Fakery of NDTV Owners Stands Expose

NDTV issue exposes the duplicity of a section of media and powerful influencers in India. This lobby has been telling people worldwide that the company's owners (wife and husband) were forced to sell lion's shares of their company to a business tycoon. They allege that huge pressure was brought to bear on them to offload their shares because their news channel has been an eyesore for the government. According to these people, NDTV became the most popular channel because of its boldness and unsparing reporting. However, one fails to understand that if its proprietors have been so bold then how and why did they buckle under the pressure of the government of the day?

N Ram and company have been crying foul from the housetops that deal of Roy’s with the Adani group was done by adopting coercive methods. If it was so, then why Roys, the so-called champions of freedom of speech and expression and other conscience keepers of the country did not raise the hue and cry over the sinister designs of the government? What is all the more surprising is that not a whisper was made by the Roys till the deal was finalised. There were, of course, some selective leaks in a section of the media about the deal. Why did Roys not show even a semblance of resistance against the move? The other question is that if freedom of speech and expression is so dear and close to the hearts of the owners of NDTV, then why at all did they sell their shares? If it was a pure business deal, then they and their followers should not tom-tom that Roys were the martyrs at the altar of the fourth estate. As a matter of fact, the owners of the NDTV were known to be highly deft in dealing with all the tricks of the trade. They were experts in encashing their proximity with powers that be and took all advantages for the furtherance of their business.

Even otherwise, NDTV has not set any milestones for journalism. Its journalists have been known for using the forum for their self-aggrandisements. There is hardly any journalistic example set by this channel which could be emulated by the new generation of journalists. Initially, many of its programmes were being presented with the open misuse of government machinery of Door darshan, which was almost inaccessible for most journalists or small-time media entrepreneurs. At one point in time, Door darshan was considered to be their domain. NDTV never believed in pluralism which it advocated only for other media houses or channels. Nobody disagreeing with the policies of the NDTV could even think of being given any space on the channel. If anybody has seen any programme where the problems of media employees or those of working journalists, he or she would do a service in bringing it to the notice of the general public.

NDTV owners dismissed hundreds of employees in one go without even a tinge of remorse. As a matter of fact, NDTV has always championed the cause of the elitist class. The working class was not even allowed to touch the periphery of this channel. Only such topics were allowed to be discussed by this channel, which has been useful in subserving its interests.

One more question which needs to be asked from its owners that whether they ever tried to raise this issue with the opposition parties even after the sale of shares. Clearly, they did not do any such thing rather they preferred to remain mum. This shows the duplicity of Roy’s in which they have gained dexterity. They want to have both worlds- to be good with powers that be and at the same time wear the hallow of being progressive and fighters.

No Tears Should be Shed for Wily Wolves of NDTV

One often wonders that why there is so much brouhaha by a section of pseudo-intellectuals over the sale of NDTV by a crafty capitalist duo, claiming to be the espousers of public interest to a proclaimed industrialist. This duo made a huge amount of money by adopting all the tricks of the trade, which could be unbecoming of any ethical and intellectual person. But by their intellectual posturing both accumulated stinking amounts of wealth. They are said to have assets worth thousands of crores, that too, within a span of two/ three decades. It is said they were living in a Barsati of a house but in a very little time, they made hundreds of crores, mostly because of their connections with powers that be. They are, thus, classic examples of crony capitalism.

There was an Income Tax Officer, some Srivastav, who used to publicly say that husband and wife duo- Pranoy Roy and Radhika Roy owned a ramp consisting of hundreds of acres of land in an African country. So, NDTV was like any other business for them and there is nothing wrong with it. But they played the victim card to get the milage of sympathies from the gullible public was indeed condemnable. After all owners of big media houses, be it Print or Electronic do their business, not for any social service but to make profits. In fact, it has been seen that media owners indulge in far more unethical practices than businesspersons of other varieties. Therefore, those shedding tears for the Roy couple are thoroughly mistaken about their so-called altruistic deeds.

There is no dearth of such people who are shedding tears over the drama of the resignation of a journalist, who has been associated with the Channel for a long time and is known for spearheading a campaign against a certain political party and a leader. These people possibly do not know the fact that power consists of the ‘ruling party as well as who is in opposition. Hence, those who are in opposition also fall within the realm of the ‘Power’. Therefore, this journalist, who was part of the NDTV was also part of the power structure.

Here it is a larger question arises whether this journalist and the NDTV owner’s duo were in any way different from other exploiting capitalists. In fact, when a person claiming to be against exploitation becomes an integral part of the exploitative machinery then his/ her exploitation becomes more intense and tortuous than other capitalists. Only a few years ago nearly 350 employees of the NDTV were very unceremoniously thrown out of their jobs but the entire class of progressive journalists and intellectuals kept mum as if they were hamstrung by paralysis. When we approached the Labour Commissioner of Delhi to help those hapless workers, he said that victimised employees must themselves approach the Labour department. We talked to many employees, but they did not come forward to complain about it for fear of being branded as the embedded agents of the government.

What was most astonishing was that a few days after the termination of workers the owners of NDTV organised a meeting in the Press Club of India, which was addressed by a whole lot of anti-workers ranging from reactionaries like Arun Shourie, and Fali Nariman to many shameless and rank opportunists, who did not say even a word against the unfair labour practices of the NDTV owners. The stony silence of this sermonising and preachy journalist (his name need not be mentioned here) over the termination of hundreds of workers was painful to the core.

I am sure that workers will now have more freedom in the NDTV to raise their voices against exploitation than they had in the regime of Roys, who were marauders masquerading as being pro-people businesspersons. They must be exposed, who have been worse than the enemies of the workers.

 

Parliament and Assembly Elections must be held Simultaneously

  

    Frequent elections have made the manifestos redundant. They have now become an exercise in futility, although they were never taken seriously by most people. The general impression is that manifestos are merely for discussions and debates of some elites, who claim to be intellectuals but hardly have any say in the decision-making process of political parties or the electorates because elections are mostly held on the castes and religious considerations. For example, Muslims except for a group of Shias, never vote for the BJP irrespective of its highly promising manifestos. More or less the same is the case with Christians. Manifestos are, therefore, meaningless for them because their only agenda is to defeat the BJP.

 Look at the schemes of the BJP governments, which have been benefitting all sections of society regardless of their castes or communities and yet they are clear-headed that they would go for any candidate, who can defeat the BJP.   In some places, certain castes of Hindus also vote for a specific party, even if the candidates fielded by it are unworthy of contesting any election. Hence, the manifesto is of no use to them. Unemployment and inflation are the issues that are raised only against a particular party i.e., the BJP but all other works done by it are conveniently overlooked.

 The elections are no longer once in the five years affair, they are held around the year in some or other part of the country. Almost every year some or other assemblies are in election mode giving little time to the parties to strictly adhere to their manifestos. Winning elections, somehow or other, therefore, becomes their agenda. In the process, these parties instead of sticking to their manifestos make tall promises to their electorates, which can give them immediate gains.

 This keeps the Election Commission and other state machinery busy with poll activities rather than doing other normal work. The ultimate loser is thus the general public. Therefore, the good thing will be to hold the elections of parliament and other assemblies simultaneously, after five years, which is what has been contemplated in 83(2) for the Parliament and 172(1) for the state assemblies under the Indian constitution. The Rajya Sabha and the Vidhan Parishads are never dissolved because one-third of their members retire every two years after completing six years term.

 There have been no problems because the Elections for assemblies and the Lok Sabha used to be held simultaneously until 1967 when in many states voters threw up hung assemblies. Similarly, mid-term polls were also held for the Lok Sabha disturbing the set schedules for holding the elections once in five years. Frequent elections allow the political parties and their leaders to give wide berth to the promises made in their manifestos. This is the reason that many irresponsible politicians make such wild promises as cannot be translated into reality, but their real intent is to come to power anyhow.

 Therefore, there is an urgent need to go to the old days and make such laws that come what may, there would not be mid-term polls of the assemblies and they would be held simultaneously throughout the country. If no party gets an absolute majority, then President's Rule automatically gets imposed till the absolute majority is cobbled by any leader or party. Therefore, there would not be any problem in the states, but the problem would arise at the national level because there is no constitutional provision for President's Rule at the Centre. This is a very complex and knotty problem, which will need the collective wisdom of all stakeholders to solve it. Since it is a problem of the entire country, so it is not difficult to get all the stakeholders on board for finding an acceptable solution.

 Thus, it is amply clear that manifestos are inextricably linked to elections. If any party is given time to be in power continuously for five years, it will be accountable to the public and will be cautious enough in making promises. However, if the political parties are not sure of getting a majority they will continue to play with the emotions of the electorates. They will adopt the policy of appeasement by giving a complete go-by to the interests, progress and welfare of the people and the state. Therefore, hopefully, politicians of all hues and colours, the Election Commission of India and the Judiciary will have to apply their minds to ensure that Constitutional mandates are not defeated and allowed to go haywire.

The demise of Professor D N Dwivedi of Allahabad is a Huge Loss to Philosophy

   It is very sad that in less than a month two eminent retired Professors of Philosophy of Allahabad University- Dr D N Dwivedi and Dr Ram Lal Singh- left for their heavenly abode. Both of them were in their eighties and were the giants of Indian and Western Philosophy. I knew them through my father-in-law Dr Sabhajit Mishra, who is also a retired Professor of Philosophy from Gorakhpur University and who formed the distinguished company with them along with Dr (Professor) R R Pandey of the Banaras Hindu University. All of them have been very eminent and highly respected by their students and colleagues as well.

  They have been foremost in developing the scientific temper of reasoning and logic among the students of philosophy. They inculcated the ambience of learning and thinking to the seekers of knowledge. It is because of these illustrious teachers most of the students coming from eastern Uttar Pradesh normally opted for philosophy as a subject for their undergraduate and postgraduate classes. In addition to it, at one point in time, Philosophy became a popular subject for competitive examinations.  The other commonality in all these four outstanding teachers has been that they all came from humble backgrounds and never wore any air of arrogance. They have always been available to their students to help and guide them as and when needed.

   Professor DN Dwivedi, it must be stated, was a powerful speaker who, although used to be ordinarily reticent, had exemplary command over western philosophy. It was a rare delight to listen to his lectures in classrooms be it the Greek Philosophy of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Heraclitus or rationalist thinkers like Rene Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza or empiricists like John Lock, George Berkley, and David Hume. Clarity about the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre and the Dialectics of Hegel, the Critique of Pure Reason of Immanuel Kant etc. could be grasped by hearing him without any distraction. Away from pomp and show, Dr Dwivedi never aspired to come too close to the powers that be, although most of them held him in very high esteem.

 Professor Dwivedi was closely associated with Uttar Pradesh Darshan Parishad. After his retirement, he settled down in Allahabad. He originally belonged to the rural background of the neighbouring district of Pratapgarh. He is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, and their children. 

May his soul be free from the cycle of birth and death!

 

The ‘Wire’ Issue Must be Enquired to get to the Bottom of Truth

 

Planting fake and false news is not new to journalism. This practice has been going on for quite a long time but the scale and frequency with which it is being resorted to these days by a cross-section of motivated people and organisations are too much to recount. The sad part of it is that those who claim to be the champions of the cause of truth and objectivity are also indulging in this nefarious practice. Some time ago we have seen that an operator of a Utube channel, who boasted himself to be the fact checker floated a wild rumour about himself having been shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize. Many news channels became a willing and collusive parties to give credence and wide publicity to the wild rumour.
A few years back a TV Channel spread the false news about a schoolteacher running the flesh trade and using the girl students at the school to make money. The said rumour spoiled not only the career of the innocent teacher but brought disrepute to the school and the students. The biggest shock is that many responsible journalists, whose words are taken as gospel truth by the general public, have also been found to be indulging in spreading unfounded and baseless stories. The falsehood spread at the time of demonetisation and Covid by the so-called responsible journalists and TV Channels were nothing more than scandals. Why legal actions were not taken against them by the authorities was really intriguing. In fact, independent and autonomous organisations should have come forward to name and shame of those shameless journalists and media houses.
This underlines the urgent need for an effective regulatory body to curb and control the fakery in journalism, which is posing the biggest threat to the credibility of the profession in the age of the internet. While social and web media has expanded its reach and penetration even in the remote corners, the mischief mongers are misusing this technological boon to spreading innuendoes, canards and lies. Agenda-driven journalism based on cock and bull stories has been causing incalculable damage to the profession which must be stopped at any cost.
Recently a Web portal the ‘Wire’ has proved that some operators have scant regard for the golden principles of journalism, and they plough their furrows at the instance of the forces that are inimical to the interests of the country. This time the Wire and its operators have been caught red-handed because they accused the powerful company, Meta. It exposed them so badly that they did not get even the fig leaf to hide. It has also come to light that some foreign countries are pumping in huge funds to create an atmosphere of distrust and disbelief in the country.
‘Although no registration of any media organisation can be done in India, whose editor or proprietor is a foreign citizen, it is seen that many foreigners are flagrantly violating these statutory provisions with gay abandon. Unfortunately, the government officials turn Nelson’s eye towards these violators and many times extend their clandestine and surreptitious support to offenders and breakers of laws.
In fact, strict and exemplary action must be taken against masked journalists, who indulge in blackmailing in the name of enjoying the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Indian constitution. In absence of strict execution of laws, these hoodlums who dance to the tunes of their foreign masters, will not hesitate to bring a bad name to the country. These so-called journalists wield so much clout that they dictate with authority to the impotent and bogus bodies like the Editors Guild of India and the Press Council of India.
The echo system of these disguised journalists is so entrenched that they feel that they make or mar the image of anyone. It is the time when the general public should rise to wage a relentless struggle against the new avatars of Goebbels to protect the invaluable fundamental rights and safeguard the credibility of the profession of journalism.

Live Streaming of Courts will Help People Judge Their Judges

 Live streaming of the proceedings of some of the High Courts and three Constitution Benches in the Supreme Court has already given an inkling of how the courts (mal) function in India. If one can see the erudition, courtesy and learning of some of the judges and the advocates then at the same time the tantrums and arrogance of some of the judges and bluffs and bragging of some advocates can also be witnessed. Some of the judges look grotesque with their unbecoming attitude and they give off the appearance of a headmaster in the courtrooms. Instead of asking searching and incisive questions from the advocates and clients, their arrogance and ill manners come into display.

  When we were campaigning for the live telecasting of the court proceedings, many used to oppose it tooth and nail. Their only logic was that the judges and advocates should not be exposed to the mockery or merriment of the general public. They came forward with all sorts of asinine logic against live streaming of court proceedings but thankfully the court finally decided to fully telecast the Constitutional Court proceedings. Although many High Courts have started partial live telecasting much before its introduction in the Supreme Court, special mention must be made of the Orissa High Court, where Chief Justice Muralidhar took the bold decision to telecast the proceedings of all courts. In fact, except for the in-camera proceedings, the entire work should be open to telecasting. It is gratifying that the present Government is also supportive of this move.

 It has been a normal refrain that ‘Bar is the judge of the Bench’. Anybody aware of the court proceedings knows it well that advocates have been expressing their opinions about judges and advocates on the basis of hearsay. Some of them may be true but most of them are like canards. Now the live telecast will facilitate the people to form their own opinions about the judges and advocates. Those who have been watching the proceedings of different High Court will vouchsafe that some of the judges are always discourteous and they have developed the habit of pulling the legs of the advocates instead of trying to know the facts and the legal position to arrive at justice.

 We have Anglo -Saxon legal system of justice delivery system. Our courts have got fossilised. Why should our advocates and judges have to wear high-flowing gowns and bands in the High Courts and the Supreme Court? Nobody will give any satisfactory answer to it, just continuing as lakeer ke faquir. We have many judges who wax eloquent for the Swaraj model of justice, but they have never taken any initiative to do away with this abhorring dress code. Why did they not do anything for removing such a dress code as could not be suitable for the climes of the country? Now the people will be the judge of the judicial system and what our political leadership and the Executive could not do, hopefully, the pressure and the outcry from the public will force the judiciary to change its uniform so as to conform to the county’s climate.  After all, our judges are also parts of society, and they cannot be allowed to be living in a room of hallowed virtue and free from criticism even if their conducts are not beyond reproach.

 Our judicial system is such that in the High Courts and the Supreme Court, the Advocates are expected to be always docile and servile. Even if they have not to say anything, they are expected to grin and say, ‘My Lord, My Lord (s)’. Not saying so is considered to be a bad court craft. It is said that once the late socialist leader Dr Ram Manohar Lohia personally argued a case in the Supreme Court and he refused to address the judge as ‘My Lord.’ He invariably addressed a ‘Mr Judge.’ But no advocate howsoever senior he/she maybe now has the courage to say ‘Mr or Madam Judge’ in the courtroom. Sometimes the judges take it as an insult and start rebuking even the aged and senior lawyers.  Shockingly, these lawyers become so spineless that they show no unhappiness.

 There can be hardly any doubt that Presiding officers or judges should be given full respect but not addressing them as my Lord(s) is no disrespect. Saying ‘yes sir, yes sir’ to any officer is not an indicator of respect but a sign of servility. This practice must go lock stock and barrel, especially from the courts. And there is no other way to ensure it than to live to stream the court’s proceedings. It will also keep corruption in check and all functionaries of the courts including the judges to be cautious of their responsibilities.

Reduce Printing of Currency Notes and Boost Digital Transactions for next Generation Reforms

 A constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India is engaged in hearing many petitions filed against the demonetisation of the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1000denominations. One thing is clear the outcome of these petitions will be definitely infructuous at the cost of a huge judicial time. There is no denying that demonetisation largely curbed the flow of black money.  Be that as it may, demonetisation has given a great push to the digitalisation of payments. The Narendra Modi government must be credited to have incentivised and encouraging the Apps like GPay, Payfone and Bhim etc. One can move around without carrying cash. It is the swiftest mode of receiving and making payments without any hassle. Think of those days when a term was used by the newspapers like ‘money order economy ’. It was very cumbersome and a delaying mode of remittance. The Post offices used to tell at the very outset that any complaint for non-delivery of the money ordered amount would be accepted or entertained only a month after its remittance and not before that. In my university days when I was in Hostel, once I had to wait for the money ordered amount for more than a month, which in any case was very paltry. One can easily understand the predicament of a student coming from a lower middle-class farmer’s family, who had to wait for a month to get the money in order to meet the expenses. Similarly, once, I had to send a money order for some amount to my village and it was not delivered for more than a month. In those days one had to pay at least 5% of the remitted amount. Apart from it, the delivery postman used to demand a certain percentage as Baksheesh from the receiver of the money order.  Even a decade ago, cheques could not be sent because everybody was not having a bank account. Even if both- sender and receiver had bank accounts, it could be sent to the registered posts and the crediting bank also charged for the cheque clearance. If it was an outstation cheque from a different bank, the time taken used to be weeks together. Now within seconds, the money is transferred from one account to another and that too, without any payment remittance charges. Thankfully, one of the first revolutionary measures that were taken by the prime Minister was to get a zero-balance account for even the poorest of poor people. There was no dearth of sadists who made fun of the zero-balance accounts. In this festive season of Deepawali, one can do shopping for even a tiny amount with the help of Paytm or Gpay, thanks to the boost given to technology by the Modi government, which was unthinkable only a couple of years ago.   Now the need is to go to the next generation of reforms to allow only the bare minimum use of cash transactions. This will help wipe out the black money to a large extent. The next step will be to drastically cut the printing of currency notes. Maximum use of digital transactions will prove to be the last nail in the coffin of black money. So, what could not be achieved with all strict measures, can be easily got by technology. Those who say that in a diverse country where a large populace is still unknown of the use of technology, it would be too much for them to expect to completely renounce the currency notes and adopt a digital mode of transactions. Such doomsayers are totally mistaken. They were expressing the same and similar doubts about the increased use of the Internet and mobile phones, but they have been proved to be pathetically wrong.

How did two conmen take the whole world for a ride for many days?

           

 Two conmen- Prateek Sinha and Mohammad Zubair- should be complimented for having spread the false news that both of them have been shortlisted for Nobel Peace Prize and many believed them. They also got some congratulatory messages from the echo system of which they have been the part and parcel. The mockery is that they claimed to be awarded for running a fact-checking portal called Alt news, which is more known for the notoriety of peddling fake news. It was this portal which was responsible for creating an atmosphere of communal frenzy in India. These Johnnies were successful in ploughing the hate campaign against a BJP leader, which had resulted in an all-India chorus for ‘tan se juda’ slogan by a section of a community.

  It is said that rumours have no legs but only wings. By the time, the truth is known the rumours already get caused enough damage. It would have been most incredible fiction, even if the names of these liars had been remotely thought of conferring any award, what to say of the Nobel peace prize to them. However, these so-called fact-checkers, instead of finding the reality thought it fit to take the gullible people for the ride not only in India but across the whole world.  The wonder of the wonder was that a so-called journalist of an American journal was also found to be in cahoot with these un-worthies in giving false publicity to them.

  Look at the audacity and the notoriety of these rumour mongers that they gave publicity to themselves for being thought of for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is arguably the top award in the world. Thus, they have proved that they have immense potential to make incalculable damage to the country with the active support of inimical forces, which have no hesitation in spreading absolutely false, baseless and concocted stories about India.  

 They might not be able to get any awards but the amount of publicity which they have got by sheer dint of ugly and false publicity will definitely help them in getting good funds from some organisations, which have been working overtime to paint India with black colours. It is only these organisations which have been coming out with dubious data and dismal reports about education, poverty, or human rights in India. These anti-India organisations normally put the country at the bottom of their fictitious indexes. Therefore, people must have to be on guard not to believe them blindly without getting properly verified. 

 

Untold Stories of the Framing of the Indian Constitution: An Absorbing Book

                ‘Bhartiya Samvidhan Unkahi Kahani’ by the journalist Ram Bahadur Rai is a highly informative book on the making of India‘s Constitution in a very lucid and anecdotal style. What prompted Shri Rai to go for this book has been elucidated in the preamble of his book. It must be mentioned here that the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly for the framing of the Constitution took place on 9^th December 1946, more than nine months before the country achieved independence on 15^th August 1947. Obviously, this Constituent Assembly was not elected by the people, yet its legitimacy was beyond any reproach. Initially, there were 389 members of this Assembly out of it, 292 were elected through the Provincial Legislative Assemblies: 93 were the representatives of the Indian Princely States, and four members represented the Chief Commissioners of Provinces. However, as a result of partition under the Mountbatten Plan of 3^rd June 1947, a separate Constituent Assembly was set up for Pakistan and representatives of some provinces ceased to be the members of the Assembly reducing the strength of the Constituent Assembly to 299.

     Making India’s Constitution had, no doubt, been a marathon exercise and it was prepared by the best brains of that time, most of them had undergone and endured the fire of the freedom struggle. Each and every article was debated threadbare by the Constituent Assembly, mainly without any personal rancour by any one of its members. The flexibility of the Constitution can be gauged from the fact that it has been amended more than a hundred times to conform to the wishes and aspirations of the people. Many treatises have been written on it by scholars, researchers and other luminaries and yet we feel that some issues are still unresolved, which require to be settled by the Apex Court of the country. The main source of Ram Bahadur Rai’s book has been the copious volumes of the Constituent Assembly debates but what was needed was the ‘Vision’ to look at them to unfold stories that were hitherto unknown to many of us. Making India’s Constitution was no less than a Herculean task and it has been corroborated by the scholar Granville Austin, who himself had written his celebrated magnum opus: ‘The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a nation’.

Another important role in the making of India’s Constitution cannot be forgotten was that of Shri BN Rau, who was a constitutional advisor to the Constituent Assembly. He was an ICS officer and had also served as the Judge of the Calcutta High Court. and Shri Rai has also rightly mentioned his name in a laudatory manner. There were seventeen committees, which were formed by the Constituent Assembly. Four were headed by Babu Rajendra Prasad, three by Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru and one each by Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, Pattabhi Sitaramayya, K M Munshi, GV Mavlankar, Vallabhbhai Patel, HC Mookerjee, JB Kripalani, Gopinath Bardoloi, A V Thakkar and Dr BR Ambedkar. The most important among all the committees was, undoubtedly the Drafting Committee, which was headed by Dr Ambedkar but the role of all the members of the Constituent Assembly was praiseworthy because everybody was immersed in debates head over shoulders. The sterling contributions of Alagu Rai Shastri, Pandit Kamla Pati Tripathi, Seth Govind Das, Purushottam Das Tandon and Shibban Lal Saxena of the Hindi belt were praiseworthy. The writer Ram Bahadur has done well to recall their contributions in his book otherwise, the new generation thinks that the credit for the making of the constitution is solely reserved to Dr Ambedkar, who was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee.

In the last few chapters of his book, Shri Rai has reproduced the summary of the speeches of some of the members, which reveal the thinking of those leaders, whose hearts were pulsating for India and its people. At a time, when a lot of churning going on across the world in the aftermath of the Second world war, the country was faced with imminent partition, Lakhs of refugees had already started pouring in from the other side of the border. and almost all parts of the country were raging with communal inferno, one wonders how our great leaders were able to concentrate on giving a masterly document, which provides equality, liberty and the best possible human rights to the citizens of India.

Having said it all, there is no gainsaying that the present Constitution has largely guided the country. It is an organic constitution and therefore certain restrictions, which have been drawn by the Supreme Court through cases like Kesavanand Bharti needs to be relooked at. In the platinum jubilee year of our independence, it will be highly becoming of our lawmakers to take such steps to frame a new constitution as the same could encompass technological and scientific developments. The rigidity of the American Constitution is of no good to our country. At the same time, the country cannot afford to run the country only on the basis of the conventions and traditions because there will be fair chances of breaking by those in power laying down their own set of conventions if the clear-cut boundaries of checks and balances are not well-defined and demarcated in the Constitution itself.

 Ram Bahadur Rai's book throws light on the mental makeup of the constitution makers, which was by all means, revolutionary. The book deserves to be read by all, particularly by lawyers, law students, teachers, researchers, historians, social scientists, and activists.

Parmanand Pandey

Advocate on Record

Supreme Court of India

 

 

 

 

Live Streaming of Court Proceedings: A Laudable Step

     By Parmanand Pandey            

   My colleague Shripal Singh and I have been regularly campaigning for the live streaming of the court proceedings. I have written copiously on it in my blog’ Life and Law’ as well as on my website’ Judicial Panorama’. Fortunately, a good beginning of live streaming of three Constitution Benches has been made from today i.e., 27^th of September 2022. The decision to video-record the court proceedings was taken in November 2017 by the bench headed by the then CJI Dipak Misra. It was then directed by it that the proceedings of two courts in every district of the country would be video recorded. In the first week of 2018, again the bench consisting of the then CJI, Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud gave a verdict that the live telecasting of the court proceedings would begin from the court of the Chief Justice of India itself.

  There are many democratic countries where a video recording of the courts is allowed. In some countries like, the United States of America live telecast of some selected cases is also permitted. Thus, the Supreme Court of India is the first in the world to have allowed for the live streaming of the proceedings.

 Maintaining Time Schedule and containing Corruption

 The biggest advantage of it will be to help maintain the time schedule of courts. As far as the Supreme Court is concerned, all judges sit in the courtrooms exactly at 10:30 am, without being late even for one minute. However, in most of the High Courts, the condition is not so good. The judges often come late to court. Sometimes they sit late from half an hour to one hour and they retire to their chambers as per their sweet wills. The condition of the lower courts across the country is a total mess. The Judges come and go as and when they desire. It is an open secret that the corruption in the lower judiciary is stinking to high heaven. A reader/peshkar takes money for the filing of the documents, giving of the dates or providing information about the next date of hearings or changing the dates. These employees take bribes even from Advocates and their clients in the full glare of the judges. These peshkars/ ahlmads, in turn, supply milk, bread, butter, vegetables and groceries to the houses of presiding deities. The situation is not so bad in Delhi and many other cosmopolitan towns but in district courts it is rampant. Some judges have become so shameless that they do not feel anything bad about it. Many times, even if the bail has been granted, the papers will not be prepared till the palms of the concerned Ahlmads are not greased. Peons and employees openly demand money as if it is their right.

  The live telecasts of the Court proceeding will certainly help curb corruption to a large extent. This will make lethargic and incompetent judges more alert and at the same time save the clients from extortion by non-judicial employees. Sunlight, as they say, is the best disinfectant. This will largely cure the infection of corruption and help the ordinary people in getting justice relatively fast because the conduct of the judges, advocates, court employees and others will always be in the public scanner. This will also ensure the judges and the advocates remain prepared during the hearings of the cases because their conduct will be in the surveillance of thousands of people.

  No doubt, what could not have been achieved by the strictness of the administration will be achieved by modern technology. Technology has come as a boon for the eradication of corruption, and we must salute and welcome it with open arms to make the country a better place to live in. This move will also instil a new faith in the judiciary. Almost everybody knows that there are many advocates, who only seek adjournments to delay the cases. Clients also indulge in highly unethical practices to get justice delayed. The live streaming will also go a long way in controlling the witnesses to behave properly because it has been found that they often turn hostile for some considerations.

Theatrics Must be Curbed

 However, the presiding Judges will have to ensure that the courtrooms are not converted into places of theatrics. There is no dearth of such advocates who may adopt the recourse of dramatics to get cheap popularity. We see that even the live telecasting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha has not been able to inject a sense of responsibility among the members of parliament. Therefore, the judges will have to take extra care to ensure that some advocates do not hijack the court discipline for cheap publicity. The other problem will be the spread of unverified news through social media because it is absolutely unregulated in our country, so they often think that any oral observation or comment made by the judge or the advocate is of great importance. In order to sensationalise the comments, social media often gives go-by to contents and wings to oral observations.  

 Live streaming is going to be a game-changing reform in the judicial system of the country. As a matter of fact. Section 153 B of the Civil Procedure Code and Section 327 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides for the open court hearing in the CPC and Cr P C. The only exception has been the hearings of the cases related to sexual crimes against women because the intent was not to disclose the identity of women. When this provision was inserted, there was no scientific development to provide more publicity. Only the print- the journalist was allowed to report for the general consumption of the public.

  The judgments of the Supreme Court and High Courts were also divided into two categories namely, reportable and non-reportable. It was left to the discretion of judges to decide whether it was reportable or not. The basic criteria for the same are considered that if a judgment is of ‘in rem’ category then it should be published but if it is ‘in personem’, then not to be published. Anyway, with the passage of time, the demand for the telecasting of news proceedings gained ground. A few High Courts namely Patna, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujrat and Karnataka took have started partially telecasting their important judgment for the benefit of the general public.

 Live Streaming: Useful for Law Students and Teachers

 Live streaming will be immensely beneficial for law students and teachers who can watch the proceedings in their classrooms. It should be made mandatory for all law colleges and all judicial academies as part of their practical training. Many law colleges have been conducting tours to the Supreme Court and High Court so that their students could see the proceedings but now they do not have to bother about visiting different courts which will be available on the TV sets. Coming to the courts was a marathon and complex exercise for them and their teachers, right from taking permission from the Registrars for a limited number of students to getting their entry passes to the courtrooms.

New Electoral Rolls of J@K will Help Integration of the State

  The Government of Jammu and Kashmir must be congratulated for two bold recent decisions after the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35 A from the Constitution of India. One is to make Hindi the official language of the state apart from Urdu and the second is to grant voting rights to nearly 25 lakh people, who have been living there for decades together but were deprived of their legitimate rights.

   This gerrymandering and the delimitation of the state along with the new electoral rolls will go a long way in the integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India. Was it not an insult to lakhs of refugees who came from Pakistan and settled down in Jammu and Kashmir but were denied voting rights? So much so, that thousands of Valmikis, who gave everything in the service of J@K for generations did not have voting rights for 75 years. Sikhs, who came from the western side of the border and were domiciled in the state yet were denied their voting rights.

  The law says that anybody who has lived for six months at any place would be entitled to get his /her name registered on the voters' list. This is how any employee who has been working in Assam for more than six would have voting rights in the state but if he/she is transferred to Kerala or any other state and stays there for six months would be entitled to get his/her name registered in the voters’ list. But it was a different story in J@K because of the obnoxious Articles 570 and 35 A.  Is it not strange that those who went from other parts of the country to the J@K and worked for it were not welcome to participate in the electoral democracy of the state?

  It is well known that Dr Ambedkar was dead against the inclusion of Article 370 in the constitution of India. It is a part of the written history that when Sheikh Abdulla at the instance of Pandit Nehru went to meet Dr Ambedkar and pleaded for the inclusion of Article 370 in the constitution, he is reported to have told him ( Sheikh Abdulla) that how could it be possible that the people of the whole country should pay taxes to be utilised in J@K and yet they do not have any say in the affairs of the State? The Indian army was there in the J@K but they cannot be allowed to have any sense of belonging to the State. This is no way to make the State an inalienable part of India. Sheikh Abdulla was speechless but with the support of Pandit ji, he had his say.

  Think of the situation when people coming from different of the country to live in Delhi do not have voting rights. By this logic, nobody can settle down in other parts of the country. Must it be mentioned here that comparatively in a small place like Varanasi, thousands of Biharis, Bengals, Odia, Marathis, Gujratis, Tamilians, Malayalis, Assamese and Telugus have got the same rights as are available to the locals and nobody resents? In fact, it is a matter of pride for every citizen that he/she can settle down in any part of the country and can enjoy the same privileges as are available to other locals. This is the best way to have the emotional and psychological integration of the country.  Therefore, the Modi government has done splendid work for the real unification of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of the country. The Kashmiris should rejoice over this remarkable feat as till now the people from the rest of the country have been treated only as tourists in the State.

 

Painful Partition of India

 Going through the popular column of journalist Vivek Shukla ‘Dilli dil se’ in a Hindi daily of Delhi provides enormous profit and immense pleasure. It is simply engrossing and enlightening. His pen portraits of the historical places and the history of Delhi leave an indelible mark on the mind. It is the simplest way of recounting history. However, the stories of the monumental tragedy of the partition of India in 1947 grip any reader with extreme sadness, agony, anguish, and anger. Partition of India of India, without doubt, was the most incredible human catastrophe in which lakhs were killed, millions were uprooted, and properties worth billions were destroyed. The biggest onslaught was faced by women who were raped, ravished, and killed by devils.

 ‘Train to Pakistan’ by Khushwant Singh and ‘Jhhotha Sach’ of legendry Yashpal or ‘Tamas’ of Bhishma Sahni has given a vivid picture of death and destruction that was caused by the division of our motherland.  It is true that the refugees, who came from the western part of undivided India to settle down on this side of India were more adventurous than those who came from the eastern part of the country. And within a few years, they got acclimatised to the new atmosphere and started contributing in a big way to the development of the country.

 It is only through his columns, that most of us have come to know that big hospitals in Delhi like Ganga Ram, Moolchand or Kapur had their roots in Lahore. The assiduous efforts that he makes in presenting and reliving history are commendable.  One has to wade through the emotional pangs of partition which is found in abundance in his columns.

 Refugees from both sides of the border have been settled in different parts of the country. A large number of Sindhi refugees can be found in Sagar, Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Mumbai and Delhi. The trauma of their predecessors leaving Sindh should be brought to light. Similarly, those who came from the eastern side have been largely settled in Odissa, West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh.   Local newspapers would do well if they let the local population know the pains and sufferings, that the forefathers of the refugees had undergone while leaving their homes and hearths to entirely places.

 

Rashtrapati is 'gender neutral' like ‘Crorepati and Lakhpati’

  The credit for coining the words like ‘Rashtrapati’, ‘Shri’ and ‘Shrimati’ for the ‘President of India’, ‘Mr’ and ‘Mrs’ go to famous Hindi journalist  Baburao Vishnu Paradkar when he was the editor of the daily Aaj of Varanasi. Hindi journalism has produced six great editors- Baburao Vishnu Paradkar, Rajaram Khadilkar, Lakshman Narain Garde, Ambika Prasad Vajpayee, Pandit Kamla Pati Tripathi and Vidyabhaskar. Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi later left journalism to become an active politician. This group was later known as ‘Five Greats of Hindi journalism. Incidentally, all of them had their roots in Kashi and some association with Calcutta. The first three of them were Marathi speaking and the last one Pandit Vidyabhaskar was Telugu speaking. Only Ambika Prasad Vajpayee and Pt Kamla Pati Tripathi belonged to the Hindi heartland. It must be mentioned here that Hindi journalism was born in Calcutta, and it was from here Pandit Jugal Kishore Shukla brought out ‘Udant Martand’, the first Hindi newspaper in Devnagari script in 1826.

There was a big debate that why the President of India should be called ‘Rashtrapati’ and what will happen if any lady becomes the President. Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi, who was also a renowned journalist and politician, was also consulted on this issue. He is reported to have sided with Paradkar ji that the ‘Rashtrapati’ could not be gender specific. The words ‘Pati’ and ‘Patni’ are used in almost all Indian languages. Therefore, the excuse offered by the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury over calling Draupadi Murmu Rashtrapatni instead of Rashtrapati because of his being a non-Hindi knowing person is lame and unconvincing.
As a matter of fact, the use of the word Pati in Rashtrapati is in the sense of ‘Swami’ (Lord) as those of ‘Crorepati’ and ‘Lakhpati’, which is applicable for both genders. ‘Shri’ means ‘Lakshmi, which connotes feminine gender, Paradkar ji gave a very convincing logic that a male person can be addressed as ‘Shriyut’, ‘Shriman’ or ‘Shri’ (Blessed with Lakshmi), which is much better than that of ‘Mister’ or ‘Mr’. A woman having the qualities of the Lakshmi would be called ‘Shrimati’. However, this word became rigid to be used only for married women and unmarried women got to be addressed as ‘Kumari’.
This dilemma continued for the post of Pradhanmantri for some time also when Mrs Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister. Some overjealous Hindi enthusiasts initially addressed her as ‘Pradhanmantrani’. But thanks again to Kashi journalists, this tangle was resolved, and it was made sure that there would be no distortion of the word ‘Pradhanmantri’ regardless of the gender of the person holding the post. This dilemma continues even in the Supreme Court and High Courts, where some of the Advocates address the lady judges as ‘Your Ladyship. This controversy can be resolved only when a gender-neutral word like ‘Your Honour’, Sir or Madam is used for both male and female judges. The same is also true about "Rajyapal' and 'Rashtrapita' ( father of the nation).  

Annual Conference of Darshan Parishad at Azamgarh will provide impetus to locals

    My friend Ravindra Nath Tripathi, an Advocate practising in the courts of Azamgarh has sent me an invite to the annual conference of Uttar Bharat Darshan Parishad, which is being organised on the campus of the prestigious Children College and Schools of Azamgarh. In a way, it is the most appropriate place to hold this annual conference. This conference will impel the new generation of students to develop and broaden the horizon of their rational thinking. It is situated a few kilometres away from the din and bustle of the town in a tranquil ambience of the village Belaisa. It is being held for three days from 15^th to 17^th July. Azamgarh is the land of Rishi Duravasa. A village named after Rishi Durvasa is located on the confluence of rivers-Tamsa and Majhui and it has acquired the status of a pious pilgrim centre, where people from far-off places assemble for three days in the month Kartik for holy dips in the Sangam.

     Azamgarh has been systematically impoverished by the Moghuls and Britishers. It is said that the water of the river Tamsa has the ingredients of rebellion, which is traced back to Rishi Durvasa. It was the centre of the first war of Independence of 1857. It finds mention in the famous book of Vir Savarkar, wherein he described the valour and the bravery of the people under the leadership of Babu Kunwar Singh, who had set up his camp at Atraulia some 35 km away in the west of Azamgarh while marching towards Lucknow.

   Azamgarh, as the name suggests was found in 1665 by Azam, son of Vikramajit Singh. Vikramajit Singh was a descendant of Gautam Rajput of Mehnagar, who had embraced Islam. He had a Muslim wife who bore him two sons Azam and Azmat. While Azam gave his name to the town of Azamgarh. Azmat constructed the fort and settled the bazaar Azmatgarh of Pargana Sagri. Another Bais Muslim Rajput, Shibli Nomani worked hard for Pan Islamism and set up the famous Shibli National College and Darul Mussanfin in Azamgarh. His brothers were educated in England and one of them became the Judge of the Allahabad High Court.

   Shibli Nomani had although taught at Aligarh Muslim University yet had serious differences with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and always found the atmosphere of the Aligarh intellectually very suffocating. Shibli was inspired by the progress of science and education in the West, but his attitude was sectarian and not broad-based.

   The name of Kedarnath Pandey aka Rahul Sankrityayan, known for his itinerary and philosophical writings is also associated with it. But those who gave new heights to literature and philosophy were Pandit Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay Hariaudh, Pandit Shyam Narayan Pandey and Pandit Channu Lal Mishra. My classmate at Banaras Hindu University and aficionado of Indian Philosophy Dr RK Mishra, who expired last year due to COVID would have been the happiest person to have participated in this philosophical congregation as he, like me, also belonged to Azamgarh. Although I am in not able to participate in the programme due to many reasons, it would have been a celebratory occasion for me as it was going to provide a good opportunity to meet and listen to philosophical expositions of scholars. Moreover, it is being held in Azamgarh, where eminent thinker-teacher of Philosophy Dr Sabhajit Mishra is being honoured by the Parishad.

  Bhai Ravindra Nath ji, I send my best wishes for the roaring success of the annual conference, being organised under the illustrious guidance of Professor Bajrang Tripathi.

Parmanand Pandey

 

 

 

S C Must Clear its Obiter Dicta Observations in Nupur’s Case

Lord Atkin has said ‘justice is not a cloistered virtue, she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and respectful, even though outspoken, comments of ordinary men. That is why the oral observations of the Supreme Court in Nupur Sharma’s Transfer Petition must be allowed to be freely commented upon by the public. In fact, the observations are not only uncalled for and unwarranted but highly disturbing. If the Supreme Court was so troubled with what Nupur Sharma had said in the heat of a TV debate, it should have been recorded in the order sheet but the SC rather preferred to lecture orally on her conduct. This obiter dicta comment ought to have been avoided by the judges because it will adversely affect Nupur Sharma in getting justice. Although obiter dicta are legally not binding on the courts below, it will certainly be cited to persuade and prejudice the mind of judges of lower court judges.

A transfer petition is normally filed by the litigants for transferring the case from one High Court or court to another High Court or court in the interest of justice and to save them from unnecessary harassment. It is filed under Article 139(2) of the Constitution of India Section 25 of the CPC and 406 of the CrPC on the expediency of justice. But here the Supreme Court’s observations in the case of the transfer petition of Nupur Sharma from different courts of the country to a competent court in Delhi have made a mockery of justice. The SC has literally pronounced the judgment without any evidence, recording of evidence or cross-examination. The judges have committed grievous injury to the dispensation of justice. If the judges were so perturbed with her statement, they should have recorded their concern in the order sheet and disallowed or dismissed the petition but their fulminations were totally unrelated to the case and if this practice is adopted by the Supreme Court, then there will be chaos in the justice delivery system.

This oral but heavily loaded political lecturing from the pulpit of the Supreme Court is a cause for huge concern for the country. If the case did not deserve to have been transferred, the court should have decided it on its merit. But it was an extraneous and off-the-tangent observation, which is bound to send a wrong message across the country. To say that Nupur Sharma was intoxicated with power is totally unbecoming of the Supreme Court because the whole country looks at it for guidance and appropriate decisions on the facts and the legal position of the case. How could be she held to be single-handedly responsible for the vitiating the atmosphere in the country or the killing of a tailor in Udaipur by Jihadists? In this manner, every Jihadi including Osama Bin Laden could blame somebody for the destruction of the twin towers in America. Kashmiri Pandits could be blamed for what happened to them in Kashmir.

The Supreme Court was to decide about the transfer of the case and not who is guilty of the killing of the Udaipur tailor. The Supreme Court has undoubtedly overreached its jurisdiction. It would do well to take up the case suo moto and remove all misunderstandings which have spread across the country by its oral observations.

Missive of Retired Judges to the CJI is unjustified

 

Sometimes extraordinary measures need to be adopted to deal with an extraordinary situation. The manner in which the peace was being hijacked by some rioters in different places of Uttar Pradesh after the Friday prayers in mosques was highly disturbing for the common people. There could be no room for any doubt that it was being planned by some and executed by namazis. Yogi government has restored the peace sooner than it was expected by administering the ‘bulldozer medicine’. The preliminary revelations have made it clear that the vicious radical PFI has been responsible for the state-wide trouble.

But what is more troublesome is the letter of some former judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and some advocates to the Chief Justice of India requesting him to take suo motu cognizance of the use of bulldozers to stop the razing of the houses of the rioters. As far as the identification of culprits is concerned, nobody is expected to know better than them that real culprits mostly go scot-free, and it takes years to bring them to book. And yet if these worthies want to frustrate the steps of the government, it is not difficult to infer their real intentions. In fact, it has been the legitimate expectation of the general public that they should have used their influence in asking the rioters to adopt the peaceful means to register their protests.

The country has seen innumerable sits-in and demonstrations. Such peaceful protests and agitations have mostly been supported by the people but the pelting of stones on shops and others in the manner it was being done by the extremists/terrorists of Kashmir can never be endorsed. The way this letter petition has been written by the judges appears that letter writers are inclined to save rogues and rascals. Dharnas of Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar a few years ago and many candle marches were taken out at India Gate, particularly for the justice to Nirbhaya and it got nationwide support. But when one sees the crowd of namazis coming out of the mosques and throwing stones at shops and damaging public property one shudders to think of their violence. Traders close their shops due to the fear of the namazis.

Some judges have the misconceived notion of being monarchs, and they can pass orders as per their whims. The fact is that constitution does not give any such whimsical powers to judges. Only two years ago a former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court had ordered to remove the posters bearing the photographs of those who were to be found out as they were suspected to be responsible for creating trouble in Lucknow during Anti-CAA protests. His order was patently wrong, but the Executive had no choice but to comply with it. Everybody was aghast as to why the judge, who has since retired, was overreaching his jurisdiction and behaving in a bizarre manner, which was totally unbecoming of the post that he held.

Lawlessness cannot be allowed to rob the peace of millions of citizens of the state. These judges have, no doubt, written the letter to the Hon’ble CJI for cheap publicity. If they were so concerned with the rule of law, they should have asked the Executive to tactfully handle the situation and at the same time appealed to namazis not to take the law into their own hands.

Arun Shouri’s Latest Tome is Worthless Through and Through

Arun Shourie’s latest book ‘The Commissioner for Lost Causes’ is absolutely boring and insipid, and it does not enlighten in any manner whatsoever. It is an account of the self-righteousness of Arun Shourie. Let it be said that it has unfortunately now become a new trend or fashion for most of the journalist-writers to tom-tom about themselves. In the book, Shourie has reproduced long reports from newspapers, official files or the letters that he had written earlier to buttress his own conclusions. In some places, he has praised Ram Nath Goenka, the owner of the Indian Express Group of newspapers but at many times he has traduced him in his book. Ram Nath Goenka was called RNG by his well-wishers and admirers, however, for workers he was always Lalaji. In the eyes of Shourie, he was intrepid, fearless and courageous till he subserved the interests of this self-styled thinker. But when RNG started reining him in, Shourie brought forth his all demerits of an actor, of being uncouth and ugly behaviour, of being abusive and vulgar. Needless to say, it was RNG and his newspaper Indian Express which made Arun Shourie a famous person by allowing him to shine and swell his image among the politicians and bureaucrats.  Lalaji was never a lily-white person, his activities like most of the other businessmen were shady, whose all works were aimed at making a profit of all types, yet he was many times very magnanimous towards those employees, editors included, who were ready to perform the duties of a personal factotum.   

This is a bulky book by Arun Shourie containing nearly six hundred solid pages and has as many as 29 chapters but the crux of almost the entire book is the self-glorification or self-eulogy of the writer. The credit must certainly be given to a person like Shourie, who despite no training or experience in journalism, managed to be foisted as a senior /executive editor on a dedicated team of journalists by virtue of being a member of the elite club of the Lutyens Delhi. He was brought to the Indian Express because of his proximity and high connections with powerful people. Lala ji gave him full freedom to publish lengthy reports taken directly from the official files. Some of them were passed on to him by Lallaji himself and some of them were obtained from his own sources. Those reports might not have been able to any interest to the common people, but they were enough to set the government(s) on fire.  Shourie has also had the knack of appropriating the stories of his own reporters, which got his ego massaged.

Arun Shourie has painted Lala ji with a black brush time and again in the book, but Lalaji was no less clever than him. He also used Arun Shourie as a hack, wherever it was needed. Lalaji used to shower choicest abuses on his adversaries and editors, as was his wont, and Shourie has reproduced them as they were hurled. Shourie’s selfishness to outshine other senior editors and journalists by becoming the eyes and ears of Lalaji is clearly visible in all the chapters.

Arun Shourie has always been anti-worker. He has discussed the two strikes of workers: one in Bombay (now Mumbai), which was organised under the leadership of the late Dr Datta Samant and the other in Delhi in the year 1987. He has not discussed at all the working conditions or the demands of the employees but has made all-out efforts to blame the strikers. During both the strikes, Shourie played the role of a shameless strike breaker. What could be more reprehensible for a so-called intellectual like Shourie to invest his time and energy in breaking the strikes than suggesting any respectable solution? He identified fifth columnists among journalists who were/are dime a dozen and black sheep among workers by luring them with various blandishments. He has taken umbrage that why the employees of other newspapers came forward to help the striking workers of Indian Workers in Delhi. This shows the colossal ignorance of the person about the Trade Unions, where the unity of other workers is not only fully justified but the real Mantra of the movement.

Lo and behold! Shourie after being kicked from the shop of the Lalaji developed his proximity with politicians but feigns ignorance about the shenanigans of politics. He tries to his readers to believe that the Membership of the Rajya Sabha was given to him on a platter, although he was reluctant to accept it. His description of the offer, election to the Rajya Sabha and later the ministership is economical with the truth.

 Shourie has praised the judiciary and the judges only when it suited him. So long judiciary and the judges helped him and Lalaji in achieving their goals, they were alright but when it did not suit, he did not hesitate in turning against them. Lalaji and Shourie virtually converted their newspaper into a journalistic harlotry and a tool of blackmailing. Anybody who went against them, be it a worker, a journalist, a politician or a trade unionist was tarred with a bad name so as to hang him/her with heaps of ignominy.

Just as Rajiv Gandhi was brought to heels on the issue of Bofors guns with the help of some politicians, Arun Shourie and his ilk tried to blackmail Narendra Modi by using the Rafael fighter planes to get the pounds of flesh. But Arun Shourie and his cohorts like Prashant Bhushan and Yashwant Sinha had to eat humble pie as they did not get support from anywhere. Arun Shourie and his company forgot that Narendra Modi was made of different mettle, who cannot be blackmailed because of his squeaky-clean politics. That is the reason Shourie, and others got rebuffed by the judiciary and the CAG. Now Arun Shourie’s words are taken with a pinch of salt because his true colours have been known to everybody.

 Coming again about the book, it will be a sheer waste of time in going through this worthless tome.  The book is an example of hollowness. It looks like the writer is unaware of the fact that self-praise is no recommendation.

 

 

 

Violence After Prayers Stinks of Obnoxious Conspiracy

 

Stone pelting after the Juma Namaz (Friday Prayers) at various places in the country amply demonstrates that some forces, which are inimical to India are actively engaged in hatching a conspiracy to shatter the peace and harmony. This is being done in the name of opposing Nupur Sharma. Demonstrations and gheraos are legitimate rights of the people in our country. Even for peaceful dharna and pradarshan permission from the police is necessary but in such types of orchestrated violence police and other citizens are attacked by Namazis. It is generally believed that after the Namaz, devotees would turn to peaceful self-introspection but here they become violent and target police and the public by pelting stones. This could not have been a spontaneous incident as it happened simultaneously at many places. This was a well-thought plan, which is clear from the fact that stones could not be collected on the spur of the moment. Therefore, to maintain law and order and to restore the confidence of the people, Imams and other members of the Intzamia(managing) committee should be immediately rounded up if the crowd turns violent. The lectures, which are delivered by Maulanas after the Namz should be fully monitored and if something provocative is found then apart from rioters these Maulvis should also be held responsible.

The irony is that such anti-social elements get open support from a lobby that claims to be liberal, and the champion of freedom of speech and expression. This lobby has unfortunately been helping anarchy. One is amazed at the mentality of some people who derive perverted pleasure and gleefully tell others that Muslim countries are very unhappy with the present Modi government. They allege that the present Indian government has not been able to keep in check those who speak against Islam. There cannot be any grudge against Islamic countries because they have no idea of democracy and debate but why do our own people, who swear by dissent and discussion feel happy to be associated with them? Is it not strange that these people prefer to go with medievalism? It is all the more, strange that those who consider religion as an opium of the masses do not have any compunction in siding with those, who vehemently refuse to listen to the truth even if it is written in their own scriptures. Here it is not the question of Muslims, who refuse to see any logic in the name of faith but about those perverts who revel in the expansion and encroachment of Indian territory by China. If the relationship of India nosedives with Arabian countries and the diesel and petrol prices get hiked, they feel happy because they get the opportunity to traduce the government, which is not of their liking. Anything that embarrasses the present government will be a good stick for these nincompoops. But they do not know that under the cover of Modi's opposition they are doing incalculable damage to the country.

India has always had a very healthy tradition of discussing and disagreeing with any proposition, even if a person is high and mighty. Kabir Das has been the biggest iconoclast that the country has seen in the last five hundred years. One shudders to think that what would have been the fate of Kabir Das if he had been alive today. After all, Nupur Sharma did not say anything which could be said to be a figment of her imagination. She simply quoted from the Hadis, which no cleric has been able to refute. So, why this intolerance? Are we returning to the age of darkness, where even facts can't be stated or told in the name of faith? Clearly, it is against the democratic, constitutional and even religious spirit of the country. The law-enforcing agencies will, therefore, have to take the help of technology to deal with such elements, who erupt into violent activities on the day of the religious congregations. But apart from the law enforcement agencies, the awaked section of the society will have to also come off their shells to create an atmosphere of discussion and debate free from rancour and animosity.

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