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[malalawnews]

Rahul Gandhi’s verbal volley from Europe turns the tables on BJP-RSS

Rahul Gandhi during an interaction in London

This article was first published in the National Herald of India, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India.

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/rahul-gandhis-verbal-volley-from-europe-turns-the-tables-on-bjp-rss

What seems to be infuriating the defenders of the Modi doctrine most is the manner in which Rahul Gandhi has gone beyond Modi and targeted RSS directly. This has caught the BJP spokesmen off-guard

Democracy is supposed to be freedom from tyranny. But in today’s India it has become tyranny in the guise of democracy.

If Rahul Gandhi’s message during his event-packed tour of Germany and the United Kingdom can be summarised in a few short words, it is this.

After his high-impact presentations in Hamburg and Berlin, that the Congress president achieved his principle objective of sounding the bugle for the election season in India by telling the world that the Congress party was determined to fight with all its might to reverse the results of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Even while he was only part-way through his schedule of eight engagements in London - five on Friday and three more on Saturday, his trip to Europe already assumed the makings of being agenda-setting and perhaps even potentially game-changing.

In each of his interactions Rahul Gandhi sought to put forward his core thesis in front of the free world – that from 1947 to 2014 successive Indian governments, irrespective of the political ideologies that guided them, had pursued the goal of meeting people’s aspirations through secular and inclusive policies and programmes.

In contrast, he told whoever was willing to listen, since 2014 the Narendra Modi government was frog-marching the nation along a wholly autocratic track - by trampling on basic freedoms, stifling voices of dissent and seeking to force all sections of the population to accept and the RSS way of thinking.

Inevitably Rahul Gandhi’s verbal volley of ideas and allegations has provoked snarling protest back home in India from the ruling BJP and its mouthpieces in the media.

Rahul Gandhi’s speeches and statements were entirely about saving the country he loves from the clutches of dictators. The thread of his narrative was his optimism about India’s past and future. His criticism was directed only at the “poison being spread” by the present government

The initial reaction was to feign outrage that an Indian political leader should be so outspokenly critical from foreign soil. But this tactic was blunted when it was pointed out that Narendra Modi had frequently lambasted the Congress party during his numerous NRI rallies abroad.

The vitriol tongued Prime Minister has even been quoted as saying on foreign soil that he was “ashamed to be an Indian” because of the incompetence of past governments.

This also punctures the propaganda by pro-BJP spokesmen that the Congress leader was denigrating the country with his remarks. This cuts no ice outside the ruling party’s echo chambers - Rahul Gandhi’s speeches and statements were entirely about saving the country he loves from the clutches of dictators. The thread of his narrative was his optimism about India’s past and future. His criticism was directed only at the “poison being spread” by the present government to destroy the liberal ethos of the country.

What seems to be infuriating the defenders of the Modi doctrine most is the lethal manner in which Rahul Gandhi has gone beyond Modi and targeted the RSS directly. Even on the issue of demonetisation, he contended that it had been done at the behest of the Sangh chiefs.

Nobody has ever dared to say this before and the party spokesmen were caught off-guard and without an effective retort.

For a audience comprising western scholars and Indian expatriates, Rahul equating the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh mindset with the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology provided a new perspective from which to understand what Hindutva implied and involved.

Despite their fulminations and protestations,  Hindutva protagonists know full well that the comparison is not odious -  there is more than a kernel of commonality in the core thinking of the two organisations or movements as they describe themselves.

Rahul himself listed the historical and ideological similarities. The Brotherhood and the Sangh both suffer from tunnel vision when it comes to the perceived superiority of the religious community they represent and both stubbornly justify the means they adopt to achieve their ends.

The broad range of topics and issues raised by the Congress president has further hindered the efforts of his critics to discredit him instantaneously.  Selective quotes from his speeches and statements in Hamburg, Berlin and London have been used to pin him down on micro points - but the sheer volume and variety of his salvoes have made the task difficult for his distracters.

From continued Chinese intrusion in Doklam to the side-lining of the External Affairs Minister, from the bypassing of the Reserve Bank to attempts to weaken major institutions, from the failure to generate employment to the disruption of the informal economy,  from the contrast between the plight of the farmers, Dalits and minorities to the enrichment of a handful of elite business houses -  the fusillade of allegations unleashed by the Congress president has turned the tables on the BJP-RSS.

For the past five years and more, beginning well before the 2014 elections,  it was they who were firing a torrent of charges and it was the Congress and party leaders like Rahul and Manmohan Singh who were at the receiving end.

Now, it is Modi and his RSS mentors who are being bombarded by a bewildering barrage of bullets.

With his finger on the trigger is a young political leader who they had mocked to their heart’s delight and considerable malice too as inexperienced, ignorant, incapable and inarticulate.

Suddenly, the same young leader is speaking from eight different high-visibility platforms all in the space of four days – and proving that he is neither as inarticulate nor as empty-headed as they had projected.

The audiences in Germany and UK have been given new insights into the Indian reality – but more importantly a sizable section of voters in India will have taken note.

[malalawnews]

Rahul And Congress Can Win It Alone

The following is a translation of the original article written in Hindi that appeared on the front page of the Rashtradoot daily newspaper on India’s independence day:

http://epaper.rashtradoot.com/m5/1777026/RASHTRADOOT-JAIPUR/15august2018#page/1/1

Independence Day is as good a time as any to take stock of the state of the nation’s political parties and leaders.   With advance surveys predicting Congress victories in three Hindi belt States where assembly elections are due this year-end, it is safe to say that Narendra Modi’s bluff of a Congress-mukt Bharat has been well and truly exposed.

Indeed, the last nine months have a time of resurgence for the Congress party particularly since the close contest in last year’s Gujarat elections and the installation of Rahul Gandhi as the new president.  

Rahul himself has busted another myth – that he is an inarticulate political novice.   In his public speeches inside and outside Parliament he has shown he has the ability to make stinging verbal attacks when he wants to and with each passing week his oratory has only got better and better.  Another remarkable aspect of his leadership profile is his youthful energy and mobility - lately there has been virtually no newsworthy event, whether tragic or celebratory, where he has not been actively present.  

Prime Minister Modi on the other hand gives the impression of having lost some of his luster and bluster - his reply in Lok Sabha to the no-confidence motion was indisputably boring apart from being too long-winded.  Even his election rally speeches, especially during the Karnataka poll campaign, lacked the earlier ability to create a wave as was evident from the cold fact that the BJP is not in power in the State.

The weight of responsibility seems to have eroded his self-confidence at least to some extent, more so because of his government’s failure to deliver on the many rosy promises he had made four years ago.  Despite his propaganda team’s insistence that all is well and the promised achche din have arrived,  the reality on the ground is that the youth are jobless, the famers are agitated and the Dailt community is simmering with suppressed rage.

As things stand, that is the scenario on the occasion of the last Independence Day before the next general elections.  The ruling dispensation still firmly controls the levers of power with an iron hand – but the image of invincibility in a free and fair electoral contest is no longer a certainty.  

Sensing the increasing vulnerability of the BJP, the Opposition parties have begun to flex their muscles and to devise new strategies to prevent Modi getting a second term.  

However, the endeavour to forge a unified front, a maha gatbandhan, against the BJP and its NDA allies is proving more difficult in practice than in theory.  

Apart from the Congress, each of the other parties involved in the unity effort is regional or caste-based.   About the only glue that keeps them together is antipathy towards the RSS Hindutva ideology and to Modi’s authoritarian style of functioning.  

In some cases that antipathy is deep-rooted - as in the case of genuinely secular parties like Trinamool, RJD and the Left.  

In contrast, Chandrababu Naidu’s new-found aversion to Modi is barely skin-deep – till a few months ago his Telegu Desam was very much a part of the BJP-dominated NDA alliance.  

In Uttar Pradesh, both Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav are essentially leaders of caste-based political entities.   Their decision to join hands was as astonishing as it was sudden and is founded on purely arithmetical calculations and driven by the compulsions of political survival.  

There is no telling what the DMK under MK Stalin will decide in the post-Karunanidhi era.  Today, the Dravidian party is an integral part of the would-be maha gatbandhan – but that is largely because the rival Dravidian party is in Modi’s good books.  Tomorrow,  if the political climate changes,  it will surprise no one if the DMK joins the NDA just as Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) in Bihar did.  The late Kalaignar had developed a theory that it is essential for a regional party government in a State like Tamil Nadu to have a stake in the central government irrespective of whoever was in power.  The son is very likely to follow the teachings of his father,  whenever the situation arises.

The same line of thinking is behind Navin Patnaik’s equations with the Modi government.  Nine MPs of the Biju Janata Dal voted in favour of NDA nominee Harivansh Narayan Singh in the election to the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman.   The 18 or so BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha had earlier abstained from voting with other Opposition members in the no-confidence motion.  

That tells its own story.  The maha gatbandhan, if and when it becomes a reality, will be Minus BJD.    It will also be Minus TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) whose leader and Chief Minister K.  Chandrasekhar Rao has no intention whatsoever of joining any anti-BJP formation.

When illusions are shed, therefore,  it is easy to see that, apart from the Congress, the only genuinely anti-BJP parties in the proposed maha gatbandhan are the Trinamool Congress and the CPI-CPI(M).   Given that Mamata Banerjee and the Left are at daggers drawn in West Bengal, there is virtually no unity to be expected between those two adversaries.  

Even in the case of NCP in Maharashtra, there will always be the lurking suspicion that party supremo Sharad Pawar is only waiting to see if the Shiv Sena actually breaks ranks with the BJP and the moment that happens the NCP will fill the void in the NDA.  

In other words, Independence Day is as good a time as any for the Congress party to take stock of the real motives of potential friends and allies and also potential allies who might turn adversaries overnight.

On the road to the upcoming Assembly and Parliament elections, it is also the appropriate moment for the Congress and its youthful leader Rahul Gandhi to ponder deeply about long-term goals and objectives.

To tell the truth, the Congress does not need allies like TDP and TMC or even BSP and SP.   Alliances with regional parties are always counter-productive for national parties.   It stifles growth and demoralizes the local workers and leaders.  Above all, caste-based parties like the Bahujan Samaj and the Samajwadi are propelled by doctrines that are inherently contradictory to the all-embracing national vision of a party like the Congress.

Rahul Gandhi’s rapid evolution into a formidable political leader is unstoppable.  He has already demonstrated his potential.  He heads a grand old party whose ideological world view would only be hampered by alliances with sectarian or regional parties for short-term gains.  Age is on his side.   He can afford to wait.

In any case, the Congress is poised for a dramatic revival in 2019 even if it goes it alone and fields its own candidates in all or most of the constituencies.  

Ekla chalo would be the best bet for the coming Lok Sabha elections.  That would be a far better strategy than striking deals with other parties and leaders who are looking to use the Congress to further their own interests and ambitions. 

As the poet said:  

Meri shikast ke peeche hazaar chehre hain,

Har ek shakhs mera istemaal karta hai.  

[malalawnews]

Neither fear nor vanity prompted Sonia to decline office

File photo of Sonia Gandhi

Today, as Sonia Gandhi prepares to step down as INC president, the least her countrymen owe is an acknowledgement that her “Qurbani” was not an impulsive gesture. It was her sense of patriotism

The story of Sonia Gandhi has not quite been a fairytale. But then fairytales are predictable and sometimes monotonous. In real life, there is no such thing as “Happily Ever After”.

On December 9, 2017 she would be 71 years old and on the threshold of yet another momentous turning point in her life. After 19 unbroken years as the President of the oldest political party of the world’s largest democracy, she would be voluntarily stepping down and handing over the baton to her successor.

At a personal level, she will undoubtedly be overwhelmed by a wave of indescribably complex and profound emotions as she looks back at her two decades at the helm of the Congress party – and at the three decades before that, starting from the day she became the wife of Rajiv Gandhi and the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi back in 1968.

The fairytale script of her idyllic existence was shattered for the first time on that fateful morning of October 31, 1984, when she cradled her mother-in-law’s blood-drenched body on her lap on the way to the hospital.

The second devastating calamity that snuffed out all hopes of a happily-ever-after ending to her personal life story took place less than seven years later, on May 21, 1991, when her husband’s body was brought back from Sriperumbudur, 2000 kilometers away. Sonia Gandhi was suddenly adrift and bereft, with only a 21-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter to cling to in grief-stricken emptiness.

Nobody really knows what nightmares and traumas she went through over the next few years or how she groomed and guided her children during those difficult times.

But there is a saying that “something devastating can always be transformed into something remarkable, if you choose to find that one positive in a nest of negatives”.

So it was with Sonia Gandhi. For six years she chose to stay away from politics and rebuffed offers of a leadership role in the party. Then in 1997, at the age of 51, she took a momentous decision that would have far-reaching ramifications for the Congress Party, for herself and her own family members and indeed for the history of modern India.

Sonia Gandhi enrolled as a primary member of the party at its Calcutta Plenary Session and, a year later in 1998, was elected President of the Congress Party amidst controversy over the party’s electoral defeat under Sitaram Kesri.

In 1999, with the installation of a BJP-led government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Sonia Gandhi was elected the Leader of the Opposition of the 13th Lok Sabha. After five years on the Opposition benches, she led the party to power in 2004, with the support of a United Progressive Alliance coalition of ten Centre-Left parties.

Then came May 18, 2004, and one of the most poignant episodes in the annals of Indian politics. It was an utterly un-expected “Qurbani Mom-ent”, when the nation and the world watched with amazement as Sonia Gandhi declined to become Prime Minister of India.

The elections were over, Vajpayee’s BJP had been defeated and the Congress-led UPA was poised to form a coalition government. Sonia Gandhi had been widely expected to become the country’s second woman Prime Minister, and the formalities of being duly chosen by the party’s working committee had been completed.

But she stunned her supporters and adversaries alike by declining to take up the post. She told her newly-elected party MPs, many of whom were weeping in disbelief and disappointment: “The post of prime minister has not been my aim. I was always certain that, if ever I found myself in the position I am in today, I would follow my inner voice. I humbly decline the post.”

Her announcement triggered clamorous scenes with cries and entreaties that she should change her mind. Her response was firm: “I request that you accept my decision. I cannot reconsider. It is my inner voice, my conscience. My responsibility at this critical time is to provide India with a secular government that is strong and stable”.

Political analysts and adversaries have viewed this in various ways, each according to his or her perceptions and political predilections. Some have described it as a sublime sacrifice, rare in public life. Others have tried to seek hidden motives or lack of self-confidence.

Most have preferred to underplay the significance of the decision or to gloss over the episode entirely, erasing it from public memory as it were. But history could well judge it as an act of courage, not cowardice. It provided a glimpse of Sonia Gandhi’s character. The “inner voice” that influenced her decision was her conscience, her sense of duty.

Sometimes in life, you do things you don’t want to. Sometimes you sacrifice, sometimes you compromise. Sometimes you let go and sometimes you fight. It’s all about deciding what’s worth losing and what’s worth keeping.

As learned philosophers have told us, it is not hard to decide what you want your life to be about. What is hard, is figuring out what you are willing to give up, in order to do things you really care about.

Today, as she prepares to step down as President of the Congress party, the very least her countrymen owe is an acknowledgement that her “Qurbani” was not an impulsive gesture born out of fear or vanity. It was her sense of patriotism, deeply instilled political education imparted by her husband Rajiv Gandhi and above all her mother-in-law Indira Gandhi. Sonia Gandhi instinctively knew what was worth losing and what was worth keeping. She had figured out what she was willing to give up, so that she could do the things she really cared about the most. That is what half a century of breathing the spirit of India teaches you.

Article first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of the world’s largest democracy:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/neither-fear-nor-vanity-prompted-sonia-to-decline-office

[malalawnews]

2019 Polls: RSS unhappy with Narendra Modi’s single-personality cult

File photo of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat (second from right) with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh (second from left)

Revelations in a forthcoming book indicate that the RSS leadership is wrestling with a deep dilemma on whether to continue to support the BJP led by Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha elections

Days before it is to be formally released on August 17, an authoritative new book ‘RSS: A view to the Inside’ on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is already stirring up a storm within the extended Sangh Parivar, both in India and abroad.

The book’s co-author is Walter Andersen, a distinguished American scholar and political scientist who has been closely monitoring the growth of the RSS for more than 40 years and whose first book ‘The Brotherhood In Saffron: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism’ published as far back as 1987 is widely regarded as the most detailed examination of the RSS, tracing its early growth in the pre-Independence period, its organisational structure and the evolution of its ideology.

Even before that, Andersen, who at one time was the head of the US State Department’s South Asia Division, had made his mark as an RSS-watcher by writing an in-depth four-part series of articles on the Sangh in the Economic and Political Weekly in 1972.

With such credentials, Andersen’s forthcoming book is bound to be taken seriously.  He and his co-author,  Shridhar Damle (who also jointly wrote the 1987 book) are currently on a pre-release book tour in India and are giving a series of interviews and talks to promote the book.

True to its name, RSS: A view to the Inside’, published by Penguin, provides a deep insight into the thinking of the RSS in the current political situation—an insight which is already causing a great deal of consternation and churning in political, academic and social circles.  Many of the revelations are startling and brutally frank,  indicating that the Sangh leadership is currently wrestling with a deep dilemma—about whether the RSS should continue to support the Bharatiya Janata Party led by Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The new book categorically asserts that the RSS cadres will not be involved in the 2019 election campaign with the same intensity as in 2014

The authors have come out with several other eye-opening assertions in the course of their deep dive into the inner workings and compulsions of the Sangh, which has rapidly grown into a mammoth organisation in recent years and is driven by priorities that are often in conflict with the political ambitions of the BJP and the socio-economic policies of the Modi government.

The new book categorically asserts that the RSS cadres will not be involved in the 2019 election campaign with the same intensity as in 2014.  As Shridhar Damle said in a recent book promotion discussion:“RSS leaders feel deeply hurt by the high-handedness of the political leadership of the BJP.  They have typically been suspicious of single-personality cults. Mohan Bhagwat himself has on several occasions hinted that there is a growing cult for Narendra Modi and it’s not a good thing. It’s not that he’s against Modi but he’s against the idea of a cult. These are things one could keep in mind”.

According to Walter Andersen: “RSS also has suspicion about the ‘deep state’ or the bureaucracy. The ‘deep state’ has in many ways been a danger to it. I met someone from the RSS whom I have known for a long time. He was deeply suspicious of all governments, including this one. There is in the RSS a strain of skepticism of any government, including this one”.

The authors say: “We were told by senior BJP-RSS leaders that the RSS has participated in the elections only twice in history—first time after 1977 and then in 2014. In 2014 it was not for Modi, he is a by-product of the 2014 election”.

According to the authors, the RSS top leadership has “learnt from their mistakes during the Vajpayee government. Now again there is disquiet about Modi.  Former sarsanghchalak Sudarshan was open and upset about the choices made by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and how that government behaved. For instance, he was against the appointment of Brajesh Misra as the then National Security Advisor. He was most upset with the failure of LK Advani to negotiate the release of four RSS pracharaks who were abducted and killed in Bangladesh. In West Bengal, RSS cadres openly state they would not have worked for the BJP if Advani had become a candidate for the prime ministerial post in 2014.  That is how Modi came into the picture.

The RSS feels that the Modi government has become too attracted to power and is pursuing various ‘isms’ that are contrary to RSS thinking

Andersen feels the RSS is worried about becoming too aligned with the BJP and losing its own credibility.  It also has mixed views of the Modi government’s performance so far. On the issue of foreign investment, the Modi government wants FDI because it hopes to create more jobs and more jobs will help the BJP to remain in power.  But there is a strong sentiment against the idea of FDI because it ultimately undermines the traditional indigenous economy.

Mohan Bhagwat has been quite critical especially in his major public statements, including the Vijayadashami speeches. The criticism is against personality cult and it is also about economic issues. The RSS feels that the Modi government has become too attracted to power and is pursuing various ‘isms’ that are contrary to RSS thinking.

The replacement of the Planning Commission with Niti Aayog is a case in point.  There is a feeling in the Sangh that the Aayog economists are too enamoured with theories that have been developed and are applicable only to the West, but are not suitable to Indian conditions and requirements.

The dilemma it faces is whether the Sangh should throw its full weight behind the saffron political party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Shridhar Damle has come to the conclusion that the RSS is unlikely to repeat its cadre mobilisation on the same scale as in 2014. However, pracharaks will not be prevented from helping the BJP if they want to in various regions and states. The new book elaborates on these core issues.

Because of their reputation, the co-authors were able to gain unprecedented access into the innermost zones of the Sangh.  With academic research and with the help of case studies, the book explores the evolution of the Sangh into its present form, its relationship with the ruling party, the BJP, their overseas affiliates and so much more.

This article was first published in the National Herald of India, a daily newspaper founded by the first and revolutionary Prime Minister of the largest democracy in human history:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/rss-unhappy-with-narendra-modis-single-personality-cult

[malalawnews]

With Rahul as Congress President, let my country awake

Rahul Gandhi, the newly elected president of Congress, at The Doon School

Modi may well realize that his biggest mistake was to sadistically keep kicking a young man (Rahul) who was already down after the 2014 elections

Rahul Gandhi’s acceptance speech on taking over as the new Congress president has shattered some myths and misconceptions about his leadership qualities. It was unconventional, hard-hitting and a direct call to action from a new-generation politician taking on the reins of the grand old party that is badly in need of new ideas, new energy, new workers and a new style of politics.

During his high-voltage Gujarat election campaign, Rahul Gandhi had already proved his critics wrong on several counts. They had been misled by his quiet demeanour and in-born civility into assuming that he would be a political pushover who could be mocked, bullied and ridiculed. They had mistaken his lack of bluster and braggadocio for lack of self-confidence, disinclination for the hurly-burly of public life and even cowardice.

Over the past four years, the BJP, its army of paid social media attackers and a willful media had relentlessly and mercilessly portrayed him as an ignorant and incompetent tongue-tied novice.

The newly-installed chief of the country’s oldest political party has broken free from that false image relentlessly built by his adversities. It could have been permanently crippling if he had succumbed to the vicious attacks. Instead he has, with his fighting spirit and vigorous statement of intent, showed how wrong they were, are and will be in the coming months and years.

Narendra Modi wanted an India devoid of Congress, a national arena for himself without strong opposition and with unfettered power to decimate all criticism of his dangerous and delirious concept of “democratic despotism”.

Instead, he finds himself confronted by a resurrected Congress party led by a rejuvenated young political aristocrat challenging his much-trumpeted dominance, in his own backyard in Gujarat. In retrospect, Modi may well realize that his biggest mistake was to sadistically keep kicking a young man who was already down after the 2014 elections.

It is valid to wonder whether Rahul Gandhi would have, on the very day of his elevation as party chief, made mention of Modi in the clinical manner he did, had it not been for the soul-crushing taunts and jibes he was subjected to without respite by the Prime Minister personally on a day-to-day basis.

One has only to take note of some of Rahul’s stark statements - “Today politics is being used to crush the people.… They attack the Congress and try to weaken us… Their power is manipulative and distortive …We are made to believe that only one man is strong …. Everything is subservient to one leader, his personal image”.

Seen in the context of the outgoing Congress president’s pointed remarks in her farewell address, these assume greater significance -- “Rahul is my son. I don’t find it appropriate to praise him. But I can tell you this. From childhood, he adopted ahimsa. The most horrific attacks on him and the violence he has experienced have made him more fearless”.

The truth is that the country needs a fearless leader. India under Modi is being torn apart. Re-uniting people is the main mission facing Rahul Gandhi. He has to do so along secular lines, ignoring the venomous distortion of history and the vile distinction being drawn between those of supposedly of pre-Aryan invasion descent and the progeny of the Mughal and British eras.

Patriotism is not the birthright of descendants of only one set of invaders and migrants. India is a cradle of civilization, a crucible of cultures. Her citizens hail from many far-off lands and share a cherished belief that the whole world is one family, Vishwa Kutumbakam. No one has a right to claim the ownership of India.

Rahul Gandhi is himself a living embodiment of this reality. His forebears have been Pandits, Catholics, Parsis, et al. To heal the deep wounds already inflicted by the pernicious Hinduvta philosophy in the short span of Modi rule, India is in dire need for a leader who represents all faiths and who genuinely believes that all citizens have a right to live without fear and greed, regardless of race and religion.

His historic mission is to lay down the ground stone or Aadharshila of a strong and united India that provides social as well as psychological security to all its citizens and thereby earns the admiration and respect of the international community.

His primary task is to reverse the process of the disintegration of the country that is being engineered by the convoluted thinking of the present government with maniacal and menacing resolve. The social policies of RSS are tearing the country apart. The desh-drohi mindset within the BJP is ripping India apart like no other invaders had succeeded in doing.

It is a Himalayan challenge. But now that he has risen like a Phoenix after 13 years of political apprenticeship, overcoming soul crushing family tragedies and personal vilification, he needs to live up to the expectations of the people who are looking at his youthful face to get the feel of real freedom, which has somehow been lost along the way.

But to succeed, Rahul Gandhi will have to take certain hard decisions. And face some hard truths. If the Congress party is today at rock bottom in terms of mass support, it is primarily because of the lofty assumption that makeshift alliances with regional parties and marriages of convenience with other opposition groups is good for the Congress. It is not.

There is no short-cut to revival of the party. There is no easy route back to power. Formation of motley, multiparty coalition governments have invariably proved to be historic blunders – they culminate only in ineffectual policy compromises and shifting of the support base in favour of regional players and splinter groups.

It will be a controversial path to choose and make the climb back to power for the Congress more difficult than it already is. Even If the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are too close at hand to take a firm decision to go it alone, sooner or later Ekla Chalo has to be Rahul Gandhi’s theme song.

It is not as if the Congress party is bereft of leaders, young and old. There are brilliant young people, with the background, the education, the experience and the will to lift the party and the country out of the present rot. They belong to different states and represent different communities and faiths and they are eagerly straining at the leash to prove their mettle to broaden the base of the party.

But that can happen only if the new Congress President decides to contest the majority of seats in all corners of the country, instead of provisional seat-sharing arrangements, short-duration gatbandhans and grudging giveaways. Playing second fiddle to regional parties will be tantamount to losing the race before crossing the start line.

Rahul Gandhi has inherited a wealth of good programmes and polices. They encompass virtually the entire gamut of people-centric and development-oriented model of governance – from food security, farmers’ welfare, social security for minorities, rural employment, healthcare and education to infrastructure projects, region-specific schemes, digitalization and scientific advance.

Rahul Gandhi has the agenda and the vision to build a strong India. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. As Rabindranath Tagore said - “Into that heaven of freedom, let my country awake!”

Article first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister to the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/with-rahul-as-congress-president-let-my-country-awake

[malalawnews]

Modi’s Surpanakha jibe is no laughing matter for a worried BJP-RSS

Photo by Ravi Choudhary/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The last thing the Modi govt wants at this juncture, with just a year to go before next Lok Sabha elections, is for the PM himself to be labelled as having made insensitive remarks against a woman MP

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Renuka Chowdhury episode, what the BJP leadership fears the most is being labeled as a male-dominated party with a gender bias against the fairer sex. The last thing the Modi government needs in election season is to be called “anti-women”.

The misogynist tag is indeed the Sangh Parivar’s biggest weak point. The Congress is well aware of this. Just a week ago in Shillong, party president Rahul Gandhi focused on just this while addressing students of one of Meghalaya’s premier institutions, Saint Edmund’s College: “The RSS does not believe in women's rights. Does anyone know how many leadership positions are with women in RSS? Zero. They give all power to men because they believe in a male-dominated society where women can be dominated without fear”.

It was not just a passing remark—Rahul dwelt at length on the theme. He said: “The entire RSS mindset is aimed at disempowering women and excluding them from positions of power. Just see any photograph of Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief. Have you ever seen any woman in the picture? No. He is always either alone or surrounded by men”.

He added: "In Indian society, women have always had a very special place, they had a very large space. Since ancient times, women have played a crucial role in decision-making and have been extolled in history and literature. However, the Sangh Parivar does not believe in women's rights. Our Prime Minister has been deeply groomed in that mindset. His own life is an example of that. All his slogans like ‘Beti Padhao’ are only political catchphrases which he neither believes in nor practices in his own life”.

File photo of Renuka Chowdhury

File photo of women members of RSS-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh trade union protesting against the “anti-labour policies” of the BJP-led government. The main demands of the workers included equal work for equal pay

The BJP and RSS analysts have been studying such speeches with increasing anxiety. Earlier this week, at a Sangh brainstorming session, when an assessment was made about likely Congress strategies under Rahul, one of the observations arrived at was that, along with describing the Modi government as anti-farmer and anti-Dalit, the Congress would harp on BJP’s gender bias.

Incidentally, the brainstorming session also noted with concern certain “unfair and unnecessary” comments in the latest Economic Survey document regarding the plight of female labour in the country. Although the cover pages of the Survey were coloured pink, as a symbol of support for women’s empowerment, the Chief Economic Advisor had (in the opinion of the RSS thinkers) needlessly harped on issues like “lower participation of women in economic activities adversely affecting the growth potential of the economy”.

There was irritation that Arvind Subramanian had even gone to the extent of revealing that “women workers are the most disadvantaged in the labour market, as they constitute a very high proportion among the low-skilled informal worker category, and are engaged in low-productivity and low-paying work”.

It was noted that many newspapers in the country had highlighted this portion of the Survey with headlines emphasising that women are most disadvantaged under the Modi government.

Earlier this week, at a Sangh brainstorming session, when an assessment was made about likely Congress strategies under Rahul, one of the observations arrived at was that, along with describing the Modi government as anti-farmer and anti-Dalit, the Congress would harp on BJP’s gender bias.

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh’s plans worrying for BJP-RSS

What was worse, in the eyes of the Sangh analysts, was that one of the RSS’s own front organisations, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), has become over-enthusiastic in trying to champion the cause of female labourers.

Particularly infuriating for the parent organisation was the fact that the BMS had even issued a public statement criticising the Finance Minister for this year’s Budget speech, in which he announced a cut in women employees’ contribution to EPF from 12% to 8% for startup enterprises.

BMS president Saji Narayanan was frowned upon for his logic that “a cut in EPF deduction will lead to increase in take-home salary of women; and this will result in a drastic reduction of 16% in their future EPF savings when they leave their establishment” Hence, according to the BMS head, “this is not a welcome step”.

Both BJP and RSS are in any case annoyed with BMS for frequently adopting an anti-Modi posture and creating hurdles in the way of labour reforms. The BMS has indeed already given a call for a nationwide agitation on February 20 to protest against the "anti-labour policies" of the Modi government. Not only that, the RSS-affiliated trade union is also threatening to boycott the Indian Labour Conference which is to be held in the last week of February and will be addressed by the Prime Minister himself.

The 46th Labour Conference is being held after a gap of three years and is being seen by the government as a launching pad to push through long-delayed labour reforms, including hire-and-fire policies, without which foreign investors are unwilling to set up manufacturing facilities in India.

Instead of helping the government, the BMS is launching a massive “resistance movement”, dubbing the central government as “anti-labour and anti-women”. The irony is that thousands of RSS swayamsewaks have been roped in to stage “Black Day” dharnas outside the venue of the Labour Conference in New Delhi on February 26, and, before that, to hold countrywide factory-gate demonstrations from February 20 onwards.

Both BJP and RSS are in any case annoyed with BMS for frequently adopting an anti-Modi posture and creating hurdles in the way of labour reforms. The BMS has indeed already given a call for a nationwide agitation on February 20 to protest against the “anti-labour policies” of the Modi government. Not only that, the RSS-affiliated trade union is also threatening to boycott the Indian Labour Conference which is to be held in the last week of February and will be addressed by the Prime Minister himself.

Apart from other demands like seeking relief for workers in both formal and informal economy who have been badly hit by demonetisation and GST, raising allocations to the Unorganised Social Security fund and reviving sick PSUs instead of privatisation, the BMS is strongly demanding increasing honorarium to woman workers in Aanganwadis and bringing them under social security coverag. BMS also wants immediate implementation of the Supreme Court verdict on “Equal Pay for Equal Work” for women.

Against this background, the last thing the Modi government wants at this juncture—with just a year to go before the next Lok Sabha elections—is for the Prime Minister himself to be labeled as having made insensitive remarks against a woman MP.

The Congress party, on the other hand, appears to have sensed an opportunity to expose the BJP-RSS leadership for its misogynist mindset. For the BJP, and for Narendra Modi personally, his Surpnakha jibe against Renuka Chawdhary is no laughing matter. It is clearly snowballing into a controversy that is focusing attention on his equations with the women in his life.

Article first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of the world’s largest democracy in history, India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/modi-surpanakha-jibe-renuka-chowdhury-is-no-laughing-matter-for-a-worried-bjp-rss

[malalawnews]

Will India get a unified military command under the PMO?

File photo of the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs. Representative image

There are increasing whispers that India may replicate the United State’s unified command system, integrating Army, Navy and Air Force under one Chief of Defence Staff with a direct channel to the PMO

There are increasing whispers that India might replicate the United States’ unified military command system, integrating the Army, Navy and Air Force under one chief, a decision that is bound to have far-reaching geostrategic and geopolitical implications.

Experts say this reform would amount to a major restructuring of the Indian Armed Forces, in terms of operational command systems. At present, the three defence services—Indian Army, Indian Air Force and Indian Navy—are under the operational command of three different three-star officers. To pave the way for an officer from one single service to exercise direct command over all personnel belonging to all the three services, the Command Rules for the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force would have to be amended, new rules and orders would have to be notified.

The model for such a unified command system is the United States concept of 'Theatre Command', under which the resources of all the three forces will be placed at the command of one senior military commander.

Defence analysts say that such a move would be on the same pattern of how military commands operate not only in the United States but also in China, which made the change relatively recently.

Analysts are of the opinion that although it might appear to be a structural change for better coordination, in reality it will drastically alter the chain of command and have a profound impact on the functioning of the defence forces.

Under a single Armed Forces chief, there would be a direct single-point military advice pipeline to the government. In the American system, the President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. In India, the powers will de facto come into the hands of the Prime Minister. The new system is expected to create a direct channel from the Chief of Defence Staff to the Prime Minister, with the Defence Minister’s role limited to an extent.

The changes have reportedly been on the drawing board ever since the Kargil Review Committee under K Subramanyam and the GoM on national security in 2001. Recommendations were also under consideration to introduce new positions of Chief of Defence Staff and Vice Chief of Defence Staff to strengthen the defence forces.

Some analysts say any such move by India should be seen in context of recent developments in China and Russia, where President Xi Jinping and President Vladimir Putin have consolidated their personal hold on power to unprecedented levels.

Article first featured in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of the world’s largest democracy, the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/will-india-get-a-unified-military-command-under-the-pmo

[malalawnews]

UNSC says no to Congo using “easily hacked” EVMs; wants paper ballots

File photos of President of DR Congo Joseph Kabila (left) and US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley

Lessons for India as the UN Security Council, annoyed with Congo’s President Kabila for trying to avoid holding fair elections, rejects his condition that voters use EVMs in upcoming elections

Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, has developed an image for talking tough. During a meeting with government officials of the Democratic Republic of Congo recently, she was as blunt as she could be.

The subject was elections in what many regard as the poorest country in the world. Many members of the UN Security Council were annoyed with President Joseph Kabila for clinging on to power much beyond his term and trying to avoid holding free and fair elections on one pretext or another.

As international pressure kept mounting, Kabila has finally promised to hold elections in December this year. But he had one condition: voters would have to cast their votes on electronic voting machines.

This is when Nikki Haley put her foot down. Here are four quotes from what she said:

Electronic ballots can be too easily hacked and manipulated.

Asking voters to use an unfamiliar technology during a crucial election is an enormous risk.

The United States has no appetite to accept an electronic voting system.

These elections must be held by paper ballots.

People celebrate in Kinshasa as UNSC insists on paper ballots

Representatives of several other countries on the 15-member Security Council endorsed the views of the US ambassador. They stated on record that they too had grave concerns about the reliability of EVMs. The no-nonsense US ambassador also made it a point to stress that the poorer sections of the population of DR Congo (former known as Zaire) lacked the education and skills to use electronic devices and government officials at voting stations could take advantage and rig the elections.

The strong line taken by the 46-year-old Nikki Haley was greeted with celebrations on the streets of Kinshasa, the capital of the central African nation with a land area almost equal to the whole of Western Europe. The repeated stalling and postponement of the election has raised tensions across the country, triggering public riots and even sporadic armed rebellions, especially since Kabila refused to step down when his mandate expired at the end of 2016.

Others who spoke at the meeting pointed out that even in developed countries EVMs are considered vulnerable to technological tweaking and malfunctioning. Use of EVMs, they felt, would not be advisable and for the results to be reliable the use of paper ballots would be best.

Representatives of several other countries on the 15-member Security Council endorsed the views of US ambassador Nikki Haley. They stated on record that they too had grave concerns about the reliability of electronic voting machines

What gives more weight to this skepticism about reliability of EVMs is the current controversy that is raging in the United States even 16 months after the 2016 presidential election. The Democratic Party, which lost to the Republican candidate Donald Trump, has been shrilly and vociferously alleging that Russia had hacked into the voting systems of many of the 39 US states which use EVMs.

Also being mentioned is the fact that Germany, a mature democracy and a highly advanced technological power, had switched back to paper ballots a decade ago in order to protect the sanctity of the election process and to ensure that computer vulnerabilities did not distort the results of democratic elections.

The United States and other Security Council members are therefore sternly warning the Congo not to use an electronic voting system because, they assert, it has the potential to undermine the credibility of the poll.

Germany, a mature democracy and a highly advanced technological power, had switched back to paper ballots a decade ago in order to protect the sanctity of the election process and to ensure that computer vulnerabilities did not distort the results of democratic elections

For the record, the long-delayed election to replace President Joseph Kabila, who has been in power since his father was shot dead in office in 2001, is now scheduled to be held in late December. Congo’s Electoral Commission is said to have completed the process of registering 46 million voters.

Interestingly, the head of the Electoral Commission of Congo had said using EVMs would “reduce the weight of all the equipment deployed from 16,000 tons to less than 8,000 tons.”

However, the Africa director for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, brusquely brushed aside this as a lame excuse. He said: “These machines are unreliable. They develop glitches all too often. Roughly 1,06,000 EVMs machines cannot be expected to work flawlessly across 90,000 polling stations—especially since everyone knows that securing these machines and the data they record from cyber attacks is virtually impossible these days when even central banks and government websites are being hacked so frequently”.

Is there a lesson in all this for India? When EVMs arouse such mistrust and suspicion even from other large democracies like Germany and the United States, is it advisable to rely on EVMs merely in the blind belief in what the Election Commission of India is saying—that EVMs are tamper-proof. Is it not safer to agree to the demand of Opposition parties to go back to paper ballots for the 2019 parliamentary elections?

This article was first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of world’s biggest democracy, the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/un-security-council-says-no-to-congo-using-easily-hacked-evms-in-upcoming-elections

[malalawnews]

Strange similarity between Modi’s methods and Mark’s mistakes

Much has changed since the meeting between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2015

Both Narendra Modi and Mark Zuckerberg were on top of the world and nothing could possibly go wrong. Now both face growing challenges—one to his political leadership; and the other to his career

When Narendra Modi hugged Mark Zuckerberg onstage in September 2015, it had looked like the beginning of an intimate and potentially profitable partnership. Modi was the leader of the world’s biggest democracy, with 130 crore citizens. Zuckerberg was the CEO of the world’s biggest social media network, with 230 crore active users.

Both men were on top of the world and nothing could possibly go wrong. Even when Modi broke down in public while speaking of the sacrifices his widowed and poverty-stricken mother had made, it was said that his tears would cement the bonds of friendship.

Today, that emotional encounter at the Facebook headquarters in California seems a thing of the past. Things have changed dramatically. Both men are facing growing challenges—one, to his political leadership; and the other, to his corporate career.

For the first time since he was elected Prime Minister, Modi’s domestic political opponents are joining forces in an attempt to defeat him in a series of crucial regional and national elections in the months ahead.

Zuckerberg is being called into question for his business practices and made to testify in grueling Congressional hearings for two days this week. The stakes are high for Zuckerberg and the gigantic company he created, with lawmakers in America demanding answers about Facebook’s alleged improper privacy policies.

Zuckerberg has reasons to be apprehensive because the 33-year-old has never before testified on oath before the US Congress and all indications are that members from both parties are determined to ask tough questions.

Both men are facing growing challenges—one, to his political leadership; and the other, to his corporate career. For the first time since he was elected Prime Minister, Modi’s domestic political opponents are joining forces in an attempt to defeat him in a series of crucial regional and national elections in the months ahead. Mark Zuckerberg is being called into question for his business practices and made to testify in grueling Congressional hearings for two days this week

Media reports say the Facebook chief, who has hired leading lawyers and psychology consultants to prepare him for the hearings, have advised him on ways to minimise the damage to Facebook’s reputation and his own—by showing remorse and making it sound convincing.

One crisis communications expert has been quoted as saying: “I think personal demeanour and body language are very important. He has to try his best to appear humble, contrite and authentic. He should absolutely avoid conveying even the slightest degree of arrogance and glibness”.

Interestingly, similar advice would equally be applicable to Narendra Modi. His style of functioning has often been described as arrogant and authoritarian. Even his key party functionaries, especially next in command Amit Shah, have been known to speak in an abrasive manner—which may have impressed or intimidated voters in the past but is unlikely to be well received in the new atmosphere in which large sections of peasants and workers in rural and urban areas have been expressing their disillusionment.

Zuckerberg is being advised by his behavioural coaches to learn from the mistakes made by Microsoft chief Bill Gates when he was questioned by the US Congress in 1998. Gates was seen as boastful, haughty and overly sensitive to criticism and that eventually led to his business empire being carved up.

The main charge against Zuckerberg is that Facebook has illegally sold private data on more than 87 million Facebook users in the United States to the data firm Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

In Modi’s case, too, the possibility cannot be ruled out that if his party, BJP, performs poorly in the upcoming elections in the southern state of Karnataka and subsequently in northern states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, murmurs of discontent and displeasure will be heard among stake-holders of the Sangh Parivar. The all-powerful parent organisation, the RSS, is already believed to be none-too-happy with Modi’s manner of dealing with the recent spate of social and economic strife

In an attempt to restore public confidence in Facebook’s unsavoury business practices, Zuckerberg has already launched a public relations drive and accepted personal accountability and responsibility for any perceived wrongs committed.

The Facebook CEO has also released an advance copy of what he will say in his opening testimony before US Committee on Energy and Commerce on Wednesday. The operative part of the six-page document goes like this:

“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake.

“It’s not enough to just connect people, we have to make sure those connections are positive. It’s not enough to just give people a voice, we have to make sure people aren’t using it to hurt people or spread misinformation. It’s not enough to give people control of their information, we have to make sure the developers they’ve given it to are protecting it too. Across the board, we have a responsibility to not just build tools, but to make sure those tools are used for good”.

Even this strategy of humility has not prevented Facebook shares from suffering a heavy fall in the stock markets. The fears are that if his performance during the congressional hearings turn out to be poor, there could be a further slide in Facebook stocks —which could trigger demands from within the company’s stake-holders themselves that he should step down as chairman and CEO.

In Modi’s case, too, the possibility cannot be ruled out that if his party, BJP, performs poorly in the upcoming elections in the southern state of Karnataka and subsequently in northern states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, murmurs of discontent and displeasure will be heard among stake-holders of the Sangh Parivar. The all-powerful parent organisation, the RSS, is already believed to be none-too-happy with Modi’s manner of dealing with the recent spate of social and economic strife, which seems to be spreading across various parts of India.

Zuckerberg’s testimony on Tuesday and Wednesday is certain to be closely monitored and all the major cable TV news net-works have geared up for minute-to-minute coverage. How Zuckerberg will fare in the witness chair remains to be seen. Most commentators say that if Zuckerberg stumbles, the harm to his company could be severe.  The same would apply to Narendra Modi—if he stumbles in his electioneering and handling of crises in the coming weeks and months, the harm to his party and to his own image could be severe.

This article was first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/narendra-modi-and-mark-zuckerberg-facebook-were-on-top-of-the-world-now-both-face-growing-challenges

[malalawnews]

Experts in US expose EVM vote theft techniques

File photo of a polling official carrying an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) in Kolkata

Contrary to the Election Commission’s stonewalling and denials, new research and experiments by American computer scientists have established that EVMs can be manipulated in a variety of ways

Electronic voting machines (EVMs) can indeed be rigged. Contrary to the Election Commission of India’s stonewalling and denials, new research and experiments by American computer scientists have established that electronic voting systems can be manipulated in a variety of ways.

Some of the new evidence has been published in a New York Times article ‘The Myth of the Hacker-Proof Voting Machine’, which provides startling details backed by technical findings and expert interviews.

The intense research being conducted in America is due to domestic controversies about whether the 2016 presidential election was free and fair. However, the insights into EVM vulnerability are both relevant and timely for India.

Many political analysts are convinced that the outcome of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections would hinge not so much on the mood of the electorate but on whether polling is conducted through EVMs or the old system of paper ballots and manual counting of votes.

Although this might appear to be needlessly suspicious or cynical, the latest US research indicates that blind trust in EVMs might be misplaced.

Opposition parties in India would, therefore, be well advised to redouble their efforts to demand paper balloting in the 2019 elections by confronting the election body with the latest technical research and findings of globally renowned computer scientists and experts.

Whenever allegations of EVM manipulation have been raised, the Election Commission has invariably come out with two standard assertions: one, that the machines used in India are fully secure and tamper-proof; and two, that the EVMs are “stand-alone” devices unconnected to the Internet and hence immune from remote interference.

Both these claims can now be challenged. The third argument that the machines used in Indian elections are manufactured under strict supervision by reputed public sector enterprises can also no longer be accepted at face value for two reasons: a) recent Right to Information data has thrown up troubling questions about the logistics of EVM transport and distribution; and b) the US findings point to potential for serious mischief at the manufacturing stage itself.

Some of the startling findings:

1. Technology analyst Kim Zetter, who has won four awards for her writing on how e-voting affects democracies, has collated facts and figures to cast series doubts about the reliability of EVMs even when attached to a paper verification unit.

2. Professor David A Eckhardt of Carnegie Mellon University was asked by election authorities in Pennsylvania to examine complaints of “vote flipping”—meaning that when some voters touched the screen to choose a candidate, the screen showed a different candidate selected. Eckhardt found to his surprise that remote-access software had been installed on the machines, which were supposed to be “air-gapped” — disconnected from the internet and other machines that might be connected to the internet.

3. Several reports by independent computer scientists pointed to a shocking and categorical conclusion—that despite claims by authorities nearly every make and model of voting machine is vulnerable to hacking. One reason for this is that the systems were not originally designed with robust security in mind. Just as in India, the tendency in America has been for voting machine manufacturers and election officials to stoutly deny that the machines can be remotely hacked. EVMs are tamper-proof, say the election officials. Voting machines are stand-alone devices, EC repeats for the umpteenth time. It is impossible to send outside signals through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The frightening reality, as the new findings show, is far more complicated.

4. The top US manufacturer, ES&S, has admitted that it has sometimes sold its election-management system with remote-access software preinstalled. Even when such software was not preloaded, the company advised election officials to install it so that ES&S technicians could remotely access the systems via modem. Computer experts now say that Installing remote-access software and modems on systems that program voting machines and tally final results is undoubtedly a serious security issue.

To quote a spokesperson of the National Election Defense Coalition in the US, “It is a lie to assert that voting machines or voting systems can’t be hacked by remote attackers because they are ‘not connected to the internet’. There is no doubt whatsoever that use of voting machines should be stopped—all voting systems must use paper ballots and all elections must be robustly audited”. The time has come for all those who want free and fair elections in India to forcefully say the same thing. Whether Opposition parties succeed in forging a joint front or not is not as critically important as coming together and demanding in one voice the reintroduction of paper ballots

5. But there is an even more fundamental way that many voting machines themselves are being connected to the Internet and put at risk of hacking. The beauty of it is that even election officials at the state or central level are usually unaware the risk exists. After voting is over, booth level election officials transmit the vote count to their state election offices via modems embedded in or connected to their voting machines. The election authorities insist that the modem transmissions are safe because the connections go over phone lines and not the Internet.

But, as security experts point out, many of the modems are cellular, which use radio signals to send calls and data to cell towers and routers belonging to mobile carriers — in India these are Airtel, Vodafone, etc. These routers are technically part of the internet. Even when landline analog modems are used instead of cellular ones, the calls are still likely pass through other routers, because phone companies have replaced much of their analog switching equipment in recent years with digital systems.

Because of this, potential hackers can easily intercept unofficial results as they’re transmitted on election night — or, worse, they can use the modem connections to reach back into election machines at either end and install malware or alter election software and the actual votes cast.

6. There are other ways too. An expert hacker can subvert the telecom routers themselves to intercept and alter election results as they pass through telecom equipment. Like any other digital device, telecom routers have vulnerabilities, and they have become a prime target. For example, a few years ago, hackers from Britain’s official spy agency targeted routers belonging to the Belgian telecom Belgacom to intercept mobile traffic passing through them.

To quote a spokesperson of the National Election Defense Coalition in the US, “It is a lie to assert that voting machines or voting systems can’t be hacked by remote attackers because they are ‘not connected to the internet’. This isn’t just wrong, it’s damaging. This oft-repeated myth instills a false sense of security in the minds of the public, the parties and the officials. This complacency inhibits urgent action. There is no doubt whatsoever that use of voting machines should be stopped—all voting systems must use paper ballots and all elections must be robustly audited”.

The time has come for all those who want free and fair elections in India to forcefully say the same thing. Whether Opposition parties succeed in forging a joint front or not is not as critically important as coming together and demanding in one voice the reintroduction of paper ballots.

Article first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/experts-expose-evm-vote-theft-techniques

[malalawnews]

Will PM Modi hug Prez Xi in Wuhan to rekindle Sabarmati bromance?

Chinese President Xi Jinping with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 9th BRICS summit in Xiamen, China, on September 5, 2017

It remains to be seen if Modi and Xi can reignite what started out to be an interesting friendship when Xi visited India in 2014. But, then the mood turned sour. In 2016, they were simply cordial

When the Presidents of France and the United States publicly displayed their affection for one another in Washington on Tuesday, April 24, it was a sight to behold. Frequently hugging each other, they indulged in a bout of hand-holding, cheek kissing, back-slapping and even a helpful dandruff dust-off, as foreign correspondents and the global TV audience watched in astonishment.

When Narendra Modi meets Xi Jinping in Wuhan on April 27-28 for an ‘informal summit’, the world will be watching to see if there is anything more than the usual hearty handshakes and a few hesitant hugs. Nobody is expecting the Macron-Trump kind of touchy-feely body language. But some sign of a budding bromance between the leaders of the Asian giants could be essential for the informal talks to be seen as fruitful.

The success or failure of summit meetings often hinges on personal rapport. Diplomatic outcomes are judged by whether the interactions were warm or merely cordial.

Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump have plainly developed a visible chemistry. This augers well for the Western world, even though there are sharp differences between Europe and America on a range of issues like Syria, Iran, global trade and climate change.

With body language being the new mantra, speculation is already rife about whether bromance will be in the air when the American President meets Kim Jong-un of North Korea.

Even hard-headed geo-strategic experts are asking—Will the personal ‘touch’ between the 6.2 feet Trump and the 5.5 feet Kim be able to dissolve decades of hostility and loathing? Will the 72-year-old and the 36-year-old hug each other with enough passion to ward off the Cold War and save the world from nuclear catastrophe?

Narendra Modi’s trip to Wuhan for informal talks with President Xi comes when there is a yawning gap in the current confidence levels of the two men. Xi Jinping is at the height of his powers and Modi is nearing the end of his tenure as Prime Minister of India

As far as India and China are concerned, earlier attempts at bonhomie failed to ignite a beautiful friendship. Xi’s first visit in 2014 started with great promise—he landed in Modi’s home state rather than the national capital, the two leaders strolled along the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and they even sat together on a swing and smiled at each other.

But something happened and the mood turned sour. The three-day visit ended with both sides issuing separate communiqués instead of a joint one and, worse, soldiers of both armies facing each other on the Ladakh border.

Two years later, the Chinese leader made another visit, this time to attend the BRICS summit in Goa. The atmosphere was polite and politically correct, nothing more effusive.

Narendra Modi too has made two visits to China, first a three-day visit in 2015 during which his best moments were with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and again in 2017 to attend the Ninth BRICS Summit in Xiamen. In June this year he will be going again to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Qingdao.

The trip to Wuhan for informal talks with President Xi is, therefore, something of an unusual and unscheduled journey into the unknown, coming as it does barely two months before the BRICS summit.

Whether it will provide an opportunity to rekindle the Sabarmati spirit remains to be seen. But even if the two leaders do not swing together in a Wuhan park there should, in theory, be ample scope during the two days to test their personal chemistry.

In practice, however, there is a yawning gap in the current confidence levels of the two men. Xi Jinping is at the height of his powers, having just recently wrested full control over his country and his people by getting himself anointed by the 19th Communist Party of China’s National Congress as President for life.

In contrast, Narendra Modi is nearing the end of his tenure as Prime Minister of India. That alone alters the equation between the two leaders. They do not command the same status and authority within their own countries. Moreover, Modi is facing an increasing challenge to his leadership on several fronts—economic, social and political.

There is no longer any certainty that his party will win the next elections and he will continue to remain the Prime Minister for another five-year term.

In such circumstances, it will be difficult for him to maintain a posture of supreme self-confidence during the Wuhan talks, especially when he is acutely aware that his host is not only the undisputed President-for-life of the world’s second largest economy but also is on the threshold of emerging as one of the great global leaders of the 21st century.

In the unlikely event of the Wuhan summit turning out to be an Asian bromance with Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi holding hands in front of the cameras and clinging to each other like long-lost brothers, one thing is for sure—the initiative would have come from the Chinese President for reason of his own and the choreography would have distinct Chinese characteristics.

This article was published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/will-pm-narendra-modi-hug-prez-xi-jinping-narin-wuhan-to-rekindle-sabarmati-bromance

[malalawnews]

Death for rapists of minors: a knee-jerk reaction without thought

People take part in a walk along with Nirbhaya’s parents to protest the rape incidents on April 23 2018, in Mumbai

Prescribing the death sentence for rape of children may look like firm action by a government that really cares. But the Ordinance passed by the Modi Cabinet fails the test of morality on many counts

Rapists must be condemned and punished severely. There is no doubt about that. The public outrage over the disgusting and inhuman crimes committed in Unnao and Kathua justifies the strongest possible response.

But nobody should ignore the harsh truth that in both cases there was direct involvement of BJP leaders, whether in committing the crime itself or in protecting the perpetrators. It is also undeniable that the Prime Minister kept silent for many days on the matter.

Kill the rapists is a rousing slogan. Prescribing the death sentence for rape of innocent children may look like firm action by a government that really cares. But the Ordinance passed by the Narendra Modi Cabinet fails the test of morality on several counts.

This reflects a certain mindset. It cannot be camouflaged by a show of empathy, sympathy and concern in the form of a populist new legal provision for capital punishment for rape of minors. Even that is riddled with disturbing questions. A rape is a rape. What is the basis for differential penalty based on the age of the victim?

The debate is whether a society, in which the dignity of the individual is supreme, can deliberately put some of its members to death

Quite clearly, the only objective of passing a dramatic ordinance within hours of the Prime Minister’s return to the country after an overseas trip was to give an impression of swift and decisive action.

But making such fundamental changes in the law of the land without proper thinking of all the ramifications and consequences can be more damaging than not taking any action at all. Moreover, the scope for malicious misuse of the harsh new provisions raises even more frightening questions. Has this very important aspect been analysed in depth and adequate safeguards incorporated? No, the aim was to be seen to be acting.

The government should make sure that gender equality under the Constitution shall not be hurt. Children and adult girls and boys, men and women all get raped. All categories of male and women indulge in rape. No age or gender difference should be there while enacting the law. Law makers and courts need to emphasise that.

Moreover, accusations of rape can be false as well, between boyfriends and girlfriends, between employers and employees, friends and friends, relatives and relatives. The hate and fear in our society has weakened our moral fibre.

It also smacks of shedding belated crocodile tears in order to cover up the initial failure to say and do anything. Many days went by before any action was taken against the accused rapist in Unnao, a BJP legislator. And action was taken only after a hue and cry was raised by the public and the media.

In the Kathua incident, the sequence of events was even more bizarre and again many days went by before the BJP ministers who had supported the rapists were asked to resign. Public memory is not so short that all such details will vanish from everyone’s memory.

As regards the award of capital punishment, there are many eminent jurists who have examined its pros and cons in great detail. Although pragmatic arguments for and against the death penalty have been positioned at length, it still remains a longstanding and heated controversy. It cannot be resolved in a few minutes of discussion at a hastily convened Cabinet meeting to reflect the opportunistic thinking of a particular government at a particular time.

Ultimately, the issue has to be decided on legal, constitutional and moral grounds. The debate is whether a society, in which the dignity of the individual is supreme, can, without a fundamental contradiction, accept the practice of deliberately putting some of its members to death.

Throughout history, many courts have dealt with many cases involving the death penalty, but the constitutionality of the death penalty per se has never been adequately resolved. In India, death sentence is already applicable to “rarest of rare” cases. The Kathua gangrape, torture and murder of an eight-year-old child surely appears to fall in the category of rarest of rare.

Apart from these aspects, the question also is relevant about the political motives of the group of persons taking such a decision to inflict death on rapists of minors. Equally pertinent is whether the moral integrity of the elected government is above reproach. Will those who shielded and lionised the rapists go scot-free? Sending rapists of minor children to the gallows is all very well, but will the ‘rakshaks’ remain unpunished?

This article was first published in the National Herald of India, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/death-for-rapists-of-minors-a-knee-jerk-reaction-without-thought

[malalawnews]

Election-time Modinomics—reckless spending, rupee manipulation?

File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump

A fortnight ago, the US Treasury Department put India on the “watch list” of countries suspected of “currency manipulation”. Is the Narendra Modi government being reckless in election year?

Driven by election year desperation, is the Modi government playing ducks and drakes with the Indian economy by indulging in currency manipulation, reckless spending and fiscal indiscipline? The Trump Administration certainly seems to think so.

Just a fortnight ago, the US Treasury Department took the drastic step of putting India on the “watch list” of countries suspected of “currency manipulation”.

Now Trump Administration officials are expressing anxiety about what they call the ‘Rupee paradox’. On the one hand, the Reserve Bank of India is on a dollar-buying spree to artificially strengthen the value of the rupee; yet the value of the Indian currency continues to weaken steadily.

The rupee has lost nearly 5% of its value since January 2018, the lowest in the last 15 months. On Monday the dollar rate was ₹66.48 and market expectations are that it could cross the ₹68 mark before long.

US economists are keeping a close watch on other health parameters of the Indian economy. Treasury officials say they find the increased government spending ahead of elections “a bit worrying”.

They are aware that the election cycle has begun in India and this habitually triggers unwarranted government spending. But this should not lead to “fiscal indiscipline” which would inevitably widen the fiscal deficit and have both short-term and long-term adverse economic consequences.

They point to the sharp and unexpected slowdown in Britain’s economic growth, officially confirmed by the Bank of England last week. The pound sterling, which was among the best performing major currencies in 2018, has weakened suddenly. Till three weeks ago, the pound was up 6% against the dollar—now it is up less than 2% against the dollar.

Britain has its own problems but its travails have a lesson for other countries including India. On the fact of it, India’s foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high of $424.8 billion (as of April first week). But it is precisely India’s ballooning dollar reserves that have aroused the suspicions of the Trump administration.

US economists are keeping a close watch on other health parameters of the Indian economy. Treasury officials say they find the increased government spending ahead of elections “a bit worrying”. They are aware that the election cycle has begun in India and this habitually triggers unwarranted government spending. But this should not lead to “fiscal indiscipline” which would inevitably widen the fiscal deficit and have both short-term and long-term adverse economic consequences

The US Treasury Department has three parameters to determine whether a country is indulging in currency manipulation: a) whether the country has a bilateral trade surplus with the US exceeding $20 billion; b) whether the current account surplus exceeds 3% of the country’s GDP; and c) whether net purchases of foreign currency exceed 2% of the country’s GDP over a year.

India has breached two of the three criteria: its trade surplus and forex purchases are higher than prescribed. The RBI’s net annual purchases of foreign exchange reached $56 billion in 2017, equivalent to 2.2% of GDP.

There are some other indicators of the state of the India’s economy that are pertinent. One is the clear trend that foreign investment in Indian equities and bonds has slowed down. In the last three months, foreign portfolio investments stood at ₹13,260 crore, a fifth of the figure at the same time last year, according to data from National Securities Depository Limited.

On the trade front, India’s import bill is rising at a time when the contribution of exports to the country’s GDP has hit a 14-year low. In other words, the trade deficit has widened to $156.8 billion for financial year 2017-18, compared to $105.72 billion in the previous year.

The recent rise in oil prices is bound to aggravate the current account deficit situation. In fact, economic analysts say the fall in the Indian rupee can be attributed to higher crude oil prices, widening trade deficit, and higher capital outflows.

With the government likely to be preoccupied with electioneering for most of the current year, and given the political and social turmoil the country is already experiencing, the economic outlook is not rosy, particularly if there is further reckless fiscal spending and greater outflow of foreign capital.

This article was first published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister to the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/international/election-time-modinomics-reckless-spending-rupee-manipulation-us-treasury-department-put-india-on-watch-list-of-countries-suspected-of-currency-manipulation

[malalawnews]

Nailing the Prime Minister’s falsehoods about Cariappa and Thimayya

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election rally in Hubbali, Karnataka on May 6

If any Opposition leader had uttered such falsehoods about India’s military history, he would have been accused of dragging the Army into politics, and probably even charged with sedition.

If any Opposition leader had uttered such falsehoods about India’s military history, he would have been accused of dragging the Army into politics and probably even charged with sedition. The mainstream media would have bayed for his blood and launched a vicious tirade aimed at destroying his political career.

That’s what happened to Mani Shankar Aiyar. In December last year, the Congress leader was mercilessly pilloried for hosting a private dinner party in which a former Pakistani foreign minister was present as a guest. Aiyar was labeled an anti-national for colluding with the “enemy” to interfere in the Gujarat elections.

Now, at the height of the Karnataka assembly election campaign, even though the Prime Minister has deliberately and indisputably distorted military history, there is hardly a whimper of protest or indignation.

Instead, the electronic media has chosen to gloss over Narendra Modi’s politically motivated and factually incorrect statements about the relationship between India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the country’s first Army chief General KM Cariappa (later Field Marshall) and also about Gen KS Thimayya.

During his campaign rallies in Karnataka, Narendra Modi’s clearly crossed the red line in his obvious attempt to whip-up anti-Congress sentiments among voters in Coorg (now called Kodagu), where both Cariappa and Thimayya hail from. He leveled the very serious allegation that Nehru had “humiliated” the two distinguished generals, who hailed from the region. This was so far from the truth that historians, both military and political, are aghast.

At the height of the Karnataka assembly election campaign, even though the Prime Minister has deliberately and indisputably distorted military history, there is hardly a whimper of protest or indignation

PM Modi distorted facts about General Thimayya

Here is what the Prime Minister actually said.

Regarding General Thimayya, Modi said: “1948 mein Pakistan se yudh jeeta... General Thimayyaji ke netritv mein. Lekin us parakram ke baad, Kashmir ko bachane waale General Thimayya ka us samay ke Pradhan Mantri Nehru, aur us samay ke Raksha Mantri Krishna Menon ne baar baar apmaan kiya tha. Aur isi kaaran, General Thimayya ko apne pad se samman ke khatir isteefa dena pada tha.”

(In 1948, it was under... General Thimayya’s leadership that the war against Pakistan was won. But after that victory, the saviour of Kashmir, General Thimayya, was repeatedly insulted by then Prime Minister Nehru and then defence minister Krishna Menon. And it was for this reason, his honour, that General Thimayya had to resign from his post.)

Modi also said: “Field Marshal Cariappa, 1962, Bharat aur China ki ghatna, aaj bhi itihas ki tawarikh mein darj hai aur unke saath, Field Marshal Cariappaji ke saath kya vyavahar kiya gaya…”

(Field Marshal Cariappa, 1962, India-China war, is in the annals of recorded history. How he was treated, Field Marshal Cariappaji…).

These assertions and insinuations are historical untruths. The substance is false, the context is wrong and there are even inane errors in dates wholly unworthy of a sitting Prime Minister of a great nation like India.

Firstly, General Thimayya was not the Army Chief in 1948. At that time, Thimayya was a divisional commander with the rank of major-general. The Army chief was still a Britisher, General Roy Bucher. As a major-general, Thimayya had two senior officers above him—the corps commander Lt Gen SM Shrinagesh and the Western Army commander, Lt Gen Cariappa. Since he headed the Jammu and Kashmir Force, Thimayya did play a critical role in the Kashmir war, but was never “humiliated” by either Nehru or Krishna Menon—not then, not thereafter.

Moreover, Narendra Modi is entirely off the mark in claiming that Krishna Menon was the Defence Minister in 1948. The Defence Minister was Sardar Baldev Singh.

These assertions and insinuations [about General Thimayya] are historical untruths. The substance is false, the context is wrong and there are even inane errors in dates wholly unworthy of a sitting Prime Minister of a great nation like India.

Recorded history shows that Nehru had high regard for Thimayya. In 1953, India’s first Prime Minister hand-picked Gen Thimayya for a very prestigious appointment—the head the United Nations Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission in Korea.

As several knowledgeable commentators have pointed out, Thimayya carried out his assignment in Korea with such distinction that the Nehru administration recommended him for the Padma Bhushan award in 1954. Moreover, three years later he was elevated the post of Chief of Army Staff, even though he was third in line.

By no stretch of the imagination can this be portrayed as “humiliation” by Prime Minister Nehru.

Indeed, when in 1959, Thimayya offered to resign because he did not agree with the government’s thinking regarding a Joint Defence Arrangement with Pakistan, Nehru personally persuaded him to change his mind and in fact Thimayya continued as Army Chief till 1961.

It is beyond dispute therefore that Narendra Modi is guilty of distorting military history, concocting false theories and spreading disinformation about Nehru’s treatment of Gen Thimayya.

PM Modi distorted facts about Field Marshal Cariappa

Equally horrendous are Modi’s attempt to formulate a fictitious narrative about the even more distinguished son of Coorg—Field Marshal Kodandera "Kipper" Madappa Cariappa.

Gen Cariappa was not Army Chief during the 1962 India-China war. He had retired nine years earlier. In fact, it was his fourth successor who was Army Chief when the 1962 war broke out, as several knowledgeable commentators like Karan Thapar have pointed out.

Equally fact-free are the insinuations that Cariappa was treated shabbily by Congress Prime Ministers since the time of Nehru. Nehru and Cariappa did have some differences of opinion in 1951 because the then Army Chief tended to publicly air his political views. But had the personal equations between the two charismatic personalities not been marked by mutual respect and admiration, Cariappa would not have been appointed as High Commissioner to Australia. Nor would the proud General have accepted the diplomatic assignment had he felt badly treated.

It is also a glorious chapter in the country’s history that decades later it was Nehru’s grandson Rajiv Gandhi who elevated Cariappa to the exalted rank of Field Marshal. No one could have conferred a greater honour

Modi’s claim that Congress Prime Ministers had humiliated Cariappa is thus exposed as little more than petty politics. The kindest excuse one can make is that perhaps Modi’s speech-writers in the PMO may have made some very unfortunate blunders in their research. And, as a consequence of their carelessness, the Prime Minister ended up putting his foot in his mouth during his Karnataka orations and embarrassing himself in public.

A more candid assessment could be that Modi knew full well that what he was saying was untrue but he uttered the falsehood anyway because of his compulsive urge to boost his own image by denigrating the legacy of his predecessors.

However, the last may not have been heard on the subject even though the mainstream media has inexplicably chosen to maintain a conspiracy of silence. But now that the pot has been stirred, various other dark secrets and hitherto hidden aspects of that historic era have started to come to light.

The most shocking is the disclosure of a declassified CIA document that makes specific mention of a suspected 1950 right-wing plot to foment dissensions in the Indian army and to an abortive bid to assassinate Gen Cariappa—allegedly by the same forces that killed Mahatma Gandhi.

A striking report on the chilling details has been published in National Herald. It lifts the veil on information that could undermine Narendra Modi’s new-found love for India’s first Army chief.

This article was published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/nailing-prime-minister-narendra-modi-falsehoods-about-cariappa-and-thimayya-karnataka-elections

[malalawnews]

Karnataka: BJP’s games to grab power rips party’s ‘corruption-free’ claim

File photo of Prime Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi and Karnataka BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa

The strenuous efforts over five years to paint the Congress black and to project the saffron party as the only corruption-free political entity in the country has been exposed in these two days

The turn of events after counting day in Karnataka has ripped BJP’s mask of morality.  The strenuous efforts over the last five years to paint the Congress black and to project the saffron party as the only corruption-free political entity in the country has been exposed in the space of two days. The allegation made by JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy that 32 newly elected MLAs of his party had been approached by the BJP with offers of ₹ 100 crore each as well as ministerial berths has a ring of truth to it. Not because of JD(S)’s own clean image but because the BJP has carried out an Operation Lotus in Karnataka in the past – and Kumar-anna has been prey to it before. The evidence is there for all to see.  Elementary arithmetic shows that with 104 MLAs, a government led by Yeddyurappa will not be able to prove its majority on the floor of a House of 222 (or 220) members. Common sense suggests that either more than half-a-dozen newly-elected MLAs must be persuaded to cross-vote or a dozen must be prevailed upon to abstain during voting.

Logically, for this to happen, inducements or threats are required. It’s as simple as that.  It’s called horse-trading in popular political parlance.Why would a Governor of a State spend precious hours even considering inviting a party leader who clearly lacks the minimum numbers?  Would that not be tantamount to encouraging or tacitly endorsing the possibility of horse-trading?

However, in the case of the BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah (who many in the ranks refer to as shana), there has always been a conscious attempt to denigrate all rivals as utterly corrupt and depraved and to project themselves as the idealistic harbingers of a new era of clean politics and noble deeds

Especially when there is a clear and tangible alternative – a declared alliance of two established parties who have 116 MLAs with them,  all of whom have signed affidavits and are willing to parade in person before the distinguished governor.

It is hazardous to attempt to answer those questions without delving into the political journey of Vajubhai Vala and his personal loyalty to the current Prime Minister.  Seventeen years ago, when Narendra Modi first became the chief minister of Gujarat he was not a MLA and was required under the Constitution to win an election within six months.  In his desperate search for a safe seat, Modi had set his eyes on a constituency in Ahmedabad, but the sitting MLA Haren Pandya refused to quit and make way.  It was then that Vajubhai Vala generously offered his Rajkot (West) seat to Modi.

Since then, Vala, now 79, has had a star-blessed political career, presenting 18 budgets as the Finance Minister and being installed as Governor of Karnataka in 2014.  Today he is faced with the onerous task of choosing between duty and loyalty.

It would be incorrect to say that in many other ways, too, the scramble for power in Karnataka symbolizes the end of the Age of Innocence. Morality in Indian politics has long since been dead and buried.

However, in the case of the BJP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah (who many in the ranks refer to as shana), there has always been a conscious attempt to denigrate all rivals as utterly corrupt and depraved and to project themselves as the idealistic harbingers of a new era of clean politics and noble deeds.

That delusion of idealism has now been abandoned due to the exigencies of the tricky situation in post-election Karnataka.  The methods are similar to operations carried out in Goa, Manipur and elsewhere in recent months,  but the same kind of stealth has not been feasible under the glare of public scrutiny in the southern State.

There is no option but to openly cross the threshold of political correctness and to blatantly blur the lines between morally right and morally wrong.  Too much is at stake to be coy about it.  Power at any cost is the need of the hour in this critical pre-election year.

Students of psychology and statecraft would have noted the mind games played by the BJP as soon as it became clear that the party had won less seats than required to form the next government in Karnataka.

Classic techniques were used to spread disinformation.  Even this has been done before, even more aggressively, ever since the 2014 election campaign.

This time, it has not worked as effectively as earlier - mainly because the rival parties have not simply lay down and allowed themselves to be trampled upon. Instead they have adopted ways to defend themselves and even counter-attack with a skill and dexterity not seen earlier. Demonstrating thereby that unscrupulous methods of grabbing power through deception, insincerity, and abuse of the official machinery,can be countered or at the very least exposed by careful preparation and unified action.

This article was published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister to the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/karnataka-bjps-games-to-grab-power-rips-partys-corrution-free-claim

[malalawnews]

No one but Jethmalani could have intervened in the Karnataka Guv case

File photo of Ram Jethmalani

Would the three judges who were under pressure have permitted any other lawyer to interrupt proceedings and let him have his say? Not unless he is Ram Jethmalani, the doyen of Indian law

Is there anyone else in the whole world that could have intervened in a historic Supreme Court hearing on such a weighty matter that he had nothing to do with? Would the three judges who were already under tremendous pressures of time and responsibility have permitted any other lawyer to interrupt proceedings and willingly let him have his say?

The answer to both questions is no. Nobody else would have dared to poke his oar into the highly-charged Karnataka hearings on Friday. Nobody else would have been allowed to even if he had tried.

Not unless he is living legend Ram Jethmalani, age 94, doyen of Indian law and jurisprudence.

And that is exactly what he did. There was already a busload of legal luminaries present in court - 35 for the Petitioners and 40 for the Respondents, to be precise.

From the outset the three judge on the Bench had drawn the red line against interveners and interlopers. They would brook no interference and entertain no third-party intrusion while hearing the petition that could alter the political history of the nation.

Filed by the Congress-JD(S) combine in Karnataka against the decision of State Governor Vajubhai Vala to invite BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa to form the government, the case involved the finer points of constitutional law and the functioning of democratic institutions. Much was at stake –including even restoring the integrity and image of independence of the Judiciary itself.

Perhaps that was one of the reasons why Justices Sikri, Bobde and Ashok Bhushan chose to make an exception and listen to what Ram Jethmalani had to say on the matter.

The nonagenarian did not disappoint. What he said was crystal clear - “The governor’s order is a gross abuse of the constitutional power and this has brought disrepute to the constitutional office he has been holding”.

Looking the three honourable judges straight in the eye he thundered: “This Governor has acted in a manner in which no Governor should. It is now up to you, the apex court, to set the law right. I no longer have the physical energy. But the intellectual energy keeps me going. I am not for any party in the case but for myself and for the country”.

When Jethmalani speaks he does not mince words or beat around the bush. He asked in his characteristic style: “What has the BJP said to the Governor that he took such a stupid action? Did he not have the common sense to see that his order of invitation to Yeddyurappa was an open invitation to indulge in corruption?”.

Looking the three honourable judges straight in the eye he thundered: “This Governor has acted in a manner in which no Governor should. It is now up to you, the apex court, to set the law right. I no longer have the physical energy. But the intellectual energy keeps me going. I am not for any party in the case but for myself and for the country”.

The impact was palpable. The Bench absorbed the gravity and clarity of his words. Justice Sikri spoke for all his brother judges - with an assuring that while deciding the larger issue of whether the Governor’s action was legally valid or not, the Bench would keep in mind all that he had said.

Indeed, in the Interim Order that they passed at the end of the hearing, the judges pointedly said: “In a matter like this, detailed hearing is required to decide as to whether the action of the Governor in inviting Respondent No. 3 (Yeddurappa) to form a government was valid in law or not. It may consume substantial time and the final decision cannot be given immediately”.

That was why the judges in effect divided the matter before them into two parts – one for immediate resolution by calling for a floor test the very next day; and secondly postponing the fundamental issue of the Governor’s action for a more detailed hearing, probably after the court’s summer vacation recess.

Jethmalani’s interjection seems to have played a part, howsoever small, in guiding the Bench towards looking more deeply into the question of Governor Vajubhai Vala’s controversial invitation to the leader of a party which clearly did not have the numbers in a House in which there were no visible “floating votes”.

That is what Jethmalani does and has done throughout his illustrious career at the Bar. He takes a categorical position on a knotty issue and then he articulates in such a forceful and emphatic way that a seed of doubt is planted into the mind of even the most obdurate judge who may have already decided to the contrary.

Apart from his brief oral submission, Ram Jethmalani had of course given the Bench more food for thought in the form of a written submissions on points of law and constitution. Here is a summary:

1. The Governor is a Democratic Public Servant and he cannot act in violation of the well-known constitutional principles.

The Judgment of the 5-judge Bench in Rameshwar Prasad(VI) v. Union of India reported as (2006) 2 SCC I at Para 165 clearly states as under:

“165. If a political party with the support of other Political party or other MLAs stake claim to form a Government and satisfies the Governor about its majority to form a stable Government, the Governor cannot refuse formation of the Government and override the majority claim because of subjective assessment that the majority was cobbled by illegal and unethical means.”

2. The Judgment of this Hon’ble Court in Chandrakant Kavlekar v. Union of India reported in (2017) 3 SCC 758 should also read in the light of the above said principle.

3. Even if the matter was not covered by any Supreme Court judgment, a decent Governor with some knowledge of democratic principles and rule of law must have acted in a different manner. It more than obvious that some superior force has compelled him to make the mockery of the democratic principles and the constitution.

4. The Governor must have a Council of Minister under Article 163 to aid and advice the Governor.

5. The election of this Governor is undemocratic, shameless, unconstitutional and totally a denial of the decent democratic principles.

6. The BJP must have done its best to secure a majority and it failed whereas its opponents had a readymade majority which was entitled to form the Government as a matter of law and decency. To say the least the behaviour of the Governor is that of a complete corrupt and malicious slave of somebody else.

7. No case of any kind has arisen to justify this insulting and unconstitutional action of the Governor.

8. Even a layman totally ignorant of legal principles would have had the decency and wisdom to hear those whose political standing he tried to destroy.

This article was published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister to the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/no-one-but-jethmalani-could-have-intervened-in-the-karnataka-guv-case

[malalawnews]

‘Fake nationalism’: Rahul Gandhi hits Modi, Shah, BJP where it hurts

Congress President Rahul Gandhi (left) greets party workers celebrating after BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa resigned ahead of his trust vote in the Karnataka assembly in New Delhi, on May 19, 2018; Rahul said what happened in Karnataka was nothing but an ‘attack on democracy’ successfully defended by the Congress and JD(S)

Rahul Gandhi demolished BJP’s fake nationalism mantle, pointing to how Yeddyurappa after resigning trooped out of Karnataka assembly along with BJP MLAs without waiting for the National Anthem to end

The rapid response of the Congress party’s leaders and lawyers to each new development in the Karnataka drama was stunning. Every single move that the BJP made in its power-grabbing exercise was countered so quickly that the saffron strategists were caught on the wrong foot time and time again.

But it was not speed alone that upset the BJP’s game-plan. It was not just quick-thinking and fast action that left Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, BS Yeddyurappa and Vajubhai Vala bewildered and bemused. It was intelligence and intellect.

In many ways the crisis in Karnataka helped the Congress party rediscover itself. It was a reminder of just how much talent, knowledge and experience exists at various levels in the country’s oldest political organisation.

For legal acumen, the party could turn to Abhishekh Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, among others. For political expertise at the national level, there was Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot and another dozen other stalwarts. In Karnataka itself, Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar and many more came to the fore. For adroit media management, there was the likes of Randeep Singh Surjewala, Sanjay Jha and Manish Tewari, to name just a few.

Above all, there is Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Only after the full story of the Vidhana Soudha victory is researched, fact-checked and chronicled, can the details be confirmed. But it was Sonia’s stature and secular credentials that helped clinch the all-important deal with HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) so swiftly and smoothly.

Right at the beginning of the press conference, Rahul Gandhi demolished Modi’s patriotism plank. Did you notice, asked the Congress chief gently, that after Yeddurappa announced his resignation, he along with BJP MLAs and even the Pro-Tem Speaker all trooped out without waiting for the National Anthem?

Rahul Gandhi demolished Narendra Modi’s patriotism plank

More than anything else, however, the mastermind behind the Congress party’s most spectacularly successful political operation since 2014 was undoubtedly Rahul Gandhi.

It was he who was not only the star campaigner during the raucous election but also the strategist-in-chief directing his rapid-response team during the gripping drama that followed the announcement of results.

In any high-octane operation, the key to success lies in staff selection, organisation, control and co-ordination, decision-making and direction. The Congress president, barely six months since shouldering what many have described as Mission Impossible, has scored high marks in each of these basic principles of political leadership, at least insofar as handling the Karnataka crisis is concerned.

To Rahul-baiters and haters, it might sound quite preposterous to make such an assertion of Rahul Gandhi’s hands-on stewardship during the management of the crisis. But all they need to do is view the 15-minute video of the Congress president’s press conference immediately after the unfortunate Yeddyurappa struggled to hold back his tears of bitter disappointment while eating humble crow on the floor of the Karnataka Assembly on Saturday afternoon.

Not just watch the video with a vacant or biased mind, but to note what he said, how he said it and analyse the implications of all that he said.

First off—right at the beginning of the press conference—Rahul Gandhi demolished Narendra Modi’s patriotism plank. Did you notice, asked the Congress chief gently, that after Yeddyurappa announced his resignation, he along with BJP MLAs and even the Pro-Tem Speaker all trooped out without waiting for the National Anthem?

Watch the video of BJP MLAs walking out below:

https://twitter.com/NaliniSingh_/status/997901450553516032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E997901450553516032&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalheraldindia.com%2Fopinion%2Fcongress-rahul-gandhi-hits-narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-where-it-hurts-demolished-fake-nationalism-mantle

Shocking. Here was a BJP chief minister, his newly-elected party members and the hand-picked pro tem speaker Kombarana Ganapathy Bopaiah with all his famed experience of notorious Speakership—all staunch patriots and nationalists to the core—showing utter disrespect to Jana Gana Mana on live television with the whole nation watching.

Having disrobed the BJP of its fake nationalism mantle, Rahul proceeded to unravel the other myth about Modi—his intolerance for corruption and his stirring pledge that he would neither consume nor allow anyone else to consume any food cooked in the rancid oil of filthy lucre.

What happened, Sri Pradhan Sewak, the young Congress leader seemed to say. Were your party bosses in Bangalore not desperately trying to bribe, buy and purchase horses in the single largest political bazaar? Were they not doing so at your behest and your express instructions? Are there not several hair-raising audio recordings testifying to the fact that MLAs were being lured with lavish promises of “100 times your total assets”?

These may not be exact quotes from Rahul Gandhi’s address to the press but that is what he meant.

As for actual quotes, here is a beauty. He told the assembled journalists: "You've seen openly how the PM directly authorised purchasing of MLAs in Karnataka. So the idea that PM spreads in the country that he is fighting corruption, is a blatant lie. He encourages corruption. Pradhan Mantri brashtachar hain. (He is corruption)".

Watch the highlights of Rahul Gandhi’s press conference below:

https://twitter.com/INCIndia/status/997845112364380160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E997845112364380160&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalheraldindia.com%2Fopinion%2Fcongress-rahul-gandhi-hits-narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-where-it-hurts-demolished-fake-nationalism-mantle

Nobody has ever said that before. But that is because nobody has been speaking the truth very much in the last four years. Especially in the national media. Rahul Gandhi had a few words to say about the fake news media too.

Taking of the atmosphere of fear that had been created in the country, he referred to the pressure that the media was working under and pointedly added a word of praise for “some of you who are brave”.

The thrust of Rahul’s truth-telling was aimed at Modi himself. But he did not spare Modi’s Man Friday, the BJP president. Referring to the failure of the immoral power-grab in Karnataka, he said the people of the country had shown “murder-accused Amit Shah” that the Constitution is bigger than money power. Almost in passing, he had come out with another beauty.

It was almost astonishing how much the Congress president—who is always portrayed by the BJP as being hopelessly inarticulate—was able to convey in just 15 minutes.

Because he also underlined a significant point: “My message to the Prime Minister:, he said, “is that the Prime Minister is not bigger than the people of the country. He is not bigger than the Supreme Court and he is not bigger than Parliament”.

Apart from all that, he also sent out a clear signal about his stand on unity of all non-BJP political parties and forces. It was a news-worthy declaration from the leader of a major national party, and it will have been duly noted by various regional parties across India on the road to the Lok Sabha elections.

This article was published in the National Herald, a newspaper founded by the first prime minister to the Republic of India:

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/congress-rahul-gandhi-hits-narendra-modi-amit-shah-bjp-where-it-hurts-demolished-fake-nationalism-mantle