Recent Political Controversies in India

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

Indian political controversies have a flavour of its own. Issues flare up like shooting stars across the evening sky and burn up as attention is focused on them. However,some serious issues have been flagged in the recent past.

First, the involvement of the Missionaries of Charity in child trafficking has led to a huge public outcry. More than 450 babies, born perhaps to unwed mothers in the Jharkand state have gone missing. It is suggested that several of them were "sold" to couples but the Missionaries of Charity has no explanation to offer about the missing children. Due to its iconic status in India public outrage has been muted. What the sister of the Missionaries of Charity did, and in particular, Sister Concelia, is beyond doubt reprehensible. Added to this is the scandal that has now enveloped the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Kerala. A bishop has been accused of raping, yes, a nun and the entire hierarchy seems to have comedown in defense of the priest. In addition, there are crimes of passion including murder that several priests belonging to the Roman Catholic order face. A Jesuit priest allegedly killed another priest over a dispute.

Sashi Tharoor who is now on bail for the murder of his third wife Sunanda Pushkar  made a statement that India is becoming a "Hindu Pakistan". At the face of it, this statement is absurd but the intent behind the statement is clear:the dynastic fascists are seeking to polarize the electorate by consolidating Moslem vote bank while simultaneously making inroads in the BJP support base by encouraging caste based voting. This strategy is dangerous as it would either give the dynastic fascists a huge electoral victory or push the NDA to an unassailable  victory. Such statements have been made by Congress leaders in the past. During the time of Hafiz Syed inspired attack on Mumbai in 2008, the Congress leaders started a campaign that it was a "saffron terror" attack.In other words they tried to deflect the responsibility to the BJP and its allies. This campaign was further bolstered by the deliberate misrepresentation of the Israt Jehan Encounter as a planned murder done at the behest of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat. The fact that was suppressed is that the LeT terrorist David Colemen Headley had clearly indicated to his interlocutors that Israt Jehan was trained as a suicide bomber who had been tasked take out the Chief Minister of Gujarat then. Using identity politics and creating a false narrative around Moslem fears led to the Partition of the country and the dynastic fascists still seem to be innocent of its implications.

Mohammad Ansari, the Vice President nominee of the Congress and its allies has made a statement in which he supported the "triple talaq" and Halala rape indulged by sections of the Moslem society residing in India. The later refers to the practice of women spending a night in the company of a moulvi before she rejoins her husband after a triple talaq. The BJP led Government wants to bring in legislation that would outlaw such practices and Ansari instead of supporting these progressive policies decided to oppose them. Moslem identity politics generally takes the form and shape of a consolidated Moslem population vs an Indian Polulation. In fact, educated Moslems have long given up these practices and even in Muslim counties like Pakistan, such customs have long disappeared. The Muslim community in India is kept in a dark ghetto by its political backers who want only its vote in order to defeat the BJP. Playing on the fears, usually misplaced fears and pandering to the most reactionary and fundamentalist opinion has become the mainstay of Congress electoral strategy.

Will such identity based polarization work.

The Vice President, Hon'ble Venkaiah Naidu in Pondicherry University

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The Vice President of India, Hon ble Shri Venkaiah Naidu who is also the Chancellor of Pondicherry University visited the University and it was a memorable occasion. The Vice President has earned a place in Indian public life which is unique. With his vast erudition and scintillating wit he kept the audience consisting of the Faculty and Students of the University spell bound for nearly an hour. An excellent orator with a penchant for alliterative expressions the Vice President drove home the message of hard work, honesty and dedicated service to the Motherland with passion as the mantra for success in life. His own life from Nellore exemplifies the path of democracy. It shows that India, in spite of its inherent weakness for dynastic fascism provides the space for grass root politicians like Shri Venkaiah Naidu to reach the second highest constitutional position in India. Humorously the Vice President stated that apart from hard work the factor that helped was his commitment to a single party.

Add captionShri Venkaiah Naidu in the Executive Council Hall

Before the programme began, the Vice Chancellor of the University Professor Gurmeet Singh made a presentation the the Vice President who is also the Chancellor of the University about the progress made by the University. The brief but well prepared presentation highlighted all the important aspects of the University and it is hope that the University will be recognized as an Institution of Eminence. 

The Vice President addressed a packed JN Auditorium which was crammed with students. What was so striking about this eminent personality is his utter simplicity. He made everyone feel at home and he addressed the students in a manner which pleasant and admirable. He urged the students to work had and stressed the demographic dividend due to the fact that more the 50% of the population of India is less than 35 years of age. This young population has opportunities provided it had the skills. He drew attention to the various schemes of the BPJ Government which emphasizes Skill Development and he also mentioned the flagship initiative of Start Up India, Stand Up India. Shri Venkaiah Naidu stressed the importance of education in the Mother tongue.

The University which was the venue of the meeting with Hon ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu worked with clockwork precision. The arrangement were all made in a meticulous manner. The Vice President who has a good sense of humor was reminded  that July 1st was his birthday and he said that he had forgotten about it until the Prime Minister's tweet wishing him went viral. The horrible issue of "rapes and violence against women" was referred to by the Vice President and he drew pointed attention to the Nirbhaya Tragedy. He said that such crimes not only bring a bad name to India and is against the very ethos of Indian culture but was also against the tradition of India which always respected women; Durga for Defence, Lakshmi for finance and Saraswathi for education.

I was deeply impressed with the Vice President. He carried himself with poise and elan. There is a distinct radiance about him which attests to the fact that he lives the ideals that he stands for and advocates.

The Scrapping of the University Grants Commission: A Welcome Move

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


The NDA Government at the Center has taken a major decision: the scrapping of the University Grants" Commission. For over 60 years this large unwieldy body was running the Higher Education scene in India and the chaos in Indian  Universities is largely the consequence of the UGC pursing policies that ultimately proved self defeating. Set in 1956, the UGC was mandated to act as a funding agency for Indian Universities.Its original purpose was to ensure that Universities  received funds as per their allocated budget. At the time the UGC was established there were less than 50 Universities in India and the task of fund distribution was relatively simple. A fixed sum of money was apportioned to Universities and College and the bulk of the spending was on the six Central Universities which came directly under the Central Government. When Professor Nurul Hassan the Communist turned Congressman became the Minister for Education, the UGC began to acquire a stranglehold over the University and Higher Education Institutions all over India. By the simple expedient of tying financial assistance to policy initiative, the UGC became over the decades the sole arbiter of Indian education. It conducted the National Eligibility Test (NET), it granted Major and MInor Research Projects, it prescribed the Curriculum to Indian Universities in the form of its Model Curriculum, it set personnel policies for those employed in Universities and Colleges by prescribing norms and criteria for promotion. It was the UGC which came up with the horrendous system of API on the basis of the recommendation of the S P Tyagarajan Committee. In the name of encouraging Reseach, the UGC decided to introduce the Academic Performance Indicators (API) which in turn was pegged tom promotions. Teachers were made to perform like circus animals in order to acquire the required score. In the process, teaching suffered and research which was done was, at best of indifferent quality.

The proliferation of the ON line Journals which were on the approved list of the UGC spawned an industry of predatory journals and thanks to the wrong policies of the UGC India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of predatory journals in the world.

All this will change under the new legislation which separates the role of funding and finance from that of the regulator. The new body which will be formed will look after the regulatory aspects of Higher Education and funding will be directly monitored by the MHRD. This will make the policy implementation simpler and there will be less scope for corruption. One of the lesser known aspects of Indian higher education is that it is one of the most corrupt in the world. Major Reseach Projects submitted for projects that run into crores are little more than recycled M Phil and Ph D theses. Same project is resubmitted several times and funding is generated. O f course, now the Turn-it In anti plagiarism test is being encouraged.

The UGC was averse to the participation of foreign universities in the higher education market. This will also change. Another important change is the growing importance that is being given to NIRF ranking. The NIRF ranking is now essential for funding and NAAC accreditation. These changes have improved the quality of Indian education. Though we have long ways to go.

Targeted Killings: Rise and Kill First by Ronen Bergman

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Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assasinations
Ronen Bergman
New York: Random House 2018

Israel was born of a horrendous historical and political reality that of the Holocaust in which around 7 million Jews were killed in gas chambers spread across Germany and Eastern Europe. This singular event has cast a long, and some might even say a deadly shadow, on Israel as a Sate and Society. The words "Never Again" emblaozoned on the Holocaust Memorial in Tel Aviv is more than a mere rhetorical declaration of intent: it is also a guide to the very conduct of State Policy. The Holocaust was both a moral and political disaster: Moral because it marked an end to the very notion of a civilized human existence and the world woke up to the horror of Extermination and Genocide as state policies and a Political disater because all the Allied Powers, though aware of the infernal extermination camps took no effort either to liberate the imprisoned people or to create awareness among the population through propaganda about the horrors of genocide. Only the Soviet Union made the Liberation of the Jews a WarAim and succeeded.

The book under review must be read against the backdrop of what we have stated above. The decades immediately following World War I and the Balfour Declaration witnessed the migration of Jews from Europe to Palestine. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire created the conditions for the rise of Israel and the Arabs who faught for the Allies soon found that their utility as an ally lay in the huge deposits of petroleum found in Arabia. The Allies were now very keen on keeping the Arab sates within their orbit of influence as the major source of Oil lay in Arabia. Under these circumstances Israel could neither depend on its"natural" allies the Western Powers nor was it powerful enough to ward off the ever spiraling danger to its very existence. The Arabs were dispalced from their lands as the Jews migrated to Israel and the fellow Arab nations instead of helping the Arabs resettle in Arab lands promptly  stuck the fleeing Arabs in specially created camps and thereby created the Palestenian problem. There was no Palestineian problem before the Arabs attacked Israel in 1948 and instead of crushing the nascent state of Israel in the cradle as they hoped only succeeded in strengthening the verve and resolve of Israel.

Shin Bet and MOSSAD were two very powerful organizations that emerged from the ashes of the Holocaust. The early recruits into these highly specialised Intelligence Units came from familes that had lost family members in the Holocaust. A high sense of motivation and skill were needed to join these units. Right from the very beginning Israel had made it a state policy to "Identify, Isolate and Eliminate" enemies of the State. Arab states like Egypt were keen to employ German scientists to help launch the Rocket programme. Of course, Israel would have none of that and the Germans were forced to withdraw. Intimidation through letter bombs and targeted assasinations have both been deployed by Israel security agencies against those working against Israel or have shed Jewish or Israeli blood. Thus all those who took part in the infamous 1972 Massacre of Israeli atheletes at Munich, Germany, were hunted down and the last one killed just 5 years back.

It must be noted that the special operations are carried out only on the written directives of the Prime Minister. The CIA has rouge elements, guns on hire, who operate outside the limits of the law. The Israeli agencies have shown restraint and there have been situations when assasinations have been called off due to the presence of civilians in the area. There are some who say that targeted killing is illegal. To them, I say that  the Law and Constitution acts as restrins only when people accept the limits set ny the Law of the Land and the Constitution. If we have terrorists who are not bound to the law and do not respect the Constitution and indeed, boast of overthrowing it, the State is well within iy=ts rights to seek challenge and destroy such elements.

Thias is a very interesting book and must be read by all those interested in Isreal, Secret Espionage Agencies and are looking for ways to destroy terrorism. Israel has shown that its policy is effective.

Rahul Gandhi and the Politics of Hate and Sarcasm

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One of the major drawbacks of dynastic politics is that individuals born to political and social privilege start believing in their entitlement to high office. In a Democratic polity, dynastic succession runs contrary to the very idea of an inclusive society as high office is often reserved for those born within a close circle. In the case of the Congress Party, the choice of succession is restricted to the members of the Nehru Gandhi family and the entire Party is reduced to being a mere props to the chosen Crown Prince. Rahul Gandhi who has succeeded his Italian born mother, Sonia, to the President of the Congress Party is making an utter fool of himself by his thoughtless patronizing and at time downright insulting public utterances.

Rahul Gandhi,s public display of ignorance and naivety is reflected in his remark that he has a machine capable of making potatoes into Gold. He is known to have spoken of the escape velocity of Jupiter and he even said quite seriously that his family was responsible for the Freedom of India. His thoughtless and arrogant remarks about the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (the RSS) has got him into trouble with the courts and a case of criminal defamation is currently under way. Similarly, thanks to the efforts of Dr Subramaniam Swamy, Rahul and Sonia are both facing criminal prosecution for cheating in the National Herald Case. In each of the cases mentioned above, Rahul got into trouble due to his lack of understanding and his inability to discern the damage his public statements will cause. More recently he declared that he is fit to be the Prime Minister of India even though his Party has only 44 seats in Parliament.

The remerks made by Rahul in Mubai after paying a visit to the ailing former Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee was both crass and immature. Rahul Gandhi, against the advice of the Medical team looking after Ataji at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, gatecrashed into the room of Atalji and later bragged about being the first to visit Atalji and then went on to pointedly say that the present Prime Minister had not gone to the Hospital thus showing lack of respect. Nothing could be further from the truth. None of the senior leaders went to the Hospital as the great Atalji was critical and nobody in his right mind disturbs a critically ill individual and then milks that for political gain. The entire country condemned the crass and senseless remarks of Rahul, the Clown Prince of Indian politics as he is derisively  called. There are also rumours swirling that he was caught in New York Airport with drugs and cash ans it was Atal Behari Vajpayee as Prime Minister who got the immature Rahul Gandhi out of trouble. Be that as it may, Rahul showed his lack of intellect and character by making that crass remark.

Will Rahul Gandhi emerge as a serious contender for political office. It is too early to say. However,Indian electorate is rather short sighted and is capable of being swayed by identity considerations.

Roy Moxham's Great Hedge of India: A Review and a reflection on Historical Method

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Marc Bloch the great French historian published a book that is unfortunately not widely known: French Rural History. In that book he argued that it is possible to look at the cadastral surveys produced during the era of the French Revolution in order to reconstruct the rural history of France. For eaxample why did Brittany and parts of France have an Open Field system and eclosed fields in other parts. Using the documents of a later age to reconstruct the social and economic landscape of an earlier epoch, the regressive method, has become a powerful tool of research. In the Graet Hedge of India, Roy Moxham does something similar. He has used the maps of the first half of the nineteenth century to trace the remanants of the Permit Line or the Custom Line thta separated the territories of the East India Company from those of the so called dependent states that had been brought under the overall suzerainty of the Company.
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The Great Hedge of India

A map showing the Custom Line

 The defeat  of the Maharatas in 1818 for all practical purposes left the East Indiat India Companyin a dominant position politically and militarily. From this singular historical fact stemmed a huge atrocity that even the genius, the political genius of Mohandas Gandhi barely grasped: the creation of a salt monopoly that was hugely profitable to the East India Company, but a terrible calamity visited upon the people of India. Maxham, unlike Indian historians, who write modern history with their eyes firmly fixed on the crumbs falling from the polical banquet, is unburdened by any expectation, except the thrill of historical discovery and analysis. From a stray, almost an aside in the Rambles and Recollections of Col. Sleeman, he stumbled upon the refence to the Custom Line or Parmat Lian as the "natives" termed it. Seeking to see if traces of this Custom Line still survived he sets off on a rather uninspiring journey across the badlands of Northern India: Chambal, Jhansi, Etawah, Erich. He even approached the Remote Sensing Agency of India for satellite imagery of the areas he is interested in but the price quoted, US $ 16,000 is way beyond his reach and so he perseveres on until he finally sees for himself a stretch of the anceint hedge near Jhansi.

Roy Moxham is extremely affectionate toward India and in a slightly partonizing tone even wrote his Theft of India as a reposte to the apologists of the Raj of whom we find an ever increasing number, especially after the disease of Postt Colonial Theory hit the Indian academia. He argues that the purpose of the Custom Line was to prevent the smuggling of salt from the Princely territories into the Company possessions. By a historical accident, the major salt producing areas of India, Bengal and Madras fell into the hands of the Company very early and these were the major salt producing territiries of India. Salt was extensively and freely traded all across the land until the East India Company established the Salt Monopoly and created an elaborate officiadom to control the manufacture and exort of salt. In order to prevent the Salt from British territoris from leaving without the collection of a steep tariff, the Custom Line was first established near Allahabad and Benares and soo stretched nealrly 1280 miles up to the North West Frontier Province. The Custom Line was a huge hedge with thory briar trees and thick shrub 20 feet high and 15 feet broad. In 1878 the Custom Line was abandoned after fiece criticism in the House of Commons.

I found the book interesting and will certainly reccomend it to those interested in historical sleuthing.

Killing Fields of Kerala: The lynching of Madhu

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Add captiMadhu at the hands of his captors

Look at the expression on the man's face: a vacant look of terror. A few seconds after this picture was taken the man died and his only crime was that he was a tribal in a state ruled by the Communist Party of India, the Marxist faction. Madhu was a tribal youth from Attydapy, a palce made famous by the struggle of Janu whose fast highlighted the plight of tribals in Kerala. Since the CPM faction has come to power, killings have become an endemic party of Kerala politics. The CPM has been involved in systematically terrorising its opponents in Kannur and Malappuram districts.Estimates vary. However nearly 40 BJP and RSS workers have been hacked to death since the Marxist faction came to power.

 The Popular Front of India, a radical Muslim outfit has been give a free run and it is suspected that the Marxists have outsourced the elimination of their opponents to the PFI and even mainstream Indian politicians like Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President of India, patronise this outfit. Since prosecution is in the hands of the State Government, there is little fear that there will be justice. And since RSS and BJP cadre are being systematically targeted, it is possible for the Marxists to maintain deniability and claim that it is the usual Hindu/Muslim problem. However, the failure of the state to act and apprehend the criminals is sufficient proof that the CPM organization supports these extra judicial killings.

The rapid strides taken by the BJP is shoring up its support base is causing alarm bells to ring. The BJP even won a seat in the last Assembly election. There is a caste dimension to the violence as well. The backbone of the marxist faction which is entrenched in power is the Ezhava community, a backward caste that is now powerful. The Tiya, are contesting the hegemony of the Ezhavas and they have rallied around  the RSS and the BJP. The Muslims who form a sizable part of the electorate are feeling the heat of the changed political dimension and are resorting to unabashed violence. In fact the majority of the men involved in the lynching of poor tribal, Madu, are muslims. And there is apprehension that the state willgo soft on them for political reasons.

The lynching of Madhu, a poor starving tribal who stole 200 Rs worth of rice exposes the hypocrisy of the Indian mainstream media. The Liberals went ballistic over the killing of Gauri Lankesh and one or two from their fraternity. It now appears that all the killings were in the nature of private revenge and had nothing to do with the Central Government though there were loud protests over the killing of Kalburgi, Dhabolkar and Lankesh all of which took place in Congress ruled states. Now this crime committed by Muslims in a Communists ruled State is proving to be a real dilema. The liberals are brought up to believe that crime with a gree tinge is best swept under the carpet and this has happened.