Last evening I watched, briefly, an interview on Times Now with Jyotiraditya Scindia, the suave, articulate scion of the Scindia family and Congress MP.
The chap, in all earnestness, without batting an eyelid said that the Congress' main focus is on poverty alleviation, the aam aadmi and related issues. What a joke!! He is either incredibly naive and stupid or just another wily, politician-in-the-making in the strongest Congress tradition.
The Congress party has been in power for roughly fifty of the sixty years of independent India!! The people of this country, have given mandate after mandate to this party and six decades later, the average Indian farmer earns around Rs. 12000 p.a and many people in this country live on Rs. 20 a day!!
The 'Con'gress-game continues!!
Monday, October 8, 2007
Phony Secularism
Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the Hurriyat leader and the Grand Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir seem to have a problem with Gandhian philosophy and a fellow-muslim, the J&K Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, espousing these causes. Check out this story reported on Times Now channel. Geelani has even sarcastically suggested that the Chief Minister, of whom I am no great admirer of, change his name to Ghulam Gandhi Azad!!
Even for someone like me, hardened over the years by incredibly stupid, inane and uncivilised statements made by politicians, this was shocking. A couple of no-good religious fanatics are questioning a democratically elected Chief Minister of an Indian state for asking people to follow the teachings of the man whom Indians consider the Father of the Nation?? Incredible!
Will they get away with it? Most probably. Will the media play this up the same way they play up utterances by certain other religious groups? I doubt it. Will the Chief Minister or the party he represents, treat these reactions of these clowns with the contempt it deserves? Oh no..on the contrary, am sure they will soon be grovelling before these two and the religiously intolerant groups they represent.
Which brings me to the question, what is secularism? Secularism fundamentally represents all practices that are free from religion. This, of course, is the universally accepted definition of the term.
But in India, the term has another meaning, perpetuated constantly by the Congress, the Left and other parties that claim they are left-leaning, liberal etc. These parties, by their reactions, actions, or the lack of it at times, have deliberately twisted its meaning to allow some religious groups considerable leeway in matters such as extremist views, while they come down extremely harshly on others. In other words, they practice a phony kind of secularism.
Religious extremism, indeed extremism of any kind, does not have a place in the civilised world and has to be dealt with an iron hand. Now if this is of the right-wing or the left-wing type should be immaterial and a truly democratic and secular nation should show no tolerance whatsoever for these kinds of dangerous thinking.
But with phony secularists at the helm, this is, at least for the time-being, a tough ask!
Even for someone like me, hardened over the years by incredibly stupid, inane and uncivilised statements made by politicians, this was shocking. A couple of no-good religious fanatics are questioning a democratically elected Chief Minister of an Indian state for asking people to follow the teachings of the man whom Indians consider the Father of the Nation?? Incredible!
Will they get away with it? Most probably. Will the media play this up the same way they play up utterances by certain other religious groups? I doubt it. Will the Chief Minister or the party he represents, treat these reactions of these clowns with the contempt it deserves? Oh no..on the contrary, am sure they will soon be grovelling before these two and the religiously intolerant groups they represent.
Which brings me to the question, what is secularism? Secularism fundamentally represents all practices that are free from religion. This, of course, is the universally accepted definition of the term.
But in India, the term has another meaning, perpetuated constantly by the Congress, the Left and other parties that claim they are left-leaning, liberal etc. These parties, by their reactions, actions, or the lack of it at times, have deliberately twisted its meaning to allow some religious groups considerable leeway in matters such as extremist views, while they come down extremely harshly on others. In other words, they practice a phony kind of secularism.
Religious extremism, indeed extremism of any kind, does not have a place in the civilised world and has to be dealt with an iron hand. Now if this is of the right-wing or the left-wing type should be immaterial and a truly democratic and secular nation should show no tolerance whatsoever for these kinds of dangerous thinking.
But with phony secularists at the helm, this is, at least for the time-being, a tough ask!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Shame on you, N. Ram!
May 2006 - Dr. Abdul Kalam returns the Office of profit bill to the parliament. N. Ram, Editor, The Hindu, in his editorial of June 1, 2006, terms it "A case of presidential overreach".
October 2007 - The Supreme Court bans the T.Nadu from going ahead with the bandh. N. Ram calls it his editorial today as "Constitutionally off-track".
How can this man be so blatantly, shamefully parochial and biased? His opinions sound more like that of a mentally imbalanced politician, rather than a journalist!
Check out these reactions to his earlier, anti-democratic pronouncements.
- Ramachandra Guha's response to Ram's biased account on China in the Frontline seven years ago.
- The Friends of Tibet web site.
My own reaction? To terminate the subscription to The Hindu, out of sheer disgust! Guess, I should have done it earlier...
October 2007 - The Supreme Court bans the T.Nadu from going ahead with the bandh. N. Ram calls it his editorial today as "Constitutionally off-track".
How can this man be so blatantly, shamefully parochial and biased? His opinions sound more like that of a mentally imbalanced politician, rather than a journalist!
Check out these reactions to his earlier, anti-democratic pronouncements.
- Ramachandra Guha's response to Ram's biased account on China in the Frontline seven years ago.
- The Friends of Tibet web site.
My own reaction? To terminate the subscription to The Hindu, out of sheer disgust! Guess, I should have done it earlier...
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Karunanidhi and atheism
Sagarika Ghose of CNN-IBN in her blog suggests that "Ram has transformed Karunanidhi into the god of Indian atheism". Have to disagree, since she is being highly unfair to the grand old man of Tamil politics!
Since Karunanidhi's problem seems to be only with Hindu Gods (unless someone points out instances where he has been consistently critical of all gods/religions), he can't be termed as atheist! :-)
Since Karunanidhi's problem seems to be only with Hindu Gods (unless someone points out instances where he has been consistently critical of all gods/religions), he can't be termed as atheist! :-)
Who are they kidding?
According Karunanidhi, his party leaders and his allies, most notably the Congress and Communist parties, there was no bandh yesterday in T.Nadu and life was normal!! Ask the Chennai citizens who are not die-hard DMK supporters and the answer will be totally different. I am one of them and was out yesterday and witnessed what happened.
I saw DMK party cadres in auto rickshaws waving flags, although I did not see any violence or direct intimidation. It is true that most people preferred to shut shop because they were scared of a backlash. It was definitely not, as Karunanidhi tried to make us believe, because of people's support for the cause he was supposedly fighting for!
When educated and articulate politicians like Jayanthi Natarajan and Priyaranjan Das Munshi (who, horror of horrors, compared Karunanidhi's protest to that of Mahathma Gandhi on the eve of the great man's birth anniversary!) talk irresponsibly and favourably about the DMK government after what happened yesterday, one shudders to think what kind of future India is heading towards with these charlatans at the helm!
- As far as I could see there were no buses that were plying...at least I did not witness any when I drove from Besant Nagar to T.Nagar and back.
- Many colleagues who normally travelled by bus couldn't make it on time. Many of them had to take a "share" auto, many of which luckily were in operation and proved to be the lifeline.
- I am told, the suburban train service was also in operation although I have no idea if normal services were.
- In T.Nagar, where my office is situated, the hotbed of trading activity, there were hardly any shops open!
- My colleague and I walked down Pondy Bazaar just after noon and it wore a deserted look with no restaurants open. We then drove upto New Woodlands in Mylapore for lunch.
- It was only around 4 p.m. normalcy started returning, although I still did not see buses in operation even at around 6.30 p.m.
I saw DMK party cadres in auto rickshaws waving flags, although I did not see any violence or direct intimidation. It is true that most people preferred to shut shop because they were scared of a backlash. It was definitely not, as Karunanidhi tried to make us believe, because of people's support for the cause he was supposedly fighting for!
When educated and articulate politicians like Jayanthi Natarajan and Priyaranjan Das Munshi (who, horror of horrors, compared Karunanidhi's protest to that of Mahathma Gandhi on the eve of the great man's birth anniversary!) talk irresponsibly and favourably about the DMK government after what happened yesterday, one shudders to think what kind of future India is heading towards with these charlatans at the helm!
Monday, October 1, 2007
A red letter day for Indian democracy
Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling, terming the T.Nadu bandh called by the DMK and its allies as illegal, is a huge, huge step forward for Indian democracy!! This is likely to send shivers down the spines of the various state governments, particularly the communist-ruled ones, who call for a bandh, hartal etc., at the drop of a hat.
What is commendable is the determination and willingness shown by the honourable judges to convene on a Sunday to pass this landmark judgement! As many people have indicated earlier, I too feel that the judiciary is what prevents India from slipping to the levels of a banana republic, similar to the ones we see in the third world.
This morning (I decided to announce today a working day after I heard the news about Supreme Court ban yesterday afternoon), I went to office only to find that the buses were not plying, most shops closed and generally less crowd on the streets of Chennai. I guess many private organisations, having declared a holiday couldn't react in time to revert the decision and stayed closed. But the rest of what I saw seemed to go against the very ruling and observations of the Supreme Court, that all essential services should not be affected or incovenience the general public! Needless to say, the DMK party goons must have issued a covert threat to most shopkeepers and businesses. But it was sad to see the general public capitulate to this pressure in the most spineless manner. In my office complex in T.Nagar, we were the only company that was functioning apart from a local neighbourhood newspaper's office!!
I think, this time though, the wily old man of T.Nadu politics got it wrong and strayed too far from the limits of constitutional authority. It was great to see him call of his fast in a hurry and scurry back to work at the Secretariat , with his tail between his legs, after being rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court this morning!
I know this is going to (looks like it already has with some members of the DPA questioning the Court's judgement and "interference") intensify the tussle between the legislature and the judiciary. Which politician wants to be held accountable or kept in check? But in the meantime, let's rejoice! For these are the kind of days that prove democracy in this vibrant, but definitely flawed, nation is alive and kicking!
What is commendable is the determination and willingness shown by the honourable judges to convene on a Sunday to pass this landmark judgement! As many people have indicated earlier, I too feel that the judiciary is what prevents India from slipping to the levels of a banana republic, similar to the ones we see in the third world.
This morning (I decided to announce today a working day after I heard the news about Supreme Court ban yesterday afternoon), I went to office only to find that the buses were not plying, most shops closed and generally less crowd on the streets of Chennai. I guess many private organisations, having declared a holiday couldn't react in time to revert the decision and stayed closed. But the rest of what I saw seemed to go against the very ruling and observations of the Supreme Court, that all essential services should not be affected or incovenience the general public! Needless to say, the DMK party goons must have issued a covert threat to most shopkeepers and businesses. But it was sad to see the general public capitulate to this pressure in the most spineless manner. In my office complex in T.Nagar, we were the only company that was functioning apart from a local neighbourhood newspaper's office!!
I think, this time though, the wily old man of T.Nadu politics got it wrong and strayed too far from the limits of constitutional authority. It was great to see him call of his fast in a hurry and scurry back to work at the Secretariat , with his tail between his legs, after being rapped on the knuckles by the Supreme Court this morning!
I know this is going to (looks like it already has with some members of the DPA questioning the Court's judgement and "interference") intensify the tussle between the legislature and the judiciary. Which politician wants to be held accountable or kept in check? But in the meantime, let's rejoice! For these are the kind of days that prove democracy in this vibrant, but definitely flawed, nation is alive and kicking!
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