Ramifications of the Spectrum Scam on National Security

Press Statement of

Selvi J JAYALALITHAA
General Secretary - AIADMK
Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu,

Leader of the Opposition - Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

During the last couple of months, the 2-G Spectrum Scam has hogged the media limelight. However, everybody has been more fascinated by the number of zeroes in 1,80,000 Crores, so much so that several of the more critical issues have gone unnoticed. It has been a classic case of missing the woods because of the trees!

The true ramifications of the Spectrum Scam are alarming.

They reach out far beyond the Rs 1,80,000 Crore rupees loss to the Nation. They actually impinge upon the Nation’s security in a big way and should be a cause for concern for every right-thinking, patriotic Indian. And looking beyond the case of financial irregularity, the perpetrators of this Himalayan scam and their backers should stand trial for treason.

A close look at just one of the companies that was given
a 2-G Spectrum licence at a ridiculously low rate gives frightening insights into a conspiracy by global forces inimical to the interests of the Indian Republic and reveals how the nation’s political leadership capitulated and fell into their honey trap motivated by the lure of lucre.

Let us take the instance of just one of the licence holding companies -- Swan Telecom.

Initially promoted by Reliance Communications and a rather nebulous entity called Tiger Traders Pvt Ltd, it later changed hands when RCom’s role became untenable as the new telecom policy did not permit one player to handle both CDMA and GSM services. In came Dynamix Balwa Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a Mumbai-based real estate firm and Delphi Investments Pvt Ltd, a Mauritius-based investment company. Thereafter, Swan Telecom, thanks to the then Union Telecom Minister A Raja’s skullduggery, picked up licences to operate mobile services in 13 of the 22 telecom districts of India at Rs 1,537 Crore rupees.

Within months of getting the licence – a mere sheet of paper – and before any tangible steps had been taken to roll out operations, Swan Telecom sold 45.37% of its stakes to the UAE-based telecom company, Etisalat for Rs 4,500 Crores. It was renamed Etisalat DB (Dynamix Balwa). 16% stakes were sold to the Chinese telecom giant, Huawei Technologies. Additionally, 5.27% (valued at Rs 380 Crores) of shares were handed over to Genex Exim Ventures Pvt Ltd, a Chennai-based letterpad company registered just 3 months earlier with a capital of Rs 1 lakh.

The real estate circles of Mumbai regard Shahid Balwa, one of the major share holders of Etisalat DB, as a front-man for the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the man behind the Mumbai blasts – a proclaimed offender and one widely held to be the most wanted terrorist in the world after Osama bin Laden! It was this suspected link that forced the Union Home Ministry to put an unusual rider that the main Indian promoter of Swan Telecom should not be on the board of directors of the company. Home Ministry sources said it suspected that one of the directors of the Dynamix Balwa Group was also a director of a Dawood Ibrahim firm. Interestingly, Kapil Sibal, the present Union Telecom Minister, as a lawyer, has also appeared in several cases on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim and his relatives. His brief as Telecom Minister therefore represents a clear conflict of interest.

The Etisalat group holds controlling stakes in Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (PTCL), a joint venture of the Government of Pakistan and Etisalat.

Both Etisalat UAE and PTCL have common Board members, many of whom are on the Board of the Indian company, Etisalat DB as well. How safe would be India’s telecommunication Spectrum in the hands of Etisalat? What is the guarantee that it would not be misused by a country like Pakistan, with whom India has fought two major wars since Independence, which is still carrying on a proxy war against India by encouraging cross-border terrorism and whose hatred for India is well known?

Huawei Technologies, the Chinese Telecom major, which now owns 16 percent of the erstwhile Swan Telecom, is a company founded and managed by Ren Zhengfei, a retired officer of the People’s Liberation Army of China, the army that fought the 1962 war against India and which is still masterminding intrusions into several border States of India.

The Indian Home Ministry had sought additional security-linked information, asking Etisalat whether it had mounted surveillance software on Blackberry services in the UAE last year, whether it had operations in Pakistan and Afghanistan and whether it had a technical tie-up with Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei. The Ministry had also expressed concern that Huawei has the capability to remotely manipulate the equipment it supplies to clients.

Genex Exim, the company that was started with a paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh and had Rs 380 Crores of equity allotted in Swan within 3 months, belongs to the ETA group which is very close to the Karunanidhi family right from the 1970s. It is through this group that the Karunanidhi family’s illicit funds are routed to various tax havens abroad.

After the 2-G scam hit media headlines, a panic-stricken Genex Exim relinquished its 5.37% stake at par (Rs 380 Crores) to Etisalat! This clearly gives room for the question as to why did it obtain stakes in the Telecom venture in the first place? And having done it, why did it quit, without making any profit and even before the venture had rolled out?

In short, Swan Telecom, one of the beneficiaries of Andimuthu Raja’s largesse at the cost of the Indian Nation, has simultaneously opened up India’s flanks to security threats from Pakistan, China and mafia don Dawood Ibrahim – all to satisfy the greed for money of the Karunanidhi family! The question now is no longer just one of causing a loss of Rs 1,80,000 Crores to India. It is a question of the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Indian Nation. What is strange is that though the Union Home Ministry is aware of most of these issues and has even raised objections at various stages, the Telecom Ministry under Raja had cleared all the deals! The Home Ministry maintained a stoic silence thereafter. Why? And on whose orders?

Kapil Sibal, instead of wasting time on verbal shenanigans, should immediately cancel all the 2-G licences illegitimately issued under a patently fraudulent deal. Telecommunication Spectrum is a precious national resource. It is something which should never fall into the hands of inimical powers as this could seriously undermine India’s security. The deafening silence and total inaction of the Union Government on these vital issues raises serious questions of the patriotic credentials of some of our national-level leaders.

J JAYALALITHAA

More on Netaji: Did Nehru suppress facts?

By Dr. Dipak Basu

After the publication of the article, ‘Was Stalin responsible for Netaji’s Death (Organiser, June 19, 2005), one of the readers Dr Hirendra Narayan Sankar has sent me his book ‘A, Homage to Netaji: A Commentary on his life & Activities’. There is some information which is very revealing.

When the Khosla Commission was appointed in 1970, Shyamlal Jain from Meerut gave his statements to the commission. He was asked by Nehru to come to Asif Ali’s residence with the typewriter on December 26, 1945. He was given a letter with a vague signature at its bottom. It had the following content:

“Netaji reached Darien in Manchuria at 1.30 pm on August 23, 1945, from Saigon by plane. The plane was a Japanese bomber. He had plenty of gold bars and ornaments with him. After disembarking, he ate banana and drank tea. He and four others, one of them a Japanese officer Shidei got into a jeep and went towards the Russian border. After about three hours, the jeep came back and gave the pilot instructions to fly back to Tokyo.”

Nehru asked Jain to type a letter to the then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee. The letter had the following content:

Dear Mr Attlee,

I understand from most reliable source that Stalin has allowed Subash Chandra Bose, your war criminal, to enter Russian territory. This is clear treachery and betrayal of faith by the Russians as Russia has been an ally of the British-Americans, which she should not have done. Please take care of it and do what you consider proper and fit.

Yours Sincerely,
Jawaharlal Nehru

On August 23, 1945 the home member of the Indian government, Sir R.F. Mudie prepared a report (ref: top Secret Letter no. 57 dated August 23 1945) as to how to handle Netaji. It was addressed to Sir E. Jenkins. The Viceroy submitted this report to the English Cabinet. ‘Russia may accept Bose under special circumstances. If that is the case, we shouldn’t demand him back was the Cabinet’s decision on this’. After consideration of this, the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee decided to let him remain where he was now. This decision was taken in 1945. It clearly indicates that he was alive even in October 1945.

In 1946, Nehru met Mountbatten in Singapore. On no occasion after this meeting, Nehru has been reported as praising the INA. He had agreed to the demand from the Indians in Singapore to place a wreath and flowers at Netaji’s memorial there, but withdrew quite dramatically at the 11th hour.

Hari Vishnu Kamath, MP, demanded a probe into Netaji’s disappearance in Parliament in 1952. Nehru didn’t agree to this at first ! (Ref; page 103, Annexure 21, Appendix I to Parliamentary Debates, Fifth Session 1952). When those who demanded the probe made amendments for a non-official commission under Dr Radhavinod Pal, who was one of the 11 Judges in the Tokyo trial of the Japanese war-time Prime Minister Tojo and his associates in 1948; all of a sudden, Nehru instituted the Shah Nawaz Commission on April 5, 1956! What is most interesting is that the commission was neither allowed to visit the place of accident nor did the government seek the permission of the Formosa government to do so.

In 1952, S.A.Aiyer, a senior government official and Nehru’s friend, visited Tokyo, after which he handed over a personal note to Nehru. The letter as it is, is given below: “This time I could gather a very important information. Col. Tada told me that after the end of the War when Japan surrendered, Terauchi took all responsibility to help Netaji and asked him (Tada) go to Kaka Bose (His Excellency Bose) and tell him to reach Russian territoryall help will be given to him. It was arranged that Chandra Bose will fly in the plane in which Shidei was going. General Shidei will look after Chandra Bose upto Dairen, and there after, he could fall back on his own resources to contact the Russians. The Japanese would announce to the would that Bose had disappeared from Dairen. That would absolve them of all responsibility in the eyes of the Allies.”

Guha claimed that Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others were aware of Netaji’s imprisonment in the erstwhile Soviet Union after World War II. But they did not want him to return to India, as it would wreck the government and the Congress party. He claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru, who had defended the INA leader, became a changed person and never spoke of that Army and Netaji after visiting Singapore in 1946 at the invitation of Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Nehru didn’t inform Parliament about this despite controversies for a long time. He didn’t even hand over, his own files on Netaji to the commission (Ref: Prime Minister’s Special File)

This is the official death certificate of Netaji issued by the Health and Hygiene Bureau in Formosa, where it was necessary to produce the death certificate for cremation: Person died-Ichiro Okura

Date of birth-1900 April 9

Cause of death-Cardiac arrest

Job-Soldier, temporary

Date of death-19 August 4:00 pm

Date of permission for cremation – 21August 1945

Date of cremation – 22August 1945

Person requesting for the cremation-Dr Thaneoshi Yoshimi;

The time of death in Habibur Rahman’s statements to different commissions vary between 5 pm August 18 to 12 am August 19, and not at all 19 August 4:00 pm!

Netaji was reported to be alive even after 1945 by the British intelligence from Teheran and Kabul quoting Russian embassy officials. This was even stated in the Shah Nawaz commission report (File No.10/Mis/ INA-pp 38, 39). Reports of the officers appointed by Mountbatten and McArthur, and the reports of BACIS (British American Counter Intelligence Service) have all completely discarded any possibility of such a plane crash happening. They all provided statements that Habibur Rahman hasn’t told the truth.

The statements by the INA officials, Japanese military officials, British intelligence reports, and The Top Secret Files published by the British government in 1976 all say, Netaji was alive in Soviet Russia.

The INA meeting in Kanpur from July 15 to 18, 1947 had requested Nehru to take the INA soldiers in the Indian army. Even Mohammad Ali Jinnah kept his word by posting the INA members in his army; but Nehru didn’t.

One of the three members in the Shah Nawaz commission was Netaji’s brother Suresh Chandra Bose. He didn’t agree to the report of the commission. He even wrote to Nehru that his brother didn’t reach Tailhoku; so he didn’t die there! Nehru wrote back to him; “There is no precise or direct proof of Netaji’s death”.

Netaji’s confidential personal assistant, E.Bhaskaran gave this statement before the Shah Nawaz commission about a letter by Netaji, addressed to John Thivi, administer in the Azad Hind government, written on August 17, 1945 at 3 am. The letter contains these words:

‘I am writing this letter, because I am going for a long journey. Who knows I won’t get into a plane accident.’

The British intelligence has reported that Nehru knew where Netaji was. Nehru took the foreign affairs portfolio himself and appointed none other than Vijayalakshmi Pandit as the ambassador to Russia! After her term was over Dr S. Radhakrishnan became the representative in Russia. Dr. Saroj Das in Calcutta University told his friend Dr R.C. Muzumdar that Radhakrishnan had told him that Netaji was in Russia. Radhakrishnan couldn’t come before the Khosla commission due to ill health and treatment in Madras.

Former Indian ambassador Dr Satyanarayana Sinha once met Goga, the son of Abani Mukherjee, the founder of the Communist Party of India, who told him that his father and Netaji were prisoners in adjacent cells in Siberia. He also told Sinha that Netaji had assumed the name ‘Khilsai Malang’ there. (Abani Mukherjee was the companion of Virendranath Chattopadhyay, who is the brother of Sarojini Naidu). Dr Sinha came back to India and reported this fresh news to Nehru. But to his great surprise and frustration, Sinha was unexpectedly scolded by Nehru and ever since, the relationship between the two deteriorated. Sinha has written this down in his book. He has even described this incident before the Khosla commission. There are more details on page 318 of Netaji Dead or Alive?’ by Samar Guha.

The Hindu, 25.07.1995 wrote,: “Prof. (Samar) Guha also wanted the Center to seek documents from Russia, Britain, Japan, and Taiwan. A fresh and thorough investigation is necessary. The Gorbachev regime has allowed access to secret documents under Glasnost. He claimed that Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and others were aware of Netaji’s imprisonment in the erstwhile Soviet Union after World War II. But they did not want him to return to India, as it would wreck the government and the Congress party. He claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru became a changed person and never spoke of the INA and Netaji after visiting Singapore in 1946 at the invitation of Lord Louis Mountbatten. The British authorities too had passed on vital information to the government of Clement Attlee about Netaji’s disappearance. But the government of India never took up the matter with the British Government.”

According to Prof. Purabi Roy of Jadavpur University, Netaji went to Manchuria from Singapore and was received in Manchuria by the Consul General of the Azad Hind Government’s consulate at Omsk city, Kato Kachu, on August 22-23,1945. “Kato Kachu was, according to Japanese researchers, actually an Indian. That name was an alias.”

Alexander Kolesnikov, a former major-general of the Warsaw Pact, who accessed the files in Paddolsk Military Archive, situated 40 km from Moscow in October 1996, says Josef Stalin, the General-Secretary of the CPSU, and his cabinet were considering various options to deal with Bose in 1946. During a meeting with an Indian Parliamentary delegation to the Russian Federation in 1996, he gave a written account of all his findings. The delegation, which included the late Chitta Basu and Sri Jayanta Roy of the Forward Bloc, brought the writing back to India. This account is the basis of the affidavit before the Mukherjee commission submitted by Prof. Purabi Roy of Jadavpur University who was sent as part of the Asiatic Society’s three- member team to the Oriental Institute, Moscow to study Indian documents from 1917-1947. Since Paddolsk was out of bounds for her being a foreigner, Kolesnikov was assigned the job. The affidavit of Prof. Purabi Roy is on the internet (www.hindustantime.com/news/specials/Netaji/purabi.htm).

(Dr.Dipak Basu, a Professor in International Economics, Nagasaki University, Japan)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&page=20&pid=96

1st Recognised Head of State of India- Netaji Subash

By Ayush

23rd January is Netaji’s Jayanti. He was born on January 23, 1897 in Cuttack, Orissa, One of the 14 children of a successful lawyer, Janakinath Bose, and his wife, Prabhavati Devi. A graduate of Kolkata’s Presidency College, he was subsequently sent by his father to England to prepare for entry into the prestigious Indian Civil Service.

Although he passed his ICS exam with flying colors, he jumped into the freedom struggle. Strongly influenced by Gandhi, Chittaranjan Das and the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, he joined the Indian National Congress and was jailed 11 times by the British between 1920 and 1941.

Netaji’s magnetic appeal aroused the youth of Bharat. For heroes to be made from the modern youth, Netaji’s escape from Bharat to Germany by land and to Japan through sea, strengthening the INA and the subsequent attack on the British army should be a must read for youngsters.

He was the first recognized Head of State of Independent India. The Provisional government of Free India was formed in 1943 and Netaji became Head. In its existence it received recognition from nine governments. They were: Japan, Burma, Croatia, Germany, the Philippines, Nanking China, Manchuto, Italy and Siam (Thailand).

This government was officially proclaimed in Singapore at a mass rally on 21 October 1943 where Netaji was unanimously elected as the Head of the State and the Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army. While taking the oath he said:

In the name of God, I take this sacred oath that to liberate India and the three hundred eighty million of my countrymen. I, Subhash Chandra Bose, will continue the sacred war of freedom till the last breath of my life. I shall remain always a servant of India, and to look after the welfare of three hundred eighty million of Indian brothers and sisters shall be for me my highest duty. Even after winning freedom, I will always be prepared to shed even the last drop of my blood for the preservation of India’s freedom.

The Provisional Government of Free India had five Ministers with Netaji as the Head of the State, Prime Minister and Minister for War and advisers representing the Indian communities in East Asia. The first momentous decision which the new government took was its declaration of war on Britain and the United States, which was decided on the night of 22-23 October.

The fact that the INA was able to capture Rangoon, Imphal and Andaman and Nicobar islands ( named as Shaheed & Swaraj) against the British army speaks volumes for the raw courage of Netaji. Very few know that the great war cry of ‘Jai Hind’ was given to the nation by Netaji.

The ‘Do or Die’ used by Gandhiji during the Quit India Movement of 1942, was given by Netaji.

Highlighting Bose’s real contribution late R.C. Majumdar writes,

“It seldom falls to the lot of a historian to have his views, differing radically from those generally accepted without demur, confirmed by such an unimpeachable authority. As far back as 1948 I wrote in an article that the contribution made by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose towards the achievement of freedom in 1947 was no less, and perhaps, far more important than that of Mahatma Gandhi…” The ‘unimpeachable authority’ he cited happens to be Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of Britain at the time of India’s Independence. As this is of fundamental importance, and Majumdar’s conclusion so greatly at variance with conventional history, it is worth placing it on record. (See Volume III, pp. 609-10). When B.P. Chakravarti was acting as Governor of West Bengal, Lord Attlee visited India and stayed as his guest for three days at the Raj Bhavan. Chakravarti asked Attlee about the real grounds for granting Independence to India. Specifically, his question was, when the Quit India movement lay in ruins years before 1947, what was the need for the British to leave in such a hurry. Attlee’s response is most illuminating and important for history. Here is the Governor’s account of what Attlee told him:

“In reply Attlee cited several reasons, the most important were the activities of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose which weakened the very foundation of the attachment of the Indian land and naval forces to the British Government. Towards the end, I asked Lord Attlee about the extent to which the British decision to quit India was influenced by Gandhi’s activities. On hearing this question Attlee’s lips widened in a smile of disdain and he uttered, slowly, putting emphasis on each single letter-”mi-ni-mal”.” ( Ref : Three-volume History of the Freedom Movement in India, Also courtesy N.S.Rajaram )

The Navy had already shown its first sign of revolts and it was the fear of mutiny by the Indian armed forces that forced the issue of freedom.

Being a contemporary, it is quite possible that Nehru considered Netaji as a competitor for the PM’s post, but in fact, Netaji had repeatedly and emphatically declared in his public speeches in East Asia that if the INA succeeded in liberating India he would toss over that freedom to the people and retire into spiritual oblivion;

…and yet Govt of Independent India suppressed the facts associated with Netaji and gave credence to his “death theory”.

Moving forward from his famous call” Give me blood, and I shall give you freedom” , we need to deliberate on how to “Live and Work for a stronger Bharat” and expose all the forces that have so far suppressed the history and have degraded the contribution of many of our national heroes like Netaji.

Rahul prefers to party as Kerala mourns its dead

courtesy : http://www.dailypioneer.com/311092/Rahul-prefers-to-party-as-Kerala-mourns-its-dead.html

Protest is fuming among Congress leaders and workers of Kerala against Rahul Gandhi for not visiting the site of the stampede at Pullumedu in Idukki district in which 102 Sabarimala pilgrims died despite the fact that he was staying at a place less than 200 km away from there when the disaster occurred on Friday night.

Rahul Gandhi had spent entire Saturday at Ambalappuzha, a temple town in Alappuzha district, attending a marriage function and at Kumarakom, where he savored Kerala’s ethnic cuisine and enjoyed flute and Ghazal concerts at a tourist resort. He had arrived in Kerala on Friday evening.

The allegation is that Rahul failed to visit the disaster site or the place where the bodies were taken to even when he was staying at a nearby place while all top political leaders, including octogenarian Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and septuagenarian Opposition leader Oommen Chandy were there leading the rescue and relief operations.

Finally, Rahul Gandhi decided to fly to Vandipperiyar, the town nearest to the accident site on Sunday morning reportedly following the insistence of PCC leaders including its president Ramesh Chennithala, allegedly with the hope of getting the entire media focus
on him, but he could not land there due to bad weather.

“I am ashamed to say this but Rahul’s behaviour was not something the people expected from Congress leaders. He should have rushed to Idukki from Alappuzha on Saturday morning itself,” said a Congress leader from Idukki district, who had spent the whole of Friday night and Saturday in relief work..

“He should have understood the seriousness of the situation. This was a national disaster. We have heard of Nero, who played fiddle when Rome burned. Rahul’s only difference is that he was enjoying flute instead of playing fiddle when 102 pilgrims were lying dead just a couple of kilometers away,” he fumed.

A section of Congressmen in Idukki expressed the suspicion that Rahul Gandhi had decided not to land at Vandipperiyar not because of fog and rain but after he was convinced that no activity related to the tragedy was going on there. “Even the last of the injured had left the place. Then why should he land there?” asked the leader from Idukki.

Congress leaders at Vandipperiyar and Kumily, where the autopsy on the bodies of the victims were done, said there was no excuse for Rahul Gandhi’s absence at the accident site. Also, they were not prepared to accept the argument that he had been in Kerala on a private visit.

“He had come for a marriage which was over by Saturday morning itself. I think even the people at the marriage would have praised him if he had cancelled that programme and rushed to Idukki to lead the relief works. Then he had enjoyed the whole day sightseeing and in the evening he was partying at a resort at Kumarakom. Simply, this is not Congress culture,” said a Congress leader.

Rahul Gandhi Parties when the Nation Mourns during Sabarimala and 26/11 tragedies

Rahul Gandhi Again proves that he does n't care for the lives of Indians. A person projected to be a future prime minister of India does have scant respect for the lives of Indians, if you go further he does n't care at all if they are Hindus.

We bring you two stories which showcases this attitude of him. Will he an Prime Minister of India? Does he deserve to lead this country?

This is what He responded to Sabarimala Tragedy where more than 100 Ayyappa devotees died in stampede while Rahul Gandhi was enjoying kerala cuisine and Ghazal Concerts.

Rahul prefers to party as Kerala mourns its dead

courtesy : http://www.dailypioneer.com/311092/Rahul-prefers-to-party-as-Kerala-mourns-its-dead.html





Protest is fuming among Congress leaders and workers of Kerala against Rahul Gandhi for not visiting the site of the stampede at Pullumedu in Idukki district in which 102 Sabarimala pilgrims died despite the fact that he was staying at a place less than 200 km away from there when the disaster occurred on Friday night.

Rahul Gandhi had spent entire Saturday at Ambalappuzha, a temple town in Alappuzha district, attending a marriage function and at Kumarakom, where he savored Kerala’s ethnic cuisine and enjoyed flute and Ghazal concerts at a tourist resort. He had arrived in Kerala on Friday evening.

The allegation is that Rahul failed to visit the disaster site or the place where the bodies were taken to even when he was staying at a nearby place while all top political leaders, including octogenarian Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan and septuagenarian Opposition leader Oommen Chandy were there leading the rescue and relief operations.

Finally, Rahul Gandhi decided to fly to Vandipperiyar, the town nearest to the accident site on Sunday morning reportedly following the insistence of PCC leaders including its president Ramesh Chennithala, allegedly with the hope of getting the entire media focus
on him, but he could not land there due to bad weather.

“I am ashamed to say this but Rahul’s behaviour was not something the people expected from Congress leaders. He should have rushed to Idukki from Alappuzha on Saturday morning itself,” said a Congress leader from Idukki district, who had spent the whole of Friday night and Saturday in relief work..

“He should have understood the seriousness of the situation. This was a national disaster. We have heard of Nero, who played fiddle when Rome burned. Rahul’s only difference is that he was enjoying flute instead of playing fiddle when 102 pilgrims were lying dead just a couple of kilometers away,” he fumed.

A section of Congressmen in Idukki expressed the suspicion that Rahul Gandhi had decided not to land at Vandipperiyar not because of fog and rain but after he was convinced that no activity related to the tragedy was going on there. “Even the last of the injured had left the place. Then why should he land there?” asked the leader from Idukki.

Congress leaders at Vandipperiyar and Kumily, where the autopsy on the bodies of the victims were done, said there was no excuse for Rahul Gandhi’s absence at the accident site. Also, they were not prepared to accept the argument that he had been in Kerala on a private visit.

“He had come for a marriage which was over by Saturday morning itself. I think even the people at the marriage would have praised him if he had cancelled that programme and rushed to Idukki to lead the relief works. Then he had enjoyed the whole day sightseeing and in the evening he was partying at a resort at Kumarakom. Simply, this is not Congress culture,” said a Congress leader.

Earlier - When Mumbai was burning Rahul Gandhi was drowned partying with his Page3 pals.

Rahul in party mood soon after Mumbai crisis

Courtesy : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/21442/LATEST%20HEADLINES/Rahul+in+party+mood+soon+after+Mumbai+crisis.html





Even before the tears of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s mother could dry up, Congress general secretary and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi went partying with his pals at a farmhouse on Delhi’s outskirts.

The Prince partied hard, till 5 in the morning, on Sunday at the ‘sangeet’ for the forthcoming wedding of Samir Sharma, his childhood friend. They were at a sprawling farmhouse at Radhey Mohan Chowk, the haven of people who lead charmed lives beyond Chhatarpur.

Just a day earlier, his sister Priyanka Vadra had caused a flutter by saying the late Indira Gandhi would have “made us very proud” by the way she would have reacted to the Mumbai terror strikes. Mumbai appeared to be far from her brother’s mind as he boogied at the farmhouse with Samir Sharma, US-based furniture designer son of Captain Satish Sharma, the late Rajiv Gandhi’s flying partner who nursed the First Family’s pocketborough, Rae Bareli, till Sonia Gandhi chose to contest from there in 2004.

The Prince seemed to be completely out of sync with the mood of the nation post-26/11. Since Wednesday night, officials have been cancelling parties they were meant to host and even restaurants called off special events.

Saturday night’s ‘sangeet’ was a lavish affair. It was hosted by Leena Musafir, sister of the woman with whom Samir is getting married, and her husband Inder. The party was attended by over 800 guests, including regulars at Page 3 dos. “When everyone is cancelling parties or just keeping them low-key, Rahul Gandhi had no business to be celebrating. His action makes us lose faith in future leaders,” said Ajay Bahl, a leading corporate lawyer who was trapped in the thick of the action on 26/11 at The Oberoi, Mumbai, but managed to escape with the help of the hotel staff.

The Gandhis, including Sonia Gandhi’s mother Paola Maino, were present in strength at the 2004 wedding of Samir’s sister, Sarika, who is married to actorturned- TV producer Rahul Bhatt. Sarika and Rahul now manage a television production house.

The two families may be very close — Captain Sharma and his wife, Sterre, were present throughout the very private wedding of Priyanka Gandhi and Robert Vadra — but the circumstances now are very different.

As a guest at the ‘sangeet’ remarked on the condition of anonymity, “We were all partying, but none of us is a public person. Rahul Gandhi, however, is. He must be more responsible in his social appearances.

Narendra Modi - Why do we need him as PM for India? - Part III

Narendra Modi - why do we need him for India?
By: Bandyopadhyay Arindam

Eminent writer-activist Mahasweta Devi, recently praised Gujarat, "I have been to Gujarat many times, especially during the 2002 communal killings. ..I was deeply impressed to see the strong work culture in Gujarat. The city and village roads are well-built, even the remotest villages have electricity and access to drinking water. I was especially impressed with the medical facilities in the panchayats and local-level health centers..." Comparing to the over 30 years of the communist Government rule in West Bengal, she summarizes, "...Not at all like West Bengal where, even now, villages and panchayat areas have hardly any electricity. The government"s so-called "swasthya pariseva" (healthcare service) is totally non-existent."

The recent Nano car episode is further proof of the difference between the governments of the two states.

Writes Prafull Goradia, "What is unique about Mr Modi is his governance by management and administration by objectives. Singapore under legendary Lee Kuan Yew was the pioneer in adopting this concept and conclusively proving its success. .. In Gujarat he has demonstrated a flair for statesmanship. The question is: Will he make himself available to the rest of the country."

The people of India are disillusioned with its politicians, to say the least. Even after 61 yrs of Independence, a vast section of the population still remains underprivileged, poor and illiterate. Big plans and tall promises are made at every election but are never implemented. Shortsighted policies meant for immediate gain, corruption, nepotism, manipulation of the system for personal benefit, lust for wealth and power and ugly vote bank policies are rampant and usual. Development for the mass is the least of the priorities. Virtues of honesty, integrity, wisdom, morality and nationalism are almost rare.

Even if there are a handful of honest and decent politicians, they either lack the vision or the assertiveness to implement a program or lack the raw nonchalant strength of character required to carry out a plan against odds.

In Narendra Modi, India has a politician with most required qualities to change the tide. It is not any exaggeration to say that, after his experience and experimentation with Gujarat, he probably has the answers to all the problems that the nation is facing today. He is not only the best choice but perhaps the only choice to lead the country.

The so called Gujarat model of development is nothing but the result of hard work of a visionary. There is no reason why it cannot be extended to the rest of India.

The latest worldwide craze of the new US President Barack Obama who perhaps, beside his image and his words, has few other achievements to back him is the latest example of how media can make a person. No such favor can be expected from the hostile Indian media in case of Modi. His every word and every move are scrutinized microscopically to find a fault that can be used against him. Even if the so called Hindutva poster boy demolishes temples for the sake of widening a road, the fake secular media will find fault in him and would fancy a battle and pit him against other Hindu organizations. One can imagine what they would do if he destroys a church or a mosque. It is ironic that the Indian Media which goes gaga over a small icon of Hanuman that reportedly Obama carries with him fails to acknowledge the dedication of Hanumanji that Modi carries in his heart. Thus other than a handful of protagonist it is likely that the Indian media will not support Narendra Modi.

Sure there will be opposition from other sides. Modi is the kind of personality who is bound to have overt or covert enemies. A lot of people will have a lot of undue privileges to lose and they are not expected to accept it willfully. Our self styled secularist, our opportunistic politicians, the folks who manage our national media, the activists who shed crocodile tears for the minorities will all fight till their last breath. A lot of national and possible international interests who would not like to see India to grow fast and become at par with developed nations will defy such a move.

Already some are alarmed, "The more Moditva grows, the more its opposite has to be strengthened.. Only the sudden removal of Narendra Modi can stop this."

But what will the Indian people want? We have to realize that collective candlelight based solidarity will not change the fate of our beloved nation. We have to demand the change with conviction. A revolution is required to save the country. We owe it to our past and we owe it to our future. Then there are other questions. Will Mr. Modi agree to step out of Gujarat? Will Mr. Advani be willing to sacrifice his long term dream? Will all the other leaders of BJP and its allies stand behind the person who can take this country and the party to an unprecedented zenith? Will good sense prevail in some of the other people in power today?

Will we, the people of India unite, despite all disagreements, with a single minded goal of taking our country forward and will we be willing to get above all possible reservations about the man and choose the only person who can lead us towards that glory.

Do we want that change?