ANANTNAG,Nov 17, 2023:Basharat Bashir Bhat, son of Bashir Ahmad Bhat, has made a heartfelt plea for financial aid to support his father’s critical battle against a life-threatening brain condition.
Mr. Bhat, admitted to Paras Hospitals in Gurgaon, is in urgent need of surgery following a sudden and alarming incident on November 10th, 2023, when he collapsed and lost consciousness.
Paras Health Report
The mounting medical expenses for Mr. Bhat’s brain surgery and ongoing treatment have soared to an overwhelming 15 lakhs, placing an immense burden on the family’s finances. The Bhat family, grappling with the emotional strain of witnessing their patriarch’s struggle, is now appealing to compassionate individuals for assistance to ensure Mr. Bhat receives the necessary medical care and treatment to stand a chance at recovery.
“This is a challenging and distressing time for our family. My father’s condition requires immediate attention, but the financial weight is daunting,” expressed Basharat Bashir Bhat. “We are earnestly requesting any help possible to enable his treatment and aid his path to recovery.”
The Bhat family emphasizes that any contribution, irrespective of its size, will significantly impact Mr. Bhat’s chances of recovery and alleviate the financial pressure they are facing.
Bank Details for Donations:
Account Number: 0157040100006093
IFSC Code: JAKA0NALANG
Type of Account: Savings
Branch: J&K Bank Nanil, Anantnag
Mobile Number: 7006576371
The fundraising goal surpasses initial estimates to cater for post-hospitalization expenses such as extended medication, diagnostics, rehabilitation therapies, and follow-up consultations, all integral to Mr. Bhat’s recovery journey.
For individuals willing to extend their support to Mr. Bhat’s medical expenses, donations are encouraged to be made to the provided bank account, ensuring the possibility of continued treatment and care for his critical condition.
Summary:
Bashir Ahmad Bhat’s family urgently seeks financial aid for his life-threatening brain condition.
Medical expenses have reached 15 lakhs, surpassing their financial capacity.
Donations of any amount are requested to aid Mr. Bhat’s treatment and recovery.
Funds will cover not only the surgery but also post-hospitalization expenses.
Bank details provided for individuals willing to contribute to Mr. Bhat’s medical expenses.
Please note: This news article is to raise awareness and encourage support for Bashir Ahmad Bhat’s medical treatment. Individuals are encouraged to exercise their discretion and goodwill in contributing to this cause.
Happy Diwali to the thousands of persons languishing in jail for years on end on fabricated charges, many of whom do not even know what those charges are, as President Murmu said in her speech ( see below ).
Happy Diwali to the thousands of sick persons waiting for long hours, or even days, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi ( which looks like a railway station ), and other hospitals in India, usually with perfunctory care, if at all.
Happy Diwali to the Muslims beaten for not saying ‘Jai Shri Ram‘, or jailed on false charges, and the families of those lynched, and Christians whose churches were vandalised in Delhi or persecuted in Odisha.
Happy Diwali for the construction of the ‘bhavya’ Ram Mandir at Ayodhya ( which will no doubt wipe out poverty and unemployment in India ), and the upcoming and imminent reconversion of the Gyanvapi mosque at Varanasi and Shahi Masjid in Mathura as Hindu temples.
And finally, Happy Diwali to the great people of India who will not cast their vote but vote their caste ( or religion ) in elections, despite skyrocketing prices of foodstuffs including grains, cooking oil, vegetables, meat and other basic commodities which have risen sharply in the last five years, record and rising unemployment, almost total lack of proper healthcare and good education for the masses, steep rise in air pollution, etc
The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, is a disgrace to Pakistan’s judiciary, and reminds one the ‘hanging judge’ Judge Jeffreys.
Judge Jeffrey
In my video interview to the Pakistani journalist Waqar Bagga of siasat.pk I had mentioned about Qazi Faez Isa’s misbehaviour on the 15 member full bench of the Pakistan Supreme Court hearing the petitions challenging the validity of the Supreme Court ( Practice and Procedure ) Act, 2023
Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa
As a Judge, Qazi Faez Isa had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution of Pakistan, which includes a chapter on the fundamental rights of the citizens, viz Part 2, which includes the right to life and liberty, the most precious of all rights ( vide Article 9).
So after becoming the CJP on 17th September, 2023 Qazi Faez Isa should have taken up on priority basis the cases of the thousands of persons ( including former Prime Minister Imran Khan ) who were arrested and incarcerated in jail on apparently trumped up and concocted charges after the events of 9th May ( which many believe was scripted and stage managed ).
Many such persons, who are in jail for over 5 months, have families, who are suffering terribly without them. The conditions in jail; are horrible.
Many persons are being arrested, tortured, and jailed even today ( e.g. former Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed ) because they were known to be members or supporters of Imran Khan’s PTI party.
Yet Qazi Faez Isa, flouting his solemn oath, has turned a Nelson’s eye to all such cases, does not list them for hearing, and instead takes up old cases which have hardly any importance today, as pointed out by the journalist Sohrab Barkat of siasat.pk
For instance, he took up an appeal of Gen Musharraf against his conviction by a court, though Gen Musharraf is long dead, and hence the appeal had become infructuous.
He also took up a review petition in the Faizabad dharna case, though the dharna had ended in 2017
In Ghani vs Jones (1970), Lord Denning observed: “A man’s liberty of movement is regarded so highly by the laws of England that it is not to be hindered or prevented except on the surest ground.”
Whenever a habeas corpus petition (a petition praying for release from illegal custody) or bail application comes before a British judge, he sets aside all other files, and takes up the petition as having priority over every other case, since it relates to individual liberty.
But Qazi Faez Isa ignores this well established, long standing practice, while giving regular lectures and preaching homilies on human rights, and quoting from the Quran.
I regret to say this, but ever since he became the CJP, Qazi Faez Isa has been behaving like a shameless ‘chamcha’ of the Pakistan Establishment. He will go down in the annals of judicial history in the same category as the ill reputed judge Jeffreys, who loyally obeyed the orders of King James the Second of England, instead of his own conscience
‘Nakba‘ ( catastrophe ) is the name given to the exodus of about 700,000 Palestinian Arabs in 1948 from the present territory of Israel, who fled out of fear after many were massacred by Israelis, including women and children.
Before Israel was established as a state, about 90% people living there were Arabs. Due to the Nakba only about 20% were left. The remaining fled to Jordan, the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, etc, and their descendants are still living there in horrible conditions.
Now after the events of 7th October, when Hamas attacked Israel, and the Israelis struck back, and the Israeli government’s announcement that people living in northern Gaza must move to the south within 24 hours as Israeli forces are going to move in there , a second Nakba has started, from north Gaza to the south.
Gaza is a tiny coastal strip of land, 25 miles long and 7 miles wide, heavily congested with about 2.2 million people.
Now half the population, i.e. over 1 million people living in northern Gaza, have been told to move to the south.
But where will they go ? Where is the housing, food, water, electricity etc for them ? And what will they do there ? Where are the jobs for them ? The Israeli order will convert the southern part of Gaza, which is already congested, into another Warsaw Ghetto during Nazi rule, deprived of essentials. And it will convert the majority of citizens of Gaza, who were hitherto peaceful, into militants, and make them join Hamas. As is said in Hindi ” Marta kya nahi karta ” ( A person facing death can do anything ). So far from solving any problems, this new step by the israelis will multiply them manifold.
The Israeli government claims that this step was necessary because Hamas launches missiles on Israel from northern Gaza, and since the missile sites are hidden in civilian buildings, it is impossible to destroy them without collateral; damage. So Israeli forces have started moving into northern Gaza, and the civilian population there has been told to move southwards.
But this Israeli step is likely to be counter productive, for the following reasons :
(1) It is an overkill to the Hamas attack of 7th October, and will revive another ‘intifada’ generally in the region.
Israeli planes have destroyed many apartment buildings containing civilians ( and allegedly even a huge hospital ), and killed over 10,000 people, many of them children.
I am reminded of an interview I saw of Bill Erhart, a Vietnam war veteran, who said ( see the full interview below) ” The notion I had in High School was that the Vietcong terrorised the Vietnamese population and forced them to fight against the Americans on pain of death. What I began to understand in Vietnam was that they did not need to do that. All they had to do was to let a marine patrol go through a village, and what was left of the village gave them all the recruits they needed ”.
(2) In Gaza specifically, it will increase militancy against Israel, as more and more people there will join Hamas out of desperation and vengeance for the thousands killed in the recent hostilities.
(3) Till now while Hamas had ruled only Gaza, the much larger West Bank, which had been conquered by the Israelis after the 1967 war, was ruled by the relatively moderate PLO ( Palestine Liberation Organisation ) headed by Mahmoud Abbas. Now more and more Palestinians living in the West Bank, who were fed up of being displaced by Israeli settlers, will switch their support to Hamas, and it will become the defacto ruler of the West Bank, instead of the PLO ( whose leaders are perceived by many Palestinians as being hand in glove with Western powers ). So the West Bank, which was largely quiet till now, will, like Gaza, become another hotbed of insurgency.
(4) There are broadly two coalitions of powers in the world today (a) the coalition of Western powers led by USA and including most European countries, and (b) the coalition of Russia, China and Iran. The former are overtly supporting Israel and giving it weapons and other supplies, while the latter are covertly supporting Hamas, and giving it weapons and other supplies.
Both coalitions are increasing supply of weapons etc to the ones they back, and this will naturally increase militancy in the region
I fear that the situation is going to get worse, and spread to neighbouring regions, and no one can predict when and how it will end, and how many will be the casualties. Probably we are in for the long haul.
These days air pollution levels are very high in Delhi and the neighbouring regions, 10 times the safety level, and the media is full of this alarming news.
Delhi Air Pollution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_Delhi Schools and colleges have been closed, work from home orders issued for offices, work on construction projects stopped, and non essential truck traffic banned
A major cause of air pollution is crop stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana, and western UP
Polluting vehicles is said to be another cause of air pollution
The Indian Supreme Court has expressed its displeasure at this state of affairs, but what more could it do ? For it to direct stopping air pollution would be like King Canute telling the waves to go back.
I am afraid this problem cannot be solved in the near future, and will get worse.
There are three reasons for this :
(1) The central and state governments are not seriously interested in solving it, since their focus is only on winning elections. When most people in India go to vote they forget poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, lack of healthcare or air or water pollution, and only have caste and religion of the candidate ( or the caste/religion which his party claims to represent ) in their minds. The political leaders know this, so air pollution is very low in their priorities.
(2) Stubble burning is a low cost, less time consuming, method for farmers to dispose off their stubble. So they will not resort to costly alternatives ( as mentioned below ) :
(3) People will not give up using polluting vehicles, and measures to stop this ( like the odd-even scheme ) will only be another source of corruption in the police, and a vote loser in elections.
This is why I am pessimistic.
Conclusion:
Immediate Impact:Schools, colleges, and construction projects paralyzed, highlighting the immediate repercussions of the soaring air pollution.
Root Causes:Stubble burning in neighboring states and vehicular emissions identified as major contributors, underscoring the complexity of the crisis.
Judicial Concern:The Supreme Court expresses displeasure, indicating the gravity of the situation and the need for urgent action.
Political Apathy:Political leaders’ low prioritization of air pollution due to electoral focus emerges as a significant hurdle.
Farmer Practices:Cost-effective stubble burning persists as an attractive option for farmers, impeding the adoption of sustainable alternatives.
Public Resistance:Measures like the odd-even scheme face challenges due to resistance from the public, adding another layer of complexity.
Pessimistic Outlook:A grim assessment of the future, as the interplay of factors suggests a prolonged and worsening air pollution crisis.
The great Hindu festival of Diwali will be celebrated this year on 12th November.
Diwali Celebration
On this occasion I appeal on behalf of Ibaadatkhana, a global organisation promoting inter faith harmony, of which I am the patron, to all non Hindus worldwide to celebrate Diwali on that date. Some details of Ibaadatkhana are given below
I am an atheist, but I respect all religions, and strongly support freedom of religion and inter faith religious amity. I keep one day roza during Ramzan as a symbol of respect for my Muslim brothers and sisters, and each year I appeal to non Muslims worldwide to do the same.
It may be mentioned that at one time Hindus would participate in Eid and Muharram, and Muslims would celebrate Holi and Diwali. Even the Mughal Emperors like Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jahan, and the later Mughals upto Bahadur Shah Zafar, as well as the Nawabs of many kingdoms in India like Avadh and Murshidabad would celebrate Holi and Diwali.
Later, after the Mutiny of 1857 the British rulers started the nefarious practice of divide and rule, and sowed the venom of communal hatred, because of which this practice largely stopped.
It is time now to revive and renew the affable and amiable custom of celebrating festivals of all religions together. I am confident non Hindus everywhere will pay heed to this appeal on behalf of Ibaadatkhana, and celebrate Diwali on 12th November this year..
As to how to celebrate Diwali is upto you. One way you could do it is by lighting and placing a ‘diya” or earthen lamp in front of your houses ( or if that is not available, some other kind of lighting ), and greeting your Hindu friends with some sweets
Today I saw on youtube that the London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Mark Rowley, has refused to obey the order of the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ban a proposed pro-Palestinian protest march in London on 11th November ( Armistice or Remembrance Day ), because under British law people have a right to hold peaceful protests.
The UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has called pro-Palestinian protests ‘hate marches’.
This is something inconceivable in India, where no police officer would ever dare to disobey the order of the government, knowing that if he did. he would be promptly suspended and severely dealt with.
British Police
To explain this difference between the British and Indian police I would like to quote the words of Sir Robert Mark, former Chief Commissioner of Police, London, who said in a speech to policemen :
” In the legal and constitutional framework in which society requires us to enforce the laws enacted by its elected representatives, the most essential weapons in our armour are not firearms, water cannon, tear gas or rubber bullets, but the confidence and support of the people. That confidence and support depends on our personal and collective integrity, and in particular on our long tradition of constitutional freedom from political interference in our operational role.
It is important for you to understand that the police are not the servants of the government at any level. We do not act at the behest of any Minister or any political party, not even the party in government. We act on behalf of the people as a whole, and the powers we excercise cannot be restricted or widened by anyone, save Parliament alone. “
In Regina vs. Metropolitan Commissioner of Police Exparte Blackburn, ( 1968 ) 2 QB 118, Lord Denning stated the powers of the police in words which have become locus classicus :
” I hold it the duty of the Commissioner of Police to enforce the law of the land. He must take steps so as to post his men that crimes may be detected, and that honest citizens may go about their affairs in peace. He must decide whether suspected persons are to be prosecuted.
But in all these things he is not the servant of anyone save the law. No Minister can tell him that he must, or must not, keep observation on this place or that, or that he must. or must not, prosecute this man or that. Nor can any other authority tell him so. The responsibility for law enforcement lies on him. He is answerable to the law, and to the law alone. “.
In this connection reference may be made to the book ‘Nice Guys Finish Second’ written by B. K. Nehru, former I.C.S. Officer and former Governor of several States. On page 556 of this book B. K. Nehru writes :
“I also studied the organization of the Home Civil Service (in England) and how it was that in spite of a vigorous democracy the civil service had retained its independence in that it was guided by the rules and the law and not by the whims and wishes of transient ministers.
The answer was simple. All the three powers which are exercised by the minister in India to bend the civil servant to his will, namely, appointments, transfers and suspensions, are not exercisable by them at all in the United Kingdom. They are exercised by a very small group of Senior Secretaries presided over by the Secretary of the Civil Service Department who reports to the Prime Minister direct. It is they who appoint people, transfer them and punish them, not the ministers.
The Prime Minister of course, approves their proposals, but when I asked the Head of the Civil Service Department what would happen if the Prime Minister refused to sign, he was shocked out of his wits. He said, “But that cannot happen.” Such is the power of the conventions of the British Constitution, which, if broken, would lead to a furore in Parliament.”
Contrast this with the situation in India, where healthy conventions were never allowed by our politicians to develop.
Thus, in the Second Report of the National Police Commission, 1979 it was stated :
” Pressure on the police takes a variety of forms, ranging from a promise of career advancement and preferential treatment in service matters if the demand of the politician is yielded to, and a threat of drastic penal action and disfavored treatment in service matters if the pressure is resisted. While it is not possible to punish a police officer with a statutory punishment under the Discipline and Appeal Rules, without adequate grounds and following a prescribed procedure, it is very easy to subject him to administrative action by way of transfer or suspension on the basis of an alleged complaint taken up for inquiry. While suspension acts as a great humiliating factor, a transfer acts as a severe economic blow and disruption of the police officer’s family, children’s education, etc. The threat of transfer/suspension is the most potent weapon in the hands of the politician to bend down the police to his will ”
It was also stated therein :
” Extraneous sources, especially the political, encourages the police personnel to believe that career advancement does not at all depend on the merits of their professional performance, but can be secured by currying favour with politicians who count. Politicking and hobnobbing with functionaries outside the police system appear very worthwhile in the estimate of an average police officer. Deliberate and sustained cultivation of a few individuals on the political plane takes up all the time of a number of police personnel to the detriment of the performance of their normal professional jobs ”.
In his book Comparative Government, Professor Samuel Finer, writes:
“Two American political scientists (Professors Almond and Verba) made a survey of what they called ‘the civic culture’ in five countries. These were USA, Britain, Germany, Italy and Mexico. Answering the query (in the opinion poll they held), ‘which aspect of national life do you take most pride in?’, 2.5% Italians named their governmental arrangements, and only 4% of the Germans.
In Britain, however, 33% named their governmental arrangements. Furthermore, four-fifths of the respondents believed that the civil servants would treat them fairly, and no less than nine-tenth believed that the police would.
By international standards these proportions are very high indeed, and they express what has been asserted: that on the whole, the British esteem their political arrangements, and have confidence in them.”
In India, on the other hand, the public has a low esteem of the police, much of which is regarded as corrupt and/or incompetent, and blindly obedient to whatever order, however illegal or improper it may be, of their political superiors
Many people hail Iqbal as not only a great poet, and a patriot, but also as a great thinker and philosopher.
In my opinion, while he was a good poet, he became a shameless British agent, for which he deserves to be condemned. Let me explain.
I intensely dislike Iqbal for his communalism and strong support for dividing India on religious lines and creating an Islamic state, Pakistan, which was nothing but a British swindle.
Some people say that Iqbal wrote ‘ Saare jahaan se achcha Hindustan hamara ‘, which proves his secularism Such people particularly quote the the sixth stanza of Saare Jahaan Se Achcha (1904), as proof of Iqbal’s secular outlook:
Maẕhab nahin sikhaata aapas mein bair rakhna
Hindi haiṉ hum, wat̤an hai Hindustaṉ hamaara
or,
Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among ourselves
Noble sentiments indeed, and many people say that this proves that Iqbal was patriotic, nationalist, and secular, and never wanted Partition of India. But what is the truth ?
The truth is that the then 27-year-old Iqbal at that time viewed Hindustani society as a pluralistic and composite Hindu-Muslim culture. However, this poem was written in 1904, when Iqbal was only 27 years old, and his later highly communal views had not developed. and he had a complete somersault subsequently. Thus, in Tarana-e-Milli written in 1910 he writes
Cheen o-Arab hamaara, Hindustaṉ hamaara
Muslim haiṉ hum, wat̤an hai saara jahaaṉ hamara
or,
Central Asia and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours
We are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland.
Iqbal’s world view had now changed; it had become pan Islamic. Instead of singing of Hindustan, “our homeland,” the new song proclaimed that ‘ We are Muslims , and the whole world belongs to us ‘ (See also his poems ‘Shikwa’ and ‘Jawab-e-Shikwa ).
How did this complete transformation happen ? How did a patriotic, nationalist, secular person in 1904 become a hardline Islamic person in 1910, who instead of being a nationalist starts talking of pan-Islamic nonsense ?
This total transformation happened after Iqbal went to England to study in 1905 in Cambridge University, and returned sometime in 1908 or 1909 as an Islamic fundamentalist with a narrow worldview and intolerant of Hindus.
The only reasonable conjecture is that while in England he was accosted by some British intelligence agents who warned him that if he continues on the dangerous path of nationalism he would face severe adverse consequences and penalties at the hands of the British authorities, but if he becomes a British agent, and supports the British policy of divide and rule, he would be amply rewarded.
This conjecture is supported by the fact that when Iqbal returned to India he was totally transformed, and was not the Iqbal who had written ‘Saare jahaan se achcha ”.
Thus in 1910, he wrote the ‘Tarana-e-Milli’ (song of the community) which was a total repudiation of the sentiments expressed in ‘Tarana-e-Hind’.
The first stanza of ‘Tarana-e-Milli’, composed in the same metre and rhyme scheme as ‘Sare Jahan Se Achchha’, reads:
” Chin-o-Arab hamaara, Hindustan hamaara, Muslim hain hum, watan hain sara jahaan hamaara” (China and Arabia are ours, Hindustan is ours, we are Muslims, the whole world is our homeland).
This can hardly be called secular; in fact, Iqbal is lionized in Pakistan today for expressing precisely such hardline Islamic sentiments. Our history books mention only the ‘Tarana-e-Hind’ and conveniently ignore ‘Tarana-e-Milli’, ‘Shikwa’, and ‘Jawab-e-Shikwa’.
Gradually, Iqbal became a strong supporter of partitioning India on religious lines and creating Pakistan, a separate homeland for Muslims.
Thus, in his presidential address to the Muslim League annual conference in Allahabad on 29th December 1930, Iqbal strongly supported a separate nation-state in the Muslim majority areas of the sub-continent, an idea that inspired the creation of Pakistan.
In this address Iqbal outlined a vision of an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India:
“I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sindh and Baluchistan amalgamated into a single state. Self-government within the British Empire, or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated Northwest Indian Muslim state appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims, at least of Northwest India ”.
Iqbal continually preached that Hindus and Muslims are “two separate nations” and cannot live together. He said this in almost all his writings, whose primary focus was to remind Muslims of the sub-continent of the past glory of Islamic civilization and promoting pure Islam as a source of sociopolitical liberation and greatness.
His ultimate dream was to get Muslim nations to rise above their political divisions and forge a global Muslim community, the Ummah. This was of course day dreaming and sheer humbug.
Iqbal was hardly the liberal that he is portrayed by some. In his six English lecture series first published from Lahore in 1930 and then by Oxford University Press in a book titled ‘The Reconstruction Of Religious Thought In Islam’ in 1934, Iqbal strongly opposed secularism, and expressed deep fears of secularism weakening the spiritual foundations of Islam and Muslim society and of India’s Hindus crowding out Muslim heritage, culture and political influence.
Iqbal constantly propagated that Hindus and Muslims are two separate nations and cannot live together. He said this in almost all his writings after his return from England, whose primary focus was to remind Muslims of the sub-continent of the past glory of Islamic civilization and promoting pure Islam as a source of sociopolitical liberation and greatness.
Iqbal was also instrumental in coaxing and cajoling Muhammad Ali Jinnah to not only assume leadership of the Muslims of the sub-continent, but also embrace the two-nation theory and voice the demand for partition of India. At the time Iqbal first articulated this theory, Jinnah was still engaged in negotiations with the Indian National Congress (Iqbal frequently termed the Congress a ‘Hindu nationalist party’). Iqbal was instrumental in convincing Jinnah to end his self-imposed exile in London and return to India (Jinnah, disgusted with squabbles with Congress leaders, had left for London in 1930 and settled down to practice law there).
One of his many letters to Jinnah beseeching him to return reads:
“You are the only Muslim in India today to whom the community looks up to for safe guidance through the storm which is coming to North West India and, perhaps, the whole of India”.
The point here is that while India’s left-liberal community would like to portray Iqbal as a secular leader, the fact is that Iqbal’s only concern was the political future of Muslims. He had no qualms in stating this in as many words. No wonder, then, that he is regarded in Pakistan as the spiritual founder of that country. He is officially known there as ‘Mufakkir-e-Pakistan’ (thinker of Pakistan) and ‘Hakeem-ul-Ummat’ (Sage of the Ummah).
Iqbal, commenting on the future of Muslims in India, wrote in Tolu-e-Islam (a politico-religious-social journal of Muslims):
“Muslims should strengthen Jinnah’s hands and join the Muslim League. The Indian question can be countered by our (Muslims’) united front against both the Hindus and the English”.
To him, both Hindus and the British were enemies bent on shackling the Muslims.
Iqbal wrote to Jinnah on June 21, 1937:
“A separate federation of Muslim provinces is the only course by which we can secure a peaceful India and save Muslims from domination by non-Muslims. Why should not the Muslims of North West India and Bengal be considered as nations entitled to self-determination just as other nations in India and outside India are?”
On some occasions, Iqbal was also critical of Jinnah for associating with leaders like Sir Sikandar Hyat Khan of Punjab (a liberal Muslim) who Iqbal felt was “not fully committed to Islam as his core political philosophy”. Iqbal was also critical of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, also known as the ‘frontier Gandhi’, for being a liberal.
Iqbal’s premise that Hindus and Muslims cannot co-exist as one nation has been proved utterly wrong by India’s Muslims. The two-nation theory that he advocated was proved hollow in 1971 when Bangladesh became an independent country.
How, then, can Iqbal be praised ? How can he be called secular? How can he be called an advocate of Hindu-Muslim harmony? How can a person who relentlessly advocated the bogus two nation theory that resulted in so much suffering and bloodshed in 1947 be called great?
And ultimately, how can a person whose theory has proved to be such an utter failure be elevated to a pedestal?
Iqbal, in the final analysis, may have written a lovely poem when he was a young lad of 27 in 1904, but for the majority of his adult life ( after he returned from England in 1909 till he died at the age of 61 in 1938 ) he was primarily a shameless, reactionary, narrow-minded Islamist who was responsible, perhaps more than Jinnah, for the partition of India in 1947 and all the misery it caused, and is still causing
A few intellectuals may know historical truths and social developments by their study and genuine understanding, but the masses, who are often gullible and can easily be befooled, learn only through their own bitter experience and suffering.
Thus, the Indian masses have learnt, after being befooled and being kicked around for over 75 years, that the ‘Independence‘ of 1947 was sham, and no real independence and that real independence is independence from poverty, hunger, unemployment, lack of healthcare and good education, etc ( which are still far off ), and that a real freedom struggle from foreign rule could only have been an armed struggle, as pointed out by our real freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Surya Sen ( Masterda ), Bismil, Ashfaqulla, Rajguru, Khudiram Bose, etc and not the fake ‘freedom struggle’ which led to the phoney ‘Independence’ we got in 1947.
The ‘democracy’ we got under our Constitution was a fraud and bogus, to deceive the people that they have become the rulers of the country, though it is only vote bank politics, which is craftily manipulated by our crooked politicians, who seek only power and pelf for themselves, and take advantage of the low intellectual understanding of the masses and tremendous casteism and communalism prevailing in them, to polarise society and incite hatred among castes and communities, to win elections.
It is only now that the Indian masses through their bitter experience are gradually learning the truth, and are realizing that real freedom is freedom from poverty, hunger, unemployment, lack of healthcare, etc, and that the solutions to their huge problems lie outside the system, not within it, that is by waging a mighty united people’s struggle to create a modern and just political and social order.
To wage this historical people’s struggle successfully, the Indian masses will have to change their mindsets i.e. rise above casteism and communalism ( something very difficult and painful ), learn who are their real friends and real enemies, and make tremendous sacrifices. The vested interests, both internal and external, in the present order will not easily give up their hold, and will not allow allow great changes in the country, but will seek to retain the status quo, by polarising society, inciting hatred among the people, and putting up fierce resistance.
But our goal must be clear. We must attain our objective of creating a highly industrialised, highly modern India, with our people enjoying a high standard of living, whatever the cost, and however great the sacrifices needed to attain it. For this we have to establish a social and political order under which there is rapid industrialisation and modernisation, so that our people enjoy a high standard of living and decent lives, with employment, healthcare, good education, nutritious food, etc for all, and with no social discrimination against women, dalits, minorities, etc. And to create such a political and social order the Indian people will have to wage a mighty, protracted, united, people’s struggle led by modern minded patriotic, selfless leaders, who are determined to transform India into a modern industrial giant, like another China.
For waging this historical people’s struggle the enlightened sections of our people will have to use all their creativity, and devise the forms of struggle, as were devised in the great British, American, French, Russian and Chinese Revolutions, by the great modern minded, brave and self sacrificing leaders of those countries. Only then can we get real independence and a prosperous India
I do not agree, and would like to give my reasons.
Indian Economy
The English economist Adam Smith in his classical book ‘ The Wealth of Nations ‘ published in 1776 advocated open markets, and relatively barrier free domestic and international trade. In other words, Smith was against not only constraints on domestic industry, but also against protectionist policies against international competition. In contrast, the German economist Friedrich List in his book ‘The National System of Political Economy ‘ published in 1841 said that international free trade would result in subjection of the less advanced nations by the more advanced manufacturing and commercial nations. He advocated protection to domestic industries by less industrialized nations ( by high customs duties, quotas for foreign goods entering the domestic market, etc ).
It may be mentioned that England was the first country in the world to industrialize, which it did in the first half of the 18th century. German industrialization began much later, and at that time German industries were small compared to British industries, so they needed state protection to face the competition of British industries, otherwise German industries could not survive. This protection, List argued, should be in the form of customs duties or quotas on British goods.
A giant can fight another giant. But a child cannot fight a giant. So a child must be protected and nurtured until it, too, becomes a giant.
Those who argue that foreign investments create jobs, overlook the number of jobs it destroys, which may be 10 or more times than what it creates. The British East India Company brought foreign investment into India, and no doubt created some jobs in railways, plantations and some light industries e.g, textiles. But it destroyed the huge handicraft industries which gave employment to tens of millions of Indians, and had made India a prosperous country under the Mughals.
There was huge foreign direct investment, mainly by the Britishers, during British rule, but it left India impoverished, with only 2-3% of the world’s wealth and world foreign trade by 1947, when it was perhaps the richest country in the world under the Mughals, with about 25% of the world’s wealth and world foreign trade.
So FDI means nothing if it does not benefit the Indian masses, but benefits only some foreign multi-national corporations. In fact it may result in loot of India ( as it happened during British rule ), destruction of markets for our own industries, and increase in unemployment in India.
List pointed out that when Britain was doing its own industrialization, it was done under heavy protection to its industries ( by high customs duties, etc ). But when they had broadly completed their own industrialization, Britishers started preaching the virtues of free trade to other nations ( so that they would open their markets to British goods ). List wrote ” Had the English left everything to itself—’Laissez faire, laissez aller’, as the popular economical school ( i.e. Adam Smith’s school ) recommends—the German merchants of the Steelyard would be still carrying on their trade in London, the Belgians would be still manufacturing cloth for the English, and England would have still continued to be sheep-farmers. Indeed, it is more than probable that without her highly protectionist commercial policy England would never have attained such rapid industrial growth “.
The German authorities followed List’s recommendations, and imposed, particularly under Chancellor Bismarck, high customs duties on British imports, with the result that German industries, which were then small compared to British ones, could get protection from British competition, and could rapidly grow. Japan, too, did the same after the Meiji Restoration of 1868. So did USA, and in fact this was one of the causes of the Civil War of 1861-65, the North, which had set up many industries, wanting protection from British industrial imports, while the South, which was largely agrarian, opposed high customs duties, as it depended on large cotton exports to England from its plantations, for which the British could only pay if they could easily sell their industrial products in USA. Since India is less industrialized as compared to developed countries, in my opinion India too must follow List’s theory. Our industries need protection if they are to grow. For instance, Chinese goods are capturing our markets, and in my opinion heavy customs duties should be imposed on them, or their entry into India should be prohibited altogether.
FDI ( foreign direct investment ), far from being encouraged, should be greatly restricted, and should be allowed only in sectors where it would help our domestic industries grow, e.g. where it would lead to transfer of new technology from foreign companies to Indian ones.
This does not mean we should restore the licence-permit raj which had strangled our economy for decades. I am against most of internal restraints, and am only referring to free entry of foreign goods and foreign investments into India, which should be greatly restricted, to give protection to our own industries.
At the same time, special help by the state should be given to our new industries and new entrepreneurs , as was done by the Japanese government after the Meiji Restoration, so that they can tide over the difficulties which all new entrants ( start ups ) face. In particular, special help and concessions should be given to small and middle level industries, as these have few reserves and financial back up. Youth starting as entrepreneurs should be given special help, e.g. in the form of loans at low interest, free technical advice, tax holidays for long periods, etc. Most of the nations which are today industrialized did their industrialization under governments which were friendly to their domestic industries and businesses, and helped promote them. India too should do the same
