2019 Edition of Pondi Lit Fest: Full of Sound and Fury

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

LG at the Event caption

The Three Day extravaganza in Pondicherry, the Third Edition of the Pondicherry Lit Fest, the first genuine attempt on the part of those who do not subscribe to Red Fascism that dominates the intellectual discourse in India got off to a flying start with Her Excellency Dr Kiran Bedi making a remarkable speech, both scholarly and intersting, on Tamil as a Global Language and Literature. Her presentation was sharp focussed and in all respects flagged the pupose for a Lit Fest. Unfortunately her plea for an inclusive and caliberated approach towars Language and Literaure seems to have falllen on the soil of Carthage.

Professor Anand Ranganath was devastating in his criticism of the Left Eco system. We are all aware that Red Fascism at the intelelctual level was backed by State Power and the Right was reduced to a bit player during the 70 years of Congress dynstic rule. The suppression of intellectual freedom, the absolute bureacratization of culture through various state sponsore Akademis, the infringement of the academic freedom of Universites by imposing a third rate curriculaum through the agencies of state are all the ills that can be laid at the door step of the Left and their acolytes. But the Question remains: Are the Nationalists doing enough to reclaim lost territory or are they replacing one set of "sarkari" intellectuals with another

Anand Ranganath

From the eloquent speech of Professor Anand Ranganathan it was clear to me that a deep hurt resides in the heart of intellectuals. Years of rejection humiliation and alienation has opened up and demotratized the public sphere and that is due not to the intelelctual class but to Narendra Modi. It was his spectacular victory that has democratised the public sphere and intellectuals like Prof Anand ranganathan are in reality the beneficairies of that political victory. He is quite right when he rejcts the notion of of a "Right Wing Ecosystem". The fact is the Right in India, unlike the Left is riven with dissent and it is not possible to contruct a monolitic alternative to Red Fascism that has rule the Indian mind for nearly a century. And if we go by the example set by the "New Intelelctuals" of the present day sarkar, it is unlikely to make a serious dent in the legitimacy of the Left.

The Three day event was sponsored by Republic TV abd therefore as part of its Corporate Social Responsiblity underwrote this Three Day Event. I could not help wondering if the racuous crowd from Aranb's stable was just beamed into our Pondicherry. We had the same gaggle of 'tele intellectuals" M R Venkatesh, Sunil Pandit, Tavleen Singh, Vikram Sood, General Dua and the whole host of faces already seen on Republic TV and of course we had the bhadralok, Dr Swapan Das Gupta and Hanchan da. An interesting set of debates followed.

The Kasmir issue was discussed thread bare and the issue was addressed with due seriousness. Arif Mohammad was quite eloquent in his ple for a Civil Code. Hindutva and Hinduism were discussed.

Of ourse the new icons like Anirban Ganguly and Virkam Sampath were visible during the presntations. What need to be done is that "Intellectuals" should stop becoming appendages to the State. Because the Red Fascists were propped by by the then Government is no reason for us to expect the State's largess for survival. There was hardly any particiaption from Pondicherry but it is the good fortune of Pondicherry to be a prop for: In search of an Indian Intellectual.

Romila Thapar and the controversies in JNU

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

I begin by statting that professor Romila Thapar is one of India's most outsytning scholars and as a Historian she has substatial contribution to her credit. I am familiar with her work ans can say with a degree of conficence that Ashoka and the Decline of the Mauryas and her most recent Past Before Us will remain enduring works for some years to come. Thugh she does not belong to the Fernand Braudel type of Historiography which was both challenging and inventive, Thapar did introduce a distict methodological armature to the study of early India. She was a student of A L Bashyam and took her PhD under his suprevision. Along with her were R S Sharma, the reputed Maxist historian and Dr D Devahuti the celebrated author of Harsha A Political Study. The fact is that Dr Devahuti who was far more talented both as a Historian and as a teacher was percecuted by the Marxist goons who taught in JNU and Delhi University and drove this great histoan to death. My complaint is that when D Devahuti was being tortured to the point of suicide the like of Romila Thapar did not utter a single whimper of protest. Hence, I do have the firm convictin that being a part of the cabal of so called leftist historians, Romila Thapar was quite content to see her friend and shishya of the same Guru killed. She lacks a small detail called character--stand up for a colleague who is being targetted.

Niw waht are Romila Thapar's contibution to Indian Historiography. There is no doubt that she and Sharma not quite in command either of Epigraphy or Sanskrit relied primarily on secondary data. For Thapar the field had been cleared by Sten Konow and D C Sircar who translated and published Ashokan Inscriptions. Even the one stray Aramaic Inscription of Ashoka was translated by yet another of Bahshyam's student, A K Narain. R S Sharma studied the Shudra caste and assimilated all social groups who were not disctinctly Brahmin or Khatriya as Shudras. This contradiction he later tried to expalin away by stating very ingeneously that Land Grants led to the proliferation of castes.
Romila Thapar, on the other hand, directed her attention to the rather tragic encounter between the Turks and the Indians. Her Somnath: Many Voices of History attempted an analysis of the contradictory evidence pertaining to the desctruction of the Somnath Temple. Conceding that the evidence is contradictory does not preculde the historical reality of the destrcution of the Somanth Temple. The record of Turkish/Islamic invasions not only in India but al;so Persia and other parts of Asia are replete with instances of wanton dececration of religious structures. Romila does not care to answer the question: Why should the Turks behave differently here. The need to fabricate a politcally correct version of History runs right through the works of Thapar. And the Western Academia obviously lapped up her work because it confirmed their preconceived notions of Islamic history.

JNU Administration has asked for the CV of Romila Thapar in the same manner in which it has asked for the CVs of all Professors Emeritus above the age of 75. Such is the sense of entitlement that Romila Thapar has refused to furnish her CV. In the Press the strident Leftists put out their argument that Romial is being singled out. This is just not true. All Professors above the age of 75 are being reviewed and Romila also falls within that age range. Her refusal to give the CV to the authorities bespeaks of unmistakable sense of entitlement and arrogance.

The real reason why the image of Romial Thapar took a solid beating is due to the fact that she supported a JNU leader, Kanaiya Kumar who was accused of several indecent act on the campus by his female colleagues and pf course, he won notoriety all over Inidia by shouting the infamous slogan, Tukde Tukde Kar denge, Inshaallah, Isnshaallah. A historian of her stature should not have rubbed shoulders with the likes of Kanaiya Kumar who went on to lose his deposit in the Begusarai MP election in May 2019.

Romial Thapar comes from an elite background. Born to wealth privilge and social status, her concern for the poor and the deprived sound hollow.

The Vandalism of the Vrindavan of Sri Sri Vyasa Raya/Thirta

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

The Vrindavan of Sri Sri Vyasa Tirtha, the great philosopher and author of the single most important exposition of Dwita philosophy, Tatparya Chandrika., was utterly vandalized on the night of the 15th of July. There has been a series of attacks on Sanatana Dhrama and its sacred sites but the silence regarding the destruction and desecration of saced sites associated with Hindu Dharma in the main stream Media suggests that there is a concerted and well entrenched effort to further the divide and polarise Indian society for politcal reason and I think the so called secularists are primarily responible for this sorry state of affairs. A stone thrown at a Church caused international outrage but silence surrounds the deliberate vandalism of one of the most important sacrend sites of the Madhva Faith.

The photograph on the left shows the utter vandalism of a sacred site for the Madhav Samaj and Sanatana Dharma at large. The political crisis in Karnataka with the Vokkaliga dominated JD(S) Government tottering at the brink of collapse only makes the situation a lot more serious. In India, Hindus and their sacred sites and practices have become targets of large scale attack. Starting with the assault on the sanctity of the Sabrimala Temple and more recently the order in the Richa case in which a young girl was ordered to distribute a book, the Quoran, as part of her bail conditions and the repeated attacks on festivals and celebrations of the Hindu community inWest Bengal and elsewhere demonstrate that in the name of secularism, anti Hindu ideologies are being weaponized and the destruction of the vrindavan of Vyasa Tirtha is just one example. The lack of media coverage in the mainstream press itself shows the extent to which Indian religious sentiments stand marginalized.

Vyasa Raya/Tirtha (AD 1447-1539) is one of the most prominent philosophers of the medeival period. He was closely associated with the Saluva king, Saluva Narasimha who seized the city of Vijayangra and ovethrew the Sangama Dynasty. Krishnadevara the most celebrated monarch of the Vijayanagara Empire was closely associated with Vyasa Tirtha. The fact that the General of Saluva Narsimha, Narasa Nayaka, was the father of Krishnadevaraya and after the death of Vira Naahshimha occupied the throne goes to show that Vyasa Tirtha was a player in the dynastic and court politics of the Tuluvas. That he was favoured by the Vijayanagara King cannot be in any doubt as there are incriptions recording the gifts given by the Emperor. The Tirumala Tirupathi Temple was palce under the direct supervision of Vyasa in A D 1515. Till this day there is a Vyasa Mutt in Tirumala attesting to this early association. 1524 was a particularly bad year for Krishnadevaraya. His young son Tirumala died leaving the King heirless and heartbroken. Tales of instrigue swirled around this unfortunate event and the fate of Timmappa the loyal Minister was sealed as a consequence. The Conjunction of Nine Planets which was observed all over the world left its mark on Vijayanagara in the forom of Kuhayoga. Somanatha, the poet who composed the Vyasayoga Charitam has drwan pointed attention to this event.

The vandalism of the vrindavan of Sri Sri Vyasa Tirtha is a crime and it must be investigated. The Kumaraswamy Government tried to pass of this great claamity as the work of treasure hunters. This is an absurdity as eveyone knows that nothing of "value" in am material sense is burried within a vridavan. For the Madhvas the vridavan has great scacred value in that it represents the smrithi or sacred memory of the saint. Centuries of adoration and worship of that memory has freat spiritual significane and Vyasa Tirtha aranks along side Narahari Tirtha and Jaya Tirtha as great savants of Dwaita philosophy. Madhvas all over the world are in a state of shock after hearing the vandalism of this very important site of memory,lieu de memoire.

There is a graet deal of noise in the white world about India becoming intolerant. A concerted effort is made to project the followers of Sanatana Dharma as intolerant. The destruction of the vrindavan of Sri Sri Vyasa Tirtha clearly demonstrtes that Hinsus are the victims of intolerance. The Central Government under Narendra Modi has the respobibility to arrest and punish those who did this crime. We do not have faith in the state Government.

Rusty and his Life : Lone Fox Dancing

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

Lone Fox Dancing: My Autobiography
Ruskin Bond
New Delhi: Speaking Tiger, 2017



Ruskin Bond, the reclusive writer living in Dhera Dun, is among India's best loved writers in English.  In today's identity conscious age when projection of fractured and imagined historical injustice, is the stuff of post colonial literature, it is refreshing to find a writer whose transparent prose stands testimony to a life well lived and with with absolutely no bitterness real or imagined against the people he has encountered in his life. This itself is a marked change from the vain self congratulatory autobiographies that flood the market. Indian bureaucrats who lived through the terrible UPA years have become autobiographers par excellence in order perhaps to exculpate the sins of omission and commission.  Ruskin Bond stands out as one who has reflected on his life, learned fromit and  gets ready for the inevitable, he has found peace within him.  All this is amply clear from the Lone Fox Dancing

Ruskin Bond was born to English parents in India. His father was an Officer in the Royal Air force stationed in India and Ruskin was deeply attached to him even as he witnessed his parent's marriage fall apart. After the is father when he was barely 10 years old felt a wound that never quite healed as he felt that his father was alive, ever ready to spring to his defence when needed. Later in life on a visit to the then Calcutta Ruskin made it a point to search out the grave. The tumultuous days of Partition were spent in Bishop Cotton School, Shimla.

Ruskin's description of life in Bishop Cotton reminded me for some strange reason of Billy Bunter the anti hero of our youthful days. Caning for minor infractions, rigid rules that defied comprehension and an obsession with physical exercises were the outstanding features of life in General Dyer's school.Perhaps the excellent Library at Bishop Cotton spurred Ruskin on to be  a writer. The memory of his holiday with his Mother at Father at Jamnagar as the guest of the Ruler is described in all poignancy as this was the only time the family was together. The vast difference in age between his parents and differences in temprement, his fater being serious and reflective and his mother very sociable and vivacious, tore the marrige apart and his mother went on to marry an Indian whose name we are not told. He is referred as "H" thoughout the book. Interestingly enough, Ruskin went on to be a tenant in the house of his step-father's first wife and got along well with his step sister and half brothers. Ruskin Bond's family part Indian part English would have made a post colonial writer weave a complex web of conceit trachery and racial hatered a la Toni Morrison or Arundatti Roy. But Ruskin is extremly correct in the way he has portrayed his family. About his Step Father he writes thst he treated him well and after his Mother's death looked after Ellen, the invalid sister of Ruskin and the daughter of his mother.

Ruskin Bond went to England a few years after Independence and lived in Jersey and London. He was well employed but somehow India drew him back and Bond settled in Dhera Dub where he found his calling as a wriyter. He loved the hills and all his stories are set in the Dhera Dun Hills. The moutains are full of dark tales and they have found an able chronicler in Ruskin Bond. He has writteen for all the Indiabn English magazines that we used to read as children and young adults: Illustrated Weekly of India, The Caravan, Shanker's Magazine. The money received from these magazines supported him and his extended family. Bond decided early in life to be a writer and made a success of that decision through grit and determination. It was not an easy life and Ruskin Bond, a celbrated writer today has seen days of penury.

Today he lives in a house built at the edge of a valley precariously perched over a ravine. It offers a spectacular view and Ruskin live with rakesh and his Family. I found it interesting that Ruskin Loves animals and the title of the book is from a poem he wrote when he saw a fox in a clearing in the woods near the hills:
I'm like the lone fox dancing
In the morning dew.

I enjoyed the book and I do reccomend this book to all aspiring writers. I too wanted to make my living through writing. But the uncertainity of life drove me to choose a more conventional profession. Yes I admire  such determined writers.

AMIT SHAH, POLITICS, PARTY AND BIOGRAPHY

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

Amit Shah and the March of the BJP
Anirban Ganguly 1 Shiwanand Dwivedi
New Delhi: Bloomsbury, 2019.

Isac Deutcher, the famous biographer of Stalin and of Trotsky quotes the Florentine political thinker Niccolo Machiavelli who says "all armed phpphets conquer and unarmed prophets are vanquished". Biographers of politicians, diplomats and statesmen should remember this wise insight while writing biobraphies or rather manufacturing them. Anirban Ganguly, is a well known ideologue of the BJP and is the Director of the Syama Pradad Reseach Foundation, a well known think tank, in New Delhi. He is a good writer with an impressive educational credentials to his name.n However, Amit Shah and his political life though well documented, this book fails to address certain vital issues: the Goghra Incident, the Shorabbuddin Inncident and the encounter killings of Ishrat Jehan and her terrorist companions are just ignored. And this is a wrong rhetorical strategy. In fact as a biographer of Amit Shan, Anirban Ganguly should have discussed these three very imp[ortant events that in effect shaped Amit Shah's rise to the most poserful positionas the Home Minister of India. Before delving into the details of the biography I want to discuss precisely the issues evaded by Dr Ganguly.

Both the Hon'ble Prime Minister and the Hon'ble Home Minister of India have been accused by the Congress and other opposition parties of being complicit in the massacres that took place after the killing of the 59 passengers at Godhra station in Febuary 2002. Andy Marino in his biography of Narendra Modi which I have reviewed in this blog, has clearly brought out the facts that Narendra Modi was elected to the Gujarat Assemby just a day before the Godhra inncident and he was 200 kilometers away. Telephone records clearly show thst the then Chief Minister anf his MoS Home Department, noene other than the subject of this biography were on the phone directing the police to use maximum force to bring the riots under control. The Army was called out from Ahemdabad on the same day and this is in direct contrat to the conduct of Rajiv Gandhi who refused to call out the Army even as Congressmen went aon a killing spree after his mother died. Shoot at sight orders were given and more people were killed in the police firing than in the riots inself. Rampaging mobs were brought under control. The UPA Government tried to implicate Narendra Modi in the Gujarat Riots by saying that the state Governemnt did not take steps to control the situation. In fact, there were insinuations to the effect by Congressmen that Modi and Shah were directing the mobs and a discredited police officer, Sanjeev Bhat made statements to the effect that he was present in the room when such orders were given. This satement of Sanjeev Bhat was proved to be false on the basis of his own mobile phone data which showed his presence elsewhere. Based on such propaganda the Supreme Court ordered a Special Investigating Team and the SIT after interogationg both Modi and Shah gave a clean chit. In other words, exonerated both of any involvement in the post Godhra riots. This allegation was used both by the Congress party and Pakistan to demonixde Modi leading to the denial of US visa for nearly a decade. These facts are important and Anirban Ganguly has erred by ignoring them.

Amit Shah was the Minister of State for the Home Department and reported directly to the Chief Minister. Amit Shah hailed from a rich Gujarati business family and was educated in a traditional way and this explains both the analytical skill and the vigour of his public persona. Remarkably, Amit Shah was externed from Gujarat on the orders of the High Court and this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The killing of Shorabbuddin, a criminal who was into extortion and ransom from rich marble traders from Rajastan and Gujarat was wanrted for henious crimes in 9 states of India and he was arrested by the Andhra Pradesh police and was taken to Ahmedabad. His killing seems to have been a fall out of rivalries with other extortionist gangs and Vanjara, the Director General of Police was given the goahead for the encounter. Amit Shan was in no way involved in the execution style killing of Kousar Bi who was a witness to the killing of Shorabbudin and the telephonic conversations produced in court clearly show that the context of the exchange was limited to Shorabbudin, a criminal wanted in 9 states. The then UPA regime wanted to foist the case of wilful murder on Amit Shah by arguing that the encounter in which Ishrat Jehan was killed was a "fake encouter" and the three men and the girl ws killed in cold blood. This false allegation was mounted by suppressing two vital pieces of information. First, the Indian IB itself provided an affadavit stating that Ishrat and her companions were LeT terrorits. Second, David Coleman Headley in his custodial interrogation had stated clearly that Ishrat was given training in becoming a suicide bomber. The lengths to which the Congress under Sonia, Chidambaram and Shinde went to hide these facts and proscecute Amit Shah suggets that they were part of the conspiracy to carry out an assasination.

All these controversies swirling around Amit Shah led his to be arrested and he spent four months in Sabarmathi Jail before he was ordered out of Gujarat. These events shaped the political future of Amit Shah and in a way the rst of the country. Shah took up residence in Delhi and started planning for the 2014 General Election. His reorganization of the Party as the National Secretary was the turning point in the political fortunes of the BJP. While Narendra Modi is undoubtedly the tallest and the best Prime Minister India has had, ever, Amit Shah's role as the strategist cannot be gain said. Amit Shah made the BJP into a well oiled electoral machine and sought to involve people from the level of the booth right up to the Central Committee of the Party. He may not know, but Amit Shah took a leaf straight out of Lenin's advice to his parttment on the eve of the October Revolution of 1919. Organize the party at the level of the soviets. Another every important contibution of Amit Shah lay in collecting the documents relating to the Pary and making it availble on public domain. The BJP e Library is one of the finest and no political party can boast of such a fine line up of reseach and scholarly material. And Amit Shan was one of the first to understand the importance of "Big Data" in planning for the National Elections. BJP has one of the most sohisticated data cntres in which GIS enabled data for all the main Lok Sabha constituencies is available at the click of a mouse. The creation of this data base was due to the concerted efforts of computer savvy men and women who worked as volunteers for years on end.

Amit Shah is now the Hom,e Minister. He won from the Gandhinagar seat. What will be his main thrust. He will be ruthless in the pursuit of Indian polical objective and hence he will be in Machivalli's sense a prophet armed. He will be tough on naxalite violence and will not hesitate to use his immense political capital to strengthen the BJP in parts of India where it is weak. As far as terrorist viloence is concerned, there will be tough measures without too much though for collateral damage. Being honest to the core, Amit Shan can afford to be ruthless. And India demands ruthless action in Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

The book under review makes good reading. But it leaves the reader unsatisfied as important issues are ignored. I reccomend this book.

THE VICTORY OF THE BJP IN THE MAY 2019 ELECTIONS; IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA

https://wordcraftandstatecraft.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-electoral-prospects-of-bjp.htmlA look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books

There was no great surprise in the relection of the BJP and the victory of Shri Naredra Modi. In fact in a number of blogs we had made the same prediction and the actual number of seats won was close to the figure we had predicted in the blog (link above). 303 seats across the lengrth and breadth of the country. From 282 seats in the 2014 Elections the individual seats of the BJP has gone up to 303 and the Party contested little over 385 seats leaving the rest to its allies like Shiv Sena, JD  (U), Shiromani Akali Dal and the AIADMK. If we can use a cricketting metaphor from the T20 series, the srike rate of the BJP is very high meaning 80 % of the BJP candidates won their seats. In order to curb anti incumbancy, the BJP dropped nearly 105 sitting members. On the whole an impressive amndate and for the first time in India's electoral history, the percentage of votes polled have crossed 50% in vafour of the BJP. Most Governemnts have been formed with vote shares ranging from 28% to 34%. We now have a Governemnt with a vote share of more than 50%. All this means stability and the Government will be bold in taking decisons.

The Map given illustrates the safforon surge that has seen the emergence of the BJP as India's natural party of Governence. This victory was achieved in the face of the most vicious electorl campaign that India has even seen. Rahul  Gandhi, the putative challenger, had to tender an apology to the Supreme Court of India for calling Modi a "chor", thief. Other Congressmen emboldened by the aggression displayed by their leader were less than flattering in their rhetorical attacks on the Prime Minister. The more he was attacked, the greater was the backlash from the electorate. Then a variety of identity cards were pulled out: Dalis are in danger was one such. The fact is that the BJP has convincingly demonstrated its hold over the Dalit population by winning 75% of the reserved seats. In fact Congress did not win a single reserved seat nor did the Communists. For all their bluff and bluster both the Connumits and the Congress are bereft of any support amonmg the subaltern classes. Only the BJP commands the allegiance of the SC and ST communities. In the tibal belt of Central India the BJP held sway. All this goes to ahow thast the vicious campaign of polarization run by the so called Cetre Left Parties did not cut ice with the population.

The BJP won 18 seats in West Bengal and a clutch of seats in Orissa. The re election of Naveen Patnaik to power shows that the Indian electorate rewards good governence. In Tamil Nadu and Kerala the results show that people vote on emotional lines. There was sustained and calculated socialmedia attacks on Modi and the bJP throughout the 5 years that he has been in power and more so sicne the death of Jayalalitaa. The killings of the Tamils in Sri Lanka during the UPA rule was forgotten and the party which was then in power Congress joined hands with the DMK. The ease with which they joined hands shows that the politics of Tamil Nadu is still fluid and if BJP has effective leadership, the challenge can be met. In Bengal the BJP gave a resounding ideological challenge to the TMC. In Tamil Nadu the BJP takes dravidianist ideology for granted. It is not prepared to challenge the dravidianist dispensation.

What can India expect from Narendra Modi in the next five years. First, econom,ic development by huge investment in Infrasttructure will continue. New ports and transport hube will be established. On the National Security front major initiatives can be expected. The Nation Register of Citizens will be given full adminstrative backing as it has the approval of the Supreme Court. Identity politics will not be entertained thopugh the Congress habit of instigating the minorities will continue. Cattle Laws will be enforced so that the instances of gau rakshaks taking law into their own hands are reduced. Israel India partnership in Education will be encouraged. Modi will try to ease tensions with China as he is focussed on the internal developments and he cannot be distracted by adventures near the border.

The Economy will continue to grow at 7 to 8 % and further liberalization will be expected. Agricultural sector will be looked in and cold storage facilties and Silos for grain storage will be undertaken. In Higher Education there will be an emphasis on fundamental research.

"Is Modi the Divider iin Chief" A Response to Aatish Taheer and TIME

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


Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, has been the target of malicious attacks ever since he became the Chief MInister of Gujarat in 2001 and the white liberal media has been maliciously targeting him from 2002, when the Gujarat Riots happened after the buring down of the train in Godhra in which 79 passengers returning from pilgrimage were killed. Since then there has been a steady barrage of unsubstantiated newspaper "articles" which have held Narendra Modi responsible for the Riots in Gujarat. This narrative was amplified by the the Congress Party which came to power on the strength of a self serving coalition in 2004. It may be stated that the Supreme  Court of India appointed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) and the Report exonerated Narendra Modi from any responsibility either of Omission or Commission. It is well known that more people were killed by Police firing than in the riots perse and this fact adds credence to the BJP claim that unlike the anti Sikh Riots of 1984 in which the Congressmen were let loose on the instigation of Rajv Gandhi and Arun Nehru, the Gujarat Riots of 2002 were expeditiously squelched. Police action against the rioters were prompt focused and decisive. Indeed the Congress Government which was ruling Madya Pradesh dis not send reinforcements requested by the Gujarat Government. Since then, a campaign was launched in concert with the Congress Party in India and the white International Liberal media which put all the blame for the riots on Modi, suppressing both the context as well as the Supreme Court monitored probe.

The first charge that Modi is populist is easily refuted. There has been no attempt on the part of Narendra Modi to initiate populist measures. In fact had he done so, there would not have been any doubt whatsoever about his election. The fiscal inclusion programme launched by Modi, his Clean India Campaign, his Medical Insurance Scheme are all important policy initiatives launched to improve the lives and living standards of the people. To mock such measures that enhance human dignity and trivialize them as populist is sheer cussedness. Secularism is another of the ideological shibboleths raised by Taseer. The Indian notion of secularism is decidedly founded on minority identity politics. The Constitution does not define Minorities and hence the Moslem population of India which is 120 million strong is treated a Minority. Infact, the failure of the Indian National Congress to safeguard the unity and integrity of India in 1947 itself suggests that the appeal of its ideology on the Moslems was rather weak. However, after Partition it successfully converted the Muslim population into a captive vote bank by demonizing the Hindu population. The Congress pursued a successful electoral strategy of combining Populism with Minority appeacement and Narendra Modi has rejected this policy. On the other hand, his social vision is inclusive in that he does not allow identity politics to determine the social equity measures and schemes like the Ujjal Yojana have benefited Moslems and Hindus alike.

The 5 years in which Modi has been in power has seen absolutely zero Communal clashes. Yet the liberal media in India alomg with a clutch of Bollywood personalities like Swara Bhaskar and Nazeeuddin Shah produced a narrative that mob lynching was popular and enjoys state support. Nothing could be more egregiously erroneous. The fact is that Cow vigilantism was highlighted during the course of the past five years and such incidents of "gau rakshaks" seizing cattle being smuggled across state borders in violation of the Law and Constitution have always taken place. Isolated incidents were strung together to create mass hysteria in the white world as if India was slipping into a barbaric age. And the attacks on Churches which prompted a host of Congress friendly "intellectuals" to return their National Awards were proved to be false flag attacks and those arrested for destroying Churches turned out to be mostly Christians and in one case a Moslem. The Jabua Nun Rape case accused turned out to be an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh. The damage caused by false media reports were not successfully repaired by the BJP which though well organised lacks intellectual ballast and hence such reports went largely uncontested.

Taseer makes ugly comparisons. Modi is not an Indian version of Bolsonaro of Brazil or Erdogan of Turkey. In both these instances the political power weilded by these men is backed by the threat of Military force. The Press is suppressed and there is hardly any dissent/ The fact that aatish Taseer is able to write and publish his trash and that has not been proscribed or banned itseld is proof that the Modi Government does not suppress Freedom of Expression. There has been a steady barrage of abuse directed at the Prime Minister. Sonia Gandhi called his "muth ka saudagar" Merchant of Death. One Congree Leader referred to him as "neech" a word that denotes contempt. Abuse is the only challenge that Modi faces and he has not bothered to respond. Rahul Gandhi the Crown Prince of the dynasty obsessed Congress Party calls his a "thief" in every public meeting. Just once Modi turned around and slapped Rahul across the face by pointing out the politically significant fact that Rajiv Gandhi had a major role in the Bofors Scandal.

Congreess Mukth Bharath the stated goal of the Modi Campaign is based on the recognition that Crime Corruption and Communalism are part of the political DNA of the Congress Party. 1984 anti Sikh Riots, the large scale corruption of the UPA regime particularly the 2G Spectrum Scandal and the constant appeasement of Muslims are all proof of the degradation in the political sphere. And Dynastic Politics is inherently anti democratic.

Aatish Taseer, the son of a Pakistani father and an Indian Mother should have been more circumspect in his writing. Brought up in India, he knows the reality. He has chosen to write a piece of garbage for the white liberal. Institutions have been stressed due to the bad language of the ruling Congress Party. The attempt to intimidated the Supreme Court by an attempt at impeachment of the Chief Justice attempted by the Congress which was reduced to a Herd of 44 only showed the desperation of the Congress. The attacks on the Election Commission of India and the Reserve Bank of India are not the work of the Modi Government.

The General Elections of 2019 are not yet over. One Phase is still left and the foul language of the Congress Dynastic Fascist courtiers all suggest a desparation. Modi has served the people of India. It is hoped that people have the intelligence to vote for a man who has contributed constructively to India and punish those responsible for inflicting huge damage to the Indian Economy. I will not be surprised if Modi gets around 270 to 290 seats in the May 2019 Elections.

Hindu Terror Myth or Reality A Review of R V S Mani's Insider Account of Ministry of Home Affairs

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

The Myth of Hindu Terror: Insider Account of Ministry of Home Affairs
R V S Mani
New Delhi:Vitasta
2018

HINDU TERROR

The myth of Hindu Terror was propagated by the important lights of the discredited UPA regime such as P. Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Dig Vijaya Singha. It basically attempted to shift the responsibility for serious crimes against the Indian State like the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai, the Malegoan Bomb Blast Case and the outsourced attempted killing of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, on to the Hindus and present them as concerted planned and executed plots of resurgent Hindu or Saffron Terror. The political purpose behind such a devious attempt at implicating people in plots where the responsibility lay elsewhere was to consolidate the muslim vote bank and discredit the BJP which was posing an impressive challenge. The book under review goes to prove that the state machinery was systematically used to undermine criminal investigations in order to sustain a false and questionable narrative of Saffron Terror. The author worked in a senior capacity in the ministry of Home Affairs, when Chidambaram the architect of the Saffron Terror Plot was the Home Minister and continued into the tenure of Sushil Shinde, the dismissed Police constable who rose to become the Home Minister of India. It is a crying shame that the position once adorned by the like of Sardar Patel and Lal Bahadur Shastri were disgraced by such men.

The book is extremely disturbing in that it documents various important cases in which investigations were derailed and evidence suppressed or worse manufactured. A Just yesterday the Nation was informed that Mazoor Azhar, the dreaded terrorist has been declared a "Global Terrorist". When UPA was in power, the present Union Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri IFS (retd) was the Permanent Representative  of India to the UN. The CBI, then under Chidambaram refused to part with evidence required to  file material before the Security Council regarding Hafiz Syed's role in the 26/11 killings keeping in mind the sensibilities of the Moslem vote bank. Such instances are several. On the Israt Jehan Case, the involvement of Chidambaram and his cronies makes chilling reading. Even after Ishrat Jehan's identity as a LeT terrorist was known, the Government of India tried to file a false affidavit before the Gujarat High Court by suppressing this vital and crucial detail. In fact, during the interrogation of David Coleman the fact that Ishart Jehan was an LeT "Operative" was known but this detail was deliberately suppressed. Similarly in the Malegoan Blast case also, the involvement of muslim terrorists was proved, but to facilitate the Safforn Terror Theory the FIR against the arrested minority criminals was set aside and a false narrative based on Col Purohit, a serving Army Officer and Sadhvi Pargya was created. This matter is still in Courts and if the evidence points to a false case has been fabricated, then the matter must be probed and punishment meted out. If Ministers holding responsible positions involve themselves in obstructing the course of investigation then they must be treated as abettors in the crime. It is clear that the Congress Party had a very deed association with the group which entered Gujarat with the sole purpose of killing  Narendra Modi the Chief Minister of Gujarat. It is to the credit of men like Vanzara that the plot was foiled.

The book exposes in some detail the workings of the Home Ministry during the turbulent UPA period. It is really sad that secularism has become a weapon to protect anti national elements.

Jallianwala Bagh and the Writing of History; Kim Wagner's An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre

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

Jalianwalla Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of The Amritsar Massacre
Kim  A. Wagner
Penguin India, 2019

Jalianwalla Bagh

Kim Wagner is a well known English Historian with books on the Nineteenth Century such as the study of Thugee and later the violence of the Indian Mutiny as evidence from the macabre evidence of the skull of Alum Beg. Now he has turned his attention to the Jalianwalla Bagh Massacre of 1919 and has published this book in time to trigger the political and academic interest in this singular event of the early twentieth century. He is a careful historian, unlike the Indian "historians" who are quite content reproducing large chunks of the Hunter Report and thickly marinate their so called hypotheses with nationalistic bombast of the Nehruvian variety. He has scrupulously adhered to the basic premise of good historiography by not letting post colonial sentiments of moral outrage and loud lamentations over the Evil of Empire overpower his narrative. The Massacre cannot be reduced to a label of identity and hence has to be treated as a "historical event" that needs to be reconstructed. And that Kim Wagner has done is a commendable manner. He has consulted all available records in the British and Indian Archives and the result is a tour de force of historical narrative, reconstruction and interpretation of the event. To most Indian Historians, the 1919 Massacre is an example of the brutality of the British Raj and indeed it was. That in itself does not explain the 1919 Amritsar Massacre. All Empires are brutal and the British one was not an exception. Even the First Award Wapsi of India, Rabindranath Tagore in his letter renouncing his Knighthood spoke only of the extreme cruelty of the Massacre. General Dyer was like Adolf Eichmann who was evil in a banal and incoherent fashion. Jalianwalla Bagh Massacre is a an event that reminds us that Evil lurks in every corner and is not the monopoly of one individual or institution.

Kim Wagner has drawn a very detailed picture of the Punjab right from the suppression of the Kuka Uprising/Rebellion of 1872. The uprising was suppressed with extrmeme violence as nearly a 100 men who were merely accused of participating in the Uprising were blown from the mouth of cannons. Without even consulting his superiors Commissioner Cowan executed the rebels in the most horrendous manner. Wagner explains the unnecessary cruelty in terms of the memory of Kanpur during the Mutiny of 1857. The Kuka Rebellion remains an enigma in Indian Historiography as the 68 rebels killed by Cowan whose names are known have not been recognized as Martyrs till this day. The SGPC has been clamoring for recognition till this day. The recent exchange of words between the Vice President of the Akali Dal , Mahjitia and the Congress Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amrinder Singh, the grand son of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Karpurtala underscores the fact that these events have an afterlife until this day.

There are certain events that Professor Wagner has excavated which seems to "normalize" the brutality of General Dyer. The Rowlatt Act was unpopular in the Punjab and both Dr Kitchlew and Dr Satyapal were leading agitations against it and were ably assisted by Hans Raj. Wagner makes a rather unkind statement about Hans Raj on page 51 casting serious aspersions on a man India regards a patriot.  Whatever be the antecedents of Hans Raj he was a good organizer and was instrumental in arranging the meeting on the fateful day at Amritsar. On 10th 11th and 12th of April there were a series of riots all over the city of Amritsar in which more than 20 Englishmen and women were killed and a Bank looted the manger brutally killed and set on fire. Wagner seems to believe that the context of the Massacre was set by these unfortunate events that brought back memories of 1857. By invoking the Memory of 1857, it seems to me that Wagner is not just trying to explain the event but also justify it. April 13 1919 happened to be the day of Baikashi, an important day in the social calendar of Punjab. Martial Law had been imposed after the British troops failed to contain the rioters on the Bridge leading to the centre of the City. And General Dyer went all arounf the City on the morning of April 13 proclaiming that Martial Law has been declared. Hans Raj and his companions went around stirring up a crowd for a meeting in Jalianwala Bagh which was to be addressed by Kanniyalal, a well known local leader, in the absence of Satyapal and Kitchlew. The question is: Does the fact that Dyer had issued the warning to the residents of Amritsar mitigate the enormity of the tragedy. The answer clearly is "NO".

The firing started at around 4 PM and continued for about 10 minute in which 1650 rounds were fired from 303 Enfield Rifles. The events at Sultanwind Gate of the previous day were still fresh in the minds of the people of Amritsar. The Gurkha Regiment and one more provided soldiers for Dyer's contingent that marched to Jalianwala Bagh even as a peaceful meeting was going on. Without warning, Dyer ordered his men to shoot at the crowd and justified his action before the Hunter Commission by saying that he had already warned the City, a reference to his proclamation earlier in the day. He was aware of the enormity of his actions and even the Lt Governor Michael O' Dwyer was at first reluctant to back Dyer that the shooting was necessary. Udham Singh killed O'Dwyer 20 years later in London.

The Amritsar Massacre led to the establishment of the Hunter Commission and after a detailed Inquiry held General Dyer guilty of over reaction and he was forced to resign. The Time ran a Fund for him which resulted in more than 26,000 pounds being contributed. The evil of his deed cannot be written off with a mere apology and India should not forgive the Jalianwala Bagh Crime.

The Electoral Prospects of the BJP

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

The time has come to look back at the campaigns ans see where the Nation is heading towards in the forthcoming General Elections. The campaign  of the Congress centering around the dynastic mascot, Rahgul Gandhi, is surprisingly sharp and focused. The Assured Income scheme launched in the Manifesto is both innovative and attractive. By guaranteeing a minimum income of 72, 000 per family for a year as income support the Congress has created some ripples. Given the state of public journalism in India, the scheme has not attracted the kind of attention it deserves. The BJP brushed this scheme aside. However, the tax burden on the middle class will increase dramatically if this scheme is introduced and it will add to the inflationary woes. For the past 5 years India has seen 8% growth with around 3.5% Inflation. If the Congress comes to power Inflation will sky rocket and growth will plummet. What needs to be done is to work out the benefits already rolled out by the Modi Government to the people and make a comparative assessment.

Except for the one innovative policy measure, the dynastic fascists have run a highly divisive vituperative invective laden campaign. Modi was attacked in every possible manner. His Mother, Family, his personality were all viciously attacked to little effect. The more he was attacked the greater the popularity. Rahul even went to the extent of saying "Chowkidar Chor hai". The watchman is a thief, an attempted rebuke that was transformed into a splendid statement of approbation with people from all walks of life adding the word Cowkidar to their names. In the last General Elections Mani Shankar Ayer's jibe directed against Modi turned out to be a vote getter and this time if Modi is now set to trounce the Congress, the credit should go to Rahul and his meanly mouth jibe.

There is not a single allegation oc corruption against Modi. He has led, for the first time since Independent India, a Government that does not face a single charge. The Scams and Scandals of the Congress and its Allies have been the subject of numerous Inquires but given the state of the judiciary here in India, the prosecution has been tardy. Further, sections of the Judiciary seem to be playing footsie with the Congress as Chidambaram and his son havc secured bail 18 times already over the slew of cases they face. The entire Gandhi family is out on Bail facing serious fraud charges in the National Herald case. This case is one in which the entire property of the National Herald, a Congress Newspaper, was acquired by the first family of the Congress contrary to the rules and law presently in place.The eviction has been stayed by the Supreme Court. Yet another instance of the judiciary playing footsie with the Congress. The Higher Judiciary seems to be a partner in the UPA and it is fast losing the respect of the Nation

In spite of all these, the Congress and its allies are headed for a decisive defeat. Kamalnath, the Chief Minister of Madhya  Pradesh was caught in the Augusta Westland Scandal as some of the money got as kickbacks was recovered from his aides. The Pulwama Attack was sought to be politicized by Rahul and his associates. They wanted proof of the Attack implying that the Government was lying about the Balakot Air Strike. For the first time the Armed Forces became a factorin domestic political squabbles. And the Congress sought in vain to  turn the needle of suspicion on Modi and failed.

The North East will see a resurgent BJP and in Mamta's  Bengal the BJP has made significant inroads. Orissa will see a BJP victory in around 8 constituencies with a hung assembly and in nearby Andhra Pradesh the Jagan Mohan Reddy outfir is set to weep and BJP may win just 2 seats in AP. Tamil Nadu is always a difficult state to study as people show very erratic voting behaviour. BJP may win the Kanya Kumari seat, the Coimbatore seat and has a fighting chance in Ramanathapuram. We know that Kartok Chidambaram and Tirumavalavan will not taste electoral success.

At an all India level it would be safe to predict that Narendra Modi will form the next Government with the NDA getting around 315 seats.

The Festival of Democracy in India: Pranoy Roy and Navin Chawla

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

India is the world's largest Democracy and in spite of the antics of political parties like the Congress,, DMK, the Communist factions and identity based political groups like the Akali and the Muslim League. And that is not a mean achievement in itself. Navin Chawla, the well known biographer of Mother Theresa, has said in as many words that the Election Commission of India is the real pillar of Indian democracy. He may not be off the mark as the Election Commission is universally feared by political parties across the political spectrum. Its ability to enforce a modicum of discipline in the conduct of elections shows that what it lacks by means of man power it makes up with robust moral authority by establishing its absolute independence from the Executive. The book Every Vote Counts: The Story of India's Elections is a racy highly readable gallop across all General Elections starting from 1952. He documents in rich details the trials and tribulations faced by the Election Commission in the early years under Sukumar Sen. The Election Commission has insisted on a set of practices in order to make the election process free and fair and the Model Code of Conduct in one such measure. There has been frequent allegations that the EVMs ( Electronic Voting Machines) are susceptible to hacking. This is an absurd allegation and given the fact that our political parties are filled with semi  literates such baseless allegations keep gaining traction come every election season. A stand alone machine manufactured to the specifications of the ECI by Bharath Electronic Corporation cannot be hacked as they are not connected to the internet and they are not compatible with blue tooth technology.

The Verdict: Decoding India's Election by the well known election analysts, Dr Pranoy Roy and Darob Sopariwala is a good introduction to the delicate business of election forecasting. They have done a commendable job of looking at the aggregate data relating to General Elections. Does Incumbency provide an advantage to the sitting MP. Do voters vote for political parties or on the basis of their perception of the merit of the candidates contesting. Do political parties decide on candidates on the basis of the winnability or other factors. Does party and its ideology play a major role in determining the outcome. What is the SWING factor and how can it be measured. How do votes get translated into seats. What are the major advantages and disadvantages of the first past the winning post system that we have. A major disappointment in the book is that it does not address the important issue of proportional representation. How does turn out on election day help or hinder the outcome. All these issues are discussed in great detail with a plethora of facts, tables and analyses.

Both these books must be read by everyone interested in Indian politics, particularly the Election process. Navin Chawla raised a very important point in his book and that needs to be further researched. There is no reference to political parties in the Constitution of India. In legal terms a political party has the status of an unincorporated Association. What kind of  democracy was envisaged by the founders and if we remember that Gandhi wanted the Congress to be dissolved, it is certain that the founders had a partyless democracy in mind. We have move a long way from that ideal.

Both these books are worth a read. Lucidly written and with a faint touch of humour I commend these writers for their worthwhile contributions.

FLIGHT OF DEITIES AND THE REBIRTH OF TEMPLES

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

Flight of Deities and Rebirth of Temples
Meenakshi Jain
Aryan Books International, New Delhi 2019.

One of the most tragic and neglected aspects of medieval historiography of India is the fate of Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina Temples. Sita Ram Goel several years back addressed this issue and indicted the medieval rulers for following a political strategy of destroying Hindu places of worship and the systematic destruction od Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina centres of worship and pilgrimage, he argues was party of the political and imperial ideology stemming from Islamic ideas of conquest and conversion of Darul Harb into Dar ul Islam, from Land of War to Land of Islam. Hence the destruction of Indian religious institutions cannot be view in isolation of the ideological underpinning of the Turkish, Afghan and Mughal rule over India. This interpretation was, of course, attacked by a whole host of historians from Alighr Muslim University, Delhi University and of course, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Is this interpretation a "communal" one or, even if not politically correct have the weight of historical evidence behind it.


The deliberate underplaying of Moslem vandalism in parts of India which were conquered may have been a political necessity in the years after Partition when Hindu Moslem tension were high and it was prudent to avoid contentious and identity laden issues. However, 70 years after Independence if the same platitudes are trotted out, it becomes necessary to re investigate the issue and assess the question on the basis of evidence. In short, the time for political correctness is past and it is time to seize the historical moment even as it disintegrates before our very eyes. Meenakshi Jain has produced a scholarly and eminently well researched work on this question. She starts where Sita Ram Goel left and her work is a fitting riposte to all those historians who live in a state of denial about the tragedy the befell India. After reading the work under review it will not be possible for anyone either to deny the political underpinning of the reign of vandalism unleashed against Hindu and other Indian religious structures or belittle the cultural and civilizational chaos it engendered.

One argument that white scholars like Richard Davis and Richard Eaton are quick to advance is that the Turks, Afghans and Mughals did not indulge in any sort of vandalism and destruction which Indian rulers had not done in the past. This line of argument is absolutely incorrect as there is not a single instance in which a ruler of India be he Jain, Buddhist as Harsha or Hindu/Shiva like Rajendra subjected the images captured for religious sites and appropriated for relocation in their own imperial repertoire ever showed an attitude of anything less than reverence. Thus when Krishnadevaraya captured Udayagiri and acquired the green granite Balarama image, he had a Krishna temple constructed in his capital, Vijayanagara, and had the image installed with reverence. Similarly, when Rajendra Chola brought back the image of Durga from the territories of the Western Chalukyas he had it enshrined in his new capital, Gangaikonda cholapuram. Such example can be multiplied. However after the Islamic conquest, temples were detroyed and the sanctity of the temple violated by the shedding of blood and was usually accompanied, as was the case with the Vaishnava Temple of Srirangam, a whole sale massacre of the temple priests. To deny the cold facts of history, recorded in the medieval Chronicles is to deny the very validity of History as a field of study.

Meenakshi Jain has produced a fine piece of historical research. It is true that the academic climate for a free investigation of India's tangled and tortured past has opened up only recently and I fervently hope that historians of India cease to function as servitors of political parties, start researching the past without fear or favour.

:The Mullaperiyar The Dam that Divided Two States Water War: A Review

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

The Mullaperiyar: Water War The Dam That Divided Two States
Pradeep Damodaran
Rupa,2014

Water War

The Water War is a journalistic account of the political and ethnic clashes that broke out in Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of the water of the Periyar River. The Mullaperiyar Dam which was built across the Periyar has become a bone of contention between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The water from the Periyar river which has been diverted by the Mullaperiyar Dam irrigates several thousand acres of agricultural land in the five southern districts of Tamil Nadu including Madurai, and Ramanathapuram. Indeed  the prosperity of the five districts rests on the water supplied by the Mullaperiyar Dam. The book under review is an extremely biased and ill informed work which dwell on the political and ethnic side of the conflict overlooking the legal and the historical aspects of the dispute. The Supreme Court of India has declared the 118 year old dam to be safe and Kerala politicians keep raising the fears of the people regarding the safety of the Dam. In fact the Iddukki Dam acts as a safety valve for the Mullaperiyar Dam and in the unlikely event of the Dam bursting or breaching much of the water will be held back by the downstream dam. This vital fact is not brought out even as politicians in Kerala vie with each other to raise public fears about the safety of the Dam, And Pradeep Damodaran a Malayalam speaking Keralite residing in Coimbatore avoids this issue even as he documents the plight of Tamil pilgrims caught  in the turmoil and passion unleashed by the Dam. There is absolutely no damage or structural weakness in the masonry work and the Central Irrigation Commission has also certified that the dam is safe.

The Mulaperiyar Dam is a technological marvel and it is the first complete basin transfer project ever attempted in the world.  The map given below represents in some detail the Periyar Project. First, was the construction of a dam in close proximity to the valley to store 300,000 acre feet of water, The excess water is led through a series of spillways through a tunnel into the Vaigai River. Interestingly enough there is evidence of medieval waterworks in the area which suggests that the tributary of Periyar called Surulli was being used in the medieval period as well. The total area irrigated by this dam was around 85,000 acres. The project was first suggested by Major Ryves in 1867 wascompleted by John Pennycuick who was resposible for designing the thick masonary dam. The cross section of the wall is given below to show the technical sophistication of the dam. The headworks that distributed the war of the Periyar into the Vaigai Basis was extremely intricate and I have given the plan below.

Plan of the Headworks

Add ccross section a

The book under review is extrmrly weak on the historical and social and economic context of the dam. He the author keeps harping on the fact that the lease over the Dam extends to 999 years. He fails to understand that in Anglo Saxon law perpetual lease was couched in that language.

It is time to rethink Partition of the Indian Subcontinent

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

The Partition of the Indian Subcontinent by the British Government of Atless and the Congress Party headed by Jawaharlal Nehru left behind a trail of blood gore and bitterness. The fact that the Congress under Nehru was impatient for power left little time for a settled peaceful and civilized transition of power. Nehru exultant speech about his "tryst" with destiny insults  the victims of Partition on both sides of the Border. Gandhi in his own way tried to preserve the Unity of India by offering the Prime Ministership to Jinnah. It was the utter obscenity for political office that made Nehru reject the suggestion and though the Congress Working Committee rejected Jawahrlal Nehru as the candidate for prime Minister , Gandhi the doddering dutch Uncle of Jawaharlal Nehru ensured that the opposition to Nehru's elevation is brushed aside and his chosen favorite mounted the throne.

During the run up to Partition, especially during the Cripps Mission a number of important proposals were put forward which aimed at preserving the Unity of the country. The Congress which was wedded to a short sighted policy of agitational  politics rejected the Cabinet Proposals with disastrous effect on the unity and integrity of India. The hang over of the triumphalist approach to Indian History, the one associated closely with Bipan Chandra and his acolytes, avoids all difficult issues pertaining to the Nationalist/Partition Movement. The political errors in mass resignation after India's entry into World War II, the bringing forward of the date of Freedom from June 1948 to August 1947 all contributed to the chaos that ensued and in the process the mistakes and false strategies used by the Congress Party were neither questioned nor assessed. In fact anyone questing the politics of the Congress was labeled "Communal" and hence important questions were neglected.

It is time to pick up the threads from where they were left in 1947. A set of Constitutional proposals need to be debated in order to reduce the hostility between India and Pakistan.Since the creation of Pakistan was based on identity, the Muslims of India and the Hindus of Pakistan should be given the right to choose their homeland and the respective populations can be made voters in their respective Nations of choice. Thus a Hindu from Pakistan or Bangladsh can be a voter in India and a Moslem if he so chooses can ve a voter for Pakistan. Thus this proposal unshackles Partition. A joint Constitutional Council with shared Sovereignty will be the Governing Council and the Military of both countries brought under a common command on the basis of mutual agreement.

These proposals will effectively put an end to partition, solve the Kashmir dispute and help put these two benighted societies on the way to prosperity.

Dr Anirban Ganguly in Pondicherry University

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


Dr Syama Prasad Mookerji remains one of India's greatest intellectuals. And Pondicherry University was privileged to host a Distinguished Lecture by its present Director, Dr Anirban Ganguly. The Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India has instituted a seies of Lectures on leadership under the Leadership Town hall Scheme. Under this scheme Dr Ganguly visited our University and gave a scintillating Lecture of 50 minutes that held the rapt attention of everyone. In the battle of ideas the vapid stale narrative of the Left has occupied a dispropotionate space in public discourse and the marginalized voices of dissenters like Dr Anirban Ganguly and others have not been heard. Identity politics based on caste, language, community,religion occupy a great deal od attention. But the voice of sanity, reason and science are drowned out by the cacophony emanating from the misguided Left and its hangers on. Dr Anirban Ganguly's Lecture was a refreshing departure.

Dr Anirban Ganguly

The Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation is a Nationalist research organization which has been performing the stellar role of the dissident through much of the 70 years of Indian Independence when the voice from the margins was hardly heard. Public discourse meant singing hosannas to Nehru and the Congress Party and its family. The Left soon became part of this scheme of things as it was co opted by the Nehruvian state. The death of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee soon after he was taken custody in Kashmir remains an enduring mystery. And Kashmir has been on the boil ever since.

Dr Anirban Ganguly dwelt on the positive changes that jave been introduced in India since the magnificent victory in 2014. It matters little if the so called intellectuals with their vested interest in maintaining the satus quo acknowledge the positive changes or not. The reduction of Corruption and the introduction of schemes that have worked for the common man were stressed by the speaker. In the field of foreign policy, the speaker drew pointed attention to the fact that the days when India did not react or punish the cross border acts of Terrorism are over and he spoke of the resolute manner in which the Government retaliated to the February 14th Pulwama Attack.

The Audience

He spoke of 5 principles that governed the foreign policy of the Government of India:
(1) Samvaad or consultation/consensus
(2) Samviddhi  or mutual concern
(3) Suraksha or Security
(4) Samskritti evam  Sabyata (Culture and Civilization) and
(5) Samaan Mutual Dignity.

These are the five major principles that govern Indian foreign policy and as can be expected there is not even lip service to the cowardly way of dealing with major attacks by sending candy floss files as did the UPA after the 26/11 attack that killed nearly 185 people in Mumbai alone. The reason why the Congress dominated regime was reluctant to name and shame Pakistan lay in their inclination to blame Saffron Terror for the attacks. Then capture of Kasaab by a police constable paid put to the devious designs of the dynastic fascists. After the February 14 th attack, the Nation was well aware that retribution would follow.

The many National Schemes introduced by the NDA Government have proves trans formative: the extension of cooking Gas scheme, the Ayuman Bharat Scheme, The Jan Dhan Yojana and many other schemes. The NDA Government has served India well and its service multifaceted and diverse qwere brought out by the speaker.

Madras Literary Society by N S Ramaswami : A Review

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

Madras Literary Society

Interior View

The Madras Literary Society founder in 1817 is one of the oldest Research Institutions in India, and perhaps like St. Mary's Church located in Fort Saint George, which is the oldest Anglican Church outside of England, this society ranks as a pioneering institution. There are references in the Early Chronicles of the East India Company to a House of Curiosities called the Pantheon, perhaps the eponymous road in Egmore preserves that memory. 

One of the strategies employed by the western world to enhance the reach of knowledge and gather the information about the world at large was through the establishment of Learned Societies. Charles II was the founder of the Royal Society and the model of having an institution which linked networks of commerce, shipping, military and scientific expeditions was keenly replicated in the territories of the East India Company. Thus Penang, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong all sprouted Royal Societies dedicated to the pursuit of archaeological and historical research. In this we may regard the Madras Literary Society as a pioneer.

The building in which the present Institution stands was probably built in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Society itself was much older. The precincts of the Madras Literary Society, along side the Kovum, was shared in part by the Directorate of Public Instruction which was mandated in the Charter Act of 1833 and the Madras Observatory which was one of the pioneers in the emerging science of Meteorology. Goldhigham  who worked here for several years was in many ways a pioneer in celestial Astronomy. It is really wonderful that such a historic Institution is now gaining attention.

The Madras Literary Society started publishing a Journal from 1833 which grandly called itself the Madras Journal of Literature and Science. Lasting until 1894, this journal was a remarkable venture. Supported entirely by public subscription it published some of the best pieces of contemporary research. Unlike today's API driven academics, the early contributors were men and yes, occasionally women who asked difficult questions and pursued them with passion. One of the most remarkable character was Col Colin Mackenzie who collected Historical documents from the entire length and breadth of the Company territories and the Manuscripts were first housed here before they were shipped off to London. Rev Taylor a Chaplin of the Anglican Church who presided over St Georges Cathedral for some time prepared an excellent catalogue of these documents. The collection of antiquities which included a hoard of Roman coins discovered near the Nilgiris were transferred to the Museum.

The book recently republished by the Society is an excellent introduction to the multifarious intellectual activities of the MLS.

The Terrorist attack at Pulwama, Kashmir: Politics vs Reality

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

The attack on the CRPF convoy by a Kashmiri youth who drove his Scorpio packed with 350 kilograms of explosives into a bus carrying soldiers resulted in the massacre of 40 soldiers. The pictures circulated on social media show lifeless mass of flesh strewn all over the national highway. It makes shocking visuals. The Nation was shocked and numb with pain that is now turning to anger. The Pakistani terrorist organization, Jaish-i-Mohammad has claimed responsibility and there is growing clamour for resolute action. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi speaking on behalf of the Nation has stated that this attack will not go unpunished. The immediate withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation Status for Pakistan seems to be the beginning and it is likely that the River Waters Treaty which guarantees the flow of water into Pakistan will be invoked to reduce or curtail the waters. The support for the militancy in Baluchistan will be stepped up and the long standing demand that the Pahstuns who are divided by the Durand Line be freed from the tyranny of Pakistan will also see some traction. However all these measure lie in the future. What are the realistic options to Punish Pakistan?

After the attack on the Indian Army e at URI, India launched a series of attacks against Pakistani militant targets across the Line of Control. Unfortunately the Congress Party and its allies politicized the reprisal attacks so thoroughly that is now unlikely to be used. The major attack on the Prime Minister was that he chose to launch the surgical strikes across the Line of Control in order to bolster his political image. This line of criticism is wrong because it attributes a political motive of a rather crass kind to a major decision. The objective behind the surgical strike was two fold: firstly, to demonstrate India's willingness to cross the LOC in hot pursuit and secondly to demonstrate Indian military and tactical capability. For tha past few years Indian special operation forces are being trained in the Negev Desert by Israel and the success of the surgical strikes proves that Israel has been helping India in every respect. As a long term policy India may try to develop the ability to strike first at known militant targets in Pakistan but as of now does not have the ability. Training troops such operations across the border is not an easy venture because the fractious nature of India's social fabric and also the lack of a unified political opinion across the spectrum. Paries like the Congress, the regional dynastic parties, the communist factions will start attacking the policy of defense through offense and thereby compromise Indian policy. Indeed the degradation of Indian Intelligence assets in Pakistan started with I K Gujral who was Prime Minister for a brief time. The 2019 General Elections must ensure a strong and stable Government if India has to deal with pakistani challenge successfully.

The most disheartening aspect of the present crisis is the senseless and tragic politicization of the tragedy. The former Hom,e Minister of India who served under the dynastic fascists, one Sushil; Shinde even blamed the Prime Minister's surgical strike as the provocation for the attack. In order to protect their vote banks in India the dynastic Fascists are even willing to give aid and comfort to the enemy. A resolute response can be expected but it will not happen immediately.

India I think is finally opening its eyes to the fact that if Pakistan survives as a nation it is a threat to India and the fact that the Islamic identity has not prevented Pakistan from falling apart in the past is now being given some traction. Pakistan is a highly militarized state armed with nuclear weapons. This fact alone atays India. But now, the time seems to be running out and gradually a political consensus which eluded India for long is emerging.

"Rahutatva": Ideology and Political Discourse in India

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

Rahul Gandhi, the fifth generation Crown Prince of the dynastic fascist political party the Congress is propounding a new political philosophy in India and we can call it Rahutatva or the Political Ideology of Rahul. Like any political ideology this too is pragmatic in that it seeks to  explain complex interplay of politics by emphasizing certain discrete elements for the sake of coherence and simplicity. As an ideological system Rahutatva pits itself against an agenda of inclusive and all round development or vikas by invoking identity, religion and through the systematic instigation of caste and other such atavistic elements. Rahutatva is reductionist in its approach because it empathizes form more than content, rhetoric rather than reality, and is a discursive formula for endless rehash of certain pet themes.  And Rahutatva is like all ideological systems immune to the basic test of verifiability or truth. In fact Rahutatava abhors truth and it is immune to criticism as mere pronouncement as in the case of any self contained ideological system, enough to validate it.

Since the entry of Rahul Gandhi into the political arena we have seen a series of statements that have unfortunately started framinf the political discourse. Unfortunately Rahutatva is never critiqued as a whole. Parts of it have already proven to be false but that does not invalidate the whole structure of discourse beause the target has now shifted. The introduction of GST, a difficult and politically dangerous move was undertaken by Narandar Modi as the country needed to shift to a tax regime that is more transparent and generates more revenue. The Central Government and the State Governments have both expressed satisfaction over revenue sharing and the prices have not increased as a consequence. However Rahutatva demands that GST be declared a failure and oppressive and even though revenue figures show proof to the contrary, the negative propaganda must circulate as opposition to GST has taken an ideological turn.

Similarly the Demonetization is now being demonized as a highly oppressive attack on the fiscal structure of the country. True there were some major glitches in the implementation. However, the fact that tax compliance has increased 4 times, shows that the shock adminstered has had the desired impact. Also the corporate raiders and carpetbaggers like Mallya, Nirav Modi and others were projected as the favored  corporates of Modi. The fact is all of them got their huge bank loans only during the time when the Congress was dominating the Government and there is documentary proof of the collusion of the then Finance Minister with these corporate raiders. And Modi has succeeded in bringing them to justice and the Insolvency Act has enabled successful prosecution of these  criminals. Rahutatva must deny facts and the reality and with the help of certain sections of the media generates a discourse which is disengaged from the ground reality. Perhaps Post Modernist disregard for truth is at work here.

The Rafale Aircraft deal is another good example of Rahutatva at work. The Supreme Court has given its verdict on this bill and has said that due diligence and process were followed. Rahutatva disregards the wisdom of the Supreme Court as it is not interested in facts that contradict the premise of the discourse. Politics demands that truth and reality be set aside. This attitude toward Politics is not just nihilistic. It is Fascist in that there is no engagement with raw empirical facts. Like Dr Goebbels, propaganda substitutes for argument and facts. The recent controversy over the visit of the Clown Prince of the Congress Party to Shri Manohar Pariker is a case in point. Pariker was a former Defence Minister and now the Chief Minister of Goa and is dangerously ill. Using a courtesy visit to inquire after the health of the ailing CM, Rahul Gandhi true to his basic adherence to Rahutatve spun this visit into the Rafale Controversy by declaring that Manohar Pariker has provided an expalnation to him that he had nothing to do with the deal. Manohar issues a strong letter of rebuttal in which he called out the lies uttered by the man who seems to be incapable of telling the truth even by accident/

I have give a few example of what I call Rahutatva: a discursive rhetorical strategy in which truth is dispensed with and propaganda is the subsitute for evidence and argument. This is the essence of Rahutatva and is fascism in action.