PERFECT SCENE in the COLONY:TERRORISM and its BYPRODUCT, the BLIND NATIONALISM have created very interesting equations to sustain the WASHINGTON PLAN

PERFECT SCENE in the COLONY:TERRORISM and its BYPRODUCT, the BLIND NATIONALISM have created very interesting equations to sustain the WASHINGTON PLANTED UPA PRIME MINISTER in Power! Anti Pakistani WARRING pose might complicate the Ethnic problems, I have been writing since MUMBAI ATTACKS. It may not be the CONCERN of the Ruling hegemony at all. The SHOPPING LIST for the WESTERN WEAPON MARKET has been Finalised in India as well as Pakistan. DEPLOYMENT for Real WAR needs a little bit STREAMLINING after all. THE CORPORATE World, MNCs and India INCs consisted Greedy KILLER Money Machine banks on WAR PROSPECT to get out of RECESSION. AS LOKSABHA POLLS Ahead on sharp TURN, Every ingredient of the RULING BRAHAMINICAL Hegemony UPA, NDA, RSS, MARXISTS, REGIONAL Forces Have Taken Opportunistic STANCE on ANTULAY and ATS in accordance with SUITABILITY to respective VOTE BANK. nationalism has TRANSFORMED into Vote bank in India whereas DEMOCRACY in Pakistan ENDANGERED with FRESH Flare UP of murderous Infighting and MILITARY HEGEMONY remains ABSOLUTE. The LEGACY of FOREIGN RULE and GENOCIDE Culture Remain INTACT!



I must CONGRATULATE MD. SALIM as I had been insisting that the MARXISTS should take a STANCE regarding KARKARE issue. I am PLEASED to see that the Marxists have taken the stance. Then, it remains a PUZZLE for me that Neither the POLIT Buroue nor the CPIM GENERAL SECRETARY did take a STANCE but it is MD. SALIM, incidentally a MUSLIM. Antulay is also a MUSLIM. It is quite interesting that the HINDUTVA RSS led BJP and SHIVSENA do oppose Antulay EPISODE which CONGRESS inserted STRATEGICALLY as an APPEASEMENT for the Annoyed MUSLIM VOTE BANK. But the SECULAR MARXISTS have also FIELDED a MUSLIM! In Nuclear DEBATE CPIM used the MUSLIM FACE. Again the MARXISTS BLUNDER to project a MUSLIM FACE in Resistance of HINDUTVA, FASCISM, War against Terrorism and BLIND NATIONALISM! Why? After NANDIGARM Insurrection, Muslim VOTE BANK happens not that a SURE MARXIST BASE as it had been. Is it the REAL CAUSE to ELEVATE MD. SALIM? I personally LOVE SALIM and Respect his commitment and intelligence. I am not questioning SALIM`s Integrity. But thsi development shows how far goes our parliamentary POLITICS. NO ONE is interested to recognise NATIONALITIES and ETHNIC Identities. Rather they do EVERYTHING to Complicate the ETHNIC DIVIDES to SUSTAIN the AGE OLD COLONY!


Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 131

Palash Biswas


Votebank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Look up Votebank in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A Votebank (also spelled vote-bank or vote bank) is a loyal bloc of voters from a single community, who consistently back a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections. Such behaviour is often the result of an expectation of real or imagined benefits from the political formations, often at the cost of other communities.
Votebank politics is the practice of creating and maintaining votebanks through divisive policies. As this brand of politics encourages voters to vote on the basis of narrow communal considerations, often against their better judgement, it is considered inimical to democracy.

The term was coined in India, where the practice of votebank politics is rampant. Since then, it has gained currency in other Asian countries with a significant English-speaking population

Origins
The term vote-bank was first used by noted Indian sociologist, M. N. Srinivas[1] (who also coined the terms Sanskritisation and dominant caste), in his 1955 paper entitled The Social System of a Mysore Village[2]. He used it in the context of political influence exerted by a patron over a client. Later, the expression was used by F. G. Bailey, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, San Diego, in his 1959 book Politics and Social Change[3], to refer to the electoral influence of the caste leader. This is the usage that has since become popular.

Thought the term originally referred to voting along caste lines, it was soon expanded to describe votebanks based on other community characteristics, such as religion and language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votebank

ASK PRABHU

India TodayStory
When will this politics of vote bank die in the country? Why can't we get rid of the politicians who can do anything to save their chairs?

December 22, 2008

Prabhu Chawla Answers...Vote bank politics will die only if the cheques written by such politicians finally bounce. If the banks refuse to honour such cheques, the politicians will become bankrupt and vanish from public life.



-Asked by Gaurav
gsharma_82@hotmail.com
http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&issueid=36&id=23315&Itemid=1§ionid=62

Evidence sharing depends on Pak behaviour: India

New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) As Pakistan continues to harp on "proof" of Lashkar-e-Taiba being involved in Mumbai attacks, India today said it will share evidence after the probe is completed but it would depend on how Islamabad acts on the details provided about earlier terror acts in concrete terms.
India sees "very little credibility" in Pakistan's "fragmented system" and wants Islamabad to show "sincerity" about cooperation in ending terrorism emanating from its soil by handing over the terrorists demanded by New Delhi.

Considering the denial mode of Pakistani government and existence of multiple forces in that country, India feels that sharing of evidence would serve no purpose and rather could be detrimental to its interests.

Citing the case of Ajmal Amin Iman 'Kasab', the lone terrorist arrested during the Mumbai attacks, sources here point out that Islamabad continues to be in denial mode even though there is ample evidence about his origin which even former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has confirmed.

Evidence regarding the Mumbai attacks will be made available to Pakistan after investigation is complete, the sources said here.

However, sharing of evidence and the kind of evidence depends on Pakistan's behaviour with respect to the proof given about earlier incidents, the sources said.

Talking about Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar who was released in exchange of hostages in the 1999 hijack, the sources said Pakistan should have no problem in handing him over as his crime is of international nature, involving India, Nepal and Afghanistan.

There are interpol notices against him also, they pointed out while questioning Pakistan's refusal to hand him over. PTI

Defiant Pakistan says prepared to fight war

Zeenews Bureau

Islamabad, Dec 22: Reacting to the two-day high level meet held in India on Monday to discuss on the steps taken by Pakistan against the Mumbai terror attack, distressed Pak Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, “Pakistan defence forces and armed forces are ready to face any challenge as Pak has the full right to defend itself”.

“Pakistan Air Force has increased its vigilance,” he added further.

On the other hand an embattled Pakistan PM Yousuf Raza Gilani said, “Pakistan remains united and is ready to fight anyone to defend itself”.

By approaching a defensive stand, which Pakistan is now taking, after pressure from the international community to crack down on terror he said, "we will fight back any country’s attempt to encroach upon our rights”.

“We have support from all parties and also from those who are out of the party. All the parties have backed the Pakistan government in this tough time,” he said.

Pakistan is trying hard to show unity among its people and forces but still it seems this time India’s strong steps against terrorism has shocked Pakistan from roots.
http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-22/493105news.html

India hands over Kasab’s letter to Pak High Commissioner

Zeenews Bureau

New Delhi, Dec 22: India summons Pakistan's acting High Commissioner Afrasiab and hands over letter written by Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Amir Iman 'Kasab' to Pakistan government.

In what seems to be another embarrassment to the Pakistani authorities the lone arrested terrorist in Mumbai terror attack has confessed that he and all other terrorists in the attack were Pakistanis.

Earlier, Kasab had sought a meeting with the Pakistan High Commissioner to get legal assistance in the case and to ensure that his family gets security in his Faridkot village.

Kasab's letter was handed over by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) which they had received from Maharashtra government.

Meanwhile, Pakistan High Commissioner has acknowledged to have received letter from Indian authorities and has been checking its facts and details.
http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-23/493110news.html

PERFECT SCENE in the COLONY:TERRORISM and its BYPRODUCT, the BLIND NATIONALISM have created very interesting equations to sustain the WASHINGTON PLANTED UPA PRIME MINISTER in Power! Anti Pakistani WARRING pose might complicate the Ethnic problems, I have been writing since MUMBAI ATTACKS. It may not be the CONCERN of the Ruling hegemony at all. The SHOPPING LIST for the WESTERN WEAPON MARKET has been Finalised in India as well as Pakistan. DEPLOYMENT for Real WAR needs a little bit STREAMLINING after all. THE CORPORATE World, MNCs and India INCs consisted Greedy KILLER Money Machine banks on WAR PROSPECT to get out of RECESSION. AS LOKSABHA POLLS Ahead on sharp TURN, Every ingredient of the RULING BRAHAMINICAL Hegemony UPA, NDA, RSS, MARXISTS, REGIONAL Forces Have Taken Opportunistic STANCE on ANTULAY and ATS in accordance with SUITABILITY to respective VOTE BANK. nationalism has TRANSFORMED into Vote bank in India whereas DEMOCRACY in Pakistan ENDANGERED with FRESH Flare UP of murderous Infighting and MILITARY HEGEMONY remains ABSOLUTE. The LEGACY of FOREIGN RULE and GENOCIDE Culture Remain INTACT!

NDTV reports:As the Malegaon investigation reaches its final stages are more Army links coming to the surface? The focus is now on serving Army personnel who worked with Lt Col Purohit, one of the main accused in the blast case.

The global economic crisis will push up unemployment by up to 25 million by 2010, the OECD head forecast on Monday, saying there had been a Global stimulus package.

'truly scandalous failure' of regulatory supervision.

"We're heading for a loss of between eight and 10 million jobs in the OECD area... and 20 to 25 million in the world as a whole between now and 2010," Angel Gurria said on France's BFM radio.

The International Labour Organisation earlier forecast that the number of global unemployed could go up by 20 million to reach a record high point of 210 million people by the end of 2009.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris brings together 30 countries, including all the world's industrialised economies. The group conducts research and publishes economic forecasts.

Gurria also said that European countries should spend more in stimulus plans to kickstart their economies and suggested that the European Central Bank should lower interest rates because of falling inflation.

A top US Intelligence official on Monday held series of meetings with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and senior officials during when the progress in investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks was reviewed.

Director of National Intelligence John Michel McConnell, who flew into the Capital, is also believed to have met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and discussed issues relating to evidence gathered so far in the probe in the 26/11 terror strikes, official sources said.

The sources said McConnell had a 30-minute long meeting with Chidambaram during which the two sides touched upon the progress in the probe into the terror strikes at the country's financial capital. US Ambassador David C Mulford was also present at the meeting.


NEW DELHI: Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday criticised the international reaction to last month's attacks on Mumbai, saying pressure put
on Pakistan by world leaders was inadequate.

Pranab Mukherjee said that he wanted to see more results from US-led attempts to force Pakistan to co-operate with the probe into the attacks, which India blames on Pakistan-based militants.

MARXIST MP MD. SALIM projected as CPIM Spokesman during Parliamentary NUCLEAR SOAP OPERA last time has sided with AR ANTULAY and HE insisted that the NATION has EVERY RIGHT to know the TRUTH how KARKARE and ATS TEAM had been killed!

Amid the escalating tension with Pakistan and ongoing furore over Union Minister A R Antulay's controversial remarks about the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, constituents of the United Progressive Alliance met at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence here for a dinner on Monday.UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and several Union ministers including Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan, Pranab Mukherjee and P Chidambaram attended the dinner. This was the second UPA dinner after the one hosted by the PM in May on the completion of the government's four years in office.

The government is likely to affect the second round of reduction petrol, diesel and cooking prices just before the Lok Sabha elections
are announced in February, sources said. Earlier this month, the government reduced petrol price by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre as international crude dipped from an all-time high of $147 a barrel in July to under $45 a barrel.

"This period (till February) will be used to monitor the movements in international prices. There is no point in cutting fuel prices just now and then having to raise them again if oil makes a retreat," an oil ministry official said.

The government will make a statement in Parliament on Tuesday on the Antulay controversy which showed no signs of easing as Opposition rocked both the Houses of Parliament demanding his removal leading to early adjournments.

Though Antulay, who created a political storm with remarks raising doubts over the circumstances surrounding the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare, received the backing of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and Muslim leaders from outside, the party and the government have not not done so.

With an unrelenting BJP and Shiv Sena MPs baying for Antulay's ouster indulging in slogan shouting and rushing to the well of both the Houses, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in the Rajya Sabha the government will make a statement on Tuesday, the last day of the current session.

It is unclear whether Mukherjee or Home Minister P Chidambaram will make a statement. There is speculation that the government will also distance itself from Antulay's controversial statement like the Congress party did earlier.

The opposition has been demanding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make the government's position clear as it contended that Antulay had compromised the country's position in the war against terrorism and given a handle to Pakistan by his remarks.

Last week Antulay kicked up dust by demanding an inquiry into the killing of Karkare by asking who sent him and his other officer colleagues in the "wrong direction" of Cama hospital instead of Taj and Trident which were "on fire".

The Minority Affairs Minister suggested a link between Karkare's death and the fact that he was investigating the Malegaon blasts in which Hindus have been arrested.


Meanwhile as parliament was in SESSION addressing Nationality ISSUE as far as Pakistan is Concerned. The WARMONGER TV CHANNELS which remain TRP HUNGRY after LIVE TELECAST MILAGE from MUMBAI Carnage created SENSATION with BREAKING NEWS of ANOTHER TERRORIST ATTACK Foiled! it simply happened like that in Jammu, A Harkat-ul Jehad-e-Islami militant accused in Faizabad and Varanasi blasts and three suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants have been arrested, officials said on Monday.Fazial Sohail Ahmed, a self-styled HuJI commander, who was arrested in Jammu on Sunday evening, is a suspect in Faizabad and Varanasi blasts in Uttar Pradesh and killing of five Border Road Organisation officials including commandant Lt Col Ajay Verma in Kishtwar in June, police said. Sohail was arrested in a police raid carried out on information provided by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), they said, adding that a pistol and two grenades were recovered from him. The HuJI operative was arrested soon after he survived an encounter at Kapran in Kokernag area, police said. Police also arrested three suspected militants of LeT during a raid in a hotel in the city on Sunday night, they said.

I am AFRAID that the FDI fed MEDIA, PRINT as well as ELECTRONIC, happen to be ENGAGED in Nationalism and WAR HYPE sidelining all other issues ac cross the LOC! I wonder what MRS Indira Gandhi, who declared EMERGENCY in the face of a PRO US JP Movement in 1975, would have DONE in these Circumstance provided if SHE could Survive the PLOT within around her!

I must CONGRATULATE MD. SALIM as I had been insisting that the MARXISTS should take a STANCE regarding KARKARE issue. I am PLEASED to see that the Marxists have taken the stance. Then, it remains a PUZZLE for me that Neither the POLIT Buroue nor the CPIM GENERAL SECRETARY did take a STANCE but it is MD. SALIM, incidentally a MUSLIM. Antulay is also a MUSLIM. It is quite interesting that the HINDUTVA RSS led BJP and SHIVSENA do oppose Antulay EPISODE which CONGRESS inserted STRATEGICALLY as an APPEASEMENT for the Annoyed MUSLIM VOTE BANK. But the SECULAR MARXISTS have also FIELDED a MUSLIM! In Nuclear DEBATE CPIM used the MUSLIM FACE. Again the MARXISTS BLUNDER to project a MUSLIM FACE in Resistance of HINDUTVA, FASCISM, War against Terrorism and BLIND NATIONALISM! Why? After NANDIGARM Insurrection, Muslim VOTE BANK happens not that a SURE MARXIST BASE as it had been. Is it the REAL CAUSE to ELEVATE MD. SALIM? I personally LOVE SALIM and Respect his commitment and intelligence. I am not questioning SALIM`s Integrity. But this development shows how far goes our parliamentary POLITICS. NO ONE is interested to recognise NATIONALITIES and ETHNIC Identities. Rather they do EVERYTHING to Complicate the ETHNIC DIVIDES to SUSTAIN the AGE OLD COLONY!

We all have witnessed.After Gujarat riots, the Marxist Government of West Bengal went out of the way to give asylum and rehabilitation to a harassed Qutbuddin Ansari, victim of Gujarat riots-- whose face adorned the covers of leading magazines--to prove their secular credentials! By sending away Tasleema Nazreen, who sought asylum in Bengal unceremoniously from Kolkatta at the first signs of trouble from fundamental Muslims has exposed the communist "secular" hypocrisy for ever!

For instance, the Marxist HEGEMONY in West Bengal tried its SECULAR MUSLIM Politics in nandigram but failed to apply it successfully due to its general genocide Culture and uncontrolled GESTAPO. Thus, despite withdrawing the Controversial Chemical Hub from nandigram CPIM could never address the Ethnic problem there. Contrarily, EX NDA ally and never known as a FIGHTER against either Imperialism or Fascism Mamata Bannerjee succeeded to incarnate herself as the Goddess of Minorities and SC as well as ST. The Marxists failed to address properly the problems originated fro indiscriminate development and quite unpopular SEZ drive.Neither they could address Pure nationality questions relating Gorkhaland or Lalgargh Insurrection. Singur and nandigram destroyed their all achievements of Land reforms and rural development during Jyoti Basu tenure. Mamata suddenly became the FACE of the Resistance and the CIVIL society consisting of Kolkata Intelligentsia, hitherto staunch Leftist, sided with the Fire Brand girlie! The Marxist base is now limited into Urban and suburban caste Hindu White Color bases. Meanwhile, Sidicullah Chowdhuri and the MAOISTS also snatched away the Marxist bases in West Bengal.

Salim Stance may be well defined with the Marxist Back tracks!With the government due to make a statement in Parliament on the Antulay controversy, the Left on Sunday backed the minister by claiming
that the circumstances of ATS chief Hemant Karkare’s death and the terror attacks on Mumbai were two entirely different issues.

“Clubbing the two things would be wrong; Antulay has not denied the Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks,” CPI leader D Raja told TOI.

Striking a similar note, CPM leader Mohammed Salim pointed out that neither the government nor the Congress party was able to answer the questions raised by Antulay. Salim, however, agreed that with the Mumbai terror strikes posing a major diplomatic challenge for India in exposing Pakistan to the world, there was a need both for restraint and speaking in one voice.

What remains a VERY INTERESTING POLL Concerned situation of Indian Power Politics within the Ruling Brahaminical Hegemony, is the DIFFERENCE of STANCE amongst the so called SECULAR and Progressive forces claiming to be in Continuous RESISTANCE against Fascism as well as Imperialism and United States of America as well!

CPI and CPI(M) on Monday differed in their approach towards Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay's remarks on circumstances surrounding Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare's killing.

Terming it "unnecessary", CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat said that Antulay should not have made the statements. "As a minister in cabinet, it was unnecessary for him to make these statements... He should not have made the statements," Karat told reporters outside the parliament.

CPI leader D Raja, however, said "If a senior minister raises any issue, the government cannot brush away it. The government must come out clear on these issues."

"He (Antulay) has raised some issues. He is a senior minister and handling a very sensitive portfolio. It is for the government to explain...Why Congress is speaking in different voices?" Raja asked.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar, on being repeatedly asked to explain his stand on the issue, said: "When investigation is already on into the issue, why should any one say something on it. I do not think anybody should speak in between."

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan meanwhile sought to caution against raking up the issue further.

Meanwhile, Congress Masterminded to jstify the ANTULAY dilemma in DISSENT Democratic defeating the ENTIRE OPPOSITION in ELECTION STRATEGY!Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh charged on Saturday that BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani had ‘laid the foundation stone of terrorism’ in the country by taking out Rath Yatras. Returning from 'Sadbhavna rally' at Azamgarh, Singh said that ‘terrorism spread in the country because of the politics of hate by BJP and specially its Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani's Rathyatras.’

Mind you, thsi GS of CONGRESS party has sided with Antulay so that no disciplinary action against Antulay initiated. congress plays well the DOUBLE Game of Blind Nationalism of WAR CRY against pakistan as well as Surgically Perfect APPEASEMENT of MUSLIM VOTE BANK pushing Antulay forward! Oppositionfailed in MASTERY over VOTE POLITICS face to face CONGRESS!

In Fact, CONGRESS has SUCEEDED in HIJACKING the BLIND NATIONALISM issue from RSS decidedly. Just after Mumabi carnage, POLLING was on in the Indian Capital, where the CONGRESS Veteran SHEELA DEXIT made a HAT RIC to sustain congress rule as VOTERS had been MOBILISED by the STIFF ANTI PAKISTAN, ANTI TERROR and ANTI MUSLIM stance of Congress. RSS had been DUPED for lifetime. They allied with Sonia Brigade to stop Mayawati and the INDO US Deal discussion was a GOT UP GAME in the Parliament. Now the MONEY Machine is CAPTURED by the Congress and it has PROVED itself a BETTER AGENT of corporate US Imperialism as well as Hindutava and rightist Fascism as well. The Left despite the PULL OUT from UPA could not prevent either Indo US Nuclear deal or Strategic Realliance in US UK Israel Lead! Indian Ocean Peace zone being a WAR Zone and the Nations around a CLUSTER of Colonies as KILLING FIELDS, HUNTING remains the Previlege of Manmohan, PRANAB , Chettiar Chidambaram, ahloowalia and the World Bank Gangster! RSS as well as THE Marxists could not stop US SUPER SLAVES. They may not STOP either!

"Politics on terrorism is not good for the country and the BJP must understand this", he added.

He accused Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati of playing with the sentiments of Dalits ‘as their exploitation crossed all the limits during the one and half year period of her government.’

"The exploitation of Dalits during the one and half year period of Mayawati's regime has crossed all limits", Singh, in charge of party affairs in UP, alleged.

Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament were stalled on Monday as main Opposition BJP mounted pressure on the government to sack Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay while the Left parties opposed bills for reforms in the insurance sector, including hiking of FDI. On the other hand,Terming terror infrastructure in Pakistan as the "greatest danger" to the entire world, India on Monday said the efforts made by the international community to deal with the situation are "not enough" and New Delhi will use "all measures" necessary to tackle the problem.
Slamming Pakistan for not keeping its promise of ending cross-border terrorism, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India is "not closing any options". Mukherjee said the Mumbai strikes and the attack on Kabul Embassy show that terrorism emanating from Pakistan is "acquiring an increasingly dangerous dimension and continues to threaten peace and stability in this region and beyond."

On the other hand , the ITALIAN Supremo of UPA, Mrs Sonia Gandhi projects herself as the WAR GODDESS DURGA Incarnation as her Mother in Law, Mrs Indira Gandhi had been during Bangladesh liberation war in 1971 against Pakistan!

Thus, Sonia warns countries abetting terrorism!

Jammu Congress President Sonia Gandhi has warned neighbouring countries against encouraging terrorism. She was addressing an election rally in Dableer village near Jammu ahead of the final seventh phase of the assembly elections.
Sonia said India's desire for peace should not be taken as a sign of weakness.

"We have always tried to maintain brotherly relationship with our neighbouring countries. The sad part is that our emotions have never been respected. I want to make one thing very clear that our wish or having peace and harmony should not be misunderstood as our weakness. People who are continuously encouraging terrorism from their soil, we want to tell them that we are competent of giving a befitting reply to them," she said.

Sonia Gandhi''s comment comes in the backdrop of the ongoing investigations against Pakistan-based outlawed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group blamed for the recent rampage of Mumbai.

India, the United States and Britain have blamed LeT and other affiliated groups for the Mumbai attacks, saying Pakistan must do more to stamp out militants.

UPA Chairperson congratulated people of Jammu and Kashmir for participating in large numbers in the ongoing assembly elections.

Gujarat Chief Minister, one time Hindutva face for next prime Minister and the Master Mind of Gujarat Genocide and ethnic Cleansing, Narendra Modi had alleged that the Congress has committed the heinous crime of shielding terrorism in India for the sake of vote- bank politics. In his speeches at the BJP rallies for the Rajasthan Assembly elections, Modi said the Congress cannot be expected to provide security to the common man. The Congress has no leaders, no policies and neither the good intentions. India needs to do a total rethink on its ties with Pakistan, he said. He also questioned the need to continue the ceasefire with Pakistan as well as run the Samjhauta Express. Modi, who had been on a five-day trip to Rajasthan, questioned why the Indian Government is keeping quiet when Pakistan is sending terrorists to the country. He said India needs to send strong signals to the world by responding to Pakistan’s hard line attitude in equal measure. Stepping up his rhetoric in Rajasthan, Modi said the UPA government is keeping quiet by misleading the country with the resignation of Shivraj Patil as the Home Minister.

But, miserably, enough Modi could not prove himself as the Saviour of HINDUTVA as Congress managed the MUMBAI Carnage crisis in CORPORATE Manner strategically more than Correct to hold on POWER in India Politics!
India will have to deal with Pak problem on its own: Pranab
New Delhi:India on Monday made plain its displeasure with the US and UK for not doing enough to get Pakistan fulfill its promise to take action
against jihadi terrorists behind 26/11 and other terror attacks, saying that it would be forced to disregard the call for restraint if Islamabad was not made to behave.
The blunt warning, indicating that the country was chaffing at the calls for restraint, in face of Pakistan's continued cussedness, was sounded by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, drawing a belligerent response from his counterpart in Islamabad. "If war is thrust on us, then we have all the rights to defend," Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said in an exchange that reminded of the build-up after the attack on Parliament which almost triggered a full-scale war.
Mukherjee, who was addressing a global conference of over 122 Indian envoys, said that India will have to "deal with this problem" on its own, since international action against Pakistan has not been enough.
"Much more needs to be done and the actions should be pursued to their logical conclusion... We will take all measures necessary as we deem fit to deal with the situation," said the foreign minister in remarks which were interpreted by many to suggest that India was considering unilateral steps.
The growing resolve to punish Pakistan's outrageous behaviour irrespective of the international concern about a flare-up between two nuclear armed nations came amid clear signs of India's waning patience. On Saturday, the political leadership discussed the option of precision strikes against terrorist targets on Pakistan-controlled territory. This marked the end of India's restraint, in the face of Pakistan's assurances made under pressure from the international community, particularly the US and UK.
There were also indications that the US might be aware of India's readiness to strike targets across the border. On Sunday, the US, which had publicly expressed satisfaction with Pakistan's response to India's demands, suddenly switched gears with secretary of state Condoleezza Rice stating that it could not be brushed under the carpet. The US would not have tried to lean hard on Pakistan at this juncture, had it not been convinced that India meant business.
In another development which mirrored the gravity of the situation, the US joint chiefs of staff Mike Mullen visited Islamabad for the second time in the recent past to convince the Pakistanis. It is believed that Mullen warned Pakistan in no uncertain terms that things would go out of hand if it did not respond to India's demands.
Pakistan's behaviour has been along known lines. Its rulers have used promises of good behaviour when faced with threats from India and others only to revert to their usual ways once the pressure was off. India has made it clear that it would not be taken in by pledges, signalling to the world that it would not hesitate to use force if Pakistan continues with the "shift and deflect" manoeuvre. India has now put everything with Pakistan on "pause", said sources.
Mukherjee said India has asked the international community to "put pressure on Pakistan to deal effectively with terrorism. We have highlighted that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has to be dismantled permanently... This terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is the greatest terrorist danger to peace and security of the entire civilized world."
While the warning marks a disappointment with US and UK, it is also a warning against Pakistan's all-weather friends China and Saudi Arabia. Mukherjee said India would no longer only rely on the rest of the world. After the attacks, sources here said, India had spoken to key countries with influence on Pakistan, particularly China and Saudi Arabia. The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia is expected here later this week and India wants them to exert their influence on Pakistan to give up some terrorists.
India articulated the outcome it wants from Pakistan. "We need effective steps not only to bring those responsible for the Mumbai attacks to justice, but also to ensure that such acts of terrorism do not recur," said Mukherjee. India also wants Pakistani terrorists, for Mumbai and earlier, to face Indian justice. Sources said it would give "evidence" to Pakistan after the investigation into the attacks was over.
So far, India has asked for Maulana Masood Azhar and Omar Sheikh but it will be more aggressive and add the names of the Mumbai perpetrators after the investigations are over. Sources said Pakistan had enough evidence against earlier fugitives like Azhar, and they could be handed over. But Pakistan too is playing its own game. India believes Pakistan's big feign about "evidence" is all intended to drag things on until election fever takes the sting out of the Indian position.
The real problem as India sees it, is that the Pakistan of end-2008 is very different from the Pakistan of end-2001. Then India was dealing only with Pervez Musharraf, a sort of one-stop shop. But now, in India's assessment, Pakistan is a fragmented establishment and all the parts are moving in virtually independent ways. "There are many Pakistans," said sources.
The formal authority in Pakistan (read civilian government) is different from the real power (read military-intelligence establishment). The multiple centres of power also explain the different statements and the "flip-flop". But Mukherjee on Monday kept the pressure on the civilian government in Islamabad. "We expect civilian government of Pakistan to take effective steps to deal with elements within Pakistan who still continue the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy. We have so far acted with utmost restraint and are hopeful that international community will use its influence to urge Pakistani government to take effective action."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/India_will_have_to_deal_with_Pak_problem_on_its_own_Pranab/articleshow/3876133.cms
Bal Thackeray to govt: Attack Pak, don't warn
22 Dec 2008, 1803
MUMBAI: Describing the present regime at the helm of affairs in the country as "impotent", Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday stressed the need
for imposition of emergency.
"Only Indira Gandhi had the guts to handle threats which endangered national security. There is no use of issuing just warnings to Pakistan. The government should have the daring to attack it," Thackeray told his party mouthpiece 'Saamna' in an interview.
On his self imposed exile from public life, Thackeray said he did not wish to be a part of the present day politics. "I have made a deliberate decision to stay away. Mine is not a political 'sanyas'. You never know what happens in coalition politics," he added.
He said Shiv Sena was making good progress under his son Uddhav Thackeray, also the executive president.
"I have handed over the charge to him. He consults me whenever necessary for advice," Thackeray added.
PTI
Wary Antulay hunts for options
22 Dec 2008, 2300 hrs IST, Rajeev Deshpande, TNN
NEW DELHI: The BJP MPs who called him a "Pakistani agent" in Lok Sabha weren't all unreasonable people, minority affairs minister A R Antulay said.
Some "BJP friends" assured him that if he "clarified" not having ever doubted the Mumbai assassins were Pakistanis, the matter would be settled.
Antulay said he had only raised questions over why Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare had headed for Cama hospital while the shooting was happening elsewhere. "Any fool knows terrorists were Pakistanis. BJP people are telling me I should clarify my stand. I think I will seek permission to speak in the House on Tuesday," said the minister.
The concern in Antulay's manner was apparent even as his swagger, on display in the House where he sat derisively waggling his thumb at BJP benches, soon returned. "I don't think I have done anything wrong. If I have sinned, so be it," he declared. To Congress MPs he declaimed, "Antulay is Antulay. I will not change my position."
Antulay did get his share of sympathy. MoS (home) Shakeel Ahmed has been more like a minister in waiting. RJD's M M A Fatmi offered words of support. MIM's Asauddin Owaisi dropped by. PMK's R Velu and Congress's Madhusudan Mistry were pally. In the afternoon, for all of 26 minutes when Lok Sabha transacted business amid a din, he smiled and waved.
But Antulay has been around long enough to know verbal expressions of support count for nothing. The chill with which home minister P Chidambaram heard him without comment and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee's studied brush off could hardly have escaped the minister.
Speaking to media persons in a corridor near Parliament's gate number 2, Antulay took care — like every 10 Janpath loyalist in trouble — to invoke his connections with the Gandhi family. "Cong(I) was born in my house, 2, Janpath. Only Indiraji and Sanjay Gandhi know how things were," he averred solemnly.
Even as he considers his options, whether to seek martydom or recant, his party colleagues agree Antulay has damaged Congress's determined post-26/11 bid to take the "hard" ground on terrorism. His suggestion that Karkare's shooting was somehow linked to the ATS chief's investigation of Hindu radicals in the Malegaon case is not supported by facts, and sits totally at odds with government's efforts to pin down Pakistan.
"The effect of Mukherjee and Sonia delivering a tough message to Pakistan is diluted by Antulay's claims and his defiance. He should have been asked to go much earlier," said a senior minister. Another minister pointed out that it was evident that the shootings had been random events. "You could question the wisdom of senior officers exposing themselves to danger, but nothing suggests a conspiracy," he said.
By allowing Antulay to play to the "minority gallery", the party had made things more difficult for itself. Even though Antulay argues otherwise, the deliberate manner in which he has leveraged Muslim MPs is obvious. This is undeniably a worry for Congress which is wary of any desertion of minority votes.
But recent assembly elections have a silver lining for Congress and could spell trouble for Antulay. Faced with a saffron alternative, Muslims stuck to Congress. This means that though sacking Antulay can cause some pain, the knife can still be wielded. The canny politician that he is, Antulay would know time is running out.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Wary_Antulay_hunts_for_options/articleshow/3876112.cms
Urdu daily claims Mossad, CIA behind Mumbai attacks
22 Dec 2008, 2300 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: In the season of conspiracy theories, there is another one that is gaining ground. A demand for the probe of Mossad and CIA's role
behind the Mumbai terror attacks has been made by Roznama, Rashtriya Sahara's Urdu daily.
The demand comes at a time when minority affairs minister A R Antulay, supported by large sections of the Muslim community, has demanded a probe into the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.
Roznama group editor Aziz Burney said the operation could not have succeeded without local support. "The terrorists came at least some time before 26/11. They created a hub in Nariman House. Neighbours have said that they noticed the presence of some strangers a few days before the attack," said the well-known Urdu journalist in an effort to link the Mumbai attacks to a conspiracy involving Jews. Nariman House is owned by a Jewish sect. According to him, terrorists ordered large amounts of mutton and other provisions to last for several days.
He also added that it was impossible to stash such arms and ammunition in the Taj Hotel without having checked in for some time. "Why isn't the guest list being checked. The terrorists would have received some support from within the hotel," he said.
Linking the Mumbai terror attacks to 9/11, the editor said that on the day that New York was attacked, deaths of Jewish citizens was minimal because they had been forewarned and had taken off from work. "That was a plot hatched by Mossad and CIA and so is the Mumbai attacks," he said.
Burney said the attacks were part of a larger conspiracy hatched in connivance with the Congress government, Leader of Opposition L K Advani, Mossad and Chota Rajan to disable the Malegaon investigations. He also named Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Rajnath Singh as involved in the conspiracy.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Urdu_daily_claims_Mossad_CIA_behind_Mumbai_attacks/articleshow/3876111.cms
Chidambaram, Mulford discuss Mumbai attacks probe
22 Dec 2008, 2300 hrs IST, TNN
NEW DELHI: In the backdrop of Washington's offer to share information and collaborate with New Delhi post-26/11, US ambassador David C Mulford and a
top US intelligence official met home minister P Chidambaram on Monday and are learnt to have discussed progress in investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks.
The meeting came days after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) thoroughly questioned Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Lashkar-e-Taiba jihadi involved in the terror attacks on Mumbai.
Sources in the home ministry said the meeting, attended by national security advisor M K Narayanan, discussed streamlining sharing of information between the two countries as the FBI was also probing the incident in which some US nationals were killed.
The top US intelligence official -- Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Michel McConnell -- also had a separate meeting with Narayanan where they, sources claimed, discussed issues relating to evidence gathered so far in the Mumbai attack probe.
The DNI, which came into existence post-9/11, is considered to be the most powerful intelligence official of the US government under direct command and control of the US President.
The role of the DNI is to effectively integrate foreign, military and domestic intelligence in defence of the homeland and of the US's interests abroad. India is hoping to benefit from DNI's experience in countering terror while it formulates policies for the proposed National Investigating Agency, a bill for which was cleared by Parliament last week.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Chidambaram_Mulford_discuss_Mumbai_attacks_probe/articleshow/3876097.cms
Terror attacks exacerbated cash-flow problems: Tata to UK Govt
London (PTI): The Tata Group is strumming on the terror strikes on its Indian hotel property to get British government assistance to run Jaguar Land Rover, although it is believed to have already secured bank loans for the purpose, the British media reported.
"Tata told (UK Business Secretary) Lord Mandelson that its cashflow problems were caused by plunging price of steel, one of its key products, and exacerbated by the terrorist attacks in India...," British daily The Times said in a report on its website.
The report quoted a source as saying: "Tata had been asked to provide further information, but that Lord Mandelson accepted that the group faced 'immediate pressures'."
The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, one of the targets of the terror attacks in Mumbai last month, was reopened for business on Sunday although many sections of the over 100-year-old building was still shut down as the damage was extensive.
Tata Group chief Ratan Tata had criticised the Indian authorities for their handling of the situation in the immediate aftermath of the terror strike.
"There should be leadership in knowing what to do. The fire department didn't know what to do, the commandos came too late, the police were not equipped to engage," he had told a TV channel.
At the reopening on Sunday, he said: "We can be hurt but not knocked down."
The Times quoted a source as saying: "We're not yet in a position to know the true situation with Tata, but the feeling is that it's not worth the risk to confidence to do nothing in the short term."
Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret

WASHINGTON (AP): It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?

But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they either can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

``We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,''' said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. ``We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to.''

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers.

``We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking,'' said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Georgia-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going.

``We manage our capital in its aggregate,'' said Regions Financial Corp. spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Alabama-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.

The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion _ about the size of the Netherlands' economy _ to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.

There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money _ not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply.

``It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry,'' said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.

But, at least for now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.

Pressured by the Bush administration to approve the money quickly, Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.

``Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One,'' said Rep. Scott Garrett, a Republican House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. ``Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?''

Nearly every bank AP questioned _ including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money _ responded with generic public relations statements explaining that the money was being used to strengthen balance sheets and continue making loans to ease the credit crisis.

A few banks described company-specific programs, such as JPMorgan Chase's plan to lend $5 billion to nonprofit and health care companies next year. Richard Becker, senior vice president of Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp., said the $1.75 billion in bailout money allowed the bank to temporarily stop foreclosing on homes.

But no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

``We're choosing not to disclose that,'' said Kevin Heine, spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.

Others said the money couldn't be tracked. Bob Denham, a spokesman for North Carolina-based BB&T Corp., said the bailout money ``doesn't have its own bucket.'' But he said taxpayer money wasn't used in the bank's recent purchase of a Florida insurance company. Asked how he could be sure, since the money wasn't being tracked, Denham said the bank would have made that deal regardless.

Others, such as Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Carissa Ramirez, offered to discuss the matter with reporters on condition of anonymity. When AP refused, Ramirez sent an e-mail saying: ``We are going to decline to comment on your story.''

Most banks wouldn't say why they were keeping the details secret.

``We're not sharing any other details. We're just not at this time,'' said Wendy Walker, a spokeswoman for Dallas-based Comerica Inc., which received $2.25 billion from the government.

Heine, the New York Mellon Corp. spokesman, said he wouldn't discuss spending details, but added: ``I just would prefer if you wouldn't say that we're not going to discuss those details.''

The banks which came closest to answering the questions were those, such as U.S. Bancorp and Huntington Bancshares Inc., that only recently received the money and have yet to spend it. But neither provided anything more than a generic summary of how the money would be spent.

Lawmakers say they want to tighten restrictions on the remaining, yet-to-be-released $350 billion block of bailout money before any more cash is handed out. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the department is trying to step up its monitoring of bank spending.

``What we've been doing here is moving, I think, with lightning speed to put necessary programs in place, to develop them, implement them, and then we need to monitor them while we're doing this,'' Paulson said at a recent forum in New York. ``So we're building this organization as we're going.''

Warren, the congressional watchdog appointed by Democrats, said her oversight panel will try to force the banks to say where they've spent the money.

``It would take a lot of nerve not to give answers,'' she said.

But Warren said she's surprised she even has to ask.

``If the appropriate restrictions were put on the money to begin with, if the appropriate transparency was in place, then we wouldn't be in a position where you're trying to call every recipient and get the basic information that should already be in public documents,'' she said.

Garrett, the New Jersey congressman, said the nation might never get a clear answer on where hundreds of billions of dollars went.

``A year or two ago, when we talked about spending $100 million for a bridge to nowhere, that was considered a scandal,'' he said.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi blamed for Marriott hotel blast
Islamabad (PTI): Pakistan on Monday blamed outlawed terror group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi for the deadly suicide attack on Marriott Hotel that killed nearly 60 people.

"Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was behind the suicide truck bombing," Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told the parliament.

Malik said the explosive-laden truck used in the attack was brought to Islamabad from Jhang city in Punjab province. Two persons, who facilitated the attack were arrested from Toba Tek Singh city in Punjab, he said.

A hitherto unheard of group called the Fidayeen-e-Islam had claimed responsibility for the attack on the Marriott in September and warned of more such attacks on foreigners.

Around 60 people, including Czech ambassador, two US Marines and several other foreigners, were killed and more than 260 injured when a suicide bomber rammed a truck packed with 600 kg of explosives into the hotel's gate.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim extremist group, has been accused of killing hundreds of Shiite Muslims.

Authorities in Pakistan recently claimed to have cracked a clandestine terror network set up under which Lashkar-e-Jhangvi operatives had been directed by Ahmad Omar Saeed Sheikh, the jailed killer of American journalist Daniel Pearl, to assassinate former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf either in Rawalpindi or in Karachi.

Sheikh was released by India along with Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar and another terrorist in exchange for passengers on an Indian Airlines flight hijacked in 1999.

Attaur Rehman alias Naeem Bukhari, who was arrested in Karachi in June 2007 in connection with Pearl's murder in 2002 is also a key Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant.

We won't allow Pak artistes to perform in Maharashtra: Raj
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday said that his party would not allow Pakistani artistes to perform in the state.

"We won't allow Pakistani artistes to perform here. Nor will we allow anyone to sell cassettes, DVDs featuring their work," Thackeray said on Monday.

He said that no film starring Pakistani artistes would be allowed to be screened anywhere in the state.

"Why should we patronise Pakistani artistes when terrorists come from their country and kill our countrymen?" Raj said.

"Do not force us to make you pull out cassettes of Pakistani artistes," he warned music retailers.

Shiv Sena's students wing Bhartiya Vidyarthi Sena had yesterday issued a similar statement.

Pak must stop denying truth, making excuses: US daily
Washington (PTI): Terming as "overwhelmingly" evident, the involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the Nov 26 attacks on Mumbai, a leading US daily has said Islamabad must acknowledge the truth and stop making "excuses" if the war on terror is to be won.

"By now the evidence that the terrorist assault on Mumbai was planned and directed from Pakistan is overwhelming... Stunningly, however, Pakistan's civilian government is refusing to acknowledge the truth," an editorial in The Washington Post said.

Describing the crackdown initiated by Pakistan following the UN Security Council's ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa as "unconvincing," the edit pointed out that similar actions taken after the 2002 attack on India's Parliament could not prevent the Lashkar-e-Taiba from re-emerging under a new name.

"This unconvincing sweep looks bad in the light of history: After a Lashkar-sponsored assault on India's Parliament in 2002, the government arrested many of the same people and formally banned the group.

"Later the suspects were quietly released, and the organisation re-emerged under the name Jamaat-ud-Dawa," The Post said, pointing out that under heavy pressure from Bush administration, President Asif Ali Zardari's government has placed the LeT leader under a loose "house arrest" and rounded up several dozen of its militants, including the man India has identified as the chief planner of the attacks.

The Post said that apologists for Zardari's civilian government point out that the president's bluster probably covers his lack of authority to crack down on LeT or its allies in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

"If the war on terrorism is to be won, the excuses for Pakistan must end," it said.

was shocked at Antulay's remarks: Shabana Azmi
Nashik (PTI): Noted actress and former MP Shabana Azmi said Union Minister Abdul Rehman Antulay's remarks about the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare might cause damage to the country's integrity.

Shabana, who was here yesterday to visit Dadasaheb Phalke Memorial, said, "I was surprised on hearing Antulay's remark regarding the death of Karkare."

"Instead of political leader I have faith in people of my country," she said.

Earlier she released a book 'Kaify and me' written by her mother Shoukat Azmi and translated in Marathi.

Indian Americans ask UN to declare Pak terrorist state
New York (PTI): Braving sub zero temperature and cold wind, more than 200 supporters and workers of dozens of Indian American organisation held a demonstration outside the UN, seeking the world body declare Pakistan a terrorist state.

The demonstrators, from New York and adjoining New Jersey and Connecticut states spearheaded by Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) and Indian American Intellectual Forum, demanded that the international community take action against Saudi Arabia also as groups based there had been funding the terror operations which are planned and executed from Pakistan.

The international community, they said, need impose economic sanction against Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and force Islamabad to rein in its "infamous" Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) which, they alleged, provides logistic and other support to terrorists.

If Pakistan does not hand over the suspects that India has demanded, they should be tried by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, they said.

The demonstrators carried pictures of Jewish couple Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and wife Rivka, who were murdered by the terrorists during Mumbai attacks, with caption: "It is a crime to be a Jew?"

The demonstration began with a silence observed for one minute to pay homage to the victims of Mumbai attacks and the police officers who were killed in the action.

Gaurang Vaishnav, a spokesperson of the Tristate Indians under whose banner the demonstration was organized, said that it was important that countries such as US, Britain, Israel and India come together to evolve a strategy to root out the terrorism.




Saffron brigade’s chakka jam throws life out of gear!

Indian Express reports:

Surat, August 13 People witnessed a verbal row between two senior police officers

Over 150 workers of the BJP and the VHP were detained at 12 different places in Surat by the police while observing chakka jam on Wednesday. The detainees included presidents of local units of the BJP, VHP and RSS.

As part of the protest over the Amarnath Shrine Board land row, several activists of the VHP, BJP, RSS and other allied groups gathered at places decided by their leaders and observed the jam for sometime before they were detained.

The situation near the Surat railway station was critical.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Saffron-brigades-chakka-jam-throws-life-out-of-gear/348723/


New Delhi: By forcing repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, BJP pressed for immediate removal of Antulay for raising doubts over the circumstances that led to the killing of former Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare by Pakistani terrorists in Mumbai attacks.

In the Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government will make a statement on the issue on Tuesday before Parliament adjourns.

Describing Antulay's statement as "anti-national" and "ridiculous", M Venkaiah Naidu (BJP) said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should have "fired" him.

Both the Houses saw three adjournments during the day before the presiding officers called it a day sensing the mood of the opposition as slogan-shouting BJP and Shiv Sena members stormed the well in both Houses.

Antulay, who was present in the Lok Sabha, was seen smiling at the opposition members, gesturing them to continue with their protest. At one point, he even displayed the 'thumbs up' sign.

This is for the third consecutive day that the issue rocked Parliament.

The Left on its part lodged strong protest against the government for bringing bills that seek to hike foreign direct investment from 26 per cent to 49 per cent in the insurance sector and raise the capital of state-owned LIC.

ISLAMABAD:Pakistan on Monday scrambled fighter jets over several major cities, including the federal capital, as it said it had stepped up "vigilance" in view of the "current environment". The fighter aircrafts roared over Islamabad, the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi and other cities this afternoon as Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Humayun Viqar Zephyr said in a statement: "in view of the current environment, PAF has enhanced its vigilance."

The brief statement from the air force did not give any more details.
Residents in the capital made panic calls to media stations to ask about the low-flying aircrafts. The air sorties by the PAF came a day after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India is keeping "all options open" to deal with the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks. India has blamed Pakistan-based elements, including the Lashker-e-Taiba terror group, for the attacks and asked Pakistan to take action against them.

Ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi too has said that India could give a "befitting reply" to those involved in the Mumbai attacks.

The two countries were involved in a spat last week over alleged violations of Pakistani airspace by Indian warplanes. Pakistan lodged a formal protest that Indian jets had violated an agreement on airspace violations in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Lahore sectors, a charge flatly denied by India.

Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal is in Delhi to attend a meeting of all Indian envoys and Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik is in Islamabad for consultations.


NEW DELHI:Addressing a conference of Indian Ambassadors and High Commissioners in New DELHI, the ELITE BRAHMIN from KIRNAHAR, Mukherjee said India has sought the support of the international community to put pressure on Pakistan to "deal effectively" with terrorism.

India has highlighted that the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan has to be dismantled permanently, he told the first-of-its-kind conclave being held in the backdrop of a fresh chill in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.

"We are not saying this because we are affected but because we believe that it will be good for the entire world and also for Pakistani people and society," he underlined.

Describing the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan as the "greatest terrorist danger to peace and security of the entire civilised world," Mukherjee said "there has been some effort so far by the international community but this is not enough."

"Much more needs to be done (by the international community) and the actions should be pursued to their logical conclusion," Mukherjee said, adding India needs "effective steps" not only to bring to justice those responsible for Mumbai attacks but also to ensure that such acts of terrorism do not recur.

"Unfortunately, Pakistan's response so far has demonstrated their earlier tendency to resort to a policy of denial and to seek to deflect and shift the blame and responsibility," the External Affairs Minister said.

He said India expects the "civilian government" of Pakistan to take effective steps to deal with elements within that country "who still continue the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy."

Mukherjee said India has "so far acted with utmost restraint" and is hopeful that the international community will use its influence to urge Pakistani government to take effective action.
"While we continue to persuade the international community and Pakistan, we are also clear that ultimately it is we who have to deal with this problem," he said, adding "we will take all measures necessary as we deem fit to deal with the situation."

Later talking to reporters, Mukherjee said Pakistan cannot "shirk" its responsibility of fulfilling its "promises" and "commitments" given to India on ending cross-border terrorism.

"In pursuit of our objectives, we are not closing any option. We will explore all options because we are obliged as our people were killed and properties destroyed," he said.

Nothing is in anyone's hand, quips Antulay
New Delhi "Nothing is in anyone's hand", Union Minister A R Antulay on Monday said when asked whether his party was contemplating action against him on his remarks over ATS chief Hemant Kakare's killing in Mumbai.
The Minority Affairs Minister, who has received support from a good number of politicians including Muslim MPs from the NDA camp, parried a volley of questions while entering Parliament House.

Asked whether Monday could be his last day in the House, Antulay just pointed his fingers towards the sky. "Nothing is in anyone's hand," he quipped.

He also declined to comment on the diverging views in the Congress on possible action against him. "I am going inside the house. Let me see there," was his only reply when pressed. He maintained silence on repeated queries whether he stuck to his earlier statement.

Earlier, the Rajya Sabha on Monday saw two adjournments after BJP members stormed the well of the House demanding sacking of Antulay for his controversial remarks on the circumstances leading to killing of Karkare.


Lashkar was operating as Dawa, Pak Minister says!


Lahore Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister Hamid Saeed Kazmi has said that Lashkar-e-Taiba had been operating on the pretext of Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Pakistan and the country would have been isolated if it was not banned.
“Pakistan would have been isolated in the world if the group had not been banned and Jamaat-ud-Dawa was banned under pressure from the United Nations," Hamid Saeed Kazmi was quoted by a private TV channel, as saying.

The minister also denied reports of government sending people to Haj on its own expense.

Kazmi clarified that some United Arab Emirates-based philanthropists had deposited money in Pakistan and the returns on it had been used to facilitate people who wanted to perform Haj.

Crude reasonable at $75 per barrel: ONGC

New Delhi Oil and Natural Gas Corporation on Monday said the current crude oil prices has put its margins under pressure and oil price of USD 75 a barrel were reasonable levels for upstream companies to keep investing.
"Today's prices are not comfortable for us. Margins are under severe pressure," ONGC Chairman R S Sharma said in New Delhi.

He said the company was constantly reviewing investments but has not put any of its spending on hold.

"If the current level of prices continue, for the next four-five months we will not have to put investments on hold, but if they stay at these level for longer we will review," Sharma said.

Sharma said the current international crude oil prices were not good for new investments being made in the upstream exploration and production.

"USD 75 a barrel is a reasonable price for upstream companies to keep investing," he said.

'Hand over fugitives, even if they are your citizens'

Express news service
Posted: Dec 21, 2008 at 0905 hrs IST

Kolkata, Jammu A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, senior ministers and service chiefs discussed the security scenario and defence preparedness, India bluntly told Pakistan to act on evidence, hand over fugitives even if they are Pakistani citizens and keep its word on not allowing its territory to be used by terrorists.
“Not once, twice or thrice but as many as 10 times we have given evidence. Pakistan must cooperate. No question of mere denial. You will be caught in your denial then,” External Affair Minister Pranab Mukherjee told a seminar organised by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata.

And addressing a rally near the international border in Jammu, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi warned Pakistan that India was “capable of giving a befitting reply”.

“Pakistan continues to support terrorism from its soil despite our overtures of peace and dialogue. We are capable of giving a

befitting reply, our sentiments of brotherhood and friendship should not be construed as our weakness,” Gandhi said at Dablehar in R S Pura.

In Kolkata, Mukherjee said Pakistan has to abide by its commitments given first by former president Pervez Musharraf and then by Asif Ali Zardari.

He said Pakistan has to arrest the fugitives who have taken shelter in that country. “Those who are Indian citizens, hand them over to us. And those who are required for investigations, may be your citizens, also hand them over to us,” he said.

He took strong exception to contradictory statements from Pakistan about the presence of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar in that country. “Masood Azhar was under house arrest was the observation of the Pakistan Defence Minister (Chowdhury Mukthar Ahmed). But after that contradictory statements are emanating from the country. Sometimes it is said he (Azhar) is not seen. Sometimes it is said that he is not available in Pakistan,” he said.

“We can deal only with the government of the day. Therefore, all arguments which are coming from the other side (Pakistan) are not really convincing... We have the evidence, including intercepts of the conversation via satellite. Yesterday I described the conversation as a chilling account. The captured living terrorist (Ajmal Ameer Kasab) gave the chilling account of what transpired between him and the controller from that side. They were monitoring Indian television. We have this type of information,” he said.

Pakistan must pursue these evidence and take action, he said, noting that “words must be followed up by action”.
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Hand-over-fugitives-even-if-they-are-your-citizens/401119/

VHP publishes report on humanitarian activities

New Delhi, Dec 22: For the first time, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has released an annual report of its humanitarian activities to convey that its "efforts are as large as Christians missionaries across the country".

The report include efforts to consolidate 198 Hindu charitable trusts from 41 prants (region) for which VHP's sewa vibhag (social work division) will now act as the apex body.

The trusts run tribal hostels, orphanages, education activities, disaster relief and adoption centres among others.

"We are identifying all trusts that are Hindu-sponsored and carry out Hindu-centric social activities," sewa vibhag secretary, Madhukar Rao, said.

"We had never believed in publishing annual reports, but we had it published this time to convey the message that our consolidated efforts are as large as the missionaries across the country," he said.

The annual turnover for various activities run under the sewa vibhag had risen from Rs 75 crore in the last two years and it crossed the Rs 77-crore mark this year, Rao added.

VHP General Secretary and fire brand Hindu leader Pravin Togadia calls the initiative an effort to counter "the imperialist mission of Christian conversion".

"Christians and Muslims introduced welfare activities to carry out conversions and jihad. Christians propagate evangelism which means conversion and Muslims divert a part of their charity for jihad," Togadia told a gathering of representatives from several Hindu charitable trusts here on Sunday.

Bureau Report

Lok Sabha passes bill to update Information Technology Act

New Delhi, Dec 22: Lok Sabha on Monday passed a bill to update the law related to information technology to tackle cyber crimes and e-commerce frauds.

The Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, 2006 seeks addition of various provisions to the existing Act to deal with new forms of cyber crimes like publicising sexually explicit materials in electronic form, video voyeurism and breach of confidentiality and leakage of data by intermediary and e-commerce frauds.

It is proposed in the bill to set up a Cyber Appellate Tribunal. According to the bill, the Central government has to decide the number of the members of the tribunal later.

The bill, which amends the Information Technology Act, 2000, proposes to enable authentication of electronic records by any electronic signature technique.

Bureau Report

Rahul speaks of the plight of yet another woman

Gauriganj (Amethi), Dec 22: AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, who drew the nation's attention to the plight of a woman called Kalawati recounting her tale in Parliament, on Tuesday shared with the people of his constituency the abject poverty of yet another woman named Sunita from Amethi.

Recalling how several members of the woman's family, including children, shivered with cold as she could not afford giving warm clothes to all of them, the scion of the Gandhi family said he dreams of a world which did not have a home as poor as Sunita's.

"During one of the tours I visited the house of Sunita and was surprised to see that while the elders of the family were properly clad in warm clothes, the young ones comprising even a seven-year-old girl were bereft of clothing that could keep the cold away", Rahul said at the launch of the Priyadarshini pilot project here.

"I was surprised when told that the elders could provide warm clothes to either themselves or the children. And since elders had to earn a living and provide food to the young ones they were wearing warm clothes", the young Congress leader, who has been touring the country extensively to get the pulse of the people, added.

Recounting how Aman, Sunita's seven-year-old daughter, feared that she was afraid of policemen beating up her father unnecessarily, Rahul said his dream is not to come across any house like that of Sunita where the young ones are afraid of policemen and elders unable to provide warm clothes to the entire family.

This, he said, is the dream of lakhs and crores of Indians.

Bureau Report

Mumbai, Hyd to get new NSG hubs along with Chennai, Kolkata
New Delhi, Dec 22: Mumbai, IT city Hyderabad and two other metro cities will now have bases of elite counter-terror force NSG.

"Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai are the four places that have been identified to establish the new NSG hubs. These hubs will be manned by the existing force of NSG as of now," Director General of National Security Guards (NSG) J K Dutt told reporters here after meeting Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta here today.

The strength of the force will also be enhanced, Dutt said but did not specify the number of new recruitments or when it will take place.

Following the Mumbai terror attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had announced that the government would set up four NSG hubs in different parts of the country and several states were keen on having a base of the elite force.

The DG also said that steps are being taken to speed up procurement of new arms and ammunition for the force, which successfully tackled the three-day-long terror siege in Mumbai after killing nine terrorists.

"The procurements of arms and ammunition will be speeded up to meet the requirements and challenges of the force," Dutt said.

Dutt also said that the decision to provide security to VIPs and VVIPs, in which the NSG specialises, is for the government to decide.

The NSG is a premier agency set up by the government to deal with national security. It comprises some of the best in-service officers from the Army and the paramilitary forces.

Questions were raised on the delay in the arrival of NSG commandos in Mumbai from Delhi on the night of November 26 when the city was struck by terrorists.

Various measures were mooted by the government after the Mumbai terror incident which included implementation of the 'Coastal Security Scheme', setting up of Marine Commando Unit at each port along with new Bomb Detection and Disposal Squads for various security agencies in the country.

Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are some of the states that had evinced interest in the having the NSG hubs.

Among its duties, the commando force has to respond to calls pertaining to anti-terrorist operations or operations that are of national security interest.

It is mandated to participate in anti-terror, assault, anti-hijack and hostage rescue operations.

Bureau Report

http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-22/493135news.html

Mumbai Bomb Blasts and 'vote bank politics'
To: PRESIDENT OF INDIA
Mumbai Bomb Blasts and 'vote bank politics'





Just like any other True Indian out there my heart also ripped off after looking at images of Mumbai Train Blasts.





Mumbai has always been victim of such violence as we know.





When union home minister Shivraj Patil can say that 'we knew this was going to happen but not sure in which state' - what do we answer. This is a 'stupid' statement.





Maharashtra chief minister vilasrao deshmukh does and knows nothing other than giving 'standard statements' like 'situation is under control'.





When all over Maharashtra explosives are being found.


Age old monuments/temples like the 'ellora one' are being targetted.


Law and Order - Police themselves are being killed.


Drug Mafias are working in hand with someone like 'Narayan Rane'.





What the F* is situation under control?





These are only 'vote bank' politicians who only wait for elections and throw money earned from all the kinds of illegal means.





This is time to react.





This is time to act.





This is time to say no to them.





This is concern of our security.





This is concern of our national security.





THROW THE GOVERNMENT OUT AND EVERY POLITICIAL - MINISTER WHO IS AS INCOMPETENT AS A 'DONKEY' AND GARBAGE WRECKING 'PIGS'.





Sign this petition and pass on to every patriot INDIAN.





Let them know that we can also do something about it if not dirty our hands.





KIRAN PANDE


LONDON

Sincerely,

The Undersigned
http://www.petitiononline.com/mum0711/petition.html



Summary post and blog loveDecember 22, 2008...8:55 am
Antulay’s vote bank politics
Abdul Rehman Antulay, the Union Minister for Minorities, thought that by saying that the death of ATS Chief Hemant Karkare in the recent terror attacks was suspicious, he could be a hero to Indian Muslims . However, I rather doubt that Antulay has impressed his vote bank. For one thing he has not done much for Indian Muslims despite being the Minorities Minister. Perhaps it was to cover up his dismal track record that he went out of his way to say that he wondered why the ATS Chief went in the direction of CST station and then Cama hospital (where the terrorists ran) instead of the Taj and Trident where a major attack was on. On the face of it, a rather dense statement by Antulay considering that the Taj and the Trident were attacked a good half an hour after CST station. And even Leopold Cafe was attacked about 15 minutes after CST. In the CST massacre, around 60 people were randomly gunned down and then the terrorists ran away. It was most logical for Karkare to rushto the spot to follow them! But like MJ Akbar says, Antulay was not interested in the truth or saying anything intelligent. He wanted to please his vote bank.

The Congress is Maharashtra is in deep trouble and in the coming elections it is thought that the Congress will crash out - after a decade long rule in the state. Antulay was trying to keep his seat hot…no matter if his statement flew in the face of logic, no matter if it was a slap in the face of his own government. At least now (he thought) he could a hero to his community.

It would be indeed a cause for worry if Antulay really pleased his vote bank by talking like this. If some sections of the Muslim community actually believed that some Hindus opposed to Karkare decided to take this opportunity to lure him into the lion’s den. But it’s a ridiculous premise (that Karkare’s enemies lured him) because Karkare wanted to follow the terrorists, that was his very aim! In any case, no one knew exactly where the terrorists were. So, if Antulay was trying to say that elements in the radical Hindu parties who would have liked to see the end of Karkare were in cahoots with the Pakistanis (perhaps in wireless touch with them?), this is the joke of the year. Well, Antulay’s remarks may be stupid, but some sections of the Urdu press are supporting him. But only some sections. The Urdu press is divided on the issue and in fact many have also called Antulay’s statement “irresponsible.” The Urdu daily Inquilab slammed Antulay in it’s 19th December editorial titled `Ek bayan do nuksaan (One statement, two losses),’ said:

…by raising doubts over the circumstances of Hemant Karkare’s death, Antulay not only unwittingly rejuvenated the Sangh Parivar who were on the defensive but also harmed the Muslim cause. “After the massacre in Mumbai, Muslims had joined the country in denouncing terrorism. They justifiably received wide acclaim from the national media. It was a positive wave of national solidarity against terrorism which Antulay tried to spoil with his irresponsible statement…

Yes, the Sangh Parivar (Shiv Sena and co.) has always cast aspersions on the patriotism of Muslims, and now Antulay has given them fodder. So not only did Antulay not think of his party, his government, or his country, he also failed his fellow Muslims in his desperate bid to save himself in the next general election. This is the stuff of communal riots.

I personally have no respect for Antulay. Way back in 1982 when he was chief minister of Maharashtra he was convicted of extortion. In fact it is well known that he is corrupt - he had collected Rs 30 crore from businesses (by exhortion) dependent on state resources like cement and kept the money in a private trust! However this man was taken back in the Congress party after some years and even made a Union Minister!

And funnily this happened even though Antulay was known to have a good relationship with Balasaheb Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and had almost joined the party once!

And as mentioned earlier, Antulay has also been accused of not doing much for his own community, always more interested in his own perks and position rather than improving the welfare of his community. He has faced criticism for delaying important projects.

While everyone is free to give his views in a democracy, telling deliberate lies to create a communal divide is not acceptable. But in India this happens all the time. And playing vote bank politics and using religion to garner votes also happens in India all the time. One would have hoped that the Congress party would have desisted from playing vote bank politics at a time when the nation is at threat.

The Antulay crises may have blown over but communal tensions have been stoked. It’s not the international community that we need worry about because everyone knows the truth. What we need to worry about is about relationships between communities in this country.

(Photo is from Telegraph India)

Related Reading: Political interference in the Malegaon blasts investigation
Other posts on Indian Politics.

http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2008/12/22/antulays-vote-bank-politics/

MJ Akbar
Antulay is the Simi Garewal of Indian politics
21 Dec 2008, 0005 hrs IST, M J Akbar
There is, or should be, a well-defined line in media between the liberty of impression and the freedom of expression. Both are privileges of
democracy. Liberty of impression is the exhilarating-frightening roller coaster on which public discourse rides. Freedom of expression is cooled by the sprinkle of judgment, a mind that sieves speculation, allegation and accusation from the end-product that appears in print or on air.
There is outrage against the television coverage of Mumbai terrorism because television celebrities surrendered their judgment before the rising demand for hysteria. There is no supply without demand. The very audiences that sucked out hysteria from cable are now howling against its perpetrators. It is a human instinct to develop instant amnesia about one’s mistakes and sharpen knives with the vigour of humbugs the moment a scapegoat has been identified. The viewer is now seeking absolution through anger.
But the information market has been flooded with toxic weed. Hysteria is not the exclusive preserve of audio-visual junketeers. From the moment the terrorist violence hit Mumbai, much before the course of events evolved into a pattern, some sections of the Urdu press began pumping up circulation figures with fantasy fodder, in the shape of conspiracy theories, to a readership in search of denial. The conspiracy-in-chief was that this mayhem was nothing more than a plot to sabotage the investigation that ATS chief Karkare was conducting into the Malegaon blasts. The death of the police officer was declared instant martyrdom.
News media operates within a triangle of customer, producer and politician. A clever politician is a master chef in cooking up a broth of impression and expression. Since the customer is also a voter, the politician panders to street opinion by lifting it into the loftier realm of Parliament or television studio. The very act of transference gives implicit legitimacy to fantasy fodder.
Abdur Rahman Antulay is not in search of truth. He is in search of votes. He has become the Simi Garewal of Indian politics. Garewal saw a Pakistani flag fluttering on every Muslim housetop in Mumbai. Antulay sees a vote beyond every Muslim doorstep. Garewal was blinded by a low IQ. Antulay has turned myopic because one eye is stupid and the other cynical. But that is his secondary medical problem. His primary disease is cancer of the vote-bank.
If you want to understand Antulay’s and, by extension, the Congress’ compulsions, then take a look at an SMS I received on December 1: “Congress has been wiped out in Dhule corporation election. It could get only 3 seats out of 67.” Dhule is barely fifty kilometres from Malegaon. More than 30% of its electorate is Muslim.
As the minorities minister with the unique distinction of having done absolutely nothing for minorities, Antulay and his party face a meltdown in Maharashtra. If they cannot get even Muslim votes, they can forget about power and pelf in Delhi. He has therefore chosen to feed the Muslim with the comfort food of conspiracy theories, in the hope that this will drug him to the point where he loses his bearings until the April-May elections.
Will this succeed? Perhaps. It has succeeded before. But take a look at another SMS I received, announcing a meeting of the Maharashtra United Democratic Convention at Birla Matushri on December 17. An experiment for the consolidation of the Muslim vote was begun in Assam under a similar banner and did well in the last assembly elections. It has 11 MLAs and came second in some two dozen constituencies. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal Qasmi promised at the Mumbai convention that an MUDF would set up candidates in every constituency in the next assembly elections. Its aim would be to defeat both the Congress and the BJP. He warned the Congress, which had got the Muslim vote in the state for six decades, that the days of bondage were over, and the Muslim vote had grown up: it was not going to be satisfied with toffee anymore.
It is a long journey from desire to destination. There will be pressure and deviation; some attempts to purchase some leaders will possibly succeed. But such language has never been heard from a Muslim platform in Maharashtra.
Simi Garewal sees a Pakistan where there isn’t one. Antulay will not see a Pakistan where there is one. But Simi is a fringe factor; Antulay sits on centrestage. Antulay is a Cabinet minister, who has provided sustenance to those Pakistanis who are trying to fool us into believing that the terrorism in Mumbai was an instance of Indian security failure rather than an invasion sponsored by Pakistani elements.
I am amazed at the sheer gall of both the spinners in Pakistan and the Antulays in India. They seem to forget that there is a Pakistani canary sitting in an Indian jail, singing out the plans, preparations and objectives. Nine dead men and their masters are being exposed by the tenth man, the man who did not die.
If this is the state of deception and self-deception when one terrorist has been caught, what would have been the level of denial if all ten had died?
Cynicism is a staple of vote-driven politics. We all know that. I was naïve to believe that our nation’s security would remain outside the reach of cynicism.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/MJ_Akbar_Antulay__Simi_Garewal/articleshow/3868439.cms
My 1974 Pak visit triggered peace process: Farooq

‘I urged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to open cross-border routes’
Rising Kashmir News
Srinagar, Dec 21: National Conference Patron and former chief minister Farooq Abdullah Sunday said his 1974 Pakistan visit had brought New Delhi and Islamabad closer and claimed he had urged the then Pakistan Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to throw open cross-border and cross-LoC routes.
Addressing public meetings at Khonmoh, Balhama and road shows on the 5-km stretch from Gagribal to Buchwara in Sonwar assembly constituency, Abdullah said: “I took up the issue of opening of roads India and Pakistan and between two parts of the divides Kashmir. I also helped bring India and Pakistan closer.”
He said only NC could bring the leadership of India and Pakistan closer and assist both in creating a congenial atmosphere for better bilateral relationship.
Expressing happiness over peace on borders, Abdullah said: “I hope peace continues to prevail so that people on both sides flourish and prosper.”
He said his party played a pivotal role in fostering better relations between New Delhi and Islamabad and would continue to do so in future in the interest of the two countries and for the welfare of the people of Jammu Kashmir.
Abdullah said that during the recent All Parties Meeting at New Delhi, he pleaded for accelerating the dialogue process and forbade India against a war with Pakistan, which political parties like the pro-Hindutva Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) were favouring.
“I stressed that dialogue is the only process which can facilitate return of peace in the subcontinent,” Abdullah said.
Asserting that cordial bilateral relations between New Delhi and Islamabad were the basic essence for lasting peace in the subcontinent Abdullah said peace in subcontinent is not possible until relations between India and Pakistan are strengthened and developed.
He said both India and Pakistan should work for creating an atmosphere of understanding and confidence among each other so that both countries and the State flourish.
He said people of Jammu Kashmir want peace and it was only possible when the mistrust between the two counties was removed and cordial relations strengthened.
Coming down heavily on PDP for ignoring the general plight of the people of the State and bringing destruction and bloodshed to the peaceful state, Abdullah said Mufti Muhammad Sayeed's anti-people polices had added miseries to the people of the state. “They (PDP) indulged in divisive politics and tried to divide the people of the state on regional, religious, caste and ethnic basis for vote bank politics thereby destroying the traditional secular fabric of the State,” he said.
The NC patron said PDP's ministers during six years of coalition rule swindled public money through all the wrong means and methods and built their own houses and bartered the interests of common people for their personal interests.
Abdullah said PDP-Congress coalition government swindled away huge financial grants received form the Government of India for reviving the economy and providing basic amenities to the people of the State.
Abdullah said if voted to power NC would probe all embezzlements and wrongdoing of the coalition ministers.
"Fortunately now people of Jammu Kashmir have seen through their manipulative, self-centered politics and would defeat PDP and remove it form the political landscape of the state," Abdullah said.
He said: “If voted to power, NC will take the State out from the morass created by the PDP-Congress coalition during their six years of unfortunate rule.”
He said that the "vision" which the party had outlined for the people of the State which is a roadmap for development would be implemented in letter and spirit and added that the roadmap was backed by a competent delivery mechanism.
Abdullah said, immediately after coming to power, NC would come out with a special package for employment of youth and open new avenues for young unemployed and ensure that every household of the State has at least one earning hand.
He also promised that NC government would provide stipend to the unemployed till they are suitably employed and lower the cost of LPG cylinder by Rs 50 and lower electricity. “Besides the cost of essential commodities would be reduced by 25 to 30 per cent,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah was accompanied by senior NC leader Mehboob Beg, Chaudhary Muhammad Ramzan, Mir Saifullah, Muhammad Yaseen Shah, Aga Sayeed Rahoola and Shehnaz Ganai.
http://www.risingkashmir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9217&Itemid=1
Vote bank politics threat to nation’s security
R Dutta Choudhury
GUWAHATI, Dec 13 – Vote bank politics and wrong policies of the Government posed a grave threat to the security of not only Assam but of the entire nation, observed former Governor of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, Lt Gen (Retd) SK Sinha. He also expressed the view that the party in power must put national interest above the interest of the party for improving the situation.
In an interview with The Assam Tribune today, Lt Gen Sinha admitted that the situation in Assam was alarming and said that the Government must give up the policy of appeasement to deal with the situation before it totally goes out of control.
Lt Gen Sinha pointed out that during his tenure as the Governor of Assam, the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and other militant groups were totally isolated from the people of Assam and on the raising day of the ULFA, around 500 militants surrendered at the very spot where the outfit was formed in presence of thousands of people. Subsequently vote bank politics and wrong policies of the Government gave a new lease of life to the outfit and the ULFA managed to indulge in large-scale violence despite having very little popular support, he added.
The former Assam Governor expressed the view that the threat posed by jehadi and fundamentalist groups to Assam is a new phenomenon and this happened because of the fact that the Centre failed to pay heed to repeated warnings about the threat posed by illegal migration of Bangladeshi nationals. He pointed out that hardly any action was taken by the Government to check illegal migration and only the Supreme Court struck down the controversial Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act. “The security scene is very disturbing and unless we wake up to the reality and take immediate measures, there is every possibility of the situation deteriorating in the days to come,” he added.
Lt Gen Sinha, who submitted a detailed report on the threat posed to the security of the nation by illegal migration to the President of India in 1998 with suggestions to deal with the problem, lamented that the Government did not bother to act on his report to improve the situation. “In my report to the President, I gave a detailed account of the threat posed by illegal migration not only to the indigenous people of Assam, who are facing a threat of being reduced to minorities in their own land, but also the threat the migration is posing to the security of the nation. I suggested several measures to deal with the problem including scrapping of the IMDT Act, improvement of the quality of the fencing along the international border, updating of the National Register of Citizens, setting up of mobile
border posts on the riverine border, providing identity cards to Indian citizens etc, but nothing was done by the Government,” he added. He also said that immediate measures must be taken to detect and deport the foreign nationals living illegally in Assam and the names of the foreigners should be deleted from the voters’ list to make them stateless citizens.
Lt Gen Sinha pointed out that even former State Governor BK Nehru had warned about the grave threat posed by illegal migration to Assam. Nehru wrote in his autobiography that he, along with the then Chief Minister of Assam had initiated certain steps to check illegal migration, but they were asked to stop by Congress Government at the Centre. Nehru also wrote that the old generation of Congressmen had always put national interest above anything but the new generations put party interest above national interest, Lt Gen Sinha said.
Giving examples of the policy of appeasement adopted by the Congress on the issue over the years, Lt Gen Sinha said pointed out that once former Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia told the Assam Assembly that there were 30 lakh illegal migrants in Assam, but he immediately retracted his statement. Moreover, the Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal once told the Parliament that 1.2 crore illegal Bangladeshi nationals were living in the country but the Prime Minister himself denied the report immediately and later Jaiswal also claimed that the statement was not based on fact, Lt Gen Sinha pointed out.
Lt Gen Sinha also said that the Government of India failed to react properly when 16 Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed near Mankachar in 2001. He pointed out that when the bodies of the BSF men were returned, they were slung in polls like animals, which was shocking. But the Government of India did not take any action on the ground that elections were being held in Bangladesh at that time. However, he admitted that the BSF handled the situation very “unprofessionally” and action should have been taken against them.
http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=dec1408/at01
From the editor-in-chief
Aroon Purie
December 19, 2008
There are 83 million people in India who are 33 years old. With this issue, which is our 1,119th, we join their ranks. I believe we are the only English newsmagazine of that age in India.

10th anniversary issueAs a human being, 33 years is considered an ideal age, when energy, ambition and maturity combine to elevate men, and women, to the prime of their life.
At India Today, celebrating the 33rd year of our existence, we would like to believe we are at a similar stage.
We’ve been a leader in the newsmagazine segment for the last 27 years and that too by a long stretch.
More importantly, we would like to believe that over the last three decades or so, India Today has made a difference by adding value to people’s lives, giving them a greater understanding of events and trends and their implications, expanding their knowledge of important contemporary issues and, above all, making a significant contribution to the level and quality of public discourse.

15th anniversary issueThe dramatic growth in readership we have experienced over the last three decades suggests we have maintained our credibility and relevance, and there is immense satisfaction in that achievement.
In the last three decades, India has experienced some amazing transformations. So have we as a magazine, adding new sections, new design changes and turning from a fortnightly to a weekly over 11 years ago.
Reading through the pages of this special anniversary issue, I was struck by the shocking paradox of our changes as a nation and society during this time.

20th anniversary issueFrom a poverty-stricken Third World country happy with a Hindu rate of growth to rampant consumerism and a booming economy that is the envy of the world is perhaps the biggest story of the 33 years we have reported on India.
The changes in the automobile sector where we have gone up from three manufacturers who produced 23,000 cars to 50 manufacturers who make more than a million and the proliferation of private airlines have transformed the way Indians travel. The telecom revolution with over 325 million mobile phones in a country where one had to wait years to get a landline has connected us like never before. The advent of satellite television with over 300 channels available at the press of a button and mushrooming multiplexes has changed how Indians entertain themselves. There are many more such changes that stem from our liberalised economy on which we have extensively reported in the past 33 years.

25th anniversary issueThat’s the good news. While the economy has revolutionised our lives, what has not changed is our politics and governance. That’s the paradox.
Dynasties and ageing leaders continue to rule the roost while across the world dynamic younger politicians are increasingly in charge. Corruption remains endemic, the bureaucracy is burdensome and unresponsive as ever. Vote bank and caste politics is the order of the day. One militancy has been replaced by another. Kashmir is still unresolved. We are still at loggerheads with Pakistan. Reservation still gets people on the boil. Even after spending thousands of crores of rupees we are yet to clean the Yamuna and the Ganges. The list is long and depressing.

30th anniversary issueThis issue is a record of all this done in the form of lists. It has been put together by Executive Editor Kaveree Bamzai and her young team relying on the able research skills of Chief Information Manager Rajesh Sharma who sifted through over 1,000 issues of the magazine.
I believe that a generation which ignores its history has no past—and no future.
As a magazine, we try to do our bit to prevent that by connecting the dots of the past to the matrix of the future.
http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&&issueid=85&id=23057§ionid=3&Itemid=1&page=in&latn=2
India's rogues' gallery of politicians
By Neeta Lal
NEW DELHI - "In a democracy, people get the government they deserve." American politician Adlai Stevenson's famous words may well have been penned for India - a country where a remarkable rogues' gallery of bandits, racketeers, murderers and assorted criminals crowd the corridors of power. The fact was highlighted yet again during recent assembly elections, when public records filed with the Election Commission revealed some disquieting facts about India's power aspirants.
The records showed that every third MLA (member of the legislative assembly) in the capital, Delhi, has criminal charges pending against them, that every sixth legislator in the central state of Madhya Pradesh has a criminal record, while in the western desert state of Rajasthan it is every ninth.
Undoubtedly next year, with the national election expected in April or May, more horror stories of the criminal-politician nexus will surface, as the link has become inextricable from India's democratic polity. Take a look at past examples. India's most dreaded "Bandit Queen", Phoolan Devi, became a member of parliament in 1996 after a career roaming central India's desolate valleys, allegedly stealing from and killing wealthy upper-caste landowners who according to her "exploited" the poor.
Devi's biggest crime - killing the underdogs' oppressors - gave her tremendous popularity in that region, and she used that groundswell of support to win a ticket to the Indian parliament. There she remained until she was murdered in 2001, by one of the upper-caste Hindus she had fought against.
Why only Devi? There are many examples of rogues masquerading as politicians in India. A decade ago, parliamentarian Shibu Soren was alleged to have sent henchmen to spirit a former aide to a forest, where he was killed and buried, to silence a corruption allegation against his accomplice. But this minor matter didn't get in the way of Soren becoming India's coal minister - during his trial - though he was later forced to resign after his conviction.
According to a 1997 World Bank report, "corruption" is defined as abuse of public power for private gain. In India, politicians think nothing of abusing this power as they think it comes with the territory. Sadhu Yadav, a member of the 14th Lok Sabha (India's lower house of parliament), is another case in point. His sister is a former Bihar chief minister and wife of current Railway Minister Laloo Yadav - Rabri Devi. Yadav has a long list of criminal cases - and arrest warrants - pending against him including those of bribery, forgery, intimidation, assault, rape, cheating and embezzlement. Yadav was forced to surrender to the police after a Supreme Court order in December 2006.
Perhaps one of the most high-profile cases of corruption in politics has been that of former prime minister Narasimha Rao, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2000 for bribing lawmakers to back him on the crucial confidence vote that saved his government in July 1993. Rao, who held office from 1991 to 1996, became the first Indian prime minister to be found guilty in a criminal case. Buta Singh, who served as his home minister, received the same sentence.
Another high-profile case was that of Mohammad Shahabuddin, a fourth-term member of the Lok Sabha, who was given a life sentence for kidnapping with intent to murder, and faced trial in more than 30 criminal cases including eight of murder, 20 of attempted murder, as well as kidnapping, extortion and arms dealing.
Why does India set the bar so low for its politicians? Perhaps the fault lies with its existing anti-corruption laws. Although the Prevention Of Corruption Act, 1988, brings the offence under the courts' jurisdiction, most politicians are able to get away scot-free due to its weak enforcement. Or the case drags for so many years in court that it fades from public memory.
This has led to a criminalization of politics which has been recognized as the most dangerous facet of corruption in India. This was acknowledged by NN Vohra, the former Union home secretary, in a 1995 report which observed, "A network of mafias is virtually running a parallel government in India, pushing the state apparatus into irrelevance." The report recognized that a cancerous growth of criminal gangs, drug mafias, smuggling gangs and economic lobbies in the country had developed an intensive network of contacts with bureaucrats and politicians.
America, where a huge amount of accountability is demanded from public figures, is a study in contrast. Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was recently arrested and forced out of office when he was charged with conspiracy and bribery for attempting to sell a Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. Blagojevich's predecessor - George Ryan - was also convicted of corruption while two other governors - Dan Walker and Ottto Kerner - have served prison terms for bribery and fraud.
While these cases highlight the omnipresence of corruption in global politics, they also show that an efficacious criminal justice system can succeed in bringing corrupt public officials to book. By contrast, selling parliamentary seats for money, rigging elections, bribing officials, doing underhand deals with cash-lush businessmen, and unashamedly securing seats for relatives are par for the course in India.
According to Pratik Pratibimb, a professor of political history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, "Indian politics stands at a crossroads today with regional and national parties having to search for new frameworks of partnership in and outside coalitions." Due to this, Indian politics has entered a period of unforeseen and multidimensional crises. "The global integration of the Indian economy through structural changes has also unleashed various forces due to which the government set-up has come under unforeseen pressures," said the professor.
Many people feel that these pressures have dramatically altered the Indian political fabric. Ergo, in this inchoate, new brand of politics, anything goes. What matters most to a political party is the candidate's winnability. Everything else seems negotiable. In fact because criminals keep winning elections all the time, the government has been dragging its feet on long-standing demands for a ban on criminal politicians. It was this prevarication which forced the Election Commission to bring in alternative "extra-legal devices" to stop criminals during this election.
Indian law too, only bars a person from running for office once they are indicted by a court, which often happens years, even decades, after an arrest. It's even harder to dislodge someone actually holding office. In India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, 92 members of the current 403-member state assembly have police charges lodged against them. One politician, Ramakant Yadav, even won election from jail, while his brother, Umakant Yadav, a member of parliament, was charged with murder.
While the majority of politicians are simply corrupt, part of an endemic culture of graft, many of those charged with bigger crimes have won tickets after defying the law under the garb of "championing" the causes of smaller ethnic minorities and low-caste Hindus in a country divided along caste, religion and wealth lines.
"We'd like criminals to be debarred, but for that to happen would require an act that the government refuses to pass. Every political party has a lot of criminal candidates and every political party has a lot of winning criminal candidates, so they don't want to pass the law," said a party functionary who didn't want to be named.
According to a report prepared by an non-governmental organization, the National Social Watch Coalition, 16.28% of the candidates who stood for election to the last parliament have criminal antecedents. In the age group of 36 to 45 years, 30% of members of parliament have criminal cases pending against them.
When corrupt politicians are confronted with evidence of their wrong doing, their responses are stock. They say the cases are "false", filed by rivals with a vendetta. This specious argument of course does not answer questions about cases that involve abduction, murder, rape and assault.
However, in the wake of the Mumbai blasts, a tidal wave of angst has risen against corrupt politicians. Thousands of angry citizens spilled onto the streets with placards like "We'd rather have a dog visit our homes than a politician" and "India doesn't need politicians. Go home, minister!"
Perhaps some good will come out of this. Perhaps this newfound low threshold of tolerance for the corrupt Indian politician will force political parties to clean up their augean stables. Till then, however, the sinister minister rules.
Neeta Lal is a widely published writer/commentator who contributes to many reputed national and international print and Internet publications.
(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL18Df02.html
Rajinder Sachar Report on Muslims confirms Vote Bank Politics has hurt IndiaPosted on November 30th, 2006 by yossarin in All News, India News, The War on Terror, World PoliticsRead 1,520 times.—
OffStumped For All Things Right of Center, Bringing a Right of Centre Reality Check to Indian Politics, News Media Reporting and Opinion now in Hindi ?? ?? ?? ???? ????? ??.
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The recommendations of Rajinder Sachar committee on socio-economic and educational status of Muslims in India, were tabled in parliament. Muslims make up roughly 13 percent of India’s population of 1.1 billion. The Rajinder Sachar Committee has favoured a group of Muslims with traditional occupations as that of Scheduled Castes be designated as Most Backward Classes. Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay said he expected the implementation of the recommendations by February. The BJP today rejected the Sachar committee report as “full of prejudices” and said it would create disharmony in the society. The seven-member committee headed by Rajinder Sachar, a former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, was set up to go into the social, economic and educational status of Muslims. The CPI-M meanwhile claimed that the report has proved wrong the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and RSS ( Sangh )stance on “Muslim appeasement”.
Offstumped gets to the bottom of the politics surrounding the Sachar Report to help parse the spin from the truth.
So what exactly did Rajinder Sachar and his Fellowship of Seven uncover. We dont exactly know because the report has not been published in the public domain. It however was distributed in Parliament and select portions of it had been leaked to the media much in advance of its official submission. It is rather strange that the selective leaking was on for many months now before the report was officially completed but there was hardly a murmur on who was leaking and why. In any case from the tid-bits gleaned from across media reports the Sachar Findings can be summarized as follows:
- percentage of Muslims in government employment was a mere 4.9 per cent of the total 88,44,669 employees
- The number of Muslims in security agencies was 3.2 per cent - 60,517 out of the total of 18,79,134 in CRPF, CISF, BSF, SSB and ‘other agencies’
- many states Muslims are significantly overrepresented in prison
- In Maharashtra, for instance, Muslims make up 10.6 percent of the population but 32.4 percent of those convicted or facing trial
- Among district judges in 15 states surveyed, 2.7 percent were Muslim
- the literacy rate is about 59 percent, compared with more than 65 percent among Indians as a whole. On average, a Muslim child attends school for three years and four months, compared with a national average of four years.
- Less than 4 percent of Muslims graduate from school, compared with 6 percent of the total population. Less than 2 percent of the students at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology are Muslim. Equally revealing, only 4 percent of Muslim children attend madrasas
From an overall Muslim empowerment standpoint Dravidian ruled Tamil Nadu and Narendra Modi Ruled Gujarat are at the top of the deck while the communist ruled West Bengal is at the bottom. There in lies the key message from the Sachar Report. For decades now since Independence we have witnessed Muslim Vote Bank Politics practiced by the Congress and the other regional outfits including the communists while paying lip service to secularism and claiming cover under protecting Minority Interests. So when the CPI-M and the Congress seek to make the case that the Sachar Report nails the BJP lie one cannot but wonder what make believe parallel universe the Congress and the Communists dwell in.
If anything the Sachar findings far from nailing any lie, make it loud and clear that Muslim Vote Bank Politics have been all about Minority Appeasement and not about Minority Empowerment. They were never really about caring for the ordinary Muslim on the road but were always about how the Congress and the Communists could trade power, entitlements and fear in exchange for the Muslim Vote Bank. Be it the Shah Bano Case, be it the kow-towing to fatwas and Ulema, be it the indulgence of the Shahi Imam on key political issues, be it Haj Subsidy or Wakf Board freebies.
In fact the most damning indictment of the Muslim Vote Bank Politics is the statistic on the crime rate within the community and the number of Muslims in Jail. In the wake of the Malegaon Blasts Offstumped had pointed out that - from Coimbatore to North Kerala to Telangana to Maharashtra to Bihar, ghetoissation of muslim majority towns is radicalizing muslim youth who have fallen behind on economic opportunities. While the fifth economic census released earlier this year showed that rural India saw free enterprise flourish it is clear that this growth has not created sufficient workforce mobility to de-ghettoise muslim the community. This explains the high rate of incidence of crime within this segment. It also explains why the Malegaon Blasts which targetted muslims were the handiwork of muslim outfits like the SIMI.
The political debate around the Sachar Report is likely to revolve around the question of reservations or affirmative actions for Muslims. The battle lines are very clearly drawn. Like the OBC reservation debate it looks like this debate too will very quickly degenerate into one about creating a culture of entitlement rather than one of empowerment and independence. Rather than focus on access to educational opportunities and subsequent empowerment it now looks certain that the Congress and its Communist allies will resort to myopics shortcuts of doling out Government jobs to Muslims.
Unless the government’s policy focus is firmly on de-ghettoization and workforce mobility any initiatives targetting religious Minorities will be mere lip service and will lead to further institutionalization of vote bank politics which we have seen fuels radicalization and shelters terrorism. When one looks at an Azim Premji heading WIPRO, an Abdul Kalam heading India, an Azharudding heading the Indian Cricket Team, an Aamir Khan or Shahrukh Khan captivating minds and hearts, one sees a succesful Indian professional not a Muslim. One has to only travel to Hyderabad to see how scores of Muslim I.T. professionals have done well for themselves in a Microsoft or a Infosys rendering religious identity irrelavant.
In the run up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, the nation is faced with a very important choice - should it promote the Congress/Communist myopic vote bank politics of extending reservations to muslims or should it rather do what is really expected of a secular government which is make religious identity irrelvant through ubiquitous access to opportunities and thus empowerment.

The Nation would do well to pay attention to an instructive case study on how Muslim Vote Bank Politics can hurt the nation. Loook at what the illigeal immigration from Bangladesh into Assam and West Bengal is doing to our democracy. By cultivating the migrants muslims from Bangladesh as a captive vote bank and by refusing to act tough on the illilegality of their migration, the Congress in Assam sowed the seeds for perennial strife in that state. The Communists in neighbouring West Bengal who paid further lip service to secularism while exploiting these immigrant votes, and doing little to improve their lot. Now you have a situation where the proliferation of Islamic Terror from Bangladesh is on the upswing. And this proliferation has ample safe havens to thrive with the rise of Islamic a concerted movement by Muslim bodies to consolidate a Islamic Vote Bank which in Assam saw the Badruddin Ajmal AUDF bag 10 seats while polling just a mere 24% of the votes in an election that saw 70-80% turnout. The lesson from Assam was that despite a fragmented polity, there was sufficient consolidation of Muslim votes behind an upapologetically Muslim Political Outfit to ensure electoral victory despite very high overall voter turnouts and a very low vote share to the Muslim outfit. The twin effect of Muslim Vote Bank Politics is that it will not only promote unapologetically religious politics but will also further polarize the society as the vote consolidation in favor of one religion is bound to provoke a similar vote polarization in favor of the other religion.

Offstumped Bottomline: For all the spin from the communists and the congress, the message from the Sachar Report is loud and clear - Muslim Vote Bank Politics have lead to Minority Appeasement not Minority Empowerment. Any talk of Reservations or that fancy american catch phrase Affirmative Action is nothing but Muslim Vote Bank Politics and must be rejected wholesale. Recognizing Madrassas as a formal education centers is dangerous and retrograde step. The Government would do well to focus its attention on access to education and opportunities rather than dole out State Sponsored Entitlements.

http://www.bloggernews.net/12582

Indo-US nuclear deal and Muslims
Aijaz Zaka Syed | Arab News

As the debate over India’s nuclear deal with the United States heats up, a totally new angle has been added to the controversy: Whether the deal is “anti-Muslim” and if the Muslims, India’s largest minority and the world’s largest Muslim population, support or oppose the accord with the US. So the poor Indian Muslim, who keeps his head down and is ever grateful for the empty rhetoric and promises of calculating politicians, finds himself yet again at the heart of petty vote bank politics.

Frankly speaking, who gives a damn what Indian Muslim thinks? But many in the Muslim community have been alarmed by the Indian media’s dangerous attempts to give a religious spin to the issue. The other day NDTV hosted a lively debate on the US deal and how Muslims look at the whole business. And everyone involved obsessed over the so-called Muslim stance on the issue as if it was crucial to the success or failure of nuclear arrangement with the US. No wonder the Muslims are concerned. Given the long history of such innocuous issues turning into explosives in the hands of militant anti-Muslim organizations such as Shiv Sena and RSS-VHP-BJP combine, their concern is not unjustified.

Alarmed by the dangerous direction the whole debate has taken, and even as the Congress-led government fights for survival, Muslim organizations and groups are trying hard to distance themselves from the issue. Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind, a staunch Congress ally, has passed a resolution dissociating the Muslim community from the controversy. The organization, which played a leading role in the independence struggle, has condemned politicians for using the issue for Muslim vote bank.

What has a nuclear agreement between India and the US got to do with the Muslims and their religious convictions? And why those opposed to the deal are doing so in the name of Muslims? That said, I believe the Muslims as well as other communities in India must oppose this unholy nuclear alliance with the neocons. Not because this accord is against the Muslims, as some of our politician friends in their excessive enthusiasm seem to suggest, but because this is against India’s long-term interests. I am no expert on nuclear energy or finer points of strategic cooperation between the two nuclear weapons states like India and US. I don’t know if this will help India meet its growing energy needs, as some enthusiastic supporters of the arrangement claim. All I know is this is a well-calibrated plot by big powers to ensnare and use the world’s largest democracy to promote their own agenda.

The enterprising Muslim community does not have to withdraw itself into its defensive shell if it is being dragged into this debate. Indian Muslim does not have to be apologetic in opposing this deal because this country belongs to him as much as it does to the next Indian. In fact, anyone who cares for this great country should and would oppose this dubious deal. We must oppose this arrangement for two reasons:

First and foremost, this deal will undermine and compromise India’s historical independence and political sovereignty. I am not suggesting that by inking this pact, India will become a US colony and White House will station its viceroy in Delhi. But by offering this carrot, the reigning superpower is seeking to enlist Gandhi’s nation as a client state and as a junior cop to police this part of the world.

Having given up on an increasingly unpredictable Pakistan, the US badly needs India to contain emerging China on the one hand and the Islamists of Iran and Central Asia on the other. More importantly, there’s now evidence to suggest that the US neocons and the Zionists are trying to form an axis of the US, Israel and India to check the rising force of Islam.

It’s a grand conspiracy against the Muslim world as well as India. I call it a conspiracy because India and Muslim world have been historically close allies and friends. These are ties that are as old as Islam. In fact, they go way back in time — long before the advent of Islam. And India has been a home of Islam and Muslims for more than a millennium. This is why the inimitable Iqbal called India “saare jahaan se achha” (best in the whole world). And the neocons and Zionists want to sabotage this historical relationship.

Secondly, this opportunistic alliance goes against everything that secular and democratic India has believed in and championed — ideals like peace, nonviolence, nonalignment and always, always standing with the disadvantaged, oppressed and the vulnerable people everywhere. This is why the world looked to India for leadership even when it was not a nuclear power and half of its population lived below the poverty line. Which is why it’s a tragic irony that the party that once led the independence struggle should now be seeking to enslave this great land once again. It is time for the Indians to decide whether they want to continue leading the world as a peaceful and progressive nation of Gandhi and Nehru or want to end up as yet another Third World colony of Pax Americana.

— Aijaz Zaka Syed is a Dubai-based commentator. Write to him at aijazzsyed@aol.com
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=111695&d=11&m=7&y=2008




THE GRAMMAR OF VOTE BANK POLITICS-The Muslim Community has suffered.
by R. Upadhyay

The grammar of vote bank politics in India is a political reality ever since Independence. With the spread of regionalism, proliferation of political parties and unprincipled alliance, elections in India are hardly contested on the basis of political ideology. Almost all the political parties distorted this vote bank politics according to their political convenience. Although, its character varies from state to state on the basis of caste, ethnicity, language and regional factors, the Muslims as a consolidated religious group with 12% of country's population remained a most sought after group at all India level in election time.

Manipulation of voters for seizing power in democracy is an art. Since the establishment of democratic and secular polity in India, the Muslim population was bracketed in a vote bank group initially by the congress party and subsequently by all the political parties in the country. None of them however, offered any remedial solution to resolve the educational and economic miseries of the Muslim masses and allowed their communal conflict with the Hindus growing day by day. They did not even consider it necessary to guide them properly regarding their commitment to the fundamentals of the political blueprint of the Indian polity as free citizens.

Ironically, the Muslim leaders in connivance with the clergies allowed the situation to continue because of their self-seeking interest. The reflections of the general contours of the Muslim politics consistently remained linked with their religious identity, which hardly faces any danger in the cultural ethos of Indian civilisation. The efforts of the Hindu nationalists to bring the Muslims into the socio-political mainstream of the country lost its credence in its vote bank competition with the "secular" parties. Generation of heat and dust over Muslim voters therefore, became the electoral strategy of the political parties since Independence. Initiated by Congress under the leadership of Nehru and followed by all the "secular" parties it has become a bane of electoral politics in the country.

Historically, the Muslim leaders as a group, who were responsible for partition of the country while playing in to the hands of the colonial power turned their community members hostile to the national aspiration of the Hindus. Unfortunately, the Congress created the minority and majority syndrome and thereby widened the gap of mistrust between the two communities.


The Bhartiya Jana Sangh (BJS)/Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP), a party of Hindu nationalists with a view to consolidate the Hindu voters in its favour crititiced the Congress for pursuing appeasement policies towards the Muslims. This attitude of the party however, helped the Congress to tighten its hold over the Muslims, who found the party as the only saviour of their religious identity. Following the footsteps of the Congress all the political parties made a mad rush to woo this community by raising hue and cry for protection of their religious identity. For the last 57 years Muslim personal law, article 370, Urdu language and subsequently Ayodhya remained the only issues to woo the community. Following the footsteps of the Muslim leadership that played in the hand of the British establishment of the country, the contemporary leaders of the community in post Independence era also played the same divisive game under the patronage of the Congress for over thirty years for sharing political power. Subsequently with the political decline of the Congress they bargained with the other non-BJP political parties for selling the votes of the community members without showing any interest for their economic and educational developments.

Muslims as a religion-centric society became a demoralised group after partition as they lost their exclusive political identity and bargaining power, which they enjoyed in British India. After Independence the Muslim-centric political parties namely Indian Union Muslim League and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen with their influence confined to Malabar region of Kerala and Old City of Hyderabad respectively and National Conference and PDP in Kashmir valley had no significance at national level. With new ethos of constitutional privilege to the minority communities, the Congress party made the Muslims more important than they were in British India. The Muslim leaders for their self-seeking interest for sharing political power treated their community members as market commodity and bargained with various political parties. The minority-majority syndrome virtually vindicated the divisive policy of the British recognising the political distinctiveness of the Muslims, which was however contrary to the democratic concept in a pluralistic society of India.

There are 95 Lok Sabha constituencies in India which have over 20% of Muslim electorates (Electoral Politics and General Elections in India 1952-98 by M. L.Ahuja, 1998, Page 277). The Muslims are however, not in a position to win these seats on their own but they are capable to tilt the electoral balance in a number of constituencies. Therefore, there has always been a mad rush of the parties to woo them at the time of elections. Traditionally, the Muslims exercised their franchise on the basis of the strength of the party or parties and candidates, who could aggressively fight against the parties, which they viewed anti-Muslim.

The "secular" parties had a common strategy to scare the Muslims of the danger to their religious identity due to consolidation of Hindu nationalists under the banner of the BJS/BJP. They consistently allured them with a promise to their safety against this imaginary danger. The BJS/BJP on the other hand made consistent attempt to consolidate the Hindus also as a vote bank to counter the political consolidation of the Muslims against them. Though, the party failed to achieve any major success on this issue, it made the Muslims as its permanent political enemy. This Muslim vote bank politics on over 12 0 million of country's population, therefore, caused immense harm to the Indian society in general and Muslim community in particular.

With support from a section of vested interest Muslim elite, the Congress exploited the Muslim voters for over thirty years to rule the country and kept them appeased as a permanent vote bank. This appeasement policy of the party reached to highest peak in mid 1980s, when the Congress leadership surrendered to the dictate of Muslim clergies in Shabano case by negating the Supreme Court verdict by a parliamentary amendment. It in fact thoroughly exposed the self-acclaimed secular character of the party. Sensing the reaction and likely consolidation of Hindu votes against the party, its Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi played a pragmatic Hindu communal card to negate the folly by laying the foundation of Ram temple at Ayodhya, which has been a disputed issue between the Hindus and the Muslims. This action of the Congress distanced the Muslims from the party and they moved towards the parties of caste leaders, who came in prominence after polarisation of backward castes following the implementation of Mandal Commission report.

Despite the fact that there is no Hindu vote bank as such, the political mobilisation of Muslims as a vote bank made disturbing progress in the closing decades of last century. Such unprincipled maneuvering of votes aggravated the conflictual relations between the Hindus and the Muslims from bad to worse. It seems there is apparent absence of capability among the political parties to wipe out communalism from democratic and secular politics. They have in fact promoted communalism with the slogan of secularism. The electoral growth of the BJP during the period on the other hand particularly after the demolition of Babri mosque and the party coming to power at centre as a leader of coalition government created a panic among the Muslim masses. Thus, the hate-BJP became their sole political ideology though, they considered both the Congress and the BJP equally responsible for demolition of Babri mosque. It was however ridiculous that they had no inhibition to support the parties aligning with the Congress in electoral battle.

Even though, movement on Hindutva plank paid dividend to the BJP, it put the contentious issues like Ayodhya, Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 of Indian Constitution away from the NDA agenda when it came to power as head of a coalition government. But its leaders reiterated time and again that they had not given up these issues and would fulfill their ideological commitments once the BJP comes to power at their own. This attitude of the BJP leaders kept the Muslim masses always suspicious against them. Post Godhara communal riots in Gujarat aggravated their fear.

The RJD in Bihar and SP in Uttar Pradesh, which could emerge as a political force on the basis of caste politics took advantage of the situation and aggressively propagated against the danger of Hindu communalism. The Muslims found in them as the saviour of their religious identity and accordingly went for collective but tactical voting with a sole objective to defeat the BJP. Their tactical voting was based on the ground assessment at constituency level about the strength of the party or candidate to defeat the BJP. They supported Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh and BSP of Ms Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh and RJD of Laloo Yadav in Bihar. The Congress replayed its political game of pragmatic communalism in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, which was however counter productive due to significant consolidation of Hindu voters in favour of BJP.

Despite the preference of the Muslims for the non-BJP parties to whom they had voted for, the plight of the community remained the same, as these parties hardly did anything to rescue them from their educational and economic backwardness. The Muslim leaders on the other hand continued treating the community as a marketable commodity and bargaining with different political parties in election time for their individual benefits.

The consistent disappointing situation of the Indian Muslims perhaps prompted the BJP leaders to think in term of gaining their confidence. Despite the success of the party in recently concluded assembly elections and the acclaimed "feel good" scenario, they were not sure of increasing their electoral gains of 13th Lok Sabha poll in the 14th Lok Sabha election. They realised that the party could not afford to ignore the Muslims that constitute second largest religious majority. To rule over one billion population of the country on its own without taking the Muslim voters into confidence may remain a remote possibility against unlikely consolidation of Hindu votes in party's favour due to the diverse character of Indian society. They considered it necessary to win over the confidence of the Muslims in ensuing Lok Sabha election and accordingly the tactical shift of the party from Hindutva to development was a move also to woo the Muslim voters. This is a major shift in the history of over half a century of party's electoral politics.

A.B. Vajpayee while addressing a BJP-led convention for development of minorities (New Delhi, February 25, 2004) made an appeal to the Muslims to shed their hate BJP mindset, judge the party on the basis of its performance during last five years of its governance, come out of their fear psychosis, think independently and asked them to vote with a free mind. L.K.Adwani on the other hand appealed to them (New Delhi, March 3, 2004) to " beware of vote bank peddlers and concentrate on education". He also said, "Many problems arise today because Muslims have so far only been thought of in terms of votes. I am happy that Friday holiday (earlier granted by Mulayam Singh, Chief Minister of U.P. since withdrawn) was first criticised by Muslims" (Pioneer dated March 5, 2004). Promod Mahajan, General Secretary of the party made an honest admission that "the BJP too, has realised it cannot rule one billion people without the participation of 120 million of them (Muslims)". He added, "The BJP and the Muslims have realised their folly in excluding each other from their scheme of things" (Ibid.). The RSS, the parent organisation of the BJP is no more found having any obsession to the hand of friendship extended by the BJP to the Muslims. The Sangh Parivar is reportedly serious to discuss and remove misconception from the mind of Muslims against them.

It is difficult to predict whether the Muslims would respond to the appeal of Vajpayee in the coming Lok Sabha election or not. Some of the critics of Vajpayee including from within the Sangh Parivar have criticised the move also as an appeasement. "With the best of intention, both Gandhi and Nehru failed to win over Muslims. It would be a miracle if Mr. Vajpayee succeeds where icons of India failed" (Pioneer dated March 3, 2004). They are of the view that despite his best efforts Mahatma Gandhi failed to win over the confidence of Muslims to prevent partition.

There may be some logic in the criticism of Vajpayee for his new gesture towards the Muslims but the open admission of the party leaders that they cannot ignore the second largest religious group of population is a reality of contemporary politics. It has at least prompted the Muslims to lend their ears to the emotional appeal of Vajpayee that " the time has come to talk to the BJP". Though, only a limited section in the community has at least viewed the new gesture of Vajpayee in positive manner, the well meaning people are found it as an encouraging signal for improving the Hindu-Muslim relation. His appeal has seemingly hit the mental nerve of the community members.

Encouraged with the new gesture of Sangh Parivar some sections of Muslims are found responding positively. They are learnt to have even offered suggestions for "inclusion in the BJP's political agenda free education to girls up to graduation level and modernisation of Madrasas". Some of the Muslim leaders are either found joining the BJP or hobnobbing with the party to come closer to it. They have perhaps realised that the "secular" parties had only exploited the community for vote but were hardly serious for their educational and economic developments.

Arif Mohammad Khan, former Minister in Rajiv Gandi government of Congress (I) and a defeated hero of famous Shahbano case and Anwarul Haq, RJD M.P. from Bihar have joined the BJP. Similarly, a senior Congress leader Ms Najma Heptullah, Deputy Chairperson of Rajya Sabha has praised Vajpayee for which she has faced the wrath of her party leadership. Arif Mohammad said, "It was my mistake that for decades I ignored Atalji's (Vajpayee) hand of friendship. I failed to sense the sincerity of his approach. Why should I blame others. It was my grave error too, that I rejected his hand" (Organiser dated March 7, 2004). Ms Heptullah remarked, " Vajpayee, a good man, who thinks of the nation". She added, "Vajpayee is a leader, you can trust. The Congress leadership has lost that respect" (Ibid.).

The BJP is contesting the 14th Lok Sabha election on an "India Shining" plank. How far the folly of the party as realised by the top leaders of a party that is commonly viewed as anti-Muslims and the soft gesture of some of the Muslim leaders would attract their community voters in favour of the BJP - only time will say. But the way these Muslim leaders have either joined the party or are found in the process of soul searching exercise seems to be an encouraging development towards communal harmony in the country. Besides, the slogan of the BJP has at least blunted the sharpness of the aggressive assault of the "secular" parties against Hindutva to some extent. If the new initiative of the BJP leaders works to change the Muslim opinion about their tactical voting against them, the party may get direct or indirect benefit out of it.

Historically, the conflictual relation between the Hindus and the Muslims is an inescapable fact in the political developments in the Indian subcontinent. However, the political leadership in Independent India never took serious note to resolve the consistent bitter relation between the two major religious communities. In one hand the political parties continuously scared the community against the imaginary danger to their religious identity at the hands of the Hindu nationalists, on the other hand the leaders of the community never allowed them to integrate in Indian society. The reason behind their economic, educational and social backwardness was never an issue of concern for either the political or community leadership.

With his long political experience Vajpayee realised the diversity of Hindutva and perhaps ruled out the possibility of the political consolidation of Hindus as a vote bank to counter Muslim vote bank. If his appeal could break the strong locker of Muslim vote bank being operated by the "secular" parties for last 57 years and free the community to exercise their franchise conscientiously, it will be a great service to the Indian society and help in bringing harmonious relation between the Hindus and the Muslims.

The medieval mindset of the Muslims as a distinct political community was a communal interpretation of history. Isolating themselves from the social and political mainstream national current, the Muslims failed to develop their national identity due to their economic and educational backwardness. Social identity is closely linked with educational and economic identity for which religion hardly has any role to play. There are sizeable members in the community, who have full faith in democracy but their voice is so feeble and weak that they are unable to bring out their community from their religion-centric identity. In a wider context of Indian society, modernisation of Muslims is possible only with their educational and economic development. But assertive institutionalisation of the communal distinctiveness of the Muslims by their leaders obstructed them to think independently about their overall development as a part of Indian society as a whole. They in fact created a myth about the fear of the cultural absorption of the Muslims by Hindu majority.

The sum and substance of the discussion is confined to the socio-political triangle of the BJP, the non-BJP and the Muslims. Of them the BJP has "realised its folly". The party also claims the same realisation by the Muslims but the Muslim masses in general and larger section of their leaders is yet to endorse this claim. No other party is so far ready to accept that there has been any folly on its part. The message in Vajpayee's appeal to the Muslims is certainly thought provoking and it is time that all the three hands of the triangle come out in one platform and admit their follies and resolve the conlictual problem between the Hindus and the Muslims. If all the political parties rake up the issues related to the social, economic and educational identity of the Muslims for their integration with national identity, it will have a far reaching impact in bringing the communal harmony between the Hindus and the Muslims.

(E-mail :ramashray60@rediffmail.com)
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cpapers10%5Cpaper950.html

The divisive vote-bank politics
by Deepak Kamat ~ February 29th, 2008. Filed under: Uncategorized.
Why anti-Brahminism is as bad as anti-Dalitism?
Belgian historian Koenraad Elst described anti-Brahminism as the Indian equivalent of anti-semitism.
“Pope Gregory XV (1621-23) decreed that the missionaries could tolerate caste distinction among Christian converts; but by and large, caste remained an effective hurdle to the destruction of Hinduism through conversion. That is why the missionaries started attacking the institution of caste and in particular the brahmin caste. This propaganda has bloomed into a full-fledged anti-brahminism, the Indian equivalent of anti-Semitism.”
To understand the dynamics of anti-Brahminism, we will have to take a look at caste arithmetic, history and the social nature of Hindu society.
Census based on caste is banned in India since castes are not encouraged in public. The last census on caste was taken in the year 1931. At that time, brahmins comprised 4 percent of the population.
Many estimate that it may have shrunk given the hostile atmosphere in which Brahmins live. However, the percentage of SCs and STs and OBCs have been made available following the reservation scheme. The SCs, STs and OBCs together form 75 percent of Indian population as per data from Mandal Commission records.
Caste wise demographics:
Scheduled Caste 16 percent
Scheduled Tribe 7percent
Other Backward Caste 2 percent
Muslims 13 percent
Sikhs 2 percent
Chrisians 2 percent
Jains & Buddhists 1 percent
Brahmins 4 percent (as per 1931 census)
Others 3 or 4 percent
From this is obvious that KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslim) combination would work out to more than 90 percent. So it is natural for the Congress and the secular parties to woo this combine by demonizing the Brahmins on the charges that lower castes have been exploited by Brahmins for centuries. This forms the central crux of the anti-brahmin argument. Besides it is very safe to be an anti-Brahmin since the Brahmins are docile and don’t hit back. Just imagine what would happen if other castes and other religions were targeted.
While there is no denying the Brahmin atrocities and the need for uplifting the Dalits, the other side of the coin has to be factored too. The effects of anti-Brahminism has been disastrous for the Bharathiya psyche. It is a gross distortion of history and it undermines Brahmin sacrifices in ensuring the nation’s continuity.
Remember, the Brahmins have played a stellar role in preserving India’s heritage which have been fully acknowledged by Swami Vivekananda and Gandhi. However, this contribution has not just been ignored but negated by our eminent left historians.
To understand the reason why Hindus survived the Islamic conquests we have to study the fall of Buddhism too. This is what B R Ambedkar wrote on the fall of Buddhism in India following Islamic invasion: “The Musalman invaders sacked the Buddhist Universities of Nalanda, Vikramshila, Jagaddala, Odantapuri to name only a few. They raised to the ground Buddhist monasteries with which the country was studded. The monks fled away in thousands to Nepal, Tibet and other places outside India. A very large number were killed outright by the Muslim commanders. How the Buddhist priesthood perished by the sword of the Muslim invaders has been recorded by the Muslim historians themselves. Summarizing the evidence relating to the slaughter of the Buddhist Monks perpetrated by the Musalman General in the course of his invasion of Bihar in 1197 AD, Mr. Vincent Smith says, “….Great quantities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of the ’shaven headed Brahmans’, that is to say the Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor sought for someone capable of explaining the contents of the books in the libraries of the monasteries, not a living man could be found who was able to read them. ‘It was discovered,’ we are told, ‘that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindi tongue they call a college Bihar.’ “Such was the slaughter of the Buddhist priesthood perpetrated by the Islamic invaders. The axe was struck at the very root. For by killing the Buddhist priesthood, Islam killed Buddhism. This was the greatest disaster that befell the religion of the Buddha in India….”
According to Arun Shourie, Hinduism survived largely because of Brahminism: He says: “For the Hindus, every Brahmin was a potential priest. No ordination was mandated. Neither anything else. Every household carried on rituals — oblations, recitation of particular mantras, pilgrimages, each Brahmin family made memorizing some Veda its very purpose…. By contrast, Buddhism had instituted ordination, particular training etc. for its priestly class. Thus, when the invaders massacred Brahmins, Hinduism continued. But when they massacred the Buddhist monks, the religion itself was killed.”
The priestly Brahmin class managed to preserve India’s spiritual traditions despite ethnic cleansing and genocides. This is not to undermine the contribution of other castes who had played their role by refusing to convert despite their low stature. It is high time that the Brahmin is seen for what he is rather than being demonized.
Social dimensions of Brahmin today: French journalist Francois Gautier says: Rampant anti-Brahmanism, first used by the Muslim invaders, then by the British colonialists and missionaries, is still in vogue at the hands of Nehruvians, Marxists, Indian Christians and politicians in search of the votes of Dalits and Muslims, which combined together make and unmake prime ministers.
Gautier had published an article in Rediff.com – Brahmins as Dalits of Today — stating that several young Brahmins were working in Sulab Toilets as toilet cleaners, sweepers et al (a job that is usually arrogated to the lower caste Dalits.)
Though Gautier had given this information to the Indian media, they started avoiding him, refused to publish it and some even criticized him as a “RSS stooge”. Certainly when editors, intellectuals and intelligentsia of the day bear anti-brahmin bias and refuse to look at reality, it is a tragedy of the society besides a slur on journalistic tradition which preaches objectivity. Remember, Brahmins are always projected as a fat, rich arrogant community. The selective amnesia of the media when it comes to Brahmin poverty is breathtaking. Is it not?
Sri Aurobindo wrote: ‘A Brahmin was a Brahmin only if he cultivated the spiritual temperament and acquired the spiritual training which alone would qualify him for the task.’
Says Gautier, “Thanks to the lingering influence of Nehruvianism, ‘Brahmins’ remain today a dirty word, even in the face of reality: that Dalits have considerably come up since 1947 in Indian society, that no nation in the world has done so much for its underprivileged (India had a Dalit President — did the US ever have a Black President?). But the intellectual elite of India, which never mentions these facts, continues to hide its face in the sand like an ostrich, refusing to see the reality.”
Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh Shauchalaya Movement remarks: ‘Society sustained the Brahmins and other upper castes earlier, who upheld the Hindu scriptures and Hindu culture. Today Hinduism is on the decline day-by-day. There is a lack of ancient knowledge. No political party has objected to reservation thanks to vote-bank politics. People have a very short memory. They have forgotten the contribution made by Brahmins to our society.’
And who says that Brahmins and other upper castes are anti-Dalits. Some of India’s top avatars, saints and gurus were of low caste and are still worshipped today by all upper castes. Valmiki, the composer of the Ramayana, was a fisherman; Ved Vyasa, the epic poet of the Mahabharata, which also contains the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible of Future Humanity, was the son of a fisherwoman; Krishna was from the shepherd’s caste. And are not today’s Amritanandamayi or Satya Sai Baba of low caste birth? Don’t they have millions of Indians, many of them from upper castes, bowing down to them?
Anti-Brahmanism has to be stopped! This inter-caste war, triggered by the politicians’ greed for votes, has to be defused.
Brahmins and Manu Smrithies: Manu Smrithies are the most effective tool used for Brahmin bashing. However, what is not pointed out is that Manu Smrithi has no validity in Hindu soceity. Manu Smriti is part of Samaja Dharma (which is like a constitution which was valid only during a certain period of time). Hindus have more faith in Sanatana Dharma (texts like Bhagavad Gita). According to several other scholars, the Manu Smrithies suffer from interpolation and cannot be relied upon. Most of the Hindus are ignorant about Manu Smrithies and tend to rely more upon classical texts like the Bhagavad Gita.
It is these alien intellectuals who have selected obscure passages from Manu Smrithies and are demonising a largely peaceful community. They do not point out other scriptures like the Gita where the Brahmin is described as a person in whom you find “truthfulness, generosity, absence of hatred, modesty, goodness and self-restraint.” Appreciating Brahmins is taboo in India.
What these intellectual worthies do not realise is that most of the Dalit reformers were Brahmins too. This only proves that brahmins are open to reforms and committed to justice.
A smritis, or code of conduct composed by sage Atri defines brahminhood very clearly.”By birth, every man is a Shudra (an ignorant person). Through various types of disciplines (samskaras), he becomes a dwija (twice born). Through the studies of scriptures, he becomes a vipra (or a scholar). Through realization of supreme spirit (brahmajnana), he becomes a brahmin.”
http://greathindu.com/2008/02/the-divisive-vote-bank-politics/

Antulay and Karkare: playing the Muslim Vote bank politics
Desh's blog 91 reads [STUMBLE]
Posted on December 20th, 2008

At a Cabinet meeting in mid-July of 2006, two ministers, Arjun Singh and Abdul Rehman Antulay suggested that terror attacks in Mumbai then were the handiwork of Hindus and not Muslims (and therefore had no links to Pakistan). At that time Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Indian PM had asked them to "refrain from raising “divisive issues” in the Cabinet before bringing them to his attention."[1]

AR Antulay, as he is popularly known, did an encore this week. He raised the issue of Hemant Karkare's death to suggest that he may have been killed because of some kind of "behind the scenes" work of Hindu groups.

Now, the Indian Government has - based on the Constable Arun Jadhav's statement, who was shot but alive and on interrogations from Kasab - said that Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar were killed when the terrorists opened fired on their vehicle. For Antulay to now come out and say stuff contradictory to what his own Government has been saying betrays mischief on part of either the Government or Antulay.[3]

Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar were all stationed outside the CST after news came in of indiscriminate firing at the busy railway station, said the constable. Soon, there was another report of two terrorists having fled from the station and barging into Madam Cama hospital behind the BMC headquarters.

All three officers decided to rush to Cama hospital. They piled into a Toyota Qualis, belonging to ACP Bhalerao, and made a dash for the hospital. Just as the vehicle reached the rear premises of the hospital, the two terrorists came running out. Seeing the approaching Qualis, they fired on it with their AK47 rifles. The officers did not have any time to react and were instantly felled by multiple bullet hits.

Interestingly, Pakistan's game of obfuscation and confusion rests on MERELY (and ONLY) the so-called "circumstantial evidence" - the timing issue, as if the threat to Hemant Karkare was only ONE dimensional.

It is somehow being projected that Hemant Karkare was some kind of an unknown guy whiling away his time in the force and suddenly hit upon this Malegaon investigation and so that was the ONLY threat he faced in life! If he was in Anti-terrorism Squad, then the chances are that he may have made enough enemies.

- So why single out ONE of the many?
- Or are we suggesting that is the ONLY worthwhile thing he did in his entire life?
- Or that the other enemies were somewhat benevolent and no matter what Karkare may have tried to do against them, they would have no grudge?

Just as a matter of record - Hemant Karkare was ALSO involved in probes related to Naxalite-infested Chandrapur district of Maharashtra and had worked in RAW in Austria for 7 years in a secret mission.[2]

Also, and VERY significantly, in an email dated August 23, Indian Mujahideen had singled out Hemant Karkare as a guy on their hit list. The email said - "Let us notify you, especially the top officials of the ATS like Hemant Karkare and allies that our line of attack has already been masterminded for you."[4]

Now, Pakistani media and "analysts" are backing Antulay up and in Indian polity that is euphemism for Muslim support.. as if what is good for Pakistanis is also good of Indian Muslims.[5] That AR Antulay is a Muslim is bad enough! But probably that is what Antulay is playing with.. he is in no mood to retract his statement and has been getting secret support of other parties who play Muslim vote bank politics regularly. This will put Congress in a bind - as it is angry at him but may not be able to throw him out as well![6]

Antulay is no stranger to playing the Muslims card and being a "Minister of Minorities Affairs", I would be VERY interested in knowing how much of funds were used for Muslims versus OTHER Minorities?! If my experience of UP Minorities board is any indication, then in India minority usually simply equals Muslims. It may be good for some but I think it is very retrograde and communal thinking!

1. Pak hand, says NSA; Arjun, Antulay have a different take
2. Hemant Karkare - Wikipedia
3. 3 rode to death in same car
4. Indian Mujahideen had warned Karkare, ATS in emails
5. Support for Antulay building in Pakistan
6. Antulay's conspiracy theory enrages Congress
http://drishtikone.com/?q=blog/antulay-and-karkare-playing-muslim-vote-bank-politics

India's foreign policy and Muslim vote bank

By Ghulam Muhammed

The Milli Gazette

Mumbai: A debate is on, targeting Mulayam Singh Yadav, in the wake of coming UP assembly elections, as to how Samajwadi party is playing with the security of the nation while courting the Muslim vote bank, when it declares its intention not to break ties with Iran in the manner our newly acquired 'strategic partner' - the USA demands of us, under threat of consequences.

In fact, this poser of alternative - vote bank politics and national security - is merely a red herring. The word - vote-bank as used especially for Muslim voters' mass commitment to a single political party, is traditionally used by the Congress opposition as a pejorative. In fact, forming a vote bank is just like forming a political party or forum or front. It is the very essence of democracy in action, however otherwise the fascists may take it.

On the other hand, the current debate on foreign policy has very grave consequences for India, both in internal and external dimensions. As is clear from vigorous opposition to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's personal initiative to completely lock up India's foreign policy with that of the United State, the subject concerns all and not just the Brahmanical minority that rides roughshod over rest of the Indians. Manmohan Singh's single-handed negotiation with the US over civilian nuclear cooperation with India, resulting in a virtual veto for the US over India's foreign policies and its sovereign right of freedom to decide its own strategies on war and peace, depending on changing times in the future, is too obvious to be missed as a greatest blunder India could make.

The US has a longer term plan for a NEW WORLD ORDER, which is a public document giving out America's hegemonist agenda in the rest of the world. To commit India to a distinct and unchangeable role in the US / ISRAELI NEW WORLD ORDER, with serious impediments and consequences for any possible change of course if so desired or necessitated in the future, is something that concerns each and every citizen of this democratic nation of India.

The whole process of India's negotiation with the US, without any prior reference to Parliament or the people of the nation, is sheer negation of all norms of democracy. How can a cabal at the top decide such important changes in India's long-term security commitments without taking the people into full confidence and without exhaustive debate and even special referendum? The US audacity and arrogance and glimpse of the future level of give and take was quite visible when ordinary individual Congressmen, could demand India, on pain of consequences, to abide by US interest in boycott of Iran, during a vote in IAEA. There is no prior understanding between the two nations on this subject. Just a phone call and Indian government was forced to change its declared policy and vote against Iran. And this even before any agreement on the nuclear deal was even put to vote in US Congress, US was openly blackmailing India. This was an ample proof that as is its wont, US is not willing to give any quarter to its partners, when it comes to its own national interest and even if clashes with the obvious and clear interest of its partners. India and Iran have long relationship and India depends on Iran for its fuel needs. It has future plans to develop further sources of gas supplies from Iran to India. All had been summarily thrown out of window and US gets its way on Iran vote. Naturally, the people of India are aghast at this turn of events. The Muslim factor was brought in, later to confuse the issue. Though India's special relationship is still sticking out as a sore thumb and India public, except for the Hindutva political lobby, is not willing to see India being humiliated into turning Iran into a foe. Tomorrow, the US may ask its 'strategic partners' to join its forces attacking Iran. Why should India toe the line and abide by the US list of friends and foes and why not it keep its freedom to deal with its neighbors and rest the world, in the best interest of its own. The more ironical part is that America has all the freedom to change its relationship with Iran and make peace in an instant, while India will be left out to deal with a jilted Iran in any such future happenstance. As is the norms in the East, this India and Iran enmity could last for ages.

Why India should enter into any such binding and suffocating relationship without the other side being made aware of our sensitivities and the limits of our commitments.
The question of Muslim vote bank impacting India's foreign policy is relevant in another equally important dimension. There happens to be a distinct contrast between inclinations of a 4% Brahmin minority and another 15% Muslim minority. In the caste war erupting all over the political arena, Brahmins are getting more and more isolated, while the quantum of Muslim population has started to be viewed as free from its earlier bondage to Congress and easily accessible to lower caste political groupings. Muslims, even though without any meaningful participation in political, administrative and foreign affairs of the nation till now, being completely sidelined and ostracized by the Congress Brahmins, have their natural sense of brotherhood with a sizable mass of Muslim nations in India's immediate neighborhood. If instead of the 4% Brahmins, the 15% Muslims could line up rest of the country behind them, even on merit, India will have much closer relationship with its Muslim neighbors and the whole of Middle East and Africa. The Brahmin foreign policy binds India to Israel and results in a different set of isolationist and confrontationist policy that is counter to India's ethos and its freedom of choice.

The kind of foreign investments flooding India from the US and its cronies from all around the world is peanuts if compared to the investible funds available with the gulf countries. However, India's Brahmins with their pathological apathy against Islam and Muslims could hardly be prepared to let Arabs invest in India, even though Arab investment would never have come with such onerous terms as the US imposes.

It would not be a far fetched conjecture to imagine that the haste with which Indian Brahmins have concluded such a one-sided strategic partnership agreement with the US and bringing in Israel in a big way into the India's national and internal security set-up, is the direct threat of Muslim vote bank slipping from the Brahmanical political parties to the coalition parties from the lower caste grouping.

It is time, Muslim leadership figure out the wider implications of its voting Brahmins into power once again.

«

Latest Indian Muslim Islamic News

Latest Indian Muslim Organisation Press Releases / Statements

http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/200612233_India_foreign_policy_Muslim_vote_bank.htm

Politics over Economics — putting reforms in backseat
We may praise them, we may criticize them...but it's a fact that India's eco-politics has had its share of successes and blunders on its way to where we stand now. Time to time political stands attracted bitter criticism on whether protection of the economy was in fact truly based on long-run comparative advantage, or whether it was determined by other, more political motives.

India's political system has, on many occasions, been unable to grab the given opportunities either due to lack of knowledge or because of political motivation. In the early 1990s when firms like Motorola approached us for facilities to set up manufacturing operations in India, we declined. China welcomed them and the fruits of this association is evident today.

The need of the hour is reforms, the need of the hour is innovation. There is a difference between keeping an elephant and carrying an elephant on the shoulders.

I strongly believe that instead of subsidies and free wares we need to engage them in sectors like biofuels, bamboo cultivation and products, and medicinal plants. Each of these can engage millions. These are policies that will not hurt the economy and all the same provide them the much-needed regular flow of income. Similarly, projects that entail huge earthworks including gram sadak projects, the linking of rivers will be able to absorb millions who may be dislocated and at the same time unleash the country’s productive potential. They are the real social security that will take the nation's economy to unscaled heights.

Political parties need to rise above political equations and vote-banks. We can't defer reforms for the forthcoming elections.

Having said that however, politics is also not without economics. The government-run railways are running in profit, the navaratnas are running in profit, many other sectors too are. Why? I would say they have brought in place reforms and innovative ways to become profitable.

Recently when I was in Gujarat, I saw a new trend emerging there. With a view to attracting several overseas companies to set up base in the state and to provide job opportunities to locals, the State government has taken up an ambitious project called SCOPE (Society for Creation of Opportunity through Proficiency in English) to empower the masses to acquire basic communication skills. The government has understood and recognized the fact that manpower is its strongest area and for that they need to possess good communication skills. This is innovation!

Economic strength is itself power. We need added thrust to reforms and that too without delay. The more we delay the process, the greater the lead that others will get over us.

So will our policy-makers play their old game in keeping a part of the society handicapped and play vote-bank politics or will they bring in reforms, all the same including the larger section of the society? The answers we will have to seek within ourselves!

Bikky Khosla
CEO
Tradeindia.com
http://www.tradeindia.com/newsletters/archive/newsletter_4_sep_2007_505.html

Get rid of vote bank politics
Author: Prafull Goradia
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: February 21, 2003
It's time for the BJP to present its preparatory campaign for the assembly elections that are to be held this year. However, it must be understood that Gujarat cannot be re-enacted in any of these states. The ghastly provocation provided at Godhra on February 27, 2002, made the people furious, but did not win the Gujarat polls for the Hindutva party. The VHP's activities helped mobilise sections of the people, but the BJP did not win 126 seats riding on anyone's shoulders. The BJP's trump card in Gujarat was Narendra Modi, the like of whom no other state has produced. By the time the campaigning officially began, the contest had ceased to be between political parties. The issue had become Modi versus terrorism, in every way exclusively a Gujarat phenomenon.

Nevertheless, the BJP can have decisive victories in Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan provided it charts out a winning strategy and pursues it with boldness. It needs to be far-sighted and simultaneously aim for the 2004 Lok Sabha election. It's too premature to decide which version of Hindutva the BJP should adopt. After all, the BJP also has to consider the opinion of its NDA partners. The emphasis should be on governance rather than on ideology.

Illegal migrants or infiltrators, especially from Bangla-desh, are a case of the poorer undercutting the poor. In West Bengal, in particular, one comes across any number of such complaints - incidentally, many more from Muslims than Hindus. Take a tailor - who in Bengal is most often a Muslim - who would normally earn Rs 100 per day. But a tailor migrating from Bangladesh is prepared to work for Rs 75.

Another example is of one Mehboob Ali in Burdwan, who belongs to a family of masons, each of whom earned Rs 60 per day in 1995. Thereafter came several families of masons from Mymensingh who were prepared to work for Rs 40 per day. Communist parties welcome such infiltrators - first giving them ration cards, then listing them in the electoral rolls - as they later become loyal voters.

In this endeavour to expand their electorate, the Marxist hearts cease to beat for the poor and it twists the demand for halting illegal migration into a communal bias. This is not true, as a Muslim landowner is as worried of Bangladeshi squatters as is a Hindu. Fear abounds in the border areas of 24-Parganas and Murshidabad, right up to West Dinajpur and Jalpaiguri. This partly explains why the Lok Sabha MP from Nadia on the Bangladesh border was elected on a BJP ticket.

The Congress plays along with the communists in the mistaken belief that any opposition to these migrants would hurt Muslim sentiments. To what extent the grand old party can go to placate these sentiments is illustrated by Illegal Migrants Determination by Tribunals Act (IMDT), 1983, a legislation authored by the Congress for Bangladeshi infiltrators. Amazingly, this act applies only to the state of Assam and the rest of India works under the Foreigners Act, 1946.

The IMDT was made into law by the Indira Gandhi government in 1983, soon after the election to the Assam assembly. It was so framed as to make it almost impossible to deport any foreigner from Assam. Its most outstanding feature was that the burden of proving that a person was a foreigner was on the complainant who claimed that the particular person was an illegal migrant. The Foreigners Act, 1946, puts the burden of proof rightly on the suspect. Also, Section 8 of the IMDT provides that any person may complain. But it is conditional that the alleged illegal migrant must reside within three kilometres from the residence of the complainant. And, the procedure prescribed for detection of an illegal migrant is elaborate and time-consuming. The BJP should promise a repeal of this discriminatory law.

Another promise that would be useful to the electoral campaign is nationalisation of the wakf. However pious its origin, over the centuries, it has deteriorated into an instrument of exploitation. Asaf A.A. Fyzee, in Outlines of Muhammadan Law (OUP, 1999), has written: "Wakf is a permanent foundation for a religious or pious object; the corpus belongs to God and cannot be consumed." A religious motive is the origin of the legal fiction that wakf property belongs to Almighty God. The most common objective initially was to pay the staff at mosques and to endow schools and hospitals with funds. Unfortunately, in India now, most wakfs are in favour of the wakif's (founder of a wakf) family, children and descendants.

Little wonder that the Caliph, way back in 1917, thought it necessary to abolish the institution of the wakf in the entire Ottoman empire. Many Muslim countries, including Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, have no wakfs. In India, the institution enjoys a unique advantage in that it is above all other laws. For example, the Urban Land Ceiling Act cannot apply to wakf properties.
During the raj, an appeal went up to the Privy Council which then served as the apex court for the British empire. In delivering its judgment, Lords Watson, Hobhouse and Shand and Sir Richard Couch described "the wakf as a perpetuity of the worst and the most pernicious kind and would be invalid".

A large number of madrasas have been established in India, especially on its borders with Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Regrettably, the madrasas focus on teaching of religious subjects and overlook the secular education that is so essential for earning one's livelihood. Lately, the madrasas have gained notoriety for being breeding grounds for jehadis and terrorists. The Pakistan government has clamped down on the proliferation of madrasas in that country by insisting on their registration. There is no reason why the BJP should not insist on the same for the existing madrasas here and the necessity of prior permission for opening new ones.

All in all, for the present, the BJP should deport at least a thousand proven illegal migrants every month across the Bangladesh border. The party should declare its intentions to repeal the IMDT. It should promise to nationalise the wakfs, apart from monitoring madrasas.

http://www.hvk.org/articles/0203/254.html

PRESS RELEASES
December 23, 2006
PDF Format

BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
National Council Meeting
23 & 24 December 2006

Sri Sundar Singh Bhandari Parisar
Lucknow

Resolution on
The UPA Government's vote-bank politics

The National Council of the Bharatiya Janata Party records the country's growing condemnation of the Congress-led UPA Government's vote-bank politics, particularly its practice of communal appeasement. In attempting to make political gains, the Congress and its allies are pursuing policies that are turning Indian against Indian, kindling divisive identities, jeopardising the country's social cohesion and compromising national security. The BJP is concerned that the Government's short-sighted approach will have a bearing on the integrity of India. In courting popular support, the Congress has destroyed all the norms governing political mobilisation and turned a blind eye to national interests.

Competitive appeasement

The recklessness of the Congress and its allies is born of expediency. The UPA Government lacks coherence in economic and foreign policy; its approach to India's larger strategic goals, including nuclear policy, is beset with contradictions. The squabbling fractions of the UPA are joined together by a competitive commitment to narrow sectarian politics, particularly aimed at the Muslim community.

The past year has witnessed the Congress President, the Prime Minister, senior Union ministers and key political figures in the states trying to outdo each other in offering sops to Muslims—regardless of its damaging consequences.

Communalisation of development

Earlier, the wooing of the Muslim community was couched in the language of minority welfare. Today, the UPA Government has shed its camouflage and is explicitly courting the Muslim community alone. The Rajinder Sachar Committee was appointed by the Prime Minister to inquire into the conditions of the Muslim community. At the National Development Council meeting, the Prime Minister declared that the Muslim community has "first claim" on India's development resources.

The BJP condemns this communalisation of the Government's development programme and the use of religious identity to apportion taxpayers' money. The Congress has initiated an unhealthy, divisive and potentially dangerous political trend.

A shameful record

The slide towards Muslim appeasement began with the installation of the UPA Government in May 2004. The notable examples include:

• The dismissal of four Governors appointed by the erstwhile NDA Government on the ground that they had links with the RSS.

• The inclusion, for the first time since Independence, of a Muslim League representative in the Union Council of Ministers.

• The attempt to shield the perpetrators of the 2002 arson attack in Godhra by the illegal appointment of the Bannerjee Committee by the Railway Ministry, despite the existence of a Commission of inquiry. Predictably, the Bannerjee committee declared that the death of the pilgrims inside a railway compartment was an accident and not the result of a pre-meditated attack.

• The illegal immigration of Bangladeshis into eastern India has been sanctioned and condoned by successive Congress Governments on the grounds that the foreigners happen to be Muslims. Census figures were sought to be doctored when they suggested a religious demographic transformation of large parts of eastern India. The IMDT Act which was struck down by the Supreme Court was re-introduced by the backdoor. The Supreme Court has struck down the latest notification too.

• Vande Mataram , India's national song which inspired the freedom movement, was dragged into controversy by the Congress following motivated objections by narrow-minded Muslim leaders to its singing.

• The introduction of religion-based reservations. The Congress Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in higher education; and the Centre declared that 50 per cent of all seats in Aligarh Muslim University would be reserved for Muslims.

• Minority educational institutions have been excluded from the purview of the new reservations policy for Backward classes. As a result, the existing reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes stand removed from minority institutions which are now outside the purview of legislation. The Government has fallen back on expediency to justify this. Whereas in the matter of education it claims that caste is alien to Islam and Christianity, it is simultaneously campaigning to enlarge the Scheduled Castes category to include Muslims and Christians in employment. One of the new terms of reference of the Ranganath Mishra Commission on linguistic minorities was to find ways of incorporating Muslims and Christians into the category of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The BJP believes that such a move will encourage religious conversions. It is significant that Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi wrote to the President of India Protesting against the anti-conversion legislation passed by BJP-run state governments.

• The Sachar Committee has recommended the use of nominations to enhance representation of Muslims in government.
Soft on jihadi terror

The policy of Muslim appeasement has been taken to such dangerous heights that the Congress-led Government has chosen to go soft on terrorism. The Government has yielded space to jihadi elements that are out to destroy India. The pattern of the Government's capitulation is evident from the following:

• POTA was repealed by suggesting it was anti-Muslim. This has adversely affected the fight against terrorism.

• The Congress and Left-dominated Kerala Assembly passed a unanimous resolution to release the prime accused in the Coimbatore bomb blast case.

• The Uttar Pradesh Government headed by the Samajwadi Party has not implemented the Centre's ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Cases against prominent SIMI functionaries have been withdrawn,

• An attempt was made by the Sachar Committee, to examine the religious composition of the armed forces. The move was dropped after a public outcry and protests by the army chief. In its report, the Sachar committee has, however, justified this attempt to view the armed forces through a religious prism.

• The death sentence awarded to Afzal Guru for his role in the attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, has been put on hold. The punishment of a terrorist conspirator has been needlessly converted into an issue of Muslim sentiment. Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, went public with his opposition to a judicial verdict.

• The Government has been deliberately underplaying the involvement of both Pakistan and Pakistan-aided jihadis in terrorist incidents all over the country. By agreeing to a joint Indo-Pakistan mechanism to monitor terror, the UPA Government has diluted the Islamabad declaration of January 2004 and allowed Pakistan to extricate cross-border terrorism from the so-called peace process. It was shameful for the Government to suggest that both India and Pakistan are victims of terrorism.

• The UPA Government has rubbished the investigations of the Mumbai Police Commissioner pointing to a Pakistani-role in the Mumbai blasts of July 11. The role of Pakistan in the blasts was not even mentioned in the Foreign Secretary-level talks in October.
The BJP perspective

The BJP believes that Muslims are an inseparable part of India. They share with the rest of the people a common ancestry and a common culture. Their struggle for economic prosperity, social dignity, women's empowerment and education make them one with the rest of India. By separating Muslim issues from the rest, the Government is creating an artificial divide, breeding resentment and nurturing divisive forces. In linking the fate of terrorist conspirators with Muslim interests, the Congress and its allies are implicitly suggesting that Muslims have a stake in terrorism aimed against the ordinary people of India. This does nationalist Muslims a grave injustice.

The BJP believes that all Indian citizens, regardless of language, class and creed are equal. The party condemns the Congress Party's assertion that some citizens are more equal than others and have first claim on resources on the basis of their faith. The BJP believes that equity demands special treatment and, where necessary, affirmative action for the poor and the disadvantaged. The party, however, repudiates the suggestion that this can be done on the basis of religion.

The BJP notes that the Congress and many other parties flaunting their "secular" credentials have developed a vested interest in keeping Muslims poor, ghettoised and in a state of permanent nervousness. They have perceived Muslims as voting fodder and not worked for their betterment. The social disabilities of Muslim women have, for example, never been addressed. Shah Bano and Imrana stand testimony to this injustice to Muslim women.

The Congress, which has ruled India for 47 of the 59 years since Independence, cannot escape responsibility for the dismal plight of many Muslims in large parts of India. It is revealing that Muslims are most backward in states such as Bihar and West Bengal where the most vocal of the "secular" parties were and are in power for long.

By attempting to re-inject religion-based quotas and reservations into India, the Congress is re-opening old wounds. The BJP would like to remind the Indian people that it the creation of separate electorates and the categorisation of society along religious lines which produced a separatist mindset and led to the Partition of India in 1947. It is precisely for this reason that the founding fathers of the Republic kept religion out of decision-making by the state.
The Congress has been practising vote-bank politics and minorityism for long. What began as an instrument of electoral mobilisation has now been taken a step forward. A competitive statement war has been unleashed among Congress ministers and their supporters to prove that each can outdo the other in accommodating so-called Muslim interests. If unchecked the attempt to create a special citizenship for Muslims will pave the way for a second Partition. The BJP will resist this dangerous drift with all the might at its command.

The Congress is playing havoc with Indian identity and nationalism. The UPA has made Muslim appeasement and vote bank politics the hallmark of its governance. The BJP National Council resolves to mobilise all nationalist Indians and defeat this assault on our nationhood.



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India’s Christians: politics of violence in Orissa
Jacob Ignatius

A wave of Hindu nationalist attacks on Christians in eastern India is rooted in local issues of caste and conversion but also part of a larger political strategy, says Jacob Ignatius. 1 - 09 - 2008


A catastrophic flood across the northeast Indian state of Bihar has displaced tens of thousands of people and caused untold damage to the meagre property and livelihoods of some of India's poorest citizens. The challenges of delivering aid and protecting the health of those affected by this emergency - which is spreading to the state of Assam and across the border to Bangladesh - are immense. But alongside this natural and humanitarian disaster, another less visible crisis has been unfolding: attacks on India's Christians in parts of the impoverished eastern state of Orissa.

Jacob Ignatius is an Indian who works in Britain as a software engineer.
On 29 August 2008, 45,000 Christian schools were closed across India to protest against the anti-Christian violence that had affected (mainly) the Kandhamal district of Orissa in the previous week. This was unprecedented in the history of independent India, for never before have Christians felt so compelled to stand publicly and unitedly against the forces of communalism in India. Moreover, the impact of this response is heightened by the fact that Christian schools - which provide education to both Christian and non-Christian children - form a significant part of India's education system.

The unrest in the state of Orissa started on 23 August 2008 after the murder of a 90-year-old rightwing Hindu nationalist leader called Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati; four of his associates were also killed in the attack. Although the police suspected Maoist guerrillas for the murder, members of the radical Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) blamed Christians and went on the rampage - killing several people, and destroying a Christian missionary-school, house-churches and other buildings. The Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) estimates that fifty people (most of them Christians) have been killed. Thousands of Christians have fled their homes to seek shelter in the forests or government camps. The murder of the Hindu leader is clearly reprehensible, but this is a matter for the judicial authorities and - even were the culprit found to be a Christian - would not justify what effectively became an assault against an entire local Christian community.

Among openDemocracy's articles on Indian politics and democracy:

Rajeev Bhargava, "Words save lives: India, the BJP and the constitution" (2 October 2002)

Rajeev Bhargava, "The political psychology of Hindu nationalism" (5 November 2003)

Antara Dev Sen, "India's benign earthquake" (20 May 2004)

Rajeev Bhargava, "India's model: faith, secularism and democracy" (3 November 2004)

Meenakshi Ganguly, "India's Dalits: between atrocity and protest" (9 January 2007)

Ajai Sahni, "India and its Maoists: failure and success" (20 March 2007)

Sumantra Bose, "Uttar Pradesh: India's democratic landslip" (29 May 2007)

John Elkington, "India's third liberation" (21 August 2007)

Kanchan Lakshman, "India in Afghanistan: a presence under pressure" (11 July 2008)

Ajai Sahni, "India after Ahmedabad's bombs" (29 July 2008)

Paul Rogers, "China and India: heartlands of global protest" (7 August 2008)

Antara Dev Sen, " India at 61: here's looking at you, kid!" (19 August 2008)
An area of tension

The latest trauma is part of a history of Hindu-Christian clashes in Orissa over the last decade. In January 1999, the Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned alive while sleeping in their jeep. Around Christmas 2007 there were Hindu-Christian clashes that have some parallels with the latest events. The main conflict then was between two communities: Kandh tribals (who are mainly, though not exclusively, Hindus) and Dalit Panas (many of whom have converted to Christianity over the years). Christian missionaries have been active in the area for many years; with the entrance of radical Hindu groups, vehemently opposed to the conversion of Hindus to Christianity and cow slaughter, the potential for communal tension has deepened.

Muslims have traditionally borne the brunt of attacks by Hindu extremist groups but since the late 1990s there has been a marked increase in the number of attacks on Christians. Between 1950 and 1998, only fifty anti-Christian attacks were recorded. In 2000, the figure shot up to 100, and then rose further to at least 200 incidents annually in 2001-05; perhaps it was no coincidence that this came after after the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power at the federal level (until their defeat by the Congress-led coalition in May 2004). In 2007, the number of attacks on Christians exceeded 1,000 for the first time.

Hindu radicals often make the allegation - in part-excuse for the actions of extremists - that Christians are forcibly or fraudulently converting Hindus to Christianity. There probably are some erring missionaries who are attracting converts by false inducements, but to imply that all do so is inaccurate and unfair (see Subhasis Mohanty, "Fire in Kalinga", The Pioneer, 2 September 2008). Many missionaries do great charitable work, often providing a helping hand in areas deeply affected by poverty.

In several Indian states governed by the BJP, anti-conversion laws are now in place. These laws are largely intended to prevent the flow of people from Hinduism to other faiths. Many low-caste Hindus have converted to Christianity willingly to escape the rigid and repressive caste system; the Dalit Panas of Orissa are an example. In this context the anti-conversion laws - which sanction interference in a person's right freely to choose a faith - have become a weapon used by radical Hindus to beat Christians. In areas like Orissa, the tensions that result are intermingled with disputes over land, legal status and local power (see Ravik Bhattacharya, "Down the Dark Road", Indian Express, 31 August 2008).

Christians officially constitute only 2.3% of the Indian population. Christianity is believed to have been brought to India by St Thomas, Christ's own apostle, to the shores of Kerala in 52 CE (common era). Much later, colonial powers such as the British, Portuguese, Dutch and French made strenuous efforts to convert the population. These were usually without success; Christianity has never grown to be a dominant religion in India and it is unlikely it ever will. Yet Hindu extremist groups like the VHP are fixated on the issue of conversions to Christianity - in part from dogmatic opposition to people leaving their religious fold, in part from insecurity about members of the lower castes trying to break free from the caste system. Hence, the majority of attacks on Christians are directed against the formerly low-caste converts such as the Dalit Panas of Orissa (see Biswamoy Pati, "In a crucified state", Hindustan Times, 2 September 2008).

A strategy of fear

India is a deeply religious place where the boundaries of religion and politics are somewhat porous. The country is not today blessed with philanthropic politicians of the stature of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru who always strove for communal harmony. There is a disturbing tendency among some of their successors to exaggerate the religious divide between communities in order to polarise voters along religious lines and win the votes of the majority community. This can both encourage and justify attacks on members of minority faiths, many of which are orchestrated in advance and carried out with the connivance of the authorities. In their aftermath, very few people are prosecuted (see Rajeev Bhargava, "The political psychology of Hindu nationalism", 5 November 2003).

The next Indian general election is looming - it must be held by May 2009, and could even be sooner. The BJP seems to have returned to its policy of hard-line Hindutva (Hindu nationalism) to capture votes. The ruling Congress Party professes commitment to India's famed secularism, but it often fails to match action with rhetoric (see Rajeev Bhargava, "Words save lives: India, the BJP and the constitution", 2 October 2002). This is disappointing because to break the cycle of communal violence more needs to be done than just issuing statements and pointing the finger of blame at the BJP. A good start would be consistently to bring the perpetrators of communal violence to justice.

Hindus are in their vast majority tolerant and peaceful - as are members of other faiths in India. It is political manipulation and fear-mongering that turns peaceful coexistence into terrible violence, as in Orissa. The political instigation of of anti-Christian sentiment by the Hindu rightwing for electoral gain is another danger to Indian democracy. In the interests of a peaceful, progressive and just India, it must be opposed.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/india-s-christians-politics-of-violence-in-orissa
Bane of vote bank politics
Mon, 2008-10-13 01:08
By Allabaksh - Syndicate Features

Vote bank politics is the ugly side of Indian democracy. It surfaces with more prominence around election time, which means practically round the year since polls are becoming an almost annual feature in India. That has made most people accept, perhaps grudgingly, vote bank politics as a necessary evil.

Recently, the issue erupted with some force when the Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, tried to do an almost impossible balancing act. He rushed to express sympathy for a slain and a much acclaimed police inspector, M.C. Sharma, who was killed when the police raided a ‘hideout’ of terrorists in Jamia Nagar in south Delhi while investigating the case of September 13 serial blasts in the capital. Two suspected terrorists were also killed in the encounter. Amar Singh presented a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to the family of late Sharma. That gesture could not be construed as anything other than a mark of honour for the slain police officer and recognition of his devotion to duty.

Curiously, the cheque had a discrepancy—the amount written in figures and words did not match. According to Amar Singh’s aides, it was not a serious matter and was just an oversight. But with the benefit of hindsight many would question if the portly leader was really serious in honouring the police officer.

Because in the past few days, Amar Singh has turned his attention to the reaction among the Muslim community in Jamia Nagar which had debunked the entire ‘encounter’ story and alleged that Sharma was not ‘martyred’ but was shot from close range by one of his colleagues. If their version is to be believed the Delhi Police had—once again—gone after ‘innocent’ people, made tall claims about ‘busting’ a terror network and tried to find an undeserving ‘martyr’ from among its rank.

Amar Singh gauged the extent of ‘anger’ in the Muslim community and realised that he must speak in support of their stand on the ‘encounter’. With its fortunes in apparent decline in its home state (UP), the Samajwadi Party leader was desperate to do something to please its supposedly large Muslim ‘vote bank’. In doing so he perhaps overstepped by questioning the ‘martyrdom’ of Sharma and by raising suspicions about the ‘encounter’.

The Sharma family is furious and decided not to accept Amar Singh’s cheque even if he is prepared to correct the discrepancy on it. The BJP jumped into the fray and denounced Amar Singh for touching a new low in ‘vote bank politics’. Amar Singh’s initial gesture towards the Sharma family got him enemies, not friends.

Since the Samajwadi Party has always claimed to watch and protect the interests of Muslims it is hardly surprising to find Amar Singh echoing the views of Jamia Nagar, a predominantly Muslim cluster near Okhla. But he would have escaped some wrath of his political opponents if he had refrained from raising a controversy about the manner of inspector Sharma’s death. The political class with its own problem of credibility still has a lot to do to catch up with the new trend of scoffing at every police claim in solving a terror.

While it may be impossible to eliminate ‘vote bank politics’ public figures like Amar Singh will be doing a great favour to our democracy if they realise that extending this kind of politics beyond a point harms the very community they are trying to support. Muslims in the country are very upset because of what they perceive as a ‘campaign’ to malign the entire community in the name of fighting terrorism. True, the community needs to purge itself of elements who have brought a bad name to them, more since unquestionably the majority Muslims abhor terrorism and whatever it stands for.

Acts of terrorism need investigation, which in turn means questioning a lot of people, often a whole group. If these people live in a community enclave it will be wrong to presume that the investigators are after all of them. Questioning neighbours is one of the first things the police do when investigating any crime. Of course, our police force is still stuck in the colonial mindset and its methods of questioning people remain as antiquated as they are offensive, even dehumanised. It is a pity that nothing much has been done to ‘reform’ the police despite a plethora of sensible suggestions made in numerous reports that are gathering dust in the Home Ministry’s North Block basement.

The inadequacies in running the police force are compounded by rampant partisan and communal politics in the country. No debate on enacting or repealing laws to curb terrorism can begin and end without the charge that the aim is to either ‘appease’ a section or ‘target’ another with the idea of seeing the voters polarised.

The politicians and members of the civil society have the right to question the methods applied by the police in carrying out investigations. At the same time, it might also be necessary for them not to induce a section of the people to believe that they are deliberate targets of the police. People may question the manner in which the police investigate the Delhi blast case, but to lend support to the charge that the police or the administration is biased against a particular community is doing a disservice to the nation.

Shoddy police investigation methods may enrage a community; that cannot be sufficient reason for abandoning the probe or bringing in absurd charges like policemen killing their own colleagues to give a band name to a community.

Muslims not only in India but also all over the world are unhappy and worried about the bad name their community has received after 9/11. But questioning investigations and describing every suspect arrested after an act of terrorism as innocent cannot correct this unfortunate situation. Terrorism is largely an ‘invisible’ enemy; looking for ‘invisible’ people may sometimes entail, unfortunate though it is, reaching the wrong address.

- Asian Tribune -

http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/13676

Fettered by fear, Muslims fritter away their vote
14 Dec 2008, 0015 hrs IST, M J Akbar

Indian Muslims will get development the day they vote for development. For sixty years they have voted out of fear, so that is what they have got
from those they elected: the politics of fear. Fear is the menu, recipe and diet: and the Muslim voter laps it up with the appetite of the traumatized.

Fact and fiction are employed seamlessly in the advertising of fear. A history of riot, and the threat from organizations like the Bajrang Dal are sewn into wild conspiracy theories by ‘leaders’ of the community to shape minds on the eve of an election. I could not believe some of what I heard after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. One was utterly aghast to hear, during a public gathering of some very worthy persons, the suggestion that we could not be sure that the terrorists had come from Pakistan. It was an appalling exercise in denial by mindsets that had either been unhinged or had turned utterly manipulative.

For secular politicians, the Muslim vote comes at an easy exchange rate. Other communities demand rice and roads. The Muslim needs nothing more than the old ploy used to help children go to sleep: stories of ghosts and monsters at the door.

When the community wakes up after sleepwalking to the polling booth, and demands legitimate needs like jobs for the young and health clinics for women, the politicians offer a large shoulder on which they can weep. No other segment of the Indian electorate can be appeased by a sob story.

Politicians will always maximize the spread of assets at their disposal in the search for an extra vote; why should they waste economic benefits on a voter who will sway to the whine of emotions rather than take a cold count of schools and sanitation? There is now a disconnect between Muslims and the benefits of democracy, a break engineered by community opinion-makers who get rewarded for such services with little dollops that wind up into their personal assets.

Fear used to be a factor with some other communities as well, particularly Dalits and tribals. Humiliation and exploitation were a constant of their experience. But they have moved on, either by asserting themselves through their own political formations or by maximizing the price of their support where parties like the BSP or Jharkhand Mukti Morcha do not exist. The sharpest player of this intelligent game is Mayawati. The results are evident. There is a good study waiting to be done comparing the employment levels, educational services and municipal services in Dalit residential areas and Muslim areas between 1947 and 2007.

Even without empirical data I can assert that there is a sharp improvement in the former and stagnation if not decline in the latter. The Dalit has punished neglect. The tribal has learnt to vote on the sensible planks of development and security: he knows that he cannot eat rice, at whatever price it is offered, unless he is alive. The Muslim has crawled repeatedly back into the sterile womb of fear. That womb will deliver nothing. The midwives of this vote fatten on fees collected by periodic declarations of false pregnancy.

Only one state is an exception: Kerala. Untroubled by the guilt of Partition, the Malayali Muslim can rally around the banner of an All-India Muslim League, which is a bit of a misnomer. It is not an all-Indian organization; it is a local Muslim party. The Kerala Muslim, with sufficient self-assurance to meet political and economic challenges, has always behaved like an equal, which is why he is treated like one. He has prised out the benefits of progress through the pressure points of a democratic polity.
There could have been a similar story in Bengal, because the Marxists are committed to both secularism and progress for the underprivileged. They were the first to empower Bengali Muslims, through land reforms inspired by three authentic Marxist heroes, Promode Dasgupta, Harekrishna Konar and Jyoti Basu. That won them the loyalty of the rural vote. But two fallow decades are forcing a shift in Muslim sentiment; it is not ready to be taken for granted any longer.

The Bengal CPM is in a bit of a bind, perhaps because it is not cynical enough to exploit the politics of fear with the dexterity displayed by other parties anxious for the Muslim vote. One senses the first stir of change in Bihar, where Nitish Kumar has begun to include Muslims within his development-based governance. The pace may not overly perturb a snail, but at least a process has started. But if the voter does not honour this start with support, then it will be back to fulmination and hot air.

Fear locks and freezes the mind. A closed mind can never liberate a community from poverty.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sunday_Specials/Muslims_fritter_away_their_vote/articleshow/3833792.cms

The Post Secular Age
Dr. Frank Morales, Ph.D.

(Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya)

The last two centuries have been a conspicuously unique era in the history of the human race. For, unlike any other epoch in our history, the last 200 years have witnessed the systematic and seemingly unstoppable deconstruction of religion as an important element of Western society and human culture. So seemingly successful has the exorcism of religion from public life been since the modern Enlightenment era, that many 20th century American scholars even went so far as to prematurely pronounce the imminent death of religion in our age. As events and trends in recent world history have shown us, however, this was an exceedingly mistaken pronouncement to say the least.



As is becoming increasingly apparent in the early years of the 21st century, religion’s obituary may have been written somewhat prematurely. Our current era is witnessing one of the greatest world wide religious resurgences ever recorded in the annals of human history. In America alone, for example, we have seen the importance of religiously based human values ushered center stage in the elections of 2004. And the rest of the world has not been immune to this trend. The centrality of religion in human life and culture has been aggressively reasserted in India, Israel, throughout the Islamic world, and throughout the Third World especially. Only the modern secular states of Western Europe seem, so far, to have remained relatively untouched by the global revival of spirituality. Rather than ushering in a new secular age, an age free from the influence of religion, spirituality and contemplation, the evidence seems to indicate that we are actually entering a Post Secular Age: an age wherein religion will necessarily fill up the vacuum created by the ruinous failure of 20th century secular materialism.



The notion that religion would meet its eventual demise (and, according to some of the more rabidly atheistic thinkers, that it should meet its demise) had been espoused by a large number of Western intellectuals in the last two centuries. Perhaps the most famous of these individuals were, what Christian theologian Martin Marty termed, “The Bearded God-Killers” (National Public Radio, 1996). These primarily 19th century figures included: Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Mistakenly equating all human religious expression with an enslaving opiate designed to keep the proletariat bound by psychic chains, Karl Marx predicted both the inevitable death of religion and the subsequent emergence of a new atheistic world order: the Dictatorship of the Proletariat; leading to a state of Communism. He was woefully wrong on both counts. Similarly, Freud saw in religion the greatest threat to humanity’s social and psychic development. Indeed, to Freud religion and philosophy represented no more than a “...black tide of mud...” designed solely to keep humanity enslaved in the chains of superstition (Ernest Becker, “Denial of Death”, p. 94). Overt atheists were not the only individuals to pronounce the imminent end of religion.



Surrendering to the en vogue secularism of their day, even quite a few Judeo-Christian theologians also felt that secularism would ultimately triumph over the human religious impulse. Among these religious leaders were several who felt that the inevitable secularization of the world merely represented a coming of age for homo religiosus (religious man). Included among these were theologian Harvey Cox (author of “The Secular City”) of Harvard, and Anglican Bishop John Robinson (who wrote “Honest to God”). Succumbing wholesale to the seemingly unstoppable secular tide seen in 20th century history, some shortsighted Christian theologians went so far as to declare the death of God in the early 1960’s. If God Himself were indeed “dead”, however, such ongoing phenomena as the belief in the importance of the spiritual dimension of human life, religiously inspired values and ethics, and the active search for God on the part of multiple millions today seem to be very far from it.



As we enter the beginning years of the 21st Century, it appears that religion has made an undeniably powerful comeback onto the world stage. Throughout the Third-World, nation upon nation is rejecting the current Western materialistic paradigm. Nations that were traditionally Hindu (Sanatana Dharma), Islamic, Buddhist and Jewish are rediscovering their ancient religious heritage and turning to these time-tested spiritual world-views for meaningful and practical answers to many of today’s social, political, economic and ethical dilemmas - dilemmas, many of which were themselves created directly as a result of the failures of secular materialism. The world’s many Indigenous peoples and tribes - peoples ranging from the Aborigines of Australia to the many hundreds of Native American tribes in North and South America – are also reconnecting with their own, long oppressed, spiritually-based cultures: cultures that have proven themselves to be gentler, saner, and more Earth-centered paradigms than anything secular materialism ever had to offer. Moreover, with the dramatic failure and consequent collapse of Marxist regimes in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the Third World, the peoples of these former Communist regimes have expressed an unprecedented resurgence of interest in more religious ways of life. Indeed, in today’s Russia, and throughout much of Eastern Europe, two of the fastest growing religions are Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) and Buddhism.



This world-wide rediscovery of the importance of religion has also had a dramatic impact on the American scene. There are several recent trends in American culture that readily reveal this fact. One of these trends has been the explosive popularity of the trendy New Age movement in recent years. As a movement deeply grounded in the belief that personal spiritual development is essential to any real social and political change, New Age thought has had a deeply penetrating influence on the American public. With an emphasis in such beliefs as karma, reincarnation, meditation, natural foods, chakras, and Yoga, much of New Age thought is directly derived from much older and more orthodox forms of Hindu philosophy; though this clear dependence on Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) is sadly often not acknowledged by many New Age thinkers and leaders. As a result of this disconnect from its religious roots, the actual understanding of many of these New Age leaders tends to be rather shallow and faddish. The rebirth of interest in religion is also seen on the popular stage by the amazing number of books with spiritual themes that have become run-away best sellers. These include the works of such popular writers as Deepak Chopra, Bernie Siegal, Thomas Moore and Marianne Williamson. While the New Age movement is not deeply rooted in the philosophical profundity and guiding discipline of traditional religious thought, the popular impact of this movement is still a clear testament to the resurgence of interest in spirituality in modern America.



Coupled with the more recent success of New Age spirituality has been the growing popularity of Asian religions on the previously solely Judeo-Christian American religious landscape - specifically Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) and Buddhism. Over the past three decades, hundreds of thousands of Americans have joined various Asian religious traditions. Legions of famous celebrities, such as the actors Richard Gere, and musical performers like Madonna and Sting, among many others, now consider themselves to be practicing Hindus, Buddhists or Taoists. In addition, to throngs of college students and youth across America, nothing is considered “cooler” today than studying and practicing Hindu and Buddhist philosophy and spirituality. Every major American city has at least several dozen Hindu temples and Buddhist meditation centers. Yoga, Tai Chi and meditation are spiritual techniques that are now practiced by millions of average, middle class Americans. The estimate is that there are currently 15 – 18 million Americans practicing Yoga regularly, with an even greater number enjoying the benefits of meditation. In Gallup polls conducted on the basic religious beliefs of everyday Americans for the last twenty years, a consistent 23% - 25% of Americans say they believe that the principle of reincarnation offers the best possible explanation for the afterlife. The number of Hindus in America today is roughly 3 million. Half of these are non-Indian Americans who have adopted Hinduism (Sanatana Dharma) as their religious practice. In many ways, it has become easily arguable that 20th century Americans are witnessing nothing less than the slow but steady “Hinduization” of North-American culture and society.



The recent religious resurgence in America is affecting society not only on a more popular level, but within the realm of academia as well. The latter phenomenon is evidenced by the recent successes of overtly religious scholars in philosophy departments across the land. For much of the last 40 years, philosophy departments at almost every major university were uninviting intellectual vacuums, in which only materialist and empiricist philosophy was allowed to flourish. Religious philosophers were made to feel like outsiders. This is beginning to change quite significantly today as more and more departments open their doors to theistic thinkers. Such philosophers of religion as Alvin Plantinga (famous for his bold defense of the Ontological Argument for God’s existence) and Keith Yandell (author of “The Epistemology of Religious Experience”) have begun to make tremendous inroads into an area that, until recently, was almost the exclusive domain of atheistic Humean skeptics.



On a more ominous note, the new religious resurgence in America has also included a marked rise in Evangelical Christian fundamentalism. This new evangelical revival has taken on increasingly political tones in recent years. Beginning with such individuals as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in the late 1970’s, fundamentalist Christian activists began to take their theological opinions into the partisan political realm. Through supporting politicians and ballot initiatives viewed as being pro-family values, and pro-Christian, Evangelicals have made their views forcefully known and implemented throughout the nation. The success and acceptability of Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition in the Republican Party in the late 1990s, and the more recent overt confessions of Christian faith on the part of President Bush, reveals to us that this is a movement that is both immensely powerful and that is here to stay.



In addition to the rise of Christian fundamentalism, the world has also witnessed the violent specter of Islamic fundamentalism and Islamist inspired terrorism in recent years. The most prominent example of the destructive force of fundamentalist terror was, without question, the terrorist attacks on innocent American civilians perpetrated on 9/11. In an attempt to enforce their highly reactionary version of Islam upon the world, Islamic terrorists have declared open war against both modernity, as well as the followers of all non-Islamic religions. From the southern Philippines, Indonesia, Southern Thailand and Northwest China, to the Chechen Republic in Russia, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sudan and Israel, the ravages of Islamic fundamentalism have led to untold deaths, destruction and suffering on the part of many hundreds of thousands of innocent people globally. Thus, the current global resurgence in religious consciousness also has its extremely ominous side, as well as its decidedly positive value.



The fact that religion, both in America and throughout the world, is again becoming an increasingly important factor in human culture is well-established knowledge. Let us now explore some of the possible reasons for why this is the case. One reason for the ascension of religion is certainly the dramatic failure of the most powerful anti-religious ideology in human history: Marxism. First presented to the public as a rational, scientific and humanistic alternative to religion, the fall of Communism in Europe in 1989 revealed Marxism to be a more repressive, inhumane and destructive system than any religion had ever been. As only one of a large multitude of examples showing the failure of Marxism, we have the vivid example of Cambodia. Cambodia was a peaceful and beautiful Buddhist nation previous to the Marxist Khmer Rouge shooting their way to power in 1975. Marxist rule led to the systematic genocide of at least 1.5 million of Cambodia’s inhabitants - over an eighth of the population! - over a three year period. This was an instance, not of a foreign nation invading and committing acts genocide, but of Communist Cambodians committing acts of mass genocide against their very own Cambodian people! And all was done in the name of a humane and rational ideal of Marxist atheism. Interestingly, Marxists and secularists throughout the last hundred years had repeatedly attempted to accuse religion of being responsible for all of humanity’s many historic sufferings and injustices. As we now know, however, more human beings have been persecuted, murdered, tortured and dehumanized as a direct result of atheistic Marxism in the 20th century alone than have been harmed in all of the world’s religious wars combined since the very beginning of human history.



Indeed, it could be argued that the complete and unmitigated failure of secularism, as a whole, is directly responsible for the new religious renaissance now being experienced globally. The omnipresent human need for meaning simply could not be adequately addressed by the cold, impersonal institutions and ideologies of secular materialism. The human heart desires love, meaning, beauty and compassion. Secular materialism could only offer conflict, meaninglessness, mediocrity and fear instead. Consequently, we are now witnessing an increasing worldwide reaction against all forms of Western materialism - both Marxist and capitalist. America, as we have seen, has been far from immune from this rather dramatic global shift.

Some might argue that it is still somewhat premature to proclaim the advent of a new religious era for humanity. However, the data reveals that there is currently a definite and dramatic global shift away from institutions and philosophies that have urged the abandonment of the human spirit and the Transcendent. Additionally, the currently ongoing rediscovery of humankind’s many unique spiritual traditions reveal to all impartial observers that we are at present experiencing nothing less than the beginning of a Post Secular Age. It is quite apparent that those scholars who earlier in the 19th and 20th century had predicted - and in some cases, even looked forward to - the death of religion were exceedingly mistaken. Rather than being on the verge of extinction, as we begin the second Millennium, the natural, positive and healthy phenomenon of human religious expression seems to have been rekindled anew.





About the Author
Dr. Frank Gaetano Morales, Ph.D. (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya) earned both a doctorate and a Masters degree in Languages and Cultures of Asia from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, Dr. Morales earned a B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from Loyola University Chicago. His fields of expertise include Philosophy of Religion, Hindu Studies, Sanskrit, History of Religion, Comparative Theology, Contemporary South Asian Politics, and the interface between Hinduism and modernity. Dr. Morales is currently recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities on Hindu philosophy and religion, as well as South Asian studies. In addition to directing his own institute (The Center for the Study of Religion and Civilization), Dr. Morales works in conjunction with several educational institutes and think tanks globally. Dr. Morales maintains a very demanding schedule consisting of lecturing, consulting and writing. Dr. Morales has been a guest lecturer at over two dozen major universities throughout the USA, including Cornell, Northwestern, Illinois Institute of Technology, and University of Virginia. In addition, Dr. Morales has served as a South Asian affairs consultant for such corporations as Ford Motor Company, Lucent Technologies, Goodwin Procter Law Firm, and the Global Health Corporation. His first book, “Experiencing Truth: The Vedic Way of Knowing God”, is scheduled for publication in 2006. In addition to his academic duties, Dr. Morales has been a practicing orthodox Hindu for 30 years, and is an ordained Hindu priest. The practice of Yoga and meditation are of central importance in his life. His website is www.dharmacentral.com.



"Dr. Frank Morales represents the Sankalpa [the will] of the Hindu people and the cause of Sanatana Dharma. I urge all Hindus everywhere to give him your full support, assistance, and encouragement in his crucial work. He needs and deserves our help."

- Dr. David Frawley (Oct. 14, 2007)









--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2007, Frank Morales. You may print, duplicate or copy this article only if you credit the author and not alter or add to the author's work in any way.



Have Dr. Frank Morales Speak to Your Organization
Dr. Morales is currently recognized as one of the nation's leading authorities on Hindu philosophy and religion, as well as South Asian studies. In addition to directing his own institute, Dr. Morales works in conjunction with several educational institutes and think tanks globally. Dr. Morales maintains a very demanding schedule consisting of lecturing, consulting and writing. Dr. Morales has been a guest lecturer at over two dozen major universities throughout the USA, including Cornell, Northwestern, Illinois Institute of Technology, and University of Virginia. In addition, Dr. Morales has served as a South Asian affairs consultant for such corporations as Ford Motor Company, Lucent Technologies, Goodwin Procter Law Firm, and the Global Health Corporation. Topics that Dr. Morales has spoken on include:
Meditation Philosophy Religion Hindu Studies South Asian Affairs Ethics Asian Culture Contemporary South Asian Politics History of Religion Foreign Affairs Comparative Theology Principles of Effective Leadership Yoga

as well as many other subjects. He has spoken throughout North America before diverse audiences ranging from 50 to 5000 people. If you would like to arrange for Dr. Morales to give a presentation to your university, company, conference or organization, please contact us to schedule an event.


Created by Dharmodaya Communications
http://www.dharmacentral.com/articles/postsec.htm

A Heresy Undergirds Secular Liberalism, Neo-Marxism, & Today's Democratic Party
By Quelleon October 14, 2008 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Much of today's political, religious, and cultural issues have their genesis in the gnostic faith of abbot Joachim of Fiore (ca. 1135-1202). A Western Roman Catholic monk, Joachim's outlook on the history of man was and still is the source of schismatic movements within the Christian faith and a major influence on today's societal thought.

Because the church's 12th century leadership did not effectively counter Joachim's personal theology, Joachim's beliefs took root in the realm of ideas and have flourished to this day.

A Franciscan monk, Joachim of Fiore's theology challenged the prevailing Augustinian outlook on history. St. Augustine's analysis of history as being transitory was deeply rooted in scripture and the Fathers of the Church. Augustine wrote that the present day is a transitory time of fallibility and trial. And the church, with its belief in God and the Incarnate Son, are man's guiding light through the turmoil with a promise of eternal life at the end. Only God is forever. Therefore, only with an eye on God as our ultimate objective can we endure and begin to comprehend this world. The foregoing remains today's orthodox and Orthodox Christian view.

In contrast, Joachim of Fiore's outlook was dramatically different. Abbott Joachim's theology held that there are three great periods of history. The first encompassed the time addressed by the Old Testament. This period was eclipsed by the birth of God's Son, Jesus. The second period, therefore, is that time addressing the formation of the church in the New Testament. With the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, man entered into a third epoch.

It was during this latter and present epoch that Joachim's communicated theology caused profound changes that still affect us to this day. This last period was intended to be one in which mankind, with the Holy Spirit's counsel, was to evolve into a society of complete equality. All of society's problems would be overcome if man would pursue unselfish means. Essentially, Joachim believed that it was man's duty to pursue the establishment of heaven on earth and all of man's actions were to be directed toward this goal.

Joachim's private theology shared within the monastic order and society at large caused a fracture within the Franciscan community. It was St. Bonaventure, the Franciscan General Secretary, who had to combat Joachim's heresy. Although St. Bonaventure prevailed, his efforts were not forceful enough to uproot and counter Joachim's already disseminated beliefs - this according to then Reverend Professor Joseph Ratzinger, today Pope Benedict XVI.

As a consequence, Joachim's theology of history misinformed countless numbers of clergy and lay people through the decades and centuries that followed, flourished during the Enlightenment, and resulted in a vast array of ideologies from Marxism to socialism to liberation theology. Indeed, Joachim's beliefs are at the heart of present-day political and religious liberalism.

Tell the communists, socialists, and secularists, all in today's liberalism and other false ideologies, that their faith is undergirded by a discredited gnostic theology.
http://www.redcounty.com/cityofman/2008/10/a-heresy-undergirds-secular-li.html

SECULARISM AND THE WEST





In this commentary we will discuss the topic of Secularism. We will attempt to define what it is; what it is believed to be; where it came from; who is responsible and where it intends to take Western society which seems to have been held captive by it.

Let us begin with what it is. Secularism is defined in the dictionary as "...an ethical or moral code, which advocates a moral code independent of all religious considerations and practices..." Even by that definition alone we can see that our society is not ‘Secular’ because the very basis of our laws are as a direct result of Christian values, principles and moral standards of our European forebears.

Even though this explicit definition alone should be enough to put down any ‘Secularist’ argument, we must also be mindful of the fact that the leftist also likes playing with words to achieve his objective and suit their worldview. Operating from the post-modernistic style of thought of the Frankfurt school where everything can become a ‘construct’, even truth, we have a brand new, highly flexible definition of secularism - that is elimination of references, celebration or even religion itself, anywhere as per the atheist dogma of Marxism.

Evidence of this deliberate misinterpretation can be seen in the United States where the First Amendment of the Constitution reads "...Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances..." this is actually interpreted by the Cultural Marxists to read ‘freedom FROM religion’.

Necessary reading for full understanding of the Marxist-Secularist argument is first the fact that it explicitly mentions "Congress" as writings by Thomas Jefferson testify, he fully intended that religious direction be taken up by the States, not the Federal government. Which is in line with the next part, that the Government could not establish a national religion. The founding fathers also made it extremely clear that free exercise of religion should not be curtailed. This makes moves to remove Christmas decorations from public spaces in actual fact, illegal!

Of course, lawyers belonging to such groups as the Alliance Defence Fund and Thomas More Law Centre have tried to argue the folly of these misinterpretations in court, however their cause has been stymied by the fact that they must appear before leftist judges who sympathise with the ‘separation of church and state’ argument.

Moreover, survey after survey has shown that people in that country overwhelmingly regard themselves as religious, upwards of 80% in fact, therefore the idea that the population needs to have ‘freedom’ from something they believe in, is an absolute absurdity.

Across the Atlantic in Britain, the Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope recently said that he would be "hard-pushed" to label Britain a Christian country. We tend to agree with this summation considering the fact that multiculturalism is implemented to water-down the Christian values and principles of the host culture with interests foreign to our own. Yet let us never forget that the Queen remains the Head of State and the Head of the Church of England.

In Australia and other Commonwealth nations who retain British traditions and institutions, and even in countries which don’t, things aren’t much different. This perverted idea of Marxist-Secularism is pushed by a wafer thin percentage of the population with agendas to ‘save’ society from itself and replace it with their own imposed ideology.

So why is Marxist-Secularism being pushed so hard by so few, and why is it particularly anti-Christian in its outlook? Primarily because Christianity remains the last great moral hurdle, the politicians having sold themselves to the lowest bidder, in achieving the stated Marxist goals of imposed ‘equality’ for everyone. It remains the strongest voice against homosexual marriage and abortion ‘rights’ - although the white-ants are doing their best to subvert the church from within. Without the strong moral compass of Christianity to fall back on, society generally could collapse into a free-for-all, again in line with the dubious post-modernistic thinking.

It is at this point, very important for some historical perspective on the whole argument. The origins of Secularism can be found in the 18th and 19th centuries, when philosophers attempted to explain the origins and destiny of man without reference to God and religion, which had helped shape society. This period is also known as the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. Leading figures like Compte, Descartes, Pascal, Bayle, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau saw themselves as a courageous, elite body of intellectuals who were leading the world toward progress...sound familiar?

This new Humanist way of thinking was taken up by the Bolsheviks during their revolution in the 20th century as they attempted to put their atheistic theory into practice and build a state without God. The French during their own revolution years earlier, might have been inspiration for the Bolsheviks as they attempted to do exactly the same thing with their ‘Rights of Man’ declaration in 1789.

History itself failed to avoid a reworking by these ‘enlightened’ as popular anti-Christian tales were formulated. As one website attempted to explain pre-Enlightenment days "...It was an age of reason based on faith, not an age of faith based on reason...."

One such historical inaccuracy which expands on this premise, is the idea that the Medieval Christians believed the earth to be flat - cue science to prove the superstitious, paranoid, and unadventurous Churchmen wrong. In actual fact this was a story created by Compte (1798-1857) who developed Positivism, that is the idea of a positive progress from Superstition to Science, further reinforcing the idea that Church and Science have been in mortal combat since time began. Not to mention of course that it was the Ancient Greeks, namely Eratosthenes, who proved the Earth was round when he measured the 'Stades' of the world and Ptolemy who contributed a great deal supporting this view. The Medieval Churchmen had absolutely no cause to deviate from this established principle.

Another tale involves Galileo proving the earth not to be the centre of the universe, much to the chagrin of the Christian church who had him persecuted for defiance. In actuality, it was the Secular scientists who complained the loudest because Galileo’s version of the structure of the universe went against the selfish humanist science of Aristotle. Moreover the Church would probably have supported Galileo considering his theory contradicted the idea that humans were the centre of the universe, it was when he reworked scriptures and publicly ridiculed the Pope - then he was in trouble.

This Marxist-Secularist re-wording of history also goes a long way in explaining why the theory of evolution, today skewed even from original Darwinian proposals, was created and is supported with such vehemence by those on the left - particularly ‘intellectuals’. The need for ‘another way’ other than God’s is so important to them that it almost hurts. The very fact that evolution lacks a grain of evidence is of no consequence as they seek to pursue this new ‘humanist’ way.

One very important point needs to be made in conclusion to this section. Scientific endeavour would not have been possible without the backing of the Church who had the wealth and political power to make things progress. As with the Renaissance, the Popes and influential Church leaders of the day played Patron to a great many works of wonder. Thus making a lie out of the idea that the Church and State need be separate in the way the Marxist-Secularists advocate.

Surely then, what you are advocating is a theocracy? No. An example of a theocracy is Iran or Saudi Arabia where Faith is society, indistinguishable from each other. As we have learned ‘Secularism’ is complete atheism where a society cannot ask for religious foundation in the formulation of its laws. Once more, it is not a matter of being ‘one-or-the-other’; it is simply a matter of recognising that our society is based on Christian values and principles without needing to force worship on anybody.

Doesn’t ‘Secularism’ provide protection for people from tyrannical religious fanatics? No again. Fanaticism comes in all stripes and shades and colours, replacing it with atheistic fanaticism imposed on the vast majority by the 5% of the population who could be ‘offended’, is as irrational as an Iranian style theocracy.

In conclusion, we must also remember that ‘Marxist-Secularism’ is inconsistent, allowing ‘Stars and Crescents’ and ‘Menorahs’ to be displayed but not Nativity scenes, Christmas trees or Crosses. This should be enough to demonstrate that the Cultural Marxists pushing this rubbish, aren’t serious about ‘Secularism’. It is merely a front for a wider agenda of breaking down society.

This we must resist at all costs.
http://www.geocities.com/anti_multiculture/SECULARISM.html


India loses Rs.1.5 trillion due to logistical loopholes
22 Dec 2008, 2303 hrs IST, IANS

MUMBAI: India loses around 3 percent of its total gross domestic product (GDP) or Rs.1.5 trillion because of supply chain inefficiencies, according
to a survey done by a business consulting firm.

India's spending of 13 percent of the GDP is higher than that in the developed world; in the US, the spending is 10 percent of its GDP, Europe is at 11 percent, and Japan 10 percent, the report released Monday said.

The survey titled 'Technology Survey for the Indian Logistics Industry - 2008', conducted by Kale Consultants, said inefficient use of technology in the logistics business costs the economy billions of rupees.

The report further goes to state that significant strides in IT implementation could lead to bridging the gap in the supply chain, resulting in higher efficiency at lower costs.

While IT spends in Indian logistics industry currently stand at Rs.4 billion, it is slated to grow by approximately 22 percent CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) to over Rs.10 billion in the next five years.

"There is a lot of activity happening in this highly fragmented market. Family-owned businesses are growing in stature while global majors have committed huge investments for their Indian operations. The sector has already attracted investments of over Rs.20,000 crore (Rs.200 billion) in the first half of 2008," said Sumeet Nadkar, head of Kale Consultants' logistics strategic business unit.

The report also said the demand is expected from the western part of India, followed by the northern and southern regions. About 46 percent of IT investments are currently made towards capital expenditures, and the remaining 54 percent as operational costs.

Govt moves to hike insurance investment cap
22 Dec 2008, 2038 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Government on Monday sought parliament's approval to raise foreign investment limits in domestic insurance firms by up to 49 percent,
despite noisy protests in the national legislature.

The move sparked protests, resulting in adjournments in the assembly's two houses and verbal attacks on the government, which had kept the proposal in cold storage for nearly four years over fears it would meet political resistance.

Junior finance minister P. K. Bansal was interrupted by leftist MPs who tried to snatch papers as he revealed plans to almost double the cap on overseas capital from the existing 26 percent, a move he said would attract foreign capital.

Private insurance companies are delighted by the plans but the measure may not be passed in the current session of parliament because of insufficient time.

India must hold general elections by May 2009, meaning the measure could have to wait for a new government.

Foreign insurers have said increasing the limit is important as it will allow them to expand their array of products and improve distribution channels.

Four-fifths of India's 1.1 billion population has no insurance cover and around 90 percent have no pension scheme, forcing them to rely on savings and relatives in old age.

Marxists opposed to the move accuse the government of taking the step to help out cash-strapped companies in the United States.

"The government is trying to bail out bankrupt insurance industries in the US by inviting them to come to India," Marxist MP Brinda Karat argued in parliament.

Sensex ends below 10K; ICICI Bank, RIL fall

22 Dec 2008, 1539 hrs IST, ECONOMICTIMES.COM

MUMBAI: Benchmarks ended the choppy session lower as selling pressure resumed in index heavy-weights like ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries. Second
rungs stocks ended flat with a negative bias.

Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex ended at 9940.08, down 159.83 points or 1.58 per cent. The index touched an intra-day low of 9894.01 and an intra-day high of 10,173.34.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty closed at 3045.65, down 1.03 per cent or 31.85 points. The broader index hit a low of 3027.80 and a high of 3110.45 during the day.

BSE Midcap Index was 0.03 per cent down and BSE Smallcap Index closed 0.10 per cent lower.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Oil&gas index was down 3.13 per cent, BSE Bankex fell 2.21 per cent and BSE Auto Index declined 1.56 per cent. BSE FMCG Index closed 0.70 per cent and BSE Realty Index moved 0.45 per cent higher.

Among frontline stocks, ICICI Bank (-5.29%), Reliance Industries (-5.06%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-4.55%), Maruti Suzuki (-4.27%) and Reliance Infrastructure (-3.05%) were badly hit.

Tata Motors (4.55%), DLF (3.27%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.28%), ITC (1.96%) and Grasim Industries (0.75%) managed to end with gains.

Market breadth on BSE showed 1295 advances against 1242 declines.

'Indian economy to revive faster from global slowdown'

22 Dec 2008, 2245 hrs IST, PTI

MUMBAI: Giving a positive outlook amid the global downturn, global management consultancy firm Deloitte has said the Indian economy will recover
faster than other nations from the economic crisis and bounce back on high growth trajectory.

"It is very difficult to forecast when the last of the current global downturn will be seen.

"However, going by internal consumption trends in India, it is certain that India will be amongst those countries that will recover faster than others from the current slump and will bounce back with high growth rates soon, once the situation comes back to normal," Deloitte global managing partner-tax Alberto Terol said.

Deloitte said that flooding the system with liquidity is alone not sufficient to resolve the crisis.

"There is a need to bolster confidence among the people about the positive aspects of the economy and encourage higher spending. This alone can act as a balm to revive economies across the world," Terol added.

Meanwhile, Deloitte does not foresee the crisis situation globally to improve in the first half of 2009 and predicts a tough time ahead for the US.

Public expenditure to enhance labour output is definitely the need of the hour, Terol said while addressing a media round table on how world economies can create liquidity in the system in uncertain times.

Besides, countries like China are already reworking their strategies for inducing higher domestic consumption as exports have been showing a steep slump, it added.

Petrol, diesel, LPG prices may be cut before General Elections

22 Dec 2008, 1600 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The government may further reduce petrol, diesel and domestic LPG prices just before the General Elections are announced in February, a
senior official said.

"To my mind, the government will wait till February before making another round of price cuts," a senior Petroleum Ministry official said.

Earlier this month, the government reduced petrol price by Rs 5 a litre and diesel by Rs 2 per litre as international crude oil prices dipped from an all-time high of USD 147 a barrel in July to under USD 45 a barrel.
"This period (till February) will be used to monitor the movements in international prices. There is no point in cutting fuel prices just now and then having to raise it again if oil makes a retreat," the official said.

Even after this months price cut, public sector oil firms were making a profit of Rs 9.98 on sale of every litre of petrol and Rs 1.03 per litre on diesel. The further softening in global oil prices has seen these profits widen to Rs 11.48 per litre on petrol and Rs 2.92 a litre on diesel, he said.

The oil companies, however, continue to lose Rs 17.26 per litre on PDS kerosene and Rs 148.38 per domestic LPG cylinder.

Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum are together projected to lose Rs 1,10,381 crore in revenues this fiscal on fuel sales, the official said, adding the oil firms can use the period till the next price cut to make up part of the losses they have incurred on fuel sales this fiscal.

The three firms had posted a combined net losses of Rs 14,431 crore during the first six months of 2008-09.


Crisis-hit cos restructure group health policies

22 Dec 2008, 0111 hrs IST, Sarah Jacob & Arun Iyer, ET Bureau
BANGALORE: As India Inc prepares for the economic slowdown, companies are rationalising incentives, such as medical insurance cover for their
employees and their dependents, and are now reworking on health insurance covers through different models including co-payment, where a part of the premium is paid by an employee.

Industry experts, who did not wish to be identified, told ET that while this shift was being considered for a long time by corporates, the recession has made many companies reconsider medical insurance cover immediately.

“Initially, insurance companies chose to honour most claims but with insurance costs rising, things have changed. Today, companies are citing age and higher medical costs to make employees go in for co-payment of premium to retain the extent of cover for dependents. Faced with such options, employees are becoming extremely watchful,” said an insurance expert.

“Corporate houses will definitely look at restructuring healthcare insurance, which is a larger payout than rolling back on preventive care or healthcare engagement initiatives,” said G Krishnamurthy, chief executive of health management and consulting company People Health Services.

“Health insurance has not been a robust portfolio for many players, who have to face the prospects of underwriting losses. Medical costs have also been rising at a higher rate than normal levels of inflation, which is putting additional pressure on costs and claims management,” said Srinivas Raju, president of Dr Insurance, a boutique business consulting firm.

Meanwhile, insurance companies are also considering alternatives to ensure business growth by tweaking their product offering.

State-run Oriental Insurance, for instance, is now betting big on the floater policy to gain traction among employees in the health insurance market. Unlike conventional group, health insurance products where the insurance cover per person is fixed, the floater is a more dynamic product which enables sharing of cover depending on need.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Indicators/Crisis-hit_cos_restructure_group_health_policies_/articleshow/3871684.cms