INDIA FIRST

HOW ARE THE CRIMINALS PROTECTED BY THE POLITICAL PARTIES

2007-06-04T06:29:00.000-07:00

PERHAPS it is wrong to single out Uttar Pradesh when criminals are sprinkled all over the country’s politics. If one to believe film star Amitabh Bachchan who frequently told television audiences in his compelling voice that “U.P. was the most peaceful state as compared to other states, and if people took it with loads of salts, it is understandable considering his close association with the then ruling party in the state led by Mulayam Singh Yadav, on the one hand and the notorious characters who adorned candidates’ list. Then again, one might turn around and say, this is an old phenomenon. But this election had some additional features; one of them being that the number of those with criminal records contesting the polls was larger than the previous elections.
The U.P. Election Watch, an independent election-monitoring organisation, of which the former State Director-General of Police, I.C. Dwivedi, is the convener, has noted that all the major political parties had a certain number of hopeful entrants to the Assembly with criminal backgrounds. Quite a few had a long list of crime appended to their names, like murder, dacoity and extortion.
What about the tall promises made by all the political outfits at the time of releasing their manifestos that they would not touch those with a criminal past with a pair of tongs? They have gone down the drain like all other promises they usually mouth before the elections. The people have come to teat these assurances with casual nonchalance. They know that the politicians almost always do not mean what they say.
The Election Watch, going through the affidavits submitted by the candidates before the election authorities, has found that all the parties culprits. The Samajwadi Party(SP) led with 35 per cent of its candidates facing many charge sheets, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) with 32 per cent, the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) about 30 per cent and the Congress 20 per cent.
Dons and gangsters campaigned vigorously for themselves or others. In most of these cases such criminals get elected into legislature. Which makes one wonder how or why should people vote for such known bad characters? The obvious answer, fear, was brushed aside by a Member of Parliament also on the campaign trail for his party’s candidate, Himself facing at least 20 cases of murder and attempt to murder, he said, without batting an eyelid, “they vote us because they love us.”
At least three men absconding from the police had surfaced to contest the polls. And those MLAs who had to resign their seats, because they were caught on camera by a television channel taking bribes for various nefarious acts, including one for smuggling drugs, had brazenly come out to test their popularity in the elections.
An idea of how politicians generally view such criminals was given by no less then the then Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, himself in one of his election speeches in support of his party’s candidate. He told the gathering, “Yes, he is a criminal, but you vote him to the Assembly, and he would give up his criminal activities.”
Mulayam Singh made the candidate apologies to the crowd for all his past deeds. And the candidate echoed his leader’s words—“I will not indulge in any criminal activity if I am elected to the Assembly.” The catch in the two statements could not have been missed by the audience “if I am elected…”—which carries the underlying threat that if not voted in, he would revert to his old habits.
Such statement by the then chief minister sours the taste of the mouth that indirectly he accepted the fact that under the coverage of politics crimes are blossoming and will blossom. When a Chief Minister is the sole authority to safeguard the security and integrity of the public but is working against the oath taken at the time taking over the reign of power. It leaves a beg question mark over the working of the state government as well as the Central Government.
The question of keeping criminals out of the party’s list of ticket-holders has long been debated. The parties have always shielded away from taking the bull by the horns. There is no consensus. The result is election after election, whether it is in UP, Bihar or Tamil Nadu Assembly or Lok Sabha polls, parties’ hand out tickets to criminals. The only criterion for the party is that he/she should be a winnable candidate. It is all a game of numbers and they do not mind sacrificing political morality or such success.
The Election Commission has been making repeated suggestions and recommendations to deter such elements from entering legislatures. But successive governments have chosen to let such reports from the Commission gather dust. The National Commission on Constitutional Reforms had, inter alia suggested that Section8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, wherein members are not disqualified even when convicted until their appeal is decided, should be deleted.
Secondly but not lastly, the Election Commission should make some provision for the candidates not to contest from two seats, if elected from both the seats and has to leave one seat there the runner-up should be declare elected or the expanses for the re-polling should be covered from him. There should be some system. The public is asked to pay tax on this or that head but the leaders are enjoying over the public money. A leader should be neat and clean in his/her affairs; otherwise he/she has no right to rule.

THE STATE OF AFFAIRS OF THE NATION

2007-05-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

INDIAN political leaders in its pre-Independence days, known as freedom fighters, were men of character who dedicated their lives for the cause of our country’s liberation from the foreign domination bore fruit and India won Independence in 1947. Our political leaders of pre-Independence days deemed politics in Independent India as a mission and membership of legislatures as full time service without any personal gains in the cause of building a dynamic India and to eradicate poverty. Their dedication helped India’s economic development and our moral standard and sense of values were held in high esteem by the people of the world.
With the demise of many of our dedicated leaders after several decades of our Independence, the position changed phenomenally. The concept of dedicated and selfless service for the cause of the nation was no longer found acceptable by the new generation of political leaders who considered the membership of Parliament and state legislatures as a sort of profession to acquire wealth and power. However, our standard of morality and the sense of human values deteriorated, but our economic development continued due to the dedicated Endeavour of our world-class technicians, engineers, business managers, economists and information technologists.
Earlier, our Parliament used to be abounding with persons of sterling qualities having regard for the sense of human values and dedication for serving the nation. Now, the position has changed. The present Parliament has 541 members who have total assets worth nearly Rs 900 crore. Nearly one-third of them are crorepatis and over 50 per cent of them have each asset of more than Rs 50 lakh. Many of them are tainted persons having criminal charges against them. Naturally, if the people lose faith on the members of Parliament they can hardly be blamed.
Our MPs who are representatives of the people of a country which come at the bottom of the International Human Welfare Index. One-third of our population goes to bed hungry and more than half of the rest are malnourished. Our infant mortality rate is among the highest in the world and millions of our people have no access to portable water, basic hygiene and Medicare. Even though our MPs lead a life of affluence, their lust for more money and perks knows no bounds. Recently, they have enacted a bill to enhance their salary, emoluments and other facilities costing the national exchequer additional Rs 62 crore to increase the budget deficit to that extent. It is no wonder that it takes more than Rs 30 lakh an hour to run our Parliament.
The Congress with 145 MPs in a House of 541 members is leading a coalition government with many political parties which have little in common in aims and ideologies having no agreement on fundamentals needed to come to an urgent consensus decision on any vital national problem. However, the so-called secularist like Congress never hesitates to come to an alliance with the fundamentalist Muslims who do not believe in secularism and profess two-nation theory.
India has been the target of frequent Islamic terrorists’ attacks to destabilise the country and to create rifts between the Hindus and Muslims and the existing communal harmony in the country. Despite such terrorist attacks, the communal harmony remained undisturbed because of magnanimous and tolerant mindset of the Hindus.
In Malegaon (Maharashtra) terrorist attack victims were Muslims but Hindus reportedly lines up to donate blood for Muslim victims. After terrorist attacks in England, 53 per cent Britons believe “Islam posed a threat to western liberal democracy” (Daily Telegraph), after 9/11, America felt likewise. But the liberal Hindus after the repeated Islamic terrorist attacks took things in their stride and carried on business as usual. Yet the so-called secularists seek to condemn Hindus as communal. They need to remember that India’s majority community that is the Hindus being the believer of secularism that made India secular. The Hindus believe in the concept of extending equal treatment to all citizens without appeasement to none.
The ruling Congress, the oldest political party of India, to remain in power is appeasing the Muslims to keep the throne in tact. The Muslims believing in two-nation theory got India divided on the basis of religion. Pakistan wants Kashmir as it is a Muslim majority state of India. The Muslims in India are multiplying fast by birth and infiltration; to make India a Muslim majority country and claim it to be a part of Pakistan. There is hardly any Muslim country practicing secularism. Non-Muslims in Islamic countries are worse than second-class citizens. But in the name of secularism, the Congress as well as other parties is out to give privileged class treatment to minorities. Such treatment to minority Muslims is helping to develop in them a false sense of being a special class among Indians and becoming a bar against merging them with the national mainstream. Mohammad Ali Jinnah had said that Muslims can never live amicably with Hindus. Time has, perhaps, come for the Congress to realize that Muslims may not be treated as their vote bank and instead they may be taken as ordinary Indian citizens. And its attempt to make peace with Pakistan is a wild-goose chase. Its unilateral liberal policy towards Pakistan is helping to bring Islamic terrorists and ISI agents to India to destabilize the country.

Islamic Terrorism On The Retreat

2006-07-16T07:57:00.000-07:00

THE September 11, attacks on the USA by Osama Laden led Al Qaida marked the beginning of the era of Islamic terrorism, of which India has been a victim for more than a decade. Pakistan-sponsored terrorists butuchered more than 40,000 innocent lives.
General Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s then President, gave a vicious twist to religious edicts and promoted the idea of fundamentalist terrorism from 1989 onwards. Whether it was Gen.Zia, Benazir Bhutto or Nawaz Sharif, who ruled over Pakistan, the impact of terrorism on Kashmir and the whole of India to some extent remained the same. Even when General, Pervez Musharraf came to Agra for peace talks, he had the audacity to say that the splitting up of Pakistan in 1971 at the instance of India could not be forgotten by Pakistan.
With the arrival of Osama in Afghanistan and his Al Qaida terrorist network with its camps for training Muslim youth from West Asia and South-East Asia, the problem assume more alr\arming dimentions threatening trhe peace of the whole world. After the Pakistan-backed Taliban captured power in Afghnistan in 1996, the terrorst attacks in Kashmir showed a significant upward trend and a qualitative change.
In many respects, the Islamic culture differs from other world cultures. Islam alone has repeatedly produced significant radical movements that reject most western policies and principles. Muslims interested in a more liberal form of Islam must stop blaming the West for painting the religion with too dark and broad a brush and move forward to isolate and delegitimise the extremists among them.
The various factors which promoted this trend were the resurgence of Islamic consciousness, a compelling sense of grievance and resentment, envy and hostility towards the West and its wealth, power and culture divisions within the Muslims, and the high birth-rate in most Muslim societies resulting in unemployed youth being attracted to terrorism.
A multi-faceted improvement in Muslim countries is indeed the most important change which is called for, particularly in the West Asian monarchies and autocracies like Saudi Arabia, Libya, Sudan, Algeria and Egypt. In none of these countries there is real democracy. With oil wealth flowing since mid-1970s, members of the royal House of Saudi Arabia have fattened themselves at the cost of the common man. The unfettered oil flow from West Asia was the prime concern of the USA which chose to ignore the highly negative aspects of the Saudi administration and other such autocracies in West Asia. One of the factors that obliged Osama bin Laden to leave Saudi Arabia was his opposition to the Saudi royal family and its blind support to America.
However, Musharraf may try to avoid facing the realities and the developments after September 11 and December 13. There is no space for going ahead with his earlier policy of promoting terrorism in India. It is now difficult to believe that he went away in a huff from Agra only because India insisted that the need to curb cross-border terrorism must be inserted in the joint statement. He had all along tried to project that Pakistani jehadis were not terrorists but freedom-fighters for the cause of Kashmir. The steps he has taken against Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e- Mohammad and other Muslim fundamentalists are at best cosmetic and for misleading the USA. George Bush had said that he has urged General Musharraf to do everything he could to crack down on terrorists. Pervez Musharraf has reportedly instructed the ISI not to support Pakistani terrorists operating in Kashmir but its assistance to Kashmir-based militants may apparently continue. It is ridiculous that we relate his January 12 speech—an example of double standards—to Kashmir because the General never said there is terrorism in Kashmir or that it was sponsored by Pakistan. Instead he attacked India by saying that GoI should stop state terrorism in Kashmir.
Needless to say that the entire exercise is an eye-wash. India has done its best to give all evidences by handing over the material against the most wanted criminals based in Pakistan. The western countries, particularly USA and UK are alarmed over the prospects of a nuclear war, especially since there has been considerable mobilization of forces by both India and Pakistan along the international border. There is, however, no possibility of a war unless something very serious like December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament happens again.
ISLAMIC REVOLUTION SET TO RISE
A prominent Pakistani Muslim cleric, on January 14, 2001 said President Pervez Musharraf’s sweeping crackdown on religious extremism was sowing the seeds of an Islamic revolution.
Maulana Abdul Aziz, Imam of Islamabad’s main Red Mosque in an interview to Reuters at his house next to the Red Mosque, said while there had been no immediate backlash to Musharraf’s crackdown, announced on January 12, a reaction was brewing. “This government is paving the way for Islamic revolution by creating hurdles for the Islamic parties; we are just watching the situation but the silence will not last for long,” he said adding, he believed Musharraf launched his crackdown because of US presence.
Musharraf also imposed restrictions on Islamic schools, or madrassas, which have long been seen as a breeding ground for militancy. New madrassas cannot be built without permission and all of them have to register and be brought into the mainstream education system.
Aziz, who opposed Musharaf’s decision to abandon support for Afghanistan’s former Taliban rulers and support the US-led was on terrorism, dismissed the government justification. “If they ere terrorist groups, then why were they allowed to operate for such a long time”, he asked, adding the move would weaken the separatist movement in Kashmir.
On banning of the two Kashmiri militant groups, blamed for the December 13 attack on the Indian Parliament, he said, “We have lost Afghanistan and it seems we are now losing Kashmir”. bin

DON'T MAKE CONSTITUTION A LAUGHING STOCK

2006-06-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

SINCE India got Independence in August 1947,we got our own Constitution which came into existence on January 26,1950 but since then so many amendments have been made, which compels us to think that “Is our Constitution a sacred document of India or a child’s game to twist at their own will?” It is a serious question to take note of that. Did any other country round the globe have so much of amendments in their respective Constitution?
HIJACKING OF FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Our Constitution provides equal rights to every citizen, secondly, at the time of formation of Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha the elected member is sworn by the Constitution but in practical, everything is going in reverse gear. All just too safe their vote-bank only.
It is observed that India is having different laws for different classes. And to prove this point thousands of examples could be cited.
It is said that from Kashmir to Kanyakumari Bharat is one but the laws differ. Why the same laws are not imposed in all the states? When cow-slaughtering is banned in India but in our northeast belt, it is not so. Why?
When a Danish cartoonist caricatured Muhammad, there were protests throughout the world and a minister of Uttar Pradesh went far ahead by declaring a prize in crores for beheading the cartoonist. Has that minister seen the cartoons? But when M.F.Husain,a Muslim cartoonist—just to get fame—is caricaturing Hindu gods and goddesses in objectionable positions, no action or reaction from Human Rights or from any party; when on the other side recently BJP leaders Vinay Katiyar and Sahib Singh Verma said in a public meeting “kill a terrorist and get one lakh”. An FIR was lodged and the leaders backed out saying that media has twisted their statements. What’s this double standard of law? And to lodge FIR clarifies that the FIR lodger & Co. doesn’t want to get rid of terrorism. Believe it or not, this is the only alternative to overcome the terrorism and it is foolish to expect any thing from the government. For the sake of their votes they will divert the issue by other mean or will see the face of USA. Why not they break every tie with Pakistan? Till when human beings will be slaughtered like animals in the slaughter houses?
Thirdly, the centuries old Hindu customs could be changed but not of non-Hindus. Recalling down memory lane. During the emergency days, in 1975, like other years, that year too Ram Lila procession passed through the roads of the Delhi walled city. In the evening procession—on Ram’s marriage day—a rath was decorated with goddess Sita’s dowry but in the night, when it returned back from Ramlila grounds to Hanuman Mandir that rath was empty with playcards showing “Dowry lena aur dena samajik apradh hai”.Was not till evening this dowry system an evil?
First of all the dowry agitators should understand the meaning of dowry. What’s the logic and the purpose of dowry? It is very strange that at the time of their son’s marriage the opposers demand a handsome dowry.
In this context, I am reminded a song Dharam bhi hoga karam bhi hoga…hey Ramchandra kah gaye Siya se aisa kalyug ayega… from the film Gopi.
Fourthly, in 1986, one of our Hon’ble courts, on a PIL ordered “either removed these ayats from the Quran or face ban”. Our vote-hungry leaders immediately over-ruled that judgement through Parliament.
Fifthly, since long we are reading and hearing that “Sonia Gandhi is a foreigner and she can’t become the Prime Minister of India because of Constitutional bindings”. Alright, when a foreigner could become a Member of Parliament by contesting the election then why doesn’t she become the Prime Minister? How did our Constitution or Election Commission allow a foreigner to become the Parliamentarian and interfere in government affairs? Oh my God! What a great joke.
Sixth, almost a decade back, all the non-Congress parties had stormed in India by making the kickback in Bofors deal; what happened nothing and nothing will happen, mind it. Similarly, Bihar then Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, was charged in fodder scam, what happened nothing obvious to that he entered Parliament and is now a Union Minister.
Will the Election Commission be kind enough to tell the nation that how many scammers and criminals are there in Parliament, Rajya Sabha or any other houses; and which constitutional rights they are allowed to sit there? When the offenders of the Constitution and of the Law-makers will be in power that will defend, naturally the nation is thrown before the wolves.
More so, how funny it looks when the police search a Member of Parliament. Are such law defenders not making the Constitution a laughing stock before the world?
I am reminded of a joke “once when a foreigner returned back to his country, his family members, relatives, and friends asked him, ‘what you saw in India? He told: I saw GOD there. Everybody was stunned and with curiosity asked how GOD is. He explained that there is neither any law nor anybody to look after the law, if any. There one is punished on charge of corruption and is freed by the corruption.’ All laughed”
So this is impression of India in the world and it is justified by another by another joke which could be witnessed written on trucks plying on India roads “Sau mein se nabbhe baiman,phir bhi Mera Bharat Mahan”.
Recalling back, once Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister in Narasimha Rao cabinet had said in one of the seminar “if all the tax defaulter business magnets clear their dues within two/three years India will be capable to clear every foreign debt and obvious to that for at least for some years there will be no need to impose or increase any new tax on the public and India will be in a position to provide loan to other countries.” But now during his tenure as Prime Minister how much recovery is done. If such was the position with a layman all the charges would have been framed against him/her or their family.
Will our leaders kindly explain that how many of them have their accounts in foreign banks and why? Have they no faith on their Indian banks?
That is why the charge that our nation is having different laws: one for the ruling class; second for business class; and third for the general public, is not baseless.
Recently, I read in Times of India dt. June 15,2006,and Organiser Weekly issue dt July 2,2006 that an old and the only Hindu temple is demolished in Pakistan to construct a community centre or something else,(and sometime back in Malaysia also, above are the photos of demolished Hindu temples in Pakistan and Malaysia) I ask Human Rights Commission, the so-called secularist leaders of India, whichever caste, creed or religion they belong, have become BLIND. Where Shabana Azmis, Javed Akhtars, Mahesh Bhatts, Ramvilas Pawans, Lalu Yadavs and many more have gone, where their humanity have gone. On Godhara and demolishing of Babri Masjid these pseudo-secularists had stormed in India but alas, these vote-hungry leaders have become deaf, dump and blind. If they raise this issue with Pakistan they may lose their vote bank in India.
Our media in compliance with our leaders highlight the killings of Muslims by the terrorists in Kashmir but are mum on the plight and rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pandits.Interestingly, till 1986, the Delhi’s Jama Masjid locality Hindu-Muslim population ratio was 60-40. Now it’s hardly 90-10.Is there anyone to explain and try to know the reasons that why the Hindus of this locality left their hearths, who were those miscreants who had brutally attacked on these Hindus locality/mohallas during Ram Janmabhoomi movement. None of the Hindu leaders voiced till now. No ifs and buts or hue and cry in Parliament or Rajya Sabha.Fromwhere the Muslims got money to purchase Hindu properties all of a sudden.
During demolition drive our Hon’ble court has ordered to demolish the encroachments and unauthorized constructions of the leaders, names of some of the leaders were also mentioned, but the authorities demolished the unauthorized constructions of general public only and the illegal possession by the leaders still exists.

The Importance of Bhai Dooj

2006-05-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

For Hindus, the stories behind each festival play a very important role in the formation of their culture and have a very deep significance and values. Most of the Indian festivals are attached to specific characters and personalities that help the masses to understand and know the true significance of the festival. Just like all-important Indian Festivals, Bhai dooj also has a story to follow that have carved a niche with its unique presence and strength.
Through generations, the story of Bhai Dooj has been passed from generation to generation either by word of mouth or through carefully stored scriptures. The narration of the story marks the end of the Bhai dooj puja. Once the various rituals of Bhai dooj such as the sister applying the teeka on the forehead of the brother, giving him the eatables and in return receiving the gifts are over, the women and children sit around, to hear the story behind Bhai Dooj from the elders of the family.
The story goes that once there was a family living in a village that had only a sister and a brother. The sister was very elder to her brother, thus when she got married, the brother was at a very tender age. The boy did not remember any thing about his sister's marriage. After the marriage, the sister never returned to her mother's home. As the brother grew up, the image of her sister started fading with each passing years. He terribly missed his sister, especially on the Bhai Dooj day, as he used to see his friends with teeka on their forehead and plates full of sweets.
On one particular Bhai dooj, when the boy had turned up into a handsome young boy, he inquired his mother about the reason as to why his sister never visited her original home after her marriage. The mother replied that she

Why Media Is Silent Over The Demolished Mandirs?

2006-05-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

On May 1, a dargah, reported to be 200 year-old was demolished in Vadodara inviting ‘violent protests’ from Muslims in that area. In the course of the protests four were killed in police firing. The Times of India (May 2) carried a brief report on page 1 which said that "the demolition of a mazaar that encroached on a road caused a major riot" in Vadodara, "leaving four persons dead and over 30 injured". A fuller report on page 8 began by saying that "the demolition of more than 200 year old dargah by civic authorities spared a widespread violence in which four persons were killed in clashes and police firing..." Para 4 of the inside story said that "the trouble began when a VMC squad began demolishing the dargah which authorities said was encroaching on government land". Para 13 of the report said that "the minority community had requested authorities and city Mayor Sunil Solanki not to demolish the dargah as it was more than 200 years old and its destruction could hurt the feelings of the community". No newspaper explained how a 200-years old dargah could encroach on government land. Did it take 200 years for the authorities to realise that the dargah was built on government land and was an encroachment?
The Hindu ( May 2) carried two stories on the subject. The front page report said in para 4 that Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah, made it clear that "it was not a communal violence but a clash between police and Municipal Corporation staff on one side and Muslim residents who objected to the demolition of the dargah on the other". Para 9 of the report quoted Mayor Sunil Solanki as saying that "the demolition of unauthorised structures had been going on for a fortnight to widen roads and that nearly 1, 500 illegal structure had been removed, including more than a dozen religious places of different communities and that at many places the members of different communities volunteered to remove the obstructions. The mayor further said that three meetings had been held with representatives of the Muslim residents but they had not volunteered to remove the dargah and that the road needed to be widened to accommodate increasing traffic. In para 11 the report quoted Municipal Commissioner R.K.Pathak as saying that the demolition of unauthorised structures would continue despite the disturbances. Some questions arise: Which are the "more than a dozen religious places of different communities" that were demolished? Shouldn’t they —and their importance to the communities—be mentioned?
Was the dargah—or an extension of it—really encroaching on government land? How old were the "religious places" of different communities and why were they allowed to be built on government land in the first place? No reporter of any newspaper and certainly not the news agencies seem to have done any home work leaving one to believe that an injustice has been done to ‘the minority community’. How come that Vadodara Municipality looked the other way when "nearly 1,500 illegal structures" were built on government land? Questions, questions, questions. Where is the dargah situated couldn’t any newspaper provide a sketch of the area showing where the dargah is located and why it is imperative that it should be demolished? If the dargah needed to demolished was any attempt made to convince the Muslims of its need and at what level was the issue discussed and who participated in the discussions with representatives of the Muslim community? One is afraid that the story about the demolition of the dargah has been treated too casually. In Saudi Arabhia dargahs or masjids are routinely demolished; only recently a Pakistani paper reported that the ancient residence of the Prophet in Saudi Arabia was demolished to make way for a high-rise apartment.
Apparently in Saudi Arabia no particular significance is attached to masjids. Here in India one has to be careful in such matters. Already the National Commission for Minorities has reportedly urged the Gujarat State Government to conduct a judicial enquiry into the matter to ascertain when the classification of the dargah as an "encroachment" was correctly done. The Vadodara Municipality would have been wise to issue a Press Note long before the demolition of illegal structures was undertaken stating what the situation was. We get into communal trouble needlessly when a little thoughtfulness would have gone a long way in promoting understanding of the issues involved.
Was the dargah really an encroachment or did it just happen that it was standing in the way of the planners? It may be pointed that in Mumbai, under almost similar circumstances, a Muslim place of worship at Dhobi Dalao was left to stand even if it did not help in the smooth flow or vehicular traffic? At times it may be necessary to make some small concessions to any community in the larger interests of peace. The demolition of the dargah in Vadodara cannot be treated lightly considering that it might have national repercussions.
Our secularists would be the first to attack the Gujarat Government on "communal" grounds. One has also to blame poor—or thoughtless—reporting. If, for example, it was reported that violence erupted when "a dargah, along with one dozen religious places of different communities" was demolished, then at least the impression would have been given that a dargah alone was not singled out for demolition. The fact of religious places of different communities being demolished was not mentioned by many reports and The Hindu reported it in para 9. If a dargah has stood on its site for 200 years, obviously it could not possibly have been an encroachment. It can’t be given the same ranking as other religious places of different communities. Illegal ‘Hindu’ shrines are frequently built in cities on pavements which the authorities turn a blind eye to. Is it too much to ask our municipal authorities to be sensitive to religious issues. Gujarat is not Saudi Arabia; the latter may not think too highly of mere buildings under any name. But Muslims in India are sensitive and up to a point their sensitivity needs to be respected. The problem of widening roads is a perennial one and most cities in India face it.
According to one report, the mazaar of Chishti Rashid-ud-din was 300—not 200—years old, but demolishing it has cost four lives. The point to note is the very inadequate reporting in our dailies. Whether in this instance it is deliberate—to create an impression that the Gujarat Government is anti-Muslim, we can’t tell. But it seems likely. With secular dailies one never knows.
Our secular media is mum over the demolished almost 250 Hindu temples constructed over the government land creating traffic problems and so on in Madurai.
Last but not the least,on the banks of river Yamuna—adjoining to the Red Fort wall—so many graves have come up in the last 8/10 years? Whose graves are they? And when the Hon’ble Courts will order to remove all these unauthorised graves these psuedo-secularists/media will start to beat their chests.

Pak Rulers' Trump Card : HATE INDIA

2006-05-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

PAK RULER’S TRUMP CARD : ‘HATE INDIA’
THE political developments, which have been snowbaling inside Pakistan right from its birth, convince one beyond doubt that unless a fully democratically elected governemtn takes over the administration no peace with India is possible. That so long as the government there remains militarily supported and manned by opportunist politicians interested in feathering their own nest any peace process with India would turn utopian is a fact well known with the changing political scenerio in Pakistan and the many developments in its relatable with India.One wonders, whether Pakistan ruled by selfish politicians and petty bureaucrats wuld have even survivied to these days had there not been an India ofr the unruly Palistani leaders to raise the sulphur-hot and reckless slogans against.
All Pakistani rulers were in one way or the other, the victims of their own political blunders. Having fallen in the ditches they themselves dug, they had no other alternative than to resort to nimble antics and gyrations and cheap tacktics to continue in power. To be in power became in all cases a necessity to escape assassination attempts, fact born out by that most of the Pakistani leaders were either killed or expelled by the tyrants in waiting. And they had to find out a safe way to escape from the popular discontent. And the "Hate India" campaign became the judicious answer. No wonder, all Pakistani leaders whipped up this propaganda whether they were politically and academically educated or not.
A tacticle move rather than a religious or national imperative as Jinnah the founder father of Pakistan later confessed and much against the wishes of a good number of Muslims like the then Punjab Premier Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan, the birth of Pakistan was ‘the greatest shock of Jinnah’s life’ as Shri Prakasha, India’s first High Commissioner to Pakistan later recorded. Jinnah during the post-partition days made a rethinking on the policiess to be pursued in the independent Pakistan, which he liked tobe noted for its secular credentials. Jinnah was an archenemy of Islamic fundamentalism who opposed the Gandhian support to Khilafat and the strong ambassador of the Hindu-Muslim rapport. He never visited a mosque even once not read Koran and done what is restricted in Koran just to marry a Gujarati Parsi girl. In the new-born Pakistan Jinnah naturally lived as a confused man and his mind always went back to its old moorings. He called upon the pakistanis o shed the angularities about their belonging to the Majority or minority communities. Pakistan now proved something unmangeable to Jinnsy. The proverbial wedge in the monkey’s hand. And it being too late to correct his ways he sought to assuage his mental anguish bu unjustly attacking the Indian leaders.
The maligned attitude of Jinnah was carried down by the generations of Pakistani leaders. Addressing his countrymen from Lahore on 7th October 1947, Liaqat Ali Khan declared in a broadcast message: "Pakistan is not a shooting star that shines for a moment. Pakistan will not die". The euphoricc message, which bristled with anti-India innuendoes, meant nothing other than that India could not do away with Pakistan.
Pakistan administration down the decades having became a total failure, the leaders knew that they must now find out an outrlet through whichthe popplar wrath could be ventilated. "Hate India" thus became the usaul stock-in-trade to comourflage the unnumerable political and economic errors.

M.F.Husain :THE HINDU HATER

2006-05-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

MAQBOOL Fida Husain comes through as a sexually perverse person. To paint nudity is an old tradition. To portray sex play may be pornographic, but it is not unnatural and not considered perverse. However, to depict copulation between an animal and a woman is revolting to the normal person.
Think of a horse and woman, a bull and a woman, a lion and a woman, an elephant and a woman! The photographs of many of the paintings are printed in a volume entitled Husain. The book was conceived and designed by M.F.Husain himself.
An individual suffering from a mental disease is ultimately his personal concern. However, when the fall out of his perversity touches persons unknown to him, it is slanderous. When the pornography of the perversity embroils deities, it is sacrilegious.
Prime facie, Husain has insulted the Hindu ethos in general and believing Hindus in particular. Can he be forgiven for painting Durga and Saraswati naked? And Sita masturbating on the long tail of Hanuman; in another painting she is shown sitting naked on the thigh of Ravana. Imagine a bull copulating with Parvati and Shankar watching the act on Shivratri. On the other hand, Durga in union with her lion! The painting of Krishna with his flute sitting on a cow but with no feet and no hands.
How can so many instances be by inadvertence? Suppose Husain is allowed the benefit of doubt and a judgement is suspended for a while. Look at some of his other paintings, only to find that he painted Muslim women all fully dressed. His step mother Shirin. Prophet Mohammed’s daughter Fatima, Mother Teresa, also got the benefit of all her clothes, a privilege denied to Hindu deities.
On a panel painting, Husain has portrayed Einstein, Gandhi, Mao Zedong and Hitler, sitting in a row. The former three are dressed but the Nazi leader is naked. Does that not mean that he painted in the nude all those he hated? Hindu deities painted by Husain fall in the same category as Adolf Hitler, the killer of six million innocent Jews and thousands of others.
A few years back, he had dared to paint Bharat Mata nude. Can any self-respecting Hindu forgive Maqbool Fida Husain? It is matter of shame for all the Hindus, living in India or abroad should strongly protest him and should sent letters of protests to the Honb’le President of India to snatch brush from him and throw him behind the bars. Above all, he should be interrogated that at whose behest he is bent upon in doing these nefarious paintings or throw him out along with his supporters from India. If he or his supports say that unintentionally, all this happened where were his intentions for showing Fatima in full dress. Why she is not painted nude. Why Mohammed’s( peace be upon him) wives are painted nude so far? It’s clear a sign to instigate the Hindus, so that the Muslim fundamentalists may bake their share of loafs. Where have all the Muslim clergies, Imams, Maulvies, Human Right activists, Shabanas, Javed Akhtars, Dilip Kumars alias Yusuf Bhai and other pseudo-secularist leaders gone. Are they living on this earth, seeing all this nonsense?
More so, our Parliament can dare to overt and covet the courts’ decisions going against Muslims; could dare to call Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi with different names over the riots in Ahmadabad.See, one after the other is trying to cash the Gujarat riots but ignoring the root cause, e.g., burning of Ram bhakhts in Sabarmati train (our pseudo-secularist leaders say "the fire was an accident"), but why are they all become deaf, dumb and blind on Husain’s such nonsense paintings. It’s a matter of shame for every Hindu if he/she tolerates such non-sense paintings of their gods and goddesses to whom they worship, such painters should not allowed in live in this country for a moment. Any moment he could spark the riots then all will come forward beating their chests/breasts.
If Husain’s such paintings could be called an art then why the caricatures of Mohammed (Peace be upon him) by the Danish cartoonist be called objectionable? Is it not the double standard?
Over the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya the world had reacted but in that reaction how many Hindu temples are broken, did any one of them asked the Muslims why they done so. If Ayodhya was a heinous act then to break and fire Hindu temples was a good deed. Did our government or any parliamentarian ask the Pakistan government to rebuild that broken Hindu temple made by Motilal Nehru.Almost every newspaper, that time had carried the photo of that broken temple?
In the end,it is better to say in this context that WOH KATAL BHI KARTE HAIN TO CHARCHA NAHIN HOTI, HUM AAH BHI BHARTE HAIN TO AFSANE BAN JAATE HAIN.

Photograph of R.B.L Nigam

2006-04-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

Why were the sniffer dogs not allowed to enter the Jama Masjid?

2006-04-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

IN a chilling reminder of the October 29 serial blasts in—Pahar Ganj and Sarojini Nagar, during the Deepavali days last year—two low-grade bombs exploded in Jama Masjid complex on April 14. The first blast took place at 5.20 pm, even as the asar ki namaz(evening prayer) was to conclude in just few seconds, near wazukhana (water pond for abulations) and within a short spell of 15 minutes causing panic in the locality.
The bombs were kept in a while polythene bag with a timer attached to it. Both the blasts were of low intensity and were kept at a distance. However, the second blast left 13 people injured as a huge crowd had assembled near the wazukhana after the first blast. The explosions left black patches near the pond. A thick blanket of black smoke engulfed the area as people ran for safety. There was chaos in the area that was immediately cordoned off by the public. As soon as the news of blasts spread hundreds of residents of the area gathered outside the Jama Masjid.
However, an announcement was made on the public announcement system of the mosque asking devotees to leave the premises. No damage was done to the mosque. The Shahi Imam, Ahmed Bukhari, had a narrow escape, as he was barely 100 meters away from the water tank where the second blast occurred. The Imam was in a room along with members of the Jama Masjid Mushawarat Committee and was about to offer prayers when the first blast took place.
Eyewitnesses said that the explosion threw many iron particles. The bombs had apparently been put into polythene bags but no one seemed to have noticed who brought it there. On the other hand, a woman is suspected.
It is important to note that before and after the asar namaz, the entry of any non-Muslim is strictly restricted.
Anyhow, the blasts left many mysteries seeking response from the different quarter(s): -
The Total Channel was the first to reach at Jama Masjid though the Jama Masjid Police Station is hardly at a stone throw distance; the Aaj Tak, who proudly says in its April 15 morning briefings that ¾ days before and after the blasts our channel had received emails from a particular person. Did Aaj Tak inform the concerned authorities about those emails, if authorities were informed what preventive measures were taken? According the latest report poured in, the investigating teams of Delhi Police have now taken those emails. This channel should be questioned why did it not inform the Police before. What had happened if the October 29,2005 like blasts had occurred?
It’s different issue that the blast took place at a religious place. Perhaps, they have forgotten the blasts of Sankat Mochanmandir, Varanasi on March 7,2006, and terrorists attack at Akshardham Temple, Ahmadabad.The emails had clearly mentioned the name of Delhi, as per Aaj Tak.
Secondly, till writing these lines, the thunder voice—then Shahi Imam Abdullab Bukhari—remained silence. The Imam who thundered in public meeting, " I am an ISI agent, let the government come and arrest me and see the consequences…" (Organiser, dated May 7,2000).
Thirdly, why were the sniffer dogs of police not allowed to enter in the masjid precincts? When these dogs could enter at Rajghat and other Hindu temples why not in the Masjid, where the blasts took place. It’s a million-dollar question waiting reply.
Fourthly, when the police came inaction, why were they stopped and asked to remove the shoes first? Because the need of the hour was the security of Masjid not the sanctity.
Fifthly, sensing the sensitivity of the situation, why the police not took the premises of the masjid under its control. Till late night, the locals were supreme.
Taking the advantage of the situation, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid is busy in settling the issue with UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and the center for arresting Waliullah, a pesh Imam of Phulpur, by the Special Task Force of the UP police for his alleged involvement in Sankat Mochanmandir.At this critical junction, what Imam wants to prove by his double talk, while on the other hand, he says, "first, there was an attack on Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, Arrests were made in connection with the blasts. But the real culprits, who want to create hatred between Hindus and Muslims are still roaming around freely and they carried out the blasts in the mosque." When during 1991 Aligarh riots, this very Mulayam Singh was the Chief Minister of UP had asked District Collectors and District Magistrates to withdraw PAC from the riot-affected areas but the DCs had expressed their helplessness in doing so. (Periscope, Organiser, dt. Jan.1, 1991). While during one of the riots of 1986 the Shahi Imam Ahmed Bukhari, then Naib Imam, was roaring on the roads of Jama Masjid " Show your strength to this Kafir Govt,"(Organiser, September, 13,1986).
According to locals, speculations are too much. None is ready to believe the other and blaming each other to confuse the public to keep the pot boiling. Before the masjid authorities the police is helpless, they fear to register any criminal case-taking place inside the historical mosque. And today result is before the world

RESERVATIONS : A BOON OR A BANE

2006-04-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

THE purpose of implementing the reservations in Independent India was to benefit the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes that time SCs and STs worshipped Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar not less than a god but with the passage of time the misuse of reservation has started to overshadow Dr Ambedkar and the leaders seeing their career in lurch are raising this issue to secure the votes from these communities.
Dr Ambedkar, at the time of framing the Constitution, has demanded 10 years reservation but since the implementation of the reservation in India until date how many have been benefited? Until yesteryears, every Indian, whichever community he/she belonged, supposed the reservation a boon but today it is becoming a bane for the society.
Under the name of Reservations, where our socalled leaders--enjoying on the public funds---will lead the nation: Towards doom or Prosperity? Don’t think the public a fool? They understand that for the sake of their seats these so-called leaders of today’s India are bent upon to throw the nation before the wolves. See how many political parties based on caste and region are into the fray. Today every leader is trying to overshadow Ambedkar. What benefit Dr Ambedkar and the then government as well as leaders had provided but todays leaders are reverse to that. Above all what was the need to raise casteism issue at the time of voting? The Hon’ble President of India, as well as Election Commission of India should debar those political parties--- whose leaders raise casteism/Mandal issues at the time of elections--- for atleast SIX GENERAL ELECTIONS.
As a citizen of free India— have a right to question--- raising the issue of casteism what our leaders want to prove. Show the India, atleast one nation of the world raising casteism issue. Are they--our leaders-- working in the welfare of the public or dividing the nation on casteism?
When exams and competitions are here then what’s the need of reservation. The fact is RESERVATION (S) SHOULD GO, IF OUR SO-CALLED LEADERS AND GOVERNMENT SERIOUSLY WANT INDIA TO PROSPEROUS OTHERWISE OUR FREE INDIA WILL GO BACK TO THE DAYS OF 16TH CENTURY.
Where will they want to lead the nation on such empty slogans what they or their parties can’t do since the implication of reservation in India, what will they do at the time of voting. It means that these parties have nothing to do with the welfare of the Nation, they just want to bake their cake. Today’s leaders are white elephants feeding at the expense of public funds. The world is seeing, NOT ONLY INDIANS, but a long list of scams, burglery, forgery, criminal charges against several of our public representatives. So much of seat will vacant from municipal houses to the both houses of Parliament, if seriously these issues are taken by the Public Interest Litigators and law enforcing bodies.
I am reminded a joke read somewhere that once a foreigner returned to his native land after visiting India, his relatives and friends asked him what you saw in India. He said, "GOD". They surprisingly asked, what…. He explained that India is running on the Almighty mercy. Law afraiders are thrashed and lawbreakers are making merry.
Instead of diverting the public attention by raising such nonsensible issues, our leaders should work on the employment, welfare and the prosperity of the public when public will be prosperous Nation itself will prosperous. The fact is that our political parties and leaders have no schemes for the welfare of the Nation neither for the public. They just want to eat golden pie by befooling the public; they have no guts to tilt.
So much of political parties are in India, majority of them based on customs, what they have given to their caste so far. The result is zero. Poverty, restlessness, afraid, unemployment, illiteracy graph is increasing day by day not decreasing. Yes, one thing is there, e.g., the poverty and unemployment of the leaders of these parties no doubt is vanished.
If our leaders are serious towards India and its people, they should scrap Reservation at a single stroke. At one hand, reservation is there on the other hand law not to call the SCs or STs by their castes. When they have a right to get reservation on their caste why then should they be called by their castes or profession(s).
It's time for every peace-loving Indian to come together to foil this nefarious game of the politicians.

Land Mafia behind the demolition drive in Delhi

2006-04-05T04:40:00.000-07:00

FOR more than two Delhi is disturbed with the demolition drive by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi(MCD), Delhi Development Authority of Delhi (DDA) and New Delhi Municipal Committee(NDMC) over the Delhi High Court’s orders over a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
Throughout the operation, it is observed that the real facts are not placed before the Hon’ble court. The petitioner(s) has hit directly the encroachers not the defaulters which could be the one of the important feature of all this. And the Hon’ble court(s) too ignored it due to the wrong implementation procedure of the law, and it is one of the very important reason of pendency of the cases for a longer period.
Everybody knows that without the favour of the police none could dare to do even legal necessary repairing in the house then how come the unauthorised constructions, or shops/factory (is) in residential areas.
Anyway, crime is a crime but why a criminal be let free. Since long our police is playing double role, i.e., of defender and offender. If our Hon’ble court(s) and the PIL petitioners are really serious in rooting out the corruption then first of all keeping the demolition and sealing order standing, police and the inspectors of concerned departments be questioned that how all this happened and what amount you took in all these illegalities. None can deny the fact that while encroaching the government land or opening the shop the owner had to bribed the officials and now the official of the same department are busy in offending the public.
One Should remember that the cattle’s never die with the crow’s cursing if the PIL petitioners or the court(s) think that they are working in the right direction its their wrong assumption. Ask the court to check the bank balance and assets of the concerned officials.
Reasons of encroachment
The courts should also thrash the government, for making the courts a laughing stock and still keeping the public in dark of which an advertisement on page 3 of Hindustan Times,dated April 2,2006 is on record. Through this ad. the MCD in alliance with the Delhi’s Chief Minister,Smt. Sheila Dixit and other Congress leaders have invited the public to witness the programme on an unauthorised colony.And when the Hon’ble courts will order of demolitions what will happen to the hard earned money of the residents there. Will the Delhi Government, Congress or the MCD will fill the gap.Till when they all will befool the public.
There are so many centuries old houses in the walled city of Delhi some of them are in a dilapidated conditions did any PIL is filed to allow the residents to renovate this hearths. None came forward so far because they are small in numbers. Though the sometime back the MCD had issued an ordinance that "no permission is necessary for doing necessary constructions in those houses built before ……,if without changing the map" but the house owner tries to have some repairing or so-called sincere police comes in-between. Obviously, the owner had taking his own decision tries to grab the government land and resultantly encroachments are supposed as legal.
If there is any crime the police never comes in action at once for which they are assigned but as soon as there is any construction work they will reach themselves to have lofty cake of bread and if anybody, exceptional a few, denied them the loaf of bread tries to threaten with so many sections of the IPC. Is it fair? The writer of these lines is the sufferer. Many examples could be cited to prove the charge.
Secondly, the Muslim pockets are the well of encroachment. Of which Ajmeri Gate, Turkman Gate, Jama Masjid chowk, Bazar Matia Mahal, Matia Mahal Chowk etc. Take +out the road map of 1950s result will be before the courts and PIL petitioners. Have anybody dare to held culprit(s)? Resultantly the law-axe will fall on the poor public.
One should remember that the law is never blind but the corruption has made the law a blind.
Throughout this demolition or sealing drive the actual guilty is escaping --, still resting on scented bed of roses -- ,is expedient not punished so far. However,the victim and their families’ account is suffering.
It is observed some land Mafia is working behind these PILs there are so many markets built by the Mafia lay vacant for months and to sell/rent they have to bow before the property dealers.
Till some years back, Building Department of MCD used to visit the areas before it is rained and notices were issued to the dangerous/dilapidated buildings and on getting notices several hurdles were sided automatically, but by issuing the ordinance the government thought we have done our duty by facilitating the public but it is not so. It has created more hurdles before the actual maintenance of the property.

CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN ON THE RISE; REMEDY NOWHERE

2006-03-08T05:10:00.000-08:00

OUR leaders make us believe that our country is fast developing and would be in the league of great nations. How can we become a developed and powerful nation when politician-criminal-bureaucrat nexus has grown into a gangrenous disease that is destroying the very socio-economic fabric of our society? How, when a poor Raja Ram spends 35 years in Faizabad jail without trial for a petty theft while high-heeled murderer(s) of model Jessica Lall are acquitted for lack of evidence even after seven years of investigation and prosecution? She was killed from point blank range in the presence of at least one hundred people on April 29,1999 in posh Tamarind Court restaurant in New Delhi.
Why crimes are on the rise and what are the remedies. Until and unless we tackle this social monster, we would be befooling ourselves if we think we are developing and everything is hanky-dry.
The GDP rate is fluctuating but the rate of crime is steadily rising, never looking back. Murder and molestation and robbery and rape have become commonplace. Not only in small, remote towns but also in glittering giant metros, crimes are being committed with much impunity. The offenders do not seem to have any shed of fear of law, law enforcing agencies or even judiciary. A Jessica Lall and a Daya Nayak embolden them rather.
Ms.Kiran Bedi,IPS, is right in her capacity what she writes in "Guest Column" in "The Hindustan Times", dated March 5,2006, "Our police force is one reason why Manu Sharma got away with murder. And the rot in the system is due to a blinked leadership and poor man management…The outcome of Jessica Lall’s case is a product of yeas of neglect or indifference in just too many areas of policing. The tragedy is that each passing day; things seem to further decline. There are many reasons for this. And one primary reason is that the huge human resource that is the police force is not getting as much attention as the current challenges demand." And in the last of the article she says, "…A person who cannot be trusted in sensitive departments, which involve internal security, cannot be made to hang around. He needs to be directed instead to ‘stay at home till further orders’ and not be in the sensitive department where he can have access to all information or responsibilities…it is the men writing the case diaries who matter considerably. Our leadership has to tell us who they are. And how things have come to such a pass. And how many more."
The reasons of the rising crime graph are not unknown. We all know that unemployment is considered one of the big reasons. Drug abuse in youth, who from nearly half of the total population of the country, is another big reason. The gross social and economic disparity, which is on the increase day by day, an exploitation of the poor and illiterate by politicians are also contributing their share. Earlier it was said that politicians’ soft attitude towards criminal elements and history-sheeters is helping the society in becoming crime-prone, Now it is very difficult for common people to distinguish which of the two is true-crime is being politicised or politics being criminalised. Moreover, poverty and illiteracy are making people from the lower strata of society violators of law. They easily fall prey to drug addiction and trafficking in girls and children.
To make society peaceful and prosperous, you will have to minimise the unemployment of youth to nil and illiteracy to zero, and to make poverty an alien word. You will have to vote out criminal politicians irrespective of their political and /or ethnic affiliations.
Furthermore, these should be reform programs for jail inmates so that they should feel encouraged and motivated to live a civil life. We have to change laws to maintain the law and order as well as peace in the society.
There is no denying the fact that society and environment sow the seeds of crime. So until you root out the causes of the menace, you cannot succeed in containing the crime by pruning its branches. The government should be vigilant about the sources that are inculcating criminal mentality and violence in children and youth. There is an urgent need to have check and balance regime for silver screen, Internet, films, media and publications. They are collectively ruining the moral integrity of the children and youth. Moral teaching should be incorporated in the school and college syllabi, and fear of law of the land.

CLASH OF CIVILISATION AND OF DOUBLE STANDARD

2006-03-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

UNDER the guise of free speech, a leading Danish newspaper published a dozen provocative anti-Islamic cartoons clearly designed to offend Muslims. The predictable result has greatly increased the possibility of violence and left Denmark in a costly and dangerous predicament.
Four months after "Jyllands-Posten (JP)", Denmark’s most widely read morning paper, published 12 cartoons, Denes woke up to the fact that there is a high price to be paid for promoting the "clash of civilisations".
The fact that the editors behind the anti-Islamic images claim to be excercising free speech while refusing to address Europe’s strict censorship laws regarding discussion of the Holocaust and the ongoing imprisonment of historical revisionists reveals the existence of a more sinister agenda behind thecartoons.
"Agents of certain persuation" are behindthe egregious affront to Islam in orer to provoke Muslims, Prof. Mikeal Rothstein of the University of Copenhagen told the BBC. The key "agent" is Flamming Rose, the cultural editor of JP, who commissioned cartoonists to produce the blasphemous images and then published them in Denmark’s leading newspaper last September(2005).
The "International Herald Tribune", which reported on the offensive cartoons on January 1,2006,noted that even the liberalism of Rose had its limits when it came to criticism of Zionist leaders and their crimes. Rose also has clear ties to the Zionist Neo-Cons behind the ‘war the terror’.
Later on, Rose told the media that "he would not publish a cartoon of Israel’s Ariel Sharon strangling a Palestinian baby, since that could be construed as "racist".Asked why he was protecting Sharon, a known war criminal, while abusing Muslims and their Prophet in the name of free speech, Rose told "American Free Press" that he had been "misquoted" in the "Times" article.
Rose travelled to Philadelphia in October 2004 to visit Daniel Pipes, the Neo-Con-ideologue who says the only path to Middle East peace will come through a total Israeli military victory. Rose then penned a positive article about Pipes, who compares "militant Islam" with fascism and communism.In April 2003, President George Bush nominated the rabid anti-Muslim Pipes to the board of the United States Institute of Peace, a congressionally sponsored think-tank dedicated to the peaceful conflicts.Ministers from 17 nations condemned thepublication of the cartoons as an egregious offence to Islam and called on the Denish government to ensure that it would not be repeated.
When the Danish government, which supports the war on terror with more than 500 troop in Iraq, refused to issue an apology for the offensive cartoons, Muslims consumers across the Middle East began a boycott of Danish products.
As the boycott damaged Danish business and a bomb scare closed the office of its newspaper, Rose continued to defend his decision to commission and publish the offensive cartoons. "We stand by the publication of these 12cartoons," he said. "I would say that I do not regret having commissioned those cartoons and I think asking me that question is like asking a rape vistim if she regrets wearing a short skirt Friday night at the discotheque."
The dangerous game that was styarted by the Damish editor has now been picked up by at least 7 newspapers across Europe. Supposedly in support of the Danes, papers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland simultaneously reprinted the cartoons on February1. The timings suggest that this response was coordinated by a hidden hand. In Paris, for example,Arnaud Levy, editor-in-chief of financially-strapped "France-Soir", was fired by the paper’s owner Raymond Lakah, an Egyptian magnate, according to employees.Peter Mandelson, Trade Commissioner for the European Union strongly reprimanded the newspapers for pouring oil on the fire by reprinting the offensive cartoons.
Robert Menard, secretary general of "Reporters with Borders" a Paris based media monitor, however, supported the publication of the cartoons saying: " All countries in Europe should be behind the Danes and Danish authorities to defend the principle that a newspaper can write what it wished to, even if it offends people. I understand that it may shock Muslims, but being shocked is part of the price of being informed," he told "The New York Times".
However, when it comes to discussion, let the leaders of political parties, religious heads, and media—India and abroad—response, why they all remained silent when an Indian painter, M.F.Husain painted Hindu gods and goddesses as nude? Why this indifferent attitude towards Hindus or Hinduism? It’s a million dollar question to be answered by them all.Till when Hindus/Hinduism or its creators be humiliated?Why they remained mum when Taliban—a Muslim terrorist organisation—broken the Buddha idols in Afghanistan; why they sat their fingers crossed.
TILL WHEN THIS APPEASEMENT POLICY BE ADOPTED.ON ISLAMIC TERRORISM ALL THESE HUE AND CRY CREATORS ARE BLIND AND DEAF. WHY THIS DOUBLE STANDARD OF LAW AND ORDERS.

The Story of Two Lals--Motilal & Jawaharlal

2006-02-23T06:38:00.001-08:00

SOMETIME back I used to receive a pamphlet titled “SHAKTI SANDESH” published from Calcutta and now another paper from Shri R.V.Bhasin, Advocate, Supreme Court (National Publications, 76,Bajaj Bhawan, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021; website: www.rvb.net: ISBN-81-67405-04-X; Price Rs.5/-) carrying almost the same contents about the religion and originate of Nehrus. When I received “Shakti Sandesh” I handed over that to my then editor Shri V.P.Bhatia (now no more) for the authenticity of the facts and after reading the paper he advised me to comment on this because so many learned have been raising his issue time and again but due to some political pressure this issue is always dumped at the beginning and some M.O.Mathai-like only could stormed over in this cup of tea.
So for just memory and record, like “Shakti Sandesh” this may-be-valued paper lest lost in the sands. I am putting what this Supreme Court lawyer, Shri R.V.Bhasin writes, is as follow: --
AN NRI by the name of Mr. A. Ghosh now no more, published several important books from his US address 5720,W.Little Rock Texas Concerning India and her important men associated with his own country India. He is dead now, but one son of his has a job in CANADA. Through one intermediately, I am provided with certain papers dealing the Nehru Dynasty. Some Patriotic Indians on reading my two-page pamphlet on Mrs. Sonia Gandhi and the Nehru Gandhi Dynasty, have sent to me some further interesting and important old papers by the reading of which I am possessed of further interesting information that must be told in public interest to the people of India.
One is aware of the fact that one can change one’s religion and even one’s own name by following some simple, legal, procedure. One could recall how Phiroze Khan to Phiroze Gandhi when he married Indira Gandhi daughter of Pt.Jawaharlal Nehru and grand -daughter of Shri Motilal Nehru.
It is learnt that Indira Gandhi on marrying Phiroze Khan changed her religion from Hinduism to Islam. They are learnt to have married in one London Mosque. Indira Gandhi is further learnt to have her name to “Mainuna Begum”. This happened in 1941 when inter-religious marriages were illegal and to make them lawful one of the two spouses had to change one’s religion. The females always undergo change of their family surnames to accept the surname or the family of their husbands.
One has never heard even on one’s change of religion, the family surname of a male being changed. For, e.g., I am myself R.V.Bhasin, R and V stand for my name Raghu Vansh and Bhasin stands for my family surname Bhasin that never undergoes any change. Hence, many people in Muslims and Sikhs may also be found to have changed their names but none changes one’s surname on the change of one’s faith or religion. I know one Barkat Ali Bhasin (a Muslim) and Santokh Singh Bhasin (a Sikh). Many persons may be found on the Indian sub-continent with their changed names and religions but in all cases, no one is known to have changed their surnames or family names. It is possible that in this clan of Bhasin many of my unknown ancestors might have changed their religion for Hindu to Muslim or Sikh. I have never heard people giving up their surnames even on conversions of religion. People may altogether give up using their surnames just Sant Fateh Sigh did after he became a Sikh from a Muslim with his former name as Fateh Khan (?).
The Nehru Dynasty got popular with the father of Jawaharlal Nehru, Motilal Nehru. They are known to have their ancestors. Motilal’s father was one Gangadhar and who were his ancestors could only be traced out from the research following the surname of KAUL, it is a popular Kashmiri Brahmin caste that helps one’s ancestral pedigree.
There are known to be some professional Purohits in many Hindu Tirtha Stanhas (Holy Pilgrimage religious places). In he early days, the Brahmin Purohits recorded the family names and connections around them in specially maintained (Wahis, records of the visiting Hindu/Brahman pilgrims to such holy places) I am aware of Haridwar, Nasik and Matan in Kashmir where the Purohits called as Pandas earned their livelihoods through such family running business of recording the details of the visiting families of the (Pilgrims called the Jajmans) in these places. They came to such places for many holy purposes like immersion of the ashes of the dead from all over India. My enquiries revealed that at these places, a Hindu in India could go back to as much as 2/300 years before 1857 when India went through as unsuccessful 1st War of Independence called by the British as the Sepoy mutiny. These records were gathered only on the basis of pilgrim’s surnames or family clans. Many Pandas in these places even orally remember the families of their Jajmans and passed on this knowledge to their following generations. By contacting local Pandas of the above mentioned Tirth Sathanas or the holy places, one could succeed in tracing back one’s ancestry. Whereas one could easily obtain information on ‘Kaul Clan’, no research has succeeded tracing backwards the late ancestry of the Nehru Clan. Since we know that Jawaharlals was a Nehru family descendent of Motilal but who was before Gangadhar Kaul is not traceable. Hence some people like the above-referred Mr. A.Ghosh have doubted the reality of the Nehrus? He mentions in his papers that they were converts to Islam in Kashmir and thrust upon themselves the Hindu names adopting new surname of Nehru in order to escape the wrath of the soldiers of East India Company around 1857 or before who did not favour the Muslim employees of the Moghuls in Delhi. Many Kashmiris moved out of Kashmir very well hereto Delhi in search of jobs with the Moghul emperor of Delhi and many more also served the East India Company by declaring themselves as Hindus from Kashmir knowing mostly Persian languages. Such preference is also learnt to have been given to Persian knowing Hinds in Bengal particularly in Calcutta, Dacca and Mushidabad. The Hindus, abdicating their surnames like Kaul served no Hindu religious purpose. Mr. A.Gosh speaks in his left over papers that some Muslims in Kashmir did change their names and gave up even using their Hindu surnames in order to look for jobs within the set up of the Moghul rulers last of who was Bahadur Shah Zafar Khan. The British deported him to Rangoon where he died as prisoner. His last wish as per his famous poem ‘Do Gaz Zamin Na Bhi Mil Saki, Kue Yaar Mein’. The British Viceroy refused his dead body to be brought to Delhi and buried there. This happened almost around the year 1857.
How the surname of KAUL came to be changed definitely to Nehru (something totally different and never existing before) in case of Motilal and Jawaharlal demands further research. These are intriguing facts. The word ‘Nehru’ does have a hidden word of NEHR meaning ‘CANAL’.
It is somewhere said as another fact of history that between he present monument of Red Fort and the Mosque presently called ‘Fatehpuri’ on the other end of the present day CHANDNI CHOWK, Delhi used to have a canal instead of what we see at preset in the old Delhi a famous Road by the name of Chandni Chowk. It is further learnt that along both side of this canal, there lived special and important employees of the Mughul Emperors after there lived special and important employees of the Moghul Emperors after there lived special and important employees of the Moghul Emperors after Shah Jehan. On both sides of this canal, some people in order to hide some secrets started calling themselves as Nehrus. They lied and worked in the Red Fort and were allotted housed to live outside the Red Fort on the both sides of the canal. Some of them called themselves in course of time as Nehrus meaning living as the employees of the Moghuls. They came to consider themselves as very special since they refused to work for the East India Company.
I understand from a book by the name of Profile and persons published by our present Foreign Minister Mr. Natwar Singh that he as an OSD of the Foreign Ministry accompanied Mrs. Indira Gandhi who when the Prime Minister of India visited Afghanistan and proceeded to the grave of the 1st Moghul Emperor Babar and paid homage on that grave when Natwar Singh was also there. It is possible that Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi had perhaps spoken to each other of their ancestors being the Moghuls. Motilal’s father Gangadhar is further believed to have taken a Hindu name and the surname of Kaul to fit into Hindu caste system for easy marriage etc.
Motilal’s first wife died and he is said to have brought another women from Kashmir to Allahabad from whose womb was born the first child who Motilal named Jawaharlal Nehru. Mr. A. Ghosh doubts if the second wife of Motilal was at all married to him or that she was brought paternity of Jawaharlal Nehru. According to him Jawaharlal Nehru’s father was either the famous lawyer of Allahabad Mubarak Ali or the Nawab of Oudh in whose house Jawaharlal grew up till he was ten yeas of age and was later sent to the Harrows (The school in England) and later to the Trinity college also in England. Jawaharlal Nehru prominently wrote “HE IS PROUD TO BE REARED UP AS AN ISLAMIST, AND AN ENGLISH MAN BY EDUCATION AND HE IS HINDU BY AN ACCIDENT’.
Mubarak Ali, the lawyer is said to have refused the so-called women or wife of Motilal to give the delivery of her first child at his house i.e., the Ishrat Manzil that was changed into Anand Bhawan when Motilal moved into that house after winning a legal case for the Rani of Etawah at the Privy Council at London. This was done both by Motilal and the famous lawyer Mubarak Ali who lost Rani of Etawah’s case both in the lower court as well as in the High Court of Allahabad By way of legal fee the Rani of Etawah is said to have given by way of legal fee to the above named two persons Rs 10 lakhs and also the estate of Amethi which she owned and was passed on to Motilal Nehru. For this reasonable Nehrus decide Amethi as their inheritance from their ancestors and decide to contest elections from there.
Mir Ganj area in Allahadad is a well-known Red Light area since long. It is not considered as any decent person’s good address. Mr. A.Ghosh referring to Motilal Nehru calls him as a brothel keeper. It is there that the Aristocrat Muslims used to visit that area for the purposes of prostitution. Motilal is further said to have offered his wife i.e. the mother of Jawaharlal Nehru to his own boss Mubarak Ali under whom Motilal worked as a Mukhtear when he was only a poor man serving persons like his boss and others. Jawaharlal Nehru is said to have grown up and reared up as an Islamist in the palace of Nawab if Oudh. His education in England could never be thought of or paid for by Motilal Nehru who acquired his riches only on being paid by the Rani of Etawah the legal fee that run in lakhs of rupees and the estate of Amethi which could not have been of any great value in those days. Its owner Mubarak Ali to Motilal or it is possible that he bought it from the owner at the price, which he could then afford, either gifted the Ishrat Manzil (Haveli in Allahabad). Rumours remain that the costs involved for the Nehru family to move to England for education and medical purposes was paid for by the Nawab of Oudh and or by Mubarak Ali, the owner and seller of the Haveli called the Ishrat Manzil. There is another ‘Haveli’ also by the similar name of Ishrat Manzil in Allahabad whose owner was one Akbar Allahabadi.
It is a fact worth taking note of that when Jawaharlal Nehru became the Prime Minister of India, he had his original house of birth in Mir Ganj, Allahabad raised Hathi Singh and Vijaylakshmi were also born there. While some early childhood pictures of these three sisters of Nehru have been seen but none of the boy Jawaharlal Nehru is found.
Mr. A. Ghosh curiously wants to examine why Jawaharlal Nehru as the Prime Minister of India saw to it that the house in which he was born located at Mir Ganj in Allahabad was destroyed?
Why, he did not do anything before he became the Prime Minister of India? Admittedly Mir Ganj is the Red Light area of Allahabad where Mubarak Ali, the employer of Motilal frequently visited for undesirable purposes. Why even on the request of Motilal, he refused to let wife of Motilal deliver her first child who was Jawaharlal himself in the Ishrat Manzil that was later remained as Anand Bhawan? Mr. Ghosh seriously doubted the paternity of Jawaharlal who according to him was a bastard child either of Mubarak Ali or of the Nawab of Oudh who frequented this house before the wife of Motilal became pregnant?
Further, it is well known that Phiroze Khan son-in-law of Jawaharlal was buried on his death in a Muslim graveyard at Allahabad. None important is said to have been present when Phiroze was buried and hence none can throw any light if even the wife of Phiroze i.e. Indira and her sons and her father were at all present on his death at the time of his burial/ Recently, some nephews of Phiroze published a letter to the press that the grave of Phiroz in the Allahabad graveyard remains unattended and uncared for? I have personally no further knowledge on this point.
I, however, look into Mr. Ghosh’s papers from where I have learnt that Jawaharlal Nehru did setup his legal practice office at Malabar Hill, Bomaby near the then chamber of Mr. Mohd. Ali Jinnah. He was no successful in his legal practice. He had to wind it up as he got involved in a criminal case in which he is said to have attempted to molest a young Parsi girl employed in his office and it is further said that a criminal case against him proceedings the then sessions court of Bombay. He wound up his legal practice and returned to Allahabad and joined the politics of those days.
One Samar Sen a police officer of Bengal was provided by Dr. B.C.Roy (Chief Minister of Bengal who was deputed on the request of Jawaharlal Nehru when has was the Prime Minister to engage in the activities of discovering something against Shri Shama Prasad Mukherjee, he is said to have discovered a painting of Nawab of Oudh standing along side him in his palace at Oudh is a young boy who can be identified as the young Jawaharlal Nehru. There is a further discovery of things by this specially appointed and selected police officer who reported this fact to Dr Shayam Prasad Mukherjee whom he admired as of his fans. He too is dead and his one son now alive is in Canada from whom some important old papers in this context have been received and they have helped the author to briefly set out the facts as above. Any one is welcome to examine the same now in my (R.V.Bhasin, Advocate) possession Further some correspondence of the year 1998 done by one Mr Ram Gopal of Delhi containing theme of his own research and facts found have also come in the possession of the author of this pamphlets. His first issued pamphlet was titled “MRS SONIA GANDHI AND THE NEHRU GANDHI DYNASTY” which has been world widely circulated by the author of this second pamphlets under the title of the “THE TALE OF TWO LALS—MOTILAL AND JAWAHARLAL”.
As before this is published and issued with malice towards none and further facts of important nature are not included in this pamphlets because it is not the purpose of the Author to talk with any intended malice or vulgarity. The author has intended to be brief and objective and has avoided mudslinging on our dead leaders although there is further excitable material that too could be written. The author has confined himself to issue this public interest pamphlets for the benefit of the people of India to know more about their leaders who always lead the people of nations to bad or good future with their built in persona characters. The author does not intent to hurt anyone’s feelings even inadvertently and being and advocate himself fully knows his citizenship responsibilities.
(The contents and other things expressed by Mr. R.V.Bhasin could new or could be counted as malafide intention towards the Nehru Dynasty but reading the above pamphlet by Mr. Bhasin, a Supreme Court lawyer, refreshed the memory what my respected father Shri M.B.L.Nigam (Expired on March 17,2005, at the age of 89years) use to tell. Keeping aside the political career of the Nehru Dynasty, it was one of the most defamed family. If this family had not jumped into the freedom movement, none would dare even to talk and many learned like K.R.Malkani,Governor of Pondicherry and former Chief Editor of Organiser Weekly and of Motherland,daily paper, V.P.Bhatia, Prof. Nand Kishore Nigam, a freedom fighter and the first Council General of India in Kuwait and Trade Commissioner of India in Pakistan et al were also of the same view. Only a serious research and investigations could reveal what is in the sleeves? The purpose to publish this on the web is “lest like other such documents, this pamphlet may not bury in dust.” Because till sometime back I used to suppose this incident as defamatory and one of the cheap argument but at some stages the incidents make me believe.Hence the above Mr. Bhasin's pamphalate.Such documents are rarely available. My purpose is only to keep this pamphlate as record.)

Congress and its allies' efforts to appease Muslims

2006-02-14T05:16:00.000-08:00

THE Election Commission is planning to hold simultaneous polls in four states—Kerala, Assam, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu—and the union territory of Pondicherry where the term of legislative Assemblies expire on June 30.
But a tough battle awaits the Congress in the five states. While it faces anti-incumbency in Kerala and Assam, the party is far from taking West Bengal either. But the coming days shall witness an intense wooing of Muslim votes by the Congress and the CPI (M), as they account for over 23 per cent of Kerala’s population.
The Narendran Commission report, the Iran issue and anti-US propaganda are going to occupy centre-stage in the State. The Congress-led United Democratic Front will claim that it had fulfilled its commitments to the Muslim community by implementing the recommendations of the Narendran Commission report.
The CPI (M)-led Left Democratic Front, to counter the Congress claim, is expected to raise the issue of India’s vote against Iran and the anti-US tirade in its effort to win over Muslim votes. Initially, the Left parties had countered the Congress propaganda on the successful implementation of the Naraendran Commission report by pointing our that the ruling UDF was idle over its recommendations for the last four and a half years.
But the Left now feel that the pro-Iran and anti-US stands are better weapons to win over the Muslims than the Narendran Commission report. The CPI (M) had an electoral victory earlier by playing card in the panchayat elections. At that time EMS Namboodiripad had successfully avoided mention of Irag’s invasion of another Muslim country, Kuwait, which was the prime reason for the war.
According to reports, a circular issued by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee to all grassroots-level workers to visit each home and inform them of the party’s commitment to the minorities by implementing the recommendations of the Narendran Commission Report.
In Tamil Nadu, he Congress faces a strong contender in the AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa. The Congress hopes to get a ride on the DMK.
Pondicherry offers a ray of hope. But even here the fear is that continued infighting—especially among the chief ministerial aspirants, Incumbent N.Rangaswamy, CWC member Vaidyalingam, AICC general secretary V.Narayanswamy and PCC chief P.Shanmugham—may take its toll.
In Assam, the Centre’s decision to initiate confidence-building measures after talks with the ULFA is expected to offset the negative fallout of the IMDT Act on Muslims. The party, however, believes that the Iran vote would not impact the community. The only glimmer of hope is a triangular battle – the AGP-BJP, the UDF and the Congress-led combine—tough no one is willing to wage on whom would gain from the three-way split. In West Bengal, the Trinamool-BJP combine and the Congress-led grouping are expected to divided the anti-Left vote all among themselves.

DEMOLITIONS DRAGGING CONGRESS TO HELL

2006-02-07T07:15:00.000-08:00

WHAT one witnessed at Mahapanchayat at Raj Ghat on February 5,2006,orgasnised by the Delhi Gram Sabha, can be safely inferred that the Delhi Congress is running downhill. As Delhi village people assembled at the Mahapanchayat openly lambasted Congress leaders, and not to miss this opportunity, other parties have joined the bandwagon of anti-demolition drive t o enhance their profiles in Delhi.
The Mahapanchayat was attended by many Delhi Congress leaders, including the Delhi Pradesh Congress president Ram Babu Sharma, JD (U) president, Sharad Yadav, NCP MLA, Rambir Singh Bidhuri, Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh and Kisan Sangh leader, Mahendra Singh Tikait.
Delhi Congress paraded full strength at Mahapanchayat, but were shocked when their attempt to portray the Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit as the wrecker-in-chief of Delhi’s villages cut no ice with thousands of villagers. They warned them not to shed crocodile tears as the Congress led governments both at the Centre and in Delhi besides the Municipal Corporation of Delhi dominated by the same party are not doing anything to stop the demolition drive in Lal Dora areas.
The mood in the audience was, however, anti-Congress with banners calling Dikshit, a bulldozer chief minister. The audience also humbled the DPCC president, as he was not allowed to deliver his speech with angry villagers heckling him.
The villagers challenged the Congress MLAs and MPs from Delhi to resign from their memberships if they were really with them. Interestingly, Janata Dal (United) president, Sharad Yadav touch a chord with the villagers as he took on the Congress leadership for letting down the villagers. He wondered how come a section of Congress is cooking stories against its own government at Delhi for the demolition drive in pace of doing something concrete to stop the drive.
While attacking the Delhi Chief Minister Dikshit, they accused her hand in glove with the builder’ mafia.

The Congress leaders, however, harped on he large heartedness of the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and tried to put the Delhi Chief Minister in the dock. But the restless villages had enough of such talks. The farmer leader Mahendra Sing Tikait compared the politicians to eunuchs and told the villagers that they were always trained to be the same, With the Rashtriya Lok Dal president, Ajit Singh in tow with Tikait apart from Sharad Yadav it became clear the village-based politics is getting fresh lease of life and the demolition drive in Delhi may just be a precursor for the larger political battle to unfold.
NCP MLA form Delhi, Rambir Singh Bidhuri said, “The Delhi Government is hell bent to destroy the prosperity of the villagers, hence the CM encouraged the Bhagidari people to file public litigation in the Delhi High Court, which led to the demolition orders.”
Accusing the Chief Minister for demolition, he further said, “to divert the attention of people from the issued of electronic meter and water crisis, it is being done under th3e pressure of the Reliance chief, Anil Ambani.
Some villagers were witnessed murmuring that why the unauthorised buildings of the leaders are not demolished so far, only the general public is targeted till date. Moreso, the Delhi’s walled city has maximum unauthorised constructions and encroachments than the Lal Dora or other areas.

IS THIS THE FACE OF INDIAN WOMAN?

2006-02-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

TODAY we need to become aware of how globalisation affects the day-to-day lives of people, especially women, how the market-oriented economy has resulted in the feminisation of labour activity and poverty and has disturbed the existing patterns of social relationships.
People are uprooted from their moorings and thrown to the tempests of cultural influences that encourage consumerism. Free market economy encourages the commodifying of culture through its motto '‘t rich quick or perish’. This leads to a decline of values in the family, and creates social-economic imbalances, gender inequality, political unrest and the like. Violence and atrocities against women increase with the criminalisation of the sociopolitical scenario. Increasing hegemonisation of women minds reduces their propensity for collective resistance.
The twentieth century has witnessed phenomenal advances in the fields of science and technology. However, in the realm of ethics and morality, the century’s performance has been abysmal.
We have produced unprecedented wealth and flooded our markets with an unimaginable array of goods; we have bragged about commitment to enforce human rights universally. Yet the vast majority of women remain trapped in poverty, exploited and powerless to influence their own destinies. The primary function of the media today is to entice buyers through advertisements, to sell life-styles and distorted vales. And push the free market principle. The media specifically target women and affect their lifestyle in every spear of activity. They are considered mere commodities to be bought and sold. Media persons have little concern for democracy, freedom. Respect for human dignity or other values. They concerned about profits, not the persons who purchase their much-publicised products.
Interestingly, over the past few years, Indian women have suddenly become beautiful, winning laurels at international beauty contests. The list is growing speedily. The sudden spurt of beauty success could mean one of two things: - Indian women have suddenly become beautiful or the western cosmetic industry has realised that Indian women are prone to purchase their products if artificial beauty needs are created.
We see mother, daughter, wife in their stereotypical roles but their appearance, and the form and language of the text in which they appear are liberated from crude representation stereotyping of the docile domesticity. See, the ‘Whirlpool lady’ who gleefully performs all her tasks—she washes clothes and at the same time tries out innovative ‘ice magic’ recipes for her children, guests and husband (refrigerator ad.) In this advertisement the woman is a good housewife, mother and hostess, yet she does no require to drape herself in a sari or wear a bindi , she is allowed to make her appearance comfortably in jeans and short hair. Moreso, the advertisements of Pepsi, Center Fresh, Lux toilet soap etc to name a few representing the Indian women in such shamefully as if this gender has neither moral nor any character. For she is the ‘new woman’ of India, a woman liberated by consumer capital.
The emergence of media center culture all the while create the impression women have nothing except to display their waves. The advertising sector on which both the print and the electronic media survive solely concentrate on the anatomy of women to sell their products. More often than not the focus of the copy is on the fair sex rather than on the product. Therefore, the viewer is often let wondering whether he/she is viewing the product or the sex symbol.

MUSHARRAF IN WORLD'S 20 WORST DICTATOR'S LIST

2006-01-31T18:59:00.001-08:00

PAKISTAN President Pervez Musharraf has been included among 20 of the world’s worst dictators.
The Parade, a weekend magazine has placed Musharraf at the 17th position in the list of world’s 20 worst dictators along with the likes of Kim Jong II, Mugabe King Abdullah and Fidel Castro. Last year, Musharraf was placed seventh in the list.
The magazine said that Musharraf seized power in a military coup overthrowing an elected government.
Appointing himself President of Pakistan in 2001 Musharraf attempted to legitimize his rule by staging an election in 2002.However, the election never came close to meeting international standards, the report said.
Musharraf also reneged his promise to step down as the Army Chief on grounds that Pakistan needed an uniformed President for the sake of its political and militatry unity.
“Musharraf agreed to step down as head of the military but then changed his mind, claiming that the nation needed to unify its political and military elements and that he could provide this unity. He justified his decision by stating, ‘I think the country is more importantly than democracy’,” the magazine said.
Omar al- Bashir of Sudan has been placed at number one followed by Kim Jong II of North Korea and Than Shwe of Myanmar in second and third position. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan follow them at fourth and fifth position.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro who last year was placed at 13th position has been placed at the 15th place in this year’s list.

REVOLT IN BALUCHISTAN

2006-01-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

PAKISTAN is in trouble again. This time, it is mass revolt against Islamabad by the Pakistan’s most backward province of Baluchistan. Pakistani army has been using combat jets,helicopter gunships and sophisticated weapons in suppressing the tribal insurgents who have declared war against President Pervez Musharraf.
It appears, Pakistan has still to learn the lessons of 1971, when it lost its Eastern wing.Of the same patterns of political mismanagement, compounded by indicriminater and brutal use of military force. The army, the main culprit in that case is still looking for alibis to explain the debacle.
The situation in Balochistan is deteriorating very fast with the passage of every day. It is likely to snowball into a major crisis in South Asia if Musharraf does not take remedial measures. The trouble in Baluchistan has not flared up suddenly. In January 2005, four Pakistani soldiers were accused of raping a lady doctor in the premises of Sui Refinery, Queta. The doctor was employed by Pakistan Petroleum at the Sui gasfield in Baluchistan when the authorities failed to nab the culprits. Bugti tribesmen attacked the gas field. Other tribes joined hands with them, hitting the port at Gwadar as well as railway lines and military installations in and around Queta. The federal forces responded in strength and unleashed war against the Baloch tribesmen. The tribal leaders saw the conflict as a last opportunity to get what they considered a fair share of Baluchistan’s enormous gas resources,
This low intensity conflict has been gathering momentum since December. Since then hundred are said to have died in the fighting. According to reports, the current militant assault was provoked by a rocket attack on a rally held by President Musharraf in the town of Kohlu in December. Two days later, the Baluch freedom fighters opened fire on a helicopter carrying the Inspector-General of the Frontier Corps, Major General Shujaat Zamir Dar and some other military officers. Soon after these attacks army was pressed into action, which bombed the hideouts of the insurgents, resulting in the death of scores of Balcu rebels.
President Pervez is playing the old game and blaming India for creating this trouble by supplying them war equipment. Though New Delhi has strongly denied that the rebels were receiving any support from India. Nawab Akber Khan Bugti, the chieftain, has slammed President Pervez Musharraf’s claims that India was providing support to the Baluch freedom fighters. His objective is to defame the legitimate demands of the people of Baluchistan, says Sardar Bugti.
It is time Pakistan realised that the predatory culture that dominates its politics and overwhelmingly, its army will not benefit it. Musharraf has been eloquent in his advocacy of what he calls "self-governance" and "self-determination" in J&K. Pakistan’s leadership continues to believe that it is securing a strategic advantage through its campaign of terror in J&K. But the truth is that Pakistan is being systematically hollowed out by these campaigns.
Last year, Musharraf had issued a threat to the Baluch declaring, "this is not the 1970s…they will not even know what and from where something has come and hit them." No doubt, this is not the 1970s and the world will not long tolerate the sort of campaigns of genocide that Pakistan got away with in 1973-77 and that it is trying to repeat now.
Baluchistan is a vast land—3,47,641 square kilometers, accounting for as much as 43 per cent of Pakistan’s total landmass, but amounts to nearly 10 million people, who are today, utteerly alienated from Islamabad.
It is a difficult job on the part of Pervez Musharraf to restore peace in strife-torn Baluchistan. If conditions like present one persist for sometime more, time is not far off when Baluchistan will turn into an independent sovereign country like Bangladesh.

CASTE SYSTEM AND VARNASHARAM

2006-01-21T21:27:00.000-08:00

THE caste system is not likedby many educated Hindus. But what do they really propose to do about it ? Total abolitionists of caste are stil in a minority and include only persons who have some real experience of western society. The masses are certainly vehement supporters of the systyem.
Those among the educated classes, who want to retain the institution as it is ,sometimes wrongly identify it with the Shastric Varnashrama institution. But neither Varna nor Ashrama has anything to do with caste. Varnma did not mean colour. Varna is explained by the Mahabharata as individual disposition. Asharama means the four-fold division of the life of a twice-born,prescribed by the Shastras.
Caste is the division of the Hindu society into a very large number of exclusive hereditary groups. This arrangement is wrongly believed, on the supposed authority of the Shastras, to be the Karma of individuals in their previous births. A person is supposed to be born in a higher or a lower caste according as his Karma in the previous births is better or worse.
Such belief is sometimes sought to be supported by misinterpretation of certain passages ofthe Shastras with Varna and not with jati (birth,heredity). The inborn disposition of a person is the result of his deeds in his previouslives. It is changed by deeds performed during the present lige. There are many texts to the effect that a Brahman isliable to lose his Varna, by unspiritual conduct,during his life-time.Rebirth in the forms of lower animal,tree,or stone is declared to be the result of the deliberate practice of thoughtlessness by a person in his previous births as man. There is no mention of cast in this connection.
The Varnashrama organisation of society is part and parcel of the Vedic religion. The present Hindu society is however, not organised into castes by reference to the stage of life and individual disposition. The caste-system is proobably te historical descendant of the tribal organisation of pprimitive society on which was imposed, in an unwarrantable way , the decayed tradition of the Vasrnashrama organisation. It seems to be one of the worst crimes that have been ever committed against the well-being of a eole by ecclesiastical self-seeking.
Current Hinduism has learnt to take its stand on the caste under the wrong impression that it is identical with the Varnashrama organisation. Sufficient cogent historical causes have made the caste system a necessary part of the present social order of the Hindus, and its summary abolition is, therefore sure to lead to social anarchy and far worse confusion that what we are experiencing by its retention.
Nevertheless it is not less true that the Vedic religion can be practised in its living form only within the Varnasharma oooooooorganisation. In caste-ridden India however it is very difficult to obtain a sympathetic hearing for the Varnashrama organisation which is altogether different in its form and spirit from the caste. The tradition of this Shastric organisation is maintained in the caste arrangement by the retention of certain designatins and forms of practice. Under the cover of these forms of practice. Under the cover of these names and forms there have grown up very strong vested interests within the caste,whose very life is threatened by any proposal for the re-establishment of the Varnasharama organisation in India.
The soocial supremacy of the caste-Brahmanass is.however, opposed to the democratic sirit of the Age. It is also being assailed by the labours of scholars who are restoring the ppproper reading of the texts of the Shaastras, on the deliberate perversions of which the superstitiooous andirrational upholders of a spurious system have been accustomed upptil now to place their chief reliance.

An alternative to forest resources

2005-11-26T19:11:00.000-08:00

IN 1973, there were around 70,000 people living around the Ranthambore National Park in south-eastern Rajasthan.Today,that number has increased to over 200,000 people. This tremendous growth has led to dwindling tiger populations, thanks to rampant poaching and habitat destruction,aggravated by the demand for fuelwood. Recognising the need fro pproviding people with alternative renewable resources,Goverdhan Rathore,son of Fateh Singh Rathore,Ranthambore's celebrated park director set up the Prakratik Society in Sawai Madhopur in 1994."I could see that this park verss ppeopple conflict would ultimately result in the destruction of both the tiger and Ranthambore. I knew the long term solution lay in finding a way in which both improve the livesof the local people and allow them to have a symboitic relationship with the park and its tigers," says Rathore. The PrakratikSociet works with local people to help fin alternative means of reaning a lielihood;means that are not dependent on the park as a aresource. The society hasinitiated anintergrated programme incorporation healthcare and family planning,alternative energy sources,education afforestation efforts and community building. "The PrakratikSociety has offered three valuable means to improve the quality of our lives, I have used the artificial insemination prgramme to improve the quality of my cattle,planted trees under the agro-forestry programme to become self-releaint for my fuelwood requirements and built biogas units for my entire joint family,provideing light and energy for the family. Today,our need for fuel and fodder from inside the park have been minimised. I don't rememberwhen I last went inside th park," says Pparmand Meena of Charoda village. Providing villagers living around the park with 'biogas digesters' for cooking has been one of the Prakratik Society's most important contributions,helping ease the pressures on dwindling forest resources. The digester uses cowdung as a raw material. It not only produces gas for cooking but also provides organic fertiliser in the form of slurry-- a better and cheaper alternative to commercial fertilisers. Crop yields have gone up 25 %. So far the society has insalled 225 biogas ppplants; over 1350 villagers are currently benefitting from this technology.People are also gainfully employed in the construction and maintenance of the biogas plants. "The benefits of biogas have changed our lives forever. We no longer have to go inside the forest for fuelwood collection and the by-product isexcellent manure, which inreases the productivity ofor land. Today,nearly every household in our village is using biogas," says Prithviraj Meena, a tribal from Padli village. "People have improved the breed of their cattle the aretrificial inseminbation certre ar Kundera,started by the Pprakratic Society. As a result, stall-feeding hasbecome ciable andmilk yields have increaed 10-fold. Our dependence on the tiger reserve has reduced dramatically," Prithvi adds. Biogas degestyers offer many benefits. They save around 1500 metric tonnes of fuelwood,which contributes towards saving entire habitats and their animal andplant populations. Biogas also improves the health of women by reducing their exposure to smoke. In recognition of its innovative renewable energy prooject, the Prakritik Societ has been nominated a contender for the prestigious Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy to be announced later in the year.

Hindus,the suffering society of India

2005-08-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

SINCE Independence,what is the position of Hindus in India? They are dishonoured. All rules and laws are against Hindus in the name of secularism, a total fraud in state aided educational institutions. Non-Hindus shall be given education in their respective religion,but not the Hindus,why?
Temple of Hindus are being robbed, robbed of the money and of the landed property by anti-Hindus. The money given by Hindus in temples as worship of God,isjust taken away by anti-Hindus, Do these anti-Hindus touch the religious money of landed property of non-Hindus?If the state authorities dare to indulge in such folish things in respect of the religious money and landed property of non-Hindus, they will riot and the state goernment will come down on its knees to apologize to them. Then,why this indiscrimation in the treatment of Hindus and non-Hindus by the state?
Should we then conclude that for getting justice from the Government in India,rioting is only way?
However,when a government responds not to straight simple resoning but bends only before riots, then that government is just not fit to remain in power.
We must practice our Hindu Dharma,non-practice of our Hindu Dharma is a sin. They why should we commit a sin?
Why has the condition of Hindu society in India become so miserable as we see it today? Because we have given up the parctice of our Hindu Dharma.
Yatra Yogeshwara Krishno,
Yatra Partho Dhanur Dharh,
Tatra Shree Vijayo Bhooti,
Dhroov Neetir Matir mamah
(The Geeta,chapter 18,sloka 78)
(Wherever,there is combination of Yogeshwara Shri Krishna and Dhanushdhari Arjuna, there shall be Mother Luxmi, victory,prosperity,steadfastness and correct polity that is my firm principle.)
This shloka is as clear as daylight to guide the Hindu society, Shri Krishna teaches the path of Dharma,for ability to move along the path of Dharma,we must also haveDhanushdhari Arjuna, whose arrows shall disperse and destroy the enemies.
The meaning of these is that instead of infighting every Hindu should be united to have its right. Whenever any law of encraochment is applied that apply only on Hindus why not on non-Hindus? A few days back,a temple,opposite Pahar Ganj, was removed saying it unauthorised. But the government can't remove any graves behind Red Fort,on the bank of Yamuna came unauthorisedly in the last ten years.
So many encraochements and unauthorised constructions is removed from the Hindu pockets of Delhi but not from the non-Hindus areas .When in the eyes of laws everyone should be equal but our vote-bank policy is pushing us back and themselves are provoking the Hindus.The Public Interst Litigation(PIL) can be filed against the hawkers of Chandani Chowk but not against of non-Hindus.
Secondly, Ramvilas Paswas can be rigid on his stand to make a Muslim the chief Minister of Bihar,is there anyone to dare to question him "when you critcise BJP and RSS, as communals, for playing Hindu card and mixing the religion into politics then why this Muslim based politic from your camp?"Is this the way of secularism by playing, openly, communal politics? Is he playing the role of another Jinnah?
Thirdly, during elections the BJP leaders speeches are taken seriously that lest they name Ramjanmabhoomi to provoke the voters but on theother hand in non-Hindu pockets Babri Masjid is mentioned in the speeched by the other parties.Hindus laws could be twisted in the name of reform but not the laws of non-Hindus.
Believe it or not,even after Independence,our government is following what Jinnah wanted.It is observed that under the name of secularism every politician as well as government is making us fool and we are becoming happily.

Endangering Muslim population of India

2005-08-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

ON the one hand efforts are being made to put Indo-Pak relations on a friendly track and on the other hand terrorist organizations active in Jammu and Kashmir are trying to extend their activities to Uttar Pradesh and other states of India. On July 5 the terrorists made a bid to destroy the Ram Temple inAyodhya. In an encounter within two hours the PAC and CRPF jawans killed all the five terrorists and the temple was saved from damage. Within a few days there was a big bomb explosion on July 28 in the Shramjivi Express near Jaunpur. As a result five passengers died on the spot and more than 50 were injured.
With the help of J&K police force the UP Police Task force four terrorist were nabbed. They were said to have colluded with suicide bombers in this task. The Delhi Police and theSpecial Task Force of the UP police after investigation into the conspiracy,arrested a doctor of Saharanpur district who was practicing inFelhi andwas continuoously helping the terrorists. In order tofurther investigate the conspiracy.Dr Irfan was brought to Ayodhya on transit and handed over to police remand. Whatever activities of the terrorists are carrying on will neither bring any benefit to Kashmiris nor to Muslims in any other state of India.
According to information recieved from the border areas ofNepal thePak secret agency ISI was also trying to indoctrinate and mislead students in madrasas in these areas and if it continued with such activitiesit would be difficult to believe thePak Prresident Perves Musharraf thathe really seeks friendly relations with India and solution of all mutual problems through negotiations.If hewas not playing politics and truly a military commander then he would have to control the control the activities of ISI.
Despiter Musharraf's statements and claims, the terrorist training camps are still active in Pakistan. In hisfederal cabinet even today there is a minister who had been running his own training camps for terrorists. Will Musharraf oust this minister from his cabinet? If Musharraf is a true well wisher of Muslims of India he shouldtake steps to ensure that cross border terrorists are not allowed to infiltrate into India and the Indian Muslims are allowed to live in peace and security.
Only a few days ago, the President had claimed that the Command Control System of Al-Qaeda in his country had been completely destroyed and was now in a position to engineer terrorist bombings like those carried out in London and in Egypt. He also denied that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan.He had said thatit was possible that small Al Quaeda groups might still be present in the tribal area of Waziristan but their capacity to carry out terrorist strikes has been considerably reduced. The President offered this clarifications because the responsibility for the London bombings was being placed on people of Pak origin.But examining the Musharraf's statements carefully,it could be concluded that terrorist traing camps are still running in Pakistan and they are destined to send infiltrators to India tocreate a climate of terror.
On the other hand the famous Pak cricket icon and formber test captan Imran Khan has said that the Pak President will not succeed in reforming the madrasas because he has no moral standing for that. He is viewed as a puppet in the hands of the anti-Islamic Americans.
In this environment, it is to be seen,which is the next target of the terrorists?Will they extend their strikes now to Delhi besides UP or concentrate their activities to J&K.

RAM DAYAL:A Forgotton Hero and producer of Pakistan's first film

2005-08-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

SARDARI Lal was then the general manager of Pancholi Pictures,Lahore that controlled two studios,three cinima halls and Empire Talkies Ditributors. Later Dewan Sardardarilal started his his own film production company and produced a film titled Barsat Ki Ek Raat starring Pran. Ram Dayal joined his father's business as Production Chief and also handled he camera department. After the partition,while many had to leave Lahore,Ram Dayal stayed back till 1950. In 1948, his father and Ram Dayal produced independentPakistan's first film Teri Yaad starrring Nasir Khan. Till 1950, Ram Dayal had the privilege ofHaving been associated with stars likeRagini,Neena, Swarn Lata, Nazir,Charlie, Sabia, Santosh Kumar, Darpan, M.Azmal andmusicdirector Ghulam Hyder andChisti. Later in 1950He came to India leaving his parents in Lahore. In 1956, Ram Dayal's parents migrated to India.
Coming back to Bombay in 1950, Ram Dayal started working as a press photographer and also in the camera department. In the same year, he launched his own production company alongwith his brother Darshan who already was in Bombay working asa Pro for actress Shyama. From 1952 to 1990, Ram Dayal produced 25 films besides directing two and photograhing more than 25 films. Ram Dayal had the privilege of being the GM of the Famous Studio at Caddel Road in 1956-57 and then in 1958-59, hewas in charge of the now defunct Kardar Studio.
Ram Dayal made all kinds of films in various genres. For children,he made Bazigar,Star and Dog & Horse. He made fantasy films like Alibaba Ka Beta,Tatar Ka Chor andGulbahar, one magial movie Jaadu Nagri as well as a science fiction Superman. Ram Dayal was credited for having made a bold film Do Raha starring Anil Dhawan and Radha Saluja. He also made two very well-known comedy films namely Aplam Chaplam and Shrimanji.He didn't spare the spy movie genre when he made Akalmand. Ram Dayal made Prabhat that dealt with the life of a prostitute,produced a family film Do Number Ke Amir, made action films Baghi and Zor.Formula films were Ram Dayal's forte and he made four films in this genre namely Hasino Ka Devta, Param Dharam, Takdeer Ka Badshah and Karam Yuth.He also made a film on national integration namely Veeru Ustad.
Ram Dayal has also had the honour of bringing about many changes and improvements in the field of cinema viz:

Initiated daily payment to artistes
Brought into existence the concept of "action films" repalcing 'stunt' films.This he did because earlier social and stunt films had separated status as producers,artistes,studios andtheatre owners used to look down at stunt films. Then there were a few third-grade theatres earmarked for stunt films. Famous artistes ofsocial films like Pradeep Kumar were roped in by Ram Dayal for his action film Baghi.Says Ram Dayal,"I am proud to say that Homi Wadia, the king of action moview then showered praise on me andmy stardard of making such a film." It was in 1958,that Ram Dayal made the hit film Baazigar, starring Jairaj and Nirupa Roy. This film was shot at the Kardar Studio that was earlier not available to shoot action films.
It was only after the stupendous success of Baazigar that the overflow system for action films were taken into consideration. Till 1958,there was no overflow system.
Stunt picture producers, till 1957, used to go up to China Creek to shoot their films. It was Ram Dayal who started to shoot outdoor productions in Khandala,Jamnagar,Simla, Delhi,Jaipur, Jagadari,Srinagar andFatehpur Sikri. Location shooting outside studios was also initiated by Ram Dayal. In 1956, Ram Dayal went location shooting of his film Ustad, starring Ashok Kumar and Anjali Devi in hotels and Bungalows. Forst time in the history of Hindi films artificial lights were used for shootingthis film. The photography,by Ram Dayal himself,was the film's highlight and brought kudos to him. It was from Ustad that night shooting was brought into vogue. Previously many "A" grade film producers used to dupe their night scences.
It was after Ram Dayal's initiative in Do Raha that producers started recruiting artistes andtechnicians directly from the Film Institute in Pune.
Ram Dayal has theprivilege of introducing film personalities like Rakha in Hasinon Ka Devta,Prem Chopra in Spane,Shakti Kapoor in Veeru Ustad and the famous Indo-Pak writer Qatil Shaify in Teri Yaad.It was Ram Dayal who tood thescreentest of actor Manoj Kumar and photographed him in a small role for Fashion.He had earlier screen tested Ameeta for Thakur. He also has the honour of introducing Ram Vidhani,managing director of Excelsior Theatre and president of Theatre-owners Assosiation to the film industry. He intoduced directors like Sikandar Khanna,Feroze Chinoy andRadhakant and re-introduced Roop K.Shorey who directed his Akalmand andAplam Chaplam and director B.Subhash for his film Takdeer Ka Badshah.Robin Bhatt was also introduced by Ram Dayal when the former was asked to helm the affairs by the latter for his Zoro.
Ram Dayal is the first producer who started shooting at Bhalla House at Pali Hill,Bandra,Citizen Hotel at Juhu andH.S. Raail's bunglow where many pictures are still shot. He shot his film Hasin Ka Devta at Maharaja Palace at Mysore.
Ram Dayal is also credited for having produced a film on a very delicate subject viz 'life of a prostitute' in Prabhat with a new girl Jai Kaushalya and a new director Sikandar Khanna.
There was a time when Hindi films were not allowed to be exhibited in South India. In 1968,an all-India agitation was launched for not allowing South Indian films to be shown in North India. The agitation continued for a month at theend of which the issue was amicably settled at a meeting held in Madras.
He was the first man to promote old films for videos.In 2980, he tied up with video company 'Esquire' and purchased more than 400 odd films of which the production sector earned several crores.
At his insistence film makers like B.R.Chopra and Ramanand Sagar startedmaking films exclusively for video. He made them have a tie-up with Esquire. And on the request of Prem Vachani, he introduced Gulshan Kumar of T-Series to the Bombay market. Later he assigned his film Karam Yudh to T-Series on an outright basis. These days most producers and music companies are working on this pattern.
He was the first to inroduce designer Manish Malhotra's costumes in his film Param Dharam.
He had the privilege to work with Suraiya, Madhu Bala, Meena Kumari,Nirupa Roy, Usha Kiran, Pandari Bai and Anjali Devi (of South),Parveen Babi,Kimi Katkar, Sangeeta Bijlani,Shammi Kapoor, Shakila, Nigar Sultan, Mahipal, Sheikh Mukhtar, Prem Nath, Ajit, Jayant, Rehman, Navin Nishchal,Rekha, Bindu, Helen, Amrish Puri, Anita Raj, Ashok Kumar, K.N.Singh, and many others.
He has had the privilege of doing business through Shreechand Hinduja of the Hinduja group. Hinduja was instrumental in getting his film Baghi sold for the Iran territory and received a cheque of Rs.1350 as service charges.

He is founder of the Film Producers' Council. He is an active member in the executive committees of Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association(IMPPA),Producers Guild of India and Guild of India,Film Makers Combine, All India Film Producers Council and Film Produers Guild.He is the Hon. General Secretary of Charitable Trust of F.P.G. of India,Chairman of ilm Producers Guild Trust.

In his days as a producer,Ram Dayal employed the services of renowned music directors like Khayyam,Chitragupt,S.N.Tripathi, Sardar Malik,O.P.Nayar,Kalyanji-Anandji, Laxmikant-Pyarelal,Sonik-Omi,Bappi Lahiri and Sardul Kwatra and made them dish out melodious music. Recalls Ram Dayal "Those were the days when music used to be the life of films. I remember an istance when a music company paid as high as Rs 8 crores for a film's soundtrack.Now music companiespay one crore for a film's soundtrack. Because those were the days of records of78rpm. HMV used tosend its representatives to the recording studios. Upon hearing all thesongs, they used to select a minimum of four songs that would be put on its records".
On piracy Ram Dayal is of the opinion, that the film industry should give up its fight against piracy The reason , not a single person has been convicted in the act of piracy that has been going on since the video cassette days. What the police andother related organisations have been doing is an eyewash, he adds.

In Saudi Arabia,Hindus forced to eat beef,jailed for keeping "Satyartha Prakasha"

2005-08-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

SO far, the news of atrocities on Hindus used to come only from our neighbouring countries--Pakistan and Bangladesh-- and we perhaps remained unaware of the maltreatment meted out to Hindus in other Muslim countries. Recently, I had an opportunity to chat with some Hindus, who,in January1986, left India for Dehran in Saudi Arabia,the kingdom of King Khalid,on a two-year service contract with M/s Dallah Group, Riyadh,KSA--but before completing the said contract returned to India in sheer frustration.
On asking about their living there,they told a very sordid stroy. They were asked to work in the military regime ofKing Khalid, where they were not allowed to come out of their apartments after 8pm; if anyone was found violating rules and regulations, he had to face rigorous imprisonment, they were specifically told.
Instead of providing them good food,they were given half-boiled rice,chapattis(Khabus) like that given to prisoners etc. Four da a week they were suplied non-vegetarian dish,in which for two days beef was served. Thus Hindus,250 in number,objected to it alongwith some 300 Pakistanies. Sri Lankans,about 2500 in number,did accept beef dish, but Pakistanis said it would be better if mutton was served at least once instead of supplying beef for two days. But their voice got drowned in Arabian sands.
During their ten-month service-tenure, they had to face a very crucial day, when one of their colleagues, Ram Kumar was put behind the bars and awaded three months' rigorous imprisonment for having a copy of "Satyartha Prakasha". In jail, he was given only one-time meal and was kept on remand. After this incident, all the Hindu apartments used to be raided by the securitymen. During raids,every belonging of theirs was checked lest they should be having any religious book or a picture of any one of their god or goddesses. The securitymen were cruel and they used to say,"Kafir! is zamin par Allah ke alawa kisi aur ka nam lene ki jurrat ki to tarap tarap kar jan se hath dhona padega..."(You infidel, if you show the audacity to take anybody else's name excepting that of Allah, you would be tortured to death.)
Narrating their harrowing tale they further said, "instead of giving any special leave during any Hindu festival, we were strictly watched by securitymen. Every letter of a Hindu was opened by the admiistration as the festival of
"Raksha Bandhan" drew near and on seeing Rakhi in every letter, Hindus were asked to instruct their families not to send any Rakhi in future; otherwise, they would be beatten up mercilessly. Most of us were not even allowed to receive the Rathis sent to us from India. Due to military area we were not allowed to come out," said they.
Pakistanis fraternise with Hindus to protest
against Saudi behaviour
During their say there, the Pakistanis' role was much appreciable, said they. "On the day of any Hindu festival, a Pakistani,supposed to be an arist,used to draw a picture of a Hindu god or goddess on a post-card size paper. On the day of Holi, he drew a picture of Bhagawan Vishnu as Narasimha Avatar; on Rakha Bandhan day a picture of Durga; and on the day of Deepavali after drawing pictures of Ganesha and Lakshmi, he called Hindus in his apartment turn by turn to celebrate their prestigious festival, they added. Then all the Hindus collected their fruits, distributed to the co-employess and sad them with their Muslim brethren.
But on the day of Diwali when everyone was busy in sharing one's joys, all of a sudden for the third time in a day, securitymen raided their apartments, without uttering any word they left; but later on ,they raided Hindus' apartments at mid -night.
However, Sri Lankans never tried toshare the festivities with Indians or Pakistanis. Respecting Hindus' sentiments, Pakistanis would not eat beef when in the company of their Hindu colleagues from India, while Sri Lankans are beef withoyt any hesitation or regard for the sentiments of their Hindu colleagies.
Saudi Arabian Govt. further showed resentment towards the fixation of the salary for Indian labour settled by the Indian Government. This was also due to the negligence of the Ministry of Labour, Government of India
Further,"although every appointment letter would as usual be cheched by our Ministry ofLabour, we were not paid the actual prescribed salary.Only 700 Riayals(almost half of the actual ) were paid to in Item Manager,whose sanctioned basic pay was 1200 Riyals. It was said that our Labour Ministry was having a lion's share in this type of bunglings; otherwise,how it could have passed such a low grade of labourers there."
"No attention was paid by the Hon'ble Ambassador of India, when we 250 Hindus (from India) brought all these bunglings to his knowledge," said they woefully. Though on every appointment letter it is written that Indian Ambassador is bound to visit his countrymen and solve their problems, yet not even once did he move about or given word of assurance," they added.
By seeing such maltreatment of the Saudi government and ,above all, the negligence of our Labour Ministry as well as of the Indian Embassy there, all the Hindus serving the tenure jobs decided to leave this gulf country. Though some American concerns offered them more emoluments plus perks in deserving cases, Indian Hindus rejected everything.
It is high time that the Govt. of India checks such type of cheatings and bunglings in the Ministry of Labour, and also looks into the negligence of duty by our Indian Embassy to maintain which huge public funds are wasted.

(Published in Organiser dt.Dec.21,1986)

What is freedom?

2005-08-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

FIFTY-EIGHT years ago--on August 15,1947--India got freedom from Britishers but today we are again slaved,not of Britishers but of corrution, terrorism and of harassment.The youth is too far away from those anti-colonial days. The struggle of Independence is brought alive on two days only every year.However,patrotism is a different aspect. Though the GenX lives in the world of Britney Spears, Deff Leopard and MTV.With mehendi
tattoos pierced nose and breaded charms,even their desi dool mantra is patriotism.
It is this pattiotism that makes us demand more freedom and more independence to make choices. Though wedo not realise it.Jawaharlal Nehru had championed and envisioned a great India when he gave his first Independence Day speech. How much do we measure up to his words?
Nehru had said:"We have endured all the pains of lablour and our hearts are heavy with memory of the sorrow.."
But where is this memory today? Do we remember the "sorrow and the pains of labour" that our first prime Minister talked about?
It seems, the day has been reduced to just another holiday to laze around and watch TV. How many actually pay tributes to heroes like Bhagat Singh,Chandra Shekhar Azad, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and other so many patriots who sacrificed their life in saving the honour of their motherland e.g. Bharatmata.
Parties are thrown but not for the men who perished in the British jails but just a show off.Who is serious towards the sanctity of the motherland. Nehru had,also, said that after freedom "India will witness flow of milk stream. But alas,even the poor children are starving,can't afford milk.Milk is getting costlier.At the time of freedom it sold at the rate of 25 paise a seer and today at the rate of Rs.18 to 20.
Secondly, what is freedom for the youth? Some want to be free of taxes,others dedand relaxation on boozing laws and yet others prefer all dress codes to done away with.
Freedom should mean that all citizens get the basic necessities like food,clean water, a roof over his head. Everybody should share the same standard of lfe.But it is not so. Public representatives,bureacrats are dealt with one law and the common man with the other,though in the eyes of law everyone should be equal.Under the name of public welfare politicians are living a luxury life but the common man is where he/she was before Independence. Their personal bills are passed within seconds but when it comes to public so much hue and cry is winessed in the Parliament at the expense of public exchequer.They don't realise that what a minute of Parliament is costed.
Before Independence,every female was given due respect and today position is reversed.Even an aged woman.what to say of young,can't roam freely on free India roads. They are raped,their ornaments and purses are snatched and our politicians are talking about reservation to them.Reservation of what: rape,for dowry death,sexual harassment at work place or somewhat...
The freedom has changed all the meanings of Indian culture and etiquettes, previously the marriage was customary but today it has become a business.We are not making good use of our freedom. The tyranny of people of Shahbuddin and Pappu Yadav is testament to that.
What we achieved in 1947 was only political independence, Today we have to free ourselvesof corruption,terror and environment pollution.When we were under the British rule,we could at least live with our doors open but today we have to keep our doors closed because of terror.Before there was fearlessness,now there is fear.
Economic boom should start from the soil.If it rains, the water should reach the plant so that it can grow into a tree, that is,economic reform should start from the masses.
To make India a prosperous country in actual,reservation on religion or caste basis should be abolished first.When competition tests are here then why reservations?Is it not a humiliation to other unreserved castes?Are they not the citizen of free India.Go anywhere in the world,there is no reservation only deserving are getting their chance to serve the organisation and in other words to the nation. Reservation is a great hurdle in India's progress.At any cost,it should be abolished. Secondly,political parties based on caste or creed are creating nuisance,only those political parties should be allowed to contest any election who motive is to uplift India not any particular caste.

ISI-JKLF DEAL BLESSED BY ZIA

2005-08-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

THE Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front(JKLF), a leading pro-independence group,has admitted for the first time that its cadres wereinitially trained in arms and guerrilla war-fare by Pakistan's main spy agency,the Inter-Servies Intelligence(ISI). The training was imparted during the late eighties under a deal between the ISI and the JKLF. The chief of the JKLF,Amanullah Khan,has said that the deal struck in 1987 carried heapproval of General Zia-ul-Haq, the military ruler at that time. Khan's revelations constitutes part of the second volumeof his autobiography titled Jehad-e-Musalsal or The Unending Struggle,which was formally launched inIslamabad on June 25.In his book.,Khan claimsthat the ISI first established contact with the JKLF in early 1987 through the organisation's senior leader Dr.Farook Haider. Khan had just been deported from England and was in Karachi when he received Haider's message regarding the ISI's proposal.Although Khan initially asked Haider to finalise the deal with theISI ,he himself heald meetings with the Pakistani officials ar a later date.
Apparenntly, the deal was struck following an understanding on the part ofPakistani offiials that the ideological indoctrination of recruites would be an internal matter of the JKLF in which the ISI would not interfere. The JKLF was to rrecruit militantss in Indian administered Kashmir,bring them across the Line of Control(LoC) and deliver them to the ISI for training. Besides trainingthe ISI as also to provide weapons and logistical suppor to faciliate the launch of those militants in Indian administeed Kasmir to spark an insurgency.
Khan says that he went aheafd with the deal because the JKLF was told that General Zia supported an independenty Kashmir. "I remember that Zia had once said he wanted Kashmir to be a member of the Organisation ofIslamic Conference,which clearly meant an independent Kashmir. So I went ahead with the deal," he writes. According to Khan, another reason why the JKLF accepted the ISI's offer was the failure of the group's predecessor, the Jammu Kashmir National Liberation Front(JKNLF) to start an insurgency in Indian-administered Kashmir during the 60s and 70s due to a lack of "external support".
Khan claims that the then ISI chief Genenral Akhtar Abdur Rehman had assured the JKLF that the agency would not terfere in its ideology or organisatiiional matters. Khan himself was assured by the ISI.'s Brigadier Farooq that the agency wouldlend unconditional support to the JKLF as directed by Genenral ZIa. It was also agreed in principle that the JKLF leaders "engaged on the political anddiplomatic front" would not accept money from the ISI. "It was a gentlemen's agreement, a verbal agreement",explains Khan.
Once the deal had been struck, the JKLF started bringing across young men from Indian-administered Kashmir into Azad Jammuu and Kashmir (AJK) in 1988. Thefirst batch of eight boys from the indian side reached Muzaffarabad, the capital of the AJK, in February.
They included Abdul HameedSheikh, Hilal Ahmed Baig, Waheed Ahmed, Peer Ali Mohammad Ghulam Mohammad Gojri, Captain Abdul Rasheed, Manzoor Ahmed Khan andJaved Ahmed. They were provided with weapons andimparted training by the ISI. Once trained, the boys were sent back to India with instructions not to take any initiative on thei own and instead wait for a green signal from JKLF leaders based in the AJK. Khan further reveals that three sepratist leaders Mohanned Afzal, Ghulam Hassan Lone and GHulam Nabi Butt weresummoned to the AJK for consultations. After lengthy deliberations they were asked to start an armed campaign on July 13,1988. But the campaign could not begin before July 31 that year, when bomb blasts rocked the Amar Singh club and the central post and telegraph office in Srinagar.
Although there were no casualties, the JKLF declared war against India. Khan desclosed that these seminal bomb attackes were conducted by sixJKLF militants, Humayun Azad, Javed Jehangir, Shabir Ahmed Guru, Arshad Kola, Ghulam Qadir and Mohammad Rafiq. THe insurgency sent an endless stream of Kashmiri youth pouring across the LoC into the AJK to acquire military training andweapons. But in spite of the sccessof he plan, the marriage between theISI and theJKLF couldnot last for more than a year. Khan writes that the JKLF parted ways with theISI in the early 90s when the intelligence agency idicated that it would prefer to have an ISI official attending JKLF organisational meetings in the capacity of an observer. This request cvam at a time when pro-Pakistan militants with experience in guella war fare had become available in large numbers from Afghanistan following the withdrawal ofSoviet troops. For most part, these miltants were keen to plune into action in Kashmir. Within Kashmir, new radical groups alsobegamn to surface. In fact, the JKLF was graduaalysidelines and ultimately became thepunching bag for pro-Pakistan militants on one side and Indian troops on onthe other. The nationalists' struggle for an independent Kashmir was replaced by the cause of Islamic militants who wanted Kashmr tp necome a part ofPakistan.
As Islambad's attitude towards the JKLF became lukewarm,Khan says he tried to seek an audience with the then Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto. He believes that his attempt failed "because the ISI opposed the idea". While speaking in Srinagar recently, Yasin Malik,another JKLF leader,pointed out that General Mirza Aslam Beg , the Pakistani Chief ofArmy Staff at that time "left (JKLF) on the streets of Pakistan". Khan writes that once the JKLF was left with no choice, its leaders contacted Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, a Pakistani politicuan ofKashmiri origin whois currently the federal minister ofr information and broadcasting. Sheikh Rashid arranged for the "lodging andboadding of JKLF militants",reports Khan. Since Bhutto was not happy with this development, she ordered the ISI to clip the wings of the JKLF. Of course, the intelligence agency complied because it was already annoyed with the organisation.
Furthr elaborating on this incident, Khan claims thatBhtto was probably displeased with theJKLF because the ISI had 'misinformed" her that the organisation was colluding with Pakistan Muslim League leaders Nawaz Sharif and Sheikh Rashid to hatch a conspiacy against her government. The Prime Minister even voiced these suspicionsduring her visit to Muzaffabad in March 1990,writes Khan.
In 1994, the JKLF split into two factions when its field commander in Indian administered Kashmir Yasin Malik reliquishee militancy in favour of a non-violent struggle. Khan himself waited until 2003 to renouce militancy, although his influence over field cadres had signed a reunification deral when Malik arrived in Pakistan as part of an All Partiess Hurriyat Conference delegation in June and met Han in Rawalpindi.
While the JKLF has been eclipssed by pro-Pakistan groups as as the mititant struggle is conerned, it remains the most popular political force on the Kashmiri scene. As such, the JKLF's story, as told by Khan , reveals tha deceptive role ofthe ISI in creating and demolishing organisations in accordance with its own exisgenccies rather than out of respect for the popular will.

Kerala "diverted" tsunami funds

2005-08-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

THE Kerala government has been accused of diverting Rs 8 crores from the tsunami relief fund it collected.
Both the opposition and the judicialry have sought explanations from the government on the diversion.
The issue was brought to light on August 3,with the Lokayukta asking the government to explain how itspent the money in the tsunami relief relief fund. The Lokayukta was hearing a petition filed by a tsunami victim who complained that the government diverted funds for other purposes.
Much tothe goverments's discomfiture, the Kerala High Court intervened in the issue on Aug.4 and asked the Lokayukta to contact a detailed probe while admitting a public inerest petition. The government also faceda barrage of criticism in the Assembly from the CPI(M)-led Opposition,which staged a walkout after accusing it of behaving irresponsibly.
Kerala chief ministerOommen Chandy said the government had received Rs 40 crores for the tsunami relief fund and of thisit had spent Rs 36 crores. Of the rupees 36 crores, Rs 27 croes was spent on tsunami rerlief activities. "We will explain to the Lokayukta how the rest of the funds were utilised." he said.
Moving an adjournment motion on the issue, Mr Benoy Vishwam of the CPI said the Lokayukta's order was nothing short of an indictment of the government. Mr Chandy,however,pointed out that the Lokayukta had merely sought details of the funds spent. After walking out of the House,the leader of the Opposition,V.S.Achuthanandan in the House told the media that Chandy's replies were vague and misleading. Meanwhile Water Resources ministerTiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan admitted that the funds had been diverted to give relief to farmers who suffered severe crop losses."There isnothing wrong in that,"he said.

Congress betrayed the backwards andthe women class

2005-08-06T20:15:00.000-07:00

Since India got freedom Congress as well as the other political parties--constituted with their own sake to reach the throne-- are crying at the top of their voices for removal of poverty and reservation to the women but no concrete steps are taken so far.If the ruling party allows to table the bill the opposition on plea or the other objects and vice versa.As well as the demands of elected represented is concerned, it is passed without any delay but in public interest so much of time and public exchequer is wasted on the drama of no result, proves that how great dramatists these politicians are.
After the implementation of the Constitution of India in 1950,reservation in eduaction and employment was given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in proportion to their respective strength in population inCentral andState governments. Though the socially and educationally backwards were entitled to get proportional rreservation in employment and educatiooon,in both Central and State governments, the Congress government headed by Jawahar Lal Nehru took a firm stand against granting reservation to the Backward Classes in Central and State governments,in 1961.
It istrue that Pt Nehru took all initiatives in 1951 in right earnest to add clause(4) to Article 15 with the sole inentioin of enabling the BCs, SCs and STs to enjoy reservation in all categories of educational institutions under "the State"; and appointed the First Backwad Class Commission in 1953 as was urged by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in 1951 and received the Commission's report in 1955.
But when Nehru felt that none of theeconomically poor Brahmin sects in India had been identified and included in the list of Backward Classes by the First All India Backward Class Commission headed by Kaka Kalelkar.It is highly regrettable that such a great leader like Nehru had identified himself as a Brahmin in this instance and decided to initiate measures to stop the educational and the employment opportuniteis under the State to the BCs through cabinet decision in 1961.
"In May 1961 the cbinet decided that no national list of other Backward Classes should be drawn up, and the StatesStates were informed that in the view of the Government of India,it was better to apply economic tests than to go by caste".At the end of May a conference of Chief Ministers to consider matters relating to National Integration agreed that economic backwardness rather than community or caste would provide an appropriate criterionfor giving aid to individuals in matters of education including professional and technical training".In August 1961,the Home Ministry informed the State governments of the Centre's decision not to list Backward Classed. In the Ministry's view the very expansiveness of such proposed enumerations as that of the Backward Classes Commission militated against them.(Source: "Competing Equalities" by Marc Galanter,1984,page 176)
"If the boulk of the country's millions were to be regarded as coming within the category of Backward Classes, no useful purpose could be served by separate enumeration of such classes ..."
"The withdrawal of the Central Government from involvement in preferences forthe otherBackward Classes was confirmed by the omission of any provisiooon for them in the Central sector of the Third Five Year Plan".(Source:"Competing Equalities" by Marc Galanter,1984,pp176-177)
The above decisions of the Nehru government resulted in non-preparation of the list ofbackward classes on All India basis which was sin qua non for implementation of reservation for the socially and educationally backward classes. This was so for over 30 years.
This is how Pt Nehru had betrayed te interests of the backward classes long back.
Subsequently Prime Minister Indira Gandhi came forward to present the Mandal Commission Report in Parliament in 1982 but she also advocated reservation to the Backward Classes on economic criterion. However the then Home Minister Giani Zail Singh took steps to implement 27% reservarion to the backward classes on case basis. It did not materialise during that period.
Rajiv Gandhi did not pay any serious attention to implement reservation to the backwad classes. Hi successor V.P.Singh had the guts to implement 27% reservation in services to the BCs and passed orders to that effect on Aug.13,1990.But V.P.Singh too failed to grant 27% reservation in Central Govt.Education yo ther backwardclasses for reasons unknown.
The next PrimeMinister P.V.Narasimha Rao was very particlar in diluting the orders passed by V.P.Singh and he prescribed economic criterion tothe backward classes withinth 27 %. Thw Supreme Court also laid down in 1992 that economic criterion sholdbe applied while implementing 27 %reservation to the backward classes.
It is astonishing why all the national parties and the judiciary had been very particular in singling out the backward classes only.
It is very much shocking why the Common Minimum Programme (CMP) of the United Progressive Alliance presided by the Congress had kept dead silence on this issue
. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi,the president of the Congress as well as ofUnited Progressive Alliance might have developed an aversion towardsgranting reservation to backward classes andmight have chosen to tread the footsteps ofJawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi andRajiv Gandhi.
Further for granting reservation in private sector the present government do no want to make any Constitutional provision. In this connection Social andEmpowerment Minister Meera Kumar--daughter of Late Jagjivan Ram-- has said recently thatthe CMP does not speak of legislation for reservation in private sector even to SCs andSts. She has further said that the Confederation of Indian Industries and taken a list of fifty meritorious Sc/ST students from the IIts who would be given jobs in the major industrial units as a test case after training.She has not revealed her thinking about the issueof reservation to backward classes in private sector.It is to bepresumed that she is consciously anti-backward.
Reservation To Women
As for reservation to women in Parliament and State Legislatures,it is urged the leaders of all the national and regional parteies to introduce provisions for reservation of stipulated quantum of seats for women in their party committees from national lavel to village leel. In case they fail to do so, it will mean that their cry for providing reservation to women inParliament andLegislatures and other elective bodies is plainly an eyewash.Dr Ram Manohar Lohia fought for exclusive reservation for women in all spheres of life between 1956 and 1967 but lag behind in advocating reservation for women in Parliament,Legislatures and otherelective bodies through amending the Constitution. The Congress party has been advocating that the number ofseats in Lok Sabha should be increased to 800 from the present 543.This is non-sensible,audacious and undemocratic on the firsty sight. This amounts to side tracking the issue. Hence such a move by the Congress deserves condemnation by all sections of the people and all democratic institutions. In other words, it can be said that the politicians are bent upon to remove theirs and their fellowers' poverty and backwardness not of the public in general.

Bollywood’s date with literature

2005-07-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Bollywood appears to have found a new love for history and literature. Despite many producers having burnt their fingers over their desire to make historical and period films, the road for such films seems to be alive and kicking. And this trend started three years back when Sanjay Leela Bhansali remade Devdas, an adaptation of Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s classic novel with the same title. Today the trend has moved further. This time the intention is clearly to revive old classics and bridge the gap between the two generations.

Till now about 20 films have been made on Sharat’s literary works. After him comes the name of Munshi Premchand and Gulshan Nanda, the novelist.

In 1953, legendary Ashok Kumar decided to give a classic touch to Sharat Chandra’s Parineeta with the help of its director, Bimal Roy. The film is still remembered for its strong portrayal of the lead character by none other than the tragedy queen, Meena Kumari. Of late, Bollywood has been witnessing a severe drought of new ideas and new stories. So those who want to quench their thirst for good cinema have no option but to turn to history and dig out some classics to remake with new stars.

If V. Shanataram made Dr Kotnis ki Amar Kahani before Independence, the trend of biopic films too helped the new film-makers to continue with their efforts to contribute substantially to cinema. If Parineeta and after that Paheli succeed, chances are bright that those trying to rake in moolah through sex and violence will learn a lesson from this rising trend.

Bhatts and Mallikas of modern cinema should give way to Parineeta and Paheli presented in a new pack of entertainment—the only reason for which millions of people grace cinema halls.

Bhatts and Mallikas of modern cinema should give way to Parineeta and Paheli presented in a new pack of entertainment—the only reason for which millions of people grace cinema halls.

Parineeta is set in an era when women wore long-sleeved or frilled blouses and men were happy dancing during Durga Puja festivities with earthen pots in their mouths. The time depicted is early sixties and the story moves around Lolita (Vidya Balan) who lives with her relatives since her childhood. Brought up in a typical bhadralok culture, she oozes ethnic culture and etiquettes in her persona wherever she goes. She has a chance encounter with Shekhar (Saif Ali), the son of a rich businessman. Both become friends and start sharing everything in life. They share a bond between them, which is difficult to be defined in words.

Their life moves smoothly and gradually love blossoms between the two young protagonists. Then an outsider, Girish (Sanjay Dutt) enters their life. He falls in love with Lolita. Meanwhile, intimacy develops between Lolita and Shekhar. The triangle of love suddenly acquires an element of intrigue, leading to greed, deception and misunderstandings.

Parineeta by Pradeep Sarkar, has all the elements to become a classic in cinema but the recipe has gone wrong at some places. Pradeep has shown tremenous calibre to perform and deliver as a film director in his very first movie. He treats his technique as a tool and not as the master as happens in films made by young directors. He uses the locations as a canvas and paints the scenes over the canvas like a painter.

Sanjay Bhansali was sharp on this front and that is why he sent Devdas to study in London and not to Calcutta as presented in the original novel. Some slight changes in the screenplay would have earned more patronage for the film. Despite making several changes like making Girish, an NRI, settled in England—in the novel, he was merely a Bramho Samaji, or by omitting the crucial gudda-guddi wedding celebrations which Bimal Roy had picturised over the song Gore gore haathon mein, with Meena Kumari running to Shekhar’s room and dropping the garland around his neck. Finally Lolita, with her eyes downcast confesses to Girish that she is a married woman.

Vinod Chopra and Pradeep Sarkar have been courageous in adapting the 1914-published novel to 2005 but is the message as relevant to present times? Would the film be able to evoke the same nostalgia, the pain and passion that Bimal Roy projected several decades ago? If Meena Kumari was ethereal when crushed by the sarcastic Ashok Kumar in black and white version of Parineeta, doe-eyed Vidya Balan is angry and heartbroken by the caustic remark of her beloved. While in the older version, Ashok Kumar and Meena Kumari exchange flower garlands, the present pair exchange a gold chain in the new adaptation.

The adaptation does not carry the ‘I am a married woman’ scene. It would have looked too contrived in modern times when married women don’t even look married. Instead, the director used Sanjay Dutt to convey the message to Saif and what’s more appealing is that Sanjay combines anger with disappointment while expessing his feelings. The present film is high on technique and has melodious music too. However, what it lacks in is the script. Even the dialogue aspect, handled by Rekha Nigam, is weak. Among the actors, special mention is to be made on none other than Rekha, who sizzles on the screen even after crossing the age 50, providing the newcomer Vidya Balan a run for her money.

Another remake on the cards is that of the Bengali literary classic, Sahib Biwi aur Ghulam (made by Guru Dutt in 1962 ) which was to have been directed by Rituparno Ghosh but is now being given to Deepa Mehta to direct for Pritish Nandy Communications. The success of Godan and Gaban, based on the works of Munshi Premchand, is also under consideration by a new crop of producers and directors. The film-makers should certainly be allowed to present literature on the silver screen, but without instituting changes either in the incidents narrated in literature or in the period to which the literature belongs.

Bollywood connection with the underworld

2005-07-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

Relations between the Bollywood and Mumbai's underworld was never a secret ,at least for the Mumbai police. It may be a shocker for the common people to know how much close these two worlds are. The number of films on underworld and subtle glorification of bad boys like "Nayak nahin khalanayak hain hum"have increased.The kind of coversations between filmy stars and the underworld dons have been played on national news channels and heard by large number of unsuspecting viewers. They wondered whether they were hearing some sound track of a new Hindi movie. The reason was both the stars and the underworld dons used the kind of lingo normally reserved for Mumbai's underworld by the Bollywood script-writers.
Tapes heard by viewers wereactual conversations recorded by seuths of Mumbai police between Bollywood's stars turned Khalnayak and underworld don Chhota Shakeel known for his total influence over the film world in Mumbai.
The fact is that the nexus between Bollywood and the underworld is neither new for the media nor for the government,only characters in this episode are changing like any film script.According to my knowledge, this nexus first of all, came to light with the release of Amitabh Bhachchan starrer Gulshan Rai's "Deewar" in 70s and script-writers Salim-Javed(Akhter) had got too much fame from this film.This film was scripted on the life of Haji Mastan.Then again in 70s the release of Prakash Mehra's "Zanzeer" rrefreshed this nexus. But all the time with the passing of days itwas thrown in the dustbin.
Then in the late 80sSharjah seemed to have become the hottest spot with several celebrities who are seen cheering the cricket matches sitting in the stadium--while some looked genuinely interested, for some it was clearly written on theoir faces-- they were there as they were asked to attend the match.
During one of these visits ,actress Mandakini of Ram Teri Ganga Maili fame met Dawood and became his wife and actress Heena Quasar married a drug kingpin Iqbal Mirchi.Dawood's kingdom increased as brothers Noora, Iqbal and Mastakeen jooined him in Dubai. The other gangsters operating were Chhota Shakeel, Sunil Sawant and Sharad Shetty.
So you hadcricket matches watched by celebrities rubbing shoulders with Dawood and performances wheree you had top stars dancing for the audience--andDubai was the destination.
For the third time this nexus and in other words, the first signs of underworld's entry into the film industry was way back in 1981 when the Pathan brothers, Amirzada and Alamzeb kidnapped Hindi film Shakti's producer Mushir Riyaz and the ransome amount ofRs.11 lakh was the first big mafia blow to the industry.
The first shock to the industry was when Gulshan Kumar was shot dead as he refused to compy with Saleem's demands. Shakeel's list of victims' increased--producer Mukesh Duggal,Dinesh Kumar andAjit Waghani. His men openly fired on Manisha Koirala's car. Soon he was paid protection money by the celebs of Bollywood.
Soon the underworld took up joint ventures andgrabbed overseas distribution rights. As Hindi films gaining popularity aborad and overseas distribution was a very important aspect of the industry. With the mafia becoming the owners, they started to dictate terms and the choice of actors and actresses for the films.
Under such circumstances,unless the authorities really take up a massive clean up operatio to weed out these underworld connections nothing can be done. This is not merely a link between the dream city and the underworld but it can go much further and harm the national security. Theses Karachi based underworld dones are not merely interested in making a few bucks or find themselves glorified on the celluliod. They are actually kingpins of the freaded indeclared was launched by meighbouring state ofPakinstan. Investigations are still on and even the cases are still lingering in couts onthe serial bomb blasts im Mumbai city which killed several innocents. Pakistani intelligence used the unsuspecting underworld links to accomplish their target of attacking vital installations in the commercial capital of the country.
The state authorities might find it difficult to deal with dons who operate from an enemy country and keep o killing people and influencing Bollywood from a distance. It is not merely providing rotection to a few top actors or actresses but it is serious business unearthing links thse underworld dons have developed without any inhitions. It requires political will to hit out at the guilty and inthe processeven po;itical bigwigs may be hit
Experts say the disclosure of Salman Khan's phone conversations with actress Aishwarys Rai in which the macho film star admitted to his links with the underworld has again brought into focus the mafias's control over the industry. If Bharat Shah can be put behind the bars for his recorded conversations with underworld don,then why these film personalities should be let go free.
Believe it or not, the Hindi film industry is a veritable and safe haven for criminals,gangsters and mass murderes. As the overwhelming majority of Hindi films produced are funded by various mafias, hired killers, undergroung terrorist organizations and hardcore criminal gangsters. Little wonder then ,that the prime objective of these films is to glorify the outlaw,the bandit and murderer,to idolize the law of the gun and to legitimize the life of the killer.

Women Problems On Silver Screen

2005-06-14T19:51:00.000-07:00

Real Heroine In Hindi Cinema

Cinema has played its role in re-imaging women as opposed to the prevalent stereotypes.It is only now that leading women in the Hindi cinema have started commanding an equal price with the male leads. Otherwise the films have always had some great women stars spearing on the silver screen,like Meena Kumari, Devika Rani,Nirupa Roy,Nargis,Smita Patil ,Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bhaduri etc., and whenever films about strong women is discussed,V.Shantaram’s Duniya Na Mane tops the list. In this film ,an orphaned girl,Nirmala, (Shanta Apte ) is married to an old rich widower but she revolts and refuse to consummate union with her husband as her younger step-son casts with roving eyes at home. The similar issue was raised by Kamal Amrohi in his film Daera, in which a 16-year old girl,Meena Kumari,--fortunately she,herself too,was 16 years old—is married tp an ailing man old enough to become her grandfather.The film is blistering indictment of a syatem that heaps injustices upon helpless women.Meena Kumari hardly spoke in the film but used her eyes to such telling effects that wecome away with a deep impression of her character. For all the glamour Nargis brought to the silver screen and more so in the films made under the banner of R.K.Films but her portrayal as Radha in Mehboob Khan’s Mother India stradding the barren fields weighed down by plough ,is one of the enduring images of women in Hindi cinema.

Some of the most memorable films have been those that were women-centric in which heroines not only confronted gender biases but the shaped the changing attitude of the women in the society.

Meena Kumari’s whose personal life remained a shambed, projected her tribulations and agony through her roles so realistically that her reel performances appeared to be a chunk from her real life.The character she played on the silver screen, identified most with one she portrayed in Guru Dutt’s Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam ,as chhoti bahu incarnate in real life. Her role as chhoti bahu had seeds of revolt in it for she challenges a feudal system in which the woman has to just busy themselves with making an remaking jewellery.She claims the attention ,she deserves from her husband even if the end is tragic.It is important to note ,that when Guru Dutt was filming the song,na jao sayian churake bahian,was so matching with her real life that compalled Guru Dutt to have wine to bring originality and to have wine in actual, she was ready to work free of cost in the film.Resultantly, Dutt had to kneed down before her.Her remarkable roles in Mere Apne,Phool aur Patthar,and Dushman etc can’t be ignored

In Shekhar Kapoor’s Bandit Queen, Seema Biswas brought as animal-like wuality to her portrayal that was a take off on the life of dacoit Phoolan Devi. In Raj Kumar Santoshi’s Damini, Meenakshi Sheshadhari witnessed her brother-in-law and his friends rape a maidservant while the entire family conspire to hush up the matter,the docile daughter-in-law.Damini rebels against the family and its respectability code ,celebrating the triumph of courage of an ordinary woman.

Madhu Bala’s classic good looks still enjoys the sex-symbol status in the country ,her lop-sided smile and come-hither looks, she imparted in the tantalizing number aaiye meherban baithiye jan-e-jaan (Howraha Bridge) epitomized magic.The most enduring image of Madhu Bala is when she dared to challenge the might of the Mughal empire while singing pyar kiya to darna kya in Mughal-e-Azam.

In Asit Sen ‘s Khamoshi, Waheeda Rehman as Radha,a nurse in the mental hospitalepitomised resilience of an Indian woman. In Guide, she, as Rosie, was at her expressive best when standing in a cave,cries out Marco Main jeena chahati hoon. She thus voices the anguish of women who suppress their talent and bad marriage. In Hrishikesh Mukerjee’s Abhimaan,Jaya Bhaduri as wife Uma,portrays the travails and turmoils of a wife in whose married life cracks develops as her jealous but less talented husband starts feeling threatened by the success of his own wife.. These films questioned the suppression of a woman’s creativity in marriage.

In Arth and Masoom,Shabana Azmi mirrored the despair and despondency of a wife while accusing her husband of infidelity.In Mirch Masala , Smita Patil slaps an official who feels that he can have the village woman he so desires and to protect her honour ,takes refuge in a spice factory run by women. Resultantly ,the women of the village protest in her favour with the Sarpanch’swife defying her husband and the feudal authority that he represents.In Gulzar’s Aandhi, Suchitra Sen gave a powerful performance of a jilted wife fulfilling her political ambition. The looks of Nutan in Bandini as she poisons the nagging wife of her lover made the role a landmark. The role of Nutan in signifying the plight of a married woman in Khandan,Meherban can’t be ignored. Salma Aga exposing the sufferings of divorced Muslim woman, in B.R. Chopra’s Nikaah, was superb.

These are some of the films in which women showed the dare to go against the tide are odes to womanhood and proved as mirror of the society.

Dubious Decisions

2005-05-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

.Since the former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee took the bus to Lahore, since then almost every department is keeping itself busy to keep itself in limelight in providing maximum facilities to the Pak nationals and in this field our most revered Supreme Court can’t restrict itself .This revered Court offered the Pak nationals, who left India in 1947, can have their ancestral property in India, though the Pak nationals have not taken a serious note of the Supreme Court’s declaration. The SC can order to transfer the cases from one zonal court to another but is mum on the cases based on registered Wills. I witnessed an old man, about 90,in Delhi’s Tis Hazari courts in defending his uncle’s registered Will of 1920s.As a sympathy when my lawyer viewed the old man’s case file based on the registered Will, it was concluded that there was nothing to delay the case for 15 years. The court should have decided the case long back on the merit of the Will, by sentencing the Will violators. My lawyer and myself were stunned by seeing such strict Will. In which even the deceased’s wife is restrict to sell the house to any outsider

Women Power and Nature

2005-05-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

The mythological and spiritual traditions have highlighted the women’s connection with nature.The influence of these traditions can be witnessed in everyday life such as “mother nature”,and “mother earth”etc.The women’s health is the health of the earth. Most of the rivers in Bharat are named after women e.g. Ganga,Yamuna,Saraswati etc.The hill ranges like Aravalli,Amaravathi etc arealso given the name of women. So none can afford to neglect women’s role in preserving the environment.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Kenyan ecologist Wangari Maatha because of her 30 years of campaign to protect and restore the environment as well as defend human rights. She is the first African woman and the first environmentalist to be awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize since it was handed out in 1901.While honouring her for her contribution to the sustainable development,democracy and peace , the Noble Committee said “Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment”.
The women power is very much involved in farming. The farming by the Angamis in Nagaland involves the cultivation of 15 to 20 crop species ,pest control through multi-cropping and spreading the availablity of diverse food over several months of the year. It has been called a female farming system as sowing maturing, weeding, seed selection and storage are all done by women while men do the tree cutting,clearing and burning of the jhum cultivation plot.The positive role of women in tribal areas is well known. Women contribute about 70 to 80per cent to the family labour in hilly areas due to seasonal male migration. However, the representation of women in local institutions and training is disproportionately low in relation to their contribution.
In the past years, the awareness on the depletion of natural resources, the degradation of natural systems and the dangers of polluting substances has increased remarkably. The deterioration of the environment is an increasing threat to a safe and healthy environment. In both urban and rural areas, environmental degradation results in negative effects on the health, well-being and quality of life of the population at large, especially girls and women of all ages.Women have an essential role to play in the sustainable development and ecologically sound consumption and production patterns. The deterioration of natural resources displaces communities, especially women from income generating activities. Environmental risks in the home and workplace may have a disproportionate impact on women’s health because of women’s different susceptibilities to the toxic effects of various chemicals. These risks to women’s health are particularly high in urban areas,as well as in low income areas where there is a high concentration of polluting industries. Decentralised action on environmental issues is most needed and decisive.

Nikahnama.....

2005-05-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

Nikahnama---A model or a misnomer…?
The controversy raised over the model Nikahnama recently drafted by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) raises several questions about the need as well as credibility of this code. What cannot be ignored is that Muslim women are subject to many of the problems affecting the society at large e.g. wife abuse as well as dowry problem. As dowry regulations drafted for the majority community women are still known to be violated in most parts of the country, the suggestions made by AIMPLB cannot be expected to instantly put into practice.
Secondly,the Bhopal Declaration of AIMPLB has failed to ban the practice of much-cursed triple talaq, a licence with which Muslim men can divorce their wives on a single sitting (and without seeking the wives’consent) by uttering the word talaq thrice.Those who wanted the AIMPLB,a body that has no legal status but wields considerable influence on questions of Muslim personal law, to come out unequivocally against the practice(triple talaq )have reasons to be thoroughly disappointed by the model nikahnama. The board has shown has gumption to call the spade a spade.
It would be better if we understand the background of the Muslim Personal Law Board and the purpose ofr which it was formed.Is it representative of all Muslims and shades of opinion? It was formed in 1972 in Mumbai by some Ulema who gathered there in response to the campaign for uniform civil code by some people.The fear was that as a result of this campaign Muslim Personal Law will be abolished and uniform civil code will come into existence.Thus most orthodox ulemas and others like advocates,academics and others from all sections of Muslims like Sunnis, Shias,Deobandis ,Barelvis,and Bohras etc came together to protect the Shari’ah.
Thus the basic task of the Board was to protect the MPL than to reform it or to change it in keeping with the demands of time.With the spread of education and awareness among Muslim women, pressure began to be built up for necessary changes.It is important to note that more and more Muslim girls are opting for modern education,which in turn makes them aware of their rights and they begin to campaign for the same.
In true sense, the Bhopal Declaration has sparked off a series of debates and expression of anguish and thus provided gunpowder for the fusillades of many more Muskans – who dared to tear apart the Model Nikahnama on a public platform in Mumbai--and Nawabs.
The Prince of Arcot,Nawab Muhammed Ali, a noble man of Muslims in South India has every reason to be disappointed by the Bhopal Declaration.He feels that the model Nikahnama would fail to bring out any reform since it was not enforceable in asny court of law because AIMPLB has no statutory powers.
Dr.Zafarul Islam Khan,an eminent Islamic thinker and editor of the Milli Gazette is of the opinion that “the nikahnama has no legal validity,in practice,any party --husband or wife—can violate it and breach what is written in it. This is the right time for the State to step in.”
Popular perception about Sharia, is that it is outdated because prominent Islamic counties including,Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran,Iraq and Tunisia have amended it but the old-fashioned Indian clergy clings on it to maintain their hegemony.The reforms that take place in Islamic countries is a matter of envy because in a diversified society like India, Muslim community is scattered that Kerala Muslims have nothing in common with his Kashmiri counterpart,except faith.
The women activists say that it is a deliberate attempt to destabilize the women’s position among the community. “This is dangerous for Muslim women.Our personal issues are being pushed into the ghetto.What country do we live in if we are speaking of a Sharia court when after years ofstruggle we now have family courts to deal with these matters?”, says Ms Hasina Khan of Awaz-e-Niswan.
It is really unfortunate that the AIMPLB has failed the Indian Muslims once again by missing an opportunity to undo an un-Islamic practice known as triple talaq.It has shown utter cowardice by not admitting that nowhere in the Quran this kind of practice is sanctioned.Describing the Declaration as discriminatory, the All-India Democratic Women’s Association(AIDWA) has said that measures favoring women have been included “only as a pious piece of advice.”
Several women activists have voiced objection to the AIMPLB having not taken a clear stand against the “retrograde practice” of divorce, by which the husband can divorce the wife by pronouncing talaq thrice in one sitting.In their opinion,AIMPLB’s wordings of the sentence “to avoid talaq in one sitting” or to “avoid talaq without compulsion” is extremely vague and will not give any relief to women victims of this practice.AIDWA has ,also,objected to omission of “khulla” ,the woman’s right to divorce.

Child Marriage

2005-05-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Child marriage:A curse

The Supreme Court's directive to Collectors and Superintendents of police in every district of India to initiate immediate steps for preventing the child mrriage is commendable.However ,it is seen that thousands of child marriages are taking place in India. Despite laws to check such practices,young boys and girls who otherwise should be studying in schools are pushed into matrimony.
The cause for concern is that rising child marriages are virtually relegating women's rights and seem to be leading to other problems like soaring infant mortality,low-life expectancy,poverty,malnutrition and high illiteracy,espeacially among rural women.
Earlier too, the Supreme Court had criticised 10 states including the economically-developedKarnataka, Maharashtra andAndhra Pradesh for not preventing child marriages by enforcing the law forcefully.
The origin ofchild marriages dates back to Muslim invasions about 1000 years ago.Legend has it that parents would marry off their daughters almost at birth to protect them from Muslim invaders as unmarried Hindu girls were raped or carried away as booty.
Child marriage is a global problem but is pervasive in parts of Africa and South Asia.According to UNICEF, the percentage of girls aged between 15 and 19 in select countries who are already married,include:
Congo 74
Niger 70
Afghanistan 54
Bangladesh 51
Honduras 30
Iraq 28
In India,girls aged between 15 and 19 give birth to 15 million children ayear,many of whom without attending an antenatal clinic or receiving the help of a professional midwife. An early pregnancy has serious repercussions on the health of both the mother and the child leading to high rates of maternal and infant mortality.
Accounts from poor developing countries indicate that early marriages andpoverty areinter-related andin child marriage,abuse is commonly observed . Data from Egypt indicates that 29 per cent adolescent wives have been beaten up by their husbands and of these adolescents 41 per cent were beaten up during their period of pregnancy. In Jordon,26 per cent of reported cases of domestic violence were committed against wives under 18.Child marriage is also a kind of child labour in its worst form,as the bride is put to work in her in-laws' in may cases,girls as young as six or seven per cent year olds are reportedly taken away by their husbands' families to work as servants or as field hands.
Beit boy or girld, the physical ,intellectual,psychological and emotional consequences of an realy marriage can generate a series of roblems.
It needs to be realised that child marriage not only violates a girls' rights to personals freedom and growth but is a crime against theentire humankind. Such early marriages have grave implications on their health and education.Besides depriving these youngsters of educational opportunities and normal physical development, they are rendered vulnerable to stunted growth,both mentally andphysically.