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Indian judiciary on a roller-coaster ride?

Kushal Gupta
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Indian judiciary on a roller-coaster ride?
Image: mylaw.net blog
Delicate balance of powers among 3 pillars of democracy

Few recent cases:

  • Bombay High Court(HC) shifting IPL matches out of Maharashtra
  • Uttarakhand HC, while assessing the validity of President’s rule commented “Absolute power can spoil anybody’s mind and even the President can be wrong, and in that case his decisions can be subjected to evaluation”
  • CJI (Chief Justice of India) passionately finger-pointing at centre for judicial delays
  • SC recognizing the need to assess validity of Aadhar bill as money bill

Random cases, random dots, but what connects them all is the adventurous higher judiciary of India.

Disclaimer: Indian Constitution is the law of the land and all of us including the PM, CJI, Mr. Ambani, a beggar are subject to its provisions. And the validity of judicial overreach in any specific sub judice case is not being discussed.

Introduction
Democracy is found on the bedrock of Separation of Powers, a concept evolved by French philosopher Montesquieu in which he urged for a constitutional government with 3 distinct branches- Legislature, Executive, and Judiciary.

  • Legislature includes the parliament and state legislative assemblies(also legislative councils wherever they exist) and is responsible for making laws
  • Executive includes Government of India at the center and all other state governments and executes the laws delegated to them
  • Judiciary is supposed to address grievances wherever law is broken or if the law itself contravenes any constitutional provision, it is repealed to that effect

In its raw form, the three branches were to be water-tight compartments. But the US, followed by India adopted a modification of Checks and Balances, whereby each organ has some powers and responsibilities to keep a check on the other to prevent any abuse of power by any branch.

Thus, Indian Executive is responsible to the legislature and all are subject to the constitution which the judiciary ensures. To that extent, SC in the landmark 1973 judgment (Kesavananda Bharati case) innovated a new concept of Doctrine of Basic Structure, whereby Separation of power was made one among many basic principles of our constitution.

It basically meant that now, governments could amend any part of the constitution to enact a law, provided it didn’t contravene any of the basic principles. It was a watershed moment and hailed globally.

So what changed?

Well, two swords in one sheath is trouble, three is rampage. And the tussle among the three is historical. You could have a look at its brief history here.

But these were all healthy cases that only improved our prudence in democracy. However, the twist came with the “Three Judges Cases”

First Judges Case (1981): It declared that the “primacy” of the CJI’s recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for “cogent reasons.” The ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments

Second Judges Case (1993): The majority verdict gave back CJI’s power over judicial appointments and transfers. It says the CJI only need to consult two senior-most judges. “The role of the CJI is primal in nature because this being a topic within the judicial family, the Executive cannot have an equal say in the matter” The President was reduced to a mere approver.

Third Judges Case (1998): On a reference from former President K.R. Narayanan, the Supreme Court lays down that the CJIs should consult with a plurality of four senior-most Supreme Court judges to form his opinion on judicial appointments and transfers.

So by 1998, the Supreme court had comfortably created a closed Collegium system for its appointment and transfer and all the powers of Legislature and Executive to keep a check on it were taken away in a whisp.

In this context, in 2013 (UPA) and again in 2014(NDA) tried their hands at creating a National Judicial Appointment Commission that would restore some of their balancing powers. but it was quashed by the SC on grounds of interfering with Judicial independence, again one of the basic structure principles.

What does the constitution say?
Every judge in the Supreme Court shall be appointed by the President of India. The President shall, in this matter and apart from his ministers, consult such judges of Supreme court and the High court as he deems necessary.

What happened next?

Next in line is what is termed as Judicial activism, often turning into overreach.

Judicial activism is when courts do not confine themselves to reasonable interpretations of laws, but instead create law. In doing so, the court takes for itself the powers of Parliament, rather than limiting itself to the powers traditionally given to the judiciary.

Now for India, this has proven to be more healthy practice than otherwise, as the courts have often intervened where policy paralysis was hindering development. It could have started in 1973 when Allahabad High Court rejected the candidature of Indira Gandhi and introduction of PIL by Justice P N Bhagwati. What happened after that would be another debate.

Also, the stand against governments’ criminal neglect of the plight of Ganga is another example.

However, what we see now is kind of an overreach, when the courts have started behaving like an over-populist government needing public sympathy, interfering and even shaming the role of President, the head of the state.

Here I bring few more dots to connect:

  1. While India needs to update its drought code and make any water wasting activity a penal offense while the nation suffers drought like conditions, one cannot wait for public opinion to rise against one particular event and then rule against it, avoiding the real issues of water mismanagement (of exporting water through growing water guzzling crops)
  2. CJI emotionally appealing the government to expedite appointments and asking it not to blame judiciary for the delays appears ill-placed  as it had taken 6 months time to first quash NJAC(that would have allowed Executive arm to have a balancing power) and then gave just two months time to the government to suggest a new Memorandum of Procedure.
  3. Another aspect that makes judiciary far from sacrosanct is Corruption. In September 2010, senior counsel Shanti Bhushan made an application in the Supreme Court alleging that eight of 16 former Supreme Court CJIs were corrupt. He even sent their names in a sealed cover to the bench hearing the appeal. The application said: “The judiciary has adopted the policy of sweeping all allegations of judicial corruption under the carpet in the belief that such allegations might tarnish the image of the judiciary.” That’s not an allegation that can be just put under the rug, and for that matter, no branch can be given that sacrosanct status as “Absolute power can spoil anybody’s mind...“ as the UK HC commented.
  4. And lastly, the intent to question constitutional provisions in the name of jurisprudence can set a dangerous precedence for its future roles (as shown in intent to try Aadhar bill’s validity as a money bill, when the constitution clearly states that its the prerogative of the Speaker of Lok Sabha)

Hence I, on my part would like to sincerely request the judiciary of India to repose some faith in the other arms of government as what starts with distrust often ends in the tyranny of the powerful. C

Continuous finger pointing not only reduces public faith in the constitutional offices of the parliament but also reduces the credibility of the name-caller.

P.S. None of us would be qualified enough to comment on the rationality and wisdom of higher courts and their decisions, but the visible faults need to be addressed by the people of India who gave the constitution to themselves and not the other way round.

Why the leftist elite loves the leftist lout Kanhaiya Kumar

Rahul Roushan
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Why the leftist elite loves the leftist lout Kanhaiya Kumar

JNU Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar is accused of helping those who raised anti-India slogans, of urinating in public, of flashing his private parts to a lady, of disrespecting his teachers, of whitewashing Congress sponsored anti-Sikh genocide of 1984, and recently, of getting into a scuffle in the mid of a flight and lying about it.

Now out of these, helping people raise anti-India slogans or whitewashing Congress’ crimes would not upset an elite leftist – the champagne sipping, foreign accented English speaking bloke who’d be assumed to have some expertise in a liberal arts field – for they also do the same on many occasions.

But the other deeds of Kanhaiya make him an average desi lout, who is often frowned upon by the elite leftists. Only “Sanghis” can be such unwashed gundas in their worldview. Our elite leftists don’t like violence or sexual harassment, except those unleashed by Naxals.

Kanhaiya is no Naxal. Not yet. Then what makes the elite left love him so much despite his loutish behavior?

Because in him, they see a quality that they simply don’t possess – to connect with the masses.

In India, the elite leftist is suspicious of the unwashed masses. Even though he (or she) dreams of revolution, carried out by the same masses, he can never connect with them.

That’s why there is so limited political and electoral success for the left in India. The leftist groups and the communist parties are all led by this elite leftist and they couldn’t grow beyond West Bengal and Kerala (and Tripura if you insist).

Suspicious of the masses, but in love with unaccountable power, most of the elite leftists in India settled for a Faustian bargain with Congress, where the party promised them the position and power they hankered for in return for a hold on narrative where Congress must be projected as the only alternative or at least a lesser evil.

The inability of the elite leftists of India to connect with the masses is not something we at OpIndia.com are claiming. It has been conceded by their own lot.

Remember a JNU Professor named Nivedita Menon? Yes, the same one who was seen teaching to her students that Hinduism was the most violent religion in the world and Kashmir was being illegally occupied by India.

Back in 2011, she wrote a couple of articles on a left leaning blog where she conceded that the left was suffering from this weakness where they fail to understand what the people want. This was in reference to the anti-corruption movement by Anna Hazare. In one of the articles, she writes about “the great unwashed” while being at the Ramlila Maidan where Anna’s protest was going on:

“We wondered at the arrogance and cynicism that can only see communalism and casteism in these protests. The arrogance of the ‘Enlightened’ – who can only deal with ‘the masses’ as long as they are an abstract category and shrink in horror when confronted with them in reality.”

This is an admission. One can argue that this is a class struggle that these elite leftists have been fighting with themselves and failing over the decades. And thus they look for heroes who they think can connect with the masses.

This is where Kanhaiya gives them hope. Belonging to a poor family, having a desi accent, and talking about stuff that is supposed to resonate with the masses, Kanhaiya is seen scoring where they fail miserably.

Apart from this, Kanhaiya is “pure” for them. He still thinks socialism and communism can work. He’s a safe bet, unlike those anti-BJP politicians whose ideological purity is not yet tested or can’t be trusted.

So all the sins of Kanhaiya are forgiven. Let him pee or fight in public, we don’t care. Let him insult a professor or a colleague, we don’t care. All we care is that this guy can get the crowds and this guy can convince the masses that he’s one among them.

The lout can do what the learned can’t.

Interview of an RSS leader that the mainstream media refused to publish

OpIndia Staff
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Interview of an RSS leader that the mainstream media refused to publish

In the killing fields of Kannur lies an untold story that the “old media” has been unable to report, impaired by their inability to override the agenda and disrupt the carefully constructed narrative of an “oppressive” Sangh Parivar. However the facts and the history of the violence in Kannur devastates this in the way that only truth can.

In Kannur, a left bastion, where even small freedoms like the choice of newspaper are determined by the party and where the police force and judiciary are aligned with political parties, the price for peace is complete submission. I decided to interview J Nandakumar (Akhil Bharatiya Saha Prachar Pramukh, RSS) on the details regarding this tradition of atrocities against Sangh workers in Kannur district.

A “free” media would carry an interview requested by them. They would also be free to carry a rebuttal on the facts offered by the respondent. However the tradition of muzzling the RSS is also a long standing one. The political establishment at the centre may have changed but make no mistake about who the establishment in the media is and their agenda remains intact.

The following interview was submitted to a major newspaper on the request of its journalist, but was not published by them. Below are the questions asked and the replies submitted by J Nandakumar.

Q1: May I please get statistics of how many such attacks have been carried out in the last five years?

Ans: In Kerala, 267 people related to the RSS were killed in the last 50 years, of which 232 were killed by the CPM. After 2010, sixteen RSS workers were murdered by CPM. The number of injured – with limbs chopped off, blinded, bedridden due to injuries – is almost six times the number of those murdered.

In between clashes, we have had open seasons for the brutality of ‘peace’- False cases foisted on our cadres; Police lock ups, beatings and worse.

Q2: Do you see a pattern in these attacks, do they increase ahead of elections?

Ans: Yes, there is a pattern to all these attacks. But no, normally the spike in the number of CPM attacks against the RSS are not related to the announcement of elections. However this is true in case of CPM attacks against other parties like the Congress and the IUML.

The attacks against the RSS are almost entirely related to the flow of CPM cadres and their families to the RSS and BJP.

Yet, this time, there has been a large increase in attacks against the RSS and the BJP as we approach the assembly elections. This is because, for the first time, the CPM senses that the BJP is about to gain massively at the hustling and they want to thwart this by any means.

Q3: Has there been follow up by authorities, any arrests made? There have been allegations that some of the incidents, like the February attack on Sujith was borne out of personal enmity, what do you make of these charges?

Ans: Yes, after each incident of CPM attacks, the Police do arrest some people. In almost all cases, especially in Kannur, the actual criminals, who carry out the ‘operations’ are not touched. The party gives a list of people to be arrested to the Police and these CPM volunteers are ‘arrested’ by the Police.

To understand why and how this is possible, one will have to know about the total control the CPM leadership has over its cadres and its influence over the Kerala Police.

Why does the party do this ? One reason is that, with this ‘arrest/surrender’ drama, the murder squads of the party are left untouched – free to carry out further ‘operations’. Secondly the cadres who surrender, will have an alibi which will free them as the matters reach the court. Thirdly, even if some people get convicted the party which normally comes to power every five years in Kerala, will reward their families with generous handouts and those in jails will be given parole liberally.

Yet, some genuine convictions are made. But it takes a very brave senior IPS Police officer to defy the CPM’s script.

The Congress party and its administration has actively and passively connived with the CPM is all this. One reason why none of the masterminds behind these political murders have been booked is because the CPM and the Congress consider the BJP as their primary rival. This unholy nexus has come to light again and again, so much so that the High court itself has openly (and not for the first time) said only a CBI enquiry can bring out the truth about the political murders in which ‘actual rulers of Kannur (CPM) are involved’. The court made this latest observation while consenting to the demand for a CBI enquiry into the murder of a Muslim League activist Shukoor by the CPM.

You have asked about the allegation that Sujith’s murder was out of personal enmity. This is not true and I would urge you to make your own enquiries about this charge.

The state police has, in its FIR, confirmed that Sujith’s was a political murder. CPM has, over the past, made this ‘it-was-a-personal-issue’ allegation in almost all the murders that they have committed, whether it is that of dissident Marxist TP Chandrashekharan, BJYM vice president Jayakrishnan Master or Sujith.

The Modus Operandi is to first run a propaganda campaign against the target to frighten him to submit to their will and then murder him if it does not work. After the murder, the CPM will, through its instruments of propaganda which includes TV channels (Kairali, People’s) and Newspapers (Deshabhimani), run a smear campaign against the murdered individual’s character alleging that it was a personal weakness that led to the murder rather than any political rivalry. This pattern is well known to anyone familiar with CPM’s political murders in Kerala.

Q4: What happens to the families of those who die and those who are grievously injured? Does the RSS have provisions to look after these families?

Ans: The RSS, with the local people’s help has made proper arrangements to look after the kith and kin of the deceased workers who have been murdered. It has left no stone unturned to look after and treat those workers who have lost limbs and have been permanently disabled. The Organisation has got a mechanism for this and it has evolved due to the peculiar circumstances in this state.

Q5: Kerala, has the highest number of Shakhas in the country, what do you think is the reason that makes the youth in the state join RSS, especially when communists have a stronghold in the region?

Ans: Kerala, once a hot bed of Communism, is transforming into a breeding ground of Islamic terrorism. There is a feeling of insecurity among Hindus of Kerala and they see the Sangh as a bulwark against these forces. The Communist parties through their anti Hindu stand had tried to destroy the traditions and value systems on which the Kerala society is rooted. The young generation is now once again seeking their lost roots and seeing its cultural revival through the Sangh and its offshoots.

Growing frustration among the youth in particular about the misdeeds and corruption of the mainstream political organisation is another reason. Organisational planning and disciplined implementation of the plans by the committed workers has paved way for the growth of RSS in Kerala.

Q6: Is there any other detail that you can share about the growing violent attacks against the RSS workers and what these are attributable to?

Ans: The RSS has the same pattern and methodology of work in Kerala as it has all over India. That is to say that we have consistently worked within the democratic system and tried to take the whole society along with us. We do not see the CPM or any other organisation as an ‘Enemy’. We have time and again appealed for peace and for the right to carry out or organisational work like any other outfit in the state.

Many independent researchers who have studied about the murder politics in Kerala, including the prominent Gandhian thinker Udayabhanu, have stated this fact categorically. However, the CPM in Kerala, after the collapse of communism world over, has chosen arrogance as a philosophy and violence as its tool.

You should know that it is not just the RSS that is targeted by the party. The CPM has attacked the Congress, IUML, and even its allies in the LDF – the CPI and the RSP. Last week, while a brutal attack was carried out on BJP cadres (including former state president Muraleedharan) at Trivandrum, a Congress worker (who had left the CPM earlier) was murdered at Alleppey by the party and a bomb attack by the CPM at Nadapuram injured 3 Muslim league workers.

When it comes to violence, the CPM is an equal opportunity party.

(This interview was conducted by a reporter and was later not published in a leading newspaper, hence sent to us)

CNN News 18 gets a lesson in reporting from the HRD Minister

OpIndia Staff
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CNN News 18 gets a lesson in reporting from the HRD Minister

HRD Minister Smriti Irani has often used social media to counter untruths regarding her and her ministry. Earlier this year, she had rebuked Rajdeep Sardesai for his half-baked tweets. And last year, she took on Suhasini Haider and The Hindu. Now it seems it was the turn of Bhupendra Chaubey and his channel, CNN News 18.

It started with some run-of-the-mill news show promotion tweets by CNN News 18 and Bhupendra Chaubey. CNN News 18 later deleted the tweet:

The tweet which CNN News 18 later deleted
The tweet which CNN News 18 later deleted

The minister chose to reply to CNN News 18’s tweet with this:


CNN News 18’s original tweet suggested that Smriti Irani had spoken to Bhupendra Chaubey, which probably alarmed the minister because she had not spoken to him at all. At this stage, Bhupendra Chaueby clarified:


To this, Irani again tweeted:


Chaubey now acknowledged that she was right on this issue. Vir Sanghvi, who conducted the interview, also tweeted something similar:


Possibly, soon after this exchange, CNN News 18 deleted the original tweet. Interestingly, Vir Sanghvi makes another point in his tweet, which should be noted. He says Smriti Irani refused to comment on the Government handling of JNU. This flies in the face of Chaubey’s own tweet where he claimed the minister broke her silence on the same issue:

Bhupendra Chaubey's tweet
Bhupendra Chaubey’s tweet

Even the snippet of the interview which was telecast confirmed the above. On the question of commenting on this matter, the minister refused to answer saying she cannot comment on a law and order issue which is not her jurisdiction, and which is being deliberated upon in a court of law. While News 18 took down their misleading tweet, Chaubey didn’t.

And after this episode, Chaubey tweeted this:


Maybe its time we take up his advice?

Kanhaiya’s “attacker” a “BJP office bearer”? Media and Kanhaiya lie again…

OpIndia Staff
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Kanhaiya’s “attacker” a “BJP office bearer”? Media and Kanhaiya lie again…

Yesterday Kanhaiya Kumar, made a sensationalist allegation that a co-passenger in his flight, whom he called a “strong BJP supporter” had attempted to “strangulate” him in the flight. We had reported how Kanhaiya’s version went against initial police reports on the issue, and also against normal logic.

After we posted the above article, Mumbai police confirmed that their investigation had revealed that Kanhaiya Kumar and his group’s version of the events was untrue:


In all the fracas, one issue raised by many was how did Kanhaiya Kumar ascertain that his “attacker” was a “strong BJP supporter”. In fact, later in the day, Kanhaiya went on to allege that this person Manas Deka, was a BJP office bearer:

Kanhaiya’s allegation (this tweet has now been deleted by Kanhaiya)

Following his cue, like good propaganda machines should, pro-AAP news blog Janta Ka Reporter too posted an article that claimed the same. This is the same blog which had spread the fake news of Aamir Khan adopting drought hit villages a few days back.

Now see the timing, Kanhaiya alleges at 5.13 PM, and within 35 minutes Janta Ka Reporter is ready with the report. Also note the language used; Janta Ka Reporter alleges on its own that Manas Deka is a “supplies office bearer”. Later it says, Kanhaiya too has made the same allegation. Hence, this is not a report based on Kanhaiya’s tweet, but where Kanhaiya’s tweet is presented as a “proof” to further “substantiate” what the pro-AAP news blog is claiming.

Janta Ka Reporter news report
Screengrab of the report published on the pro-AAP news blog Janta Ka Reporter

This same news, was then run by many small time portals and propaganda sites like newscrunch.in and Milli Gazzete, which had earlier pushed the fake news about Ayush ministry not hiring Muslims as part of government policy.

So was the Manas Deka who allegedly attacked Kanahaiya really a BJP office bearer? Even in our report yesterday, which was published before Kanhaiya could make that allegation, we had introduced our readers to a “rarely” occurring phenomenon where 2 different people have the exact same name.

It doesn’t take much work to find out that the Manas Deka, who is on the BJP site as an office bearer is a completely different from the TCS employee Manas Deka, who is alleged to have assaulted Kanahaiya. It should strike anyone that a full-time employee of a private company, would face great difficulty in acting as a office bearer of a party too.

If one goes through the posts of BJP’s North East facebook page, one can see photos of this Manas Deka:

BJP's Manas Deka
BJP’s Manas Deka

Now have a look at the Kanhaiya “attacker” Manas Deka:

Man in light blue shirt is Manas Deka, who got in a scuffle with Kanhaiya in a Mumbai-Pune flight.

In fact, on the BJP official site, even the phone number of the BJP functionary Manas Deka has been given. All it takes is a small call to confirm whether he is the same. But Kanhaiya, Janta Ka Reporter and others would not do so, since they would be exposed. And the media is happy to listen to just one side.

This lie of Manas Deka being a BJP functionary was first started by an ordinary user on Twitter, who later deleted his tweet after realizing he was wrong:

Rumor mongering
How it started…

This was then put into circulation, with the Arvind Kejriwal-esque “Is it true?” style, by Supreme Court Advocate Sanjay Hegde, who appears on Times Now often attacking BJP. Foul mouthed journalist Swati Chaturvedi too jumped in, as did Marathi journalist Nikhil Wagle, both of whom circulated this as truth:

Tweet spreading a false claim
Deliberate rumour mongering?

And as this rumour kept on floating, it probably reached Kanhaiya Kumar or his handlers, who tried to use it as a saving grace since his allegations had been dismissed by the police. In fact, after Kanhaiya posted the above tweet, alleging a BJP connection, within a few minutes he posted the same link again, this time with a more evasive caption:

Kanhaiya's backtracking
Kanhaiya’s backtracking

And later, Kanhaiya altogether deleted the first tweet where he was firmer in his allegation that his attacker was a BJP office bearer. So was Kanhaiya made aware by someone that his first tweet, which is now deleted, was wrong? That the Manas Deka who “attacked” him, was in fact not a BJP member? Did he then draft a second tweet, which was less incriminating, since he can always walk away saying he was only “wondering”?

Furthermore, if Kanhaiya was right that a murderous assault on him had taken place, why did he refuse to undergo a medical test? Remember, in the case of him being assaulted by lawyers, medical tests were done and they corroborated the charges. So why shy away from tests now?

These are the questions most in the media are not asking, because Kanhaiya can’t lie saala…

Did someone really try to “strangulate” Kanhaiya Kumar?

OpIndia Staff
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Did someone really try to “strangulate” Kanhaiya Kumar?

The Cambridge dictionary, defines the word “strangulate” as:

“to kill someone by pressing their throat so that they cannot breathe; strangle”

So when anyone makes the allegation that someone tried to strangulate him, it is quite a serious matter. Maybe not as serious as hacking to death or chopping of legs or blowing up a school building, but yes an attempt to strangulate is indeed serious. Modi-baiter Kanhaiya Kumar made this allegation on twitter today, and Indian media and media-persons went into a tizzy:

a
Kanhaiya’s allegations

Leave aside trivialities like how a “poor” student, whose mother earns barely enough to live, was travelling in a plane to Pune from Mumbai, a journey which takes less time by road than by flight, considering all the airport formalities. Or how Kanhaiya’s super detective skills managed to find out that his “strangulator” was a “strong BJP supporter”. The moot question here is Arvind Kejriwal’s favourite line: “Is it true?”

While this has been Kanhaiya’s version, various media reports seems to suggest something else:

First, Jet Airway’s official statement says:


The official statement is very short and gives no details of the incident. But as per Hindustan Times, this is the police version, which according to Indian media, when it is convenient, should be considered as gospel truth:

An initial probe carried by police revealed that it was not a case of assault but the two pushed each other over a petty argument.

Till 11.30 am, the Sahar police was waiting outside the airport premises to record statements of Kanhaiya and the other co-passenger.

A police official from Sahar police said, “From the preliminary inquiry we have learnt that the co passenger had a window seat and while taking the seat he bumped into Kanhaiya. They pushed each other. But there was nothing like an assault or a fight. But we can ascertain anything only after they come out and we record statements of flight crew and the two involved in the incident.”

This is eerily similar to the “bindow seat” Yatra ad spoofing Kanhaiya Kumar. It would be highly amusing if this version finally comes out as the truth.

A Maharashtra Times report too alludes to something similar. The report says, Deka, the alleged assaulter had booked a window seat, and as he was moving towards his seat, he bumped (dhakka) into Kanhaiya, who was sitting on the next seat. This led to an argument between the two, and in anger, Deka held the collar of Kanhaiya. After this Kanhaiya complained to the security personnel and consequently both were de-boarded.

An Assistant Editor with The Indian Express too has tweeted something similar:


And the accused, Manas Deka, has also spoken to ABP News now in which he claims that he did not do any such thing. He says, he was sitting on the window seat and he was coming out. Since his leg was injured, he had to come out carefully, and in that movement, his hand hit Kanhaiya, which was then spun by Kanhaiya as “strangulation” in order to get publicity.

Also, one must question the intelligence of this so called “strangulator” who allegedly attempted to choke Kanhaiya to death inside an Aircraft, with zero chances of getting away with such a serious crime. Imagine the “plan”:

Buy a ticket, obtain a boarding pass with genuine ID proof, board the plane, “strangulate” Kanhaiya, since this is the only way to kill someone in a secure aircraft, escape (?) from the aircraft, onto the airport, another highly secure location, and then escape from there into the city!

Either the alleged “strangulator” is mentally deranged, or the accuser. And if this was not a planned attempt, then it was obviously a spur of the moment argument, which most reports are pointing to, unlike Kanhaiya, who chooses to bring in BJP into this.

As of now, investigations are on and it is premature to say which version is correct. But media cheer-leaders and rumour-mongerers seem to have already passed their verdict:

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The verdict is out!

Some miscreants on social media also tried to spread the theory that the attacker was a BJP committee member:

Rumor mongering
The tweet, which has now been deleted.

But they were introduced to the rarely occurring phenomenon where 2 different people have the exact same name:


And even as we discuss who is guilty and who is not, Left-wing trolls have begun tagging Manas Deka’s personal Facebook profile and are spurring other to attack him and his employers, to take action on him:

Attack on Manas Deka on facebook
Attack on Manas Deka on facebook

The-Lying-Lama on Twitter: The guy who’s gets Rajdeep Sardesai’s goat, everytime

OpIndia Staff
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The-Lying-Lama on Twitter: The guy who’s gets Rajdeep Sardesai’s goat, everytime

Trolling was considered an art on Twitter before it was given a bad name by people who know only abusive or bullying language. If you don’t believe, you need to check out replies by a Twitter user “The-Lying-Lama” to the tweets of celeb journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

There is no abusive language, there is no threat, and there is no obscenity. It’s all about wit, and some biting sarcasm. While “The-Lying-Lama” has a long list of replies to showcase, we bring to you some of his best ones.

Also read: ‘Journalist’ Rajdeep Sardesai shamelessly twists PM Modi’s comment on Congress’ ‘Hindu terror’ bogey

Rajdeep Sardesai, who expressed ‘excitement’ at the Parliament attack, now laments the lack of ‘evidence’ after India strikes Pakistan

Read them and learn the art of “good trolling”:


By the way, it seems that the lying lama (or @KyaUkhaadLega per his twitter handle) was blocked by Rajdeep Sardesai (obviously!) but later he unblocked him. Maybe he too appreciates that it’s good trolling!

Apart from having a Twitter account, the ‘Rajdeep replier’ also has a Facebook page, but he doesn’t seem to reply with the same passion for Mr Sardesai on Facebook, yet. 😉

The lying lama’s apart being a master troll on Twitter has a day job as Chief Business officer of India’s top sports website Sportskeeda.

A thought experiment: Srinagar as the ’Summer Capital’ of India – If I were Modi

Himanshu-Karthik
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A thought experiment: Srinagar as the ’Summer Capital’ of India – If I were Modi

(Editor’s Note: Role of the BJP led government at the center, in government formation and governance in the state of Jammu & Kashmir has often led to intense debates on social media. We believe it would be an interesting thought experiment to put yourself in the shoes of the Prime Minister and come up with some ideas that you think could solve the Kashmir issue from a nationalist perspective. We are not endorsing any suggestions, but just facilitating a discussion. You can put your articles on MyVoice.OpIndia.com and take this debate forward. For now, hear this one out.)

The origin of the word ‘Kashmir’ as per Hindu Puranas have been linked to ‘Kasmira’ which is derived based on the name of Hindu mythical sage Kashyapa. From medieval times Kashmir had been one of the epicenters for the development of Buddhism and Hinduism so much so that a sect of Hinduism is known as Kashmir Shaivism. In the 19th Century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh rescued local Kashmiris from the barbarism of Afghans and Mughals and thus brought significant portion of Kashmir under the Sikh dynasty. During the independence, Kashmir got acceded to India as Raja Hari Singh sided with India and pleaded Lord Mountbatten to assist state of Jammu and Kashmir from the onslaught of Pakistan guerilla warfare and state sponsored terrorism. Indian Army led to the rescue of Maharaja Hari Singh and drove out the Pakistani state sponsored terrorists. This however led to the never ending conflict between India and Pakistan and since then Pakistan fought and lost three wars with India in 1965, 71 and 99. Between these wars, Pakistan continued with its sponsoring of terrorism in J&K.

In the late eighties and early nineties, Pakistan even won a passive war against India as Kashmir witnessed a Holocaust of Hindu Kashmiri Pandits, which had not been witnessed ever since the rule of Afghans and Mughals ended. There were chants through the loudspeakers, which vociferously thundered ‘Agar Kashmir mein rehna hai toh Allahu Akbar kehna hai’, ‘Zalimon O Kafiro, Kashmir Hamara chhodo’. After this, many such atrocities against the Hindus continued in Kashmir and Media and successive Governments continued to ignore the plight of Kashmiri Pandits who till date live as refugees and cannot go back to their homeland. It is now since the current Government has come into power, all these noises have gained attention, be it JNU where anti India slogans are raised and such people are labelled as saviors of freedom of speech or NIT Srinagar where students who chanted pro India slogans and hoisted the Tricolour were lathicharged.

It often amazes me on how these Kashmiris have been brainwashed since generations that they send their children for education (if at all), medical treatment, business, employment to Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi and other cities and still spew venom against us. Their State Government salaries are paid by us, we have reignited the tourism industry in the valley, our Indian Army which is stationed there maintains the law and order and rescues them from floods and other natural calamities. Yet there is no credit given to them, in fact during my recent visit to Srinagar, I asked various people on what they will gain if at all Kashmir becomes part of Pakistan (although it is never going to happen), they were clueless on what to answer. Maybe they can graduate from being professional stone pelters to being recruited for various banned organizations (no need to name them).

But somewhere I feel we are also to be blamed for ignorance of Kashmiris as they do not have a sense of belongingness to India. Few questions come to my mind while I think about state of affairs in Kashmir –

Who is ruling J&K – It’s the BJP-PDP Government.

Who is ruling the Centre – It’s the BJP Government.

Forget about previous Congress Governments at the Center and State as least is expected from them but what is BJP’s USP – A nationalist political party with core principles of non-appeasement and finally who heads BJP Government – Shri Narendra Modi, a nationalist, a leader known for his aggression with a no nonsense attitude who himself hoisted the tricolor at Srinagar in 90s. Then why is Shri Narendra Modi silent on this issue? Why is the situation of Kashmir not changing? Or is it that this is a deliberate attempt by Central Government to bring our state of affairs in front of everyone which media continued to ignore until two years back.

I often ask myself what could I have done if I were Modi under these circumstances. What often comes to my mind is that in 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. As the summer capital, Shimla hosted many important political meetings including the Simla Accord of 1914 and the Simla Conference of 1945. The British empire took the trouble of moving the administration twice a year between Calcutta and this separate center over 1,000 miles away, despite the fact that it was difficult to reach. During the “Hot Weather”, Shimla was also the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, India, the head of the British Indian Army and many Departments of the Government.

When the British empire can have their Summer Capital as Simla in those times, why can’t we have Srinagar as the Summer capital of India, even if it is for a period of at least 3 months in a year. In this era of technology, internet etc. where people can ‘Work from home’, do Skype calls and do video conference for conduct of business, why can’t Government office work be conducted by leveraging this technology? and why not? Which leader values and uses technology like our tech savvy Prime Minister. I can’t think of many.

Or is security the reason for not doing it? No, I don’t think so as majority of our Army is already stationed in the Valley and the only security personnel that may have to be moved would be personal commandos & NSG, which I think is a non-issue. Now the important point is, what we as Indians will achieve by doing this – Won’t India achieve in making Kashmir an integral part of India in the ‘True sense’? The positives of such a move could benefit the state and the country as follows:

  • Srinagar being the Capital of India will enhance its prominence and visibility globally as it would be called the ‘Summer Capital’ of India, implying its very much an integral part of the country and valued;
  • With Central Government machinery in Srinagar there would be development of Infrastructure;
  • Development of Infrastructure would definitely attract investments / FDI’s and also help in achieving the ‘Make in India’ mission;
  • Aren’t the Diplomatic area, Shanti path, 7 RCRs and the Rashtrapati bhavan etc. the cleanest part of our National capital? So will Srinagar be and that will be a big step towards achieving the ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission;
  • Tourism will get a further boost. Tourists both national & international will feel more safe and secure if they know that the PM himself operates from the Valley;
  • All of the above, it will generate jobs in the Valley. Majority of youth of Kashmir who are getting wasted and are becoming ‘Professional stone pelters’ would be employed in respectable jobs. This will create a sense of belongingness and loyalty towards India, which is largely missing at present;
  • And this will also position BJP as a party with a ‘Difference’ having a clear strategy for the Valley, which many including BJP supporters doubt at times.

But for all this, a debate followed by revocation of Article 370 will be required. Can this Government show its might? well only time will tell!

And last but not the least, the obvious benefits of the above will be the real strong message India would send to the world and especially to Pakistan when the Prime Minister of India delivers the Independence day speech on the 15th of August from Lal Chowk, the Summer Capital of India, Srinagar and the President of India delivers the Republic day speech on the 26th January from Lal Qila, New Delhi the National Capital of India followed by the Republic Day parade.

This will ensure that our Tricolour, our beloved Tiranga, our national flag would be unfurled from Lal Qila to Lal Chowk.

Jai Hind!!

World Book Day – Five Books To Read

Aashish Chandorkar
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World Book Day – Five Books To Read

April 23rd is celebrated as the World Book Day. An important area where many Indians lack access to published word is the post Independence period – the contemporary period – because our text book histories stop with the country being free from the British. This “… and they lived happily ever after..” approach to understanding the events around us needs to be discarded. There needs to be a greater emphasis on critically assessing what went on in the terms of policy making and politics, impacting our own lives and of our generations to come.

In this context, the World Book Day is a good time to reflect on events which shaped us as a country and learn about how the country has been governed in the modern era.

 

One Life Is Not Enough by K. Natwar Singh

Natwar Singh spent many years in the Indian Foreign Service and later joined the Congress party, assuming many senior ministerial positions in the government. His closeness to the Nehru-Gandhi family, which has controlled the Congress party and the Indian government for most part since Indian independence is well known and well documented – including by Natwar Singh himself. This book is an intriguing account of the way Delhi functions – from someone who had a great view of the process. This is an ideal autobiography – he attempts to hide nothing or no one. His likes and dislikes are made public and so are his own qualities and shortcomings.

Singh covers how the bureaucrats stand to benefit by being close to powerful politicians. And conversely how things can go wrong when these relationships fall by the way. Singh gives frank opinions on key personalities who he worked with. Pandit Nehru is lauded as the leader who brought India together after Independence but fell from his high pedestal in the later part of the tenure. On Indira Gandhi with whom Singh worked the closest, the book covers the qualities – power and authority and the flip side of the same qualities – carte blanche and dictatorial ways of operating in a democracy. The husband-wife duo of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi are examined through the lens of reluctant politicians becoming omnipotent. The author presents a not so charitable view of PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh who are described as weak but opportunist individuals who made the most of political windfalls.

Singh gives as many details as one possibly can from such a long and connected career. He ends with covering the “Oil for Food” program in Iraq sketchily which caused his own downfall. The links to the eventual beneficiaries aren’t spelt out, but Singh ends his story describing two closed door Manmohan Singh – Paul Walker meetings and Walker’s later role as the UN committee head for “Oil for Food” probe. The reader is left with unspoken words and events to be pieced together.

 

1965 Turning The Tide – How India Won The War by Nitin Gokhale

The title of the book itself provides a big hint on what the author – veteran journalist and defense expert – Nitin Gokhale brings out in the detailed account. The 1965 Indo-Pak war has been the least celebrated of the four Indian victories in the battlefield (though some authors describe 1948 and 1999 as localized skirmishes, not full blown wars like 1965 and 1971). The popular accounts in the media and on television commonly describe 1965 as a tie or a stalemate.

Gokhale narrates the war not as a monolith but takes a battle by battle, theatre by theatre approach, looking at every engagement between the two armies in isolation. Every such event is then analyzed for impact on the war as a whole. The research is meticulous and the reconstruction very real. The detailing is authentic covering everything including locations, directions, terrains, troop positions, troop movements, and the actual battles. The author has taken several first hand inputs and going through this account is almost reliving the events of 1965.

The book clearly establishes that India had a net advantage in this war – a statement which hasn’t been categorically made very often in media or in TV studios. This book fills a big void in the Indian military history writing.

Confessions of a Swadeshi Reformer by Yashwant Sinha

Yashwant Sinha, a bureaucrat turned politician, served in key ministerial positions with two Prime Ministers – Chandra Shekhar and Atal Bihar Vajapayee. This book, styled as an autobiography, but with greater emphasis on his professional life as a politician, is an excellent account of not just Sinha’s contributions to Indian politics and policies but also serves as a precise summary of the tough operating conditions for the country through the 1990s.

Sinha can be called the architect of the first wave of economic reforms in 1990-91 when he was the Finance Minister in the Chandra Shekhar government. His iconic 1991 budget document was never presented in its entirety with Congress pulling its outside support to the government. But this document formed the basis for the changes which Rao – Manmohan combine pushed vigorously in the later part of 1991.

Sinha also talks about the immense difficulties through which the Vajpayee government completed its term. The government faced hostility not just from opposition, but from NGOs, bureaucracy, interest groups, and from its own allies at times. Sinha, who served as the Finance Minister for part of the term, describes how the government still pushed reforms in the areas of Agriculture, Banking, Taxation, Electricity, Telecom, and Disinvestment with a strong will.

Reading this book is like imagining riding a roller coaster while being in charge of the controls of the apparatus – it is a great account of the context in which the Vajpayee government worked and eventually lost in 2004.

 

Ayodhya – The Finale by Koenraad Elst

This book on the Ayodhya Ram Janmabhoomi movement recaps “science versus secularism in the excavations debate” as the tagline mentions. Koenraad Elst laments why with modern techniques available, the debate on the disputed Ayodhya site continues. Elst also explains how science fell prey to the sociologists in this matter and how the procedures and assumptions involved in the Ayodhya excavations followed a path guided by historians and not by scientific methods.

The book covers the events from 2002-2003, when the Supreme Court had ordered the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to determine if there was any extant structure underneath the disputed Ayodhya site. The radar based underground imaging studies conducted in this period had revealed the existence of “something” under the ground. The ASI then had to build up on these studies via excavations.

The author explains how the ASI could have inferred nothing else but the presence of a temple under the demolished Babri Masjid. Evidence after evidence pointed to the presence of a structure which could have been nothing else but a Hindu place of worship. But as the details continued to emerge and leaked, various groups of sociologists and historians continued to put pressure on the ASI and kept presenting alternative histories like they have done since 1950.

In this short book, Elst rubbishes these alternative versions and bats for using proper scientific methods to prove what should be obvious.

 

The Sanjay Story by Vinod Mehta

Vinod Mehta wrote this book soon after the Emergency was lifted and a beeline of authors came forward to write on the life and times of the worst period of Indian democracy ever. Mehta does not talk about the Emergency much, but focuses on the life of Sanjay Gandhi, who was the main protagonist of the Indian politics in the 70s.

This book is actually quite an average one – it has basic research, sweeping statements, conflation of events with no sense of proportion, and sketchy details fill the book. It is a collection of hearsays with several author made inferences on what may or may not have gone behind scenes. And the best part is the author himself accepts that in the course of the book.

Yet, the book provides an account of Sanjay Gandhi’s life, personality, style of thinking, friendships or lack thereof, and ambitions in one single account. Mehta does bring out the total control Sanjay had over the Congress party starting in 1976 and how his schemes actually brought the worst face of Emergency closer to the voting masses.

It is worth going through this account not so much to learn about a rather ordinary individual who had his place in the sun given his surname, but to understand the backdrop of how a country was run by a family over several years as its personal fiefdom.

Happy Reading!

(The author had written a similar piece last year too, recommending 5 other books)

Kerala: Lives lost, limbs lost, but not hope – the story of Sadanandan Master

Advaita Kala
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Kerala: Lives lost, limbs lost, but not hope – the story of Sadanandan Master

Buoyed by the bravery of those we find ourselves in the midst of, sometimes we take safety for granted. The same happened with me, as I accompanied and followed Sadanandan Master when in Kuthuparamba, Kannur.

I heard of Sadanandan Master a little over a month ago. By then, Kannur had already captured my attention. In February this year, a young man Sujith was brutally hacked to death in front of his parents. There was no clear case of provocation, only the fact that this village do-gooder had accompanied a group of people to sort out a neighbourly dispute between two school-going teenagers.

Sitting in Delhi, I skimmed through channels to find visuals and debates and interviews of another young man, Kanhaiya. There was one news item of his being roughed up outside the court house that generated justifiable outrage. Kanhaiya walked away from that surrounded by police.

But in my mind, a parallel timeline of events was playing out. That of Sujith’s death; the fact that he was pulled out of his home at night by CPM cadre, that a plank of wood with nails on it was one of the weapons used to tear his skin from the back of his neck down before killing him, were not mentioned or commented on, or even acknowledged in the media or debate.

They echoed in my head, in my imagination. The only escape from him was to let in the living – his mother with her broken arm from when she had rushed to save him, a woman I would subsequently meet.

Advaita Kala with Sujith's mother
The author with Sujith’s mother

I was haunted. Sujith’s mother is a small woman, no more than five feet one inches tall, maybe 35 kilos. I embraced her two days ago and only felt bones rattling against my body as she cried. Amma I called her, the word for mother in Kerala, it only made her cry more, and I felt as if I had wronged her as well.

Amidst this, Sadanandan Master became hope for me. I have never visited a political party’s office, let alone supported a candidate. But with Sadanandan Master, all of those considerations became incidental.

Here was a man who had his legs taken away from him by an act of such barbaric cruelty that my sanitised world of imagination and urban outrage was demolished to the rubble of well-meaning thoughts and comment that it was.

I don’t know who I expected to meet when I first met him. We had already spoken on the phone. He was always pleasant. I had seen his photographs and watched an old YouTube video. They reflected a man of quiet dignity and of a compassionate temperament.

But would there be bitterness? I was to find none. By now, I had heard the stories, of his attack when returning from distributing wedding cards for his sister’s wedding, to the aftermath. I met his friend who accompanied him to the hospital in an old battered ambulance, as he drifted in and out of consciousness, losing blood, losing hope.

His friend carried his amputated legs, they were no good, having been dragged on the ground by his assailants and tossed aside. But his friend carried them to the hospital anyway, hoisting them on his shoulders. Why? So no one could say that Sadanandan Master never had legs in the first place and no crime had been committed.

This was 1994 and as it is today, the RSS had no access to political power in Kerala, a dangerous situation in a state where every institution is politicised. Where even police associations have elections and candidates are backed by political parties and the victories are recorded in newspapers.

As the rest of the country conjectures about RSS’s presumed unchecked power, Kerala is a time warp, it tells you what it was like for this organization for most of its years of existence. Here, Sadanandan Master had picked the losing side.

What followed after his attack, were months of depression. I met the man whose wife used to force feed him, because he refused to eat, sitting in his hospital bed all day staring at the walls. Even his beloved books gave him no company. At almost thirty, this young man who once stood at six feet had lost his two limbs and the will to carry on.

He had also been in love, with a co-student, pushing the marriage till his responsibilities were settled. He now told her to carry on with her life and not waste it on a handicapped man who would only be a burden. She refused.

Sadanandan Master
Sadanandan Master

When I meet him, he laughs about her, she is very determined. “Your soul mate?” I ask. “Yes”, he blushes, “you can call her that”. Together they had a child, a daughter. Together, they built a home, away from Kannur. Together, they restored his dignity. Together, he has learnt to laugh.

His students make him laugh. They treat him a lot better than other colleagues beleaguered by the constant battling of wits with precocious teens. They keep an eye out for Mashe’s (an endearment for Master in Kerala) car, modified to suit his special needs. They rush to open the door and carry his books. They give him little trouble. His story is known to all.

But to hear him tell it. He doesn’t blame his assailants, the CPM men who came to him later to ask for forgiveness. They are forgiven. He blames the masters that sanction this violence, cocooned in their world of privilege, their children in the safe embrace of foreign lands, far away from the killing fields of Kannur.

Moved by his story, I had rushed to garner support, requested people to canvas for him, be his legs.

Many volunteered. I went there ahead of them, on a recon as it is called in the world of cinema, to see if it was safe, to tell more people his story. I hoped the Prime Minister, a popular man, would go to Kannur.

His itinerary leaves it out. One reason could be security concerns. It is difficult to sanitise this area for even the most powerful person in the country. Crude bombs are built in homes and lobbed at passing vehicles. We drive through areas, unguarded, vulnerable; I can taste the tension in the hot breeze.

Lutyen’s Delhi and its strutting masters with security that covers the entire alphabet from A to Z, fill me with a new distaste for something that I have grown accustomed to. The ink attacks and the shoe hurling that finds air-time, and the maimed and dead bodies that pass without comment.

I see it all as I sit to write. Changed, humbled, saddened and all too aware of my own insignificance and that of any platform which will give me space to write of this cruelty in the face of dehumanising ambition and agenda. But I write anyway. What else is there to do when in the presence of staggering courage and the lurking inevitability of violence?

Sadanandan Master’s car was attacked yesterday. He had left it a few moments before the attack. I spoke to him after, he seemed surprised. “It is unexpected, isn’t it?” he asked me. And I realised that he is misled by his own courage.

(Advaita Kala is an award winning screenwriter and author. You can contact her on Twitter here)

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