Bloody Economic Times says, Supreme Court judgement is 'unfair'

Today I felt like spitting at the Economic Times.
The otherwise respectable English economic daily - the largest circulated one in India - says, the Supreme Court judgement on 2G scam is 'unfair'.
It is not an meotional outburst, and I understand economics well.
If punishing the guilty for blatant misuse of authority and blatantly unethical trade practices based on bribe-giving is unfair, what is fair, dear ET? It is only because papers like you support crony capitalism that the country is growing in statistical growth while poverty, hunger, diseases, civic mess, farmers' suicides and so on continue in this country. Papers like you encouage businessmen and third-rate political leaders and bureaucrats to keep doing what they do.
Shame on you.
[I have praised your mother paper, the Times of India, and your sister TV channel, ET Now, for taking up relevant causes. So it is not my bias but your absolutely irresponsible take on SC judgement that makes me upset with you. I have decided that I will rant against you as much as I can do till my anger subsides and you apologise. If not, I'll keep spitting on you.]

India wins, democracy wins!

India wins second freedom- 
freedom from corruption
freedom from apathy

It is a great day for India, despite the cynicism that one Lokpal bill is not a panacea for the country's ills.
A lot has been said and is being said about why the day is so important, how parliament had to heed people's will, why the Jan Lokpal is faulty, and so on. Media has been blamed for going overboard; the Anna fight is being dubbed as hurtful to minority and dalit interests; legal and political luminaries are afraid that the trend set by Anna has set wrong precedents.
Social media played a big role, whether the traditionalists like it or not. We, the tech-initiated Indians, flooded social media platforms, especially Facebook and Twitter. I too tried to be active in small bursts, and made my little contribution, and I am proud of that.
In this unusual buzz, whatever I say will be a repetition. Today is not the time to analyse corruption or Lokpal seriously. Today is the day to live and watch Anna break his fast. In 40 minutes from now, he breaks his fast after shaking India, the young India, of its slumber.
Hail the new spirit of democracy, hail the new momentum for good governance!

Anna Hazare's protest exposes government's disconnect with people

Anna Hazare's protest has exposed many rotten things in Indian polity, but I will talk here on a different aspect: total disregard for public by our elected representatives in the government.

Indian parliament is full of people who have learnt politics from their fathers and forefathers (look at the progeny of Gandhis, Scindia, Karunanidhi,  et al) and also many who have learnt politics by way of crime and often defending crime (as lawyers). When UPA came to power, more than the people's true reps, these people got top ministerial ranks. If there are people like Pranab (Advani in BJP) there, they have become too rigid, having been in high positions for ages. Naturally, when it came to dealing with a true people's representative that Anna is, they didn't know what to do.

Since 'engaging civil society' looked to be fashionable, they engaged Anna. Immediately, they realised that they had erred (listen to early press conferences of Kapil Sibal). They not only backtracked, they launched a diatribe against all those in Anna's team. They held press conferences day in and day out, made a Group of Ministers on Media, used Press Information Bureau to the hilt - just to alienate masses further away from the government.  The more people saw faces like Kapil Sibal, Chidambaram (and later joined by Khurshid, Narayanan and Ambika Soni), the more they started hating the government. Manish Tiwari and Digvijaya Singh played good role as villains.

The duplicity of the government, its rigidity and its sheer disconnect with people's feelings were apparent from the day Kapil Sibal opened his mouth first time on Anna's fast in April. The disconnect with people - and government's firm refusal to see the mood on the ground - in the following days has been legendary.

What did the mainstream media do during this period? Recall what major newspapers  and TV channels have been showing for the last 5-6 days? Times of India has devoted almost the entire paper on Anna today, why? One, they are supporting fight against corruption. Two (and this is much more important), they are aligning with the huge groundswell in favour of protest against corruption. In one stroke, they have increased their readership by many lakhs, and a few lakh will become  permanent TOI followers! The point is, alert media houses are seeing opportunity to align with masses while the ruling party has been doing all that it can do to alienate people.

Leave aside their other follies for a moment, and tell me where has the political instinct of Congress to feel the emotions of the people gone? Have they become political General Dyers?

PS: I have been writing on corruption and have deliberately taken a break as far as blogging on it (Have been active on Twitter and have visited Chhatrasal Stadium once.) But this 'We-are-the-rulers-and-care-a-hoot-for-public' attitude of elected reps provoked me to write this piece.

Lokpal Bill, Jan Lokpal Bill and the two together

Anna with supporters burning the bill

The Lokpal Bill has finally been introduced in the Lok Sabha - the lower house of Indian parliament. Meant to put accountability on Ministers and public servants, and to take action against the corrupt, this bill is the outcome of enormous pressure put on the executive by social activist Anna Hazare.

The authority that is to be created for the purpose of taking action against the corrupt is called Lokpal [lit= people's protector].

I give here the link to the full text of the bill the way it has been introduced in parliament here:
Lokpal bill.

This is the link to the Jan Lokpal bill, the draft prepared by Anna Hazare's team: Jan Lokpal bill
This is the link to the pamphlet circulated by Anna's team to educate people about the shortcomings in the official draft, which is dubbed as 'joke pal' by the activists.Pamphlet on Jan Lokpal vs Official Lokpal
They burned copies of the official draft after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha yesterday.

Just to complete the story, Anna Hazare has threatened to hold fast and satyagraha [=protest] in Delhi on August 16 against dilution of terms of reference of the Lokpal bill by the government in the official draft.
[Since these linked files are hosted on a free server and are big files, do save them instead of opening in the browser itself.] 

My earlier posts on the Lokpal:
Baba Ramdev and Anna
Anna being pitched against Ambedkar
Anna's fast: what next

My quick simple posers to Kapil Sibal

When you negotiated with Anna and Baba Ramdev, did you represent me through the government or you represented Congress? Yes, because you did not represent us, the countrymen, you showed your ugly face when you failed.

You say, a baba should do yoga and not meddle in politics. Since when has politics become the exclusive domain of super-rich lawyers like you?

Is the wealth accumulated by you through legal practice reasonable? Have you not earned it by taking up rich people’s cases? How many cases of public good have you fought?

Why can’t you keep your mouth shut when it is not required? Only because you can speak well should you talk nonsense again and again?

What makes you a negotiator? Your being a good lawyer and the cunningness that you possess? You messed up negotiations with Anna and Baba Ramdev so badly because you felt, you will ‘defeat’ them through your lies and machinations?

Don't let some farm agitationists hold economic preogress

Rahul courting arrest at Bhatta Parsaul

Uttar Pradesh is going to polls next year, and a farmers’ agitation is not good for Mayawati at this stage. The opposition is playing its cards rather well, with Rahul striking the right chord with the locals by his surprise visit, and Mulayam making the right noises. Chief Minister Mayawati’s image as a champion of social justice has got a severe beating with police high-handedness in quashing farmers’ agitation in Bhatta Parsaul.

It is high time, a central act on land acquisition that is hanging fire for long, is enacted soon. The Act must not be delayed only because some ally in teh UPA government does not agree with it. The ground reality is that majority of farmers would agree for a negotiated compensation for their land and only a few would like to relolutely hold on to it. We must find a solution to this issue that has emotive, greed and political elements. Otherwise the progress as well farmers’ welfare would be hostage to a handful lot.

You can see our earlier take on farmers' agitation here.

Baba Ramdev's fast and a third-rate government

Baba Ramdev

For now, Baba Ramdev has been quashed.

But this shows terminal weakness in the government, not in Baba Ramdev. Of late, Baba had acquired a cult figure and unfortunately he was conscious of it. Had he been more sober and not play into the government's hands, his movement would not have ended this way. His and his advisers' inexperience in handling a cunning government resulted in his 'deal' being 'exposed' by a government waiting for any such opportunity, and he became defensive. Then the government machinery struck.

Thanks to Baba's appeal for calm and no use of violence, the Delhi Police were emboldened to carry out the task assigned to them, when people were half asleep. This is no great show of government's strength; it shows government's insecurity.

If the government had been (i) committed to uprooting corruption, (ii)showing its intention to resolving conflict borne out of civil society activism and public anger, and (iii) firm, it would have acted much before Baba took the fast. Insted of rushing very senior ministers to airport to talk to Baba, it should have engaged Baba much earlier. Administratively, it should have not allowed Baba Ramdev to hold yaga shivir in Ramlila Ground or for that matter anywhere in Delhi. It [basically Congress only] first bent forward, then backwards and then prostrated and then exploded: figuratively it was what Nalini did to Rajiv Gandhi, no?

I wrote earler, I am not a Ramdev disciple. I am against government's conduct and its slimy ways. Most of our leaders are corrupt to the core. They make laws and they lead the nation. They are protected while innocents die from malnutrition, terrorism, etc. They are responsible for the poverty, caste divide, naxalism, land issues, poor infrastructure.... all our woes. Then they treat the public anger with utmost contempt. In case of Congress, it has contempt for its allies and opposition too. They need to be taught a lesson - the sooner the better.

My earlier take on government's plans on Baba Ramdev's agitation.
All my corruption related posts.

When a local agitation leads to Sangurs and Parsauls

Mayawati Government is fully responsible for the bloody battle that has been taking place in Greater NOIDA.

It is obvious that without land acquisition, industries are not going to come in a big way, something that has led to China becoming an economic superpower. It is therefore natural that states want to acquire land. There are numerous vested interests in the land acquisition process: the farmers, local as well as big politicians, intermediaries and land developers, industries, governments. In this confusing scenario, farmers resort to agitations due to their genuine misgivings and [often] bloated demands for compensation, and such agitations are a good ground for opposition and goons to play. But while many such agitations have been handled well, inept handling of such issues leads to Singurs and Parsauls.

In UP, Behan Mayawati likes to handle every every issue by whims and without listening to other viewpoints. She wants everybody to behave as per her wishes, and so far her highhandedness has succeeded in dealing with Mulayam, Congress and BJP. But she forgets that she is dealing with real issues that affect people and that agitate people. Only a mature handling can defuse explosive situations such as in Singur and Parsaul.

Behanji, learn to treat humans like humans and deal with the situation with administrative acumen and political maturity. Blaming opposition and hooligans for what happened in Parsaul is a stupid excuse.

The UPA Government at the Centre is equally to blame. Land acquisition has become a national problem and many development projects getting delayed. The Central government is avoiding the land acquisition bill on the insistence of Mamta Bannerjee, but we hope the elections will pave way for passage of a sensible bill on land acquisition.

Anna being pitched against Ambedkar: cunning plot!

As we have alreday stated on this India News Today post, there would be different views on the way Lokpal Bill has to be drafted and many more views on how corruption can be tackled. Anna's close colleagues also do not seem unanimous on all counts. A number of newspapers have been critical of the draft of Jan Lokpal Bill as proposed by the activists. Different shades of opinion are what make a democracy vibrant.

Do you think, the spirit and tools adopted by Anna are against the constitution? The government nominees in the drafting committee would let Anna or his people - legal luminaries included - do something that is against the constitution?

However, to hold a rally against the proposed Lokpal Bill in the name of constitution is not resistance but a ploy to derail the process of weeding out corruption in public life. Who other than those with vested interst in corruption would do this? Such elements seem to have found a helping hand from anti-Anna Maharashtrian lobbies. They feel, by invoking Ambedkar they would also confuse and thus sway dalits too to their side.

It is said that patriotism is the last refuse of scoundrels. The proposed rally seems to be last refuse of the scoundrels in the garb of protectors of the constitution.

Anna Hazare's fast, what next India?

Anna's fast, people joining him in hordes, government losing its resistance to drafting an effective anti-corruption law - these augur well for our democracy. By showing a non-violent, Gandhian, way to achieve people-centric goals, it has strengthened the voice of democracy anywhere in the world.

What next, and what we didn't achieve?

The first and foremost, the cause for which Anna undertook the fast is a very narrow one: drafting and implementing a law to book the mighty. As Anna himself said, only framing a law won't do: India is supposed to have the largest number of laws but when it comes to implementation, we fail miserably. So, we - and Anna's group - must realise that though it is a great victory for the people of India, this should be taken as the stepping stone in the fight against corruption, not the last stone. Taking from the victory, Anna's group must make a roadmap not only for passage of the Jan Lokpal Act, but ending corruption in daily life of Indians.

Two. Corruption won't end by laws and also by sundry movements. It will need systemic cleansing the system. Ironically, Hindustan Times carried the story of a babu taking bribe of Rs 10000 next to the report on Anna's fast three days back. The rhetoric in TV channels that all 120 crore Indians have joined hands to finish corruption does not wash because at least one-tenth of us are beneficiaries of corruption and all of us have become too meek to challenge it. We need to mobilise people to an extent when they are ready to suffer but not indulge in corruption.
The present movement, like many others seen in recent times, is also narrow in its support: it is supported more by middle income group people, socialites, public personalities and the media. They create hype by holding candle marches, giving juicy bites to the media, doing token fasts, tweeting. Television channels add fuel to the fire by going over-board. This is all good, but unsustainable unless people from all walks of life join them. There is an urgent need to take this movement to the common man - the lower middle income group urbanites, students in government schools, urban labour force and factory workers, panchayats, villages, self-employed small traders, migrant labour... Participation should not be limited to drum beating and gathering in large numbers, participation should be in action. People need to be blacklisting local known corrupt politicians, judges and babus, they need to raise voices when a man demands bribe, they must come to support those victimised by the high and mighty. Once people start taking action [not taking law in their hands, and how to keep the fine distinction would definitely be difficult.] against corruption, the movement will have succeeded and corruption will eventually die down.

Three, the composition of the committee to draft the bill. Baba Ramdev has rightly questioned the inclusion of Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan in the committee while ignoring other well-known anti-corruption crusaders. However grand their achievements may be [India News Today earlier supported their cause], it is not proper to include the father-son duo in the small committee. This also shows that people join such movements often with their own interests in mind. Why didn't it occur to anybody in the group, more so the two Bhushans, that it was not proper to include both their names in the committee? If Anna loses sight of such boarders in his bandwagon, and does not act extremely righteously, he will fast lose people's support after the current euphoria. If cynicism sets in, the war against corruption will be lost, more devastatingly. On the government side, interesting that they did not find a name from the UPA coalition other than the Congress ministers.
Another risk is there, that is of the Hazare group getting divided on various issues and falling apart. There will be forces active to create fissures in the group, including the Intelligence Bureau and corrupt politicians, corrupt corporate bigwigs and criminals. Let's face the human frailty: some of them will be offered padma awards and plum posts to wean them away, those who do not get publicity will sulk, ego problems among the socialites and NGO bosses might come to surface. So, as said above, Anna will need to be careful that from the beginning, all decisions are taken in the most transparent manner and taking public into confidence, so that some of the present big supporters do not harm the movement for their selfish reasons, for fear of facing public wrath.

Anna Hazare shakes government, finally

India News today salutes 

Anna

Social activist Anna Hazare is on fast-unto-death to force the government to form a joint committee comprising fifty per cent officials and the remaining citizens and intellectuals, to draft the Jan Lokpal Bill. This bill is a strong version of the Lokpal Bill (Ombudsman Bill), 2010 submitted by the government and takes into account the views and suggestions taken from civil society and common people. Hazare and many others feel that the Lokpal Bill, in its present form, is toothless. 

Hazare’s fight is against the government’s mindset, as much as it is against corruption.

The Congress party is behaving the way it behaves whenever it is faced with embarrassment: field its public faces, most of them lawyers, to give specious arguments instead of taking a corrective step. Remember the arguments they proffered to avoid JPC on 2G, while allowing the parliament to not function? Moily now says, government is open to all discussions… the bill will be discussed in parliamentary standing committee…Manish Tiwari says, PM has already constituted a committee [suggesting that till the committee gives its report, agitating against graft is premature]... PMO said, Anna’s action caused them deep disappointment… Hazare is insisting that only his draft should be accepted, without dialogue... PM, himself, is mum as is expected of him. 

When the Congress stooped again and launched a smear campaign against Hazare’s fast, the septuagenarian leader could not resist writing to PM, slamming the reaction of his government and Congress to his fast and urging him to show courage to take necessary steps to fight corruption. As of dialogue, Anna says, “When did we say no to dialogue. Dialogue should take place with those who have power to take decisions, whether (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi or Prime Minister.” 

Now that people have found a torch-bearer, they are supporting him in hordes. Political parties too are supporting him, with the intention to prove clean. A person of highly suspect integrity, OP Chautala, during whose rule in Haryana it was said that he takes bribe even from his own father, too showed the guts to visit Anna! Good that he was shooed away by Anna’s supporters.

Feeling the heat, the government too has started making slightly saner noises. Kapil Sibal, after meeting Hazare supporters - Swami Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal - said today that the government was one with the agitators and would work with them and have further dialogue with them. 

India News Today, in its small way, has been raising its voice against corruption through its posts. Since blogging demands a lot of time, especially when you try to write sensibly, we have not been very active and so not very popular. Yet, with about 400 visits a month, we perhaps have been able to share our views with at least some people. We strongly support Anna.

Baba Ramdev - the bloody Indian

Baba Ramdev

All the news channels aired the news for hours in full blast when Aruncahal MP, Ninong Ering, called Baba Ramdev 'bloody Indian' and called him names for speaking against corrupt politicians.

It made hot news, and juicy too, for news channels. They had one set of visuals that they could play ad nauseum, a defensive response from Congress [to which Ering  belongs] spokesman and angry reaction from BJP guys. For some channels, it was a godsend as there was no big crime or scandal that day except the abduction of one of Orissa’s Collectors by Maoists [and the latter had already been milked for many hours]. Channels added how Ninong Ering’s calling Baba  'bloody Indian' showed his anti-India feelings and some channels even put more and more juicy words in his mouth to prove that.

I think, we should not read too much into Ninong Ering’s comment against Baba as far as 'bloody Indian' goes. For the people in the north-eastern parts of India, an angry outburst against an outsider would often invite such racial remarks, as much as from a south Indian against Punjabis of the north or from a north Indian against Madrasis of the south. Such expletives are not uncommon in other countries and do not mean too much.

What, to my mind, is more exceptionable is the overall conduct of the Congress Member of Parliament and his anger when Baba called upon the audience to rise against corruption in politics. Baba is going from place to place awakening people against corruption in public life, in addition to popularizing yoga among masses. This is not suiting many including corrupt politicians, jhola-doctors, militants...

You can argue against a yogi coming to politics, and there is no guarantee that if he becomes a political power centre tomorrow, the power will not go into his head and he would still be the messiah that he is supposed to be. His strong dislike to things foreign also does not look too practical. He has also not been able to take with him people from all religions though over time many leaders from other communities are supporting him.

Yet, what Baba Ramdev is doing right now - giving messages of good conduct - needs public support. We know that without strong public protests, no government is going to clean itself because of vested interests, inertia and inherent weaknesses of governance systems. And, without a preacher with mass appeal, it is very difficult to rid society of age-old social evils and bad hygienic practices such as female foeticide, dowry, communalism, intolerance, personal uncleanliness, witchcraft and so on. So, if we want India to rise as a society, we need to support Baba and condemn the outrageous conduct of powerful people with vested interest in corruption – and the MP is one of them. 

G14: when prominent citizens give a wake up call

It was heartening to note that 14 prominent citizens has written an Open Letter To Our Leaders to express alarm at the governance deficit in government, business and institutions.

India News Today had carried an essay yesterday on a similar theme, titled India a failing society?

We feel, more and more people should express their views, so that the governments are forced to act against the corrupt and put the system in place. If the quality of governance does not improve, whatever progress we are making of late will be lost, and it will be lost too soon. The people of India had given the UPA a stable mandate to lead the country for the next five years, but instead of reforms and higher levels of governance that were expected of it, UPA has decayed to unimaginably low levels.

Significantly, the group also says that growth is not reaching the poor and marginalized, and insists that it should be inclusive.

But will Manmohan get up from his Kumbhakarnic stupor?

vinayak sen verdict: colonial law, colonial mindset

India News salutes Dr. Sen

Dr. Vinayak / Binayak Sen and his co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment yesterday for a conspiracy to commit sedition. Shocking that police could fix an inconvenient human right activist so easily and the court could be convinced that Dr. Sen needed to kept behind bar for his entire life. The evidences produced by the police are said to be frivolous but enough to get the judgment.

Dr. Sen's real crime [in the eyes of the government and the police] was that he was a doctor dedicated to giving tribals cures for their ailments and also giving them strength. His leaning were to the left; any noble soul who has seen so much suffering in the hands of a corrupt and rabid police would turn well-wisher of the innocent. So was Dr. Sen. Also ironical is that Dr. Vinayak Sen was a human right activist, opposing the type of violations to which he himself has fallen victim.

Arundhati Roy's comments on the court verdict are apt: “A couple of years for the bosses of Union Carbide and a life sentence for Binayak Sen..."


Arundhati herself is facing the charge of sedition. [India News reference to the police case against her, here]

Human right activists from all over India have condemned the verdict. India News joins them all. The judgement shows how the courts can be so badly influenced. It is because the judges themselves have a colonial mindset and it becomes easy for them to apply this mindset to colonial and colonial-type laws  to give pervert judgements.

arundhati, geelani, kashmir and freedom of speech

Yesterday, P. Chidambaram announced that Delhi Police would not take any action against Arundhati Roy for making remarks about Kashmir not being an 'integral part of India' a line India keeps close to its heart. BJP has been demanding strict legal action for 'seditious' remarks made by her. Law Minister Moily has slammed Arundhati and Hindu Pandits from Kashmir have been demanding her arrest.

Arundhati made these remarks in a seminar at Delhi in which Syed Geelani - the avowed India hater - also spoke. He has been arrested a few dozen times, only to evoke more anti-India feelings in Kashmir.

What the two said has been discussed threadbare in the media, both traditional and web media. But that is not the issue here. The issue is, whether it makes sense for the government to react to expressions of the type Geelani and Arundhati make? Well, to say that the Government should act mature and ignore them sounds liberal but here lies the dilemma. To what extent should the liberty be given? If action is to be taken, what type of action?

I think, though the middle path is often the best path in such cases, the Government should not directly be a party. Never. Nor should its Ministers / spokespersons get dragged into what is right and what is wrong. In fact, P Chidambaram's trying to show Government's magnanimity was also uncalled for. Government should let its wings - administration and police - to do their job [and this job should be mature and well-considered, keeping in view all its implications] and if the decided job is to deal with rubble-raisers firmly, take the stand that law would takes its course. No apologies after that.

Coming back to Arundhati and Geelani, their speeches in seminars or articles in Outlook or some other magazine would not destabilise a country like India. And what did she say? Even the government appointed interlocutors said almost the same thing.

As for Geelani, his life-long India baiting in Kashmir has done India hardly any harm; it is our mis-handling of the situation in Kashmir that is the real culprit.

Quote-unquote
"Kashmir has never been an integral part of India. It is an historical fact. Even the Indian Government has accepted this...": Arundhati in a seminar, "Azadi - the only option" at Delhi on October 24, 2010

“I said what millions of people here say every day... I spoke about justice for the people of Kashmir who live under one of the most brutal military occupations in the world; for Kashmiri Pandits who live out the tragedy of having been driven out of their homeland...It's a pity the nation that needs to jail those who ask for justice while communal killers, mass murderers, corporate scamsters, looters, rapists, and those who prey on the poorest of the poor, roam free.” : Arundhati in defence of her stand on Kashmir

rahul's rss - simi parallel: will it pay?

The implication of Rahul’s remarks is much more political than just brushing off RSS as a ‘fanatical and fundamentalist’ organisation. In his scheme of things, he must bring back Muslims to the Congress fold; Muslims have long been supposed to be voting rather collectively in favour of Congress. Going by this logic, feelers to them are supposed to give it the winning edge to Congress candidates that converts vote-share into seats since non-Muslims are too divided to be alienated by such feelers.

Two observations here.
One, this type of comparison seems within limits of democracy: no un-parliamentary language used, no allegations other than an explainable parallel with an organisation linked to terror. It must have been in his mind that RSS functionaries’ links with Malegaon bomb-blast case would give him the necessary proof too.
Two, the linking of RSS with SIMI might cost Congress more than it might benefit it in terms of electoral gains. For a large number of followers of RSS, this organisation is a committed nationalistic organisation that has helped in fight against the British during the freedom struggle, and has been helping the society with education, relief and other charitable work. So, their hurt feelings might help in branding Rahul as an immature, uncouth politician if not anti-Hindu.

Ayodhya industry: we must starve it

I stick to my initial response to Ayodhya verdict. I had said: Perhaps no judgement could have been better than this. In fact, now the people of India can use this judgement to bury the hatchet for ever, not move the Supreme Court and create a marvelous multi-religious complex at Babri Masjit site.

Since then, many legal luminaries have dissected the judgement and come to conclusion that it is not a legally sound judgement and is more like a panchayat decision in which the idea is to find a compromise that pleases all. Technically, that may well be the case, but is the judicial system for humanity or for its own sake? Wouldn't have tempers risen immediately had the judgement been tilted towards one particular community? [It would have, if the judges had taken a technical, legalistic view.]

It is thanks to the type of judgement that it way, the Ayodhya industry was down for some time. Now it has come to the fore. Mulayam Singh, the Waqf Board, Paswan, Advani, VHP, now even Congress - everybody is now trying to react to the judgement to suit his constituency. Nobody - no politician, political party and religious leader - is interested in peaceful resolution of the issue. Sane sane people who have been advocating talks are even getting death threats.

The civil society, keen to take a 'liberal' view on every matter, is taking a legalistic view becasuse i, it looks modern and fair, and ii, it slightly tilts towards Muslims who are felt to be losers. If they are really liberal in their attitude, they must work to find a solution. The High Court decision has given a great opportunity to do so. Why not mobilise public opinion in favour of making a world-class modern prayer house at the place and give it a name that spells god in all major religions? Why not have a multi-pronged campaign, including advertisements, prabhat pheris [marches], signature campaigns, postcard campaigns, posters, etc to mobilise support in favour of a secular structure at the disputed site? Unless we join together to thwart the industry of communalism, we will have the djinn surfacing again and again.

You can see all posts relating to BJP here. 

AFSPA: armed forces special powers act

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act 1958 or AFDPA is in the news for wrong reasons. It has become a serious issue and even the union cabinet is divided on whether the Act should be diluted in the context of recent disturbances and killings by security forces in Jammu & Kashmir.

The government, armed forces and some political parties and a section of citizens feel that once army has been drawn in disturbed areas, there is no escape from giving the forces the necessary legal protection to deal with the extraordinary situation. On the other hand, civil society is generally against such a ‘draconian law’ that gives excessive powers to the armed forces, which are misused and abused.

In this post, I am giving the text of the AFSPA. The Act was first enacted in 1958 for Assam and Manipur. It was extended in stages to other north-eastern states and in 1990 to Jammu & Kashmir. The wordings of the act as it applies to the north east and J&K is the same. For the sake of clarity, I have removed certain technical references to amendments etc.

Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

An Act to enable certain special powers to be conferred upon members of the armed forces in disturbed areas in the State of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

2. Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "armed forces" means the military forces and the air forces operating as land forces, and includes any other armed forces of the Union so operating.

(b) "disturbed area" means an area which is for the time being declared-by notification under 3. to be a disturbed area;

(c) all other words and expressions used herein but not defined, and defined in the Air Force Act, 1950-, or the Army Act, 1950-, shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in those Acts.

3. Power to declare areas to be disturbed areas.

If, in relation to any State or Union Territory lo which this Act extends, the Governor of that State or the Administrator of that Union Territory or the Central Government, in either case, is of the opinion that the whole or any part of such State or Union Territory, as the case may be, is in such a disturbed or dangerous condition that the use of armed forces in aid of the civil power is necessary, the Governor of that State or the Administrator of that Union Territory or the Central Government, as the case may be, may, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare the whole or such part of such State or Union Territory to be a disturbed area].

4. Special powers of the armed forces.

Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces may, in a disturbed area,-

(a) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or of fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances;

(b) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do, destroy any arms dump, prepared or fortified position or shelter from which armed attacks are made or are likely to be made or are attempted to be made, or any structure used as training camp for armed volunteers or utilised as a hide-out by armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence;

(c) arrest, without warrant, any person who has committed a cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence and may use such force as may be necessary to effect the arrest;

(d) enter and search without warrant any premises to make any such arrest as aforesaid or to recover any person believed to be wrongfully restrained or confined or any property reasonably suspected to, be stolen property or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances believed to be unlawfully kept in such premises, and may for that purpose use such force as may be necessary.

5. Arrested persons to be made over to the police.

Any person arrested and taken into custody under this Act shall be made over to the, officer in charge of the nearest police station with the least possible delay, together with a report. of the circumstances occasioning the arrest.

6. Protection to persons acting under Act.

No prosecution, suit or other legal proceeding shall be instituted, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government, against any person in respect of anything done or purported to be done in exercise of the powers conferred by this Act.

all-party meet on Kashmir: will it find solutions or end in hogwash?

The solution to Kashmir problem has to be found fast and with full political resolve. The way even the cabinet is divided on AFSPA, the overpowering armed forces law, and on the fate of Omar Abdullah, hectic multi-lateral political parleys must be on in Delhi and Srinagar to find a way out of the mess.

However, somebody must remind the Union Government that a tough stand is not always the best answer to emotional and highly sensitive issues. Government’s flexibility in the all-party meet called today will show whether the government is interested in involving opposition only for the sake of dragging them into the issue [as often is the case] and in furthering the cause of Congress in the state, or is sincere about finding a solution with wider appeal. If the meet fails and generates more cacophony, the blame will lie on the Government and not the opposition.

We the ordinary bystanders are likely to see angry ‘bites’ on TV, of leaders from BJP, PDP and if Omar is to asked to resign, National Conference. Inside, the PM will, with a sad and innocent face, appeal to all his brothers and sisters to eschew violence and to the opposition to help the government in finding solution to a gigantic problem.

saffron terrorism? ask chiddu

Media in India [for that matter in any country where they are given freedom] pick up controversy better than a bird picks up grain. The latest one is Home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement in a police meet that they should be vigilant about all sorts of terrorism, including that by fundamental Hindu groups.

It is right that P.C. should not have used the expression 'saffron terrorism' to describe stray cases of terrorist acts by Hindu fundamentalists. Associating terrorism with a particular religion is not only indiscreet for a Minister, it is atrocious even as a thought. But Chidambaram, by profession a lawyer and a stickler for nuances, cannot have faulted by mistake, more so when he delivered a written speech. So, what was the intent? I dunno.

BJP and Shiv Sena righteously raised hell in parliament over the issue. They not only see the Hindu connotation in Chidmbaram's statement, they find the colour connotation also objectionable. Hindu saints usually don saffron robes and associating terrorism with that colour shows them in as poor a light as saying that all with long beards are Muslim terrorists.

Congress spokesman later tried to make light of Chidambaram's statement. He said, the Minister's statement came against the backdrop of investigators finding links between Hindu extremist outfits and bomb blasts at Mecca Masjid, Ajmer, Goa, Malegaon and Modasa.

P. Chidambaram will have to not only be more careful on such sensitive matters but also show with deeds that he treats all terrorists with the same iron hand and he has no intention of stoking communal feelings.

Chat unchat

"...I wish to caution you that there is no let up in the attempts to infiltrate militants into India. There is no let up in the attempts to radicalise young men and women in India. Besides, there is the recently uncovered phenomenon of saffron terrorism that has been implicated in many bomb blasts of the past..." P. Chidambaram at DGPs/IGPs Confernece on 25th August 2010