Bohras fall at the feet of Narendra Modi too

[ghulam muhammed]

PM gets an early geography lesson

The prime minister of India went to Bhutan on his first trip to phoren as prime minister of India, and called it Nepal. Then he called it Ladakh. As someone pointed out, his mistakes only prove that he is human. This might come as a shock to those who thought he was superhuman or even, gasp, divine, when they voted for him. Human. Bah! What a comedown.

Anyway, next, after visiting Nepal or Bhutan or maybe Ladakh (which is in India I think, am I wrong or am I right?), the prime minister will visit other places like Japan or is that Mongolia?

Even though this new government is trying to blame everyone else from the old government, to rising food prices (this is not the same as inflation, don’t you know that?) to the situation in Iraq to the probably bad monsoon to hoarding.

Everyone knows that the new government cannot blame anyone for hoarding because no one may vote for them again. But, someone tell them that there’s no use blaming the last government because there’s no general election for the next five years, especially when you have a majority.

In fact, it’s because you have a majority that you can mix up Bhutan, Nepal and Ladakh because, you know, who cares? We just won an election. Anyway, one foreign trip over, one rape and murder case ignored, one death of a man killed because he was a Muslim ignored, and we are well on our way to being a lot like the last prime minister... or not?

One must apologise, I suppose, to those who wanted miracles from Day One. Like all of you who laughed at the Aam Aadmi Party’s month and half in power in Delhi? Now, Delhi is struggling with power problems and all the instant solutions for immediate electricity haven’t worked, and is anyone showing intent by sleeping next to a WagonR in the freezing cold?

And now there are rumours that the names of the Indians with black money in Swiss bank accounts will not be revealed because of some banking rules or some such bogus excuse. That last government also gave us the same bogus excuses. And we yelled blue murder then. Or black murder.

But, now, you know, rules are rules. Meanwhile, we have set up a committee and a team and everything else. Like all those other committees... So, what have we learnt so far? Geography is a notion. Inflation is in perpetuity. Promises are lies. And politicians are eternal. I write this sitting on some hill or the other. Probably the other.

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/pm-gets ... t1hqZ.dpuf

[ghulam muhammed]

[Rebel]

What does this cartoon signify?

[Sufi monk]

I am no loving Indian politics, every day muffy and modi makes me laugh with some stupidity.

[ghulam muhammed]

A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE.

Communal Attacks on Muslims of Pune : Fact Finding Committee Report

This fact finding exercise was coordinated by National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations (NCHRO). Human right activists from different regions of India participated in this inquiry. They are,

1. Reny Ayline, National Secretary, NCHRO, New Delhi,
2. Prof A.Marx, Peoples Union for Human Rights, Chennai,
3. Prof. G.K. Ramasamy, Peoples Democratic Forum, Bangalore,
4. Adv. Y.K. Shabana, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights, Mumbai,
5. Adv. Babita Kesharwani, Mumbai,
6. Sudhir Dhawale, Editor ‘Vidrohi’ , Mumbai,
7. Rupali Jadhav, Kabir Kala Manch,Pune.

This team is in Pune for the past three days visiting different places in and around Pune where Muslims and their properties were attacked from May 31 onwards. The team visited Hadapsar where the muslim techie Sheik Mohsin was beaten to death and places such as Handewadi, Syed Nagar, Kale Padel, Loni, Uruli Devaichi, Landewadi, Bosery where people were beaten, bakeries, shops, hotels,houses and places of worship that belonged to Muslims were ransacked. We met the victims and their near and dear, owners of the lost properties, injured persons and religious leaders and recorded their statements.

The Incidents

It all started in the last week of May when some fringe Hindu outfits, mainly one Hindu Rahtra Sena ( HRS) led by a maverick by name Dhananjay Desai protested with road rokos and demonstrations against a derogatory face book posting mollifying the iconic king Shivaji and the Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray with morphed photographs. The agitation turned violent from May 31. The protestors, who were initially only targeting government properties such as buses, later started pelting stones, looting and burning shops and religious places of the minority community in and around Pune city. The collector said that more than 250 government buses were damaged.

On May 31in Handewadi two madarasas and two masjids were attacked. When the attack took place there were children working on their lessons inside the buildings. A masjid under construction by one Salim Memon was badly damaged. The Majid e Chudeja was partly burnt and the Imam was left with a head injury. The manager of the Memon masjid Mr. Mohammed Aziz Sheik said that the attackers, all youths came in two wheelers shouting “Jai Bhavani” and “Jai Maharashtra” with deadly weapons in their hands such as cricket bats, iron bars and talwars. Between 9 and 10 pm three such attacks took place at half an hour intervals. In the last phase about 50 to 70 armed goons participated in the attack. Though the manager called the police and cried for help, they came only at about 12 pm after the attackers left safely.

More or less at the same time about 35 armed activists of the Hindutva outfit came by motor cycles shouting in the same manner attacked Rose bakery, Bangalore bakery and Maharashtra bakery in Loni. All of these belong to Muslims. Glass doors, fridges and glass show cases were damaged. The owner of Rose bakery one Shaban Sulaiman Shaik said that Rs 35,000 cash was also looted from his shop. A nearby mosque known as Alamgir masjid was also stoned.

At the same time in Landewadi Bosseri the Madina masjid and a nearby Muslim kabarsthan (graveyard) were attacked. The masjid was not only attacked but also burnt using petrol which they brought with them. About 35 children in the age group of 12 to 17 were in the upstairs of the masjid at that time. They actually jumped out to the next building and escaped. The imam of the masjid one Mohammed Alam had broken his leg when he tried to jump out. He is still under treatment. Four two wheelers which stood before the masjid were also burnt. Even the dead were not shown mercy. The graves and a small worshiping shed in the grave yard were ransacked. In Noor Mohalla at Bhosari about 40 houses were stoned from outside. Glass windows and doors were damaged. About 25 bikes were attacked and broken to pieces.

All these attacks were in the same pattern. In all the instances the police came only after the attack was over. When the Landewadi masjid was burnt the fire service came to the place only after two hours when everything is burnt already. The fire station is situated just below the masjid.

Even after such series attacks were made against Muslims of the area neither the district administration nor the police took serious note of it. The deputy collector said that they promulgated some prohibitary order. But they had not cared to deploy more special forces in places were Muslims are living in large numbers.

This led to massive attacks on June 2. In Kale Padel, Syed Nagar , Hadapsar main market a number of bakeries, shops and hotels were ransacked and burnt. Not only the showrooms, but also the baking machines, fridges, tempos, four wheelers and bicycles which were used to carry the products were attacked, broken to pieces and burnt. Patel bakery, Welcome bakery, Paradise bakery, Hotel Sahara are some of the bakeries and shops that our team visited. The houses near by Hotel Sahara inhabited by Dalit Buddhists were also attacked. One Neela Badukombe and anotherMaruthi Shinde Baba, all dalits said that they are living there for nearly 50 years and this is the first time they were attacked.

In the Hadapsar main market area the Nalband masjid was stoned. One fruit shop owned by Abdul Kabeer and a banana godown owned by Abdul Rafi Bagwan were burnt out. In Uruli Devaichi the Jama majid was attacked. A fridge and a water tank and some other things were broken. No case was registered yet. All these attacks took place between 9 and 11 pm. Slogan shouting armed goons who came in two wheelers did all these things.

It was at this time the worst thing happened. At about 9 pm Mohsin Shaik (28), a pious young muslim techie from Solapur working as a manager in a textile firm in the nearby area left the Shine Anjuman masjid in Unnati nagar after saying his night prayer. His friend Riyaz Ahmed Mubarak Shendru was on the pillion. When they crossed few hundred meters from the mosque a gang of 30 to 40 armed goons came in the bikes shouting slogans. Seeing them Mohsin stopped his bike and moved aside. The armed gang seeing these young man sporting a bird and wearing a skull cap began to attack with hockey sticks, wooden stumps, iron bars and bats. Mohsin’s friend managed to escape with injuries. But Mohsin, the only bread winner of his middle class family succumbed to death after he was brought to a hospital.

At the end of the street two other muslim youths Izaz Yusuf Bagwan and Ameer Shaik were witnessing the attack on Mohsin with fear and awe in their eyes. The gang then targeted these men who ran away and escaped with injuries and fractures on their bodies. Out of fear Izaz immediately ran to his native village. Our team met Ameer Shaik who gave a graphical picture of what happened on the other day. Ameer’s hand is broken. He is married and blessed with two children. He is a scrap merchant. But after this incident nobody is ready to trade with him. His future is bleak.

A compensation amount of Rs 5,00,000 is given to Mohsin’s family by the state govt. The collector told us that a central govt relief of Rs 3 lakhs and another 5 lakh rupees from the state riot relief fund will be paid in due course. But no compensation is paid till today to the injured persons and to those who lost their properties in the attack. The sub collector said that only if a proposal for compensation is sent from the commissioner of police it will be considered. But no such effort is made in this direction by the police department. Regarding the injured, the sub collector told that any amount of compensation will be paid only to those who were in the hospital for more than a week. But out of the seven people injured only one was in the hospital for more than a week. Others, out of fear left the hospital within a few days.

There are about 20 FIR s are filed in Hadapsar, Boseri, Munuva, Loni and Vagoli police stations. The investigating officer said that 23 persons were arrested for June 2 incidents. In total about 200 people were arrested .When we asked him whether all those arrested are members of HRS, he replied that it could not be said because that fringe outfit never keeps any documents regarding its membership. When we asked whether the govt has any proposal to ban HRS the collector replied that only if a proposal comes from the commissioner of police the govt would consider it.

The maverick leader of HRS Dhananjay Desai is now behind the bars. He is now investigated from the conspiracy angle in the riots and the attack on Mohsin.

The HRS first came into focus when it carried an attack on the office of a Marathi television channel in 2007 protesting their coverage of an incident involving a Hindu minor girl who had eloped with a Muslim boy. Then they protested against the arrest of army officials who were involved in Malegaon blasts and other such terrorist activities.

Desai has 22 cases registered against him in Mumbai and Pune. While three of the cases are related to dacoity and possession of arms, nearly all the rest pertain to hate speeches made by him.

It is said that the HRS chief Dhananjay Desai has a following of nearly 4,000 youths across Pune district. They are well organised and ideologically motivated. Most of these youths are from poor families and are unemployed. To tend to his supporters, many of whom are from economically weaker backgrounds, Desai brokers settlements in disputes mainly related to land and other properties.

The HRS is very active in Hadapsar and Landewadi area. Six months back they conducted public meetings in Landewadi in which hate speeches were freely spoken against muslims.

Our team found that in total 40 houses and 20 masjids were attacked. Out of these 20 five masjids were burnt. In total 35 two wheelers and five tempos were destroyed. 29 bicycles were burnt. 10 thelas were also broken to pieces. Seven people are injured and one person killed. We estimate that the total losses suffered by Muslims amount to 4.5 crores.

Observations

1. Maharashtra is in a sense the headquarters of the Hindutva extremist thoughts from the days of Savarkar. In the recent times the Malegoan and Nandid bomb blasts, the involvement of the army people in Hindutva terrorism and the mystery surrounding the killing of the honest police officer Karkare who investigated the Hindutva terrorist activities in Maharashtra are some of the facts we have to bear in mind. We understand that some peace loving people and organisations have attracted the attention of the Maharashtra govt regarding the underground activities of the terrorist organisations based on Hindutva logic. But the Maharashtra govt had not taken such concerns and complaints seriously. In fact we understand that both the revenue and police officials are more sympathetic towards right wing Hindutva forces and their ideologies. But we feel that if such attitude continues more such attacks on minority communities will take place in the near future.

2. Historically Pune was the epicentre of the maratha rule. 12 % of the population are Muslims. For the past 15 years right wing forces are very active in this area. Hate crime and religious fanaticism are on the rise; On 5 January 2004 a group calling itself the Sambhaji Brigade attacked the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) in Pune . The attack was the preliminary culmination in a series of increasingly disturbing and destructive events that were triggered by the publication of James W. Laine's Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India. Since the author had thanked the library as well as some of the scholars working there the right wing extremists took such an extreme step. On January 13, 2010, RTI activist Satish Shetty was assassinated in Talegaon, about 40 km away from Pune. In the same year, out of nine social activists killed all over India, five were murdered in the areas neighbouring Pune. On July 8, 2013 one Prakash Gondhale, a social activist and a strong opponent of Hindutva hate politics was murdered. HRS members were arrested for his murder. In 2013 August 20, the well known atheist Dr Narendra Dabolkar was shot dead by some men on motor bikes . Nobody was arrested till today. When everybody is pointing the Hindutva outfits for the ghastly murder, the Maharashtra govt has given clean chit to the Hindutva movements in the court. Then who are the culprits? The govt has no answer for it.

3. Though Hindutva terrorist organisations are very active in Maharashtra the state govt has not taken enough attention of it. Most of the govt officials and police personnel and the vernacular media are sympathetic towards them. Though the officials as well as the home minister expressed that there is a proposal to ban HRS immediately after Mohsin’s murder, now they are retracting from it. We are also of the opinion that banning organisations are not the solution. Instead the govt should be very firm against hate speeches against certain section of the people. Having an organisation in the name of “Hindu National Army” (English translation of HRS) is against the fundamental tenets of our constitution.

4. The attacks against muslims of Pune by HRS and other such Hindutva minded people are well planned. Though Mohsin was killed randomly for sporting a beard and wearing a skull cap, there is a well planned conspiracy behind his killing and the attacks on muslims. Both on May 31 and June 2 at the same time, that is, between 9 and 11 pm so many places were attacked which are separated by large distances. The same group could not have done all these things. Clearly some high command had assigned duties to different groups to target different places. So this is a well planned attack . There is a conspiracy behind it.

5. Though Mohsin’s murder was the worst part of the violence, the state govt as well as the media focuses only on this. But behind this so many planned attacks against the muslim places of worship and on their economic activities. This is a very serious matter of concern.

6. Muslim public, religious leaders and political representatives expressed their concern about the time and background in which these attacks happened. A change of government has taken place. An extreme right wing leader who boasts himself as a “Hindu Natioanalist” have took the reign of the country. In such a background the attacks have happened. Nobody in the central govt has condemned it. The BJP Member of Parliament from Pune, Anil Shirole, spoke of how “some amount of repercussions” after the posts on social media was “natural”. Instead of distancing the party and the government from such attacks, Mr. Shirole seems to have done just the opposite. The Jamat e Islami leader Prof Asar Ali Warsi was very much concerned about such statements. We are much worried about such a fear developing among the largest minority in India.

7. Spreading of rumours and false propaganda played an important role in the escalation of violence. We should not forget that such circulation of some fake video clippings triggered violence against Muslims in Mussafarnagar. Recently, the cyber cell of the Mumbai police identified 650 such hate pages/websites.

8. We want to mention here that not all Hindus are cultivating hate against the minorities. But the Hindutva outfits are spreading hate among the Hindus to polarise the majority against a particular minority. The Hindus of Bhima Koregaon village actually resisted the attempt of HRS when they tried to attack a mosque there. This culture of communal harmony should be nurtured and developed. Writers, thinkers and politicians with secular views should work in this direction.

Demands

1. A central special investigation team (SIT) should be formed to investigate the atrocities on muslims of Pune in June 2014. Reputed officers should be included in the team.

2. A fast tract court should be formed and a special public prosecutor should be appointed in consultation with the victims to try the cases .

3. At least Rs 25 lakhs should be paid as compensation to the family of Mohsin.

4. A committee should be formed under the district collector which should study the actual damages incurred by the minorities and they should be compensated accordingly.

5. We are worried about the fact that the govt officials are oriented against the minority communists. Sensitisation programmes for the police as well as revenue officials are to be conducted on issues related to minorities. In places where Muslims are largely populated Muslim officers and police personal should be sufficiently deployed.

6. The communal violence bill should be made as an act as early as possible.

7. The police and other officials who didn’t take action against the culprits should be found out and necessary action should be taken against them.

8. The cyber cell should expedite investigation and arrest those responsible for the mischievous posts in the Facebook.

http://twocircles.net/2014jun20/communa ... 6dONWeKBLN

[ghulam muhammed]

The Ehsan Jafri Case
Modi’s Banquo Ghost

Narendra Damodardas Modi’s destination may have been very different if the Indian criminal justice system had met the standards of more robust democratic legal systems that make strict adherence to due process and timely delivery of justice an article of faith and everyday practice.

Nothing exemplifies this more than the handling of the case of the murder of Ehsan Jafri, former Member of Parliament
(MP) who was hacked to death alongwith many others in the Gulberg society in the Chamanpura suburb of Ahmedabad.

The case is brilliantly etched out in the report by the International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic of Stanford Law School, When Justice Becomes the Victim – The Quest for Justice After the 2002 Violence in Gujarat (2014).

The report should not be read as one more on the killings in Gujarat, rather it should be read as an indictment of the
Indian lower judiciary (with honourable exceptions) at the point that it comes into contact with the citizen, most often, in the lower courts. The issue of shoddy or motivated police investigations, the lack of independence or the very competency of the prosecutors in many cases, the issue of official immunity, the nefarious role of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) all come into play.

The failure to prosecute IB officials, the issue of reparation, witness protection and the fate of the Communal Violence Bill, all tell their own tale.

http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2014 ... i_Case.pdf

[ghulam muhammed]

Chaining 1,200 Years

Our PM’s recalculation of how long Indians have been ‘slaves’

Good lawyers and good historians have one thing in common: both are quick to spot the crucial small print that ordinary folk miss the significance of. So, as politicians and the media were concentrating on the big picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s maiden Lok Sabha speech, historians were struck by his reference to “1,200 years of slavery”, which, he said, had left Indians with a slavish mentality. “This slave mentality of 1,200 years is troubling us,” he said. “Often, when we meet a person of high stature, we fail to muster courage to speak up.”

What is troubling historians, though, is his view of India’s colonial history, which, according to him, spans 1,200 years. The conventional view is that it lasted 200 years—those of British raj. So where did the remaining 1,000 years come from? Clearly, Modi was propounding what Mridula Mukherjee, former professor of modern Indian history at JNU, described as the “standard Hindu communal view of history”, which regards the period of Muslim rule also as a period of slavery. The problem is that even then the numbers don’t add up. Muslim conquest of the subcontinent began around the 12th century and was effectively over by the 18th century, though it lingered on until 1857. Modi’s account still leaves us with 400 years to account for, spawning jokes on the internet. On Twitter, someone going by the name ‘Angry Brown Man’ wrote: “Narendra Modi claims India has faced 1,200 years of slavery? Is prohibition not on in Gujarat anymore? ‘Coz he is obviously high as kite.”

As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi used the same phrase in his independence day speech last year, prompting Business Standard columnist Mihir Sharma to note that “even on Independence Day, he couldn’t help saying that India has been ‘a slave to others for 1,000-1,200 years’. I know his maths is bad, but I suspect he’s not calculating from the Battle of Plassey.” But forget maths. The bigger question is: what was Modi trying to do raking up ancient/medieval history in a speech about development and building modern India? He’s not known to make throwaway comments, so it may be argued he was simply trying to emphasise the need for greater national pride. But surely there are less controversial ways of doing that, say, by highlighting independent India’s achievements in science and technology, its robust democracy, the fact that it defied dire western predictions and emerged as a model of democratic stability in the region. Instead, he chose what could be interpreted as equating national pride with Hindu pride, branding Muslim rule as slavery. As Debobrat Ghose, a Firstpost commentator, asked: Is prime minister Modi trying to bring about a paradigm change in the way we perceive our history?

Noted historian Mushirul Hasan dismisses Modi’s claims as “falsification of history”. But Modi’s supporters say he was stating facts. “The phrase ‘1,200 years of slavery’ is neither saffronisation nor colourisation of history, but only a reference to the deep conditioning of slave mentality that Indians have undergone over the centuries,” says Prof Makkhan Lal, a pro-RSS historian who was at the centre of a row over rewriting NCERT history books.

I asked Ashok Chowgule, the VHP’s working president (external), why Modi chose to hark back to Muslim rule now. He replied by cataloguing the “brutality” of Muslim conquerors and quoted from Ame­r­i­can historian Will Durant’s book The Story of Civilisation, describing the Islamic conquest of India as “probably the bloodiest story in history”. The VHP’s line seems to confirm that Modi’s remark was a none-too-subtle attempt to keep old ghosts alive and a nod to the RSS view of Indian history. Significantly, it came on the heels of HRD minister Smriti Irani’s reported plans to introduce a “Hindu perspective” in school textbooks.

Meanwhile, although it is true that many Indians still suffer from a colonial hangover—even the swadeshi Sangh parivar, for example, worries more about what appears in The Economist or Time magazine than in Indian publications—the tendency is slightly exaggerated. The new generation of Indians has no such complex. If anything, there is now a reverse snobbery, which often manifests itself in the form of a false sense of national pride (especially among BJP supporters) inspired by the hype over India’s new status as an emerging superpower. In Britain, Indians are the most cocky lot, and constantly try to distance themselves from their poorer subcontinental cousins.

But coming back to Modi’s remark, here’s a party which dismisses the 2002 Gujarat riots as old history and tells us to “move on” and stop obsessing about something that happened 12 years ago. Yet, it itself remains trapped in the past. Hopefully, in future, Modi will talk more about moving forward than looking back. And, yes, get his maths right.

http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Cha ... ars/291200

[ghulam muhammed]

CBI judge hearing Amit Shah’s case transferred

The special CBI judge hearing the case of alleged fake-encounter cases of gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsi Prajaptai was transferred on Wednesday following which the court adjourned the hearing on the Amit Shah’s discharge plea.

Special CBI judge JT Utpat was transferred to Pune, after which the court hearing was adjourned till July 2.

Incidentally, last week, judge Utpat had reprimanded Shah’s advocate for filing an exemption application without assigning any reason to it.

“Every time you are giving this exemption application without assigning any reason,” judge Utpat had said.

The court had on May 9 issued summonses to Shah and other accused in the case, which had been transferred from Gujarat.
http://muslimmirror.com/eng/cbi-judge-h ... ansferred/

[Haqparast]

I am not sure what is going on in this world, Mufaddal saifuddin shamelessly lives lavish life on followers money while modi is doing some thing unexpected, I am so amazed that these people are not afraid of any one.

Just learnt that power tariff hike will be announced in Delhi on July 7th. How can power tariff’s be increased untill the CAG audit is completed? What is the justification for this proposed hike?
As if the people were not suffering enough already with the hike in prices of petrol, diesel, food items & rail fares, the BJP Govt. seems intent on making their life more miserable. Did the BJP not promise 30% reduction in Electricity prices for Delhi in their manifesto? BJP Govt. seems to be doing nothing to curb corruption & inefficiency which will negate the need to increase tariffs.

[ghulam muhammed]

US based Hindutva groups pumping billions of dollars into RSS & Company says a report

US based charitable organizations pumping billions of dollars to RSS & Company says a new report released by SACW ( South Asia Citizens Web). The report titled ‘Hindu Nationalism in the United States: A Report on Nonprofit Groups’ was released on July 1 at the website of the SACW.

This report compiles publicly available tax records, newspaper articles, and other materials on non-profit groups in the United States affiliated with the Sangh Parivar (family of Hindu nationalist groups) from 2001-2014, documenting a segment of the projects and priorities of U.S.-based Hindu nationalism. This report discusses the strategies and activities of Hindu nationalist groups in the United States in four areas of mobilization.

According to this report, “India-based Sangh affiliates receive social and financial support from its U.S.-based wings, the latter of which exist largely as tax-exempt non-profit organizations in the United States: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America (VHPA), Sewa International USA, Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation-USA. The Overseas Friends of the Bharatiya Janata Party – USA (OFBJP) is active as well, though it is not a tax-exempt group.”

The 54 page report is very critical of the role of these organizations. “Hindu nationalism has intensified and multiplied forms of discrimination, exclusion, and gendered and sexualized violence against Muslims, Christians, other minorities, and those who oppose Sangh violations, as documented by Indian citizens and international tribunals, fact-finding groups, international human rights organizations, and U.S. governmental bodies,” it write in its executive summary.

The Sangh Parivar is a network of groups at the forefront of this Hindu nationalist movement, has an estimated membership numbering in the millions, making the Sangh one of the largest voluntary associations in India. The major organizations in the Sangh include the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Bajrang Dal, and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In recent weeks there has been controversy in India over foreign funded NGOs, which a secret IB Report – leaked to media – said is working against the economic interest of the country. In this report on foreign funded NGOs, however, there was no mention of the several affiliates of the Sangh parivar.

Over the last two decades, Sangh-affiliated organizations have emerged as leaders in Indo-American communities. Major events include:

a) Overseas Friends of the BJP (OFBJP) co-hosted a luncheon on Capitol Hill in early March 2002 with two other major Indian-American organizations, while BJP-ruled Gujarat witnessed mass killings of Muslims.

b) OFBJP members and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) were among the leadership that sought to host Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as an honored guest speaker in 2005.

c) In the California textbook controversy of 2005-2006, the Vedic Foundation and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s educational wing, the Hindu Education Foundation, led an effort to insert edits into California textbooks that foregrounded Hindu nationalist priorities and downplayed gender and caste oppression in Ancient India.

d) Since the textbooks controversy, the Hindu American Foundation has become a voice for Hindu nationalist interests to U.S. politicians.

http://muslimmirror.com/eng/us-based-hi ... pany-sacw/

[ghulam muhammed]

[ghulam muhammed]

AMIT SHAH APPOINTED AS BJP PRESIDENT.

A NEW LOW IN INDIAN POLITICS.

Amit Shah, 49, the first serving Home minister of a state to have gone behind bars in a criminal case of murder and conspiracy

Shah, the man who waved the magic wand for BJP in Uttar Pradesh, the PM’s confidante and the number two in the government now takes over the reins of the party. Amit Shah had twice in the past sought exemption from personal appearance citing political work, but the then CBI judge JT Utpat had found his excuse inadequate for the court to grant him relief. On June 20, while hearing the application, Utpat allowed the same but made a scathing remark “Everytime you are giving this exemption application without assigning any reason,” he told Shahs counsel. In less than a week, Utpat was transferred to a Pune court before he could preside over Shahs discharge application. Shah managed his way out with a tried and tested formula of transferring judges, practiced brazenly in his home state of Gujarat through his tenure as Home Minister.

As a journalist covering Gujarat extensively since 2005, as someone who exposed Shah’s role in the fake encounters in the state and who can claim to have knowledge of his political trajectory, I would not mince my words in suggesting that by appointing Amit Shah as the president of the party, the BJP has hugely disrespected the law of the land and signalled an all time low for the criminal justice system of India. For the cases against Shah are for crimes so gruesome that the cloak of political astuteness will be too short to cover it.

In its chargesheet filed in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, the CBI which had been investigating the case under the watchful eye of the Supreme Court of India had not just named Shah as one of the key accused and conspirators but also named him as the head of an extortion racket which involved underworld thugs, politicians and businessmen. In its submission before the apex court bench of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice BS Chauhan, the CBI stated that the minister was in cahoots with senior cops from Gujarat including the likes of DG Vanzara and Abhay Chudasama who had been sentenced for cold-blooded murder – concluding that Shah was a hardcore criminal. Shah was also chargesheeted in the murder of Kauser Bi, the wife of Sohrabuddin who according to the official papers was raped, sedated, killed and her body burnt and thrown in a river.

One could have well debated the merits of the CBI chargesheet and read political motives but for the fact that the Supreme court itself gave CBI the sanction to arrest Shah at the same time, coming down harshly on the Gujarat state police investigation led by the then top cop Geeta Johri for going slow and misleading the courts. If the SIT verdict on Narendra Modi’s role in the Gujarat encounters is to be held as the final word, by virtue of it being monitored by the apex court, it is baffling then that Narendra Modi who promised clean and transparent governance to this country and setting up fast track courts to look into cases of criminal charges against politicians has turned a blind eye to Shah’s criminal past.

Going by the minutes of the internal meetings held between Modi, Shah and senior heads in the BJP and the RSS, the Prime Minister has silenced his detractors in the party who were against Shah's elevation citing his ability to churn out big numbers.

Many in the Gujarat BJP believe that Modi has been under tremendous pressure by Shah to return the favours he has allegedly bestowed on his mentor in the last two decades of their association. It’s a well known fact that during Modi's rebellion against former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel and in his fight with the ex-Home Minister of Gujarat Haren Pandya, it was Shah who stood firmly by Modi's side galvanizing the cadres and leaders in favour of his boss.

As the second in command in the Modi dispensation, the youngest minister in his cabinet who held charge of twelve ministries including the powerful Minister of State for Home, Shah single-handedly thwarted all trouble that came in the way of Modi with his office getting the infamous tag of the “dirty tricks department of the CM”. It was under his tenure as Home Minister that the Gujarat police went on a spree of fake encounters in the state – holding regular press conferences for the media with the bodies of the alleged assassins on display. The officers would claim that the Gujarat CM was under threat from jihadists who were out to assassinate the man who brought back Hindu asmita in Gujarat.

While the chief minister managed to leave unscathed during the investigations of most of the encounters which were later pronounced as fake, Shah found himself listed as the prime accused in three encounters, his role in the other two being probed by the CBI with investigations in the case still on.

Another major dent in Shah's image came with his alleged involvement in the Snoopgate scandal, in which he is heard instructing one of his key lieutenants – IPS officer GL Singhal who was then incharge of the ATS, to carry on surveillance on a young woman. The tapes which were released late last year created a furore after it became obvious that Shah as the Home Minister of the state was using state machinery to snoop on innocent civilians, monitoring their moves. In this particular case, a young woman whose movements, including aspects of her personal life were being reported to the CM on a daily basis.

With such serious criminal charges against him, has Modi denigrated the position of the party president by handing over Shah the reins of the party. Would it now be safe to assume that Prime Minister Narendra Modi acted against the interests of the judiciary by rejecting the nomination of Gopal Subramaniam as a Supreme court judge as he was also the amicus curiae in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case. Ever since the Prime Minister assumed office, ex-CBI directors including Ashwini Kumar and AP Singh who were at the helm of affairs in the CBI during the investigation of the encounters, find themselves being at the receiving end of Shah's wrath. While Kumar has stepped down as governor of Nagaland, AP Singh is reportedly under pressure to step down as member of the UPSC after the Income Tax department served notices to him and his family members in an investigation into alleged tax evasion by meat exporter Moin Qureshi.

These could all well be coincidences if one were to take a larger liberal view of the developments including the transfer of 89-year-old ailing governor of Gujarat Kamla Beniwal, who under her tenure locked horns with Modi and Shah over the appointment of Lokayukta in the state. But even if one were to dismiss these actions against officials, lawyers, judges who played significant roles in the criminal justice process involving Amit Shah as conjectures, will it not be pertinent to suggest that by appointing Shah as the BJP President, Modi has acted in contradiction to his promise of a free and fair government, which will have no space for vindictiveness. Hasn't Modi and the BJP under the guidance of the RSS just made the first attack on the principle of clean governance on the basis of which the party came to power? Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to answer this one.

http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/standp ... cs-2000913

[ghulam muhammed]

[zinger]

haa haa haa haa haa haa haa haa haa haa haa

LMAOROTF

[ghulam muhammed]

For ten years, BJP told us they had some magic formula up their sleeve.

Media houses declared the Budget as historic even before it was born. Helpful journalists fed us stories from Jaitley's past as a student union leader and a generous lawyer. Just short of telling us that he held Govardhan mountain on his finger.

Instead, all we got was some minor tax break for Advani, Joshi and other senior citizens Modi and Shah have made irrelevant in their party.

There were moments of truth though. Asked why the new govt. is not ushering in a new economic policy, Jaitley philosophised - the government may have changed but the country remains the same.

I can't find fault with that!

I find it so amusing that all the things the BJP found fault with the UPA for, we are seeing the NDA doing! NOW Jaitley feels that the country remains the same? Had he not imagined that three months ago when they promised miracles to us? They are blaming the food prices on the UPA too. Everything that is not magically becoming perfect is the fault of the previous government!

Jaitley and company need to show that just words are not enough but real change and actual implementation and not just "bullet trains"! Instead of making the common man's life better, why are they promising impossible and impractical things like that? In the meantime, communal forces are taking advantage of having their protectors at the Centre.

[ghulam muhammed]

Media manipulation by the BJP can be seen by the following incident.

Last week 1.14 crores in cash, 600 US dollars, two gold chains, a pair of gold earrings, a gold locket, three gold rings, 14 silver coins, and seven luxury watches were stolen from the residence of Giriraj Singh, a Bihar BJP MP, and a close associate of Modi. This is the same notorious character who had demanded that those who do not vote for Modi, must go to Pakistan.

Such a huge unaccounted sum in the house of one so close to Modi is big news. Yet hardly any print or electronic media has taken note of the incident . It has just been covered up. I wonder how they would have behaved if a similar amount had been found from a Congress leader 's home ?

To be honest, media belongs to corporates, who use it to extract advantage from Modi. Press integrity is gone.

[ghulam muhammed]

ACHCHE DIN for Gujarat Policemen who executed fake encounters

Weeks after Gujarat reinstated IPS officer G L Singhal, one of the key accused in the 2004 Ishrat Jahan alleged fake encounter case, another accused policeman is back at work.

The suspension of constable Anaju Chaudhary, accused by the CBI of firing 10 rounds from a sten gun at Ishrat and three others, was revoked on July 2 by the state government. He has been posted to the State Reserve Police (SRP) camp in Godhra.

Chaudhary is the third accused to be reinstated. Inspector Bharat A Patel, who was arrested but never charge sheeted, was the first to return to work. He is currently posted at Prantij police station in Sabarkantha district.

On May 27, the government revoked the suspension of Singhal. The order reinstating him as commandant of the SRP in Gandhinagar was with retrospective effect from May 16.

On May 7, the agency gave a clean chit to Gujarat’s former home minister Amit Shah, citing insufficient evidence.

http://muslimmirror.com/eng/achche-din- ... ncounters/

[AmmarHussaini]

Silence is the virtue of fools, counseled Sir Francis Bacon. Throughout the long, silent era that was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s time in office, one longed to hear the good Singh speak extempore, for once without consulting his script and holding his audience’s eye. It never happened.
If his long pauses were far from pregnant, when he did speak, or rather read dutifully and sonorously from what his speechwriters wrote for him, you could never accuse him of being excessively emotional, let alone suitably melodramatic even in most stressful of situations. You could depend on the good Singh to be always reassuringly restrained and stolid. A virtue obviously much prized and cherished by the Congress and its equally staid and unadventurous mother-and-son leadership.
Indeed, none of the holy trinity of the grand old party — Prime Minister Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her ever confused son — were seen as very communicative or comfortable around the ever nosey and noisy Indian media.
All three — and by example the whole hapless flock — jealously guarded their silence even as crises and political storms were breaking all around them on a daily basis.
Silence — enigmatic, often confounding and exasperating silence — defined the 10 years, especially the last few years, of the Congress-led UPA rule. But silence is hardly golden when people are looking for answers and explanation from their leaders. Of course, the overwhelming smell of sleaze and spate of scams, coupled with the clever communal polarization of the last few years, did have a critical role to play in the decimation of the Congress and company.
But if there’s one single factor that helped Narendra Modi land himself and the Parivar a decisive and defining victory, it was without doubt the deafening silence of the Congress leadership.
The ubiquitous, ever talkative, ever verbose, ever tweeting, ever sharing and Facebooking Modi appeared as a gift from above to a bite-starved nation. Especially when an overwhelming majority of the country is young and compulsively communicative. Like the young elsewhere, they spend most of their time in cyberspace or glued to their smartphones, sharing every tiny nugget of their exciting lives online every minute of the day.
How a 62-year old semi-literate man was able to establish instant rapport with this information-hungry, communication crazy young generation while the young, Western educated Gandhi scion failed to connect is something that still remains a mystery for the Congress-wallahs. But is it really a mystery?
After long years of grating silence in Lutyens’ Delhi, Modi’s love for his own voice, his oratory in the fashion of inimitable Vajpayee, never passing an opportunity to pontificate on virtually everything under the sun came as a refreshing change for a nation craving to hear its leaders speak forcefully and effectively for once. And I say this as someone who has had no love lost for the man from Gujarat.
During the long and grueling campaign, Modi was virtually everywhere, traveling the length and breadth of the country, and earning himself a record of addressing the largest number of public meetings. His face was perpetually plastered on our television screens and leapt at you every morning from newspaper front pages.
“My God, kitna bolta hai yeh shakhs,” my wife would often complain.
Let’s give the devil his due though. The guy had the gift of the gab, even if you did not always agree with him. And he always had something to say, even if it was about the same saffron-tinted dreams that the Parivar has worked all these years to realize.
As a friendly journalist noted, it was finally great to have a leader who could speak and connect with the people. A militant follower of Modi who obsessively trolls me has convinced himself that his hero is the greatest world statesman and communicator the world has ever seen.
Well, this is precisely what multitudes of diehard fans thought about Fuhrer as well. That aside, why has the great communicator and world statesman abruptly fallen silent since he took office though? He was totally and embarrassingly out of his depth at the recent BRICS summit in Brazil, almost shaking and perpetually shuffling feet during his uninspiring speech. And this had nothing to do with his comfort level with Queen’s English. It’s something that comes from good education and breeding, something that the RSS which teaches martial arts and even use of arms to its members is yet to offer its pracharaks.
But you cannot hold that against Modi. Men with little education and experience have proven capable leaders. What is disconcerting is the new-found silence of the man who loved to mock his predecessor as ‘Maun Maun Singh’ (Silent, Manmohan Singh).
After speaking non-stop for nearly a year like there’s no tomorrow — he would go “bhaiyyo aur bahno” at the drop of a hat — the cat seems to have got his tongue. Which in a way is a relief. It’s like calm after the storm.
However, there are times when leaders are not only expected to speak, it’s a dereliction of duty if they do not. At times like these silence is criminal. The Congress-led UPA government was repeatedly guilty of it and you know what happened to it.
Within days of Modi’s grand, imperial style inauguration, watched around the world with keen interest, Mohsin Sheikh, a young Pune techie, was bludgeoned to death by BJP’s allies. We did not hear a single word in condemnation from the prime minister. There has been a surge in crimes against women across the country. A BJP MP and minister in his own Cabinet is accused of rape. Anti-Muslim violence in Assam continues unabated with more killings reported earlier this month. Uttar Pradesh, from where Modi was elected to Parliament, has been repeatedly rocked by communal riots, thanks to the antics of BJP lawmakers from the state.
People like Sangeet Som, known for their role in Muzaffarnagar pogrom, have been on the rampage doing what they do best. Bihar BJP leader Giriraj Singh who threatened to send every Modi critic to Pakistan has been breathing fire against Muslims all over again despite a police case against him.
Another BJP leader from Kashmir, a minister in Modi’s Cabinet no less, has outraged the already alienated Kashmiris by promising to abrogate the special status accorded to Jammu and Kashmir. There are others who have been clamoring for the imposition of Uniform Civil Code and building of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, the issues that the BJP was supposed to have put on the back burner.
But we are yet to see the prime minister, who promised “good governance and development for all” ad nauseam throughout his campaign, discipline these loyal soldiers.
The latest incident of a bunch of Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim staffer in Delhi has outraged the entire country. What does the prime minister think of this exemplary conduct of his allies, members of Parliament no less?
All these incidents point to an emerging pattern. Clearly, this is how India is going to be ‘governed and developed’ now. Ashok Singhal of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, BJP’s ideological twin which paved the way for the party’s rise and rise through its long and sustained Ayodhya movement in the 80s and 90s, offered a peek into the shape of things to come in an interview with Hindustan Times.
Describing the BJP victory as a “big blow to Muslims” he warned the community that it was time to learn to behave. Hailing Modi as an “ideal swayamsevak” who would deliver on the Hindutva agenda unlike Vajpayee, Singhal said it was time for Muslims to learn their lessons: “Muslims must learn to respect Hindu sentiments. If they keep opposing Hindus, how long can they survive?”
He advised Muslims to give up their claim on the Babri Masjid and mosques like Kashi and Mathura that the Sangh claims to be temples. “If they don’t accept it, they should be prepared for further Hindu consolidation. It has happened at the center, it will happen in other states.”
Talking of the unprecedented mobilization by the Sangh Parivar during the polls, Singhal declared: “We worked because it was our duty. The important thing is the agenda must be fulfilled.” Yes, the Agenda. How could we ever forget it? And who would stop the Parivar from pushing through with it when it has all its chosen men in the right places. So whether Modi speaks now or chooses to remain silent, the actions would speak for themselves. ‘Ache din’ have finally arrived.

• Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Gulf-based writer.

[ghulam muhammed]

Science lesson from Gujarat: Stem cells in Mahabharata, cars in Veda

Gujarat’s new compulsory reading list for government primary and secondary students doesn’t just seek to educate students on “facts” about India’s culture, history and geography. It also has its own take on science, particularly landmark inventions.

“…America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell research, but the truth is that India’s Dr Balkrishna Ganpat Matapurkar has already got a patent for regenerating body parts…. You would be surprised to know that this research is not new and that Dr Matapurkar was inspired by the Mahabharata. Kunti had a bright son like the sun itself. When Gandhari, who had not been able to conceive for two years, learnt of this, she underwent an abortion. From her womb a huge mass of flesh came out. (Rishi) Dwaipayan Vyas was called. He observed this hard mass of flesh and then he preserved it in a cold tank with specific medicines. He then divided the mass of flesh into 100 parts and kept them separately in 100 tanks full of ghee for two years. After two years, 100 Kauravas were born of it. On reading this, he (Matapurkar) realised that stem cell was not his invention. This was found in India thousands of years ago.” — Page 92-93, Tejomay Bharat

“We know that television was invented by a priest from Scotland called John Logie Baird in 1926. But we want to take you to an even older Doordarshan… Indian rishis using their yog vidya would attain divya drishti. There is no doubt that the invention of television goes back to this… In Mahabharata, Sanjaya sitting inside a palace in Hastinapur and using his divya shakti would give a live telecast of the battle of Mahabharata… to the blind Dhritarashtra”. — Page 64

“What we know today as the motorcar existed during the Vedic period. It was called anashva rath. Usually a rath (chariot) is pulled by horses but an anashva rath means the one that runs without horses or yantra-rath, what is today a motorcar. The Rig Veda refers to this…” — Page 60

The 125-page book, Tejomay Bharat, that these passages are excerpted from was recently mandated as supplementary reading by the Gujarat government for all government primary and secondary schools.

Tejomay Bharat is to be distributed along with eight books written by Dina Nath Batra, a member of the national executive of Vidya Bharati, the educational wing of the RSS. Batra’s books, translated into Gujarati and published by the GSSTB, have also been mandated as supplementary reading by the state government.

Each of these books carries a customised message from Narendra Modi, as then chief minister, while Batra’s books praise him and the GSSTB. Tejomay Bharat carries a message from Modi praising the GSSTB for republishing the book.

Tejomay Bharat also objects to the country being called India. “We should not demean ourselves by calling our beloved Bharatbhoomi by the shudra (lowly) name ‘India’. What right had the British to change the name of this country?… We should not fall for this conspiracy and forget the soul of our country (Page 53).”

“It is better to die for one’s religion. An alien religion is a source of sorrow,” the book says on Page 118. “Guru Gobind Singh had four sons — Ajit Singh, Juzar Singh, Zoravar Singh and Fateh Singh… King’s men tried hard to convince them, but they courageously replied, ‘Our grandfather Guru Tegh Bahadur gave his head for saving Hindu religion and we will also give our lives but will never leave our religion’.”

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... n-veda/99/

[ghulam muhammed]

Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, an organisation affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has set up Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Aayog (Indian Education Policy Commission), the first commission of its kind in the non-governmental sector, to study "the present education system and suggest corrective steps to make it Bharat-centric". Likely to be headed by
Dinanath Batra - who shot to fame when he pulped American scholar Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism - this body is being seen as RSS' effort to mount pressure on the Narendra Modi-led government to implement the Sangh agenda of "saffronisation" of education and to prevent the latter from diverting from its core ideals.

[ghulam muhammed]

Bhagwant Mann grills modi on ' achhe din' in parliament YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJvh3VwPwBw

[AmmarHussaini]

Bismillah,

it seems I cracked down an important question that why SMB gave importance to modi by inviting him to masjid and giving him honor,

this exact question was asked by a muslim to his shaykh and the reply is satisfactory.

Question:

ASA, respected Shaykh.
My name is [private] from Pakistan. This is a very difficult question for me to put in words, as I want to clear my mind on an issue, and at the same time maintain utmost respect to the honorable Shyakh (R.A).

About 1 and half years ago, the honorable Shaykh Nazim Kabani (R.A) had a meeting with former Pakistani dictator Pervaiz Musharraf. Recently I watched that video on the youtube. It was rather shocking to see the way Shaykh sahab treated that man. He was treated as if he being a Syed (it is only claimed by Musharraf) gave him a clean slate to do whatever he likes to do with ordinary people and even making fun of teaching of Rasoolullah SAW.

Let me point out the following:
1. He is the person who would openly ridicule Islamic laws and would say (published in various newpapers from time to time) that Muslims are backward because of their belief in Aaakhira and it makes them unprogressive.
2. He is responsible for selling many people (including women) to usa just to strengthen his rule (he admitted these facts in his own book)
3. He killed 93 people (officially admitted by himself), even though the official claims are over 1000, mercilessly. Even old women were burnt with phosphorus chemicals. I agree that the Lal masjid people might have exaggerated in their activities, but they were willing to surrender at the operation. But the “Honorable” and “Syed” Pervaiz decided to make example of them by killing/burning them and denying to them even surrender.
4. He razed dozens of mosques (including many which were built even before Pakistan came into being in 1947. He would call mosques as security threats (a well known fact by all Pakistanis)
5. The list can go on and on, but I believe that a wise man can understand even from very few words (not necessary many big paragraphs).

That’s why in the beginning I mentioned that this is a very difficult question to put in proper words. Here are my questions after the necessary background.

“IT IS TRUE THAT WALI-ULLAH ARE SUPPOSED TO RESPECT PEOPLE, BUT WHY RESPECT IS ONLY DESERVED BY THEM WHO HAVE HIGH SOCIAL STATUS (may I remind soorah “Abas” about the blind man). Are other common people (like me) are treated with same respected and protocol at your place?

“WHY DID SHAYKH THINK NECESSARY TO GIVE HIS DASTAR (head cover) TO A KILLER AND MOCKERER OF ISLAM? Was a normal protocol of meeting in a commonly respectable way not enough”?

Kindly get me a reply by whoever is in charge in Shaykh’s (RA) place. Being a Muslim I think that it is my right to know the answer for my satisfaction. (I MAY BE WRONG ABOUT MY BAD FEELINGS ON THIS ISSUE). If I do NOT get any reply, then I will assume the worst (which will lead a Muslim away from a sufi order in which he believes in) and conclude that respect is only for a certain title holders and worldly status people (how can it be different from Hindu Brahmanism).

Kindly forgive my strong words, but they represent my feelings.

With best regards,


Answer:

Dear Brother,

wa `alaykum salam,
It is not the job of the Shaykh to pass judgement on Pervez Musharraf or on anyone who visits him. Rather it is his job to pull the heart of that person towards Islam. Else how could Sayyidina Muhammad (s) have sat with the likes of Khalid bin Waleed who, as general of the Quraysh, killed countless Muslims, before his conversion, or Sayyidina ‘Umar (r) who tortured and harmed the new Muslim converts of Mecca?

Shaykh leaves the judgement to Allah (swt) and, as necessary, the courts of law, and his intention is to pull in the heart towards truth and repentance. If in fact, Shaykh were to judge his visitors, not one of us could stand up to his scrutiny.

Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah bless his soul, often used to say, “When you see me treat someone extra special, then beware of that one,” meaning “we soothe the egos of the wild harmful ones to avoid their harm to us and to our friends and associates.”

And Allah knows best.

[AmmarHussaini]

I am yet to find why SMB would kill wild animals and travel a lot and why he would tolerate corruption just under his nose.

Inshallah

[ghulam muhammed]

Nagpur Bosses Tighten The Screws

The RSS is keeping a hawk’s eye on the BJP lest Narendra Modi and Amit Shah establish complete hegemony over the party and the government.

Make no mistake about it. The subtext of the RSS-BJP relationship is undergoing a subtle change. Beyond the palpable sense of accomplishment in the saffron brigade over recent developments that translated into a phenomenal electoral verdict in the BJP’s favour, there is something far too intricate and complex that is also being played out. The decision to depute Ram Madhav, who is slated to assume an important profile in his current calling, shows that the RSS does not want any let up in its resolve to ensure that the BJP’s recent electoral success is not frittered away. The Sangh’s anxiety is in marked contrast to its time-held protestations that it leaves the political role to the BJP while it carries on with socio-cultural work. Nagpur’s ironclad control over the offspring has actually become deeper still.

http://www.tehelka.com/rss-keeps-eye-on ... overnment/

[ghulam muhammed]

Modi sends Advani, BJP old guard into exile

While some senior citizens have been compensated for keeping their faith in the party through good times and bad times by their nomination to gubernatorial posts, others, including the more ambitious ones, have been kept waiting in the wings.

Among them are the old war horses - L.K. Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi - who had once sent shivers down secular spines by venturing forth in a 'rath' (chariot) to "liberate" holy shrines from Muslim possession, or rewriting history to bring it in line with the saffron interpretations of the past.

In politics, as in life, "there is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries". In Advani's case, his present marginalization reflects this waning of the tide.

True, he may be made the president after Pranab Mukherjee's term is over. But it is possible that the pomp and circumstance of the ceremonial post will not make up for the adrenalin rush of real power which the prime minister wields.

As he contemplates what might have been, Advani will probably wonder about the mysterious ways of providence which enabled someone, who was a marginal figure when he was riding high on his Somnath-to-Ayodhya rath in 1990, to ascend to the PM's position with widespread acclaim as he sulked in the background.

These bulldozing tactics involving some of the old faithful not only herald the dawn of a new era in the BJP but also signal the end of old-world civility for the sake of cold political calculations.

From long before the time when Advani wanted the anointment of Modi to be put off till after the assembly elections in December were over, the octogenarian has made no secret of his own desire to be the PM although he cannot have been unaware that he had little support within the party since his candidature for the post in 2009 had no impact on the BJP's dismal status at the time.

Advani's future, therefore, is uncertain. One cannot be too sure that Modi will let him become the president. Sushma, however, has apparently been forgiven. But if she has been chosen for the external affairs minister's position, the probable reason is the paucity of talent in the BJP - which has led to Arun Jaitley being saddled with the two "heavy" portfolios of finance and defence - rather than a show of magnanimity by Modi.

Full Article :-

https://in.news.yahoo.com/modi-sends-ad ... 54157.html

[ghulam muhammed]

[ghulam muhammed]

Despite their pleas to build a bridge, these Gujarat kids swim daily to reach school

About 125 children from 16 tribal villages of Sankheda taluka — Sajanpura, Chamarwada, Vasan, Angadi, Kashipura, Kukreli, Doodhpur, Nandpur, Sitaphali, Devla, Surajgola, Hatgol and Dharmapura among others — cross the raging Hiran every day to get to the school. The students then sit through classes, in their drenched uniform, and make the journey back home in Sankheda at 5 pm, taking the same water route.

Every morning, Geeta Baria reaches the banks of the Hiran at 7 am sharp, carrying her school books in a plastic bag. The Class IX girl from Sajanpura village in the tribal-dominated Chhota Udepur district of Gujarat also carries a Gohri, a 20-litre brass pot. The pot is precious as without it she and her five friends — all girls — can’t reach their school. They hold on to the pot to stay afloat and cross the 600 metre-wide river.

Every day, the father of one of the girls volunteers to swim with them across the river. It takes them 30 minutes to cross the river — and reach Sewada village. They then have to walk 5 km to their school, the Utavadi Prathmik and Uchh Prathmik Shala in Utavadi village.

Drenched, the girls wring their churidaar-kurta uniforms before reaching out for their slippers, safely brought inside the pot.

For the past seven years, the villagers have been petitioning authorities to construct a bridge to connect the villages of Narmada district with Chhota Udepur across the Hiran.

“The authorities are telling us that the bridge has been approved and it will be constructed to connect Kareli village in Tilakwada taluka in Narmada district with Chamarwada in Sankheda taluka of Chhota Udepur so that the children can cross safely. However, nothing has taken off despite our pleas nor have we received any communication in reply to our petitions,”

“We are worried that the currents will take away some child one day. A group of villagers stand on both sides to watch them cross and we immediately scream to alert the children if the river swells or something is spotted in the waters,”

“We girls cannot swim without uniforms. So we get wet. During the summers, the clothes dry by the time we reach school but in winters and monsoon, our clothes remain wet through the day.”

Chauhan says he had drawn the attention of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the construction of the bridge in 2009, during a ceremony in Rajpipla to felicitate Chauhan’s freedom fighter father Punjabhai Kabhai Chauhan.

“Modiji had promised that bridge would be ready soon. But in spite of numerous promises, the elusive bridge is stuck in red tape,” he says.

http://indianexpress.com/article/india/ ... school/99/

[ghulam muhammed]

The Modi Sarkar: Initial Symptoms

Ram Puniyani

It is already over two months that Narendra Modi has taken over as the prime minister of the country. While some may call it as a ‘honey moon period’ others will say that its actions during last few months are an indication enough of shape of things to come. It goes without saying that Modi is the Pracharak of RSS, which is aiming at converting the secular democratic India into a Hindu Rashtra. Modi came to power with many planks, many factors went into his victory, one of that was the catchy phrase’ “Acche Din Aane Wale hain” For the people, who have been restless due to rising prices and inflation, there has been no respite and many of them have started feeling the regret of being taken in by the propaganda of Acche din… As such this was a major propaganda point so a large section of people are disgruntled.

This Government did begin with a major initiative in the area of relationship with the South Asian neighbors. It invited all the heads of South Asian countries for swearing in ceremony. People had their eyes on the invitation for the Pakistani Prime Minister Navaz Sharif as the BJP’s longest ally Shiv sena was opposed to it. Overruling objections from Shiv Sena, Modi went ahead in getting Sharif to visit to India. This may open the path of peaceful relations with the neighbours, Pakistan in particular. One knows that a peaceful neighbourhood is more conducive for growth and development and India has to gain a lot in terms of trade, education and medical facilities being opened up for these countries and making a good deal of revenue. At another level the Government showed its shift away from India’s West Asia policy as Sushma Swaraj, the Foreign minister went on to equate Palestine, the victim with the oppressor Israel, who has violated most of the UN resolutions. The vote on this matter did follow the Indian policy so far, and that is a matter of great relief. Modi as Prime minister is wearing his religion on his sleeve. Be it participation in Ganga Aarti in Varanasi or participating in Puja in Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal, he has no qualms about doing the same as the head of a theoretically secular state.

The formation of the Government gave a signal that doubtful elements like Sanjeev Balyaan, who is widely seen as having a major hand in Muzzafarnagar violence, as a reward for his role in the communalization of the polity and this is something which needs discouragement if we want to preserve the integrity of the nation.

The case of Gopal Subramanian, an outstanding advocate, came as a shock to many as he is known to be competent and upright. He was denied the nomination as the judge on Supreme Court bench. One recalls that as Amicus curie of the Court Mr. Subramaiam had brought forth the links of Sohrabuddin fake encounter and the present BJP President Amit Shah, it is suspected that to be the reason for this denial. Subramaniam Swamy the top leader of BJP showed his discomfort with Gopal Subramaniam as according to Mr. Swami, Gopal had hurt the feelings of Hindus in the case of Ram Setu issue.

On other fronts there are symptoms which are ominous so to say. Right in the beginning, a confidential report was deliberately leaked that the major foreign funded NGOs, like Green Peace are retarding the country’s growth. We know that this foreign funding is regulated by the home ministry and there are enough checks and balances to prevent adverse use of funds. This leaking of the report and the utterances of the top Govt officials has sent the message down the line where by the harassment of these NGOs has come up retarding their work. Surely these NGOs are also the ones who have been fighting for the cause of environment, problems related to poverty and other issues related to peoples’ empowerment. As such these dissenting voices should be an integral part of a caring democracy.

While MHRD minister has not stated clearly but Mr. Dinanath Batra of Shiksha Bachao Abhiyan Samiti has stated that he met the HRD minister who has promised him to change the school syllabus to make it in tune with the ideology of RSS, which is parochial and sectarian. Similar changes were brought in during the NDA regime 1999. A sample of this was to introduce courses like Jyotish Shatra (Astrology) and Paurohitya (Performance of religious rituals) in our universities. The government instruction to celebrate the Sanskrit week was seriously opposed by many states, Tamil Nadu in particular. The appointment of Prof Y.Sudrashan Rao tells the tale as to in which direction our research is going to be directed. Prof Rao has been working on the project to prove the historicity of Mahabharat. He has also come forward in the defense of caste system on the grounds that it worked and that nobody had complained about it.

During this period the affiliated wings of RSS have become bolder. In particular the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders like Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia have given speeches which are very frightening to the religious minorities. In a way such elements are openly threatening the Muslims. Singhal claimed that Modi's victory was a blow to Muslim politics because it showed elections could be won without Muslim support. He also claimed that Modi is an "ideal" RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) volunteer who would implement the Hindutva agenda

It is no coincidence that the Goa’s BJP’s deputy Chief Minister went on to say that he is a Hindu Christian, this deliberate confusion being the earlier use of Hindu as a geographical category to the presently used religious category in a way is the violation of the religious freedom of the minorities in India. Another BJP MLA opposed Sania Mirza being appointed as the brand ambassador of Telangana, on the ground that she is ‘daughter-in-law’ of Pakistan. This statement goes against our Constitution and has not been strongly opposed by the top leadership, who has soft peddled the issue giving a wrong signal.

The so called Hindutva agenda is being brought into operation slowly. The minorities affairs minister Nazma Heptullah stated that Muslims are not a minority, while Parsis are. Parsis are a comparatively better off community while Sachar Committeee tells us the plight of Muslim community and need to initiate affirmative action for them. The Article 370, which was brought in due to peculiar circumstances and is a bridge between Indian and Kashmir, is being questioned. The Uniform civil code is being bandied without going into the subtle nuances of social reform and the need for grounding of such a law in the concept of Gender Justice. These topics have been debated endlessly and need to be handled taking along the opinions of people of Kashmir on ones hand and women from minority community on the other.

The need is to ensure that interests of the country’s people are kept uppermost, the way invitation to Nawaz Sharif shows, should be appreciated. The other measures show that there is an attempt to undermine the diverse nature of our polity, there is an attempt to bring in RSS agenda through education and culture, which are dangerous and need to be opposed.

[ghulam muhammed]

Modi sympathizers among India’s public intellectuals are penning columns oozing disappointment

The honeymoon is truly over for prime minister Narendra Modi.

The assessment about his government’s performance in the first 74 days in office, even among those seen as his supporters, is bleak.

Over the last few weeks, a growing number of newspaper columns from well-known academics and public intellectuals have expressed disenchantment with the Narendra Modi government. Particularly notable are the ones penned by those who were seen as Modi’s most visible sympathisers during his election campaign.

They believe Modi is starting to be seen as politically weak and indecisive as the previous prime minister. Most of their criticism centres around the government’s lacklustre Budget in July, India’s present WTO stance and Modi’s silence on key issues. Some fear status quo-loving bureaucrats are hijacking the government’s growth agenda.

Following are some of the recent columns by erstwhile Modi enthusiasts:

http://qz.com/246073/modi-sympathizers- ... pointment/

[ghulam muhammed]

The end of the 'Gujarat model': The next communal riot will not be televised

The pattern of Hindu-Muslim riots following the tumult in Gujarat in 2002 suggests that the new sites of communal violence are now deliberately chosen so as to evade the withering scrutiny of national media, particularly 24x7 TV news channels.

The masterminds of such communal violence have shifted their activities from bustling cities to decaying towns and their rural periphery.

Think of the major sites of communal disturbances over the last 12 years, beginning from 2003, the year after the riots. Mau in Uttar Pradesh, Gopalgarh in Rajasthan, Kokrajhar in Assam, Bettiah in Bihar, villages around the west UP towns of Muzaffarnagar, Kanth, Saharanpur and Meerut, to even Mewat, merely miles away from the millennium city of Gurgaon.

All these pockets of conflict lie outside the hub of national media, which are headquartered in Delhi or Mumbai and boast fulltime representatives in the state capitals.

This shifting of the site of communal violence is a sharp riposte to those who expounded, in commemorative TV programmes and print editions marking the 10th year of the Gujarat riots, the sheer implausibility of triggering mayhem in the age of mass media.

Describing Gujarat 2002 as the country’s first ‘televised riots’, it was claimed that the coverage spawned revulsion against the Gujarat government’s perceived partisan approach to tackling violence. Regardless of the advantages that accrued to the BJP in Gujarat, 2002 still remains a blot on its history, as dark as 1984 is for the Congress.

It is to offset the disadvantages arising from the national media’s coverage of mass violence that its masterminds have thought it prudent to shift to creaky towns and their sleepy peripheries.

Muzaffarnagar or Moradabad or Saharanpur may just be hours from Delhi, but because journalists are not embedded in the local milieu, with no clue of either festering communal problems or of the deliberate fanning of tension, they often arrive at such places long after the violence has erupted and devastated.

There are no images of murderous mobs on the rampage to telecast, no shocking justifications of violence to record, as had been the case with the coverage of the riots in Gujarat.

Call it the power of moving images, but an expression of mob fury captured live has a more telling impact than a victim describing it in his or her disconsolate voice.

It’s to escape the omnipresent eye of the national media that riots are now increasingly triggered at such places where it would take the national media hours or at least a day or two to reach.

READ FULL ARTICLE :-

http://m.firstpost.com/india/the-end-of ... 61067.html