Letter from MP to His Son

My dear son,

When you went abroad to study, it was with a clear understanding that, once you finish your education you would return to India. We took a family decision when your education ended; that it made sense for you to stay in the US for a few years more, enjoy your youth, money and then return and stand for elections as Member of Parliament from the constituency our family has represented for so many decades.

It has been five years since you left, and, last week, when we spoke on Skype, you told me that you believed that it was time to return. At first, I was delighted. Then, after the call was over, the import of what you planned to do sank in. My impulse was to call you back immediately, but I thought I’d put my thoughts down in an email so that you have a better understanding of what I want to say and why I say it.

In a nutshell, I do not want you to return to India. The India of today is not the India that you left. Much has changed – and much of the change negatively affects families like ours. There is a change in the balance of power in society. People do not understand what people like me, member of parliament, do – and no longer acknowledge that all of us, thanks to the great sacrifices we make for our constituency, do not live like normal people.

Just the other day, a fellow Member of Parliament was almost shamed in the context of what media is calling a Rs 71 lakh ‘scam’. The media, who no longer seem to have respect for people like us, are harassing him the whole day, treating him like a common cheat.

Even worse is the case of Robert Vadra, Priyankaji’s husband. It seems DLF lent Robertji Rs 65 crore without any security – and the media and social activists are making that out to be a crime. What crime? Many friends in business have lent me hundreds of crores without any security over the decades – and they haven’t even asked for me to return it. Why would they? After all, as a friend, I’ve helped them on so many instances that they’ve earned fortunes from our friendship. Now, media is making it sound like it’s a crime for MPs and ministers to help friends. What a terrible state of affairs.

Sharad Pawar’s nephew has been forced to resign because of some allegations on a developmental work that he was involved in. Media says that he helped contractors make extra money by approving of rises in estimates after the contracts were awarded. What is wrong with that? Your grandfather used to do the same with his friends, as did I. Ministers like Raja, Kanimozhi and Kalmadi have been jailed because of trying to help their friends. This is where our country is going to. No one has any respect for our class any more, and the media and social activists are being helped by the courts – they’re ganging up against us.

Things are bad in India, son. It is becoming difficult for people like us to carry on in the way we are used to. We are treated like commoners, we are called cheats and thugs. We’re reaching a stage when toll booth attendants expect us to pay – an FIR was filed against an MP who, obviously got upset at the request and threatened the attendant with a gun for his cheek.

It is getting very petty. The other day, Air-India staff at Guwahati charged three MPs for carrying excess baggage. MPs not being allowed excess baggage on the national airline, and lowly employees of Air-India not respecting them? This is the new India, the India you want to come back to!

That’s why I write this note to you. Do not come back to India, and forget about plans on a career in politics. Come to Geneva next week;

I will meet you there. I will transfer money to your account so that you can invest in a house in New York. As far as business is concerned, maybe you could buy a University nearby. After all, your Uncle has six universities in India and they are quite profitable. I will ask him to guide you when you begin

your venture.

Will discuss in detail when we meet next week.

With love from your father.

MP Makhanchor

Congress has never been hard on Pakistan....

By Shri Priyadarshi Dutta on August 7, 2013

The butchering of five Indian soldiers in the Poonch Sector of Jammu & Kashmir by Pakistani raiders has shocked the nation. It has revived the memories of decapitation of two Indian soldiers at Mendher Sector earlier this year. What is sinister is that the latest raid is apparently a joint operation of Pakistani Army regulars and Jihadi outfits like Lashkar-e-Tayebba, Hizbul Mujahideen and Jaish-e-Mohammed.

India as usual lodged protest with Pakistan, something it has been doing for long. India is no stranger to such raids by Pakistani forces and its proxies. It had to reckon with such sporadic cross-border enterprises throughout the Nehruvian era. Nehru, in his additional capacity of Minister of External Affairs, was often drawn into the issue inside Parliament. In those days, the Minister of External Affairs, or his deputy, rather than the Defence Minister replied Parliament questions on this subject. A survey of Rajya Sabha Q&A from 1950s and early 1960s brings out the callous approach of the Nehruvian establishment toward cross-border raid.

Here are some snippets-

Raids in Malda, West Bengal (1957): On August 12, 1957 Nawab Singh Chauhan raised the issue of Pakistan’s raids in Malda district of West Bengal on May 20-21, 1957. Prior to 1971, Pakistan encompassed both western and eastern (now Bangladesh) flanks. Nehru coolly informed that on May 20, 1957 five Pakistani nationals, aided by 11 armed Pakistani policemen had trespassed into Indian territory in Mouza Ghurnimadia, JL No142, Police Station English Bazar, district Malda and lifted 48 heads of cattle to Pakistan, after threatening the cowherds. On May 21, about 35 armed Pakistani nationals trespassed into Indian territory and attempted to kidnap an Indian national who was ploughing a  land in Mouza Fatehpur, Police Station Kaliachak, district Malda. Faling in their attempt, they took away a pair of bullocks. The Government of West Bengal had then lodged a protest with East Pakistan and urged them to return the cattle to their owners and to punish the offender. The Government of India apparently did not bother even to protest!

Raids in Ganganagar, Rajasthan (1961): On November 27, 1961, JC Chatterji raised the issue of armed raid by Pakistanis on Dandera village, District Ganganagar, Rajasthan. Lakshmi Menon, Deputy External Affairs Minister, informed that on September 2, 1961 some eight raiders from Pakistan drove away eight camels and also looted about four tolas of gold and 230 tolas of silver from silver from inhabitants of two villages. The West Pakistan Rangers reported they had recovered the stolen goods. But the meeting scheduled for November 8, 1961 for restoration of said property could not be held. Nehru was not willing to read much. Such incidents, to Nehru, were merely criminal activities best kept out of bilateral relationship.

5 Jawans killed at LoC: Raid in Bikaner, Rajasthan (1955): On March 1, 1955 SN Dwivedy raised the issue on a gang from Pakistan entering Baggu near Bikaner and killing three Indian police constables on January 4, 1955. Anil K Chanda, Deputy External Affairs Minister, said a protest had been lodged with Pakistan. In a diplomatic lingo, the Minister said, “In addition to the protest lodged with the Government of Pakistan in regard to the incident, it has been suggested to the Government that the question of adopting some effective machinery for prompt disposal of complaints relating to such incidents as well as the establishment of peaceful and friendly regime on the border in co-operation between the police and other authorities should be discussed between the representatives of two countries! It was a near perfect example of Nehruvian gibberish by his deputy.

Raids in J&K (1954): On September 22, 1954 , Anil K Chanda informed the House that there were 76 border raids by Pakistan in the J&K border in 1953. There were 71 raids and five violations of the ceasefire line. During the period January to July, 1954, there were 50 border raids, 46 raids and four violations of the ceasefire line. The Deputy Minister said such incidents could not be eliminated altogether.

Pakistan troops fire on Army post in Poonch Sector, 5 jawans killed: Raids in Cooch Behar, West Bengal (1961): On April 20, 1961, Niranjan Singh raised the issue Pakistani raid in a village of Cooch Behar district in West Bengal. Deputy External Affairs Minister, Lakshmi Menon replied some Pakistani nationals armed with deadly weapons raided the house of certain Mahesh Chandra Barman in the border village of Himkumari on the night of March 14-15, 1961 and killed him. The information with the Government was that they were invited to commit the crime by some Indian nationals who had a land dispute with the victim. The Deputy Minister felt it was purely a case of murder with no political implication.

East Pakistan Rifles firing in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Assam (1963): On December 21, 1963, Nehru gave a statement on East Pakistan Rifles firing incident in Lobhacherra sector in United Khasi and Jaintia Hills in Assam. The firing had lasted from December 9 to December 19 when a ceasefire took place. The East Pakistan Rifles had entrenched themselves on a thickly forested tilla 200 to 300 yards within Indian territory. Indian security forces also returned fire. Though there was no casualty on Indian side, two soldiers went missing only to return later. The Assam Government strongly protested the incident.

Army Chief to review security situation in Poonch today

Nehru never talked of befitting response or strong reply to such acts of Pakistani raid. Most of these raids were directed upon civilians. Obviously, the State was failing in its duty to protect its citizens against external incursions. But Nehru could not care less. He institutionalised the tepid response towards these aggressions. The legacy refuses to leave his party, leading partner in ruling coalition today. No wonder India would merely protest against killing of five Army soldiers. Pakistan meanwhile will plot about the next ‘action’

http://www.niticentral.com/2013/08/07/congress-has-never-been-hard-on-pakistan-115045.

The first three Bharat Ratnas saw the future with clarity

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2013/08/the-first-three-bharat-ratnas-saw.html

AUG

17

 By Shri Gopalkrishna Gandhi 

A CHRONICLE FORETOLD - The first three Bharat Ratnas saw the future with clarity

Gopalkrishna Gandhi Thursday , August 15 , 2013

(From top) : C.V. Raman, S. Radhakrishnan, C. Rajagopalachari Three Indians were decorated with the Bharat Ratna in the very first year — 1954 — that the civilian awards were instituted: the elder statesman, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the vice- president, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and the Nobel laureate, C.V. Raman. No one said at the time that all three were south Indian, all three Brahmins. Their pre-eminence was manifest. They accepted the decoration with respect and went about their work according to their lights. All three had a Calcutta connection. CR had served as the first governor of West Bengal, the other two had taught, with distinction and dedication, at the University of Calcutta. Om krato smara kritam smara, the Isha Upanishad tells us. The work alone is to be remembered, the work alone. It is instructive to see, on the anniversary of our Independence, what these men had to say in the midst of and, indeed, from the very heart of their work, about their country, their people. CR was a prisoner of the raj in 1921. Holed up in Vellore Jail, he could have been bitter about his jailors, about the imperial power. He could have looked forward to swaraj as one might to a dreamlike goal. But no, he did something that surprised his contemporaries then and surprises us now. He wrote in his jail diary: “We all ought to know that Swaraj will not at once or, I think, even for a long time to come, be better government or greater happiness for the people. Elections and their corruptions, injustice, and the power and tyranny of wealth, and inefficiency of administration, will make a hell of life as soon as freedom is given to us. Men will look regretfully back to the old regime of comparative justice, and efficient, peaceful, more or less honest administration. The only thing gained will be that as a race we will be saved from dishonour and subordination.” This was a full quarter century before swarajwas attained. Radhakrishnan was a member of the constituent assembly on the midnight of August 14/15, 1947 when, with Jawaharlal Nehru, he made a speech of surpassing value. Reminding the nation of “our national faults of character, our domestic despotism, obscurantism, narrow-mindedness, superstitious bigotry”, he said almost exactly what CR had said 25 years earlier.  Radhakrishnan’s words: “Our opportunities are great but let me warn you that when power strips ability, we will fall on evil days… From tomorrow morning — from midnight today — we can no longer throw the blame on the British. We have to assume the responsibility ourselves for what we do. A free India will be judged by the way in which it will serve the interests of the common man in the matter of food, clothing, shelter and the social services. Unless we destroy corruption in high places, root out every trace of nepotism, love of power, profiteering and black-marketing which have spoiled the good name of this great country in recent times, we will not be able to raise the standards of efficiency in administration…” That was said at the very moment free India was born. I do not have access to any comment made by C.V. Raman on the eve of Independence but the following observation of CVR’s to young Indians is an agnatic cousin of CR’s and SR’s: “Success can only come to you by courageous devotion to the task lying in front of you and there is nothing worth in this world that can come without the sweat of our brow. I can assert without fear of contradiction that the quality of the Indian mind is equal to the quality of any Teutonic, Nordic or Anglo-Saxon mind. What we lack is perhaps courage, what we lack is perhaps driving force which takes one anywhere. We have, I think, developed an inferiority complex. I think what is needed in India today is the destruction of that defeatist spirit…” Today, those three Bharat Ratnas would have been saddened to see their apprehensions and prognoses coming true. Generalizations are wrong but who can deny that efficiency of administration is not India’s best introduction ? Who can deny that our elections have brought us a great stature in the world but have also brought corruption? And where is the doubt that the power and tyranny of wealth — CR’s startling phrase — rules the land? Power, political and monetary power, outstrips ability by a long measure. And corruption in high places — Radhakrishnan’s astonishingly prescient expression — has disfigured the image of our public life. As for the sweat of the brow, Raman’s ideal, that has long since ceased to be valued, especially in oneself. The concept of hard work, of service, of what used to be called pride in one’s work, is now an archaism. Except in our gifted artisans who survive miraculously, in our armed forces, in the body of farm labourers across the country and in a few remarkable professions like those of nurses and teachers, ‘work ethic’ is a national casualty. We seek to derive the maximum advantage from the minimum effort. There is a mentality, widespread if not omnipresent, which sees the plodder as a fool, the successful shirker as clever. It only follows that the man or woman who is honest with money is regarded as naïve, to be pitied and the crook who gets caught making illegal money as unlucky. It is the honest politician, by which I mean one who does not encash files, sell favours, turn opportunities of service into ATMs, and there still are many of those, who keeps us in hope. It is, likewise, the exceptional official, doing the work of a hundred, who keeps the administrative machine from collapsing. Thank god there are some such exceptional men and women, still, amidst us. But by and large, the surface density of work-shirking, responsibility-dodging, blame-shifting, back-biting, tale-carrying and, alas, palm-itchy laggards has swelled beyond belief. What we are, the State is. Radhakrishnan also spoke of intolerance. This trait takes many forms but nowhere more seriously than in politics. Ironically and paradoxically, the denominationally intolerant are being projected as administratively able. Those with a questionable secular integrity are said to be men of unquestionable financial integrity. The first three Bharat Ratnas foresaw more than ordinary mortals can. But even they could not foresee the self-contradictory piquancy of our predicament today. The liberal Indian, the Indian with a secular conscience, an innately democratic instinct, a value for civil rights, is shown up as effete , a political pansy, whereas the macho rattler of sabres, is offered to the nation as its saviour. A country with its work ethic weakened, its abilities outstripped by narrow self-interests, and its domination by the power and tyranny of wealth well-nigh complete, is easily persuaded to say ‘give us a benign dictator’. Fascism comforts the sloth of mind, the slow of thought, the valuationally sluggish. Fascism excites the timid, the languid and the bored. And so we are seeing rise in the very heart of a democratic but languorous India a poison plume of the most corrosive  intolerance. In the coming months the nation will be obsessed with who will ‘make it’ to the Lal Qila next August 15. That is only natural. But we should be agonizing about what kind of flag will be unfurled on its ramparts — the great national tricolour or one with a skull and crossed bones sewn behind it.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130815/jsp/opinion/story_17230988.jsp#.Ug8CytIwerZ

EPITOME OF INTEGRITY

Despite being in need of money, retired air force Corporal Charles Williams wants to return the excess money credited to his pension Account

At a time when scams are becoming common, the exemplary honesty and integrity of a retired Indian Air Force corporal is hard to ignore.

Charles Williams, 89, a World War II veteran from Mysore and who’s in poor health, wants to return the excess money credited to his pension account.

Mr. Williams joined the Royal Air Force in pre-Independent India. After being recruited, he was sent to Lahore for a six-week pre-induction training after which he was posted at Agra. Within days, Mr. Williams was sent to Burma where he saw action against the Japanese.

“Though in the RAF, our unit saw a lot of ground battle and we dug in and stayed put in the trenches. We were holed up for weeks without regular supply of food and water. The battle that raged was horrific with soldiers getting maimed and killed in the heavy exchange of fire. But ultimately we prevailed,” recalled Mr. Williams.

After retirement, he found certain anomaly in his pension and complained that he was being underpaid. “A visit to the local Sainik Welfare and Resettlement Board did not help me much as officials are apathetic to the grievances of ex-servicemen,” according to Mr. Williams, who then approached M.N. Subramani, president, VeKare Ex-Servicemen Trust in Mysore.

But calculations showed that the Centralised Pension Processing Centre of State Bank of Mysore, Mangalore, had credited Mr. Williams’ account with excess money.

Mr. Subramani said he was being credited with Rs. 300 towards fixed medical allowances to which he was not entitled. He was credited with Rs. 15,200 in excess with effect from July 2007.

“When this was brought to the notice of Mr. Williams, he asked me to inform the bank to recover the amount in 15 equal instalments so as not to put him in financial hardship,” said Mr. Subramani.

What is ironic is that Mr. Williams is returning the medical allowance when he needs it the most. He is visually impaired and desperately needs Rs. 1.5 lakh for a heart operation. “When I am not entitled for something, the national exchequer should not be made to bear the burden,” said Mr. Williams, whose only request was that the excess amount be deducted in instalments.

Meanwhile, Mr. Subramani has mailed a letter to SBM, Mangalore, drawing their attention to the anomaly.

कांग्रेस का असली चेहरा

जरा इनके बयानों का विरोधाभास देखिये....

हजारों सिखों का कत्लेआम – एक गलती
कश्मीर में हिन्दुओं का नरसंहार – एक राजनैतिक समस्या ?

गुजरात में कुछ हजार लोगों द्वारा मुसलमानों की हत्या – एक विध्वंस
बंगाल में गरीब प्रदर्शनकारियों पर गोलीबारी – गलतफ़हमी ?

गुजरात में “परजानिया” पर प्रतिबन्ध – साम्प्रदायिक
“दा विंची कोड” और “जो बोले सो निहाल” पर प्रतिबन्ध – धर्मनिरपेक्षता ?

कारगिल हमला – भाजपा सरकार की भूल
चीन का 1962 का हमला – नेहरू को एक धोखा ?

जातिगत आधार पर स्कूल-कालेजों में आरक्षण – सेक्यूलर
अल्पसंख्यक संस्थाओं में भी आरक्षण की भाजपा की मांग – साम्प्रदायिक ?

सोहराबुद्दीन की फ़र्जी मुठभेड़ – भाजपा का सांप्रदायिक चेहरा ,
ख्वाजा यूनुस का महाराष्ट्र में फ़र्जी मुठभेड़ – पुलिसिया अत्याचार ?

गोधरा के बाद के गुजरात दंगे - मोदी का शर्मनाक कांड ,
मेरठ, मलियाना, मुम्बई, मालेगाँव आदि-आदि-आदि दंगे - एक प्रशासनिक विफ़लता ?

हिन्दुओं और हिन्दुत्व के बारे बातें करना – सांप्रदायिक ,
इस्लाम और मुसलमानों के बारे में बातें करना – सेक्यूलर ?

संसद पर हमला – भाजपा सरकार की कमजोरी
अफ़जल गुरु को सुप्रीम कोर्ट के आदेश के बावजूद फ़ाँसी न देना – मानवीयता ?

भाजपा के इस्लाम के बारे में सवाल – सांप्रदायिकता,
कांग्रेस के “राम” के बारे में सवाल – नौकरशाही की गलती ?

यदि कांग्रेस लोकसभा चुनाव जीती – सोनिया को जनता ने स्वीकारा ,
मोदी गुजरात में चुनाव जीते – फ़ासिस्टों की जीत ?

सोनिया मोदी को कहती हैं “मौत का सौदागर” – सेक्यूलरिज्म को बढ़ावा,
जब मोदी अफ़जल गुरु के बारे में बोले – मुस्लिम विरोधी ?