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Showing posts with the label Corruption

The National Scapegoat?

Our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has faced a lot of flak in his tenure. What is worse is that he always deserved more. But in any case, in the recent times the entire political scenario in India is changing in strange ways. For example the PM's decision is rubbished by Rahul Gandhi - the powerhouse of the same party that our PM belongs to! Political compulsions can be understood. But this aggressive turn of events had pitched Rahul Gandhi face to face with Mr. Singh. One represents the party, while the other represents ...well - God knows what. The situation is tricky because the decision to allow criminals to run for politics was taken by the party. The same party that Rahul (practically) leads. Following the lines the Government decided to act. The Supreme Court play spoilsport by declaring it unconstitutional. But Congress was determined to let criminals be political masters. So they decided to go for the temporary but valid Ordinance route. PM Singh and his Cabinet sh

In Defense of a Decent Defence Minister

In India Defence Ministers engage in some of the biggest scams ever. Multi-billion dollar deals are hijacked and loot siphoned off clandestinely. The ill gotten wealth goes all the way to some top notch Swiss bank. After a couple of years some folks raise a hullabaloo about the whole matter to earn votes and topple the Government. So that they can do the same thing. And the process goes on and on. Our present minister Mr. A.K. Anthony is a decent man. He may have his failings, no doubt. But he is not corrupt. In a Government that has broken all records of corruption this should be a matter of pride. This gentleman has been instrumental in finalizing a number of defence deals and that too with a fair amount of transparency. He has always lead a simple and spartan life, quite like out previous Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee and so far at least has a very clean image. For this reason alone he has earned my respect. So it is very unfortunate the the events have taken an ugly tu

Criminals to be barred from politics

Criminals commit crime. Convicted criminals I mean. For some unknown reason, India still allowed rapists, murderers and drug peddlers to run for elections, get elected and become chief ministers of states and do what they do best - rape, murder, peddle drugs. Only difference, they did it with police protection. Now the Supreme Court has played spoilsport . They have come out with a damning judgement that sends almost a third of India's elected representatives out of office. A pretty common sensical judgement one would assume. But the Government and especially the ruling party has seriously objected to the ruling and plans to take it up legally. The point they have is simple. If Dirlewanger could help the Nazis supress the Warsaw Uprising, why should criminals be left out of the election arena. In fact if possible committing a crime should be made a pre-requisite for being an elected representative. No doubt, people say, "India is a funny country!". 'RSS' p

The Ishrat Jahan Encounter and the Indian Drama

It was 15th June, 2004. Gujarat Police gunned down four people between the Gandhinagar - Ahmedabad road. The killed were Ishrat Jahan Raza aged 19, Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. Allegations were raised that the encounter was fake. In 2004 itself, a Lahore based publication of the Lashkar e Tayyiba confirmed that Ishrat Jahan and the other three were indeed operatives. This definitely gave a jolt to many parties who were crying foul. After three longs years, Jamaat-ud-Dawa stated that it was a 'journalistic mistake' to include the name of Ishrat Jahan and sent an apology to her family. This stirred the other folks into action. The hibernating political jumbos immediately filed a number of cases and after a long investigation, that is after 5 years, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court declared that the encounter was staged . Important thing to note here is that it did not claim that Ishrat Jahan was innocent. Something quite damning then happened. Dav

Will there be Change?

This question looms large over all Indians. The 2014 general elections is approaching. Sure it is still another year to go, but for us somehow this one feels so different. Over the last five years India and the world has changed a lot.The Congress ruled Government has some serious challenge to face. In spite of the contribution to national development they are facing the flak. Achievements of the present government - All records for corruption have been broken. The total scams unearthed so far in the short span of four years is equivalent to the GDP of all of Africa combined. Successfully supporting, shielding corrupt people. Dividing the nation on communal lines. Ensuring that the rate of growth declines and the economy slows down. Accelerating inflation and promoting crimes. Not preventing a rape wave but successfully assault protesters. Somehow finding BJP and Hindutva responsible for all ills. On the opposite side is the still unfortunately untainted(economically) Nare