The famous unknown (BJP) muslim

Brown Pundits Archive · June 3, 2014 · Comments Off on The famous unknown (BJP) muslim
Brown liberals (who self-identify as Team Coconut) are shouting from the roof-tops that the BJP does not have a single muslim MP (member of Lok Sabha) in its ranks. While a tsunamo swept the nation, the lone BJP Muslim candidate Syed Shahnawaz Hussain lost from Bhagalpur (Bihar), to a Hindu (Shailesh Kumar) of the (majority) Muslim supported Rashtriya Janata Dal, led by Lalu Yadav. Such is indeed the unpredictable nature of life in India.

But look deep and it seems that this is not quite the complete truth. The BJP (Team Orange) does have one world famous Hindu-converted muslim in its ranks, one who is a self-proclaimed devotee of Lord Krishna and who was duly elected from the Lord’s playgrounds of Mathura-Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh). Her name is Aaisha Bi and the aforementioned Lalu Yadav is a long-time fan.

On the road to victory, Aaisha’s (original) Hindu roots have been emphasized (in the Hindu). How else to explain the “nari-shakti” image above (see link below)? Hindus are fond of the concept of a woman-leader and
there are a plethora of legends, old and young, where the woman conquers all (when all men have failed). In contrast, her day to day living as a devout muslim remains un-explored, an equilibrium that both the Orange and Coconut gangs have taken care not to disturb. We wonder very much about this equal opportunity vow of silence.

Incidentally, our (respectful) opinion is that this violent god-woman imagery is
taking things a bit too far, a nightmare vision of Indian women being transformed into millions of Lorena Bobbitts. Still, given the real-life nightmare social scenario prevalent in India today, we males have forfeited our right to complain. 

If fans like us were given the vote we would have certainly elected the dream-girl “Basanti” image (from
the Hindi movie Sholay), a lady who dances on broken glass in honor of her
lover (we understand that the Coconuts would sneer at the very idea, but then there is no pleasing everyone). 

We end with the words of the first Fan. The (ex) boss of Bihar had once promised his people that black money stored in Swiss banks will be used to make the roads of Bihar as smooth as Hema Malini’s cheeks (alas, none of the promises have been kept). But image wise, unquestionably  the best of them all. Shabash, Lalu-ji and Salaam.
………..
Film star Dharmendra, now a BJP MP, could not have
thought in his wildest dreams that his second marriage to “Aaisha Bi R.
Chakravarty” alias Hema Malini would come to haunt him one day. 

Dharmendra had converted to Islam to marry Hema Malini as Hindus are not
allowed second marriage. Their marriage was solemnised on 21 August
1979 in Bombay in accordance with Islamic rites. He had married Hema
while his first wife Prakash Kaur was still alive. Had he not contested
the Lok Sabha elections from Bikaner, the matter probably would not have
come to light.

While filing his nomination papers as a BJP
candidate before the returning officer, Dharmendra had written his name
as Deol Dharmendra Kewal Krishn concealing his Muslim name Dilawar Khan
and wrote the name of his first wife in the respective column. When his
political rivals brought the issue to the notice of election authorities
and the general public, he denied his conversion to Islam and change of
name. 

But Delhi magazine Outlook published a photocopy of his Nikahnama
(marriage document) which clearly said that Dilawar Khan Kewal Krishn
(44 years) accepted Aisha Bi R. Chakravarty (29 years) as his wife on
21 August 1979 at a mehr of, Rs 111,000 in the presence of two legal
witnesses
’ The nikah was solemnised by Maulana Qazi Abu Talha Misbahi
Faizabadi. 

Two Congress leaders of Madhya Pradesh, Akhtar Baig and KK Mishra filed a
lawsuit against him in Indore’s sessions court demanding rejection of
his nomination papers on account of submission of false information and
concealing his conversion to Islam and adoption of a Muslim name,
demanding trial under section 420 of
IPC.

According to Akhtar Baig and Congress leader from Rajasthan, Nawal
Kishore Sharma, under Hindu Marriage Act, a Hindu cannot take a second
wife if the first wife is still alive. However, he can marry for a
second time if he has divorced his first wife or embraced Islam.
………
Link (1): http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/once-a-dream-girl-shes-now-giving-nightmares-to-rival/article5938365.ece

Link (2): http://www.milligazette.com/Archives/2004/16-30Jun04-Print-Edition/163006200433.htm
……

regards

PS FWIW our coconut friends also consider the Hindu god-woman image as not quite conforming
to feminist ideals. This is perhaps because
feminists (just like Quakers) always stand for
peace, they would never advocate cutting of the balls of demons even while they are out destroying the bodies and souls of innocent women.

USA and Taliban part as (future) friends

Brown Pundits Archive · June 3, 2014 · Comments Off on USA and Taliban part as (future) friends
This is one facet of the American psyche we really admire, the powers that be see everything as a business venture, no emotions need apply. They have on earlier occasions led efforts which have destroyed whole countries (for example, Vietnam) but when they finally did acknowledge defeat and turned back, there has been no long term bitterness. Indeed going by the experience of Vietnam, it would not surprise us if the USA and the Taliban sign up a friendship pact after a gap of say 10-20 years (ditto for Iran).

Make
no mistake: Bergdahl did not “lag behind on a patrol,” as was cited in
news reports at the time. There was no patrol that night. Bergdahl was
relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the
outpost on foot. He deserted.

This action of exchanging POWs tells us very clearly (more than anything else) that USA is withdrawing from the world (for the foreseeable future at least). The campaigns which took off have suffered almost as much as the campaigns which did not- Libya is suffering almost as much as Syria. The only bright star in all of this is an independent Kurdistan. Now even the drones have fallen silent as Uncle Sam has decided to go home and leave a mad, mad world behind.

They had young
boys hold him down, boys between the ages of 10 and 15, all of whom
giggled like they were jumping on a trampoline. The prisoner screamed
and pleaded for his life. The captors cut this poor man’s head off.
No human being deserves that
treatment, or to face the threat of that treatment every day for nearly
five years.
 
So, this man was a deserter and many of his brothers died in trying to rescue him. And now some of the fiercest enemies of America will walk free so that Bergdahl can come home. He in is such a bad physical state that he has forgotten all English. The powerful have no understanding of how much hell war is and what permanent damage it inflicts on the powerless.
……..
It was June 30, 2009, and I was in the city of Sharana, the capitol of
Paktika province in Afghanistan. As I stepped out of a decrepit office
building into a perfect sunny day, a member of my team started talking
into his radio. “Say that again,” he said. “There’s an American soldier
missing?”

There was. His name was Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl, the only prisoner of war in the Afghan theater of operations. His release from Taliban custody on May 31
marks the end of a nearly five-year-old story for the soldiers of his
unit, the 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment. 

I served in
the same battalion in Afghanistan and participated in the attempts to
retrieve him throughout the summer of 2009. After we redeployed, every
member of my brigade combat team received an order that we were not
allowed to discuss what happened to Bergdahl for fear of endangering
him. He is safe, and now it is time to speak the truth.


…
And that the truth is: Bergdahl was a deserter, and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down.

On
the night prior to his capture, Bergdahl pulled guard duty at OP Mest, a
small outpost about two hours south of the provincial capitol. The base
resembled a wagon circle of armored vehicles with some razor wire
strung around them. A guard tower sat high up on a nearby hill, but the
outpost itself was no fortress. Besides the tower, the only hard
structure that I saw in July 2009 was a plywood shed filled with bottled
water. Soldiers either slept in poncho tents or inside their vehicles.


…
The next morning, Bergdahl failed to show for the morning roll call.
The soldiers in 2nd Platoon, Blackfoot Company discovered his rifle,
helmet, body armor and web gear in a neat stack. He had, however, taken
his compass. His fellow soldiers later mentioned his stated desire to
walk from Afghanistan to India.

The Daily Beast’s Christopher Dickey later wrote
that “[w]hether Bergdahl
just walked away from his base or was lagging
behind on a patrol at the time of his capture remains an open and
fiercely debated question.” Not to me and the members of my unit. Make
no mistake: Bergdahl did not “lag behind on a patrol,” as was cited in
news reports at the time. 
….
There was no patrol that night. Bergdahl was
relieved from guard duty, and instead of going to sleep, he fled the
outpost on foot. He deserted. I’ve talked to members of Bergdahl’s
platoon—including the last Americans to see him before his capture. I’ve
reviewed the relevant documents. That’s what happened.


…
Our
deployment was hectic and intense in the initial months, but no one
could have predicted that a soldier would simply wander off. Looking
back on those first 12 weeks, our slice of the war in the vicinity of
Sharana resembles a perfectly still snow-globe—a diorama in miniature of
all the dust-coated outposts, treeless brown mountains and adobe
castles in Paktika province—and between June 25 and June 30, all the
forces of nature conspired to turn it over and shake it. 
…
On June 25, we suffered our battalion’s first fatality, a platoon leader named First Lieutenant Brian Bradshaw. Five days later, Bergdahl walked away.


…
His disappearance translated into daily search missions across the
entire Afghanistan theater of operations, particularly ours. The combat
platoons in our battalion spent the next month on daily
helicopter-insertion search missions (called “air assaults”) trying to
scour villages for signs of him. 
….
Each operations would send multiple
platoons and every enabler available in pursuit: radio intercept teams,
military working dogs, professional anthropologists used as intelligence
gathering teams, Afghan sources in disguise. They would be out for at
least 24 hours. I know of some who were on mission for 10 days at a
stretch. In July, the temperature was well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit
each day.


…
These cobbled-together units’ task was to search villages one after
another. They often took rifle and mortar fire from insurgents, or
perhaps just angry locals. They intermittently received resupply from
soot-coated Mi-17s piloted by Russian contractors, many of whom were
Soviet veterans of Afghanistan. It was hard, dirty and dangerous work. 
…
The searches enraged the local civilian population and derailed the
counterinsurgency operations taking place at the time. At every juncture
I remember the soldiers involved asking why we were burning so much
gasoline trying to find a guy who had abandoned his unit in the first
place. 
….
The war was already absurd and quixotic, but the hunt for
Bergdahl was even more infuriating because it was all the result of some
kid doing something unnecessary by his own volition.


….
On July 4, 2009, a human wave of insurgents attacked the joint U.S./Afghan outpost at Zerok.
It was in east Paktika province, the domain of our sister infantry
battalion (3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry). Two Americans died and many
more received wounds. Hundreds of insurgents attacked and were only
repelled by teams of Apache helicopters. 
…
Zerok was very close to the
Pakistan border, which put it into the same category as outposts now
infamous—places like COP Keating or Wanat, places where insurgents could
mass on the Pakistani side and then try to overwhelm the outnumbered
defenders.


…
One of my close friends was the company executive officer for the
unit at Zerok. He is a mild-mannered and generous guy, not the kind of
person prone to fits of pique or rage. But, in his opinion, the attack
would not have happened had his company received its normal complement
of intelligence aircraft: drones, planes, and the like. Instead, every
intelligence aircraft available in theater had received new
instructions: find Bergdahl. …
My friend blames Bergdahl for his soldiers’
deaths. I know that he is not alone, and that this was not the only
instance of it. His soldiers’ names were Private First Class Aaron Fairbairn and Private First Class Justin Casillas.


…
Though the 2009 Afghan presidential election slowed the search for
Bergdahl, it did not stop it. Our battalion suffered six fatalities in a
three-week period. On August 18, an IED killed Private First Class Morris Walker and Staff Sergeant Clayton Bowen
during a reconnaissance mission. 
..
On August 26, while conducting a
search for a Taliban shadow sub-governor supposedly affiliated with
Bergdahl’s captors, Staff Sergeant Kurt Curtiss
was shot in the face and killed. 
….
On September 4, during a patrol to a
village near the area in which Bergdahl vanished, an insurgent ambush
killed Second Lieutenant Darryn Andrews and gravely wounded Private First Class Matthew Martinek,
who died of his wounds a week later. …
On September 5, while conducting a
foot movement toward a village also thought affiliated with Bergdahl’s
captors, Staff Sergeant Michael Murphrey stepped on an improvised land mine. He died the next day.



…
It is important to name all these names. For the veterans of the
units that lost these men, Bergdahl’s capture and the subsequent hunt
for him will forever tie to their memories, and to a time in their lives
that will define them as people. He has finally returned. Those men
will never have the opportunity.

Bergdahl was not the first American soldier in modern history to walk
away blindly. As I write this in Seoul, 

I’m about 40 miles from where an American sergeant defected to North Korea in 1965.
Charles Robert Jenkins later admitted that he was terrified of being
sent to Vietnam, so he got drunk and wandered off on a patrol. He was
finally released in 2004, after almost 40 hellish years of brutal
internment. The Army court-martialed him, sentencing him to 30 days’
confinement and a dishonorable discharge. He now lives peacefully with
his wife in Japan—they met in captivity in North Korea, where they were
both forced to teach foreign languages to DPRK agents. His desertion
barely warranted a comment, but he was not hailed as a hero. He was met
with sympathy and humanity, and he was allowed to live his life, but he
had to answer for what he did.


…
I
believe that Bergdahl also deserves sympathy, but he has much to answer
for, some of which is far more damning than simply having walked off.
Many have suffered because of his actions: his fellow soldiers, their
families, his family, the Afghan military, the unaffiliated Afghan
civilians in Paktika, and none of this suffering was inevitable. None of
it had to happen. 
…
Therefore, while I’m pleased that he’s safe, I
believe there is an explanation due. Reprimanding him might yield
horrible press for the Army, making our longest war even less popular
than it is today. Retrieving him at least reminds soldiers that we will
never abandon them to their fates, right or wrong. In light of the
propaganda value, I do not expect the Department of Defense to punish
Bergdahl.

He’s lucky to have survived. I once saw an insurgent
cellphone video of an Afghan National Police enlistee. They had young
boys hold him down, boys between the ages of 10 and 15, all of whom
giggled like they were jumping on a trampoline. The prisoner screamed
and pleaded for his life. The captors cut this poor man’s head off.
That’s what the Taliban and their allies do to their captives who don’t
have the bargaining value of an American soldier. That’s what they do to
their fellow Afghans on a regular basis. No human being deserves that
treatment, or to face the threat of that treatment every day for nearly
five years.


…
But that certainly doesn’t make Bergdahl a hero, and that doesn’t
mean that the soldiers he left behind have an obligation to forgive him.
I just hope that, with this news, it marks a turning point for the
veterans of that mad rescue attempt. It’s done. Many of the soldiers
from our unit have left the Army, as I have. Many have struggled greatly
with life on the outside, and the implicit threat of prosecution if
they spoke about Bergdahl made it much harder to explain the absurdity
of it all. Our families and friends wanted to understand what we had
experienced, but the Army denied us that. 


…
I forgave Bergdahl because it was the only way to move on. I wouldn’t
wish his fate on anyone. I hope that, in time, my comrades can make
peace with him, too. That peace will look different for every person. We
may have all come home, but learning to leave the war behind is not a
quick or easy thing. Some will struggle with it for the rest of their
lives. Some will never have the opportunity.


…
And Bergdahl, all I can say is this: Welcome back. I’m glad it’s
over. There was a spot reserved for you on the return flight, but we had
to leave without you, man. You’re probably going to have to find your
own way home.

……
Link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/02/we-lost-soldiers-in-the-hunt-for-bergdahl-a-guy-who-walked-off-in-the-dead-of-night.html
……

regards

Gopinath Munde death…massive setback for BJP

Brown Pundits Archive · June 3, 2014 · Comments Off on Gopinath Munde death…massive setback for BJP
Gopinath Munde, who was the
OBC face of BJP in Maharashtra and who had joined the Union Cabinet as rural
development minister, died today following a road accident. This family has
been gravely troubled over the last few years, earlier, brother-in-law Pramod Mahajan, another
top flight leader from Maharashtra was shot dead by
his own brother. Now with Munde dead, BJP will have lost the person who was expected to lead the party to victory in upcoming state elections in Maharashtra.

…
Gopinath Munde met with a road accident at 6:30 AM of June 3, 2014, while on
his way to the Delhi airport.
Munde’s convoy met with an accident in the Moti Bagh area of South Delhi, which
is near Delhi airport. Minister was on his way to Airport to leave to Mumbai. Munde’s car collided head on with another car and in the
accident, the BJP leader sustained multiple head, chest and spinal injuries.
Munde, a diabetic
patient, fell down from the car and asked to be taken to a hospital when his
security guard helped him. Munde has suspected to have suffered a cardiac
arrest and he was taken to the AIIMS Trauma Center where he passed away around
7.20 am.

The back-story [ref. wiki] is remarkable, it shows how Mrs Gandhi’s emergency regime brought many of today’s (non-Congress) mass leaders, most of them from working class backgrounds to the fore-front of Indian politics (Congress and to some extent the Left enjoyed  the patronage of the elite and the educated class). Indian democracy was saved by defeating the all powerful Mrs Gandhi and her son Sanjay (ma-bete ki sarkar of a bygone age) under the leadership of Jay Prakash (JP) Narayan, who (in our opinion) remains the most respected Gandhian after Gandhi. And yes, many of these people, just like Narendra Modi, graduated in political education from RSS university.

From Lalu Yadav in Bihar to Chandrababa Naidu in Andhra, all leaders have one common point in their resume- incarceration during 1975-1977. The only group who backed Mrs Gandhi during those dark days were the Communist Party of India (Russian backed CPI, not the Chinese backed CPIM). And today CPI (and to some extent CPIM as well) has been pushed deep into the dustbin of history. Congress must also adapt and reform quickly, else it will follow the same path to oblivion.
……..

Munde was born in Parali, Maharashtra,
on 12 December 1949, to Pandurang Munde and Limbabai Munde in a middle class Vanjari
(caste) farmer’s family. Munde’s wife Pradnya is sister of Pramod
Mahajan (a Brahmin). 

His family included Sister Saraswati Karad. She is followed by
elder brother Pandit Anna, who is actively involved in social and political
work. He was third child in the family. He was followed by younger brothers,
Manikrao and Venkatrao. Munde has three daughters — Pankaja, Pritam and Yashashri. Pankaja is an
MLA. Pritam is a doctor, and Yashashri is studying law.

Munde
attended a government primary school, in Nathra village, Beed district where
classes were conducted “under a tree”. He later attended the Zilla
Parishad high school in Parali. He obtained a BA in commerce from college in
Ambejogai. Subsequently, he studied at the ILS College in Pune.

Munde
got involved into politics when he met Pramod
Mahajan, a friend and colleague in the college. As a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad,
he took part in the agitation against the state of emergency imposed by the
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He was incarcerated in the Nashik
central jail until the Emergency was lifted.

In 1971, he associated with the campaign of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh candidate in the Lok
Sabha election in the Beed
constituency. He attended the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Shiksha
Varga (Training Camp) held in Pune that year. He soon became the Sambhajinagar Mandal
Karyavah, looking after half a dozen shakhas of the RSS, and subsequently, the
in-charge of its Pune
City Students’ Cell. 

Later, he was made a member of the executive committee of
the city RSS. The Janata Party by this time had split, and the Bharatiya Janata Party, founded by the
leaders the erstwhile Bharatiya Jana Sangh had come into existence.
Munde was made President of the Maharashtra
unit of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

He was Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha from 12 December
1991 to 14 March 1995. Munde was sworn in as the Deputy Chief Minister of
Maharashtra when Manohar Joshi-led government took over the reins of
the state on 14 March 1995.

Munde
served as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha (2009–2014), representing the Beed constituency.
Munde won 2014 Loksabha election from Beed Constituency by margin of 2
lacs. He defeated NCP’s Suresh Dhas.Subsequently, he was appointed as Minister of Rural Development
by Prime minister Narendra Modi.

……..
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Union-minister-Gopinath-Munde-dies-in-road-accident-in-Delhi/articleshow/35980717.cms
…….

regards

Achhe din has come to…Pakistan

Brown Pundits Archive · June 3, 2014 · Comments Off on Achhe din has come to…Pakistan
The economy is steadily improving, almost reaching the high points under Musharraf. The projected growth rates of 7% in 2017 may be a bit too ambitious, unless there is an economic breakthrough with India. Also promised are 900,000 jobs in next four years, which will again require economic co-operation with India.

In turn India will also significantly benefit from economic ties with Pakistan.

It all points to a fast time-table for resolution of the Kashmir problem. While all other interests will have a look in, the efforts can only succeed if common Kashmiris agree to a final settlement. The politicians have always claimed that they were very close to a solution before Kargil created a brake or Mumbai put a stop to talks. Such events may happen in the future as well and it will be always best to remain prepared.
……..
Launching the survey at a press conference, he said this is less than
the targeted 4.14 per cent but it is for the first time in six years
that the country has entered the territory of four per cent growth this
year.


And, the GDP growth rate would be increased one per cent
each during the next three years taking it to 7 per cent in 2017.
Similarly, the industrial growth has been recorded at 5.84 per cent as
against 1.37 per cent last year.

The minister also said that the
large-scale manufacturing recorded growth of 5.135 per cent as against
4.08 per cent last year. He said electricity generation and gas
distribution growth last year was minus 16.33 per cent and this year it
has grown by 3.72 per cent.
Construction recorded growth of 11.31
per cent this year as against minus 1.685 per cent last year while
wholesale and retail trade increased by 5.181 per cent as against 3.38
per cent last year, he said.

Ishaq Dar said that transport and
communication recorded growth of 2.89 per cent as against 2.88 per cent
last year while agriculture sector showed growth of 2.12pc against
2.88pc last year.
Major crops showed growth of 3.74 per cent as
compared to 1.19pc last year. Wheat production this year is 25.29
million tonnes as compared 24.21 million tonnes last year, he said.
Rice
production this year stood at 6.8 million tonnes as against 5.54
million tonnes; sugarcane 66.47 million tonnes as compared to 63.75
million tonnes last year and maize production this year is 4.531 million
ronnes as against 4.22 million tonnes last year.
Provisional
estimates of cotton production this year are 12.77 million bales as
against 13.03 million bales last year. Similarly, grams and oil seeds
recorded growth of minus 3.52 per cent.
The minister said
inflation in the first eleven months of the current financial year was
8.6 per cent as against 7.5pc last year.

Exports in ten months of
the outgoing financial year stood at $21 billion as against $20.1
billion last year, showing an increase of 900 million dollars.

Ishaq
Dar said the grant of GSP Plus concession by the European Union has
started impacting our textile sector positively as it grew by 7 per cent
in value terms.

According to the survey, imports in ten months of
the outgoing financial year stood at $37.1 billion as against $36.7
billion last year, indicating 1.2 per cent increase. The minister said
there was a significant increase in import of plant and machinery which
was a positive indication.

Workers’ remittances in ten months of
current financial year reached $12.9 billion as against $11.6 billion
last year, showing a growth of 11.5pc. Foreign investment this year
stood at $2.979 billion against $1.277 billion last year.

Foreign exchange reserves presently stood at $13.63 billion against $11.4 billion dollar last year, said the minister.

The
survey further unveiled that per capita income this year has increased
to $1,386 from $1,339 last year. Stock market crossed 29,700 points and
its capitalisation increased by about 38 per cent. Tax revenue as
percentage of GDP this year is 7pc as against 6.8pc last year.

Non-tax
revenue as percentage of GDP remains at 2.7pc while total expenditure
as percentage of GDP reduced to 12.9pc from 14.8pc last year.

Development
expenditure this year as percentage of GDP was 2.2 per cent as against
2pc last year. Fiscal deficit in first ten months was 3.2 per cent as
compared to 4.7pc last year.

The finance minister further said that FBR tax collections in 11 months have grown by 16.4 per cent. Ishaq
Dar said the State Bank of Pakistan’s borrowing last year was Rs 416.8
billion, but this year the government paid back Rs 10.5 billion to the
bank.

Hinting an increase in the defence budget, he said the PML-N government has made the defence of the country invincible.

To a question, he said major incentives will be given to the private sector to restore the confidence of the investors.

It is estimated that
around 900,000 jobs will be created in the next four years after the
introduction of G-3 and G-4 spectrum, said the finance minister.
……

Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1110122/414pc-gdp-growth-recorded-highest-since-2008-09/
……

regards

Communal? Who, me??

Brown Pundits Archive · June 3, 2014 · Comments Off on Communal? Who, me??

So, this is how the last brick wall crumbles. There is now unprecedented, open criticism about the Queen, not just the Prince. In order for the Congress to have a chance to recover from the shellacking this is only the first (but welcome) step. There must be a root and branch reform whereby the dynasty forswears power and remains confined to an advisory role (just like the Shahi Imam).

….
Bihar (Congress) MP Asrarul Haque’s criticism of the
Bukhari-Sonia meeting in April which was followed by the Delhi-based
cleric’s appeal to Muslims that they
should vote for Congress – “The meeting should not have happened and it was wrong
on the part of the Congress party to issue an appeal to one community.“
..
And yes, the Shahi Imam is communal, just as we expect a Sadhu and a Padri to be communal. While all religions have nice words to say re: co-existence, the point of the matter is that you self-identify with one tribe and that your preferences will be to suit yourself and your brothers, often at the expense of others.

If the post-election surveys are accurate then the top-three vote gathering combinations are as follows. 
(1) The BJP/NDA axis was supported by Upper Caste hindus, non-Sunni muslims, lower- Other Backward Castes (as opposed to landowning higher caste shudras), non-Jatav Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and (non-Christian) Scheduled Tribes. 
(2) Sunni Muslims and upper- OBCs (for example, Yadavs in UP/Bihar) voted for Congress/UPA (except in Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Bengal where these groups voted for Jayalalitha Jayaram, Naveen Patnaik and Mamata Banerjee). 
(3) The Jatav vote concentrated in North India (particularly in UP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh) was in favor of the Bahujan Samaj Party led by Mayawati.

There are signs that voting patterns in India will become fixed (due to polarization) unless there is a wave election in favor of a charismatic person, or against an unpopular incumbent. With the benefit of hindsight the tsunamo in 2014 combined both these effects.

There were perhaps 10-20 seats (mostly in Uttar Pradesh) where the Muslim-Yadav vote got split between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP), and resulted in the BJP winning even majority muslim seats. If Congress and SP had a formal alliance with clear-cut seat divisions, then it may have been enough to deprive the BJP of the huge psychological boost of a simple majority.

What Sonia did wrong was that she gambled that muslims will unite behind the Congress and vote against SP in the marginal seats. In that narrow sense the Imam’s appeal to his flock is actually responsible for a BJP mandate. This is what being “communal” gets you in the end- you unite the Hindus against you and you split up your own vote-bank.

And you lose so terribly that you may never win again.
……………………..

In an
implied criticism of party boss Sonia Gandhi’s pre-election meeting with
the Jama Masjid shahi imam, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has
dubbed Syed Ahmed Bukhari as a “communal” man.

Singh told
reporters, “I do not consider him (Bukhari) a secular person. I believe
Imam Bukhari is a communal person.”  The remark comes on the heels of
Bihar MP Asrarul Haque’s criticism of the Bukhari-Sonia meeting in April
which was followed by the Delhi-based cleric’s appeal to Muslims that
they should vote for Congress. The appeal triggered a controversy.

In what is seen as a direct jibe at Sonia, Haque, according to reports,
said, “The meeting should not have happened and it was wrong on the
part of the Congress party to issue an appeal to one community.”


The meeting, which BJP used to accuse
Congress of playing “appeasement” politics, has been controversial
because many in the party feel it helped the saffron camp to polarize
voters in its favour.

Now, the public criticism from within is
likely to embarrass the leadership much more than the attacks from BJP,
especially when it has come from a Muslim MP, as also a senior Congress
general secretary.

Critically, it marks the first instance of
Sonia facing fire for the election debacle or related issues; the anger
among party men till now was directed against her son and heir apparent
Rahul Gandhi. In the last week, Congress has had to suspend two senior
leaders in Kerala and Rajasthan for slamming Rahul. …….

…..
Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Now-Sonia-Gandhi-too-draws-flak-from-her-party/articleshow/35969282.cms
……

regards

A preview of Indo-Pak cooperation in Uganda

Brown Pundits Archive · June 2, 2014 · Comments Off on A preview of Indo-Pak cooperation in Uganda

I received a random salesman call from two brown dudes.

One of them (M) had been calling me the past few days trying to set up a meeting. He had been “sirring” me a fair bit and on the third time they managed to come to our offices.
Turns out even though he’s Gujarati Brahmin (I could tell the surname) he looks like a rather familiar North Indian accountant, the type we get somewhat used to. He was very techie and very solicitous.
As I walk into the meeting I notice the darker chap and assume because of his curly hair he must have been South Indian. Turns out he has a Muslim name (A) and upon my asking how long the company has been in Uganda (5yrs+) I ask if it’s an Indian company.
Turns out to my surprise it’s originally Pakistani (I find it a bit odd that an Indian is working for Pakis, but a job is a job I guess).
At any rate turns out A is of course Pakistani and as I sit in that short meeting it dawns on me the almost perfect illustration of Indo-Pak cooperation and stereotypes. Indian accountant in a suit, obsequious looks techie and money.
The Paki had obviously done something to his hair (in Uganda making those curls is called texturising) and was wearing a River Island shirt (we’re not even in Kampala proper) with a slight American twinge (I doubt he was the son of the founder but an aspiring relative so the American accent is grafted on).
I don’t know if Paks are the cool kids of the subcontinent (apparently the Sri Lankans have the most swag in london) but at a few moments in the meeting I couldn’t keep from smiling as the paki went and on with the sale.
Are Paks the natural salesman of South Asia, are Indians more technically gifted I have no idea but when stereotypes slap you in the face, sometime you have no choice but to smile along.. Oh and we might just buy the product.. 

Is Kashmir’s Jung a Jihad? A Pakistani Cleric answers

Brown Pundits Archive · June 1, 2014 · Comments Off on Is Kashmir’s Jung a Jihad? A Pakistani Cleric answers
This is not about Indo-Pak cocky slugfest on the broader Kashmir conflict but purely on technical grounds (for guidance of true believers), Sheikh Tauseef ur Rehman seems to make better sense than  team Hafeez Saeed –

  

Interesting to note that Abu Ala Maududi (founder of Jamaat-e-Islami), had also opposed Jihad-e- Kashmir(on technical grounds) in 1947 . An excerpt from @vali_nasar‘s book on the same-
 

“Rape is …the end of our future”

Brown Pundits Archive · June 1, 2014 · Comments Off on “Rape is …the end of our future”
If you believe that you are in possession of a soul that will be indestructibly yours, here is an easy way to protect it from being eternally tarnished. It is really very simple. Join the movement (led by Sulabh International for now) to sponsor community toilets in villages…government initiatives will be never enough. We must save our girls, and we must give them the dignity that is their birth-right, and we must be able to restore some of their natural cheerfulness. We must try and we must not fail.

“My daughter was a cheerful girl before but now she’s just silent” 

“Yes,
your majesty, we do much assumptions. We assumed that men love us and
need us. Men do neither. They love their ego and need to satisfy their
lust. Once both are satisfied, the man leads the woman he claims to love
to a blind-alley, blinded-folded and with her hands tied on the back,”
said Scheherzade.

First, a moving piece penned by Anwar Iqbal of Dawn:
………………….

“Pray, share the story, your majesty, if it pleases you,” Scheherzade said.
“That I will, so you may know and acknowledge the idiocy of your kind,” the king said.

“The
woman who was bludgeoned to death with bricks outside a Kazi court was
love-blind,” the king began. “So she fell for a man twice her age.”
“We may never know what caused her to do so but let’s assume that she was love-blind,” Scheherzade commented.
“Women assume. Men probe,” said the king.

“Yes,
your majesty, we do much assumptions. We assumed that men love us and
need us. Men do neither. They love their ego and need to satisfy their
lust. Once both are satisfied, the man leads the woman he claims to love
to a blind-alley, blinded-folded and with her hands tied on the back,”
said Scheherzade.

“Unwise that can have dangerous consequences,”
said the king, “but since I am in a forgiving mood, I will only ask what
leads a woman to this blind alley except her foolishness?”

“Perhaps
you are right, your majesty, but what causes a mother to bring up her
son and turn him into a man? Love or blindness?” asked Scheherzade.

“Do not argue,” said the king, “remember your have forfeited your life to me.”

“Forfeited
I have not, risked, yes,” Scheherzade said to herself, adding: “May I
request your majesty to proceed with the story?”

“OK, where was I?” asked the king.
“You were saying that this woman fell for a man twice her age,” Scheherzade reminded him.

“Yes, she did and this man was already married. So he killed his first wife to marry this woman,” the king said.

“Did
she ask him to kill her? And even if she did, didn’t he know that
murder is a crime punishable with death?” asked Scheherzade.

“We may never know what she said or did because she is dead,” said the king.
“But the man is still alive, can’t they ask him?” said Scheherzade.
“They can but they will not,” said the king.
“Why, your majesty?” asked Scheherzade.
“Because he has already been forgiven,” said the king.
“Forgiven a murder?” asked Scheherzade.
“Yes, by his son,” said the king.
“So the son forgave his mother’s murderer?” asked Scheherzade.
“Yes, this man was his father,” said the king.

“And
she was his mother,” said Scheherzade. “You may not, your majesty, but
here I will ask: Why a woman nurses her son, knowing that this helpless
piece of flesh will turn into a man one day and defile?”

“How do I know, I am not a woman,” said the king.

“You may never know, your majesty,” said Scheherzade, “you may never know. But please narrate your story.”

“After murdering his first wife, he married this woman, which angered her family,” said the king.
“Why so, your majesty?” asked Scheherzade.
“Because
she married him against their advice and refused to marry a young man
they had chosen for her. The family got so upset that they bludgeoned
her to death with bricks outside the Kazi court when she came there to
defend her marriage,” the king said.

“Just like that?” asked Scheherzade.

“Yes, just like that. She had brought shame and dishonor to her family,” said the king.
“So it was a question of honor, your majesty?” asked Scheherzade.
“Yes, honor, which is more important than anything else, even life,” said the king. “But you would not know.”

“Yes,
I would not know. But if you promise not to behead me, I may request
you to explain what I do not understand?” asked Scheherzade.
“Go ahead,” said the king.
“Who has tied a man’s honor to a woman’s body?”
“Shut up and get out of the room before I change my mind,” the king shouted.
………………………..
 
As outrage grows in India over the gang rape and murder of two Dalit
teenagers found hanging from a tree, the mother of a 14-year-old “untouchable”
who was kidnapped and raped earlier this year has said she wishes her daughter
had been killed too.


…
India’s new government on Friday said it was planning to set up a special
crisis cell to ensure justice for victims of sex attacks and two police
officers were sacked in the wake of the rape and murder of the teenagers that
has revived nationwide anger over the frequency and brutality of attacks.


…
In a further shocking example of how women from India’s “untouchable” caste
are easy targets for rapists – and rarely get justice – The Daily Telegraph
spoke to a mother who said she wished her raped daughter had died, such is the
stigma surrounding the issue in her caste.


…
Brimti Ram, 40, had been living in a form of slavery with her Dalit family
in Bagana village, around 100 miles from the capital Delhi, when her daughter
and three friends were seized by five relatives and neighbours of their feudal
landlord. They later revealed that had been drugged and raped throughout the night.


She, her husband Lila Ram and their five children farm 20 acres of rice and
barley fields – without pay – in a futile attempt to service a £7,000
generational debt that they can never pay off.

“It’s not really a loan but something to control us,” Lila Ram said
yesterday.

Many of their fellow villagers live under the same bonded conditions, which
are illegal but common in India. Rapes and sexual assaults of Dalits are common
but often unreported and violence is frequent.

Fifteen “untouchable” boys have been murdered in the village in the last
thirty years, his community leader Virender Singh Bagodia said on Friday.

The community is treated “a notch above how people treat their animals”, he
said.


…
Brimti Ram said they have been so shamed by their daughter’s rape that
neither she nor her 16-year-old sister will ever be able to find a husband.
She had heard of the murders of the two Dalit girls in Badaun in Uttar
Pradesh and said she could understand the pain of their families, but she
wishes her daughter had been killed too.

“Rape is loss of our reputation, livelihood, honour and the end of our
future,” she said. “If my daughter doesn’t get married and suffers her entire
life, wouldn’t it have been better for her that she had been killed by those
beasts?”


….
Her family is one of more than eighty who fled their village amid death
threats from the upper caste Hindus in their village who had already banned
them from sending their children to school, visiting the temple, or buying food
from their shops. They are now living on a pavement in central Delhi and are
too afraid to return to their homes.


…
“My daughter was a cheerful girl before but now she’s just silent”, she
added.


…
She was speaking after aides to India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi,
demanded a report on the gang-rape and murder of two 14 and 15 year old
“untouchable” cousins who were found hanging from a mango tree in Katra
village, near Badaun.


…
The unnamed girls, aged 14 and 15, were, just like the girls in Bagana,
going to the lavatory in a nearby field when they were grabbed by higher caste
men – from the local Yadav peasant farmer community.

They were last seen by an uncle as they were being led away but when he
challenged the men they threatened him with a gun.


…
The father of one of the girls yesterday said the police had “refused to
look for my girl” and that when he confronted one of the accused at his home,
he admitted abducting the girls but refused to release them. They were found
hanging from a mango tree the following morning.


…
The father said the girls would still have been alive if the police had
acted immediately.


Police in Uttar Pradesh said yesterday that three people, including a police
constable, had been arrested in connection with the sex attack, while they were
still searching for two further suspects. A “thorough investigation” is under
way, police said,


Mukul Goel, a senior police officer, said it had still not been determined
whether the victims had committed suicide or been strung up as a way of
silencing them after they were raped.


Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, on Friday snapped at a
reporter when asked about the rising number of rape cases in his state: “You
are safe, why are you bothered?” 

…….
Link (1): http://www.dawn.com/news/1109756/an-honour-more-important-than-life

Link(2): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/10865179/I-wish-my-daughter-had-been-killed-too-says-mother-of-untouchable-India-gang-rape-victim.html
……

regards

Too fucking little, too late

Brown Pundits Archive · June 1, 2014 · Comments Off on Too fucking little, too late
Repeat after us: Toilets before temples, weapons,…..anything

OK fine, we got rid of  the dynasty, but what we really need to get rid of is the sense of despair that our girls feel, the fact that they cannot get any peace of mind.…never, ever. There has been an impact of the new laws….now they are killing off the girls just so there are no witnesses.

Sulabh
International will construct toilets in all the houses of Katra
Shahadatganj village of Badaun, where two sisters were allegedly gang
raped and murdered last week while they went to relieve themselves in
fields. 

…
Our earnest request to all politicians, business-people, government officials…anyone with any standing and who is blessed with a bit of money….please consider following the example of Sulabh and coming together to sponsor a village and a community toilet. Yes, we know that money is tight and times are tough….but how long are we going to remain in this state of barbarity?

The crisis areas are well known (mostly concentrated in UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, and Chattisgarh), let us tackle this problem on a war footing with as much sense of urgency as with Polio eradication. Let us make India a place that is livable for our girls. Please.
…………………..
Sulabh
International will construct toilets in all the houses of Katra
Shahadatganj village of Badaun, where two sisters were allegedly gang
raped and murdered last week while they went to relieve themselves in
fields.

“Any woman defecating in the open is vulnerable and the
central government must acknowledge the issue. Resources will only pour
in then,” Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak said.

According to the WHO, around 65 per cent of people in villages defecate in the open in the country.

The NGO, which works in the field of low-cost sanitation, also appealed
to the top business houses to adopt at least one village to end the
practice of open defecation “at the earliest”.

Pathak said the NGO will start the work of building toilets from tomorrow.

“A team of sanitation workers and engineers from Sulabh will visit the
village to start toilet construction work from tomorrow. We have ask our
team to construct toilet with highest pace,” Pathak said.

“We
are just setting an example by adopting this village as the issue of
toilet was the main reason behind both the deaths,” he said.

Hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for coining the slogan “toilet
first, temple later”, Pathak also expressed his wish to work with the
government for making available toilet in every house.

“I am going to write a letter to the Prime Minister soon in this regard,” he added.

The two teenage dalit girls, who were cousins and aged 14 and 15 years,
were allegedly gang raped and murdered and their bodies were found
hanging from a mango tree in the village.

…..

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Sulabh-to-build-toilets-in-all-the-houses-of-Baduan-village/articleshow/35903727.cms
…..

regards

Brown Pundits