News review
Friday, December 31, 2010
Binayak Sen, 2 others sentenced to life
FIRST TIME WE GOT A GOOD JUDGEMENT
life
PTI
Rights activist Binayak Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha were on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Raipur court for colluding with Maoists.
Additional District and Sessions Judge B.P. Verma held the trio guilty under provisions of section 124 IPC (sedition), 120 B IPC (conspiracy) and Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
The 58-year-old Dr. Sen, a paediatrician by training, had been accused by the prosecution of carrying messages and letters from Sanyal to the underground Maoists. Guha was also found involved in helping the Maoists establish a network.
Dr. Sen, a PUCL activist, was arrested on May 14, 2007 from Bilaspur. He was present in the court along with Sanyal and Guha.
Reacting to the conviction of Dr. Sen, his wife Elina Sen said, “What happens now is we take whatever legal recourse is available to us. We will not be able to do it immediately because higher courts are on vacation.”
Terming the verdict as “completely irrational”, she said, “It is not a judgement that I would agree with.”
Ms. Elina, who was present in the court during the trial, claimed, “Not a single piece of evidence came up to support this kind of conviction - sedition and conspiracy against the state. I hope justice will prevail.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article974280.ece?homepage=true
Binayak Sen's conviction shocking, say activists
Human rights activists Friday reacted with shock at rights campaigner Binayak Sen being held guilty of sedition and conspiracy by a Chhattisgarh court, with many saying that there was “no evidence” against him.
“I am absolutely shocked at the judgement. We never expected this judgement because there was not a shred of evidence against him. This is a sad day for our Indian democracy,” Mahipal Singh, secretary of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), of which Mr. Sen is vice president, told IANS.
“How can a human rights activist be held guilty on false charges by the prosecution,” he asked.
Raipur District and Sessions Court judge B.P. Varma Friday found Mr. Sen guilty on a variety of counts and also under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Mr. Sen was arrested in 2007 from Bilaspur for alleged links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal but was released in May 2009 at the behest of the Supreme Court.
PUCL general secretary Kavita Srivastava added: “This is a shocking judgment. But he will get justice. We will fight for him.”
A very upset Harish Dhawan, an activist, said: “This is the worst possible kind of justice ever. It’s shocking. There is no evidence against him. He has been held just because he has opposed the Salwa Judum (movement) and even the Supreme Court has said so.”
“We have come to a real low in Indian democracy today,” he added.
Salwa Judum is a Chhattisgarh sponsored counter-insurgency and anti-Maoist people’s movement
Mahipal Singh said PUCL would await the detailed judgement before deciding on the future legal course of action.
“We have just got the summary of the judgment, so it will take some time for us to decide the legal course of action. We will also plan a mass movement for justice for Binayak Sen,” he said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article974301.ece
life
PTI
Rights activist Binayak Sen, Naxal ideologue Narayan Sanyal and Kolkata businessman Piyush Guha were on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a Raipur court for colluding with Maoists.
Additional District and Sessions Judge B.P. Verma held the trio guilty under provisions of section 124 IPC (sedition), 120 B IPC (conspiracy) and Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
The 58-year-old Dr. Sen, a paediatrician by training, had been accused by the prosecution of carrying messages and letters from Sanyal to the underground Maoists. Guha was also found involved in helping the Maoists establish a network.
Dr. Sen, a PUCL activist, was arrested on May 14, 2007 from Bilaspur. He was present in the court along with Sanyal and Guha.
Reacting to the conviction of Dr. Sen, his wife Elina Sen said, “What happens now is we take whatever legal recourse is available to us. We will not be able to do it immediately because higher courts are on vacation.”
Terming the verdict as “completely irrational”, she said, “It is not a judgement that I would agree with.”
Ms. Elina, who was present in the court during the trial, claimed, “Not a single piece of evidence came up to support this kind of conviction - sedition and conspiracy against the state. I hope justice will prevail.”
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article974280.ece?homepage=true
Binayak Sen's conviction shocking, say activists
Human rights activists Friday reacted with shock at rights campaigner Binayak Sen being held guilty of sedition and conspiracy by a Chhattisgarh court, with many saying that there was “no evidence” against him.
“I am absolutely shocked at the judgement. We never expected this judgement because there was not a shred of evidence against him. This is a sad day for our Indian democracy,” Mahipal Singh, secretary of the People’s Union For Civil Liberties (PUCL), of which Mr. Sen is vice president, told IANS.
“How can a human rights activist be held guilty on false charges by the prosecution,” he asked.
Raipur District and Sessions Court judge B.P. Varma Friday found Mr. Sen guilty on a variety of counts and also under the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act.
Mr. Sen was arrested in 2007 from Bilaspur for alleged links with Maoist ideologue Narayan Sanyal but was released in May 2009 at the behest of the Supreme Court.
PUCL general secretary Kavita Srivastava added: “This is a shocking judgment. But he will get justice. We will fight for him.”
A very upset Harish Dhawan, an activist, said: “This is the worst possible kind of justice ever. It’s shocking. There is no evidence against him. He has been held just because he has opposed the Salwa Judum (movement) and even the Supreme Court has said so.”
“We have come to a real low in Indian democracy today,” he added.
Salwa Judum is a Chhattisgarh sponsored counter-insurgency and anti-Maoist people’s movement
Mahipal Singh said PUCL would await the detailed judgement before deciding on the future legal course of action.
“We have just got the summary of the judgment, so it will take some time for us to decide the legal course of action. We will also plan a mass movement for justice for Binayak Sen,” he said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article974301.ece
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Rakesh Sinha
27 December 2010
Recently, and particularly in the last few weeks, the public discourse has been vitiated by reckless allegations against Indian nationalists, particularly members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and RSS as an institution, and terms like “Hindu Terror” and “Saffron Terror” are freely bandied about. In the forefront of the attack is the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, and their prize minion, Digvijay Singh, who have all literally labelled the RSS as a terrorist organisation.
Some of the vituperative attacks have been explained as a ‘side show’ to divert attention from the Congress’ crushing defeat in the Gujarat local elections (a blow to Ms Sonia Gandhi) and near complete rout in Bihar (blamed on the non-charisma of Rahul Gandhi). Then there is the Muslim disenchantment with the party, and the scam-a-day regime (Commonwealth, Adarsh housing, bank loans, and above all, 2G and the scandalous price rise).
Above all, however, there is complete consternation in the anti-Hindu political circles that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has unanimously accepted the disputed site in Ayodhya as the birthplace of Sri Rama, to which Hindus have the pre-eminent claim. Muslim scholars and leaders who failed to do their homework properly and did not appear in the court proceedings, preferring to direct affairs from behind the scenes and relying on seasoned rhetoric to carry the day, are taken aback by this turn of events.
The question arises: is the attempt to vitiate the atmosphere part of a ploy to ‘guide’ the inevitable proceedings in the Supreme Court in a particular way? Certainly it is a signal to the Muslim community that Hindus will somehow be ‘contained’ and somehow cut to size.
In this connection, it is pertinent that former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh chose to preside over the release of a book in Urdu, RSS ki Sazish – 26/11 (RSS’ Conspiracy – 26/11) this month. The 788-page volume has been penned by journalist Aziz Burney, who has managed to raise the funds to publish a staggering 25000 copies, when the standard print order for a book is just 500 copies!
It goes without saying that this is a command performance, funded by vested interests, and intended for a target audience which will probably receive the book free of cost. As a work of fiction, it probably has some amusement value. Certainly it is not a work that deserves a serious rebuttal, and we present below some of the key highlights of the book, without comment:-
RSS ki Sazish – 26/11
- The BJP and the RSS are responsible for 26/11 attack in Mumbai. The BJP did not raise its voice against the delay in probe (p. ll)
- ATS chief Hemant Karkare was about to disclose many facts regarding Malegaon blast in which he was expected to expose many sadhus and saints including the BJP and the RSS (p. 28)
- Mossad and CIA had assisted the Sangh Parivar in the attack carried out in Mumbai. With the
tacit understanding of the USA, Saudi Arabia's Maulana Bedi had collected fundamentalists. Even Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had helped in attackers' arrival and stay (p. 41)
- Post 1993, all attacks in the country is the result of the nexus between the RSS and
Mossad. Karkare was about to make all these disclosures to the media and was going to leave the country to settle abroad. Karkare was not killed by AK-47 but by the service revolver of the police. RAW and Home Ministry are investigating the role played by the Gujarat ATS in Karkare’s murder case. Karkare was killed by Hindutva-minded police officials and people from the Chota Rajan gang (p. 61)
- The Congress is suspecting the involvement of the BJP in the Malegaon blast other than the RSS and Bajrang Dal. The BJP decided to give legal assistance to Sadhvi Pragya, the day Purohit told the CBI that the VHP leaders had given special contribution in formation of Abhinav Bharat. RSS leader Indresh Kumar has taken Rs 3 crore from the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. The same day Karkare received the threat call and the very next day he was killed (p. 99)
- The RSS and Israel are trying to make India unstable (p. 190)
- In order to make India a Hindu nation, such blasts are being carried out (p. 219)
- Abhinav Bharat was getting financial aid from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Weapons were bought from the money provided by Praveen Togadia to kill Indresh Kumar (p. 232)
- While the RSS is distributing ‘Trishul’ to youths and women, the Bajrang Dal is providing training to people for making bombs and causing blasts. The VHP had planted bombs in several mosques in Maharashtra to explode them (p. 584)
- The RSS and VHP are trying to defame Muslims by forming terrorist organizations like Indian Mujahideen and Islamic Security Force. Indian Mujahideen was not involved in the bomb blasts in Assam. Bajrang Dal is a dubious organization and Indian Mujahideen is the code name of it. Editor of Communalism Combat Teesta Setalvad mentioned in a report that the CBI is trying cover up Hindu Terrorism and Batla encounter was fake (p. 597)
- Election Commission of India must consider banning the BJP to contest elections. From Nathuram Godse to Sadhvi Pragya, violence is part of the RSS culture. About 100 Hindutva Organisations associated with the RSS are involved in the violent activities. Mentality of the police and the army in the country is anti-Muslim (p. 606)
Who Killed Karkare?
This is another book, aimed at denigrating the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Police, in order to demoralize them. The author, S.M. Mushrif, is a retd. senior police office of Maharashtra, and the book was published in Delhi privately, in 2009.
The highlights include:-
- “From the very beginning Brahmins started infiltrating into the organization and, within ten years of independence acquired near full control over the IB”(p. l9)
- ‘The Brahmin-dominated Indian intelligence agency’ (p. 19)
- “The IB had, thus, taken over by the RSS; it set out to implement the RSS agenda very meticulously as if it was an organ of RSS” (p. 20)
- “The IB has, thus, gradually assumed the role of the real crusader of Brahminism” (p. 21)
- “Intention of IB and RAW in engineering such ‘attacks’ or ‘encounters’ is only to create ill feeling among common Hindus against the Muslim community” (p. 40)
Big Lie
Mushrif made a serious allegation that IB was under the grip of the RSS. His allegation damages the reputation of both the RSS and IB. Is there any grain of truth in his allegation? Following facts unravel the truth:
- Former Inspector General of Police, Maharashtra, S.M. Mushrif first publicly made this sensational statement in New Delhi at a three-day workshop in March 2007 on the subject, ‘Trends in Intelligence and Law and Order agencies’ under the aegis of Mumbai’s Citizens for Justice and Peace [controlled by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, editors & publishers of Communalism Combat].
- Mushrif exploded the lie that the RSS has penetrated the IB to the extent that it is working as an RSS wing. He ‘substantiated’ his allegation by stating, “B.G. Vaidya, brother of RSS leader M.G. Vaidya, an IPS, spent his entire career in the IB.” He further stated that “it was the reason that the IB always shielded the RSS.” B.G. Vaidya, a retired IPS, who lives in Poona, has no relation with the former RSS spokesperson M.G. Vaidya, whose younger brother, the late B.G. Vaidya, was a bank employee in Amravati (Maharashtra) and died in 2003 [It’s Hindu anger not terror, Rakesh Sinha, The Pioneer, November 1, 2008]
- This was repeated by Muslim journals and intellectuals. For instance, Syed Shahabuddin-edited journal Muslim India reproduced his statement without probing the fact. Milli Gazette too prominently wrote the same story [Milli Gazette, 1-15 April, 2007, B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]
- The unchecked and uninterrupted propaganda damages institutions, misguides media and public and also encourages such elements to continue with the similar constructed stories. Mushrif’s work ‘Who Killed Karkare?’ is its classical example. He repeated the lie in his work in a more assertive manner [B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]
On 26/11 (Mumbai terrorist attack):
- ‘there is no reason to suspect that Ajmal Kasab was arrested by Nepalese forces and was handed over to Indian intelligence agencies...sounds quite logical. (p. 198-199)
- Mushrif’s imagination and sympathy for Kasab goes to the extent that he unhesitatingly writes ‘as the terrorist was already in the custody of IB, his photograph could have been taken either before or after the incident’ (p. 201)
- IB behind conspiracy and preparation to kill Hemant Karkare (p. 220-223)
- CIA could not be fully controlled by Zionists...as Brahmins could not fully control IB and RAW (p. 239)
- Brahmins have been hankering for Peshwa (p. 267)
- Out of 48 incidents connected with the terrorism as detailed in chapter II of this book, as many 35 pertain to Maharashtra... a detailed enquiry into them would reveal that the Brahmins have been their masterminds (p. 270)
- The IB connive at the assassination of the Father of the Nation by willfully omitting to take action against conspirators (p. 276)
- Under the pretext of ‘intelligence’, the IB intentionally spreads rumours of anticipated ‘attacks’ by Muslim terrorist outfits on VVIPs, vital installations and religious places, with a view to create an anti-Muslim atmosphere in the country (p. 277)
- Some of the so called ‘terrorist attacks’, wherein all the terrorist were killed, as in the case of Parliament or RSS headquarters in Nagpur, were suspected to be handiwork of the IB. Such cases should be inquired into by fact-finding committees (p. 290)
- Unless media is taken out of the Brahmins’ control, there is hardly anything which the government and judiciary can do (p. 294)
- TV channels knowingly promote the Brahminist ideology, demonise Muslims, foment communal trouble... (p. 295)
- Kasab’s following photograph (at CST station) taken either before or after incident by IB (p. 201)
Such is the laughable endeavour of those trying to give the RSS a bad name, to equate it with Islamic terror and instill fear and hatred regarding the organisation in the minds of ordinary citizens. But as the Bihar elections have shown, the ordinary Indian national has his/her own way of keeping informed about events and even the most persuasive media propaganda does not sway the public from a chosen path or deflect its considered opinions.
This is, therefore, an exercise in futility. I feel sorry for those who invest so much time and energy in such vacuous enterprises.
The writer is Hony. Director, India Policy Foundation, and Associate Professor, University of Delhi, Delhi;
his email is indiapolicy@gmail.com
Give a dog a bad name and hang him
Rakesh Sinha
27 December 2010
Recently, and particularly in the last few weeks, the public discourse has been vitiated by reckless allegations against Indian nationalists, particularly members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and RSS as an institution, and terms like “Hindu Terror” and “Saffron Terror” are freely bandied about. In the forefront of the attack is the Congress party led by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi, and their prize minion, Digvijay Singh, who have all literally labelled the RSS as a terrorist organisation.
Some of the vituperative attacks have been explained as a ‘side show’ to divert attention from the Congress’ crushing defeat in the Gujarat local elections (a blow to Ms Sonia Gandhi) and near complete rout in Bihar (blamed on the non-charisma of Rahul Gandhi). Then there is the Muslim disenchantment with the party, and the scam-a-day regime (Commonwealth, Adarsh housing, bank loans, and above all, 2G and the scandalous price rise).
Above all, however, there is complete consternation in the anti-Hindu political circles that the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has unanimously accepted the disputed site in Ayodhya as the birthplace of Sri Rama, to which Hindus have the pre-eminent claim. Muslim scholars and leaders who failed to do their homework properly and did not appear in the court proceedings, preferring to direct affairs from behind the scenes and relying on seasoned rhetoric to carry the day, are taken aback by this turn of events.
The question arises: is the attempt to vitiate the atmosphere part of a ploy to ‘guide’ the inevitable proceedings in the Supreme Court in a particular way? Certainly it is a signal to the Muslim community that Hindus will somehow be ‘contained’ and somehow cut to size.
In this connection, it is pertinent that former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijay Singh chose to preside over the release of a book in Urdu, RSS ki Sazish – 26/11 (RSS’ Conspiracy – 26/11) this month. The 788-page volume has been penned by journalist Aziz Burney, who has managed to raise the funds to publish a staggering 25000 copies, when the standard print order for a book is just 500 copies!
It goes without saying that this is a command performance, funded by vested interests, and intended for a target audience which will probably receive the book free of cost. As a work of fiction, it probably has some amusement value. Certainly it is not a work that deserves a serious rebuttal, and we present below some of the key highlights of the book, without comment:-
RSS ki Sazish – 26/11
- The BJP and the RSS are responsible for 26/11 attack in Mumbai. The BJP did not raise its voice against the delay in probe (p. ll)
- ATS chief Hemant Karkare was about to disclose many facts regarding Malegaon blast in which he was expected to expose many sadhus and saints including the BJP and the RSS (p. 28)
- Mossad and CIA had assisted the Sangh Parivar in the attack carried out in Mumbai. With the
tacit understanding of the USA, Saudi Arabia's Maulana Bedi had collected fundamentalists. Even Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had helped in attackers' arrival and stay (p. 41)
- Post 1993, all attacks in the country is the result of the nexus between the RSS and
Mossad. Karkare was about to make all these disclosures to the media and was going to leave the country to settle abroad. Karkare was not killed by AK-47 but by the service revolver of the police. RAW and Home Ministry are investigating the role played by the Gujarat ATS in Karkare’s murder case. Karkare was killed by Hindutva-minded police officials and people from the Chota Rajan gang (p. 61)
- The Congress is suspecting the involvement of the BJP in the Malegaon blast other than the RSS and Bajrang Dal. The BJP decided to give legal assistance to Sadhvi Pragya, the day Purohit told the CBI that the VHP leaders had given special contribution in formation of Abhinav Bharat. RSS leader Indresh Kumar has taken Rs 3 crore from the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI. The same day Karkare received the threat call and the very next day he was killed (p. 99)
- The RSS and Israel are trying to make India unstable (p. 190)
- In order to make India a Hindu nation, such blasts are being carried out (p. 219)
- Abhinav Bharat was getting financial aid from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Weapons were bought from the money provided by Praveen Togadia to kill Indresh Kumar (p. 232)
- While the RSS is distributing ‘Trishul’ to youths and women, the Bajrang Dal is providing training to people for making bombs and causing blasts. The VHP had planted bombs in several mosques in Maharashtra to explode them (p. 584)
- The RSS and VHP are trying to defame Muslims by forming terrorist organizations like Indian Mujahideen and Islamic Security Force. Indian Mujahideen was not involved in the bomb blasts in Assam. Bajrang Dal is a dubious organization and Indian Mujahideen is the code name of it. Editor of Communalism Combat Teesta Setalvad mentioned in a report that the CBI is trying cover up Hindu Terrorism and Batla encounter was fake (p. 597)
- Election Commission of India must consider banning the BJP to contest elections. From Nathuram Godse to Sadhvi Pragya, violence is part of the RSS culture. About 100 Hindutva Organisations associated with the RSS are involved in the violent activities. Mentality of the police and the army in the country is anti-Muslim (p. 606)
Who Killed Karkare?
This is another book, aimed at denigrating the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Police, in order to demoralize them. The author, S.M. Mushrif, is a retd. senior police office of Maharashtra, and the book was published in Delhi privately, in 2009.
The highlights include:-
- “From the very beginning Brahmins started infiltrating into the organization and, within ten years of independence acquired near full control over the IB”(p. l9)
- ‘The Brahmin-dominated Indian intelligence agency’ (p. 19)
- “The IB had, thus, taken over by the RSS; it set out to implement the RSS agenda very meticulously as if it was an organ of RSS” (p. 20)
- “The IB has, thus, gradually assumed the role of the real crusader of Brahminism” (p. 21)
- “Intention of IB and RAW in engineering such ‘attacks’ or ‘encounters’ is only to create ill feeling among common Hindus against the Muslim community” (p. 40)
Big Lie
Mushrif made a serious allegation that IB was under the grip of the RSS. His allegation damages the reputation of both the RSS and IB. Is there any grain of truth in his allegation? Following facts unravel the truth:
- Former Inspector General of Police, Maharashtra, S.M. Mushrif first publicly made this sensational statement in New Delhi at a three-day workshop in March 2007 on the subject, ‘Trends in Intelligence and Law and Order agencies’ under the aegis of Mumbai’s Citizens for Justice and Peace [controlled by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, editors & publishers of Communalism Combat].
- Mushrif exploded the lie that the RSS has penetrated the IB to the extent that it is working as an RSS wing. He ‘substantiated’ his allegation by stating, “B.G. Vaidya, brother of RSS leader M.G. Vaidya, an IPS, spent his entire career in the IB.” He further stated that “it was the reason that the IB always shielded the RSS.” B.G. Vaidya, a retired IPS, who lives in Poona, has no relation with the former RSS spokesperson M.G. Vaidya, whose younger brother, the late B.G. Vaidya, was a bank employee in Amravati (Maharashtra) and died in 2003 [It’s Hindu anger not terror, Rakesh Sinha, The Pioneer, November 1, 2008]
- This was repeated by Muslim journals and intellectuals. For instance, Syed Shahabuddin-edited journal Muslim India reproduced his statement without probing the fact. Milli Gazette too prominently wrote the same story [Milli Gazette, 1-15 April, 2007, B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]
- The unchecked and uninterrupted propaganda damages institutions, misguides media and public and also encourages such elements to continue with the similar constructed stories. Mushrif’s work ‘Who Killed Karkare?’ is its classical example. He repeated the lie in his work in a more assertive manner [B.G. Vaidya from Maharashtra remained in IB till his retirement and reached the highest post of DIB and, interestingly, when he was the IB chief, his real brother M.G. Vaidya was RSS chief of Maharashtra state. See Who Killed Karkare? p. 20]
On 26/11 (Mumbai terrorist attack):
- ‘there is no reason to suspect that Ajmal Kasab was arrested by Nepalese forces and was handed over to Indian intelligence agencies...sounds quite logical. (p. 198-199)
- Mushrif’s imagination and sympathy for Kasab goes to the extent that he unhesitatingly writes ‘as the terrorist was already in the custody of IB, his photograph could have been taken either before or after the incident’ (p. 201)
- IB behind conspiracy and preparation to kill Hemant Karkare (p. 220-223)
- CIA could not be fully controlled by Zionists...as Brahmins could not fully control IB and RAW (p. 239)
- Brahmins have been hankering for Peshwa (p. 267)
- Out of 48 incidents connected with the terrorism as detailed in chapter II of this book, as many 35 pertain to Maharashtra... a detailed enquiry into them would reveal that the Brahmins have been their masterminds (p. 270)
- The IB connive at the assassination of the Father of the Nation by willfully omitting to take action against conspirators (p. 276)
- Under the pretext of ‘intelligence’, the IB intentionally spreads rumours of anticipated ‘attacks’ by Muslim terrorist outfits on VVIPs, vital installations and religious places, with a view to create an anti-Muslim atmosphere in the country (p. 277)
- Some of the so called ‘terrorist attacks’, wherein all the terrorist were killed, as in the case of Parliament or RSS headquarters in Nagpur, were suspected to be handiwork of the IB. Such cases should be inquired into by fact-finding committees (p. 290)
- Unless media is taken out of the Brahmins’ control, there is hardly anything which the government and judiciary can do (p. 294)
- TV channels knowingly promote the Brahminist ideology, demonise Muslims, foment communal trouble... (p. 295)
- Kasab’s following photograph (at CST station) taken either before or after incident by IB (p. 201)
Such is the laughable endeavour of those trying to give the RSS a bad name, to equate it with Islamic terror and instill fear and hatred regarding the organisation in the minds of ordinary citizens. But as the Bihar elections have shown, the ordinary Indian national has his/her own way of keeping informed about events and even the most persuasive media propaganda does not sway the public from a chosen path or deflect its considered opinions.
This is, therefore, an exercise in futility. I feel sorry for those who invest so much time and energy in such vacuous enterprises.
The writer is Hony. Director, India Policy Foundation, and Associate Professor, University of Delhi, Delhi;
his email is indiapolicy@gmail.com
The communal faultline runs deep
December 31, 2010 9:02:54 PM
Prafull Goradia
From Europe to Asia, secularism has been transmogrified by its practitioners into meaning something which it was not meant to mean: Appeasement of minority communities. The Pope now bemoans the effects of ‘secularism’ in Europe where Christianity is under assault. If we look at Asia, specially India, we will find the same faultline running deep
His Holiness the Pope Benedict is reported to have expressed earlier this month deep concern over the “harassment” and “prejudice” against Christians in Europe. By implication, he was protesting against secularists’ bias against the majority religion of Europe. Until some recent protests against minarets and burqas, Muslim appeasement has been considered politically correct in most of Europe. He went on to bemoan that where Christians are in a minority, there was no religious freedom, especially in the West Asian countries.
The Pope was evidently referring to the hostile experience in Egypt, where to this day, the 10 per cent Coptic Christians must take permission of the Government to even renovate their churches. Darfur in Sudan where the atrocities of the Muslim north upon the Christian south of the country is a terrible tale. Earlier, northern Nigeria had driven Biafran or southern Christians to a desperate civil war. Turkey is well known in history for its atrocities. They were so unacceptable that Prime Minister William Gladstone was provoked to say on the floor of Westminster, with the Book in his hand, that so long as this Book remains there would be no peace on this earth. He went on to publish a book entitled The Bulgarian Horrors.
Subsequently, the Turks went on to massacre Armenian Christians. This genocide led Lord Curzon to call for discussions on the entire issue of minorities with Ismet Pasha of Turkey. It was his conclusion that minorities cannot co-exist with a Muslim majority. He solved the problem under the good offices of the League of Nations. He set up the Mixed Commission in order to work out a systematic exchange of Turkish Christians and Greek Muslims. Similarly, an exchange was arranged between Turkish Christians and Muslims in Bulgaria.
Does not Indian political life have a magnificent, rather a menacing, obsession? It is on the demand for a homeland for a minority that the Partition was conceded, minority is an euphemism for Muslims. At the 1931 Second Round Table Conference in London, Mahatma Gandhi had declared that he recognised Muslims as a minority. Christians, Parsis, Jews were all left out by him. The Constituent Assembly, elected at the end of 1945, had commenced deliberations on a forthcoming Constitution for independent India. The Congress thrust, at that time, was somehow to induce the Muslims not to insist on the country’s bifurcation. Hence, the undertone of the draft was appeasement whose highlights were the then clauses 19 to 23 A. Jawaharlal Nehru did not give a go-by to this menacing obsession and included the same clauses in the final post-Partition Constitution except that their numbers were changed to Articles 25 to 30.
The obsession continued as illustrated by what happened on November 4, 1948. Rajendra Prasad, President of the Constituent Assembly, proposed and got passed unanimously by the august body the following tribute: “Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who by his grim determination and steadfast devotion was able to carve out and found Pakistan and whose passing away at this moment is an irreparable loss to all. We send our heartfelt sympathies to our brethren across the frontier.”
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has leapt many steps in the same direction by declaring ‘minorities first’ as his Government’s policy, earmarking the first 15 per cent of the national resources for their benefit. The appointment of the Sachar Committee, the installation of a ministry for minority, declaring the concept of minority concentrated districts, et al are all steps in the direction of dividing the country into a majority and a minority.
The presidential address to the plenary session of the Congress party on December 19 has gone to the extreme by calling the RSS names such as ‘Fascists’, ‘Nazis’, etc. A few days earlier a general secretary had said that “Hindu terrorism was more dangerous to the country than Lashkar-e-Tayyeba”. Another general secretary over the months has made any number of statements of an anti-Hindu nature. The Home Minister of India has used the expression ‘saffron terror’. If any of these were true, why would the Hindu leaders have accepted the partition of India gracefully? Thereafter, would they have allowed Muslims to continue to stay in Hindustan although Pakistan was conceded as a homeland for the Muslims of the sub-continent? This was notwithstanding the offer by Muslim League eminences led by Quaid-e-Azam that there should be an exchange of populations. Sir Feroz Khan Noon, who later went on to become Prime Minister of Pakistan, while addressing the legislators of Bihar in April 1946, had gone to the extent of threatening the re-enactment of the “orgies of Changez Khan and Halaku Khan if Hindus did not allow us to take Muslims to the forthcoming Pakistan”.
Uncannily, in his 1946 book, India Divided, the same Rajendra Prasad had asked whether post-partition Muslims could be allowed to reside in India. If they were, would they be citizens or as aliens to be issued visas? Lebanon is an example of a majority being turned into a minority. Until World War I, it was a province of the Ottoman empire. With the defeat of Turkey, Lebanon was allotted by the League of Nations for France to administer. In 1945 when the French left, Lebanon had more Christians than Muslims and its President’s post was reserved for a Christian. The higher Muslim birth rate however began to tilt the balance. As the Israeli-Palestinian conflict escalated, more and more Arabs migrated to Lebanon. Gradually, the population ratio was reversed. Today, although the Constitution remains unchanged, Muslims call the shots. Going back to the Pope’s complaint about the treatment of minorities in Islamic lands, Lebanon is an extraordinary example.
Malaysia began as a secular country when in 1965 it separated from Singapore whose ethnic Chinese had felt harassed by the Malay Muslims. Before long the remaining Malaysia declared itself an Islamic country, although nearly half-the-population comprised others like ethnic Chinese, Tamils etc. Muslims showed no consideration for the minorities. The Indians, settled there for long years, repeatedly protest and complain against their ill-treatment. Indonesia ill treated its Christians and by UNO mandate it had to yield independence to its Christian province of Timor.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Social status doesn’t give immunity to Arundhati
Amitabh Thakur November 04, 2010
Just because Arundhati Roy is hailed as intellectual, law must not be misinterpreted to legalize her act of sedition. Because no law permits such transgression wrapped in pleas and rhetoric where its very foundation is questioned
Arundhati Roy needs no introduction in India or abroad. A Booker Prize winner, she has over the period emerged as a social activist who has her own perspectives and thoughts on many pertinent issues. More often than not, these views get into lots of controversy. There are people who say that these controversies turn into an advantage for Arundhati Roy, who always comes up with larger number of fans and followers in the aftermath of each such controversy.
Possibly following the same thing, in a meeting on Kashmir called “Azadi — The Only Way” organised in LTG Auditorium, New Delhi, on October 21, she along with SAR Geelani and Syed Ali Shah Geelani spoke words which clearly come in the purview of sedition. She said, “Kashmir should get azadi from bhookhey-nangey Hindustan … India needs azadi from Kashmir and Kashmir from India. It is a good debate that has started. We must deepen this conversation and am happy that young people are getting involved for this cause, which is their future.” Similarly at a seminar on “Wither Kashmir: Freedom or enslavement” held in Srinagar Arundhati Roy said, “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact. Even the Indian Government has accepted this.”
Now, we all know that Article 19(1)(a) of our Constitution provides right to freedom of speech and expression to all its citizen but at the same time Article 19(2) imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State etc. Similarly, section 121, 121A and 124A of the Indian Penal Code talk of waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India and also about sedition. Sedition is very clearly defined as an act “by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise” bringing or attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or exciting or attempting to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India.
So far these laws remain very much in force in India. In fact, Article 19(2)(a) and section 124A of the IPC has been challenged many a times even in the Supreme Court but the highest Court of the land has upheld it as being constitutional and illegal. Thus, as ordinary citizen of India we are duty bound to follow them. In case anyone of us have views divergent to the above laws, we only have two options — either to get them amended in the Parliament or to get them stuck down in the Court. None of these has been done and hence it becomes the duty of a citizen to follow them in letter and spirit. Or to face the legal consequences when we violate it. There is not much genius required to understand this, this is simple logic.
Yes, we all have the right as human beings to have certain opinions and views and also to firmly believe in them but when it comes to expressing these views in the public domain, each one of us has to adhere to the law of the land. There exists the paramountcy of law, as long as it exists in a given format and no one, including Arundhati Roy can be considered to be above law. And when the matter is related with the basic integrity and unity of the nation, the seriousness of the matter increases manifold. This is important because any laxity or relaxation on this account might act as a motivating factor and precedence to others to take law in their own hands, to the extent of playing with the nation’s very basic foundations. The situation becomes all the more serious when the persons committing the crime are considered among the respected members of the society and claim to be intellectuals and thinkers in their own way.
I don’t need to explain why the words quoted above as being that of Arundhati Roy fall under the purview of sedition. Can one think of any nation which would allow open talks of its own dismemberment? When the very basic foundation and existence of the country is lost, how can it cater to its other required duties? So, just because Arundhati Roy is a celebrity and has widely been hailed as an intellectual, do her illegal and unconstitutional words become legalised?
After the matter became hotly discussed, Arundhati Roy is quoted to have said that she said what millions of people here say every day. She says that her speeches are fundamentally a call for justice and that she “spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world”. She also blames someone (presumably India) in the following words- “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice”.
But do all these pleas and rhetoric make a crime, as defined in a law book, as something else? Which law would permit such a transgression where it’s very foundations are questioned? And if a person still feels that what he or she is speaking is true, then another thing shall happen simultaneously — the code of law shall be imposed in the most impassioned, efficient and value-neutral manner, without thinking twice about who it is that is violating the law. This is the basic criteria and definition of law that we all understand and adhere to.
--The writer, presently on study leave at IIM Lucknow, is an IPS officers of UP Cadre.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/294261/Social-status-doesn’t-give-immunity-to-Arundhati.html
Just because Arundhati Roy is hailed as intellectual, law must not be misinterpreted to legalize her act of sedition. Because no law permits such transgression wrapped in pleas and rhetoric where its very foundation is questioned
Arundhati Roy needs no introduction in India or abroad. A Booker Prize winner, she has over the period emerged as a social activist who has her own perspectives and thoughts on many pertinent issues. More often than not, these views get into lots of controversy. There are people who say that these controversies turn into an advantage for Arundhati Roy, who always comes up with larger number of fans and followers in the aftermath of each such controversy.
Possibly following the same thing, in a meeting on Kashmir called “Azadi — The Only Way” organised in LTG Auditorium, New Delhi, on October 21, she along with SAR Geelani and Syed Ali Shah Geelani spoke words which clearly come in the purview of sedition. She said, “Kashmir should get azadi from bhookhey-nangey Hindustan … India needs azadi from Kashmir and Kashmir from India. It is a good debate that has started. We must deepen this conversation and am happy that young people are getting involved for this cause, which is their future.” Similarly at a seminar on “Wither Kashmir: Freedom or enslavement” held in Srinagar Arundhati Roy said, “Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is a historical fact. Even the Indian Government has accepted this.”
Now, we all know that Article 19(1)(a) of our Constitution provides right to freedom of speech and expression to all its citizen but at the same time Article 19(2) imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State etc. Similarly, section 121, 121A and 124A of the Indian Penal Code talk of waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the Government of India and also about sedition. Sedition is very clearly defined as an act “by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise” bringing or attempting to bring into hatred or contempt, or exciting or attempting to excite disaffection towards the Government established by law in India.
So far these laws remain very much in force in India. In fact, Article 19(2)(a) and section 124A of the IPC has been challenged many a times even in the Supreme Court but the highest Court of the land has upheld it as being constitutional and illegal. Thus, as ordinary citizen of India we are duty bound to follow them. In case anyone of us have views divergent to the above laws, we only have two options — either to get them amended in the Parliament or to get them stuck down in the Court. None of these has been done and hence it becomes the duty of a citizen to follow them in letter and spirit. Or to face the legal consequences when we violate it. There is not much genius required to understand this, this is simple logic.
Yes, we all have the right as human beings to have certain opinions and views and also to firmly believe in them but when it comes to expressing these views in the public domain, each one of us has to adhere to the law of the land. There exists the paramountcy of law, as long as it exists in a given format and no one, including Arundhati Roy can be considered to be above law. And when the matter is related with the basic integrity and unity of the nation, the seriousness of the matter increases manifold. This is important because any laxity or relaxation on this account might act as a motivating factor and precedence to others to take law in their own hands, to the extent of playing with the nation’s very basic foundations. The situation becomes all the more serious when the persons committing the crime are considered among the respected members of the society and claim to be intellectuals and thinkers in their own way.
I don’t need to explain why the words quoted above as being that of Arundhati Roy fall under the purview of sedition. Can one think of any nation which would allow open talks of its own dismemberment? When the very basic foundation and existence of the country is lost, how can it cater to its other required duties? So, just because Arundhati Roy is a celebrity and has widely been hailed as an intellectual, do her illegal and unconstitutional words become legalised?
After the matter became hotly discussed, Arundhati Roy is quoted to have said that she said what millions of people here say every day. She says that her speeches are fundamentally a call for justice and that she “spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world”. She also blames someone (presumably India) in the following words- “Pity the nation that has to silence its writers for speaking their minds. Pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice”.
But do all these pleas and rhetoric make a crime, as defined in a law book, as something else? Which law would permit such a transgression where it’s very foundations are questioned? And if a person still feels that what he or she is speaking is true, then another thing shall happen simultaneously — the code of law shall be imposed in the most impassioned, efficient and value-neutral manner, without thinking twice about who it is that is violating the law. This is the basic criteria and definition of law that we all understand and adhere to.
--The writer, presently on study leave at IIM Lucknow, is an IPS officers of UP Cadre.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/294261/Social-status-doesn’t-give-immunity-to-Arundhati.html
Checking the Chinese
S.K. Sinha
Nov 24 2010
November 20, 1962 was a black day in the history of India. That was the day we accepted a humiliating unilateral ceasefire declared by the Chinese. The nation’s faith in the infallibility of its foreign policy, the invincibility of its Army and the impregnability of the Himalayas lay shattered.
The ailing Sardar, less than a month before he passed away, wrote a letter to Nehru on November 17, 1950 warning him about what he called “Chinese diplomacy or malevolence”. A perusal of this long letter shows his remarkable vision and foresight. Extracts from this letter are reproduced, “We regard ourselves as friends of China but the Chinese do not regard us as their friends... it continues to regard us with suspicion and the whole psychology is one, at least outwardly, of scepticism mixed with a little hostility. It looks as though it is not a friend speaking in that language but a potential enemy. Chinese ambitions in this respect not only cover the Himalayan slopes on our side but also include the important part of Assam (present-day Arunachal). In my judgment the situation is one (on) which we cannot afford either to be complacent or vacillating.” He recommended military preparedness and building infrastructure in the Himalayas. Nehru ignored his sage advice. The est is history.
From my student days I was a great admirer of Nehru. He was our icon. His sacrifice and contribution to India’s independence was tremendous. After 1947, he established a democratic polity and put India on the path of advancement. We felt proud when he was hailed as an international statesman. But the failure of his Chinese policy, culminating in the disaster of 1962, was a stunning and shattering blow. Nehru became a god who failed. The debacles, first at Thagla, then the collapse at Se-la followed by the unilateral ceasefire, came in quick succession. At Rezeng-la Indian troops under Major Shaitan Singh fought to the last man and last round, inflicting heavy casualties on waves of Chinese attackers. Surprisingly, at Se-la, the famous 4 Division, considered one of the best fighting divisions of the Allied armies during the Second World War, could not put up a fight. It was being commanded by a seasoned commander who had won a coveted gallantry award in North Africa and a Mahavir Chakra in the famous battle of Zoji-la in Kashmir. The decision to pull out from the Se-la defences was disastrous. It led to the division getting decimated. A British friend from the UK wrote a letter to me expressing his sympathy, recalling that they had been through a similar disaster at Dunkirk in 1940. He had served in Africa with 4 Division during the Second World War, when all commanders at the unit, brigade and levels were British. The majority of junior officers in the units were also British. He inquired if it was the failure of the Indian military leadership that had led to the debacle. Our military leadership, despite much less experience, had worked splendidly during the 1947-48 war in Kashmir. However, there was no getting away from the fact that our military leaders did not measure to the challenge in 1962. Of course, the primary blame lay with the political leadership. Despite their being much opposed to each other, there was much in common between Nehru and Churchill. Both were sons of very eminent fathers, had gone to the same school at Harrow, wrote good English prose and could rise to the occasion with their oration. Nehru’s Tryst with Destiny speech, and “The light has gone out of our lives” after Gandhi’s assassination, were classics, like Churchill’s after Dunkirk and his Victory Day speech. However, Churchill was a great war leader while Nehru failed India in that respect. In 1940, Churchill had all the odds against him. The British Army had suffered a disaster in France and had lost its fighting capability. That took time to rebuild. Britain had no allies; the US had not joined the war then and the Soviet Union was at that time an ally of Germany. Yet Churchill thundered, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” From that desperate situation, he led his country to a great victory. Nehru was in a much stronger position in November 1962 than Churchill in 1940. Only a small portion of the Indian Army had been vanquished, the bulk was intact. With approaching winter, the Himalayan passes would be closed by snow and the Chinese Army would have found it difficult to sustain itself across the passes. The Chinese had no heavy guns or armour and would not have been able to fight the Indian Army on the plains of Assam. We had several friends with the West rallying to our support. Differences were emerging between Soviet Russia and China. Yet Nehru lost his nerve and sent an SOS to Kennedy desperately requesting help, including US air cover. The following day he accepted the humiliating Chinese ceasefire. His broadcast saying that his heart went out to the people of Assam was in sharp contrast to Churchill’s defiant speech in 1940. His daughter Indira Gandhi, despite her faults of strangulating democracy, proved to be a great war leader in 1971. Her handling of the Sikkim crisis in 1975 howed strategic vision.
Dark clouds have been gathering in the North for some time. While the Chinese were feverishly building their military capability in Tibet, in terms of both infrastructure and military strength, we remained unconcerned till 2008. It is only when the Chinese started becoming assertive that we woke up. All this while, our defence budget, at 2.5 per cent of GDP, has been among the world’s lowest, even when we face serious multi-dimensional security threats. Year after year, we have been surrendering thousands of crores of our defence budget. Only now are additional formations being raised, modern military hardware acquired and infrastructure developed. However, we continue to have the most irrational higher defence organisation strangulated by stifling bureaucratic control. Cosmetic changes, like an integrated defence staff without a CDS and a sham integration of the defence ministry with services HQ, are of no consequence. The Chinese had a two-decade lead over India in liberalising their economy and a more than two-decade lead over us in military preparedness in the Himalayas. We do not have to compete in an arms race with them but we must have the required deterrence. Posterity will not forgive us if we allow a repeat of 1962.
The author, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/checking-chinese-936
Nov 24 2010
November 20, 1962 was a black day in the history of India. That was the day we accepted a humiliating unilateral ceasefire declared by the Chinese. The nation’s faith in the infallibility of its foreign policy, the invincibility of its Army and the impregnability of the Himalayas lay shattered.
The ailing Sardar, less than a month before he passed away, wrote a letter to Nehru on November 17, 1950 warning him about what he called “Chinese diplomacy or malevolence”. A perusal of this long letter shows his remarkable vision and foresight. Extracts from this letter are reproduced, “We regard ourselves as friends of China but the Chinese do not regard us as their friends... it continues to regard us with suspicion and the whole psychology is one, at least outwardly, of scepticism mixed with a little hostility. It looks as though it is not a friend speaking in that language but a potential enemy. Chinese ambitions in this respect not only cover the Himalayan slopes on our side but also include the important part of Assam (present-day Arunachal). In my judgment the situation is one (on) which we cannot afford either to be complacent or vacillating.” He recommended military preparedness and building infrastructure in the Himalayas. Nehru ignored his sage advice. The est is history.
From my student days I was a great admirer of Nehru. He was our icon. His sacrifice and contribution to India’s independence was tremendous. After 1947, he established a democratic polity and put India on the path of advancement. We felt proud when he was hailed as an international statesman. But the failure of his Chinese policy, culminating in the disaster of 1962, was a stunning and shattering blow. Nehru became a god who failed. The debacles, first at Thagla, then the collapse at Se-la followed by the unilateral ceasefire, came in quick succession. At Rezeng-la Indian troops under Major Shaitan Singh fought to the last man and last round, inflicting heavy casualties on waves of Chinese attackers. Surprisingly, at Se-la, the famous 4 Division, considered one of the best fighting divisions of the Allied armies during the Second World War, could not put up a fight. It was being commanded by a seasoned commander who had won a coveted gallantry award in North Africa and a Mahavir Chakra in the famous battle of Zoji-la in Kashmir. The decision to pull out from the Se-la defences was disastrous. It led to the division getting decimated. A British friend from the UK wrote a letter to me expressing his sympathy, recalling that they had been through a similar disaster at Dunkirk in 1940. He had served in Africa with 4 Division during the Second World War, when all commanders at the unit, brigade and levels were British. The majority of junior officers in the units were also British. He inquired if it was the failure of the Indian military leadership that had led to the debacle. Our military leadership, despite much less experience, had worked splendidly during the 1947-48 war in Kashmir. However, there was no getting away from the fact that our military leaders did not measure to the challenge in 1962. Of course, the primary blame lay with the political leadership. Despite their being much opposed to each other, there was much in common between Nehru and Churchill. Both were sons of very eminent fathers, had gone to the same school at Harrow, wrote good English prose and could rise to the occasion with their oration. Nehru’s Tryst with Destiny speech, and “The light has gone out of our lives” after Gandhi’s assassination, were classics, like Churchill’s after Dunkirk and his Victory Day speech. However, Churchill was a great war leader while Nehru failed India in that respect. In 1940, Churchill had all the odds against him. The British Army had suffered a disaster in France and had lost its fighting capability. That took time to rebuild. Britain had no allies; the US had not joined the war then and the Soviet Union was at that time an ally of Germany. Yet Churchill thundered, “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” From that desperate situation, he led his country to a great victory. Nehru was in a much stronger position in November 1962 than Churchill in 1940. Only a small portion of the Indian Army had been vanquished, the bulk was intact. With approaching winter, the Himalayan passes would be closed by snow and the Chinese Army would have found it difficult to sustain itself across the passes. The Chinese had no heavy guns or armour and would not have been able to fight the Indian Army on the plains of Assam. We had several friends with the West rallying to our support. Differences were emerging between Soviet Russia and China. Yet Nehru lost his nerve and sent an SOS to Kennedy desperately requesting help, including US air cover. The following day he accepted the humiliating Chinese ceasefire. His broadcast saying that his heart went out to the people of Assam was in sharp contrast to Churchill’s defiant speech in 1940. His daughter Indira Gandhi, despite her faults of strangulating democracy, proved to be a great war leader in 1971. Her handling of the Sikkim crisis in 1975 howed strategic vision.
Dark clouds have been gathering in the North for some time. While the Chinese were feverishly building their military capability in Tibet, in terms of both infrastructure and military strength, we remained unconcerned till 2008. It is only when the Chinese started becoming assertive that we woke up. All this while, our defence budget, at 2.5 per cent of GDP, has been among the world’s lowest, even when we face serious multi-dimensional security threats. Year after year, we have been surrendering thousands of crores of our defence budget. Only now are additional formations being raised, modern military hardware acquired and infrastructure developed. However, we continue to have the most irrational higher defence organisation strangulated by stifling bureaucratic control. Cosmetic changes, like an integrated defence staff without a CDS and a sham integration of the defence ministry with services HQ, are of no consequence. The Chinese had a two-decade lead over India in liberalising their economy and a more than two-decade lead over us in military preparedness in the Himalayas. We do not have to compete in an arms race with them but we must have the required deterrence. Posterity will not forgive us if we allow a repeat of 1962.
The author, a retired lieutenant-general, was Vice-Chief of Army Staff and has served as governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/op-ed/checking-chinese-936
Sunday, December 5, 2010
'Paid news would finish off journalism unless...
Media had created 'paid news', and they were corrupt
December 03, 2010
Media is business, journalism is not. With these stinging words, developmental journalist and Magsaysay Award winner for journalism P Sainath grabbed the attention of the 250 media students attending Mumbai's Sophia Polytechnic's annual lecture, 'Catalyst for Change', on Thursday. The topic was 'Paid News', on which there cannot be a more well-informed speaker than Sainath who has consistently highlighted the menace in his writings.
Sainath said since 2008, some 3000 journalists had lost their jobs in India but the word 'recession' was banned in the media. "When I say media, I mean the dominant media always. The dominant media always lies as they invest in the stock exchange and keep the Sensex up".
"Paid News is an industry that is run by the owners of the media. Media and journalists are different. Media is business, journalism is not," he clarified.
He talked about a Marathi newspaper group which held an editors meeting in Pune before the Maharashtra assembly elections. Their grouse was that a rival newspaper group had made more money than them in the Lok sabha elections.
They calculated that to win an MLA's seat one needs to spend Rs 3-5 crores. Maharastra had 288 assembly constituencies, with 145 to be won for a majority. This would need Rs 400-700 crores and they planned to get 30 per cent of that amount.
They planned to make Rs 250-300 crores but their main rival still made more money. Targets were set at that meeting.
Sainath said 'Paid News' is defined by the Press Council as 'news appearing in the media for cash or kind -- appearing as news and not as an advertisement'.
The amount involved in the Maharashtra assembly elections was estimated to be around Rs 500 crores but the actual amount was closer to Rs 1000 crores. Compared to the owners of these media empires, journalists who appear on the 'Radia tapes' were small time.
In paid news, Sainath said, you were cheating the voters by creating a positive image of the candidate, which may not be true. This undermined the democratic process, as poor candidates were ignored.
He said former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan had 300 full page articles on him during the elections. Chavan had even arranged an election meeting with Salman Khan for Rs 4300 for which the Bollywood superstar had flown in in a private aircraft.
The Election Commission imposed an expense ceiling of Rs 10 lakh on an assembly candidates and Rs 25 lakh on Parliament candidates. "In paid news you can spend much more, and the newspapers are not paying income tax on this," Sainath pointed out.
He lamented that though the Election Commission had reacted on 'paid news', the media had not.
He recalled that when he visited Nagpur during the elections, a minister had complained, "They are asking me for Rs 20 lakh to cover my campaign". Television channels were distributing rate cards without logos. A profile cost Rs 4 lakh and dawn to dusk coverage cost Rs 25 lakh, which would be aired as a half-hour special. A second special would cost Rs 15 lakh.
He said earlier, advertising would increase during elections but now it was going down. The money had shifted to paid news.
Thanks to this menace, thousand of candidates did not get any coverage. "Lokmat gave Ashok Chavan 156 pages."
"Journalists' meetings have discussed this but it was never reported there."
Sainath quoted Vice-President Hameed Ansari's views on 'paid news'. "He said they destroyed fair elections and also destroyed people's faith in the media."
Elaborating on this, he said in the latest Bihar assembly elections, some 87 candidates got notices from the Election Commission about 'paid news' but nobody reported this.
So how does 'paid news' work? Sainath said that big political parties gave crores of rupees to PR agencies who contacted ad agencies who in turn contacted the newspapers. In Nagpur, he said, even independent candidates were offering Rs 20,000 to journalists and saying, 'Do paid news'.
He said 212 millionaires contested in Maharashtra of whom 186 won. Lokmat's owner himself became a minister in Ashok Chavan's cabinet.
His advice to the assembled students was, "As journalists you can speak to anyone. But it is important how you use the news".
When the Election Commission served a notice to the newspapers about the Ashok Chavan write-ups they defended him even though the same article appeared in three major papers under different bylines he said.
"Individual journalists can refuse bribes but they had no choice when the owners gave them readymade interviews and their names were used," Sainath informed his young audience.
He said 'paid news' would finish off journalism if journalists did not finish off 'paid news'.
He related that the Press Council had conducted an inquiry when eight editors demanded it. The report was brilliant but the Press Council killed its own report. The Election Commission has a division to fight 'paid news'. This was not reported. Parliament had a discussion on 'paid news'. This too was not reported.
He concluded with, "It is all about corporate power. Check the board members of the biggest media houses. They are all big corporate owners. We have commercialised education, healthcare and sports. Now media is being commercialised."
He told the assembled students, "We should be fighting for democratisation of the media. There is a mass media disconnect with mass reality." Small magazines gave true news, Sainath wound up.
In the Q&A session that followed, the first question was about online social media. Sainath said the Radia tapes were online for nine months but made a splash only when Outlook and Open magazines published it. "Twitter cannot do this and Facebook pages in my name have nothing to do with me. Print is still growing in India as literacy is growing. Internet penetration is still low."
The next question was, was it wrong when PR agencies gave 'paid news'? Sainath replied that PR agencies were not doing anything wrong. Media had created 'paid news', and they were corrupt, not the PR agencies.
A student wanted to know what was their choice as they were entering the industry. "Now there is more corporatisation. In those days Blitz published what the Times did not. There is still space for honest journalists," he assured the youngster.
The next question was about the invasion of privacy of industrialist Ratan Tata and journalist Barkha Dutt who figure in the leaked Radia tapes. Sainath's reply was, "Privacy issue is a serious one. But everything comes out -- WikiLeaks proves that. What is Niira Radia's telephone bill? Individual privacy should be respected. Institutional privacy cannot be assured. Radia's phone was tapped, not Ratan Tata's. Who is her telecom provider? The government is going to investigate who leaked the tapes but not the 2G spectrum scam!"
Another student wanted to know where to draw the line between a source and a journalist. Sainath said, "You don't have to do everything you are asked to do. They will respect your independence. Sources can give you good stories and also plant stories. You have to make your own judgement."
The last question was about media and justice. Sainath said the media had achieved success in the Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Ruchika Girhotra cases but there was still a class and caste bias. "The media can investigate but you are not a court of law. In Delhi it was the middle and upper class that had the media fighting for them. They even have a programme, 'We, the people of South Delhi'. Rural India did not get this justice. In Mumbai it is difficult to see the difference between the fourth estate and real estate."
Sainath's parting shot to the students was, "You should fight some issues as a journalist and other issues as a citizen."
http://www.rediff.com/news/2010/dec/03paid-news-would-finish-off-journalism-unless.htm
December 03, 2010
Media is business, journalism is not. With these stinging words, developmental journalist and Magsaysay Award winner for journalism P Sainath grabbed the attention of the 250 media students attending Mumbai's Sophia Polytechnic's annual lecture, 'Catalyst for Change', on Thursday. The topic was 'Paid News', on which there cannot be a more well-informed speaker than Sainath who has consistently highlighted the menace in his writings.
Sainath said since 2008, some 3000 journalists had lost their jobs in India but the word 'recession' was banned in the media. "When I say media, I mean the dominant media always. The dominant media always lies as they invest in the stock exchange and keep the Sensex up".
"Paid News is an industry that is run by the owners of the media. Media and journalists are different. Media is business, journalism is not," he clarified.
He talked about a Marathi newspaper group which held an editors meeting in Pune before the Maharashtra assembly elections. Their grouse was that a rival newspaper group had made more money than them in the Lok sabha elections.
They calculated that to win an MLA's seat one needs to spend Rs 3-5 crores. Maharastra had 288 assembly constituencies, with 145 to be won for a majority. This would need Rs 400-700 crores and they planned to get 30 per cent of that amount.
They planned to make Rs 250-300 crores but their main rival still made more money. Targets were set at that meeting.
Sainath said 'Paid News' is defined by the Press Council as 'news appearing in the media for cash or kind -- appearing as news and not as an advertisement'.
The amount involved in the Maharashtra assembly elections was estimated to be around Rs 500 crores but the actual amount was closer to Rs 1000 crores. Compared to the owners of these media empires, journalists who appear on the 'Radia tapes' were small time.
In paid news, Sainath said, you were cheating the voters by creating a positive image of the candidate, which may not be true. This undermined the democratic process, as poor candidates were ignored.
He said former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan had 300 full page articles on him during the elections. Chavan had even arranged an election meeting with Salman Khan for Rs 4300 for which the Bollywood superstar had flown in in a private aircraft.
The Election Commission imposed an expense ceiling of Rs 10 lakh on an assembly candidates and Rs 25 lakh on Parliament candidates. "In paid news you can spend much more, and the newspapers are not paying income tax on this," Sainath pointed out.
He lamented that though the Election Commission had reacted on 'paid news', the media had not.
He recalled that when he visited Nagpur during the elections, a minister had complained, "They are asking me for Rs 20 lakh to cover my campaign". Television channels were distributing rate cards without logos. A profile cost Rs 4 lakh and dawn to dusk coverage cost Rs 25 lakh, which would be aired as a half-hour special. A second special would cost Rs 15 lakh.
He said earlier, advertising would increase during elections but now it was going down. The money had shifted to paid news.
Thanks to this menace, thousand of candidates did not get any coverage. "Lokmat gave Ashok Chavan 156 pages."
"Journalists' meetings have discussed this but it was never reported there."
Sainath quoted Vice-President Hameed Ansari's views on 'paid news'. "He said they destroyed fair elections and also destroyed people's faith in the media."
Elaborating on this, he said in the latest Bihar assembly elections, some 87 candidates got notices from the Election Commission about 'paid news' but nobody reported this.
So how does 'paid news' work? Sainath said that big political parties gave crores of rupees to PR agencies who contacted ad agencies who in turn contacted the newspapers. In Nagpur, he said, even independent candidates were offering Rs 20,000 to journalists and saying, 'Do paid news'.
He said 212 millionaires contested in Maharashtra of whom 186 won. Lokmat's owner himself became a minister in Ashok Chavan's cabinet.
His advice to the assembled students was, "As journalists you can speak to anyone. But it is important how you use the news".
When the Election Commission served a notice to the newspapers about the Ashok Chavan write-ups they defended him even though the same article appeared in three major papers under different bylines he said.
"Individual journalists can refuse bribes but they had no choice when the owners gave them readymade interviews and their names were used," Sainath informed his young audience.
He said 'paid news' would finish off journalism if journalists did not finish off 'paid news'.
He related that the Press Council had conducted an inquiry when eight editors demanded it. The report was brilliant but the Press Council killed its own report. The Election Commission has a division to fight 'paid news'. This was not reported. Parliament had a discussion on 'paid news'. This too was not reported.
He concluded with, "It is all about corporate power. Check the board members of the biggest media houses. They are all big corporate owners. We have commercialised education, healthcare and sports. Now media is being commercialised."
He told the assembled students, "We should be fighting for democratisation of the media. There is a mass media disconnect with mass reality." Small magazines gave true news, Sainath wound up.
In the Q&A session that followed, the first question was about online social media. Sainath said the Radia tapes were online for nine months but made a splash only when Outlook and Open magazines published it. "Twitter cannot do this and Facebook pages in my name have nothing to do with me. Print is still growing in India as literacy is growing. Internet penetration is still low."
The next question was, was it wrong when PR agencies gave 'paid news'? Sainath replied that PR agencies were not doing anything wrong. Media had created 'paid news', and they were corrupt, not the PR agencies.
A student wanted to know what was their choice as they were entering the industry. "Now there is more corporatisation. In those days Blitz published what the Times did not. There is still space for honest journalists," he assured the youngster.
The next question was about the invasion of privacy of industrialist Ratan Tata and journalist Barkha Dutt who figure in the leaked Radia tapes. Sainath's reply was, "Privacy issue is a serious one. But everything comes out -- WikiLeaks proves that. What is Niira Radia's telephone bill? Individual privacy should be respected. Institutional privacy cannot be assured. Radia's phone was tapped, not Ratan Tata's. Who is her telecom provider? The government is going to investigate who leaked the tapes but not the 2G spectrum scam!"
Another student wanted to know where to draw the line between a source and a journalist. Sainath said, "You don't have to do everything you are asked to do. They will respect your independence. Sources can give you good stories and also plant stories. You have to make your own judgement."
The last question was about media and justice. Sainath said the media had achieved success in the Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Ruchika Girhotra cases but there was still a class and caste bias. "The media can investigate but you are not a court of law. In Delhi it was the middle and upper class that had the media fighting for them. They even have a programme, 'We, the people of South Delhi'. Rural India did not get this justice. In Mumbai it is difficult to see the difference between the fourth estate and real estate."
Sainath's parting shot to the students was, "You should fight some issues as a journalist and other issues as a citizen."
http://www.rediff.com/news/2010/dec/03paid-news-would-finish-off-journalism-unless.htm
I saved prime minister in telecom scandal, says Swamy
Veteran leader reveals all about scam as he accuses media and politicians of corruption.
By Nilima Pathak, Correspondent Published: December 4, 2010
Dr Subramanian Swamy is President of Janata Party. Well-educated and honest, he is not only courageous, but extremely blunt and forthright in his views.
Widely known for publicly challenging and fighting against prime ministers and chief ministers, it would do well for his political opponents to remain on the right side of Swamy. For, his wrath can undo governments, leave alone individuals!
Though his histrionics have earned him the reputation of being a rabble-rouser, no one can claim to find anything incriminating against him to charge or drag him to court.
Speaking to Gulf News in an exclusive interview, Swamy has openly spelt out names on the telecom spectrum scam accusing both political and media persons for being corrupt.
GULF NEWS: You seem to be treading into familiar territory with 2G spectrum scam what with earlier taking the cudgels with Janata Dal leader Ramakrishna Hegde and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalitha and several others?
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY: This is a very serious matter. The others were for a very different reason. Hegde was a member of my party and crafted the impression that he was a very honest and upright man. But he was most crooked and did all kinds of rackets. And, of course, he was tapping telephones of his own people, including his girlfriends! A man who pretends morality had to be exposed. Strangely, in 1988, our own party decided to investigate the incident of telephone tapping and he supported it thinking I wouldn't get to the bottom of it. When trapped, he filed a defamation case against me and later withdrew, which ended his career.
In the case of Jayalalitha, I helped her win the elections and become the Chief Minister. I was also instrumental in providing her adequate security after the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government, which was close to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) was dismissed. But after winning, she began doing all the rotten things that the DMK was doing. Whether she or her associates did, I can't say. I questioned her and she got angry with me. In the process she started letting loose violence against me. That's when I said to her, ‘I'll teach you a lesson'. I dropped everything, sat in Tamil Nadu, and brought her down.
Is it because of bringing down governments that you are known as a troublemaker?
That's not true. There are also governments where I've helped. Like, the Narasimha Rao government couldn't have survived but for me. I created the Chandra Shekhar government, which actually initiated the reforms even though it didn't get the credit because it did not last very long. I helped Rajiv Gandhi survive in his worst days when everybody abandoned him.
Just because they [the politicians] can't say I'm corrupt or illiterate, they spread this usual propaganda that I'm a troublemaker. The public doesn't think so. Else I wouldn't have been elected to Parliament five times.
But haven't you kind of dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to court — something that was till now unheard of?
Yes, but I also saved him because I thought the press was getting out of control and over-drawing the picture. I said that he sat on my petition to permit me to prosecute telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja. Now, for the first time in the history of India the Supreme Court has directed the PM to file an affidavit. This affidavit shows that every letter of mine was marked by him for action, but his officials told him he didn't have to. He didn't know the law and I don't expect him to. But since Raja was forced to resign by him, I didn't want any more sanctions and said the PM didn't need to resign. Now they [Congress persons] were wild, because they wanted to shoot him with their guns on my shoulder.
Who do you mean by ‘they'?
Congress President Sonia Gandhi. She wants someone more pliable than Singh. He's pliable enough, but obviously, she is not satisfied.
And who do you think could be considered more pliable?
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, if she can't bring in her son Rahul Gandhi.
Are you getting to all this because your party is nowhere in the picture and you wish to remain in limelight?
First of all, whether I'm doing it for this or that reason, the question is am I speaking the truth. Is there corruption or not? It doesn't matter what my motivation is. These are cheap diversionary tactics, which I don't take seriously.
Why has it taken two years for the 2G spectrum scam to come to light?
That's because it took me more than one-and-a-half years to get hold of the documents, which was not easy. I had written to the PM in 2008 and he took two years.
On what basis do you say that it could possibly be the case of the most monumental corruption in world history?
Look at the sheer size of the amount of Rs1.76 trillion (Dh142 billion) the nation has lost. And I'm not talking about the bribe, which itself is pretty big. The total loss, had there been an auction, and what actually it was sold for (Rs100 billion), is huge. The bribe is a thing that out of the gain these people have potentially made and will make over the years. My estimate is Rs600 billion of bribe involved.
Do you suspect the roles of some journalists and editors including Hindustan Times columnist Vir Sanghvi and NDTV's Barkha Dutt in this scam?
Most people are relying on corporate lobbyist Nira Radia tapes. But I know from personal experience that journalists do a lot of hack jobs. If wanted, they character assassinate you at the behest of the ruling party. In my case, the media cannot say anything except that I'm a troublemaker, which doesn't sell very well. They don't publish anything I say unless it becomes impossible like now, because the telecom scam has become a big issue. They've been doing it systematically. When elections take place, many journalists come and ask for money, saying they'll give favourable coverage in return.
In the case of Vir Sanghvi, I know he used to visit Phuket [in Thailand] almost every weekend and the Tamil Tigers used to finance his trips. Because of his lifestyle, I knew he was amenable and a real fixer. He's been writing articles depending on who's in power. As for Barkha Dutt, she's been indiscreet and doing foolish things.
You're quoted as saying that though the PM is honest, others are not. Who are these persons?
Yes, he is honest, but officials around him like his Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair and Cabinet Secretary Pulok Chatterjee are not with him. They are all Sonia's appointees. Even if you ask for the PM's appointment, her people decide who can and cannot see him.
You've also said that if the PM resigns, it will strengthen those who made money. Could you name them?
Sonia and DMK party chief M Karunanidhi.
You mean Raja is just a face and the real culprits are the biggies of the DMK?
Raja got 10 per cent, Karunanidhi 30 per cent and Sonia's two sisters have got 60 per cent of the loot.
Have you done in-depth research and investigation to make such claims?
Yes, I've enormous access because whatever my enemies may say, one thing is there that I've never betrayed anybody. Today, people in the government are so fed up seeing everything happening in close range and all this material is available with the PM.
Why is the UPA - 2 seeing so many scams?
Earlier, the scams were related to the defence deals, where things were difficult. Now, they have got into things within the country. And since there are lots of players, some of them spill the beans.
You think the recent Mumbai's Adarsh housing and 2 G spectrum scams could be inter-related?
Yes, looks like it. Lots of loans have been given, which obviously have been used.
How soon do you think all this will come out?
Raja getting an arrest warrant will happen soon and cancellation of the licences given so far could happen within the next 2-3 months. As far as the recovery of the money is concerned, of which there is a big demand in the country, that will take time.
However, if the Americans, who know it all, co-operate, we can get it because there is the UN agreement on money laundering.
Do you think the Congress will ask the Americans?
No, they won't. But I can force them to. It's only a matter of time. They know what I can do in court. They can't buy my lawyers, because I don't keep any! I argue cases myself.
Why is the Congress so adamant about not having a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2 G scam?
That's because the JPC will be free for all. And they know that I will start advising the MPs what questions to ask.
One of the questions is about her [Sonia's] sisters having got the money. And if the JPC calls for the intelligence people, they will have to question her because the data is now with them.
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/i-saved-prime-minister-in-telecom-scandal-says-swamy-1.722635
By Nilima Pathak, Correspondent Published: December 4, 2010
Dr Subramanian Swamy is President of Janata Party. Well-educated and honest, he is not only courageous, but extremely blunt and forthright in his views.
Widely known for publicly challenging and fighting against prime ministers and chief ministers, it would do well for his political opponents to remain on the right side of Swamy. For, his wrath can undo governments, leave alone individuals!
Though his histrionics have earned him the reputation of being a rabble-rouser, no one can claim to find anything incriminating against him to charge or drag him to court.
Speaking to Gulf News in an exclusive interview, Swamy has openly spelt out names on the telecom spectrum scam accusing both political and media persons for being corrupt.
GULF NEWS: You seem to be treading into familiar territory with 2G spectrum scam what with earlier taking the cudgels with Janata Dal leader Ramakrishna Hegde and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Jayalalitha and several others?
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY: This is a very serious matter. The others were for a very different reason. Hegde was a member of my party and crafted the impression that he was a very honest and upright man. But he was most crooked and did all kinds of rackets. And, of course, he was tapping telephones of his own people, including his girlfriends! A man who pretends morality had to be exposed. Strangely, in 1988, our own party decided to investigate the incident of telephone tapping and he supported it thinking I wouldn't get to the bottom of it. When trapped, he filed a defamation case against me and later withdrew, which ended his career.
In the case of Jayalalitha, I helped her win the elections and become the Chief Minister. I was also instrumental in providing her adequate security after the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government, which was close to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) was dismissed. But after winning, she began doing all the rotten things that the DMK was doing. Whether she or her associates did, I can't say. I questioned her and she got angry with me. In the process she started letting loose violence against me. That's when I said to her, ‘I'll teach you a lesson'. I dropped everything, sat in Tamil Nadu, and brought her down.
Is it because of bringing down governments that you are known as a troublemaker?
That's not true. There are also governments where I've helped. Like, the Narasimha Rao government couldn't have survived but for me. I created the Chandra Shekhar government, which actually initiated the reforms even though it didn't get the credit because it did not last very long. I helped Rajiv Gandhi survive in his worst days when everybody abandoned him.
Just because they [the politicians] can't say I'm corrupt or illiterate, they spread this usual propaganda that I'm a troublemaker. The public doesn't think so. Else I wouldn't have been elected to Parliament five times.
But haven't you kind of dragged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to court — something that was till now unheard of?
Yes, but I also saved him because I thought the press was getting out of control and over-drawing the picture. I said that he sat on my petition to permit me to prosecute telecommunications minister Andimuthu Raja. Now, for the first time in the history of India the Supreme Court has directed the PM to file an affidavit. This affidavit shows that every letter of mine was marked by him for action, but his officials told him he didn't have to. He didn't know the law and I don't expect him to. But since Raja was forced to resign by him, I didn't want any more sanctions and said the PM didn't need to resign. Now they [Congress persons] were wild, because they wanted to shoot him with their guns on my shoulder.
Who do you mean by ‘they'?
Congress President Sonia Gandhi. She wants someone more pliable than Singh. He's pliable enough, but obviously, she is not satisfied.
And who do you think could be considered more pliable?
Defence Minister A.K. Antony, if she can't bring in her son Rahul Gandhi.
Are you getting to all this because your party is nowhere in the picture and you wish to remain in limelight?
First of all, whether I'm doing it for this or that reason, the question is am I speaking the truth. Is there corruption or not? It doesn't matter what my motivation is. These are cheap diversionary tactics, which I don't take seriously.
Why has it taken two years for the 2G spectrum scam to come to light?
That's because it took me more than one-and-a-half years to get hold of the documents, which was not easy. I had written to the PM in 2008 and he took two years.
On what basis do you say that it could possibly be the case of the most monumental corruption in world history?
Look at the sheer size of the amount of Rs1.76 trillion (Dh142 billion) the nation has lost. And I'm not talking about the bribe, which itself is pretty big. The total loss, had there been an auction, and what actually it was sold for (Rs100 billion), is huge. The bribe is a thing that out of the gain these people have potentially made and will make over the years. My estimate is Rs600 billion of bribe involved.
Do you suspect the roles of some journalists and editors including Hindustan Times columnist Vir Sanghvi and NDTV's Barkha Dutt in this scam?
Most people are relying on corporate lobbyist Nira Radia tapes. But I know from personal experience that journalists do a lot of hack jobs. If wanted, they character assassinate you at the behest of the ruling party. In my case, the media cannot say anything except that I'm a troublemaker, which doesn't sell very well. They don't publish anything I say unless it becomes impossible like now, because the telecom scam has become a big issue. They've been doing it systematically. When elections take place, many journalists come and ask for money, saying they'll give favourable coverage in return.
In the case of Vir Sanghvi, I know he used to visit Phuket [in Thailand] almost every weekend and the Tamil Tigers used to finance his trips. Because of his lifestyle, I knew he was amenable and a real fixer. He's been writing articles depending on who's in power. As for Barkha Dutt, she's been indiscreet and doing foolish things.
You're quoted as saying that though the PM is honest, others are not. Who are these persons?
Yes, he is honest, but officials around him like his Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair and Cabinet Secretary Pulok Chatterjee are not with him. They are all Sonia's appointees. Even if you ask for the PM's appointment, her people decide who can and cannot see him.
You've also said that if the PM resigns, it will strengthen those who made money. Could you name them?
Sonia and DMK party chief M Karunanidhi.
You mean Raja is just a face and the real culprits are the biggies of the DMK?
Raja got 10 per cent, Karunanidhi 30 per cent and Sonia's two sisters have got 60 per cent of the loot.
Have you done in-depth research and investigation to make such claims?
Yes, I've enormous access because whatever my enemies may say, one thing is there that I've never betrayed anybody. Today, people in the government are so fed up seeing everything happening in close range and all this material is available with the PM.
Why is the UPA - 2 seeing so many scams?
Earlier, the scams were related to the defence deals, where things were difficult. Now, they have got into things within the country. And since there are lots of players, some of them spill the beans.
You think the recent Mumbai's Adarsh housing and 2 G spectrum scams could be inter-related?
Yes, looks like it. Lots of loans have been given, which obviously have been used.
How soon do you think all this will come out?
Raja getting an arrest warrant will happen soon and cancellation of the licences given so far could happen within the next 2-3 months. As far as the recovery of the money is concerned, of which there is a big demand in the country, that will take time.
However, if the Americans, who know it all, co-operate, we can get it because there is the UN agreement on money laundering.
Do you think the Congress will ask the Americans?
No, they won't. But I can force them to. It's only a matter of time. They know what I can do in court. They can't buy my lawyers, because I don't keep any! I argue cases myself.
Why is the Congress so adamant about not having a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the 2 G scam?
That's because the JPC will be free for all. And they know that I will start advising the MPs what questions to ask.
One of the questions is about her [Sonia's] sisters having got the money. And if the JPC calls for the intelligence people, they will have to question her because the data is now with them.
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/i-saved-prime-minister-in-telecom-scandal-says-swamy-1.722635
15 Pakistanis among 19 detained foreigners
: policeKochi: Interrogation of the 19 foreigners, apprehended on board a dhow by a naval warship off Bitra Island, started on Sunday with the police claiming that 15 of them were Pakistani nationals. There were also four Iranians in the dhowwhich was intercepted by warship INS Rajput on Friday when they were sailing suspiciously, police said.
Interrogation on
The crew were being questioned by a joint team of Navy, Coast Guard, Intelligence Bureau and police in Lakshadweep,top police sources in the Union Territory told PTI.Confirming the presence of the Pakistani nationals, the sources said the men had identity cards displaying their nationalities. INS Rajput, a destroyer warship, was on patrol in the Exclusive Economic Zone west of Bitra when it spotted the dhow.The dhow with the 19 foreigners was escorted to Kavaratti in the Lakshadweep Islands and handed over to local police late on Saturday night, they said.
The Navy's operation came just four days after India deployed a multi-ship force in the Arabian Sea — which has been witnessing a spurt in piracy in the recent weeks — to ward off the sea brigands operating there. — PTI
http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/06/stories/2010120657211300.htm
Interrogation on
The crew were being questioned by a joint team of Navy, Coast Guard, Intelligence Bureau and police in Lakshadweep,top police sources in the Union Territory told PTI.Confirming the presence of the Pakistani nationals, the sources said the men had identity cards displaying their nationalities. INS Rajput, a destroyer warship, was on patrol in the Exclusive Economic Zone west of Bitra when it spotted the dhow.The dhow with the 19 foreigners was escorted to Kavaratti in the Lakshadweep Islands and handed over to local police late on Saturday night, they said.
The Navy's operation came just four days after India deployed a multi-ship force in the Arabian Sea — which has been witnessing a spurt in piracy in the recent weeks — to ward off the sea brigands operating there. — PTI
http://www.hindu.com/2010/12/06/stories/2010120657211300.htm
Put integrity before politics
Put integrity before politics
Prafull Goradia December 06, 2010
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Pranab Mukherjee traded praise for Aligarh Muslim University at the foundation of its branch in West Bengal to further their personal political interest. But such fawning over an institution whose Professors once proposed balkanisation of Hindustan smacks of implicit contempt for the integrity of the country
A leading Kolkata daily recently reported how Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mr Pranab Mukherjee traded praises at Jangipur in Murshidabad district. The occasion was the foundation laying ceremony of the local branch of Aligarh Muslim University sanctioned by the UPA Government. Calling it ‘a historic day’ for Murshidabad, the Chief Minister said, “We feel proud that the AMU, known for modernising and secularising education in the country, now has a branch in our State.” Mr Pranab Mukherjee played along with the Chief Minister as Jangipur is in his Lok Sabha constituency whereas the former must be keen to offset the odium he earned at Nandigram and Singur for acquiring land for the Salem Group of Indonesia and the Tatas, respectively.
Personal political interest is understandable upto a point but why such implicit contempt for the country’s integrity? On September 10, 1947, Shaheed Suhrawardy, who had been the Premier of Bengal and had directed the Great Calcutta Killing in August 1946, wrote a letter to Choudhry Khaliquzzaman. This gentleman had remained in India until he succeeded Qaid-e-Azam Jinnah as president of the Muslim League. Suhrawardy’s letter observed that Pakistan did not provide a homeland for the Muslims of India. The Muslims here have been left high and dry and must shape their own destiny. However, how should they organise themselves?
Suhrawardy went on to advice that “the Muslims should form themselves into strong pockets”. “It is politically desirable as well as necessary for survival and also culturally desirable.” In this attempt, “we are extremely lucky in having Mahatma Gandhi as the spearhead of this movement”. When Khaliquzzaman had asked Gandhiji what do you propose to do about protecting Muslims, the Mahatma had said, “I want to fight it out with my life. I would not allow the Musalmans to crawl on the streets in India.” All this matter has been taken from Khaliquzzaman’s well-known book Pathway to Pakistan.
AMU Professors Syed Zafrul Hasan and Afzal Hussain Qadri had earlier proposed the division of India into five instead of two a la Pakistan. Bengal would be without Howrah and Midnapur districts, but include Purnea of Bihar and Sylhet of Assam. Pakistan would comprise all of north west India. Third, Hyderabad plus Berar and Karnataka to be yet another. Delhi to be the fourth with western Uttar Pradesh areas of Meerut, Rohilkhand and Aligarh. Fifth, a separation of Malabar, its adjoining areas and south Kanara. The UPA has already sanctioned an AMU branch in Malappuram, Kerala. So also a branch in Bihar, although the location is yet to be finalised. Quite uncannily, the UPA sanctions have a throwback to the scheme proposed by the Aligarh University Professors described above.
Incidentally, the scheme wanted Pakistan and Bengal states to be declared as Muslim homelands and Hindustan to be the Hindu homeland. Presumably, Hyderabad and Malabar were to be plain Muslim states.
The Professors had added that the Muslims in rural areas must be persuaded not to remain scattered in negligible minorities but to aggregate in villages with a preponderant Muslim population. (Professors’ plan taken from Rajendra Prasad’s 1946 book entitled India Divided).
This development confirmed what Professor Gurumukh Nihal Singh had analysed that Sir Sayyid Ahmad had inspired educated Muslim young men so that they could learn to think for themselves and do everything possible to prevent the possibility of having to undergo the slavery of Hindus. The intention was to awaken young Muslims to know that their community had ruled most of India for some seven centuries and should ensure not being flooded by Hindus in the event the British ever left India. In the meantime, his passionate desire was that the British rule should continue and all Muslims should go all out to support it.
London University Professor Francis Robinson, in his book Separatism among Indian Muslims, has analysed a great deal. Sir Sayyid Ahmad inspired through the Aligarh Movement Muslims of Uttar Pradesh to indulge in separatism. In Robinson’s words, Uttar Pradesh Muslims were at the heart of Muslim separatism. They founded and mainly led the organisations which represented their communal political interest. The prototype of the AMU was the Mohamaddan Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh founded by Sir Sayyid in 1875 which nurtured most of the early Muslim prominent politicians. It is they who flocked under the leadership of Sir Aga Khan to petition Viceroy Minto in 1906 and founded the Muslim League at Dacca later that year. For some 20 years thereafter most of the League office bearers were Uttar Pradesh Muslims if not also Aligarh men.
According to Pakistani Professor Ayesha Jalal in Sole Spokesman, two other teachers of AMU had recommended Pakistan plus two Muslim autonomous regions inside the body of Hindustan. One of the areas around Delhi and the other centred in Malabar. Qaid-e-Azam Jinnah rewarded all these authors of balkanisation, in his final 1939 will. He granted substantial sums of money to the AMU.
Evidently, the perverse thinking of Sir Sayyid had influenced the University to propound such outlandish schemes. Incidentally, he had condemned the cow protection demand as the Hindu strategy to weaken the physiques of the British and the Muslims. He also considered the Congress Party as a Bengalee Hindu organisation. He had gone on to describe Bengalees as so cowardly that at the sight of a table knife, they would crawl under his chair. This was a part of his epoch-making speech at Lucknow on December 28, 1888.
Would all these facts about AMU and its founder continue to fascinate West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee?
http://www.dailypioneer.com/301489/Put-integrity-before-politics.html
Prafull Goradia December 06, 2010
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Pranab Mukherjee traded praise for Aligarh Muslim University at the foundation of its branch in West Bengal to further their personal political interest. But such fawning over an institution whose Professors once proposed balkanisation of Hindustan smacks of implicit contempt for the integrity of the country
A leading Kolkata daily recently reported how Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mr Pranab Mukherjee traded praises at Jangipur in Murshidabad district. The occasion was the foundation laying ceremony of the local branch of Aligarh Muslim University sanctioned by the UPA Government. Calling it ‘a historic day’ for Murshidabad, the Chief Minister said, “We feel proud that the AMU, known for modernising and secularising education in the country, now has a branch in our State.” Mr Pranab Mukherjee played along with the Chief Minister as Jangipur is in his Lok Sabha constituency whereas the former must be keen to offset the odium he earned at Nandigram and Singur for acquiring land for the Salem Group of Indonesia and the Tatas, respectively.
Personal political interest is understandable upto a point but why such implicit contempt for the country’s integrity? On September 10, 1947, Shaheed Suhrawardy, who had been the Premier of Bengal and had directed the Great Calcutta Killing in August 1946, wrote a letter to Choudhry Khaliquzzaman. This gentleman had remained in India until he succeeded Qaid-e-Azam Jinnah as president of the Muslim League. Suhrawardy’s letter observed that Pakistan did not provide a homeland for the Muslims of India. The Muslims here have been left high and dry and must shape their own destiny. However, how should they organise themselves?
Suhrawardy went on to advice that “the Muslims should form themselves into strong pockets”. “It is politically desirable as well as necessary for survival and also culturally desirable.” In this attempt, “we are extremely lucky in having Mahatma Gandhi as the spearhead of this movement”. When Khaliquzzaman had asked Gandhiji what do you propose to do about protecting Muslims, the Mahatma had said, “I want to fight it out with my life. I would not allow the Musalmans to crawl on the streets in India.” All this matter has been taken from Khaliquzzaman’s well-known book Pathway to Pakistan.
AMU Professors Syed Zafrul Hasan and Afzal Hussain Qadri had earlier proposed the division of India into five instead of two a la Pakistan. Bengal would be without Howrah and Midnapur districts, but include Purnea of Bihar and Sylhet of Assam. Pakistan would comprise all of north west India. Third, Hyderabad plus Berar and Karnataka to be yet another. Delhi to be the fourth with western Uttar Pradesh areas of Meerut, Rohilkhand and Aligarh. Fifth, a separation of Malabar, its adjoining areas and south Kanara. The UPA has already sanctioned an AMU branch in Malappuram, Kerala. So also a branch in Bihar, although the location is yet to be finalised. Quite uncannily, the UPA sanctions have a throwback to the scheme proposed by the Aligarh University Professors described above.
Incidentally, the scheme wanted Pakistan and Bengal states to be declared as Muslim homelands and Hindustan to be the Hindu homeland. Presumably, Hyderabad and Malabar were to be plain Muslim states.
The Professors had added that the Muslims in rural areas must be persuaded not to remain scattered in negligible minorities but to aggregate in villages with a preponderant Muslim population. (Professors’ plan taken from Rajendra Prasad’s 1946 book entitled India Divided).
This development confirmed what Professor Gurumukh Nihal Singh had analysed that Sir Sayyid Ahmad had inspired educated Muslim young men so that they could learn to think for themselves and do everything possible to prevent the possibility of having to undergo the slavery of Hindus. The intention was to awaken young Muslims to know that their community had ruled most of India for some seven centuries and should ensure not being flooded by Hindus in the event the British ever left India. In the meantime, his passionate desire was that the British rule should continue and all Muslims should go all out to support it.
London University Professor Francis Robinson, in his book Separatism among Indian Muslims, has analysed a great deal. Sir Sayyid Ahmad inspired through the Aligarh Movement Muslims of Uttar Pradesh to indulge in separatism. In Robinson’s words, Uttar Pradesh Muslims were at the heart of Muslim separatism. They founded and mainly led the organisations which represented their communal political interest. The prototype of the AMU was the Mohamaddan Anglo Oriental College at Aligarh founded by Sir Sayyid in 1875 which nurtured most of the early Muslim prominent politicians. It is they who flocked under the leadership of Sir Aga Khan to petition Viceroy Minto in 1906 and founded the Muslim League at Dacca later that year. For some 20 years thereafter most of the League office bearers were Uttar Pradesh Muslims if not also Aligarh men.
According to Pakistani Professor Ayesha Jalal in Sole Spokesman, two other teachers of AMU had recommended Pakistan plus two Muslim autonomous regions inside the body of Hindustan. One of the areas around Delhi and the other centred in Malabar. Qaid-e-Azam Jinnah rewarded all these authors of balkanisation, in his final 1939 will. He granted substantial sums of money to the AMU.
Evidently, the perverse thinking of Sir Sayyid had influenced the University to propound such outlandish schemes. Incidentally, he had condemned the cow protection demand as the Hindu strategy to weaken the physiques of the British and the Muslims. He also considered the Congress Party as a Bengalee Hindu organisation. He had gone on to describe Bengalees as so cowardly that at the sight of a table knife, they would crawl under his chair. This was a part of his epoch-making speech at Lucknow on December 28, 1888.
Would all these facts about AMU and its founder continue to fascinate West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee?
http://www.dailypioneer.com/301489/Put-integrity-before-politics.html
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Nira Radia got Rs 60 crore for 'consultancy'
Thu, Nov 25 01:12 PM
Nira Radia got Rs 60 crore for 'consultancy'
CORPORATE lobbyist Nira Radia on Wednesday admitted before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials that she was liaising with tainted former telecom minister A. Raja on behalf of her client Tata Teleservices.
A British passport holder, Radia admitted accepting around Rs 60 crore from two clients as legitimate consultancy fees. The ED grilled Radia for several hours, after she turned up at its office at 9 am, on her links with Raja and telecom companies which benefited from spectrum allocation.
Radia asserted in a statement released by her company Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, that her only client Tata Teleservices has been discriminated against over the years and therefore suffered huge losses.
"The new CAG report also clearly states that Tata Teleservices, has been unfairly discriminated against in the allotment of spectrum," she said.
The agency had issued summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act, directing Radia to appear before it on Wednesday. The ED had earlier summoned Radia but she failed to appear citing medical grounds.
The directorate recorded Radia's 20-page statement in her own handwriting regarding her role in the 2G spectrum scandal. "The statement was recorded under Section 50 of the Money Laundering Act which is admissible as evidence before a court of law," an ED officer said.
Prabha Kant, deputy director, ED, Delhi Zone, confirmed: "We have recorded Radia's statement and asked her to submit more documents. She will be called as and when required."
Radia is believed to have stated during her questioning that she had met Raja on behalf of her clients, which included Tata Teleservices and Unitech Wireless.
According to official sources, the agency grilled Radia regarding the flow of funds in her companies which included Vaishnavi Corporate Consultants, Vitcom, Neucom Consulting, erstwhile budget carrier Magic Airlines and Noesis Strategic Consulting Services.
Radia submitted more than 500 documents which included bank statements, IT returns and details of her consultancy fees from telecom companies etc.
These documents are being examined, ED sources said.
Radia told reporters outside the agency office, "I'm here and available for full cooperation with the authorities".
"We have been asked for some information by the ED. We are complying and cooperating fully. I would also want to add that we are fully transparent. All information required from us on an on-going basis will be provided to the agency," said Radia.
ED has also issued summons to private firms which benefited from the spectrum allocation.The CBI, too, is chasing Radia to get to the bottom of the spectrum scam.
The I-T department in November 2009, had tapped phones of Radia and gathered information about nexus between politicians, officials, business tycoons and senior journalists.
The phone conversations revealed the extent of influence Radia wielded and is also explicit in one of the letters joint director of I- T Ashish Abrol wrote to then CBI DIG Vineet Agarwal on November 20, 2009.
The letter said from the taped conversations it appears that "Radia might have some role with regards to the award of telecom licences". The four companies owned by Radia not only "manage media" but "try to influence policy changes and decision of the various government departments to suit the commercial requirements of their clients".
IN THE EYE OF A STORM
* Radia grilled by ED for her links with A. Raja and telecom companies which benefited from spectrum allocation.
* She admitted to liaising with the tainted former telecom minister on behalf of her client Tata Teleservices. The agency had issued summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. ED recorded Radia’s 20 page statement in her own handwriting regarding her role in the scam
* ED grilled her about flow of funds in her four companies Radia submitted more than 500 documents including bank statements and I-T returns
* ED registered cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act
* ED had summoned Radia earlier but she failed to appear citing medical reasons
Nira Radia got Rs 60 crore for 'consultancy'
CORPORATE lobbyist Nira Radia on Wednesday admitted before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials that she was liaising with tainted former telecom minister A. Raja on behalf of her client Tata Teleservices.
A British passport holder, Radia admitted accepting around Rs 60 crore from two clients as legitimate consultancy fees. The ED grilled Radia for several hours, after she turned up at its office at 9 am, on her links with Raja and telecom companies which benefited from spectrum allocation.
Radia asserted in a statement released by her company Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, that her only client Tata Teleservices has been discriminated against over the years and therefore suffered huge losses.
"The new CAG report also clearly states that Tata Teleservices, has been unfairly discriminated against in the allotment of spectrum," she said.
The agency had issued summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act, directing Radia to appear before it on Wednesday. The ED had earlier summoned Radia but she failed to appear citing medical grounds.
The directorate recorded Radia's 20-page statement in her own handwriting regarding her role in the 2G spectrum scandal. "The statement was recorded under Section 50 of the Money Laundering Act which is admissible as evidence before a court of law," an ED officer said.
Prabha Kant, deputy director, ED, Delhi Zone, confirmed: "We have recorded Radia's statement and asked her to submit more documents. She will be called as and when required."
Radia is believed to have stated during her questioning that she had met Raja on behalf of her clients, which included Tata Teleservices and Unitech Wireless.
According to official sources, the agency grilled Radia regarding the flow of funds in her companies which included Vaishnavi Corporate Consultants, Vitcom, Neucom Consulting, erstwhile budget carrier Magic Airlines and Noesis Strategic Consulting Services.
Radia submitted more than 500 documents which included bank statements, IT returns and details of her consultancy fees from telecom companies etc.
These documents are being examined, ED sources said.
Radia told reporters outside the agency office, "I'm here and available for full cooperation with the authorities".
"We have been asked for some information by the ED. We are complying and cooperating fully. I would also want to add that we are fully transparent. All information required from us on an on-going basis will be provided to the agency," said Radia.
ED has also issued summons to private firms which benefited from the spectrum allocation.The CBI, too, is chasing Radia to get to the bottom of the spectrum scam.
The I-T department in November 2009, had tapped phones of Radia and gathered information about nexus between politicians, officials, business tycoons and senior journalists.
The phone conversations revealed the extent of influence Radia wielded and is also explicit in one of the letters joint director of I- T Ashish Abrol wrote to then CBI DIG Vineet Agarwal on November 20, 2009.
The letter said from the taped conversations it appears that "Radia might have some role with regards to the award of telecom licences". The four companies owned by Radia not only "manage media" but "try to influence policy changes and decision of the various government departments to suit the commercial requirements of their clients".
IN THE EYE OF A STORM
* Radia grilled by ED for her links with A. Raja and telecom companies which benefited from spectrum allocation.
* She admitted to liaising with the tainted former telecom minister on behalf of her client Tata Teleservices. The agency had issued summons under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. ED recorded Radia’s 20 page statement in her own handwriting regarding her role in the scam
* ED grilled her about flow of funds in her four companies Radia submitted more than 500 documents including bank statements and I-T returns
* ED registered cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act
* ED had summoned Radia earlier but she failed to appear citing medical reasons
In last days of UPA govt, Quattrocchi is off CBI’s wanted list
Amitav RanjanPosted: Apr 28, 2009 at 1359 hrs IST
New Delhi With just three weeks to go before the Congress-led UPA government’s term ends, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case, no longer figures in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s list of wanted persons.
The 12-year Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the Italian businessman has been taken off the “Interpol Notices” section of the agency’s website.
Ostensibly, the CBI’s move is based on the legal opinion of Attorney General Milon Banerjee dated October 28 last year. According to the opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The Indian Express, Banerjee calls the RCN “a continuing embarrassment.”
Banerjee writes: “The CBI is under an obligation to have the matters set right at the Interpol level as there is no basis on which the RCN can continue...I am of the firm opinion that immediate action should be taken to withdraw the Red Corner Notice”.
When asked when and why the Red Corner Notice was withdrawn, CBI Director Ashwani Kumar told The Indian Express tonight: “TheGovernment will reply to the issue because the matter is sub judice.”
Sources said the CBI is expected to inform the Special Judge of a Delhi court of this decision when hearing comes up on April 30. The agency is expected to argue that it has gone by the AG’s opinion.
The push for withdrawing the RCN came in October 2008 after Quattrocchi’s counsel filed a “protest” to the CBI “complaining against the continuation and legal validity of the Red Corner Notice issued by the Interpol Secretariat General”.
When the matter came to CBI’s Director (Prosecution) S K Sharma, he wrote, on October 23, that the RCN was no longer valid as the warrant of arrest dated February 6, 1997 — on which the RCN was based — had been annulled by a subsequent warrant of November 5, 1999.
Sharma recommended that the Law Ministry’s opinion be sought on the issue. That same day (October 23), Secretary (Personnel) passed on the proposal to the Law Ministry, which immediately forwarded it to the AG who gave his opinion the very next day.
“The whole purpose of a warrant of arrest is to secure presence of the accused,” said the AG. “This is possible by extradition when the accused is abroad. But two attempts have failed and the judgements indicate that there are no good grounds for extradition. The warrant cannot remain in force forever. Therefore, the warrant dated February 1997 would lose its validity, particularly in view of the successive failed attempts of the CBI to extradite the accused in Malaysia and recently in Argentina,” the AG said.
Sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that last week Minister of State for Personnel Prithviraj Chavan and Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj held meetings with the CBI Director on the issue. When contacted, Chavan said: “I will have to find out what the position is. The agency is doing independent work.”
London to Buenos Aires: the bending
Taking Quattrocchi off the wanted list is the final action of the UPA in freeing the last of the principal accused of the Bofors taint:
• September 2005: CBI proposes filing Special Leave Petitition challenging May 31, 2005 order of the Delhi High Court in which proceedings against the Hindujas were quashed. The next month, Law Ministry says SLP need not be filed.
• Even as CBI was pushing diplomatic channels to uncover Quattrocchi’s money trail from Lugano, Switzerland, to the Rs 21 crore frozen in his London bank accounts, the Government sent Additional Solicitor General B Dutta in December 2005 to London who told UK officials that “no useful purpose would be served by maintaining the restraint order.”
• In January 2006, Quattrocchi’s accounts were defrozen and on January 16, the money withdrawn .
• Following the defeat in the extradition case against Quattrocchi in Argentina in 2007, the CBI was forced to withdraw its appeal on explicit Government orders.
(Tomorrow: What the AG said to justify the Red Corner Notice withdrawal — and what he did not. The report on the Mulayam assets case will follow)
Amitav RanjanPosted: Apr 28, 2009 at 1359 hrs IST
New Delhi With just three weeks to go before the Congress-led UPA government’s term ends, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case, no longer figures in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s list of wanted persons.
The 12-year Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the Italian businessman has been taken off the “Interpol Notices” section of the agency’s website.
Ostensibly, the CBI’s move is based on the legal opinion of Attorney General Milon Banerjee dated October 28 last year. According to the opinion, a copy of which has been obtained by The Indian Express, Banerjee calls the RCN “a continuing embarrassment.”
Banerjee writes: “The CBI is under an obligation to have the matters set right at the Interpol level as there is no basis on which the RCN can continue...I am of the firm opinion that immediate action should be taken to withdraw the Red Corner Notice”.
When asked when and why the Red Corner Notice was withdrawn, CBI Director Ashwani Kumar told The Indian Express tonight: “TheGovernment will reply to the issue because the matter is sub judice.”
Sources said the CBI is expected to inform the Special Judge of a Delhi court of this decision when hearing comes up on April 30. The agency is expected to argue that it has gone by the AG’s opinion.
The push for withdrawing the RCN came in October 2008 after Quattrocchi’s counsel filed a “protest” to the CBI “complaining against the continuation and legal validity of the Red Corner Notice issued by the Interpol Secretariat General”.
When the matter came to CBI’s Director (Prosecution) S K Sharma, he wrote, on October 23, that the RCN was no longer valid as the warrant of arrest dated February 6, 1997 — on which the RCN was based — had been annulled by a subsequent warrant of November 5, 1999.
Sharma recommended that the Law Ministry’s opinion be sought on the issue. That same day (October 23), Secretary (Personnel) passed on the proposal to the Law Ministry, which immediately forwarded it to the AG who gave his opinion the very next day.
“The whole purpose of a warrant of arrest is to secure presence of the accused,” said the AG. “This is possible by extradition when the accused is abroad. But two attempts have failed and the judgements indicate that there are no good grounds for extradition. The warrant cannot remain in force forever. Therefore, the warrant dated February 1997 would lose its validity, particularly in view of the successive failed attempts of the CBI to extradite the accused in Malaysia and recently in Argentina,” the AG said.
Sources have confirmed to The Indian Express that last week Minister of State for Personnel Prithviraj Chavan and Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj held meetings with the CBI Director on the issue. When contacted, Chavan said: “I will have to find out what the position is. The agency is doing independent work.”
London to Buenos Aires: the bending
Taking Quattrocchi off the wanted list is the final action of the UPA in freeing the last of the principal accused of the Bofors taint:
• September 2005: CBI proposes filing Special Leave Petitition challenging May 31, 2005 order of the Delhi High Court in which proceedings against the Hindujas were quashed. The next month, Law Ministry says SLP need not be filed.
• Even as CBI was pushing diplomatic channels to uncover Quattrocchi’s money trail from Lugano, Switzerland, to the Rs 21 crore frozen in his London bank accounts, the Government sent Additional Solicitor General B Dutta in December 2005 to London who told UK officials that “no useful purpose would be served by maintaining the restraint order.”
• In January 2006, Quattrocchi’s accounts were defrozen and on January 16, the money withdrawn .
• Following the defeat in the extradition case against Quattrocchi in Argentina in 2007, the CBI was forced to withdraw its appeal on explicit Government orders.
(Tomorrow: What the AG said to justify the Red Corner Notice withdrawal — and what he did not. The report on the Mulayam assets case will follow)
Father of Moti Lal Nehru;The Story of Gangadhar
Father of Moti Lal Nehru;The Story of Gangadhar
Gangadhar was in reality a sunni Mohammedan Ghiyasuddin Ghazi
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Father of Moti Lal Nehru; The Story of Gangadhar
This is the true story of Ganga Dhar (not Ganga Dhar Nehru), father of Moti Lal Nehru. The adjunct 'Nehru' derived from the Persian word 'Nahr' meaning a canal or nullah, was adopted by Moti Lal, who, like all members of his family, had a fascination for alien Mohammedan names mostly in Arabic or Persian. The adjunct 'Nehru' added a Persian flavor to his otherwise Hindu name. That was very desirable for the family, as will be explained later. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, his name would have been Moti Lal Dhar.
The adjoining picture of Ganga Dhar was obtained from Robert Hardy Andrews' book titled A LAMP FOR INDIA - The Story of Madame Pandit (meaning Jawahar's first sister Vijay Lakshmi, alias Nan.) That book was first published by Prentice-Hall in 1967, a long time after the division of the country. But the fact on the scion of the dynasty, namely Ganga Dhar, had been kept a secret from the Indian public, primarily, the Hindus.
It is now quite clear, as you will soon see, that Ganga Dhar was an assumed name. The man we now know as the paternal grandfather of Jawahar Lal (son of Moti Lal) was in reality a sunni Mohammedan; in fact he was a Mogul nobleman. The important question is why did he then adopt a Hindu kafir's name? In this case a Kashmiri Brahmin's name?
The reason has been explained in our previous article titled More on the Nehru Dynasty on our web-site http://www.swordoftruth.com not too long ago. The accompanying picture featured was the same one that Jawahar Lal had referred to when he wrote in his autobigraphy that he had seen a picture of his grandfather Ganga Dhar which protrayed him as a Mogul nobleman. Krishna Hutheesing (Jawahar's second sister) had also mentioned in her memoirs, that their grandfather Ganga Dhar was the city Kotwal of Delhi (an important post) prior to 1857's uprising. Bahadur Shah Zafar was still the sultan of Delhi. It was extremely unlikely that he would hire a Hindu for that very important post.
Apparently, some investigations had been made on this count (please see Mahdi Husain's Bahadur Shah II and the war of 1857 in Delhi - 1987 edition) but no one could discover Ganga Dhar's name as the Kotwal of Delhi. Well, how could they? Ganga Dhar's real name then was Ghiyasuddin Ghazi (or something like that) which had been quietly changed to his new Hindu name, just before the English forces entered the city. The sultan had replaced the earlier Kotwal as well as the City Governor Mirza Maniruddin. The latter had been dismissed by Bahadur Shah Zafar on charges of spying for the English. The Naib Kotwal, a subordinate officer, was a Hindu; his name was Bhao Singh. And another Hindu, one Sri Kashinath was the thanedar of the Lahori Gate area of Delhi. Their names were found in the records but Ganga Dhar was missing. Be that as it may, the fact remains that Ganga Dhar indeed was the grandfather of Jawahar and Krishna Hutheesingh.
And how did he look like? Ganga Dhar had a thick beard which would put even Pakistani president Tarar's beard to shame! Ganga Dhar's thick moustache extended beyond his ears. He used to wear a Mogul cap and had in his both hands a long sword. Does that look like a Kashmiri Brahmin? No, not at all!
The Muslim Grandfather of Jawaharlal Nehru
Ghiyasuddin Ghazi (the word means 'kafir-killer') looked exactly like a sunni Mogul. Don't they say: 'If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well, then it IS a duck.' The same was the case with Ganga Dhar, the Kashmiri Brahmin alias Ghiyasuddin Ghazi the sunni Mogul. Only this vital information had been kept a secret from the Hindus of India, like so many other secrets of the family!
Our readers! If you can, please read up all references made in the memoirs of Jawahar Lal and Krishna Hutheesingh on Ganga Dhar. True to the last whisker, the picture portrayed on our web-site, does represent a Mogul nobleman, so proudly mentioned by both the brother and the sister. The element of secrecy crept in when it became clear that the Nehrus' Mogul ancestry, if made known to India's Hindu public, might spell trouble for the forthcoming 'reign'. The 'Hindu by accident' got wise to the fact and acted as if he was indeed, son of a Kshmiri Brahmin, Moti Lal Nehru by name.
Now, why was it at all necessary for Ghiyasuddin Ghazi to change his name to Ganga Dhar? Dhar is a well-known Kashmiri Hindu surname. Many of these 'Dhars' were forced converted into Islam; their names were then changed to 'Dar' just to distance themselves from the Hindu 'Dhar'. The smart Moti Lal added the Persian epithet 'Nehru' thus making the name sound even more 'un-Hindu'.
The English army, quite unlike the Hindu army, was made of a different material. While Hindus let the defeated enemy go free (like Prithviraj Chauhan had done and then regretted), the English were after each and every Mogul. They were shooting down all Mohammedans for fear of facing another claimant to the Delhi throne. Panic and fear ran like wildfire among the Moguls. There was nowhere to flee. The city had been surrounded by the 'firangi' forces and their allies, the Sikhs and the Gurkhas. It was then that the wily Mohammedans came up with the brilliant idea of name-changing. Ghiyasuddin became Ganga Dhar, almost like Yusuf Khan who had become Dilip Kumar, many years later.
Delhi was ransacked. All residents (both Hindus and Mohammedans) had to leave and take shelter under tents set up by the 'firangis' outside city ramparts. For full two months they remained there in the tents (like the Kashmiri Hindu refugees do today). During this time, the English searched thoroughly each vacated home and discovered immense wealth, which was, by the rules of the game, confiscated by the new rulers. A month later, the Hindus were asked to return to their homes. The Mohammedans were allowed to return even later.
In the aftermath, many Mohammedans fled to nearby cities not yet fully under the control of the English. Agra was such a city. It still had considerable Mogul influence. And Jawahar's Mogul grandfather Ganga Dhar, with his entire family, left for Agra. How do we know that? Jawahar states in his own autobiography that on their way to Agra, the English troops detained Ganga Dhar's family. Ganga Dhar told them that they were not Mohammedans but Kashmiri Hindus. Jawahar explains in his autobigraphy that the primary reason for the detention was their Mogul features. The Kashmiri Hindus looked very much like Mohammedans from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and so on. And behold the English let Ganga Dhar and his family go to Agra. The rest is history.
[Afterword: The unbecoming fascination of the Nehrus for alien Mohammedan connections persisted even beyond the Mogul roots. Please read up K.N. Rao's 'The Nehru Dynasty', Chapter XXIII. Reference is made there to Indira's (falsely described as the wife of Parsi Firoz Gandhi when he was no such thing; he was a pure and simple sunni Mohammedan whose father Nawab Khan was a liquor supplier of Allahabad) letters in the publication Two Alone, Two Together (letters between Indira Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru) edited by Sonia Gandhi. The publishers of this book were London's Hoddard and Stoughton. In that book is featured a letter by Indira to her father, Jawahar and it says:
"Some months ago when I was at Metheran, Masi (aunt) wrote saying that she had heard from some Parsis that it was written in their ancient book that a Hindu of high family would marry into a Parsi family (here, a 'Hindu of high family' is Indira and 'Parsi' is Firoz, son of sunni Nawab Khan) and their son would do great things - religious reform and so on. Masi asked me to inquire into the matter but it quite slipped my mind. Last evening my mother in law (meaning Nawab Khan's so called Parsi wife, converted to islam at the time of her nikaah) came in a state of great excitement. She had also heard something of the sort, a slightly different version. According to her, the son was the reincarnation of the Shah Behram of Persia.
"Baby's (meaning Rajiv Gandhi's) patri (horoscope) has arrived. I am enclosing it. It is written in Gujarati but I suppose you will be able to get it read. I am enclosing an English translation of the jyotishi's remarks. I am sending all this registered - please do the same when you return it. The good thing about it is supposed to be that there are five planets in one house," and so on.
Quite clearly, the Nehrus could oscillate from the Mogul to the Persian at will as long as the roots appeared to be Mohammedan, alien or home made, and farther removed from indigenous roots the better. May we ask what great things did Rajiv do, other than stealing the Bofors money and jeopardizing the lives of our jawans by supplying them with inferior canon? And what reform was she talking about other than legalizing polygamy among the Mohammedans of India and granting them special privileges to talaaq their womenfolk, sans alimony? No doubt Indira would not move against the fornication-prone Pakistani ruffians when they were shooting down unarmed Bengali Hindu civilians. Some three millions were thus decimated but she had not even lifted a finger until the uproar inside the country became literally uncontrollable. Then again, she let go the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers scot free without exacting a quid pro quo from the enemy. Neither did she ask for the trial of Tikka Khan. And during that time, our jawans captured by the Paki army on the western front, were summarily shot in prisons, against the Geneva regulations. Is it surprising that in Europe today one can purchase picture post cards of Hari Mandir Temple with a comment on the back that Indira had secretly become Mohammedan and that is why she had chosen the Gurpurnima day (when the temple was choc a bloc with women and children) to shoot the pilgrims down, in thousands. And when the 93,000 Pakis left for their home, they had put on weight, were well-dressed and so on. She was some musalmanani of great piety although out of fear for divulging her Islamic roots, she had refused to visit the Kaaba as desired by the Saudi Royal family. Since when the Saudis have taken to inviting non-Mohammedans to visit Mecca?
Let us not be impressed by the 'five planets' and all such 'bakwaas'. What really happened is in front of our eyes, is this. In a country where they would not even hurt a chicken, there were not one, not two but three assassinations in quick succession. And all three were Gandhis. One was shot by a Hindu, the second was turned into pulp by two Sikhs and the third was pulverized by a Catholic lady of Tamil extraction. In the mean time, the bastard son of Mohammad Yunus (still the custodian of the Netaji Papers), Sanjay aka Sanjiv, killed himself in that plane accident. And the 'sarkari chacha' had died of syphilis, which apparently he had contracted in a local dhaba from a glass of drinking water! Well! Who will believe that? What really happened can only be described as divine dispensation to preserve and protect our 'dharma rajya' of Bharat, that the Congress and the secularists along with the Mohammedan traitors were bent upon destroying for good!
source: http://groups.google.co.in/groups?q=solutionfutures&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&lr=&
Posted by solutionfutures solutionfutures on 09:22 PM
Gangadhar was in reality a sunni Mohammedan Ghiyasuddin Ghazi
Saturday, September 03, 2005
Father of Moti Lal Nehru; The Story of Gangadhar
This is the true story of Ganga Dhar (not Ganga Dhar Nehru), father of Moti Lal Nehru. The adjunct 'Nehru' derived from the Persian word 'Nahr' meaning a canal or nullah, was adopted by Moti Lal, who, like all members of his family, had a fascination for alien Mohammedan names mostly in Arabic or Persian. The adjunct 'Nehru' added a Persian flavor to his otherwise Hindu name. That was very desirable for the family, as will be explained later. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, his name would have been Moti Lal Dhar.
The adjoining picture of Ganga Dhar was obtained from Robert Hardy Andrews' book titled A LAMP FOR INDIA - The Story of Madame Pandit (meaning Jawahar's first sister Vijay Lakshmi, alias Nan.) That book was first published by Prentice-Hall in 1967, a long time after the division of the country. But the fact on the scion of the dynasty, namely Ganga Dhar, had been kept a secret from the Indian public, primarily, the Hindus.
It is now quite clear, as you will soon see, that Ganga Dhar was an assumed name. The man we now know as the paternal grandfather of Jawahar Lal (son of Moti Lal) was in reality a sunni Mohammedan; in fact he was a Mogul nobleman. The important question is why did he then adopt a Hindu kafir's name? In this case a Kashmiri Brahmin's name?
The reason has been explained in our previous article titled More on the Nehru Dynasty on our web-site http://www.swordoftruth.com not too long ago. The accompanying picture featured was the same one that Jawahar Lal had referred to when he wrote in his autobigraphy that he had seen a picture of his grandfather Ganga Dhar which protrayed him as a Mogul nobleman. Krishna Hutheesing (Jawahar's second sister) had also mentioned in her memoirs, that their grandfather Ganga Dhar was the city Kotwal of Delhi (an important post) prior to 1857's uprising. Bahadur Shah Zafar was still the sultan of Delhi. It was extremely unlikely that he would hire a Hindu for that very important post.
Apparently, some investigations had been made on this count (please see Mahdi Husain's Bahadur Shah II and the war of 1857 in Delhi - 1987 edition) but no one could discover Ganga Dhar's name as the Kotwal of Delhi. Well, how could they? Ganga Dhar's real name then was Ghiyasuddin Ghazi (or something like that) which had been quietly changed to his new Hindu name, just before the English forces entered the city. The sultan had replaced the earlier Kotwal as well as the City Governor Mirza Maniruddin. The latter had been dismissed by Bahadur Shah Zafar on charges of spying for the English. The Naib Kotwal, a subordinate officer, was a Hindu; his name was Bhao Singh. And another Hindu, one Sri Kashinath was the thanedar of the Lahori Gate area of Delhi. Their names were found in the records but Ganga Dhar was missing. Be that as it may, the fact remains that Ganga Dhar indeed was the grandfather of Jawahar and Krishna Hutheesingh.
And how did he look like? Ganga Dhar had a thick beard which would put even Pakistani president Tarar's beard to shame! Ganga Dhar's thick moustache extended beyond his ears. He used to wear a Mogul cap and had in his both hands a long sword. Does that look like a Kashmiri Brahmin? No, not at all!
The Muslim Grandfather of Jawaharlal Nehru
Ghiyasuddin Ghazi (the word means 'kafir-killer') looked exactly like a sunni Mogul. Don't they say: 'If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, well, then it IS a duck.' The same was the case with Ganga Dhar, the Kashmiri Brahmin alias Ghiyasuddin Ghazi the sunni Mogul. Only this vital information had been kept a secret from the Hindus of India, like so many other secrets of the family!
Our readers! If you can, please read up all references made in the memoirs of Jawahar Lal and Krishna Hutheesingh on Ganga Dhar. True to the last whisker, the picture portrayed on our web-site, does represent a Mogul nobleman, so proudly mentioned by both the brother and the sister. The element of secrecy crept in when it became clear that the Nehrus' Mogul ancestry, if made known to India's Hindu public, might spell trouble for the forthcoming 'reign'. The 'Hindu by accident' got wise to the fact and acted as if he was indeed, son of a Kshmiri Brahmin, Moti Lal Nehru by name.
Now, why was it at all necessary for Ghiyasuddin Ghazi to change his name to Ganga Dhar? Dhar is a well-known Kashmiri Hindu surname. Many of these 'Dhars' were forced converted into Islam; their names were then changed to 'Dar' just to distance themselves from the Hindu 'Dhar'. The smart Moti Lal added the Persian epithet 'Nehru' thus making the name sound even more 'un-Hindu'.
The English army, quite unlike the Hindu army, was made of a different material. While Hindus let the defeated enemy go free (like Prithviraj Chauhan had done and then regretted), the English were after each and every Mogul. They were shooting down all Mohammedans for fear of facing another claimant to the Delhi throne. Panic and fear ran like wildfire among the Moguls. There was nowhere to flee. The city had been surrounded by the 'firangi' forces and their allies, the Sikhs and the Gurkhas. It was then that the wily Mohammedans came up with the brilliant idea of name-changing. Ghiyasuddin became Ganga Dhar, almost like Yusuf Khan who had become Dilip Kumar, many years later.
Delhi was ransacked. All residents (both Hindus and Mohammedans) had to leave and take shelter under tents set up by the 'firangis' outside city ramparts. For full two months they remained there in the tents (like the Kashmiri Hindu refugees do today). During this time, the English searched thoroughly each vacated home and discovered immense wealth, which was, by the rules of the game, confiscated by the new rulers. A month later, the Hindus were asked to return to their homes. The Mohammedans were allowed to return even later.
In the aftermath, many Mohammedans fled to nearby cities not yet fully under the control of the English. Agra was such a city. It still had considerable Mogul influence. And Jawahar's Mogul grandfather Ganga Dhar, with his entire family, left for Agra. How do we know that? Jawahar states in his own autobiography that on their way to Agra, the English troops detained Ganga Dhar's family. Ganga Dhar told them that they were not Mohammedans but Kashmiri Hindus. Jawahar explains in his autobigraphy that the primary reason for the detention was their Mogul features. The Kashmiri Hindus looked very much like Mohammedans from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and so on. And behold the English let Ganga Dhar and his family go to Agra. The rest is history.
[Afterword: The unbecoming fascination of the Nehrus for alien Mohammedan connections persisted even beyond the Mogul roots. Please read up K.N. Rao's 'The Nehru Dynasty', Chapter XXIII. Reference is made there to Indira's (falsely described as the wife of Parsi Firoz Gandhi when he was no such thing; he was a pure and simple sunni Mohammedan whose father Nawab Khan was a liquor supplier of Allahabad) letters in the publication Two Alone, Two Together (letters between Indira Gandhi and Jawahar Lal Nehru) edited by Sonia Gandhi. The publishers of this book were London's Hoddard and Stoughton. In that book is featured a letter by Indira to her father, Jawahar and it says:
"Some months ago when I was at Metheran, Masi (aunt) wrote saying that she had heard from some Parsis that it was written in their ancient book that a Hindu of high family would marry into a Parsi family (here, a 'Hindu of high family' is Indira and 'Parsi' is Firoz, son of sunni Nawab Khan) and their son would do great things - religious reform and so on. Masi asked me to inquire into the matter but it quite slipped my mind. Last evening my mother in law (meaning Nawab Khan's so called Parsi wife, converted to islam at the time of her nikaah) came in a state of great excitement. She had also heard something of the sort, a slightly different version. According to her, the son was the reincarnation of the Shah Behram of Persia.
"Baby's (meaning Rajiv Gandhi's) patri (horoscope) has arrived. I am enclosing it. It is written in Gujarati but I suppose you will be able to get it read. I am enclosing an English translation of the jyotishi's remarks. I am sending all this registered - please do the same when you return it. The good thing about it is supposed to be that there are five planets in one house," and so on.
Quite clearly, the Nehrus could oscillate from the Mogul to the Persian at will as long as the roots appeared to be Mohammedan, alien or home made, and farther removed from indigenous roots the better. May we ask what great things did Rajiv do, other than stealing the Bofors money and jeopardizing the lives of our jawans by supplying them with inferior canon? And what reform was she talking about other than legalizing polygamy among the Mohammedans of India and granting them special privileges to talaaq their womenfolk, sans alimony? No doubt Indira would not move against the fornication-prone Pakistani ruffians when they were shooting down unarmed Bengali Hindu civilians. Some three millions were thus decimated but she had not even lifted a finger until the uproar inside the country became literally uncontrollable. Then again, she let go the 93,000 Pakistani soldiers scot free without exacting a quid pro quo from the enemy. Neither did she ask for the trial of Tikka Khan. And during that time, our jawans captured by the Paki army on the western front, were summarily shot in prisons, against the Geneva regulations. Is it surprising that in Europe today one can purchase picture post cards of Hari Mandir Temple with a comment on the back that Indira had secretly become Mohammedan and that is why she had chosen the Gurpurnima day (when the temple was choc a bloc with women and children) to shoot the pilgrims down, in thousands. And when the 93,000 Pakis left for their home, they had put on weight, were well-dressed and so on. She was some musalmanani of great piety although out of fear for divulging her Islamic roots, she had refused to visit the Kaaba as desired by the Saudi Royal family. Since when the Saudis have taken to inviting non-Mohammedans to visit Mecca?
Let us not be impressed by the 'five planets' and all such 'bakwaas'. What really happened is in front of our eyes, is this. In a country where they would not even hurt a chicken, there were not one, not two but three assassinations in quick succession. And all three were Gandhis. One was shot by a Hindu, the second was turned into pulp by two Sikhs and the third was pulverized by a Catholic lady of Tamil extraction. In the mean time, the bastard son of Mohammad Yunus (still the custodian of the Netaji Papers), Sanjay aka Sanjiv, killed himself in that plane accident. And the 'sarkari chacha' had died of syphilis, which apparently he had contracted in a local dhaba from a glass of drinking water! Well! Who will believe that? What really happened can only be described as divine dispensation to preserve and protect our 'dharma rajya' of Bharat, that the Congress and the secularists along with the Mohammedan traitors were bent upon destroying for good!
source: http://groups.google.co.in/groups?q=solutionfutures&start=0&scoring=d&hl=en&lr=&
Posted by solutionfutures solutionfutures on 09:22 PM
RSS worker murdered; flash hartal in Palakkad
One youth was stabbed to death and three others seriously injured in a political clash allegedly between the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers at Kanjikode in Pudussery village near here on Wednesday.
Bharatheeya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a 12-hour hartal from 12 p.m to 12 a.m on Wednesday to protest against the killing and attack on RSS workers.
Shops and business establishments were closed down and the bus services were suspended immediately after the flash hartal was announced in the District.
In the attack an RSS worker Ratheesh (24) of Kalandithara, Kurudikkad, Kanjikode died on the way to the District hospital. His friends Vinu and Lenin were admitted to a private hospital in Coimbatore and Girish was admitted to the Thrissur Medical College.
They were attacked while they were travelling in a bus from Kanjikode to Palakkad allegedly by a four –member-gang of CPI (M) workers.
The assailants stopped the bus and threatened the passengers and stabbed the four youths inside the bus.
The injured were taken to the District Hospital in the jeep of Dy. Superintendent of Police M.K. Pushkaran who was passing through that route. The body of the deceased Ratheesh is kept in the mortuary of the District Hospital and the cremation will take place on Thursday.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article925533.ece
Bharatheeya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a 12-hour hartal from 12 p.m to 12 a.m on Wednesday to protest against the killing and attack on RSS workers.
Shops and business establishments were closed down and the bus services were suspended immediately after the flash hartal was announced in the District.
In the attack an RSS worker Ratheesh (24) of Kalandithara, Kurudikkad, Kanjikode died on the way to the District hospital. His friends Vinu and Lenin were admitted to a private hospital in Coimbatore and Girish was admitted to the Thrissur Medical College.
They were attacked while they were travelling in a bus from Kanjikode to Palakkad allegedly by a four –member-gang of CPI (M) workers.
The assailants stopped the bus and threatened the passengers and stabbed the four youths inside the bus.
The injured were taken to the District Hospital in the jeep of Dy. Superintendent of Police M.K. Pushkaran who was passing through that route. The body of the deceased Ratheesh is kept in the mortuary of the District Hospital and the cremation will take place on Thursday.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article925533.ece
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