Congress Undemocratic Ideology - 3

[acharya]

Rahul sleeps in a dalit house
PTI
He slept on a cot and used a villager’s quilt to fight the chill

AMETHI: After addressing a late night meeting at village Pure Jawahar here early Sunday, a famished AICC general secretary and Amethi MP Rahul Gandhi accepted the invitation of local dalit women to share a meal with them.

What’s more, he took over a thatched hut in the village to spend the chilly night on a bamboo ‘khat’.

Gandhi was addressing a meeting at the predominantly dalit village. As the meeting got over around 2.30am, he accepted the invitation of a village woman, Sunita, to share a meal with them.

Perhaps tired, he willingly accepted the suggestion of spending the night there. The young MP soon took over a thatched hut, much to the chargin of his SPG guards. ‘’He slept on a bamboo cot and used a villagers’ blanket to fight the chill,’’ said a Congress leader.

The MP left for the Munshiganj guest house around 6am. The AICC general secretary arrived here on Saturday on a three-day visit during which he is expected to take stock of several schemes and hold meetings in his constituency.

He will take stock of the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Uttar Pradesh and particularly in his constituency and also look into whether the scheme had benefited the rural masses, a Congress leader here said.

District panchayat representatives and Congressmen registered their complaint regarding discrepancies and corruption in implementation of NREGS and “non-effective implementation” of Central schemes with Gandhi and sought his intervention.

During the meeting, Gandhi told partymen that while youths were being given responsibility in the party, old partymen would also be given due respect.

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1147828

[Guest]

I will believe when I see it, same Kumarswamy did, he sent everything beforehand and did this natak.

[Shambhu]

Raul Maino was given a choice. There was a small, dark, unlit house and a large lit house. Raul said, "I want da lit house". That's all.

Seriously, the communal lil b@stard and his mom need to be deported to Rome. They can sleep in the pope's big bathrooms.

[acharya]

Return to the spirit of 2004

Malini Parthasarathy

The Congress must give up its defensive mentality and understand that just because leaders and parties win elections, their ideological challenges to the democratic structure do not become legitimate.

In these last several weeks that have followed the election victories of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the party is suffused with a new political energy. It is buoyed by the victory of its controversial icon Narendra Modi in Gujarat and is wasting no time in converting these successes into crucial political capital before the Lok Sabha elections scheduled for next year. The Congress party, on the other hand, is showing distinct signs of disori entation as a result of this political outcome, with a sense of listlessness clearly discernible in its approach. Such a fainthearted response is unwarranted and unbecoming of a party that seized the high ground in the 2004 general election and exuberantly took up the reins of governance with the promise of bringing India back to its original moorings in secular democracy.

In the summer of 2004, the Congress party appeared to have recast itself as a new political machine specially designed to take on the new post-globalisation and post-Hindutva ground realities. It was able to wrest power from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance on the basis of its pointed rejection of the excluding implications of the NDA’s economic policies and its divisive social policies. The Congress, shedding much of its earlier ideological crustiness, was able to convince the Indian voter that it could sustain the high growth trajectory without compromising on the imperative of ensuring equal access of all citizens to that prosperity. The powerful allure of the symbolism of the combined leadership of Sonia Gandhi, representing the party’s traditional commitment to the poor and the deprived, and Manmohan Singh, the iconic reformer taking India on a higher trajectory of economic growth, thus fulfilling the dreams of many a middle-class Indian, ensured the Congress a triumphant return to the centre of the political arena. From that moment, as the leading party of the governing coalition, the United Progressive Alliance, the Congress has had an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild the centre of the Indian political field, making the revitalisation of Indian democracy its main focus.

Yet as a political entity, the Congress party appears singularly unable to transcend and overcome its traditional failings. As often noted, its first problem is its intrinsic vulnerability as a political organisation with its over-dependence on the political charisma of the dynastic leadership of the Nehru-Gandhis. This, in turn, shuts out the possibility of adding new heroes or heroines to its pantheon. Thus a Manmohan Singh who has caught the imagination of middle-class India because of his persistent espousal of policies that break the mould as regards the economy and international relations cannot be projected as a counterpoint to an Atal Bihari Vajpayee, thereby leaving large swathes of middle-class constituencies ripe for the BJP’s picking. The alacrity with which the BJP launches new leaders and new heroes, at the national level and at the level of the States even as it gives its veterans a larger-than-life stature, has a powerful pull on the public imagination. More importantly, the BJP’s continuous projection of itself as a dynamic political organisation, blending reverence for the old with a lively appreciation of the new, contrasts sharply with the self-perception of the Congress party — which in times of failure tends to retreat into a shell, emerging only to defend its leaders rather than stand by its policies or beliefs.

The party’s “introspection meeting,” held soon after its defeat in the Gujarat Assembly elections, shied away from taking the bull by the horns. It blamed itself for not effectively countering Mr. Modi’s “playing of the communal card” after Ms Sonia Gandhi’s “maut ke saudagar” (merchants of death) statement and after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “misquoted” observation that the Congress would reopen the Godhra riot cases. The only other point made was that by failing effectively to counter Mr. Modi’s verbal attacks on the Congress leadership, the party unwittingly allowed him to equate himself with Dr. Singh and Ms Gandhi. Ironically, it was also left to the lower-rung leaders of the Gujarat party unit to take the blame for the defeat, with the general secretary in charge, B.K. Hari Prasad, and the state party chief, Bharatsinh Solanki, asserting that they owned the responsibility for the debacle. Given that the party’s ideological and political strategies were conceptualised in New Delhi, such declarations of “responsibility for the defeat” had a farcical ring to them.

What is painfully clear at this moment is that the Congress party’s evident demoralisation is bringing in its wake some ideological vacillation in its defence of secularism as a cardinal democratic principle. The failure to take secularism as a doctrine out of the context of Hindu-Muslim contestation has led to this sense of political vulnerability that makes the Congress weak-kneed in the face of well-scripted BJP and Hindu nationalist campaigns. As in the past, the BJP and its managers recognise that the Congress remains afraid of confronting the spectre of majoritarian communalism. After Mr. Modi’s win in Gujarat, the BJP declared that it would “replicate the combination of Hindutva and development” as an election plank in other States. The Gujarat election results and the Congress party’s defensive response have enabled the BJP to bring the issue of “minority appeasement” back on the political agenda. The party’s Prime-Minister-in-waiting, L.K. Advani, was quick to excoriate the UPA for its “soft approach to terrorism, guided by vote-bank considerations” and “emboldening the forces of jehadi terrorism.” It is clear that the BJP is continuing to rely on the strategies of majoritarian communal mobilisation in attempting to rebuild its popular support in time for the 15th general election.

But at this moment, these represent aspirations rather than anything that reflects ground realities. There is no evidence as yet that beyond its own organisational resurgence in the wake of the election victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh the BJP has captured fresh political space. The Congress as the leading party of the UPA does have a particular responsibility to highlight the imperative of secularism as a governing concept in a pluralist democracy, rather than allow a crucial component of democratic governance to be held hostage by the politics of competing communal forces. Secularism is an idea that has a resonance beyond the context of inter-communal disputes. It is a component of the democratic framework as critical as federalism or linguistic autonomy and it should be understood for what it really is — part and parcel of the democratic commitment, beyond the terrain of electoral politics.

It is for the Congress to restore the original meaning of the concept of secularism as intended by the framers of the Constitution. At this juncture when the Hindu nationalist forces believe that they have scored a point with the Gujarat election victory and therefore seek to reopen the debate on secularism in the public arena, the Congress should take the lead in this regard. The failure to explain the true significance of secularism as a far-sighted enabling measure rather than a bland barometer of the state’s neutrality is at the heart of the Congress party’s political weakness.

Another political fallacy that has served to intimidate parties and leaders seeking to uphold the validity of the constitutional framework has been the simplistic argument that once leaders and parties win elections, their ideological challenges to the democratic structure thereby become legitimate. <b>This dangerous argument was advanced after the general election of 1980, which returned Indira Gandhi to power. Her defenders advanced the thesis that authoritarian lapses such as the Emergency were now redeemed. A similar argument in favour of the Hindutva agenda has been made in the wake of Mr. Modi’s return to the helm in Gujarat. </b>Winning elections gives the right to leaders and parties to govern; by no stretch of imagination can this be said to endorse their actions or policies that go against the fundamental tenets of Indian democracy. The Congress party must grasp this essential point if it desires to consolidate its political space, which is under constant pressure from the forces of the Hindu Right. As the leading party in the governing coalition, the Congress cannot shy away from this responsibility if it wants to play an enduring role in India’s political life.

[Shambhu]

Re above article:

This Malini P. is another apologist for psecism/minority appeasement. She never says there is anything wrong at the root with Congress policies, she just says the Congress should not be fainthearted/disoriented etc after the Modi victory. None of these lightbulbs want to acknowledge *why* this "majority communalism" (her words) is slowly becoming reality. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rolleyes.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[Guest]

<b>Disparate grants driving a wedge in army</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Courage is priced differently by different states. For instance, a soldier from Gujarat feted with the Param Vir Chakra by the Centre gets just Rs 22,500 as reward from the state. In Punjab, though, the medal would fetch a soldier Rs 25 lakh.

In operational terms, this is creating rifts within the force. A senior officer told HT that there were instances of soldiers from less generous states showing reluctance to lead the charge in a difficult operation. “They tend to encourage their comrades from other states which offer higher cash grants. It weighs on their minds,” he said. The Army is not a provincial unit. It fights for one country and such discrimination can be disastrous: an Army officer, on condition of anonymity. See the graphic.

Former Army Chief General V.P. Malik said, “Troops do feel bad when the same acts of valour are rewarded differently. But I do not think it impacts their functioning.” The government had set up a committee of chief ministers after the Kargil war to look into cash grants offered by different states. Senior officers said state governments had created a dangerous division within the force.

There’s proof to back those fears. Gujarat offers a cash grant of just Rs 20,000 to winners of the Ashok Chakra, the peacetime equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra. But if a soldier belongs to Himachal Pradesh or Punjab, he gets Rs 25 lakh.

The bulk of the remaining states — including Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu — offer a cash grant of Rs 1.45 lakh for the same act of gallantry, aside from an insignificant annuity.
............<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/special...1-08_awards.htm

Not sure who is responsible for this stupidity? Everything starts from Congress who ruled India with its stupidity for very long.

[acharya]

BIGGEST NON-ACHIEVEMENT: NUCLEAR DEAL*


Sonia and Manmohan?s Biggest Non-Achievement is the much hyped and
horribly negotiated India-U.S. Nuclear Deal.

India must be in the Nuclear Club.
India must be an US Strategic Partner.
Of that, there must be no doubt.
<b>
*But the manner in which the Nuclear Deal was created leaves much in Doubt!*

*HORRIBLE NUCLEAR NEGOTIATORS*


*The Chaps negotiating the Nuclear Deal are all
Ex-Bureucrats-Diplomats-Policemen who obviously have no comprehension of
Political Implications, Strategic Dangers, Economic Hazards and
Patriotic Necessities.*

If Our Stupid Negotiators had insisted that *?International Law will
Apply to the India-US Nuclear Deal? the Americans would have agreed. *
*Our Chaps never requested the Americans!*

*NUKE NEGOTIATORS MUST BE INVESTIGATED*


*It is necessary to investigate the Team of Negotiators involved in the
U.S. Nuclear Deal.
How many of them have Children in the U.S.?
How many of them were-are-will be involved with U.S. Business Interests?*

*SONIA-MANMOHAN NEVER CONSULTED INDIA!*


Thereafter the impression Nationwide was that the Sonia-Manmohan
Government has sacrificed India?s National Interests by prostrating to
the U.S.

President Bush consulted his Party, the Opposition Democrats, Science,
Industry and every section before doing the Deal with India.

*In stupid contrast the Sonia-Manmohan Government did not consult India
at all!*
Parliament, Science, Strategic Community, Ruling Party, Opposition and
all Sections were just in the dark.
*They finalized the Deal and want Parliament to Rubber Stamp it without
any changes.
Even Congress MPs, Congress Chief Ministers and Congress Party
Functionaries were not consulted on the Political Implications before
finalizing the Deal.*

*Therefore Do Not Blame The Opposition for Opposing.
That is their Constitutional Right and Patriotic Responsibility!*

*UPA IS GOVT OF CHINA, U.S. OR INDIA?*


Sonia-Manmohan Government?s Mis-Governance of India?s Foreign Policy,
Internal Security and Economy has created a Nationwide Impression that
the current Central Government does not belong to India.

*That its Masters are Foreign Governments!*</b>

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Cong may amend Constitution to save Navin Chawla </b>
pioneer.com
Abraham Thomas | New Delhi
In what seems to be a clear move to preempt possible sacking of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, the Government may consider constitutional amendment to bring ECs at par with Chief Election Commissioner (CEC). 

In other words, if the proposal comes through, Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami would be divested of authority to decide the petition filed by the BJP seeking Chawla's removal.

Union Law Minister HR Bhardwaj on Friday said, "We will try constitutional amendment to bring Election Commissioners at par with Chief Election Commissioner." He was responding to a question on BJP petition against Navin Chawla at a Press meet organised on the sidelines of the Conference of State Law Ministers on Gram Nyayalaya Bill.

Bhardwaj said, "There is a proposal from Election Commission itself to bring the Election Commissioners at par with the CEC." The Minister qualified his statement by adding, "It is a case of political maneouvering...there is no case against Navin Chawla."

Referring to a proposal submitted on July 30, 2004 by the then CEC TS Krishnamoorthy, the Law Minister tried to delink the present controversy involving Chawla with the amendment proposal.
..........<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Congress is really shameless, they are worst than Mushy of Pakistan.
India is under dictator rule, it is worse then emergency.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Manmohan's hand</b>
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not as powerless a politician as he is made out to be. There are certain individuals who draw strength from those around him. There are certain people against whom the superior authorities fear to act as the former professes proximity to Dr Singh. A case in point is the Officer of Special Duty of St Stephen's College Valson Thampu. His appointment was initially made in violation of the provisions of the Ordinances of the Delhi University Calendar. Thampu stayed put arguing that since St Stephen's was a minority institution DU laws did not apply. Now the minority panel too has declared the appointment legally untenable. But Thampu still stays put. Somebody said, "For on his side he has the favourites of the Prime Minister."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[acharya]

A critical look at UPA govt

http://www.bloggernews.net/113669

India Anti-Terrorism record of Sonia Gandhi Manmohan Singh UPA
February 8th, 2008 by yossarin
A compilation of all Offstumped posts on acts of terror during the Congress lead UPA rule over the last 3 years July 2005 to January 2008.

10th July 2005 - The fidayeen attack on Ram Temple in Ayodhya

March 2006 - Mainstream media’s political correctness in response to Varnasi Blasts - criticism of Barkha Dutt, Dileep Padgaonkar, Javed Akhtar

30th April 2006 - U.S. State Department assessment of terrorism across the globe and South Asia

9th May 2006 - On how Pakistan’s Salami Tactics have neutered India’s strategic options in dealing with terrorism

14th May 2006 - Affirmative Inaction by Sonia, Manmohan in response to attacks in J&K on election rallies

24th May 2006 - Calculus of Infinite Stupidity - Criticism of Arundhati Roy on spweing venom at the Indian Armed Forces fighting terror in J&K

1st June 2006 - Fidayeen attack on RSS Sangh Headquarters in Nagpur

2nd June 2006 - When your last line of defence is your First Response - Manmohan Singh Government’s strategy in response to early warnings is to make the last line of defense its first unit of response, as was the case in this incident. It is abundantly clear that the Indian Government does not really have a clue on how these Islamic Terrorist Modules operate ?

9th June 2006 - Between Zarqawi’s Death and BJP’s cash award Anti-Terrorism lessons for India - Counter Terrorism Strategy in India needs a moral compass that guides it in devising the right offensive tactics to eliminate this new brand of Islamic Terrorism from its roots by taking the battle to its source. Leftist attitudes must not be allowed to cloud our judgement on the morality and righteousness of these offensive tacticsThe BJP must teach its hot-heads that public debate on terrorism must be elevated to a far more serious level if the BJP’s claim to being the Party best suited to protect our Nation’s Strategic Interests and Security ought to be taken seriously

12th June 2006 - Islamic Vote bank politics Ominous portents for India - By condoning Muslim Fundamentalist violence during the Iran and Cartoon Issues and Pan Islamic Political Mobilization over these issues the Governments in UP and in New Delhi have contributed to the creation of an environment where it is ok to encourage, shelter and patronise those whose loyalties to a Global Islamic cause are stronger than their respect to the Laws of their Motherland. This when combined with the Muslim Criminal elements who have been given a free reign in Uttar Pradesh Governance creates Institutional Safe Havens where Islamic Terrorism can germinate and flourish with no fear of consequences because there are many layers of Secular Cover that they can operate under. All of the above will only receive further boost as these Muslim bodies organize themselves politically thus pushing the so-called secular parties to work overtime in wooing them with rabid minorytism. All of this has portends ominously to the future of internal security in India.

13th June 2006 - Terrorism Lopsided Judicial priorities - What kind of message is this nation sending to its citizens when it takes 21 years to come to a conclusion on a Terrorist attack. Is this the resolve the nation can muster to bring to closure to the sequence of events that brought Terror to India at large. There clearly is a need for some soul searching on what went terribly wrong here. Why could not the prosecution get its act right and bring to trial the accused in the 1980s itself. Why did 5 innocent men have to suffer the ignominy and the despondency of Prison Life for 21 years before they could taste justice. This entire episode has an ominous lesson for the people of India for the ruling dispensation led by Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi has shown greater interest in repealing tought anti-terrorist laws than in bring Terrorists to justice. This is a government that has spent more time pondering how to appease the minority community through Communal Riots Laws rather than on securing the borders and rooting out terror from its safe havens. Justice delayed is justice denied. Will this nation get its judicial priorities right ?

11th July 2006 - Mumbai Blasts - Zero Tolerance and Now - Indian economic progress cannot be held hostage to Terror. The time for Empty Political posturing has passed. The time for dubious intellectual posturing about root causes has also passed. The time for silly political correctness in confronting Islamic Terrorism has also passed. Now is the time for action. Now is the time for Zero Tolerance. Now is the time to depoliticize the debate on terrorism

13th July 2006 - Mumbai Terror - Manmohan Singh in Denial - This new brand of Islamic Terrorism in India is a serious problem. The Government of the day must in its words and actions acknowledge its seriousness and demonstrate its seriousness in pre-empting it. The Indian Prime Minister and his Government are in a state of denial. By not setting out clear goals and the end-game in this fight against terror, they have only emboldened the terrorists. If the only insurance the Indian Government can offer against future terror attacks is the resilience and unity of the Indian People, then it raises a serious doubt as to the future security of the Indian State

14th July 2006 - The mood has changed post Mumbai Blasts - Its no longer about public patience wearing thin. The fact is there is no more Public Patience with this Pusillanimity. There is no more Public Patience with this lack of Political Will. There is no more Public Patience with this rank incompetence at the highest levels of Government. There is no more Public Patience with this all pervasive state of denial in the ruling party. And there definitelty is no more Public Patience for Paskistan Sponsored Islamic Terrorism in India. We want action, we want zero tolerance and we want it now

16th July 2006 - How India Can win against Terrorism - Offstumped Prescription for India’s war against Terror: India needs to fight its battle on four fronts. withdrawing its unilateral moratorium on no first use of Nuclear Weapons. draw up a comprehensive counter terrorism strategy and action plan. penetrate the extended sponsor network of terror across Pakistan and Gulf states, devise overt and covert means to effect a regime change in Pakistan and Bangladesh

27th July 2006 - Gandhian doctrine to fight Terror

30th July 2006 - Israel Hezbollah Conflict - Lessons on dealing with assymetric non-state players: No matter what position India takes it is important that this does not lead to a legitimisation of a Hezbollah type state sponsored low intensity guerilla warfare that makes it impossible to distinguish terrorist from civilian. This is a dangerous trend that has the potential to legitimise a state within a state and become an example to other insurgencies across the worl. India must work for wholesale rejection of this brand of terrorism that sustains itself through a mass social network which not only acts a shield but also becomes a reason to accord it political legitimacy

6th August 2006 - Windbags obscure strategic thinking - India’s strategic response to 7/11 and the changing global security environment is status quo ante. Nothing exemplifies better than the tit for tat expulsion of diplomats with Pakistan. Can the Indian Right overcome its shortsightedness and Minority phobia to take a long term view for the nation and can the strategic intelligenstia overcome its practice of secular untouchability to engage a popular movement to see its strategic thinking translate into policy of the State ?

10th August 2006 - Mumbai 7-11 Blasts - First Month Anniversary - How did New York, Madrid and London do ?

12th August 2006 - Pakistan and Islamo-Fascism - For the British its colonial history is coming back to haunt. The seeds of Islamic Fascism sown with the creation of an Islamic State of Pakistan have spread their roots well beyond the Indian Sub-Continent. The failure on 9-11 was not so much a failure of intelligence but a failure of imagination. A Musharraf assasination coupled with a Islamic Fascist power grab in Pakistan is not beyond the realm of the possible. The Indian and American establishments must develop a strategy to pre-empt such an outcome to secure Pakistan’s Nukes and to prevent an Al-Qaeda takeover. Manmohan Singh lead Congress and the Opposition BJP lead by LK Advani must set aside their differences on the Indo US Nuclear Deal and engage the Americans on this vital issue

16th August 2006 - Independence Day Speech - Kalam outshines Manmohan on Terrorism Strategy

21st August 2006 - India needs a full time foreign minister - Islamic Terrorism in Pakistan and the Sri Lankan Conflict have reminded us of the acute need for Indian Leadership in the Sub-Continent. The continued flow of terrorism from Pakistan and the high risk of an Al-Qaeda attempt on Musharraf raise the spectre of the dreaded “what after Musharraf” scenario. India needs to be prepared to deal with that dreaded scenario pre-emptively with both Military and Diplomatic Options. India needs a full time foreign minister and it needs it now

5th September 2006 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Speech on Internal Security versus George Bushs National Strategy for Combating Terrorism - Terrorism has been reduced to a Law and Order Problem which can be addressed by hiring more beat constables and giving them a lot of software to improve intelligence while their political bosses deal with misplaced outrage all around on Muslim Sensitivities.

8th September 2006 - Malegaon Blasts - Implications : From Mumbai to Malegaon the internal security situation is a shame on his Government. Be it Muslim children in Malegaon or Hindu Diamond Traders in Mumbai, Terror does not distinguish between them. Conspiracy theories apart, political correctness must make way for the truth.

17th September 2006 - Havana Handshake between Manmohan and Musharraf - Nothing has changed internally or externally between July14th and September 14th to justify this wholesale policy shift. Manmohan Singh clearly lacks the moral clarity and the strength of convictions to win the war on terror, a phrase he used on July 12th and has since forgotten. Whether the new shift addresses terrorism or not it definitely amounts to a wholesale embrace of the Musharraf regime of Pakistan. To do so as a quid-pro-quo for the Indo-US Nuclear deal is myopic and will come back to haunt India. The Manmohan Singh Government’s high on rhetoric low on results flip-flop approach to terrorism has made it clear in black and white to both the Terrorists and to Pakistan that they will never be held accountable for anything, there will never be any price to pay.

22nd September 2006 - Litmus Test for India Pakistan Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism - Manmohan Singh Government has compromised India’s Anti-Terrorism objectives in the naive hopes of a Kashmir settlement. In doing so Manmohan Singh has given credibility to Terrorism and to whose who advocate for root causes of Terrorism. While hoping for American approval for its Nuclear and UN interests, the Manmohan Singh Government has handed Pakistan’s Salami Tactics there biggest victory yet. The Anti-Terrorism Institutional Mechanism is neither about winning the war on terror nor is it institutional. It is a deal sweetener for a major concession coming down the road. It must be rejected until such a time Manmohan Singh Government passes its Litmus Test on Terrorism.

27th September 2006 - Parliament Attack Death Sentence to Afzal - A reminder on why Terrorism is an act of War - The death sentence to Afzal for the December 13th 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament is an important reminder to the Manmohan Singh Government to get its moral bearings right on how to characterize and deal with Terrorism. Unless the Manmohan Singh Government can demonstrate that it understands the difference between general acts of crime and specific acts of War, and has the spine to act accordingly in response to them one cannot take its Pakistan proposals with any credibility.

2nd October 2006 - Pakistan ISI hand in 7-11 Mumbai Blasts - Where is the Prime Minister ? - By reducing India’s Anti-Terrorism strategy to a mere line item in the India Pakistan dialogue the Manmohan Singh Government has reminded us again that the Congress Party lacks the will and the spine to act on terror. The Mumbai Blasts were an act of war against India by elements within the Pakistan Intelligence establishment. The Prime Minister needs to end his silence and speak up on how he intends to respond to this act of war against India. A Foreign Secretary level meeting a month on is unacceptable. If that indeed is how the UPA Government intends to respond against acts of war, it better be honest about it and go on record in the Parliament and say it in as many words. If it lacks the spine to do so, it must resign

20th October 2006 - Clemency for Afzal - Should Kashmir Peace Process influence the Presidents Decision ?

6th November 2006 - Guwahati Bomb Blasts - What is happening in Assam ?

14th November 2006 - Indo Pak Peace Talks - Why is Siachen and not 7/11 on the agenda ?

20th December 2006 - The India Pakistan Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Security

8th Jan 2007 - ULFA strikes again in Assam - What should the Centre’s strategy be ?

13th Jan 2007 - The Afzal Time Bomb is Ticking

28th Jan 2007 - As BMC goes to polls - Why Mumbai must not forget 7-11 ?

19th Feb 2007 - Terror Strikes Samjhauta Express - Implications

01 March 2007 - Bill on Communal Violence - Eye on Muslim Vote Bank in Uttar Pradesh

6th March 2007 - Darth Vader cometh - The Manmohan Singh Regime has shown neither the willingness nor the the ability to fight terror. The PMO’s spin doctors in the media have betrayed the thinking deep down within the Government on preservation of the Musharraf Regime at the cost of national security and fighting terror. One must not be too surprised if the Communists and their left leaning muddleheaded pals in the media in a perverse demonstration of their lop sided world view lobby against American pressure on Pakistan lest it hurt the Musharraf Regime. Here is a topic for the likes of Barkha Dutt to write about - How come not a single terrorist attack in India was a Suicide Bombing while every recent one in Pakistan was ?

22nd March 2007 - Talk of Troop Reduction in Kashmir is a Self Goal for India: The only kind of Demilitarisation India should care about is Demilitarising Politics and Governance in Pakistan

19th May 2007 - Hyderabad Mecca Masjid Blasts - Some Uncomfortable Questions: The Manmohan Singh Government dismal track record in dealing with terrorism continues. Does the Government atleast have the spine to hold the Clerics accountable for ignoring intelligence ? Do the mainstream media and the left of center psuedo-intellectual artistes have the conviction to justify their perverse value system that is more outraged to protest the elimination of the Taliban, to defend Licentious Art but falls deafeningly silent in response to Islamic Terrorism

6th July 2007 - We are not apologetic of our choice” - Also sprach Manamohana : Not being apologetic has been the hallmark of the Manmohan Singh lead UPA Administration. It is our solemn commitment to the victims of 7–11 that we will not forget their loss and we will not forgive the unapologetic politicians who did not deliver justice to their loved ones.

6th July 2007 - Mumbai Blasts First Anniversary - At the Dead End of Justice

8th July 2007 - Sonia Gandhi’s deafening silence on Mumbai Bomb Blasts

23rd July 2007 - The help Manmohan sleep campaign: We always knew the Prime Minister was Teflon skinned, little did we know the moral fabric of his conscience was synthetic too. It mutates to cause Insomnia once in a while when someone is branded Terrorist but more often than not it ensures Amnesia after Terrorism strikes. The nation can afford the occasional insomnia on account of terror but not the perennial amnesia on acting on terror.

27th July 2007 - The perverse national interest of the congress

25th August 2007 - Hyderabad Blasts an Unprovoked Act of War

25th August 2007 - All Mass Terrorist Attacks during Congress Rule

26th August 2007 - Correlation between Muslim Appeasement and Attacks of Mass Terror

27th August 2007 - Why Muslims victims of mass terror ?

28th August 2007 - Look who is fomenting terror

29th August 2007 - Look who is fomenting terror - take 2

30th August 2007 - Hyderabad’s worst kept secret

3rd Sept 2007 - Hunt for the Rd X

17th Sept 2007 - Litmus Test for Anti-Terrorism Mechanism Revisited

19th Sept 2007 - How jobless is the Home Minister

19th Oct 2007 - Frankensteinistan

3rd Oct 2007 - Home Minister prays for intelligence

11th Oct 2007 - The Ajmer Sharif Dargah Blast

29th Dec 2007 - 2007 marks Manmohan Singh’s Dysfunctional Governance

31st Dec 2007 - Welcome 2008 saying “NO” to lip service on Anti-Terrorism

6th Feb 2008 - The bogey of Terrorism returns…..

8th Feb 2008 - Congress’ slap in the face to Terror Victims

8th Feb 2008 - Make Terror Victims the face of Anti-Terrorism Campaign :

If only the Congress focused on turning tables on the Terrorists instead of the BJP the 200 odd victims of 7-11 in Mumbai and the many terror attacks across the nation would today be resting easy with a sense of justice having been served. By making this about a political contest on who has a worse terror record the Congress has insulted the memory of every one of those brave men and women in uniform who shed their blood defending our freedoms and the memory of those deceased law abiding citizens who defied the fear mongering to go on with their way of life despite terror threats. The victims of terror must speak up and demand answers and justice of the Manmohan Singh UPA Government. Tolerating this delinquency would be fatal to the nation.

[Guest]

Betrayal by Congress Party -- Babu Suseelan Originally published at:
http://www.sookta-sumana.com/index.html
http://jihaditerror.blogspot.com/2008/02/b...ress-party.html

A danger called 'Four-M nexus' -- B.R. Haran
http://cpmindia.blogspot.com/2008/02/dange...cludes-cpm.html

[Husky]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Feb 8 2008, 08:04 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Feb 8 2008, 08:04 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Manmohan's hand</b>
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not as powerless a politician as he is made out to be. There are certain individuals who draw strength from those around him. There are certain people against whom the superior authorities fear to act as the former professes proximity to Dr Singh. A case in point is the Officer of Special Duty of St Stephen's College <b>Valson Thampu</b>. His appointment was initially made in violation of the provisions of the Ordinances of the Delhi University Calendar. Thampu stayed put arguing that since St Stephen's was a minority institution DU laws did not apply. Now the minority panel too has declared the appointment legally untenable. But Thampu still stays put. Somebody said, "For on his side he has the favourites of the Prime Minister."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[right][snapback]78141[/snapback][/right]<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Valson Thampu is that christoterrorist famous for his rabid anti-Hinduism, isn't he? Hmmm. I wonder <i>why</i> Sonia and MadMoron Stink would have picked him.... Must be the same reasons they picked the rest of the christians in charge (Ambika Soni et al).

[Guest]

<b>Latest News</b>

<b>St Stephen's ad tailored to suit Thampu</b>

New Delhi

The management of St Stephen's College is working overtime to ensure that there is no competition for illegally appointed Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Valson Thampu. This fact is illustrated by an advertisement published in certain newspapers on Tuesday seeking application for the post of principal for St Stephen's College.

The college management, on the excuse of being a minority institution, has yet again contravened the Delhi University ordinances and UGC norms and has fixed an age bar -- that the applicants should be in the age group of 50-60 years.

Sources said that the move is aimed at securing the principal's post for present OSD 'Dr' Valson Thampu who otherwise could get competition from former college vice-principal 48-year-old Jacob Cherian.

"We have not yet sought any approval from Delhi University. St Stephen's College is a minority institution and the Supreme Council takes the decision on recruitment. However, a letter will be sent to DU Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental regarding the advertisement in a day or two," said Vinod Chowdhary, spokesperson of the college. He did not comment on the age for the appointment of principal.

"The decision on fixing eligibility criteria for the principal comes from the Supreme Council and it is the only competent body to speak on it," he said.

According to the sources, the main aim of fixing this age bar is to ensure that there is no competition for Thampu. "Jacob Cherian, who is a Physics teacher and had served as vice-principal, is a strong contender for the post. The move is aimed at preventing him from applying," said the source. He said that many persons, who were in their forties, had become principals in the past. Even Anil Wilson, Thampu's predecessor, too was in his 40s when he became the principal.

Also, the advertisement brought out by the college administration seeking applications for the post of principal in March 2007, when Anil Wilson went on leave, had no age criteria.

"Applicants belonging to the Church of North India or a church in communion with CNI, who fulfil the conditions laid down by UGC/DU for the post of principal should apply on the prescribed form," it reads.

The UGC criterion for the post of principal is Master's degree with minimum 55 per cent, PhD and total teaching/research experience of 15 years in universities, colleges and other institutions of higher education. There is no age bar in the UGC criterion.

[acharya]

Natwar Singh quits Congress

Jaipur (PTI): Former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh, who had to resign from the government in the wake of the Iraqi food-for-oil scam, announced his resignation from Congress.

He made the announcement in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia at a BJP-sponsored Jat rally in Vidyadhar Nagar, 20 km from here, and soon after launched a blistering attack on Sonia Gandhi.

"Wait and see" was all that he would reply to questions on whether he would join the BJP or whether he expects to get a BJP seat to Parliament as his term in Rajya Sabha is coming to an end shortly.

Singh, suspended from the party and facing a petition for his disqualification from Rajya Sabha, quit the Manmohan Singh government after the Volcker Committee findings in the UN oil-for-food scam in which he and his son were named as beneficiaries.

The Pathak Inquiry Authority, set up to go into the findings, found that he had used his position to get oil contracts from the Saddam Hussein regime for his son's friend Andaleeb Sehgal. However, the Authority said Singh did not personally benefit from the deal.

A few months later he was suspended from the party while his son Jagat Singh, an MLA in Rajasthan, was expelled. His case is being dealt with by the Congress disciplinary action committee.

[Guest]

fun will be , if he really let us know, how and where purse gets its weight and color.

[Guest]

<b>Sonia served notice over allegiance to Belgium</b>

Thu, Feb 14 10:30 AM

New Delhi: On Monday, CNN-IBN had reported how the Election Commission of India was divided over issuing a notice to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalswamy and his two fellow commissioners, who are responsible for maintaining the spirit of democracy, had an intense debate among themselves before finally deciding to serve a notice to Sonia.

The notice is for accepting the Belgium's highest civilian award, the Order of Leopold, in November 2006.

While the award was - in and by itself - perfectly innocuous, it was the rider with it that the EC objects to - <b>Sonia Gandhi had to sign her allegiance to the Belgian government.</b>

This matter was raised when a complaint from a Kerala-based lawyer to former President APJ Abdul Kalam had ended up getting forwarded to the Election Commission.

A series of meetings had led only to an acrimonious debate and no results.

The Chief Election Commissioner is believed to be the one in favour of serving the notice.

While one of his deputies supported him, the other, Naveen Chawla, felt the issue was too frivolous.

Chawla's contention is that the award had been given to statesmen like former US president Dwight D Eisenhower and Yugoslav leader Joseph Tito.

The Congress is dismissive of the issue.

"The argument is ridiculous," stated Congress Spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.

<b>Ever since Naveen Chawla took over as the election commissioner, there have been several instances where the Chief Election Commissioner and Chawla have not seen eye to eye with each other, whether its issuing a notice to Sonia or deciding when the Karnataka elections should be held.

Over the past year, the BJP has questioned the Election Commission's neutrality on many occasions.</b>

The fractured verdict on serving a notice to Sonia will only give further ammunition for the Opposition.

[Guest]

<b>UPA politicising Election Commission</b>

Thu, Feb 14, 2008

New Delhi, Feb.14 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Prakash Javadekar on Thursday accused the UPA Government of politicising the Election Commission.

"The Congress-led UPA government is committed towards one objective -- to destroy each and every constitutional authority in the country for its own narrow political gain," Javadekar said.

"Media reports of rumblings in the Election Commission on the issue of notice to Sonia Gandhi have only reconfirmed our worst apprehension that it might be under partisan influence from within. On the matter of issuing notices to her, the split has become wide open," he said.

Javadekar said the politicisation of the EC became more apparent in the 'Maut ka Saudagar' controversy that found play during the assembly elections in Gujarat in December last year.

"Double standards were witnessed initially in the serving of notices and the subsequent differentiated language used in the expression of displeasure to the concerned leaders," he said.

"The EC should be politically detached and equi-distanced from all political parties. If the practice of appointing partisan persons as members of the EC gets established as a precedent, it will provide a temptation to future governments to pack it with their own team of servile sycophants," he said.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sonia gets EC notice over Belgian honour</b> <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Feb 16, 2008

New Delhi : The Election Commission on Friday served a notice on Congress President Sonia Gandhi on a disqualification complaint against her for receiving a Belgian honour, triggering a political row.

Sonia was asked to respond within three weeks by the three-member Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy after a split verdict of 2-1, a rare difference in opinion in the EC in recent times.

The Commission also asked the External Affairs Ministry to furnish details within three weeks about Gandhi receiving the ‘Order of Leopold’ from the Belgium government in November, 2006.

The 61-year-old Sonia found herself in the midst of a controversy following a complaint last year from an advocate from Kerala seeking her disqualification from the Lok Sabha alleging it amounted to owing allegiance to the Constitution of that country.

She was honoured with the ‘Order of Leopold’, the second highest civilian award in Belgium, and an honourary doctorate by the Belgian government during her visit to the European country in November, 2006.

Reacting to the development, Congress spokesman Shakil Ahmed said that Gandhi had done “nothing wrong” by accepting the award and several leaders in the past had been bestowed with such honours.

The BJP, however, sought to turn it into a controversy by asking Gandhi to “clear the cloud of suspicion” over her allegiance to a foreign country.

Congress tonight dismissed as ‘laughable’ the complaint seeking disqualification of its chief Sonia Gandhi from the Lok Sabha for receiving a Belgian honour and said it will give a ‘strong and fitting reply’ to the Election Commission notice to her.

“The complaint is baseless and motivated. To suggest that receiving of a foreign citation or decoration is office of profit or foreign allegiance is laughable”, said party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Only time will tell whether congress party gives a 'fittingly reply' or with an shameful face says sorry to the nation for the wrong doing of their leader.

[Guest]

Congress, Sonia and Moron Singh are shameless and soulless. Don't expect anything from these low life.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Secularist assault on idea of India </b>
Pioneer.com
Swapan Dasgupta
In one of his most celebrated cases, Sherlock Holmes was struck by the curious fact of the dog that didn't bark. The most intriguing feature of the ongoing turmoil in Maharashtra provoked by Raj Thackeray's posturing against North Indian migrants was the silence of those professing to be the watchdogs of amity. 

The allusion is not to the Leader of Opposition LK Advani who was forthright in his condemnation of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader's publicity-seeking utterances that led to the death of one poor Bihari migrant. Nor can we fault Hindu hridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray for making it clear that the Indian nation must prevail over parochial interests. In the face of a calculated assault by an interloper on the traditional vote base of the country's most enduring saffron alliance, both the BJP and Shiv Sena reacted with exemplary patriotic maturity.

Less exemplary was the conduct of those who go around shrieking "merchants of death" and pontificating about a Holocaust that never happened. Arguably, Sonia Gandhi has enough on her plate to be distracted by the antics of a small-time politician in Mumbai. There is the vexed question of her membership of the Order of Leopold Association; there is the pressure from the voodoo economists to ensure that India is bankrupted by a failed employment guarantee scheme; there is the delicate matter of a new regime in Himachal Pradesh that wants to review land sales to the first family; and, of course, there is the simmering intra-UPA (business) dispute over the destruction of Ram's bridge which could escalate into a political crisis.

Yet, despite these pressing concerns, the proprietor of the party that runs the coalition Government in Maharashtra could surely have found time to articulate her views on the panic that has gripped poor migrants in places like Nashik. Her sound of silence could indicate various things: Either she isn't aware of the problem or that her silence is deliberate and calculated. Since the first possibility is slightly remote, even for leaders who are insulated from bad news, the temptation to believe the second is irresistible.

Arguably, Sonia could have subcontracted the job to the Prime Minister. But even he hasn't let out a squeak.

It is not necessary to be a pathological conspiracy theorist to suggest that the Congress-NCP Government in Maharashtra hasn't played with a straight bat. At one level, the electronic media created a massive hype about the insecurity that had gripped the North Indian migrants - would we have seen such alarmism had there been a terrorist outrage or a communal skirmish? At another level, by creating a contrived tension over Raj Thackeray's "arrest", the administration deliberately sought to transform a paper tiger into a real tiger. <b>The Congress seemed to be acting on the assumption that all fissures in the regional movement would unnerve the Shiv Sena-BJP and force them into competitive chauvinism. At the same time, the nervousness among migrants would consolidate the non-Maharashtrian vote around the Congress.</b>

What was witnessed in Maharashtra was cynical politics at its worst. It followed the methodology of a party that tacitly built up Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to outmanoeuvre the Akalis and pumped up the ULFA in Assam to cripple the AGP. Consciously or unwittingly, Raj Thackeray played the Congress game and he is certain to be rewarded for it.

What is particularly despicable is the underlying bid to pervert the Shivaji legacy by making it into a Maharashtrian-only inheritance. Shivaji, it is necessary to point out, was never crowned merely a King of Maharashtra or the Deccan; he personified the Hindu padpadshahi. He became an inspiration for all Indians resisting Moghul tyranny. The immortal lines the poet Bhushan wrote on his death, encapsulated his national legacy: "Kashiki kala gayee, Mathura masjid bhaee/ Gar Shivaji na hoto, to sunati hot sabaki."

(Kashi has lost its splendour, Mathura has become a mosque/ If Shivaji hadn't been there, even the people would have been converted.)

What we are witnessing in Maharashtra isn't ordinary one-upmanship; it is the beleaguered secularist assault on the idea of India.
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