The Great Indian Political Drama - 1 (Oct 2017 - Mar 2018)

[SRoy]

^^

That's incorrect.

Refugee / illegal (whichever definition suits) is not a clear cut religious divide issue. Ethnicity is involved.

In WB, Hindus coming from BD are welcome. They get local support and that's why they are able to get all official documents.
When you extend the template in a "secular" fashion, the peace-fulls entering India also get benefited.

Bengali Hindus from BD entering Assam would be considered illegal, but not so in WB. So, much for Hindu identity.
If you stretch back in history, it the BDs (irrespective of faith) that are inhabitants of the general area for thousands of years. It is the Ahoms that have arrived there much later. But on the other hand Ahoms have defended SD valiantly and they must have a greater say. So, ethnicity issues are another layer of complexity.

If you dig in a little more, local peace-fulls in their majority districts of Murshidabad, Malda etc. won't consider BD peace-fulls as illegals. They are correct if you consider their case in a fair manner. Now given their gradually increasing population share that can decide an election, politicians too throw in support.

So, who's illegal? You cannot enforce that definition as it suits you.

BD peace-fulls are not stopping you from declaring Hinduisim a state religion with the follow up effect that all peace-fulls that have entered India post 1965 (that's the year till which the borders were officially open for migrations) are illegals. Do that and stop complaining.

[MehtaRahulC]

Never understood to this date, how illegal Bangladeshis can get Aadhar and Passport but not legal citizens of India!!!

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Adhaar law doesnt say that one must be Indian citizen to obtain aadhar card. Applicant doesnt even need to specify whether he is Indian citizen or not.
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Getting aadhar and linking aadhar to pan or ration card or bank account etc is easy when names' spellings, date of birth etc are EXACTLY same. Linking gets done in minutes. But small difference in name or DoB, and one has to do some form filling and and sometimes fill form again and so on. It may take 2-3 weeks.
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So getting / linking for poor/illterate depends on whether that poor gets some form filling help from (a) some learned community elder (or a community elder who has some learned assistants) OR (b) local estalblished political party workers or (c) local small/independent political activist. Such helpers can ensure that form has no errors. And he can fill forms when there is difference in spelling etc.
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eg a good helper will make sure that spelling/address/dob etc are exactly same as that on ration card. If done so, linking with ration card will get done in minutes. But an inexperienced helper or person may copy details from voterid. Now if they are different from ration card, then linking with ration card will need form filling.
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The minority people, be legal or illegal, get help from community elders.
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The issue with Hindus is that (a) workers of mainstream parties that Hindus vote for namely congress/ aap / rss / sp / bsp etc dont want to do this form filling. The workers would rather confine to cap wearing, jhadu wielding, swachchh bharat photo uploads, nation building, organizing rallies etc. Many "nationalist" party workers often boast about their social work. I often ask them --- you have 40 lakh workers, then how come lakhs and crores of Hindu citizens across India dont have aadhar or have problems in linking aadhar? The number is only 2% of population --- but why are "nationalist" workers dont attending THAT problem? The reality is --- all workers of all mainstream political parties want to do work that becomes visible to leaders. They dont want to do this boring form filling work.
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And there are small time independent political activists who once did all this form filling. But Hindu voters did NOT vote for them, and instead voted for mainstream parties. So independent political activists stopped doing this low level paperwork.
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The minority citizens vote as per instructions from community elders. And so community elder will get compensation from political leader for whom minority voters will vote for !! Or that community elder may himself be candidate. So either way, community elder is compensated for work he is doing for getting / linking aadhar of poor/illiterate minorities.
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So basically, poor need help in form filling in getting / linking aadhar. But Hindu poor dont vote for those who help them in form filling and instead vote for mainstream political parties, who dont help them in form filling. Whereas minority voters vote as per instruction of community leader who does form filling. This is the main reason why much larger % of minorities have aadhar and linked aadhar.
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One solution can be to modify aadhar procedures so that getting / linking becomes trivially easy even for illiterates / poor.

[svenkat]

^^

That's incorrect.

Refugee / illegal (whichever definition suits) is not a clear cut religious divide issue. Ethnicity is involved.

In WB, Hindus coming from BD are welcome. They get local support and that's why they are able to get all official documents.
When you extend the template in a "secular" fashion, the peace-fulls entering India also get benefited.

Bengali Hindus from BD entering Assam would be considered illegal, but not so in WB. So, much for Hindu identity.
If you stretch back in history, it the BDs (irrespective of faith) that are inhabitants of the general area for thousands of years. It is the Ahoms that have arrived there much later. But on the other hand Ahoms have defended SD valiantly and they must have a greater say. So, ethnicity issues are another layer of complexity.

If you dig in a little more, local peace-fulls in their majority districts of Murshidabad, Malda etc. won't consider BD peace-fulls as illegals. They are correct if you consider their case in a fair manner. Now given their gradually increasing population share that can decide an election, politicians too throw in support.

So, who's illegal? You cannot enforce that definition as it suits you.

BD peace-fulls are not stopping you from declaring Hinduisim a state religion with the follow up effect that all peace-fulls that have entered India post 1965 (that's the year till which the borders were officially open for migrations) are illegals. Do that and stop complaining.

Karthik S,
just ponder on this post without calling me names.

Hindus have multiple linguistic-ethnicities.I am not a lemurian but the tamizh criticism is subtle.similarly the bengalis are an ethnicity and SRoy thinks that p!$$fuls in murshidabad/malda feeling BDs are not aliens is not unfair from muslims view.

[Dumal]

Any insight into the Rajasthan ordinance/bill on protecting public servants etc? It seems MH has a similar law/bill as well. What is the main issue here and what direction are these states taking this? Is this an instance where BJP orchestrates this in a few states as test cases and based on feedback either mainstreams it or relooks at options?

[svenkat]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/ ... 80494.html

In a shocking turn of events, a man at first set his wife and two girl children on fire before setting himself ablaze inside the district collectorate during a weekly grievances redressal meet on Monday.

With police and administration allegedly turning a deaf ear to their pleas, the family, who reportedly was suffering at the hands of a local money lender took the drastic steps after five of their petitions submitted to the collector did not yield any positive result. The kin of the victims said a person from the deceased man’s hometown practised usury and abused the family, even after fully recovering the debt. The victims were immediately rushed to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital, where three of them died.

The couple — Isakkimuthu (30) and Subbulakshmi (28) — originally hailed from Kasitharmam near Kadayanalloor. However, the family migrated to Coimbatore around eight months ago since Isakkimuthu was working in a cotton mill. The relatives of the victims said the family had obtained an amount of Rs 1,45,000 from Muthulakshmi, a local usurer from Kasitharmam, around six months ago. The couple had reportedly repaid an amount of Rs 2,34,000 in six monthly instalments of Rs 39,000. However they were allegedly abused and forced to pay additional money by Muthulakshmi.

Unable to bear the pressure of Muthulakshmi, Isakkimuthu sought the intervention of Achanputhur Police. However, the police were unresponsive towards the complainant and allegedly colluded with Muthulakshmi, source said.

Speaking to Express, Gopi, brother of Isakkimuthu, said, “Achanputhur sub-inspector Murugan and constable Thangadurai have blatantly supported Muthulakshmi. Not only the police threatened us, they also demanded my brother to sign on a plain agreement. We even have the audio record of the conversation wherein the police threatened my brother over phone.”

Losing faith on the police department, the family reportedly approached the Collectorate and so far had submitted five separate petitions during several weekly grievance redressal meetings. But their problem was never attended to. Though Express tried to contact Collector Sandeep Nanduri and superintendent of police (SP) about the action taken on the five previous petitions submitted by Isakkimuthu, they were unavailable for comment.

On Monday, the couple once again went to the Collectorate with their two children — Mathi Charunya (4) and Atchaya Baranika (2) — to submit another petition. They were accompanied by Isakkimuthu’s brother Gopi. According to Gopi, Isakkimuthu took the drastic step around 10.30 am when he went to a nearby shop to have tea. Isakkimuthu drenched the family members with kerosene and set them ablaze, sources said. They were rescued by the policemen and public and rushed to the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital.

[svenkat]

https://www.newsbugz.com/tirunelveli-se ... ey-lender/

Three dead,the man is fighting for life.

At one level,I understand where Karthik S is coming from.Tamils outrage over Mersel film,NEET,jallikattu but almost nothing when it is internal issues.Is a top down Hindu nationalism a real danger in some states where this sentiment has no traction.

[svenkat]

Some thoughts on Indian polity.

In India,true blue kshatriya varna is found only in North India.May be the need for a standing army to defend the land from mlecchas beyond the Sindu made the kshatriya varna a neccessity in North India or one can say for some reason Indo-Aryas did not feel the need to cross the vindhyas in large numbers.Similarly in the puraanas,the land east and south of Mithila was seen as anaarya.Ofcourse puraanas claim magadha,paundra being ruled by degraded kshatriyas.AIT is believed by Bengali intellectuals though culturally they are Hindu or more accurately Hindu-Buddhist.Remember both Buddha and Mahavira had strong association with Bihar.But Buddhism at one level was nothing but the JNU of 2nd cent BC.

Those opposing BJP are a motley bench.It is not as if Lalu and Bengali bhadralok of JNU have anything in common.Similarly in south,TN and KA are at loggerheads.The dominant peasant castes of TN and KA lack the confidence of Reddys and Marathas.In andhra,so far reddys have not shown much inclination towards BJP.The kammas are predisposed to TDP.

It is not as if things are all rosy in North India.Punjab is an example where jutt sikhs claim to be egalitarian and have had issues of violent khaalistani agitation.

[svenkat]

Is it not better to accept Hindu diversity and plan ahead.No sensible person would like to give up benefits of modernity but ideas of modernity/nationalism cannot be imposed.

The basic identity in India is caste and then regional/language.That is why we have issues over reservation,river waters etc.There are also sub regional sentiments.I pointed out in river water issues thread that chozha and pandya lands have diametrically opposing arguments on kaveri/mullaiperiyaar.The contradiction is irreconciliable except on basis of hindu nationalism built on trust and reciprocity and also a dharmic framework.

[svenkat]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/ ... 80121.html

Sonam Mahajan‏Verified account
@AsYouNotWish

After fanning the great Hindu-Sikh divide, Congress’s new strategy in Punjab is divisive linguistic politics. Hindi signboards blackened.

[svenkat]

[svenkat]

Punjab's Public Work Department (PWD) on Sunday confirmed that works towards ensuring the primacy of Punjabi language over Hindi and English on signboards on national highways in the state will begin from October 23 and will be completed in the next two weeks.

The confirmation came week after Shriomani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal wrote to Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari seeking the primacy of Punjabi language on signboards on national highway in the state as the “current treatment meted out to the language has not only hurt the sentiments of the people but was also causing inconvenience.”

He said that all signboards on national highways should have signs in Punjabi, Hindi and English in descending order. “I request you to give requisite directions to correct this anomaly immediately,” Badal wrote to Gadkari.

“The work on changing sequence of languages on signboards on Amritsar-Bathinda stretch of the National Highway will start from Monday and will be completed within a fortnight,” AK Singla, chief engineer, PWD (National Highways) said.

Irked at the practice of preferring Hindi and English over Punjabi, the members of All India Sikh Students Federation and Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) had blackened these signboards as a mark of protest.

[svenkat]

Sonam Mahajans tweet is wrong.The demand was made by Akali Dal but Cong did not oppose.

On 'sons of soil' issue
a)Every one has same view on reservations in TN.
b),, ,, ,, Kaveri in KA
c),, ,, SYL in Punjab.

It is just that the national media will hype sri ram sene/SS/KRV/Khalistaani org depending on how useful it is for Cong.On emotional issues,there is no difference whatsoever on most issues depending on where we are on the emotional divide.

Also on important issues like land in urban areas,recruitment in State Public Service Commissions,state universities most state govts are horribly corrupt.The difference might be only in degree not in kind.Every state govt is uniformly parochial on some issues while being fair on others.

[svenkat]

Ofcourse,one can legitimately ask if greater autonomy will automatically lead to better governance,less corruption,greater transparency.After all central civil services were supposed to ensure higher standards of governance.The idea was a bureacracy in control of Central Govt was supposed to have higher ideals as measured through rigorous written examination(biased towards the Nehruvian world view) and interview.They were supposed to be a bulwark against fissiparous and socially backward tendencies.

But if the polity has a natural tendency towards regionalism,would it not be better to accept and factor it into our governance mechanism while retaining minimum standards to be enforced by the states themselves.The overseeing too will have to be left to the states.For thousands of years,centralised authority has been the exception in Hindu polity.Ofcourse,it is painful to make this course correction realising that our freedom fighters had overestimated the homogenity in our culturebut democratic discourse demands that we dont ignore alarms.Today there is high degree of awareness and empowerment and even there are second/third generation dalits with expertise.Ultimately a national party like BJP cannot rely on Ambedkar type mechanisms(separate identity/central intervention) for empowerment of dalits.The issue of weaker sections among hindus is something that hindus of different regions have to address and the responses too will be different depending on the population of dalits,percentage and state of development.But we can hope that our society as a whole has learnt the lessons of stagnation and fossilisation which brought us to the sorry state before the regeneration began.

[Hari Seldon]

Odisha bigtime in play in 2019 for lotus. here's proof:

BJD willing to join hands with Cong to keep BJP at bay: Odisha minister (HT)

[santosh]

Gujarat elections 2017: BJP set to win in another sweep result, says opinion poll

BJP is expected to win seats 115 to 125 seats in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, according to the the India Today-Axis My India opinion poll.
The survey concluded that the BJP is likely to win between 115 and 125 seats in the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly. This, despite many of the big ticket moves of the Modi government being viewed unfavourably.

The India Today-Axis My India opinion poll prediction puts the BJP in reach of an absolute majority. The Congress, with some pundits predicted would put up a fight this time, was expected to win 57 to 65 seats in the opinion poll, which also gave 0-3 seats to 'others'.

The India Today-Axis My India opinion poll indicated that the BJP is likely to get 48 percent of the votes, with the Congress booking 38 percent.

http://zeenews.india.com/india/gujarat- ... 51812.html

[santosh]

From above:
The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) made 51 percent of the respondents unhappy. Demonetisation too took a hit, with 53 percent saying they did not find it beneficial. 49 percent of the respondents said they were dissatisfied with the Centre, while seven percent said they were angry.

Cong is desparately trying to rope in Hardik Patel. BTW, have chunaav dates been announced for Gujarat? In Himachal it is Nov 9 with counting on Dec 18.

[Shyamal]

Feeling a bit better after the GJ and HP opinion polls

[Gus]

2G verdict date to be announced today.

Would be funny if it is on nov 8

[Hari Seldon]

Another Modi in the making. New and improved version, too, perhaps.

Yogi Adityanath cracks down against corruption, dismisses top bureaucrats in Meerut, Gautam Buddh Nagar (FinExp)

UP CM continued his no tolerance policy and suspending errant officials, but the dismissal of the additional commissioner was a new step taken by him.

Dismissal, not suspension. Huge. Also disgorgement olicy should be brought up - get the corrupt perps to cough up all the illegally obtained monies. Onlee.

The dismissal of a provincial civil services officer from service by any government has come after a gap of four years, as per the report.

PCS officer, Randhir Singh Duhan of the 1991 batch was dismissed by the government after he was summoned for an inquiry for allegedly ordering the auction of 467 bighas of enemy property land when he was posted as ADM (land acquisition) in Shamli district in 2012-2013, reported HT.

Surprisingly, Duhan last month itself had exposed the alleged involvement of officials that included two district magistrates and an additional district magistrate, in a land scam in Meerut-Delhi Expressway project.

On the other hand, Ghanshyam Singh, the additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) in Gautam Buddh Nagar was suspended for procuring a Rs 7-crore compensation for himself. He has been allegedly manipulating records related to land acquisition for the Meerut-Delhi Expressway project.

Impunity. Can't be dealt with 'regular' methods. Needs strong and visible signals all around, firstly.

[hanumadu]

Feeling a bit better after the GJ and HP opinion polls

I have a feeling Gujarat will be much closer than that opinion poll suggests.

[Sachin]

Feeling a bit better after the GJ and HP opinion polls

I have a feeling Gujarat will be much closer than that opinion poll suggests.

+1 to that. GJ is also now a "Do or Die" battle for the seculars. Beating Modi in his own home ground, would be a big morale booster for the "secular" forces. So they would pull out even the last trick they have in stock. GJ polls dates are to be announced today. GJ having a large business community, there would be some blowback due to DeMo and GST roll outs. BJP needs to accept that stark reality.

[Aditya_V]

Yes, it is going to close and I hope all the voters don't get complacent with these surveys. But surprising there is no regional party, the Sikular gang has doen this trick in UP, Kerala , TN and WB. Especially Kerala where both INC and CPI(M) fight together against BJP and are happy rotating power.

[Hari Seldon]

Meanwhile, does seem like the lotus corp HQ under President Amitbhai And CEO Narendrabhai is experimenting with overt, assertive (but essentially non-discriminatory and non-anti-mainority) Hindutva under a flanker brand called Yogi, just to test waters perhaps.

Happy to see such pilots being run at least tested out, in response to changing market conditions. onlee.

Cannot imagine the existence of India without Ram: Yogi Adityanath (TOI)

Yogi Adityanath said that there is no doubt in translating the dream of ‘Ramrajya’ into a reality if the essence of ‘Rama katha’ is followed sincerely.

Referring to the recent Diwali celebration at Ayodhya, Yogi said Ayodhya has given the festival of Diwali to the country and entire world.

"We cannot imagine the existence of India without Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram," he said adding that the name of Ram is deeply mingled with people's life. Highlighting the importance of "Ramayan Mela", he said that such fairs are organised at various places in the state with the support of government.

After celebrating Sri Ram on Diwali in Ayodhya, Yogi Adityanath is now organising special Ramayan Melas. Ram Rajya returns at least in symbolism.

Referring to the recent Diwali celebration at Ayodhya, Yogi said Ayodhya has given the festival of Diwali to the country and entire world. "Holding Diwali celebration in Ayodhya was a challenge for us, as government could be branded as communal (by opposition). But, we celebrated it, and efforts are on to popularize Ramila," he said and added that the Ramlila groups from other conutries, where Ramlila is persormed, would be invited to perform here.

Unapologetic. Straight-shooter. No complicated calculations or acrobatics to fit elitemen wordlview. No pretense or attempt to appease the Fiberal consensus at all. Awesome.

"You will be surprised to know that we had invited Ramlila groups from Indonesia and Sri Lanka to present their performances," he said adding that Indonesia is a Muslim-dominated country, and all characters of Ramlila were Muslims. "I talked to them to know if they feel uncomfortable in playing the role of Ram and other characters. They said that Islam is their religion, but Ram is their ancestor, and they cannot disassociate themselves from their ancestors. They said that faith can be changed, but not the ancestors. Ramlila is their national festival, their currency notes have image of Ganesha, and their national airline is in the name of Garuda," said Yogi.

Woo-hoo. Someone in the BJP needed to say it. Someone more calm, collected and stable than a mercurial Subbu swamy, I mean.

He also exhorted people for their active support in making Ganga clean and maintaining uninterrupted flow before the commencement of Kumbh in Prayag in 2019. When Yogi along with BJP state president Mahendra Nath Pandey reached the venue, Morari Bapu was narrating the story of Lord Rama's birth in Ayodhya. Yogi greeted Bapu and presented a saffron shawl to him.

Prayag, eh? So the yogi calls it by its true name but hasn't yet used his supermajority in the assembly to officially change the name. WHy? Timing is everything I know and there are probably other, more urgent, fish to fry, perhaps.

P.S. Meanwhile the yogi works tirelessly, fearlessly, favorlessly 24x7 to lift UP's lot materially and socially as well - not just culturally and spiritually.

I'm loving it. Jai ho!

[Hari Seldon]

Meanwhile, relentless judicial assault on Yindoo festivals continues unabated.

No stage, loudspeaker at Chhath Puja ground: Delhi High Court (IE)

Any pretext will do. Here,it was two organizing societies approaching court over the sole right to conduct the Puja at that ground.

[kvjayan]

"Delhi firecracker ban had no impact, say studies"

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Del ... epage=true