UPA government as Quattrochi’s defence counsel
By Amba Charan Vashishth
It was never in doubt that Congress and Bofors were real cousins, inseparable. Ottavio Quattrocchi, the main accused in the Bofors pay-off scandal had never concealed his relations with the Gandhis. An India Today report (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/125661/india/%E2%80%98quattrocchi-had-free-access-to-gandhis%E2%80%99.html?complete=1) states that Ottavio Quattrocchi's personal driver Sasi Dharan in his deposition talks about multiple meetings between Quattrocchi and the Gandhis. These meetings continued right up to May 1993, till just before Ottavio Quattrocchi fled India for good. In his testimony before the CBI, Sasi gave details of the frequent meetings between the Gandhis and the Quattrocchis.
It is important to note that the meetings between Ottavio Quattrochi and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi continued even after Rajiv Gandhi’s death in 1991. Quattrocchi came to 10 Janpath 21 times after May 1991, he adds.
But when Quattrochi was allowed to slip out of the country during a Congress government in power at the Centre, the Congress and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi claimed that they had no role to play.
During the UPA-I under the leadership of Dr. Manmohan Singh not a leaf could rattle without the implied nod of the Congress supremo Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. During this period the then Law Minister H. R. Bharadwaj made the Additional Solicitor General of India especially fly to London to get the Quattrochi bank accounts defreezed at the cost of the people. This was done in spite of the fact that a red corner notice against Quattrochi issued at the behest of the Government of India was still there at that time.
When the eyebrows were raised, the Congress once again said that it had nothing to do with the case. Yet, everybody then knew that the Law Minister Bharadwaj (later rewarded with the office of a governor) was no naïve as not to distinguish between what would send a smile on the face of the madam.
But the gin of Bofors deal, now long considered dead, appeared once again to haunt the Congress and the Congress-led Manmohan government when the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) named Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi as one of the beneficiaries of the kickbacks. An ITAT order dated December 31, 2010, said “payments were made illegally as the government of India’s policy did not allow middleman in defence deals”. Quattrocchi and Win Chadha are accused of receiving `41 crore in illegal kickbacks in the Bofors gun purchase scandal of the mid-1980s. “Bofors admittedly paid the amounts to AE Services, Ottavio Quattrocchi and other entities. It’s a liability for withholding tax is built in. Ottavio Quattrocchi was living in India for a considerable time. This issue about his tax residence status should have been verified,” the order said.
So far maintaining that it had nothing to do with the Quattrochi case, this time Congress, after initially refusing to comment for about a week, had to come out seeking to pick holes in the ITAT order, wondering as to how the name of Ottavio Quattrochi figures in it. But why should the party wonder and worry when it had nothing to do with Quattrochi?
"We all know that in IT proceedings, you cannot deal with third parties. This was a case about assessment of income of Win Chaddha. In the 98-page order, Quattrochi's name comes on the 94th page. Technical question arises as to how his name came," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters. He alleged that whenever an individual's name comes up in the Bofors case, it is sought to be "mischievously and misleadingly and deliberately" linked to the Congress party and Rajiv Gandhi. "That is the most unfortunate part".
Congress embarrassment is understandable because of the close family links between the Quattrochis and Gandhis which have never been a secret. Congress Party should know that names of both Win Chaddha and Quattrochi had appeared as the two beneficiaries of the Bofors loot. Therefore, both the names are like Siamese twins, inseparable.
But, what is more surprising is the report in the media (Times of India, February 15) that the government “is readying to appeal the Delhi high court to erase an unexpected tribunal order stricturing the Income Tax department for failing to proceed against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for non-payment of tax on the kickback money he received from the Bofors gun deal”.
The department got a favourable order from the ITAT on December 31 last year against former Bofors agent Win Chaddha's son, Hersh Chaddha, asking him to pay up tax dues on the commission from the gun deal with interest, totalling nearly Rs 50 crore. But it turned bitter for the Manmohan government the moment Quattrochi’s name surfaced.
It will turn out to be the rarest of the rare cases when the Government will go in for an appeal against the order in its own favour because the Income Tax Department and the Manmohan government are not two different entities. It is only the aggrieved party which goes in appeal against the judgement of the court. While Quattrochi can be the aggrieved party, how can the UPA government or the Congress?
After acting as the Quattrochi counsels to get his two freezed London bank accounts defreezed, the Congress-led Manmohan government will once again be acting as Quattrochi counsel at the expense of the aam aadmi to get his name deleted from the ITAT order which, in effect will mean pleading to seek loss of revenue to the government and which appeal, in the normal course, should have been filed by Quattrochi himself.
That will only confirm the suspicions in the minds of the people of India, nothing else.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Prime Minister's Media Interaction
Manmohan’s Interaction with media<
‘Culprit’ but not that much
Caught in adharma of ‘coalition dharma’
By Amba Charan Vashishth
Prime Minister Dr. Manohan Singh went in for an interaction with editors of electronic media. In sum, he made the following important points.
Dr. Manmohan Singh admitted that he is “a culprit but not that much” as is being painted by the media.
He thinks that his duty ends with attending only to those matters that are brought to his notice by the ministers or his office. He has nothing to do with what goes on below his nose in various ministries of the government over whom he presides.
He doesn’t feel responsible for what right or wrong goes on in the PMO or the department of space research (ISRO) directly under him. He admits that he received a letter in July 2010 regarding S-spectrum and if he failed to take action, to guide the department how to act and to prevent a wrong that was committed and for which the nation, according to one estimate, is to be made to cough up a loss of about ` 2 lakh crores is not his business.
On 2G spectrum scam he forgot that he had given a clean chit to his former telecom minister A. Raja and even publicly patted his back after Raja resigned. He admits that he told Mr. Raja to do everything in a transparent manner according to his government’s policy and according to rules. He further said: “f the ministry of finance and ministry of telecom both agree…I did not feel I was in a position to insist that auctions must be insisted” an admission of helplessness. Yet he is the prime minister.
As per Press reports (The Times of India, February 17) Finance Minister P. Chidambaram wrote to Prime Minister that “…if a licensee sells his licence (including spectrum) to another person, it could be stipulated that the licensee should share with govt a part of the premium/profit gained…through the sale”.. If not PM, who was to do it? Why did PM not act and issue any direction to Mr. Raja?
Dr. Manmohan Singh did confess that a number of scams did take place under his regime but tried to explain these away as “aberration”. So many scams, yet these are all ‘aberrations’.
He refused to accept responsibility for what went on in his council of ministers. The council of ministers is individually and collectively responsible for all the acts of omission and commission. He tried to feign ignorance about the provisions of Article 75(3) of the Constitution which says: “The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People”.
Some time back Dr. Manmohan Singh did take pride in comparing his government to that of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. But he forgot that in Nehru’s cabinet ministers resigned the moment a finger of suspicion was raised at them. But Dr. Manmohan Singh himself is bold to declare that nobody can be held guilty till convicted by a court of law. Whether it was the then finance minister T. T. Krishnamachari and others, they resigned the moment their names appeared in a bad colour. Late Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned in 1956 when 144 people were killed in a train accident. Late Shastri was not driving the railway train himself, nor was he a station master or the signal man. Yet he resigned taking moral responsibility for the mishap. But here is the Manmohan government where none, including the prime minister, has the courage to take moral responsibility for the numerous scams that have taken place under this government. Yet Dr. Manmohan Singh compares his cabinet with that of Pandit Nehru.
Dr. Manmohan Singh said that opinions can be different but “facts are sacred”. But he, or his government, did not treat the facts pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on 2G spectrum scam. His ministers and party imputed motives to the conduct of CAG, an institution of the Constitution.
More surprising was his comparing the loss calculated in the issue of 2G spectrum with the food subsidy. Was his government extending a subsidy to those whom it gave spectrum licences at the cost of the nation? The food subsidy helped the poor to have if not two, one meal, a day. What did the 2G spectrum favours do to the aam aadmi, except filling the pockets of the rich? And that is the allegation against Raja and his government. Only thing he has so far not admitted is that a part of the ‘subsidy’ granted by Raja has percolated to the accounts of some leaders.
He was very aggressive when he put the blame on the opposition for not allowing the two houses of parliament to function during the last winter session on the issue of JPC. He tried to wipe out the impression that he stood in the way of JPC formation as he feared appearing before it. He declared he is ready to appear before both the PAC and the JPC. But now that the Congress seems to have almost conceded the opposition demand for JPC, does it not mean that had the Congress party not been that adamant and unrelenting, the whole winter session would have been saved and parliament functioned normally?
It is difficult to say how proud he felt as a prime minister when he said he did not differ with his Home Minister Chidamabaram who had said that Manmohan government suffered from a “governance and ethical deficit”.
Dr. Manmohan Singh declared that no wrongdoer shall be spared. But when did he not say that? But during the last about seven years of his prime ministership, how many people who did “wrong” have been punished?
He said that “some compromises have to be made in managing a coalition” which conduct he labeled as coalition dharma. But what is important – the interests of the nation or “compromises” to stick to power? Does his “coalition dharma” preach to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s legendary monkeys who speak no evil, hear no evil and see no evil? Does this “dharma” require promoting corruption and promoting the corrupt?
To a pointed question, Dr. Manmohan Singh said he had no plans to quit. He admitted that things were “not entirely what I would like them to be”, yet he had had a job to do and would “stay the course”.
But in May 2010 he is on record having praised Rahul Gandhi saying he had all the qualities to be a prime minister and he expressed his readiness to vacate his chair for Rahul. Dr. Manmohan is not ready to quit accepting moral responsibility for being cornered from all sides from corruption indulged in by his colleagues, but meekly surrender. ***
‘Culprit’ but not that much
Caught in adharma of ‘coalition dharma’
By Amba Charan Vashishth
Prime Minister Dr. Manohan Singh went in for an interaction with editors of electronic media. In sum, he made the following important points.
Dr. Manmohan Singh admitted that he is “a culprit but not that much” as is being painted by the media.
He thinks that his duty ends with attending only to those matters that are brought to his notice by the ministers or his office. He has nothing to do with what goes on below his nose in various ministries of the government over whom he presides.
He doesn’t feel responsible for what right or wrong goes on in the PMO or the department of space research (ISRO) directly under him. He admits that he received a letter in July 2010 regarding S-spectrum and if he failed to take action, to guide the department how to act and to prevent a wrong that was committed and for which the nation, according to one estimate, is to be made to cough up a loss of about ` 2 lakh crores is not his business.
On 2G spectrum scam he forgot that he had given a clean chit to his former telecom minister A. Raja and even publicly patted his back after Raja resigned. He admits that he told Mr. Raja to do everything in a transparent manner according to his government’s policy and according to rules. He further said: “f the ministry of finance and ministry of telecom both agree…I did not feel I was in a position to insist that auctions must be insisted” an admission of helplessness. Yet he is the prime minister.
As per Press reports (The Times of India, February 17) Finance Minister P. Chidambaram wrote to Prime Minister that “…if a licensee sells his licence (including spectrum) to another person, it could be stipulated that the licensee should share with govt a part of the premium/profit gained…through the sale”.. If not PM, who was to do it? Why did PM not act and issue any direction to Mr. Raja?
Dr. Manmohan Singh did confess that a number of scams did take place under his regime but tried to explain these away as “aberration”. So many scams, yet these are all ‘aberrations’.
He refused to accept responsibility for what went on in his council of ministers. The council of ministers is individually and collectively responsible for all the acts of omission and commission. He tried to feign ignorance about the provisions of Article 75(3) of the Constitution which says: “The Council of Ministers shall be collectively responsible to the House of the People”.
Some time back Dr. Manmohan Singh did take pride in comparing his government to that of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. But he forgot that in Nehru’s cabinet ministers resigned the moment a finger of suspicion was raised at them. But Dr. Manmohan Singh himself is bold to declare that nobody can be held guilty till convicted by a court of law. Whether it was the then finance minister T. T. Krishnamachari and others, they resigned the moment their names appeared in a bad colour. Late Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned in 1956 when 144 people were killed in a train accident. Late Shastri was not driving the railway train himself, nor was he a station master or the signal man. Yet he resigned taking moral responsibility for the mishap. But here is the Manmohan government where none, including the prime minister, has the courage to take moral responsibility for the numerous scams that have taken place under this government. Yet Dr. Manmohan Singh compares his cabinet with that of Pandit Nehru.
Dr. Manmohan Singh said that opinions can be different but “facts are sacred”. But he, or his government, did not treat the facts pointed out by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on 2G spectrum scam. His ministers and party imputed motives to the conduct of CAG, an institution of the Constitution.
More surprising was his comparing the loss calculated in the issue of 2G spectrum with the food subsidy. Was his government extending a subsidy to those whom it gave spectrum licences at the cost of the nation? The food subsidy helped the poor to have if not two, one meal, a day. What did the 2G spectrum favours do to the aam aadmi, except filling the pockets of the rich? And that is the allegation against Raja and his government. Only thing he has so far not admitted is that a part of the ‘subsidy’ granted by Raja has percolated to the accounts of some leaders.
He was very aggressive when he put the blame on the opposition for not allowing the two houses of parliament to function during the last winter session on the issue of JPC. He tried to wipe out the impression that he stood in the way of JPC formation as he feared appearing before it. He declared he is ready to appear before both the PAC and the JPC. But now that the Congress seems to have almost conceded the opposition demand for JPC, does it not mean that had the Congress party not been that adamant and unrelenting, the whole winter session would have been saved and parliament functioned normally?
It is difficult to say how proud he felt as a prime minister when he said he did not differ with his Home Minister Chidamabaram who had said that Manmohan government suffered from a “governance and ethical deficit”.
Dr. Manmohan Singh declared that no wrongdoer shall be spared. But when did he not say that? But during the last about seven years of his prime ministership, how many people who did “wrong” have been punished?
He said that “some compromises have to be made in managing a coalition” which conduct he labeled as coalition dharma. But what is important – the interests of the nation or “compromises” to stick to power? Does his “coalition dharma” preach to follow Mahatma Gandhi’s legendary monkeys who speak no evil, hear no evil and see no evil? Does this “dharma” require promoting corruption and promoting the corrupt?
To a pointed question, Dr. Manmohan Singh said he had no plans to quit. He admitted that things were “not entirely what I would like them to be”, yet he had had a job to do and would “stay the course”.
But in May 2010 he is on record having praised Rahul Gandhi saying he had all the qualities to be a prime minister and he expressed his readiness to vacate his chair for Rahul. Dr. Manmohan is not ready to quit accepting moral responsibility for being cornered from all sides from corruption indulged in by his colleagues, but meekly surrender. ***
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
INDEPENDENT INDIA suffering under a SLAVE GOVERNMENT
By Amba Charan Vashishth
The various UPA constituents, including the Congress, drew satisfaction from the fact that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi did not name any particular ally when he said that UPA government was “not able to control inflation and corruption as his grandmother and late prime minister Indira Gandhi could do” because of coalition compulsions”.
The new Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan echoing Rahul remarks said that coalition politics was sometimes a hurdle in decision making. “Coalition can be a hindrance and one has to find a way out to make things happen”, he said on January 12.
Never did the country have a government as paralysed and as benumbed to act as we have today, particularly since May 2004, called UPA-II under which the Prime Minister is not able to exercise the kind of authority and leadership he should, in the normal course, on the council of ministers, particularly those belonging to the allies.
It is an accepted principle of the parliamentary democracy that it is the unchallenged prerogative of a prime minister to choose his team in the council of ministers and to allocate portfolios. But that is not the case under the present UPA-II government wherein it is not the prime minister but the alliance party bosses who decide who should be the minister (and of what rank) and which portfolio he/she should hold. The prime minister just faithfully abides by the wishes of the allies on whose support his government subsists.
Even in the case of recalcitrant ministers, like the union minister of chemicals and fertilizer M K Azhagiri, the former communications minister A. Raja, railway minister Mamta Banerjee, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, the prime minister has found himself helpless to act. Mr. Azhagiri has played truant from the parliament and his office for unusually long periods. Despite reports of wrongdoings in communications ministry, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi continued to defend him till the last. Even after Manmohan government was left with no alternative but to show the door to Mr. A. Raja on the eve of presentation of CAG report, Congress had to continue to defend him, even after CBI registered a case and conducted raids on Raja’s residence and interrogated him. The question remains: If Mr. Raja was not even a distant suspect in any crime, why at all was he made to resign? Why was he humiliated by conducting raids on his premises and those of his aides? If we go by the stand of the Congress and the DMK, it appears he has been made a scapegoat and punished for no crime of his.
Whatever explanation the Congress Party may proffer, the message has been well read and taken by the people: In independent India we are at present sufferings the pangs of a government that is slave to the circumstances.
Not in control
About a year back when prices started skyrocketing unusually and the aam aadmi was crying aghast, in irritation the Agriculture and Food Minister, Mr. Sharad Pawar, shot back that “I’m no astrologer” when a media person asked Pawar when he expects the prices to fall. But he did behave as an astrologer whose predictions always go wrong when he said a number of times that prices of particular commodities will continue to rise “for another three months” or ease after some time. Our Finance Minister has, on a number of occasions, predicted that inflation and prices will come down in “three-four months” or by the end of the year or so. But each time that didn’t happen.
On January 16, 2011 Mr. Sharad Pawar said that there was a wrong perception (created by media) that the agriculture ministry was responsible for rising prices. In reality, he added, the ministry had no role to play, and that it was entirely dependent on market conditions.
People of the country have voted this government to power to govern and administer and not just to volunteer excuses for non-performance, non –functioning and failures. People are eager to see it work to make their life convenient, easy, safe and secure; they are not interested in excuses.
To rule is easy, said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to govern difficult. Messers Rahul, Sharad Pavar or Prithviraj Chavan have only sent out a message loud and clear: this government is not able to perform and is just drifting by various forces beyond their control. A government must anticipate things and takes corrective steps in advance to meet the situation. If price rise and inflation are “entirely dependent on market conditions”; if UPA government was “not able to control inflation and corruption” because of coalition compulsions; if “coalition can be a hindrance (in taking a decision) and one has to find a way out to make things happen”, does it not mean that at the moment there is no a government worth its salt in power in the country? If not those in power who else “has to find a way out to make things happen”?
A government irresponsible
The stance of the UPA government amounts to the government virtually abdicating its authority, right and capacity to govern and administer “entirely” to “market conditions”. Our democracy too seems to have drifted to being a government by the aam aadmi, of the “market conditions” and forces, and for everybody else except the aam aadmi.
Democracy, good governance and modernity, Emile Lahud has rightly said, cannot be imported or imposed from outside a country. And the words of Thomas Jefferson apply aptly to the present Indian conditions when he said: “Experience hath shown that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”.
The confusion has further been worse confounded by the scenario of utter sense of irresponsibility prevailing in the government. Everybody, the prime minister included, washes his hands of the responsibility for everything wrong taking place under their nose.
Atheist turns believer
About thirty years back, a joke was widely quoted in India A leader from the then USSR which being a communist country did not believe in god, on return from a visit to India told his fellow citizens that he had now come to believe that god does exist there. Curious people asked, “How?” He replied: “There was no government worth the name, yet the country was going. God must be running the government and the country”.
Coalition adharma
Of late, we have come to hear of a new terminology of ‘coalition dharma’ which means taking every constituent of the alliance along, giving weightage to each one’s point of view and respecting their feelings which many a time are in conflict with each other. But what is of supreme importance – the ‘coalition dharma’ or the need to govern and perform in the interest of the people for which they had been mandated? Whether it is fighting corruption or terrorism, bringing down prices and inflation or the like, it is the ‘coalition dharma’ that appears to be a stumbling block for any action by the government. It cannot be a dharma but only adharma that can stand in conflict with the interests of the nation and ushers in sufferings for the common people.
Government for what?
If the present UPA dispensation is not to work to solve the burning problems of the country; if it has not to help the aam aadmi come out of his present state of suffering, and the administration has just to drift on its own, what for do we need an army of ministers at the Centre and in States -- just to enjoy the fruits of power at the cost of the people for whom they are not working? In that case a political system without a government would be much more desirable, as it would, at least, save the people of thousands of crores of money which they can spend on themselves to usher in their own prosperity.
The various UPA constituents, including the Congress, drew satisfaction from the fact that Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi did not name any particular ally when he said that UPA government was “not able to control inflation and corruption as his grandmother and late prime minister Indira Gandhi could do” because of coalition compulsions”.
The new Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan echoing Rahul remarks said that coalition politics was sometimes a hurdle in decision making. “Coalition can be a hindrance and one has to find a way out to make things happen”, he said on January 12.
Never did the country have a government as paralysed and as benumbed to act as we have today, particularly since May 2004, called UPA-II under which the Prime Minister is not able to exercise the kind of authority and leadership he should, in the normal course, on the council of ministers, particularly those belonging to the allies.
It is an accepted principle of the parliamentary democracy that it is the unchallenged prerogative of a prime minister to choose his team in the council of ministers and to allocate portfolios. But that is not the case under the present UPA-II government wherein it is not the prime minister but the alliance party bosses who decide who should be the minister (and of what rank) and which portfolio he/she should hold. The prime minister just faithfully abides by the wishes of the allies on whose support his government subsists.
Even in the case of recalcitrant ministers, like the union minister of chemicals and fertilizer M K Azhagiri, the former communications minister A. Raja, railway minister Mamta Banerjee, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar, the prime minister has found himself helpless to act. Mr. Azhagiri has played truant from the parliament and his office for unusually long periods. Despite reports of wrongdoings in communications ministry, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi continued to defend him till the last. Even after Manmohan government was left with no alternative but to show the door to Mr. A. Raja on the eve of presentation of CAG report, Congress had to continue to defend him, even after CBI registered a case and conducted raids on Raja’s residence and interrogated him. The question remains: If Mr. Raja was not even a distant suspect in any crime, why at all was he made to resign? Why was he humiliated by conducting raids on his premises and those of his aides? If we go by the stand of the Congress and the DMK, it appears he has been made a scapegoat and punished for no crime of his.
Whatever explanation the Congress Party may proffer, the message has been well read and taken by the people: In independent India we are at present sufferings the pangs of a government that is slave to the circumstances.
Not in control
About a year back when prices started skyrocketing unusually and the aam aadmi was crying aghast, in irritation the Agriculture and Food Minister, Mr. Sharad Pawar, shot back that “I’m no astrologer” when a media person asked Pawar when he expects the prices to fall. But he did behave as an astrologer whose predictions always go wrong when he said a number of times that prices of particular commodities will continue to rise “for another three months” or ease after some time. Our Finance Minister has, on a number of occasions, predicted that inflation and prices will come down in “three-four months” or by the end of the year or so. But each time that didn’t happen.
On January 16, 2011 Mr. Sharad Pawar said that there was a wrong perception (created by media) that the agriculture ministry was responsible for rising prices. In reality, he added, the ministry had no role to play, and that it was entirely dependent on market conditions.
People of the country have voted this government to power to govern and administer and not just to volunteer excuses for non-performance, non –functioning and failures. People are eager to see it work to make their life convenient, easy, safe and secure; they are not interested in excuses.
To rule is easy, said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, to govern difficult. Messers Rahul, Sharad Pavar or Prithviraj Chavan have only sent out a message loud and clear: this government is not able to perform and is just drifting by various forces beyond their control. A government must anticipate things and takes corrective steps in advance to meet the situation. If price rise and inflation are “entirely dependent on market conditions”; if UPA government was “not able to control inflation and corruption” because of coalition compulsions; if “coalition can be a hindrance (in taking a decision) and one has to find a way out to make things happen”, does it not mean that at the moment there is no a government worth its salt in power in the country? If not those in power who else “has to find a way out to make things happen”?
A government irresponsible
The stance of the UPA government amounts to the government virtually abdicating its authority, right and capacity to govern and administer “entirely” to “market conditions”. Our democracy too seems to have drifted to being a government by the aam aadmi, of the “market conditions” and forces, and for everybody else except the aam aadmi.
Democracy, good governance and modernity, Emile Lahud has rightly said, cannot be imported or imposed from outside a country. And the words of Thomas Jefferson apply aptly to the present Indian conditions when he said: “Experience hath shown that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny”.
The confusion has further been worse confounded by the scenario of utter sense of irresponsibility prevailing in the government. Everybody, the prime minister included, washes his hands of the responsibility for everything wrong taking place under their nose.
Atheist turns believer
About thirty years back, a joke was widely quoted in India A leader from the then USSR which being a communist country did not believe in god, on return from a visit to India told his fellow citizens that he had now come to believe that god does exist there. Curious people asked, “How?” He replied: “There was no government worth the name, yet the country was going. God must be running the government and the country”.
Coalition adharma
Of late, we have come to hear of a new terminology of ‘coalition dharma’ which means taking every constituent of the alliance along, giving weightage to each one’s point of view and respecting their feelings which many a time are in conflict with each other. But what is of supreme importance – the ‘coalition dharma’ or the need to govern and perform in the interest of the people for which they had been mandated? Whether it is fighting corruption or terrorism, bringing down prices and inflation or the like, it is the ‘coalition dharma’ that appears to be a stumbling block for any action by the government. It cannot be a dharma but only adharma that can stand in conflict with the interests of the nation and ushers in sufferings for the common people.
Government for what?
If the present UPA dispensation is not to work to solve the burning problems of the country; if it has not to help the aam aadmi come out of his present state of suffering, and the administration has just to drift on its own, what for do we need an army of ministers at the Centre and in States -- just to enjoy the fruits of power at the cost of the people for whom they are not working? In that case a political system without a government would be much more desirable, as it would, at least, save the people of thousands of crores of money which they can spend on themselves to usher in their own prosperity.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Know your Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh
KNOW YOUR PRIME MINISTER of India
Dr. Manmohan Singh
Born: Sept 26, 1932, in Gah, West Punjab (presently Pakistan)
Married: Sept 14, 1958. Has three daughters —Upender, Daman and Amrit.
Education: M.A., D.Phil (Oxford), D. Litt (Honoris Causa), Educated at Universities of Panjab, Cambridge and Oxford.
Positions Held:
1972-76: Chief Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance.
1976-80: Director, Reserve Bank of India; director, Industrial Development Bank of India; alternate Governor for India, Board of Governors, Asian Development Bank, Manila; alternate Governor for India, Board of Governors, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
Nov 1976-April 1980: Secretary, Ministry of Finance (Department of Economic Affairs): member, Finance, Atomic Energy Commission; member, Finance, Space Commission.
April 1980-Sep 1982: Member-Secretary, Planning Commission.
Sept 1982-Jan 1982: Governor, Reserve Bank of India.
1982-85: Alternate Governor for India, Board of Governors, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
1983-84: Member, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister.
Jan 1985-July 1987: Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission.
Aug 1987-Nov 1990: Secretary General and Commissioner, South Commission, Geneva.
Dec 1990-March 1991: Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Economic Affairs.
March 1991-June 1991: Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC).
June 1991-May 1996: Union Finance Minister.
Oct 1991: Elected to Rajya Sabha.
1991-95: Governor for India on the Board of Governors of the IMF and IBRD.
June 1995: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha.
1996 onwards: Member, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Finance.
Aug 1996-Dec 1997: Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce.
March 1998 onwards: Leader of the Opposition, Rajya Sabha.
June 2001: Re-elected to Rajya Sabha.
May 2004: Appointed Prime Minister of India.
May 22, 2009: Sworn in as Prime Minister of India for the second time.
— IANS
(Courtesy: Saturday, May 23, 2009, Chandigarh, India)
Friday, November 14, 2008
NEEDLEPOINT
A Bangrappa emerging in Madhya Pradesh?
By Amba Charan Vashishth
One of the weaknesses of Indian system of democracy is the lack of birth control on our political parties. Just as uncontrolled sex is the cause for booming population, so is the uncontrolled ego and ambition the cause of the almost daily birth of our political parties. That is one of the reasons why during the last sixty-one years we have failed to have a ruling party which commanded more than 50 percent of the votes cast. India could never register a poll percentage of more than 70 percent and this only means that India has always been ruled by a party/alliance not commanding the majority support but only a minority of much less than one-third of the total electorate.
It is the feeling of self-righteousness, arrogance and ego fuelled by the henchmen of the leaders that we witness birth of a new party the moment a party fails to satisfy the whims of individuals bred and brought up by it. Equally true is the fact that in political parties justice is not always dispensed to individuals or merit is not always rewarded. But if one believes in inner party democracy, the aggrieved individual should fight for justice and prove the justness of his cause/stand within the party. But, no. Our leaders wish to teach the party and its leadership a lesson for a wrong, they think, has been done to them. Many have the airs that the party exists only because of them; the moment they leave it, it is a void, doomed.
Comparisons may be odious, yet not always out of place. There is a great similarity between the cases of Mr. S. Bangrappa and Sushri Uma Bharati. Both are former chief ministers, one of Karnataka and the other of Madhya Pradesh. They nurture, right or wrong, the grievance against their respective party leadership that they have been wronged.
Mr. Bangrappa was the chief minister of a Congress government in Karnataka. He was made to resign by the high command. On the eve of 1989 assembly elections, he quit Congress, formed his Karnataka Congress Party and contested 218 out of 224 seats. The incumbent Congress government facing an anti-incumbency wave crumbled from a tally of 178 seats to just 34, its vote share crashing down to 26.95% from 43.76%, a loss of 16.81%. Congress loss was shared by BJP by increasing its vote share from 4.14 to 16.99% (seats from 4 to 40) and Janta Dal from 27.08 (24 seats) to 33.54% (115 seats). What cost Congress the power was the Bangarappa's Karnataka Congress slicing 7.31% votes (10 seats).
Politicians seem too eager to get one of their legs amputated if it could make their opponent lose two. Mr. Bangarappa had nothing further to lose; he had already lost power. So his limited and narrow objective was -- if not he, then Congress too not. He drew the vicarious pleasure of making that party lose power which had snatched it from him.
If there is anything like bravery or chivalry in politics, it should either be to ensure victory for self or for own party, but not to a third person in any case. Otherwise, it settles down to monkey business in which the gainer is the third person benefitting from the fight between two uncompromising persons.
What has been the end result? The lone political traveller Mr. Bangarappa who had hogged from one party to the other a number of times temporary halts and shelters in a number of political parties, ultimately, faced the ignominy of a defeat for himself and his sons in the assembly elections. Till 2008 Karnataka elections Mr. Bangarappa had been the invincible hero who never lost an election. But this time his vengeance made him lose both power and prestige.
As things stand today. The Bangrappa history seems to be repeating itself in Madhya Pradesh this assembly election. Sushri Uma Bharati's Bharatiya Janashakti Party is going to contest all the 230 assembly seats in the State. There seems to be no dearth of political parties and individuals to fan her ego and arrogance with a design and objective of their own. They know her presence in the elections is going to harm one and benefit the other. She too seems to wish to teach her former party a lesson: "If not me, you too not".
Her real brother has deserted Sushri Bharati. There are dissensions within her clan. It will be too much for a sagacious person, like her, to daydream of coming to power on her own. But she does wish – and all wishes are not always granted! – to 'punish' BJP. It is too early to predict – and psephology these days is no longer that precise a science with correct predictions and no one has so far prophesied with certainty either that BJP will once again romp home to power or Congress will win. But nobody can risk foretelling Sushri Bharati storming to power defeating both BJP and Congress in the current elections.
Whatever may be the outcome of the elections, this much can easily – and safely – be forecast: the only great loser to emerge, like Mr. S. Bangarappa in Karnataka, will only be Sushri Uma Bharati in Madhya Pradesh in the long run. If BJP swings back to power, she stands decimated from the State politics as a force to reckon with. If Congress is crowned with power, Sushri Bharati will lose relevance because having rode to power on the strength of her shoulders, it too would not like to massage these to make them more powerful. Congress would not be beholden to her, as was the Janta Dal not to Mr. Bangarappa for power it could never aspire without Bangarappa slicing Congress cake.
Where is Mr. S. Bangarappa today? Nowhere on the political scene. Nowhere in the political reckoning.
Will assembly elections results on December 8 throw out another Bangarappa in Madhya Pradesh? ***
Monday, September 15, 2008
NEEDLEPOINT: Terrorists at war with India
NEEDLEPOINT:
Terrorists at war with India
India at peace with terrorists
By A. C. Vasishth
September 13 2008 serial bomb blasts in New Delhi have once again proved that we may be bold in our words but we are as much week in our actions in fighting terror. This has been proved not once, numerous times.
One of the main reasons for our failure to win the war against terror is that we always play politics with terrorism. This fact has paralysed the government as well as the political system. This reality has emboldened the terrorists so much that they feel free to strike any time and any place in the country where they want. When terrorists strike in non-Congress and non-UPA States – the way they did in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka two months back -- our government at the Centre and the Intelligence Bureau were quick to say that the State governments had been alerted in advance. It, obviously, meant that the State governments had failed to take the necessary precautions, in advance, to thwart the designs of the terrorists. But this time – and last time on the Diwali eve in 2005 – the terrorists struck right under the nose of the Union government. Does it then mean that here both the Union government and the intelligence agencies failed to both to gather information about the activities of the terror outfits and take precautionary measures?
Not only that. With Congress-led UPA at the Centre, in Andhra Pradesh, in Assam, in Maharashtra etc. there are Congress or Congress-led governments. But the State and the Central government failed to prevent the serial blasts in those States even and as a result hundreds of innocent men, women and children were killed and property worth hundreds of crores destroyed.
Each time the terrorists strike, our Prime Minister, Home Minister and others echo a stock reaction: The terrorists will not be able to defeat our resolve to fight terror. Each time the terrorists have given a befitting reply to the Union Government to prove that it does not means business while they do.
In the heat of the nation’s agony at the loss of life and property in Rajasthan and Gujarat when there were demands, even from the intelligence agencies, for enacting a strong anti-terror law, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was again bold to declare that there is no need for revival of POTA and the existing laws were sufficient to deal with them. By striking in the heart of the national capital the terrorists have once again sent out a message that the Prime Minister is not right.
If the existing laws, as the Prime Minister claims, are sufficient, why is it that during the last over four years the present government has failed to take a single criminal case against terrorists to a logical conclusion and got him/them punished? Why is it that during the last three years the UPA government has failed to bring to book those involved in the 2005 Diwali-eve serial bomb blasts in Delhi, Samjhauta Express, Malegaon, Mumbai train serial blasts, blasts in Mecca masjid in Andhra Pradesh? The only inference one can draw is that while the existing laws are sufficient, it is the Government that has been found to be wanting.
USA is the oldest democracy in the world as is India the largest one. UK too is a democracy. But the moment 9/11 happened in USA, the moment 11/7 occurred in UK in the form of serial train blasts, they rose to the occasion to enact stringent laws to fight terror. This has paid dividends. The terrorists failed to strike again in both the countries.
But here in India, obviously, for political, nay electoral, reasons we are fighting shy of enacting any stringent law against terror. We do not gather the courage even to use the existing laws to catch hold of the culprits, lest our constituency of electoral supporters gets annoyed.
Our prime minister loses his sleeping over the wailing of the mother of a person taken into custody for suspected terror links in a foreign country. But, regrettably, he has never lost sleep over the death of hundreds of innocent men, women and children in terrorist strikes since he took over.
At the same time Dr. Manmohan Singh says "no community" should be singled out. Further, according to the Central intelligence agencies too, while the hand of SIMI has been unsuspectingly been proven, two Cabinet Ministers in his Government – Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan – have publicly opposed the ban on SIMI. The other important leader SP leader Mulayam Singh on whose support hinges the life of UPA has gone to the extent of saying that it is a social organisation.
In the face of September 13 blasts while the intelligence agencies, according to reports, are now focussing their attention on the three days spent by top SIMI activist Abu Bashir in Delhi in July this year to unravel the mystery of the Delhi serial blasts, Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders went to the extent of visiting Azamgarh home of the Ahmedabad blast mastermind "for expressing their solidarity with the jailed SIMI terror merchant" after he was arrested by Gujarat police.
The most failed Home Minister Shivraj Patil appealing for peace said: "We will continue to deal firmly with such (terrorist) elements. We will find those responsible behind the blasts and harshest punishment would be given..." How laughable from a person during whose performance has throughout been dismal!
In their e-mail the terrorist outfit has threatened Mumbai to be the next target. If past performance is any indication, its threat may prove to be real while the government may be found fumbling for words of explanations for having miserably failed to act.
If the present government closes its eyes to see the reality that the terrorists are at war against India, it alone is to be blamed for this. But it must understand that this war against terrorism cannot be fought with the doves of peace. We need the honestly, zeal and the spirit to turn our words into actions. ***
Terrorists at war with India
India at peace with terrorists
By A. C. Vasishth
September 13 2008 serial bomb blasts in New Delhi have once again proved that we may be bold in our words but we are as much week in our actions in fighting terror. This has been proved not once, numerous times.
One of the main reasons for our failure to win the war against terror is that we always play politics with terrorism. This fact has paralysed the government as well as the political system. This reality has emboldened the terrorists so much that they feel free to strike any time and any place in the country where they want. When terrorists strike in non-Congress and non-UPA States – the way they did in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka two months back -- our government at the Centre and the Intelligence Bureau were quick to say that the State governments had been alerted in advance. It, obviously, meant that the State governments had failed to take the necessary precautions, in advance, to thwart the designs of the terrorists. But this time – and last time on the Diwali eve in 2005 – the terrorists struck right under the nose of the Union government. Does it then mean that here both the Union government and the intelligence agencies failed to both to gather information about the activities of the terror outfits and take precautionary measures?
Not only that. With Congress-led UPA at the Centre, in Andhra Pradesh, in Assam, in Maharashtra etc. there are Congress or Congress-led governments. But the State and the Central government failed to prevent the serial blasts in those States even and as a result hundreds of innocent men, women and children were killed and property worth hundreds of crores destroyed.
Each time the terrorists strike, our Prime Minister, Home Minister and others echo a stock reaction: The terrorists will not be able to defeat our resolve to fight terror. Each time the terrorists have given a befitting reply to the Union Government to prove that it does not means business while they do.
In the heat of the nation’s agony at the loss of life and property in Rajasthan and Gujarat when there were demands, even from the intelligence agencies, for enacting a strong anti-terror law, the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was again bold to declare that there is no need for revival of POTA and the existing laws were sufficient to deal with them. By striking in the heart of the national capital the terrorists have once again sent out a message that the Prime Minister is not right.
If the existing laws, as the Prime Minister claims, are sufficient, why is it that during the last over four years the present government has failed to take a single criminal case against terrorists to a logical conclusion and got him/them punished? Why is it that during the last three years the UPA government has failed to bring to book those involved in the 2005 Diwali-eve serial bomb blasts in Delhi, Samjhauta Express, Malegaon, Mumbai train serial blasts, blasts in Mecca masjid in Andhra Pradesh? The only inference one can draw is that while the existing laws are sufficient, it is the Government that has been found to be wanting.
USA is the oldest democracy in the world as is India the largest one. UK too is a democracy. But the moment 9/11 happened in USA, the moment 11/7 occurred in UK in the form of serial train blasts, they rose to the occasion to enact stringent laws to fight terror. This has paid dividends. The terrorists failed to strike again in both the countries.
But here in India, obviously, for political, nay electoral, reasons we are fighting shy of enacting any stringent law against terror. We do not gather the courage even to use the existing laws to catch hold of the culprits, lest our constituency of electoral supporters gets annoyed.
Our prime minister loses his sleeping over the wailing of the mother of a person taken into custody for suspected terror links in a foreign country. But, regrettably, he has never lost sleep over the death of hundreds of innocent men, women and children in terrorist strikes since he took over.
At the same time Dr. Manmohan Singh says "no community" should be singled out. Further, according to the Central intelligence agencies too, while the hand of SIMI has been unsuspectingly been proven, two Cabinet Ministers in his Government – Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ramvilas Paswan – have publicly opposed the ban on SIMI. The other important leader SP leader Mulayam Singh on whose support hinges the life of UPA has gone to the extent of saying that it is a social organisation.
In the face of September 13 blasts while the intelligence agencies, according to reports, are now focussing their attention on the three days spent by top SIMI activist Abu Bashir in Delhi in July this year to unravel the mystery of the Delhi serial blasts, Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders went to the extent of visiting Azamgarh home of the Ahmedabad blast mastermind "for expressing their solidarity with the jailed SIMI terror merchant" after he was arrested by Gujarat police.
The most failed Home Minister Shivraj Patil appealing for peace said: "We will continue to deal firmly with such (terrorist) elements. We will find those responsible behind the blasts and harshest punishment would be given..." How laughable from a person during whose performance has throughout been dismal!
In their e-mail the terrorist outfit has threatened Mumbai to be the next target. If past performance is any indication, its threat may prove to be real while the government may be found fumbling for words of explanations for having miserably failed to act.
If the present government closes its eyes to see the reality that the terrorists are at war against India, it alone is to be blamed for this. But it must understand that this war against terrorism cannot be fought with the doves of peace. We need the honestly, zeal and the spirit to turn our words into actions. ***
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Interview with Syed Shahnawaz Hussain
‘Secularists’ dividing Hindus & Muslims: Shahnawaz
Personally I stand for Akhand Bharat
Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is a young two-time BJP MP with a broad, progressive outlook. He was yet to complete 32 when he became first a Minister of State and later elevated to Cabinet rank in NDA government at the Centre. From the start of his political career he is in the BJP. Presently, he is the President of BJP Minority Morcha Cell. Congress-Lalu-Mulayam are politically thriving on by creating divisions between Hindus and Muslims, he says. “If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business”. BJP is practicing an honest secularism and giving equal respect and honour to all communities, including Muslims, he maintains.
Amba Charan Vashishth had a detailed interview with him in Delhi in the last month. Excerpts:
What made you to join politics?
My original dream was to be a doctor or engineer. When I was in third class, I discovered that President and Prime Minister was the highest office in the country. Therefore, I got fascinated towards politics. Even otherwise, I had interest in politics from my school days. When in the eighth class I contested a school election, but lost by just one vote. I did my Matriculation in 1982 getting 87 percent marks. I wanted to join Aligarh Muslim University but we were hard up of money because we had lost our lands to the tillers. My mother said she would sell her ornaments to make me study higher. I revolted. I said I can remain uneducated, but not study with this money. I did my intermediate staying with my maternal uncle where I came in contact with Shri George Fernandes.
Why only BJP even when there is so much propaganda regarding its being anti-minorities?
In 1984 I came to Delhi in Pusa Polytechnic from where I received a diploma. Here I came in contact with Shri Suresh Srivastava who was connected with BJP. He told me in detail about BJP. He took me to BJP leader Shri Arif Beg. I took a dig at him: How is he in BJP being a Muslim? We waited for him. As he heralded I came to know he was coming after namaz. I myself was not used to it at that time. I got impressed.
Shri Arif Beg made me understand that BJP is a big party working for the welfare of Hindus/Muslims and if more and more Muslims associated with it, the Hindu-Muslim unity will get strengthened. The misunderstanding and misconception about BJP in the Muslim mind is because of lack of communication and false propaganda by vested interests who, for their political selfishness, do not wish that Hindus and Muslims should be one. We have to act as a bridge between the two communities, he told me.
From there started my association with BJP and I never looked back. I myself found that there was great false propaganda against BJP. As my association with the party grew deeper and longer, my dedication and commitment to the Party went on increasing. I found BJP was the only party that was truly and honestly secular while others were just paying a lip service just for community’s votes without doing anything for it. BJP, I found, entertained no ill-will against Muslims and all my misgivings were removed. If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business.
How did you scale up the ladder?
Then I came in contact with ABVP national president Shri Raj Kumar Bhatia and Sushri Uma Bharti. I worked in JNU. I became active in BJP Yuva Morcha. On December 4, 1997 I organised a Muslim Youth sammelan in Delhi which impressed both Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri Lal Krishna Advani. Atalji said if Shahnawaz could enter Parliament that would be good. I was made to contest against Syed Shahabuddin from Kishanganj whose 70 percent population is Muslim. Only Shri Sushil Modi had come for my election campaign. I was defeated by this stalwart by just six thousand votes. But I did not lose heart. I stuck to the constituency and worked hard. In 1999 Lok Sabha elections I defeated Mr Taslimuddin. My first speech in Lok Sabha was on Ayodhya. Atalji blessed me with an embrace. Advaniji and Georgeji also appreciated it.
Was your work and dedication rewarded?
Yes, very much. I was first made a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs. Later, I was given independent charge of Coal. Then, I was elevated to Cabinet rank with the Textile portfolio and later given the charge of Civil Aviation. I was made a member of the Central Election Committee in which I still continue. When Venkaiahji, Advaniji and Rajnathji became Party presidents, they made me the National Secretary. Now I have been made the President of the Minority Morcha. Rajnathji said, “It will send out a positive message and help the party reach out to minority communities”.
When some 'secular' leaders or some of your Muslim brothers call BJP 'communal', what feelings does it ignite in your mind?
I only laugh at their ignorance. They are living on misconceptions and only harming the cause of the community. I can say with confidence that no party is more secular than BJP. In fact, in India we have two kinds of secularism -- honest secularism and dishonest one. BJP is practicing the honest secularism. It is a false propaganda that BJP is opposed to minorities. The so-called secular parties are responsible for the present plight and sufferings of the Muslim community. Post-Godhra riots in Gujarat are an aberration under BJP rule. There have been numerous communal riots in Gujarat under successive Congress governments. During the past seven years, not a single case of communal riots has taken place in Gujarat. If the opposition criticizes Shri Modi for other things, it should also appreciate at least this achievement of his.
We do not make distinction between majority and minority. BJP Minority Morcha Cell shows that there is a place of honour for minorities in the Party.
Did you any time feel that you are a misfit in BJP?
No. Never. I did never feel any time that I am being discriminated against being a Muslim. In spite of my being quite young, I have always received place of honour and invited to every important party meeting, chintan bhaithaks in Goa and Mumbai.
What does religion mean to you?
For me rashtra dharma is supreme. Pitri dharma and matri dharma also come in the same category. Whether somebody recites his namaz or worships a god; it is a matter personal to him.
.
Crores of Muslims because of their love for the motherland decided to stay put in India after Partition and could not be lured into shifting to Pakistan just because of their religious affinity. Do you think they have assimilated themselves into the national mainstream?
Crores of Muslims because of their patriotism and love for India continued to live in their motherland despite partition of the country on communal lines. Those who accepted partition migrated to Pakistan. But our ancestors decided to stick to their soil. They preferred to throw their lot with their Hindu brethren than with others. That is why today we have a galaxy of Muslims who have brought laurels to the country -- Capt. Abdul Hamid, Capt. Hanifuddin, Sania Mirza, Zahir Khan, Irfan Khan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and many others.
How safe, in your view, are minorities in India, particularly in NDA or BJP-ruled States?
Minorities are safer in the BJP and NDA-ruled States than elsewhere. I want an open discussion on this issue. The condition of Muslims is very bad in the States of West Bengal and Assam while they are quite well off in Gujarat where Muslims have a higher per capita income than in other States.
How far, in your view, the abolition of Article 370 in the Constitution and Common Civil Code is going to adversely affect the interests of minorities, particularly Muslims?
If Article 370 had been scrapped, there would have been no Kashmir problem today. It even discriminates between a J&K Muslim and a Muslim in the rest of the country. Today people of Jammu-Kashmir can purchase property in Patna, but the people, including Muslims, of the rest of the country cannot in J&K. If Article 370 is removed, I would wish to have a house in Gulmarg area. Mr. Omar Abdullah says I am an Indian, but he speaks a different language in his State. Article 370 should be scrapped immediately.
I stand for a Common Civil Code. Actually, it involves reforms only in marriage laws. Today Hindus and Muslims wear the same clothes; they have common food habits. India presents a picture of unity in diversity. Actually, some people are misleading the Muslims saying that if this is done, Muslims will have to don dhoti and instead of visiting a graveyard (kabristan) they will have to go to Hindu cremation grounds. This is all non-sense, unfortunate
What place do minorities enjoy in your Party?
A place of respect and honour like any Hindu.
What have you so far done to dispel the misgivings about BJP among minorities?
I have been assigned the duty to connect more and more minorities with the BJP. It is as difficult a matter as it is easy. It is a challenge too. Reason: Since the days of Nehru, a sustained campaign has been continuing to paint Jana Sangh and now BJP as anti-minority. This impression is now getting obliterated. We organized a Muslim Yuva Sammelan in 1997. Advaniji’s speech was very much appreciated there. We wish to turn the injustice that is being perpetrated against Muslims since the days of Congress into justice. Recently, we organized a rally at Kota (Rajasthan) where 20,000 Muslims participated. Morcha organized rallies against terrorism all over the country. Indo-US Deal is an attempt to enslave India. It is against Indians whether they are Hindus, Muslims or others.
Terrorism is a great threat to the country. This must be curbed at all costs. On this account, Muslims of the country, as a whole, should not be seen as suspects. They love the country and are patriots.
What should the majority and minority communities do to obliterate the distinction between the two to make India acquire one identity of Indians and Indians alone?
In the Muslim Yuva Sammelan we passed a resolution that cow-slaughter should be banned. Media ignored it. Darrul Uloom has also demanded its ban. Muslims need to come forward on this issue. Ram Mandir issue too should be solved amicably through understanding between the two communities.
We want that Afzal Guru should be hanged as per the verdict of the Supreme Court. The only problem is that we look at him as a terrorist and Congress-Lalu-Mulayam look at him as a Muslim. They look at terrorism through the prism of religion. It is the Congress and its friends who have put a question mark on the patriotism of Muslims. POTA should be revived. Section 302 IPC too is misused; should it also be abolished?
To what extent has the rise of terrorism, particularly the cross-border terrorism, impacted the life of Muslims in India?
I wish to make it clear that Pakistan is the enemy of Indian Muslims. Muslims in India are thriving unhindered. They have made the country proud with having Presidents, Chief Justices, Vice-Presidents, Governors, and made their name in every sphere including cricket and films. This Pakistan cannot digest. That is why it is conspiring against India. It is Pakistan and not Hindus who are enemies of Muslims. ISI is the mother of all troubles. If Pakistan had not been created, Hindus and Muslims would have progressed shoulder to shoulder. Although I accept the reality of Pakistan, yet as an Indian I stand for the concept of Akhand Bharat. If the Berlin wall can fall leading to unification of East and West Germany, India and Pakistan can also be one day united into one country.
What are the main reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim community, particularly women?
Congress which ruled over the country for about 50 years since independence is responsible for all the ills and problems facing the minorities, particularly Muslims. They have not allowed Muslims to join the national mainstream just to exploit them for votes.
How much weightage would you give to the fatwas of Deoband?
Day-today fatwas have no meaning. These should be issued only when necessary and should be for the benefit and progress of the community
What are your Minority Morcha’s immediate plans, particularly in view of the year-end elections in five State assemblies and then Lok Sabha elections in 2009?
The Muslim community is angry with Congress Party for all the ills facing it. It feels cheated. Muslims are making the country proud in every field. If Israel and Philistine could be at peace; if Sushri Mayawati can have friendship with Brahmins, why can’t BJP earn the faith and confidence of Muslims when it is their real benefactor? It is not something impossible.
We will mobilize the minority community by organizing large demonstrations, rallies and conferences. Three times in the past Shri Rajnath Singh has come to our conferences. Shri Advaniji too blessed our programmes. Shri Atalji is also with us. We plan to organize a massive Muslim rally in Delhi where we expect a congregation of 2 lakh Muslims to show that Muslims in India are with BJP.
Muslims have great faith in the clean and honest image of Advaniji. Under his leadership BJP will form a government at the Centre. This government will usher in all-round prosperity and progress of the minorities. ***
‘Secularists’ dividing Hindus & Muslims: Shahnawaz
Personally I stand for Akhand Bharat
Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is a young two-time BJP MP with a broad, progressive outlook. He was yet to complete 32 when he became first a Minister of State and later elevated to Cabinet rank in NDA government at the Centre. From the start of his political career he is in the BJP. Presently, he is the President of BJP Minority Morcha Cell. Congress-Lalu-Mulayam are politically thriving on by creating divisions between Hindus and Muslims, he says. “If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business”. BJP is practicing an honest secularism and giving equal respect and honour to all communities, including Muslims, he maintains.
Shri Amba Charan Vashishth had a detailed interview with him in Delhi in the last week of July. Excerpts:
What made you to join politics?
My original dream was to be a doctor or engineer. When I was in third class, I discovered that President and Prime Minister was the highest office in the country. Therefore, I got fascinated towards politics. Even otherwise, I had interest in politics from my school days. When in the eighth class I contested a school election, but lost by just one vote. I did my Matriculation in 1982 getting 87 percent marks. I wanted to join Aligarh Muslim University but we were hard up of money because we had lost our lands to the tillers. My mother said she would sell her ornaments to make me study higher. I revolted. I said I can remain uneducated, but not study with this money. I did my intermediate staying with my maternal uncle where I came in contact with Shri George Fernandes.
Why only BJP even when there is so much propaganda regarding its being anti-minorities?
In 1984 I came to Delhi in Pusa Polytechnic from where I received a diploma. Here I came in contact with Shri Suresh Srivastava who was connected with BJP. He told me in detail about BJP. He took me to BJP leader Shri Arif Beg. I took a dig at him: How is he in BJP being a Muslim? We waited for him. As he heralded I came to know he was coming after namaz. I myself was not used to it at that time. I got impressed.
Shri Arif Beg made me understand that BJP is a big party working for the welfare of Hindus/Muslims and if more and more Muslims associated with it, the Hindu-Muslim unity will get strengthened. The misunderstanding and misconception about BJP in the Muslim mind is because of lack of communication and false propaganda by vested interests who, for their political selfishness, do not wish that Hindus and Muslims should be one. We have to act as a bridge between the two communities, he told me.
From there started my association with BJP and I never looked back. I myself found that there was great false propaganda against BJP. As my association with the party grew deeper and longer, my dedication and commitment to the Party went on increasing. I found BJP was the only party that was truly and honestly secular while others were just paying a lip service just for community’s votes without doing anything for it. BJP, I found, entertained no ill-will against Muslims and all my misgivings were removed. If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business.
How did you scale up the ladder?
Then I came in contact with ABVP national president Shri Raj Kumar Bhatia and Sushri Uma Bharti. I worked in JNU. I became active in BJP Yuva Morcha. On December 4, 1997 I organised a Muslim Youth sammelan in Delhi which impressed both Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri Lal Krishna Advani. Atalji said if Shahnawaz could enter Parliament that would be good. I was made to contest against Syed Shahabuddin from Kishanganj whose 70 percent population is Muslim. Only Shri Sushil Modi had come for my election campaign. I was defeated by this stalwart by just six thousand votes. But I did not lose heart. I stuck to the constituency and worked hard. In 1999 Lok Sabha elections I defeated Mr Taslimuddin. My first speech in Lok Sabha was on Ayodhya. Atalji blessed me with an embrace. Advaniji and Georgeji also appreciated it.
Was your work and dedication rewarded?
Yes, very much. I was first made a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs. Later, I was given independent charge of Coal. Then, I was elevated to Cabinet rank with the Textile portfolio and later given the charge of Civil Aviation. I was made a member of the Central Election Committee in which I still continue. When Venkaiahji, Advaniji and Rajnathji became Party presidents, they made me the National Secretary. Now I have been made the President of the Minority Morcha. Rajnathji said, “It will send out a positive message and help the party reach out to minority communities”.
When some 'secular' leaders or some of your Muslim brothers call BJP 'communal', what feelings does it ignite in your mind?
I only laugh at their ignorance. They are living on misconceptions and only harming the cause of the community. I can say with confidence that no party is more secular than BJP. In fact, in India we have two kinds of secularism -- honest secularism and dishonest one. BJP is practicing the honest secularism. It is a false propaganda that BJP is opposed to minorities. The so-called secular parties are responsible for the present plight and sufferings of the Muslim community. Post-Godhra riots in Gujarat are an aberration under BJP rule. There have been numerous communal riots in Gujarat under successive Congress governments. During the past seven years, not a single case of communal riots has taken place in Gujarat. If the opposition criticizes Shri Modi for other things, it should also appreciate at least this achievement of his.
We do not make distinction between majority and minority. BJP Minority Morcha Cell shows that there is a place of honour for minorities in the Party.
Did you any time feel that you are a misfit in BJP?
No. Never. I did never feel any time that I am being discriminated against being a Muslim. In spite of my being quite young, I have always received place of honour and invited to every important party meeting, chintan bhaithaks in Goa and Mumbai.
What does religion mean to you?
For me rashtra dharma is supreme. Pitri dharma and matri dharma also come in the same category. Whether somebody recites his namaz or worships a god; it is a matter personal to him.
.
Crores of Muslims because of their love for the motherland decided to stay put in India after Partition and could not be lured into shifting to Pakistan just because of their religious affinity. Do you think they have assimilated themselves into the national mainstream?
Crores of Muslims because of their patriotism and love for India continued to live in their motherland despite partition of the country on communal lines. Those who accepted partition migrated to Pakistan. But our ancestors decided to stick to their soil. They preferred to throw their lot with their Hindu brethren than with others. That is why today we have a galaxy of Muslims who have brought laurels to the country -- Capt. Abdul Hamid, Capt. Hanifuddin, Sania Mirza, Zahir Khan, Irfan Khan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and many others.
How safe, in your view, are minorities in India, particularly in NDA or BJP-ruled States?
Minorities are safer in the BJP and NDA-ruled States than elsewhere. I want an open discussion on this issue. The condition of Muslims is very bad in the States of West Bengal and Assam while they are quite well off in Gujarat where Muslims have a higher per capita income than in other States.
How far, in your view, the abolition of Article 370 in the Constitution and Common Civil Code is going to adversely affect the interests of minorities, particularly Muslims?
If Article 370 had been scrapped, there would have been no Kashmir problem today. It even discriminates between a J&K Muslim and a Muslim in the rest of the country. Today people of Jammu-Kashmir can purchase property in Patna, but the people, including Muslims, of the rest of the country cannot in J&K. If Article 370 is removed, I would wish to have a house in Gulmarg area. Mr. Omar Abdullah says I am an Indian, but he speaks a different language in his State. Article 370 should be scrapped immediately.
I stand for a Common Civil Code. Actually, it involves reforms only in marriage laws. Today Hindus and Muslims wear the same clothes; they have common food habits. India presents a picture of unity in diversity. Actually, some people are misleading the Muslims saying that if this is done, Muslims will have to don dhoti and instead of visiting a graveyard (kabristan) they will have to go to Hindu cremation grounds. This is all non-sense, unfortunate
What place do minorities enjoy in your Party?
A place of respect and honour like any Hindu.
What have you so far done to dispel the misgivings about BJP among minorities?
I have been assigned the duty to connect more and more minorities with the BJP. It is as difficult a matter as it is easy. It is a challenge too. Reason: Since the days of Nehru, a sustained campaign has been continuing to paint Jana Sangh and now BJP as anti-minority. This impression is now getting obliterated. We organized a Muslim Yuva Sammelan in 1997. Advaniji’s speech was very much appreciated there. We wish to turn the injustice that is being perpetrated against Muslims since the days of Congress into justice. Recently, we organized a rally at Kota (Rajasthan) where 20,000 Muslims participated. Morcha organized rallies against terrorism all over the country. Indo-US Deal is an attempt to enslave India. It is against Indians whether they are Hindus, Muslims or others.
Terrorism is a great threat to the country. This must be curbed at all costs. On this account, Muslims of the country, as a whole, should not be seen as suspects. They love the country and are patriots.
What should the majority and minority communities do to obliterate the distinction between the two to make India acquire one identity of Indians and Indians alone?
In the Muslim Yuva Sammelan we passed a resolution that cow-slaughter should be banned. Media ignored it. Darrul Uloom has also demanded its ban. Muslims need to come forward on this issue. Ram Mandir issue too should be solved amicably through understanding between the two communities.
We want that Afzal Guru should be hanged as per the verdict of the Supreme Court. The only problem is that we look at him as a terrorist and Congress-Lalu-Mulayam look at him as a Muslim. They look at terrorism through the prism of religion. It is the Congress and its friends who have put a question mark on the patriotism of Muslims. POTA should be revived. Section 302 IPC too is misused; should it also be abolished?
To what extent has the rise of terrorism, particularly the cross-border terrorism, impacted the life of Muslims in India?
I wish to make it clear that Pakistan is the enemy of Indian Muslims. Muslims in India are thriving unhindered. They have made the country proud with having Presidents, Chief Justices, Vice-Presidents, Governors, and made their name in every sphere including cricket and films. This Pakistan cannot digest. That is why it is conspiring against India. It is Pakistan and not Hindus who are enemies of Muslims. ISI is the mother of all troubles. If Pakistan had not been created, Hindus and Muslims would have progressed shoulder to shoulder. Although I accept the reality of Pakistan, yet as an Indian I stand for the concept of Akhand Bharat. If the Berlin wall can fall leading to unification of East and West Germany, India and Pakistan can also be one day united into one country.
What are the main reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim community, particularly women?
Congress which ruled over the country for about 50 years since independence is responsible for all the ills and problems facing the minorities, particularly Muslims. They have not allowed Muslims to join the national mainstream just to exploit them for votes.
How much weightage would you give to the fatwas of Deoband?
Day-today fatwas have no meaning. These should be issued only when necessary and should be for the benefit and progress of the community
What are your Minority Morcha’s immediate plans, particularly in view of the year-end elections in five State assemblies and then Lok Sabha elections in 2009?
The Muslim community is angry with Congress Party for all the ills facing it. It feels cheated. Muslims are making the country proud in every field. If Israel and Philistine could be at peace; if Sushri Mayawati can have friendship with Brahmins, why can’t BJP earn the faith and confidence of Muslims when it is their real benefactor? It is not something impossible.
We will mobilize the minority community by organizing large demonstrations, rallies and conferences. Three times in the past Shri Rajnath Singh has come to our conferences. Shri Advaniji too blessed our programmes. Shri Atalji is also with us. We plan to organize a massive Muslim rally in Delhi where we expect a congregation of 2 lakh Muslims to show that Muslims in India are with BJP.
Muslims have great faith in the clean and honest image of Advaniji. Under his leadership BJP will form a government at the Centre. This government will usher in all-round prosperity and progress of the minorities. ***
Personally I stand for Akhand Bharat
Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is a young two-time BJP MP with a broad, progressive outlook. He was yet to complete 32 when he became first a Minister of State and later elevated to Cabinet rank in NDA government at the Centre. From the start of his political career he is in the BJP. Presently, he is the President of BJP Minority Morcha Cell. Congress-Lalu-Mulayam are politically thriving on by creating divisions between Hindus and Muslims, he says. “If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business”. BJP is practicing an honest secularism and giving equal respect and honour to all communities, including Muslims, he maintains.
Amba Charan Vashishth had a detailed interview with him in Delhi in the last month. Excerpts:
What made you to join politics?
My original dream was to be a doctor or engineer. When I was in third class, I discovered that President and Prime Minister was the highest office in the country. Therefore, I got fascinated towards politics. Even otherwise, I had interest in politics from my school days. When in the eighth class I contested a school election, but lost by just one vote. I did my Matriculation in 1982 getting 87 percent marks. I wanted to join Aligarh Muslim University but we were hard up of money because we had lost our lands to the tillers. My mother said she would sell her ornaments to make me study higher. I revolted. I said I can remain uneducated, but not study with this money. I did my intermediate staying with my maternal uncle where I came in contact with Shri George Fernandes.
Why only BJP even when there is so much propaganda regarding its being anti-minorities?
In 1984 I came to Delhi in Pusa Polytechnic from where I received a diploma. Here I came in contact with Shri Suresh Srivastava who was connected with BJP. He told me in detail about BJP. He took me to BJP leader Shri Arif Beg. I took a dig at him: How is he in BJP being a Muslim? We waited for him. As he heralded I came to know he was coming after namaz. I myself was not used to it at that time. I got impressed.
Shri Arif Beg made me understand that BJP is a big party working for the welfare of Hindus/Muslims and if more and more Muslims associated with it, the Hindu-Muslim unity will get strengthened. The misunderstanding and misconception about BJP in the Muslim mind is because of lack of communication and false propaganda by vested interests who, for their political selfishness, do not wish that Hindus and Muslims should be one. We have to act as a bridge between the two communities, he told me.
From there started my association with BJP and I never looked back. I myself found that there was great false propaganda against BJP. As my association with the party grew deeper and longer, my dedication and commitment to the Party went on increasing. I found BJP was the only party that was truly and honestly secular while others were just paying a lip service just for community’s votes without doing anything for it. BJP, I found, entertained no ill-will against Muslims and all my misgivings were removed. If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business.
How did you scale up the ladder?
Then I came in contact with ABVP national president Shri Raj Kumar Bhatia and Sushri Uma Bharti. I worked in JNU. I became active in BJP Yuva Morcha. On December 4, 1997 I organised a Muslim Youth sammelan in Delhi which impressed both Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri Lal Krishna Advani. Atalji said if Shahnawaz could enter Parliament that would be good. I was made to contest against Syed Shahabuddin from Kishanganj whose 70 percent population is Muslim. Only Shri Sushil Modi had come for my election campaign. I was defeated by this stalwart by just six thousand votes. But I did not lose heart. I stuck to the constituency and worked hard. In 1999 Lok Sabha elections I defeated Mr Taslimuddin. My first speech in Lok Sabha was on Ayodhya. Atalji blessed me with an embrace. Advaniji and Georgeji also appreciated it.
Was your work and dedication rewarded?
Yes, very much. I was first made a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs. Later, I was given independent charge of Coal. Then, I was elevated to Cabinet rank with the Textile portfolio and later given the charge of Civil Aviation. I was made a member of the Central Election Committee in which I still continue. When Venkaiahji, Advaniji and Rajnathji became Party presidents, they made me the National Secretary. Now I have been made the President of the Minority Morcha. Rajnathji said, “It will send out a positive message and help the party reach out to minority communities”.
When some 'secular' leaders or some of your Muslim brothers call BJP 'communal', what feelings does it ignite in your mind?
I only laugh at their ignorance. They are living on misconceptions and only harming the cause of the community. I can say with confidence that no party is more secular than BJP. In fact, in India we have two kinds of secularism -- honest secularism and dishonest one. BJP is practicing the honest secularism. It is a false propaganda that BJP is opposed to minorities. The so-called secular parties are responsible for the present plight and sufferings of the Muslim community. Post-Godhra riots in Gujarat are an aberration under BJP rule. There have been numerous communal riots in Gujarat under successive Congress governments. During the past seven years, not a single case of communal riots has taken place in Gujarat. If the opposition criticizes Shri Modi for other things, it should also appreciate at least this achievement of his.
We do not make distinction between majority and minority. BJP Minority Morcha Cell shows that there is a place of honour for minorities in the Party.
Did you any time feel that you are a misfit in BJP?
No. Never. I did never feel any time that I am being discriminated against being a Muslim. In spite of my being quite young, I have always received place of honour and invited to every important party meeting, chintan bhaithaks in Goa and Mumbai.
What does religion mean to you?
For me rashtra dharma is supreme. Pitri dharma and matri dharma also come in the same category. Whether somebody recites his namaz or worships a god; it is a matter personal to him.
.
Crores of Muslims because of their love for the motherland decided to stay put in India after Partition and could not be lured into shifting to Pakistan just because of their religious affinity. Do you think they have assimilated themselves into the national mainstream?
Crores of Muslims because of their patriotism and love for India continued to live in their motherland despite partition of the country on communal lines. Those who accepted partition migrated to Pakistan. But our ancestors decided to stick to their soil. They preferred to throw their lot with their Hindu brethren than with others. That is why today we have a galaxy of Muslims who have brought laurels to the country -- Capt. Abdul Hamid, Capt. Hanifuddin, Sania Mirza, Zahir Khan, Irfan Khan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and many others.
How safe, in your view, are minorities in India, particularly in NDA or BJP-ruled States?
Minorities are safer in the BJP and NDA-ruled States than elsewhere. I want an open discussion on this issue. The condition of Muslims is very bad in the States of West Bengal and Assam while they are quite well off in Gujarat where Muslims have a higher per capita income than in other States.
How far, in your view, the abolition of Article 370 in the Constitution and Common Civil Code is going to adversely affect the interests of minorities, particularly Muslims?
If Article 370 had been scrapped, there would have been no Kashmir problem today. It even discriminates between a J&K Muslim and a Muslim in the rest of the country. Today people of Jammu-Kashmir can purchase property in Patna, but the people, including Muslims, of the rest of the country cannot in J&K. If Article 370 is removed, I would wish to have a house in Gulmarg area. Mr. Omar Abdullah says I am an Indian, but he speaks a different language in his State. Article 370 should be scrapped immediately.
I stand for a Common Civil Code. Actually, it involves reforms only in marriage laws. Today Hindus and Muslims wear the same clothes; they have common food habits. India presents a picture of unity in diversity. Actually, some people are misleading the Muslims saying that if this is done, Muslims will have to don dhoti and instead of visiting a graveyard (kabristan) they will have to go to Hindu cremation grounds. This is all non-sense, unfortunate
What place do minorities enjoy in your Party?
A place of respect and honour like any Hindu.
What have you so far done to dispel the misgivings about BJP among minorities?
I have been assigned the duty to connect more and more minorities with the BJP. It is as difficult a matter as it is easy. It is a challenge too. Reason: Since the days of Nehru, a sustained campaign has been continuing to paint Jana Sangh and now BJP as anti-minority. This impression is now getting obliterated. We organized a Muslim Yuva Sammelan in 1997. Advaniji’s speech was very much appreciated there. We wish to turn the injustice that is being perpetrated against Muslims since the days of Congress into justice. Recently, we organized a rally at Kota (Rajasthan) where 20,000 Muslims participated. Morcha organized rallies against terrorism all over the country. Indo-US Deal is an attempt to enslave India. It is against Indians whether they are Hindus, Muslims or others.
Terrorism is a great threat to the country. This must be curbed at all costs. On this account, Muslims of the country, as a whole, should not be seen as suspects. They love the country and are patriots.
What should the majority and minority communities do to obliterate the distinction between the two to make India acquire one identity of Indians and Indians alone?
In the Muslim Yuva Sammelan we passed a resolution that cow-slaughter should be banned. Media ignored it. Darrul Uloom has also demanded its ban. Muslims need to come forward on this issue. Ram Mandir issue too should be solved amicably through understanding between the two communities.
We want that Afzal Guru should be hanged as per the verdict of the Supreme Court. The only problem is that we look at him as a terrorist and Congress-Lalu-Mulayam look at him as a Muslim. They look at terrorism through the prism of religion. It is the Congress and its friends who have put a question mark on the patriotism of Muslims. POTA should be revived. Section 302 IPC too is misused; should it also be abolished?
To what extent has the rise of terrorism, particularly the cross-border terrorism, impacted the life of Muslims in India?
I wish to make it clear that Pakistan is the enemy of Indian Muslims. Muslims in India are thriving unhindered. They have made the country proud with having Presidents, Chief Justices, Vice-Presidents, Governors, and made their name in every sphere including cricket and films. This Pakistan cannot digest. That is why it is conspiring against India. It is Pakistan and not Hindus who are enemies of Muslims. ISI is the mother of all troubles. If Pakistan had not been created, Hindus and Muslims would have progressed shoulder to shoulder. Although I accept the reality of Pakistan, yet as an Indian I stand for the concept of Akhand Bharat. If the Berlin wall can fall leading to unification of East and West Germany, India and Pakistan can also be one day united into one country.
What are the main reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim community, particularly women?
Congress which ruled over the country for about 50 years since independence is responsible for all the ills and problems facing the minorities, particularly Muslims. They have not allowed Muslims to join the national mainstream just to exploit them for votes.
How much weightage would you give to the fatwas of Deoband?
Day-today fatwas have no meaning. These should be issued only when necessary and should be for the benefit and progress of the community
What are your Minority Morcha’s immediate plans, particularly in view of the year-end elections in five State assemblies and then Lok Sabha elections in 2009?
The Muslim community is angry with Congress Party for all the ills facing it. It feels cheated. Muslims are making the country proud in every field. If Israel and Philistine could be at peace; if Sushri Mayawati can have friendship with Brahmins, why can’t BJP earn the faith and confidence of Muslims when it is their real benefactor? It is not something impossible.
We will mobilize the minority community by organizing large demonstrations, rallies and conferences. Three times in the past Shri Rajnath Singh has come to our conferences. Shri Advaniji too blessed our programmes. Shri Atalji is also with us. We plan to organize a massive Muslim rally in Delhi where we expect a congregation of 2 lakh Muslims to show that Muslims in India are with BJP.
Muslims have great faith in the clean and honest image of Advaniji. Under his leadership BJP will form a government at the Centre. This government will usher in all-round prosperity and progress of the minorities. ***
‘Secularists’ dividing Hindus & Muslims: Shahnawaz
Personally I stand for Akhand Bharat
Shri Syed Shahnawaz Hussain is a young two-time BJP MP with a broad, progressive outlook. He was yet to complete 32 when he became first a Minister of State and later elevated to Cabinet rank in NDA government at the Centre. From the start of his political career he is in the BJP. Presently, he is the President of BJP Minority Morcha Cell. Congress-Lalu-Mulayam are politically thriving on by creating divisions between Hindus and Muslims, he says. “If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business”. BJP is practicing an honest secularism and giving equal respect and honour to all communities, including Muslims, he maintains.
Shri Amba Charan Vashishth had a detailed interview with him in Delhi in the last week of July. Excerpts:
What made you to join politics?
My original dream was to be a doctor or engineer. When I was in third class, I discovered that President and Prime Minister was the highest office in the country. Therefore, I got fascinated towards politics. Even otherwise, I had interest in politics from my school days. When in the eighth class I contested a school election, but lost by just one vote. I did my Matriculation in 1982 getting 87 percent marks. I wanted to join Aligarh Muslim University but we were hard up of money because we had lost our lands to the tillers. My mother said she would sell her ornaments to make me study higher. I revolted. I said I can remain uneducated, but not study with this money. I did my intermediate staying with my maternal uncle where I came in contact with Shri George Fernandes.
Why only BJP even when there is so much propaganda regarding its being anti-minorities?
In 1984 I came to Delhi in Pusa Polytechnic from where I received a diploma. Here I came in contact with Shri Suresh Srivastava who was connected with BJP. He told me in detail about BJP. He took me to BJP leader Shri Arif Beg. I took a dig at him: How is he in BJP being a Muslim? We waited for him. As he heralded I came to know he was coming after namaz. I myself was not used to it at that time. I got impressed.
Shri Arif Beg made me understand that BJP is a big party working for the welfare of Hindus/Muslims and if more and more Muslims associated with it, the Hindu-Muslim unity will get strengthened. The misunderstanding and misconception about BJP in the Muslim mind is because of lack of communication and false propaganda by vested interests who, for their political selfishness, do not wish that Hindus and Muslims should be one. We have to act as a bridge between the two communities, he told me.
From there started my association with BJP and I never looked back. I myself found that there was great false propaganda against BJP. As my association with the party grew deeper and longer, my dedication and commitment to the Party went on increasing. I found BJP was the only party that was truly and honestly secular while others were just paying a lip service just for community’s votes without doing anything for it. BJP, I found, entertained no ill-will against Muslims and all my misgivings were removed. If there was no misunderstanding between the two main communities, many leaders and political parties, I realized, would go out of political business.
How did you scale up the ladder?
Then I came in contact with ABVP national president Shri Raj Kumar Bhatia and Sushri Uma Bharti. I worked in JNU. I became active in BJP Yuva Morcha. On December 4, 1997 I organised a Muslim Youth sammelan in Delhi which impressed both Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri Lal Krishna Advani. Atalji said if Shahnawaz could enter Parliament that would be good. I was made to contest against Syed Shahabuddin from Kishanganj whose 70 percent population is Muslim. Only Shri Sushil Modi had come for my election campaign. I was defeated by this stalwart by just six thousand votes. But I did not lose heart. I stuck to the constituency and worked hard. In 1999 Lok Sabha elections I defeated Mr Taslimuddin. My first speech in Lok Sabha was on Ayodhya. Atalji blessed me with an embrace. Advaniji and Georgeji also appreciated it.
Was your work and dedication rewarded?
Yes, very much. I was first made a Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs. Later, I was given independent charge of Coal. Then, I was elevated to Cabinet rank with the Textile portfolio and later given the charge of Civil Aviation. I was made a member of the Central Election Committee in which I still continue. When Venkaiahji, Advaniji and Rajnathji became Party presidents, they made me the National Secretary. Now I have been made the President of the Minority Morcha. Rajnathji said, “It will send out a positive message and help the party reach out to minority communities”.
When some 'secular' leaders or some of your Muslim brothers call BJP 'communal', what feelings does it ignite in your mind?
I only laugh at their ignorance. They are living on misconceptions and only harming the cause of the community. I can say with confidence that no party is more secular than BJP. In fact, in India we have two kinds of secularism -- honest secularism and dishonest one. BJP is practicing the honest secularism. It is a false propaganda that BJP is opposed to minorities. The so-called secular parties are responsible for the present plight and sufferings of the Muslim community. Post-Godhra riots in Gujarat are an aberration under BJP rule. There have been numerous communal riots in Gujarat under successive Congress governments. During the past seven years, not a single case of communal riots has taken place in Gujarat. If the opposition criticizes Shri Modi for other things, it should also appreciate at least this achievement of his.
We do not make distinction between majority and minority. BJP Minority Morcha Cell shows that there is a place of honour for minorities in the Party.
Did you any time feel that you are a misfit in BJP?
No. Never. I did never feel any time that I am being discriminated against being a Muslim. In spite of my being quite young, I have always received place of honour and invited to every important party meeting, chintan bhaithaks in Goa and Mumbai.
What does religion mean to you?
For me rashtra dharma is supreme. Pitri dharma and matri dharma also come in the same category. Whether somebody recites his namaz or worships a god; it is a matter personal to him.
.
Crores of Muslims because of their love for the motherland decided to stay put in India after Partition and could not be lured into shifting to Pakistan just because of their religious affinity. Do you think they have assimilated themselves into the national mainstream?
Crores of Muslims because of their patriotism and love for India continued to live in their motherland despite partition of the country on communal lines. Those who accepted partition migrated to Pakistan. But our ancestors decided to stick to their soil. They preferred to throw their lot with their Hindu brethren than with others. That is why today we have a galaxy of Muslims who have brought laurels to the country -- Capt. Abdul Hamid, Capt. Hanifuddin, Sania Mirza, Zahir Khan, Irfan Khan, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and many others.
How safe, in your view, are minorities in India, particularly in NDA or BJP-ruled States?
Minorities are safer in the BJP and NDA-ruled States than elsewhere. I want an open discussion on this issue. The condition of Muslims is very bad in the States of West Bengal and Assam while they are quite well off in Gujarat where Muslims have a higher per capita income than in other States.
How far, in your view, the abolition of Article 370 in the Constitution and Common Civil Code is going to adversely affect the interests of minorities, particularly Muslims?
If Article 370 had been scrapped, there would have been no Kashmir problem today. It even discriminates between a J&K Muslim and a Muslim in the rest of the country. Today people of Jammu-Kashmir can purchase property in Patna, but the people, including Muslims, of the rest of the country cannot in J&K. If Article 370 is removed, I would wish to have a house in Gulmarg area. Mr. Omar Abdullah says I am an Indian, but he speaks a different language in his State. Article 370 should be scrapped immediately.
I stand for a Common Civil Code. Actually, it involves reforms only in marriage laws. Today Hindus and Muslims wear the same clothes; they have common food habits. India presents a picture of unity in diversity. Actually, some people are misleading the Muslims saying that if this is done, Muslims will have to don dhoti and instead of visiting a graveyard (kabristan) they will have to go to Hindu cremation grounds. This is all non-sense, unfortunate
What place do minorities enjoy in your Party?
A place of respect and honour like any Hindu.
What have you so far done to dispel the misgivings about BJP among minorities?
I have been assigned the duty to connect more and more minorities with the BJP. It is as difficult a matter as it is easy. It is a challenge too. Reason: Since the days of Nehru, a sustained campaign has been continuing to paint Jana Sangh and now BJP as anti-minority. This impression is now getting obliterated. We organized a Muslim Yuva Sammelan in 1997. Advaniji’s speech was very much appreciated there. We wish to turn the injustice that is being perpetrated against Muslims since the days of Congress into justice. Recently, we organized a rally at Kota (Rajasthan) where 20,000 Muslims participated. Morcha organized rallies against terrorism all over the country. Indo-US Deal is an attempt to enslave India. It is against Indians whether they are Hindus, Muslims or others.
Terrorism is a great threat to the country. This must be curbed at all costs. On this account, Muslims of the country, as a whole, should not be seen as suspects. They love the country and are patriots.
What should the majority and minority communities do to obliterate the distinction between the two to make India acquire one identity of Indians and Indians alone?
In the Muslim Yuva Sammelan we passed a resolution that cow-slaughter should be banned. Media ignored it. Darrul Uloom has also demanded its ban. Muslims need to come forward on this issue. Ram Mandir issue too should be solved amicably through understanding between the two communities.
We want that Afzal Guru should be hanged as per the verdict of the Supreme Court. The only problem is that we look at him as a terrorist and Congress-Lalu-Mulayam look at him as a Muslim. They look at terrorism through the prism of religion. It is the Congress and its friends who have put a question mark on the patriotism of Muslims. POTA should be revived. Section 302 IPC too is misused; should it also be abolished?
To what extent has the rise of terrorism, particularly the cross-border terrorism, impacted the life of Muslims in India?
I wish to make it clear that Pakistan is the enemy of Indian Muslims. Muslims in India are thriving unhindered. They have made the country proud with having Presidents, Chief Justices, Vice-Presidents, Governors, and made their name in every sphere including cricket and films. This Pakistan cannot digest. That is why it is conspiring against India. It is Pakistan and not Hindus who are enemies of Muslims. ISI is the mother of all troubles. If Pakistan had not been created, Hindus and Muslims would have progressed shoulder to shoulder. Although I accept the reality of Pakistan, yet as an Indian I stand for the concept of Akhand Bharat. If the Berlin wall can fall leading to unification of East and West Germany, India and Pakistan can also be one day united into one country.
What are the main reasons for the backwardness of the Muslim community, particularly women?
Congress which ruled over the country for about 50 years since independence is responsible for all the ills and problems facing the minorities, particularly Muslims. They have not allowed Muslims to join the national mainstream just to exploit them for votes.
How much weightage would you give to the fatwas of Deoband?
Day-today fatwas have no meaning. These should be issued only when necessary and should be for the benefit and progress of the community
What are your Minority Morcha’s immediate plans, particularly in view of the year-end elections in five State assemblies and then Lok Sabha elections in 2009?
The Muslim community is angry with Congress Party for all the ills facing it. It feels cheated. Muslims are making the country proud in every field. If Israel and Philistine could be at peace; if Sushri Mayawati can have friendship with Brahmins, why can’t BJP earn the faith and confidence of Muslims when it is their real benefactor? It is not something impossible.
We will mobilize the minority community by organizing large demonstrations, rallies and conferences. Three times in the past Shri Rajnath Singh has come to our conferences. Shri Advaniji too blessed our programmes. Shri Atalji is also with us. We plan to organize a massive Muslim rally in Delhi where we expect a congregation of 2 lakh Muslims to show that Muslims in India are with BJP.
Muslims have great faith in the clean and honest image of Advaniji. Under his leadership BJP will form a government at the Centre. This government will usher in all-round prosperity and progress of the minorities. ***
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