Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Home Blog Page 6798

CBI raids at Prannoy Roy’s residence – read what NDTV and Roys are accused of

OpIndia Staff
-
0
CBI raids at Prannoy Roy’s residence – read what NDTV and Roys are accused of

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided the residence of New Delhi Television (NDTV) Limited co-founder and executive chairperson Prannoy Roy this morning. The CBI reportedly conducted searches at at four places including Delhi and Dehradun.

The raid was part a crackdown for bank frauds. The CBI has registered a case against Prannoy Roy, his wife and co-founder of the channel Radhika Roy, a private company and others for allegedly defrauding a private bank.

The case is related to a Rs 396 crore fraud on ICICI Bank. Reports suggest that Roys took Rs 396 crore loan from ICICI Bank to shell company RRPR Holding showing NDTV assets. Rs 21 crore and Rs 71 crore were then diverted to the bank account of Prannoy and Radhika Roy respectively.

Reacting to the CBI raids, BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Dr Subramanian Swamy said, “Fear of law is necessary and it should be applied no matter who you are.”

Swamy had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the CBI to file case against NDTV under Prevention of Corruption Act. Alleging that NDTV was a party to Aircel-Maxis scam, during the Congress rule, Swamy had said it received illegal money from Maxis subsidiary Astro. Swamy further said that the money, received by NDTV from Maxis, was “illegally approved” by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram to “benefit his son” Karthi Chidambaram.

The Roys are being probed for contraventions of tax laws and laws involving foreign money. A report published in Caravan Magazine suggests that a series of financial transactions that the Roys have carried out from the mid 2000s onwards have been under close investigation by government agencies.

In 2013, Sanjay Dutt, director of a financial-services firm Quantum Securities who owned around 125,000 shares in NDTV, had filed complaints with Enforcement Directorate and Directorate General of Income Tax alleging that that NDTV and its promoters had violated a number of laws. In January 2015, Dutt had filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against Enforcement Directorate and Directorate General of Income Tax Investigation alleging that both agencies failed to act on his complaints.

The Enforcement Directorate, in November last year, had slapped a show cause notice to NDTV for flouting foreign exchange regulations while bringing foreign investments to the tune of Rs 2,030 crore between 2007-10.

A book named ‘NDTV Frauds’, written by Sree Iyer, talks in detail about alleged illegalities committed by the media group.

The raids come on a day the broadcaster is taking its English business news channel NDTV Profit off air. It could be noted that NDTV Profit continued to have the lowest TRP among the genre of business-economy channels. Even the general news channels in Hindi and English have failed to top the TRP charts.

During the quarter ending 31 December 2016, NDTV had reported a consolidated revenue loss of Rs 18 crore following a dip in advertising revenue. Facing financial losses, the channel has put its assets on sale.

NDTV is facing three-fold challenges – revenue loss, fraud and credibility crisis. NDTV, primarily a left-leaning television news channel, often faces a lot of flak in social media for taking partisan stand against the Modi government and the BJP, using half truths and manipulation of facts. Incidentally, after the Congress lost power in 2014 general elections, the broadcaster is facing financial crisis.

At the same time the credibility of the channel is on a further downside with its anchors peddling fake news, channel being silent on crimes by relatives of NDTV journalists, and the channel giving platform to people who are abusive and violent.

NDTV also came under severe criticism for its coverage on the terror attack at Pathankot airbase. In November last year, the government had ordered a one day token ban on NDTV India, after an inter-ministerial panel constituted by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry recommended this action. The ban was ultimately not executed, even as the channel refused to apologise for Pathankot coverage.

Congress publishes booklet showing Kashmir as ‘Indian occupied’, terms it ‘printing error’

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Congress publishes booklet showing Kashmir as ‘Indian occupied’, terms it ‘printing error’

In what has come as a huge embarrassment for the Congress, a booklet released by the grand old party shows the map of Kashmir as ‘India occupied Kashmir’.

The 15-page booklet titled ‘राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा पर आँच’ (National Security Endangered) was released at a Press conference in Lucknow by senior Congress leader and former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Uttar Pradesh PCC president Raj Babbar on the party’s assessment of three years of the Narendra Modi government.

The Congress which has left the national security of India in a moribund condition alleges that India’s security is under threat in Narendra Modi rule. The party attacked the Modi government for handling India’s relations with Pakistan and China.

The wrong map of Kashmir was published on page-12 of the booklet in a chapter headlined China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

On its part, the Congress called it a “printing error.” “This is a printing error. This was our responsibility. We seek apology. Such mistakes will never be repeated,” senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said.

The BJP latched on to the faux pas attacking the Congress saying the party must have gladdened the heart of its “patrons in Pakistan”.

“It is not only regrettable but shocking that a senior Congress leader like Azad is projecting a map of Kashmir where it is described as Indian occupied Kashmir. Is Congress speaking the language of Pakistan?” senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

“By projecting Kashmir as Indian occupied Kashmir the Congress party has not only made separatists happy but also gladdened the heart of its patrons across the border. It is condemnable,” Prasad said.

A Saturday : One Bengali renounces Indian secularism

Abhishek Banerjee
-
0
A Saturday : One Bengali renounces Indian secularism

Here’s a wish from Rabindranath Thakur :

Chitta jetha bhoyshunyo, uchcho jetha sheer… Bharatere sei sarge koro jagorito (Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high… let my Bharat awake into that heaven of freedom)

Words from Gitanjali (1910).

In independent India of 2017, imagine if the poet were to look up to the sky for inspiration and tried to put his vision into his own words. The poet would not be allowed to describe the blue sky as he chooses to in his beloved Bengali language. Instead he would face a fatwa from the government of West Bengal to call the blue sky “aasmani” instead of “akaashi”. If the poet wanted to describe the rainbow, he would have to call it “rongdhonu” instead of “ramdhonu”.

His words would become restricted. The poet’s spirit would wither away.

How did we reach to this stage? Should I be scared?

But scared of what? Of whom?

Of late, I see numerous articles from eminent liberals warning Bengalis about the expanding empire of BJP ruled states. They say Modi is coming to impose the culture of the “cow belt” on West Bengal.

Apparently, the “North” will take over. Supposedly, they will take away my Bengali language and force me to speak Hindi (I already speak it fluently, don’t worry). Supposedly, they will take away the regular meal of beef curry from my table and replace it with paneer (just like almost all Bengali Hindus, nobody in my family eats beef, don’t worry).

Dear liberals, I am more similar to those “invaders from the North” than you think. On the other hand, you and I probably have nothing in common.

So, stop warning me about the dangers to my Bengal and my Bengali culture from the rising tide of BJP. Tell me what your Indian secularism has done for me before you shed crocodile tears about Bengal.

Let me tell you clearly. I don’t have any confidence in your Indian secularism. Can it protect me when the need arises? Take our National Anthem:

Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha… 

You must know these words, again written by Rabindranath. Tell me, where is Sindh? Show me Sindh on the map of the Republic of India. Can you? What happened to Sindh and to the Hindus there? What happened to their homeland and their culture?

Again from the National Anthem :

Dravida, Utkala, Banga.

Where is Banga? I only know about West Bengal. There must be an East Bengal somewhere. Where did it go and what happened to the Hindus there?

Was secularism able to protect the Hindus of East Bengal? No, as a matter of fact, this whole joke called “idea of India” was built on the bones of millions of Hindus of East Bengal.

Why did Indian secularism throw away the lives of Hindus of East Bengal? Is it not true that they threw these lives away because they were impatient to rule from Delhi? Today, their biological and intellectual descendants have come to teach me “idea of India”.

The only “idea” in “idea of India” in 1947 was this : throw away the lives of millions of Hindus (and Sikhs) of West Punjab, East Bengal, Sindh and others so that we can rule from Delhi.

Trying to emotionally blackmail Bengalis today with the same “idea of India” is a sick joke. Secularism took away East Bengal. Today, all it can give us is renaming the leftover West Bengal simply as “Bengal” or “Banga”. Could it be any more pathetic?

I am being told to fear the so called “Hindutva forces”. Really? Is that the real fear?

What happened to Hindus in the Muslim majority regions of India that went to Pakistan in 1947?

In the Republic of India, there was one, just one large region where Muslims were a majority. Kashmir. What happened to Hindus there? They were marched out of the state and became refugees forever.

There are 57 Muslim majority nations spread all across the world. They could be as rich as Qatar or as poor as Somalia. Tell me what is the status of democratic, religious and cultural freedoms in these countries.

How do Muslim majority nations behave across the world?

How have Muslim majorities treated minorities in parts of the Indian subcontinent that broke away from India in 1947?

How have Muslim majorities treated minorities even inside the Republic of India?

Now tell me why I should not be worried as district after border district of Bengal turns Muslim majority?

Why should I believe that the pattern that has repeated in every corner of the Republic of India, in every corner of the Indian subcontinent and indeed in every corner of the world will not repeat in say West Bengal or Western Uttar Pradesh or Kerala or Assam?

Are you asking me to believe in magic? At least you should say so openly.  I do not believe in magical sky gods. Perhaps you do.

Now tell me what is the real danger to my personal security, my way of life and my culture.

Does Indian secularism wish me well? Will it give me a fair deal? Can it protect me?

I see liberals burning Manusmriti every day. In fact, I think that the sales of this book are driven almost entirely by liberals buying it just so they can burn it. Go ahead, for it is your right. But would these liberals ever dare to burn the …. ? You know what I am talking about. Are you saying that no oppression of human beings is carried out in its name?

Everything I need to know about Indian secularism and liberalism is already clear from that comparison.

Yesterday, I happened to read a much talked about article in The Hindustan Times by Naseeruddin Shah. Here is the last paragraph of this article and I guess it was meant as some kind of punchline

Naseeruddin Shah's article

I have too much respect for the acting of Naseeruddin Shah to accuse him of malicious propaganda, so I will only express pity for his ignorance. Because I have never seen a more spectacular example of an author destroying his own argument.

Mr. Shah, you should know that Mohammed Iqbal, who wrote “Saare Jahaan se achcha Hindustan hamara” in 1904, became a rabid Muslim separatist in the 1920s. He was one of the leading lights of the idea that Muslims cannot live in a Hindu majority democratic India. His close collaboration with Jinnah laid the intellectual basis for Pakistan, with Iqbal often coming across as more extreme than even Jinnah in believing that separation of Hindus and Muslims was inevitable. Heck, he shed tears and eulogized the guy who killed a person for writing a blasphemous book. You know, it is like eulogizing someone who kills someone for eating beef.

Now add to this the fact that Mohammad Iqbal was a great scholar, with a Bachelors degree from Cambridge and a Doctoral degree from Munich. That’s even more impressive if you imagine the attitudes towards Indians in colonial Europe of more than 100 years ago. Great scholar and great literary master and yet Iqbal became the rabid Muslim separatist that he was.

If a brilliant and educated man as Mohammad Iqbal can become a danger to Hindus …

I am sure Mr. Naseeruddin Shah can explain why I have nothing to worry about. Or can he?

Since I was a child, I have been taught about the greatness of Indian secularism. The media writes about it non-stop. Cable news blares about it incessantly.

It’s as if Nehruvian secularism is the state religion. But what has it ever done for me?

So today I renounce it. I renounce Nehruvian secularism. This is my dissent.

Yes, I understand that I have been late in my realization. But what do I do? I am not a media celebrity nor a full time propagandist.

I am just an ordinary person. I have my compulsions. I have to be busy during the week with my everyday job so that I can put food on the table.

You tried to divide my Bharat over caste on a Monday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over language on a Tuesday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over veg and non-veg  on a Wednesday.

You tried to divide my Bharat over North and South on a Thursday.

You divided my Bharat on August 15, 1947. That was a Friday.

I am only replying to you on a Saturday.

People slam propaganda website that compared Indian Army Chief to Gen Dyer

Hemant Bijapurkar
-
0
People slam propaganda website that compared Indian Army Chief to Gen Dyer

Leftist propaganda website The Wire stooped to a new low after it carried an article that made a direct comparison between India’s Army Chief General Bipin Rawat and General Dyer, the perpetrator of Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on 13th April 1919 when British troops led by General Dyer opened fire at a crowd of people inside the garden, who were unarmed and taking part in the annual Baisakhi celebrations. Officially 379 people died but the number has been speculated to be as high as a 1000.

The article titled “In Kashmir, India Is Witnessing Its General Dyer Moment” sought to somehow draw parallels between the monstrosity of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and Major Gogoi’s novel action of tying a protester to his jeep. Perhaps for the editors of The Wire, stone pelting and flashing flags of ISIS are like celebrating Baisakhi.

This piece in The Wire was possibly taking things too far and people reacted with varied emotions like shock, disbelief and outrage:


Even Shekhar Gupta, who is famous to have reported about a possible coup by the Army, reacted with shock, which proved how low really the propaganda website had sunk:


//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

In a first, NIA raids Kashmiri separatist leaders over terror funding

OpIndia Staff
-
0
In a first, NIA raids Kashmiri separatist leaders over terror funding

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) today raided as many as 23 locations in Kashmir, Delhi and Haryana in connection to the funding reportedly received by separatist leaders from Pakistan to spread terror in the Valley.

Those raided by the NIA sleuth include Altaf Fantoosh, son-in-law of Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shahid-ul-Islam, a prominent leader of Awami Action Committee of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference, businessman Zahoor Watali and some second rung separatist leaders belonging to both Hurriyat Conference and the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

In addition, the NIA team raided eight hawala dealers and traders in the national, besides two in Haryana’s Sonepat. The agency has seized around Rs 1.5 crore from various locations in the Kashmir Valley, besides recovering some incriminating documents.

It could be noted that the NIA – for the first time – has carried out the raids on the separatist leaders in connection with terror funding ever since the militancy raised its ugly head in the Valley in 1990s. In 2002, Income Tax Department had carried out searches against separatist leaders, including Geelani, and seized cash and other documents. However, no criminal case had been registered against them then.

Earlier this week, the NIA had registered FIR against the separatist leaders for receiving funds from Pakistan to keep the turmoil in Kashmir active. Though no separatist leader from the Valley was named in the FIR, separatist organisation Hurriyat Conference, terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, women separatist outfit Dukhtaran-e-Milat and terror outfits Lashker-e- Taiba mentioned in the FIR. Besides, the NIA FIR mentioned the name of Jamaat-ul Dawah chief Hafeez Saeed. The NIA raids came following the questioning of three separatist leaders — Nayeem Khan, Farooq Ahmed Dar and Gazi Javed.

We had earlier reported that the separatist leaders were under NIA radar for receiving funds from Pakistan-based terror outfits and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The amount received by the Kashmiri separatists from Pakistan in last one year, to keep the turmoil in Kashmir active, could run into several hundred crores. The funds are used for attacking security forces by carrying stone pelting, burning schools and other government buildings.

The Kashmiri separatists, who want to disintegrate Kashmir from the rest of India, claim to represent the “political views” on Kashmir. They depute stone pelters to attack security forces. A stone pelter is generally paid Rs 500 to Rs 1000 every day. This is an open secret that the separatists work in tandem with terrorists operating in the valley.

The separatists are basically superimposing terrorism by radicalising youth with the help of Pakistan. In its annual report for 2016-17, the MHA had stated that the year 2016 saw a change in Pakistan’s tactics following strategy of superimposition of militancy over “civil resistance” through radicalisation by vested interest groups and social media.

Reports quoting officials at the North Block state that the funds from Pakistan, which is directly monitored by Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, comes via gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and other places before it reaches to the separatists through hawala route.

Corruption, assault, and a possible murder – Kapil Mishra makes startling charges against AAP

Hemant Bijapurkar
-
0
Corruption, assault, and a possible murder – Kapil Mishra makes startling charges against AAP

Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra, who is turning out to be a Kejriwal for Kejriwal, has now claimed that a few AAP MLAs grabbed his throat in order to strangulate him in the Delhi Assembly.

The incident allegedly happened on 31st May when Kapil Mishra was allegedly assaulted in the Delhi assembly. Delhi assembly had met in a special session in order to pass the GST bill. Apparently 4-5 AAP MLAs started to confront and assault him after he raised a banner in the assembly alleging corruption against Kejriwal.

Now a couple of days later, Kapil Mishra has come up with a dramatic blog post narrating the incident. In the post, he claims that one of his MLA colleague grabbed his throat while others kept assaulting him. He also claimed that rather than trying to stop them, Deputy CM Sisodia directed other MLAs to go and confront him.

He claimed that he thought Kejriwal would condemn the incident, but apparently even the Chief Minister of Delhi didn’t do anything and kept smiling. Mishra further alleges that Kejriwal even spent a whole day in company of one of the accused MLAs after the incident.

Due to this alleged behavior, Mishra called Kejriwal a small minded person with a questionable character. Mishra has also claimed that on 11 AM on Saturday he would go to the Civil Lines police station to lodge an FIR regarding the attempt to ‘kill’ him in the assembly. He also named MLAs Jarnail Singh and Amanatullah Khan as the MLAs who assaulted him.

Not just that, he hinted that there could be a ‘role of Kejriwal’ in the death of Santosh Koli, an AAP leader who had died after meeting an accident in 2013. Some had claimed that the accident was staged and Koli was actually murdered.

This blog post and the possible FIR would mean the beginning of another eventful day in Kapil Mishra’s life and these aren’t the only events he planned for today. He has also organised an India against corruption 2.0 event at Constitution club in New Delhi from 4 PM. Interested parties have been asked to give a missed call to a number 7863037300.

Till date Mishra has been maintaining his Kejriwalesque consistency and vigor when it comes to making allegations about possible scams carried out by the AAP Government.

On Thursday, the Anti-corruption Bureau had raided three godowns of a pharmaceutical company in Delhi based on the allegations of medical scam by Kapil Mishra. On Monday Mishra had alleged that excess medicines were purchased on the direction of Health Minister Satinder Jain and were lying rotting in warehouses.

News has also broken about another allegation by Kapil Mishra wherein he alleged that the Kejriwal government gave tenders for affixing CNG kits in cars to fraud companies who installed Chinese kits while claiming that they had actually imported them from Canada. Apparently such kits were installed on 10,000 cars.

Kerala Congress MLA eats beef with friends to express solidarity with cow slaughter

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Kerala Congress MLA eats beef with friends to express solidarity with cow slaughter

Days after Youth Congress workers brutally butchered a calf in broad day light at Kerala’s Kannur to protest against the Center’s ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in cattle markets, a Congress MLA from the state has posted a video of consuming beef with friends to express solidarity with those who have been organising beef fest across the state.

VT Balram, the Congress MLA, in a Facebook post declared that he has left vegetarianism after 19 years to show resistance against what he says the Centre’s “beef politics.”

Many Hindus consider beef eating against their religious beliefs but the Congress MLA decided to not care about Hindu beliefs for scoring a political point. This is in line with what Youth Congress members had done when they killed a cow in full public view, which is not allowed even as per laws, to score a political point.

Then an embarrassed Congress had sought to distance itself, saying the party won’t support anyone who has violated the law (though they kept silent on hurting Hindu beliefs). Three Kerala Youth Congress leaders were suspended for their role in the slaughter and distribution of calf meat in Kannur.

Rijil Makkutty, the Youth Congress’s Kannur mandal president, who led the calf slaughter protest, however, maintains that he has no regrets. Makkutty said he had the approval of the Youth Congress state president Dean Kuriakose. Makkutty further claimed that Kerala Youth Congress president had raised no objection.

Now it remains to be seen if Congress will distance itself from the act of its MLA as well. Most probably the grand old party is not going to condemn the act or distance itself as no law was violated. So far as Hindu beliefs and sentiments are concerned, they apparently have no value in overall political strategy of Congress, which wants to appear more “secular” than Hindu.

Dalit woman molested by Muslim youth, now Agra witnesses Rampur like incident

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Dalit woman molested by Muslim youth, now Agra witnesses Rampur like incident

In an unfortunate development reminiscent of the incident in Rampur, where a group of Muslim men had molested two Dalit women and put the video on social media, Tajganj area of Agra too saw a Dalit woman being harassed by a group of youth belonging to the Muslim community, which led to communal tensions in the area on Thursday night.

Reports say that a Dalit woman was going to buy medicines around 8 PM on Thursday evening when a group of men waylaid her. They were smoking and drinking and started misbehaving with the woman. When she opposed this behaviour, they reportedly snatched her dupatta and started abusing her. The woman had to run back to her home to save herself.

Around 3-4 men had tried to intervene to save the woman from this harassment, but they were also beaten up and chased away by a mob supportive of the miscreants. This apparently turned the entire incident communal as these 3-4 men were chased away by a mob of almost 100 men who belonged to the same locality as of the miscreants who were harassing the Dalit woman.

Apart from attacking the men who tried to intervene, this mob, made of Muslim men as per the complaint, also attacked the house of the Dalit woman whom they were sexually harassing. At least 5 women were injured thereafter, who were taken to the hospital by the police. The situation could have led to larger communal clash but police is reported to have acted on time assuring punitive action.

Reports say that police kept a vigil eye and marched in the region ahead of the Friday namaaz the following day to keep the situation in control. At least two miscreants are reported to have been arrested out of eleven named in the FIR, while the police is trying to identify more who formed the mob.

Local residents are apparently unhappy with reports that police has not applied the (Prevention of Atrocities against) SC/ST act in the case. It should be noted that this act was invoked in the incident that had happened in Rampur more a week ago. The situation is reported to be under control now.

Why are the domestic ‘liberals’ so pessimistic about India? Here are some reasons

Saumya Dey
-
0
Why are the domestic ‘liberals’ so pessimistic about India? Here are some reasons

Ms. Arudhati Roy’s second novel, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, is out. She has produced it after a nearly two decade long break from creative writing. I haven’t read the book yet but am forming an impression of it from its reviews – especially the ones appearing in the foreign media. It seems like the novel is a litany of the infinite woes that haunt our poor, benighted country.

In Ms. Roy’s latest novel, says the Irish Times review, ‘there are beatings and inhuman rape attacks; so much death and abandoned babies.’ As I read the review, I wondered as to why the ‘liberal’ assessment and understanding of India is so ‘orientalist’. Ms. Roy is, after all, the most visible and articulate face of the Indian liberal community.

‘Orientalism’ is the label given to a body of scholarship produced by European scholars, mostly British, German and French, in the nineteenth century. This scholarship is in the form of histories of eastern (‘oriental’) countries or translations of and commentaries upon their classical texts.

The ‘orienatlists’, a prominent example will be Friedrich Max Muller, were responsible for some of the earliest European translations of the classical Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian texts. Often, the ‘orientalists’ depicted the histories and the textual output of the eastern civilizations in unflattering light. The American scholar Edward Said, author of the book Orientalism and a trenchant critic of this scholarship, terms it a set of ‘representations’ of the East. In these ‘representations’, the East is the ignorant, irrational ‘other’ of the enlightened and rational West.

Curiously, the ‘liberal’ view of India is somewhat similar.

On the ‘liberal’ continent, India is a country of perpetual darkness, of cruelty, death and ignorance. Even the venerable Mr. James Mill, an ‘orientalist’ and the author of an infamously condemnatory history of India in the nineteenth century, will struggle to surpass the home born ‘liberal.’

Why are the domestic ‘liberals’ so pessimistic about India? In fact they are more than pessimistic, they are fearful of the country they inhabit. In their eyes it is a downright dangerous place. Why?

Let me present my understanding of the pathology and source of this pessimism. It is partly because of the origins of the typical Indian ‘liberal’ – both social and spatial (relating to space, habitat or geography).

Irrespective of the corner of Bharatvarsha they belong to, east, west, north or south, the typical ‘liberals’ have a personal history of having been raised in very posh neighborhoods – it could be Lake Gardens (Kolkata), Powai (Mumbai), Greater Kailash or Vasant Vihar (New Delhi), or Gopalapuram (Chennai).

The ‘liberal’, after all, is generally upper or upper-middle class. What is common between these neighborhoods is that they are largely sanitized, antiseptic islands in a land known for its dust and chaos. When you are raised in these localities, it is very likely that your country will appear random and ‘dangerous’ to you, because it will be such a contrast to what you are accustomed to.

Greater Kailash or Powai, in other words, can make a native born ‘orientalist’ James Mill out of you. Their spatial origins also explain the militant ‘liberal’ ‘anti-stateism’ (a la Ms. Roy). Living in South Mumbai, or South Delhi, it is easy to forget and bypass the clumsy, lumbering Indian state. As a denizen of South Delhi, you can afford to go to the Fortis when sick, you have the money to. You do not have to line up outside a sarkari health center. But, alas, average folks like you and I need the state. We do not have the money to bypass it.

Ms. Arundhati Roy, by the way, is the daughter of a tea-plantation manager. She spent her early years in Shillong. That is as posh as posh can get.

A second prominent characteristic of the typical ‘liberal’ is his or her lack of a cultural location. The individuals displaying the ‘liberal’ tendency, to quote the British journalist and commentator, David Goodhart, do not posses cultural ‘membership’. This is a first-hand observation I made while earning my PhD in that most sacred bastion of ‘radicalism’ and ‘liberal’ political correctness – JNU.

The more ‘liberal’ or ‘radical’ a peer or classmate, the greater was his or her ignorance of Indian languages. The effective first language of these individuals was English; that is what they spoke at home. And, yes, the day scholars among them came from expensive upscale neighborhoods such as Greater Kailash, Mohammadpur, or Vasant Vihar. Look up the videos of Ms. Arundhati Roy on YouTube, in none of them will you find her speaking a ‘heathen’ Indian tongue. I am pretty very much sure that she does not know one.

When our ‘liberals’ (ineptly) use an Indian tongue it is generally to hector or scold a social ‘inferior’ – a cook, a driver. This hectoring is of ‘Ram Singh abhi tak gaadi saaf nahi kiya?’ (Ram Singh you haven’t washed the car yet?) type. That is why, when this lot comments on the political choices made by the ‘unwashed’, socially ‘inferior’ Indian masses, it assumes a preachy, hectoring tone – ‘Ae, tum log phir woh ganda party ko vote dala? Chee, chee! (Hey, you people again voted for that dirty party? What shame!).

Yes, cultural ‘membership’, under certain circumstances (not always), can contribute to political choices. And, no, the alliance of cultural membership and political choices need not necessary occur because of some primeval ‘blood lust’. But since our liberals lack cultural ‘membership’, they are incapable of empathizing with those who possess it and make a genuine attempt of understanding their political choices. They, as a result, mostly do not quite comprehend exactly what is going on around them. This makes them regard this country a dangerous place, makes them pessimistic about it too.

The ‘liberals’’ lack of cultural ‘membership’ is also why they are completely at a loss when confronted with the fact that an overwhelming majority of this country (yes, even a majority of dalits and tribals) have an instinctive revulsion for a certain kind of meat. Why should anyone not want to cut up and consume a mere quadruped? They perpetually wonder aloud.

The answer evades them because they, by dint of lacking cultural ‘membership’, lack an inherited ethical habitas. I come from a village in Tripura. Mine is a Vaishnava household. We own two cows. To my mother and paternal aunt, they are not mere four legged beasts, they are people. In their eyes eating them up will be akin to cannibalism – an act not just horrific but downright demoniac. That is the way it is ‘liberals’. It just can’t be helped. By the way, neither of the two ladies goes about inciting riots.

Finally, I am aware that I might be accused of over generalizing. There are, after all, occasional ‘liberals’ who do not conform to the type described above. How does one explain the middle or lower middle class ‘liberal’? What makes them express ‘orientalist’ assessments of India? If this question is raised, it will be a valid one. So let me try to answer it.

I will be blunt here. My impression is that middle or lower middle class individuals’ ‘liberal’ posturing is aspirational mimicry and an attempt at social climbing. They do this to find acceptance among these upper or upper middle class folks I have described above. I formed this impression at my alma mater, JNU.

But the attempt never really succeeds, to be a true born ‘liberal’ you have to belong to the same class as them, come from the same neighborhoods as well. Unless you meet these requirements, no amount of pessimistic, ‘orientalist’ posturing will help. So, desist aspiring ‘liberals’ and be at peace. ‘Liberals’ are an elite, exclusive tribe.

Rajnath Singh breaks protocol, hugs BSF jawan who suffered 85% disability in terrorist attack

OpIndia Staff
-
0
Rajnath Singh breaks protocol, hugs BSF jawan who suffered 85% disability in terrorist attack

It was a poignant moment as Home Minister Rajnath Singh displayed a rare gesture at the 15th BSF Investiture Ceremony in New Delhi on Thursday. Breaking the protocol, the Home Minister hugged a BSF jawan while felicitating him.

Godhraj Meena, a BSF constable, has suffered 85 per cent disability in a terrorist attack in Kashmir’s Udhampur in 2014. Meena was on guard duty when the terrorists attacked a BSF bus near Narsu Nalah area in Udhampur on 5 August 5, 2014. His acute presence of mind and accurate fire kept the two terrorists at bay and thwarted their attempts to move forward and saved the lives of 30 BSF troopers onboard the bus.

44-year-old Meena, who now can’t speak properly as one bullet had pierced through his jaw, received a thunderous applause from the officials and jawans of the border guarding force when Home Minister Rajnath Singh pinned the gallantry medal on his chest. Even before Meena could accord the mandatory salute, the Home Minister hugged and patted him. Singh saw Meena off from the dais with a firm and long hand shake.

As per protocol, the Home Minister after handing over the citation shakes hand with the awardee and the awardee moves ahead after according a salute.

“What we saw today is rare, very rare. This is only in very special cases like that of Meena. He is not able to talk and walk properly but despite this he dons his uniform with pride,” a senior BSF officer present in the event was quoted as saying.

Later while speaking at the event, the Home Minister said he was proud of Meena’s bravery and grit.

It could be noted that earlier in March the Home Minister had shared meal with Assistant Commandant Sandeep Mishra, a BSF officer who lost his eye-sight while fighting the terrorists in Assam in 2000.

A total of seven BSF troops, including Meena, were decorated with gallantry medals for their daredevil actions during ceasefire violations along the India-Pakistan border and handling terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir. The others included constable Subhendu Roy, driver Daljit Singh and constable Rocky. They were awarded with ‘Shaurya Chakra’.

Wife of late BSF constable Sanjay Dhar was awarded medal for gallantry (posthumous). Dhar, who was posted at Pittal border post along India-Pakistan International Border in Jammu, laid down his life while saving his BSF colleague, who had got injured in an unprovoked firing by Pakistan on 16 July, 2014.

Five personnel of the 41st battalion of the CRPF were awarded for undertaking an anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district in 2014, where they killed two Maoists.

1...6,7976,7986,799...6,966Page 6,798 of 6,966

Contact: [email protected]

About us

News and opinion website that brings you reports and narrative from a perspective often ignored or suppressed by the mainstream media of India.

Follow us

© OpIndia.com