The strong objection by the Congress and other opposition parties in India to use of the word Bharat instead of India in the invitations to dinner by the President of India to foreign leaders attending the G 20 Summit, shows the pathetic state of India’s opposition, and is really much ado about nothing.
” India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states ”.
Thus, the word Bharat has been used in the Indian Constitution and is not foreign to it, and one can use either the word India or Bharat at one’s option. So what is all the fuss about ?
Moreover, as I have repeatedly said, the test of every political activity is whether it raises the standard of living of the people, and gives them better lives. How does it affect the lives of the Indian people whether the country is called India or Bharat ? So the issue is really irrelevant.
The opposition parties, in raising such issues, appear more and more like a drowning man clutching at a straw.
Their alliance INDIA appears to be still born, with no announcement of a leader of the alliance or even of the Core Committee constituted by it in its recent Mumbai meeting, nor even the date of its next meeting. I have called the alliance a stunt
The alliance is totally confused over the recent statement of Tamilnadu Minister Udayanidhi Stalin who called Sanatan Dharma a disease which had to be eradicated. Some of its members have disassociated themselves from this statement, but none have condemned it, and Rahul Gandhi has not even referred to it.
With 80% of India’s population being Hindu, and most Hindus regarding Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism as synonymous, I dont see how the opposition can even retain the present number of its seats in the Lok Sabha after the 2024 parliamentary elections.
One would have thought that the job of an army chief is to protect his country’s borders, and render assistance to the civilian authorities in cases of internal disturbances when asked by the latter. But it seems that the Pakistan army chief, Gen Munir, has other ideas, and believes he can fix Pakistan’s tumbling economy.
He recently held several hours long meetings in Karachi and Lahore with over a hundred prominent members of Pakistan’s business community to sort out the country’s economic woes.
Pakistan has a 27% inflation rate, and the prices of food have gone up recently by 40%. The currency has been rapidly depreciating ( presently about Rs 306 vis-a-vis the dollar ). Highly inflated electricity bills have resulted in massive demonstrations and protests all over the country. Traders are on strike.
Pakistan has a civilian government ( though a caretaker one ) and fixing the economy is surely the task of this government. But Gen Munir has now dropped even the fig leaf of civilian rule,and the army has taken full control.
In his meetings with the business leaders Gen Munir has announced a plethora of steps he is going to take viz corruption will be eradicated or largely reduced, 100 billion dollars will be invested in Pakistan by foreign countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE, smuggling of Iranian oil checked, forex traders taxed, the ‘grey economy’ curbed, sick government industries privatised, etc
There are several problems with Gen Munir’s plans
Firstly, Pakistan’s present economic crisis was largely due to the misdeeds of these very business leaders whom he met, who along with corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and army generals looted Pakistan for decades. Now all they want is reduction in income and sales taxes, and various other concessions for themselves ( as they told Gen Munir ), and they are least bothered about the public welfare..
Secondly, checking corruption is easier said than done. Much of the corruption is by army officers themselves, as explained below :
So the army has a vested interest in maintaining corruption.
Thirdly, it is presumptuous to believe that anyone will invest money unless he is assured that he will get back the money he invests with a reasonable profit. After all, he is not doling out charity. Gen Munir may give his guarantee in this connection, but what are words when not backed up by deeds ? The past performance of Pakistan has been dismal, with its leaders repeatedly going around with a begging bowl to the IMF, Saudi Arabia, etc.
And lastly, recovery of Pakistan’s economy depends on peace and stability, which is only possible after a free and fair elections.
But Gen Munir, knowing that Imran Khan’s PTI will sweep the polls as he has support of 85% Pakistanis ( as all opinion polls indicate ), is adamant not to hold elections for parliament or the provincial legislatures.
In fact the very purpose of holding meetings with business leaders was to convey the message that first we have to fix Pakistan’s economy, however long it takes, and only thereafter can elections be held ( which is putting the cart before the horse ).
I am afraid Gen Munir has bitten more than he can chew, and is living in la-la land
262 persons, including retired High Court Judges, ex-bureaucrats, army veterans, lawyers and others have sent a letter to CJI Chandrachud asking him to take suo motu action against Tamilnadu Minister Udayanidhi Stalin, son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, for calling Sanatan Dharma a disease like malaria, dengue,covid, etc and demanding its eradication
Some people have compared Udayanidhi to Hitler, who committed genocide of Jews
I too condemn Udayanidhi’s statement, and call for strong legal action against him.
But I ask these 262 ex-Judges, bureaucrats, army veterans, etc where were they when Yati Nararasinghanand Saraswati said Islam is not a religion but a ‘dharti ka cancer’ which should be eradicated, and that the world will perish if it remains alive ? Where were they when he said that Muslims are a gang of gundas, dacoits, looters and rapists ? Where were they when he said that the Quran makes people who read it murderers, loooters and criminals, and that Prophet Muhammad was an organiser of dacoits and looters ?
Where were they when in a gathering of Hindu ‘saints’ in Haridwar speeches were given calling for violence against minorities in India ?
Why did not these 262 signatories to the letter to the CJI speak out then and write a letter to the CJI against these inflammatory speeches against Muslims, the Prophet, the Quran and Islam ? Why were they silent, with a lock on their lips ?
Surely secularism, which is enshrined in our Constitution, means giving respect to all religions. Or does it mean giving respect only to the religion of the majority, while maligning, vilifying, besmirching, mudslinging and denigrating that of minorities ?
In the special session of the Indian Parliament which will be sitting from September 18-22, among the other bills will be a bill for increasing women’s representation in Parliament and state legislatures to 33%
I regard this as a gimmick, for two reasons :
1. In our semi-feudal society in India, most ( not all ) women, particularly in rural areas, are housewives who loyally obey their husbands. Experience has shown that when they get elected to gaon sabhas, zila panchayats or municipal corporations ( due to laws for women’s representation in these bodies ), they really function as the mouthpieces of their husbands, and obey their orders. In other words, the person who is really operating and calling the shots behind the scene is the pradhanpati, panchayatpati, or municipal councillorpati. We also had Rabri Devi as Chief Minister of Bihar, but everyone knew that the real Chief Minister behind the scene was Lalu Yadav.
So if the proposed bill is passed we will have mostly MPpatis and MLApatis behind the women MPs and MLAs who will tell the latter what they should say and do.
2. It is wrong to believe that all women are good, kind, caring, and concerned about the people’s welfare. The truth is that they are usually as selfish, ruthless, vicious, cold blooded, heartless, and callous as the menfolk.
For instance, in Shakespeare’s play ‘Macbeth’, while Macbeth was wavering whether to kill King Duncan or not, Lady Macbeth was adamant that this should be done, and she kept egging him on.
In the Nazi concentration camps the female guards like like Irma Griese, Ilse Koch, Maria Mandl, Dorothea Binz, Herta Bothe etc at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Bergen Belsen, Majdanek, Ravensbruck, etc were as ruthless and cruel towards prisoners as the male guards.
Indira Gandhi was ruthless and power crazy, and for retaining her Prime Ministership after the Allahabad High Court verdict holding her guilty of election malpractices and disqualifying her for 6 years, imposed a fake Emergency in 1975, in which thousands were jailed on false charges and all kinds of atrocities on the people were committed. Parliament was turned into a rubber stamp, and a ‘committed’ judiciary created.
Numerous other such examples can be given e.g. ‘Bloody’ Queen Mary of England, Dowager Empress Cixi of China, the serial killer Aileen Wuornos of America, etc
So women’s representation is just a stunt,which will be of no benefit to the Indian people.
Bill Tammeus ( email : wtammeus@gmail.com ) is an American who had come with his father, an agricultural expert, to India in 1957-58 with his family, and was my classmate in my school, the Boys High School, Allahabad. He then went back with his family to America, and became a journalist in the Kansas City Star ( the newspaper for which the great American writer Ernest Hemingway once worked ).
Bill, now 78, has since then retired, and spends his time doing various social work, including preaching in his Presbyterian Church. He has sent me his recent speech, in which he has referred to me briefly towards the end ( from 19 minutes 38 seconds onwards ).
I sent him my response : ” Reverend Thank you for quoting me in your speech. However, you said right in the beginning ” All sin comes down to idolatry ”.
This remark would offend most Hindus ( and there are about 1200 million of them ) who believe and worship numerous gods.
What is wrong in idolatry, and how do you equate it with sin ? Can an idolater not be a good man so long as he does no harm to anyone ? Does he cut off anyone’s head or chop off anyone’s limbs by believing and worshipping many gods ? With respect, I think ur remark is silly Markandey
Bill responded : ” Your Justiceness: Idolatry means worshipping someone who — or something that — is not God. The first of the Ten Commandments says, in the old language, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”
If you worship other beings or other things, you have cut off your relationship with God. Hindus who pay homage to clay idols are not exactly worshipping those idols. Rather, they are using them as a pathway to God. Something similar goes on with all the iconography found in Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
One doesn’t worship the icons. Rather, they are a window through which one may get a better view of God. And although some fundamentalist Christians seem to worship the Bible, the Bible is not to be worshipped. Rather, it is to be seen as a means by which God is revealed.
So once more we have something theological about which to argue. Good. Cheers,
Udayanidhi Stalin, a Minister in the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, and son of the Chief Minister MK Stalin, in a speech has called Sanatan Dharma as a disease like malaria, dengue, corona, etc, which has to be eradicated. His speech has stoked up a row
Some DMK supporters have said that Udayanidhi meant the caste system which causes social injustice when he referred to Sanatan Dharma
Udayanidhi has clarified subsequently that when he spoke about Sanatan Dharma he was speaking against the caste system which discriminates against lower castes
The fact however remains that most Hindus equate Sanatan Dharma with the Hindu religion, and are deeply offended by the speech
Udayanidhi’s speech has recoiled against the INDIA alliance of opposition parties, many of which have dissociated themselves from the speech
In my opinion there would have been nothing wrong if Udayanidhi had spoken only against the caste system ( to which I too am opposed ) without referring to Sanatan Dharma.
If he had apologised and said that he was only against the caste system the controversy would have come to an end. But perhaps that is too much to expect from a Crown Prince
My dear friend Irfan Ali ( email irfan79@gmail.com ) who lives and works in Princeton, New Jersey, USA has prompted me to write this article. Evidently Irfan was put off by my article that the newly formed alliance of 28 opposition parties called INDIA ( Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance ) is a stunt
In response to my article Irfan wrote angrily on whatsapp : ” It appears that you don’t want an opposition in India? What would take you to support a strong opposition to fight this authoritarian demagogue? Should there be no opposition in India at all ? You seem more into Pakistan politics when your own system is screwed up. INDIA is a combination of 28 parties but NDA has 36. Who is doing a stunt? ”. To which I responded : ” I have never said I don’t want an opposition, so don’t twist my words. Of course I want an opposition, but the meaningful opposition can’t be within the system of parliamentary democracy, but can only be by a historical united people’s revolutionary struggle led by modern minded leaders determined to rapidly modernize and industrialise the country. I have explained this in detail in many of articles, which u may see ”. I had earlier written an article that BJP will win the coming Lok Sabha elections in India in 2024.
Irfan thinks that INDIA can help in ousting BJP from power. I totally disagree.
What I foresee is this : a few months or a few weeks before the 2024 parliamentary elections the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, or the Shahi Masjid in Mathura will be demolished by a huge mob of fanatics ( just as the Babri Masjid was demolished ).
This will generate an emotional wave all over India, on the basis of which BJP will easily win ( never mind how many people will be killed or other ‘collateral damage’ done in the backlash ). Most Indians are emotional, not rational, and they vote accordingly not on real issues like poverty, unemployment, hunger, lack of healthcare, price rise, etc. For instance, in 1962 the Indian army invaded Goa, and soon thereafter parliamentary elections were held, in which Congress swept the polls, with people in a victory mood. After Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984 parliamentary elections were held, and in the sympathy wave Congress secured a record over 400 seats in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP came to power in 1998 and in 1999 because of the fervour generated by the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation.
On 26th February 2019 the Indian Air Force conducted a ‘surgical strike’ in Balakot in retaliation to the Pulwama attack on 14th February which was attributed to Pakistan trained terrorists. Two months thereafter, and in a martial hysteria ( with the slogan ‘Pakistaniyon ko ghar mein ghus ke maara hai’ ), parliamentary elections were held in India in April-May 2019, in which BJP won with an increased majority.
The Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992 when Congress was in power in the centre, and despite an undertaking given in the Suprême Court by UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh of the BJP that it would not be demolished.
So undertakings mean nothing, and now both Central & State Governments are of the BJP. So a huge mob of fanatics will very likely demolish either Varanasi or Mathura mosque, with the police turning a Nelson’s eye. Then in that emotional surge and communal passions elections will be held.
Hindus ( who are 80% of India’s population ) will be told to celebrate victory over the Muslim devils who broke our temples and committed other atrocities on us, and elections will then be held in this surcharged atmosphere, leading to a BJP victory, and with INDIA going up the chimney.. I am not approving this, but I can foresee this happening.
BJP has been in power since 2014. Will it easily give up power ? No, it will resort to every ‘saam, daam, dand, bhed’ i.e. Machiavellian tactic ( as Congress had earlier done for decades ). All is fair in love and war, as the saying goes, and politics is war.
History shows that the wars for the throne of Delhi have been ruthless, and so will be the 2024 elections. I am afraid Irfan is living in a dreamworld
Disclaimer : “The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the TheNewsCaravan. Any content provided by our bloggers or authors are of their opinion, and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone or anything.
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AuthorJustice Markandey Katju is an Indian jurist and former Supreme Court judge of India who served as chairman for the Press Council of India. He has also worked as Standing Counsel for the Income Tax Department.
From a reliable source I learnt that one of his cats fell ill recently, and the CJI sent it to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi for treatment by the veterinary doctor posted there. The doctor performed an operation, and the cat has now recovered.
I am happy about that, but I wonder how many humans in India get medical treatment like the CJI”s cat ?
If one goes to the All India Medical Institute, Delhi ( AIIMS ), which is one of the premier medical institutes in India, he will feel he is on a railway platform, with thousands of people milling around for hours or even days, without anyone caring. The government hospitals in India are mostly no good, with doctors who should be there to attend to patients,often working instead in their private clinics, while drawing govt salaries. And the private hospitals/clinics are too expensive for the common man.
So what does the common man do ? He goes to quacks ( called jholachhaap doctors ), and the number of quacks would be several times the number of qualified doctors in India.
This also reminds me of a joke :
When a Judge’s cat or dog dies, there is usually a huge crowd of lawyers and others at his home to console him on this great tragedy.
Ahead of the upcoming India-Pakistan clash in the Asia Cup on 2nd September, the Jammu and Kashmir Student Association (JKSA) has urged the students hailing from the Union territory and studying at different universities all over the nation to take the game in its spirit and stay away from posts on social media which might lead them into trouble.
JKSA asking the students to take it as just another game and stay away from trouble. We have urged Kashmiri students studying at different universities all over the nation to have their priority set for their education and career for which they have travelled to different parts of the nation from their home state of Jammu and Kashmir,”. The association reminds students of the sacrifices made by their family members fathers who have worked tirelessly, brothers who have taken loans, sisters who have sold jewelry, and mothers who pray diligently for their well- being.
The students need to take sports as a game and stay away from social media posts during and after the match,which might create any kind of indiscipline at any institution across the country or land them in trouble. They should not get involved in unnecessary debates, discussions or social media chat and should enjoy the game with true sportsman spirit,” JKSA appealed.
It’s essential for students to recognize bt he The Political connotations and feelings attached to this game are very serious. So, Students should enjoy the game with the true spirit of a sportsman. The students must understand that by cheering for any particular team, they are putting themselves in a vulnerable position. Hence, students should take precautions to ensure their safety on campuses and in their accommodations while considering the well-being of their families back home.
Games and sports extend beyond mere entertainment; they teach us about brotherhood and peace. These events should serve as opportunities to foster unity and harmony, not violence.
For almost 30 years Naseem Zohra has travelled from Allahabad, where she lives, to wherever I am located ( for almost a decade I am in Noida ) to tie rakhi on my hand on the auspicious occasion of Rakshabandhan.
