Bill Tammeus is my American friend, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. USA with his wife Marcia.
He had come to Allahabad with his parents and 3 sisters in 1957. Bill’s father was an agriculture expert from Illinois University who had come for 2 years to India to teach modern methods of agriculture in the Allahabad Agriculture Institute.
Bill was admitted to Boys High School, Allahabad (where the famous Indian filmstar Amitabh Bachchan had also studied ), and we were classmates from 1957-1958. He was then about 12 years old.
Later, he went back with his parents to America, and became a journalist in the Kansas City Star (where the great writer Ernest Hemingway had once worked). However, we remained in touch since then, through letters which would take 10 days or more to reach ( there was no such thing as email then ).
Thus, we have been friends for about 66 years, quite a record !
Bill has since retired, and does social work, including serving as a part time preacher in his Presbyterian Church ( for which reason I call him ‘Reverend’ ).
I had requested Bill to be one of the speakers in the recent Christmas special global online webinar of the organisation Ibaadatkhana, which promotes inter faith harmony. I am the patron of this organisation, Tasawar Jalali, who lives in San Jose, California is its Chairman, Irfan Ali, who lives in Princeton, New Jersey is its Vice Chairman, Naren Singh, who lives in California is its Gen Secy, and Ritu Jha who lives in California, and is the editor of indicanews.com, is the head of publicity and public relations.
The video recording of the webinar can be seen on my facebook page.
Bill had to decline my invitation due to prior commitments. He explained that this is the holiday season in America, and everyone’s calendar, including his own, is jampacked well in advance.
However, he sent this video recorded Christmas and New Year greetings.
A Real Father is one who takes care of all his children. He is like a banyan tree which gives shade and protection to all who come under it.
From that viewpoint, who are the real forefathers of the Indian Nation ?
1. The Father of the Indian Nation
The Father of the Indian Nation is the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar ( 1542-1605 ), who proclaimed the doctrine of suleh-e-kul i.e. giving equal respect to all communities, a policy which was inclusive, because of which the Mughal Empire lasted so long.
He built the Ibaadatkhana in his new capital Fatehpur Sikri, a building unique in the world, where scholars and saints of all religions discussed amicably about the good points in their religion
Great Mughal Emperor Akbar
2. The Grandfather of the Indian Nation
The Great Emperor Ashoka ( who ruled from 268 to 232 BC ) is the Grandfather of the Indian Nation.
The Great Emperor Ashok
Emperor Ashoka conceived of the idea of a Welfare State, 2000 years before it was conceived of by Europeans ( see Major Rock Edicts 2, 6, and 7, and Pillar Edicts 1 and 6 ). He regarded all his subjects as his children, attending to their welfare being a king’s duty.
Major Rock Edict 12 ( also known as the Girnar Rock Edict ) of about 260 BC, declares Ashoka’s policy of religious tolerance
( Girnar is near Junagarh in Gujrat, and the Edict is inscribed on a rock, which I have seen ).
” Thus saith His Sacred and Gracious Majesty the King : The King honours all religious sects. His Sacred Majesty does not value gifts and honours as he values the growth of the essential elements of all religious sects. But the root of it is restraint of speech, that is, there should not be honour only of one’s own religion and condemnation of other religions. On the other hand, other religions should be honoured too.
By doing this, one helps his own religion to grow, and benefits the religion of others too. By doing otherwise, one harms his own religion and injures the other religions too. For whoever honours only his own religion and condemns others’ religions gravely injures his own religion.
Hence concord alone is commendable, and all should listen, and be willing to listen, to the beliefs professed by others. This is the desire of his Sacred Majesty. “
3. The Great Grandfather of the Indian Nation
The Great Grandfather of the Indian Nation is Lord Rama, who regarded all his people, not just a section of them, as his children.
The Great Grandfather of the Indian Nation is Lord Rama
If he had been India’s King today, Rama would have given severe punishment to those who committed atrocities on minorities in India.
India is a country of tremendous diversity. Hence the correct policy for running it is as shown by the above great figures, i.e. giving equal respect to all communities. Promoting religious polarisation and communal hatred may benefit some people in the short run ( by getting them votes ), but in the long run it will do great harm to our nation.
As Bheeshma Pitamah told Yudhishthir :
भेदे गणाः विनश्यन्ति भिन्नास्तु सजाया: पराः
तस्मात् संघातयेंन प्रयतरेण गणाः सदा
i.e.
“ Republics are destroyed only because of internal strife among the people
Therefore the authorities in a republic should always strive to maintain good relations among the people “
( Bheeshma Pitamah’s upadesh to Yudhishthir in the Shantiparva of Mahabharat, chapter 107/108, shloka 14 ).
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 ?
Justice Benjamin Cardozo, the celebrated Judge of the US Supreme Court, wrote in his book ‘The Nature of the Judicial Process’ :
” A Judge is not a Knight Errant roaming at will in search of his own ideal of beauty and goodness ”. I submit with respect that the recent release of a 30 page handbook by the Chief Justice of India for guiding judges to avoid using gender stereotypes is violative of the above dictum of Justice Cardozo.
If a 30 page handbook is needed for combating gender stereotypes, why not issue a 30 page handbook for combating stereotypes of politicians ? Can they be called crooks in a court order ( which many people think most of them are ) ?
Why not a 30 page handbook for guiding Supreme Court judges as to what words they should use for High Court judges ( e.g. should the Supreme Court in its judgment call the High Court as ‘the Court below’ ? ). And what words should the High Court judges use for subordinate judiciary judges ?
What about 30 page handbooks for civil servants, teachers, lawyers, engineers, farmers, workers, students, doctors etc ?
I submit that judges learn judicial etiquette and most things not from handbooks but by observing court conventions while practising as a lawyer, and as a junior judge from one’s seniors.
It is a long standing, well established, convention that judges should only speak through their judgments, and that is what I was taught by my seniors in the judiciary e.g. former CJI MN Venkatachaliah and former CJI J.S. Verma. Sermons and homilies delivered in 30 page handbooks are not part of a judgment, and are therefore best avoided.
I recently gave an interview online to a Pakistani journalist, Sohrab Barkat of siasat.pk, which is below
There were over 670 comments on Youtube after the interview was displayed. Among these were some comments, probably from Pakistanis, that I should be made Chief Justice of Pakistan ( CJP ).
The possibility is remote, but if indeed I was appointed CJP, here are the orders I would pass suo motu on the very first day of assuming charge come what may :
The Army Chief Gen Munir, as well as the Corps Commanders and Principal Staff Officers, as well as the top police officers, are ordered to be immediately arrested and placed on trial before an International Tribunal, for unleashing a fascist reign of terror in Pakistan, and for crimes against humanity ( like Field Marshal Keitel and Gen Jodl at the Nuremburg trials, and Generals Tojo and Yamashita at the Tokyo trials, who were later hanged ), and given harsh punishment if found guilty.
The PDM leaders, especially the arch villains Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Home Minister Rana Sanaullah, PPP leader Asif Zardari etc, are ordered to be immediately arrested for abetting the crimes of the army and police, as well as for looting the country, and put up on trial, and given harsh punishment if found guilty.
National elections shall be held within two months, as Article 224 of Pakistan Constitution provides,and for this purpose all necessary funds will be released forthwith by the State Bank of Pakistan, and all security provided to ensure free and fair elections. Those who oppose this order will be promptly and severely punished for contempt of court. 4.Imran Khan and all PTI workers and supporters are released forthwith, and all charges against them in all courts or bodies are withdrawn
Judges like Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court Aamer Farooq, and Addl District Judge Humayun Dilawar, who are a disgrace to the judiciary, are sacked forthwith without any pension or perks.
Many years back I was invited by the then Vice Chancellor of JNU ( Jawaharlal Nehru University ), Delhi for dinner along with about a dozen Professors of the University
Prof Sopory, VC of JNU from 2011-2016 Who Invited Justice Markandey Katju.
I was told that the budget of the University Grants Commission was Rs.41,000 crore in the Five Year plan, and the annual budget of JNU alone was about Rs.200 crores.
In my usual blunt way I said, “How has this benefited the Indian masses? It seems that the huge funds being ploughed into higher education in India are for the benefit of foreign countries and to give you Professors huge salaries and fine houses to live in rather than to benefit the Indian people.”
This sparked off a lively debate. Some of the professors tried to refute my statement, but I stuck to my guns.
I said that most of the money spent on education in India went to the institutes of higher education like the IITs and universities, and very little money was spent on primary and middle schools, particularly in rural areas, where the foundation of education was laid. There are very few facilities such as proper teachers, proper classrooms, proper seats, electricity, libraries, etc in these primary or middle schools, whereas the institutes of higher education are given huge funds and have very good facilities, state-of-the-art campuses, air-conditioning, etc.
I then gave a few examples to prove what I said:
1. I once went to a village about 40 km from Allahabad (my native city) to meet a farmer friend of mine, with whom I had studied at Allahabad University.
At his home I met one of his sons who had passed class seven and promoted to class eight in his high school in the village. I asked him to bring his class 7 mathematics book and solve a few simple problems. He could not do so. I wondered how he had been promoted to class 8 when he could not solve simple class 7 problems. I then solved those simple problems, and asked him to attempt the other problems in the lesson. He was obviously an intelligent boy, because having learnt how to solve the simple problems, he proceeded to solve the rest.
At this I asked him, “Did your teacher not teach you all this?” He replied, “Master Sahib thekedari karne lage hain, aur doosre master sahib class lene aate naheen hai” (the earlier teacher has become a contractor, and the next teacher does not come to take classes”).
2. I went to a reputed intermediate college in Allahabad and was told that in a section in Class 11 there are 250 students. I was shocked. Under the rules there should not be more than 40 students in a class. What teaching can possibly be done in a class of 250 students? I also learnt that in some of the sections at Allahabad University there are over 300 students, and there is not even place for a student to sit.
In view of this, much of the real education takes place in private coaching institutes, or at the residence of teachers who make much more money there than in their institutions. As a result, these teachers evince little interest in teaching in their institutions, and a student who does not join the coaching (paying high fees) finds it difficult to pass.
3. In many of the staffrooms of our educational institutions, teachers, instead of discussing academic matters, often discuss petty politics, often of a casteist nature or matters pertaining to their service conditions. Senior professors often get appointed or promoted people of their own caste, whether they have merit or not.
4. Teachers are often appointed not on merit but on extraneous considerations, like political connection, caste, etc. They are appointed on contract basis. In some States, “shikshamitra” who have been appointed on a salary of Rs.1,500 a month have no degree or teachers’ training qualification.
5. The level of intellect of many teachers is low, ( like the teachers in Dickens’ novels ) because many of them have not been appointed on merit but on extraneous considerations.
To give an example, when I was a judge of Allahabad High Court I had a case relating to a service matter of a mathematics lecturer in a university in Uttar Pradesh. Since the teacher was present in court I asked him how much one divided by zero is equal to. He replied, “Infinity.” I told him that his answer was incorrect, and it was evident that he was not even fit to be a teacher in an intermediate college. I wondered how had he become a university lecturer.
In mathematics it is impermissible to divide by zero. Hence anything divided by zero is known as an indeterminate number, not infinity. To explain, suppose 1/0=x. Then x multiplied by 0 should be 1. But we know that anything multiplied by 0 becomes 0. Hence it is impermissible to divide by 0.
Infinity is not a number at all. It simply means that there is no end to numbers as they are increased. It can be accurately expressed as follows :
Limit of 1/x, x tending to 0, is infinity.
I gave them many more such examples, and told the senior academicians at JNU that huge amounts of money of the Indian taxpayer is spent on the IITs and other institutes of higher education, but the graduates of these institutes often take up jobs in foreign countries. This results in brain drain. Thus, while Indians pay taxes which go towards educating our bright students, the benefit of their education goes to foreign countries and not to the Indian people. These foreign countries benefit because higher education in their own countries is very expensive, so they have to pay only a fraction of that amount to get our bright young students.
I posed them another question: the test of every system is one simple question. Does it raise the standard of living of the masses or not? I said that the huge amount of money being spent on higher education in India is not raising the standard of living of the Indian masses because about 75 per cent of Indians continue to live in dire poverty. Also, there is massive unemployment, malnutrition, skyrocketing prices, huge problems of health care, housing, etc.
Apart from that, I asked them how many Nobel laureates have our universities and other institutes of higher education produced ? Hardly any.
In many American universities one will find half a dozen Nobel laureates in their faculties.
Australia, which has a population of about 25 million, has 180 academicians who have an F.R.S. (Fellow of the Royal Society), while India, with a population of 1,200 million, has only about 20. So what are the achievements of our scientists and other intellectuals? It is only when they go to the United States or Canada or Europe that they achieve anything.
What is the quality of research work done by our academicians in institutes of higher learning? Unfortunately it is abysmally low and does not benefit the Indian people. Their publications ( often plagiarism ), are mostly poor, and done only to improve their CVs in order to get jobs.
The purpose of education is to help raise the standard of living of the masses. But in India it seems that its purpose is to raise the standard of living of a handful of people who get jobs as govt servants, corporate employees, teachers, etc
I must say to the credit of the professors assembled there that they did not take any of my remarks personally. I told them that I had no intention to insult them but was only voicing my genuine grievance about the defects in the educational system in India, and the need to make it beneficial to the masses.
At the end it was agreed that my views required serious debate
When I was in Allahabad I used to play for a cricket team, Once we played against a rival team and were all out for 1 run. Naturally we were feeling very despondent, and thought the match was over. Seeing our crestfallen faces the umpire came over to us and asked why we were feeling so sad.
We told him we had lost the match. He said ” Why do you worry ? I am here. All you have to do is that when your bowler bowls the ball all of you shout together ‘How’s that’, and leave the rest to me ”. So when our bowler bowled the first ball, which was promptly despatched by the batsman to the boundary, we all shouted in unison ” How’s that ”.
The umpire immediately lifted up his forefinger, and declared the batsman out. ” How out ? ” asked the furious batsman, enraged by the umpire’s decision. ” Judgment is judgment ” said the umpire, with a deadpan countenance, and the batsman sheepishly left the field.
The same thing happened when our bowler bowled the next ball to the batsman who followed, and to the one’s who came thereafter. In this way our rival team was all out for 0, and we won the match.
The Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. Vijayan, and his government are facing severe criticism following their alleged inaction in addressing the critical issue of limited admissions for students who pass Class 10 in the Malappuram district.
Concerns have been raised by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Katju, who recently attended a conference in the region and discovered the distressing situation faced by talented students. Despite repeated appeals and calls for action, the government’s alleged lack of response has sparked outrage, as the aspirations and future prospects of these young individuals hang in the balance.
According to Justice Katju’s email, numerous students in Malappuram who have achieved exceptional results, securing over 90% marks in their Class 10 exams, are being denied admission to Class 11 in subjects such as computers, biology, maths, physics, and chemistry. These students harbor dreams of pursuing careers in engineering, medicine, scientific research, IT, and other fields. However, the limited availability of seats in these subjects is severely hampering their chances of pursuing their desired career paths, leaving their aspirations shattered and their futures uncertain.
Justice Katju expresses deep concern that despite appeals made to the Chief Minister, his government, and the MLAs from his party and its allies, the issue has allegedly been met with indifference and apathy. The lack of action in addressing this problem is deemed a grave offense, as it directly impacts the lives and ambitions of these talented youngsters. Justice Katju does not mince words, holding the Chief Minister and his government directly responsible for this “crime” against the students of Malappuram.
The former Supreme Court Judge goes on to highlight that he personally discussed the matter with Mr. Shamsheer, the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly and an MLA of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), during the conference. This indicates that the issue has gained attention and concern among various political figures within the state.
In his email, Justice Katju firmly calls upon Chief Minister Vijayan to urgently address this admissions crisis or face the demand for his resignation. He warns of dire consequences for the government if a satisfactory response is not received promptly, criticizing what he perceives as incompetence on their part.
Conclusion:
The failure of the Kerala government to tackle the Class 10 admissions crisis in Malappuram has sparked outrage, with Justice Katju and concerned stakeholders highlighting the dire consequences faced by talented students. As their dreams hang in the balance, the government’s alleged inaction has led to public condemnation and demands for immediate intervention. The future of these aspiring engineers, doctors, scientists, and IT experts remains uncertain until a resolution is reached. It remains to be seen whether Chief Minister Vijayan and his government will take swift action to address the issue or face further backlash from the public and concerned parties.
In her article published in Financial Express on 25.6.2023 the journalist Tavleen Singh lamented over decline of freedom of speech and democracy in India in recent times.
She writes ” Sadly, when democracies become places in which dissidence and free speech are seen as crimes, when religious minorities are wrongly targeted, and when political opponents are crushed by the repressive organs of the state, they are called autocracies and not democracies ”.
The problem with Tavleen Singh and other so called ‘liberal’ and ‘independent’ journalists is this : they treat democracy and freedom of speech as a fetish, an object of worship, like a holy cow, which will last for ever. I, on the other hand, regard freedom and democracy as only a means to an end, not an end in itself. The end must be raising the standard of living of the people, and giving them decent lives.
What use is democracy and freedom of speech to a man who is hungry and/or unemployed ? He needs concrete things like food and a job, not abstract freedoms.
In India we have massive and widespread poverty, unemployment, child malnourishment ( every second Indian child is malnourished according to Global Hunger Index ).
Proper healthcare and good education are not available to the vast masses. Prices of essential commodities like food are skyrocketing.
Freedom of speech can no doubt help the people in their historical united struggle which they must wage for creating a new political order under which there is rapid industrialisation and modernisation. However, it can also obstruct it.
For instance, speeches spreading hatred between castes and communities should certainly not be permitted, for it destroys unity of the people which is essential for us at this historical juncture.
Similarly speech or writings promoting unscientific superstitions like astrology should be banned. The great Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who came to power in the 1920s by ousting the corrupt feudal minded Sultan and Khalifa, did not give freedom to the Turkish people to choose whether they wanted to modernise or remain poor and backward. He ( and his associates ) forced them to modernise by abolishing sharia, burqa, madarsas and maulanas, and he permitted no political party to exist other than his own
So also, in India too people must be forcibly modernised, and for that, perhaps, an enlightened dictatorship is necessary.
We have the system of parliamentary democracy in India, but everyone knows it runs largely on the basis of caste and communal vote banks. Casteism and communalism are feudal forces, which must be destroyed if India is to progress, but parliamentary democracy further entrenches them. The people have therefore to use their creativity and find a suitable alternative, in which India rapidly industrialises and modernises, under the leadership of patriotic, modern minded secular leaders determined to raise the standard of living of the people, and give them decent lives.
Parliamentary democracy and freedom of speech must therefore be understood in the correct perspective, and not treated like holy cows or objects of worship
When Imran Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2018, and for quite some thereafter too, I was very critical of him.
He had taken help of religious extremists during his election campaign, and had given PTI tickets to dubious ‘electables’.
Soon after becoming PM he had dismissed the renowned economist Atif Mian from the Pakistan Economic Advisory Council, just because he was an Ahmadi.
He had suppressed the press, even getting arrested and imprisoned Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman, owner of Jang Group, in a 34 year old land case, because of some criticism by his newspaper.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1540500
He constantly spoke of Madina ki Riyasat. Speaking of it a few times would be okay, but making a habit of it is going too far.
However, all that is in the past, and we should see the present.
Presently Imran Khan is leading the democratic forces in Pakistan, against the fascist reign of terror unleashed by the corrupt Pakistan Establishment.
He is basically an honest man, who has repeatedly said he will continue living in Pakistan, and not fly abroad like the corrupt Nawaz Sharif ( who was convicted by the Pakistan Supreme Court ). He has no assets abroad, unlike PDM leaders, whose names appear in the Panama Papers, and other credible material. In my opinion all honest and right thinking people everywhere should support him. Earlier, 70% Pakistanis supported him ( according to opinion polls in Pakistan and the bye elections results ). But now the number has drastically risen, and may be between 80 and 90%. This means over 200 million out of the 240 million Pakistanis support Imran Khan.
Imran Khan is now no longer a person, he has become an idea in Pakistan, representing honesty, truth,and commitment to the people’s welfare.. Even if he is imprisoned or physically eliminated, the idea will live on, like the ghost of Caesar after his assassination.
