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

[chetak]

BJP will make major assault on Constitution if it controls both Houses, says Shashi Tharoor

BJP will make major assault on Constitution if it controls both Houses, says Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor said if the BJP controlled both the Houses of the Parliament, constitutional provisions like Article 370 on Kashmir and secularism would be under threat.




New Delhi |February 8, 2018

Shashi Tharoor said the Congress should form an alliance with like-minded secular parties, even with the Left, to halt the Modi juggernaut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday pre-empted that if the BJP government got two-thirds majority in both the Houses of the Parliament, it would look to make a “major assault” on the Constitution to create a “Hindu rashtra”. The Kerala MP also said the Congress should form an alliance with like-minded secular parties, even with the Left, to halt the Modi juggernaut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In an interview with IANS, Tharoor said if the BJP controlled both the Houses, constitutional provisions like Article 370 on Kashmir and secularism would be under threat. “Once they get two-thirds in both Houses, I do believe the Constitution, including Article 370 on Kashmir… on the Hindu rashtra concept, on use of words socialism, secularism, all of these would be up for grabs. There is little doubt about it,” the Congress leader said.

Tharoor also hinted that a Constitution review committee under RSS leader K N Govindacharya was working for ruling party on the idea of a Hindu rashtra. “I think a lot of their real agenda is waiting for the time when they have both Houses under their control. And once they do, you can certainly look to a major assault on the Constitution. Then the question is, will the Supreme Court stand by the basic structure doctrine and interpret it to include these principles of equality, freedom of religion, freedom of worship, non-discrimination, etc., which would make it impossible to reduce the Constitution to the document of a religiously-derived majoritarianism,” Tharoor told IANS.

The Congress leader said the key argument before next year’s general elections would be if the BJP had fulfilled its promises made five years ago. “Are you better off than you were four years ago or five years ago? You think about the price of your gas cylinder. You think about whether you’ve got a job. You think about whether you’ve been able to afford to pay for petrol or diesel at the pump even though world prices dropped for four years,” Tharoor said.

Asked about who should be the Congress’ allies in the next Lok Sabha elections, Tharoor said it was too early. “There would be states where there would be straight fight between us and the BJP, and alliances would be of less consequence. But we may still have an alliance for the sake of opposition unity. But there would be other states where regional parties would be more powerful electorally than we are, and where we may have to reconcile ourselves either by allying with them or, if necessary, tying up a post-electionsalliance,” he said.

Asked if the Congress would ally with the Left post-elections, he said: “They will, certainly. As far as the CPI-M is concerned, they have already announced they will not ally with the Congress and now we have the final decision to be made by their Congress. If that is confirmed by the party congress, then we will only see post-election (alliance).”

[chetak]

[chetak]

The strategic dimensions are emerging now.

Why China is hell bent on doing what it is doing in the maldives.



How 'India First' turned into 'China First' for Maldives

How 'India First' turned into 'China First' for Maldives

Indrani Bagchi Feb 10, 2018,

HIGHLIGHTS
President Yameen did not bring China into the Maldives. It was former president Mohamed Nasheed who allowed the Chinese to open their embassy in Male

From India’s point of view, the biggest “red line” was breached after Yameen signed a free-trade agreement with China in December 2017


NEW DELHI: It was only a few weeks ago that Maldives foreign minister Mohamed Asim arrived in India as a special envoy for President Abdulla Yameen, swearing by his ostensible "India First" policy. Little known was the fact that India-Maldives relations would soon plunge to an all-time low with the Yameen government refusing to address any of India's concerns.

By then, nobody in the Indian system set much store by these words, because it had become clear for some time that for President Yameen, "India First" has been replaced by "China First". How did that happen?

Miffed by power grab, India snubs Maldives special envoy

It must be remembered that President Yameen did not bring China into the Maldives. That credit goes to former president Mohamed Nasheed, who, in 2011, allowed the Chinese to open their embassy in Male, and opened the doors to Chinese economic presence in the Maldives, despite Indian reservations.

However, Yameen took the China relationship to new levels, even as his profound distrust of India deepened. From India's point of view, the biggest "red line" was breached after Yameen signed a free-trade agreement+ (FTA) with China in December 2017, rushing it through the Majlis late at night, when members were given less than 15 minutes to read and approve the deal.

India had signed a preferential trade pact with Maldives way back in 1981, according to which, India supplies all essential commodities, aggregates and river-sand to Maldives, while the Maldives could sell anything it manufactured to India, without restrictions. Since the Maldives had tuna to export, that worked out just fine.

But New Delhi feels that the FTA with China is aimed at India, particularly after Yameen announced he would seek a similar pact with the Modi government. The FTA opened the floodgates to cheap Chinese goods into the Maldives. The 1981 pact allowed Maldives unfettered access to India but had no space for third country re-exports. Indian trade officials realised that the FTA was China's way of accessing the Indian market through its neighbours. (In Sri Lanka too, the new SEZ in Hambantota is actually aimed at the Indian market.)

Not only did India squash any thought of a new FTA, the Maldives envoy was called in to reaffirm India's concerns. This happened after a series of missteps in 2017, especially Maldives sudden announcement that it would allow Chinese warships to visit the archipelago. India sent an urgent message to Male saying this would seriously impact Indian security. Yameen replied the warships were on a goodwill visit and he would not refuse them.

India, which had studiously snubbed Yameen's political opponents, in retaliation, allowed Nasheed to make his first visit to the country in August, coinciding with the visit of the Chinese warships. This may have been Yameen's trigger to go hell for leather to China. India's actions came after the first visits by MoS MJ Akbar and former foreign secretary S Jaishankar.

India also began facing other stumbling blocks in Maldives that were connected to China. For instance, Male began a 'go-slow' on the Indian radar installation project. Second, Yameen's government began to push Indian entities and presence away from its southern atolls — this is where China has the bulk of its investments — the friendship bridge between Male and Hulhule, real estate projects in Hulhumale and a potential Chinese military base in Laamu Atoll. This is because China wants unfettered access to the 1.5-degree channel, which is very important for its Indian Ocean coverage.

India had already given a project plan for iHavan, on the condition that China should not be part of it. India has offered to open it to other 'friendly' countries like Japan. But, here too, Yameen played a strange game. On the one hand, he asked India to give him the money, on the other, he was found to be courting China. Again, the iHavan project is on an atoll very close to India and controls the 8-degree channel which China has its eye on.


In 2016, India welcomed Yameen with a defence cooperation pact and a host of other agreements, hoping to wean him away from China. An India-Maldives Action Plan for defence would build an institutional mechanism of defence secretaries and include port development, training and capacity building, equipment and maritime surveillance. Yet, a year later, the Maldives-China FTA opened the door to much of this from China.

On Thursday, the Maldives special envoy to China, Mohamed Saeed, even asked China to provide "security" to protect Chinese investments in the Maldives. China refused, which is just as well, because that, more than anything else would have triggered Indian action. But it signals growing desperation by Yameen.

[Vikas]

Sad and pathetic that we have to beg for our temples to be returned to us and Islamists happily run circles around us.
For me, Just taking back 3 temples from Islamists and forgetting thousand others is dhimmitude by another name (as much as one wants to call it realistic).
What happened to 'Never Forgive, never forget' mantra.
Govts will never do anything which is overtly Hindu in nature (include NM sarkaar), so I guess reduex of 1992 is the only way forward.

[Vikas]

BJP will make major assault on Constitution if it controls both Houses, says Shashi Tharoor

BJP will make major assault on Constitution if it controls both Houses, says Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor said if the BJP controlled both the Houses of the Parliament, constitutional provisions like Article 370 on Kashmir and secularism would be under threat.




New Delhi |February 8, 2018

Shashi Tharoor said the Congress should form an alliance with like-minded secular parties, even with the Left, to halt the Modi juggernaut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday pre-empted that if the BJP government got two-thirds majority in both the Houses of the Parliament, it would look to make a “major assault” on the Constitution to create a “Hindu rashtra”. The Kerala MP also said the Congress should form an alliance with like-minded secular parties, even with the Left, to halt the Modi juggernaut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In an interview with IANS, Tharoor said if the BJP controlled both the Houses, constitutional provisions like Article 370 on Kashmir and secularism would be under threat. “Once they get two-thirds in both Houses, I do believe the Constitution, including Article 370 on Kashmir… on the Hindu rashtra concept, on use of words socialism, secularism, all of these would be up for grabs. There is little doubt about it,” the Congress leader said..”

ST is full of useless gas only. Looks like he has lot of time in hand now that Mehar is back in Pakistan.
What is so sacrosanct about the Constitution. If a Party has power, majority and a promise to keep with the electorate, they should definitely change the Constitution. Hasn't Congress changed Constitution over 100 times. In the end, a Constitution has moral authority only when it is useful to the denizens of the nation, else replace it with something better.
By using Ambedkar's name, we are being blackmailed into not touching the Constitution with even a barge pole.

[Chandragupta]

With 100 crore Hindus, we are still pleading for a single temple. I have no hopes for Krishna Janambhoomi and Kashi Vishwanath temples. This is because Hindus themselves are not committed to their cause. Even for RJB I see Hindus saying we should build a hospital or an army cantonment or a school. If we get Ayodhya, which there is a good chance, even majority of Hindus will say enough, if you talk of KJB & KV. Don't have high hopes from Hindus.

[MehtaRahulC]

Sad and pathetic that we have to beg for our temples to be returned to us and Islamists happily run circles around us.
For me, Just taking back 3 temples from Islamists and forgetting thousand others is dhimmitude by another name (as much as one wants to call it realistic).
What happened to 'Never Forgive, never forget' mantra.
Govts will never do anything which is overtly Hindu in nature (include NM sarkaar), so I guess reduex of 1992 is the only way forward.

With 100 crore Hindus, we are still pleading for a single temple. I have no hopes for Krishna Janambhoomi and Kashi Vishwanath temples. This is because Hindus themselves are not committed to their cause. Even for RJB I see Hindus saying we should build a hospital or an army cantonment or a school. If we get Ayodhya, which there is a good chance, even majority of Hindus will say enough, if you talk of KJB & KV. Don't have high hopes from Hindus.

Thats because, on Tridevalaya issue, Hindus stupidly followed RSS-workers whose ONLY goal was to use Tridevalaya issue to gain votes, get Ministries and collect bribes. They never had any intention to build even 1/2 forget 3 temples.
.
Solution I propose is that those who Tridevalaya should work to bring REFERENDUM like laws in India, and then use referendum to build The Three Devalaya. Left to Modiji and RSS-workers, the movement of KJBD / KVD is dead. And RJBD might barely scrap thru that too after paying 100s of crores in cash, land and other perks.

[Supratik]

IIM study finds 15 million jobs created every year.

http://www.financialexpress.com/economy ... y/1018590/

[Gus]

Do we have a thread to track judicial stuff here?

2g case, anand grover has been removed. Need to follow this and see if additional chargesheets are filed and evidences allowed.

karthi chidu case judgment is coming up in 2016. if this is gone, then I officially lose hope and exile myself from politics. there is no excuse here as govt was in full control in this case, unlike 2g.

[Gus]

chetak - here's an exercise for us

put up a rahul gandhi cabinet meme. one for each post. it should have a picture with a verifiable statement embedded in picture. towards the end of that list we can have fictional cabinets like 'North east give away minister' mamata, 'Food plate and caste reconciliation advisor' shekar coupta etc.

[Indrad]

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... n=ETTWMain
ED grills Lalu's second son-in-law in railway hotels PMLA case

In Bihar there is an undercurrent of sympathy for Lalu 'Modi se dushmani mehanga pada nahi to log 2g kar ke bhi bach gaya' among OBCs.

[SSundar]

IIM study finds 15 million jobs created every year.

http://www.financialexpress.com/economy ... y/1018590/

This IIM study is losing a bit of credibility just because it is being quoted with different numbers by different media (5.5 million, 7 million and now 15 million) over the last several weeks.

[Trilobite]

^^
Log 2G kar key isliye bach gaye kyon ki ghoosh lene walo se badhkar ghoosh dene walo ko bachana tha! Nahi to Raja or Kanimozhi to kaun puchta hai!

[chetak]

[Indrad]

Gurdwaras feel the GST pinch in serving free langars


https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... n=ETTWMain

[Aditya_V]

What is NDTV saying, PM should Ban right to free speech of Swamy & CO? If its falsehoods why bother?

[Indrad]

Prannoy Roy Writes To PM On Subramanian Swamy's Malicious Campaign Against NDTV: clearly he is very rattled. Also why is he writing open letters when matter is subjudice? https://www.ndtv.com/communication/pran ... tv-1811826

Mr Swamy, through various unethical and dubious methods has ensured that the finest US corporations - GE and NBC (America's most-respected media organisation) - are being accused of "money laundering" and indulging in "sham transactions" with NDTV. These outrageous accusations are being made by India's Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department.

The charges that India's authorities are making are so serious that under US law, these offences would invite harsh prison sentences for Mr Jeff Immelt (CEO of GE at the time of the accusations). Also, the CEO of NBC, Mr Jeff Zucker would go to jail in the US based on these ED and IT charges. Mr Zucker is now the President of CNN and one of the most respected media executives in America. India is accusing him of money-laundering on the basis of zero evidence and Mr Swamy's interested circle's innuendo and a malicious campaign.
[why were such influential media houses of US interested in investing in NDTV only?]

I have met both Mr Immelt and Mr Zucker on several occasions when their organisations invested in NDTV. Mr Prime Minister, you too have met Mr Immelt a number of times after you became PM. You will agree with me that these are industry leaders full of integrity and vision. For the ED and the IT department (where the officers are under relentless pressure from Mr. Swamy and his cohorts), to accuse these two leaders of being involved in money-laundering with NDTV is a shame on our nation.

The news of these serious and outrageous charges of money-laundering against GE and NBC has already begun to be noted by the world business community. Industry leaders around the world and especially in the US are shocked and dismayed at these false accusations against two respected organisations and these two business leaders.
[Lol.. respect of NDTV=respect of India]

At a time when you are seeking more Foreign Direct Investment for India, this sort of wild and baseless charge is damaging India's reputation. A leading US businessman recently said to us, "Why should we come to invest in India - false cases may be filed against us!"
[fearmongering]

Respected Prime Minister, please note that these false accusations against GE and NBC's investment in NDTV have been carrying on for several years without an iota of evidence. The accusations were started 7-8 years ago by Mr Swamy and Mr Gurumurthy. They know very well that the allegations are false and yet they are ready to sacrifice India's reputation and foreign investment for their own sordid motives to suppress NDTV and India's media. Should petty personal motives be allowed to come ahead of the interests of our nation?

GE and NBC have provided a huge amount of evidence to show this investment in NDTV is totally legitimate: 1) unambiguous evidence is available in the GE reports to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); 2) unambiguous evidence of the investment has been publicly declared in their annual reports 3) a press conference discussing details of the investment in NDTV was telecast on global TV networks (for a one-minute extract please click on this link https://youtu.be/Twb67gkVK2s))) - and there is much more evidence easily available, too detailed to list here.

This matter is in India's higher courts and legal experts are of the view that any day now, we can expect the courts to summon Mr Immelt and Mr Zucker as part of procedure. That's when India's reputation among global investors will be hit even harder.
[so go & fight the matter in court, why open letter?]

[SSundar]

Ok Mr. Roy, as India's Prime Minister, I shall execute my duty by telling Mr. Swamy to not say anything damaging to the dignity of those US media organizations - any semblance of dignity that remains after those organizations have been taken to the cleaners by their own President, that is.

[kvjayan]

The "foreign investment backlash" scare-crow was already tried by Swami(nomics) Iyer earlier in connection with the issue of service term extension for Raghuram Rajan (RBI). Pathetically he had to admit later that the exit of RR did not have any impact on videshi investments. Some of these angezi media wallahs do think too much of themselves.

[santosh]

Dr Gaurav Pradhan's twitter account is gone. Something is cooking.

https://twitter.com/DrGPradhan/

Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!
You can search Twitter using the search box below or return to the homepage.

[chetak]

Dr Gaurav Pradhan's twitter account is gone. Something is cooking.

https://twitter.com/DrGPradhan/

Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!
You can search Twitter using the search box below or return to the homepage.

wait for some time, sometimes, the account owners themselves disable it for some reason

[chetak]

Dr Gaurav Pradhan's twitter account is gone. Something is cooking.

https://twitter.com/DrGPradhan/

Sorry, that page doesn’t exist!
You can search Twitter using the search box below or return to the homepage.

wait for some time, sometimes, the account owners themselves disable it for some reason

[chetak]

What an insidious agreement and that too one seen as the pinnacle of achievement for a very very mediocre Indian politician, and a two faced international double dealing rogue, an agreement entered into by two jokers who were not even born in the countries that they profess allegiance to.

No wonder the paki musharaff was desperately running, first behind ABV and then courting his less than mediocre successor, trying to get his OK for a one sided deal that would have sunk India and caused widespread rioting here resulting in the fall of the incumbent govt.



Those Asking For ‘Dialogue With Pakistan’ Better Read This First

Those Asking For ‘Dialogue With Pakistan’ Better Read This First

by Raghav Awasthi, Feb 13, 2018,

Snapshot
Let us talk to the silent majority of the Kashmir Valley who would still be receptive to the idea of India, and until then, talks of ‘dialogue with Pakistan’ ought to be dismissed summarily.

The history of the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry can be traced back to the Pakistani invasion of Kashmir in the winter of 1947. In the face of a determined onslaught by the ostensibly ‘tribal’ invaders, the people of the Kashmir Valley organised themselves into militias in order to mount what was ultimately to be an eminently successful resistance. The birth of these militias was midwifed by cadres of the National Conference, including but not limited to the redoubtable Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, who later went on to serve as the prime minister of Kashmir after Sheikh Abdullah was deposed following the Kashmir conspiracy case of 1953.

The said militias were initially deployed as a paramilitary force on the Line of Control or LoC (then known as the Ceasefire Line) before they were promoted to the status of a full regiment of the Indian Army in 1976. Like most other regiments of the Indian Army, it draws its rank and file from fixed ethnicities. Almost 50 per cent of its personnel are recruited from amongst the Muslim populace of the Kashmir Valley, while the rest are drawn from the other ethnic groups of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Sujuwan Army camp, which came under attack by the Pakistan-based terror outfit-the Jaish-e-Mohammed, on 10 February 2018, was being occupied by personnel of the regiment and their families at the relevant time. The details of the attack and whether it could be prevented with better preparation and intelligence gathering, need not concern us at the moment and an analysis of the same is best left to defence experts. Having said that, the attack is merely a link in the larger chain of events whereby ethnic Kashmiri Muslims who have chosen to serve their country thereby refusing to act as foot-soldiers for Pakistan’s jihad project, have been targeted. The lynchings of Lt Umer Fayyaz (March 2017) and Ayub Pandith (July 2017) are cases in point and are still relatively fresh in public memory.

The worrying part here though is not that these attacks are taking place. The same are to be expected for the simple reason that since Narendra Modi’s ascent to power in 2014 and Ram Madhav’s appointment as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary in charge of Kashmir and North East affairs, a concerted policy of elimination of high profile militant targets like Burhan Wani has been adopted and effectuated with more than a fair measure of success. As a matter of fact, what should concern us is that no less a personage than the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir is making noises about how talks with Pakistan are the only solution to the problem. A visitor from Mars who has but a passing acquaintance with the Indian Constitution and the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir as well as the Instrument of Accession would be tempted to ask as to what the ‘talks’ are going to achieve and whether after 70 years of talks, India and Pakistan have ever come close to agreeing upon a working solution to the problem, even in theory, leaving aside the question of implementation.

The answer to this question is likely to differ depending upon who it is put to. The average ‘nationalist’ who is likely to be labelled as ‘communal’ would tell you that there is absolutely no point in talking peace with Pakistan given their perfidious record. The garden variety bleeding heart would tell you that the Kashmiris should be given aazaadi. As a matter of fact, a prominent columnist and editor went so far as to advocate secession for Kashmir in 2008 inter alia because India need not concern itself with a region which was not even half as populous as the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

Ostensibly, enlightened travellers on the strategic and Track II circuit from both India and Pakistan would tell you that the solution lies in the ‘Four Point Formula’ that was agreed upon between then Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh and the Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf before the latter was deposed in December 2007. Both, the former Indian premier and the Pakistani military dictator later went on record to state that the formula had been agreed upon in principle at the highest level and it was only the modalities that were left to be worked out before the Lawyers’ Agitation in the winter of 2007 unseated Musharraf. Sanjaya Baru-the former editor of the Financial Express who served as the media advisor to Dr Manmohan Singh during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) I years, has also attested to the veracity of the assertion in his book The Accidental Prime Minister. He has also gone on record to say that if ever the Kashmir dispute is to be resolved, the template has to be the aforementioned formula. Similar claims have been made by Khurshid Ahmed Kasuri in 2015 in the run up to the launch of his memoirs titled Neither a Hawk or a Dove.

However, in the opinion of the author, the fact of the matter is that if the Four Point Formula, which is something that is bandied about as a concrete outcome of talks in the past, was actually ever acted upon, it would have been a recipe for disaster with respect to India. As for Pakistan, it would merely have been a first in a series of salami tactics that they would have then surely employed in order to sever Kashmir from India. As far as the brave sons and daughters of Jammu and Kashmir who are serving in the Indian security forces and have been targeted in a series of dastardly terrorist attacks of late are concerned, the same would have amounted to nothing less than a shameless sellout. The devil-so to speak-lies in the details!

The Four Point Formula is as follows:

1. Demilitarisation or phased withdrawal of troops
2. There will be no change to the borders. However, people of Jammu & Kashmir will be allowed to move freely across the Line of Control.
3. Self-governance without independence
4. A joint supervision mechanism in Jammu and Kashmir involving India, Pakistan and Kashmir
In the subsequent paragraphs, we shall try and show as to how each and every one of these clauses is a recipe for unqualified disaster and from an Indian point of view, these points could have only been agreed upon by a dispensation that did not have the best interests of the country at heart.

1. Demilitarisation or phased withdrawal of troops: Although this sounds fine in principle, it does not take into account the possibility that in a situation where India scales down its military presence in the Valley, the local administration might be rendered sitting ducks in a situation where militants with the tacit and surreptitious backing of the Pakistani establishment foment trouble. The law enforcement machinery in such a case would be unable to take the action required to bring an expedient situation under control without the assistance of the military and the para military apparatus. Also, it would effectively imply that illegal arms and ammunition would be allowed to flow into Kashmir unabated.

2. Open borders: The second ‘point’ in this Four Point Formula is also as unsustainable and disastrous as the first ‘point’. If there is free movement of people and goods across the LoC then again it would be problematic for India. It is tough for us even now to prevent young Kashmiris from going across the border where they are brainwashed by radical Islamist propaganda. The formula itself does not enjoin any legally binding obligations upon Pakistan to ensure that the aforementioned propaganda is not disseminated in madrassas across the LoC. In this view of the matter, it is difficult to appreciate how this point would be in our interest.

3. Self-governance without independence: Like the other two points, this sounds quite enticing at first blush. However, it would decidedly fall afoul of the principles enshrined under the Basic Structure doctrine of the Indian Constitution. Also, unlike the other two points, the contours of this provision are quite nebulous. It could mean either a reversion to the 1951 position whereby apart from foreign affairs, defence and telecommunications, the writ of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly reigned supreme over even other matters specified under the Union and Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule. Equally, it could also mean a new normal which has been described by Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party as ‘self rule’. Having said all of this, the question that we need to somewhere ask is if it is prudent on our part to allow Islamists, like Akbar Lone (An MLA and a member of the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference) who recently stated on the floor of the assembly that he found the slogan of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ unpalatable, as he was a ‘Muslim’ first, to take charge of the affairs of Jammu and Kashmir, which in turn have ramifications that transcend the borders of the state itself. Does this not sound suspiciously like allowing the lunatics to take charge of the asylum? We also need to keep in mind that even mainstream politicians of the Kashmir Valley have in the past shown a propensity towards Islamism and thinly veiled majoritarian bigotry. Former governor Jagmohan has quite eloquently described a few of these instances where anti-Hindu bigotry was allowed a free run on the floor of the House in his account of his tenure as the governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

4. The Joint Supervision Mechanism again is constitutionally unsustainable for no other reason but the vastly divergent provisions in the respective constitutions of India and Pakistan. The Constitution of India envisages no such joint governance mechanism with any neighbouring country. It very clearly states that sovereign powers are vested in the people of India who have agreed to abide by the said Constitution. Various entries qua which the state and central government can respectively makes laws have been enumerated in the State List, Union List and the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule. There is absolutely no provision for the sharing of these sovereign powers to make laws and to implement the same with Pakistan. If this point were to be implemented, it would require an amendment to the Constitution. Now, the Parliament’s power to amend the Constitution is not at all unbridled and is subject to the judicial discipline of being tested on the touchstone of the doctrine of Basic Structure. It is extremely unlikely, if not impossible for this last point to be implemented as well.

To conclude, it may be fairly stated that ‘talks’ to solve the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan have miserably failed in the past. The crowning achievement of these 70 years of needless discussion with a rogue Islamist neighbour is a constitutionally untenable Four Point Formula that is not only thoroughly inimical to India’s interests but also something that has been rejected by the separatist lobby in the Valley.

To somehow assume that just because talks are taking place, there would be a cessation of violence sounds quite suspiciously like the doctrine of appeasement adopted by the much reviled Right Honourable Neville Chamberlain who was the prime minister of Great Britain around the time Hitler embarked upon his ascent to power. Furthermore, by initiating talks with the Pakistani Establishment, when they are trying to shore up their flagging popularity by hitting us through these terrorist attacks, we would be betraying the memories of the brave Kashmiri men and women, including but not limited to the martyrs of the Sujuwan attack, who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of the founding principles of our country enshrined in our Constitution.

The only manner in which they can be honoured is if we assiduously cultivate and expand the pro-India constituency by directly talking to our people in the Valley. Even if we must have local interlocutors, they need not necessarily be drawn from the ranks of the mainstream parties. There are many common people, verily the silent majority of the Kashmir Valley, especially in the smaller towns and villages who would still be receptive to the idea of India given that many of their compatriots continue to risk their lives for the same. Let us speak to them and until then, talks of ‘dialogue with Pakistan’ ought to be dismissed summarily.

[Sachin]

Justice Khanwilkar recuses from hearing Bofors case in SC......
Will this lead to delays in hearing the case??
HC issues notice to Cardinal Mar George Alencherry......
Looks like De.Mo had a totally unexpected victim, a Cardinal no less. The case here is that the church (under command of the Cardinal) indulged in big land deals with dubious people, and lost crores of money. The name of a few 'businessmen' in Kerala were making rounds, as the people who were the other party (buyers) in the land deal. All agreements signed, but when it came to payment time not enough "white" money available.

[KL Dubey]

What is NDTV saying, PM should Ban right to free speech of Swamy & CO? If its falsehoods why bother?

The whole letter seems to have the tenor of "would you really dare going after American business guys in order to get me?" Annoy Roy is getting desperate. If I am not mistaken, this whining seems to be a different issue from the "bank fraud" case that the CBI has already filed against Roy and his wife ?