Are we a “Soft State” or an “Incompetent State”??

5 years ago on this day (26^th Nov’2008),  Mumbai was brought to its knees by 10 Pakistani terrorists with brute force of guns and grenades, a nightmare which continues to haunt every patriotic and nationalistic citizen of this country till today. This terror attacks shook India and stunned the world, revealing huge chinks in our anti-terror policy and preparedness. The masterminds of this deadly attack are still roaming free and the country harbouring, financing, training and using these terrorists – Pakistan - is laughing at our weakness, dismissing us as a soft state. Inspite of ample evidence, Pakistan is still living in denial about its involvement & use of aggression & terrorism as a state policy against India. Indian citizens too have become used to live with disappointment at our Govts. failure to act decisively and bring the real perpetrators of 26/11 and other such attacks to justice. Our Govt. says that war is not the way to assert its strength and dialogue with Pakistan is the best recourse. But, is not this 'avoid-confrontation' policy responsible for India's failure to check aggression from Pakistan? Inspite of being the 2^nd most populous country, having the 3^rd largest army and the 4^th largest GDP, India is pushed to a corner and its citizens have to live in insecurity from a country like Pakistan, 1/4^th the size of India, with a much smaller population and even smaller army and a failed economy? It’s because, India is a soft state that follows an ostrich like approach to national security  and the Govt. digs its head into the sand and prays that the threat will eventually disappear and people will forget all the pain. Our Govt. haven't learned  anything from the past mistakes and hence repeatedly we have to sacrifice the life's of innocent people and our jawans. We have become a nation of eunuchs, who beg before USA to help us instead of taking care of our own security and give a befitting reply to our enemies in their own language, which they understand. Terrorists repeatedly kill hundreds of our people in our own territory, can hold our cities to hostage, enemy forces infiltrated into our territory, attack our military personnel, kill or take them away and return their mutilated bodies but then what we did - nothing. We just lodged our diplomatic protest. How disgusting are we?

We have become soft target because we the people are indifferent - we are to be blamed for it. India will never change, because we believe in nonviolence. So what if we have been hit on one cheek ,we have still 1 billion cheeks left, that’s what we believe in. We are only good at holding candle light every year in the memory those departed souls who were victims of terrorist attacks, listen to speeches of politicians full of false rhetoric & assurances, giving interview to news channels alongwith celebrities and social workers from “peace brigade”. We don’t have any guts to do anything, apart from just to speak. Just look around, every one is speaking on Radio, on TV, in Newspapers, in rallies, in candlelight vigils, just speaking or asking the same question - are you angry,  are you sad  and forgetting thereafter for another year. We see bomb blasts, terrorists infiltrating and killing but we nod our heads and point our finger at someone that we think is responsible, pick up our stuff, go to work and life goes on. This 'chalta hai' attitude encourages those responsible to get away easily. We hide under this supposedly comforting idea that Mumbai or India will never be shaken by these acts and we will not allow these acts to stop us from functioning. But the real fact of the matter is, we just don’t care. Until we change our attitude,  this nation would suffer and we would get killed.

Nawaz Sarif was right when he made his famous "Dehati Aurat" comment - Pakistani govt. is 'Jehadi' and Indian govt. & its response is 'Dehati'. The reason for  our this helpless state is due to leadership paralysis and lacunae in decision making in our Govt.  All the strong nations of the world are able to exert tremendous pressure on their enemy essentially because they have strong leadership that hold tremendous decision making ability. We need a very strong decisive leadership. It’s high time, the people of this nation make the govt. open their eyes, value the life & property of common men and make them realise that they are appointed by the people to protect each & every citizen of  the nation and in case they are incompetent to do so, they must resign from their posts. India needs to prepare for a full and final war as an answer to terrorism. This is the only solution because the ‘avoid-confrontation policy’ of India has, so far, proved to be ineffective, especially in the context of Pakistan-related incidents of terrorism and state aggression.

The following records of Pakistan can only be ignored by fools -

Aggression by its armed forces repeatedly by violating the LOC and staging Kargil or such type of attacks on Indian soil.

Breeding terrorism in India –no more proof needed than David Headley, Ajmal Kasab and  Yasin Bhatkal.

Infiltrating terrorists not only in Jammu & Kashmir but nurturing, patronizing and masterminding terrorist infrastructure across India through LeT, JeM, IM and many other such organizations.

Engineering endless terrorist attacks in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Gujarat and other parts of India including IC-814 hijack, attack on Parliament, 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack etc.

Refusing to act against Dawood Ibrahim to Pakistani perpetrators of 26/11.

Using the Haqqani network to target Indians and Indian interests in Afghanistan.

Pumping arms, drugs and fake currency (minted in Pakistani government facilities) into India.

Open rallies in Pakistan professing balkanization of India, collection of funds and recruitment for jihad against India under the very nose of the govt. and with open support from the ISI & military.

Virus attacks on Indian defence & other networks.

Pakistan has formulated it’s nationalism around it’s hatred for India and its national goal is to destroy India culturally, economically and if possible militarily. The Pakistani establishment has a very clear India policy - bleed India by a thousand cuts with the task also outsourced to 3rd parties viz., Jihadi organizations and garner domestic support by transforming education & information into indoctrination of its masses.

Yet, India has been tolerating Pakistan and its evil design for far too long with patience and magnanimity, which has been attacking and humiliating us at every opportunity. This approach has obviously not worked and our “generosity” has been mistaken as our “weakness”. Pakistan needs to realize that there is a severe price to be paid for the dangerous game it has been playing with us. The time has come for India to give a befitting reply to its misadventures and must stop asking the US to apply pressure on Pakistan and start retaliating for all its acts of terrorism and aggression including 26/11. We must stop hoping that if we pamper Pakistan with our acts of kindness, which we have been doing for last 66 years and indulge in our “Aman Ki Asha” project, they will suddenly have this monumental change of heart and become our best friend & neighbour. We need to stop the peace charades, confidence building measures, cultural, sporting, economic ties and stop deluding ourselves that we are not at war with Pakistan (which we are for the last 66 years). We must stop linking our actions against Pakistan to the sensitivities of Indian Muslims. Yes all Muslims are not terrorists but it’s also true that not only in India but around the world 90% terrorists are Muslims and we must deal with it appropriately as USA or other such countries are dealing with. Anybody who is sympathetic to Pakistan or its actions can’t be a true Indian. We must also stop denying one of the fundamental truths of our relationship with Pakistan – the problem we are facing today is more a creation of our “inactions” of last 66 years, than the “actions” of Pakistan. Long-term actions are the need of the hour, without becoming hostage to vote bank politics and changes in Govt. It is a misconception that a “strong & stable” Pakistan is in our interest. This artificially created state out of our own body with full of hatred for us and with an antithetical self-definition, has caused untold miseries for India as well as rest of the world. Such a state can never ever be either friendly or beneficial for India. Like the USA’s objective with a similar “monster-state” called USSR, our long term objective and interest is the negation of this state for our own benefit and the benefit of a peaceful and civilized world order. And if we deny this reality and can’t act accordingly, we should stop pretending to be a great emerging power in the 21^st century.

 

Dynasty Vs Perform or Perish – The Challenge for the Nation

During the last 7 days, two important Congress leaders have made a few very significant statements - On 6^th Nov, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said that “Narendra Modi will be history if he loses the 2014 elections, but Rahul Gandhi will still be around if Congress is defeated”.  Again on 11^th Nov, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde commented  that "Narendra Modi is not a challenge to Congress. Congress is a big party, very old party. It has already completed 120 years of its existence and it has its own identity". They are so right, their above statements expose the thinking and culture prevailing in the 120 years old party.

Jairam Ramesh is confirming the well known fact that Rahul is the Shehzada and Congress is under Dynastic rule. In a democracy a leader is required to produce results and perform. So it is true that if Modi fails to produce result somebody else  will take over but in case of Rahul there is no such scope for any other leader in congress party to come forward and take over as leadership is in the hands of a dynastic family. Doesn't this comment proves that BJP is a democratic and cadre based party, where a deserving candidate will be preferred and selected based on public sentiments and performance? And when the candidate doesn't perform, BJP is not going to always continue with his leadership. So there is at least some accountability. Now compare this with Congress, the party is open to lose elections and still the sycophant mentality of the members will make sure that Rahul is around until he becomes PM and a father, so that  the dynasty continues. Hence, it is quite natural that Rahul will remain as the sole leader of Congress as it is his family property, but BJP is not Modi's inherited property. Congress has become so arrogant that they are not even bothered even if the people of this nation don’t want to see members of this Nehru-Gandhi family as their leader and would do everything possible including manipulate mandates to keep members of this dynasty in power. We the people of this nation need at least two Democratic parties for securing India's future. Narendra Modi should leave the race for somebody more capable and acceptable, if rejected by the voters, so should Rahul or Sonia Gandhi. We, the people, subscribe to this democratic principle. But why does this principle not apply to Rahul? We are sure, as Mr. Ramesh also believes, that we can remove Modi in future by using our votes if he does not live upto his promises and performance. But can Mr. Ramesh enlighten us, as to what we can do to remove Sonia, Rahul, Priyanka or their children in case we do not like them as our leaders?  History of even Congress party reveals that this principle applied to a few, who even without being from the Dynasty came near leading this party or led for a short while. The poor performance in 1967 election diminished the chance of Morarji Desai from becoming the PM. Again, poor performance in 1996 election made Narshimha Rao leave the race. But the culture in Congress today can only produce sycophants and self-seekers. That someone as intellectually handicapped as Rahul Gandhi could become India’s Prime Minister and that some people who are members or beneficiaries of Congress party, enthusiastically endorses his candidature is one of Congress’s many descents from the times of the iconic Gandhi to that of his surname hybrids. Apart from the fact of his birth in the Nehru-Gandhi family, how is Rahul qualified to lead the Congress party can’t be convincingly explained by any member of this party. Such demeaning flattery of someone who has so far failed to distinguish himself in any field of human activity reflects very poorly on a 120 years old political party which could not find or rather allowed anybody to lead this party apart from members of a single family. It’s appalling that educated and experienced politicians in Congress party, instead of questioning the credentials of Rahul's candidature for PM's job have now had to fall behind a line because they can’t dare to dream for the PM’s job simply because they don’t have the surname. We hope and pray that Rahul Gandhi will reveal some of the great qualities, which he has hidden so far very well from the public. Apparently senior Congress leaders have insider information on his qualities and strengths. So Rahul, our prayers are with you even if the votes are not.

Indira Gandhi started the era and culture of “chamchagiri” in the Congress party  and converted it into an extension of the whims & fancies and insecurities of a single individual and a family. Thus, what was loyalty to the party earlier became loyalty to an individual and a family. She destroyed every democratic institution in this country including inner party democracy and right to express unbiased opinion in Congress party, so that nobody can “challenge” her autocratic rule in furthering the cause of her dynasty and converted the Congress into a family business.  Since then Congress has tricked, suppressed, discredited any opposition leader or party that tried to “challenge”  it or it’s dynastic leadership. Narendra  Modi has risen as the greatest challenger to the rotten dynastic rule of Congress and it’s politics of caste & religious  divide, corruption & misgovernance and everything else in the name of "secularism" and "pluralism". The congress trickster would do anything to continue the legacy of the dynasty to remain in power.  

The below is what Khuswant Singh wrote about Indira Gandhi many years back and we can see a mirror image of her in the current top leadership of Congress and a legacy in what Mr.Ramesh & Mr.Shinde have said :-

“There is nothing spectacular about her rule. She was incapable of tolerating any criticism and she picked up an aversion to some persons because she thought they were challenging her, among them Jaya Prakash Narayan, a good, honest man. She couldn’t stand him because he was a challenge to her as the leader of the country, especially as people grew disillusioned with her rule. There were problems, droughts, challenges and Jaya Prakash Narayan had emerged as a leader. During her reign, corruption increased to enormous levels. She was really very tolerant of corruption, which was another negative mark against her. She knew perfectly well that some of her ministers were extremely corrupt, yet she took no steps against them till it suited her. If she knew someone was corrupt, she tolerated him but if it suited her, she used the same corruption charge to get rid of him. She really had no strong views on corruption, which went sky high during her time. Also, she felt uncomfortable with educated, sophisticated people. So you have the rise of people like Yashpal Kapoor, R K Dhawan, who was a stenographer who worked in her office, Mohammad Yunus, who just hung around her. I believe this was because she had no real education. She went to Shanti Niketan, then she went to Badminton School abroad, then to Oxford. Nowhere did she pass an exam or acquire a degree. She hid her insecurities behind a mask. I think that bred a sort of inferiority complex of not being recognised as an educated person. She would pretend to have read a lot of books. She spoke French, which she picked up when she accompanied her ailing mother Kamala to Switzerland, which went in her favour. There were pros and cons but there was this sense of insecurity when it came to highly intelligent people and people with clear records. She felt more comfortable with second-rate people. How did her insecurities, about which much has been written, affected India? In her insecurity, she destroyed the institutions of democracy. She packed Parliament with her supporters with loyalty being more important than ability; she superseded judges; she corrupted the civil service. Favouritism became a great sport with her. She also knew how to use people against each other and was quite a master of that”.

The Congress not only doesn’t care about people's opinion, but also arrogant enough to state it clearly as Mr. Ramesh & Mr. Shinde have done. It's disheartening to see this 120 years old political party and it’s leaders remaining prisoners of a Dynasty. They should realize that it's high time now for this family to leave from the Indian political scene with some respect still remaining. You either die as hero or live long enough to see yourselves become villain. This election is for a change.