MYTHS ABOUT BJP AND NARENDRA MODI

Former Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad has said media had an "anti-BJP bias" and that television debates do not make election results.

"Television debates don't make election results. Has that been a case, Narendra Modi would not have won any elections because you will hardly see any favourable report about him on any channel," Prasad said interacting during a programme organised here.

A body of professionals terming themselves as "friends of BJP", had organised an interactive session with Prasad during his Goa visit on last evening.

To a question by a young woman professional, who felt that BJP is always shown in bad light by media, the former information and broadcast minister said, "This is an unfortunate reality that there is a secular and communal face off on the television."

Reiterating his claim that television really does not matter, Prasad said that in Tamil Nadu almost all the prominent politicians have TV channels.

"Jaya TV for Jaya, Sun TV for DMK...Makkal TV for PMK and there is another Congress channel. If television would have been so powerful, then Jaya would have never lost to Karunanidhi," the minister said.

He said that anti-BJP stand was a problem only with the English channels and not Hindi channels.

"If you see Hindi channels or regional channels they don't have anti-BJP bias," Prasad added.

The BJP leader appealed to the "friends" of the party to SMS or write to the channels, which they find are bias, asking them to give away the attitude.

The BJP has a slogan of justice to all, he added.

"Our approach is very clear. Justice to all and appeasement to none...For us everyone is equal," he said.

Under Congress regime, 40 major riots have taken place in Gandhinagar and Ahmadnagar, no one talks about it, he said.

"You woke up only in 2001-02? You forgot the great development Narendra Modi has done in Gujarat today in having 17 percent growth rate on par with China?," he questioned.

"TODAY THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF PER CAPITA INCOME OF MUSLIMS IN INDIA IS IN GUJARAT ONLY because Gujarat is rising. Muslims earn pittance in West Bengal ruled by great secular party CPI(M) since 35 years," Prasad said.

Speaking further, he said that BJP has come to power in Nagaland which is 99 percent Christian state.

"We have our Christian MLAs and Christian ministers in Meghalaya and Mizoram which are 99 percent Christian states. How do you wish to ignore the hard realities of today?" he questioned.

Let Church leave Hindus alone

Earlier this month, Kanchi Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati engaged in a dialogue with Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran, president of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue.

The most significant outcome of the talks, held on June 12, was the Shankaracharya’s revelation that exactly one month before the Mumbai meeting, Pope Benedict XVI met the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in Jerusalem and agreed to cease all conversion activities among Jews. The Shankaracharya demanded a similar commitment from the Church for Hindus. When told conversions were mainly done by Protestants, he invited the Cardinal to return with all Christian denominations so that the issue could be permanently resolved.

Kanchi Perivaar politely reminded Cardinal Tauran of the Vatican’s evangelising agenda by recalling that in 1999, Pope John Paul II stated, on Indian soil, that the mission of the Vatican was to plant the Cross in Asia in the third millennium to facilitate the Christianising of the world, as this alone would cause the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. He sought an explanation for the First Coming of Jesus Christ, when there was no Christianity or Church to convert the world. Few Hindu leaders have spoken so firmly and effectively for Hindus in the post-independence era.

Politically, the Shankaracharya made the most significant intervention in public life when he denounced the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as “an intrusive mechanism of a foreign Government” to interfere in India’s internal affairs. He demanded that the USCIRF, which the UPA Government gave permission to visit India just prior to the general election, be disallowed to enter the country on this intrusive mission: “We will not allow external interference in our internal affairs.”

On June 17, the USCIRF announced in Washington, DC that it has been refused visas to visit India following criticism from Hindu conservatives (read Kanchi Acharya). The USCIRF is an American Government body; it commissioners are appointed by the US President. Its visit to India would be like Mr Manmohan Singh sending the National Human Rights Commission to investigate racist attacks on Indians in Australia.

Until and unless that happens, there is no justification for an American body to investigate religious freedom in Gujarat and Orissa. Indeed, this singling out of two States suggests the extent to which US-funded evangelists are active therein; it is shameful a national Government could even countenance inviting a foreign body to so blatantly support politico-religious conversions in non-Christian nations.

The USCIRF uses its annual reports to interfere in India’s internal affairs. It delayed its 2008 report in the hope of getting permission to visit India and make direct inroads into civil society and Government agencies. The 2007 report is outright offensive; it lauds the advent of a Congress-led coalition in 2004, implying this furthered an evangelical agenda! Certainly the commission revoked its 2002 designation of India as a “country of particular concern” in 2005. It openly attacks BJP State Governments for not permitting Christians to freely convert the poor and needy.

The USCIRF is enraged by anti-conversion laws in some States, most notably Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Arunachal Pradesh. It falsely claims only BJP Governments have passed anti-conversion laws, but is unable to explain why Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh suddenly rushed through a similar law in December 2006.

After clashes in Kandhamal on December 24, 2007, the USCIRF issued a statement on January 10, 2008, condemning the violence in which five persons died. The clashes followed a near lethal attack on Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati (who finally succumbed to gunfire on August 23, 2008); there was also the provocation of Christians erecting religious statues at a Hindu religious site, a common occurrence all over south India. Yet Western Christian nations feel Hindus have no right to defend their faith from imperialistic religions which convert people for the political goal of world dominion.

Given the misuse of foreign funds for conversions, Kanchi Perivaar proposed that the monies sent to India, ostensibly for Church charity work, be used only for social causes like health and education, and not for religious conversion. He proposed the funds be distributed to all organisations doing such charitable work, irrespective of religious affiliation, and a Committee formed to distribute and monitor the usage of these funds.

While this is an excellent idea, I believe the time has come for the Government of India to put an end to the ‘poverty tourism’ that is a public humiliation of our poor, and consider a ban on foreign donations for so-called social causes. India’s NGO sector has evolved into a money-minting industry; most professional NGOs comprise Left-leaning (read anti-Hindu) activists who are well networked with the national (even international) bureaucracy, and hence not lacking in funds. They also corner the lion’s share of the Governments’ ever-increasing outlays for social schemes.

These NGOs should be re-designated as a service industry and taxed, so they can make profits openly. Everyone knows the old concept of voluntary social service was replaced by paid social work only to garner funds and profits. Traditional Hindu bodies like the Arya Samaj and Sangh Parivar outfits raise their monies from society. Organisations that take Government money to do social work (that is, run Government projects) should be treated at par with municipal contractors; if nothing else this will drive the IAS and IPS babus out, and leave those with genuine delivery skills in the sector. Restrictions on foreigners and external funds will also curtail the new and growing menace of sexual abuse of minors, mostly poor children.

Calling upon religions that entered India from outside to respect Hindu dharma and not subvert or destroy it, Kanchi Perivaar observed that most Western, Muslim, and even Asian countries nationally resolve to protect and defend the culture and the religion from which their cultures derive. India alone officially promotes “an irreligious and un-spiritual creed called secularism”. Designating secularism as an administrative quality and not the soul of the nation, which is religious and spiritual, he advised the Government to affirm its commitment to protect the soul of the Indian nation. He strongly endorsed the move by the Buddhist Mahasangha and Joint Committee of Buddhist Organisations to press the Sri Lankan Government to pass a national anti-conversion Bill.

Kanchi Perivaar has summed up the agenda for any national Government in India. The onus is upon the UPA Government to prove whether or not it is up to the task.

Was India Shining?

Dr.Murli Manohar Joshi V/s The Hindu

Fictions V/s Facts

On its 03-May-2009 dated Sunday edition The Hindu Newspaper has made a study of the preamble of the Manifesto of the Bharathiya Janata Party (Indian People’s Party –BJP).

In the preamble of the manifesto drafted by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, some claims have been made about the greatness of India in pre-British period. The Hindu claims to have employed a team of eminent historians who have analyzed each of these claims and have negated each of them as either false or as exaggerations.

Read/Download Full Text Here 

Clarification by Shri Sudheendra Kulkarni on statement participating in NDTV’s ‘Big Fight’ deb

A misleading impression has been created by erroneous news reports about my statement, in the course of a TV debate on Friday, that the BJP does not consider the Congress party to be “political untouchable”. It has been reported in section of the press today that I advocated the BJP and Congress working together to form a stable government. This is completely untrue and preposterous.

Participating in NDTV’s ‘Big Fight’ debate, I had said that the so-called “secular unity” mooted by the Congress and Left parties is nothing but an opportunistic ploy to isolate the BJP. The Congress-communist combine has used this bogus concept as an ideological justification to preach and practice political untouchability towards the BJP. They did so in 1996 when, despite the BJP having emerged as the largest single party in the Lok Sabha with 162 seats, other parties were mobilized on the plank of “secularism” to form two United Front governments propped up by the Congress, which destabilized both in quick succession.

I said that the BJP does not believe in practicing political untouchability, and quoted Shri L.K. Advani’s oft-repeated affirmation — “If untouchability is wrong in the social sphere, it is equally wrong in the political sphere.” The anchor asked me if the BJP considered the Congress to be untouchable. My answer was “No”. When he questioned me if the BJP would work together with the Congress, my response was: “Yes, if the nation’s interests demand so at some time in the future.”

Congress is the BJP’s principal adversary in the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Along with our allies in the NDA, we have campaigned vigorously for the defeat of the Congress. We are confident that the people will give a decisive mandate for change and in favour of a BJP-led NDA government. As such, the question of the BJP and Congress working together in the post-May 16 scenario is simply unthinkable.

The BJP has grown in strength by consistently fighting the anti-people, corrupt and dynasty-controlled Congress party. We have succeeded in transforming India’s polity into an essentially bi-polar system by ending the Congress’ single-party domination. More and more sections of the Indian society have supported us, and an increasing number of political parties have allied with the BJP, in spite of the Congress-communist combine’s ceaseless demonisation of the BJP as a “communal party”. Clearly, the Congress-communist combine’s stratagem of isolating the BJP has resulted in their own growing isolation.

Any future possibility of the BJP and Congress working together in the nation’s interests hinges on the Congress party eschewing its attitude of “political untouchability” towards the BJP

Bjp's stand on the corruption of the telecom ministry, and other issues. A must read

1) BJP demands that allotment of BSNL’s Wi Max franchise should be suspended immediately and the Telecom minister be sacked immediately as the reports suggest a wholesale loot and corruption. It is reported that the five firms of the six short listed companies for this purpose are floated by Raja’s confident Sanjay Kapoor and are registered on single date with same notary, same auditor, same witnesses, same address and same email id.

If the current process of allotment goes ahead, it will mean giving 20 MHz spectrum without any investment and offering free use for these companies assets like BSNL’s 50,000 communication towers, 20,000 offices and two million km of fibre network, free of cost.

2. The UPA Govt is bent upon squeezing and looting the country till the last day in power. Rahul Gandhi’s press conference yesterday was declaration of war on its own allies. Congress has shown utter contempt for its present allies like TMC and DMK, NCP and its erstwhile partners like SP, RJD & LJP. It also reflected a sense of desperation when it chose to diminish its own CM of Andhra Sh. Y S Rajshekhar Reddy and its leaders in Orissa. This attempt to woo new allies will not only fall flat but actually result in loosing some of the present allies, because the Congress mindset and its ‘Coalition Adharma’ of ditching allies has been exposed.

It also reflected a typical dynastic trait which presents leader as holier than cow and in effect, they end up in practicing the reverse of what they preach. Indira Gandhi talked about feeling of nationalism to create IMDT, which was supposed to deport infiltrators but resulted in protecting them. Rajiv Gandhi sermonized about the concept of clean politics and ended up with scandal like Bofors. Now the crown prince wants to democratise Congress but will end up by tightening a dynastic hold.

BJP strongly objects to his comment that BJP has burned Christians in Orissa and killed Muslims in Gujarat, as it is not only baseless but is made deliberately to flare up the communal tension. Election commission must take notice of these communal and instigating remarks as it violates code of conduct.

3) BJP condemns UPA Govt’s decision to allow intrusive fact finding visits from America and permitting religious state body to sit in judgment on the extent of India’s religious freedom. USCIRF, a body created by US was never allowed to visit India since its inception. Earlier governments under P V Narsimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee never allowed such institutions and individuals to sit in judgment on India regarding human rights.

But this time around UPA Govt. overruled objections raised by various officers who were sighting USCIRF’s partial view and vitiated method of reporting. The permission is granted with a political motive to present an incorrect picture of India’s diversity.

BJP's stand on black money and the foul language used by the prime minister of india

The Congress party is clearly getting desperate by the day as it reads the clear writing on the wall that the people of India are not returning it to power. The language of its leaders including the usually cool Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is becoming more and more shrill and intemperate as the election campaign reaches its inevitable end. The Prime Minister has chosen to describe Shri Advaniji's call to bring black money stashed abroad by Indians as an 'election stunt'. He has also alleged that Shri Advani and the BJP were 'behaving irresponsibly' by raking up the black money issue. He has said that BJP's campaign would "alert" those who had stashed this money illegally abroad. And finally, he has accused the BJP of not understanding economics.

We plead guilty to the last charge. The BJP does not understand economics as well as Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi do. At the same time, we would like to assert that even with our limited understanding of economics, the BJP/NDA government managed the economy much better than Dr Singh with his vast understanding of the subject. Even the Economist of London which the Congress party's General Secretary Digvijay Singh quotes with such pride has said in the same article that the NDA government's performance on the economic front was creditable. We would also like to remind the Congress party that quoting foreign sources can be a double edged weapon. If they draw comfort from the Economist, what about Razeen Sally's article in the Financial Times of London in which the economic performance of the UPA government, and specially the role of Dr Manmohan Singh as a ''do-nothing, zero-reform" Prime Minister, has come in for severe criticism? Sally has said "Mr Singh has proved a hopeless decision-maker as prime minister……Mr Rao and A.B. Vajpayee proved their mettle despite heavy political constraints. Mr Singh has failed."

The BJP understands enough economics to realise that the entire global environment today is far more conducive to bringing the black money of Indian's back to India than it ever was earlier. Shri Advaniji has seen this opportunity and grasped this moment. Dr Manmohan Singh refuses to recognise this opportunity and use it for the country's benefit. Nothing exposes this government more on this issue than its own affidavit before the Supreme Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation which has failed to satisfy the Supreme Court.

What can be more ridiculous than the Prime Minister's fear that the BJP's campaign would alert the depositors of the black money and they could withdraw the money? According to its own claim the government has been at it seriously for some time now. Has not that alerted the black money depositors already?

Foul and abusive language cannot be a substitute for sound argument. Having lost the argument, the Congress party and the Prime Minister are resorting to a language which is eminently avoidable even in the heat of electoral battle.

BJP's Stand on Quottrocchi and The Killings of Sikhs in Pakistan by the Taliban

1.    Bharatiya Janata Party deplores the absurd logic of the PM Manmohan Singh that India would have been looked down by the world community if red corner notice against Quatrocchi was not removed. This is a futile attempt to defend the indefensible act of the CBI. This also proves that withdrawal of red corner notice against Quottrocchi is not a CBI decision but a political decision of the UPA government. Instead of proceeding with the investigations UPA government offered Quattrochi a parting gift.

BJP has one poser for the Prime Minister that he should explain why then world community will not look down India when it does not carry out the hanging of Parliament attacker Mohammad Afzal Guru, who is condemned by the Supreme Court?  UPA wants to save Afzal for vote bank politics and Quottrocchi for his connection with the first family of the Congress. Both these decisions have once again proved that "Congress Ka Hath Quottrocchi Aur Afzal Ke Saath".

2.    Bharatiya Janata Party expresses deep concern over the report of killings and fleeing of Hindus and Sikhs from Swath valley by Talibans. BJP demands that Government of India should take proactive steps to save people of Indian origin living in Pakistan. Government utterly failed to protect the people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and elsewhere. Efforts by the government so far have remained technical only and have not yielded any tangible results.

BJP's message on the black money of indians in swiss and other banks.

The Congress party is clearly getting desperate by the day as it reads the clear writing on the wall that the people of India are not returning it to power. The language of its leaders including the usually cool Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is becoming more and more shrill and intemperate as the election campaign reaches its inevitable end. The Prime Minister has chosen to describe Shri Advaniji's call to bring black money stashed abroad by Indians as an 'election stunt'. He has also alleged that Shri Advani and the BJP were 'behaving irresponsibly' by raking up the black money issue. He has said that BJP's campaign would "alert" those who had stashed this money illegally abroad. And finally, he has accused the BJP of not understanding economics.

We plead guilty to the last charge. The BJP does not understand economics as well as Dr Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi do. At the same time, we would like to assert that even with our limited understanding of economics, the BJP/NDA government managed the economy much better than Dr Singh with his vast understanding of the subject. Even the Economist of London which the Congress party's General Secretary Digvijay Singh quotes with such pride has said in the same article that the NDA government's performance on the economic front was creditable. We would also like to remind the Congress party that quoting foreign sources can be a double edged weapon. If they draw comfort from the Economist, what about Razeen Sally's article in the Financial Times of London in which the economic performance of the UPA government, and specially the role of Dr Manmohan Singh as a ''do-nothing, zero-reform" Prime Minister, has come in for severe criticism? Sally has said "Mr Singh has proved a hopeless decision-maker as prime minister……Mr Rao and A.B. Vajpayee proved their mettle despite heavy political constraints. Mr Singh has failed."

The BJP understands enough economics to realise that the entire global environment today is far more conducive to bringing the black money of Indian's back to India than it ever was earlier. Shri Advaniji has seen this opportunity and grasped this moment. Dr Manmohan Singh refuses to recognise this opportunity and use it for the country's benefit. Nothing exposes this government more on this issue than its own affidavit before the Supreme Court in response to a Public Interest Litigation which has failed to satisfy the Supreme Court.

What can be more ridiculous than the Prime Minister's fear that the BJP's campaign would alert the depositors of the black money and they could withdraw the money? According to its own claim the government has been at it seriously for some time now. Has not that alerted the black money depositors already?

Foul and abusive language cannot be a substitute for sound argument. Having lost the argument, the Congress party and the Prime Minister are resorting to a language which is eminently avoidable even in the heat of electoral battle.

Bofors scam: Quattrocchi off CBI's wanted list

The Interpol has removed the red corner notice issued against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was being sought in India 

for criminal charges for acting as a conduit for bribes in the Rs 64-crore Bofors scandal. ( Watch ) 

This comes just three weeks before the Congress-led UPA government's term ends. 

The Italian businessman no longer figures in the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) list of wanted persons and the 12-year Interpol red corner notice against the lone surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case has been withdrawn from the agency’s website after the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) appeal.

The CBI will formally inform the court of the same on April 30. "The case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009)," CBI spokesman Harsh Bahal said here today. 

The CBIs decision is based on the legal opinion sent by Attorney General Milon Banerjee to the government in which he describes the notice as "a continuing embarrassment." 

Banerjee writes: "The CBI is under an obligation to have the matters set right at the Interpol level as there is no basis on which the RCN can continue...I am of the firm opinion that immediate action should be taken to withdraw the Red Corner Notice". 

Quattrochi's counsel had already sought the removal of the notice in October 2008. 

Quattrocchi's role in Bofors scam, and his proximity to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi through his wife Sonia Gandhi, is thought to have contributed to the defeat of the Congress Party in the 1989 elections. 

Ten years later (1999), the CBI named Quattrocchi in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribe and on he basis of a 1997 non-bailable warrant, the agency sought a red corner notice against him The case against him was strengthened in June 2003, when Interpol revealed two bank accounts, 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L, held by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria with the BSI AG bank, London, containing Euros 3 million and $1 million, a "curiously large savings for a salaried executive". 

In January 2006, these frozen bank accounts were unexpectedly released by country's law ministry, apparently without the consent of the CBI which had asked for them to be frozen. 

Reacting to the development, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi called the Bofors case ‘a dead horse that the BJP has been flogging.” 

“BJP has been unnecessarily dragging Rajiv Gandhi’s name,” Singhvi said. 

BJP senior leader L K Advani trained his guns on CBI for dropping the businessman’s name and demanded a probe into the agency's role during the last five years. 

"This is a serious decision. It is not a question of Quattrocchi alone but the entire role of the agency during the last five years which should be probed. It is a very serious issue. They have become the "dastak" or "handtool" in the hands of politicians," Advani, while campaigning in his constituency, said. 

Will witty Narendra Modi have the last laugh?

If comedy kings Raju Srivastav, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Shekhar Suman are invading the political stage, Modi is intruding on their comic space. 

While a creative Modi has spun one-liners, hate has been missing from his stinging speeches. Instead, satire is his favourite weapon against his targets these days. His barbs at the Gandhi family and Congress are laced with wit, humour and repartee. If Congress has refrained from provoking or reacting to Modi, the CM has invented ways of hitting the headlines. 

Coming handy are his early lessons in theatre and his ability to connect with the audience. Academic records at his school in Vadnagar, and some teachers are alive to authenticate that, show that though an average student, Modi used to excel in theatre. 

Those who have seen Modi from close quarters say this election has unmasked a new aspect of the leader - his humour. Call it part of his image makeover excercise to wish away the taint of the 2002 riots, but he has clearly conceded the hate space to Varun Gandhi, if some detractors in the party wanted it this way. 

What Varun was saying in Pilibhit last month matched what Modi had spoken during the Gujarat Gaurav Yatra in Chanasma before the December 2002 Assembly elections, tapes of which were sent then to the Election Commission. Even then, Modi was careful with his words while he aroused hate. 

He could have endorsed Varun's venom. Instead, in a TV interview, he casually brushed the issue aside saying it was sub-judice. "There is a shade of A B Vajpayee in Modi this time. Vajpayee's speeches were full of wit, which endeared him to the voter,'' said a senior BJP leader, adding that there was a coarseness in Modi's humour which the common man would find more appealing. 

Riot of laughter 

* O Ba, O Ma 

When terrorists attacked Mumbai, Congress leaders rushed to the US. They should have gone to Pakistan. In the US, they pleaded O Ba, O Ma... please save us 

* Budhiya 

Terminology to describe Congress as a 125-year-old party. This sent Modi's TRPs soaring 

* Gudiya 

Priyanka Gandhi, who reacted to Modi. Since then, the Gandhis are silent 

* SRP is after me 

S for Sonia, R for Rahul and P for Priyanka. In this age of SMS, abbreviations are an in thing, he says 

* Not MAR but RAM 

Before Congress could say MAR (Modi, Advani and Rajnath), Modi put it in their mouth. He said they should respect seniority. "They should have called us RAM (Rajnath, Advani and Modi). But something stops them from saying RAM 

* Kapadwala, Dabbawala, Gas Batlawala 

Congress troika of Shankersinh Vaghela (textiles minister), Naran Rathwa (railway minister) and Dinsha Patel (petroleum minister) 

* Middlemen Congressmen 

Congress manifesto promised wheat at Rs 3 a kg to the poor, Modi joked that Gujarat government was selling wheat at Rs 2 a kg. The Congress would buy wheat from Gujarat at Rs 2 per kg and sell it for Rs 3 per kg. 

*Soniaben's homework 

She mixes up the script. The other day, she spoke in Jetpur about Sujalam Sufalam. This speech was to be read out at Kheralu which has a Sujalam Sufalam project. 

$27bn flows out illegally every year from India

Just when a partisan debate rages over the issue of billions of black money hoarded abroad by India's corrupt, a US-based organisation 

— Global Financial Integrity (GFI) — has ranked the country fifth in the list of 160 developing countries suffering from the outflow of huge amounts of money through illicit channels. 

Quoting its report -- 'Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries: 2002-06' — which came out in December last year, GFI said total illicit financial outflows from India during the period averaged from a low of $22.7 billion to a high of $27.3 billion per year. 

The report comes bang in the middle of a confrontation between Congress and BJP over the latter's promise to bring the illegal billions back. 

Congress has accused the BJP of exaggerating the issue by distorting facts for partisan ends. It, along with the Left, has also accused BJP of not taking measures to tackle the problem during NDA's tenure at the Centre. The BJP has returned the fire with full force, accusing Congress of ignoring the issue. 

GFI director Raymond Baker said it was not just India's problem. "In 2006, total outflows from developing countries outpaced incoming official development assistance (ODA) by a ratio of 10 to 1. This means that for every $1 in ODA a developing country received, $10 was lost due to illicit financial outflows," he said. 

China topped the list of countries for illicit outflows with $233bn-$289bn, followed by Saudi Arabia ($54bn-$55bn), Mexico ($41bn-$46bn) and Russia ($32bn-$38bn). 

The issue of money taken illegally abroad and stashed in tax havens has recently acquired prominence because of the feeling, encouraged by the global slowdown, that days of secret banking are over. The consensus was reflected in the recent meeting of G-20, and has been strengthened by the promises of Swiss authorities to cooperate with demands, provided they are backed up by specific details, for investigation into accounts in banks within their jurisdiction. 

In India, Supreme Court has taken up the matter following a PIL by a group of well-known citizens. 

The Centre has promised to get back to the court this week with details of what it has done to deal with the issue, particularly with regard to details of 1,400 accounts with a bank in Liechtenstein which has been made available by German authorities. 

The GFI report estimated that total illicit capital flight from developing countries was as high as $1 trillion per year during 2002-06. The illegal outflows involve activities such as corruption (bribery and embezzlement of national wealth) and proceeds of licit business that becomes illicit when transported across borders in violation of laws and regulatory frameworks. 

Baker said, "This massive loss of assets is the greatest impediment to economic development and poverty alleviation and should be of concern to all nations." 

The GFI report is based on examination of trade and external debt data from 2002-06 maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. 

Funny Campaign Advertisements

The defensive posture of the Congress is really amusing. It is trying to convince people with statements that even Congressmen cannot convince themselves with. The latest of these is 'Congress does not have a problem if Afzal is hanged'. Here we don't even have to ask why he hasn't been hanged till now. It is all so obvious. Then there is the Swiss bank accounts issue.

All I have seen this elections is that Congress has initially denied everything that BJP accused it of. But then it surrenders with lots of ifs and buts added. It has made a joke of itself. Our 'strong' PM acknowledges that there are links between terrorists across the border and Indian terrorists belonging to a particular community (read Muslims). So he devises a solution : community policing is the best thing to do. Ok, we accept this partly....but can the PM please tell us what if community policing fails or it does not happen? What is the role of the state?

The economy was fine and now the PM will revive it in 100 days if voted to power. What has he been doing all these months? He had much more than 100 days available to him.

Grow up Congress men....people of this country have much sharper intellect than you think they do. You are insulting them if you think otherwise. I get to watch some campaign advertisements of the Congress on TV and really...they are better than the best comedy shows on air. Some of them are:

1. Prices are falling - vote for Congress

2. Na main Hindu hoon, na Musalman, na Sikh, na Isai - main ek Bhartiya hun - Vote for Congress. This one definitely needs a big correction. It can be tweaked like this: main ek Bhartiya tha...par mujhe Musalman, Isai banaya Congress ne..to kya main Congress ko vote karoon?

3. Another ad is on the lines of the above ad. Here I would say - Party jo mile hue rangon ko alag kare ek hi hai - Congress . So don't vote for Congress.

4. This one is the funniest: Join/support Congress in fighting terrorism.

TOI-My God, I am so sick of this newspaper. Only voices that support the Congress or its allies and are against the BJP are covered by its reporters. As if the opinion of others doesn't matter. One thing I would definitely like to say to TOI - YOU ARE UNFIT TO RUN THE LEAD INDIA CONTEST. You are the least bothered about this country and its welfare. So stop this gimmick.

Another characteristic of Congressmen including Kapil Sabil I have noticed is that they don't have the basic etiquettes of debating. They never let the other person finish what he has to say. I know this is a sharp tool for fooling some people....but others can make out. So before you go out to debate..go back to school and learn the rules. You only spoil your already spoilt image.

BJP’s Charter of Rights for the farmers and Its Priorities for Farmers

1. Loans of all farmers to be waived off under the principle of equality.

2. Agricultural loans to be provided at the rate of four per cent Interest.

3. Provision of subsidy directly to farmers

4. Adequate Power, Water & Work

5. Farm income guarantee insurance scheme for small farmers

6. Pension for old age farmers

7. Minimum Support Price for all crops after adding 50% over production cost

8. Implementation of the recommendations of the Agricultural Commission.

9. Strengthening rural infrastructure by providing electricity to each village and connecting it with all weather road.

10. Strengthening agriculture across India and improving farmers’ economic livelihoods through remunerative prices, right decisions on crop management, the best agricultural technology, adequate water supplies, clear property rights, the necessary rural infrastructure that will allow them to operate as efficiently as possible and a comprehensive income insurance scheme.

11. Implementation of the Ladli Lakshmi Scheme for girls to enable them to complete their education and become a lakh pati at age of 21. This scheme is implemented in M.P by our C.M Sri Shivraj Singh Chauhan

Summary of BJP’s IT Vision Document –Benefitting Rural India

 

 

Following steps would be taken by the BJP led NDA government at centre  :

 

 

1.        Will generate 1.20 Crore new IT-enabled jobs in rural areas. This will be achieved by way of at least 20 jobs in each of the aprox 600000 villages in the country. A series of initiatives have been devised to make this a realty.

2.        Raise farm productivity, bring cost of cultivation down and increase Kisans’ income using IT for water conservation, soil enrichment, procurement, marketing, credit needs of Kisans, waste elimination and taking R&D from ‘lab to land’.

3.        Internet in every town and village – with unlimited upload and download data transfer limits

4.        Every BPL (Below Poverty Line) family to be given free smart mobile phone – Free of cost.

5.        100% financial inclusion through Bank accounts, with eBanking facilities for all Indian Citizens. Direct transfer of welfare funds.

6.        Providing highest standard Medical Services under eHealthcare initiative – using video conferencing facilities, without the need to travel to Big cities for medical treatment. This is known asTelemedicine. The BJP led government will use IT to provide best medical services to Rural India.

7.        Land and property records to be computerized to reduce the number of disputes / litigation due to non-clarity of land records in rural areas.

8.        Panchayats will be able to communicate between themselves,free of cost!

9.       Purchase of Railway and Bus tickets from the Internet in their own villages!

10.     All courts to be computerized for faster decision on cases and clearing of back log..

11.     All Citizen to have free call facility to call their areas M.P.. This will be a 24 Hours facility. This will be helpful in their discussing the problems with their elected representative.

12.     Under eGovernance for Good Governance – Making available government services online and in local languages in every village & town.

13.     Implementing ‘E Gram Vishwa Gram’ : Gujrat’s pioneering project that BJP ledges to implement nationwide – This project aims at providing broadband connectivity to all gram panchayats. Video conferencing facilities at all the villages. Gram Panchayat to issue citizen related documents and certificates, application forms including 7 / 12 certificates to farmers from Panchayats.

14.     The use of IT will help in better communication from Rural areas to City Government, State Government and even the centre government. This will reduce corruption ,since all transactions between government and citizens will be computerized.

15.     Under eDevelopment for all – To provide Information required by Farmers (About markets, inputs, farm operations, government schemes etc) to be provided through digital platforms – at Panchayat level only.

16.     National skill development mission to increase the number ofskilled workers from 8% currently to 20% in five years of BJP led NDA rule. Climate change also to be addressed with green technologies.

17.     A great initiative planned by BJP led NDA government – eBhasha – National Mission for promotion of IT in Indian Languages– All softwares sold in India would have to be compatible with all 22official languages. This will go a long way in e-enabling our rural India and ensure deeper penetration of IT / Internet which will help in much faster development of the Rural India

 

The BJP & NDA seek the support of India & Bharat in the coming elections. We assure you a future NDA Government will implement this IT vision with the speed, vigour, ambition and determination to uplift the rural economy for asustainable growth of Bharat.

Manifesto of BJP for Progress of India, Plz Read & Forward

Following are the Key Points of BJP's Manifesto for the ongoing General Elections to make India a Prosperous, Developed & a Stronger Nation.

PUTTING POOR FIRST:

1. All BPL families to get 35kg of rice or wheat every month at Rs 2 per kg.

2. Ensure farm loans at a maximum interest rate of 4 percent.

3. Initiate special schemes for the urban poor, such as loans at 4 percent interest to poor vendors.

ECONOMY GROWS, INDIA PROSPERS:

1. Generate employment through massive public spending on infrastructure projects. Complete the implementation of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream projects: National Highway Development Project by building 15-20 km of new highways every day; and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, to link all villages with over 500 people by all-weather road.

2. Exempt personal Income Tax for those earning up to Rs 3 lakh per annum. For women and Senior Citizens, the exemption will be Rs 3.5 lakh per annum. This will benefit over 3.5 crorepeople.

3. Take firm steps to identify and retrieve Indian money stashed away in foreign banks. Estimated at Rs. 25 lakh crore- getting this amount back through international cooperation will be enough to complete road and power connectivity throughout the country; ensure setting up of quality schools in all villages. 

WAR AGAINST ENEMIES WITHIN AND WITHOUT:

1.BJP commits to introduce improved POTA type law to counter Terrorism & Insurgency. India’s 4000-km long coastline will be fully protected by enhanced naval security.

2. We will systematically detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants who have emerged as a major source of homegrown terror. Fencing of the India-Bangladesh border, deliberately neglected by the UPA in pursuit of vote bank politics, will be speedily completed.

3. Introduce a comprehensive Multi Purpose National Identity Card for all citizens of India.

 JAI JAWAN IN ACTION:

1. All members of the armed forces and the para-military shall be exempted from payment of Income Tax. This will benefit nearly 20 lakh Jawans who guard our Nation.

2. Implement one-rank-one-pension.

ENERGY SAVED, ENERGY GAINED:

1. Generate an additional 120,000 MW of electricity in 5 years through speedy conclusion of ongoing projects while sanctioning new power plants. 20% of this will be through harnessing non-conventional energy sources.

WOMEN EMPOWERED, NATION STRENGTHENED:

1. Introduce the Madhya Pradesh BJP Government’s highly successful ‘Ladli Lakshmi’ Scheme throughout India to directly transfer funds to the school going girl child to encourage education and secure economic self-sufficiency for young women. Rs. 1.18 lakh after completion of 12th standard.

2. Pave the way for nationwide implementation of the Bhamashah Scheme proposed by the erstwhile BJP Government in Rajasthan to directly pay Rs 1,500 to open a bank account for every adult woman.

3. Provide bicycles to every school going girl child from BPL families throughout India.

4. Salaries of 28 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers, who are the backbone of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) will be doubled.

5. BJP believes all sections of Indian women cannot be fully empowered without the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code d emphasized repeatedly by the Supreme Court..

YOUNG INDIA, NATION’S PILLAR:

1. A network of National Knowledge Incubation Centres will be set up throughout the country to identify and groom young talent for every sector of the economy.

2. Study loans will be made cheaper and more accessible by fixing student loan interest at 4%.

3. BJP will create 12 million IT-enabled jobs in rural areas. Computer prices will be drastically cut to make it affordable to every section. All educational institutions will have internet facilities within 5 years. Broadband connectivity to every village.

4. Launch an aggressive project to groom young sporting talent by allocating Rs 5,000 crore for creation of sports infrastructure especially in educational institutions Appoint trained coaches; secure employment for international medal winners. Sport will be a compulsory subject in school curricula.

NATION’S WEALTH, PEOPLE’S HEALTH:

1.BJP is committed to making the right to clean water a fundamental right. A massive programme will be launched to provide clean, drinking water to every citizen.

2. A regulatory authority to be set up for private hospitals and nursing homes to monitor unfair practices.

3. A comprehensive project to bring health-for-all by 2014.

4. Introduce a mandatory ‘Dial 108 for ambulance at your doorstep’ scheme throughout the country.

5. Revive the creation of new AIIMS, originally initiated by the NDA Government but neglected by UPA. All six state-of-the-art hospitals will be rapidly constructed over the next 5 years.

6. Janani Suraksha Yojana to care for delivering mothers and infants will be strengthened.

SENIOR CITIZENS:

1. Recognising the importance of Senior Citizens in nation-building and inculcating civilisational values, BJP commits itself to reducing the age for receiving travel benefits from 65 to 60 years. 

2. Complete tax exemption to senior citizens in respect of pension income.

CREATING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT:

1. Combating climate change and global warming through non-polluting technologies will be prioritized.

2. Importance given to programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan glaciers from which most major rivers in North India originate.

3. Take all appropriate steps to save Tiger, the National Animal, and safeguard critical habitants of all wildlife. Emphasis to be laid on protecting India’s resplendent but endangered bio-diversity.

DEFENDING THE CIVILISATION:

1. The BJP remains committed to the construction of a grand Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.

2. BJP will not allow anybody to touch the revered Ram Setu. We will evolve a new route for Sethu Samudram bypassing Ram Setu.

3. Cleaning the revered Ganga and other major rivers will be a priority. Local communities will be enrolled in this gigantic task.

4. Cow protection is an article of faith with BJP. This will be pursued relentlessly.

5. Full integration of the nation is not possible as long as Article 370 stays on the statute books. BJP remains steadfast in its belief that the provision must be removed to ensure Indian unity.

Cong not doing enough, deflecting black money issue, says Arun Shourie

Accusing the Congress of trying to deflect the issue of bringing back illegal money stashed in Swiss banks, the BJP on Sunday gave a point-by-point rebuttal to the Congress’ charges against the party on the issue and blamed it for not doing enough despite the emergence of a national consensus on the matter.

Responding to Congress’ charge that BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani was taking up the issue on the eve of elections to gain electoral benefit, the BJP said the former Deputy Prime Minister raised the issue in April last year by writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Addressing a media conference here on Sunday, BJP MP and former Union Minister Arun Shourie said, “The reply that the then Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) sent to him (Advani) showed that the Government intended to do little except keep going through the pretence of taking some steps.” 

Shourie further charged the Congress with not doing enough to bring back illegal money from the tax havens and said, “We were alarmed to learn that a senior official of the Finance Ministry had written to the then Indian Ambassador in Germany to not press the Germans for release of the names of Indians in the list that they had obtained from Liechtenstein….lest the Germans take offence and conclude that they were being pressurised and their bona fides were being questioned.”

Adding on to the question of why raising the issue now, he said that a “unique” opportunity had arisen only now, after Western economies found themselves in a severe economic crisis. 

The crisis has forced countries like Germany, France, USA and the UK to take the leadership role in G-20 and pledge to get their stolen wealth back from tax havens. 

“The BJP believes that this is the right time for India to join the global effort to get its own stolen wealth back.”

On the Congress' claim that G-20 meeting was not the proper forum for taking up the issue of illegal money in tax havens, the BJP leader said, if that was not the right forum how come the communiqué issued by the G-20 leaders on April 2 this year pledged "to take action against non-cooperative jurisdictions, including tax havens. 

We stand ready to deploy sanctions to protect our public finances and financial systems. The era of banking secrecy is over."

"Can the Government which allowed Ottavio Quattrochhi, the Italian power broker who is the main accused in the Bofors scam, to take his money out of banks after it had been frozen be trusted to bring back the loot that is lying in Swiss banks and other tax havens? Can the Government which prostituted the CBI so that he (Quattrochhi) may get away from Argentina be trusted to bring the loot back?'' he said in response to the Congress' latest "cover up" of the issue by disputing the figures of deposits in the Swiss banks and other tax havens. 

Accusing the Congress of replacing the harsh provisions of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act through Foreign Exchange Management Act, the BJP said that FEMA as approved in July 1998 was on the lines of a draft prepared under the leadership of preceding Finance Minister P Chidambaram. 

Shourie also quoted an article contributed by Chidambaram in a national daily on August 25, 2002 to further prove the charge against Congress. 

"FERA also became a tool of oppression. Successive Governments persisted with FERA and added COFEPOSA and SAFEMA. International markets do not respect draconian laws that run counter to common sense. India's reserves, far from being augmented, dwindled at an alarming rate….Mercifully, FERA was buried finally on May 31, 2000," Chidambaram had said in the August 2002 article. 

On the Congress' claim that Advani was alerting those with illegal money abroad to take it away from Switzerland to other tax havens, Shourie asked, "Would the looters who've stashed away money in tax havens from India still need to be alerted after Germany got the names from Liechtenstein as long ago as last year?''

He further sought an answer from the Congress saying, "Would they still need to be alerted after Germany offered to furnish the names to Governments that asked for the names? 

NDA's future strategy on getting black money from swiss..

On 29 March 2009, I had addressed a press conference in New Delhi and raised the important issue of vast amounts of Indian wealth stashed away in secret Swiss bank accounts and other tax havens around the world. The press conference was held against the backdrop of the G-20 Summit in London on 2 April, where the issue of illicit funds parked in tax havens was scheduled to be discussed. The country expected Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, who represented India at the G-20 Summit, to put across India’s concerns and expectation forcefully at this global forum. Disappointingly, he only paid lip service to the issue. In contrast, it was the OECD (Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development) group of rich nations that were most vociferous in demanding an end to banking secrecy in countries like Switzerland.

At my New Delhi press conference, I had stated that a future BJP-led government at the Centre, if elected, would bring India’s sovereign wealth back from foreign shores and use it for various ambitious developmental projects. I had also announced the formation of a Task Force to recommend specific steps that a future government may take to translate our promise into reality.

I am pleased to announce that the Task Force has submitted its recommendations in the enclosed interim report. I sincerely thank members of the Task Force — Shri S. Gurumurthy (Chartered Accountant and investigative writer, Chennai); Shri Ajit Doval (Security expert, New Delhi); Dr. R. Vaidyanathan (Professor of Finance, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore); and Shri Mahesh Jethmalani (Senior lawyer, Mumbai) — for the outstanding work they have done.

The interim report of the Task Force is useful for four important reasons. Firstly, it has placed the problem of India’s wealth hoarded in secret bank accounts abroad in the context of a larger global menace, which western nations have now resolved to fight due to their own internal compulsions. Hence, it has rightly pointed out that India should become an active player in the global crusade against banking secrecy and tax havens.

Secondly, the Task Force has correctly asserted that the “fact of the loot” cannot be questioned although there may be debate on the “maths of the loot”. Based on studies conducted abroad, the Task Force has mentioned that the Indian wealth in Swiss bank accounts and other tax haven may be in the range of $500 billions [Rs 25 lakh crores] and $1.4 trillions [Rs 70 lakh crores]. The credibility of these estimates is reinforced by the figure of $11.5 trillions (Rs. 575 lakh crore) officially given by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), a group of rich countries, at the G-20 Summit in London early this month as the amount of global wealth parked in various tax havens.

Thirdly, the Task Force has highlighted the casual approach of the Congress-led UPA government in taking up this important issue at appropriate international fora. Spokesmen of the Congress party have even mocked at the BJP’s effort in this regard. My appeal to voters is simple: Punish the Congress that has no political will to fight corruption and crime money. The word “corruption” does not even figure in the Congress party’s manifesto!

Fourthly, the Task Force has recommended specific measures as part of the Global and National Strategies to bring back Indian money from tax havens abroad.

The important recommendations made by the Task Force are:

Global Strategy

Step I: Creating a powerful public opinion in India is a pre-requisite for global response to India's requirements in regard to unveiling banking secrecy. The world respects powerful domestic opinion on global issues. India must first realize that this is the ideal time to act and join the global crusade against secret banks and tax havens. In the absence of a broad national consensus on the issue, only a determined leader with a committed team can create the strong national will needed for undertaking this serious agenda overcoming all attempts to impede the effort. Those who do not support the move should be seen as supporters of black economy.

Step II: India should stop being a silent spectator to the G-20 efforts against secret banking and tax havens. It must become an active player and forthwith change the perception that it is not against secret banking and tax havens.

Step III: India must immediately and effectively urge the German government to provide the details of the Indian names from the LGT bank’s secret records. The BJP, if voted to power, must send a special emissary to Germany, which is willing to give the details of Indian names in the LGT bank’s secret records.

Step IV: India must strive for a coordinated global and multilateral effort, which is the only solution to undo the regime of banking secrecy.

Step V: India has special needs beyond what the West is seeking to break banking secrecy. India should work with the West to get the OECD rules on internationally agreed tax standards. That global coercive action is working is seen from that fact that the G-20 threat to blacklist Switzerland and other tax havens is already beginning to yield results.

Step VI: We recommend that India appoint a special ambassador with adequate knowledge of tax havens and secret banking issues to work with the G-20 specifically for framing India-friendly rules.

National Strategy

Collection of travel information about persons visiting Switzerland and other tax havens. This should start with cabinet ministers and other high-profile political personalities.

Monitoring tax havens that have high transaction frequency with India.

India to become a full-fledged member of the Financial Action Task Force.

Use of financial intelligence sharing for security purposes. Illegal money is a potential source of undermining national security. Therefore, we recommend that Indian intelligence agencies should be specifically tasked to collect intelligence on this count.

Legislative support: Just as the Obama Administration is planning specific anti-tax haven laws, India should also target tax havens and secret destinations like Switzerland operating in India.  

We recommend that stricter laws should place the onus of proving their innocence on the accused if a prima facie case is made out.

High Level Task Force: We recommend that the Government of India should constitute a high level Task Force with representatives from Finance Ministry, National Intelligence Agencies, Ministry of Law, RBI, SEBI, Economic Intelligence Units, Central Vigilance Commission, CBI and other experts to collect and process the information and start legal action wherever feasible. As large-scale kickbacks are reported from purchases made by some of the Ministries like Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Civil Aviation etc., their representatives could also be co-opted wherever necessary.

The history of the illicit wealth holders should be brought out: We recommend that when India is able to unveil the banking secrecy through information sharing arrangement, it should get the names and amounts not just as of today but for the entire economic history of the account-holders.

UPA A Sinking Ship ,Pranab Mukherjee also sulking and Munna Bhai, from Gandhigiri to Stinggiri,

UPA A Sinking Ship

In the last fortnight evidence with alarming regularity is appearing that all the allies of the Congress are leaving the UPA one after the other because the UPA and the Congress is a sinking ship. After Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), Laloo Prasad (RJD), Ram Vilas Paswan (LJP) and Dr. A. Ramdoss (PMK) it is now the turn of Sharad Pawar (NCP) to desert the Congress and the badly fragmented UPA. The NCP has already declared that Dr. Manmohan Singh is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the Congress only and not of the UPA and now, to rub salt in spite of being supposedly a key constituent of the UPA; Mr. Pawar is going to attend a third front rally with CPM and BJD in Orissa. It is evident that all the UPA allies so called are fighting among themselves and they realise to their dismay that keeping company with Congress would spell disaster. They or, the uncertain third front cannot be expected to give any stable government for the country. This is possible only by a resurgent NDA under the time tested unquestioned leadership of Shri L. K. Advani.

Pranab Mukherjee also sulking

Not only are the allies deserting the Congress but even the permanent no. 2 and trouble shooter of Congress Pranab Babu is also sulking. He has publicly commented that he is not able to get top post of the Prime Minister because among other things Dr. Manmohan Singh is a “Superior Intellectual Person” who enjoys the backing of Smt. Sonia Gandhi. This is a very loaded comment from a senior political leader of Congress, who has handled all the crucial departments with a Ministerial record of nearly forty years. Obviously, there is a great sense of unease even among Congress leaders about the patent lack of leadership qualities of Dr. Singh, “the supposed leader” of more than one billion Indian people. The comment of Shri Mukherjee only reinforces, what the BJP has been saying that Dr. Singh is in office but not in authority.

Munna Bhai, from Gandhigiri to Stinggiri

There is a famous saying “that one is known by the company one keeps”. It is truly surprising that in his new company in a very short time; Sanjay Dutt (Munna Bhai) popularised on the screen for “Gandhigiri”, has mastered the art of “Stinggiri” and that too on the Union Law Minister Mr. Hansraj Bhardwaj. In spite of the allegation and counter allegation it is a very sad commentary on the way governance is being done wherein unfortunately, even the name of the Supreme Court is sought to be brought into controversy. The BJP strongly condemns it and wants the nation to know that this sordid play is being done by players supposedly committed in the fight for secularism. The abuse of CBI in the whole matter of disproportionate asset of Mulayam Singh Yadav only confirms the extent of manipulations being done to keep Manmohan Singh Government in power. You support the Congress the CBI will bail you out; you oppose; the CBI will prosecute. The serious nature of the offence is of no consequence. How, the office of even the Law officers have been abused is also coming into disturbing focus. The people of the country would certainly respond to all this in the coming elections and vote out this conflicting combination of opportunism and bring back NDA into power.

Gujarat Fake Encounter Case - Lopsided Morality exposes Political Bias

According to an affidavit filed by DIG CID Rajnish Rai in the Supreme Court, more arrests are soon likely in the fake encounter case in Gujarat. In a startling confession, Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that Kausar Bi, wife of fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin Sheikh was killed by being burnt to death. In a new twist to row over the killing of Soharabuddin Sheikh in a fake encounter, a senior police officer today said the Gujarat police had tried to cover it up in 2006 by not taking cognizance of recommendation for a CID probe into it after the victim’s brother filed a case. Three IPS officers, including one from Rajasthan, were arrested on April 23 after a CID (crime) probe revealed that Sohrabuddin was killed in a fake encounter by a team of Gujarat and Rajasthan Police. The three officers - D G Vanjhara (DIG border range), Rajkumar Pandiyan (SP intelligence bureau) and Dineshkumar M N (SP Alwar, Rajasthan) are in the custody of CID. The media has been casting aspersions on Minister of State for Home Amit Shah, known to be close to one of the arrested officers D G Vanjhara for being linked to the cover up.

Offstumped examines the reportage on this issue in the mainstream media to expose the lopsided morality and political bias underlying it.

First to gain a perspective on the issue of fake encounters and custodial deaths, Offstumped turned to the National Human Rights Commission, that tax payer funded conscience keeper for the nation.

The NHRC for all its activism in keeping the citizens (its sponsors) informed about how its managing their collective conscience has been rather slack in releasing its annual reports. The last report available online is for 2004-2005, nevertheless it makes for interesting reading. The report amongst other things covers custodial deaths and encounters.

As regards the deaths which occurred in the police custody in the course of the year 2004-2005, the report indicated that there was a noticeable decline in such cases vis-à-vis the previous year in the States of Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan,Tamilnadu and West Bengal. There was, however, an increase in the deaths in police custody n the States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Delhi, Jharkhand and Uttranchal.

Well thats something the mainstream media will not bother to tell you. Now the present media outrage is all about encounters so let us look at what the NHRC has to say about encounters.

122 intimations were received from the various State Governments about killings in encounters during the year 2004-2005. These included 66 such intimations from the State of Uttar Pradesh, 18 intimations from Andhra Pradesh, 9 from Delhi and 5 each from Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Separately, the Commission also received 84 complaints about alleged killings in fake encounters.

Here is another interesting statistic from NHRC on fake encounter cases disposed during 2004-2005. Gujarat had just 1 fake encounter case while congress ruled AP had 5, SP ruled UP had 54, congress ruled Haryana had 4. While Gujarat only 5 encounter cases pending, Congress ruled AP had 21, Congress ruled Maharashtra had 29, SP ruled UP had 175, the National Capital Delhi had 18 despite Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh at the helm and Congress ruled Uttaranchal had 14.

So when one sees the head over heels moral outrage in the mainstream media over the Gujarat Fake encounter case, one is left bewildered over why the media has its conscience pouring all over its newsprint over a hardened criminal when far many more cases in other states presumably many involving innocent law abiding citizens are pending.

Looking at all this outrage one is forced to ask the question - what moral underpinnings does this outrage stem from ? Is it about what ails Criminal Justice ? Is it about why our law enforcement has lost faith in the Judicial System that it tends to find violent and murderous solutions outside the ambit of law ? Is it about why there are such a large number of encounters and fake encounters in some specific states ? Or is it about how Criminal Justice and Law enforcement are so easily prone to political pressures that they tend to be misused for political purposes ?

If the outrage over Sohrabuddin’s fake encounter death was secular and moral it would be asking all of the above questions. It would have focused the debate on the widespread secular nature of this malaise that afflcits our law enforcement and criminal justice system. But then thats not what the public debate on Soharbuddin has been about. It has instead been about how a Muslim man and his wife were wronged by the Police in BJP’s Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat. Nothing exemplifies the media’s hollow morality and political bias than this comment by congress hack Pankaj Vohra in the Hindustan Times

Sheikh’s death is another case of the Modi government’s high-handedness. Thankfully, the country has a good judicial system and it will never allow fascist designs to succeed. Recent incidents and especially those concerning Gujarat have shown beyond doubt that the BJP is losing its moral fibre slowly and surely

Mr. Vohra conveninently ingnores that YSR’s Andhra and Vilasrao Deshmukh’s Maharashtra are far ahead by leaps and bounds on the NHRC’s scale of high handedness and fascism. So what then of the Congress’ moral fibre or is that it never had one to begin with !

Sohrabuddin was a hardened criminal and the fact remains that he got more justice in his death than he probably ever dealt to his many victims in life. By framing the public debate on his religion the media stands guilty of communalization doing little to either Human Rights or to Secularism.

India Elections 2009 - EC out of bounds on Varun Gandhi

The Election Commission last night issued an advisory to the BJP not to nominate Varun Gandhi as its candidate for Pilibhit while holding him guilty on charges of making hateful and communal remarks in his speeches.

At the outset let it be clear that Offstumped is holding no brief for Varun Gandhi and comments attributed to him from multiple speeches are despicable and un-Hindu.

However it must also be said that:

#1 Varun Gandhi has the freedom to practice his his bigotry howsoever disagreeable it may be to our sensibilities, as long as he has not broken a law of the land

#2 If Varun Gandhi’s bigotry is in violation of the Law, exemplary punishment is in order so a message goes out to every bigoted Politician that they cannot court controversy to make headlines and conduct whisper campaigns.

#3 If Varun Gandhi’s bigotry is not in violation of the Law, then the matter must be judged in the Court of Public Opinion.

The Election Commission is neither a court of law nor does it represent the court of public opinion.

There in lies the problem with the Election Commission’s “holding Varun Gandhi” guilty and issuing an advisory especially in a scenario where the electoral process has not even been notified and the Election Commission has no role to play.

The matter of whether Varun Gandhi’s bigotry is acceptable or not and whether he should be the BJP’s candidate or not should have been left to the BJP and the court of public opinion by the Election Commission till until a legal case was made.

Former Election Commissioner GVG Krishnamurthy explains why

The Election Commission has no jurisdiction to take action against Gandhi” for his alleged inflammatory speeches

The model code of conduct comes into effect only after President Pratibha Patil notifies the elections in the official gazette. Till then Gandhi cannot be considered an Election Commission recognized candidate

the commission has acted in haste in moving against Gandhi for violation of the model code of conduct under the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951.

Only the police can move against him under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for inciting communal passions

As of now Varun is only a probable candidate and an ordinary citizen against whom action can be taken only under the IPC if he makes inflammatory statements.

The Election Commission has no role to play till the notification of elections by the president

In fact to allow a bunch of unelected Bureaucrats who enjoy their office at the pleasure of the Political Party in Government to sit in judgement even over probable candidates is highly debatable and there ought to be a rethink on the Model Code of Conduct.

While Offstumped has serious reservations on Varun Gandhi’s candidacy, finds his bigotry unacceptable and the BJP’s indulgence of him unfathomable, the Election Commission in this case stands guilty of the same sensationalism it accuses Varun Gandhi of, for he is yet to be convicted in a Court of Law.