Pioneer rocks Parliament
October 08, 2010 10:15:17 PM
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
Spectrum scandal exposé disrupts both Houses; Opposition seeks explanation from Govt
Telecom Minister A Raja was on Wednesday at the receiving end following fresh revelations on the 2G spectrum scandal by The Pioneer about his nexus with a woman public relations lobbyist, who played a key role in the scam. The report was based on excerpts from authorised telephone intercepts of Nira Radia and showed that she was in touch with Raja.
The AIADMK, BJP and the Left parties waved copies of The Pioneer in the two Houses of Parliament and sought explanation from the Government on the news item. They also demanded the Minister’s dismissal. Senior Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav also brandished a copy of the newspaper and, at one point, entered the well in protest.
The ruckus generated so much heat that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee lost his cool in the Lok Sabha when he found it difficult to present the finance Bill.
As soon as both Houses assembled for the day, the AIADMK and the Left members rushed to the well in the Lok Sabha displaying copies of The Pioneer and demanding an explanation from the Prime Minister on the outcome of the CBI investigation into the alleged allocation scam.
The Rajya Sabha too was disrupted on the issue. The AIADMK members, led by V Maitreyan, raised the issue even before the Question Hour started. Maitreyan wanted action against Raja. The BJP members too registered their protest on the issue.
Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Arun Jaitley said, “We have a news report which appears to indicate a case of authorised tapping of telephones. Not only is it authorised but, for some curious reason, the contents of what is recorded are also freely available.”
Jaitley wanted to know whether leaders of industry, corporate heads and corporate lobbies were involved in the allocation of portfolios by the Prime Minister and whether the entire 2G spectrum allocation was being guided by these kinds of people.
Quoting The Pioneer, he said, “This appears from the contents of the recordings, which are reported in the newspaper. This is a very serious issue. Was it authorised? How is it available in the market? The Government certainly needs to come out with a response on both these issues.”
Meanwhile, Maitreyan started displaying copies of The Pioneer, to which Chairman Hamid Ansari objected. Maitreyan said the issue should be discussed immediately. Intervening in the matter, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said it was an important issue and it needed to be discussed. “This is violative of the judgement of the Supreme Court, which said that phone tapping is illegal,” he said.
Taking strong exception to the disruption of the House, Ansari said, “The Chair has watched with great distress constant disruption of the Question Hour in this session. If the Question Hour is that irrelevant, then the Chair exercises the right of invoking Rule 38 and shifting the Question Hour… I shall give a decision on this in the course of the day.”
Despite his observation, the Opposition continued shouting and forced Ansari to adjourn the House till noon.
In the Lok Sabha, the AIADMK and the Left members rushed to the well and displayed copies of The Pioneer report, demanding an explanation from the Prime Minister on the outcome of the CBI probe into the alleged scam.
Observing that making allegations was against the rules, Speaker Meira Kumar said members should raise the issue during Zero Hour. The members then went back to their seats, and the Question Hour continued.
In the Zero Hour, AIADMK leader M Thambiduari raised the issue again, saying the scandal was worth over Rs 1 lakh crore and the Prime Minister must take note of it. “I would like to bring to your notice a very important matter of urgent public importance, which is also a matter of propriety of this House and of the Government. The whole country knows that because of the Minister’s wrong policy, the nation has lost Rs 1 lakh crore. Whenever we raise this issue, the Minister rejects it,” Thambidurai said amid strong protest from DMK leaders.
Raja was not present in the Lok Sabha and DMK leader TR Baalu, along with party colleagues in the Lok Sabha, objected strongly to the charges levelled against the Telecom Minister.
The House had to be adjourned for over one-and-a-half hour. There was no change in the scene when the House met again. Enraged over continuous protests, Pranab Mukherjee called the behaviour “disgusting” and asked the Opposition to allow the financial agenda to be completed. “Only 10 members are holding a House of 543 (to ransom). This is not fair. This is disgusting,” an angry Mukherjee said after the AIADMK members did not relent when he rose to present the finance Bill. The AIADMK has nine MPs in the Lok Sabha.
Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of the House, told the AIADMK members, “Most respectfully, I ask you to go back to your seats.”
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha pointed out, “There are records showing phone tapping. We had demanded that the Government form a joint parliamentary committee (JPC). What is the Government’s position?” Mukherjee assured the House that the budgetary process should be allowed to be completed and then all the issues, including IPL-gate, phone tapping and 2G spectrum, could be addressed.
“By Thursday, we hope to wind up the third leg of the Budget process and thereafter the Government will inform you (about discussion on issues raised in the House). There is time, please have some patience,” he said. The issues include 2G spectrum allocation, telephone tapping and the IPL controversy. “On all these issues, we will have the opportunity of holding discussions with various political parties. Either the Prime Minister or I will come to the House. But this will be done after the finance Bill is passed. I am not running away. The session is till May 7,” he said.
Reign of shady deals
June-Oct 2007: A Raja became Telecom Minister in May 2007. In the last week of October 2007, ignoring the objections of Telecom Secretary DS Mathur and Member (Finance) Manju Madhavan, he decided to grant new licences and 2G spectrum. Raja fixed the cut-off date for receiving application as Oct 31, 2007
Nov 1, 2007: The matter went to Law Ministry for clearance. Minister HR Bhardwaj opposed Raja’s move and wrote that the matter be referred to EGoM. He also warned the PM of Raja’s plan to allot spectrum without auction. Raja wanted to give licences/spectrum on the first-come-first-served basis price fixed in 2001
Nov 2, 2007: Ridiculing Bhardwaj, Raja wrote to the PM that Law Minister’s advice was “legally out of context”. Letter delivered at PM’s residence at 8.30 pm
Nov 2, 2007: PM asked for a freeze on all spectrum allocation activity and directed Raja to get his consent before taking any decision. Raja also asked to hold a transparent and competitive auction. PM’s letter delivered to Raja’s residence at 9.30 pm
Nov 2, 2007: Raja wrote back to PM, claiming he was committed to development of telecom sector but remained silent on auction. Letter delivered at PM’s residence at midnight
Nov 22, 2007: Finance Secretary D Subba Rao objected to the pricing policy and directed competitive auction
Dec 4, 2007: Telecom Secretary DS Mathur informed all senior DoT officials of PM’s direction, but Raja issued an internal note that the officials should obey his orders. The note snubbed Member (Finance) Manju Madhavan for “creating hindrances” in spectrum allotment
Dec 26, 2007: Raja wrote to PM that he had decided to go ahead with spectrum allocation on first-come-first-served basis on the rates fixed in 2001. Raja said he was “further enlightened by External Affairs Minister (Pranab Mukherjee) and Solicitor General GE Vahanvati to go ahead with his proactive plans”
Dec 31, 2007: Telecom Secretary DS Mathur retired and Manju Madhavan took VRS. Raja brought in Siddharth Behura as new Secretary, who had worked with him as Additional Secretary in Environment Ministry
Jan 3, 2008: PM did not respond to Raja’s letter; sent an acknowledgement
Jan 10, 2008: DoT issued a Press release at 2.45 pm, stating that the cut-off date was changed from October 1, 2007, to September 25, 2007. It asked the telecom operators to remit fee through demand draft between 3.30 pm and 4.30 pm. It is still a mystery as to how companies arranged DDs worth about Rs 1,600 crore and submitted the same within an hour
Investigative agencies got information that all the nine company owners/brokers who submitted the fee through DDs had a meeting with Raja a day earlier at his residence and were informed about the new cut-off date. The date was advanced because Raja’s favourite company, Unitech, had applied on September 24, as also another favourite, Shyam Telelink
Jan 14, 2008: TRAI chairman Nripendra Misra’s wrote to Behura and objected to the policy, change in cut-off date and manipulation of recommendations. Misra said his recommendations were “cherry-picked” by Raja More on Page 5
Jaya seeks Raja’s scalp
Chennai: After The Pioneer come out with startling revelations on the 2G spectrum scam, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday reiterated her demand for the dismissal of Telecom Minister A Raja. She also demanded that the CBI official investigating the scam, Vineet Agarwal, who was recently transferred, be brought back to continue with the probe.
In a statement, Jayalalithaa termed the transfer as a rude shock.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/252470/Pioneer-rocks-Parliament.html
Articles in this blog are copied and pasted from various other sites. I want to create at least a minimum awareness among people to understand our politicians and religion. This will help our nation to weed-out corruption at all level
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Sun out in the cold
Kalaignar, DMK’s new channel, is making a concerted effort to edge out the market leader Sun TV
proclaims the arrival of Kalaignar TV. The new channel isn’t Sun’s baby. Rather, it is a rival’s. The hoarding paradox could flummox those uninitiated with Tamil Nadu’s politics and media. The fact is that Sun broadcasts out of the DMK party headquarters, with which it has shared an extremely cosy relationship until recently. In fact, Sun was something the DMK helped promote 14 years ago. They fell out in early May this year when Sun’s affiliate newspaper Dinakaran published an opinion poll on who would replace Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, also the DMK chief. Angered, the DMK decided to back a brand new channel to counter Sun. Kalaignar (Tamil for ‘artiste,’ which is one of Karunanidhi’s titles) is its answer. The new channel reportedly has shareholding by members of Karunanidhi’s family. Significantly, it is being headed by Sharad Kumar, an old friend and associate of Maran.
components: soaps and movies. At the national level, where rivals have a vastly bigger Hindi audience to tap into, Sun’s programmes account for a fourth of the top 100 programmes, and almost all of it are soaps. Also, Sun is said to hold the rights for 60% of the Tamil movies made till date. But what backs the content is the ground distribution, which Sun controls through an arm called Sumangali Cable Vision. Maran knows the value of distribution; two years ago, it had been reported how he held back plans to move beyond South (with a channel in Bengali) when he failed to win a bid for distributor RPG Netcom. Maran could not be reached for an interview for this story.
But, it is not going to be all that easy for the new challenger. The official of Sun’s rival channel says, "The loyalty developed by Sun wasn’t built in a day. Though Kalaignar is likely to follow the same content strategy, and has wooed a large number of Sun’s personnel, it would certainly find swapping viewership loyalty tough. It would have to sweat it out." Also, "how and when the distribution foray of the government is likely to happen is to be seen."
A hoarding inside Sun Network’s headquarters, facing Chennai’s arterial road Anna Salai,
 |
The media-crazy state of Tamil Nadu, which enjoys one of the highest per capita access to cable television in the country, has seen a number of political parties backing TV channels over the years—some of the other examples being Jaya TV (AIADMK) and Makkal TV (PMK). From the point of view of that trend, Kalaignar’s entry is not against the run of play. The industry view, however, is that Kalaignar could be a tougher rival for Sun to handle than others.
Until now, Star Vijay, Jaya, Raj and the Doordarshan channel Podhigai could collectively, at best, clock a third of a viewership of Sun TV, Sun’s flagship channel. What’s more, in Tamil Nadu, the channel that has been a clear number two over the years has been Sun’s own KTV.
The result of such domination is the leverage that it has with production houses and advertisers. In its early days, recalls an industry executive, Sun used a model wherein it would sell, say, a 30-minute slot to a producer, who could then market airtime with advertisers. This system could be likened to an owner of an apartment who rents out individual houses.
As Sun gained in strength, it tweaked the system a bit: it started retaining a portion of that airtime, which it could market itself. In short, it developed a model wherein it could get both the fee for the slot as well as monies from ads. Today, Sun earns as much as Rs 2 lakh as fee from selling a 30-minute prime-time slot, and gets two to three minutes of airtime that it can sell to advertisers, says a source. For the same reason, it has been able to hold on to the card rate, perhaps the only Tamil channel to be able to do so. Prime time, a 10-second slot in Sun sells for Rs 25,000. Its nearest rival may get a fifth of that with some difficulty.
The over Rs 700-crore company’s hold on viewers hasn’t been a result of novel programming, says an official of a rival channel. Nonetheless, he adds, it hasn’t been shy of quickly launching take-offs of novel programmes of its rivals that have become popular.
Pull Factor
Sun’s content formula, which has only become more robust over the years, has two
| The new channel(Kalaignar) has managed to woo big upoduction houses such as AVM, as also some Tamil film directors to make soaps for it |
It is important to understand Sun’s model. Kalaignar seems to be largely mimicking it. Sharad Kumar didn’t respond to a questionnaire, but industry sources reckon the programming mix of Kalaignar would again hinge on soaps and movies. The new channel off the block, the sources add, has managed to woo big production houses such as AVM, which was with Sun till recently, as also some Tamil film directors to make soaps for it. Sun also has had to face competition in the movie rights market. Kalaignar has won the rights for the Rajinikant blockbuster Sivaji as well as the upcoming Kamal Hassan movie Dasavatharam. Also, the new channel, in an arrangement with Raj TV, could dig into the latter’s well-stocked library of movies. This war for movie rights is also proving to be a boon in disguise for the film industry. Says Oscar Ravichandran, a leading producer: "The increased competition for satellite rights means more money for producers, who can use it to fund more projects. This will also result in more investment in theatres and multiplexes (as more movies hit the screens). So it’s a win-win situation."
However, the focus on movies and soaps alone can’t ensure a good contest against Sun, as Jaya and Raj over the years have found out. Kalaignar will have something extra: ground support. The Government of Tamil Nadu has decided to enter the cable distribution business shortly. So, industry officials point out, last mile connectivity wouldn’t be a problem.
Fall From Heights
The coming of Kalaignar has had its impact on Sun’s stock, whose fall has been greater than other stocks in the floundering media segment (see: Stocktaking). A recent report by Media Partners Asia mentioned that Sun "has long enjoyed a virtual monopoly in the south but this is under threat following political change and fallout." Since the publication of this report, the Sun stock has gained some of its lost ground (which some analysts attribute to markets’ positive response to acquisition of a stake in Red FM) but it is still 29% off 52-week highs (according to the closing price on September 14).
A finance expert, who has kept tab of Sun’s evolution, says Kalaignar is "obviously a threat, as a part of Sun’s success has been no doubt due to political patronage." Says he: "The challenger is armed with an ammunition of funds, lineage and connections in the media world." The fact that the Sun stock has not fallen by a greater percentage validates the inherent strength of Maran’s business. "Having said that, viewership won’t shift in a hurry. And Maran wouldn’t wait for that to happen."
Analysts also believe that the ad pie is not going to grow significantly, so all channels playing the soap-and-movie game might take a hit if Kalaignar grows. Star Vijay, which has stayed away from this formula, might not be impacted in that case. A media planner agrees. "This is going to be the biggest competition Sun has had to face until now," he says. A situation the Sun chief has rarely been in. And, unlike other instances, where he used KTV (his number two channel) as a front to ward off competition, this battle could directly target Sun, says an industry executive.
No Smooth Sailing
| The coming of Kalaignar has had its impact on Sun’s stock, which saw a sharper fall than other stocks in the floundering media segment |
Kalaignar has to build viewership, says the media planner. Until now, Sun has been able to deliver reach to its advertisers. Such ability is useful in the ad market, conservatively estimated at Rs 350 crore (for Tamil Nadu). "With the kind of content that they are talking about, they can create a short-term impact," says the media planner. "But what’s vital is can they do it for the long-term. They haven’t had much time to plan this channel." He says the channel would get retail and film advertisers from Day One but the key would be wooing corporate advertisers, who make up two-thirds of the ad pie. The latter would like to wait for viewership numbers before committing itself in a major way.
Kalaignar apparently quoted Rs 10,000 for a 10-second slot for some prime time programming, which is twice what other Sun’s rivals could afford to do. This, when the channel was not even on air. But advertisers are waiting and watching. Surely, there’s much to watch in this part of the country.
http://business.outlookindia.com/inner.aspx?articleid=528&subcatgid=15&editionid=19&catgid=5
Dying of indifference
MATERNAL MORTALITY
One woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention, writes Kalpana Sharma.
10 September 2010 - "She gave birth, died. Delhi walked by". This was the headline of a six-column news item on the top of an inside page in Hindustan Times (29 August 2010). Illustrated with four telling photographs, the story was about a pregnant and destitute woman, who lay on the footpath of Delhi's busy and well-frequented Shankar Market, which is adjacent to the iconic Connaught Place. Thousands of people must have passed her, but no one spared a glance at what appeared a bundle of rags covered in a red cloth.
One woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention, writes Kalpana Sharma.
10 September 2010 - "She gave birth, died. Delhi walked by". This was the headline of a six-column news item on the top of an inside page in Hindustan Times (29 August 2010). Illustrated with four telling photographs, the story was about a pregnant and destitute woman, who lay on the footpath of Delhi's busy and well-frequented Shankar Market, which is adjacent to the iconic Connaught Place. Thousands of people must have passed her, but no one spared a glance at what appeared a bundle of rags covered in a red cloth.
On 26 July, this woman gave birth, unaided by anyone. The cries of the newborn infant caught the attention of some of the shopkeepers and one of them, the owner of a garment shop, picked up the baby. The mother apparently refused help and died on that same spot where she had given birth, four days later. The police came and removed her body and took the child, who had been in the care of the Good Samaritan until then, to a foster home.
This is an item that should have been on the front page of all our newspapers because it illustrates two things. One, the increasing indifference of people who live in our metro cities, who are so absorbed with their own lives that they don't even look around to see how other people survive or die. We have lost our ability to see, to feel. No one wants to get involved. There is a fear that you might be asked to commit more of your time, your resources, your emotions than you are willing to do. So our eyes glaze over, we look the other way and we walk away.
And two, it brings home the reality of maternal mortality in this country where even as we boast of becoming an economic super power and the media celebrates the few Indians who are joining the list of the richest in the world, millions of our women are dying in the process of giving birth to a child.
India's current Maternal Mortality Rate is 254 in 100,000 live births. Half of all maternal deaths in South Asia occur in five Indian states - Rajasthan, MP, UP, Bihar and Orissa. 
• A steep price for motherhood
• Who cries when mothers die? 
Countless more
One can just imagine with rains and the floods that have taken place in the last months how many more such nameless women there must be on the streets of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, a part of the thousands who have no shelter, who have to sleep out in the open. All our cities, particularly Delhi but other cities too, are in the midst of a huge construction boom. This is bringing in thousands upon thousands of people from the surrounding areas. Those who have a skill and find regular work in these construction sites are possibly provided temporary shelter by the contractors. But many more do causal work, as and when it is available. The rest of the time they do what they can to earn a few rupees everyday, sometimes send their children out to beg and find whatever place they can to sleep.
In Mumbai, for instance, the fancy new skywalks that have been built connecting railway stations to business hubs have become temporary homes for these homeless people. It is an eerie spectacle to see these bodies laid out in a row, all ages, men, women and children, some sleeping under mosquito nets strung to the side of the skywalk, somehow catching a few hours rest under the relentless yellow light that shines all night. By morning the skywalk reverts to being what it is meant to be, a pedestrian walkway. No one can complain or say anything because there is no solution. But what happens to the children, especially the small babies, what happens to the women, some of them fairly young who become pregnant and have no recourse to any healthcare?
For the other side of this tragic story from a busy street in our national capital is that one woman dies every eight minutes due to complications arising due to pregnancy such as sepsis, haemorrhage or obstructed labour. These deaths could be avoided if there is timely medical intervention. But such help is hard to come by if you live in a remote area or if you are poor woman in city or village. Even if you get some help, it is often too late to make a difference between life and death.
India's current Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) is 254 in 100,000 live births. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), half of all maternal deaths in South Asia occur in five Indian states - Rajasthan, MP, UP, Bihar and Orissa. We have committed ourselves as part of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to bring the MMR down to 109 by 2015, in just five years. Is that possible?
The central government has launched the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) to specifically address the problem. It provides cash incentives to women who choose institutional delivery in the belief that this will reduce maternal mortality. If we believe official data, then it would appear that many poor women are benefitting from the scheme. For instance, according to one report, two months before the destitute died in Delhi's Shankar Market, another poor woman living in an open park near the Nizamuddin Dargah was lucky enough to be found by an NGO that helped her get the benefits under this scheme. As a result, the baby girl she delivered in the park has a chance to live, she has a birth certificate unlike others like her, and the mother too is receiving healthcare.
Different reality
Sadly, just as the exception in the case of the woman who died on the street does not make the rule, neither does the woman who survived in the park. Cash incentives in this country have usually led to corruption and fudging of data. This is already evident from reports from Bihar and Jharkhand. Also, the media often remains content with reporting official figures without investing in investigating what is actually happening on the ground. The few investigative stories that do appear on healthcare tell a very different story. They inform us of the struggle poor women face to reach a hospital, how they are either turned away or have to wait as there are no trained personnel around. As a result, regardless of new schemes or incentives, they are either too weak to survive childbirth or die because the promised help never turns up.
Maternal mortality means women are dying of causes not related to diseases or epidemics. Their ability to survive something like childbirth is inextricably linked to poverty, malnutrition and the absence of basic healthcare. We can set ourselves all kinds of targets but a realistic plan to improve the survival chances of millions of Indian women is to ensure that our systems of healthcare actually cater to those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, women like that poor, nameless destitute in Delhi.
Kalpana Sharma
10 Sep 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Long Live Secular UPA
Muslim appeasement has crippled India
Thanks to UPA government’s policy of soft borders, Pak-Bangla nationals are infiltrating into India every-day changing the demographic map of various states in the country. And even before perpetrators of 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai could be punished, Mumbai faced fresh blasts on July 11, 2006 in trains which claimed about two hundred lives.
By J.G. Arora
Genocide and eviction of Hindus from Kashmir to be made refugees in their own country; frequent Pak-Bangla sponsored terrorist attacks on security forces, civilians and temples; continuation of Article 370 conferring a special status on Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir; infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla nationals into India to create one more Islamic country on Indian soil represent the bitter harvest of this suicidal appeasement.
Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru started “Haj subsidy” for Muslims in 1959 though such subsidy is anti-secular and though none of the 57 Muslim countries pays any such subsidy.
A large majority of Indian Muslims who demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population on creation of Pakistan stayed back in India, and did not go to Pakistan.
Sir Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”. Though India is being devoured bit by bit every day by its tormentors, India continues to appease them. Poisonous politics of appeasement has crippled India and ravaged its body and soul.
Genocide and eviction of Hindus from Kashmir to be made refugees in their own country; frequent Pak-Bangla sponsored terrorist attacks on security forces, civilians and temples; continuation of Article 370 conferring a special status on Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir; infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla nationals into India to create one more Islamic country on Indian soil represent the bitter harvest of this suicidal appeasement.
Long legacy
This hideous policy of appeasement started in 1921 when Mahatma Gandhi and Congress Party’s support to Indian Muslims’ demand for Khilafat (to install Sultan of Turkey as the Caliph) led to Moplah rebellion in 1921 in Malabar in which thousands of innocent Hindus were massacred by Muslims. And Hindus had nothing to do with British policy towards Turkey. Sir C. Sankaran Nair (1857-1934), a former judge of Madras High Court has described horrors of Moplah rebellion in his book “Gandhi and Anarchy”. But Mahatma Gandhi reportedly described Moplahs as “God fearing,” who “are fighting for what they consider as religion, and in a manner they are considered as religious.”
Persistent appeasement philosophy of Congress culminated in the Muslim League demanding Pakistan for Muslims in March, 1940, and creation of Pakistan in 1947 and eviction of Hindus and Sikhs from present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. But even after 1947, the same doctrine has guided successive Congress governments’ actions. Only a few illustrations of such countless actions are given here. Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru started “Haj subsidy” for Muslims in 1959 though such subsidy is anti-secular and though none of the 57 Muslim countries pays any such subsidy. And to placate Muslim uproar over Supreme Court’s judgement in Shah Bano’s case, the then Congress government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 and nullified the said judgement. And the same Congress which had rejected “Communal Award” in 1932 is now spearheading Muslim reservation in government jobs; and is sharing power with Muslim League which had demanded and got Pakistan. Besides, debunking nation’s security, after regaining power in 2004, Congress government repealed Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) the way it had repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in 1995. Besides, to please pro-Pakistan elements, UPA government is planning to withdraw security forces from Kashmir. But the most vexatious outcome of this capitulation is the demographic and terrorist invasion of India.
Demographic and terrorist invasion
In their bid to demolish and dismember India, Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, and its Bangladeshi counterpart are bent upon creating one more Islamic country on Indian soil for which they have illegally sent crores of their nationals into India.
AASU leader Sarbananda Sonowal took the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to Supreme Court. By its judgement dated July 12, 2005, Supreme Court struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 as unconstitutional; and termed Bangladeshi infiltration as “external aggression” and directed that “the Bangladesh nationals who have illegally crossed the border and have trespassed into Assam or are living in other parts of the country have no legal right of any kind to remain in India and they are liable to be deported.”
But instead of deporting the infiltrators, on Feb. 10, 2006, UPA government brought in the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order to nullify the Apex Court’s judgement. However, on December 5, 2006, Supreme Court quashed this Order also as illegal and unconstitutional, and called for a strict implementation of its earlier judgement dated July 12, 2005 “so as to ensure that illegal immigrants are sent out of this country.” Shockingly, despite the Supreme Court’s clear directions, no infiltrators have been deported by the government.
Rather, thanks to UPA government’s policy of soft borders, Pak-Bangla nationals are infiltrating into India every day changing the demographic map of various States in the country. And even before perpetrators of 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai could be punished, Mumbai faced fresh blasts on July 11, 2006 in trains which claimed about two hundred lives. And these attacks are in the long line of attacks Bharat has suffered since Muhammad bin Qasim’s Arab army’s attack in 711. And such attacks continue to hammer India due to government’s terrorist-friendly approach.
‘Settlement’ as against ‘appeasement’
Immediately after Muslim League demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population in March 1940, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wrote his book “Thoughts on Pakistan” in which he criticised the Congress policy of ‘appeasement’ of Muslims, and advocated the policy of ‘settlement’. As per Dr. Ambedkar, ‘appeasement’ sets no limits to the demands of aggressor. ‘Settlement’ does. Besides, appeasement increases aggressor’s aggression. Accordingly, Dr. Ambedkar held that as a ‘settlement’, creation of Pakistan would end constant appeasement.
Besides, as a ‘settlement’ of Hindu-Muslim conflict, Dr. Ambedkar suggested that exchange of Hindu-Muslim population must accompany partition of India. But despite Dr. Ambedkar’s counsel against appeasement, Congress kept on pursuing appeasement. In the 1945-46 elections, Muslims voted for the creation of Pakistan. And despite conceding Pakistan in 1947, Congress continues to cling to its policy of appeasement.
A large majority of Indian Muslims who demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population on creation of Pakistan stayed back in India, and did not go to Pakistan. But with the creation of Pakistan in 1947, it was the permanent settlement of Hindu-Muslim problem in the sub-continent. Accordingly, appeasement must come to an end.
Now or never
Because of its surrender and inaction, India is being taken over by crores of Pak-Bangla infiltrators silently. Besides, countless Pak-Bangla terrorists are stalking all over India to strike at the time and target of their choice.
Since drastic situations demand drastic remedies, all nationalist organisations and individuals must come together and force the government to act as follows: (a) Terrorists must be crushed; not welcomed and embraced. Chanakya Neeti as also Sun-tzu’s Art of War, and countless lessons of world history emphasise the crushing of enemies before enemies crush us. (b) Let infiltrators be treated as invaders, And not as vote banks. (c) Let Indian borders be sealed to prevent infiltrators from entering India. (d) Let all Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla road and rail journeys be discontinued. (e) Let the Supreme Court’s judgements be implemented, and crores of Pak-Bangla infiltrators be deported. And their daily influx be curbed. (f) And let Pak-Bangla design to destroy India and plant one more Islamic country on Indian soil be defeated.
Here, it is relevant to quote Sir Winston Churchill who deprecated the British policy of appeasement of Germany before outbreak of Second World War thus, “Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival.”
The writer is a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
http://hindustan.org/forum/showthread.php?p=12611
Thanks to UPA government’s policy of soft borders, Pak-Bangla nationals are infiltrating into India every-day changing the demographic map of various states in the country. And even before perpetrators of 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai could be punished, Mumbai faced fresh blasts on July 11, 2006 in trains which claimed about two hundred lives.
By J.G. Arora
Genocide and eviction of Hindus from Kashmir to be made refugees in their own country; frequent Pak-Bangla sponsored terrorist attacks on security forces, civilians and temples; continuation of Article 370 conferring a special status on Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir; infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla nationals into India to create one more Islamic country on Indian soil represent the bitter harvest of this suicidal appeasement.
Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru started “Haj subsidy” for Muslims in 1959 though such subsidy is anti-secular and though none of the 57 Muslim countries pays any such subsidy.
A large majority of Indian Muslims who demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population on creation of Pakistan stayed back in India, and did not go to Pakistan.
Sir Winston Churchill said, “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”. Though India is being devoured bit by bit every day by its tormentors, India continues to appease them. Poisonous politics of appeasement has crippled India and ravaged its body and soul.
Genocide and eviction of Hindus from Kashmir to be made refugees in their own country; frequent Pak-Bangla sponsored terrorist attacks on security forces, civilians and temples; continuation of Article 370 conferring a special status on Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir; infiltration of crores of Pak-Bangla nationals into India to create one more Islamic country on Indian soil represent the bitter harvest of this suicidal appeasement.
Long legacy
This hideous policy of appeasement started in 1921 when Mahatma Gandhi and Congress Party’s support to Indian Muslims’ demand for Khilafat (to install Sultan of Turkey as the Caliph) led to Moplah rebellion in 1921 in Malabar in which thousands of innocent Hindus were massacred by Muslims. And Hindus had nothing to do with British policy towards Turkey. Sir C. Sankaran Nair (1857-1934), a former judge of Madras High Court has described horrors of Moplah rebellion in his book “Gandhi and Anarchy”. But Mahatma Gandhi reportedly described Moplahs as “God fearing,” who “are fighting for what they consider as religion, and in a manner they are considered as religious.”
Persistent appeasement philosophy of Congress culminated in the Muslim League demanding Pakistan for Muslims in March, 1940, and creation of Pakistan in 1947 and eviction of Hindus and Sikhs from present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. But even after 1947, the same doctrine has guided successive Congress governments’ actions. Only a few illustrations of such countless actions are given here. Congress government under Jawaharlal Nehru started “Haj subsidy” for Muslims in 1959 though such subsidy is anti-secular and though none of the 57 Muslim countries pays any such subsidy. And to placate Muslim uproar over Supreme Court’s judgement in Shah Bano’s case, the then Congress government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 and nullified the said judgement. And the same Congress which had rejected “Communal Award” in 1932 is now spearheading Muslim reservation in government jobs; and is sharing power with Muslim League which had demanded and got Pakistan. Besides, debunking nation’s security, after regaining power in 2004, Congress government repealed Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act (POTA) the way it had repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) in 1995. Besides, to please pro-Pakistan elements, UPA government is planning to withdraw security forces from Kashmir. But the most vexatious outcome of this capitulation is the demographic and terrorist invasion of India.
Demographic and terrorist invasion
In their bid to demolish and dismember India, Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence, and its Bangladeshi counterpart are bent upon creating one more Islamic country on Indian soil for which they have illegally sent crores of their nationals into India.
AASU leader Sarbananda Sonowal took the issue of Bangladeshi infiltration to Supreme Court. By its judgement dated July 12, 2005, Supreme Court struck down the Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) Act, 1983 as unconstitutional; and termed Bangladeshi infiltration as “external aggression” and directed that “the Bangladesh nationals who have illegally crossed the border and have trespassed into Assam or are living in other parts of the country have no legal right of any kind to remain in India and they are liable to be deported.”
But instead of deporting the infiltrators, on Feb. 10, 2006, UPA government brought in the Foreigners (Tribunals for Assam) Order to nullify the Apex Court’s judgement. However, on December 5, 2006, Supreme Court quashed this Order also as illegal and unconstitutional, and called for a strict implementation of its earlier judgement dated July 12, 2005 “so as to ensure that illegal immigrants are sent out of this country.” Shockingly, despite the Supreme Court’s clear directions, no infiltrators have been deported by the government.
Rather, thanks to UPA government’s policy of soft borders, Pak-Bangla nationals are infiltrating into India every day changing the demographic map of various States in the country. And even before perpetrators of 1993 bomb blasts in Mumbai could be punished, Mumbai faced fresh blasts on July 11, 2006 in trains which claimed about two hundred lives. And these attacks are in the long line of attacks Bharat has suffered since Muhammad bin Qasim’s Arab army’s attack in 711. And such attacks continue to hammer India due to government’s terrorist-friendly approach.
‘Settlement’ as against ‘appeasement’
Immediately after Muslim League demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population in March 1940, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar wrote his book “Thoughts on Pakistan” in which he criticised the Congress policy of ‘appeasement’ of Muslims, and advocated the policy of ‘settlement’. As per Dr. Ambedkar, ‘appeasement’ sets no limits to the demands of aggressor. ‘Settlement’ does. Besides, appeasement increases aggressor’s aggression. Accordingly, Dr. Ambedkar held that as a ‘settlement’, creation of Pakistan would end constant appeasement.
Besides, as a ‘settlement’ of Hindu-Muslim conflict, Dr. Ambedkar suggested that exchange of Hindu-Muslim population must accompany partition of India. But despite Dr. Ambedkar’s counsel against appeasement, Congress kept on pursuing appeasement. In the 1945-46 elections, Muslims voted for the creation of Pakistan. And despite conceding Pakistan in 1947, Congress continues to cling to its policy of appeasement.
A large majority of Indian Muslims who demanded Pakistan for Muslims and exchange of population on creation of Pakistan stayed back in India, and did not go to Pakistan. But with the creation of Pakistan in 1947, it was the permanent settlement of Hindu-Muslim problem in the sub-continent. Accordingly, appeasement must come to an end.
Now or never
Because of its surrender and inaction, India is being taken over by crores of Pak-Bangla infiltrators silently. Besides, countless Pak-Bangla terrorists are stalking all over India to strike at the time and target of their choice.
Since drastic situations demand drastic remedies, all nationalist organisations and individuals must come together and force the government to act as follows: (a) Terrorists must be crushed; not welcomed and embraced. Chanakya Neeti as also Sun-tzu’s Art of War, and countless lessons of world history emphasise the crushing of enemies before enemies crush us. (b) Let infiltrators be treated as invaders, And not as vote banks. (c) Let Indian borders be sealed to prevent infiltrators from entering India. (d) Let all Indo-Pak and Indo-Bangla road and rail journeys be discontinued. (e) Let the Supreme Court’s judgements be implemented, and crores of Pak-Bangla infiltrators be deported. And their daily influx be curbed. (f) And let Pak-Bangla design to destroy India and plant one more Islamic country on Indian soil be defeated.
Here, it is relevant to quote Sir Winston Churchill who deprecated the British policy of appeasement of Germany before outbreak of Second World War thus, “Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival.”
The writer is a retired Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
http://hindustan.org/forum/showthread.php?p=12611
Muslim appeasement and UPA Government
Re: Muslim appeasement has crippled India
The below article has impressed me very much. Friends, read and comment please...
A call to save Kasab from gallows
Dear Kasab, we Indians love you very much as you made history by killing 166 persons. Head of lashkar-e-Toiba, directed you that excepting Muslims you have to kill any one who comes in your way and you did it. Welcome for following the directions. To save about 170 Indians lives BJP laid government let released 3 terrorists in Kandhar episode to which we condemned the same as the then government was of highly non-secular mentality. We look towards BJP with askance. The present government and we are highly secular and assure that you will never be hanged as Afjal Guru could not be hanged under the auspices of the present government for more than 7 years and on technical flaw and lame excuses he will never be hanged, as much time has lost after verdict in his case. It will happen to you also. Be sure and have faith in our anti legal administrative system.
The government and we do abuse the judicial system for several procedural delays and recently also again the P.M. has shown concern over long pending cases. But no body asks the government what is wrong with it that it is not able to take decision with regard to Afjal Guru for long 7 years. No body asks the government and bureaucrats why departmental cases remains pending for years together. There is no prosecuter, accused, parties to the cases or their advocates to ask for adjournments and arguments in the cases. It is government only which has to take decision. In Afjal Guru’s case also it was for the government to take decision whether to hang or not to hang? Then let’s us know why delay?
A layman has his own philosophy in this regard. The philosophy is that you and Afjal Guru both being Muslims and we treat Muslims as minority and preferential class being Muslims we want to save our image of secularism by giving special treatment to them irrespective of the fact that whether they are terrorists or not. We discriminating Hindus form Muslims. We do not bother about Hindus as they are very cowards and most of them are not loyal with non-BJP parties. In the case of Afjal Guru Hindus could not do any thing more than oral opposition. Government of India and equally America is concerned with good relations with Pakistan the father nation of the Muslims as if Pakistan is girl friend of these countries! Be sure we shall be resolute to reprieve you and shall be satisfied that we served for the cause of Pakistan.
http://hindustan.org/forum/showthread.php?p=12611
The below article has impressed me very much. Friends, read and comment please...
A call to save Kasab from gallows
Dear Kasab, we Indians love you very much as you made history by killing 166 persons. Head of lashkar-e-Toiba, directed you that excepting Muslims you have to kill any one who comes in your way and you did it. Welcome for following the directions. To save about 170 Indians lives BJP laid government let released 3 terrorists in Kandhar episode to which we condemned the same as the then government was of highly non-secular mentality. We look towards BJP with askance. The present government and we are highly secular and assure that you will never be hanged as Afjal Guru could not be hanged under the auspices of the present government for more than 7 years and on technical flaw and lame excuses he will never be hanged, as much time has lost after verdict in his case. It will happen to you also. Be sure and have faith in our anti legal administrative system.
The government and we do abuse the judicial system for several procedural delays and recently also again the P.M. has shown concern over long pending cases. But no body asks the government what is wrong with it that it is not able to take decision with regard to Afjal Guru for long 7 years. No body asks the government and bureaucrats why departmental cases remains pending for years together. There is no prosecuter, accused, parties to the cases or their advocates to ask for adjournments and arguments in the cases. It is government only which has to take decision. In Afjal Guru’s case also it was for the government to take decision whether to hang or not to hang? Then let’s us know why delay?
A layman has his own philosophy in this regard. The philosophy is that you and Afjal Guru both being Muslims and we treat Muslims as minority and preferential class being Muslims we want to save our image of secularism by giving special treatment to them irrespective of the fact that whether they are terrorists or not. We discriminating Hindus form Muslims. We do not bother about Hindus as they are very cowards and most of them are not loyal with non-BJP parties. In the case of Afjal Guru Hindus could not do any thing more than oral opposition. Government of India and equally America is concerned with good relations with Pakistan the father nation of the Muslims as if Pakistan is girl friend of these countries! Be sure we shall be resolute to reprieve you and shall be satisfied that we served for the cause of Pakistan.
http://hindustan.org/forum/showthread.php?p=12611
Monday, October 4, 2010
Nothing good has happened in the 1st Year of UPA 2
In first year of the UPA-2, non-performance is visible in all areas of governance, writes Virendra Kapoor.
If you asked the aam aadmi if there was anything to celebrate at the end of one year in office of the United Progressive Alliance-II government, the answer would be a big yawn. The ubiquitous aam aadmi never had it so bad. His staple dal-roti has become so costly that he has had to cut down on the family's monthly rations.
Never mind the rising costs of electricity, petrol, cooking gas, public transport, schooling etc. Besides, the law and order situation even in the big metros has worsened further in recent months. In short, the Congress-led coalition has failed to protect the interests of the very aam aadmi in whose name it had won the second successive mandate.
Indeed, the non-performance is visible in all other areas of governance. After winning the second term in office, it was hoped that Manmohan Singh would emerge from the shadows of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi , and conduct himself as a leader in his own right. But, then, he has got where he has being self-effacing and modest.
A lifetime's habits are unlikely to change at this late stage even if the manna from heaven in the form the prime ministership of the world's largest democracy literally fell in his lap.
In a newspaper column, author and historian Ramachandra Guha compared Singh with India's second Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri . It is quite off the mark. For one, Shastri was a politician of long standing. As an understudy of Nehru, he was the natural choice for heading the government following the death of the former. Yes, initially Shastri did evoke ridicule in some quarters but that was not due to his performance as prime minister.
It was his physical stature which caused titters whenever he figured in the obligatory documentaries screened in cinema halls. However following the 1965 war with Pakistan, such ridicule stopped as Shastri gained political stature in his own right. As against Shastri, one has been waiting in vain for six years for Singh to acquire that status in the popular mind.
So, Singh continues to be the non-leader he was when sheer destiny first catapulted him into the prime ministerial gaddi in May 2004. The failure of the prime minister to acquire a stature of his own has had a deleterious effect on the quality of administration. For, when the constitutional head of government is a cipher and is obliged to take orders from someone outside the government, his authority stands duly undermined.
Given that the exigencies of coalition politics had inevitably freed ministers belonging to the allied parties from the obligations usually enjoined upon them by the Cabinet system of government, the scant importance Congress ministers accorded the prime minister in matters of governance has further emasculated his authority. To begin with, the peculiar arrangement of government formation wherein the real power vests in the party chief is infelicitous to the smooth functioning of government.
Yet, if the UPA-I gave a relatively better account of itself, a lot of credit must go to the Leftists who provided it stable ideological moorings. With the luxury of enhanced numbers, and without the stern monitoring of the Communists, UPA-II was supposed to act far more decisively in implementing its electoral promises. But from the word go, the prime minister has faltered at every step.
Whether it was the stand-off before the ministry formation with the DMK, or the allocation of portfolios, the impression created was one of a weak and wavering leader who was entirely clueless about the ship of State he was obliged to steer by sheer default. On their part, the Gandhis were not ready yet to ascend the ~gaddi~ formally that they considered theirs by right because the chosen heir, Rahul Gandhi , was still not through with his `discovery of India.'
The resulting confusion shows in official decision-mak ing. So, you had the Women's Reservation Bill introduced with great fanfare in the Rajya Sabha and duly passed with the willing support of the BJP and the Communists. But those who had pushed the prime minister to take the bill to the Rajya Sabha so that they could take credit for having it passed on the centenary of the International Women's Day -- and could be shown by an obliging Doordarshan being facilitated by hordes of women from the party stable -- did not help the PM in finding a solution to the logjam over it in the Lok Sabha.
Likewise, there is stalemate over the proposed food security bill, the latest bee in the bonnet of the jholawalaas who have emerged as the chief mentors of Sonia Gandhi. Even within the government there is no consensus on the actual number of the below-the-poverty-line families, and on whether the free monthly ration should be 25 kilos or 35 kilos.
Again, the nuclear liability bill, without whose passage the prime minister cannot roll out the controversial Indo-US civil nuclear deal, is mired in controversy, though the government has tricked the opposition by sending it to a parliamentary committee headed by a Congressman.
Of course, the biggest disaster is the anti-Maoist policy. After the Pune terror attack and the systematic slaying of the police and paramilitary jawans by the Naxals, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram no longer struts his act as arrogantly as he had done till only the other day.
It is notable that the prime minister has not said a word edgeways even as Digvijay Singh , Sonia Gandhi and other Congress biggies have weighed in with `considered' opinions on the home minister's initial all-out confrontation with the armed guerrillas. The prime minister's stony silence is all the more shocking given that only a few months ago he had described the Maoist insurrection as the 'biggest internal security challenge' to the country. In what is a clear admission of failure of its pro-active policy, the central government has now taken to shifting the onus for taming the Naxal challenge to the state governments.
Or take the terrible political management of Manmohan Singh. He continues to shoulder the deadweight of the tainted Telecom Minister A Raja without mustering the courage to at least move him to a less lucrative charge. After the ejection of the voluble but error-prone junior minister for foreign affairs, Shashi Tharoor , the PM has had to contend with the frequent indiscretions of the Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh .
Then there is the Sharm-el-Sheikh faux pas and the flip-flop on the resumption of composite and not-so-composite dialogue with Pakistan. The failure to pursue an independent foreign policy so that our national interest, say, in the case of Iran vis-a- vis hydrocarbon security, could not be jeopardised.
Yes, on the positive side you would say that the economy is still growing at a decent clip. It is. But it is no thanks to the government. Our economy was never heavily export-reliant. So it was able to withstand the global financial tremors after the Wall Street collapse better. Besides, the famed entrepreneurial energies of Indians were in full play the moment the government vacated space and stopped messing around with business and industry. However, remember that during the year no further progress was made on structural reforms, or in opening up key sectors of the economy like insurance, health, defence, etc.
Honestly, there is nothing to gloat about the performance of the government these past 12 months. Yet, in spite of it being a wasted year, with the government having nothing to show except that it survived somehow -- even if that meant blackmailing the Yadav duo of Mulayam and Lalu and that eponymous mountain of Maya called Mayawati -- the prime minister faces no serious threat from the opposition. It is because the opposition seems to be in a bigger mess than even the UPA.
For sure, the government would muddle through in the coming months as well till the strange arrangement devised by the family to keep the gaddi warm for Rahul Gandhi is terminated.
Meanwhile, the aam aadmi can continue to put up most stoically with the humongous rise in the prices of his staple food.
A wasted year: The common man's woes only increased
http://news.rediff.com/column/2010/may/20/a-wasted-year-the-common-mans-woes-only-increased.htm
Is the Dravidian movement dying?
SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY
The Dravidian movement is on the verge of collapse under the weight of its inherent ideological contradictions.
THE Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu can be dated to begin from December 1916 when the "Non-Brahmin Manifesto" was released. In the manifesto, the Dravidian concept was anti-Brahmin specific because the patrons of the movement, the British imperialist rulers, had wanted it that way, and for good reason as I shall expound below. The manifesto was authored principally by Dr. T.M. Nair and Rao Bahadur Theogaraya Chetty. It candidly advocated the continuance of British imperialist rule because it was contended that the British alone could "hold the scales evenly between the castes and creed" of India.
The manifesto was immediately denounced as a handiwork of the British rulers with an aim to divide the freedom struggle. Dr. Annie Besant, then editor of New India, and a prominent personality in the freedom struggle, debunked the manifesto as "mischievous and unpatriotic". The non-Brahmins in the freedom struggle such as Kesava Pillay were also appalled by its blatant casteist approach and thus distanced themselves from it.
Since the Dravidian movement's focus was defined and set solely against the Brahmins, without an ideological structure for developing a pan non-Brahmin consciousness, with the movement's founding, the seeds of its demise were also planted. It has taken time, but today the decay and moral bankruptcy of the Dravidian movement is evident in the land of its birth. Its demise seems imminent.
The movement grew first with British imperialist patronage, and especially after being given a militant edge by a Congressman, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Naicker. In 1932, the movement suffered a setback when Dr. B.R. Ambedkar rejected the British offer of separate electorates for the Scheduled Castes, and sided with Mahatma Gandhi to sign the Poona Pact. By then Periyar had left the Congress and militantly advocated godlessness and atheism. He even declared Ravana a Dravidian hero. Under Periyar the Dravidian movement came close to developing an ideology that could have provided a durable basis for its survival, but even Periyar could not overcome the erroneous assumptions and basic internal contradictions on which it was founded. The Poona Pact, for example, dealt a body blow to those who had thought that the Scheduled Castes would en masse defect from Hindu society.
Until Independence in 1947, the Dravidian movement functioned as a handmaiden of the British imperialists. Just prior to the transfer of power, Periyar had pleaded with the Viceroy's representative not to leave power in Tamil Nadu, even if they departed from the rest of India. The movement, however, survived and got a boost after 1952 because of the short-sighted partisan interest of the Congress, and further in the 1960s, ironically because of an even more myopic interest of C. Rajagopalachari, the then political Dean of the Brahmins. The Congress saw the Dravidian movement as a tool to keep other national opposition parties from gathering strength, and used them as ideological storm-troopers. It never thought that the Dravidian movement could culminate in power and office and replace the Congress itself. It was Rajaji, in his personal resolve to see the Congress out of power, who put together a wide coalition under the leadership of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and brought the "Dravidians" to power in the State in 1967. For 36 years thereafter without a break (except short periods of President's Rule), Tamil Nadu has been administered by the DMK and its splinter, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), with the avowed national parties playing second fiddle.
The Dravidian movement has, however, on its own run its course, and lost momentum. All that remains, in my opinion, is in form - in names of organisations such as DMK, AIADMK, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and so on, but not in content. The Dravidian movement had remained, from its beginning, unable to handle its ideological contradictions or recognise the seeds of its own destruction planted in it.
It was not a grassroots movement from below to articulate the aspirations of the masses. It began with well-to-do British toadies seeking commanding heights of Tamil society. The British imperialists had wanted an instrument to divide and rule in the south, and seized on the fallacious Aryan-Dravidian theory propounded by East India Company-paid historians. It was annoying to the imperialist that many Brahmins, with little wealth to sustain themselves, but with religious authority, were in the forefront of the freedom struggle. Some such as Justice Sadashiva Iyer and Subramania Bharati were following the teachings of Ramanuja to advocate against birth-specific caste system. Justice Iyer, in fact, articulated in New India (July 3-16,1916) his views six months before the release of the "Non-Brahmin Manifesto", debunking birth-based caste system. The implied suggestion of Hindu unity was subversive and dangerous in imperialist perception. Hence it needed to be nipped in the bud. That gave birth to the Dravidian movement.
In 1947, the British patrons left India and orphaned the Dravidian movement. The movement would have collapsed soon after, but the Congress soon stepped in and propped it up for narrow partisan interests. With this patronage, the Dravidian movement revived with a political agenda and entered the Legislative Assembly. Through the Tamil cinema world, it propagated its ideas to win legitimacy. With democratic politics, and consequent democratic rule, some of the attractive agenda items of the Dravidian movement got internalised, adopted, implemented and became history. Reservations in jobs and educational institutions were pioneered in Tamil Nadu. The Brahmins, being only 3 per cent of the population, lost their pre-eminence in the commanding heights of the post-Independence society based on political power. The meat of the Dravidian movement had been thus consumed by democracy.
Since the ideological basis of the movement remained contradictory, it could not amalgamate, strike deeper roots, and otherwise build on these achievements for the non-Brahmins. The movement leaders attacked everything connected with Brahmins, including Sanskrit and idol worship. But Tamil and Sanskrit being intertwined from time immemorial, it became impossible to separate them. The two languages share 40 per cent of the vocabulary. The scripts of both languages have descended from the same mother: Brahmi. The word Dravidian is, for example, a Sanskrit word. It was first used by Adi Sankara, in reply to a question by Varanasi scholar Mandana Mishra as to who he was. Sankara replied that he was a "Dravida sishu", meaning a child of where the three oceans (the Arabian sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean) meet. The British-paid historians, however, made Dravida into a race. Similiarly, "Arya" in Sanskrit denoted a gentleman (in Tamil: Aiya), but these historians made Arya into a foreign race from Europe who had come racing down the Khyber Pass to defeat the Dravidians. And thus India came to be propagandised as a two-race state.
For a time, after the British left India, Indian historians continued teaching this bogus concept of India, adding grist to the Dravidian movement propaganda. Some North Indian scholars suffering from inferiority complex lapped up this concept because the theory made them first cousins of Europeans. They too contributed to the myth.
THE Dravidian movement also failed to amalgamate the Scheduled Castes. During the last two decades, the Dravidian parties have each come to be controlled by a dominant caste, all which are in conflict with the Scheduled Castes. Hence, the movement failed to develop into a pan non-Brahmin movement, and has become fragmented.
Interestingly, the decisive impact that undermined the Dravidian movement came not from scholars of independent India, but from Hindi films and nationally broadcast cable television. Hindi films recruited Tamil starlets and made them into leading actresses of national fame. Suddenly, the north-south physical divide visibly evaporated. Dress modes and songs got homogenised.
The Doordarshan serial on the Ramayana destroyed the concept of Ravana as a Dravidian hero. Ravana was portrayed as a Brahmin scholar who had done tapas in the Kailash mountains. Rama was an Arya, since he was a gentleman, but he was a non-Brahmin (Kshatriya to be exact) and hence more Dravidian than Ravana. Nothing embarassed Periyar's followers than this re-discovery of Ramayana by the Tamil people. Such contradictions began to manifest openly, undermining the ideological basis of the Dravidian movement. The religious revival in Tamil Nadu kept apace with this, compounding the discomfiture of the movement.
Through the visual media and national integration, a national identity for Tamils has been deeply embedded in the people's minds. Today it has become fashionable for a Tamil to claim to be Indian first and a Tamil afterwards. That sentiment means a death knell for the Dravidian movement because nationalism undercuts the possibility of Tamil separatism. For the movement's revival, in the 1980s its leaders had a hope in separatism because of the growth of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). That too has fizzled out now.
So what remains of the Dravidian movement today? It's name and attendant political power only. The springboard of anti-Brahminism has disappeared. Is it not odd that the AIADMK, which is in power today, is led by a religious Brahmin offering only lip sympathy to Periyar's commandments. The DMK leaders visit temples, and wear rudraskha malas and saffron shawls.
Although the Dravidian movement has definitely re-positioned the majority securely in Tamil society, which is an essential requirement of secular democracy, it has set back Tamil Nadu in the national political power structure. Compared to its size (more than 60 million people), the level of education (the second most educated State) and the number of Lok Sabha members (39), Tamil Nadu's national political status is marginalised, thanks to the provincial outlook of the Dravidian movement. Hence, although the movement is dying, being terminally ill, the negative positioning of the State in national affairs over the last four decades needs correction. Time has come to re-define the position of Tamil Nadu at the national level that is consistent with its size, economic potential and cultural contribution and at par with its status in Indian history. That means fostering a national outlook along with undoing the caste polarisation that the Dravidian movement has nurtured. This will require a new political dispensation. No easy task, but no societal transition ever is.
http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.com/2007/09/ram-setu-hindu-response-to-aryan-vs.html
The Dravidian movement is on the verge of collapse under the weight of its inherent ideological contradictions.
THE Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu can be dated to begin from December 1916 when the "Non-Brahmin Manifesto" was released. In the manifesto, the Dravidian concept was anti-Brahmin specific because the patrons of the movement, the British imperialist rulers, had wanted it that way, and for good reason as I shall expound below. The manifesto was authored principally by Dr. T.M. Nair and Rao Bahadur Theogaraya Chetty. It candidly advocated the continuance of British imperialist rule because it was contended that the British alone could "hold the scales evenly between the castes and creed" of India.
The manifesto was immediately denounced as a handiwork of the British rulers with an aim to divide the freedom struggle. Dr. Annie Besant, then editor of New India, and a prominent personality in the freedom struggle, debunked the manifesto as "mischievous and unpatriotic". The non-Brahmins in the freedom struggle such as Kesava Pillay were also appalled by its blatant casteist approach and thus distanced themselves from it.
Since the Dravidian movement's focus was defined and set solely against the Brahmins, without an ideological structure for developing a pan non-Brahmin consciousness, with the movement's founding, the seeds of its demise were also planted. It has taken time, but today the decay and moral bankruptcy of the Dravidian movement is evident in the land of its birth. Its demise seems imminent.
The movement grew first with British imperialist patronage, and especially after being given a militant edge by a Congressman, Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Naicker. In 1932, the movement suffered a setback when Dr. B.R. Ambedkar rejected the British offer of separate electorates for the Scheduled Castes, and sided with Mahatma Gandhi to sign the Poona Pact. By then Periyar had left the Congress and militantly advocated godlessness and atheism. He even declared Ravana a Dravidian hero. Under Periyar the Dravidian movement came close to developing an ideology that could have provided a durable basis for its survival, but even Periyar could not overcome the erroneous assumptions and basic internal contradictions on which it was founded. The Poona Pact, for example, dealt a body blow to those who had thought that the Scheduled Castes would en masse defect from Hindu society.
Until Independence in 1947, the Dravidian movement functioned as a handmaiden of the British imperialists. Just prior to the transfer of power, Periyar had pleaded with the Viceroy's representative not to leave power in Tamil Nadu, even if they departed from the rest of India. The movement, however, survived and got a boost after 1952 because of the short-sighted partisan interest of the Congress, and further in the 1960s, ironically because of an even more myopic interest of C. Rajagopalachari, the then political Dean of the Brahmins. The Congress saw the Dravidian movement as a tool to keep other national opposition parties from gathering strength, and used them as ideological storm-troopers. It never thought that the Dravidian movement could culminate in power and office and replace the Congress itself. It was Rajaji, in his personal resolve to see the Congress out of power, who put together a wide coalition under the leadership of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and brought the "Dravidians" to power in the State in 1967. For 36 years thereafter without a break (except short periods of President's Rule), Tamil Nadu has been administered by the DMK and its splinter, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), with the avowed national parties playing second fiddle.
The Dravidian movement has, however, on its own run its course, and lost momentum. All that remains, in my opinion, is in form - in names of organisations such as DMK, AIADMK, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and so on, but not in content. The Dravidian movement had remained, from its beginning, unable to handle its ideological contradictions or recognise the seeds of its own destruction planted in it.
It was not a grassroots movement from below to articulate the aspirations of the masses. It began with well-to-do British toadies seeking commanding heights of Tamil society. The British imperialists had wanted an instrument to divide and rule in the south, and seized on the fallacious Aryan-Dravidian theory propounded by East India Company-paid historians. It was annoying to the imperialist that many Brahmins, with little wealth to sustain themselves, but with religious authority, were in the forefront of the freedom struggle. Some such as Justice Sadashiva Iyer and Subramania Bharati were following the teachings of Ramanuja to advocate against birth-specific caste system. Justice Iyer, in fact, articulated in New India (July 3-16,1916) his views six months before the release of the "Non-Brahmin Manifesto", debunking birth-based caste system. The implied suggestion of Hindu unity was subversive and dangerous in imperialist perception. Hence it needed to be nipped in the bud. That gave birth to the Dravidian movement.
In 1947, the British patrons left India and orphaned the Dravidian movement. The movement would have collapsed soon after, but the Congress soon stepped in and propped it up for narrow partisan interests. With this patronage, the Dravidian movement revived with a political agenda and entered the Legislative Assembly. Through the Tamil cinema world, it propagated its ideas to win legitimacy. With democratic politics, and consequent democratic rule, some of the attractive agenda items of the Dravidian movement got internalised, adopted, implemented and became history. Reservations in jobs and educational institutions were pioneered in Tamil Nadu. The Brahmins, being only 3 per cent of the population, lost their pre-eminence in the commanding heights of the post-Independence society based on political power. The meat of the Dravidian movement had been thus consumed by democracy.
Since the ideological basis of the movement remained contradictory, it could not amalgamate, strike deeper roots, and otherwise build on these achievements for the non-Brahmins. The movement leaders attacked everything connected with Brahmins, including Sanskrit and idol worship. But Tamil and Sanskrit being intertwined from time immemorial, it became impossible to separate them. The two languages share 40 per cent of the vocabulary. The scripts of both languages have descended from the same mother: Brahmi. The word Dravidian is, for example, a Sanskrit word. It was first used by Adi Sankara, in reply to a question by Varanasi scholar Mandana Mishra as to who he was. Sankara replied that he was a "Dravida sishu", meaning a child of where the three oceans (the Arabian sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean) meet. The British-paid historians, however, made Dravida into a race. Similiarly, "Arya" in Sanskrit denoted a gentleman (in Tamil: Aiya), but these historians made Arya into a foreign race from Europe who had come racing down the Khyber Pass to defeat the Dravidians. And thus India came to be propagandised as a two-race state.
For a time, after the British left India, Indian historians continued teaching this bogus concept of India, adding grist to the Dravidian movement propaganda. Some North Indian scholars suffering from inferiority complex lapped up this concept because the theory made them first cousins of Europeans. They too contributed to the myth.
THE Dravidian movement also failed to amalgamate the Scheduled Castes. During the last two decades, the Dravidian parties have each come to be controlled by a dominant caste, all which are in conflict with the Scheduled Castes. Hence, the movement failed to develop into a pan non-Brahmin movement, and has become fragmented.
Interestingly, the decisive impact that undermined the Dravidian movement came not from scholars of independent India, but from Hindi films and nationally broadcast cable television. Hindi films recruited Tamil starlets and made them into leading actresses of national fame. Suddenly, the north-south physical divide visibly evaporated. Dress modes and songs got homogenised.
The Doordarshan serial on the Ramayana destroyed the concept of Ravana as a Dravidian hero. Ravana was portrayed as a Brahmin scholar who had done tapas in the Kailash mountains. Rama was an Arya, since he was a gentleman, but he was a non-Brahmin (Kshatriya to be exact) and hence more Dravidian than Ravana. Nothing embarassed Periyar's followers than this re-discovery of Ramayana by the Tamil people. Such contradictions began to manifest openly, undermining the ideological basis of the Dravidian movement. The religious revival in Tamil Nadu kept apace with this, compounding the discomfiture of the movement.
Through the visual media and national integration, a national identity for Tamils has been deeply embedded in the people's minds. Today it has become fashionable for a Tamil to claim to be Indian first and a Tamil afterwards. That sentiment means a death knell for the Dravidian movement because nationalism undercuts the possibility of Tamil separatism. For the movement's revival, in the 1980s its leaders had a hope in separatism because of the growth of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). That too has fizzled out now.
So what remains of the Dravidian movement today? It's name and attendant political power only. The springboard of anti-Brahminism has disappeared. Is it not odd that the AIADMK, which is in power today, is led by a religious Brahmin offering only lip sympathy to Periyar's commandments. The DMK leaders visit temples, and wear rudraskha malas and saffron shawls.
Although the Dravidian movement has definitely re-positioned the majority securely in Tamil society, which is an essential requirement of secular democracy, it has set back Tamil Nadu in the national political power structure. Compared to its size (more than 60 million people), the level of education (the second most educated State) and the number of Lok Sabha members (39), Tamil Nadu's national political status is marginalised, thanks to the provincial outlook of the Dravidian movement. Hence, although the movement is dying, being terminally ill, the negative positioning of the State in national affairs over the last four decades needs correction. Time has come to re-define the position of Tamil Nadu at the national level that is consistent with its size, economic potential and cultural contribution and at par with its status in Indian history. That means fostering a national outlook along with undoing the caste polarisation that the Dravidian movement has nurtured. This will require a new political dispensation. No easy task, but no societal transition ever is.
http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.com/2007/09/ram-setu-hindu-response-to-aryan-vs.html
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