Tales of Secular killings & Secular Bans in Secular India – for the Secular Sahitya Academy Winners, the Secular Media & the Secular Politicians

FIRST EXAMPLE:-

A person of Muslim community was killed in Dadri, UP by some people (one of them is a UP police constable) for their personal enmity with the excuse that he had killed a cow and consumed beef and the secular media, politicians and intellectuals are competing with each other to telecast, debate, sympathize to prove themselves as the flag bearers of secularism and bashing the present Govt. for communalizing our hitherto secular nation. Some 15 left-liberal poet and writers, who made their career even by praising Indira Gandhi for emergency are returning their long forgotten Sahitya Academy Awards (but keeping the money that came with it) accusing the present Govt. of destroying the secular fabric of the nation. So much for the value of a life from India’s recognized No.1 minority community.

But a few months back, in “secular Bihar” under the “secular CM” Nitish Kumar – a Hindu boy Sanjeev was murdered by the family members of a Muslim Girl he married. The deceased Sanjeev married the daughter of Mohammed Ajajul of Hajipur, Bihar four months earlier. After the love marriage, Mohammed Ajajul registered a case of kidnapping against Sanjeev, but the bride, Chandni, confirmed in the local court that she wanted to stay with her Husband. So, angry relatives of the bride, along with some villagers, abducted the bride and the groom and the next day Sanjeev’s dead body was found near the bride’s village. Police made all efforts to not give it any communal colour and hence the death of Sanjeev remained an unsolved mystery.

But no mainstream media ever picked up the story (only reported by Dainik Bhaskar), reported in their prime time with interviews of Sanjeev’s family members with graphic description of what happened, secular politicians didn’t make beeline to visit the aggrieved family and announced compensation or even flown the family members in state aircraft to meet the CM in full glare of the media. And no Sahitya Academy award winner felt it important enough to return his award.

Why only in the above one off killings, 26 years ago on the intervening night between 19th January and 20th January 1990, death was what a whole community of about 500,000 Kashmiri Pandits faced and hundreds of them were killed, hounded and eventually the whole community was thrown out of their homes of thousands of years. This genocide and ethnic cleaning of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley - the largest and the worst in the whole world after World War II - was perpetrated by the local Muslim majority population of Kashmir valley with active help and support from Islamic Jihadists backed by Pakistan. But, these Sahitya Academy Award winners never ever wrote an article in support of those killed and displaced, let alone returning their awards. Hindu's are in majority in this country, so killing a few of them makes no difference for the pseudo-secularists whereas Muslims are in minority (reproducing very fast and in many parts of the country they are on way to become majority) and even if a single Muslim is killed, these “pseudo seculars“ cry hoarse, distort actual picture and communalize by blaming Hindus but never report Hindu deaths even if it’s a genocide in the same way as reporting Hindus deaths don't increase the TRP of the secular channels run by the Barkhas Dutts, Karan Thapars, Rajdeep Sardesais, Sagarika Ghoshes etc. Dadri was just another example of the absence of any semblance of law in a state (mis)ruled by the Mulayam Singh Yadav family just like they say that the killing of Sanjeev in Hajipur, Bihar was another law and order problem in Bihar. However the biased media, which continues to remind us daily that Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2002, pretended as if Akhilesh Yadav or Nitish Kumar don’t even exist in these cases. Instead it made the UP incident all about subverting secular fabric of India under the demonic rule of Narendra Modi and then stretching further by converting it into a debate about beef ban.

SECOND EXAMPLE:-

A few days back, Ghulam Ali, the Pakistani Ghazal singer was banned by Shiva Sena from performing in Maharashtra during Indian Ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh’s death anniversary saying Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism in India and killing Indian soldiers at the border by their unprovoked firing regularly. But now the secular politicians in India like Arvind Kejrial, Mamata Bannerjee etc. are queuing up to invite Ghulam Ali to their state to prove their secular credentials to their Muslim vote bank by distorting Shiva Sena’s opposition to Pakistan as opposition to a Muslim artiste. For them, opposing Pakistan is opposing Muslims and are ready to go to any length to appease the Muslims even at the cost of National integrity by playing Muslim card to favour our biggest enemy nation.

But, last week a play titled 'Agnes of God', which was supposed to be staged in Mumbai has been called off as some Christian religious groups, including the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, has protested and written to the Union Home ministry asking for a ban on its performance, claiming it hurts their religious sentiments. It’s to be noted that the same 'Agnes of God' was performed at Sophia auditorium, Mumbai, more than two decades ago and was very successful. In another instance, Mumbai-based Raza Academy initiated and got fatwa issued by Muhammad Akhtar – the chief mufti of Mumbai against Oscar winner music composer A.R. Rahman for working in an Iranian film “Muhammad: Messenger of God”, which narrates the story of the Prophet's life from birth to the age of 13. They are also asking Indian Govt. to ban the screening of the film in India, which was released in Iran earlier this year and at the Montreal World Film Festival last month.

However, none of our secular Chief Ministers considered it appropriate to invite “Agnes of God” to be staged at their capital cities or arrange screening of “Muhammad: Messenger of God” in their states let alone declaring them as “tax free” similar to what they did for “PK”, which was opposed by Hindu groups as offensive to their religious sentiment.

Not surprising, the killed youth Sanjeev or the Kashmiri Pandits are Hindus and don’t determine winners or losers in any election and also are not backed by Fatwa following, fundamentalist, jihadi religious zealots. Therefore, these so called secular poets/writers/literary award winners, journalists and politicians don’t consider them appropriate for their attention. None of the “secular media” demonstrated their remarkable rage in reporting the smallest details, no investigative films with horror-inducing titles have been made, cases after cases are not filled in the Courts of India, no demonstrations have been arranged demanding judicial commissions and SITs, nobody returned their awards as the victims are all Hindus. Why Hindus can’t retaliate for any incident & why the pseudo seculars create so much of fuss even if one Muslim is killed? Why is it that if the affected party is Hindu, the same media coverage is not given and does not arouse the same kind of “public sentiment”? There appears to be a cardinal rule - never publish or debate anything that would be in the least bit negative about Muslims and Christians in general and Pakistan in particular. Hindu bashing is the truest form of journalism, literature or politics in this country. For these pseudo seculars – the only good Hindu is a dead Hindu. Secularism as practised in India today has become a defining manifestation of anti-Hindu communalism that is packed and marketed as ‘secularism’. The selective morality has redefined secularism as a politically convenient and expedient concept for maligning Hindus.

It’s high time, that all nationalist and patriotic people of this country socially and politically orchestrate these pseudo seculars from all kinds of social, political, cultural and literary activities. We are better off without you, your so called distorted history, left leaning biased literature, manipulative journalism and vote bank politics.

Decoding Left-Libtard Pluralist hypocrisy

1. The Mumbai-based Raza Academy initiated and got fatwa issued by Muhammad Akhtar – the chief mufti of Mumbai against Oscar winner music composer A.R. Rahman for working in an Iranian film “Muhammad: Messenger of God”, which narrates the story of the Prophet's life from birth to the age of 13. They are also asking Indian Govt. to ban the screening of the film in India, which was released in Iran earlier this year and at the Montreal World Film Festival last month.
2. A play titled 'Agnes of God', which was  to be staged in Mumbai has been called off as some Christian religious groups, including the Catholic Bishop's Conference of India, has protested and written to the Union Home ministry asking for a ban on its performance, claiming it hurts their religious sentiments. It’s to be noted that the same 'Agnes of God' was performed at Sophia auditorium, Mumbai, more than two decades ago and was very successful. The play is based on a true story adapted from an American play that was also made into an Oscar nominated film where the lead, Sister Agnes, gives birth to a child and claims she is a virgin.
3. in a Bareilly village in UP, a 6 years old girl was killed by her own father Zafar, allias Chand Miyan after she failed to keep her head covered while having food. Zafar had a strict rule for the women of the house to wear veil at all times and they were not allowed to step out of the house nor were any visitors allowed inside.
4. The Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa says it has shut down its adoption services in India over religious objections to the country's new adoption rules. A new guidelines by the Govt. of India has brought ideological differences between the Charity and the Indian government in two points - first, Missionaries of Charity will not allow adoption by single parents and second, they also have issues with couples, one or both of whom has had a divorce earlier. Speaking about the decision not to offer adoptions, Sister Amala of Missionaries of Charity told media, "the new guidelines hurt our conscience. They are certainly not for religious people like us”.

But I don’t see any outrage among the Secular Media, Politicians and Intellectuals of India on the above incidents. Neither the main stream secular media carried these news and debated repeatedly in their prime time with interviews of the sufferers on how “fascist forces are on the rise” nor the intellectuals wrote “Op Ed”s, or tweeted their heart burn seeing the “death of secular fabric” of their nation or returned their long forgotten awards. For them, “Muhammad: Messenger of God”' or “Agnes of God” are not creative pieces of genius like PK or a MF Hussain painting. But the same set of “secular saints”, are frothing from their mouth to protect and promote the “Right to Eat Beef” for everyone in this country as if that’s the only burning issue for us. These “secular saints” despise anything Hindu or Hindutava and get offended when any references to Hindu Gods or customs are made but they merrily quote Biblical or Koranic references. I am not surprised that these Hindu haters and their pimps in the media always tirade at anything and everything Hindu - be it sanskrit, Gita, ghar wapasi or beef ban. They have no problem if Muslims or Christians ban anything citing their religious sentiment but are outraged when Hindus do the same. They never show outpouring of such anguish when Muslims and Christians stick to their religious belief even at the cost of breaking Indian law - Beef party is just a small form of protest to uphold secularism for them - but never fail to express their righteous indignation when a Hindu organization bans a book which makes derogatory remarks about Hindu religion.

The biggest divisive and bigoted force in India today are these “secular saints”, who selectively highlight issues to suit their agenda and spread lies in the name of upholding secular fabric of our nation. The root cause of all problems of India today are these so called pseudo-secular intellectuals, historians, politicians and the highly biased media.

Ghulam Ali and Indian Secular Brigade’s Pakiphilia

During the last couple of days, I have seen much heartburn from the Indian “Secular Brigade” of Media, Artists, Politicians and Intellectuals as Ghulam Ali was banned by Shiva Sena from performing in Maharashtra. These Sickulars and AAPtards want to hear Ali’s “Mujra” over the dead bodies of our soldiers and citizens. We have become a soft nation because of these people, who are indifferent inspite of Pakistan hitting us with their policy of thousand cuts in any and every way possible. They don’t allow India to change, because they are baking their bread on appeasing Pakistan and its constituency in India by their anti-India stands and ideologies. As per them, so what if we have been hit on one cheek ,we have still 1 billion cheeks left, that’s what they believe in. They are only good at holding candle light processions, every time there is a terrorist attack and giving sermons of peace and brotherhood with Pakistan – the failed terrorist state and its people. As per them Pakistani public are flag bearers of peace and brotherly relation with India. But they fail to explain how the same Pakistani public is donating money to all the terrorist organizations like Jamaat ud Dawa, Jaish E Muhammad, Harkat Ul Ansar etc. and also participating in thousands in all the anti-India rallies conducted by such terrorist organizations? Can they explain, if the foot soldiers of these terrorist organizations have come from any other planet if not from the Pakistani public? So entire Pakistani public irrespective of rich or poor, educated or uneducated, rural or urban, artists or sportsmen, politician or journalist, intellectual or armed forces – every single person hates India and hope for death/destruction/distress/division of India and Indians and contributing towards this goal. Every single day in Kashmir, Pakistani sponsored terrorists are killing our Jawans and every few months Pakistan sponsored attacks on different cities in India is responsible for killing of hundreds of our fellow citizens. Pakistan is sending thousands of jihadis to Kashmir to destabilise it and also the rest of the country. They are circulating fake currency in India to destabilise our economy. When Pakistani PM goes to UN, he openly criticises and opposes India’s bid for permanent seat in the security council and says that India is violating human rights in Kashmir while its they, who are the perpetrators of all terrorism – economic and military in India. And on the other hand we keep allowing these Pakistani bastards to perform in India and earn money here and donate to Hafiz Sayeeds and their organisations so that they can fight Jihadi battle back in India. So indirectly its we, who are paying to kill our fellow citizens and destabilize India. There should be a complete ban on Pakistani players, artists, goods and services until they start behaving and acting like a civilized neighbour. If these Pakistani artists, sportsmen are so great human beings, why can't they jointly issue statements and hold demonstrations in Pakistan condemning terrorist attacks emanating from Pakistan or against the state policy of that country? But they would never dare to do that else either they will be beheaded or deported. Whereas, people like Mahesh Bhatts, Sabana Azmis, Arundhati Rays, Sagarika Ghoshes, Mani Shankar Aiyars can say/write/propagate anything here in India and still get away with it.

This ‘secular brigade” says that breaking cultural, sporting and economic ties with Pakistan is not the way to assert our 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? What have we gained by following their policy of extending hands of friendship and brotherhood to Pakistan over last 68 years? We gave MFN (Most favoured nation) status in Trade and Commerce to Pakistan long back but till today inspite of repeated assurances, Pakistan didn’t give us the same status. We have given enough opportunity and avenue for earning to people from Pakistan – be it sportsmen, artists, journalists, diplomat or educationists since independence but has that changed heart of Pakistan? So why should we continue the same forever? What worse can happen if we don’t continue the same from what is happening today? 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. We must stop hoping that if we pamper Pakistan with our acts of kindness, which we have been doing for last 68 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 68 years). 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 68 years, than the “actions” of Pakistan. 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. 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.

An Open Letter to Arnab Goswami

Dear Arnab,

I used to be a regular viewer of your channel and especially the prime time program  from 9 pm to almost 11 pm.  However,  for several months now I have stopped watching your these farcical “debates” as no person with some knowledge of events, logic, facts and civilized public behaviour can tolerate your  sheer arrogance and cocky behaviour. Your method and  style of questioning your panelists  is not only insulting, intimidating and utterly condescending but also against any civilized and democratic norms.  You constantly interrupt  the panelists, refuse to shut up, don’t allow them to present their perspective and thrust your own views on them as well as on the viewers of your program by intimidation and threat. You sit in your chair for those couple of hours  just to sadistically pour scorn, derision and sarcasm on the  hapless panelists, who disagree with you or have a different view point knowing very well that most of them  cannot retaliate.  I am writing this open  letter to you as this is the only way I can express  my opinion uninterrupted, without intimidation, threat and abuse from you.

Arnab, you must be hallucinating that you deserve a  Pulitzer Prize or some other similar awards due to your this digital version of Kangaroo Court better deserves to be referred to as  “Noisy Hour”.  Just because you have taken up the job of a journalist, you have no right to proclaim that you represent “people’s voice”,  ask questions on behalf of the people and demand answers.  Have you ever asked the people you claim to represent,  if they approve of your behaviour and actions? A journalist’s duty is to report the events  and let people judge what or who is right and what or who is wrong. But Lord Goswami, your  intention of presenting a story in your channel is to set an agenda by gagging the opinion of those who disagree with you. Your focus is less on journalism and more on influencing or rather manipulating  opinion by sensationalising to earn TRP. You go as far as possible to influence opinion and set agenda. You come into your “Noisy Hour” every evening with your pre-set views and personal agenda, which you  thrust  on all the panelists and manipulate the direction and outcome of the debate. The  purpose of any debate  should be  to get all sides  of the story but  in your debates  all the panelists having an opposite view to yours  are cowed and overpowered by your  interruptions and self-righteous attitude. You  even don’t hesitate to criticize your  panelists  having a different view than yours  by saying that they "should be ashamed for their views". You consider that only you are right in every issue,  claim to speak for the people and demand  answer on behalf of the people. You ask questions, flaunt unverified facts  and gag those who wants to answer with counter facts and logic.  The panelists come to your show to express their views and the least you can do is to allow them to express their opinion, put forward their facts &  logic and treat their views with a little respect even if they are wrong sometime.  But your approach proves that you don’t believe in any other view point other than your own, believe only your own unverified data & proofs, argue with prejudice  and scuttle all independent thoughts and beliefs of anybody who doesn’t agree with you  by deriding them  and overpowering  them with interruptions and self-righteous attitude. Journalism says that a moderator in a debate should be a facilitator of all the various views and logic, shouldn’t take sides or becomes party to the discussion. But for  you  Arnab - the self-appointed  Judge, Jury and Executioner - no matter what the issue before you, you are always in a belligerent mood, provoking and unnerving your guests. Your questions and responses are always filled with derision and an inexplicable irrelevant anger.

You  choose and focus on a new issue every evening for your  "Noise Hour" on the basis of the amount of media rating it can fetch and are laid on the foundation of a perfunctory research. You are always a party to the discussion and brings with you  what you  perceive as the correct 'notion'.  You start your  show with your own  perceived  correct ‘notion’, give a title to it appropriately  and pre-determine the  verdict undermining the reason to have the debate. At the end of the discussion - Lord Arnab,  you declare your judgement on the chosen issue and convict the people involved in it without any corroboration or validation. You believe that  people should come on your show to confess  and hence you  try repeatedly  to coerce your  “under trials”  to confess to  something by bullying, intimidation and threat.  In you there is neither subtlety nor polite firmness that one would expect from a  News Presenter and Moderator. Instead, what we see  from you  is  constant diatribe of invective, insult,  intimidation, sarcasm, and humiliating below-the-belt personal comments. That even the most basic checks and balances are not in place and inspite of that  you behave as if you are above all laws and regulations, were evident from the Rs. 100 Cr. defamation case that Justice Sawant slapped on your channel  and won.  Have you also forgotten the #ShameOnTimesNow episode or you still consider that it was a handiwork of your competitors in collusion with some political forces?  But still you have neither learnt your lessons  nor taken any corrective measures.  I wish someone with the courage and conviction of Justice Sawant  slaps another case for manipulating and distorting facts on you and you get some time to introspect by  cooling  your arrogance and false sense of self-righteous attitude in a prison cell.

Sorry Arnab,  what you are pretending to do is not journalism. True journalism is not about thrusting 'your views'  as gospel truth on the people  but presenting correct information and all sides of the story for the people  to decide and judge. If you don’t change your behaviour or attitude, the day is not far when someone will be compelled to use your tactics in a different form and degree on you to show you reasons. That day, you won’t be even able to cry foul of victimhood and there won’t be anyone left to sympathize with you.  

Yours Truly,

A viewer of yours who demands an answer

25 Years of Exile, 25 Years of Denial

Yesterday (3^rd May’2015), displaced Kashmiri Pandits  staged a protest at Jantar Mantar demanding immediate steps for their rehabilitation and return to their homeland and prosecution of all those involved in the killing of Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s by reopening the cases. They have been forced to stage the protest after Hurriyat Conference and the political parties in Kashmir are opposing a township planned by the Modi led Central Govt in Kashmir valley for resettlement of the Pandits.

25 years ago in January 1990, death was what a whole community of about 500,000 Hindu Pandit population faced and hundreds  of them  were killed, hounded and eventually the whole community was thrown out of their homes of thousands of years.  This genocide and ethnic cleaning of the Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir valley, was perpetrated by Islamic terrorists backed by Pakistan and widely supported by the local Muslim majority population.  But even after 25 years of this tragedy, neither Rahul Gandhi  nor Arvind Kejriwal nor Mulayam Singh Yadav nor Mayabati nor Nitish Kumar nor Lalu Yadav nor Sarad Pawar nor Karunanidhi nor any of the communist leaders or their political parties could find time to remember this humongous tragedy and show solidarity with the Kashmiri Pandits & meet them to share their grief.  But these politicians conveniently find time to stage protest in Jantar Mantar  with the muslim groups in solidarity against Gaza conflict, with which we Indians have no connection. Neither the main stream secular media showed this protest in their prime time nor had any debate on this tragedy.  Not surprising, as this population of Kashmiri Pandits don’t determine winners or losers in any election and also are not backed by Fatwa following, fundamentalist, jihadi  religious zealots. Therefore, these  so called secular politicians and their parties, who were competing with each other for appeasing the Muslim community when 4000 people were displaced during Muzaffarnagar riot can conveniently afford to forget some 500,000 of their country men,  who are living as refugees for last 25 years in their own country of origin. An entire population have been uprooted from the land of their ancestors and left to fend for themselves as a weak-kneed Indian state shamelessly pandered to Islamic terrorists and separatists who claim they are the final arbiters of Jammu & Kashmir's destiny. A part of India's cultural heritage has been destroyed, a chapter of India's civilisation history has been erased. Had this tragedy occurred elsewhere in Hindu majority India and had the victims been Muslims, the same vote hungry political parties backed by pseudo secular  historians, intellectuals and media would have described it as 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide.'  They would have made films with horror-inducing titles and  filed cases after cases in the Supreme Court of India.  Govts. run by them also would have constituted judicial commissions after commissions and SITs.  The “secular media” would have demonstrated remarkable rage in reporting the smallest detail. But, this tragedy has occurred in Muslim majority Kashmir valley  and the victims are all Hindus, that too Pandits. What has been lost and erased is part of India's Hindu culture and civilisation. Therefore, these “secular politicians” can afford to make  bold, blatantly false statements that the Kashmiri Pandits had "migrated on their own" and their 'displacement is self-imposed' orchestrated by the then Governor Jagmohan.  The National Human Rights Commission, after a sham of an inquiry, refuses to concede that what had happened is 'genocide' or 'ethnic cleansing,' though facts add up to no less than that, never mind that 500,000 lives have been destroyed. And that there is no room for plural society in highly Islamised Kashmir valley. And, our  jhola-wallah brigade of secular activists rudely turn up their noses to the plight of Kashmiri Pandits- Hindu sorrow inflicted by Islamic terror, stinks.

Did any Muslim Group ever condemned the mass genocide of Kashmiri Pandits? Which incident took place first-  Babri Masjid, Godhra or Kashmiri Pandit’s  genocide? Why Hindus can’t retaliate for any incident  & why Muslims create so much of fuss even if one Muslim is killed, that too even if he were a proven terrorist? On every 6^th  December- media, pseudo secular intellectuals and political parties celebrate black day but even after 25 years why does no secular political leader has the guts to accept  what actually  happened with Kashmiri Pandits? What is even more unfortunate is the fact that a man-made calamity of such a huge scale has not been given the same media coverage and not aroused the same public sentiment as the Babri Masjid demolition, Godhra riot (though they conveniently forget the train burning which killed dozens of Kar Sevaks which triggered the riot) or the Muzaffarnagar riots have.  It is ironic that not a single judicial enquiry commission has ever been set up to investigate the exodus and killings of Kashmiri Pandits. The killers have not been punished and rather they are roaming freely in Kashmir and have many supporters in the valley. The root cause of all problem of India today is these so called pseudo-secular intellectuals, historians, politicians and the highly biased media. Do we have the heart and mind to look back at India's wretched history of secular politics and consider the terrible price the nation has paid at the altar of appeasement?

Rahul Gandhi – Congress’s Politics of Suit-Boot, Land Bill and MSP (Minimum Support Price)

Listening to Rahul Gandhi during his speeches in Ramlila Ground and in the Parliament this week, I must admit that one needs more than a thick skin and hypocrisy to call a Govt. “Suit-Boot Sarkar”, headed by a Prime Minister who has proved his worth in administration, good governance, economic development and apolitical progressive outlook in the face of unmatched adversity and sabotage during his stint as Gujarat Chief Minister for 3 terms and throughout his public life. Congress Party whose 60 years of misrule and Nehru-Gandhi leadership are responsible for the economic, social and political mess of this nation, who in its last 10 years in power run the most corrupt Govt. in India’s history and bedded every  corrupt person/organization, crony capitalist, black marketer, anti-national & anti-social criminal, this country could find, want  the people of this nation to forget its past history & track record  and believe Rahul Gandhi’s pathetic rhetoric with crocodile tears that  Modi Govt. is run by a  party for industrialists & business men and that Modi took loan from them to win the last election.  From the Jeep scam during  Nehru Govt. after independence  to the Coalgate scam in 2013, it was the “Suited-Booted” people who have always funded Congress party and the Nehru-Gandhi family’s ill-gotten wealth and this country is not ready to believe Rahul Gandhi anymore.  Can Rahul Gandhi, who has failed to distinguish so far in any form of human activity in his life, answer if  all the PMs from his family since Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi  walked around in South Block in loin cloth? Even after 66 years of independence- Rahul, Gandhi family and Congress want rest of India and Indians to remain “Bhookha-Naanga”, so that only Gandhi family and its chamchas can wear Suit -Boot. Rahul never felt  “Suit-Boot” is evil, when his great grandfather  wore it, stitching in London with an imported Rose pinned on it every day, he never thought about the same when his father wore it but when an OBC Prime Minister could dare to wore it, he felt it is exploitation and disregard to India’s common men. He also never felt bad, when he was wearing suits & enjoying fancy vacations as youngster (not that he has stopped that now), while Narendra Modi  was a tea seller and later a Swayamshevak in a pair of shirt and Payjamah.  The suit is a symbol of modernity and empowerment for those who have been shackled by various social and economic hierarchies. Hence, B.R. Ambedkar always wore suit for that reason. Actually, Rahul Gandhi, his family and Congress party can’t tolerate any leader who can see eye to eye with them and  walk in the world stage keeping India’s head high. This is nothing but sheer jealousy and  naked misrepresentation of facts to pull wool over eyes of people of this nation. Else how can he dare to say such things immediately after his 56 day long “Aam Aadmi’s Sabbatical” abroad?

Even if Rahul Gandhi conveniently forgets, people of this nation have not - that it was Jawaharlal Nehru who made land acquisition beyond judicial review and told the displaced people to make way for the Hirakud Dam saying, "if you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country". He also forgot that his grandmother  Indira Gandhi amended the law to declare that farmers, whose land was taken forcibly by the Govt. didn’t deserve  "compensation" but only an "amount" because all landowners were  hoarders and exploiters. He also forgot to remember that the  biggest land grab in India's history happened during his Govt.'s rule, under the garb of the sham special economic  zones (SEZ).  Also, this nation has not forgotten how UPA Govt. helped the “National Damaad” Robert Vadra to grab land in prime locations at throw away prices by duping farmers  to eventually sell to corporates & businessmen like DLF owners to make windfall gain. Getting his facts wrong on the Gujarat Model, Rahul Gandhi made ludicrous claims saying Modi wants to turn entire India into Gujarat for Land Acquisition forgetting that the Supreme Court had praised the Gujarat Model of Land Acquisition finding it just, transparent and corruption free.  Perhaps his tutors forgot to tell him that  DIPP under the UPA rule had hailed Gujarat’s success with Land Acquisition as worthy of emulation by other states. So what is wrong if Modi is trying to replicate the same just, transparent and corruption free law every where in the country to give farmers their due, promote industrial development and jobs to large number of  young Indians. Yes, his new law will put Robert Vadras of the world out of job and bring economic development to common men by removing red tape, delay,  land hoarding  and justified price, which is making Congress and the other political parties uneasy who are in the business of  making a career out of keeping India and Indians underdeveloped economically, socially and politically.

Rahul pated his own back by saying that Congress led UPA Govt. raised MSP to help farmers, but what he hide was that it benefited the middle men, hoarders and politicians more than the poor farmers and was the main reason behind the spiralling food inflation in the country which resulted in his party reduced to 44 seats in Lok Sabha during the last General Elections.  True that it is politically impossible for any Govt.  in a predominantly rural democracy like India to consistently pay Indian farmers less than global prices. But domestic  MSP for wheat was raised substantially, year after year, from Rs 650 per quintal in 2006-07 to Rs 1,350 per quintal in 2012-13. Rice and many other food grain prices went up in a similar way and that stoked food inflation. On one side, middle men and hoarders of food products profited by creating artificial scarcity of many food products every year, on the other side farmers never completely got their due and also had to pay higher prices for buying food and other items.  And today, when world wheat and maize prices have crashed, many Indian farmers now get more than American ones. Further, the excess procurement by Govt. due to MSP has led to reduced supply in open market. The CAG report has pointed out that in 2006-2007, 63.3 million tonnes of rice landed in the open market but by 2011-2012, this had fallen by a huge 23.6% to 48.3 million tonnes. Similarly in 2006-2007, the total amount of wheat in the open market stood at 62.1 million tonnes, which by 2011-2012,had dropped to 61.4 million tonnes. Hence,  the Govt. needs to stop procuring more than what it needs to run its various programmes. And once the Govt. cuts down procurement, it will be beneficial on the fiscal deficit front as well as help moderate inflation. This becomes even more important given that the Indian Meteorological Department expects the monsoon to be below normal at 93% of the long period average. But this can’t happen if MSP is continuously raised due to political reasons.  Hence, it is prudent to go slow on MSP increases in the coming years leading to a structural solution to food supply and food inflation, which will benefit  of all people, the common men most.

By politicising the Land Acquisition bill and MSP issue,  actually Rahul Gandhi, Congress  and the opposition parties are doing a disservice to the farmers & the poor and harming the national economy.  It is creating an impression that this nation doesn’t need industry and infrastructure. They are misleading the nation that  agriculture is more important than any other business and economic activity.  The agricultural Census data clearly bear out the fact that Indian agriculture is dominated by small and marginal subsistence farmers providing mainly for self -consumption. In India while land is scarce, there are simply too many people engaged in land intensive employment activities like agriculture resulting in low productivity and thereby low wages resulting in lower standard of living. The proportion of the work force of some 478 million is approximately 52%, 14% and 34% in agriculture, industry and service sectors respectively in India. India’s rural population, most of whom work in agriculture account for 71% in the decade of 2000-2009. At present, the overwhelming majority of farmers earn very little. So, the only way of economic upliftment of this large population is to push the low productive, low earning population out of agriculture based employment activities to industrial and service sectors. This shift in employment will rebalance the economy by improving the productivity of both the industrial and agriculture sectors. This will free up land for making it available for infrastructure, industry and housing resulting in growth of job opportunities in rural areas – making land sellers benefit both from higher value for their land and new job opportunities. It’s also important to provide alternate job opportunities to the landless poor, who are dependent on seasonal agricultural employment for livelihood. Wages will rise as infrastructure projects start blooming in the rural areas. This will reduce the pressure of migration to the cities by making employment in rural areas attractive. This will also lead to improvement in yield of food grains by use of modern technology and free up land for cultivation of higher-value crops which will bring greater remuneration to farmers. The assumption that giving up land will impact food production/security is completely false. Food production depends on improving agricultural productivity, which is achieved from land consolidation, use of improved technology, mechanised farming and more contract (or even corporate) farming etc. None of it is possible if Indian agriculture is burdened with supporting so many mouths. Not just industry and infrastructure, even agricultural growth needs land consolidation by getting people to discard smaller uneconomic land holdings and move to non-agricultural jobs.

Thus, Rahul Gandhi has established once again to the nation that either he is a liar or he has no knowledge about the Land Reform Bill and the various aspects of our economy. Making speeches just 4 times in 11 years in Parliament does not reflect the Intellectual capability of the Congress Vice President but it rather shows what a poor grasp he has on the national issues. So, the best advice Congress party could give him is to keep quiet and let others think that he is an idiot rather than to speak and confirm it.

Opposing the Land Reforms Bill – Economics or Politics??

No doubt India is a sham democracy. Blind populism has become the cornerstone of Indian political system, where if someone wants to free the system from bureaucratic red tape and deliver transparent, speedy governing system and create opportunities for work, earn and live a better life – it is frowned upon as favouring crony capitalism. This is the principle obstacle to India's development. The Nehruvian economic model of leftist economic policies robbed India of 60 years of development and kept two post-independence generations in poverty by refusing to create opportunities for work for the common men. These so called leftist socialist pro poor political parties have made the whole system of governance populist, so that uneducated/semi educated people only fall for populist slogans & the common men have been made to believe that any political party which supports economic and systemic reform is anti-poor. This monster has been created in the minds of generations of Indians raised on expectations of govt. freebies. Such individual centric promises are a natural progression from their well-known practice of purchasing votes by allurements of liquor & cash. This Frankenstein state, created by Congress and it’s leftist socialist allies for vote bank politics over 60 years, found newer ways to extend itself by creating hurdles in systemic  reforms of governance and their opposition to the NDA’s amended Land Reform Bill of 2014 is just one such example.

UPA legislated a growth-retarding land acquisition law in 2013, which would result in an artificial land shortage for infrastructure and manufacturing, so that  the interests of the “Land Sharks”, who are mostly land owners and land hoarders (like Robert Vadra) with their vested lobby of middle men, govt. officials, politicians and benami owners are protected. They are just using the poor common men of India as pawns to argue their own case. The so called failed anti developmental activists like Medha Patkar are working for the anti-India global lobby and even an ignorant Anna Hazare has joined them to show that he is still alive and kicking. I am sure, Anna Hazare has not even read the amended Land Reforms bill and compared its merits with the earlier bills which were in force as law. Even some of the journalists and intellectuals are openly supporting the mind less agitation against the bill just to protect their financial and political masters.

Hence, it is important to understand why the original “Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act”  – which is the official name of this Act, which the NDA Govt. wants to amend, is reqd to be amended and who was benefiting from the earlier act. Once we analyse it, we find that it was definitely not the poor who were getting benefited.  

In India while land is scarce, there are simply too many people engaged in land intensive employment activities like agriculture resulting in low productivity and thereby low wages resulting in lower standard of living. The proportion of the work force of some 478 million is approximately 52%, 14% and 34% in agriculture, industry and service sectors respectively in India.  India’s rural population, most of whom work in agriculture, averaged 79% of the total population in the decade of 1970-79 and 71% in the decade of 2000-2009, so a decline of 8%. But India’s total population increased dramatically over this 40-year period.  As a result, the average rural population, which was 479 million in 1970-79, grew to an average of 775 million in the decade of 2000-2009, which is an increase of 62%. At present, the overwhelming majority of farmers earn very little. So, the only way of economic upliftment of this large population is to push the low productive, low earning population out of agriculture based employment activities to industrial and service sectors.  This shift in employment will rebalance the economy by improving the productivity of both the industrial and agriculture sectors. This will free up land for making it available for infrastructure, industry and housing resulting in growth of job opportunities in rural areas – making land sellers benefit both from higher value for their land and new job opportunities. It’s also important to provide alternate job opportunities to the landless poor, who are dependent on seasonal agricultural employment for livelihood. Wages will rise as infrastructure projects start blooming in the rural areas. This will reduce the pressure of migration to the cities by making employment in rural areas attractive.  This will also lead to improvement in yield of food grains by use of modern technology and free up land for cultivation of higher-value crops which will bring greater remuneration to farmers. The assumption that giving up land will impact food production/security is completely false. Food production depends on improving agricultural productivity, which is achieved from land consolidation, use of improved technology, mechanised farming and more contract (or even corporate) farming etc. None of it is possible if Indian agriculture is burdened with supporting so many mouths. Not just industry and infrastructure, even agricultural growth needs land consolidation by getting people to discard smaller uneconomic land holdings and move to non-agricultural jobs.

Quicker land acquisition process will, make it easier for farmers to earn more value from their land. It is wrong that land prices can be mandated to rise only through govt. fiat. Land values rise when more land shifts out of agriculture as is visible in Gurgaon and Noida etc. and this cannot happen if acquisition is made tougher. The UPA’s 2013 Land Act would have resulted in keeping market prices of land artificially low than they should be due to the stiff acquisition clauses. This would have deprived land sellers of justified price for their land and made only the “Land Sharks” benefit. Hence most politicians want the UPA’s version of the act to stay for the simple reason that if land acquisition becomes tougher, middlemen and landlords will benefit from the resultant scarcity.  Most politicians are big landlords especially in the rural parts of India and they gain the most if industrialists and businessmen have to fill their pockets to buy land. Also land aggregators, village officials and other middlemen will benefit from graft if the process of acquisition is made difficult through the need for 70%-80% consent and Social Impact Assessment studies. It has been estimated that acquiring a large  tract of land under the UPA’s  2013 Act would take four to five years – enough time to make any project unviable as all cost estimates will go for a toss. To develop a proper market for land, NDA Govt. is trying to make transactions transparent, faster and easier, not slower and more complicated. The basic purpose of the Act, as per its name is to ensure fair compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement and  none of these are affected by the NDA’s 2014 modifications of the UPA’s Act of 2013. All other major conditions of the UPA’s act remains the same viz., the compensation (2 to 4 times of market value depending on rural or urban area), rehabilitation of the affected by mandatorily proving them job in the proposed project and resettlement in another place if the affected desires so.  In fact, by making acquisitions easier, poor  land sellers will be able to  get market price, realize their money faster and thus get rehabilitation faster. There is ample evidence to suggest that farmers will happily sell their unproductive land, if the price is right. For instance, the Yamuna Expressway, paid about $25,000 per acre to farmers between 2007 and 2009 to acquire land. This explains why the Yamuna Expressway project took off whereas similar infrastructure schemes elsewhere in the country have not.

The NDA’s bill is trying to amend a  few historic wrongs. The main difference between the bills enacted as law by the UPA govt. in 2013 and the NDA’s amended bill of 2014 are on four points – 1. Land acquisition has been made easier only for 5 purposes by removing the 70% consent clause. They are defence, affordable housing, rural infrastructure, industrial corridors, public-private (PPP) projects. So there is no question of favouring private sector for land acquisition for profit as they still need to take consent of 80% of the land owners for acquisition, 2. The removal of  the clause of Social Impact Assessment, where rules impose an obligation on the central or state govt. to appoint an independent organisation as the assessment unit, whose job is to maintain a database of independent practitioners and social activists to  regularly conduct studies and formulate strategies for improving the quality, efficacy and transparency of the assessment process. While on paper, it looks like a great idea, the fact remains that it is an instrument to blackmail as one can be rest assured that no land will ever be sold or brought if it is going to be subjected to a public audit or inquisition, 3. The UPA Act’s provision for the return of land in case it is not developed in five years after acquisition made no sense. Infrastructure projects need more than 5 years to be completed and hence if only a part of acquired land is utilized in 5 years and balance has to be returned for non-utilization, the whole project will be in jeopardy and no sane investor will come ahead for such projects. Moreover, the prices of land don’t stay same over a few years and hence landowners can’t hope to get the land back at the same price they sold it for. So the idea of returning land is not only faulty but impossible to implement. The NDA’s amended  act  removes this absurd clause and 4. The NDA govt’s  move not to include special provisions for safeguarding food security in the ordinance as food security comes not from large unproductive cultivation but  from improving agricultural productivity by using modern techniques.

It is important to note that most state govts — cutting across party line from Congress to Communist to Socialists (SP, JD(U)) to BJP — are most keen that these changes be introduced and have told the NDA central govt. during their meetings before the bill was brought. Even during the UPA rule their own central ministers like Anand Sharma to Congress CMs from Maharashtra, Haryana etc. wrote officially to the then PM to change the earlier bill to include the above amendments.  Therefore, at the heart of the opposition to the modification of this act and all the agitations  lies politics and not economics.