Sikh Riots -1984 - Aftermath

In New Delhi in 1984 when Indira Gandhi was killed and goons were set upon Sikhs. 3000 of them met a worse fate. To date, to best of my knowledge, nobody has been punished for that carnage. So certainly Long Live Indian Democracy !"Unquote

I cannot resist responding to the comments - Re Sikh Riots. The breast beating, myopic, jholawalas / intellectuals have forgotten the context and events leading upto the October 84.
The crowds, those "set upon" Sikhs that day were recalling the excesses of the Sikhs and resulting pain in the preceding 4 years in Punjab and elsewhere.
Many equally innocent Hindus and Sikhs and not to forget Policemen, were killed in Punjab by the Bhidrawale goons. Many girls (Sikh and Hindu – all Indians!) were abducted for the ""use" by Bhindrawale; shall we call them "hordes" or goons. It was 'war".

 The crowds - common people - are not easy to excite for a task of this scale; by Congress or any one in History- for such spontaneous combustion. Crowds go berserk and then motivated persons -political or otherwise – take advantage. Politically un-savvy managers like us closed our offices and factories at 2:00 PM that day : All our staff was told to take care of their Sikh colleagues.
It is not my case that Congress Leaders then - later in the evening – did not add fuel to the fire. They did. And won the next election riding on the animal emotions so generated !!!

Same as Modi did in Godhra !!! And won the subsequent election riidng on the animal emotions so generated.!!! Go back to the context of Godhra.
What were Muslims of Godhra thinking/ doing burning the bogeis of returning Hindu pilgrims?
There is lot of merit in having Modi as PM; but he will come along with the rabid VHP and Bajrang Dal "hordes"
That is the "cost" or eventuality India has to brace itself for. Congress has become "leaderless;.

Only hope is that the rapid economic growth of India will ensure lesser number of people/ corwds being excited by; Congress Or Modi/ BJP or VHP and Bajrang Dal, or Bhindrawales of India, Or SIMI or IM, to commit incidents on the scale of Sikh riots, Godhra or Bhiwandi.

Smaller ones will always happen. Law and Justice system will only follow, far behind. But must .

 

When we talk of some one "going scot free"it is in the realm of Law and Judicial system. There were thousands who shouted maaro saalo ko, in those 3 or 4 days, all over the country. Most certainly, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar and HKL Bhagat and many Cogressmen were among them. And most certainly "Jab bada ped girta hai to dharti kaampti hai" is also
in the same genre.
All of them got away thru the definitional loopholes in the Law and its enforcement system
So what is the way forward ?
A more robust Judicial System - which has an SLA with the society: Abhishek Sanghavi wrote an excellent article deatiling 9 legislative, admin and Juricprudential steps India needs to take.

The conundrum is - Would we have Justice system the way as is OR based on Mob-justice. And what should the society do about an issue that lingers on 30 years later - why and what are the motives (politics, again) ???

Both have their plus and minus sides. Judicial justice often does injustice. Sometimes mob justice can do justice with on the spot adjudication. So the answers are never really there. On the other end, the formal system is yet to deliver justice to the
perpetrators even as it has had 30 years to do the job.

 

Catch’ém Young : Re– Hinduism

Many people (Hindus) and Hindu organisations fret that Hinduism is losing vitality; not without reason though.  

Organised activities of the faithful of Islam, Christianity and Sikhism are contrasted with the free flowing manners of Hinduism, which is put out as the main cause.  

A few days ago I heard a Pandit Ji teaching a class of would be purohits about Namkaran Sanskar. Every step of the ritual was being logically explained, with its sociological significance and message for the child, parents, family and the society.

It is not very difficult to see on the other hand, that most young Hindus, men and women do not know even the Aarti, meaning and significance of Gayatri mantra and simple temple rituals.

I wonder if all these fretting organisations and Hindus can work to “catch them young”?

Request all neighbourhood schools to allow “One Religious Education Hour” per week; in or out of curriculla. Pandit Ji uses the space, facilities of the school and access to the young. School teachers can also join such classes.   

Hindu arts, culture, music, and poetry, architecture and world view must also be introduced to the young such that their initiation into Hinduism is broad based and holistic. The topics of discussion or discourse will have to be simplified for intelligent absorption by the young; I must admit a difficult task.

Hopefully, Hindu religion will also be contemporised and made relevant to the present day world.   

India needs Positive Public Discourse- An Open letter to Anna

Dear Anna Saheb & Arvind Kejriwal,

I wonder, what do you all have to say about :

1) Now that EGoM on Telecom has fixed a tarriff of Rs,14,000 Crores for 5Mz, all telcos and commentators are lamenting that "the Price of Telecom services will rise". Telecom services will get out of reach of many.

It is my belief that CAG, a constitutional body, over stepped its "Äudit" mandate in so called 2G scam. Audit function, is to verify the accounts as presented, whether the expense or revenue is per laid down policy and prudential norms.

Mr Rai, the CAG made a statement that he will be an “activist" and audit the effect of such expense' or program. A very welcome stance, given the oversight' needs on a generally lethargic, less than caring management, of economic affairs by Govts, of all hues.

Most commentators let it pass, since such activism will be good for the country, a'la Sheshan at Election Commission, in theory.

But, CAG overstepped, way beyond its dharma. There was and is corruption - the political class took, may be Rs 200-500 Cr in bribes. But the hammer beat of 24/7 channels picked up Rs 1,76,000 Cr and any such imagined astronomical numbers.

A vitiated public life is the result: the bitterness and acrimony has brought the country on its knees, so to speak. So many millions of Indians will have to wait another generation before the curse of poverty is lifted off them.

2) Govt of India forces ONGC to sell its Crude Oil output @ $47-$49/ barrel against the international price of $95- $105/ barrel.

Will CAG ever comment on this? And will India-Against-Corruption have anything to say on this?
And what about the inane and irresponsible statements Baba Ramdev keeps making: Rs 35/l petrol indeed!!

Our institutions, as they are, need to be strengthened and developed. Period. And outfits likes yours can provide oversight from outside, as the legislators and executive are colluding - for funding their political operations.

There is one such sterling piece of "oversight" work / framework crafted by you all - the RTI.
You are messing it up with Lokpal.   

Warm regards  

--
Vinod Dhall
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania