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Ten years of economic destruction by SoniaG UPA -- Dr. Subramanian Swamy (1:21:36)
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A victory for India, triumph of the ballot -- Narendra Modi
- Today once again India has won! The power of the ballot has won & spirit of democracy has emerged supreme. My Blog http://nm4.in/1nzxTVU
- Due to social media, lies & false promises of several leaders could not go beyond the podiums of their rallies! More power to social media.
- NDA remained firmly focussed on the agenda of development & good governance & ensured this became focal points of the entire campaign.
Usually ruling Party sets agenda of the election but in this campaign ruling party was neither proactive nor responsive,it remained reactive- The biggest joy of 2014 Elections has been the increased turnout. Braving the scorching heat & the rain people turned out in large numbers.
- I congratulate the EC & the entire election & security staff for their continuous efforts during the entire Election.
Narendra Modi A victory for the people, a victory for India and the triumph of the ballot
Posted By admin On May 12, 2014 In Blog | No Comments
Dear Friends,
India has voted.
The biggest festival of democracy has just concluded and in those lakhs of EVMs lays the verdict of the people of India. Counting of votes will take place on 16thof May but today we already have the undisputed winners and they are the people of India! Once again, India has won, the power of the ballot has triumphed and the spirit of democracy has shown itself to be supreme.
I would like to express my gratitude to the Election Commission for conducting this mammoth exercise.I thank and salute all those countless election staff, security personnel and police personnel without whom no Election is possible.
It is unfortunate that we witnessed some untoward incidents during the poll process during which some lives were lost. I salute all those who wereunfortunately martyred and offer my deepest condolences to their families. These brave individuals lived and died for democracy. It is our duty to ensure that their sacrifices do not go in vain.
History will remember the 2014 Elections as historic and marking a paradigm shift from conventional electioneering. Normally, the party in power sets the agenda of the campaign but for the first time it was not the case. Far from setting the agenda, the ruling party was neither proactive nor responsive. It was only reactive throughout the campaign
What makes me very happy is the fact that the NDA remained firm on our agenda of development and good governance. We did not stop there; we successfully forced these two issues to become the focal point of the campaign. Yes, there were attempts to digress from these issues but we remained firm. The result was- those who wanted to praise us said we were doing well and those who wanted to critique us kept saying ‘we are doing better than BJP ruled states.’ An election must be fought on positive issues and I am glad we were able to alter the discourse in a way that helped people make their choices on the basis of a positive agenda.
2014 Lok Sabha elections will stand out for the increased turnout. Whenever polling would end for a particular phase, I would eagerly wait for the polling numbers and invariably my joy would increase seeing the jump in turnout. Be it the cities or villages, old or young, men or women, everyone voted in large numbers. In most of the places it was sweltering, in some places there was rain and in some of the places in the hills it was cool apart from the hilly terrain but none of this deterred people from going out and voting.
Here I want to make a special mention for the increasing turnout among youngsters. Back in the day, voting was not believed to be ‘cool enough’ for a lot of youngsters. Today that is history. Voting is cool and rightly so! One needs to log in to Facebook or Twitter on polling day to see the number of Selfies my young friends are sharing. This is a very positive sign and I hope it continues in the times to come.
Throughout the campaign, I was able to connect with local people and local issues and this was something that I enjoyed very much. Connecting with local sentiments in this manner would not have been possible without social media. This is the first election where social media has assumed an important role and the importance of this medium will only increase in the years to come. Our Party, our campaign and me personally have gained tremendously from social media. It became a direct means of information and gave us the much-needed local pulse on several issues without any bias. It is said that the success of an Organisation depends on the accuracy and promptness with which there is an upward flow of information from the grass root level workers and well-wishers to the top that is complimented by clear and timely guidance from the top rung to those working on the ground. With the advent of social media this principle of Organisational working stands further strengthened.
There is one more thing for which we have to profusely thank social media- it has caused the downfall of manufactured lies and half-truths at a very nascent stage. Earlier during Elections we had people whose lies would reach every section of society. In a time when means of communication were less, they could get away with their same old speeches and half-baked assurances. Social media has changed that! In this age of information and social media the lies that come out of their microphones cannot even get past the podium of their speech venues, forget reaching others. More power to social media in the days ahead.
I congratulate friends in the media for covering every aspect of the Elections. The media was active in every part of the nation, keeping us abreast with latest happenings. I do however feel that there is immense room for improving the debate and discourse surrounding the elections. At the same time, the continuous election humour that is a part of every election kept the smiles on our faces.
Along with the Lok Sabha Elections there were Assembly Elections in Odisha, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Two newly created states out of Andhra Pradesh will begin their development journey. Due to the Lok Sabha campaign, the local issues of all these states could not be discussed the manner in which they ideally should have been. I did make it a point to talk about my experiences in these poll bound states wherever I went across the nation.
Yes, this has been a hard-fought election. It had its joyous moments and there were heated moments as well. Now is the time to put the heat and dust of campaign behind and look ahead. Irrespective of who wins on the 16th, the dreams of a billion Indians should not suffer. Yes, as political parties and candidates we have differing ideologies but our goal is one- to work for India and to fulfill the aspirations of our youth.
This is the right time to look ahead. It is a time to connect with each other. Lets place people over politics, hope over despair, healing over hurting, inclusion over exclusion and development over divisiveness. It is natural for the spirit of bi-partisanship to get temporarily lost in the midst of an election campaign but now is the time to resurrect it.
Personally, this campaign has been a remarkable journey. In my Blog a few days ago I talked about how this journey was extensive, innovative and satisfying. I had never imagined that someone like me would find himself here today. This is the power of Democracy and this is the power of Bharat Mata. I want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for being a part of this journey. Your support and criticism made this journey a lot livelier. I want to specially thank the security forces who have travelled with me or travelled before me to the various rallies for security arrangements. If Narendra Modi could address so many rallies and meet so many people, a lot of credit goes to them.
Let me end with a few words to all my fellow candidates and workers from BJP and the NDA who fought shoulder to shoulder with us- thanks for your efforts and partnership. I wish each and every one the very best for 16thofMay.
Let us begin the journey towards ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ and create an India our founding fathers would be proud of.
Yours,
Narendra Modi
Article printed from Home | www.narendramodi.in: http://www.narendramodi.in
LOOKING FOR THE ANTITHESIS OF MANMOHAN SINGH
Tuesday, 13 May 2014 | A Surya Prakash |
A substantial section of voters have zeroed in on Narendra Modi for the Prime Minister's job. While he has built up his image as a firm and decisive leader, some credit must go to his detractors as well
The bitter and long drawn campaign in the Lok Sabha election, which finally came to an end last Saturday, has thrown up some trends regarding the factors which have influenced the voters this time. While it is never easy to forecast the number of seats each party will get, it is possible to pick up signals about which way the wind is blowing.
One trend that has been visible in Lok Sabha election since the emergence of regional political parties in different States is that State-level electoral preferences of voters usually gets reflected in a Parliament election as well. This trend may still persist in some States in 2014 as well, but there are signs this time that voters are drawing a clear distinction between the State Assembly and Lok Sabha poll.
During travels in four States in recent weeks, this writer met many voters who said that the question before them in this election was: “Who should govern India?”, and they had answered it through their ballot. This means that after a long time, electors in many States have risen above regional and caste considerations while exercising their franchise.
This trend appears to have crystalised over the past year or so because of the omissions and commissions of the UPA Government, There is much disappointment among voters about the performance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his leadership (or more correctly, the absence of it), his stony silence even in the face of calamities or even aggression from across the border and his failure to prevent blatant acts of corruption by his Ministers. The barbaric treatment of Indian soldiers by the Pakistan Army and the reports of regular Chinese intrusions into Indian territory and the pusillanimous response of the Union Government to these incidents has left many voters sad and angry. Finally, the real clincher is the nationwide feeling that Mr Singh is not in control of his Government and that he is subject to remote control.
Voters in different parts of the country state some or other of these reasons as influencing their voting decision in 2014 and say that they want a Prime Minister who has the following qualifications: He must be decisive; he must speak up for India; he must rejuvenate the economy; he must step up development; he must be in control of the Government; and he must provide a corruption-free Government. At first glance, this would seem like a tall order. But then one must note that the length of the peoples’ wish list is directly proportional to their disillusionment with the incumbent Government.
Apart from all this, there is another significant demand. The voters seem to want the next Prime Minister to head a ‘majboot sarkar’ (a strong Government), meaning thereby that they are no longer comfortable with unstable coalitions at the federal level. They feel that this trend needs to be reversed if one has to have a ‘majboot sarkar’ and a ‘decisive Prime Minister’. This also indicates the voters’ discomfort with Third Front-type Governments and, as a result, some of the parties falling in this category may get squeezed in this election.
Mr Singh describes this constraint as ‘coalition dharma’ and says that he is hamstrung by it. But the public perception is that this is actually ‘coalition adharma’, and that a strong-willed Prime Minister call always call the bluff of his allies and ensure that the Prime Minister’s Office retains its authority and control over Government.
This brings us to the final question: What does this mean in terms of the final outcome in Lok Sabha Election 2014? Since the voters are disillusioned with an unethical coalition at the Centre which is headed by a man who is perceived to be weak, they seem to want a Prime Minister who is the very antithesis of Mr Singh. A substantial section of voters have consequently zeroed in on Mr Narendra Modi for the job. While Mr Modi has built up his image as a firm and decisive leader focussed on development and governance, some credit must go to his detractors as well.
By singling him out for attack ever since the BJP anointed him as the prime ministerial candidate on September 13, 2013, they have willy-nilly made this a Modi or No-Modi election and for the moment, it appears to be working to Mr Modi’s advantage. Some other factors have also been working for him. For example, the fact that he was a tea-seller in a railway station during his formative years has struck a chord with the poor and dispossessed. They feel that he is living the great Indian dream which offers equal opportunity to one and all and enables even the poorest of the poor to move up the ladder provided one has the discipline, positive energy and the gumption to overcome social and economic disabilities and dream big.
Initially some members of the Congress mocked at his humble beginnings but clearly that seems to have boomeranged. The tea-seller is surely preferred to the dynast. The second factor that appears to be playing out in his favour is the fact that he belongs to a caste that is part of the Other Backward Classes. This fact has made it easier for a large section of the voters within this segment to rise above their caste considerations and relate to him.
Finally, a word about the BJP. Most of those who hit the lotus button on their electronic voting machines say that their vote was for Mr Modi and not the party. In many constituencies they say they neither know the BJP candidate nor do they care. All they know is that they are voting Mr Modi. Mr Modi has sensed this and, therefore, his television appeal to voters says “hit the lotus button and be assured that that vote is coming directly to me”.
There have been few occasions in the past when such a strong and charismatic personality has dominated the discourse in a parliamentary election. The only examples one can think of are the Lok Sabha elections held in 1971 and 1980. On both these occasions, it was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the leader of her faction of the Congress versus the rest and on both occasions she came out triumphant. What does the general election of 2014 hold for us?
We must wait till May 16 to know the extent to which the electorate has backed Mr Modi and whether India will get a ‘strong and decisive’ Government.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/edit/looking-for-the-antithesis-of-manmohan-singh.html
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Rohit Bansal air-india does have a sense of humour! check this acme of political advertising pic.twitter.com/SkQIWeuErL
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Unprecedented democratic revolution in India 2014: Some indicators. The elections are a turning-point in civilizational history. Jeevema s'aradah s'atam, NaMo.
Unprecedented democratic revolution in India 2014: Some indicators. The elections are a turning-point in civilizational history. Jeevema s'aradah s'atam, NaMo.
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Exit poll results
Source NDA (BJP) UPA Others
If the Congress was the pivot of national politics till almost the mid-1990s, and which re-emerged once more in 2009, in large parts of India it is now being replaced by the BJP.
A caveat first: opinion and exit polls have been wrong before, most notoriously in 2004, when a predicted NDA victory turned out to a UPA celebration. This time, too, there could be some surprises, especially when vote shares are cavalierly converted to seats for parties in various states. One need not even be surprised if the NDA marginally falls short of 272 or the BJP stops at around 200 seats. However, that would still leave the BJP as the new pivot of Indian politics.
Reason: seats are not the point, vote shares are. The most interesting bit of stats in theLokniti-CSDS-CNN-IBN post-poll (which is not an exit poll, but a poll done after the elections by asking people how they had voted) is this: Narendra Modi has taken the BJP to its highest ever vote share of 34 percent, and the NDA to a spectacular 40.5 percent (against the UPA's 32.8 percent in 2009).
Now, even if this number is off by about 2-3 percent, it would still leave the BJP as the party for whom one-third of India has voted - something no party has achieved after 1984.
The break-up shown by the post-poll survey is 34 percent for BJP, and 6.5 percent for its allies, making for 40.5 percent in all. If you can pull 30 percent on your own, you can pull in allies - and scare some of them into backing you.
For the Congress, the figures are 22 percent (one of its lowest totals). Together with the allies, it gets another 3.5 percent, for a total of 25.5 percent.
There is a huge 15 percent gap in vote share between NDA and UPA - and a large part of this cannot but be because of the Modi effect.
In theory, this kind of vote difference should be enough to give the BJP a majority of its own and the NDA an overwhelming dominance of the 16th Lok Sabha (16 May could still give us this upside), but this is where the exit polls cannot help us. A large chunk of the BJP vote comes from places where it won't get too many seats. For example, states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
In Kerala, the Lokniti polls says that the BJP may have pulled in 10 percent of the vote. It probably won't get any seats, though Thiruvananthapuram is an outside possibility. In West Bengal, BJP gets 15 percent all on its own, displacing the Congress (with 13 percent) as the No 3 force behind Trinamool and Left Front. Again the party may not get more than a seat or two in this state.
But the key is percentage share. A 15 percent vote share in Bengal, with its 62.6 million voters, would, with a 70 percent voter turnout, give you a total of 6.5 million BJP votes in Bengal. But they don't yield seats - not more than one or two.
But you have shaking power. When you have 10-15-20 percent of the vote, you have a base to build on. Also, this level of vote share makes you a worthwhile alliance partner - or a potential threat - locally. For example, Naveen Patnaik unceremoniously dumped the BJP as partner in Odisha in 2009 due to the Kandhamal riots. The BJP was wiped out in that election. This time it is back as the No 2 party in Odisha with a 29 percent post-poll vote share. The next time, it will be able to mount a challenge in the state either by itself or by tying up with other regional splinter parties.
A decent vote share can be used as leverage to get partners on board for the NDA. Modi himself hinted at this during his Times Now interview when Arnab Goswami asked him whether he was shooing away Mamata Banerjee by attacking her too much in election rallies.
Arnab asks him: “Modiji, don't you feel you should have kept the door open with Mamata and Mayawati?”
Modi replies: “This can also be a strategy to keep the door open.”
Goswami was foxed: “I didn't understand.”
Modi replies enigmatically: “Whatever I wanted to explain, I have. This can also be a tactic to keep the door open.”
The point Modi probably wanted to underscore was this: while having low strength in a state may appear non-threatening to a potential ally, showing that you have teeth and capable of inflicting damage on your opponent is a way of telling her ‘I can do you damage, unless..” This is how Modi may be keeping the door open for allies.
This is the bottomline message of the exit and post-polls. Modi has made BJP bankable, both as a powerful ally and a potential adversary who can do you harm.
Love him or hate him, Modi has effectively ended the BJP's isolation. Modi has shown that power is the key to allies, not a good smile or chummy attitudes. The BJP has moved centre-stage with this election.
Modi is completing the job Vajpayee began - in his own style.
Exit poll results
Source NDA (BJP) UPA Others
India TV/C-Voter 289 (254) 101 153
ABP News/Neilson 281 (241) 97 165
New24/Chanakya 340 (291) 61 156
Times Now/ORG 249 (218) 148 146
CNN/IBN 276 (236) 97 155
India Today/ 272 (225) 115 156
CICERO
Average 285 (244) 103 155
Exit polls 2014: Modi is finishing what Vajpayee began in 1998
by May 12, 2014
The most important takeout from the rash of exit polls now being unleashed on TV channels is not the impending NDA victory, but the scale of the Modi wave and the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party as the new pivot of Indian politics. The polls project 270-282 seats for the BJP-led NDA, comfortably close to the half-way mark. Which means there's no formal need for allies. But allies there will be aplently - as we shall see.
Despite a hard-to-live-down Hindutva hardliner image, Narendra Modi has taken the BJP mainstream and centre-stage, completing a process begun by Atal Behari Vajpayee in the late 1990s. The difference between 1998 and 2014 is this: 15 years ago, the hard and soft parts resided in two separate individuals: Vajpayee was Vikas Purush (development icon), and LK Advani the Loh Purush (iron man).
Despite a hard-to-live-down Hindutva hardliner image, Narendra Modi has taken the BJP mainstream and centre-stage, completing a process begun by Atal Behari Vajpayee in the late 1990s. The difference between 1998 and 2014 is this: 15 years ago, the hard and soft parts resided in two separate individuals: Vajpayee was Vikas Purush (development icon), and LK Advani the Loh Purush (iron man).
]![File photo of Atal Behari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and LK Advani. AFP.]()
File photo of Atal Behari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and LK Advani. AFP.
This time, the Lohand Vikaspersonalities have come together in Modi to show the Power of One. This is why the wave is stronger than in 1998/1999. The BJP's need to present itself as two different personalities has ended. And by winning the 2014 election - we still have to wait for four more days to confirm if the exit polls are close to the truth, but the trends are clear - Modi has effectively mainstreamed the BJP despite his so-called “divisive” personality.
File photo of Atal Behari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi and LK Advani. AFP.If the Congress was the pivot of national politics till almost the mid-1990s, and which re-emerged once more in 2009, in large parts of India it is now being replaced by the BJP.
A caveat first: opinion and exit polls have been wrong before, most notoriously in 2004, when a predicted NDA victory turned out to a UPA celebration. This time, too, there could be some surprises, especially when vote shares are cavalierly converted to seats for parties in various states. One need not even be surprised if the NDA marginally falls short of 272 or the BJP stops at around 200 seats. However, that would still leave the BJP as the new pivot of Indian politics.
Reason: seats are not the point, vote shares are. The most interesting bit of stats in theLokniti-CSDS-CNN-IBN post-poll (which is not an exit poll, but a poll done after the elections by asking people how they had voted) is this: Narendra Modi has taken the BJP to its highest ever vote share of 34 percent, and the NDA to a spectacular 40.5 percent (against the UPA's 32.8 percent in 2009).
Now, even if this number is off by about 2-3 percent, it would still leave the BJP as the party for whom one-third of India has voted - something no party has achieved after 1984.
The break-up shown by the post-poll survey is 34 percent for BJP, and 6.5 percent for its allies, making for 40.5 percent in all. If you can pull 30 percent on your own, you can pull in allies - and scare some of them into backing you.
For the Congress, the figures are 22 percent (one of its lowest totals). Together with the allies, it gets another 3.5 percent, for a total of 25.5 percent.
There is a huge 15 percent gap in vote share between NDA and UPA - and a large part of this cannot but be because of the Modi effect.
In theory, this kind of vote difference should be enough to give the BJP a majority of its own and the NDA an overwhelming dominance of the 16th Lok Sabha (16 May could still give us this upside), but this is where the exit polls cannot help us. A large chunk of the BJP vote comes from places where it won't get too many seats. For example, states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
In Kerala, the Lokniti polls says that the BJP may have pulled in 10 percent of the vote. It probably won't get any seats, though Thiruvananthapuram is an outside possibility. In West Bengal, BJP gets 15 percent all on its own, displacing the Congress (with 13 percent) as the No 3 force behind Trinamool and Left Front. Again the party may not get more than a seat or two in this state.
But the key is percentage share. A 15 percent vote share in Bengal, with its 62.6 million voters, would, with a 70 percent voter turnout, give you a total of 6.5 million BJP votes in Bengal. But they don't yield seats - not more than one or two.
But you have shaking power. When you have 10-15-20 percent of the vote, you have a base to build on. Also, this level of vote share makes you a worthwhile alliance partner - or a potential threat - locally. For example, Naveen Patnaik unceremoniously dumped the BJP as partner in Odisha in 2009 due to the Kandhamal riots. The BJP was wiped out in that election. This time it is back as the No 2 party in Odisha with a 29 percent post-poll vote share. The next time, it will be able to mount a challenge in the state either by itself or by tying up with other regional splinter parties.
A decent vote share can be used as leverage to get partners on board for the NDA. Modi himself hinted at this during his Times Now interview when Arnab Goswami asked him whether he was shooing away Mamata Banerjee by attacking her too much in election rallies.
Arnab asks him: “Modiji, don't you feel you should have kept the door open with Mamata and Mayawati?”
Modi replies: “This can also be a strategy to keep the door open.”
Goswami was foxed: “I didn't understand.”
Modi replies enigmatically: “Whatever I wanted to explain, I have. This can also be a tactic to keep the door open.”
The point Modi probably wanted to underscore was this: while having low strength in a state may appear non-threatening to a potential ally, showing that you have teeth and capable of inflicting damage on your opponent is a way of telling her ‘I can do you damage, unless..” This is how Modi may be keeping the door open for allies.
This is the bottomline message of the exit and post-polls. Modi has made BJP bankable, both as a powerful ally and a potential adversary who can do you harm.
Love him or hate him, Modi has effectively ended the BJP's isolation. Modi has shown that power is the key to allies, not a good smile or chummy attitudes. The BJP has moved centre-stage with this election.
Modi is completing the job Vajpayee began - in his own style.
http://www.firstpost.com/election/exit-polls-2014-modi-is-finishing-what-vajpayee-began-in-1998-1519725.html
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The grace challenge for Congress and Media -- Ravinar. SoniaG Congi and Mediacrooks are the same, Ravinar -- Kalyan
The grace challenge for Congress and media
Ravinar
13 May 2014
Writing an article on the future prospects for society from an election whose full results are yet to be declared runs a minor risk. It’s a risk worth the trouble.
People may remember Sergey Bubka, the legendary athlete from Ukraine. Bubka broke the world record in pole-vault some 35 times. Most of the time, he wasn’t breaking records of others but his own record. He set his own standards and set his own challenges even as competitors surrounded him. Each time his aim was to better himself and not merely beat others. The renowned writer on ‘thinking skills’ Edward De Bono (who coined the famous term ‘Lateral Thinking’) calls it “Sur/Petition”. De Bono states that competition is a very normal thing but great companies go beyond merely competing with others; they compete with themselves and against new benchmarks of their own. He explains that beyond competition your products and services will climb greater heights through “Valuefacturing”. Nothing describes Narendra Modi better than this concept and I would call him a Bubka of sorts as a political competitor and a “Valuefacturer” as a leader. He has clarity in vision, thinking and delivery systems. As a politician he does compete with others in elections but he sets his own standards and goals beyond merely beating the competition. That he has done this in the face of the most gruelling witch-hunt against him is a testimony to the character of the man.
In one of the finest campaigns ever witnessed in India, Modi traversed the country with nearly 500 rallies. He used sarcasm and ridicule to attack his opponents but not once has he been abusive about any candidate or opponent. He is the first politician to directly challenge the failing Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. In contrast, from an abusive Sonia Gandhi to gutter-mouthed Mamata Banerjee, there has hardly been an opponent who has not abused Modi, called him names and predicted the end of the world if he becomes PM. They didn’t stop at him, they dragged his wife, his ‘chaiwallah’ life and even his mother. Modi has taken such extreme abuse in his stride not just in this campaign but ever since the 2002 riots. The abuse extends to folks in the MSM whose loathing of the man has seen no limits. In 2014 media houses hired foreign hands to heap more abuse. They failed to read the man as in each election he not only changed the dialogue but dictated the agenda. For the first time in India’s history, here was a man who dared to talk about growth, development and jobs instead of caste and doles. In the interview to Arnab Goswami on May 8 here is what he stated in the context of Hindus and refugees:
“I will tell you. I don’t have any regret. I don’t resort to vote-bank politics. Votes come and go. Governments come and go, but the nation is important. A person living anywhere in this world, whose passport may be of any colour but if his blood is similar to ours then he is invited”.
Modi’s passion for the country and her people come out every time he speaks. Some in the MSM even abused Gujaratis for repeatedly electing him. They called the Gujjus an “effete” people. I wonder if they are going to now call the whole of India an “effete” people. The campaign is over! The good, the bad, the ugly, let’s put it all behind us for the moment. It’s how those who have been defeated now respond that will have to be watched closely. That is mainly the Congress and its clones like SP, TMC, NCP and so on. In 2012, the break-away group of Keshubhai Patel campaigned hard against Modi. After the elections, as in the previous elections of Gujarat, Modi met Keshubhai, touched his feet and sought his blessings. He did not hold any grudges or bitterness and showed humility in victory.
The campaign is over. The exit polls show a victory for BJP and NDA and a thrashing for Congress and its allies and clones. The exit polls show BJP between 230-240 seats. If the exit polls hold good with even minor changes then Modi will be sworn in as the next Prime Minister of India. It is something millions have wanted and deeply desired. I have no hesitation in saying that Modi’s opponents included some of the most vile, characterless people ever seen in politics and in the media. The outcome is going to be painful for them. What we now need to see is how they respond.
Firstly, at the end of the December 2013 Assembly elections where BJP scored massive victories in four States, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were shamelessly unwilling to congratulate the BJP. All that Sonia could say was “I congratulate our opponents” without the grace to name the BJP. Rahul Gandhi, instead of congratulating the BJP, merely said there was a lot that his party could learn from the AAP. Remember all that? What they missed is that the AAP had learned all their filth from the mother-party and nobody else. So let’s see what are the issues on which the Congis and media will still lie, peddle filth and likely show absolute disgrace.
The Modi Wave: The elections are over and only a moron of the first order will deny the huge impact Modi has been having on elections since last year. The BJP is slated to get 230+ and the Congress is predicted to go below 100 seats. Will they accept that the Modi wave was underestimated? Will the media that peddled lies to support the Congress and hailed Mrs Priyanka Vadra as the latest queen acknowledge their mistakes? Will they still maintain people are fools to have bought what Modi offered to them? That the Gujarat model is nothing but empty bluster? Watch how they deal with it. And what exact impact has the Modi wave had? The BJP was around 116 seats in the last Parliament. If from that number the BJP rises to over 210, that would probably be the highest ever for a single party in the coalition era. It’s a damn good rise which would have been unimaginable with anyone else leading the campaign. This is the reason why the Congress+ and the media were very keen that LK Advani or Sushma Swaraj were campaign heads or PM candidates. Their slip showed? Will the media admit their inner desire for BJP to lose?
Divisive Polariser: This is another big lie spread by the Congress, its clones and the media. Editor after editor has screamed that Modi is a divisive and a polarising figure. Simple fact is, elections are actually about polarising people to your point of view and your agenda. Why is that seen as so sinful? It seems when they are playing a losing game the Congress and the media create terms to create fear among people. It also seems people are tired of this crap and aren’t willing to buy this nonsense anymore. When Modi has been consistently saying “India first, Sabka saath sabka vikas” which action or speech of his has ever provided evidence of his being a divisive person? A man of strong character who refuses politics of appeasement and vote-banks is “divisive” to them. Will they be graceful enough to respect the fact that people do not see Modi as a divisive figure? Will they have the guts? I doubt it, but let’s watch for it.
Fake Marketing: The Congress and the media brazenly claimed that Modi’s campaign was nothing more than excellent marketing. This is a fallacy that people should never consume. Firstly, marketing is not evil. Secondly, “marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people” which is why chairpersons and MDs are involved in key marketing decisions. This is the same rule Modi used in leading the campaign from the front. After all, if you are going into a war you don’t leave it to your frontline soldiers alone. Do you? Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw is honoured as the face of the 1971 war. Do they say Sam Bahadur shouldn’t get that leadership honour? One needs a good general to lead the soldiers. That is what Modi has done. In contrast, Rahul who was propped up as the Congress general, was never a match for Modi. It was the media’s fake wet dream of a Modi-Rahul battle which it never was. It was just Modi versus all the rest, especially regional kings and queens. Some have acknowledged that it was a historic campaign by Modi which will be the benchmark for a long time. Will they have the grace to admit it? Or will they live in denial? Will they be silly and claim all this was merely “image manufacturing”? Everyone clamours for innovation in every domain. Why scoff at the innovation that Modi has brought into political campaigning?
The Congress and media will most likely wash the BJP victory as anti-incumbency for the UPA. But would it have been the same if the campaign was led by someone other than Modi? Trends show Modi has impacted outcomes across India.
The Gandhis: The Gandhis (and the Vadras) have rarely lived outside the corridors of power in India. Even while in Opposition Sonia and her family have been the beneficiaries of extraordinary kindness from the Vajpayee-Advani duo. Those stories will come out in due course. But will the Gandhi-Vadra clan have the decency to congratulate Modi? Will they attend his swearing-in ceremony if he is elected PM? The Gandhis have not shown any ability to learn lessons. This is a test for them. The rest of the Congress members are nothing more than durbaris who survive on crumbs of the Gandhis in terms of power. Will Sonia and Rahul accept responsibility for all the corruption and misrule and apologise to the nation? Will other Congress members demand a restructuring of the organisation. Time will tell and we shall watch.
Now that the voters have spoken, there is a need to end fraudulent debates in the media that talk of minorities being threatened and killed or fear-mongering about war against Pakistan and so on. Modi has demonstrated exemplary skills as a strategist and tactician. It demands that the Congress and media show the courage to stand behind a new Government and Prime Minister. It demands that pettiness is cast aside and grace is demonstrated. Or will they still scoff at Modi because he is from a lower caste and doesn’t speak English like Lady Macbeth? Modi’s character is not on test. It is the character of those in the Congress and its clones and allies and many in the MSM that is under test. The Congress has a history of never allowing any Government to complete its term. Such is their contempt for the Opposition benches which they now will have to occupy. The only exception was the six years of Atal Bihari Vajpayee. This time if the Congress doesn’t show the grace and courage to accept defeat honourably, I believe their extinction is not entirely impossible. All of them have paid a price for underestimating Modi. If wisdom prevails, they would show the grace and not make the same mistake again.
(The author’s Twitter handle is @MediaCrooks)
SUNDAY, MAY 11, 2014
The Real Mass Murderers
(This is a MaxiPost)
Injecting poison into the public vein:
On April 9 someone from the Congress party made a grand claim. A person allegedly called Shaktisinh Gohil of Gujarat Congress claimed Narendra Modi wasn’t an OBC but was an upper-caste man. Having done that the rest of the party of liars joined in to scream the same claim. Actually, it should hardly matter what caste Modi belongs to. But trust our media to scream about it as if some great calamity had befallen the nation. Within minutes the fact came out that Modi’s community was declared OBC in 1994 by none other than a Congress govt in Gujarat. You would think that documentary evidence would have settled it. But no! The media morons kept running the same Congress crap through the day. Karan ‘The Tool’ Thapar even held a debate over it on HeadlinesToday despite the facts being out. Do you still need a debate once the truth is out? You see, this is what pigs like. No matter what, they like to dabble in filth. The media screams about every little thing Modi says and does; most of it irrelevant to any major debate.
There was a major crime by Rahul Gandhi a few days ago. He said “22000” people will be killed if BJP wins the elections. Looks like the man is naturally gifted with moronery and he claimed the Japanese were afraid of BJP too. Given such a statement there was no outrage in the media. There were no heated debates over it. No one even seemed to want to talk about it. It took even the EC another nine days to issue a notice to RahulG for violation of MCC. In any case I think the MCC is a load of rubbish and the EC a toothless body. Even if they had teeth the EC seems spineless and partisan. However, it seems any poison that is hurled into the public domain against Modi and BJP is acceptable to the media. Anything! With a stray exception here and there, the media is guilty of being an accomplice in such mass-poisoning.
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The mass murderers of journalism:
I call Barkha, Arnab and Rajdeep the lowest BAR in journalism. Degeneration of TV news owes them a great debt. Drama, sensationalism, fake news and even absolute lies characterise their TV channels. Despite their contempt for the man and their consistent loathing, all of them desire an interview with Narendra Modi. Like a jealous poodleRajdeep even ridicules other journalists who manage an interview with Modi. So what happens when one of these “news traders” (as Modi calls them) does get an interview? He makes an absolute sham of it. That’s what Arnab Goswami did. He didn’t have any real questions for Modi except a couple of stray ones on illegal immigration and Indo-Pak relations.
A man who could be PM is with you and all that the gasbag Arnab could ask him was about frivolous “Neech” politics and mundane questions on 2002 that have been asked a zillion times already. They really don’t know what to ask the man. I think more than obliging Arnab with an interview it is Modi who wanted to badly slap the moron for his pathetic behaviour as a news editor. Arnab has been batting for Congress, particularly Mrs Vadra, as if his life depended on it for more than a month. Even an idiot can tell that such campaigning for Congress can’t come free and had to come with a great payoff. Modi was scoring free hits off a guy who otherwise screams a lot but became a rat once a giant was in front of him. Here’s how I had quickly summarised this show:
Modi reminded Arnab of the “filth” in the media heads and their vendetta journalism. He directly asked Arnab why the media was so bent on protecting the “Gandhi family”. That’s a question millions have been asking too. Throughout the last six months Arnab would hold debates and no matter what the crime, invariably point fingers at Modi or BJP as being the criminal. Even when the EC behaved in a partisan and biased manner the debate was twisted to show the BJP being the offender rather than a victim of the incompetent EC. It is out of sheer respect that I am stopping short of calling the bunch of jokers at ECa corrupt bunch. They gave a clean chit to RahulG for meddling with an EVM in a booth in Amethi and then cancelled rally permissions to Modi in Varanasi.
In the RahulG case Arnab was questioning Smriti Irani on why she was complaining instead of hauling RahulG over the coals. When their crimes became evident the CEC put supervisors over the biased DM at Varanasi. Arnab’s unwillingness to speak the truth and call facts as they are and then protect the Gandhi-Vadra family as Modi pointed should classify him and his co-morons as murderers of journalism.They are the real mass-murderers of truth and guilty of injecting poison in the public vein with their lies.
If all that wasn’t enough, NDTV and CNN-IBN have a regular practice of peddling absolute nonsense about Modi. A few weeks back NDTV tweeted Modi’s mantra is to “eat and let others eat” (implying encouragement of corruption). They later apologised. Here’s the latest nonsense from Rajdeep Sardesai and his channel:
Modi’s assets are around 1.6 crores. There is no doubt the CNN-IBN lie is a blooper but the question people are asking is: “why are these bloopers happening with such unfailing regularity with only Modi and BJP and never with anyone else?” The motive is to simply peddle lies that can stick as long as they’re not caught. It’s a lot like the fake “billion votes” headline that CNN-IBN keeps blabbering about when voters are around 800 million.
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S. Varadarajan – Stats-Nazi & Murderer of truth:
When Arnab asked about justice in the 2002 riots cases, Modi pointed out, as he has done many times before, that he and MSM should research the recent history of communal riots in India. That they will find most convictions have materialised in case of the 2002 riots. So Varadabhai (as I fondly call him) promptly and obediently does some research of his own. Very diligent, I would say and he sends out this tweet:
How timely, eh? Who would have thought Stanford, of all people, would tell us about convictions in India and that too release their report just at the time of elections. So Modi asked media guys to do some research on May 8 and Varadabhai writes his research report on May 9. He posts a blog with nothing much but this pic of figures quoted from the Stanford report:
Splendid! So Varadabhai, the Stats-Nazi, wants to quote a Stanford report and tell us Modi is not right in claiming convictions in Gujarat 2002 episode was higher than communal riots of recent history. John McEnroe would have said “Of the thousands of research papers; you had to get a moron like Stanford?” Because a closer look at the Stanford paper reveals a poor study of the cases:
First, the Stanford reports includes cases of Section 144 where some arrests and prosecutions were made. Anyone in India would know 144 is imposed at the drop of a hat and does not always qualify as a communal riot. What is Varadabhai blabbering about? Besides, the report does not include any reference to the major communal riots of recent history. It appears to use frivolous data of cases from general unlawful assembly and riots and not purely communal riots as we know it. The anti-Sikh riots of 1984 alone claimed 8000+ lives (3000 in Delhi alone) for which there were hardly any cases. There is no mention of frequent riots in Assam, Bengal or UP and the list is a very long one. So the Stanford report relies on police files and not the actual lack of justice for communal riots. Besides, all the cases used by Stanford don’t fall under the classification of communal riots. They have also not provided any information on what major cases they used for this study. This is what academic researchers do and not alleged journalists.
Varadabhai conveniently quotes this piece of junk without elaborating on the lapses of the report. Importantly, if Stanford had done a research ONLY on communal riots in India one would understand even if it had errors but that they had a special focus only on Gujarat 2002 Vs general riots and that betrays their motives and intentions. (There were many riots in the 1970s against IndiraG which led to Emergency. Those do not qualify as communal riots). That makes them just one among hundreds who have attempted to milk 2002. Had Varadabhai merely tweeted about the report it would have been fine but he wrote a blog post promoting these stats as gospel. Considering he is anti-Modi, anything he can lay his hands on would be Godsend. But this is what I call mass murder of truth. And I also tweeted that “Pigs will find garbage anywhere” to conveniently nibble on.
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We have long held journalists and govt officials like the EC and many others in reverence. Indians should stop this unhealthy practice. Facts have proven over and over again that many of these persons and entities are corrupt to the core. It is good to have a healthy respect for high offices and public figures. But there is no need for Godification of any office or individual. Everyone must be tested and questioned. Most of all, facts have also shown that the real mass murderers in our society are in the media. They murder the truth and inject poison in the public domain every single day. Respect them when they perform honestly, trash them severely when they commit blue murder.
http://www.mediacrooks.com/
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Six glaciers in "irreversible" thaw may push up sea levels for centuries. Create National Water Grid for India, NaMo.
West Antarctic glaciers in 'irreversible' thaw, raising seas: study
OSLO,
The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is seen in this undated NASA image.
CREDIT: REUTERS/NASA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
(Reuters) - Vast glaciers in West Antarctica seem to be locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming that may push up sea levels for centuries, scientists said on Monday.
Six glaciers, eaten away from below by a warming of sea waters around the frozen continent, were flowing fast into the Amundsen Sea, according to the report based partly on satellite radar measurements from 1992 to 2011.
Evidence shows "a large sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet has gone into a state of irreversible retreat", said lead author Eric Rignot of the University of California, Irvine, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
The coastal ends of the glaciers rest on bedrock below sea level, holding back a vast weight of ice and making them vulnerable to melt, he said. He likened the process to uncorking a full bottle of wine while it was lying on its side.
This part of Antarctica would be a major contributor to sea level rise in coming decades and centuries since the glaciers hold enough ice to raise sea levels by 1.2 meters (4 feet).
"It's passed the point of no return," he told a telephone news conference.
Ice-penetrating radars showed no mountain ranges entombed under the ice, for instance, that could halt the flow. The fastest retreat was 34-37 km (21-23 miles) over the period in the Smith/Kohler glacier.
Even so, cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, part of efforts to rein in global warming, could at least slow the slide of the Pine Island, Thwaites, Haynes, Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers.
"We do think this is related to climate warming," Rignot said. The scientists believed that a build-up of man-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere was affecting wind patterns around Antarctica, driving warmer waters towards the continent.
Almost 200 nations have agreed to work out a U.N. pact by the end of 2015 to combat global warming, which the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says will cause more floods, droughts, heat waves and higher seas.
SEA LEVELS
Monday's findings may also mean that scenarios by the IPCC for sea level rise are too low. The IPCC said last year that sea levels are likely to rise by between 26 and 82 cm (10 and 32 inches) by the late 21st century, after a 19 cm (7 inch) rise since 1900.
"The major ice sheets of this planet will have a larger and larger role in sea level rise in the decades ahead," said Sridhar Anandakrishnan, professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, who was not involved in the study.
Last week, another study also suggested a part of the far bigger ice sheet in East Antarctica may also be more vulnerable than expected to thaw. The IPCC says it is at least 95 percent probable that warming is caused by human activities, led by the burning of fossil fuels.
Monday's study, to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, adds to signs of climate change under way.
On May 6, the Obama administration issued a study saying that warming "once considered an issue for a distant future has moved firmly into the present."
And the IPCC said in March there were signs of irreversible changes to tropical coral reefs and to the Arctic.
A separate study of the Thwaites glacier by the University of Washington in the journal Science also said it may have begun an unstoppable collapse that could last from 200 to 1,000 years.
A disappearance of the Thwaites alone would raise world sea levels by 60 cm (1.96 feet) but the "glacier also acts as a linchpin on the rest of the ice sheet, which contains enough ice to cause another three to four meters of sea level rise", it said.
The findings contrast with a paradoxical expansion of the extent of ice floating on the sea around Antarctica in recent winters that the scientists said may be part of natural variations. "The changes in the glacier reflect much longer-term processes," Tom Wagner, a scientist with NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in the telephone briefing.
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/12/us-climatechange-antarctica-idUSKBN0DS1IH20140512↧
The symbolism and history of Varanasi -- Anirban Ganguly
THE SYMBOLISM AND HISTORY OF VARANASI
Monday, 12 May 2014 | Anirban Ganguly |
In the consciousness of India, this city symbolises a seat of great civilisational churning which throws up new directions, leaders of new thought and of new epochs
Varanasi has, in the last few days, assumed a certain centrality in the national political discourse. In the Indian civilisational experience Varanasi continues to remain the eye, the centre, the pole star of the evolutive and cyclical quest for penance, for pilgrimage, for sacred work, for realisation and liberation. The mighty sagas of thought and of action in our civilisational march have almost always culminated in realisation, dissolution and identification on the banks of the sacred Ganga at Varanasi. As one witnesses the great ongoing churning today with Varanasi as the centre it may be interesting to recall certain episodes in history — spiritual, material and political — that link themselves to this most sacred city of Hindus.
In 1888, when he set out from the Baranagar math to live the life of an itinerant mendicant, Swami Vivekananda first headed to Varanasi. It was here, during this period, while darting away from a pack of ferocious monkeys that he heard a voice commanding him to ‘Face the brutes’. The Swami stopped and confronted the beasts who quickly melted away. He would later recall the episode as indicative of the necessity of facing the dangers and vicissitudes of life and not run away from them. It was at Varanasi that the Swami, then an unknown monk, prophetically vowed that when he would return here next he would “burst upon society like a bombshell…”
The Swami spent his last winter at Varanasi. A vast multitude congregated to receive him as he alighted at the station. It was during this final visit to the city that the legendary NC Kelkar, follower of the Lokmanya and editor of the nationalist daily Maratha, met the Swami and witnessed his constant preoccupation with the thought of India. Years later Kelkar recalled how the Swami spoke animatedly on the topic of India and her distress. “What is the good of India living in this degeneration and extreme poverty”, thundered the Swami. India's ‘dishonour and distress’ greatly pained him and the way forward which could ‘lift India’, the Swami told Kelkar, was only through a ‘spontaneous development from inside, following the ancient traditions’.
Varanasi's achievements were not confined only to the realm of the mystic. In his study of the city, noted historian Dharampal brought to light records which indicated that as late as 1801 there existed in Varanasi 300 six-storied houses all of which were products of an indigenous construction technology. In his seminal work, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, Dharampal referred to the intricate ‘observatory at Varanasi’ which was treated as “one of the five celebrated observatories of the world by the Encyclopaedia Britannica in its edition till 1823”. To a section of the colonisers such grand achievement of Hindus in science appeared blasphemous and the fading away of this scientific feat from the collective national memory was gradually engineered.
It was Varanasi which threw up the first record of a mass satyagraha against the imposition of an oppressive tax regime. In 1810 and 1811 Varanasi witnessed such a ‘civil disobedience’ movement. Records show that the entire city, cutting across religious and caste divides united in this protest which, at its peak, was estimated to have consisted of around 2,00,000 protesters sitting on dharna declaring that they will “not separate till the tax will not be abolished”. The intrepid revolutionary Rash Bihari Bose chose Varanasi as his centre of activity in 1914. Joined by a number of young revolutionaries from all over India, Bose planned an all India insurrection, from Varanasi, by creating disaffection within the ranks of the British Indian Army.
It was at the inauguration of the Benares Hindu University on February 6, 1916, that Mahatma Gandhi made one of his early and most impassioned pleas against alien rule. “No paper contribution”, said the Mahatma, “will ever give us self-Government. No amount of speeches will ever make us fit for self-Government. It is only our conduct that will fit us for it.” In the consciousness of India, Varanasi symbolises a seat of great civilisational churning and achievements, achievements which often throw up new directions, leaders of new thought and of new epochs, perennially signifying the end of one cycle and beginning of another more promising one.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnists/oped/the-symbolism-and-history-of-varanasi.html↧
Tipu's ring auctioned? It is India's heritage, wealth. British Govt. should return it to India. British Museum should return two Sarasavati idols stolen from Dhar.
Tipu's ring auctioned? It is India's heritage, wealth. British Govt. should return it to India. British Museum should return two Sarasavati idols stolen from Dhar.
INTERNATIONAL » WORLD
LONDON, May 13, 2014Updated: May 13, 2014 00:29 IST
Tipu’s ring to be auctioned
PARVATHI MENON
It is through the private commerce of the auction house that many a precious relic of India’s history has come to light.
On May 22, a remarkable artifact that illuminates a watershed moment in India’s history will be auctioned by the leading London auction house Christie’s — and presumably thereafter vanish forever from the public eye.
A heavy gold ring worn by 18th century ruler Tipu Sultan during his last campaign against the British in 1799 will be sold as part of the ‘Raglan Collection: Wellington, Waterloo & The Crimea.’
Unusually, the 41.2 gm oval ring has the name of the Hindu God Rama in raised Devanagari inscribed on it.
It was taken off the finger of the dead ruler by the Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, as his personal spoil of war after the Battle of Seringapatam in 1799.
The ring then found its way into the hands of another military family, that of FitzRoy Somerset, the 1st Baron Raglan. A famous soldier of the early 19th century, he joined Duke Wellington’s service in 1808 and rose to become his right-hand man for the next 40 years. He fought in major campaigns under Duke Wellington, including Waterloo and in the Crimea.
FitzRoy Somerset married the Duke’s favourite niece Emily Wellesley-Pole who was in possession of the ring, a gift from her uncle.
The ring has been valued at £10,000 to £15,000 and is part of the private collection of Fitzroy John Somerset, the great great grandson of the 1st Baron Raglan. The collection contains items that have been the possession of the family from 1858, including historical medals, arms and armour, militaria, pictures, furniture, silver, books, Indian weapons and works of art, as well as a selection of art.
Though a small object of personal use, the ring with its inscription awakens the spirit of the unusual 18th ruler who was its owner.
The historical record shows Tipu as Catholic in his religious outlook and forward-looking in his world-view. He sought out what was modern and transformatory for the time, putting it to use in his paramount objective of defeating the British
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Gold relic no 'spoil of war'
Last updated 13:02 15/11/2013
TRADED: Holocaust survivor's heirs believe their ancestor traded two packs of cigarettes to get this artifact from a Russian soldier.
New York's highest court has concluded that an ancient gold tablet must be returned to the German museum that lost it in World War II, rejecting any claims to the ''spoils of war''.
The Court of Appeals unanimously agreed that Riven Flamenbaum's estate was not entitled to the 3000-year-old Assyrian relic, a 9.5-gram tablet nearly the size of a credit card.
''We decline to adopt any doctrine that would establish good title based upon the looting and removal of cultural objects during wartime by a conquering military force,'' the court said in a memorandum.
''The 'spoils of war' theory proffered by the estate - that the Russian government, when it invaded Germany, gained title to the museum's property as a spoil of war, and then transferred that title to the decedent - is rejected.''
The tablet, inscribed with an exhortation to honour King Tukulti-Ninurta I, was excavated a century ago by German archaeologists from the Ishtar Temple in what's now northern Iraq. It went on display in 1934 and disappeared after the start of the war.
Flamenbaum, an Auschwitz survivor, brought the tablet to the United States when he settled in New York. Family lore says he got it by trading cigarettes to a Russian soldier.
The New York court also rejected the argument the Vorderasiatisches Museum, part of the renowned Pergamon Museum, waited too long - more than 60 years - before trying to reclaim it.
''New York has really affirmed its moral leadership in protecting true property owners,'' said museum attorney Raymond Dowd.
The ruling should ensure the safe return of the tablet, Dowd said. The museum has many other pieces still missing since the war, he said.
Attorney Steven Schlesinger said the family was disappointed and questioned whether the court refused to uphold ''title by right of conquest'' because it would open the door for those who obtained art looted by Germans during the Holocaust.
''You can't argue that the United States doesn't recognise the right of conquest when this entire country is the result of the law of conquest,'' he said.
The Court of Appeals said there was no proof that Russia ever possessed the tablet, and that it was the official US policy during World War II to forbid pillaging of cultural artifacts.
According to court documents, the tablet dates to 1243 to 1207BC, during Tukulti-Ninurta's reign.
Placed in the foundation of the temple of the fertility goddess, its 21 lines call on those who find the temple to honor the king's name.
In 1945, the Berlin museum's premises was overrun, with many items taken by Russians, others by German troops and some pilfered by people who took shelter in the museum.
The museum director was not in a position to say who took it, only that it disappeared.
It has been in a deposit box in New York.
- AP
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/americas/9404811/Gold-relic-no-spoil-of-war
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NaMo's BJP will crush SoniaG Congi coalition. It is revolution.
Indian exit polls say Narendra Modi's BJP will crush Congress coalition
As voting in world's biggest election ends after weeks of polling, the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty denies defeat looms for ruling party
Narendra Modi addressing supporters. Exit polls point to a huge swing towards his Hindu nationalist BJP party. Photograph: Shashi Sharma/Demotix/Corbis
The final ballots have been cast in India's record election: 551 million people voted over a five-week period. Exit polls predict a new right-wing government under the Hindu nationalist hardliner Narendra Modi.
The final phase of voting in the last 41 constituencies ended at 6pm (12.30am GMT). The first exit polls were released soon afterwards, pointing to a huge swing towards Modi's Bharatiya Janata party (BJP).
The survey results backed forecasts before voting started on 7 April that the BJP – and its allies – should be able to reach a majority in parliament after trouncing the ruling Congress party.
But as the stock market hit a new record high in the hope that Modi can jumpstart the flagging economy, analysts urged caution because of notorious forecasting failures in 2004 and 2009.
The first full survey from CVoter predicted the BJP and its allies reaching a majority, while others released by the CNN-IBN and Headlines Today channels showed a rout for Congress in many states.
Shortly after polls closed for the last time, the election commission gave final figures for the world's biggest election, saying 551 million had voted – 130 million more than in 2009 – with turnout also at a record high of 66.38%. "These numbers may still go up marginally because of postal ballots and other factors," said Akshay Rout, director general of the election commission. Official results are due on Friday.
Attention earlier in the day had focused on the sacred city of Varanasi where 63-year-old Modi was standing as a candidate and hoping for a crowning victory on the final day of voting. In a video message, he paid tribute to the hundreds of thousands who "stood out in the scorching sun for hours to give strength to our democracy" over the last five weeks. He also praised Varanasi for "its peace, its goodwill and its unity".
His decision to stand in Varanasi was rich in religious symbolism and was seen as reinforcing his Hindu nationalist credentials during a campaign in which he steered clear of his customary hardline rhetoric. The four-times chief minister of the western state of Gujarat has campaigned on a pledge of clean government and development to revive the flagging economy after 10 years of left-leaning rule by the Congress party.
But he remains a deeply polarising figure over allegations that he failed to curb deadly anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died shortly after he came to power there.
"I have voted for the about-to-be PM of India, Narendra Modi," 35-year-old Setupati Tripathi told AFP after casting his ballot in the city, where Hindus are cremated on the banks of the sacred river Ganges. "With him winning the Varanasi seat, I am also confident about the development of this millennia-old city as a tourist destination," he added as bearded holy men dressed in saffron robes queued elsewhere to cast their votes.
The anti-corruption champion Arvind Kejriwal, from the new Aam Aadmi (Common Man) party, was also standing and hoped to upset Modi, who has spent little time in the city as he campaigned across the country.
Varanasi, about 420 miles (680km) east of Delhi, has a large Muslim population that would be expected to vote against Modi. "The way things have been shaping up in the last three days, everybody is saying Modi is losing," said Kejriwal, who has focused on a grassroots campaign.
Opinion polls show voters have turned against Congress over massive corruption scandals, spiralling inflation and a sharp economic slowdown in the last two years. Despite a decade of economic growth that has averaged 7.6% per year, a sharp slowdown since 2012 has badly hurt the party, run by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has dominated post-independence politics in India. Rahul Gandhi, the latest member of the famous bloodline, who is leading his first national campaign, has denied that the party is staring at almost certain defeat.
Modi, the son of a tea-stall owner who rose through the BJP ranks, has derided his opponent as a reluctant shehzada (prince). Gandhi's lacklustre campaign has latterly been overshadowed by his sister Priyanka's electioneering.
The Gandhi siblings, joined by their mother and party president, Sonia, have hit back, accusing Modi of being dangerously divisive and prejudiced against the country's 150 million Muslims.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/12/indian-election-modi-bjp-crush-congress-party
India’s Voters Expected to Give Modi a Mandate
NEW DELHI — Exit polls released Monday suggested that voters in India’s parliamentary election will deliver a mandate for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist who has promised to create manufacturing jobs and overhaul the country’s infrastructure.
The country’s stock market surged to a record high on the last day of voting on the news that the B.J.P. coalition could receive more than 272 of the lower house’s 545 seats, enough to allow Mr. Modi to form a government without forging a coalition with fractious regional power brokers.
However, India’s exit polls are not always reliable, having incorrectly predicted a B.J.P. victory in 2004, when the Indian National Congress won by a comfortable margin, and underestimated the Congress’s winning margin in 2009. The official vote count will take place on Friday.
Turnout exceeded 66 percent, according to the election commission, before Monday’s voters were included in the polls, setting a new benchmark in India. The previous record, of around 64 percent, was set in 1984, during a wave of emotion after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
India at a Crossroads
A journey across the world’s largest democracy. This year’s race between the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party reveals deep divisions in society and politics.
Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters
Mr. Modi, 63, tapped into growing frustration with the Congress party, and the Gandhi Nehru political dynasty that has controlled the party since India’s independence in 1947. In an interview published on Monday, he promised that he would come to power without “hangers-on or darbaris,” a Hindi word that translates as “courtiers.”
“Look at what is happening in the capital,” he said. “Delhi is being controlled by a cabal that has vested interests in the status quo.”
As the campaign entered its final weeks, Mr. Modi appeared confident of winning, and at rallies he began to focus his remarks on the need for a large margin of victory to bring change to India.
“If a vehicle is stuck in the mud, and the mud is strong, no matter how hard you push, you cannot pull it out,” he said at a rally in the city of Roorkee last weekend. “If the whole country is in a deep ditch, I need strength, dear brothers and sisters, I need 300 seats to get it out.”
Jai Pal Singh, a reporter for the Voice of the Nation, said voters’ expectations of Mr. Modi were so high that they could prove dangerous if they were not met.
“If the results are not up to the mark, if there will not be a drastic change in life — what shall I say — the emotions will break,” Mr. Singh said.
After Monday’s exit polls suggested that the Congress’s share of parliamentary seats might fall below 100, party officials said that the results were unreliable. In a television appearance, the party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said that Mr. Modi’s campaign had stirred up tensions between Hindus and Muslims.
“He may have managed to get some support in some pockets, but in the long term it is India which lost because of this rabid polarization,” Mr. Surjewala said.
Markets, however, responded positively. Since December, when local elections pointed to a national B.J.P. victory, stock market indexes have risen about 12 percent. That trend continued on Monday, when the Sensex index surged 556 points to 23,551, and the 50-share Nifty benchmark climbed to a record 7,020.05 points. The Indian rupee also rose to its strongest level since July.
Amisha Vora, joint managing director at Prabhudas Lilladher Group, a Mumbai-based brokerage, said that markets were reacting to the prospect that Mr. Modi “will have a lot of discretion to make policy changes.”
“I wouldn’t say that it is the B.J.P. regime that the markets are so bullish about,” Ms. Vora said. “At this point of time it seems that they are rather bullish about Mr. Modi.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/world/asia/anticipating-strong-mandate-for-modi-indias-stock-market-surges.html?_r=0
India election: Voters expect big changes from frontrunner Modi (+video)
If Narendra Modi's right-wing BJP-led coalition wins an outright majority in India's national election, it will be thanks to voters in bellwether states like Uttar Pradesh.
Voters get their names checked in a voter's lists at a polling station during the final phase of the general election in Varanasi in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh May 12, 2014.
Ahmad Masood/Reuters
If Narendra Modi pulls off the election victory that exit polls have predicted, he will have built it on his popularity in towns like Mirzapur, a dilapidated county seat where nothing works.
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BJP To Crush Congress In Battle For India, Say Exit Polls
The BJP-led NDA coalition is set to return to power in India led by its prime ministerial aspirant Narendra Modi, ending a decade of Congress-led rule, exit polls said Monday...
“We desperately need sewer lines, all our irrigation canals are silted up, the water system was built in 1914 and there are hardly any jobs even for educated youngsters,” says Rajkumari Khatri, head of the town council, sitting cross-legged in the breezy shade of a Hindu temple porch with a group of fellow Modi supporters on the last day of India’s elections. Official results will be announced Friday.
“If Modi wins,” she adds, “we can expect some development and industries that would create jobs” in this town of 250,000 on the banks of the Ganges river.
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Here in the Hindu heartland, 500 miles southeast of the capital, Delhi, Mr. Modi’s relentless insistence on his ability to bring work, electricity, water, and good roads to the myriad towns and villages nationwide that lack such basics found a ready audience.
Uttar Pradesh, the state in which Mirzapur lies, is India's most populous state, electing 80 of parliament’s 543 members. “It is critical that Modi does very well in Uttar Pradesh,” says Ajoy Bose, author of a book on the state’s politics. Exit polls suggest that the coalition led by the Bharata Janata Party, which Modi heads, may have won as many as 45 of the state’s seats, up from nine at the 2009 elections.
That apparent surge in support reflects rural Indian voters’ disenchantment with the Congress Party that has ruled the country for the past decade. After delivering an initial spurt of economic growth, the party has been buffeted in recent years by corruption scandals and rising food prices.
'Why not give him a chance?'
For many voters, Modi’s multi-billion, presidential-style election campaign, which swamped the country with TV and newspaper advertisements, made him the symbol of a new dawn.
“I heard on TV that if Modi comes, good days will come, so why not give him a chance?” asks Sudeshwari Devi, a white-haired woman who was voting in her 13th general election at a whitewashed schoolhouse in Varanasi, India’s holy city.
Younger voters are also enthused by Modi’s promises – and fed up with their current government. “Sometimes we get no electricity all day,” complained first-time voter Rubi Bhola, a recently graduated doctor. “And the roads need mending. I like Narendra Modi and what he has done for Gujarat.”
Experts debate the merits of the business-friendly development model that Modi has pursued in the western state of Gujarat during his 12 years as chief minister there. But the state is undeniably more prosperous than most of its counterparts, its government has attracted large amounts of investment from both local and foreign businesses, and rural residents have seen some basic services improve.
A dark shadow, however, hangs over India’s leader-in-waiting – Hindu riots in Gujarat 2002 in which around 1,000 Muslims were massacred. A Supreme Court investigation found that he did not encourage the rioters, as some have alleged, but suspicions that he could have done more to stop them continue to sully his reputation.
'He believes in dividing society'
Such suspicions were uppermost in the mind of Siraj Ahmed Khan, a Muslim carpet weaver, as he stood in the shade of a spreading tree on Monday after casting his vote in the village of Basai Kalam, not far from Mirzapur. He said he had voted for Congress.
“We cannot have such a radical and dogmatic person as prime minister,” he says, referring to Modi. “He believes in dividing society on religious grounds and if he wins, Muslims won’t get anything, we’ll be left out of any progress.”
Mr. Khan is bound by a thread, literally, to the Hindus who live at the other end of his village, down a warren of narrow lanes. Hindu women spin and sell the yarn that Khan and his fellow Muslims weave into carpets.
Those women’s husbands and sons, standing in the shade of another tree after casting their own votes for a party allied with the BJP, shrugged off the possibility of heightened religious tensions in their district should Modi come to power.
Modi himself has discounted such fears, promising to be the leader of “one India.” Jayprakash Yadav, a young sales representative for a machinery company, says he does not believe that massacres such as the one that occurred in Gujarat could happen again in his village.
Nor was he – or his Hindu neighbors – hoping that Modi would win power for religious reasons, Mr. Yadav insisted. “We are voting for him because of all the jobs he created in Gujarat,” he explained. “He’ll do the same all over Uttar Pradesh and India.”
Back in Mirzapur, sitting next to Ms. Khatri in the temple porch, discount airline executive Atul Mohan looks forward to better days for his hometown.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2014/0512/India-election-Voters-expect-big-changes-from-frontrunner-Modi-video
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Transition to thorium for nuke power -- American initiative. NaMo, declare a thorium-nuke doctrine for India.
Idaho’s thorium: America’s next energy source?
Video Link: http://www.ktvb.com/news/Idahos-thorium-Americas-next-energy-source--258990801.html Video Link: http://www.ktvb.com/news/Idahos-thorium-Americas-next-energy-source--258990801.html
by Mark Johnson
by Mark Johnson
KTVB.COM
Posted on May 12, 2014 at 10:58 PM
LEMHI COUNTY, Idaho -- Back in the 1950s, America was at an energy crossroads with two choices to pick from for a new source of energy.
The Atomic Energy Commission was charged with making the decision on whether to go with uranium, or the more efficient energy source, thorium.
"The reason they decided to go with uranium is because they decided they needed to make nuclear weapons," said thorium energy activist Deworth Williams.
The Lemhi Pass District is located about 20 miles south of the city of Salmon on the Montana - Idaho border. At one time it was a hot bed for mining various minerals, but now geologists are saying there is a higher reserve of thorium in the region than anywhere in the world. And those who have staked their claim on this federal property say it is ripe for a new mining boom.
"We are talking about a thousand years of energy! Wow, that’s really something to think of," said Williams, who owns a Salt Lake engineering/investment company, which staked over 200 mining claims in the region.
Williams showed a 1990 thorium report that said, in four separate studies, it could prove there is at least 600,000 tons of thorium in the Lemhi Pass District, and he says that is enough thorium to power the United States for 1,000 years.
"That could be possible," said Boise geologist Rich Reed.
Reed was with Idaho Power in the 1970s and 1980s, and focused much of his time on the thorium reserve in eastern Idaho as a potentially major source of clean and safe energy for the U.S., and revenue for the state and Idaho Power.
When asked if thorium is a safer source of energy for the environment and local communities than uranium Reed said, "I think it is, in its natural state it’s much more stable."
Salmon High School's State Environmental Science Teacher of the Year, Arlene Wolf, uses the backdrop of the Lemhi Pass District's rich thorium reserve as a teaching opportunity, by placing a real life scenario into the symbol on the periodic table of elements.
One that would mean an economic boost for this community, and an environmental solution to the current dilemma on what to do with the waste from nuclear power plants of today.
"If we could use thorium instead of uranium we could get rid of some of that waste. We would have less transportation of fossil fuels on the highways, and less environmental issues if we could switch," said Wolf.
However, the switch would not be simple or happen soon, and 95-year-old Viola Anglin knows that.
She has had a front row seat for the thorium story for the past 66 years at her Tendoy Store at the entrance to the Lemhi Pass.
And after decades of not much activity other than the occasional tourists looking for Sacajawea's birthplace, she is seeing renewed interest in the mountain and its radioactive rocks.
"Nobody has been as interested in it as they have in the last 5-6 years," said Anglin.
She said she knows it would be an economic boost for her, her son, who is the postman, and the county if mining opened back up.
However, it’s obvious Anglin doesn’t want to give up what she has been at the base of for two-thirds of a century.
With tears in her eyes she looked up and said, "That mountain I've looked over for so many years. That’s my mountain."
Back in Salt Lake City, Williams has partnered with a powerful New York investment company, and closely watching a new thorium plant about to go up in China.
The success there could push the thorium effort here in America to Capitol Hill.
Something Williams says is critical in the transformation process in the U.S. from uranium to thorium.
"I think that would lend the push to start the political thinking here in the USA to start people wanting to convert the uranium reactors," said Williams.
Thorium.... something most of us forgot about after high school.
Now, something many are hoping will be the next "gem" to come out of the Gem State.
KTVB asked Idaho's nuclear watchdog, The Snake River Alliance, for their reaction to thorium as a possible future energy source for America:
The Atomic Energy Commission was charged with making the decision on whether to go with uranium, or the more efficient energy source, thorium.
"The reason they decided to go with uranium is because they decided they needed to make nuclear weapons," said thorium energy activist Deworth Williams.
The Lemhi Pass District is located about 20 miles south of the city of Salmon on the Montana - Idaho border. At one time it was a hot bed for mining various minerals, but now geologists are saying there is a higher reserve of thorium in the region than anywhere in the world. And those who have staked their claim on this federal property say it is ripe for a new mining boom.
"We are talking about a thousand years of energy! Wow, that’s really something to think of," said Williams, who owns a Salt Lake engineering/investment company, which staked over 200 mining claims in the region.
Williams showed a 1990 thorium report that said, in four separate studies, it could prove there is at least 600,000 tons of thorium in the Lemhi Pass District, and he says that is enough thorium to power the United States for 1,000 years.
"That could be possible," said Boise geologist Rich Reed.
Reed was with Idaho Power in the 1970s and 1980s, and focused much of his time on the thorium reserve in eastern Idaho as a potentially major source of clean and safe energy for the U.S., and revenue for the state and Idaho Power.
When asked if thorium is a safer source of energy for the environment and local communities than uranium Reed said, "I think it is, in its natural state it’s much more stable."
Salmon High School's State Environmental Science Teacher of the Year, Arlene Wolf, uses the backdrop of the Lemhi Pass District's rich thorium reserve as a teaching opportunity, by placing a real life scenario into the symbol on the periodic table of elements.
One that would mean an economic boost for this community, and an environmental solution to the current dilemma on what to do with the waste from nuclear power plants of today.
"If we could use thorium instead of uranium we could get rid of some of that waste. We would have less transportation of fossil fuels on the highways, and less environmental issues if we could switch," said Wolf.
However, the switch would not be simple or happen soon, and 95-year-old Viola Anglin knows that.
She has had a front row seat for the thorium story for the past 66 years at her Tendoy Store at the entrance to the Lemhi Pass.
And after decades of not much activity other than the occasional tourists looking for Sacajawea's birthplace, she is seeing renewed interest in the mountain and its radioactive rocks.
"Nobody has been as interested in it as they have in the last 5-6 years," said Anglin.
She said she knows it would be an economic boost for her, her son, who is the postman, and the county if mining opened back up.
However, it’s obvious Anglin doesn’t want to give up what she has been at the base of for two-thirds of a century.
With tears in her eyes she looked up and said, "That mountain I've looked over for so many years. That’s my mountain."
Back in Salt Lake City, Williams has partnered with a powerful New York investment company, and closely watching a new thorium plant about to go up in China.
The success there could push the thorium effort here in America to Capitol Hill.
Something Williams says is critical in the transformation process in the U.S. from uranium to thorium.
"I think that would lend the push to start the political thinking here in the USA to start people wanting to convert the uranium reactors," said Williams.
Thorium.... something most of us forgot about after high school.
Now, something many are hoping will be the next "gem" to come out of the Gem State.
KTVB asked Idaho's nuclear watchdog, The Snake River Alliance, for their reaction to thorium as a possible future energy source for America:
The entire U.S. fleet of reactors is based on uranium. The the idea that an already weakened nuclear industry would or could transition to thorium in a reasonable time-frame and at an affordable price challenges credulity. 30 years away is a long time in the energy world and there are much more affordable and achievable approaches to energy than thorium reactors.
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Intellectual mafia? -- Vivek Agnihotri. Psecularatti mafia.
Intellectual Mafia?
May 6, 2014
I was a young child when Indira Gandhi declared Emergency. My father was Vice Chancellor of one of India’s most troubled university, Jabalpur university. Sharad Yadav was the student leader. He was an extremely popular and violent leader. Jabalpur university had seen some celebrated Ex CJs and Ex Chief Secretaries as their VC. But Jaipraksah Narain’s student movement led by Yadav had made it impossible for any VC to last for more than 6-9 months. My father was a professor and an intellectual in his own rights with Radhakrishnan and Indira Gandhi seeking his advise on crucial academic matters. He was a man of men. He was a students’ professor. Saharad Yadav became his most trusted and obedient pupil. In that period of political turbulence he finished his term very peacefully and successfully. On a winter afternoon, I was playing cricket with our Maali (gardener) and my father was giving an interview where I overheard something that stayed with me. The journalist asked him the secret of this success and he replied ‘I don’t waste my time with intellectuals‘.
Couple of days ago, I was invited by NDTV for a political debate, hosted by Barkha Dutt. While making my point a term just slipped out of my mouth which went viral. I received many messages, tweets and emails. These were neither from friends nor relatives. These emotional compliments were from the unheard, invisible people.
That term was ‘Intellectual Mafia‘.*
Nehru was a Fabian sociologist and anti-business, romantic thinker. Nehru was fascinated by English speaking, good looking, western-mannered, Fabian intelligentsia. He was also a Brahmin. It was his own ‘class & intellectual arrogance’ that he single-handedly destroyed indigenous intelligentsia. Like Rajendra Prasad, Radhakrishnan, Rajagopalachari, Kamraj, Patel etc. Nehru was Indian Jinnah. Jinnah was accidental Muslim. Nehru was accidental Hindu.* He despised typically Indian sensibilities. Indian thinking. Indian way of looking at the world. And Indian leadership. He was a pathetic economist. He could never understand ‘capitalism’. He could not understand technology. He could not understand the real aspirations of Indians. He could not understand Gandhi’s economics. To cover up his failure Nehru took a high moral ground. He was convinced that only he could decide what was best for the Indian masses. He chose socialism over capitalism. He chose spiritual elitism over religion. Since the masses were immersed in religion he slowly turned anti-masses. That Red Rose in his upper pocket was a reminder to people that he was God-like. Gods never lose. But he had lost a part of India to Pakistan. He had goofed up on Kashmir. His self-esteem was broken. He had to heal. He had to rise. So he self-appointed himself as Chief Intellectual Officer.
Nehru believed in political liberty but he was against economic freedom. Gandhi, on the other hand knew that political liberty could be achieved only with a strong backbone of economic liberty. Which is why, he had social reformers and political thinkers on one side and Birlas and Bajajs on the other. Socialism is a utopia. Panchsheel was a utopia. Utopia which never came. USSR was a utopia which crumbled. Luckily Nehru did not live to see Socialism - baby of his intellectual flirting - die.
To cover up his illicit romances, rising corruption, undercurrent of a revolt and massive defeat and humiliation by Chinese, he nurtured an ‘intelligentsia’ which justified his impractical economics and failed politics to the masses. The coterie of intellectuals he created was immoral. Historians know that whenever King has surrounded himself with immoral thinkers, debauchery has begun. These short-sighted and opportunistic intellectuals justified ‘socialism’. Socialism has corruption in its very DNA. Nehru chose Big State over Big Market. More state sponsored programmes mean inefficient system, red-tapism, favouritism, weaker economy and corruption. It meant bigger disparity between masses and policy makers. More subsidies, doles, freebies meant more arrogance of rulers for they were the ones distributing alms. They became the givers. And us, the obliged masses, the takers. Isn’t it a sad commentary on free India’s development that the collective ambition of this country’s youth has been to become an engineer or a doctor? There was no competition. No excellence. No innovation.
Thus, India became State vs Masses. Corrupt vs Masses. Intellectuals vs Masses. Givers vs Takers.
Since Givers were guilty of their corruption they always looked at the Takers with suspicion. This suspicion turned into fear when Indira Gandhi was thrown out by Indian David – Raj Narain, a maverick socialist leader who should have been on her side. But he was masses. Emergency was declared. Sanjay Gandhi took over. He created an army of morally corrupt, foreign educated intellectuals with no track record. Their biggest strength was their unconditional loyalty to Gandhi family. This tradition has continued. Loyalty over merit. Scheming over competence. Loot over contribution. Corruption grew. Guilt grew. Fear grew. With every scam, family started making the intellectual wall bigger and bigger. Today this wall is full of scamsters, crooks, agents, brokers, pimps, lobbyists, character assassins, land sharks etc disguised as lawyers, journalists, NGOs, feminists, advisors, professors, socialists etc. Simply put, beneficiaries of Congress’s largesse.
Their strategy was simple. Moral domination. Nehru was a thinker. But Rajiv, Sonia and Rahul are no intellectuals themselves. They took a different route. They redefined morality. Secularism included. Anti-congress was new immoral. Pro Hindu became anti-Muslim. India was morally polarized. Morality is subjective. No one can say with guarantee what is pure morality. Masses were forced to choose between moral standards (Secularism, unity in diversity, Inclusive etc.) and quality of life (development). People who wanted quality of life were made to feel guilty. Hindus who wanted to celebrate their religious freedom were made to feel guilty. Muslims who wanted to be part of mainstream India were made to feel guilty. They filled India’s psyche with fear and hate. They hated all indigenous, grass-root thinkers. They hated Sardar Patel, Lalbahadur Shashtri, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Chandrashekhar, PV Narsimha Rao, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Modi. They are the hijackers of national morality. Secularism included. They are the robbers of Indian treasury. They are the brokers of power. They are the pimps of secularism. They are the Intellectual Mafia.
They are the land grabbers of Sainik farms and Adarsh Societies of India. They run NGOs. They run media. They coin useless and irrelevant jargon to confuse masses. They have designations but no real jobs. They are irrelevant NRIs who want us to see reality which doesn’t exist. They want plebiscite in Kashmir. They want Maoists to participate in mainstream politics. They want Tejpal to be freed. They want Modi to be hanged.
But something has changed despite their unity, might and moral acumen.
Left liberals, as they call themselves, have realised that defeat is certain and with this defeat they will lose that ‘elite thinkers’ tag. And the plum posts, foreign trips and bungalows and other perks. There is a reverse revolution taking place. It’s the innocent masses, who have suffered intellectual injustice, they are raising their voices. It’s the organically secular majority of Bharat, which has been made to feel like communal evils, that is asserting its identity. Modi is just their face. So do not make the mistake of thinking that its Modi vs others.
Its masses vs elites.
Couple of years back when my father’s death was certain, at the age of 95, he told me about his freedom struggle days. “When as a young man I joined Bapu, I thought we were fighting British. Its only later I realised we were actually fighting the intellectuals, patronised by the British. And most of them were lawyers. They never solved any problem. Their sole objective was to keep the masses away from the rulers and vice versa. We don’t have forts anymore but they are the walls of an invisible fort. If you want to defeat the rulers you have to demolish this wall of state sponsored ‘intelligentsia’. That’s exactly what Gandhi did. He led the masses to break this wall.”
Something like that is happening again. The wall is cracking up. On May 16th its fall is certain. For the second time in India’s history masses are going to enter the fort. Its not Modi. Its us. The masses. I hope there won’t be new walls. And I hope there won’t be another mafia. Never. Ever.
* Thanks to @rahulroushan for helping me rephrase ‘intellectual terrorists’ to ‘intellectual mafia’. Because that’s what it is.
29 Responses to Intellectual Mafia?
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Indian EVMs (6:36). Electronic Voting Machine Fraud (5 parts videos). CEC, revert to paper ballot
EVM is a computer system and should be subject to cyber audit under the Indian cyberlaw, IT Act 2000. This has not been done.
SC judged that transparency is a constitutional princple and directed ECI to introduce VVPAT, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. ECI failed to carry out this directive for 2014 poll.
ECI should either implement SC directive or revert to paper ballot, a system introduced in India in the 12th century pace Uttaramerur inscription. ECI should respect its constitutional mandate, realizing that no man-made computing system is beyond tampering and there has been an abject failure in subjecting EVM system to external, independent audit on a continuing basis. ECI should not play with this sacred responsibility and negate the very essence of India's democratic traditions.
Kalyanaraman
![Product Details]()
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apkSkb6Ak3I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSe24deOpUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXhE-aRc6Q
SC judged that transparency is a constitutional princple and directed ECI to introduce VVPAT, Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. ECI failed to carry out this directive for 2014 poll.
ECI should either implement SC directive or revert to paper ballot, a system introduced in India in the 12th century pace Uttaramerur inscription. ECI should respect its constitutional mandate, realizing that no man-made computing system is beyond tampering and there has been an abject failure in subjecting EVM system to external, independent audit on a continuing basis. ECI should not play with this sacred responsibility and negate the very essence of India's democratic traditions.
Kalyanaraman
Electronic Voting Machines: Unconstitutional and Tamperable by Subramanian Swamy & S. Kalyanaraman (2010)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSe24deOpUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXhE-aRc6Q
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Planning a new commission -- Arun Maira
Planning a new commission
Arun Maira | May 13, 2014 9:39 am
SUMMARY
We need a Planning Commission for the 21st Century
At his last meeting with the present Planning Commission on April 30, its chairman, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wondered whether the commission was relying on tools and approaches designed for a different era, and suggested it subject itself to a critical review. He had flagged similar issues in 2009, too, when the present members joined the commission. At the time, the PM had pointed out how the commission had previously attempted to change, but failed. The commission had submitted itself to an external review in 2010. It was found that it is persisting with outmoded approaches and tools for planning. A study of the failed efforts to change has provided insights for a better reform strategy.The external review, which was in consultation with 20 leading thinkers from the public and private sectors, pointed out that India and the world have changed immensely over the last 20 years. The private sector is a much larger part of the economy now and India is much more open to global markets. Indian politics has also changed dramatically — no single political party is dominant across all states of the country. Regional parties are powerful in the states and coalitions have become the norm at the Centre. These paradigm shifts in the economy and in politics make a central body that seeks to control the country’s progress through the allocation of money — which the Planning Commission was set up to do 60-odd years ago — an anachronism. India is now a flotilla of many independent boats. They must want to go together in the same direction. They cannot be ordered to.
For them to take good decisions for the stakeholders they represent, a national planning body now needs to provide these independent actors with a radar picture showing them the forces shaping the economic and social environment, revealing the paths to avoid and the paths that will enable faster progress. “Scenario planning” shows the way forward. Scenarios are based on an understanding of all the forces that are shaping the system. Not just economic but also social and political forces. Scenarios cannot be made merely by experts in ivory towers who rely on (incomplete and often inaccurate) numbers to explain reality. Many people, representing diverse points of view, must be engaged in a large, systematic process. Therefore, a 21st-century Planning Commission must become a central node in a large knowledge network. It should not have large numbers of experts within itself.
The mind of a 21st century Planning Commission might want to range further and faster, but it cannot if it is trapped in an ageing, lumbering body. The commission is stuck in the structure of a government ministry. Like every ministry, it has a secretary to whom all staff report. Their confidential reports (CRs) go to the secretary and then to the minister (the deputy chairman). Transfers are also managed by the secretary. The members, who are of the rank of and equivalent to ministers of state, have no right to comment on CRs or control over transfers. Thus, rather than the staff serving members, the commission (that is, the members) is a structural appendage to the “planning ministry”.
Previous attempts to reform the commission failed when they hit the brick walls of its internal organisation, which is embedded in the structures and rules of a much larger government machine that is very difficult to change. Therefore, an effective reform strategy must enable the commission to do what the country needs it to, without changing the planning ministry’s structure significantly. Such a strategy has already been devised.
In this strategy, the members would leverage resources outside the commission for the knowledge required. They would also enrol support for the plans by engaging stakeholders extensively during their formulation, thereby also obtaining the stakeholders’ knowledge for making practical plans. In this way, national scenarios were formulated, a comprehensive strategy for managing the country’s water resources was developed, a manufacturing plan was made, etc. A new platform was also created to bring the states’ planning boards together to share best practices and develop a more constructive relationship between the state and Central planning processes. But this was not enough. Inertia in the internal organisation resists changes.
to help us personalise your reading experience.
A two-pronged strategy is required to change the Planning Commission. While new functions must be strengthened, the planning ministry reforms must be in tandem with those of government. The Rangarajan Committee has recommended that the Planning Commission perform a strategic role in the country’s development and leave budget management to the finance ministry. The Second Administrative Reforms Commission made many good recommendations to revamp the government machinery and administrative services.
The answers to the questions the prime minister asked in 2009, and again in April 2014, are known. Solutions have also been formulated. The failure has been in implementation. Solutions must be implemented rather than the same questions being asked again and new inquiry commissions being formed to go over the same ground.
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Directions to ROs on counting of votes
Directions to ROs on counting of votes
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad district election officer (DEO) Somesh Kumar has directed returning officers (ROs) to conduct a final meeting with contestants on May 14 on the working of PADU (Printer-Cum-Auxiliary Display Unit), which will be attached to the EVM control unit.
He held a review meeting on counting arrangements with all the RO of Hyderabad district on Monday. He said 422 PADUs were needed for Hyderabad district i.e., for 211 tables of Assembly constituencies and 211 tables for Parliamentary constituencies.
He asked the returning officers to explain the counting procedures to the candidates and said there would be one observer for each counting centre. The observer would be signing each and every round before declaring the result.
The DEO said that each counting centre would be provided with a separate room to the observers and also one media centre, where mediapersons could track the trends of the counting round-wise for wide coverage of the results.
Somesh Kumar directed the ROs to conduct a final meeting with the counting staff on May 15 at 2 pm and also distribute identity cards the same day for attending to counting duty on May 16.
He said the counting process should start by 8.30 am at any cost after completing the counting of postal ballots. "If at all the counting of postal ballots is not completed they should be forwarded to the returning officer's table." He also informed that while making duplicate copies of the counting process, they should not use carbon paper, but must write the same for all duplicate copies.
Somesh Kumar said polling agents leave the counting centre will not be allowed to return. Also, food would not be permitted at counting centres.
However, directions have been given to ROs to provide canteen facility within the counting centre. The ROs have also been directed to ensure battery backup facility for computers and the public address system.He told the ROs to open the strong rooms by 6.30 am in the presence of candidates on the counting day.
He held a review meeting on counting arrangements with all the RO of Hyderabad district on Monday. He said 422 PADUs were needed for Hyderabad district i.e., for 211 tables of Assembly constituencies and 211 tables for Parliamentary constituencies.
He asked the returning officers to explain the counting procedures to the candidates and said there would be one observer for each counting centre. The observer would be signing each and every round before declaring the result.
The DEO said that each counting centre would be provided with a separate room to the observers and also one media centre, where mediapersons could track the trends of the counting round-wise for wide coverage of the results.
Somesh Kumar directed the ROs to conduct a final meeting with the counting staff on May 15 at 2 pm and also distribute identity cards the same day for attending to counting duty on May 16.
He said the counting process should start by 8.30 am at any cost after completing the counting of postal ballots. "If at all the counting of postal ballots is not completed they should be forwarded to the returning officer's table." He also informed that while making duplicate copies of the counting process, they should not use carbon paper, but must write the same for all duplicate copies.
Somesh Kumar said polling agents leave the counting centre will not be allowed to return. Also, food would not be permitted at counting centres.
However, directions have been given to ROs to provide canteen facility within the counting centre. The ROs have also been directed to ensure battery backup facility for computers and the public address system.He told the ROs to open the strong rooms by 6.30 am in the presence of candidates on the counting day.
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Why did EC take so long? -- Kumar Chellappan
WHY DID EC TAKE SO LONG?
Wednesday, 14 May 2014 | Kumar Chellappan | Chennai
It took the Election Commission of India (ECI) 72 days for conducting the Lok Sabha elections 2014 and announcing the results, making it the longest ever polling process in India.The process for the Lok Sabha election 2014 was set in motion by the Election Commission on March 5, 2014 and the results would be declared on May 16. The polling was held in nine phases starting from April 7 and culminating on May 12.
The suspense and tension undergone by the candidates whose fate was sealed on April 7 is understandable. Even the people who cast their votes are feeling irritated over the wait for the D-day which is on Friday. “Isn’t this a proof of the failure of the ECI which has all modern communication and transport facilities at its command? The whole process could have been completed within two weeks,” MD Nalapat, Professor and Director, department of Geopolitics and International Relations, Manipal University, told The Pioneer.
He pointed out that polling was a cumbersome process till the 1990s as polling materials and officials had to be dispatched and deployed to far away corners of the country. “Those were the days when polling materials were taken to the booths with the help of elephants, mules and even donkeys. Not anymore. The UPA Government itself has been claiming in its publicity blitzkrieg that there were no un-motorable roads in the country. The whole country is connected with broadband. These things could have brought down the gap between the dates of notification and counting to less than a 30 days,” said Nalapat.
There is a section among the political fraternity who fear that the electoral process has been spread over two months for denying the Opposition, particularly the BJP and its prime ministerial candidate the advantage it gained in the initial phase. “They feel that they can tone down the Modi wave over a period of time and help the Congress to regain the lost ground,” said Gowthaman Ramakrishnan, Director, Vedic Sciences Research Centre, Chennai.
But experts in election chose to differ with such apprehensions and comments. “This is the best the Election Commission could do with the kind of political parties and leaders we have,” said N Gopalaswami, former Chief Election Commissioner of India.
As news of booth capturing by the TMC in Bengal on Monday was flashed across the TV screens, Gopalaswami asked: “Do you need more explanation why the election process in the country is differed over 72 days? If there is no stern eye, political parties are willing to do anything to win. One-day polling could be undertaken in States like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But polling can be completed in States like Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra only in two or three days. Then there is the Naxal-infested areas where the ECI has to provide maximum security to the candidates as well as electors,” pointed out the former CEC Gopalaswami, who was also the Union Home Secretary, said more than 150 districts in the country are Naxal infested.
“The entire country can go for two-day poll provided no political parties in power misuse the administrative machinery and no political parties indulge in questionable means like booth capturing and rigging,” he said. He added that Indians can dream for the next 50 years for this to happen.
But Gopalaswami was emphatic on one condition. “When the next Lok Sabha elections are held, all the Electronic Voting Machines deployed in the country should have the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) as directed by the Supreme Court. It will make our election the most transparent process in the world,” he said.http://www.dailypioneer.com/nation/why-did-ec-take-so-long.html
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Largest election in democratic history -- Janet Levy. Thanks to Ravi Raghavan.
Namaste,
I would like to share my humble contribution to the ongoing election campaign.
In April 2014, at the request of freelance American journalist Janet Levy, I was happy to edit and critically review her well-written article (below) on the Indian elections. I was also able to add revealing nuggets of factual information (on various aspects of Sri. Narendra Modi's Governance, Kutch Earthquake Relief, Ayodhya, Godhra Train Massacre, The Truth About the Gujarat Riots, Growing Islamization of India and the Pent-up Indignation of Hindu Society Under Siege) that may have been hitherto unknown to an American audience (that has been raised on a steady,vitriolic diet of anti-Hindu, anti-Modi propaganda over the years).
The point of this article is to communicate key concepts to American audiences and ensure that Americans - who are mostly unaware of this election - understand how important the choice of Sri.Narendra Modi as India's prime minister is for the "Free World". Of course, the piece is with American sensibilities and their typical level of understanding and knowledge in mind.
Janet Levy has been kind enough to acknowledge me for my critical contributions at the end of this article in the "American Thinker".
Please feel free to share this article with your friends on Facebook, Email and Twitter.
Best wishes,
Ravi Raghavan
April 27, 2014
The Largest Election in the History of the Largest Democracy in the World
By Janet Levy
The longest and most expensive election in India's history began April 7th and will conclude May 12th at a cost of more than $5 billion. To manage the large electorate -- estimated at 815 million -- and address security concerns in the world's largest democracy, the election to seat 543 members of the 16th Lok Sabha, or lower house of the Parliament, is running in nine segments over five weeks. The results will also determine who will rule the world’s largest democracy as prime minister. The victor will ultimately be the party winning the most Lok Sabha seats, a minimum of 272.
Top issues in India’s elections are perennial -- government corruption, nepotism and economic growth -- but also playing a major factor is the burgeoning Islamization of the country. The bulk of India's population, around 80% Hindu, is concerned about past government policies that appear to have favored Muslims. The most popular candidate for prime minister, Narendra Modi, has been painted for years as virulently anti-Muslim in an effort to undermine his political power during years of dedicated government service as Chief Minister of the state of Gujarat. He has been the subject of eight-years of rigorous investigations and most recently by India’s Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), which found no wrong doing on his part, and he has been legally exonerated of all framed charges in 2010. Yet, he has been denied a U.S. visa, despite this lack of proof. The outcome of the elections in India will help determine if the country will slide further under Muslim influence or pursue a path toward democracy and away from preferential laws for Muslims.
Those preferential laws were created under the rule of the Indian National Congress (INC), or “the Congress.” Formed in 1885, the party played a major role in freeing the country from British colonial rule in 1947. But, in more modern times, the pro-Muslim Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, has lost support. As the economic growth of India has slowed significantly, government corruption has become rampant and infrastructure deficiencies abound. Modi, a statesman of the country’s other major political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has pledged to institute good governance, end corruption, boost economic growth, and adopt a uniform civil code to foster equal gender justice and equality for Indian Muslim women who are currently governed by Sharia law.
Modi and Gujarat Riots
Although he is clearly the popular favorite for prime minister, Modi must contend with fallout from ongoing Hindu-Muslim strife in India. A major cause of that strife was the defunct Babri Mosque, which was provocatively built by Muslims in 1527 over a Hindu sacred site in Ayjodhya believed to be the birthplace of the Hindu Deity, Rama. Astudy released later by the Archaeological Society of India concluded that excavations revealed distinctive features of a massive, 10th century Hindu temple and the existence of human activity at the site as early as the 13th century B.C. (The violent conversion of non-Muslims’ places of worship into mosques is common worldwide and there is historically documented evidence that at least 2000 mosques in India have been forcibly built on top of demolished Hindu temples at sacred sites). (See Chapter 10 and Appendix of this online book at this link: http://www.voiceofdharma.com/books/htemples1/ )
Conflicts over the Ayodhya site occurred numerous times over the years and culminated in 1992 with the razing of the abandoned mosque structure by a gathering of over 1.1 million Hindu volunteers who had assembled there for a rally. Violence then broke out across India and more than 2,000 people died, as Muslims used the demolition of Babri Mosque as an excuse for ongoing terrorist attacks ever since.
Ten years later in early 2002, during a pre-planned terror attack at Godhra train station in Gujarat, a mob of 1500 armed Muslims, led by their co-religionist leaders of the Congress party, had looted and locked down a train filled with unsuspecting Hindu pilgrims returning from Ayodhya and set the women-only passenger carriage on fire, murdering 59 Hindus, mostly women and children. In the aftermath of this gruesome massacre, there were subsequent attacks by triumphalist Muslim mobs against Hindu civilians in several other cities. In spite of robust efforts by the police and army to quell violence some riots between Hindus and Muslims ensued for less than 72 hours before subsiding completely.
Modi, who had just begun serving his first year as chief minister of Gujarat while simultaneously dealing with the aftermath of a deadly 2001 earthquake (that killed around 20,000 people, injured 167,000 and destroyed nearly 400,000 homes in his state), was falsely accused by his political opponents of encouraging the violence or turning a blind eye to the incident. Their contrived allegations were a potent mix of Goebbelsian propaganda that involved exaggerating the number of Muslim victims, ignoring the large numbers of Hindu victims (who constituted a third of the casualties) and fabricating witnesses with the malicious intent of making Modi the political scapegoat for the violence. Despite being cleared by a state court and the Indian Supreme Court in 2010 of any blame for the 2002 riots in Gujarat, where he still serves as chief minister, Modi continues to be refused a visa by the United States since 2005 due to lobbying by Islamic, Leftist and Christian conservative groups. Thus, he has been effectively banned from the United States, a ban supported by the current pro-Muslim Indian government.
The U.S. visa ban has made Modi, who has since been threatened with assassination and subject to slanderous attacks, more popular in India. He is admired for his leadership in providing relief and rebuilding following the earthquake that devastated the Kutch region of India. He is also credited for economic growth in his state of Gujarat.
If elected, it is hoped he will pursue the agenda of RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), a national patriotic organization of which he is a member and which pledges to uphold Indian culture and values. RSS goals include the rebuilding of the Ram Temple, protection of cows -- sacred for Hindus -- from rustling and slaughter, and the revoking of Article 370 of the India constitution. That law grants special autonomous status to the Muslim majority states of Jammu and Kashmir.
Continuing Attacks against Modi
Popular with the Hindu majority, Modi has nonetheless been heavily maligned as being "communal," a “Hindu fundamentalist,” or a “racist.” These descriptors are bandied about for Modi much the way that conservatives, especially Christians, are falsely labeled and harangued in the United States. Reminiscent of the attacks on Jews and their quest to return to their ancestral land of over 4,000 years or “Zionism,” RSS goals are risibly compared to Nazi ideology. The sting of fundamentalism taints Hindu groups, although Hindus have never engaged in anything resembling a jihad (or Crusade) to spread their religion as the only true or righteous faith. Yet, appearing as a "proud Muslim" is deemed innocuously inoffensive and termed "secular." In fact, "secularism" in India has come to serve as a euphemism for "anti-Hindu," pro-Muslim and pro-Christian.
Adding to the current tense political climate, statistics on India’s religious population from the 2011 census, have been purposely withheld until after the election for fear of sparking riots. Hindu leaders and demographic pundits opine that the Hindu population of the country has fallen below 80% and the Muslim population has increased to close to 20% as a result of unbridled birth rates of the latter.
Meanwhile, U.S. government officials, masquerading as proponents of religious freedom, have attempted to influence the Indian election by undermining Modi’s candidacy with false accusations of Hindu-perpetuated violence. Two congressmen introduced H.R. 417, a bill to require India to create a government watchdog body made up of Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, and Zoroastrians to insure that minorities are provided with special protections, such as their own minority courts designed to redress their particular grievances. This appears to be a veiled invitation for shariah since Muslim interests tend to bulldoze the interests of other minorities in India.
These two congressmen have strong ties to Islam. Keith Hakim Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, swore his oath of office on a Koran, and has addressed meetings of Hamas-linked CAIR whose members have made individual donations to his campaign. Congressman Joseph Pitts was in the news for receiving campaign contributions from Ghulan Nabi Fai – a lobbyist funneling money from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Pakistani intelligence service accused of aiding and abetting Islamic terrorist groups worldwide. The FBI indictment cleared Pitts of any wrongdoing, as he was unaware of the source of Fai’s funding.
Ellison and Pitts’ proposed legislation also calls for the Indian government to focus specifically on Hindu-perpetuated violence; although 80% of attacks in 2013 were attributed to Indian Mujahideen (Islamic terrorists) and the rest to other Islamic and Maoist terror groups. And the bill would continue the current visa ban for Modi.
The sudden and mysterious emergence of the well-funded candidate, Arvind Kejriwal, a member of the fledgling, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which he created in 2012, has raised suspicions among political pundits. Kejriwal is believed to be funded by the CIA through the Ford Foundation, which issued a significant grant to his NGO, Kabir. (A declassified letter from 1957 signed by then CIA Director Allen Dulles establishes the link between the CIA and the Ford Foundation).
While still a public servant, Kejriwal was granted $80,000 and $250,000, respectively, by the Ford Foundation, which is illegal. In 2006, he received money from the World Bank as well as the Ford Foundation-conferred Magsaysay Award. In addition, the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Indian Muslims of America, which has been raising funds and issuing advertisements for his party, is represented by its Executive Director Kaleem Kawaja whose article Brother, Can you spare a tear for Taliban is in contrast to his day-job as a NASA employee.
Kejriwal, who has courted the Muslim vote, received praise from the Pakistani media and online contributions from Pakistan to his AAP. Kejriwal has taken a decidedly anti-India stand on the Kashmir conflict, a dispute between India and Pakistan over control of the Kashmir region where Muslims live under separate laws and Hindus are not allowed to purchase land or property. Kejriwal has also called for clemency for the convicted Mumbai massacre terrorist, Ajmal Kasab. Kejriwal, and his supporters were recently detained by Gujarat police after attempting to disrupt the BJP office, with stone throwing and property destruction. In 2011, Kejriwal met with Imam Tauqueer Raza Khan, who issued a 2006 fatwa to behead U.S. President George W. Bush and feminist author Taslima Nasreen for espousing women’s rights. As the AAP candidate, Kejriwal has spoken against "communalism" or Hindu nationalism and referred to it as a greater threat than government corruption. His fellow AAP leader, Shazia Ilmi, a female Muslim TV news anchor, has been recorded on a video just this week at a political meeting inciting Muslims to be more “communal” (fundamentalist) and less secular.
Growing Islamization
These would seem to be the personal political views of individual candidates were it not for the growing Islamization of India. National security is a major concern with a significant increase in Islamic terrorist cells, including Al Qaeda, and a commensurate increase in attacks against Hindus and Hindu holy sites. The borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh have become less secure as more and more Muslims from both countries enter illegally to rape and kidnap Hindu women, commit cross-border attacks and beheadings of Indian soldiers, and rustle and/or slaughter cattle.
Remarkably, at least 20 million Muslims entering India from Pakistan and Bangladesh have managed to vote illegally in Indian elections; some even running for office with the assistance of Muslim-appeasing politicians. The majority of India's citizens worry about the corruption among the police, intelligence and military, mostly in the form of concessions to Muslims to win vote banks, and how this has made it difficult to maintain law and order and adequately protect Hindus. Many Indian citizens want the discriminatory Communal Violence Bill, believed to have been part of a strategy to win Muslim votes, rescinded because it specifically targets Hindus, under the guise of protecting minorities. Hindus contend that the current Muslim-appeasing government has not adequately prosecuted the horrific 2008 Mumbai attack as part of a concerted plan to retain Muslim block votes.
Hindus see the growing Islamization of their country aided by pro-Islamist government policies, changing demographics due to higher Muslim birthrates, polygamy, and illegal immigration among Muslims, as well as dawah or proselytizing and forced conversions to Islam. As politicians in Muslim majority areas seek election, they appeal to the Muslim community with special programs and concessions. They typically grant approval to build new mosques, institute job preference quotas, and provide IDs, citizenship certificates, and entitlement payments to Muslims and even engineer the release of Muslim prisoners.
In India, civil codes exist that favor Muslims so that laws are not applied equally to all citizens. Currently, Muslims receive government grants and enjoy complete freedom to manage their religious institutions. The Indian government funds annual trips to Mecca or the Muslim Hajj pilgrimage for tens of thousands of Muslims. By contrast, the government drains Hindu temples of all their pilgrims’ donations under the pretext of managing them and no programs exist to fund religious expeditions by Hindus. Further, a large percentage of university slots and job allocations are reserved for Muslims and Christians in most Indian states, and the educational system fails to emphasize the importance of Indian history, the contributions of Hindus, the study of Sanskrit, and the Hindu religion, even though India is a majority Hindu nation. In addition, anti-conversion laws are rarely enforced and illegal, forced conversions are not typically criminally prosecuted.
Thus, Modi’s candidacy offers hope to stem the tide that is fast Islamizing India. If the popular Modi can overcome the obstacles in his way and become the next prime minister of India, he would help restore Hindu confidence in the nation’s government, help ease tensions, and perhaps reduce the Hindu-Muslim conflicts that plague India now. But factionalization of the political system along religious lines could prove to be a spoiler to this end. And if the United States continues its interference in the Indian elections, the results could actually provide the opposite end sought by America and the West. India has long been an important ally sharing an extensive cultural, strategic, military, and economic relationship with the United States since the end of the Cold War. India’s strategic location between East and West makes it crucial to stemming Islamic aggression in the Free World. Continued interference could forebode disastrous results for both nations. It is a choice that the United States’ administration and foreign policy experts must make judiciously.
Ravi Raghavan, MS, an intellectual entrepreneur, political observer and social activist on issues relating to the US, Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent contributed to this story.
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1956: A year of national and religious awakening -- Senaka Weeraratna
1956: A year of national and religious awakening
Buddhism has been the most powerful single factor in the development of Sri Lanka’s civilization. For more than 2,300 years, Sri Lanka developed and projected a country image that was predominantly Buddhist. Though this pre-disposition was held back during the 450 years of western colonial rule, no sooner an opportunity arose after the grant of independence in 1948, the majority of the people again turned to Buddhism as expressive of their national identity and gave a mandate to a newly elected Government to restore Buddhism to its rightful place and make it an unifying and integrative force in the nation.
The commemoration of the 2600th Sambuddathwa Jayanti in 2011 revived memories of the Buddha Jayanti that was commemorated in 1956, on the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of the Parinibbana of the Buddha. The event was commemorated by Buddhists all over the world. It was also a year of great national and religious awakening – a turning point in our history.
Buddhist Commission Report
Though the movement of Buddhist revival began in the late 19th century and gathered momentum in the first half of the 20th century, it was in the immediate post-independence period that Buddhist leaders such as Professor Gunapala Malalasekera and LH Mettananda saw an opportunity to remedy the historical injustices done to the Buddhists under three western colonial powers, through the establishment of a Buddhist Commission of Inquiry.
When they proposed a State appointed Buddhist Commission to inquire into the grave injustices caused to the Buddhists, the then Prime Minister DS Senanayake at first agreed to accede to the request and subsequently balked, saying that it would be a violation of the Soulbury Constitution.
With hardly any other choice left they decided to appoint a Commission of Inquiry on their own to probe into the continuing system of education and other areas that denied Buddhists their rightful place. The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC) established a Buddhist Committee of Inquiry on April 2, 1954, popularly known as the Buddhist Commission. It held its sittings throughout the length and breadth of the country.
In addition to Prof Malalasekera and LH Mettananda, the Committee comprised the Ven. Abanwelle Siddhartha, Ven. Haliyale Sumanatissa, Ven. Balangoda Ananda Maitreya, Ven. Polonnaruwe Vimaladhamma, Ven. Madihe Pannaseeha, Ven. Henpitagedera Gnanaseeha, Prof GP Malalasekera, P de S. Kularatne, Dr Tennekoon Wimalananda and DC Wijewardena. The Report was presented to the Maha Sangha and the general public at a meeting at Ananda College on February 4, 1956.
SWRD Bandaranaike, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, made a public declaration that he would implement the Committee’s proposals if the MEP was elected to power in the forthcoming general election in April 1956. In contrast, Sir John Kotalawala’s UNP government was found dragging its feet over the Committee’s proposals. This stance of Bandaranaike led to the Maha Sangha coming out openly in large numbers to back the MEP. Under the banner of the Eksath Bhikkshu Peramuna, Buddhist monks campaigned from house to house in support of Bandaranaike who also championed the cause of the ‘Pancha Maha Balavegaya’ (comprising Sangha, Veda, Guru, Govi, Kamkaru). The MEP swept the polls. UNP was reduced to 8 seats in the House. The electoral result was a watershed in the country’s history.
An abridged English version of the Report was published under the title, ‘The Betrayal of Buddhism’, which set out in detail both the injustices suffered by the Buddhists and the remedies, particularly in the education sphere. The Schools Takeover in the early sixties was an outcome of the recommendations made in the Buddhist Commission Report.
Buddha Jayanti in Sri Lanka
Buddha Jayanti in 1956 was celebrated with great enthusiasm and religious fervor. Energetic individuals and organizations had begun preparations several years before 1956 to mark the occasion with landmark events. Prof Gunapala Malalasekera, President of the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, devised plans to mobilize the international Buddhist community. Distinguished invitees from several foreign countries and Sri Lanka attending its inaugural meeting in Colombo in 1950 decided to form themselves into the World Fellowship of Buddhists.
Asoka Weeraratna founded the Lanka Dhammaduta Society on Sept 21 1952 (re-named in 1957 as the German Dharmaduta Society) which had a number of objectives, the principal being to send a Buddhist Mission to Germany in 1956 to coincide with the universal Buddha Jayanti celebrations. Buddhist organizations urged the Government to celebrate Buddha Jayanti as a national event and defer the general elections in 1956. On May 23 1956, Vesak full-moon day, Buddhists in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world celebrated Buddha Jayanti.
The Government undertook numerous activities in commemoration of Buddha Jayanti. These included the appointment of a Committee comprising leading Buddhist monks and laymen to advise the Government on all matters relating to the Buddha Jayanti celebrations, making arrangements to translate the Tripitaka into Sinhala and compile an Encyclopaedia of Buddhism in English and Sinhala, to compile other books dealing with the biography of the Buddha, his teachings and the history of Buddhism, the issue of four commemorative postage stamps to mark the event, the completion of the renovation of the Dalada Maligawa in Kandy before Buddha Jayanti, offering assistance for the reconstruction of the Mahiyangana Thupa, among others.
Buddhist Mission to Germany
At a public meeting at Ananda College, Colombo on May 30 1953, the findings of a survey by Asoka Weeraratna on the current state of Buddhist activities in Germany and the prospects for sending a Buddhist Mission to Germany before the Buddha Jayanti celebrations in 1956 were discussed. CWW Kannangara, Minister of Local Government presided. The meeting adopted a resolution urging the Lanka Dhammaduta Society to take immediate steps to send a Buddhist Mission to Germany before 1956 to commemorate Buddha Jayanti and further that the Society should take immediate steps to establish a permanent Buddhist Centre in Germany comprising a Vihara, Preaching Hall, Library, and Settlement for Upasakas.
CWW Kannangara said the Society was going to serve one of the greatest causes of Buddhism launched after the Great Emperor Asoka of India. He urged all Buddhists to back the Society in every way to help it to establish the Buddhasasana firmly in Germany before Buddha Jayanti of 1956.
On August 7, 1956 a few months after becoming Prime Minister, SWRD Bandaranaike inaugurated the new Headquarters and Training Centre of the Lanka Dhammaduta Society (later renamed German Dharmaduta Society) at 417, Bullers Road (later re-named Bauddhaloka Mawatha), Colombo 07. He said Buddhism could be spread only on Buddhistic principles whether in this country or outside. He further said that the Mission to Germany was a very wise one because a number of people in the West were interested in the Buddha’s teachings. The Mission would give them an opportunity to study the religion and spread the Dhamma themselves.
On June 15 1957, the first Sri Lankan Buddhist Mission to Germany sponsored by the German Dharmaduta Society and comprising Ven. Soma, Ven. Kheminda and Ven. Vinita from the Vajiraramaya, left for Germany. They were joined by Asoka Weeraratna, two weeks later, in Berlin. The venerable monks took up residence in Dr. Paul Dahlke’s Das Buddhistiche Haus. In December 1957, Asoka Weeraratna (Trustee) negotiated and purchased from the heirs of Dr. Dahlke, the Das Buddhistische Haus on behalf of the Trustees of the German Dharmaduta Society, which included, Hon. Dudley Senanayake, Henry Amarasuriya, Dr. PB Fernando and Mr. Nelson Soysa. Das Buddhistische Haus was thereafter converted into a Vihara by the GDS through considerable renovation and placement of Dharmaduta monks on a long term footing.
Buddha Jayanti in India
The Buddha Jayanti in 1956 attracted the attention of almost the entire world as several countries such as India, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Sri Lanka put into effect elaborate programs to celebrate the event. The Government of India celebrated the event as one of great cultural significance for the country. Though born in Lumbini, Nepal, the Buddha delivered his Dhamma discourses mostly in India.
A high-powered Committee was appointed with Indian Vice-President Dr S Radhakrishnan as Chairman and the chief ministers of several states as members. Public funds were made available for the celebrations, which included public meetings, exhibitions of Buddhist art, visits of foreign Buddhist scholars, publication of forty volumes of the Tripitaka (Buddhist scriptures) in Pali and Sanskrit, issue of commemorative Buddha Jayanti postage stamps, and the erection of a monument in New Delhi to mark the event.
Sixth Buddhist Council in Rangoon in 1954
The Sixth Buddhist Council (Chattha Sangayana or sixth synod) was opened in Rangoon on May 17 1954. It was sponsored by the Burmese Government under Prime Minister U Nu. A Maha Pasana Guha Cave, a great artificial cave built from the ground up and completed in 1952, served as the gathering place, much like India’s Rajgiri’s Sattaparni Cave that had housed the First Council immediately after the passing away of the Buddha.
Like the preceding councils, its chief objective was to recite, affirm and preserve the genuine wording of the Vinaya, Suttas and Abhidhamma – the ‘pariyatti’ – as related by the Buddha and his principal disciples. This Council was unique in that the 2,500 learned Theravada monks who participated came from eight countries - Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India and Nepal - unlike previous councils which had included monks from the host countries only.
Ven. Nyanatiloka and Ven. Nyanaponika, two German monks then residing in Sri Lanka, figured prominently in the Sixth Buddhist Council. Scholar-monks of Sri Lanka played a significant role and the general editor with overall authority was a Sri Lankan settled in Myanmar. The complete traditional recitation of the Theravada Canon at this Council took two years, from 1954 to 1956. The Council closed on the full moon day of May 1956, exactly two and a half millennia after the Buddha attained Parinibbana. The version of the Tripitaka which the Sixth Buddhist Council produced is recognized as being true to the pristine teachings of Gautama the Buddha and the most authoritative rendering of them to date.
Perspective
Today, Buddhism has a greater appeal in the West due to an increasing number of people in these countries showing a preference for a philosophy and ethical system that places high emphasis on peace, non-violence and compassion towards all sentient beings. In Asia, it is feasible for countries with pre-dominant Buddhist populations to consider developing closer ties with each other in the spheres of economic, cultural, and trade and investment.
http://www.asiantribune.com/news/2011/05/16/1956-%E2%80%93-year-national-and-religious-awakening
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Despite Pranab Babu's missive, timeline of desperation to appoint Army Chief? Something is rotten in the state of India.
TIMELINE / For your understanding / Why is such desperation to appoint Army Chief?
Why is General Bikram Singh and the PMO so desperate to appoint Suhag?
The PMO's 'Line of Succession' devised by General JJ Singh to ensure the current Chief getting the top job is well documented. Question now is why is the outgoing UPA so desperate to place 'their man' in place.
Answer perhaps lies in the ongoing J&K encounter case which despite the best efforts of the Army continues to simmer and haunt General Bikram Singh. Evidence suppressed for the last two years is now surfacing (3 affidavits) that indicate that the Janglat Mandi incident was a set up to grandiose the Brigade Commander but which went horribly wrong. An Indian Army Colonel, one jawan, and three civilians were killed in which the fleeing General (then Brigadier) Bikram Singh also collected a bullet in the back. The incident was blamed on one of the civilian victims, a 70-year old man, who the police and army claimed was Matteen Chacha, a dreaded terrorist.
Affidavits of the wives and four eye witnesses claim that there were no terrorists involved in the encounter, only surrendered militants who were under the command of Bikram Singh himself.
Once the age issue had been put in place to truncate Gen VK Singh's tenure, Lt Gen Suhag the then GOC 3 Corps who was directly under Lt Gen Bikram Singh as the Eastern Army Commander, became the 'cats paw' in an attempt to defame VK Singh.
The 3 Corps Intel Unit, headed by a Colonel Sreekumar, himself a former key aide to General JJ Singh (and since Governor of Arunachal) was accused of killing three Manipuri boys by the units own second in command, one Major T Ravi Kiran. Generals Bikram singh and Suhag who had since taken over 3 Corps, refused to move against the officer despite repeated nudges from Army HQ.
Col Sreekumar was then seen in Delhi and is suspected to have been the brain behind the TSD story in which General VK Singh was accused of evesdropping on the RM, PM and sonia Gandhi. It later transpired these vehicles never belonged to the Army but belonged to the DIA, an intelligence unit under the MOD then headed by Lt Gen Tejinder Singh, who had been accused of attempting to bribe General VK Singh with regards to the Tatra trucks.
Sreekumar's unit was then subsequently involved in the Jorhat raid where his unit was allegedly involved in contract killings. Smart police work tracked down the raiding party to 3 Corps HQ. Gen Suhag refused to cooperate citing AFSPA, but the Army returned the stollen goods which included a pistol, a lap top, cell phones and cash.
In the ensuing hue and cry in the Northeast, Assam CM wrote to VK Singh demanding action.
With less than a fortnight to go before Gen Bikram Singh took over as the Chief from him, VK singh issued a DV Ban against Gen Suhag, who had also deviously been cleared by the PMO in the parachute scam.
Gen Bikram Singh, however, against all norms, kept the post of Army Commander vacant and over turned the DV Ban. A Brigadier, who hailed from Manipur and who opposed the revoking, was immediately 'removed' and court martial proceedings on trumped up charges were initiated against him.
DV Ban however, resulted in a formal court martial and the Army found all fifteen officers guilty. The punishment metted out against these offending personnel was extremely mild, resulting in the Guwahati HC stepping in and asking for all the records of the Court Martial. Logic was clear - if dacoity was established, how could these people be let off with mild rebukes when under the IPC similar crimes attracted a minimum of 5 years RI.
99% cases, next chief is announced 2 months before, with the VK Singh/Bikram Singh transition being 3 months. UPA decided to follow the same route.
Dr Subramanian Swamy wrote to the President pointing out this undue haste along with other matters. Same day President asked the PMO to look into the matter. The ACC file that had been initiated for Gen Suhag's elevation, was returned to the MOD as there was no Vigilance clearance.
However, with time running out, the matter was referred to the EC, who had already said they had nothing to do with it. On getting approval to 'initiate the process' the ACC file was again moved on the 12th of May, despite the fact that the unresolved Jorhat case meant there could be no Vigilance clearance.
ACC file was cleared by Dr Manmohan Singh in what may well be his last act in the UPA government. However, as it would meet the President's sanction in the absence of Vigilance clearance, the Press Advisor to the PM, Pankaj Pachouri ordered PTI to put out a story at 5 pm saying Gen Suhag will be the next Chief.
Taken completely by surprise, both MOD and Presidents Secretariat confirmed they had no role to play in the bizarre announcement.
UPA is now banking on two factors, having laid an egg that could embarrass the President and the next Government. With the Haryana state elections around the corner, it is felt that no one will have the guts to overturn this 'decision'. Meanwhile, General Bikram singh can also breath a little easier, knowing his grateful successor will shield him in the J&K case for atleast two more years.
JAI HIND
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I will break the Delhi cabal of status quoists: Narendra Modi
I will break the Delhi cabal of status quoists: Narendra Modi
May 14, 2014
Excerpts of Shri Narendra Modi’s interview to Open magazine:
Your party has maintained that its election campaign was run on the plank of good governance. How do you propose to put a new governance paradigm in place?
In all my campaign meetings, I have been emphasising the need for good governance. I believe in minimum government and maximum governance. The country is facing trouble on all fronts because of maximum government. It is interfering with every aspect of life; it is not for changing the lives of people, but to benefit a few rent seekers who think it is their God- ordained right to rule.
The problems are very similar to what could happen to your computer or iPad. You may have the best machine and best information on its hard disk, but if a virus gets in, it will just collapse. The governance machine in Delhi has collapsed due to the unwholesome acts of those in charge of government.
Your rivals say that the BJP has not spelt out its idea of an ideal government…
Your rivals say that the BJP has not spelt out its idea of an ideal government…
Only those who are blind can say this. I have shown in Gujarat that a government should be driven only by policies. An ideal government should be driven by policies. There should be little or no discretion. It is the grey areas that lead to corruption.
My idea of governance is a ‘P2G2’ formula— pro-people proactive good governance. In this, those in charge of governance are not fire-fighters as you see in Delhi. We will formulate and guide policies in a transparent manner for the larger public good.
Industry and investors have a lot of expectations of the next government. How do you soothe the frayed nerves of investors?
A stable government and stability in policy will drive investment and boost investor confidence. You don’t have to go only by Modi’s speeches. I have a track record to substantiate what I say. There will be no place for vacillation or ad-hocism.
What should be the new government’s priorities?
To be in charge. Currently, no one is in charge. I have been saying that the country needs a chowkidar in Delhi—to prevent the loot of public wealth.
On the policy front, we will follow what we do in Gujarat. Every policy draft will be put in the public domain; it will be online. We will elicit the views of people. And there will be genuine people participation in policy formulation.
How do you see the political landscape after 16 May? And how…
(Interrupts) Why 16 May? Can’t you see it now? That the Government in Delhi and the party in power have already been rejected by the [country]? The large crowds that attend my rallies demonstrate that a new dispensation is going to be in charge soon.
Will you be able to satisfy people’s growing aspirations?
The new government will work towards addressing the demands of a fast- changing India. The Congress will end up with its worst-ever tally. The country is fed up with the family that sees power at the Centre as their entitlement. I saw the anger of the people first-hand in Amethi. That’s why I said that they will not elect someone who has not spoken a word about the problems of the constituency in the past 10 years in the Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi is finding the going tough in his own constituency. India has rejected family rule.
What does that mean for the Congress?
Every recent election has shown that the family no longer has [its earlier] vote-catching ability. I see the Congress experiencing a major crisis after the election. There could be doubts about the ability of its leadership to lead the organisation.
How will a Modi government be different from any other regime?
I fear only the Constitution. Every decision will be taken within the four walls of that sacred book. That was just not happening in Delhi. Every leader and every minister was cutting corners. Many had their hands in the till. And the regime as a whole was subverting institutions. They reduced even constitutional bodies and investigating agencies to their handmaidens.
Your admirers say that this is the ‘revenge of an outsider’…
I have humble roots. I was born in a poor family. Now I am the Chief Minister of a prosperous state in India, but my mother takes an auto-rickshaw to the polling booth on the day of voting. There are no hangers-on or durbaris.
Look at what’s happening in the Capital; Delhi is being controlled by a cabal that has vested interests in the status quo. I will break the status quo. That must be making them uncomfortable and prompting them to level unsubstantiated charges against me.
What will be the focus of your foreign policy? Will the new government look East or look West?
I will look at India. What is in her self- interest will be India’s foreign policy.
What are your plans for Varanasi?
It is the call of Ma Ganga that brought me to Varanasi. My first priority will be the cleaning up of the Ganga.
Courtesy: Open magazine
http://www.narendramodi.in/i-will-break-the-delhi-cabal-of-status-quoists-narendra-modi/
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Why I support NaMo -- And, I'm not a right-wing fanatic -- Amrit Hallan
Why I Support Narendra Modi -- And No, I'm Not a Right-Wing Fanatic
Posted: 05/13/2014 8:24 pm EDT Updated: 05/13/2014 10:59 pm EDT
The greatest problem India faces is that its people don't have a strong sense of pride. There is so much division among people on the lines of class, caste and religion that we neither have an affinity towards our fellow citizens nor for our towns, cities and states -- for that matter, not even for our elevators and stairwells where people litter, spit and even pee, with total disregard. Poverty doesn't disturb us. Oppression doesn't bother us.
General lawlessness doesn't alarm us. It doesn't enrage us that we have been an independent country for more than 60 years and still we are a third world country. There are more starvation deaths in India than the sub-Saharan region. You can be killed in your own country just because you're from another part of your own country. We feel privileged if we get electricity everyday and water twice a day for two hours. We don't even like to smile at each other on the roads.
Whereas nationalism lacks glaringly, we are full of jingoism. We talk big but act small. We are crazy about a stupid game like cricket. We like to imitate rather than innovate or create. What's the problem? Why do we have outsourcing companies but no big software development companies? Why do most Indians excel abroad but not here in India? Why don't heads roll when an entire cryogenic project is sabotaged and the career of a brilliant scientist is ruined?
Why do we eagerly kill or die for a temple, a mosque, a church or a gurdwara but not for a hospital, a school or a playground? Legend has it that once, in a town when there was a power cut during the telecast of the Ramayana serial, the people of the town burned down the electricity board office. The same people never even raised a whimper when there were routine power cuts during the board exams and all the students had to study in darkness.
Everything boils down to we're not proud of ourselves.
This is the void that Modi seems to fill. He exhorts people to work hard, excel in their respective fields and work for the collective betterment of the country. He doesn't want to create ladders of communalism and casteism to rise. For once there is a political leader who wants people to work for excellence rather than depend on government subsidies and doles. Finally the country has a political leader who has the guts to show the middle finger to the world. I don't know how much he really means to do, but when I begin to compare, he is the only leader who says things that I really want to hear.
I don't want to hear the same old secularism versus communalism diatribe not because I don't want our country to be secular but because yes, without these diatribes our country is already secular (in fact it has remained the most secular country or region throughout millennia). And second, by continuously pandering to minority vote, our political parties have developed a mindset that you only need to offer empty promises and raise doomsday scenarios in order to come to power. Development doesn't work. Progress doesn't excite. It's caste and religion. Minorities are under threat. Dalits are being marginalized and exploited.
I'm not saying minorities shouldn't be protected and the rights of the Dalits shouldn't be protected. But the justice system should work for everybody -- not just for minorities and Dalits. If our justice system works, if our political system works, if our bureaucracy works, we don't need affirmative action. We don't need special status for minorities if development is inclusive and people are punished in a timely manner in case of communal bias.
You cannot constantly blame the majority Hindu community for historical wrongs its forefathers may or may not have committed on certain sections. Historical wrongs were committed against Hindus themselves so then why aren't Muslims made to feel guilty about them (there, I just became an Islamophobe)? I'm not saying they should be, I'm just saying if the blame game needs to be perpetuated, why not create an equal playing field for every religion and every community?
This is the mentality that Modi opposes, and so do his supporters. These people get angry when they are made to feel apologetic about their majority status, about their festivals, about their rituals, about their gods and goddesses, about their patriotism and nationalism and about their "the nation first" approach. They're fed up with the pervasive mediocrity in almost every field in the name of inclusion and tolerance. They want excellence. They want to compete with the world and when they talk about competition, they don't mean competition with Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh or even Taiwan. They mean competition with the USA, with the European Union, with Japan and with China. They want to turn India into a global brand. Just as people respect "Made in Japan" and "Made in Germany", people should respect "Made in India." No longer we want to depend on our proverbial "jugaad."
There is also an underdog feeling. Another thing that makes me support him is the witch-hunt he has been subjected to for such a long time. The greatest number of riots have happened under the Congress rule and its various offshoots. The Gujarat 2002 (how can something on Modi be complete without a reference to this particular period?) riots were contained within two to three days. There is documented evidence that Modi sought help from both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh that were both Congress-ruled states at that time, and both the states refused. There is documented evidence that many from the BJP itself have been targeting Modi and the Gujarat riots were a part of the scheme. There is documented evidence that even Congress ministers were involved in the riots -- the mob that set Ehsan Jafri ablaze also had members from the Congress party.
Modi has been maligned so much, the onslaught has been going on for such a long time, unmitigated, that many have begun to feel, what the heck is going on? No politician, no matter how vile or incompetent he or she has been, has been targeted so much, both nationally and internationally. It can't be just "divisiveness" because, in the name of religion, everything goes in our country. What is it? Communal riots are unacceptable, but they have been happening in India since time immemorial, and there have been very few instances of them being contained within a few hours.
Recently Yagoendra Yadav of the Aam Aadmi Party said the Muslims will need another country if Modi comes to power. How can he get away with such inflammatory utterances? Manmohan Singh said Muslims have the first right to national resources. Sonia Gandhi cried for two terror suspects. After the recent Muzaffar Nagar riots, aid was provided selectively to the Muslim community, if it was provided at all. In his book, Salman Khurshid wrote that both Sikhs and Hindus deserved the blood bath that took place in the 1980s.
In a metro like Delhi, Kejrichandra says corruption is India's biggest problem but in front of Muslims, he says the biggest problem the country faces is communalism. For Rahul Gandhi, the greatest threat to India are Hindu organizations and not Islamic terrorists, Naxalites and Maoists. Shinde says the RSS runs terror camps.
Why aren't these people divisive, and why is Modi? Why does Modi destroy the "idea of India" but not people like Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Karunanidhi or even the infamous Owaisi brothers? Why aren't the communists taken to task by our intellectuals for totally destroying a progressive state like West Bengal? Why aren't the then chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra demonized for not sending help to Gujarat during the 2002 riots? I'm not even going into the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom carried out by the Congress party. Why aren't there inquiries set up for this dereliction of duty, this galling incompetence? Why does Modi become the all-encompassing evil all "secular" forces need to come together against? There has to be a reason.
The reason is that the beneficiaries of the status quo don't want it to change. The nexus between politicians, religious leaders, industrialists, scholars, artists and journalists has been working for them for decades. They prefer this deep divide between the haves and have-nots. Mediocrity is the name of the game.
The best bet for a mediocre person is to curtail people from achieving excellence and this excellence can be from any field. They don't want people to get educated. They want people to toil for even basic needs such as food, shelter, electricity, security, education, travel and health. They want to keep different peoples of the country perpetually divided because when you unite, you can jolt the status quo. Also, when you unite, there is a collective dialogue without conflict, and this is dangerous for people thriving on divisive philosophies. Through doctored education and propaganda, we have been divided into tiny nations, islands in ourselves.
When you need to constantly put massive effort into caring for just basic needs, when do you get time to become socially, culturally and politically aware? When there is nothing to compare, there is no accountability. India is dirty, and, well, it is because India IS dirty. India is poor, and, well, with so great a population, poverty IS inevitable. When dog shit was found on the bed sheets during the preparation of the Commonwealth Games, a bureaucrat said that the Indian benchmark for cleanliness is different from other countries. With such a big administrative structure, corruption IS bound to happen. There is an excuse for everything.
The current arrangement has been good for many people. You get plum postings without ever working. You get elected simply by pandering to a particular community. Intellectuals promote each other and don't allow alternative voices to come forward. Remember how Wendy Doniger was repeatedly being called "authoritative" by the same usual suspects? In the name of news channels, we have reality shows. In the name of sports, we have the colonial hangover of cricket destroying other games in the process.
Modi's approach is that quality of life is a right -- not a privilege. He doesn't want to give you "poori roti" (a whole piece of bread); he wants to nourish you with healthy food. He wants you to work hard and become self-dependent rather than expecting the government to dole out goodies because of your caste or religion.
The best thing about him is he has totally changed the narrative of the political discourse whether people like it or not. The so-called secularists are the ones who are constantly talking about different castes, identities and religions whereas Modi talks about Indians. He talks about inclusive growth. He doesn't care whether you are a Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Dalit or OBC. He has a firm grip on how resources should be used for maximum benefit. Just look the way he has cleaned up Narmada. Gujarat is quickly turning into the biggest producer of clean energy.
He talks about concepts our other clueless politicians and highly biased intellectuals can never even think of, even if they are born twice. To a person who really feels for the country, Modi seems to be taking the country forward and the rest of the politicians seem to be taking the country backward.
Will he deliver? Frankly, I don't know. I cannot vouch for him. I'm not a BJP propagandist, and I'm certainly not working for Narendra Modi. I support him because he has facts on his fingertips. He talks about solutions rather than problems. He is unapologetic about his leanings. He's not bothered about his international image. He couldn't care less whether you term him secular or communal as long as he gets to do his job. His own party works against him. Despite such a prolonged hounding, he has risen and not disappeared into political oblivion.
I mean look at that perpetually scheming Kejrichandra. He's a total creation of the media as well as political machinations. Without these factors, he and his bunch of jokers are nothing. Look at Modi on the other hand. He has borne the most vicious media onslaught. His own party men and women are constantly scheming against him. The entire English-speaking intellectual class loathes him. Not a single media channel has done a real documentary on the real conditions in Gujarat. Why? Because they've got very little negative to show.
What about his divisiveness? Doesn't he pose danger to the minorities, especially Muslims? You tell me which party isn't divisive in our country? Which political party truly works for the country and not for self-interest? The Congress party, the darling of the secularists, have milked the cows of communalism, casteism and poverty dry while letting Muslims die and remain backward. DMK and the AIADMK are the epitomes of corruption. They say Karunanidhi's sons are as bad as Saddam Hussein's sons or even worse. Communists have done what they are best at -- destroyed multiple states. Laloo and Mulayam run their own fiefdoms, and all Nitish Kumar wants to do is become the prime minister of the country even if we have to explode bombs.
An average Modi supporter is not as fanatical as he or she is made out to be. If that were the case, the Togadias and Singhals would have been mainstream politicians rather than fringe elements. Considering all these, I don't think Modi poses a threat to Muslims. Besides, I believe that he has bigger goals, and he knows that playing communal politics doesn't pay in the long run. He is intelligent. Most of our politicians are corrupt and nearsighted. They cannot see beyond the next elections. Modi on the other hand is farsighted. This, I'm sure, will keep the Muslims of the country safe, even if you think he is a hard-core Hindu nationalist.
Still buy the "Modi is a polarizing figure" crap? This tweet from @madhukishwar pretty much sums up my own response:
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Getty ImagesIndian voters wait to cast their ballots at a polling station in Azamgarh.![]()
Getty ImagesAn Indian Hindu holy man, or Sadhu, adjusts his clothing as voters head to the polling booths.![]()
Getty ImagesRelatives and polling workers help carry the wheelchair of 105 year old Ginni Jogai after voting at a polling station.![]()
Getty ImagesNuns from The Missionaries of Charity arrive to cast their votes.![]()
Getty ImagesIndian women arrive at a polling station to cast their vote .![]()
Getty ImagesA child looks on as Indian Muslim women wait in line to cast their votes.![]()
Getty ImagesIndians crowd around an election worker as they check their names on the voting list.![]()
Getty ImagesVoters wait in line to vote at a polling station on May 12, 2014 in Varanasi.![]()
Getty ImagesA bull eats garbage near Indian voters sitting at an Indian temple.![]()
Getty ImagesAn Indian paramilitary personnel stands guard as voters queue.![]()
Getty ImagesVoters wait to cast their ballots at a polling station in Azamgarh.![]()
Getty ImagesA Hindu holy man, or Sahu, holds his voting card as he waits in line.![]()
Getty ImagesIndians voted in the ninth and final phase of elections Monday.![]()
Getty ImagesVoters headed to the polls in the final phase of India's marathon election, with hardliner Narendra Modi expected to lead his Hindu nationalists to victory after 10 years of Congress party rule.![]()
Getty ImagesCounting will be on May 16.![]()
Getty ImagesAn Indian Hindu sadhu or holy man (3rd R) waits in line with other residents.![]()
Getty ImagesIndian men and women line-up on separate sides to vote at a polling station.![]()
Getty ImagesHindu Brahmin priests perform the Ganga Aarti on May 11, 2014 on the Ganges River in Varanasi.![]()
Getty ImagesIndian election officials inspect Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) and other documents in the stairwell of a distribution centre in Kolkata.![]()
Getty ImagesNuns from The Missionaries of Charity queue as they wait to cast their vote.
Follow Amrit Hallan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/
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We need a lot like you to counter these intellectual terrorists.
Kudos Vivek. Respect
Jai Hind