private
Partnership) popularly known as BOT, by completing many development
projects. This unique concept, popular in western countries, but
frowned upon by Indian politicians, not only made the major artery
roads connecting cities better and well maintained, but also helped to
release huge amount of budget funds earmarked for such roads, to be
utilised for rural road development. The concept grew into what we see
today as “Golden Quadrilateral” and many more projects by NHAI on one
side and “Pantpradhan Gram Sadak Yojana” on the other.
In a lighter vein a politician is described as a person who promises
to build bridges in his pre-election speech and is able to convince
the people after 5 years why they could not be built. Far from all
this the most remarkable and outstanding feature of the tenure of
Nitin Gadkari as Minister for Public Works Department, in the
Government of Maharashtra, was that he delivered even those things
which he had never promised or rather he delivered much more than what
he had promised. He completed development works worth Rs 6000 crores
and provided employment to 10 lakh educated jobless youths of the
State.
Today lots of flyovers and bridges in Maharashtra stand testimony to
what Nitin Gadkari delivered through his vision and confidence by
completing all the projects within the deadline, with utmost adherence
to quality and standards., And he could achieve all this in the most
cost efficient manner. In a span of four years nearly 98% of the total
population in Maharashtra got road connectivity and many districts
completed the target of 100% road connectivity. He raised loans for
rural connectivity also. This aimed to connect 13736 remote villages
of the state, which had remained unconnected by road since
independence.
He took up the target of completing the “Sagari Marg” which was a long
awaited dream of the people of Konkan region. During the four years of
his regime, this dream became true and Konkan got the link of “Sagari
Marg” barring two large bridges in the sea creek.
He wanted fast track projects to be completed in a time bound manner.
He established Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, (MSRDC)
a fully Govt. owned company. MSRDC went to the capital market and
raised Rs. 1180 crores. This was the first and the largest offering in
the capital market by any govt. owned corporation in those times. Thus
MSRDC could undertake large projects like constructing 55 flyovers in
Mumbai at a cost of Rs. 1500 crores, Mumbai Pune Expressway at a cost
of Rs.1500 crores and many other bridges, roads and bypass projects in
various parts of Maharashtra. The prestigious Worli-Bandra Sea Link
project, was initiated during his tenure as a minsiter,
Always open to and aggressive in adopting new technology, he undertook
complete computerisation programme for his department. P.W.D. was the
first governmental department to do so. Mr. Gadkari implemented a
scheme of self employment for the civil engineers. These unemployed
engineers were registered as contractors and PWD gave them work upto
Rs.15 lakh through tender along with an advance of Rs. 40,000/- .
Through this scheme 18000 civil engineers got the opportunity to work
independently. He promoted the concept of new technology in
construction field thereby, encouraging contractors to bring in state
of the art construction equipment, which improved the quality of work
as well as the economics.
http://nitingadkari.org/minister.html
Leader of Opposition
As a leader of Opposition in the Council, Nitin Gadkari was never
observed as lagging behind in raising the issues of public interest.
As a true democrat and fiery orator he made it a point to remain
present in the House and take part in the proceedings during the
business sessions. He was always proactive in exposing the lapses of
the government on various issues of public interest. He was corrective
and suggestive in his criticism and all his criticism was embedded in
profound concern for the welfare of the people. He raised as many as
over 5000 queries through starred and un-starred questions and call
attention motions in the House. He developed a style of taking all the
members of Opposition with him irrespective of party or ideological
affiliations in the House.
Nitin Gadkari has a magnetic personality. Even his adversaries on the
treasury benches appreciate his sincerity and commitment in a most
friendly manner. His book “Sabhapati Mahodaya” which depicts his
select speeches in the house reflects his concerns for issues cutting
across the wide spectrum of society.
A very alert and aggressive about injustice Mr. Gadkari keeps the
Government on his toes. He exposes number of irregularities and flows
in Government functioning and suggested practical solutions to rectify
it. Mr. Gadkari continues his zeal for infrastructure development
during his tenure of opposition leader. His tireless efforts for
getting development funds for needy and desirer areas are well
appreciated not only in Maharashtra but nearby states.
http://nitingadkari.org/oppositionleader.html
Party President - Maharashtra
Mr. Gadkari was elected as President of Maharashtra Pradesh Bharatiya
Janata Party in 2004 and was reelected in 2006, December. The faith,
which the party has reposed in him was due to his hard work and his
ability to keep the party workers spirited, active and united. He has
always guided the elected members effectively, so that they can act as
agents of change in their respective constituencies, by undertaking
SEWA (Service project) and VIKAS (development works).
He travels extensively to establish first hand contacts with the party
workers in the state. His personal touch to the relations, which he
has developed, has earned him the faith and goodwill of the party
workers all over Maharashtra.
In a span of thirteen days, Mr. Gadkari addressed 114 election
meetings in the nook and corner of the state, during the recently held
elections. This shows how much he was in demand to campaign for the
party candidates.. He is direct and straight forward in his approach
and never hesitates to launch a scathing attack on his opponents, but
his high level of maturity prevents him from launching personal
attacks. He is ruthless in exposing the divisive forces working within
the country. His oratory skills and clarity of purpose attract
students and youth.. His thorough understanding of public issues,
knowledge of facts and figures, and the skill of juxtaposing things in
an appealing manner, with humour and sarcasm laced in his election
speeches, make him a very popular leader of the masses.
During the Lok Sabha elections Nitin Gadkari addressed a total of 146
election meetings in Maharashtra and neighbouring states of Madhya
Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.
Nitin Gadkari was on Saturday, December 19th 2009, appointed the BJP
National president at a meeting of the Parliamentary Board of the
party.
http://nitingadkari.org/president.html
Links
Title Links
Bharatiya Janata Party - The Party with a Difference www.bjp.org
Friends of BJP www.friendsofbjp.org
Bharatiya Janata Party - BJP 25 Years RAJAT JAYANTI www.bjp25.org
© Copyright 2009 - 2010 Nitin Gadkari | All Rights Reserved.
BJP HISTORY : Its Birth and Early Growth
Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the
family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". And RSS has
always been dubbed "communal", "reactionary" and what not by its
detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken off
that criticism like so much water off a duck's back. They have never
had any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity,
national integrity, national identity and national strength through
individual character and national character. And today this
organisation is poised for a great leap forward. Even its long- time
detractors think and say that now BJP is "unstoppable".What is the
story of this national epic?
Bharatiya Janata Party is today the most prominent member of the
family of organisations known as the "Sangh Parivar". And RSS has
always been dubbed "communal", "reactionary" and what not by its
detractors. Sanghs of swayamsevaks have of course always shaken off
that criticism like so much water off a duck's back. They have never
had any doubt that the organisation is wedded to national unity,
national integrity, national identity and national strength through
individual character and national character. And today this
organisation is poised for a great leap forward. Even its long- time
detractors think and say that now BJP is "unstoppable".What is the
story of this national epic?
History is the philosophy of nations. And the Sangh Parivar has a very
clear and candid conception of Indian history. Here was a great
civilization whose glory spread from Sri Lanka to Java and Japan and
from Tibet and Mangolia to China and Siberia. While it weathered the
storms of Huns and Shakas and Greeks it wilted before the Islamic
storms of the Turks. However, a 1000-year resistance saw this country
bloodied but unbowed. Its civilization survived through the heroic
efforts of the Vijayanagar Empire and of Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru
Govind Singh and countless heroes and martyrs
In more recent times this torch was picked up by Swami Dayanand and
Swami Vivekanada. And in the present century the good work has been
carried on by Sri Aurobindo, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi and
others. The RSS, founded by Dr Hedgewar in 1925 and consolidated by
Shri Guruji after 1940, is the heir to this heroic, historic heritage.
It has nothing against Muslim Indians - as distinguished from Muslim
invaders. Its position on this issue has all along been: "Justice for
all and appeasement of none". But it has no doubt that we were and are
a Hindu nation; that change of faith cannot mean change of
nationality.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The RSS entirely agrees with Gandhiji's formulations that "There is in
Hinduism room enough for Jesus, as there is for Mohammed, Zoroster and
Moses" and that "majority of the Muslims of India are converts to that
faith from Hinduism through force of circumstances. They are still
Hindu in many essential ways and, in a free, prosperous, progressive
India, they would find it the most natural thing in the world to
revert to their ancient faith and ways of life."
Due to the British policy of "Divide and Rule" and the politicians'
proclivity to compromise and temporise the country suffered the trauma
of the partition. But the Sangh Parivar has no doubt that before very
long the unities, the varieties and the strengths of our ancient
civilization will prevail. RSS has been continuing the task of nation
building since its inception. It did it through the tumultuous period
of 1930s and 40s. But it was rudely shaken by Gandhiji's killing and
the Government's political exploitation of that national tragedy.
The RSS, along with millions of people, did not approve of Gandhiji's
Muslim appeasement policy - starting with support of the Khilafat
movement - but it had the greatest respect for the Mahatma. Indeed,
Gandhiji had visited the RSS winter camp in Wardha in December 1934 -
and addressed the Delhi RSS workers in Bhangi colony, in Spetember
1947. He had deeply appreciated the "noble sentiments" and
"astonishing discipline" of the RSS. He had never spoken even one word
of criticism of the RSS. But after his killing, 17000 RSS workers -
including Shri Guruji - were accused of "conspiracy of murder" the
Mahatma Gandhi and the RSS workers offered Satyagraha. But during all
this time not one MLA or MP raised the issue in any legislature. For
the RSS, it was the moment of truth. And this truth, as enunciated by
Gokhale, was that "What cuts deep in politics cuts deep all round" and
that unless the RSS grew political teeth and wings, it would always be
at the mercy of unscrupulous politicians. This was the context in
which Shri Guruji blessed the birth of Bhartiya Jana Sangh under the
leadership of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in 1951. And in the very
first General Elections the BJS emerged as one of the four nationally
recognised parties. The Party has never looked back since then.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
The First Decade
The first decade was a period of steady growth organisationally and
policy evolution and elaboration ideologically. It took up the issues
of territorial integrity like Kashmir, Kutch and Berubari - and in the
process suffered the martyrdom of its founder-President Dr Mookerjee
in a Kashmir jail. It demanded cow protection as per Article 48 of the
Constitution and Gandhiji's declaration that "Cow protection is more
important than even Swarajya". It came out against Zamindari and
Jagirdari. It criticised permit- licence-quota Raj. And it came out
for the nuclear option to reinforce national defence. The 1962 China
war and 1965 Pakistan war put Sangh Parivar on the center-stage as the
conscience of the country. When the RSS Parivar was entrusted with
police duties in 1965, and it performed the same to the satisfaction
of all-even Muslims began to join Jana Sangh. Shri Guruji was
specially invited to the National Integration Council. General Kulwant
Singh said at the time: "Punjab is the sword arm of India and RSS is
the sword arm of Punjab."
In all countries, parties associated with the freedom movement enjoy
long years of power. So did the Congress - for 20 years. But the 1967
elections ended the Congress monopoly of power. From Punjab to Bengal
there were non-Congress coalitions everywhere. As a political wit put
it: "You could travel from Amritsar to Calcutta without setting foot
in Congress territory."
In most of the States Jana Sangh and the Communists worked together.
They seemed to be guided by the dictum: "We are all children of Bharat
mata and we are all products of the 20th century."
However, this was more than the monopolistic Congress could stand. It
used its vast money power and its capacity for intrigue to topple
government after state government.
But even so Jana Sangh did not lose heart. Under the leadership of Pt.
Deendayal Upadhyaya it held a tremendous session in Calicut. Here it
clarified its language policy of "All encouragement to all Indian
languages" to the delight of all linguistic groups. The Mathrubhumi,
leading Malayali daily, described the BJS session "the Ganga flowing
South."
However, within days of this historic session Deendayalji was found
murdered near Mugalsarai railway station. In good faith the BJS asked
for a CBI enquiry. But the way CBI drew blank made it clear that
Central Agency has been politicised and that it would never unravel
political crime.
Although the murder of Deendayalji was a stunning shock the BJS was
too big and too strong to be stopped in its tracks. Under the
leadership of Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee, it enthussiastically joined
the movement for the libera- tion of Bangladesh. Its agitation for a
higher procurement price for cereals gave the country food sufficiency
and food security. Its election manifesto for 1971 was titled "War on
Poverty". The Congress stole that slogan and hindi-ised it into
"Garibi hatao" and swept the 1971 and 1972 polls. But once again Jana
Sangh was too good and strong to be overwhelmed by the ebb and tide of
politics.
http://nitingadkari.org/bjpHistory.html
Nitin Gadkari + Fans
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Nitin Gadkari Watch the Live webcast of speech of BJP President Shri
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Press Statement issued by BJP President Shri Nitin Gadkari at his
first press conference as National President of the BJP in New Delhi
February 17 at 9:32pm
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February 9 at 11:58pm
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Shashwat and Pratik like this.
Pranav Gupta Congress sympathy towards Terrorists comes clear when
they supported J&K Chief Minster stand to WELCOME BACK the terrorists
from Pakistan or Pakistan Occupied Kashmir . Home Minister of India
Mr. Chidambram in a Press conference in Jammu extends full party
support towards the issue ignoring the facts that these elements are
responsible for the ...
killing of thousands of people in state & other parts of India.
I will ask Mr. Chidambram, that he must go and visit the home of
people died in bomb attacks, open firing by these elements. Also go to
the houses of our GREAT COPS & ARMY MEN who sacrificed their lives to
safe guard the country from such anti national elements. WHY CONGRESS
IS PLAYING WITH THE SECURITY OF COUNTRY.
March 5 at 4:03pm
RECENT ACTIVITY
Nitin Gadkari changed his Location.
Nitin Gadkari edited his Country, Currently Running For and Website.
Contact Info
Email:resp...@nitingadkari.org
Phone:(0712) 2727127Cell:9821080522
Location:Gadkari Wada Upadhye Road Mahal
Nagpur, India, 440002
Nitin Gadkari indirectly targets Shatrughan Sinha
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Friday asked
party leaders to raise any complaints about his choice of a new team
with him and not with the media.
"Those who have complaints about the new team should speak to me, not
the media," Gadkari told the NDTV news channel, a day after actor-
turned-party MP Shatrughan Sinha's remarks on the composition of the
new team of office-bearers announced Tuesday.
Sinha Thursday recited the lyrics of an old Hindi film song in answer
to a question about the new team. "Uff na karenge, lab see lenge,
aansu pee lenge (I will not sigh, will seal my lips and swallow my
tears)," he said, expressing disappointment that leaders like Yashwant
Sinha had been left out and the team had not been able to give a
message of dynamism.
"It's wrong to say that Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were excluded
because they are Advani detractors... It's not possible to include
everyone on the team," Gadkari said.
The BJP president also justified the appointment of Nehru-Gandhi
family member Varun Gandhi as party secretary, saying: "Varun Gandhi
should be given a chance, why hold the past against him?"
The party had sought to distance itself from Varun Gandhi after he
allegedly made inflammatory remarks during the Lok Sabha election
campaign last year.
Date : 19/03/2010. News by Newsofap.com
Volume 25 - Issue 10 :: May. 10-23, 2008
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU • Contents
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE STATES
Brief revolt
LYLA BAVADAM
The truce worked out in the Maharashtra BJP following Gopinath Munde’s
resignation drama may be temporary.
MANVENDER VASHIST/PTI
BJP president Rajnath Singh (second from left) with Nitin Gadkari,
Venkaiah Naidu and Gopinath Munde in a show of unity after a meeting
at his residence in New Delhi on April 22.
GOPINATH MUNDE took back his resignation as party general secretary.
The Mumbai unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a new chief.
The Shiv Sena-BJP partnership remains intact. And so, all seems well
with the Maharashtra BJP after four days of turmoil. But the truth is
that this is only a lull. Political observers predict trouble in the
run-up to the forthcoming elections.
The hostility, now much publicised, between Munde and Nitin Gadkari,
the BJP’s Maharashtra State unit chief, began four years ago when the
latter one-upped Munde to get to his present post. Since both were
leaders of some standing, the party never quite favoured one over the
other and the two men were left to sort out the rivalry on their own.
Over time, it grew worse and neither was prepared to give up. If Munde
could draw crowds in Marathwada, Gadkari could hold his own in
Vidarbha. If Munde could appeal to Other Backward Class (OBC) voters,
Gadkari could play on the regional pride of Vidarbha voters. It was
inevitable in this clash that factions would form, and faction-
fighting led to Munde’s resignation.
The nomination of a chief for the party’s Mumbai unit was pending for
a year. The outgoing chief, Prakash Mehta, should have stepped down
last year, but Munde was against the appointment of Madhu Chavan, who
was a nominee of Gadkari. Munde stood his ground despite the decision
of a committee comprising senior leaders Ram Naik, Ved Prakash Goyal
and Bal Apte favouring Chavan.
On April 19, the party’s prime ministerial candidate and Leader of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, was in Mumbai and Gadkari
informed him about the stalemate. Advani gave the go-ahead for
Chavan’s appointment. An enraged Munde submitted his resignation the
next day, saying he objected to the undemocratic manner in which the
appointment was carried out.
The post of the BJP’s Mumbai unit chief is a prestigious one. With the
upcoming elections, it is also a crucial post for the party. A party
source said, “The Mumbai party chief has to be a man with the ability
to motivate and mobilise workers. He can only do this if he has gained
their respect and if he is known to them.”
Munde’s recommendations were Kirit Somaiya, a former Member of
Parliament, and Raj Purohit and Prakash Mehta, both Members of the
Legislative Assembly, on account of their proven track record. Mehta
was also the outgoing chief.
The BJP has strong support among traders and the business community,
and Munde believed that these candidates would be able to connect well
with this section. Gadkari, it seems, backed Chavan because he is a
Maharashtrian, a factor that he thought would help cement relations
not only with the Shiv Sena but also with party workers. A party
source said, “When Chavan was named chief, Munde resigned since he saw
this as a win for his rival Gadkari.”
The first round in what surely is going to be an ongoing war has
definitely gone to Munde. Stunned by his resignation and the reaction
it provoked – 4,000 BJP workers reportedly quit their posts – the
party headquarters in Delhi moved immediately to repair the damage.
To win back a reportedly intractable Munde, the party offered him a
carte blanche with regard to nominations for key posts. The post of
the party’s Mumbai chief went to Gopal Shetty, another Gadkari
nominee, but Munde seemed placated enough to take back his
resignation.
Why did the BJP capitulate to Munde? Much weighed in his favour.
Practically the entire legislative wing backed him. The party’s major
city units in Mumbai, Pune, Nasik and Aurangabad stood by him.
Functionaries in the Latur, Beed and Sangli units also registered
their support for him. Munde, bolstered by the support he got, went
for the jugular.
It was a smart move on his part to go and meet Sena supremo Bal
Thackeray to “seek his blessings”. The message for the BJP was that
Munde was ready to raise his own flag and take the coalition partner
with him.
Thackeray had his own reasons to entertain Munde. His son Uddhav lacks
his charisma and political acumen, and nephew Raj’s breakaway party,
the Navnirman Sena, is eating into Sena territory by claiming the
Sena’s agenda as its own.
A visibly weakened Sena was certainly going to give its “blessings” to
Munde. In any case Thackeray had reason to be wary of Gadkari who had
been calling for a severing of ties between the Sena and the BJP.
Gadkari felt that the Sena and its errant ways were holding the party
back in Maharashtra.
However, the single most important factor that made the BJP buckle was
probably Munde’s status as an OBC leader. He has a wide mass base and
the party relies on him to mobilise the Bahujan votes.
One of the things that did not draw much comment during the fiasco was
Munde’s assertion that it was the lack of “democracy” in the party
that had made him resign. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten
that his own rise from a district politician to being a State-level
player was partially fuelled by his late brother-in-law, Pramod
Mahajan.
A knowledgeable source said that Munde “always had a chip on his
shoulder because he was overshadowed by Mahajan. It is true that
Pramodji was responsible in large part for pushing Munde forward but
it is not as if Munde was a baby in politics. Don’t forget he has had
his education in the [Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh] shakha. He knows
how to play the game and he would certainly have risen on his own. But
let us just say, he rose faster with Pramodji’s help.”
While Munde’s abilities cannot be denied, there is no doubt about the
role Mahajan played in his grooming. When Mahajan died, Munde’s career
was expected to “deflate”, an expression used by a BJP functionary at
the time. Two years later, Munde has shown that he can get along on
his own.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2510/stories/20080523251011100.htm
olume 21 - Issue 20, Sept. 25 - Oct. 08, 2004
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Election-eve patriotism
LYLA BAVADAM
in Vidarbha
The Uma Bharati-led Tiranga Yatra's six-day-long journey through
Maharashtra raising emotive issues fails to strike a chord among the
people despite the flaunting of the tricolour.
K. BHAGYA PRAKASH
Uma Bharati garlanding the statue of freedom fighter Kittoor Rani
Chennamma before she started the Tiranga Yatra.
DESPITE affirmations to the contrary, the Uma Bharati-led Hubli to
Jallianwalla Bagh Tiranga Yatra evidently formed the vanguard of the
Bharatiya Janata Party's campaign for the Assembly elections in
Maharashtra. During her six-day tour of the State, Uma Bharati
repeatedly said that the yatra was meant only to express her personal
beliefs that one should have pride in one's country and its flag and
that "all other outcomes of the yatra are God's gift". Importantly,
the Idgah controversy itself was not about disrespect to the national
flag, but about Uma Bharati and others disobeying prohibitory orders
issued by the Hubili police. That was the legal reason for her arrest.
At no point was the right to raise the flag questioned. `Disrespect to
the flag' is a convenient pre-election political ploy.
However, the yatra itself - the way it was organised and the issues it
raised - left no room for doubt regarding the BJP's intentions. The
bus used for the yatra was decorated with portraits of an array of
important figures, past and present: Atal Bihari Vajpayee, M. Venkaiah
Naidu, Bhagat Singh, V.D. Savarkar, Chandrashekar Azad, L.K. Advani,
Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Bal Gangadhar Tilak,
Ashfaqullah Khan, Shivaji, the Rani of Jhansi and Kittur Rani
Chennamma, a freedom fighter. Interestingly, the BJP preferred to
refer to the Idgah Maidan in Hubli as the Chennamma Maidan. This has
sparked a controversy with allegations that the BJP's insistence on
calling it Chennamma Maidan was meant to provoke another conflict.
If, as Uma Bharati said on numerous public occasions, the yatra was
meant to "satisfy personal beliefs and feelings about the tricolour"
why was it an official yatra of the BJP? If it were a yatra to defend
her right to raise the tricolour then why did her public speeches
invariably turn to issues such as water scarcity, power shortages and
unemployment, all election campaign points that the Democratic Front
government in Maharashtra might find difficult to counter. There were
exhortations at every public meeting to "cast your vote to topple the
Congress and bring back the BJP". Equally noteworthy was the fact that
the Tiranga Yatra in the State was organised by State BJP president
Gopinath Munde, Legislative Council leader Nitin Gadkari and party
leader Eknath Kadse, who together formed the core of the campaign
committee for the Lok Sabha elections.
At a public meeting in Akola, Uma Bharati reaffirmed her commitment to
build the Ram mandir at Ayodhya. Significantly, Akola has a history of
communal strife and a minor communal riot had occurred a few days
before Uma Bharati's arrival. The Muslim voter was directly addressed,
first by a warning not to be fooled by the "vote bank politics" of the
Congress and then to be reminded about the old points of dissent
between the community and Hindu fundamentalist parties - Family
planning, education levels and the singing of Vande Mataram. Also
raised were issues relating to Sonia Gandhi's "foreign origins". Uma
Bharati said: "Why do we have this foreigner craze? Marxism may have
been a new idea for Europe but our philosophers have been speaking of
the same ideals from as far back as the 12th century. Why not follow
them instead of Marx? This foreigner craze has resulted in us being
ruled by the Italian Mafia mind. And the minds that thought of making
Sonia the head of the party are also minds that are leftovers of
foreign thinking." Karnataka BJP president H.N. Ananth Kumar, who was
travelling with the yatra, defended its aims: "Any campaign is the
bouquet of many issues. This is not an election campaign. It is a
national yatra to show how the Congress is degrading the flag. It is a
yatra for national detoxification of secularism."
The Tiranga Yatra was a manoeuvre to position Uma Bharati, the BJP,
the saffron flag and the tricolour on the same platform. Projected as
a simple emotional device meant to touch people's hearts it was
actually a political platform to harp on the party's pet issues. But,
apparently, the intended message of the yatra did not quite get across
to the masses. While Uma Bharati alleged that the Congress had an
"unethical advantage" since its party flag bore a striking resemblance
to the tricolour, there is no doubt that one of the expected outcomes
of the yatra was to blur the distinction between the tricolour and the
saffron flag. Numerous attempts were made to link the tricolour to the
Hindu fundamentalist parties. At a public meeting in Risod in
Vidarbha, a local BJP leader said: Hindutva ka josh rashtra ka
tiranga, Dono ko saath leke bhagwa vapas aayega (the tricolour
expresses the strength of Hindutva. If the two march together it will
ensure the return of the saffron flag). In the Varvat Bakaal village
in Buldhana district, Uma Bharati advised the people to keep the
saffron flag, strength of spirit and the tricolour as their
priorities. Her message was not lost on a small section. At a roadside
reception in Washim, a small crowd presented Uma Bharati with a five-
foot high brass trishul on which a saffron ribbon bound together two
crossed tricolours.
However, indications are that the response of most of the people who
attended her public meetings ranged from mild confusion to anger at
being told that the national flag had to be respected. At a public
meeting in Risod, a policeman on duty said he and his colleagues had
been discussing the yatra and concluded that the BJP was trying to
appropriate the flag. He asked: "What else can we think? We cannot
figure out what Umaji is trying to prove with this yatra. Is she
saying we don't respect the flag? Every school going child salutes the
flag."
In any event, Maharashtra formed a focal point of Uma Bharati's yatra.
On her way to Hubli to surrender before a court that issued a non-
bailable warrant against her in the Idgah maidan case, she travelled
through the State by train addressing people on station platforms at
strategic places such as Pune, Sangli, Miraj and Daund in western
Maharashtra, a Nationalist Congress Party stronghold. On her return,
she undertook the Tiranga Yatra. Thus, she effectively covered the
crucial areas of western Maharashtra, Marathwada and Vidarbha.
"Unprecedented response" was how Ananth Kumar described the reaction
of the people. However, the attendance was paltry when compared, for
example, to her earlier visit to Akola 15 years ago. In that sense,
the public's response was unprecedented, to the disappointment of the
BJP.
One reason for the poor turn out is the failure of a faction-ridden
State BJP to rally unitedly behind the yatra. At her point of entry
into Maharashtra Uma Bharati was met only by Gopinath Munde who
remained with her while she travelled in Marathwada. Then she was
accompanied by Nitin Gadkari, who has a strong support base in
Vidarbha, and later by Eknath Khadse. At no point was former Union
Minister and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan publicly involved with
the yatra. This is curious, considering his well-acknowledged
organisational abilities and his place in the party power structure.
The State BJP attributed the absence of many senior functionaries in
Uma Bharati's entourage to their preoccupation with the Assembly
elections. The explanation was unconvincing. The real reason,
according to some, was that it was too early to start the election
campaign and the party leaders were wary of overstepping the Election
Commission by bringing the national flag into the campaign.
Then why undertake the yatra when there is no consensus in the party
on the matter, especially in Maharashtra? The answer seems to lie
partially in the fact that Uma Bharati wishes to redeem herself with
the party's top leadership and regain her position in Madhya Pradesh.
When queried about this, she declined to reply saying: "I will not
answer anything pertaining to me, mine, myself. I am not important."
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2120/stories/20041008006200900.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 23 :: Nov. 07-20, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Win by default
LYLA BAVADAM
in Mumbai
In Maharashtra, the Congress-NCP combine returns to power, thanks to a
weak and divided Opposition.
PTI
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan with Union Minister and former Chief
Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh (left) in Mumbai, on October 22.
AS Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan begins a new term in
office, one cannot help but contradict his claim that his government
returned to power on account of its achievements in the past year.
That the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine managed a
victory by default is something even staunch party supporters will
find difficult to dispute. The fact is that the victory was thanks to
a weak and divided Opposition.
The Congress-NCP coalition managed a hat-trick despite a strong anti-
incumbency sentiment brought on by a poor economy, staggering rise in
food prices, and absence of emphasis on strengthening security, a
drought-like situation, and various problems in the agricultural
sector including suicide by farmers.
Its main rival, the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was left
far behind; the latter conceded defeat even before the counting of
votes ended. The final results showed the Congress had come first with
82 seats, followed by the NCP with 62 seats. The BJP and the Shiv Sena
could manage only 46 and 44 seats respectively.
Noticeable features of the elections were the low-key campaign
compared with the robust electioneering that preceded earlier
elections, and the sidelining of major issues. It was as if the public
and the politicians were separate elements and the former was just
expected to be onlookers. Unmindful of the people they were to
represent, politicians haggled over seats and fitted the ‘right’
candidate into the ‘right’ constituency.
This time around too, dynastic politics, cronyism and dissidence were
on open display. Some secure seats were lost to parties as a result of
the free-for-all that followed ticket allocation. One significant
example is that of four-time BJP legislator Dr Vinay Natu, who had to
forgo his Guhagar seat in the Konkan region. The BJP had agreed to
part with the seat in order to get two more seats allocated to it as
part of its seat-sharing deal (169-119) with the Shiv Sena. Natu was
forced to give it to Sena man and Leader of the Opposition Ramdas
Kadam, whose Khed seat was amalgamated into Guhagar during
delimitation.
The decision caused an uproar in the region, especially from Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) supporters. Before Natu, his father Shridhar
Natu of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh had held the seat since 1972. The BJP,
however, extracted the Ghatkopar West seat in north Mumbai from the
Sena for the late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam. Natu
and his supporters refused to support Kadam, and the Guhagar seat
slipped away from the saffron combine to the NCP. In Ghatkopar, Poonam
Mahajan, a political novice, lost to Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS).
The issue also exposed the old feud between the BJP’s State chief
Nitin Gadkari and national secretary Gopinath Munde. Gadkari wanted
Natu to retain the seat, whereas Munde wanted to make the sacrifice in
exchange for the party ticket for Poonam, his niece. The latter also
ensured that his daughter, Pankaja Palve, won the ticket for Parli in
his home district of Beed. Another relative of his was given a seat in
a neighbouring district.
The most interesting case study, however, in the State elections is
that of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. He has once again emerged
unscathed and is riding a wave. When he was unceremoniously removed
from chief ministership last year after terrorists attacked Mumbai,
some observers said it was the end of his career. Others, who had seen
him bounce back from sticky situations earlier, predicted he would do
so again. Vilasrao is now ensconced in Delhi as a Rajya Sabha member.
He worked aggressively to destabilise the NCP and quell the influence
of his arch enemy and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. His own ‘nest’ is safe.
His son, Amit, who had managed his campaigns earlier, contested from
Latur City and won.
Dynastic politics
SANTOSH HIRLEKAR/PTI
Congress workers celebrate the party's victory in the Assembly
elections, in Mumbai.
Amit Deshmukh is a symbol of Maharashtra’s new shift towards dynastic
politics. The others are Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President
Pratibha Patil, who won on the Congress ticket from Amravati; Union
Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti, who won from Solapur
City Central; Pankaja Palve, Munde’s daughter; and the Sena’s Om Raje
Nimbalkar, son of murdered Congress leader Pawan Raje Nimbalkar.
The Maharashtra Assembly will have two father-son duos representing
the NCP – Chhagan Bhujbal and Pankaj Bhujbal, and Ganesh Naik and
Sandeep Naik. Pankaj, who won from Nandgaon, and Sandeep, who won from
Airoli, are both first-time MLAs, and they fought from constituencies
adjacent to their parents’. Interestingly, Chhagan Bhujbal and Ganesh
Naik started their political careers in the Shiv Sena.
All offspring were not so lucky. Ashish Deshmukh, son of former
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ranjeet Deshmukh; Shekhar
Shende, son of outgoing Deputy Speaker Pramod Shende; and Rahul
Pugalia, son of Naresh Pugalia, the former MP from Chandrapur, all
lost the elections.
PTI
NCP chief Sharad Pawar at an election rally in Thane.
Among the prominent losers were 12 State Ministers. Former Textile
Minister Satish Chaturvedi, Textile Minister in the outgoing
government Anees Ahmad, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ramesh Bang,
and former Minister of State Dharamrao Baba Atram were among the big
losers from Vidarbha. Other Ministers and former Ministers who were
among the losers are Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, Digvijay Khanvilkar, Dr
Sunil Deshmukh, Surupsinh Naik, Siddharam Mhetre, Ranajagjitsinh
Patil, Shobha Bacchav and Dr Nitin Raut. In Ulhasnagar, sitting MLA
Pappu Kalani, a former detenu under the Terrorist and Disruptive
Activities (Prevention) Act, was defeated by the BJP’s Uttamchand
Ailani. The gangster Arun Gawli, who contested from prison, also
lost.
The worst-affected party was Bal Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. Its seats
dropped from 62 in 2004 to 44 this time. The main reason for this was
the rise of the MNS. Headed by Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray,
the MNS won 13 seats in its maiden attempt to the Assembly. Sena’s
current chief and Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray’s lack of touch
with the grass roots also reportedly affected his party’s performance.
A shakha (unit) leader in South Mumbai remarked, “If Uddhavji had
concentrated on grassroots work, we would have retained our lead. It
is good he is trying corporate-style management techniques in the
party, but the fact is that the cadre want their leader to have more
josh [being street-savvy] and mingle with them.”
While Uddhav’s leadership may not be openly questioned, he has
definitely lost ground to his more experienced cousin. The MNS won six
of Mumbai’s 36 seats, and the party helped the Congress-NCP bag 20
seats in the city. The three-year-old MNS now has the largest number
of seats in Mumbai after the Congress and the NCP.
The Election Commission statistics showed that 23 per cent of Mumbai’s
votes went to the MNS. The party spoilt the chances of the Sena in
more than a dozen seats – the most notable being Mahim, a Sena
stronghold, where MNS candidate Nitin Sardesai beat Sena candidate
Adesh Bandekar as well as Sena rebel-turned-Congress candidate Sada
Sarvankar. The Sena’s mistake was in taking this seat away from
Sarvankar, who had held it. Bandekar, a novice in politics, was chosen
because he is a television personality.
The MNS seems to have expanded its support base in the six months
after the Lok Sabha elections. The difference was most visible in Pune
where the party got 1.5 lakh votes more than it polled in the Lok
Sabha elections. This is an indicator that the MNS may no longer be
just a spoiler; it has found its political niche. In Kasba Peth
constituency in Pune, a BJP stronghold, BJP candidate Girish Bapat
faced a stiff fight from the MNS candidate. Bapat, who had held the
seat for three terms, finally won by a margin of just 8,162 votes.
VIVEK BENDRE
Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP, who became Deputy Chief Minister.
The results are bound to affect the Sena’s partnership with the BJP.
After one term in power, from 1995 to 2000, the alliance has not had a
fruitful political relationship. And now the Sena, with a lower seat
tally than the BJP, has had to relinquish the Leader of the Opposition
post.
The BJP, too, does not seem to have recovered from the loss of Pramod
Mahajan. Neither Munde nor Gadkari seems capable of providing
inspirational leadership. They are known for squabbling over party
policies. The turmoil in the party at the Centre has also left its
mark on the State unit.
The latest election has exposed a new phase in Maharashtra politics,
one in which strategic – but fluid – partnerships, coalition
governments and creation of dynasties are more important than issues.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2623/stories/20091120262301100.htm
Volume 17 - Issue 08, Apr. 15 - 28, 2000
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Maharashtra manoeuvres
Politics in the State has been on the boil for some weeks now, and the
Democratic Front Government is very much on the defensive.
LYLA BAVADAM
PRAVEEN SWAMI
in Mumbai
LATE last month, Bal Thackeray proclaimed that the Shiv Sena would be
back in power on Gudi Padwa day, the Maharashtrian New Year. At least
one of Deputy Chief Minister Chaggan Bhujbal's staff did not seem too
concerned. As a group of journalists discuss ed the Shiv Sena-
Bharatiya Janata Party strategy to come back into office, the
secretary listened quietly. Then he walked away from his chair,
humming a popular Hindi film tune which made clear just what he
thought of the Sena-BJP's chances. 'Sapne me in milti hai' (you'll
only get it in your dreams) - the line resonated through the office
long enough for even the most film-illiterate to get the point.
Indeed, on Gudi Padwa day, Shiv Sena leader and former Chief Minister
Narayan Rane quietly withdrew a cut motion his party had introduced in
the Assembly on the State Government's budgetary demands for the Food
and Civil Supplies Department. The decision to withdraw the motion
marked the end of the fourth Sena-BJP attempt to bring down the
Democratic Front Government. After a week of hectic lobbying, it had
become clear to Sena-BJP strategists that they simply did not have the
numbers. But the month-lon g political theatre that preceded Gudi
Padwa made clear that the Democratic Front alliance will soon have to
make hard political choices if it wants to keep its six-month long
government going.
MUCH of the recent political skirmishing had been on the Sena-BJP's
chosen terrain. Both parties have been attacking the Nationalist
Congress Party-Congress(I) on communal grounds, arguing that the
government has been compromised by Islamic fundamentalis ts. One major
component of the campaign has been allegations that Mumbai's Samajwadi
Party (S.P.) chief Abu Asim Azmi had made an anti-national speech at
Mastan Talao on February 24. A tape handed over to the State
government by the Sena-BJP records Azmi as proclaiming that if Islam
were to be attacked, he would not be bothered if India broke into
pieces. The Sena has long charged Azmi with having connections with
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), although he was
acquitted by the Supreme Cou rt of his alleged role in the Mumbai
serial bombings of 1993.
When the Assembly session began on March 13, however, Sena-BJP MLAs
brought proceedings to a halt with demands for Azmi's arrest. As their
party colleagues shouted slogans, Shiv Sena members led by former
Ministers Home Prabhakar More and Bala Nandgaonka r occupied the
podium with banners condemning the S.P. leader. They were joined by
Dinaz Patrawala, recently elected on the Shiv Sena ticket after the
Congress(I) denied her the ticket after the death of her husband
Marzaban Patrawala. Two days later, Se na-BJP MLAs blockaded the
Vidhan Bhavan. Violence began when Democratic Front MLAs pushed their
way inside. Eyewitness accounts of the fighting suggest that, for
once, the Sena got as good as it gave.
Matters snowballed outside the Assembly as well. Women Shiv Sena
members of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation assaulted S.P.
corporator Waqarunissa Ansari on March 16, some stripping her and
others trying to strangle her. Ansari, whose crime was a s peech she
made against Thackeray, only escaped serious hurt because of the
intervention of her party colleagues. In this violently anti-Muslim
political climate, Azmi responded with some maturity, insisting that
he had been quoted out of context and that the thrust of his speech
had been misrepresented. Even as a jittery Democratic Front government
initiated criminal proceedings against the S.P. leader at the J.J.
Marg police station, he issued a statement apologising if he "had
inadvertently hurt the f eelings of my countrymen".
It was left to Bhujbal, however, to point out the obvious. The
Democratic Front, he said, had no intention of shielding Azmi, and the
tape made available by the Sena had been sent for tests to establish
its authenticity. But peddling hate, Bhujbal pointe d out, was not an
S.P. monopoly. "Cases against Bal Thackeray for inciting communal
hatred," he says, "were not registered for five years, even though he
was found guilty of having made inflammatory speeches and punished by
the Election Commission." Thac keray was last year stripped of his
right to vote by the Election Commission for speeches he made asking
for votes on religious grounds. "I have called for the files, and will
take action," the Deputy Chief Minister told Frontline.
POSSIBLE legal action against Thackeray forms a second element of the
Sena-BJP campaign. The State government is internally divided over the
consequences of pushing ahead with implementing the recommendations of
the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission of Inquiry into the Mumbai
riots of 1992-1993. Although both the Congress (I) and the NCP are
committed to implementing its findings, which could mean Thackeray's
arrest for his well-documented role in the riots, elements in both
parties believe that this c ould lead to violence. It is clear,
however, that should ongoing proceedings in the Supreme Court result
in directions to the Maharashtra Government to act on Justice
Srikrishna's findings, this would provide adequate cover to begin
criminal proceedings against the top leadership of the Sena.
PUNIT PARANJPE
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane along with Shiv Sena-BJP members
blockading the Vidhan Bhavan during the Assembly session on March 23.
Anticipating this eventuality, the Sena has been charging the
Democratic Front in general, and Bhujbal in particular, with weakening
security for Thackeray and his family. Surplus police personnel posted
with Thackeray were withdrawn on the basis of reco mmendations made by
a review panel led by Chief Secretary Arun Bongirwar. Protected
persons in the 'Z+' category are to be guarded by 43 personnel. The
Shiv Sena-BJP Government in the State had assigned Thackeray 206
personnel, 11 vehicles, a closed circ uit television system at his
residence, and a further 103 guards for his extended family.
Bongirwar's recommendations lowered Thackeray's security cover to 115
personnel and seven vehicles, far in excess of the 43 personnel and
three vehicles prescribed in the security manual.
It is unlikely, given the facts, that Thackeray's security was what
concerned the Sena. The issue in fact presented a political
opportunity. Sena leaders began to charge Bhujbal with ISI and mafia
links, a smear campaign of obvious utility in the event o f
Thackeray's arrest. In early February, as the Srikrishna Commission
issue had begun to re-emerge in political discourse in Maharashtra,
Leader of the Opposition Nitin Gadkari had charged Bhujbal with
meeting at his residence two of those accused of a r ole in the 1993
serial bombings. The meeting, Gadkari said, had been arranged by Azmi.
Gadkari is himself involved in ongoing criminal proceedings relating
to murder.
Perhaps to Gadkari's surprise, Bhujbal promptly accepted that the
meeting had indeed taken place. Eminent lawyer and Azmi's deputy in
the city unit of S.P., Majeed Memon, then delivered the coup de grace.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Mund e, Memon said, had led a
delegation along with him and the blast accused to meet Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee and Minister Pramod Mahajan. The Prime Minister
had indeed met the accused, who complained about a series of attacks
by the Rajendra Nikh alje group which had left dead people who were
under trial for their role in the bombings. The two accused had
demanded official security, and also complained about prolonged delays
in their trial. Vajpayee, Memon said, had promised action. "Why didn't
t he Opposition protest when I took these men to meet the Prime
Minister," Memon asks.
If the Sena-BJP leadership had an answer, it was not made public. An
unembarrassed Rane simply pretended that his party's case had not
crumbled. On March 10, he asserted that the Thackeray family had been
made an easy target for the underworld. "The Chho ta Shakeel and
Dawood Ibrahim gangs," he said, "had directed their guns at several
Sena leaders to take revenge for the numerous encounters that took
place when we were in office." The government's decision to scale down
Thackeray's security, he said, "l ends credence to allegations that it
had deliberately made the move."
A fortnight later he insisted that the Mumbai Police had evidence to
link Azmi to Dawood Ibrahim, a claim which left open the question of
why he as Chief Minister had not taken action against the S.P.
leader.
A FURIOUS Bhujbal did what he could, initiating defamation proceedings
against Rane. The State Police too was asked to compel the former
Chief Minister to make available what evidence he had. Rane refused to
do so, perhaps because he had none. These lega l proceedings are
certain to punctuate Maharashtra politics in the months, perhaps even
years, to come. But the Sena has achieved one useful objective through
its campaign of agitation. The Democratic Front has been pushed into a
defensive posture, and h as been able to do little to address
Maharashtra's crippling financial problems, which have been provoking
widespread discontent, particularly in the rural areas.
PUNIT PARANJPE
Shiv Sena leader Bal Nandgaonkar bars the entry of Democratic Front
MLAs into the Vidhan Bhavan.
The government owes dues to cotton and onion farmers, among the
State's most important crops. Procurements in several areas are made
directly by the state, and the Democratic Front faced a major
embarrassment in February when news broke that cheques issu ed to
cotton farmers had been bouncing. Bhujbal now says that the nearly-
bankrupt government, reeling from massive borrowing by the previous
government, has taken loans to clear its dues to farmers. Payments of
some Rs.3,700 crores have already been made , he says, and all cotton
growers covered by the State's procurement scheme will be paid by
early April. Onion farmers' dues will be met by the third week of
April.
This in itself may not be enough to contain discontent in the
countryside, and farmers are not the only ones who are angry. Workers
in Mumbai are protesting against the plans of the Brihanmumbai
Municipal Corporation to sell mill land. Massive illegal tr ansfers of
land have taken place over the years, and funds raised from sales to
private developers have seldom been pumped back to revive factories.
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has announced that the sale of land
would be allowed in order to set up software businesses, a move that
will do little to meet the needs of workers who have not been paid for
years. Twenty-three mills were closed down during Shiv Sena rule, even
while rules designed to revive them were flouted with official
connivance. The Democratic Front seems hardly interested in protecting
the interests of tens of thousands of workers.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Front's plans to make job cuts to reduce the
fiscal deficit could provoke further unrest. In his recent Budget
speech, Finance Minister Jayant Patil described how the revenue
deficit had risen over the last four years from Rs.1, 591 crores to Rs.
9,484 crores. Patil said he planned to make the revenue balance
positive over a five-year period by reducing the revenue deficit by 20
per cent each year for the next five years. Curbs have been placed on
salary expenditure, and plans ar e on in several government
departments to review staff strengths. Five per cent of the posts in
the Finance and Planning Departments have been abolished. But
sustained cuts in expenditure will mean less money for development and
jobs, which in turn could provoke a backlash.
In the months to come, the Democratic Front will have to define a
clear economic agenda to undo the damage caused through five years of
Shiv Sena-BJP rule. Formulating an alternative agenda that does not
alienate farmers and workers may prove a difficult task. More
important, the alliance will have to find ways to engage with the Sena-
BJP's renewed communal onslaught. With the NCP busy expanding its
cadre strength in Maharashtra, and the Congress(I) becoming a victim
of the conflicts in its central lead ership, neither grouping appears
to have any clear understanding of how to bring about mass
mobilisation to challenge the Opposition. Bhujbal is perhaps the sole
important figure in the State government arguing for a clear offensive
strategy. The failure to create one could mean serious trouble for the
alliance.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1708/17080410.htm
Opinion - Leader Page Articles
Was Indian nationalism inclusive?
K.N. Panikkar
One of the weaknesses of the national movement was that it did not
have an effective programme to ensure the inclusion of the depressed
and socially excluded classes into the nation.
Inclusiveness is the catchword in the current political and economic
discourse, following the 11th Plan prescription to incorporate those
who have remained outside the margins into the mainstream of
development. This is a confession of the failure of democratic
governance, on the one hand, and of caste-class partisanship in the
process of nation building, on the other. It also testifies that a
substantial section has not yet come under the ‘benevolent' umbrella
of the nation. In a highly differentiated society, inclusiveness is
indeed a process which takes place in three ways: politically through
common struggles, socially by overcoming internal social barriers and
culturally by identifying a common past by invoking indigenous
cultural consciousness.
The attempt at inclusiveness is riven with internal contradictions,
which account for the complexity, weaknesses and limitations of the
inclusive process and tensions within nationalism. The concept of
nationalism, in the Indian colonial context, becomes meaningful only
when looked at beyond the overarching relationship between colonialism
and the people, and the mutual relationship among different segments
of society is taken into account. Overcoming these differences was
integral to nationalism.
Inclusiveness, therefore, is a necessary strategy of nationalism, even
with contradictory interests finding a place in it. The attempts to
resolve the secondary contradiction within the umbrella of nationalism
do not overlook the primary contradiction with colonialism. In this
sense, the aim of nationalism was not limited to the attainment of
freedom but, as Gandhiji envisaged, had to lead to the creation of a
qualitatively different society, devoid of caste and religious
antagonism. To a deputation of students in 1934, Gandhiji said: “The
two things — the social reordering and the fight for political swaraj
— must go hand in hand. There can be no question of precedence or
division into watertight compartments here.” Nationalism was thus
conceived as a combination of political freedom and social
emancipation.
What nationalism sought to achieve was togetherness. The very first
session of the Indian National Congress recognised it by identifying
its purpose as providing a platform for people to come together. What
brought people together were political struggles and public
agitations. The various streams within the movement with different
strategies and modes of struggles were efforts to ensure their
rightful inclusion in the nation. People, however, consisted of
diverse groups, castes, classes and religions with widely differing
interests. What was conceived as nationalism, therefore, was bringing
the people together, regardless of the differentiations. Although the
anti-colonial sentiment ironed out some of these differences and
interests, they were so diverse and sharp that the national movement,
functioning within a liberal framework, was not able to find an
effective solution. Therefore, India emerged not only impoverished due
to colonial exploitation but also socially divided.
That India was economically backward was not surprising, but the fact
that nationalism did not succeed in ushering in social and cultural
solidarity left a deep scar. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, architect of the
Constitution, underlined this failure in 1949: “We must make our
political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy
cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy… What
does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises
liberty, equality and fraternity as the principle of life … On the
26th of January 1950 we are going to enter into a life of
contradiction. In politics we will have equality and in social and
economic life, we will have inequality.” While pointing out the
political success of the movement by which ‘people' became members of
a nation-state with democratic rights, Dr. Ambedkar was conscious that
nationalism did not succeed in creating inclusiveness in the social,
cultural and economic domains.
The roots of this failure can be traced to the early phase of national
awakening, which suffered from a disjunction between political and
socio-cultural struggles. To begin with, the renaissance which
prepared the ground for the emergence of nationalism dissociated
itself from political problems and, therefore, was unable to provide a
critique of colonialism which warped the nature of Indian modernity.
Most of the early renaissance leaders idealised development in the
West. Hence, their ability to envision an alternative was limited.
Later on, the national movement attributed primacy to political
struggles, despite Gandhiji's constructive programme and
untouchability campaign. Although both he and Tagore advocated the
importance of cultural politics, the national movement concentrated
its energies on political mobilisation.
Despite these early limitations, the importance of incorporating the
marginalised sections and thus creating an inclusive society was on
the agenda of nationalism. The different political formations which
participated in anti-colonial struggles with different programmes and
different social base were engaged in incorporating different sections
into the mainstream of national life through participation in the anti-
colonial struggles. Even when contradictions existed among them, they
were struggling for inclusiveness in the nation. The social and
cultural inclusiveness was sought through socio-cultural emancipation,
economic inclusiveness through class struggles and political
inclusiveness through political mobilisation. These three engagements
of the national movement cover the history of the liberation struggle
which was not limited to a direct confrontation with colonialism, but
also aimed at the modernisation and democratisation of society
although with limited success.
A major concern of the national movement was social inclusiveness. The
divisive and oppressive character of the Indian caste system was
antithetical to the spirit of nationalism and it was quite natural
that only social awakening could address this question. Gandhiji gave
equal, if not greater, importance to social issues and cultural
struggles. In Gandhian programme, therefore, abolition of
untouchability occupied a central concern. The ashrams Gandhiji set up
and lived in became a symbol of social equality and also meant a
subversion of the traditional, unequal social system.
The national movement was quite conscious of the importance of
inclusion of the traditionally deprived groups for the actual
realisation of the nation and initiated steps in social, economic and
cultural fields to create conditions conducive for them to identify
their interest with the nation. In pursuance of that, a series of
struggles was conducted covering social, cultural and economic lives.
Each one of them had the effect of creating a community, eventually
forming a part of the nation. Although these struggles increased their
social consciousness, none of them was sufficiently effective to
transform the life conditions of the marginalised, possibly because
these efforts were bridled by the interests of the ‘upper' castes and
classes. The marginalised sections, could not, therefore, identify
themselves with the nation. They were sceptical and distrustful.
The consequence of this marginality was the emergence of movements
among the traditionally subordinated groups fighting to gain their
rightful place in society. That happened in all parts of the country
and among all depressed communities. Satyasodak Samaj in Maharashtra
in the 19th century, the Dravida Kazhakam in Tamil Nadu, the Sadhu
Jana Paripalana Sabha in Kerala and, indeed, the movement led by Dr.
Ambedkar are some examples. Emerging out of the oppressed sections,
they did not subscribe to the ‘upper' caste urge for reform, of either
caste or religion, but stood for abolishing caste and superstitions
based on religious sanction. In the vision of Dr. Ambedkar, the
annihilation of caste was a necessary pre-requisite for social
inclusiveness.
One of the weaknesses of the national movement was that it did not
have an effective programme to ensure the inclusion of the depressed
and socially excluded classes into the nation. Whatever was attempted
in this field was very superficial inasmuch as it did not frontally
contest the power of the ‘upper' castes and classes, the legacy of
which continues even today. That anti-colonial Indian nationalism was
not sufficiently inclusive is possibly one of the reasons why a
substantial section of the population is still not a part of the
nation.
The making of the Indian nation, as Surendranath Banerji envisioned,
can be complete only when nationalism becomes inclusive on a
democratic, secular and socialist foundation. In post-independent
India, this has remained an unrealised dream. Given the capitalist
hegemony over society and middle-class control over administration,
the present urge for inclusion may yet end up as another popular
slogan.
(Based on the Foundation Day lecture delivered at Assam Central
University, Silchar. Author can be reached at knpan...@gmail.com)
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/23/stories/2010022355540800.htm
THe Lord’s Army: The Shiv Sena
Posted March 30th 2010 at 5:36 pm by Harry
"A burning bus? Perhaps over there."
There exists in Mumbai a nearsighted and rather unpleasant bunch of
radicals who revile my very existence within their beautiful city.
They are the Shiv Sena – Lord Shiva’s Army – a political group by
name, violently quarrelsome by nature.
It behooves a writer to remain apprised of the legal ramifications of
writing anything at all in India, because sedition laws are
arbitrarily enforced and rather ambiguously defined as anything that
“excites or attempts to excite hatred contempt or dissaffection“( -
Wikipedia)
If anyone reading this gets excited or feels a smidge of contempt,
then I’m going to jail for life – so please don’t. Sedition, in my
opinion, is the most dangerous law in India – for exposure of real
wrongs often leads detention or expulsion, as was the case with my
friend who wrote of the Dalit murders in Gujarat and was summarily
deported.
Let’s be mindful of that and carry on…
Bal Thackeray started the Shiv Sena and ran for a while a respectable
right-wing, religious political party concerned with supporting the
local Marathi people in whose state Mumbai stands. He was about
ensuring jobs, health systems, pensions and education exclusively to
Marathis, his ‘Sons of the Soil’.
They have a hard-line Hindu and regional agenda, and dislike all
things non-Marathi – including shop signs spelled in English.
The Shiv Sena love whacking day
Bal’s son Uddhav Thackeray took over the Shiv Sena which used to riot
against migrant workers from other states, bash North Indian rickshaw
drivers and the like, pelt stones at police headquarters, voice
support for accused Hindu terrorists, they’ve smashed shops and torn
down billboards and generally caused a ruckus in order to get in the
media, at which point they invariably react against the channel for
the negative coverage. It’s a wonderful self-perpetuating cycle.
The Shiv Sena started going mainstream to gain support from a larger
nationwide Hindu party, the BJP – which meant they had to stop bashing
migrants (but not necessarily Muslisms). As a result, Bal’s nephew Raj
Thackeray started a splinter organisation seeking more radical reforms
– they are called the ‘Marathi Manoos’ – the MNS.
So now there are two crews both seeking votes from the same people,
they attract attention to themselves by engaging in more and more
brazen public displays of brute power – often leading to in-fighting
between the two groups.
The BJP: Perhaps education should be higher on their agenda
Then the BJP lost a national election, probably because they were
corrupt and their policies were near-sighted and focused more on
oppressing Muslims than running the country…
So the BJP and the Shiv Sena rioted against Australians for being such
prejudiced and bigoted violent morons. They were helped along by the
Indian media, which much prefers to be spoon-fed its sensationalist
propaganda rather than doing real reporting.
Funny thing that only a few months before, the same group were beating
North Indians for migrating to Mumbai, and now they’re upset because
North Indians are being beaten in Australia. The group that revile
outsiders and assault newcomers are also angry when degenerate,
disorganised, drunk youths in Australia do exactly the same thing. Are
they scared their jobs have been outsourced?
Now they’re back to being racist: The Manoos want all us foreign
actors out of Bollywood – get this: Because we’re stealing Indian
jobs. I have not yet met an Indian that can do my job, because my job
is to be not Indian. I’m not a particularly exceptional actor, I’m not
wildly attractive, I’m not even that skilled, I don’t dance or sing.
I’m a single-threat: I’m just white. Who’s job do I steal?
Make up your minds, which do you despise: Racism or foreigners?
Their current claim is against Hazel Crowney because they claim she’s
dancing in a provocative way that Indian girls wouldn’t, and tugging
at the threads of Indian moral fibre. It’s clear that they know this
already, but you might not: Indian movies don’t show sexy white girls
flouncing about because Indian girls won’t do it, they show foreigners
because that’s what Indians like to watch. The women watch it and
think: “Ugh, sluts” and the men pitch pants tents – behaviour neither
gender like to associate with good Indian girls.
Indian girls will do a multitude of things to get their beautiful,
sensual bodies onto the big screen – and dancing provocatively
definitely comes under that broad and intentionally ambiguous banner.
Rakhi Sawant started the protest, but clearly her interests aren’t
value-based:
Hazel Crowney: They're calling for her head
Rakhi Sawant: Principled instigator
Tell me again – which Indian values were they protecting?
The Shiv Sena recently charged onto the set of a shoot for the film
‘Crooked’, and demanded to see employment visas from the 136
foreigners on the shoot. I know every Bollywood Gora that has a visa –
and there ain’t 136 of us. Bollywood runs on making its scenes exotic
and foreign with cheap tourist labour extras. It can’t run without
them.
These riots will serve to send more films overseas to shoot to avoid
them, taking money right out of the pockets of all Mumbaikars who
drive and light and serve chai and food to those who paint sets and
clothe Bollywood. Their campaign would be short-sighted and flawed, if
it were legitimately aimed at improving the lives of Marathis – but it
isn’t, it’s aimed at getting publicity – and it’s working.
I love this country – but sometimes it gives me the shits (pun
intended).
Perhaps it is me.
Perhaps my desire to become a part of the Indian fabric is mislaid. I
had always seen India’s best values were the welcoming and inclusive
nature of the people, how peaceful they are. I’d always felt that the
laid-back, near-enough’s good enough, slow life seemed more ecological
than ours – far more interested in things like a good laugh, an
engaging (and intrusive) conversation or even silent company. They’ll
stare, they’ll care, they’ll help even if they can’t.
This country holds the greatest potential of all on this earth. With
some tweaks to turn the knowledge based education system to teach
skills, a good corruption enema and a bit of cultural progression (in
terms of womens rights and that stuff) – it will be the next
superpower. Indians almost always speak more languages than you do,
speak English better than you do, they wrap their agile brains around
new languages, new concepts and new ideas with envy-inspiring speed,
they have open hearts and kind minds, and there are a billion of them.
That was what I thought India was about, generosity, hospitality and
intelligence – but apparently these guys are the last word on what’s
Indian and according to them it’s all about the violence, stupidity
and racism.
Perhaps it’s time for me to move on.
http://www.harrykey.com/blogs/the-lords-army-shiv-sena/
Congress and BJP in tussle over Big B as CWG brand ambassador
Congress too has started playing cheap political games. Amitabh
Bachchan is their target and all for the sin of getting some unasked
for BJP attention. Now Kalmadi has even dropped Amitabh as an option
for CWG brand ambassador.
CJ: Shubhra Prakash Tue, Mar 30, 2010 21:21:29 IST
Views: 13 Comments: 1Rate: 0.0 / 0 votes
KEEPING INTACT its posture of cold shouldering the Bachchans, the
Congress once again entered in a row with Amitabh Bachchan becoming a
brand ambassador of the up coming Common Wealth Games. Suresh Kalmadi,
Congress MP and the Chairman of Commonwealth Games Organizing
Committee said that they would need a young Brand Ambassador to
promote the game.
The decision came as a backlash when BJP leader and also the vice-
president of Indian Olympic Association suggested Bachchan's name as
an ambassador for the event in a letter to Kalmadi.
The 'Bachchan parivar' is under fire from Congress party leaders ever
since he came to inaugurate a lane on the Mumbai Sea Link. The matter
stretched up to a limit that on the Earth Hour Day in Delhi the video
carrying a message from Abhishek Bachchan was blacked out as also the
posters of the actor from the venue.
At both the events Congress party leaders like Ashok Chavan and Sheila
Dikshit were present maintaining a hush over the happenings. The state
of events has popped up in the backdrop of Amitabh Bachchan agreeing
to promote tourism for the BJP ruled Gujarat.
While the war of words is on between the Bachchan's led by BJP and
Congress. Manish Tiwari, a Congress MP has suggested that it is high
time that Amitabh Bachchan clears his stand on Modi and the Gujarat
government.
Posted comments (1) Mr. Kalmadi is absolutely right. Actually
government (Delhi/Center) needs to re-think about this, how an old man
could like Mr. Kalmadi/non-sports, declared as Commonwealth Games
Organizing Committee chairman. Not only in Commonwealth, but also we
don't need any oldies like Delhi's CM Mrs. Dixit, BCCI Chief Mr.
Power, and so on….
Will Dawood’s facing law be a favour? Congress asks BJP
By IANS
March 30th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Congress Tuesday hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) for lauding Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s appearance
before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the 2002 Gujarat
riots, and asked if underworld fugitive Dawood Ibrahim will be doing a
favour by facing the law.
“The BJP is projecting it (Modi’s appearance before SIT) as if it is a
favour to the judicial system. If Dawood Ibrahim is brought before the
law, will he be doing a favour?” Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said
reporters here.
He said the BJP was talking in “an immature manner”.
Tewari said that Modi had to face the SIT because he had not followed
“rajdharam (his duty as a ruler)”.
On the BJP’s criticism over party president Sonia Gandhi having been
again made National Advisory Council chairperson, Tewari said that she
could have become prime minister in 2004 and 2009 but chose not to
take the high office.
“Her entire public life is characterised by one principle, that of
sacrifice,” he said.
Tewari noted that NAC had worked for some path-breaking legislations
during its previous term, among these the Right to Information Act,
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the Gram Nyayalaya
Act.
The BJP said Tuesday that Gandhi’s appointment as chairperson of the
NAC had created a “psuedo-constitutional power centre” which would
lead to “redundancy” of the post of the prime minister
Sonia to again head National Advisory Council (Second Lead)
By IANS
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi was Monday again named
chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), four years after
she quit on being accused of holding an office of profit.
“She will hold the rank and status of union cabinet minister with
immediate effect. The salary, allowances and other terms and
conditions of the chairperson and members shall be such as the
government may specify from time to time,” an official statement
said.
Her term will begin from the date she assumes charge, it said.
“It will be co-terminus with the term of the NAC or until further
orders whichever is earlier. The chairperson shall be entitled to the
same salary, pay, allowances and other facilities to which a member of
the union council of ministers is entitled.”
According to the statement, the term of NAC members will be for one
year but this could be extended. They will draw salary and allowances
determined by the central government.
Gandhi had resigned from the NAC in March 2006 after the opposition
alleged that she had violated the office of profit principle requiring
MPs not to hold offices that carry wages, salaries or allowances
during their tenures. She had also resigned her Lok Sabha seat of Rae
Bareli but won it back in a re-election.
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government subsequently came up
with a bill seeking to exempt 56 posts, including the NAC chairperson,
from being considered as office of profit. The bill was approved in
May 2006 by parliament amid opposition by the Bharatiya Janata Party-
led opposition.
The NAC was first formed during the earlier tenure of UPA government
and had played a role in the enactment of Right to Information Act,
Forest Rights Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The reconstituted NAC is expected to take up the food security bill
over which there are differences between social activists and the
government. The activists, some of whom were part of the previous NAC,
have differed with the government on draft food security bill cleared
by the cabinet, saying its provisions were “minimalist”.
The reconstituted NAC is also expected to keep a watch on the existing
flagship welfare schemes such as the rural employment guarantee
programme and scrutinise other proposed legislations dealing with
social sector.
BJP says people will make Sonia Gandhi resign as NAC chief
By ANI
March 30th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has cried foul over
Congress President Sonia Gandhi again taking charge as the head of the
National Advisory Council (NAC).
BJP spokesperson Tarun Vijay said this time the people of the country
would make Gandhi resign from her post.
“It has been a history of the Congress party to hold an office of
profit while being an MP. Last time, it was a show by Sonia Gandhi of
‘tyag’, but the fact is that under the pressure of whole country, she
had to resign,” said Vijay.
“This time also, the people of this country will make her resign from
this post,” he added.
The Union Government on Monday constituted the National Advisory
Council (NAC), which will be headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi
as its Chairperson.
She will hold the rank and status of Union Cabinet Minister with
immediate effect.
The term of appointment of the Chairperson of the NAC will be with
effect from the date of assuming charge of the office as the
Chairperson.
It will be co-terminus with the term of the NAC or until further
orders which ever is earlier.
The term of the members of the NAC shall be for a period of one year
with effect from the date of their appointment, which may be extended.
The Chairperson of the NAC shall be entitled to the same salary, pay,
allowances and other facilities to which a member of the Union Council
of Minister is entitled.
Under the special provision for a Member of Parliament appointed as
the member of the NAC, it has been provided that the member shall not
be entitled to draw any remuneration, allowances or perks as such
member from the NAC other than the compensatory allowance as defined
in clause (a) of the section 2 of the Parliament (Prevention of
Disqualification) Act, 1959.
Sonia Gandhi quit the NAC in March 2006 after the BJP- led Opposition
alleged that she had violated the office of profit principle.
Gandhi had also resigned from her Lok Sabha seat. But later despite
winning the Rae Bareilly by poll, she kept herself away from the NAC.
(ANI)
BJP MLAs marshalled out of Delhi Assembly
By ANI
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Amidst high drama 22 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were
marshalled out of the Delhi Assembly on Monday, for trooping into the
Well and sloganeering against the price rise and demanding a roll back
of subsidy cut on LPG and increase in VAT on various items.
As soon as the House assembled, the Leader of Opposition V K Malhotra
raised the price rise issue.
He demanded a clarification from Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on the
use of water canons by police during a protest rally near the
Assembly.
Several BJP activists, including Municipal Council of Delhi (MCD)
members, were injured during the incident.
Soon, all the BJP MLAs started sloganeering and gathered before the
Speaker’s podium.
Speaker Yoganand Shastri had to adjourn the House for 15 minutes when
he failed to convince opposition members to calm down and resume their
seats.
When the House met again after 15 minutes, all BJP MLAs trooped to the
Well and sloganeered again.
Speaker Shastri tried to pacify the members, but when they continued
their protests, he asked marshals to remove senior BJP members H S
Balli, Karan Singh Tanwar, Ravindra Bansal, Subhash Sachdeva and Harsh
Vardhan from the House.
After their removal, BJP MLAs continued with their sloganeering
forcing Shastri to name the BJP MLAs one by one and ask marshals to
remove them from the House.
After all the MLAs had left, Malhotra said he was the only opposition
legislator present and asked that he be thrown out also.
The BJP members continued their protests outside the Assembly and
courted arrest. (ANI)
http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/03/29/bjp-mlas-marshalled-out-of-delhi-assembly-26024/
BJP warns against talks with Taliban
By IANSMarch 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday asked the
government to explain if India was planning to talk to the Taliban, as
suggested by some media reports, and warned against any compromise
with anti-India elements.
“If true, as the report suggests, the shift in Indias Afghan policy
must be explained to the people and the foreign minister must answer
the raison dtre of showing a willingness to have a dialogue with the
regressive elements, said Tarun Vijay, BJP spokesperson.
These elements, Vijay pointed out, have been working for Pakistan’s
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and their anti-India operations
“have bled us for the last two years”.
Vijay was alluding to media reports which quoted government sources
saying that India wanted to reach out to Taliban leader Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami and keep its doors open in case of a
reconciliation effort by the Taliban.
Warning against the pitfalls of such a dialogue with blood thirsty
elements”, Vijay stressed: Talking to Taliban reverses all that India
has stood for so far.
“They are Osamas men, they push their women behind veils and stop them
from going to schools, their world is a world of darkness, far removed
from that of democracy and pluralism, bringing the society to medieval
ages.
“Indian strategy, if there exists one for Afghanistan and Pakistan
must be primarily to safeguard Indian interests and to ensure
annihilation of anti-Indian terror groups, he said.
Accusing the government of failure in getting access to David Coleman
Headley, an American-Pakistani accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks,
and pursuing a “meaningless dialogue” with Pakistan under US pressure,
Vijay contended that engaging the Taliban comes as another shocking
feature of UPA’s unending compromises with the anti-India elements”.
India has refused to recognise any distinction between the good and
bad Taliban, but has indicated that it could support reintegration of
the Taliban in the Afghan mainstream provided they agree to renounce
violence and abide by the Afghan constitution.
The Indian government is, however, opposed to any reconciliation with
the Taliban to bring them into the political structure. India had
agreed to go along with the reintegration proposal endorsed at the Jan
28 London conference, but is wary of any deal that could reinstall a
medieval and anti-New Delhi regime in Kabul.
http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/03/29/bjp-warns-against-talks-with-taliban-26014/
Modi’s Taliban comments a frustrated outburst: Congress
By IANS
March 29th, 2010
NEW DELHI - The Congress Monday hit back at Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi for his “Taliban” comments, saying it was a “frustrated”
outburst after his long questioning by the Special Investigation Team
(SIT) over the 2002 riots.
“Modi is feeling very frustrated because for the first time, a chief
minister was made to stand before the Special Investigating Team for
about 10 hours in a question and answer session,” Union Information
and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said on the sidelines of a
Congress Seva Dal function here.
Responding to questions about Modi describing those critical of
Amitabh Bachchan’s decision to be brand ambassador of Gujarat as
Talibans of public life in his blog, Soni said Modi should not use the
word Taliban in a “light and flippant manner” as those who had lived
under the rule of the fundamentalists know what it is like. She said
Modi should make statements only after due deliberation.
Modi wrote in his blog that “a great artist with legendary humility
and even taller achievements” like Amitabh Bachchan has “chosen to
celebrate the glorious heritage of Gujarat while facing a lot of
criticisms”.
“These people, while brandishing Mahatma Gandhi’s name are busy
creating a new viciousness in the flow of our public life. These
‘Talibans of Untouchability’ have lost all their sensibilities in
their pursuit of anti-Gujarat attitudes,” he said.
Congress leaders in Maharashtra had protested over the presence of
Bachchan at the inauguration of the Bandra-Worli seak link extension
function last week, saying they were upset over “his association with
Modi”.
Bachchan had accepted Modi’s offer to be the brand ambassador of the
state.
Chaos in Rajasthan Assembly over Rathore’s expulsion
By ANI
March 19th, 2010
JAIPUR - Chaos took place inside the Rajasthan Assembly on Friday when
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs got into a brawl with marshals
inside the House over the expulsion of BJP leader Rajendra Rathore.
At least three BJP leaders were injured in the incident, when they
clashed with the marshals attempting to control the situation.
They were protesting against Rathore’s expulsion. (ANI)
Varun targets Maya, Rahul, calls cow slaughter crime
By Sarwar Kashani, IANSMarch 29th, 2010
SAHARANPUR - Bharatiya Janata Party MP Varun Gandhi delivered a fiery
speech here Monday, calling for a ban on cow slaughter. He also
targeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and his cousin Rahul
Gandhi whom he called a “handsome face”.
Hundreds of men, women and even children sweated it out to listen to
the 30-year-old Gandhi’s 20-minute high voltage speech at Gandhi Park
- his first public rally after being appointed the BJP secretary this
month.
The MP from Pilibhit called for a “more intense war” against cow
slaughter. “It is a social crime. It is a legal crime. Why don’t you
wake up and fight this more intense war against cow slaughter? It is
not for Hindus only, but for the nation’s pride,” he said.
“Jai shri ram” was his slogan. And the crowd of men, women and
children, some of whom had been waiting since 8 a.m., repeatedly
responded likewise.
“I know people in western Uttar Pradesh don’t compromise with self-
esteem. I am asking you, don’t stay calm, don’t tolerate. Wake up and
fight. I want warriors in my troupe, who can fight for your self-
esteem.”
Gandhi, who stirred a political storm with a communal speech during
the Lok Sabha election campaign last year, this time chose to weigh
his words carefully.
The young BJP leader thundered: “If somebody targets my mother, what
would I do? I will stand and save her, isn’t it? Likewise, you should
get up, gather and save our mother cow.”
He criticised Mayawati over her garlands of currency notes and said
the cash should have been used for the welfare of poor farmers and
unemployed youth of Uttar Pradesh instead.
“But don’t worry, two more years to go,” he said, pointing to the 2012
assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh which, he added, the BJP was
confident of winning.
“Then there is another party which has young handsome faces. They have
a mission, but don’t worry, we will win,” he said, referring clearly
to his estranged cousin Rahul Gandhi and the Congress.
“I know, I am also on this stage with my Gandhi surname. Had I been
Varun Chowdhury or Sharma, I would not have been here. But this name
comes with responsibility, responsibility towards the poor, towards
you,” he said.
Fighting for the poor of the nation is a long struggle that people
from “well-off families” are not interested in, he said. “I want to
produce at least one lakh Varun Gandhis who will fight that war,” he
said.
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike elections: It's advantage BJP
Hemant Kumar / DNA
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 8:43 IST
Bangalore: The exit polls and the pre-poll surveys may have predicted
a hung house in the 198-seat BBMP council, but the BJP is not worried.
And they have a good reason to be happy. A tally of 96 seats is good
enough for the BJP to reach the magic figure of 125, while the
Congress, which is warming up to the JD(S), needs to score 108 to have
its man as the mayor.
With MLAs, MLCs and MPs from Bangalore being part of the BBMP council,
any aspirant for the mayor’s post would need at least 125 votes.
Sitting MLAs, MLCs and MPs from constituencies falling under the BBMP
jurisdiction have the voting right to elect a mayor in the BBMP
council. The BJP already has 29 such captive votes in the form of its
city MLAs, MLCs and MPs. So all it needs is just 96 seats to reach the
magic figure of 125 to grab the mayor’s post.
The JD(S) has just 4 captive votes. However, the Congress and JD(S)
together could spoil BJP’s plans. But it is a tall order as the
combine would have to bag at least 104 of the 198 seats. “We are
comfortably placed. Even under the worst situation of BJP winning just
about 88 or 90 seats, we can have our way as all that we need is the
support of just a few independents,” said BJP city unit spokesman S
Prakash.
Congress practising fascism: BJP
Special Correspondent
“Modi has proved his critics wrong”
“Congress only making half-hearted attempts to interrogate Headley”
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday accused the Congress of practising
fascism by the kind of its attack against actor Amitabh Bachchan and
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
The Congress was increasingly betraying signs of frustration with each
of its attempt to tarnish the Opposition parties and leaders going in
vain, the BJP said.
The Congress was unabashedly practising untouchability and targeting
the Bachchan family only because it had differences with “one Congress
family,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said. “The entire party
and even its State governments are keen not even to be seen on one
platform with him.”
The the Bandra-Worli sea link belonged to people and not to “that
family” or the Congress. The withdrawal of invitation to Mr.
Bachchan's son by the Delhi Chief Minister and violence indulged by
Congressmen, tearing posters and banners, was condemnable, Ms.
Sitharaman said.
The country had not forgotten the way noted singer Kishore Kumar was
targeted during the Emergency when All India Radio banned his songs
for almost a whole year, she said.
Ms. Sitharaman charged the Congress with encouraging and rewarding Mr.
Modi's baiters in a bid to defame a duly elected Chief Minister. She
warned that this misplaced energies of the Congress would spell danger
to the country.
Mr. Modi had proved his critics wrong by displaying his responsibility
and cooperating with the SIT (Special Investigation Team) and
underlining his belief that the Constitution and the law of the land
were supreme, she said.
The Congress was only making half-hearted attempts to interrogate
Lashkar operative David Headley. No attempt was being made to
interrogate him and one attempt had even shamefully failed, she said.
The BJP accused the UPA of not showing any enthusiasm in implementing
the Supreme Court verdict on hanging Afzal Guru “though he is a proven
offender against India.”
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/03/29/stories/2010032955371300.htm
BJP govt protected anti-socials: Dhariwal
TNN, Mar 31, 2010, 05.14am IST
JAIPUR: Discussion on crime in the city rocked the House on Tuesday
when home minister Shanti Dhariwal, while answering a question,
alleged that the erstwhile BJP government had given protection to anti-
socials.
BJP whip Rajendra Rathore immediately registered a protest and was was
joined by deputy leader of Opposition Ghanshyam Tiwari and former home
minister Gulab Chand Kataria.
Claiming personal responsibility in the event the former BJP
government had protected any criminal Kataria said, "I was the home
minister then and if anyone was protected then I am responsibile but
can the home minister cite any example to prove his allegation or give
the names of such criminals."
Tiwari, on the other hand, blamed Dhariwal personally for the rising
incidents of crime in the city.
The hullabaloo arose after BJP MLA Nirmal Kumawat had inquired on the
number of cases registered in the state between January 2009 and
December 2009. Kumawat also wanted to know how many such cases were
registered in Phulera and if Jaipur had registered a rise in the
crime.
"The state has registered 1,66,565 cases between January 2009 and
December 2009, out of which in 9,5397 cases challans have been filed
in court," the minister said.
He added that Jaipur South had registered the maximum rise in crime
rate with 686 cases amounting to 12.62%. The zone, as compared to
5,435 cases in 2008, has seen 6,121 cases till December 2009. Next
came Jaipur North for which the figures for 2009 stands at 3,905
compared to 3,517 in 2008 ---- an increase of 11.03% with 388 cases.
Jaipur East recorded 6,762 cases in 2009 compared to 6,455 in 2008, an
increase of 307 cases at 4.76% while Jaipur rural has seen the least
increase at 0.01% with figures of 9,052 in 2009 as compared to 9051 in
2008.
"Therefore on an average Jaipur has registered an increase of 5.65%
while Rajasthan has seen a increase of 10.10% which is well below the
average of other states at 15.7 %," the minister said.
However, Kumawat, who had asked the question, stated if the negligible
rise in Jaipur rural is taken into account then Jaipur city has seen
10% rise in the crime rate.
Dhariwal explained the increase in crime figures are due to reasons
like an increase population ,in powers of the land mafia, tourism
mafia, Lapkas, unemployment, horizontal growth of the city, the
linking of Jaipur with the broad gauge rail lines, increase in land
prices, increase in the number of vehicles, immigration from other
states etc.
"In fact, it is because of the fact that the previous government had
given protection to criminals that such a situation has arisen today,"
he said.
That was enough to incite the Opposition and the blame game began.
While the BJP wanted the minister to table the names of such
criminals, Dhariwal continued with his allegations.
In another question related to rising crime in Jaipur, Dhariwal
claimed in comparison to 2007 crime had plunged in 2008. However, in
2009 there has again been a rise in the crime rate specially in cases
like attempted murder, loot, theft though cases like dacoity and armed
robbery has seen a decline.
But the minister refused to acknowledge that on the whole there has
been an increase in crime in the city.
"We're in the Money": Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/3bc67593a8a0ac5b#
Madam I 'm Adam: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/fbe56c67d373c696#
It's the Economy, Stupid: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/a46d86d4a3976279#
BRIC-a-BRAC: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/1d0dab2a874d0f26#
Big Bang: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/293ffa6b644467ef#
Indian Economic Survey: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/83574501e1c1ee72#
World's Baked Billionaires: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/42a9c3eca9882e80#
Below Poverty line, Line: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/097e4867b8baf22a#
Outsourcing Sorcery: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/topics?start=300&sa=N
Globalization Gobbledigook: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/bea6b5954e7332f4#
Indian Budget Bonanza: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/40cc05563d71e4a4#
Pranab Mukherjee, my Main Man: Sid Harth
http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.indian.marathi/browse_thread/thread/0ce38c4203700750#
chhotemianinshallah
By churumuri
Siddharth Varadarajan in The Hindu:
“The Delhi and Gujarat massacres are part of the same excavated site,
an integral part of the archaeology of the Indian State. Eighteen
years separate 2002 from 1984. Eighteen is normally the age a human
being is considered to have become an adult. Inhumanity also seems to
take 18 years to fully mature.
“In an act of conception which lasted four bloody days, something
inhuman was spawned on the streets of Delhi in 1984; by 2002, it had
fully matured.
“Paternity for the ‘riot system’ belongs to both the Congress and the
BJP, even if the sangh parivar managed to improve upon the
technologies of mass violence. Both knew how to mobilise mobs. Both
knew how to get the police to turn the other way. Both knew how to fix
criminal cases. Both knew what language to speak, even if one set of
leaders spoke of a ‘big tree falling’ and the other paraphrased
Newton. Both had the luxury of not being asked difficult questions by
criminal investigators.
“Until now.”
Read the full article: Your riot was worse than mine
This entry was posted on 31 March 2010 at 1:57 pm and is filed under
Hindutva, Moditva, Issues and Ideas. You can follow any responses to
this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or
trackback from your own site.
2 Responses to “What Congress can do, BJP can do even better”
yet_another_hindu_infidel Says:
31 March 2010 at 2:14 pm
The congress government has no case whatsoever for modi. There is no
evidence except for some witnesses who claim that modi did not
entertain there phone calls. This is a complete waste of public money
worth crores. There will be a reckoning when all this gets over. The
BJP should keep all these things in tabs and use them when there in
power.
Also karan thapar should rip that manish tiwari apart on devils
advocate. Useless idiot preaching for the uneducated and ignorant
crowd. Congress has no place or following among the internet masses.
They can only limit there influence in the TV channels and newspapers
but the internet will forever be off limits for them.
People like me are not allowed to voice our opinions on congress’s TV
channels and there print media. Here, i can say what i want without
fearing article 19(2). Here, i can say that im proud of modi. He put
the minority aggression in place. He fought back. He acted like a true
leader. He is one of those people who does not plead to his oppressors
to quit hitting him on the head. He instead fights back. He is anti-
pacifist. Anti-gandhism. Moditva is anti-pacifism. Modivta is fighting
back and not pleading to your oppressor.
Hence, im not pro-BJP. Im simply anti-pacifist and hence anti-congress
and hence pro-BJP. Internet is debating. Debating is reasoning. And
reasoning is hazardous to congress’s health.
vseshrao Says:
31 March 2010 at 5:05 pm
The need of the hour is action, not words. Please allow the law to
take its own course. A legislation to root out the cause of such
events is a must. Fool proof preventive steps should be taken on
priority basis without wasting any time in emitting unnecessary sound
bites.
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/what-congress-can-do-bjp-can-do-even-better/
Opinion - Leader Page Articles
Your riot was worse than mine
When double standards take charge, it is the victims of communal
violence who suffer, be they the Sikhs of Delhi, the Muslims of
Gujarat or the Pandits of Kashmir.
India's polity has an unerring taste for the irrelevant. That is why
the controversy over a sitting Chief Minister being summoned to answer
questions about mass murder has made way for an unseemly debate about
the morality of an ageing actor. After his embarrassing, nine-hour
appearance before the Special Investigation Team, one would have
thought Narendra Modi presented a large enough target. Instead, the
Congress has chosen to launch a full-throated campaign against Amitabh
Bachchan for choosing to become a brand ambassador for tourism in Mr.
Modi's State. The party has accused the Bollywood superstar of being
indifferent to allegations of State complicity in the massacre of
Muslims which took place there in 2002. And it has started boycotting
him in a manner that is as crude and mean-spirited as it is
ineffective and pointless. Thanks to this, the mass media are today
discussing Big B rather than the Little Men whose role the SIT is now
investigating.
As can be expected, the Gujarat Chief Minister is thrilled. The
spotlight which was earlier on him is now being trained elsewhere.
Instead of being forced to rally others to his own defence, Mr. Modi
has happily mounted the barricades on behalf of Mr. Bachchan. In
keeping with his party's fondness for technology and Islamophobia, he
has blogged that the actor's critics are ‘Talibans of untouchability'.
If Mr. Bachchan is guilty of overlooking mass violence today, it is
because equally illustrious gentlemen, including some industrialists,
did the same when they declared Mr. Modi prime ministerial material.
For that matter, the actor himself has done this sort of thing before.
In his movies, Mr. Bachchan was a crusader for the underdog. In real
life, he is attracted to the kind of powerful men he once fought on
the big screen. His fans have a right to feel cheated. Political
parties, especially the Congress, do not have that right.
The party finds fault with him for representing Gujarat in the wake of
2002. But in 1984, barely weeks after the blood in the streets of
Delhi had dried, the actor accepted a Congress ticket for Allahabad
and got elected to Parliament. “As a brand ambassador does he endorse
or condemn the mass murder in Gujarat?” Congress spokesperson Manish
Tiwari asked the other day, adding: “It is high time Amitabh Bachchan
came out and said what his position on [the] Gujarat riots is.”
Despite the party having ‘apologised' for its role in the massacre of
Sikhs following Indira Gandhi's assassination, I doubt Mr. Tiwari or
any other Congress spokesman will ever ask Mr. Bachchan what his
position on the Delhi riots was or is.
But if the Congress prefers to forget the history of 1984, the BJP and
its leaders act as if history ended that year. In their telling, 2002
either didn't happen or pales in comparison with what preceded it. And
so begins the sordid exercise of weighing the suffering of victims
and, worse, of playing the plight of one set against another. Mention
the suffering of the Muslims of Gujarat and the BJP will start talking
about the plight of the Pandits, driven by terrorism from their homes
in the Kashmir Valley in 1989 and 1990. Try talking about the
injustice done to the Sikhs of Delhi and the Congress will insist on
speaking only of Gujarat. And the minute the microphones in the studio
are switched off, the politicians are quite happy to forget about the
shared travails of all victims.
The reality is that the Delhi and Gujarat massacres are part of the
same excavated site, an integral part of the archaeology of the Indian
state. Eighteen years separate 2002 from 1984. Eighteen is normally
the age a human being is considered to have become an adult.
Inhumanity also seems to take 18 years to fully mature. In an act of
conception which lasted four bloody days, something inhuman was
spawned on the streets of Delhi in 1984; by 2002, it had fully
matured. Paternity for the ‘riot system' belongs to both the Congress
and the BJP, even if the sangh parivar managed to improve upon the
technologies of mass violence. Both knew how to mobilise mobs. Both
knew how to get the police to turn the other way. Both knew how to fix
criminal cases. Both knew what language to speak, even if one set of
leaders spoke of a ‘big tree falling' and the other paraphrased
Newton. Both had the luxury of not being asked difficult questions by
criminal investigators. Until now.
There is one school of thought that Mr. Modi's summons and
interrogation have come eight years too late. There is a lot of merit
in that point of view. But the reality is that the call for a leader
to render account for mass crimes committed on his watch comes 18
years too late. Veteran journalist Tavleen Singh said recently that if
Rajiv Gandhi had been interrogated in 1984 about what happened to the
Sikhs, Gujarat would not have happened. She is right. Had the courts
and the entire edifice of the Indian state not failed the victims of
1984, many, many politicians, police officers and officials would have
gone behind bars. Had that happened then, every leader would have been
forced to think a hundred times about the legal consequences of
instigating mass violence or allowing mobs to go on the rampage.
The debates on Mr. Modi over the past two weeks have been so
incredibly divisive because neither the Congress nor the BJP is
interested in a discussion on systemic remedies. Justice is about
punishing individuals, rehabilitating victims and dismantling the
infrastructure of communal terrorism. But our biggest parties want
nothing to do with any of that. Gujarat 2002 should go unpunished
because Delhi 1984 never saw justice, says the BJP. ‘No SIT ever
interrogated Rajiv Gandhi so why is Mr. Modi now being interrogated?'
is the party's self-serving refrain. On its part, the Congress is
unwilling to incorporate in the draft Communal Violence Bill clear-cut
legal provisions that could deter politicians and policemen from again
abusing their power as they did in 1984 and 2002.
One of the questions the SIT was expected to ask Mr. Modi during his
interrogation on March 27 was what exactly he said when Ehsan Jaffrey
called him up on February 28, 2002, asking for help. The question is
important because soon after the former MP put down the telephone, he
was killed by a mob along with 58 other innocent people. I have no
idea whether that question was put to Mr. Modi, let alone what his
answer was. But when the same question was put to Jai Narayan Vyas,
official spokesman of Mr. Modi's government, in a televised debate a
few days ago, the answer was atrocious. Ehsan Jaffrey had been a
Congress MP, said Mr. Vyas. “So I demand to know what the Congress
party did to help him.”
There was, of course, nothing the Congress could have done to save the
doomed member then. The BJP was in power in both Gujarat and the
Centre. But the party has a chance to do something now: Pass a law
with real teeth. It's been more than a quarter-of-a-century since a
big tree came crashing down upon us. It is time for the earth to stop
shaking.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033157731000.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
NDA DISARRAY
The Bharatiya Janata Party's hidden agenda comes under sharp scrutiny
again as its allies in the National Democratic Alliance rise in
protest, albeit half-heartedly, against attempts to 'saffronise'
education.
SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN
V. VENKATESAN
in New Delhi
WHOEVER thought of 'Panchvati' as the name for the newly constructed
ultra-modern conference hall in the Prime Minister's Office block at 7
Race Course Road, might have wished to convey a profound sense of
symbolism about Atal Behari Vajpayee's leadership style. Named after
the spot on which Ram and Sita constructed their hut in exile in the
Ramayana epic, the hall is symbolic of the internal exile of the Prime
Minister. Since he established a renewed - if rather tenuous - peace
with his resignation drama, Vajpayee has perhaps chosen to cocoon
himself rather than deal with the ideologically riven party and the
fractious alliance that he leads. The economy is running into choppy
waters as Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha flounders for a policy
response adequate to the circumstances (see separate story).
Meanwhile, the ideological watchdogs in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh (RSS) continue their rather hostile vigil over the direction of
economic policy, ready to renew their demand for Yashwant Sinha's
scalp at the next opportune moment. And Human Resource Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi continues his quirky forays into the dim
recesses of the past, convinced that the panacea for all contemporary
ills lies in ancient Indian scriptures.
V. SUDERSHAN
At a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance, (from left) Union
Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers S.S. Dhindsa (Shiromani Akali
Dal), former Defence Minister George Fernandes (Samata Party), Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Home Minister L.K. Advani, Commerce
Minister Murasoli Maran (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Haryana Chief
Minister Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal).
Conventional methods of political leadership through established
institutional processes have seemingly been abandoned. The Prime
Minister's new style is to emerge from his internal political exile on
carefully choreographed occasions, with announcements that are
directed towards specific political ends. And yet, because of the
multiple pulls and pressures that he is operating under, few people
are able to place his frequent interventions in the political
discourse in a coherent framework of strategy. The statement that
discussions were under way towards a solution of the Ayodhya dispute
by March 2002 was obviously motivated by the imminent general
elections to the Uttar Pradesh State Assembly. But it seemed so
totally divorced from the actual realities of the situation, that even
those who claim some proximity to the Prime Minister were left rather
befuddled. Murli Manohar Joshi was, meanwhile, called to account in
the Lok Sabha for some of his recent initiatives in the domain of
educational policy. And yet, after encountering almost uniform
scepticism from both ally and adversary, he found little to apologise
about. His abrasive response to the debate in the Lok Sabha, with a
generous infusion of half-truths, evasions and misrepresentations,
undoubtedly sets a new low in parliamentary decorum.
In the course of his reply, Minister Joshi read out a passage from a
mid-19th century political polemic written by Marx and Engels,
boorishly taunting the Marxist benches with the question whether they
regarded it as a sample of authentic history writing. He quoted four
authorities, among whom three were historians or archaeologists, in
support of his argument that the Aryans were indigenous to India. He
produced an extended list of universities from across the world,
claiming that all of them offered courses in astrology, much as he
proposed to do through the Indian university system. And he quite
brazenly avowed that the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) on school
education that he proposes to introduce is fully in consonance with
the education policy guidelines enunciated in 1986 and subsequently
modified in 1992. Indeed, since no changes in policy were involved, it
was not thought necessary to refer the NCF to the Central Advisory
Board on Education (CABE).
A group of eminent academics pointed out shortly afterwards at a press
conference organised by the cultural organisation Sahmat (the Safdar
Hashmi Memorial Trust), that the Minister was being severely
economical with the truth when he made these assertions in Parliament.
To say that the NCF did not amount to a change in policy was a mere
verbal artifice, and to deny the CABE its jurisdiction in this matter
was contrary to the 1992 policy guidelines which clearly accord the
body a "pivotal role" in educational matters. And as Professor Arjun
Dev, formerly of the National Council for Educational Research and
Training (NCERT), pointed out, there was an inherent conflict between
the educational policy guidelines of 1992 and the NCF. The latter
speaks of religion as being the wellspring of all social values. In
the policy guidelines of 1992, however, there are no references to
religion except for a rather oblique one which speaks of education as
a means of administering an antidote to religious extremism and
fanaticism.
V. SUDERSHAN
Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi: in line for
the distinction of being the first to accord academic respectability
to the dubious pursuit of soothsayers.
Professor Romila Thapar, one of the historians cited by Minister Joshi
in Parliament, pointed out that she had been grossly misquoted.
Although she had indeed said that there was no evidence to indicate an
"Aryan invasion" of the Indian subcontinent, she had said at various
places that there was ample linguistic indication of a series of
migrations into India from Central Asia. Likewise, two of the other
authorities cited by Minister Joshi - Professors Mohammad Rafiq Mughal
and George Dales - have if anything, been credited with broadly
similar views. And the fourth person who the Minister thought it fit
to quote, Bhagwan Singh, is a Hindi novelist whose credentials to make
pronouncements on matters of historical interpretation are not exactly
overwhelming.
Political scientist Professor Zoya Hasan pointed out that Murli
Manohar Joshi's list of universities which supposedly offer courses in
astrology is entirely fictitious. The list had obviously been drawn up
after a hurried search of the resources available on the Internet. And
although there may be a number of private institutions offering
astrology as an option for students, no recognised university had yet
begun instruction in this subject. Joshi in this sense was in line for
the distinction of being the first to accord academic respectability
to the dubious pursuit of soothsayers.
S. ARNEJA
Vajpayee with RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan and BJP general secretary
Narendra Modi at the release of a book on RSS leader Lakshmanrao
Inamdar.
The short-duration discussion under Rule 193 was initiated in the Lok
Sabha by the Communist Party of India(Marxist). Certain of the crucial
allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party took part in the debate and were
extremely critical of the recent policy initiatives in education. The
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the
Trinamul Congress found little to commend in the furious pursuit of
traditional values to infuse into young minds through school
curricula. The DMK's S.S. Palanimanickam, who spoke during the
discussion, called for the withdrawal of the controversial circular
issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC), sanctioning
university-level courses in astrology and vedic ritual. He was also
critical of other measures suggestive of a political agenda, such as
the subtle changes being introduced in the history curricula which
sought to glorify the ancient period while disparaging the medieval
period as an epoch of cultural regression. Similarly, the effort to
derive an unbroken thread of Indian culture stretching back to the
Aryans was deeply objectionable to the DMK, as was the stimulus being
given for the study of Sanskrit, particularly in the spoken idiom.
As a party, the DMK remains somewhat reluctant to articulate outside
Parliament its opposition to the saffronisation measures. And since it
is not in power in Tamil Nadu, its ability to influence an
oppositional course of policy is also limited. The TDP, which supports
the National Democratic Alliance government without being part of it,
stopped short of criticising the government's policy, though it was
insistent that changes in school syllabi without proper discussion in
the appropriate forums would not be acceptable. "Any change can be
made only with the full consent of the State governments. Education is
on the Concurrent List and we will not accept the imposition of any
new education policy," said TDP Parliamentary Party leader K. Yerran
Naidu. The TDP for the moment prefers not to go into the specific
details of the NCF and the UGC circular, but the government in Andhra
Pradesh, which it controls, clearly would not be initiating action on
these documents for fear of the political backlash within their home
constituencies.
SHAJU JOHN
Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National
Conference leader.
A similar attitude of opposition without risking confrontation was
noticeable with other allies, namely the Janata Dal (United) and the
Biju Janata Dal (BJD). While a BJD member in the Lok Sabha actually
made bold to endorse the HRD Ministry's emphasis on the study of
scriptures, the Janata Dal(U) leader, Devendra Prasad Yadav, confined
himself to a feeble protest, seemingly merely for the record.
Apparently because his party's application for re-entry into NDA is
pending consideration, Trinamul Congress member Krishna Bose was
content to issue a mild warning, urging that no colour be given to
education since it was best to leave the job to "academicians and
educationists".
None of the BJP's allies would like to squander their claims to the
secular space in their home States. They cannot, for this reason,
afford to be seen as endorsing the new proposals on education policy.
Like the BJP's core agenda items - the common civil code, Ayodhya and
the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution - the new programme
of social engineering through the educational system may also, for
this reason, be banished to the lower rungs of the government's list
of priorities. Another compelling reason for proceeding with caution
is the rejection by no fewer than 10 States of the NCF and its
inherent principles.
PRIME MINISTER Vajpayee remained curiously silent all through the
debate on education. He did, however, make a major symbolic bow
towards his ideological mentors at the first official engagement in
Panchvati, which, curiously enough, was an RSS event. On August 18, at
a function to release a book on Lakshmanrao Inamdar, a prominent
activist of the RSS who was defence counsel for all the swayamsevaks
indicted in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Vajpayee shared the
dais with K.S. Sudarshan, the RSS Sarsanghchalak. As on other
occasions when he has appeared on platforms with his right-wing
confederates, Vajpayee's carefully cultivated mask of moderation
seemed to slip. He paid his customary homage to the Sangh for all that
it had done for him in his formative years, and then likened the
dedication of the RSS cadres to that of the Christian missionaries who
were fanning out in remote areas of the country, including the
northeastern region. Then he added what was widely perceived as an
unnecessary caveat: that the missionaries' proselytisation was an
avoidable activity, though they were well within their rights in doing
so.
PARTH SANYAL
Mamata Banerjee, Trinamul Congress leader and former Railway
Minister.
Vajpayee's remark angered the Christian minority, especially since it
came in the context of an upsurge of sectarian violence directed
against them. Even as the real forces behind the murder of the
Australian missionary, Graham Staines and his children in Orissa
remain free, fresh attacks on Christian institutions were reported
recently from Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh and Thane in Maharashtra.
The Prime Minister's remark follows a pattern which he had himself set
earlier, of implicitly holding the victims of sectarian violence
responsible for their suffering. At the height of attacks against the
Christian community and their places of worship in Gujarat in 1999,
Vajpayee had, rather than insist on tough measures to restore order,
called for a national debate on religious conversions. Faced with a
storm of protest, he then clarified that what he meant was that the
two communities should enter into a dialogue about their mutual
concerns and grievances. Ironically, the Prime Minister's latest
remark on conversions cast a long shadow over the dialogue between the
Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and the RSS on August 21.
Organised at the invitation of the CBCI, the meeting was held at the
headquarters of the CBCI in New Delhi and was attended, apart from
others, by Sudarshan and CBCI secretary Dominique Immanuel. Both sides
described the one-hour meeting, intended to clear misgivings, as
cordial. They agreed to meet again.
T.A. HAFEEZ
M. Karunanidhi, DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister.
The BJP's partners in the NDA, which forced the withdrawal of the
circular issued by the Gujarat government to allow the participation
of State government officials in RSS-organised camps last year, have
however, remained largely indifferent to the Prime Minister's latest
remark on religious conversions. In a reference to the recent
kidnapping and killings of four RSS workers in Tripura, Vajpayee has
also lamented that the media remains curiously indifferent to the
victimisation of the RSS while they are extremely attentive to the
plight of Christian missionaries. Apart from its rather poor taste,
the lament to most observers seemed most inappropriate - almost
irresponsible - for a head of government. But the BJP's allies within
the NDA and outside, are yet to take issue with the Prime Minister
over this remark.
TO a large extent, the relative tolerance being displayed by the BJP's
allies is a concession to Vajpayee's easily wounded sensibilities. The
NDA partners are keen to see that there is no recurrence of the Prime
Minister's resignation threat, which could endanger the ruling
alliance and imperil their long-term interests. This has to be seen in
the context of the allies' own compulsions in their respective States,
which the Prime Minister, through the NDA mechanism, has promised to
address in the coming days.
K.R. DEEPAK
N. Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP leader.
The DMK, for instance, would not like to rock the boat at the Centre
because it provides the party a vital lifeline in the battle that has
been joined against Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on the home
front. The DMK is far from satisfied with the Central government's
response to the lawless midnight arrest of their leader, former Chief
Minister M. Karunanidhi, and the violence that was unleashed against
the protest rally it organised in Chennai on August 12. With the
Madras High Court scheduled to hear Jayalalithaa's appeals against her
conviction in three cases of corruption, the DMK senses that it can
exercise its leverage at the Centre or political advantage in the
State. This requires that it maintain a degree of prudence and not
challenge the BJP too openly on its ideological agenda.
Similar factors seem to weigh with the Samata Party which has acquired
a new energy since the sordid revelations that the news portal
tehelka.com used the services of commercial sex workers to entrap
three army officers during its investigation into corruption in
defence deals (see separate story). Samata leader George Fernandes,
who reluctantly left the Defence Ministry after the Tehelka
revelations, now senses that he has an opportunity to make an early re-
entry. With its attention focussed almost obsessively on this matter,
the Samata Party has remained largely silent on the HRD Ministry's
saffronisation agenda and the Prime Minister's rather imprudent
remarks about the Christian community. The Samata Party faction led by
Railway Minister Nitish Kumar is, however, reluctant to see Fernandes
returning to the Cabinet till the K. Venkataswami Commission inquiring
into the Tehelka affair has completed its probe.
The Prime Minister squashed any speculation over Fernandes' re-entry
into the Cabinet by suggesting that the former Defence Minister
himself was not willing to return to the Union Cabinet until the
Venkataswami Commission completed its probe. The NDA Coordination
Committee meeting on August 27 resolved to request the government to
speed up the Commission's work.
ANU PUSHKARNA
Education Ministers from States ruled by parties other than the BJP
and its allies, who walked out of the Conference of State Education
Ministers and Secretaries in New Delhi in 1998. The walk-out was in
protest against the singing of Saraswati Vandana, a hymn venerating
the Hindu goddess of learning, at the meeting.
The government was not willing even to concede the demand voiced by a
section of the Samata Party that it should prosecute the Tehelka team
for violating the law on prevention of immoral traffic in women. The
fear was that once it ordered the arrest of Tehelka team, it would be
difficult to avoid similar demands being made by the Opposition for
the arrest and prosecution of Bangaru Laxman, who was shown on tape
accepting money from the Tehelka investigative team, and Jaya Jaitly.
However, the government agreed for a probe by the Home Ministry into
the veracity of the disclosures that the Tehelka team used sex workers
to try and facilitate defence deals and possibly extract classified
information. Such a parallel probe by the Home Ministry, particularly
when the Venkataswami Commission is examining all the aspects of the
Tehelka expose, might mean nothing substantial, but it was a small sop
for Fernandes, in order to secure his silence over the growing
influence of the Sangh in governance.
For the Trinamul Congress, which is still in a state of shock after
its electoral rout in the West Bengal Assembly elections, negotiating
an honourable return to the NDA appears to be a major concern. This
would require that BJP president Jana Krishnamurthy should relax his
demand that certain norms should be enforced for parties seeking to be
part of the ruling coalition. Recognising the compulsions of the
numbers game in Parliament, Krishnamurthy has reportedly conceded the
Prime Minister's demand that the NDA should be inclusive rather than
exclusive in its membership. The return of Trinamul Congress leader
Mamata Banerjee to the Union Cabinet is now considered only a matter
of time. While this delicate renegotiation of political equations is
under way, the Prime Minister is likely to enjoy a little more
latitude to pander to his ideological mentors in the RSS, since the
Trinamul Congress is unlikely to make an issue of it.
The NDA Coordination Committee meeting re-admitted the Trinamul
Congress and the Pattali Makkal Katchi into the Alliance, though the
four-member committee entrusted with the task of evolving norms to
govern the conduct of NDA constituents had not completed its work.
Krishnamurthy had argued that it was necessary to evolve and follow
such norms before a party could be re-admitted into the NDA. It
appeared that Mamata Banerjee made it clear that she was not keen to
get back into the Union Cabinet immediately. NDA convener George
Fernandes said: "The Trinamul Congress has expressed a desire to
strengthen the government and support the Prime Minister in every
way."
The National Curriculum Framework for School Education, prepared by
the NCERT, was released on November 14, 2000.
AGAIN, Home Minister L.K. Advani's proposal for a ban on the Students
Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), on the basis of unsubstantiated
allegations that it has links with the insurgency in Jammu and
Kashmir, has not generated the kind of debate that it would normally
have. None of the BJP's allies sought to engage seriously with the
issue of extension of the Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special
Powers Act to Jammu region in the wake of militant violence in the
State. Similarly, Advani's espousal of the case for a tougher anti-
terrorism law to replace the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities
(Prevention) Act - which was allowed to lapse after it was widely
discredited as an anti-minorities device - has failed to stir the more
secular and liberal constituents of the NDA into any form of activity.
All these suggestions by Advani were made on his own initiative,
without any discussion either within the Cabinet or the NDA, and his
overriding concern appears to be to live up to the RSS' image of an
ideal Home Minister, in the mould of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel. These
rather extremist policy formulations, however, are escaping without
serious challenge within the NDA for reasons connected to the
individual compulsions of each constituent.
Vajpayee's gestures towards the RSS have not by any means gone
unreciprocated. Many observers were quick to notice that the RSS has
not been very aggressive on any of the issues that could be a
potential embarrassment to the government - particularly the Unit
Trust of India scandal. Again by giving the HRD Minister the freedom
to pursue his antediluvian notions, Vajpayee seems to be conveying to
the RSS that it is in its interest to allow his government to
function. The RSS - despite the Vishwa Hindu Parishad's occasional
belligerence - understands that in the prevalent circumstances
Vajpayee may well be indispensable in safeguarding its long-term
interests.
It is not without significance that Vajpayee used the debate in
Parliament on the Agra Summit to have a gentle swipe at Advani. This
was an effort to regain the ground that he had lost on account of the
general perception that he was inclined to render major concessions to
Pakistan in Agra and had only been restrained by Advani's
circumspection. Vajpayee is now ardently seeking to undo the
impression that Advani is the favoured leader of the Sangh Parivar.
The RSS too appears to have got the message, as revealed by its
friendly overtures towards the Prime Minister. The entente cordiale
will last as long as the BJP's allies in the NDA relax their vigil
over the course of policy. That will not be for very long, by all
current indications.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180040.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
EDITORIAL
Misalliance and bad governance
NOBODY within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) maintains any
longer the fiction that a set of broad ideological-political
principles or some common minimum programme holds the coalition's 20-
odd constituents together even as bad governance becomes steadily
worse on virtually every front - appallingly so, by common consent, on
the national unity, economic, and educational fronts, as this
Frontline Cover Story highlights. Power, symbolised by the congenial
mask-face of Atal Behari Vajpayee but showing unmistakable signs of
erosion if some recent all-India public opinion polls are to be
credited, remains the sole binding factor.
Political opportunism never had a more uninhibited and cynical
exponent than the NDA's convener, George Fernandes, who has justified
the latest decision to let the turncoat Trinamul Congress and Pattali
Makkal Katchi (PMK) back into the fold in terms of there being "no
permanent friends in politics - just permanent interests." Even the
cliche seems misapplied. Since each of these highly unreliable
regional parties has only recently contributed its substantive share
to the discomfiture of the NDA in electoral contests in battleground
States, the questions arise: what interest could have been possibly
served by their changes in allegiance and whose interest will such
parties serve when the next major test comes? Yet there is no question
of the NDA allowing itself the luxury of raising and debating even
this existential question. Such is its plight in Year Four of Vajpayee
rule.
It is not so much bare numbers as the unviability of any alternative
political combination within the thirteenth Lok Sabha that keeps one
of the democratic world's worst - most divisive, reactionary, and
inept - governments in office at the expense of every elementary
interest of the Indian people. The economy is a shambles, with NDA
policy contributing an unedifying story of Rightwingness and
callousness towards the people's interest combining with incompetence
and venality. For all the formal dissents and caveats entered by
allies, communalism and obscurantism - the "assault on reason,"
spotlighted by Prabhat Patnaik in this issue - remain central to the
agenda of the Vajpayee government. It is in the educational arena that
the programme of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is in full, fast
track play. It is as though the hard-core Hindu Right knows that time
is running out for an NDA government in disarray and therefore is all
the more determined to insinuate and institute into the educational
system as many of its favoured pedagogic projects as a soft situation
will allow. As for the targeting of the secular fabric of India and
the continuing assaults on vulnerable sections of religious minorities
if only to make a larger point, what else can be expected from a
government committed largely and with increasing desperation to the
core agenda of the Hindu Right?
FROM the standpoint of the serious opposition, political interest
seems to demand that the NDA government remain in office in order to
make a complete mess of its elected term, so that when the fourteenth
general elections are held (no later than October 2004), the
experience of the Indian electorate leaves it no choice but to hand
out a comprehensive defeat, preferably with long-term implications, to
the Bharatiya Janata Party and its unprincipled allies. This, at any
rate, is the secular, democratic, and progressive hope building across
the country. As the weeks and months roll by, the prospect of being
able to throw back in a big way the political interests of the Hindu
Right and its ragbag of allies is likely to invest national politics
with a spirit of challenge and even excitement.
However, the present tasks must not be underestimated or neglected
while waiting for some kind of grand denouement to the plot that began
to take shape in the second half of the 1980s and has since taken a
huge democratic toll. Some political analysts have characterised
India's Hindu Right in terms that recall the attributes not of
established conservatism, but of the militant 'New Right' movements
seen in Europe and elsewhere. Given the opportunity, such movements
can thrive on the impression generated in society that they are out to
overthrow the status quo, the 'establishment', and the old rules of
governance. They tend to prey on socio-economic and political ills,
such as unemployment and underemployment, alienation of youth,
corruption, instability, crime, and widespread middle class
disaffection with the old, run-down system. They can thus plausibly
present a 'radical' face, invent new kinds of 'enemies' for
'mainstream' society, tilt against 'elitism', and have quite a run by
aggressively taking up causes as diversionary as they are reactionary.
These causes can include driving out or intimidating 'foreigners';
projects of racism and ethnic cleansing; building a Ram temple on the
grave of an old mosque, thus speaking simultaneously to the past and
the future; instituting, or conniving with, pogroms against vulnerable
minority sections of the population, making use of lumpen social
elements; rewriting the history curriculum in schools in favour of the
favoured chauvinist or communal cause; and threatening to alter a
tested and faithful Constitution, which is suddenly held to be out of
sync with the times, and create a 'Hindu Rashtra' (or, for that
matter, a state ruled totally and uncompromisingly in accordance with
the 'Shariat').
What is clear today is that the ruling combination - the National
Democratic Alliance, whose helmsman and other leading figures must not
be underestimated since they are vastly experienced, resourceful, and
battle-hardened - is staring at what looks very much like a loss of
political legitimacy. The next watershed will be the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly elections, due in some months. All political eyes in India
will be on the action accompanying these elections, which could deal a
death blow to the NDA's hopes of reversing the trends and regaining
its stock at the national level.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180090.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
The assault on reason
What the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government is doing to education
is the precursor to nothing less than an assault on reason.
PRABHAT PATNAIK
ALL governments, it would be argued, have their own patronage systems,
their own particular brands of persons who occupy positions of office,
including in the educational sphere. They also have their own
ideologies which they attempt to promote through diverse means,
notably through the use of influence in the educational sphere. Why
then is so much fuss being made over the Bharatiya Janata Party-led
government's activities in the sphere of education?
BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
At the convention organised by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust in
Delhi against saffronisation of education.
The plain answer to this question is: what this government is doing to
education is the precursor to nothing less than an assault on reason.
What we are concerned about is not ideological differences, in the
sense of differences in the sets of beliefs we hold, where each person
holds beliefs in a necessarily provisional manner at every moment and
is constantly testing these beliefs through the use of reason applied
to experience. Such differences permit rational discourse; our concern
precisely is that an ideology is being promoted that denies rational
discourse.
This denial of rational discourse is not immanent in the holding of
religious beliefs per se. One can be a devout Hindu, or a devout
Muslim, or a devout Christian, and hence a subset of one's total set
of beliefs may be absolute and unshakable. The remainder however can
still be provisional and changeable, so that the manner in which one
relates this remainder to the core of absolute beliefs can also be
provisional and changeable. This still permits rational discourse. The
problem arises when this remainder becomes a null set, when the
terrain of rational discourse dwindles into non-existence. It is this
disappearance of the scope of rational discourse that is disquieting.
Those who preside over this disappearance of rational discourse are
often in the habit of invoking the so-called tyranny of "rational
discourse" as a means of legitimising such disappearance. For example,
it is often suggested that Vedic astrology can be introduced alongside
the usual scientific disciplines, and that the opposition to such
catholicism of approaches constitutes bigotry. In other words, it is
argued that the tyrannical narrow-mindedness which the critics
attribute to the government when it promotes Vedic astrology, is
actually a more apt description of the critics themselves. Here we
have a case precisely of legitimising an attenuation of rational
discourse by attacking its so-called "tyranny", by upbraiding the
critics of such attenuation for their "bigotry". The rampant attempt
to spread communal propaganda, even among schoolchildren; the
devaluation of the scientific temper; the implicit downgrading of the
natural sciences by putting them on a par with vaastu and astrology;
the explicit belittling of social sciences as being, if anything,
inferior to Vedic astrology in their scientific content; the flouting
of all canons of reasonable debate, and the total disregard for all
available evidence, in promoting a particular version of history -
these are all so many manifestations of this assault on reason. The
elevation to office in the educational sphere of a whole army of hacks
with little scholarship and little commitment to the cause of rational
discourse, whose sole distinction consists in their explicit loyalty
to the Hindutva agenda, is a part of this assault on reason.
What we are witnessing therefore is not just the usual "small change"
of politics as it plays itself out in the sphere of education, where a
new government brings in a new set of persons occupying office and
distributing largesse, and encouraging new ideological orientations.
What we are witnessing is much more sinister, namely an attempt to
constrict the space for rational discourse.
This attempt is sinister because it impinges on the lives of the
people. It is a fallacy to believe that the snuffing out of rational
discourse is a matter concerning only the intelligentsia; it is even
more fundamentally and directly a matter affecting the people, since
the flourishing of rational discourse is a necessary condition for the
people's march towards freedom.
Here is an illustration. At the beginning of the 20th century the
region that today constitutes the State of Kerala had the practice not
just of untouchability but of "unseeability". Persons of exalted
castes travelled with escorts who walked ahead, making a certain
whooping noise. Upon hearing this noise any member of a "lower caste"
who happened to be on the path would hide himself or herself until the
exalted person had passed, for they were supposed to be "unseeable".
The same Kerala today has a level of achievement in terms of social
indicators that is better than any other part of the Third World,
including China taken as a whole, and that is comparable, or even
superior in certain respects, to that of metropolitan capitalist
countries. Such an impressive achievement necessarily presupposes a
degree of social equality. To say this is not to claim that caste
inequalities have disappeared in Kerala, but to underscore the
enormous length of the distance travelled by Kerala in the course of
just a few decades.
Kerala's case, though striking, exemplifies a process that has
happened in varying degrees all over India, namely a long, protracted,
halting, confused, but nonetheless unmistakable, social change, even a
social revolution, directed against different forms of social
oppression and inequality. To be sure, it has not been as impressive
as the dazzling achievements of some Third World socialist countries,
or even of many capitalist countries of East and South East Asia; and
it still has a very long way to go. But considering the long history
of caste and other forms of social oppression in this country, the
ossification of its uniquely oppressive social structure through
centuries, what has been achieved in the course of the last few
decades is as remarkable as it is unprecedented.
THIS process of social revolution has been intimately connected with
the anti-imperialist struggle, a connection that has been there even
when the two streams of struggle have apparently proceeded along
different courses. In other words, the enlargement of the social and
political rights of the ordinary people to a degree unimaginable
earlier has constituted one integrated movement; it has been our "Long
Revolution". Underlying this "Long Revolution", however, has been a
remarkable revolution in thought that has rejected the
inegalitarianism of tradition, and the irrationalism of inherited
orthodoxy. One may quarrel about which particular part of this process
of spread of new thought constitutes the beginning of the so-called
"renaissance" in a particular region, but almost every region has had
such a "renaissance".
What we are witnessing today, however, is a determined and
comprehensive attempt at the social, economic, and political levels to
reverse the "Long Revolution" I just alluded to, and to usher in a
veritable "counter-revolution". If the attempt at a re-colonisation of
the economy under the guise of "globalisation", and the associated
attempt at promoting a predatory capitalism in the name of allowing
the "free play of market forces", constitutes the core of the counter-
revolution in the economic terrain, then the unleashing of communal
fascism under the guise of Hindutva constitutes the core of the
counter-revolution in the realm of the social and the political. The
BJP-led government's practice in the sphere of education is meant
essentially to prepare the intellectual ground for this counter-
revolution. The snuffing out of rational discourse is an essential
condition for this counter-revolution. Just as the spread of rational
egalitarian thought positing the potential for progress towards human
freedom constituted the basis for our "Long Revolution", likewise the
attenuation of rational discourse, the deliberate atavistic revival in
the contemporary context of ideas that had gone into the formation of
traditional orthodoxy, the blatant rejection of the secular
egalitarian outlook, are all meant to constitute the basis for the
counter-revolution which the Hindutva forces have become the agency
for unleashing. It is no accident that they have become such an
agency. Their contribution to the historical process of social,
political, and economic emancipation of the people, the process of
"Long Revolution" as I have called it, was not just negligible; it was
in a very distinct sense negative.
The most concentrated expression, and the most palpably sinister
manifestation, of the assault on rational discourse is the promotion
of the communal outlook. The starting point of the communal discourse
is not real and concrete people in their mundane daily existence, but
idealised totalities, "the Hindus", "the Muslims" and so on. When the
reality is seen to differ from this idealised universe, this
divergence is attributed to "conspiracies": "Marxist conspiracies",
"conspiracies of the Muslims", "conspiracies of the Christians".
Paranoia replaces argumentation. Excluding viewpoints other than one's
own rather than engaging with them becomes the dominant obsession.
Filling offices in the sphere of education with still more hacks,
replacing less loyal hacks with more loyal hacks, is seen as the
solution to end these myriad "conspiracies". The attenuation of
rational discourse thus acquires a ruthless and spontaneous
dialectic.
But while the propagation of the communal outlook is the concentrated
expression of the assault on rational discourse, it does not
constitute the entirety of this assault. Or, looking at it
differently, in terms of the real counterpart of these ideas, the
attack on the secular foundations of the state is not merely a
phenomenon in itself but is an integral part of the social counter-
revolution discussed earlier. Combating communalism, preserving the
secular foundations of the state, are urgent tasks that have to be
undertaken not merely in the interests of the minorities; they are not
even tasks whose urgency arises merely because one cannot be free as
long as someone else is oppressed. Their urgency lies in the fact that
communalism is integral to counter-revolution.
Combating the communal outlook that is sought to be spread through the
education system under the BJP dispensation is integral to the
preservation of the rational discourse. I referred earlier to the
dialectic inherent in the process of attenuation of rational
discourse; this dialectic has to be arrested and reversed. To be sure,
doing so is not a matter confined to the sphere of education and
educationists alone. But the task has to begin somewhere; and
educationists have to take the initiative.
Prabhat Patnaik is Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi.
This article is based on a presentation made at the August 4-6
convention in Delhi against the communalisation of education.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180120.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
On Tehelka, saffronisation and the NDA
The Bharatiya Janata Party, as the major constituent of the ruling
National Democratic Alliance, has a lot of explaining to do with the
Atal Behari Vajpayee government having suffered a huge erosion in its
morality plank over the past few months. With the government
determined, for the sake of political expediency, to move away from
the ideals and norms of good governance set by the party, the party
appears to be keeping a distance from what goes on in the government.
Party president Jana Krishnamurthy, in this interview he gave V.
Venkatesan, throws light on some of the controversies plaguing the
Vajpayee government.
S. RAMESH KURUP
The revelation that tehelka.com used sex workers in response to the
demand by the Army officers, when it sought to expose the corruption
in defence deals, seems to have further eroded the image of the
government.
The admission by the Tehelka team that they resorted to employing sex
workers to get state secrets from Army officers is something that
can't be tolerated or excused. What is there to prevent the Tehelka
from employing such methods for their own personal benefits? What is
there to prevent them from passing on state secrets, obtained through
such methods, to persons who are interested in getting military
secrets?
No citizen can justify their actions carried out through such
despicable means on the grounds that they are serving the interests of
the country. The state alone, in the interest of the country, can
adopt certain means which are denied to private citizens.
Chanakya advocates the use of vishkanya to protect the interests of
the country, and one should understand the circumstances in which he
said it. Nobody can quote Chanakya and resort to such methods for his
own personal ends.
Gandhiji has said not only the ends must be pure, but the means to
achieve these ends must also be pure. Congressmen, who swear by
Mahatmaji, ought to have come down heavily on this act of Tehelka. But
they are more interested in finding fault with the government and the
leaders of the NDA.
If the government is convinced that Tehelka was wrong, why is it
reluctant to take legal action against the portal?
The entire nation must condemn this act of Tehelka and the law must
take its course. I strongly feel such acts should not go unchallenged
even legally.
The government came under attack from its supporters outside the NDA
and from the constituents of the NDA during the debate in the Lok
Sabha on the saffronisation of education. Is the government pushing
its hidden agenda on unwilling NDA constituents?
Accusing the BJP Ministers in the NDA government of trying to
saffronise education is a favourite pastime of the leftists and
Congressmen. They have not pointed out a single instance on the basis
of which they make this sweeping remark against Human Resource
Development Minister Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi. To say that opportunities
should be given, without any compulsion, to study Vedic mathematics
and Vedic astrology is not saffronisation. There is no compulsion on
any university or college to go in for these. If there are students to
study it, why deny them?
About 15 years ago, the Congress government introduced the Russian
method of mathematics in the entire country. It was there for seven or
eight years. It created havoc. The leftists supported it. If the
Congress and the leftists could bring in the Russian method of
mathematics into our curricula and make it compulsory, is it an
unpardonable sin to provide facilities for willing students to study
Vedic mathematics and Vedic astrology?
But how do you answer the criticism of saffronisation of education by
your own allies, the DMK, the Telugu Desam Party and the Trinamul
Congress?
If any constituent of the NDA can point out that the NDA is moving
away from its agenda, it must do so. I am yet to find any specific
charge which any constituent has substantiated about saffronisation of
education. We don't interfere with the DMK's education policy.
Marx can be studied, in our universities, but not the Vedas. Lenin's
life can be studied, but not the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It is a
free country... nothing has been made compulsory. Joshi has said the
committee on curriculum changes was set up by the previous
governments. We have not moved away from it.
Is there a conflict between the hardline elements and the more
pragmatic ones within the BJP over the education agenda?
Who amongst us is a hardliner or a softliner? As in every democratic
party, in our top level meetings everyone expresses his or her view,
and a consensus is built up. That becomes the party's view and
everybody accepts it.
The Prime Minister's speech at an RSS meeting in his house
disapproving the conversions carried out by Christian missionaries has
created misgivings. Do you defend his stand?
The Prime Minister praised the services of missionaries. But there is
a problem of conversion. He mentioned only that. May be he criticised
it. This matter of conversion is a source of friction between the
Hindu community and the minority communities. Before Independence
there was no problem with conversions. Now people feel that conversion
through enticement is going on in certain sections of society. That is
why I am happy to find that the Church's representatives have met the
RSS representatives. Further meetings should take place, and an
amicable solution should emerge so that there is no room or scope for
friction or heart burning.
The UTI scam has brought out the inherent contradictions within the
ruling alliance.
Such things do happen. But the question is whether the government is
trying to cover it up. Earlier governments, whenever any scam
surfaced, tried to cover it up. The NDA government took action the
moment the scam came to its notice. It removed the UTI Chairman,
brought in a new Chairman, ordered a CBI (Central Bureau of
Investigation) inquiry and a thorough probe, and then acceded to a
full-scale debate in Parliament on the issue. But the Opposition did
not allow Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha to reply to the charges. It
seems the Opposition does not want the truth to go into the records of
Parliament's proceedings. They want only their version to be there. Is
this parliamentary democracy?
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180140.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
'An alliance of opportunist forces'
Veteran parliamentarian and a senior leader of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist), Somnath Chatterjee, believes that the National
Democratic Alliance is a conglomeration of opportunist forces trying
to stay in power by hook or by crook. In an interview he gave Kalyan
Chaudhuri in Kolkata, Somnath Chatterjee spoke about the recent
political developments in the context of the attempts to saffronise
education, the growing contradictions within the ruling alliance and
the impending economic crisis. Excerpts:
Do you think the Bharatiya Janata Party will be compelled to slow down
its attempt to saffronise education, in the light of the opposition to
the move expressed by some of its allies?
I do not think that the BJP-led NDA government will slow down the
process of saffronisation of education. It is very significant that
although most of the allies of the BJP have criticised the
government's education policy, not even a reference was made in the
reply of Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi to
any of the points made by them. Therefore it is clear that the allies
do not really matter. The BJP knows how to tackle its allies, who have
hardly any moral strength. They have come together only for the
purpose of enjoyment of power and other facilities. Therefore I don't
think the Vajpayee government will slow down its programme of
saffronisation of education. On the other hand, it goes on appointing
teachers for spoken Sanskrit and putting BJP people in different
areas. In fact, this is the BJP's main agenda, which it wants to
implement before the Uttar Pradesh elections. It has no other card to
play there, where its stock is low and credibility limited and where
it suffers from dissension.
Do you think there is a conflict between the hardline and liberal and
more pragmatic elements within the BJP over the education agenda?
Today hardliners enjoy the dominant position in the BJP and they are
flexing their muscles. The BJP's education agenda is a well-calculated
RSS agenda and Minister Joshi is serving the RSS better than anyone
else in the party. He is poisoning the minds of young people as the
RSS indoctrination has started from the primary school level. However,
people are coming to realise the dangers of it and academicians are up
in arms. But I don't find any pragmatic element in the BJP so far as
education is concerned, except M.L. Sondhi, former Chairman of the
Indian Council of Social Science Research who has been saying that he
is opposed to the attempt which is going on. But he, in spite of being
a BJP person, has been driven out from the ICSSR. I have not found a
single BJP person making any remark in Parliament on the nefarious
education policy of the BJP-led government.
Do you think dissent expressed by some NDA constituents will affect
the stability of the government?
No. I must make it clear that the NDA alliance is not a political
alliance. It is a conglomeration of some opportunists formed for the
purpose of grabbing power and remaining in power. Among its allies
there is no common ideology, no common programme, no common policies.
For example, if the DMK goes out of it, the AIADMK comes in, and if
the AIADMK comes in, the DMK goes out. Now the Trinamul Congress,
which left the NDA for the purpose of what it thought would help it
win the Assembly elections in West Bengal and not on differences over
programme and policies, is being welcomed by Vajpayee. To the BJP and
to Vajpayee governance means remaining in power somehow or the other,
and for that purpose numbers are more important and not policies.
George Fernandes, who was once an untouchable for Trinamul Congress
leader Mamata Banerjee, has now become her saviour and both of them
are conspiring for the purpose of getting rehabilitated in the NDA
government. Lust for power is the binding factor among NDA
constituents and they will try to stay in power by hook or by crook.
For them the stability of the Vajpayee government is needed in their
own interest.
Do you think Vajpayee, who tries to maintain a moderate image, is now
under the influence of hardliners, especially in the light of his
recent remarks about Christian missionaries at an RSS function?
I have seen Atal Behari Vajpayee's functioning for over 30 years in
Parliament. The way he has now surrendered to the forces of reaction
and communalism is unfortunate. He openly spoke against conversion to
Christianity and Islam in order to please the RSS because he has
started realising that it is the RSS that can bail him out in the
context of the power struggle that is going on in the BJP. His
dependence on the RSS and the hardliners in the party is bound to
increase if he has to keep himself in his position.
Your comments on the revelations regarding the use of professional sex
workers in the Tehelka expose.
One may dislike the method adopted by Tehelka. But to me the
revelations are more important not because of the method that was
adopted, but because of the importance of the accusation. One should
not forget that the persons accused are top Army officials and all
these things happened when George Fernandes was the Defence Minister.
I certainly do not appreciate Tehelka's method. But at the same time I
do not want to take it as a moral matter. The question is much more
fundamental. If there is some impropriety in the functioning of the
media, there must have been some internal mechanism to check it. I am
not the conscience- keeper of the media in this country. The media
have rendered a great service by exposing several notorious scams and
cases of corruption at high places. Today the target is not the
Defence Ministry; the targets are journalists. I can't accept this
position.
How do you see the overall economic situation in the country?
The present economic situation of the country is simply alarming. The
UTI (Unit Trust of India) fraud is one of the biggest frauds that have
ever taken place and the government cannot absolve itself of the
responsibility for that. There are well-calculated efforts on the part
of the Vajpayee government to go on with disinvestment. The government
is leaning more and more towards multinationals who, it hopes, will
bail it out from growing economic problem. Today, the biggest attack
is on the working class.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180150.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
The meat of the matter
SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN
ALTHOUGH under pressure over his recent questionable policy
innovations, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Murli
Manohar Joshi is quite equal to any challenge. Recently at the Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, he chose to take on criticism of
his decision to introduce graduate studies in astrology in
universities. There was no need for India to be apologetic about its
great traditions, he said. Rather, Indians should learn to regard
their own pioneers in the astronomical sciences, such as Aryabhatta
and Varahamihira, with the same respect that they have been according
Copernicus and Galileo.
SANDEEP SAXENA
Dwijendra Narayan Jha, Professor of History at Delhi University
If familiarity with the classical texts and their authentic
interpretation are signs of respect for tradition, then Joshi's
confederates in the brotherhood of Hindutva evidently have poor
credentials. They shower Varahamihira with praise, but display
ignorance of the content of his work. If a recent book by Dwijendra
Narayan Jha, Professor of History at Delhi University is accurate in
its citation of historical texts, then Varahamihira's dietary
prescriptions are likely to excite antipathy within Hindutva
orthodoxy. Indeed, in his unapologetic advice to the sovereign of his
day that he should partake of the "ceremonial eating" of the meat of
buffaloes, cows and bulls, among other animals, Varahamihira was
seemingly offending against one of the central canons of religious
orthodoxy. But since his texts, notably the Brhadsamhita, are beyond
the reach of the contemporary censor, Jha's work has begun to attract
the attention of the Hindutva thought police.
Jha is one of the seniormost historians in Delhi University, with a
record that stretches back over three decades of publishing serious
research on ancient India. He had a contractual commitment from a
Delhi-based publisher for his recent work, Holy Cow: Beef in Indian
Dietary Traditions. But in a curious change of mind, the book was
pulled off the presses at the last minute. Jha's subsequent quest for
an alternative publishing arrangement proved futile, until a group of
friends set up a publishing house for the purpose of printing and
distributing his book.
Released early in August, Holy Cow was the subject of a brief but
animated discussion over the Internet. Parts of this discussion
reached the pages of an English language newspaper published from
Hyderabad. Cultural vigilantes were soon in action. The Jain Seva
Samiti in Hyderabad petitioned the city civil court, pleading that the
book be banned for causing injury to the religious sentiments of their
community. On August 7, an injunction was issued restraining the
author and the publisher from the printing, sale and distribution of
the book. By then a number of copies were in the market.
The challenge to Jha's work of historical interpretation has not been
confined to the courts. Ghuman Mal Lodha, former Member of Parliament
and now chairman of the Animal Welfare Board, called for
administrative action against the book and its author. The Vishwa
Hindu Parishad called for the arrest of the historian. And unmindful
of the quality of research that has gone into the book, anonymous
callers have been proffering the advice that Jha should not proceed
with publication if he valued his life.
By any criterion, Holy Cow is a work of serious historical
scholarship. It runs to 183 pages, of which over 40 are devoted to
detailed explanatory footnotes and 24 to a bibliography. Among the
authorities it cites are P.V. Kane and H.D. Sankalia. Kane was a
Sanskritist whose five-volume History of the Dharmasastra is a work of
formidable scholarship; it earned him the Bharat Ratna. Sankalia is an
archaeologist whose knowledge of scriptural sources was unrivalled.
If Jha's work is to suffer the censor's scrutiny, then it is logical
to assume that Kane, Sankalia and even Varahamihira could soon be
similarly honoured. That would really be the logical reductio ad
absurdum of the Hindutva lobby's zealous pursuit of historical
orthodoxy.
Organiser, the weekly tabloid of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,
recently put a novel construction on the Hindutva attitude towards the
heterodoxies of history. The commentator was dealing with a recent
Delhi High Court ruling which held that a 1993 ban imposed on an
exhibition depicting different traditions of the Ramayana was illegal
(Frontline, August 17, 2001). The purpose of the exhibition, in the
charged aftermath of the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya,
was to highlight the multiple traditions within which the Ramayana
featured and to challenge the monolithic construction that the
Hindutva lobby had sought to put on received legend. But for
Organiser, the centuries long existence of these diversities was proof
of Hinduism's innate sense of tolerance. The assertion now, however,
brings out the long-suppressed anger of the Hindu. The Buddhist
tradition of the Ramayana may have long been tolerated despite its
heterodoxies. But bringing it into the public discourse today would
invite well-deserved retribution.
By any criterion, this is an argument for suppressing scholarship and
reasoned debate through the simulated rage of offended religiosity. It
is a religiosity which is untrue to its own sources and inattentive to
the requirements of historical authenticity. The essence of the so-
called Hindutva culture, it has frequently been pointed out by serious
historians, is its patently counterfeit character.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180160.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
A role reversal
In the monsoon session of Parliament, the smaller constituents of the
NDA virtually played the role of the Opposition on more than one
occasion and embarrassed the BJP and its Ministers.
PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI
THE current session of Parliament has been remarkable for the way in
which the constituents of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
played the role of the Opposition even better than the Opposition
itself. All the sound and fury from the Congress(I) almost always
ended in a whimper, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party's allies
embarrassed the government on more than one occasion and almost
brought it down on the Unit Trust of India (UTI) issue.
The Congress was the first to raise the UTI issue in both Houses. It
demanded Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's resignation and brought an
adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha. Supported by other Opposition
parties, it also demanded that the entire UTI fiasco be investigated
by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.
While the adjournment motion failed, it was following pressure from
the BJP's allies that the government agreed to have the UTI fiasco
investigated by the JPC, which was looking into the stock market scam.
Lok Sabha Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi's announcement to this effect after
an all-party meeting on August 3 was small consolation for Congress
leaders who were sulking over the defeat of their adjournment motion
the previous day.
The high point of the discussion on the UTI muddle was a scathing
attack on the government by the Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam in the
Rajya Sabha on July 30. Claiming to speak with the blessings of his
party supremo Bal Thackeray, he alleged that the scandal had direct
links with the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). He told a stunned House
that three phone calls had been made to the then UTI Chairman P.S.
Subramanyam, from the Prime Minister's residence before the UTI took
the decision to invest in the Lucknow-based IT company, Cyberspace
Ltd. He even disclosed the three telephone numbers. When BJP back-
benchers started to disrupt his speech, the entire Opposition took his
side, blurring the dividing line between the Opposition and ruling
parties.
A direct fallout of this attack was Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee's announcement at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting the
next day that he wanted to quit office because he was unable to ensure
that the NDA functioned in a disciplined manner. All hell broke loose
in the NDA after this and all the NDA constituents, including the Shiv
Sena, sought to "persuade" Vajpayee to stay on. Sanjay Nirupam was
"forced" by Bal Thackeray to tender a written apology to Vajpayee.
The government later conceded that the PMO was indeed in touch with
the UTI Chairman, but said it was Subramanyam who had made the phone
calls. Until then the PMO had denied any interaction with the sacked
UTI Chairman.
This episode created more political embarrassment to the NDA than all
the Opposition attacks that followed. Even the drama during the debate
on the adjournment motion paled in comparison, despite Congress member
Mani Shankar Aiyar's attempts to highlight the corruption by flinging
currency notes at the treasury benches.
SAFFRONISATION of education was another issue that the Opposition
raised and hoped to nail the government with. But again it was the
BJP's allies who stole the show. In the debate which began on August
20, the BJP found itself isolated. Except for the Biju Janata Dal and
the Shiv Sena, all its allies, including the Telugu Desam Party, the
DMK, the Janata Dal (U), the Samata Party and the ally-in-waiting, the
Trinamul Congress, slammed the government for trying to smuggle in its
"hidden agenda" through the "saffronisation" of school curriculum.
The allies let it be known that in the States where they were in power
they would not accept the textbooks with the changed syllabi. K.
Yerran Naidu of the TDP demanded a proper national discussion and a
debate in Parliament before effecting changes in the syllabi. "Any
change can be made only with the full consent of the State
governments. Education is on the Concurrent List and we shall not
accept the imposition of any new education policy," he said.
The other allies, too, spoke on similar lines; they made it clear that
the secular and modern content of the National Education Policy should
not be tampered with. They objected especially to the changes being
made in the history textbooks suggesting that the Aryans were the
"original" inhabitants of the Indo-Gangetic plain, contradicting the
universally accepted theory that they were nomads from Central Asia
who settled in this part of the country.
They also objected to the inclusion of courses in astrology in the
academic programmes of universities. They felt that the government
sought to make subtle changes in the curriculum in order to glorify
the years of Hindu political dominance and to denigrate the medieval
period when the Mughal empire flourished.
In comparison to the allies' presentation, the attack by the Congress
and the Left lacked sting. Although it was the first time in this
session that the two joined hands to attack the government, they
failed to sound convincing. The Leader of the Opposition, Sonia
Gandhi, delivered a lacklustre, 15-minute speech, cautioning the
government against tampering with the National Education Policy which
had Parliament's sanction.
"We will not let the government get away with ideological sleights-of-
hand," she asserted. The government's proposed National Curriculum
Framework for School Education, she said, did not have the nation's
mandate."We cannot, and must not, accommodate the ideological
idiosyncrasies of a particular school of thought. For, to mix communal
ideology with history textbooks and scientific facts is tantamount to
playing with fire," she said.
Initiating the debate, Somnath Chatterjee of the CPI(M) accused the
government of pursuing a "sinister and divisive agenda".
Human Resource Development Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi summarily
rejected all the charges and declared that the government had followed
a transparent and democratic process while preparing the National
Curriculum Framework. He denied that there was any hidden agenda in it
and said that the changes only sought to improve the quality of
education. He assured the members that there would be no deviation
from the 1986 National Education Policy. "We are bound by the 1986
policy and the amendments carried out in 1992," he said.
Joshi accused the Opposition of repeating "lies and half-truths".
"This is dangerous propaganda. We are for equal respect to all
religions and that is what the framework contains," he said, and
clarified that Sanskrit was an elective subject, not a compulsory
one.
In the debate on the Agra Summit, too, the Opposition's attempts to
take the government to task ended in failure when Vajpayee gave an
spirited reply in the Rajya Sabha. Senior Congress leader Madhavrao
Scindia said the government stumbled into the talks without even the
basic preparation and the result was a disaster. "We lost before the
Summit, during the Summit and after the Summit," he said.
Scindia's offensive ruffled quite a few feathers. Foreign Minister
Jaswant Singh, for instance, was offended by his remark that "while
the government raved and ranted about cross-border terrorism, it sent
the honourable Foreign Minister to escort terrorists to their freedom
in Kandahar." In his reply Jaswant Singh commented that Scindia had
subjected him to abuse, a point immediately refuted by Scindia,
leading to a verbal duel between the two.
But the Prime Minister's reply, both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya
Sabha, overshadowed everything else that was said earlier. In a short
and forceful reply in the Lok Sabha, he said it was General
Musharraf's unifocal insistence on Kashmir and his refusal to
recognise the existence of cross-border terrorism that prevented an
agreement being reached between the two countries.
In the Rajya Sabha, he lambasted Pakistan for encouraging cross-border
terrorism and said that it was mistaken if it thought India could be
pressured by such acts. The dialogue process can also be terminated if
Pakistan did not stop encouraging cross-border terrorism, he said.
He even took a dig at Home Minister L.K. Advani, saying that when he
and General Musharraf remained closeted in the room for quite some
time, Advani sent an emissary to check what was happening. Although
the remark was made in a jocular vein, it was seen as a signal that he
resented being put under surveillance.
The only occasion when the entire Opposition appeared united and put
the government in the dock came after the killings in Doda and Jammu.
It criticised the government for its handling of the situation in
Jammu and Kashmir, especially since such terrorist attacks should have
been anticipated after the failure of the Summit.
When Advani stood up to reply, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
members shouted slogans demanding his resignation. They said he had
lost the moral authority to continue in office. Advani's reply that
the country did not have enough forces to guard all places against
terrorist attacks sounded like abject surrender to the terrorists. He
said that despite the handicaps, the government was making all efforts
to curb terrorism and listed the measures, including the extension of
the Disturbed Areas Act to the Jammu region. The Opposition was
dissatisfied with the reply and staged a walkout.
The session has remained under the shadow of the coming elections in
Uttar Pradesh. Every instance of violence in the State got an entry in
the Lok Sabha, with the Samajwadi Party (S.P.), the Bahujan Samaj
Party (BSP) and the Congress vying with one another to score debating
points. Even the brutal killing of S.P. Member of Parliament Phoolan
Devi got linked with the polls, with the S.P. accusing the BJP of
hatching a conspiracy to eliminate its leaders.
Interestingly, towards the fag end of the session Tehelka also re-
appeared in Parliament, this time thanks to the NDA, which came up
with revelations about the use of sex workers in the sting operation.
The session, if anything, exposed the government's vulnerabilities and
also the lack of unity in the Opposition. The NDA constituents, on the
other hand, effectively played the role of the Opposition on many
occasions. Whether this indicates troubled times for the NDA, the
elections in U.P. will tell.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180170.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
Time of economic troubles
The situation of generalised gloom in the Indian economy, as
manifested on several fronts, spells further trouble for the NDA.
SUKUMAR MURALIDHARAN
NEVER a favourite with the right-wing fraternity that he has chosen to
co-habit with, Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's credibility has taken
a number of knocks in recent times. Clearly, the mess with the Unit
Trust of India (UTI) is only one of the manifestations of a wider
crisis of economic policy. And as he sets out to grapple with the
realities of an economy that seems to be hurtling towards recession,
his tenuous relations with the hardline elements of the Bharatiya
Janata Party are likely to fray further. In the bargain, he is likely
to test Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's often articulated
personal belief about his suitability for the job. And on a wider
terrain, the whole constituency for economic liberalisation is likely
to be put through a severe test of its commitments.
In just over three years of indifferent and unimaginative stewardship
of the Finance Ministry, Yashwant Sinha has managed to present just
one Budget that actually won the applause of the special interest
groups he was anxious to please. That was his most recent effort,
which managed to stitch together a set of major concessions for the
stock markets that engendered a brief flutter of speculative
excitement. But the short-lived bull market collapsed under the
accumulated weight of speculative excess, malfeasance and official
collusion. And it then seemed just a matter of time before the wider
effects would begin to ripple through the economy. The situation of
generalised gloom in the economy is of course reflective of a malaise
much deeper than that afflicting the stock markets. But a policy
dispensation that was premised upon the well-being of the stock
markets today faces the moment of reckoning.
The UTI crisis was the first manifestation. The cycle of boom and bust
in the capital markets has burnt deep holes in individual pockets and
claimed a number of financial institutions as casualties. The Bank of
Karad went into liquidation in 1992 after its last reserves were
squeezed out in the speculative contests between Harshad Mehta and the
Dalals, Hiten and Bhupen. A disturbingly similar pattern - suggestive
of regulatory negligence or worse - is evident in the Mercantile
Cooperative Bank, which early this year fell victim to Ketan Parekh's
trial of strength against a newer and more updated version of the bear
cartel. These cases, however, are dwarfed by the potential dimensions
of the UTI crisis. First, the UTI is the country's largest mutual
fund, with a legacy of responsible investment decisions that accord
the topmost priority to security and solvency. Secondly, the UTI
disposes of the savings of the large and politically voluble middle
class. Yashwant Sinha's self-extenuating alibis follow a familiar
pattern. As several of his ministerial colleagues have been doing in
recent times, he argued that he inherited a problem from previous
governments which he had been trying his best to remedy. But
circumstances beyond his control rendered his task that much more
difficult. The gradual transformation of the UTI's portfolio from debt
to equity had been accomplished before he came to the Finance
Ministry, engendering a high degree of uncertainty for the security of
unit-holders' funds. He had been, in line with the recommendations of
an expert panel, seeking to restore the predominance of debt
instruments in the UTI's pattern of asset holdings, but this process
had to be a gradual one, since it could otherwise destabilise the
stock markets. The quite unexpected slump in equity values, however,
had pre-empted the process, causing a gaping hole in the UTI's assets
structure.
RAMESH SHARMA
Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha with Reserve Bank of India Governor
Bimal Jalan.
This is not by any means the only crisis in the financial sector that
awaits an emergency repair job. Certain of the large term-lending
institutions, notably the Industrial Finance Corporation of India
(IFCI), are known to be reaching the end of their tether, and may not
be able to keep on papering over their financial exposure in a number
of troubled industries. The Industrial Development Bank of India
(IDBI) is also known to be facing the prospect of turbulence over the
far from rosy outlook for the steel industry, where it has major
stakes. Add to this list the state of the country's public sector
banks, many of which need infusions of capital to meet basic stability
norms, and the full range of the demands on the Finance Minister's
meagre resources would be evident.
It does not help that the deterioration in the health of vital
financial institutions coincides with a sharp accentuation of the
fiscal crisis of the Union government in a context of global economic
slowdown. Figures that have recently been released point to a sharp
fall in revenues accruing to the Central government in the first four
months of this financial year, and a dramatic surge in expenditure.
Reasonable estimates of the course of public finances indicate that if
current trends persist, the fiscal deficit could well end up near the
double-digit mark as a proportion of gross domestic product, against
Yashwant Sinha's calculation of 4.7 per cent.
The evident deterioration in the fiscal situation was the principal
criterion used by three rating agencies - Standard and Poor's, Moody's
and Fitch - in their virtually concurrent decisions to downgrade
India's ratings in the global credit market. The agencies placed the
weak budgetary figures in the context of the evident lack of political
consensus on the future directions of economic reforms. Despite his
long-professed intention, the Finance Minister has not yet been able
to obtain broad-based political consent for his fiscal responsibility
bill. And the privatisation process, which was designed to redress
some of the growing pressure on the fiscal apparatus, shows no signs
of taking off. The few public sector disinvestment decisions that have
been pushed through, have run into serious political flak. The newer
proposals continue to be jealously contested between different
ministries.
The strategy of identifying strategic partners for taking on the
equity in key public sector units is clearly in trouble, with the
consortium comprising Tata Industries and Singapore International
Airlines recently indicating that it may not be keen to take up a
stake in Air-India. The nationalised air carrier faces a situation
that is common in the Indian public sector - ever since disinvestment
became a policy option, it has suffered from a serious investment
famine. Performance parameters have deteriorated, but as long as the
stock markets remained buoyant there was a hope that a reasonable
price could be realised on their equity sale. But now with the equity
markets in free fall, the legacy of many years of neglect of the
public sector is returning to haunt the advocates of disinvestment.
Arun Shourie, Minister of State for Disinvestment, recently gave vent
to his frustrations over the faltering pace of public sector equity
sale. With the fiscal deficit burgeoning, it is clear that the fire
sale of public sector equity is the only feasible option of restoring
a semblance of order to government finances, he argues. Failure to
pursue this option would compel India in the near future to go to the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) for an emergency infusion of funds.
That, says Shourie, could prove expensive for the country in political
and strategic terms. The West, he warns ominously, has yet not
forgiven India for the Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998, and will extract
a high price for IMF assistance. In this sense, the delay in the
disinvestment programme, is in Shourie's view, the best that those who
bear no goodwill for the country could have wished upon it.
This monitory outburst from the Minister for Disinvestment suffers
from a certain credibility problem. If the precedent of Bharat
Aluminium Corporation (Balco) is any indication, then the
disinvestment target of Rs.10,000 crores for this year would require
the sale of controlling stakes in several of the most valuable public
sector undertakings. Considering that the sale of a controlling stake
in Balco fetched the government the derisory sum of Rs.550 crores, the
target for the current financial year involves, as certain Opposition
members warned when the Budget was presented, virtually a Balco every
fortnight. But rather than attend to the serious business of building
a political consensus on the methods of valuation to be adopted in
pricing public sector equity - which is an issue on which serious
discord exists - the Minister for Disinvestment has been proceeding on
a confrontational path, impugning the knowledge and the commitment of
anybody who raises uncomfortable questions.
This has not been a strategy designed to win adherents to the cause of
privatisation. Expectedly, if Air-India is stuck in the mire,
disinvestment programmes in other major public sector units - Maruti
Udyog Ltd., Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Indian Airlines Ltd. and
Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd. - are yet to get off the ground. And
even if the political miracle is wrought and some progress achieved in
these sales, the expected maximum realisation from privatisation
remains a tiny fraction of the dimensions of the fiscal deficit.
The economic troubles besetting the National Democratic Alliance
government and threatening to tear it asunder are considerably
accentuated by the bleak international situation. The U.S., which has
been the sole engine driving the world economy over much of the last
decade, is now officially recognised to be in slowdown mode. The dread
word "recession" is not far from making its appearance in official
prognostications on the economy. The implications for India are
already manifest - against an export growth rate of nearly 20 per cent
in the last quarter of the past year, this year has witnessed a mere 5
per cent growth. And even if imports have also been moderate on
account of the slackening of domestic demand, essentials such as
petroleum continue to demand large outlays. The one zone of comfort
that Yashwant Sinha can today count on is the external sector.
Reacting angrily to the downgrade by international credit rating
agencies, he had pointed to the external reserves position as an index
of India's relatively stable prospects for the future. But these
reserves have been partly built by assuring foreign institutional
investors the rights of free entry and exit from the country's stock
markets. And with equity prices in the state they are in, the
institutional investors may well be tempted in the next few months to
take their business elsewhere. Yashwant Sinha's ability to prime the
domestic markets is restricted by the parlous situation in which the
country's own financial institutions find themselves.
As the Indian economy finds itself on the verge of meltdown, the
resentments against the Finance Minister and other partisans of
liberalisation in the government are likely to boil over. The recent
decision to expand the scope of the Joint Parliamentary Committee
inquiry into the stock market scam of April, to take in the mess in
the UTI, is an undoubted setback for Yashwant Sinha. More could be in
store as the JPC inquiry begins uncovering specific details of the
sequence of decisions that brought the UTI to its current state. In
particular, the trail of questionable decisions regarding investment
in information technology companies could lead uncomfortably close to
very influential persons in the NDA government.
In 1991, when the country faced a difficult situation on the external
payments front, partisans of economic liberalisation succeeded in
foisting a new consensus within the elite - that a crisis of solvency
was indeed a crisis of development itself and that an entirely new
framework was necessary for economic policy, failing which the country
would continue to falter without any sense of direction. The dire
warnings then had the distinct overtones of hyperbole and they were
buttressed by visions of the country's gold reserves being furtively
sent abroad to back up emergency borrowings. But a decade on, the
overblown rhetoric of 1991 has acquired the character of a self-
fulfilling prophecy. Having embarked upon a course of economic
restructuring based on a narrow constituency of finance capital, the
decade of liberalisation has succeeded in transforming a crisis of
solvency into an actual crisis of development. And irrespective of
where culpability should rightly be ascribed, the government of the
day is likely to bear the full brunt of public fury for the state of
the economy.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18181310.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
The reservation plank
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Rajnath Singh's announcement of a
separate quota for the most backward castes in jobs reserved for the
OBCs, made with an eye on the Assembly elections next year, invites
sharp reactions from his own party.
PURNIMA S. TRIPATHI
in New Delhi
THE reservation issue is like a honeycomb. One cannot hope to walk
away with the honey without getting stung. If Uttar Pradesh Chief
Minister Rajnath Singh finds himself in an unenviable situation today,
it is because he wanted the honey without the pain. His announcement,
with an eye on the State Assembly elections, of a " quota within
quota" for the most backward castes has backfired. He faces the
prospect of a revolt by Bharatiya Janata Party members belonging to
the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), including Ministers and Members of
Parliament, if he goes ahead with his new reservation scheme. If he
backtracks, his credibility will be at stake. The OBC members in his
Ministry have threatened to go all out against his proposed move. An
exodus of these sections, who already resent the rise of the upper
castes in the party hierarchy, is likely.
SUBIR ROY
Chief Minister Rajnath Singh.
A senior Minister told Frontline that he and his OBC colleagues would
not allow the Chief Minister to provide separate reservation for the
most backward castes within the 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs.
"Come what may, we will not allow anybody to take away from our share.
If separate reservation is required for the most backward castes, let
there be an increase in the (percentage of) reservation," said the
Minister, who belongs to a backward caste whose members are
comparatively well-off. Irrigation and Higher Education Minister Om
Prakash Singh, Cooperatives Minister Ram Kumar Verma Patel, Tourism
Minister Ashok Yadav and party vice-president and Lok Sabha member
Vinay Katiyar are among those ranged against Rajnath Singh on the
issue. Reliable sources in the BJP said that Prime Minister Atal
Behari Vajpayee, concerned about the extent of opposition within the
party and outside to Rajnath Singh's move, had a meeting with some OBC
leaders of the party recently and requested them not to speak out
against the Chief Minister's decision since "it damaged the party's
credibility on the whole". The Prime Minister, the sources said, also
told them that the issue was a tricky one and that he was personally
not happy about it because it would do more harm than good to the
party. However, Vajpayee said, since the Chief Minister had already
made the announcement, it was a matter of prestige for the party and
their criticism should not give the impression that it was badly
divided over the issue. An OBC Minister quoted the Vajpayee as saying:
"But I promise, we will find a clever way out of this imbroglio."
Asked what the Prime Minister might have meant when he talked about a
"clever way out", the OBC members said it could even be a writ
petition in the High Court.
Members of the BJP who belong to OBCs feel that the party was not
justified in talking about a "quota within quota" now because it had
rejected a similar concept when the issue of reservation for OBC women
was raised in Parliament in connection with the Women's Reservation
Bill. Besides, they said, there was no justification in the claim that
the more prosperous among the OBCs had usurped the share of the most
backward castes. "There has been no study so far to find out the
impact of the reservation policy. The Social Justice Committee
appointed by the State government has started functioning after the
announcement. So how did the Chief Minister arrive at this
conclusion?" asked an OBC leader. The OBC leaders say that Rajnath
Singh's assumption was based on hearsay. "When the reservation policy
has not even been implemented fully, when lakhs of posts reserved for
the OBCs lie vacant, how can one say who has benefited more?" they
asked.
Ashok Yadav said that Rajnath Singh had acted in haste. "This is a
sensitive issue and the Chief Minister should have consulted all of us
besides the leaders of other political parties before making the
announcement," he said. According to him, a meeting of backward caste
leaders was held in Lucknow on July 18 to discuss the issue but no OBC
leader of stature was invited. It is a fact that besides Ashok Yadav,
well-known OBC leaders such as Om Prakash Singh, Ram Kumar Verma Patel
and Vinay Katiyar were kept out of the meeting. According to Ashok
Yadav, even if the new policy were to be implemented, it would not
yield any immediate electoral gain. Besides, it would end up dividing
the OBCs and Dalits. "Can anyone even imagine the extent of hostility
it would generate in the villages against the most backward castes? It
would become difficult for anyone to control the situation," he
warned. The only way to deal with the issue, said Ashok Yadav, was to
increase the percentage of reservation on the whole. "Provide
reservation to the most backwards by all means, but not at my cost,"
he said. Asked whether he did not fear any disciplinary action for
criticising a policy decision of his government, he said: "For me it
is a matter of justice for the people I represent and I am prepared
for any consequences." Ashok Yadav has the support of Civil Aviation
Minister and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav, who opposed
Rajnath Singh's move at a recent party convention. If Rajnath Singh
goes ahead with the implementation of his scheme, it will affect not
only the BJP in U.P. but also the National Democratic Alliance led by
it at the Centre. With Sharad Yadav trying to establish himself as a
backward class leader like Samajwadi Party (S.P.) leader Mulayam Singh
Yadav or Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar, a
major realignment of forces cannot be ruled out.
However, independent political observers think that Rajnath Singh's
gamble might well yield political mileage for the BJP. This assessment
is based on electoral arithmetic. The BJP has traditionally been
securing a major share of upper-caste votes in U.P. In the 1996
Assembly elections, 76.8 per cent of the upper-caste voters supported
the BJP. They constituted 20 per cent of the electorate. A combination
of the upper castes and the most backward castes among the OBCs, who
constitute 26 per cent of the population, is a sure winner. This
alliance will be strengthened further if the BJP succeeds in winning
over the most backward sections among Dalits (forming 6 per cent of
the population), who have not necessarily been voting for the Bahujan
Samaj Party (BSP). These gains, according to party strategists, could
offset any damage caused by the exodus of OBCs such as Kurmis and
Lodhs from the party. Kurmis are the only segment among the better-off
OBCs who vote evenly for the BJP and the S.P. In the 1996 Assembly
elections, the BJP won 44.9 per cent of the Kurmi vote and the S.P.
41.5 per cent. The BSP secured 10 per cent.
Kurmis constitute 4 per cent of the population and the loss of their
support, say BJP leaders, could be compensated by the gain of support
from other castes.
Similar is the case of the Lodhs, who voted overwhelmingly in favour
of the BJP (78.2 per cent) in 1996. This section is expected to
support former BJP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's party, the Rashtriya
Kranti Party, in the next elections. The Yadavs, who will be adversely
affected by Rajnath Singh's scheme, constitute 9 per cent of the
population. Among them, 73.8 per cent voted for the S.P. and 6.7 per
cent for the BJP in 1996. The loss of their support may not be of much
consequence to the BJP.
Among Dalits, the Jatavs and the Pasis, who constitute 13 per cent and
4 per cent respectively, are comparatively well off. They have
traditionally voted for the BSP and their alienation may not affect
the BJP's prospects. A substantial 73 per cent of Dalit votes went in
favour of the BSP in 1996.
In the BJP's scheme of things, the perceived losses are less compared
to possible gains. Besides, in a scenario when the party is left with
no substantive election issue, Rajnath Singh's decision could prove to
be an effective weapon in the electoral battle. The announcement that
35,000 vacancies in government jobs and 20,000 teacher posts will be
filled and 15,000 new recruitments will be done on the basis of the
new reservation formula makes it clear that he is all set to wield the
weapon, ignoring for the moment the resentment within the party and
the criticism from outside.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180180.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
SCANDAL
The end and the means
Expose II from Tehelka raises serious questions about journalistic
ethics and the validity of the evidence thus collected.
NAUNIDHI KAUR
in New Delhi
ON the face of it, the facts of the case were fairly simple.
Journalists of tehelka.com, posing themselves as arms dealers,
secretly videotaped Defence Ministry and Army officials accepting
money from them. The journalists distributed gold chains and cash to
these officials to show that fixing sensitive deals in the Defence
Ministry was as easy as that. The bottom line was that political
corruption was rampant in India.
Justice K. Venkataswami (right) at the Vigyan Bhavan.
What complicated matters then was the fact that Tehelka used
professional sex workers to deal with three Army officers and secretly
videotaped the acts. Tehelka Expose part II has gone beyond
discussions on substantiative findings to the ethics of the methods
used.
The question is no longer confined to ascertaining who occupies the
high moral ground - Tehelka or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government. It is also about finding answers or unravelling the legal
guidelines to confirm if criminal action can be taken against Tehelka
and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Editor, Tarun Tejpal. The
debate has spilled over to questions of journalistic ethics. Does the
end justify the means in this case?
Tehelka says it does. Tejpal said: "In the run of the story these
sorts of demands kept being made. The idea was not to let them (the
Army officers) realise that the people (Tehelka) might be fakes... to
keep the story ticking."
Tejpal's argument got a beating when a section of the transcripts
suggested that at least one of the three Army officers had not made
such a demand and was in fact more than a little upset at the turn of
events. Moreover, there is nothing in the transcripts which proves
that the investigations would have failed if Tehelka had not arranged
for sex workers. Worse, rather than establishing that the Army
officers made forceful demands for women, the transcripts suggest that
the Tehelka representatives were eager to offer them.
What has Tehelka's modus operandi established? It has removed the line
of distinction between the investigator and the subject of
investigation. It became clear when Tehelka said that it sought the
help of former Samata Party treasurer R.K. Jain to arrange sex
workers. The argument was that while Tehelka arranged sex workers for
the officials for the larger goal of public interest, the Samata Party
did it for money. To support its claim, Tehelka released the tapes and
transcripts of a conversation its journalists had with Jain at his
office in Connaught Place in New Delhi. The meeting, according to
Tehelka, took place on January 3 and 4. Tejpal said: "He not only
offered girls to our reporter, who was posing as an arms dealer, but
also presented them to him (the journalist)."
Samata Party general secretary and spokesperson Shambhu Shrivastava
said that the party held no brief for Jain. Shrivastava said that Jain
was obviously "lured, enticed and trapped by Tehelka". Hence, the real
issue was not whether the Samata Party leadership could occupy the
high moral ground. Rather, it seemed that Tehelka had lost its stretch
of the moral high ground.
The NDA government responded to the latest revelations by deciding to
hold an inquiry into whether Tehelka had adopted "immoral and illegal
methods" to expose corruption in defence deals. Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Pramod Mahajan said: "While journalists have every right to
gather news, they cannot do it by breaking the law. No one, including
MPs or journalists, is above the law. And if it is found that they
broke the rules, strong action would be taken against them."
Home Minister L.K. Advani met Delhi's Commissioner of Police Ajay Raj
Sharma to discuss the options available to move against Tehelka.
SANDEEP SAXENA
Tehelka CEO and Editor Tarun Tejpal.
Meanwhile, the Justice K. Venkataswami Commission, which is probing
certain aspects of the Tehelka expose, clarified that the method
adopted by Tehelka could also be investigated as it was well within
its "scope of inquiry". At Vigyan Bhavan, where the commission holds
its hearings, counsel for the commission Gopal Subramanium read out
the terms of reference of the commission and pointed out that clause
(d) empowered it to "inquire into all aspects relating to the making
and publication" of the allegations by Tehelka. In a brief follow-up
statement, Justice Venkataswami said: "There is no doubt that under
clause (d) all aspects will be gone into." Except for passing strong
strictures against the publication of scurrilous matter, the
commission conducted its proceedings in the usual manner.
The Samata Party made use of the opportunity to attack Tehelka and
demanded tough action against Tejpal and the Tehelka journalists. The
party said that just an inquiry into Tehelka's methods was not enough
and demanded that they should be booked under the Immoral Traffic
(Prevention) Act. However, the Centre said that it was up to
individual MPs to file a first information report (FIR) and it could
only promise a probe by the Home Ministry into the methods used by
Tehelka.
Minister of State for Home I.D. Swamy said: "We have to examine
whether any offence has been committed and under what law and section
of the IPC (Indian Penal Code), the offence has been committed. Once
we get it examined, and if an offence has been committed, the Home
Ministry will certainly take action."
The demand for Tejpal's arrest sparked a legal debate on whether
criminal action could be taken against the portal and its CEO.
According to Clause 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956,
any person who procures induces or takes a person for the sake of
prostitution is punishable. Former Additional Solicitor-General of
India Dr. Abhishek Singhvi told Frontline that it was doubtful if
Tehelka can be booked under the law. He said: "Since Tehelka already
had its sting operation without the use of sex workers, clearly such
use was unethical. However, Tehelka's criminal liability is a matter
of grave doubt. Under the Act, some employee of Tehelka may be held
criminally liable only if several technical conditions are fulfilled.
These are: They procured a woman; that the woman provided services in
exchange for money; that the event occurred in a public place; and
there were some elements of mens rea. Only if these conditions are
established by evidence and beyond doubt will conviction be possible.
In this case, it would be difficult to establish all the
ingredients."
The problem lies in ascertaining whether the women were indeed sex
workers. Succeeding in that would mean establishing that they were
rendering their services for a "consideration". To prove that Tehelka
procured the sex workers for a "consideration" during its operations,
the women would have to be identified and interrogated.
Some legal experts said that only pimps could be prosecuted. Former
Union Law Minister Ram Jethmalani said: "Tehelka's conduct does not
amount to an offence. What is an offence is living on the earnings of
prostitution. And if a prostitute is used to find out the chinks in
the armour of the defence forces, it is not earning a living out of
prostitution." Jethmalani was referring to Clause 4 of the Act, which
made a person liable for punishment if he or she lived on the earnings
of prostitution.
Kamini Jaiswal, a lawyer, said: "Tehelka's conduct may be immoral but
it cannot be termed illegal. Tejpal was obviously not using the
prostitutes for commercial purposes."
However, some others disagreed. Said lawyer Rajeev Dhawan: "It is true
that under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act we might not have all
the ingredients that could nail Tehelka. However, prima facie there is
a need to investigate this case. The persons who procured the
commercial sex workers and the persons who used them are, in fact, all
liable for action. A case should be made for investigation to see what
the chances of prosecution are." Dhawan said that an investigation was
essential because Tehelka's Expose II raised the question of
journalistic ethics. "If you universalise what Tehelka has done, you
would be creating a reign of journalistic terror. Journalism is not
limitless. Unfortunately, the Press Council (of India) does not cover
Tehelka's recent conduct. Therefore, if no action is taken then the
message would go down the line that anybody can do what Tehelka has
done. What Tehelka would end up doing is to set a norm for other
journalists to follow," Dhawan said.
Another important point is whether the gathering of evidence through
illegal means - here the officers did not know that their acts were
being videotaped - can be termed as a gross violation of their rights.
If the answer is yes, can this be used as the basis for action against
Tehelka? Dhawan said: "Of course, on the face of it, their human
rights have been violated. What Tehelka has done is not permissible,
especially in the context of the human rights of the officers and the
sex workers concerned."
Singhvi said: "India, unlike the U.S., does not follow the tainted
evidence exclusionary rule. Evidence collected even by impervious
means is not automatically excluded but is liable to be examined by
the court and dealt with at the discretion of the Judge. However,
although the evidence may be used against the person from whom it has
been recovered illegally, the person may have a separate right to
compensation against the person who collected it illegally. On that
basis a compensation case against Tehelka cannot be ruled out."
However, the revelations have given the NDA government an opportunity
to shift the focus away from the conduct of its leaders. But if George
Fernandes thought that the discrediting of Tehelka tapes would
facilitate his early return to the Union Cabinet, he was quickly
disabused.
Sources in the NDA said that Fernandes was on the look-out for an
opportunity to return to the Cabinet and was trying to build a
pressure group to achieve his aim. His meetings with various leaders
of NDA constituents - a visit to Mumbai in early August to meet Shiv
Sena chief Bal Thackeray; a visit to West Bengal on August 9 to attend
a Trinamul Congress rally; and a chat with Andhra Pradesh Chief
Minister and Telugu Desam Party leader N. Chandrababu Naidu on August
10 - were interpreted as attempts to stage a comeback.
Although the consensus within the NDA was to allow the Venkataswami
Commission to complete its work, Fernandes reportedly wanted it
disbanded. There is a possibility that action may be initiated against
Tehelka on the basis of the complaints filed by individual MPs. Yet
the NDA would have to figure out how it can keep certain tainted
individuals, like former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru
Laxman, out of the scope of such action.
However, it is not clear if Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would
be willing to take the risk of bringing Fernandes back into the
Cabinet before the Venkataswami Commission submits its report.
Hence, a lot depends on the findings of the commission.
Notwithstanding the recent revelations, Tehelka's initial findings did
expose some glaring lacunae, the least of which was how easy it is for
a couple of journalists posing as arms dealers to penetrate the
Defence Ministry. The NDA government cannot claim that it stands
vindicated until the commission comes out with its report.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180220.htm
Opinion - Editorials
Right decision
The Tamil Nadu government did the legally correct and politically wise
thing in accepting the recommendation of the Prison Advisory Board
against releasing Nalini, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi
assassination case lodged in the Special Prison for Women in Vellore.
Nalini played a key role in the monstrous crime that shook the nation
on May 21, 1991: alongside the charge of conspiracy, she faced charges
on 121 different counts and was physically present at the scene of
crime. As Justice D.P. Wadhwa noted in the Supreme Court decision
awarding the death penalty to Nalini and three others in the case: “It
is not that Nalini did not understand the nature of the crime and her
participation. She was a willing party to the crime.” Fortunately for
her, the death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment in April 2000
following an open appeal by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. But if a
life sentence for a heinous crime is to have any meaning at all, it
should be just that: a lifetime in prison. Indeed, one of the
arguments of those who want the death penalty to remain on the statute
books in India is that the alternative, a life sentence, is decidedly
not meant to be incarceration for the remainder of the convict's life.
The life convict, in fact, can count on freedom after 14 years and
usually earlier. Early release of Nalini would have bolstered the
argument of the hanging party, advocates of an extreme, barbaric
punishment that no longer exists in most countries.
While there is something commendable about the sense of forgiveness
shared by Sonia Gandhi and her daughter Priyanka, who showed personal
nobility in visiting Nalini in Vellore, this can have no bearing on
the legal issue. Nor is the fact that Nalini is a mother or has
acquired educational qualifications in prison relevant to the issue. A
relevant question is: has she shown any remorse? “Even now,” the PAB
records, “she does not admit her guilt.” Add to this the problem of
taking care of the security of Nalini and others who might have to
live in close proximity to her in the event of her release and the
issue resolves itself from a practical standpoint as well. The
principal perpetrators of the assassination are all dead now, but the
ends of justice, including proportionality of the punishment, will not
be served if Nalini is set free. After all, as Justice Wadhwa held,
without her help, the assassination could not have been carried out.
Instead of taking up the wrong cause, sympathisers of the no-longer-
extant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam would do well to support
humanists in campaigning for the abolition of capital punishment in
India — and for getting the three others sentenced to death in the
Rajiv Gandhi assassination case off death row.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033157701000.htm
Opinion - Op-Ed
A damaging report
Mahadevan Ramaswamy and Ramaswamy R. Iyer
Those who were impatient with the Narmada Bachao Andolan's struggle
must now re-examine their thinking in the light of the Second Interim
Report of the Experts' Committee set up by the Ministry of Environment
and Forests.
— FILE PHOTO: A.M. FARUQUI
RALLY BY THE DAM-AFFECTED PEOPLE:In a climate where environmental and
human rights issues are increasingly being sacrificed at the altar of
‘development,' the Narmada Bachao Andolan has been persevering
untiringly with its struggle for decades.
The Second Interim Report of the Experts' Committee set up by the
Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) of the Government of India
to assess the planning and implementation of environmental safeguards
with respect to the Sardar Sarovar (SSP) and Indira Sagar projects
(ISP) on the Narmada River is a clear finding, by a government
committee, of the egregious failure of the government machinery on
virtually all the aspects studied.
The report covers the status of compliances on catchment area
treatment (CAT), flora and fauna and carrying capacity upstream,
command area development (CAD), compensatory afforestation and human
health aspects in project impact areas. (The scope of the committee
did not include the issues of displacement and rehabilitation or hydro-
meteorological issues, which were dealt with by other groups.) The
report is a severe indictment of the governments of Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh and Maharashtra and of the bodies set up by these governments
to implement the projects for the ‘integrated development' of the
Narmada Valley. Peppered with phrases like ‘gross violation',
‘negligence', ‘highly unsatisfactory,' ‘inadequate,' ‘serious lapse'
and ‘non compliance' it states in strong and unequivocal terms that
with respect to virtually all of the aspects under consideration
compliance is either highly inadequate or absent altogether (a partial
exception being compensatory afforestation). Construction, on the
other hand, has been proceeding apace: the ISP is complete and the SSP
nearing completion. The report recommends that no further reservoir-
filling be done at either SSP or ISP; that no further work be done on
canal construction; and that even irrigation from the existing network
be stopped forthwith until failures of compliance on the various
environmental parameters have been fully remedied.
This is a major development. It must be seen against the backdrop of
the protracted legal battle fought by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)
against the various lapses, failures and deficiencies in these
projects. In a climate where environmental and human rights issues are
increasingly being sacrificed at the altar of ‘development,' the NBA
has been persevering untiringly with its struggle for decades. Those
who have tended to become impatient with that struggle must now re-
examine their thinking in the light of the present report.
The legal history of the NBA's petitions is a long one. We need not go
into the High Courts' or the Supreme Court's earlier pronouncements,
some of which affirmed the fact of lapses and inadequacies several
years ago. What needs to be noted is that even the majority verdict of
the Supreme Court in 2000, which rejected the NBA's petition and
allowed the project to proceed, and was widely perceived as indicating
a shift in judicial thinking in favour of ‘development' and against
public interest litigation on environmental and displacement aspects,
did reaffirm the importance of those aspects. While directing the
government to ensure the speedy completion of the projects under
consideration and taking the view that the existing machinery for
environmental protection and relief and rehabilitation (R&R) must be
presumed to be working properly unless proved otherwise, the SC made
an important mandatory stipulation for the continuance of work,
namely, that further progress would be subject to checks at every
stage (every increase of 5 m in dam height) on the status of these
measures. Subsequent litigation over the years has related largely to
the issue of compliance with this condition.
The first interim report of the Expert Committee, dealing with the
issue of backwater effects, rejected the project authorities'
contention that on recalculation the backwater level of SSP was going
to be much lower than earlier stated. That contention had been used to
assert that gates and other proposed structures could be proceeded
with without concern over any additional submergence over that
relating to the approved level of 121.7 metres. The report showed this
to be untrue. Now the second interim report comes up with a strong
finding of non-compliance on virtually all environmental aspects. This
is a clear vindication of the NBA's assertions over the years.
It is a matter of grave concern for more than one reason. One, this is
not a non-official committee or a committee of environmental
activists, but a government committee consisting almost entirely of
technocrats, retired forest officials and the like; two, its findings
point to a fundamental and near total violation of significant aspects
of the Supreme Court's judgment; and three, the severe environmental
damage documented in its pages is largely irreversible.
Even assuming that ‘development' can be pursued without any concern
for the environment, and that some argument can be found to defend the
flouting of a Supreme Court judgment, there are several other concerns
that should worry the votaries of ‘large infrastructural development
at all costs.' Untreated catchments can shorten the life of projects
through siltation, thus altering their cost-benefit ratios; they can
also bring about increased run-off and washing-off of soil nutrients
with adverse consequences for the productivity of irrigated land (as
also for the aquatic and river-bank species and fisheries); dam
operations in such unstable catchments can lead (and have led, in at
least one incident already here) to flash floods with tragic
consequences; and so on. These are hard, practical and often economic
consequences that can be noted by all and not only by
‘environmentalists'. One hopes that Indian society as a whole —
citizens and government alike — will take at least these concerns
seriously.
In the meanwhile, the SC, possibly not having yet been seized of the
second environmental committee's report, has said that work on canals
can start subject to the approval of the MoEF of the CAD plans
submitted for the Omkareshwar Hydroelectric Project (OHP) and the ISP.
However, since the report is itself in pursuance of court directives,
the MoEF can and should halt all further work on the project, bringing
this anomaly to the court's attention.
Where do we go from here? We cannot say, but many will be watching
keenly to see how the government responds to the recommendations of
its committee. We must hope that the response will not be such as to
make us doubt the seriousness of its professions of concern for the
environment.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/03/31/stories/2010033153791100.htm
PAST & PRESENT
The world’s first anti-dam movement
RAMACHANDRA GUHA
As a marker of the transition from an agrarian to an industrialised
society, the Mulshi satyagraha anticipated many of the modern protest
movements.
Photo: Vivek Bendre
Unequal battle for resources: A submerged hut in the Narmada.
Some 15 years ago, when the Narmada Bachao Andolan was at its height,
the ecologist Madhav Gadgil told me about that movement’s forgotten
predecessor. Back in the 1920s, the peasants of Mulshi Peta, near
Pune, had protested against the construc tion of a dam being built
with government support by the industrial house of the Tatas. The
struggle was led by Pandurang Mahadev (“Senapati”) Bapat, a socialist
and nationalist who had been educated in England. Like Medha Patkar of
the Narmada Andolan, Bapat was a leader of much charisma and courage.
Like her, he identified completely with the peasants who fought to
save their ancestral lands from being submerged.
As a boy growing up in Pune in the 1940s, Madhav Gadgil had known of
Senapati Bapat. Later, in the 1960s, he read a book on the Mulshi
Satyagraha written by Bapat’s associate V.M. Bhuskute. Still later, in
the 1990s, Gadgil came across a historical study in Marathi written by
Rajendra Vora, who was then the Tilak Professor of Politics at the
University of Pune. The ecologist was greatly impressed by Vora’s
book. It had used a wide range of primary sources to tell a story
important in itself, but also of contemporary relevance in view of the
parallels it afforded with the Narmada controversy.
With a little help from me, Madhav Gadgil persuaded Rajendra Vora to
work on an English version of his book. Professor Vora was, however, a
busy man. He was a key member of Lokniti, a countrywide network of
political scientists that closely monitors State and national
elections. He was also editing a major book on Indian democracy with
his colleague Suhas Palshikar. Besides, there were courses to teach
and students’ theses to evaluate.
Impeccable scholarship
In between these various commitments, Rajendra Vora worked on
preparing an English version of his book. He chose to add a fresh
chapter comparing the Mulshi Satyagraha with the Narmada movement.
Earlier this year, Professor Vora died of a massive heart attack.
Later this year his book will appear in the shops, under the title The
World’s First Anti-Dam Movement. It should appeal to a wide range of
audiences — to those interested in Maharashtrian history, in the
history of Indian nationalism, in the politics of the environment, in
the sociology of peasant protest, or in alternative strategies of
economic development.
The World’s First Anti-Dam Movement begins with a meticulous
reconstruction of the agrarian economy of the Mulshi region. Vora
tells us of the forms of land tenure, the systems of credit, the crops
grown and marketed, and the shrines cared for and worshipped in. He
then moves on to the threat to the valley and its peoples by the dam
being built by the Tatas. Next, through a skilful use of Marathi
sources, he narrates the story of the long (if eventually
unsuccessful) struggle aimed at preventing the submergence of the
Mulshi valley. We hear of the hunger strikes by the leaders, of the
marches and demonstrations by the rank-and-file. The complex
connections between the Mulshi peasants and the middle-class
nationalists of Pune city are carefully laid out. We learn of the
profoundly ambivalent attitude towards the satyagraha of Mahatma
Gandhi. Beyond the protest and the struggle, Vora also introduces us
to the ideological dimensions of the conflict. He analyses the
arguments of the proponents of the dam — who claimed it would generate
employment and prosperity for the nation as a whole — and of its
opponents, in whose view the project would merely impoverish one set
of Indians to benefit another.
Contemporary relevance
Rajendra Vora’s book ends with a fascinating chapter comparing the
Mulshi Satyagraha with the Narmada Bachao Andolan. When the English
edition was first proposed, this comparison was uppermost in his mind
(and ours). Now, reading the proofs of his book, I find that it is
even more topical than he or we had assumed. In a fascinating passage,
Vora writes: “As the Satyagrahis saw it, this was not merely a
struggle between the Mawalas [as the Mulshi peasants were known] and
the [Tata] company, but a struggle between two versions of economics.
As long as the government could not prove that the scheme was
necessary in the public interest, it had no right to take away
anyone’s land. The state may demand everything from the citizens when
the security of the nation is in danger or in times of national
calamity, but there was no such emergency in the Mulshi case. The
submerging of the vast tract of land which was the cradle of Maratha
history was therefore an act of tyranny, and injustice. It was being
undertaken to fatten the dividends of a private company”.
Rajendra Vora’s book is an impeccable work of historical scholarship.
But it also speaks to the present in a way that very few history books
do. For, the Mulshi dispute was the first intimation of the conflicts
that arise when a densely populated and ancient agrarian civilisation
begins the long and sometimes very painful march to industrialisation.
The Mulshi Satyagraha was not merely a precursor to the Narmada Bachao
Andolan; it anticipated the protests in Singur, Nandigram and a dozen
other places, where the State likewise intended to transfer land owned
by many small peasants to a single, privately owned, company. Like
those other disputes, Mulshi opposed country to city, subsistence to
commerce, farmers to factory-owners, the aam admi to the fat cat.
It is a shame that Rajendra Vora did not live long enough to see his
book in print. We need now to read it, not simply to honour his
memory, but to gain a deeper understanding of the past and future of
modern India.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2008/07/06/stories/2008070650110300.htm
DEVELOPMENT
And quiet flows the Narmada
MEENA MENON
What does the future hold for the Narmada Bachao Andolan?
PHOTO: THE HINDU PHOTO LIBRARY
Focus on rehabilitation: The debates continue.
AS you cross the Narmada from Gujarat's Gadher village to Manibeli on
the opposite bank in Maharashtra, the river resembles a sea. In the
distance you can see the lights of the Sardar Sarovar dam, now at a
height of 110.64 metres.
Gadher was among the earliest villages to be relocated for the Sardar
Sarovar Project (SSP) and its people went willingly. Today, many of
those who moved out have returned. Some bitterly regret their decision
to have agreed to resettle.
Beginnings
The first resistance to the SSP was born in February 1986 in Gadher
village with the formation of the Narmada Dharangrast Samiti. Before
that, in 1985, people were being organised in the affected villages in
Maharashtra and Gujarat to demand better rehabilitation. Together they
formed the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), an umbrella organisation of
anti-dam people in the three affected states of Maharashtra, Madhya
Pradesh and Gujarat.
Since that fateful day in February, much water has flowed down the
sacred Narmada and two large dams, the Indira Sagar project in Madhya
Pradesh and the SSP in Gujarat, are almost complete and a third is
under way.
Strangely, things seem to have come full circle in Gujarat. When the
dam construction first began, few of those facing displacement
supported the NBA. Now things are different. At various public
meetings during the recent events to mark 20 years of the struggle
against the SSP, despite a strong police presence, resettled people in
Gujarat spoke with bitterness and anger about their plight.
In 1988, shortly after it was formed, the NBA held that the promised
rehabilitation could not be delivered and decided to openly oppose the
Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). It embarked on a path of non-violent
agitation in the initial phase where affected villagers took to the
streets, blockaded roads, courted arrest and defied the archaic
Official Secrets Act. Its leader Medha Patkar and her supporters
undertook long hunger strikes to press their demands. Between December
1990 and January 1991, the NBA led its historic march to Ferkuva, on
the Madhya Pradesh-Gujarat border. This resulted in the World Bank,
which was funding the SSP, taking the unprecedented step of appointing
an independent review committee headed by Bradford Morse to assess
various aspects of the project.
In June 1992, the Morse Committee exposed many shortcomings in the
project and recommended that the World Bank withdraw from it. The Bank
finally took that decision in March 1993. Despite this, the Gujarat
Government, for whom the SSP was a major prestige issue, decided to
push ahead with the project by finding other ways to fund it. In the
meantime, the NBA continued its opposition to the project and when its
activists threatened "Jal Samarpan" (literally jumping into the
river), the Centre agreed to set up a five-member committee to re-
examine the SSP. This committee agreed with the Morse committee
report, which had concluded that SSP was a flawed project.
Burning issue
Even as the NBA marks its 20th year of struggle, the Gujarat
government is pressing for an increase in the height of the SSP to 121
metres. The burning issue is the rehabilitation of people, which by
all accounts is flagging, despite two Supreme Court orders reiterating
that rehabilitation must be undertaken prior to an increase in dam
construction. The NBA has succeeded in forcing international attention
on the SSP and attracting a lot of support. It has also acted as a
pressure group and mobilised diverse classes of people from the
valley.
However, the movement has faced police repression and Medha Patkar has
faced vicious criticism from her opponents, chiefly the Gujarat
government. She and the NBA have been accused of being "CIA funded"
and stalling the "development process", among other things. Issues of
leadership have plagued the Andolan too. Some of the activists who
were instrumental in building up the movement in the early stages
left, and that gap has not really been filled over the years.
From a stated position of questioning the development process and big
dams, the Andolan's main focus now is rehabilitation. The NBA
justifies this by saying that as a movement you have to make strategic
changes. The NBA still is opposed to big dams, Patkar avers.
However, these strategies are dictated by the government's policy of
flooding out people, putting the NBA on the defensive. While the
Sardar Sarovar has been made a symbol of "destructive development",
and there have been several high points in the NBA's movement, it has
not managed to shift the government's partiality towards large power
and water projects, never mind the huge environment and social costs.
The Andolan is not the first to have raised questions against dams.
Maharashtra has seen much fury against dams since early 20th century.
The system, it is clear, is in no mood to entertain any challenge to
its idea of development. This is buttressed by the government's
rejection of the report of the World Commission on Dams.
Despite the anti-dam struggle, the Madhya Pradesh government went
ahead and built the Indira Sagar project on the river Narmada and the
situation of those displaced by it is a mess as is the case in Tehri.
Hundreds of dams are being planned across the country, including the
North East, despite so much people's resistance. Even a re-examination
of the sacred Bhakra Nangal project by a former NBA activist, Shripad
Dharmadhikary, evoked a negative response from the government.
Patterns of development
Dams form one end of a development pattern that has treated those it
has displaced unjustly. They have been justified for their
contribution to irrigation and to power generation. As a developing
country, India is sorely in need of better infrastructure not only for
its urban areas but also for its rural people. But the issue is have
public projects really benefited the poorest of people, who continue
to languish for want of any basic amenities? The government is still
to give a credible answer to the question why some people almost
always have to be displaced, before they are entitled to "develop."
This is something that is not as widely debated, as it should be.
People have lost control over their resources, and the widespread
unemployment, migration for jobs and poor human development indicators
are warning signals.
In the context of globalisation, when funding agencies are pouring in
money for dams especially in Asian and African countries, India cannot
escape that pressure. The way the NBA deals with these challenges will
determine how it dominates the development debate of the future.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2006/01/08/stories/2006010800170400.htm
Tussle in Chhattisgarh BJP over housing project
Politics
Chhattisgarh's biggest housing project has led to a tussle between
senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The state government has come up with Kamal Vihar project to develop
housing infrastructure on the outskirts of Raipur. The project will be
developed in 2200-2300 acres with an estimated cost of Rs 1,000 crore
in the first phase.
In all, the executing agency, Raipur Development Authority (RDA), had
planned to develop eight sectors in about 16,500 acres. The project
will be in the line of model townships in Noida and Chandigarh.
Before the project could take off, the biggest housing infrastructure
project in Chhattisgarh had spilled out simmering political
differences between ruling BJP's top leaders in the open. The
government is finding itself in a peculiar situation as leaders from
its own party are lashing out over the project.
"The state government should not work as property broker or real
estate developer, fumed BJP's chief whip in the Lok Sabha and Raipur
Member of Parliament (MP) Ramesh Bais. The former Union minister
opposed the project and said it was not in the interests of the people
as the government was acquiring farmland.
Bais was more political as his differences with chief minister Raman
Singh was an open secret in state. As criticism came from a senior
leader, the state government swung into action even as party
organisation took strong exception.
"The state government sent RDA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Amit
Katariya yesterday with a mission to explain Bais about the project,"
a senior state government official told Business Standard.
The CEO convinced Bais that the RDA would not construct a single
structure and would only develop basic infrastructure before handing
over the land to the people.
Katariya, however, succeeded in his mission with Bais going somewhat
soft later in the day.
"If the project is in the interests of people, the state government
must go ahead," Bais said. It was indeed not a clean chit.
For, Bais added that the government should first display the project
model in open and implement after noting people's response.
http://sify.com/finance/tussle-in-chhattisgarh-bjp-over-housing-project-news-news-kd3blthiaha.html
http://www.raipurlive.com/news/tussle-chhattisgarh-bjp-over-housing-project
BJP MLAs marshalled out 2nd time in 3 days in Delhi
STAFF WRITER 15:48 HRS IST
New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) Opposition BJP MLAs were marshalled out of
Delhi Assembly for a second time in three days today after they
disrupted the proceedings on the issue of "cow slaughter" in the city,
warning that the matter may take an "ugly turn" as it involved
"religious sentiments".
The BJP MLAs first managed to force an adjournment for 15 minutes
after the city government did not respond to Leader of Opposition V K
Malhotra's special mention on the issue.
When the House resumed, high drama was witnessed as they continued the
protest by trooping to the Well and shouting slogans. Transport
Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely moved a resolution seeking the removal
of opposition MLAs for the smooth functioning of the House which was
accepted.
Speaker Yoganand Shastri then asked the marshals to remove the BJP
MLAs from the floor of the House.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/589728_BJP-MLAs-marshalled-out-2nd-time-in-3-days-in-Delhi
Volume 23 - Issue 07 :: Apr. 08 - 21, 2006
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COLUMN
Guarding the guardians
JAYATI GHOSH
The State's response to the Narmada Bachao Andolan's agitation betrays
its obsession with market-obsessed economic priorities.
S. SUBRAMANIUM
Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh offering lime juice to Narmada Bachao
Andolan leader Medha Patkar at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 4.
Also seen is the Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz.
Qui custodiet custodiens? ("Who will guard the guardians"?). Thus goes
the Latin saying. In today's India, what does it take to make a
government obey the law? In the case of the Madhya Pradesh government
and the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), defining and restating the
law and getting clear orders from the Supreme Court are clearly not
enough.
The pleas of those who have been unjustly displaced and provided no
compensation are obviously of no interest. Nor is any peaceful mass
protest by thousands of ordinary people of the region of any use in
changing unlawful decisions, apparently. Even knocking at the gates of
the powerful in Delhi, or going on indefinite hunger strike in protest
against blatantly illegal actions does not seem to be enough.
Yet all that is being asked, from the government, is that the laws of
the land be upheld and the Supreme Court's orders be respected. Even
this appears to become something to be extracted as a huge concession
after endless requests and ever increasing social pressure.
Consider the recent facts relating to the construction of the Sardar
Sarovar Dam. This controversial project has been under question for
more than 10 years, as all of its intended benefits have been
questioned at different levels. It is the hugest such project in
recent years, involving thousands of hectares of land and displacing
well over three lakh families. The dam has gradually been raised to
120 metres from the original chosen height of 80 metres, and each
increase has involved ever more extensive displacement.
Not only are the supposed gains for the farmers in the dry areas of
Saurashtra and Kutch still unclear, but the huge human and ecological
costs of submergence and displacement have been inadequately measured
and certainly not compensated for. There have also been scathing
reports from the Comptroller and Auditor-General's (CAG) office on the
financial practices of the project.
Yet the recent furore relates not to the project per se, but to
specific measures that blatantly go against administrative and
judicial norms. There is overwhelming evidence of completely
inadequate rehabilitation, in contravention of previous promises,
declared procedures and court strictures. And what is even more
alarming is that on March 8, the NCA unilaterally took a decision to
raise the dam height from 110.64 metres to 121.92 metres.
This decision was taken even though the Supreme Court in a 2005
judgment had expressly said that raising the height of the dam would
not be permitted unless the rehabilitation programme, which was found
to be lacking, had been carried out in full. In fact, almost all
reports, even those from official sources, confirm that the
rehabilitation process thus far has been a disaster.
The core rehabilitation principle in the Sardar Sarovar Project is
land for land, rather than cash compensation. The onus has been placed
on the state to "acquire and allot" cultivable land to all eligible
affected families. According to the Narmada Tribunal Award,
rehabilitation sites should have been developed and ready for
occupation one year before the date of submergence, and notices for
shifting to the developed sites must be issued to each and every
project affected family.
Yet in fact, in Madhya Pradesh, hardly any families have been
resettled with cultivable land. Instead, some families have been
offered or sent off to occupy lands that are already encroached upon
by others, or of such poor quality as to be uncultivable, or simply
non-existent. Other sites have no house plots and the areas themselves
have no amenities. For many thousands of other affected families,
there is even no stated site that has been decided upon. And this,
according to the government's own affidavits filed before the Supreme
Court.
Instead, the State government created a new (and illegal) Special
Rehabilitation Package, under which a cash package is given to project
affected families instead of land. Usually the amount given is so
small that there is no question of purchasing new cultivable land with
that money. As a result, the people are not only rendered homeless but
deprived of livelihood. Even in Maharashtra and Gujarat, many affected
families are still to be either compensated or rehabilitated. The
grievance redress authorities are barely functioning in any of the
three affected States.
The situation with respect to rehabilitation is so dire that even the
Union Minister for Water Resources, Saifuddin Soz, issued a statement
on March 10 indicating his lack of confidence in the rehabilitation
process thus far. He conceded that in this context the decision of the
NCA to raise the height of the dam was premature, and said he would
convene a meeting of the Review Committee for NCA to consider the
case.
It might be expected that after such an admission, there would be no
question of continuing the work of raising the height of the dam. Yet,
this is apparently too naive an expectation, since even as late as the
first week of April, nearly a month after the statement was issued, no
such meeting has been convened and work at the dam site continues
apace in complete disregard of all protestation.
All this forced the most recent protest in Delhi, where Medha Patkar
and some other activists of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) went on a
hunger strike. This did indeed get some publicity, certainly far more
than the months of continuous protests within the region by the
affected people. But at the time of writing, it was still not enough
to force the government to stop immediately all work on what is a
completely illegal exercise at the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Instead, the
government only promised to "examine the matter" through a field
visit.
Against the mandate
We have in place a Central government that thus far has viewed a
significant aspect of development as necessarily involving the sale of
land - to agri-businesses, to urban land developers, to big projects
in general. The same government that would not stop the height of the
dam from being illegally raised, signed a huge deal selling off land
to a consortium of private companies for developing Delhi and Mumbai
airports in what is an extremely dubious and murky privatisation deal,
in the process breaking their promises to airport workers that they
would be heard before a final decision. Despite coming into power on
an anti-communal and pro-poor platform, it has stubbornly refused to
exercise the most elementary discipline on rogue State government like
that in Gujarat, even in this matter of respecting the basic rights of
its citizens, especially the weak and assetless.
It should be noted that most of the displaced families are Adivasis,
and were already among the poorest and most vulnerable communities in
India. Dispossession from their meagre resources leaves them no
alternative existence. At the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi where many of
the activists and affected people had gathered along with local
supporters, there was a stark question. We are thrown out of our land
and not welcome in cities or villages, so where do we go? How do we
continue to exist?
Nearly 150 years after the first war of Indian independence, it seems
that it is not only freedom that is of concern. It is not just the
case of the state failing to ensure for many of its citizens their
right to exist. Its market-obsessed economic priorities seem even to
have deprived it of the basic political sense at least to be seen to
care for those at the receiving end.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2307/stories/20060421004009900.htm
Volume 18 - Issue 18, Sep. 01 - 14, 2001
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
ENVIRONMENT
KUDREMUKH CONCERNS
Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited faces an uncertain future following
a legal challenge to its mining operations and plans in a biodiversity-
rich region that has been notified as a national park.
Text and pictures:
RAVI SHARMA
AFTER an 11-day break, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL)
resumed its mining operations on August 5 in the picturesque hill
ranges of Kudremukh, 110 km west of Mangalore in Karnataka. Mining had
come to a halt on July 24, when a second temporary working permission
granted by the State and Central governments expired. The company has
now secured permission to work for three more months on the already
broken-up area of 1,452.74 hectares. But this period is going to be
suspenseful for its workers and farmers, environmentalists and other
sections of society who are concerned about the mining activity. The
Supreme Court is expected to issue soon its verdict on a petition
seeking a ban on mining in Kudremukh, which could change the destiny
of the Rs.1,200-crore, profit-making public sector company.
On the Aroli-Gangamoola range, an area mined by KIOCL stands in sharp
contrast to the greenery of the Western Ghats in the background.
KIOCL has been conducting its operations on an area of 4,604.55 ha for
over 20 years. Opposition to its activities has built up over the
years - from environmentalists and wildlife conservationists who are
concerned about the threat to the region's flora and fauna, and
farmers who are affected by the pollution of the streams that
originate in the mining area. The campaign for a ban on mining gained
strength with the support of conservation scientists such as Ullas
Karanth and literary personalities such as U.R. Anantha-murthy and
K.P. Poor-nachandra Tejasvi. The company made some efforts to contain
pollution but a combination of factors such as problems associated
with open-cast mining, the steep terrain, the loose soil and heavy
rainfall defeated them.
Farmers living in downstream villages told Frontline that the paddy
yield had declined from 50 quintals to 30 quintals a hectare because
of the accumulation of silt and waste tailings in the fields. Said a
farmer of Nellibeedu: "Every monsoon the water brings with it silt and
tailings. These solidify and harden in summer. Nothing grows on the
field." The tailings rendered the sand unfit even for construction
purposes, they complained.
A team of experts from the Centre for Ecological Sciences of the
Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), Bangalore made a study of the
'Impact of Iron Ore Mining on the Flora and Fauna of Kudremukh
National Park and Environs'. Its leader R. Sukumar said: "When the
decision to locate the mine at Kudremukh was taken in the early 1970s,
the effects and consequences of habitat fragmentation and biodiversity
loss were poorly understood. It is time we considered the impact of
ongoing and future mining in the region in the light of new scientific
knowledge. It is now well known that habitat fragmentation is the
single largest threat to biodiversity and biological integrity."
The Nellibeedu hills, where KIOCL undertook prospecting in 1996.
The study was commissioned by the State Forest Department. The report,
which was submitted in January 2001, says: "Open-cast mining by its
very nature is a very destructive activity that causes virtually
irreparable damage." It notes that the mining areas that have been
abandoned, leave alone those where mining is on, stand in stark
contrast to the adjoining natural grasslands and forests. It points
out that the situation has been aggravated by the high rainfall. The
mining and associated activities have resulted in the loss of habitat
and the fragmentation of the otherwise contiguous block of tropical
moist forest and grasslands in the Western Ghats. In the mining area,
biodiversity is at a low level. Although several species of grass and
herbs have sprung up in areas abandoned after mining, they are
insufficient to stabilise the broken soil.
Problems such as turgidity of the water downstream, sedimentation and
siltation were not within the scope of the study. Farmers complain
that mining has deforested the upper reaches of the hills, resulting
in an increased flow of silt and iron ore tailings down the streams.
The silt and tailings are either deposited in the fields or carried to
the Bhadra reservoir. Environmentalists say that sedimentation could
reduce the life span of the reservoir, which is designed to last 180
years. There have been no studies on the effects of siltation. Even a
long-term study by the Nagpur-based National Environmental Engineering
Research Institute (NEERI) has not examined samples of the water taken
during the monsoon when the silt load is high.
Said Sukumar: "When we started field work in August 2000 the peak
monsoon had already passed and mining had also been stopped because of
a leak in the slurry pipe. The level of dissolved iron in the water
was all right. A round-the-year study to gather data on aspects such
as silt loads at various points along the river, the difference in
silt loads before and after the mining areas, and the rate of
siltation of the downstream reservoir will have to be undertaken if a
proper assessment is to be made."
Jagadish Krishnaswamy, a hydrologist, said: "The topography and
rainfall characteristics, in combination with the open-cast mining,
road-building and other land-surface disturbances caused by KIOCL
operations, are likely to lead to high sediment discharges in the
Bhadra river system in the short and long term. But curiously, one of
the glaring drawbacks of the studies conducted in the region has been
the poor attention given to water quality and the omission of wet-
season sampling of streams."
Accumulated ore tailings on the edge of the Lakya reservoir.
Environmentalists say that KIOCL's measures to check pollution have
had very little impact. However, the company does not agree with this
assessment. Admitting that the mining has caused pollution, it says it
has been able to keep the level of pollution to the minimum. Officials
of KIOCL give a list of anti-pollution measures they have undertaken.
According to them, the company has constructed two rock-fill check-
dams and a series of check-bunds in the small valleys to prevent the
wash-off from mine faces and mine roads from reaching the Bhadra river
during the monsoon. It has also built a 100-metre dam across the
Lakya, a tributary of the Bhadra, into which the waste tailings in the
form of slurry are discharged. An underground pipeline has been laid
to carry the slurry concentrate from the Kudremukh plant to the
pelletisation plant at Mangalore and the New Mangalore Port, to be
shipped abroad. It has also planted 75 lakh trees as part of an
afforestation programme.
One of the major problems faced by KIOCL is the disposal of waste
tailings. They have to be either disposed of or permanently stored to
prevent them from being carried off into the river by rainwater. The
dam across the Lakya breached once, in 1992. According to KIOCL, the
dam can take six to nine million tonnes more of tailings if its height
is increased by one metre. The report of the IISc. team calls for a
detailed study of the structural stability of the dam if KIOCL plans
to store tailings permanently in it. But the company has sought the
government's permission to build another dam (Kachige Holey) after the
one across the Lakya is filled. The Lakya dam has submerged 572 ha of
shola forests and a new dam could submerge more areas.
As part of its compensatory afforestation programme, KIOCL has planted
about eight million saplings of eucalyptus and Accacia auriculiformis
over 800 ha of grasslands. Company officials proudly display satellite
images from the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad, that show
that there has been a net positive development in the area leased out
to KIOCL over the past 23 years. Almost the entire lot of trees,
planted on the advice of the Forest Department, are in areas that have
not been mined. The mined areas are still shorn of all vegetation.
The IISc. report disputes the company's claims regarding
afforestation. The company, it says, has termed the grasslands
wastelands and planted exotic species there. According to Sukumar, the
grasslands are certainly not wastelands. "The montane grasslands of
the Western Ghats have now been shown to be natural high-altitude
grasslands. They have their unique complement of plant and animal life
that needs to be preserved. Even while recognising that the grasslands
at Kudremukh occur at lower altitudes and that this could be partly
because of anthropogenic disturbances in the historical past, there is
no biological justification for converting these grasslands into
plantations of exotics."
He argues that the introduction of exotic species, which are fast-
growing, hardy and resistant to climatic factors, would have
undesirable long-term effects on the grasslands and the adjoining
shola forests.
Although environmentalists have commended KIOCL for planting seedlings
of a large number of native evergreen species even in the abandoned
areas, the IISc. report says that this appreciation is misplaced.
According to the report, the first step in the direction of
stabilising the soil is to grow herbaceous plants.
THE Central and State governments have gone out of their way to help
KIOCL. In September 1987, the Government of Karnataka declared its
intention to convert the area into a national park under Section 35(1)
of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. According to a notification
dated June 16, 2001, the State government, "after waiting out the
period for preferring claims and (after) all claims had been
inquired", notified an area of 56,328.798 ha as constituting the
Kudremukh National Park (KNP) under Section 35(4) of the Act. It is
the largest tropical wet evergreen forest in Karnataka to be declared
a protected area. The notification, however, excluded from the
proposed park 3,703.55 ha in the South Bhadra forests; of this,
3,203.55 ha has been leased to KIOCL and the remaining 500 ha was
submerged when the company increased the height of the Lakya dam in
1994. The decision to exclude 3,703.55 ha was questioned by Forest
Department officials, including Madhu Sharma, Deputy Conservator of
Forests (DCF), Chikmagalur, and S.K. Chakrabarti, Principal Chief
Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), in July 2000 when it was first
brought to their notice. The Law Department overruled their
objections.
The Bhadra, its waters near-pristine before it enters the mining area,
and turgid as it leaves the area.
According to informed sources, the settlement officer of the Revenue
Department - of the rank of Assistant Commissioner (A.C.) -
interpreted the Wildlife (Protection) Act in such a way as to mean
that he could leave out areas of reserved forest without consulting
the Forest Department. But in reality he had authority over only
revenue or patta land, and not forest land. The State government went
by the settlement officer's recommendation.
The sources said that the A.C. kept the Forest Department in the dark
about the wrong interpretation and that it was only in July 2000 that
the DCF, Chikmagalur, heard about the State government's intention to
leave certain areas out of the KNP and its communication to the Union
government in this regard. One informed source said: "The DCF
unilaterally filed objections stating that the A.C. had exceeded his
powers and approached the Deputy Commissioner (D.C.), Chikmagalur,
asking for a copy of the A.C.'s report. The D.C. then asked her to
give a para-wise comment on the A.C.'s report. By October 2000 she had
submitted her remarks, which included the recommendation that the
3,703.55 ha should not be left out of the area of the park. The D.C.
and the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife)
concurred with her views. Their views were sent to the Union Ministry
of Environment and Forests (MoEF)."
The State Law Department initially went along with the reports of the
DCF and the D.C. In fact, it even praised the DCF. But, after a long
silence, the State government wrote to the MoEF stating that it
excluded certain areas from the KNP. According to informed sources,
the DCF's objection was based on the fact that the areas sought to be
excluded had been notified as a reserved forest after the settlement
of all rights even before its inclusion in the 1987 notification
regarding the KNP. No rights could have accrued thereafter, they said.
Also, the Supreme Court ruled in 1996 that except in exceptional
circumstances no forest land could be excluded at the time of
notification after the intention to notify it had been declared.
Officials of the MoEF did not support the views of the DCF and the
Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). A senior official
is said to have remarked that the MoEF did not receive their reports.
According to informed sources, high-ranking MoEF officials maintained
that the State government did have the power to exclude specified
forest areas from the KNP. In support of their claim, the sources
showed letters written by a senior official in the Prime Minister's
Office suggesting that the areas being mined by KIOCL be excluded from
the KNP, that permission be granted expeditiously to the company to
mine in the area and that more areas be handed over to it for mining.
A letter (8-69/99 - FC, dated 25-7-2000) written by Rajiv Kumar Gupta,
Assistant Inspector-General of Forests, MoEF, to the Secretary
(Forests), Government of Karnataka, in response to the State
government's request for the renewal of mining lease to KIOCL, also
makes it clear that MoEF officials were aware of the State
government's decision to exclude 3,703.55 ha from the KNP. It says: "I
am directed to refer to your letter No FEE 41 FFM 98, dated 18-7-2000,
communicating to this Ministry the decision of the State government to
exclude 4,605 ha of area including the broken up area of KIOCL from
the (Kudremukh) National Park on the basis of the report of the A.C.,
Chikmagalur - the Settlement Officer appointed under Wildlife
(Protection) Act, 1972. The Ministry (MoEF) also took note of the
request of the State government for renewal of mining lease over
already broken up area of 1,452.74 ha and 92.68 ha of additional land
to be broken afresh along with extension of temporary working
permission by another year for mining in favour of KIOCL."
The letter also states that the State government's request had been
examined holistically, keeping in mind that "the present notification
of the KNP is only a notification of intent", that "the State
government has clearly communicated its decision to exclude the
proposed area from the purview of the National Park" and that "the
decision (to do so) was based on the report of the settlement officer
appointed by the State government under the Wildlife (Protection) Act,
1972".
The MoEF even issued a year's temporary working permission to KIOCL on
the basis of the Karnataka government's submission that the area
concerned would not form part of the area to be notified as a national
park. The permission was subject to the State government issuing a
notification on the constitution of the KNP by September 30, 2000
(which it did in June 2001) and the completion of the environmental
impact assessment report within six months (which it did by January
2001).
Curiously, a year later, the MoEF has made an about-turn. The change
in its stand became known in the course of legal proceedings in
connection with KIOCL.
KIOCL's administrative office at Kudremukh.
Wildlife First, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), filed an
interlocutory application in the Supreme Court in May 2001 seeking a
ban on mining in Kudremukh. The application said that the mining was
illegal and violative of the court's orders on December 12, 1996 on a
writ petition, banning non-forestry activity in forests, and on an
interlocutory application dated February 14, 2000, prohibiting the
removal of even dead and dying trees and grass from national parks and
sanctuaries. The NGO's application, which was filed through the amicus
curiae Harish Salve, also challenged the granting of temporary working
permission to KIOCL by the MoEF twice (in July 1999 and July 2000)
under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, on the grounds that there
were no provisions under the Act to grant such permission. The amicus
curiae has questioned the validity of the decision to leave certain
areas out of the KNP.
On May 10, a three-member Bench ordered issue of notices to the three
respondents, the Union of India, the Government of Karnataka and
KIOCL, directing them to file affidavits.
The Supreme Court directed the Union government to file "an affidavit
within eight weeks and in the affidavit also state the reasons as to
why Government of India having once notified the area as a national
park, then permitted mining activity to be carried out
notwithstanding".
An additional affidavit, filed on July 26 by S.C. Sharma, Additional
Director-General of Forests (Wildlife), MoEF, said that the MoEF
opposed the Karnataka government's decision to leave 3,703.55 ha out
of the KNP. It stated that "after careful consideration of the entire
issue including ecological importance of the Kudremukh ranges, effect
of mining on flora and fauna, area already broken up by KIOCL,
alternatives available, etc, the Ministry (was) of the view that it is
not desirable to permanently allow mining operations to continue in
(Kudremukh) especially in the unbroken area." Further, it stated that
"no approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 would be
accorded to KIOCL for undertaking mining operations in any unbroken
areas".
With regard to the areas already being mined, the affidavit stated
that in view of KIOCL's heavy investment in the area, the employment
prospects of a large number of persons and export commitments, the
MoEF "was considering to allow KIOCL to continue mining operations
over the already broken up forest area" for up to five years.
One of the crusher units of the company. Officials and workers of
KIOCL are united in their opposition to the environmentalists' claims
and demands.
After hearing the submissions of Sharma and the amicus curiae on July
27, the Supreme Court gave three weeks to counsel for the State of
Karnataka and KIOCL. It ruled that Karnataka government should
consider afresh the notification excluding forest areas from the KNP.
While Sharma's affidavit has made KIOCL officials nervous,
environmentalists are elated by the latest stand of the MoEF.
According to informed sources, the stand of the State government will
be that:
a. The non-mined forest areas (2,251 ha), which have been leased to
KIOCL, should be designated as a buffer zone for the KNP, where human
habitation and grazing of cattle would be allowed;
b. Subject to the capacity of the Lakya dam to take waste tailings,
KIOCL should be allowed to mine for seven more years. There should not
be any immediate stoppage of work because it will cause problems; for
instance, the problem of maintaining the mining faces and the Lakya
dam, which might come crashing down the valleys below; and
c. Round-the-season studies will be undertaken by a committee
comprising representatives of KIOCL, environmentalists, Forest
Department officials, hydrological experts, conservation scientists,
and so on.
Reacting to the MoEF affidavit, Karnataka Forest Department officials
said that it was time the Union Ministry stopped adopting a holier-
than-thou attitude. According to them, in July 2000, when KIOCL's
temporary lease expired, the MoEF sought the State government's view
as to whether mining should continue and said that if the State
government was for the continuation of mining it would be better to
leave out of the KNP the area in which KIOCL operated since mining was
not expected to take place in a national park. "Today they are not
only pretending that they knew nothing but are also trying to be the
only ones concerned about the forests and the KNP. And we are depicted
as the villainous lot," they said.
The Forest Department has also not applied rules consistently. For
example, in 1994-96 KIOCL was given a licence for prospecting in the
Nellibeedu hill, which is estimated to have around 54 million tonnes
of ore. Officials of KIOCL themselves wonder under what clause the
Department gave them a prospecting licence. Under the Forest
(Conservation) Act, prospecting cannot be done in a reserved forest.
Environmentalists have accused KIOCL of damaging forests on the
Nellibeedu hills by constructing roads and drilling borewells.
According to an official in the State Forest Department, the
Government of India has to choose between bad development and good
environment. The official explained: "KIOCL is a public sector profit-
making company which provides employment. And the mines have proximity
to the Mangalore port. But what about the environment and forest laws?
Should mining be allowed inside a national park? If so, then let the
government say so or exempt KIOCL from the laws."
According to the official, the bottomline is that the mines have to be
moved out, for two simple reasons. "First, as per the Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980, mining can be allowed in a reserve forest
subject to the prior approval of the MoEF and the State Forest
Department (forest is a subject in the Concurrent List). Generally,
the MoEF has not renewed mining leases in the Western Ghats. Now that
the MoEF has in its July 27 affidavit asked the Karnataka government
to reconsider its decision to leave out the forests where KIOCL is
operating, from the KNP (and designating it as part of KNP), it will
be difficult for the MoEF to grant permission."
The official said that the ball is now in the court of the two
governments. "Permission for mining cannot be accorded in a national
park. Secondly, KIOCL has made no efforts all these years to offer to
the Forest Department as per the above Act, land/money in compensation
for compulsory forestation in lieu of the area that it has been mining
on."
The company does not see it that way. Its officials and workers are
united in their opposition to the environmentalists' claims and
demands. Closure of the mines would mean hardship for a vast majority
of workers, and alternative plans like moving the mining operations to
Sandur (in Bellary district, Karnataka) or Ongole (Andhra Pradesh) do
not appear to be practical. While a section of the workforce can be
accommodated in Mangalore, a question mark hangs over the rest.
Knowledgeable sources pointed out that KIOCL, which has a Plan outlay
of Rs.1,200 crores, will need Rs.3,000 crores to shift its operations
to another area.
The employees of KIOCL are an agitated lot. Appeals have been sent to
the Prime Minister and some of his Cabinet colleagues. They have also
submitted a memorandum to State Chief Minister S.M. Krishna, who they
claimed had assured them that their interests would be protected. The
workers say that with nearly 75 per cent of them being above the age
of 45 years, it would be difficult to acquire new skills.
Said B.M. Narayanappa, organising secretary, Kudremukh Shrama Shakti
Sangatan, one of the three trade unions and currently the recognised
one: "We want the government to give us a 20-year lease. If our
appeals fail we will undertake hunger strikes along with our family
members." Only 95 employees have availed themselves of the voluntary
retirement package offered by the management in March and June 2000.
Environmentalists are not perturbed by the extension of mining
permission for three more months. Although they would like to see
mining to "stop tomorrow", they appear to be practical enough to
suggest a five-year time-frame for the closure of operations.
Although KIOCL management has publicly stated that it would like to
continue its operations for 20 more years, company officials privately
admit that they would be just as happy if the company is allowed to
function until the present ore body is mined, that is, for six or
seven years.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1818/18180640.htm
News, Views and Reviews: Sid Harth
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Socio-economic Engineering – an Electoral roadmap for the Center Right
Social Engineering is commonly understood to mean:
efforts to influence popular attitudes and social behaviors on a large
scale, whether by governments or private groups.
Within the Indian political discouse, Social Engineering has been used
to refer to the calculus of caste in electoral politics. More
specifically to the political art of striking the right combination of
caste based entitlements or quotas for electoral succes.
Together with religion based Vote bank politics, caste based Social
Engineering has come to represent conventional political wisdom in
India on which most electoral strategy is formulated.
The common assumption underlying both religion based Vote bank
politics and caste based Social Engineering, is that members will
largely vote with the group in anticipation of group entitlements or
quotas unmindful of individual socio-economic interests.
This assumption has largely held true for the first six decades of
electoral politics in India.
But then the decade gone by has induced a new dynamic into this
calculus of the group. A growing economy has created new avenues and
opportunities where the socio-economic calculus for the Individual is
not necessarily in alignment with the erstwhile politics of the group.
While group entitlements offer the Individual’s family a safety net,
economic aspirations are taking the Individual beyond the comfort zone
of community, village and district.
The cognitive dissonance between
settling for the least common denominator within the group
and
personal advancement by seeking opportunities outside and beyond the
group
may not be a significant factor today, with the false comfort of the
security blanket offered by the Congress Party’s Liberal Left policies
like NREGA, Food Security etc.
But this cognitive dissonance is bound to grow with the passage of
time as the economy rebounds and grows.
It wont be long before this cognitive dissonance reaches a threshold
beyond which it starts to have a bearing on electoral politics.
Unlike Social Engineering, Socio-Economic Engineering is not a well
defined discipline of Political Science.
The Center Right movement in India can give it meaning with a focus on
this latent cognitive dissonance.
Socio Economic engineering could come to mean challenging the
conventional political wisdom on the calculus of vote bank and caste.
to be defined as the act of influencing Individuals to break away from
the group (religious Minority voting block, caste) in making electoral
choices.
Back in December of 2008, Offstumped had dissected the electoral
landscape in Uttar Pradesh from a socio-economic standpoint with the
2002 Census Household Income data as the basis. The key takeaway from
this analysis was the strong correlation between dominant income level
within a district and the dominant political players in that district.
(More details on the analysis below).
This correlation between household income and electoral preferences
gives a basis for the target demographic of Socio-Economic
engineering.
A starting point for the Center Right in electoral politics would be
to identify that Voter with cross-over economic aspirations who can
potentially break away from his or her group.
Socio-Economic engineering by the Center Right would then come to mean
targeting the Individual with cross-over economic aspirations by
#1 creating incentives to break away from the group
#2 emphasizing discincentives in voting with the group.
Summary of Analysis on UP income levels and voting patterns
In this analysis household income was classified into 5 buckets
a) less than 250
b) between 250 and 500
c) between 500 and 1500
d) between 1500 and 2500
e) greater than 2500
While the districts in Uttar Pradesh where classified within six
levels – Level 0 to Level 5
Level 0 – districts where households with income less than 500
outnumber all other income groups
Level 1 – districts where households with income between 500-1500 are
the highest but also have more people with income less than 500 than
those with income greater than 1500 (more poorest of poor than middle
income or rich).
Level 2 – districts where households with income between 500-1500 are
not just the highest but also outnumber the poorest of poor and the
rich by a wide margin. (middle income districts where both the poor
and the relatively well to do are a minority)
Level 3 – districts where households with income between 500-1500 are
the highest but the relatively rich (income greater 1500) outnumber
the poor (income less than 500) consistent with the overall
characteristics of the state
Level 4 – districts where households with income greater than 1500
outnumber households with income between 500-1500
Level 5 – districts where 1500-2500 is the highest income group
overall in the state
At the aggregate state level it was also interesting to note that
Uttar Pradesh not only has the highest number rural households in the
middle income group of 500-1500 with 71 lakhs but more interestingly
the number of households with income greater than 1500 (60 lakhs) far
outnumbers the number of households with income less than 500 (30
lakhs).
An interesting insight from the analysis was the strong correlation
between dominant income level within a District and the nature of
electoral contest in the assembly seats within that the District in
the 2007 assembly elections.
3 Responses
sridhar krishna says:
March 25, 2010 at 8:53 am
A good effort. Just to indicate how big the gulf is – look at the
income levels used. Though you have not indicated the periodicity it
would be safe to assume it is per month.
on the other hand the income of the top percentile (or so) per day
would be more. These are the group that are active on the internet and
talk of “State of Union” address or “health Bill”. Shades of Marie
Antoinette.
Though i dont want to be alarmist like Arundati roy and talk of
revolution the gap is certainly not shrinking but widening. unless
this is addressed as a priority nothing else would work in the long
run
rgds / sridhar
Ladder of Opportunity versus Safety of the Net « Offstumped – Center
Right Indian Politics says:
March 27, 2010 at 6:01 am
[...] Older » [...]
Pub Chick says:
March 27, 2010 at 1:04 pm
“with the false comfort of the security blanket offered by the
Congress Party’s Liberal Left policies like NREGA, Food Security etc.”
So you admit this NREGA gives a sense of comfort — true or false —
that being the case what’s the rationale for your following post
quoting Surjit Bhalla? I am really curious to know. You can’t have it
both ways — you either say it’s a fiscally ruinous scheme which lulls
people into false sense of security or say it’s not working on the
ground in any way at all. One excludes the other.
March 27, 2010 • 6:00 am
Ladder of Opportunity versus Safety of the Net
Part 2 of series on Socio Economic Engineering – an electoral roadmap
for the Center Right
Eminent economist Dr. Surjit Bhalla writing in the Business Standard
had this to say of the UPA’s flagship program – National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA/NREGS/MNREG)
Despite tall claims, the NREGA programme is just a dud as most other
“in the name of the poor” expenditures – and as much of a dud as
predicted by Rajiv Gandhi
Despite repeated evidence for the last 20 years that “in the name of
the poor programmes” reach everybody but the poor, the well-meaning
socialist but not-so-realist Congress party renamed and expanded
existing food for work programmes under its own Congress brand as
NREGA, and now MREGA. (Ironically, but poetic-justice style, the
latter acronym also means “to die”!). It spends Rs 8,823 crore on the
programme in 2006-07 (and Rs 39,000 crore in 2009-10) and is able to
actually deliver only 14.7 per cent (Rs 1,270 crore) to the targeted
audience?!
Dr. Bhalla is being very charitable in his description of the Congress
Party but his pithy remarks on NREGA highlight the false sense of
security and comfort underlying the Liberal Left policies of the UPA.
Social Engineering of the communal variety receieved a boost this week
with the Supreme Court’s interim order upholding Muslim Reservations
in Andhra. This is just the beginning, more can be expected if this
reaction from Abhishek Singhvi is anything to go by. It is clear that
the Congress Party wants to further its Liberal Left agenda by
expanding group entitlements or quotas on religious grounds.
This brings us back to the fundamental challenge for Socio-economic
Engineering -
how must it capture popular imagination of the aspirational voter to
motivate him or her to cross-over ?
If the core premise behind Social Engineering and Left Liberalism was
to convince the voter to settle for the least common denominator
within his or her group on the pretext of having the security of a
safety net
then the core premise behind Socio-Economic Engineering must be
to motivate the voter that there is no reason to settle for the least
common denominator within the group for even the highest of
aspirations will be within reach by climbing on to the Ladder of
Opportunity
There maybe merit in framing the popular debate between the Liberal
Left policies of the Congress and the policy of prescriptions of the
Center Right as a choice between the Ladder and the Net.
The Net may offer safety but then there is no getting out of the Net
once trapped.
There is nothing progressive about the Net for there is no avenue to
progress.
The Net only weighs you down as it gets burdened with more and more to
support
The metaphorical Ladder on the other hand is
by design progressive with opportunities to rise in each and every
step.
by design inclusive and non-discriminatory for with every step an
individual takes to rise, an opportunity is created for the next to
rise and occupy
Pragmatism and realism would suggest that the Ladder of Opportunity
cannot stand alone without the Safety of the Net, leading one to ask
where lies the distinction between Socio-economic Engineering and
Social Engineering ?
That distinction will have to be made by emphasizing the primacy of
the Ladder over the Net
for if there was no ladder there would be no need to cast a wide net
for safety
It may also be asked how different is the metaphor of “Ladder plus
Net”for Socio-Economic Engineering from the “Growth with Distribution”
model touted by Rahul Gandhi.
More on that in the third and concluding part in this series on Socio-
economic Engineering.
37 Responses
Pub Chick says:
March 27, 2010 at 10:00 am
Surjit Bhalla is a money manager (and not a very good one if his
returns are to be taken into account). Since when did money managers
become eminent economists?
And you or your eminence seem to ignore the basic function of a social
net: to be a net that’s only purpose is to exist, regardless of its
efficiency. Simply because its existence encourages risk and growth in
other aspects of the economy.
cynicalcount says:
March 27, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Pubchick
How did you arrive at the conclusion that Surjit bhalla is a money
manager? Kindly educate us poor folks on how you concluded what bhalla
is?
Pub Chick says:
March 27, 2010 at 12:37 pm
That’s he calls himself. It’s not even my definition. In case you did
not know, he owns and runs an investment firm called Oxus Investments
(www.oxusinvestments.com ). Apart from being a money manager, he
writes for the Business Standard and has a talk show on TV. These
things don’t make anyone an Economist.
Pub Chick says:
March 27, 2010 at 12:54 pm
And by the way, why would you question something as obvious as Surjit
Bhalla’s occupation? I mean he says that every time he writes a column
or makes one of those annoying appearances on TV.
What’s with the overall hostile tone, darling? Don’t you like this
blog author being questioned or do you dislike my dislike for ugly
men?
iHindu007 says:
March 28, 2010 at 5:14 am
“Since when did money managers become eminent economists?”
Since when did pub chicks become political analysts?
Pub Chick says:
March 28, 2010 at 8:00 am
Dearest horny boy, it takes no political analysis to say people who
are not economists by profession and have no eminence to show for that
profession which they don’t claim to practice are not eminent
economists.
iHindu007 says:
March 29, 2010 at 12:30 pm
About NREGA
Sreelatha Menon: Caderisation of rural India
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sreelatha-menon-caderisationrural-india/00/31/388513/
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has converted many
villagers in India into card-holders, who will get a minimum of 100
days work every year. Since that is not happening so easily, the
strategy devised by civil society leaders is to unite the villagers
into cadres, on the lines of trade unions.
The drive, led by top activists, will create many a local Joan of Arc
who can at a moment’s notice get entire villages to take to the
streets, file petitions in courts and make it difficult for the state
to ignore their concerns.
MUCH MUCH MORE IN THE ARTICLE.
Pub Chick says:
March 29, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Yes yes, can you please stop pasting someone else’s opinion/ source
and actually do your own analysis?
Or tell me why Surjit Bhalla is an eminent economist or how this post
of the blog author squares with his previous post? The author seems to
contradict himself and none of the horny boys seem to notice.
It’s not enough to criticize something darlings, you should at the
very least have the courage to be consistent within that framework —
and not pick two criticisms which contradict each other.
Mala says:
March 29, 2010 at 2:17 pm
@Pubchick – I suppose you have lot of time on your hands as you post
so regularly and frequently. I have a small doubt, if you find every
reader of this blog as ugly and horny, why are you here? I mean doesnt
it make better sense to go to some blog where handsome hunks post
messages and the author of the blog is always consistent? My IQ is
much lower than an eminent personality like you who I am sure will be
remembered as the next Albert Einstein in times to come but will be
obliged if you can reply your purpose of coming to his blog and
calling everyone names. Does calling others ugly make you feel happy
in life?
Pub Chick says:
March 29, 2010 at 2:44 pm
Mala, assume it does make me happy.
Now, will you explain the contradictions of blog author? And explain
why someone is an eminent economist or how the NREGA can’t fail and
succeed at the same time?
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 29, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Surjit S. Bhalla is managing director of Oxus Research and
Investments, a New Delhi-based economic research, asset management,
and emerging-markets advisory firm. He taught at the Delhi School of
Economics and worked at the Rand Corporation, the Brookings
Institution, and at both the research and _treasury departments of the
World Bank. He has also worked at Goldman Sachs (1992-94) and Deutsche
Bank (1994-96). He is author of Imagine There’s No Country: Poverty,
Inequality, and Growth in the Era of Globalization(2002). His research
interests are fiscal policy (flat tax?), economic history (do
institutions cause growth?), and macroeconomic policy (the role of
exchange rates in economic development). He has been a member of
several government of India committees on economic policy, most
recently the committee on capital account convertibility. He is on the
board of India’s largest think tank and is an appointed member of the
National Statistical Commission of India. He is also a regular
contributor to
newspapers and magazines on economics, politics, and cricket.
And Karvy calls him “Dr. Bhalla is a well known and respected
economist” source:http://www.karvy.com/face2face/surjitbhalla.htm
Now Pub Chick, tell us why you think he shouldn’t be considered an
economist ?
———————————————————————————————————————————–
On why NREGA is a failure, because :-
1) It wasting away hard earned money most of which ends up with Babus,
you Google away on this. I think PubChick lives on Babus kala dhan
that is why she supports NREGA scam.
2) And for thousands of crores it is wasting away, It provides only
TEMPORARY jobs for only 100 days, tell me Pub Chick will these people
and their children go into hibernation for the rest of 265 days ?
3) Money and effort is being used for silly things like planting
tress, rather than in construction of lakhs of schools delivering
skill development courses.
4) These people’s life and employment is dependent on continuous
supply of lakhs of cores. Once the money stop, they lose their job and
many would lose their life,
5) It is hampering the growth of Industry which is lot more
sustainable than NREGA(dependent of lakhs of cores of tax money) which
can provide employment to masses by artificially inflating the cost of
labor and making them less competitive than Vietnam China etc.
6) This money is doing NOTHING in terms of skill and entrepreneurial
development which is the need of hour. With their current skill set
the are simply unemployable in anything other than Agriculture which
we cannot reply upon.
So rather than teaching them how to fish, we are giving them fish for
100 days only.
I guess those 100 days are enough to make the poor vote for the same
people, and keep elites like Pub Chick in power.
While rest of 265 days the poor can contemplate killing themselves and
their children, at least our Pub Chick can drown on tequila.
———————————————————————————————————————————-
On Pub Chick’s use of words like “horny” “ugly” :-
These are clearly a sign of Freudian Projection. Which is defined
as :- “is the unconscious act of denial of a person’s own attributes,
thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world,
such as to the weather, the government, a tool, or to other people.
Thus, it involves imagining or projecting that others have those
feelings.”
So IMHO Pub Chick suffers from some inferiority complex related to her
physical appearance, you know feels “ugly” due social isolation
“horny”.
If feel sad and also concerned for her, because I have seen other
people on Internet who had similar trollish behaviour and would create
a cocoon of lies around themselves related to their physical
appearance and would taunt other random people calling them ugly and
whore etc.
She is obviously trying to project “ugliness” “hornyness” to make
herself feel better, to feel like she is not alone and there might be
people uglier and with more fetishes than her. She does that on
Internet because peoples true appearance is hidden and such Freudian
Projection in real life with real people with result into cognitive
dissonance
But sadly, the trolls cannot keep up with lies. Often their true
pictures and videos would leak and reveal their true identity. I
remember a girl who tried to commit suicide when this happened to her.
So Pub Chick, for your own good please consult a good psychiatrist.
And remember you must not give up on life. And also no matter what the
world says, you must remain confident and believe that there is some
good inside you.
What is outside is irrelevant.
And you can always fall back on your pub and drown in tequila to
forget about these sad things, also you can always come here and troll
random people.
Pub Chick says:
March 29, 2010 at 9:43 pm
Karvy calls him an Economist? What’s next? Rediff? Or that RSS thing
called Organizer? He is not an eminent economist because he is not a
professional economist anymore and has no papers of any repute to
claim at any time. He is now a money manager because he calls himself
that.
And whatever makes you think I claim NREGA is a success? I don’t have
the data to claim either way. I had just pointed out this blog’s
author had made contradicting criticism which can’t both be right. One
can’t claim no money is being spent and also claim it’s fiscally
ruinous. That takes no googling even.
Regarding your Freudian analysis, I suspect Wren & Martin may be more
offended than Freud. That’s alright, we shall work on that.
drummasala says:
March 29, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Jadhav Saheb,
This Pubchick has little IQ. She does not know what BP stands for? i.e
Blood Pressure.
She has negative attraction or fetish towards what she thinks are ugly
men. I think she had earlier fallen in love with one ugly man, who
dumped her. Thats why she has some grudge and thinks every man is
ugly. She definitely needs a psychiatrist.
way2go says:
March 29, 2010 at 11:35 pm
Hey People..just chyll…….. PUBCHIC is just drunk so no need to argue.
She should better find out Why Barkha Datt was awarded and what made
her an eminent journalist?
Maybe Barkha can explain her while both can enjoy in the Pub at the
same time.
offstumped says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:38 am
Dear Pub Chick
Dont know who is sponsoring you but thanks for keeping the comments on
this blog alive.
As far as Surjit S Bhalla’s economic credentials go a simple search on
Google Scholar would have settled the issue.
As far as your other comments on NREGA go
Observation #1 NREGA is a disaster by SS Bhalla’s yardstick because it
doesnt deliver on its promise
Observation #2 NREGA gives a false hope of safety
are distinct and unrrelated.
The first is an objective assessment of the scheme against its
promised goals.
The second is a subjective assessment of voter’s attitude towards NREA
from a electoral politics standpoint.
Hope that settles the issue for you.
Keep them coming.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 5:44 am
If you think those two observations are actually unreLated, what can I
say. Except to say I offer to draw a tautology cheat sheet for you.
And thanks for reinforcing the lack of eminence of our Bhalla with
that scholar link. There is not a dingle paper there worth the
mention. If I did miss something, let me know.
Targeting Middle India – Socio-economic Engineering Part 3 «
Offstumped – Center Right Indian Politics says:
March 30, 2010 at 6:27 am
[...] Targeting Middle India – Socio-economic Engineering Part 3 Third
and Concluding part of series on Socio-Economic Engineering (Part 1 &
Part 2) [...]
offstumped says:
March 30, 2010 at 6:56 am
Please enlighten with tautology and on your yardstick on “worthy of
mention”
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 7:16 am
Sure, will do that when I get to a computer. But I must say it’s
rather astonishing that you state an obvious tautology with a straight
face and call it unrelated.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 10:31 am
Your observation #1 is dependent on actual disbursement and
utilization of the funds. Bhalla is basically saying NREGA is a
failure because it is not even good enough to use the fund it’s
allotted. He also throws some random Rajiv quotes on efficiency in the
middle of the original column — as I remember reading it in the print
version of his column.
Now your Observation #2 says it gives false hope and safety. In your
original post you even claim this is visible on the ground and even
credit this policy of changing electoral outcomes. For a policy to
actually translate to the hope and safety you claim, however false
they may be, observation #1 has to essentially be false. Since the
disbursement of the funds in some sense is what gives the false hope/
change. It is perfectly reasonable to assume those who do get that
sense are not the kind of people who read the entire legislative
paperwork or the latest story on this by The Economist (the one last
week). And your own post accepts to this reality.
So, unless observation #1 is absolutely false, observation #2 cannot
stand. And vice-versa. Now, please pick one of the above and not both
to criticize the NREGA.
Coming to our man Bhalla, I think the established way of ascertaining
someone’s eminence in a modern academic discipline is to hunt for
their citations and the h-index. On that, Bhalla scores a near 0. So,
it’s fair to say he is not an eminent economist. But I think the
looking into his research productivity and citation is meaningless
when he himself does not call him an economist! Forget an eminent one.
That should be your biggest hint.
Jai71 says:
March 30, 2010 at 11:39 am
Pub Chick,
You are IMO driving a logical argument – but not willing to look
beyond the words used per se. And also trying to be simplistic i feel.
A. NREGA is a failure because it did not meet / is not meeting the
goals it had for itself – low disbursement could be one of the issues
B. But NREGA has affected electoral outcomes – there are two aspects
you should look at:
a. To affect electoral outcomes, it is not necessary for NREGA to
actually be implemented FULLY. Implementation to the tune of the vote
swing should be sufficient (am sure you are aware how close the
electoral race is – and what % of votes the winner actually needs)
b. “Poor villager (NREGA recipient) being happy about NREGA” does NOT
mean NREGA SUCCESS! – Some of NREGA goals may have been met, but then
I hope a give away of this size also has some other goals!!
*** Disclaimer – I have only limited knowledge about NREGA and its
goals…
Cheers!
Jai
Mala says:
March 30, 2010 at 11:47 am
@Pubchick – I dont see the purpose of u logging to this blog except to
show your arguementative powers. Perhaps you have memorized wren and
martin as a child but why exhibit that talent here. Is this a forum to
show your language skills? Also be kind enough to show us some link
where Bhalla calls himself a money manager.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:17 pm
Jai,
I think your larger disclaimer must have been about your ignorance of
the electoral sample space and significance parameters of variables. I
am ignorant on those aspects as well. Which is why I took this blog
authors’ assertion at face value for the purpose of this argument.
I have no idea of NREGA and its merits on the ground. My only point is
that this author was being intellectually dishonest by using two
contradictory criticisms.
Mala, I don’t know where you live. But I am sure Business Standard is
available in some form. Please buy a copy on a Sunday and read
Bhalla’s byline. And, why would I shy away from showing my
argumentative powers if I think this blog author is being self-
contradictory?
Jai71 says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Pub Chick,
You are unbelievable – so your ignorance is better than mine… wow!
What logic & argument!!
And as for intellectual dishonesty – please re-read my post.
Bottomline: NREGA affects electoral outcome (positively for Congress)
_IS_NOT_EQUAL_ to NREGA is a failure.
if you still dont get it – pl stop acting like you are some guru of
logical reasoning…
Cheers!
Jai
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Jai, I am sorry I actually thought you were non-ugly.
Jai71 says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Hey Pub Chick!
I like what you are thinking…
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Excellent.
Now get back to argumentation and ignore the argument.
cynicalcount says:
March 30, 2010 at 2:02 pm
I remember a year or two ago there was this troll called “Balaji” who
used to act in a fashion similar to this newbie troll “Pubchick”.
Maybe, Balaji has changed his gender. Good thing about them is they
keep the debates going with light/fun postings which are can provide
laughter for sometime atleast.
-Pubchick – Do you have a blog somewhere? I would like to get my daily
laughter quota from there if you dont mind.
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 30, 2010 at 5:23 pm
>Now your Observation #2 says it gives false hope and safety. In your original post you even claim this is visible on the ground and even credit this policy of changing electoral outcomes.
Electoral gains can be cause of many reasons, one must remember that
those who handle the process of elections also handle the process of
disbursement of NREGA’s money.
And one mustn’t underestimate our Babudom’s capability to squeeze out
some honey for Buccha logs, may be PapaPub chick brings a lot of honey
or Daru for our PubChick to drown her depression and self
loathing ??
And whichever party helps to increase under the table and over the
table income, will get Officialdom’s protection
At the same time, some chillad can be thrown to the needy the same way
they are given chicken and daru before voting for our eminent Mannu.
And let us not underestimate ignorance of the masses, who votes simply
on the basis of promises made, especially when those are for Jaat and
Minorities.
>For a policy to actually translate to the hope and safety you claim, however false they may be, observation #1 has to essentially be false. Since the disbursement of the funds in some sense is what gives the false hope/ change. It is perfectly reasonable to assume those who do get that sense are not the kind of people who read the entire legislative paperwork or the latest story on this by The Economist (the one last week). And your own post accepts to this reality.
Can’t help your ignorance or maybe daru that makes you see world in
black ‘n white, But lets work on it (you won’t need daru if only you
world work on your mental illness and physical situation).
The poor can get false sense of hope thanks to promises by Babus-Baba-
Mannu-Amma(s), that if they lose their current job or if agriculture
isn’t enough to drown the hunger that they can fall back on 100 days
of GUARANTEED job.
At the same time, there MANY who managed to get job for only few days
and not 100 and many more didn’t get paid for work. So even those who
are getting work right now, may not get work in future or many not get
paid. So they are also libing on flase sense of hope
And lastly, this schme in not certainly not sustainable and might get
cancelled of amended in future, hence again it gives false sense of
hope to poor.
But at least our Pub Chick is getting her daru, right. ??
Now was it so hard to figure it out on your own ??, of course it was
but we will work on it Pub Chick and make your feel smart and Pretty.
So lets do a mantra because certainly this is too much work for your
sad brain, :-
Repeat following 20 times every 6 hours or when you feel very sad :-
“I am smarty, I am pretty, not horny, not ugly, THE WORLD is HORNY,
THE WORLD IS UGLY, but I am PRETTY”
>So, unless observation #1 is absolutely false, observation #2 cannot stand. And vice-versa. Now, please pick one of the above and not both to criticize the NREGA.
Experience cognitive dissonance ? Just do as your Psychologist told
you to do when this happens, don’t accept the reality and kindly
continue with your self righteous journey through your ass.
>Coming to our man Bhalla, I think the established way of ascertaining someone’s eminence in a modern academic discipline
Since when was Economics was limited to “academic discipline” ?? Sure
there is need to teach and further its development, but this is done
with objective to apply this knowledge.
And Bhalla is involved in its application, his work requires the
knowledge of functioning if economies and how it can be exploited for
better returns.
So your way is simply the daru doing the thinking, it is certainly not
the established way. The established way of ascertaining eminence on
an individual is by the recognition of their knowledge ans skills by
their peers and recognized institution in the said field.
> is to hunt for their citations and the h-index. On that, Bhalla scores a near 0. So, it’s fair to say he is not an eminent economist.
Let me say that this is a big hint for everyone that Pub Chick is a
retard or simply ignorant.
>But I think the looking into his research productivity and citation is meaningless when he himself does not call him an economist! Forget an eminent one.
Did he tell you personally that he is not an economist ?, and what do
you call people who have studied and apply the knowledge of economics
in different feild ?
His firm is involved in “economic research”, yet you are still spewing
our this drivel.
Lets see what his firm which is involved in economic research says
about Bhalla :-
“Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla is the Chairman of Oxus Investments. His profile
provides Oxus with a powerful mix of fund management, and applied
economic and policy research. His experience with premier policy
institutes such as the Rand Corporation, the Brookings Institution and
the World Bank offers useful input in formulating global macro
strategies.
Since 1991, Dr. Bhalla has been directly engaged in financial markets.
Prior to establishing Oxus, he was Director and Chief Global
Strategist, Emerging Markets Deutsche Bank; Vice President and
Proprietary Trader Goldman Sachs; and Chief Investment Officer, World
Bank. He has been a consultant/advisor to Warburg Pincus since 1998.
He is on the board of a major think tank (NCAER), as well as Gargi
College, Delhi University. He has been a member of the Change and
Prosperity program at The Aspen Institute since 2002. He is also a
frequent contributor to media on issues related to government policy
and financial markets. He is also the author of a widely read
fortnightly column in leading financial newspapers.
___Dr. Bhalla holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University____,
a Masters degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from the
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and a Bachelors degree in
Electrical Engineering from Purdue University”.
——————————————————————————————————————————
So he have studied Economics and that do at one of the best
institution in the world, those who can use Google Scholar certainly
won’t be acting like a retard, in his work he applies his knowledge in
Economic research, recognized institution in field of economics like
Delhi School of Economics,Rand Corporation, World Bank,Goldman
Sachs,Deutsche Bank have recognized him and hence he is an EMINENT
ECONOMIST.
Also he have written various papers, studies and books in the same
field.
This is obvious enough for anyone who is endowed with even average
mental faculties, but certainly it is too much stress for a Pub Chik.
>That should be your biggest hint.
It is a hint that our Pub Chick is suffering from some serious disease
preventing her/him the use of more than few brain cells.
I know how you feel Pub Chick, no worries there is more to the world
that Sex and Knowledge and Love. There is Daru.
And yes those Hindu Sri Ram Sena guys who left you high and dry and
ignored you as if you were some kind of stool even when you were
trying hard to lure even a blind to show some love.
They did this because they were Ugly and Horny and into Ugly and Horny
girls.
They couldn’t see the pretty in you.
But the Psecular Zakhir Naik sees the Pretty in you, so what he ues
the faciliy of bown paper bag. He is into Pubchik. Hes loves your.
And yes YOU ARE PRETTY, and you don’t need to devour those sleeiping
pills because there is someone who can see pretty in you.
And then there is always Daru, that you can fall back on.
Just repeat the mantra I taught you.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 7:44 pm
This is awesome. BabuJhadhav, I now nominate you my first project. I
take upon myself the task of making you non-ugly and non-stupid.
6 months.
Ashok says:
March 30, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Pub Chick seems to be paid by Congis to act as their full time
supporter on the web. They may have hired lot of others too. After
controlling TV and news paper media, now they want to control the web
too. Unless these “ugly” creatures are blocked, we cannot have
sensible discussion here.
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 30, 2010 at 8:14 pm
@Pub Chick
Yup that is the attitude you need to survive in this hard environment,
especially with your physical _situation_
And yes the world is ugly and you are pretty,
In fact we need a internalBeauty Contest for Special People to remind
that there exist some internal beauty in people of your kind.
BTW, I can see noticeable difference in your behavior so it seems that
Daru and Zakir Naiks Brown bag therapy is working you.
And are you chaning the “I am Pretty and the rest Ugly” mantra ??
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Ashok, who is Congis? I really would like to get paid for this though
— that would make for a novel that many many white boys will fawn
over.
drummasala says:
March 30, 2010 at 8:31 pm
Because of pubchik, Offstumped has become very interesting. People
relieves their day to day tensions by reading pubchick’s posts. Keep
them coming.
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 30, 2010 at 8:42 pm
@Pub Chick
You should stop the use of word “ugly” “horny”, remember you need to
do this to feel good about yourself.
And you need to feel good about yourself so that you don’t drastic
description to end your harsh life by cutting your wrist and such.
==========================================
Guys make Pub Chick feel comfortable, by doing this you are doing
social service by helping an emo.
Therefore help make Pub Chick feel pretty, as far as her rest of the
drivel is concerned please ignore it as she is not in proper state of
mind to use more than fe brain cells.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Babu boy, here is first lesson. Stop speaking to others assuming
intellect over them. Now this mostly makes you non-ugly.
But it’s easier said than done. Watch me.
drummasala says:
March 30, 2010 at 10:21 pm
Pubchick, do you know any pubs for ugly horny men? I think you might
know lot of those.
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/03/27/ladder-of-opportunity-versus-safety-of-the-net/
March 30, 2010 • 6:27 am
Targeting Middle India – Socio-economic Engineering Part 3
Third and Concluding part of series on Socio-Economic Engineering
(Part 1 & Part 2)
Duetsche Bank Research released a report on February 15th 2010 titled
The Middle Class in India – Issues and Opportunities
Some highlights extracted from this report that are of relevance to
this discussion on Socio-Economic Engineering and targeting Middle
India.
#1 -While there is no official definition of the middle class,
estimates range from 30 million to approximately 300 million people.
#2 Even using the most generous estimates of the group‟s size, the
middle class comprises less than 30 percent of the population
#3 The importance of the middle class lies in the fact that it is the
fastest growing segment of the population
#4 while the total population will increase almost 30% between 2005
and 2025, the middle class population will increase approximately 10
times or almost 1000% during this period
#5 the middle class might see less of a link between their priorities
(the CLSA survey found the number one political priority for the
middle class over the next 12 months was employment) and a new
government vs. the poor (who are typically more concerned with things
such as basic healthcare infrastructure or farm loan waivers that are
more directly linked to the government).
#6 A stronger political drive in the middle class would force or
enable the government to also focus on issues that are of concern to
them.
The report also puts into perspective why the flawed Liberal Left
agenda of the Congress is meeting with electoral success
#1 The Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality where 100 = high
levels of inequality and 0 equals no inequality in an economy) is
rather low for India overall compared to other EMs at less than 35 but
has been increasing since economic liberalisation
#2 although the poverty rate has been reduced, the rich continue to
get richer in comparison
#3 As the middle class remains apathetic towards political
participation as is currently thought, then the trend of focusing on
poorer (often rural) voters to win elections could remain the dominant
political paradigm in India.
The Liberal Left agenda of the Congress has benefited from the twin
factors of Middle Class apathy and Demographic advantage by
simultaneously targeting the poor and the elite rich.
This simultaneous targeting of a Demographic majority by the Congress
can be best appreciated when viewed through the prism of what Rahul
Gandhi calls “Growth with distribution”.
“Growth with distribution” is not just about targeting the poor with
entitlements but it also about keeping the elite rich in power through
this unholy nexus between Crony Capitalism and Politicians.
Pratap Bhanu Mehta writing in the Indian Express today (clicking on
this link may lead to virus infection), alerts us once again to the
Congress’ strategy to consolidate power.
The Congress is widening its target demographic base by giving a new
definition to the Poverty Line to expand Entitlements and is giving a
religious twist to Backwardness to increase Quotas.
But then as Pratap Bhanu Mehta puts it hubris and complacency can
still trip the Congress but it will take bold imagination for an
alternative agenda to succeed.
Where is the Opportunity
As the Duetsche Bank Report says
#1 The growth of the middle class and the economic growth of India are
in a virtuous cycle.
#2 As the middle class grows and continues to increase domestic
demand, the economy will also continue to grow
#4 The growth of the middle class will force more businesses to expand
and also force new business to take root
The opportunity for the Center Right agenda lies in what the Deutsche
Bank Report calls
the key point in ensuring that the link between middle class growth
and economic growth continues to strengthen
And that is in
providing the right education and skills to the middle class and
creating enough opportunities in society to absorb these
Conclusion
Socio Economic Engineering could be the vehicle for the Center Right
movement to target Middle India with a “bold and imaginative” agenda.
A beginning must be made by
Step#1 – Giving a new broad definition to this fast growing
demographic segment called the “Middle Class”
Step#2 – Micro-targeting based on issues that directly relate to
economic priorities of the various sub-segments that make up this
broad Middle Class
Step#3 – Structuring an electoral agenda around the “Ladder of
Opportunites plus Safety Net” paradigm to address those priorities
22 Responses
Umesh says:
March 30, 2010 at 7:34 am
Yossarin,
A moot point. Your views are very well taken. But, the problem is
that, u need to articulate the same in much more simplified fashion.
The Bottomline of ur argument deals with economics. But, this blog
attracts mostly Ideological people.
if you want to attract a different segment , you might need to write
in a much more lucid and simpler language.
Bottomline is, india understands money. You could write this in a
language ur ordinary IT professional or a simple trader in a
stationary shop understands better.
have to say, that ur comments are very incisive.
offstumped says:
March 30, 2010 at 7:38 am
Umeshji – point well taken, all debate is work in progress, will
refine the points over time with contextual examples.
arjun says:
March 30, 2010 at 11:26 am
BJP has to do the following;
1) Hold the base i.e 18% of the vote share.
2) Increase voteshare among SCs STs. Even a gain of 2-3% voteshare
would reduce Congress voteshare by the same amount. This ca be done by
consistently reaching out to SCs/STs and giving them prominent
position in the organisation.
3) Alliances with regional parties in key states to consolidate anti
Congress votes.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 12:42 pm
arjun,
why are you worried about the BJP? Does the BJP worry about you? But
if you ugly or horny, no one will. The answer, my boy, is Unilever. Or
some other company that produces skincare products.
Maybe we should make the global CEO of Unilever India’s Prime Minister
by default. That will solve bad politics and ugly people. Two birds,
one stone.
Though, horniness might remain yet.
cynicalcount says:
March 30, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Pubchick – Why are you worried about Arjun or anyone else being ugly
or horny? Does the ugly or horny people worry about you? The answer my
boy or my girl is a good counsellor. Or some good reputed mental
asylum.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 2:19 pm
Worry not darling, I shall help you too.
cynicalcount says:
March 30, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Unfortunately I would have to decline your offer Pubchick. Kindly
continue your rantings here. Good fun they are.
Pub Chick says:
March 30, 2010 at 2:41 pm
I am the one ranting? Okay!
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 30, 2010 at 6:50 pm
@Pub Chick
You are still carrying around the grudge, that certainly isn’t good
for you.
You know how that affects your diet and BP and in turn your physical
appearance.
This is a vicious cycle that you must come out of.
Repeat after me :-
“Sri Ram sena boys neglected me not because I am ugly even when I was
trying hard to lure them, but because _they_ are ugly and horny and
are into ugly and horny girls”
Say that :-
“I am Pub Chick, and I have inner beauty that my love Pseculars like
Zakir Naik can see”
Also :-
“My Daru loves me and makes me feel good about myself”
——————————————————–
Guys let us sympathize with people with mental illness, lets make her
feel better about herself. Otherwise who knows she might give up and
devour sleeping pills leaving behind one ugly world that continuously
reminded her of her external appearance.
She compensates for lack of love and self confidence with use of
perverted word and indulges in Freudian Projection.
Poor PubChick, I think it is time for your Daru therapy. Remember
world is ugly, but you have inner beauty.
Fanatic_Hiindu says:
March 30, 2010 at 10:45 pm
Awright,
If pubchick responds this will be fun . Incidentally, we Hindu
fanatics are enjoy our drink too along with a spice of Pink floyd.
Too bad the Christmas carols with the Paedophiliac touch does not
enthuse us well enough.
Jingle the bell , Pussy’s[Pun completely unintended] in the well
Where are you, My sweet[pinch of salt] little Pubby queen?
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 31, 2010 at 12:28 am
@Fanatic_Hiindu
She may call you horny and ugly, but trust me bro you attention has
given her a new life.
After the attack by the Boys of Sri Ram Sena, she was heart broken
that every one ignored her as if she didn’t exist.
What you have done is a pure social serivice, might have even saved a
life.
Aapne Punya ka kaam Kiya hai.
I think at least today she don’t need to resort to intoxicant to put
her self to rest.
Sweet dreams, remember at least Fanatic_Hiindu likes you.
And yes chant your mantra.
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 31, 2010 at 12:29 am
[Sweet dreams, remember at least Fanatic_Hiindu likes you.
And yes chant your mantra.]( <<<<<< Meant for dear Pub Chick)
Ketan says:
March 31, 2010 at 2:51 am
My suspicion is that Pub Chick and Babu are the same people, just what
while posting her comments as Babu, Pub Chick is making more typos
than usual to distract others.
Can any eminent impostorologist prove that Pub Chick and Babu are not
the same people?
psecular says:
March 31, 2010 at 4:04 am
Guys IGNORE pube-chic,the gender bender. It has hired someone to write
English paragraphs with some heavy words and is happily inserting
“ugly”, “horny” in between the sentences to show them off as her own.
Its plagiarizing shamelessly. Nevertheless, I observe that pube chics
obsession for Indians (fox & the sour grapes) and its fear of a
stronger India are real
Pub Chick says:
March 31, 2010 at 8:35 am
I am quite insulted that you think I am some random guy who can’t even
type. Plus, I am also flattered you think I plagiarize.
On balance, I guess I am.
Fanatic_Hiindu says:
March 31, 2010 at 10:03 am
ok, if anybody thinks I like pubchick, all I say is that, forget it.
I’ve much better taste.
Secondly, Pubchick thinks that he/she is the ulra-cool lady and us
Hindu extremists dont have a sense of Humour, so, I’m giving him/her a
taste of his/her own medicine.
It is interesting that he/she chose not to respond to me. Shows how
scared he/she is.
Other guys, Dont take it seriously. Let us wait and see if Pubchick
responds. I bet that he/she is too scared to do so, since, he/she met
someone of him/her own size who can beat him/her in him/her own game.
Cheers
Ketan says:
March 31, 2010 at 11:15 am
Oh dear Pub Chick, please don’t feel insulted. And even if you did,
that was not the intent. It was implicit in my previous comment that
those typos were deliberate on your part.
To plagiarize would be to not just copy, but also claim that work to
be originally one’s own?
And why has Babu not yet responded expressing his feeling of shock/
jubilation at finally being recognized for what he is?
Fanatic_Hiindu says:
March 31, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I’m coming around to your view, Ketan. You might be right. Good
deduction. Cheers
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 31, 2010 at 1:11 pm
@Fanatic_Hiindu @Ketan
Biraders, ugly folks like you and me cannot be as beautiful like our
Pub Chick. I doubt if you fully appreciate the beauty of Pub Chick.
May be you need some daru or some paper bag(for pub chick) to see her
Prettiness.
rightnow I am busy and tired of typing from mobile phone. I will be
remind you of contrasting differences in beauty of ugky folks like us
hindus and beautiful people like Osama Zakir Naik and Pub Chick.
Ketan says:
March 31, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Babu,
Now I have become even more convinced that you are Pub Chick
masquerading (hope, I got the spelling right!) as Babu.
The more you try to convince me otherwise, deeper will my suspicion
get.
Fanatic_Hindu,
Just a few days back Babu/Pub Chick and I had reached this conclusion
that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder (at least Pub Chick did
not contest this maxim).
Truth is elective (not a typo). And, Pub Chick is spectacular.
cynicalcount says:
March 31, 2010 at 3:59 pm
@ketan – Please stop trivialising. I didnt expect this from you. Let
us all stop talking about this pubchick and discuss the issues related
to the topic of this post by Offstumped. It is better to laugh at
posts by pubchick rather than giving him/her any importance. Its like
how media gives importance to non-entities and makes them larger than
life. He/She is not worth even talking about and my request to you is
to stop mentioning that nick. Thanks.
BabuJadhav(Jai Shri Ram) says:
March 31, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Bhaiyon Naam Main Kya Rakha Hai, Bhavnao Ko Samjho.
I am certainly not worthy enough to be compared to Pub Chik.
===================================================
Okay now, even I am tired of trolling a troll. And cynicalcount is
right, this tool is not deserving of any more of our attention. Sadly
I must admit my mistake for feeding this POS Pub Shit, I thought I
will keep this character busy but this really affected the process of
dialogue and debate.
Centre-right shouldn’t be trivialized by such nonsensical exchange of
intellectual excrete.
I am sorry.
========================================================
@Pub Shit Hoe, before you work on me kindly work on your own arguments
that were raised by you regarding.(Silence was pretty deafening and
was an expose of your unmatched intellectual vanity) :-
1) Why do you think that Bhalla is not an economist when _Dr._ Bhalla
holds a PhD in Economics from _Princeton_ University.
2) Why do you think he is not an _eminent_ economist, with his
illustrious educational credentials :-
” Dr. Bhalla holds a PhD in Economics from Princeton University____, a
Masters degree in Public Policy and International Affairs from the
Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and a Bachelors degree in
Electrical Engineering from Purdue University”.”
========Occupational achievement :-=====================
“”Dr. Surjit S. Bhalla is the Chairman of Oxus Investments. His
profile provides Oxus with a powerful mix of fund management, and
applied economic and policy research. His experience with premier
policy institutes such as the Rand Corporation, the Brookings
Institution and the World Bank offers useful input in formulating
global macro strategies.
Since 1991, Dr. Bhalla has been directly engaged in financial markets.
Prior to establishing Oxus, he was Director and Chief Global
Strategist, Emerging Markets Deutsche Bank; Vice President and
Proprietary Trader Goldman Sachs; and Chief Investment Officer, World
Bank. He has been a consultant/advisor to Warburg Pincus since 1998.”
========His contribution to academia :-==================
“He is on the board of a major think tank (NCAER), as well as Gargi
College, Delhi University. He has been a member of the Change and
Prosperity program at The Aspen Institute since 2002. He is also a
frequent contributor to media on issues related to government policy
and financial markets. He is also the author of a widely read
fortnightly column in leading financial newspapers.”
Other than the numerous and well cited papers and books he have
written, (learn to use Google Scholar and comprehend what comes on the
screen before you. And please don’t blame the poor computer and the
world, because the problem lies between your keyboard and the chair.)
And lastly he is recognized by Media, Economic Institutions,
Educational Institutions and Governmental Insinuations(and that to the
very best / big / global ones at that)
3) Alleged contradictions in post regarding NREGA
Your fallacy have been well contradicted, either prove the refutation
wrong or accept that you are a well established retard deserving of no
attention.
4) By your own measure of ascertaining ones eminence in particular
field, Bhalla is very much eminent. You must agree that this
establishes your lack of intellect.
5) Why IYO is an Economist only limited to academic activities, why
cannot IYO a person be considered eminent for expertise/work/
achievement in the field of application of economics (which you are
too ignorant to know that this field exist and is really the objective
for the knowledge R&D by academia)
6) You said something about his skills and how he is not very good at
what he does, FYI in last 5 years his investments had higher returns
than say HDFC/Reliance Growth/DSPBR/IDFC/Birla Sun life/Fiedelity
Equity/ICICI Prudential/Tata Grown.
Hell returning as good as the index is considered to be a very good
investment (according to Buffet), but ROI on his investment were ~50%
better than index.
Hence in light of the stated facts it is very obvious that your
contribution to this blog is :- SHUNYA, in fact a 10 year old kid can
come up with better observations.
So take my advise, but yourself out of misery as you are trying to
hard to get attention in this world. Any further direct indirect
requests for hand-holding and attention will be ignored.
You can ask for attention from Psecs like Zakir Nalaiks and Osamas of
the world who will join you in the mission of psecular eradication of
ugly and horny non Psecular an non EvanJihadi-Psemitics.
Ram Ram
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/targeting-middle-india-socio-economic-engineering-part-3/
Posted: Wed, Mar 31 2010. 9:56 PM IST
Bachchan meets the worldThe actor is actually available for all kinds
of things, from interviews with rookie journalists to launching books
to becoming part of public service campaignsSidharth Bhatia
A huge picture on his blog shows Amitabh Bachchan with his mouth open,
in what looks like a roar, with a tiger in the background. This is
Bachchan expressing his support for the Save the Tiger campaign, but
it could be a double metaphor: his anger at his critics and his
proximity to Bal Thackeray, whose party symbol is the roaring tiger.
Such a misinterpretation would confirm Bachchan’s fears that many are
out to malign his good name. Recently, he has been criticized by Raj
Thackeray, the Congress and the media. On Twitter, people are
expressing their distaste for his support to various controversial
politicians and causes. Not surprisingly, Bachchan is feeling hounded
and is now hitting back on his blog.
When he went to attend a function on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in
Mumbai last week, the local Congress objected to Bachchan’s
association with Gujarat as its tourism brand ambassador. How could a
Congress chief minister sit on the same dais with a man who was ready
to help the Bharatiya Janata Party, that too someone like Narendra
Modi? Chief minister Ashok Chavan, always on the lookout for ways to
please his Delhi bosses, tried to distance himself from Bachchan till
it was pointed out that the star had been officially invited.
Local political machinations were behind this so-called controversy.
Chavan is under siege from his coalition partner Nationalist Congress
Party and also from local Congress party bosses. A day or two later, a
recorded speech by Abhishek Bachchan on the occasion of Earth Day was
pulled out hours before Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit landed at
a function.
Bachchan is wondering if there is a “pattern” in all this. It would be
naive to think there isn’t, given the vehemence with which Congress
spokesperson Manish Tiwari went after the actor on television
channels. A bit rich this, considering that Bachchan became a Congress
member of Parliament after the 1984 elections in the wake of the anti-
Sikh riots in Delhi and elsewhere.
Bachchan’s other bête noire is the media which, for him, is
incompetent, arrogant, unprofessional and, most of all, against him
and his family. He regularly takes digs at journalists, sometimes by
name, and is at war with a large newspaper group whose tabloid paper
carried a report about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being afflicted with an
illness that prevented her from getting pregnant.
So what does all of this make Bachchan? A crotchety old uncle, an
angry ageing man, an arrogant star who can’t stand being criticized?
The irony is that Bachchan is one of the most accessible stars in
Mumbai. His office never fails to reply to a message or a request, and
he is available for all kinds of things, from interviews with rookie
journalists to launching books to becoming part of public service
campaigns. So what gives with this newfound aggression? The truth is
that Bachchan has discovered that he can now access his fans directly.
His blog is popular, and he writes it every night. That has been an
empowering experience and he is encouraged by the response he gets
when he hits back.
But there is also little doubt that he has become touchy at being
questioned about his choice of friends—Amar Singh, Bal Thackeray,
Mulayam Singh Yadav and now Narendra Modi: This is, by any token, not
a guest list any man in public life would like to associate with.
By taking on the media and cohabiting with the likes of Thackeray and
Modi, Bachchan has won no friends. But the pettiness and hypocrisy of
the Congress has gone too far. On his part, Bachchan would do well by
shrugging off adverse comments instead of choosing to react to
everything. He has the right to speak out, but we expect more from our
greatest movie icon.
Sidharth Bhatia is a Mumbai-based senior journalist. Comment at
other...@livemint.com
http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/31215657/Bachchan-meets-the-world.html?h=B
BJP-Sena to roll out big guns for AMC polls
Syed Rizwanullah, TNN, Apr 1, 2010, 05.57am IST
AURANGABAD: The Shiv Sena-BJP combine is all set to rope in national-
level party leaders to campaign for its candidates for the April 11
Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The Sena is also planning to introduce Aditya Thackeray, son of the
party's executive president Uddhav Thackeray, in the town by
organising his road show in the run-up to the polls.
Speaking to reporters here on Wednesday, Sena deputy leader and MP
Chandrakant Khaire and state BJP unit vice-president Haribhau Bagade
announced the list of big names being brought in to campaign. The BJP
big guns include its national president Nitin Gadkari and senior
leaders Gopinath Munde, Eknath Khadse, Vinod Tawde, Smriti Irani,
Poonam Mahajan and Sudheer Mungantiwar. The Sena list includes Uddhav
Thackeray, his son Aditya, Manohar Joshi, Subhash Desai, Anant Gite,
Anand Adsul and Vishwanath Nerurkar.
Congress candidate Abdul Sajed has already been declared elected
unopposed. Of the remaining 98 wards, the saffron combine is
contesting from 88 wards the Shiv Sena from 55 and the BJP from 33.
The duo has also declared that a strong warning has been issued to
rebels who have filed their nominations from crucial wards to withdraw
within two days and support the official nominees. If they fail to do
so, they will be sacked from the respective parties, the alliance
said.
Some Sena rebels have been using pictures of the party's leaders in
their election material. "We will lodge complaints with the Election
Commission (EC) against such people," Khaire said.
The Sena-BJP leaders have also accused Congress leaders including
guardian minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, industries minister
Rajendra Darda and minister of state for civic supplies Abdul Sattar
of misusing government machinery to influence voters and candidates.
"They have also lured many of our workers by offering them tickets,"
Khaire said.
Specifically naming Abdul Sattar, who had assaulted a Congress
activist following a row over party tickets, Khaire alleged, "He is
threatening many of our workers and also misusing the police machinery
for this purpose. We will approach the EC and draw its attention to
ministers' meddling in the election process."
"The combine is sure to retain its hold on the AMC by bagging at least
55 seats," district Sena unit president Ambadas Danve said.
Dismal conviction rate in rape cases in Maharashtra
Umesh Isalkar & Mihir Tanksale, TNN, Mar 31, 2010, 06.06am IST
PUNE: The poor annual rate of conviction in rape cases in Maharashtra
— barely 15-16 per cent as per statistics recently published by the
state criminal investigation department (CID) — has raised the hackles
of human rights activists in the city.
On an average, as many as 1,400 rape cases were registered each year
in the state between 2006 and 2009. While the conviction in these
cases has been pathetic, conviction in related areas like sexual
harassment and molestation is equally dismal even as these offences
are only rising every year, the report says.
Dilip Bhujbal, superintendent of police (law and research) of the CID,
told TOI on Monday that crimes against women in Maharashtra have been
on the rise over the last three years. He said the state government
has initiated measures to ensure more convictions in these cases. “A
comprehensive sensitisation programme for police officers is regularly
conducted at the Centre for Police Research (CPR) in Pune.
Besides, NGOs working against human trafficking and other crimes have
been roped in to train police officials,” he said.
Training in methods of collecting evidence to help victims during
trials, leading to conviction, is imparted during these programmes,
Bhujbal said.
According to the CID report, the state registered 1,500 cases of rape
in 2006, 1,452 in 2007 and 1,558 cases in 2008.
Human rights activists in the city have expressed serious concern over
the situation. According to an analysis done by Asim Sarode, who is
working on criminal justice reforms, the percentage of conviction in
all rape cases was 16.21 in 2006, 16.69 in 2007 and 15.25 in 2008.
On the reasons for the low conviction rate, Sarode said, “Sexual abuse
that does not amount to penile penetration should be included as a
crime. Rape victims must be given interim compensation when there is
prima facie evidence and final compensation after conviction.”
According to Sarode, only 8.43%, 5.95% and 7.37% cases of rape,
molestation and sexual harassment respectively were tried in 2008.
Private schools to face penalty for violating RTE: SIbal
PTI, Apr 1, 2010, 02.40pm IST
NEW DELHI: All private and minority schools have to reserve 25 percent
seats in elementary education for underprivileged children, and any
breach of the Right to Education act will fetch punishment, human
resource development minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.
Sibal told Times Now television that it was obligatory to set aside a
quarter of all seats for poor children from classes 1 to 8 but added
that the reservation would start in Class 1 only from 2011.
It would take eight years by the time the reservation extends to Class
8, he pointed out.
Asked if there will be penalty for not complying with the legislation,
the minister said: "It is now law, it can be statutorily enforced."
He said both aided and non-aided schools across the country have to
follow the legislation.
Sibal warned that schools will not be allowed to segregate students
from the disadvantage community in any form. "That is not acceptable
to us," he said.
The minister clarified that minority schools were not exempt from the
act.
"We believe every minority institution would itself like to (go for
the reservation). There are disadvantaged sections in minority
communities too. The minorities will be part of the national
endeavour."
The government, he said, was "committed to root out the capitation
fee" from the education system. "I will not spare anybody who indulges
in this educational malpractice."
The minister said the legislation would succeed only if all the
stakeholders join hands. "(Educating the child) is a community effort.
We are not doing this ourselves. We are doing this for the unborn
child".
The Right to Education act came into force on Thursday as a
fundamental right.
From today, every child has a right to education
PTI, Apr 1, 2010, 09.48am IST
Children of India are our future: Manmohan SinghNEW DELHI: Nearly
eight years after the Constitution was amended to make education a
fundamental right, the government today implemented a historic law to
provide free and compulsory education to all children in age group of
6-14 years.
The 86th Constitutional amendment making education a fundamental right
was passed by Parliament in 2002. The Right of Children to Free and
Compulsory Education Act, a law to enable the implementation of the
fundamental right, was passed by Parliament last year. Both the
Constitutional amendment and the new law came into force from today.
The new law makes it obligatory on part of the state governments and
local bodies to ensure that every child gets education in a school in
the neighbourhood.
Its implementation will directly benefit close to one crore children
who do not go to schools at present. These children, who have either
dropped out from schools or have never been to any educational
institution, will be enrolled in schools.
The Right To Education is being touted by the UPA government as
another major achievement after Right To Information Act and National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
At present, there are nearly 22 crore children in the relevant age
group. However, 4.6 per cent of these children (nearly 92 lakh) are
out of school, a ministry official said.
The school management committee or the local authority will identify
the drop-outs or out of school children above six years of age and
admit them in classes appropriate to their age after giving special
training.
The Act makes it a right of every child to get education. The Act
makes it obligatory for the appropriate governments to ensure that
every child gets free elementary education.
The Act mandates that even private educational institutions have to
reserve 25 per cent seats for children from weaker sections.
Certain schools have already challenged the law in the Supreme Court
as being "unconstitutional" and violating fundamental rights of
unaided private educational institutions. However, HRD Minister Kapil
Sibal has said that legal process would not affect the implementation
of law.
The Finance Commission has provided Rs 25,000 crore to the states for
implementation of the Act.
As per the government's estimate, there will be a requirement of Rs
1.71 lakh crore in the next five years for implementation of the Act.
Sibal said that the government has arranged the required funds for
implementing the law.
The Act says no school can deny admission to a student and all schools
need to have trained teachers. In case of schools not having trained
teachers, they will have to comply with the provision within three
years.
As per the new law, the schools need to have certain minimum
facilities like adequate teachers, playground and infrastructure. The
government will evolve some mechanism to help marginalised schools
comply with the provisions of the Act.
The government has already prepared model rules which have been
circulated to the states for preparing their own rules for
implementation of the Act. The Centre has also prepared separate rules
for the Union Territories which will be notified by the Law Ministry
next week.
As per the Model rules, the local bodies and the state governments
will undertake household surveys and neighbourhood school mapping to
ensure that all children are sent to school.
The rules say that the state governments or local authorities will
determine the neighbourhood schools by undertaking school mapping.
Such agencies shall ensure that no child is subjected to caste, class,
religious or gender abuse in the school.
The local authority will conduct a household survey and maintain a
record of all children in its jurisdiction. The record will contain
detailed information about the child and the parents and will specify
whether the child belongs to the weaker section or disadvantaged group
or having any disability.
The state government or local authorities will identify children with
disabilities and children from disadvantaged groups every year.
Unaided and private schools shall ensure that children from weaker
sections and disadvantaged groups shall not be segregated from the
other children in the classrooms nor shall their classes be held at
places and timings different from the classes held for the other
children.
The new law will ensure that quality education is provided to children
of all community, including minorities and backward classes.
However, the reservation for weaker section will not be implemented
from this year as the admission season is almost over. It will be
implemented from 2011-12.
The state government and local authorities will establish primary
schools within walking distance of one km of the neighbourhood. In
case of children for Class VI to VIII, the school should be within a
walking distance of three km of the neighbourhood.
The government has prepared a short film on the new law which would be
aired on TV channels to create awareness.
I am what I am today because of education: PM
PTI, Apr 1, 2010, 09.55am IST
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said the government was
committed to ensuring that all children irrespective of gender and
social category have access to education and fund constraints would
not be allowed to hamper implementation of the Right to Education
Act.
Addressing the nation as the Right to Education Act went into force on
Thursday, he said "the government is committed to ensuring that all
children irrespective of gender and social category, have access to
education."
"Our government, in partnership with state governments, will ensure
that financial constraints do not hamper the implementation of the
Right to Education Act" he said.
Adding a personal touch to the importance of education, the Prime
Minister recalled his own childhood days as someone born in a family
of modest means who had to walk a long distance to go to school. "I
read under the dim light of a kerosene lamp. I am what I am today
because of education," he said.
"I want every Indian child, girl and boy, to be so touched by the
light of education. I want every Indian to dream of a better future
and live that dream", Singh said.
Recalling the desire of Gopal Krishna Gokhale about 100 years ago when
he had urged the Imperial Assembly to confer on the Indian people the
Right to Education, Singh said about 90 years later the Constitution
was amended to enshrine the Right to Education as a fundamental
right.
"Today, our government comes before you to redeem the pledge of giving
all our children the right to elementary education," Singh said adding
"this demonstrates our national commitment to the education of our
children and to the future of India ".
Pointing out that India is a country of young people, he said "it is
the belief of our government that if we nurture our children and young
people with the right education, India's future as a strong and
prosperous country is secure."
Singh said the government at the Centre, in states and union
territories and authorities at district and village levels must work
together as part of a common national endeavour to realise the Right
to Education and asked the states to join in this national effort with
"full resolve and determination".
Noting that success of any educational endeavour was based on the
ability and motivation of teachers and the implementation of the Right
to Education is no exception, he asked the teachers across the country
to become partners in this effort.
At the same time, Singh said it was also incumbent upon all to work
together to improve the working conditions of teachers and enable them
to teach with dignity, giving full expression to their talent and
creativity.
Parents and guardians too have a critical role to play having been
assigned school management responsibilities under the Act, he said
adding "the needs of every disadvantaged section of our society,
particularly girls, Dalits, adivasis and minorities must be of
particular focus as we implement this Act."
QnA: Will the bill help eradicate illiteracy in the decades
Right to Education: HRD frames model rules for states
Akshaya Mukul, TNN, Jan 21, 2010, 02.57am IST
NEW DELHI: In a significant step towards notification of the Right to
Education Act, HRD ministry has finalised the model rules for states
for implementation of the new law.
The model rules finally define the concept of neighbourhood schools
and make it clear that there will no discrimination against the 25%
children from weaker and disadvantaged groups who will get
reservation.
Also, the minimum qualification for teachers can be relaxed only by
the Centre and the period should not exceed three years. The
relaxation has to take place within five years of the commencement of
the Act. Each state will have to set up a state commission for the
protection of child rights and in the interim period they can have a
Right to Education Protection Authority. A State Advisory Council will
be the highest body to oversee RTE's implementation.
There has been considerable confusion about what neighbourhood schools
mean. As per the model rules finalised now, a neighbourhood school for
class I to V means an institution that exists within one kilometre.
For class VI to VIII, neighbourhood schools will be within three
kilometres. The rules also ask the states to upgrade the existing
class I-V schools to include classes VI-VIII.
The model rules also make it clear that in case there is no school
within the prescribed distance, the state government will make
arrangement for free transportation and residential facilities. States
have been asked to carry out a detailed school mapping for
establishing neighbourhood schools.
While reiterating that no discrimination on the basis of caste, class,
religion or gender be carried out by the states, especially against
the 25% reserved children, the model rules say that reimbursement to
be paid to schools for reserved students should only consist of
expenditure on students.
The model rules also state that the period of admission can be
extended six months from the date of commencement of the academic
year. Only schools run by a society, not-for-profit trusts and open to
government inspection can be given recognition. The schools should not
be used for commercial or residential purpose except for employees.
The important school management committee in all government-aided
schools should be reconstituted every two years. Seventy-five per cent
of the members consist of parents. Of the remaining 25%, one-third
will be elected members of local authorities, one-third teachers and
one-third local educationists. The committee will see the annual
accounts of expenditure and also bring to light deviation from the
right of the child, mental, physical harassment of children, denial of
admission and timely reimbursements to the children.
The rules also say that a three-year School Development Plan will be
chalked out about classwise enrolment, requirment of teachers and
physical requirement of infrastructure as well as additional financial
requirement.
Why has Amitabh become persona non-grata?
Nikhat Kazmi, 29 March 2010, 09:54 PM IST
And I wonder. Am I hallucinating, or is there a pattern in all
this!!!?? This is the pertinent query that a much agitated Mr Amitabh
Bachchan poses in his blog on day 705. The cause for his agitation?
Sundry. The brand ambassadorship of Gujarat as a tourist destination
followed by a photo-op and handshake with Narendra Modi, the
salutation to Bal Thackeray in the midst of the MNS-MNIK face-off, the
The Worli Sea link controversy with the Congress, the Earth hour
blackout of Abhishek Bachchan….Yes, Amitabh Bachchan ko gussa phir
aata hai!
So why has the famous angry young man on celluloid during the golden
1970s turned into the angry old man, in real life, in 2010? That's
because the erstwhile superstar suddenly sees himself becoming persona
non-grata in certain circles which not only pertain to the political
sphere? Before Mr Bachchan decodes the `pattern' in this social
distancing and sudden alienation, he must answer the paramount
question: Is there a connection between art and politics or is an
artist above politics and political divides?
Ideal situation? Let's visualize a scenario where today, the actor
anchors a short film that sings paeans to Narendra Modi and his
contributions to Gujarat, blanking out the events of 2002. Tomorrow,
he hobnobs with Bal Thackeray and wins the title of a `true
Hindustani' from him, irrespective of the divisive politics of the MNS
and Thackeray's relentless politically insensitive rhetoric. Then, he
gets co-opted by the BJP who wants to promote him as the brand
ambassador for the Commonwealth Games. Later, he sashays with the Left
Parties as the mascot for Kerala tourism and shares the platform with
Bhai Amar Singh as he floats his new party or joins back the SP. And
finally, someday, he recites Nehru's tryst-with-destiny speech in his
famous baritone for a promotional film on the Congress centenary on
the behest of Sonia Gandhi. Maybe, someday, he'd even be a guest of
Shibu Soren who wants him to put the state of Jharkand center-stage on
the map of India or Mayawati, who wants him to garland her statute
with a garland of currency.
In our hypothetical ideal state, nobody would have a problem with
Bachchan's changing loyalties, because hey, he's representing himself
as a public personae rather than a political person who kowtows a
particular political ideology. He's representing himself as an artist
who spawns across four decades of Indian cinema with an iconic
filmography that stretches from Vijay Verma (the hero of most of his
blockbusters in the 1970s) to Auro, the 13-year-old hero of Paa. Does
anybody care what his personal political ideology is all about?
Sadly, life, art and society aren't about ideal states at all. They
never have been. Israel still follows an unofficial ban on the music
maestro Richard Wagner because he was supposedly an inspiration for
Adolf Hitler. This despite the fact that Hitler was born six years
after Wagner died. But, for many Israelis, the images conjured up by
Tristen and Isolde, Parcifal and other Wagner compositions are not of
operas alone. Instead, they are reminiscent of the Nazi leader's
progrom against the Jews. In a seminal article on Wagner's influence
on Hitler, the New Yorker asks the million dollar question: "Should an
artist be punished because he happened to fascinate a lunatic who was
born six years after he dies?" Rationally, no. Emotionally, maybe.
So, here's a lesson for Amitabh Bachchan. Before people begin to doubt
his ideological leanings with his `I-just-accept-invitations' rhetoric
and his fan following begins to diminish, he needs to enunciate his
politics. What are you, Mr Bachchan? Right-wing, centrist,
communalist, regionalist or are you liberal, secular, progressive?
Honestly, some of your hobnobbing does seem to have created dismay
amongst those who admire your art. And much as we'd like to believe
your `I'm just an actor' tirade, the lines have begun to blur.
Give us back our Vijay of yore: 'messiah of the underdog'. And we
promise to give you back our unquestioning respect.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/pulpfriction/entry/why-has-amitabh-become-persona
Atheism is the best worshipJug Suraiya, 29 March 2010, 10:50 AM IST
In the British comedy Bedazzled there is a scene where the Devil,
played by Peter Cook, comes to earth and meets Dudley Moore, your
average man-on-the-street. Moore asks the Devil, “Why did you revolt
against God.”
“Come, I’ll show you,” says the Devil. He perches himself atop a
pillar box and tells Moore to kneel at its base. “Now, start
grovelling and praising me,” says the Devil.
Moore starts grovelling and singing the Devil’s praises. When he shows
signs of flagging the Devil goads him into grovelling more
obsequiously, praising him even more loudly.
After a while Moore says: “Hey, this is getting boring. Can’t we
change places for a while.”
“Exactly,” says the Devil. “That answers your question as to why I
walked out on God: worshipping Him is boring.”
God-worship is not just boring; it is the ultimate in trivialisation.
It infinitely trivialises the boundlessness of the cosmos that lies,
seamlessly, both outside and within us. God-worship reduces the
Creator – the First Principle, the Big Bang, the Singularity, whatever
you want to call whatever it is that started it all – to a Lalaji who
likes to surround himself with sycophantic yes-men, forever extolling
his virtues. Is the Force that created everything, from the gossamer
glow of the endless galaxies to the rainbow sheen of the dragonfly’s
wings, no more than that, a petty bossman who thrives on the most
undiluted flattery? God help us, and the universe, if he is.
And what does God-worship make of us, the devotees? In public, we say
that when we pray, when we petition God for a boon, it is for all
humankind, for all creation. We say we pray for world peace, for a
cure for cancer, for a solution to global warming and climate change.
And perhaps we do.
In the privacy of our innermost desires, however, our prayers are
almost invariably personal: Oh, God, help me to pass my exam, get a
good job, find someone suitable to marry, get my green card, win the
lottery of life.
There is absolutely nothing wrong in wishing for any or all of these
things. Indeed, they’re all good things which any sensible person
would wish for. But why make it God’s job to get you what you want?
Why give up your responsibility to make of your life what you can and
what you will?
A French sociologist has likened personal prayer and the giving of
votive offerings to bribery. He has noted that in countries where the
tradition of personalised God-worship is most entrenched –as in India,
and in Roman Catholic Italy – the incidence of bribery in everyday
life is also proportionately high. If God himself is a Babu who can be
bribed to do your bidding with a prayer and a few diyas or candles,
where’s the harm in slipping some currency notes to a bureaucrat or
politician or policeman to do what you want done? Doesn’t God himself
teach us to bribe? In which case, how can bribery and corruption be
bad things, if they’re God-given?
The atheist not only lives according to a higher code of ethics than
that sanctioned by a bribable God, but also inhabits a higher plane of
spirituality. This is far from being a paradox. God-worship, in which
typically the devotee seeks to get personal desires granted,
inevitably reinforces and entrenches the sense of self, of one’s
individual ego which is special and separate from all other created
beings and forms. God-worship is really self-worship, a deification
of one’s ego, and as such the hardest obstacle to overcome in the
journey of spiritual liberation.
The atheist realises that God did not create humankind in his image;
humankind created God in its own image: selfish, gullible and by
nature susceptible to flattery and bribes. Rather than pay lip service
to such a God, the atheist chooses to disown God and God-worship. And
in doing so, the atheist takes the first step on the path to freedom
from the silken bonds of maya.
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/jugglebandhi/entry/atheism-is-the-best-worship
BJP demands judicial probe in Hyderabad communal clashes
2010-03-31 22:30:00
Last Updated: 2010-04-01 04:08:59
Hyderabad: BJP on Wednesday demanded that the Andhra Pradesh
government order a judicial inquiry into the communal clashes in the
city.
"We should know the truth about the clashes in the old city. BJP
demands a judicial probe into the incident to bring out the truth. We
feel the investigation should be conducted by a sitting judge of the
High Court," State BJP president and MLA G Kishan Reddy told reporters
here.
Shoot-at-sight orders issued in Hyderabad as riots spread
He recalled that some Congress leaders had suspected that the clashes
could be an attempt to create trouble for Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
Asked about reports in a section of media that a minister from a
neighbouring state could be behind the incident, Reddy said a judicial
inquiry should bring out the truth.
He demanded that the government control the communal clashes with an
iron hand.
On the reported allegation of Congress MP L Rajagopal that the BJP
could be behind the communal incidents to safeguard its existence,
Reddy asserted that his party did not require any certificate from
someone like Rajagopal.
Hyderabad peaceful, curfew to be relaxed on Thursday
Sharply attacking the city-based Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), he
said the party violated laws freely several times in the past few
years.
"MIM leaders openly abused and attacked Taslima Nasreen. They also
attacked government officials and were also involved in several other
such incidents. No concrete action has been taken against them," Reddy
said.
Shoot-at-sight orders issued in Hyderabad as riots spread
Hyderabad: Communal riots spread to new areas in Hyderabad on Tuesday
even as shoot-at-sight orders were issued in the old city and curfew
was imposed in the areas under eight more police stations.
While curfew continued the old city without any relaxation, it was
imposed in new areas following fresh clashes. Hyderabad police
Commissioner A.K. Khan said on Tuesday evening that indefinite curfew
would be in force in Afzalgunz, Begumbazar, Shahinathgunz,
Tappachaputra, Asifnagar, Mangalhat, Kulsumpura and Habibnagar police
stations.
Fresh violence in Hyderabad; 8 hurt
Image: Security personnel patrol a street in curfew bound old city of
Hyderabad on March 30, 2010.
Text: IANS
Images: PTI
Shoot-at-sight orders issued in Hyderabad as riots spread
He also imposed prohibitory orders banning processions and rallies
across this Andhra Pradesh capital after clashes in new areas.
The indefinite curfew in the riot-hit old city of Hyderabad continued
on Tuesday without relaxation. All 17 police stations under the south
zone were brought under curfew on Monday night to control the
situation.
The communal violence, which was so far confined to the old city,
spread to other areas in the city, triggering tension. Groups
belonging to two different communities clashed in Musheerabad,
Bholakpur and Rani Gunj and other areas in central Hyderabad and its
twin city Secunderabad.
Curfew continues in tense Hyderabad
Image: Security personnel at the gate of Charminar while enforcing
curfew in the old city of Hyderabad on March 30, 2010
IANS
Hyderabad peaceful, curfew to be relaxed on Thursday
2010-03-31 22:50:00
Last Updated: 2010-04-01 04:11:21
Hyderabad: The situation in riot-hit parts of Hyderabad remained
peaceful on Wednesday and the police decided to relax curfew for two
hours on Thursday in some areas.
No untoward incident was reported from any of the curfew-bound or
other areas of the city since Wednesday night.
Shoot-at-sight orders issued in Hyderabad as riots spread
Police Commissioner A.K. Khan told reporters that curfew would be
relaxed for two hours in 17 police stations of the old city where
curfew was imposed Monday night following communal clashes.
'Only women and men over the age of 50 will be allowed to come out
during the relaxation,' said Khan.
However, there will be no relaxation in eight police station areas
where the curfew was clamped Tuesday night.
Stating that there would be no relaxation in any area on Friday, the
police chief appealed to people in the old city to buy essential
commodities for two days.
Stray incidents of violence were reported from some curfew-bound areas
adjoining the worst-hit old city but police and paramilitary forces
acted swiftly to bring the situation under control.
Khan appealed to people not to believe rumours being spread through
SMSes and warned that strong action would be taken against those
involved in circulating such SMSes.
The commissioner said those who created trouble during the Hanuman
Jayanti procession Wednesday were being identified through video
footage and they would be arrested soon.
BJP demands judicial probe in Hyderabad communal clashes
'The police have so far booked 67 cases and arrested 136 persons in
connection with various incidents of violence,' Khan said.
There was an eerie silence in the centuries-old markets around the
historic Charminar, which teem with thousands of shoppers and tourists
on any normal day. Only the sirens of police vehicles sporadically
broke the uneasy calm in the area, famous for pearls, jewellery,
bangles, bridal wear, garments and eateries.
Charminar, Mecca Masjid, Chowmahalla Palace and other monuments in the
old city wore a deserted look. Salar Jung Museum, which houses the
world's largest collection of artefacts by one man, was also shut.
On the other side of Musi River, Begumbazar, a major commercial hub
for wholesale grain markets and consumer goods, was also deserted.
Sporadic incidents of violence continued till late Tuesday even after
police brought eight more police station areas under curfew following
clashes in new city localities while police top brass issued shoot-at-
sight orders to policemen in the old city.
The communal clashes since Saturday has claimed two lives and left
over 150 people injured.
March 28, 2010 • 9:56 am
Day after Narendra Modi’s SIT deposition
Narendra Modi’s marathon 9 hour deposition before the Supreme Court
appointed Special Investigation Team, SIT is unprecedented.
Whether you are a diehard Modi advocate or a self-proclaimed
conscientious Modi detractor, the highly anticipated deposition has
set a new benchmark by which many an elected leader shall be judged in
the years to come.
The Congress Party justifiably can be expected score political points,
but it would be missing the deeper implications to its favored
dynasty’s much blotted record when in elected office, some of which
has never been put to Trial nor been subjected to reparations.
The politics apart, the day after the SIT deposition has revealed many
an aspect of what this non-trial has come to be.
A non-trial because no charges have been filed, not even a criminal
case has been made out, yet much of the public debate proceeds on the
presumption of guilt, principles of Justice be damned.
First is this online petition by Ehsan Jaffrey’s children which has
now started to make headlines – calling on the Chief Justice of Indian
Supreme Court not to a share a dias with Narendra Modi at an official
State function in honor of the visting Chief Justice of Zimbabwe.
No amount of empathy or sympathy can erase the loss suffered by Ehsan
Jaffrey’s family. Their ordeal demands justice and no civil society or
modern democracy should settle for anything less.
But this petition is not about Justice, it is about something much
else.
If this petition was about Justice it would not be prejudging the
outcome of a yet to be conceived Judicial process against Narendra
Modi.
The Jaffrey’s may have deep personal animosity towards Mr. Modi, they
may also have low confidence in the overall delivery of Justice for
2002 riot victims. But to conflate those sentiments and emotions and
to make demands on what those holding Constitutional Offices must do
and not do reflects a motivated campaign blinded by vengeance and
retribution.
This is by no means a pursuit for Justice.
Back in 2007, Offstumped had observed that on Narendra Modi the
politcal maxim had become – “Why beat him when you can bait him” ?
The same must be said of this campaign for retribution – “Why try him
when you can trip him” ?
A glimpse of this campaign can also be seen in this supposedly news
analysis piece by Manoj Mitta in the Times Of India taking his cue
from highly discredited Teesta Setalvaad to suggest that the SIT
itself lacks credibility.
In closing it must be said that Salil Tripathi’s piece gave hope that
there can be a basis for reconciliation and closure, but this game of
baiting and tripping far from bringing justice and closure will only
widen the chasm.
15 Responses
sridhar krishna says:
March 28, 2010 at 11:01 am
The online petition is poorly drafted with many bloomers.
1. “Not long ago, the Supreme Court of India had called the Chief
Minister Narendra Modi a modern day ‘Hero’.” should have been Nero.
2. “An association of the chief justices of India and Zimbabwe with a
person who is being examined for his role in killing of innocent
people, under the directives of the Supreme Court will send out wrong
signals and undermine the process of justice in Gujarat.”
killing of innocent people, under the directives of supreme court –
sends a wrong message. It should have been examined under the
directives of the supreme court for his role in killing of innocent
people.
It is not just about mistakes in English. When the Gujarat High Court
reprimanded Teesta Setalvad in the best bakery case she went to
Supreme Court to remove the obnoxious comments. The Supreme Court
quoted Justice Gajendragadkar while striking down the words and ruled
that the Judges should not make comments. This Judgement would
squarely apply to the wrongly quoted “Nero/Hero” comment.
It is unfortunate that in this country
1) a ruling prime minister had lost her election related case and
found her rule illegitimate but went on to declare emergency.
2) she again sought to impose an election (Assam) when nobody wanted
and this resulted in a gory murder of 3,000 muslims in Nellie.
3) another dynasty rigged elections in an already troubled state and
we are still feeling the ramifications.
4) another prime minister (in waiting) pointed to a random flight
during an election campaign and said that is the flight in which the
sitting PM was running away with the loot.
5) there were scores of politicians who were indicted in the Jain
diaries.
6) a minister’s house was raided and the toilet was overflowing with –
of all things – money.
7) lakhubhai pathak’s case – Shri PVN
PVN’s acse of buying Sibhu Soren.
the lsit is endless. the president’s chair and the CEC is also not
beyond the specter of such accusations.
we are a Nation who get cheap thrill in the excesses of our leaders.
under these circumsatnces one lone voice against Modi loses its Moral
value.
one can laud that voice if it is the first of such voices against all
simillar cases. would the same group look into the accusations against
the president and the CEC.
all said and done, they are doing a decent job of at least trying to
set right one scar on the face of india. hope somebody has it in them
to tackle the rest.
rgds/sridhar
Pub Chick says:
March 28, 2010 at 11:21 am
Sridhar, Bloomers? That explains all else.
abir says:
March 28, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Since Mr Modi has appeared before the SIT now Sajjan kumar and Jagdish
Tytler (accused in the anti-Sikh riots) also should be brought to
justice
Jyotindra Khandwalla says:
March 28, 2010 at 4:53 pm
A disturbing report in Economic Times today states the road for filing
FIR against Modi would open after SIT probe.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/After-SIT-will-FIR-be-filed-against-Narendra-Modi/articleshow/5733732.cms
Pub Chick says:
March 28, 2010 at 5:26 pm
abir, are you saying legal action against people accused of other
crimes is contingent upon Modi facing legal action? Watch what you
wish for etc.
Prashanth says:
March 28, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Offstumped, please remove this pubchick, which is such a big nuisance.
She is just trying to divert all serious discussions. After having all
media for themselves, these pseudos are trying to infiltrate rightist
blogs as well.
Pub Chick says:
March 28, 2010 at 8:05 pm
Prashanth, you also seem insecure apart from being ugly and horny.
That’s alright. We shall work on it.
psecular says:
March 28, 2010 at 10:26 pm
@prashant
pubechick is a gender bender, it keeps typing “ugly”, “horny” in its
sentences in various compbinations. Ignore it.
@abir
True, now that a bench mark of 9hr questioning marathon for riot
probes has been set, will the 1984 culprits who are alive (Rajiv is
dead anyways) be brought to attend such probes.
@offstumped,
Why is Teesta “aatank”vaad being allowed to fester anti-Indian
elements. Am I missing some development or is it intentional ?. Why is
she roaming free in civilized society in spite of getting caught red-
handed for perjury and manipulation of witness statements in crucial
cases ?. She is the queen of the colony where anti-indian elements,
thoughts and practices are being spawned and sheltered. Is Gujarat
govt or some citizens for real justice doing something to fix the
meance of teesta “aatank”vaad
Ketan says:
March 29, 2010 at 12:54 am
Pub Chick,
After reading many of your comments, it seems you don’t use “ugly” &
“horny” in their conventional sense.
By “ugly” you seem to mean someone taking a leap of faith, or in other
words, reaching inferences not led to by the available data; missing a
link in chain of reasoning, etc.
Or am I reading too much into your comments?
And I could not gather at all what you mean by “horny”.
Offstumped,
Firstly, what’s strange is that the list of Jaffrey’s petition does
not seem to contain name of any person actually present in the mob
that had killed the 68 people in her bungalow. She might have her
grievances with the office bearers, but in all her TV appearances, she
has hardly expressed anger at those who had actually committed the
crime. This dogged obsession with Narendra Modi to the exclusion of
those who actually committed the crime is, to repeat, strange.
The conjectural allegation that the entire judicial process’ fairness
is lost if the CJI shares dais with Modi is too imaginative to be
taken seriously.
The event was convocation of law students in a University in Gujarat,
so the choice of guests was quite apt – chief minister (representative
of the state where college is located) and the CJI (representative of
the judiciary with who the graduates were to get associated).
Independence of Judiciary is not compromised upon simply because both
Modi & CJI I had attended the same function in official capacities.
Moreover, it is not the CJI who is currently sitting over any of the
cases involving Modi. To imply that CJI by sharing dais with Modi will
influence his juniors who might hear cases involving Modi, is actually
a serious charge.
Applying that logic, the President of India who has historically been
aligned with the political adversary of Modi should not share dais
with any of the judges! Because promotions & appointments of certain
judges are carried out by the the CJI in consultation with the
president. That can influence the independence of the judiciary. Also,
none of the politicians must ever share stage with anyone from the
judiciary – you never know when someone from a political party will
commit a crime!
Raghavan was looking visibly irritated by enquiries about allegations
of Teesta against SIT’s fairness….
iHindu007 says:
March 29, 2010 at 12:54 am
I second Prashanth’s proposal. Can somebody show me what positive
content she has added to this site?
Ketan says:
March 29, 2010 at 12:55 am
…I don’t know if it matters, but Teesta is alienating many people, not
in the least, the CJI. This gives the impression that she does not
hope much from the final outcome of the entire judicial process, but
wants to gain as much victimhood as possible by making as many
allegations of unfairness & automatic victimization as possible.
Petitioning an official & trying to tell him how to spend time outside
his office is pretty gross.
Ketan says:
March 29, 2010 at 1:12 am
Offstumped, particularly, & others,
I have a small conflict of interest here in that I am finding a few
comments by Pub Chick very logical & pertinent to the agenda set by
Offstumped, though I must confess they have been numerically far in
between.
I urge Pub chick to desist from making personal remarks that would not
have relation to the blog post. This I am urging with the idea that
the pot can indeed objectively call a kettle black, ideally without
being sanctimonious about it.
To others, I can only urge that though difficult, please do not
respond to the personal aspects of Pub Chick’s comments.
Of course, eventually choice is Offstumped’s as to what to do.
Thanks!
Anon says:
March 29, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Manoj Mitta is a usual name.
You must read Sunday’s M u m b a i M i r r o r to see how Teesta’s
press release made to the first page
Pub Chick says:
March 29, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Ketan,
What I’d want explained really is what this Prashanth means by calling
me pseudos. What does that mean? I must assure him through you that I
am real and I am spectacular.
Ketan says:
March 29, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Pub Chick,
I find you spectacular.
But I can’t be your interloctor
Or interloctator
Or whatever!
[see, I rhymed so well ]
To find you spectacular, Prashanth’s vision will have to get deranged
to the same degree as mine (as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder;
though spectacle lies just outside it).
And though consistency is desired, I can try but, may not be able to
maintain it. Our opinions should change or at least the strength of
conviction behind them should each time we come across a new piece of
information.
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/03/28/day-after-narendra-modis-sit-deposition/
March 31, 2010 • 5:00 am
Narendra Modi for PM – Lazy op-ed by Sadanand Dhume
Sadananad Dhume, a columnist for the WSJ Asia, usually makes sound
arguments but this latest one by him on Narendra Modi can at best be
characterized as lazy.
It relies on Liberal Left cliches to make its point without offering
anything new by way of insight or analysis.
Dhume’s core point being
#1 – It will be difficult for BJP to attract allies willing to be
associated with Mr. Modi’s anti-Muslim image
#2 – India cannot afford to be led by someone who appears to believe
that only Hindus can be authentically Indian
#3 – The last thing India needs is a question mark over its reputation
as an oasis of secular democracy in a tough neighborhood
#4 - Leaders should also be free of even the slightest hint of blood
on their hands.
Now if Mr. Dhume had done a little more homework he would have
discovered that
#1 There is no substance to the canard that Mr. Modi believes only
Hindus can be authentically Indian. In fact if Mr. Dhume had paid any
attention to the media coverage of the 2007 elections the only kind of
identity Mr. Modi invoked was Gujarati pride.
#2 The campaign to deny Mr. Modi a visa was sponsored by those in the
United States with overt and covert links to Chicago’s Pakistani
Muslim Community. (Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3)
Sadanand Dhume’s column comes at the same time as the Congress Party
scoring self goals by likening Mr. Modi to Dawood Ibrahim and by
treating Amitabh Bacchan as a pariah and as an untouchable for being a
brand ambassador for Gujarat.
Mr. Dhume does have a point on the steep challenge Mr. Modi faces on
his acceptability gap visa-vis the Nehru-Gandhis.
But the rate at which Congress spokesperson like Manish Tiwari are
scoring self goals, Mr. Dhume may very will have to eat his words on
the immortality of that acceptability gap.
The litmus test for Leaders suggested by Mr. Dhume
“leaders should be free of even the slightest blood on their hands”
is disingenuous to say the least.
If we were to apply Mr. Dhume’s yardstick and hold other leaders
accountable for the failure of their Governments to protect, then Dr.
Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi would also end up with blood on their
hands on account of the 13 attacks of Mass Terror between 2005 and
2008.
Incidentally Mr. Dhume did write an op-ed on Islamist Terror in India
a couple of weeks back in which he says
when elected politicians pander to fundamentalist Muslim leaders—as
is common in large parts of the country—the bureaucracy, the courts
and the press must hold them accountable
before stopping short of either taking names of either Politicians or
Parties or suggesting that one must carry the taint for life for
pandering to Islamists.
It is an open question at this time whether Mr. Modi has firm Prime
Ministerial ambitions or if the BJP intends to project him.
However Sadanand Dhume’s litmus test for disbarring him even before
the contest has begun rests on disingenuous logic.
This makes his case against Narendra Modi for Prime Minister both
shallow and prejudiced.
6 Responses
Jyotindra Khandwalla says:
March 31, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Modi has always preferred himseld to be CM – Common Man – and devoted
to development of Gujarat. He has always said his life is governed by
mission and not ambition. Until and unless he is given clean chit of
bill by SC, he would not allow himself to be persuaded by his peers in
the party and coalition to think of becoming PM.
In his yesterday’s blog, his You-tube video of his Gujarati address on
Doordarshan next day after Godhra incident speaks volume of his
courage and character. This video is by-lined in English and English
transcript is available of his Gujarati speech.
chetan sharma says:
March 31, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Modi has implemented his final solution, hopefully for the last time,
in Gujarat. The people of India do not wish to see that taint spread
through the rest of the country. It is better that he stays as the CM
– Con Man – of Gujarat and continue trying to evade justice until he
his finally brought to trial for his crimes against humanity.
It will be a cold day in hell and a sorry day for India if and when
Modi represents this great country.
Ketan says:
March 31, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Offstumped,
I could not access the full article, guess, it requires subscription.
From the points you have quoted, I found only the first one of some
merit.
But I also believe, Modi has largely remained silent knowing whatever
he would have spoken would be distorted and only selectively reported
by the media. But as penetration of twitter and blogs is increasing,
it is becoming increasingly difficult for the media to continue to
distort. Probably, that is why now he has started coming out with
refutations of all the charges one by one. And needless to say, law is
taking its own course concurrently, which might totally absolve him of
guilt. There might come a time, when those accusing Modi will not be
taken seriously owing to lack of substance, & then fewer alliance
partners would want to distance themselves from Modi citing his
complicity/involvement in 2002 riots. I just hope media will report
these happening faithfully.
But one thing I fail to understand is why did you choose to address
points raised in an article that would be read by very few Indians and
which arguably does not have anything new to offer.
Chetan Sharma,
Which country are you referring to as “great”? And could you please
enlist a few criteria for greatness met by the said country? It would
also be nice if you could elaborate on the “taint”, the spread of
which you are afraid of.
Thanks in advance!
SlimShadee says:
March 31, 2010 at 10:02 pm
I love reading some of your posts and you come across as a fairly
intelligent person. So it’s rather surprising that you want to believe
that Modi was not involved in the 2002 genocide of Muslims. There were
lots of murmurs about his direct involvement immediately after the
incidents endorsed by many NGOs and certain people who were part of
the Gujarat administration. ( Read this to know what I am talking
about: http://www.twocircles.net/2008jul19/ex_dgp_rb_sreekumar_who_took_gujarat_govt_protect_law_and_human_rights.html)
And after the Tehelka sting operation everything was out in the open
about who was behind this dastardly act. Hardliners from the Sangh
Parivar are quick to say that these are all fabricated evidence which
is laughable really. There are hard facts my dear friend that
“Narendra bhai” not only let these killers loose, he also played with
the judicial system so that they went scot-free after the carnage. And
this by itself blots out all his other achievements, if any.
arjun says:
April 1, 2010 at 12:53 am
The same things can be said about Rajiv Gandhi and Sikh riots in 84.
But some people are selectively righteous and focus only on Gujarat.
Probably because Modi belongs to ideologically different political
thought.
This kind of intellectual dishonesty people can see through and that
is why Modi has so much support.
It is upto the people of Gujarat to decide whether Modi is a con man
or not. Not upto NGOs whose agenda and leanings are not above
suspicion.
psecular says:
April 1, 2010 at 1:38 pm
@arjun
also kashmir & kashmir pandits, I see no one talking about them. More
these anti-nationals get unreasonably vociferous about Gujarat and
Modi, more will they create awareness in Hindus about the hatred the
minorities have for Hinduism and force Hinduism to become radical like
the minority religions.
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/lazy-op-ed-by-sadanand-dhume/
April 1, 2010 • 5:00 am
Right To Education – BJP missing in action
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the nation today as the Right
to Education Bill came in to law.
It was surprising to note that there was no response from the
principal political opposition to the Prime Minister’s speech.
In fact on the whole subject of the “Right to Education” it was
surprising to note that there was no policy paper or point of view
published by the BJP on its website.
All one gets to find on the BJP’s website on the subject of “Right to
Education” are passing remarks in a press conference in 2009 and some
cursory references in a Rajya Sabha debate.
Its a different matter that the original bill – “The Free and
Compulsory Education Bill tabled of 2003″, was tabled by a BJP lead
government.
The BJP has been missing in action on the policy debate ever since
neither having reviewed its policy stance from 2003 nor having offered
a credible alternative to the Congress sponsored legislation of 2009.
The Center for Civil Society, CCS has a comprehensive portal on
education tracing the debate on “Right to Education” from the 2003
bill through subsequent versions of legislation that eventually got
passed in 2009.
In fact Parth Shah of the CCS has a blistering article in the Mint
today on how the Right to Education act is the wrong way to go to
school.
Parth Shah’s critique of RTE centers mainly on three issues
#1 It is a massive takeover of education by the Government at the
expense of private institutions
#2 It essentially has morphed into a Right to Employment act for
Teachers with no direct accountability to Parents/School Management
and wide latitude to to Teachers Unions and unspecified School
Tribunals
#3 The legislation is half baked in that the model rules of
enforcement have not even been framed and left to the state
governments
It is surprising that the BJP that is seeking to reinvent itself as a
credible alternative to the Congress has failed to put up a policy
challenge to differentiate itself from the Congress on what is
essentially a Liberal Left sellout to lobbies and special interests
based on vast expansion of Government role in education including in
Private Schools.
The surprise is profound for the Sangh Parivar runs a large string of
private schools called “Sishu Mandirs” targeting the rural and urban
poor.
The lack of depth in its policy focus is one of many reasons the BJP
has failed to drive a sharp differentiation from the Congress leading
many to conclude that it is merely a B-team of the Congress.
As much as the BJP is critical of the Congress’ National Advisory
Council it must acknowledge the fact that the Congress has atleast
created a formal avenue to engage with outside policy experts even if
they are of the Liberal Left persuasion.
The absence of a similar forum within the BJP to engage with policy
experts is reflected in the poor quality of its political responses to
policy issues.
Engaging tired and retired journalists and bureaucrats (with the
notable exception of few eminent voices) is no substitute for a sound
body of policy research, knowledge and experise.
In fact the BJP’s policy incoherence must be directly attributed to
its failure to nurture Policy Institutions in its 6 years in office to
advance an alternative philosophy of governance and to create a body
of policy knowledge.
This entire episode highlights once again the fallacy of using
Identity as an Ideological label.
For political Hindutva of the 1990s neither offers a basis to
articulate the BJP’s position on the Right to Education Bill nor does
it help the BJP differentiate itself from the Congress on the Right to
Education Bill.
BJP’s claim that Integral Humanism is its guiding philosophy is also
shallow.
For example Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay in his remarks on Integral
Humanism says that
When the state-acquires all powers, both political and economic, the
result is a decline of Dharma. In this way if the state has unlimited
powers, the whole society looks towards the state, for everything.
Officers of the government neglect their duties and acquire vested
interests. These are all signs of the preponderance of the powers of
state.
Yet the BJP has no policy position on what must be called the largest
acquisition of political and economic power on Education by the State.
The reality is that the BJP has not even bothered to revisit Integral
Humanism since the 1960s nor has it attempted to make Integral
Humanism current and relevant .
This goes to highlight the damage political Hindutva has done to
intellectual faculties within the Party.
The result is the present state of the BJP where there is no coherent
ideological framework within the Party based on which policies can be
formulated.
What is worse Hindutva has become a Litmus Test of sorts
#1 causing the Party to narrowly look within its ranks for Policy
formulation
#2 preventing the Party from engaging a wider pool of Professional
experts who are ideologically opposed to Left Liberalism but are not
necessarily of the saffron hue
As Mr. Nitin Gadkari looks beyond his political A-team he must
seriously consider constituting a Policy Advisory Council by seeking
participation from a wide pool of Policy Experts who are broadly
opposed to the Left Liberal prescriptions of the Congress.
4 Responses
Pilid says:
April 1, 2010 at 6:08 am
1. Agree with your critique about the BJP’s lack of engagement but I
am mystified why you are so upset about it since the problem is hardly
new or novel. On how many other issues, particularly domestic ones
affecting the general public, has the BJP offered coherent, well
considered, alternative policy positions or come out with policy
papers? I cannot recall many. Not price rise, not on the healthcare
bill, not on GM crops…On the WRB, it was engaged but offered no
alternative at all.
Since the BJP is prone to swinging to the Leftist drumbeat on many an
occasion, I am not sure whether the BJP is being a B-team of the
Congress or the Left.
The party would do well to take a leaf out of the CPM’s handbook and
come out with cogent proposals made from a right-of-center
perspective. But it would have to clear the profound ideological
confusion within ranks before there can be any prospect of such
change. Policy experts can only opine; their political backers have to
be supportive of the effort for it to succeed.
2. I don’t see the RTE act as govt. takeover. Takeover would mean
govt. also taking responsibility for running the schools but here it
does nothing of the sort. RTE Act gives govt. power to intervene
without the commensurate responsibility but this is hardly new. We
have seen this before in professional colleges and the same thing is
being extended now to schools.
3. Others have commented as well on the need for teachers’
accountability. The government is empowered to enforce accountability
under the Act; whether it will do so still remains to be seen. Since
implementation has only begun, the last word has not yet been said.
Teachers are held to account based on their service rules which could
mean that private schools will continue to have the autonomy to follow
their own accountability & disciplinary methods (which is probably a
good thing).
4. Agree that model rules are half baked which is the cause of all the
litigation but because of that, it might get resolved more quickly
than otherwise.
drummasala says:
April 1, 2010 at 6:26 am
Offstumped is right in saying this about BJP. I have one question
though, if BJP does all the things you mentioned:
1) Will this things reach to aam admi taking hostile media into
account?
2) Even if it reaches, how many people will understand this taking lot
of illiterate population.
3) Even if people understand, will they vote for BJP?
I don’t believe. People will vote based on caste or good looking
candidates like prince charming (pub chick is one of the voter in this
category).
If people could not vote out CON party even after 26/11, I don’t see
any chances even if BJP brings these things on RTI.
Umesh says:
April 1, 2010 at 9:01 am
If BJP needs to capture the Intellectual space. Then they need to be
involved in the debate.
I propose the following strategy.
a) Be gracious and accept that RTE is a good step.
b) Make the point that due to lack of resources 10 years back we could
not do it. Hopefully, things are better now.
c) Attack the flaws in the Bill
i) How is financing for the 25% quota come across. The Bill seems to
be clueless on this. State Govt’s are already crying foul. I dont seen
an allocation like MNREGA being mentioned here.
Without financial allocation this will be just pure paper, No action.
My two pence.
Yossarinji,
Please comment on this..
Sudhir says:
April 1, 2010 at 4:21 pm
@drummasala – I don’t think media not taking it up or illetrate
population not caring, should be reason enough for BJP not to explain
positions in detail.
There is a large chunk of literate audience out there, who can be
influeced too. I agree with Yoss on the broad point – BJP needs to
have an alternative view point on many of such cases – merely
accepting the government’s proposal or shouting rhetoric from the roof
top will not help.
- Sudhir
Real Time Commentary via Twitter
No Sachar or Mishra prescription can make a difference to this
backwardness perpetuated by competitive ghetto politics Offstumped on
Twitter 7 hours ago
This is the second instance where Muslim factional politics has lead
to power projection on the streets and ended up provoking riots
Offstumped on Twitter 7 hours ago
Hyderabad Riots and Muslim factional politics RT @ssudhirkumar best
accounts of why the riots actually happened. http://bit.ly/aIA5R
Offstumped on Twitter 7 hours ago
Looks like Social Engineering will trip politics of Muslim vote bank
consolidation thanks to caste/class divide within Indian Muslims
Offstumped on Twitter 7 hours ago
Vidya Subramaniams reality check on Muslim quota
http://bit.ly/cYUS7Z
oped in Indian express confirms Muslim divide
http://bit.ly/cVvD
MY Offstumped on Twitter 7 hours ago
And here is the real reason for avoiding Parliament
http://bit.ly/c8KlRv Offstumped on Twitter 8 hours ago
RT @PRSLegislative 5 positions @ PRS PRS is looking for 5 motivated
individuals to join its team. For further details
http://bit.ly/dmSRlt Offstumped on Twitter 8 hours ago
Why have the Parliament at all if debate is going to subverted to suit
the convenience of the Party in Government
http://bit.ly/9G7FPp Offstumped on Twitter 8 hours ago
Syed Saleem Shahzad writes on Culture too
http://bit.ly/akEl74
no it's not an April Fools day joke Offstumped on Twitter 9 hours ago
On Right To Education BJP is missing in action:
http://wp.me/ptnDV-Ft Offstumped on Twitter 11 hours ago
If the BJP cannot differentiate itself from the Congress on half baked
legislations like RTE then it is no better than a B-Team of Congress
Offstumped on Twitter 16 hours ago
Surprised how the BJP allowed such a massive government takeover of
Education without the semblance of debate or challenge Offstumped on
Twitter 16 hours ago
Blistering critique from @ParthJShah RTE has become "Right to
Employment" to Teachers
http://bit.ly/9qoF8g Offstumped on Twitter 16 hours ago
Must read @PrathJShah on Right To Education - The wrong way to school
http://www.livemint.com/2010/03/31215740/The-wrong-way-to-school.html
Offstumped on Twitter 16 hours ago
As much as BJP mocks the National Advisory Council time it put in
place a Policy Advisory Council of outside experts
http://is.gd/b8nOm Offstumped on Twitter 19 hours ago
More details on the 100 hours of Community Service for Youth here
http://is.gd/b8jIY Offstumped on Twitter 20 hours ago
Speaking of Education Just got an email from Narendra Mod's Portal on
"Vanche Gujarat" a Community initiative of 100 hrs to promote Reading
Offstumped on Twitter 20 hours ago
CCS has a comprehensive portal on Right To Education starting with
2003 bill http://is.gd/b8j4l least BJP can do is co-opt policy experts
Offstumped on Twitter 20 hours ago
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/right-to-education-bjp-missing-in-action/
Gadkari blames UPA’s bad governance for price rise
By IANS
March 31st, 2010
KOLKATA - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari
Wednesday blamed “bad governance” of the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government for the spiralling prices of essential items.
History tells us that whenever the Congress is in power, prices go up,
Gadkari said at a party convention here.
The BJP chief said unless the present government is ousted, prices
would remain high.
“The commoners are facing serious problems due to skyrocketing prices.
This is due to bad governance of the UPA government,” he said.
BJP amends party constitution, to have more office-bearers
By IANS
February 18th, 2010
INDORE - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has amended its constitution
to increase the number of posts of central office-bearers and simplify
the process of organisational elections.
The resolution to amend the constitution was moved by party vice-
president Balasaheb Apte at the meeting of the party’s national
council here Thursday, party sources said.
The move to increase the number of its office-bearers follows the
party’s decision to keep one-third posts at all levels for women.
Party sources said that following the amendment, the strength of
central office-bearers will go up from 29 to 37.
The party will now have nine general secretaries (seven earlier), 12
vice-presidents (nine earlier), and 15 secretaries (twelve earlier),
apart from a treasurer.
The national executive will now have 120 members, the sources said.
New BJP office bearers to meet April 2
By IANS
March 24th, 2010
NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari will
meet his new office bearers on April 2 to chalk out the strategy for
the party’s campaign against rising prices.
“The April 2 meeting of office-bearers will discuss BJP’s anti-price
rise agitation and preparations for the April 21 rally in Delhi,” BJP
headquarters in-charge Shyam Jaju told IANS.
This will be the first meeting of party office bearers after Gadkari
announced his team March 16.
The meeting will be attended by senior party leader L.K. Advani,
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Leader of
Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, among others.
The BJP has planned a big rally in the capital against price rise
April 21 and the meeting is expected to discuss efforts to mobilise
people for it.
The meeting will also chalk out programmes for the future, a party
official said adding that Gadkari would distribute work among new
office bearers only after meeting them.
The announcement of the new team had led to criticism about its
composition from some party leaders from Bihar including Shatrughan
Sinha and C.P. Thakur. Gadkari told them not to raise their grievances
in the media.
Gadkari’s new team has 12 general secretaries, 11 vice-presidents (two
posts are vacant) and 15 secretaries. Women have been given 33 percent
representation in the national executive committee.
http://blog.taragana.com/politics/2010/03/24/new-bjp-office-bearers-to-meet-april-2-25056/
...and I am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
Kolkata, April 1
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Thursday ducked a
question on the return of Uma Bharti into the party, saying the
leadership will spell out its stand on the issue after she approached
it.
"We will finalise our stand when she tells me or some other leader,"
Gadkari said at a media meet here.
However, he was categorical that so far the leadership has not
initiated any dialogue with the firebrand Hindutva leader about her
return.
Uma Bharti last week resigned as president of the Bharatiya Jan Shakti
(BJS), a party she floated four years ago following her expulsion from
the BJP.
She was a senior leader of the BJP and a central minister who had
openly revolted against L.K. Advani in 2004, triggering her temporary
expulsion and a show cause notice.
Her expulsion was revoked later, but in 2005 she was sacked again when
she opposed the appointment of Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the chief
minister of Madhya Pradesh.
In 2006, Uma Bharti floated the BJS, saying she would revive the Hindu
movement in India. However, she received a severe drubbing in the
assembly election from her home turf in Madhya Pradesh's Tikamgarh
constituency.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 20:55 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125478.html
.Once Uma approaches us, BJP will take stand: Gadkari
Kolkata, April 1
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Thursday ducked a
question on the return of Uma Bharti into the party, saying the
leadership will spell out its stand on the issue after she approached
it.
"We will finalise our stand when she tells me or some other leader,"
Gadkari said at a media meet here.
However, he was categorical that so far the leadership has not
initiated any dialogue with the firebrand Hindutva leader about her
return.
Uma Bharti last week resigned as president of the Bharatiya Jan Shakti
(BJS), a party she floated four years ago following her expulsion from
the BJP.
She was a senior leader of the BJP and a central minister who had
openly revolted against L.K. Advani in 2004, triggering her temporary
expulsion and a show cause notice.
Her expulsion was revoked later, but in 2005 she was sacked again when
she opposed the appointment of Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the chief
minister of Madhya Pradesh.
In 2006, Uma Bharti floated the BJS, saying she would revive the Hindu
movement in India. However, she received a severe drubbing in the
assembly election from her home turf in Madhya Pradesh's Tikamgarh
constituency.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 20:55 pm IST--IANS
Possibly related news:
•BJP has not forgotten Ram temple: Gadkari (April 1)
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125455.html
•Gadkari flays Congress for 'blacklisting' Amitabh (April 1)
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125475.html
BJP has not forgotten Ram temple: Gadkari
Kolkata, April 1
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Nitin Gadkari Thursday
said his party has not "forgotten" the Ayodhya Ram temple issue.
Addressing the media here, Gadkari said: "Just because the (party)
president has changed, it does not imply that the policy has also
changed."
Gadkari was replying to a query as to whether the party has forgotten
the temple in Ayodhya as it was only talking about economic policies
and issues like price rise.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 20:02 pm IST
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125455.html
Gadkari flays Congress for 'blacklisting' Amitabh
Kolkata, April 1
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Thursday
criticised the Congress for "blacklisting" Bollywood superstar Amitabh
Bachchan.
"Amitabh is a great actor of our country. He has enhanced India's
reputation worldwide. Just because madam (Sonia Gandhi) and
'rajkumar' (Rahul Gandhi) do not like him, Bachchan is being
blacklisted. This is shameful for Indian democracy," Gadkari said,
referring to the Congress criticism of the actor's presence at the
opening of the Bandra-Worli sealink.
"Is this the tolerance Jawaharlal Nehru preached? Is Amitabh a Dawood
Ibrahim?" Gadkari said.
Gadkari's reacted differently when asked about the resignation of the
vice chancellor of the Devi Ahilya University in Indore for inviting
Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi to a programme.
"These two incidents should not be compared. University is meant for
education. Politicians should not be invited there.
"Yesterday, they invited Rahul. Tomorrow they will invite me and
education will suffer," he said.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 20:40 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125475.html
Indians on death row in UAE: Badal seeks PM's help
Chandigarh, April 1
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday sought help from
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh regarding 17 Indian youth, including 16
from Punjab, sentenced to death by a court in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) on charges of murdering a Pakistani national.
In a letter to the prime minister Thursday, Badal urged him to
intervene immediately with the UAE government to ensure justice for
the youth.
Badal pointed that 17 people had been convicted for a single murder
and it looked out of place.
"Therefore, we have to be more cautious to see that there was no
miscarriage of justice," Badal said.
The chief minister also requested the prime minister to advise the
external affairs ministry to provide necessary legal aid to the youth.
Badal pointed out that labourers and skilled workers from Punjab had
worked day and night during last 25 years for infrastructure
development in the UAE and other Middle East countries.
He said that all these Punjabi youth were the sole breadwinners of
their respective families and most of them had mortgaged their small
land-holdings to arrange for their visa and visit to the UAE.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 22:43 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a125498.html
One killed in shootout in Delhi
New Delhi, April 1
One person was killed in a shootout between two groups in Delhi,
police said Thursday.
“The shootout took place in the early hours of Wednesday in Bhajanpura
area in north-east Delhi. The deceased has been identified as Ajay,
who also had a criminal background,” a police officer told media
persons Thursday evening.
“Ajay was rushed to the G.T.B. Hospital where he was declared brought
dead,” the officer said.
“Five live cartridges have been recovered from the spot,” added the
officer.
Ajay was recently released from jail, and lived in Seelampur area.
“He was a member of a gang led by Lallu Pehlwan. The deceased had
committed several crimes in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh as well,”
added the officer.
But the police officials did not say how the shootout began, adding
further details were being investigated.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 22:32 pm IST--IANS
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Six Pakistani LeT terrorists killed in Kashmir (Third Lead)
Jammu, April 1
The Indian Army and the Jammu and Kashmir police Thursday achieved a
major success, killing six Pakistani terrorists belonging to the
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in a four-hour long gun battle in Rajouri
district of the state.
The army had to use its paratroopers to neutralise the terrorists,
hiding in forests of Baghla in in Kalakote area of the district, 200
km north of Jammu.
A police spokesman said that the gunfight broke out around 1 p.m.
after the militants, asked to surrender, opened fire on the security
forces.
"The terrorists also lobbed grenades at the security personnel. The
fire was returned," he said.
Rajouri Senior Superintendent of Police Shafkat Watali told IANS over
phone that the killing of six terrorists is a "big success for the
security forces and a big blow to the LeT".
The six terrorists are suspected to be part of a group of infiltrators
that had crossed over to India early this week.
This was the second gun battle with the militants in Kalakote area in
the past three days. Four terrorists and three soldiers were killed
Wednesday after an 18-hour gun battle, which started Tuesday evening
in Kandi area in the forests of Rajouri.
Last updated on Apr 1st, 2010 at 22:43 pm IST--IANS
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Kanu Sanyal, soldier of Naxalbari, dead -- old foes mourn (Lead)
Siliguri (West Bengal), March 23
Kanu Sanyal, who spearheaded the Naxalbari uprising in 1967 giving
birth to a Maoist movement that now threatens the Indian state, was
Tuesday found hanging in his humble home here. He was 78, an ailing
bachelor and a virtual pauper.
One of the founding members of the Left extremist movement in India,
no one could say why Sanyal killed himself. But police officers
maintained it was suicide.
His thatched home is located in the Siliguri sub-division of
Darjeeling district, where Sanyal and a select few made history over
four decades ago when they launched a violent peasant uprising in
Naxalbari village.
After endorsement of the bloody tactics by Mao's Communists, Naxalbari
became a household word in India and beyond, unleashing a violent
movement that continues to haunt the country.
Guided by Charu Mazumdar, a maverick who gave ideological shape to
that peasant movement, Sanyal helped found the Communist Party of
India-Marxist Leninist (CPI-ML), whose adherants came to be dubbed
Naxalites.
The CPI-ML, which quickly won recognition from Beijing, was born after
a crippling split in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). It
unleashed violence across the length and breadth of India that left
many thousands -- Maoists, security personnel and civilians -- dead.
By the time the Indian state cracked down hard on the CPI-ML and its
general secretary Mazumdar died in Kolkata's Presidency Jail in July
1972, Sanyal was a broken man.
Although he distanced himself from Mazumdar's advocacy of annihilation
of "class enemies", Sanyal remained wedded to Maoist ideology - but
minus its gory past.
A graduate from Siliguri's A.C. College, Sanyal suffered repeated
imprisonment before he decided, in the 1980s, to reorganise the
scattered Indian Maoists.
The experiment was a failure although by now he was ready to take part
in the "bourgeois democracy" he had once denounced. However candidates
he put up lost badly in the hills of West Bengal.
All that disappointed him. Over the years, he not only suffered from
poor health but he was disgusted with the violent tactics of the
present lot of Indian Maoists, who incidentally consider Mazumdar as
their god.
Although an iconic figure in and around the village of Naxalbari, he
led a spartan life, keeping mostly to himself.
When the police entered his home Tuesday, they found few possessions
-- apart from his books, clothes and utensils and some framed black
and white photographs of leaders from the Communist pantheon.
In one of his last interviews, Sanyal said: "I was popular once. I
have lost my popularity. I am unwell. That is the reason I cannot
organise the masses any more."
Azizul Haq, one of his contemporaries from the Naxalbari era, shed
tears in Kolkata as he paid an emotive homage to his former comrade.
"Sanyal will be remembered as one of the best leaders of the Naxalite
movement," Haq told IANS. "Although he was ailing, he never took
treatment from any government hospital. His argument was he could not
approach the state when he was fighting it."
It was in the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) that Sanyal
began his political career decades ago before switching over to the
breakaway CPI-M in 1964. Once he joined CPI-ML, the Naxalite leader
denounced both the CPI and CPI-M as revisionists.
But on Tuesday, his former ideological foes hailed him.
"He was a very popular leader in the early days of Naxalbari," CPI's
S. Sudhakar Reddy told IANS. "Although we disagree with his Maoist
ideology, he contributed greatly to the communist movement."
CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury said Sanyal's death was "very
unfortunate" and added that the Naxal leader had been critical of the
line adopted by the present Maoist guerrillas.
"After Nandigram and Lalgarh (in West Bengal), Sanyal had been saying
that the line adopted by Maoists do not conform to the revolutionary
understanding adopted when the Naxalite movement started," Yechury
added.
Possibly related news:
•Naxalite leader Kanu Sanyal dead, suicide suspected (March 23)
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http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a123389.html
•Goa MP wants ban on Sanatan Sanstha (March 19)
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a122552.html
•Jailed legislator ready to mediate with Maoists (March 9)
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•Congress wants minister sacked for Maoist links (March 11)
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a120669.html
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a123389.html
CPI, CPI-M condole death of Kanu Sanyal
New Delhi, March 23
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Communist Party of India-
Marxist (CPI-M) Tuesday condoled the death of Naxalite leader Kanu
Sanyal, who once violently opposed both parties.
Although they disagreed with their ideology for years, both the CPI
and CPI-M said that Sanyal contributed to the growth of the communist
movement in the country.
"He was a very popular leader in the early days of the Naxalbari
movement," CPI deputy general secretary S. Sudhakar Reddy told IANS.
"Although we disagree with his ideology of armed struggle, he had
contributed greatly to the communist movement."
Reddy said Sanyal had differences with the present Maoist movement,
led by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist.
Sanyal was Tuesday found hanging at his house Siliguri in West Bengal.
He was 78. According to police, Sanyal had committed suicide.
He was one of the protagonists of the 1967 peasant uprising in
Naxalbari village that gave birth to the Maoist movement in India.
CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury said Sanyal's death was "very
unfortunate" and added that the Naxal leader had been critical of the
line adopted by the present Maoist guerrillas.
"After Nandigram and Lalgarh (in West Bengal), Sanyal had been saying
that the line adopted by Maoists do not conform to the revolutionary
understanding adopted when the Naxalite movement started," Yechury
added.
Last updated on Mar 23rd, 2010 at 18:35 pm IST--IANS
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Maoists abduct five Jharkhand officials, free all (Second Lead)
Ranchi, March 20
Maoist rebels abducted five government officials, including an
additional district magistrate, at gun point from Latehar district in
Jharkhand Saturday noon, but released them a few hours later, police
said.
Latehar Superintendent of Police Kuldip Dewadi said more than five
armed Communist Party of India-Maoist rebels abducted the five
officials, including ADM Shrawan Soya, at gun point.
Others abducted were PWD officer H. Bhengra, assistant engineer Adish
Sayru Ram, dairy officer Vinod Sinha and driver Kiran Singh from
Bandhua village under Manika block of Lather district, the police
official said.
However, the rebels freed the men after five hours.
"The Maoists were afraid of the vigorous anti-Naxal (Maoist) offensive
launched by the police, and released all the abducted officials after
five hours," Dewadi said later.
The prompt action of the police forced the rebels to release all the
abducted men, he said.
The rebels Saturday also released four other workers, including junior
engineer Ranjeet Kumar, in Simdega district whom they had kidnapped
Thursday night. More than 15 Maoist rebels from the 'Hill Panther'
group abducted the four men working for the Ram Rekha Dam and looted
35 mobile phones, Rs.2 lakh in cash and one gun from the site, said a
police official.
Anti-Maoist operations are going on in five places in Jharkhand - West
Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Hazaribagh and Seraikela districts.
“An inter-state operation has been launched against the extremists
simultaneously in seven-eight districts of Jharkhand and West Bengal,”
Neyaz Ahmad, Jharkhand director general of police, told reporters.
The operations are on mainly in the bordering districts of Jharkhand.
The West Bengal police are mounting vigil along the border to check
Maoist infiltration.
In Jharkhand, out of the 24 districts, Maoist rebels are active in 21.
About 1,900 people, including 350 security personnel, have been killed
in Maoist-related violence in the past few years.
Last updated on Mar 20th, 2010 at 18:17 pm IST--IANS
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Web
.Maoists abduct five Jharkhand officials, free all (Second Lead)
Ranchi, March 20
Maoist rebels abducted five government officials, including an
additional district magistrate, at gun point from Latehar district in
Jharkhand Saturday noon, but released them a few hours later, police
said.
Latehar Superintendent of Police Kuldip Dewadi said more than five
armed Communist Party of India-Maoist rebels abducted the five
officials, including ADM Shrawan Soya, at gun point.
Others abducted were PWD officer H. Bhengra, assistant engineer Adish
Sayru Ram, dairy officer Vinod Sinha and driver Kiran Singh from
Bandhua village under Manika block of Lather district, the police
official said.
However, the rebels freed the men after five hours.
"The Maoists were afraid of the vigorous anti-Naxal (Maoist) offensive
launched by the police, and released all the abducted officials after
five hours," Dewadi said later.
The prompt action of the police forced the rebels to release all the
abducted men, he said.
The rebels Saturday also released four other workers, including junior
engineer Ranjeet Kumar, in Simdega district whom they had kidnapped
Thursday night. More than 15 Maoist rebels from the 'Hill Panther'
group abducted the four men working for the Ram Rekha Dam and looted
35 mobile phones, Rs.2 lakh in cash and one gun from the site, said a
police official.
Anti-Maoist operations are going on in five places in Jharkhand - West
Singhbhum, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Hazaribagh and Seraikela districts.
“An inter-state operation has been launched against the extremists
simultaneously in seven-eight districts of Jharkhand and West Bengal,”
Neyaz Ahmad, Jharkhand director general of police, told reporters.
The operations are on mainly in the bordering districts of Jharkhand.
The West Bengal police are mounting vigil along the border to check
Maoist infiltration.
In Jharkhand, out of the 24 districts, Maoist rebels are active in 21.
About 1,900 people, including 350 security personnel, have been killed
in Maoist-related violence in the past few years.
Last updated on Mar 20th, 2010 at 18:17 pm IST--IANS
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Gafoor to head Maharashtra's anti-corruption bureau
Mumbai, Feb, 26
Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Hasan Gafoor, who served as city
police chief during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, was Friday
appointed director general of the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
Gafoor is at present the managing director of the Maharashtra State
Housing & Welfare Corporation. He will be succeeded in that post by
P.P. Shrivastava, who has been promoted to the rank of DGP.
The post of ACB chief was laying vacant after A.N. Roy was appointed
the state police chief.
Another senior officer, Sanjeev Dayal, will be the new DGP (Special
Operations) - a crucial post which was lying vacant since Jan 1 after
Jayant Umranikar retired. In the post, Dayal will oversee the working
of three critical units - the state Intelligence Department, Anti-
Terrorism Squad and Anti-Naxal Operations.
Gafoor was shunted out as DGP (Housing), after the 26/11 attacks. The
Pradhan-Balachandran Vommittee which enquired into the various aspects
of the terror attacks, indicted him, saying Gafoor failed to provide
"visible and overt leadership". However, the state government did not
accept this.
A few days before the first anniversary of the terror attacks last
year, Gafoor, in an interview to a newsweekly, blamed four city police
officials for not responding to the call of duty.
The comments kicked up a major controversy, prompting the state
government to seek an explanation from him.
Last updated on Feb 26th, 2010 at 21:05 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a118004.html
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Friday, April 02, 2010
BJP asks Indian govt to seek Headley’s extradition
* Party spokesman says US wants to protect ISI by resisting
interrogation of the terror suspect in India
NEW DELHI: The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday asked the
Indian government to formally seek the extradition of terror suspect
David Headley from the US.
The opposition party demanded the government to follow the extradition
treaty and the mutual legal assistance treaty it has with US to bring
Headley to India. “He must be tried in India for the massacre of so
many innocent people and be given the death penalty. India must never
miss this historic opportunity to establish once for all that Pakistan
indeed is the epicentre of international terror,” BJP chief spokesman
Ravi Shankar Prasad told a press conference. He asserted that the
bargain plea agreement between Headley and the US prosecutors was not
binding on India at all. Prasad said India should also implement two
UN resolutions-1373 and 1267, under which every country was obliged to
support the other country in the investigation and trial of terror
related offences.
Protecting ISI: Commenting on why the US was resisting Headley’s
extradition and interrogation by Indian officials, Prasad suspected
that the US might want to protect the ISI, as its involvement in
terror attacks on Indian soil would be exposed and said the Americans
should be reminded that the war against terrorism was being fought by
the whole world and not by a single country. The BJP spokesman
regretted that the judgement of the Mumbai attacks case, which would
be announced on May 3, would only punish Ajmal Kasab, Fahim Ansari and
Salahuddin Ahmad, without nabbing the main planners and financiers of
the attacks who were based in Pakistan. “Even the prosecution did not
dispute that the three who were tried for the Mumbai attacks,
including Kasab were only secondary players,” he said. Prasad said
that the trial of Kasab and others had highlighted the role of
Pakistan-based Laskhar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) in the Mumbai attacks but
expressed optimism that Islamabad would prosecute LeT chief Hafiz
Saeed and others despite the fact that India provided evidence against
them in a dozen dossiers, which were handed over to Pakistan. “The
reason is obvious. Many of the key conspirators behind the Mumbai
terror attacks have been the blue-eyed boys of the ISI and any fair
trial would expose the real face of the intelligence agency,” he
said.
Prasad said India must not lose any opportunity to get him back into
India, subject him to custodial interrogation, expose the entire
conspiracy including the fact that there is no difference between
state and non-state actors in Pakistan. The BJP spokesman said much of
the planning, conspiracy and logistical coordination was done by David
Headley before the terror attacks in Mumbai but saved himself from the
death penalty by entering into a plea bargain agreement in a Chicago
court. iftikhar gilani
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C04%5C02%5Cstory_2-4-2010_pg7_38
Saturday, March 27, 2010 Praful Bidwai Is the Bharatiya Janata Party
obsessed with proving itself the sectarian, confrontationist oddball
of Indian politics? Last fortnight's developments suggest so. Take the
shenanigans of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. A Special
Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the 2002
Gujarat pogrom summoned him to question him about his role in the
killings. Many questions had been raised about his role by former
Gujarat Director General of Police RB Sreekumar, countless victims,
independent inquiries, and sting-operation disclosures by...
NEW DELHI, April 2, 2010 CBI must file appeal in Lalu assets case: BJP
Neena Vyas
Share · print · T+ With the Supreme Court on Thursday
rejecting the Bihar government's right to appeal against the acquittal
of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in the disproportionate
assets case, the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the Central
Bureau of Investigation file an appeal.
Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “We do not want to
comment on the Supreme Court. However, we do feel that the trial
court's judgment of acquittal in the case was most vulnerable in law
and the CBI must appeal against it.”
He said the CBI had, in fact, wanted to appeal against the trial court
verdict, but “some legal advisers in Delhi” were against the appeal,
and, therefore, no appeal was filed.
It was only because the CBI did not appeal against the acquittal
verdict that the Bihar government decided to appeal in the Patna High
Court. The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the State government
did not have the right to appeal.
The Apex Court's ruling comes just months ahead of crucial Assembly
polls in Bihar. The BJP fears that the ruling coalition in the State,
of which it is a part along with the Janata Dal (United), will not be
able to exploit the assets case politically during the election.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article365029.ece
NEW DELHI, April 2, 2010 Vested interest in U.S. will scuttle access
to Headley: BJP
Special Correspondent
Share · print · T+ The United States' commitment to fight
terrorism globally is being tested, as also India's strategic
partnership with America, on the issue of David Coleman Headley's
extradition to India and his custodial interrogation by Indian
agencies, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Thursday.
Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad's charge against the U.S. was that
the case of Headley, who pleaded guilty of being part of the 26/11
terror plot, gave the impression that America was “soft” on terror
when India was the target.
Referring to some reports that Headley might have been a double agent,
Mr. Prasad said that possibly vested interests in the U.S.
establishment did not want his role to be fully exposed. However, for
India and the world, it was crucial that the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba
operatives in Pakistan and the involvement of the Inter Services
Intelligence and Pakistan's Army in the Mumbai attack plot was
exposed.
Headley's was a “copybook case for extradition,” Mr. Prasad said. The
extradition agreement between the U.S. and India apart, two United
Nations resolutions (1373 and 1267) obligated every country to support
others in the investigation and trial of terror suspects.
The BJP demanded that the government take immediate steps to secure
Headley's extradition and ensure that he faced trial in India for the
death of 166 innocent victims of the 26/11 attacks. It would be in the
interest of the global fight against terrorism to expose the Lahore
and Karachi angle of the conspiracy.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article365039.ece
NEW DELHI, April 2, 2010 Child rights panel to monitor RTE
implementation
Aarti Dhar
Share · print · T+ The National Commission for Protection of
Child Rights (NCPCR) has been mandated to monitor the implementation
of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.
A special division within the panel will undertake this task in the
coming months and a special toll-free helpline to register complaints
will be set up.
The NCPCR has invited all civil society groups, students, teachers,
administrators, artists, government officials, legislators and members
of the judiciary apart from all other stakeholders to join hands and
work together to build a movement to ensure that every child of this
country is in school and gets at least 8 years of quality education.
The Right to Education Act, 2009 — that became effective from Thursday
— makes elementary education a fundamental right under Article 21 (A)
of the Constitution. Every child in the age group of 6-14 will be
provided elementary education in the age-appropriate classroom in the
vicinity of his/her neighbourhood. Any cost that prevents a child from
accessing school will be borne by the State which shall have the
responsibility of enrolling the child as well as ensuring attendance
and completion of eight years of schooling. No child will be denied
admission for want of documents, no child will be turned away if the
admission cycle in the school is over and no child will be asked to
take an admission test.
Into the mainstream
Children with disabilities will also be educated in the mainstream
schools. Further, all private schools shall be required to enrol
children from weaker sections and disadvantaged communities in their
incoming class to the extent of 25 per cent of their enrolment, by
simple random selection. No seats in this quota will be left vacant.
These children will be treated on a par with all other children in the
school and subsidised by the State at the rate of average per learner
costs in the government schools.
All schools will have to follow norms and standards laid out in the
Act and all private schools will have to apply for recognition,
failing which they will be penalised to the tune of Rs. 1 lakh and if
they still continue to function, they will be liable to pay Rs. 10,000
per day as fine.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article365043.ece
KAITHAL, April 2, 2010 Villages still in trauma after ‘honour-killing'
verdict
Vrinda Sharma
Share · Comment · print · T+
A FATHER'S PAIN: Har Krishan, whose son Ved Pal was killed for
marrying a girl from a neighbouring village. Photo: Vrinda Sharma
Related
TOPICS
India
Haryana
Two days after five people were given the capital punishment by a
court for the so-called honour-killing of a young couple here in
Haryana, the family members of the victims are more tense than they
are relieved. “The verdict has done justice to my son's death, but it
has not changed the way the village works,” says Chandrapati Berwal
who fought the legal battle.
She is the mother of Manoj, who along with Babli was murdered three
years ago by Babli's relatives on the orders of a ‘khap panchayat' for
having married within the same gotra. But Tuesday's landmark verdict
seems to have made little difference to the minds of the votaries of
the system of ‘khap panchayats', which are caste-based.
“The panchayat only intended to bring about a moral balance and
inculcate honour in youngsters, although its method was perhaps a bit
too harsh,” said a resident of the village, who refused to reveal his
name. Asked about the verdict, he said: “The panchayat killed two
persons and the court will kill five. At the end of it all the village
has lost seven lives. I don't see justice in any of the verdicts.”
“The villagers, who have boycotted us socially and financially, will
not change their mindset. The verdict has given a milder form of
punishment to the actual instigator, sarpanch Ganaga Raj,” said Ms.
Chandrapati. She alleged that panchayats could get away with giving
such harsh orders and executing them only owing to political backing
and the inefficiency of the police. For the last three years one
police constable has been guarding her doors, but since the verdict on
Tuesday the police presence around her house in Kerora village has
increased.
“Earlier there was one man, now there are two jeeps. But I and my
daughter are as unsafe as we ever were. The police could do nothing
when a few goons went after my son and his wife. What will the police
do if all of them barge into my house at once?”
A tense calm prevails in the dusty village. Nobody will publicly
discuss the matter, and except in Ms. Chandrapati's house none dares
to talk about it even indoors. Village sarpanch Karambeer Singh
refused even to come out of his house. The street where Babli once
lived wears a pall of gloom. The women in Babli's maternal house sit
with stony expressions and refuse to identify themselves or talk to
anyone, especially mediapersons, who are often seen as the villains
who exaggerated the issue.
“They tried to hide their sin from us, and then they tried to
threaten, boycott and even bribe us so that we keep quiet. My son will
not return but they will bear the pain of their wrongs so that such
inhuman decisions are never taken by anyone,” she said.
A few kilometres from Ms. Chandrapati's village, in Matour village,
Hari Krishan cries with his son's photographs in his hands. His hope
is that a similar judgment would come in his case as well: his 23-year-
old son was lynched by a crowd for marrying a girl from the
neighbouring village. Ved Pal and his wife Sonia's marriage was
accepted by both the families as they were of the same caste although
the gotras differed. But later the ‘khap panchayat' instigated Sonia's
family to forcibly marry the 17-year-old to a 50-year-old man and
later kill Ved Pal.
“My son was killed by a mob because a panchayat felt that marrying a
girl from the neighbouring village was ‘incest'. And I was expected to
make peace with this explanation? After this verdict I feel that
unlike the politicians and the police, the law is not going to be
unjust to us. But the sarpanch [Ganga Raj] should have been given the
death penalty as he was the root cause of the trouble,” said Mr. Hari
Krishan.
Mr. Hari Krishan, who has cancer, said he too was approached by the
sarpanch of Sonia village for a compromise. “They offered me Rs.25
lakh. They think a father can forgive his son's murderer just because
he is poor. I will fight this case till the last drop of blood.”
This father then cried out aloud, and asked: “Because of the khap so
many families have lost their breadwinners. Why didn't they let them
live? What honour comes from giving widows and orphans to homes that
were otherwise happy?”
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article364946.ece
Ahmedabad, April 1, 2010 Order against summoning Modi not final:
Nanavati
Manas Dasgupta
Share · print · T+
AP Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi gestures during a function in
Gandhinagar on March 28, 2010. The Nanavati panel has told the Gujarat
High Court that the option to summon Mr. Modi in connection with post-
Godhra riots is still open. Related
NEWS
SIT completes Modi interrogation
Fully satisfied with questioning of Narendra Modi, says SIT chief
Modi says he recalled the events eights years back
SIT acting on Zakia Jaffrey's petition raising questions of state
complicity
TOPICS
India
Gujarat
crime, law and justice
inquiry
unrest, conflicts and war
riots
The G.T. Nanavati-Akshay Mehta judicial inquiry commission probing the
Godhra train carnage and the post-Godhra communal riots in 2002 told
the Gujarat High Court on Thursday that its September 18, 2009 order
rejecting the plea of the Jansangharsh Manch to summon Chief Minister
Narendra Modi for cross-examination was “not a final order.”
A letter written by the commission secretary was submitted to the High
Court by Advocate-General Kamal Trivedi. The court had not opened the
sealed cover and ordered that it be kept in the records until further
orders. But, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S.J.
Mukhopadhyaya and Justice Akil Kureshi told the Manch's counsel that
the commission had not taken a “final” decision on not summoning Mr.
Modi. The next hearing on the Manch petition seeking a direction to
the commission to summon the Chief Minister was posted for June 17.
The commission's letter was in response to the March 22 court
directive seeking a clarification on its stand on the Manch plea for
summoning Mr. Modi.
Manch petition
Manch advocate Mukul Sinha had filed the petition following the
commission's September 2009 order in which it had ignored its plea to
summon Mr. Modi but had asked only three of his personal secretaries
to submit details of mobile phone calls during the 2002 communal
riots.
Besides Mr Modi, the Manch, in its application to the commission on
August 31, 2007, also demanded summoning of the then Minister of State
for Home Gordhan Jhadaphia, the then Health Minister and presently
Speaker Ashok Bhatt, and the then Deputy Commissioner of Police in
charge of the affected areas R.J. Savani, among others.
The commission rejected the plea saying it did not find the demand for
cross-examining Mr. Modi and others justified, following which the
Manch filed the petition in the High Court. A single judge Bench had
earlier rejected the Manch petition.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article360551.ece
Gandhinagar, March 28, 2010 Modi says he recalled the events eights
years back
PTI
Share · print · T+ When the mediapersons pointed out that he
had been in the dock for the last 8 years over the riots, Mr. Modi
shotback with a smile, "You have still kept me in the dock."
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was questioned in two marathon
sessions by the Supreme Court-appointed SIT in a Gujarat riots case,
has said he recalled to the extent possible the sequence of events
that had taken place eight years ago.
Claiming that his quizzing, the first since the communal violence of
2002, has concluded, he declined to go into the details of his
questioning, saying that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has to
submit its report to the apex court.
“I have been told by SIT that your work is over”, 59-year-old Mr. Modi
said at 0100 hours on Sunday emerging from the second round of his
questioning at the SIT office at the old secretariat building.
Mr. Modi claimed he had answered all questions put by the SIT and that
he had recalled to the extent possible the sequence of events that had
taken place eight years ago.
The Chief Minister said his statement was recorded by the SIT
investigators after which he signed it.
Asked what sort of questions he was asked, Mr. Modi said, “I cannot
share that with you because the SIT has to submit its report to the
Supreme Court.”
Though there was no official word on the questioning, Mr. Modi is said
to have replied to 62 of the 68 questions put to him in the five-hour-
long first session that had begun at noon on Saturday.
Mr. Modi returned to the SIT office at 9 pm and faced a second round
of questioning for four hours as he was keen that the entire exercise
be completed in one day.
The BJP leader is facing allegations of omission and commission with
regard to the mob attack on a housing society in which a former
Congress MP Ehsan Jafri and 68 others were killed. He was questioned
by a team of officers headed by A K Malhotra, a former CBI DIG.
When pointed out that he had been in the dock for the last eight years
over the riots, a smiling Mr. Modi said, “You have still kept me in
the dock.”
“Vistaar se batcheet ki (we spoke in detail),” he said, adding, “Under
the Indian Constitution, the law is supreme. As a common man, CM, I am
bound by the Indian Constitution and the law. No one can be above the
law.”
SIT chairman R. K. Raghavan was not present in his office when Mr.
Modi appeared in the first session in response to the panel’s summons.
“This was the first time in eight years that someone wanted to speak
to me on the issue and I attended that”, Mr. Modi said.
Taking a dig at his critics, he said, “God give good sense to those
who said I have not spoken for eight years.
“I hope that today’s happening will give good sense to those who are
keen to spread misinformation and those who spread lies”, the Chief
Minister said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article318173.ece
NEW DELHI, March 28, 2010 Modi is law-abiding: BJP
Neena Vyas
Share · Comment · print · T+ Gujarat Chief Minister
Narendra Modi's declaration that he was committed to the Constitution
of India and the rule of law was on Saturday held up by the Bharatiya
Janata Party as a shining example for all.
“Mr. Modi has always declared he will abide by the law. He has high
regard for the Special Investigation Team appointed by the Supreme
Court and on Saturday he appeared before it. He answered questions put
to him by the SIT and what he said is now between him and the SIT,”
BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told The Hindu over
telephone from Patna.
He said it was true the party had reservations about “certain
activists” who have revelled in “Modi-baiting” and were silent about
victims of terror attacks and naxal violence. “Is it that those
victims do not need justice,” Mr. Prasad asked.
Mr. Modi's first round of questioning by the SIT lasted five hours
ending at around 5.30 p.m.
Party spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman, who held up Mr. Modi as an
honourable law-abiding man, lashed out at the media for wrongly
reporting that he had been summoned by the SIT to appear before it on
March 21 when the truth was that he had been asked to accept a
mutually acceptable date in the week starting March 21. It was then
agreed that he would appear before the SIT on March 27 and he did.
She said the media was holding a trial of its own and was assuming
guilt when there was none. “He had only gone to assist the SIT and
cooperate with it,” she said. “The BJP respects the SIT and other
institutions and we work within the framework of law,” she said.
However, she did admit that the SIT was set up because the Supreme
Court was not satisfied by the manner in which the cases flowing from
the 2002 riots were being handled by the Gujarat police and the
Gujarat courts.
At some levels in the party, questions have begun to be asked whether
the BJP would treat Mr. Modi differently from how it has treated other
leaders. It was recalled that Madan Lal Khurana was forced to resign
as the Delhi Chief Minister as soon as his name figured in the
‘hawala' scandal although there was no formal charge sheet. Uma
Bharati was forced to resign as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister after an
old case related to hoisting of the national flag in Karnataka came
up. The question that is being asked is whether Mr. Modi will be asked
by the party to put in his papers if an FIR were to be filed against
him.
Ms. Sitharaman on Saturday found fault with a reported statement by
the Law Minister advising Mr. Modi to cooperate with the SIT. “Such
advice is unacceptable,” she said.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article317800.ece
NEW DELHI, March 28, 2010 SIT acting on Zakia Jaffrey's petition
raising questions of state complicity
Special Correspondent
Share · Comment · print · T+ The Special Investigation
Team, which interrogated Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on
Saturday, is acting on a petition filed by Zakia Jaffrey and the
Citizens for Justice and Peace. That petition alleged the involvement
of Mr. Modi and 61 other senior politicians, police officers and
bureaucrats from the State in the mass killing of Muslims in Gujarat
following the Godhra incident of February 27, 2002.
Among the questions the petition raised were:
— Why were there no minutes of the meeting which Mr. Modi held with
senior officers for a review of the situation arising out of the
Godhra train burning incident?
— There are some State intelligence reports of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad
meeting held at 4 p.m. at Ahmedabad on February 27, 2002. Who attended
this meting? Were any elected members of the Gujarat legislature and
the State Cabinet present?
— Why were the bodies of the victims of the Godhra train carnage
brought to Ahmedabad, and why were they paraded in streets? Who took
that decision? Did senior police officials or the DGP report to the
Chief Minister or higher officers in writing about the likely
repercussions of parading the bodies?
— Why was no preventive action taken when a bandh call had already
been given by VHP?
— Why was the Army not called out immediately and why was there a
delay in the deployment of the Army when it reached Ahmedabad?
— Why was there a delay in the declaration of curfew in Ahmedabad on
February 28, 2002 when curfew in other cities was declared
immediately?
— Despite rules for this, why was there no arrangement for videography
of the violence by mobs in all districts of the State?
— Why were more Muslims killed in police firing during riots when it
is well known that Muslims were the target of the mob violence?
— Why was the response to distress calls from prominent Muslims like
Ehsan Jafri delayed?
— Why was there no monitoring of the instructions of senior officials,
including Chief Secretary, officials of the Home Department and the
DGP?
— Why was there no action against officials who failed to register
FIRs and why was there no adequate response to the complaints of riot
victims?
— Why was no action taken against supervisory officers, from district
superintendents of police to the level of police commissioners and
DGP, who violated the Gujarat Police Manual by not properly
supervising the investigations of serious riot-related crimes and
thereby committing culpable omission and grave misconduct?
— Why was no action taken on the supervisory officers whose negligent
supervision of the Bilkis Bano and Best Bakery mass massacre cases led
to those trials being transferred by the Supreme Court to Maharashtra?
— Why has there been no further investigation of the depositions of
IPS officer Rahul Sharma before the Nanavati Commission, to reveal the
location of BJP leaders and senior officers of police during the
riots?
— Many calls were made to Modi, his Cabinet Ministers, the then
Ahmedabad Police Commissioner, P.C. Pandey, and the then DGP, K.
Chakravarti, during the riots. Their phone records must be examined to
unearth the facts.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article317971.ece
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Sonia-Rahul not anti-Bachchan: Amar Singh
IANS, Apr 1, 2010, 04.56pm IST
Amitabh BachchanThe Congress' attacks on mega star Amitabh Bachchan
over being brand ambassador of Gujarat have not been at the behest of
party president Sonia Gandhi or her MP son Rahul Gandhi, expelled
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh said Thursday.
"Personally, I have full faith that this whole act (the Congress'
statements) could not have been done at the level of Sonia Gandhi and
Rahul Gandhi," Amar Singh, a close friend of Bachchan, said in the
latest post on his blog. Amar Singh said he had interacted many times
with the top leadership of the Congress on political issues but had
not found any streak of vindictiveness in them.
The Congress had asked Bachchan to clarify whether he, as brand
ambassador for Gujarat, endorsed the 2002 riots in the state even as
Chief Minister Narendra Modi himself is being questioned in the matter
by a Supreme Court appointed investigation team.
But referring to the Gandhi family, Singh said: "The family, whose
daughter is sensitive to the killer of her father, the family which
has piety even for those who had committed this detestable act, their
heart cannot be so harsh to the family of Dr Harivansh Rai Bachchan
and Teji Bachchan, leave Amitabh."
He said proof of this was that Bachchan's daughter-in-law Aishwarya
Rai got the Padma Shri award during the United Progressive Alliance
(UPA) government's rule and Bachchan was given the best actor award.
He said some of his associates feel the "unnecessary propaganda" has
been started by a person "who wanted me to make anti-Congress remarks
in my love for Bachchan".
While Singh has openly criticised Bachchan's wife Jaya Bachchan for
staying put in the Samajwadi Party, he defended the mega star over his
acceptance of Modi's offer to be brand ambassador of Gujarat. Singh
said: "Leave Modi to the Supreme Court and the Bachchan family to its
art and culture." Recounting that he and Bachchan shared the dais at
Pune Tuesday, Singh also took a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party's
(BJP) "sudden love" for the actor. Singh added BJP leader L.K. Advani
and the late Pramod Mahajan had rejected Bachchan's plea to take steps
to prevent disruption of the world beauty pageant in Bangalore in
1996. "Today, BJP has suddenly realised the actor in Amitabh.
Whichever the party, honour and dishonour of an artist should have
permanence and should not be based on political self-interest," he
said.
Asserting that there was a vast difference between the "communal
politics" of Modi and promoting tourism in Gujarat, Singh said film
director "Yash Chopra and actor Shah Rukh Khan had made films on BJP
leader and former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and they
continued to be close to parties opposed to the BJP as well". He said
actor Salman Khan too has canvassed for his friends both in the BJP
and the Congress.
ABVP calls for Bihar bandh
News Desk - March 31, 2010 PATLIPUTRA —
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the state-wide
bandh called by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthy Parishad (ABVP) tomorrow to
protest against police lathicharge on its activists at the secretariat
police station on March 29.
State police headquarters sources said all the police stations have
been put on a maximum alert and patrolling was intensified to ensure
normal movement of trains and vehicular traffic.
Police personnel would be posted at the universities and colleges, the
sources said.
ABVP General Secretary Amritanshu said the VHP and Bajrang Dal
extended their support for tomorrow’s shutdown.
He said the strike has also been called to protest against Nitish
Kumar government’s move to set up a unit of the Aligarh Muslim
University at Kishanganj in Bihar.
- AGENCIES
6 Responses to “ABVP calls for Bihar bandh”
i do understand the apprehension of A.B.V.P but having said that i
also believe that empowerment of MUSLIMS should be given utmost
priority otherwise the community would remain laggard for years to
come. The AMU at kisanganj should spearhead a revolution in the
empowerment of Muslims and bring it closer to the mainstream INDIA.
NISHANT KUMAR April 1st, 2010 4:52 pm
I think setting up AMU central university branch is good move.
Sandip April 1st, 2010 3:03 pm
thanks guys for ur voice against abvp…that’s completely true that they
never initiated their step to bring central university in bihar and
now when somebody needs their appreciation they r protesting..shame on
abvp…
i don’t think anybody of them has truly been a vidyarthi,just dirty
politician..baba come out of politics and go earn ur livelihood,u r no
more needed in the politics of bihar..
i appeal to biharis to come together against this kind of unwanted
strike,pls let bihar grow with its current speed….
ghazanfar April 1st, 2010 12:46 pm
I condemn the protest of AVBP. They are doing it for cheap popularity.
I appriciate the police lathi charge on AVBP activist.
JAI BIHAR!
Acha Bihari Banye
Raman Gopal April 1st, 2010 9:42 am
BJP or ABVP doesn’nt set-up any university or college in Bihar . Now
when AMU is being set-up they are creating ruckus and theories to
oppose the educatinal development in bihar.
Creating educational institues will mobilise Biharis youth on the
right path of education . nitihs kumar should open more instituion in
Bihar , Muslim colleges, Christian college, Buddhist coleges , jain
colleges all is welcome to start in Bihar .
Jai bihar !! All is well !! Jai Buddha !!
BJP Goes cheap April 1st, 2010 4:55 am
Hey what happened to thakrey’s support. That will be really great .
ABVP should have requested Bjp for that.
Where was abvp when no central university was in Bihar, just to make
some noise…. Good work abvp…. No wonder bjp is going down
Krishna April 1st, 2010 2:47 am
http://jaibihar.com/abvp-calls-for-bihar-bandh-tomorrow/201018633.html
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http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=babri+masjid+demolition&suggested_categories=25&page=28
Gadkari struggles to finalise state chiefs
2 Apr 2010, 0514 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Three months into his tenure as the BJP president, Mr Nitin
Gadkari has started realising that he has occupied a chair full of
thorns.
Severe infighting, pressure from rival factions and an acute talent
deficit have thwarted his plans to resolve the leadership tangle in
politically-crucial states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.
The state units have remained headless for over a month now (in
Maharashtra’s case, it’s been over three months), but there no sign of
the leadership issue being resolved any time soon. Mr Gadkari has now
convened a meeting of senior party leaders from Uttar Pradesh on
Saturday to help him finalise the name of the next state unit chief.
The case of Bihar is even more telling. The state goes to polls in a
little over six months from now, but the state unit has been
functioning without a president for over a month now. The previous
incumbent, Radha Mohan Singh’s tenure came to end in December last,
and he has been made a member of the party’s national executive.
“The party should have been in a election mode by now, but have been
hamstrung by the fact that there is no one to lead the party at this
critical juncture,’’ a senior party leader from the state bemoaned.
The dilemma over who should head the party in an election year has
been compounded by a multiplicity of factors. The BJP brass has in
principle decided to install a Brahmin as the next state unit
president, but cannot zero down on a suitable candidate While the
front-runner in the race, Mangal Pandey is considered too much of a
lightweight, Mr Ashwini Choubey, who’s a senior minister in the state
government is considered to be too headstrong , and is unacceptable to
large sections of the party, and the coalition at large.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mr Gadkari is confronted with a different problem.
The current crop of leadership in the state has lost all semblance of
credibility, and the next generation presents a woeful picture in
terms of leadership abilities. Mr Gadkari’s hands have also been tied
by the vicious infighting among the state-level leaders.
For both Bihar and UP, the BJP president had hired the services of a
research organisation to conduct a survey on the popularity-ratings of
the claimants and the leader who was best suited to lead the party.
The results, it is learnt, have not been too encouraging, forcing Mr
Gadkari to hold another round of consultations. With the emphasis on
youth, the leadership wants a fresh face to lead the organisation in
these states.
Besides UP, Delhi too presents a grim picture Here too, Mr Gadkari’s
endeavour to select the most suitable person to lead the party has
been rendered difficult by a severe talent deficit and a debilitating
infighting. While Mr Vijay Goel has been retained as a general
secretary at the national level, former mayor Arti Mehra has been made
a secretary in Mr Gadkari’s team.
That means that the race has narrowed down to former state minister
Jagdish Mukhi, former MCD standing committee chief Vijender Gupta and
former Trinagar MLA Nand Kishore Garg. While the RSS is rooting for Mr
Garg, Mr Gadkari himself is said to be keen on a younger, relatively
untested leader who could lead the party out of the morass.
Congress appeasing terrorists: Gadkari
Raktima Bose
Kolkata: Assailing the Congress for “appeasing terrorists in the name
of practising secularism,” BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday
said it did not have the ‘courage' to fight terrorism and was thus
exposing the country to security threats.
“It is unfortunate for our country that the United Progressive
Alliance government could not till now execute the death sentence
handed by the Supreme Court to Afzal Guru for attacking Parliament in
2006…Should terrorists be honoured in the country henceforth? Till now
the Congress was appeasing Muslims for vote-bank politics but now it
is appeasing terrorists too.”
Mr. Gadkari was addressing a Citizen's Convention organised here by
the West Bengal BJP to protest against price rise and the State
government's plan to implement job reservation for Muslims.
Mr. Gadkari clarified that the BJP was against terrorists and not
Muslims. “It is widely campaigned that if the BJP comes to power, then
great misery will befall Muslims. Had it been so, how was Abdul Kalam
Azad elected President during the National Democratic Alliance regime?
We are against the ISI, Al-Qaeda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and other
terrorists but not against Muslims.”
As for the controversy, raised by Maharashtra Congress workers, over
the invitation extended to actor Amitabh Bachchan for the inauguration
of the Bandra-Worli sea link, Mr. Gadkari said: “Has Mr. Bachchan
become another Dawood Ibrahim or any anti-national force by becoming
the brand ambassador of Gujarat? What sort of democracy is this?”
He called Narendra Modi a “model Chief Minister” for ushering in
development.
Mr. Gadkari blamed the UPA government's “bad governance and wrong
economic policies” for the rising inflation and price of essential
commodities.
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/04/01/stories/2010040158710300.htm
Our main aim now is development: Gadkari
Staff Reporter
Kolkata: Underscoring the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) endeavour to
focus on the need for greater development and social reform under his
leadership, BJP's national president Nitin Gadkari also indicated here
on Thursday that the Ram Mandir issue was very much on the party's
agenda.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Gadkari said: “I support the
politics of progress and development. The party's main aim currently
is to bring about economic development and social reform in the
country. A change of the party leadership does not necessarily mean
change of policies.” The statement was his reaction to the question if
under his leadership, the BJP's political focus had shifted to issues
such as price rise, inflation and ‘bad governance' of the United
Progressive Alliance government from the party's core agenda of
Hindutva and the Ram Mandir issue.
To a question on the reported resentment of some BJP stalwarts over
their non-inclusion in his new team of office-bearers, Mr. Gadkari
claimed the media was blowing it out of proportion.
“Whatever little grievances were there, have been solved out. There is
a good opportunity for the young generation to find a place in the new
team of office-bearers,” he said.
Highlighting the spiralling rise of prices of essential commodities
and the increasing number of farmer suicides, Mr. Gadkari blamed it on
the UPA regime's neglect of the agricultural sector.
“Factors like rural connectivity and irrigation which were given
importance by the National Democratic Alliance government were ignored
by the UPA government. Moreover, no priority has been given to the
agro-processing industry and the problems of power, storage and
capital also exist. This negligence and mismanagement has resulted in
an imbalance in agriculture,” he said.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/02/stories/2010040250600100.htm
Yeddyurappa woos investors to State
V. Sridhar
Road show held in Mumbai for Global Investors' Meet
Showcasing State:Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa addressing investors
Mumbai: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa on Thursday kicked off a road
show in Mumbai for the Global Investors' Meet, which is to be held in
Bangalore on June 3 and 4.
Accompanied by Minister for Large and Medium Industries Murugesh
Nirani and top officials of the Department of Industries and Commerce,
he promised “attractive incentives” to investors heading for
Karnataka.
Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government's “progressive and investor-
friendly policies” had attracted investments to the State. Addressing
about 400 industrialists from various business sectors, he said
approvals for investments in the State doubled in 2009-10, when
compared to a year earlier.
Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Government gave “top priority” to the power
sector because it recognised that the State was suffering a power
shortage. He said the Government was planning additional power
generation capacity of about 16,000 MW, apart from establishing a
power plant with a generating capacity of 1,600 MW in Chhattisgarh.
He said the “pre-project activities” related to National Thermal Power
Corporations Ltd.'s (NTPC) 4,000-MW facility in Bijapur would be
launched by Union Minister for Power Sushilkumar Shinde in a few days.
Focus
Mr. Yeddyurappa said the Global Investors' Meet was particularly
focussed on drawing investment in the aerospace, infrastructure,
tourism, information technology, automobiles, biotechnology, minerals,
power, textiles, healthcare and education sectors. The Government
would sign memorandums of understanding with investors during the two-
day event.
Meetings
Prior to the road show Mr. Yeddyurappa and Mr. Nirani held separate
meetings with senior executives of several industrial conglomerates.
They discussed proposals for investments made by B. Muthuraman, vice-
chairman, Tata Steel; Ashok P. Hinduja, chairman and managing
director, Hinduja Group; A.K. Chatwani, senior executive vice-
president, Larsen & Toubro; senior executives of Grasim Industries;
and Adi B. Godrej of Godrej Industries.
The Chief Minister assured potential investors that the Government
would provide single-window clearances and “quick” approvals for
projects. “I will also be monitoring the progress of the approved
projects on a regular basis,” he added.
Mr. Nirani said the Government “has realised the urgency of focussing
on infrastructural issues”. He said the Government was focusing on
public-private partnerships in infrastructure “to achieve the twin
objectives of high growth and equity”. Asked if the Government had set
any target for investments arising from the meet, Mr. Nirani said,
“Since discussions with industry leaders on their proposals are still
at an early stage, it will not be possible to say how much investment
the State can expect.”
Mr. Nirani said Larsen & Toubro had evinced interest in participating
with the Government on the nine railway projects earmarked in the last
Railway Budget. While the Aditya Birla Group was keen on expanding
cement capacity in the State, the Kalyani Group was exploring options
for expansion in Karnataka, he added.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/02/stories/2010040256600100.htm
Tension in Rajasthan town
Special Correspondent
JAIPUR: Tension prevailed in Rajasthan's Gangapur town in Bhilwara
district on Thursday after unruly mobs engaged the police in heavy
brick-batting. Over 100 persons, including some policemen, sustained
injuries in violence and the lathi-charge. Prohibitory orders have
been imposed in the town.
The day's developments were a sequel to the skirmishes witnessed in
the town between two communities during a Hanuman Jayanti procession
on Tuesday. The clashes broke out after someone allegedly cut the
wires of the generator used for lighting the tableaus of procession
when it was passing by a mosque. The town remained closed on Wednesday
after the VHP gave a bandh call in protest against the incident.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/02/stories/2010040256720100.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 21 :: Oct. 10-23, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Low national stakes
VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
in New Delhi
The Congress seeks to check overconfidence in its ranks and the BJP
hopes to clear the “confusion” created by the Lok Sabha election
defeat.
SHIRISH SHETE/PTI
Congress president Sonia Gandhi and NCP president Sharad Pawar at the
first Congress-NCP rally at Sakoli in Bhandara district in Maharashtra
in April.
THERE is broad consensus among the political class in Delhi that the
October 13 round of Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and
Arunachal Pradesh are not going to have a dramatic impact on national
politics. The preparations of the two main parties – the Congress and
the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) – and of the non-Congress, non-BJP
forces, comprising the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) , the Left and other
regional parties, are all being carried out with this common premise.
Even so, the different groups have their distinctive priorities. The
central motif of the Congress party’s national leadership is to guard
against overconfidence, particularly in Maharashtra and Haryana. The
BJP’s efforts are essentially to get out of the confusion that has
overwhelmed the party after the Lok Sabha election defeat earlier this
year. For the non-Congress, non-BJP forces, which have much lesser
stakes in the states going to the polls, the attempt is to retain
whatever little relevance they have in these regions. In the early
stages of election campaign none of the three formulations has
succeeded in decisively taking forward its priorities.
According to a senior Congress leader, the party’s national leadership
including president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi
have become all the more aware of the “overconfidence problem” after
the stunning reverses in the mid-September byelections in Gujarat,
Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. In Gujarat, the party lost five seats
to the BJP, which also gained one seat each in Uttarakhand and Madhya
Pradesh. The “overconfidence problem” is most apparent, according to
several national-level Congress leaders, in Maharashtra, where the
party is in alliance with its United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) . Sections of the
Congress were so confident that they held out even against an alliance
with the NCP. This delayed the firming up of the partnership and
contributed to the raising of organisational problems at the ground
level. The problem, said one senior leader, was also manifest in
Haryana, though organisationally the party was on a much better wicket
there.
In this context NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the Congress general
secretary in charge of Maharashtra had a one-to-one meeting in the
last week of September. The meeting was held, reportedly, to address
specifically the overconfidence issue.
According to highly placed sources in both parties, the two senior
leaders emphasised that the difference between the Congress-NCP
alliance and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was hardly 15 seats in terms
of an Assembly segment-wise analysis of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
“The Congress lost 4 per cent of its vote share in the 2009 Lok Sabha
polls compared with the earlier elections. Yet, it got more seats only
because the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray cut
into the BJP-Shiv Sena votes. The NCP leaders have highlighted this in
the discussions with the Congress,” said a senior NCP leader.
The mid-September byelection results did prove a morale booster for
the BJP, but that in itself has not helped the party get out of its
confusion. The list of main campaigners submitted by the party to the
Election Commission points to this. Heading the list is former Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who announced his retirement from
active politics in December 2005. The former Prime Minister has been
confined to his residence for over two years now. The BJP apparently
plans to use his recorded speeches in the campaign meetings. This
decision has been interpreted by political observers as an indictment
of the “ineffective campaign” of other leaders, including former
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, party president Rajnath
Singh and Rajya Sabha leader Arun Jaitley. They are also mentioned in
the list, albeit behind Vajpayee.
VIVEK BENDRE
Uddhav Thackeray (centre), Shiv Sena leader, with Nitin Gadkari (left)
and Gopinath Munde, BJP leaders, in Mumbai on September 19.
However, the BJP leadership argued that too much should not be read
into the list. According to BJP spokesperson Mukthar Abbas Naqvi, the
list is essentially to ensure that the helicopter expenses of the
leaders are recorded with the Election Commission and ought not to be
treated as evaluation reports of the campaign styles of various
leaders.
While this argument does have its merits, there is little doubt that
the BJP has been forced to resurrect Vajpayee’s non-sectarian mass
appeal, changing the system adopted in the Lok Sabha campaign.
Vajpayee was not present in that campaign, either physically or
through recorded speeches. In a sense, it is also an admission that
other BJP leaders lack Vajpayee’s mass appeal.
The BJP leadership has also not been able to come up with a clear
political slogan though it has sought to highlight the “misrule” of
the Congress and its allies in the poll-bound States. According to a
senior leader, it is not in a position to take up internal security as
a major plank since it failed to evoke a good response in at least
three previous elections. The party hopes to focus its campaign on
price rise, unemployment and governance problems, including those in
the setting up of special economic zones (SEZs). However, in the
context of the Lok Sabha election defeat and the organisational
problems that erupted soon after, sections of the party are not
confident this will happen.
The BSP, on its part, is driven by the realisation that it has
tremendous damage-potential in Maharashtra and Haryana. “In the Lok
Sabha polls, the votes we got were instrumental in the defeat of five
Congress-NCP candidates and an equal number of BJP-Shiv Sena
candidates. In Haryana, too, we came up with a good performance. When
translated into Assembly segments, this performance can throw up
winning candidates in both the States. That is what we are aiming at,”
said Ambeth Rajan, Rajya Sabha member of the BSP, to Frontline. The
BSP did not have any seat in Maharashtra in the last Assembly, though
the party garnered 4.14 per cent of the votes. In Haryana, it had one
seat and 3.44 per cent of the votes.
Other non-Congress, non-BJP forces, such as the Left parties, who have
struck an alliance with the Republican Party of India in Maharashtra,
and the Samajwadi Party (S.P.), which has some presence in pockets in
Maharashtra and Haryana, are trying to rebuild from the reverses that
they suffered in the Lok Sabha polls. These parties hope to play a
significant role in Maharashtra in the event of a hung Assembly. But
there are many ifs and buts attached to these expectations.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2621/stories/20091023262111300.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 20 :: Sep. 26-Oct. 09, 2009
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS
Shaky alliances
LYLA BAVADAM
Discord marks the NCP-Congress and Shiv Sena-BJP partnerships even
after seat-sharing pacts are made.
PTI
(From left) Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh,
State Congress president Manikrao Thackeray and Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan at a pre-poll alliance meeting with NCP leaders, in Mumbai on
September 15.
THE October 13 Assembly elections portend a make-or-break scenario for
parties and alliances in Maharashtra. This is especially true of the
Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Their uneasy partnership is
reflective of the state of Maharashtra’s politics in general.
The run-up to the elections has been a crucial period for the NCP. The
party has always expressed its discontent at being treated as the
lesser partner. After the creation of the NCP in 1999, it fought the
Assembly elections that followed on its own and won 54 seats. The
Congress and the NCP then joined hands to form the Democratic Front,
which has ruled Maharashtra ever since. In the 2004 Assembly polls,
the NCP emerged as the single largest party with 71 seats. It also
gained a hold on the Central government by securing prime portfolios
such as Agriculture and Civil Aviation.
But the NCP and the Congress have not really settled into a cohesive
relationship even after two terms in power. The NCP continues to play
second fiddle to its ally in the State despite its claim that it has a
superior electoral base. NCP leader and State Water Resources Minister
Ajit Pawar reiterated that rural Maharashtra was the party’s greatest
asset and that it had nurtured its constituencies conscientiously over
the past five years. The Minister claimed that had consolidated the
NCP’s position.
In the run-up to every round of elections, it has become almost
routine for both partners to say initially that they will fight the
elections alone. This time too, it has been no different.
The NCP, which put up candidates from 124 constituencies in 2004,
wanted the same number of seats this time. But it had to be satisfied
with 114 seats, while the Congress decided to fight the remaining 174
seats to the 288-member Assembly. Acrimonious parleys preceded the
seat-sharing agreement. A “further fine-tuning in New Delhi” may
result in some minor changes in the seat-sharing pact, according to a
Congressman.
Putting on a brave face, the NCP blamed the fall in the number of
seats it would contest on the delimitation of constituencies. But it
is more likely that the Congress had its way in the seat allotment,
given the NCP’s dismal performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress contested 25 of the 48 seats and won 17 while the NCP
contested 21 but won only eight.
Former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has for long been urging the
Congress high command to shed the NCP, and the parliamentary election
results have given it the right excuse to do so. So strong is the
antagonism between the two parties that their representatives met only
three days before the final date for nominations. The final
arrangement on seats was reached only after four meetings.
A decade of existence has not given the NCP any special identity. It
has not grown as a party either in numbers or in national profile. It
retains its Maratha hegemony. It is still identified with Sharad
Pawar. There is no solid second-rung of leadership. It continues to be
viewed as a breakaway group rather than as a separate party, and the
general impression is that it would at any point rejoin the parent
party. Voters view the two parties as one. Pawar also seems to have
taken a softer stance on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins.
Those who joined the NCP did so because they found it convenient to be
attached to Pawar’s coat-tails and because a newly created party
always offers more to its followers.
Yet, NCP cadre have always been hesitant about the split. Even Pawar
has been unable to withstand the pressure of staying away from the
Congress. In fact, the two parties’ post-poll alliance 10 years ago
was a result of the realisation that they needed each other. Though
they claimed that the alliance was necessary to keep the Shiv Sena-
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay, the truth was that both parties
were dependent on each other for survival.
The other side
VIVEK BENDRE
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, in front of a picture
of his father and Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
The tensions between the Congress and the NCP can only benefit the
Shiv Sena and the BJP, which have agreed to maintain their earlier
seat-sharing ratio of 171-117. In its two decades as a team, the
saffron partnership has been comparatively stable. However, this time
around the turmoil in the BJP at the Centre has shaken the Maharashtra
unit, too, even though State BJP president Nitin Gadkari denies it.
Relations between the Shiv Sena and the BJP became strained after the
defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The crisis in Delhi following the
publication of Jaswant Singh’s book also triggered fears that the
instability in the BJP will affect the Sena’s chances in the Assembly
polls. Ever since L.K. Advani’s remark about Jinnah’s secularism, the
Sena has been wary of the BJP. It believes that the BJP’s doubletalk
on Hindutva is damaging the alliance. A source in the Sena said:
“Saheb [Bal Thackeray] has always held fast to Hindutva. And he
believed that the BJP did too, otherwise he would not have agreed to a
partnership. Now they are talking this way and that way. It is
confusing the voters. First Advani said Jinnah was secular; now
Jaswant Singh is praising him. What is the real position? We are all
confused.”
The BJP said that the loss of the six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai was
the outcome of the conflict between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj
Thackeray, Bal Thackeray’s son and nephew respectively. Hitting back,
the Sena blamed the BJP for the alliance’s loss in the parliamentary
elections. In particular, it blamed the arrogant style of campaigning
of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. As a star campaigner for the
BJP, Modi held rallies in 20 constituencies in the State but delivered
only in three. A Sena source said: “Modi campaigned for the BJP and
for himself. He projected himself as the star of economic development
and made out as if Maharashtrians were useless at business.”
However, given the open discord between the Congress and the NCP as
well as the recent victory of the BJP in the Gujarat Assembly
byelections, where it won five out of seven seats, the Maharashtra
unit of the BJP may well rally around and hold its own.
The dark horse on the electoral scene is Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS). Though the party won no seats in the general
elections, it came a respectable second or third runner-up in many.
The MNS campaign was solely aimed at destabilising Sena candidates and
this inadvertently helped the Congress-NCP candidates. The BJP plans
to turn this around to its advantage by reminding voters that voting
for the MNS in the Assembly elections would be like casting a vote for
the Congress-NCP.
As far as issues are concerned, this election – like the ones before
it – should centre on drought, irrigation, price rise, terrorism and
security, urban housing, and infrastructure. But, for the time being,
the needs of the people and issues of governance have been relegated
to the background as the two alliances concentrate more on political
wrangling.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2620/stories/20091009262003100.htm
Volume 26 - Issue 26 :: Dec. 19, 2009-Jan. 01, 2010
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
Echoes elsewhere
VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN
The Telangana promise has reactivated many dormant claims for
statehood, including those for Gorkhaland, Bodoland and Vidarbha.
MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP
Farmers and their families from the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra
protest against the lack of continuous electricity supply, outside the
Ministry of Social Justice in New Delhi on November 18.
THE December 9 adventurism of the Congress on Telangana promptly led
to the revival of many other demands for separate states across the
country and, consequently, to the renewal of the debate whether
smaller states by themselves facilitate improved socio-economic
development of neglected and backward regions.
The Gorkha Janmukthi Morcha (GJM), which has been demanding that a
separate state of Gorkhaland be carved out of the Darjeeling hills
region of West Bengal, was the first to announce a “fast unto death”
agitation to realise its dream. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati
soon followed, holding a press conference to affirm that the ruling
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), led by her, has consistently sought the
creation of two new states out of Uttar Pradesh – Harit Pradesh,
consisting of the majority of the districts in five administrative
divisions (Saharanpur, Meerut, Agra, Moradabad and Bareilly) of
western Uttar Pradesh, and Bundelkhand comprising seven districts of
Uttar Pradesh and six districts of Madhya Pradesh. Advocates of the
demand for new states such as Vidarbha followed suit.
The reasoning for most of these demands is that the region seeking
statehood is backward in socio-economic terms and that the creation of
a new state will help its development. In cases like the demand for
Gorkhaland, Bodoland, Dimaraji and Karbi homeland, ethnicity is raised
as a factor.
The case for reviewing the reorganisation of States on linguistic
lines by bringing in parameters such as socio-economic backwardness
and ethnicity had come to the fore even while the States
Reorganisation Commission (SRC) was at work from late 1953 to 1956 as
also in the decades following it, but the idea acquired legitimacy
only five decades later with the creation of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand
and Chhattisgarh in November 2000, during the time of the Atal Bihari
Vajpayee-led National Democratic Alliance government. In fact, the
creation of these States was perceived by many as the beginning of a
process of reconfiguring political space, which was bound to transform
the entire federal polity of India. The argument was that the creation
of these States as well as the demands for new states on the basis of
development marked the evolution of the idea of federalism as it
existed in the Indian context.
However, nine years later, the expectations with which these States
were formed lies in a shambles. Enhancing socio-economic development
was the primary objective behind the formation of all these States,
but the records of the States are nothing to write home about. In the
case of Jharkhand, the past nine years have only produced one corrupt
government after another, leading to total disregard for the economic
and development concerns of the people. The successive governments
also failed to curb the Maoist menace in the State. Chhattisgarh’s
track record too is no different, with Maoist attacks and counter-
attacks by the State throwing people’s lives out of gear. Uttarakhand
has fared comparatively better, but here, too, there have been no
spectacular gains.
Commenting on the performance of the three States, veteran bureaucrat
Gopi Arora – who died recently – observed last year that regional and
developmental disparities needed to be addressed by taking special
measures to focus on regional planning and not by the creation of new
states. He specifically referred to the case for a further division of
Uttar Pradesh and pointed out that if new states were to be carved out
of a State, they would all start with multiple conflicts on sharing of
resources, including water resources.
It is in this context that the historian Gyanesh Kudaisya’s
observation about the need for new types of states becomes relevant.
He pointed out that the need was for states that did not carry forward
the administrative and ideological legacies of models that had failed.
In his view, the new type of states should be representative,
decentralised and inclusive, and this cannot simply happen by breaking
up States.
GORKHALAND MOVE
By Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay
THE Centre’s nod for a separate state of Telangana has come as a shot
in the arm for the GJM, which has been staging a persistent, and often
violent, agitation for a separate state of Gorkhaland comprising the
Darjeeling hills, contiguous areas in the Terai and the Dooars in the
foothills of West Bengal.
“We welcome the Central government’s decision to allow the creation of
a separate Telangana state, but at the same time we would like to
remind it that the creation of Gorkhaland should not be left out. It
is an old demand of the Indian Gorkha community, essential to preserve
its identity. If Telangana can be created, then why not Gorkhaland? We
urge the Centre to facilitate the process,” GJM general secretary
Roshan Giri told Frontline.
V. SUDERSHAN
Members of the Gulabi Gang (pink gang), a women’s vigilante group,
staging a protest demanding a separate Bundelkhand state, in New Delhi
on September 17.
As the news of Telangana reached the hills, the GJM immediately
announced a “fast unto death” programme in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and
Kurseong, the three hill subdivisions of Darjeeling, and also in
Siliguri and the Dooars in the plains from December 11. The GJM called
for a complete shutdown of the hills from December 14 to 17 and
announced that various agitation programmes had been planned in
Kolkata and New Delhi. A GJM team led by Roshan Giri rushed to New
Delhi on December 10 to garner support for Gorkhaland at the national
level.
The decision to step up its agitation and call for a bandh a week
before the fourth round of tripartite talks between the GJM, the
Centre and the Government of West Bengal, slated for December 21, was
clearly to put pressure on the State and Union governments.
Once again, the spectre of ethnic violence has surfaced in the plains,
with organisations such as the Amra Bangali and the Bangla Basha
Bachao Committee calling for a counter bandh in the plains on the same
days as the GJM bandh. However, Roshan Giri assured: “We are a
democratic movement. There is no question of violence, at least from
our side.”
But a doubt lingers despite such an assurance. Ever since the GJM
hijacked the Gorkhaland movement from the Gorkha National Liberation
Front (GNLF) in 2005 to wield undisputed power in the hills, ethnic
clashes have become common in the foothills and the plains. GNLF
supremo Subash Ghising, who initiated the Gorkhaland movement in 1986,
soon found himself alienated from his own movement; he was eventually
ousted from the hills by his former protege Bimal Gurung, who formed
the GJM. By then, the GNLF agitation, which marred the peace in the
hills in the late 1980s, had abated and Ghising and his followers had
practically lost touch with the masses. The GJM’s renewed call for
Gorkhaland, this time including parts of the Terai and the Dooars in
the foothills, has once again brought to the fore memories of the
terror that prevailed in the hills when the GNLF first began its
agitation.
Another cause of concern for the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-
led Left Front government of West Bengal in the wake of the apparent
success of the Telangana movement is the renewal of the Kamtapur
Progressive Party’s (KPP) demand for a separate Kamtapur state in
North Bengal. “We have a good understanding with the KPP and we
support their movement,” Roshan Giri told Frontline.
A fresh demand for a Greater Cooch Behar state in North Bengal, led by
the Greater Cooch Behar Democratic Party (GCBDP), has also resurfaced.
In all, North Bengal seems to have become a hotbed of separatist
movements of all colours.
VIDARBHA’S CRY
By Anupama Katakam
FOR some reason, Vidarbha in the eastern region of Maharashtra is
never considered seriously when it cries for statehood. Although the
region’s politicians have repeatedly said that Vidarbha is a potential
candidate for statehood and the States Reorganisation Commission had
promised to grant it to the region, it never materialised.
Unlike in the case of the other States that were carved up in recent
times, Vidarbha’s calls to secede from Maharashtra have been only
sporadic. They never quite gained the momentum required for a major
movement. During the past two rounds of Lok Sabha and Assembly
elections, the issue was hardly touched upon.
But now, the promise of creating Telangana has given the Vidarbha
movement a new lease of life. Politicians, particularly those from the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra and those from districts
in the Vidarbha region, have decided that if Telangana can get
statehood, so can Vidarbha.
“We have been asking for this for the past 50 years. It is only fair
that our demand is met as well,” said Vilas Muttemwar, a Congress
leader and Member of Parliament from Nagpur.
Would the cry for statehood be valid? Yes, say the politicians. No,
say some local people.
Vidarbha consists of 11 districts in the eastern region of
Maharashtra. Many of them are tribal-dominated and therefore backward.
The region is completely neglected, unlike the western and some south-
western districts, which get the lion’s share of State funding and
attention.
Cotton is the main crop that sustains life in Vidarbha. Rain-
dependent, this crop suffers every time the monsoon fails. Consecutive
years of drought and repeated crop failures have driven the farmers
into deep debt and, consequently, suicide. From 1997 to 2006, the
region has witnessed 36,428 cases of suicide among cotton farmers
owing to debt, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. From
time to time, the Central government has doled out compensation
packages but nothing that is long-term.
Irrigation would solve much of their woes, said Vijay Jawandhia, a
farmer and a leader of the Shetkari Sanghatana in Wardha. But the
State government pays little attention. Almost 60 per cent of the
irrigation projects in the State cater to the sugar belt of western
Maharashtra, which yields 30 per cent of the agricultural produce in
the State. Vidarbha accounts for 20 per cent of the cotton production
in the country, thus giving Maharashtra the second position in cotton
production in India. “But irrigation is practically non-existent in
the districts,” said Jawandhia.
There is no industry and practically no development in the region.
There are few opportunities other than agriculture. Nagpur, owing to
the centrality of its location in the country, was meant to be
developed as a hub of transportation. Nothing much has materialised on
this plan.
Of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra, 10 are in Vidarbha.
At the State level, 62 of the 288 Assembly constituencies are in this
region. Clearly, Vidarbha has some power, but whether its leaders can
use to bargain for a separate state is another matter.
The Shiv Sena has never agreed to a division of Maharashtra though its
ally, the BJP, has repeatedly asked for it. BJP leader Nitin Gadkari,
who hails from Vidarbha, said that every effort would be made to make
the Centre concede to this demand. He said: “If the state of Vidarbha
is created, lakhs of people from the region will benefit. We can
concentrate on development then.”
The ruling Congress, save for some leaders from Vidarbha, have kept a
studious silence on the issue.
“The solution does not lie in separation,” said Ashok Dhawale, a
leader of the All India Kisan Sabha. “What the leadership needs to do
is focus on fundamentals such as agricultural and industrial policy
towards areas like Vidarbha. Then the region may have some chance of
developing.”
It is usually lack of development that fuels a region’s demand for
statehood. But this is not an answer at all. If there is a sea change
in the government’s policy towards Vidarbha and if it distributes
resources more equitably, then this issue will cease to exist, said
Dhawale. “Furthermore, when a state is carved out of another, it will
be a small state that tends to be at the mercy of the Central
government. Therefore, what major difference will it make to the
region’s people? Once again, they will be dependent on policymakers.”
BODOLAND AGAIN
By Sushanta Talukdar in Guwahati
THE promise of statehood to Telangana has prompted various Bodo groups
in Assam to revive their demand for a separate Bodoland. The Bodoland
People’s Front (BPF), the coalition partner of the ruling Congress in
the State, has raised the demand in both Parliament and in the Assam
Assembly. The lone BPF member in the Rajya Sabha, Biswajit Daimary,
raised the demand in the Upper House. In the Assam Assembly, 11
legislators of the BPF, including three Ministers in the Tarun Gogoi
Cabinet, made the demand on December 11.
Chief Minister Gogoi clarified that his government did not favour a
further division of Assam and wanted all communities and tribes to
live in harmony to build a greater Assamese society. The opposition
Asom Gana Parishad has extended support to Gogoi on the issue.
Apart from the Bodo groups, various Karbi groups, including militant
outfits, are demanding the creation of an autonomous state within
Assam; Dimasa groups, including militant groups, are demanding the
creation of a separate Dimaraji state, while organisations
representing Koch-Rajbanghshi community have declared a “fast unto
death” agitation to hasten the creation of a Kamtapur state comprising
11 districts of Assam and five districts of north Bengal.
The Bodos are the largest plains tribe in Assam, and they enjoy
autonomy under the amended provisions of the Sixth Schedule of the
Constitution; administrative autonomy is provided through the Bodoland
Territorial Council (BTC). The jurisdiction of the BTC extends over
8,970 square kilometres and covers four districts – Kokrajhar,
Chirang, Udalguri and Baska, known as Bodoland Territorial Area
Districts (BTAD). The number of Bodo-speaking people in Assam
according to the 2001 Census was 1,296,162 in a population of
26,655,528. In the 1991 Census, the number of Bodos in Assam was shown
as 1,184,569.
The BTC came into existence in 2003 following the signing of the
second Bodo Accord between the erstwhile militant outfit, the Bodo
Liberation Tigers (BLT), and the Union and State governments. The
present chief executive member of the BTC, Hagrama Mahilary, was also
the chief of the now-disbanded BLT.
The BLT was formed in June 1996 and it launched an armed struggle for
statehood when the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU)-Bodo People’s
Action Committee (BPAC) revived the mass movement for a separate
Bodoland in 1997. The BLT suspended its armed activities in July 1999
to start a dialogue with the Central government. In the course of the
dialogue, the BLT gave up the demand for statehood and agreed to
settle for the BTC under amended provisions of the Sixth Schedule.
“We were told by the NDA government that the prevailing policy was
that no new smaller state would be created. So we agreed to settle for
the BTC. Now that the United Progressive Alliance government has
promised to create Telangana, we have every right to ask for a
separate state of Bodoland, which is our ultimate goal,” said senior
BPF leader and Transport Minister Chandan Brahma, who was also the
vice-chairman of the BLT.
The first Bodo Accord was signed by the ABSU-BPAC with the Centre and
the State government in February 1993. It brought the curtains down on
a six-year-old vigorous statehood movement in Assam, which was
launched in 1987 on the slogan “Divide Assam 50:50”. The accord paved
the way for the creation of the Bodoland Autonomous Council (BAC).
However, the ABSU and the BPAC revived the statehood movement in 1997,
alleging that the BAC had failed to fulfil the aspirations of the
Bodos.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2626/stories/20100101262601700.htm
Special issue with the Sunday Magazine
From the publishers of THE HINDU
CITIES: AUGUST 12, 2001
Driving to nowhere
Darryl D'Monte
The writer is a senior journalist and environmental activist.
Since the 1990s, there has been a thrust in India's transport sector
towards increasing reliance on private investment. This can take many
forms: private entrepreneurs constructing roads and bridges, often on
a "build, operate and transfer" basis, the entry of many more
multinational car manufacturers, and the easing of restrictions in the
imports of components. Throughout urban India, which now accounts for
some 300 million people, the perception that the State is unwilling or
unable to provide quick and reliable transport is fast gaining ground.
There is increasing dependence on private modes of motorised
transport, whether it is automobiles, two-wheelers or buses.
K.R.Ganesh/Wilderfile
Middle-class citizens aspire to owning or using these vehicles and
believe that the State's responsibility is to provide the
infrastructure for this purpose. This has led to a situation where
private modes are swallowing the bulk of funds earmarked for transport
in cities and towns. Nowhere is this stark contrast more apparent than
in Mumbai, the country's commercial and industrial capital. There has
been heavy investment in a plethora of roadways and a near-total
neglect of public transport in a metropolis where the overwhelming
majority rely on this mode to commute to work.
Mumbai's peculiar geography has admittedly complicated the situation.
The north-south transport axis has been part of the city's life for so
many decades that it is difficult to think of changing it. The entire
concept of building a twin city across the harbour in the early 1970s
was meant to provide an east-west axis and alter the flow of traffic.
Unfortunately, the planners first built a road bridge over the Thane
creek to Vashi, which did not bring about a critical mass there. It
was only a couple of decades later, with the rail bridge alongside it,
that Navi Mumbai got the boost it badly needed.
However, the central business district (CBD) in the new city has not
really taken off, because managements have been reluctant to shift
across the harbour, given the inadequate transport links. Although the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has been
developing the Bandra-Kurla area as an alternative CBD within Greater
Mumbai, it is taking some time to grow into a full-fledged centre.
While areas in the suburbs like Andheri are attracting some new
sunrise service industries, South Mumbai retains its overwhelming
importance.
Manu Bahuguna/Fotomedia
While successive State governments have been guilty of neglecting
Mumbai's transport problems, it was the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP
government which drastically altered the course. By initiating a range
of road schemes, it unequivocally opted for private, motorised
transport in preference to public transport. This may be said to fall
in line with the economic liberalisation moves encouraged by
successive national governments, with the State gradually withdrawing
from area after area of public life. In Mumbai, this coalition
government took the drastic step of bypassing the apex planning body,
the MMRDA, as its transport expert, A. V. Ghangurde, publicly cited at
a seminar. Instead, it entrusted both the planning and execution of
the road projects to the Maharashtra State Road Development
Corporation (MSRDC), an engineering agency which has no expertise to
take an overall view of the merits of such schemes. The total cost of
all these schemes was over Rs. 8,000 crores, excluding the Eastern
Freeway Sea Link.
W. S. Atkins, consultants hired by MMRDA to advise on a comprehensive
transport plan for the metropolitan region in 1994, showed that Mumbai
was unique in that 83 per cent of the passenger trips in peak hours
were by public transport (train and bus), another eight per cent by
"intermediate public transport" (taxis and three-wheelers) and only
nine per cent by private transport (both cars and two-wheelers). This
is why critics castigate the overwhelming emphasis as the "nine per
cent solution" for a city which is poised to become the world's most
populous in two decades. One can also contrast the passenger carrying
capacities of different modes: cars carry only 4,000 passengers a
hour, versus 15,000 by bus, 45,000 by train and 75,000 if there were
an underground system.
There are three sets of road projects which the Shiv Sena-BJP
government initiated: fly-overs, sea-links and freeways. By far the
most controversial of these were the fly-overs. The government
appointed a committee to advise on the viability of fly-overs
controversially chaired by a builder, V. M. Jog, who obviously had no
expertise in this field. Mr. Jog dutifully obeyed his political
masters and recommended 50 fly-overs, for which pains he was awarded
an additional project at Andheri, the only one not to be constructed
by the MSRDC. The 50 fly-overs were to cost Rs. 1,500 crores and the
one at Andheri Rs. 110 crores. Mr. Jog's controversial fly-over was
the subject of a writ filed by the Bombay Environmental Action Group
because he sought to cover the cost by selling commercial space
beneath it. In other words, whatever congestion was meant to have been
reduced by the fly-over was created beneath it! He was originally
permitted 9,000 sq m but was eventually given 45,000 sq m - five times
the area - to exploit on the market. After a delay of several months,
which caused interminable traffic jams, the court allowed him to
proceed with less space.
Ajay Lall
According to the MSRDC, the fly-overs were justified on the ground
that the four major expressways being constructed to take traffic in
and out of Greater Mumbai at a cost of another Rs. 10,000 crores would
not work unless there were fly-overs to carry the vehicles smoothly
through the city. These were to link the metropolis with Pune (this
expressway has been completed at Rs. 1,450 crores), Nashik, Talasari
and Sawantwadi. The MSRDC cited how the earliest consultant on
improving the city's transport links, Los Angeles-based firm, Wilbur
Smith, recommended fly-overs as early in 1962. The consultants also
mooted the highly debatable West and East Island Freeways along the
coasts of the island city, a scheme which the MSRDC is now reviving.
Needless to say, Los Angeles experts are hardly qualified to advise
Mumbai since the Californian city is notorious for sacrificing all
planning norms for the benefit of the all-powerful automobile lobby.
The MSRDC also argued, illogically, that the fly-overs would help
reduce air pollution. Maharashtra's Minister of Public Works, Nitin
Gadkari, to whom the flyovers were a pet project, argued that since
cars would move speedily, without being obstructed by traffic lights,
there would be less emissions. However, he was supremely indifferent
to the counter argument that by building fly-overs, there would be a
spurt in the number of vehicles and the total emissions from these
would surely increase the overall load of pollutants. Already,
vehicles account for 70 per cent of Mumbai's air pollution. Gadkari
also believed with the coastal freeways and sea links that the
pollutants would vanish into thin air along the ocean, not realising
that the prevalent wind currents are from the sea towards the land.
The World Bank, which had funded the first phase of the Mumbai Urban
Transport Project (MUTP) and wanted to initiate the second phase,
unequivocally came out against the fly-overs during the course of a
review of MUTP2 in October 1998. It pointed out that "there appears to
have been little traffic impact assessment" or financial evaluation of
the project. The fly-overs would increase road capacity and encourage
(and probably generate new) car use in the city. Some of them, notably
those in the island city like the Haji Ali-Wilson College viaduct,
would have "severe adverse environmental impact (noise, visual
intrusion etc)". There was no economic justification and the
estimation of recovery of costs through tolls was also inadequate.
As it happened, there were legal stays on the proposed tolls. The
state government eventually had to scrap the tolls on fly-overs within
the metropolis, including 14 within the island city, and only charge
those who were entering the city. It will thus fall far short on
recovery of costs. The Bank observed: "While there is no objection to
the tolls per se, this programme nevertheless subsidises and appears
to encourage car commuting and could actually generate additional
intra-Greater Mumbai, particularly in island city, traffic demand with
consequent congestion impacts." The Bank also criticised the neglect
of the bus system, since fly-overs span too long distances to
accommodate this form of public transport. Finally, it commented on
the lack of public consultation prior to the project.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) examined the traffic, economic and
environmental impact of fly-overs and also opposed them. In
particular, it cited those in congested areas as being undesirable. It
found that "construction of flyovers on the island will only increase
the usage of private vehicles . . . this would increase the congestion
levels and parking problems in the city". The investment in the island
city would not be justified, as the overall social benefits would be
lower than the cost. Dr. B. R. Patankar, a former head of the BEST and
now working with TCS, has stressed: "The automobile, born in the
beginning of the 20th century, can no longer remain the focus of the
urban transport infrastructure planning as was the case four-five
decades ago."
To add insult to injury, the tolls with which the MSRDC had proposed
to recover the cost of the fly-overs were the subject of a writ
petition in the High Court, which ruled against them. At present, only
vehicles which enter the city and use the Western and Eastern Express
Highways are liable to pay the tolls which is unfair and exempts the
regular users. This is a typical instance of the authorities
proceeding without doing their homework and in the process, imposing a
burden of Rs. 1,500 crores on the state government for a scheme that
benefits only a tiny minority of motorists.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/folio/fo0108/01080140.htm
Good roads needed for nation's progress: Vajpayee
By Our Special Correspondent
— Photo: Vivek Bendre
SHOWS CONCERN: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee with Shiv
Sena chief Bal Thackeray while releasing a book in Mumbai on
Wednesday.
MUMBAI, FEB. 23. The former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee,
today called for a national campaign for construction and maintenance
of roads, essential for the country's development and prosperity.
"Why aren't we getting angry at a pothole? Why don't we raise
questions about traffic jams?" Mr. Vajpayee asked. He stressed the
need to understand the high cost of bad roads to the economy in terms
of time, energy and opportunity losses. He was releasing a book, Path
to Progress, by the former Maharashtra PWD Minister, Nitin Gadkari.
Mr. Gadkari is credited with the laying of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway
for Rs. 1,800 crores against the lowest tender of Rs. 3,600 crores, in
record time and without any kind of foreign collaboration despite the
hilly terrain. The book discusses how he got the project implemented.
The Expressway became the forerunner of the Vajpayee Government's
quadrilateral highway project linking the country's four metros. Mr.
Vajpayee said his Government's road project was much admired in India
and abroad. He said that there was no substitute for good roads, which
were an investment in progress.
The Shiv Sena chief, Bal Thackeray, the former Lok Sabha Speaker,
Manohar Joshi, the BJP general secretary, Pramod Mahajan, and the
former Maharashtra Chief Minister, Narayan Rane, praised Mr. Gadkari.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/02/24/stories/2005022402901300.htm
Rajasthan to pass anti-conversion law
By Our Special Correspondent
JAIPUR, FEB. 23. Rajasthan will soon have a law against religious
conversions. A bill to this effect will be introduced in the Assembly,
according to the Home Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria.
"Nobody has a right to make conversions in this State," Mr. Kataria
said while making a statement in the Assembly today during a
discussion on the recent attack on Christians in Kota.
"There are no two opinions on everybody's right to practise his
religion, but when it comes to conversion of poor and illiterate
persons, carried out with the help of allurements and money, we will
not let it happen. There is resentment in the public here that poor
people are lured by money and other temptations to convert."
Mr. Kataria said the people who were sent back from the Kota railway
station last weekend were tribals brought for the purpose of
conversion.
"If they had been only Christians there was no problem with us," he
said. "It was our magnanimity that we let them go after
verification."
He said that 100 foreigners, of whom 95 were from the United States,
reached Kota to attend the programme. "We will not allow them to leave
their hotels as they have come on tourist visas."
Protesters lathicharged
Police resorted to lathicharge at Raipura area of Kota town to
disperse about 600 people who gathered in front of the Emmanuel
Mission Society campus to protest against the Bible graduation
programme which started here today. They were led by the local leaders
of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/02/24/stories/2005022402861300.htm
BJP's poverty posers for PM
Agencies
Posted: Thursday , Apr 01, 2010 at 1749 hrs
New Delhi:
Accusing the UPA government of failing to check price rise, BJP today
asked the Prime Minister whether those in power had "vested interests"
in making suggestive forecasts about shortages in food production to
create panic.
Party president Nitin Gadkari put forward 14 questions to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh relating to price rise, plight of the farmers
and 'aam admi' and reasons behind its failure in curbing inflationary
trends.
"Where have things gone wrong?" was Gadkari's first question. He said
though the Chinese GDP growth is 9.5 per cent as against India's 7.2
per cent, it had two per cent inflation as compared to India's 11 per
cent.
He asked if the PM could deny that inflation in India was much higher
at 11 per cent as against global inflation of 1 to 2 per cent. He
pointed out that sugar prices in India is more than double and price
of wheat was 80 per cent more than the price in other countries.
The BJP President also wanted to know whether cost of essential
commodities have "doubled during your regime?"
Seeking a reply from the PM on whether the downtrodden and the middle
class find it difficult to make ends meet, he said 48 lakh tonne sugar
was exported at Rs.12.50 and re-imported at Rs 22 to 32 per kg.
Gadkari sought an explanation on why the government failed to create a
buffer stock. "Don't you owe an explanation to the people?" he asked.
He asked the PM whether he pleaded "ignorance about your scandalous
export-import policies?"
Pointing out discrepancies in the statistics of poverty level issued
by different government bodies, he said "the Planning Commission put
the BPL population in its 2005 report at 31 crore. December, 2009
Tendulkar Committee puts it at 42 crore, and still You claim Garibi
Ghati Hai (poverty has declined)?
He said if poverty levels have fallen then "why 42 crore people of
rural India are still below poverty line? Are you really giving them
food?"
The BJP chief said while government godowns were overflowing and
foodgrains were rotting, "then why prices are skyrocketing, leaving
poor people half fed?"
"Is it not true that the government-appointed Saxena Committee pointed
out that 51 per cent poor have been denied BPL ration card and
deprived of food grains?" the BJP president sought to know from the
PM.
He said agriculture growth in December 2009 was recorded at minus 0.2
per cent. "In spite of this, the government has provided a meagre Rs
900 crore (0.075 per cent), for agriculture development out of total
budgetary allocation of Rs 12 lakh crore."
Gadkari asked Singh to explain "why farmers get the least and aam
aadmi pays the most?"
He said out of Rs 8,03,842 crore turnover of 2009 at National
Commodity Exchange, delivery was 0.28 per cent (Rs 2,243 crore).
Pointing out that manipulative turnover was pushing the prices, he
asked, "whom are you benefiting: Speculators, Manipulators or MNCs?."
Accusing ministers of making speculative statements about the food
shortages or less production, he sought to know, "What are the vested
interests of your government in making suggestive forecasts about
shortages in food production? Is it to check prices or to create
panic?"
7 Comments |
INFLATION
By: N.ASTI | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:49:45 AM
All political parties in opposition should unite and take action
against the MMS/Sonia Govt which is totally deaf towards inflation/
Price rise in essential commodities.In order to divert the mind of the
public from the burning issues of Price-rise,terrorism,Pak
polcy,Kashmir selling, Injustice thro' highest communal policies;the
present GOI in collaboration with its managed Media is creating
worthless issues like Amitabh-Modi to divide Indians which Congress
has done right from 1947.MMS,Sonia,PC,Pawar do not bother for
inflation since they enjoy every amenitiy thro' public money.Instead
of mere words,public expects ACTION ON UNTOLERABLE PRICE-RISE.
Gadkaris flip flops
By: rajkumar | Friday , 2 Apr '10 8:31:12 AM
Gadkari what a shame. Yesterday you got embroiled in Bachans show. It
was not a great deal for us Indias. For us it is matter of cost,
standard of living and security so that we can bring up our children.
After being questioned now you are throwing few more questions. Well I
appreciate atleast you respond to the environment. I doubt whether you
are capble of leading BJP to victory.
Posers to the PM
By: Ratna Magotra | Friday , 2 Apr '10 7:14:49 AM
Where does the responsible media stand? The media stands fully
compromised having accepted the government sponsored awards, what
otherwise it fully deserved but by the readers and peers! The english
media at least now seem to represent the government and not the people
like earlier in British ruled period.
gadkari ask PM
By: saheb | Friday , 2 Apr '10 6:53:59 AM
food grains are rotting and the sardar is still gloating in self and
mamma`s praise forget about praised heaped on rajkumar by media,only
aaj tak is giving info about the wheat stock rotting everywhere.what a
criminal neglect,the media should advise this pathetic uncaring
foreign hopping pro USA MMS why he should not make a law to make the
dismanagement of food stalks a crime and punishable by jail terms of
rigoutous imprisonment upto ten yrs as many die of starvation and the
corrupt enjoys all perks,it should be made equivalent to culpable
homicide.
PM and corruption
By: Chandrakant Marathe | Thursday , 1 Apr '10 20:26:51
It is a known fact that the present Prime Minister is presiding over a
corrupt ruling dispensation. Let there be an audit of wealth holdings
of top congress and its allies politicians in power and you will
easily find out how rich they are. People who have been in social work
throughout their lives then how do they have so much of land and
property?? can Manmohan Singh as an economist answer??????
Indian people should start protest against govt every where in India
from city to village
By: sujan | Thursday , 1 Apr '10 20:22:33 PM
Thanks for BJP president to give knowledge about govt's bad plan. Pls
all Indian people should start revolution against UPA govt to give the
proper answer and give proper food to the poor people of India other
wise all congress people should go to Italy and pak and leave India
immediately.
INFLATION HAS HIT COMMON MAN'S BACK BONE
By: RAJAT KUMAR MOHINDRU .JALANDHAR CITY .PUNJAB | Thursday , 1 Apr
'10 19:44:59 PM
Bharatiya Janata Party National President Mr Nitin Gadkari has asked
Prime Minister of India S Manmohan Singh to clarify that what reasons
are responsible that has boosted Inflation ? as the Inflation has hit
the back bone of the common man , his homely budget has been upset ,
What policies or reasons are responsible that Why the Union Government
could not curb Inflation ? As no doubt the prices of Sugar witnessed
sharp increase and Gross Domestic Produce (GDP) target could not be
achieved What are the reasons ? The skyrocketing prices of essential
commodoties has upset the families living below the Poverty Line
homely budget making living miserable for them ..
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bjpspovertyposersforpm/598776/0
Have regained many Naxal areas in Lalgarh: MHA
Express news service
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0135 hrs
New Delhi:
MHA has said a majority of areas that had become Maoist strongholds
over the past few months have been regained.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s proposed visit to Lalgarh in West
Bengal comes in the wake of the fact that security forces engaged in
battling the Naxals there have managed to regain control over large
areas dominated by Left-wing extremists and civil administration has
been restored in many of these reclaimed areas.
Officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said a majority of
areas that had become Maoist strongholds over the past few months have
been regained and development activities were being initiated there.
“Most of the police stations have reopened. Schools have also started
running although there is a severe shortage of teachers there,” an
official said.
Chidambaram’s visit was essentially aimed as an exercise to take first-
hand stock of the situation and to boost the morale of the forces ,
officials said.
On Maoist leader Kishenji, MHA sources said he was either recuperating
from an injury or had been asked to lie low. “Kishenji has been very
quiet. Whether it is for a tactical reason or because of differences
with Ganapathi, we don’t know,” a MHA source said, adding that the
government had credible intelligence to suggest a rift between between
the two over many issues, including over Kishenji's frequent
interaction with the media..
Comments (1) |
Have regained many Naxal areas in lalgarh...
By: D.A. Srinivasan | 02-Apr-2010
It is indeed a good devolopment for Govt of India and govt of WB.It is
time for the Govt to have introspection as to how the area in question
has become Naxal territory. It is clear that the people to whom the
benifits of Govts action should reach are not benifitted and the
corrupt machinery siphons off all the funds for personal gain.The
administrative machinery is not accessible to the common man.His
grievances are not heard.The police , revenue officials act in a
partisan manner.Common man has no where to go to redress his
grievances. For Naxals this is a God sent oppurtunity and they become
popular.As for the devolpoment activity the Govt should take a stock
of what has been allocated and spent and what benifits have accrued to
the benifiearies.Unless this is done prior to new devolopment schemes
and remedial measures are in place against the earlier failures no
positive benifites will accrue.Govt also should take action against
those who are responsible for misgovernance
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/haveregainedmanynaxalareasinlalgarhmha/599017/
Hindu Extremists To Target Shoaib Malik’s Family During Wedding
April 1, 2010
Lirpa Phool Chandrasekaran | Exclusive to PKKH
MUMBAI – Hindu extremists have a plan or two up their sleeve for Sania
Mirza and Shoaib Malik.
The Indian tennis star has decided to marry the ex Pakistan cricket
captain and this has not gone down well with Hindu extremists such as
Shiv Sena, which has organised protest rallies all over India in which
posters and effigies of the bride and groom were set alight.
Though the Sena does not have a good enough presence in Hyderabad it
is doing everything possible to make its presence felt on the D Day of
Sania’s marriage. It is believed that there would be a protest
organized by the Sena in conjunction with many other Hindu extremist
groups near the hotel where the marriage would take place.
Bal Thackeray is said to be fuming ever since the news of the marriage
broke in the media earlier this week.
‘They are attacking us with their terrorists, they are kicking us out
of Afghanistan, they are sidelining us at major global summits and
conferences, and now they are stealing our women? Is India a land of
neuters that she has to go find a man in Pakistan to marry? (India mai
kya hijray rehte hai jo woh mard dhoondne Pakistan gaee hai)’, Said
Bal Thackeray this morning.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which is known for its violence
against North Indians in the state of Maharashtra has also joined in
the chorus.
The MNS is headed by Raj Thackeray, nephew of Bal Thackeray, who had
split from the Shiv Sena in 2006.
‘We’ll see how this Pakistani takes our girl. This is an insult and we
will not let this happen at any cost’, Raj Thackeray is reported to
have said.
It is believed that Sania and her family will be enhancing the
security arrangements of the marriage as Shoaib’s family from Pakistan
could be targeted.
Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Are The Hindu Extremists In India Going To Sabotage The Common Wealth
Games?
Hindu Extremists blame Pakistan for bombing in India Fearing Jihad,
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Posted in India, News, Pakistan, Politics, The Real India | Tagged Bal
Thackeray, Cricket, Cricketer, Hindu extremists, Indian, Maharashtra,
Marriage, MSN, Navnirman Sena, Pakistan, pakistani, Raj Thackeray,
RSS, Sania Mirza, Shiv Sena, Shoaib Malik, Tennis, Wedding |
15 comments
@ ALL bloddy hindus,
Now suddenly she became ur girl.Before her decision of marriage with
shoeb malik(though i dont like shoeb cuz he is supposed to be a
sattebaz) but now I respect this girl and her decision to marry a
muslim and had guts to marry with a pakistani guy.She is unlike other
so called muslim celebrities of India who married hindu or chrisitian
girls take for example all the khans in indian film industry they all
have hindu wife.azharuddin,pataudi and now irfan khan all with hindu
wives (irfan pathan soon to marry hindu girl and her mother said that
if her would be bahu do not want to become muslim she will have no
objection).Muslim Mps almost all of them have first or second wife a
hindu or xtian ones like salman khurshid who has xtian wife and his
sister married to a hindu guy,syed shahnawaz husain has hindu
wife,late sikandar bakht(kambakht) has hindu wife and hindu daughter
in law.Farooq abdullah’s son married to a hindu girl and his daughter
married to a hindu guy.Abbas naqvi married a hindu girl and the list
goes on.
Hats off to u sania My wishes n prayers r with u always.Inshallah
ALLAH will give hidaya to shoeb malik and u to be on imaan and work
for Islam instead of countries u belong to cuz Islam has no boundaries
no nationality no country.Islam is for the whole universe.
by Mu-salman Khan from India April 1, 2010 at 10:37 pm
@Muh-salman Khan ji, Those marriages u referred, are forced & feared,
to avoid being the victim of current Nazi Hindu India, commonly known
as automatic ” shuddhi”, but rest assured, Pakistanis also felt
necessary to have hindu wives, if u doubt me, ask the Governor of
Pakistani Punjab ! The only remaining obvious aspect workable of
failed secularism in S.E Asia.
Late Z.A Bhuttos mother was a hindu too, so why on earth are u
“shocked ” this is progressivism
by Rafay Kashmiri April 1, 2010 at 11:33 pm
hahahhahahahhaaa………
India ki bisteeeeee………..Wow!!!
by fatima April 1, 2010 at 10:53 pm
@ Do we really need such extravaganzaa ? giving it a false colour of
overexuberant mutual showbis promotional exibitions to “improve”
relationship between two neighbours, one, an adopted spoilt child of
the west, coming from a poverty stricken society, the other, forcibly
being brought at the brink of social & moral disaster by the west ?
As for Nazi Bal Thakuray, he & his party, alongwith other Indian
political terrorist parties must be brought before Inter. Penal
Tribunal for crimes
against humanity, including the Indian Govt.
perpetrating Genocide in Kashmir,with 700.000 army only inside the
valley, and training, financing & equipping terrorists in their 17
training camps in Afghanistan, e.g TTP American Talibans. Its funny,
organised terrorists are
trained by Indo-Israeli specialists, protected by INTERNATIONAL
CONSORTIUM OF GLOBAL TERRORISM run by CIA, MOSSAD, RAW & MI6.
by Rafay Kashmiri April 1, 2010 at 11:20 pm
@ May be somebody should make bal Thakuray
an april fool, we still have some hours left !!
I heard he loves National Socialist Fuhrer
Adolf Hitler !!
by Rafay Kashmiri April 1, 2010 at 11:37 pm
heyy m really intrested to have good relations with our neighbour and
wish for their improvement ….and luv is beyond boundries…and they both
are in luvv..so lets b happy in their happiness…….and should say sania
a very warm welcome in PAKISTAN.we luv u both….
sadaf pakistan
by sadaf April 2, 2010 at 12:58 am
• For marital affairs, Islam benchmarks very clear and well defined
set of laws, boundaries, rules and ordinances of “All Mighty Allah”
for all Muslims to follow.
• Islam does not permit Muslim men/women to marry with KUFARS (idol
worshipers)or with non believers (atheists). If Muslim man/woman
marries with such, they no longer are considered as Muslims.
• Islam permit Muslim men to marry women who are the beholders of the
Holy Books, i.e. Quran, Bible and Torah.
• Islam permits Muslim women to marry only Muslim men.
• Islam rejects non marital relationships of any kind between men and
women.
Pakistanis get side track as easy as with this hype of; Shoaib Malik
& Sania Mirza.
Pakistanis quickly lose sense of directions and aims and become
focused on non relevant issues like; Shoaib Malik & Sania Mirza.
Pakistanis don’t spare time and forget their tasks and adjectives
and starts devilling on non productive activates like; Shoaib Malik &
Sania Mirza.
Pakistanio; do you not feel shame when you live and act like your
enemies (hindoz)?
Indeed you know hindoz are KAFIRS and Pakistan’s historical enemies,
so then why do you do things that your enemy does?
Pakistanio do you not have any standards or motives other then
Shoaib Malik or Sania Mirza or Indian media or indian bollywood?
As Pakistanis if you think following lifestyles of your enemies or
playing sad and pathetic games of Shoaib Malik or Sania Mirza would
make you above and beyond than carry on with your patty little idol
worshiping games.
o All I can say for the likes of you; SHAME ON LOT OF YOU!
by Pakistani voice April 2, 2010 at 5:54 am
That’s what india is a true terrorist and the hindu extrmists are the
real threat to the world. These so called hindu superpower india
inside is just a piece of crap where there is no tolerance. These
hindus kill others just because they eat beef and chicken what a piece
of sh??? india is. Come on liberty lowers condemn indian terrorism the
mother of all terrorist country india. A lesson for india lovers
including our elite class. Our media should also control itself always
running indian news.
by Pakistani April 2, 2010 at 7:39 am
hehehehe…. looks like PKKH making up stuff again. And the dimwitted
Pakis buying this news without bothering to check facts…. amusing
indeed. Despite the Thakreys being completely useless, they haven’t
actually commented on anything – but then, since when has that stopped
you Pakis from making up stuff eh. Carry on boys…
by Amused April 2, 2010 at 8:43 am
This is fake news ., none of the Thakrey said this ., salutes to paki
media , have guts to lie openly
by harsha April 2, 2010 at 8:53 am
PKKH is such a Hypocritical website. i think i have to unsubscribe
from it on facebook.
by NA kar yaar April 2, 2010 at 9:41 am
@Amused Thakeray,
ha ha ha ha ha……..lolzzzzzzzz
Your Indian bluff not always works, for u, BJP,RSS
& 15 Nazi Shuddhi parties r “useless” (on surface)
but beneath they r part & parcel of Indian Genocidal
culture. Recently, Kashmir, Gujarat, Bombay, Ayudhia’s muslims are
very very recent mahabharat’s epochs, & Thakerays & Co were always
quite
” usefull “.
Sania / Shoeb wedding, goodluck for them,
but Indian Hindu Takfiri Taliban’s killer instinct & Bal Thakeray’s
wedding existed long long ago !
by Rafay Kashmiri April 2, 2010 at 10:02 am
Poor Indians…
by sohail April 2, 2010 at 10:15 am
@ NA kar yaar,
is that a new Indian shuddhi party ?
by Rafay Kashmiri April 2, 2010 at 10:16 am
happy ccouple inshalla.sania jee is now our expected babhi.shoib gi
kiya chakka lagyaaa hai.mazza agayaaaa.
by waqasayub22 April 2, 2010 at 12:11 pm
'Sania's heart not Indian as it beats for Pakistani'
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0954 hrs
Mumbai:
'More than victories on tennis court, Sania became famous for her
tight clothes, fashion and love affairs,' alleges Bal Thackeray.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday flayed tennis star Sania Mirza
for her decision to marry Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, saying
"had Sania's heart been Indian, it wouldn't have beaten for a
Pakistani."
"Henceforth, Sania will not remain an Indian. Had her heart been
Indian, it wouldn't have beaten for a Pakistani. If she wished to play
for India, she should have chosen an Indian life partner," 84-year-old
Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
"More than victories on tennis court, Sania became famous for her
tight clothes, fashion and love affairs," Thackeray alleged.
"More than her play, people's attention was on her mannerisms," he
claimed.
The Shiv Sena supremo alleged that "for Shoaib, India is an enemy, not
only in sports arena but also in the battlefield.
"We have heard that Shoaib has many affairs in India and has promised
many girls he will marry them," he said.
Thackeray also expressed surprise over the alacrity with which Sania's
family members were granted Pakistani visas.
"Getting a Pakistani visa is tough even for a singer like Lata
Mangeshkar," he said.
23-year-old Sania, who is the most successful woman tennis player from
the sub-continent, will settle down with 28-year-old Shoaib in Dubai
after their marriage on April 15 in Hyderabad.
17 Comments |
Trying times
By: Surjeet | Friday , 2 Apr '10 13:02:24 PM
Well, in trying times and war like situation, such as, terror attack
killing thousands, people who suffer will have this feeling where
loyalties could be questioned. Pakistani cricketers are also known for
indiscipline. We also talk of terror within, that is, hundreds of
Pakistani have come to India on tourist visa and are hiding in India.
What they are doing is anyone's guess. If anyone, or a family from the
nation of the victims questions his or her fellow citizens as to how
they wish to establish ties accross the border, where all the trouble
erupts, it certainly will be a logical question difficult to answer.
It is a war like situation when cowardly attacks are taking place. If
someone marries a french,english, italian, no question will arise. One
should not say this is an unreasonable question. Hydrabad is a place
where every year hundreds of girls are married into the Arab & Pak.
families. Questions are ofcourse askedabout these decisions as Indian
girls really suffer
This is Hilarious
By: Rahul | Friday , 2 Apr '10 13:01:42 PM
This is so hilarious...this isn't even a topic worth discussing...ha
ha ha ... lol...ROFL...idiots!
MASHPAUL GERMANY 02.04.2010
By: P.C.LUTHRA | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:51:41 PM
PLEASE BE COSIDERATE IN YOUR LANGUAGE WHILE WRITING ABOUT SENIOR
CITIZENS AND LEADERS IN INDIA(SHRI BAL THACKEREY. YOUR WORDS "BARKING
DOGS SELDOM BITE" IS BELOW THE DIGNITY OF HUMANITY WHETHER IN INDIA OR
IN GERMANY.MAY GOD BLESS YOU. WITH WARM REGARDS
y make it a news?
By: ankur | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:50:31 PM
Everyone of us is having our own views. Mr. Bal Thackerey is just
another Indian with his own views. I think he is doing no good to this
country. Will you be making a this a news tomorrow. Its time to tell
these kind of people that they can have their views but they are not
like any other Indian and no special column in papers should be given
to what they say and what they don't say. I think this encourages him
further. Thackerey Sahab try to be an indian first, then start having
views for other Indians and kindly don't try to impose your views on
others. Any ways Shoiab's decision is Sania's decision and her decsion
should be respected by all of us. Why still this narrow mindedness
that every Pakistani is a terrorist. We have better issues to debate
and work on. Let us just sideline whatever Baal Sahab says from now
on.
Sania Mirza must review her decision with maturity !!!
By: A K SAXENA | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:32:28 PM
It is rightly said that the celebrities have no private lives.Sania is
a public figure.She was expected to decide about her marriage by full
application of her mind rather than heart.Did she know that Shoab
Malik was already married to one Ayesha Siddiqui of Hyderabad? And,
she has not been divorced yet by Shoab Malik!Why is Sania falling head
over heels over Pakistani players?Do Indian muslims not impress her?We
have scores of eligible bachelor from all communities including
muslims who could be good match for her.She was born and brought up in
a composite indian culture.India gave her love and affection that a
child so much deserved.Sania brought glory to India and became an
icon,a house-hold name,a role model to millions!Her assurance that she
would continue to play for India even after her marriage is a
farce.Time will prove her wrong. Our blessings are always with
her,destiny has ordained otherwise for her as her heart will always
remain indian A K SAXENA (A retd civil servant)
Gullible Sania
By: Ramachandra | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:27:20 PM
Bala Saheb is 1 crore and 1 percent right here. Malik has just
ensnared this gullible female into his web of deception in order to
get into IPL...shame on Sania anyways. But as my late Grandma used to
say: The careless are often exploited by the shameless.
Hear is a Heart
By: Farooq Khan | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:17:13 PM
Oh Wow, Sena Chief now uses the word 'Indian', ha!
Sania's heart
By: Roshan | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:15:42 PM
On this issue, Shri Bal Thackeray has spoke right.Sania's heart had
never been to India. Else she wouldn't have likened a pakistani. Are
there shortage of Indian Muslims that she couldn't find one? Let her
go to pakistan and acquire a pakistani citizenship. Indian doesn't
need her. Furthermore,she's tired of nursing injuries time and again.
I dont think she would continue tennis anymore. Playing in or for
Pakistan is obsolete .
I agree to some parts of it.
By: deepak | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:09:45 PM
I think Bala Sahab..is right in some areas.
He's not wrong
By: Yojimbo | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:02:31 PM
Well, he is right.
SANIA DECISION
By: Jafar Raza | Friday , 2 Apr '10 12:01:21 PM
Indian Muslims all over the country expressed their displeasure for
Sina's decision. Now communal forces have come out to exploit and
commualise the issue. There are many Hindu girls married to Pakistani
Rajput Landlords in Sindh. Has HHS Bal Thakrey ever objected.
rightly said
By: iyer | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:56:53 AM
But for the comment of Sania's tight clothes I fully agree with Mr.Bal
Thackery in this issue.At least She should have thought about the
hapless & innocent Indians who died in Mumbai on November 26th and
other pak sponsored terrorists activities.There are eligible-educated-
financially strong Muslim youths available in India.Really strange on
her part to choose a Pakistani as her husband.
Bala Saheb
By: jani | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:54:53 AM
Bala Saheb is right on the spot this time.Sania has no business to
live in India. Entry of Malik should be banned in India. He may spoil
lives of other innocent Indian girls.Indian girls be aware and don't
fall prey to such thugs. Shoaib wants to enter IPL by marrying Sania
as he has no other revenue. What ever money he had earned from match
fixing has been wasted in casting web on such girls
No rules here!
By: Parag Ganguly | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:42:43 AM
"The heart has its reasons",or does it?
Sania and Shoaib
By: Mashpaul Germany | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:42:04 AM
Iam not a fan from both of them.But who the hell is Thackeray to tell
people what they have to do or who they have to marry.He should come
out of Maharashtra and see where the world is going.He can order his
family to do things he wants.I in sanias place would have draged
thackeray in court.But she is peaceful than me,maybe she thinks
BARKING DOGS SELDOM BITE.His own family is not under his control.Split
personality,he should see a psychaitrist.
Govt should make getting permission compusory
By: Ayyappa | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:27:06 AM
Any one can marry any one. It is their wish and there are so many
inter racial marriages happening in this world. In this case one
fraudster is marrying an Indian girl. What is the gaurantee this
marriage is legal? Other than the country he originate from tere are
news of an earler marriage in India itself. Any more wives in Paki?
Govt should look at some countries in far east where it is compusory
to get govt clearence before any citizen can marry a foreigner. After
marrying they can claim for citizenship and other previlages. What
will we do then. We do not want undesirable elements from Paki here.
Sania should go and take Paki citizenship and settle any where.
since when have you started to care for india.........
By: Saket Ranjan | Friday , 2 Apr '10 11:24:49 AM
and since when you started caring for india............i heard your
heart beats only for the marathi manus!!!
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/saniasheartnotindianasitbeatsforpakistani/599144/
Two Lashkar militants killed in J-K encounter
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0934 hrs
Jammu:
Two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants were killed in a gunbattle with security
forces in Rajouri district on Friday.
Acting on a tip off about the movement of militants in Kanthole Gundi-
Darrutelna in Kalakote, 130 kms from here, police assisted by
Rashtriya Rifle and CRPF personnel launched a cordon operation.
An encounter soon broke out around 0830 hrs in which two militants
have been killed, police said.
Both of them are Pakistanis and believed to be a part of the group
that infiltrated from across the border in Akhnoor on March 23.
With today's killing, 14 militants have been killed in the past one
week in Rajouri district. All the slain militants belong to LeT.
Six LeT militants of Pakistani origin, who had escaped from Triyath
forest after a brief encounter three days ago, were killed by security
forces in Rajouri district yesterday.
A search team of police assisted by army, special operation group
(SoG) and CRPF tracked down the militants who had escaped from Triyath
forest on March 30 following a brief encounter with the security
personnel.
A jawan had been killed and Station House Officer of Daramshal Police
Station Inspector Showkat Ali was injured in that incident.
Two militants of this group were killed in Dharamshal area on Saturday
last while four were killed in Kandi Bhudal belt of Rajouri district
on Wednesday.
Comments (2) |
LeT Militant
By: Kumar | 02-Apr-2010
LeT is a Regiment of Pak Army, now the situation in Kashmir like of
Kargil. One full battalion or even a division of LeT regiment is
invading India. What is Indian Army's response, before being too late?
Congratulations Indian army
By: Indian | 02-Apr-2010 Rep
You have done an excellent job. Keep up the good work, kill as many
terrorist as possible. We are praying for the success of the Indian
army.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/twolashkarmilitantskilledinjkencounter/599140/
MBA graduate gangraped in share taxi
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 1147 hrs
Pune:
A 25-year-old married woman was allegedly gang raped by occupants of a
share taxi in which she was travelling in Pune, police said o Friday.
The woman, an MBA in hospitality management, had gone out for an
interview in Wakad area, taking a lift in the vehicle when she was
abducted and allegedly raped by three persons, who too were seated in
the taxi along with her, last night, they said.
Two suspects had been detained for interrogation in the case, police
said.
The victim who originally hails from Nagpur was staying with her
relatives in the city, it was stated.
Medical report in the case is still awaited, police said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/mbagraduategangrapedinsharetaxi/599172/
HM to review security situation in Arunacha
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 1232 hrs
Itanagar:
P Chidambaram will hold a high level meeting with the Army and
security agencies during his visit to Arunachal Pradesh.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will review the security situation
in the state amid speculation that Myanmar may launch an operation
against Northeast militants having bases there, officials said.
Chidambaram, who arrived in Itanagar on Friday on a two-day visit,
will hold a high level meeting with the Army and security agencies.
He is also scheduled to visit Khonsha, headquarters of Tirap, a
district declared disturbed along with adjoining Changlang, under the
Armed Forces Special Power Act because of activities of militants from
neighbouring Nagaland and Assam.
The militants use the forests in the two districts sharing border with
Myanmar as corridor to their bases across the international border.
After being driven out from Bhutan and Bangladesh, the militants have
reportedly taken refuge in camps in Myanmar.
Union Home Secretary G K Pillai had visited Naypyidaw, the new
Myanmarese capital, in January.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hmtoreviewsecuritysituationinarunachal/599187/
Militants blow up Rly track in Pulwama
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0829 hrs
Srinagar:
Militants attacked the Kashmir rail network for the first time,
blowing up nearly two feet of track in Pulwama district, resulting in
suspension of rail service linking South Kashmir with North Kashmir.
The ultras detonated an IED at Galbug, 43.6 km from here, around 10 pm
last night, damaging two feet rail track, police said, adding there
were no casualties.
Rail service on the track has been suspended.
This is for the first time that militants have targeted the railway
service, started in the valley two years ago.
The attack comes at a time when senior railway officers are expected
to visit Kashmir to review progress of the ongoing work in the
railways.
The rail track connects Qazigund in South Kashmir to Baramulla in
North Kashmir.
SSP, Pulwama, Kifayat Haider, said, "It was probably an IED blast
because not much of damage has been done but we have recovered some
wires from the spot. Repair work is going on since this morning and
the track will be restored within a couple of hours."
Comments (1) |
Pak regiment LeT Sabotage Rail in J
By: Kumar | 02-Apr-2010
LeT is a Regiment of Pak Army, now the situation in Kashmir like of
Kargil. One full battalion or even a division of LeT regiment is
invading India. What is Indian Army's response, before being too late?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/militantsblowuprlytrackinpulwama/599125/
HC stays suspension of AMU’s gay prof
Vijay Pratap Singh
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0315 hrs
Allahabad:
The Allahabad High Court today stayed the suspension of Aligarh Muslim
University lecturer Srinivas Ramchandra Siras over charges of gay
sex.
The court also stayed the AMU order asking him to vacate his official
residence and restricting his movements. Siras was suspended on
February 9. The court, however, declined to stay the AMU inquiry
against him.
In an interim order, the division bench of Justices Sunil Ambwani and
K N Pandey directed AMU to allot Siras a residence on the campus. The
case will be heard next on May 4.
“The court agreed to our argument that it is constitutionally wrong to
intrude into anybody’s private life or action,” Siras’s counsel Anand
Grover told The Indian Express.
He said he had accepted in court that his client was homosexual. “But
it is none of the university’s business to peep into the private life
of any person. The court took cognisance of my argument and gave my
client relief.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/hcstayssuspensionofamusgayprof/599106/
Back in UP politics, Rajnath woos backwards, Dalits
Tarannum Manjul
Posted: Friday , Apr 02, 2010 at 0255 hrs
Lucknow:
Rajnath Singh at his residence in Lucknow on Thursday.
Rajnath Singh has returned to Uttar Pradesh politics after his stint
as the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the first
thing on his mind is to mobilise the members of backward communities
and Dalits all over the state behind the party.
After attending a programme for Kori community in Ghaziabad recently,
Singh was in Barabanki on Wednesday where he addressed members of Pasi
community.
Speaking about their welfare, Singh said Chief Minister Mayawati has
not taken any concrete steps for the welfare of Dalits.
“When I was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, I had introduced an
ordinance for the most backward castes, to ensure their share of
social justice,” Singh told The Indian Express.
“But today look what has happened to them. No one is thinking about
their welfare anymore. Whenever I am finding time, I am open to all
invitations to work for the welfare of most backward communities,” he
added.
Singh now spends more time at his Lucknow residence on Kalidas Marg
and says that he has started receiving invitations to attend several
sammelans. His next stop will be a Dalit welfare programme at Fatehpur
on April 23.
Rajnathspeak
We are not at all worried as we have a strong base in the western part
of Uttar Pradesh. In fact, two of the biggest seats in the area —
Ghaziabad and Meerut — have been won by BJP On Kalyan’s bid to expand
his party’s reach
Crores of rupees have been spent by the Centre on the Ganga Action
Plan but we can’t see any result so far. We have found that all the
money has been misused. The Centre should release a White Paper on the
utilisation of fund
On White Paper on Ganga Action Plan
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/backinuppolitics-rajnathwoosbackwards-dalits/599091/
To attract youth, Gadkari seeks new Hindutva idiom
Express News Service
Posted: Tuesday , Mar 23, 2010 at 0222 hrs
New Delhi:
BJP president Nitin Gadkari said: ' Hindutva cannot become any
political party's agenda.
27 Comments |
Great "U" turn
By: Sai Ram Sathyam | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 17:12:44 PM
Wonderful, This leader seas a wider vision. What was turning into an
animal is again 2 legged and has become decent. How great it would be,
if Hindians and insulating bureaucrats realise that the danger is
"CHINA" not Taliban, for it has planned and equipped our Revenur Dept,
Rural Govt. handlers and the greedy to help create Moaists, Nuxalbari.
A Rich Andhra, Zamindar told me, if go to the interior villages and
listen to the suffering of the needy, you will buy an AK-47 and join
the urising. ! Indians dont know the silly-greedy petty minded
officers may get a salary but are destroying the foundation, and thus
helping CHINA & PAK plans. Even if ISI cannot see beyond their nose we
must, as we are broad minded. ! If their house is on fire, radiation
will hurt us. God Save Naya dhaur Hindia.
Religion has become useful tool for Indian politicians
By: hara | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 16:59:35 PM
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as
false, and by the rulers as useful. -- seneca, Roman philosopher This
kind of agenda will make Indian society weaker. Religion should be
separated from politics, that's secularism. Politicians who go with
religious propaganda end up in creating another religious war inside
India.
Hindutva
By: CPGoyal | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 16:25:41 PM
For sure Hindutva is not a religion. Its a way of life.Need proof?
Open any Hindu scripture. The Bhagwat-Gita,Ramayan the Vedas, Purans,
you name it and you will not find the word Hindu in any of them. One
reason probably is that at that time no other religion existed. So,
essencially, Hinduism is a way of life and nothing else.
Attract Youths
By: Dinesh | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 15:42:46 PM
Gadkari has to " KICK OUT " Advani first, to attract youths.
True Sculars and True Indians
By: amghavarsha.ii | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 15:19:03 PM
people supporting secular parties are always forward looking, always
tolerant. Never include religion in propagand. The very fact that
gadkari is saying that "....terrorists who happen to be muslims "
shows his bias towards which religion. After all the most secular and
true Indians are Secularists. Because they don't find natural
difference in the human who happens to be Indian. It is BJP which has
given India the VERTICAL DIVIDE accross sections of Indian Society.
who divided India in 1947
By: Anil Dutt | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 18:37:24 PM
You said "It is BJP which has given India the VERTICAL DIVIDE accross
sections of Indian Society" I just want to ask you who created
communal divide in India post independance in 1947. BJP didnt exist at
that time?? Communal friction existed since then.
Focus on Grassroot People
By: jk | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 15:07:23 PM
It is good that the new chief of BJP is focusing on youth. Please also
concentrate on the so called harijans i.e. SC/ST, adivasis and all
other socially & economically backward people. We cannot make any
progress and keep the integrity of the nation without the unity of the
backward and the so called savarna community. As everybody aware there
is a sinister attempt by the Semitics to tow away the national pride
of the people and inject imported faiths & ideals. If we are not able
to stop this menace the present India will not exist until end of this
century. So act now. Do not give any space in BJP for personal egoism
and infighting. Show the door to those who interested in these ugly
things irrespective of their stature. Do systematic works by taking
into confidence all spectrum of the socieity to achieve the target.
Wish you all the best.
a bad person is a bad person - a thug is a thug - let us not brand him
Objection for everything
By: Indian | Thursday , 25 Mar '10 14:27:30 PM
Parminder,first read the definition of Hindutva by Supreme court &
then make comment here.Minorities in India have reservation for
anything said & done by majority.They will not even like to call
bharath since we worship the same as our mata
Let and Let live - Hindutva idiom
BJP most secular
By: Swan | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 13:54:39 PM
BJP does recognize all sections. 80% of BJP and RSS are from OBC or
Dalit communities. But the biased media and pseudo secular people do
not give that importance but do wrong publicity.
Thanks to Indian Express
By: Swanand Bodas | Tuesday , 23 Mar '10 9:35:52 AM
This has been BJP's agenda from JanSangh time. Hindutva by virtue is
comprehensive. The culture here is tolerent and harmonious but of
course is capable to teach a lesson to pseudo secularists who have
been dividing the country for their vote-bank politics. Whatever SC
had said was exactly stated by Veer Savarkar by defining Hindus as
those loving this country and being part of the culture of this
country. But due to Pseudo secular people and even worse media this
has always been prohibitted to come forward. So I must congratulate
Indian Express which at least has made it a news unlike almost other
media channels who are more worried about Rahul Gandhi's whereabouts,
where does he stay what does eat, whether Priyanka was with him or not
etc. than any other intellectual process. This country needs to bring
all religions, states on same level with no special religious laws to
Muslims and no special status to J&K. Only then the country becomes
united
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/to-attract-youth-gadkari-seeks-new-hindutva-idiom/594388/
Lalu attacks Ramdev, calls him 'senile'
Press Trust Of India
Posted on Apr 01, 2010 at 18:31
Patna: Once an admirer of Baba Ramdev, RJD chief Lalu Prasad went
hammer and tongs against the Yoga Guru for attacking politicians and
nurturing political ambitions and said he has gone 'senile'.
The former Bihar Chief Minister said it is not good for Ramdev, who
recently announced that he would float a political party, to criticise
every politician in the country.
"It is not good that Ramdev is criticising every politician in the
country to prove himself good," Prasad said at a function here
yesterday targeting the noted Yoga Guru.
"I have advised him against joining politics. In fact, Ramdevji bauwra
gaye hai (Ramdevji has gone senile)," he said.
Ramdev had blamed politicians for some of the problems facing the
country.
But Lalu's tirade against Ramdev did not go well with the BJP chief
Nitin Gadkari.
Gadakri came out in defence of Ramdev and ticked off Lalu saying his
language was inappropriate and that it was not warranted against such
a "veteran spiritual leader".
Initially telling he would not like to comment on the issue, Gadkari
later opened up saying Lalu should have "refrained from using such
language against Ramdev."
"His comments on such a respected person are disappointing," he added.
At the function, Lalu said "We once saved him (Ramdev) or else he
would have been beaten up."
Lalu was apparently referring to the strong support he had extended as
railway minister to the Yoga Guru when the latter was attacked by CPM
leader Brinda Karat who had alleged that animal bones were being mixed
with the ayurvedic medicine produced by an institution established by
Ramdev at Haridwar.
Lalu had stressed that even if human bones were mixed with medicines,
it was justified as they proved to be effective in curing people.
He also criticised Ramdev for claiming to cure cancer.
"In this research age, it is nothing but cheating and befooling
people," he said.
Lalu and Ramdev had been mutual admirers earlier. He praised the Yoga
Guru for teaching him `aasans' which cured his high blood pressure and
blood sugar. Ramdev had also praised Lalu for doing `hasya (laughing)
aasan' frequently and keeping himself healthy.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/lalu-attacks-ramdev-calls-him-senile/112519-37.html
Marry an Indian: Sena tells Sania
Watch Video
http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/112547/marry-an-indian-sena-tells-sania.html
Nitin Gadkari has failed his first test
March 25, 2010 14:32 IST
Nitin Gadkari [ Images ] had raised expectations as a no-nonsense man
who meant business. Even as he has tried to synchronise the pulls and
pressures within the BJP, the composition of his new team has been
disappointing. What is more, he has failed to come across as his own
man, writes Neerja Chowdhury.
Nitin Gadkari's new team last week was meant to show how the new
Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] chief planned to translate his
intentions into reality and move and shake the party. But it was a
case of khoda pahar nikli chuhiya (Dug up a mountain but only found a
mouse). Four months into the party presidency, Gadkari has a revolt
on his hands, and that too in Bihar, where critical state elections
are due in six months.
Considering Gadkari took three months to finalise his team, after
innumerable rounds of consultations with state units, the public
expression of unhappiness by party leaders has not done anything to
strengthen Gadkari's authority as BJP chief.
But first, let us consider the plus side of Team Gadkari. The average
age of the Gadkari team has come down, and that is a step forward. The
increasingly youthful face of the Congress, under Rahul Gandhi
[ Images ], had posed a challenge for the BJP and was a cause for
worry for the Sangh Parivar.
There are 12 women office-bearers and 40 women in the BJP's national
executive, and the party constitution has changed under Gandkari's
stewardship, and this will exert its own pressure on other parties.
But the question being asked is: Who are the youth and women -- and
indeed others -- the BJP president has chosen to bring to the fore to
lead the party? And in so doing, how far has he moved in the direction
of fulfilling the promises he made when he took over?
When he began his stint as the party chief, Gadkari had spoken about a
performance audit. He had said that BJP leaders will be judged by
their actions, and not by how many drawing rooms in Delhi [ Images ]
they frequented. The promotion of Hema Malini [ Images ] as BJP's vice
president -- she brings glamour to the party's campaign at election
time but is hardly visible otherwise -- or the appointment of
actresses Smriti Irani [ Images ] and Vani Tripathi has done little to
boost the morale of women slogging in the party's state units for
years, who had become hopeful that they will finally receive some
recognition.
The parity given to Vani Tripathi and Murlidhar Rao -- both were made
secretaries, when Rao had headed the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and has
given years of his life towards creating a movement for swadeshi in
extremely trying times -- is hardly a signal that the new leadership
intends to reward performance or commitment to the basic values of the
Parivar.
It can be argued, quite legitimately, that Gadkari had to work with
well-known faces, and new leaders were not going to drop from the
heavens. Any organisational reshuffle is after all a jiggling around
of known people. But the hallmark of an effective leader is, how he
utilises the existing material at hand to infuse the organisation with
new energy.
Gadkari had also set himself the goal of increasing the party's vote
bank by 10 per cent. Yet, southern India [ Images ] is virtually
unrepresented in the new team, and this 10 per cent increase cannot
come only from the northern states, where the BJP already has a
presence.
For the first time, no BJP general secretary hails from Uttar Pradesh
[ Images ], where important elections are due in 2012. The party has
to pull itself up by its bootstraps in the country's largest state if
it is to bid for power again. However, two out of the 10 general
secretaries are from Madhya Pradesh [ Images ], where elections are
not due any time soon.
In Bihar, where elections are due in October, and where the
established caste equations which brought the BJP-led National
Democratic Alliance to power last time have become skewed, the party
has a problem on its hands. Former Union minister C P Thakur has
publicly expressed his unhappiness; so has Shatrughan Sinha
[ Images ], though he is a perennial dissenter and is batting not only
for himself this time but also for senior leader Yashwant Sinha
[ Images ], who has been left out in the cold.
An unhappy Shahnawaz Hussain, who was made only a spokesman, chose to
boycott the first meeting of party spokespersons. Purnea Member of
Parliament Udai Singh has not spoken up, but is reportedly also
resentful at not being given his due.
Two leaders from Bihar have been promoted to important party posts,
but both happen to be Kayasthas, and this has fuelled a revolt in the
other communities. But these promotions have shown that the new party
chief is either unmindful of caste as a reality of Indian politics or
is deliberately not going to bother himself with it.
The exclusion of Hussain as a general secretary in the new Gadkari
team has ramifications that go beyond an individual. It is an open
secret that Hussain was tipped for a general secretary's post and it
seems that his name was dropped at the last moment at the insistence
of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
It goes without saying that Hussain's credentials for the job are
better than those of many others. This is not just because he is young
(41), has been a member of the Lok Sabha thrice and has served as the
youngest ever Cabinet minister during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
[ Images ] premiership. It says something for his enterprising spirit
that he managed to win despite being a Muslim in a party like the BJP,
which is viewed with suspicion by the Muslim community. In the last
two elections, he won from Bhagalpur, which has a sizeable Muslim
population.
His promotion would have given the party a talking point that it is
serious about reaching out to the minority community. After all, soon
after he took over as the BJP chief, Gadkari had declared that he
wanted to build bridges with the Muslim community.
In some way, Hussain's exclusion comes as a real setback to the party
in its journey to become a mainstream organisation. It has also
underscored the party's bias against Muslims, even as other BJP
leaders like Mukhtar Abbbas Naqvi and Najma Heptullah were made vice
presidents. But that is not the same as being made a general
secretary. Hussain's exclusion shows that Muslims in the BJP can have
only a tokenistic role and rise up to a certain point, but not beyond
it
It goes without saying that the RSS has had a major say in fashioning
the new team. The three RSS pointspersons in the party have retained
their positions -- Ram Lal as general secretary and V Satish and
Saudan Singh as joint secretaries. Gadkari had reportedly elicited the
views of the organisational 'mantris' in the states on which leaders
to include in his new team.
However, the trio that essentially influenced Gadkari comprised Ram
Lal, former BJP president Rajnath Singh, and joint general secretary
of the RSS Suresh Soni, who was a powerful figure during Singh's
presidency. He continues to wield considerable clout, though many felt
that he might lose some of it, given Gadkari's direct access to RSS
chief Mohan Bhagwat.
The new team was reportedly finalised only at 3 am, on the day of the
actual announcement, at Gadkari's new flat at Ferozeshah Road.
Gadkari had raised expectations as a no-nonsense man who meant
business. Even as he has tried to synchronise the pulls and pressures
that any head of a political organisation would have to, the
composition of his new team, his first real test as party chief, has
been disappointing. What is more, he has failed to come across as his
own man.
Neerja Chowdhury
Discussion Board
Showing 1-10 of total 47 messages
http://news.rediff.com/column/2010/mar/25/nitin-gadkari-has-failed-his-first-test.htm
ndian Fake Encounters to Boost Hindutva Image (Who Controls Fanatic
India- XVI)- Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Submitted by abdul2028 on Thu, 01/04/2010 - 21:26
Dr. Abdul Ruff ColachalIndian Fake Encounters to Boost Hindutva Image
Indian Fake Encounters to Boost Hindutva Image
There is a very striking feature common between fascist Israel and
terror India in policies and actions. It is not just fanaticism and
terror instinct that bind them all. One main factor is inferiority
complexes they suffer that they cover up with heavy military build up.
Inferiority complex is inherited from former rulers as part of fear of
retaliation by the oppressed, suppressed people.
None needs any crash course to know Hindu India is a terror state and
its hates Muslims and Islam and therefore seeks strategic partnership
with Israel and USA-UK. Hyderabad, home town of tennis ace Sania Mirza
and conisdered as part of Pakistan by Hindu India, keeps burning
thanks to terror Indian anti-Islamic, divisive polices. In Muslim
dominated areas it is easy to instigate troubles by the Hindu
extremists by attacking mosques and Islamic symbols. Hindus know the
provocative tactics to make Muslims revolt even without any serious
cause and they don’t open their mouth even when there is serious
danger affecting their relgion and lives.
This has been happening in Hyderabad which perhaps has the largest
miltiary contonement in South India and which is literally under brute
Indian terror military control by increasingly employing numberless
terror force enforcements. Right from the day when the former
Hyderabad ruler Nizam was thrown out of Hyderabad by the Indian terror
forces, Hyderabad’s Islamic face is being tarnished by the Hindu
rulers. The anti-Muslim central regime is using the major political
outfit MIM in Hyderabad to outrage the Muslims in the town nation of
Hyderabad. India even invented a new phenomenon Cyvberabad inside
Hyderabad/Secunderabad to counter the image of Hyderabad and
Secunderabad twin towns. Obviously India suffers from huge inferiority
complex despite its imposing terror power.
Fake terror threat percetptions pointing an accusing poisonous finger
at Muslims are common in all anti-Islamc nations, from USA, UK, to
India and Israel. Latest terror gimmick from India was engineered in
the air by a mock scare in Kingfisher airplane from Bangalore to
Trivandrum with anti-Islamic band of intentions is yet another Indian
strategic ploy to keep alive the terrorism drama. Since media in India
are under the control of the intelligence outfits, it is easy to
create panic in the country by blasting such terror plot news.
Obviously, the Indian intelligence outfits in connivance with the
airliner has done the neat job of terrorizing the people around. The
terrorist media faithfully gave enough coverage as if they cannot
think properly as how the terror materials came inside the plane at
the last minute!
It has been a sheer habit in Hindustan for the Hindutva outfits, on
the strenghtof cnetral regime, to issue unsolicited certificates and
fatwas on Muslims and Islam and who is a true Indian and who is not
and get away with them. They insult Muslims in public meetings for the
sake of votes form Hindus who other wise prefer medium Hindutva
Congress party. A “non-terrorist” plus a leading Bharatratna, Shiv
Sena chief Bal Thackeray certified on 27 March that the big B Amitabh
Bachchan is not a thief, dacoit or a terrorist. He also said the actor
has done nothing wrong by attending the inauguration of the second
phase of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
False accusations about Muslims and fake encounters are common in
India. In today’s terrorism era, the life of Muslims is complicated
mainly because of the hostile attitude of majority outs. Jammu Kahmir
is the hotbed of Indina state terorism and fake encounters to kill
Muslms who seek soveriegnty back from an arrogant India. Like Indian
cricket, every second military or police encounter in India is fake
and never the notorious public servants who provoke violence and
overact were found guilty. A reply the NHRC sent on 08/04/2009 to
Sahil, a Jamia Millia Islamia student who insisted on facts on state
sponsored violence and fake encounters, was revealing. Since October
1993 there were 1224 fake encounters in the country.
An interesting point the latest data reveals is that of 1224 fake
encounters, the NHRC ordered for compensation in only 16 cases. Since
October 1993, 2560 cases of police encounters have been brought into
the notice of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Of them,
according to the NHRC, 1224 cases have been found fake encounters. M.
A. Falahi reports while there is strong resistance by the government
and its agencies including police and even courts for a judicial probe
into the infamous Batla House encounter – ignoring persistent demand,
sharpened following the autopsy report, of the Muslim community and
human rights groups say every second police encounter that takes place
in the country is faked and falsified.
It means that roughly every second police encounter is fake in the
country. The information has been accessed by eminent RTI activist
Afroz Alam Sahil after several attempts. Sahil recently came into
limelight for securing the autopsy report of Batla House encounter
victims. This state terror scare is the latest fine showcase of its
terror intent and the close connections between state and private
intelligence as well as airliner networks and the related outfits.
There are always the political elelemnts in religious suits and even
big and samll political outfits in India who use religion to promote
themselves as spiritual leaders for their personal plus political
gains. In the backgrowndog double stnadards even by Arab antions on
globla Msulims, nexus between Islamic and non-Islamic (anti-Islamic)
nations with regard to genocides of Muslims.
Indian terror military minister Keral Malyali AK Anthony and Home
terror minsiter Thamil Chidambaram would pretend they are not aware of
any such state terror tactics to terorize the people, particularly
make Muslims feel more and more insecure and small. Generally bulk of
the majority people behave like jungle monkeys, even other wise! This
nasty bahviour has devestating negative impact on Muslims, too, in
their nutual behaviour.
Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal, Specialist on State Terrorism; Chronicler of
Freedom movements (Palestine, Kashmir, etc) ; Independent Columnist in
International Affairs; Research Scholar (JNU) & the only Indian to
have gone through entire India, a fraud and terror nation in South
Asia.
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Gallery of Distinguished Visitors
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...and I am Sid Harth
navanavonmilita
Mumbai, April 14, 2010
BJP protests outside German Consulate
Staff Reporter
Leaders and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a protest
outside the German Consulate office here on Tuesday, condemning the
recent remarks made against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi by a
visiting German delegation.
The delegation of five MPs from the country's ruling coalition
Christian Democratic Union had endorsed the European Union decision
not to grant Mr. Modi a visa.
The agitators said the delegation, which had gone to Gujarat to assess
the condition of minorities there, called Mr. Modi “a dictator.” It
also commented on the Anti-conversion Bill passed by the State
legislature.
Party supporters raised slogans decrying the German Republic. A
delegation including Mumbai BJP president Gopal Shetty, the former
Union Minister Ram Naik, the former State Minister Raj K. Purohit and
Atul Shah met Consul-General Walter Spechel.
In a memorandum, they demanded “an unqualified apology from the German
Republic for hurting the sentiments of the people of India.”
Keywords: German delegation, Narendra Modi, BJP
TOPICS: Maharashtra, Mumbai, unrest, conflicts and war, emonstration
Comments:
The "over-freedom" given to certain elements have created terror cells
all over the world especially Europe. It is in the wake of money based
religious conversion that Gujarat ruled against conversions. It is not
a question of freedom, but one that reflects the pressures in
terrorism prevention. Germany housed and fed the World Trade bomber
Mohammed Atia for many months. They should have known! Further as I
understand, there is visible racism in parts of Germany, much more
than any other European nation. Perhaps an Indian delegation should
visit Germany.
from: B J Krishnan
Posted on: Apr 14, 2010 at 08:46 IST
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396663.ece
NEW DELHI, April 12, 2010 German govt. must apologise: BJP
Aarti Dhar
For making adverse remarks against Gujarat Chief Minister
The BJP on Sunday demanded an apology from the German government for
“provocative” statements made by its Parliamentary delegation.
“Tarnishing of the image of a democratically elected Chief Minister by
visiting German officials is unacceptable,” it said.
A release issued by Vijay Jolly, joint convener, foreign cell of the
BJP, said the party would hold a demonstration outside the German
mission here on Monday.
The delegation, whose visit was supported by ‘Missio,' a Christian
Catholic Bishops Agency, had gone to Gujarat, it said.
The German lawmakers had raised an objection to the new anti-
conversion law of the State government saying it had made conversions
difficult, the release claimed.
It termed the act of the delegation “unfriendly” and said various BJP
leaders would take part in the demonstration and submit a memorandum
to the German ambassador.
The delegation members, who had visited Gujarat to study the status of
the minorities, reportedly justified the European Union's decision not
to grant visa to Mr. Modi.
“The Chief Minister of Gujarat has a radical tone to his politics and
is described as dictatorial. He has a wrong perception of religious
freedom,” members of the Christian Democratic Union of the ruling
coalition of Germany reportedly told the media during their visit to
Ahmedabad on April 8.
The next day Mr. Modi wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
demanding an apology from the delegation.
Keywords: BJP, German government, Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra
Modi
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article394462.ece
GANDHINAGAR, April 11, 2010
Modi issue: ‘Centre must take it up with Germany'
Manas Dasgupta
The reported clarification by the German embassy in Delhi washing its
hands of the Narendra Modi controversy, has failed to assuage the hurt
feelings of the Gujarat Chief Minister.
An official spokesman of the State government here on Saturday said
the Central government should take up the matter with the German
government “more seriously” and lodge a strong protest against such
uncharitable remarks against an elected Chief Minister of a State.
An unofficial delegation of the German parliamentarians on a visit to
India reportedly stated on Thursday that Mr. Modi was persona non-
grata in the European Union countries and Germany also supported the
denial of visa to Mr. Modi to visit these countries for his alleged
role in the 2002 pogrom in the State. The German embassy, however,
reportedly informed the External Affairs Ministry that it was an
unofficial team and its views was not necessarily shared by the German
government.
The official spokesman of the State government, however, remarked that
such uncharitable remarks could not be taken lightly. Mr. Modi himself
had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking Central
intervention to get an apology from the German embassy.
The government spokesman said while the State government had been
appreciative of freedom of expression, it viewed the remark as a
“systematic attempt to malign the image of the State.” He said had
similar incidents had taken place in any other country, “these people
would have found themselves behind the bars.”
The spokesman demanded that the delegation members either apologise or
issue a clarification in the case that they had been misquoted.
Mr. Modi was denied visa by the U.S. in 2005 and again last year due
to his alleged role in 2002 riots.
Keywords: Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, German embassy, visa
Comments:
You are either ignorant of facts or are intentionally malicious in
your reporting.
The quote "Mr. Modi was denied visa by the U.S. in 2005 and again last
year due to his alleged role in 2002 riots." is untrue. Last year the
US State Department issued an uncalled for clarification that Modi was
not issued a visa when he had not even applied for it. Visa could not
have been denied last year if it was not even applied for.
Modi is doing well as the Best CM of Gujarat, and for that matter,of
India - from among all present & past CMs of ALL states combined. That
is with, without and in spite of any visa denials.
from: Dhananjay
Posted on: Apr 11, 2010 at 03:49 IST
Modi needs to be congratulated for becoming famous in USA and European
Union, but for the wrong reasons. His involvement in Gujarat riots is
so conclusive yet he has refused to resign. Both USA and EU had
refused visa for his involvement in the riots. German delegation
perception cannot be dictated by Modi or India. Just because he has
been elected does not absolve him of his crime. Modi and Gujarat are
not one. If visa is refused to Modi it does not mean Gujarat's image
is tarnished.
from: V.Narayanaswamy
Posted on: Apr 11, 2010 at 12:35 IST
CM Narendra Modi is an elected head of Indian state just like ex. PM
Rajiv Gandhi. There were action & reaction and many people died in
Rajiv's PM time and also Narendra CM time. Nobody anywhere globally
has any right / justification to declare Modi as persona non grata or
in Rajivs time Rajiv as persona non grata. An apology is due no
mattter any personal or official status of any person / group /
country.
from: Rajesh Bhai
Posted on: Apr 11, 2010 at 15:35 IST
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article394002.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 IPL Kochi: Modi offered $50 million as bribe
PTI
The Hindu IPL Commissionner Lalit Modi.
In a new twist to the controversy over the Kochi franchise, its owner
Rendezvous Sports on Wednesday alleged that IPL Commissioner Lalit
Modi had offered a $50 million bribe to withdraw from the race,
prompting him to threaten legal action.
“We were offered $50 million by Modi to withdraw from the Kochi team”
Shailendra Gaikwad, CEO of the franchise, alleged within hours of Mr.
Modi telling reporters that there was a question mark over the owners
of the new team, secured by a bid of Rs. 1,533 crore last month.
Modi to take legal action
Terming as “rubbish” the charges, Mr. Modi told PTI: “Are they mad.
Who will offer them Rs. 200 crore. I will take legal recourse.”
Asked when he would initiate the legal action, he said “I am awaiting
the clippings (in which Mr. Gaikwad had made allegation that Mr. Modi
wanted their bid to be withdrawn). Once I have that, I will serve them
legal notice... possibly on Thursday.”
Deliberately made to go through a 'tough time'
Hours after Mr. Modi told a press conference that there was a question
mark over the owners of the Kochi franchise, Mr. Gaikwad hit back at
the IPL Commissioner saying that they were being deliberately made to
go through a “tough time” because they refused the offer.
“We went through the process in the right manner and won the bid. But
within 10 days of winning the bid, Mr. Modi offered us $50 million to
give away the rights of the IPL franchise,” Mr. Gaikwad told PTI.
Mr. Gaikwad said that the franchise was being targeted because it
outbid some big business houses whom Mr. Modi wanted to rope in for
the subsequent editions of IPL.
“We are being put to an unnecessary process and the reasons are
obvious. If we did not have all the papers in place how could we win
the bid. It is unfair now to make us go through these problems,” he
said.
Mr. Modi, on the other hand, wondered as to “why I will offer them the
money... the bid had gone for a good sum,” and dared Mr. Gaikwad to
prove the allegations.
“Today they are saying $50 million. Tomorrow they may say some
different figures,” he said adding that every communication and
conversations, including that of Mr. Tharoor wherein the Union
Minister asked him not to identify the owners, was recorded in the
meeting.
Allegations from Rendezvous, which has given a 18 per cent share of
its 25 per cent equity in Kochi Team to Sunanda Pushkar — a friend of
Mr. Tharoor, came within days of Mr. Modi divulging the names of
stakeholders in Kochi Team, a tweet that led to a public spat between
the Union Minister and IPL official.
Keywords: Tharoor-Modi spat, Kochi franchise, Shashi Tharoor
http://beta.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article397377.ece
Mumbai, April 14, 2010 Question mark over Kochi IPL owners, says Modi
PTI
IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi addresses a press conference in Mumbai on
Wednesday. Photo: Shashi Ashiwal
“Even those who presented the bid documents do not know who they are”
Unfazed by Shashi Tharoor's counter-attack, Indian Premier League
Commissioner Lalit Modi on Wednesday maintained that there was a
question mark over the owners of the IPL Kochi franchise.
In the midst of a raging controversy in which the Minister of State
for External Affairs has been drawn into, Mr. Modi told a press
conference here that he would call a meeting of the IPL Governing
Council after April 25 and discuss the issue.
“As regards all earlier franchisees we know who the owners are. They
come, they attend conferences and meetings but as far as the Kochi IPL
is concerned we had a question mark.
“Even those who presented the bid documents do not know who they
[owners] are,” he said, in reply to questions over the Kochi team
ownership, following a controversy that Mr. Tharoor's friend, Sunanda
Pushkar, has got a free equity of 19 per cent valued at about Rs. 70
crore in the consortium that owns the team.
Replying to a question, Mr. Modi said that in the case of eight teams
already in the IPL, everybody knew who the shareholders were but in
the case of Kochi even the shareholders did not know.
Calling it a “small issue, nevertheless an issue,” Mr. Modi said, “We
will deal with it.”
To a question about his interest in the Rajasthan Royals team, he
said: “I have no hidden agenda or hidden stake.”
Asked if the latest controversy has affected him, he said, “No,
nothing.”
To seek details
Mr. Modi earlier told PTI that it was a job to seek the details of
every shareholder and authenticate the shareholding of every
franchisee.
“It is my job as Chairman of the IPL to seek [the] details and
authenticate the shareholding of every franchise...how would I
otherwise know where the money is coming from,” Mr. Modi said in reply
to Mr. Tharoor who accused him of impropriety, by divulging the
details of the shareholding of the Kochi franchise.
Wondering why any third party (Mr. Tharoor), which is not a
shareholder in any of the franchise, should be exercised about IPL
seeking details, Mr. Modi said he did not know who Ms. Pushkar was
till he read about her in the newspapers.
Ms. Pushkar was given 19 per cent of the 25 per cent equity held by
Rendezvous Sports World in the Kochi franchise.
The cash-rich IPL, which has become a billion-dollar revenue entity in
the third season this year, had auctioned the Kochi and Pune
franchisees to Rendezvous and Sahara last month for a total of about
Rs. 3,200 crore.
Mr. Modi, who has been credited with the success of the IPL, also
wondered why Ms. Pushkar should be given free equity and asked
“whether she is bringing any value?”
‘Call has been minuted’
Questioning Mr. Tharoor making a phone call to the IPL for not
disclosing the identity of shareholders of Rendezvous, he said: “His
call has been minuted and the entire conversation has been minuted by
IPL.”
For transparency
He said his main concern was always to find out the sources of money
and the identity of the shareholders, to maintain transparency in IPL
and keep it above board, particularly on account of the huge money
involved.
Asked about the Board of Control for Cricket in India president
Shashank Manohar's reaction on the Kochi issue, Mr. Modi said: “I will
not comment on the issue, particularly when it is our internal matter.
I will give a suitable reply.”
Keywords: Kochi franchise, IPL, Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor, Sunanda
Pushkar
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397201.ece
New Delhi, April 13, 2010 Tharoor abused office, says BJP
Special Correspondent
The Hindu BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad at a party meeting in
Lucknow. File Photo: Subir Roy
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday charged Union Minister of State
Shashi Tharoor with having abused his office to obtain a pecuniary
advantage in pushing the Kochi franchise for the Indian Premier
League, while the Congress changed its earlier stand to say Mr.
Tharoor himself should explain.
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad demanded here that Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh take note of the scandal and “sack” Mr. Tharoor, who
should not continue in the government for a moment more. A CBI inquiry
must be ordered. This was a “copybook case of corruption” as Section
13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act clearly defined criminal
conduct as one misusing public office to a obtain pecuniary advantage
for oneself “or any other person.” In this instance, the other person,
Sunanda Pushkar, was an acknowledged friend of Mr. Tharoor, Mr. Prasad
said.
On Tuesday afternoon, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed put up some
sort of a defence, pointing out that no one could find fault with Mr.
Tharoor for taking interest in bringing an IPL team to Kochi. He
described the demand for the Minister's resignation or “sacking” as
“absurd.” However, by evening, his senior colleague Janardan Dwivedi
took the line that it was for Mr. Tharoor to “explain” the entire
matter. The party had nothing to do with the controversy.
The Congress adopted a “wait and watch” policy as senior partymen
looked for signals from the high command. They said the matter was
sure to explode as a number of high ranking politicians were involved
with the IPL. Privately, they also said that while Mr. Tharoor's
earlier “tweets” could be explained away as slips of the tongue, this
controversy was far more serious. Doubts were being expressed whether
he would be able to get out of it. While Mr. Prasad was aggressive in
his demand for an inquiry, he objected to any “fishing or roving”
probe into the entire gamut of IPL affairs that would reveal the stake-
holding pattern in the IPL teams from Kolkata, Rajasthan, Punjab or
Chennai.
Mr. Prasad said the BCCI and the IPL were private bodies and there was
no need for a broad inquiry into their business affairs. However, if a
full probe into the IPL affairs were to be ordered, “we will not
object.”
Mr. Prasad admitted that many leaders of the BJP were involved in
cricket and the IPL as were leaders from other parties. Asked whether
he favoured the BCCI coming under the Right to Information Act, his
response was, “Why not? This is a suggestion.”
Keywords: IPL controversy, Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor, BJP, Ravi
Shankar Prasad, corruption
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396200.ece
New Delhi, April 13, 2010 Let CBI probe Tharoor’s stakes: plea in
court
J. Venkatesan
“Minister allegedly used official position to get Kochi IPL team for
Rendezvous”
The Supreme Court has been moved for a CBI probe into alleged proxy
stakes of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Sashi Tharoor
in the Kochi-based Rendezvous Sports World Ltd.-led consortium that
won the bid for an Indian Premier League team for Rs 1,533-crore.
Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who filed this petition, said the court could
alternatively order a probe by a special investigation team. He said
he would make a mention on April 15 for early listing of the case.
The petitioner said the Minister allegedly used his official position
to get the Kochi IPL team for the consortium led by Rendezvous, a
company in which, according to reports, Sunanda Pushkar had 19 per
cent free stakes. Mr. Agrawal said she was the Minister's friend, and
he had a reasonable apprehension that hawala and black money might
have also played a big role in the Kochi IPL team obtaining the
franchise.
Mr. Tharoor already issued a statement which said: “A consortium led
by Rendezvous was set up to bid for an IPL team. They approached me
for help and guidance. I steered them towards Kerala. Rendezvous
includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Ms.
Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well. My role in mentoring the consortium
included several conversations with Mr. Lalit Modi [IPL chairman], who
guided us through the process and presented himself as a trusted
friend.”
On his interests in the franchise, the Minister said: “I repeat that I
am proud to have helped the consortium come to Kerala. I have neither
invested nor received a rupee for my mentorship of the team.”
Keywords: IPL row, controversy, Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, Kochi
franchise, Rendezvous Sports World
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396286.ece
NEW DELHI, April 13, 2010 BJP wants Shashi Tharoor sacked as IPL row
hots up
Neena Vyas
K. Balchand
PTI File photo shows Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi
Tharoor with his friend Sunanda Pushkar at an event. Allegations have
surfaced that Pushkar received a “free” equity of the Kochi team of
the IPL worth about Rs. 70 crore.
A Molotov cocktail of cricket and politics on Tuesday threatened to
explode the underbelly of the multi-billion rupee Indian Premier
League, with the battle lines drawn between Union Minister of State
Shashi Tharoor and IPL commissioner Lalit Modi.
After allegations surfaced that the Kerala team mentor, Mr. Tharoor's
acknowledged friend Sunanda Pushkar received a “free” equity of the
Kochi team of the IPL worth about Rs. 70 crore, the BJP jumped into
the arena, demanding that Mr. Tharoor be sacked as it was a “copybook
case of corruption.” Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad sought a
CBI probe.
While the issue has been taken to court, the Congress seemed to be
caught off guard, changing its stance from the defensive to cautious,
aware of the start of the second part of the budget session in a
couple of days.
Initially, its defence was limited to the legitimacy of Mr. Tharoor
helping Kerala get an IPL team. But by evening, the party adopted a
hands-off attitude, saying it was for Mr. Tharoor to “explain
himself.”
In the morning, Board of Control for Cricket in India spokesperson
Rajiv Shukla and External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna met Congress
president Sonia Gandhi. Mr. Shukla said the Tharoor matter was not
discussed.
Mr. Tharoor, meanwhile, took on Mr. Modi, charging him with wanting to
cancel the Kerala IPL to take it elsewhere and committing an
“extraordinary breach of propriety” by disclosing confidential
information on the Kerala consortium's composition.
Simultaneously, Mr. Shukla said BCCI president Shashank Manohar
decided to call a meeting of the IPL governing council within 10 days.
Mr. Manohar charged Mr. Modi with “unbecoming” conduct as he had
raised serious issues on Twitter, rather than discussing them at a
meeting of the governing council.
Vivek Venugopal, co-owner, Kochi IPL franchise, demanded that
shareholdings of consortiums that have stakes in Punjab Kings XI,
Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals be disclosed.
Keywords: Indian Premier League, IPL, Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi,
Sunanda Pushkar
Comments:
The way shareholder structure was released into twitter doesnt make
sense at all. If its a public information, then why the public is not
seeing any such things on other ipl team ownership's shareholder
percentages. If Taroor knows one of the shareholders, i cant see why
its a big issue, particularly when we have ways to track if he is
going to gain anything monetarily now or down the line. I think Kochi
like franchise will lead to more exposure for small town kids, a real
way of cricket expansion. Didnt expect this behaviour from a high
profile corporate guy.
from: craig
Posted on: Apr 14, 2010 at 06:14 IST
BJP is trowing arrow in dark and expecting they will get some frame
they should know the histroy of the person and then comment ...if not
people will take there words lightly ....
from: pavan
Posted on: Apr 14, 2010 at 15:23 IST
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396478.ece
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, April 14, 2010
Rendezvous alleges breach of trust by Lalit Modi
A. Vinod
Files complaint with BCCI, asking it to instruct Modi to retract his
statements
The controversy over the ownership of the Kochi IPL consortium seemed
to assume the scale of a bitter war on Tuesday, with team franchisee
Rendezvous Sports World filing a complaint with the Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI), alleging breach of trust by IPL chairman
and commissioner Lalit K. Modi.
“It is unfortunate to note that Mr. Modi himself has disclosed various
vital aspects of the contract on Monday evening,” the complaint,
written by co-owner of the franchise Vivek Venugopal to BCCI president
Shashank Manohar, said.
The letter said: “Information disclosed include shareholding pattern
of the consortium as well as shareholding patterns of various
participating consortium member companies. Please note that Mr. Modi
has not disclosed such information for the other nine teams
participating in the league. In addition, we have been seeing various
remarks by Mr. Modi questioning the capability and the intentions of
this consortium.
“As a consortium, we have abided by the terms and conditions of the
bid document and franchise agreement in letter and in spirit.
Behaviour and actions as conducted by Mr. Modi brings complete
disrespect to the sport, the IPL league, as well as to the sanctity of
the bidding process.”
The letter, which cited the confidentiality clause in the franchise
agreement, sought Mr. Manohar's immediate intervention. “On behalf of
the consortium, I sincerely request you to immediately instruct Mr.
Modi to retract his statements… and apologise for the communications
given in the media. We, as a consortium, are also contemplating legal
action against Mr. Modi for his irresponsible behaviour, which brings
disrepute to his office,” it said.
Modi's tweet
On Monday, within 17 minutes, Mr. Modi used popular social networking
platform Twitter to reveal details, including the stock options held
by the members of the consortium that won the bid for the Kochi
franchise of the IPL at the March 21 auction in Chennai.
He started with the tweet, “A lot of you are asking about the
shareholders and events surrounding the Kochi team. I am compiling a
note shortly and will put out a press release soon.” He went on to
add: “Twenty five per cent of Kochi team is given free to Rendezvous
Sports for life. The same equity is non-dilutable in perpetuity. What
does that mean? Why? Wait.” He then tweeted again: “Will disclose
those details soon.”
Keeping his promise, he then quite dramatically wrote: “Who are the
shareholders of Rendezvous? And why have they been given this 100s of
million dollars bonanza? Kochi shareholders are Rendezvous 25 per cent
[free]; Rendezvous 1 per cent; Anchor 27 per cent; Parinee 26 per
cent; Film Waves Combine 12 per cent; Anand Shyam 8 per cent; Vivek
Venugopal 1 per cent.”
He went on to reveal more: “Rendezvous free equity – held by Kisan,
Shailendra and Pushpa Gaikwad, Sunanda Pushkar, Puja Gulati, Jayant
Kotalwar, Vishnu Prasad, Sundip Agarwal.”
Minutes later, Mr. Modi tweeted again in reply to a query from a
fellow tweeter. “A big? I was told by him not to get into who owns
Rendezvous. Especially Sunanda Pushkar. Why? The same has been minuted
in my records.”
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, Sunanda Pushkar, Rendezvous
Sports World, Board of Control for Cricket in India, BCCI
Comments:
Modi's rash and irresponsible action on the Kerala IPL issue has to be
viewed in two contexts. 1) the perpetual snub the south attitude by
the IPL and BCCI at large and 2) Modi's personal despair in not being
able to grant the franchise to his preferred groups. He has to be
legally pulled up and made obliging to disclose the shareholding
details of all the IPL teams. Why should only KERALA IPL be an open
book while the all the remaining dwells in murky darkness!
from: K.P. Prashanth
Posted on: Apr 14, 2010 at 13:04 IST
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396455.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 Tharoor meets Pranab, Antony
PTI
PTI Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor arrives at
the residence of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for a meeting, in
New Delhi on Wednesday. Related
Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on
Thursday night met Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence
Minister A .K. Antony as the controversy surrounding him in the IPL
snowballed with the Opposition demanding his dismissal.
Mr. Tharoor, who earlier in the evening ruled out his resignation on
the IPL issue saying he had not done anything wrong or misused office,
met the two ministers at Mr. Mukherjee's residence for nearly an hour
after which he left without speaking to waiting media persons.
No official word
There was no official word on the meeting but Mr. Tharoor is believed
to have explained his version of his role in mentoring the IPL Kochi
bid that has triggered a massive controversy over alleged misuse of
his office.
The meeting came after the Congress Core Group headed by party chief
Sonia Gandhi met to discuss the strategy in Parliament on the eve of
resumption of the Budget Session.
Both the BJP and Left parties have demanded his dismissal. The BJP-led
NDA met in the evening and demanded action against him under the
Prevention of Corruption Act.
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, Pranab Mukherjee, A.K. Antony,
IPL row, IPL Kochi, Rendezvous Sports, Sunanda Pushkar
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397463.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 Tharoor rules out resignation
PTI
PTI A file photo of Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday
ruled out resigning from the government and rejected charges that he
had misused his office or indulged in corruption in IPL Kochi team’s
bid.
“Have I done anything wrong to resign. When you have done nothing
wrong....it seems to me it means that you are giving more importance
to other people’s perception.
“I am not going to resign. Obviously I am not going to be an
embarrassment to the Congress Party. These are false and motivated
charges levelled by business interests of some vested interests,” he
told NDTV.
Mr. Tharoor said he has sought an appointment with Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh when he comes back from abroad to explain his side of
the story. “I will certainly be conveying my story to the Prime
Minister,” he said adding he would also meet the Congress President.
Asked if he expected the controversy to figure in Parliament, he said
“this may be one more issue in Parliament which he respects”. He would
be going to Parliament in the spirit of a “worshipper“.
The Minister said he was extremely sad and found it deeply offensive
that that he was being “vilified and accused” of making pecuniary
gains and his integrity and honesty being questioned.
“I have quit a UN job with a good salary for the salary of a minister
in the government and find it extremely upsetting (that charges have
been made),” he said.
Mr. Tharoor said he is one person who was somewhat upfront and
transparent and suddenly found charges being levelled against him.
Asked about the Opposition charge that he had misused his office as
Minister to get gains for his friend Sunanda Pushkar and telephoned
Lalit Modi not to seek details in this regard, he said why would he as
a minister indulge in corruption in such an open manner to help a
friend.
Keywords: Tharoor-Modi spat, IPL Kochi franchise, Sunanda Pushkar
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397348.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 Tharoor a honest person, says Sunanda
PTI
PTI A file photo of Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar.
Breaking her silence over the raging IPL Kochi controversy, Sunanda
Pushkar on Wednesday batted for her friend Shashi Tharoor, describing
the Union Minister as a “principled” man and denying accusations that
she was fronting for him.
In an exclusive telephonic interview with PTI from Dubai, Sunanda hit
out at the media for “haunting” Tharoor and making him out to be a
corrupt person.
“Shashi is a kind and honest person. He is a great and principled guy.
It (media trial) makes me sad,” she said, adding that she herself had
been “reduced to a caricature in the media, portrayed with
inaccuracies and falsehoods.”
Lashing out at critics trying to “besmirch” Tharoor by “presenting me
as a proxy for him”, Sunanda said it was “insulting for me as a woman
and a friend“.
Rejecting accusations that she has got equity worth about Rs 69 crore
in the IPL franchise as a gift because of her proximity to Tharoor,
she said “Why you people can’t accept that I am a businesswoman. I
wanted to associate with IPL and I had tried with Kolkata Knight
Riders earlier.
“I am rendering services for Kochi franchise. (I) have advised them in
getting IPL. I am also advising them on marketing and branding and
hence I am getting sweat equity. It is only on paper now. I have not
yet got it.
“And all the report that I have got 18 per cent equity makes me laugh.
It is way below this number but I can’t give the numbers as I am
committed to others about the confidentiality.”
Keywords: IPL Kochi, Sunanda Pushkar, Shashi Tharoor
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397322.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 Threat to Tharoor: phone number of sender
traced to Delhi
PTI
Central security agencies have traced a local phone number from, which
the alleged death threat from Dawood Ibrahim gang was made to an aide
of Minister of State External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.
Official sources said the number used for sending the alleged threat
message, received by the personal staff of Tharoor, belonged to Delhi
circle and the hunt for the sender is on.
Jacob Joseph, Officer on Special Duty with the Union Minister, has
alleged that the henchmen of Karachi-based underworld don Dawood
Ibrahim have threatened Tharoor to stay out of IPL Kochi team or face
death.
He told the media that the Home Ministry and Delhi Police have been
informed about the message.
Tharoor has been in the thick of a controversy after IPL commissioner
Lalit Modi disclosed that the Minister had telephoned him not to
reveal details about owners of the IPL Kochi franchise, which included
Sunanda Pushkar, a close friend of the Minister.
Pushkar has been given a free equity of around 19 percent, which is
valued at Rs 70 crore in Rendezvous Sports World, which heads the
consortium that owns the IPL Kochi team.
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, Kochi IPL, Lalit Modi, Rendezvous Sports
World
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397001.ece
Washington, April 14, 2010 Manmohan to look into Tharoor IPL matter
Special Correspondent
PTI Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor with Sunanda
Pushkar at a function in New Delhi. File Photo: PTI
With controversy swirling back home about the alleged links between
Shashi Tharoor and the promoters of the Kochi IPL franchisees, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh was asked here on Tuesday how he would respond
to the Opposition’s demand that the junior foreign minister be
dismissed.
“I don’t have all the facts before me and when I go back I will get
all the facts and in the light of those if any action is necessary I
think that would be the proper way to proceed”, he said, declining to
get drawn in to specifics. “I cannot go by hearsay or what is in
various columns of the newspapers.”
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, IPL controversy, Sunanda Pushkar, Manmohan
Singh
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396745.ece
Washington DC, April 13, 2010 Tharoor’s IPL googly is hat-trick for
Manmohan
Siddharth Varadarajan
PTI
Whatever the facts of the dispute between Shashi Tharoor and Lalit
Modi, this is the third time that a controversy surrounding the junior
foreign minister has threatened to overshadow the Prime Minister
during an important overseas visit.
Halfway through Manmohan Singh’s ongoing visit to the U.S. and Brazil
for the Nuclear Security, BRIC and IBSA summits, the media back home
has already turned its attention to Mr. Tharoor, much to the
irritation of the traveling delegation.
On Tuesday night, TV channels devoted virtually all their time to the
Tharoor-IPL issue, tuning out of what the Prime Minister had to say in
Washington.
In February this year, Mr. Tharoor’s on-the-record comments to Indian
reporters during an informal dinner hosted by the Indian ambassador in
Riyadh triggered a controversy over his use of the word‘interlocutor’.
Though PMO officials agree that the media erred in alleging that he
had called for Saudi ‘mediation’ with Pakistan, they say the junior
minister invited the controversy upon himself and that he should not
have spoken to the press in the first place during the Prime
Minister's visit.
Last September, part of the Prime Minister’s press conference during
the India-Asean summit was spent in firefighting after Mr. Tharoor’s
tweets about traveling in ‘cattle-class’ triggered a political
controversy back home.
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, Manmohan Singh, Lalit Modi, IPL
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396519.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 My job is to authenticate every
shareholding: Modi
PTI
The Hindu IPL Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi during an IPL match
in Mohali. File Photo: Akhilesh Kumar Related
Tharoor meets Pranab, Antony
Threat to Tharoor: phone number of sender traced to Delhi
Undeterred by Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor
launching an attack on him on Kochi franchise issue, Chairman of
Indian Premier League Lalit Modi on Wednesday asserted that it was his
job to seek details of every shareholder and authenticate.
“It is my job as Chairman of IPL to seek details and authenticate the
shareholding of every franchise... how would otherwise I know where
the money is coming from,” Mr. Modi told PTI on Tharoor’s accusation
of he causing impropriety by divulging the details of the shareholding
of Kochi franchise.
Wondering as to why any third party (Tharoor), which is not a
shareholder in any of the franchise, should be exercised about IPL
seeking details, Mr. Modi said that he did not know about who Sunanda
Pushkar was till he read about her in the newspapers.
Sunanda Pushkar, who was given 19 per cent of the 25 per cent equity
held by Rendezvous Sports World in Kochi franchise, was reported to be
very close to Mr. Tharoor, who is also reported to be planning to
marry her.
The cash rich IPL, which has become a one billion dollar revenue
entity in the third season this year, had auctioned Kochi and Pune
franchise to Rendezvous and Sahara last month for a total of about Rs
3,200 crore.
Mr. Modi, who has been credited for success of IPL which he had
earlier said would help make BCCI the richest sports entity in the
world in next 3-4 years, also wondered as to why Sunanda should be
given free equity and quipped “whether she is bringing any value?”
Questioning Mr. Tharoor making a phone call to IPL for not disclosing
the identity of shareholders of Rendezvous, he said “his call has been
minuted and the entire conversation has been minuted by IPL“.
He said that his main concern was always to find out the sources of
money and identity of shareholders to keep IPL, which has dislodged TV
programmes in terms of catching the eyeballs, to keep the working
transparent and entity above board, particularly on account of the
huge money involved.
Asked about the Board of Control for Cricket in India President
Shashank Manohar taking up cudgels on Kochi issue, Mr. Modi said “I
will not comment on the issue, particularly when it is our internal
matter. I will give a suitable reply.”
Keywords: IPL, controversy, Lalit Modi, Shashi Tharoor, Kochi
franchise
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396944.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 After BJP, Left demands Tharoor’s
resignation
PTI
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Left parties on Wednesday
stepped up pressure demanding the resignation of Shashi Tharoor,
saying it was “highly inappropriate” for a Union minister to be
involved in “murky dealings” in connection with IPL.
Noting that the IPL is not just a sporting event but a “big business
enterprise in which big money is involved, the CPI(M) said it was
“highly inappropriate for a minister in the Union government to be
involved in such murky dealings.”
“It is incumbent upon Mr. Tharoor to step down from office till his
name is cleared of any unethical or irregular behaviour,” the party
said in a statement here.
“The involvement of Mr. Tharoor in the IPL franchise for the Kochi
team has raised a number of questions. It now transpires that a person
associated with him has got 19 per cent free equity worth Rs. 70
crores in the company that led the consortium which got the
franchise,” it said.
The CPI(M) also said the UPA government should also explain whether
its ministers can be involved in business dealings in the name of IPL.
“The government should probe the source of certain funds flowing into
the tournament and reconsider whether any tax exemptions or
concessions are justified for this commercial enterprise,” it added.
CPI National Secretary D. Raja also demanded Mr. Tharoor’s resignation
saying his continuance in the government has become “untenable“.
“There should be an enquiry into it. Mr. Tharoor should step down as
his continuance has become untenable,” Mr. Raja said.
Keywords: Lalit Modi, IPL, Shashi Tharoor
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397173.ece
New Delhi, April 13, 2010 Let CBI probe Tharoor’s stakes: plea in
court
J. Venkatesan
“Minister allegedly used official position to get Kochi IPL team for
Rendezvous”
The Supreme Court has been moved for a CBI probe into alleged proxy
stakes of Union Minister of State for External Affairs Sashi Tharoor
in the Kochi-based Rendezvous Sports World Ltd.-led consortium that
won the bid for an Indian Premier League team for Rs 1,533-crore.
Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who filed this petition, said the court could
alternatively order a probe by a special investigation team. He said
he would make a mention on April 15 for early listing of the case.
The petitioner said the Minister allegedly used his official position
to get the Kochi IPL team for the consortium led by Rendezvous, a
company in which, according to reports, Sunanda Pushkar had 19 per
cent free stakes. Mr. Agrawal said she was the Minister's friend, and
he had a reasonable apprehension that hawala and black money might
have also played a big role in the Kochi IPL team obtaining the
franchise.
Mr. Tharoor already issued a statement which said: “A consortium led
by Rendezvous was set up to bid for an IPL team. They approached me
for help and guidance. I steered them towards Kerala. Rendezvous
includes a number of people, including many I have never met, and Ms.
Sunanda Pushkar, whom I know well. My role in mentoring the consortium
included several conversations with Mr. Lalit Modi [IPL chairman], who
guided us through the process and presented himself as a trusted
friend.”
On his interests in the franchise, the Minister said: “I repeat that I
am proud to have helped the consortium come to Kerala. I have neither
invested nor received a rupee for my mentorship of the team.”
Keywords: IPL row, controversy, Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, Kochi
franchise, Rendezvous Sports World
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396286.ece
New Delhi, April 13, 2010 I did not pressure Modi: Tharoor
Special Correspondent
"My sole interest behind mentoring consortium is to steer it towards
Kerala"
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor has denied
asking Indian Premier League (IPL) boss Lalit Modi not to disclose the
composition of the Rendezvous-led consortium that won the bid for an
IPL team.
Admitting his acquaintance with a member of the winning team, the
Minister maintained that his sole interest behind “mentoring'' the
consortium was to “steer'' it towards Kerala.
While Mr. Modi initially guided the consortium through the process and
presented himself as its “trusted friend,'' its unexpected success
upset the plans of a “lot of powerful people'' who wanted the
franchise to go elsewhere, said the Minister in a statement.
Mr. Tharoor's clarification came after Mr. Modi disclosed the names of
the members of the winning consortium and alleged that the former
called him up asking him not to reveal the names.
Mr. Modi's “extraordinary breach of all propriety'' in publicly
raising issues relating to the consortium's composition was an attempt
to discredit the team and create reasons to disqualify it, so that the
franchise could be awarded elsewhere. Mr. Modi raised several
objections to the bid documents, but finally had no choice but to
approve them, Mr. Tharoor said.
The Minister denied pressuring Mr. Modi not to question the
composition of the consortium. Rather, he called up Mr. Modi to ask
why he was further delaying the approval of the franchise when all
legal requirements were fulfilled. “Had he conducted himself in good
faith throughout, no call would have been necessary.''
Mr. Tharoor asserted that his sole interest in “steering'' the
consortium to Kerala was that the move had the potential to bring
“great material and psychological benefits'' to the State's economy
and society.
He said: “I have neither invested nor received a rupee for my
mentorship of the team. Whatever my personal relationships with any of
the consortium members, I do not intend to benefit in any way
financially from my association with the team now or at a later
stage.
“It has been clear for some time that the real motive is to assign
this IPL team elsewhere than Kerala. All of us in Kerala hope that the
BCCI will not permit statements and activities which seek to discredit
the Kerala team before it has even had a chance to prove its worth.''
The statement was issued in his personal capacity to respond to the
allegations made against him.
Keywords: Shashi Tharoor, Lalit Modi, Rendezvous Sports World, BCCI
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article396076.ece
New Delhi, April 14, 2010 UPA all set for battle in Parliament
Neena Vyas
PTI UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at a function to mark the 119th birth
anniversary of B.R. Ambedhkar, in New Delhi on Wednesday. Gandhi had
consultations with senior colleagues to work out a strategy to meet
the Opposition challenge during the second part of the budget
session.
The United Progressive Alliance coalition at the Centre on Wednesday
prepared to fight the expected onslaught from the Opposition on a
variety of issues that are sure to come up in the second part of the
budget session starting on Thursday.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi began a round of consultations with
senior colleagues to work out a strategy to ward off an Opposition
that seemed determined to embarrass the government. Leader of the Lok
Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, who as Finance Minister will move the Finance
Bill, was among those who met her. Defence Minister A.K. Antony also
met her. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is at work
to ensure that the UPA's wafer-thin majority does not get eroded by
its MPs absenting themselves on critical days.
The Congress sees cut motions that the Opposition parties have said
they will move as the biggest threat. But party leaders were confident
of meeting the challenge successfully as neither the Left parties nor
the BJP want to bring down the government before they shore up their
strength in their own electoral bastions.
The government's prestige is also at stake, with the Opposition
levelling charges of corruption against Minister of State Shashi
Tharoor. The Congress has already begun distancing itself from him
saying he must explain and the Prime Minister saying in Washington he
would ascertain the facts after returning home. And on the Dantewada
killings, Home Minister P. Chidambaram has already found a supporter
in the BJP, despite its decision to ask for suspension of Question
Hour on the issue.
Keywords: United Progressive Alliance, UPA, budget session, Congress,
Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Lok Sabha, Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Bill,
Defence Minister, A.K. Antony
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article397282.ece
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