Month-In-Perspective

EDITOR'S COLUMN

Friends

Summer which had already peaked last month continued the mercury spiral. That was only to show that monsoon could be round the corner. Yes rain god didn’t disappoint, at least in some pockets. The perched land was waiting for the heaven to open up. But it was too little to quench the thirst of drought stricken land scape in the interiors of India, especially in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Rain needs to come early and in abundance.

Some time early April, we were rather pleasantly surprised to find a letter from the British Isles. We have a passionate reader from Isle of Wight, an Indian from Kerala, Katyayini Subash. For the last three years she has been reading I & C, and have been regularly renewing it. Two years ago when she sent her renewal for 2 years she also sent a cheque for Rs: 5000/- for our reach out activities, with a note saying ‘Your I & C is a journalism of conscience’. We were bucked up by her generosity. The latest letter came after about 2 years with another 2 years’ renewal subscription with a note “I think that the time for the renewal is due or nearing. I dearly wish to continue”. Her magnanimity truly filled our cup of joy. But what caused the overflow of happiness was the other cheque for Rs: 5000/- for our reach out activities besides the cheque for Rs: 1400/- being subscription for 2 years. Quite frankly, it is not the amount but the concern in words and deeds that was most touching. 'Thank you Ms. Kathyayini Subash. We pray Almighty God to shower his blessings on you'. Its people like Ms Subash, and there are some like her, who keep us going, when we have our 'near and dear', ones who dismiss us remarking, 'stupid magazine', 'you have money', and 'no-time to read', epitaphs.

April has come and gone with its own share of good, bad and ugly. Media has hyped some and underplayed some other as it suited it. We have tried to look in perspective some of the happenings during the month that went by.

Since the Godhra happening and the subsequent blood letting in Gujarat, 10 years have gone by. Gujarat has come a long way since Feb 2002, however scar on both-body and mind-has kept the amber of the tragedy still burning. We have tried to look into the issue in a larger perspective. We have written 'An Open Letter' to the CEO of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi, for the importance and relevance it has. The write up had a round of reading by some discerning readers. They said it is very balanced. Hope our readers shall find it so and interesting too. It was a newer way of looking at the issue of co-operative co-existence. Do revert with your thoughts.

KERALA: Acting Kerala governor Hansraj Bhardwaj is in the news, of course as usual, for all wrong reasons. He is also the occupant of Raaj Bhavan in Bengalooru.While inaugurating a seminar, the other day, at Gandhi Bhavan in Bengalooru under the auspices of Karnataka Gandhi Memorial Fund and the state government, Deptt. of Culture, he reportedly observed that 'we are only using the name of Mahatma for political gain but do not practice Mahatma’s ideals'. But, “excuse me your Excellency, the Governor, what about your reported demand for an Audi car in your new acting assignment at Thiruvanantapuram costing some Rs: 80 lakhs. Hasn’t Mahatma said about simple living and high thinking!?”


“How do you relate your latest desire with what you reportedly stated in Bengalooru. You are a typical example of speaking to the gallery but practicing the opposite when it suites.” Kerala Govt. is obviously worked up, especially with resource crunch so also with the already available fleet of cars at the local gubernatorial mansion.

According to the media, the locals are up against the acting governor’s expensive demand. So far it was only BJP in Karnataka which was feeling the heat of the lawyer turned Congress politician turned governor. Now let the Congress government in Thiruvananthapuram feel the discomfort of this HB (Hansraj Bhardwaj) factor. There will be better realisation in the Congress High Command when chicken come home to roost. Good luck to Oommen Chandy, the Kerala CM.

There was this strange news from New Delhi “Amid centre’s flip-flop, court lets ship leave” in the front page of a leading English news paper and in the 14th page it informed “Settlement Reached”. The news that “settlement reached” is a saner development and therefore should have been in the first page, and the other news had a sensational dimension to it and hence it became front page headline. This is what we call as ‘ethics’ in journalism.

Both news were about the episode involving Italian ship Enrica, where two Indian fishermen were killed off Kerala coast by the security guards of the ship. There was furore all over. All Indian authorities involved in taking up the issue against the Italian liner, made a strong case. Italians tried their best to get out as easily as possible. First of course the colonial white mentality, ‘how can Italians be seen as helpless against coloured Indians?'. Then perhaps the thought that there is an Italian lady at the helm of affairs of the political party in power, could have nursed Italian thoughts of having an easy course. But, at every level, efforts of Italian authorities were stymied by the forceful presentation by all Indian authorities. All angles of culpability, accountability and the liability for the compensation were all appropriately handled. And this latest front page headline was a shocker. According to report it was Additional Solicitor General (ASG), apparently briefed by somebody-up, took a completely contrary stand favouring the Italian shipping company which had gone to Supreme Court with a Special Leave Petition. While central government is trying to wriggle out of this strange development, by MEA protesting the ASG’s stand, and then Ministry of Shipping issuing a press release that ASG’s stand is without the central government approval. Fortunately the Supreme Court has adjourned the case for further hearing. But the subsequent report informing about the settlement of Rs: 1 crore each to the families of both the deceased is a fair compensation in Indian conditions. Although it is debatable whether under similar circumstances an Italians life could be worth less than Euros 200,000/- which is what the Italians have agreed in this case to pay per person. In any case the families of Indians killed have accepted the offer. This closes one aspect of the case. For the culpability and other offences, only Supreme Court verdict may have to be waited for. Hope ASG will not be there to bungle the case.


KARNATAKA: It had to come in some form, and it came all the same. The report ‘High Court sets aside Bidari’s selection as DGP’ did not come a day too early. The BJP government was within its legal position to appoint AR Infant the senior most IPS as the DGP. They should have risen above partisan politics but they succumbed to some pressure from some where. Now that they got a rap on their knuckle, has unfortunately not chastened them. They have gone to Supreme Court challenging the High Court order.

When will these governments learn lessons in fair play in the larger interest of society? The government had not only reportedly suppressed the reports of human rights violations by Shankar Bidari, as STF head, on Veerappan Mission, but also they superceded the seniority of AR Infant. So for Infant it was a poetic justice.

While human beings are same all over the world, there was always a feeling that, when it comes to preference to male child and the resultant female infanticide, some sections of Indians were better than the other. Preference for male progeny was known to be always present among a section of Hindus and Sikhs if not all Hindus and all Sikhs. But Christians and Muslims, may be even others, are generally not known to have dislike or hatred for female progeny. However the latest news from Bengalooru of such happening in a Muslim family was indeed shocking. One 25 year old Umar Farook has reportedly tried to kill his 3 months old girl child and child died subsequently in a hospital. Reportedly, a violent man, he has been physically violent with his wife from his second marriage, due to which one of the twin had died in the womb itself. Unhappy at the birth of the girl child, Farook has been beating and physically assaulting the child for all the 3 months. After the Child Welfare Committee was alerted by the hospital where the child died, police reportedly arrested this maniac. But what is sadly surprising is why is the fatwa industry quite on such crimes against children, that too female child?

A Bangalore date lined print media news reported that the state government is actively considering increasing the maternity leave from 135 days to 180 days. Can this be called a case of barking up the wrong tree?! While any opposition to this move will be negatively taken by all women employees of the government, what needs to be highlighted is the pathetic condition of female Anganwadi workers, who have reportedly not received their last 3 months’ payments. They not only do not have any governmental benefits and entitlements, their salary of about Rs. 3000/- took some 35 years to reach there. Coupled with this delayed payment the governments all over India is only exploiting these over 10,00,000 women Anganwadi workers and none in the government or the bureaucracy including the political class and not even the parents of those children attending anganwadies, are overtly bothered about their well being. Mental poverty is our national psyche, we only think of our problems, others' problems are not our problems. Besides these government workers, with due respect to all those who work well, a good part of them are only a drain on the exchequer with hardly any productivity, as compared to these harassed but committed Anganwadi workers.


MAHARASHTRA: Violence has never been an answer to another violence. No violence anywhere in the world has solved any problem, except of course mass uprising like it happened in France, Russia or Rumania. China has an authoritarian regime, ironically started by Mao Zedong. Chinese are not allowing democratic forces to succeed by ruthless crackdown. Since the number of people yearning for democratic way of life is not overwhelming, the authorities in China have succeeded in keeping the still-born people’s power, under check. This is partly because, communist China has been able to provide all basic human necessities, thus majority Chinese do not think democracy is a need. Hence in China state violence has succeeded in curbing the democratic movement of its people.

However, in the Indian context, violence against state cannot succeed for the sheer power of the state, so also the state violence cannot be allowed to go unchecked due to the inbuilt checks and balances. Thus violence is futile, but a small degree of state violence is a helpless evil and cannot be completely eradicated or even avoided by the very nature of the system. Therefore these Naxals or the so-called Maoists have to accept this unpalatable truth.

Round the year we have read in news papers about the violence from both sides. Unfortunately these Naxal groups are making the authorities many time helpless, because of our democratic way of life of accepting dissent in public life. But often they take it too far. Of course governments’ too, many a time, is insensitive. But then two wrongs do not make one right.

Only some weeks ago the blast by Maoists at Gadchiroli caused 13 deaths. In Jharkhand, 8 died in gun battle – 6 Maoists and 2 jawans – in a combing operation. In Orissa they took two Italians as hostages and after lot of interaction they were released. An MLA is still in their custody. Now they have taken a district collector as hostage after killing his two body guards. These are extremely unacceptable actions. Even the interlocutors or mediators suggested by Maoists themselves have backed out disagreeing with the methods adopted by these insurgent groups. While it is true that there are acceptable justifiable demands by the Maoists, these intermittent irritants make things difficult for them. It could be, there are differing views among these groups, under different leaders. There appears to be lack of coherence among these leaders to have a common approach. This movement should not end up as a ‘ride on tiger’, lest tiger eat you up as you try to get down.


GUJARAT: The conviction of 23 in the post Godhra riot case of Gujarat has, to some extent, broughtjustice to the victims of the 2002 violence. The special fast track court in Anand handed life sentence to 18 of them although prosecution had pleaded for death sentence. Other 5 were sentenced to 7 years imprisonment. It was a case of torching of a building taken shelter by Muslim men, women and children fearing mob violence. Earlier police had driven the mob away by lobbing tear gas shells and by firing at them. But a larger crowd that returned later overran the police picket, beat them up and chased them away.

It was a sad reprisal for the Godhra train burning. The land of Mahatma is bleeding incessantly while he is still praying in the astral world ‘Sabko Sanmathi De Bhagwan’.


WEST BENGAL: Mamata Banerjee, on whom lot of expectations were hoped is increasingly doing her best to destroy her democratic image. She is in the news for all wrong reasons. The month started for Kolkattans with a kind of a press muzzle unseen or unheard in India. By a government circular, Mamata’s regime in West Bengal restricted purchase of only 13 newspapers for its libraries all across the state. It excluded those which were probably critical of its actions or inactions. This kind of patronisation is unheard of, in free India. Cutting across party affiliations, politicians all over the state described the move as “most partial and undemocratic”. Responding to the public outcry Congress Party demanded immediate withdrawal of the circular.

Close on its heels was the arrest of Prof. Ambikesh Mahapatra, of Jadavpur University on trumped up charges of defaming the state Chief Minister. Police had even picked up his neighbour for alleged complicity. They were only forwarding an email with a caricature of Mamata, and two Union Railway Ministers-past and present-who are from Trinamool Congress. It was a cartoon version of the Railway Ministry imbroglio involving Mamata Banerjee linking it to a Satyajit Ray master piece ‘Sonar Kella’

Suffering from an insecurity complex Ms. Banerjee took offence and got the professor arrested. The arrest was roundly condemned all over the country. It showed the West Bengal Chief Minister’s very touchy level of intolerance. What compounded the public condemnation of the incident was, that Professor was detained overnight before granting the bail while those who attacked him were let off the same day. This was highly partisan as was evident. Mamata is slowly growing like Maayawathi in autocracy and that will spell her doom. She needs to be more mature. Unfortunately nobody among her party colleagues are in a position to advise her. She is not corrupt hence she should stay in power. But alas, she is so egoistic, and ego has destroyed leaders in the past.



PUNJAB: Yes, this can only happen in India. A lady Cabinet Minister of Punjab, convicted for forcibly aborting the feotus of her daughter, who probably succumbed later and died, was sentenced to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment. The charges were forcible abortion, wrongful confinement, abduction and criminal conspiracy. Forced to quit the cabinet, she was given royal security on her way to prison. First she was taken to Patiala Central Jail by an A.C Toyota Innova luxury car. On reaching, she demanded that she be shifted to Kapoorthala Central Jail, some 200kms away, the district she belongs to.

Acceding to her request promptly, she was transported in the same luxury fashion and driven straight into the Jail complex, where jail officials were waiting to receive her. Shockingly two jail officials, reportedly touched her feet, as soon as she alighted from the car. Yes, the opposition politicians have raised a hue and cry. But nothing seem to happen at least politically. Only court can change things as it has imprisoned her. How she is going to spend the whole of 5 years in this luxury fashion has to be seen.



NEW DELHI: Refuting the privilege charge, that he has lowered the dignity of the parliament by making derogatory statement against members of parliament, Arvind Kejriwal has reiterated that there are 162 MPs with criminal charges against them. He is reported to have read a list at a press conference alleging, 14 MPs are facing murder charges, 20 with attempt to murder, and 13 for kidnapping charges. “Does this not give rise to the suspicion that till such people, with conflict of interest, are in parliament our criminal justice system will not be improved. How can I respect such people?” Kejriwal has reportedly asked. He has many acerbic observations to make. ‘When, the member who complained against me, was tearing the Lokpal Bill on 29th Dec 2011 in the Rajya Sabha, with all members witnessing, was destroying the parliamentary norm, he was not reprimanded by the chair’. ‘when business tycoons enter parliament to push for their agenda, it did not insult the parliament’, ‘Cash-for-vote scam, buying of MPs to save the government’, ‘Passing of bills with hardly any debate’, ‘MLA watching pornography’. These are disturbing issues not disturbing the conscience of policy makers. Quite frankly how many Members of Parliament or Members of Legislatures can truly match Arvind Kejriwal, for his education, his competence, his integrity. Truly speaking, Parliament should honour him for what he has done for the country and what he is capable of doing.

Indian defence forces were in the news these days for all wrong reasons. While the alleged lack of preparedness and a reported ‘cock-a-snoock’ by Indian Express took the cake, there have been many related issues of corruption and administrative bunglings. The age controversy mercifully appears to have died down. But the monster of corruption has suddenly taken the centre stage.

Defence procurement and sleaze are like twins and they do co-exist. It is more a rule than an exception. So, its no wonder that when Gen V.K. Singh let the cat out to run into pigeons, it led to a kind of Pandora ’s Box.

Of course it has been quite sometime since we heard last about the pay offs in the corridors of Rakshana Bhawan.

Big time pay off’s in defence deals started with Bofors, which was forced into oblivion by the political leadership to suite some people without making anybody accountable for Rs. 64 crores the country lost, not a big money by to-day’s standard.

The latest in the murky world of defence purchases is the all-terrain-Tatra- truck, which according to Gen. Singh is substandard. He had alleged that an attempt was made to push through a tranche of 600 of these trucks by offering Rs. 14 crores as bribe and he had named a retired Lt. Gen.

Suddenly, Gen Singh who was a bad boy to Minister Of Defence AK Antony, was welcome. And there have been flurry of activities that led to many skeletons falling off the army cupboards. All related persons like London based NRI Ravi Rishi of Vector group who are the suppliers of these trucks, to BEML Chairman Natarajan are currently under CBI radar for intensive investigation. It certainly looks that Gen Singh would be leaving army headquarters in a blaze of glory by speaking the truth where it mattered, when all his peers in the army had kept quite.

Final arguments, after 28 years, in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots case has commenced at a session court here at the behest of CBI. The counsel for CBI has reportedly told the court that “Delhi police had kept their eyes closed to the atrocities committed on Sikhs”. According to Counsel Cheema, despite there being over 150 complaints only 5 FIRs were registered. The case against Sajjan Kumar, a senior Congress leader was registered in 2005, that too on recommendations of Justice Nanavathi Commission, after 21 years. This is indeed a case of ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. Hope a last word is said on one of the darkest spots in the contemporary history of India.

That Reliance Industries Ltd., mostly owned by Ambani family, when father Ambani was alive, was calling the shots in the corridors of power, was never in doubt. But the case involving the seizer of Loksabha and central government documents from the drawers of general managers belonging to RIL way back in Oct 1998, was still not acted upon by the government for all these years is a matter of shame and concern. It is a well known fact that there were, and probably there still are, some government officials who are on the regular pay roll of RIL or for that matter all Ambani group of companies. But how can the government be so badly sold off, that it could not proceed against those caught with classified government documents, even after over 13 long years?

The recent order by a Delhi session court to ‘frame charges against RIL and their three lobbyist executives’ expressed its surprise that prosecution was silent on who supplied these documents to RIL executives. This shows the duplicity of the government.

Former Prime Minister late P.V. Narasimha Rao, had perfected the art of ambivalence by categorically stating on record that inaction too is a kind of action, or rather inaction itself is action. Thus, when Hashimpura massacre committed by the commandant of U.P. Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) Surinder Pal Singh on May 22, 1987, some 25 years ago, remained without any semblance of justice being done to the victims and their families, it was an action decidedly not to act. Both the state and central government agencies intervened only half heartedly on behalf of those 42 Muslim youths’ extra judicial killing by the PAC in Meerut’s Hashimpura area. It was only when media, Human Rights Organisations voiced their outrage, government set up a committee to investigate but nothing happened until 1995, when victims moved Allahabad High Court. In June 1995, 37 men of PAC were recommended for prosecution. Between 1995 and 2000, 23 times bailable warrants were issued and 17 times non-bailable warrants were issued. But none appeared in the court.

It was only in May 2007, when families of the victims filed applications under RTI, it was revealed that all accused are still in service and there was no mention of the crime in their Annual Confidential Report. Reportedly this is the oldest pending case in the sessions court in Tis Hazari Complex in Delhi.

Better late than never, the crusader par-excellence Subramanian Swamy has taken up the case and threatened Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to act, to book the perpetrators of this horrific targeted killing, or else he will approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the relevant article of the law governing ICJ. This is indeed a welcome development. Everybody, without exception, has to be legally tried for any crime against humanity and made accountable. Only then democracy shall have its appropriate meaning.

Fatwas, Fatwas and more Fatwas, its raining Fatwas. Darul Uloom Deoband (DUD) seems to have no other job than issuing decrees. There was this diktat “Talaq given in a state of drunkenness is valid”, validating a recent instance of triple talaq uttered in a drunken state by a Muslim man. It was as if one drunken man supporting another drunken man, or else how could one overturn what, supposedly viewed by Hazrat Usman, the third Caliph of Islam, that ‘talaq under the influence of liquor was not valid because of the incapacity of the drunken person to exercise reason’. According to A. Faizur Rehman, the Secretary General of the Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate thought, ‘this fatwa by DUD is bad in law’.

And comes the latest “Muslim woman cannot run beauty parlours”. Some Muslim members of the fairer sex reportedly reacted rather sharply to this latest diktat. They reportedly feel that ‘it is not a debate of relevance in this day and age'. Reacting to the Fatwa, Seema Mohsin, the first lady member of the Karnatak Wakf Board has reportedly said “It is unfortunate that the Ulemas, who are supposed to be guardians of faith, are using their intellect on issuing such silly fatwas”

Here the question is doesn’t these fatwas cripple your freedom of thought and action? Aren’t these fatwas archaic relics of the past, just like burqua, which was recommended for an age and day when it was unsafe for any woman to walk in the street or in public place without covering her face. Probably women of all background were unsafe in open space some centuries ago, which is not the case in 21st century. This fact, these men of DUD, need to understand for the larger coherence in society.

WORLD: “Cuba Honours Pope’s wish” was a positive development as reported from Havana. Not because, Cuba granted holiday to Cubans on Good Friday, a Christian holy day, but because, Cuban leadership displayed its openness to a proposal. Whether it is right or not is for the people of Cuba to decide. President Raul Castro was responding to the request by Pope Benedict when he visited the island recently. It was in 1998, Cuban government of Fidel Castro had granted similar wish by Pope John Paul, when it declared Christmas as a national holiday and has kept it so ever since. Hope this time round too Good Friday shall continue as a national holiday for islanders. Such small but significant changes in a moribund political atmosphere do lead to peace and tranquility in the turmoil ridden world.

The announcement of bounty on terrorist chief Hafiz Saeed by the U.S. is a strange development. Who is Hafiz Saeed and what he is doing is well known to all who are in the business of intelligence gathering the world over. How is the world wiser with this announcement except our Minister of External Affairs who appeared slightly stirred by it. The CIA, the global intelligence arm of the U.S. is in the thick of its association with its old alley, the Pak. So they have dossier on just about all. Hence except that, it is a piece of news, nothing more need be seen, unless U.S. has plans to pursue this aberration called Hafiz Saeed. Isn’t he the one who had reportedly stated years ago that “He will not rest until India becomes part of Pakistan”. Of course, it is another matter that it will not happen.

U.S. always knew what this Saeed has been doing, but as was usual it looked the other way, if it suited its interest. With all the breast beating about the democratic fraternity between U.S and India, U.S. never, I mean never, took a position to favour India against Pakistan. It is only now that U.S wants to distance itself from Pak that these kinds of visible overtures are extended towards India. What value it will be of, has to be seen only if it does something like a La Osama Navy seal operation, which seems very unlikely for obvious reasons. So let not our External Affairs Minister SM Krishna delude himself with statements like “US decision reflected the strengthened counter terrorism co-operation.” No such thing is happening. At least so far it has not happened. Lets hope U.S. takes India more seriously with some action plan rather than mouthing inanities like this bounty announcement, which will not take us any farther.

Its indeed a funny world, when it comes to justice to weak people or weak states. World is privy to the fact that Palestinian people are wronged and there’s nobody, indeed nobody, who stand by them when the crunch comes. They just exist, more on the mercy of its difficult neighbour and occupant, Israel. The media reported early April that International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) complaint of war crimes against Israel, saying it is not an independent state. After 64 years it is still struggling to get recognised as a state in their own land. Of course, rightly or wrongly, in Nov. 1947 when the bifurcation of Palestine, was proposed by the UN, Jews accepted the proposal since they were only gaining with nothing to lose. But Arabs, the dominant stakeholders, refused to accept it, since they were the sole losers. Of course, in 1947 it appeared proper to refuse, although in perspective the opposite could have been the right move. But then, in the game of international chess, smaller states do end up suffering. Sadly for Palestine, the suffering has been continuous and unremitting.

The latest refusal of ICC to entertain the criminal complaint against Israel, who, truly speaking, usurped their land and enjoying the status of a nation state, is the most telling, in its humiliation. International community need to understand the cruelty of the situation to address the genuine grievance of a complaint where Israeli forces killed some 1200 civilian Palestinians using phosphorous bombs in Dec 2008. It is true that Amnesty International and Human Rights watch have made some right noises. But as usual they are only noises, which cannot have even decibel effect. But its the U.S., which is the true thorn in the flesh for Palestine, of course, courtesy the Jews business lobby in the U.S. May be Obama, if gets elected to the White House for the 2nd time, give a parting gift of Palestine nation hood. Hope it happens.

Of course Pakistan cannot take China’s demands for granted as it takes India. For all 65 years, Pakistan never took India seriously, although it lost all wars with India. But China, it is holding on to, as a possible saviour in the event U.S. ditches it. The news that ‘Pakistan asked to hand over Uighur terror suspect’ by China shall surely give sleepless nights to Pakistani officials. They are between devil and deep sea. If they help those Chinese (Uighur) terror suspects who are in Pak sanctuaries, but also trained in Pak, to be caught and given over to China, there will be retaliation by local Muslim terror groups, for them being Muslim is more important than being Pakistanis. So Pak authorities may have to handle it with extreme care.