Flood in J&K - an opportunity to drown the differences‏

On one side, the debate on J&K was taking on a new dimension. Sociologists were discussing on the possibility of return of Kashmiri Pandits to the valley. Defence analysts were talking of the need to check mate Hurriyat.  Political commentators were wondering how National Conference has become irrelevant to the J&K context and how Abdullahs have overstayed their presence in the history of the land. ISI was ranting how Kashmir should be liberated from the so called Indian occupation. Nawaz Sharif had gone huddled in a closet with his coterie to think if he can bring up the issue of Kashmir this 'n'th time to safeguard his own shaking seat in the Govt. As always - the communal, political, social and regional difference were rife.

Then came the sudden, incessant and unending downpour of rains into the State.  The torrents submerged nearly half of Srinagar, killed over 160 people, displaced tens of thousands of people, destroyed homes and farmlands, tore down the flanks of the hills in landslides, broke up roads and bridges and within the blink of an eye - caused an unprecedented national disaster of sorts.  In one sweeping moment of nature, all the clamour of civilization, militarization, communalism and extremism was drowned till the nostrils to the shock and dismay of people, parties and Govts. J&K on both sides of the border and across the several man-made borders, came to remain under the fury of nature, the almighty.

There is a lesson in this disaster, which is loud and clear.

Divided community, divided ideology, divided nation, divided region, divided polity and a manipulated state of existence do not provide you the strength of cooperation, mutual tolerance and mutual help that are needed to prosper and keep the nostrils in the air of existence.  If we are already half drowned under the divisive forces, it only takes very little for us to fully drown under the reality of our planetary survival.

This flood is a lesson.  This flood is an opportunity to drown our differences and stick our heads above the rising water. The Indian Prime Minister has already reached out to his Pakistani counterpart, offering assistance in flood relief operations in the areas "across the Line of Control", which is certainly a good initiative.

V K Saxena

NCCL 

Ahmedabad

Triangular world of three Muslim Spheres‏

On 11^th July, I was at Ahmedabad international airport, waiting for a flight to Istanbul ( Turkey ).  Twitter was abuzz with arguments on whether we need a uniform civil code in the country.  The sharp divide in opinions was evident and I wondered if we can ever have a meaningful consensus on the subject.  An image of Indian Muslims being enamored by political parties for them being a minority but vocal, was quite evident.  Generally impoverished and requiring to be emancipated through education and economic terms, Indian muslims appeared to be a community struggling to hold on to a viable identity and mainstream harmony.  It appeared to be a community, not free from its own internal social forcings as well as the boundaries it had built around itself.  To an average Indian, it appeared to be in a state of uncertain stress trying to free itself from its self bindings in a free State.

I landed in Istanbul some hours later, with an apprehension that I may not have made the right choice of a country to travel in Ramadan.  Being a Muslim State, I thought Turkey would flummox me with an extreme exhibition of faith and alienate me in spirit and reality.  I was also apprehensive of a possible disadvantage being a non-Muslim in a Muslim neighbourhood, that too in their holiest of seasons.  But I was in for a great surprise.  There were smiling faces all around.  In spite of being Ramadan, every eatery in town was open to non-muslim  like me and everyone made it a point to see that I felt comfortable.  The country was clean, posh and highly sophisticated in comparison to mine, in spite of some neighborhoods being poorer than the rest.  There was no sense of discrimination or separated identity between muslims and non-muslims and every one enjoyed the company of the other like the religion did not matter in this world at all.  It was an extremely tolerant world of mutual respect and mutual restraint.

From there, I landed in Dubai some days later.  The usually bubbling megapolis of modernity was shrouded with the enormity of Ramadan silence, frequently torn by the high voice of calls for prayer from the mosques.  Eateries were closed, people had fear in their eyes even to sip a drop of water in the battering heat and humidity of the land.  There was no ambiguity of identity in the air that thickly descended as an islamic shroud on everyone, regardless of what religion you belonged to.  There was this air of intolerance to what you believed in and a commanding demand that you better follow the religious dictat of the land if you cared not to end up in a jail.  People clandestinely ate and drank inside the closed public toilets and threw the wrappers and food waste in the sink.  

When I returned to India, I wondered about the diversity of Muslim spheres in this world that we live in.  From not so affluent populace striving to preserve its identity in India to the one that shares free joy with everyone in Turkey to an authoritative society that imposes its will on others in UAE, I had seen three different worlds in one small world.

Islamic 'loko bhinna ruchi'.

V K Saxena

President

National Council for Civil Liberties

Ahmedabad

India

e-Text books for easy and timely access for students‏

National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), in a letter to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has suggested  releasing of digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools, so that the e-books can easily be accessed by parents and students on time.

 This is the season of reopening of schools all over the country and the parents, often line up before the designated bookshops to buy text books for their children.  And the most common problem they face is that the books are often out of print and/or not available and the children have to wait for weeks and months before they can lay their hands on the text books. Sometimes due to short supply of text books they are sold on premium forcing parents to bear extra cost.  This affects their ability to cope up with the syllabus and has an overall effect of slowing down the system and bringing enormous parental anxiety

Nowadays, computer access is very wide and if the textbooks are uploaded on websites and allowed downloading of digital copies of text books, parents can arrange for printed copies to their children on time and nobody suffers by this.  It is an archaic idea that the text books are still to be printed centrally by a Government department and should be responsible for the distribution in the country".   

 Decentralizing this operation will not only speed up the distribution, but will also bring about timely access to the study material, cost saving, time and energy saving of the concerned departments responsible for finalization of tenders for printing and distribution of text books and no room for corruption in printing and distribution system."  

Releasing digital copies of the text books on the websites of education departments and even schools could trigger local business opportunities for printing the books in colour in any required format by the local entrepreneurs to keep up with the requirements. Apart from this it would save millions of rupees of the education department which can be utilized for up gradation of schools etc.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Cancer from within: the NGO betrayal

An innocent and poor nation has been attacked from within.  The NGOs have misused their opportunities, played conduit to mala fide foreign intentions and betrayed a free nation that has aspired sincerely to grow and serve its people.

An IB report that was submitted in January 2013 to the UPA Govt, detailing the anti development activities of many NGOs in India that have carefully created a positive image for themselves using foreign experts.  They have in all, collected over Rs. 85,000 crores and successfully opposed infrastructure projects, such as hydro electric dams, nuclear power plants, extractive industry, vital food imports and agriculture.  Only if these opposed projects had been allowed to complete in a timely manner and if the previous Govt had acted with any patriotism, India would not have been in the economic and social quandary it now is in.  

The anti national activities by majority of NGOs  is the biggest story of national betrayal in our history after Mir Jafar in 1757 betrayed our motherland to Robert Clive, making way to a foreign force to occupy the country for two centuries.  These NGOs picked up on the very projects that would change the fate of India and pulverized them with the help of foreign agents and foreign funds.  They operated a parallel economy and a parallel economic policy.   

The foreign benefactors of the dubious NGOs of India brought money for these traitors, in spite of their countries reeling under economic recession.  The foreign nations from where these collaborators came, did nothing to prevent them from trying to stall the growth of India.  They converged on one purpose - the degradation of our national development, which in other terms would suit them in their long run.  Their policy was - if you cannot grow yourself under difficult times, stall the growth of those resilient nations that have a potential to grow even under trying circumstances.  And the wagging tails within India fell prey to these machinations and wrote the story of great betrayal from within.

The growth of anti national NGOs in India is akin to malignant cancer, which would destroy us from within, if not diagnosed at the right time and removed with a sharp surgical knife.  Because of the irresponsible silence of UPA, the cancer has already begun spreading across the nation and has affected us tremendously.  Now that it has been recognized and understood, it is time to act decisively and bring discipline and order within the country.

We cannot afford another betrayal of the type of Mir Jafar, that would sell off the nation to the vested interests in the foreign lands.  We cannot stop growing and stoop painfully to the cancer within.  We need a countrywide effort to clean up the body of the nation.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Dance of sycophants: Mani Shankar Iyer's megalomania‏

The quintessential poster boy of Congress - Shashi Tharoor expressed a heartfelt appreciation of Mr. Modi for being inclusive in his approach and graceful as Prime Minister.  His own colleague from the Party with an acerbic tongue -Mani Shankar Iyer derided him in public space and said that MrTharoor has virtually joined BJP. Mr. Iyer's outburst is an expression of commonplace sycophancy of a rare intellectual in the Congress party. It will now be interesting to see how Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi will react to these right and wrong assertions of two elitist MPs of an obsolete political outfit.

What Tharoor said is an important diversion from the usual political opposition maintained by Indian political parties for the sake of opposition.  And what he said is true as truth can be.If Mr. Modi is doing well in the best interest of the country, why should the opposition oppose?  Particularly, Mr. Modi's efforts to establish an inclusive governance are a political virtue that need to be endorsed and not opposed. Iyer just wants Congressmen to oppose the Government, not realizing that such an opposition amounts to opposing the voice and mandate of the people of India.

Whoever thought that Congress may have learnt a lesson in politics from the inglorious drubbing at the polls is sublimely mistaken. As much as the people of India want a clean governance, they want a clean and responsible opposition. They want an opposition to bad performance, exclusive governance, lack of development and non-fulfillment of poll promises. Iyer's thesis of opposition is archaic and can only suit the foundation of sycophancy to his party.

It is interesting that Iyer did not oppose his party's coalition with Regional outfits that were built upon scandals and criminal records.  He did not oppose the massacre at Muzaffarnagar or the 'boys will be boys' statement of his ally, supporting rapists in the heartland of India.  He did not oppose a spineless defense policy and a doomed economic policy of the UPA.  But he chose to oppose a decent acknowledgement of an encouraging gesture of the New Prime Minister, who has only expressed in his public action the will of the people of India.

If Congress wishes to rise from its own ashes, it should learn to silence its sycophants in evolving as a responsible, mature and modern opposition.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Mischievous messengers of the media machine: peddlers of irrelevance

Sagarika Ghosh tweeted that Mr. Modi performed Ganga Aarti and prayed at Kashi Vishwanath Temple, but failed to visit  Mosque.  With this absurd and mischievous observation, she attempted to suggest that Mr. Modi is not secular.  How irrelevant and deliberately inciting this observation is!  If one belongs to a particular religion, he cannot be branded communal.  Being religious is not being communal.  Any person having faith in his religion would visit the shrine of his faith to pay respects to the almighty for the success he received.  Thanking divinity is a personal practice of faith and is not an act of communalism.  Being religious is not being religion-neutral.

The peddlers of irrelevance could have also taken objection to Mr. Modi's visit to his mother, immediately after the success at polls.  It is surprising they did not question his not visiting a motherly person of Muslim faith or another faith.  Submission to a mother and practicing a faith, are matters of personal choice and culture and have nothing to do with secularism or communalism. Highlighting one of these in an irrelevant  manner is a mischievous exercise of creating an un-necessary opinion and rift in the country.

Two English news channels ,  time and again proven its alignment with Congress and its elitist attitude, covered in mischief.  When reporting on Kashmir, they give undue importance to Mr. Lone and his divisive view points.  When debating the Naxal issue, they lionize Binayak Sen and his seditious dogma.  When analyzing the developmental needs, they groom Medha Patkar and her western supported agenda of anti-development.   

 The recent vote has marginalized the media created debate on secularism and communalism as irrelevant.  The majority of under-35 voters of India and the surge of 100 million new voters in the country do not care for the Congress peddled obsolete thoughts of casteism, secularism, communalism and the upper caste Vs dalit debate.  They know that Mr. Modi signifies the aspiration of the country and its developmental needs, beyond  such  mischievous incitements .  They know that you are free to practice your religion and pursue your faith in this new order of governance and society.  They know that it is shameful to try and derive two meanings from every word uttered or every action made. 

Peddlers of irrelevant thoughts should know that the old baggage of Congress ideas does not mean a thing to the new generation of India, whose only demand is development.  And Development is culture neutral, which brings in social equality and an equal opportunity for life.

VK Saxena

NCCL

Ahmedabad

Nitish ka 'Bhi haar'‏

It is often said - 'in the game of the fool, it is tragedy for the poor'.  Bihar has come to be that.  Governance in Bihar has become a game of the fool, alternating between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, with its people remaining poor and denied of any reasonably good livelihood. This resource rich state has been run as if an underworld enterprise is run by mafia lords.  Even in the election propaganda, their main issue was each other.   In fact, the JDU and RJD have held Bihar like their own inherited fiefdom.  The State that once was the seat of our ancient civilization has been reduced to an under-developed backyard of the nation, lorded by an insensitive and arrogant Chief Minister.

Nitish Kumar's arrogance did not end at lording his State to misery.  He often day dreamt of becoming India's Prime Minister.  Without a shred of ideology, he hobnobbed with Mulayam Singh , Mamta Banerjee and the likes, exhibiting an opportunistic political behavior and calculating his chances of occupying South Block.  He befriended Pakistan in order to appease the Muslims of the State.  He failed to address the Naxal threat or understand the needs for holistic development.  Carrying forward the legacy of RJD, he kept Bihar as one of our most backward States and denied it the benefits of 21st century India.

In spite of all the foolishness he exhibited, he might have been among the first people in India to recognize that Mr. Modi could surely become the Prime Minister.  I think that was the reason why he so violently protested when Mr. Modi's name was announced by the BJP as its Prime Ministerial candidate.  Then he made his worst political mistake of severing ties of JDU with BJP, mainly because his own ambition of becoming the PM would not be supported by the NDA as BJP had already announced their choice for the PM.  He over-estimated himself and grossly under-estimated Mr. Modi.

And now that Mr. Modi has swept the nation with his wave of patriotism and developmental vision, Nitish Kumar slid down the hill of despondency and resigned.  His resignation does not come in the background of any ideology or in acknowledgment of his inability to change the fate of Bihar.  It comes from his personal disappointment that Mr. Modi would now be the PM and from his personal embarrassment of not being able to face Mr. Modi in Delhi.

Good riddance.  Bihar is liberated now from the likes of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav.  Bihar too can now share the delight of joining Indian resurgence and hope to elect a development oriented Party and Chief Minister in the next election for the State Assembly.  A beginning has already been made by wading into the Modi wave and kicking out an opportunistic Chief Minister.

VK Saxena
NCCL
Ahmedabad