Minority Quota

Our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh said the following:

He warned that “no entity should be created inconsistent with our Constitutional framework and charged with onerous executive responsibilities without any accountability… Let us not create something that will destroy all that we cherish…all in the name of combating corruption. Let us remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

https://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Lokpal-Bill-UPA-wins-one-loses-one/892877/ 

But this leaf from his speech was on his opposition of bringing CBI under Lokpal…

If you read his statements again, thinking about the communal (Muslim) reservations inside Lokpal, you would agree that on the same grounds, communal quota should have never been passed by the parliament.

Indian constitution doesn’t allow reservations on the basis of one’s faith. But our government has not only decided to make 50% quota for some castes and for minority religions, they have also announced 4.5% reservations for minorities (Muslims and Christians), on the basis of their faith! In my opinion, this is completely against our constitution, and all of us should oppose this. So far I see only BJP has been opposing this, but I think the responsibility is on each one of us.

Say no to communal politics in the name of Lokpal! Say no to minority quota!

Gender Biased Media

A few years ago, I got too infuriated with the Times of India (TOI), due to the way it handled a news report. Some policemen had misbehaved with some women-protesters in Punjab, and the newspaper chose to show the face of the woman being harassed, her horrified friend’s face, but the camera angle made sure that policeman’s face would remain unclear and unidentified. It happened in both the two pictures it printed while reporting the news. That was a wretched show of journalism and my dislike of TOI reached a pinnacle with that incident (but many more cases had to follow).
 

Now a day, especially when I am in office, I browse through news.google.com to keep track of the latest happenings around the world. With time I started getting surprised as to why even Google News props up images of women in unrelated news, at the slightest opportunity. One day I just scrolled down the page and found that pictures of women were dominating the news page unnecessarily and almost unjustifiably. Since news hosted on google news is coming from various sources, and each source has multiple images on it, google news should have some logic to select which image to prop up on its main page. Was there a gender bias even in this expectedly gender-neutral programming?
 

I look at this page which is from any normal day.
 

With the news item titled “OBC admission: Supreme Court upholds HC order”, there are lady students featured alongside. So if the media has to post a picture of some students, it will be girl-students in most cases.

Second item is on rains and calamities. News titled “Heavy rains in UP, Bengal, Meghalaya; 12 dead” Here too, we can see a group of five women joining their umbrellas and captured in the camera. So if some people die out of heavy rains, our newspapers will show the pictures of some women commuters walking or suffering in the rains.

This kind of gender bias in the media is disappointing, and even offensive in a way. Such a practice keeps positioning women as an object and material, whose bodies would be for “display” to generate more eyeballs and raise some TRPs when it comes for the media. Advisers have historically used women (women’s beauty) to create a buzz around their products and services to an extent that we have stopped seeing any wrong in it. But it is surprising to me that even online portals running by unbiased search logic are selecting images of women only, for display.

OBC creamy layer ceiling raised to Rs 12 Lakh

Indian democracy becomes a joke when we talk about equality of all castes and religions. What our politicians actually practice is “vote bank politics”. Any group, be it a caste, religion, or gang, can demand and get anything and everything, if they are united and ready to “vote en mass” for or against any political party or leader. Caste based reservations, or popularly called Quota, are an example of this.
 

Caste based reservations were devised to benefit the poor. The rich, no matter belonging to which caste, are always protected in this world which runs on money. But just like the rich among all castes are basically “rich by caste” – they are another group altogether, their lobbying has resulted in a lot of manipulation of original policies to benefit the rich at the cost of the poor. Creamy layer was a system devised to counter this practice.
 

Creamy layer system was created to pull out the rich and powerful people among the reserved castes, so that the actually deserving candidates who were very poor, could benefit. So far the limit was Rs 4.5 Lakh per annum, which itself was very high given the socio-economic condition prevailing in India. But now, our super efficient government (check which political party is in power) has raised this limit to Rs 12 Lakh p.a. in metro cities and Rs 9 Lakh p.a. in non-metros!
 

Here is the news:
 

OBC creamy layer ceiling raised
 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/obc-creamy-layer-ceiling-raised/articleshow/10762780.cms
 

Another shocking reality is the timing of this decision. While the nation is busy fighting corruption and media highlight is on other issues, from the backdoor they have passed this rule thereby benefiting the rich and powerful among the OBC castes!
 

In my opinion, caste-based reservations are totally against our democracy and it mocks the principles of equality which our constitution assures to provide. I believe any right minded Indian would oppose the systems like discrimination based on castes, which indeed this Quota system is!
 

Long live our democracy! Let us remove all caste-based reservations and schemes! Let the poor come up and prosper!

The ‘Mahatma’ Fida Hussain

Ideally, the press and the journalists try to expose what is hidden beneath the rug. Not by peeping into individuals’ lives, for we are a billion people, but it happens particularly with whom we call celebrities. It is a cost to their celebrity-status that they have to undergo a scrutiny by the journalists. But at times, there are more to celebrities than a page-3 party. They get into controversies. The way media works; it ends up choosing its targets. The more interesting the enemy (the more articles can come up on the person), the better. When it comes to the case of the infamous painter MF Hussain Vs his controversial paintings, it was a case of MF Hussain Vs nascent Right-wing protestors, for the media. Who was to generate more news, buzz and gossip? It is an easy guess – the later. So it seems to me that the media chose its sides very smartly. MF Hussain became a hero, and his opponents – the Right-Wing ‘Saffron’ ‘Elements’ – became the villains. But, I think in the middle of this comfortable arrangement, bits of truth became victims.
 

I think not much analysis has been done on many aspects of the ‘MF Hussain Controversy’. His personal life has not been analyzed much – which could have given us some insights on the ways he chose. Demographic Profile – is what I mean. His decision to take up a Self-Imposed Exile was not evaluated enough with what could be the other possible reasons behind the decision to call it quits. I wished to research and write more on this, but I face a time constraint. But I read a very interesting piece by the fearless and reckless all-time famous journalist from India, Khushwant Singh. Let us read what he says here:
 

I got to know him during my stint in Bombay. He had already earned a name for himself as a modern artist and established a personal trade mark going bare-footed and carrying a two-yard long paint brush. He was a tall, well -built, handsome man with a beard. His infatuation for Bollywood stars, particularly Madhuri Dixit were bazaar gossip. By the time I got to know him, he was infatuated with Kamna Prasad. And she with him.
 

When he was invited to visit Pakistan, he persuaded Kamna to come with him. Once there he became very casual towards her. She cut short her visit and returned to Delhi. He sensed he had offended her and asked me to plead with her on his behalf to forgive him. He also added that he would dedicate his autobiography to her. No one knows how his family and six children took his philandering with women because they never spoke about it to outsiders.
 

I am not sure how many of you knew what Khushwant Singh revealed above. At least I didn’t read about this episode anywhere else. Since it’s coming from Khushwant Singh’s pen, I would assume it to be true.
 

Hint of another aspect behind him:

He fled the country and settled down in Qatar. By then each one of his paintings were fetching crores of rupees. He did not know what to do with money. He bought six expensive cars.
 

A man who doesn’t wear a shoe, needs to travel by six expensive cars, right?
 

What do these facts tell you? Doesn’t it give hint about a face of MF Hussain which most of us don’t know about? Has our media examined his other interests, except his flag-bearing act for the ‘right-of-expression’? Has our media showed us his sides where he is not having a ‘halo’ around his head? If not, then how are we expected to make an educated opinion?

Organized Conversion by Christian Missionaries

Just read the following article and can’t contain my happiness. I believe organized religious conversion out of Hinduism should be legally banned in India. Individual conversions are personal choices and should be left out. But the manner in which Christian / Catholic missionaries have been spreading their propaganda funded by foreign money/donations, it is shameful if our democratic govt should not stop it.

Conversion not a constitutional right: SC judge

Satya Prakash,Hindustan Times

New Delhi, February 27, 2011

Maintaining that there was no constitutional right to convert a person from one religion to another, justice P Sathasivan of the Supreme Court on Saturday said the right to propagate one’s religion was not an unrestricted right. Delivering the third Dr LM Singhvi Memorial Lecture on “Secularism and rule of law in India,” justice Sathasivam said the state has a right to pass laws restricting conversions if such activities created public disorder.

Quoting from the SC’s 1977 verdict in Stainislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh & Orissa, he said: “The right to propagate means the right to ‘transmit and spread one’s religion by an exposition of its tenets’. But…there is no constitutional right to convert a person from one religion to another, because this would impinge on the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike.”

The Supreme Court delineated the boundaries of the right to propagate in the context of state legislation prohibiting forcible conversions, said justice Sathasivam, who headed the bench, which made a controversial remark against religious conversions while upholding the conviction of Dara Singh in the Graham Staines murder case last month.

But the bench chose to modify it after several Christian organisations termed it uncalled for and demanded its withdrawal.

On state’s the right to pass legislation restricting conversions, justice Sathasivam, quoting from an SC verdict said: “the ‘public order’ provision of Article 25(1) of the Constitution has a ‘wide connotation’ and that the state could legislate conversions if they ‘created public disorder.”

While maintaining, “Secularism is the part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” he said the term ‘secular’ has not been defined, presumably because it is a very elastic term not capable of a precise definition and perhaps best left undefined.

He, however, said in Indian context secularism meant “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” ie tolerance for all religions, which springs from due deliberation for one’s own happiness and also for welfare of all beings.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/tabloid-news/newdelhi/Conversion-not-a-constitutional-right-SC-judge/Article1-667294.aspx

I hope this creates a better environment and consensus for our govt to be able to put a ban on the corrupt conversion activities with help of money or jobs.

Disclaimer: Views are personal and do not represent views of any person or organization associated with the author. This is a personal blog. Purpose of write-ups is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments.

Mamata Banerjee as a Railway Minister

Mamata Banerjee has been called ‘Railway Minister for West Bengal’, because of her ‘Rail Budgets’ showered disproportionately higher largesse on her home state West Bengal alone. In 2009-10 budget, she started 19 new trains for WB alone, shifted some proposed factories from Bihar to WB (revenge on Lalu Prasad), and also announced a mega power plant for the state – schemes for other states were muted. In 2010-11, it got better: 40 out of 99 new trains were announced for Bengal alone in the Rail Budget! In fact her intentions were made clear in a few days after she became the Rail Minister – she shifted the Railway Ministry itself, from New Delhi to Kolkata! This was done in order to enable her to give her proper time and attention to the upcoming state assembly elections in WB!
 

Now somewhere her recklessness had to bite us. And it not only bit us, but also killed, injured and mutilated us. If not to all of us; then to a lot of us for sure. Read this statistic:
 

Mamata’s track record in Railways: 14 major railway accidents claiming over 700 lives in the past 2 years.
 

Read detailed analysis here: http://tinyurl.com/3e5q93a It comments on other grave issues like impact on Railway’s profitability due to her political moves, to count as one.
 

Now some people said that a large part of these accidents and deaths were the results of Naxal attacks, which were also a responsibility of the state govt. Hence Mamata should not be held responsible for this pathetic performance. Here is my reply:
 

Only Gyaneshwari Express was a major Naxal attack. And even in that, the actual casualty happened when a goods train came and collided with the derailed passenger train. Naxals didn’t want to kill people – they had only derailed it. They didn’t know that the driver of goods train would be blind, or any rescue for the derailed train would be lame. In any case 170 dead in Gyaneshwari still leaves a mammoth 530 to be counted for other accidents. And I am not counting accidents without any deaths yet; or the injuries, or the minor rail accidents.
 

Just view this page; a mere glance tells something horribly wrong went under her period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Indian_rail_incidents
 

Railways was never her “priority”. It was her mere “means” to get power in Kolkata. She never counted the dead and injured, all she counted was the new trains she started for West Bengal. And we had to bear the consequences for her “priority mismatch”…
 

Thank God that she won the West Bengal elections. Let us hope the new Rail Minister has some wider vision.

Holy Water and Catholic Conversions

I received the following piece from a friend. I usually avoid Sardarji jokes, but my friend who sent it was one himself and hence I am posting this without any alteration.
 

Each Friday night after work, Sardar ji would fire up his outdoor grill and cook a Tandoori chicken and some meat kebabs. But, all of his neighbors were strict Catholics … And since it was Lent, they were forbidden from eating chicken and meat on a Friday.
 

The aroma from the grilled meats was causing such a problem for the Catholic faithful that they finally talked to their Priest. The Priest came to visit Sardar ji and suggested that he become a Catholic. After several classes and much study, Sardar ji attended Mass… And as the priest sprinkled holy water over him, he said, You were born a Sikh, and raised as a Sikh, but from now, you are a Catholic.”
 

Sardar ji’s neighbors were greatly relieved, until Friday night arrived. The wonderful aroma of Tandoori chicken and meat kebabs filled the neighborhood. The Priest was called immediately by the neighbors and, as he rushed into Sardar ji’s backyard, clutching a rosary and prepared to scold him, he stopped and watched in amazement.
 

There stood Sardar  ji, holding a small bottle of holy water which he carefully sprinkled over  the grilling meats and chanted: “Oye, you were born a chicken, and you  were born a lamb, you were raised as a chicken and you were raised as a lamb but now onwards you are a potato and you are a  tomato.
 

This is such a fitting comment on religious conversions and their hypocrisy! Yet, world’s two largest religions found their members by such methods! Wish there were more people in this world like our Sardarji.

Killing the Golden Goose the UPA Way

Mahatma Gandhi said India lives in the villages. Whenever I visited my naani-ke-gaon, my mother would point to the fact that people in villages were honest and lived a more virtuous life than those in the cities. And as I grew up, I agreed with this notion. But it didn’t have to continue for long, as I saw. Each time when my government waived the farmers’ bank loans, it punished the honest and industrious farmers who had planned and cared to return back the loans they took. Such loan waivers, which matched the election schedules to create the right atmosphere for the UPA government to win, rewarded the lazy and corrupt farmers who would take bank loans and would fund their wrong habits instead of using the money to invest in their farm lands. Of course there were farmers who genuinely benefited from the loan waivers, but any other scheme which helped the poor or Below Poverty Line villagers would have helped them anyway. Farm loans waivers were an election gimmick.
 

I think now we are about to reap the results of our government’s gambles. As this report tells us:
 

All government banks are reporting an increase in their bad debts on farms loans ranging between 80% and 2000% in the first nine months of 2010-11. The net NPAs of all public sector banks till December 2010 increased by 70% compared to 46% in 2009-10.
 

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur reported the highest increase in non-performing assets (NPAs) on agriculture loans at 2,000% in April-December 2010. The increase in SBI’s bad loans has gone up by 80% compared to the bank’s total farm loan NPAs in the previous fiscal. Andhra Bank reported a 168% rise in NPA while in case of Allahabad Bank, it was more than 157% and for Corporation Bank, it was 205%. Bad farm loans of Bank of India increased by 100% in the current fiscal till December 2010.
 

Source: “Bad debts on farm loans pile up”, 7 Mar 2011, TNN,

https://m.economictimes.com/PDAET/articleshow/7644305.cms
 

Such high proportions of bad-loans would force the government to waive them again. (This culture of loan-waiving would make the rural banking system ineffective in the long term. People will take loans in order not to pay them off; and banks would be forced by govts to keep granting larger sums of loans to rural area. This is what I call “Killing the golden goose”). In most probability, PSBs would get their due in the form of government money. But ultimately from where does the subsidy come from? It comes from our tax-returns to the government! So in a way, we, the responsible citizens, are funding the corrupt practices happening in the hinterlands…

Given the plethora of scams and scandals which have enveloped the current UPA government, we would be deaf and dumb if we still believe its motives were honest. As the government indulges in large scale corruption, it is part of the same corruption to corrupt the uncorrupted among the citizens too. I see the use of farm loan wavers as an election gimmick to be doing the same to our farmers and to all of us…

Sheila’s Gift to Delhi on Women’s Day

8th of March is celebrated as International Women’s Day. But Delhi, which is virtually the rape-capital of India, celebrated it by learning about an incident where a college going female student was shot dead in the broad day light. (goes without saying that the killer was a male.) The killer may be mentally disturbed; he may have some personal vindication against the girl, the case even may be that of revenge, but we can’t ignore the bold circumstances in which the crime was committed. It speaks much of the law and order situation in the national capital.
 

Why my blame goes to Sheila Dixit has historical reasons behind it. At a time when rapes were being committed in Delhi in moving cars and by all sort of people, Sheila Dixit had made an important comment, virtually blaming the girls who dare to go out on the road late in the night. Many of us thought she was blaming the rape victims rather than the criminals. What we never imagined at that time was that Sheila Ji is totally incorrigible – even today she blames the public for her government’s failures:
 

Society should help in fighting crime: Delhi CM
 

Mar 10, 2011 at 03:21pm IST
 

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has shifted some of the blame on the public saying civil society should speak up when they see crimes being committed in the city. Sheila made the statement even as hundreds of students from various Delhi University colleges are up in arms against the killing of 20-year-old Radhika Tanwar and increasing crime against women in the capital.”Civil society should also take responsibility and people should be more responsible when they see acts of crime in front of them.” Sheila said on Thursday.
 

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/society-should-help-in-fighting-crime-delhi-cm/145463-3.html
 

It is true that aam aadmi is often a mere spectator when a crime is committed in front of his/her eyes, but there is a reason why one behaves like a coward. It is because people don’t trust the police and our government to protect them from criminals’ revenge, if they come out in the open to stop or identify the criminals. Our government and our system have failed to create that sort of confidence in the minds of our citizens. If Sheila Dixit doesn’t understand this, it is her problem.
 

I look forward to the media to take up this case and create some pressure on governments like Delhi’s and powerful but irresponsible Chief Ministers like Sheila Dixit, to come out of their cozy offices and do something for which they have been elected by the people.

More than Error of Judgment

Prime Ministers of India are perhaps the most erroneous among their peers. Errors, we define, by the admission of the culprits. Otherwise when one sits down to judge, right from the creation of this nation to what not – all would seem erroneous. So we had our first prime minister Nehru making an error which he termed as “Himalayan Blunder”. Next in the line when Indira ji made an error of a horror. An error of ego, to be precise. Doesn’t matter what tag it deserves, but it resulted in hundreds of Sikhs massacred on the streets. Third in the line, the clean shaven Rajiv did an error too. Two innocent errors actually – of sending troops to kill our own children in Lanka and of entertaining some guests from his in-laws circles. “Q”uantum of error – but doesn’t count. After all we need heroes to worship, right? So Rajiv remains a hero despite his errors and their repercussions. And all other small people – from LB Shastri to Narsimha Rao – were less of a hero no matter what they did. When we see such great error-makers along with their blunders and follies, our current PM’s self-touted “error of judgment” seems a petty one. It goes even without a flutter. But what if it was not an error?
 

What if it was not an error?
 

What if it was a well thought-out decision?
 

Who pays for it?
 

Dr. Singh has accepted his responsibility. But is that all he thinks we deserve?

Ban Organized Conversion by Christian Missionaries

Just read the following article and can’t contain my happiness. I believe organized religious conversion out of Hinduism should be legally banned in India. Individual conversions are personal choices and should be left out. But the manner in which Christian / Catholic missionaries have been spreading their propaganda funded by foreign money/donations, it is shameful if our democratic govt should not stop it.
 

Conversion not a constitutional right: SC judge
 

Satya Prakash,Hindustan Times

New Delhi, February 27, 2011
 

Maintaining that there was no constitutional right to convert a person from one religion to another, justice P Sathasivan of the Supreme Court on Saturday said the right to propagate one’s religion was not an unrestricted right. Delivering the third Dr LM Singhvi Memorial Lecture on “Secularism and rule of law in India,” justice Sathasivam said the state has a right to pass laws restricting conversions if such activities created public disorder.
 

Quoting from the SC’s 1977 verdict in Stainislaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh & Orissa, he said: “The right to propagate means the right to ‘transmit and spread one’s religion by an exposition of its tenets’. But…there is no constitutional right to convert a person from one religion to another, because this would impinge on the ‘freedom of conscience’ guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike.”
 

The Supreme Court delineated the boundaries of the right to propagate in the context of state legislation prohibiting forcible conversions, said justice Sathasivam, who headed the bench, which made a controversial remark against religious conversions while upholding the conviction of Dara Singh in the Graham Staines murder case last month.
 

But the bench chose to modify it after several Christian organisations termed it uncalled for and demanded its withdrawal.
 

On state’s the right to pass legislation restricting conversions, justice Sathasivam, quoting from an SC verdict said: “the ‘public order’ provision of Article 25(1) of the Constitution has a ‘wide connotation’ and that the state could legislate conversions if they ‘created public disorder.”
 

While maintaining, “Secularism is the part of the basic structure of the Constitution,” he said the term ‘secular’ has not been defined, presumably because it is a very elastic term not capable of a precise definition and perhaps best left undefined.
 

He, however, said in Indian context secularism meant “Sarva Dharma Sambhav” ie tolerance for all religions, which springs from due deliberation for one’s own happiness and also for welfare of all beings.
 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/tabloid-news/newdelhi/Conversion-not-a-constitutional-right-SC-judge/Article1-667294.aspx
 

I hope this creates a better environment and consensus for our govt to be able to put a ban on the corrupt conversion activities with help of money or jobs. 

The Congressi Tradition of Rewards

Many of us were not happy when Congress had won the last state election in Maharashtra even after all had happened before, during and after 26/11. Terror attack was not a single issue, the issues ranged from farmers’ suicides to all round corruption. In the citizens cry after 26/11 attacks, the party only replaced the CM to show to the hapless public that it had acted against the ineffective CM. But Vilasrao was made a union minister, as if being rewarded for the inaction and corruption. Today, a Supreme Court judge had the guts to tell the truth to the whole world. I hope Congress supporters are reading this:
 

Vilasrao’s cabinet post a shameless act: SC judge
 

TNN, Feb 7, 2011, 03.29am IST
 

Supreme Court Justice A K Ganguly has expressed dismay that the Centre allowed Union cabinet minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to continue “in full glory” despite being slammed by the SC barely two months ago for grossly abusing his power as Maharashtra chief minister to shield from criminal action a moneylender family which was squeezing debt ridden farmers of Vidarbha dry.
 

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Why-is-Vilasrao-Deshmukh-still-a-minister/articleshow/7440199.cms

A Case of Misled Hindus Waiting to Return

I have a friend who has a Christian name though he comes from near my hometown where almost no Christians live. Still this guy has installed Ram Sita pictures, burnt incense sticks and worshipped every morning (which even I didn’t do daily), did Yoga often in the evening and celebrated Diwali in full spirits. I got to know that his family was converted under influence from some Christian missionary, but from his heart he has never accepted the new religion. He is happy being a Hindu in heart.
 

But he is of marriageable age and I wonder if any Hindu father would give his daughter to him. In that case, he would certainly marry another Christian and if his wife would be an evangelist kind of Christian, he may also change his heart or his children and future generations would definitely be Christians. In such case the best thing to happen is if he “converts” to Hinduism officially. But here too, there are hurdles: 1. His parents may not allow it to happen, and 2. Even if he converts, would any Hindu father give his daughter to such a person? Then what is the way out?
 

I think a solution can come if there is any Hindu organisation which provides good assistance to such estranged Hindus. I read a lot about Arya Samaj, but I wonder if they have kept up pace with the Generation-Y. Also, what is the way for any such organisation to reach him, if he himself doesn’t go to ask for help.
 

I wonder what the way out is for people like him…

Anything for the Prince?

Wikileaks did a great harm to the image of Rahul Gandhi, the crown prince from “the dynasty” in India. He would never have imagined that his letter to the US Ambassador would be made public, where he said that Hindu extremism was a bigger threat to India than the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) or Islamic terrorism. The fact that he was saying all this not to any other elections but to a foreign nation like US of A, made the matter worse. The diplomatic and long term repercussions of his irresponsible communication, which many believe is Congressi propaganda against right wing parties, were to be immense. But such revelations also put a question mark on his ‘ability’ to become a Prime Minister of India, where 80% population is ‘non-minority’.
 

Watching the political scene from soon after these exposures/leaks, I can see another clear line shaping up. One ‘Swami’ Aseemanand has been caught and he is said to be making confessions to own up all possible terror attacks that happened in India, starting from his date of birth onwards. He is said to have made bombs to blast trains, all in rupees 25,000 each. And as main conspirators, he is naming dead persons. Remember that for the same Samjhauta express blasts, the SIMI had owned up responsibility. Official statement reads: “The Samjhauta blasts were carried out with the help of activists of SIMI with the help of Pakistani nationals who had come to the country from across the border.” – Safdar Nagori, chief of the SIMI Nagori faction. And now, out of heaven, a ‘Swami’ (this needs to be highlighted in order to put the blame on the larger Hindu organizations as a whole) appears, wearing all saffron clothes (this color is again very necessary to be captured in all journalists and news channels’ cameras), and he owns up the same Samjhauta express blasts! What is in the store for future? A confession that he was the real famed Spiderman about whom they made movies? Or that some more dead persons who wore saffron clothes and belonged to that Hindu organization at one time in their life had carried out each of the terror attacks and even all the anti-Sikh riots of 1984?
 

I feel there is something cooking up for pure political reasons. And I think “Prince” with his gloomy beard and foreign eyes is beginning to smile. Only, I do not wish the Queen with a long life; nor will I wish to see the Prince as the PM of the country I love and our freedom fighters died for. 

Telangana: for Economics or Politics?

For anyone who ever supported a separate Telangana State (including me), here is a piece to ponder over:

Telangana state: Is there an economic rationale?

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/view-point/telangana-state-is-there-an-economic-rationale/articleshow/7207987.cms

(The author teaches finance at Indian School of Business)

Gujjar Quota: Jiski Lathi Uski Bhais

I believe most of my friends think that Gujjars’ demand for caste-based reservations was wrong and their violent methods of protests which caused grave inconvenience to commuters for weeks should have been dealt with harsh rap. But, ultimately they have succeeded in what they wanted. 
 

Gujjars start returning home from rail tracks
 

Jaipur, Jan 6 (IANS) Hundreds of Gujjars, squatting on railway tracks near Bayana in Bharatpur district for the past 17 days to press their demand for job quotas, have started packing their bags to return home after an agreement with the Rajasthan government.
 

The Gujjars were Wednesday assured five percent quota in government posts following several rounds of talks.
 

https://www.sify.com/news/gujjars-start-returning-home-from-rail-tracks-news-national-lbgnkkddhdh.html

I feel it’s a shame and cowardice for the world’s largest democracy to give up to the unjust demands of violent mobs. But when political power in India is shared between so few hands (or political leaders), we can expect more such situations to arise. Wonder where our discriminatory system of giving jobs and educations after looking at our castes and religions would take us to!

Bangladeshi Migrants – Hindus Vs Muslims

This is where I completely hail BJP for standing up for the genuine rights of Hindus. I am happy to read this news and I hope government sees the point. I believe India indeed has a moral responsibility to accept all Hindus from either Pakistan or Bangladesh who have to flee from these countries due to religious discrimination. We created separate nations for Muslims, but we also need to think of the plight of the Hindus who suffered because of our decision.

Enroll Bangladeshi Hindus as voters: BJP

NEW DELHI, January 4, 2011

The Bharatiya Janata Party has no problem with Bangladeshi Hindus settled in Assam being put on the electoral rolls. Its objection was only to Bangladeshi Muslims, the party in-charge of political affairs in Assam Vijay Goel said here on Monday. In fact, he said “Bangladeshi Hindus must be put on the voters’ lists.”

Mr. Goel led a BJP delegation to meet the Election Commission and submitted a memorandum asking the Commission to undertake a proper revision of rolls ahead of the Assembly election and ensure Bangladeshi Muslims – those who have come after 1971 – are taken off the rolls.

However, the memorandum emphasised: “India has a moral responsibility to accept all Hindus of Pakistan and Bangladesh who have been displaced due to discrimination and persecution on the grounds of religion. Therefore, all such displaced persons must be granted citizenship status.”

It also noted that Bengali-speaking Hindus settled in Assam were facing intimidation and harassment from governments and this issue should be dealt with urgently and they should be granted citizenship and voting rights.

The party also talked about the “high fertility rate” among the Bangladeshi Muslims settled in the State.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/article1030359.ece