Monday, August 15, 2011

Independence Not The Same As Freedom

US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland: “As you know, we support the right of peaceful, non-violent protest around the world. That said, India is a democracy, and we count on India to exercise appropriate democratic restraint in the way it deals with peaceful protest.” This was a comment about Anna Hazare’s protest against corruption with fasts starting August 16. Imagine, if that statement had come when we were still fighting for independence. Every political party would have welcomed it and quoted it over and over again. If that were about Egypt or Libya the Barkha Dutts, the Rajdeep Sardesais, the Sagarika Ghoses, the Arnab Goswamis, the Rahul Kanwals would be calling it a statement from God herself. Now that we are an independent republic every party condemns it citing our constitution and what not. And the same politicians will cite our constitution. The very constitution they frequently trample. The very freedoms they deny to ordinary citizens.

Our cricket teams still have many tags of Kings and Crowns. Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers, Rajasthan Royals or Chennai Super Kings! How do you explain that? If you really go by the last CNN-IBN poll that suggests people would still vote for UPA if elections were held today, you’ve got to believe this is an idiot nation. I'm sorry to say this, but only a nation of idiots can really vote for the UPA again in current circumstances. As I write this, Rajdeep Sardesai is busy with Ramchandra Guha wondering why the South is never properly credited with our independence movement. Huh? North, South, East, Centre, West – when will Rajdeep stop trying to divide the nation? And this is his Independence day special! This I-day, some news anchors sacrificed their usual attire for sarees and kurtas. That's right, for one day in your life you can be Indian, they seem to suggest.

The truth is always a loser when the context is removed. Nuland made that statement given recent events in our nation. Killing agitating farmers, lathi-charge at peaceful, sleeping protesters at Ramlila grounds, setting conditions for protests by Anna Hazare & Co., banning movies and books, like the one called ‘Aarakshan’ by Prakash Jha. Stupid banning of a book on Gandhi by the Gujarat government, banning a book on Shivaji by Maharashtra, banning Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Imposing strange conditions and telling you how you can protest. Independence is not the same as freedom. Independence is not the same as liberty. Independence is not the same as ‘we were born free’! Looks like only wild animals are really born free.

Land grabs, farmer suicides, black money, Swiss accounts, Italian heads of ruling parties, an untruthful news media, a divided nation. One is almost tempted to quote the Billy Joel song “We didn’t start the fire”. The true hero, the common man is yet to taste freedom. Taste this dosage from a gutter mouth called Manish Tiwari, spokesperson of the Congress party: “.....consists of "armchair fascists, overground Maoists, closet anarchists...lurking behind forces of right reaction and funded by invisible donors whose links may go back a long way abroad". In short, he has described Indians for you. Such contempt for ordinary men and women in a democracy can only be held by fascists themselves. If this continues you may sooner or later have that midnight knock on your door. And instead of severe condemnation our media rejoices and delights in the controversy of this filth.

Sample these translated lines from the PM's I-day speech and see if they reflect any learning at all:
"Key to winning battle against corruption is for the nation to unite
There can’t be any slip-up in vigil in the fight against terrorism
13/7 blasts have proven we need to tackle terrorism"

There hardly seems to be any wisdom gained in all the seven years of his rule. Do yourself a favour. This I-Day don’t listen to speeches by morons. Instead listen to the concept of freedom from Steven Spielberg’s movie ‘Amistad’. That’s a true story about smuggled slaves from Sierra Leone defended by a former US President, John Quincy Adams. 



The text of that great speech can be googled and found anywhere on the net. We really don’t need a constitution to tell us about our freedoms. We don’t need a constitution to confirm land should be given to the tiller. We don't need a constitution to tell us how or what to think. The mother of all democracies, England, doesn’t have a constitution. In the petition by Prakash Jha the Supreme Court must seriously strike down any ban on freedom of thought or expression, once and for all. We now have the most corrupt and the most dangerous government ever ruling this nation. When ordinary people are called ‘fascists’ you know your freedoms are dead

Freedom is bigger than the concept of independence. This I-day, for change,  please listen to a different speech.

10 comments :

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. It is a myth to claim that we got independence? What kind of democracy we are experiencing? No one is bothered about the common and to empathise their ordeals and whoever comes to power they are for their own earning in the first place. The gutter mouth the author explained supra flings that they want to show their right places! Whether we are in democracy or tyrant? How long will it take for the common to show them the right place? Have they not learnt that the people of TN had shown the corrupt DMK government their right place? When the congis fell at the feet of the Italian mafia, we lost everything. British were with ethics but this mafia?

    Only people in the uncanny common and middle income bracket loan on Dr. Swamy who had incarnated for the justice. But the media indulge in smear campaign that he is against minorities and questioned him in an interview visiting the privacy of his family? One wonders where we are going and the future of our siblings!
    August 15, 2011 7:10 PM

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  3. In India, there is lot of hype about minorities, constitution, the parliament and supreme court et al, all of them are in place to protect and serve the soul called "freedom". While the Tewaris, Sibals and Singhs speak about the supremacy of the parliament and constitution, they merely forget that they are actually blowing the apparel of the soul out of proportion to a mangitude that the soul gets overlooked and becomes a redundant, which should be the other way round. The leaders should strive for protecting the soul and not the clothes. Gandhi might be restless wherever he is, desperately awaiting his turn for someone to invoke his soul. Well this UPA govt is in no hurry!!

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  4. @Vaidya K Iyer

    Dr. Swamy has been confusing in the past. His party's profile contains for example:

    (see basic secularism at

    http://janataparty.org/profile.html)

    2. Encouragement of inter-caste marriages with the aim of building up a casteless India.

    3. Educating the masses on the equality of the religions and fostering equal respect for the theology of all religions, which includes freedom to preach and follow religion of one's choice without state interference.

    4. The right to enjoy the reservation in employment and education for backwards and dalits without regard to religion professed.

    This is just a sample. If he is pro-casteless society, why is he not also banning the burqua? And why should state do anything related to marriages?

    Possibly Dr Swamy is an intelligent man. But he needs to pull his act together and come up with a cogent and consistent proposal. To us he appears to be Left-Libertarian. LL may not be the best thing for us.

    V S Naipaul, never mind his personal opinions on certain matters, has had a more consistent view on Islam in India, and also Socialism. For example read his interview at the following:

    http://www.ayodhya.com/ayotemplet.jsp?sno=35

    We think there has to be a reasoned debate, dialectics, rhetoric, every such thing, to arrive at a comprehensive solution. We need that culture of intellect again.

    By the way, we have parodied Manmohan's speech here:

    http://samalochaka.blogspot.com/2011/08/we-have-taken-highlights-of-prime.html

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  5. Just saw the debate on EndTV LRC by nidhi razdhan.

    Mahesh Bhatt proved all is well with him. His normal health is of being scum.


    Then saw this from Shabana Hashmi...


    11:20 AM 'Anna behaving like a spoilt child':
    Shabnam Hashmi, who is the sister of the slain theatre activist Safdar Hashmi, texts: There is a democratic procedure to bring in new bills. The Lokpal Bill was introduced in Parliament; it is now with the Standing Committee. There are differences, but amendments can be moved.
    Bills are not 2-minute Maggi noodles. Why is Anna behaving like a spoilt upper-class child who wants his chocolate immediately, otherwise he howls. It is sheer blackmail.
    His campaign is supported on the ground by the RSS. Say no to blackmail, say no to divisive forces.

    http://news.rediff.com/commentary/2011/aug/16/liveupdates.htm



    I guess we should coin new word, "HinduPhobea". Afterall there exists "Islamohphobea" coined by such sickulars!

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  6. Playing with lives and security for politics:

    http://www.financialexpress.com/news/pilots-from-rae-bareli-top-ai-hiring-list/832427/0

    Pilots from Rae Bareli top AI hiring list
    NIRBHAY KUMAR
    Posted: Tuesday, Aug 16, 2011 at 0321 hrs IST

    New Delhi: Campus selection of trainee pilots is few and far between in the country with nearly 4,000 of them looking for jobs in a surplus market.
    Aspiring pilots, however, can hope to improve their prospects if they are from the flying training school in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

    Almost 62 candidates out of the total 80 pursuing the training course at the Rae Bareli academy have been recruited and one can easily guess the recruiting airline. Public sector airline Air India has hired the trainee pilots even as it is facing the problem of plenty. This has happened at a time when Uttar Pradesh is going to polls next year and politicians want to charm people with the feel-good factor.

    “Air India offered the letters of appointment to 62 pilots in July. The airline had come for a lesser number of pilots but it found quality in our pilots and hired more,” Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) director Air Marshal V K Verma (retd) told FE over phone.

    A source in Air India said the airline could have been under political pressure to hire pilots from IGRUA. Air India did not respond to a detailed questionnaire sent by FE.

    Sarah Aviation director Akhileshwar Prasad said that private airlines were hiring entry-level pilots from across the country following several levels of screening. “The best employers in the country are private airlines and they hire from across the country and not just from IGRUA,” Prasad said.

    According to an industry estimate, airlines operating short-haul jets like A320s and B737s keep 10 pilots for each aircraft. Air India has a fleet of 135 aircraft out of which nearly 30 are not in operation. It maintains a pilot strength of 1,700.

    When asked if private airlines were also hiring good number of trainee pilots from IGRUA, its director VK Verma said the academy did not keep this record. IGRUA has the capacity to train 100 junior pilots annually.

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  7. PAF pilot's cock and bull sob story rubbished by IAF insider --
    (Barkha Dutt raved on and on about this for two days on her shows - held special reunions, shed tears, aman ki asha and all that jazz)

    http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewtopic.php?p=1147240#p1147240

    Death in Enemy Action

    My father is a retired Indian Air force officer (Wing Commander). He knows first hand the true story of the death of the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Balwant Rai Mehta. My father, then Sqn Ldr BC Roy was the commanding officer of the only Air Force unit, which was a lone Radar unit at Bhuj during the Rann of Kutch operations, September 1965 India-Pakistan war.

    After watching NDTV programme 46 years after the war (http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-bu ... ity/207609), rubbished the sequence and circumstance in which the Pakistan Air Force pilot Flying Officer Qais Hussein was compelled to shoot down the Beechcraft that was ferrying the then Chief Minister of Gujarat Balwant Rai Mehta along with his wife. It was being piloted by none other than ace retd Indian Air Force pilot Jehangir Engineer. This is what my father had to say:

    1. Beechcraft takes off from Tata Chemicals, Mithapur. It was being piloted by former ace Indian Air Force officer pilot Jehangir Engineer and on board was the then serving Chief Minister of Gujarat Balwant Rai Mehta along with his wife and journalists, on 19th September 1965.

    2. The movement of the Chief Minister was well publicised in newspapers, including advertisements. The Pakistan(is) knew of his movement all along.

    3. Two Sabres from Pakistan chased the plane, twenty kilometers deep into Indian territory from international border and wanted to hijack this aircraft. They asked the plane to follow them to their airbase. The Pak Air Force knew all along that the Beechcraft was being flown by none other than the ace IAF pilot Jehangir Engineer, ferrying the then Gujarat Chief Minister and wife. Pakistan wanted to take them along as their prisoners which would certainly have been a great prize catch indeed.

    4. While being escorted Jehangir Engineer, whose younger brother Group Captain Ronnie Engineer was then the Station Commander in Pune Airbase and another was Air Vice Marshal (famous Engineer brothers of IAF), could not let the Pak Air Force do this to them. He found a patch of land within Indian territory at Rann of Kutch. He ducked and wanted to force land the aircraft to save the Chief Minister from the two enemy Sabre jets.

    5. The Sabres were totally merciless and pumped bullets, killing the pilot, the chief minister, his wife and other passengers on board, even though the pilot had waggled his wings, indicating it to be a civilian aircraft, thereby Pakistan Air Force violated an important international treaty, by shooting down a civilian aircraft killing unarmed innocent people including a lady.

    Somik Ranjan Roy, Salt Lake, Kolkata

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  8. On some serious introspection, I would draw an opinion that all representatives of Congress aren't so bad. It is only that since Sonia Gandhi wants her son installed as Prime Minister by hook or crook, these good reps of the party are fearing to speak their mind in public against corruption. They also know that corruption and Rahul Gandhi coming to power are synonymous objectives of Sonia Gandhi and cannot explicated. Shocking more is that somehow she has brought in her entire family (sisters and others from Italy) into India's power fiefdom.

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  9. in true democracies strict anti graft laws are in place.the is no tolerance for corruption.true freedom comes from being secure in the knowledge that the corrupt cannot flourish at the cost of society.unfortunately in india,the polity is glued together by corruption.if unstuck it may colapse but it should and deservedly so.let a new non corrupt order take birth and flourish

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  10. @samalochaka
    Well said. Hope you know our PM was in the cabinet meeting held under the circumstances of liberating hard core terrorist to release the aircraft from Kandahar? Today they the congi talk as if they are chaste? Hence, anyone conforming to raise to occasion is common and cannot be dubbed as crafty

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