Taint & Politics: Criminals Not Untouchable

Political Parties are fully united on one issue- ‘criminals are not untouchable in politics’. My fear has come true. When the Supreme Court of India delivered historic judgement two months ago that people who are convicted of crime by the trial court would lose their Membership of the House – Parliament or/and State Legislatures even if an appeal lies in the higher judiciary against the conviction and they will be debarred from contesting elections. I had commented in my earlier blog on this issue saying that the UPA Government might challenge the verdict and go for amending the Representation of the People Act to nullify the SC verdict on criminals in politics.

The Centre challenged the verdict by filing a review petition in the Supreme Court against the judgment. The Government also now plans to amend the relevant sections of the R P Act to nullify the verdict apparently to protect criminals in politics.

But alert citizens of the country are equally determined to fight the government against its design to protect criminals in politics.

Supreme Court Bench Headed by Justice R M Lodha has said that the purity of the election process needed to be preserved and ensure that “criminals don not enter legislative bodies”. The judge observed that this should be done through legislation. While hearing a Public Interest Litigation Petition, Justice Lodha expressed displeasure over the government’s failure to reply to the notice issued by the court. He has given six week time to the government to reply.

The Supreme Court on Monday, August 19, 2013 observed that persons charge sheeted in the heinous crimes or indicted by the commission of inquiry should also be debarred from contesting elections. The court indicated that it would specify ‘heinous crime’ like murder and rape and also moral turpitude that would debar such persons from contesting polls.

Soon after the earlier verdict of the apex court that debarred convicted persons from contesting elections besides disqualifying such persons from being a Member of the House (Parliament or State Legislatures), political parties raised their voice expressing concern over the judgement  Their argument is that the verdict of the Supreme Court is likely to be used against politicians who may be implicated in ‘false’ cases by their rivals and see to it that they don’t contest and those elected lose Membership of the House.

Such apprehensions are baseless. It is difficult to implicate politicians in false cases of murder and rape and more difficult to establish the case leading to conviction. The fact of the matter is that political parties cutting across party line including the Left Parties patronize criminals many of them get elected to State Legislatures and Parliament.

It is the number that matters not the person in Parliament and Assemblies. Look what the Congress has done in Jharkhand. The Party has supported the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and got the government headed by it installed in Ranchi in bargain for sparing 10 Lok Sabha seats out of a total of 14 in Jharkhand for the Congress to contest in the next general elections in pre-poll alliance with the JMM. The JMM on its part agreed to the formula and accepted to contest in only 4 Lok Sabha seats since running the Jharkhand Government is its priority not seats in Lok Sabha. The Congress feared that going alone in the polls in Jharkhand may see a total rout of the Party and a clear victory for the BJP. The Congress had won only 1 Lok Sabha seat out of 14 in the state and it was the Ranchi seat bagged by Subodh Kant Sahay. The Party feared to lose even this seat, hence the compromise.

~R. K. Sinha 

Communal Violence in J& K: Omar Abdullah Ineffective CM

There is a drift in Jammu and Kashmir. Omar Abdullah who took over as the chief minister of the troubled state did try to improve things in the beginning particularly during his first two years in office. But later on he gradually started losing grip over the administration and sounded more like an opposition leader raising his voice at times in tune with the separatists in the valley. His off the cuff statements on presence of the Army in the valley provided ammunition to the Hurriyat leaders and pro-Pakistan elements in the state, causing big embarrassment to the Centre. The same chief minister now says that the strife torn Kishtwar in Jammu region was brought under control the moment the Army was called in to control the situation.

The state government imposed a blanket ban on the coverage of the violence incidents by not allowing the media to visit the place. Not only that, the local administration did not allow Arun Jaitley, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to visit the troubled zone.

It is a normal practice not to disclose the identity of the victims of communal violence. But the chief minister chose to identify the victims of the riots by disclosing their religion. Omar Abdullah did this to drive home the point that more Muslims were killed than Hindus- two people belonging to the Muslim community were killed while one man, a Hindu died in the violence. Omar wanted to tell the world that the Muslims suffered in the riots but failed to admit that the flare up was ignited by his own man Shahjad Kichloo, Minister of State for Home Affairs in J & K Government. The Minister was present when the riots broke out. His role should be thoroughly investigated, although he has resigned as a minister after the incident after the chief minister found that there were grave charges against Kichloo.

It is surprising that the Centre has turned a blind eye to the role of the state government in fanning communal divide in J &K. On the contrary, the Congress leaders are trying to defend the chief minister for his failure to check violence.

One thing that puzzles the country is how and why the UPA Government is not taking a tough stand against the misrule of the National Conference Government in the state. Omar Abdullah is in office with the support of the Congress legislators.

How the UPA government did not act to contain Omar Abdullah who indirectly hinted the rise of militancy in the state after the hanging of the Afzal Guru. In fact, he had opposed the hanging of Afzal by writing to the Prime Minister and to the President of India saying that his execution would harm the peace in the valley.

Of late, Omar Abdullah has been venting his views on ‘twitter’. Well, Mr Chief Minister, you are holding the office as a Constitutional head and it does not bring grace to the office that you hold when you twit. The chief minister must face the people, must interact freely rather than confining himself to the twit culture of the day. Behave like a matured politician and not as a juvenile leader of a state that demands serious attention and good governance.

~R. K. Sinha

Encouraging Response for Modi in Hyderabad

A month back, when some local leaders of the BJP in Hyderabad proposed 5 rupee ticket’ as entry fee to listen to and attend the rally to be addressed by Narendra Modi, the organizers surprised everyone. In fact, the BJP was subject of ridicule and pun for charging entry fee for a public rally which is not done. In fact, as so far as my memory goes, there has not been any such instance of selling ticket for a rally of a politician. The Congress was quick to take a jibe at the BJP for selling Modi and selling ticket for his rally in the stadium in Hyderabad. But the Congress and other opponents of the BJP in general and Narendra Modi in particular were proved wrong by the people of Hyderabad who gave a thumping response to Modi’s rally as the massive turnout at L B Stadium on Sunday proved.

The organizers of the rally wanted to test the water. People would have come to the venue otherwise also if they wanted to attend the rally. But paying rupees five for entry to the stadium demonstrated a determined and committed crowd that cheered Modi during his speech.

The BJP should also thank the Congress leaders for unwarranted attack on Narendra Modi that goes on to create curiosity  about Modi. Seeing the massive crowd in Hydrabad, Rashid Alvi of the Congress said that the crowd in the rally does not mean electoral support for the BJP in the southern state. Agreed,  Mr Alvi, the crowd in any political rally is no guarantee that all would vote for the Party or the leader who are present in the public meeting. But why you Mr Alvi and your other Congress leaders fight shy of admitting that the massive response in Hyderabad is an encouraging signal indicating the mood of the people. It goes against the Congress.

The rally was also significant in BJP reaching out to regional parties in the south to join the NDA for the next year’s general elections. Modi appealed to the TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu and J Jayalalitha, chief minister of Tamil Nadu and leader of the AIADMK to join the NDA as both these parties were at one time ally of the NDA and were part of the Central Government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee.

I would not like to repeat what the Gujarat chief minister said at the rally since it has been widely reported by the media, but would like to say that there was marked departure from the past when Modi addressed the rally.

By certain actions and some statements, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan was mistaken as taking a stand unfavourable to Modi. He donned a skull cap on the occasion of Eid celebrations something which Modi had declined once when he was offered the cap at a rally of the minorities in Gujarat. But Modi heaped praises on Shivraj  Singh Chauhan in Hyderabad. Chauhan on his part lost no time in returning the complement when he compared Modi with Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Modi also praised L K Advani who is generally seen as opposed to Modi.

The Congress Party and its leaders are a worried lot. After the Sunday rally in Hyderabad, the top leaders of the Congress have gone into huddle to check Narendra Modi from gaining fresh ground in the country. Will the Congress be able to turn the tide, perhaps not?

-R. K. Sinha 

Threat to Peace: Pak Army Support to Terrorists

Once again news from across the border is disturbing. The Pakistan Army are at it again, derail the peace process with India by supporting, engineering and increasing terrorists attack on one hand and aggression on the border by its forces on the other. As I mentioned in my earlier ‘blog’, the Pakistan Army is hell bent upon to create problems for its Prime Minister Nawaz Shariff who wants to start the peace process with India on a clean slate.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba has issued fresh threats to attack Delhi. The LeT chief Hafeez Sayeed has come out with fresh call to the terrorists to continue ‘jehad’ against India. He has opposed Shariff’s peace initiative with India. “If Pakistan Prime Minister does not want ‘jehad’ let him do so, but we will continue our jehad against India”, Sayeed is reported to have said. It is a well planned move to corner Pak Prime Minister.

When elections were being held in Pakistan few months back, the pro-peace lobby of both India and Pakistan were hopeful of ‘peace returning to negotiating table’ with the change of regime in Islamabad. Soon after being elected as Prime Minister of Pakistan Shariff officially stated that he wants peace with India. Not only that, in run up to general elections in Pakistan, all major political parties had declared that they want peace with India. But the Pakistan Army won’t let it happen. It has vested interests in keeping the pot boiling so that it can retain its pre-eminence and dominant role in Pakistan even in a democratic set up. Besides exploiting huge amount running into millions of US dollars that goes to the Army in maintaining peace inside Pakistan and so called defence of its territory bordering India. The ISI has its own slice of the money in providing arms, ammunitions and logistics support to the Talibans and Terrorists outfits operating from its land.

It is significant to note that Hafeez Sayeed in a recent statement made in Sialkot in Pakistan is reported to have said that ‘they have won the war on the western frontier’ that is in Afghanistan as the US and NATO forces are to disengage and withdraw from Afghanistan soon. The LeT has further said that the time has come to win on eastern front that is to attack India, not only in Jammu & Kashmir but in other parts of India as well including New Delhi.

Pakistan Government has its problems but that is not our concern. You can’t clap with one hand. Best of intentions of Nawaz Sahariff notwithstanding, India should not extend its hand for peace if aggression continues from across the border.        

There is an opportunity for a meeting between Pakistan Prime Minister and the Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September next. Shariff has expressed desire to meet Manmohan Singh. On his part Manmohan Singh too has expressed his willingness to have dialogue with Shariff despite the unprovoked firing and killing of our jawans few days ago. If the meeting takes place at all, it will be not be more than exchanging pleasantries and providing a photo opportunity. For anything meaningful and constructive to establish peace in the subcontinent, Nwaz Shariff would have to fight its enemy within, the Talibans, the Terrorists and the ISI supported by the Army chief. Will he succeed?

~R. K. Sinha 

Govt. Soft on Pakistan: Army Demoralised

In Pakistan, it is the Army and the ISI who have virtually ‘veto  power’ in handling the border  with India. The Kargil war is an example in point. The then Army Chief Gen. Parvez Musharraf plotted intrusion and crossed the Line of Control and put up bunkers and posts inside Indian land. Nawaz Shariff, the present Prme Minister who was also Prime Minister of Pakistan at that point of time is said to have learnt the intrusion only after war broke out between the two countries.

In India, the Pakistan affair is handled not even by the Ministry of External Affairs or by Ministry of Defence but is under the domain of Prime Minister of India. But it is strange that even in the matter of ceasefire violation on the LoC by the Pakistan Army, our Defence Minister says that our jawans – 5 of them- were killed by ‘terrorists’.  It is unbelievable that twenty terrorists can reach the border without being notices and challenged by the Pakistan Army. They were all heavily armed. How could they cross the line of control without the approval of the Pakisan Army. Independent report suggests that the intruders were not terrorists but regular Army of Pakistan. To say that they were terrorists is like giving clean chit to Pakistan Government and its Army that they did not violate ceasefire and that they were not Pakistan army but terrorists who fired and killed our soldiers on the Indian side of the border.

I pity A K Antony, who is an honest politician, perhaps the only honest man in the Union Government for speaking like a tutored parrot on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday. Antony despite his other good qualities is not assertive. The Indian Army had said that the intruders were regular Army of Pakistan. But the Army had to change its stand and corrected its version of the incident. It had to toe the official line when the Defence Minister said that they were not Pak Army but terrorists. The Army or for that matter the whole of our defence forces felt demoralized by the government stand on the killings of our jawans.

There are standing orders from the Chief of the Army Staff that in case of skirmishes on the border or ceasefire violations, the local commander deployed on the border should take decision in handling the situation and retaliate accordingly to any act of aggression or transgression, sounds logical. But every time our soldiers and officers responded to firing from across the order or tried to repulse intrusion, they were subjected to volley of questions from South Block like why you resorted to firing, why retaliation etc. This has demoralized our men on the border to the extent that hostile forces whether they are from Pakistan or from China get away with incursion and occasional firing at our posts.

The impression being created that the Congress Party is concerned and serious about increasing hostilities from across the border and that the government and the Prime Minister of the country are not or at best are casual in their approach to the increasing ceasefire violations on the border- as many as 57 ceasefire violations this year by Pakistan, appears to be misleading.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi was prompt in shooting out yet another letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing her concern over killings of Indian Army jawans by Pakistan troops and urging him to take appropriate steps to safeguard our territory. Sonia Gandhi knows and knows it well that the government has its own plan and it does not mind few intrusions and firing from the hostile armies from across the border so long its peace process is on.

Nobody wants war. But no nation can bend backward when it comes to defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity to please the super powers!

~R. K. Sinha

Congress’ Double Speak: Rajasthan CM Shunts SP for Action Against Smuggler

AKHILESH YADAV, CM, UP

ASHOK GAHLOT, CM, RAJASTHAN

'Two Sides of The Same Coin'

As the nationwide outrage against victimization of Durga Shakti Nagpal refuses to die down, there are reports that Congress Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot has punished a police officer for taking action against a smuggler.

Only the other day the Congress President Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telling him that the government should see to it that no injustice is done to Durga Shakti Nagpal. In response, the Centre has asked the UP Government to send report on her suspension from service.

It may sound strange that even after knowing the mind of the Congress President, the chief minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot has chosen to remove the Superintendant of Police of Jaisalmer, Pankaj Chowdhary. His offence was that he opened the case of one Hazi Fakir who was charged with smuggling and other illegal activities on Indo-Pak border. The first case against Fakir was filed way back in 1965, the year India was at war with Pakistan.

Is the Congress chief minister protecting the alleged smuggler and if so why? The reason is, Fakir is father of Saleh Mohammad, the local Congress MLA of Jaisalmer. The Congress’ nexus with criminals and mafia is well known. And the Party’s leaders don’t mind being caught in the company of smugglers and mafias.

In blatant display of supporting criminals, the chief minister of Rajasthan has hit at another Police officer in his state. The Congress government shunted out the Bharatpur SP because he had taken action and booked the mafias doing illegal mining.

The story does not stop here, only a few months back, the Harayana Government penalized Ahok Khemka, an IAS officer for initiating proceedings against Robert Wadhra, son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi for alleged land deals and financial irregularities with a private firm running into several hundred crores of rupees.

Before taking a position on corruption, the Congress leadership and the government it is heading in states and at the Centre should clean its stables first. The Centre still can show some guts in pinning down the Samajvadi Party and its government in Uttar Pradesh by taking up the case of Durga Shakti Nagpal seriously and sincerely. The Centre should not appear to be pretending to act and doing nothing under the garb of procedural delays. There is enough evidence to prove that the UP Government suspended Durga Shakti Nagpal on false charges.

Under the rules, the state government should reply to the Centre within 15 days of receipt of the communication from New Delhi. It is more than a week when the Department of Personnel and Training that controls the officers of Central Services has sent communications to the chief secretary of the state government. It is still awaiting a reply from Lucknow.

Given the track record of the UPA Government it may ultimately prove that the concern being shown by the Centre or by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi, are nothing but public posturing. It will be sad day for our democracy if the Centre withdraw its hands and let an honest and upright officer go down fighting against a system that is ruled by criminals and mafias.

~R. K. Sinha

Telengana: Make Hyderabad Union Territory

More troubles await the Congress in coming days as people opposed to creation of Telengana have lost the jewel – Hyderabad to the new state. The Congress leaders, the Congress Ministers in the Manmohan Singh Government, the core committee, the Prime Minister and the Congress President Sonia Gandhi have lit fire in the state. To douse the flame there is only one solution- make the city of Hyderabad a Union Territory that would serve as the joint capital of the two states like Chandigarh.

After the partition of India, the erstwhile province of Punjab was split into two. The east Punjab became part of India while west Punjab went to Pakistan and with that the capital of united Punjab, Lahore went to Pakistan.

The Indian government commissioned a team of experts to find a suitable city that would be the capital of Punjab. Somehow the existing cities of Punjab were found unsuitable to be made into a capital city. Finally a new capital of Chandigarh was created after ten years of Independence. But in 1966, Punjab was bifurcated and a new state of Harayana came into being. There was dispute over the capital as Punjab did not want to lose control of the planned city and Harayana was equally adamant to retain Chandigarh. Good sense prevailed and the Centre decided to make Chandigarh as a Union Territory which is the common capital of the two states.

In case of the latest decision the Centre has proposed that Hyderabad will serve as the common capital of Andhra and Telengana for ten years after the new state is constitutionally created. After 10 years, the Centre says, suitable place would be found to raise a new capital for Andhra Pradesh.

Under the scheme, even if Hyderabad is the shared capital of the two states, some infrastructure has to come up. For instance, a new Assembly House has to be built for Andhra. Unless it is decided that the High Court would serve as the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, as is the case in Punjab and Harayana, a new premises of the High Court has to be built. A new secretariat has to be built for Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad itself. Else, how and from where in Hyderabad Andhra would function for 10 years.

Once the structures come up what would happen to those buildings after 10 years when the capital of Andhra Pradesh is shifted out to a new place?

Andhra stands to lose heavily in terms of revenue as a large number of companies and industries in the united Andhra Pradesh have their registered office in Hyderabad. All revenue by way taxes and royalties would go to Telengana. Hyderabad is a hub of information technology besides being centre of large industry and business. It has inbuilt communications of rail and air links with rest of the country.

Hyderabad has a thriving Telugu film industry that generates capital running into hundreds of crores of rupees. All this will go to Telengana.

One wonders at the wisdom of the Congress stalwarts and its think tank who, apparently missed the point or deliberately refused to look at the history of Chandigarh. It is not too late even now. It is in the larger interest of the people of Adnhra Pradesh that the Centre by amending the Constitution declares Hyderabad a Union Territory and let Andhra and Telengana share the capital and its infrastructure.

The industry and business is a worried lot in Hyderabad for they don’t know how the new state government would conduct itself vis a vis industry, trade and commerce. A union territory would ensure smooth functioning of industry and trade. Also, the Centre stands to gain in terms of revenue collections. There would be no heart burning and agitation for sharing of the riches of Hyderabad between the people of the two states. The fire lit by the Congress and the UPA government would douse without firefighting! Will the Congress listen or the amend in the decision would be done by the next government at the Centre in 2014?

~R. K. Sinha