Saturday, February 14, 2009

Naxal Terror

Why have we not been able to destroy terrorist training camps of Naxalites?

“The most significant indicator of the rot is that 150 of India's 600 districts are now affected by Naxalite violence. The rot is worsening, not improving. Can such a country really become an economic superpower?”
Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar, Saturday, June 24, 2006 09:23:14 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Afterall Raju is 'manavadu'

Today is Sunday the 8th Feb 2009 and Sunday Times carries three headlines on satyam:
1)Satyam fudging well planned. Dozens of Managers attended Scores of fudge meetings. (First page top headline)
2)Rajus get comfy in jail (second page)
3)Rajus in ‘proactive’ custody: Ex-Sebi chief. (third page prominent headline).


Contrast this with reporting in Deccan Chronicle of the same day.
A small column on front page, 'Raju gets jail till Feb.21' continued on page two summerising all that TOI did, in just a small report and in a very light vein. Is DC sympethatic to Rajus? Is it ‘manavadu’ feeling or is there something more?
I thought everyone was equel before law but police and judiciary possibly think otherwise.

The following is reported in the Statesman,which also shares my doubts.
Raju in ‘protective custody’, says Damodaran
Press Trust of India
AHMEDABAD, Feb. 7: In a biting criticism of Andhra Pradesh police's handling of the Satyam case, former Securities and Exchange Board of India chief, Mr M Damodaran today said the firm's founder Mr B Ramalinga Raju and other officials were in fact in “protective custody.”
Mr Damodaran, who demitted office as chairman of Sebi last year, suggested that there was no other way of looking at it given the weak resistance the police put up when the court remanded Mr Raju to judicial custody.
“Instead, the police happily handed over them (Raju brothers) in judicial custody, so that Sebi needs to get the court's permission first (to quiz them),” he said during a seminar at the IIM-A here.
When a Sebi probe team approached a magistrate court for permission to interrogate the Raju brothers, the petition was dismissed on technical grounds. As AP High Court too did not give early relief, the regulator had to finally move the Supreme Court.
The Sebi team yesterday finished questioning the Raju brothers on the accounting fraud in Satyam Computer.
“This is what I call protective custody of the Raju brothers and (former) Satyam chief financial officer, Mr Srinivas Vadlamani,” Mr Damodaran said.
“I don't know how the law will help when the state decides to provide protective custody,” he asked.
“This is a peculiar case in which the police produced a person before the court and (he) was granted judicial custody, not police custody,” Mr Damodaran noted, adding that normally policemen insist on securing custody of the accused in order to talk to them first and extract vital details. That is why they arrest people.”
On reports that Mr Raju was seeking special status and also mosquito nets in jail, he said sarcastically: “I don't know how brave the mosquitoes are to go near him.”
The matter of special status is still pending before the court.
On the rejection of Sebi's plea on technical grounds, Mr Damodaran said: “The lower court took a preposterous position that it was not a court that handles cases related to securities law. The Sebi application did not say that a case of securities law needed to be judged by that court.”
I have taken this Statesman report online because TOI online did not carry this report whereas their print edition did.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Terrorism

Terrorism is bad. And terrorism in the name of religion is worse. There are innumerable terrorist organisations world over. Only Muslim terrorists call their outfits with names, which are obvious of religious affiliations. These terrorist Muslims have given bad name to their own religion. Come to think of it, are we right in calling them Muslims? Ireland has terrorists who are chritians, Shri Lanka has terrorists who are Hindus, India has terrorists who are Hindus (Naxalites), Manipur has terrorists who are Hindus and in India itself we have terrorists in Nagaland who are chritians.

Religion has always played a significant role in pulling crowds. It was Bal Gangadhar Tilak who brought Ganesh to street corners. He knew that only in ganesh pendals could he address the masses about India’s dream of independence from the British. Bapu began and ended his speeches with bhajans.


Though the terrorist plans have failed because of good inteligence network, the fact remains that Britain, US, India and Israel are victims of psychological terror. The amount of tension that they are subjected to is worse than after effects of terror. Air passengers are afraid, security personnel are tense and on a slight suspision flights are held up. This is also a kind of success for terrorists. Or, as MJ asks, was there at all a liquid bomb?

Why is there so much of terrorism?

I worked in Imphal for nearly four years, which, I think, gives me enough credibility to rationalise. Manipuris felt, and quite correctly, that they were being exploited. This place has a strategic border with Burma. Manipuris, like Bangalis, consider manual labour below their dignity; it is quite another matter that their concept of dignity is misplaced one. So you have a large number of Bihari working as coolies. Manipuris are a relaxed people, and hence the business community is Marawaris.

They know that India needs Manipur. Bengalis have for long ill treated people from almost all the states bordering West Bengal. They were the first to embrace English and the English. If you don’t believe me read Ananda Math by Bankin Babu. British were the saviors from the demon called Muslims.

This was a right atmosphere for China to exploit the situation. Exploitation of an opportunity takes place when an opportunity is provided.

Sikh community was frustrated because they worked hard to bring green revolution and the fruits of their labour went to Lalas, Hindu traders. It all began as an agrarian problem. One has to pay the price of exploitation sometime or the other, but pay they must.

Kashmiri Pundits never treated Muslims as equels. A Brahmin is perhaps superior within the Hindu society not globally. They must keep their concept of superiority within the boundaries of Hinduism. Indian secularism is a wonderful concept. In practice it is set-aside in a very sophisticated and subtle manner.