Home Blog Page 674

Pro and Cons of # Me Too movement in India

G Indira
-
0
Pro and Cons of # Me Too movement in India

The way # Me Too movement is catching up in India, leaves one wonder about as a nation where are we heading towards. Though the movement originated in U.S.A, reached its pinnacle with Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein, a high-profile man who made or ruined careers of many actors was castigated with charges of inappropriate relationships with multiple actresses. Then Followed by Bill Cosby, an American stand-up comedian, actor, musician, author, and convicted sex offender who is now languishing in jail. Cosby now 80 years old, is paying for his past sins. Similarly, Britt Kavanaugh, a hand pick of US President Donald Trump for the highest judiciary post, recently got elected as supreme court judge in a controversial voting of the senate. Dr Christine Blasey Ford (a woman, professor of psychology now) said Kavanaugh assaulted her while the two were in high school. This was a part of her #Me Too movement. Her confession of this sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh was an incident that had happened nearly thirty years ago. But it shook the American nation and divided people and vote. Barely with a thin margin Kavanaugh could win.

Here in India, we have an ancient tradition of respecting women. Yet there were and are aberration from the time immemorial. In Ramayana Sita and in Mahabharat Draupadi faced untold suffering and humiliation in the hands of villainous Ravan and Dushassan. However, their ordeals were ‘epic’. That lead to history of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. Those two women won their battles ultimately with the destruction and chaos of humungous proportion.

In India, we have a multi-layered society. The poor women bear the brunt silently. They are unaware of their rights in the Constitution. The middle-class women have their owes of harassment. The women in film-industry, media and corporate get the focus. They are highly ambitious. Their jobs have visibility and attention from public. They need a God-father/mentor to come up the ladder. There is little scope for the talented with no one in the background to prop them up. So, there is scope for favouritism. Many actors support their children in the industry to come up rather than outsiders of the field. The great actor’s children are untouched by the predatory thugs. The poorer aspirants themselves submit to the whims of the producers and directors who incidentally are their mentors. Such favours become quid-pro-quo. There are also predatory co-stars of higher ranks who rule the roost. Alok Nath is one such example.

Journalism is also a field that gives visibility. In the past, only the interested opted for the job of a reporter or journalist. Now with the multi-media in place and with out-let of many channels, many are thronging to get the glare. Whom to select, what are the priorities in the tens and thousands of people who apply, has become clue-less. So, therefore the entry of low moral standards into the domain which is bereft of standards. In the organised government institutions, the harassment level is lower and lesser. The immediate boss of a woman employee may taunt her but cannot do more than that. For, the system is hierarchical. There are bosses over bosses, justice could be obtained at one level or the other.

The pros of #Me Too are: 1. It highlights that women in India cannot be taken for granted. 2. It checks the patriarchal culture of looking down upon women. 3. It empowers women to share their secret agony with the other people (of both genders) to empathise with them. 4. Earlier, to say something of rape or inappropriate behaviour done towards the woman was a taboo, now it is no more. 5. Women are able to megaphone their humiliation for the higher-ups in the power structure to listen to.

The Cons of # Me Too are: 1. Belated grievances with no evidence in hand may ruin someone’s career, it may also lead to suspicion in the public eye. 2. Highly-egregious women who want to reach higher perches may succumb to the wants of some men voluntarily, later blaming them only to malign them in the public in itself would become a wicked-process. 3. Some women may frivolously make complaints on men in public-position and keep quiet after taking ‘Hush-money’. This bad practise may creep-in. This is not an unknown thing, it is being done to an extent in western countries.

In conclusion, historically women are wronged. They being the weaker sections, they are exploited. So, their genuine grievances should be heard. Now, they are empowered under many sections in the Indian Penal Code. The Constitution of India also grants equal rights and privileges. Women should show empathy on the other women and also good-will to men who are decent and well-behaved. There are certainly some young men in the above said fields of films, media and corporates who are equally sufferers and exploited lot. Let their suffering be favourably heard. In this milieu (of all the happenings), politicians of the country should not be spared. #Me Too is a wake-up call for politicians of all hues.

Personal destiny or nation? – The choice we must make

Vijaya Dar
-
0
Personal destiny or nation? – The choice we must make

“Kleptocratic India, The Enemy is Within!”* is the title of a thought-provoking article written by Mr. M. G. Devasahayam, a former Army and IAS Officer, who in June 1975, was posted as the District Magistrate of Chandigarh, when Indira Gandhi ushered in the long, dark night of Emergency. The then District Magistrate of Delhi, not wanting to hold a hot potato in his hand, had sent Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan (JP) into his custody soon after his arrest. The author believes that the Emergency “ushered in, and ripped apart, India’s delicately crafted and carefully nurtured democratic fabric and the institutions of governance.”

Tracing the rot in the breakdown of the elite All India Services, when a “committed bureaucratic-police coterie had been smuggled into the Prime Minister’s Household (PMH), and positioned in the Home Ministry, Delhi Administration, and Police” the author delineates the steep decline in the governance of the country, and quotes the Supreme Court’s observation about the “nexus between law makers, law keepers, and law breakers.” It is an article that all Indians must read and absorb; thinking about the future of this nation, that in 2014 was fast moving towards becoming a ‘failed state’ until the people rescued it by drumming the Congress out of office.

But then, did the rot really set in with the Emergency? How did Indira Gandhi come to believe that she could take such an extreme step and get away with it? Is only the ruling elite of India responsible for the current state of affairs? What has been the role of the individual citizen in permitting this “Trojan Horse” to infiltrate and subvert the collective conscience of the nation? I think we need to look at ourselves a little more closely, and not only from the end of the Nehru era but also right from the time when we seriously began to entertain the idea of a nation free from foreign rule. From the time we achieved our independence in 1947, we have turned from a nation of brainwashed patriots to a population of introverted selves. All that we, as an independent nation, have ever cared for is personal destiny: all the other destinies have become burdens. We have failed to see what is really happening; and just as we also failed to evolve new political parties to meet the needs – and dangers – of an increasingly self-centred society, so also we have lacked the honesty to throw away the old masks. Obsession with self is everywhere, and it is reflected in the over 1000 political parties that have sprouted to “fleece the farmers and small investors of their flesh and bones.”

Truly speaking, what we achieved in 1947 was not real freedom but a craving for freedom. Our freedom is a myth in its simple, primary sense. Unlike the Americans (whom we wish to emulate in every way), who have created their own myth of free will, where one can choose oneself and will oneself, we have extrapolated freedom from all living reality. It is a thing in the mind, a dream world we secretly retreat into from our daily ordinary reality. That is what permits our extraordinary tolerance to national decay, of somehow muddling through, our Marxist conservatism and our Nehruvian conservative socialism. Our society, and its actual state, is nothing; merely the dead real world, not the living imaginary one; and that is why we have evolved a rhetoric that always means more than it says, both emotionally and imaginatively. The real tyranny comes from the totally accepted belief in the system, the existing social framework.

The communication industry, consisting of the press in the early days, and later of the visual media, sap and leach the native power away, insidiously imposing their own conformities, their limits of vision; denying any existence of what they cannot capture. As John Fowles observed in his magnificent novel ‘Daniel Martin’: “Our cinema and television, through frequently repeated experience, create a paradigmatic effect by analogy, much beyond the immediately seen – indeed, all spheres of life where a free and independent imagination matters.” The much-proclaimed transience of television images and reports is no consolation; one might as well argue that since no one drink can by itself cause cirrhosis, tippling holds no danger. In spite of their vaunted virtues as disseminators of popular art and instant democracy, there has begun to smell something rotten in the state of both these dominant media.

Fowles again: “There is something ominously stereotyping, if not positively totalitarian, in the machine and its servants.” But, just as there is no doubt that many Chinese who did not like Mao and the Communist Party, yet felt that treason against their country was a worse crime, we have inured ourselves to these feelings. The latest case is of Nishant Agarwal, a young 20-something techie, working on India’s vital defence systems, falling prey to the same malaise of preferring personal destiny to that of the nation. The #MeToo campaign currently raging on social media, brutally exposes the rot that has set in the film and television industry. Fowles was perhaps writing about Hollywood and the British Film industry when he wrote: “The commercial cinema is like a hallucinogenic drug: it distorts the vision of all who work in it. Its madams, pimps, whores and bullies masquerade publicly as ‘distinguished’ directors and stars, famous producers and agents, simply showing how much there is to hide.” But his description fits Bollywood and all other Indian ‘woods like a glove. It is perhaps too early to write the history of the period. But when it comes to be written, the media and the communication industry will come in for serious indictment.

The hucksters had wilfully blocked a connection between national reality and national awareness of it. But the public, who allowed the block to take place, and to endure, will also stand indicted in the dock. We tolerated the choking phlegm of pundits and pontificators, editors, interviewers, critics, columnists, media humbugs, puppet personalities, shyster lawyers and attitude-hijackers; a combined media Mafia, squatting on an enormous dung heap of empty words and tired images, and conjoined, despite their private rivalries and jealousies, by one common determination: to retain their own status and importance in the system they had erected. At the top of this heap we can also find the nepotistic and narcissistic collegium system of the higher judiciary.

The fact is that no one really listens anymore, nothing registers: an audience of one billion is an audience of no one. The speed of forgetfulness is approaching the speed of sound. We hear and see, and the next moment it is expurgated. To criticise the glamorisation of the worthless, the flagrant prostitution of true human values, the substitution of degree of exposure for degree of actual achievement, now invites an immediate accusation of harbouring obscurant ideas, of being out of touch. Natural processes are all being cosmetically de-naturalised. The real function is not to inform, but to excuse one from thinking. One feels a pervasive cancer at the heart of one’s world; but still hesitates to submit to a surgical intervention that would extirpate the affected organ, preferring the cancer to a freedom from it.

We have perfected the art of compromise, which in reality is a refusal to make a choice – out of cowardice, apathy, and a selfish laziness. The act of going on vacations on election days for some is thought to be “intellectual” as voting is something the uneducated, illiterates do! Now with the NOTA option there are some who will take the trouble of going to the election booth but express their angst through this choice, little realising that the refusal to make a choice in itself is choosing the greater evil.

The Great White Hope of the Congress party refuses to take any responsibility either to help his party out of the morass in which it is stuck, or even to help his family in retaining its hold on power. Being born mummified, his failure to adapt is a result of the huge superstructure of wealth, tradition, family, that he has to carry; but the analogy is better made with the last of the brontosaurs, whose armour dragged them down. When he looks in the mirror, he does not see the reflection of an extinct creature, but instead paints an ideal, dream-self on the glass and begins to see himself in that image.

In the coming elections the country is going to choose its rulers from among a-thousand-and-more political dispensations that are no different in their ideologies, of which the disorder known as kleptomania is the central core. Narendra Modi, in the four years until now, has proved that this disorder is absent from his make up. It is up to us now to seize the moment and make a paradigmatic shift in our political evolution. Another five-year term for Modi will ensure that the Brontosaurs do not get hatched in some forgotten Jurassic park. If we choose correctly and make this shift, we will give ourselves a fair chance to evolve into a civilisation that our ancestors had striven towards before the invasions of the trolls that came from the West.

No form of life or political idea has survived on the basis of enforced equality. The whole of evolution depends on the freedom of the individual to develop in his own way. All history, human and natural, demonstrates that – again and again. The country’s last chance of walking out of this enforced equality is in our hands. Will we seize it? Or will the kleptocracy prevail once more?

Why are the Communists not hated as the Nazis?

jaikumar
-
0
Why are the Communists not hated as the Nazis?

The horror of Socialist Nazi Regime during the Third Reich can never be forgotten. 6 million lives extinguished just because they were Jews, is too much to ask for forgiveness. But what the world missed was the biggest crime of them all. A crime which went on to destroy over a billion lives, turned nations into rogue, authoritarian, dictatorial regimes. A death cult which is still taught, welcomed and encouraged by Liberals and the Leftists. Just because it sounds more utopian than the ‘Final solution’ of the Nazis on paper, it is not banished from the Universities and continues to hide all the horrors that it inflicted upon the people who lived under the Regime which followed it’s ideas. Yes. It was Communism.

As said, Communism certainly draws a lot of eyeballs, especially the authors and the millenials, because Communism, initially, is just a theoretical utopian dream, rather than core beliefs being practiced in real life. Wherever it went, Communism created havoc, worsened lives, stomped down freedom, removed the dissenting opinions or ideas. USSR, China, Yugoslavia, Venezuela, Africa, Vietnam, Eastern Europe are the ones which faced the truth and the people there are certainly resisting it. Dictatorial mentality took lives of a billion innocents, 58 million in China alone, 20 million in USSR, and still, Mao Zedong is revered in China, Vladimir Lenin is worshipped in Russia. Why the criminals are still considered Gods where they inflicted terror?

1. Like Germany still repents the Anti Semitism and horrors of Fascist Germany, the Russians never really repent the thought, perhaps out of still in fear of their incumbent authoritarian governments.

2. Authors don’t expose the terror of Communism, because, Authors are seduced by words. And as Communism is essentially a theoretical ‘utopian’ concept, unlike the outright defined hatred projected by the Nazis, they never really care what if Communism were to realise.

3. History is written by victors. As Nazis lost the WWII, and USSR won, the crimes of USSR weren’t realised by most of the World. (Infamously depicted in the doctored image of the USSR flag raising over the Reichstag).

Indian politics: The lotus and the robots

Vijaya Dar
-
0
Indian politics: The lotus and the robots

With each passing day the countdown to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections is getting, in the words of Lewis Carroll’s Alice, “curiouser and curiouser.” There are Narendra Modi and Amit Shah on one side looking through the glass at a Mad Hatter who is running from pillar to post searching for an Indian factory where he can manufacture non-Chinese mobile phones. Why he wants to make these in India when Chinese versions are available at throwaway prices is perhaps safely tucked under his hat. There’s also the Red Queen, probably from Javier Moro’s proscribed book, whipping the Mad Hatter into frenzy whenever she looks at the ruins of the Kingdom she had conquered with no effort. Then there are various other characters coming together and separating like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers while performing their American style Ballroom dances.

These, like the Elephant Queen, or the Bicycle Thieves, separate faster and more often than they come together. The Elephant Queen has an ego the same size as her symbol; while the Bicycle Thieves think they are smarter than the Mad Hatter having donned a red cap thinking its colour will compete favourably with Moro’s draped-in-red Queen. Then, there is the buffalo-feed robber, searching with a lantern a way up from the dungeon where he is presently lodged. There are disgruntled ex-Ministers within the BJP, once part of Lutyen’s cocktail circuit, and now made to cool their heels in anterooms waiting for a call to serve the nation. Their methods of showing their displeasure confirm the wisdom of Modi and Shah in keeping them out of the inner circle. Being part of the IAS or a World Bank economist-cum-journalist, or a successful Bollywood villain, does not guarantee an automatic place at the table with Modi. He had found these people out even before he was chosen by the party to lead it in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

When Narendra Modi was elevated to the BJP’s Parliamentary Board, it sent shock ways through the political firmament and brought about a virulent reaction from the Congress and the secular brigade; the first casualty of which came from within the NDA. Nitish Kumar’s departure from it, and the sulking of the senior leaders in the BJP, reminded me then of a book of essays by Arthur Koestler, that the Hungarian-British author and journalist wrote after his travels to India and Japan in 1959. The book titled “The Lotus and the Robot” primarily explored Eastern mysticism, through the practices of Yoga and Zen. The book was promptly banned in India by the Nehruvian establishment, as was the propensity with the Supreme Leader who brooked no dissent.

Koestler was a political activist, having lived through perhaps the most turbulent period of European history. He was thirteen years of age when the First World War ended in 1918 that saw the end of the Austro-Hungarian, the Ottoman, and the Tsarist Russian empires. As a German-speaking Jew in Europe, the period between the First and the Second World Wars was perhaps the most stifling time for a writer of his talents. Educated in Austria, he joined the German Communist Party, but was soon disillusioned by the state of terror unleashed by Stalin. He resigned from the Party in 1938, having closely witnessed another facet of totalitarianism in Franco’s Spain, and immigrated to England. In 1940, he published “Darkness at Noon,” a novel that is as strong an indictment of totalitarianism as George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four.”

Koestler’s terrific sense of phraseology has resulted in some very catchy titles that adorn his writings. Apart from the two titles mentioned above, he also wrote: “The Yogi and the Commissar,” “The Ghost in the Machine,” “Thieves in the Night,” “Arrival and Departure,” and “The Age of Longing,” besides several other works of fiction and non-fiction.

But, as is my wont, the reference to Koestler’s writings in this essay, is actually not any critique or an appreciation of his craft. It is just my way of writing. When I read a book I tend to pick out words, sentences, and sometimes whole passages that can be used to expand a particular idea that I may be developing in my mind. My indulgent readers would have noticed that I write opinion pieces on current politics as it is shaping up in India, and I usually build these pieces around a phrase, or a word from a known work of literature. My last piece was constructed from the writings of Manohar Malgonkar and John Spencer Hill, two writers, poles apart in their styles and themes. But, the response from my readers has been encouraging enough to allow me to indulge in my favourite method once again. The inspiration I draw from these intellects is enough to make my two-bit opinions a bit more weighty and sound scholastic.

Now, coming to the crux of this piece:

In 1975 Indira Gandhi imposed a state of Emergency to save herself from political oblivion. When the Emergency was lifted in 1977 it brought about a whole new experiment in Indian politics. For the first time since Independence, a right of the centre party, that Nehru and the Congress publicly reviled, had found common cause with the socialists, and a new dispensation called the Janata Party replaced the Congress at the centre. But the experiment did not last even two years. The socialists within the Janata Party took objection to the Jana Sangha members retaining their membership of the RSS, and brought about the collapse of the experiment. The break-up of the Janata Party led to the formation of small, left-leaning, sectarian, regional, parties that became the private fiefdoms of political warlords whose sole purpose was to amass huge personal fortunes that would be used for buying elections in the future.

The political landscape of the country had completely changed from the days of Nehru in the first flush of Independence, when people voted for the Congress, as it had no worthwhile opposition anywhere in the national or regional arenas. Vote-bank politics, that was largely absent till 1979, raised its ugly head, as political parties vied for power on narrow regional, sectarian, class and caste calculations. The Jana Sangha, which was a major constituent of the Janata Party, also morphed into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), replacing its symbol of a lighted lamp with a lotus flower in bloom.

In disgust, the people voted Indira Gandhi back into office, giving her and the Congress a new lease of life. But, by now the Congress had shed all those members who had made common cause with the Janata Party and challenged the leadership of Indira Gandhi. The new Congress that emerged was christened Congress (I), making it a political vehicle wholly dedicated to her persona. Indira Gandhi systematically dismantled the structure of the old Congress party by concentrating absolute power in her hands; forcing the state legislatures to (s)elect her nominees as their leaders. She nominated each Chief Minister, and the party had no say in the matter. Inner-party democracy disappeared and sycophants and flatterers quickly filled the spaces vacated by dedicated Congressmen.

Dissent was promptly suppressed and chosen commissars were unleashed upon those who dared to differ. They were heckled and hounded out of the party by being dubbed as “CIA agents” or simply “anti-nationals.” The “court jester” of a Congress President, Deb Kant Borooah completed the transformation of the once grand old party to a fascist dispensation when he said that “Indira is India, and India is Indira”. Indira Gandhi, at the top of the power structure, started the emasculation of the Congress party and gradually replaced the human elements with mechanical robots, trained to genuflect to the ruling Deity, and open their mouths only to stifle dissent and to sing paeans in praise of the First family.

Politics across the country became a fertile ground for violent conflict, unleashing vast fires of strife between castes, creeds, languages, and every other distinction among the people of the land. Punjab was the first state to burn in this conflagration.

The actions of the two Sikh bodyguards of Indira Gandhi, in 1984, would have very far-reaching ramifications. Coincidentally, it was the year that George Orwell had chosen for his ‘futuristic’ depiction of a dystopic state at its peak of power and repression. The resultant retribution that the automatons and their mindless legions visited upon the hapless Sikh community has been recorded in great detail, and it is not my purpose here to revisit those terrible times. Within less than a generation after the dismemberment of the Indian subcontinent, India was once again descending into religious fratricide, dividing the nation into smaller constituents of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs etc., and into even smaller fragments along sect, caste, and class; each constituent ready to spring at the throat of the other at the slightest provocation.

But did these tragedies make any difference to the descendants of the Nehru-Gandhi’s? On the contrary, Rajiv Gandhi followed the same policies, which perhaps led to his own tragic assassination. If anything, his widow has perfected the art of Total Dictatorship and taken it to levels that were matched only by Mao or Stalin. This is the state of affairs that has continued from that fateful year in 1979 when the Robots and the Lotus first began their struggle for political control at the centre.

The automatons of the Congress have systematically hounded out all potential threats to the First Family, and have brought the party down to such farcical levels that the best it can field in the upcoming elections are, to my mind, mechanical robots programmed only to replay the inanities of the Mad Hatter. Not that these people were actually blessed with the ability to think independently! The reason they have stuck to the First Family like limpets is precisely that! They are unable to reason for themselves. As the poet said: it’s not for them to reason why, but just to do and die. Lord Tennyson’s Light Brigade had 600 brave soldiers who were ready to charge into the valley of Death, knowing they were fighting for a higher cause. But the Mad Hatter’s Robots are riding into the hereafter fighting for the basest cause. The tragedy is that they are not even aware of it!

The Red Queen and the Mad Hatter have no time for anyone who has even an iota of intelligence. It is appalling to listen to party apparatchiks like Surjewala, Manish Tiwari, Sanjay Jha, Rajeev Gowda, and others mechanically repeating the lies and inanities uttered by their Hatmaster. Here’s a Tweet that perfectly expresses how the so-called senior leaders of the Congress have become mere programmable automatons:

This collection of programmed and programmable Robots would do any puppet-master proud. The Robots have been unique in letting opprobrium upon opprobrium wash off their synthetic backs, day in and day out, and still continue “to crawl when asked only to bend.” They are the closest to Orwell’s Winston Smith after having been “treated” by O’Brien and his colleagues, in what is best described by Nandini Bahri-Danda as LYBB (Leave Your Brain Behind) chamber, where they are made to see the “light”.

Meanwhile, the Lotus, after the departure of Vajpayee from the scene, found it difficult to raise its head above the mud. L. K. Advani, with his penchant to go on Rath Yatras on makeshift automobiles, in search of a utopian Ram Rajya, looked more and more like Cervantes’ Knight of the Sour Countenance, tilting at imaginary windmills. After the unpleasant surprise of 2004 this Lord of Lost Causes kept losing one state after another, destroying any chances of the BJP becoming a serious contender for power at the centre. Until Narendra Modi came upon the national scene, it looked like the Congress would really have no worthwhile challenge from the opposition.

“The people who must never have power are the humourless.” This is what Christopher Hitchens wrote in June 2011, shortly before his untimely death. Can you imagine a more humourless bunch than Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, and Mamata Banerjee? Add the visages of Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, A. K. Antony, Salman Khurshid, and the entire Congress leadership, and you will be seeing perhaps the most humourless faces in one group in history. To quote Hitchens once more: these are the kind of people who are “secretly hoping to prove that it is they themselves who are the pet of the universe…those who overcompensate for inferiority are possessed of titanic egos and regard other people as necessary but incidental.”

We must hope that the general public is no longer swayed by these interlopers and has learnt to use its vote with deliberate discretion and careful consideration. Those who wish to divorce the BJP and get married once more to the Congress must recall Dr. Samuel Johnson’s famous quip: “A second marriage is a triumph of hope over experience.” 1979 and 2004 are enough indicators that the “triumph of hope” in these marriages is merely ephemeral while the tragedy of experience is permanent!

Narendra Modi’s dream of South Korea proves India need him in 2019 and beyond

S Ranganathan
-
0
Narendra Modi’s dream of South Korea proves India need him in 2019 and beyond

It was a most thrilling and exciting moment for several Indians to listen Prime Minister Narendra Modi about how he had expressed his vision of Gujarat when he became Chief Minister of the state and had no prior governance experience. Millions of Indians have already recognized the truth that he is an uncommon and unparalleled leader, must for India in 2019 and beyond.

Indians hope that after knowing the vision of PM Modi, the dynast would change his style and would support him to accomplish the mission of India’s development and sab ka vikas.

Unlike the most political leaders who would say that they want to develop their state in line with UK or US or other European countries, Narendra Modi had dreamt of developing Gujarat in line with South Korea.

South Korea is less known to many purely due to the cultural and political identity that the country never wants to dilute by opening its door to immigrants.

Besides the industrial and scientific growth of South Korea, the standard of education of South Korea is exemplary.  The fund allocated for R&D in South Korea is quite substantial and may even exceed the total budget of many countries. The population is also quite less in South Korea. The education fever, the research support extended by the largest companies of South Korea such as Samsung and LG, the thirst shown by South Korea to develop in science and technology frontiers along with the commitment of people has taken South Korea to the top position in GDP. South Korea was fragmented and dilapidated due to Korean War in the recent past.

Narendra Modi has envisioned to develop Gujarat like South Korea was not a mere desire or ambition but it was a plan, an agenda achievable and not a dream just to promote. He indeed achieved the same and that is how the global communities refer Gujarat Model of Development to define and compare the development index of any country.

People of India must see the difference between Narendra Modi and the rest of the politicians in India. Even before he became Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had a dream, a plan, a mission and a direction.  He also had a best reference or model. That is why he is considered as a born leader for India.

It is not the one who born in the family of dynastic leaders becomes leader but one has to be born with true leadership qualities and character. Imagine when the vision and plan of Narendra Modi for Gujarat itself was so big; what would have been his plan for India.

Achieving his dream in Gujarat was quite easy due to the fact that Gujarat is a state but India is not. Developing India requires more struggles, mind conversions, unconditional and sustained support of people of this country. In five years, Modi government has done the best but to complete the mission of development of India and sab ka vikas, continuation of his government in 2019 and beyond is necessary.

Need of the hour is patience and sustained ambition and not distraction or attraction towards divisive forces or dynastic culture.

PM Modi is integrating people into nation building mission and on the other hand, the dynasts are sucking-in the people towards its dirty culture like how a vacuum pump through its negative pressure sucks-in everything and then mix them with the existing dirt and dust inside.

Narendra Modi has put India on right pedestal of growth and ensured transformation of life of several crores of people in India who were ignored and neglected by the dynasty culture in Indian politics.

Sab ka vikas is near possibility if PM Modi is given one more term. Therefore people of India must think of India and hence this same govt in 2019 and beyond. All divisive and dynastic forces wants to cause instability by forming coalition government to experiment own political fortune and all such forces should not be allowed to ruin India.

Lottery and gambling menace

kingsukh
-
0
Lottery and gambling menace

While wandering on the streets of any city, one can find men selling numbered tickets i.e., lottery. Nowadays it is a dime a dozen. In our country, especially the economically weaker section spends a handsome portion of their earnings on the lottery (a foul means to prosper) and on country liquor. I beseech the incumbent government and agencies concerned to create awareness among the mass regarding the matter. These brethren need to be educated so that they don’t fall into the trap of a vicious circle of gambling.

Gambling that existed aeons ago is still prevailing in the society and this needs to be jettisoned by people. Prima facie it lures you and then makes you an addict. Rarely you will find people becoming rich out of it; most of the time they become impecunious. Stringent measures have to be taken by the bureaucrats to cure this menace. Education or fundamental knowledge will help us in the long run to cast off such evil practices.

Have you heard liberals taking about these temples where women are given superiority?

Anant Chetan
-
0
Have you heard liberals taking about these temples where women are given superiority?

Can there be a religion without god or places of worship? Of course! You can be like an intellectual or modern secular Hindu and say God lives in your heart and you don’t need a separate place, hence could decimate the idea of temples.

Why this question? And why now?

Past few months I have been reading a lot of news headlines which might say anything but at the end, Hinduism or some Hindu tradition/culture turns out to be the villain. Not that this hatred towards Hinduism is new; Hindus are already world famous for the different castes and social injustice as if clans, sects, cults, etc. do not exist in the rest of the world. Air is only polluted during Diwali due to firecrackers as if the firecrackers burnt during other occasions throughout the year are special pollution free crackers. Holi is the sole reason for wasting water as if the thousands of swimming pool use some synthetic water. So on and so forth. Since these proved insufficient some smart people are inventing new ways to accomplish their goals.

The ongoing controversy on Sabarimala Temple started in 2006 when the torchbearer of the feminism, intellectualism, the star reporter did some reports and articles on a south Indian Actress, who visited the temple 29 years ago i.e. in 1987 and was not allowed in. She by some coincidence happens to be a politician from Indian National Congress and by some coincidence, the disclosure came right at the time when Kerala was going for an election. Congress happened to be the largest partner of the ruling coalition and contesting for the next assembly election. Of course it is all just a mere coincidence. Now, Indian National Congress is supposedly standing with the devotees. It reminds me of a typical Bollywood villain who burns the village and later helps the villagers by lending money at a high-interest rate.

There are temples like Chakkulathukavu Temple where the male priests wash the feet of women devotees and the ritual is called “naari puja” or women worship. Just imagine the uproar feminists would have created if the genders were interchanged. The Bhagati Maa temple in Kanya Kumari, Kerala entertains only women. Men are prohibited there. Are men impure? Kamrup Kamakhya Temple in Assam permits only women to enter its premises during their menstrual cycle. Only female priests or sanyasis serve the temple where the menstrual cloth of Maa Sati is considered highly auspicious and is distributed to the devotees. There is a Lord Brahma temple at Pushkar in Rajasthan where married men are not allowed i.e. only unmarried men are allowed. If you are something like feminist or a new age intellectual you could replace unmarried by “virgin” and cry your lungs out. No, this is not a far-fetched theory or a work of imagination. The feminists did something like that already:

Lord Ayyappa, the presiding deity was naishtika brahmachari (one practicing celibacy). A person who practices celibacy tries to avoid distractions by staying away from opposite sex. Can this be the reason for women of certain ages not entertained in the temple? Only certain age groups are allowed because you don’t get attracted to them with a sexual desire unless you are a pedophile or a sick pervert. At least in Hinduism young girls aged 9 or 7 are looked at as kids and not wives. It is considered as an evil task if you trick somebody into breaking his solemn promise or a vow (the celibacy vow). Maybe this is why the women in Kerala are protesting. There is a second story about this also; Lord Ayyappa was not suppose to marry until the last of the kanni swamis (first-time pilgrims) had visited him. So, the female who wanted to marry him had to wait for a long time, and the menstruating women themselves decided not to visit the temple out of respect for her love.

Where did impurity come from? Was it a tactic to defame temples, Hindu traditions?

If you are a practicing Hindu and believe in God then have some faith if not then why to visit a temple at all in the first place? It is not that it is a mandate to follow Hinduism. It is completely your choice and your decision. Above all Hinduism is the one and the only religion that preaches you to be a seeker rather than a believer. If the feminists and intellectuals would have followed Hinduism, they would have found the truth. Or is it that only when Hinduism talks about celibacy it is superstition and orthodox, otherwise it is fine and may even be considered cool. Although there are other temples of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala where women of all age groups are entertained, but the feminists want to visit only this one temple. Why?

When it comes to thrashing Hindu customs, the court of law is extraordinarily efficient, the verdict is almost ready. In all other cases, it takes some time, some as in at least a decade. Moreover, the number of pending court cases in India has become so big, that it might actually take more than a year just to read the titles of all the pending cases. But they are petty crimes, petty as in murders, rapes, frauds, robberies, etc., the real threat is from the evils of Hinduism. It has to be the top priority. By the way, did any feminist/intellectual file a PIL for the recent (allegedly called natural) floods in Kerala that killed more than 400?

There has always been a debate in my home “Who is more useless? Me as an engineer or my brother as a Lawyer.” I think my brother, and his lawyer friends are winning the argument. Of course, there are good engineers and lawyers (you could put yourself in that bucket, if you happen to be one of the two). Since the petitioners got quite famous and their business just took off, there can be more petitions on the same line: “why can’t we drink alcohol and enjoy non-veg starters in the temple? Aren’t we a democratic country? Do we have a freedom to choose our own food or Hinduism will tell us what to eat and what not to? Why can’t a women go in a two-piece bikini to the temple? You shouldn’t tell them what to wear instead you should ask your priest to mind their own business.” These petitions would make a ton of money for you.

Anyways, there should be one question that everyone should be asking themselves now. Which might help provide a different perspective.

Who won and who lost in this?

Apart from the obvious winners like the petitioners who got famous, media who got whooping TRPs, there is a camouflaged winner. This verdict followed by the protest and followed by the review petition will be used as a counter-argument in a lot of other cases like Ram Mandir and Uniform Civil Code. Everyone is aware of the stands of different parties on these issues. Congress might or rather will get an upper hand and will say if Hindu beliefs are important so are others’. Remember we have a habit of comparing apples with oranges, if it was not true we would not be struggling to understand the difference between a weaponized plane and a basic plane. After all being the oldest political party has its own edge.

Conspicuously, Hinduism is the only one to lose and it added one more feather in its hat of being evil and retrograde. By the way, how many religions other than Hinduism talk about goddesses or treating women as a goddess? How many religions have festivals like Kanya-Langura, the one in which you invite little girls, wash their feet and offer them food. Boys don’t get that treatment. Do they? Which religion celebrates the victory of a woman over evil men? Ever heard of Goddess Durga and Kali? There are days like father’s day, mother’s day, valentine’s day, friendship day etc. but is there a sister’s day? Hinduism has it, we call it Raksha-Bandhan, a day for sisters. And I can go on and on and on but won’t help much. Would it? Let me reiterate: Can there be a religion without god or places of worship?

“History tells that Hinduism was the first religion to come into existence and the present tells it might be the first among the major religions to become a history.”

Thanks for reading! Please visit my personal blog at Infinite Sea Of Opportunities

This is how Prime Minister Modi’s approach is a perfect balance of security and development

devsenamishra
-
0
This is how Prime Minister Modi’s approach is a perfect balance of security and development

On 29th September 2016, Indian Army had conducted surgical strikes across the LoC in PoK and demonstrated to the world that India, which always practices restraining, can also show power when needed. These days, National Security is one of the most active topics of debates in India. But the absence of a clear definition of National security and its understanding among the common people gives a great scope to certain groups to propagate any event or act as a threat to national security. There is a need to understand that national security of a country is not something that can get breach as routinely and easily as we hear these days.

In the 21st century, the National Security of a country is not limited to security arrangements and security assets alone. Today economic and diplomatic strength have become more dominating factors than others. PM Modi has a better understanding of this changing reality. He has earned an enormous appreciation worldwide for his economic reforms and foreign policy. During the last four and a half years of his tenure, we never heard a single statement of financial crunch from the MoD or any other security-related agencies. There is a visible optimism in the defense and security ecosystem of the country. For the first time, the government is reaching out to industry, MSMEs/Startups and facilitating their participation in the defense supply chain through different creative mediums and platforms.

India is going to release its National Security Strategy (NSS) document very soon, its draft is in the final stage. It was a long pending demand of security agencies and practitioners. This year, in the month of April, Modi government has set up the Defense Planning Committee, a dedicated structure to facilitate the comprehensive planning for the defense forces and to prepare the draft of National security strategy. The inaugural meeting of Defense Planning committee was held in the month of May, under the chairmanship of NSA Ajit Doval, which was joined by all three service chiefs, the foreign secretary, chief of integrated defense staff, the defense secretary, and expenditure secretary.

It is interesting to note that the need for establishing structured processes and institutions related to National Security was first felt during the previous NDA government days only. On 19th November 1998, former Prime Minister late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had established the National Security Council and appointed late Mr. Brajesh Mishra as India’s first NSA. The first National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) constituted in December 1998, produced a draft Nuclear Doctrine for the country in 2001, a Strategic Defence Review in 2002 and a National Security Review in 2007. Since then the NSAB board meets frequently and shares its recommendations with the National Security Council.

Earlier during the UPA time, in February 2014, on the sidelines of DefExpo, our then Defense Minister AK Antony was giving the daunting statements about the financial inability of the Indian government to proceed any major projects including the controversial Rafale Deal. We have seen the worst phase of national security under the long UPA regime. A number of cases on bribery in some major defense deals, an absence of crucial reforms related to defense procurement/manufacturing and modernization of armed and police forces, and the long pending lists of security agencies demands, reflect the previous governments’ level of sincerity towards the defense and security of the nation.

The difference in the Approach lies in the Core Philosophy

The difference in the approach of BJP and Congress led governments in national security-related matters lies in the core philosophy of their party’s founding members. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya was the firm supporter of preparedness of every Individual for the defense of the nation and he considered the country’s defense policy a complement to its foreign policy and internal policies. He subscribed to the doctrine that the preparedness to strike is the best defense policy and he strongly advocated the modernization of the country’s army and the introduction of new technologies in the security domain.

While Nehru was of the opinion that Armed forces were not required for India and according to some contemporary articles when India’s First Commander-in-Chief Gen Sir Robert Lockhart shared his defense plan for the growth of armed forces to Nehru, he got annoyed and said “We don’t need a defense plan. Our policy is non-violence. We foresee no military threats. You can scrap the army. The police are good enough to meet our security needs.”

From 2014, things have changed a lot! A new level of confidence is visible in our security and intelligence agencies. Prime Minister Modi’s approach is a perfect balance of security and development.

The internal security situation in India is affected by terrorism and cross-border terrorism in J&K, Insurgency in North East India and Left Wing Extremism in certain remote parts of the country.

Fighting the Red Terror

The peace, security and economic transformation of North East India are the top priorities of PM Modi. The shift from ‘look east’ to ‘act east’ is not merely a symbolic change; Modi government has acted sincerely on this vision. In August 2015, PM Modi signed the historic Nagaland peace accord with the rebels of NSCN (National Socialist Council of Nagaland), a move which ended six decades-long insurgencies in Nagaland.

Due to the continuous efforts of security forces in parallel to centre government’s connectivity, infrastructure and other development projects in North East India, the numbers of insurgency-related incidents and causalities of civilians and security forces are reducing substantially. Today, Tripura and Mizoram are virtually free from the insurgency. From 31st March 2018, the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) has been removed from Meghalaya and its coverage has been reduced in Arunachal Pradesh. This year, Modi government has revised a two decades old ‘surrender cum rehabilitation’ policy of North East states and increased the stipend of the surrenderer from Rs.3500 per month to Rs.6000 and the one time grant from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 4 lakh, due to which the numbers of youths returning to the mainstream from militancy have increased substantially.

The connectivity was the key pain area of North East states for so many years and insurgent groups have taken great advantage of the situation. The longest ruling party of India, Congress has deliberately neglected the entire North East region for their well calculated political gains. When PM Modi took the charge he laid out an ambitious connectivity vision for the North East states, which he often referred as ‘Five Ways’ of highways, railways, roadways, waterways, and I-ways (internet connectivity). A few days back PM Modi has inaugurated Sikkim’s first airport. The Pakyong Airport is crucial for the strategic point of view too as it lies approximately 60 km away from the India-China border. Out of 24 airports and helipads identified under the Phase II of RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme) UDAN, 22 are in the North East states.

On the other hand, the Indian railway has also set a target to bring all state capitals of the northeast region on rail map by 2022. Frequent visits of Centre government ministers including Prime Minister himself, for monitoring the status of key infrastructure and development projects have boosted the morale of the local people too, which is a crucial factor in the fight against the insurgency. In 2017, the States of Sikkim, Mizoram, and Tripura faced no insurgency-related violence while the numbers of insurgency incidents have declined substantially in Assam (56%), Nagaland (67%), Manipur (28%) and Meghalaya (59%) as compared to 2016.

PM Modi’s development focused approach is yielding remarkable results in LWEs districts across the country. In 2015, the Modi government has launched a comprehensive ‘National Policy and Action Plan’ with a zero-tolerance approach to Maoist violence. In September 2017, centre government has launched Special Central Assistance (SCA) scheme for 35 most LWE affected districts in 7 states, which contribute to more than 90% LWE violence in the country. The goal of the SCA Scheme is to fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services in these districts. In these selected 35 LWE districts, so far, 2400 mobile towers have been installed; about 4500 km of roads have been built, and 8 Kendriya Vidyalaya, 5 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, 15 ITIs, and 43 Skill Development Centres have been set up. Between April 2015 and December 2017, the government has opened about 430 new bank branches and 1,045 ATMs these 35 LWE districts. As a result of all these efforts, 44 out of 126 districts have been removed from the list of LWE-affected areas and about 3,380 Maoists have surrendered from 2014 to 2017.

The figures about the scale of development projects in Maoist affected districts mentioned in Home Ministry’s annual report are astonishing! The report highlights that Modi government has taken significant measures to strengthen state governments and their security agencies’ capabilities, this includes electrifying remote villages, accelerating roads, bridges and other infrastructure related projects in LWE districts, providing needed backup to state’s security and intelligence agencies and facilitating inter-state coordination etc.

According to the home ministry’s latest stats, in 2017 there was a 20% reduction in Maoist violent incidents and a 34% reduction in LWE related deaths in comparison to 2013. The report has also mentioned that PM Modi’s demonetization drive, which opposition is criticizing till now, has given a big blow to the funding sources of Maoist nexus which was spanning across the country.

Jammu and Kashmir

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s security first approach has boosted the morale of security agencies in J&K. During the last four and half years, due to the government’s iron-fist strategy toward militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, numbers of militants getting killed are continuously increasing from 110 in 2014 to 213 in 2017. In the last four years of Modi government, some 600 militants have been killed, these numbers are much higher than the UPA I and UPA II times.

During the Atal ji’s government in 2003, the Indian Army has launched ‘Operation Sarp Vinash’ in which 64 terrorists belonging to different jihadist outfits have been killed. In 2017, the Indian army has launched ‘Operation All Out’ to flush out militancy in J&K until there is complete peace in the region. The Operation All Out combined forces of Army, CRPF, J&K Police, BSF, and IB. As an outcome, last year some 213 militants have been killed and 82 youths have returned to mainstream and abandoned militancy. This year, the government has also given the nod to deploy NSG commandos in Kashmir for anti-terror operations.

The culture of stone pelting on Indian Army and Police forces was started in 2008, during the UPA government days, which they called as the new dimension of Kashmir insurgency. But the UPA has deliberately treated this new form of insurgency as simple protests and even stopped security forces to take desired steps in defense. Modi government, on the other hand, has taken decisive actions against stone-pelting incidents and allowed security forces to take stringent moves to control this new form of insurgency backed by Pakistan’s ISI.

The ongoing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir is linked with infiltration of terrorists from across the border. A few days back, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has inaugurated two pilot projects of smart fencing along the Indo-Pak International Border in Jammu region. These pilot projects are a part of the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS)programme which was launched in 2015 to revive the existing border security infrastructure of the country with the help of advanced technology.

Outlining a development focused vision in the most turbulent part of the country was not an easy task for PM Modi. In the month of May, on the occasion of the inauguration of Hydro Electric project in Srinagar, PM Modi has said: “Let all of us focus our entire energy only on one thing and that is the development of Jammu & Kashmir. There is only one solution for all the problems, for all the disputes and differences and it is development and development alone.”

In this year’s budget PM Modi has announced a special assistance package of Rs. 80,068 crore for the development of infrastructure of Jammu and Kashmir. The package consists of 63 Projects relating to 15 Ministries and Departments. In Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh region, the projects of building IITs, IIMs, modernization of primary health care centres and district hospitals, construction of new national highways, tunnels and a number of initiatives for providing employment to youth have been taken up. In the month of November, the governor has decided to conduct municipal body and panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The state will have municipal elections after 13 years and panchayat elections after 8 years. It is a much-needed move for the development of the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has the leadership courage to do what is required even in the face of stringent criticism. A country cannot deter terrorism; it has to fight with it and this involved fighting terrorism diplomatically too.

In the last four and half years, India has attained success in Isolating and exposing sanctuaries of terrors in our neighborhood on key international forums. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF, an inter-governmental body) has also placed Pakistan on the grey list for failing to curb terror funding.

Whether it’s PM Modi’s aggressive foreign policy, Act East Policy, SAGAR, Neighborhood first Policy, Link West Policy, or a standalone visit to Israel, through which he has surpassed the foreign policy of hyphenation and propaganda of minority appeasement of previous governments, all these moves have strengthened India’s national security posture in some way or other. A simple comparison on National Security approach of previous government and the current government can reveal the fact that we are moving in a right direction.

India, the world’s fastest-growing economy and vibrant democracy needed a holistic approach to protect its national interests. Today, out of the four key instruments of national power -DIME (where D stands for Diplomacy, I for Information, M for Military and E for Economy), Diplomacy and Economy power have become more dominating than others.And PM Modi is leading these two fronts perfectly!

Kerala floods are over but the corruption begins

binoyashokan
-
0
Kerala floods are over but the corruption begins

Every challenge is an opportunity. Every destruction is an opportunity to build better than what was existed. People of Kerala and especially its govt. have to have this in their mind as they are looking for a mammoth task ahead.

As per the last update given by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a special session of the Kerala assembly convened on 30th Aug 2018, the death toll in the south-west monsoon in Kerala, from May to August, is 483 and 14 people are missing. 14,50,707 people were housed in relief camps.

As per an initial assessment report from the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) the damage Kerala faced was worth Rs 15,000-20,000 crore. Another government estimate indicates that approximately one lakh buildings including houses are damaged. And a staggering 10,000 kms of roads, which was later reported to be 80,000 kms, and hundreds of bridges have been washed away. Crops in millions of hectares of land have been lost.

The destruction of Kerala in the unprecedented flood of Aug 2018 was so widely spread across the state that it provided the state a never before opportunity to reset its housing and urban planning and build a better, planned and futuristic Kerala.

But if the govt. actions post the Dam Disaster was any indication to go by then it certainly raises doubt in the minds of flood ravaged people that govt. of Kerala is so dearly going to miss this opportunity.

As the flood fury was converted to a full-fledged Dam Disaster by the dam mismanagement by the govt. of Kerala and their lack of timely warning to the people, much the same way the post disaster phase also seems to be gradually heading towards a mess.

While damage of govt ineptness in the rescue in first phase was to a great extent minimized by the now renowned swiftness and wholehearted participation of the common man barring cast, creed, class and religion, the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase is solely on the shoulders of govt. And that is why it is more worrying.

First of all the Pinarayi Vijayan govt.’s priorities in this are increasingly seem to be misplaced. Instead of devising a fool proof strategy and putting forward a robust and futuristic plan on rebuilding Kerala or explaining to the people on how govt is planning to achieve this, what people got to see instead was a govt. on overdrive for fund raising alone. This was while the funds were flowing in voluntarily from across the continents thanks to the strong NRK community spread across the globe. And when the govt mixes it with their narrow minded political games then it becomes a perfect recipe for failure.

This was evident from the 700 Cr UAE aid drama Pinarayi Vijayan played in the initial days of Dam tragedy. Even when UAE embassy in India and central govt themselves clarified that there was no such offer or such a figure, Pinarayi Vijayan continued to pour more and more oil into the controversy only to enable its party cadres to make a huge noise in the state, may be to cover up its role in the disaster by a poor dam management. It was evident that Pinarayi and his advisors had plucked out the figure 700 Cr from thin air only to show the initial central aid of 600 Cr in a poor light in comparison. Such was the narrow mindedness the ruling dispensation showed in the very first days after the disaster.

Other than rhetoric and sloganeering of the govt on rebuilding a new Kerala there seems to be a total lack of interest from the ministry. It was a time when the state was reeling under the destruction and when a strong leadership is needed in decision making and leading the rehabilitation and reconstruction. It was at this crucial time that CM of the state Mr.Pinarayi Vijayan has left for US within a fortnight of the tragedy. When it is given to understand that he has gone for a treatment there, nobody in Kerala knows what his illness is. The Communist Party has kept it a watertight secret, for the reason known only to them.

Not only CM is going to be away indefinitely at this decisive hours, the govt has also decided to send its ministers to foreign trips to raise funds too. While the funds are flowing in voluntarily, and in the few days within the disaster CMDRF (Chief Ministers Disaster Relief Fund) has received more than 1000 Crs from donation, the absence of CM and ministers are going to cripple the coordination of rehabilitation and recovery process. Even the initial help of 10,000 rupees offered by govt hasn’t been distributed effectively yet.

While govt has changed the tone of their request for employees to donate their one month salary to the relief fund to a threatening one, the proposed ministerial entourages to the foreign countries are going to be a waste of precious state resources in money, time and manpower.

Another wrong signal on where the govt is heading is in the in-fighting within the party which has reared its ugly face at this crucial time. The govt has setup a ministerial subcommittee for the decision making and disbursement of the compensation to the affected people. But to the surprise of the people of Kerala, the finance minister of the state didn’t find a place in such an important finance related body. When a close knit coordination between different arms of the govt is the need of the hour such a self damaging in-fighting is casting its shadows on the future of the project ‘Re-building Kerala’.

Govt’s decision to entrust the consultancy of rebuilding Kerala to a Netherlands based firm called KPMG has already drawn criticism from the opposition parties as the firm reportedly has a very bad reputation internationally. It is reported that the firm is under investigation for its dubious transactions in various countries including US, UK and South Africa. Hence in this front also govt’s intentions are suspicious.

There is already a controversy irrupted over the method govt has proposed for assessing the damage to properties including homes and compensations accordingly.

Govt is not ready to form a separate fund for the fair distribution of the huge volume of money it is planning to amass as relief fund. There were allegations earlier about the CMDRF fund being diverted for purposes other than relief. Examples were the controversy on diverting the fund which had raised for Ockhi cyclone relief being diverted for CMs helicopter travel expenses. Another instance of misuse was giving away a good sum of money from the relief fund to a deceased politician’s family. Kerala high court has already sounded alarm about the fair utilization of the relief funds as govt was unwilling to create a separate fund for it .

Epidemic outbreak might cause a serious challenge to a leader-less govt. There is already an alarmingly increasing number of rat-fever related deaths reporting from flood devastated areas across the state. It is increasing by each passing day. As seen in the case of opening the dams en-mass when govt repeatedly told people that nothing to worry even hours before opening the dams, much the same way govt is downplaying the health hazard Kerala heading towards.

Govt also send out a very negative signal on how their ‘rebuilding Kerala’ is going to take shape when it denied the MLAs of the most affected places like Ranni, Chengannur, Pathanamthitta etc. an opportunity to speak in the specially convened session of assembly on 30th Aug. Even though they are the ruling party MLAs their denial is attributed to their being vocal in asking for handing over the rescue to military at the peak of disaster, which govt and party categorically rejected, after seeing themselves the inadequacy of state govt’s rescue efforts in their own constituencies.

Other than the suspicious mad rush for fund raising, there seems to be no plan the govt is having in devising a mechanism to prepare the state for a possible repeat of the same disaster in the future. The govt is totally silent on the details of such an equally important post disaster activity. To make the situation even worst the insensitive responses bordering nonsense post the dam disaster from some ministers are adding to the disgust and fears of people. The state electricity minister MM Mani under whose ministry the responsibility of dam management comes is the front runner in that. The minister had gleefully boasted hours before opening the dams without adequate notice that he is proud that under his ministership the dams are becoming full. Later after the disaster was struck he told the media that it is not a big deal if some (400 plus!) people are died in floods which was arguably created by the dam mis-management of his own dept and the govt.

When govt’s attention is fully converged in to fundraising alone, all the other aspects of post disaster relief, recovery, rehabilitation and rebuilding are over looked. It is an increasing sense of feeling among the people that the disaster is started to be treated as a milching cow by the govt.

Kerala is a worried lot. Only the flood has passed but not the fears. As the govt seems to be clueless and heading with misplaced priorities it seems that only God can save it’s own country and its people.

This is how Congress changed meaning of ideologies in Indian politics by their “gaslighting” political strategy

Virag Padalkar
-
0
This is how Congress changed meaning of ideologies in Indian politics by their “gaslighting” political strategy

The pre-2014 era of politics was characterized by a convoluted mechanism of switching political concepts and groups to mean their exact opposite. The Congress and their coterie perfected this dangerous con to a fine art over the years. The liberals were branded as conservatives, the secular were branded as communal and the honest were branded as intractable. On the other hand, the fascists were branded as socialists, the communal were branded as secular, the nepotists were branded as patriots and the rabid fringes were branded as activists. Through a systematic barrage of misinformation and by constantly sowing doubt in the minds of otherwise sane people like you and me, the Congress literally changed the meaning of concepts and ideologies in Indian politics. The word that comes closest to describe this political strategy is “gaslighting”!

Take for example the idea of “Akhand Bharat”. AB was never a conservative or uber-nationalist ideal at all. It was a return to the natural distinction made by geography. Everything bounded by the mountain ranges to our north/northwest and the Arabian Sea to our south is the Indian subcontinent. This was a land-mass that drifted apart from Gondwana and collided with the Eurasian plate nearly 55 million years ago. The hotchpotch of cultures that have lived here are essentially similar. We are all part of the same melting pot – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christians or the countless other sects and communities. Whatever the faith, we are culturally bound to each other. That’s a very inclusive concept (to the extent of the Indian subcontinent). But even mentioning Akhand Bharat today is anathema in politics. You’re branded as an ultra-national Hindu. It’s been bombarded through mainstream media that Akhand Bharat is Hindu supremacy. That wishing for unification of the Indian subcontinent is a racial conspiracy hatched by Hindus to subjugate other religions and communities. Admittedly, there’s fringes on both sides of the ideological spectrum; but the fringe has been portrayed as the mainstream and the whole concept has been turned around on its head. Bizarroworld! How did this come about?

Take another example of the uniform civil code. In its essence, it is secular to its core. It seeks to do away with creed and religion in personal law. No more Hindu Marriage Act or Christian Marriage Act. No more would the question of succession be treated differently for Hindus and for Muslims. One single law for all citizens of India. This single law would be based upon the tenets of the constitution and would not use religion as a base. Inherently secular. But the mere mention of UCC in Indian politics would mean one would be branded as an oppressor and a communal seeking to establish Hindu law over others. Bizarroworld! How did this come about?

On the flip side, take the example of the First Family of India (ex). The Gandhis created a personality cult of worshipers around them. Anybody who worshiped the Gandhis were patriotic Indians. Anybody who questioned their origins and their dubious legacy was a heretic and a dangerous outlaw. In essence, patriotism was redefined as loyalty to one family. These same hypocrites are now busy rebranding genuine patriotism as fascism. Any talk of loyalty to the idea of India and love for the country is immediately labelled as unhealthy nationalism. Bizarroworld! How did this come about?

To take another example in the same vein, Arundhati Roy is called an activist! If you study her work across the years, her modus operandi is obvious. She uses slick packaging, half-truths and outright lies to paint a very negative picture of Indian society. She has openly supported secession of Kashmir from India using lies about the Indian government and is openly pro-naxal and pro-maoist in her writings and in her interviews. In no other country will such poisonous rhetoric be tolerated without punishment except India. She roams free spreading her vile and patently untruthful message in mainstream media. What is bizarre is that she is labelled an activist instead of being called out for what she is – an anarchist and a traitor.

Oh what a world we lived in! In our naivety, we never understood the evil within us and amongst us. We allowed it to fester. We allowed petty, self-serving men and women to hijack our common sense and allowed them to rewire our brains. North meant south and east meant west. There is only one word to describe this strategy – gaslighting! The term originates from a movie called “Gaslight” released in 1944. The movie is about a woman (played by Ingrid Bergman) whose husband (played by Charles Boyer) slowly manipulates her into believing that she is going insane in order to distract her from his criminal activities. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or in members of a targeted group, making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.

Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lies, it attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim’s belief. Gaslighting depends on first convincing the victim that his or her thinking is distorted and secondly persuading him or her that the victimizer’s ideas are the correct and true ones. We’ve seen it happen time and time again in Indian politics. The Shah Bano incident became an example of secularism instead of appeasement politics, the KHAM formula used in Gujarat in the 1980s became an example of empowerment instead of vote bank politics. The Congress and their ilk used gaslighting techniques to confuse us and to destroy our moral standards. Once we were vulnerable and our judgement was broken, they swooped in to define the new terms of the game. It was slickly done . . and it’s been used consistently till today.

We have a chance for a reprieve. The work that has begun in 2014 is at the cusp of fruition. A congress-mukt Bharat is a tangible reality today. State-level leaders have been ring-fenced and the Gandhis stand isolated. But next year is the real test. They say birds of a feather flock together. Indeed they do. On one side we have a party that has begun systematic reform and taken bold steps for endemic change. We are gathering momentum as an economy and as a people. On the other side are a roll-call of politicians with a track record of corruption and dishonesty. Just the roster of the names gives an idea of what’s in store for the country if they come to power. It is a telling sign that all the people who are thinking of a “Third-Front” as an alternative to the BJP are people who are ideologically opposite.

How then have they suddenly come together to form a common front? How can the Left co-exist with the Congress? How can the NCP whose entire existence is based in its opposition to Sonia Gandhi be bedfellows now? How can Didi fit into this unholy alliance? The gaslighters are seeking to change definitions again so that they can continue their criminal activities. This time around though, we must not let these techniques work. We should realize that we have been given another chance. It’s time to remove the blinkers and understand that the only way to combat this manipulative method of skulduggery is to reaffirm our core values as Indians and to use our moral compass. It’s time to call out the deception for what it is; a desperate attempt at misdireaction and confusion in preparation for 2019.

The choice ought to be very simple – a continuation of tangible reform measures versus an unholy alliance of crooks who seeks to confuse us using gaslighting techniques and try to come to power so that they can resume their legalized loot.

1...673674675...889Page 674 of 889