Land'ing an untenable argument: Priyanka's crash landing

What a pity! And what a comparison Priyanka is making between the land grabbing of her husband with the land development by Adanis in Gujarat.  What Robert Vadra did was something that the Sicilian Mafiosi does in the homeland of his mother- in-law.  He bought the land without making payments and passed on to someone else for a profit, coercing the administration to oil the deal.

 He did not develop the land nor employ people nor show any social orientation, but in turn increased his earning and increased the land cost. And in trying to defend this sleazy deal, Priyanka is comparing it to a case of land allotment, development, employment generation, overall growth and social upliftment.  She has nose dived and crash landed her plane of political argument.

Mr Adani has already clarified that most of the land to his company was allotted by the Congress Govt in 1993.  Modi Govt has allotted only 5000 acres of land in 2006 for SEZ project, which was sanctioned by the current UPA Government after due diligence and observance of necessary procedures.

What Priyanka and Congress should note is that more than Rs 40,000 corers of investment came to Mundra during the last 10 yeas.  The project has generated more than15000 direct and indirect employment , over Rs 5000 to Rs 6000 corers of annual revenue generation to the Govt of India through excise and custom duties and above all, with  the development of a barren and marshy area,  the land cost benefit has directly accrued to local villagers. 

 Further, as recent as on 24th April 2014, the Gujarat High court refused  to interfere with the industrial policy of the Gujarat Government and rejected a PIL challenging the 'soft loan' and “land  allocation” to Tatas for the Nano plant  project in Sanand near Ahmedabad. The bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya in its order stated that "State's industrial policy has not been found inappropriate in connection with the land allocation for the establishment of Tata's Nano car plant, in which this court shall not intervene,"

Priyanka's love to keep her family peace is understandable. But her comparison of her husband's land deals with a national development plan is deplorable. In fact, she is drawing more attention to her husband's shady deal and is making him further infamous by taking the line of argument that she has.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Shameless Mulayam: Rape of civility

When you thought that civility is returning to public space at last after the nationwide protests against the fatal Delhi rape and the brutal Mumbai rape, here comes the most 'Shameless' statement of all.  A visibly senile, politically beguile and intellectually infertile Mulayam Singh Yadav of Samajvadi Party, now says - boys can make mistakes, suggesting that bestial rapists are just boys and the destruction of women's honour can easily be understated as mistake.  So, he nursed this obnoxious judgment all along in his mind and came out with it at a time when India is looking for change, a higher order of livelihood and an ascent on the ladder of civilization.  How could he say that?  And how could he nurse such thoughts?  And how could he be still a leader in our public lives?  Is this the so called 'Samajvad' that he professes?  

My mind goes back to 'Ramnagar Tiraha' incident of 1994 in Muzaffarnagar district, when Uttrakhand movement was at its zenith and the same Mulayam Singh was UP's Chief Minister.  The Uttrakhand activists were going to Delhi peacefully and in the middle of the night, Mulayam ordered the police to beat up young men, fire and kill the activists and rape women that were young or old.  From what he is saying today, all that happened in 1994 was just a small mistake.

In October 2013, Mulayam's boy Azam Khan unleashed his wrath in Muaffarnagar that resulted in a spate of mindless killing and rape.  Mulayam Singh did not even go the place till day before yesterday as he found it all just a mistake by his boys.  And at the help of affairs in UP is his own little boy, and some small mistakes of taking a few lives or raping a few women are not even noticeable by Mulayam.

Mulayam has exposed his grossly misogynistic male chauvinist mentality.  All those Heads of Khap Panchayats in Western UP and Haryana will now yell, 'didn't we always tell you that rape is just a mischief?  Didn't we tell you that it is always a woman's fault that she provokes men?  Didn't we also tell you that all women are liers and complain of rape just to teach men a lesson?'.  In one shot, Mulayam has brought back to life an era of jungle justice, turning all those beasts of men against women, with the large canopy of shameful protection he has given to the 'boys' of the world.

This speech is provocative, racist, sexist and a potential disruptor of public peace and social justice.  However high he stands on the political pyramid, Mulayam must be made to pay for this.  

This is a test of strength of Indian society.  Voting him out into an obscure political corner is the need in this election.

V K SAXENA
PRESIDENT
National Council for Civil Liberties

Ahmedabad

Rahul Gandhi's frustration eczema

Prince  Rahul  has an eczema of frustration that is making him scratch his skin and tear his hair.  His Lieutenants in South Block compromised national economy, national security and national civility, raking up billions for themselves and soaking up the nation in distress.  When the election time came, many of his lieutenants went on 'sick leave' and excused themselves from contesting.  His manifesto makers found no basis on which the future promises could stand.  His campaign managers and speech writers lost all imagination and lacked any talent to give the Prince some worthy ideas to speak on.  At a time like this, he bumped on a very personal but insignificant truth of Mr Modi's marital status and has jumped to the roof with excitement.

Who had ever denied that Mr Modi was married?  His marriage as a teenager forced a togetherness only for a week or more and was never consummated.  It was an arrangement his parents made and he left it in pursuit of his mind's call, never to return to its fold.  He neither lied to anyone nor did he betray anyone.  He just pursued a larger social purpose, unlike hopping into boats of opportunity like the Prince.  Whereas the Prince lived a lurid life of Italian innamorato, hopping from girlfriend to girlfriend, hidden from the public eye.

But is this an election issue of larger national interest that he should latch on to?  What does the Prince promise the people of India with his newfound excitement?  By his pervert argument that his opponent is married, is he addressing the problems facing the nation and its people?  Along with corruption, has he now also adopted perversion? 

Well, the Prince is covered in frustration eczema and is scratching all his political rashes.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

In the forthcoming elections, people's vote should be for NATION FIRST.

Yesterday morning near Hiranandani towers in Powai, Mumbai, even elite people stood in a long line to enroll themselves as voters for the next election.

When the Election officials refused to accept unattested documents to enroll people as voters, one person volunteered to attest all the documents and quickly brought his rubber stamp and stamp pad to start the process for enrollment of new voters. This elite class which has never voted in the past, did not mind the unpleasant March sun and the sweat involved in the process of securing their right to vote.

Similarly in Bangalore, Lucknow, Delhi, Ahmedabad and wide across the nation in small and big settlements alike - people stood in queue to be recognized as voters.  People of India have come to recognize the power of the ballot.  A mature society has evolved and forged ahead on the path of democracy.  Nation building has found its rightful architects and interior designers.  Indian Republic is in a highly charged state of political consciousness and democratic power.

Come April and May 2014!  India has to cleanse itself of dynasties and misrule of Nehruvian mammoth.  India has to shun the politics of mob mobilization and irresponsible opposition to civility and decorum.  India has to choose development over anarchy.  

The voters who have stood in long lines across the country to secure their right to vote should also rightly vote.  The largest democracy in the world should find its path, make its path, cleanse its path and show a new path to the world. That will be the real face of people's revolution. 

In the forthcoming elections, people's vote should be for NATION FIRST.

V K Saxena
President
NCCL
Ahmedabad

Beware of mob motivators‏ like Kejriwal and Medha

One is a self proclaimed anarchist.  The other is destructionist activist.  Arvind Kejriwal and Medha Patkar combine has been changing our democracy into mob activism.  They first locate flash points where mobs can be aroused and media can be attracted.  Then they walk into these zones provocatively and conspiratorially, just with an intention to stir up commotion, challenge law and order and walk out with a mask of martyr.  From within the melee they cause, they succeed in painting the face of governing establishment with excesses, albeit provoked. 

Medha Patkar has mastered this technique for years and is now gifting it to AAP as value of her addition to the party.  And since she has no face or courage to campaign in Gujarat, she has sent her front man Arvind Kejrival to the State to create chaos and confusion on the eve of polls.

BJP needs to stay calm and remain unprovoked.  Action and reaction cannot be equal and opposite in the political strategy because the reaction will always look larger than the action and will come under 'not so generous' scrutiny of the media.  Yesterday i.e on 5th March, what happened in Gujarat, Delhi and Lucknow concerning violence abetted by AAP is an example, wherein BJP has come under higher criticism than AAP.  This serves the purpose of AAP and its anarchist strategies.

At a time like this when the largest democracy on the planet is preparing to test its own tenacity, we should not give in, to the machinations of those like Medha and Arvind, for whom - the meaning of people and mob are the same.  

In the forthcoming election, we need to preserve the nation for the people and save it from the mob.  We need to rally behind people's leaders and not behind mob motivators.

VK Saxena

President 

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Kejriwal- Medha :Birds of the same feather have flocked together, once again, yet again.

Even when Arvind Kejriwal began explicitly exposing his core competence of creating chaos and running away from civilized ways of problem solving, his party became very attractive to Medha Patkar.  She found a natural ally whose violent and street-fighting manners were only equal to her.  The New Delhi sit-in had every sign of  Patkar flavour - no justification, no sophistication and no civilization.  It was a crudely attempted execution of mob mobilization that fell flat by its own weight.  And even in that fall, the wrestler got up and walked away believing that his moustache did not gather dust.

Similarities between Kejriwal and Patkar do not end there.  They both are vehemently opposed to national development in the guise of protecting the aam aadmi.  They both outwardly oppose foreign influence and investments in the country but have meticulously laid out pipelines to foreign countries for the funds to flow into their coffers.  They both have no respect for the judiciary, executive or parliament.  They share a vision of democracy, which is just collecting some lumpen elements and creating a furore, terming the misguided mob as democracy.  It is interesting that they both squat wherever they want and believe that governance and democracy begins from where they breathe.  There is a certain air of authoritarian and dictatorial attitude to both.

But in all such unions of vested interests, the end is disastrous.  Kejriwal has to recognize this and should see that his end is near when Medha's hand is in his.  Their coming together reminds me of the story of Mohini-Bhasmasura.  Here too, the fate would be the same.  Mohini will teach Bhasmasura to burn himself to ashes.  Kejriwal, who is already playing with fire has had an equally combustible street fighter friend with him now.

We knew that AAP will only be a guest for a few days.  But I never knew that they would place fire on their own attire so early in their political career.

V K Saxena

President

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Chicken in the Army

The Italian mother of the Indian prince taught him the most inglorious lesson on 16th January by asking him not to lead from the front as a Prime Ministerial nominee in the upcoming democratic battle for power.  The worst shame for a leader is to bear the cowardice of not leading his men from the front. An English proverb says - the righteous are bold as a lion.  Another one says - do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path.  An important satirical word by the famous American comedian of the last century says -  'you can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think'.  Rahul Gandhi has now become history's most coward leader who would not like to lead his men from the front for the fear of loss.  A leader is not a leader if he fears loss and tries to avoid the saddle of the front horse.  He would only be a chicken in the army.

Alexander the Great was known for his enormous boldness of leading from the front.  He strode like a lion from the front even in a losing war on his campaign in Asia and once, he almost lost his life in the defeat.  But he did not concede the frontal position to anyone but himself.  He dared death and defeat by being a true leader.  

One of first lessons Byram Khan taught young Akbar was the same - to lead from the front.  Akbar stuck to this lesson throughout his life and did lead from the front, no matter what the outcome of the war would be.  His adversary - Rana Pratap was another glaring example in Indian history for being bold in being in the front.

Within the Congress party, there was never this chicken-hearted approach to an election.  Even Indira Gandhi, grand mother of Rahul led her party from the front after the emergency.  She had complete knowledge of the rout she would face in the elections, but that did not deter her from leading her men from the front.  She lost, she accepted the defeat, learnt from that a lesson for future but left behind an example for her followers that no matter what the outcome would be, a leader has to lead from the front.

Congress is now bereft of any leader of substance.  A desperate mother is trying to safeguard a slippery throne to her son and is teaching cowardice.  People, party, policies and the nation do not matter for her.  What matters to her is the career of her son.  And the partymen are ready to stay behind a chicken and the mother hen in a war that would decide the fate and fortune of the most populous democracy in the world.

V K SAXENA
PRESIDENT
National Council for Civil Liberties,
 Ahmedabad