Teesta Setalvad : Anti-India Activist . Indians Beware

Nothing was able to concretely link Narendra Modi with the Gujarat riots

2007-12-25T19:59:00.000-08:00

NDTV

Joydeep Ray
Sunday, December 23, 2007 (Gandhinagar)

In all these five years, nothing was able to concretely link Narendra Modi with the Gujarat riots.

1 ) No charge has ever been proved in any court of law.

2) No accusation has been upheld by any commission of inquiry.

3) Not even an FIR was registered in any police station.

MAIN ALLEGATION 1 : "Modi had insisted that the bodies of Kar Sevaks, who had lost their lives in the Sabarmati Express carnage, be brought into Ahmedabad in full public view to incite Hindu anger."

STATUS : A petition to this effect by the Jan Sangharsh Manch was filed before the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry.

WHAT YOUR LAWYERS WORKING ON THESE DAYS :

''Unless the link between the rioters and the administration and the hierarchy of command is brought out, proved, I don't think we will be able to book Modi under Section 120B of Indian Penal Code for hatching a conspiracy. That's precisely the reason why we are why we are linking up the triggering of the riots of February 28 with the bringing out of dead bodies here,'' said Mukul Sinha High Court Lawyer, Activist.

ALLEGATION 2 :
"Modi had instructed top cops, including the then Additional Director General of Police R B Sreekumar, to remain passive and silent for three days starting February 28, 2002."

STATUS : "There are 40-45 points linking the circumstances of riot, thereafter evidences about the conspiracy hatched at the highest level in which the Chief Minister was involved for organising this extensive genocide " --R B Sreekumar

CONCLUSION : Wait till 2008

The Nanavati Commission of Inquiry is hearing the final petitions. It's report is due early 2008 .

TILL THEN CROSS YOUR FINGERS . OK ? Or Go before Nanavati Commission of Inquiry and depose brfore them

Why Modi Will Score a Land Slide?

2007-12-14T18:21:00.002-08:00

By Arvind J Bosmia

With congress electoral strategies formulated in terms of its golden bygone era, the Hinduttva mascot Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is all set to score a massive landslide victory at the coming assembly elections- much bigger than the one he scored in 2002.

This is the most onesided election I have covered in my 28 year long journalistic career where there is no electoral issue except the incumbent Chief Minister himself, who looms larger than life before has been and would be small timers of Congress. When a Tendulkar faces gali-mohalla bowlers a double century is certain.
In Gujarat, Congress's electoral brahmastra was KHAM( Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi and Muslims). Major non-Muslim components of KHAM have migrated to BJP under the compulsions created by serial communal riots since 1985. Congress has failed to reclaim them as its aggressive wooing of the Muslims has put the other three off.
In this situation of communal polarization, Modi has managed to build the halo of a Hindu taranhar (savior) around himself further consolidated by highly focused publicity campaigns as Vikas Purush, a leader with a difference.

This special Chemistry with the people has allowed him to get away with riding rough-shod over BJP workers, fellow leaders and other wings of the sangh parivar. Kisan Sangh hostility cannot cause him loss of farming community votes because farmers have prospered under Modi raj. Bajrang Dal and VHP cannot challenge him because he is perceived as Bajrang Dal plus. Other sangh parivar constituents need him for survival but the reverse is not true.

This special bond with the public helped him overcome the boycott resorted to by BJP workers during the last Panchayat, Municipality and Municipal Corporation elections. The refrain was who will get the public to the voting booth if party workers are not around. The voters came on their own initiative, and voted for BJP. Modi through sheer Charisma single-handedly scored land slide victories in all the three.
Modi's direct dialing relationship with his voters will hold in the assembly elections, by-passing the need to depend on the party to deliver the votes. If landslides could be scored in elections where he was indirectly involved, there has to be a bigger response where his leadership is directly on offer.

The party bagged almost two-third of the seats in these elections. So the proportion in the assembly can shoot upto three-fourth and more. This gives him 135-137 seats. But the back-lash against Tehelka sting operation has added another 10 seats. The last minute windfall from Congress came with the maut ka soudagar comments from Sonia Gandhi, Hindu terrorists charge from Digvijay Singh and vainglorious charge from Abhishek Manu Sanghvi to haul Modi before International Court of Justice. This windfall can add 5 more seats guaranteeing BJP a tally of 150-155 seats.

Thanks to the such comments Congress Party is perceived to be a Muslim party by Gujarat voters, with all the damaging consequences thrown in. The comments have petrified the local leaders. The question is why must such suicidal comments be made unless of course a huge electoral loss is foreseen by the party in the Gujarat assembly elections and they chose to hit three kicks of their own to the dying state unit to book profits elsewhere in the country?

None understands the hyper-Muslim phobia of Gujarat voters than Narendra Modi, who with his Sohrabuddin counter comment has launched a well-crafted strategy to create a situation where Gujarat voters will turn up at the voting booths on their own to tell which side they are on? Modi knows it will be his side. The bigger the commotion over the matter, bigger will be the turnout at the booths. If there is penal action by the election commission or there is a criminal case booked against Modi, the backlash will be even bigger.

Peeved Congressmen and BJP dissidents had even alleged that Modi had commissioned the Tehelka sting. But they dare not say that Modi commissioned the Congress trios as well to make comments that doomed Congress Party helped Modi.
The Patel- Thakor castes alienation is more a media hype than a ground reality. Modi's appeal to Hindus cuts across caste lines. Though Modi is an OBC, high caste darbar kshatriyas regards him as their leader. No less than nonagenarian Maharaja of Dhragandhra Meghrajsinhji thinks that Gujarat CM is a true Kshatriya by Karma.
Yet there are some voters who will be overwhelmingly against Modi. They are : 1)Government servants and school teachers; 2) Muslims ; 3) BJP workers who feel that Modi has totally neglected them in power-sharing. The government servants have borne the brunt of Modi's high-geared publicity campaigns while the teachers were punished for habitual absenteeism and poor examination results of their students. Used to lax ways for years, they really detest Modi. 2. Muslims for very obvious reasons do not want him as they view him as the ultimate Shaitan. 3. BJP workers realized that they were no longer treated as members of the ruling party. They could not do influence peddling nor were they appointed as directors in public corporations. Modi was quite happy to use bureaucrats instead.

But ordinary voters who far outnumber these Modi-haters, will overwhelmingly go in favour of Modi.

Arvind J Bosmia is an Ahmedabad based Freelance Journalist

Modi responds to EC

2007-12-14T18:21:00.001-08:00

http://bjp.org/ Press/dec_ 2007/dec_ 0807_p.htm

From:
Narendra D. Modi
Gandhinagar.

To
The Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan,
Ashoka Road,
New Delhi.110001.

*Subject: Your Notice dated 6th December 2007 to Shri Narendra Modi,
Chief
Minister, Gujarat State.*

Sir,

I am in receipt of your notice dated 6th December 2007 wherein on the
basis
of the media reports and a complaint dated 5th December 2007 filed by
Teesta
Setalvad, I am alleged to have made an open exhortation to violence and
misused of religion for political ends. The Election Commission has
further
stated that by linking the name of Sohrabuddin to terrorism in my speech
amounts to indulging in activity which may aggravate existing
differences,
creating mutual hatred and causing tension between different
communities. I
deny this charge in its entirety.

1. The Commission has acted on the basis of a complaint which alleges
that
my stand is contrary to what the State of Gujarat has stated in its
affidavit before the Supreme Court. The basis of the complaint appears
to be
a report dated 5th December 2007 of the Times of India by one Shri
Prashant
Dayal. The relevant extract in the Times of India reads as under:

Modi...you tell what should be done to Sohrabuddin?
People at the rally: Kill him, kill him.
Modi: Well, that is what I did. And I did what was necessary."

The last sentence of the report of the Times of India has generated
controversy in the whole nation. Television Channels and News Papers
have
made comments to the effect that I have stated that 'Sohrabuddin got
what he
deserved', or that 'it is a confessional statement by me' or that 'Modi
has
justified a murder'. All other news papers cuttings which the Commission
has
taken into account are dated 6th December 2007, which do not report my
speech delivered on 4th December, 2007 but are comments inspired by
false
imputation in the Times of India. This last sentence is not reflected in
the
CD as having been used by me.

2. 'The Statesman' dated 6th December 2007 quoted me as having said -
"he (Sohrabuddin) has got what he deserved": The Hindustan Times of 6th
December quoted me as saying "Well then, that's it." I had on 6th
December
2007, immediately after receiving Election Commission's notice requested
that I may be supplied copy of the CD of the speech and also various
inputs
which have influenced the issuance of the notice. I have since received
the
copy of CD on the evening of 7th December 2007 at 5.45 p.m. I find none
of
the above statements are contained in my speech as recorded in the CD.
The
E.C. notice is issued on the basis of unverified and false media
reports.

3 As I am also involved in a campaign I am sending this as a preliminary
reply, which I am sure would satisfy the Election Commission with regard
to
the contents of my speech. Before I answer specifics raised in the
notice
and the complaint, I wish to state that India is governed by Rule of law
and
Constitution. I am entitled to my right of free speech. Free and fair
election involves a debate on the political issues in the market place
of
politics. When statements are made by political opponents, others are
entitled to reply to them. The tone and content of the statement must
necessarily adhere to the Model Code of Conduct. I wish to categorically
state that I regard the Election Commission as a constitutional
authority
under an obligation to ensure free and fair election which will also
defend
my right of free speech against those who have started hate campaign
against
me.

4. On 1st December 2007, AICC President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi visited
Gujarat
and referred to me by suggesting those who are ruling Gujarat are
"liars,
dishonest and merchants of fear and death (Maut-ke-Soudagar) ." On 3rd
December 2007, AICC General Secretary Mr. Digvijay Singh visited Gujarat
and
referred to it as a State which has unleashed "Hindu terrorism." The
newspapers reported these statements extensively. Separate complaints
with
regard to the violation of the Code of Conduct were sent to the Election
Commission by the Gujarat Unit of BJP. No action has been taken against
those responsible for these statements by the Election Commission. I am
sure
the Election Commission would at least now proceed to take action on
those
reports.

5. One of the critical issues in our country is the problem of
terrorism.
India has lost the lives almost 90,000 of innocent citizens and security
personnel in the last 17 years to terror. In the last four years, 5,619
innocents have been killed by the terrorist. The Government of Gujarat
has a
strong policy against terrorism. I believe that UPA and Congress party
is
indulging in Vote Bank politics and have sent soft signals on terrorism.
My
party and I have repeatedly made these charges against the Congress
Party.
In Gujarat only one life has been lost in the last four years through
terror. This is a result of our strong policy against terrorism. The
Nation
and the people of Gujarat are entitled to witness a fair debate on
terrorism. If any of the view point is censored or not permitted it will
be
interference in the right of free speech. Our Constitution and the
election
commission's obligation to conduct free and fair election will not
extend to
preventing me from expressing my strong views against terrorism..

6 My speech, therefore, has to be read entirely in this context. It was
a
political response to Mrs. Sonia Gandhi referring to me as those who
rule
the Gujarat as a 'Mout-ke-saudagar' . Surely it cannot be policy of the
Election commission first to ignore the violation of the Code of Conduct
in
her statement and then censor my political response to that statement. I
have gone through my speech on the CD supplied. It is merely a response
to
Mrs. Sonia Gandhi calling me "Mout-ka-Saudagar" .

7. This part of my speech was entirely against terrorism. I criticized
the
Congress President for calling me a 'Maut Ka Saudagar´. I responded that
the
"Maut Ka Saudagar" are all those who attacked parliament. It is the
Congress
party which is delaying the execution of the guilty accused. I have made
a
reference to the Sohrabuddin' s case and mentioned the allegations
against
him. I have accused the Congress of suggesting that I have engineered a
fake
encounter. I said that I am open for any action on this count. At no
point
of time I have either justified the specific encounter of Sohrabuddin' s
case, nor have I used the specific inculpatery sentences used in the
Times
of India Report. It is clear that my comment is a part of my speech
where on
several occasions I have put questions to the audience which the
audience
has answered. It is my political response to Smt. Gandhi's allegation
that I
am Maut-ka-Sodagar. I have replied back alleging that the Congress party
is
helping those who have spread terrorism in the country. It is clear that
Times of India's article which began this controversy, invented my
comment
to the effect "Modi: Well that is what I did. And I did what was
necessary".
The CD clearly indicates that this sentence was an invention of author
and
not the orator. The comments in the media that 'Modi justified murder'
or
that 'he made confessional statement' as being privy to murder or that
Modi
declared in the meeting that 'Sohrabuddin got what he deserved' do not
find
a mention in the CD. These are journalistic inventions intended to
engineer
a 'Hate Modi' campaign and not evidenced in the CD supplied by the
Election
Commission. My criticism in the media was concocted and engineered by
this
'Hate Modi' Campaign. No where in my speech have I explicitly referred
to
the religion of any person. I have spoken against terrorism. It is not
my
speech but the complaint which assumes terrorism is linked to a
religion.

8. Am I to be prevented from giving my point that terrorism will not be
allowed on the soil of Gujarat or that Congress is soft on the terrors
and
thereby helping "Maut-ka-Sodagar" If Election Commission imposes any
such
regulation, it would offend our constitutional values and my right of
free
speech. At no stage I have controverted the affidavit filed by the
Gujarat
Government in the Supreme Court of India. I have already clarified my
position that I do not support fake encounters. Encounters can occur but
there should be no fake encounters. I have nowhere tried to prejudice
any
pending litigation. I am fully committed to the enforcement of the Model
Code of Conduct by the Election Commission and shall comply with it. I
believe that the Election Commission should not be misled by motivated
media
reports which are based on falsehood.

I, therefore, request the Election Commission to withdraw this notice.

------------ --------
(Narendra Modi)
Date. 8.12.2007.

Where is the moral outrage for Mossamat Akhera Bibi

2007-11-13T18:27:00.001-08:00

Rakeeb Hussain for The Hindustan Times reports:

Shiekh Motaleb, who anyhow managed to rescue his sister Mossamat Akhera Bibi and admit her to the Tamluk sub-divisional hospital in East Midnapore on Saturday, said: “My sister was pregnant and couldn’t run away when the armed CPM cadres stormed inside Satengabari village. She was severally beaten up and then raped by the cadres. Her two teenage daughters Soma Khatoon and Anwara Khatoon too have been raped and then taken away.”

Nirmalya Bannerjee for the Times News Network has these quotes

”It was about 8 pm last Tuesday (a day after the final onslaught from Khejuri was launched). My husband was not at home. I was in bed with two teenage daughters when five men barged in.

About 25 others stood guard outside. They pulled me by the hair and one of them raped me. Our two daughters were also pulled out and raped by four people. They hit me with rifle butts.” She lay dazed in her house for a day before her nephew brought her to the Nandigram block hospital. Later, she was shifted to Tamluk. “I still don’t know what has happened to my two daughters,” she said.

Police recorded her statement on Sunday. “There is no visible sign of rape but she is a mother of a number of children. In such cases, rape is difficult to confirm by physical verification, often circumstantial evidence is crucial,” said Dr Sudip Gole who carried out the medical examination on Saturday night.

Where is the moral outrage for the rape of pregnant Muslim women by Communist cadre in West Bengal ?

INDIA : Taslima issue exposes politicians' hypocrisy

2007-08-12T16:02:00.001-07:00

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence
2007%201:12:00%20AM

Friday, August 10, 2007

The attack on exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has exposed deep-rooted hypocrisy with regard to fundamentalist protests against creative freedom in India.

Political condemnation has been not as vocal against the Muslim political party Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's (MIM) attack on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

Though she stays in exile from her country in Kolkata, even the Left government had banned one of her books. Fundamentalism at its worst, ironically elected representatives of India's democracy saying they may be MLAs but are Muslims first.

Three months ago a fine arts student in Baroda was jailed and his works vandalized by Sangh Parivar activists for painting what they saw as blasphemous images of Hindu deities.

But here's the difference, the Baroda incident led a nation wide outpouring of outrage at this moral policing by Hindu fundamentalists, as busloads of human rights activists and celebrities converged at the MS University in Baroda to support the student.

In Taslima's case the activists are either yet to mobilise support for the beleaguered writer and protest against similar attempts at censorship by Muslim activists or don't feel as strongly as they did for the Baroda student.

Brazenly unapologetic

A day after the MIM an ally of the UPA has been brazenly unapologetic about its ttack and the MLAs have been let out on bail in what seems to be tacit support of the state government.

The Congress has been guarded in its reaction uncertain about how strongly they should condemn the act.

''Writers have other subjects to write. Why just religion?'' asked Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister, Jammu & Kashmir.

And the Samajwadi party has gone a step further saying the MLAs were right, not surprising in a party where a minister announced a Rs 50 crore fatwa against a
Danish cartoonist for allegedly blasphemous cartoons of Prophet Mohammed.

''I will ask the government to get her visa revoked. She should be thrown out of the country,'' said Shahid Aqla, Samajwadi Party.

Many would see this as political doublespeak on issues of freedom of speech and expression but perhaps no one understands the need to clamp down on Muslim radicals
better than the Muslim community itself.

''Those who think that their action is justified because she vilified Islam have actually done more harm,'' said Shabana Azmi, actor.

READ : Where’re Human Rights Advocates?:INDIA VIEW
http://indiaview.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/wherere-human-rights-advocates

Teesta Setalvad speaks untruth to malign Hindus

2007-03-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

K.G.Acharya
21/33 Sagar Aptt.
Link Rd., Lokhandwala Cx.
Andheri – Mumbai 400 102

Tel.:25119890 - Cell No. 9892474984

Sir,

This is with reference to the news, “ Carnage
anniversary concludes with a dharna” ( FPJ – March 6,
2007). According to the news, Teesta Setalvad, told
the small group, who attended the dharna to force the
Gujarat government to come out with the “truth ” of
what happened in 2002.
This is to inform the readers that Teesta has no moral
right to talk of truth. Her track record shows that
she has spoken untruth many times to malign Hindus. I
give herewith just two examples: (1) She has blamed
Hindus for blasts in Malegaon. If you click “
www.sabrang.com “, you find an article headed as “
evidence of Hindu terror” written long back even
before the probe started. After the probe the ATS
found the evidence that the terrorists were members of
the banned organization SIMI ( Students of Islamic
Movement of India). (2) In September 1998 two nuns
were raped in Zabua, MP; before the probe, Teesta
blamed Hindus for the rape in her article of Sabrang
of October 1998. After the probe, it was found that
the rapists were all Christians. Teesta had no
courtesy to apologise for her serious lapse.
Yours faithfully,
K.G.Acharya

Teesta Shabana Amir Ahahrukh: What happened to freedom of speech?

2007-03-07T17:08:00.000-08:00

Teesta Shabana Amir Ahahrukh: What happened to freedom of speech?

No more Desperate Housewives in Kashmir

Associated Press
Posted online: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 1518 hours IST
Updated: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 at 2009 hours IST

Srinagar, March 7: There will be no more Desperate Housewives for residents of Kashmir. They will have to do without Friends reruns, too.

Four foreign television channels have been pulled from the air in Kashmir after militant groups demanded cable companies stop airing "obscene" shows, cable operators said on Wednesday.

"As militants have asked us to stop airing obscene channels, we've suspended broadcasting English channels like HBO, Star Movies, Star World and Sony Pix," said Muzaffar Ahmed, a TV cable operator in Srinagar.

Two militant groups - Al-Badr Mujahedeen and Al-Madina – on Sunday in a telephone call to a local news agency, Current News Service, advised TV cable operators to drop channels that, according to the groups, spread obscenity. The groups did not specify which channels they were referring to.

"We took the decision after a meeting of all local cable operators in Srinagar," said Ahmed.

The content of the channel's broadcasts in India is already pretty tame compared to other countries in order to comply with India's stringent censorship laws. Obscenities are bleeped out and hints of nudity blurred. Other scenes are cut entirely.

In January the AXN channel was barred from the airwaves for two months for airing the show "the World's Sexiest Advertisements."

Cable operators were taking no chances. Last year, a bomb blast rocked the office of a cable TV provider in the town of Sopore, 50 kilometers north of Srinagar. One person died in the explosion and the company's third floor office was badly damaged by the blast. The lone cable operator in the town later halted telecasts.

Police said no formal complaints had been received from cable operators.

However, some of them have informed police about the threats, said Farooq Ahmed, a deputy-inspector general of police in Srinagar.

"Nevertheless, we've stepped up foot patrols around TV cable offices," he said

Can we hold the peace? - K P S Gill

2007-03-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Feb. 28, 2007

Five years after the horrific riots in Gujarat, we are still unprepared to anticipate and deal with the danger of communal violence
Five years after the horrific Godhra attack that triggered the riots in Gujarat, an ominous reminder of that event came in the shape of another incendiary attack on hapless rail users: The terrorist attack on the Delhi-Attari special train, packed with passengers to Pakistan. Evidently, efforts to polarise communities and to provoke communal violence have not ended. The recent attack, however, failed in its objective to incite wider carnage, despite attempts by elements in Pakistan, and some extraordinarily shrill voices from the ‘secular’ lobby in India, to give the incident a communal twist and link it to Gujarat riots.

Despite the general sobriety of the Indian response to the attack on the Delhi-Attari train, it is evident that the dangers that manifested themselves in Godhra and the riots in Gujarat are far from a thing of the past. Worse, we appear, today, to be no better prepared for such incidents than we were five years ago. During and after my brief tenure as advisor in Gujarat — where I was called to quell the riots — I had emphasised that the state’s communal conflagration was far from unique, and that the then latest orgy of violence lay along a continuum of comparable incidents, commencing with the bloodbath of 1969 which left at least 660 dead. A question I raised then, and that remains as relevant now, is, what do we do in the interregnums of peace to ensure that such episodes do not recur? The short answer is: Precious little.
I don’t think that anything substantial has been done either at the level of the states or at the Centre, to create instruments and mechanisms in communally sensitive areas that would prevent the recurrence of these disgraceful events. A great deal of political heat and dust is generated immediately after the event — and on various ‘anniversaries’ and politically sensitive times, such as elections — but little is done to improve the nation’s structural defences against the dangers of recurrence.

The failure is not restricted to the organs of the state. During and after the Gujarat riots, the role of political actors, non-governmental organisations and ‘activists’, was nothing short of shameful. There was a lot of posturing, a great deal of tamasha, but little was done to bring relief to the victims. Group after group flew into Ahmedabad, went through the motions of ‘investigation’, held press conferences and brought out ill-informed reports, but nobody stayed long enough to deliver concrete services and succour to those whose lives had been shattered and dislocated. In certain political quarters, there was almost an implicit hope that the violence would continue, so that it could be exploited electorally.

Since then, a veritable ‘Gujarat riots industry’ has come into being, whipping up flagging passions at every opportunity, and manufacturing a range of ‘products’ that are marketed principally to foreign ‘buyers’. The role of most such ‘activists’ has not been to bring people together, but to create and widen cleavages. The most important thing in a post-riot situation is to apply the healing touch. But most political parties, NGOs and professional intellectual agitators appear principally to be interested in keeping the wounds of Gujarat open and festering.

One of the manifestations or ‘products’ of this ‘Gujarat riots industry’ has been the constant, ill-informed and often hysterical attempt to blame a great deal of subsequent terrorist activity in India on the Gujarat riots. Every time there is a major terrorist attack by Pakistan-backed Islamist extremists anywhere in India, we are told by a particular lobby that this is ‘because of’ the Gujarat riots. This is the most arrant and malicious nonsense. The Gujarat riots were a blot on India’s democracy. They must be condemned without qualification, and efforts to secure justice and to reconstruct thse lives of their victims must continue. But a falsification of history is unforgivable. Worse, it feeds into the terrorists’ mobilisation machinery, justifying the murder of innocents, and inciting Muslims to ‘avenge’ the atrocities of Gujarat.

Pakistan-backed Islamist terrorism in India did not begin after Gujarat 2002. The dynamics of this terrorism are rooted in Pakistan’s strategic ambitions and the Islamist extremist ideology that has been harnessed to mobilise cadres and recruits for this terrorist enterprise. It is significant that despite the prominence the Gujarat riots receive in the propaganda of terrorist recruiters and their fellow travellers, including armies of ‘useful idiots’ among India’s chattering classes who give currency to their fictions, not a single survivor or family member of a victim has yet been found to be involved in any act of terrorism in India.

Eventually, impartial policing will be needed to create a bulwark against communal riots. To the extent that the structure, authority and legitimacy of the police are being continuously undermined, the nation’s vulnerabilities to communal violence persist. Our attention should focus on creating the apparatus of law and order management that is our best insurance against communal violence. The tragedy and stain of Gujarat cannot be wiped out; but the power to ensure that such a thing never happens again is within our grasp. Even five years after the nightmare in Gujarat, it is not too late to begin to exercise that power.

The writer is a former DGP, Punjab. He served as advisor to the Gujarat chief minister in 2002

BJP's poster boy

2007-02-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Sunday New Indian Express 25-02-2007

Swapan Dasgupta

One of Indira Gandhi's most enduring but disagreeable contributions to public life lay in obliterating the distinction between politics and politicking. In 1969, she sacked Morarji Desai, her main rival in the Congress, and then proceeded to nationalise the banks and abolish privy purses. Putting an ideological gloss to what was essentially a factional struggle, she projected herself as a decisive leader, split the Congress and won a resounding mandate in the 1971 general election.

In steamrolling her way to absolute power, she also set the parameters of what has come to be regarded as decisive leadership by the political class: the ability to bludgeon all potential challengers. In 1990, Vishwanath Pratap Singh emulated this model by implementing the Mandal Commission report on reservations so as to steal the thunder from Devi Lal, his foremost challenger in the Janata Party.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has maintained that it does not seek to emulate the culture of the Congress and its various offshoots. Its self-perception is not so much that of a voluntary association as an extended parivar (family). A parivar may well have internal strains and rivalries; there may even be serious disagreements on key issues. However, the unwritten convention is that the integrity of the parivar has to be maintained at all costs. It is obligatory for the nominal karta (head of the family) to take everyone along. This includes those who have lost their immediate utility, are in disagreement with prevailing policies and even those who are a complete nuisance. The parivar approach implies that the personal stamp of an individual leader cannot become the hallmark of the party. Somewhere along the line, aggregation has to prevail.

The late Kushabhau Thakre, a full-time RSS pracharak who was assigned political responsibilities as early as 1951, epitomised this consensual approach. When confronted with contentious choices, his invariable advice was: ''Please discuss it among yourselves, come to a decision and that will be my verdict.'' It was neither a particularly political approach nor did it correspond to the lessons in leadership proffered by modern management colleges. Yet, Thakre was widely respected in the BJP and wielded awesome moral authority.

By convention, the BJP, in line with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has attached more importance to the process of decision-making rather than the decision itself. In theory, the party president is vested with extraordinary powers. What is unstated, however, is that the exercise of powers is coupled with wide-ranging consultations. An individual may get his way despite objections of colleagues but not before it goes through a filter. Even flights of whimsy have to be approved in committee -- Vajpayee was adept at playing this game. One of the serious allegations against L K Advani was that he didn't bounce his controversial views of Mohammed Ali Jinnah with colleagues before making them public in Pakistan.

The corollary of this fanatical devotion to consultations is the insistence on total discipline. Since it is understood that all decisions are considered, it follows that no one has the right to question them in public.

This may explain why BJP President Rajnath Singh's controversial appointment of party office-bearers has elicited no public statements by those who are apparently dissatisfied. The exclusion of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the Parliamentary Board and the Central Election Committee was an audacious step. At the 2002 National Executive in Goa and immediately after the 2004 general election, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had tried to force Modi's resignation. On both occasion, there was an outcry in the party and the moves came to nought.

The question is: how was Rajnath allowed to do what he did earlier this month and that too when Assembly elections in Gujarat are just some 10 months away? What is also significant is that the move came at a time when Modi has successfully reinvented himself as the high priest of development and administrative efficiency.

Since Rajnath has a track record of both second-guessing the RSS and acquiescing in all their suggestions, many analysts are justified in deducing that the snub delivered to Modi must have had the backing of Nagpur. Modi's strained relationship with a section of the RSS in Gujarat and his feud with the local wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are, after all, not state secrets.

Information from within the party suggests that Rajnath did indeed inform Vajpayee and Advani of his plan -- the latter apparently hinted that it would be injudicious. Yet, there was absolutely no basis for his claim that the move was inspired by the RSS. Someone somewhere may have been consulted, but did those individuals pass their personal preferences as the collective view of the RSS? The full story may never be known but the upshot is that the RSS, which claims to be a cultural organisation, has taken a dim view of the BJP President trying to use it as a cover for a decision whose logic is to be found in Indira Gandhi's legacy of politicking.

Yet, even by the exalted standards of political guile, Rajnath was found wanting. If the RSS distances itself from the organisational rejig, where will it leave him? Will he not then be accused to lowering the presidency to the level of a faction?

The appointment of office-bearers has cleared the air on a crucial issue. For the past two years, the BJP and BJP voters have been agonising over the choice of a successor to Vajpayee. In targeting Modi, Rajnath has clearly identified the man he considers his foremost challenger.

Actually, the emergence of Modi as the BJP leader-in-waiting was becoming increasingly apparent. For the past four years the Gujarat Chief Minister has been working assiduously to transcend the image of a sectarian leader. He has focussed on firm leadership, efficient administration and a no-nonsense economic policy. Helped in no small measure by the entrepreneurial culture of the state, he has built Gujarat as a show-case for high-voltage development. Apart from those who regard him as a Hindu icon, he has steadily won the admiration of Indian business -- as was evident from the resounding success of the Vibrant Gujarat summit last month. Politically too he has emerged as the BJP's main poster boy, even outside Gujarat. His rallies, whether in Maharashtra or Kerala, have elicited huge responses.

For the moment, Modi has to focus on winning the Gujarat Assembly election for the BJP. If he succeeds, the pressure by BJP supporters to bring him to national politics and project him as the prime ministerial candidate will become very hard to resist. As things appear at present, only a self-goal can prevent Modi from assuming Vajpayee's mantle. In retrospect, the BJP may well thank Rajnath for bringing subterranean currents to the surface.

Finally admitted that there is a jihad being conducted in India

2007-02-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

This is Teestaji at her very best! The most precious parts of this
report are the following two:
ONE:
"Though Setalvad was not willing to comment on the possibility of a "Hindu terror link" to the Samjhauta bombings...."

and TWO:
"Such materials are being used to prepare crude liquid Molotov cocktails. "The blasts on-board Samjhauta were executed using a combination of similar crude pieces," she claimed."

Both Teestaji and the publication have a very poor opinion of the people
at large.

Anyway to find a silver lining, at least Teestaji has finally admitted
that there is a jihad being conducted in India.

Namaste.
Ashok Chowgule

Anupam Dasgupta
February 22, 2007
http://www.dnaindia.com/
Two days after the Samjhauta Express blasts, social activist Teesta
Setalvad took potshots at the administration demanding that Hindu
right-wing fundamentalist groups like the RSS, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal
and VHP be banned.

The point, the firebrand social worker, was trying to convey was that
the state governments and the Centre should be neutral to the point of
treating Hindu terrorist acts and jihadi terrorism "on a par".

Though Setalvad was not willing to comment on the possibility of a
"Hindu terror link" to the Samjhauta bombings (since innocent Pakistani
nationals were targets), she claimed Hindu terrorist groups are being
"protected" by the police and the intelligence agencies. She claimed the
acts of terror perpetrated by Hindu fundamentalist groups were not being
properly "explained".

She said, "In some cases, investigations were abandoned midway while
in some others the investigating agencies just preferred to turn a blind
eye to the existing state of affairs. The need of the hour is to instil
a sense of neutrality and purpose in our police agencies and the way
they are marshalled by their political masters."

Expressing concern at the smaller urban towns across Maharashtra
registering significant growth of "bomb-making factories", mostly run
and managed by Hindu operatives with terrorist leanings, Setalvad
demanded that they should be arrested by the government.

Referring to the "impact explosion" on February 10 at Nanded that took
a life due to the inept handling of highly inflammable materials stored
inside a godown, Setalvad tried to explain that Hindu right-wing terror
is as much a worrying phenomenon as the jihadi variety.

Pointing fingers at the sloppy probe into the Malegaon blasts, the
activist said the state was virtually compelled to summarily transfer
the case to the CBI even as the Anti-Terrorism Squad had a 2,000-page
chargesheet in place.

On the latest incident at Malegaon (on February 10), Setalvad said the
Concerned Citizens Inquiry report - a parallel investigation carried out
by the social group in the two Nanded blasts cases - suggested the
existence of ingredients (glycerine, sulphuric acid and nitric acid/
glass and gelatine sticks) used in manufacturing liquid bombs.

Such materials are being used to prepare crude liquid Molotov
cocktails. "The blasts on-board Samjhauta were executed using a
combination of similar crude pieces," she claimed.

Assume Teesta's agenda is -- to combat communalism

2007-02-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

A comment by "decratl" at Saag Forum

Teesta's agenda - to combat communalism (lets assume that this is her personal and official agenda!!!!). I hope she realises that communalism is a social problem and how to solve it??? It takes many years or probably even decades. Social problems don't vanish by the time one snaps fingers. It will not go away by people trying to champion (Pseduo)secularism on 10min - 15min TV debates. If Teesta and co. are/were to be really knowledgeable in handling communalism, they should stop talking after issuing a condemnation statement in the press. Without knowing the difference between terrorism and communalism branding Hindu right wing activists as terrorists gives enough ammo for animosity. I hope VHP/Bajrang Dal will be counter these words, if at all if they want to, democratically rather than resorting to violence, strikes, bandhs.

In that debate, at the end Mr. Shashank said that what Mr. Raman told was "historically and factually" correct. Hope Teesta will get her facts correct next time she comes or is invited for a debate. Social activism and bureaucracy/diplomacy are not at the same level in the hierarchy. Bureaucracy/diplomacy are well above social activism. Social activists should first know that bureaucrats have access to both larger picture as well as minute details. Teesta should confine herself to preaching "Communal Harmony" and debating these issues with Jehadis and Hindu right wing activists.

CNN-IBN's expert don't know difference between communalism and Terrorism

2007-02-22T21:44:00.000-08:00

Posted by decratl at SAAG Forum

http://www.ibnlive.com/
The panel composition was: Pakistani Political and Defense Analyst, Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood; former Director, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), B Raman; Social Activist Teesta Setalvad; and former Foreign Secretary Shashank.

Why was this ODD person Teesta called in??? The panel has retired bureaucrats/diplomats and how does this social activist fit into that. The topic was "Indo-Pak peace" and related issues and how are diplomacy and social activism inter-related. What makes somebody think that she is even qualified to sit and debate with this kind of experienced panel. God knows which brilliant brain thought of including Teesta among the panelists

".....We have had terrorism from the Hindu right-wing activists....."

The actions of Hindu right wing activists, can be at the max, termed communal and CERTAINLY NOT terrorism.

Countries on this planet are still finding it difficult to come to a correct definition of terrorism and here is an expert who has come to talk about terrorism!!!!!. Of late she is being promoted by CNN-IBN as an expert and is being called upon to talk on all kinds of issues (what a joke!!!!). People who cannot differentiate between communalism and terrorism are called to talk about intelligence, diplomacy, investigation, terrorism (irony), Indo-Pak peace!!!!!!.

No other panelist traded personal charges against another panelist and here is a person who is saying Mr. Raman to be arrogant!!!!! She doesn't even know the basic rules of communication when diplomats and bureaucrats meet. and dear readers she is an expert!!!!!!

GUJARAT: LOOKING BACK

2007-02-22T04:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.saag.org/

By B. Raman

It is five years since the brutal massacre of a group of Hindu pilgrims by some members of the Muslim community in the Godhra railway station in Gujarat and the violent Hindu-Muslim riots that followed. There has so far been no objective account of the incidents of 2002 in Gujarat. An unfortunate attempt has been made by the so-called secular elite of the country to create doubts in the minds of the people about the facts relating to the carnage at Godhra. The use of force by the Administration to bring the resulting law and order situation under control has also come in for criticism from this elite. Among the criticisms made by them are that the force used was excessive and disproportionate; that it was mainly directed against the Muslim community; that there were many atrocities committed against the Muslims; that it was politically orchestrated etc.

2. Such a campaign to play down the culpability of minority communities and to direct the attack against the administration, particularly the police, and the majority community is nothing new in our history since 1947. This has always happened after every communal riot. Whenever some Muslims take the law into their own hands, it is always the police which is criticised for acting against them. The secular elite rarely criticises the Muslims, who violated the law in the first place, and rarely calls for action against them. The voice of the secular elite will carry greater credibility if it modifies its present position that "the Muslims can do no wrong" and that it is always the Hindus and the Administration who are responsible for anything going wrong, which affects the interests of the Muslims.

3. If there are signs of an emerging divide between some sections of the Hindus and Muslims, the so-called secular elite cannot escape a major share of responsibility for this. Its compulsive habit of justifying every cause and complaint of the Muslims---whatever be the merits--- and its repeated failure to articulate the feelings and sense of anger of the Hindus are creating an impression in the minds of growing sections of the Hindus, who constitute 80 per cent of the population of the country, that for the secular elite only the rights of the Muslims count and not the rights of the Hindus. One finds this particularly in the case of the youth.

4. One talks often of the spreading radicalisation of the Muslim youth and of the need to address the root causes of their anger and to appeal to their hearts and minds. This is very important. I have myself been advocating it since the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993. But, we should also take note of the emerging radicalisation of sections of the Hindu youth and of the need to address the root causes of their anger and to appeal to their hearts and minds. The Government will be committing an error of judgement if it fails to take note of the feelings of concern and hurt in the minds of large sections of the Hindu youth. They have many reasons for their concern---- the perceived softness of the Government in dealing with jihadi terrorism; its repeated admonition of the police for trying to do their duty while investigating terrorism-related cases; its action in playing down the role of Pakistan and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in sponsoring jihadi terrorism in Indian territory; its secret talks with Pakistan on sensitive issues such as the future of Jammu & Kashmir and the Siachen glacier without taking the Indian public into confidence; the attempt to bulldoze the public and the bureaucracy into implementing the recommendations of the Sachar Commission etc.

5. The Muslims are the rightful citizens of this country. We are proud of them. They have every right to enjoy the benefits of our Constitution and the fruits of our economic development and to expect that the Administration, including the Police, will protect them. I was more critical than anybody else----when I was in service and after my retirement---- about the failure of the Narasimha Rao Government to protect the Babri Masjid, about the failure of the Mumbai Police to protect the Muslims in the communal riots that followed and about the failure of the Narendra Modi Government to protect the Muslims after the Godhra carnage and about some of his crazy ideas on counter-terrorism. I have been more lucid than anyone else in drawing attention to the fact that there was no jihadi terrorism in Indian Territory outside J&K before the demolition of the Babri Masjid in December, 1992. There were communal riots, but no jihadi terrorism.

6. At the same time, I have also been pointing out that the Muslims too have obligations like any other citizen, whatever be his or her religion----like the obligation to observe the law; not to look beyond our frontiers for ideological and religious inspiration; to condemn the resort to brutal terrorism by members of their community; and to help the police in dealing with this terrorism. They also have the obligation to try to achieve their legitimate political and economic objectives through legitimate means and not through intimidation. Recently, a highly-respected intellectual of Delhi told me of his sense of shock when he heard some leaders of the Muslim community warn at a meeting convened by one of the Ministries of the Government of India that there would be more jihadi terrorism in India if the Sachar Commission report was not implemented in toto.

7. What is this but an attempt at criminal intimidation? Doesn't the Government have the obligation to put down such attempts? Doesn't the public have the right to protest against it? If a Muslim leader resorts to intimidation, one dismisses it as an instance of understandable anger. If a Hindu protests against such intimidation, he is demonised as communal, anti-Muslim, anti-Islam etc. These double standards have to go if we have to strengthen national harmony and integrity.

8. Since 1947, India has faced many mutations of terrorism---ethnic, ideological and religious. It has reasons to be particularly concerned over the persisting menace of jihadi terrorism and the role of Pakistan in fueling it. The jihadis wish ill of India. They want India to break up. They want to "liberate" the Muslims of India, create "Muslim homelands" in our territory, which would ultimately form part of the global Islamic Caliphate, which Osama bin Laden wants. The jihadis use force ruthlessly. The State has the right and the duty to resort to the use of the legal force of the State against them. Whenever a State has lacked the will to act firmly against them, they have thrived.

9. The fears one had in 2002 that the anger in the Muslim community over the perceived sufferings of their co-religionists in Gujarat might result in a wave of acts of reprisal terrorism have not come true. We saw more instances of reprisal terrorism by the jihadis after the demolition of the Babri Masjid than after the Gujarat riots--- the Mumbai blasts of March, 1993; the simultaneous explosions on board trains in the North in December, 1993, coinciding with the first anniversary of the demolition of the Babri masjid; the acts of violence of the Al Ummah in Tamil Nadu, including the serial explosions in Coimbatore in February, 1998 etc.

10. There have been many incidents of jihadi terrorism in different parts of India since the Gujarat riots. Of these, only one---the attack on the Aksherdam Temple in Ahmedabad in September, 2002---- could be attributed to this anger. The rest of the incidents in Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi, Ayodhya and Bangalore were not committed in a moment of uncontrollable anger. These were coolly and carefully prepared and executed acts of terrorism by some members of our Muslim community, who have joined hands with the pan-Islamic jihadis from Pakistan and its ISI. Their target is not just Gujarat. Their target is India and its economic prosperity. Their anger is not just against the Gujarat Government. It is against India and its people for refusing to let themselves be intimidated by the terrorists and for continuing to make rapid economic progress and showing signs of emerging as a major power despite their acts of depredation, sponsored by the ISI. Nothing less. I am not commenting on the latest incident at Deewana, near Panipat, because all the facts are not yet in.

11. We owe it to our Muslim co-citizens to see that their lives and property are protected, that they have the same opportunity for economic advance as the members of the majority community, that there is no discrimination against them---political, economic or social, that they are able to observe their religious practices as they wish so long as they observe the law of the land. At the same time, in our necessary attempts to win the hearts and minds of our Muslim community and redress their grievances, we should not under-emphasise the need to root out jihadi terrorism and the mind-set behind it from our territory. We should not project Pakistan as a born-again saint. It is not.

12. Five years after Godhra, there is a need for an introspection---by the Muslims and the secular elite of the brutality of those responsible for Godhra and by the Hindus and the Administration of how the subsequent riots were handled. If instead of doing so, we continue the national pastime of scoring points against one another, more acts of jihadi terrorism and more incidents of communal violence are waiting to happen.

(The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: itschen36@gmail.com )

Samjahauti Express attacks : B. Raman vs Teesta Setalvad

2007-02-21T16:44:00.000-08:00

Excerpts from the debate which followed the Samjahauti Express attacks

Click : http://www.ibnlive.com
Teesta Setalvad interrupted him saying that she condoled the attack and that she did not agree with B Raman. She said that we need to appreciate the utter sobriety with which the Pakistani officials have dealt with this entire issue. "In contrast to their sobriety is the utter arrogance of B Raman. Are we trying to say that as Indians, we don't have out own breed of indoor terrorism? *We have had terrorism from the Hindu right-wing activists, disrupting communal peace and hating Indo-Pak peace talks for the past 60 years. Yet the Indian establishment does not want to look at this. Till the Indian establishment recognises that terrorism can be home-grown as much as it can be imported, we will not get to the bottom of terror talks. We need to have the same openness as Pakistan has at the moment."

The Pakistani officials dealing with the issue with 'utter soberity' and 'openness'? I guess the Pakistanis do not need anyone in India to speak on their behalf. There are enought Indian citizens who will do so.

Here are some more Gems of wisdom from Teestaji.

The tragedy of this country is that with the dominance of the ideology of Hindu rashtra in public life, with proponents of it gaining power, every real issue that we need to tackle has got sidelined. Setalvad, Teesta, in her acceptance speech of Rajiv Gandhi Sadhbhavana Puraskar, 2002. August 20, 2002.

For, while there are the hapless and forgotten Kashmiri Pandits also displaced and bitterly abandoned in Jammu and Delhi camps, they have been innocent victims of foreign-bred mercenaries not home grown terror bands; terror bands who moreover speak of a narrow sense of Indian patriotism and nationhood. Teesta Setalvad in the Rajiv Gandhi Sadhbhavana Award, 2002, acceptance
speech, 20 August 2002.

Teesta Setalvad, head of Communalism Combat, a group that opposes religious extremism in India, said that "while I condemn today's gruesome attack, you cannot pick up an incident in isolation. Let us not forget the provocation. These people were not going for a benign assembly. They were indulging in blatant and unlawful mobilization to build a temple and deliberately provoke the Muslims in India."
Rama Lakshmi, "Mob Attacks Indian Train; 57 Killed", The Washington Post, February 28, 2002

Before announcing a punishment or even a trial, (Saddam Hussain's) crime should be properly established. First, he allegedly was in possession of weapons of mass destruction which were not found. Later he was reported to be a dictator and an obsessive rule, but nothing is proved. All this points against the attackers who said they did it to restore democracy in Iraq, thus destroying a hundred year old museum. This points to a huge lack of ethics, and I'm not commenting either ways, whether to release him or try him unless his crimes are established. (sic)Teesta Setalvad, Human rights activist, quoted in The Afternoon Despatch & Courier, December 16, 2003.

Whenever Communalism Combat is blamed for being 'too pro-minority' , we hold the sangh parivar and the rest of the saffron brotherhood responsible for this editorial 'tilt'. Had Hindutva not hijacked the national agenda and targeted the country's religious minorities, so much time and attention would not have been needed to defend Muslims and Christians from the vitriol, vilification and violence that is
deliberately directed at them. In fact, but for the hate mongers, this magazine itself would not have been necessary. Editorial, "Minorities within minorities", Communalism Combat, May 2001.
(Editors: Javed Anand, Teesta Setalvad).

And what is the political agenda of Teestaji. This item from
India Today says it all:

The Congress is a little less forthcoming. Slow off the mark, it joined the proxy war under the banner of Communalism Combat, a small journal run from Mumbai by journalists Javed and Teesta Setalvad. Now operating from a flat owned by a Congress MP in Marble Arch Apartments on Delhi's Prithviraj Road, Communalism Combat is acting in tandem with the AICC media cell. It has issued ads in all major publications attacking Vajpayee's leadership qualities, his links with the RSS and the BJP-RSS, lack of "respect" for women, an ad co-sponsored by women's group as
well. According to media planners, the ad campaign should have cost some Rs 75 lakh, money Teesta claims to have raised "from a wide spectrum of well-wishers including corporates, trade unions, women's group and NGOs."
India Today, Sept 13, 1999.

Samjutha Express & Sabarmati Express : Teesta can you answer ?

2007-02-20T11:37:00.000-08:00

If Samjutha Express is TERRORIST ATTACK , then why not Sabarmathi Express ?

Let Secular Media, Judiciery , MEDIA answer this question to the nation .

By the way , can Teesta Setalvad come forward and protest this TERRORISM ?

People must point out my mistakes: Modi

2007-02-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

[ 15 Feb, 2007 2019hrs IST INDIA TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

POLITICALLY CORRECT: A murderer from Punjab is a murderer, and one from Kashmir is not, asks Modi (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Is Hindutva icon Narendra Modi sounding increasingly circumspect and politically correct as elections in Gujarat approach? Has he stopped talking about minority appeasement, for instance? No, says the man himself. "My language is what it was."

To elucidate, he talks about a recent visit to Punjab where he brought up the issue of Parliament-attack- accused Afzal's plea for clemency. The Congress he said had taken but an hour to reject a similar plea from the accused in General Vaidya's assassination. But on Afzal, despite the Supreme Court endorsing that he be hanged, the Congress is dragging its feet. "A murderer from Punjab is a murderer, and one from Kashmir is not - where is the justice in this?"
That is vintage Modi - making tenuous links to drive home his point and derive the maximum political mileage. Punjab went to the polls this week.

The Gujarat Chief Minister recounts this incident in a long chat with RSS weekly Panchjanya in its latest issue. That the state elections due at the end of this year are top of the mind is clear from the fact that a major chunk of what he says is Gujarat-related. As always, he wears his swayamsevak badge for all to see, but talk of nationalism begins with the state. Deftly, he weaves personal politics with an electoral agenda, denying national aspirations or even a propensity to be controversial.

"I don't say anything that is controversial", says Modi. "I only say what I think is in the interest of the nation. Like Lokmanya Tilak used the Ganesh festival as a vehicle for the freedom struggle, I have used Narmada as a symbol of the country's development."
Asked about when the Sachar Committee on the status of Muslims came calling in Gujarat, Modi says: "They asked me, what do you do for Muslims? I said I do nothing. Please write my words down carefully, I do nothing for Muslims or for Hindus. Whatever I do, I do for 50 million Gujaratis."

Then he lashed out. "What you (the committee) are doing is designed to divide people. Till you do divisive things I have no information for you. I have brought Narmada waters to the dry Sabarmati. Should I now tell you how much of Sabarmati water has gone into Hindu stomachs and how much into Muslim stomachs?" The sound and fury ends with a tongue-in-cheek recounting of how the committee members were heard saying it was best not to mess with Modi.

Hate campaigns don't wash with Modi. Whether it is protests against the Yoga practice of Suryanamaskar or the enduring campaign against him personally, "I don't care", is the essence of Modi's reaction. But yes, the consummate politico knows it's not enough to brush aside all criticism. "As a swayamsevak I have tried to fulfil all responsibilities. If someone brings my mistakes to my notice I'll try to correct them. If I knew all my mistakes I would be God. That's why I expect people to come forward and acquaint me with my flaws."

Or, when asked about his ambitions in national politics, the Gujarat CM says in most unlikely fashion: "I am a small state functionary." He insists he holds but a small position as the chief minister of Gujarat and as such will not speak on matters at the national level. But, "since childhood I've been a swayamsevak and have prayed for my nation's glory. And I will do all I can to see Gujarat contributes to that national glory."
So where is the famed arrogance? There is no arrogance, says Modi, even getting philosophical. Asked what his deepest regret is, he says: "Sadness and joy are a part of life. I have no complaints, no expectations nor a personal agenda."

Teesta ! Watch this Narendra Modi Ji's achievements

2007-02-17T17:41:00.001-08:00

“It`s stupid if you are not in Gujarat: Ratan Tata“ --- HELLO TEESTA

2007-01-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Rs.2 trillion investments promised at Gujarat expo – A World Record!!

“It`s stupid if you are not in Gujarat: Ratan Tata“

In his key-note address, ICICI Bank chief K. V. Kamath praised Modi's 'pro-active' role in guiding the state's economy. More like a CEO'. He said, however, that it was necessary to concentrate on the rural areas in augmenting human resources like education and health at the same level as the economy if the country was to achieve balanced growth.

Announcements of big ticket deals were made in rapid succession at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors' Summit 2007 by top India Inc honchos, right from Tata group's Ratan Tata to ICICI Bank's KV Kamath, Essar group's Shashi Ruia, A V Birla group's Kumar Mangalam Birla, Adani group's Gautam Adani and Torrent group's Sudhir Mehta

By end of the day one of two-day meet, the state had inked a mind-boggling 104 MoUs worth Rs 2,51,967 crore across sectors like oil and gas, power, chemicals and petrochemicals, ports and SEZs.

Leading the race were the centre pieces of Gujarat's future development — SEZs with investments worth Rs 1,42,685 crore (26 MoUs) followed by power sector with Rs 55,139 crore (11 MoUs), oil and gas with Rs 19,488 crore (19 MoUs), chemicals and petrochemicals with Rs 14,416 crore (26 MoUs), ports with Rs 10,474 crore (10 MoUs), urban development with Rs 6985 crore, railway projects at Rs 400 crore and others at Rs 2380 crore.

· Reliance Industries Ltd chief Mukesh Ambani announced an investment of Rs 67,000 crore in the Jamnagar SEZ.

· Kumaramangalam Birla of AV Birla group said his company would like to invest Rs 200 crore in a Rayon plant in Veraval, Rs 100 crore in a cement plant, Rs 800 crore in Wiscose and Textiles Application Centre and Rs 1,000 in a fibre plant.

· Shashi Ruia of Essar announced an investment of Rs 10,500 crore for the expansion of their Hazira refinery.

· While state-run ONGC announced an investment of Rs 16,000 crore for a petro-complex at Dahej, another PSU Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) has decided to invest Rs 1,700 crore for crude terminal and pipeline network.

· The Adani group said it will pump in Rs 25,000 crore in ports and SEZs while Torrent Industries, which supplies power to Ahmedabad, will invest Rs 9,000 crore in a coal-based project at Pipavav.

· Zydus Cadila announced a Rs 5,300 crore expansion plan for other facilities while Dishman Pharma would bring in Rs 2,000 crore in engineering projects.

· The Welspun Group announced an investment of Rs 3,000 crore toward the expansion of its existing facility at Kutch .

Evidently, it was Gujarati pride on its best display when Ambani thundered: "Reliance is a Gujarati company. It is an Indian company and it is a global company. That is how it was conceived by my father Shri Dhirubhai Ambani."

The two day Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit has brought promises of investment of over 100 billion US dollars. Announcing this, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said that the investment has brought many new national and global players from different sectors.

The summit third in a row has aroused great interest in captains of industries and as a result the investment promise this time is four times Modi could bring in previous summit in 2005. The state will generate employment for 12 lakh people through 330 projects involving 308 MoUs in the 2007 summit.

Modi said that three distinct trends emerged in the investment pattern of summit 2007 which has laid a strong foundation for a Gujarat that will lead India as its growth engine. The most important is the fact that maximum investment has come in the infrastructure sector.

This investment will become a facilitator for the future investment in the state. The better infrastructural facilities will work as a magnet to attract more money.

The second most important aspect is that majority of the projects are in manufacturing and engineering sector which has great employment generation opportunity.

To enable the people of Gujarat to use these employment opportunities the government has received as many as 15 proposals for human resource development during the summit. Modi said that this includes two marine engineering colleges, interest for investment in more than 100 ITIs.

He said that the summit has succeeded in giving right message to people to have faith in investment in the state.

Maximum number of MoUs in all 66 have been signed in the agro and food processing sector. This involves investment of 11,560 crore with employment to 80,000 people. This is followed by engineering, auto and ceramics sectors where 35 MoUs have been signed to bring in investment of Rs. 12757 crore and jobs to 38490 people.

In terms of investment and employment potential the biggest is the special economic zones. Proposals of investment of Rs. 170688 crore were made which will generate 605640 employment opportunities.

Narendra Modi's Gujrath Investment

2007-01-16T14:58:00.000-08:00

Narendra Modi's Gujrath Investment

Sandeep Joshi
AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday succeeded in attracting invest- ments worth over Rs.2.5 lakh crore at the 'Vibrant Gujarat — Global Investors Meet' here, where top industry and busi- ness leaders praised his role in
creating a perfect business en- vironment. The investments included Rs.1.43 lakh crore in 26 Special Economic Zone projects. A total of 104 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed on the inaugural day of
the two-day summit, involving leading business houses —Re- liance Industries
Limited (RIL), the Aditya Birla Group, the Tata Group, the Essar Group, the Torrent Group, the Adani Group, Zydus Cadila and Wockhardt.

While 11 MoUs worth Rs.55,139 crore were signed in the power sector, 10 were inked
for oil and natural gas projects targeting investments of over Rs.19,488 crore. Similarly, 26 MoUs worth Rs.14,416 crore were signed in the chemical sector, and Rs.10,474 crore was committed to ports develop- ment. All these investments are
likely to generate over 6.5 lakh jobs in the next two or three years.
Welcoming delegates, Mr. Modi said "Gujarat is going to be the main engine for the na- tion to achieve double-digit growth. We are showing the path to investment to the entire nation."

Mukesh Ambani's speech at Vibrant Gujarat

2007-01-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

January 12, 2007

Shri Mukesh Ambani's speech at Vibrant Gujarat, Ahmedabad: I am delighted to be here at the 3rd Vibrant Gujarat – Global Investor Summit 2007.This is a hat trick for me.

I was present in the earlier two events as well – in 2003 and 2005. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Shri Narendrabhai and his Government for building on the momentum gained over the previous two events. This event is now broader based in terms of participation.

It is a reflection of the accelerated growth of the state. Gujarat is blessed to have a talented and committed team of administrators who are passionate about sustaining our State’s pre-eminent position. The event of ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ is an example of their foresight.

Many of the State’s dedicated administrators are with us here at this event. I compliment them for Gujarat’s growing exemplary achievements. In Shri Narendrabhai, we have a leader with a grand vision and the determination to translate his vision into reality.The vision and determination of strengthening Gujarat’s position as the leader amongst all states in the country.

He has an amazing clarity or purpose coupled with determination. He combines his strong Gujarat ethos with a modern outlook. Under your leadership there is new found confidence in Gujarat. I am convinced that his dynamism and passion would help Gujarat earn a place of pride in India and in the world.

Under his leadership, the State has been able to manage a scorching pace of development, duly reflected in the SDP numbers. Gujarat is now a revenue-surplus state from being a revenue deficit state five years ago. Gujarat has about 5 % of India’s population and 6 % of the geographical area. Gujarat today accounts for over 16% of country’s investments and 10% of the expenditure.

'Forget Gulf, Gujarat will produce oil' : Narendra modi

2007-01-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

'Forget Gulf, Gujarat will produce oil' : Narendra modi

NEW DELHI: Pravasi Bharatiya Divas' favourite pin-up boy was back on Monday. On day two of the January jamboree, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was at his aggressive best as he marketed Gujarat as one of the country's fastest growing states and urged overseas Indians to come and spend quality time there.

"Come and see Gujarat. You don't have to invest. Just come, experience and feel Gujarat. Investment is secondary and voluntary. If you want to pool in resources, do go ahead. But first, come and see Gujarat," Modi said, while reaching out to a gathering of almost 100 Gujaratis who had come from different parts of the world to attend the three-day event.

Armed with a slick multi-media presentation that showcased the Gujarat growth story, the Chief Minister seemed to have done his homework well. Boasting of a growth rate of 10.2%, which was higher than the growth rate projected by the Planning Commission for the country itself, Modi stated that every nook and corner of the state was a learning experience for the rest of the country.

Shedding historical baggage of a state that saw terrible famines every decade, the BJP leader said that the state had moved on. It had been able to court success as it had not followed an unplanned growth, he said.

"Gujarat's much-talked-about growth has been courtesy a well-planned strategy, and it has not been limited to the cities only. In order to stop the influx to the cities, we have tried to provide basic city-like infrastructure, like electricity," said Modi, proudly stating that the Jyoti Gram Yojna had lit up thousands of villages across the state.

Modi, who was on first-name basis with most of the assembled delegates (he remembered all the Desai, Babulals and Wadhwanis), said the state is now aiming for complete self-reliance. With two LNG terminals and two petroleum refineries, it was "sitting on a gold mine as far as petroleum is concerned".

" Khari ka tel nahin, vari ka tel (no oil from the Gulf, but oil from the well). Buses, cars, autos in Gujarat will run on oil produced by the state," Modi said to thunderous applause from the community.

Narendra Modi Leads : CNN-IBN Poll Indian of the year (Politics)

2007-01-05T09:00:00.000-08:00

Modi did it again : Sardar Sarovar dam will supply drinking water to millions

2007-01-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

India finishes controversial dam

Building work began in 1987

India has completed construction of a controversial dam on the Narmada river, nearly two decades after it launched the project.
Authorities say the Sardar Sarovar dam will supply drinking water to millions of people in four states, as well as fulfilling irrigation and power needs.

But critics say the project has displaced at least 35,000 people who lived in the dam area.

Work began on the 1,250m-long and 122m-high dam in 1987.

But the project ran into long delays, legal disputes and protests.

"India has taken a leap ahead," chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, Narendra Modi, told a gathering to mark the completion of the project, news agency Press Trust of India [PTI] reported.

"The dam will change the future of the country and Gujarat will benefit from it."

Mr Modi said a ceremony would be held later in the month to dedicate the dam to the people of the four states - Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra - which will benefit from the project.

Authorities in Gujarat say the dam will bring crucial water to its parched Saurashtra and Kutch regions.

Experts said there would be no further construction on the dam's structure over its current height.

Last year, the Supreme Court refused to stop the height of the dam from being raised, as demanded by campaigners.

Activists of the Save Narmada Movement, who have been leading the protests, say the state governments have failed to provide adequate relief and compensation to those displaced by the dam.

UPA dislikes Gujarat's progress: Modi

2006-12-29T21:32:00.000-08:00

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Friday, December 29, 2006 at 1927 hours IST

Rajkot, December 29: Chief Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Centre's anti-Gujarat policies and said the UPA government disliked his state's progress.

"The Congress-led UPA government dislikes the state's progress and is making every possible attempt to create hurdles for development," Modi told a gathering at the Race Course ground.
The state government has demanded 2.75 lakh metric tones of fertiliser for the state's farmers for their winter crops in September, but only 30 per cent of the demand was met. The season is coming to an end in a next few days, he said, criticising the Centre's attitude.
Modi claimed the state's agriculture income was Rs 9,000 crore in the past but touched Rs 34,000 crore after the Jyotigram Scheme, under which villages get electricity round-the-clock, was implemented.

The state faced a power crisis after the Central government diverted 200 MW of power from Gujarat's quota to other states, Modi alleged.
Modi felicitated sarpanches of Saurashtra and Kutch region who were elected under the state government's 'Samras' scheme.
According to officials, 1,477 Gram Panchayats in 28 villages in the region accepted the scheme and elected village heads unanimously, and 41 per cent of them were women.

Modi's new year gift for rural sector

New Delhi: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday had a new year's gift for the underprivileged girls of the state.

All gifts received by the Chief Minister through the year have been deposited with the state treasury and will be auctioned soon. The money collected from the auction will be used for education of these girls.

Modi also announced the setting up of an unique Gram Sachivalaya, a local set-up which will address issues at the village level, in the state. He claimed that Gujarat was the first state to set up such a body.

The Chief Minister also said that five Gram Mitras (village friends) will also be appointed to assist the sarpanches in problems like education, health, drinking water and others.

Not a grad? No bride for you in Gujarat

2006-12-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Author: Radha Sharma

Publication: The Times of India

Date: December 20, 2006

Two essentially Gujarati virtues of owning land and running a business
may no longer be enough to get the enterprising Gujarati boy a bride!
What women in Gujarat now want is a better educated boy, who preferably
does not dwell in a smaller town.

Who would know this better than Ashwin Patel at Udhna in Surat. This
hard working 32-year-old has it all - 65 bigha land between three
brothers, a rewarding textile business and a paying job to boot. His
problem-he is just class XII pass and this has wreaked havoc on his
marriage prospects. Ashwin's family has seen almost 25 girls and all
want a boy who is at least a graduate. "My brother earns more than any
BA, MA pass and does not have any bad habits. But girls these days are
hung up on highly educated guys, even if they earn peanuts," Ashwin's
brother Hasmukh said. Such is the desperation that the family is even
ready to consider a divorcee if she fits the bill!

Vipul Dave (31) of Dakor is sailing in the same boat. "I earn a decent
Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per month, but girls do not want an undergraduate
boy," he said.

Vipul has sent proposals to over 30 girls, but in vain. "They want
highly educated grooms, who earn big salaries in big cities, which has
become a bane for at least 70 to 80 boys like me in the community,"
Vipul added. Marriage bureau managers confirm that there is a problem at
hand. In Vina Mulya Amulya Seva marriage bureau in Vasna, there are
2,000 applications from undergraduate boys that are pending. There are
also proposals from 2,000 graduate boys with just 50 graduate girls to
choose from. There are over 500 girls, who are chartered accountants,
engineers, doctors, MA, PhD, who would not even look at an
undergraduate or a graduate, according to Natubhai Patel of the
marriage bureau.

"I am not ready to compromise on education. Even if he runs a good
business, poor education means conservative, narrow thinking," says
Rashmi Johri (30), Who has done her BCom, LLB from Maninagar and is
looking for Mr Right. "I have got many offers from boys in Botad,
Dwarka and Amreli, but I do not want to settle in small towns as it
would be the end of my career dreams," says Kalpana Darki (28) an MA,
who aims to be a fashion designer.

Teesta Behen READ THIS :::: Shining Gujarat

2006-12-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Shining Gujarat

Author: Shrikant Modak
Publication: Business India
Date: December 17, 2006

Introduction: Deftly managing its resources, Gujarat's apex power body has overcome power shortages and losses

Gujarat's glowing. The state's apex power utility has not only staged a recovery, it's now the only one in India to guarantee three phase 24 hours electricity supply to the rural households and eight hours uninterrupted supply to agricultural consumers. Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB), which had been reporting losses until 2004, came to black last year. The board's financial losses were Rs. 1,900 crore in 2003-04. In 2004-05 these were down to Rs. 935 crore.

In April 2005 the state unbundled its electricity sector with that GEB became Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd (GUVNL), a holding company with six unbundled companies under its umbrella (generation and transmission companies and four distribution companies). The improvements in the utility continued even under this new avatar. GUVNL posted Rs. 187 crore profits in 2005-06. If this year's projections are to be believed it will report even better profits around Rs. 400 crore.

The entire process, "Started five years back," says Saurabh Patel, Gujarat's energy minister of state with the independent charge. "Then we were placed seventh in the power sector rankings of utilities in India and now we are second, behind Andhra Pradesh, "says Viiaylaxmi joshi, CMD Of GUVNL. What's contributed to this success? There are several factors in fact. "One that stands out most recently is the state's Gujarat Jyotigram Yojna that assures 24 hours three phase power supply to the rural residential consumers and eight hours guaranteed supply to the agricultural consumers," claims a GUVNL official.

The state very recently announced the completion of this Yojna (covering 18,000 villages and 9,700 hamlets) at a function attended by President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, near the heritage site of Chapaner town. Its impact! "A fact that more than 1,50,000 rural public came for the event will have obviously boosted Modi's political image," say chief minister, Narendra Modi's, admirers. But, in more mundane economic terms, "its impact on technical parameters like the T&D losses has been large," say GUVNL officials.

At a demographic level, a survey carried out by IRMA at the behest of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) reveals a reduction in rural to urban migration. "The assured availability of electricity has opened up income earning avenues to the rural public that weren't there earlier," explains Patel. Even consumer durable companies have felt its impact. For example, John Verghese, proprietor of Ahmedabad-based consumer durable retail chain, Sales India, says, "There has been a significant increase of rural consumers to our showrooms in the last year." Haier regional manager, Sanjay Ghadial affirms a similar trend. "Our sales to rural areas have gone up significantly," he says.

Political opportunity
Patel says, "Wherever we toured in the rural areas, people were demanding 24 hours electricity supply." He adds, "The question before us was then how to provide this? A simple answer, since agriculture consumers were subject to load shedding, was to separate the residential consumers by putting them on separate feeder. However, sceptics within the administration dismissed this as unfeasible. But Modi having spotted a political opportunity wasn't the one to let it go. A sample of 50 villages was chosen to test the viability of the proposal.

Its success eventually convinced everyone that this was the only way to assure 24-hour power supply to the rural households. In a short period of two-and-a-half years, the state spent Rs. 1,000 crore to erect 12 lakh poles to connect rural household to a separate feeder. Modi, avers, "jyotigram is the only solution for the survival of rural India. It can create millions of jobs." Though his detractors dismiss this as a political-speak the scheme itself has proved a blessing to the state's electricity board. Joshi says, "By shifting power supply to the agriculture, which constitutes 40 per cent of the state's load, from peak to the off-peak hours, the state's power supply scenario has changed significantly." Among its several benign effects, the most important is the end to load shedding in the state in the last couple of years.

No power thefts
Earlier there was only one feeder catering to both rural residential and agricultural consumers. Since agricultural tariffs were subsidised there was a general tendency to draw electricity from the same connection even for residential usage. Separating the feeder lines and restricting supply to the agriculture to the off-peak hours has not only reduced this, it has, in fact, done much more. "When there is no current in the lines not only can there be no thefts but also no line losses," says a GUVNL official. While theft may not have gone away entirely, the incentive to steal power has diminished. Further, all the feeders now have electronic meters, which makes it possible to attribute losses more accurately to the theft and deal with it.

As for the agriculturist electricity is guaranteed for eight hours at a fixed time of the day in each area. Since supply hours are restricted, many have gone for drip irrigation wherever agricultural pattern has suited them. Rural revenues have gone up not only because rural residential consumers now pay for what they consume but also because they pay the same tariff as the urban consumers. 'There has been an increase of 13 per cent in the total revenue of GUVNL, although the total demand itself has gone up only by 7 per cent in the last two years," according to a GUVNL official.

However, there are other factors, which too have contributed to the reduction in the sector's losses. For example, on the central side GEB took its issues with NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) to CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Authority) and got it to streamline the former's cost structure. It also negotiated with the IPPs (Independent Power Projects) and got them to streamline their cost structure.

As far as its own cost reductions initiatives are concerned, as said earlier, it reduced T&D losses by 9 per cent; cost of finance by 2 per cent (from 10.67 per cent to 8.6 per cent by substituting costlier loans with the cheaper loans); improved PLF by 3.44 per cent (to 72.28 per cent); and brought down auxiliary consumption at its generating stations by 4.84 per cent, adopting efficiency improvement measures. It also got Rs.231 crore and Rs. 148 crore in incentives from the Union power ministry respectively in 2003-04 and 2005-06 for reducing its balance sheet losses. Similarly, improved load management left it with a surplus, which it sold in the interstate market at higher rates.

A misfortune of being successful is that the Union power ministry soon diverted Gujarat's 200 mw power share in the central power utilities to the neighbouring Maharashtra that's been reeling under power shortages since last year. The total financial implication of this to GUVNL in the current year will be Rs. 562 crore, as the state's own demand has grown and it now has to buy power from the market at Rs. 6.6 per unit against Rs. 3 earlier. Though the decision to transfer power was meant to be ad hoc the state officials fear that this may acquire permanent status.

Whatever, a remarkable aspect of GUVNL'S turnaround is that it has achieved what it has without any general tariff increase in the last six years. Moreover, improvements have come while preparations were on for unbundling in the latter phase of the recovery. Unlike neighbouring Maharashtra, unbundling went through smoothly with complete cooperation from the unions.

So far the state has managed its power scenario by judiciously balancing its resources. But, as demand's growing, these options will soon run out. "To maintain the tempo of economic development we are planning to make Gujarat power surplus," says Patel. How? Additional 11,563 MW generation capacity addition is being planned over and above the 9,000 MW currently available to it from its own, NTPC and IPP sources in the next five years (Gujarat State Electricity Corporation and the state PSUS together will add, 4,000 MW; IPPS, 4,900 MW; wind power, 500 MW; and NTPC the rest).

GUJARAT --- The Great Run of Kutch

2006-12-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

Author: Abhishek Kapoor

Publication: The Indian Express

Date: December 10, 2006

URL:

Introduction: The 201 Gujarat earthquake his Kutch the hardest, killing
more than 10,000 people in the district, flattening towns and ravaging
lives. Nearly six years later Kutch has risen from the rubble to become
the state's industrial hub.

BUSY highways, a landscape decorated with busy windmills and Punjabi
dhabas on Gujarati roads. This is the new Kutch, risen from the dust,
literally.

In 2001 the picture couldn't have been more different. When the killer
quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale hit Gujarat, it left 15,000
people dead in the state. Kutch's toll was the grimmest at over 10,000.
The temblor destroyed 90 per cent of Bhuj, and ruined lives in the towns
of Bhachau, Anjar, Gandhidham and Rapar. In all, more than half a
million lost their homes and over 150,000 people were injured.

With the region reduced to a concrete rubble, the economy was literally
pushed back to the Stone Age.

But six years later, India's second largest district (the largest is
Leh) Kutch-one-fourth the size of Gujarat-has reemerged from the ruins
to become a major industrial hub. Fuelled by post-quake investment that
toted over Rs 28,000 crore at last count, the district's throbbing
economy is leading Gujarat's industrial march to a double digit growth.

The investment is likely to touch Rs 50,000 crore within the year. The
leap is huge considering investment pre-quake, since independence, had
never crossed Rs 2000 crore.

Now overloaded trucks block national highways coming out of Kandla and
Mundra ports, as industrial towns of Anjar, Bhachau, Samakhiali, Adipur
and Gandhidham pulsate to the clink and clamour of industrial growth.

As trucks whiz past giant windmills on the Bhachau-Samakhiali stretch,
the buzz on the Bhachau-Bhuj road is that there's an urgent need to put
in place a four-lane road to facilitate the traffic.

Kutch, it appears, has shaken off the last of the dust and arrived,
finally.

Kutch has a brand equity now. The two ports (Kandla and Mundra),
combined with government support, have played a great role in polishing
Kutch post-quake. The Central government announced excise exemptions. An
emotional Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had then promised a Naya
Kutch, and the state government chipped in with tax sops. Promises were
made, some too tall to see implementation. Aided by international donor
agencies, good roads have come up, carpeted from edge to edge to give
dust-free cities. With the old gone, the newness of Kutch is a sight for
sore eyes. ''The change is visible in the lifestyle of an average Kutchi
as well. Though the industrial development is not directly translating
into jobs for resident Kutchis, the ancillary and service industry
growth in Kutch means there is now a four-wheel vehicle even in remote
villages. Farmers have good price for their land which otherwise was not
very productive," says Chandrakant Dedhia, chairman of the Kutch
Development Council, an industry supported NGO, working to focus
attention on development.

Kutch boasts of being the world's largest maker of Submerged Arc Welded
(SAW) pipes, it has the largest single unit making vitrified tiles (by
ORPAT) in Samakhiali, scrap and roll steel units, coking coal industry,
large cement plants like that of Sanghi's at Abdasa (two more are in the
pipeline), even as a Japanese business delegation led by the country's
ambassador scouted for opportunities in the district last month.

All this has sent prices shooting with parts of the coastal corridor
commanding a premium of up to Rs 1 crore for an acre. A two-room
accommodation in Mundra village, 10 km from the port, can come for Rs
5,000 per month.

With the economic change has come social change. Financial growth has
fostered cosmopolitanism. Punjabi dhabas are now as ubiquitous as
Kathiawadi food joints.

The growth story has an emotional thread to it as well. Originally from
Kutch, Talakshi Nandu was a trader of vitrified tiles based at Mumbai.
The post-quake sops announced by the government brought him to his
homeland, with Nandu setting up the Euro Ceramics unit at Bhachau, now a
Rs 150-crore business. "Before this, I did not know anything about tile
making. Now it's big for me. There is still a lot of promise of growth
in Kutch," says Nandu, who now divides time between his business in
Kutch and his family in Mumbai.

Adds Kutch Collector Dhananjay Dwivedi: "All this transition has come
after the earthquake. A lot of focus on facilitating this growth is
showing results now."

Last month also saw the state government clearing land for the Union
government supported 4000 MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) worth Rs
20,000 crore. The Sanghi group is setting up another 1200 MW power
plant, with both projects adding more than 2500 MW to Gujarat's kitty.

But Kutch's sparkling sprint does have a few tarnished facets. Already
the chorus in the district is growing shriller over the incentives not
being enough to keep business going. Industrialists of the region have
sought an appointment with the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram this
month to discuss this issue.

While states such as Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, J&K, and those in
the Northeast were allowed tax incentives for a period of 10 years,
Kutch was given a long rope only for five years-till December 2005. The
sops were not offered to existing units if they planned expansion,
unlike other regions where any expansion exceeding 25 per cent of
existing capacities became eligible for the exemptions. Industrialists
say the state government is failing to keep its promises.

Kutch businessmen also complain that the concessions are biased in
favour of large-scale units, leaving the small-scale sector to fend for
itself. "There has been no income-tax exemption, nor any capital
investment subsidy. Units in Himachal and Uttaranchal enjoy IT exemption
between 30 and 50 per cent up to 2012. In fact, even before
industrialisation could take strong roots, some of the units in the
pharma sector have migrated to Himachal already," says Nimish Phadke,
general secretary, Federation of Kutch Industries Association (FOKIA),
an umbrella organisation of Kutch's industries.

State bureaucrats shrug off the complaints as usual business greed.
"Every businessman wants more. How much more can one give? It's at least
better than what they were getting in Ahmedabad," is how Gujarat's
Principal Chief Industrial Advisor R J Shah puts it.

That's one claim not many would dismiss

Missionary booked for publishing objectionable handbills

2006-11-26T06:49:00.000-08:00

Teesta , see how freedom of expression and religion is misused !

Posted on 24 November, 2006
HJS files complaint against conversion by Missionary

Mumbai: A Christian missionary and organizer named Sunil Samuel Kelvin had organised a program for conversion of faith, in the name of healing incurable diseases through miracles, at Mahakavi Kalidas Natyamandir, Mumbai on the 6 th November at 5 p.m. For this purpose, he had also published handbills containing objectionable advertisements.

In accordance with a complaint filed with the Mulund Police Station by Shri. Kashiram Parab, Convener of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), on the 5th November, 2006, the police have registered a cognizable offence under the 'Drug and Magic Remedies Act (Objectionable Advertisements) 1954'. Sunil Kelvin, the Christian missionary, had published handbills containing objectionable and illegal information under the title 'Live in the Spirit'.

He had made an indirect plot to convert the poor through these handbills by making claims about curing incurable diseases. The surprising fact is that the handbill did not have names of the printer, publisher and the organisation. Taking notice of this fact, the HJS filed a written complaint against the organisers, at the Mulund Police Station.

Accordingly, the Mulund Police interrogated Sunil Samuel Kelvin, the organizer of the program. The police have registered a cognizable offence against Kelvin under the 'Drug and Magic Remedies Act (Objectionable Advertisements) 1954'.

This case has been a second success story for the HJS' mission. In a similar case that occurred in January 2006 at Vasai Road, Father John Matthew had claimed to cure incurable diseases by miracles through prayers. At that time, after being warned by the HJS about conducting agitations, the police arrested Father John Matthew and stopped his program. The HJS appeals to all Hindus to be alert and fight against fake Christian missionaries through constitutional means.

So, why this extraordinary attachment with Gujarat?

2006-11-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

So, why this extraordinary attachment with Gujarat?

Of all bordering states with Pakistan or Bangladesh - Gujarat and Rajasthan are the only ones that have not been largely affected by the machinations of Pakistan. Islamic population in Rajasthan is not significant. But that is not the case in Gujarat, where there is a critical mass. In comparison, Gujarat is extremely prosperous as well. As practiced and perfected in Punjab, Pakistan just needs to fire the pot of dissatisfaction and lo there is a nice unstable border state. Even one carefully chosen representative - one person with a nice high profile working relentlessly for the right money - can keep that pot stirring once the fire is lit.

Teesta's pressure against the strong Hindu ethos of Gujaratis has been systematic and sustained for over ten years now. This is only against Gujarat and Gujarat alone. Go thru older issues of Communalism Combat. The magazine has been targeting Gujarat since its inaugural issue that is available online. Even prior to Godhra or its aftermath the stories were just as horrendous, the propaganda just as fervent. Sometimes I wonder if Teesta herself had a role in the incineration of the train in Godhra. Her reaction just hours after the carnage published in several international dailies already point to a sinister motive. Despite her best efforts to destabilize Gujarat – a bulwark of a state against Pakistan - none of her innumerable efforts prior to Feb 2002 bore any fruit. But setting a train full of hindutvawadis on fire brought to fore the alchemy of this Hindutva laboratory - a laboratory she had repeatedly constructed in her messages but one that had shown no signs of existence at all. It was that proverbial “I told ya so” moment.

So the carnage set the required fire. Only what remained now was that one kept the pot continuously stirred. Take it up with International organizations of various hues - have the US body on religious freedom castigate Gujarat - run ad campaigns - speak courageously as a guest lecturer all around the world - write letters to world leaders. Teesta already had a head start in the propaganda. Only reinforcement was needed. The construct that Muslims in Gujarat are simply unsafe had to be real. The world needed to believe it fully. The Muslims themselves in Gujarat needed to believe it.

This is what I call setting the stage for discontent. For, tomorrow when we hear of the ad nauseam "indigenous struggle for the aspirations of the Gujarati Muslims" – with man, material and moral support from Pakistan – the world should gulp it hook, line and sinker.

Teesta Setalvad has worked tirelessly to bring this to fruition.

Supreme Court seeks details of Gujarat violence cases

2006-11-24T11:35:00.000-08:00

New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday put objections from the
Gujarat government aside and sought details of 17 incidents of communal
violence in 2002 to decide on the question of shifting of these cases for
trial outside the state.

A bench comprising judges K.G. Balakrishnan, Lokeshwar Singh Panta and D.K.
Jain passed this order on petitions filed by the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC), Teesta Setalvad of the Citizens for Justice and Peace and
some other NGOs.

The petitioners have sought reinvestigation of the cases by the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and to shift their trial outside Gujarat as
was done for the case related to the killing of 14 people in Vadodara, known
as the Best Bakery case.

The 17 cases include four incidents in Godhra, a town 140 km from Gujarat's
main city of Ahmedabad.

Other cases on the apex court's radar are related to the massacres at
Gulbarg Society in Chamanpura of Ahmedabad, Naroda Patiya and Naroda village
on the outskirts of the city, Sardarpura town in neighbouring Mehsana
district, two incidents of violence in Panchamahals district, violence in
Sesan of Banaskantha district and cases pertaining to Ode in Anand district.

The Supreme Court sought details of the 17 cases from amicus curiae Harish
Salve.

The state government Wednesday filed an application strongly opposing the
transfer of these cases at the instance of third parties.

It cited the judgement of the apex court in a case against Railway Minister
Lalu Prasad in which it was held that "a PIL (public interest litigation) is
totally foreign to pending criminal proceedings" and transfer of criminal
trial could not be done through a PIL.

The state sought dismissal of the petitions stating that the trial could not
proceed further because of the interim stay granted by the apex court.

Salve wanted the court to lay down proper guidelines on whether besides the
complainants victims too could approach the court and seek transfer of a
criminal case. He also wanted the court to address the issue of witness
protection.

When counsel for the state government objected to this, the court said that
the Gujarat violence cases were completely different wherein due procedure
contemplated under the Criminal Procedure Code (Cr.P.C.) was not followed by
the government, false cases were registered and innocent people were arrayed
as accused.

"This court is not powerless. When the criminal justice system and the
administration of justice in a state is in peril, it can intervene in public
interest," it observed.

While asking Salve to give a summary of the cases, the court also wanted him
to give suggestions on the larger issues to be decided.

The matter was posted for further hearing on Feb 20, 2007

Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation strikes oil

2006-11-16T18:16:00.000-08:00

TEESTS ARE YOU READING THESE ?

Gujarat Corporation strikes oil

The Hindu

GANDHINAGAR: The state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation has successfully recovered crude from the second test well in the Dholkao oilfield, near Ingoli village, in Ahmedabad district.
Crude was available at a depth of 1,968 metres.
A Government spokesman said here on Thursday that initial reports indicated that commercial exploitation of at least 1,200 to 1,400 barrels a day from the second well, and the available reserve was estimated at over Rs. 1,200 crore.

Commercial exploitation

The Corporation earlier spudded well number one in the same oilfield in September 2004, and commercial exploitation of 900-1,200 barrels a day was expected to begin soon. The Corporation had filed an application with the Centre to begin commercial exploitation of crude from the Dholka oil field.

The work would be taken up jointly by the Corporation, Gas Authority of India Limited and the Centre.

Same oilfield

The spokesman said it was the same oilfield where the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation conducted tests and gave up the effort, believing no crude was available.It was at the behest of Chief Minister Narendra Modi that the State Corporation took the chance to go further deep and recover crude from the area

Another crown for Shri Narendra Modi .

2006-11-16T17:41:00.000-08:00

Gujarat is the first state in the country, which has given power supply to all its villages and Kalam complimented the state government for this achievement

Kalam for establishment of PURA complexes in Gujarat

Champaner, Nov 11: President A P J Abdul Kalam on Saturday asked Gujarat Government to consider establishment of 300 PURA (Providing Urban Facilities in Rural Areas) complexes which will cover 18,000 villages and encourage reverse migration to rural areas.

Kalam, while addressing a huge gathering of more than one lakh people here, said, "the uninterrupted 24-hour, three-phase, power supply to 18,000 villages can lead to creation of 300 PURA complexes and further enhance the overall scheme activities and prosperity of Gujarat as a whole."

The President also dedicated Gujarat Government's 'Jyoti Gram Yojana' to the nation under which three phase power supply is given to three crore people staying in all the 18,000 villages of the state, 24 hours a day.

Gujarat is the first state in the country, which has given power supply to all its villages and Kalam complimented the state government for this achievement

I want Gujarat to compete with China: Modi

2006-11-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

I want Gujarat to compete with China: Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi commenced a significant 6-day business tour to China on Wednesday accompanied by a high-level delegation of 35 Gujarat-based industrialists and top bureaucrats.

Almost side-stepping the feverish, and often acrimonious, debate involving Congress President Sonia Gandhi and most Indian chief ministers over the pros and cons of having Special Economic Zones in the country, Modi has already put in place the infrastructure to build 11 SEZs spread all over Gujarat.

He has a prospective plan for a total of 23 SEZs in Gujarat. He has also invited the Japanese to develop the SEZs on commercial terms suitable for international investors.

Modi's agenda during the visit to China is two-fold. He wants to study the functioning of the SEZ in China and, possibly, invite them to help Gujarat build China-style SEZs.

Second, he will also seek Chinese investment in Gujarat in the power sector.

Modi is keen that Chinese experts are involved in building and operating the SEZ.

In a bid to project himself as the champion of privatisation and globalization, Modi has toured Israel, Hong Kong and Australia in this connection in the last two years.

During his foreign tours, Modi keeps himself well-equipped with PowerPoint presentations, slide shows and printed publicity material.

In Singapore, he called on Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on October 30. He also attended Global Entrepolis Conference where he pleaded his case forcefully to attract fresh investments into Gujarat.

In China, apart from Beijing, Modi will visit several centers that showcase modern China's phenomenal progress in recent years, including Shanghai, Schenzen, Deren, Pudong and Jurong.

A Gujarat government spokesman said that Modi would focus on the working of Chinese SEZ in sectors like gems and jewellery, electronics, fashion apparel.

Modi is projecting himself as an effective salesman of Gujarat's factors of advantage and intends to highlight the investor-friendly climate of economic development.

In Singapore he said, "Gujarat has a unique combination of a strategic geographic location, state-of-the-art infrastructure, multi-lingual workforce and concentration of corporate and financial resources and a world-class pro-business environment."

He hopes to attract Chinese investment into sectors like chemicals and pharmaceuticals, gas and oil, tourism and medical tourism.

Singapore dailies quoted Modi as saying that he proposed to come out with an "integrated township policy" for Gujarat and that his government would shortly come out with an exclusive 'Petroleum SEZ' "for servicing oil rigs and (to offer) other exploration and development services."

Noting that Gujarat encouraged private participation in port development, he said, "Our concept is to have port-based SEZs with backward linkages with warehouses, cold storage and transportation network."

Senior functionaries of Singapore government assured Modi that they would be taking part in the global investment summit to be organised early next year in Gujarat.

The denial of visa by the US authorities has obviously not deterred Modi from taking seriously the imperatives of 'globalisation.' Like yet another 'native' Indian political leader, Sharad Pawar, Nationalist Congress Party boss from Maharashtra, Modi too has taken pains to improve his command over the English language. In Singapore, Modi made it a point to deliver his lecture in English before a packed 800-strong audience.

Modi has planned China trip with a clear strategy to increase Gujarat's trade ties with China. Gujarat is one of the largest producers of cotton in India. Out of 440 million bales of cotton produced last year, China imported almost 330 million of bales from Gujarat.
Modi wants to set up exclusive SEZ if possible with the help of Chinese investors for 'value addition' to turn cotton into fabric and fashionable garments for exports.

Modi government enjoys excellent equations with some of India's prominent houses.

Essar Group chairman Shashi Ruia, Torrent Pharma chairman Sudhir Mehta, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani, and Nirma chairman Karsanbhai Patel are among the industrialists accompanying Modi.

Prior to his departure on the current tour, Modi told a select gathering in Ahmedabad that "Gujarat is not competing with other states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. We may surpass them. I want Gujarat to compete with China, Germany and Japan."

Gujarat is among the fastest growing states in India. Against the national growth rate of around 7 per cent, Gujarat is galloping at over 12.5 per cent growth rate. Modi pointed out to his audience in Singapore that while India is struggling to achieve a 4 per cent farm sector growth rate, Gujarat's agriculture output was expanding by 11.2 per cent.

Curiously, the Sardar Sarovar Dam controversy will also echo in Modi's itinerary in China. He hopes to visit the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric power dam, which has generated as much as controversy in China as the Sardar Sarovar Dam has in India.

Modi will be the second prominent figure of the Sangh Parivar to tour China in the run-up to the visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao to India in November. Ram Madhav, spokesman of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had earlier paid a week-long visit to China in September.

rediff

Twisting the truth about Godhra ,Conspiracy Exposed

2006-10-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Twisting the truth about Godhra ,Conspiracy Exposed

The Pioneer Edit Desk

Twisting the truth about Godhra

The ham-handed attempt of the UPA Government to controvert the basic facts of the Godhra carnage in February 2002, in which a coach of Sabarmati Express packed with Hindu pilgrims was set ablaze by a Muslim mob, has come a cropper, with the Gujarat High Court declaring the Justice UC Banerjee Committee as "unconstitutional, illegal and void". Mr Banerjee was appointed by Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to conduct a parallel 'inquiry' into the ghastly incident and the committee's interim report, widely used as election propaganda material in Bihar by the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal, made it abundantly clear that along with his remit, the former judge of the Supreme Court was also given a draft of what he should say in his findings. Although Mr Banerjee, whose conduct puts a question mark on his credibility and integrity, now claims that his findings are free of political bias, the High Court's judgement upholds the popular perception that the collaborative effort to cleanse the culprits of their horrendous crime is not without an ulterior motive and of a piece with the surreptitious effort to use the POTA review committee, nominated by the UPA Government, to drop the charges against those arrested for planning and executing the ghastly act. That this inference is not unfounded is further borne out by the efforts of the Congress and its allies to save Mohammed Afzal Guru from the gallows. The pattern that emerges is clear: This regime is willing to go to any extent to appease those who have nothing but contempt for the nation and its people in the mistaken belief that by sparing criminals it can reap Muslim votes. The outcome of the Bihar Assembly election should have effectively negated such perverse thinking, but neither the Congress nor its drumbeaters, including those in the Left, are easily deterred.

Hence, the Gujarat High Court's ruling - that by setting up the UC Banerjee Committee, the UPA Government violated provisions of the Commission of the Inquiry Act and the Indian Railways Act because the Justice Nanavati-Shah Commission is already probing the Godhra carnage that resulted in the death of 59 karsevaks returning from Ayodhya - has not had its desired deterrent effect on the UPA Government, least of all on the Congress. The irreverence with which the Congress treats judicial pronouncements is reflected in the party spokesman's rejection of Friday's judgement and the brazen assertion that the High Court verdict is not the last word in the judicial process. This is only to be expected because the absurd 'finding' of Mr Banerjee, who did not even bother to speak to those who survived the attack or the relatives of those who died and yet came to the amazing conclusion that the devastating fire in the coach was accidental and not intentional, suits the twisted politics of those who practice minorityism. For them, it is inconsequential that a Railway Tribunal's findings differ from this story; nor is it of any relevance that a local court has prima facie accepted that the fire was the handiwork of a mob. But sooner than later, justice catches up with criminals and their 'secular' patrons. And the voices of those who have suffered on account of this nexus have begun to count.

www.dailypioneer.com

Banerjee panel illegal: Gujarat HC

2006-10-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

Teesta Ji ,
Did you read this NEWS item , what Gujarat High Court said ?

Press Trust of India

Posted online: Friday, October 13, 2006 at 1639 hours IST
Updated: Friday, October 13, 2006 at 1655 hours IST

Ahmedabad, October 13: In an embarrassment to the Centre, the Gujarat High Court on Friday declared as "illegal" the setting up of UC Banerjee Committee to probe certain aspects of Godhra train carnage.

Justice BH Vaghela pronounced the order on a petition filed by a survivor of the carnage, Neelkanth Bhatia, who had challenged the setting up of Banerjee Committee at a time when Justice Nanawati Shah Commission was already probing the
matter.

The Committee, headed by former Supreme Court judge UC Banerjee, was set up by the Union Cabinet in Septemer 2004, to probe the incident in which 58 karsevaks were killed in a fire in S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express in February 2002.

Credibility of Teesta Setalwad of Citizens for Justice & Peace and members

2006-10-01T14:43:00.000-07:00

Keshav Acharya
Email : keshavacharya@yahoo.com

The credibility of Teesta Setalwad of the Citizens for
Justice & Peace and members of the CJP as regards
their honesty, integrity and sense for justice is very
low.

In justification of my statement I submit as follows:
(a)Teesta Setalvad’s magazine “ Communalism Combat “
has very small circulation. The magazine is not
visible in public libraries and stalls in public
places. The NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace has
miniscule membership; it has not held any public
meetings with large attendance; it holds, perhaps,
only closed door meetings.There are doubts and
suspicion regarding the sources of the huge funds
required for activities of Teesta setalvad and her
NGO,CJP.
(b)Teesta Setalwad had joined Asghar Ali Engineer and
Archbishop Evan Dias in blaming Hindutvavadi leaders,
the BJP, the RSS etcetera in the St. Michael’s Church
at Mahim on a Sunday, according to news in the Times
of India of Sunday October 18, 1998 in the wake of
rape of 3 nuns on September 22, 1998 in Zabua in
Madhya Pradesh. Later on after the investigation it
was found that the rapists were a gang, which included
12 Christians and a congressman, but no RSS men as
alleged.
The criminals are undergoing imprisonment now but
Teesta Setalvad has no courtesy to apologise for
making false allegation and maligning Hindu
organisations. Teesta Setalvad is not a Christian and
had no routine business to go to the church with
Asghar Ali Engineer, another Muslim. The October 1998
issue of “Communal Combat”, edited by Teesta Setalvad
has given news about the rape and blamed the Hindu
organization for that. It is curious and very much
suggestive that the concerned article about the
incident is missing from the archives of the magazine
and is not sent to me by e-mail as promised by
concerned authorities of the magazine, despite
reminder.
The rape incident was used in subsequent elections in
MP, Rajasthan and Delhi to malign Hindu organizations
and the BJP. Christian schools had declared “bandh” in
Mumbai and a Morcha of School children from Don Bosco
school was taken. One should think whether school
children should be used to protest rape.
After the police investigation was completed and the
Christian rapists were arrested, the media ignored the
news about the rapists completely.
This one incident, alone, is a concrete proof to show
that Teesta Setalvad is an anti-Hindu activist and an
anti-BJP politician and not a human rights activist as
claimed.
( c )Teesta Setalvad wrote a book for teachers of the
Don Bosco School, Borivli, Mumbai, and circulated it
in the school, in which she criticized Shivaji Maharaj
in many ways and referred to his caste. This was in
September 2001.The fact is that Shivaji Maharaj is
known and highly revered throughout the country and
particularly in Maharashtra for fighting Moghal ruler,
Aurangzeb, who had imposed Jiziya tax only on Hindus,
and not for his cast. As a result, teachers and
parents of the school children protested and the
school authorities had to withdraw the controversial
book intended to poison the minds of young children to
fulfil her heinous design. Astonishingly, Teesta
Setalvad had not got the names of the publishers and
the printers of the book printed on the book to escape
from the clutches of the law. Teesta had not taken
permission of the education department to publish the
book. Unfortunately no NGO came forward to take Teesta
Setalvad to task for violating rules.

( d )In the article, THE POLITICS OF TEXTBOOK( the
Times of India – 24-10-1999), Teesta Setalvad is
reported to have said: “Textbooks in Gujarat call
Muslims, Christians and Parsis foreigners. They detail
the ills of Christianity, the greed of the Pope and
the sensual pleasures enjoyed by the Catholic clergy.”
All the above allegations of Teesta Setalvad are
false.
( e ) When Laloo Prasad Yadav ordered an enquiry into
the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, and
when contacted by the ToI, Teesta Setalwad of Citizens
for Justice and Peace said, “The railway ministry had
earlier abdicated its responsibility of independently
investigating the incident which was warranted under
the Railways Act.” She stated that this inquiry was
“long overdue”. (ToI- 3-9-2004). According to the
article, “Godhra probe:Lalu is wrong“, by Arabinda
Ghose in the weekly Organiser( 26-9-2004), it is clear
that the probe ordered by the railway minister Lalu
Prasad Yadav was illegal and politically motivated.
One term of reference is to find our whether the
karsevaks were traveling without ticket. This type of
enquiry is never made,when accidents take place.
The fact is that Laloo announced an enquiry into the
train burning with a view to showing that the victims
had burned themselves. Laloo and the media were trying
to impress upon the people that since petrol was
poured from inside the compartment and fire started
from inside, the Karsevaks burned themselves. These
persons do not realize that a few outsiders out of the
mob of 2000 rioters could force their entry into the
compartment and do the misdeed.
( f ) Teesta Setalvad,Javed Akhtar,Alec Padamsee,Anil
Dharker and the NGO Citizens for Peace and Justice met
relatives of those killed in the coach S-6 of the
Sabarmati Express on 27 February 2002 after 20 months
on 5-10-2003, pretended that they were the victims’
sympathizers, brought them to Mumbai, arranged a press
conference in Mumbai and provoked them to speak
against the BJP, the VHP and other Hindu organizations
and yatras organized by these organisations.
The Godhra victims were also used to demand ban on
future Yatras in general and the proposed Yatra of
March 15, 2003 to Ayodhya, in particular by Hindu
organizations.
That the yatra turned out to be peaceful proved that
Teesta Setalvad’s demand was just an attempt to malign
Hindu organization.
In an appeal to UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav
and Dy. Prime Minister L.K. Advani, the CJP demanded
ban on the October 15 Ratha Yatra alleging outbreak of
communal violence and insecurity among the minority
community ( FPJ – 14-10-2003).
It must be noted that the VHP Yatra was very peaceful,
despite provocation by organizations like the CJP. The
ToI reported it as “flop”.
( g )Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, CJP were using the
Gujarat riots to spew venom against the RSS, the VHP
and the BJP by using a section of the media in their
favour, though it is reported that some Congressmen,
the ISI of Pakistan and some Islamic fundamentalists
were also involved in the riots. This is clear from a
few of the following news reports:
( h )The Godhra train carnage on February 27, 2002 was
an “ act of terrorism planned at the behest of
Pakistan to foment communal riots all over the
country”, according to a study report. The study,
conducted by a five-member team led by Justice D S
Tewatia, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court,
for the Council of International Affairs and Human
rights, released in New Delhi described the Godhra
incident as an act of international terrorism planned
and executed in connivance with the jehadi forces.
Haji Bilal, Mohammad Husain Abdul Rahim Kalota and a
few more Congresmen were involved in the plan to burn
the Sabarmati Express at Godhra ( FPJ- 27-4-2002,
Navabharat, Hindi daily- 30-5-2002,
Loksatta-27-4-2002).
( ii )According to Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind most Congress
corporators actively participated in the riots.JUH
secretary Farooqi has a list of 25 Congress leaders
from Gujarat which included former Congress minister,
a sitting MLA and a former MP. Farroqi acused Congress
workers of committing sins of commission and omission
during the riots.( ToI – 10-8-2003).
( iii )Teesta Setalvad herself had said in March 2002
that in the attack on former MP Ehsan Jaffery’s house,
a Congress member was among the mob ( FPJ –
30-3-2002).
(iv) The fact that Congress governments in
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab refused to send
police force to Gujarat, to control riots, though the
Gijarat government was ready to spend full money for
their deployment, shows that the congress was not
interested in curbing the riots, but was interested
only in making a political capital out of riots.

( i ) According to the editorial in the Free Press
Journal Teesta Setalvad had come to access crores of
rupees in the 1998 general election. In the editorial
of the Free Press Journal dated November 5, 2004 again
a reference to the suspicious sources of funding for
multi-crore advertisements against the BJP in
newspapers is made pointing out a finger to Teesta
Setalvad.

( j ) Teesta Setalwad approached DCP, G.D.Pol in zone
5, Dadar, Mumbai and asked him to file FIR against VHP
general secretary Praveen Togadia under sections 153A,
153B, 295A,298 and 505 for his alleged inflammatory
speech at a meeting of the Rashtriya Vichar Manch at
Nardulla Tank Maidan on March 16. ( ToI- 14-5-2003
). The speech was not as alleged by Teesta and no
untoward incidents took place after the speech.

( k ) Javed Akhtar and Alyque Padamsee and Vijay
Tendulkar, all members of the CJP had congratulated
Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, through
a letter (IE-May 10,2003), for banning trishul and not
allowing Togadia to enter Rajasthan though Court had
allowed him to enter. According to a news (ToI- May 9,
2003), Additional district and sessions judge Ajay
Kumar Jain, trident is not a weapon; and so he granted
anticipatory bail to VHP activists accused of
displaying trishuls, banned in Rajasthan under Arms
Act.
Thus the venom spit by above members of the CJP is an
attempt to malign Hindus, their leaders and their
organizations.
It must be noted that these persons had never
criticized “ Lathi rally” of Laloo Prasad Yadav in
Bihar. (12-5-3-Indian Express ), the rally with bows
and arrows of more than 1000 activists of Communist
Party of India (Maoists) in Kolkata ( FPJ- 16-12-2004)
and rifle rallies of Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh.

( l )Alyque Padamsee, an activist of the CJP, had said
recently that he does not know Mumbai, but knows
Bombay. He has no objection for renaming Calcutta as
Kolkata, Madras as Chennai and Trivendram as
Thiruanathapuram.

( m ) Vijay Tendulkar, an activist of the CJP, had
said at a speech in Pune and then in Dapoli in
Maharashtra in November 2003, that if he is given a
gun, he would shoot Narendra Modi. This reveals the
bonafides of the organization CJP.

(n) At a press conference in Mumbai in February 2004,
Asghar Ali Engineer, member of the NGO, Citizens for
Defending Constitutional Democracy and Secularism, at
a press conference, said in Mumbai “ BJP has polarized
the country and came to power by attacking minorities,
secularism and Indian pluralism” ( FPJ – February 26,
2004). All such utterances of members of the CJP
reveal that it is an anti-Hindu, anti-BJP
organization.
( o ) One can have freedom to have his views and have
an organization, but to form an organization and
pretend that it is citizen’s organization, a
non-political and that also for peace and justice is
certainly deception and cheating.
I am to add that this organization is not registered
under any act and its membership is not open for
citizens though the word “citizen” is therein. I
allege that it does not have any Constitution of its
own. I pray the Supreme Court to take this into
consideration and decide the bonafides of the
organization “ Citizens for Justice and Peace”.

Lecturer attcked by SFI students , abused for wearing Rakhi

2006-09-08T07:13:00.000-07:00

Lecturer attcked, abused for wearing Rakhi ANY COMMENT TEESTA ?

SFI Goondaism in Campus
By S. Chandrasekhar

If the SFI men consider Rakhi, Ram, Krishna, Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita the symbols of communalism, then they should leave Sanskrit College and go to madrasas.

In a shocking and dastardly incident, the SFI students of the Government Sanskrit College at Trivandrum, a stone throw-away from the Government Secretariat and the CPM’s HQ, AKG Centre, attacked and abused their senior lecturer in Sanskrit Dr Unnikrishnan for the simple reason that he wore Rakhi, the symbol of brotherhood and national bonding.

‘Raksha Bandhan’ day is observed round the second week of August and lakhs of people irrespective of politics, religion and gender wear Rakhis all over Kerala. Right from the seventies, two groups in Kerala have been opposing this symbol of nationality, i.e. CPM and Islamic extremists. Innumerable were the cases reported of CPM/SFI waylaying persons wearing Rakhi and breaking it. In Muslim pockets, same was the strategy of Islamic fanatics. But with nationalist forces hitting back with equal strength, this became weakened and wearing a Rakhi became a symbol of Hindu pride and strength.

Dr Unnikrishnan, a leading activist of the Vishwa Sanskrita Pratishthan (VSP), got recently appointed as senior lecturer in the Government Sanskrit College. On August 18, three SFI activists Renjith, Sabu and Sebasitian came to him when he was taking classes and asked him to remove the Rakhi he was wearing. He was asked to put it in his pocket or keep it at home. He was warned that this is a red fort and hence no symbol of ‘RSS’ should be there in the campus. Dr Unnikrishnan refused to remove the Rakhi saying it was a symbol of his religious and national belief. The SFI goons threatened him of dire consequences. Dr Unnikrishnan reported this to the Principal. But on August 21, as Dr Unnikrishnan was sitting in his room in the college, a gang of 30 SFI activists led by college union chairman Robin barged into the room, started abusing him in the most filthy language, man-handled him and forcibly broke the Rakhi and a special thread tied after puja at Mookambia Temple in Kollur, Karnataka. A dazed Unnikrishnan, who had least expected it, wrote a written complaint to the Principal and the police. The police, who arrived late due to pressure from top SFI and CPM leaders, tried to protect the SFI students and water down the case.

In the last spell of the CPM rule during 1996-2001, a student belonging to the Congress-led Kerala Students Union (KSU) was attacked at the University College in Thiruvan-anthapuram (a red fort where no other students organisation is allowed to function) and the letters ‘SFI’ were imprinted on his back with a sharp knife. But now in this spell the SFI has shifted its preys from the student community to the teaching class, a measure of progress for the working class party’s monkey brigade!

Meanwhile, Dr Unnikrishnan has written a letter to the CPM State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan asking him to ensure justice for him and to provide security for discharge of his duties as teacher.

The VSP has registered strong protest over the incident of insult to a strong symbol of nationalism from the CPM/SFI, which never considers India a single entity. They said that if the SFI men consider Rakhi, Ram, Krishna, Vedas, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita the symbols of communalism, then they should stop studying Sanskrit, leave Sanskrit College and go to madrasas. The ABVP also led a huge protest march to the Secretariat. Leading poets and cultural icons of Kerala like Sugatha Kumari, Vishnu Narayanan Nampoothiri, P. Narayana Kurup, C.G. Rajagopal, Katoor Narayana Pillai have in a statement condemned this barbaric act.
www.organiser.org

Look at Gujarat

2006-08-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

We can learn from our neighbouring state, which has no Naxalites and farmer suicides

Ajit Ranade
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/nmirror
/mmpaper.asp?sectid=14&arti
cleid=818200621395
6718818200621394250

Maharashtra has a twin. The same day that our state was born, another also took birth — Gujarat. And it has always had the status of a junior sibling.

It has half the population, half the state GDP and 25 districts, as compared to the 35 in our state. Its Vidhan Sabha has 182 members whereas we have 288. While more than 40 per cent of our population lives in urban areas, Gujarat is much less urbanised. Migration into Gujarat from other states is also less, though much of the industrial and coastal belt attracts workers from Bihar and Orissa.

In two significant respects, however, Gujarat has an enviable record. It has no Naxalites and no recorded farmer suicides.

There are now armed Naxalites in 15 states and more than 160 districts of India, practically affecting half the nation. The prime minister recently called it the single biggest threat to India’s internal security, and said that in certain parts, Naxals have caused a virtual collapse of law and order.

The appropriate response to Naxals is a combination of effective police action and ensuring socio-economic development. That’s because Naxals are typically active in backward, tribal and forest areas. It is not as if Gujarat doesn’t have its share of tribal and backward areas. For example, the northern districts of Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Mehsana have tribals and are backward. Why is it that Naxals have not gained a foothold there? Or even in parts of Kutch?

Maybe the answer to these questions requires a deeper understanding of the history of the Naxalite movement — but it is undeniable that Gujarat, today, is free of the Naxal virus.

The second is the phenomenon of farmer suicides. A combination of usurious debts, failed monsoons and excessive reliance on cash crops like BT cotton, which command volatile prices, are the reasons behind farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Andhra and other states.

There is also a sociological reason arising from the stigma of utter poverty and deprivation. But here too, it is surprising that Gujarat is not known for farmer distress. Yes, BT cotton is grown, yes, there are lot of indebted farmers, yes there are parched lands. But Gujarati farmers are on an average a much happier lot.

Apart from these two major themes, our neighbouring state has distinguished itself as a hub of the chemicals and textiles industry and is the largest producer of manmade fabric in the country. It is also a global centre of diamond polishing, earning a pile of foreign exchange and will soon have the world’s largest petroleum refinery. In the last few years it has been attracting more fresh investments than Maharashtra, although, the bigger twin has again overtaken it.

In fact, these two twin states accounted for 40 per cent of all new investments undertaken in India in 2005-06. Most remarkably, while our state is reeling under a Rs 1.25 trillion debt, our neighbour has been running a primary revenue surplus for the past three years.

A recent clincher, was the state’s decision to abolish remaining octroi in all municipalities. Ahmedabad’s municipality is unique in having raised money, corporate style, by selling bonds — most other cities depend only on taxes. All this despite doses of major annual calamities — like the 2001 earthquake, the 2002 riots, major droughts, and now the floods, which have caused losses of about Rs 20,000 crore.

So shouldn’t we be learning from our neighbour’s resilience and progress? Our agriculture minister agrees. He said in a recent walk-the-talk interview, for state-level development look at Gujarat!

One case handed over to CBI in Gujarat riots

2006-08-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

One case relating to the Gujarat riots has been handed over to the CBI. Details of the case are as under:

Limkheda Police Station (District-Dahod) Crime Register No. 59/2002, investigated by local police and tried by JMFC, Limkheda and closed accepting the `A` final report, was handed over to CBI and registered as case No.R.C.1/S/2004-Mum in the CBI SCB on 1.1.2004 under orders dated 16.12.2003 of the Hon`ble Supreme Court of India in Criminal Writ Petition No. 118/2003 and Criminal Misc. Petition No. 8850/2003. Investigation of the case has already been concluded and charge-sheet has been filed by the CBI on 19.4.2004. The case is pending trial.

7/11 : Modi the real PM of India speaks

2006-07-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

What is your response Teesta to 7/11 ?

Read What Modi says
"Terrorism is not an issue of just one state. It has become a global phenomenon and co-ordination is needed to defeat it,"

IntelliBriefs: 7/11 : Modi the real PM of India speaks

Interpol alert to arrest Godhra prime accused

2006-05-25T20:54:00.000-07:00

Pramod Kr Singh | New Delhi
The Pioneer
May 26, 2006

Interpol has issued a red corner notice for the arrest of Salim Haji Ibrahim alias Salim Paanwala, the main accused in the Godhra train tragedy, in which 59 passengers were burnt alive on February 27, 2002.

Sources said that the red corner notice was issued after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) vetted material evidence furnished by the Gujarat Government and moved the Interpol to issue an alert for Paanwala's arrest.

Intelligence sources said Salim Paanwala is in Pakistan, which indicates that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) may have a hand in the Godhra carnage.

The notice issued on April 11is a slap on the face of Justice UC Banerjee Committee. The committee - appointed by Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad - had said in its report that the Godhra incident was an accident.

In sharp contrast to Justice Banerjee Report, the fact sheet ascribed in Interpol's notice reads, "On February, 2002, an attack occurred on Sabarmati Express which was travelling between Muzaffarpur to Ahmedabad. The attack on the coach no S-6 of the train was pre- meditated and resulted in serious injury to 46 passengers and death to 59 passengers. As the train pulled away from Godhra station where it had a scheduled stop, four chains were pulled in four different carriages, causing the train to stop.

"Investigations have revealed that during the time the train was stopped, the offenders, collected eight canisters of petrol from the nearby co-conspirator. Shortly afterwards, the four emergency chains were pulled again and the train halted. Investigations have revealed that pulling of the emergency chains was part of a plan. As soon as the train stopped, it was attacked by mobs outside, who pelted it with rods and broke windows and attacked it with arms and inflammable material."

The Bannerji Committee had hit the headlines for its accidental theory but the police . investigation found that Razak Kurkur and Salim Paanwala, residents of Godhra, had hatched a conspiracy to torch the compartment. They took the help of six young boys to cut the vestibule that joins S-6 and S-7, to pour the petrol into S-6. Two other boys helped them pull the chain near the A cabin, a little distance away from the Godhra platform. Maulvi Umerji, a resident of Signal Falia, was charge-sheeted for masterminding the offence by Gujarat Police.

Media fanning communal riots

2006-05-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

A perfect example of fanning fear thru half-truths, is the following article
by Seema Mustafa published in Asian Age....

"The Ugly Indian was at it again in Gujarat. The mobs were out in Baroda
this time, simply because the Muslims had dared to raise their voice against
the demolition of a 300-year old dargah. How dare they even speak, was the
message flashed down to the mobs that owe allegiance in Gujarat to its chief
minister Narendra Modi; and the same Vishwa Hindu Parishad chaps, the same
Bajrang Dalis, the same dirty policemen, the same administration had within
minutes joined hands to wreak terror on the streets of Baroda. Helpless
citizens of India spent a night in abject terror, calling every number they
knew and receiving no response except hate-filled messages from the police
control room, "Go to Pakistan." The mobs moved around freely, threatening,
burning a young man alive in his vehicle, indulging in rampant arson, while
the police insisted that there was no threat to the minorities, and Baroda
was as peaceful as it possibly could be"

Full text:

State of Fear
- By Seema Mustafa

There is something about Union home minister Shivraj Patil that makes it
appear that each time he speaks, the words are being dragged out of him. His
is an amazingly successful impersonation of the reluctant maiden, which
would have been fine had he not been the home minister of India. No one can
fault Mr Patil on his appearance, with every crease and strand of hair in
place. But the "there is nothing wrong, and if there is, it is being taken
care of" attitude does not inspire confidence, particularly as he manages to
completely play down the importance of the situation in the process, and
reduces government reaction to a non-assertive response. Unfortunately, the
attitude plays on the officials as well, with the government machinery under
the home minister now appearing uncertain as to whether it should be
"seized" of the situation, or whether it should follow the natty Mr Patil’s
lead in insinuating that there is actually no situation at all to be seized
about. One has to commend the home secretary, V.K. Duggal, for following a
straight and narrow official line, and at least trying to fill in all the
blanks created by his minister.

This is not to say that one expects the home minister to flap, but that he
should at least be convincing in his authority. Unfortunately, the
television persona is the same that meets Opposition leaders and delegations
that meet him on issues as important and as varied as Gujarat, the
Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir. "It is fine, we are doing all that we can, the
situation will not remain uncontrolled, it will be controlled," says the
home minister (or words to that effect). How? "Well, it is being worked out,
we are in touch, we are talking to them, we will see what we can do," is the
response. Those listening to him cannot be blamed for not exactly being
infused with confidence.

The Ugly Indian was at it again in Gujarat. The mobs were out in Baroda this
time, simply because the Muslims had dared to raise their voice against the
demolition of a 300-year old dargah. How dare they even speak, was the
message flashed down to the mobs that owe allegiance in Gujarat to its chief
minister Narendra Modi; and the same Vishwa Hindu Parishad chaps, the same
Bajrang Dalis, the same dirty policemen, the same administration had within
minutes joined hands to wreak terror on the streets of Baroda. Helpless
citizens of India spent a night in abject terror, calling every number they
knew and receiving no response except hate-filled messages from the police
control room, "Go to Pakistan." The mobs moved around freely, threatening,
burning a young man alive in his vehicle, indulging in rampant arson, while
the police insisted that there was no threat to the minorities, and Baroda
was as peaceful as it possibly could be.

This columnist who started receiving messages and telephone calls from
Gujarat from 1 a.m. that night — and for those with the same filthy communal
mindset as the mobs on Baroda’s streets, let me tell you that the calls were
not from Muslims, but from secular and concerned citizens of India
comprising all religions — wanting people here to knock on doors to get some
protection for those "trapped" in Baroda. "They will be butchered, the mobs
are threatening a repeat of 2002" the messages screamed. And as one almost
tearful activist from Ahmedabad said, "We have no refuge, they can kill us
any time they want, we are here to die, not to live as there is no
protection for us." It is a tragedy, if after over 50 years of independence,
even a single citizen of India has to live for even a moment in complete and
total fear, not of the mobs, but of the Indian state. We all must
collectively hang our heads in shame.

Gujarat might have been controlled this time, because perhaps it did not
suit the Ugly Indian to change the golden star for excellent development
given to him by Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s Planning Commission — with all the
happy progressives on board — for a black mark. But he has happily
demonstrated yet again his control over the mobs and over the unhappy
destiny that he is determining for the people of Gujarat with the full
support of the BJP and the Congress Party. The minorities have to live in
the ghettos he has prepared for them, and accept all that comes their way.
If they — the Muslims, the Christians, the tribals — speak out of turn and
demand rights as citizens of India, they will have to bear the price. This
could be a night of abuse, threats; this could be largescale arson and the
burning alive of human beings; this could be 2002 with rape, arson, murder,
mayhem. It is for the Ugly Indian to choose, and for him to decide.

In 2002, the BJP extended total and complete support to the Ugly Indian to
preside over the killing of 2,000 citizens of India. The frightening thought
is that under the Congress-led coalition today, the man is still in a
position to preside over the killing of as many, if not more Indians in
Gujarat, at a moment of his choosing and with complete absence of remorse.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened a Cabinet meeting the morning after
the night of tension to discuss the developments. Ministers made it clear
that the government could not afford violence in Gujarat without paying a
heavy price. Shivraj Patil was shaken out of his complacent slumber to keep
an hourly watch over Gujarat, tiring and irksome for a minister seeking his
solace in the air-conditioned corridors of 10 Janpath and not the dusty and
hot states of India. But what is frightening is this entire argument that
the Centre cannot do anything, unless the state requisitions it.

An inquiry committee has been set up to look into the demolition of the
dargah. An inquiry committee must also be set up to examine the role of the
police and the administration, to find out how tainted policemen are back in
charge, and how a policeman or even a god for that matter, had the temerity
to ask a citizen of India to "go to Pakistan." As an Army daughter I was
taught early at home to hit out with all the force at my command against
those sick people who kept hounding the Muslims with the "go to Pakistan"
threat. I can only wish the civilian government will learn some lessons from
our struggle for independence (in which the jingoistic nationalists did not
participate), and help those who are feeling too helpless and vulnerable for
no fault of theirs, to hit out hard against those who dare to point a finger
at their identity and their patriotism. The policemen in Baroda should be
brought before the law and made accountable. And so should their patrons in
politicians’ garb. Also, a word of advice for the heir apparent. Leaders are
not made by campaigning for their mothers, but in holding the hands of the
victims of Doda and Gujarat in their hour of strife and grief.

Tailpiece: Pramod Mahajan is dead, and while one is sorry about the manner
in which he died, it is somehow difficult to understand the completely
hysterical media reaction. A weeping media — he was a good source —
virtually canonised the BJP leader and imbued in him many a virtue that was
not very visible when he was alive. Pramod was a dashing personality, but an
ordinary leader who had won only one election out of the three or four he
had contested, useful for sections of the BJP, a good fund-raiser, with
contacts in the corporate world. The media hysteria does raise one question
— if this was the coverage Pramod Mahajan got, 20 of the 24 hours on
television channels, 20 of the 30 pages in newspapers (or some such
figures), then what would we have done if Gandhi had been killed today?
Surely, not much more space would have been made available for him than has
been made available for this very ordinary MP, whose contribution to the
party might be worth a mention, but whose contribution to the nation remains
under a big question mark that even the frenzied media response has not been
able to turn into a halo.

The myth and truth of Godhra

2006-05-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

By Arvind Lavakare May 7, 2006

Since no 'secularist' or 'liberal' or 'objective' person ever challenged the above sets of figures, some questions arise: Who killed 200-odd Hindus so early in those riots? Was it the police or the Hindus themselves? And what made those 40,000 Hindus rush to relief camps? Was it fear of Hindu mob violence, rape, arson and murder?

Two recent 'news briefs' in print are critical evidence of a reality that's been totally ignored by our 'liberals' who have, for four years running, gone on and on and on about the 'genocide' of Muslims in Gujarat after the sudden inferno in the S-6 compartment of Sabarmati Express had consumed 58 Hindus, including 26 women and 12 children, returning home after performing kar seva at Ayodhya.

In its edition of March 19, 2006, The Sunday Express carried the following report from Ahmedabad:

"Post-Godhra riot case: 7 get lifer
The city sessions court on Friday convicted seven people in a post-Godhra riot case and sentenced them to life term for the murder of 35-year-old Mukesh Panchal, a resident of Lambha. He was attacked by the accused and went missing on November 7, 2003 from Shah-e-Alam Darwaza. His mutilated body was found near Chandoka Lake on November 11. One of the seven accused—Javed Shaukat Ali—meanwhile managed to give the cops a slip and fled from the court."

In its edition of Wednesday, March 29, 2006 The Indian Express carried the following report, also datelined Ahmedabad:

"Nine get jail in post-Godhra riot case
The city sessions court on Tuesday convicted nine accused in a post-Godhra riot case. Additional Sessions Judge Sonia Gokani sentenced Mushtaq alias Kanio Ahmed Sheikh to 10 years in jail for murder and attempt to murder. Eight others were sentenced to 18 months in prison for unlawful assembly, possessing weapons and rioting."

Out of the five convictions so far in l'affaire Godhra, the above two rip the blindfold on Godhra that the country was subjected to since March 2002. Those two convictions conclusively prove that even as some Hindus in Vadodra, Ahmedabad and a few other parts of Gujarat were provoked into insane killing, arson and loot by the S-6 carnage, the Muslims in that state were hardly the cattle hiding from the slaughter house that they have been made out by the "secularists" in and outside our national English media. Do you, for instance, recall reading about the mutilation of Mukesh Panchal's cadaver in any of the English print media? Did you hear a sound byte about it on our TV?

Yes, despite all the media and the consequent political, propaganda about the 'genocide' of Gujarat's Muslims, the reality is that some of that community were also engaged in murder, rioting and unlawful assembly with arms in hand.

This trend was discernible to the objective person four years ago itself. Thus, in its issue of April 28, 2002, The Times of India reporter, Sanjay Pandey, told us that of the 726 people who had been killed by then in the post-Godhra riots, 168 were Hindus. In its issue of June 24, 2002, India Today carried an article saying that the official figure of all people killed in Gujarat in the three months following the S-6 massacre was 800, of which a quarter were Hindus. The Union Home Ministry's Annual Report 2002-03 said that about a third of the total dead in the Godhra riots were Hindus. It also said that, at one stage, 40,000 Hindus were in riot relief camps.

Since no 'secularist' or 'liberal' or 'objective' person ever challenged the above sets of figures, some questions arise: Who killed 200-odd Hindus so early in those riots? Was it the police or the Hindus themselves? And what made those 40,000 Hindus rush to relief camps? Was it fear of Hindu mob violence, rape, arson and murder?

More proof of the blindfold on Godhra came in 2005, when the UPA coalition (comprising the 'secular' friends of Muslims) made a statement in Parliament that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in those riots.

But our national media simply refused to remove the blindfold on Godhra. Hence it was that the elites of our society continued to rant about the Gujarat 'pogrom of genocide'; some cussed Indians even conspired to deny a US visa to the Chief Minister of one of the country's fastest developing states.

Aiding and abetting that conspiracy were reports from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International et al. The National Human Rights Commission joined in; written lies by the likes of Arundhati Roy and fake e-mails added fuel to the fire. All of them went to town about the Gujarat 'genocide' with blinkers on, a blindfold underneath. None wanted to touch upon the minority community's role in that tragedy.

But the latest criminal conviction of 16 Muslims evokes the recall of the Justice Tewatia Report on the Godhra issue published on April 26, 2002 under the aegis of the Council For International Affairs And Human Rights, based in New Delhi.

It was a report based on a six-day field study of a team headed by Justice D.S. Tewatia, former Chief Justice, Calcutta High Court and Punjab and Haryana High Court. Its other members were Dr J.C. Batra, senior advocate, Supreme Court, Dr Krishan Singh, academician, Jawahar Lal Kaul, veteran journalist, and Prof. B. K. Kuthiala, Dean, Faculty of Media Studies, G.J. University, Hisar.

The five-man team visited three affected areas and relief camps in Ahmedabad, interacting freely with the public and members of both communities, and without government interference. In Godhra, five delegations from both communities and also of mixed composition presented their views and facts to the team. Similarly, free discussions with the public and affected communities were held in Vadodra at seven affected areas and five relief camps. It collected information from the staff at the Godhra Railway Station, district administration, including the Collector and Police Commissioner, passengers traveling in Sabarmati Express on 27.02.02 in S-6 compartment as well as in other compartments, staff of the Fire Brigade, Godhra, reports in 22 newspapers and nine magazines (local, regional and Delhi) and views on media coverage articulated by some 500 persons including intellectuals like lawyers, doctors and businessmen. The site where the train was initially stopped and stoned was also visited. A high point was that 13 delegations consisting of 121 citizens met Justice Tewatia's team and presented their viewpoints and information. The delegations ranged from the Association of Hoteliers to a group of Vanvasis and affected Muslim as well as Hindu women.

Based on the considerable oral, audio and visual evidence obtained from the above interactions, the Justice Tewatia team's conclusions most relevant to the blindfold on Godhra were as follows:

Burning of 58 Hindu pilgrims on February 27, 2002 was an act carried out at the behest of then government of Pakistan which had planned to burn the entire Sabarmati Express carrying some 2000 passengers. The primary objective was to create Hindu-Muslim communal conflagration in India. The actual perpetrators were jehadi elements in the predominantly Muslim town of Godhra where

a very high traffic of telephone calls was recorded between Godhra and Pakistan, especially Karachi, before the date of the carnage

an abnormally large number of passports were issued,

there was a large number of persons without ration cards

a large number of unemployed Muslims had mobile phones,

though there is no tradition of being a Muslim pilgrim center and the local Muslims are not affluent, three istema (religious gatherings) have been held and attended by large numbers of foreigners, and

an Assistant Collector (a young Muslim from eastern UP) went on leave two days before the gory incident and did not return till the middle of March though the district of his posting was aflame with communal riots much earlier.

The vacuum pipe between the Coaches No. S-6 and S-7 was cut thereby preventing any further movement of the train. Miscreants threw bricks and stones at the train as soon as it left Godhra railway station. The stoning intensified after it finally stopped about 700 metres from the station. The passengers of the train, particularly Coaches S-5, S-6 and S-7, were the main targets. Burning missiles and acid bulbs were thrown on and in the coaches. One such acid missile landed in Coach S-7 and a fire started which the passengers were able to extinguish. But the attack continued and more burning missiles were thrown into the Coach S-6.

In an effort to control the subsequent riots, the Gujarat government

Publicly announced its decision to employ the Army on the evening of the day riots began on February 28 (Within less than 24 hours at least one brigade of Indian Army had air-landed at Ahmedabad),

Made preventive arrests of over 33,000 people,

Fired over 12,000 rounds of bullets,

Fired over 15,000 rounds of tear gas shells,

The involvement of Vanvasis in the post-Godhra riots added a new dimension to the communal violence. In rural areas the Vanvasis attacked the Muslim moneylenders, shopkeepers and the forest contractors. They used their traditional bow and arrows as also their implements used to cut trees and grass while attacking Muslims. They moved in groups and used coded signals for communication. Apparently, the accumulated anger of years of exploitation by Muslim moneylenders (interest of 50 per cent per annum), shopkeepers and forest contractors had become explosive after moneylenders sexually exploited their womenfolk.

The media selected, distorted and added fiction to prove their respective points of view. The code of ethics prescribed by the Press Council of India was violated by the media with impunity. It so enraged the citizens that several concerned citizens in the disturbed areas suggested that peace could return to the state only if some of the TV channels were closed for some weeks. Even the Vanvasis complained that the media had no time to hear their agony and was spreading canards against the Hindus. Newspapers published in English from Delhi invariably editorialised the news. Direct and indirect comments in the news writing were so telling that the personal likes and dislikes of the news reporters were too obvious to be missed. They appeared to have assumed the role of crusaders against the State Government from day one. It coloured the entire operation of newsgathering, feature writing and editorials.

Conclusions 1 to 4 above are indicators as to why our national media, ever afraid to criticise the Muslim and ever ready to indulge in BJP/Hindu bashing, bypassed the Justice Tewatia Report, despite its high credentials and the fact that it was publicly released at a press conference in New Delhi. After all, our 'secular' national media simply could not have tolerated giving even a line to report's conclusion 5 above. Hence, they simply buried the whole report itself, put a blindfold on the country vision of it. After all, they had found their Hindu-bashing agenda in the post-Godhra riots and they were hell-bent in pushing it full steam, right up to the Supreme Court and beyond to the United Nations.

Will the criminal conviction of 16 by two separate sessions judges in Ahmedabad remove the blindfold on Godhra that the 'monster media' put on the people of this country?

(The writer can be contacted at 202, Dosti Erica, Antop Hill, Wadala (E), Mumbai 400 037.)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=129&page=17

Best Bakery case: 9 hindus get life term , WHAT ABOUT MUSLIMS FOR HINDU KILLING

2006-02-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

Can we expect to get such justice for Hindus in Pakistan or Bangladesh, don't count on it! :

Best Bakery case: 9 get life term
Press Trust of India
New Delhi, February 24, 2006

www.hindustantimes.com/ne...170000.htm

Nine of the seventeen people accused in the infamous Best Bakery case have been convicted by a Mumbai sessions court. The remaining eight accused were acquitted.

In one of the worst post-Godhra massacres in Gujarat, 14 people had been burnt alive in Vadodara on March 1, 2002 when a mob torched the bakery, owned by a Muslim family.

High security prevailed in and around the court room when all the 17 accused were brought to the court.

There were altogether 21 accused, of which 17 were facing the trial while four are still absconding.

The case was first tried in a fast track court in Vadodara which had acquitted all the accused on July 27, 2003.

One of the members of the family, Zahira Sheikh, who had named the accused in her police statement, retracted her version in the Vadodara court following which all the 21 accused were acquitted.

National Human Rights Commission filed a special Leave Petition in Supreme Court requesting a retrial outside Gujarat.

Supreme Court on April 12, 2004 had ordered retrial in Mumbai and a special Judge Abhay Tipsay was appointed to hear the case. He framed charges against accused on September 22 last year.

In Mumbai court, Zahira and her two brothers turned hostile and did not support the prosecution case saying that they did not see the mob setting the bakery on fire.

However, Zahira's sister-in-law Yasmin supported the prosecution, saying that Zahira and her family were present at the bakery when the mob set fire to the bakery.

Midway through the trial, Zahira filed an affidavit in Gujarat court alleging that she was forced to give police statement by social workers Teesta Setalvad and Raez Khan.

Soaring flight of Narendra Modi in development

2006-02-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

Title: Soaring flight of Narendra Modi in development
Author: Arvind Joshi
Publication: “Pudhari” (Marathi Daily- Free translation)
Date: February 9, 2006

No url please

The state of Gujarat has been in limelight for the last five-six years.
Riots, devastation caused by the cyclone or the terrific loss of life
and wealth by the earthquake, on account of all these reasons, there was
a world-wide discussion over Gujarat and consequently, the Chief
Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi was constantly in the whirlpool of
criticism. Now all these debates are taking back seats. A new face of Gujarat
is coming to the front. The gallop of Gujarat on the industrial front
has now become a subject of discussion. As this gallop has been the work
of the Chief Minister Narendra Modi through his well planned efforts,
the people are also looking at him from a different viewpoint. His image
was a CM who encouraged communal riots. It is undergoing a change and
his name is being taken as an excellent administrator and a
development-oriented leader.

Influence all over the world

Gujarat and Rajasthan states are considered as industrial states.
Rajasthani and Gujarati people are famous for going to anywhere in the
entire country and launching their trade successfully there. Gujarati
persons are basically industrious. In the olden times, the name of Sheth
Shantidas was famous in this respect. Because, 350 years ago, this Sheth
used to give loans even to the Mogul emperors too. If we think that
way, Gujarati man has always been in the forefront of trade. Gujarat has
been supplying the entire country with Ground-nuts and its oil. The
industrious mindset of Gujarati people which was so far engaged in the
traditional professions has now assumed the form of liberal economy freed
from the old shackles. Its influence is now felt all over the world in
the trade world and the investors all over the world are being attracted
towards Gujarat.

Some conclusions reached after its survey by an English weekly ‘India
Toay’ about Gujarat, are very encouraging for Gujarat. According to this
survey, Narendra Modi is the best Chief Minister of all the CMs of the
country. When the opinions of many people in Gujarat were taken, 80 per
cent of those who were interviewed have confirmed that Modi was the
Chief Minister. When in the last August, a similar survey was carried out,
75 % voters had given their opinion that Modi was the best Chief
Minister. As such, Modi has not only maintained his first rank, but improved
by 5%.

According to the detailed report, in the fields of education, health,
Law and order and security, Gujarat state stands about sixth or seventh.
But the basic infra-structure for foreign investment and industries,
Gujarat stood first even then and now also it’s the first.

Administrative Skill

The reasons for this honour which has gone to Gujarat are the great
efforts taken by CM Modi. Since last some years, he has concentrated his
attention on foreign investment and increasing basic facilities. He has
harnessed all his administrative skill and is working for it. Day for
Modi starts at 6 o’clock. No file on his table remains there more than
48 hours. He shows the same diligence in following up the cases with
what diligence he disposes them. One more facet of his skill is, he is
expert in obtaining the involvement of the state’s administrative staff
in his programmes and development process. He has left no stone unturned
for attracting the foreign investors. The ‘Garaba’ of Gujarat is
famous all over the country. The fete of ‘Garaba’ or ‘Gandiya’ was also
utilized by him towards foreign investment. He had given the commercial
appearance to the Dandiya and invited a number investors and
industrialists from foreign countries. He had displayed large ads on the air
ports of London and New York.

First preference of the Investors

Narendra Modi’s invitation got a profuse response of 125 foreign
traders, 200 NRIs and 200 specially invited investors. The representatives
arriving for the Ras Dandiya festival,
had brought with them a number of proposals. During the 9-day Mahotsav,
proposals amounting to Rs.55,000 thousand crores were signed. All this
has not happened automatically. Gujarat has made progress which will
attract the investors. Industries require basic adequate facities as
peace, law and order along with power, water, land, roads, ports. Modi has
emphasized on these matters strongly.

State without power-cut:

If only the situation of power is considered, the situation in Gujarat
appears to be different. (This is a mild description. The situation and
Gujarat are vastly different. Just consider, where I am staying, we
have 11 to 14 hours power cut. ) In Maharashtra power-cut is for 11 hrs,
but Gujarat state is free of any power cut. Gujarat has 100%
electrification throughout. During the period 1998 to 2002, 5 large power
generating projects were erected. 4 more projects are under construction.
Jyoti-Gram Plan has been executed in the state. According to it, all
villages will be given three-phase power. Although this plan has not been 100%
successful, but 12,000 villages has been given such power. 17,000
villaes out of 18,000 have now built up roads and connected to the main
roads. Progress has been made towards the private investment in the
development of ports. The capacity of handling 200 lakh tonne goods in 1998,
has now reached to 825 lakh tones.

Godhra: Nanavati-Shah Commission summonses Justice Banerjee Committee

2005-11-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

One Godhra panel summons another
[ Sunday, November 20, 2005 TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

AHMEDABAD: The Nanavati-Shah commission on Saturday issued summons to Justice U C Banerjee Committee probing the Godhra train carnage and asked the committee to produce the reports by railway authorities concerning the cause of the fire in coach S-6 of Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002.

This is the first time such summons have been issued by this commission, since its institution in 2002.

The Banerjee committee has already sent copies of its interim report and 76 testimonies of witnesses examined by it, to the commission.

In its last communication, it had sought time to produce the rest of the documents saying they were "voluminous". The committee had also said that since the inquiry was still on it was difficult to produce papers.

Justice (retd) G T Nanavati and Justice (retd) K G Shah took a serious note of this and said, "It was difficult to appreciate how in this age of modernisation," the committee was taking such refuge.

The summons were issued to the secretary of the committee to produce these documents. The Banerjee committee, in its interim report, had said that the fire appeared like an accident.

Soon after this report became public, the VHP, through its counsel had sought copies of the report from the Banerjee panel.

Delhi Serial Blasts : FOIL rationalises and Rejoicing

2005-10-31T12:41:00.000-08:00

FROM : "Raja Swamy"
Email : raja.swamy@gmail.com

Hindu Middle roaders (those who pretend to sit on the fence until some
shit happens after which they join the chorus of majoritarianism) talk
like this about the "community" being the problem - this is nothing
but a bunch of crap. first, we dont even know who the hell did this.
Secondly even if it were LeT or Al_CIAda, it is utterly wrong to think
that those of Muslim heritage have anything more to answer for this
than say Bhutanese Buddhist monks lounging in a dhaba in Thimpu have
to answer for the fascism of Sinhalese JVP Buddhist nuts.

Did these superintelligent Aryabhattas* demand that all Hindus somehow
explain why Hinduvadis massacred thousands of Muslims in Gujarat?

**** WOWOW THOUSANDS ? TYPICAL LEFTISTS LIES ...
Did he read this
http://intellibriefs.com/images/godhra.gif

'Post-Godhra toll: 254 Hindus, 790 Muslims' -- SECULAR GOVERNMENT FIGURES

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=46538

'Post-Godhra toll: 254 Hindus, 790 Muslims'

*********

In
that case the "community" was actively engaged in the violence
alongside the troglodytes in khaki chaddis - hah, Hindu rashtra did
not sail into the scene like a pack of cuddly rabbits. HMRs are quick
to slip on a victim complex with one eye open and the other
permanently shut in a permanent state of terminal Nirvana. When an
outrage like Delhi happens, they turn furiously towards us pretending
to be all seeing, and demand why Muslims exist.

Unless these cretinous HMRs kick their own lumpen alter-egos in the
nuts and thereby wrench open both eyes, the Hindu Taliban will only
grow in proportion to the slimeballs on the other side of the fascist
gutter.

raja..

* HMRs (thanks to the cool dude who coined this word - you know who
you are!) tend to be overrepresented among certain demographic
clusters like engineers, computer scientists, corporate types, believe
piously in a variety of smiling and smirking multi-armed deities, and
dont question the illogic of associating everything good with "Hindu
culture" and everything awful with "outsiders," "invaders," and
"aliens" even as they type their pious invectives about "outsiders"
from cushy silicon valley or similarly endowed corporate offices.

----------------------

FROM : Amalorpavanathan
Email: amal@janak.org

Where are we getting to? Everytime a terrorist attack takes
place ,every muslim,man,woman and child in this country should swear
that they dont support terrorism?
Do we apply the same logic in
Gujarat. Did we apply the same logic in Staines gruesome murder.
A
terrorist let it be said has no religion and so are his /her

*****
a TERRORIST ???? WOOOOOO ! This guy is needs psychiatric treatment

Then people who killed innocents are FREEDOM FIGHTERS in his view .
This is Language of Anti-India, Anti-Hindu
******

supporters.Let us not treat the ordinary hindu and muslim differently.
When the mutt head in Kanchi was apprehended how many Hindu
organisations and individuals came out in support of rule of law which
does not distinguish between persons of different occupations.
--------------------------------

FROM :Kaleem Kawaja

Mr Wasnik,
Your allegation that terrorists (who may be Muslims) were able to
cause
blasts in the shopping Centers in New Delhi, because some Muslim
families
etc helped them is a very irresponsible statement.

Tell me how Naxalites and Maoists (who are mostly not Muslims or
Christians)
commit so many acts of terrorism in India? In the non-Muslim,
non-Christian
Indian community suporting them?

Kaleem Kawaja

--------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: india-unity@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:india-unity@yahoogroups.com]On
Behalf Of vibe wasnik
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2005 7:37 PM
To: india-unity@yahoogroups.com; foil-l@insaf.net;
indianmuslims@yahoogroups.com
Cc: edit@milligazette.com
Subject: Re: [india-unity] A.I.M. Condemns New Delhi Blasts, Expresses
sympathy with victims

HI friends,
I really want to know as to how come these
terrorists even accomplished something so dirty. Do
these people get some kind of a support from some
fanatic elements of the muslim community.

What I am tryign to get to is, when the
terrorists come to india, they obviously don't live in
hindu localities, because first of all they are
muslims and the second thing is they might look
extremly suspicious if they are planning out
terrorists activities.

Now if we assume that all the muslims in
india are against islamic terrorism then we have the
following alternatives.
These people must be living in muslim
communities. Now I don't think that these terrorist
live completely isolated. Because if they did then,
the muslim community may get suspicous of their
intentions, Also if these people really mix well with
the muslims taking this problem in to consideration,
some non terrorist muslims must be atleast getting
hints of what these terrorists are up to.

With the whole muslim community being
potrayed as terrorists, I feel that the whole muslim
community should be completely against these lumpen
elements, and if that is the case, I don't think it
would have been really difficult to snuff these
terrorists out,before they accomplish anything. The
only way that the terrorists could have accomplished
something so drastic if there is a non negligible
fractoin of indian muslims who actually back these
people up. If this is the case I feel that it is not
just condemnation from the muslim community that will
get rid of problems of this kind but, a whole hearted
effort by the muslims to really check the lumpen
elements in its community. Because like it or not, it
will be really difficult to answer to the likes of
thackeray if we cannot answer to allegations like,
muslims cheer pakistan during india pak matches.
Condemnations of terrorist acts by the community will
really look shallow under such circumstances.

Regards,
Wasnik

Mau riots , why you are silence ? In future don't counsel ......

2005-10-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

I demand to know why Muslims, Christians and secular Hindu organizations which were so vocal about the backlash aftermath of the Godhra massacre of 26 Hindu women and children, are so deafeningly silent about what has happened in Mau. If they do not speak up now, then they should keep their counsel, for it will not be relevant in the future. Their silence on the bogus cases filed on the Kanchi Shankaracharyas has already radicalized Hindus.

--Subramanyaswamy

IntelliBriefs: Mau riots early warning for all patriotic Indians

MODI's BJP won Karnavati municipal body

2005-10-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

BJP wrests control of Ahmedabad municipal body

Manas Dasgupta

Returns to power after five years, securing more than a two-thirds majority

Of the 129 seats, the BJP claimed 96 seats leaving only 32 to the Congress
State BJP confident of similar favourable results in the coming panchayat and municipal elections

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party to an impressive victory in the elections to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

The BJP wrested control of the State's most important municipal corporation from the Congress, securing more than a two-thirds majority in the 129-member civic body.

It claimed 96 seats, leaving only 32 to the Congress while a lone seat went to an independent. The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh, put up to challenge the BJP with the support of the anti-Modi factions within the party, was wiped out.

The BJP returns to power in the city civic body after a gap of five years. In the 2000 elections the Congress elbowed it out, ending its uninterrupted 13-year rule. The BJP's defeat last time was one of the major setbacks to the former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, who has now risen in revolt against Mr. Modi.

Single-handed fight

Mr. Modi fought the elections almost single-handedly against the combined opposition of the Congress and the BJP dissidents.

Barely three days before Thursday's polling, the differences within the Sangh Parivar reached a crescendo following a police raid on the office of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad city general secretary, Ashwin Patel, who, Mr. Modi believed, was behind the numerous anonymous anti-BJP pamphlets distributed all over the city.

While there was a virtual revolt by dissidents, who refused to participate even in coordination committee meetings, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers, hitherto diehard supporters of Mr. Modi, kept away from electioneering and the VHP came out almost openly against the BJP.

VHP sources admitted that Mr. Modi and VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia, who hails from Ahmedabad, were almost not on talking terms after BJP president L.K. Advani called Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah `secular' and the Chief Minister stood by him.

Mr. Advani was Mr. Modi's "saviour" in the face of dissident attacks against his leadership.

The search of Mr. Patel's office premises further led to the VHP abandoning the BJP in the civic polls. It is likely to maintain its stance also in the panchayat and the municipal elections later this month.

While a number of Central ministers and senior leaders campaigned for the Congress, for Mr. Modi it was almost a lone battle.

Morale booster to party

The victory in the AMC has boosted the morale of the BJP with the second round of local self government elections round-the-corner; 23 district panchayats, 209 taluk panchayats and 49 municipalities go to the polls on October 25.

The resignation last week by the three senior BJP leaders, Mr. Patel, the former Union Minister, Kashiram Rana, and the former State president, Rajendrasinh Rana, from the committee to select candidates for the panchayat and municipal elections was enough indication that the dissidents were in no mood to cooperate with Mr. Modi.

"Dissidents helping rebels"

Party sources admitted that some of the dissident MLAs from Ahmedabad as well as some VHP leaders owing allegiance to Mr. Keshubhai Patel were helping the rebel BJP or independent candidates. In some cases they even openly campaigned against the BJP.

State BJP president Vajubhai Vala said the outcome of the AMC elections demonstrated the people's confidence in the BJP to take the "mega city" and the State on the path of development.

He said he was confident that favourable results would come for the party in the panchayat and municipal elections as well

Naendra Modi snubbed US Consulate General Michael S Owen

2005-09-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Glad to hear that Modi snubbed the US Consulate General Michael S Owen. I have seen many foreign countires treat our leaders shabilly and we still go and fall on their feet. It is time to give back in the same coin.Look how Britain told that they cannot guarantee Modi's safety if he comes to Britian. I think it is true they cannot even gurantee their own citizens safety after granting all these terrorists safe haven.These so called champions of human rights are giving these terrorists safe haven to score against India. Remember the creation of pakistan itself was a job by Britian and now Britain itself has become vulnerable. The only job the terrorists know is to kill others where ever they are and giving assylum makes those countries vulnerable to these attacks.

-- Gokul

Do not criticise elected government, minorities told

2005-09-04T16:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/04/
stories/2005090402970700.htm

The Hindu 4/9/05

Do not criticise elected government, minorities told

Special Correspondent

It will be preposterous to question the sincerity of the Government: NCM chief

JAIPUR: The Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Tarlochan Singh, on Saturday called upon the minority communities to discard the habit of criticising democratically elected governments with constant complaints of "perceived discrimination.'' He said the fear psychosis created among the minorities would harm them in the long run.

Mr. Singh was interacting with reporters during his visit to attend a function of the Sikh Sangat here. He said minorities had no right to denounce the elected governments as the latter had the people's mandate in their favour. "Holding the Government or the ruling party responsible for communalism in the society is improper,'' he said.

Mr. Singh — who is also a Rajya Sabha MP — pointed out that an elected government was answerable to the people at large irrespective of who voted for it and a Chief Minister was duty-bound to fulfil the aspirations of the entire population of the State. It would be preposterous to question the sincerity of the Government, he said.

The Minorities Commission chief said he had led a delegation of Muslims that met the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, in the aftermath of violence in 2002, when Muslims had announced boycott of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government. The grievances of the community were settled in a "congenial atmosphere'' with his intervention.

On the observations of the Prime Minister's high-level committee that visited Rajasthan recently to study the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims, Mr. Singh said he did not find any atmosphere of fear, distrust or terror among Muslims in the State.

PM praised Narendra Modi at National Integration Council

2005-09-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

AHMEDABAD, Sept. 1. — The Gujarat government today claimed that Dr Manmohan Singh had praised Mr Narendra Modi during the NIC meeting in Delhi for his “development work done after the Gujarat riots,” adds a reort from Gandhinagar. According to a government release here tonight, the Prime Minister had praised the development work undertaken by Mr Modi for rehabilitation of the riot victims of Gujarat after the matter was raised by the CPI-M general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat. The release said that during his speech Dr Singh said in connection with Mr Karat’s queries that “the Council will be pleased to know that the rehabilition work in Gujarat is going on well”. — PTI

Post Godhra Statistics

2005-08-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Neurologist: Sodomy "Common" in Mother Teresa's Orphanage

2005-08-25T12:51:00.000-07:00

Neurologist: Sodomy "Common" in Mother Teresa's Orphanage

www.christianaggression.o...&type=news

Sanjeev K Ahuja
Gurgaon, August 23, 2005
Hindustan Times

The Deepashram orphanage at Gurgaon — for mentally and physically challenged children — has found itself in a controversy after an Italian neurologist complained to the Vatican Embassy about sexual abuse of children at the home.

The neurologist, Dr Franco, had worked as a volunteer at Deepashram, established by Mother Teresa in 1995, for six months a couple of years ago. Brothers Contemplative — the male wing of Missionaries of Charity — manages the home, which has 66 boys aged between 12 and 26.

Franco registered his complaint at the Apostolic Nunciature, Chanakyapuri. Second secretary of the Apostolic Nunciature, Father Tomasz Grysa, said they received the “communication from Dr Franco” in February this year. The case has been referred to the hierarchical superiors of the Missionaries of Charity Brothers, Father Grysa said.

At the orphanage, volunteers did not rule out the possibility of sexual abuse of younger inmates by the older ones. Brother Benedict, a volunteer from Rome, said: “If any case of this kind is reported to us, the guilty boys are punished.”

Abdullah, a 15-year-old inmate, said it was “common” for the older boys to sodomise the younger boys at night when no one was on guard. He accused a 24-year-old of sodomising a 12-year-old. “Bahut se bachche yahan par ganda kaam karte hain,” he said.

Brother Benedict and attendants dismissed the allegation. Abdullah was shifted from the children’s home at Majnu Ka Tila to Gurgaon as he was a troublemaker, Brother Benedict said.

Another volunteer at the orphanage, Dr Wanda Toso from San Raffele Hospital in Milan, told HT that Franco had also told her about child abuse at Deepashram. She, however, did not have any personal confirmation from the boys as she did not speak Hindi.

“I have not been able to interact with the children,” Toso said.

TEESTA ! Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Venezuelan president

2005-08-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Teesta can you condemnm this !
How can a christian priest calls for assassination , Jesus christ ! Imagine if a hindu seer gave a call for assassination of Musharraf ... MY gooood .. U AND U R SABRANG WOULD HAVE WAGED A BLITZREIGE CAMPAIGNED IN MEDIA AND YOU MIGHT HAVE FLOWN TO USA FOR TESTIFYING BEFORE CONGRESS , HELL WILL FALL ON HINDUS ALL OVER THE WORLD and WE CAN WATCH STARS IN THE DAYLIGHT.

Well . CAN YOU CONDEMN NOW ????

Christian Coalition leader Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Venezuelan president

NGOs AND OTHER ACTIVISTS – ANTI-HINDU INDUSTRY

2005-08-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

Must read article for all who love India , which exposes the dirty role of NGO's in decimating Hindus

NGOs AND OTHER ACTIVISTS – ANTI-HINDU INDUSTRY

SIKH RIOTS : I bow my head in shame, says PM

2005-08-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

I bow my head in shame, says PM

http://sify.com/news/politics/fullstory.php?id=13915492

Thursday, 11 August , 2005, 14:53

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said in the Rajya Sabha that it was time for introspection so that ‘ghastly incidents’ like the 1984 anti-Sikh riots never take place in the country.

Intervening in a discussion on a censure motion on the Nanavati Commission report, he said the House was discussing an issue having grave implications for the country.

He said 4,000 people had been killed in ‘this great national tragedy’ in 1984. This was an occasion for introspection to ensure that such ghastly incidents never took place

---------------------------------------

Teesta Setalvad !

Can you issue a statement and go to Human Rights commission , ask them to bring the culprits to book .

Teesta ! Can you condemn now ? SIKH Carnage was organised by Congress leaders: Nanavati

2005-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Teesta ,
Can you come out and shout with the same tone as you did for BEST BAKERY and GUJARAT ..

Come on... admit that you are nasty hypocrite .

Pramod Kumar Singh/ New Delhi

Justice GT Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots is certain to resurrect the ghost of the biggest ever holocaust of post-independence India.
Nanavati report tabled 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom

Describing the riots of 1984 as an "organised carnage," the report says, "local Congress leaders and workers had either incited or helped the mobs in attacking the Sikhs. But for the backing and help of influential and resourceful persons, killing of Sikhs so swiftly and in large numbers could not have happened."

Although the report exonerates the Congress High Command, it indicts Delhi Police of dereliction of duty and points an accusing finger at prominent Congress MPs of the time, notably Dharam Das Shastri, HKL Bhagat, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler.

As regards individuals, the report recommends reopening all such cases against Outer Delhi Member of Parliament Sajjan Kumar, which have been declared "untraced". In the case of Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs Jagdish Tytler, the commission is not very clear about the former's involvement but nonetheless seeks a re-examination.

Justice Nanavati in his overall consideration for the genocide that took place on Delhi roads in the aftermath of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on October 31, 1984 has written: "The systematic manner in which the Sikhs were thus killed indicate that the attacks were organised.

The exploitation of the situation was also by the local political leaders for their political and personal gains like increasing the clout by showing their importance, popularity and hold over the masses. Lack of fear of the police was also one of the causes for the happening of so many incidents within those three to four days. Probably, there was a desire on the part of some persons to teach a lesson to the Sikhs."

That the capital was engulfed in anti-Sikh frenzy at the instigation of Delhi Congress leaders was amply manifested in Sultanpuri area, which housed the lower strata of society. In Sultanpuri, the attacks on Sikhs were on a very large scale and the commission has found the footprints of Outer Delhi MP and Delhi Congress strongman Sajjan Kumar.

The affidavits of persons residing in Blocks A and B disclose that in the morning of November 1, 1984, a mob of about 500 to 600 persons gathered near B-2 park and was addressed by Sajjan Kumar who reportedly instigated them to attack the Sikhs for killing Indira Gandhi. The mob was raising slogans such as "Khoon ka badla khoon". More than 50 people were killed during the attacks and more than 650 houses were looted and burnt.

Sumer Singh, Phota Singh, Sidhouri Kaur, Jatan Kaur and Prem Kaur in their statements before the commission specifically named Sajjan Kumar as the person who addressed the mob on that day and incited it to attack Sikhs. Vidya Devi whose husband was burnt alive named Sajjan Kumar for the death of her husband.

Moti Singh of B Block has stated that on the morning of November 1, Sajjan Kumar clearly told the mob that had gathered near B-block to take revenge and had even promised cash rewards for those who killed specific Sikh leaders.

As if that was not enough, Amarjit Kaur of Chand Colony had spoken about the killing of her husband Captain Nazar Singh Mangat. She had specifically named Sajjan Kumar as the person who led the mob, which killed her husband by burning him alive.

Sajjan has also been named for his role in Nangloi area that also witnessed largescale arson and killing. According to an affidavit filed by Satnam Singh, Sajjan Kumar held a meeting in Matiala and Navada villages near Kiran Garden and instigated them to attack Sikhs and loot their properties. The MP also allegedly distributed iron rods to the mob after which the frenzy began.

Coming down heavily on the conduct of Sajjan Kumar, the commission has asked, "Why so many persons had named him and attributed acts like addressing meetings and inciting people to kill Sikhs and to loot and destroy their properties remains unexplained by Sajjan Kumar. A technical defence taken by him that these witnesses had not named him before the police or in the courts is not a good explanation for disbelieving those witnesses.

The commission is, therefore inclined to take the view that there is credible material against Sajjan Kumar and his associate Balwan Khokhar for recording a finding that he and Khokhar were probably involved as alleged by the witnesses."

Sajjan Kumar was not alone as there were other Congress leaders who took active part in the brutal killing of innocent Sikhs. Om Prakash, the brother-in-law of former Delhi Minister Deep Chand Bandhu had attacked the residents of Nimri Colony in Ashok Vihar. Om Prakash had brought a jeep, which was loaded with inflammable liquid and they started attacking Sikh families in the presence of police officers.

HKL Bhagat, who was virtually ruling Delhi in 1984 has also been accused of leading a mob in Seemapuri area where many Sikhs were killed. Residents of Krishna Nagar filed affidavits alleging that the mob, which killed many members of their families was addressed by HKL Bhagat. Kalyanpuri and Trilokpuri areas were worst affected in East Delhi as the supporters of Bhagat let loose a carnage against hapless Sikhs and there was one Dr Ashok, said to be an ardent supporter of the Congress leader who not only indulged in the killing but incited his ilk to avenge the killing of Indira Gandhi. After the mad frenzy subsided, the victims and their families were asked not to name Bhagat for the killings.

"The commission is of the view that there is a credible material against the Congress leaders and workers. The commission does not recommend any further action against Bhagat in view of his physical and metal condition."

Dharam Das Shatri, the then MP from Karol Bagh led his people to attack and loot Sikh families in Patel Nagar, Karol Bagh and other areas. The situation in Karol Bagh had taken an ugly turn after Shastri allegedly asked local leaders Tek Chand Sharma and Rajinder Pal Singh to kill Sikhs. Shastri had even slapped and threatened the SHO of Karol Bagh if he dared to take any action while his supporters were busy targeting Sikhs.

The commission has noted, "The commission, therefore, is of the view that there is credible evidence against Shastri who was a Congress leader of the locality that he had instigated his men Tek Chand and Rajinder to organise attack on Sikhs. The commission recommends to the government that it should examine the relevant material and direct investigation or further investigation as may be found necessary to the aforesaid allegations".

Jagdish Tytler, who was MP from North Delhi has been also accused of egging his supporters to target Sikhs. Surinder Singh in his affidavit had said that the mob that attacked Gurdwara Pul Bangash and killed Jaswinder Singh and Thakur Singh was led by Tytler. Surinder had claimed that Tytler later contacted him and asked him to sign on the dotted line but he refused. In his cross examination, Surinder Singh stuck to his guns and reiterated that he had not filed any affidavit earlier.

The commission has noted that it appeared that Jagdish Tytler was in some way involved in the attacks on Sikhs or their properties in the area. "The commission considers that there is credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect that very probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs. The commission therefore recommends to the government to look into this aspect and take further action as may be found necessary."

Source

--------------------

Brazen Cong may burn bridges with Sikhs

Sidharth Mishra/ New Delhi

The attempt to brazen itself out of a tight situation will irreparably damage the credibility of the Congress party. The shameless effort to 'exonerate' its two stalwarts from their 'complicity' in the 1984 holocaust against the Sikh community, would definitely mean a loss of moral ground for the Congress and make them unfit to charge their opponents with allegedly perpetrating a similar carnage.
What, me worry?: Union Minister Jagdish Tytler shows a copy of the affidavit outside Parliament on Monday- S Sabu/ Pioneer

The Nanavati Commission report, and the angry outburst against attempts to water down its recommendations, has once again put the charge of orchestrating the carnage like an albatross around the neck of the Congress.

While two individual leaders, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar have a degree of difference in their exoneration or complicity, whichever way you interpret the report, the larger question of the willingness of the Congress to punish the perpetrators of the 1984 riots becomes more urgent than ever before.

The party in the city is sure to face a backlash from the well-knit Sikh community, which did not even hesitate to teach a lesson to Mr Manmohan Singh when he contested the Lok Sabha polls from South Delhi in 1999.

Dr Singh on the eve of the election, committed the blasphemy of blaming the RSS for instigating the riots. The Sikhs promptly came out in large numbers to vote the next morning and ensured that Mr Singh was routed.

Now Prime Minister Manmohan Singh presiding over the biggest ever cover-up of the carnage may well provide the much-needed elixir to a dormant BJP in the Capital. As it is, it was only after several attempts by the Sheila Dikshit government that the Sikh voter was won over ensuring a second consecutive term for the Congress at Player's Building. With Monday's developments, the Congress leaders and cadres would find it difficult to justify the Centre's stand on the issue.

While people would jump to the conclusion that with Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler in a spot, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit would be able to put dissidence behind her, the bigger challenge she would face would be from the voter, as the party goes to polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 2006.

Despite its dismal performance in the last few polls, the Congress has never been able to rout the BJP in the Sikh-dominated constituencies of West Delhi. A revival of angst against the Congress could be a citywide phenomenon with the Capital's Sikh community hitting back with vengeance.

--------------------

Diluted ATR Govt's way to limit damage

Pramod Kumar Singh/ New Delhi

The much awaited Action Taken Report (ATR) on the Justice Nanavati Commission report probing the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in reality appears to be an exercise to absolve the government of the recommendations of the commission on technical grounds.

Reviewing the role of Sajjan Kumar for his involvement in the riots, the commission has asked the government to examine those cases, wherein witnesses accused him, specifically and yet no chargesheets were filed and the cases were closed as untraced. Such cases, which deserve to be re-examined, are those arising from First Information Reports (FIR) no. 250/84,307/94 and 347/91 of Sultanpuri police station and Fir nos 325/93, 329/93, 178/84 of Mangolpuri police station and Fir no. 416/94 of police station Delhi Cantt.

The ATR against the observation of the commission pertaining to Sajjan Kumar's role is based on the untraced reports of Delhi. Mentioning the Delhi Police investigations in connection with FIR 250/84 at Sultanpuri, the ATR says that chargesheets were filed against 27 persons. Three accused were convicted while the remaining 24 were acquitted.

Sajjan Kumar's name did not figure in the list of the accused. About FIR no. 371/94 of Sultanpuri, the ATR says that complainant, Ms Anek Kaur on whose affidavit the FIR was registered, denied allegations against Sajjan Kumar in her statement. The case was sent as untraced and accepted by the concerned court. FIR no 347/91 registered at Sultanpuri was lodged on the affidavit filed by Joginder Singh before Justice Jain-Bannerjee Committee. Joginder Singh also retracted from his statement and totally denied the allegations against Sajjan Kumar.

FIR no. 178/84 of Mangolpuri police station was lodged on the written report of Ms Harvinder Kaur regarding the murder of her husband, Dr Iqbal Singh. Sajjan Kumar was not accused by any of the persons who filed affidavits before Justice Nanavati Commission in connection with the incident except Surender Singh.

The ATR says that the government would look into the factual position in this regard to the affidavit of Surender Singh for appropriate action. Delhi Police had chargesheeted 11 persons in connection with FIR no. 416/84 registered at Delhi Cantt. However, the competent court acquitted all of them. The Special Riot Cell on the basis of the affidavits filed before the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission reinvestigated the case. But none of the witnesses whose statements were recorded accused Sajjan Kumar, the ATR mentions.

While dealing with the allegations against North Delhi MP and Union Minister Jagdish Tytler, the commission has said that there was credible evidence against Jagdish Tytler to the effect that probably he had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs.

The commission has recommended the government look into this aspect. This is what the ATR has to say: "It is clear from this observation that the commission itself was not absolutely sure about his involvement in such attacks. It may be pointed out that in criminal cases, a person can not be prosecuted simply on the basis of "probability". In view of the fact that the commission itself was not certain that Tytler had a role in organising attacks on Sikhs and in the context of the judicial verdicts on the incidents mentioned in the commission's report, any further action will not be justified."

The commission has also indicted the then Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi, PG Gavai. While investigating the gross dereliction of his official duty in controlling the riots, the commission has found him guilty of severe lapses. The commission noted that Gavai did not accord much attention to the need of the hour. Since MMK Wali replaced Gavai in November, immediate administrative action was taken against him, the ATR says.

Similarly, then Delhi Police Commissioner SC Tandon was held directly for the lawlessness that prevailed in the national capital after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Tandon had tried to mislead the commission that he was not informed about the ground reality. The course of events do disclose that the attitude of the Delhi Police was callous and that he was not properly informed about what was happening in the city. Tandon was replaced on November 11, 1984 by the government. The ATR mentions the legal difficulties in taking departmental actions against Tandon since he had retired. However, the government would examine this matter in consultation with the Law Ministry.

Special Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs KP Singh said on Monday that the commission's report does not give a list of specific recommendations. The government has culled out 10 specific recommendations and out of these, the government has adopted nine while in the case of Jagdish Tytler, the government has decided that it can not proceed on "mere probability".

Nanavati indicts Tytler ....Teesta , can you comment on this

2005-08-08T06:16:00.000-07:00

Nanavati indicts Tytler, other big fishes

INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, AUGUST 08, 2005 12:19:42 PM ]
Surf 'N' Earn -Sign innow

NEW DELHI: The Nanavati Report on 1984 anti-sikh riots says it has credible evidence against Union Minister for NRI Affairs Jagdish Tytler among others in the 1984 riots.

The Action Taken Report (ATR) of the govt, however, says that action cannot be taken against Tytler on the basis of probability.

The Panel also says that there were seven FIRs filed against MP Sajjan Kumar

The panel has also held Congress MP Dharam Das Shastri directly responsible for the riots. It has also indicted the then Commissioner of Police, S C Tandon and has held him directly responsible. The govt has agreed to take action against him.

The report also says that the Lieutenant Governor T G Gavai too cannot escape responsiblity for the riots.

The commission was set up in 1999 by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the ninth such panel to probe the 1984 riots, even as victims and their families still wait for justice and accountability.

The panel cross-examined close to 200 witnesses and received at least 10,000 affidavits in the past four years before submitting its report in February.

RSS rescued 80 Christian

2005-07-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Sir,
According to a report in the Hindustan Times, New
Delhi, July 10, 2005, RSS rescued 80 Christian
priests, trapped in an accident in the dense forests
of Orissa's Sambalpur district and even donated blood
to save their lives.

It is high time that intellectuals in the RSS thought
over the incident, which according to this writer is a
terrible suicidal blunder. Examples of Christians
converting Hindus by force and/ or allurement and
committing atrocities on Hindus are many. The liberal,
tolerant attitude of Hindus has proved a disaster for
Hindus in Hindustan so far.

In Tripura Christian missionaries kidnapped and killed
4 RSS workers.
If the RSS has no guts to retaliate, at least they
should allow the destiny to take its toll of the
missionaries engaged in conversion activities.

Christians always say that the RSS is against
minority. They have alleged that Savarkar was against
minority and that if Hindurashtra is formed, which
they say is the aim of the RSS, minority will be
reduced to the second grade citizens.

It appears that the RSS has lost its path and is
trying to appease minority Christians.
In the Bhagavadgita, Bhagvan Shrikrishna says:
Paritranaya sadhunam vinayashaycha dushkritam
sambhavami yuge yuge
Clearly Krishna's advice is to destroy the devil.
So why should be the RSS shy of emulating the
Bhagavan?
RSS should take lessons from Dara Singh, who treated
missionaries "tit for tat".
It is high time the RSS left the Gandhian way of
non-violence against enemy.
The RSS should note that this way it is feeding
snakes, which will bite them when they get
opportunity.
Everybody knows what Ghori did after Prithviraj
Chauhan excused him.
Please note that when nuns were raped in Zabua, MP, 7
years ago, Christians started blaming the RSS before
the enquiry started. Even after the court convicted
rapists, who were all Christians, all those who had
made baseless allegations against the RSS, had no
curtsey to apologise.
Note that to criticise the RSS, Archbishop Evan Dias
had invited Teesta Setalvad and Asghar Ali Engineer to
criticise the RSS in the St Michael Church, Mahim,
Mumbai on a Sunday morning.
I wonder in what way the RSS and Hindus will be
benefited by a momentary character certificate from
the missionaries, who will soon forget the good deed
and continue their tirade against the RSS.

Keshav Acharya

9 held; huge cache of arms seized in Gujarat

2005-07-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

By: PTI
July 5, 2005

Ahmedabad: The city Crime Branch arrested nine persons and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition worth over Rs 20 lakh, a senior official said today.

"About 30 weapons, including several revolvers, pistols and country-made weapons, were recovered after the police raided a house at Narol belonging to one of the nine accused Ghulam Mohammed Angrez, and several of his colleagues living in the same housing society yesterday," Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) D G Vanjara said.

"About 187 live cartridges were also recovered during the raid," he said adding some arms were also recovered from Ghulam's associates living in Gomtipur and Danilimda localities of the city.

Vanjara, however, denied that the nine-member gang arrested during the operations had any plans of disrupting the annual Jagannath Rathyatra in the city on July 8.

TEESTA , can you dare to issue same statement on London Terror attack ?

2005-07-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Can teesta Setalvad issue such statement on London terror attack ??

July 7, 2005
Press Release

Communalism Combat, SAHMAT and the National Campaign in Support of Democracy condemn the attack in London by unknown group and appeal to all British people to maintain peace and calm. This incident reveals a serious lapse in security. Those who have perpetrated this crime need to be investigated and punished. However all persons in authority, political leaders and leaders of all organisations need to be held responsible to the British Constitution and British law so that an atmosphere of hatred and venom is not spread by those interested in whipping up religious sentiments all over the country.

Such an incident poses a challenge to the multicultural , multi ethnic fabric of British. Transparency needs to be followed in investigation. The media needs also to respond responsibly to information when labels like ‘terrorist’ and ‘Islamic terrorist’ are used intentionally by some organisations. Above all, this should not become an occasion for venom and hatred against religious minorities clouding our public sphere once again.

Teesta Setalvad, Mumbai
Rajendra Prasad, Delhi

Dr Kumar Saptarshi, Pune

Attack on Ayodhya : Pakistani PR agent in India Speaks

2005-07-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Here is what Teesta has to say

Don't call the individuals who attacked Ayodhya temple as " TERRORISTS " or " JIHADI TERRRORISTS" . May be they are doing their sacred duty of her religion.
She blames all leaders ( Including BJP Sanfh Parivar )
This is just a CRIME not terrorist attack
Fears about safety of her Quom -- Muslim community ( Infact she is a neo-Muslim)

http://sabrang.com/news/2005/5july05.htm

July 5, 2005
Press Release

Communalism Combat, SAHMAT and the National Campaign in Support of Democracy condemn the attack on the Ramjanmabhoomi complex by unidentified persons this morning and appeal to all to maintain peace and calm. This incident reveals a serious lapse in security. Those who have perpetrated this crime need to be investigated and punished. However all persons in authority, political leaders and leaders of all organisations need to be held responsible to the Indian Constitution and Indian law so that an atmosphere of hatred and venom is not spread by those interested in whipping up communal sentiments all over the country.

Such an incident poses a challenge to the secular fabric of the country. Transparency needs to be followed in investigation. The media needs also to respond responsibly to information when labels like ‘terrorist’ and ‘jehadi terrorist’ are used intentionally by some organisations. Above all, this should not become an occasion for venom and hatred against minorities clouding our public sphere once again.

Teesta Setalvad, Mumbai
Rajendra Prasad, Delhi

Dr Kumar Saptarshi, Pune

COMMENTS BY EXPERTS

When terror strikes in Ayodhya, not a dog barks. When hurt to hindu sentiments is mentioned, there are self-styled hindu sympathisers condoling us not to lose sleep over it.

When terror strikes in Ayodhya, it becomes a reality. How to convince the likes of Bush and Blair that terror when it strikes in London or in Ayodhya, the effect is the same -- an affront to humanity in the name of islamism? Why beat around the bush and say honky-dory, that it is only a law and order problem. There are the likes of Teesta advising dharma that the terror attacks are not jehadi attacks. What else are these attacks at Ayodhya and London if not jehadi attacks? Read the Koran, Bush and Blair and hindu sympathisers.

"If we want Hindus to survive as Hindus, we must Harden our hearts towards the White Man who is the source of all vulgarity in the world, including how people perceive and interpret dangers to their lives and civilizations. " said a hindu activist
Reacting to Sabrang statement on Ayodhya terror strike , Dr.Kalyanaraman criticised Teesta Setalvad by saying " The self-appointed media moral police have spoken: Teesta and co. since they seem to represent correctness in English representation of reprehensible attacks on a hindu mandiram. How about calling them, 'secular' madam Teesta ji of Delhi and Dr. Kumar Saptarshi ji of Pune? "

When Narendra Modi stole the show at the NDC meet

2005-07-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

VIRENDRA KAPOOR Monday, July 04, 2005 12:42:23 IST
Cybernoon

The Gujarat CM packaged his contents in a well-reasoned speech, interspersed with pointed references to rising social and economic indicators

The annual meetings of the National Development Council have become a familiar ritual. Participants from the prime minister down to the state chief ministers make set-piece speeches while officials behind-the-scenes work on consensus resolutions. After two or three days of talkathons, they disperse happily, only to meet again for an equally fruitless exercise a year later.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did try to break the mould this year, but all in vain. In order to make the NDC deliberations more meaningful, to ensure a better understanding of problems confronting each state, he repeatedly asked the assembled CMs not to read mechanically from their prepared speeches. Since these had already been distributed along with various other agenda and background papers in a neat little folder at the start of the inaugural session on Monday morning ( June 27), the PM said that these should be taken as read.But whether due to the poverty of talent or sheer cussedness, most CMs found it hard to speak extempore about the myriad problems confronting their states and how the centre could helpameliorate them. In fact, Singh stopped a couple of CMs mid-sentence when they, parrot-like, read out from the texts, but to no avail. At one stage, when the Karnataka CM Dharam Singh was droning on and on, hardly taking his eyes off the prepared text, the PM politely asked him, "Dharam Singhji we have read your speech already. Please do no read it. If you have anything to add or amplify," and before he could finish his sentence, Dharam Singh responded,

" Sir, I will not take long," and once again went back to reading from the written text. No wonder several CMs, including Mulayam Singh Yadav of UP were caught on the camera stealing the proverbial forty winks when they were supposed to be debating ways and means to boost economic growth in their respective states.However, much to the relief of everyone present, one CM who really stole the show was Gujarat's Narendra Modi. By all accounts, he made a power-point presentation without, for a moment, looking at the prepared text. He pointedly told the PM that though the Planning Commission was scaling down the growth target from over eight per cent to a little over seven per cent, Gujarat had registered a growth rate of over 15 per cent last year and was on course to repeat the feat in the current financial year as well. It wasn't Modi's figures and statistics alone which impressed the CMs and senior babus at the NDC meet; the Gujarat CM packaged his contents in a well-reasoned speech interspersed with pointed references to rising social and economic indicators made possible by well-considered policy and pragmatic measures undertaken by his government. And because he had mastered his case well, there was not a soul in the main hall in Vigyan Bhawan who did not sit up and listen attentively to what he had to say. At the end of his contribution - it wasn't a speech in the conventional sense - most CMs, including those belonging to the Congress Party - made it a point to congratulate Modi. At the end of the first day, there was consensus among the participants that Modi's was, by far, the best contribution. West Bengal's Buddhadev Bhattacharya and his Marxist counterpart from Tripura, Manik Sarkar, in a straw poll among the participants came distant second and third. Meanwhile, after a major gas find by a Gujarat government undertaking in the Godhavari basin, a gung-ho Modi is about to announce an equally big development on the industrial front.

Letter to Norwegian Nobel Committee on Teesta Setalvad by an ex IAS officer

2005-07-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

From
Krishen Kak, Ph.D (Princeton)
(formerly of the Indian Administrative Service)
C2/2002 Vasant Kunj
New Delhi 110070
India

To
Ole Danbolt MJØS
Berge Ragnar FURRE
Sissel Marie RØNBECK
Inger-Marie YTTERHORN
Kaci Kullmann FIVE
Geir LUNDESTAD

Re. nominations to the Peace Prize 2005

1. On behalf of an agency called "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize" group, a number of news items have recently appeared regarding nominations for the Peace Prize. Two such news reports are copied below for the information of the Committee.

2. The Committee will no doubt examine the appropriateness of each of these 1000 names for the Prize, and is surely aware of the proverb that "even one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel". A few inappropriate names will cast doubts on the entire credibility of the Committee and embroil it in controversy.

3. Amongst the names in the news items are a few to which, as a concerned member of the public, I would especially like to draw the Committee's kind attention.

4. The first is that of Teesta Setalvad. Ms Setalvad, along with her husband, runs a private limited company called "Sabrang Communications" that is widely and popularly believed to receive financial support from the same agencies that finance terrorism in the Indian subcontinent, and there are increasing public demands for an enquiry into its financial affairs. Ms Setalvad is under investigation by the Supreme Court of India - she has been accused by a Muslim victim in the Gujarat violence in 2002 of having paid that victim money to fabricate evidence as well as that she falsely stated to the Supreme Court that she represented that victim. The victim's case that became known as the "Best Bakery" case is now being called the "Best Fakery" case. Whether the Committee should award the Prize to a person who may well be declared a perjuror by the Supreme Court of India - especially as the matter is still pending before the Court - is of course for the Committee to consider.

5. Ms Aruna Roy is on the public record as having lied about foreign financial support to her NGO. In addition (as the second news item indicates), she is closely associated with the political party whose former leader publicly defended the massacre by goons of his party of 3,000 Sikhs in 1984. The perpetrators of that massacre have still to be brought to justice. In addition, the current head of the same political party was accused in the Parliament of India of being responsible for the massacre of Muslims in Bhagalpur in 1989. The accuser is a senior member of the current ministry that runs the government of India. Moreover, as the second news report below indicates, Ms Roy is a member of the NGO that is ascribed credit for "freedom of information" - if this is so, it is the entire NGO that should be prizeworthy, and not a single member.

6. Ms Shabnam Hashmi, like Ms Roy, is on the public record as having lied about foreign financial support to her then NGO called SAHMAT. She was obliged to leave SAHMAT and she started another NGO called ANHAD. The latter solicited money from the public but refused to divulge whether it was a legally registered entity with a properly accounted-for bank account.

7. The Nobel Committee expects its members to keep "a strong commitment to certain common moral and political principles". Surely it should expect the same of nominees for the Prizes? Mss Setalvad, Roy and Hashmi are amoral where financial principles are concerned, and Ms Roy's political principles (if not those of the two others) are certainly duplicitous.

8. Should the Committee wish, I will be happy to provide more details.

9. The Committee is requested to note that "The names of nominees were announced at 20 places across the world. In South Asia there were 13 press conferences, including eight in India where some of the nominees were also present. In Delhi, as many 15 nominees attended the meeting". It does seem that the nominators are trying internationally to generate popular favour for their nomination - and are even introducing prospective winners to the media and the public.

10. It is therefore for the Committee to consider whether, notwithstanding its request that "The nominators are strongly requested not to publish their proposals". the media blitz by the "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize" group is not an endeavour to influence it.

An acknowledgement is requested.

Thank you,

Krishen Kak

Will Teesta become active : Ghatkopar blast: All accused acquitted

2005-06-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

A special POTA court in Mumbai on Saturday acquitted all the eight accused in the Ghatkopar blast case. The eight accused in the case were -- Dr Abdul Mateen, Jameel Ahmed, Imran Rehman Khan, Altaf Mohammed Ismail, Towfeeq Ahmed, Arif Paanwala, Harun Rashid Lohar and Rashid Ansari. Last year, nine accused -- Saquib Nachan, Haseeb Zuber Mullah, Aatif Mullah, Ghulam Sattar, Farhan Khot, Mohammed Kamil, Noor Mohammed Ansari, Anwar Ali and Nadeem Paloba -- were discharged for lack of evidence.

Will those who have taken up the case of Best Bakery will now be active here? Doubt it. Just as they were inactive when the Supreme Court acquitted those whom the Mumbai High Court held as guilty for the burning of the Bane family in Jogeshwari in Mumbai. In both the cases, the target were Hindus and the perpatrators of the crime Muslims. Can Hindus receive justice in India? -- Ashok Chowgule

How Terror was rationalized by "seculars" of India

Teesta , If you have guts , take up this issue , just as Best Bakery .What is your response to thhis poor mother who lost her kid.

Ghatkopar blast: All accused acquitted
Rediff
Vijay Singh in Mumbai June 11, 2005 12:37 IST

A special POTA court in Mumbai on Saturday acquitted all the eight accused in the Ghatkopar blast case.

Two persons were killed and over 50 injured when a bomb went off in a BEST bus at Ghatkopar in Mumbai on December 2, 2002.

The eight accused in the case were -- Dr Abdul Mateen, Jameel Ahmed, Imran Rehman Khan, Altaf Mohammed Ismail, Towfeeq Ahmed, Arif Paanwala, Harun Rashid Lohar and Rashid Ansari.

The Mumbai police, for whom the acquittal is a big setback, had originally listed 29 accused in the case.

They, however, managed to arrest only 19. Of the 19, nine were discharged by the court for lack of evidence, one died in Hyderabad and another, Khwaja Younus, escaped from police custody under mysterious circumstances.

The defence counsel has charged that Younus was killed in police custody.

The prosecution had alleged the accused hatched the conspiracy between March 2002 and December 2002 to avenge the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The prosecution received a setback when Dattatraya Shelkar -- the conductor of the BEST bus number 416 in which the blast occurred -- turned hostile in March this year. During an identification parade, the conductor had identified three of the eight accused -- Paanwala, Rashid Lohar and Rashid Ansari.

Ten more witnesses turned hostile during the trial. They included inmates of Sir J J Hospital's boys hostel where Mateen, a forensic expert, was staying before he was picked up by the police.

Last year, nine accused -- Saquib Nachan, Haseeb Zuber Mullah, Aatif Mullah, Ghulam Sattar, Farhan Khot, Mohammed Kamil, Noor Mohammed Ansari, Anwar Ali and Nadeem Paloba -- were discharged for lack of evidence.

Of the eight accused acquitted on Saturday, Aarif Paanwala, Haroon Rashid and Rashid Ansari would continue to be in jail as they face charges for engineering blasts at suburban Mulund, Vile Parle and Mumbai Central. The Ghatkopar explosion was the first in a series of bomb blasts that rocked the city in 2002 and 2003.

Communal truth, secular lies

2005-06-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

June 02, 2005

A few days before Parliament's budget session came to an end, PTI circulated a story based on Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal's reply to a Rajya Sabha MP's question on the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

The details provided by Mr Jaiswal in his reply were in total variance to the outrageous claims of the Congress and its leftist allies, especially the CPI-M) to which we have been subjected for the last three years. Perhaps that is the reason why India's 'secular' media, given to aggressively arguing in favour of citizens' right to information, did not pick up the PTI story.

Since the minister's reply provides some interesting facts that deserve to be placed in the public domain, it would be in order to reproduce the salient portions of the PTI report:

# The Central government informed the Rajya Sabha that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.

# Minister of State for Home Affairs Sriprakash Jaiswal said a total of 223 people were reported missing and 2,548 sustained injuries during the riots in 2002.

# He said the government paid Rs 1.5 lakh to the next of kin of each person killed and Rs 5,000, Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 for the injured. The amount for the injured was based on the extent of injury, the minister added.

The minister of state for home affairs in the Congress-led UPA government has pegged the death toll at 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus. Yet, these figures are not reflected in the propagandist pronouncements of those who claim to champion the cause of India's Muslims.

More often than not we come across claims of 'thousands of Muslims butchered by Hindu fanatics in Narendra Modi's Gujarat.' This is a lie that has been repeated ad nauseam since that terrible day when Hindus travelling by the Sabarmati Express were roasted alive after their coach was set ablaze by Muslim fanatics.

It has been repeated the most by India's Marxists who subscribe to the Goebbelsian tactic of repeating a lie till in the popular perception it comes to be identified as the truth.

And, it is on the strength of such contrived truth that the Marxists make preposterous claims. For instance, the claim made in a recent editorial in the CPI-M propaganda journal People's Democracy that the communal violence in Gujarat was 'the worst in modern Indian history.'

In one grand sweep, the CPI-M has brushed aside the far more horrendous riots that have resulted in far more gruesome blood-letting. We do not have to go too far back in 'modern Indian history' to locate some of these riots.

The massacre in Malliana has been conveniently forgotten; brutal memories of the riots in Meerut have been obliterated. The nightlong slaughter of Muslims at Nellie in Assam, which witnessed suckling infants being snatched from their mothers' arms and being speared to death, has been erased from the secularists' record of 'modern Indian history.'

Stomach-churning details of the Bhagalpur riots -- Muslims were killed, buried in fields and cauliflower and other winter vegetables planted over the rotting cadavers -- no longer feature in the secularists' collective conscience. The anti-Sikh pogrom that followed Indira Gandhi's assassination is not even talked about any more: More than 4,000 Sikhs were murdered, many of them by placing burning tyres around their necks.

Each of these massacres of innocent men, women and children took place when the Congress was in power and did nothing more than twiddle its thumbs as marauders went about their pillaging secure in the belief that they would not be punished.

Yet, the Marxists have the gumption of claiming that the riots in Gujarat were 'the worst in modern Indian history.' Perhaps they are referring to history after it has been purged of uncomfortable facts by the detox army led by Union Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh.

Crass pandering to fundamentalism comes easily to the Congress and its cheer leaders in the CPI-M. That is the reason why propaganda disguised as campaign to promote secularism is deployed with such ease, regardless of the truth. And appeasement of the worst variety is projected as secular policy.

Two recent instances can be cited to exemplify this point. Ulema who had gathered for a rally of the Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind over the weekend, passed a resolution demanding proportionate reservation for Muslims in state legislatures and Parliament. Jamiat president Maulana Syed Asad Madani articulated this demand without mincing words.

UPA Chairperson and Congress president Sownia (sick) Gandhi, who was present at the rally and spoke after Mr Madani was through with his fire-and-brimstone speech, showered praise on the gathered ulema and promised to fulfil every demand of theirs. She then went on to shower abuse on the BJP and the NDA government.

The other example is the cunning manner in which the UPA government tried to manipulate ownership of the Jama Masjid. This 17th century mosque is waqf property, but has been appropriated, for all practical purposes, by the Shahi Imam.

In the past, every time an effort has been made by Muslims to free this place of worship from the clutches of the imam and his henchmen, the Congress has come to his rescue, claiming that it was doing so to 'maintain communal harmony.' This time, too, a similar attempt was made, but the Delhi high court has stymied that effort.

Meanwhile, with elections looming large in Assam, the Congress is pinning its hope on that state's significant Muslim vote bank comprising illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The remarkable growth in the Muslim population of Assam's districts adjacent to Bangladesh may pose a serious threat to the region's demographic balance, but for the Congress, it is manna from heaven.

The Assamese are feeling increasingly overwhelmed by the continuous flow of immigrants and have launched a campaign to throw out the Bangladeshis from Assam. Their efforts have begun to yield results but the Congress is in a rage over the exodus of Bangladeshi Muslims from Assam.

The chief minister of Assam has turned on the governor who is believed to have sent a report to the Union government, placing on record his assessment of the immigration problem, pegging the inflow of Bangladeshis to a startling figure of 6,000 a day.

According to the chief minister, who is also the local Congress satrap, there may be a few Bangladeshis here and there, but 'there is no problem of illegal immigration.' He knows that this is untrue. The Union government knows this is untrue. The Congress and the CPI-M know that this is untrue.

But none of them has the courage to stand up and tell the truth lest the party is forced to forfeit its deposit in the Muslim vote bank. Instead, the BJP and the RSS are being blamed for 'terrorising Muslims' with an eye to the coming assembly election.

This is as logical as describing the 2002 riots in Gujarat as 'the worst in modern Indian history.'

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/jun/02kanch.htm

Goadhra Carnage: Godhra : Siddharth Vardarajan gets exposed for what he is ... Analysis

2005-05-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Goadhra Carnage: Godhra : Siddharth Vardarajan gets exposed for what he is ... Analysis

IntelliBriefs: Modi tormentors all, including many in BJP

2005-05-23T19:16:00.000-07:00

IntelliBriefs: Modi tormentors all, including many in BJP

Look, who is praising Modi!

2005-05-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

IANS[ SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2005 07:44:31 PM ]

Sign into earnIndiatimes points

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi must be pleased with the words of praise from the New Delhi-based Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, headed by Congress president Swonia Gandhi.

The influential tank-tank has adjudged Gujarat as the number 1 state in economic freedom.

"Swonia Gandhi's trust ranks Narendrabhai Modi's governance as the best in the country," was the text of an SMS from the chief minister's office (CMO) sent out to the media here.

"It is notable that the Gujarat government's economic reforms have been praised even by a foundation close to the opposition (Congress) party," a CMO official said.

The "Economic Freedom for States of India" report was carried out by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, a think tank associated with the foundation.

After analysing economic freedom in the states, the study ranked Gujarat at the top.

The study defined "economic freedom" as "absence of government coercion or constraint in production, distribution or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty by itself".

'Post-Godhra toll: 254 Hindus, 790 Muslims'

2005-05-11T11:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=46538

'Post-Godhra toll: 254 Hindus, 790 Muslims'

Press Trust of India
Posted online: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 1345 hours IST
Updated: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 1354 hours IST

New Delhi, May 11: The government on Wednesday informed the Rajya
Sabha that 254 Hindus and 790 Muslims were killed in Gujarat in the
post Godhra riots of 2002.

Stating this in a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs
Sriprakash Jaiswal said a total of 223 people were reported missing,
2,548 sustained injuries, 919 were rendered widows and 606 children
were orphaned during the riots.

He said an amount of Rs 1.5 lakh was paid by the government to the
next of kin of each person killed and Rs 5,000, Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000
and Rs 50,000 to those injured up to 10 30, 40 and 50 per cent
respectively.

In addition, he said relief was also extended by the state government
to the victims of the riots under the heads of cash doles and
assistance for household kits, foodgrains to Below Poverty Line (BPL)
families in affected areas, housing assistance, rebuilding earning
assets, rehabilitation of small business, assistance to indusries/shop
and hotel and so on.

The state government, he said has informed that a total of Rs 204.62
crore has been incurred by it towards relief and rehabilitation
measures. The Gujarat government has also informed that they had
published the data as recommended by the NHRC, he added.

Please mail these Seculars and ask them to issue apology for spreading lies to International community with their loud speakers .

+Smita Nirula , +Shantum Seth , +Sandipan Deb , *Shubha Mudgal , ")Rajiv Malhotra" , $Vir Sanghvi , $Sevanti Ninan , $Nikhil Lakshman , $Dilip D'Souza , angana@aol.com , mathew@rider.edu , shalinigera@yahoo.com ,seema.kamdar@mayavi.timesgroup.com ,
vijay.prashad@trincoll.edu , gghosh@sas.upenn.edu, vlal@history.ucla.edu, sabrang@bom2.vsnl.net.in, progind1@aol.com,najmany@aol.com , dasguptas@worldnet.att.net, vprashad@trincoll.edu, Sunild@aol.com , skamat@educ.umass.edu, m_v_ramana@yahoo.com, saja@columbia.edu,
arao@barnard.edu, arvind.rajagopal@nyu.edu, sangat@compuserve.com, jyopun@vsnl.com ,ksharma@thehindu.com, radhasahni@hotmail.com,sajadeepti@yahoo.com, saja@columbia.edu, prafulbidwai1@yahoo.co.in, afmi11@aol.com, nahmed@tribune.com,
info@imc-usa.org, Satichou@yahoo.com, skamat@educ.umass.edu,
vtr@ndf.vsnl.net.in

IntelliBriefs: Teesta Setalvad : The controversial Best Bakery case

2005-05-03T08:39:00.000-07:00

IntelliBriefs: Teesta Setalvad : The controversial Best Bakery case

The strange case of Zahira & Teesta

2005-04-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

April 28, 2005

Sandhya Jain

Now that the hullabaloo over the US denial of a visa to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has died down, it would be worth our while to scrutinise the actions and motivations of Narendra Modi's tormentors, which resulted in this denouement. Because while political analysts admit that the post-Godhra riots were no worse than riots that had previously rocked the state after Independence, social activists in Gujarat claim that media reports of 2,000 dead are false since compensation claims filed by next-of-kin of those who died number around 700.

The possibility that 1,300 'victims' never existed certainly calls for a rethink on the Gujarat imbroglio.

Indeed, with hindsight one can discern an NGO-media synergy in targeting the Modi regime throughout the riots and thereafter, and taking considerable liberties with the truth while doing so. With opinions being paraded as facts, it is time to ask some hard questions, especially since the issue has been internationalised in a manner detrimental to national dignity.

Complete coverage: The Gujarat riots

Aside from the actual number of victims in the riots, we must begin our quest for truth by scrutinising 'facts' we have not been allowed to question hitherto. The most critical of these is the so-called 'Face of the Riots,' which has been splashed across the national and international media for three long years.

Media reports claim the Rehmatnagar chawl of Gomtipur, Ahmedabad, was attacked by a mob on March 1, 2002 (after the Godhra carnage). One tailor, Qutubuddin Ansari, was immortalised as a cameraman took a picture of him standing with folded hands, tears in his eyes, pleading for mercy. The bloodthirsty mob supposedly threatening him is never shown in any picture of this incident, though it is inconceivable that a cameraman would shoot any a single frame of such a poignant event.

Yet the picture was so powerful that it silenced many who felt that the widespread nature of the Gujarat rioting indicated deeper societal tensions and could not be explained as State-sponsored violence against minorities. Hence it was something of a shock to discover that Mr Ansari was alive and well, and was desperate to evade continuing media publicity and usage of his picture. Far from perishing in the riots, he made his way to Mumbai, lived there for three years, and in February this year returned to his native city to resume his old way of life.

The media has never told us how Qutubuddin Ansari made it out of the chawl alive, why he alone from his family fled to Mumbai, who settled him there, and who indicated it was safe to come back. Since the Ansari family has also survived, and now wish to spurn the media, the question may legitimately be asked: was there a mob at all?

The second sensational, and international, face of the riots is Zahira Sheikh, who lost several family members in the attack on the Best Bakery, owned by them. Zahira famously damned Narendra Modi when she surfaced dramatically in Mumbai, claiming that her testimony in the Vadodra fast track court that led to the acquittal of 21 accused persons was inspired by fear.

A combined media-NGO synergy whipped up such a campaign that the National Human Rights Commission jumped into the fray, roundly condemned the state government and petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer the riot cases out of the state. The apex court sent the Zahira and Bilkis Bano cases to Mumbai, and asked the Gujarat government to re-examine all other cases.

Now, however, it seems that the Gujarat government may have the last laugh as Zahira Sheikh accuses Mumbai activist Teesta Setalvad of physically controlling her from July 6, 2003 to November 3, 2004 and tutoring her to give a certain type of testimony in the court. The state government also pounced upon the fact that an affidavit submitted to the NHRC in the name of Zahira was actually signed by Teesta Setalvad.

When Zahira Sheikh turned against Teesta Setalvad last year and insisted she had not signed any affidavit before the NHRC seeking transfer of the Best Bakery Case outside Vadodra, the NHRC discovered that the 600-odd pages of documentation filed by Setalvad's Citizens for Peace and Justice, did not contain a single signature by Zahira.

It's an issue of swabhimaan: Modi

They were, as Zahira sneered, mere pamphlets, and it is truly shameful that the NHRC was so swayed by NGO-cum-media rhetoric that it moved the Supreme Court to take the cases out of Gujarat without scrutinising the records placed before it! The apex court has appointed a probe committee headed by Registrar General B M Gupta to ascertain the truth.

Zahira is therefore within her rights to demand the right to cross-examine the NHRC chairperson on this matter. She claims she visited the Commission along with Setalvad, who 'tutored' her on what to say there, and that she made an oral submission which was recorded by the chairperson and two other members. Zahira wishes to examine them because she says her oral testimony differs from the record which NHRC has presented to the Supreme Court. This is a serious charge and the probe committee would do well to summon the NHRC records and permit examination of the chairperson and members, if justice is to be seen to be done.

In this connection, Zahira is justified in demanding a probe into Teesta Setalvad's post-Gujarat assets, particularly since Setalvad and her NGO-media friends have spared no efforts in maligning Sheikh, insinuating that she had been 'purchased.' That Zahira is an intelligent and educated woman is obvious. She has compelled Setalvad to admit that Communal Combat is not an NGO, but a business venture of a privately-owned company called Sabrang Publications.

I think things went wrong for Setalvad because Zahira was a 'bad' victim. She just did not know how to act oppressed. Not satisfied with having made mincemeat of her former benefactress, Zahira has gone on to take potshots at the US State Department for calling Best Bakery a 'notorious case' in communalised Gujarat in its 2003-04 report.

Complete coverage: Modi's visa troubles

As America has assigned millions of dollars to fund litigation on behalf of Gujarat Muslims, the riots' most irrepressible witness quipped: 'I am applying to this programme for aid and assistance so that I may be able to explain to the world at large the exploitation in the name of secularism and protection of Muslims.'

Zahira's guts and gumption give us much to think (rethink) about. Those who lament that well organised NGOs made the Bush administration deny Modi a visa should ponder if it was the other way round, namely, that the White House nudged certain groups to protest so that it could act in a pre-decided manner. The latter strikes me as far more likely, for if genuine public anger could not stop the invasion of Iraq, a couple of well-heeled NGOs could hardly make President Bush wag his tail on the Modi issue if he didn't want to.

Teesta should do the followings:

2005-01-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

Let's watch how a hunter is being hunted now ! Teesta should do the followings:

1. Release all her personal records. Like Whom she is married, whether she undergone any Change of religion.

2. What are the source of funding for her activities.

3. File a PIL on her comments before ndtv.com that, Those Kar Sevaks don't have any rights to live, because they were returning from Ayodhya !

Meanwhile Gujrat Govt should release all records.

1. How many people died with every possible detail: Like When police moved onto a place. When they fired. How many people died etc..And compare that with Delhi's Sikh Riot in 1984.

2. Setup quick courts and compensate all irrespective of their religion

Zeal of a convert ! Teesta Setalvad is a neo-muslim, acting in the name of Kaum

2005-01-03T09:49:00.000-08:00

The headline of Times of India TOI is, as usual, misleading. The true headline should be: Teesta takes SC for a ride with leaflets, unsworn affidavits. Well, it looks like anything goes in the justice system of the country and psecs will act like poodles to a vides'i nari's diktat through fraudulent institutions such as the Tehelka and Sabrang. (Kalyan)

"Do you notice that in this report in the last but one para? This may be a genuine error,but it does indicate the frame of mind of the reporter. In fact, thewhole tenor of the report is as if Zaheera were the accused and not thevictim of first the riots, and then the machinations of variousbusy-bodies." Regards. JKB.-----------------
Dr. J. K. Bajaj
Centre for Policy Studies 27 Rajasekharan Street Mylapore, Chennai - 600 004, and 60 North Avenue, New Delhi - 110 001044-28474352, 28473802, 28472611 (R)011-23094444, 55394444, 22714144 (R)
policy@vsnl.comwww.cpsindia.org

Zaheera continues her flip-flops

PTI[ MONDAY, JANUARY 03, 2005 06:39:31 PM ]

Sign into earnIndiatimes points

NEW DELHI: In a major twist to her flip flops, Best Bakery case star
witness Zaheera Sheikh has told the Supreme Court that no affidavit
sworn by her was filed in the apex Court, based on which the trial was
shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai and acquittal of the 21 accused was
quashed.

Zaheera's latest affidavit came in response to the Supreme Court
notice to her on an application filed by Teesta Setalvad seeking CBI
probe into her recent shift of stand in the Bakery case accusing the
social activist of pressurizing her to implicate persons in the case.

The apex Court had asked on December 6 as to whether the recent change
of her stand amounted to contempt of court as the Bakery trial was
transferred on the basis of her affidavit that she was threatened to
give false evidence before the Gujarat trial Court.

Stopping short of accusing Setalvad of filing a forged affidavit on
her behalf, Zaheera, through her counsel D K Garg, said "all these
matters contain an affidavit supposed to have been filed by me in
September 2003".

"I do not recall having made any such affidavit because this one
'compulsive document' which is found in every writ or application, or
appeal, does not contain any evidence of my having sworn it as it does
not bear my signature, nor there is any sign of having been sworn to
or affirmed before any authority competent to administer oath," she
said.

Zaheera termed the so-called affidavits filed in her name and another
in her sister's name by Setalvad's NGO 'Citizens for Peace and
Justice' as "leaflets" as they had no official authentication on it.

She said "surprisingly, also annexed with this affidavit is another so
called affidavit dated August, 2003, supposed to have been filed by my
sister Saira banu, and this so called affidavit is neither addressed
to any court not to any authority, nor does it bear the signatures of
any authority or person who is competent to administer oath. These two
documents appear to be leaflets distributed for free."

She also termed the recent Tehelka sting operation accusing a BJP MLA
of bribing her to change her statements as a "blatant falsehood" and
accused Setalvad of inciting hatred against her.

"She had incited so much hatred against me that the Muslim Tyohar
Committee on or about December 24, 2004, issued a Fatwa
excommunicating me," Zaheera said.

The Bakery case key accused reiterated her allegation that "Setalvad
and her agents" pressurised her in the name of "religion" to make
falsely implicate persons in the case.

"I had previously considered association of Setalvad in the Gujarat
matters important, as her nominal description showed she was a Hindu
lady, but I discovered during my stay at her residence in Mumbai that
she was a neo-Muslim and that was why she pressurised me in the name
of kaum ," she said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-979401,curpg-2.cms

PIL: Review of the Judgement of Transferring the Best Bakery case

2004-12-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

PIL: Review of the Judgement of Transferring the Best Bakery casePublic Interest Litigation ( PIL) for the review of the Judgement of Transferring the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra

K. G. Acharya ( Free lance journalist and a
Gandhian and Ambedkarite human rights activist)
187/ 5235 Sanmati Society
Pant Nagar, Ghatkopar, Mumbai - 400 075
Cell No. 982995440, Land line Tel. No. : 25119890
Date: 17 December 2004

To
The Honourable Chief Justice of India
The Supreme Court of India
New Delhi – 110 001

Respected Sir,

Subject: Public Interest Litigation ( PIL) for the review of the Judgement of Transferring the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra for retrial I, K. G. Acharya, the petitioner have been observing that many politicians with vested interests and in the garb of an impartial NGO are engaged in media trial in the Best Bakery case, by distorting some and suppressing some other facts to suit them. If the people believe that this untruth has resulted in a possible human error in delivering judgement by the S preme Court, I am afraid, it will have extremely s rious consequences on the judiciary, secularism, communal harmony, democracy and all of our nation’s activities.

The petitioner, therefore, is to request the Honourable Supreme Court, very humbly, to review its earlier judgement of transferring the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra for retrial by taking into consideration the submissions, made herein, very carefully. Since, I, the petitioner, am not an advocate, if the language in the petition is not in keeping with the usual petitions, I beg your pardon and very humbly request you to take into consideration only the contents in the true spirit of delivering a judgement. Please consider this letter as a PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION or whatever else it is called in legal terms, but give this instrument due consideration on its merits.

The petitioner is to pray that if convinced by his submissions, the Supreme Court quash its earlier judgement, as a sequel to later developments, and order a stay for the proceedings going on at present in the additional Session Judge, Mr A M Thipsay’s court at Mazgaon, Mumbai.

The Supreme Court took the extraordinary decision of transferring the Best Bakery case out of Gujarat to the Mumbai High Court in April 2004, as a sequel to the petitions of Zaheera Sheikh, Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace and also the National Human Rights Commission ( herein after referred to as NHRC). The petitioner is convinced that full facts are not brought before the Honourable Supreme Court by the petitioners Teesta Setalvad of the Citizens for Justice and Peace and Zaheera Sheikh, an illiterate, poor young girl of 19 years, who has said that her signature was taken by Teesta Setalvad by cheating her by telling that the (petition) papers, in English language, which Zaheera has not learnt, were regarding her Best Bakery property. The other petitioner, the NHRC had not applied its mind to ascertain the truth and the bonafides of the above petitioners and was swayed by the media reports as it did many times in the past as explained in this application in later paragraphs.

Since the case is extremely sensitive, which is clear from the fact that Justice Mr A M Thipsay, in charge of the retrial, is receiving threats and attempts are made to poison the accused persons in Mumbai jail, the petitioner thinks, it is his humble duty to bring before the Court the following facts, which have tremendous bearing on this case, and which he knows well and pray for their due consideration by the court.

The petitioner is to bring to the notice of the Honourable Supreme Court that the credibility of the above persons and the above organisations is doubtful, taking into consideration the following facts, which might be unknown to this Honourable Court so far. The petitioner submits :

(1) Zaheera Sheikh, Teesta Setalvad and her organization, Citizens for Justice and Peace and the NHRC are not reliable, trustworthy and their credibility is very low and thus their affidavits submitted to the Supreme Court might be also so. He, therefore strongly feels that the Honourable Supreme Court has erred in its judgement of transferring the Best Bakery trial outside Gujarat. The media carried out an extra-judicial trial in a sub-judice matter and he feels that the Supreme Court Judges have also unknowingly been swayed by it. He has therefore submitted arguments to vindicate this statement also.

(2) Zaheera Sheikh has turned hostile very frequently. She is a poor girl of only 19 years and very susceptible to fall a prey to monetary allurement and /or bribe. It cannot be said without investigation by impartial enquiry that only her recent turning hostile after the Supreme Court judgement in April 2004 makes her unreliable but not that before the judgement. Zaheera Sheikh has alleged that Teesta Setalwad, her associate, industrialist Raees Khan and her organization Citizens for Justice and Peace had kept Zaheera as hostage, in confinement for seven months, without allowing her to see her mother and doctor and threatened to kill her and compelled her to tell lies in the court for the sake of religion ( “ tumko kaum ke liye zooth bolana padega”) . Zaheera has said that she would not speak untruth in the holy month of Ramzan.

Zaheera Sheikh’s allegations are extremely serious in nature and must be thoroughly investigated by an impartial agency. The enquiry may be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation or a Special Investigation Team ( SIT ) monitored or headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge selected by a panel of leaders of the ruling party and the opposition party in the parliament.

(3)Though the allegations were not made so far in a court, Teesta Setalvad approached the Mumbai High Court for an anticipatory bail and approached the Supreme Court also following which the Supreme Court has issued a notice of Contempt of Court to Zaheera, the Gujarat Government and the NHRC.

The fact that Teesta Setalvad asked for anticipatory bail reveals her guilty consciousness and the fact that the allegations were so serious that she could have been arrested under 153 A or any other column or Act of the IPC.

Now, Sehrunissa, the mother of Zaheera Sheikh, too, has alleged during the retrial in Mumbai Court of Justice Mr A M Thipsay on December15, 2004 that Teesta Setalvad and her assoiciate Raees Khan had threatened her with death. It is not justice to disbelieve Zaheera and her mother when allegations are made against Teesta Setalvad and believe in them when allegations are made against Teesta Setalvad’s opponents, without investigation and impartial enquiry.

(4) The allegations made by Zaheera Sheikh and her mother, Sehrunnisa against Teesta Setalvad mean that Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace have misled the Honourable Supreme Court by willfully submitting false affidavits and have virtually manipulated the trial to suit their partisan political predilections.

Under the law, giving or fabricating false evidence with the intent to procure conviction of capital offence punishable with imprisonment for life or imprisonment, is punishable under the Indian Penal Code. The extra judicial role of such an NGO, the Citizens for Justice and Peace, is dangerous. If criminal justice is sought to be exploited and abused in the above manner, an innocent person may go to the gallows making mockery of administration of justice in the country.

5) The credibility of Teesta Setalwad and the NGO Citizens for Justice & Peace as regards their honesty, integrity and sense for justice is very low. In justification of the statement, the petitioner submits as follows:

(a) Bringing Zaheera Sheikh and her family members to Mumbai by special car from Vadodara and keeping all the persons in confinement for 7 months in Mira Road flat and Versova flat is very expensive. Filing petition in the Supreme court is also a costly affair. Teesta Setalvad’s magazine “ Communalism Combat “ has very small circulation. The magazine is not visible in public libraries and stalls in public places. The NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace has miniscule membership; it has not held any public meetings with large attendance; it holds, perhaps, only closed door meetings. To arrange press conferences is also very expensive. In the backdrop of these facts, there are doubts and suspicion regarding the sources of the huge funds required for the above activities of Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Jutice and Peace.
(b) Teesta Setalwad had joined Asghar Ali Engineer and Archbishop Fr. Evan Dias in blaming Hindutvavadi leaders, the BJP, the RSS etcetera in the St. Michael’s Church at Mahim, Mumbai on a Sunday, according to news in the Times of India ( referred herein after as ToI) of Sunday October 18, 1998 in the wake of rape of 3 nuns on September 22, 1998 in Zabua in Madhya Pradesh. Later on after the investigation it was found that the rapists were a gang, which included 12 Christians and a Congressman, but no RSS men as alleged.

The criminals are undergoing imprisonment now, but Teesta Setalvad has no courtesy to apologise for making false allegations and maligning Hindu organisations. Teesta Setalvad is not a Christian and had no routine business to go to the church with Asghar Ali Engineer, another Muslim. The October 1998 issue of “Communal Combat”, edited by Teesta Setalvad has given news about the rape and blamed the Hindu organization for that. It is curious and very much suggestive that the concerned article about the incident is missing from the archives of the magazine and is not sent to the petitioner by e-mail as promised by concerned authorities of the magazine, despite reminder.

The rape incident was used in subsequent elections in MP, Rajasthan and Delhi to malign Hindu organizations and the BJP. Christian schools had declared “bandh” in Mumbai and a Morcha of School children from Don Bosco school was taken. One should think whether school children should be used to protest rape.

After the police investigation was completed and the Christian rapists were arrested, the media ignored the news about the rapists completely. This one incident, alone, is a concrete proof to show that Teesta Setalvad is an anti-Hindu activist and an anti-BJP politician and not a human rights activist as claimed.

( c ) Teesta Setalvad wrote a book for teachers of the Don Bosco School, Borivli, Mumbai, and circulated it in the school, in which she criticized Shivaji Maharaj in many ways and referred to his caste. This was in September 2001.The fact is that Shivaji Maharaj is known and highly revered throughout the country and particularly in Maharashtra for fighting the Moghal ruler, Aurangzeb, who had imposed Jiziya tax only on Hindus, and not for his cast. As a result, teachers and parents of the school children protested and the school authorities had to withdraw the controversial book intended to poison the minds of young children to fulfil her heinous design. Astonishingly, Teesta Setalvad had not got the names of the publishers and the printers of the book, printed on the book, to escape from the clutches of the law. Teesta had not taken permission of the education department to publish the book. Unfortunately no NGO came forward to take Teesta Setalvad to task for violating rules.

( d ) In the article, THE POLITICS OF TEXTBOOK( ToI – 24-10-1999), Teesta Setalvad is reported to have said: “Textbooks in Gujarat call Muslims, Christians and Parsis foreigners. They detail the ills of Christianity, the greed of the Pope and the sensual pleasures enjoyed by the Catholic clergy.” All the above allegations of Teesta Setalvad are false.

( e ) When the Union Minister for Railways Laloo Prasad Yadav ordered an enquiry into the burning of the Sabarmati Express in Godhra, and when contacted by the ToI, Teesta Setalwad of Citizens for Justice and Peace said, “The railway ministry had earlier abdicated its responsibility of independently investigating the incident which was warranted under the Railways Act.” She stated that this inquiry was “long overdue”. (ToI- 3-9-2004). According to the article, “Godhra probe: Lalu is wrong“, by Arabinda Ghose in the weekly Organiser( 26-9-2004), it is clear that the probe ordered by the railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav was illegal and politically motivated. One term of reference in the Probe is to find our whether the karsevaks were traveling without ticket. This type of enquiry is never made, when accidents take place.

( f ) Teesta Setalvad, Javed Akhtar, Alec Padamsee, Anil Dharker and the NGO Citizens for Peace and Justice met relatives of those killed in the coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express on 27 February 2002 after 20 months on 5-10-2003, pretended that they were the victims’ sympathizers, brought them to Mumbai, arranged a press conference in Mumbai and provoked them to speak against the BJP, the VHP and other Hindu organizations and yatras organized by these organisations.

The Godhra victims were also used to demand ban on future Yatras in general and the proposed Yatra of March 15, 2003 to Ayodhya, in particular, by Hindu organizations.

That the yatra turned out to be peaceful proved that Teesta Setalvad’s demand was just an attempt to malign Hindu organization.

Teesta Setalwad, Secretary of the NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace said that a petition demanding transfer of the case outside Gujarat for retrial would be filed by the Godhra victims within the next few days, with the support of the NGO ( ToI – 6-10-3). It is to be noted that the Godhra victims did not do this.

The monthly magazine “Communalism Combat”, edited by Teesta Setalwad, and another NGO Sahamat propagated an appeal to the Central government to stop Karsevaks going to Ayodhya on March 15, abusing Sangha parivar as communal and fascist. In Their press note names of Mahesh Bhatt, Javed Anand ( husband of Teesta ), Nikhil Wagle, Praful Bidwai, Shyam Benegal etc were written (Maharashrtra Times – 21-8-2002). In an appeal to UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Dy. Prime Minister L.K. Advani, the Citizens for Justice and Peace demanded ban on the October 15 Ratha Yatra alleging outbreak of communal violence and insecurity among the minority community (the Free Press Journal, herein referred to as FPJ – 14-10-2003).

It must be noted that the VHP Yatra was very peaceful, despite provocation by organizations like the Citizens for Justice and Peace. The ToI reported it as “flop”.

( g )Teesta Setalwad, secretary of the NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace complained in her affidavit that prosecutors were either leaders or members of the RSS or the VHP in Gujarat. (ToI, Ind. Ex. and FPJ – 18-10-2003) This was improper, since the RSS and the VHP are not banned organizations. If objection to these organizations can be upheld on the ground that they speak for Hindus, then the bonafides of anti-Hindu
Citizens for Justice and Peace automatically become doubtful. Teesta Setalvad’s argumet amounts to mean, using the same yardstick, that the background of the Honourable Chief Justice, V.N. Khare, who had worked for Indira Gandhi, the Congress Prime Minister in the 1975 Corruption case, filed by Raj Narain, in which Indira Gandhi lost and was unseated in Parliament also makes him disqualified to consider the case. It must be noted that Teesta Setalvad had engaged the lawyer, advocate Mihir Desai, to plead for her and Zaheera Sheikh, is anti-Hindu. He refused to plead for Zaheera Sheikh after she made allegations against Teesta Setalvad. If pro-Hinduism of advocates of one party in the litigation makes them unreliable or incredible or disqualified for the case, then anti-Hinduism of advocate Mihir Desai must also be considered so. It must be noted that Mihir Desai had attended a meeting at Prabhadevi, Mumbai in which the VHP, Bajrang Dal and the Sangh Privar were severely criticized for Zaheera Sheikh’s retracting her statements.

( h ) Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace were using the Gujarat riots to spew venom against the RSS, the VHP and the BJP by using a section of the media in their favour, though it is reported that some Congressmen, the ISI of Pakistan and some Islamic fundamentalists were also involved in the riots. This is clear from a few of the following news reports:

( i ) The Godhra train carnage on February 27, 2002 was an “ act of terrorism planned at the behest of Pakistan to foment communal riots all over the country”, according to a study report. The study, conducted by a five-member team led by Justice D S Tewatia, former Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, for the Council of International Affairs and Human rights, released in New Delhi described the Godhra incident as an act of international terrorism planned and executed in connivance with the jehadi forces. Haji Bilal, Mohammad Husain Abdul Rahim Kalota and a few more Congresmen were involved in the plan to burn the Sabarmati Express at Godhra ( FPJ- 27-4-2002, Navabharat, Hindi daily- 30-5-2002, Loksatta-27-4-2002).

( ii )According to Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind most Congress corporators actively participated in the riots. JUH secretary Farooqi has a list of 25 Congress leaders from Gujarat which included former Congress minister, a sitting MLA and a former MP. Farroqi acused Congress workers of committing sins of commission and omission during the riots ( ToI – 10-8-2003).

( iii ) Teesta Setalvad herself had said in March 2002 that in the attack on former MP Ehsan Jaffery’s house, a Congress member was among the mob ( FPJ – 30-3-2002).

(iv) The fact that Congress governments in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Punjab refused to send police force to Gujarat, to control riots, though the Gijarat government was ready to spend full money for their deployment, shows that the congress was not interested in curbing the riots, but was interested only in making a political capital out of riots.

( j ) According to the editorial in the Free Press Journal Teesta Setalvad had come to access crores of rupees in the 1998 general election. In the editorial of the Free Press Journal dated November 5, 2004 again a reference to the suspicious sources of funding for multi-crore advertisements against the BJP in newspapers is made pointing out a finger to Teesta Setalvad.

( k ) Teesta Setalwad approached DCP, G. D. Pol in zone 5, Dadar, Mumbai and asked him to file FIR against VHP general secretary Praveen Togadia under sections 153A, 153B, 295A,298 and 505 for his alleged inflammatory speech at a meeting of the Rashtriya Vichar Manch at Nardulla Tank Maidan on March 16. ( ToI- 14-5-2003 ). The speech was not as alleged by Teesta Setalvad and no untoward incidents took place after the speech.

( l ) Javed Akhtar and Alyque Padamsee and Vijay Tendulkar, all members of the Citizens for Justice and Peace had congratulated Ashok Gehlot, the chief minister of Rajasthan, through a letter (IE-May 10, 2003), for banning trishul and not allowing Togadia to enter Rajasthan though Court had allowed him to enter. According to a news (ToI- May 9, 2003), Additional district and sessions judge Ajay Kumar Jain, trident is not a weapon; and so he granted anticipatory bail to VHP activists accused of displaying trishuls, banned in Rajasthan under Arms Act. Thus the venom spit by above members of the Citizens for Justice and Peace is an attempt to malign Hindus, their leaders and their organizations. It must be noted that these persons had never criticized “ Lathi rally” of Laloo Prasad Yadav in bihar. (12-5-3-Indian Express ), the rally with bows and arrows of more than 1000 activists of Communist Party of India (Maoists) in Kolkata ( FPJ- 16-12-2004) and rifle rallies of Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh.

( m ) Alyque Padamsee, an activist of the Citizens for Justice and Peace, had said recently that he does not know Mumbai, but knows Bombay. He has no objection for renaming Calcutta as Kolkata, Madras as Chennai and Trivendram as Thiruanathapuram.

( n ) Vijay Tendulkar, an activist of the CJP, had said at a speech in Pune and then in Dapoli in Maharashtra in November 2003, that if he is given a gun, he would shoot Narendra Modi. This reveals the bonafides of the organization CJP.

(o) At a press conference in Mumbai in February 2004, Asghar Ali Engineer, member of the NGO, Citizens for Defending Constitutional Democracy and Secularism, at a press conference, said in Mumbai “ BJP has polarized the country and came to power by attacking minorities, secularism and Indian pluralism” ( FPJ – February 26, 2004). All such utterances of members of the Citizens for Justice and Peace reveal that it is an anti-Hindu, anti-BJP organization.

( p ) One can have freedom to have his views and have an organization, but to form an organization and pretend that it is citizen’s organization, a non-political one and that also for peace and justice is certainly deception and cheating. The petitioner adds that this NGO is not registered under any act and its membership is not open for citizens though the word “citizen” is therein. Further, it does not have any Constitution of its own. The petitioner prays that the Supreme Court take this into consideration and decide the bonafides of the organization “ Citizens for Justice and Peace”.

( 6) The credibility of the NHRC is also very low. To justify this the petitioner submits herewith:

(i) The fact that the NHRC took suo moto action against the Gujarat government when the Gujarat police killed Ishrat Jahan Sheikh, the terrorist of the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba, banned in India and many other countries, and her two other associates in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004 clearly shows that either the NHRC has prejudice against the Gujarat Government or that it does not apply its mind properly and commits grave errors. In either case the NHRC loses its bonafides and credibility in giving justice and safeguarding human rights of citizens.

(ii) The credibility of NHRC received a severe blow when it was pulled up by the Kerala High Court in May 2001, while ordering status quo on a petition filed by the Kerala state against the order of the NHRC to give compensation of Rs 10 lakhs to an ISRO scientist, accused in spy case involving two Maldivian women in 1994

(iii) The NHRC did not take notice of the statement of a key witness, Lal Mohammed Sheikh, who turned up at the Circuit House, Vadodara, when the NHRC team was present there on July 8, 2003. He had refuted the allegations made by Zaheera Sheikh and her mother while sticking to his statement that those acquitted had, in fact, saved his life. It must be noted that even before the Additional Sessions Judge Abhay Thipasay of the retrial court in Mumbai, he continued to stick to his earlier words, unlike Zaheera, in whom the NHRC had full faith. (ToI- 9-7-03, 10-12-4)

(iv) The NHRC, under the chairmanship of the former chief Jusice of the Supreme Court J. S. Verma, had opposed the POTA, an act against terrorism without reading it, whereas the present chairman, Mr A.S.Anand, also a retired Judge of the Supreme Court, stated that POTA does have provisions to prevent its misuse, as soon as he took over as the chairman of the NHRC. Two persons can have different opinions. But can the same statutory organization, like the NHRC have different opinions? And what about the opinions of other members of the NHRC? Can they all not have a meeting to express one common opinion? The contradiction within the NHRC also makes it lose its credibility and bonafides.

(v) The former chairman of the NHRC, J.S. Verma had opined that right to information exists according to the Constitution. But when I lodged 2 complaints of human rights violations to the NHRC, it did not register them and did not reply and answer why one of the complaints was not registered, despite many reminders. In the case of one complaint, with registration no. Case No. 512/25/2004-2005/UC, which I sent on July 20, 2004, the NHRC has not replied to my query sent on November 11, 2004, as to what follow up action was taken by the NHRC, since it was not shown on its website.

(vi )The NHRC erred in ignoring that in many other cases, the accused were let off because witness turned hostile as in the Best Bakery case. For example in Dabgarwad mass burning case of Ahmedabad, in which eight Hindus were burnt alive and all the Muslim accused were acquitted. There are two other cases – of Signal Faliya and Safi school of Godhra – where the Muslim accused were acquitted. NHRC’s remark of “miscarriage of justice” may be applicable to many other gruesome cases. Trying to Transfer only the cases in which Muslims are victims shows the bias of the NHRC and amounts to creating a separate judicial system for Muslims, which is against the recognized accepted principle of secularism in the country ( FPJ- 15-7-3).

( vii ) The NHRC has initiated criminal cases against police officers, who were awarded gallantry awards by the President of India in recognition of their gallantry in fighting terrorism successfully in Punjab. The police officers had done their duty in fighting terrorism neglecting their children and families.

( viii ) In March 2003, Rajasthan police shot dead three workers of the VHP and injured 7 workers, when they were doing puja near a temple, despite the opposition of police to do so. The police were not allowing the puja, since they wanted a Moharum procession to pass the temple area. Notwithstanding the illegality of the police order opposing the puja, the police could have used teargas shells to disperse the gathering of Hindus instead of firing and shooting and killing them. Similarly in west Bengal, the police fired and shot dead some Ramsevaks in the same month. I complained to the NHRC on the 24 March 2002. But the NHRC did not register my complaint or reply to reminders why the complaint was not registered.

( vi )On December 10, 2002, the petitioner complained to The Secretary, National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi about the story that he read on the website http://www.outlookindia.com/fullpopuptop.asp?
fodname=20021202&fname=State+Gazatte&sid=6
written by Amarnath Tewary in Outlook. It was about a most wanted criminal of Patna, the capital of Bihar State, Sultan Mia, who abducted a married woman, Kanchan Mishra, in broad daylight from the heart of the city, took her to a mosque and forcibly married her. The NHRC did not register the complaint nor did it give reply as to why it was not registered. However, the National Women's Commission took note of the complaint either suo moto or after somebody else lodged it.

But, when a Pakistani woman, Shahnawaz, arrested for illegally staying in India without valid visa or passport, who was raped by a jail constable, attracted the attention of the NHRC, who immediately sent notice to the home ministry on July 29, 2002.

( x ) The NHRC had asked the Gujarat government to provide it with a list , community-wise, of persons killed in police firing and arrested. I sent a letter of protest to the NHRC highly objecting to it since it was against secularism and capable of dividing the people on communal basis and without any benefit. The NHRC did not reply to the letter.

There are many instances as above, illustrating how the NHRC is harsh to securitymen, policemen, Hindus and soft towards terrorists, Pakistanis and Muslims. This is very important in the present Best Bakery case.

( 7 ) The credibility of the media, engaged in extra – judicial trial in the Best Bakery case, is also very low. To substanciate this, the petitioner submits herein as under:

( I )Former chairman of the Press Council of India and former Judge of the Mumbai High court, Mr P.B. Sawant disclosed that many of our journalists are on the pay - roll of international agencies. The agencies are out to destabilize the country. He was speaking at the annual general meeting of India Language Newspaper association’s 58 th annual meeting in July 1999. Though five years have passed, the situation might not have improved, it has in fact worsened. Mr P. B. Sawant said, a few years ago, the chief of the CIA, the American intelligence agency had stated in the American Senate with proof that the CIA had appointed some Indian journalists as their agents. He said, “the journalists write to propagate the views of their masters and Indian language newspapers follow them.”

Most of the English language newspapers preferred not to take note of his speech for obvious reasons. In fact, they should have taken very serious note of the allegation, written editorials on it and initiated a debate if they had interest of the nation in their heart. This, automatically, vindicates what Justice P.B. Sawant had stated.

( i )The Honourable Chief Justice of India Justice R. C. Lahoti said during the Law Day function of the Supreme Court Bar Association on November 26, 2004 in Delhi that “Media is tarnishing the image of judiciary”. If a person with judiciary in his heart can say so, is it wrong if a person with the pride of Gujarat in his heart says that the “Media is tarnishing the image of Gujarat?’

iii) Former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice V.N. Khare said that he was very much anguished over the manner in which media “ scandalized” three judges of the Karnataka High Court by linking them to Mysore sex scandal without basis. He said he could not sleep for many days as a result. Now if the Honourable judges of the Gujarat High Court could not sleep as a result of transferring the Best Bakery case out of Gujarat, who is responsibe?

(iv) The Chief Justice of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court Justice S.H.A. Raza said in September 2001 that though freedom of expression is essential in democracy, the press must give importance to giving views and news in a balanced manner in nation’s interest( Navabharat- Hindi-24-9-2001).

(v) Chairman of the Press Council of India Justice K Jayachandra Reddy made a veiled attack on the media for “biased” coverage of the Gujarat riots and asked it to “strictly adhere “ to the norms set by the Council. He asked the media to be “trouble shooters” and not “trouble makers” ( FPJ 7-4-2002). There are many other points to prove the low credibility of the media.

8 ) Gujarat High Court’s observation regarding “ Plot in Zaheera’s claims” . The Supreme Court has erred in not believing in the Gujarat High Court and transferring the case outside Gujarat for retrial. The fact that the Supreme Court has given notice to Zaheera and the NHRC about contempt of court following Zaheera’s frequently turning hostile in her depositions vindicates the Gujarat High Court’s contention that Zaheera was not worth relying upon. The transferring a case outside the High Court of a state is an extraordinary decision and must be not only on merits but also appear to have been on merits.

The Division Bench of Justice B. J. Sethna and Justice J. R. Vora of the Gujarat High Court, in their judgement dismissing the appeal challenging the acquittal of 21 accused and seeking retrial, were critical of the role of the NGO, CJP. The bench had said, “ We are not prepared to believe that Zaheera turned hostile because she was threatened.” The Gujarat High Court bench had said, “ There seems to be a definite design and conspiracy to malign people by misusing this witness, Zaheerabibi, who is hardly 19 years old and can easily fall a prey to anyone and play into the dirty hands of anti-national elements.”

The NHRC and the Honourable Supreme Court did not agree to the above contention of the High Court bench, but upheld that Zaheera’s turning hostile in the High Court was proper. Now since Zaheera has turned hostile, again, the fact creates doubts in her credibility and destroys the very foundation on which the Supreme Court’s verdict of transferring the case outside Gujarat was based. As a result, the Supreme Court should, now, the petitioner prays, review the judgement and order stay for the trial going on in Mumbai at present.

( 9 ) The Supreme Court has erred in criticizing the Gujarat High Court for making “ irresponsible remarks against activists, including Teesta Setalwad, and even against the NHRC.”

This is clear from (i) activities of Teesta Setalvad as stated in my submissions above and (ii) serious charges made by Zaheera Sheikh and her mother against Teesta Setalvad for turning hostile and speaking lies for the sake of religion ( “ kaum ke liye tuze zooth bolna hoga”), and the fact that the NHRC has also lost its credibility as stated above, and particularly because it took suo moto action against the Gujarat government when the Gujarat police killed three Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists with deadly weapons nd a lot of ammunition in Ahmedabad on June 15, 2004. The NHRC had clearly exposed its prejudice against the Gujarat Government. It is this prejudice that made the NHRC demand the transfer of the case outside Gujarat.

( 10 ) After the judgement of the Supreme Court many competent senior lawyers and retired judges, at a discussion of their panel in a programme, criticized the judgement of transferring the Best Bakery from Gujarat to maharashtra for retrial. Many said that “ the Supreme Court was more emotional than judicial.” Many said that the verdict was “ not in accordance with the Constitution of India.” K. T. S. Tulsi, former additional solicitor general of India, who was also the defence counsel in the case, alleged that due to the “media trial”, the Supreme Court judges had not allowed evidence to be presented before it by the state government or the accused, despite his appeals. The case has not been decided according to or on the basis of evidence. It may have been based on newspaper reports .” Senior advocate R. V. Bhasin said, “ The Best Bakery case is a mixture of law, facts and politics. The press should not be ridiculed, but if a Supreme Court judge is affected by media reports, then he does not deserve to be in that position.” Bhasin also added that the Supreme Court violated the Constitution of India. He criticized the judges’ reference to fiddling Nero.

S. M. Soni, former justice of the Gujarat High Court said that the courts, instead of being swayed by media reports, should take punitive action against any interference with the judicial process. Soni also blamed the former Chief Justice of India heading the NHRC for not following the judicial norms by approaching the Supreme Court, instead of the High Court, when Best Bakery accused were acquitted by a session’s court in Gujarat. He also added, “ The decision to transfer the case was not on grounds of merit or evidence. The case, instead of being transferred to Maharashtra, could have been referred back to the Gujarat High Court.” ( ToI - 18-5-2004)

( 11) That the Supreme Court was swayed by the media reports is also clear from the fact that there were many similar cases when criminals were acquitted for lack of evidence. This fact was not considered by the Supreme Court. This was because the media did not consider such cases as it did in the case of Gujarat. For example, all accused in the Radhabai Chawl buring in 1992 case were acquitted. All the accused were Muslims in this case, and so the media did not highlight these and the anti-Hindu NHRC did not take suo moto interest in those. I have illustrated how the NHRC is anti-Hindu earlier.

( 12 ) The Vadodara fast-track court Judge H. U. Mahida, now retired, has challenged any court to convict anybody without evidence. He said he had not gone out of way to favour or oblige anybody in the case but had to acquit the guilty, simply for want of evidence. He clarified that unlike a civil judge, a sessions court judge had no inherent powers and he had to go only by the evidence placed before him during the trial ( FPJ- 10-6-2004).

( 13 ) In the backdrop of Zaheera Sheikh, turning hostile and accusing Teesta Setalvad, that she forced Zaheera to speak untruth in the court, some editors have remarked that the complete system of human rights and the Supreme Court are now on trial. What the editors have said may be the view of a large section of people and it must be noted that in democracy like that in India, the people are more supreme than the Supreme Court and therefore whatever decision the court takes must not only deliver justice, but also appear to do so. In case it rejects the petition, it must give sound reasoning to do so. Otherwise motives will be attached to the verdict.

( 14 ) The petitioner humbly prays for :
( a ) an order for stay in the proceedings of the retrial in the Mumbai court of additional sessions Judge, Justice Mr A M Thipsay. Or alternatively, an order for enquiry into activities, funds, membership and accounts of the NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace and all aspects of its office bearer Teesta Setalwad, concerned with the case, including the allegation that Teesta Setalvad and her associate Raees Khan threatened Zaheera Sheikh and her mother as alleged. And then again proceed according to the findings.

The enquiry may be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) or a Special Investigation Team ( SIT) monitored or headed by a retired Supreme Court judge selected by a panel of leaders of 2 major political parties in the parliament, since this is a matter, which can have grave consequences on the country.

If it is found that Teesta Setalvad really threatened Zaheera Sheikh to turn hostile which made the Honourable Supreme Court take the unprecedented step of transferring the Best Bakery case from Gujarat to Maharashtra for retrial,

( i ) an order for maximum punishment for Teesta Setalvad and her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, according to law, in the interest of judiciary in the country;

( ii ) a remark censuring the NHRC for humiliating the Gujarat High Court and conceding the demand of the NGO, CJP, without carefully applying its mind to the judgement of the Gujarat High Court; If Zaheera Sheikh is found guilty, an order for proceeding for contempt of court against Zaheera Sheikh for turning hostile and for perjury, committed not only after the Supreme Court judgement but also before the judgement.

( b ) order for punitive legal action against the media for carrying out extra – judicial trial and interfering with the judicial process, when the matter was sub-judice. ( c ) any other order that this Honourable Court feels deem fit to pass.

Yours most humbly,
K. G. Acharya

Dawood Men bid to kill Best bakery accused failed ( HELLO TEESTA !!!)

2004-12-15T21:30:00.000-08:00

Don’s bid to kill Best accused failed

December 12, 2004

An alleged plan by the Dawood gang to eliminate the 17 accused in the Best Bakery case, currently lodged in Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai, has been foiled by the jail authorities.

Although jail superintendent Swati Sathe declined to comment on the sensational conspiracy sources in the jail revealed that there was a plan to poison the food being supplied to the 17 accused. A leading member of the Dawood gang, who is in the jail in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blast case, along with a few other inmates is believed to have played a key role in befriending the 17 persons and winning their confidence.

The Best Bakery retrial is being held here at the Mazgaon court. The accused are taken under heavy police escort from the jail to the court, which makes it difficult for anyone to target them outside. Hence, a plan was allegedly hatched to eliminate them inside the jail. The poison was to have been smuggled into the jail on Saturday, December 11. The conspiracy came to light when jail authorities seized a piece of paper, containing instructions in Urdu, which was passed on by D-Company members outside the jail to the key conspirator lodged inside.

Sources said a large amount of money was set aside by the gang to finance this operation. Following the unearthing of the conspiracy, the Dawood aide has been shifted from the general barracks to a high-security cell inside the jail premises.

timesofindia.indiatimes.c...956192.cms

Teesta constantly asked the family to give false evidence

2004-12-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Zaheera's mother turns hostile

Supriya Sharma
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 (Mumbai):

Source : NDTV

Key witness in Best Bakery retrial, Zaheera Sheikh's mother Sehrunissa retracted her statement today.Sehrunissa turned hostile and denied she saw anyone the night the bakery was attacked. Instead, she accused activist Teesta Seetalvad of threatening her entire family.Sahrunissa told the court that two men Mohammed Vora and Munna Malik took Zaheera away from Baroda and brought her to Teesta's house in Mumbai.From there, Zaheera was sent to an apartment in the suburb of Andheri where she was kept confined for more than seven months. The family was not allowed to see her and were told that Zaheera had gone to Delhi or Pakistan.

False evidence

Sahrunissa claimed Teesta constantly asked the family to give false evidence. Her associate Raees Khan, in fact, bundled Zaheera's brother Nasibullah away in a car threatening to kill him if the family did not toe the line.Much like the other Sheikh family members who have appeared in the court, Sahrunissa came in for sharp criticism as the judge reprimanded her. She was asked to give straight answers and not pass unnecessary comments.When quizzed by the prosecution over her daughter Sabeera's death, one of the 14 people killed in the Best Bakery attack, Sahrunissa remarked, "So what if my daughter died, others too were killed in the riots.""I have no regrets. In fact, it's good that she died or else I would have to bear her marriage expenses," she told the prosecution."She has no feelings for her daughter who died. There is something behind all this. This is what we want to probe," said Manjula Rao, public prosecutor.Sehrunissa will now be cross-examined over her police statement recorded just days after the Best Bakery incident. Interestingly, Sehrunissa claimed in court today that she never made any statement to the police at all.

What people are telling about Fifth Columnist : Teesta Setalvad

2004-12-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

•
Singh/Setalvad

Ms SinghAs one of the more articulate and (demonstrably) literate columnists in our country, do you not find the content and tone of your support among these comments somewhat odd, or at least ironic?I would like to say that your point (Muslim Extremism is dangerous and must be dealt with) is sound, but is ill served by this detour. What, at the end of the day, does prosecuting the guilty in the Gujarat pogrom have to do with the country's not investigating Muslim Extremism to the extent that you would wish? Logically - nothing.Sadly you have compromised your dignity - as a journalist, and as a woman; if you weren't both women, would this spat have gotten half the airtime it has?Respectful regards
Posted by: Zafar, Australia, 03-12-2004 at 0636 hours IST

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The mouse that roars

Anyone who has read CC over any period of time would be bemused by the selective defence tabulated by these two worthies. A few articles carefully picked by Setalvad and Anand do not perfume over the entrenched stench of rabid anti-Hindu frothing that permeate this lucrative enterprise.And carrying the metaphor of perfumes (of Araby to sweeten this little hand) further, they were very clever to deny any "petro-dollar" sustenance to their business. Why the specious coyness? Why not come out and flatly deny any links to Arab money, petro-dollar or otherwise? And what about their financial largesse from Christian Evangelical organizations like EPPC (Ethics and Public Policy Center), and INFEMIT, an international network of evangelical mission theologians and practitioners, to name a few?It appears that their carefully constructed charade is now finally unravelling, with no little thanks due to Tavleen Singh for her courage in taking on these "secular" media darlings.
Posted by: Charu Latha, United States, 03-12-2004 at 0544 hours IST

•
Another one

Here is another one from an article on Kashmiri Pandits:"The nearly 8,000 Kashmiri Pandits still living in the Valley and determined to stay put there feel bitter that the rest of India — the J&K and the central government, fellow Pandits who have migrated in large numbers, the sangh parivar and the Shiv Sena which pretends to speak for them and Indians in general — are insensitive to their predicament"All they have done is to put the blame of the pathetic situation of kashmiri pandits back on hindus! What more, they have used it as yet another tool to bash up BJP and others they hate. This is is the best that Teesta and other hate-hindu brigade can come up with. Tavleen SIngh should be proud to be able to let the world know about the shady world of the NGO mafia.
Posted by: Ankan, India, 03-12-2004 at 0453 hours IST

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Dont get fooled

Please dont get fooled by what these jihadi apologists have written here. I went back and read through a few sections of their magazine and here is a sample of what I found:"This weakness of the Kashmiri movement that is fast-losing its Kashmiri identity — and, for this a variety of factors are responsible — is more than compensated on the other side. RSS and even more extreme brands of Hindu nationalism are gaining currency among Hindus in Jammu, as elsewhere in the country."This is from the piece "Talibanisation of Kashmir " that these authors have quoted to prove their secular credentials. Guess what: terrorism in Kashmir has been referred as a movement while the blame for that has been thrown to the Hindus. I am not surprised that the person who is blaming Hindus for the terrorism in Kashmir once showed Kashmir as part of Pakistan.
Posted by: Ankan Kumar, India, 03-12-2004 at 0424 hours IST

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calling talveen singh's bluff

Your long article is just like throwing sand in the eyes and an insult to Hindus and Talveen who is the only journalist to call spade a spade. What have you really done to expose the Muslim terrorism or crime in India? What about exposing Muslims who help ISI of Pakistan to creat terrorism in India? Have you taken any Muslim to court for crime to help any Hindu? Have you ever tried to expose about what is happening in Madrasas and the preachings of Mullahs against Hindus in hundred of thousands of Masjids in India? Your articles (about crimes by Muslims against Hindus?) in your magazine do not mean a thing if you do not take any action just like you are doing against innocent Hindus in Gujarat. You know that your writing about plight of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangla desh does not mean a thing unless you force Indian Prime minister to take up this matter to these Muslim fundamentalist governments and tell them that first condtion of partition of India was that minorities on both sides will be treated equally. What we are saying is that your actions speak louder than your words. Your actions stink.
Posted by: sastish kumar sharma, Canada, 03-12-2004 at 0415 hours IST

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So terorism is justified for Injustice

"the best way to fight terrorism, Islamic or otherwise, is to fight against injustice. That is all that we are trying our best to do, through Communalism Combat and otherwise" --- SO INJUSTICE BREEDS TERRORISM and is justified . as per Teesta . ANd also since terrorists are humans , they too should be given Human Rights . That's the message she is conveying to all .
Posted by: Manoj, India, 03-12-2004 at 0414 hours IST

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communal demagoguery

Dear Editor,After the reader's comments,I proceeded to test out whether Ms. Setalvad indignant protestations were credible. If readers expect informed opinion from "Communalism Combat", they are going to be very much disappointed. Consider this bit: " One year later, the Genocide in Gujarat continues through social and economic boycott of Muslims in atleast 10 of the 24 districts of the State and a politically vindictive state headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi seeks to subvert all criminal investigations int the incidents of violence last year."Note the use of the word "genocide" to depict "social and economic boycott". Genocide is a word pregnant with implications given its history of usage. But a social and economic boycott of a community does not a genocide make. If that were the case, Gandhiji's call for an economic boycott of british goods would be considered genocide...hardly a proper way to depict the actions of Bapuji.Ms. Setalvad proclaims to be "fighting injustice" much like Osama Bin Laden and the jihadis claim to be "fighting injustice" --- it is an admirable goal, but the phrase takes on a new meaning when some people use it.
Posted by: Parveen Kaur, India, 03-12-2004 at 0317 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh's Bluff - Teesta way

Dear TeestaConduct of your NGO , its activities, motivations to do that and fundings had been questionable.Pray tell :-A. Who funds your NGO to carryout your activties ?B. What motivated you to tell lies , force Zaheera to give suitable statement and now that she is pointing fingers on you (on records) why you should not prosecutedPlease stop anti nation and anti Hindu conducts. You seems to be working as funded agent of some other countries.
Posted by: Jairaj Yadav, United States, 03-12-2004 at 0257 hours IST

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Taste of your own medicine

So now that the shoe is on the other foot, Mr. Anand and Ms. Seetalvad, are ranting and whining. Now you know how we feel when the likes of you call us "communal", "anti-Muslim", "fundamentalist", yadda, yadda, even if we criticize Pakistan for its terrorist activities and call it Terrorist State of Pakistan (TSP). God forbid, if some of us to were to question the antics of the fundamentalist Muslims, then we are called Parivaris. Well, Javed and Teesta, you have finally found one lady who has the cojones to call a spade a spade and expose your dirty tricks. I have followed Ms. Singh for a long time and was impressed when she had the courage to have a less than flattering interview with Bhindranwale when she was a correspondent for Sunday. Quite frankly the two of you are not even fit to tie the shoelaces of Tavleen. Your credibility was down the toilet when Zahira spoke the truth not once but twice in the court.
Posted by: Kedar Bhandary, United States, 03-12-2004 at 0220 hours IST

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Precept vs. practice

Instead of exposing symptoms of pathological verbal diarrhea, it is enough for the combative secularists to demonstrate a few simple things:Regarding "non-Muslim" victims such as Kashmiri Pandits, Sikh victims of the 1984 Delhi riots, victims of the Godhra train carnage and Akshardam temple, and victims of Pakistan-sponsored terror in India.1) Show from records that you ever marched, a few feet at least , along with other high profile secularists for the cause of the above mentioned vicitms.2) Show you conducted any press meet for the above causes.3) Show if you filed any PIL for any of the above listed causes.4) Show with evidence that you condemned, in unequivocal terms, Pakistan-funded jihadi activities that directly affect India.5) Show if you visited and showed at least lip sympathy, for the victims listed above (not even parading them for your benefit, as you do with "minority" show-piece victims!).
Posted by: kvjayan, India, 03-12-2004 at 0040 hours IST

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Guilty conscience shows

I went through the archives and found that CC magazine has like one article per year about Kashmiri pandits, and maybe one article in several years about the Sikh genocide of 1984. This is mere tokenism to pretend that they are neutral. On the other hand, every single issue of CC has at least one anti-BJP article. In fact, most issues have anti-Sangh cover stories. Tavleen Singh was absolutely right in her accusations.Here is Mahatma Gandhi's simple truth. These people spend most of their time and effort attacking the Sangh, simply because it is non-life threatening. Proof: they are still alive.If they spent the same time and effort attacking Islamic extremism, they'd be dead, oh - like a decade ago. These secularists are mere cowards who cannot combat communalism where it really matters - in Kashmir and in Sonia Gandhi's cabinet of butchers of Sikhs.
Posted by: B.S.P., India, 02-12-2004 at 2326 hours IST

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Teesta fails to impress

First, I would like thank IE for providing a forum to all points ot view.Let me remind all what Teestaji said on being informed of the massacre of Hindus in Godhra in the Washington post : "while I condemn today's gruesome attack, you cannot pick up an incident in isolation. Let us not forget the provocation. These people were not going for a benign assembly. They were indulging in blatant and unlawful mobilisation to build a temple and deliberately provoke the Muslims in India.'"It clear to anybody from the above that Teestaji thinks it is perfectly reasonable for Muslims to kill people who "provoke" them. Sadly, very few Muslims will agree with her except the Al Qaeda sort. The cases Teestaji chooses to highlight give her away. We have seen her jump into action when a LeT activist was killed by the police but, we don't see her fiercely taking on Mr. Tytler on behalf of a Sikh widow, or take on Mr. Mufti Sayeed who played a dubious role in the massacre of pandits in Anantnag. Also, notice Teestaji has little to say about the growth of fundamentalist Muslim organizations like the Ahl-E-Hadith and Tabligh Jamaat that have vowed to stamp out the unique Indian brand of Islam
Posted by: B K Bhattacharyya, United States, 02-12-2004 at 2317 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh's bluff

Article is disguised in colourful language,but the bitter truth stands out clearly! The confused situation is made worst confounded,though Tavleen stands out "taller" in the eyes of her readers,for her fearless,investigative and unbiased journalism which is a rare commodity in today's English Media! Brave Tavleen cannot be faulted for what she wrote.Her courageous articles,make her hold her head higher in the annals of journalism:See her articles"The 'communalism' divide","Communal or Communists:Its the same difference","To win the war,first identify the enemy","After poll slaughter,suicide by BJP","Blame Cong for rise of Hindutva","Cowdung fixation","Two not so shining stories","Why Joshi is Vajpayee's weakest link"and a lot others.Teesta doesn't list out any other case which she had 'championed' before the Sup Court,apart from Zaheera,whose allegations,for how she was picked up,pampered,kept in big hotels and how she was made to sign on several papers-SHALL haunt Teesta for ever! How many cases of Hindus,killed in Guj-riots,were taken up by Teesta in courts?How many Sikh genocide victims' cases were taken up by her before Sup Court:she knows,every Cong-goon,was set free?
Posted by: pps.ahluwalia, United States, 02-12-2004 at 2104 hours IST

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Pathetic

Teesta's defense is pretty pathetic. If one takes a cursory look at all her articles one can see that she loves to fish in troubled waters. All her articles deal with communal issue and is islam specific. She is misleading readers by not giving her full name (with a javed khan suffix), as women usually do when they marry. The fact the she hangs around mostly with muslims and hence might be biased in favour of them is something not known to many. Also all her crap articles critical of muslims are about muslims in pakistan, bangladesh, afghanistan where nobody knows who she is. Can she point even one article critical of Indian muslims (minus kashmir) ? If she is not an NGO then why is she getting any foreign funds at all. How is she able to get money for funding all her legal and extra-legal activities?
Posted by: Nayagan, United States, 02-12-2004 at 2100 hours IST

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Tavleen Singh.. An Immature Journalist

I have read many of the articles of Tavleen (including the one that has prompted CC to write this). My own assessment about her is she is at best an immature journalist. Her writtings flow more from her emotions and limited knowledge than from facts. Not so long back she was spewing venon on the RSS, VHP and other radical hindu organisations. Now suddenly she has started seeing hindu fundamentalism is dead and hence we should start focus on islamic fundamentalism. If only the world has been so easy Mrs. Tavleen !!. No reasonably informed person in India, will accept that the Hindu fundamentalim is dead (not atleast me - and let me tell you that I am a devout hindu). Nor is dealing with islamic fanaticism is that easy to tackle the way you are suggesting. The only way to handle both the forms of radicalism is making an unflinching attempt to uphold the law. The law has to be implemented, if required ruthlessly, for anybody violating it.. Any successful nation today is successful because one of the cornerstones of their lives is respecting the law. The moment people like Tavleen give hinduism and islamism colour to it, it takes adifferent ......Contd
Posted by: Bharatiya, India, 02-12-2004 at 2054 hours IST

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No need to read Sabrang

I wish to draw readers' attention to the fact that the list of misleading titles might be a ruse to attract readers to the subrang website. Those who know about the pseudo-secularist stands of Teesta will do well to keep away from their website. No need to fund the wrongdoers.
Posted by: Prakash, India, 02-12-2004 at 1944 hours IST

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CAlling...

More powers to yr elbow, Tavleen dear!You are one of the few independent journalists who can call a spade a spade- unlike some sold out journalist souls, who are willing to sell their mother/motherland for money. They r a disgrace to journalist profession- they are pimps!As far as Teesta is concerned, the day she takes up a case of a Hindu Pandit suffering in camps, a Hindu burnt alive in the Godhra train and compensation to his/her family, I can safely say that Testa is pro-Islam/ Muslims and anti-Hindus.And as far as Teesta's eunuch husband is concerned, we hv seen what he writes in OUTLOOK- and he is rabid Muslim jehadi, posing as a secularist. Both r on the payrolls of Islamic countries working against India for making this country Dar-ul-Islam.We Hindus are sick and tired of yr fake idea of secularism, which for you means Hindu and Hinduism bashing.For a change talk abt oppression of women in Islam or medieval mindest of Islam due to Quran- they wl cut the balls off yr husband, them Muslim Jehadis, I assure you.
Posted by: Ashok Gupta, Iceland, 02-12-2004 at 1855 hours IST

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Food for thought

I am really surprised and commend the incisive insight which Mark (who commented earlier) seems to posses about the modus operandi of islamic rioters in Gujarat and in India. His seminal observation that the coercive tactic is actually a legacy of jinnah (who used to threaten with 'direct action plan') is really a bullseye. Anybody who has seen the pattern of riots cannot miss the above point. I am thunderstruck at how can a US citizen possess this insight which 95%of the people in India lack!!
Posted by: Dhaval, India, 02-12-2004 at 1800 hours IST

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congrats communalism combat

thanks Tista & javed for your fight back. how to make people like tavleen singh accountable. down down tavleen singh. you lost your credibility.
Posted by: samit, India, 02-12-2004 at 1749 hours IST

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Ineffective

This is a damage control exercise by Teesta, and holds no water. After Zaheera's turn around, it is Teesta who is desperate and not Modi. She hallucinates that the evidence is being piled against Modi, but the actual fact is that nowhere have they ever been able to implicate Modi directly. Even the comments by Advani and Vajpayee have been distorted out of context. They never referred to Modi, and in fact Advani went on to prasie the way Modi had handeled the communal conflageration. When finally Tavleen brought the axe down on teesta close to the heels of Zaheera breaking free of her clutches as well, Teesta had to salvage the pride by writing 'something' in IE, becos IE would definitely allow her to write 'something'. If Modi was really guilty, he would have been punished long ago. If someone thinks that a person (even the CM) can get away in the modern world by commiting a genocide , they are deluding themselves. Modi never did anything worng, and he has categorically condemed Godhra and post Godhra riots.He has been systematically demonized by people like Teesta,but he still rules supreme in the hearts of Gujaratis and will continue to do so.
Posted by: Dhaval, India, 02-12-2004 at 1748 hours IST
Another view on this Head-on arguement

Lately I gave up reading IE due to its so-called Pro-secularism activities which most of us mean as a fashion to malign Hindus and Hindutva… But today a friend of mine mailed me two articles 1. The ‘communalism’ divide by Tavleen Singh and 2. Calling Tavleen Singh’s bluff by Javed Anand & Teesta Setalvad. I was enthralled by going through these articles, not due to the profiles of the authors but their way of thinking. While, the former shows great courage in defending the country’s pride as a Partisan, the later (the duo with a single voice that of Teesta) dishes out lousy stuffs in order to disdain their own country. I really appreciate the response of the readers to justify Ms Singh’s views even by evidencing some of the misdeeds of duo’s mouthpiece Sabrang. I thought it to be wise enough to give the duo another chance to prove their impartial attitude by publishing atleast one article each on Godhra incidence and the ongoing Iraq war. I know they can’t. In my view, instead of writing inflammatory articles in the name of CC, they must concentrate on articles exemplifying the true essence of Brotherhood that the great Indians especially Hindus have been embraced for centuries.
Posted by: Hrishi, India, 02-12-2004 at 1646 hours IST

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Teesta and the magic cigarette

I write from a distant perspective. An NGO that does not disclose its funding is basically working against the state on the basis that its objective is to try to influence thinking. If a similar event happened in UK they would be checked out by the authorities. In India it seems you have a free for all and chucking mud is the order of the day. We all know who the real terrorists are in India - don't we? In UK a recent poll of 500 Muslims indicated that they 61% want Sharia to be present within the UK legal system in respect of civil etc matters - but should not negate the English Laws. We have all come across this elsewhere! And 88% of Muslims want the right to do 5 prayers at work. Their contract of employment should allow this and prayer rooms available. Now why dont we have secular business where religion is kept out. What next a Muslim telling us that profit is bad and anti Allah? When will these people understand that if they dont like where they are living they can always go to Muslim countries? Will Teesta understand the injustice handed out by misguided Muslims towards the rest of humanity. I doubt it! Namaste Jai Hind /
Posted by: Aryavansh, United Kingdom, 02-12-2004 at 1632 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh's bluff

The article of Teesta is neither here nor there, every one in the world knows that all NGO's are violently against Hindus and rabidly anti-national. All NGO's receive money from Islamic and Christian fundamentalists from Saudi Arabia and USA. All teesta has done is spew venom against Tavleen, it will nor work. If teesta is serious I challange her to ask government to evict illegal Bangladeshis from India or steralise them all. If not just shut up and keep provoking Muslims and brain-dead "Hindus" against Mr. Modi.
Posted by: Vox Populi, Australia, 02-12-2004 at 1618 hours IST

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Tavllen Singh

I for one stopped reading Ms. Tavleen Singh's article sometime in 1999. Her hatred for the Congress Party blinded her to the point of paranoia. She and other apologists of the Sangh Parivar have misled so many people, but I am not one of them. Thare are lakhs of Indian Express readers like me who do not consider Ms. Tavleen Singh as nationalists. For them a Hindu Britisher or Mauritian is more Indian than a Christian from the Northeast or Muslim from UP.
Posted by: Mark, Germany, 02-12-2004 at 1527 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh's bluff

Ms.Setalvad has given in a nutshell the credo of her combat actions as a NGO leader viz. "the right to distort facts, give journalistic ethics the go-by and parade insinuation as argument".This is what she has been doing for years and now finds that Tavleen Singh's article brings out her activities into focus. Hence the strong retort!! Tavleen Singh has been a fearless journalist who refuses to toe the established lines and needs to be commended. May her tribe increase!If a high-flying columnist such as Tavleen Singh were to limit herself to peddling prejudice, paranoia and sheer naivete as informed opinion, who are we to stand between her and her precious constituency? But when basic journalistic ethics are given the go-by even while a facade of objectivity and even-handedness is diligently maintained, when insinuation is paraded as argument, when facts are selectively handpicked to dress up fiction, Ms Singh’s bluff needs to be called.
Posted by: S.N.BALAKRISHNAN, India, 02-12-2004 at 1459 hours IST

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Teesta Settlevad

Teesta Settlevad has given an impressive list of titles from her magazine. A few questions still remain unanswered.1. Did the magazine ever support COMMON CIVIL CODE? (A support to BJP's position on this count will prove the impartiality of the author beyound doubt.)2. Did she try to meet any individual Kashmiri Pandit regugee and take up his/her case to Supreme Court/NHRC like she did in case of Zaheera? (That will prove her combative impartiality).Teesta Settlevad saying herself that she is impartial isn't suffient proof of her being so. Some neutral third party entity should say that.
Posted by: Prakash, India, 02-12-2004 at 1413 hours IST

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who is bluffing?

Hi,I went back and read Tavleen's column after I read this. It almost looks like these dudes are talking about a different article altogether. Looks more like a general PR exercise and IE has generously lent it's space for the purpose. By the way, does IE allow anybody to write a rejoinder to any of the columns or is it a privilege available exclusively to the secular brigade.
Posted by: Srini, United States, 02-12-2004 at 1249 hours IST

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Tessta Would have been prosecuted in any Western Liberal Democracy

Teesta is a terrorist Sympatheiser suffering from "neurosis", who doesn't see the death and destruction caused by islam in Indian Subcontinent over last 1000 years.She doesn't see how Pakistan/Bangladesh/Afghanistan becomes total Hinduless in matter of just 50 years.But she finds fault with India, where Muslim population actually increased from 9.5% to 15%.
Posted by: Suchetana, India, 02-12-2004 at 1138 hours IST

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Teesta: Apologist for Islam

Teesta wrote the gem of hers at the very end: "Can’t you see that the best way to fight terrorism, Islamic or otherwise, is to fight against injustice."This clearly shows the mental bankrupcy of people like Teesta. Muslims are always being subjected to injustice, and Its Teesta's Divine Right to fight against those Injustice! Will you take a Break please?5 lakh Palestinian was displaced by Israel, and Teesta is so sorry for them. Does Teesta have any time for 3 crore Bangladeshis who are also displaced? 3 Crore is 60 Times bigger than 5 lakh. Bangladesh is much closer to India than Palestine.5 Lakh Kashmiris are ethnically cleansed, which is equal to number of Palestinians displaced. Does Teesta has any time for them?Nope. But we would have listen to her as fountain head of secularism !
Posted by: Sudhin, India, 02-12-2004 at 1132 hours IST

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Would you help persecuted Hindus?

CC & Teesta,You fight for justice. Excellent. Here is one case, where 100s of people are being denied Justice. Would you please help?Mayureaswar is a village in Birbhum District of West Bengal. Hindus are being driven out from their ancestral Homes in and Around Mayureaswar Village in Birbum District by Muslims. Yes, its very much in India, in West Bengal. Will you please take up the issue at the plight of Poor Hindus who are persecuted in their own homeland? Teestaji? What do you say?You can Contact: Mr. Arun Sarkar, Village+P.O: Mayureswar, Dist: Birbhum, West Bengal for details.
Posted by: iswar, India, 02-12-2004 at 1112 hours IST

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Are you willing to take up some cases of Kashmiri Pandits?

Teestaji:Face the Facts. Around 5 lakh kashmiri pandits were ethnically cleansed from the Valley not so long ago. They are still languishing in dire condition in Jammu, Delhi relief camps. How many Articles you wrote about them? Many of them know very well who burnt their houses etc. Would you be willing to accept some of their cases? Why don't you take up a High-profile visit to Jammu, Delhi's displaced Pandits' Camps.
Posted by: Arun, India, 02-12-2004 at 1058 hours IST

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Accept the Challenge: Throw open all your records

Teesta: You attack Tavleen as distoting facts. Aren't you doing the Same? Instead of making it hush hush, why don't you simply throw open your every record, funding details, receipts, communications with outside your organization to Public since very start of your organization? Book Some Stadium in Mumbai, insert Ads in newspapers, and organize a "Check CC for your own satisfaction" mela?If you have guts..just do it. Until you come clean about your funding, you are ruining your reputation.
Posted by: tanmoy, India, 02-12-2004 at 1050 hours IST

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What CC should do now

As a well wisher of CC, I would advise the following.1. Provide all funding details/Balance sheet since inception. Certified Copies should be posted in the CC Website at the Earliest.2. Make all of your funding records(since inception) available to public in your Office to everybody who are interested to have a look after paying small charges which will be used by CC to organize it. Announce it through the Media. 3. A Full Blown, detailed study of all Riots in India since Independence. 4. Talk to religious groups of all kind and involve them in the healing process in riot hit areas. 5. Avoid using politicians, especially Communists, who has a very 'reductionist' view of India, its Culture.
Posted by: Bhaskar, India, 02-12-2004 at 1043 hours IST

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Teest's defense

"Shouldn’t Ms Singh have informed her readers that within days of Zaheera’s allegation, it is not she but Teesta who has applied to the Supreme Court praying for a probe into the murky episode? "I am not sure what Ms. Setalvad is trying to claim with the above statement. This is a "she said-she said" case in the eyes of the law: it is hard to believe that we should believe zaheera when it suits our purpose and condemn her as a liar when she speaks her mind. She is not a pawn to be played around with. It is indeed pitiful that Ms. Setalvad has not refuted the core accusations made against and does not speak a word about it. Truth cannot be selectively expected of people.Best regards.
Posted by: Abid Hussain, United Kingdom, 02-12-2004 at 1025 hours IST

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Level Playing field

While our friends Javed And Teesta are counting the Sikh riots/Kshmiri pandits story covered by them on their fingers, we can see the amount of publicity they have given to Gujrat or any muslim riots are innumerable. We can clearly see where your loyalty lies. Portraying hindus as fundamentalist is main aim of these macaulites..only by undermining the mind of this majority they would be able to rule over us for a long time. Best of luck since inet is facilitating the communication, days of your darkness are numbered.. Lets revisit the definition of minority in inddia and treat muslims as second major religion and start expecting similar duties on their part.
Posted by: Abhishek an Indian, United States, 02-12-2004 at 1019 hours IST

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Secular Drama

A little sunshine in the dark corners will help clean the stink and stench. Looks like Tavleensarticle has come as a sharp jab to the secularist couple - now that they are the being accused of witness tampering - a very serious offence.
Posted by: Krishna, India, 02-12-2004 at 1013 hours IST

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Jounalistic ethics

Though Tavleen Singh has been equally critical of BJP, Hindutva for no apparent reason, this rejoinder tries to push back Tavleen against the wall. Basic point of Tavleen and others has been Indian media is biased against the Hindus and Sikhs, often giving misleading figures. Post Godhra was also again ignited by islamists by all accounts. The number of deaths is more like 800 muslims and 600 Hindus some of whom were also killed by the security forces and also got disfigured by acid of the wily islamists. Godhra alone has been the scene of countless murders that led up to the infamous train car carnage burning innocent women and children alive. Why are the duo not pursuing Godhra arsonist murders with equal vigor? What about other countless riots like the one that butchered more than 2000 for a mere building called Babri in ruins and unused ? Why is Jinah's tactics of terror and intimidation allowed to be pursued long after a separate land for the islamists with the best tracts? Why have so many islamist criminals not been brought to justice? What is this duo doing about these fugitives of the long arm of the law of the land?
Posted by: Mark McHugh, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0922 hours IST

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Javed and Teesta's Response

While thanking Javed Anand and Teesta Setalvad for their response and Indian Express for publishing both sides of the story, as a neutral observer I would like to make a few observations: First of all, in their response Javed and Teesta have not explained the full extent of their income origins. Did they receive any funding from nations or individuals involved in sponsoring militant Islam? They must give these details before they are considered legitimate. Javed and Teesta have not given any contradicting evidence that they could be part of a jihadi front against the Indian State.
Posted by: Moorthy Muthuswamy, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0919 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh’s bluff

Well, Tavleen Singh has always been a biased columnist, if one can call her that. It's a pity to see high profile columnists like her and Swapan Dasgupta who openly flaunt the saffron colours and yet seek to take refuge conveniently under the 'media'.Thanks for exposing such people.
Posted by: roy, India, 02-12-2004 at 0859 hours IST

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calling tavleen singh's bluff

great rejoinder. I have always found tavleen to be partisan.
Posted by: ashok chawla, India, 02-12-2004 at 0847 hours IST

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Teesta vs. Singh

Ms. Singh is right in that there is a foreign nexus to the anti-India tirades in which many Indian intellectuals get roped in. Various lures are used including visas, travel grants, foreign degrees, hot sex, glamor, fame and of course bribes. That the English language media has sold out is evident from the guest lists at western press/media gatherings where it is payback time.
Posted by: Sabena Roy, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0821 hours IST

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Calling Tavleen Singh's bluff

Did Tavleen's column show any bluff or Anand/Teesta,are out trying to malign Tavleen,a daring columnist who is one of the rare Journalists,to call a spade a spade! The article,hides the real issues concerning Zaheera's twists in her statements in a fresh affidavit wherein she had openly detailed how she was induced,to sign on certain blank papers,purportedly used into an affidavit,accompanying her petition before the Supreme Court,to malign several authorities of Gujrat,in the Best Bakery case which is now turning quite murkier.Now that Teesta herself has filed an application before the Sup Court,let's wait for further directions from the Court.As it is,conduct of Teesta,remain dubious.Her in-active role,in the genocide of Sikhs in 84,and a more pro-active role,in the Best Bakery case,gives rise to an impression,that Teesta is "selective" in her mission.Her attack in the present write-up against Tavleen,is a device,to cover up,her dirty role in Zaheera's case.Who had engaged Teesta,to help Zaheera,in the Best Bakery case?Zaheera has denied that she had herself engaged the services of Teesta.How did Teesta reach Zaheera?At whose instance she was engaged,to serve Zaheera and when?
Posted by: pps.ahluwalia, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0801 hours IST

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Sources of funding

I was amused to see Ms. Setalvad's indignation of her sources of funding given her focus in maligning hindus and hinduism using slander and bad journalism. This is because not so long ago, Ms. Setalvad and her friends worked very hard to remove legitimate sources of funding for a non-profit org. called IDRF --- the only sin of this NGO was that donations to this NGO was solicitied by hindus interested in helping out with social causes WITHOUT DISCRIMINATING BY RELIGION. However, Ms. Setalvad and her liberal friends in the US academic circles lobbied hard to deprive funds to needy people in India, just because they had a jaundiced view of hindus in general and conservative hindus in particular. I do not know about Ms. Setalvad, but snatching the food from the mouths of already impoverished Indians just for ideological reasons is not only mean, it lacks the very conscience that makes people who work for NGOs do their work. Ms. Setalvad is a hate monger par excellence, and I am glad that someone of the caliblre, integrity, and intellect of Ms. Tavleen Singh took her on. Given her meannes, I can readily believe that Ms. Setalvad twisted Ms. Sheikh's arm to perjure.
Posted by: Harish Bewda, India, 02-12-2004 at 0641 hours IST

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Lies and more lies

Ms. Setalvad vehemently denies that she has been equating India to Pakistan:"In her recent column ‘The communalism divide’ (The Sunday Express, Nov 21), the prime target of Ms Singh’s wrath are ‘‘magazines and NGOs who have thrived on maligning India for being a country as fundamentalist as our Islamic neighbours’’And then proceeds to throw mud on Ms. Singh. Let me try to point to the myriad articles by Ms. Setalvad's so-called "communalism combat" that do exactly this:Feb 1999: rewriting historyApril 1999: denying a shared pastJuly 1999: after kargil, kashmirOct. 1999: how textbooks preach prejudiceNov 1999: Talibanisation of Kashmir (don't get fooled by the title)Oct 2001: Stop the "talibanisation" of IndiaNov 2001: militarising hindu societyThe sep. 2002 issue is unparalleled in its leftist bile against hindus and hinduism, which is why Ms. Tavleen Singh correctly points out that Ms. Teesta Setalvad's selective focus on "hindu fundamentalism" and its equivalence to the Taliban, a rhetorical and logical stretch for an informed Indian.Kudos to Ms. Singh for saying what many Indians think when they are confronted with Ms. Setalvad's bigotry and prejudices.
Posted by: Pankaj Agarwal, India, 02-12-2004 at 0625 hours IST

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Other CC titles

Since Teesta setalvad has selectively quoted stories to deflect away from the correct accusation by Tavleen singh about Teesta communal attitutes in fighting communalism, I thought readers might like to know the articles on "hindu fundamentalism" from 1998-2004.Firstly, Communalism combat has a "saffronwatch" section in every issue, but strangely there is no "greenwatch"....maybe teesta wants to give the impression that there is no muslim fundamentalism or if there is one, there in no need to keep an eye on muslim fanatics. This was exactly the point that Ms Tavleen Singh made so spectacularly.Now, to the "hindu fundamentalist" articles by Teesta that she failed to mention:Dec 1998:Saffron blight: Rout in Rajasthan, Delhi,July 1998: why don't christians and muslims unite (against the hindus)April 1998: sangh parivar: word and deedFeb. 1998: He Ram! (how the hindu fanatics killed MKG)and many more. Readers should check out Ms. Teesta's claims and read her articles to find out exactly who the real Ms. Setalvad is.http://www.sabrang.com/cc/archive.htmOpen every issue and note the bile vented against hindus. Readers should not get fooled by her pious mouthings.
Posted by: Jaswant Mehta, India, 02-12-2004 at 0545 hours IST

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The Truth is ...

Here are some truth (verifiable) about "Sabrang", the poster-boy of the above commies:1. For years, the official sabrang logo was a map of India and pakistan where J&K, Rajasthan and Gujarat were a part of Pakistan and North-east was missing.When confronted and told about legal action, the logo was removed with a statement from Teesta Setalvad "It was a map drawn by a child ... this shows the insecurities we are living with".2. Click on the "sponsors" for Sabrang. The link is no longer functional. It will get functional once the rabid India-hating sponsors names have been hidden or "polished".3. A cursory glance at Sabrang will give anyone the CORRECT impression of the kind of work these rabid commies are involved in, leave alone what they have been doing for years.Statistics never tell a complete picture and not so when reality is hitting you on the face.
Posted by: Surendra Shukla, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0443 hours IST

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Barking down the wrong tree

Good to see a rabie-infested commie-dog finally barking though, even if it's barking under the wrong tree.We are INDEED interested in knowing your source of "funding" though Mr. Javed "Anand" and Ms Teesta Seetalvad.
Posted by: Surendra Shukla, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0432 hours IST

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Well done CC!!

Well done CC. I have visted sabrang.com several times. One has to be blind to state that it's promoting Muslim fundamentalism or is soft on it. Your track record is immaculate. Keep up the good work!!! There's no place for any form of communalism in today's world and it has to be combatted with all our collective strength.
Posted by: In Germany, Germany, 02-12-2004 at 0357 hours IST

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All for money

I, along with many of the Indians, consider both Teesta and Tavleen as biased. Whatever justification Teesta may give, she is more interested in making news and getting money for the her NGO. We never heard what she did when two of congress MPs were exonerated of Sikhs riots and today they are MP. What she did to help the sikhs victim? What she is doing for hindu victims who have been burned to death? What she is doing to bring to the justice those politians who are charged with rape, murder etc and belong to so called secularist camp? We need to look at the reason why these kind of genocide happens. One is the emotion reason, like killing of Indira gandhi or churning to death of train passengers. But equally responsible is our justice system. Justice delayed is justice denied. Till now, no body was sentenced for the train burning crime. Everyone big, involved in the sikh riots, are exonerated.Teesta is more interested in giving justice to the ones who died in the aftermath, rather than one who burned the train knowing well that there will be repurcussion.
Posted by: Shashank Deep, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0349 hours IST

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Calling Teesta's Bluff

When Zaheera Sheikh called the bluff of Ms. Setalvad by exposing Ms. Setalvad's push to get Zaheera to perjure herself in court, a lot of people suddenly started paying attention to this communal combatter. Anyone who reads communalism combat will know it low standard of journalistic integrity. Hearsay and opinion masquerade as facts, but readers should find out for themselves, instead of taking my word for it.Now, that the bluff has been called on the "communalism combat techniques" of Ms. Setalvad and Sabrang communications, and apparently perjuring in court is perfectly acceptable if the lies are meant to combat communalism. Instead of answering her own questionable journalistic credentials, Ms. Setalvad chooses to resort to ad hominem attacks on Ms. Tavleen Singh, who has always been completely intellectually honest in her writing (and I love her articles for that) -- the case of a pot calling a piece of crystal black. Satyameva Jayate, as always, and I am sure the truth will out about the lies peddled by Ms. Setalvad.
Posted by: Amit Sanyal, United States, 02-12-2004 at 0331 hours IST

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Zaheera has spoken

My heart goes out to Zaheera and the gujarat victims, but I am infuriated that a person in such a plight would be taken advantage of by the likes of Teesta Setalvad. Instead of defending herself, she "shoots the messenger" Tavleen Singh, who is one of the most secular and intellectually honest journalists in India today.As for Ms. Setalvad's complaint on being called "anti-national", perhaps I should remind readers here that she had Kashmir as part of pakistan on the sabrang website from 1993 upto 2000, when concerned citizens forced her to accept that it was wrong to portray kashmir as part of pakistan. I have read many issues of Communalism Combat, and my opinion is that it's journalism is third rate, and most times borders on hate mongering under the guise of "fighting injustice". Injustice can only be fought by telling the truth, and not by lying, Ms. Setalvad. It is time you learnt that lesson instead of raging at the inimitable Ms. Tavleen Singh. The editors at the Indian express must be thanked for giving me the pleasure of reading Ms. Singh's column and for presenting the incoherent response by Ms. Setalvad.
Posted by: paneerselvan, India, 02-12-2004 at 0324 hours IST

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Communalism combat expose

Teesta Setalvad's penchant for twisting falsehoods is as strong as ever. She tries to mislead readers and cast aspersions on Ms. Tavleen Singh's competence and character, by providing selective titles from her so-called "communalism combat". Readers should pick up a copy of Ms. Setalvad's rag to understand why Ms. Setalvad is not only a communal person but also one prone to lying to prove a point.It annoys me that the best the authors could do is throw mud on Ms. Tavleen singh. Ms. Setalvad says "there is not one petro-dollar used in her magazine". Given that she has already been shown to be a liar, why should we believe her?Keep up the good work, Ms. Singh. I love your intellectual honesty that rips the mask off these hate-mongers pretending to fight communalism. Ms. Setalvad is infamous for her website showing kashmir as part of pakistan for close to a decade before she was forced to change it on public outrage. Such is the "nationalism" of this combatters of communalism.Thank you, IE, for your fair coverage.
Posted by: Jeremy Selvan, India, 02-12-2004 at 0317 hours IST

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Dont get fooled by the title

I urge readers to not get fooled by Teesta Setalvad's pious posturings, and more importantly her "list of topics" addresses by communalism combat. I urge readers to read one of the articles to see the nature of Teesta Setalvad's bigotry and communalism. Readers will then understand why Ms. Setalvad had to resort to name calling and rubbishing the good name of Ms. Tavleen Singh.Great job by Tavleen Singh and IE in exposing the face of these communal hatemongers pretending to be our saviours.
Posted by: Sri ram, India, 02-12-2004 at 0308 hours IST

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"journalistic integrity"

It is quite funny to see all the frothing at the mouth by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand. After having been proven to be liars who are not beyond pushing riot victims to perjure themselves, these so-called journalists are now trying to convince us readers that it is the fault of the inimitable Tavleen Singh for spelling out the truth and contradictions and the history of Communalism combat in profiting from riots and mayhem. For those who are unaware, Communalism Combat had shown a map of India without kashmir and with kashmir belonging to pakistan since 1993. It took many years of efforts by concerned citizens to get Teesta and her cabal to (1) accept that it was wrong to portray kashmir as part of pakistan and (2) to change the image on their website.Teesta Stalvad is known to be a communal hate-monger, for her interaction with other communal minded groups like "Friends of South Asia" and FOIL. Sabrang communications has been in the frontline of spreading misinformation about the state of affairs in India. Kudos to Ms. Tavleen Singh for ripping the mask from the face of these hate mongering bigots pretending to fight communalism. Kudos to IE too.Best regards,
Posted by: Jayesh Mehta, India, 02-12-2004 at 0302 hours IST

Gieven Teesta's anti-India and pro-Pakistan stand, GOI should revoke her Indian citizenship and ship her to Pakistan!

Majority of these muslim and Hindu-born-pro-muslim women in India yak their mouths about liberty, justice and equality, while living in a land that offers them this security, liberty, and provides them opportunities to develop themselves as individuals. They take advantage of the secularity and liberalism of India, and don't know what to do with all this freedom that they have here as Indian muslim women.

Let them all be shipped to Pakistan and Bangladesh, where they can "enjoy" to their heart's content the large doses of "justice, equality, and liberty" meted to muslim women.

Reminds me of the situation of a Bangladeshi muslim woman who was a domestic worker (illegal) in a neighbor's house in Mumbai. During the BJP government, many of these illegal workers were deported back to Bangladesh. When she heard the news that she had to go back, she began weeping in front of her employers. The neighbour pacified her and said that she should be happy and look forward to her return, because she was going back to her own native land and be among her own family and people. But the Bangladeshi woman replied that she had enjoyed her freedom in India as a muslim woman, because she had felt free to do what she liked, dress as she liked, and have the oportunity to work outside the home, earn a living, and be independent, whereas the women in her conservative village in Bangladesh were not allowed to dress as they liked, work outside the home, make their own decisions, and enjoy a life-style as they pleased.

It is ironic that many muslim and anti-hindu women, such as Teesta and Shabana Azmi, whine and flap their mouths about oppression and injustices against muslims, while living securely as a muslim and a woman in liberal societies. I'm sure that they are aware (or are they not?) that they wouldn't be able to survive even for a week with their attitudes and life-styles in any Mullahstan. The same can be said of muslim women living in the west.

I guess these women don't know what to do with all that freedom that they enjoy in India. They should be exiled to Pakistan or Bangladesh, since all their sympathies seem to lie across the border. Let them, as women, have a taste of the "justice" and "freedom" that these Mullahstans mete out to their women. I'd like to see for how long, or whether they will at all, flap their mouths in these countries, as they have been doing in India.

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Nice to see that a fight has erupted between a traitor and a secular
has been.

Teesta Setalvad(or is it Ayesha Pig?)

This traitor is trying to preach "Journalistic ethics "when her motives
and methods are questioned.She suddenly becomes a "journalist"
whenever questions are raised about her source of funds so that
she can shout hoarse about "assault on secular media"That
this "journalist"'s pathetic journal does not even have a circulation
of 2500!says a lot about her immense popularity!

Her main grouse against Tavleen Singh seems to be that that more people
seem to read what Tavleen writes compared to her tripe.
What ethics is she practicing when she is defending terrorists and
her fellow traitors?

She states in her "defence"that she has written about genocide in B'desh etc.etc.
Who is she trying to fool?How many times has she visited Kashmir?or Marad?
to take up the cause of Hindu victims?Obiously ISI doesn't fund such trips
We have seen her jumping to the defence of every single musla criminal
and trying to subvert the investigation process.
.
Notice how cleverly she states that she has not received a single"petro-dollar"
Wow!how nice!ISI funding doesn't obviously get labelled as "petro-dollar"
as Porkistan is not considered an oil producing nation even if the
money is laundered Saudi cash.
She claims that her company's finances are audited.Big deal.
We know it's a front.A criminal enterprise can exist and operate
with slush funds without showing them in the books.

As per her own admission if she is perpetually short of funds,
who is financing her frequent trips to Delhi and overseas?

This Islamic sewer pig must be investigated and exposed before
more Macaulay putras start believing her trash.

Tavleen Singh:

She went to Deoband and the Mullas threw her out for not wearing a
Burkha and so, this hardcore secularist got egg on her face and lo and
behold!she turns anti -islamic.Well,I think we should send every
female journalist to Deoband for lessons in secularism.

She is the one who coined the "famous" phrase "Lunatic fringe".
She must be told that because of the presence of the HINDU LUNATIC
FRINGE,she has been saved from the SAVAGE ISLAMIC CORE and she is alive to write about secularism.

May the fight continue.

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She is a paid agent of western interests ready to destablise india at her masters behest.

Ankur, NAWO, CORD, Awaaz-e-Niswan, FORWARD,
Asmita, Kali for Women, Manushi, Nirantar, Shakti
Salini, Akshara, FAOW, Sabarang are all traitors.

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Tavleen V/s Teesta

Tavleen deserves the gratitude of entire nation for exposing the trojan horses who will go to any length to malign Hindus, India, & Indian culture. Time has now come to take the fight against these elements into their battleground. The only reason India is sacular is it's Hindu majority.Can these Pseudo saculars show evenone Muslim majority place on the globe which is sacular & where a non muslim is allowed to live in peace & dignity? History shows that muslims talk about secularisn when the5 are 15%, demand seperate homeland when they reach 25% & Kill or convert all non Muslims where they are over 50%

Posted by: Rajeev, India, 04-12-2004 at 1143 hours IST

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Calling Teesta's bluff

Teesta may do well to rename her magazine to Hindu Bashing or something. The token articles on Christian or Islamic fundamentalism clearly proves the dishonest and partisan nature of Teesta and Javed because they have gone to the extent of threatening, harassing, coercing the witnesses to give statements in certain way. She has been discredited (not that there was any need for it) by Zaheera and her relatives as mere opportunist trying to get some media attention, cheap publicity and lots of money from petro-dollar nations and Christian evengelicals.

Teesta and Javed have not specified

- source of their funding
- their motive behind selective (read anti-Hindu) "combat"
- for removing Jammu and Kashmir and the Northeast from the Indian map on their website
- being an NGO and all (according to Teesta and Javed's claim) how come they have no example where they fought for (a) Kashmiri Pandit (b) Godhra Hindus burned alive (c) innocent Sikhs murdered during riots in 1984 perpetrated by Congress politicians

And why does IE provide space for a "rejoinder" to discredited people like Teesta and Javed against whom the witnesses have provided legal affidavit?

Posted by: Akshay, India, 04-12-2004 at 0610 hours IST

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Choice of words gives teesta real face

Genocide== Economic boycot of muslim in godhara

MOvement== Wiping out kashmiri pandits from valley by muslims there. Let us not fool ourselves without connivance of local muslims this wud have benn impossible to manage by pakistani terrorists

Posted by: Anil Kumar, Bolivia, 04-12-2004 at 0415 hours IST

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Combat Teesta Type Communalists Too

Tavleen Singh is right when she alleges that Teesta Setalvad has thrived on maligning India for being a country as fundamentalist as our Islamic neighbors. As a matter of fact Teesta Setalvad has left no stone unturned. Anybody witness to Teesta's messages at any international stage will come back with a feeling that India is Bosnia or worse Pakistan.

And what is this nonsense about Combating Communalism. If there is anything that needs to be combated it is the likes of Teesta's magazine. For crying out loud just have a cursory look at the magazine Communalism Combat. Despite Teesta's slam bang effort at listing her oh so equal treatment for Islamic communalism (many of the titles just being mere facades) freakin thing hits you on the face. The journal is nothing but a hideous replica of Saamna magazine!

Then by Teesta's standards, even Bal Thackeray can call himself an impassioned NGO.

Posted by: Robin Mitra, India, 04-12-2004 at 0401 hours IST

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Teesta exposed herself

Teesta, Hoping that you will read these comments, I would say that you have exposed yourself and I thank courageous writer tavleen singh. As a neutral reader, when I glanced through your CC and activities of your suspecious organization that claim to combat communalism, I would say it is purely Hinduism Combat, and if you have the courage and truthfulness, come to the open and fight Hinduism. Your dubious and one-sided reports on Gujarat and silence on the plight of the Hindus all over India is a testimony to your anti-Hindu attitude. I hope you will disclose your source of funding if you believe you have nothing to conceal.

Posted by: Jeeva Dutta, United States, 04-12-2004 at 0316 hours IST