Reject Sachar panel report: experts
Special Correspondent
âIn Karnataka, Muslim population has grown by 194 per cent, general population by 124 per centâ
Figures are based on the National Family Health Survey, which commenced in 1961
BANGALORE: âThe Rajendra Sachar Committee report has been modelled on the Hunter Committee report of 1871, which was designed to divide India on the basis of religion by the British. The Sachar Committee report will again divide India should it be allowed to be implemented,â said experts, who took part in a seminar on the report here on Sunday.
The seminar was organised jointly by the Centre for Educational and Social Studies and Mythic Society of Bangalore on the theme âThe content and implications of the Rajendra Sachar Committee Report.â The panel of speakers included Rakesh Sinha, reader of Political Science Department of Delhi University; Prakash Belawadi, theatre director; S.C. Jayachandra, president of the Karnataka SC/ST Backlog Engineersâ Association; and Anwar Manippady, former chairman of Karnataka State Minorities Commission. The former judge of the Karnataka High Court, Jagannatha Shetty, presided.
Dr. Sinha said the âSachar Committee report was aimed at creating a conducive atmosphere for certain political parties to muster political supportâ and termed it as an instrument for communalising politics. Quoting the National Family Health Survey, Dr. Sinha said that the Muslim community had shown prolific growth in population. Basing 1961 as the year of commencement of the survey, Delhi had shown 944 per cent growth while in Haryana it was 324 per cent. All India figures showed that the Muslim population had grown by 194 percent while the general population had grown by 120 per cent.
<b>
In Karnataka, the Muslim population has grown by 194 per cent and the general population by 124 percent and it obviously meant that the Muslim community was thriving, despite the so-called economic backwardness as pointed out by the report. Political parties perhaps were trying to erode the Indian nationality and wanted to raise a religion-based nationality by promoting the Sachar Committee report, Dr. Sinha said. Mr. Manippady also gave a call to reject the Sachar Committee report, saying that the Government should instead institute another survey which should be more âinclusiveâ particularly those sections of society that are economically backward. </b>By restricting the survey to a certain religious group, the Government would only divide the nation into hostile camps trying to vest Government empathy. âThis was a convenient political ploy to keep the vote bank intact in the future,â he added.
Mr. Justice Jagannath Shetty questioned the validity of the commission report. There has to be a healthy discussion in Parliament to give credence to the Sachar Committee Report, which has not happened.
Congress: The Great Slide
Tavleen Singh
It is that season in Delhi when there are so many weddings that it is hard to go down a street and not run into a baraat. Sometimes wedding parties collide and there are horrendous traffic jams, and so on my way to the wedding reception of a friend�s daughter I found myself stuck for an hour trying to negotiate the road to the Maurya Hotel. When I asked a passing policeman what the problem was, he said, �There is a wedding and they say that the Prime Minister will be coming, so that is why there is this jam.�
It was the wedding I was invited to, and though the Prime Minister did not come, Sonia Gandhi did and a hundred other personages of political importance. When I finally made it to the entrance of the wedding tent in the hotel gardens, I ran into LK Advani and his wife and daughter who were just leaving. Among the other personages of political importance present were cabinet ministers and chief ministers, high officials and so many TV anchors and editors that we joked about how if there was a bomb it could take out the entire upper echelons of the Indian media. When journalists are invited to an event of this kind, they never refuse because rarely do you get a chance to meet so many sources of important political information with so little effort. If you want to find out how the political winds are blowing, there is no better place to be than a power wedding in Delhi.
The first conversation I found myself drawn into was with a spokesman of the Congress party who was being asked by a woman journalist why Rahul Gandhi was not more evident in a leadership role. The spokesman bridled instantly. �Well, I do not know what you mean because he works very hard, you know. You can always find him in the Congress party office, meeting people and attending to party matters.� The woman journalist was not deterred by this put down and insisted on knowing why the heir to the Congress party was wasting his time on such things as para-sailing. �Is that what a future Prime Minister of India should be doing?�� The Congress spokesperson refused to answer.
The next conversation I found myself having was with a politician who is actively involved at the moment in promoting a Third Front. It was already a reality, he said, and would become a more powerful reality soon because the two main Marxist parties were expected to join in the not-too-distant future. So what did he see happening by way of the next government of India after the 2009 general election/ �Oh, we will have a Third Front government for sure� he said, �with the Congress either joining it or supporting from the outside.� Did he think there was any chance of LK Advani becoming India�s next Prime Minister? He did not deny that this was a possibility. The one thing he was certain of was that he did not think the Congress would be in any position to lead the next government.
That evening as I flitted about talking to politicians of varied hues and journalists of varied views, I found that this was the general view. In my many years of covering politics and governance in Delhi rarely have I seen a political party lose so much support in so short a period. Usually when a government enters its last year in office, what sets in is anti-incumbency; so what is interesting about the present situation is that there is less anti-feeling towards the government and more towards the Congress. It is as if people have accepted that the real boss of Dr Manmohan Singh�s government is Sonia Gandhi, and since she is the president of the Congress, she is to blame for the things that have gone wrong.
It is hard to believe that this is the same Sonia Gandhi who till not so long ago was treated with awe not just by her own party but by opposition parties as well. It seems like only the other day that whoever you talked to in Delhi�s political circles talked of how �Madam� had taken a political party that was nearly dead and breathed new life into it. Her �charisma� was respected even by those who objected to her foreign origin. So what has gone wrong in the past few months?
After my evening of instant investigative journalism at the power wedding, I sought the views of political pundits and asked them to analyse why the political wind had now started blowing in a direction that was no favourable to the Congress. They said that it was mostly because decisions related to governance and politics were being made by Sonia Gandhi herself and this had exalted 10 Janpath to a position that was above that of the Prime Minister�s Office. A political analyst who is an ardent Congress supporter had this to say: ��Don�t ask me what they�re thinking any more or why they think that the Congress is going to win the next election by sending Rahul Gandhi off to spend a night in a Dalit�s hut one day and para-sailing in Maharashtra the next day.��
Sonia Gandhi�s singular personal failure has been her inability to project her son as her heir, and having concentrated her energies on doing this, she has let the Congress slide. This is the gloomy view of even those who think of �Madam� as India�s great white hope. Sentinel Assam Editorial 18.02.08
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> Andhra Congress goes all out to woo minorities</b>
Feb 20 2008
Hyderabad: Critics say any government looking at minority appeasement can take a leaf out of the Andhra Pradesh Budget.
<b>The 'tax free' Budget tabled by Finance Minister K Rosaiah allocates Rs 2 crore for Christian pilgrims visiting the holy sites in Israel; Rs 5 crore for mass marriages of Christians, Muslims and other minorities and Rs 5 crore for mosque and church repairs and maintenance.
All of this and the recently implemented 4 per cent quota for Muslims in government jobs</b> might suggest that the Andhra government may have gone overboard with its attempt to appease minorities.
But the government has its own justification. " Desh main agar kisi kaum ko chote nazar se dekhane lage, to desh ke liye bhi khatra ho sakta hai (If you look down upon a community within the country, that may invite trouble for the nation)", state Minorities Welfare Minister Shabbir Ali reasons.{ Traitor, Using Hindu money to fund so-called minorities and when questioned about the illegal use of tax-payer's money for communal purposes this swine indirectly threatens to divide the nation.)
" Agar kisi ko insaf dilana ho, aur agar ye appeasement hai, to iska koi jawab nahi hai. (We are trying to ensure justice from all communities. If this is called appeasement, we can't help)," Ali says.
For, the government is giving the minorities what they haven't asked for. And probably, they don't even need. But it remains to be seen how much these will actually translate into votebank for the Congress.
The Opposition, naturally, is unhappy with these measures. And they blame Chief Minister YSR Reddy of going overboard with minority appeasement.
"If you give so much to Muslims and Christians, why not Hindus also?" BJP MLA Kishan Reddy asks.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The limits to Hindu tolerance: The story of 2007
Rajeev Srinivasan on how the UPA is out of touch with young India
There is a second reason for why there is a sea-change in the political scenario: the publicâs recognition of endemic betrayal of Hindus by the Congress and the Left. There are plenty of other damning reasons why the current the UPA dispensation has proved itself in 2007 to be the very worst government this country has ever seen; I shall list some of them, but then let it pass, for I wish to concentrate on the assault on Hindus:
1. raging inflation. The official figures are a magical 3%, but the price of essential goods like vegetables (remember the famous âonion crisisâ that the media moaned about?) has gone up by about 20-40%. Real inflation if probably 10+%.
2. rampant fascism and oppression. The Communist allies of the UPA have been on the warpath, raping, killing and cremating in unmarked graves hundreds of people in Nandigram. The UPA is unable to protect the famous âaam admiâ
3. virtual loss of sovereignty. One third of the countryâs districts are wracked by violent Communist terrorism, and the UPA is playing footsie with this non-State actor surely funded by the Chinese
4. loss of buffer State Nepal. Though the good offices of various vested interests, Nepal has been swallowed up by a violent Communist theocracy, and become a safe haven for Mohammedan and Christian terrorist targeting India
5. attempt to make India a vassal of the US. The so-called nuclear deal with the US, in its current form, relegates India forever to second-class status in matters nuclear, and rolls back its deterrent capability
6. surrender to terrorism. In an apparent attempt to shield its bigwigs from possible Mohammedan terrorist attacks, the Congress has virtually declared an amnesty. Repealing POTA, refusing to obey the Supreme Court ruling regarding hanging Afzal Guru â the signal to terrorists is: you can do anything in India and get away with it. The UPA will support you
7. pork-barrel policies. The much-ballyhooed rural employment guarantee program, it turns out, is accomplishing exactly what it was meant to do: transfer money from the State to party cadres and middlemen. Hardly anything is reaching the poor. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/south_asia/7005985.stm The least corrupt in this scheme, as the BBC notes, are BJP-ruled Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh! Obviously â fewer UPA middlemen in action there.
Moving back to the main theme, the assault on Hinduism is malign, motivated, and massive. Just a few instances from 2007 show how widespread this is, and how much the UPA Government, and its members and allies, disrespect the majority religion and shower State resources on Mohammedanism and Christianity:
1. UPA member DMKâs Karunanidhi calls Rama myth and a drunkard, and proceeds with the destruction of heritage site Rama Setu in the Gulf of Mannar
2. UPA ally Communist Buddadeb says Rama is a myth
3. When Malaysian Hindus accuse the Mohammedan government there of religious bigotry and oppression, the UPA Government shows practically no interest. It justifies this by saying this is an internal matter for Malaysia. Then why did the UPA open its big mouth and condemn the Danish cartoon of Mohammed some time ago? That was an internal matter for Denmark, and not any business of an allegedly âsecularâ government
4. The Andhra Pradesh government, headed by an evangelical Christian, plans a virtual takeover of Tirupati. Thwarted, Samuel Reddy provides large grants for church-building, and provides subsidies for Christian pilgrimage to West Asia
5. Manmohan Singh says that âMohammedans have first priority in access to Indiaâs resourcesâ. This is unconstitutional and unfair: all Indian citizens are equal before the State
6. Manmohan Singh says that he spent âsleepless nightsâ when one Mohammed Haneef, brother of suicide bomber Khaleef, was accused of being a terrorist. Why doesnât this kind-heartedness extend to Gujarati expatriate Jayaprakash Dhanak of Orange County, California, and his daughter Karishma, brutally murdered and torched by one Murtaza, who was caught with a one-way ticket to Bangladesh (exactly like Haneef had a one-way ticket to India)? http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/31nri.htm
7. State patronage, including awards to the painter M F Husain, who has portrayed Hindu deities in a highly derogatory manner. The Kerala government, run by UPA allies the Communists, persists despite a High Court stay: http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/14/stories/...170400.htm . Similarly, another âartistâ, one Chandra Mohan, is allowed to insult Hindu deities. The Indian Penal Code section 295 (a) apparently does not apply to Hindus:
Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of 2[citizens of India], 3[by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise], insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 4[three years], or with fine, or with both.]
8. The continued takeover of Hindu temples by the State, and the ripping off of their funds. For instance, the Sabarimala shrine has been wracked by misconduct, mostly because it is under the control of the Communist government of Kerala. Note that not a single Mohammedan or Christian religious shrine is even audited, much less controlled, by the Government. Now there is a proposal to take over the great Sri Padmanabha Temple in Trivandrum as well http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=5228 . What about taking over the St. Josephâs Cathedral or the Juma Masjid?
9. Continued support for evangelism activity and turning a blind eye to Christian religious violence. For instance, the Government brought out a two-rupee coin with a Christian cross on it replacing the official âSatyameva Jayateâ. In Orissa, an 83-old swami is attacked by Christians intent on killing him http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071228/jsp/...ory_8715577.jsp , just like they murdered Bineshwar Brahma and Shanti Tripura http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/899422.stm
In other words, there appears to be an all-out attack on Hinduism, with the intention of finishing it off once and for all. Slowly but surely, Hindus are beginning to realize that the UPA is not the custodian of their culture and civilization, but are actively colluding in relentless attacks by Christians, Mohammedans, and Communists.
Hindus are merely asking for equal treatment with those of competing ideologies, but the State persists in imposing apartheid on them, relegating them to second-class status. The Modi victory is a sign that this is now stretching the limits of Hindu tolerance.
The Gujarat vote â which is essentially a referendum on the UPA â shows a generational shift. The Old Guard in the BJP have tolerated the Nehruvian Stalinist prescription of what India is all about â a dhimmi and terminally corrupt State, full of paeans to âthe new temples of Indiaâ viz. the hydro-electric dams, destroying the civilizationâs most precious heritage, most bothered about the views and prejudices of urban middle class voters, and more particularly about the affection of that tiny but loud minority of innumerate and frankly inconsequential JNU-types who dominate the media. It is a reflection of 20th-century mores, a throwback to the time when India was a non-entity. Today, India counts: it is viewed universally as an emerging, re-developing, superpower.
Narendra Modi is refreshingly free of these shackles. He doesnât care to appease through dhimmitude, and has shown that a strict and disciplined State can fight corruption and terrorism and provide development. In particular, I was delighted to note that he did not bother to give interviews to his prime tormentors in the media. These are people whose self-important gravitas suggests that they believe they actually invent the news â and in fact they do, by putting words into peopleâs mouths â rather than merely reporting it.
In many ways, Narendra Modi reflects the new, young Indian, who has grown up to believe that he is as good as anyone on the planet. The tired old formulas of socialism, Stalinism, and pseudo-secularism do not appeal to these people. Therefore, they are dangerous as far as the Indian establishment and media are concerned, because they donât give a ratâs ass for their traditional, meaningless but high-sounding nostrums.
It was about them that I wrote five years ago in âFear of Engineeringâ http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/nov/01rajeev.htm because it was overseas engineers of Indian origin who first began asserting themselves, once they had realized they were capable of being world leaders in their chosen fields. They had realized that white people were not giants, and that the US, the United Nations, Harvard and other hitherto admired entities were not altogether the legends we thought they were.
With self-esteem comes a concern for culture and civilization. These newly-empowered, world-beating Indians are proud of being Hindus. Not in the sense of disrespecting other paths â that has never been part of the Hindu way, although it can be logically argued that the Hindu faith is superior to most others â but in benign and tolerant ways. This Hindu reaction should be the end of the dinosaurs of the Congress, unless they move with the times.
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UPA is directionless and divisive: Jaitley
Gargi Parsai
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the former Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, on Tuesday accused the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government of being âdirectionless and divisiveâ and of having âsacrificed larger interest for vote-bank politics.â It was an indecisive government that had a âdo-nothing approach,â he said.
Participating in the resumed discussion on the motion of thanks to the Presidentâs address, Mr. Jaitley said that while the government gave âkudosâ to itself in the Presidentâs address, it needed to be reminded of the âpolitical realityâ of having lost a series of elections in several States and not to live in an âillusionâ that it would govern forever.
Cites debacles
Reminding the Congress of its poll debacles in Bihar, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, he said it would be difficult for the Congress to remember when it last won an election.
Referring to Karnataka, he said the Congress was trying to use every âconstitutional reasoningâ to avert an election in the State â where Presidentâs rule ends on May 28 â just to postpone another electoral defeat.
Mr. Jaitley said the country was paying for the âpolitical insecurityâ of the Congress. He accused the government of subverting institutions â the primary institution of Prime Minister was âdevalued,â tainted Ministers found place in the Union Council of Ministers, the Central Bureau of Investigation was being misused to target political opponents such as the former Chief Ministers of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and the office of Governors was being used to install minority Congress governments in power. Tension was sought to be created between the âsacrosanctâ institutions of judiciary and the legislature, he alleged.
âWhen it had happened in the 70âs, the Left parties were with us. But now the Left have adopted a strange course. They want to influence the government from within and occupy opposition space outside. Time will tell how they will suffer,â he said.
Saying that inflation was high and was set to become higher, he said the government had not paid attention to the growth of infrastructure, ports, highways, rural roads, power sector reforms, high cost of health and education.
Package for farmers
On the farmersâ debt relief package, he said: âEverybody, even members of the Treasury benches, are questioning from where the Rs. 60,000 crore will come if there is no budgetary provision for it. The government did nothing for four years and, in its fifth year, resorts to desperate economics before elections. If it can be done without budgetary support, we will hail Mr. Chidambaram as the greatest magician.â
Mr. Jaitley also charged the government with divisive politics and religion-based reservation.
On the Rama Sethu project, he said the government in its affidavit had left it to the Supreme Court to decide.
It had not fulfilled its promises on the Womenâs Reservation Bill and the Telangana issue. With approaching general election, internal security had been pushed to the background for vote-bank politics, he said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will give his reply to the discussion on Wednesday.
<b>Sangma moves SC over Governor decision </b>
Guwahati/New Delhi, March 11: The Nationalist Congress Party leader, Mr Purno A. Sangma, on Tuesday <b>moved the Supreme Court challenging Meghalaya Governor S.S. Sidhuâs decision to invite the Congress to form the government in the state</b>.
Pleading Mr Sangmaâs case before a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice, Mr K.G. Balakrishnan, senior advocate, Mr Soli Sorabjee, claimed that though the NCP-led Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) had the support of 31 MLAs in the 60-member House, <b>the Governor had invited a party with a lesser number of MLAs to form the government. The court has posted the matter for Wednesday.</b>
The Congress, with 25 MLAs, had emerged as the single largest party but six short of a majority, and was invited by the Governor to form the government. The Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) had paraded 30 MLAs twice before the Governor and also staked its claim. In the petition, Mr Sangmaâs son, Mr Conrad K. Sangma, contended that the Governor was bound to invite the post-poll alliance of NCP, BJP, UDP and KHNWM (Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement) as it had a clear majority.
"The Governor cannot exercise any discretion when members constituting the majority are physically present before him. He is bound to invite the leader of such an alliance under Article 163 of the Constitution," the petition said. The MPA said the invitation to Mr D.D. Lapang and his swearing-in as chief minister and the granting 10 daysâ time to the Congress to prove its majority were illegal. would promote horse-trading.
Speaking to reporters from Shillong, Mr Sangma, who resigned from the Lok Sabha on Monday, said: "We have filed the petition against the governorâs decision, which is undemocratic and unconstitutional." Defending his decision to call the Congress, Mr Sidhu, who is a former bureaucrat, told reporters: "The MPA is not a pre-poll alliance and under such a situation, the single largest party should be called to form the government according to convention."
He also clarified that the leader of the single largest party was given an opportunity to form the government in order to prevent the possibility of horse-trading. In Nagaland, meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland on Tuesday staked its claim to forming the government in that state. A joint statement by Nagaland Peopleâs Front president Shurhozelie, state BJP chief Ato Yepthomi and NCP state head Sulangthung Lotha said: "We will continue to play the role of a facilitator to the ongoing peace talks in finding an honourable and acceptable settlement to the Naga political problem."
The NPF-led DAN paraded 34 MLAs, including four Independents, on Sunday before governor K. Shankararaynan to stake its claim to forming the government.
Nagaland Raj Bhavan sources said the process of inviting political parties to form the government was delayed because of some formalities, including the fact that the President has to dissolve the 10th Nagaland Legislative Assembly. The Election Commission too has to issue a notification constituting the new Assembly.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>PM next to Aurangzeb, reiterates BJP </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
After its comment comparing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with Mughal emperor Aurangzeb getting expunged from the proceedings of the Lok Sabha, the BJP has hit back at the PM saying it sticks to what was said.
"I would like to repeat the comparison again. We feel the PM is only next to Aurangzeb for saying Muslims have the first right on country's resources. Aurangzeb also brought in the concept of jizya to tax non-Muslims and the PM is also speaking in the same tune," BJP's deputy leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said.
PM's statement, Malhotra said, is not only objectionable and condemnable, but by saying this he is behaving like Mughal rulers.
<b>Malhotra said of the 36 crore people living below poverty line (BPL), 30 crore are from the Hindu community and only 6 crore are from the Muslim. "Although there should not be any discrimination against the Muslims, discrimination towards the Hindus in the country is highly unfortunate,"</b> he said.
The BJP also opposed scholarship to Muslim students, saying merit and need should be the only criteria for scholarships. It also held Congress responsible for the plight of the Muslims in the country saying,<b> "Of 61 years of independence, 50 years have been of Congress rule and of it 45 years had been by one family. One can infer who is responsible for the minorities' plight."</b>
Malhotra alleged the policy followed by the Government was that of "perverted secularism".
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Advani calls on Sonia with book, stumps Cong
Express News Service
Posted online: Monday, March 24, 2008 at 2322 hrs Print Email
New Delhi, March 23 : BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani's gesture to call on Congress president Sonia Gandhi to greet her on Holi and present her his autobiography My Country, My Life has left Congressmen mumbling and fumbling for words. The ruling party officially welcomed the move, even as party leaders tried to decipher the purpose behind the visit of the senior BJP leader whose relations with Sonia have been anything but cordial since she became Congress president a decade back.
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AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Advani's "spontaneous gesture" was met "in equal spirit" by the Congress president. "The Leader of the Opposition sought an appointment with the UPA chairperson, which he got. It is okay in democracy," said another spokesperson, Shakeel Ahmad.
Senior party leaders, however, insisted that nothing should be read in their meeting as he met both the UPA chairperson and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to present his book. Advani and his wife spent 20 minutes at 10 Janpath and politics did not figure in their talks, said sources. "This meeting would have little bearing on the relations between the two parties in future," added the source.
Questioning the "sincerity" of Advaniâs gesture, a senior leader pointed out that the book he presented to the Congress president contained several critical references to Sonia and it was "unfair" on the part of the Opposition leader to seek an appointment with her to present such a book. In his autobiography,
Advani has critically dealt with Sonia's foreign origin issue, the familyâs links with Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, and her unsuccessful attempt to form the Government in 1999.
"In his new status as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, he knows that he will need wider acceptability a la Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He has to shed his Iron Man image and project himself as a flexible politician. His visit to 10 Janpath should be seen in that context," said a senior Congress leader and minister.
Epithets used by senior leaders to describe Advani's visit ranged from "drama", "charade" to "political masterstroke". They sought to decipher the political points Advani was purportedly trying to score through his visit. In one stroke, Advani, who recently rued communication gap between him and the Congress president, sent out a message â that he was ready to go an extra mile to bridge this gap, opined Congress sources.
His gesture to call on Sonia along with his wife to present his autobiography â despite the fact that she and the entire Congress had spurned his invitation to his book release function in the Capital last week â was in consonance with his advice to Rahul Gandhi during their chance meeting at an airport that the two mainstream parties were political adversaries, and not enemies.
<b>
Rahul asks youth to press for internal democracy in parties</b>
Mysore (PTI): "At 37, I am an old person in India. Majority of India is younger than me," said Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi asking the youth to plunge into politics and prevail upon political parties to usher in internal democracy.
Noting that 70 per cent of India's population is young, Gandhi, on a campaign trail ahead of the assembly elections in Karnataka, said while old (people) are to be respected for their experience, there is value and strength in youth as well. "In a sense, youth is the future".
Lamenting that political parties lacked internal democracy, the Nehru-Gandhi family scion asked the youth to raise their voice to highlight the issue.
"Youth should ask the question: When there is democracy in poll booth, why does it not exist in political parties", Gandhi asked at a function at Nanjangud, near here, on Tuesday evening.
"No body is asking this "fundamental question... why is it that in a democratic country where everybody has vote, the same spirit is missing in political parties," he said.
He urged the youth to enter politics and make it different and bring refreshing change by "resisting the same game that every politician plays".
Ya!! he is calling for internal democracy, how about starting from his own party?
When this die-nasty will end.
Gandhi surname gives an edge in politics, admits Rahul
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Posted online: Thursday , March 27, 2008 at 12:57:17
Updated: Thursday , March 27, 2008 at 01:20:11
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Mangalore, March 27: Calling for making the present political system a more "open" one, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi admitted that he has an edge in politics due to his surname.
Gandhi said that his progress in the present Indian political system would not have been easy if he was not "connected to somebody".
The Congress leader who was addressing students of Manipal College at the TMA Pai International Convention Centre in Mangalore added, "I am a prominent face of the problem."
Replying to a query by a student whether he would have joined politics if he was just a normal youth without the Gandhi surname, he said, "I would try to be in politics but progress would not have been easy if I was not connected to somebody."
Taking part in an hour long discussion with students whom he termed as future leaders, Gandhi agreed with the observation that the "present political system was a closed system and also one that is destructive."
He called on the students to challenge the present system to bring about a change and said, "With your help, we would like to bring these changes."
On a query regarding the influence of Mahatma Gandhi as the source of inspiration in politics for him, Gandhi said, "I like to choose the good in everybody as opposed to the bad."
Talking to the students on crucial issues including the Indo-US nuclear deal, Gandhi said he was "gaining knowledge of politics" and added "It is time to look at the rest of the world not as a challenge but as an opportunity to advance and succeed."
Agreeing that respecting various ideas in the Indian polity was needed, he said it was important for everyone to understand things before talking.
"I am in the business of respecting your ideas and would not like to talk about things I myself do not understand," he told students.
On a five-day tour of poll bound Karnataka, Gandhi has planned his programme with several interactions with students and youths.
The interactions range from those with tribals, fishermen to IT professionals, engineering students and differently-abled children.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Gandhi surname gives an edge in politics, admits Rahul<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
His grand-pa Feroze used to spell it as 'Gandhy' (from mother's side) before marrying Indira.
<b>Sonia Gandhi charged with hurting feelings of Hindus</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Muzaffarpur, March 27: A Muzaffarpur court has admitted a complaint against Congress president Sonia Gandhi charging her with outraging religious feelings of the Hindus in her portrayal as Goddess Durga in a poster at the party's Muradabad office in Uttar Pradesh.
District Judge H K Srivastava admitted the complaint filed by an advocate Sudhir Ojha against Gandhi, Uttar Pradesh and Muradabad district party presidents.
The charges were made under three Sections of IPC: Sections 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 295 (a) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefes) and 120(b) (criminal conspiracy).
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<!--QuoteBegin-dhu+Mar 27 2008, 09:59 AM-->QUOTE(dhu @ Mar 27 2008, 09:59 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->more from hero
We should not be scared of N-deal: Rahul Gandhi
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hmmm.. why does this seem so familiar? Yes of course Taslima was also a respected guest in India!! Now Dalai Lama will get the royal treatment! <!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
How shameless can this govt get?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->India sends warning to Dalai Lama
Indian foreign minister, Pranab Mukherjee
<b>Mr Mukherjee said the Dalai Lama was a "respected guest" in India</b> <!--emo& --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
India's Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee has warned the Dalai Lama against any political activity damaging to India's relationship with China.
Mr Mukherjee also stressed that the exiled spiritual leader would continue to be welcome in India.
The comments, which reiterate Delhi's position, come at a sensitive time, following anti-China protests in India.
Correspondents say the protests are embarrassing for the Indian government which is improving ties with China.
<b>
Speaking on Indian television, Mr Mukherjee said: "India will continue to offer him all hospitality, but during his stay in India, they should not do any political activity, any action that can adversely affect relations between India and China".</b>
Demonstrations
This policy has been in place since 1959, when the Dalai Lama fled his homeland, after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region.
He settled in the north Indian hill town of Dharamsala, which has been the site of recent protests against China.
Demonstrations have also been seen outside the Chinese Embassy in Delhi, after which Beijing summoned the Indian ambassador.
India has assured China that the Olympic torch will pass safely through the country.
But the country's football captain has refused to carry the torch. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
UPA is shameless government. Moron SIngh tail is between his legs and head in World Bank pension and hell to India. Whese these people are so found of China, why not move to China, I can bet India will never miss them.
Kura karat is calling for free Nagaland or Kashmir, I call for free India from Karat and his stooges.
04-05-2008, 02:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-05-2008, 02:14 PM by dhu.)
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> A decade, at the helm
By Sandhya Jain
In the midst of forced celebrations over Sonia Gandhiâs decade as Congress president and âcertificatesâ that her foreign origins no longer matter, some facts are too stark to be ignored.
The first is that Ms. Gandhiâs foreign origins are more relevant than ever as they are directly influencing the countryâs foreign policy.<b> Secondly, given the growing obduracy of missionaries in matters of conversion and the new political drive for SC-ST benefits for Christian converts, </b>the matter of Ms. Gandhiâs religious affiliation acquires a new dimension. T<b>his is reinforced by the calculated disappearance of her son, Rahul Gandhi, while on an official tour of Orissa, so as to interact with faith-based NGOs. </b>Finally, Ms. Gandhi has passed her political peak and is leading the Congress to irretrievable decline; the failure of the Amethi MP to make the grade and the determined thrust of BSP leader Ms. Mayawati only underline this trend.
While the domestic impact of Ms. Gandhiâs influence in foreign policy has yet to be assessed, the distortions she has wrought on Indiaâs foreign policy bear documenting. Most shocking is Indiaâs decision to vote against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency two years ago. An Indian government run by an Indian would have abstained, rather than annoy a friendly neighbour.
<b>Ms. Gandhi has put her entire weight behind the Indo-US nuclear deal, which all nationalist security experts, scientists and bureaucrats know will be the death-knell of Indiaâs independent nuclear programme. </b> There is no doubt that Washington will force New Delhi to buy most reactors from its obsolete industries in order to revive its dying economy; of course the deal impacted upon our relations with Teheran. Any other regime would have buckled under public pressure; only Ms. Gandhiâs dominance over the UPA and Congress keeps the deal alive.
<b>Even worse is Indiaâs handling of the Nepal crisis, where rent-a-crowd Comrades and foreign-funded NGOs were allowed to run amok, bring the illegitimate Maoists into the interim Parliament and dethrone the king. </b> <b>India abandoned the king because western missionaries have a major evangelical programme in the Himalayan kingdom.</b> In recent times, <b>King Gyanendra has told visiting Indian dignitaries that when the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Kathmandu with his wife when King Birendra was on the throne,</b> <b>Ms. Sonia Gandhi pounced on him and demanded the release of 90 foreign missionaries who had been arrested for conversion activities in the country. </b>
<b>Ms. Gandhiâs commitment to the evangelical agenda can be seen in the UPA decision to award Ms. Gladys Staines with the Padma Shri last year, </b>when it is well known that her husband and two sons were murdered because of tribal resentment over their conversion activities in Orissa. <b>More pertinently, Mr. Rahul Gandhi deliberately gave his security personnel and the Orissa government the slip in order to meet certain Christian NGOs secretly in Orissa. </b>This is an abominable situation and the nation will ignore the religious affiliation of the Gandhi family only at its peril. Its bears stating that the principal lesson of Indian history is that the people suffer when the religion of the ruler is different from the faith of the populace.
Finally, the rise and decline of Ms. Gandhi deserves critical scrutiny. Contrary to persistent Congress projection, she did not spurn political office by refusing the job of Prime Minister after the death of Mr. Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. The truth is that the Congress was in minority and no political party would have supported her candidature at that time. It was Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao who had the ability to steer a minority government and Ms. Gandhi and her loyalists only made his life difficult when he tried to act independently. Still Mr. Rao kept up enough pressure on her to force Mr. Quattrochi to flee the country. Ms. Gandhi used the UPA to get her countryman released in Argentina and walk off with the Bofors kickbacks money!
Worse, she disgraced Mr. Narasimha Rao after the Congress defeat in 1996, and physically removed his successor Sitaram Kesri in 1998 in order to assume the party presidentship. Some writers have credited Ms. Gandhi for daring to take the party into a coalition government, but that has more to do with the exigencies of the situation and the fact that BJP had previously headed a coalition with success. Here again, despite her best efforts, Ms. Gandhi could not persuade President Abdul Kalam to swear her in as Prime Minister and had to hand over the job to Dr Manmohan Singh. Her bards can say what they like, everyone knows that the lady was all set to be Prime Minister just one day before meeting the President, and her tune changed only after her fateful encounter with him.
Ms. Gandhi has in recent times led the party to a string of defeats, including the unexpected one in Nagaland. She is now clearly on the backfoot, and even sycophants like HRD Minister Arjun Singh openly assert in party forums that Congress is in a mess in the critical state of Uttar Pradesh, despite the best efforts of Mr. Rahul Gandhi. Those who understand the language of politics know that the old warhorse is saying that the Amethi MP has failed to attract voters wherever he has gone, despite the party machinery putting everything into his road shows.
<b>Meanwhile, India has failed to take a pro-active position on Tibet, no doubt because the American-UN hand is visible in the monk-led revolt, and Ms. Gandhi does not wish to upset the White House. </b>All in all, there can be little doubt that behind the fake smiles and colourful bouquets, Congress realizes the Sonia Gandhiâs ten years as Congress president are a curse in disguise. The party would do well to wind up the self-created dynasty and go back to creating leaders of the stature of Vallabhbhai Patel and Netaji Subhash Bose.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
about the last point, just because US has a tendency to fish in troubled waters in Tibet, does not mean Tibet can be overlooked as a legitimate security and humanitarian issue for India.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>CIC not transparent </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
How can it sit in judgement on others?
It is deeply unfortunate that the body responsible for examining complaints against public authorities under the Right to Information Act should itself be non-transparent in its workings. The preamble to the Right to Information Act, 2005 holds that democracy requires an informed citizenry and that transparency of information is vital to contain corruption and to hold accountable Governments and their instrumentalities to the governed. <b>The Central Information Commission has failed this test. It was exposed recently by an activist who found that the CIC was unable to furnish information about its own working when a query was put to it under the RTI Act. Most surprisingly, the staff of the CIC put up the same sort of resistance to parting with information which is a normal experience with Government departments and other public bodies and to correct which the CIC has been created. </b>The CIC was not able to furnish information about the number and status of cases and appeals pending before it. The reason given by the CIC is that it has maintained no records of judgements and orders or cases that are pending before it. This is a fault, and a serious one, in the running of the commission. The CIC had come in for stern criticism over its working, especially in its early months. There were reports of serious delays in deciding cases before it, which many times vitiated the very purpose of instituting an enquiry with public authorities in the first place. There is no doubt that the functioning of the CIC has improved over the months and there have even been some important interventions by it in favour of the people's right to information. Yet delays persist amid fears that the CIC may develop a backlog much like our courts.
A better appreciation of the functioning of the CIC might have been possible had it maintained records of its work, which it has not bothered to do. Now that it has been exposed as being no different from Government departments,<b> Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah has issued orders to maintain records. It remains to be seen whether the orders will be implemented or simply filed and forgotten. It is not in the interest of our country if the CIC functions inefficiently. </b>The RTI Act is at the teething stage of its implementation. There are many problems with its administration, including that of frivolous petitions. All these require the urgent attention of the information commissioners, who have instead whiled their time away - at the expense of tax-payers - unnecessarily pontificating in public on issues outside their jurisdiction.Â
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