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 

Bharat Ratna -The dynasty has self awarded it

Like most prestigious awards in the world, our own 'crown jewel' of awards - the Bharat Ratna is mired with insider trading vested interests.  If you run through the list of 41 Bharat Ratna awardees in the past 60 years, you will see that the majority of politician recipients are congressmen or congress allies.  Glaring among them are the dynastic rulers - Nehru, Indira and Rajiv.  Considering that these are awards given by the President of India on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, the dynasty has self awarded it shamelessly.  Some tall national leaders like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr Ambedkar were awarded posthumously after four and three decades of their death respectively, just in order to be politically correct, but the dynastic rulers of Nehru family enjoyed it all during their life.

Sooner or later, our lame duck Prime Minister Shri Manmohan Singhji and their larger than life benefactor Madam Sonia Gandhi ji will be awarded this coveted title.  And Rahul is undoubtedly standing in queue and is readying his make-up for the ceremony.  If Congress comes back to power, you will watch my words coming true.  But the nation is surely in another mood this time.

I often think that like the Nobel Peace Prize disgracing itself by not being conferred on Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Ratna is also being disgraced by the petty politics surrounding it.  There is also this wide disparity in the calibre of people who received Bharat Ratna.  Rajiv Gandhi is no comparison to Sardar Patel, for example.  Indira Gandhi disgraced the constitution by her dictatorial actions while Ambedkar brought it to life, upholding the democratic principles.  Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who epitomized self-less politics of patriotism like Lal Bahadur Shastri was not considered for the award because he did not belong to Congress party in the end.  Not naming, I can see some congress sycophants in the list of Bharat Ratna awardees.  It has been an award that has lost its grace, dignity and high standards of recognition.  On hindsight, it is good that the Bharat Ratna was not awarded to Mahatma Gandhi as we Indians would not like to see him in the same league of his namesakes.

The table below speak volumes about how dynastic rulers of Nehru family enjoyed Bharat Ratan, all during their life.

No            Name                    Died             Awarded in        Time gap in getting Award

1. Jawahar Lal Nehru             1964               1955                      9 yrs before his death

2. Indira Gandhi                      1984               1971                     13 yrs before her death

3. Rajiv Gandhi                        1991               1991                      Same year of his death

4. Sardar Vallabbhai Patel   1950               1991                     41 yrs after his death

5. Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar     1956               1990                     34 yrs after his death

V K Saxena

President

National Council for Civil Liberties

Ahmedabad

Zero to Nero: King Singh's silent fiddle

Till I realized that Manmohan Singh is the 13th Prime Minister of India, I had not believed that 13 is a number of misfortune.

If you ever thought that to serve for 10 years as the Prime Minister of the largest democracy in the world, one would require enormous political acumen, dynamism, courage of commitment and shrewd skills of governance, you have now seen a man of irritating silence belie your beliefs.  He did not speak a word that you would quote, did not do a thing that you would appreciate and did not change a thing that you would remember.  It is often said that India contributed the digit 'zero' to the world of science and civilization.  Now, here is a man who contributed 'zero' to the national life.  He occupied an unforgettable time space in the history of this country but is not leaving behind anything unforgettable.  Oh... perhaps that is his unforgettable contribution - the zero.

You have been lucky - we are an extraordinarily patient and forgiving people, Mr. Manmohan Singh.  You sat fat over the burgeoning commodity prices in the country - chalo, maaf kar diya.  You brought us down from being a growing global economic giant to a fumbling trade dwarf - chalo, maaf kar diya.  You made corruption the most popular occupation of the country - chalo maaf kar diya.  You broke the largest democratic anti-corruption movement by just your stoic silence and inaction - chalo maaf kar diya.  And you stole 10 years of my children's life by driving our national lives into insignificance - chalo maaf kar diya.

But what this nation cannot forgive is your becoming a Nero from being Zero and fiddling with silence when our borders are burning the pyres of our soldiers.  The enemy enters our national space and shoots down our sons who guard the country - and you don't speak a word!  The enemy has roasted the valleys of our frontier states, routinely trespassed into our soils, beheaded and thrown the bodies of our men for the vultures to eat and made a mockery of a nation of over a billion people.  Do you still want play the fiddle of silence and your facial melancholy?  

Any other nation would have waged a war by now on the enemy to protect itself.  Any other Head of State would have spoken like the true son of the soil to unify his country and focus his politics towards defending the motherland.  It is a pity that in a country where a train accident would demand of the rail minister to resign and a crime in the city would demand of the chief of law and order to step down, an attack on the nation and killing of its soldiers routinely and repeatedly would not demand of its Prime Minister to even speak a word of courage.

Mr. Prime Minister, fiddle as you may when your home is on fire.  You will soon be overcome and forgotten. 

VK Saxena

President,

National Council For Civil Liberties,

Ahmedabad

Stand aside Alps, my Himalayas could be better

The Himalayas are a beautiful mountain range.  The glacier lined passes of Kashmir and Himachal, steep valleys and pilgrimages of Garhwal, rolling hills of Kumaon and the verdant peaks of Arunachal that gradually slope into the North East are uniquely endowed with a timeless charm.  It takes years to have a good glimpse of the Himalayas.  With the mountain roads that are winding and bridges that are far in between, it often takes days to get across a few hundred kilometres.  The peaks are to be seen from a distance as they are too remote to reach and require special gear and training to trek.  People still walk for days to reach pilgrimages of Kedarnath, Yamunotri and the rest as the mule tracks in the mountain have remained just the way they were in the time of our fore-bearers.  With all these, while the word 'Himalayas' brings to the mind a sense of beauty, serenity, spirituality and peace, it also reminds of how remote, unreachable, treacherous and cumbersome the route to the mountain is.  For many people, it is a journey of life and often a brush with death.  And when bad weather strikes the mountains, all hell breaks loose like it did last month in Uttrakhand.  And for those who live in the villages that dot the mountain-scape, electricity, water and communication are a far cry.   

I toured Switzerland last month and could not resist from comparing it to the Himalayas.  Alps is not as high as Himalayas and Switzerland is just a fraction of the size of India.  Although Switzerland lacks the talent and human capacity of the big and bright India, Alps is a tamed mountain of human will to reach and let others reach.  Every peak in Alps is at the hand reach of anyone as the cable car lines and train network  are drawn up to wherever one wants to go.  The roads, bridges, air traffic and rail roads reach nearly every valley and peak, offering a multitude of means for the traveller to pick and choose his way to the top of Alps.  Far flung villages in the mountain have power, water and internet and the villages are much more convenient and attractive than cities to visit and live in.

Rail network for beautiful JUNGFRAUJOCH Mountain, top of Europe, was planned in the year 1893, blasting work in the tunnel started in the year 1898 and the First station was opened in 1899 and after commissioning several new stations, Jungfraujoch railway station at an altitude of 11,333 feet was commissioned in the year 1912. Not only this at a height of more than 11,000 feet, various world class  facilities such as luggage lockers,  Panorama 360 degree Cinema experience, a terrace connecting two hills, snow games, ice palace, restaurants and shops are also created to take care of every demand of the tourists. A rail museum highlights how the construction was done some 100 years back. Not only this, they have also created a Whether Research Centre there to keep a constant watch on the Glacier and to record any atmospheric changes in the region. Similar kind of facilities are created in other mountains such as Titlis and Rigi also.

 I also noticed that by stone pitching, banks of all rivers and lakes were properly sealed to prevent any kind of erosion which keeps the water absolutely clean.

It takes commitment, perseverance and imagination to turn earth into heaven.  If a small nation like Switzerland with a limited access to talented human resource could do it, a large nation, like India, with an unlimited source of human imagination and skills can very well surpass it.  

All we need is a dream, a plan, a resolve and a leader to change the landscape.  

V.K.Saxena

President

National Council For Civil Liberties