# There is a big dilemma about democracy. Had the man been more intelligent, he would have known how to conduct correctly, and if God had made man or woman less intelligent, he/she would have been more disciplined and thus easier to govern and control. But we have to face life and politicians as they are.
- Punjab has seen the very ugly face of terrorism. Of course, most of it was Pakistan-instigated. Islamabad must be waiting in the wings to take revenge for Bangladesh. In Kashmir, all its investment for years was virtually negated on August 5, 2019.
(from my piece ...'Pak angle' in Punjab poll season has dangerous connotations, Oct 2, 2021)
and see how on Nov 19, PM announced repealing of farm laws. 'anti-Sikh' narrative was one reason....( I was right yet again with Namo, or he took my warning seriously)
Link here: organiser.org
"Once during a Lok Sabha debate, Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, "Lagta hai ghari ki sui ghoom ke usi jagah laut aayi hai (It appears the hands of the clock have come back to the position from where we all started with)." The sentence aptly applies to Nagaland and its story of insurgency". - (my piece in 'Deccan Herald', Dec 30, 2021)
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/nagaland-awaits-new-dawn-but-afspa-extended-again-1066192.html
“Conversion causes differences. It causes hatred, it creates conflict … so if we want to make the world conflict-free, there is a need to respect all religions." - Indresh Kumar, RSS leader (quoted in my piece for UCA News....as published in 'Eurasia Review'
Link
"Bursting of firecrackers would have been pleasant and a tasteful experience had not this become a symbol of showmanship. If firecrackers are bad for the environment, so is gambling and the so-called gift-exchange culture of Delhi for human behaviour. Here too, the problem is in overdoing things; not ordering a blanket ban as a presumed corrective strategy."
(My piece for IANS - went viral in several websites and newspapers in India)
Daijiworld Link
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| Great snap: 2021 |
“Between 1947 and 1991, the economy was driven by corrupt bureaucrats. Their family picnics were more important than national economic growth. The 1991 liberalization of the economy ensured prosperity no doubt, but India also saw a rise in its economic disparity,” said Naushad Khan, a trader in East Delhi. - from my piece for UCA News....
Link
India's rich-poor divide is widening
On Nov 21, Sunday, Yogi Adityanath, who shared the photograph from his Twitter handle, wrote in Hindi, "Hum nikal pade hain pran karke....ambar se ooncha jana hai, ek Bharat naya banana hai (We have started on with the pledge to sacrifice our body and mind. We are determined to create a new sun/wave and go further than the skies-to build a New India)."
The snaps and the tweet went viral on social media, and there was a public debate in more ways than one. The photos of PM Modi, a catalyst of development with a firm commitment to the Hindutva ideology, keeping his hand on Yogi Adityanath's shoulder, would be in public memory for weeks and months to come.
(Organiser - Modi-Yogi snaps: Symbiotic 'Hindutva' bond)
https://www.organiser.org/india-news/uttar-pradesh/lucknow-news/modi-yogi-snaps-symbiotic-hindutva-bond-8163.html
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| power of a photo |
"I will not say he has committed a major mistake or blunder. But the 'repealing' strategy is certainly a case of flip-flop -- something that does not go well with Namo's image.
Namo needs to be careful of his neo-admirers .....
Those who are rejoicing farmers' win or a case of 'Modi surrender', should be more careful now. In 2014-15, after the Land Acquisition Bill was scuttled, the 'reforms' had gone for a toss. And Modi started falling more and more on the pro-Hindutva agenda!"
(my piece in TripuraNet.com)
Risk of 'Vajpayee syndrome'
On his personal rapport with PM Modi, the senior Naga politician S C Jamir said: "We had a very good relationship though I was there only for five months. We were good friends. When I became Governor of Gujarat in 2009, I told him, I am an ex-Chief Minister so I know the responsibility of a Chief Minister. So as Governor I will never interfere". (Jamir interview to me .... as reported for IANS...
published in
Morung Express
Link : Nagaland, other NE states should contribute to nation building,
says S.C. Jamir
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| Jamir in Delhi: Nov 7, 2021 |
Spl Guest Column/corner
(from 'Dawn' newspaper, Islamabad)
Learning due lessons from history helps
THIS is with reference to the report ‘Sheikh Mujib didn’t want independent nation, documentary reveals’ (Dec 14), which was based on the screening of Javed Jabbar’s documentary, Separation of East Pakistan — The Untold Story. I find the title and the article a bit misleading.
While it is true that Mujibur Rahman did not want an independent Bangladesh in the beginning, he was eventually left with no other option but to struggle for a separate homeland. As an 87-year-old person, who has witnessed many historical events, I would like to bring to light a few things.
We know that Bengalis were at the forefront of the struggle for a separate state for the Muslims, so there was no reason for them to participate in the breaking of a country which they had fought for.
It may be recalled that there were 44 members from East Pakistan and only 25 from West Pakistan in the first constituent assembly of Pakistan. Six of the members were nominated by the East Pakistan Assembly from West Pakistan, and one of those six members was Liaquat Ali Khan.
At the time of partition, population-wise East Pakistan was in majority, and, if the East Pakistanis wanted, they could have pressed for Dhaka to be designated the capital city, and Bengali as the national language, as well as a constitution that favoured East Pakistan. But Bengalis sacrificed the principle of majority and accepted parity, hoping for an equal treatment. However, in the following years, their sacrifices went in vain.
In the mid-1960s, I served as a district officer in a semi-government organisation, the West Pakistan Agricultural Development Corporation (WPADC), in Nawabshah. I happened to be part of a high-level meeting in which WPADC chairman Gen Haq Nawaz proposed that jute, the golden fibre, should be cultivated in West Pakistan and mills should be set up for its production and subsequent export.
An agriculturalist, with 40 years of experience, tried to dissuade the general on the grounds that jute was successfully exported from East Pakistan, and the farmers and labourers in West Pakistan would not be able to carry out the tedious process. However, the general thumped his fist on the table and said that he had a 40-year experience of making things work.
Needless to say, the project failed. However, the general’s intention was to create competition with the flourishing industry of the eastern wing and to claim some of the foreign revenue.
In 1970, I attended Mujib’s rally in Nawabshah. I personally heard his speech in which, apart from various other things, he categorically asked the people to tell him why he would be against Pakistan when he was going to be the prime minister of the country. We now know that Mujib was denied that right despite having more than the needed vote count.
It was not the Bengalis who wanted to move away from West Pakistan. They found themselves pushed against the wall. If we learn what we need to learn from history, we will be able to stand with those who were oppressed then and with those who are under oppression today. According to the late Brazilian thinker and activist, Paulo Freire, freedom means to free ourselves from oppressing the others. Let’s be free.
Salim Ahmed
Karachi
Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2021
(A different version)
Planned ‘distortion’
THIS is with reference to the report ‘Sheikh Mujib didn’t want independent nation, documentary reveals’ (Dec 14) about the documentary Separation of East Pakistan — The Untold Story, which, to me, seemed like an attempt to distort historical facts, because Mujibur Rahman’s Six Points were surely a recipe for the country’s dismemberment. If he did not want to secede, what exactly did he want?
The salient features of his demand were two currencies, two reserve banks, independent trade and commerce (mainly with India), receiving of foreign aid directly from donor countries, no flight of capital from East to West Pakistan, and the Centre to control just the portfolios of defence and communications.
Here, I may add the seventh demand which remained unstated, but there was enough evidence on the ground to make its presence felt. It related to having two different ‘national’ flags. On Pakistan Day in 1971, ‘Bangladesh’ flags were hoisted atop all government buildings in East Pakistan. Mujib also took salute at a march-past held in Ramna.
He virtually became the de facto ruler of East Pakistan. Everything was well-prepared and synchronised with foreign agents. Although he kept on promising that his agenda was flexible and negotiable, Mujib stuck to the plan that had made him exceedingly popular among the people of East Pakistan.
J.N. Dixit, a former Indian foreign secretary, wrote in his book, Liberation and Beyond, that when he had asked Mujib about when he had first conceived the idea of ‘Bangladesh’, Mujib replied that it had been in his mind since the inception of Pakistan.
Dixit also confessed that the creation of Bangladesh was an economic necessity for India.
I spent two decades in East Pakistan and was a student of Dhaka University as well as of the notorious Jagannath College where Mujib would come and incite the students to strive for the creation of a separate homeland that he called ‘Sonar Bangla’.
Bengalis had issues with the Urdu language, and, by implication, with anybody who spoke that language. I experienced all this first-hand.
Safir Siddiqui
Karachi
Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2021
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