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Hard copy: योगी के देशराग पर कांग्रेस का विलाप क्यों? Exposing Congress’s Hypocrisy
Some readers could not open the link that was given for this article in a previous post, hence I reproduce it here in full.
प्रवीण दुबे
”सूप बोले सो बोले छलनी क्या बोले जिसमें बहात्तर छेद देश की सबसे पुरानी और सर्वाधिक समय तक सत्तासीन रहने वाली कांग्रेस और उसकी कुछ पिछलग्गू पार्टियां धर्मनिरपेक्षता, सांप्रदायिकता, अल्पसंख्यक संरक्षण जैसे विषयों पर कुछ बोलती हैं तो सहसा ही ऊपर लिखी कहावत याद आ जाती है। वास्तव में कांग्रेस ने आजादी के पहले और आजादी के बाद इन विषयों को लेकर जो चरित्र प्रस्तुत किया क्या उसके चलते उसे इन विषयों पर किसी से भी कुछ भी कहने का अधिकार है?
वर्तमान की बात करें तो कांग्रेस सहित देश के कुछ तथाकथित धर्मनिरपेक्षतावादी राजनैतिक दल गोरखपुर से भाजपा के सांसद योगी आदित्यनाथ के बयानों को लेकर हायतौबा मचाए हुए हैं। आगे बढऩे से पहले इन बयानों पर नजर डालना बेहद आवश्यक है।
कहते हैं कि मुसलमानों की संख्या जहां भी 10 प्रतिशत से ज्यादा है, वहां दंगे होते हैं। जहां इनकी संख्या 35 फीसदी से ज्यादा है वहां गैर मुस्लिमों के लिए कोई जगह नहीं है। एक अन्य बयान में आदित्यनाथ कहते हैं कि अगर वह हममें से एक को मारेंगे तो यह उम्मीद रखना छोड़ दें कि वह सुरक्षित रहेंगे। अगर वह शांति से नहीं रहते हैं तो हम उन्हें सिखाएंगे कि शांति से कैसे रहा जाता है। हमले और धर्मान्तरण के मामले में हिन्दू समुदाय मुसलमानों को अब जैसे को तैसा के अंदाज में जवाब देगा। संन्यासी के तौर पर मैं ऐसी असुर शक्तियों को दंडित कर सकता हूं। यदि मेरे एक हाथ में माला है तो दूसरे में भाला है।
लव जिहाद पर बोलते हुए योगी आदित्यनाथ ने कहा था कि लव जिहाद के जरिए देश को मुस्लिम राष्ट्र बनाने का षड्यंत्र चल रहा है। उन्होंने कहा था कि अगर देश में आपको रहना है तो भारतीय संस्कृति और सभ्यता का सम्मान भी करना पड़ेगा। एक अन्य वीडियो में योगी आदित्यनाथ यह कहते दिखाई देते हैं अगर वो प्रेम जाल में फंसाकर एक हिन्दू लड़की का धर्म परिवर्तन कराते हैं तो हम उनकी सौ लड़कियों को हिन्दू बनाएंगे। योगी आदित्यनाथ ने जो कुछ कहा वास्तव में वह कितना सच है अथवा कितना गलत, कितना सांप्रदायिक है अथवा कितना धर्मनिरपेक्ष सवाल यह नहीं है। सवाल तो सबसे बड़ा यह है कि स्वयं को धर्मनिरपेक्ष कहने वाली कांग्रेस और समाजवादी जैसे राजनीतिक दलों के नेताओं के पेट में इससे मरोड़ क्यों उठ रही है? वे योगी के बयानों को उत्तरप्रदेश में होने वाले उपचुनावों से जोड़कर बवाल क्यों मचा रहे हैं?
जो लोग ऐसा कर रहे हैं उनसे पूछा जाना चाहिए कि क्या कांग्रेस ने कभी इस तरह के बयान नहीं दिए? क्या कांग्रेस ने मुस्लिम तुष्टीकरण के चलते देश के करोड़ों हिन्दुओं की भावनाओं को आहत नहीं किया? यहां हम कुछ ऐसे उदाहरण प्रस्तुत करेंगे जिनसे यह सिद्ध होता है कि योगी आदित्यनाथ ऐसे बयान देने को क्यों मजबूर हुए। इतना ही नहीं इससे यह भी सिद्ध होता है कि कांग्रेस को योगी के बयान पर तनिक भी बवाल मचाने का नैतिक अधिकार नहीं है।
सबसे पहला उदाहरण उस कांग्रेस नेता का है जिसने लगातार दस वर्षों तक इस देश के प्रधानमंत्री पद की कुर्सी संभाले रखी। पूर्व प्रधानमंत्री डॉ. मनमोहनसिंह ने इस पद पर काबिज रहते एक सार्वजनिक कार्यक्रम में बोलते हुए कहा था कि इस देश के सभी संसाधनों पर पहला हक इस देश के अल्पसंख्यकों अर्थात मुसलमानों का है। एक प्रधानमंत्री का यह तुष्टीकरण भरा बयान आखिर क्या इंगित करताहै?
बात यहीं समाप्त नहीं होती जरा याद करिए कांग्रेस के जयपुर अधिवेशन को यहां कांग्रेस के वरिष्ठ नेता और देश के तत्कालीन गृहमंत्री सुशील कुमार शिंदे ने हिन्दुओं पर जो निशाना साधा था वह कितना निदंनीय और घृणित था शिन्दे ने हिन्दुओं के लिए भगवा आतंकवादी शब्द का इस्तेमाल करके कांग्रेस की हिन्दू विरोधी मानसिकता को पूरी दुनिया के सामने उजागर किया था।
यहां कांग्रेस के दिग्गज नेता और पार्टी महासचिव दिग्विजय सिंह के मुस्लिम तुष्टीकरण और हिन्दू विरोधी मानसिकता का जिक्र करना भी प्रासंगिक होगा। दिग्विजय सिंह ने एक तरफ मुस्लिम तुष्टीकरण में बाटला हाउस एनकांउटर को फर्जी ठहराया था। और इसमें मारे गए आतंकवादियों के घर जाकर आंसू भी टपकाए थे। दिग्गीराजा के मुस्लिम प्रेम के उदाहरण यहीं समाप्त नहीं होते पूरे देश ने टेलीविजन पर यह देखा है कि दिग्विजय सिंह ने ओसामा और हाफिज जैसे आतंकवादियों को किस प्रकार ‘जीÓ लगाकर आदर दिया था। कांग्रेस नेताओं के यह तो चंद किस्से ही हैं यदि पूरा इतिहास खंगाला जाए तो नेहरू से लेकर मनमोहन तक पूरी कांग्रेस अपने शासन काल में मुस्लिम वोट बैंक को अपनी तरफ करने के लिए इस देश के मूल निवासी हिन्दुओं के साथ छल-कपट की राजनीति करती रही और हिन्दू तथा हिन्दुत्व के खिलाफ जहर उगलती रही। ऐसी कांग्रेस को यदि योगी आदित्यनाथ के बयान सांप्रदायिक नजर आ रहे हैं तो यह देखकर बेहद आश्चर्य होता है।
योगी आदित्यनाथ के जिस बयान पर कांग्रेसी सहित इस देश के तथा कथित धर्मनिरपेक्षता वादी सर्वाधिक विधवा विलाप कर रहे हैं उसमें योगी ने कहा कि जहां मुस्लिम आबादी बढ़ती है दंगे वहीं होते हैं?
डॉ.पीटर हैमण्ड की पुस्तक ”स्लेवरी टेररिज्य एण्ड इस्लाम-द हिस्टोरिकल रुट्स एण्ड कण्टेम्पररी थे्रट तथा लियोन यूरिस की पुस्तक ”द हज ÓÓका अध्ययन करने पर मुस्लिम जनसंख्या को लेकर किए गए अध्ययन पर चौकानें वाले तथ्य सामने आते हैं जिनसे योगी आदित्यनाथ के बयान में कही बात को बल मिलता है। इन पुस्तकों के मुताबिक जब तक किसी देश में अथवा क्षेत्र में मुस्लिम आबादी 2 प्रतिशत के आसपास होती है, तब वे एकदम शांतिप्रिय कानून पसंद अल्पसंख्यक बनकर रहते हैं। जैसे कि अमेरिका में 0.6, आस्टे्रलिया में 1.5, कनाडा में 1.9, चीन में 1.8, इटली 1.5 तथा नार्वे में 1.8 प्रतिशत। जब मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 2 से 5 के बीच पहुंच जाती है तब वे अन्य धर्माविलंबियों में अपना धर्मप्रचार शुरू कर देते हैं, जिनमें अक्सर समाज का निचला तबका और अन्य धर्मों से असंतुष्ट हुए लोग होते हैं जैसे कि डेनमार्क में 2 प्रतिशत, जर्मनी में 3.7, ब्रिटेन में 2.1, स्पेन में 4 और थाइलैण्ड में 4.6 प्रतिशत।
मुस्लिम जनसंख्या के 5 प्रशित से ऊपर हो जाने पर वे अपने अनुपात के हिसाब से अन्य धर्माविलंबियों पर दबाव बढ़ाने लगते हैं और अपना प्रभाव जमाने की कोशिश करने लगते हैं। उदाहरण के लिए वे सरकारों व शॉपिंग माल पर हलाल का मास रखने का दबाव बनाने लगते हैं। वे कहते हैं कि हलाल का मांस न खाने से उनकी धार्मिक मान्यताएं प्रभावित होती हैं। इस कदम से कई पश्चिम देशों में खाद्य वस्तुओं के बाजार में मुस्लिमों की तगड़ी पैठ बनी उन्होंने कई देशों के सुपर-मार्केट के मालिकों को दबाव डालकर हलाल का मांस रखने को बाध्य किया। दुकानदार भी धंधे को देखते हुए उनका कहा मान लेता है अधिक जनसंख्या का फैक्टर यहां से मजबूत होना शुरू हो जाता है। ऐसा जिन देशों में हो चुका वह हैं। फ्रांस जहां मुस्लिम 8 प्रतिशत, फिलीपीन्स 6 प्रतिशत, स्वीडन 5.5, स्विटजरलैण्ड 5.3, नीदरलैंड 5.8तथा त्रिनिदाद और टौबेगो 6 प्रतिशत।
इस बिन्दु पर आकर मुस्लिम सरकारों पर यह दबाव बनाने लगते हैं कि उन्हें उनके क्षेत्रों में शरीयत कानून के मुताबिक चलनेे दिया जाए। जब मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 10 प्रतिशत से अधिक हो जाती है तो वे उस देश, प्रदेश, राज्य अथवा क्षेत्र विशेष में कानून व्यवस्था के लिए परेशानी पैदा करना शुरू कर देते हैं। शिकायतें करना शुरू कर देते हैं। छोटी -छोटी बातों पर विवाद दंगे, तोडफ़ोड़ पर उतर आते हैं। चाहे वह फ्रांस के दंगे हों, डेनमार्क का कार्टून विवाद हो या फिर एस्टर्डम में कारों का जलाना हरेक विवाद को समझबूझ बातचीत से खत्म करने के बजाए और बढ़ाया जाता है। जैसे कि गुयाना में 10 प्रतिशत मुस्लिम, इसराइल में 16 प्रतिशत, केन्या में 11 प्रतिशत और रुस मुस्लिम आबादी 15 प्रतिशत के कारण हुआ।
जब मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 20 प्रतिशत से ऊपर हो जाती है तब विभिन्न सैनिक शाखाएं जिहाद के नारे लगाने लगती हैं असष्णुता और धार्मिक हत्याओं का दौर शुरू हो जाता है। जैसे इथोपिया में 32 प्रतिशत भारत में 22 प्रतिशत।
मुस्लिम जनसंख्या के 40 प्रतिशत के ऊपर पहुंच जाने पर बड़ी संख्या में सामूहिक हत्याएं, आतंकवादी कार्रवाइयां चलने लगती हैं। जैसे बोस्निया में 40 प्रतिशत चांड में 54.2 प्रतिशत, लेबनान में 59 प्रतिशत। जब मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 60 प्रतिशत से ऊपर हो जाती है तब अन्य धर्मावलंबियों का जातीय सफाया शुरू किया जाता है उदाहरण (भारत का कश्मीर)जबरिया मुस्लिम बनाना, अन्य धर्मों के धार्मिक स्थल तोडऩा जजिया जैसा कोई अन्य कर वसूलना आदि किया जाता है जैसे अल्वानिया में 70 प्रतिशत, मलेशिया में 62 प्रतिशत कतर में 78 प्रतिशत और सूडान में 75 प्रतिशत। जनसंख्या के 80 प्रतिशत से ऊपर हो जाने के बाद सत्ता शासन प्रायोजित जातीय सफाई की जाती है। सभी प्रकार के हथकंडे अपनाकर जनसंख्या को 100 प्रतिशत तक ले जाने का लक्ष्य रखा जाता है। जैसे बांग्लादेश 83 प्रतिशत, मिस्त्र 90 प्रतिशत, गाजा पट्टी 98 प्रतिशत, ईरान, ईराक, जॉर्डन, मोरक्को, पाकिस्तान, सीरीया आदि।
मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 100 प्रतिशत यानी कि दार-ए इस्लाम होने की स्थिति में वहां सिर्फ मदरसे होते हैं और सिर्फ कुरान पढ़ाई जाती है और इसे अंतिम सत्य माना जाता है। जैसे अफगानिस्तान, सउदी अरब, सोमालिया, यमन आदि।
यदि इन आंकड़ों को तथ्थों को सही मान लिया जाए तो भारत में मुस्लिम जनसंख्या 22 प्रतिशत हो जाने की स्थिति बेहद गंभीर कही जा सकती है। ऐसे हालात में योगी आदित्यनाथ के बयान पर हाय तौबा मचाने के बजाए इस स्थिति पर गंभीरता से विचार की जरुरत है। रही बात कांग्रेस की तो उसके लिए यही कहा जा सकता है रस्सी जल गई पर बल नहीं गए।
योगी के देशराग पर कांग्रेस का विलाप क्यों? Exposing Congress’s Hypocrisy
Yogi Adityanath’s statements: a wonderful article exposing Congress’s hypocrisy and pointing to imminent danger to India from Islam.
Its time to go Mr Prime Minister- Avay Shukla in Hill Post
A Very Powerful Indictment of Congress and Manmohan Singh- a must read for all
http://hillpost.in/2013/08/its-time-to-go-mr-prime-minister/95491/
Dear Prime Minister,
In Hindu tradition and culture the concept of renunciation has always been valued more than the idea of acquisition, and even though you may not accept this for fear of offending your party’s minority vote bank, let me allay your fears by reminding you that this is something preached by the Abrahamic religions also.
I would, therefore, urge you to seriously consider this option in your own interest as well as in the larger interest of this unfortunate country.
The government headed by you has already taken the country back to 1990 in sheer economic terms, and in terms of other social and public values we have reached the nadir of the Dark Ages.
The country had great hopes from you when it voted you to power in 2004, and even higher expectations when it renewed your mandate in 2009 after your sterling display of vision and courage in the nuclear deal. But you only flattered to deceive, and for reasons which are now becoming obvious, relinquished any pretense of leadership or governance.
A big ship needs a strong hand at the rudder-your hand- but you have handed it over to a motley crew of rank opportunists and faceless lascars who can only run it aground.
You were never a politician- a positive for most of the voters – and the two qualities that made us repose our trust in you were your honesty and your acknowledged status as an eminent economist. Today, both lie in tatters- you have betrayed our trust, not substantially but wholly, and therefore you must go.
Time to go Mr Prime Minister
Honesty is not divisible, and for those who exercise power there can be no nuances between personal honesty and public honesty. A person who allows others to loot cannot be honest. A Manager who does not raise his voice when illegalities are being committed by his subordinates cannot be honest.
A law maker who protects criminals cannot be honest. And a Prime Minister who does all this simply to remain in power cannot be honest. Your honesty has already cost the country dearly, Mr. Prime Minister, and we cannot sustain this cost any longer.
Your reputation as an economist may still follow you to Harvard or to the LSE after your retirement, but in this country its devaluation is proportionate to the devaluation of the Indian rupee. Where did you lose the plot?
You had everything going for you when you took over in 2004– an economy growing at 8-9%, a Current Account SURPLUS of US$ 10.56 billion, Foreign Exchange reserves in excess of US$ 400 billion, a comfortable net INFLOW of Foreign Direct Investment.
After nine years of your being at the helm, the growth rate is down to between 5% and 6% and falling, the Current Account has gone into a DEFICIT of US$ 20 billion and increasing, Foreign Exchange reserves are down to seven months’ import and depleting, the Fiscal Deficit is going to hit 6%, Foreign Exchange reserves are down to US $ 200 billions (with repayments of US$ 150 due before March 2014), there is a net OUTFLOW of FDI funds to the tune of almost US$ 7-10 billions every month.
The Rupee has reached an exchange rate of 65 to the dollar. Nobody believes Mr. Chidambaram anymore, the RBI Governor can only hyper-ventilate, and you, of course, continue to maintain your sphinx-like silence.
In the meantime inflation continues unabated, jobs are being lost by the millions ( unemployment actually rose by 2% between July 2011 and June 2012), Indian industry prefers to take its money abroad, infrastructure projects languish somewhere between Messers Jaiswal, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and a litre of cooking oil now costs more than two litres of beer! (Can you imagine, Mr. Prime Minister, what a field day Marie Antoinette would have had with this?!).
And this is at the precise time when the rest of the world is coming out of its downturn! No, sir, you and your band of forty thieves have been so busy with your petty politicking, with ensuring the survival of a particular dynasty, securing the financial well being of future generations of your party colleagues and allies, dividing communities and classes, that you have had no time for planning and taking decisions.
The only decisions you HAVE taken boggle the mind. We are already spending 75000 crores every year on our Public Distribution System: every single survey indicates that at least 40% of this, or 30000 crores is siphoned off by politicians, bureaucrats and middle-men. And now your govt. is determined to pour another 50000 crores into this bottomless pit through the Food Security Act! What for?
The BPL( Below Poverty Line) families and the Antyodaya (poorest of the poor) families are already covered under the existing PDS-the FSA will make no difference to them. Govt.’s own figures state that only 27% of our population is now below the poverty line; why then do you want to bring 67% of the population under the FSA, and spend a whopping 50000 crore on people who do not deserve this largesse?
And that too at a time when you have no money for infrastructure development or health and education( in both of which we now lag behind even Sri Lanka and Bangladesh!). Is it worth destroying a country just so your motley crew can win another election? Is this honesty, Mr. Prime Minister?
Had it been only the economic downturn we could perhaps have been more generous. For economics, as we all know, is not only a dismal science, it is also an uncertain one: as they say, even if one were to lay down all economists end to end, we still wouldn’t reach a conclusion!
After all, if Mr. Amartya Sen and Mr. Bhagwati cannot agree on what is good for India we can hardly expect you to have the answer. No sir, the economics is only a part of the mess: let me recount what the others are.
You have systematically sought to destroy every fibre of the democratic fabric of this nation. Constitutional authorities have been attacked publicly by your minions and sought to be humiliated at every turn: remember the diatribes against Vinod Rai and the Central Information Commissioner?
Statutory authorities like the CBI and the office of the Attorney General have been subverted and made to fall in line, your party’s line. Your oath of office demanded that you protect them, but you remained mute, as is your wont.
You have even done the unthinkable: set the Intelligence Bureau against the CBI, ensuring for ever that our premier intelligence agency will never cooperate with our premier criminal investigating agency- every terrorist, insurgent and crooks of all assorted types must be lining up outside Teksons to buy ” thank you” cards for you!
Such is your hubris that you have shown contempt for the orders of the Supreme Court even. The Court’s judgments, instead of being respected and seen as a matter for serious contemplation, are publicly criticised and sought to be by-passed by the collation of a consensus of those affected by the judgments (!) and a brute legislative majority.
So criminals can continue in Parliament. Merit will find no place in the selection of Doctors (at the senior most, Professor, level) even in Super specialty disciplines; minorities will get reservations in government jobs even though the Constitution forbids it.
This lack of respect for the final arbiter of the Constitution and the law is not only breeding a competitive defiance of the Court among other political parties but is also setting the stage for a show down with the judiciary a-la Pakistan and other banana republics.
You behave as if the Opposition is not part of the democratic process, that it is a nuisance that is best ignored; consequently, all communication between the two has now snapped, and the nation is a helpless witness to a Parliament that resembles a rugby locker room in both language and action and is in a permanent state of adjournment.
All parties are to blame for this, of course, but it is your party which laid down the rules of engagement. By refusing to walk the extra mile to accommodate even the legitimate demands of the Opposition, and by sabotaging time and again the Committees of Parliament, you have eviscerated this vital organ of democracy which under you has become as vestigious and irrelevant as your appendix.
Practically no legislative work has been done in the last two years: there are 116 bills pending in both Houses, of which 19 and 21 relate to financial and educational reforms, respectively, two of the areas that need immediate attention.
But your lack of concern is matched only by your shocking sense of priorities: instead of trying to push these bills, you have instead chosen to concentrate your fading energies on two other amendments that can only make politics murkier and more criminalised: removing the disqualification of convicted legislators, and exempting political parties from the RTI Act!
Perhaps the biggest price for your incompetence and your colleagues’ venality is being paid by our defense forces: all three are many years behind in terms of armaments and weaponry ( because another ” honest” Minister, Mr. Antony, will neither effect purchases from abroad nor allow FDI in defense production) and their very capacity to defend the country has been seriously eroded.
Who will defend our borders in such a scenario, Mr. Prime Minister- the lethal barbs of Mr. Manish Tewari, or the boomerangs of Mr. Digvijay Singh or the IEDs of Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer? Even worse, you have demoralized our armed forces by the constant interference of your Ministry and completely taken away their operational and tactical independence.
A succession of retired Army commanders have said so in recent times and the pusillanimous approach of our troops in response to violations of the LOC testify to this. (Of course, these same Army Commanders who have suddenly found their conscience and their voice also need to explain why they didn’t defend their operational independence more vigorously when they were enjoying the perks of their office!).
Under you we have become a whining nation- we whine when Pakistani troops shoot our soldiers, we whine when Chinese troops camp on our territory for weeks on end, we whine when Italian marines shoot our sailors, we whine when the Sri Lanka navy arrests our fishermen, we whine when our ex-President is frisked at an American airport.
Under you a once-proud nation is being kicked around by even a Maldives or a Bhutan. What in God’s name have you done to our image?
In communal terms we have always been a fractured society. But true leaders have in the past tried to bridge these fissures. To you, however, will go the dubious credit of widening and deepening these cracks between communities and castes.
In order to survive, your party has countenanced the retrograde decisions of allies that can only raise the confrontational pitch: earmarking of state budgets for a religious minority, reservations in jobs for the same community (which goes against the express provisions of our Constitution), reservations in promotions (which has been struck down by the courts), setting up of a central Commission to review the (criminal) cases of suspects of one community only.
It is your party which has put communalism at the center of the campaign for next year’s election, not the BJP or Mr. Modi. The former has consciously downplayed the Ram Mandir issue, and Modi had made it clear that development was going to be his plank. But this did not suit you since your party couldn’t possibly debate him on this plank, what with your miserable record of the last five years.
So you deliberately inserted the communal element, as did your allies, by harping only on the 2002 Gujarat riots. To his credit, Mr. Modi has so far not agreed to stoop so low, and I do not think your strategy will work.
But you have in the process vitiated the atmosphere for a long time to come, reopened old wounds that were beginning to heal, and provided a legitimate space for hot heads on both sides of the divide.
How much damage to the country is one Parliamentary seat worth, Mr. Prime Minister? How many more Partitions will you recreate to satisfy your party’s lust for power?
Your opportunistic creation of Telangana has sown the seeds of disputes and blood-letting in all parts of the country that will sorely test the federal integrity of our country for many years to come. There are twenty one more statehood specters waiting in the wings and by the time they are exorcised we may have ceased to exist as one nation.
Do I need to refer to the endemic corruption that your government has been indulging in these last ten years? And to your pathetic attempts to distance yourself from them, even though it is gradually becoming clearer with each passing day that you were aware of what was happening and did nothing to stop it? Why?
The quality of honesty, like that of mercy, cannot be strained: one cannot be honest and yet knowingly allow dishonesty on one’s watch.
Even worse, your increasing brazenness in the face of evidence against you boggles the mind: the Minister who doctored the Coalgate report has been made Special Envoy to Japan, a Minister whose nephew sold posts in The Railways for crores has not even been named in the charge sheet, the Minister on whose watch files relating to YOUR period of the coal scam have gone missing continues to bestride Shastri Bhavan like a colossus.
Who is this Faustian devil you have sold your soul to, Mr. Prime Minister?
Your deafening silence on all these matters-you have spoken in both houses of Parliament only fifty times in ten years-defies logic and conventional wisdom. And that leads me to speculate whether we are underestimating you.
Is there, after all, a method in your madness? Could it be that you are reconciled to losing the next elections and are therefore deliberately implementing a scorched earth policy?
That you will leave behind as a legacy for the next government an India that is bankrupt, ungovernable, riven by caste and communal conflicts, all its institutions destroyed?
An India that will soon be on its knees, begging for your party- the lone horseman riding in from the sunset, in Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s words, don’t forget-to take over the reins again, and save the country from perdition? But I forget, you never speak- so we’ll never know till the horseman is upon us.
Mr. Prime Minister, your party has stripped this country like a cloud of locusts. You have sown every type of poisonous seed known to your ilk and we shall be reaping the bitter harvest for many years hence. You have engendered an atmosphere of uncertainty,venality, indecision, communalism, opportunism, criminalisation and defiance of constitutional and statutory institutions which cannot be allowed to continue, for that way lies certain disaster.
Elections are nine months’ hence but we cannot allow this conception to come to full term: the seed sown by you can only destroy this country and must be aborted. The time has come for you to go, Mr. Prime Minister, and to go immediately.
Call for elections now, end the uncertainty, let us get on with our lives, give this country a chance to redeem itself. Do one last service to this nation, sir- stand not upon the order of your going, but go!
With best wishes,
your’s sincerely,
A VOTING STATISTIC
The author retired from the Indian Administrative Service in December 2010. He is a keen environmentalist and loves the mountains- he has made them his home.
An open letter to Advaniji: A lesson to learn
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/05/18/on-reading-advanis-blog-79264.html
On Reading Advani;s blog:
By Praven Patil, May 18, 2013
Dear Advaniji,
Sir, I have had the good fortune of attending more than a dozen of your public rallies across many cities and States over the last two decades; the latest being the one you addressed in the national college grounds of Bangalore in 2011 as part of your nationwide rath yatra against corruption. If you remember sir, in late 2011, when you addressed a mammoth rally of some 30 thousand odd people in Bangalore, it had started to rain heavily just as you began to speak. Organisers and BJP functionaries were worried that the people would rush out of the national college grounds to protect themselves from the wrath of the rain gods. But nothing of that sort happened on that day. People simply stood up and picked up the plastic chairs to raise them above their heads to shield themselves. They braved that incessant Bangalore rain to listen to you. That is how much the people of Bangalore and India loved you and respected you.
Exactly two decades ago, in 1991, you and Vajpayee ji addressed a huge rally in Mumbai where I was once again fortunate enough to be present. If you remember sir, the moment you faced the mike to speak out, there was an uproarious cry of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ from the gathered masses. Even though Vajpayee ji was known for his oratorical skills, a vast majority of the people in that gathering had come to listen to you, that is how much the people of Mumbai and India loved you and respected you.
Alas! Love and respect of the ordinary masses come with a sell-by date. Retirement at the peak is an art that Indians have rarely understood, thus we have a 40 something Sachin Tendulkar still wanting to play a game which has long moved past him. Advani ji, every day that you spend involved in active politics is costing you the love of a million of your fans / followers. Please ask yourself tonight after dinner, is the opium of active politics more important than the love and respect of ordinary Indians?
History is an unkindest of judges that human civilisation has bestowed upon us. History has no time for subtleties for it is devoid of human emotions and lacks the leisure of deciphering intentions. If history can be cruel enough to degrade the architect of Indian economic reforms into a modern day Nero who presided over the most corrupt regime India had ever seen, then history can be equally scathing to judge the father of modern India’s right-wing movement as just a faction leader of the BJP. This is how much time and tide have turned against you, sir.
Karnataka is the latest symptom of the disease
The BJP of Karnataka is not a disease sir, it is just the symptom of the underlying illness that the party is suffering from. Losing Karnataka is not the antidote for that disease as you have wrongly prescribed, in fact, the very opposite is true.
One of the last decisions that you, as the patriarch and guide, should take before quitting active politics is to assert that BJP is a political party and not a voluntary organisation. Sir, in a democracy, a political party exists to win elections and not to win TV studio debates or hash tag wars on Twitter. BJP is not RSS.
By choosing electoral defeat as a way forward to cure the perceived moral decline, you are committing a crime sir. It is a criminal act against the vast number of ordinary karyakartas of Karnataka who, by their sweat and blood, brought your party to power in south India. Pray, what are you telling these ordinary karyakartas? You are telling them that their sweat and blood was in vain, because you have decided to surrender the State to win a hollow moral victory over Congress/UPA in television studios!
Sir, you have always been politically correct in your utterances and actions over the decades. You have always addressed even your worst enemies with utmost respect. In fact, despite all her misdeeds and corruption, you have always addressed Sonia Gandhi as ‘Sonia ji’. Thus, to see you use a pejorative term of ‘Yeddi’ to address the former CM of Karnataka, was heart-breaking to say the least. Ask yourself sir, is this the way you would treat someone who has toiled hard for more than 4 decades to build your party in a south-Indian State, notwithstanding whatever differences you have developed lately? If the most vile and most corrupt ‘Sonia ji’ has acquired more respect in your political lexicon than the unwashed Yeddyurappa, then am afraid Indian Right has hit a new nadir.
The abolition of Jagirdari system and the Jan Sangh/BJP’s growth in Rajasthan is an inspiring tale indeed. But, sir, that is totally out of context to the Karnataka conundrum. What is more relevant to Karnataka is what happened in UP just a decade or so ago. The caste-matrix of Karnataka has its parallels in the muddy politics of UP and not in the royally majestic Rajasthan.
In Uttar Pradesh too, a section of upper caste BJP leaders decided to lose an election just to wrest the control of the party from Kalyan Singh. One election loss proved to be one too many, until today, when the BJP has been reduced to a bit player in the largest State.
If UP-isation of Karnataka is the solitary goal that BJP can aim at, then bringing back Yeddyurappa after a decade in wilderness, when he would be a spent force, is the ideal path to follow. Is this what you want to achieve Advani ji? Or do you believe that Anant Kumar ji will wake up one day and suddenly find himself the darling of Kannadigas by sheer magic? Let me remind you sir, that the possibility of the Kalraj Mishras and Lalji Tandons ever becoming mass leaders shrinks from 10 per cent to 3 per cent by the time it reaches the Anant Kumars and Prahlad Joshis, while traversing from UP to Karnataka.
Can the lies of the media beguile the patriarch?
For someone with such a legendary political acumen, it is surprising to note this new-found belief in unverified news reports churned by the usual suspects of Indian mainstream media. Sir, do you sincerely believe that Sonia Gandhi is acting against the corrupt Ministers of the UPA Government against the wishes of the PM? At the same time, you seem to believe that Yeddyurappa indulged in “unabashed corruption” as the CM of Karnataka!
Such callous statements by one of the founding fathers of the BJP leave not only the loyal karyakartas but us ordinary followers in complete disarray. When and how did you decide that Sonia-led Congress is fighting corruption, while BSY was the epitome of immorality?
Sir, you must pay a private visit to Bangalore, while you are at it, just take along any businessman well-versed with Bangalore’s realty scenario for a guided tour of the city and its surroundings. If you ever venture out to do so, you will get the real picture. You will find out that vast tracts of land belong to various politicians of many political parties. “SM Krishna’s son in law”, “Dharam Singh’s son”, “Deve Gowda’s relatives”, “Kumaraswamy” and even “Muttappa Rai” would be some of the names you will hear in this connection. The missing name will be that of “Yeddiyurappa and his sons or relatives”. That is the story that you have totally missed in your blind love for a certain Bangalore MP. The media and the intellectual brigade have either beguiled you with partial facts or you have deliberately chosen to remain blind.
Karnataka is not an exception sir, India is at stake here. Do we Indians deserve another UPA term, just so that you can play your moral one-upmanship? India is fed up with Congress and its non-governance, but please spare the country a moral lecture from Dilli and instead offer a winning alternative. If there is one thing and the only thing that you can do as your last act of nirvana, please liberate BJP from the clutches of Dilli. That should be the only lesson that BJP should learn from Karnataka, rest is all gloss.
Thank You,
A disheartened BJP supporter
Washington Post does what no Paid Media in Bharat could/Would do- PMO Whines and gets Rebuttal
Truth is out. Manmohan Singh, i.e., MMS is a spineless politician, covering up for his corrupt ministers and serving as a hand-maiden of Madam Supremo. Bharatiya media in the pay of Congress would not dare to write this, so here is an American journalist who tells it all. Do not forget to read PMO’s whining letter to Washington Post and a rejoinder by the newspaper.
India’s ‘silent’ prime minister becomes a tragic figure
Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images – Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s second term in office has been damaged by corruption scandals and policy paralysis.
By Simon Denyer, Published: September 4
NEW DELHI — India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh helped set his country on the path to modernity, prosperity and power, but critics say the shy, soft-spoken 79-year-old is in danger of going down in history as a failure.
The architect of India’s economic reforms, Singh was a major force behind his country’s rapprochement with the United States and is a respected figure on the world stage. President Obama’s aides used to boast of his tremendous rapport and friendship with Singh.
But the image of the scrupulously honorable, humble and intellectual technocrat has slowly given way to a completely different one: a dithering, ineffectual bureaucrat presiding over a deeply corrupt government.
Every day for the past two weeks, India’s Parliament has been adjourned as the opposition bays for Singh’s resignation over allegations of waste and corruption in the allocation of coal-mining concessions.
The story of Singh’s dramatic fall from grace in his second term in office and the slow but steady tarnishing of his reputation has played out in parallel with his country’s decline on his watch. As India’s economy has slowed and as itsreputation for rampant corruption has reasserted itself, the idea that the country was on an inexorable road to becoming a global power has increasingly come into question.
“More and more, he has become a tragic figure in our history,” said political historian Ramachandra Guha, describing a man fatally handicapped by his “timidity, complacency and intellectual dishonesty.”
The irony is that Singh’s greatest selling points — his incorruptibility and economic experience — are the mirror image of his government’s greatest failings.
Under Singh, economic reforms have stalled, growth has slowed sharply and therupee has collapsed. But just as damaging to his reputation is the accusation that he looked the other way and remained silent as his cabinet colleagues filled their own pockets.
In the process, he transformed himself from an object of respect to one of ridicule and endured the worst period in his life, said Sanjaya Baru, Singh’s media adviser during his first term.
Attendees at meetings and conferences were jokingly urged to put their phones into “Manmohan Singh mode,” while one joke cited a dentist urging the seated prime minister, “At least in my clinic, please open your mouth.”
Singh finally did open his mouth last week, to rebut criticism from the government auditor that the national treasury had been cheated of billions of dollars after coal-mining concessions were granted to private companies for a pittance — including during a five-year period when Singh doubled as coal minister.
Singh denied that there was “any impropriety,” but he was drowned out by catcalls when he attempted to address Parliament on the issue. His brief statement to the media afterward appeared to do little to change the impression of a man whose aloofness from the rough-and-tumble of Indian politics has been transformed from an asset into a liability.
“It has been my general practice not to respond to motivated criticism directed personally at me,” he said. “My general attitude has been, ‘My silence is better than a thousand answers; it keeps intact the honor of innumerable questions.’ ”
Singh probably will survive calls for his resignation, but the scandal represents a new low in a reputation that has been sinking for more than a year.
‘I have to do my duty’
Singh was born in 1932 into a small-time trader’s family in a village in what is now Pakistan, walking miles to school every day and studying by the light of a kerosene lamp. The family moved to India shortly before partition of the subcontinent in 1947, and Singh pleaded with his father to be allowed to continue with his studies rather than join the dry-fruit trade.
A series of scholarships allowed Singh to continue those studies first at Cambridge and then at Oxford, where he completed a PhD. Marriage was arranged with Gursharan Kaur in 1958; they have three daughters.
A successful career in the bureaucracy followed, but it was in 1991 that Singh was thrust into the spotlight as finance minister amid a financial crisis.
With little choice, Singh introduced a series of policies that freed the Indian economy from suffocating state control and unleashed the dynamism of its private sector.
More than a decade later, in 2004, Singh again found himself on center stage, becoming in his own words an “accidental prime minister.”
The Congress party led by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi had surprised many people by winning national elections that year, but she sprang an even bigger surprise by renouncing the top job and handing it to Singh.
In him she saw not only the perfect figurehead for her government but also a man of unquestioning loyalty, party insiders say, someone she could both trust and control.
“I’m a small person put in this big chair,” Singh told broadcaster Charlie Rose in 2006. “I have to do my duty, whatever task is allotted of me.”
From the start, it was clear that Sonia Gandhi held the real reins of power. The Gandhi family has ruled India for most of its post-
independence history and enjoys an almost cultlike status within the Congress party. Sonia’s word was destined to remain law.
But Singh made his mark during his first term in office, standing up to opposition from his coalition partners and from within his own party to push through a civil nuclear cooperation deal with the United States in 2008, a landmark agreement that ended India’s nuclear isolation after its weapons tests in 1974 and 1998.
It was a moment that almost brought his government down, an issue over which he offered to resign. While no electricity has yet flowed from that pact, it marked a major step forward in India’s relations with the United States.
The Congress-led coalition went on to win a second term in 2009, in what many people saw as a mandate for Singh.
The 2009 election “was a victory for him, but he did not step up to claim it — maybe because he is too academic, maybe because he is too old,” said Tushar Poddar, managing director at Goldman Sachs in Mumbai. “That lack of leadership, that lack of boldness, lack of will — that really shocked us. That really shocked foreign investors.”
‘He suffers from doubts’
In a series of largely off-the-
record conversations, friends and colleagues painted a picture of a man who felt undermined by his own party and who sank into depression and self-pity.
His one attempt in 1999 to run for a parliamentary seat from a supposedly safe district in the capital, New Delhi, had ended in ignominious defeat. His failure to contest a parliamentary seat in 2009, making him the only Indian prime minister not to have done so, further undermined both his confidence, his friends and colleagues say, and his standing in the eyes of the party.
Congress, insiders say, never accepted that the 2009 election was a mandate for Singh and jealously resented the idea that he could be seen to be anywhere near as important as a Gandhi. Rahul, Sonia’s son, was being groomed to take over from Singh, and the prime minister needed to be cut down to size.
He soon was openly criticized by his own party over attempts to continue a peace process with Pakistan despite the 2008 attack on Mumbai by Pakistani militants.
Singh became even more quiet at his own cabinet meetings, to the point of not speaking up for the sort of economic changes many thought he ought to be championing.
“His gut instincts are very good, but sometimes he suffers from doubts about the political feasibility, about getting things done,” said Jagdish N. Bhagwati, a Columbia University professor who has been friends with Singh since their Cambridge days.
Singh will go down in history as India’s first Sikh prime minister and the country’s third-longest-serving premier, but also as someone who did not know when to retire, Guha said.
“He is obviously tired, listless, without energy,” he said. “At his time of life, it is not as though he is going to get a new burst of energy. Things are horribly out of control and can only get worse for him, for his party and for his government.”
Now See PMO’s whining and apt reply by Washington Post’s Journalist:
Posted at 02:38 PM ET, 09/05/2012
Indian prime minister’s office responds to Washington Post’s profile on Manmohan Singh
By Anup Kaphle
The office of India’s prime minister objected to The Washington Post’s front-page article, published Sept. 5, 2012, on Manmohan Singh’s evolution as a leader.
The following is a letter from the Prime Minister’s office:
Dear Simon,
We do not complain about criticism of the government which is a journalist’s right. But I am writing this letter for pointing out unethical and unprofessional conduct at your part.
I would like to put on record my complaint about your article which was published today on many counts:
— Despite all lines of conversations open, you never got in touch with us for our side of the story though you regularly talk to me about information from the PMO. This story thus becomes totally one sided.
— You have been telling the media here in India that your request for an interview was declined though the mail below says clearly that the interview was declined “till the Monsoon Session” of the Parliament which gets over in two days.
— When I rang you up to point this out, you said sorry twice though you tell the media here that you never apologised.
— Your website where we could have posted a reply is still not working, 11 hours after you said sorry the third time for its inaccessibility.
— The former Media Adviser to the PM Dr Sanjaya Baru has complained that you “rehashed and used” an 8 month old quote from an Indian Magazine.
We expected better from the correspondent of the Washington Post for fair and unbiased reporting.
Without going into your one sided assessment of the Prime Minister’s performance, as comment is free in journalism, I hope you will carry this communication in full in your paper and your website so your readers can judge for themselves what is the truth.
Sincerely
Pankaj Pachauri
Communications Adviser to the Prime Minister’s Office
New Delhi – India
Below is a response to the letter from Simon Denyer, author of the article and our India bureau chief:
Thanks for your comments. I wanted to respond point-by-point:
— I requested an interview with the PM on three occasions, and also with T.K.A Nair, Advisor to the Prime Minister, and with Pulok Chatterji, Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. Those requests were either ignored or declined.
— When I made my final request for an interview with the PM in July, I was told on July 30 “The PM has declined all interview requests till the Monsoon session is over.” At that stage the current session of parliament (known as the Monsoon session) of parliament had not even begun. There was no mention of the possibility of an interview afterwards. In any case my story touches on the fact that parliament has been adjourned every day throughout the current session by opposition calls for the PM to resign, which is a story I felt should be told, interview or not.
Indeed, we remain extremely interested in speaking to the prime minister.
— My apology was for the fact that the website was down and the PM’s office could not post a reply directly. As soon as the problem was fixed, I informed them. I stand by the story.
— I spoke to Dr Baru personally on the telephone during the reporting for the story. He confirmed that these sentiments were accurate.
Regards,
Simon Denyer
NRI Hindus rally against Jihad in India at Indian Consulate in New York. “SAVE INDIA FROM ISLAM”
SEP 3, 2012
This report is courtesy of The blog site, Vivek Jyoti. I was at the demonstration along with my colleagues representing Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. I will write about it later.
Gaurang Vaishnav
(VIDEO) “Save Assam – Save India; Say No – Sharia Law.”
- NRI Hindus rally against Jihad in India at Indian Consulate in New York. “SAVE INDIA FROM ISLAM”.
(VIDEO) HINDUS PROTEST INDIAN CONGRESS & SHARIA LAW NYC- 5TH AVE & 64TH ST
Sept. 2, 2012. From their flyer, the reason for this rally is to protest the Indian Congress that is Anti-Hindu and Pro- Islam. “Save the Tribal Indians. Save the Hindus. Kick out Congress.” Not all of the chants were in English, but did manage to catch “Say NO to Sharia Law” There was also a “Charge Sheet against the Congress Govt. of India” that was handed out to the passersby. The organizers were The Indian American Intellectuals Forum; Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America; Hindu Human Rights Watch and Indian Heritage Foundation of Lansing, Michigan. There was very small rally in opposition to this rally that was supporting the Indian Congress.
Pictures and flyers posted here:vigilantsquirrelbrigade
HINDUS PROTEST INDIAN CONGRESS & SHARIA LAW NYC 5 AVE & 64TH ST
- Sept. 2, 2012. A protest against the Indian Congress that is Anti-Hindu and Pro-Islam.
A “Charge Sheet against the Congress Govt. of India”
“Save the Tribal Indians. Save the Hindus”. Kick out Congress.”
Short video of the chants (not all were in English,) but did manage to catch “Say NO to Sharia Law”
The organizers were The Indian American Intellectuals Forum; Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America; Hindu Human Rights Watch and Indian Heritage Foundation of Lansing, Michigan.
A very small rally in opposition was supporting the Indian Congress. An anti-Hindu counter-protest preaching ‘peace’ by forming an alliance with the “Religion of Peace”… aka Islam… and ignoring the victims cries for help.
But, the Hindu victims are NOT being ignored as these signs made very clear.
Valiant protestors demand that ” Islam stop persecuting and mass murdering non-Muslims”
“HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL! NO TO SHARIA LAW in US OR INDIA!”
Link to slideshow HERE
ALSO READ/See More Pics@:
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Indian Hindu Rally against Jihad at the Indian Consulate, NY: “Save India from Islam”–AtlasShrugs
VivekaJyoti
“Congress Hatao, India Bachao…” — INDIAN AMERICAN HINDUS PROTEST IN NEW YORK
VivekaJyoti
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from: Upananda Brahmachari
date:Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 5:11 PM
subject:Three important Hindu News. Must see.
Always check inhttp://hindunews4all.blogspot.in for various “HINDU NEWS FOR ALL”.
from:KatariaN
date: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 5:46 PM
subject: REPORT ON PROTEST IN NEW YORK ON SEPTEMBER 2ND NEAR INDIAN CONSULATE AGAINST ISL
REPORT ON PROTEST IN NEW YORK ON SEPTEMBER 2ND NEAR INDIAN CONSULATE AGAINST ISLAMIZATION OF INDIA (ASSAM)
Radical Islam is the greatest threat not only to Hindus but also to the entire humanity – Dr. Marvin Belsky of Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam
We support our Hindu brothers in their struggle against Radical Islam – Mr. Stuart Kaufman of The United West.
Congress Government in India is determined to destroy Hinduism. In the next election, Hindus should vote strategically and unitedly to get rid of Sonia Gandhi – Narain Kataria
Narain Kataria from New York
A boisterous Protest by 100 strong Indian American Hindus was organized by Indian American Intellectuals Forum in New York September 2nd near Indian Consulate to express their repugnance and revulsion against burning of Hindu villages by Bangladeshi Muslims in collusion with Muslims from Assam and West Bengal and making thousands of Hindus (Bodos) refugees in their own country.
The Protesters said that India is in danger. After Kashmir Radical Islam is taking over Assam in the North East. Jihad is spreading far and wide.
The Protesters also expressed their abhorrence at the inaction and apathy on the part of Government of India in handling the riots in Mumbai by 50,000 Muslims, who, armed with petrol cans and plastic bottles, hockey sticks, iron rods, damaged the police vans, stole their guns and ammunition, injured more than 50 policemen, molested the policewomen, burnt the City’s transport system, smashed journalists’ TV cameras, vandalized War Memorial and held the entire Mumbai City to ransom, in the broad day light.
The Protesters held responsible the ruling Congress Government of India for not taking stern action against Kashmiri Muslim militants who fought pitched battles with India’s security forces in the month of Ramadan, chopped of one Hindu teacher’s hand in Rajasthan, killed one Hindu boy in Kerala, attacked TV journalists in Lucknow, did not allow Hindus to celebrate the Birth Day of Lord Krishana (Janamashthami) in Ranchi, and in cooperation with Pakistani Muslims sent thousands of SMS messages to North East residents in Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad and threatened them to leave these cities otherwise they would be killed.
Instead of punishing the perpetrators of the above mentioned crimes, Congress Government banned Hindu websites, facebook and twitter.
The Protesters also blamed the Congress Party of Sonia Gandhi for taking income from Hindu temples and giving it to Muslims to build mosques, run Madrassas and go to Mecca for Haj.
Every month 20-25 Hindu girls are abducted by Muslims, forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men. The Congress Government is doing nothing to ameliorate the miserable plight of these unfortunate girls.
Half a million Kashmiri Hindus have been ethnically cleansed from the Kashmir Valley, but the Government of India is taking no action to resettle them back in the Valley.
Infiltration by Bangladeshi Muslims tantamount to an invasion of India by foreigners sponsored by Congress Party, Communist Party and supported by Jihadists in Assam and West Bengal. The aim of this insidious design is to keep Congress in power and help Muslims to Islamize India.
Mr. Tathagata Roy, an erudite scholar and former Prof. of Engineering and former President of BJP, West Bengal who was on a visit to New York was surprised to see so many Hindus protesting against Islamization of Assam and appreciated their vigor and vitality.
The Protest was supported by Mr. Gaurang Vaishanav of Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America, Mr. Satya Dosapati of Hindu Human Rights Watch, Dr. Kumar Arun of India Heritage Foundation, Lansing, Michigan and Panun Kashmir International. The unique feature of this Protest was that it was supported by non-Hindu American groups such as “Stop Islamization of America” of Pamela Geller, “Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam” of Dr. Marvin Belsky, “The United West” of Mr. Stuard Kaufman,LogansWarning@hotmail.com and several other groups.
A copy of the Memorandum addressed to the Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh was sent by email to the Consul General of India. It will be formally sent to him by Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested today.
Time for PM to sanction prosecution of Ms. Sonia Gandhi- S. Gurumurthy
An ominous sign for government
By S Gurumurthy
31 Jan 2012 11:31:00 PM IST
31 Jan 2012 11:31:00 PM IST
Here is a telling contrast in fighting corruption. The nation has seen in the last couple of years two distinct endeavours to fight corruption. One is the fight for a new anti-corruption law with the blessings of even the suspects. And the other is identifying the suspects and fighting them under existing laws. Anna Hazare and his team have launched an agitation for an anti-corruption law — the Lokpal Bill — without which, they told the nation, corruption could not be fought or contained. In their enterprise against corruption they first appealed to Sonia Gandhi for her support to fight corruption! And she also wrote to Anna offering her support! Subramanian Swamy, on the other hand, took the view that corruption could well be fought under the existing anti-corruption law provided the corrupt are targeted directly. First, he filed an application with the prime minister for prosecuting A Raja for his role in the 2G scam. Next he applied to the prime minister for sanction to prosecute Sonia Gandhi, whose support Anna had sought to stop corruption. Swamy, a seasoned politician and accomplished intellectual, knew that without the visible picture of the corrupt, corruption is a theoretical issue — a point which the apolitical Anna and team had missed.
How Subramanian Swamy has cornered the UPA finally is not a complex story. The 2G licence issue had all the trappings of an open air theatre scam from the day the licences were fraudulently issued, namely, on January 10, 2008. When the government was covering up the 2G issue, everyone was merely wondering how to fix the government. But Swamy acted. He filed an application on November 24, 2008, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for permission to prosecute A Raja who had issued the 2G licences. At that time Raja was a powerful minister in the ministry of UPA-I, being from the DMK that was dominant in the alliance. The anti-corruption law mandates that no court can look at a complaint against a public servant “except with the previous sanction” of the authority competent to remove the public servant from office. Since Raja was a minister, who could be removed by the PM, Swamy approached the PM for the sanction.
The likes of Sibals and Chidambarams were perhaps laughing at Swamy. But Swamy persisted. He kept on writing letters to the prime minister reminding him about his application. He ceaselessly kept talking about it in public and through the media. But the prime minister, as he is sworn to in most matters, kept silent. The silence of the PM had made the government and the ruling party happy. But Swamy moved the Delhi High Court for a direction to the PM to take a decision on his plea. The high court dismissed Swamy’s petition. The ruling government and party were in ecstasy. But, undeterred, Swamy moved the Supreme Court. The PM had written to Swamy on March 10, 2010, that Swamy’s plea for prosecuting Raja was premature as the CBI was investigating the matter — a response authored by amateur legalism. After having trivialised Swamy thus, on April 26, 2010, the PM told the media — which asked him whether Raja’s statement that he had the approval of the PM to do what he did — that Raja had consulted him before issuing the licences. That what the PM had accepted as consultation, Raja has asserted as permission.
Swamy also complained to the Supreme Court about the inordinate delay by the PM in deciding the matter. Meanwhile, the 2G issue had exploded on the face of the government with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India saying that the loss to the government was, on the lower side, some `69,000 crore and could be as high as `1,75,000 crore. The Supreme Court, seeing the government prevaricating at all levels, began monitoring the CBI investigation of the scam. The petition by Swamy too became part of the 2G scam litigation in the Supreme Court. The CBI did file charge-sheets in some cases of scam, including Raja as an accused in all except one. But Swamy’s plea to the PM to prosecute Raja and the PM’s inaction on it survived for consideration by the Supreme Court. The apex court did go deep into the matter, called for the records of the PMO and asked for an explanation from the PMO for the delay. By now, the ruling party and the government stopped laughing at Swamy. It became the turn of Swamy to laugh at them. It is the plea of Swamy to the PM to allow him to prosecute Raja which has been decided by the Supreme Court on January 31, 2012, in a landmark judgment.
First, the court has set aside the judgment of the Delhi High Court that had refused to direct the PM to decide on Swamy’s plea. Second, it has ruled that it is the constitutional right of a citizen to move to prosecute any public servant. Third, the authority to whom the application is made for permission to prosecute should take a decision within three months and if, within four months, no decision is taken, the permission shall be deemed to be granted. The import of the Supreme Court judgment is evident. The court has clearly indicted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for delaying the decision on Swamy’s plea. It has also directed him to decide on Swamy’s plea in 90 days. The court has also said that Parliament should lay down the guidelines for 2G prosecution. Finally, the court has said that for ordering inquiries into corruption against any public servant, criminal courts do not need sanction.
It may appear at the first sight that the judgment is against Raja and the PM. But, in substance, it is just an ant-bite on Raja and an embarrassment for the PM. Raja, already charge-sheeted, is in jail. The PM will have no difficulty in allowing one more complaint — that of Swamy — against Raja. But the real danger lies in the other application by Swamy — for permission to prosecute Sonia Gandhi — which the PM has labelled as “premature” and ducked. Under the anti-corruption law, the PM can sack Sonia, the chairperson of National Advisory Council, even though he himself may be removed by her. Swamy can now ask the PM whether the complaint has matured. He can also move the criminal court for inquiry against Sonia Gandhi for which, the Supreme Court has ruled, no sanction is needed. Swamy’s statement that he “can bypass Vadra and go straight to Sonia” is ominous. The Congress cannot laugh at him now.
(Views expressed in the column are the author’s own)
S Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.
E-mail: comment@gurumurthy.net
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