And they claim to be secular

Congress last week welcome Tauqeer Khan to their fold. Welcoming him was none other than Digvijay Singh who does not tire of showing off his secular credentials. Maybe what he forgot or did not know or did not care was that Tauqeer Khan was the cleric who offered a reward to the person who beheads the cartoonist behind the Danish cartoons. And Congress his entry into Congress strengthens secularism.
Left in Kerala is fighting it's own CM. The reason is Madani, someone who is called the face of terror in South India. He has spent years in jail and has been involved in Coimbatore blasts and now is under scanner for Keralaite youth found fighting in Kashmir and Bangalore blasts. He is courted by both, Congress and the Left because they need his votes and for that they can forgive and forget his actions and speech.
Sharad Pawar yesterday in Mumbai made a speech again to the effect that Hindu terrorism s responsible for most of the blasts in the country. And in same speech, he was teaching secularism to Varun.
What's surprising is that media which lynches anyone talking about Hindu pride is silent on all these points. And it is this attitude of media and politicians which will generate if not a Hindutva wave but surely a Hindutva undercurrent.

11 Million Jobs

Congress promises 11 million jobs if it comes to power. 10 Million jobs that it could not provide inspite of promising last time and 1 million for those who lost their jobs in recent times due to economy mismanagement.

Move elections to SA too

EC has come with an interesting observation that there is a lack of security forces for this elections. EC claims there are 15,000 security personnel less in this election than 2004 election. Shocking, isn't it? This means either too many security personnel have resigned in last 5 years or more personnel are used elsewhere. If it means former, it shows sheer disregard of security personnel by the current government and security personnel's frustration with the government. And if it latter, then it just means that India is far more dangerous place than 2004. And government obviously has to take blame for both the situations.

Infact they can talk to Lalit Modi and see if he can get a package deal for hosting both IPL and elections on the safer shores of South Africa.

Politics of hate and crime

Hate and crime seem to have been one of the features of Indian politics since decades now. But this time, Varun Gandhi incident has brought it out in the open. Let's have a look at the tainted sheet in this election. The communalists and the criminals.

Communists and Congress in Kerala are both lining up at the same place. And the place belongs to Madani, the known communalist and one booked for number of terror cases. In fact just recently he and his wife have been under scanner for the 4 terrorists found in Kashmir and originally from Kerala. But when it's election time, secularism is better kept for TV studios and all so called secular parties are courting Madani to swing Muslim votes in their favour. While a young Varun get's clobbered all around, the senior Communist and Congress leaders praising Madani and hailing him are allowed to go scotfree.
What's the difference between Varun Gandhi and Jagdish Tytler / Sajjan Kumar? Just one. While Varun said the hate words, the other 2 went one step further and did so in action. They burnt and massacred Sikhs in calculated cold blooded manner.
The Church in Kerala too seems to be eager to stir this pot of hatred. So throwing their preaching of 'tolerance' to the winds, they have jumped in the fray, spreading hatred against both BJP and Communists and courting Congress. And they say one of the tenets of Secularism is that religion and politics have to be kept seperate.
Sanjay Dutt, Mukhtar Ansari, Ateeq Ahmed, Mohd Shahabuddin, Taslimuddin, Pappu Yadav... long list of those convicted of serious crimes and still in the fray or looking to get their spouses elected. Infact Taslimuddin, charged of serious cases like rape, murder, kidnapping was just inches away from being sworn in the last UPA government as a minister.
What about those who have spread venom on issues of caste and language? If one talks about caste venom, one has to see Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Laloo Yadav, Ram Vilas Paswan, Sachin Pilot who have used caste hatred and violence to reach the top echelons. What about the Thackerays, the Karunanidhis who are so jingoistic on their langauge that for them the country starts and ends with their states.
Then we have people like Omar Abdullah who unfortunately are applauded for the most divisive speech in Parliament. If Raj Thackeray says Maharashtra is their land and they won't let anyone step on it, it is called hate speech. But when Omar Abdullah says land for Amarnath is their land and they will fight for it with blood, it suddenly becomes a speech to be appluaded. Just becase it came from a Muslim leader? Or just because it suits for Indian politics to be anti-majority?

If EC wants to make the Indian politics hate and crime free, it has to act strongly and in an unbiased manner against all those accused of these acts. The EC can ill-afford a partisan approach because bias always leads to polarisation.

BJP and Women Power

Last couple of months one has seen the media and activists focus on the 'supposed' treatment of women in BJP ruled states specially Karnataka. While the attacks on the women are condemnable, the brush used to paint BJP as anti-women or anti-freedom is equally condemnable. To see the reason, one has to just see examples of 2 schemes run in BJP ruled states - Gujarat and MP. Maybe because this scheme aimed at the vast majority of those women who have got no voice in media, on internet or in streets. Or maybe because the women organisations don't think these women are a part of India.

Ladli Laxmi Yojana in MP is one of it's kind in the country. This scheme not only prevents female foeticide but it also ensures that the girl child does have some financial independence as she grows. As per the scheme, for evey girl child born, the government invests in saving certificates for 1st five year. Then as the child grows and studies, she gets an amount regularly. When she reaches the 12th standard, the girl child gets more than a lakh. The scheme has reduced the rate of school and college dropout amongst girls.

Another similar scheme has been the Beti Bachao Andolan in Gujarat. For long, Gujarat had one of the worst male to female ratio in the country. Under this, the state government not only took strict steps to prevent female foeticide, it also ensured that the girl child born in the family is treated as a relief rather than a burden. And the statistics say it all, the gender ratio has seen a healthy change. Plus Unicef has applauded this scheme.

And it is really heatening to hear that the same schemes would be brought to the centre if NDA comes to power.

Congress' revenge on Gandhiji

Gandhiji used to believe and say that Congress post-independence should be disbanded. And the current government has seen to it that they have their revenge. And it was so simple.

Their government (as they claim) was instrumental in Gandhiji's belongings being bought over by Liquor Baron Vijay Mallya.

The Taliban challenge

So many times we have read 'what goes around does come around'. The latest in this is the deadly possiblity of Taliban at India's doorstep. In more ways than one, India indirectly was the birthplace for the ideology which later turned into Taliban. In 1800s, after losing their power and grip over India, one saw the rise of Deoband. Started in UP on a very strong anti-British pitch, Deobandis fought pitched battles against British forces specially in 1857 War of Independence. Though many historians have tried to potray them as nationalists, the fact remained that they were fighting more for their religion and the religious power they enjoyed over vast areas of then undivided Hindustan. One has surely read how they fought or looked down upon the Hindus and other Muslim fighters during 1857 war. Post the loss, one did not hear much about them except the activities in Islamci Education or rise and spread of Wahabism. One of the seminaries of Deoband went far and wide spreading the so-called stringent form of Islam and that was termed Wahabsm.

Taliban right from it's early days draws strength and inspiration from this form of Islam. So in an indirect way India could be said to be the birthplace of Taliban. Now that challenge is right at our doorstep.

UPA government like always would like to be blind to this threat. But what one cannot close its eyes to is the fact that there is a sort of active revivalism of Wahabism in India. This is the dangerous territory. Remember how riots broke out in India over things like Afghan war or hanging of Saddam? Remember how desecration of Buddha in Bamiyan was treated with silence in Indian Islamic world and with glee in the radical circles? India has rarely seen bigger rallies than anti-Bush and anti-Danish Cartoon rallies. Malegaon, Bangalore, Meerut, Aligarh all burnt on issues which did not concern India.

These things will show how Taliban is not just at our doorstep but has entered our country in some way. Fighting individuals and armies is still possible but idealogies spread faster than people. And it was take an ideological battle to fight Taliban from destroying India.

And this ideological battle cannot be fought by indulging to vote-bank politics. Neither it can fought by victomisation. It can be fought only on the ideals of 'Justice for All, Appeasement for None'

Suraksha, Samman aur Khushalli

The above 3 words to be used as the UPA slogan sounds so hollow when you see what all has transpired in last 5 years. Let's talk of it one word as a time

Suraksha - The intellectual level of whoever in UPA thought that their government and Suraksha (safety) has anything in common, is highly suspect. They surely need better writers. Even a kid if asked what's was the common thing in last 5 years would say bomb blasts and terrorism. The country saw 27 blasts in last 5 years and the Mumbai attack to top it all. Only in the last year was there some change made or an attempt to whitewash made. Their security policy has been a national and then an internaitonal joke. Look at how Assam has gone on boil so many times. North East states which were all coming to normalcy after talks with Vajpayee regime as back to the turbulent days. Not a single part of the country was left untouched by terrorism. Even in J & K, the government pandered to and pampered the seperatists while nationalists were fired upon. Afzal Guru has been saved the gallows only because of the vote bank politics. The UPA government has not been a total failure when it comes to protecting people but it has also not been able to punish the culprits. Suraksha has been made the unloved mistress of votebank politics.

Samman -Hmm, respect. Now just visualise how many times have you seen Manmohan Singh relegated to position 3 in terms of respect within the Congress party (after Sonia and Rahul) and you would why one laughs at the mention of that word in the slogan. The government or the party which does not respect even it's own selected PM talks about respect for others. A PM who is used like a nighwatchman can hardly talk about respect. How many times in 5 years has the PM been made to pamper opportunist likes of Amar Singh, Karunanidhi, Sharad Pawar and criminal likes of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Shibu Soren. What respect are they talking about? Even the democratic institutions have been denied the respect they deserve. Everyone, right from CBI, EC to the media has been treated like a prostitute by the UPA government. The only ones who enjoyed some respect possibly have been the Gandhis.

Khushali - Such an irony that even after ruling the country for nealy 50 years, Congress still needs to promise happiness to the people. Even thought of asking them what they did for all these years? I would recommend the slogan writer to talk about khushali to the widows of the farmers who have committed suicide in Maharashtra, AP or to the people who have had their life-long savings wiped off in stock exchanges or to the middle class working youth who have been paying the highest EMIs for last 5 years. Talk about it to the people who have lost their employment. Further more, talk about khushali to the aam aadmi for whom survival has become a challenge.

So next time you hear Suraksha, Samman aur Khushali, think of Shivraj Patil changing clothes after blasts, PM working part-time till the Yuvraaj is ready to be PM and the widows of the farmers who committed suicide.

The secular curse

Wonder why there is silence when a statement like this should have called for all round condemnation? Sharad Pawar yesterday blamed the Hindutva forces for terrorism in India. And he is supposed to be the secular one with the halo around his head. So now, Hindus know that they are the reason why Punjab saw terrorism. Hindus are the reason why Kashmir has been burning for decades. Hindus are the reason why there have been blasts and terror attacks in the country. Applause for Pawar, the champion of secularism and the protector of India. He surely will get the kudos of the media and his secular brethren mainly his own favourite Dawood.

Had he said the same for any other community, they would ahve bayed for his blood or even skinned him politicially. But then Hindus as always will be tolerant and not only forgive him but also vote for him and his kinds.