Saket Suryesh's Blog, page 2

Pandemic, Politics and Propaganda

 

There is an interesting episode in Mahabharata, in Drona Parva. Mighty Drona, the teacher of Kaurava and Pandavas took charge after the great Commander of the Kaurava Army, Bhishma had fallen. There was a huge battle and Krishna predicted complete routing of the Pandava forces if Drona was to fight even for half a day. To circumvent this, Bhima was to make an announcement that Drona's son Ashwatthama was slain. This would have led to a dejected Drona surrendering his weapons and thus could be killed, unarmed. As Drona  did not believe in Bhima, he called upon Yudhisthira, the eldest of the Pandava to confirm. Yudhishthira, the righteous one, than famously said that Ashwatthama was dead, not the man but the Elephant. It is then mentioned in before now the Chariot of Yudhishthira had remained at the height of four fingers' breadth from the Earth's surface; but after he uttered the lie, his steeds touched the Earth. 

There is a certain glory and lightness of spirit in speaking the truth and that glory is lost the moment one speaks even a half-truth. Every half-truth is a lie. What Yudhishthira did in this incidence is not a lie, but he spoke the sentence, in a structure and manner that the latter part of the sentence would never reach Drona, knowing fully well this will result in the death of his Guru. Even when spoken with the blessings of Krishna, no one can escape the result of such a lie. Within a moment, your glory is gone, and rather than walking above the lesser mortals, you are shrunk in the quagmire into which you continue slipping. This is what we see around happening in these times of pandemic. The political leadership lies and the media instead of passing on the truth, amplifies those lies. The glory associated with the profession of journalism is gone as many are not content with merely swooping onto the dead like vulture, rather by creating more and more deaths, they create a lavish dinner for themselves, and then drown the wails of the dying with the clinking of the Champaign Glasses, and breathe through their upturned, aquiline noses what the playwright Tennessee Williams calls the stench of mendacity. Little do they notice, lost in their own power, the power to change the narrative, to tell the truth, to hide the truth; that their grand Chariot now rolls in the mud, laced with the blood of their own countrymen. Like Yudhishthir, an unsuspecting Drona trusted them with truth and in return of this trust, they gave him half-truths. They do not want to be teller of the truth, they want to be creator of it. Therein lies the problem. These pygmies, these small Gods are not benevolent and confident in their roles. They want to decide the future of the nation, not by building consensus, but by building anarchy. Only today there was a discussion in Clubhouse (a voice only open platform), ostensibly called 'Fight pandemic and not the opposition' while the discussion was centred around why cannot we build a sustained outrage out of the pandemic death and misery to change the current Government. I was brought up to the speaker panel and when I raised this point, I was summarily moved back to the listener's forum.  

There is a stench rising, as people queue up in almost all major cities across India in search of Medical Oxygen as the number of dead rises. Devastating scenes emerge all across the country of dying people, patients gasping for breath, wailing relatives. I too have lost a close relative, a young man, couple of days back. The young guy had his whole life ahead of him. I cannot claim that he suffered non-availability of oxygen or medicine. He did not. He died because the disease if too horrible and the worse thing is that it has brought out our primal fears out in open. When the time are too tragic, there is no space for emotional commitments, we stay stuck in our cages of security, however ephemeral it might be. There won't be anyone except the nearest one to risk the disease and bid the goodbyes. He was cremated by his mother, a solitary woman alone in her grief. After cremation, she did not get a shoulder to cry on, but a quarantine to handle the grief of losing her son, alone. Such is the disease and one has little choice but to suffer in silence. The devastations Covid is leaving across the Globe will take centuries to heal and the scars it will leave on human souls will forever torture us. 

In such times, as the families stand stark naked abandoning the pledges of never abandoning one another, the nations, the continents and the worlds are falling apart. We look at others with suspicion, we no longer hold hands even of those we know, we shrink away when someone coughs around us. Every day of the pandemic takes away some pretence of human value that we took pride in across the centuries of our evolution as species. When emotions cause discomfort and pain, it is truth which is the only healer. It it the fact and objectivity which holds us together and as the Hindu thought says, the Dharma at a very fundamental level is nothing but the truth. 

Facts always present a counter-point. For every shrinking human touch are those struggling men and women clad in their PPE kit, afraid but determined taking care of the flood of the sick, day after day. For every scared soul, there are brave men in uniform advising, urging and begging us to help beat the pandemic. For every woke elite lamenting their lost foreign vacations, there are women manning the Petrol pump, driving the trains, connecting the people, working on the vaccines, cleaning the streets and keeping the cash counters clicking, so that the Economic wheels of the world keep rotating. When things are falling apart, it is the job of media and leaders to keep hopes afloat. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi started tweeting at the start of Pandemic that we are doomed as no action is taken, when Lockdown was declared, he again cried that we will die because of Lockdown. He is a perpetual pessimist. Or maybe not, he is that guy in Hollywood science-fiction movies who stands on a crowded street with a placard proclaiming that the world is going to end. The way he created fake Farmer's protest makes me believe that he does not think the world is going to end. He merely wants other to believe that and suffer in that constant fear because they did not elect him to rule over India.

Facts, will hurt, so does fiction. Facts however, when confronted will give us perspective and stop hurting. Fiction will continue to hurt us. The political pariah, the touristy politician, Rahul Gandhi, who is a tweet-a-day politician, sends out one doomsday prediction everyday and the media channels amplify that, somewhere hiding in those screeching concerns about misery of common people and their well-shampooed hairs, a cynical hatred and pessimism, not only for the Party in power in India, rather also for the people who chose them as a part of democratic process. Rahul Gandhi in last four day ever since the start of the new wave and explosion of Coronavirus cases in India came out with three declarations:

- Government is taking away insurance of Health Workers (it was clarified by the Government that it was never the case). It was the case of annual renewal of the Rs 50 Lakh Insurance cover for the Covid warriors, and the same was renewed. This was clarified and corrected two days later by some media houses (Centre extends Rs 50 Lakh Insurance Scheme: The New Indian Express)

- Another news came from Maharashtra, ruled by Rahul Gandhi's party in coalition with Shiv Sena claiming that ex-CM of the state was hoarding Remdesivir, a critical medicine in Corona treatment severe shortage of which was reported from Maharashtra. Later documents came out establishing that ex-CM was trying to ensure that the manufacturer does not export the medicine needed in Maharashtra and India and the state officials were totalling in the loop. 

- The third thing he came up was about India having exported medical oxygen and therefore India is suffering acute shortage of medical shortage. Later the source of the news withdrew it and apologised. Rahul Gandhi did not. 

While Industrial and Medical Oxygen are both oxygen, but both cannot be used for medical purposes because the degree of purity in Medical Oxygen is 99.5% as against 99% in the former. The claim of MoneyControl, that the Government exported Oxygen in the pandemic time was not only wrong rather malicious. Like the other two lies propagated by the Congress MP from Wayanad, and amplified by the supportive media was proven wrong but Rahul Gandhi, refused to clarify or apologise. One particularly bright journalist kept on fighting claiming that both are the same. Hope he does not some day jumps into some Nuclear Plant to take a dip into the heavy water, after all, that too is water. NDTV still has the news on its portal and will be handy for Congress to create outrage in 2024 elections. India exported 9300 MT of Oxygen in April 2020 to January 2021 period. During the period, India had exported 9000 MT of Industrial Oxygen and 12 MT of Medical Oxygen. Is this export a cause of shortage in Oxygen as claimed by the Congress? Well, During the period of export, Indian requirement of Medical Oxygen was 1418MT. As of now, India's daily Oxygen production capacity is more than 7000 MT Per Day. Looking at the per-day capacity vis-a-vis export across the year, we can understand that even if consider the entire export amount it is not more than a day-and-a-half production of Oxygen. The shortage has come because the demands were not put up to the centre in a timely fashion even by the states like Delhi and Maharashtra who never actually came out of the first wave of Covid before stepping into the second wave because poor administrative controls. While Maharashtra Government did precious little to ramp up hospitals and place stricter curbs, Delhi simple floated from one political agenda to another as it welcomed the Farmers on the fake agitation to block Delhi borders. Thousands openly flouted Covid norms of social distancing and violated Pandemic act while Arvind Kejriwal welcomed unrest as he hoped to ride on it to the throne of the full-state of Punjab. The reminders from Ministry of Health warning him about the impending havoc did nothing to wake him up as apart from rhetoric, much like the case of pollution in the capital, he did precious little. Data came tumbling out about how Delhi Government has not made any new hospital till 2019 in Delhi or even after granted money by the Centre from PMCARE funds for setting up 8 oxygen plants, slept over it. Earlier vilest of the politicians had some love for their people. People like Kejriwal has hit a new low, when ten days back during a review the PM in the face of increasing cases, he, as the CM of Delhi, was seen yawning and looking bored, instead of placing request for Oxygen in Delhi. Finally after doing all the drama to gain political benefit out of the deaths of thousands, 20 States had passed on the requirement of 6785 MT of Oxygen per day and were allocated 6822 MT a day by the central Narendra Modi government which is coordinating the supplies now. Both Airforce and Railways have been pressed into action by much-Maligned Modi and Oxygen is being arranged by Tatas, Jindals and Ambanis- the Much-Maligned Industrialists. 

Next scarcity was about the critical covid medicine like Remdesivir. This requirement was lying on the head of States like Maharashtra and Delhi for a very long time as cases were spiralling up. Even today, these states lead the Covid numbers and it is truly surprising that the media houses who slept till now, even after waking up the large-scale human tragedy is reaching out to provide ground reports from select states, namely UP, MP and Gujarat- Common theme- All being ruled by the BJP. Is it not logical to expect media to provide ground reports from the state where the situation is the worst. 

As on 23rd of April, 2021, India has total active cases of 22 Lakhs. Maharashtra has highest number of active cases at 6,97,000 followed by UP with 2,42,000 Active cases, Karnataka with 1,75,000 Cases and Kerala with 1,35,957 Cases. There are two things however, one ought to consider as to why the situation is relatively more serious in which state. First is population. Maharashtra has a population of 12.22 Crores, Kerala has population of 3.5 Crores (same as Delhi, think population density), Karnataka at 3.22 Crores and UP is at a mammoth population of 23.5 Crore People. With reference to population, the wave has not yet become as monstrous as other states.

Another important parameter to be considered is the death rate to get things in perspective. While every single life lost is a tragic thing, but when all that you find staring at you from the TV screens, you forget that there is a tender and tenecious life force struggling all the time, refusing to give up. I have only two submissions here, report, but do not try to scare people. Secondly, If your idea is to scare people so that out of shock some positive action happens, then please shake the sections which are wreathing under the most severe attacks of COVID and most apathetic administration. India's has a total of 22 Lakh or 2 Million Cases and a fatality of 1,84,657 cases. Fatality rate in India is 1.16% (During Swine Flu, it was 6%). I have had my losses, but I have many near and dear ones who have happily survived the Chinese virus as well. 

  

The states which are still sleeping need to be woken up and that is where Ground reporting of TV channels should happen if the intent is not to create outrage against the Governments media does not like rather it is to wake up the Governments which do not act. America has seen 3.2 Crore cases this far and 5,76,000 Deaths, which is five times Corona Deaths in India. One may credit Indian Doctors who have worked in severe limitations and Indian people who refused to give up or who are blessed with a general immunity. 

For a nation, which did not have any Ventilator or PPE kit made in India, we have two Indian vaccines, out of which one is developed in India, Covaxin. US has given vaccine to around 19 Crore people. The population of US is 33 Crores and Indian population is 137 Crores. India has vaccinated 13.23 Crore People. The thing is rate of vaccination, while good is lesser for the huge population of India. Unfortunately, politicians like Rahul Gandhi created such a concerted campaign to oppose Indian vaccines, that there was a huge amount of Vaccine hesitancy created. When I went for my vaccine last month, there was only one couple in waiting. It can only think that now with fear of disease lurking in the shadows and reports of Vaccine opponents now secretly taking vaccines after opposing it in public, coming out, this number should pick up. Also reduction of vaccination age to 18 years from 1st of May, 2021, this should improve, with states like UP, Bihar and Assam setting aside money to procure and support free vaccinations. The fact is that even with such a widespread pandemic, India being plagued with huge disinterest towards health infrastructure, we have handled this whole thing quite well.

The Government is trying hard. We need to support the governments. Where they have slept over the work like say, in Delhi and Maharashtra, we need to wake them up. We need to urge the centre to work more aggressively on health. However, we must remember that no state can be prepared well-enough for such an exponential explosion. You cannot have ventilator beds for half of your city population. Western Commentators like Annie Gowen might find the tragic sights of cremation 'stunning', it is not. It is deeply saddening and movingly tragic. This from where, as Phoenix we shall rise again.

We need to reach smaller areas and standardise healthcare systems. The fact that we do not have enough Oxygen plants do not add up. It also does not add up that the Hospitals who are better equipped to handle Oxygen suppliers are not willing to take up their responsibility. Tatas and Ambanis are organizing Oxygen from industries. Healthcare itself is an industry. Ms. Reddy of Apollo who tweeted to the Government seeking help for Oxygen has a net worth of INR 895 Crores or 130 Million Dollars. Could she not have set up Oxygen plants in her Hospitals, at least in Delhi and even supplied to other hospitals? People are cynics and they will use the situation to create outrage, unrest and exploit the situation. Media will continue with their inane debates. Medicines are hugely being black-marketed. Government of India has stepped into distribution of Remdesivir (couple of days back HC Judge had taken Maharashtra Government to task when they said they cannot do anything about shortage of medicine as it is a matter between a private company and their distribution chain asking Maharashtra Government (of Shivsena, Congress and NCP) - Are you not ashamed of yourself? If you are not then we are ashamed of living in the same society as yours. For obvious reason the news was as promptly pushed under the carpet, as was the news of 23 deaths in Nashik day before and 13 today. GoI under Narendra Modi has allotted One Million doses to be distributed state-wise as per the gravity of situation. Before a disgruntled Congress supporter hosts another Clubhouse debate with fake data, just to share, Congress-Shivsena ruled Maharashtra gets the highest number of Remdesivir at 2,69,200 doses.

Hold each others hand, do not give in to outrage. We will come out of it stronger. Stay strong my Country and keep calling out those who think if they do not rule over this great land or those they support do not rule, this country must break, burn and cease to exist. Lies. and propaganda in these pandemic times are the worst thing to do. People are dying and media refuses to bring news from the worst affected areas, refuses to stop lying for political reasons. There Chariots are in mud, their half-lies are exposed. When you open the newspapers or turn on the TV, if you smell a stench, you call it out. You know what that strange stench is, to quote from Tennessee Williams, Cat on a hot Tin Roof - 'Didn't you notice a powerful and obnoxious odour of mendacity in this room? There ain't nothin' more powerful than the odour of mendacity. You can smell it. It smells like death.'

We need to breathe freely and drown ourselves in the sweet, salubrous air of Bharat. We cannot continue to allow us to be choked. We need the Chariots to again float and levitate like the vehicles of the Gods. The year hasn't been kind to us, the Century will be ours.

Book Review: The Sanghi who Never Went to a Shakha- By Rahul Roushan

'There is a crack,

A crack in everything;

That is how

The Light gets in.'

Wrote Leonard Cohen, in his song Anthem. I have been meaning to write a review of the book by Rahul Roushan called Sanghi Who Never Went to a Shakha. I was not getting around to it, the dark shadows of deaths floating around in this resurgent wave of Corona Pandemic, where each man has been reduced to an isolated island of life in the middle of a dreadful sea of unknown. Apart from that it was the structure of the book which was confusing me. Is it a memoir? or a non-fiction tome of political history? 

It would come across often that Rahul does not want it to be taken as a memoir. But then he also does not want it to be taken as a political history of say, India since the Nineties. It is in a sense both. Is it a beautiful book? Is the prose enchanting, the structure captivating? I would say no. But then a memoir is not supposed to be beautiful. It is supposed to be brutal. A memoir is not a reflection of embroidered soul, it is rather the story of a would that refuses to age and heal. 

Sanghi - the term mentioned here refers to a member of RSS, a much-maligned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a cultural organisation, which talks precious little but is always working in the shadows coming to the rescue of nation in the moments of all natural or man-made calamities. It is one of the largest network of patriotic individuals who are, strangely, proud of India's cultural history. The parties in opposition led by the Congress has come to hate it as they have come to hate everything Indian or Hindu. Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader from the political dynasty founded by Jawahar Lal Nehru considers Sangh as his favourite foe, much like his great grandfather who had some aristocratic indignation to any organisation or people who did not come from the same class as his. Notwithstanding the fact that RSS mourned the death of Gandhi for Thirteen days, and within a month of banning the organisation (Nehru was hasty in banning any organisation he did not like and banned Communist Party too, a story, largely kept hidden), and that Sardar Patel invited the Sangh to join the Congress and the Government in a Public Speech in Lucknow, Sangh remained a bad name and embarrassing connection in modern circles. 

But that is the story for some other day. This book is not about Sangh, this book is about the Hindu mind which has been forced into an embarrassed silence by the cabal of Leftists who have kept the post-independence, in general, post-emergency, in particular, intellectual space as closely-guarded and exclusive, elitist club. Ever since the assassination of Gandhi by Godse, I would say a man who was rightly alienated by Savarkar, he has been used as a stick to beat any Indian with any hint of pride in Indian culture and Hindu faith. Those who are aware of the things, have written that the Sangh Supremo who was in Chennai at the time of assassination was physically disturbed when he got the news during an event and had to sit down to allow the impact of this news settle down saying,"What a misfortune for the country". But still, Godse has been mischeavously linked to Sangh and Sangh has been linked to all things Hindu until every Hindu head was hanging in shame and every Hindu intellectual was shunned into silence.

By the time, this story begins in outskirts of Patna, going through a socially-divisive social experiment of Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rahul Roushan is begins his life as a totally secularised Indian, much like any other middle-class Indian, as a school-kid. As the story flows through the years, Rahul feeding on the staple-diet of secularism through his childhood until his taming is complete to the extend of turning him blind to any historical wounds that the past has left on his heritage and faith. Then he moves from Bihar to Delhi, the National Capital and lands in one of the leading media Institutes in India. 

This is when the cookie begins to crumble as his proximity to the media, to the News and to the craft of Newsmaking increases. He discovers the truth about his classmate in IIMC whose rants about 9/11 he had previously considered secularist rants, as he is later discovered to be media resource attached to an Islamic Terror organisation. Rahul, by then is a Journalist, with Sahara News. He tells us about the way narrative is manipulated and propaganda smuggled in the name of secularising the facts. I wished he told us more about that time. As Social Media continues to expose the high Priests and Priestesses of media, one often wonders if the so-called journalists do those things because they have thin brains or thick skins. I detailed book on Rahul's Journalistic adventure would make an interesting read. Rahul goes for MBA, founds Faking News, sells the venture to Ambanis and then founds OpIndia, an unhesitatingly and proudly Right-Wing Digital news platform. 

The book is received so-well and supported by so many celebrities that it does not need my review to sell. It must be selling on its own steam merely because it reflects everyone's growing up. Every Hindu who was told to sit quietly in the corner because Godse, a Hindu killed the Mahatma, while the world went around offering wild justifications to heinous mass manslaughter across the Globe in the name of Islam, would find the story resembling their own lives so much. As the Hindu voices rise with a new sense of assertive identity, shunning the shadows to which they had been pushed, we find every silenced Hindus voice in Rahul Roushan's memoir. When in 16th Century, the African-Americans arrived in the foreign lands, they found a world of slavery awaiting them. By Sixteenth Century, Hindus of India had already lived through a couple of centuries of similar or worse slavery under the foreign rulers of a strange faith. Dinkar in his book Sanskriti Ke Chaar Adhyaya (The Four Epochs of Cultural History), has written that Hindus who had often defended the Mosques of visiting Muslim Salesmen were shocked to find a culture which think nothing wrong about desecrating Hindu places of worship. In the same book Dinkar, in a very scholarly fashion makes the point that Hindus had been secularist even before the West had discovered the word and the fact that Parsis found India a suitable refuge when they were ripped off their roots by the invading Islamists stands testimony to the tolerant Hindu spirit. While restoring the dignity of Blacks of America is high on global agenda, it is a pity that any attempt of Hindus to rise as a self-respecting race is viewed with suspicion. Every assertive stance of the Hindus is considered as a rebellion against the global religious order. They are thrown out of Oxford and humiliated in Harvard. As Rahul points out that narrative building is so strong that a Hindu casualty of religious hate  Notwithstanding the fact that in a nation of 1.3 Billion People, people need to go back couple of years to find one Tabrez Ansari (who actually died days after alleged lynching of the mob), while to find an example of violent aggression of the second-largest Majority, say for instance, the recent lynching of a Police Officer Ashwini Kumar by the Islamist mob pushed into violence by the local Mosque, one needs to only open yesterday's newspaper; the demonisation of Hindus as intolerant and regressive continues. This memoir of Rahul Roushan is a reflection of those young voices which are everyday discovering the hollowness of the class which has been telling them for decades to stay silent, obey the orders and contribute to the world which has no place for them or their dignity. This book is a record of cracks in Indian society through which Indian politics has grown. These cracks have left the soul of entire generation full of cracks. These cracks do not hold up for a photogenic picture, they are ugly reminders of a fractured past. But then we cannot continue to pretend that they do not exist. Secularism cannot remain a one-way street for ever. These cracks must be accepted, ugly as they may be, for they let the light in. Do read up. 

पुस्तक समीक्षा: Book Review - Katra Katra Dhup by Akshini

 पुस्तक समीक्षा:

क़तरा क़तरा धूप - कविता संग्रह 

कवयित्री : अक्षिणी भटनागर 

मुझे भय और संकोच होता है जानकारों के लेखन की समीक्षा करते हुए, पुस्तक के प्रति आशंकित होता हूँ, और अपनी साहित्यिक सामर्थ्य को ले कर आतंकित रहता हूँ। अक्षिणी जी से परिचय ट्विटर से है। पुस्तक प्राप्त होने के बाद मैं लम्बे समय, कोई महीना दो महीना, इसे देखता रहा और इससे भयभीत होता रहा। यदि कविता पसंद न आयीं, तो क्या समीक्षा करूँ और यदि पसंद आयी तो क्या मेरी योग्यता होगी एक अकवि होने के नाते उसकी समीक्षा कर पाने की। एक समस्या और रही आधुनिक कवियों के हर दुर्घटनाग्रस्त गद्य को कविता कहने की ज़िद, जिसमे आम तौर पर तमाम प्रचलित भावों को भेलपुरी निर्माता की कुशलता से जोड़ कर, यहाँ वहाँ नारी-मुक्ति, भूख, निर्धनता और कुछ अचंभित कर देने योग्य नग्नता को ठेल कर कवि निर्विकार भाव से कविताओं की रचना करता है। 

बहरहाल न पढ़ने के अपराधबोध ने पुस्तक को उठाने का साहस दिया, और जब पुस्तक के पृष्ठ पलटे तो पाया कि सारा भय निरर्थक था। पुस्तक अपठित छोड़ना असंभव हो गया। ऐसे कवि और लेखक कम हैं जो इस कारण से लिखते हैं क्योंकि जब तक ह्रदय के सरोकार वे पन्नों पर न उतार लें, उन्हें कलम कचोटती है। वे पढ़े जाने के लिए नहीं, लिखने के लिए लिखते हैं। अक्षिणी प्रस्तावना में लिखती हैं - 

'किसी हँसती आँखों की टीस पढ़ पाते हैं तो कवि हैं आप' 

और पढ़ते हुए ग़ालिब याद हो आते हैं -

'कहते हैं, जब रही न मुझे ताक़त -ए -सुख़न,

जानूँ किसी के दिल की, मैं क्यूँ कहे बग़ैर।'

सत्य है कि कलम का अर्थ क्या जो उसमे संसार का सरोकार न हो। कवि दूसरे के भाव अनकहे ही भाँप लेता है, और कलम की ताक़त से अनकही भावनाओं को शब्दों का आवरण दे कर इतिहास के लिए छोड़ जाता है, यही न कर सके तो दूसरों को समझ कर भी क्या करना है। अक्षिणी की कविताएँ स्वतःस्फूर्त हैं, स्वाभाविक हैं, सहज हैं। कवि के शब्द अपने परिष्करण के दम्भ के भार में डूबते नहीं हैं, कमल पुष्प की भाँति तैरते रहते हैं। एक विचित्र सी जीवन्तता इन कविताओं में पहली कविता से ही परिलक्षित होती है, जब हम एक जिद, एक विद्रोह रूप में कवि कहती हैं -

'बस एक कविता रोज़ की हो,

जोश की हो, होश की हो,

गाजरों तक दौड़ते 

खरगोश की हो

एक कविता रोज़ की हो।'

बचपन के मेलों में बुड्ढी के बाल वाली मिठाई की तरह रूई के फाहों सी हवा में तैरने वाली, गुलाबी, मीठी और निर्दोष कविता। साहित्य में प्रगतिशीलता इतनी अधिक हो गयी है कि सच्चे सरोकारों की और लौटने का समय आ गया है। अक्षिणी ऐसे भावों को स्वर देती मालूम होती हैं जब कविता 'बंद' में वह कहती हैं -

'सुनो दोस्तों 

एक बंद

रोज़ रोज़ के बंद 

के खिलाफ हो जाए.... ?

कब रखें..? 

देश जाए भाड़ में..... 

कवयित्री का साहस स्पष्ट दिखता है जब वह स्त्री को सम्बोधित कर के कहती है 

'श्रेष्ठ हो 

सो छोड़ दो पुरुष बनने का 

यह आत्मघाती यत्न।'

अक्षिणी जी की कविताओं में भावनाएँ प्रधान हैं, संवेदनाएँ स्वतंत्र। वे पाठक को अपने भाषा, शब्द ज्ञान से आतंकित नहीं करती, उससे संवाद साधती हैं। भाषा सुन्दर है, पुष्ट है पर संकुचित नहीं है, उर्दू रोकती नहीं है। भाषा की यह सत्यनिष्ठता कविताओं का प्रवाह बनाये रखती हैं। भाषा का अभिजात्य, संस्कृतनिष्ठता का दर्प भाषा को असहज नहीं बनाता, यह हिंदी का कमरा है जिसकी खिड़कियाँ खुली हुई हैं। अपनी लगभग ९० कविताओं में अक्षिणी जी का राष्ट्र के प्रति, समाज के प्रति स्नेह है, और व्यक्तिगत प्रेम भी एक निर्दोष औघड़ियत ओढ़े है, जैसा वे इस संकलन की अपनी अंतिम कविता में कहती हैं 

"जीवन एक कविता है... 

भावों की और उमंगों की, शोलों और पतंगों की,

मदमस्तों और मलंगों की, उर की पीर तरंगों की।"

 

अवश्य पढ़ें। भाषा और विचार दोनों उत्कृष्ट हैं। पुस्तक अमेज़ॉन पर उपलब्ध है।  

Common Man's View on Budget 2021

 Today Narendra Modi Government has its second Budget in the second term. Through the day, I was watching the Business Channels and the general consent was that under the pressing circumstances post-Pandemic, this was a great budget and experts who have their skin in the game have given it between 8 out-of-10 to even 11 out-of-10. The markets responded by saluting the Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman by rising to the occasion by an extent which was highest since 1997. However, by the time, the dusk descended, I logged on to the usual News Channels. AajTak, which has been blatantly propagating Communist propaganda surrounding the fake Sikh Farmer Protests, decided that the Budget discussion needs to have Farmers' angle. Congress, which ruled over India, by proxy with a PM with fake residential Address, fielded the Economists. Yesterday, there was Nobel Laureate Economist Abhijit Banerjee who quoted Oxfam report on rising inequalities globally in the aftermath of COVID, as a result of almost global lockdown. He suggested increased taxes on the rich people to counter that, leaning on the old Communist idea of redistribution of wealth. This theory is almost in line with another Congress Economist's idea who was caught recently illegally holding land in Shanti Niketan. Coincidentally, Dr. Banerjee is in the employment of Ford Foundation with a networth of around 6 Mn and Amartya Sen is linked to the family of Rothschild (world's richest family with networth of around 400 Bn) and has a networth of around  around 16 Mn. Co-incidentally, the nobel Laureate has been critical of Modi Government on all his economic Policy and his protege John Dreze was on Sonia Gandhi's NAC which ran the UPA Government by proxy and Rothschild's were given a 30 Crore project for e-Auction of 3G bandwidth during UPA, in spite of not having any background. Soon the fact that in spite of the Government being pressed for funds due to Covid and all wise Left-leaning Economists advising otherwise, the taxes remain unchanged. 

The system was quickly in action, building on the expectation of reduction of Taxes, which is common every year. Obviously you cannot catch an economist on the wrong foot, because they always have two hands. I refer here to the famous quote by Harry S Truman (US President- 1945-53) who said,

"Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say 'on one hand..', then 'but on the other.' "

I think, under the circumstances, no change in taxes is a positive thing. In fact, the provisions of tax collection have been made citizen friendly. Politicians will try to build on the middle-class frustrations. The fact remains that taxes cannot continue to go down every year. What the citizen wants is not to be exempted of taxes; rather the citizen wants visibly justified usage of the taxes the Government collects. With cleaner cities, better trains and transportation, improved schooling and healthcare, a stagnant tax immediately after Pandemic is something no nationalist citizen minds. As American Jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes said- 

"I like paying taxes. With them, I buy civilization."

The politicians often believe common citizens to be greedy and corrupt. This is not true. In 2020 the returns filed have doubled from 3.31 Crore people in 2014 to 6.48 Crores. Senior Citizens have been exempted from the requirement of filing returns. The harassment and corruption by authorities have curtailed by reducing the re-opening of the cases to 3 years from earlier 6 years. Even in Serious Tax fraud case, where 10 year ceiling is there, it can be brought upon only if the evasion amounts to more than 50 Lakhs. The lower amount of Tax Audit exemption has been moved from 1 Cr to 5 Cr and now to 10 Cr, for Businesses supporting digital business. 

The fiscal deficit is pegged at 9.5% in 19-20 which is decent in current circumstances and it goes back to comfortable range of 6.8% this budget. Thankfully, the government has decided to make citizen capable to walk with spine held straight and not to throw doles, even while being supportive with PLI schemes. These schemes were launched for thirteen sectors earlier, which have helped Indian Companies increase business, improve production, and helps India look at the GDP growth rate of around 11 Percent. To get a context, one would do well to remember that the GDP Growth rate under the Eminent Economist who was face of UPA, was 4.7% without any pandemic hounding the government then. Let us also remember that the Congress was given a GDP growth rate of 8.3 Percent in 2004. 

When the Pandemic happened, we as a nation, left by Communist-Congress Combo with no PPE kits, gap in supply of Ventilators. The now charged with corruption but eloquent English-speaking FM left us with ZERO PPE manufacturing capabilities. The ex-FM charged with corruption came and spoke on India Today and arrogantly claimed that he will debate but only when there is the right kind of opponent in his famous aristocratic arrogance. This situation of March 2020 was turned around quickly by May when India was making surplus PPE kits. The investment in Health has been changed from 1.3 percent of the GDP in 2014 to 1.8 percent of the GDP now. In absolute terms, the allocation of 1.56 Lakhs Crore, is this year 2.4 Lakh Crores. The good thing is that it is not a plan in air, but has a great deal of detailing done by the FM. So it has 35000 Crores towards Vaccination in 2021-22. 

The investment toward Education has been increased to 3.5 Percent of GDP. One point that the Congress FM from yesteryears raised was that the budget was protectionist. This was along the expected lines, looking at the Congress- China Agreement. It is pretty interesting that the same Party which claims the Government has thrown farmers to foreign powers attacks the increase in import duty. The import duty has been increased from 5% to 15% across Agriculture to Chemicals to Leather and Plastics, Auto, Capital Goods and Gem & Jewellery. On the other hand, the import duty on input raw materials has been reduced to reduce the cost of manufacture in India particularly for Defense and Aviation.

There is a huge infrastructure push in the budget. We were ruled for long time by governments which believed in throwing crumbs at citizens, and did not think we need good roads and bridges until AB Vajpayee came in. This budget has plan for flagship projects like Delhi-Mumbai (260 Kms), Bengaluru- Chennai Expressway, Delhi Dehradun, Lucknow Kanpur, Chennai-Salem, Raipur -Vishakhapattanam, Amritsar- Jamnagar, Delhi-Katra.

Thankfully, in spite of immense pressure the Government has waded out of the Communism conundrum. The Communists arrest Jack Ma and Entrepreneurs. The world needs capitalist. Even Communism needs fuel of capitalism to run itself. That is the reason that China turned capitalist itself. The mothership has transformed leaving the alien children in Bengal and Kerala forlorn. Even they need a billionaire like George Soros or Ford Foundation to support their fictitious. Amit Mitra, Ex- Secretary General of FICCI, and now TMC leader criticized the Government for disinvestment plan. The same man however, when he was a rational species and not a politician had attacked the Government in Feb 2013 for being slow with Disinvestment. There is a recent tendency of maligning entrepreneurship and businesses in India. There is an ideological take-over of Congress and the opposition seems to be huddled under the bloody shadow of Hammer and sickle. When Industries prosper, the prosperity trickles down to the last man in the line. Capitalism is the anthem of human achievement. Communism is a flawed philosophy. The decline of intellect in Indian political opposition has allowed Socialism to find feet in India. Let us not allow those who could not implement Swaminathan Commission recommendations for MSP question the current Government on Farmers, the people who could not implement OROP for the want of funds question this Government on Defense. Let us not let them prevail and celebrate this Budge which celebrate the unyielding spirit of India. Let us not be fooled by utopian nonsense of socialism about which Churchill wrote:

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

 

Judicial Overreach- How Far is too Far?

 

Supreme Court bunched together various petition with the primary petition seeking direction for the Government to get the Delhi roads blocked by various Farmer Groups, mostly from Punjab. These five-star protests blocking the streets, after refusing to move to designated protest sites are reportedly funded by foreign entities and political parties. The farmer leaders keep on claiming the protests to be apolitical led by poor farmers, and the left-leaning anchors allow them getting away with their lies when there have been proof of people like a 600 Crore High Networth Individual VM Singh, an ex-Congress and Ex-TMC leader (and running his own Political outfit now, having contested recent UP elections with 35 Contestants and losing all seats), Hanan Mollah, an 8-times MLA of CPI-M from West Bengal, an MP and also Waqf Board member, Rakesh Tikait, who fought 2014 election on RLD Ticket and lost, and Darshan Pal, an Anesthetist and founder member of PDFI banned by Congress-led UPA Government for terror link. The farmer's side was represented by Legal Luminaries with Congress Link, Dushyant Dave, Phulka, Colin Gonsalves. The Court, instead of considering the order on clearing the public spaces, rather waded into the space of law making. Using strange logic and excuses, the Supreme Court which was supposed to only look into the legality of the protests causing the Industries a loss of Rupees 3500 Crores a day, the SC decided to stay the law, formed a Committee with four Agricultural Experts for consultation. 

In a democracy, this is a sad day. Supreme Court quoted Gandhi, never treated as a Constitutional or legal expert, legitimizing the protests. In fact, Supreme Court, which should be a source of strength to the silence and weak, appeared to be cowering in fear when it asked helplessly- Who will be responsible for the bloodshed? It would have much better that instead of quoting Gandhi to equate a protest which was justified while India was under a foreign power with a protest under democratically elected Government meant to browbeat the Parliament. No, My lords, you do not function under the guidelines set in the Prayer meetings of the Mahatma. The institution you represent, with due respect, have to function under the guidelines drafted by Dr. Ambedkar as head of drafting Committee. In a Constitutional Democracy, there are tools available to protest and change laws. They can approach the SC and get the law rejected if the law of illegal or unconstitutional or passed wrongly by the Parliament. If they fail to do so, they can elect a new Government sensitive to their cause and agrees to them and get the law scrapped. Holding the gun, first to the Government and now even to the judiciary itself, to get a legally passed law repealed is not one of the democratic mean of protest. Here the Supreme Court while quoting the Mahatma has totally ignored the Constitution-makers, and what Ambedkar said in his now-famous speech 'Grammar of Anarchy' which I quote, 

"If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgement we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us."  

Another big issue here is about the judicial overreach. Judiciary, under the scheme of separation of the three arms of Governance, has nothing to do with Law-Making. Late BJP Leader Arun Jaitley had famously wrote about Judicial activism 'Just as independence of the judiciary is part of basic structure, the primacy of the legislature in policy making is also part of basic structure. In the name of the independence of judiciary, we cannot compromise the other two basic structures.'

There is deeper logic to having the Parliament enact the law. In a democracy, it is the will of the people which is supreme. It is the elections which represent the will of the people. Judicial officers, chosen through an collegium, among themselves do not represent the fluid will of the people. They are the custodian of the Constitution created by We, the People of India- A book in its rigidity. Once the Judiciary takes it upon itself to formulate the laws, the citizens will have no recourse because the Judges will not be approaching the people mentioning its line of thinking in Manifesto every five years. Another point is that SC says that they are putting the passed law to assuage the hurt feeling of the farmers. A Judges hammer should be as objective and dispassionate as a surgeon's scalpel. It is totally unbecoming for the SC to be speaking about the feelings of stray left-leaning farmer. While SC Judgement on Ram Janmbhumi has been hailed by all, that judgement also had this element of subjectivity. The SC had no business in allotting alternate site for the site once the Title dispute was settled in favor of the Hindus. The Government of the day might have been taken that decision, to assuage the feelings of the Muslims, but not the Courts. The dwelled into the realm of populism and politics. 

At one point, SC Bench even when pointed out to the limitations of the Judiciary on intervening into the space of legislation, boastfully claimed that they did not care and that they were Supreme Court and they will decide. On this, comes to my mind the speech India's first Prime Minister JawaharLal Nehru made while presenting Article 24 (Corresponding to Article 31 in the Constituent) during the Constituent Assembly debate, where he said- 

"No Supreme Court and no judiciary can stand in judgement over the sovereign will of parliament representing the will of the entire community. If we go wrong here and there, it can point it out, but in the ultimate analysis, where the future of the community is concerned, no judiciary can come in the way. (he even added- and if comes in the way, ultimately the whole Constitution is a creature of the parliament)...In the 'detached atmosphere' of the courts they should see to it that nothing is done that may be against the Constitution, that may be against the good of the Country, that may be against the Community in the larger sense of the term. Therefore, if such a thing occurs, they should draw attention to that fact, but it is obvious that no court, no system of judiciary can function in the nature of a third House, as a kind of House of correction." (Debate dated 10th of September 1949)

It must be considered with some respect that it was said by the one who is celebrated as a paragon in constitutional propriety. What we have here is a case of reform for the multitude of farmers spread across the country, not only of those sitting at the border in their fancy, five-star tents. The judiciary exists in the society and is constantly subjected to public scrutiny. It is not difficult, but it is necessary for the judiciary to remain oblivious to it and stay away from the impulse to win the public favor. The much deliberated Constitution has taken into account the entire Indian society. Even if something is missed out, there is a provision for the Parliament to make necessary amendment. This responsibility has been given exclusively to the elected Parliament primarily because the Parliament and only the parliament reflects the will of the people of India. The Supreme Courts must rise above popularity contests and media measurement of its own effectiveness. The learned Judges haven't wrapped themselves in much glory now that the errant farmers, emboldened by the SC, in a way, legitimizing the illegally held protests, have already rejected the SC guidelines of resolving the deadlock with a consultation through the appointed Committee. In his brilliant book, Courts and their Judgements: Premises, Prerequisites, Consequences-  Journalist Arun Shourie had brilliantly quoted Judge Bork from his essay on American Judiciary, with which I will end this essay, which is a view of a Common Citizen on the stance taken by the Supreme Court on Farm Bills-

"Why should constitutional law constantly be catching colds from the intellectual fevers of the general society?..This theoretical emptiness at its center makes law, particularly constitution law, unstable, a ship with great deal of sail but a very shallow keel, vulnerable to the winds of intellectual or moral fashion, which it then validates as the commands of our most basic compact."

I hope, powers that be, in legislature and the judiciary, will stand up to preserve this slow demolition of the Constitutional propriety under the pressure of Communist conspiracy, else there lies little difference between Democracy and Mobocracy.

 

Do not Pull Hinduism in Western Absurdities

'The poets tell us, that after the giants were overthrown by the Gods, the Earth in revenge produced her last offspring which was fame. And the fable is thus interpreted: that when tumults and seditions are quieted, rumors and false reports plentifully spread through a nation.'
wrote Jonathan Swift in his famous Essay - The Art of Political Lying. 
The outgoing president of the United States, Donald Trump, in all his awesomeness, lost the majority in the Congress and the Presidency of the United States of America as Joe Biden's victory was vetted by the Senate. And then as the Leftists say, with the eloquence of romantic poets- the people rose in opposition of it. Unfortunately, this time the people rose in favor the orange mop of hair which will go down in the history, if written factually, as the President of America who brought in least amount of wars on his nation and signed the most critical peace deal in the Middle East. However, History is not written factually, and is the fiefdom of those who refuse to grown of teenage infatuation of Communism, he is likely to go down in the History as the one who polarized America. If this means, wiping away or normalizing the Race divisions in the past and even full-fledged armed wars between the North and the South, so be it. 
What happened in Capitol is sad and much is being blamed on Donald Trump, the outgoing American President, the most-powerful man on this Earth, now banned from Facebook and Instagram. The Technology Majors have done so to uphold the democratic principles, thereby depriving the ex-President even the opportunity of making YouTube videos and posting them for fun. Even the small venues of happiness available to undeclared President of Chief opposition party in India are not available to Trump, post his retirement. But let us not fool ourselves. Public memory is short so many have now forgotten the naked violence which had descended on the streets of America after Hillary Clinton had lost. We cannot forget the way 'Not My President' banners by the Left-leaning Democrats welcomed Trump when he walked into the White House. The events of Capitol Hills only complete the cycle that was started then in the name of democracy, liberalism and weirdly, anti-racism. That all had gone without any condemnation by the leaders who were at the losing end then. There was violence then, there is violence now. This has been a tendency of the Leftist intellectual of initiating mob violence and then acting surprised when the cycle is completed by the other side of the ideology. There is no way for me to know whether the votes were stolen or not. Unlike Senator Promila Jayapal, I am not blessed with divine vision to understand how a state not allowed to have undemocratic constitution in India merely because it was a Muslim-majority state, will kill the free speech, dissent and democracy, from another side of the Globe. How brilliant the American democratic system is or how sullen it is- is for the Americans to decide. Being a brown Indian, who has suffered around Eight Centuries of Slavery as a second-class citizen under the White Christian Supremacists, I do not have a neck long enough to poke into the affairs of a nation on the other side of the Globe. I am not writing this for that reason, nor I am writing it to get back at those who pontificated on how Indian democracy should be run as they sided with the Islamists earlier and with the separatists Sikhs now who wanted to reverse the decisions by a constitutionally elected Government. I am writing this because as is the wont of the Communist, they have used their own nonsense to attack unsuspecting Indian Hindus who had nothing to do with their mess. 
HL Mencken wrote in his book, Notes on Democracy- 
'The dictatorship of Proletariat, tried here and there, has turned out to be somewhat impractical. Even the most advanced liberals, observing things in being, have been moved to cough sadly behind their hands.'
Now, in the darkest caverns of their Communist hearts, they know the truth. They know that the violence they themselves had cultivated and curated for years has come home to haunt them. Therefore they have jumped quickly to blame it on Hindutva trolls back in India. This has been done one, as a part of ongoing propaganda to malign Hindutva (Unlike the Blacks who were not aboriginals in America, Hindus were and still they were deprived of any rights in administration and Governance because of their faith), and two, as a quick measure to exonerate the Christian Supremacist West. Two pictures went around the circles in this regard. 
 Not only Muslim Mirror, an Islamist Newspaper, run from India (well, under what WSJ and NYT calls Fascist Hindutva Government of Narendra Modi), whose clipping is mentioned, the #Reuter release was quoted by all major Newspapers. It mostly went around with the heading - Indian American Groups Condemn the attack on the Capitol. Most of them quoted a group named ASPAIRE (Alliance to Save and Protect America from Infiltration by Religious Extremists) and Coalition of Americans for Pluralism. The home page  of ASPAIRE explains the kind of Infiltration they are trying to protect America from is not the one which flies jets into American Buildings. Their concern is Islamophobia and to fit in the woke vocabulary they use the term 'Nazism (which was a combination of White Christian Supremacism and Socialism, supported by the Muslim Brotherhood) to happily attack the Jewish and the Hindus. The section named 'Main Threats' refers to RSS and Hindutva. It is strange that this does not find any takers in global terror experts world view. The amount of focus this US based organization has on India (it has Pictures of Modi, Amit Shah and well, Arnab Goswami, the Journalist who was in Prison for a week for opposing a Congress-led Government), it seems like a Sam Pitroda run Organization more than the one genuinely working to protect America. Not many details are available about who runs it however, the fake news did give few hours of international fame to an unknown, Hinduphobic, propaganda organization.

It quickly came to light that one of the Picture, with a person standing with a saffron flag in front of Capitol Hill was from a calm day, last year. It also came to light that picture of the person holding Indian Tricolor was indeed from Yesterday's violence in Capitol Hill by Trump supporter. However, it turns out that the person in the Picture, condemned widely as Hindutva terrorist is a Christian supporter of Indian National Congress, which is run by a lady of Italian Origin. 
Indian media was suddenly taken aback by this nasty attack of western propaganda machinery. Indian media and the people, unlike the Communist China and Islamist Pakistan and Turkey, were not taking dig at America, but were rather concerned. Unfortunately, this attack came while intellectuals of India used the opportunity to attack Hindutva in the name of the tricolor-holding political extremist and claimed that Hindutva trolls attacked world's oldest democracy. As it turned out, they were wrong on both the counts. India had world's oldest democracy, in Vaishali in Modern Bihar. Even Rigveda has reference to the King requiring the acceptance of Sabha (the Upper House) and Samiti (the Lower House) so as to rule as a legitimate ruler. Even Rome had Democracy during its Pagan days. I am writing this because I tired of these intellectual lies. Will this stop a Shashi Tharoor from lying again? No, it will not because even when caught, by the time it is caught, it will have served its purpose. It will get shared across platforms because obviously Twitter or Facebook, living their teenage fantasy of bringing back communism will not delete the tweet or mark it. Quoting Jonathan Swift again, to explain why these fake stories and cycle of lies will continue - 
"As the vilest writer has his readers, so the greatest liar hath his believers: and it often happens, that if a lie is believed only for an hour, it hath done its work, and there is no further occasion for it. Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over and the tale hath had its effect."
PS. The man Tharoor quoted as Modi Bhakt and trolled as Hindutva guy was later found to be a Congress supporter, his brother being AAP supporter (the Party which had its MP wrestling with the Parliament staffer during recent debate) and is called Vincent Xavier . Tharoor tried to brazen this out trying to wriggle out of self-created mess without an apology by claiming not to be responsible for the act of every admirer. The same person and his colleagues have been seeking the resignation of Narendra Modi for every misdemeanor of every follower of Mr. Modi.

On the Side of Enterprise and Free Market

Few pretty disappointing things happened in last few days, as we have stepped into the New year. A section of farmers from Punjab, ostensibly claiming to be representative of farmers across the country, stood blocking the roads to Delhi, led by one rejected politician and failed pollster, Yogendra Yadav, one four-time MLA of Communist Party and one founding member of Terror Organization.

Then there is Rahul Gandhi who is and is also not the Head of Congress Party. The man is reportedly in Italy to welcome the New Year, all the while instigating the people of India to create violence and anarchy. The problem with almost Fifty-year old Rahul Gandhi is that he has not done productive work of a day in all his precious life. The harbinger of negativity, quintessential Naysayer of Indian public space, Rahul Gandhi knows little about any thing and is inconsistent as Delhi weather these days. Journalists, who Rahul Gandhi claims, Congress has invested deeply in, and who in all their earnestness trying to position Rahul Gandhi in directly conversation with the people on national issues through YouTube videos, have, to their dismay, discovered the same old inconsistencies of character in the prince of moodiness. It is not known to every political observer that the one they thought to be the Beyonce of Indian politics with opinion on everything under the Sun, is not even a pirated version of Poonam Pandey. 

That said, the biggest problem is now the Communists who have this habit of sneaking into every act of political activism in India. Congress cover only offers them the legitimacy which these Mao cheerleaders otherwise will not have. With the collapse of Venezuela, the Indian Communists are possibly the only living specimen of a dying ideology. The Marxist ambition of the dictatorship of the proletariat is what we see unfolding on the borders of Delhi where Farmers supposedly sat on protest to oppose the Farm Bills, but has so far obtained for them subsidized electricity and a free right to pollute the capital with Stubble burning. The Gandhi family, like this year, can obviously escape to Goa under BJP rule during the period of polluted year, if not to the foreign lands. Rahul Gandhi would simply appear like a scantly dressed dancer in old Hindi movies to utter the word of 'Adani -Ambani' and then go back to his world of comfortable unreachability. 

The whole idea of Utopia in Marxist world has failed in Russia and China, primarily because it is a stupid idea. This belief that those who create the industries and businesses are corrupt and those who work in them are all epitome of honesty is absurd. The opposition has created a demon out of honest enterprise, like the windmills of Don Quixote. The Don keeps fighting these imaginary enemies and the young wokes like Sancho Panza keeps collecting under his flag, hopeful of the eventual annexation of the wealth created by the Entrepreneurs and distribution of it among them. Men like Yogendra Yadav are nothing but Dapple, the donkey of Sancho Panza. 

What is sad is that the Government is at pains to explain to the idiots that their bill has nothing to do with Adani and Ambani, two of the richest Businessmen in India. In other Countries, top Industrialists get awarded. In India, being an entrepreneur is a stigma. The Tax-Payers are the criminals in the new order and those who live on the subsidies the Government offer out of the same taxes are reincarnation of Buddha himself. Shocked and surprised at the shrillness of the voices condemning Capitalism, even those like Pinayari Vijayan, CM of only Communist-ruled state, who gets himself treated in America- The evil headquarter of Capitalism, the Narendra Modi Government has thrown them under the bus. This is pathetic. The Government should have stood by them. Both Ambani and Adani, first and second generation Billionaire, have been left to directly explain themselves to the people. 

They are releasing the advertisement telling the people that they have nothing to do with agriculture and somehow capturing the lands of unsuspecting farmers is not a part of their agenda. If Corporates like Pepsi and Coke who have been doing Contract farming in Punjab for decades did not take away their lands, no one else will. But then, everyone knows this, at least the Don Quixote smoking Cigars in Milan does.   

The mediamen who never had courage to become communist when young, are living their youthful dreams through these gullible protestors. They come on Television, write editorials how every industry is bad. Is the farmer not a capitalist? Farming is one area which is broadly out of State control. State's interference in Agriculture is most limited, only to the extent of help that state can offer. A sector which employs around Fifty percent of Indian Workforce contributes only 18 Percent to the GDP. This apathy of the state towards the whole thing where they allowed an occasional stupidity to grow into a legitimate movement is something which will play itself out in the long run. This doctored disgust towards free markets has even turned India's moment of pride into a snapshot of shame as Bharat Biotech CEO is made to make public appearance to counter the Congress propaganda about Corona Vaccine. This shaming of money, free market, of Businessmen, of Industrialists should stop. Narendra Modi Government is an election winning machine. It must understand that it also carries the responsibility of upholding the rights of those who do not hit the streets. The voiceless do speak in myriad ways and when they do, their voice shatters the citadels of power. I hope better sense prevails and this nonsensical drama causing around 4000 Crore a day loss to the economy struggling to find its way out of a Pandemic-induced lockdown ends. Indira's attempt to buy peace with the Communists after Emergency by imposing large-scale nationalization gave us a Bankrupt nation by Nineties. Let us not walk that path again. Money and profit are not evil. They are fair measure of a mature society. To quote from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged-

“So you think that money is the root of all evil? [...] Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?” 

Analyzing the Analysts- Failed Attempts to Understanding the Modi Magic

 "When a writer tries to explain too much, he is out of time before he begins." wrote Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1978 Nobel Winning writer. As year wraps to an end and Bengal Elections are around the corner, Analysts are jumping over one another to analyze the way politics panned out over this Pandemic-ridden unfortunate and sad year. 

When you go through most of the analysis, you find them dipping into the froth floating at the top. They often develop the hypothesis first then try to fit the data. This gap between interpretation and data leads to their conclusions mostly turning way off the mark. The most common and prevalent hypothesis that is being currently floated is that those who support Narendra Modi are some sort of fanatic army, which has no reason to support him and which are loyal to him in the most retrograde terms. For that very reason, Narendra Modi, in return, cares only about those who voted for him and no one else. While there is no proof of Narendra Modi appointing BJP workers (forget the non-Party electorate which votes for him, like yours truly) for Government jobs, now do not throw a Sambit Patra as Government Appointed director in EIL at me, that appointment is a conventional practice. There have been known instances of AAP appointing their cadres as volunteers and such in Government institution and under Government campaigns, but I have not heard of any such thing for BJP voters. AAP also brazenly appointed the media personnel who helped creating a larger-than-life image of Arvind Kejriwal to College boards. It is not much heard of on BJP side. Not at the level at which AAP did it or the way Samajwadi Party created a Yadav-rich State Bureaucracy. The idea of to basically let go of the current BJP supporters as untouchable for the opposition parties and to somehow consolidate the non-supporters of BJP as a singular entity to defeat the BJP. 

Unfortunately, the problem with such uniform classification of the electorate is the over-simplification of the complex Indian politics and in the end, erroneous predictions of the outcome. This is a matter not only in Indian politics, rather also in the US politics where the political pundits had earlier claimed a sure victory for Hillary Clinton earlier and a smooth and definite majority for Joe Biden this time. They were wrong both the times. Closer home, they predicted a merry romp to the power for Tejashvi Yadav in Bihar elections and missed by a mile. 

 The article dated 23rd December, 2020 in The Print by Shivam Vij, also is one such article. The author begins mentioning the vote percentage of the BJP in current parliament. It was 38% in 2019 election. Together with the vote-share of its pre-alliance partners, NDA vote share was 45%. On 12th March, 2019, Shivam Vij had written how the possibility of Narendra Modi losing the elections is a real possibility. Whether it was hope or cluelessness is hard to understand. Post-results, however, he wrote another piece where he contended that BJP will rule uninterrupted for another Thirty Years. That said, in the current article under discussion, his point is that since BJP has around 45% of votes (38% even without Shiv Sena and SAD), they do not need any of those who had not voted for it in the last election. As per him, this reflects in the policies of the current government. To illustrate his point, he goes into rhetoric, propaganda and falsehoods, totally unbecoming for someone who wants to project himself as a neutral and objective political commentator. 

See some examples of hypocrisy and hyperbole. He says it is not Hindu Versus Muslim polarization only. It is 38% versus 62% polarization. But before I begin to agree to him on this, he refers to the way Government handled Anti-CAA protests, somehow alluding to high-handedness on the part of the state. Those protests were ineptly handled but not because the state was too harsh, but because the State was much less firm than the duty demanded. The Judiciary moved too and fro on it, with SC first appointing arbitrators and later claiming the protests to be illegal. Sporadic waves of vicious violence in the initial days across the country was quickly brushed under the halo of Gandhian drama of the protestors. He claims that CAA brought mistrust among the citizen towards the government (well, those who are not in the 38%). Why do these 62% mistrust the Government even after they see Hindus, Sikhs and Christians persecuted in Pakistan, even after they see School buses attacked by the so-called peaceful protestors? 

This is a pertinent question to be asked. Who is misleading the people? India, unfortunately has never had an opposition as irresponsible as the one we have today. AAP started this politics of recklessness, standing with fanatics, potential terrorists of Islamist or Khalistani-hues to win power, brazenly and shamelessly. Congress turned this recklessness mainstream. When Congress Leader thundered in the Parliament under the approving gaze of Sonia Gandhi of bloodshed as they were voted out of power, they actually meant it. Frustrated at the inept leadership which would put people out to riot on issue they claimed to be of critical significance and themselves moving away to foreign vacations, ignoring Parliamentary sessions, they put the entire organizational muscle they had in becoming AAP. Congress became an Elephant with the sting of a mosquito. If one reads the questions raised by Vajpayee during 1962 Chinese intrusion (thousands of Kilometers of land lost to China then as Nehru played one-upmanship with General Thimayya), they were factual, objective. Vajpayee, than a young parliamentarian, almost two decades younger than the Youth-leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi, asked those questions in the Parliament, backed with data. He never called him Surrender Nehru, never went into name-calling, was never a naysayer, and believed in the inherent good of India and the Government which represented it, even we faced our only military debacle. He never was a haughty heckler who does not attend Parliamentary Committee meetings on Defense and tweets on not being informed. 

What PM Modi faces is not an organic distrust, rather a distrust created by the Party which refuses to grow into a constructive opposition and in time to become a real alternative to the Party in power. The last attempt of resurrecting Rahul Gandhi as a voice of intellectual conscience has failed miserably as his videos first turned into a YoutTube Propaganda and then died out disinterest. Those who wanted to make a Ram Manohar Lohia out of Rahul Gandhi, ended up turning him into another Dhruv Rathi. The opposition is doing little to create trust in the minds of people towards themselves. Most of their time is spent on creating distrust towards Modi. But when you have facts like Crop Insurance, PMJAY, PM Awaas Yojana, Neem-Coated Urea staring at you on matters of Farmers; Direct Benefit Transfer, Loan Scheme, Free Ration for the Poor during the pandemic; Quick ramping up of healthcare in terms of PPE, Ventilators; OROP, Border infrastrusture, Rafale, Bulletproofs, Benefits for Para-Military on Defense front; Ram Temple and Triple Talaq on civilizational front- staring at you, the supporters consolidate and everytime, every lie of Rahul Gandhi is caught, while the 38% solidifies, the 62% fizzles away. I will not be surprised the way it is going, in 2024, Modi might manage 45% for the BJP on its own steam. 

This campaign of constant negativity which the opposition is trying to build is too much for India population to stomach, whether pro or against Modi. The young kids who have become opinion-makers and analysts think such foolish attempts will resurrects Congress, but they will not. The Neutrals are slowly drifting towards the BJP, annoyed and disgusted with the constant cribbing of the Congress. Congress has fallen into the Communist mold (AAP was the first one to fall into it). There behavior pattern is absolutely similar to what Ambedkar predicted about the Communists in his now-famous speech in the Parliament, where he had said- 

"Why do they (the Communists) condemn the Constitution? Is it because it is really a bad Constitution? I venture to say 'No'. The Communist Party wants a Constitution based on the Principle of Dictatorship of the Proletariat... the Socialists want two things. The first thing they want is that if they come to power, the Constitution must give them power to nationalize or socialize all private property without payment of compensation. They second thing they want is that the fundamental rights mentioned in the Constitution must be absolute and without any limitation so that if their party fails to come to power, they would have unfettered not merely to criticize, but also to overthrow the state."

 The Marxization of Congress began when the Communists agreed to support Emergency and Indira Gandhi responded by giving them institutions to run, while amending the Constitution and also by Nationalization of the Banks. This cycle has run its course, and there is now little difference between the Congress and the Communists. Nehru's worst fears have come true. Those intellectuals who a care about the Country more than they care about Congress must ensure that the Congress distances itself from the Communist mindset of overthrowing a government, merely because they are unable to come into power through legitimate means. When writers like Shivam move around in circles while knowing fully well that the distrust among the 62% as he claims, is not organic, not reasonable, and still try to fan it with fake propaganda like 'where is my Fifteen Lakhs'; they do a disservice to the pen they hold. A strong support is no reason to malign a party in power. After all, Congress on its own had vote-share of more than 40% between Nehru and Indira era (44.99% under Nehru in 1951 to the Highest of 48% in 1984 under Rajiv). No one ever implied, even when all the institutions were flooded with the Leftist-Congressis, that the Government did not care about remaining 52% as it did not need them and thus they should distrust the elected Government. Sonia Gandhi took over the reigns in 1998. In 1999, It's vote share was 28.3% and has been falling since (26.3% in 2004, 28.55% in 2009, 19.5% in 2014 and 2019 respectively). Congress would do well to look inside its own leadership issues which is alienated from the rest of India. Maligning a faith which was forced to put its head down and never to speak is not a solution. They must align with majority and stop maligning it. The best years of Congress were when they did not malign Hinduism, no matter what Shashi Tharoor and Chidambram tells them. 

A Right-Winger's Advise to the Congress

 In last few years, Congress party has given us a string of disappointments, as a primary opposition party. A letter-coup of the sorts was enacted some time back, as few would want us believe, wherein some Twenty-Three of senior Congress politicians wrote in to the interim President, Ms. Sonia Gandhi, seeking change of leadership in the Grand Old Party. Exasperated political observers, journalists and media sympathizers of Congress, tired of almost a dozen re-launches of Rahul Gandhi over the last Twenty years, as he presided over the decline of the party over the years, kept on advising Congress on how to re-invent itself. Unfortunately, what they mostly tried to impose over Congress was their preferred way of politics. Most intellectuals, in India, primarily on account of the understanding reached between the Left and Indira Government during Emergency, come from the Communist side, are products of Institutions run by Leftist ideologues. Their idea of re-inventing Congress is to become more Communist. This is why their idea has failed to revive the Congress. Communist ideas, while it attracted a large number of people in the beginning, as an Utopian idea, ended up with giving rise to totalitarian Orwellian regimes, and therefore failed across the world. As the Communist footprints shrunk across the world and in India, the Seventies Hippies of India still struggle to find a hope. They impose their teenage ideas on the grand old party of India as a panacea to all its ills. That is why it fails. Even in China, the last bastion  of Communism it failed, where in a world large-scale industrialization, sweatshops and Uighur camps, all the evil of Capitalism have found place.

              Indian leftists, refusing to see the truth, continue to cling to their teenage dreams of communism. They advise Congress to become shriller in its leftist leanings, and Congress does that. In the process, from being a major opposition to the BJP, it has turned into a minor nuisance. It is foolish to expect the Communism which failed to protect the Communists, to save the Congress. But a democracy needs an opposition. The thing to be understood here is that, this opposition need not be opposite to the party in power. It needs to be an alternative to the Party in Power. We need an alternative when Munger Killing is brushed under the carpet, when BJP is either inept or uninterested in fighting Tahir Hussains and Amanatullah Khans, when BJP in power fails to look into the propaganda that has seeped into schoolbooks over the years. Congress is not attempting to do any of that. A journalist calls the middle-class immoral for not supporting the Left-Leaning Congress. That fact is that we need a right-leaning Congress. Rahul Gandhi has neither the intellectual honesty, nor the needed ability to work for the success of it. Being a constant contrarian is evidently not working. Running Twitter trends will not win him elections.

              The problem is that the Congress has become a fantastical organization. It projects one thing and as an organization, has become another. For instance, Rahul Gandhi has resigned from the leadership position of Congress. However, the Congress SM handles remain exclusive representation of His Master's family's voice. When the Wayanad MP speaks something, the whole party apparatus runs after it to amplify his message, however absurd or attention-unworthy that message might be. The entire public outreach program is run by the Rahul Gandhi hires. For them, Rahul Gandhi, the fugitive MP from UP, is more important than any other MP. The Chanakya article in today's column in Hindustan Times(Sunday, December 20th, 2020) carries the picture of Wayanad MP. It mentions the possibility of Rahul Gandhi taking charge of Congress again. Which is not a bad thing in itself, provided Rahul Gandhi stops running away to exotic foreign vacations at the first opportunity. However, the fact remains that this will not solve this things for the Congress. Congress First-family is in conundrum. No one knows for that it stands for, and as long as the Congress remains a Family-run enterprise, no one will know what Congress as a political party stands for. Currently Congress tries to imitate left (limited to one state in India) at some times and AIMIM (limited to a city in one state) at others. The left-leaning intellectual guides of Congress are guiding it in that direction. They think that the Communist theories which drowned the Soviets will help keeping the Congress in India afloat.

              The above referred HT article starts with brutally putting forth the fact as to how poorly Congress has performed. It mentions the drubbing Congress got in Delhi, MP and Bihar. It mentions the respite it got in Maharashtra and Jharkhand as it squeezed into power. It would be even more humiliating is numbers are projected for the two states. In Jharkhand, BJP though out of power is second largest with 25 seats against 30 of JMM (Congress was third at 16 out of 31 contested), and in Maharashtra, it contested 121 seats and won 54 out of them, coming fourth preferred choice out of all Political parties (BJP contested 164 seats and won 105 out of it). These independent numbers of Congress illustrate how finely the routine Congress charge of BJP entering into power through backdoor cuts, when looked at the fact that the Congress is now in power in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

              The article then tries to explore the way forward for the Congress. It starts with leadership. This begins with the acceptance that the Wayanad MP is not an ordinary MP. The MP from Wayanad with abysmal parliamentary performance is the one who holds all the power and carries no responsibility. Around him, Rahul Gandhi has created a similar structure of advisers, Data Analysts, abusive Social Media influencers who continue to alienate the prospective voters even further. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, NDA vote share was 45% of votes polled and Congress Vote Share was 19%. Whoever is advising the Congress leadership to abuse the 45% as Bhakts instead of trying to win them over is doing a great disservice to the Party. The supportive Parties of the Congress like the Left, SP, TMC, AAP, AIMIM have nothing to lose by prompting Congress to step into Gladiatorial arena to fight and die. Out of these, AIMIM has already decided to step out of Congress' shadow and establish itself as Muslim Party. Congress with all its overtures cannot become a Muslim party. At best it can attempt to become a Christian party, should it decide to abandon its secular history of Nationalism under Patel and Rajendra Prasad. Rahul Gandhi must stop fooling people with his temple runs to establish himself as Congress leader, formally. As a leader, he needs to stop giving confusing signals to people about what he, and in turn, the party he represents stands for. For all the secularist nonsense, the fact remains that when Black Lives Matter riots were raging, the President of United States walked out on the street with Bible in his hand (not the Constitution). Let us not forget, win or lose, it was a tough fight for Biden who has also had a history of being a vocal Christian. It is not that Robert has to turn Ram, but he does need to come clean and honest about his faith. No one disliked a George Fernandez for his faith. If he intends to be a Janeudhari Hindu, he cannot keep encouraging small-timers like Saket Gokhale whose primary occupation is to use legal means to move anti-Hindu petitions like the one opposing the Ram Temple. Even Kerala Elections, wise people say, were divided on the questions of faith with the Left representing the Christians, BJP representing the Hindus and Congress-IUML combine representing the Muslims. The magic which rubbed off on the BJP by having its tallest leader as an MP of Varanasi in UP clearly has been absent in terms of showing it in the way of having the tallest leader of Congress as an MP from the state. Even in Farmers' protests, Rahul Gandhi has failed to do a Belchi of Indira Gandhi and his involvement has largely been limited to one or two tweets a day, which could easily have been written by some of low-level SM handles of Congress. Rahul Gandhi either has to be clear about his priorities and position, or step out to make way for someone who can do that. A Member of Parliament whose job is now resembling a twitter troll does not make for an inspiring leadership. Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the one who asked most questions from Nehru during 62 debacle, but never called Nehru a Surrender Nehru. Those who compliments Rahul for befitting replies cannot make him win a school monitor elections.

              The second point the author says is about the difficulty in messaging. People are not very receptive of the ideas of criticizing Narendra Modi. The author says that this makes the job for Congress terribly difficult. She writes that this means that if Congress criticizes Modi, it is hated and if it does not, it leaves the ground open for Modi. There is a problem with this line of thinking. This takes from my initial point of Congress discovering the space outside of being constant cribber. They do not need to be opponent to the Government. Jansangh opposed cow slaughter even at the time when Indira was also opposed to Cow Slaughter. It is about standing with the causes which find traction among common people. Communists are crazy politicians. We need a saner opposition. For instance, on Farmers' Bill, what Congress could have done is to have asked for establishment of Mandis, state-wise in a defined time-frame, even on PPP model. Being a Capitalism baiter in a world which has rejected communism is stupid. Even Congress, in its most successful days was called as a party of businessmen supported by people like Jamnalal Bajaj. Communism is a failed idea for everyone except the Communists. Being a Hindu hater in a nation which is Hindu-majority is equally absurd unless one intends to fight and win election in Old Hyderabad or such Muslim-Majority areas. Opposing Article 370 is equally absurd unless Congress wants to turn itself from a national party into a Kashmir based party like PDP or NC. One Ghulam Nabi Azad will have his political expediency, but Congress as a national party cannot tow his line and still expect to win in Bihar.

              The author follows it up with the Organization. Much has been already written about formidable organization of BJP on the ground. You need to do two things to make an organization- win people and be clear about where you stand on issue. An organization without a stable idea cannot exist. You cannot have people slaughtering cubs on the streets, opposing CAA and then have support base across the nation which still loves its non-violent faith and still remembers the harsh realities of Partition. Congress needs to get Bhakts on their side. It cannot play around with 19% vote share (always in decline) and still hope to win elections.

              The last lament in the said article is the difficult to build Caste combinations. The political commentators whose entire political wisdom revolves around MY equation in Bihar and such must remember that the cultural roots go far deeper than the divisions they try to create. In moments of madness, they may succeed only briefly, but in the long run, they must wake up, smell the coffee and take note of the fact that the Bhim Army candidate got 7 Votes in the Bihar Elections. Ability to create riots must not be considered equivalent to the ability to corner votes. A Priyanka Gandhi Vadra trying to cobble up a coalition with Bhim Army must remember that people on the ground want to belong. The success of Congress was as a Unified. The Success of Jansangh is also as a Unified. If you create rifts, you fall in the same fault lines you design. You cannot go contrary to the national desire of the country to be one with a large idea overarching above the caste boundaries, above the language divisions and above the parochial state satrap idea. 

I have not written in long time on what as a common man and a voter, I see a resolution to what ails the Congress. Usually such pieces are written by the Leftists who look at the Congress with its reach, presence and history as a tool. They look at Congress as a propagator of their stupid idea of Capitalist-hating, individual-crushing communism. Only way for survival for the Congress is to not to fall in to that trap. Congress must change leadership and become a purer and impatient BJP. If BJP tells that they will establish Private Mandis in States, Congress must present the blueprint of a Mandi in each Gaon. If BJP says they will build Ram Mandir, Congress should bring forth the plan of setting of Sanatan Sanskrit Study Campus next to the Ram Mandir, If BJP says it will remove Article 370, Congress should push for regaining PoK; if BJP pushes for CAA, Congress should get on the streets to extend the 2014 deadline to 2024 to give time to those Sikhs, Christians and Hindus still facing persecution in Pakistan and Bangladesh to opt for Indian citizenship. Congress' way to survival and success lies in becoming a BJP which is in a hurry. They need to get Right-Wing Adviser to help them for India does need an opposition and that opposition to moderate Right of BJP will be far-Right. If it is not Congress, it will be someone else. They need to regain the confidence of Nehru and Ambedkar who could call out Communism for what it is - the tyranny of the proletariat. 

Guest Post: How Noble Ancient Messages are Messed up by Wokeism

"Breaking News- Two sisters who had been target of verbal physical abuse teach the abuser lesson. The real woman empowerment which is need for an hour today. Stay tuned for the complete story on the Fighter sisters." 

It is not very uncommon to stay on a channel when one comes across such a story, while switching through the channels. In itself, such a story of women being brave, emancipated and empowered is a liberating story- the kind India need to know more about! Now let's go deeper into the story.

Story is about two beautiful sisters of a traditional family who are happily married. Both sisters have been to their home town for a short vacation where the local goon eyes on them. The local goon who is habituated to attain everything he likes by hook or crook feels instant lust looking at two sisters. The Goon follows them and approaches the elder sister and proposes her for marriage. The elder sister calmly denies the proposal stating that she is happily married and she is one-man woman. The Goon then tries on the younger sister and asks her for marriage. The younger sister also denies his proposal without any fear. The goon who has already been blind in lust for them feels angry and insulted. He threatens both sisters to kill their husbands and abduct them to marry. Having run out of options, and to save the unsuspecting husband, the women fight back the goon. In the melee that ensues, the goon is injured. The goon, numb in pain runs around for his life and the sisters gets to escape. 

What a perfect example of courage and presence of mind! We need more brave women like these sisters. The harassers-molesters must be taught lesson so that they won't target anyone ahead. Noble fight, great warriors and upholder of Marital vows and sanctity of relationship. Now, replace the sisters with two brothers going through hardship and the goon with a lustful, powerful woman, used to getting things her way.

***

'Ravan was a great brother who didn’t hesitate to fight with Lord Ram to take revenge for the injustice done to his sister. May god give every sister brother like Ravan!'

Under Secularism, denigration of Hindu faith has become an easy target to all kinds of attacks, sometimes in the name of Feminism and often in the name of Freedom of Expression. The inherent tolerance has encouraged dumb people to attack Hinduism with impunity and they do so every Holi and Diwali. The forward mentioned above is one of the dumb forwards floating around on the social media every year on Dussehra. Dussehra is the festival which signifies victory of Dharma and truth over Adharma and lies. We burn effigies of Ravan on this day to celebrate victory of Lord Rama. 

As Hindus, get ready to go through their Nine Days long fast, praying to Women power, and praying for the victory of Righteousness and Morality, collectively termed as Dharma in Hinduism, almost on a cue, the fan bois and girls from Ravana fan club who are too much liberal, woke, ill-informed start posting- arguing greatness of Ravana claiming him as great human.

“Sita Maa came back alive due to bravery of Lord Ram but she came back pure due to high morals and divine character of Ravan. “

“Ravan was strong enough to abduct Sita Ma but he was civilised and of strong morals enough not to force himself on her.”

These are just few creepy examples of Gyan we get every year on Dussehra.

Was Ravana really a great brother? Had Laxman did injustice to Shurpankha by cutting off her nose?

Before trusting the well acclaimed narrative let's talk about facts from Ramayana.

Lord Shri Rama, Lakshaman and Sita Ma were living in the forest as a part of Fourteen years of Exile given to them.  One fine morning Ravana’s sister Shurpankha who was living in the same jungle with his other brother Khar eyes on two handsome princes and her sense of lust fires. She immediately approaches elder prince Lord Ram and introduce herself as a sister of mighty king Ravan. She proposes Rama for marriage. Lord Ram politely refuses her proposal stating the fact that he is already married and he believes in purity of marriage institution hence is loyal to his wife. Upon refusal from Lord Ram Shurpankha proposes Lakshman and asks him for marriage. Lakshman also refuses her marriage proposal stating that he too was married. Upon dual refusals Shurpankha gets angry and frustrated. She approaches Lord Rama and threatens him that she will kill Sita and once Sita is dead- Lord Rama would be able to remarry. Shurpankha quickly makes move of attack on Sita Ma. Shree Ram gets her intention and signifies Lakshman by looking at sky (indicating senses). Lakshan cuts off nose of Shurpankha to save Sita Ma. Shurpankha feels raged in anger and rushes to her brother and asks him to take revenge.

Now compare the two stories here and ask following questions to self.

Who is victim of threats/harassment/molestation- in above story?

How come injustice was done to Shurpankha?

How come Ravana had been great for taking revenge for her sister’s misconduct-harassment? Is this not similar to a Megalomaniac monarch, drunk on his power, supporting the immoral behavior of his sibling?

***

The point here is why always woman is considered as victim of any crime?

Whenever any crime occurs which involves men and women- women always gets advantage of sympathy card regardless truth.

From the Satyug till today Men have been proving their truth and dharma yet been called out and labelled for troubling/mistreating women illogically.

From Shurpankha to Rohtak sisters- Women even after being wrong and involved in crime gets to play victim card for years.

False eve-teasing cases, false rape cases, false dowry cases, false domestic violence cases- men are suffering a lot of women empowerment gone complete wrong.

Let's be alert and well read. Let’s identify truth before issuing any judgement or certificate.

Let's understand-It's not cool to glorify what is wrong-who is wrong! 

Being modern is – being well read-well informed-well behaved.

Inherent in the demand of equal rights for women is right of men to be treated fairly. Men and women are not isolated islands. Justice cannot lean to one side or other. The Story of Soorpanakha is not that of a woman wronged. It is the story of a wife being protected from a woman drunk on her power, the story of a powerful King manipulated by his Sister into taking a revenge by abducting a woman. 

[This guest post is written by Ms. Bhumika Keyur Shah, an empowered woman, a professor in Engineering College from Gujarat. It takes a woman to speak about the injustice often men are made to suffer, on account of cynical display of victim-card by some women. It is due to those women that genuine concerns of women are looked at with suspicion. Bhumika tweets with the handle @BhumikaShah7 on national and women issues. ]