The curious and confusing case of JNU agitation

So after a gap of 3 years, I am writing a blog post. Coincidentally, my last post involved the same man at the centre of the storm that is blowing over JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University),  Afzal Guru. Now, as in my previous post, lets start with some background information on the events that have happened up till now.

A group of students on 9th Feb 2016, held an event on the JNU campus attended by representatives from most of JNU’s political outfits. The event, titled “The Country Without a Post Office”, had been organised to “stand in solidarity with the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their democratic right to self-determination” and, among other things, to protest the ‘judicial killing’ of Afzal Guru, who was hanged in 2013 after being convicted in the attack on Parliament in 2001.

The event soon turned into a scuffle between ABVP and Left organizations and anti India slogans were raised by some people. Arrests were made and the university instituted an enquiry as to how the event went ahead despite having cancelled permission for the event based on a complaint by ABVP.

Afzal Guru was hanged secretly on 9th Feb 2013 in Tihar jail and his body buried in the jail premises and denied to his family thereafter. The protests in JNU were essentially regarding this 'judicial killing' of Afzal Guru. How the people in JNU managed to get permission for an event which included a protest for the death of a terrorist still beats me. One day we might have this sort of protest for the death of Yakub Memon.

Anyway, moving on, a scuffle took place, arrests were made and media spotlight turned on the JNU like bees to honey. Among all this, doctored evidence as to who started the anti India slogans, doctored videos and doctored photos started doing the rounds. The media behaved irresponsibly and started media trials on 9 PM debates to sway public opinion based on the doctored evidence. When the case came up in court, the people who are responsible for upholding the law took the law into their own hands and beat up the 'accused' Kanhaiya Kumar for chanting anti India slogans while the police remained a mute spectator.

Among all that has happened so far, the main culprits have managed to evade police capture. It has been sufficiently established that Kanhaiya Kumar was not the culprit as all the evidence, as I have mentioned above, was doctored. So the question remains: WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ANTI INDIA SLOGANS?

The power of social media is such that it is easy to sway people these days. In India, the educated class even can be made to believe nonsensical stuff (like Tata Industries would not employ or provide job to anybody from JNU any more). Because of a few people, a prestigious institute has been maligned.

Its sad that the people who should have been most responsible in this crisis have been the most irresponsible viz. media persons and lawyers. As Ravish Kumar from NDTV rightly said, "The black screen is the face of media today."

It would be my urge(and if I may say so on behalf of all Indians) that the real perpetrators of events in JNU be caught and punished so that it may be established that Indians, while tolerant, have their limits.

Afzal Guru and the circus called Indian Politics

Before I start with this post, let me give a little background history to the uninitiated. On 13th December 2001, 5 terrorists infiltrated the Parliament house in a car, rammed it into then Vice President Krishan Kant's car, got out and started firing their weapons.In the ensuing firefight between the terrorists and security personnel, all 5 terrorists, 5 policemen, a parliament security guard and a gardener were killed.

Now to get started on this post. Afzal Guru, one of the chief conspirators of the attack(along with SAR Geelani who was subsequently acquitted and Shaukat Hussain who served 10 year rigorous imprisonment) was recently hanged after having been convicted and sentenced in 2002(more than 10 years!!!!!!!). He was tried on various counts including waging war against the Govt of India and criminal conspiracy to commit murder. It seemed that the Afzal Guru chapter was finally about to close. However this was just the beginning.

After his execution there has been a hue and cry by politicians in Kashmir and various so-called human rights organizations about how the system has been unfair to Afzal Guru. Politicians in Kashmir(including CM Omar Abdullah) have repeatedly asked the body of Afzal Guru to be returned to his family. The Tihar jail authorities and the Govt of India on their part have cited the jail manual to refuse this request time and again saying it could result in chaos and law and order problem in the state. The Human Rights Organizations are the biggest criminals in this episode saying he did not get a fair trial. Where were these so called Human Rights Organizations when people like Jessica Lall got murdered? Where were they when bodies of Indian soldiers were mutilated beyond recognition in Kargil? Did they fight for the Human rights for the victims of the Parliament attack? NO!!! But they would fight for the Human rights for people who are not human at all. They were all too happy when SAR Geelani was acquitted. People like Arundhati Roy thrive on the publicity they would get by fighting for these anti national elements. It is okay if there is insufficient evidence resulting in the acquittal of one person but not so if there is ample evidence to support the conviction and punishment of another. 

And then there are our great politicians from Kashmir like Mufti Mohammed Syed and Omar Abdullah by whose attitude it would seem that they would rather have Kashmir in Pakistan than India. Afzal Guru had himself admitted to having been trained in POK and harbored the terrorists. To the general public of India this is tantamount to treason and deserves nothing less than the capital punishment. But for our politicians vote bank politics comes ahead of the Nation itself. 

Afzal Guru was a terrorist who waged war against the country of his birth and the punishment he received was well deserved. Not just me but 78% people of this country(as per an India Today Poll in October 2006) think so.  

Yet another controversy by Kapil Sibal

The Congress seems to have an insatiable appetite for causing and being involved in controversies in its 2nd tenure. From 2G and CWG scams to petrol hikes, inflation and the Lokpal Bill, the Congress seems to enjoy being in controversies. Jokes apart, to me it seems the Congress is creating controversies so as to delay passing of important bills for as long as possible. They tried to pass a bill allowing FDI in retail which was vehemently opposed not just by the opposition but also by the Congress' own allies. Now they are trying to get Facebook and Google to screen content users post on social networking websites especially content "insulting" Congress leaders including but not limited to Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and the Gandhi scion, Ra(h)ul. For the uninitiated this is what has been going on:


http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/05/india-asks-google-facebook-others-to-screen-user-content/


So I ask this question to the government of India: Are you directly trying to curb our right to expression? Are you embarrassed so much that you cannot handle the truth which is being shared through social networking? So if I have discontent against the present political situation in India I cannot protest against it? My dear "Leaders" let me remind you one thing. The common people of India have always had patience and have learnt to live with corruption and in total apathy of the situation in this country. But remember, the tides can always turn in the opposite direction and now the patience of the people is wearing thin. If you try to curb the voice of the people it will only grow louder. Among all this there is a good news that Google has refused to remove content just because it is controversial.


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/Kapil-Sibal-warns-websites-Google-says-wont-remove-material-just-because-its-controversial/articleshow/11008985.cms


 I feel this country is no longer a democracy but is heading towards communism. Just like China.

Of Price Rise and an Incompetent Government

On reading this topic I was reminded of a very funny scene in 3 Idiots: "Bhindi 12 rupaye/kilo Gobi 10 ki" etc. However it is no laughing matter that in the last 21 months food inflation has been on the rise only and is showing no signs of cooling down.

 

Flawed government policies and rampant corruption are to blame for this. How do you explain that there are food surpluses in some parts of the country which are neither exported nor consumed by the local people and thus results in spoiling of the food grain? The government is not even trying to solve the supply side problems and is trying to curb the demand through the RBI by hiking the repo and reverse repo rates. RBI has hiked these rates 13 times in the last 21 months in a bid to increase EMIs on loans and suppress people's demand. How can the government expect that demand for foodgrains, vegetables, poultry and milk will reduce? It will only keep rising. In a country with a population of over 1.15 billion people and rising every minute how can you even expect that demand will slow down??Compounding the problems are the rising costs of fuel (read petrol). Petrol has been hiked by nearly 20 rupees in the last year and a half. Now another price rise of Rs 1.82/litre is on the cards. India is among the countries where petrol is most expensive ( Petrol is taxed heavily in India to meet the costs of different welfare programs). Does the government not realise that food inflation and fuel costs are linked??? 

Along with this we have some moronic characters in the cabinet who make foolish statements blaming the people for food inflation. A few days ago a minister in the UPA government commented that since the purchasing power has increased, people purchase more so that is why there is food inflation. Does this fool not realise that because of food inflation purchasing power is getting decreased as well? Is it supposed to mean that in this country the rich should get richer and the poor should get poorer? 

I am not going to go into the fact that Indian politicians have their ill earned wealth stashed in Swiss banks and that it should be brought back because everybody knows about it. But it is indeed time that the government realise the fact that hiking of RBI rates will not reduce inflation. The krishi yojnas should reach the farmer also not just be a name on the paper popularizing a certain GANDHI or a NEHRU. It is more or less confirmed that in 2014 UPA will not be returning to power considering the amount of controversies and scams the ministers have been involved in. But then is there anything better???

Food shortage and how the Congress government manages to get away(still)

These days it has become front page news that food inflation is on the rise and that the government is not doing anything about it.This oft repeated news has become so common nowadays that the common man has started ignoring it though they are all feeling the pinch.And all of the government's assurances that the food inflation will drop are falling flat.It is time for a reality check.
There was a record procurement of 609 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice last month and still  40% of the nation goes hungry and 46% of the children are malnourished.61000 tonnes of grain in Punjab,Haryana and elsewhere are rotting because of government agencies who have left the grain in the open,Despite these reports,what did the government do?Absolutely nothing.It merely acknowledged the fact and did nothing to store the surplus food grains or distribute it.The result is food inflation and a hungry nation.
Recently the Union Food ministry and FCI had suggested that 50 lakh tonnes of grain be released to the poorest districts.But the government quashed the proposal saying it would add 5000 crores INR to the food subsidy bill.
To keep its food bill low the government is now planning to define which section of people are poor. On one hand the government is spending several thousand crores of rupees on the Commonwealth games preparation for which is well behind schedule resulting in increased costs and yet it cannot feed the poor and the hungry saying there will be increase in the food subsidy bill. Its time the government gets its priorities right.

All 7 convicts in Bhopal gas case get bail

Trust the Indian judicial system to let people to get away with criminal negligence. All the 7 convicts of the Bhopal gas case have been granted bail.For 26 years the victims of the Bhopal gas tragedy have been waiting for    justice and it seems they have to keep waiting. Warren Anderson is still "absconding" in the United States of America.Nothing, absolutely nothing has been done by the Indian officials to extradite him for judicial purpose. Now comes this shocking announcement that the other 7 convicts- who in any case had been let off lightly with a 2 year jail term and a fine of around 1 lakh- have been let off on bail. 
These people are just making a mockery of the Indian judicial system.Common people sacrifice everything they have to get justice but the Indian judicial system is found wanting in all departments. Corruption is rampant. If  all this had happened in a zero tolerance judicial system these scumbags would have been given a life term and nothing less.And why is the media not reporting the news related to this tragedy???If this is the state of affairs of the Indian judicial system,then God help us.....

PM convenes crucial meet on Naxal menace

The Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh,will convene an emergency meeting today(18th May,2010) at 5 PM to discuss the growing threat of Naxal terror in the states of Andhra Pradesh,Jharkand,West Bengal , Orissa, Chattisgarh,Bihar,Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. This meeting has been convened at the request of P.Chidambaram after naxals blew up a bus carrying 50 people in the Dantewada district of Chattisgarh.

I have only one question to ask to the government. Why is the meeting being convened now? Could it not have been convened earlier when 76 CRPF jawans were massacred in Dantewada? What will it require to make the Government realize that the army now needs to be brought in to counter the ever growing threat of naxals? Innocent lives are being lost everyday.And all that the government (or for that matter the Opposition) does is to condemn the attacks.

The government is doing nothing but testing the patience of the common man.The Indian common man has a lot of patience but not unlimited.The day it snaps could be the day the government falls. Naxals must not be shown any mercy.If they kill one of us or our jawans we should kill 10 of them.You cannot expect a peace process with these murderers. Just launch a counter offensive against them that is so strong that the naxals will be completely wiped out completely.