WikiLeaks and the Freedom of Expression

One of the fundamental values that USA and the West propounded in its sustained campaign against the erstwhile USSR was the fact that dissent and freedom of expression is regarded as sacrosant in Western society. Now the fact that the Chinese dissedent who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year is regarded as a hero by large sections of world public opinion is a tribute to the propaganda machinery that worked overtime to impress upon the world that dissent is not tolerated in the People's Republic of China and all totalitarian regimes stifle dissent using state power and the administrrative machinery.

Now compare the plight of Julian Assange the whistle blower who has exposed a large number of US diplomatic cables on his website. I do not think that the US foreign policy has been in any way undermined by the disclosures made by WiliLeaks. On the contrary, the world has only learnt to appreciate US statecraft in a difficult period in international, affairs. The fact that the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia are edginmg the USA to bomb the Iranians does not come as a surprise to anyone as the Saudis are known for their duplicity and perfidy. The fact that Saudis are finacing terror networks wedded to the Sunni cause is again no great revalationmmas the we were aware of this all through. Yes, the fact that the Yemenis are willing to lie to their Parliament about the USA bombing and taking "credit" for using the airforce against their own people, came as a nig surprise even by the street smart logic of the Middle East. So far it was Israel which aws held up as the sole reason for all the unrest in the region. WikiLeaks has abundantly exposed the fact that the Sunni rtegimes of the region are also contributing in no small measure to the destablisation in the Middle East. Cynicism is OK provided it is backed by realpolitik.

Julian Assange has exposed the cables from the field and no more. Like the Pentagon Papers he has put into public domain certain facts and those facts in no way compromise the safety or security of USA. The US right wing aided by some Democrats like Joe Libberman want to impose limits on whitle blowing using the outdated Espionage Act which does not cover the situation being discussed. The US Government has issued a diorective that federal staff cannot even see the wikileak site and some Universities have even blocked access to the site. When the Chinese do such uncivilised things the cry goes up that dissent is not tolerated. Why practice double standards in such fundamental matters as freedom of expression. The USA has mounted a world wide campaign to cut off funding for the site. In what matter is this different from what the Chinese Government did vis a vis Google. Sweden has even filed a case of sexual,assault on Julian Assange. It seems for the USA public enemy number UNO is not OSAMA but Assange

Lobby Girl Journalism of Burkha Dutt and NDTV: Professional Misconduct in evidence

I have always been extremely critical of the kind of phony journalism represented by Burkha Dutt and her ilk who are patronised by NDTV. I have already written about the manner in which Burka Dutt was awarded the Padma Shri by the UPA government and I am sure that the award was for favours rendered to powerful people in the UPA. The fashionably strident line taken against the BJP itself is a dead giveaway. The BJP is not given the same sort of kid glove treatment that the Congress and the Gandhi Dynasty receive. The BJP will have to be portrayed as a wayward party unfit to govern and all the crimes of the Congress including the 1984 massacre of the Sikhs in New Delhi pushed under the carpet. Such lop sided journalism is not what is expected in a country that claims to have a free press. The stranglehold of the corporate interests over NDTV is evident from the fact that its coverage of the Spectrum 2-g scandal was very muted and while politics takes a large share of the time of NDTV, it hardly cares to scrutinise the corporate houses who are probably funding NDTV. I always wonder how NDTV can pay its stable of beauties masquerading as Journalists when for the past 20 years of its existence the TV has been in the red. How does the channel manage its everyday expenses and maintain a staff of white elephants including its "Group Editor" who probably can have a successful career as a corporate lobbyist.

The context of the telephonic conversation between Niira Radia and Burkha Dutt is very clear. There is a stalemate over the choice of candidates for the cabinet especially since T R Baalu's name is unacceptable to the Prime Minister. Burkah Dutt offers to telk to them meaning the Congress and lobby the Congress to get A Raja the post of Telecom Minister. I do know that the vernacular media is deeply embedded in the power structures at the state level. Now it appears that even the so-called English Press which had always fancied itself to be above the "moffusil wallah" is also part and parcel of the embedded "free press". Burkah Dutt's defence that she tweeted is also riven with contradictions. She cannot now claim that she was going along in order to extract information from Niira Radia when in reality Niira is using Burkha Dutt as a conduit to pass on information to the Congress. Jounalists cannot use their previlged position in order to pedal influence. Instead of reporting the story, Burkaha Dutt and NDTV has become part of the story, "in a sense" to use the popular phrase that Burkah drops every now and then.
Such an act of professional misconduct would have resulted in the carreer of any journalist in the western world ending. Bur Burkah Dutts and the call girl journalism of NDYV will certainly survive this and other scandals. When that woman host the popular programme WE THE PEOPLE we must ask what supreme arrogance she has to speak for the people of India. She packages the Congress point of view ans manufactures a spurious consensus for the Congress. I hope the Buck DOES NOT stop at the table of Burkah Dutt but it stops at the table of a honest, decent and law abiding journalist who exposes corruption in high places without fear or favor

Had the Chilean Mining Disaster Happened in India

The Government of Chile,especially the President and the Mining Minister have won the admiration of the world for the dedication with which both of them carried on with the task of rescuing the 39 trapped miners. No histrionics,no loud self congratulations,no obscene back tracking and leg pulling. The two behaved with such grace and dignity that I think the crass, corrupt criminal tribe of Indian politicos can learn a lesson or two from what happened in Chile.

This set me thinking. What would have happened if the same had happened in India. The first thing which would have been set afloat are charges and counter charges of corruption. The mining equipment was secured on the basis of a bribe, the newspapers would scream.The CBI and CVC both would have entered the fray. Never mind the men trapped underground are not in anyway helped by such obscene newspaper and jounalistic hype.

Then we have the pretty face,perky Barha Dutt woh would land on the scene "in a sense" and thrust her perky tits and mike in front of the rescuers and ask them the most inane questions, forgetting that there are real human beings involved,she would launch on a calculated tirade against the "callousness of the Indian Establishment" and in the process of humouring this b***h precious time would be lost. I cannot forget or forgive her coverage of the Kargil lWar which was done in a lop sides manner. Or can we forget the manner in which NDTV covered the Mumbai Terror attacks of 26/11when the live, streaming images helped the terrorists holed up in the Taj.

Then will be the turn of the tele intellectuals from JNU to grab the eyeballs of nations.One nattily dressed sociologist will be trotted out and he will fill the air waves with "post colonial"nonsense. The Indian State does not care for the marginalised he will thunder and the rest of us zombies will nod in silent admiration at this great wisdom displayed by this Professor of Sociology of JNU and his elite tribe. If the mining disaster had happened in a tribal area then New Delhi's resident naxalite, Arunaditi Roy will be at her eloquent best.

In the medley of charges and counter charges, allegations and posturing the men will be forgotten and will die.

Thus India will sacrife precious human lives in order to pass the buck.

China outdid itself in the Olympic Games: The Congress Party Heaps Shame on India

It is often said that India and China are rivals both in terms of economic power and soft power. While India has shown impressive growth rate of 8.2 % per annum, its political class is under the delusion that it can rival China in organizational ability and projection of the image of an emerging world power. If China can host the Olympics and make a spectacular spectacle before the wholw world, India can host the Common Wealth Games and earn some brownie points for itself. Unlike China, India has a fractured political system that inibits the delivery of any large scale goals and objectives. The entire political system, particularly the dynastic fascist Congress Party is mired in crime and corruption and India unlike China is termed a "soft power" because of its inability to deliver any of its commitments both legal and constitutional. Vested interests have eroded the very edifice of Indian polity.



The Olympic games in China were so well handled that nearly 3 months before the games were to begin the venues were finished and all facilities were ready and the world was awe struck at the majesty and impressive display of soft power that China put on. Now contrast this with India.



The India way of doing things is to create a multiplicity of agencies and offices to do the same job

and the consequent dilution of both power and responsibility facilitates large scale kickbacks and corruption. Suresh Kalmadi, a low brow politician from the ruling Congress Party was put in change of the Common Wealth Games and the India Olympic Committee was also give line responsibilities, thus both agencies took an intense dislike for each other from day one and both completed with each other to undiermine the strengths and objectives of the other. More than 2 billion US dollars (35,000 thousand crores) have been spent and the manner in which public money was squandered would even put some African kltetocracies to shame. I am not surpirised as the COngress is a Party of crime, corruption and dynasty. Even though the whole copuntry was aware of the venality with which this Kalmadi fellow asdminstered the games, he was not pulled up because he enjoyed the support of the big-wigs in the party.



The games village and other venues have an unfisnished lokk about them and are not of the standard expected of a country hoping to claim the 21st century as its own. Apart from corruption, the absolute lack of tase on the party of the organisere was evident when one Bhanot who glories in the title Secretary General of the Common Wealth Games, gave a banal press conference where he justified the shoddy work in the most barzen style. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh cannot escape responsibility because he was aware of the deplorable state of affairs but showed no interest in rectifying the situation. His Sports Minister, a formed Chief Election Commissioned Dr M S Gill was busy strutting his hour on the stage instead of ensuring that the country's nose is not ground in the dust.



The Games village is in a shabby state and even a snke has been found in one of the buildings. Many teams are now pulling out and world class atheletes are pulling out of the games.

It is better that India puts its own house in order before taking on such grand projects. The people of India must relaise that if they elect the Congress they will reap humiliation and crime.

Is Tamil a Classical Language: The Politics of Caste and Identity

In a few days time the World Classical Tamil Conference will begin in Coimbatore and everyone particularly the people of Tamil Nadu seem to be very exited about the whole tamasha. So far no one has even dared to ask the question: Does Tail, the medai tamizh popularised by the two Dravidian parties has actually impoverished the Tamil language and has made the native speakers of Tamil adhere to a very a narrowly defined ethnic and linguistic identity. The politicised linguistic identity popularised by the Dravidian movement has led to a situation that even so-called pulavars of Tamil cannot read a book printed in the Tamil language before the advent of the pure-Tamil movement launched by Professor Sunadaram Pillai and others. If you pick up any book printed in the nineteenth century you will encounter a completely language and none of the scholars of Tamil who willfully valorise only the so-callled Samgam Tamil are even in a position to read it. How can one be called a scholar in Tamil language and literature if he/she is unable to read Nalaira Divya Prabandam and other works which include the Bhakti hymns and the compositions of the Alvars. My point is that politicians cannot define the language and use a politicised linguistic consciousness to propel themselves and their families to power. The present fixation with Sanga Kala Ilakkiyam is akin to the Englishmen saying that the only English they will speak is the English of Chaucer and that all French words will be excised from the language. It does not take too much imagination to sat that English as we know will just fade away. Tamil is now in the danger of becoming a language whose utility as a vehicle of communication is now under severe stress.
A classical language is essentially a historical construct. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD there was what Sheldon Pollock in his Language of the Gods in the World of Men has called the vernacularisation of Europe. Around the same time In India too the regional languages, grammars and literature came to be developed. As the vernaculars looked back from the stand point of the humanist Renaissance of the 14ht or 15th century they saw in Latin the roots of their own language, particularly the written form which the vernaculars took in the 8th or 9yth century precisely the time from when regional cultures developed in India. It make sense to speak of classical in the context of Europe as Latin was indeed the basis of the scripts and grammars of all the vernaculars particularly, French and German. Did such a situation exist in India. The answer is NO.
The antiquity of a language cannot determine its so called classical status. If the antiquity of a language should be allowed to determine the classical status then all the tribal languages of India and the world must be declared as classical languages. Even the criteria of written script is being politicised. The introduction of writing began with Ashoka when he inscribed his edicts all over India in order to propagator Buddhism. Literacy may have been introduced in pockets of NW India after the conquest of Alexander. In fact all the Tamil Brahmi inscriptions are dated after Ashoka and even Iravatham Mahadevan who of late has started singing a different tune has admitted as such in several of his earlier works. The Harappan script has not been deciphered and therefore any reading of the symbols as representing Tamil is sheer fraud. It is not [possible to Trace the antiquity of Tamil as a script before Asoka. The shadow boxing that high caste Tamil scholars who were fanatical saiva siddantists had with Sanskrit with its alleges Brahmani-cal bias is responsible for the constant refrain about the antiquity of Tamil. And even then Sanskrit words as George Hart himself has shown in his Poems of Ancient Tamil occupy more than 40% of the Tamil Texts collected in the sangam anthologies. I must say that the close similarity between the Bhakti poems belonging to the Palalva Age and the hymns of the alvars and nayanmars suggest close proximity in age, a point brought out by Herman Tieken. It appears that Tamil scholarship has degenerated into medai Tamil (Platform Tamil).
The construction of a Tamil identity based on language is part of the process of mobilisation of the backward non brahmin castes such as the mudaliars and the saiva pillais to achieve political power. I do not see why they continue to indulge in such gimmicks even now that they a re in power.

In a recent newspaper article Shri Iravatan Mahadevan published 4 pieces of evidence to show the antiquity of the Tamil language atleast in its written form. The signet ring bearing the name of a sangam chief is obviously suspect as it has not been found in an excavated context. Furtehr, the Amaravathi River basin near Karur has generated a small scale industry for the manafacture of "sangam" age coins which are duly authenticated by a set of "epigraphists" and "historians" whose ideological motive is to push back the antiquity of writing and literacy. There is also the impulse to give credence to the Sangam poetry whose date cannot be determined.

Israel and the tragedy in Gaza: Why humanitarian aid must be allowed

Israel enjoys a high degree of goodwill in many parts of the world and even professional critics of Israel have found much to admire in the manner in which the State of Israel conducts its no nonsense foreign policy. The world opinion be damned. As long of USA is not overly critical Israel does not seem to care. The latest outrage committed on the high sea seems to have taken even the Obama Administration by surprise and Hilary Clinton has joined the rest of the world in condemning Islaer's action in using military might against a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The world has come to recognise that the economic blockade imposed by Israel is causing untold misery to the people of the Palestenian territory. If by following this policy Israel hopes to undermine the support base of the HAMAS, the policy is clearly not succeeding. In fact the blockade has only increased the level of public acceptability of HAMAS. The economic blokade has failed in its expressly stated purpose but has succeeded in imposing collective punishment on the people of Gaza for electing the Hamas.
Israel has used unacceptable level of force in dealing with the flotilla carrying, after all humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. The boat did not carry any military equipment or even machinery. It only carried tents, blankets, medicines, school text books, toys, food and relief material. Israel could have allowed the passage of the aid flotilla instead of brutally attacking and causing the death of 10 aid workers. Video footage shows the Israeli paratroopers rappelling on to the deck of the vessels and opening fire. Israel's claim that they were attracted first carries no conviction as the aid flotilla was on international waters when the incident happened. I do agree that Israel has a very difficult security environment and also recluctantly have to concede that the security wall, often called apartheid wall has given security to the civilians as there have been far fewer suicide bombings now than before. By saying this we should not be encouraging Israel with its hard statecraft, though it is enviably successful.
The War launched against the residents of Gaza in 2008-2009 resulted, for the first time in the 65 year history of Israel in a with drawl without achieving any major strategic objective. The rockets attacks have stopped but for how long remains open to question. The degradation of the Hamas and its military capability has clearly not been achieved. Under these circumstances Israel could have been more circumspect.
There is yet another issue causing international disquiet. This is to do with Israel's nuclear programme. The Barack Obama administration is obsessed over Iran's nuclear material even though Iran has complied will all its obligations under the NPT to which Iran is a signatory. The nuclear material exchange agreement signed with Turkey and other countries effectively puts Iran's spent fuel under international scrutiny. Israel on the other hand in not a signatory to the NPT and has been carrying out a covert nuclear arms program for the past 3 to 4 decades in a facility in the NEGEV desert.The revelations of Mordechai Vanunu the Israeli expert has proved to the whole world the existence of the nuclear program. US experts believe that Israel possesses around 100 warheads just a screw driver away from deployment. Under these circumstances peace in the Middle East will look a dismal prospect.
Israel must respond to the consistent US call for a return to the Road Map and the process agreed with the quartet.

The Indian State, The Naxalites and Political Violence

The most recent outrage against the Indian Railways by the Naxalites in Midnapore District of West Bengal once again drives home the fact that the Indian political establishment lacks the material and the intellectual capacity to counter the Naxalites. In fact the spate of recent attack on civilian targets suggests that the Maoists now consider civilians as fair game due to the absolute erosion of the very authority of the state. The Indian political establishment is capable of unheard of levels of brutality against unarmed civilians but is utterly incompetent to deal with armed groups motivated by ideological or religious considerations. It trumpets its dubious success against a hand full of stray "hindu" extremists who seem to be to be absurd elements in a theatre of death. In order to re enforce its dubious secular credentials some hot heads like Mutalik are paraded by the establishment as "proof" of the even handedness of the India sate. The fact is that the present political Establishment has lost all claims to the loyalty of its citizens and the mere fact that some MPs like Lalu Prasad Yadava and his criminal ilk "win" elections is no reason for such men to be regarded as part of the political process or leadership. Even P Chidambaram, the Home Minister has dubious credentials. His premature announcement of Telangana once again ignite ed a firestorm in Andhra and the Centre has just bought time by constituting the Sri Krishna Committee.
The main reason why the Naxalites menace has risen to such levels is because the UPA has within its fold powerful parties that have a vested interest in Maoist violence. Lalu Prasad Yadava needs the support of the Naxalites in Vidisha district from where he can hope to win by using Yadava and naxalite muscle power to rig the elections in the cow belt. The unholy nexus between the Mamta Party and the Naxalites are there for all to see. This is not to say that the CPM are a bunch of innocent bystanders. In fact the CPM routinely used the sate machinery and muscle power to crush opposition and I remember that when that old thug called Jyoti Basu was the Chief Minister, he had the skull of Mata broken when she led a demonstration against the CPM Government before the Writers' Building. Having supped with the devil of violence, the CPM now cannot cry foul.
My appeal to the Naxalites is as follows: Target the political establishment and no one will complain. But do not kill civilians. The Indian political class is a criminal gang and deserves to be punished in the name of patriotic forces.

Naxalite Outrage Again: Why Chidambaram's war against the tribals will fail

The war launched by UPA II against the tribal in the heartland of India, labelled Operation Green Hunt is showing all the signs of early senility, exactly like the mental and intellectual processes of our "secular" congress brand politicians. Even dothi clad Harvard educated politicos are not free from that malaise. It is necessary to remember that across the social spectrum the Indian political establishment has lost legitimacy. Winning elections with money power and muscle power the politicians lord over the nation like the palaiyakaras of olden times. Even Chidambaram should know that his right to occupy his office in North Block is not without a huge question mark. Did he or did he not win his Lok Sabha seat. There are different versions about his vote share.
The is caught between the Indian security establishment and the Naxalite and with a cranky man like G K Pillai as Home Secretary it is unlikely that the Government will seee any success. I have often remarked in my extensive blogs that sending troops by carriers like trucks and buses is just stupid as the naxalites have mastered the art of using IEDs. The Government should strike at the supply side of the chain and clamp down on the sale of dual use chemicals. Further corruption within the Establishment has resulted in a steady flow of both information and arms and ammunition to the "liberated Zones". I think that Dothi clad nincompoop called Chidambaram should read classics like Mao's works, Sun Szu's Art of War, Machiavelli's the Prince and Clausewitz's On War and he will realise that he just cannot win this war as he does not understand the dynamics of what is going on. I have said earlier that Arundatti Roys's piece in the Outlook should be carefully perused as it contains valuable insight on the tactics of the Naxalite. Instead of blaming the so called intellectuals, the Government of the day should realise that the Indian political establishment does not have the loyalty even of tits own members. I think the BJP keep out of this war by just not commenting one or the other. Every naxalite strike is a coffin to inter the existing political calculus.
In the latest strike the naxalite have exposed the fact that the Government is using civilians as human shields in its war against the tribal

Nitin Gadkar, Lalu Yadava and the World of Dogs

Nitin Gadkari, the President of the BJP has called the Yadava chieftains from the Cow Belt "DOGS". Now I respect animals and I am sure that this comaprison is very very offensive and I condemn Nitin Gadkari for making such an outrageous statement. I own a few street dogs and tto the best of my knowledge have never threatened to crush anyone under a roadroller. This being the case how can Lalu Prasad Yadave be compared to a "dog". The dogs of this planet can feel outraged at the very thought that a gentleman who has the "fodder scam" facing him should feel offended. I also like to point out that ane Mishra who was seeing one of the girls of that Yadava was found dead in a canal. Now dogs do not do such outrageous things and they must be treated with dignity.
The politicians of this country call India are corrupt and criminal and they think that they have the licence to kill, abuse, pillage, rape, murder and if they have the right "secular" credentials like the Yadava duo or that DP Yadava they escape all accountability for their crimes. Today these to Yadavas are caying foul. Has anyone forgotten what Mulayam Yadava tried to do to Mayawati a few years back or the horrible words uttered by Mrs Bahuguna against Mayawati a few month back. Indian politicians are a disgrace to India and everything decent in the world and therefore deserve no mercy.
The gang of corrupt criminals called politicians will thrive as long as people dop not relise that by voting such people they are in fact commiting a crime against themselves.
I am not saying that NITIN Gadkari has done the right thing but there is a limit to the patience of everyone. When George Fernades was Defence Minister the CongressParty used to hurl abuses in Parliament on the coffin matter. Hon'ble Narendar Modi is being humiliated day in and day out by the likes of pretty face Bhraka Dutt and her tribe. As for me I say that given a choice between dogs and cats and Indian politicians I prefer dogs, cats, monkey, snakes and sundry animals as they are any day more civilised than that khaini stined fodder thief.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with AmIt appears that educated people in India do not want to make the obvious link between political corruption and dynastic fascism which is rampant in India. The linguistic division of state has spawned a whole array of regional and sub regional dynasties vying for space in the over crowded menagerie of Indian politics. The Congress Party started the slide by promoting a political dynasty and all regional parties along with their national affiliates followed suit. Only the two communist parties and the BJP seem to be bucking the trend. It is easier and safer for corrupt politicians to park their ill-gotten wealth in Party coffers and since they want their families to access that wealth the logic demands that families will inherit the parties. When Annadurai the founder of the DMK died no one in the DMK would have thought of giving the reins of leadership to his son. Though the 2 Dravidian parties swear by the name of Annadurai both of then have betrayed the legacy of that leader. None more so than Karunanidhi mistakenly called "kal;ignar" a term that means artist, but I have still to discover what he is so good at that he deserves that title. Tamils have become so backward that they have started the biruda game like the kings of old.It is only a matter of time before A Raja the Telecom scamster is shown the door. The 75,000 crore scandal he presided over is directly linked to the DMK party funds.In almost all the recent by-elections the party has spent crores of money and it is quite obvious that some of the money has come from the Telecom scam. A Raja in fact violated the written directive from the Prime Minister's Office which instructed him to keep the "empowered group of ministers" in the loop. It shows that in this Age of coalition politics, the dictates of the PM can be ignored with impunity. It is also possible that the PM's directive was issued to provide a line of defence to the PM, just in case the scandal became too much of a stench. The Congress has perfected the art of political corruption and has trained its 'secular" allies very well in this art. Corruption and Dynastic Fascism are both the great gifts of the Congress to the country.The only way to rid the nation of corruption is to appoint an audit committee to look into the funding and accounts of all registered political bodies. This is well within the purview of the Election Commission. After all political parties are only unincorporated association in law and it is within the competence of the Election Commission to order an audit into the accounts of all parties. If Hawala money poisons the IPL chalice, why not the political parties. And parties that refuse to comply must be forbidden to compete in the ELECTIONS.This is a reform well worth attempting.
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Telecom Scandal, Dynastic Fascism, and Political Corruption

It appears that educated people in India do not want to make the obvious link between political corruption and dynastic fascism which is rampant in India. The linguistic division of state has spawned a whole array of regional and sub regional dynasties vying for space in the over crowded menagerie of Indian politics. The Congress Party started the slide by promoting a political dynasty and all regional parties along with their national affiliates followed suit. Only the two communist parties and the BJP seem to be bucking the trend. It is easier and safer for corrupt politicians to park their ill-gotten wealth in Party coffers and since they want their families to access that wealth the logic demands that families will inherit the parties. When Annadurai the founder of the DMK died no one in the DMK would have thought of giving the reins of leadership to his son. Though the 2 Dravidian parties swear by the name of Annadurai both of then have betrayed the legacy of that leader. None more so than Karunanidhi mistakenly called "kal;ignar" a term that means artist, but I have still to discover what he is so good at that he deserves that title. Tamils have become so backward that they have started the biruda game like the kings of old.
It is only a matter of time before A Raja the Telecom scamster is shown the door. The 75,000 crore scandal he presided over is directly linked to the DMK party funds.In almost all the recent by-elections the party has spent crores of money and it is quite obvious that some of the money has come from the Telecom scam. A Raja in fact violated the written directive from the Prime Minister's Office which instructed him to keep the "empowered group of ministers" in the loop. It shows that in this Age of coalition politics, the dictates of the PM can be ignored with impunity. It is also possible that the PM's directive was issued to provide a line of defence to the PM, just in case the scandal became too much of a stench. The Congress has perfected the art of political corruption and has trained its 'secular" allies very well in this art. Corruption and Dynastic Fascism are both the great gifts of the Congress to the country.
The only way to rid the nation of corruption is to appoint an audit committee to look into the funding and accounts of all registered political bodies. This is well within the purview of the Election Commission. After all political parties are only unincorporated association in law and it is within the competence of the Election Commission to order an audit into the accounts of all parties. If Hawala money poisons the IPL chalice, why not the political parties. And parties that refuse to comply must be forbidden to compete in the ELECTIONS.
This is a reform well worth attempting.

Unrestrained Killing in Iraq

The US war effort in Iraq is undermined by the very savagery of its sometimes unrestrained killing. Of course, in a war zone the forces are at liberty to shoot and shoot to kill if need be, but it appears that gratuitous acts of great violence are being carried out without any tactical advantage or objective.
On July 12, 2007 an employees of Reuters, Baghdad,Namir Noor-Eldeem who was all of 22 years old was killed by a deadly burst of 30 millimetre M230 chain guns mounted on AH-64D Apache helicopters which have become the backbone of the US military for decades now. Sometimes called the Black Hawk because of its predatory shilloutte this war machine is etched in American consciousness due to another unfortunate incident in Somalia several years back. Namir Noor and his colleague were killed on the spot even though both of them were neither terrorists nor were they armed. In fact both men took extreme precaution not to send wrong signals as the site of their killing has witnessed sectarian strife. What is shocking is that the US military did not even acknowledge that such an act had taken place and tried to cover up for the error in judgement. It is not any one's case that the pilots were seeking out innocent targets and were getting their kicks by killing innocents. We are saying that the US military in its field operations has given far too much leeway to its soldiers and all damage justified under the label "collateral damage".
This incident would have been forgotten but for a happenstance. The video footage of this particular attack was loaded on to a little known site called Wiki leaks. It is obvious that someone from within the US military establishment has had the courage to leak the footage either to embarrass the military or to assuage the conscience. Either way the damaging video soon became one of the most watched videos even on you-tube where it is presently hosted.
The video has to be watched for one to understand the absolute cold bloodiness of the soldiers in the helicopter. The gunmen in the helicopter open fire on the Small group of unarmed men and kill all of them. Not content at this massacre they wait for the relief van to pull up and in the video one hears a voice with a mid-western accent: Come on, let us shoot.
When the US military was done with its deed 8 men and children lay dead and not one was armed or even remotely associated with insurgency.
This is only to bring home the horror of what is unfolding in Iraq.

Tharoor, Tweets and Twats: A Long Day's Journey into Night

I remember Sashi Tharoor as a student in Delhi University sitting in the CH (Coffee House for the uninitiated) with Swapan Das Gupta and Chandan Mitra and a bevy of girls from Miranda House. I still remember Tharoor with long side burns a kurta and faded blue jeans with an air of total nonchalance about him. I went on to earn a Ph D in History from a good State University in the US and Sashi Tahroor went to Fletcher School of Diplomacy to earn his. The Ph D dissertation was published by Vikas under the title Reasons of State and till this day remains the only full length study of the process of Indian foreign policy decision making. I hold no brief for Congressmen and their brand of dynastic fascism and yet I will say that I find it impossible to believe that Sashi Tharoor has used his position to make money. We have the like of Laloo Prasad Yadava and Papu Yadava, crimianls to the core,being included in the India political spectrum and Tharoor certainly is not cut from the same cloth.
Tharoor broke a few rules of the political game. First, unlike N D Tiwari, Tharoor flaunted his penchant for pretty women. When that Bharka woman from NDTV was inteviewing Tharoor on NDTV a few days back, I thought that Dutt would just sidle up to Tahroor. Such is the force he exudes. We have chief minister of one southern state with more wives than he even cares to remember and his children from different women are fighting for his political legacy even as the old man like King Lear is still technically alive and kicking. No one says anything. The First Prime Minister, Jawarhar Lal Nehru accepted the Partition of India as suggested by Mountbatten because Lady Mountbatten was his lover and we keep that singular fact under the carpet. Tahroor openly associated with a PRETTY WOMAN AND THAT was his first major mistake. He took her to official parties and made it clear to all that she was his love interest. Indians being a hypocritical people do not appreciate an honest relationship. Had Taroor kept Sunanda Pushkar (the pun is unintended) no one would have objected. But he was honest and that was his undoing.
SaSHI Tharoor is a serial offender as far as women are concerned and that is a personality disorder not a crime. The Tiger Woods syndrome affects even successful writers. Tharoor is the author of an outstanding novel, The Great Indian Novel and is still regarded as an outstanding piece of post-colonial literature. His short stories collected in Five Dollar Smile and essays in Book less in Baghdad are well written.
The first rule of Indian politics is that keep your twats under wraps and do not flaunt them. Tharoor paid no heed to that. The second rule of Indian politics is bow and scrape and do not ask questions. Tharoor was tweeting away even on extremely sensitive issues. I have a blog in this site on his "cattle class" remark. I think that the Indian Media too does not know how to deal with a highly educated and accomplished man and was complicit in undermining Tharror.
The most important mistake that Tharoor made was to associate with low brow convicts like the IPL commissioner, Lalith Modi. This convicted drug dealer is not from the same class or status group of Tharoor and Sashi must not have been seen associating with such muck. And he will pay for that.

Sashi Tharoor fell for a woman who for all her looks and glamour did finally show some character. When the sweat equity of 70 crores became an issue she did surrender the equity hoping therby to pull her beau out of the crisis. Sunanda Pushkar husband Menon committed suicide in New Delhi two years back according to the latest Outlook and now see the mess Tharoor has landed in. The moral of the story: Keep your twats strictly out of public glare and scrutiny.

It was such a pleasure meeting this poet

Obviously I cannot name him But recently I got the opportunity of a lifetime to meet a poet lyricist and screen play writer as the Universit or which I work decided to ive him an honorary doctorate. I think that theUniversiy honoured itself by giving this outstanding poet a degree honoris causa.

The speech that he gave after acceptiong the award was both generous in the sentiments expressed and inspiring to a large number of faculty and students who had attended the Convocation.

One thing that this great poet said struck me. On the road from Chennai Airport we got talking and he said that we in India can never relate to each other as "equals". We understand only two tyes of relationships one of "master" the other of "servant". As a nation it seems we have not learnt treat people as equals.

The large crowd that ad gathered to get his autograph shows that the tounger generation does take its cultural icons seriously. As for me I emerged richer for the experience and meeting this poet marked the high point of my long association with the University where I teach.

Dr Srinivas Siras and the Alighar Muslim University

The suicide or murder of Dr Srinivas Siras, a Reader in Marathi at Alighar Muslim University, shows how intolerant and fascist the higher university system has become. Suspending a teacher on the basis of avideo probaly shot with the connivance of the AMU Administration particularly the Proctor's office shows very clearly the Dr Siras was targetted by the Administration. The Deli High Court has already decriminalised homosextuality and therefore there is nothing illegal or contrary to law to have consensual sex with a person of the same gender. In any event the fact that Dr Siras has a defferent sexual orientation is no reason for placing him under suspension. The University must form a high level inquiry to find out who had participated in the sting operation and whether the Local Intelligence Unit of the Vice Chancellor had any hand in it. It is so shocking that a man can be driven to his death is a so-called University by goons who have a free run of central universities all across the land. I am myself familiar with the criminal deed of A Gnanam and his Registrar S G Bhat when the former waas the VC of Pondicherry University and the later the Registrar. In fact the man even forged his daughter's attendence certificate and got her enrolled in the Dentist Council of India. The MInistry of Human Resources Development cannot plead ignorance because I myself sent the documents to the Visitor.
Kapil Sibal came to my University the other day and delivered a splendid convocation address. Though I have little patience for congressmen, I must admid that Kapil Sibal's address was both scholarly and inspiring. I wish he takes time off to see the horrible service conditions of teacher's in Central Universities. Unlike bureaucrats, teachers do not have a CAT and have to approach the civil courts and hence the Universities convert all disputes and grievances into disciplinary cases by misusing the so called autonomy. The murder/suicide of Sr Siras proves my point.
I am shocked at the incident and I pray that his soul finds eternal peace.

Erich Segal: Poet, Historian, Novelist

I did not believe my eyes when I read that Erich Segal the author of Love Story had died in London. I remember reading this wonderful novel set in Harvard and Radcliffe which touched all the emotional and political chords of the 1960's USA: a more innocent and less politically correct time. I was in High School when I read Love Story and I was struck up the culture and openness of American University education, and that impression prompted me to go to the US for my graduate studies. From the first line: What can you say of a girl of 24 who died. That she was young and beautiful and that she love the Beatles, Beethoven and me" to the last this novel is a wonderful depiction of class in urban America. But done is an evocative manner. Of course the whole story was just a mushy romance, but the humanity was genuine.
I am sure that this scholar with a Ph D in Classics who taught Latin and Greek at Oxford was influenced by the great traditions of European tragedy particularly Sophocles who was in the fragility of human existence the inexorable hand of fortuna.
Some of the lines from this novel like Bob Dylan's "blowin in the wind" have become part of American popular culture.
Erich Segal deserves to be remembered as a great scholar and novelist.

DMK MINISTERS WATCH AS POLICEMAN IS HAKED TO DEATH

I have always maintained that Tamil Nadu has degenerated into medieval barbarism under the Dravidian dispensation. By this I include all political,parties of Tamil Nadu and most certainly the two prime Dravidian parties. I have no hesitation in saying that had Shri E V Ramaswamy Nayakkar been alive to day he would have rejected the criminalised identity politics of the two Dravidian parties.
Nothing illustrates the degeneration of the political culture and humanity in Tamil Nadu than the callous manner in which two manmamigus (sarcasm intended) the ministers Pannerselvam and Muhammad watched with utter disdain the death of Shri Vettrivellan, a sub-inspector of Police in Tinevelly District who was involved in arranging the security for the ministers. A few minutes before the arrival of the convoy of the manmamigus Shri Vettrivellan had been attacked with country bombs and hacked with avuvals (a local weapon glorified in Tamil Nadu as the Tirupacchi) and as he lay dying the two honourable ministers watched the fun with their dothis folded up and not one of them even bothered to send the dying man to the hospital even though an ambulance was part of the ministerial convoy.
Tinvelly district has become notorious for gang warfare between Maravars and Kallar politicos and thew police are part of the gang warfare as they are used by rival gangs to settle scores. This kind of violent politics has been going on in the region since the late eighteenth century and it is high time factional fighting is checked. Rayalseema area of Andhra Pradesh is another region where such violence has become rampant.
The two ministers must be forced to resign as they acted in a highly irresponsible and criminal manner.

K P S Gill is not S P S Rathore: Do not Humiliate a Hero

K P S Gill, the former DGP of Police in the strife ridden state of the Punjab at the height of the "Khalistan" terrorism was the man responsible for defeating the menace of terrorism in the region: the security won by this brave and fearless policeman was squandered away by the dynastic fascist Party called the Congress, which launched the pogrom of massacre against the Sikhs after the demise of Indira Gandhi. I agree that his behavior in the Governor's party when he intentionally patted the bottom of Mrs Rupam Bajaj IAS and the acting Chief Secretary of the state was in bad taste. But that act in and of itself does not constitute molestation or even an attempt to "outrage" the modesty of the lady. The very fact that the objectionable action took place in full public view shows that the intent was only misguided bravado and nothing more. KPS Gill did not bring his influence and stature to either suppress the facts or evade accountability for his misguided act. He was punished and he has appealed. The fact that Mrs Rupam Bajaj was not a 14 year old school-girl but a senior IAS officer has to be borne in mind and moreover the system did not fail her. The governor acted immediately.

This is not the case with Ruchika. She was molested and false cases foisted on her younger brother in order to further traumatise and humiliate the family of the victim. Moreover she committed suicide as she was just too young to bear the terrible consequences of the predator S P S Rathore IPS. Anyone suggesting a moral equivalence between K P S Gill and S P S Rathore is trivialising the death of the young child and molestation of a young impressionable child is an altogether different proposition than patting the bottom of a Chief Secretary. Certainly K PS Gill was in the wrong but to somehow suggest that he too is in the same category as that criminal S P S Rathore is altogether misplaced.

K P S Gill ruthlessly hunted the terrorists who has made normal life impossible in the Punjab and has earned the Nation's gratitude. He cannot now be thrown to the wolves just because all the insects are coming out of the woodwork.

Is there any progress in the Ruchika case

The media hype surrounding the Ruchika Molestation and subsequent suicide case is unprecedented in recent history. I heard the eminent lawyer Shri Ram Jethmalani declare on NDTV show the other night that he does not think that the former DGP of Police of Haryana Shri SPS Rathore is guilty of anything serious. With criminal lawyers like that it is no wonder that crime is the biggest growth "industry" in India today. In the University where I teach a similar lawyer criminal became the Registrar and misued the position and power to forge his daughter's BDS degree from the Mahatma Gandhi Dental College at Pondicherry. Even though the Lt Governor of Pondicherry and the Dental Council of India were notified in writing nothing was done. From this episode I learnt a very valuable lesson: In India crime not only pays but the entire system protects the criminals and this is the reason why I advocate justice being brought to the criminals in high palces.