The absurdities of Indian Archaeology: The Temple of Gloom and the ASI

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Archaeological Survey of India which was established more than a century and a half ago has earned a name for itself and  its history has been ably documented by the Prime Minister's daughter, Professor Upinder Singh in a fascinating book, The Discovery of Ancient India Sir Alexander Cunningham who was the first archaeologist to uncover the material past of India realized that there were no written records on which a reconstruction of the historical archaeology of India could be based and so he turned to the Chinese pilgrims who visited India in the early medieval period in search of Buddhist manuscripts. It was left to another great archeologist, Sir Aurel Stein to discover the letters written by some of these early pilgrims in monasteries all along the famous Silk Road. Archaeological discoveries stimulated anb interest in the past and it was only a short hop step and jump to "nationalism" underpinned by a robust historical base in which India was imagined in myriad forms and one of the forms was that of a nation state.  History and Archaeology were inscribed in the very start of the long and tortuous journey to "nationhood" as articulated by politicians like Nehru and Jinnah. Apart from the political uses of an "ancient" past to justify Indian "nationhood" there was also the "medieval|" past to legitimize the quest for nationhood by the Islamic minorities of the Gangetic plains. Further, the discovery of the early urban civilizations in the Indus River Valley led to the appropriation of the ealy urban culture to the so called Dravidian cultural strand of India whose most vehement exponents were the Tamils of the deep south. One enterprising IAS officer, Mahadevan, even created cult following for himself by "reading" certain symbols on the seals of the Harappan civilization as Tamil characters and this man before he slipped into dotage even "deciphered" a seal as the representation of the Tamil god, Muruga. Therefore, Indian Archaeology is full of twists and turns and one is not totally surprised at the present rather strange developments.

On the banks of Ganges there is the non nondescript temple illustrated above. The temple has been the scene of a most bizarre treasure hunt.  A local god man declared that 1000 tonnes of gold was hidden in the temple and he claimed that the last king of the region had appeared in a dream and instructed him to dig out the gold. In any other part of the civilized world this story would have been dismissed with the contempt it deserves. Indian Universities like the infamous Jawahar Lal University which was in the forefront of the so called Ramajanmabhoomi Controversy have maintained a stony silence over this alacrity with which the UPA Government dominated by the Congress pary ordered the Archaeological Survey pf India to excavate in the area suggested by the godman. The last king of the kingdom was hanged by General James Neill when his forces reconquered the area with the help of soldiers from Madras. And so the king is a martyr to "Indian Nationalism".  The last week has seen hectic activity at the site. The Geological Survey of India used ground penetrating radar and declared to anyone who cared to listen that there were solid metal objects under the thick vegetation lenmding a degree of credence to the story of the god man, Om Swami as he is styled. A congress member and a Minister in the Cabinet of Man Mohan Singh instigated the ASI to order an extensive dig at the site of the temple. The result is that a major historical site has been vandalized as a consequence of governmental actions and decisions. No one has ever heard of an archaeological  excavation taking place anywhere in the world on the thin foundation of a senile god man. The frantic pace of digging has not unearthed a single piece of copper and the site,a  potentially important medieval site has been utterly devatated.

The Government of India bypassed all regulatory agencies governing the management of archaeological sites. At the whim of a Minister who happened to be a follower of the senile god man the excavation was ordered. Not a penny was found as there is no hoard buried there. Already the smae god man has spred stories of another treasure waiting in a place closeby the Unnao, Fatehghar. The upcoming Parliamentary Elections which is certain to see a landslide in favour of the Opposition has made the Government of India undertake this ridiculous excavation as the snile god man enjoys a strong support among the backward castes of the region. Indian Government is in the news all for the wrong reason: scams, scandals and now the mad cap treasure hunt.

China and India: Why India must reset the Sino-India Relations

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

In history we will seldom find an instance of two civilizations that existed peacefully and enriched each other getting enmeshed in seemingly intractable problems as is the case between the two Asian giants, China and India. Though I have not been to China, I can say with some certainty that China has progressed both intellectually and economically well beyond what has been achieved in India. With Chinese Universities making the cut both in the Shanghai and Times list and the visibility that Chinese academics have acquired on the world stage, I can say with a degree of vehemence that  China offers valuable lessons and India in the most short sighted manner is ignoring the hard earned lessons that China has to offer. The objective of inclusive growth with economic transformation has been achieved in China and India is still struggling. Though there has been some reduction in the level of absolute poverty, India's social sector is still weak and when it comes to the girl child, India's record to say the least is just horrendous. In India the Press makes a big issue of the One Child norm in China and hold this up as an instance of authoritarian rule. The fact is that after the Emergency, India just abandoned family planning as a growth strategy, and India's burgeoning population is only adding to the problem. While coercion is not required, public education is certainly possible. And India neglected to do this. In terms of health,China has a better coverage of health services and Indian hospitals are struggling to keep up with the demand. The privatization of health services through the Insurance schemes has only added to the woes of the average India. India can learn lesson from China and instead of rushing to the Americans, India has a good example at its very doorstep.

The Indian intellectuals make much of India's democracy and nothing can be more erroneous than this. India democracy has essentially degenerated into the rule of criminals who threaten and extort the votes from the electorate. Massive use of money power and muscle power has made Indian democracy a laughing stock of the world. The Supreme Court of India had to intervene to ensure that criminals who are convicted cannot continue in office. Even after this the ruling Congress Party sought to overturn the judgement by making changes in the law through a Presidential Ordinance. The reluctance of the President to sign the document saved the day for India. As far as I can make out, China too has problems stemming from politicians using their clout to make money. The Rule of Law that exists in China ensures that such politicians do not get immunity for their actions and this is a lesson that India can learn.

The construction of high speed railway is an area in which China is the world leader and can be justly proud of her achievement. In India,  even the Rajadhani Express rarely crosses 150 kms an hour and so Indian Railways can use the technology developed in China to improve its services. The New Delhi-Beijing Railway link in within the reach from a technological point of view, but we need the Indian leaders to rethink their policy toward China. Unfortunately, Indian political class particularly the Congress has bought into the American doctrine that China needs to be contained and India in an effective partner. The Indian political leadership needs to be educated on the implications of this absurd doctrine. The Americans are using India to irritate China and unfortunately, Indian political class is unwilling or unable to see the reality. The sale of the two nuclear reactors to Pakistan by China is the direct fallout of the policy of civil nuclear cooperation with the USA. The fact is that until this day the USA has not sold a single reactor to India and China has already signed a deal with Pakistan. Indian Civil- Nuclear Deal with the USA was touted as a great diplomatic victory for Man Mohan Singh, the prime Minister, while the sad reality is that India gave up its military programme without any tangible gains in return. The Nuclear deal has become a symbol of India's embrace of the US strategic doctrine which hopes to put diplomatic pressure on China on every possible front. It is not in India's interest to fall into this trap.

The issues between India and China are not strategic differences or even rivalry on an ideological level. Both Asian civilizations have had a similar past and history has shown that China has always regraded India as a great civilization whose message was that of the Great Buddha. Instead of building up on the historical foundations of Indian and Chinese civilizations, India from the time of Nehru undertook to confront China on every issue. The 1962 War in which India was soundly beaten should have been a wake up call to India and should have resulted in a rethink of the policy. Instead a myth of "great betrayal" was created and India became a prisoner of a self created delusion. Tibet had always been a part of China and it was the British under Lord Curzon who sought to make it a part of the circle of states surrounding the Indian territories of British held India. It is amazing how Nehru did not recognize the historical bonds between China and Tibet and continued to follw the colonial policy while pretending to be the elder statesman of Asia.

Even as Man Mohan Singh makes a visit to China, I think India can learn two things from Chimna (1) reform higher education and (2)  Railway Construction. In both these areas China has an edge and I hope the Indian leaders show wisdom is learning from the experience of China.

Calcutta in the Nineteenth Century; A Review

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Calcutta in the Nineteenth Century: AN Archival Exploration
Bidisha Chakravarthy and Sarmistha De
Niyogi Books, New Delhi 2013

Calcutta is a fascinating city. Its reputation as a City of Joy may be farfetched but as a historical site, Calcutta is the most interesting city of India. If New Delhi is the graveyard of empires, Calcutta has remained a city of culture, cinema, Durga Puja, Communist factional rivalries, naxalite violence and of course, literature and education. From a sleepy hamlet on the banks of the Hoogly, Calcutta became in the nineteenth century the capital of the British Empire in India. The Regulating Act of 1773 vested the Governor General in Council with supervisory powers over all the three Presidencies and during the course of the nineteenth century the city began to grow both in size, in population and in terms of civic and administrative infrastructure. The book under review examines in detail the transformation of Calcutta into a major metropolis of modern India and is a contribution to the cultural and social history of modern India.

The two authors are archivist in the State Archives of West Bengal and have scoured the archives for interesting bits of information about the growth and transformation of the city. In modern historiography of Bengal associated with Barun De, Sumit Sarkar and Sabyasachi Bahattacharya urban history does not have a place. The Subaltern perspective adopted by Sumit Sarkar privileged the social history over cultural history. In the this volume the two authors, both trained as historians have recreated life in Calcutta during the nineteenth century. In 1911 the capital was shifted to New Delhi and Calcutta lost the prominence it once had in the previous century . Human interest stories culled from the archives abound in this volume. The intervention of the English Administration to prevent Sati is ably documented in the book using an anecdote. The attempts made by the erstwhile rulers to ensure a modicum of civic sense in the city is demonstrated by citing the health regulations enacted by the municipal authorities The growth of print culture and the attempts made to regulate the book trade are also studies. As the city grew in size, the hazards of fire also increased and we have a short chapter giving the history of the Fire Service in the city. A city of the size and reach of Calcutta will certainly have its dark underbelly and the authors have dredged from the archives some interesting details of the white slave trade in the city.

The most interesting part of the book are the numerous illustration drawn from the archival sources and contemporary journals and newspapers. The lavish use of documents from the Fort St William Records adds to the attractiveness of the volume. I enjoyed reading this book and wish I could write something similar about my city, Pondicherry where I live and teach.

Convicted Politicians, Rahul Gandhi and the outrage over the Ordinance

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Indian Government headed by Dr Man Mohan Singh sent an Ordinance to the President of India by which Indian politicians convicted of heinous crimes would not be disqualified from the membership of the State Assemblies and the National Parliament. The alarming rate at which criminals are entering the political process and getting elected to the seats of power has been commented upon by several public figures and there has been very powerful civil society movements too, The Supreme Court of India in a recent judgement said categorically that convicted politicians lose their seats and cannot continue in their elected positions. This judgement was widely seen as a small step in cleansing the stables of Indian politics of rapists, murderers and dacoits. Instead of welcoming this judgement, the Congress Party introduced a bill on parliament to undo the judegement. The strident opposition of the Bharatiya Janata Party forced the bill to be submitted to a special committee and the matter rested there. The fact is that an important ally of the UPA, a man called Laloo Prasad Yadava, a semi literate thug from Bihar is likely to be convicted in the Fodder Scam case whose judgement will be pronounced on the 30th of September 2013. In spite of having at least 4 prominent witnesses killed, the prosecution soldiered on and and the conviction of this fellow in on the cards.

In the forthcoming Parliamentary election which will be held by May 2014, the Congress and its allies will be wiped out as the Nation is sick and tired of the grand corruption that has taken by place. The minsters responsible for massive corruption have been shielded from prosecution a plaint Central Bureau of Investigation or the CBI whose Director was chastised by the Supreme Court of India for being a "caged parrot" of the powers that be. In the Coalgate Scam even the files implicating the Congress leaders who got coal blaocks allocated to them have disappeared from the custody of the Coal Minister, who happened to be the Prime Minster himself. The BJP in spite of a very messy leadership struggle is poised to win the upcoming electoral battle. The Congress Party pokes fun at the messy struggle involving the aging patriarch, L K Advani and Hon'ble Narendra Modi ignoring the sad fact that in the Congress party, dynastic fascism ensures that on one can aspire for a leadership position in the party except those born to the Nehru bloodline. This is highly primitive system of ensuring that the leadership remains within the "Royal Family" has contributed in no small measure to the degeneration of the political culture in India as it has made politicians cultivate factional loyalties and court family members in oder to ensure their visibility in the political arena. Unfortunately, the Congress political culture is being emulated by all the other corrupt political allies of the Congress like the DMK, the RJD and other "secular" parties.

It is against the back ground sketched above that we must see the "idealistic outburst " of Rahul Gandhi, the Crown Prince of the Congress party and the son of Sonia Gandhi the Italian widow of Rajiv Gandhi. When Man Mohan Singh was away on a visit to the USA to address the U N Genaral Assembly, Rahul Gandhi called a Press Conference and denounced the Ordinance awaiting Presidential assest as "nonsense" and deserves to be thrown out, Most political commentators felt that Man Mohan Singh stood dimnished as a result of the public rebuke administered by Rahul Gandhi. The Ordinance was sent to the President after it had been cleared by the Cabinet and had the backing of Rahul's mother, Sonia Gandhi. It is shameful that dynastic fascism has begun to undermine even the office of the Prime Minister. In the noise caused by Rahul's "idealistic: outburst what is firgitten is the fact that the President of India refused to sign the Ordinance and the real credit for scrapping the Ordinance should go to Shri Pranab Mukerjee, the Prersident of the Republic. Instead the pliant electronic and print media in India make it appear as if Rahul Gandhi's "idealistic" outburst had led to a rethink.

Certain trends are visible form this episode. First, there is a lot of factional strife going on in the Congress Party. Second, a very unhealthy precedent has been set: one in which the Crown Prince can make the Government of the day make a complete turnaround in its policy. There is no place for civilized political discourse in such a scenario. Even Arun Jailey, a senior leader of the bJP said that Man Mohan Singh should resign because he was undermined by the crown price. I expecty that eminent Leader of the Opposition to know that the Prime Minister and his Cabinet is responsible to the Parliament and not to the  strippling, Crown Prince. This just gies to show how deep the shadow of dynastic fascism is in India.

The BJP did not emerge as the victor in this round but to its credit the Pary and Hon'ble Naredra Modi opposed the Orinance. The shameless courtiers of the Congress do not even have the dignity to say that their Government  has been undermined and the Prime Minister, a nominee of the "Royal Family" has been publicly humiliated. The demands for the resignation of the Prime Minister only reinforce the perception that he is accountable to the "royal family" and not to Parliament. Rahul Gandhi said that it was his "personal opinion" but such is the strangle hold of dynastic fascism that personal opinions become Government policy.

Twenty Third Convocation of Pondicherry University

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukerjee who is also the Visitor of Pondicherry University  delivered a most erudite and inspiring Convocation Address on the occasion of the 23rd Convocation. He combines the grace and simplicity of an enlightened mind with the penetrating insight of a good administrator. His long tears in politics has made him understand the reality of the Indian educational scenario and he pointed it out in his address.

After the usual preliminaries he went straight to the point. He lamented that not a single Indian University finds a place in the high table of education. As a student of History, he pointed out that for several centuries Universities like Taxila and Nalanda kept the lamp of education burning not only in India, but more pertinently   attracted students from all over the world. He said that it should be the goal of Indian higher education to bring back the lost glory. India, the President said has nearly 645 Universities and more than 2000 colleges. He seemed to suggest that while the numbers are encouraging, the quality is depressing.

I was struck by the clarity of his thought and the eloquence at his command.  If India has more politicians and statesmen like him the country would be well served. However, the sad reality faces him as he returns to New Delhi. The Ordinance setting aside the Supreme Court judgement   on convicted politicians will be sitting on his table. I have heard many Presidents address the Convocation in the University and I rate A P J Abdul Kalam and Shri Pranab Mukerjee among the most memorable speakers that I have heard.

The President is keen on improving the quality of higher education and his commitment is palpable. However,education should also embrace the humanities and cannot be restricted to the technology stream.

A Street Cat, Bob: Love and Redemption

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The little book by James Bowen, A Street Cat named Bob is a remarkable tale of love, hope and redemption. The author James Bowen, a drug addict and in the jargon of British social welfare office, a substance abuser, finds a large ginger cat near his dwelling. The adventures of this duo occupies most of the  book. The author has fallen through the cracks of western society and has ended on the streets of London without a job and little skill,l which can translate into dependable employment. So "busking" for a living is the only career choice that  available. The Cat and James set out by tube to Coventry Garden where James has a designated spot busking, playing music for voluntary donations. Since panhandling is forbidden by law in most western counties, busking invites little attention from the law, provided of course there it is done in a designated place and there is no complaint of anticancer James earns at best little more than what was essential to keep .his nose out of trouble. Petty theft and drug addiction were already on his record and James now has a cat to feed and support. The bond between the two develops into a stable and mutually enriching relationship and now James Bowen had a purpose to his life, something he never had earlier. His life settled down to a routine of busking in London and the petty quarrels and jealousies his success and the attention paid to Bob his cat evoked amongst the other derelicts on the streets of London is brought out well.

The love between the two transforms Bob from a drug addict to a more responsible human being and the book also documents the reconciliation between James and his mother who after her marriage to Nick seems to have drifted away from James. The spiritual anchor of Jmaes' life is Bob and he gradually helps him find his feet again.

For most readers, the tale of Bob and James may sound surreal. Can a street cat make sucha huge difference to a person's life. As someone who has seen and experienced the rougher side of life, I can say that animals do bring a strange kind of unconditional love to their relationship with their owners that is really unsettling at times. James Bowen was down and out in London, barely eking out a bare living by busking in the posh areas of Londan, loving from day to day, taking life one day at a time and when Bob entered his life all that changed. He had a purpose to live anf that made all the difference. Life Richard Parker in the Life of Pi, who became Pi's spiritual anchor in the Pacific Ocean, Bob was to James.

I liked this book immensely and I too am fond of animals and so read the book with interest. The message of redemption comes out strongly in the book.

Narendra Modi, the BJP and the 2014 Elections: The Storm Ahead

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

As expected the BJP Parliamentary Board met this morning and declared Shri Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate for the forthcoming Lok Sabha election. The Congress party which reposes faith in dynastic fascism as its only political principle in all probability  rally around  Rahul Gandhi derisively called Amul Baby in India. It will be an unequal match as Tahul Gandhi does not have either the experience or the national stature to stand up to Narendra Modi and in the forthcoming election all seasoned political observers see a tectonic shift in favour of the NDA led by the BJP.

The issues that will dominate the Elections of 2014 are serious ones and some of the issues are listed below:

1 There has been unprecedented levels of corruption and mis governance during the 10 years of the UPA whose PM was the teflon coated Dr Man Mohan Singh. The disappearance of the files relating to the allocation of coal blocks in the coal gate scandal has put the spotlight on the Prime Minister. Indians are used to corruption and in our everyday lives have to deal with it at some level, but under the Congress the scale and magnitude of corruption has broken all limits and the common man in yearning for a change. Narendra Modi has the image of a clean and efficient politician and is not tainted by a singly scandal.

2 There has been a virtual melt down of the Indian economy. The growth rate has plunged to 3.5% and this is the lowest in nearly tywo decades. The Current Account Deficit is narly 7 % of the GDP and is increasing. The trade gap is widening and in spite of the fall in the value of the rupee exports are not picking up. The high rate of unemployment had made the youth restive and it is the young voter who is expected to vote en masse for Narendra Modi. The Congress has offered no explanation for the decline in the economy except blaming the policies of Pranab Mukherjee the former Finance Minister and now President of INdia. Corrective measure have not been taken for bringing the economy back on track. In fact the situation is getting worse with the inflationary pressure exerted by the rise in petrol and fuel.

3 The populist measures taken by the UPA under the influence of a bunch of civil society activists close to Mrs Sonia Gandhi has imposed an enormous strain on the economy and has made corruption a rural phenomenon. The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has spawned huge corruption and the Comptroller and Auditor General has drawn attention to the lapses in the Government schemes

4 The foreign policy scenario is not bright. India has declined before the eyes of the World. There was a time when the voice of India was heard. Today India is silent on all major issues confronting the world. This decline is due . bad statecraft and muddled priorities. The incursions of the Chinese Army have to be addressed in a bilateral forum through discussions. The News papers are full of alarming Reports of the presence of Chinese soldiers deep into Indian territory. I am sure this issue can be settled through dialogue, but the weak UPA Government lacks the credibility to undertake such a dialogue. In the case of Pakistan, India has been craven. Inspite of the fact that the Government of India being aware that Pakistani soldiers killed 5 Indian soldiers in a brutal manner, the UPA regime sought to pass the buck by saying that terrorists dressed in Pakistan Army uniform did this dastardly act. The UPA lost what little respect people had  after this display of cowardice.

Against the declining fortunes of the UPA, Narendra Modi has to craft a winning strategy. His personality and image alone will not see the NDA through because the UPA will throw the 2002 Riots in Gujarat against Modi in onder to garner the votes of the Muslims. This strategy will come unstuck in the big state of Uttar Pradesh, but may have some purchase in other parts. Though the Supreme Court of India has not found anything to prove the involvement of Modi in the riots, the 2002 Riots are still there in public perception. NDA must respond by bringing up the Sikh Massacre of 1984 when Indira Gandhi died. The factionalism within the BJP with the senior leader L K Advani sulking in the shadows after the announcement of the candidature of Hon'ble Narendra Modi may be unsettling in the short run.

The BJP has its work cut out for it and the sooner Narendra Modi establishes an organization which can translate his vision into a reality the bettor it would be.

The American Media, Barack Obama and the debate on Syrian and Chemical Weapons

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The latest issue of Time  (September, 9 2013) has a cover story dedicated to The Unhappy Warrior. Yes it is Barack Obama, the Nobel Prize Winner and now a strong advocate of War in Syria. What is so alarming about the US debate both on the print media and in Congress is that the issue is narrowly focused on the apparent use of Sarin Gas in a suburb of Damascus on August 21, 2013. The American Government has been saying that the Syrian Government forces used the chemical weapons and are making a strong case for bombing Syria. Nobody seems to ask the basic question that Damascus is the capital and no matter how rotten the regime is, the Capital is generally spared the agony of chemical weapons because the military ansd political elites live there. Further, even in Syria there is a foreign Press Corps and no Government will commit a "black deed" so nakedly in front of the International media.This fact seems to be getting lost in the drumbeat of war struck by Obama and his regime in Washington.

President Barack Obama in fact suggested more than a year back that the use of "Chemical weapons will be a red line" and it will have consequences. The US media is faulting the President for "waiting so long". The fact that President Putin has openly suggested in the Press Conference at the close of the G-20 Summit in Saint Peters burgh that the chemical weapons were used by the rebels in order to create the pretext for American Intervention. This argument puts a totally different spin on the policy of the American President. Rather than a humanitarian gesture, US in a cold blooded manner set the stage for a barbaric assault on the civilian population of Damascus so that a "moral" legal and political justification may be created for US intervention. The USA hoped thta the revulsion of the world would be so deep that everyone including the UN Security Council will fall in line. The best laid plans of men and mice go awry and that is exactly what happened.

The US has a plaint Intelligence Community and sn embedded press which laps up everything their regime throws at them. The Intelligence produced by the US is extrmely weak and consists of you tube footage of children gasping for breath in a Damascus Hospital. Are we to understand from thids footage that the Syrian Government ordered the use of the chemical weapons or the exact opposite: the rebels used the gas to tease the Americans in taking a hard stand and the US regime fell into the trap laid for them by the rebels. It seems that the uS has not learnt the lessons from the Iraq War: The Iraqi quislings like Chablis fed the US false information and instigated the US to wage war. Much the same has happened in Syria.

The Syrian Government is fighting a Civil War in which the USA is deeply inmplicated. The rebels have advanced till Damascus and are threatening the Capital. The Government of Assad will fall if the rebels take control of Damascus. Anbar Province is also reeling under the impact of the insurgents. The collapse of Syria is in the interest of Israel as the last major Baathist Government which opposed the formation of Israel would have folded. As Ben Gurion once said If the Arab world in on fire, it suits Israel" and that statement os about to come true. The war against Syria is not about chemcial attack and the Americans know that their allies carried out the attack. It is about reshaping the map of the Middle East in favour of Israel and its security..

The Americans are fooling themselves if they believe that the Assad Government carried out the attack. It is a"Big Lie" and like all big lies this too has its uses . Iran will not stand idly by if Syria is attacked and will hurl Hizbollah against Israel. The Israeli Army lost the war against Hizbullah and now the Military arm is stronger than ever. The only thing US can do is to stir up Wahhabi-Sunni fundamentalism and al qaeda is waiting for just such an opportunity. It seems USA is bent on its own destruction.

Barack Obama, the Syrian Chemical Attack and the Dogs of War

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

"Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of War". This line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar is appropriate today as the American President, Barack Obama sells his idea of war against Syria to the world. The American establishment has lost all credibility in the Middle East after using the contrived charge of weapons of mass destruction to depose and later hang Saddam Hussein. It is well known that it was USA that supplied Iraq with chemical weapons during the long war with Iran during the 1980s and suddenly USA became so upright and self righteous that it found "chemical weapons an obscenity" in the purple prose of John Kerry. In fact many of us who supported John Kerry when he ran against George Bush were both disappointed and let deceived by this change in tone. Now he is serving Barack Obama and so he has to speak the language that his master wants to hear.

It is well known that USA and France are both very keen to intervene in the civil war that is underway in Syria. The two countries have perfected the recipe for  regime change: arm a rabble, let it loose against the Government, shout that a humanitarian crisis is at hand, get the Arab League to issue a statement in favor of intervention and then tilt the balance of power in favor of the rebels by transferring sophisticated arms and prevent effective counter measures by a no fly zone. This recipe first cooked up in the Balkan crisis let to the division of Yugoslvia into its constituent parts and was effectively deployed in Iraq, Libya. In both these countries the legitimate rulers or governments were forcibly removed and the Presidents were killed in the most brutal manner.Unfortunately, the world does not seem to recognize the pattern of the statecraft of the two White countries.

In Syria the last bastion of Baath resurgence in the Middle East, the Assad Government has played a role in transforming a pastoral society into a fairly successful non confessional state and this grates the countries like Saudi Arabia which do not want a successful non confessional society close to its border and USA does not want any social and political stability in the region. Right from the inception of the civil war USA has made, in defiance of international law, noises in support of the rebels and has been arming the rebels with sophisticated weapons. When Barack Ombama declared quite gratuitously the use of "chemical weapons would be a red line" he was only encouraging the rebels to use chemical weapons so that a pretext for intervention can be created. The  Russian and the UN team have found no evidence to support the contention that the Government forces used the weapons and there is documentary evidence to show that the rebels have used the weapons in the past and Obama conveniently forgot this fact. China and Russia have both decided not to support the USA in its criminal aggression against Syria.

History shows that USA used chemical weapons in Vietnam and the people of that country are still suffering from then aftereffects. USA collected all the data of the use of chlorine gas from the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in 1984/ And the less said about the use of nuclear bombs the better. The world does not see USA as a state committed to peace.

New Light on India's Relations with Tibet: Weapons supplied to the Tibetans in the years after Independence in 1947

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Indian Government has always pretended to follow a "principled" policy towards Tibet. One the one hand it recognizes the fact that  Tibet is an integral part of China and on the other provided space for the Dalai Lama to indulge his fancy for high decibel diplomacy and publicity and China rightly objects to this dual policy. Based on perfidy and exercised through duplicity   this policy has stood in the way of realizing the full potential of Indo-Chinese relations. The two form the very heart of Asian civilizations and there is at least 2,550 years of peaceful history behind the civilizational ties between India and China. Unfortunately, successive Congress regimes have built their foreign policy on instinctive hostility toward China, rather than exploring the threads that bind these two giant neighbors together. And in following this policy, the Government of India starting with the first Prime Minister, Jawarhar Lal Nehru were essentially following the colonial policy enunciated by the British Government in order to keep China under constant threat. The greatest failure of Nehru lies in his wooden headed pursuit of an aggressive China policy without taking into consideration the alternatives. Today as we survey the landscape, we find China standing at the very doorstep of economic powerhouse and India is facing a bleak future because of the inherent stasis created by a corrupt political class and corruption.

Documents recently discovered in the National Archives of India clearly prove that in the 1940;s even as the country was facing the massive onslaught of the Japanese Empire, the then British Government was instrumental in supplying arms and ammunition to the Dalai Lama and his followers in China.The 11 year old "Dalai  Lama" neither had the wit nor the education to understand what the English secret services were up to and after Independence Jawahar Lal Nehru continued the same policy while publicly proclaiming the homilies of "panch sheel". The Revolutionary Government of China obviously saw through this grand pantomime. Therefore the prime responsibility for the border conflict in 1962 rests with the Government of India and its misguided policies and perspectives.

The Political Officer looking after Tibet and Sikkhim in the waning years of the Raj, Mr A J Hopkinson put up a note to his superiors asking for funds to equip a brigade level force in Tibetr with 2 and 3 inch mortars, sten guns, machinme guns and Bren machine pistols. The Memorandum of MAY 29, 1947 WHICH IS FOUND IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF iNDIA (FRONTLINE AUGUST 23, 2013) contains a reproduction of this important document. The officials were certain that this policy of sending arms will be vigourously contested by the Chinese Government and even Chiak Kai Shek did not acquiesce in this wrong and anti Chinese policy.The programme of arming the "peace loving" monks of Tibet began soon after the Francis Younghusband expedition to Tibet and picked up momentum after the Revolution of 1911.

Even after Independence when the departure of the British should have induced fresh thinking, the policy of arming the Tibetans continued. In October 1947, Sam Manekshaw, then a Lt Col. approved the transfer of weapons and 1,484,000 rounds of aminutions to Tibet. it is likely that Britain wanted a foothold in Tibet in order to exert pressure on China both with regards to Kowloon and Hong Kong.

Independent Indfa did not have any such strategic objective and why was Jawarlal Nehru so utterly foolish and shortsighted.

Durga Shakti Nagpal: An IAS officer suspended for doing her job

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

In several of my blogs I have drawn attention to the criminalization of politics in India, particularly in the state of Uttar Prasesh which has elected a Samajwadi party as its single largest party. Mulayam Singh Yadava, the strong man of the party appointed his son Akilesh Yadava as the Chief Minister and this young man presides over a government in which  crimnals with serious crimes to their names were appointed Ministers. The case in point is the Rajput criminal, Raja Bhaiya who is known to be a thug operating in eastern UP, the bad lands of the state. There is a story, I wish it were not true, that this man feeds his enemies to crocodiles reared in a pond in his extensive "kotti" or bunglow. The Samajwadi party like its predecessor in power the Bahujan Samaj  Party under Mawawati is steeped in caste warfare and criome. The social base of the Yadava dominated Samajwadi Party is of courase the Yadavas, the Muslims, the Mallas and the intermediate caste. The poximity to the national capital has made NOIDA or Gautham Buddha Nagar an important centre for the booming real estate mafia. It may be woth recalling that Neera Yadava, the former Chairman of the NOIDA Development Authority an IAS officer is presently under conviction for crimes of bribery and misuse of power when she was in charge of the land development in the same district in which Ms Durga Shakti Nagpal was posted as Senoior Divisional Magistrate.

This young woman was palced under ssuspension two days back for having shown the courage in taking on the sand mafia. The term sand mafia may appear ridiculous to a western audience. However, given the building boom in New Delhi and Noida, river sand which is mixed with cement in order to make building concrete is in huge demand. The sand mafia was using sand dumpers to excavate sand from the dry river bed of the Yamuna and was selling it at a huge profit to the real estate dealers. The nexus between party members of the Samajwadi Party, the local power elites consisting of the usual Thyagis and Yadavas, and the real estate developers was so strong that when this young woman stated seizing the sand dumpers and confiscating the sand, the yelps from the yadava criminals soon reached Lucknow. Akileh Yadava, the son of Mulayam Singh immediately ordered the suspension of the woman who showed some courage. What is really surprising is that a week back I wrote in a comment in Times of India that this woman is taking on criminals and she is asking for trouble. And exactly as I predicted Durga Nagpal was suspended.

In western countries the officialdom is not takken to task for carrying out the law and implementing policy. The young woman was following the instruction of the Supreme Court of India which has laid down a strict policy of government regulation of sand mining because of its environmental hazards. Durga Nagpal perhaps thought that having the Supreme Court verdict on her side would strengthen her position. However, Akilesh Yadava's government resorted to a crude ruse inorder to have the officer placed under suspension. Citing law and order problems, the criminals of the Samajwadi party tries to give an "identity" colour to the issue by saying that Muslims were being targetted. This line was contradicted even by the local police. Thus, when people elect criminals to power one can expect anything and the suspension of Durga Nagpal shows the depths to which civil administration has sunk in India. In the neighboring state of Haryana, another IAS officer, Khemka who exposed the shady real estate deals of Robert Vadra, the son in law of Soniaji, faces similar problems.

The IAS Officers rallied to the support of the officer and even put out a feeble statment. However, the rot in Indian politics is so deep that honesty does not pay and hopefully in the next elections people of India will show more intelligence in their voting parrern.

Rock Art Exibition in Pondicherry

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

The Indira Gandhi Nation Center for the Arts in association with Pondicherry University organized an exhibition of Rock Art on the campus of the University. Rock Art seems to be a fascinating area of research and the University has a well known scholar in the field of Rock art in Andhra Pradesh. The exhibition was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of Pondicherry University, Prof (Mrs) Chandra Krishnamurthy. She spoke eloquently about the importance of rack art as an aspect of Indian cultural heritage. The exibition on Rock painting contained select pieces from all all over India. The discovery of the Bhimbetka caves by Dr Wakankar in 1957 put India on the world map of rock art studies and the 450 sites associated with the Bhibetka complex of sites are inscribed as World Heritage sites by UNESCO.

The inauguration of the Rock Art Exhibition by the Vice Chancellor and the Director of the French Institute of Pondicherry, Prof. Pierre Grard was followed by a extensive collection of of impressive pieces of rock paintings from all over the world.

This is an abstract representation of a figure from Central India. Done with natural pigments, the ochre coloured art works are usually regraded as being earlier than rock art in white colour.

Stick figures in serried ranks shows that the paleolithic age when rock art was crated there was a rudimentary sense of social organization. A group like the one illustrated above imples some sort of hierarchy and social organization.

The early rock art which is found in India depicts only animals. We do not get any representations of flora in them. Were animals depeicted as a part of ritual to increase the hunt by praying to the goddess of fertility. This question is naturally raised when we look at the social purpose behind rock art.

The Vice Chancellor going round the hall which displayed the photographs of rock paintings. Pondicherry University is fortunate to have a very enlightened Vice Chancellor who is not only interested in the academic well being of the University, but is also helping the University scale new heights.

The INGCA also conducted a  painting competition as part of the exhibition and the children of Kendriya Vidyalaya participated in the competition.

The Noon meal Tragedy in Bihar: Callousness and Mis Governance

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

Two days dack, in a village Chapra located 65 kilometers from the capital Patna 25 schoolg children all below the age of 11 died after having taken their mid day meals in school. In India, the mid day meal is a major incentive for families from poorer sections of society to send their children to school. Origally conceived in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu by the Cheif Minister M G Ram,achandran, the mid day meal program caught on and even in the mis governed states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this welfare scheme is presently underway. The fiances for the scheme are part of the state budget and the school appoints a cook and an attender to run the mid day meal programme.

However, in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh there is massive corruption even in this scheme. In fact Bihar has the dubious distinction of having had a Chief Minister, laloo Prasad Yadava who was caught taking the money ear marked for animal welfare. The now infamous Fodder Scam is reaching its final stages in the courts and will end up convicting laloo Prasad Yadava. Even athug like this Laloo Prasad was not able to kill all the 347 witnesses. The current Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, a past master in the old style identity politics rode to power on the strength of a very fragile social coalition consisting of intermediate caste, landed caste and the higher castes. After taking over the reins of government for the second time, Nitish Kumar began to feel the weight of his victory, but interpreted it as an endorsement of his personal "charisma". And this wrong and ill conceived notion was his undoing.

The tragedy in Bihar took place only because of mis governance. The last 2 years the state administration has been paralyzed due to national ambitions of Nitish Kumar. Ever since he declared his opposition to the Prime Ministerial candidature of Honnourable Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar regime has been floundering. Corruption, mal administration, scams and scandals have become the order of the day. The death of the 22 school children is a testimony to the plight of Bihar under Nitish Kumar.

The shocking facts have emerged from the news reports. The food itmes for preparing the noon meals were sourced from the shop of the husband of the Head Mistress of the school, a man who as it turns out is an activist of the Rasshtrya Janata dal whose leader is the fodder scam accused, :Laloo Prasad Yadava. The shameless state government sought to shift the blame to the RJD by implying that the RJD wasbehind the tragedy in order to undermine the regime of Nitish Kumar. The level to which politics has sunk in India can be understood from the fact that the Government refuses to see the tragedy as one caused by itts own failures, but is quick to see political conspiracies everywhere. Corruption in the mid day meal scheme is the real factor.

Even after the children took ill, it took over six hours for the children to be shited to the Primary Health Centre and there there was no nurse or doctor and there were no drips to provide immediate releif. This sate of affairs prevailing in Bihar is a national shame and  people must realise that identity politics will lead to the grave as it did for the 22 children

The World Bank and the IMF have given loans, soft loans to Bihar but the utilization of these loans is so poor that the international funding agencies are now wary of giving loans to Bihar. The country as a whole has slid backwards under the rule of the Congress Party and its allies and if India needs better Governence it must vote for change..

The Storm over Narendra Modi 's Interview

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The outrage industry is hard at work once again: pouring out anger, invective, hatred and scorn at the emerging national persona of Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Taking sentences out of context, distorting the meaning of his sentences and putting words into his mouth, the apologists of the Congress Party like Shoma Choudhary, the notorious Abhishek Manu Singvi, Sanjay Jha and scores of Congress friendly "intellectuals" came flooding to TV studios to have their fifteen minutes of fame. They tried to suggest that Naredra Modi had overreached himself and had exposed his "communal" ideology. The riots of 2002 are always brought out when the Chief Minister of Guharat is discussed. However what is ignored deliberatelyy is that the Supreme Court if India has monitored the investigations into the 2002 Riots and has declared Modi absolutely free of any fault either of omission or commission.

The liberals who vent their fury at Narendra Modi seem to forget that the Congress party organised the largest masscre of Indians in the post Independence period when in 1984 Congress workers led by Sahhan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Lalith Makken and scores of other Delhi based politicians attacked Sikhs all over New Delhi and other parts of North India and killed 5,000 Sikhs in Delhi alone. The count of the dead in the rest of North India is not known. Yet these very liberals are silent in the issue of Congress complicity in the 1984 riots and earlier in the Bhagalpur riots ibn which nearly 1,500 men and women were killed. The reason why they vent their spleen on Narendra modi os only to polorise the electorate and harvest Muslim votes. Unfortunatley, the people of India have not forgotten 1984 and the Congress has neither expressed its anguish over the killings nor has the party apologised for the rampage of 1984. Yet when it comes to Gujarat the Congress men like to pose as if their hands are clean when in fact it is dripping with blood and the stains are there for all to see.

Certain remarks made by Modi have beeb twisted out of shape. Modi described himself as a "patriot", a "nationalist" and finally as a "hindu nationlist". The votaries of the fake secularism jumped at the last label and accused him of being divisive. What Modi meant was that he has a vision of India founded on the values and traditions that are associated with Sanathana Dharma and that forms the inspiration for his statecraft. There is nothing divisive or even politically damaging in this statement. Since he was speaking in Hindi, the Congressmen have created a good deal of confusion by deliberately distorting his remarks. The Supreme Court of India has ruled that Hinduism is not a religion but onlyn a way of life and therefore what Modi has said by no stretch of the imagination can be termed "communal".

During the course of the interview, Modi referred to the pain he felt when even a small puppy is killed by being run over by a car. This remark was made in the context of the pain he felt for the suffering of the people of Gujarat during the 2002 riots. A man who can feel the pain of a small animal rum over by a car is certainly sensitive to the feelings of people. Contrast this statement with what Rajiv Gandhi said when the Sikhs were being killed in New Delhi during his watch as Prime Minister: When a big tree falls the earth trembles. Not only was the Army not called in Delhi to control the Congress thugs, but the Sikh policmen who would have protected the people were told not to report to duty. No police station filed the FIR against the Congress men responsible for the killings and yet none of the outrage mongers of today have a word of condemnation for the Congress and this silence exposes the political purpose in hounding Modi. On Gujarat on the other hand, the police restored Law and Order within 24 hours and there has been no riots since much to the chagrin of the Congress Party.

One last point. Modi rightly said that in democracies issues do get polorised and he went on to show the differences between the Republican and the Democratic parties. The Congress spokemsmanSanjay Jha seems to think that American politics is all talk and not much polirization in US politics. He is just an illiterate fellow who should know that the immigration bill and the Arms Control measures are deeply divisive even in American Society. These days the Congress party has begun holding the US as a torch bearer of value politics forgotting its own stand not that long ago. There is nothing wrong ibn polorising the electorate onto the side of good governance and corruption free India which Modi not only promises but has delivered in Gujarat.

The 2014 General Elections will be faught on the issue of corruption and mis governance and on both these issues the people of India have made up their mind and the Congress party wants to take the agends back to identity politics and is trying its level best to whip up passion against Modi. THe elections will see a total wipeout of the Congresss party.

A trip to Jharkhand: Rohini, a land time forgot

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books With great trepidation I set off for Jharkhand. I kept telling my hosts that it is unsafe to travel there and they in turn offered police protection from the West Bengal border. I politely declined as I felt safer travelling alone than with a police escort. After all a historian is not really a threat to the Maoists. I am glad I went as I had some memorable experiences there. The districts of Dumka and Devghar constitute the heart of the Santal land and there are well preserved markers of the heroes, Sido-Kunnhu, the two tribals who faught in 1856 against the creeping rule of the East India Company. I found the statue of the two in the heart of Dumka.

Jharkhand being on the border between Bengal and Bihar has been exposed to religious influences which have shaped the identity of the place. One can say that the geographical features and cultural attributes contribute to the making of spatial identities and the best example of this is the Baba Baidynath Dham located in Devaghar. This temple probably of the medieval period is a celebrated Dham of Hindu religion and the puranic lore of the place connects the shrine to the legend of Siva and sati. The heart of sati, the consort of Shiva is said to have falled in this place and the shrine commemorates that event. As a tantric shire this place is marked by animal sacrifices and the crowds there is indeed tremendous. I manged to find my way to the Linga with the help of a muscular panda. Here are some pictures of the Baba Baidyanth Dham.

Rohini, a small "princely" state spawned by the zamindari settlemnt in the late eighteenth century has had an interesting history. It was one of the first to introduce the concept of seed bank in the early twentieth century when the sate of Rohini subsidized the grain that was distributed to farmers during a particularly severe famine. This place was also the first major stop in the spiritual journey of Ramakrishna Parahamsa whose Ashram is still located in Devghar. The ruins of the old palaces of Rohini bespeak of an age gone by and here are some of the pictures which evoke a picture of the age that has disappeared forever. The descendant of the Rohini ruling family is a sociologist by training and an extremely gracious person. It was quite an honour to have met him and his two friendsmNandan and Chowdhury, dring my visit to Rohini.

Rohini has earned a footnote for itself in the history of the Mutiny of 1857. Though the residents of Rohini are all convinced that 1857 was a War of Independence, the fact is that the echoes of the Barrarkpore incident had almost an immediate echo in Rohini when three soldiers led by Salamat Ali killed a cavalry officer, Leslie. With some difficulty Nandan and Choudhury and Srinjeevi were able to locate the long forgotten grave of Leslie alongside ther Kolkotta=Mughalsarai Railway line.

1857 and the events around this landmark have fashioned commemorative practices which are kitschy as they are poignant. The place in which Salamat Ali and his two compatriots were hanged has been made into a Shaheed Sthal. a Martyr's Place, which was set up in memory of 1857. The statues of the 3 are found in this park.

Rohini is surrounded by hills and the hill ranges provided space for the early revolutionaries to try out their explosives and also a secluded place for nationalists and revolutionaries alike to seek refuge from the British Secret police. In a forested track located near the outskirts of Rohini is the mid nineteenth century building, the Grant Bunglow.

The trip to Jharkhand, particularly Devaghar and Rohini was a memorable one and I met some very good people there and was struck by the gracious simplicity of the family of the erstwhile rulers of Rohini.

America's Secret War: Mazzetti throws light on CIA Operations

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books One of the many myths surrounding USA is that it is a great power, a bulwark of liberty in a sea of tyranny. This self serving ideologically laced self representation of USA has made people, especially historians and analysts, ignore certain important aspects of the political and institutional conduct of US. In India, the tele intellectuals of JNU and other leading Universities are only too willing to buy American self ratiocination as the hegemonic weight of post colonial theories seriously impedes our intellectuals from seeing reality from behind the fog of illusions created by American propaganda. India has to learn lessons from the USA, if it wants to be a hard state. Unfortunately the cold comfort of being a soft state gingerly side stepping all important political and security questions is too attractive a prospect for our "intellectuals" to lose. So they continue to mouth the platitudes taught to them by American establishment. A case in point is the controversy over Martha Nussbaum. There are enough morally obnoxious events happening in the USa for this white woman to fret and fume over. But she will issue "fawas" against Narendra Modi and her shrill rhetoric is magnified by Indian intellectuals ever eager to be seen on the same page as the Gucci and Benetton of the American academia. It is in this context that Mark Mazetti's The Way of the Knife is an eyeopener. This book deals with the policies and strategies pursued by the USA in its war against Islamic fundamentalism. What is so striking is the close coordination between the Military and the civilian leadership especially in the fields of espionage and "special operations" US speak for targeted assassinations. Right from the Administration of George W Bush the CIA was involved in an active chase for Islamic militants in Iraq, Somalia, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan, The hunt had started even before 9/11. The CIA and its method of working is given in some detail. In India we have seen the absolute incompetence of IB and RAW to achieve any national goal. RAW operatives must read this book to get a first hand account of the ethos prevailing in the intelligence community in USA. First of all the Americans rightly think that Intelligence is not the domain for policemen and detectives. Somehow there is a false notion prevailing in India that political and strategic intelligence can be left to policemen. This is like leaving open hear surgery to the chief nurse in the cardiac ward. It is high time India understood that Intelligence is a highly specialized field of expertise and policemen are just not adequate for the job. Another point worth noting is the integrity with which field operatives do their job. They do not white wash reports or tailor them for the political basses. The only instance when this was done was during the WMD crisis when the CIA operatives or eather the outsources espionage hacks filled exaggerated reports. In India the RAW and the IB put up reports with both eyes firmly fixed on the next promotion or the needs of their bosses. Americans usually claim that their Government follows Rule of Law. By and large one can agree with this statement at a very general level just as I will say with utter confidence that in India we have rule of outlaws like Laloo, Mulayam, Karunanidhi and slum dog politicians like them. However, when dealing with grey areas the US Government outsources its policy of inflicting violence. Blackwater is a case in point, Whenever dirty work of killing people or whisking them away for "serious interrogation" read Git Mo treatment, then Blackwater fills the bill. The American tax payer pays heavily so that his President and his Cabinet can deny "criminal culpability" for the actions Black Water carries out. Even in an Outlaw State like India, this kind of deniablity is not possible. The political opposition will not allow the Government to get away with callous, calculated mursder as is done in the USA and Mark Mazzetti has documented several instances of such dubious behavior.

The book makes fascinating reading and is written in a racy, page turner sort of style which makes the book more interesting than John Le Carr's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. However, the author like all Americans is a bit squeamish when it comes to drone warfare. He hints that there are questions about the legality of such attacks but does not explicitly state that US policy is illega. However, the author has provided enough instances to show that the much vaunted drone warfare has caused huge causalities. In Somalia and in Afghanistan drone attacks has led to more than 5,000 deaths and the body count is rising. I like the book and I reccomed this book to all those interested in US policies in our part of the Globe.

Narendra Modi and the BJP; The Internal crisis and its ramifications

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The elevation of the Hon'ble Narendra Modi to head the election campaign for the 2014 General Elections was not unexpected. The BJP has seen in the Chief Minister a new kind of leader, one who has the largest appeal in a country where the majority of the population is less than 30 years of age. The demographics of the electorate dictates the choice of a campaign strategist who can connect with the younger sections of the population. Another important point. After fomenting "identity politics" based on confessional sects, the country particularly the Muslims were willing to give the Congress party its thumbs up by default. The Congress party had learned the art of whipping up minority fears for its own dynastic purposes. The happy fallout of the Jaswant Singh controversy has been that it has led to a rethinking about the role of the Congress in the tragedy of Partition and many are now willing to concede that the Congress too was complicit in the tragedy. Minority fears also revolve around the unsettled and ongoing controversy of the role of the Congress Party and its leadership in the anti-Sikh Massacre of 1894. One happy consequence of all these developments is that the Congress propaganda of being a party which protects minority interests has been questioned. The changing nature of Indian society and demography has led to VIRTUAL REJECTION OF POLITICS OF the "old kind". The cobbling together of caste groups, vested interests and sundry other sodalities into a combination that can hurl a candidate across the winning post and in the first past the winning post system this strategy was often successful. The only exception to this general rule was the 1977 election which was a referendum on the Congress Party imposed Emergency. The 2014 Elections is showing every sign of snowballing into a referendum on the Congress and its performance. The series of scandals involving powerful congressmen like P Chidambaram and Pawan Bansal, regional allies like the DMK and the rest has made the entire country restive. Indians have come to accept a fair degree of corruption as then price for democracy, unlike China where the Confucian ethics curbs the predatory instincts. However the rising crime graph and the impunity with which the Congress dealt with the question of accountability has outraged the nation and so the 2014 Election will be fought on the issue of governance and accountability. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Hon;ble Narendra Modi has been able to articulate a vision of politics which the young find highly inspirational. He has turned politics over to Economics and has made development the sole criterion for political legitimacy. In this, Modi is essentially following the East Asian and China model which placed salience on develpment. The growth rate of Gujarat over the past decade has been virtually in the double digits and even the hostile Indian print media has had to acknowledge the vast improvement in the economy of Gujaratt. There are however questions of inclusion which still remain. We must say that only after the economy has grown can one address the issue of inclusion. The ideologues of the Congress and their cohorts in the Indian "social science" establishment have raised quetions about the "inclusive" nature of Gujarat's growth story. What these ideologues fail to grasp is that over the last decade Gujarat has become almost a developed state and all social indices are positive. It is against this background that Narendra Modi began to draw attention. The people of India, particularly the young want better lives for themselves, better education and better living standards and are convinced that the old style of identity politiccs favored by the Congress is not taking the country anywhere except toward crime and corruption. The schemes launched by the Gujarat Government if replicate on a national scale will lead to tremendous progress. Governance in GujarAT IS FREE FROM THE MALAISE OF CORRUPTION. hON.BLE nAREDRA MODI is perhaps the only chief minister who does not face charges of corruption and financial maleficence. And the people of India want to give this new kind of politics a chance. The BJP like any Indian political party is full of factions. L K Advani has virtually disassociated himself from the leadership of Shri Modi, This is unfortunate as Advani is a tall leader and well respected within the party and outside. I have great respect for L K Advani and I think that he is too great a man to let the clouds of today rain out the prospects for a better India. However Modi has a toough job ahead of him. Being the chairman of the Election Committee he would need to interact with state level leaders who are aligned to various factions and the defeat of the party in Karnataka must have led to the realization that factionalism is self defeating. Modi must quickly develop a line of command which reports directly to him and not to the faction bosses. The 2014 Elections will be fought on the issue of governance and corruption and Modi has demonstarted success in both.

Naxalite Violence in Chatiisghar: Is the Congress Party responsible for the cycle of violence

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The Naxalite Movement has created a state within a state in India and with the eroding legitimacy of the Indian state based on the 1947 Settlement it is time to ask the fundamental question: Is the Indian political class of which the criminal organization called the Congress party is the preeminent example the main and fundamental cause for the cycle of violence. During the course of the last 60 years the dynastic fascists have ruined India by foisting a corrupt political culture in which courtiers masquerade as politicians. Every institution of the land, the Parliament, the steel frame of the bureaucracy, the constitutional bodies like the CVC and investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI have been perverted to serve the cause of the dynastic fascists. The Indi9an constitution does not advocate a dynastic sate and the criminal CONGRESS PARTY HAS CONVERTED THE POLITICAL PROCESS into manipulated endorsement of dynastic rule. Unfortunately the other political parties like the BJP and the Communists play along without realizing the fact that dynastic fascism is the root cause of political and administrative corruption in India. The present regime of ManMohan Singh is floundering in the ocean of corruption on a monumental scale of which the Coal Allocation Scandal and the @G Spectrum Scandal have caused a loss of nearly 15% of the GDP.If India did not have this parasitical political class it would be a very rich country indeed. It is against this background that the violence against the Congressman unleashed by the Maoists in Chatiisghar has to be viewed. The Congress Party always speaks in two voices on all major issues and hence there is no consensus in India on any issue. All criminology parties will unite in the name of fighting communslism without understanding that the bogey of ":communalism" was created by Nehru in order to defelct attention from the Congress complicity in enforcing the Partition of the Country and since then the artificial fears of "majority" rule has been cleverly used to fragment Indian electorate into pliable voting blocks. The BJP unfortunately plays along with the Congress without realizing that the political futre of India lies only in the demise and extinction of political forces like the Congress. In Punjab the Congress sided with the Sikh militants and lent support to Bhindrenwale, in Sri Lanka the Congress Government of Indira Gandhi armed and trained the LTTE and in Assam, the Congress is in direct cahoots with the ULFA and uses the militancy in order to intimidate the other parties including the BJP. Therefore for the Congress leadership to say that the attack on the "Parivarthan Yatra" is an attack on the "democratic process" is both false and disingenuous. The Congress has been using Dig Vijaya Singha to discredit any attempt at reigning in jehadi inspired terrorism. Now when it has to face the consequences of its own misguiged policies to cries out as if "Democracy" is in danger. The dynastic fascists re the biggest threat to democracy in India not the Naxalite Movement. Unfortunately, establishment figures like Ramachandra Guha fail to emphasis the obvious link between Congress double speak and the culture of violence unleashed by that party. Now the people are responding in kind. Another example of the double speak is the patronage given to the anti naxalite militia, the Salwa Jadum founded by Mahendra Karma who was killed in the attack recently. The petition of Ramachandra Guha made the Supreme Court oder the disbanding of the Salwa Jadum while the Naxalite movement did not get any adverese notice from the Court. The ideologues like Arunditti Roy and Ramchandra Guha denounced in very strong language the violence of the Salwa Jadum but were certainly not too vehemnet in teir criticism of the Naxalite. In fact Arunditti Roy even calls them "Gandhians with Guns". In fact the Congress patronage of the Salwa Judam made this anti naxalite movement into a major force in the so called anti naxalite movement. The Congress trumpeted its Operation Green HUnt" after the Dantewada Incident but as is always the case with the Congress it lacks both the skill and the expertise to do anything excet corruption. Operation Green Hunt degenerated into a tribal killing movement and this engendered more support for the anti Congress Naxalite Movement. If the Naxalite target the Congress and other criminal political forces the p[eople of India will not give a whit. It was Karma, a Congressman who created and launched the anti tribal militia and the naxalites took him out in a ruthless amnner. Jairam Ramesh the "intellectual" face of the dynastic fascists publically humiliated Mahendra Karma in the rally signalling the Congress no longer found Karma useful and therefore expendable. The result the brutal killing of this Congress tribal political leader. The Congress Party itself is responsible for the killing not the state Government under Dr Raman Singh. The Home Ministry guidelines are very clear that in Naxalite liberated areas the conventional political parties should not move in large convoys. The convoy of nearly 40 cars was struck by well trained and armed militants. As was the case with the Rajiv Gandhi rally in which Rajiv Gandhi was eliminated by his political rivals the LTTE, in which the participation of Congress insiders is still suspected. in the case of the present attack the route of the convoy was changed at the last moment and this led to the attack. In other words the congress men themselves were responsible for the brutality. Had the route not been changed then the attack may not have taken pl;ace. Do we care about what happened. I think the Indian nation does not care for the fate of its politicians. V C Shukla was the Information and Broadcasting Minister during the Emergency and that says it all. The BJP must not go overt board in condemning the attack as the Congressmen invited the attack on themselves.

IPL MATCH FIXING AND THE GAME OF CRICKET: BEYOND A BOUNDRY,by C L R James

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The recent expose has of course, shocked everyone. Each time a juicy scandal breaks out and the heart wrenching dirges that are sung about betrayal reminds me of the famous line in Casablanca when the police officer says, "I am shocked that gambling in goin on here" even as he pockets his earnings. Sreesanth has been caught largely because he is an outsider and a marginal member of the Indian test team. In fact, right from the time of Kapil Dev Indian cricket has been bedeviled by allegations of match fixing and Mohammad Azuruddin the Hon'ble member of thew Congress Party and an MP to boot from Rampur, UP was even convicted of match fixing. Unfortunately, the man went on to become an MP and thus prove to the whole country that even if you are caught in a scandal the political class is above common consideration of decency, loyalty to country and dignity. In fact Indian cricket is a mirror of contemporary India in which fixers of every kind, colour and shape thrive. Just see the shenanigans of the Congress Party over the Coalgate Scandal and the involvement of the Law Minister in the whole affair. Cricket has had a rich and colurful history. Ranjit Singh documented his life in cricket in the Jubilee Book of Cricket. India unfortunately has not produced a single historian who has been able to write the history of the game as a reflection of social, political and cultural trends. The last great cricketer which India had was Gundappa Vishwanath, a stylish batsman who displayed both verve and style on the wicket. Now we have corrupt clowns masquerading as national icons and the decline began, yes, with Sachin Tedulkar. The clamour for giving his a "Bharat Ratna" is indeed obscene. Beyond a Boundry by C L R James is one of the best books on cricket that I have ever read. I have read Neville Cardus and the like but James is able to interweave the history of cricket in the West Indies with social history. The racist society of Jamaica and Trinidad did not allow the blacks, the descendents of slaves who worked on the sugar plantations any venue for social mobility. C L R James write the history of west Indian cricket as a social history of the blacks trying to assert their identity in the face of intense institutional racism and marginalization. Obviously with such a history, you are not going to see match fixing and and like. Every lover of cricket must read this book.

Autonomy for the Central Bureau of Investigation: Why the CBI must be given autonomy

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The observations of the Supreme Court of India that the CBI is a "caged parrot" mimicking its master,s voice has resulted in a debate in Indian liberal circles. As usual the India liberal will always jump to extreme conclusion. The "policeman" cannot be "autonomous" screamed one well heeled liberal as if the Supreme Court mandated an unaccountable CBI. The issue here is the rampant misuse of the Government investigative agencies for partisan political purposes. The Income Tax Department, the Intelligence Bureau, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and scores of other Central and State agencies are being misused almost on a daily basis for either protecting political clients or harassing political opponents. Consequently Rule of Law has succumbed to the Rule of Outlaws and the Supreme Court is only attempting to set right the balance. The Indian liberals abet in the crimes of the Establishment of staking extreme positions which results in the existing aberration in institutions go unchecked. The ease with which they jump up and down ranting and raving about a "police state" in case the CBI is insulated from political control shows that the liberals actually want the current misuse of the CBI to continue. The other favorite ploy of the Liberals is to see "communal" conspiracies in any attempt at improving governance: the result once again is status quo. The Congress Party has been misusing the CBI right from Independence. The investigation carried out by the CBI in cases involving high level criminals has always been lackadaisical. An example may be give; The investigations in to the Nagarwala Case in which all the prime accused were killed including the magistrate who conducted the trial still haunts the pages of history. The Investigation into the 1984 riots against the Sikhs organized by the Congress Party has drawn the ire of the courts repeatedly. The main problem with the CBI is that it calibrates its policy to the political demands of the Congress Party. I must say that the BJP did not abuse the CBI in this shameless manner when Hon'ble Lal Kishen Advani was the Deputy PM and Home Minister. Unfortunately given the ideological blinkers of the Indian liberals they are unable to see that the abuse of the CBI is the original sin of the Congress Party which the other major party of governance did not commit. The use or rather abuse of the CBI to coerce political allies and associates is yet another problem. See how the Taj Corridor case is progressing according to the co operation or otherwise of Mayawati. The CBI is now going slow on Laloo Prasad Yadava and the other Yadava, Mulayam Singh Yadava because of political compulsion and see the alacrity with which it raided the house of the DMK rougue Stalin just days after the withdrawal of support by the DMK. What the Supreme Court is trying to do is to insulate the CBI from such abuse. The Supreme Court is not mandaing a police state and the Indian liberals by raising this bogey are actually playing to the Congress Gallery,

The Congress Party and its complicity in the 1984 Riots: Why Sajjan Kumar and Jadish Tytler need to be punished

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The news that Sajjan Kumar, the senior Congress leader from De3lhi has been acquitted as come as a rude shock to many of us who have been following the 1984 Massacre Case. To recapitulate: On November 1st after Indiara Gandhi was eliminated by two Sikh bodyguards, masquerading gangs of Congressmen aided and abetted by the highest political functionaries including her son, Rajiv Gandhi went on a murderous rampage alll across Delhi and killed Sikhs in retaliation and revenge. The Sikh President of India, Zail Singh and his Home Minister Narashima Rao were silenbt spectators when Sikhs were pulled out of their homes and petrol thrown on them and set ablaze in full public view. The police were instructed to keep quiet and even Sikh policemen were attacked. The complicity of the Governmenbt of India was all to clear and the more notorious killers like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were even give tickets by the Congress Party and they went on to become MPs and one of them even became a Cabinet Minister of the dynastic fascist party. Nearly 29 years later, the Sikhs are still awaiting justice and not a single Congressman has been convicted. The police were instructed not to file the FIRs and the Sikh survivors approached the Courts and in the case of Jagdish Tytler the CBi even closed the case on the ground that there is no evidence against him. This is the same CBI which rushes to show its interim report to the outlaw Minister Ashwini Kumar on the coal gate scam. The closure was contested and last month the Delhi High Court gave the order that Tytler can be prosecuted. Sajjan Kumar another notorious killer from the dynastic fascist party, the Congress, the darling of the Indian middle class. The criminal investigation procedures were all subverted in order to shield the criminals and in this the Congress Party should be made accountable in every manner for abetting the crime of 1984. By making a Sikh the Prime Minister behind whose back the dynastic fascists amass wealth, does not absolve the Congress of its barbarism. The Government of India under successive Congress regimes adopted a set of 3 strategies in order to shield the criminals of 1984. First, it deliberately filled wrong details about the lo9cation and events leading to the c crime and in some cases even fabricated names which could be easily proven to be wrong so as discredit the victims of the crime. The second strategy was to question the wrong people and then say that no witnesses could be found. The Sikhs like most Indians have a set of common names. If the witness is named Jasbir Singh, the CBI would get a statement from the wrong Jasbir Singh and produce it in the court. The third was the good old Congress method: intimidation and physical threat. The acquittal of Sajjan Singh is a blot on the entire judicial system. The case must be reopened and the criminals punished. Due to the fact that several decades have passed and many of the witnesses and the corroborative evidence destroyed, the words of the Witness must be taken as the truth, just as was done in the Eichman Trial. The Criminal procedure and its code is being misued to shield the dynastic fascists from the punishment due to them and this must stop if India is to be regarded as a civilized country with rule of law.

THE FOUR YEAR DEGREE PROGRAM OF DELHI UNIVERSITY: WHY THE FUSS

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books Indian academics need some issue to scream their throats off. A few years back it was the Ayodhya question, then it was the Godhra issue and now the four year degree programme. I am amazed at the tenacity with which they enter the public domain and start screaming about issue over which they have just not applied their limited minds. I cannot say that they oppose innovative schemes just for the sake of sounding the bugle of war. Rather it is an identity issue. To be taken seriously as an "academic' one must reinforce his/her credentials by staking out positions which are then amplified as they move form one opinion maker to another. Soon we have a cacophony of noises and the real issue gets submerged. Unfortunately these opinion makers and academics have very close links with the ruling establishment and any voice of dissent is branded "sfforization". Thus India has intellectuals whose only claim on public indulgence is the capacity to stray from one noisy issue to another without waiting to think of the consequences. The same is true of the 4 year degree programme introduced by the University ofDelhi. These public intellectuals who rail against this new innovation are well aware of the fact that all over the world the undergraduate degree is of 4 years duration. India is not able to make the cut to the Shanghai list o9r the Times list only because there is a serious disconnect between undergraduate and graduate programmes. Even in USA the undergraduate degree is of 4 years length. Indians wanting to go to the USA for their post graduate education are now expected to have an MA degree which is recognized as the equivalent of the 4 year degree course. Delhi University is only falling in line with global norms. The cacophony has already started. This morning's Hindu published from Chennai carried a center page article by a tele intellectual from that bastion of intellectual and social snobbery, JNU, in which the author has stated that the 4 year undergraduate programme is an error both in letter and spirit. She finds fault with the courses termed bridge courses which have been introduced in order to make the students competitive on the job front. It is highly elitist to say that the University should be concerned only with knowledge and not the job market. These privileged academics unlike those of us struggling in less well endowed universities do not have to bother about the first generation learners and their concern for the education of "dalits" is just that, notional and theoretical. The courses suggested and introduced by the University will go a long way in helping the stu dents get jobs in an ever shrinking job market especially after the introduction of the Mandal reservations for the OBCs who are both politically and economically well off. The major criticism seems to be that procedures were not followed. If the Academic Council and the due procedures were to be followed no innovation can ever be introduced as vested interests will organize themselves with such vigour that the Vice Chancellor will look foolish. I think the University of Delhi has done the student community a great favor and the UGC must ensure that the rest of the country follows suit. h