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CCD and the accusations

sudip47
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CCD and the accusations

VG Siddhartha, founder of India’s largest coffee chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), has apparently committed suicide. In a letter reportedly written by Siddhartha to the board of directors and his CCD family before he went missing, he said he had “failed to create the right profitable business model despite my best efforts”. In this letter that has been attributed to Siddhartha, the entrepreneur had spoken about the tremendous pressure from lenders and some private equity players, attempted to insulate the company officials and family from the repercussions of some decisions and alleged harassment by a senior income tax department official. Siddartha’s pvt companies alone has over Rs. 3500 crores of debt. There is a strong feeling among Bengaluru’s business and political circle that searches on DKS and his financial consultant N C Sukapuri on August 2,2017 revealed financial transactions of Shivakumar’s close relatives with CCD and M Soul Space.

R Jagannathan writes in Swarajya: “’The second lesson is clearly for the government and the taxman, especially the former, to learn. Two lessons, in fact. One is not to get too greedy on tax revenues, and the other is to give India Inc time and space to reform and adjust to the new realities of doing business the clean way.”

He further elaborates: “If the old cronyism is being dismantled, and government-business ties are being reset to ensure more clean working and less corruption, it will take time for businesses to readjust to this new reality. All things considered, this is the time to give beleaguered businessmen the long rope and not tighten the noose.’’

It would be absurd to link the likely suicide of V G Siddhartha to the pressures he may have faced from the taxman although overreach by taxman is hinted by some like Congress party. Moreover, blaming govt. for being greedy on tax revenues and tightening the noose on unclean businessman is preposterous. Govt lays down the policy and it is for the officials to implement the policy properly. It is easy to come up with catchy slogans like giving the long rope to the beleaguered businessmen but what does it really mean practically, going slow on enforcement?

For long businessmen have been getting away with malpractices, only after Modi govt. came that tightening of the noose has started. It is true that with GST, many businessmen are now finding it difficult to hide their tax obligations, unlike before and it is impinging on their cash flow. But rules are rules and taxes have to be paid. Is Jagannathan now telling the govt to go slow on enforcing the applicable rules? This would be congressification of the govt.

P Rajagopal. A leading businessman died in a hospital in Chennai nine days after the Supreme Court rejected his plea seeking bail on medical grounds. He planned the murder of an employee because he wanted to marry the man’s wife. The popular chain selling Dosa has 80 outlets across the world and employs thousands. Do we hold Supreme Court responsible for his death telling that The Court should have gone slow and allowed him bail?

It has become fashionable these days to hold a contra view however absurd it is and to hold govt. responsible in every matter. It is indeed sad that even reputed journals allow its journalists to propagate such absurd views.

The writer has been a long-standing commentator on contemporary issues.

It is Modi v2.0 but leftist are still left v1.0: Same old version, same old tricks

Dipankar Jugran
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It is Modi v2.0 but leftist are still left v1.0: Same old version, same old tricks

Indian leftist so-called intelligentsia is at arms with Modi government since it came to power in 2014. False narrative and selective outrage have been the weapon of the left since the term ‘left’ came into existence.

They tried their best to ousted the Modi Government by propagating false narratives and outraging over selective issues to show the government in a bad light in front of the masses. But they failed miserably and the people were able to see through the propaganda and gave Modi government another five years. However, Modi v2.0 is still suffering from the same Left v1.0 which have the same modus operandi. I’ll give them a few points for not giving up on their propaganda machine even after being nose rubbed on the ground by the citizens of this nation. 

Now, just like the last time, this so-called leftist liberal intelligentsia is using one of the most famous weapons in their arsenal – THE OPEN LETTER. If you believe the report of Lutyens media, 49 so-called ’eminent citizens’ of India wrote an open letter to the PM about the rising intolerance against a particular minority community. In the letter, they did what the left, so-called low IQ intelligentsia, is good at. Cherry-picking incidents, taking them out of context, presenting them as hate crimes and conveniently ignoring all crimes which are committed by the peaceful minority on the majority community.

The so-called ‘Eminent Personalities’ which we’re talking about here consist of mostly directors, singers, and other artists about whom the majority of people doesn’t know until now that they exist. Few of them who are a little bit better known than the others consist of Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Sen, etc.

Anurag Kashyap known as a low IQed buffoon among the right-wing Twitterati is known for his bigoted tweets and Hinduphobia. It is understandable that such a letter will have his signature on it but the thing that surprises most of us was the absence of Swara Bhaskar, for whom Mughals were the reason for India being rich. It surprises most people including me that how come this famous urban Naxal, who campaigned for her urban Naxal friends in the general election (all of them lost btw), was not present to grace this letter with her name sothat she can stay in the limelight and remain a prominent member of the breaking India club.

These “eminent citizen” was shown their place very beautifully by Arnab Goswami when he barged in their press conference and exposed them tooth and nail. Lutyen media like a pet dog came running to rescue these low IQed intelligentsia and started to demonize Arnab and why won’t they? Arnab has ended their monopoly on the national narrative and Lutyens media is in a rattled state right now especially after the formation of NBF (News Broadcasting Federation) with Republic TV as its center.

So, to all the citizens of India who are not so “eminent” like these buffoons, I hope most of you will be able to look through this propaganda and are not influenced by the stunts of these pseudo-liberals. For the remaining bootlickers of these breaking India forces, I hope god provides you with some brain and bring you on the right side of the spectrum.

Triple talaq ban by Modi Government restored dignity and independence of Islamic women in India

S Ranganathan
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Triple talaq ban by Modi Government restored dignity and independence of Islamic women in India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not just the maker of New India but is also the maker of new paths for millions to travel and reach their destination. The make in India, new India, skill India are some of the exemplary initiatives PM Modi has taken to transform India to new heights of success and development.

Obscurantism, archaic notions and recipes of religious barbarianism etc., must be eliminated from practice by all civil society. Such elimination is needed to ensure freedom and dignity of people living in the society. Pronouncing talaq thrice to get divorce by men and put the impecunious woman in the street in the name of religious freedom or rule, no civilized country can entertain and should also.

But since time immemorial the government headed by congress party and other tukde tukde gangs never adventures to reform the country and ban triple talaq to regain the dignity, right and freedom of Muslim women in the society. None of these parties have ever dared to do so fearing the loss of vote of some chauvinistic men in the community. For these political parties, dignity, right and freedom of Islamic women were less important than their vote bank. But ironically all these political parties always portray itself as the sole guardians of secularism, minority voice and free speech. But when the triple talaq bill was introduced in the parliament, the debate in support of the motion has exposed the true colour of all these parties like how the blue fox got exposed in rain as told in Panchatantra story. People of India must remember all these parties stood for the barbaric, obscurantist, regressive triple talaq and tried to describe the efforts of PM Modi as communal and anti-Muslim.

People of India are not going to believe any of those corrupt forces and minority appeasers in future. The question of how a civil contract called marriage can attract criminal prosecution as raised by the congress party and other opposition members look primordial. To prevent a barbaric practice that is in existence for several decades, a severe punishment is must and only then such regressive practice can be prevented and the dignity of women can be restored. The criminal prosecution is not meant to punish but meant to caution men not to trample upon the dignity and freedom of women in the name of triple talaq, a religious right.

People in the Islamic community, especially those educated people must recognise the duplicity and hypocrisy of the so called self-appointed guardians and custodians of secularism and minority protection like congress party, DMK, TRS, TDP, SP, BSP, TMC etc.

Even today the discrimination and domestic violence endured by women in India is quite high.  Due to the social compulsion many women are enduring all such pains silently. When our society legalizes all such discriminatory acts in the name of religious right, how such country can save women from such discrimination is a serious question.

PM Modi has initiated several reforms for women and poor in India by providing them with cooking gas connection, building toilets, proving drinking water, providing financial aid to build houses, opening bank account, health insurance, financial aid to all those who have entrepreneurial quest etc. But all the above initiatives may go deaf, mute and blind if women are not freed from the discrimination and injustice called triple talaq sanctioned by the religion.

Modiji has taken initiatives to develop everyone in the country because BJP always believes in the ethos that India belongs to every Indian. The only pre-requisite for such ownership claim is patriotism and Indian-ness.

Triple talaq ban by Modi government has earned sab ka vishwas where rich and poor, Hindus and non- Hindus, educated person and uneducated person, old age and youths, people of all walks of life respect and support PM Modi unconditionally because he is true, honest and walk the talk. Further Modi also will not promote dynastic politics, nepotism and corruption.

A good and corruption free governance, governance dedicated for development and sab ka vikas by an honest leader, a sage, a saint, a mendicant doesn’t need opposition. Therefore it is time for all those follow different political ideologies must join BJP to make India a great land under the leadership of PM Modi.

India needs supporters for PM Modi and not opposition because good governance requires no opposition. The empowered women force in India must teach all those pseudo-secular forces led by congress, DMK and others by defeating them and supporting PM Modi continuously to take India to new heights.

S Ranganathan

The incurable secular mSana

Nidhi Mishra
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The incurable secular mSana

Recently had a chance to read a three series article published in ‘The Wire’ authored by an eminent journalist Sh. Prem Shankar Jha on Hindutva written elaborately, analyzing the various strands connected with the word Hindutva, it’s relationship with Dharma and Hinduism. The author  claims that Hindutva is in antagonism to Dharma, my take here is that Hinduism is a word coined by the west as all their theories are defined by one or the other isms, thus irrelevant to our understanding  of our ethos, whereas Hindutva is a value system that is based on our Sanatan culture and ideas and so in accordance to our Dharmic way of life. Therefore, it is very much in synchronization to our ancient civilization which has its underpinnings on the Dharmic principles and ethics.

The author further states that Hindu Rashtra or Hindutva is just 90 years old thus completely obliterating the fact that Shivaji propounded the idea of Hindavi Swaraj/Hindu Padshahi even in the 17th century itself i.e. almost three hundred fifty years back. Shivaji was the contemprory of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb and had faced the onslaughts of his tyrannical rule, and his despotism on the cultural and religious front coerced Shivaji to espouse the cause of Hindavi Swarajya. This vision of Shivaji was too based on the Dharmic values and principles of Sanatani culture which aimed at providing direction to the rudderless battle against the then rulers who promoted their rule utterly on the basis of staunch religion.

Further, the author ironically justifies the Khilafat Movement a stimulus for Savarkar’s idea of Hindutva, which might be his notion, had nothing wrong because in that scenario of tumult, the unifying force that could perform a work of strong glue was none other than Hindutva. Hindutva, according to him was all about taking pride in common identity and heritage and deriving the political overtones from the spirituality of Sanatan Dharma based on equitable nationalism. It is implausible on Jha’s part to accept on the one hand Savarkar’s idea of inclusivity but on the same time rejecting his notion of those only being the part of Hindutva fold, who shows allegiance to Hindu Rashtra, thereby accepting it as their Punyabhoomi and Pitrabhoomi.

In his article Jha shamelessly defends the indisputable, undeliable Islamic onslaught on infidels beginning with the Arab invasion of Sindh in the early 8th century A.D uptill the tyrant regime of Aurangzeb in the 17th century A.D, the longest ever ethnic genocide in the human history. It is the paramount insensitivity of the author, that he chooses to rub salt into the wounds of Hindu psyche perpetrated by the Islamic jihadi rulers by trying to hide the unprecedented slaughter of the local population under the carpet of “cultural interaction”. It is absolutely disdainful on the part of the author, that he felicitates the advancement of art and literature during medieval period by suppressing the widely acknowledged fact of temple desecration being done by the so called patrons of art and literature.

In his effort of assuagement, the author goes to the extent of quoting a completely unauthentic fact of the Arabs helping the Hindus in defending Somnath Temple, at the time of Mahmud of Gazni’s invasion because it was a Hindu temple among whom they lived, highly ridiculous fact emphasizing the unwarranted generosity of the Arabs. Besides the author totally denies the fact of forceful conversions during the reign of Islamic rulers under the pretext of attacking the caste system and Brahminical Patriarchy, the reason behind the religious conversions and so completely diluting the intensity of the atrocious conversion practices executed on the populace. The author leaves no stone unturned in manipulating his thesis of blaming the Brahminical dominance and ritualism, the sole reason of enmasse conversions giving clean chit to the heinous acts of the then rulers. Blatant shamelessness on his part to metamorphose each and every act of the Muslim invaders as being a display of magnanimity.

In this context it is pertinent to write that Shri. Jha masquerading as liberal, not only completely sidelines the gory Hindu persecution that took place in the medieval period but juxtapose it with the semblance it with the manipulated paradigm of a ungrudging Muslim rule. He overlooks the temple desecration at huge level by the then rulers in fact tries to justifies it.

The ruins of Qutub complex in Delhi themselves speak their heinous history of desecration of temples and then overhauling them with Islamic architecture. Ironical, how come these pseudo liberals easily digest this injustice. Is it not unworthy on our part to fall prey to the brazen lies that have been propagated in the name of narrative.With regard to the description of Dharma that has been given by the author, he miserably fails in comprehending it’s true connotations as per Sanatan tradition. His over emphasis on the Buddhist overtones of Dharma neglects the Vedic concept of Dharma as being propounded by Lord Krishna in the Mahabharata War.

“Yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham”

Ch 4.7 Krishna says that, “I have come because there is a decline in religion, a decline in Dharma, there is a confusion about what Dharma is and whenever there is a decline in Dharmic understanding and principles, I come to re-establish what Dharma is and in order to establish what Dharma is.

Lord’s advice to Arjuna is: “Engage in battle with equanimity and without getting overwhelmed by the extremes of joy and sorrow, gain and loss, and thus you won’t incur sin.”A just war (“dharma-yudh” = war-as-duty) should not be for revenge but to restrict any further adharma. sreyan sva-dharmo vigunah para-dharmat svanusthitatsva-dharme nidhanam sreyah para-dharmo bhayavahah [BG – 3.35]It is better to do one’s own duty imperfectly than to do someone else’s duty perfectly. Even dying while performing one’s own duty is superior; but the consequence of following someone else’s duty is dangerous.

Dharma is not taken in our culture merely as some set of dos for the mundane or earthly affairs but contrarily it is a paradigm for the personal righteousness towards the ultimate goal of the spiritual ascendency. It teaches it’s followers to restrain from pacifism and resort to rightful aggression if needed. This false interpretation of Hindu Dharma is somewhat responsible for the feckless  attitude that is being attributed to the Hindus. Therefore, such pseudo seculars who on the basis of their partial knowledge try to erect distorted narrative must be restricted and true narrative should get into the mainstream ecosystem.

  • Dr. Nidhi Mishran

Lost in the ‘likes’

Anant Chetan
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Lost in the ‘likes’

What if you have to travel from Point A to some Point B; a completely new destination; a path you have never traversed before; an uncharted territory. How would you navigate? What if you can’t see the complete map at once i.e. you could only see your current whereabouts or may be fifty meters around you. How would you navigate? What if  every crossroad you come across, you see a sign board with an extra attribute – the number of likes; every bill board, hoarding have number of likes linked to them. What are the chances that you will reach where ever you want to reach?

These what ifs would start making sense as soon as you imagine the journey to be your life. Point A would be your birth and you could choose Point B as you deem appropriate, be it your retirement or your death or lets say 70 years of age. We find ourselves standing at crossroads more than we expect and they keep on getting complex as we grow old. Do I take Science or Commerce? I took Science and ended up at a more critical crossroad. Do I take Electronics or Electronics and Communication or IT or CS or any other? You would have also seen a lot of cross roads in your life. How did you choose the path?

In the beginning most of us simply follow our parents, friends, which is why navigating through the life is not difficult at all. I slept like a baby till the time I was not taking the decisions myself. But once I flew away from my nest, decision making turned out to be the most annoying, daunting and exhaustive task.

Who or what do you rely on while making decisions? Only one in a million would know by default as to what he/she has to do in his/her life. They are like Sachin Tendulkar or Mark Zuckerberg but the rest, they are like me, they rely on external world to set their goals.

If I am not mistaken, everyone rely on books, research papers, current affairs ‘news’, internet, reviews, blogs etc. They constitute a small world of their own within the real world; a virtual world. What happens when you realize that this virtual world although somehow connected to the real world is strangely far away from the reality? Would taking cues from such a world affect the choices you make? What happens when the choices not only affect some lives but the entire society, a community or a nation?

Everybody in the virtual world is “equal”, Men and women are equal; all children are equal. However, in the real world, after a causal “fling”, a boy might get some STD but a girl might get some STD and an unwanted pregnancy. And even in the best case scenario, a guy participates only in the fun part, but the girl, in the fun part as well as in the difficult and painful part i.e. giving birth to a new life. Some how the risks, efforts and pain don’t look equal to me. Do they look equal to you?

The rules of genetics don’t apply in the virtual world but they sure do in the real world. A child born to not so smart or talented parents is way behind his counterpart born to smart and talented parents, he would run into situations that the latter kid would never be able to imagine. I am not saying he would never achieve more than his counterpart, all I am saying is that he would have to put a lot more efforts. People in the virtual world behave like magnets, where opposite attracts. However, in the real world, people behave like birds where the ones with the same feathers flock together.

This is why castes, clans or any other groupings are considered social evils on the internet. People with different professions adopted different lifestyles and hence become part of different groups. Castes in Indian society were nothing but the representations of these groups. In the virtual world all the jobs are same, but in real world, unskilled, menial jobs pay less, not only in India but everywhere in the world. That is where reservation came into play; hurling people from unskilled jobs to skilled jobs, however, unfortunately without expecting any extra efforts (in getting ready for new skills) from the candidates. If no job was ‘small’ or meaningless, you wouldn’t ask for reservation in the real world. Would you?

Yes, India is a free nation and no body should be discriminated on the basis of castes. For this laws and rules are already in place. If those laws are not followed, it is a law and order problem and not a social problem.

You talk highly of kids in the virtual world, but you see them as ‘chotus‘ waiting your tables or begging in the real world. You talk about porn and nudity openly in the virtual world, but sex work is still illegal in a lot of parts of the real world and especially in India. People wish mother’s day and father’s day in the virtual world and send their parents to old age homes in the real world. If not, then why are old age homes in India sprouting like mushrooms? May be because taking responsibility comes in the way of Individualism, a virtual world trait (you do what you want to do).

People in the real world are taking cues from the virtual world, whereas the better way would have been for the virtual world to take the cues from the real  world. But what is the reason behind this huge difference between the virtual world and the real world?

The virtual world is manipulated by the “likes”. When I talk about “likes”, I am not talking about the likes as a reactive phenomenon i.e. the appreciation or applause that a person receives after doing something. I am talking about the likes as a proactive phenomenon i.e. doing something keeping in mind the appreciation or applause a person might receive later or thinking about the likeability of the work beforehand.

The content in the virtual world is created and promoted to make the creators “Popular”, “trending”, “best seller”,  or help them get “a million hits”, it does not have to be in sync with the real world.

Bollywood has been creating content for the “likes” for decades and they openly own it. They gave it a name “Commercial Cinema”, which  is just a collection of “Item Songs” plus Sex scenes minus creativity. Netflix and Chill might be a new fad, Indians have been doing Bollywood and Chill for decades now. Of course there are excellent Bollywood movies too, but there number is comparatively quite small.

The worrisome part is that this method of creating content has now made its way into other disciplines; be it advertising industry, or sports or news world or even book writing.

Do you think the cricket biggies who sit in studios and make their comments did not foresee India’s defeat in the recent ICC Cricket World cup? They sure did, but they didn’t say anything. Why? If they would have said “Team India is not in a good shape”, would people buy tickets for the game? I guess not! Revenue!!!

We already saw the reality of Indian news reporting ecosystem. Do you really think they did not foresee BJP’s clear majority in the 2019 general elections? They were well aware of the reality, but the fact is mob lynchings in the name of cows creates a better TRP then Cow Smuggling. Undeclared emergency, rising intolerance, minority cruelties, EVM hacking and other things like these were to keep the “naive” consumers bolted to their screens. TRPs!

Authors have gone to an extent where they have started manipulating facts. How did Ashoka become “the great” in the nineteenth century? Because if one mass murderer can be “great” then Akbar can also be great and so can Aurangzeb. It would seem logical that mass murders were common in the past. A political masterstroke!

Authors have started altering Indian Mythologies. For instance, a very popular mythologist writes facts which he created on his own. While talking about the characters of Mahabharata he writes “Pandu begged Kunti to have more than five children, however, Kunti refused as it was only possible to have five children with that Mantra” or “Yudhishthar liked Draupadi and which is why he sent Arjun away for a year so that he gets to spend more time with Draupadi“. There are a lot of other instances where he added his pervert thoughts in the name of his interpretations of the great Indian epics. I know these are not true because I grew up listening to the stories about Mahabharata from my parents and grandparents. Their version of story does not match with this particular author but does match with a lot of other texts available.

Political bloggers instead of trying to fix this, made the situation even worse. They chose sides and promoted the content of the creators on their side. They got a perfectly conditioned reader base. India lost the game and the cricket “close” watchers still don’t see the problem with the playing XI. The political bloggers still don’t see how BJP managed a clear majority.

This method of creating content in the virtual world to get likes and upvotes lead to standards so different and so high in the virtual world that the newer generations or the millennial kids simply fail to achieve. Nobody achieves them. That’s why people show off. They want to be cool but they don’t know what is considered cool. They want to be successful but they have no clue as to how. The virtual world shows you one in a million college dropouts who became big, the real world shows you million other dropouts who ended up broke.

The virtual world gloats at the success of one Sunny Leone but the real world shows you a million girls who started living their lives “on their terms” as she did and ended up exploited by not some but many. The virtual world gives you a sense of entitlement, makes you believe in the shortcuts for instantaneous success. The real world on the other hand, decimates all these and leaves you lost, frustrated and depressed. We have a generation of kids who are forced to live with an inferiority complex for no mistake of their own. This is one of the reasons why the rate of suicides among the youth is increasing every year.

The deep chasm between the real India and the virtual India  is nothing but a valley of depression.

It does not matter if Mahabharata or Ramayana actually happened or not, but it is a fact that the stories from the two epics help build a strong character. They give us a way to differentiate right from wrong. May be now we would realize one of the Lord Krishna’s teachings “Do your duty and don’t worry about the results” Content creators today think about the results first and then start doing their duty. That’s why all the mess.

People of my generation or after me are going to face a lot of difficulties in raising kids in the right way. We don’t remember the stories by heart, we would have to read them to our kids and finding the correct ones would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

In the large pile of data, how do I know what is to be trusted and what is not to be trusted? Since I can’t stop time, even though I know might be lost, I continue to move forward. Where ever this “forward” takes me!

Thanks for reading!

Please do visit my personal blog at Infinite Sea of Opportunities!

Significance of number 14, Karnataka politics and Rama rajya of BJP

S Ranganathan
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Significance of number 14, Karnataka politics and Rama rajya of BJP

At last the 14 month long misrule by unholy alliance of JDS-Congress has come to an end in Karnataka and BJP has come to power. When we refer the number 14, it has indeed great significance as the importance of the number 14 is mentioned in Ramayana as well.

Kaikeyi demanded Dasaratha that Ram should be sent to forest for 14 years and her son Bharat should be coronated as king of Ayodhya. Although Ram has done several fetes during this period but still Aranyakanda is quite horrible to human comprehension from emotional stand point.

Similar to the 14 years of Aranyakanda, JDS-Congress rule in Karnataka for the last 14 months was quite horrible, facing everyday death, often had to witness the perennial tears of the then Chief Minister and JDS co-owner HD Kumarasamy, accusing JDS alliance as a reason for the poll defeat by Veerapa Moily of congress party, rampant corruption, mal governance etc., were only existing in Karnataka during the 14 month long governance of the above unholy alliance.

The unholy alliance in expressions looks like has made the state as its ATM with the only difference that there is no daily limit for withdrawal. After 14 months, the misrule has come to an end and Mr. Yediyurappa the representative of good and corruption free governance of Modi at the centre has sworn in as chief minister of the state indicating the return of Ram rajya in Karnataka.

BJP must give priority for good governance and must quickly integrate the state with the one India ethos of India so that the state is developed at supra-sonic speed to compensate the great loss of time and resources the state had lost due to the mal-governance of JDS- congress unholy alliance.

In letter and spirit, BJP must showcase Ram rajya in Karnataka so that people of the state will always keep the reference of JDS-congress government as the reference point for the worst government and worst governance. Only through good and corruption free governance, only through governance focused on development and sab ka vikas, governance dedicated to integrate people of all religion through the great cultural renaissance of Hinduism, the lost confidence of people can be gained.

Stability, decisiveness, development, governance free of nepotism and dynastic politics the state is yawning in the last 14 months. People of the state would have realized the truth that if they give fractured mandate how such mandates can ruin the state and how such fractured mandates can bring unholy alliance partners to come to power and destroy the state.

The JDS-congress government should be the last experiment of coalition government by tukede tukede gags in India. BJP alone can give good governance free of corruption, nepotism, dynastic politics and at the same time, can ensure national security as well. By having BJP government in Karnataka, the state would stands to benefit in all frontiers.

Karnataka must remember the deep wound inflicted by JDS congress alliance and must keep both these parties away from power at least for another 15 years. Only when people remember and recollect all such horrible politics played by JDS and congress during the voting in future, they can save the state.

The task ahead for Yediyurappa is herculean and considering his old age, how he is going accomplish all such tasks really cause concern to everyone. However his willpower and fighting spirit to save the state from the misrule and self-destruction due to JDS and cogress needs global appreciation.

The administration in Karnataka is in rumbles like how Japan was after Tsunami. BJP must work overtime to bring the state from the brink of destruction due to JDS-congress government. Governance, governance and governance alone shall save the state and help people of the state to understand why they should eliminate JDS and congress from the state politics at least for another 15 years.

People of Karnataka must pledge their unconditional support to Modi and BJP to save the state and make India a great country. Let us eliminate all tukde tukde gangs and dynastic forces forming coalition government by taking advantage of fractured mandate and ruin the state and spread dynastic politics.

S Ranganathan

A rebuttal to Rana Safvi’s article “No, Mughals didn’t loot India. They made us rich”

phdaerospace
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A rebuttal to Rana Safvi’s article “No, Mughals didn’t loot India. They made us rich”

This article is a rebuttal to the false claims of an article by Rana Safvi. The author indulges in choosing only selective data points to prove a hypothesis while gracefully ignoring other data points. This is a common human behavior when it comes to social sciences but when the author cites sources from economics in terms of GDP, she does a conscious statistical data cropping. This article argues that the parameter such as the world GDP cannot be used to conclude what the author has concluded.

The motivation to write this rebuttal was a tweet from @ReallySwara saying Mughals made India Rich. This made me dig deeper into the source. It led me to Rana Safvi’s article on dailyo.in.

Rana’s article starts with  the usual ignorance of many bad deeds by conquerors to the good deeds of few and generalizing over the good deeds done by the few. This is said to be done to bring communal harmony in the current situation. This is by praising the colonizer/conqueror to have promoted arts/music. And also mainly because few have copulated with the local community and have become a part of the local community. Now even though very few instances of this can be proved, the current local community seem to think that they are the descendants of the great lineage and hence it’s their forth-most duty to defend the deeds/intentions of their self assumed forefathers.

The author argues that the Mughals weren’t colonizers but conquerors. She chooses the definition of colonization as “governance of a land and its people, now on behalf of and primarily for the economic benefits of a community of people inhabiting a far-off land”. Now this could be the most ridiculous definition of colonization. This is given by none other than the famous columnist in The Wire, Professor Harbans Mukhia from JNU. Just a look at this link, it will  give an idea of the mughal-sympathising/baburloving persona.

The actual definition of colonization as per oxford is “The action or process of settling among and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area” but the professor to support his theory changes the very definition. Every time the author quotes the work of this professor to support her arguments like, “until quite recently, the Mughals being foreign was never a discussion point”. Now she herself contradicts the definition laid by her professor by saying that Mughals were never colonizers they were conquerors.

Coming to the economy aspect, the entire claim of this article that Mughals made India rich seems to stem from the increasing values of GDP from a table titled “changing share of world GDP  from 1600 to 1870”. The article sourced a report by a British economist Angus Maddison. The table given in Rana’s article has just three data points. One at 1600 AD, 1700 AD, and 1870 AD with GDP of India being 74,250, 90,750 and 1,34,882 respectively.

Now when we get to the original source, we see this.

The data hasn’t been manipulated but when we see this data, we see an ever increasing numbers 33 750, 33 750, 60 500, 74 250, 90 750, 111 417, 134 882, 204 241, 222 222, 494 832, 1 702 712 for the years from 0 1000 1500 1600 1700 1820 1870 1913 1950 1973 1998.

Now the argument in the article is that, “From 16th century to 18th century, the Mughal kingdom was the richest and most powerful kingdom in the world and as French traveler” Do the data for 1500 AD for China is 61800 and India is 60,500. Later the data for 1600 AD for China is 96000 and for India is 74,250. So as per the authors argument, 100 years into Mughal rule we haven’t become world largest economy. The next 100 years i.e for 1700, China has 82,800 and India has 90,750, So the claim of 200 years of worlds richest is partially correct if we go blindly by the World GDP.

But when we look at the numbers further they are continuously increasing even during the British rule. So, as per the World GDP, under British rule, India has much higher scores than under Mughal rule. Does that conclude British also made India rich.  Conversely, one can argue that if the Mughals did’t loot India then the British also didn’t loot us given the increasing GDP from the years 1870 to 1950.

To understand better, economists use another parameter called World GDP per capita (which basically considers the population). Here one can see for two centuries (16th to 18th) GDP per capita stays at 550 and then declines to 533 till 1870. Still, an economist wont be happy to make any conclusions from this data either. So it’s better people from other sciences stop making conclusions from economics data.

In conclusion, the author has comfortably chosen data from 1600 AD to 1870 AD to support her hypothesis. The data has been selectively chosen to support a conclusion which was already arrived at, rather than making a conclusion from the data. These articles tend to be  the sources of incorrect whats app and twitter feeds which popular personalities tend to propagate via their channels without taking the responsibility to check the statistical intactness. In this case, the famous personality turns out to be an alumni of JNU herself.

With Samajwadi Party leader’s name emerging as truck owner in Unnao rape victim road accident, question is who did it?

ConspiracyTheorist
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With Samajwadi Party leader’s name emerging as truck owner in Unnao rape victim road accident, question is who did it?

BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, who is the prime accused in the 2017 Unnao rape case, is also accused as the one who tried to get the girl killed. FIR is registered against him which accuses him of attempt to murder and criminal conspiracy.

Here is where things get murky. Do understand this is not an attempt to absolve him of his crimes or give him a clean chit. But let us not be too quick to judge.

Sengar is currently lodged in a jail. One would assume his motivation to get the girl who accused him of rape would be to get out of the jail and eliminate witnesses, etc.

But, Sengar is named in the CBI charge sheet filed last year. A case is also registered on him under POCSO. POCSO is a tough law. Sengar was anyway going to be in for a long time. In such a scenario, why would he jeopardise whatever little chances he may have to get a reduced punishment (assuming he takes legal routes and keeps on appealing till the world ends) by getting the girl killed?

What if there is a larger conspiracy?

Few days back, an incident happened in Uttar Pradesh where caste played a role in the massacre. A politician from a party was paradropped in UP who created a lot of noise. There were rumours that she was detained and arrested, when nothing of that sort had happened. While she was in middle of all this, another tall leader of the same party passed away in Delhi. Media attention changed focus. She had to return and pay her tributes to the departed leader.

A week goes by, she has lost her momentum.

Suddenly this ‘accident happens’. She is back in focus. She is tweeting, starting hashtag campaigns to get the BJP MLA sacked.

She is back in focus.

The party currently has no leadership on top. It is muddled in infighting, senior leaders don’t want to give up power, newer breed can’t wait to get their hands on the top post. Party president, who was never carved out for the job, has resigned. Now, senior politicians in the party have started singing the tune that ‘new leadership’ should emerge. Two senior politicians also put up the newest fire-brand leader who resembles her grandmother’s name as the party president. Nothing like being your grandma’s doppelganger to rule the grand old party.

Also, nothing better than Uttar Pradesh where caste politics plays a major role than trying to kickstart one’s career. After all, everyone in her family has previously fought elections from that state.

Who is set to win from this Unnao rape case victim’s road accident?

Clearly it is not Sengar.

49 versus 62 Celebrities and what’s what?

G Indira
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49 versus 62 Celebrities and what’s what?

Celebrity status is acquired by high profile writers, scholars, artists, players and editors. Many celebrities come from film fraternity. Movies have a high impact on many. Unfortunately, people don’t lightly watch, enjoy and get entertained. They associate and bond with admiration to the main characters like the hero or heroine in their minds. So, therefore, film stars often become household names. To carry out messages very fast and instantaneously, often government uses the services of film stars or artists of renown or famous sports personalities as brand ambassadors for their schemes. Of course, many celebrities stand, if they are passionate of the cause they are standing for.

With information technology in place, regularly people get messages from various sources clouding their mind. For a cluttered mind with myriads of messages that try to draw attention of time, celebrities become arbiters to decide. The trouble comes when celebrities go beyond endorsements of policies, schemes or advertisements of commercial or government. When they say their personal opinions on certain things that are not of their domain or expertise, the hearers become cynical.

Nobody disputes with celebrities’ freedom of speech. However, the stand they take up can be scrutinised. For, airing an opinion, is not entirely an objective issue. Opinions are mostly based on belief. The belief either ideological or political. In recent controversy brewing in the political circles, Aparna Sen, the famous film director, talked about the occurrence of lynchings in the country, specially, mentioning only Muslim-minorities as sufferers (adding, of course, Dalits to give a secular tinge to her argument) along with 48 other signatories. Her open letter to prime minister, with an army of celebrity supporters signing, she could be of the expectation that it would shake the nation. As birds of the same feather flock together, these celebrities have been talking on the same lines ever since the BJP has taken over power i.e. since 2014 and a little prior to that. So, their talk or letter would not evoke any emotions in people. These celebrities often repeat the same clichéd denunciations and never course-correct or put their words in the manner that appeals. They think they are the custodians of the truth and endowed with the virtue to correct all.

No sane individual in India condones lynching. To lynch a person for not saying Jai Shri Ram goes against Indian ethos, however, these incidents supposedly videographed and displayed on T.V. are rare and one-offs in the many other unlawful things prevailing. As people, we feel, ideally, these stray incidents should not have happened. The rule of law should prevail.

It appears, that these 49 signatories are ideologically the same flock that led the Congress to doom with their Nehruvian-secularism where minorities are preferentially treated. Taking a moral high ground and writing to the prime minister, though well within their right, did not go down well with large sections of people as it seemed to be a selective outrage. They are filtering people in the country, by sorting only minorities in the case of lynching, leaving cases from majority Hindu victims in lurch.

‘We are more humane, we are the care takers of minorities, we have empathy and sympathy for Muslim- minority’- kind of attitude exhibited by these 49 celebrities is certainly divisive. They are already branded as pro- Muslim and anti- Hindu for their partisan stand in their previous statements. The meaning transfer takes place between the brand and celebrity— in people’s mind. They know which celebrity stands for whom and what cause? Saying that they don’t align with any political party (by the 49 celebrities), is all a humbug. One among them, Shri Ramachandra Guha in his book : Democrats And Dissenters, writes in page -37, the following, admitting that all celebrities have moorings with political parties of their choice.

“In India, tragically, too many writers, scholars, artists and editors identity with a single party or even with a single politician, this association leading to the suppressing of facts or twisting of opinions. This betrayal—a harsh word that seems entirely justified here — occurs all across the spectrum”.

So, ‘all across the spectrum’ these celebrities are arguing for some political party or political ideology. It goes without saying, these 49- celebrities are practitioners of appeasement-oriented secularism. In the same book Shri Guha writes in page-74 that despite 26/11 attack in Mumbai in 2008 , he went to Pakistan to attend a conference, immediately, in early 2009. He also writes that his mother and sister objected (for going at that volatile time) but his daughter asked him to show (by going to Pakistan) that ‘ not all of us (Indians) hated them ( Pakistanis)’. Meaning to say, some Indians like R Guha-kind, like Pakistanis even if a large number of Indian civilians died in the Pakistan orchestrated ghastly bomb attacks! So much love for that country, Pakistan! Taking this as cue, if some Indian says: Go to Pakistan, all hell will break loose from Liberals’ side.

To take you back to filmi- celebrities, because of their attractiveness and lifestyle, they have become connoisseurs of poor Indian people. Most of the film stars, being elite, educated and glamorously attired, their personality brings compelling authority to public discourse. It’s good that 49 are questioned by 62, to out number their voice of questioning and for being partisan. 49’s credibility is eroded long back with the defeat in the recent parliament elections. 62’s voice got credence this time round. Enough of this minority line taken by 49s. Hopefully, wish them to try using the same yardstick for all.

Irrespective of celebrities voice and cacophony, generally speaking, lynching (though sporadic) is a ghastly crime and goes against human rights and human values. Hence, there should be a law in place for stringent punishment against all lynchings and every state should endeavour to implement it with full vigour. That way, peaceful environment is good for investment in business and for rapid economic growth of our country. After all, it’s everyone’s dream to see the country progress at tremendous speed.

What makes BJP different from other political parties after 2014

Ansh Jha
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What makes BJP different from other political parties after 2014

Needless to say, the political leaders of our country, more often than not, hanker after riches and wait greedily for the offer of ministerial roles whereas the political parties are keen on forming the government, sidelining their ideologies. Over the years, the political condition of our country has worsened because of nepotism, hunger for power and lack of internal democracy in the parties. The modern-day politics is all about winning the elections by hook and crook, but the political scenario of our country abruptly changed when our PM started leading from the front. Let’s discuss what makes BJP different from other parties after 2014.

A political party can do nothing without its karyakartas. In fact, they work diligently from day to night to bridge the gap between the people and the party, but the saddening part is that very few of them get the chance to contest the elections. Generally, the rich, powerful and influential candidates, having no link or connection with the party, get the tickets which directly or indirectly affects the morale of party workers who sacrifice everything for the nation and the party. Hence, the top leadership of political parties must give them opportunities to lead from the front in spite of fielding the influential and powerful personalities. The only party that values its karyakartas and give them ample opportunities is BJP and it is gleeful to see Tejaswi Surya, a karyakarta of the BJP, sitting in the parliament. Our country needs such young and dynamic leaders who will play pivotal roles in the smooth and swift running of the country.

Due to the lack of internal democracy in the majority of the political parties, their organisational structure has crumbled up which, in turn, has increased the gap between the people and the leaders. It is very important for such parties to strengthen the local leadership in order to resurrect the faith among the common masses. The only party that has worked on strengthening the organisational structure is BJP, which is one of the key reasons for its massive victory in the general elections.

The top leadership of almost all the parties rest in the hand of dynasts which has eroded the credibility of such parties and forced people to look for an alternative. Nobody either wants to work or vote for such parties because one’s talent and experience are not valued by the dynasts.  After the general elections, it has been proved that people want a mass leader to lead the country. It is the high time when all the opposition parties need to conduct internal elections or to choose a mass leader ahead of a dynast.

The hunger for power compelled all the national and regional parties to come together and fight against the BJP, but the mega alliance miserably failed to allure the voters because the alliance had no vision for the development of the country, and the voters understood their motto of coming together. Every party needs to entrench its ideology and vision for the country if they want to combat BJP.

Without an iota of doubt, the opposition parties need to work diligently for their revival otherwise, BJP will continuously rule the country without a strong opposition which is a big threat to the country. We not only need a strong government but also a strong opposition. Hopeful, the opposition leaders will play their role efficiently and effectively.

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