Samajwadi birthday bash in kingly style

Samajwadi Party supremo and one of the senior most political leaders of the country Mulayam Singh Yadav's birth day celebration was celebrated at his home village of Safai with all fanfares, shows and lavishness, throwing all norms of socialism to winds. It is the new definition of Samajwad that Mulayam gave by holding his 76th birthday celebration in kingly style. He has reportedly himself said that socialism no longer is the symbol of poverty. With the dominance of capitalism, if Mulayam’s birthday bash is anything to go by, socialism has now also started believing in luxury and lavishness at the cost of state exchequer. All the prominent Samajwadi leaders,his Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav, ministers, Bollywood stars and all VIPs have participated in Mulayam's birthday bash, and all sorts of expensive entertainment programmes were organized for the guests. Safai was done up like a bride at the cost of state exchequer. It is nothing but the mockery of all principles of socialism. This extravaganza is being displayed in the state where more than 50 of its districts have been announced drought-hits. Farmers are committing suicide and the state accounts for 22 percent of the population of the poor in the country. Recently a report appeared in a news paper which depicts the condition of unemployment in the state where for the vacancy of more than three hundred posts of peon were notified , and among candidates who applied against the vacancy were graduates, post graduates, Doctorate and Engineering degree holders. This is the condition of the state on one hand and display of dazzling light and lavishness on display in Safai on the other hand. Uttar Pradesh is the biggest state of the country. But it also leads the nation in illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and under-development on one hand and the tallest leader of the state ruling party is squandering crores of rupees on the birthday bash on the other. What is this? This is sheer misuse of public money and self-aggrandizement. Samajwadi stalwarts like Jayprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia might be feeling unrest in their graves over the extravaganza displayed on the birthday bash of one of their disciples. Mulayam Singh Yadav should have realized that the people in the state are struggling to meet their both ends on the one hand and the display of a lavish party on his birthday is in no way justified on the other. His grand birthday bash also sends the message out among the people that the leaders of the ruling party consider the state as his/her fiefdom. Ruling party leaders do all this to show that they are in command of the state and the people are their subjects, not masters. In the prevailing situation of famine in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the extravaganza on the birthday bash of the most powerful leader of the ruling Samajwadi party shows how they made mockery of the problems being faced by farmers and labourers . The people of Uttar Pradesh are watching the misuse of public exchequer silently and they will give their verdict in the coming assembly elections in 2017.

People’s expectation is very high in Bihar from CM Nitish Kumar

Nitish Kumar has been sworn in as the CM of Bihar for the fifth time. The just concluded assembly election was a litmus test for him which he passed with distinction. He led Grand Alliance, which decimated Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA in Bihar. PM Modi, who is not only the most popular leader of BJP but also of the country, was Nitish Kumar's number one rival in the elections. It was the development image that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar achieved in the last 10 years of his regime proved to be extremely beneficial for him in the just concluded assembly elections. It was his development image that crippled all opposition, howsoever formidable it might be. He was the face of Grand Alliance comprising Lalu's RJD, Congress and JD(U) and the opposition NDA comprising BJP, LJP, HAM and Kushwaha's party. NDA was led by PM Modi and the Grand Alliance was led by CM Nitish Kumar. Despite addressing a number of mammoth rallies, PM Modi did not make much impression on the people of Bihar to vote NDA. The development oriented CM Nitish Kumar became able to impress on the people that he would work for the development of the state with doubly force if re-elected to power. The people of Bihar reposed faith in him and voted his grand Alliance to power with overwhelming majority. This is the third time in a row that the people of the state recognized his vision, development-oriented policies and programmes. CM Nitish Kumar is counted among the honest political leaders of the country. Despite being Chief Minister of the state for nearly about 9 years, no charge of corruption has been leveled against him even by the opposition party. He has an unblemished political career. He has not only been a successful CM of Bihar but also a shrewd politician to make a winning strategy. He is also well-educated and engineer-turned politician. Now Nitish Kumar govt. has been formed, and his opposition propagated during the campaigning of assembly elections that if GA came to power, its govt. under Nitish Kumar would be remote controlled by RJD boss Lalu Prasad Yadav. Opposition propagated that in the Nitish-led GA govt. in Bihar, there may be Lalu's two sons in his Cabinet as ministers. And they would place hurdles in Nitish's development programmes and act for their political agenda as the opposition thinks. But the opposition must know that first of all it is 2015 and not 90s and it is Nitish Kumar not Rabri Devi who was allegedly remote controlled by Lalu Yadav . It is CM Nitish Kumar who always stood for a principled politics and good governance. Lalu Yadav has also realized that the massive mandate that the GA got is because of the development-oriented face of CM Nitish Kumar. It is correct that Lalu's RJD as emerged as the largest political party in the state but it is at the same time appropriate to say that on the issue of development, clean, good governance and rule of law, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar can not compromise. Development, clean,good governance and rule of law are much more endeared to CM Nitish Kumar than power. People have a very high expectation from his government in this stint. CM Kumar would have to work hard to come up to people's expectation. The people of Bihar also pitch forked CM Nitish Kumar on the national politics and there is all possibility that Kumar may emerge as the rallying point of all political leaders who are opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If the presence of a number of CMs and national political leaders of different parties at his today’s swearing-in ceremony, Nitish Kumar is sure to emerge as a strong contender to power of Delhi in 2019.

Not enough to exude confidence among the masses

Diversity is India's specialty and it has tremendous social strength, including pluralism. This is the comment that Prime Minister made in the world's prestigious Magazine Economists. But if he had taken hard measures against his own party leaders who made statements which acted like fuel to fire, the situation of intolerance would not have reached to this level in the country where more than 70 writers, artists and scientists returned their national awards to protest it. This is the third time that PM Modi has talked about tolerance, pluralism and our unity in diversity. We have to keep them intact. Unity in diversity is our specialty and valued legacy which we have to keep intact at all costs. It is our age-old specialty for which India is known all over the world. Prime Minister may give grandstanding statements and views delineating the importance of our legacies such as unity in diversity, pluralism and tolerance but his lecture did not make any impression on the fringe group within his political party BJP. The BJP leaders have in a planned way allegedly given inflammatory speeches against a section of society and of a particular community after the incidents of Dadri lynching by a mob over the rumour of slaughtering of calf and eating beef and the burning of two Dalit children alive to polarize the society for political benefit in Bihar elections, which were underway. That PM Modi failed to stop. Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the leader of the nation must take the divisionary voices of BJP leaders seriously and act against them immediately. No BJP motor mouths have been punished so far. The productivity and development have come to a standstill under the prevailing circumstance. There appears to be an atmosphere of fear all around the country. It is natural for the people to have very high expectation from the Narendra Modi government. But when the country’s attention is grabbed by divisionary and troublesome statements, the tempo of development is bound to be affected. People have voted overwhelmingly in favour of PM Modi with an expectation that he would bring relief to them in all aspects of life. On the contrary when the people see nothing on the ground in the name of improvement; they are bound to be disillusioned, which has been clearly reflected in the Bihar assembly results where BJP has been decimated. PM Modi has to take stringent action against the BJP motor mouths so that a message could go out in society that he not only speaks in favour of pluralism and diversity but also act against all those whose speech tears the secular fabric of society. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in May 2014 with massive mandate from the people, a new hope arose among them. But in the last 17 months the one tragic incident after another and no relief on price rise front have disillusioned the people with NDA govt. It is not only Economist but also almost all news magazines and news papers of national and international repute wrote highly of him. But only after 17 months, all have started writing stingingly against his government and consider Bihar assembly defeat as the defeat of Prime Minister Modi. So Prime Minster should know that merely taking high moral ground, keeping silent on the burning issues that confront the nation and failing to act against the fringe BJP leaders can not serve any purpose.

Need of united effort to deal with terror menace

In the wake of ISIS attack in Paris that killed 140 innocent people and injured, it is necessary for all countries, especially India which has born the brunt of terrorism most, to keep themselves in preparedness to thwart any terror attack. ISIS is one degree upper than Al-Qaida. Al-qaida, Taliban, Lashkar, Jaishe Mohammad and others of the same ilk may pose danger anytime anywhere in the country. In the recent months, on every Friday after the Nawaz congregation in Jammu and Kashmir, the flags of ISIS, Pak are being waved openly. It indicates that ISIS and Pak-based terror outfits are on look out for opportunity to strike. Our central intelligence agencies must share information with the state intelligence agencies and vice versa. The government of India must make sure that should be no lacunae in coordinating with one another for gathering information. Either the intelligence failure or not acting on it has been the main reason behind failure to thwart the terror attack. It was the sheer failure of intelligence report due to which the French police failed to have a scent of the terror attack in advance. To wipe out terrorism from the face of the earth, it is necessary for the entire world to share single platform, intelligence, thought and view how to achieve the desired result for peace and progress of the people. There should be a campaign against terrorism without any discrimination and bias. Terror is terror. It can not be good. It is always bad. The terrorist attack in any country and the killing of the people in any country must be treated equally. It is completely unjustified that if the terror attack takes place in the powerful country, it is serious and if it takes place in the developing country, it is normal. Until and unless the terror is treated equally with iron hand, it can not be wiped out. First of all, there should be singling out of all those countries, howsoever powerful they might be, which are involved in abetting, financing and sponsoring terror to serve their vested interest. Whichever country is found to be involved in promoting terror to hurt its enemy must be thrown in isolation and all sources of terror funding must be cut off immediately. One thing is crystal clear that no religion teaches intolerance and killing of the innocent people for its sake. Every religion is pious, sacred, perfect and benevolent. ISIS misguides the youths all over the world that they are fighting on the call of their religion. It is for the sake of religion that they are fighting. Whether it is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Budhdhist or Jainism, no religion permits the shedding of blood. The killing in Paris terror attack must be condemned in the strongest possible term by the entire world. And every nation has the responsibility to impress on its youths not to be misled by the terror organization. Both hard and judicious majors need to be taken to wipe our terrorism. No community can be held responsible for the terror attack in any nation. It is some misguided, disgruntled and frustrated people who have adopted terrorism. Terrorism is the number one enemy of humanity.

President's disapproval

President Pranab Mukherjee has rightly said the awards should be cherished and valued by those who receive them. He has disapproved the returning of awards by a section of writers, artists and scientists over growing intolerance in the country. Those writers, artists and scientists who have returned their awards should know that this honour has been given by the nation, and not by any government. The nation has recognized their work, merit and contribution to the promotion of literature, arts and science and that is why they have been awarded. The growing intolerance is nothing to do with the returning of the awards. It is the failure of the government to contain it. Prime Narendra Modi has developed a habit of keeping quiet over the burning issue confronting the society. The way Iqlakh was lynched by a mob in Dadri is a stark example of intolerance. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not open his mouth on the tragic incident, and only referred President's statement to keep country's legacy of unity in diversity, secularism and tolerance intact to follow after 10 days during an election campaign in Bihar. It shows how lightly PM takes the issue, which directly linked to our country's valued principle. Undoubtedly, the growing intolerance is perceptible in every sphere of life under the dispensation of the govt. of the day. With the tacit support from a political section connected with the government, the voice of dissent is being crushed in the country. This may have angered the writers, artists and scientists and because of that they returned over the failure of the govt. to protect the voice of dissent in the country. President has rightly said that sensitive minds sometimes get disturbed by some incidents in society. But, expression of concern over such events should be balanced. Emotions should not overrun reason, and disagreement should be expressed through debate and discussion. President advice to the returnees of awards is correct, but at the same time the govt. of the day has responsibility to look into why they did it. There must be appreciation and criticism with open mind. Prime Narendra Modi has not spoken a single word on the returning of awards over growing intolerance. His govt. has so far made no initiative to invite them for talks. Every problem can be solved through debate, discussion and talk. At least 75 writers, historians, filmmakers and scientists have returned prestigious awards to protest what they say is an attempt by right-wing organizations to muzzle free speech and individual rights, citing murder of rationalist MM Kalburgi, mob lynching of a Muslim man in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of beef consumption and murder of two Dalit children in Faridabad. The returning of awards has also come under criticism from within the intelligentsia. The feeling of the intelligentsia may have been hurt by growing intolerance which compelled them to return awards in hopeless situation created with the help of the powers that be. It is the responsibility of Narendra Modi govt. to look into the reasons and think why they are returning the awards. The returning of awards by the intelligentsia of the society is their disgust in the prevailing intolerant situation in the country. President Pranab Mukherjee's valued advice must be considered seriously by the intelligentsia so that there could now be no return of award.

Unprecedented reception

It was an unprecedented welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Britishers as well as Indian diasporas at Wembley in London. After the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to UK is hogging the headlines of national and international news papers. Undoubtedly, his visit to almost all foreign countries have been successful barring in our backyard Nepal where despite tumultuous welcome to him, it provides space to China to our annoyance and blames India for blockading the supply of petroleum products like, diesel and LPG and giving support to Madhesis. So, instant media focus on PM’s foreign trips and their wide coverage of the jamboree of Indian diasporas to welcome him on foreign land make no meaning for the nation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is first to address British Parliament, though it was not in session yet all MPs were in attendance. It is also true that he has put a sense of nationalism among the Indian diasporas living in different countries. The people of Indian origin in the US at Madison Square welcomed Prime Minister Modi very warmly and he with his excellent oratorical quality made them hilarious and infused a sense of help to the country of their origin. The way Prime Minister Narendra Modi was given rousing welcome with red carpet laying all around for him in England, which had ruled on us, is unprecedented. British Prime Minister welcomed PM Modi with open heart and heaped praise on him profusely. He assured him of helping India in its attempt of making Digital India and Skill India a total success. Britishers have been our masters and we have got freedom from them. But we have felt nowhere uneven behavior on the part of either the Queen Elizabeth or British Prime Minister David Camron with Prime Minister Modi. As India has a very big market and it has also immense potential with being the third largest economy, all the western countries prefer to look towards India. Market has been the deciding factor in determining and establishing relation. The down turn in China and economic upward of India have changed the world perception on economic front. India is also an emerging economy and there seems no sign of world-wide economic slump on it. It has resilience to weather off any economic downturn at any point of time. Trade and business have been the main theme of the talk between PM Modi and his British counterpart Camroon. British PM Camron's body language while exhorting the Wembley crowd to welcome PM Modi clearly reflects that he needs Indian market as much as India needs British investment. Despite being a successful Japan, China, US, UK etc. visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and singing of agreements in regard to business, trade and investment with them, nothing is perceptible on the ground. Undoubtedly, PM Modi has raised India's image abroad as foreign countries have realized that India too wants business and it has finally put its feet on the path of economic reforms very strongly. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent the Friday morning at Chequers where he continued his discussions with his counterpart PM David Cameron.The two leaders took a walk in the compounds of Chequers Court which is the country house retreat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It has been the private retreat of the Prime Minister since 1921. The two leaders also planted a sapling to mark the visit.

Bihar is verdict against intolerance, price rise and false promises

The Bihar verdict has given a clear message against growing intolerance, price rise, politics over beef, uncalled for statement on reservation by ruling BJP's doting parent Mohan Bhagwat that it is to be reviewed and the false promises made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last Lok Sabha election campaignings as Prime Ministerial candidate. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made tall promises to the people during Lok Sabha election campaigns that if he was elected to power, his govt. would give relief to the people on all fronts. He had promised to bring down prices of the essential commodities, including food items, which was very high during the last phase of the previous UPA govt., and bring back black money stashed in foreign banks within hundred days. PM Modi had promised that the amount of black money was so heavy that after bringing it back, his govt. would give 15 to 20 lakhs in the account of every Indian. He said that he would fulfill his promises in 100 days only. 17 months have elapsed neither any black money was brought back nor Rs. 15 to 20 lakh was deposited with any Indian bank account holder. Instead of any ease on any front, the prices of all essential commodities rose higher and higher without any check in with his coming to power. The pulse and onion prices broke the all previous records. That is why Biharis rejected the BJP in this state assembly election. Bihar verdict may be described as the victory of pulse over beef. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the single face of the BJP in the state of Bihar. He had held about 40 election rallies and entertained the audience a lot. But what his party got in return is all before us. The killing of Iqlakh over mere suspicion that he slaughtered calf and at beef, blackening of the faces of writer Sudheerendra Kulkarni in Mumbai for organizing the book launch of Pak foreign minister Mahmud Kasauri and J& K independent MLA Rashid Engineer in Delhi for holding beef party allegedly by Shiv Sainiks and Hindu Senas respectively clearly shows the growing intolerance in the country with Narendra Modi-led NDA govt coming to power. No secular Indian can tolerate these acts. Our Constitution does not permit any body to control and direct the people as to what to eat, how to dress and which religion to adopt. Bihar is testimony to the fact that it has never supported sectarian, divisive and communal agenda with which Modi-led NDA govt. tried to go ahead. It would reign in unbridled BJP motor mouths. Biharis too had overwhelmingly voted to BJP in the last general elections but when they found that PM Modi believed only in tall talking and doing nothing on the ground, they showed their displeasure in the just concluded Bihar assembly elections. Undoubtedly, the criteria for voting in Bihar has been caste since the first elections and it has increased election after elections, but this type of massive victory recorded by the Grand Alliance of Congress, RJD and JD(U) under the leadership of CM Nitish Kumar can not be possible with only caste-based voting. CM Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance has swept the elections and pulverized the rival PM Modi-led NDA in Bihar. And Bihar verdict would have far reaching political consequences on national level. It has also shown that PM Modi-led NDA is no longer invincible. It has given an impetus to the opposition. Bihar verdict itself shows that the people irrespective of caste, creed, community and region voted for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is development-oriented. Biharis reposed faith in him very strongly. No political leader can stand up to CM Ninish Kumar at this point of time in the Bihar. This verdict may pitch-fork him as a contender to PM Modi at national level. The time is running out for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if he failed to read the writing on the wall and continued to keep himself silent on various tormenting incidents in the country, the people would no longer hear his grandstanding speeches.