WHY AM I TELLING THESE THINGS

Some 50 years ago, when I was a college student, my father urged upon me to learn sitar playing and study the Bhagvat Puran. Accordingly, for some limitations, instead of sitar, I picked up basic knowledge of tabla - playing in Teen Taal and was accompanying him while singing bhajans. However, his second wish could not be fulfilled till he breathed his last at the age of 90 plus in 2010. I started studying the Atharva Ved, Mrichchhkatikam and Valmikiya Ramayan which completed in 2011. In 2012, when I went to the Gaya Kshetra to offer PIND to my forefathers, I silently admitted my failure to the soul of my father and assured to accomplish it. In last one year, as per my promise, I started reading the great epic viz Bhagvat and feel overjoyed after going through it word-by-word of over a thousand pages. Personally I feel to have completed the real ‘shraddha’ of my father and ‘pind-dan’ to  my ancestors.

While finishing the book, a doubt arose in my mind about ‘Niti’ and ‘Truth’. Since I am talking about this magnum opus of Vyasji, it would be in the fitness of things if I quote any golden page from there throwing adequate light on my confusion. It is about the time when Lord Vishnu went to the demon king Bali in the disguise of a dwarf (Vaman) Brahmin to ask for the charity of three steps of land. The king laughed over this meager demand and requested the Vaman to make it bigger. The Vaman stuck to his stand under the plea that a Brahman should not be greedy and ask for only that much which met his immediate needs. The king agreed and was in the process of making the donation, when his preceptor, Shukracharya tried to stop him. The Guru could realize the trick of the Lord and so he warned Bali to be cautious to avoid a charity which could cause his ruination.

The king said that once commited, he would not retrace his steps. Shukra ( in the 43^rd shloka of 19^th chapter of viii Skandh) pointed out some ‘nitis’. He said that nothing is condemnable if done in self-defence, protection of cows and Brahmanas, evasion of any imminent violence etc. Bali refused to budge and with all the humility and respect at his command for the Guru, he declared that for him the greatest sin was falsehood. No wealth or other achievement was worth if acquired by falsehood. Shukra became extremely angry over the disobedience and cursed the king that he would lose his royalty.The queen brought a pitcher of Ganga water and the king formally made the donation and as known, met his end.

Niti and satya are two great qualities. While niti has some tinges of diplomacy which stops men to resort to it to tide over odds, the truth is merciless and requires sacrifice if one is ready to abide by it. The Bhagvat, thus has taught me that truth is sacrosanct and requires no substitute, no euphemism.

Thanks to my father once again. But I still fail to understand, what compelled me to share such a purely personal and sentimental facet of life with my blog-page viewers and FB friends?         

IRON MAN AND IRON LADY

                                               

Oct 31 is a  doubly important day for the birth of one politician and the death of another. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was born on this day while Smt Indira Gandhi was assassinated on this day of 1984. While the Sardar became famous as the Iron Man, she also is known as the Iron Lady. Both of them earned this laudable epithet for their bold decisions.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Oct 31,1875 – Dec 5, 1950), a kisan and lawyer by profession, joined the freedom  movement under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership. In the shadow of Gandhi, though known for his commitments, he did not shine as he rose to eminence in free India. He was junior to Gandhi by six years and senior to Pt Nehru by 14 years. So he often worked as a balancing force between the indigenous Gandhi and westernized Nehru. Despite deserving to be the premier, Gandhi preferred Nehru and Sardar amicably conceded. He could not prevail on Nehru who favoured partition of the country. Similarly, his strong stand on J&K also did not find favour and the matter was internationalized. However, his most astounding achievement was the taming of 562 princely states and keep the country united. For these reasons, when the truth has started unraveling, Sardar is commanding more and more respect after his death.

In recognition of his yeoman’s services, Gujarat Govt, under the leadership of Narendra Modi is going to install an 182 meter high iron statue at Sadhu Bet, a small island, three KM away from the Sardar sarowar Dam, which will be  the tallest in the world so far. Named as the Statue of Unity, it is twice the height of the US  Statue of Liberty. At the estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore, it will be ready in three years when it will emerge as an important tourist destination in Gujarat.

Mrs Gandh became famous for some very bold decisions like liberating herself from party satraps, abolition of princely purses and nationalization of banks. The only and perhaps the biggest flaw in her personality was the promulgation of Emergency in 1975. Had she died before 1977, the blot could have remained with her name for good. But wisely by withdrawing the Emergency in 1977 and holding the general election, which she lost, she absolved herself from that slur.

THE CHINESE LOOKING GLASS

                                               

Sometimes in early 1970s, I had read a very famous book entitled ‘The Chinese Looking Glass’. Today I have only some faint ideas about the subject matter of the book. But the main thrust was to project the great cultural heritage of the country since the ancient time. It was known as the Middle Country as the emoerors believed that China was in the middle of the earth. They treated the rest of the world far far inferior to them. They had been defeated by Japan and even Tibet but still they treated themselves as invincible.

With this background, even the modern Chinese is a victim of this superciliousness. After the strained relation with India since 1959 and the unprovoked aggression of 1962, an average Chinese does not carry a good impression about this country. For them, I am quoting below a para from the speech of a great Chinese  scholar, diplomat and philosopher, named as Hu Shin. He was speaking on the occasion of the tercentenary celebration of the Harvard in 1936. Shin was addressing the conference on science and arts.

“India conquered and dominated Chinese culturally for two thousand years without ever having to send a single soldier across the border …Never before had China seen a religion so rich in  imagery, so beautiful and captivating in ritualism and so bold in cosmological and metaphysical speculations. Like a poor beggar suddenly halting before a magnificent storehouse of precious stones of dazzling brilliancy and splendour, China was overwhelmed, baffled and overjoyed. She begged and borrowed freely from this munificent giver …China’s indebtedness to India can never be fully told”.

The story is 77 years old but will remain relevant for ever. Things are bound to undergo a salubrious change, if the present Chinese leadership  preferred to steal a leaf from Shin’s book and acknowledge this debt.

USA REFUSES TO EAT PAK BAIT

                                               

Nawaz Sharif, the Pak Prime Minister, in course of his election campaign and on his victory repeatedly declared that he would work seriously for improving Indo-Pak relations. He laid so much stress on it that the people, particularly in India started entertaining expectations that he really meant business. The people on borders, who are the regular sufferers when ceasefire violations take place, took a sigh of relief. But quite contrarily, the things unfolded to surprise these people. Immediately after Sharif took the oath of office, the continuing ceasefire since 2003, was thrown into wind. Such violations were not only repeated but occasionally very brutal as well. Nobody understood this complete about-turn of the new Pak PM.

A perusal of the differences between his expressed views and reality on the ground has unravelled his well thought out secret diplomacy. Pakistan, earlier depended on the US not only for foodgrains but also arms and ammunitions and support on international fora.  However, since India improved its relations with the USA, which preferred to sidetrack Pakistan, the latter has started feelimg unnerved. America rightly decided that India emerging as a regional power was a force to reckon with and put Pakistan on the back-burner.To put the things back on the old track, in view of his upcoming official visit of USA, Nawaz Sharif changed his strategy.

He precipitated the border skirmishes to tell Obama that the things were going to worse and hence the US should interfere and arbitrate on Kashmir issue. Since both the parties are nuclear powers, before any devastating scene occurs, Obama should intervene by restraining India. Secondly, he charged that India was intentionally trying to portray Pakistan as a rogue state. Obama, like a clever politician, which he is, reiterated his country’s old stand of not internationalizing the  Kashmir issue and thrash out an amicable solution through bilateral dialogues. About the militancy issue as well, he flayed at Sharif for doing nothing in case of 26/11 Mumbai serial blasts perpetrators. He also wished that no country should allow its land to be used by any outfit to carry out trans-border militant activities. Thus, Sharif returned empty handed and dejected. The scenario being so, the ceasefire violations are bound to scale down automatically in due course.  

OVER ONION OUTRAGES

                                               

The onion is known for making one shed tears, who dresses it. But in the Indian context it has been proved that this vegetable bulb  also makes one weep, who musters courage of buying this pricy grocery item today. This ubiquitous bulb is friendly with all salty preparations for making them tastier and so when  it is either unavailable or costly, not only the common man weeps but also the centre of power starts shaking. Perhaps the BJP learnt this lesson hard way some 15 years ago.

Had it not touched the sky-rocketing price, many people including me could not have pronounced this ordinary word correctly. I remember, when this bulb had become very costly under the BJP rule in Delhi, the then Prime Minister had explained the reason behind that scarcity.  The renowned journalist, Sardar Khushwant Singh had pointed out that the PM, while using this word,  wrongly pronounced ‘o’ like in ‘over’ whereas the correct position is to pronounce ‘o’ as ‘a’.

I am reminded of yet another onion related story. It was in late 70s when it became highly costly in Kashmir, making it beyond the reach of general public. Perhaps it was due to prolonged road-block for which J&K is known. One shuddered to purchase even 250 g of onion. At that time a Bihari IPS officer invited his Kashmiri batch-mate on dinner. The Kashmiri enquired if non-veg would be a part of the menu. The Bihari boldly replied that not only mutton would be served, but  while cooking it, adequate onion would also be mixed.

Onion, perhaps is not kind to lady politicians, particularly in power. !5 years ago, it taught a bitter lesson to Sushma Swaraj, and this time it is determined to take the toll of Sheila Dikshit. Never before onion had touched century mark and rightly this unique credit goes to Sheilaji. The Delhiites, who were already feeling harassed due to water and power paucity, are at their wit’s end to find onion costlier than the best variety of apple. The question arises, “If onion dethroned Sushmaji, why it cannot once again show the exit gate to the present incumbent?”  

END OF THE DAY FOR DEY

The entire country was stunned to learn that the legendary singer, Manna Dey (May 1, 1919- Oct 24,20013) breathed his last in the wee hours of Oct 24 in Narayana Hrudayalaya, a private hospital of Bangaluru. After a long illness of lungs infection, he died of cardiac arrest. He was 94. At the last moment, his daughter and son-in law were beside him.

His family name was Probodh Chandra Dey whom the music lovers lovingly called Manna Dey. He graduated from Scottish Church Collge and took interest in music since his school days.His uncle, the famous music director, K.C. Dey encouraged him to take to music. Besides his uncle, Manna Dey also learnt music from Ustad Dabir Khan. With K.C. Dey, he came to Mumbai in 1942 and started his career as an assistantmusic director of his uncle. Simultaneously, under the patronage of renowned classical musicians like Ustad Aman ali Khan and Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan, he started delving into  the depth and nuances of the art and sharpening his knowledge of the ‘ragas’.

Manna Dey made his singing debut in Tamanna in which the music director was none else than his uncle. It was a hit duet with another legendary figure, Suraiya. He sang  some 4,000 songs in different languages under every important music director  and sang duets with all background singers, male or female. However, his favourite directors were Sachindeb Burman and Anil Biswas.

His forte were classicl and folk based songs which proved immortal. His songs in Do Bigha Jamin, Devdas and Teesri Kasam proved blockbusters. Manna Dey was given Padmashri in 1971, Padmabhushan in 2005 and Dada Saheb Falke Award in 2007. On the heels of the departure of the first generation of  great men of Indian film music like K.L. Shagal, K.C. Dey, Pankaj Roy etc came the trio of Md Rafi, Manna Dey and Kishore Kumar who took the art to  its zenith. Rafi and Kishore Kumar died earlier. Thus with the sad demise of Dey, a chapter of the film music has closed. It is an irreparable loss to the music world. At heart, we wish the soul of this great man to rest in peace.      

IS MODI A RALLYING POINT

There is a common phenomenon in politics that when a political party wins in an election, other smaller groups also try to join the bandwagon of the victorious party. Quite contrarily, even if the ruling party is dethroned, several of its cadre feel disenchanted and rush to other greener pastures. This predicament, as a matter of fact, tests the inner strength of a political party. If the leadership fails to inspire the rank and file, the flock turns to other directions. If the leader is inspiring, the flock is kept together and the party braves the odds. A similar situation seems to have dawned on the BJP after Narendra Modi was projected as its prime ministerial candidate.

Never before an Indian politician was more maligned than him for the unfortunate riots of 2002. People knew him as a prospective material for higher responsibilities and so they kept on targeting him left and right. Despite several court cases, he has not faced any conviction and still the opposition tries to portray him as a proven convict. NaMo ignored these tendentious flaying and concentrated on his focus of development which brought him hat-trick in three elections. As an honest and matter of fact man, his image went on shining so much so that today he is the BJP prime minisrerial prospect.

He has emerged as a rallying point instilling hope in the public, fed up with several huge scams of public money. We have seen the unprecedented turnout in his public rallies in Pune, Hyderabad, Haryana, Jaipur, Bhopal  Delhi and Kanpur. At two of these places, the public had to purchase entry tickets. He spoke for fort minutes to one hour and the public listened to him with rapt attention and thunderous applauses. Seeing this huge public response, the ruling party of Bihar started playing truants to disturb the rally, oroposed to be staged in the Gandhi Maidan, Patna. When Modi will be doing ‘hunkar’ at Patna, Nitish with other JDU leaders will be holding a  party meeting at Rajgir. These indicate that the Indian voters have genuine expectations from this charismatic personality. In concept, they have started treating him as a person, really made for the onerous job.

He inspired Kalyan Singh, Subramanian Swamy and several others to return to their alma mater. P.A. Sangma, Chandrababu Naidu, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Dr J Jayalalithaa, B.S. Yeddyurappa, Keshubhai Patel and like are ready to cooperate with the NDA to enable Modi to become the Prime Minister. The 98-yr old Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, known for being a Leftist fellow traveler, on Oct 21, 20013 told Mohan Bhagvat, RSS Sarsanghchalak  at Kochi that he was impressed with the honest image of Modi and wished him to be the next premier. In this backdrop it is becoming evident that Modi is emerging as a much needed rallying point for the politicians of different hues to close the ranks and work for Modi’s mission.

NAWAZ NOT NICE

The Indian euphoria of better bilateral relations with Pakistan after the induction of a democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif has proved to be very short-lived. We believed that in his earlier stint, he was duped by his army chief, Parwez Musharraf and thus after having burnt his fingers as a gullible PM, he would try really wise options to befriend India. Even after his electoral victory, he had explicitly declared that he would give utmost priority to put an end to the unfortunately persisting bitter Indo-Pak relations. He further admitted that the Kargil skirmishes were mischief , perpetrated by Musharraf without taking him into confidence.He left all indications that he was innocent and this time would set things right. But his recent activities indicate that Nawaz is not ‘Sharif’

Despite the operational ceasefire of last some years with only occasional violations, they just multiplied immediately after his return to power. A couple of months back, the Pak intruders brutally killed our two soldiers and took away their heads. It was against the known international military norms. Strangely enough, Pak authorities denied it to be their handiwork. The family members of the martyred Indian soldiers cried for the heads but of no avail. The situation was so pathetic that it looked that the humanity itself was crying. Things did not stop there. After several intermittent ceasefire violations, the Pak army sent trained militants of 40-50 in number, supported by the Pak army itself, who crossed into Keran sector of Kashmir, exactly in Kargil style. The Indian defence forces had to carry out a prolonged campaign to force them to flee. Some eight of them were killed and once again like in Kargil, this time too, Pakistan refused to take the dead bodies. Cruelty appears to have crossed all limits. This incident had  been engineered despite Sharif’s assurance to Manmohan Singh in Washington to work for mutual peace.

The latest US visit of Nawaz Sharif has further vindicated that Pakistan has not changed its old tune of internationalizing the Kashmir problem.This tone continues exactly since 1947 where with the support of its NATO patronaze, Pakistan hamstrung the UN from solving the knot impartially. On the other hand, India continues to stick to its known stand of solving the problem through bilateral talks only. Since Pakistan, for being a terrorist hub is emerging as a rogue state, Sharif raised once again this beaten bogey to divert the attention of the West. In support of his contention, he expressed in America that both India and Pakistan being nuclear states with lethal missile technology, the future of peace in the sub-continent appeared utterly bleak. He argued that even 10% of the US attention given to West Asia, if directed to Indo-Pak problems, he was sure peace woudl return.

India is taking these apparently innocent looking statements with a pinch of salt. Le Pakistan understand that its Prime Ministe, this timer has lost credibility in India.    

ESSENTIALS OF WAGING WAR

                  

Fight, skirmishes, encounters, and battles are different denominations, standing for violent differences between individuals, groups, societies or nations. This battle or war is as old as the man himself. Immediately after the first man grew into plural and started putting their claim on resources, available around, counter claims emerged resulting in bitterness and fight ensued. That’s why the history of war is quite old. Ancient philosophers and political thinkers of different countries expressed their views or wrote books on this theme. Like intelligence, you will not find several books on war as well.

Accordingly, war as an academic and strategic science was taken up for the first time in China. A Chinese scholar, named Sun Tzu, over 2,000 years ago, studied this subject as a research student and wrote a book entitled The Art Of War, which even today is treated as an authentic work on this subject. While determining their strategy for hot war, the great generals over the world, refer to his wise and in-depth prescriptions. I understand that even the terrorists and ideological extremists try to abide by his battle tactics. His most famous advice is: ‘Do not wage a war if there is no surety of victory. Wait till that favourable situation is available. He adds, do not wage a war without a cause. If the people do not appreciate and join, no war can succeed and they will keep off till they realize that there is a pupose favouring them behind the war. For example, the Naxalites allure the deprived that the class war will annihilate the capitalists and the resources will be evenly distributed.

The authorities on war history and those really involved in this dangerous game, refer to his one more pragmatic approach.

“ Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:

 He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.

He will win who knows how to handle both superiors and inferior forces.

He will win whose army is animated by the same sprit throughout all its ranks.

He will win, who prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.

He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.”

Thus we see that all the mythological books of India, Greece, China, Egypt, Rome etc are stories of war, resulting in victory for some and defeat for others. But there is hardly any book on the science of war as such. After reading the Gathering Storm by Winston Churchil, an excellent work on the Second World War and My Struggle by Adolf Hitler, I found The Art Of War very informative and interesting.  

THE NEW WORLD

                                                Imagine the shape of modern history if the American continent was not known to the rest of the civilized world. It was on Oct 11, 1492 that Christopher Columbus discovered this New World. Others may forget him, but the American people observe Oct 11 as the Columbus Day every year.

Christopher Columbus (1451 -1506) was born in Genoa, which today is a part of Italy. He was a versatile genius with forays in naval expedition, discovery and several other subjects. Somehow, with his exploratory talents, he could manage to come closer to the Spanish monarchs of that period. They happily sponsored his expensive and tedious voyages. As a matter of fact they encouraged him to explore the lucrative spice markets of Asia. But the luck had something else, rather very interesting in the store for this legendary explorer. He reached an unknown place.

Under the banner of the Spanish monarchs, he made four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean, which led to increased awareness in the Europeans about America. Columbus, on Oct 11, 1492 reached Bahama archipelago, which he named as San Salvador. He further discovered Carabbeans,Venezuela and some other countries where, out of obligation, he founded Spanish colonies. The people he met in Bahama archipelago, caleed them as Indo which in Spanish means Indians.

It is not true to believe that Europe was completely in dark about this continent before Columbus reached there. As a matter of fact a successful exploratory voyage had taken place in 11^th century. However, the lasting European contact with this new World started with Columbus only. We pay our homage to this great soul whose breathtaking discovery extended the horizon of the world map.

Unfortunately, like Robert Clive, who won India for the British, Christopher Columbus also had to face adversities in the last phase of his life. His relations with the Spanish royalty turned sour. Even the Spanish governors of American colonies ignored him. He was arrested in 1500 and as a broken man, breathed his last after six years.        

AMITABH BACHCHAN

                               

Today, Oct. the eleventh is the birth day of the Big B who is now 71. His fans over the world have been celebrating the day with a big fanfare since the morning. There is a gentleman from Allahabad, the birthplace of Big B, who presented a copy of the Ram Charit Manas and a pot of Ganga water to him. Somebody is flying a flag wishing him a long life. One person was putting on a colourful t-shirt embossed with Amitabh photograph. I join this crowd of Big B fans in extending  very hearty good wishes for ‘pashyed shardam shatam’.

On this auspicious day, let us discuss in brief what is special in this man which has made him larger than the life size. Today all over the world, Bachchan   is a brand name for excellence. Right from Harivanshrai to Amitabh, Ajitabh, Abhishek, Jaya, Aishwrya and Aaradhya, the entire Bachchan family has become legendary. Among them the centuries greatest artist, Amitabh stands talle than othersr not only heightwise but also for artistic excellence. His towering height, echoing manly voice, dialogue delivery and full dedication of almost living the life of a given role make him a special person. Whether a romantic hero, angry young man or in a support role, he continues to be the main attraction of any film. The viewers never get tired of seeing him. Insread they feel bored if he is not in the scene for long. ‘Lakh piye do lakh piye, kabhi nahin thaknewala’.

Doing a challenging role in PAA of  a child suffering from a rare mental disease, at such an advanced age is not everybody’s cup of tea. While in late sixties, he played a unique role of a romantic hero with a heroine of less than his half age. In the backdrop of the successful earlier non-dancing hero  trio of Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapur and Devanand, Amitabh not only started dancing but also sang several hit songs. His recitation of his father’s magnum opus, Madhushala, has proved to be  a mile-stone.

At the outset, he had to struggle to settle himself in the tricky tinseltown. He married an established heroine, Jaya. He opened ABC which flopped and broke him financially. The KBC of the Star TV brought him back on rails. He had an unsuccessful stint in politics which compelled him to say goodbye for good to this field. The Rekha episode is yet another unexplained episode of his chequered life. Since the days of his parents, the friendship of Gandhi and Bachchan families is known to everybody. Now the relation is so strained that perhaps they are not on talking terms. Despite these odds, the Big B braved, he continues to grow in name, fame and property. His benevolence for the needy is also very famous. If this man represents a legend, one should not wonder.

May God keep him on the centre stage for good.    

TOILETS AND TEMPLES

                                               

A few days back, when Narendra Modi was asked about the temple issue of Ayodhya, very boldly he mentioned, first toilets and then temples. This spread like a wild fire and the anti-Modi groups ganged up to castigate him. Even the VHP did not take it in right spirit. Jairam Ramesh was more vitriolic. The sanitarians over the world know it better that some 40% of the world population, deprived of clean toilets will continue to suffer if the mind-set did not change. They who flay at Modi for his statement on toilet, are suffering from the biased mind-set. Even if a very famous temple has people around defecating in open , its sanctity will be compromised.

If cleanliness is next to godliness, then how one can disparage the importance of clean toilets and clean potable water. When Mahatma Gandhi said “ Toilets are temples” nobody criticized him. He had further courage to say that if there was re-birth, he would like to be born in a scavenger family so that he could do something for their well-being.  I remind today’s so called followers of Gandhi and Nehru that the latter had openly expressed that he would consider India to be on the pinnacle of civilization on the day when every Indian got access to hygienic toilets. Even though he did not mention temple, he did not consider toilts inferior.

Today in the money oriented world where everything is weighed on profit and loss basis, I would like to quote an authentic figure, emphasizing the benefits of investment in toilets. The material had appeared in the Sept 2013 issue of the Water and Sanitation Rotarian Action Group. “The World Bank recently published a great infographic about sanitation entitled ‘What’s a toilet worth?’ Did you know that the total global cost of inadequate sanitation is estimated as $260 Billion every year? These costs capture premature death, health care costs, productivity losses, and time lost finding a private place to defecate.

Globally improved sanitation has rate of return of six for each dollar invested and provides other benefits like increased tourism, sfety, land value, water quality and dignity”. Perhaps Modi is far-sighted and a cut above others.   

BLACK SIDE OF POLITICS

For the first time in the history of India, Mahatma Gandhi, in his experiment showed the world that even in a slippery field like politics, one could remain truthful. His followers like Acharya J.B. Kripalani, JP, Frontier Gandhi, Abdul Kalam Azad, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Morarji Desai, Sarojini Nayudu and several others preferred to remain in the main stream of national politics to serve the nation. But the next generation, for the reasons not very clear, adopted politics to make their fortune. Some of such greedy elements were in a hurry to become rich overnight. This deterioration appears to have touchéd its nadir today so much so that the politicians have started indulging in other nefarious criminal activities including sex rackets.

The first chief minister who had to face criminal charges leading to his dethronement was A.R. Antule of Maharashtra. Both Mulayam Singh and Lalu/Rabri, Mayavati, Jagan Mohan Reddy and others were caught for disproportionate assets. Some were let off the hook while others are still facing the music. Except Reddy, all others are ex CMs. Who will then talk about junior politicians?

Several ministers in different states are involved in illegal sex cases. One minister, Maderna of Gehlot cabinet is in jail for having extra marital sex with a lady and then getting her eliminated. Only some days back, another minister of the same state, Babulal Nagar was charged for having sexual relation with a lady, after alluring her a govt job. He was arrested. Kanda, a senior minister of Bhupender Singh Hooda cabinet came to light for sexual exploitation of a young girl, working in his aviation company and compelling her to commit suicide. Kanda is still in jail. There is a burning sex related  case in Kerala, hinting involvement of some senior Congress leaders including the present CM. In last five years, there have been hundreds of criminal and sexual cases in and around Delhi for which the young sons of different politicians  are in police dragnet. I am not talking about very old incidents. Forget about Asaram. The above examples are enough to indicate how these extra-zealous  youngsters are imbibing their fathers. It should be a matter of great concern for all of us.    

ON THE SIDELINES OF LALU'S CONVICTION

The din and bustle of Lalu’s conviction, will subside with time, but the Pandora’s Box that it has opened is sure to torment some high profile politicians who are maintaining a façade of Mr. Clean. The political analysts, having some hints, are of the view that the body language of such individuals shows that they are disturbed. When this secret is open, everybody will be surprised to know the real reason for Nitish Kumar deserting the BJP.

Lalu, Mayavati and Mulayam Singh had one thing in common that they all were involved in the corruption cases, under investigation by the CBI. Lalu despite humiliations from the Congress, kept on holding Mrs Gandhi’s apron under the plea that he wanted to curb the communal forces represented by BJP. With the kindness of the Congress, he was let off the hook by the CBI in DA case and delayed the court proceedings by nearly 17 years. BSP and SP are so diametrically opposed that both cannot see eye to eye. Still they together proved saviour of the UPA Govt on the floor of the LS cortesy CBI magic band.

When adequate indications were filtering out about the most likely legal noose round Lalu’s neck, Nitish started preparing in advance to befriend the Congress to rein in the CBI. He offered a very plausible explanation that Narendra Modi represented divisive forces and hence he decided not to go along. Simultaneously he was appeasing his voters that the Centre would grant special status to Bihar and extend a huge monetary package. However, the under ki baat   is that he did not want that his involvement in the Fodder scam, which he had managed to be brushed under carpet, should surface.

As a matter of fact, Shyam Bihari Sinha, Additional Secretary of Chaibasa Treasury, before his death, in a statement had given details of this scan money given by him to Nitish Kumar, Shivanand Tiwari and Lallan Singh. Nitish managed to throw this dangerous statement in cold storage. Now a person, under a RTI got this information and filed a PL in the Patna High Court. The court has sent summon to the concerned to appear on Nov 22, 2013. On Oct 1, 2013 Smt. Rabri Devi has revealed that the above three persons with Lalu were also involved and hence should face the music. The country will eagerly await how a shrewd politician like Nitish will skip over this danger.   

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN

If you have to find out a communalist, you will have to go to the BJP because all non-BJP parties, washed in milk, have only secular members. In the present context, every Muslim is secular, deserving protection from any harassments. Such patronages are not for any one from the majority community.

Several years back, in a Tehalka sting operation, Bangaru Laxman, the then BJP President was caught on camera accepting hush money. The party immediately removed him and the individual is still in the darkness of oblivion. Even after a long period, the rival parties are not hesitating to decry BJP for this incident. In connection with the recent Muzaffarnagar communal clashes, Azam Khan, a senior minister of the SP Govt was caught on camera in a sting operation provoking the chaos. A national TV channel flashed the CD. Akhilesh assured that the matter would be enquired into. When ? The world knows that the CM has no guts to embarrass Azam because he is afraid that the minority will turn antagonistic. Will the Centre or its CBI ever try to look into?

The matter does not stop here. Azam managed to get the Jat constables of the disturbed area of Western UP transferred to distant districts of  Eastern UP. The harassed cops moved the High Court. The court has directed the state Govt to come with necessary documents. If the court finds beyond any doubt that only a particular caste was targeted, one can imagine the humiliation in the offing for Akhilesh and Netaji.

In July this year, Durga Shakti Nagpal, IAS in Gautambudh Nagar was suspended because under the Supreme Court order, she razed an illegal mosque boundary wall. All SP leaders including Azam Khan justified the suspension. When the Distt Magistrate, under orders conducted an enquiry and found her innocent, Azam argued that the DM also deserved to be suspended. Within a month, the DM was accordingly transferred out. When Akhilesh, Mulayam , Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister went to see the riot victims, Azam did not accompany and instead passed sarcastic comments.

The people at large appear confused. They ask, is it really secularism ?