Muslims and Buddhists clash in Myanmar and Sri Lanka

By: Parmanand Pandey

The news of clash between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka seems to be quite strange because it is alleged that Buddhists are leading the attacks and vandalism. If it is so—it is really condemnable and needs to be curbed with iron hands. It is strange in the sense because Muslims across the world are known for picking up the quarrels and taking advantage of the troubled waters. It is all the more surprising because Buddhists are known for their placid, meek and docile behaviour. It is the culture of tolerance and non-violence that is inculcated among them from the cradle and they carry it to their cremation.

Muslims, on the contrary, refuse to gel with any other community. They consider it an onslaught on their religion and refuse to compromise their identity to live with others following the philosophy of co-existence. It may be remembered that many years ago the Kashmiri Hindus had requested the Muslims to observe one day in the year as non-meat eating day on Krishna Janmashtami. This gesture of Muslims could have gone a long way in cementing the ties between both communities. A Muslim clergy (leader) took offence to this appeal and he responded to it by openly slaughtering a cow on the chauraha (the cross road) of Lal Chowk of Srinagar. They (Muslims) defied the appeal of Hindus in other parts of the state also because they thought that paying any heed to the request or entreaty of other religionist is nothing less than an insult to their credo or belief. If this is their belief, it needs no comment because it is self-speaking about their religion and character.

This is the reason that they have become a thorn in flesh of most of democratic countries of the world, be it America, England, Canada, France or Germany.

This religion is a closed religion. It refuses to amend or reform with the passage of time. Muslims think and remain complacent in the sufficiency of Quran as far as the knowledge is concerned. Enquiry and interpretation is anathema to it. This is possibly one of the main reasons why Islamists are at loggerheads with every other religionist around the world. Wherever they are in majority, they consider it their duty as ordained by their religion to convert the minority religionists to their fold by force, fraud, cheating and duress. But wherever they are in minority, they make hue and cry of human rights violation and also of the 'Islam is in danger'. This double edged policy of theirs has made them suspicious in the eyes of the other religionists. Moreover, they say that there is no concept of nationhood in their religion. They owe allegiance to the Islamic brotherhood without caring even two hoots for their neighours, co-linguists and compatriots. They will denounce the science if it infringes even a little bit in their beliefs but never hesitate to use it for aggravating the crisis for others with the help of modern weapons and equipment.

However, all said and done, Muslims must enjoy their freedom to the hilt and any curtailment in their religious rights must be deprecated. At the same time Muslims must also understand that like them others freedom need to be honoured and protected and not to be interfered. Once they understand this spirit, there would hardly be any scope of clash and harassment of any one in the society irrespective of the religion. But Muslims must go for self-introspection and learn to live in peace and harmony with others.

Any Award to Lalu will amount an insult to people

By Parmanand pandey  (25-05-2009)

Lalu Prasad Yadav, when he was the Chief Minister of Bihar used to brag, ‘Jab tak hai somese me aaloo, tab tak rahega Bihar me Lalu (So long the Samosas are made of potatoes, Bihar will be ruled by Lalu). He had many times said that he would rule Bihar for at least twenty five years. When he shifted from Bihar to Delhi after getting his wife saddled as the Chief Minister of the State he boasted number of times inside and outside Parliament that one day he would certainly become the Prime Minster of India.
One may recollect that when Lalu was returned to power in Bihar for the third consecutive time he had pooh-poohed the idea of development in the State. He even ridiculed the theory of modernisation, computerisation and developmental activities of Chandrababu Naidu of Andhra Pradesh who had got drubbings at the assembly elections by saying that if the development had been the criterion of popularity in the people, then Naidu should not have got battered. This was his way of expressing contempt for the development.
Anybody, who talked of making Bihar a vibrant and developed state, was made the butt of jukes by Lalu. He had said many times that only illiterates and poor people vote for him; therefore, there was no need for education and alleviation of poverty from the state. Thus he actively and deliberately perpetuated the poverty and deprivation in Bihar. So much so; he used to gleefully enjoy the humiliation of Biharis, who stepped out their State to earn their livelihood in other states.
A person, who considered himself the product of the movement got himself immersed, head over shoulder, in corruption of every conceivable type, be it fodder scam or asphalt scam or misappropriation of flood relief fund. He sucked Bihar white for his insatiable greed of accumulating wealth. He ran the state of Bihar as his fiefdom without any sense of shame or guilt. Claiming himself to be a socialist he indulged in terrible casteism and rank opportunism in most brazen and arrogant style. He was tried in the court of law in some cases and was even sent to jail more than once but the thick skinned Lalu, as he is, boasted as if the jail going in corruption cases was a badge of honour. While going to jail; the way he handed over the baton of Chief Ministership to his unlettered house wife, Rabri Devi, amounted to heaping insult on the people of the State in particular and the democratic polity of the country in general. In any other democratic country, he would have been languishing in jail and faced the wrath of the public but he, with the support of spineless leaders like Inder Kumar Gujral, whose ascendancy to the post of the Prime Minister ship of India was slur on the country, got his wife sworn in as the Chief Minister of the second largest state of the country. It was the darkest period of the country that a self seeker like Gujral could rise to the level of the Prime Minister of the country without any qualification, struggle or ideology. He, verily, brought disrepute to the exalted post of the Prime Minister ship. It is said, that it was Gujral who suggested Lalu to install his wife as the Chief Minster of Bihar. What a shame!
Now Lalu Prasad Yadav’s bluff and bravado has been exposed in the last Parliamentary elections. The People of Bihar have rejected him lock stock and barrel. Any attempt by him or his corrupt supporters to get him awarded with a ministerial berth at the centre would again be an insult to the people of Bihar. This is the time his corrupt deeds, irregularities in Bihar as well as in the Railway Ministry should be thoroughly enquired into and made public. And he must be tried in fair and objective manner by the court of law. If he is found guilty he should get stern punishment. This will help restore the people’s faith in democracy and neck-deep corrupt politicians like him would, undoubtedly, be deterred from plundering the public money and treat the power as their fiefs. A good lesson indeed!

MF Hussain's Act is Disgrace to Freedom and Liberty

By Parmanand Pandey  (03-03-2010)

It is really shocking and unfortunate that MF Hussain, a famous painter has, with his own volition; decided to relinquish the Indian citizenship to become the citizen of Qatar, an Islamic country, where freedom of expression is as removed as the sky is from the earth. As a matter of fact, singing, dancing and painting is anti-Islamic and satanic because they supposedly cause deviation from worship. That is why, it is beyond anybody's imagination that a person like MF Hussain, who claims to be the votary of freedom of expression would salivate for the citizenship of a tyrannical and intolerant country. This shows that his advocacy for freedom and speech and expression is not only phoney but a complete trash. He has proved to be a suspect by his conduct.

India, by all means; a country of liberal and tolerant society, has made him what he is. His works have been admired and eulogised not by Muslims but Hindu intellectuals, although his works are of very ordinary and average standards. There are hardly two opinions that most of the Hindu intellectuals have often gone overboard in praising the works of MF Hussain; not because they are good connoisseurs of art but because they suffer from acute inferiority syndrome. The purpose of this piece, however; is not to assess and evaluate the paintings of MF Husain but to nail his lies that he is a secular and strives for freedom. One question has always remained unanswered why does he relish in paining nude only Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Accepted, that imaging of Prophet Mohammed would be a blasphemy but why could he not paint others as he did in the case of Mrs. Indira Gandhi? And if his nude painting of Hindu deities are objected; then Mr. Hussain tries to adopt the specious logic of freedom of expression. Does it not show his mala fides and duplicity? He also cites that example of temples of mediaeval times, where there are plenty of exotic frescoes on the walls but he conveniently forgets that those carvings are not of deities.

Now when he has accepted the citizenship of an Islamic state, his intentions become abundantly clear that it is more to offend and hurt the religious feelings and sensibilities of Hindus than to espouse the cause of art and culture. There are some newspapers, intellectuals and politicians of India, who have become so blind with irrationality that they do not have any sense of shame left in them that they consider this act of MF Hussain as a shame for Indians. In fact, it is the other way round and should be a matter of shame for MF Hussain that he has decided to forego the citizenship of the country of his birth and which has given him so much including the prestigious membership of the Rajya Sabha but now he is unabashedly maligning the same motherland. He has, undoubtedly; let this country down. It is an affront to the civic society. If he had gone to settle in any democratic and civilised country, then it could have mitigated his misdemeanours and misconduct to some extent. But the drama and ruckus that he has created in preference to an Islamic country betrays his hatred and disliking for the culture and values of India. This is shameful indeed and he deserves to be squarely condemned, derided and deprecated in Gandhian way of non-violence. Those who support this reprehensible act of MF Hussain's are no better than senseless and insane people.

SACK JUSTICE KATJU FROM THE PCI

By: Parmanand Pandey

Justice Markanday Katju, most of the times, makes an ass of himself by his totally unconvincing, illogical, partisan and ridiculous statements. Right from the time he has become the Chairman of the Press Council of India he has developed the unquenchable thirst for publicity for right or wrong reasons and that is why he often issues silly statements on almost all subjects under the sun. People are now so fed up with his blabbering that do not hesitate in calling him ‘megalomaniac’ and ‘vagabond’ etc. These epithets, which are attributed to him, are entirely of his own creation.

Go to the Bar of the Supreme Court of India and one will come across with many distinguished lawyers, who would vouchsafe that while on the Bench he was not known for the formidable knowledge of law or elegance of the language of the judgments but for his acid and sarcastic comments, which were invariably uncalled for. Many lawyers used to sit in his court rooms, even if they had no cases listed for hearings, for the free entertainment that used to flow from the Bench of Justice Katju.

His article on Narendra Modi that was published in the Hindu was not only in bad taste but also unbecoming of the person, who holds a high statutory post and was once the judge of the Apex Court of country. When the protests started coming thick and fast from across the country, he tried to slink out by saying that the article was written in his personal capacity and not in the capacity of the Chairman of the Press Council of India. It is nothing but a vain effort to befool the public. I am sure he must be aware of the fact that nobody would have taken notice of his statements and articles if he was not the Chairman of the Press Council of India.

Now his recent statement on Sanjay Datt has come as a rude shock to every law-abiding, well-meaning and conscientious citizen of the country. He appeared to be in the tearing hurry of issuing a statement on Sanjay affair which could create controversy and he might be able to reap the resultant dividend of publicity and for that he would not mind doing anything and everything. He has, needlessly, been advocating for Governor’s mercy to Sanjay Datt and the logic which he advances in his plea is atrocious and bereft of any plausible reasoning.

Surprisingly, he issued his statement for clemency to Sanjay Datt even before the ink of the Apex Court Judgment had dried and well before the same could put on the official web-site of the Supreme Court of India. In his haste to please his masters he forgot to check his facts that under which provisions of the Constitution of India the clemency  in such types of cases could be sought for by any convict from the President of India.

I am sure if he had taken some trouble to go through the judgment of the Supreme Court, he would certainly have come to know that the punishment meted out to Sanjay Datt is fully justified and based on proper interpretation of law and jurisprudence. It may be noted that his confessional statements, which he retracted after many months, would make it as clear as the day-light that he (Sanjay Datt) was guilty on many counts and he is not at all as innocent as his drum beaters are trying to make out. It is good that he has himself said that he would neither file the Review Petition in the Supreme Court nor send any petition before the President of India to be pardoned.

Any clemency, therefore, to Sanjay Datt would prove counter-productive and people would lose all faith in the judicial system as well as in the executive that both work overtime for the rich and resourceful person while poor man is allowed to rot to his fate. It would be, in fact, in the fitness of things that any talk of clemency or pardon for Sanjay Datt should be put to permanent rest and loose talkers like Katju must be snubbed.

In all fairness, Mr. Katju should resign from the post of the Chairman of the Press Council of India and indulge into the politics by joining the party of his grandfather K.N. Katju i.e. the Indian National Congress. However, in case he does not resign, which I am sure he will not, then the government would do service to the country and the people by immediately sacking him.

UP’s Health Department Is Suffering From Serious Sickness

  By: Parmanand Pandey

Newspapers and TV news channels have definitely rendered yeoman’s service by highlighting a banal fact that sweepers, janitors and drivers administer medicines and sometimes carry out minor surgeries on the patients in the government hospitals of Uttar Pradesh. This is the same state where during the regime of Ms Mayawati thousands of crores made way to the pockets and purses of politicians and officials in the name of high sounding NHRM Scheme. If the objectives of the scheme were to be believed, rural areas of Uttar Pradesh would have been the ideal places for the healthcare but unfortunately that proved to be moonshine.

Many former bureaucrats, Medical officers and politicians have already been caught and some of them are cooling their heels in jails. The corruption of unprecedented scale went on for years together under the nose of rather in complicity with the Chief Minister.

But that is no excuse for the present Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to allow the corruption to go on unabated. Therefore, it is but natural to find the outrage across the country over the TV pictures showing a sweeper and ward boy stitching wounds and administering injections. So much so, in the district hospital of Kushinagar the driver of the Chief Medical officer was found treating (or playing with the life of) the patients in emergency and general wards. Further, to add salt to the injury, the CMO claimed (or feigned) ignorance over the incident. In Meerut, a ward boy was caught on camera carrying out a post-mortem in a government hospital. This is very common in all government hospitals, particularly in Uttar Pradesh.

A weak argument of understaffing is put forward by the corrupt and dishonest doctors and politicians. The fact is the doctors of government hospitals do not attend to their duties properly. They visit hospitals only to mark their presence in the register and then disappear to their private clinics or other private hospitals. Except for one or two hours in the forenoon, any doctor is hardly seen in the government hospitals. Thereafter patients are left at the mercy of the sweepers and other attendants. Sweepers and attendants take money and liquor bottles from the patients and their relatives and often misbehave with them. So, the excuse of understaffing is total bunkum and hogwash.

Medicines, that are to be given free of cost, find their way to the shops of chemists. Even cotton wool and bandages are not made available. It is done openly without any fear or shame because they know it that nobody can touch them. Doctors and paramedical staff buy the protection from top officials and politicians who are corrupt to the core.

I know one politician who is only matriculate and he was made cabinet minister for health by Shri Mulayam Singh, when he was the Chief Minister. He was neither having any idea of healthcare nor any desire to learn but he had become expert in making money through graft. Corrupt doctors were given plum postings and honest were punished. During the marriage ceremony of his daughter, the Chief Medical officers of all districts were directed to deposit the fixed quota of money to the Ministers' PA. And there was the queue outside his village house at Azamgarh to deposit the money against Kuchcha receipt.

This state of affairs not only continued during Mayawati's regime but actually got worsened.

Nearly one lakh crore Rs. were pumped in by the WHO and the Central Government to improve the health care services in the state and not even give per cent of the whopping amount was allowed to percolate down to the people. More than 95 per cent of the money was gobbled up by the bureaucrats and corrupt politicians in power.

UP's Health department is, in fact, has become sick and the disease of corruption has become very chronic. It needs urgent operation and shock treatment. Throw the corrupt doctors and rude, lethargic staff out. Drastic ailments need effective medicines. Media is playing the commendable role to stem the rot. Keep it up.



Presidential Debate is a Good Idea

The suggestion of Mr. Purno A Sangma, the Presidential Candidate against Congress sponsored candidate Mr. Pranab Mukherji public debate is a welcome idea.  Although the situation which has obtained after the decision of the political parties, Pranab Mukherji's election is almost a foregone conclusion; yet as any election is an education, which leads to more awaking and maturity of the people, this election will also be very fruitful if Sangma’s proposal is accepted in its proper spirit.

This type of debate is nothing new. There are many countries in the world where such debates are organised on television channels. United States of America is a shining example, where nobody can think of becoming the President without undertaking the vigorous campaigning through debates and discussions. It is true that the President of the USA has immense powers and his position cannot be compared with Indian President where he /she is merely a titular head of the state.

The President of India may not enjoy the same powers as the French or American Presidents but he/she certainly has more powers than the queen or king of England. He/she, to top it all, is window to the world.In the era of coalition governments the President's post has assumed much significance. The debate will no doubt throw the light on the personality of the candidates.

 Being the head of the family the President is supposed to check the executive and if it has gone astray, he can bring it back on rails. We in India have seen that Presidents have often worked like rubber stamps except the first two Presidents — Babu Rajendra Prasad and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan. But then it was a different era of different people. Now cunningness, petty politicking has replaced the learning and sincerity to the cause.

We expect that the next President will be loyal and honest to the constitution and people of India rather than to person and the party. The debate would thus without doubt shed the misgivings and prejudices about the candidates. Since no whip can be issued in the presidential election, the people's representative would be at liberty to vote as per their conscience based on their understanding of the ability and competence of the candidates.

Hopefully, both candidates will give serious thought over it. Pranab  babu being a learned man of wide experiences will agree to this sane suggestion of Shri Sangma.

O God; Forgive Justice Katju

Press Council of India’s Chairman Justice (retired.) Markandey Katju is, undoubtedly, an erudite and scholarly person. He has thorough knowledge of law, literature, philosophy and political science. But he suffers from a serious demerit of hunger for publicity. Apart from it, he is highly unpredictable person and himself does not as know as to what he is speaking and what would be its repercussions.

Judges are known for their reticence. They are supposed to be the biggest practitioners of 'Look before leap' policy but this theory never applies to Justice Katju. He mistakenly considers it a quality of outspokenness. He is a pundit of English language and people marvel at his beautiful language that he writes but his love for Hindi is known to everybody, who has seen him on the bench of the Supreme Court. He often made gratuitous comments on lawyers and their way of arguments. Even the government officials attending the court cases were not spared by his acid comments and most of the times it used to be mortifying experience for them.

There are many lawyers who are his bitter critics and they allege that Justice Katju suffers from foot in mouth disease. Some say he was the chronic patient of verbal diarrhea. This is very harsh comment indeed; but one cannot help it from commenting anybody about anybody.

Justice Katju's comments are, it is said, not malafide or malicious. They hardly bear any ill-will towards anyone. He was unsparing, even bigwigs had also to suffer his unedifying comments. I have seen him passing remarks against famous lawyers like Venugopal, Gopal Subramaniam, Rohinton Nariman, Mukul Rohtagi and A.M. Singhvi etc. But He forms opinions about the persons or cases generally in haste. And if he has made any opinion he expresses it without let or hindrance.

This trait of Justice Katju has often caused incalculable damage even to the very right intents and purposes. This uncalled for habit of his has turned many of his admirers into harsh critics. Why does he do - nobody knows. It must be either a psychological problem or deliberate one — I cannot say.

The day after Justice Katju assumed the charge of the Chairman of the Press Council of India, he made an unsavoury remark about the intelligence of the journalists across the board. On what ground or basis he came to the conclusion that the journalists possess low Intelligence Quotient? He did not elaborate. It must have dawned on him either as an intuition or on the basis of any empirical study. Nothing can be said about intuition but it is certainly not based on any empirical study. Journalists across the country made hullaballoo about his outpouring but he refused to resile. He did not tell about the ground or logic forgetting the basic principles of jurisprudence that any statement without sufficient reason is nothing but the blabbering of a crazy person. It is highly deplorable and unbecoming of a person who has occupied the venerable post of the judge of the Supreme Court of India and even at present holding a very important office of the Chairman of the Press Council of India to have uttered so senselessly. It is really matter of solace that the Press Council of India is a tooth less organisation; otherwise a person like Katju would certainly have wreaked havoc on the freedom of the Press.

One is really amused when one finds that the Chairman of the Press Council has written to ‘so and so’ Chief Minister warning him to behave or protect the freedom of speech or else appropriate action would be initiated. This shows not only his colossus ignorance of the Press Council's Act but also exposes his bravado inviting ridicule of the general public.

Recently, he made another an obnoxious remark in Bihar and said that there was no Freedom of press in the state. This was an insinuation against the State Government. He has no proof, yet he gave his definitive opinion. Moreover, if the Press or Media was being gagged in Bihar who was responsible for it — this needed an in-depth and comprehensive study. But why should he care for it? His statement, obviously he did not know, would be lapped up by politicians. And those who have throttled the press freedom in the past in the state, would be first to use it as weapon against present government of Bihar. That is exactly what has happened.

But to ask or expect restraint from Justice Katju will hardly have any positive response for he does not know what he speaks.