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Rebuttal to Father Mascarenhas -- KJ Alphons.

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Rebuttal to Father Mascarenhas

April 30, 2014 11:57 pm
KJ Alphons

SUMMARY

From an ex-Left MLA, now with the BJP, who says Modi could lead us to the ‘kingdom of god’.
I was shocked to discover that the Gujarat model was about courage and compassion and not ‘cultural polarisation’.I was shocked to discover that the Gujarat model was about courage and compassion and not ‘cultural polarisation’.

From an ex-Left MLA, now with the BJP, who says Modi could lead us to the ‘kingdom of god’.
As a citizen of India, Frazer Mascarenhas had the freedom to get on top of the tallest building in Mumbai and shout whatever he wanted. But the moment he became a Catholic priest, he surrendered part of that freedom. The Catholic church doesn’t allow politicking by clergy. He also surrendered that freedom when he became a university teacher. Section 414 of the Maharashtra Universities Act prohibits teachers from using their posts for political purposes. When he became principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, his freedom was further curbed. The collective responsibility of representing the Christian community, the Catholic church and the teacher community rested upon his shoulders. Mascarenhas failed on all counts.
I do not fully agree with the church diktat to its clergy to keep off politics, since Christians everywhere say in the lord’s prayer every day, “Thy kingdom come”. That kingdom can come only when there is justice and fairness. It can be accomplished only through good governance. It can never be accomplished when there is looting and corruption. Therefore a good Christian, even a Catholic priest, is duty bound to ensure that good governance is in place, which will ensure justice. Let me call this “Christian politics”. Therefore I would not have found Mascarenhas wanting at all in his Christian calling if he had exhorted his students to elect representatives who would ensure good governance.
The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Cardinal Cleemis, issued a pastoral letter to be read out in all the Catholic churches in India on April 6: “Let us pray that those who work hard to uphold values and principles in public life, those who uphold the great democratic and secular traditions of this country, and those who can ensure peace and prosperity to all its citizens get elected.” He hit the nail on the head. Not just Christians, but any sensible citizen could have used this to evaluate candidates at the ballot box.
But Mascarenhas failed to understand Cardinal Cleemis. He claims that he is not taking sides, that he is only provoking intelligent debate. But his opening remarks give him away: Gujarat’s “terrible experience in the last 10 years”. Though he doesn’t name any political party, his message is clear: Narendra Modi is dangerous, vote for the Congress. I don’t know the provocation for him to write so, especially from his official email address.
Mascarenhas seems to have got both the message of Christian politics as well as the basic facts about Gujarat wrong. First, about the basic message of Christ. The message of Christ is in his life: courage and compassion. If this is Christ and Christianity, haven’t you gone completely wrong in evaluating Modi? Hasn’t he shown remarkable courage in his administration to ensure that there was no corruption for the past 10 years? Has he not shown the kind of compassion to the downtrodden that is almost biblical, when he ensured that their livelihood sustenance grew at a phenomenal rate? How do I know that these claims are true?
I have travelled extensively in Gujarat during the past five years and I have evaluated for myself what is happening there. I had no reason to be soft on Modi or the BJP. I was shocked to discover that the Gujarat model was about courage and compassion and not “cultural polarisation”. If all households get quality electricity, who is the beneficiary? If agriculture, which is the lifeline of the majority of Indians, grows at 9.8 per cent a year for the past 10 years, who is the beneficiary? If industry grows at a phenomenal rate, who gets employed? If there has not been one communal riot during the past 12 years, who has been the beneficiary? If Gujarat has the best road network in the country, is not the ordinary citizen the beneficiary? Father Mascarenhas, please go and see the courage with which Modi has taken on communal forces during the past 12 years. Did you see Pravin Togadia or any Bajrang Dal functionary calling the shots in Gujarat during the past 10 years? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
You, as a Christian preacher, should believe only in the real. You must see the writing on the ground. You must throw a stone only when you are convinced that a sin has been committed. Christianity is all about forgiveness. The Supreme Court and every court of the land is convinced that Modi is not a sinner. Still Mascarenhas, who hears confessions, and the main plank of whose religion is forgiveness, irresponsibly slams Modi on the eve of elections, calling Gujarat a “terrible experience”.
Let me tell you the experience of a Catholic bishop who went to see Modi. Since he didn’t know Modi, he took a BJP functionary along with him. Modi’s first comment was: “Bishop, you don’t need anybody’s recommendation to see me. In the future, just call me directly. Now what can I do for you?” The bishop said: “Here are requests for three schools; if you could kindly consider one of them I will be very grateful.” In half a minute, Modi approved not one but all three schools. I have never seen Christians in Gujarat complaining. They are happy in Gujarat. They never felt more secure. They don’t even want to go back to Kerala.
I am a practising Catholic. I joined the BJP three years back, as I wanted Modi to be prime minister. Why? He will bring food to every table, send every child to school and create jobs for our young people. For lots of people, that is the kingdom of god.
The writer, a former IAS officer, is a member of the BJP’s national executive
http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rebuttal-to-father-mascarenhas/99/

AAP: Anti-national party Acronym should be ANP.

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IS ARVIND KEJRIWAL WORKING TO DESTABILIZE INDIA?


In this article by Biswajeet Banerjee also please read:

Deadly nexus between Arvind Kejriwal and Jihadists, anti-national forces, far left Communists, foreign funded NGOs, pro-terrorist and pro-Pakistan elements, anti-Hindu groups, fifth columnists,  whose sole agenda is to promote subversive activities in India, weaken, break and consequently balkanize India;  and stop Narendra Modi from becoming the next Prime Minister of India.


Narain Kataria

Kejriwals evicted from Varanasi temple for soliciting votes – Biswajeet Banerjee

Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, Kashi

Sankat Mochan Hanuman  in Varanasi“Can the temple complex be used to propagate political ideology? The simple answer is no. The politics and religion could not be mixed together.” - Biswajeet Banerjee

Can the temple complex be used to propagate political ideology? The simple answer is no. The politics and religion could not be mixed together. Realising the mood of the people, the trustees of the Sankat Mochan Temple in Varanasi have asked theAam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and his parents to move out of the temple complex because the premises was being used for political activities.
Arvind Kejriwal with parents Govind Ram Kejriwal and Geeta DeviSources claim that the parents of the Arvind Kejriwal – Gita Devi and Gobind Kejriwal – used to give sermons about the need to have a political change prompting trust members to ask the Kejriwals to shift out of the temple where they were staying since April 15. The sources also added that there were objections from the devout coming to the temple about the spurt of “political activity” there. The devout said that parents wearing AAP cap even distributed caps and pamphlets among the devotees. Earlier no one said anything because of the age of the couple. But when they started talking politics in the temple – eye brows were raised.
Head priest of Sankat Mochan, Bishambhar Mishra had invited Arvind Kejriwal and his parents to stay at the guest house situated at the first floor of the temple complex. Initially, no one objected to this. But then devotees started questioning as why a candidate of Parliamentary election was allowed to stay in temple complex. But the situation went out of hands when Arvind Kejriwal’s parents started electioneering from there. Dr Kaushal Kishore Mishra, cousin of Bishambhar Mishra was vocal against the use of the temple premises. However, the AAP has so far received a lukewarm response in Varanasi.
Arvind Kejriwal is banking heavily on the Muslim support to counter Narendra Modi’s increasing political acceptability. But the way Muslims of this holy city have shown their inclination to vote for the BJP this time has taken steam out of AAP’s sail. Last night, former Congress mayor Ajay Kumar Singh and over 80 Muslim representatives – men and women – joined the BJP. In this scenario, the trustees of the temple did not want to chance and therefore they opted to move out.
Trying to steer out of controversy, the temple trust said that the Kejriwals were allotted room for three days and after expiry of the time limit they have been asked to vacate the accommodation. The AAP sources said that Arvind Kejriwal and his parents had moved to the Durga Kund area near Benaras Hindu University (BHU). –Niti Central, 19 Apr 2014

The curious case of Kejriwal: Chai Pe Charcha

Ford Foundation’s link with Congress, NAC, AAP

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Ford Foundation’s link with Congress, NAC, AAP
By Surajit Dasgupta on Apr 30, 2014 
Ford Foundation’s link with Congress, NAC, AAP
In our reports, ‘AAP part of international anti-India racket’ part 1 and part 2’, we revealed the Ford Foundation connection of the following Indian NGOs:
• Sampoorn Parivartan (later christened Parivartan) of Arvind Kejriwal and Kabir of both Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia.
• ICSSR of Jawaharlal Nehru University that funded Yogendra Yadav.
• PRADAN of Meera Sanyal.
There are other Leftist noise makers who are beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation:
• Mallika Sarabhai’s NGO Darpana.
• Amartya Sen for his book, The Idea of Justice.
• Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand’s Sabrang Communication.
These names have also been mentioned by R Vaidyanathan of the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, in his investigative article ‘Is India safe: What is Ford Foundation?’
While the first four dramatis personae are members as well as election candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the next four are sympathisers of the party. Sarabhai had actually got into the party but was then repelled by the only apparent right winger in the fold, Kumar Vishwas.
Activists in Gujarat allege that Sarabhai runs an ‘empire of trusts’ in the State, and whenever activists and reformists demand that the State must switch from income tax gradually to wealth tax, she is among the foremost to oppose the proposal. Ambalal Sarabhai was given licenses by the British Empire to run textile industries. His granddaughter Mallika Sarabhai is a trustee in several trusts that own miles and miles of plots of land across Ahmedabad. Her land holdings are official and known to the Government, but the data are not made public as details of a trust’s wealth are permitted to stay confidential by law. She fears a new Government promising systemic changes may change this law and make her look super rich, rather awkwardly. She runs NGOs that used to supply goods to various Government departments at premium prices. The reason that turned her against Chief Minister Narendra Modi is his policy to have variety in vendors from whom the Government buys goods required by the State, alleged Sarabhai’s former colleagues under the condition of anonymity.
The book, Toward Sustainable Development: Struggling Over India’s Narmada River, edited by William F Fisher, shows special interest of these American outfits in Medha Patkar’s Narmada Bachao Andolan: Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Indo-US Sub-Commission on Education and Culture and the US Department of Education. Patkar is also the AAP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mumbai northeast.
“If you have so much of evidence, then why don’t you complain to the Government?” my detractors often ask. Complain to which Government, the one that grants Sisodia permission to receive foreign funds in 2005, before his NGO is registered in 2007!
There is another reason to suspect a CIA-Indian National Congress nexus. On December 3, 2013, The Economic Times reported that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had contracted MongoDB — an American open source, cross-platform, document-oriented, database system start-up — in an unspecified database management capacity. MongoDB is partially funded by the not-for-profit venture capital firm of the CIA called In-Q-Tel (IQT). In-Q-Tel works with National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Defence Intelligence Agency and Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, too. Making the deal more suspicious, neither UIDAI nor MongoDB or UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani responded to queries from ET on whether the CIA link was considered before entering into a partnership.
Out of the declared beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation, one would note that almost all NGOs have some Government, National Advisory Council (NAC) or AAP connection:
To promote ‘transparent, effective and accountable Government’
For research and public policy analysis:
• Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA) — $325,000
• Samarthan Centre for Development Support (SCDS) — $150,000
• Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) — $200,000
• Prayas — $350,000
• Centre for Policy Research (CPR) — $200,000
For programme exploration:
• Praja Foundation
To strengthen ‘human rights worldwide’
For research and public policy analysis:
• SAATH Charitable Trust – $200,000
• Vigyan Foundation – $200,000
• Natural Justice – $250,000
• National Academy of Legal Studies and Research University – $330,000
• Rural Development Institute – $315,000
• Centre for Economic and Social Studies – $200,000
For capacity building and technical assistance:
• IDEAL: Institute for Development Education and Learning: $270,000
• South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR): $200,000
For advocacy, litigation and reform:
• Lawyers Collective: $1240000
‘Expanding livelihood opportunities for poor households’
For programme exploration:
• Centre for Collective Development (CCD): $300,000
• Madhyam Foundation: $250,000
• Neeti Solutions Private Limited: $250,000
• Action for Social Advancement (ASA): $550,000
Programme demonstration and scaling:
• Friends of WWB – India (FWWB): $500,000
• Access Livelihoods Consulting India Pvt Ltd – $190275
• Sarba Shanti Ayog (SSA) – $250000
• Rabobank Foundation – $690000
Advocacy, litigation and reform:
• Trickle Up Program, Inc – $350000
• Professional Assistance for Development Action – $590021
• Xavier Institute of Management – $500000
• United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – $370000
• Institute for Financial Management and Research – $250000
• The Livelihood School – $350000
Research and public policy analysis:
• Foundation-Administered Project (FAP) – $342000
“Expanding community rights over natural resources” (this agenda figured prominently in the first policy meeting of the AAP held in the house of Shalini Gupta, Prashant Bhushan’s sister, in Noida in between January 11-13, 2013. Yogendra Yadav, Anand Kumar and invitees Prof Arun Kumar and Aseem Shrivastava stressed the need to switch socialism from bureaucratic control to community ownership)
Programme demonstration and scaling:
• Vanangana – $310000
• Arthik Anusandhan Kendra – $176250
• Stichting Hivos – $1400000
• Sahjeevan – $320000
Research and public policy analysis:
• Vikas Sahyog Kendra – $160000
• Society for Promotion of Wastelands Development (SPWD) – $210000
• Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) – $300000
• Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment – $200000
• Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois – $91844
Advocacy, litigation and reform:
• Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) – $140000
• Centre for People’s Forestry (CPF) – $200000
• Vasundhara – $300000
Network building and convening:
• Samaj Pragati Sahayog (SPS) – $345656
Programme learning:
• Foundation-Administered Project (FAP) – $630000
Communications and public education:
• Sahjeevan – $80000
“Advancing media rights and access”
Research and public policy analysis:
• LIRNEasia – $300000
• Vikas Samvad Samiti – $200000
• Jamia Millia Islamia – $200000
• Centre for Communication and Development Studies – $250000
Evaluation and assessment:
• Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad: $150,000
Capacity building and technical assistance:
• Rural Broadband Pvt Ltd: $350,000
• Indian Institute of Technology Bombay: $530,000
• Society for Development Alternatives: $250,000
• Urban Design Research Institute: $200,000
Stakeholder development and collaboration:
• One World International Foundation: $257,450
“Youth sexuality, reproductive health and rights”
Capacity building and technical assistance:
• Institute of Social Studies Trust: $200,000
• Nirantar: $250,000
• SAMA – Resource Group for Women and Health: $240,000
• Health Institute for Mother and Child – MAMTA: $280,000
• CREA: $440,000
• Sahaj: $200,000
Programme demonstration and scaling:
• Women Power Connect: $250,000
• Asmita Resource Center for Women: $275,000
• HAQ: Centre for Child Rights: $235,000
• Sakhi: $200,000
• Centre for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA): $477,500
• Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action: $190,000
• Sahayog Society for Participatory Rural Development (SSPRD): $340,000
• Anusandhan Trust: $300,000
• Health Institute for Mother and Child – MAMTA: $335,000
Advocacy, litigation and reform:
• National Foundation for India: $690,000
• Center for Reproductive Rights: $300,000
• South Asia Women’s Fund: $175,000
Communications and public education:
• Centre for Media and Alternative Communication: $200,000
In a report, ‘Can AAP fill political vacuum?’, the reporter quotes the CBGA’s Manzoor Ali who approves of the AAP but urges it to retain only its Leftist leadership while weeding out its right-wing supporters. The CBGA’s treasurer Anil K Singh is also the secretary general of South Asian Network for Social and Agricultural Development (SANSAD) whose links with the international anti-India racket has been talked about in my previous article.
Bhopal-based Yogesh Kumar of the SCDS is also a part of the CBGA.
The ADR finds only 14 per cent of the AAP candidates (up to the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2014) with criminal charges while full-time activists of the party allege they number in hundreds. Of course, the ADR does not count in its total AAP candidates perceived as anti-nationals by the party workers. More about the ADR finds mention later in this exposition.
Rajmohan Gandhi, whose links with Ghulam Nabi Fai has been disclosed in my previous article, has worked for the CPR. And going against the advice of all administrative experts and economists who rubbished the AAP Government’s free water programme, the CPR vehemently supported it through its policy document, “In defence of free water — beyond the Delhi experiment,” calling it “momentous”, going to the extent of equating Delhi with South Africa. Those who have keenly followed the election speeches of Kejriwal throughout 2013 know that he kept saying, “If water can be distributed free in South Africa, it can be in Delhi as well.” Now you know who gave him the idea. Gandhi has also worked with the University of Illinois, whose board of trustees is another Ford Foundation beneficiary.
Never mind the fact that the South African model is not Government-intensive. It comes with management contract to private operators and is equipped with pre-paid meters. It also stresses on universal access to basic sanitation. And the Central Government’s intervention was phased out following the second white paper released in 2002 on the issue.
Praja’s managing trustee Nitai Mehta says, “(The) AAP has brought good governance to the fore and shown that politicians cannot take the common man lightly,” in an interview to The Times of India. To the same newspaper in another interview, Mehta promotes the AAP’s Mumbai northeast candidate Medha Patkar, “She will make a huge dent in (the NCP’s Sanjay Dina) Patil’s vote bank in the slum areas, where she has championed the cause of the poor.”
The SAHR’s Kamla Bhasin wrote about the AAP in Hindustan Times on January 12: “I am happy that the party did well at the hustings.” However, she was displeased with Kejriwal’s phraseology. She nit-picked thus: “… every sentence he uttered was in the masculine gender.”
John Dayal is a member of this NGO. I have mentioned where he fits into the international anti-India racket in my previous article.
Lawyers Collective’s Indira Jaising, also an additional solicitor general, famously preached something and practiced quite the opposite. In the book, Cause Lawyering: Political Commitments and Professional Responsibilities, edited by Austin Sarat William Nelson, she is quoted as saying, “The main reason why we don’t believe in accepting foreign funding is because we think that groups that do that often end up developing a vested interest in being professionals rather than servicing the community, and they get very alienated from the community for whom they work.” Outlook reported in its September 19, 2011 issue that she had received $1240000 from the Ford Foundation.
Hivos is a recipient of the Ford Foundation’s generous grants. Stichting Hivos, the Netherlands, is also a donor who maintains a full-fledged country office in India, receiving $1.2 million. Hivos happens to be one of the co-financing agencies to the Government of the Netherlands, whose embassy funds Kejriwal and Sisodia’s Kabir.
Hivos co-funds one of the NGOs in our list above — the CCD. It also supports, financially, one of the two Ford Foundation-funded NGOs of IIM Bangalore’s Dean Trilochan Shastri, who also runs ADR. He has also been conferred Breton Woods Committee membership, thanks to the Ford Foundation’s lobbying.
AAP’s Yogendra Yadav has been associated not only with the ICSSR but also with CSDS –both recipients of the Ford Foundation’s grants. Yadav was once a political adviser to Rahul Gandhi too.
SPS’s co-founder Mihir Shah is an NAC member. The ASA, an NGO based at Bhopal, is headed by Ashis Mondal, another NAC member.
The SSPRD is supported by the AID, which we reported to have raised funds for both the IAC and AAP in our previous article, a part of the anti-Indian leftist racket with international reach.
The acronym for Professional Assistance for Development Action is not PADA but PRADAN. That is the AAP’s Mumbai South candidate Meera Sanyal’s NGO working with the Maoists.
Deep Joshi, who conceived the idea of setting up PRADAN, is an NAC member.
Viren Lobo, executive director of the SPWD, is a big-time proponent of the AAP’s free water scheme. His Citizens’ Solidarity — Forum for Water and Sanitation (CS-FWS) passed a resolution last month seeking continuation of the fallen AAP Government’s water agenda.
Some of these NGOs also have Government connections. Every office bearer of the FES, for example, is or has been a Government servant: Amrita Patel, Samar Singh, Nitin Desai, AN Yellappa Reddy, Deepak Tikku, Mahendra Vyas, Sudarshan Iyengar and Usha Thorat. Their curricula vitae contain mention of so many Government posts they held that it would make a separate article. Readers may refer to the FES board of Governors enlisted in its website.
Same is the story of the CPF. Its managing trustee Urmila Pingle was a member of the National Tiger Conservation Authority. Kameswara Rao, a trustee, has held positions in Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Andhra Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.
Not featuring in the list above is the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA). Its CEO Ela R Bhatt was honoured by the Ford Foundation on May 4, 2011. The NAC’s Mirai Chatterjee comes from the SEWA. She joined the NGO in 1984 and succeeded Bhatt as its general secretary.
Is such overwhelming presence of the Government, NAC and AAP functionaries among the beneficiaries of the Ford Foundation a mere coincidence?Comments

  • The Nexus is so huge and so complex, how can we expose them? These crooks are entrenched all over the world who have a control over the media also. I wonder how Modi is going to handle these crooks. May God save Mother India.
      • Avatar
        Keep up the good work.
        This work, is something that is called painstaking research.
        Kudos for trying to dig up the facts, rather than doing a la MSM by belching out incoherent mud-slinging.
          • Avatar
            How low will you stoop sir? By giving the name of a 'spy' to every organisation that has ever worked for the good of people at the grassroot levels, just because they received some grants from international organisations, you have showed where you stand and what anyone can count on from the BJP. You are like what West Pakistanis did in East pakistan (now bangladesh). You will go after anyone doing good work, anyone with a thinking mind and an industrious hand that helps the poor. But no such oppressive force has carried on for too long. You will be no exception.
              • Avatar
                After
                becoming PM, Modi can concentrate on internal and external security threats and
                next elections in UP, Bengal and tamilnadu; dividing and carving new states
                from UP , maithili, bundelkhand, harit pradesh... strengthen party base in
                tamilnadu bengal.. and more importantly telangana and seemandhra. Modi should
                keep coming as hologram in all districts and should give speeches every now and
                then. Bangladesh must be radicalised and poor in bangladesh must be reconverted
                to hinduism or india first religion like moditvaism to wage war on remaining
                islam there. This can be done by having few spies in every village in
                Bangladesh. Indians in Malaysia must be supported to overthrow Malaysian
                government there and install batu presidency in malay peninsula. This will turn
                entire state of tamilnadu to be saffron stronghold for ever – even a millennia
                as tamils will support an ideology that supports their people.Dalai lama must
                be installed in Afghanisthan Bamiyan buddha kingdom - this will provoke all
                jihadis to attack bamiyan -- thereby to come and perish there if they do (use
                antiballistic missiles and laser directed energy weapons installed in moon and
                space). all young children of jihadis and genereal population coming there must
                be welcomed into a new militant strain of buddhism - to wipe out islam world
                wide. A stronghold of bamiyan is
                necessary for this...
                  • Avatar
                    Excellent Article at the same very scary when you think of the influence of FOREIGN AGENCIES in the policy decisions of INDIA. 
                    Modi Ji should within the first month of assuming PM's office should let the IB, NIA or RAW whatever you call our India's intelligence agency to thoroughly investigate all the NGO's operating in INDIA , How long have been operating? their funding, who are they serving, have the target groups benefited or exploited by these NGOs, etc etc 
                    As we see most of these NGOs are operating in Naxal hit areas, Maoist areas, (are they helping the victims or funding the activists), involved in conversions, or disrupting the development activities in the name of environment protection.
                    Certainly there might me some genuine NGOs , but I am sure more 80% are bogus fronts to wage proxy war against INDIA.
                      • Avatar
                        Their target is to convert as many people as possible too - which is simpler in the NAXAL hit areas - Can't you see the increased number of Christians throughout the Naxal belt in Andhra, Orisa, and the tribal belt in Chatisgarh, Jharkand and such, these days ?
                        Their Initial work of focusing on the Coastal belt has already succeeded big time - they ve moved to their next stage ...
                          • Avatar
                            simple - After becoming PM, Modi can concentrate on internal and external security threats and next elections in UP, Bengal and tamilnadu; dividing and carving new states from UP , maithili, bundelkhand, harit pradesh... strengthen party base in tamilnadu bengal.. and more importantly telangana and seemandhra. Modi should keep coming as hologram in all districts and should give speeches every now and then. Bangladesh must be radicalised and poor in bangladesh must be reconverted to hinduism or india first religion like moditvaism to wage war on remaining islam there. This can be done by having few spies in every village in Bangladesh. Indians in Malaysia must be supported to overthrow Malaysian government there and install batu presidency in malay peninsula. This will turn entire state of tamilnadu to be saffron stronghold for ever – even a millennia as tamils will support an ideology that supports their people.Dalai lama must be installed in Afghanisthan Bamiyan buddha kingdom - this will provoke all jihadis to attack bamiyan -- thereby to come and perish there if they do (use antiballistic missiles and laser directed energy weapons installed in moon and space). all young children of jihadis and genereal population coming there must be welcomed into a new militant strain of buddhism - to wipe out islam world wide. A stronghold of bamiyan is necessary for this.
                      http://m.niticentral.com/2014/04/30/ford-foundations-link-with-congress-nac-aap-218482.html

                      What India expects from Modi -- J. Shivakumar & Inder Sud

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                      Narendra Modi’s immediate challenge would be to restore people’s confidence in the government. Picture shows BJP supporters cheering at Merrut in Uttar Pradesh on February 02, 2014. Photo: Rajeev BhattPublished: May 3, 2014 01:11 IST | Updated: May 3, 2014 01:11 IST

                      What India expects from Modi

                      J. Shivakumar & Inder Sud May 3, 2014


                      Narendra Modi’s immediate challenge would be to restore people’s confidence in the government. Picture shows BJP supporters cheering at Merrut in Uttar Pradesh on February 02, 2014. Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

                      The best way for Narendra Modi to neutralise his critics would be to show that secularism thrives, not through public arguments and abuse, but through development

                      We are among the millions of Indians who can hardly wait for a change in leadership. As is widely predicted, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, seems headed to become the next Prime Minister. Indian electorates, particularly the young, have responded overwhelmingly to his promise of ushering in good governance and rapid development, through swift actions, which will bring about speedy results on the ground.
                      If the poll predictions are right and if he does indeed become the next Prime Minister, Mr. Modi’s immediate challenge would be to restore confidence in the government. He has promised that his government will “not to be vindictive” towards his political opponents. Indeed, the best way to neutralise his critics would be for Mr. Modi to show that secularism thrives, not through public arguments and abuse, but through development. As he has demonstrated in Gujarat, he is serious about making a difference by delivering results, and does not get distracted by playing the blame game.
                      But will he meet India’s high expectations? Only time will tell, but we suggest a few critical areas where early signals have reassured us that he means business.
                      What Modi should do
                      We should expect Mr. Modi to make the Central Cabinet machinery more focused by streamlining power and authority, particularly in the areas of national security, foreign trade, investment, manufacturing, energy and infrastructure, and placing these sectors under competent leaders. And we should expect him to continue to appoint to key posts efficient and honest officers who deliver results, not favours. We can also expect him to make the bureaucracy work hard for the benefit of all the people, as he stressed that all public officials, particularly Indian Administrative Service officers, are the servants of the people and not their rulers. They are “karam yogis not karamcharis,” he said in Gujarat. If India’s giant administrative apparatus can be energised at all levels, and if corruption can be kept in check, this can make an enormous difference to the lives of all Indians.
                      The priorities for development are vast. This development would require long-term and sustained action. We hope that Mr. Modi will make a credible start, if elected, through decisive action in the most critical areas, which will show early results.
                      First, there is an urgent need to control inflation, inherited from the Congress government, caused by massive fiscal deficit. We all know that deficits are even higher than stated in the official figures when we take into account quasi-fiscal deficits and deficits by States. Unaffordable and inefficient subsidies are at the heart of the problem. We should expect the next Prime Minister to replace wasteful subsidies by targeting direct cash transfers to the needy. This includes the misguided ‘atta-daal’ scheme and the massive fertilizer subsidy. If Mr. Modi comes to power, his opponents will no doubt raise a hue and cry over the poor being neglected, but he can tell people the truth: these subsidies are wasteful, do not reach many poor people, and are a major source of corruption.
                      Second, we should expect him to deliver his promise of a dramatic upgrade in the sorry state of infrastructure. The most critical priorities are to end the perpetual power shortages and provide connectivity to every village in India. We should also expect him to implement a firm timeline for the completion of the golden triangle roads to at least six-lane divided highways and introduce fast trains, like the ones in Japan or Europe, between large Indian cities.
                      Third, having governed a large State, Mr. Modi undoubtedly understands well that development in a vast country like India cannot be managed from the Centre. We should expect him to move towards a truly federal system that our founding fathers had envisaged, defining more strategically the role of the Centre, and leaving most development functions to the States and institutions closer to the people. The States should, in turn, be expected to mobilise most of their own resources for development and hold themselves accountable to their citizens. Most central schemes could be devolved to the States and through them, to local institutions. Central funds can be used for incentives to improve performance and deliver better development outcomes.
                      The role of cities
                      Fourth, Mr. Modi has made it clear that cities need to play a much bigger role in development in the 21st Century. Indian cities enjoy little autonomy in revenue mobilisation and expenditure management. State politicians are reluctant to give up control over municipal governments. A major initiative would be to announce the 50 largest cities as candidates for the status of “special cites” (as is done in China), offer large funds to those that are given full autonomy and mobilise greater resources.
                      As the old saying goes: “You campaign in poetry and govern in prose.” Mr. Modi has demonstrated during his campaign that he is an accomplished poet. Based on his solid record in Gujarat, we are hopeful that he will convert his agenda to even better prose.
                      (J. Shivakumar and Inder Sud are international consultants who served as Directors in the World Bank.)
                      http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-india-expects-from-modi/article5970606.ece?homepage=true

                      Modi may be defeated only by EVMs (15:48). ECI did NOT implement SC directive of VVPAT (Printed audit trail) for 2014 polls.

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                      Rain water enters EVM's room
                      May 3, 2014
                      Madurai Rain water entered a room at a counting centre in the city where electronic voting machines used in the April 24 Lok Sabha polls here were kept, prompting authorities to unlock the room seal and clean it up. 
                      District Collector-cum-Election Officer for Madurai Lok Sabha constituency L Subramanian opened the seal of the room in the presence of the candidates last night and ordered cleaning of the water that had stagnated in a corner, officials said on Friday. It is suspected that the water came inside through the windows and doors of the old building. (PTI)
                      http://www.qatar-tribune.com/viewnews.aspx?n=C42C7658-6680-4BE7-BC20-3D7AAB30880E&d=20140503 
                      What software is it on India's super EVM, that it cannot even be cross-checked?

                      Even in cyberaudit, there is a system called audit trail. What safeguards exist for CEC to ensure integrity of the EVM system, the way RBI controls ATMs of Banks? The safeguards should be explained to the voters to ensure transparency in the process. SC has held that transparency is a constitutional principle. German SC held that efficiency is NOT a constitutional principle.

                      Who guards the guard of India's sacred democratic process?

                      Kalyanaraman

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTdzOkXNY7M&feature=youtu.be

                      MODI May Be DEFEATED ONLY BY EVM (Electronic voting Machines)


                      DKDUBEYJI DKDUBEYJIPublished on Apr 8, 2014
                      http://dkdubey.webs.com/
                      mail us on alawmagic@gmail.com
                      CONTACT FOR ONLINE LAW CLASS BY Dr.D.K.DUBEY AT +91 9336207092

                      Stream



                      Thanks.I will get back soob
                      Reply
                       · 

                      Dear Dubey Sir,

                      I am just wondering why you have not included this latest news of EVM's
                      http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/An-EVM-that-votes-only-for-BJP-stuns-poll-staff-in-Assam/articleshow/33153152.cms
                      Well, after reading this you might again think that this is a political conspiracy from other political parties (Congress and AAP) lol.
                      #ModiManiac  
                      Reply
                       · 

                      You are the best.....
                      Reply
                       · 

                      A BJP agent spotted.
                      Reply
                       · 
                      1

                      Middleman turns approver as Italian judge ratifies plea bargaining. CBI is clueless -- Chitra Subramaniam

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                      CBI clueless: Italian judge ratifies plea-bargaining for Agustawestland middleman

                      Augusta Westland
                      Chitra Subramaniam| The News Minute| Geneva-Bangalore May 3, 2014| 8.30 am IST
                      In a major development in the Agustawestland investigations in Italy, it has now been confirmed that an Italian judge has approved plea-bargaining between middleman Guido Ralph Haschke and Italian prosecutors. This makes Haschke an approver in the case, who will be co-operating with investigations. It is the first sentence handed down in the AgustaWestland scandal that has rocked the Indian government, imprisoned Italian businessmen and raised questions in the United Kingdom about how and who negotiated and concluded the deal. 
                      India’s Central Board of Investigation (CBI) said it was not aware of this development in Italy on April 14th, 2014. “I have not heard from official channels – and in any case it has nothing to do with us,” Ranjit Sinha, Director CBI told The News Minute (TNM) over the telephone on Friday. “It is a matter between the government of Italy and one of their citizens – if necessary we will implead ourselves in the case,” India’s top sleuth added.
                      Ranjit Sinha said India was investigating other aspects if the helicopter deal, but did not elaborate. When pressed for an answer, as bribes were paid to Indian officials, Sinha said he will be speaking to the concerned persons when necessary. 
                      This attitude closely parallels that of the CBI during the Bofors investigations where Indian investigators never connected with Swedish investigators on similar grounds. The massive cover-up between New Delhi and Stockholm ensured that Swedish investigators could not interrogate recipients of the bribes. 
                      In March 2013, the CBI filed an FIR against former IAF Chief S.P. Tyagi and 12 others for alleged cheating and indulging in a criminal conspiracy in the INR 3600 crore helicopter deal. AgustaWestland is a British-Italian multinational helicopter design and manufacturing company and it is a fully owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica. In January 2014, India’s defence ministry cancelled the contract with Agustawestland after it was found a pre-contract integrity pact could have been breached. 
                      As is ritual, the CBI periodically rejects allegations from the media that it is dragging its feet. One such statement was issued on April 8th, 2014 asserting that cooperation with Italian prosecutors was robust and transparent. 
                      How was the CBI clueless about mid-April 2014 decision then? 
                      The CBI has been consistently mealy-mouthed about its work with Italian prosecutors and cooperation with them. Earlier, while speaking to TNM about his visit to the Vatican to attend a by-invitation-only meeting called “Religion and Law Enforcement,” Sinha had said India’s legal team in Milan, near Busto Aruzio, where court proceedings are underway, were fully apprised of the situation. Italy and India are yet to conclude the Letter Rogatory (LR) which would allow New Delhi to be a party to the case. To date, Italian prosecutors have been leading the work. Haschke, an Italian-American living in Switzerland was extradited from Switzerland in September 2013. Read- Ranjit Sinha, Vatican and Agustawestland
                      Mark Watts, Editor-in-Chief of the UK-based Exaro News which has been following the case closely also confirmed that plea bargaining arrangement which was entered into on April 2, 2014, was ratified by an Italian judge. “We can confirm that to be correct,” he said in a telephone conversation with TNM. “We have managed to establish that effectively the plea bargaining was agreed to by the Italian judge,” he added. 
                      Following this development, Watts and his colleague David Pallister wrote that further pressure will mount on the government in Britain following this development as the government of Prime Minister James Cameron has been unwilling to help the Indian investigation. Read- Middleman on UK-India deal agrees plea bargain over bribes.
                      In May 2013, www.exaronews.com had reported that the UK was not assisting India in the investigations. Read- UK stalls over India's plea for help with bribery suggestion.
                      Under Italian law entering plea bargaining does not amount to admission of guilt but sources say Hashcke will be in a position to track and trace the bribes (50 million euros) that were paid to Indians and others for the 560 million euros deal between India and Augustla Westland for the sale of VVIP helicopters. 
                      Former Finmeccanica Chairman and CEO Giuseppe Orsi and the former head of AgustaWestland, Bruno Spagnolini, are on trial in the case after being charged with international corruption and falsifying invoices. Italian prosecutors recovered hand-written notes containing names of Indians who were to receive the bribes. Both have denied any wrongdoing.


                      The News Minute
                      The News Minute
                      Exora News
                      Exora News
                      http://www.thenewsminute.com/stories/CBI%20clueless:%20Italian%20judge%20ratifies%20plea-bargaining%20for%20Agustawestland%20middleman#.U2SHgIGSySp

                      Ms Antonia Filmer meets BJP's SAC chaired by Dr. Swamy

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                      This interaction with Ms Antonia Filmer is a brilliant strategic initiative for NaMo team breaking the ice in Europe and other parts of the world -- to get them to start recognizing India as a nation on the renaissance path.

                      Ms. Antonia Filmer has sent a note of thanks to Dr. Swamy:

                      [quote]3 May 2014 Dear Dr Swamy Sir,
                      Thank you for the opportunity yesterday afternoon, you are a seriously impressive team. I have plenty for your UK counterparts to think about when I return.

                      Wishing you all the absolute best for 16th May.

                      Kind regards
                      Antonia Filmer[unquote]
                      Embedded image permalink
                      May 3, 2014
                      Yesterday Ms. Antonia Filmer a well connected member of the British Conservative Party interacted with the BJP's SAC of which I am chairman
                      It seems all important countries have already accepted that post May 16th Namo will be PM. Where will TDK and progeny hide?

                      BJP Asks EC to Withdraw Order Against Modi

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                      BJP Asks EC to Withdraw Order Against Modi

                      Published: 03rd May 2014 12:02 AM
                      Last Updated: 03rd May 2014 12:02 AM

                      Holding that Narendra Modi's interaction with the media after casting his vote in Ahmedabad was "impromptu" and not pre-planned, BJP today urged the Election Commission to withdraw its order against him and also issue clear guidelines with regard to such sound bytes and media interactions.

                      The party also complained to the EC against Rahul Gandhi for his comments against BJP made in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, during campaigning that there will be more riots if BJP comes to power.

                      "Based on the above submissions, we request the Commission to review and withdraw the impugned orders in reference.

                      Pending review and possible withdrawal of the orders, the Commission may kindly direct the Chief Secretary and DGP of Gujarat to hold the earlier instructions in abeyance till further orders," the BJP said in a letter to the EC.

                      It also asked the poll body to enunciate clear guidelines for the future in regard to press meetings, interactions and sound bytes so that this does not continue to be a "grey area".

                      "The Commission ought to have considered the wider implications of ordering the registration of FIR in the instant case, since there have been scores of such and similar indiscretions which have appeared in the visual media such as the sound byte given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh observing that there is no Modi wave soon after he cast his vote in Guwahati and the broadsides against Modi made by Amartya Sen, soon after he cast his vote," Convener of BJP's Election cell R Ramakrishna said.

                      The party has contended that when Modi emerged with the tie pin still held in his hand, the media which had collected outside the booth engaged him in a sound byte.

                      "The entire episode was impromptu; the interaction was not preplanned or organised. In fact, it was the lapse on the part of the local election authorities to have allowed audio video equipment in the vicinity of the polling station, in which a celebrity was registered as a voter," the party said, adding that "certainly sound bytes are not public meeting".

                      It also asked the EC if it can legally extend the scope of Section 126 to cover anything other than public meetings like Press Conferences, Press Briefings, workers meeting. "It is feared the Commission does not have the powers to do so. Any such addition would fall within the legislative competence of the Parliament alone," Ramakrishna said.
                      "Section 126 is a clearly enunciated law which confines itself only to a prohibition of a public meeting. Invoking Article 324 of the Constitution also amounts to over reaching by the Election Commission of India since residuary jurisdiction which is all permitted to the ECI by Article 324 cannot impact areas already occupied by law," he said.
                      http://www.newindianexpress.com/elections/news/BJP-Asks-EC-to-Withdraw-Order-Against-Modi/2014/05/03/article2202415.ece

                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab -- Priyadarshi Dutta

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                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab 3 May 2014

                      Priyadarshi Dutta is an independent researcher based in New Delhi.



                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi’s closest aide, does not like to be in the news. Enjoying his fourth stint as Rajya Sabha MP – he hardly participates in any debate or raises any Parliament question. But he is perceived as wielding enormous clout within the 10, Japnath coterie. He is also seen as the brain behind UPA Government’s pro-Muslim policies like Sachar Committee Report. But this year, he has been in media more than once for wrong reasons.
                      The most recent incident has riled him the most. It pertains to Modi calling him a ‘friend’ in his interview with the DD News. Patel, popularly called Babu Bhai in Gujarat, has taken offence. He has even threatened to quit public life if Modi could prove that they were in touch. Patel has been a member of Lok Sabha twice, and is already into his fourth Rajya Sabha term. A rest from public life might not be utterly untimely. But he might be looking for an exit route for reasons other than Modi’s remarks.
                      Ahmed Patel’s name in VVIP chopper deal?: Earlier this year, his name echoed in Italian courts in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal. In December last, the Italian prosecutors produced a handwritten document in the court of Busto Arsizio near Milan. This document purportedly lists the names of Indian politicians whom the AgustaWestland middlemen viz. Guido Haschke and Christian Michel had bribed to clinch the Rs 3,546 crore deal. One such initial was AP. When the prosecutors asked the middlemen whether AP implied ‘Ahmed Patel’ the middlemen said they had no idea. Another facsimile message was produced by prosecutor apparently by an officer of AgustaWestland. It says that Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel could use the VVIP helicopters, whereas the protocol clearly debars anyone who is not a Government functionary from using those choppers.

                      Shia Cleric Kalbe Jawwad appeals to boycott Congress

                      Aiding Shia Wakf property encroachment: The Shias are up in arms against Salman Khurshid and Ahmed Patel for allegedly aiding encroachment of land at dargah Shah-e-Mardan near Jorbagh in New Delhi. The dargah Shah-e-Mardan is one of the oldest Shia Imambara with history dating back to 1724. While many Muslims living there fled to Pakistan after the partition, some continued to nestle to the site. It has a graveyard which nowadays is used only for disposal of the Taziyas (or artifacts) used during Muharram procession. The area is often called Karbala, where the Muhammaram processions converge.
                      The otherwise peaceful area has of late become trouble spot. Anjuman-e-Haidari (estd 1947) the Trust, which looks after the upkeep of the Shah-e-Mardan, have accused Rajdhani Nursery for encroaching upon its land. The Rajdhani Nursery is managed by AM Khan, Nadeem Khan and Wasim Khan (incidentally Sunnis). The Anjuman accuses they were earlier licensed gardeners of Trust. The garden was called Gulzar-e-Haidari. But even when their license expired they refused to leave and started a full-fledged commercial nursery there under the name Rajdhani Nursery. The Khan brothers have refused to quit despite losing case in arbitration tribunal and Saket District Court. The Shias accuse that the Khan brothers enjoy patronage of Salman Khurshid and Ahmed Patel. That is why – the Sheila Dikshit Government dragged its feet on the issue despite court orders.
                      What is a plain land dispute have attained a Shia-Sunni colouring. But the Hindu neighbourhood like BK Dutt colony, Jor Bagh and Lodhi Road feel the heat. On January 16, 2012, there was a major clash between police and the protestors leaving 17 police personnel and 50 local people injured. Since the beginning of this year the Shias have become more assertive to reclaim the land. They made several attempts to pour in from Uttar Pradesh in show of strength. The police had to seal the borders of East Delhi and halt them on the tracks. This leads to traffic chaos on Delhi Noida flyover. Near Jor Bagh – the traffic is blocked or diverted to prevent any untoward incident. The Muharram becomes a law & order headache.
                      Brother Ahmed, now tell us about Sonia Gandhi 
                      Leading Shia cleric Mauala Kalbe Jawwad is spearheading a campaign for arrest of Ahmed Patel. On April 11, 2014 Zahrul Hassan, manager, Anjuman Haidari wrote a complain letter to various authorities advocating penal action against Patel on charges of conspiracy to implicate Maulana Kalbe Jawwad. Hassan blames that Ahmed Patel using dirty tricks of either buying them off or getting them implicated in terror cases. There have been protests in front of Ahmed Patel’s residence at 23, Willingdon Crescent.

                      Shia fight to get Karbala Land in Jor Bagh – Maulana Kalbe Jawwad




                      Personally I believe that Waqf property is a ‘looted’ property. Neither the Afghans nor the Mughals carried a single inch of land to India. They grabbed Indian land to turn them into Waqf. Waqf lands runs into millions of acres across India. But the alleged role played by Ahmed Patel is not honourable one either. Patel is no desirable friend for Narendra Modi. But far bigger stigmas have got attached to Patel nowadays than the friendship of Modi.
                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab
                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Shia trust blames Ahmed Patel for Wakf land grab

                      Shia fight to get Karbala Land in Jor Bagh 

                      Published on Jan 29, 2014
                      Maulana Kalbe Jawwad alleges that the Shia community will protest against congress leaders Ahmed Patel and Salman Khurshid as they supporting Rajdhani Nursery owners who have occupied land of Karbala in Jor Bagh, Delhi.
                      The eight acres of land owned by the Waqf Board also houses the Rajdhani nursery. The situation in the area worsened in 2012 when the nursery owner and members of the Anjuman-e-Haidri committee, which looks after the complex, clashed.
                      The committee members alleged that the lease for the nursery expired in 2000 but the owner is not vacating the land.
                      "The nursery owner has lost the case both during arbitration and in Saket court. But despite orders, he's not vacating the premises. Every time we ask him to vacate, he sends goons. It's a simple case of land-grabbing but he has turned it into a Shia-Sunni issue," said Rais Abbas, vice-president, Anjuman-e-Haidri committee. The committee members claimed there are 112 graves in the area, including some on the nursery land.
                      Nursery owner Wasim Khan says the matter is in high court and the other orders have been quashed. "Since 1976, we are operating from here. There are no graves in this area, it's a myth. We are not able to work, and whenever there is a gathering, people destroy our plants and property," he alleged.

                      Press Release by Anjuman.e.Haideri
                      New Delhi, 29 Jan.- Maulana Kalbe Jawad, General Secretary of Majlis-e-Ulema-e-Hind and Patron of Anjuman-e-Haideri has vehemently demanded the immediate arrest of Mr. Ahmed Patel, the kingpin of Waqf land grabbers active specially in Jorbagh area, who is also the political Secretary to Smt. Sonia Gandhi, for his continued support to the Waqf Land grabbers of Karbala, Jorbagh and elsewhere. He said that the recent detention of over 50 devotees and arrest of 28 devotees at the behest of Ahmed Patel from his official residence was another draconian step against the law abiding citizens of the country.
                      Maulana Kalbe Jawad, while addressing a press conference here, said that AICC President Smt. Sonia Gandhi had instructed Ahmed Patel to resolve the Karbala issue. Hundreds of meetings have taken place between office bearers of Anjuman-e-Haideri and Ahmed Patel having not yielded any result till date. On the one hand Ahmed Patel have been supporting the illegal business activities at Karbala ground asking Delhi police to Shield Moid Khan and his partners, while expressing his helplessness to Anjuman-e-Haideri in getting the High court orders implemented. On the behest of Ahmed Patel most of the government agencies have been engaged in supporting the illegal activities, that too against the spirit of Delhi High court orders, he alleged.
                      On this occasion, Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, Patron of Anjuman-e-Haideri and other prominent clerics announced that the Save Karbala Movement will spread throughout national capital region (NCR) and effigies of Ahmed Patel will be burnt at several mosques in Delhi and Lucknow on Friday 31 January 2014. If he is not arrested immediately a huge Candle March will be organized at India Gate on 2nd February (Sunday). Ulema and Scholars will lead the candle march with participation of thousands of people.
                      While explaining his future plan, Maulana Kalbe Jawad asserted that if no action is taken against Ahmed Patel for patronizing the Waqf land grabbers, he will campaign against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in their constituencies in Raebareli and Amethi.
                      It is to recall that Maulana Kalbe Jawad had opposed Congress party in the recently held Delhi Assembly elections. Karbala Jorbagh falls under the New Delhi Constituency, where Shiela Dikshit has lost badly.
                      Maulana Kalbe Jawad Naqvi also felicitated the twenty eight devotees, who were recently sent to jail for protecting constitution. He said that these people have sacrificed their comfort by participating in Save Karbala Movement. They went straight to residence of Ahmed Patel immediately getting released from Tihar jail on Monday evening.
                      Several Prominent Muslim scholars and Ulema and office bearers of Anjuman-e-Haideri were also present at the press conference.
                      Anjuman-e-Haideri, the management body of Waqf properties of Dargah Shah-e-Mardan, Karbala, Chhoti Karbala, Qanati Masjid, Naqqar Khana and other surrounding Waqf land in Aliganj, is spearheading a movement to stop illegal business activities at Karbala ground by its caretaker (mali) who claims political patronage of Ahmed Patel and others in the government.
                      Bahadur Abbas Naqvi, General Secretary of Anjuman-e-Haideri asserted that Muslim Ulema and scholars from various states are preparing to launch a nationwide "Free Karbala Movement". He said that political leaders, especially those belonging to Congress, have misread the situation in handling Karbala Jorbagh issue, and hence lost the recent Delhi Assembly elections.









                      http://www.niticentral.com/2014/05/03/shia-trust-blames-ahmed-patel-for-wakf-land-grab-219375.html

                      Payback time -- Usha Rai. Jeevema s'aradah s'atam, Dr. Vinod & Sarla Prakash

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                      April 26, 2014

                      Payback time

                      USHA RAI
                      Dr. Vinod and Sarla Prakash.
                          Dr. Vinod and Sarla Prakash.

                      Students at the multimedia room in Nagauri.
                      Students at the multimedia room in Nagauri.

                      After retiring from the World Bank, Dr. Vinod Prakash and his wife Sarla started the India Development and Relief Fund (IDRF), a tax-exempt non-profit, in 1988 in North Bethesda, U.S. Over the years, IDRF has raised $27.3 million and made grants worth $25.3 million to trusted NGO partners for programmes implemented across India.
                      Like them, many non-resident Indians (NRIs) want to give back in a specific way to the village or state where they were born. Their donations are often larger and better distributed with a focus on accountability.
                      Overheads are low (less than four cents of every dollar received), independently audited financial reports are available online and donors are encouraged to visit programme sites in India.
                      In 2012, IDRF supported over 30 programmes across India with the focus being children’s education and women’s empowerment. It also assists in anti-corruption and governance programmes, eco-friendly rural development and healthcare. Disaster rehabilitation after earthquakes and cyclones is its other mandate.
                      Sarla and Vinod Prakash lead by example. They and their children donate wedding, birthday, and anniversary gifts to Indian NGOs through IDRF. For a decade, Sarla has raised funds for an Indian school for the hearing impaired through a unique lunch programme showing how a homemaker can bring about social change. In 1994, Dr. Prakash initiated a tradition whereby young couples accept wedding gifts for projects run by IDRF, instead of personal gifts.
                      Since poor Indians suffer not only from material deprivation but social marginalisation, IDRF seeks to put power into their hands. It empowers people with resources, skills and the confidence needed for sustainable development. In 2012, IDRF became a member of the Combined Federal Campaign, the largest workplace giving-campaign in the U.S. that enables federal and military employees to give to a network of strictly vetted charities. The amount pledged in 2012 was approximately $36,000. Recently, Charity Navigator, an American NGO evaluator, awarded IDRF four stars for its accountability, transparency and financial health. In fact, it is the only four-star India-focused American NGO.
                      Over the years, IDRF has provided 30 medical vans in 15 states. In 2012, it supported two medical vans, hospitals for the urban and rural poor in India and Nepal, and a women’s dormitory at an accredited yoga university. Support was also provided to a school for children with special needs and a home for the elderly and disabled. In the conflict-ridden Hazaribagh district of Jharkhand, IDRF’s medical van played a key role in improving the lives of tribal people and in diverting youth from Naxalism to social work.
                      In Rapar taluk in Kutch district, Gujarat, nine check dams and 30 wells have been constructed between 2009 and 2012 with the support of IDRF and its local partner, Samerth. This provides water for irrigation and drinking to around 3,000 people. In the process groundwater has been replenished, ingress of salt water arrested and the daily trek for 40 litres of water halted.
                      With safe drinking water, water-borne diseases have declined, as has migration. More children, especially girls, are going to school. Inspired by the success, the programme is set to expand to 30 more villages.
                      In Bangalore, where bribes were demanded for basic services, and poor sanitation and roads led to accidents and deaths, IDRF supports two websites run by Janaagraha — IChangeMyCity.com (ICMC) and IpaidABribe.com (IPAB). The first is a social network that resolves complaints about governance service and infrastructure. Public meetings are organised for complainants, elected leaders and agency heads bringing transparency to governance. IPAB has received almost 24,000 bribe reports totalling Rs. 59 crores leading to a crack-down on bribery. The IPAB campaign is being replicated in 10 countries.
                      In Karnal district of Haryana, NRIs are promoting women’s health, economic security and basic rights through self-help groups (SHGs) with the support of Arpana, a local NGO. By late 2013, the programme covered over 100 villages. with 9,100 members of 650 SHGs meeting monthly, saving and lending. In 2012, they saved a whopping Rs. 52 million; over 1,800 women ran small businesses using micro-credit from the SHGs. With training, nearly all the SHGs manage their own accounts and maintain records. Bhagwati, a SHG member for five years, says that ever since she began contributing to the family income her husband and in-laws respect her. Those with disabilities too have formed SHGs to advocate for government benefits and save and lend collectively.
                      Another Indian American donor, Dr. Jaipal Rathi, wanted quality education in his native village of Nagauri, Meerut district, U.P. But, in the 1980s, there was resistance to modern education as some parents feared it would corrupt their children and weaken family ties. And so, the Savitri Soni Vidya Mandir Inter College began with two teachers and two classrooms under a thatched roof. Today, the school has changed the educational landscape of the region and draws children from 25 adjoining villages. It grew from a primary to a secondary school and when parents wanted their girls to have access to higher secondary education in the village, it grew again. Dr. Rathi continued to raise funds for the school enabling additional classrooms, faculty apartments, a library, a computer room, science labs, sanitation facilities and on-site power generators. In the early years, a tractor trolley brought children to school; today there are five modern buses to transport 1,100 children.
                      Two large-hearted NRIs — Dr. G.R. Verma and Dr. Mukesh Goel — are the backbone of the Maharishi Dayanand Balika Vigyan Mahavidyalaya (MDBVM) in Jhujhunu, Rajasthan, and a branch of the Maharaja Agrasen University in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, respectively. In Rajasthan, where gender segregation and poverty prevent girls from attending primary school, the MDBVM enables young women to pursue bachelor’s degrees in chemistry, botany, maths and computer sciences. After a decade of support, in 2012, the Mahavidyalaya opened an English learning laboratory. With computers and audio software, students practise English conversation necessary to compete for science jobs in India and abroad. In a year, 240 students completed the spoken language course. The new campus of the Maharaja Agrasen University in Solan offers degrees in technology. “God has given me everything... So why not share my prosperity with the needy?” asks philanthropist Goel.
                      Quite clearly, what NRIs give to India is not charity but tools of empowerment.





                      http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/payback-time/article5951225.ece

                      Files getting sanitized. Chamcha Manmohan gets ready for NDA win on May 16

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                      PM gets ready for NDA win on 16 May
                      MADHAV NALAPAT  New Delhi | 3rd May 2014
                      rders have informally been given in the Prime Minister's Office to ensure that all pending matters get cleared "before 16 May", as on that day, they should "be prepared for a change in government", according to a senior official. He added that "Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wishes to leave with dignity, and to preside over a smooth transition" to what is expected to be a Narendra Modi-led government by the end of the month.
                      Both psephologists as well as politicians are baffled at the speed and strength of the "Modi wave" that is powering the BJP to victory in the 2014 elections. "We are lucky that the Election Commission opted for an unprecedented nine stages for the elections, as this length of time has helped to dilute the potency of the Modi wave, especially in Bihar and in parts of Uttar Pradesh" where there will be late polling. "Had the polls been held within a two-week interval, the BJP would have gained an extra 20 seats, so we should thank the EC for their decision," a very senior Congress strategist revealed. He further claimed that "by the beginning of February, it was clear that we (the Congress) would do very badly, so from then onwards the target has been to reduce the BJP's tally and (thereby) keep Modi out," he added. He gave "full marks to Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi for the way in which both have tracked the progress of the polls and enthused party workers demoralised by the bad reputation of the Manmohan Singh government".
                      Although for the record Congress insiders praise the outgoing Prime Minister, in private they say that he "refused to listen to many suggestions made by Soniaji and Rahulji" and that "he was unable to carry out most of the improvements asked of him by the leadership".
                      Asked why he was not, therefore, replaced, the senior leader claimed that "there was no unanimity on his replacement, as Rahul was not willing to take up the job". He claimed that "the Congress president would have liked Sushilkumar Shinde as PM, but Rahul favoured P. Chidambaram for the job. Also, the family did not want to offend Pranab Mukherjee, as there were indications that he would quit the government if passed over for promotion. By the time PranabDa became President of India, it was too close to the polls for a change in the leadership of the government, so it was decided by the family to continue with Manmohan Singh till the election cycle ended."
                      The insider said that "Rahul and his team initially placed too much emphasis on standard classifications of caste and community, not realising that Narendra Modi had cut through such divisions with his talk of development." Hence, "it was only very late in the game that caste and community factors were made to compete with the message of development. However, we could not beat Modi at his own game". The party leader said that "we ought to have ensured that sentiment prevailed over cold fact, as in the sentimentality department the Nehru family is tops". According to him, "Priyanka should have campaigned outside UP, especially in the west and south, where she could have made a big difference." However, he claimed that "both Soniaji and Rahulji were reluctant to force Priyanka to undergo the strains of campaigning across the country, although she herself was ready". However, "in protecting her, they may have handed over a majority to the NDA", he ruefully ended.
                      Calculations made within the relevant echelons of government indicate that the BJP and its allies will pick up more than a 150 seats in the north of India, while in the west, its tally will cross 60, with around 30 seats coming from the south and 20 in the east. If these calculations prove to be accurate, the BJP and its allies will be within striking distance of a majority on their own. However, should more numbers be required, about a dozen seats are expected to go to independents, including in the Northeast, while Jagan Reddy's YSR Congress is expected to win 16 seats in Seemandhra and the TRS seven seats in Telangana. "Had the BJP done separate deals with Jagan in Seemandhra and with TRS in Telangana, the two combinations would have had almost a clean sweep across both regions," a senior official claimed, adding that "the TDP has brought down rather than boosted the BJP's tally". In the same way, he said that "calculations reveal that B.S. Yeddyurappa has helped the BJP in only two seats in Karnataka but has cost the party seven other seats". Also, "the BJP could have got nine seats in Tamil Nadu (rather than the three now forecast) had it avoided angering specific communities by tying up with the MDMK and the PMK". Another official argued that "clearly the Delhi headquarters of the BJP does not understand the dynamics of the South at all, with both Leaders of the Opposition as well as the party president coming from within the same narrow geographical radius".
                      Given that the in-house experts within the government in the tracking of election results are giving the NDA either a majority on its own or close to the 272 figure, it is perhaps no surprise that across ministries, files are getting cleared and sanitised, so as to ensure that those who have signed on them remain undisturbed by future inquiries.
                      Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation under Ranjit Sinha has been giving clean chit after clean chit to a roster of cases, in a spurt of activity unusual in its speed and timing.

                      Assam flare-up linked to elections -- Sumir Karmakar and Telegraph Bureau

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                      Sunday , May 4 , 2014 |

                      Assam flare-up linked to elections

                      Guwahati, May 3: The flare-up in Assam that has claimed at least 30 lives so far has been linked to the Lok Sabha polls following national and local allegations that lay the blame at diametrically different doors.

                      Outside Assam, Narendra Modi’s speeches in the state blaming Bangladeshi infiltration have been held responsible for creating an atmosphere that fomented trouble.

                      Within Assam, the ally of the Congress-led government is under fire for an alleged ethnic cleansing campaign aimed at re-engineering the voting population.

                      Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah told an election rally that “the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate made a speech in Assam three days ago and tried to incite people. This truth cannot be denied”.

                      The BJP responded by saying that “in Assam what is happening is because of the vote-bank politics of the Congress”.
                      Modi was not in Assam three days ago — he was there last on April 19. But he has been referring to Bangladeshi infiltration in his speeches in eastern India, including in Assam and in Bengal (last Sunday). In Assam, he had gone so far as to suggest that rhinos were being killed in Kaziranga National Park to find room for infiltrators.

                      However, within Assam itself, attention was focused on Congress ally Bodo People’s Front (BPF), that was accused of issuing indirect threats to a community for not voting for its candidate in the Lok Sabha polls that took place on April 24.
                      Till late last night, suspicion for the carnage had largely revolved around a militant faction opposed to talks with the government. The outfit, the NDFB (Songbijit), today formally denied any involvement and blamed a “third party”.
                      Aware of the cross-country implications in the middle of the elections — 105 seats are yet to vote — a clamour is growing within the Congress to snap ties with the BPF which has had a militant past. The state Congress does not need the 12-MLA BPF to remain in power.

                      Congress leaders are openly demanding the arrest of senior BPF legislator Pramila Rani Brahma who has been accused of making inflammatory statements on television. AICC secretary Bhupen Kumar Borah called her “Lady Macbeth”.
                      Pramila said her statement had been misinterpreted. “I said we were expecting 80 per cent votes (from the community) but got much less. I am also pained at the developments. I demand a CBI probe into the allegations so that the truth is out,” she said.

                      The Assam government is trying to ensure that the events of 2012, when violence claimed 102 lives and displaced as many as four lakh people, do not recur. Officials have been asked to convince village heads to prevent an exodus.
                      Multiple versions appeared to converge on one theme: an apprehension in the Bodo camp that a victory in the Kokrajhar Lok Sabha seat by a non-Bodo candidate would strike at the root of the demand for a Bodo state that has been high on the agenda of the BPF.

                      Naba Kumar Sarania, the commander of Ulfa’s 709 battalion that joined the pro-talks faction of the outfit led by Arabinda Rajkhowa before being expelled, is contesting against the BPF nominee and state minister, Chandan Brahma.

                      “Eighty-seven per cent of the people in the BTAD area are non-Bodos,” Jogeswar Kalita of the Oboro Suraksha Samiti (OSS), the anti-Bodoland organisation that supports Sarania, said. “Sarania will win and that makes the BPF insecure.”

                      The All Assam Minority Students’ Union leader, Abdur Rahim Khan, and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti president Akhil Gogoi said the violence was “fully political”. “The BPF is behind the killings; they are trying to threaten the people to ensure that they don’t vote for anyone else in the BTC council elections slated for 2015,” Khan said.

                      “The police are blaming the NDFB(S) but villagers have told me that former Bodo Liberation Tigers cadres had attacked them. It seems to be an after-effect of the Lok Sabha election,” Gogoi of the KMSS said.

                      But the All Bodo Students’ Union (Absu), at the forefront of the movement for a separate state, rejected the population theory. “A majority population is not constitutionally required for the creation of a separate state,” Pramod Boro, the president of the Absu, said.

                      The civil society is vocal that BTAD’s politics must be cleansed of militancy. “Politics of the gun was a phenomenon in north Indian states before but now has become an Assam phenomenon. Till it is cleansed, democracy won’t be safe,” said Deven Dutta, the former vice-principal of Cotton College in Guwahati.

                      While BPF leader Hagrama Mohilary once led the militant Bodo Liberation Tigers, Chandan Brahma was its vice-chairman. Hira Sarania, who was brought in to represent the non-Bodos, was an Ulfa leader.

                      http://www.telegraphindia.com/1140504/jsp/frontpage/story_18305848.jsp#.U2VzWIGSySo

                      Role of India’s 1.25 billion in a global democratic renaissance

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                      Role of India’s 1.25 billion in a global democratic 

                      renaissance

                      When Angus Maddison set to work on economic history of the world for two millennia, he had to overcome a troubling legacy of colonial regimes which had looted the wealth of many nations. 

                      While the economic historians may nitpick on details of computations, the picture he presented in a graphic histogram was stunning. At the turn of the Common Era, that is 1 CE, US economy was a mere line, while China and India accounted for over 80 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

                      Accounting for blurs caused by foreign exchange rates, the method used to compute the relative shares of nations in world GDP is a method called ‘Purchasing Power Parity’. The method adjusts for price changes across national economies by estimating real living costs in various nations. Using this method, World Bank has announced that the ranking of nations based on their share of world GDP using PPP puts India ahead of Japan and moves it to the third position after USA and China.

                      That India occupies the third position at 6.4% of world GDP as of 2011 (while USA and China account for 17.1% and 14.9%), is a turning point in the geo-economic picture of the globe. The achievement is remarkable for a nation which has reached this stage as a democracy after gaining independence only on 1947. Years of onslaughts during the mediaeval periods by the expansion of Islam and colonial exploitation since 1700s left India in a level of impoverishment which attracted the attention of historians like Will Durant of USA who wrote in 1930 on The Case of India and seeking independence from British colonial rule.

                      India has been struggling sinc 1947 to overcome the ravages of the colonial exploitation by leveraging on the assets created such as the Indian Railway system and a bureaucracy which provided a semblance of progress implementing socio-economic projects to increase the purchasing power of the population which now stands at 1.27 billion, next only to China with a population of 1.35 billion.

                      As USA and Europe wrestle with financial crises, such a large nation like India cannot be ignored. It is imperative that India is made a partner in the processes of dialogue in forums such as G-8 to promote equity in world trade and cooperation in development efforts. USA can certainly leverage India’s acceptance in the comity of nations which can be called an Indian Ocean Community which can prove to be a larger economic power than the European Community which came into being in the wake of the dismantling of the iron curtain.

                      There are 59 nations along the Indian Ocean Rim from Madagascar in the west to Tasmania in the east reaching upto the Pacific Oean. Most of these nations were in trade and cultural contacts for millennia. One French Epigraphist, George Coedes wrote a book which was titled Hinduised states of South East Asia, which underscored the cultural impact of Hinduism and Buddhism on nations which linked the Orient with USA through the Straits of Malacca. 

                      Initiatives of cooperation among these nations have resulted in identifying projects of global significance: Trans-Asian Railways, and Trans-Asian Highways linking Asia with Europe. The projects have the potential economic multiplier effect of empowering over 2 billion people and involving the participation of all major economic powers in implementing the projects speedily. Himalayan glaciers are the world’s largest water reservoirs yielding five of the world’s longest river systems: Yangtse, Huanghe, Mekong, Irawadi, Salveen, Brahmaputra. Sustainable development of these glacier-based river systems can help ensure equitable distribution of water to over 2 billion people. India has an ambitious plan to create a National Water Grid (NWG) to reach water to every one of her 6.2 lakh villages with the potential of creating 450 million new land owners if additional arable land with assured irrigation created by the NWG is distributed to 9 crore landless families at the rate of one acre per family. This also has the potential to double India’s agricultural production in 5 years which can augment world supplies of foodgrains, thus mitigating world hunger if just mechanisms for world trade can be operationalised.

                      The challenge is immense and calls for political strategies to further promote and sustain economic unions like the European Community and Indian Ocean Community as partners with United States of America. USA should take a lead role in this promotion and participate in creating a just and equitable world order which existed in 1 CE (pace the histogram of Angus Maddison).

                      S. Kalyanaraman
                      Sarasvati Research Center


                      Congress commits fraud on Muslims -- Ram Jethmalani

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                      RAM JETHMALANI
                      ETHICS & POWER
                      Ram Jethmalani is a senior politician and eminent lawyer.
                      Congress commits fraud on Muslims
                      Let me remind the OBCs that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati are not their true friends.
                      ith every passing day, as it prepares to depart from office, the Congress-led UPA government is becoming increasingly unabashed and brazen. While incriminating papers are being confined to shredders and incinerators, and favourite bureaucrats are being given comfortable assignments in foreign lands, the ruling government is investing all its energies in strategising for its safety and security, post 16 May. Not entirely unexpected, even the Prime Minister's Office fell victim to the proverbial office fire, as reported in the papers. Fire safety standards in the PMO, the nerve centre of our government, must have turned extremely lax. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to delve further into the nature of the files that have been declared dead forever through the fire ruse.
                      The Congress Party is silently preparing contingencies and exit strategies to secure protection from a terrifying future, when in all probability, government will pass on to an incorruptible, decisive leader, with whom they cannot make quid pro quo deals. They are trying their best to label the decisive leader as divisive or a polariser through constant repetition by themselves and hired voices, but they have learnt by now, that all their shrill propaganda to create a climate of fear psychosis among the Muslims has not yielded results. In fact, the Congress party's excessive overdrive has started rebounding upon itself. The people of India have been given an opportunity to witness directly just how scurrilous, divisive and polarising the Congress has been, particularly, in its last ditch, maladroit attempt to change the voter's mind somehow.
                      Many of their other ongoing efforts have also failed. Their desperate hurry to appoint a Lokpal of their choice, a protector for their future, has turned to naught. The selection process was judicially so deplorable, that both judicial members of the Search Committee, Justice K.T. Thomas and Fali Nariman, refused to have anything to do with it and resigned. Finally, it took a PIL and the Supreme Court to prevent this lame duck government from appointing a Lokpal of their choice, whom they want so badly as a security for their future. This issue is of utmost priority for them, and they still don't seem to have given up. The Congress party leaves behind a trail of gigantic scams, which closely touch the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, her family and several other UPA stalwarts. Perhaps they hadn't expected such early exposure. Perhaps they did not realise that the time-space compression of advanced technology and 24X7 television, hasten the detection of scams by the public and investigative reporting. Perhaps they did not anticipate the momentum of public scrutiny of their corruption during the last three years, something that is making it impossible for them to bury their scams before they leave. Their loose ends continue to dangle dangerously, waiting for the next government to pick up. And a Lokpal of their choice still eludes them.
                      There are several theories circulating as to why the lame duck government is trying hard to appoint the next Army chief in such haste. The Ministry of Defence had become a UPA den and it is imperative for the present dispensation to ensure a protective continuity in matters that affect them most, the fate of Agusta Westland and the nebulous transactions involving "the family" and "AP", and most importantly, how to make the government lose its case in arbitration, so that Finmeccanica's fortunes do not suffer. These shadowy, murky matters of kickbacks and intrigue remain invisible to the aam admi, whose tax money finances the corruption of those who preside over the government, even while they keep screaming shrilly, to distract the aam aadmi, that they alone are the Lord's anointed ones to give India inclusive and secular advancement.
                      In their terminal political desperation and bankruptcy, they have turned as expected to communal handouts for Muslims and backward classes, whom they continue to view as election chattels. Having failed for decades in fulfilling promises to them for raising their standards of living and quality of life, the last few ploys that they command as masters of the government are those of reservation in government jobs. I have something significant to say about this issue of reservations that I hope these two segments of our country will reflect upon.
                      Our Constitution, the foundation of our laws and government, is one of the most secular in the world. While it believes that governmental employment opportunity must be merit based, it never lost sight of the historical reality of our caste-ridden society. For centuries the lower castes had suffered social oppression and humiliation from the upper castes, denial of education, and corresponding opportunity for social, educational and economic inclusion. The long term consequences of social exclusion are equally destructive. They result in stunting and dwarfing mental faculties, erosion of self esteem, a permanent feeling of inferiority, death of aspiration and higher social mobility, and social fatalism. Clearly, historical caste-based exclusion and social decapitation made them incapable of being part of fair and equal competition with the higher castes. Just as a man with tied legs cannot compete fairly in a running race, people with their mental faculties debilitated through deliberate social oppression perpetuated over centuries cannot be expected to participate equally in competitive examinations. The Constitution provided special facilities for them. Reservations, as recommended by Dr Ambedkar were meant to be a recompense from the democratic government of India for the historic and social wrongs committed by our society to certain segments for denying them opportunities and acquiring equal rights as full blooded citizens at par with higher castes. This was the fundamental principle on which reservation quotas for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes was incorporated in our Constitution.
                      Let me remind the OBCs, that neither Mulayam nor Mayawati are their true friends. Both, with mountains of corruption files hanging over their heads, are willing to barter anything away for a clean chit. Let the OBCs also recall that the Congress party under Indira Gandhi ignored the Mandal Commission report, and Rajiv Gandhi categorically opposed it. V.P. Singh made an attempt to implement it in 1990, but the issue was stayed by the Supreme Court. The Congress party fielded a battery of the best lawyers, including Nani Palkhivala, to oppose it. Vasanth Sathe, a non-practising lawyer, donned his robes and appeared in the Supreme Court, sending out the clear Congress message of opposition to the Mandal report. I was the only lawyer who defended the case, and I won it. This is one victory I am very proud of, and so much for Congress' great concern about the OBCs.
                      Recently, the Congress party has again played its communal card by including a sub-manifesto that it would provide 4.5% Muslim quota, within the OBC quota. Commendable election tactics and a last minute quick-fix hoping to ensnare Muslim vote banks, wherever the Congress believes it can leverage their numbers to its advantage, and make them eternal captives. Is the Congress party trying to inform the Muslim community that they have for centuries suffered humiliation from Indian society, for their present state of lack of education, or economic advancement? Muslim rulers, who have ruled most parts of this country for five centuries, have imposed jazya on the local population, treating Hindus in general, exactly the way Hindu upper castes treated lower castes. It is only after the British takeover that they lost political power. Historically or socially, Indian society has in no manner humiliated them or done them any social wrong or deprived them of educational opportunity, capacity to advance, or have fair opportunity in competition in government jobs. What really has impeded Muslims of India from reaching their true potential, are their own clerics and their madrassa education that ghettoises them further, even visibly, in terms of separate attire and physical appearance. Neither the clerics nor the madrasas will empower the critical mass of underprivileged Muslims in India to access modern contemporary education, economic opportunity, and acquire greater heights in our socio-economic order that secular India aspires for each of its citizens.
                      I ask my Muslim countrymen to do some introspection, and look at the lives of the Muslims in India who have prospered. They are the modern, cosmopolitan ones who have avoided the tragedy of a madrasa education. I am tempted to state a simple example. At Independence, the Bombay Bar was dominated by brilliant Muslim lawyers. Today, there are hardly any.
                      Let the Muslims of the country realise that if they succumb to the bait of reservation (that is in any case constitutionally untenable), they would be affirming that the Congress party has done the same to them as what the upper classes historically did to the lower castes in India. Do not get carried away by this bait — ask instead for better educational institutions, access to skills and expertise, and proactively grab better opportunities for economic progress.
                      http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.culture.religion.advaita/10323

                      The Quixotic EC

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                      Indian media biased reporting

                      SATURDAY, MAY 3, 2014


                      The Quixotic EC


                      Any election without its humour and laughable moments is no fun. 

                      Lately, apart from the politicians it’s the Election Commission (EC) and its multiple Commissioners and field level Commissioners that have been providing some comic moments. 

                      They have this thing called Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which the politicians and other public figures campaigning are supposed to follow. I believe Mohinder Amarnath would have called these guys “a bunch of jokers” without a second thought; such is their implementation of policies and codes. 

                      The first and foremost task of the EC is to ensure all voters who wish to vote are able to vote without hindrance. They have failed miserably in this task and someone needs to explain and probably even be prosecuted for this serious lapse. It’s not even a question of a few hundreds or thousands, this runs into millions according to news reports:

                      There is no denying that the task of conducting elections in India is a huge one. It’s the biggest elections on the planet that can face a lot of hurdles. That is understandable and we shall deal with it later. But why should there be a problem with something as clerical as voter rolls? Six Million in just one state and there maybe others in other states too. That’s not a small number, that’s almost like disenfranchising the whole of Israel or Sweden or Switzerland. The EC apologised for this but this is a crime that needs much more than a mere apology. This is the reason people have stopped trusting even the EC. An earlier CEC, Naveen Chawla, was reportedly talking to Congress party members from the toilet of his office. And after all this the EC gets into idiotic issues of MCC.

                      First they ban Amit Shah for his “revenge” speech. Then they ban Azam Khan for his “Muslims saved Kargil” speech. Both are idiotic cases and didn’t deserve any action. But like the media, the EC too now indulges in “monkey balancing”. Amit Shah’s ban has been reversed but not Azam Khan’s. I’m no fan of Khan but if he wants to say Muslims saved Kargil, what is wrong in it? At best it’s a lie or not the full truth. That should be combated by other politicians not by the EC. Which political speech during an election does not have some sprinkling of lies and distortions? This whole nonsense of “hate speech” is driven a lot by religious issues. There is nothing hateful in what Khan or Shah said. Why are we so scared that Hindus and Muslims are dumb who will fall prey to such speeches? Are the ECs supposed to act as their Mother-in-law?


                      There is another moron (who invented the DNA testing system) called Abu Azmi who wants the DNA of those Muslims, who didn’t vote for his party, to scientifically establish if they are Muslims or RSS members. For the record, even RSS has a Muslim-wing. So far, terrorists wanted to hear some verses from Quran or the name of Mohammad’s mother to establish one was a Muslim. Now we have a new method? In case some have forgotten, this same EC covered all theelephants of Mayawati on frivolous claims of other parties that it would influence voters. The EC spent crores on it. Does the EC really believe voters are that dumb? There was even a complaint by Congress in MP to hide lotus ponds. This has been getting sillier with time. Then there’s the question of campaigning or flashing symbols on voting day. Which age does the EC live in?


                      The EC recently filed FIRs againstNarendra Modi for flashing the Lotus badge while talking to media after voting in Gandhinagar on April 30. The Congress and others complained about it and the EC held a special 3 hour emergency meeting after which they decided to file the FIRs against Modi. This is as stupid as it gets. There’s a 24X7 media beaming sound-bites from various candidates on voting day. There was Nandan Nilekani commenting on BJP and why Congress should win after he voted in Bangalore. In the pic below, others using symbols after voting are doing so deliberately and not accidentally:


                      There was Meera Sanyal in Mumbai condemning Milind Deora after she voted in Mumbai. There are many such cases and the complaints can be endless. If that is not enough, on voting days at some places there is campaigning on at other towns. The media airs those campaigns. Does it not influence voters? Is the EC under the impression what Modi may say in Bangalore may not have any impact on a voter in Bihar which may have a voting-day? Or are the channels not airing the campaigns in voting areas? What is the point of the whole farce of FIRs and silly actions wasting time from an important exercise in the country? Because the media morons and Congress screamed the EC filed an FIR against Giriraj Singh (Who said Modi-haters must go to Pakistan). The arrest warrant against him has been quashed by the Jharkhand HC. What is so painful about what Giriraj said? (There are already people who have said they will leave the country if Modi becomes PM). It may offend some people but is mere offence cause enough for the EC’s quixotic behaviour? In an interesting story, the state of Ohio in the US has banned negative campaigning and lies against candidates. Although this has been challenged in their SC under First Amendment rights, there is a similar need for dramatic change in our MCC. Operating the same MCC where prosecutable crimes aren't separated from petty issues drains the EC of valuable time, resources and focus.

                      If at all the EC and political parties really want to stop this silly incidents all they have to do is have clear guidelines for the media. In this day and age it is absurd not to recognise that channels like NDTV, Timesnow, CNN-IBN, Aajtak and other groups are active campaigners in elections. Each media channel supports and campaigns for a party. The excessive promotion of Mrs Vadra by Arnab Goswami and TimesNow has reached levels of absolute moronery. Even the most stupid and childish things she says and does are peddled as great political insight or skill. Silly Arnab even had problems with someone calling her “Mrs Vadra” because the Vadra name is now associated with land scams which are in the news again. Given all these stupidities does the EC have time for crimes such as illegal voter cards?

                      The EC has been quixotic in almost all elections. First off, holding a national election over 35-40 day period itself is a very absurd practice. The gaps between voting days provide enough opportunities for political parties to get exit polls from sources and even corrupt media channels to tailor their campaigns in between voting days. It also provides opportunities for other corrupt practices to be extended. The whole exercise has to be modernised and completed within a week. It may be a tall task and require a lot of resources. It’s better to make those resources available and enable elections to finish inside a week. Considering elections form one of the most important parts of a democracy, the new govt must make it a top priority for electoral reforms. That would at least be a start to stop the EC’s Quixotic ways.

                      60 comments:

                      1. EC is a big joke today. Political parties have to spend so much money over six week election that with that money election can be done in one week. Also I think there is influence of Congress party on EC like on media.
                        Reply
                      2. Well articulated. I am beginning to believe that even Election Commissioners are becoming Congress cronies if not already. The Gandhi family has corrupted each and every state/federal institution in the country.
                        Reply
                      3. Though this post is not completely about crooks in the media...its very insightful and very well articulates the need for electoral reforms. Thanks for pointing this big flaw in our our so called "Dance of Democracy". I will do my bit by spreading this message to all my friends.
                        Reply
                      4. EC appears tho enjoy their omnipotence they have during the long election period! the more the merrier!!..The excuse given for such a long time frame is security, time taken for movement of troops from one place to another,logistics etc...It is not impossible to have the whole election process completed in a maximum period of one week .EC should tell the government of the day what resource is required to complete the process in a week and the government should provide it. This will save the nation from having government paralysis for such a long period, save the resources required for keeping the EVMs in tact for long periods (first voting done on 7th April and counting on May 16th..Don Quixote must be turning in his grave),apart from having that idiotic MCC not in force for such a long period!!..We are electing a government and not having an IPL with an inherrant format of abundant scope for match-fixing
                        Reply
                      5. I do not agree that election commission performance has deteriorated. It was always so. Especially in Indra days all the EC were chamchas. One man T.N. Sheshan changed all this. He made EC what it is today. In Sonia Raj chamcha culture has touched new heights. She has shown great ability in making wrost key appointments. President Pratibha, CVC Thomas and EC Chawla are a few examples.
                        Reply
                      6. The new government should make the election commission a five member body. All 5 members will be called CEC's The senior most CEC should be given the job of talking to media only. All decisions have to be approved by 4 members. Once the congress appointed EC's retire, the government can bring an amendment to make necessary changes. Government should bring out a law which should clearly enforce banning of political parties if religious heads give directions to vote for a political party. All abusers should be banned from political activities for life. Media houses favoring a political party should be losing their broadcasting license automatically.
                        Reply
                      7. Navin Chawal was calling from Tolet to Sonia during day time & now Sampath is calling from the Bedroom to Sonia during night time - thats the only difference we see. But if the outcome of this election under the Sonia Licker Sampath will that of the last election during Navin Chawal India will be worst than hell under Sonia rANDi's rule. God Save India from this RSVP model.
                        Reply
                      8. IIतुम झब् नहिन् थे तब् भी ये ओफ़्फ़िचे चल रह थ:II
                        || Tum Jab nahin the tab bhi ye
                        office chal raha tha ||
                        IIतुम जब् नहिन् होगे तब् भी ये चलत रेहेग:II
                        || Tum jab nahin hoge, tab bhi ye
                        chalta rehega |
                        This office will be running even when you are not here.
                        Moden Bhagawad Gita. http://7orientation.blogspot.com/2014/05/corporate-bhagavad-gita.html

                        Reply
                      9. EC has one of the most absurd rule in the name of MCC that no person can carry cssh exceeding 50K(barring medical emergencies etc).Are these morons from Uranus like planet to have implemented it at all. The businesses dealing in high value goods are badly affected (I belongtothecategory).Rightfrom the time the elections were announced to may 16 is really a LONG time for implementing this thing.
                        I hope NarendraBhai Modiji will look at the perspectives and amend.

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                        1. Sorry, don't agree. Businesses should be conducted thru bank guarantees or hundis and not cash.
                      10. As rightly pointed out in this article, EC should be concerned about allowing the electorate to vote. A mere sorry is not enough, a repoll is needed as the electorate will not get another chance before 5 years. 


                        EC should also be concerned about the safety and security of the data it collects. For example electoral rolls of constituencies can be downloaded in full without any authentication. The demographics of an entire constituency can be derived from this. Further the personal data is associated with Voter ID number. This is a ripe tool for social engineering attacks. EC should focus on such issues and act immediately rather than monkey balancing on MCC.



                        There is a big hue and cry over "Privacy of individuals" being compromised and the need for "Snoopgate commission" which was articulated by Dushyant Dave yesterday in NDTV. It is ironic that such large scale privacy breaches are never discussed.

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                      11. It is ironic that Congress went to EC complaining about Modi's Varanasi nomination procession held on an election day. If the MSM had unilaterally decided not to telecast it, this procession would not have reached wider audience. Why is action being not taken against MSM and why is Modi being blamed for this?
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                        1. Precisely. But nobody ( including bjp ) wants to discuss that. The public discourse in this country is rotten. Mediocre entities with limited competence are masquerading as journalists and editors . yesterday I heard Prannoy Lal Roy ( or was it Prannoy James Roy ) celebrating our Election Commission. He has been the biggest beneficiary on account of favoritism shown by EC and DD in the eighties . and most of the present day editors and journalists are products of ndtv.
                          I have not seen anywhere else such a bunch of headless chickens dominating the mainstream media and damaging the public discourse in this country.
                          Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi have made very provocative speeches including lies to vitiate the atmosphere . nothing happens .
                          Sickening .
                          In this case of Modi , they should have broadcasted after the polls or not braodcasted in the voting constituencies. But , I guess , common sense too has deserted India.
                          Nobody seems to be concerned about rising temperatures , deteriorating environment , increasing population , increasing pollution et al. 

                      12. I am eagerly waiting blog on DD's fiasco of editing Modi's interview, twist by TOI that Modi said Priyanka is like his daughter, Priyanka and Ahmed Miya's stupid reaction and slap to Tewary by Prasad Bharati CEO
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                        1. You have left out Diggy's digs and sexcapades from the list. I
                      13. The new Govt should give top priority for Electoral reforms. It was really bizarre to see these stupid actions by EC particularly in this election. Also, the voter registration should be scrutinized once again. 


                        It was sheer stupidity on EC's behalf to have covered Elephants & even more stupid was the request to cover lotus ponds.



                        Statements by Giriraj & Azam were not needed but those do happen in every election. Let the opposition can attack and prove it a lie. 



                        However it was really astonishing to see the way Farooq Abdulla's statement was not acted upon. Same happened with TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee's statements and some other TMC leaders' statements. These guys said far worse things than Azam, Amit Shah & Giriraj.



                        Yes. I agree. EC should use its limited resources on prosecutable crimes rather than on stupid silly remarks of political leaders.



                        Clear guidelines for media is the most important step especially in this age of Internet. The way media tries to influence public opinion during polling is very blatant. We can see reporters clearly instigating people in these chaupals & ground-zero reporting kind of shows.

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                      14. Resubmitting after typo corrections. First a disclaimer. I don't belong to any party. I have voted for CONG, BJP, JD-S in past elections. So, I don't belong to any vote bank.!


                        Lot is said about deteriorating quality of electioneering. I would not want it any other way.

                        I am sure not many want to go back to empty speeches without crucial scrutiny just filled with slogans which later turned out to be empty.



                        Garibi Hatao .. We will do it

                        We are not BJP ++ and hence by definition, we are secular. So vote for us.
                        Want to eliminate poverty, we are the people . After all we have been doing that for 25+ years
                        India Shining.. Don’t you see it ALL around. 



                        Those times are gone, forever. Present and Future would be crucial & intense review of Leaders position, standings on various issues, past dealings, Life patterns, demonstrated skills, strengths and weaknesses, achievements, past mistakes. Possible interpretations of cliché words, Changes in personality to take on new roles if given a chance. etc



                        If that is referred as Deterioration..... I will gladly accept it and I am sure many will accept it as well. So, what forms violations will also change over time.

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                      15. 'The biggest joke of the EC is that if someone flashes their party symbol, it might influence the voters!!! Isn't the the whole election is about trying to influence the voters?? Then how come influencing the voters have become a crime for this EC?? This farace must stop.
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                      16. So called code itself is a joke.innovative way of campaigning can't be stopped.Amit Shah, Modi,Azam Khan,Giriraj Kishor and host of candidates have a right to be innovative in their campaigns to influence the voters.
                        Modi/BJP/NDA have their roles cut out post 16th May.One of the first task on hand is to question EC about those removal of voters' names that includes Dipak Parekh of HDFC and Amol Palekar, there are millions who have been voting for years have found their names deleted.Who did this? Heads must roll in EC.Second issue is about illegal migrants getting themselves registered as voters.EC should be asked to delete their names summarily.

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                      17. this great country of ours is on the verge of being disintegrated ...by 
                        these stupid politicians and their chamchas , 
                        pathetic media and 
                        to a large extent by we the people

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                      18. One can make payments in millions,do shopping, book air tickets, apply for passport and can do many other important things ONLINE,but can not vote online.


                        EC could have focussed on such inprovisations rather wasting its energy on frivolous issues.

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                        1. Even before that, one who has a voter identity cards should be eligible to vote. The voter lists should be thrown out. IT is a useless exercise to make voter lists and leads to corruption
                          Have a way of providing secure voter identity cards, eliminate duplicates, prosecute those having multiple ones. you will have better elections.

                        2. That's a point. It is such an agonising experience to retuen from the booth without voting because one's name is not in the list!


                          There are millions who are one move, go to other city for jobs. These people are not able to vote. For example a person from Delhi working in Pune is not able to vote despite having a voter ID!



                          We are the leaders in IT but when it comes to application, the corrupt system fails to use it in the interest of the Nation.



                          I hope, Sh. Modi , who himself is IT savy, will look into this aspect. That will enable more educated voters to cast their vote, which traditionally is NAMO supporter.

                      19. All the idiosyncrasies of the EC are explained by the theory that EC is a poodle of the Cong(I) and is covertly aiding and abetting Cong(I) to stay in power.


                        Don't you see the method in their madness?

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                      20. Ravinar, the CEC is definitely biased towards congress. All are committing grave mistakes fearing NaMo. They all have lost their mental balance. On the top of it, EC has the audacity to give consent to appoint a judge to investigate snoopgate. They all fall flat on the day of results. The fun has already started with DD pinning IB ministry. Lets sit and enjoy the fun. Nobody repeat nobody repeat can stop NaMo's juggernaut. BJP on its own will get between 307 to 325 seats.
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                      21. Perfectly put, Ravinar. The EC has been making mountains out of trivial issues that should not even have seen any newspaper inches. In taking action on these issues, it fools the people into believing that it is impartial and alert. 


                        The biggest failing of EC, which is missing voter names...of even people like Deepak Parekh and Amol Palekar...let alone lakhs of ordinary citizens, gets hardly any coverage. In fact, had the SM not made a big noise about it, most would not have even known about this huge failing (dare I say scam?) of the EC. 



                        Sometimes I feel there is a deliberate attempt made at dumbing down people. Media keep them busy with hugely blown up trivial things, so that people lose the ability to even discern what the really important things are.



                        Such a huge failing of the EC merits an investigative programme like Panorama. Of course since our media are bed-mates of the current rulers...literally and figuratively, nothing can be expected until the rulers change. 



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                        1. Yes, it seems like a deliberate attempt to keep Indians preoccupied with inanities - but I day that it is more fait accompli /consequence of certain intrinsic tendencies particular to India - laid back attitude , reservations that have destroyed merit , shortsightedness , momentarism, groupism, sychopancy as a tool to progress , lack of clarity as also priorities and many more. All these are widely prevalent amongst 95% of the populace whereas the 5% that is dominant and successful are hedonists, materialists , selfish , scheming , manipulative.


                        2. Yes you are right. I did not look at it that way.
                      22. Ravinar,
                        With all due respect, I think you got yourself wrong with Azam Khan episode. The EC is atleast right in this case since Azam khan was found to be a "serial offender" of Model code of Conduct and thats probably the reason for the ban not merely of one outrageous statement. He had been saying unsavory things right from the start where he firstly tried to polarize elections, next he called modi brother of puppy, about kargil martyrs (by the way he did not only said muslims won the kargil but was also pointing out that "Hindu" actually did not win kargil, dragging Military was perhaps first of its kind by any sickular leader in any election and that I see as unprecedented) etc.
                        he was bound to get banned, but here is the twist, Azam deliberately overstepped so as to get sympathy among the muslims for SP. You see when victimization runs deep among Muslims perpetrated deliberately by our Sickulars, fighting against any evil institution (all including EC) will be great marketing among their vote banks. This is the primary reason why Lalu, some exit polls say, had done well due to sympathy factor after his conviction. At the end of the day, the spirit of constitution lives (even with faulty EC guidelines) so those who repeatedly offer disrespect to MCC (even faulty one) must be pulled up.


                        With all the Negative press that got with Amit shah, it was his first and perhaps the last slip where he asked people to avenge the bad Government "with voting". Yes EC did the monkey balancing, but corrected it after revoking the ban.

                        As with its decision to file FIR against Modi, it looked downright ridiculous as you yourself pointed out in the article.



                        Finally your point on long drawn out elections is also an important fact as most elections in democratic countries are completed in a day. Even countries with hard geography like brazil and indonesia are completed in a day. This practice of EC must end.



                        As for the missing votes, BJP must order an investigation immediately should they come to power. EC's hands are tied to an extent since the lower bureaucracy is entirely of state Govt's and almost always does bidding for them. Modi must throw open more freedoms with respect to electoral rolls and give them to EC.

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                        1. To just add to my post, EC's stance looks compromised when it okays inquiry into the snooopgate controversy against modi but does not allow Army chief to be appointed. Isn't that strange. Either it must allow both or obstruct both, whats the point of letting incumbent order the inquiry at this late hour if not for political reasons where any traction of Congress's allegations of Modi will be a victory for the worst Govt India has ever seen.
                        2. @Vamsi


                          You are plainly wrong. Why should Azam Khan be banned because he is a serial offender? And constitutes a "serial offender"? What he says may offend you and me... but let it offend. The more we pander to people who get offended the more important the stupid Khans become. It may not be an exact match in terms of analogy... but the more liquor or porn is prohibited.. the more the crimes that connected to it. If a person keeps on uttering nonsense... at some point people will just ignore and move on. Banning him helps play victim and get sympathy and works in the opposite way. And if there are crimes that he has committed let the normal law be applied (like in the threat case of Imran Masood) why should some stupid MCC and its interpretation be the basis to punish him? I think Azam Khan is a moron and a filthy character but I would certainly not consider banning him.



                      23. What does EC do between elections? It does not update electoral and verify them. The pity is that are not even accountable. Arnab should focus his energy on this rather than discuss mrs Vadra who is not even a candidate.
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                      24. The article forgot to mention Shrarad Pawar who suggested a method to his voters to do double voting. This was a very serious criminal suggestion. But the EC looked at this very leniently. Where as Amit Shah had said use the ballot box to take badla. and EC pounced on him with all its might. Very shameful.
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                      25. EC is no more Election commission .it means Elect Congress. These morons concealed so many elephant statues in UP at great cost.. I was afraid at that time the stupid people may actually kill the living elephants in forests and temples. Luckily it did not happen. And somebody from conmen gang wanted to cover the lotus flowers in all the ponds and water bodies. Then I wondered what with Sun, the symbol of DMK. With these disturbing thoughts i went to sleep. Then during sleep I had a dream that some morons will suggest that the hands of all the citizens should be severed on the polling day as it is Congis symbol. Startled I woke up with a trembling shock. Coming to senses , I realized that I was in India and have to live with such nightmares as long as we are ruled by Italians.
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                      26. Thanks Ravinar for another top post. I too think that the new Modi Govt. should put emphasis on electoral reforms. All these long drawn-out phases, deleted voters, malfunctioning EVMs, brazen rigging makes one wonder whether EC is really performing its duty.
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                      27. EC has proved that it stands for EXTENDED CONGRESS
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                      28. I had discussions with some party leaders of BJP as well as SS. They had a different view to the deletion of names from voters list, and didn't seem to think it was due to a bias. Incompetence, yes. In their view, due process was followed prior to deletion of names, which isn't as simple a task as people think. Apparently a survey was conducted to identify which voters have moved on or expired, and an ASD list was created. The entire list of voters being deleted was published in the Free Press Journal as it was the cheapest and fit in the budget, ignoring the fact that it has a very poor circulation. Similarly even the regional papers in which the list was published were the cheapest ones. A period of several months was provided after the advertisement to invite objections, and only after that deletions were done. Since due process has been followed, no matter how incompetently, there is very little that can be done. It is for the political parties and the voters to ensure that the list is in order. Earlier, parties used to do this exercise to ensure all their voters are on the list. When such massive deletions were being done, they should have been more aggressive in checking whether their regular voters were affected too. People too were not vigilant enough and didn't keep a watch on the EC's activities till the last month before elections and then expected that their names would suddenly appear and they would get to vote. Being a government body, we shouldn't expect that the EC will work in an efficient or competent way, that's just not how most government departments work. This is a valuable lesson for people and hopefully they will learn well.
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                        1. Bjp and SS party leaders spoke and you accepted ??? They were caught napping and so they are trying to downplay their folly. The moot point is on what basis did EC remove voters from entire buildings and localities ?? On what basis they decided that these voters have changed address or no more alive ?? And that too in lacs even as they displayed amazing alacrity in issuing voter cards to many illegal migrants ???
                          No wonder India is what it is today.

                        2. yes, you are right. deletion from electoral role is doesn't seem to be an easy task. I looked up my maid's name in the electoral role and was able to find it. This inspite of the fact that she was missed in the 2011 census and hence could not apply for NPR at the camp.
                          She has lost her voter id card and was unable to vote in some past elections but this time with the EC voter slip she was able to vote.

                        3. Mr.Amit Thadhani, this is how the inefficient people with mall-fide intentions have been messing up the country. I can understand few names here and there getting deleted because of the shift / death ..etc. How in lakhs in clusters can be deleted? under what logic?..and people like you accepting such lame explanations and sympathising with such rogues who act in connivance with the corrupt political parties. No wonder India is what it is today...
                        4. One reason could be that this group of people may not all 6 L but most may have not voted in any of the elections is last 5 years including 2009 General Election, State Assembly and Municipal Election if one fails to exercise his or her franchisee then there name is bound to get deleted from voters list even though they possess Voters ID.


                          EC never tried to increase voting % at any point of time all they did was update voters list, issue ID and deploy troops on eve of election day. They failed to bring people to vote booths.



                          EC must adopt new technology for making people vote even though there presence is in other state on election day.

                        5. I know people who have voted in several election before this one...including the last municipal and assembly elections. Yet their names were missing. The EC did not even say that it had followed this process and this is the first time I have heard about the Free Press Journal list. Besides in case of Amol Palekar, he got to know a month or two earlier and yet they did not remedy the situation. So the story sounds cooked.
                        6. Forget about incompetence, now that the issue has come to light, it should be addressed. There is sufficient time even now to conduct a repoll. The person elected has tremendous responsibility. What if the elected person did not have the mandate, but was tasked with an important job and he takes decisions detrimental to country's interests.


                          These are serious matters and affects the very foundation of democracy. Iam astonished that political parties like BJP/SS do not seem to appreciate this and is resorting to typical blame it on procedure. If an opportunity to correct a mistake is there it should be utilized. The faulty procedures, incompetence should be addressed next time. It is like saying that if a product has a bug, donot fix it but release a new version after three months.

                      29. Looks like EC is fined tuned to 'secular' MSM for deciding Model Code violations. 


                        So Azam Khan and Amit Shah "violate" MC when they make "communal" speeches but Sharad Pawar and his nephew do not fall foul of MC when they blatantly announce their "strategies" to circumvent free and fair elections. 



                        Besides, EC seems to have been in a deadly hurry to slap a notice on Modi based on Congi's charges without bothering to conduct even a basic inquiry of whether or not he was outside the prescribed radius of a polling station. Clearly, Modi is being singled out here and EC owes an explanation to the nation.



                        The voters across the country are being bombarded with 24X7 party propaganda by MSM regardless of whether they are voting on a given day or not. Evidently, EC is relying on archaic laws and MC to decide their violations. As you have rightly pointed it is time for EC to get up to speed with the present times.





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                      30. Ya you are right.Its all our fault.how dare we waste our time in earning our livelihoods rather than checking voters lst?
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                        1. I don't know. You could have outsourced it to someone. Like your children, who are most likely computer literate. The electoral rolls were available online. Anybody could check.
                        2. I agree with @counterview above.
                          What we have done here in Visakhapatnam is that we youngsters have registered approximately 600 new voters, young and old, in our own Gujarati society, in our friends & business circle and our staff. This was done last December. 
                          We have personally checked online that every person we registered to vote had his name in the voters list. 


                          Now this word of mouth has spread and we are sure of a voters turn out within our circle will be 1200.



                          See, the point is don't expect to be spoon-fed. This is India.

                          It's all about educating yourself and others. Together we have to support each other. Relying totally on the Government and EC is foolish.

                      31. Post TN Seshan, the integrity of Election Commissioners have come under heavy cloud. Remember MS Gill? Successor of Seshan, brought in to clip Seshan's wings, who disenfranchised Bal Thackrey and then few years later became Union Minister in UPA. Similarly Navin Chawla who was CEC in 2009, is a well known Congress sympathiser having been a classmate of Sanjay Gandhi and posted a Secy to LG, Delhi.He was indicted by Shah Comission, which was later overturned by Indira Gandhi. His trust also got money from MPLAD funds of Congress MPs. And we all remember how Congress emerged the single largest party in 2009, against all expectations and opinion polls.
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                      32. What will they do with the money and patronage of Gandhi family when common man on the street will look them down. Now only CAG is left to be tarnished. Now what is the face of EC when even the Prelim enquiry said that media meeting of MODI was outside the prescribed boundary even though some violation may be there.. Besides corruption , Congress has given rise to one more Chaacteristic to our Countrymen-- How to be Shameless after doing anything.. Kejriwal is Iconic figure in this regard..
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                      33. EC is like the doctor who messed up the surgery, killing the patient but the doctor goes to lobby and throughly cleans it
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                      34. why silence on large scale rigging in west bengal?
                        an orchestrated deafening silence.

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                      35. There will be a big job on to clean all of the institutions that Congress has compromised over the years. There should be no let-up in this exercise, even if the investigations and prosecutions take decades.
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                      36. Elections should be conducted when there are no public holidays, weekends before or after elections. Due to which people tend to relax, take leave and go for vacation.
                        Voter's list should be matched with multiple agency data like census, ration card, LPG/DL etc. so as to minimize the errors.

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                      37. The first priority of the New Govt. should be to modernize the electoral process is such a way that it is divided into three parts Voting with South, and dividing North into a Two parts !!! So the election will be over in two days and the whole exercise should be within a Week!!!!!
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                      38. I wonder who will live in india after elections. Modi goes to pakistan.Those who do not vote for him also go to pakistan and those who vote for are dumped in the sea
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                      39. Ravi great article but one correction. - azam said it was not hindus but muslims who won kargil. There is a world of difference
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                      40. There is no denying the fact that this Bharat of ours still has a majority of the population which is illiterate and go by Charisma. There, the blighters of a lookalike of our so-called leaders ‘dig-in’.


                        Ravi, it is time if we can go in for an English news channel. We need hard talks, cross fires and the sorts in originality.



                        That is the only way we can screw up the Congs and others. I am ready with my contribution of 10,000/-



                        Try getting more. You be the judge. And let people like me come forward at times. Can u do it?



                        That is the only answer to shut the wide open mouths of Gutters, Chidhambarams, Manis, Thiwaris and a whole lot of others. Ravi, do it man?



                        I do not switch on my TV between 9 to 10 PM.



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                      41. This comment has been removed by the author.
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                      42. A video on media coverage of Priyanka "Gandhi" Vadra. Please watch



                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-vAnsQDtzw

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                      http://www.mediacrooks.com/2014/05/the-quixotic-ec.html#.U2XcRYGSySp

                      Caesar's wives should be above suspicion. Role of Nair, Sampath and Brahma in Coalgate should be probed

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                      Govt foils CBI move to quiz PM’s Adviser

                      Thursday, 05 September 2013 | PNS | New Delhi

                      The Government has stonewalled CBI’s proposal to examine Prime Minister’s Adviser TKA Nair, Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath and Election Commissioner HS Brahma in connection with Coalgate probe. 

                      Sampath and Brahma were Power Secretaries between 2008 and 2009 when a large number of coal blocks were allotted by the Coal Ministry then headed by Manmohan Singh. 

                      It is learnt that DoPT has claimed that since Sampath and Brahma are holding Constitutional posts, examining them by the CBI is out of question. However, no such reason has been cited for denying permission to the CBI to question all-powerful PMO official TKA Nair, said sources.

                      However, the DoPT has given green signal to the CBI for examining other former power secretaries and coal secretaries and 17 former Chief Secretaries of Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

                      The CBI got clearance to examine former power secretaries Anil Razdan, RV Shahi, and former Coal Secretaries C Balakrishnan, Alok Perty and PC Parikh. Earlier, the Government had cleared CBI’s request to examine former Coal Secretary Harish Chandra Gupta. He was questioned in June.

                      The denial of permission to examine TKA Nair shows that the Government managers want to insulate Prime Minister and PMO from Coalgate probe. The scam took place during 2004 and 2009. And Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handled the Coal Ministry between 2006 and 2009. Those days Nair was Principal Secretary to the PM.

                      As the apex court has not yet taken a final view on giving power to the CBI to examine officers without Government sanction in cases under SC monitor, the agency has to knock at the door of the Government for questioning officers above the rank of Joint Secretary.

                      Though the CBI in its affidavit to the SC pleaded it should be allowed to examine officers without Government sanction, the Government took a contrary view on the matter.

                      In a six-page affidavit, the CBI contended that no sanction or approval of the Government was required in court monitored cases, citing a recent order of another bench in 2G case.

                      “It is submitted that in case if it is held that even in the investigation which are monitored by court, requirement of sanction under Section 6 A is mandatory, then it would amount to suspension of the power of the court to monitor investigation,” the affidavit of CBI said.

                      But the Government lawyers pointed out that the order was limited to the Aircel-Maxis case alone. The Supreme Court will hear arguments on this regard on Thursday. 

                      http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/govt-foils-cbi-move--to-quiz-pms-adviser.html

                      The "Amethi Model of Development"! "Na Ghar Kaa, Na Ghat Kaa" -- A. Surya Prakash

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                      The "Amethi Model of Development"!

                      by A. Surya Prakash

                      Mr.Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Party's undeclared nominee for the office of Prime Minister, has been constantly mocking at the "Gujarat model of development" and also asserting that the Gujarat model cannot be applied to other parts of the country. Ms.Sonia Gandhi, Rahul's mother and President of the Congress Party and Rahul's sister Priyanka Vadra have also been ridiculing the Gujarat model and shooting barbs at Mr.Narendra Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister and the Bharatiya Janata Party's nominee for the office of prime minister.

                      Over the last decade, Mr.Modi has focused on many areas of development including electricity generation and distribution,infrastructure development, conventional energy sources etc. For example, every home in Gujarat is assured of 24 X 7 electricity supply and this has had a positive impact on children's education and domestic industries. There has also been a marked improvement in the quality of roads, schools and hospitals. Gujarat was also one of the early states to launch the emergency ambulance service that ensures immediate and quality first aid to citizens across the state in medical emergencies.

                      Instead of acknowledging the good work of this state government in all these sectors, the Nehru-Gandhis have been launching a shrill attack on Mr.Modi and have desperately tried to run down his achievements. This has prompted people to ask: What is the Amethi model of development?

                      This writer has visited Amethi and Rae Bareli on several occasions since 1984. Thirty years ago Amethi was as backward as Mandya or Anantapur and therefore one could say that its development or non-development was at par with districts in other states which were at some distance from the state capital. However, over the last three decades many Indian states have witnessed substantial development and the once backward districts are now flourishing business and agricultural centres with top class infrastructure, roads, hospitals and round-the-clock electricity. One should visit Shimoga Town in the heart of Karnataka now to understand what public representatives can do to a district which reposes faith in them. But poor, poor Amethi, which has been represented almost continuously by the Nehru-Gandhis for over thirty years, finds itself left behind.

                      So, while Rahul Gandhi pooh-poohs the Gujarat model, what is the Amethi Model of Development? Here is a sample: On a recent visit to the district this writer was shocked to see an angry mob surrounding a truck carrying domestic gas cylinders in Gauriganj. On enquiry, one learnt that this is a weekly affair in Amethi. Every consumer is required to register with the gas agency for a refill and wait for the truck to arrive. On an average one has to wait for a fortnight to get a refill. When the fresh stock arrives, the agency does not inform the consumer who has registered for a refill. So, consumers lay in wait on the highway, sometimes from morning to dusk and swoop on the truck on arrival. Then comes some rowdy exchanges and fisticuffs amongst consumers on who has the first right to a refill. Ultimately, those who succeed in getting a refill triumphantly carry the cylinders of on their motorcycles.

                      Domestic gas production and distribution is in the direct charge of the Union Ministry of Petroleum. Since Rahul Gandhi has been the MP from Amethi for ten long years and since he has been running the Union Government by proxy along with his mother, how come he could not do a simple thing like ensuring smooth distribution of LPG cylinders to his constituents? We must call this The Amethi Model of Development!

                      Equally shocking were the tales one heard about distribution of kerosene, a critical fuel for families below the poverty line and sugar from the Public Distribution System. Since kerosene is used to adulterate diesel and also for industrial purposes, black marketers eye this product unlike anything else. In Amethi, the story is that local 'Dabangs' (bullies) corner the kerosene stocks that come into the district every month. The PDS shopkeeper shoos away poor consumers who seek their monthly quota of kerosene. According to Amethi residents, they are denied their legitimate quota of kerosene for 9 months in a year. Like, kerosene, sugar too disappears from the PDS network. How come the MP from Amethi is unaware of this and how come he has done nothing to set this right? But then, we must remember that this is The Amethi Model of Development!

                      Let us now look at another key element that makes for a better life for the poor, the middle class and the rich - Electricity. Although the Nehru-Gandhi family has enjoyed continuous power at the Centre since independence, the power supply situation in Amethi and Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituencies is pathetic. Residents of Amethi town and the villages say that electricity supply is totally erratic and that their lives are miserable, specially in the dreadfully hot summer months from April to October. Electricity supply in the rural parts of these constituencies is confined to about ten hours per day. There is electricity in the morning one week and during the night the following week. Villagers say that they look forward to power supply to charge their mobile phones. Those who are slightly better off, charge their inverters as well. Power supply is better in Rae Bareli and Amethi towns, but even here, residents of Amethi say they face power cuts for a couple of hours every day. However, the large mass of people living in the villages in these two constituencies survive without electricity for most of the day. The villagers say that they have got "habituated" to it. They sleep on their terraces or under trees and since electricity is never there, their lives do not revolve round it. But, there are limits to their patience as well. That is why 1000 voters of Tyonsi Village, who have lived without electricity for 15 years have told the media that they are not voting in this election to protest against the non-performance of their MP.

                      Contrast this with Gujarat where Narendra Modi has ensured 24 X 7 electricity to every home in a big state. Therefore, it is rather funny to see the MP from Amethi taking pot shots at Mr.Modi on a daily basis, when he is unable to ensure even ten hours of electricity to his constituents in a single district which he has represented for ten long years and which his family has represented for several decades before that. But the most frightening thing is that Rahul Gandhi wants the entire country to adopt The Amethi Model of Development!

                      In both Amethi and Rae Bareli, the condition of primary schools is pathetic. Most of these schools do not have drinking water facilities or toilets. Many of them have no boundary walls, so much so that villagers defecate around the school building daily and the children have to wade through all this to reach their class rooms. The Union Government has launched a national scheme for construction of toilets and is even tom-tomming this as a major initiative of the UPA coalition, but neither Ms.Sonia Gandhi nor Mr.Rahul Gandhi have found it necessary to get the scheme to their constituencies. Mr.Gandhi must visit schools in rural Karnataka, Maharastra, Gujarat and even Madhya Pradesh to learn how clean and neat schools can be. He could also learn from MPs representing these constituencies on how they invest their time and effort to improve basic infrastructure in their constituencies. If he does that and if he has the capacity to learn from fellow MPs, one can be certain that he will dump The Amethi Model of Development.

                      The fifth and most obvious and visible example of constituency neglect by the man who represents it in Parliament is the state of the roads in a constituency. Amethi scores low on this count as well. Travel from Jagdishpur to Amethi via Gauriganj and you will have a sense of how responsible the MP representing Amethi has been. Parts of the road from Gauriganj to Amethi is absolutely pathetic. The Amethi-Pratapgarh road is equally bad. Some of the worst roads in this area are the roads connecting Sultanpur and Gauriganj and Gauriganj and Rae Bareli. These are all roads crisscrossing the constituencies represented by the Nehru-Gandhis for decades.

                      Mr.Rahul Gandhi talks every day about the food security bill and the reformed public distribution system (PDS) that the UPA Government has implemented. If this is the reformed PDS – local goons cornering kerosene and sugar supplies and LPG cylinders – one wonders what it must have been like in the preceding decades!

                      It must indeed be the greatest irony of Indian politics that a district which reposed faith in a family that has ruled this country either directly or through proxy for close to 50 years since independence, is today one of the laggards in regard to development. Asked why the Nehru-Gandhis have neglected Amethi and Rae Bareli in this manner, more than one person told this writer that the Nerhru-Gandhis had developed a vested interest in poverty, under-development and illiteracy. Another said "If you can garner votes simply by waving your hand at the crowds, why do you have to develop the constituency?". After seeing Amethi 2014, it was rather amusing to hear Ms.Priyanka Vadra claim in a campaign speech in the constituency that her brother Rahul was a "doordarshi" (person with foresight)!

                      Where do we go from here? We must show case the Amethi Model of Development as an example of crass irresponsibility on the part of a people's representative and of gross betrayal of public trust. Thankfully, most of our MPs have not adopted this model. Instead, they have shown commitment to constituency development and invested their time and effort in developing the districts that have reposed trust in them. That is why, while Mandya, Anantpur, Bilaspur, Amethi etc all looked alike 30 years ago, the first three have moved on to become modern, well developed districts with good infrastructure, but Amethi is left behind. What could be the reason? The Amethi Model of Development, ofcourse!

                      http://www.asuryaprakash.com/The-Amethi-Model-of-Development.php

                      THE PLIGHT OF CONGRESS – NA GHAR KA, NA GHAT KA

                      by A. Surya Prakash
                      Unable to contain the Modi juggernaut, the Congress Party, which has consistently pursued a policy of minority appeasement for ten full years is now playing its final gambit before the Lok Sabha election to frighten the religious minorities and consolidate their votes in its favour.

                      This was the purport of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's recent meeting with the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari and a few other Muslim clerics. However laughable it may sound, reports of the meeting say that Ms.Gandhi appealed to the Shahi Imam to ensure that "secular votes" did not split during the Lok Sabha election. This has been the consistent line of the Congress Party ever since Ms.Sonia Gandhi became its President. The party believes that only Muslims, Christians and such other religious minorities are "secular" and that the Hindu majority is not, forgetting that India would never have had a secular, democratic Constitution and political system, if the Hindu majority was not secular.

                      Not satisfied with the Congress Party's decade-long dalliance with Muslim appeasement, the Shahi Imam is understood to have told Ms.Gandhi that innocent Muslim youth were arrested in terror cases. He wanted reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and better security for Muslims during communal riots. He also wanted implementation of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee Report and the report of the Ranganatha Misra Commission. Obviously Ms.Gandhi would have offered the appropriate assurances to the clerics. The Shahi Imam has since openly declared his commitment to the Congress Party.

                      As the election campaign enters the final lap, the Congress Party finds itself driven to a corner and is desperately in need of some solid support from the Muslim community. However, the irony is that despite ten years of appeasement, the Muslims have begun to desert the Congress Party. They swung away from the Congress many years ago in Uttar Pradesh and most of their votes are now shared by the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The last assembly election in Uttar Pradesh saw a massive swing of Muslims towards the SP. But what has hurt the Congress Party the most was the huge swing of Muslims in Delhi towards the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Delhi State Assembly Election last December. In that election, Muslim voters were torn between the Congress and the AAP. Although the Congress won five of its 8 assembly seats in Delhi in Muslim dominant areas, it suffered heavy losses because of the split of the Muslim vote.

                      Independent surveys have shown that while in the past, around 65-70 per cent of the Muslim voters supported the Congress Party in the capital, this dropped to about 45 per cent in the 2013 assembly election. The biggest beneficiary was AAP, which took away about 35 per cent of the Muslim vote.
                      Ms.Gandhi's meeting with the Shahi Imam is meant to drive home the message to Muslims that in the Lok Sabha election they must all rally round the Congress Party, as otherwise a Narendra Modi-government will be a certainty.

                      The Congress Party has often frightened the Muslims into voting for it, by pointing a finger at the Bharatiya Janata Party and saying that religious minorities would be unsafe if the BJP were to come to power. The BJP has been in power in several states in the country for several years and there is no evidence to suggest that the Muslims are discriminated against by the BJP governments in any of these states. That is why this gambit may not pay of this time.

                      Congress managers are baffled at the attitude of Muslims towards the party, despite the Congress' open policy of minority appeasement. Before the advent of the United Progressive Alliance Government led by the Congress in 2004, no other government at the national level had resorted to such blatant measures to appeal to a section of the population. This attitude of appeasement of religious minorities and especially Muslims by the Congress Party and its President has had its impact on every facet of government, be it appointments to key posts or policies or laws. The first act of the UPA government on coming to power in 2004 was to appoint the National Commission for Religious and Linguistics Minorities headed by Justice Ranganath Misra in October, 2004. This commission was asked to recommend welfare measures for socially and economically backward sections among these minorities. This commission suggested reservations for Muslims and other minorities in government jobs and educational seats.

                      Then came the Sachar Committee, which was appointed in 2005 by Mr.Manmohan Singh to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational conditions of the Muslim community. This committee made many controversial suggestions and even made a preposterous attempt to take a communal head count of the Indian Armed Forces. This was strongly rebuffed by the armed forces establishment and sections of the media, which felt that the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh combine was taking its minority appeasement policy to absurd levels and going berserk. What was even more tragic was the acquiescence of persons like Justice Rajinder Sachar in an activity that was blatantly anti-national, as it sought to disturb the secular character of the country's armed forces. The Sachar Committee also glossed over the irresponsible acts of Muslim clerics who launched a campaign against the polio vaccine thus causing many Muslim children to be afflicted with the dreaded virus. Neither of these two bodies thought it fit to examine the pernicious effect that Muslim clerics were having on the social and economic and educational conditions of the Muslims and the communal poison that they regularly injected into the community.

                      In fact minority appeasement reached such low depths during Mr.Manmohan Singh's prime ministership that often it appeared as if the government was run by persons who had developed a visceral hatred for the Hindu majority. The first draft of the Communal Violence Bill was a clear pointer in this direction. This Bill, drafted by persons close to Ms.Sonia Gandhi, held Hindus responsible and accountable in every communal riot situation. This obnoxious law was founded on the premise that whenever there is a communal riot, the majority community would have to take the blame. Similarly, Hindu officers in government and police would be held accountable. Never before has Indian Parliament seen such a blatantly communal law coming before it. Further, in order to make things abundantly clear, Mr.Manmohan Singh declared publicly that Muslims had the first right to resources in the country.

                      It is indeed ironic that a party that titled so fully towards the Muslims for ten years is now almost begging for Muslim votes in the country. Meanwhile, because of the party's sustained tilt towards the minorities, the Congress Party may have forfeited the votes of substantial sections of the Hindu majority. It now finds itself bereft of both the majority and the minority votes and is therefore falling between two stools. "Na Ghar Kaa, Na Ghat Kaa" as they say in Hindi.

                      http://www.asuryaprakash.com/The-Plight-of-Congress-Na-Ghar-Ka-Na-Ghat-Ka.php

                      ISI plan to attack US consulate in Chennai, Israeli consulate in Bengaluru -- Central Security agencies.

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                      ISI Plan to Attack US and Israeli Consulates in India Thwarted

                      Published: 04th May 2014 02:28 PM
                      Last Updated: 04th May 2014 02:28 PM































                      US Consulate in Chennai. | File Photo/ EPS













                      US Consulate in Chennai. | File Photo/ EPS

                        


























                      Central security 





                      agencies have claimed that Pakistan's ISI had plans to carry out terror attacks on two foreign consulates in India with evidence for this reportedly given by a Sri Lankan national, arrested from Chennai, during his interrogation.
                      Official sources claimed today that Sakir Hussain, a Sri Lankan national, told his interrogators that he had been hired allegedly by an official in Pakistani High Commission in Colombo as per the alleged ISI plans to conduct reconnaissance of US Consulate in Chennai and Israeli Consulate in Bengaluru.                
                      Hussain was arrested on April 29 in a coordinated operation involving various countries including a South East Asian nation.  
                      He is reported to have told the interrogators that the Pakistan's spy agency was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai and that he had to arrange for their travel documents and hideouts.   
                      Hussain's name cropped up during an investigation in a South East Asian country which tipped a central security agency in India about possible attack on US and Israeli consulates, the sources said.            
                      An immediate surveillance led the investigators to Husain who had been constantly shifting his base in neighbouring Sri Lanka prompting the sleuths to seek cooperation of the island nation, the sources said.            
                      After Hussain's arrival in Chennai, he was picked up and subjected to sustained interrogation during which, the sources claimed, he spoke about a possible terror strike on the two consulates.       
                      During interrogation, Hussain reportedly took the name of Amir Zubair Siddiq, who is Counsellor (Visa) at Pakistan High Commission in Colombo, as his alleged handler and also said he had been chosen as he was engaged in human trafficking, making of forged passports and smuggling of fake Indian currency.      
                      The sleuths recovered pictures of US and Israeli consulates showing various gates and roads leading to the two premises, the sources said, and claimed that these pictures had been mailed to his alleged handlers in Pakistan and its High Commission in Colombo.
                      Cyber signatures showed that the pictures were downloaded at a computer within the premises of Pakistan High Commission at Colombo and the same had been shared with Sri Lankan authorities, the sources claimed.      
                      Muhammad Daud Ehtisham, Press Attache, High Commission of Pakistan in Sri Lanka, has dismissed as speculative in nature the charge of ISI's alleged involvement in any attack plans.      
                      Observing that this seemed to be a "malicious media campaign", Ehtisham has been quoted as having said that Pakistan and its state institutions are responsible entities and do not indulge in such activities
                      The sources claimed that a proper sketch prepared about the roads leading to the two consulates were also uploaded and emailed in Portable Document Format (PDF).    
                      Sri Lankan authorities were carrying out a probe at its end to fill in the gaps in the investigations being carried out by India besides corroborating the version of Hussain.  
                      Siddiq is not a new name for intelligence agencies as he figured earlier as well in 2012-13 when central security agencies picked up one Tameem Ansari, a frequent flier from Trichy to Colombo. Ansari was arrested after six months of surveillance in 2012.        
                      Ansari, a small trader who sent, among other things, potatoes and onions to Sri Lanka, was in touch with Haji, a Tamil-speaking Muslim from Colombo.  
                      Since Ansari's business was not doing well, Haji allegedly introduced him to Siddiq in the Pakistan mission in Colombo, and his second in command, Shaji.      
                      After reportedly brainwashing him, Siddiq roped him to take videos of the Nagapattinam port, the ships that berthed there, the topography and other dimensions as well as Mallipattinam, traditionally a landing point.             
                      The sources said the apparent strategy being followed by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was to rope in Muslims from Sri Lanka for executing their plans to give credibility to the deniability factor that it was not involved in any way.
                      http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/ISI-Plan-to-Attack-US-and-Israeli-Consulates-in-India-Thwarted/2014/05/04/article2205426.ece                          

                      India foils Pakistani terror plot targeting Israeli, US consulates -- Jerusalem Post

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                      Report: India foils Pakistani terror plot targeting Israeli, US consulates




                      By JPOST.COM STAFF
                      05/04/2014 15:18

                      "Times of India" reports security agencies learned of plot after interrogating Sri Lankan national allegedly hired by a Pakistani official to conduct reconnaissance of the two diplomatic missions.

                      Indian police on patrol [file]
                      Indian police on patrol [file] Photo: REUTERS
                      Indian authorities obtained information indicating that Pakistani intelligence services were in the planning stages of organizing a terrorist attack against the Israeli mission in Bengaluru as well as the American consulate in Chennai, according to a report in Sunday editions of the Times of India.

                      According to the report, Indian security agencies learned of the plot after interrogating a Sri Lankan national who was allegedly hired by a Pakistani official to conduct reconnaissance of the two diplomatic missions.

                      The suspect, Sakir Hussain, was arrested last week after Indian authorities acted on intelligence provided by other countries.

                      According to the Times of India, Hussain is said to have told his Indian interrogators that the Pakistani intelligence outfit, ISI, was planning to send two men from Maldives to Chennai, and that his task was to arrange for their travel documents and hideouts.

                      Indian authorities were reportedly tipped off to Hussain by intelligence agencies in an unnamed southeast Asian country which had gotten wind of plots to target Israeli and American diplomatic missions, the Times of India said.

                      Indian investigators reportedly found incriminating evidence against Hussain, including pictures of the US and Israeli consulates and their immediate surroundings and access points. According to the Times of India, these photographs were electronically mailed to Hussain’s handlers in Pakistan.

                      A Pakistani official based in Sri Lanka denied the Times of India report, attributing the allegations of an alleged terrorist plot as part of a “malicious media campaign.”

                      Israel's foreign missions have in years past proven to be vulnerable targets of terrorism, particularly in Asia.

                      Last month, a Thai newspaper reported that authorities thwarted a plan by Hezbollah agents to attack Israeli tourists during this Passover season.

                      According to the Bangkok Post, investigators in Thailand managed to extract a confession from one of two suspected terrorists held in custody for allegedly planning to strike at Israelis in the country.

                      In 2012, the wife of a Defense Ministry official stationed at the embassy in India was wounded when a bomb exploded in her car as she drove near the prime minister’s residence in New Delhi.

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