The many faces of Goonda Raj
Khushwant Singh, Hindustan Times
October 31, 2008
First Published: 21:54 IST(31/10/2008)
Last Updated: 22:29 IST(31/10/2008)I have drawn up a list of politicians who are in urgent need of psychiatric treatment. The list gets longer by the day. I dare not publish it as I am sure if I did so, I would have dozens of cases of criminal libel slapped on me across the country — extending from Chennai to Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Bangalore. If I hired lawyers to defend me, I would be ruined.
October 31, 2008
First Published: 21:54 IST(31/10/2008)
Last Updated: 22:29 IST(31/10/2008)I have drawn up a list of politicians who are in urgent need of psychiatric treatment. The list gets longer by the day. I dare not publish it as I am sure if I did so, I would have dozens of cases of criminal libel slapped on me across the country — extending from Chennai to Bhubaneshwar to Kolkata, Patna, Lucknow, Delhi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Bangalore. If I hired lawyers to defend me, I would be ruined.
What I fear more than being financially ruined is having to turn up at different places to seek bail. I know what would happen. Before I appear in court, I would be roughed up by goons claiming to be followers of the leaders I named. The police would not be able to protect me. These hoodlums regard themselves above the law of the land. State and the Central Governments are honour & duty bound to suppress these subversive elements. Or quit. A ruler must rule, not just pretend to be ruling.
The way our governments have handled men and women who assumed they were above the law can only be described as inept and lacking in foresight. There was Bhindranwale who incited hatred and violence against Hindus. He was arrested on charges of incitement to murder. Then, he was let off on his own terms. Instead of being treated like a criminal, he became a hero. Successive governments of Maharashtra have shown the same kind of ineptitude dealing with Thackerays of the Shiv Sena. Both its founder Bal Thackeray and his son openly preached violence against non-Maharashtrians: No action was taken against them.
Then Bal Thackeray’s nephew Raj set up his own splinter party which forced thousands of Biharis, Oriyas and Uttar Pradeshis to flee Maharashtra. He showed his contempt for the law by threatening to molest outsiders if they did not abide by his fiats. After much prodding Raj Thackeray was arrested. Then promptly let out on bail. As in the case of Bhindranwale, he has turned from a villain into a hero.
The violence let loose by the Bajrang Dal against Christians and Muslims should have been crushed a long time ago. Instead of doing so, its spokesman Sharma goes about challenging the government to do its worst “Dhajjian uda deyngey — we will tear it to shreds.” He goes scot free. Meanwhile, mobs of lunatics set fire to trains, buses, cars and public buildings. It is time our Central and State governments put down these lawless elements with a firm hand. The only language goondas understand is the language of the danda (stick).
Fear of death
Thanatophobia, derived from Greek, is the fear of death or dying. It is a disease which afflicts all living creatures. Human beings are especially prone to it because they are capable of thinking — and they think about it frequently. No one is immune to it: a person in good health and enjoying life puts it aside for a while. But when his health begins to fail, he is per force reminded of it. Everyone dreads its coming: those who deny being afraid of it and put up a brave face when they see it, are liars. In fact, they are as scared of it as a man being led to the gallows.
Much has been written about the fear of death by thinkers including those who have suffered short cardiac arrests but survived to relate their experiences. None of these accounts have solved the mystery of death. It remains the veil beyond which we cannot see, the door to which no one has yet found the key. All religions have theories of what happens after death. None of them adduce evidence in support of their theories. No rationalist can accept a day of Judgement, heaven, hell, resurrection, re-incarnation or re-birth, because there is not an iota of evidence to support any of them. We face a blank wall of total ignorance of the subject.
The latest book on the subject is Julian Barnes’ Nothing to be frightened of (Knopt). He is an atheist turned agnostic. (I construe agnostic as an atheist with an open mind). Barnes begins by admitting: “I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” He admits that despite his belief that death is nothing, he thinks about it day and night and is dead scared of it.
Mirza Ghalib said the same thing: Maut ka ek din muayyan hai, neend raat bhar kyon nahin aatee (one day you must die, why then do I have sleepless nights thinking about it)?
We have to be an oaf not to think about death. There is an epitaph on an unmarked grave in England which runs as follows:
Gaily I lived, as ease and nature taught
And spent my life without a thought;
And am amazed that death, that tyrant grim
Should think of me, who never thought of him.
The moral of the tale of death is simple: you can’t put it out of your mind and dread its coming but you need not brood over it, become melancholic and forgo the fun of living.
Mis-heard prayer
A Hindu in the US suffered a heart attack on the road and was picked up by an ambulance. Being religious, he kept repeating — Hari Om, Hari Om, Hari Om.
When the ambulance pulled into his driveway, his wife came out and screamed to the paramedics: “Why didn’t you take him straight to the hospital ?” They replied, “because he kept saying hurry home, hurry home!”
(Contributed by Vipin Buckshey, Delhi)
Police submit report to NHRC
Vijaita Singh, Hindustan Times
Email Author
New Delhi, November 01, 2008
First Published: 00:51 IST(1/11/2008)
Last Updated: 00:55 IST(1/11/2008)
Email Author
New Delhi, November 01, 2008
First Published: 00:51 IST(1/11/2008)
Last Updated: 00:55 IST(1/11/2008)
The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Thursday submitted a report to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the September 19 Batla House shootout in which two alleged members of the Indian Mujahideen and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma were killed.
The report was submitted in a sealed cover. "It is not a final report, here we have addressed the points raised by NHRC," said a senior police officer.
The report is said to have contained the evidences that led to the raid at the Jamia Nagar flat and the circumstances in which the police was forced to open fire.
The Crime Branch has even submitted the postmortem report of the two suspected terrorists and slain Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma.
McCain, Obama Barnstorm States, Argue for Their Economic Fixes
By Lorraine Woellert and Julianna Goldman
Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain are making final appeals to voters in battleground states, each arguing he can revive the faltering U.S. economy and criticizing his opponent.
Both campaigns are spending for a blitz of advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts. Obama's campaign is putting ads on the air in Georgia and North Dakota as well at McCain's home state of Arizona. McCain's advisers said they and the Republican Party would outspend Obama on television over the last week of the campaign by about $10 million.
McCain wrapped up day two of a bus tour through Ohio yesterday, campaigning with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Schwarzenegger, an Austrian immigrant who had a career as a body builder and action-movie star before becoming governor of the most populous U.S. state in 2003, picked up the line of attack McCain has been using on Obama's policies.
``Ohio cannot afford, America cannot afford the economic proposals of Senator Obama,'' he said. ``I left Europe four decades ago because socialism has killed opportunities there.''
In the face of national and state polls showing him trailing Obama just days before the Nov. 4 vote, McCain urged his supporters not to give in to pessimism.
``The enthusiasm and momentum I feel here is going to carry us,'' McCain said to a cheering crowd.
Swing States
Obama and McCain are in close battles for a half-dozen states that President George W. Bush won in 2004. One of those is Indiana, where Obama traveled after stopping in Chicago to go trick-or-treating with his daughters near their home.
Obama used the occasion to repeat a frequent refrain of criticism of McCain. Speaking of his daughters, Malia and Sasha, the Illinois senator said, ``every year they've got trouble deciding what they want to be for Halloween -- but John McCain didn't have that problem. Just like every year he's going as George W. Bush.''
He also campaigned in Iowa, another state won by Bush in the last presidential election where Obama is ahead in polls. It's also the state that in January launched Obama on the path to winning the Democratic nomination.
``What you started here in Iowa has swept the nation, we're seeing the same turnout, we're seeing the same people going and getting in lines, volunteers, people participating,'' Obama said. ``A whole new way of doing democracy, started right here in Iowa and it's all across the country now.''
Campaign Help
Both candidates dispatched big name surrogates to assist their campaigns.
McCain brought the two high-profile Republicans to Ohio. The state, with 20 electoral votes, is central to McCain's attempt to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold needed to win the presidency. A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows Obama leading there 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters.
Former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned with Obama in Florida earlier this week, headlined events for the Democratic candidate yesterday in Ohio. His wife, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama's chief rival in the primaries, also campaigned in the state.
Former Vice President Al Gore campaigned for Obama in Florida, where Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush after the Supreme Court halted a recount of disputed ballots. The Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times survey found Obama holding a 7 percentage point advantage in the state, which has 27 Electoral College votes and is the biggest prize among the battlegrounds.
Running Mates
Delaware Senator Joe Biden, Obama's running mate was in Ohio yesterday and will be there again today before moving on to neighboring Indiana and then to Florida.
McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, campaigned in Pennsylvania then flew to Tampa for rallies today.
Obama's campaign announced that he would be spending the final day of the 2008 election campaigning in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. Today he'll be in Nevada and Colorado and tomorrow in Ohio.
McCain heads today to Virginia and Pennsylvania.
In addition to swing states, the candidates are hitting less conventional venues in the final days of the campaign. McCain is scheduled to appear on ``Saturday Night Live,'' the NBC comedy sketch show. Obama and McCain both will tape interviews to be broadcast at half-time of ESPN's ``Monday Night Football'' game on the eve of Election Day.
Campaign manager David Plouffe said he is confident that Obama is in a very strong position in all the states that Democrat John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, won in 2004. Those account for 252 electoral votes. Polls show Obama ahead in Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia, with a combined 49 electoral votes. Plouffe said the Democrat has a ``credible pathway'' to win Florida, Ohio, Missouri and Indiana, which have a total of 69 Electoral College votes.
McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said the candidate and the Republican National Committee will outstrip Obama on the airwaves between Oct. 27 and Election Day, even accounting for the 30-minute commercial Obama ran on four major broadcast networks as well as cable channels on Oct. 29.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lorraine Woellert in Mentor, Ohio, at lwoellert@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Sarasota, Florida, at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 1, 2008 08:59 EDT
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