<b>Bharat Teri Ganga Maili </b>
Sudheendra Kulkarni
Posted online: Sunday, February 03, 2008 at 2313 hrs IST
I was in Rishikesh last week to spend a few days at Parmarth Niketan, an ashram run by Swami Chidanand Saraswati on the bank of the Holy Ganga. This visit added to the cherished memories of several life-transformative events associated with my previous pilgrimages to Hardwar, Rishikesh, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkunt, all of them located in that spiritually enchanting part of India known as Dev Bhoomi, now carved out as the separate state of Uttarakhand.
The Ganga is believed to flow down from the Milky Way (Akash Ganga) and originate from the womb of the Himalayas at Gangotri. Can there be a better place to experience the eternalness and cosmic connection of India?
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was born in Prayag (Allahabad), the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, wrote in his will: "The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilisation, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga . . . the Ganga has been to me a symbol and a memory of the past of India, running into the present, and flowing into the great ocean of our future ..."
There is only one description in this incomparable tribute which, unfortunately, is no longer true. It is no more the " . . . the same Ganga," for both the river and the land around it are suffering from unimaginable environmental degradation. Plastic and litter have invaded its pristine environs, and the Ganga, after Hardwar, becomes increasingly maili (polluted) in the course of its onward journey. How can we Indians tolerate this disgrace to what Nehru rightly termed as a beloved symbol of our hoary culture and civilisation?
It is not just my visit to Rishikesh that sharpened my concern over this issue. Soon after my return, I learnt from K.N. Govindacharya, my friend, ideological colleague and an activist of indefatigable energy, about a unique new initiative that he and his colleagues have embarked upon. They have organised the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra, starting from Ganga Sagar in West Bengal on February 1 and going right up to Gangotri on March 6, as a mass-education and mass-mobilisation campaign to bring the issue of the river's defilement to the centre-stage of national debate. The campaign has been blessed by almost all the major jagadgurus and acharyas of various Hindu religious establishments.
Some Muslims like Dr Najmi Rehman of Allahabad are also associated with it, since they believe that, although Islam is their faith, their cultural roots are in the soil of the Ganga. The great Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal, whom Pakistan considers its national bard, said this about the river: "Ai aab-e-rood-e-Ganga / Voh din hai yaad tujh ko / Utra teyrey kinarey tha kaarwaan hamaara (Ye waters of the Ganga, Remember you the day, When our caravan reached your banks, And settled down to stay?)"
And Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, wrote this ode to India's sacred rivers: "Ganga Sindhu Narmada Kaberi Yamuna oi / Bahiya chalechhe ager matan / kai re ager manus kai../mouni stabdha se Himalay temni atal mahimamay . . . (Ganga, Sindhu, Narmada and Kaveri have been flowing down the ages. The Himalaya stands in silent greatness. Where have the people who saw them in the past gone?)"
The point is, the effort to save the Ganga and other rivers is a national issue, requiring the support of every section of our society.
The first major governmental initiative in this direction was the Ganga Action Plan, launched with much fanfare by Rajiv Gandhi in April 1985. His intention was good, but the result, after spending nearly Rs 1,000 crore over 15 years, was almost nil. This is principally because it was sought to be implemented, like all other government programmes, in a bureaucratic manner, with little effort to involve the common people, religious leaders and their establishments, other political parties or, for that matter, even the Congress party's own Seva Dal. But there is no point in criticising the Congress.
<b>The moot question in today's context is: Is the BJP, which professes a nationalist ideology and draws inspiration from India's cultural and civilisational heritage, ready to adopt Nirmal Ganga (Clean Ganga) as a major commitment in its agenda for governance? Will the RSS, VHP and Hindu religious bodies channelise their enormous energies into a task dear and sacred to every Hindu around the world? </b>
Govindacharya told me that the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra is not only apolitical but also seeks the support and participation of leaders of all political parties. That is how it should be. Mother Ganga has united India. Now let all of us unite to perform our duty by her.
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/268373.html
<b>Basavaraj Bommai joins BJP</b>
DH News Service, Bangalore:
Link
Senior Janata Dal (U) leader and MLC Basavaraj Bommai, on Saturday, embraced the BJP along with several of his supporters.
With this, the BJP has grown stronger in Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum districts where Bommai is an influential leader.
Former MLA M S Akki and six corporators of Hubli-Dharwad city corporation are among several of Bommaiâs supporters who followed his footsteps.
Bommai, who is a son of former chief minister late S R Bommai, started his career in politics in 1976 as a student leader.
Bommai also worked as Political Secretary to J H Patel, when the latter was the chief minister.
Excerpts from an interview with Basaravaj Bommai:
<b>Why the sudden decision to quit the JD(U) after being with it for so long?</b>
I tried very hard to unite all factions of the Janata Parivar. It was in vain. So I decided to resign from the party. But it is not a desperate decision.
<b>Why did you chose the Bharatiya Janata Party?</b>
I chose the Bharatiya Janata Party because it is always anti-Congress, which was the basic principle of the then Janata Party of JP. Besides, the Janata Dal and the BJP have had tie ups on several instances in the countryâs political history.
Rest of herd is marching towards BJP, but where Gowda will march? Cong or BSP
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Feb 10 2008, 09:49 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Feb 10 2008, 09:49 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Rest of herd is marching towards BJP, but where Gowda will march? Cong or BSP
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Gowda joining BSP is next to impossible. Reasons are:-
1) BSP does not have an ground support in Kar. There is not even one BSP MLA from Karnataka. The only leader who is visible in BSP is Mayawati and Mayawati has no support in Kar. Some former JD(S) leaders have joined BSP in recent years but there are all marginal leaders and not some well known leaders.
2) BJP, Cong and JD(S) are the 3 main parties in Kar. Gowda cant join BJP because no one trusts him there after his recent back stabbing them by refusing to support them in forming the government.
3) Gowda cant join Cong because one of the former leader of JD(S) Siddaramiah has joined Cong. Sidda was an deputy CM of Kar in the JD(S) gov but fell out of Gowda's favour after he started having ambitions of becoming JD(S) party president. Gowda wanted and eventually made his son the party leader.
Now that Sidda is in JD(S) he will not let Gowda join Cong, otherwise he will get again marginalised inside the party.
When will Sonia Gandhi join BJP? <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:blink:--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blink.gif' /><!--endemo-->
from Pioneer.com
<b>Natwar quits Cong, joins BJP rally </b>
Lokpal Sethi | Jaipur
In an effort to retain Jat support in the State, the ruling BJP on Wednesday staged a huge rally in Jaipur on the 300th anniversary of the Jat ruler of Bharatpur--Maharaja Suraj Mal.
Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and his MLA son Jagat Singh, who stand expelled from the Congress, were the star attractions at the rally, which was one of the biggest gatherings of Jats in recent years. Despite opposition from the Jat Mahasabha, a large number of Jats from every part of the State turned up at the rally, which was addressed by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. The rally was held under the banner of Maharaja Surajmal Foundation
Natwar Singh, who had resigned from the Government, on Wednesday announced his resignation from the Congress but parried questions whether he planned to join the BJP. He made the announcement in the presence of Vasundhara Raje. "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, adds PTI.
The Jat event was organised close on the heels of the party's Rajput rally two weeks back to commemorate the anniversary of legendry Rajput leader Tan Singh.
One thing BJP could do is to capture the attention and imagination of the youth. An organization's strength needs to come from the grass roots. As India's middle class keeps rising, there are many folks who will have access to the Internet. BJP needs to work the youth at various levels using the internet: youtube, orkut, myspace etc.
A site like DailyKos would be a step in the right direction.
One can argue, out of 1.2 billion only a tiny percentage will have the means to read the Internet regularly. The intention is not to make those tiny percentages to vote for BJP, the intention is to make those tiny percentages go and do grass root work to campaign and reach out to the masses.
Tarun Vijay to head BJPâs think tank
Beware plot to put off poll: BJP
Special Correspondent
Move on delimitation questioned
Fresh rolls can be readied in two weeks
BANGALORE: Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday urged the Election Commission not to âfall preyâ to the bid by the Congress and the Union government to put off the Karnataka Assembly polls.
Addressing a press conference here, he alleged that the Congress had âhatched a conspiracyâ to put off the polls, which were supposed to be held before May-end (before six months of dissolution of the Assembly).
The Centre sent the notification on delimitation of constituencies to the President at a time when the constitutional deadline for holding the elections was nearing.
Mr. Naidu wondered why the Centre decided to act on the delimitation issue only now though the Commission had submitted its recommendations several months ago.
Using IT tools, it would be possible to prepare fresh electoral rolls for the newly drawn up constituencies within two weeks, he said.
âKarnataka is a test case for the UPA government and the Election Commission to know if they would uphold constitutional norms, and all eyes are on the Election Commission.â
MPs plan dharna
Karnataka BJP president D.V. Sadananada Gowda said all MPs of the party from the State would stage a dharna in front of the Parliament House on Thursday to draw the Prime Ministerâs attention to the problems of sugarcane farmers. They would also seek his intervention to prevent Tamil Nadu from going ahead with implementing drinking water and hydel power projects at Hogenakkal, Mr. Gowda said.
PM has no business with Nagaland poll: BJP
Kohima (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Nagaland to canvass for Congress candidates has come under severe criticism from the BJP which took a broadside against him saying he has no moral right to seek votes as he failed to realise any of his commitments made for northeast.
"For what business has he (Prime Minister) come to Nagaland ahead of the assembly election? He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam but what has he done for the people of the region?" BJP national vice president and former minister Juel Oram asked.
Singh came here only on the eve of assembly election and not earlier, Oram told reporters at Dimapur.
Alleging that Congress never gave any attention to the northeast, the BJP leader blamed the party for problems faced by the states.
Oram also dared Congress to prove allegations of misappropriation of Central fund by the DAN government during the past five years.
"The Congress is launching misinformation campaign to tar the secular image of BJP, as it is worried over spurt in BJP's popularity in every part of the country, including Nagaland," Oram said.
I read that the BJP was surprised by the farmers' loans waiver in the budget. However if anyone was tracking the info in the this IF thread it would not be a surprise for atleast some of us
Farmers' Protection Act
I wonder, what will be the impact of nuke deal on BJP? Current assumption is that left will pull down UPA if they go ahead to sign the deal, and if the deal is not signed the whole charade will fall on the face of UPA. Either way, it is win for BJP.
Based on the discussions and reports on the BRF, indications are that the deal will be signed. Since the general elections are very near and not wanting to share responsibility for lack of governance by UPA, I think the left will pull down the goverment immediately after the deal is signed. So UPA and left will try to split the pro-deal and anti-deal votes - basically urban votes.
Where does BJP stand in this situation? Only thing BJP can argue is that left should have pulled down UPA before the deal was signed, and by pulling down after the deal was signed left was actually supporting the deal. Depending on the media campaign on the deal and budget impact, the advantage for BJP may not be there.
I think BJP should prepare for this scenario, and start its own campaign for better renegotiation of the deal and against UPA's surrender of India's nuclear sovereignity. The left must be challenged to pull down the UPA government well before the deal is signed. It should create an environment such that if the deal is signed, majority of citizens are skeptics of the deal, question the moral right for a minority govt. to sign an important deal and people's views are aligned with that of BJP.
<!--emo&  --><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Rajni, Modi bhai, bhai? Cho thinks so
Rajnikanth and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi
Chennai: Veteran commentator Cho Ramaswamy has compared Rajnikanth with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying they are "similar" and that southern cinema's superhero will make a good chief minister.
"They both strictly follow the principles of Mahabharata," Ramaswamy said at a function here where the audio of the book "The Name Is Rajnikanth" by Gayathri Srikanth was released Thursday evening.
"Rajnikanth is a good administrator. If he enters politics and becomes the chief minister, he will take Tamil Nadu towards prosperity", Cho, known to be a critic of both the DMK and AIADMK brand of politics, said.
"Honesty and probity are in short supply in politics today. If Rajnikanth comes to power, he will bring in a corruption-free government." "His concern for the common man and his grasp on international issues deserve special mention", Cho added.
"The book is a good attempt at recording the events in the life of an actor who achieved success after crossing several hurdles. Rajnikanth was no hypocrite as he accepts his failures and shortcomings in his life openly in the book", noted D R Karthikeyan, former director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Published by Om Books International, the book is being translated into Tamil and Japanese. The 384-page book includes 100 pictures and costs Rs 495.
Source: Indo-Asian News Service
<b> Rajasthan revives anti-conversion Bill</b>
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Jaipur, March 18: Vasundhara Raje Government has reintroduced the Freedom of Religion Bill in the Assembly, which is likely to come up for discussion on Friday.
The new Bill gives the Government the power to cancel registration of societies and trusts, where it is found that the âfunds of the body have been used, or are being used or are contemplated to be used for conversion; or the body is involved in securing conversion.â
The Raje Government had first introduced the Rajasthan Dharm Swatantrya Bill in 2006, which was returned unsigned by the then Governor of Rajasthan, Pratibha Patil, as she found it affecting the Fundamental Rights of a person. The Cabinet again sent the Bill to the Governor without making any amendments. The Governor, after holding it back for almost a year, forwarded it to President APJ Abdul Kalam in June 2007.
The 2006 Bill was introduced in the Assembly after Hindu groups began <b>opposing a Christian organisation â Emmanuel Mission â in Kota.</b> The Raje Government had then claimed that the Bill had been introduced to stop religious conversion by means of force, allurement or pressure.
Even as the fate of the 2006 Bill remains undecided, the Raje Government has now introduced the âRajasthan Dharm Swatantrya Bill 2008â with minor amendments. The most noticeable change in the new Bill is that it is mandatory for a person intending to convert to give a 30-day notice to District Magistrate.
As per the new Bill, the respective District Magistrate will hold the necessary enquiry to ensure that the person is not converting under any pressure. On the other hand, a person converting back to his original religion does not require to give a notice.
Like the 2006 Bill, the minimum punishment will be two years simple imprisonment and the maximum punishment could be five years and a fine, which could extend upto Rs 25,000. Besides, the new Bill has a provision to punish even minors, which would be a minimum of one year and a maximum of three. <b>Moreover, it has a provision to cancel the registration of societies and trusts who are found involved in conversion activities.</b> [Right step. Dismantle the group that tries to fraudulently convert people]
<b>What the Bill proposes</b>
â¢It is mandatory for a person intending to convert to give a 30-day notice to District Magistrate.
â¢The DM will then hold an enquiry to ensure that the person is not converting under any pressure.
â¢However, a person reverting to his original religion does not require to give a notice
⢠The registration of societies and trusts found to be involved in conversion will be cancelled.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b> Anti-Conversion bill passsed in Rajasthan</b>Â <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Thu, Mar 20, 2008
Jaipur, Mar 20 (PTI) A controversial bill banning religious conversion, returned by the then Governor Pratibha Patil in 2006, was today passed by the Rajasthan assembly amid noisy protests by the opposition.
<b>Rajasthan Dharma Swatantraya Bill, 2008, reintroduced by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje last week, prohibits conversion by use of force, allurement or fradulent means was passed by voice vote,</b> even as Congress, CPI(M) and Lok Janshakti Party MLAs demanded that it be referred to a select committee.
They also objected to the remarks of Home Minister G C Kataria and Law Minister G S Tiwari against Patil, who turned it down and referred it to the then President A P J Abdul Kalam. Interestingly, the BJP government in neighbouring Gujarat had recently witdrawn a similar legislation after it was returned by the state governor.
Kataria said a fresh bill was introduced last week as the old one passed by voice vote in 2006 was caught between the then state Governor and the President for assent.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Another good piece of legislation from BJP. May they continue their good work and successfully eliminate and defeat the EJ designs on India.
<b>How does BJPâs leadership differ from Congress?</b>
Link
March 20, 2008
<i>'There is no reservation for the top slot in BJP'</i>
<b>L.K. ADVANI LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION (LOK SABHA)</b>
The first and foremost difference between our two organisations is this: The Congress is dynastic, the BJP is democratic. There is a reservation policy for the top slot in the Congress. It is reserved in perpetuity for members of the Nehru family. Now look in contrast to the BJP.
In my party, leadership is not the birthright of any individual or family. I sometimes feel depressed that how brazenly an entire party has been appropriated and made into a family fiefdom and how slavishly Congressmen have resigned themselves to this appropriation. It is one of the saddest developments of Indian political evolution.
The three towering leaders from BJPâDr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who founded the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951; Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, who was the chief ideologue and guide of the Jan Sangh; and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, became leaders on the strength of their own personality. They did not belong to any big family, nor did they have any great inheritance that brought them to the top.
India has so far had six Congress prime ministers out of which three have belonged to the Nehru family. Of the others, the tenure of Lal Bahadur Shastri was tragically short. However, both in the case of P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh, a conscious and sustained attempt has been made to emphasise that real power resides not at 7 Race Course Road but at 10 Janpath.
I used the word Kremlinisation in the context of the current Congress leadership when I criticised the present prime minister. I said this kind of situation prevailed only in the erstwhile Soviet Union. India is a democracy yet how is it that today 10 Janpath has become more important than 7 Race Course Road? It is this kind of Kremlinisation of Indian polity that makes me criticise a person whom I still hold in great esteem. But I did say this is the weakest prime minister India has ever had. I feel sympathy for the present prime minister. His predicament is his own making. The authority of the office of prime minister is enormous.
The Congress culture has brought âdynastyâ even into the nomenclature of government schemes, in terms of projecting who is a great man of this country. I had an occasion to talk about this in the Parliament while debating the Motion of Thanks to Presidentâs address. I said I was both bemused and disturbed when I went through the address to see that all the schemes and projects mentioned in it have been named after one single family. Look at the list: Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission... I said, Mr Prime Minister, hasnât India produced any other great men or women. Sixty years have passed and this country has produced people like Sardar Patel, Jaiprakash Narayan, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, Annadurai, Morarji Desai... but not one of this strikes you, but only one family, only one dynasty? Mr Prime Minister, even a Narasimha Rao doesnât strike you? Dr Singh had no answer. The fact is that although he is the prime minister, he has only the title but no authority.
Another salient difference pertains to our contrasting approaches to coalition management. The credit of providing the first stable, successful and purposive coalition government goes to BJP and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. At one point we had over 24 parties in the NDA. But we scrupulously followed the coalition dharma. Indeed the very term coalition dharma is the BJPâs contribution to the lexicon of Indian democracy.
Contrast this with the way the Congress has been managing the United Progressive Alliance and its relations with the Left Front that provide crucial support to the Government. There is no mutual trust, no cohesive vision to a larger national goal. In the NDAâs common minimum programme, we did not include some of the items we were very particular about. If our party strength has increased from two to 190, one major factor was our campaign against pseudo-secularism. Crores of people of this country regard a particular place as Ram Janmabhoomi, the birth place of Rama, and if they want to construct a temple there, whatâs wrong? Ayodhya brought us to power. But coalition politics has its compulsions. A coalition can be formed only when there is an agreed programme. In agreeing to that programme, we left aside Ayodhya, our desire to have Article 370 scrapped, and our demand for a uniform civil code in the country.
Through a process of dialogue and persuasion, the allies agreed to our commitment to India as a nuclear weapon power. When they agreed we added that to our common minimum programme and within two months had the Pokhran II explosion. But they (Congress) have not even mentioned the nuclear treaty in their common minimum programme. And the prime minister goes on saying, the deal is non-negotiable. If the Left doesnât agree with it, he says in a newspaper interview, let them go. This is not coalition dharma. When a majority of MPs are not in favour, why are you pursuing it?
Even on national security, our approach isâlet the terrorists know that this is the leadership whose attitude towards terrorism is of zero tolerance. The Agra Summit collapsed because we refused to succumb to Musharraf. He didnât want to include his commitment to ending cross-border terrorism in the joint statement. I was criticised for that though it was a decision taken by the entire cabinet on security.
BJP represents the future of India whereas the Congress, which was once a common platform of great national leaders, represents much of what has gone wrong in Indiaâs recent past. In leadership qualities IQ may be important but EQ i.e. emotional quotient is even more important. And still more important are the moral quotient and spiritual quotient. It is in this respect that there is a difference between the leadership of the Congress and the leadership of the BJP.
<b>Discussion
Q. In the BJP there is a Double A dynastyâAtal and Advani. During the past 30 years, the party could not think beyond the two.</b>
Advani: In our party there isnât any kind of dictatorship. We have interaction with all and if the party feels that Advani has done something wrong, Advani has to pay for it and he has paid for it.
<b>Q. What would you protectâ democracy or secularismâwhen a contradiction occurs like it did in Gujarat?</b>
Advani: There is no contradiction. I remember understanding the meaning of secularism from Golwalkar. He said Indian polity has never accepted theocracy and that it was ironical that the government, without much thought, has accepted the symbol of Ashokaâs Buddhist rule as a national symbol. I am of the view, that criticising the emblem is wrong. Once having accepted Jan gan man as the national anthem, there should be no debate on whether it should have been Vandematram. Secularism is part of our structure, it comes naturally to us.
<b>Q. What is the BJPâs appeal for young Indians who are educated, informed and smart?</b>
Advani: My biggest complaint against the Congress is that as far as security is concerned, the party interest matters more than national interest. The government refuses to honour the Supreme Court verdict on Afzal Guru. Votebank politics has distorted politics. The youth can contribute a lot here.
<b>Q. During the Kandahar hijack, militants were released. Do you really mean to fight terrorists or is it just an electoral strategy?</b>
Advani: Agra failed because we intended to fight terrorists. As for the hijack, I had the limitation of being part of the government. It was felt by various parties that the passengers should be rescued.
For full coverage of conclave log on to http://www.indiatodayconclave.com/
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