May 23: A nation waiting with bated breath
by P M Ravindran on 22 May 2019 15 Comments

May 23, 2019 possibly has the whole world waiting with bated breath for the results of the general elections in India. I am not a psephologist but share the feel good factor that makes many predict a definite victory for Narendra Modi. His first term has to be considered successful for merely applying brakes on a nation that was fast sliding into an abyss of everything that a civilized society abhors. While this in itself is laudable, the real positive change that has happened is that national pride has been awakened. Physically, projects like Make in India and the development of infrastructure in the areas of transportation are the most visible. But then, as Robert Frost said, there are miles to go and miles to go…

 

While demonetization and introduction of GST have reduced corruption to a large extent, it cannot be said that the quality of government administration and justice delivery has improved even marginally. One benchmark I use to make this assertion is the response to applications and appeals under the Right to Information Act. My Save Right to Information Campaign (see Mission Statement at end) has succeeded only in exposing the public servants rather than getting the information sought.

 

When one evaluates the performance of governments, I shudder to think about the lack of transparency and accountability in the functioning of each and every institution. The worst, of course, is the judiciary followed by the bureaucracy.

 

Recent events that have shaken the apex court highlight the urgent need to have a National Judicial Accountability Commission with powers to try and punish judges as per laws applicable to ordinary citizens, but with twice the severity. The allegation against the Chief Justice of India was legally a non-bailable offence. If memory serves me right, it was the apex court that directed that the accused need be arrested only if the allegation has been investigated by an officer of the rank not less than a superintendent of police. Maybe such an investigation in the matter of an allegation against the CJI would have been futile.

 

But did the court follow its own guidelines laid down in the Vishaka verdict? No. The in-house committee appointed to investigate the allegations (headed by Justice S.A. Bobde) gave a clean chit to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and dealt a death blow to the credibility of the judiciary in general and the apex court in particular.

 

Another case that may be mentioned here, in passing, is the number of times P. Chidambaram is being granted bail. Social media is rife with speculation whether this will make it to Guinness’s Book of World Records for the number of times an accused is granted bail.

 

The failures of the bureaucracy, even in the context of the current elections, will suffice to expose the fallacy of it being the steel frame of government administration.

 

The number of cases of bogus voting in Kerala has been mind boggling. Video clips from CCTVs installed in a few problematic booths have gone viral and some of these violations have been confirmed by the State Electoral Officer. But there is a video of a Marxist party member claiming that though a few cases have been exposed due to the stupidity of the bogus voters who had been adequately briefed earlier, there are many cases that will never be detected. (This video, available at https://youtu.be/Z6Qqna43Cwg is in Malayalam). The latest report confirms re-polling in 4 booths, a first time in Kerala, and reminiscent of the rampant booth capturing in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the 1970s and 80s.

 

One bogus voter was identified as a member of a local self-government body; the CEO recommended that she be removed from office. The State Election Commissioner has refused to do it. His arguments are ludicrous. He has reportedly stated that it could be done only if a court has convicted the accused for misbehavior or impersonation and even that should be reported to the Commission by a voter within the jurisdiction of that local body or the secretary of that local body or an officer empowered by the government for that purpose. One wonders whether it is the laws that are dubious or the public servants administering them.

 

While the law is clear that private property can be used for campaigning by candidates only with the approval of the owner, come elections and both public and private properties that are not occupied are treated like the candidates’ own. Of course some walls of even occupied properties are booked in advance, with or without the permission of the owners.

 

I have had the horror of finding the walls of the land adjoining my house defaced by a candidate.

(See ‘Elections: The dance of democracy or...’ at

http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=4996).

 

The land being in the names of my children, who are away, I complained to all the authorities: District Electoral Officer, Chief Electoral Officer of the State and the Central Election Commission. The Central Election Commission responded with a perfunctory ‘your complaint has been forwarded to the concerned authorities’, but there has been no response to the query seeking the designation and address of these concerned authorities. A team, under a Junior Superintendent from the Revenue Divisional Office, came and made some inquiry, but no formal communication has been received from anybody so far.

 

As usual, there have been reports in the media of anti-defacing squads defacing the defaced walls or removing unauthorized hoardings. But this is obviously not even a miniscule of what is required. Even an RTI query on recovery of dues from the candidates, for this symbolic effort by the anti defacing squads during the last general elections has not elicited any valid response.

 

The next cause of concern is the plethora of complaints of Model Code of Conduct violations by the candidates, parties and their proxies. The most important has been of the Congress president and Amethi candidate, Rahul Gandhi blatantly lying about the apex court indicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Rafale fighter jet deal. Apparently, only the contempt of court issue was taken up by the petitioner and not the defamation of the Prime Minister who is also a candidate. Though the court is yet to give its final decision on the petition, it was astonishing that the court gave more than one opportunity to the respondent to apologise. Though finally an apology has been tendered, Rahul Gandhi has been going around declaring that it was only to the court.

 

Rahul Gandhi got another slap on his face when Oxford Dictionary officials rebutted a false claim by him (or his dirty tricks department) that there was a new word introduced in the dictionary as ‘modilie’ (‘Oxford Dictionary calls Rahul Gandhi's bluff on new word Modilie’, https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/oxford-dictionary-rahul-gandhi-modilie-tweet-1526696-2019-05-16)

 

Violation of the model code of conduct reached a new low with Priyanka Vadra encouraging children to repeat the lie ‘chowkidar chor hai’.

 

Whatever Narendra Modi has done during his first term can mostly be considered as setting the stage only. He has certainly done a good job in managing the available resources with the rusted tools bequeathed to him. The fresh mandate will enable decisive steps to make institutions of governance transparent, accountable, effective and efficient.

*

 

Save Right to Information Campaign

Mission Statement

‘Save Right to information. Use Right to Information Act.

Get information or.... expose at least three idiots/traitors* among public servants.

1. The Public Information Officer,

2. The First Appellate Authority (and head of public authority where the head of the public authority is not the FAA) and

3. The Information Commissioner

 

(*An idiot is one who does not know the job s/he is getting paid to do and a traitor is one who knows it but does not do it)

User Comments Post a Comment
As usual,P.M. Ravindran sir has gone ' hammer and tongs' against a rotten judiciary, that has graciously granted bail to Chidambaram 25 times-- an incredible feat but a shameful one.
Panikkath Krishnan Unni
May 22, 2019
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All our prayers across the length and breadth of India have brought NaMo to the place of undisputed leadership of India that is today's Mahabharat, make no mistake, and hoping and praying to Baba that it need not be reduced to a Paki-hawala kristallnacht to shore up the cretins in United Opposition. Given the power of social media, very little escapes people's attention these days, and also the new Paki Low Comissar in ND merits attention, whether he brought a tow of suitcases across the diplomatic channel or not! In fact hawala rarely works like that. Remember, it is Pakistan that is bankrupt; the ISI, on the other hand, with its great stash of NATO War Against Terror cash and weapons, can give a run for money against the richest in the Earth, barring old LIzzie of Windsor. So, both sides are ready for a final showdown. What happens after the 23rd, in the ensuing fortnight, will determine who rules over India's destiny, or India fragments into the tukde-tukde dreams of old Churchillian geopolitics that continues to this day! It has not escaped us that who partnered Kapil Sibbal in the shadow EVM interview in London was a veiled Paki-intel hacker! We know all about the bristling armed ghazwa creep imports that power the opposition goons who care a damn about either Indian civilities or the democratic culture! They have none. Also the spate of Paki-paid lobbyist articles in the foreign press in their usual anti-Hindu style following the advance guard of Time, WaPo, NYT and other cretins across the seven seas. We also know the ISI efforts behind the UN & its Islamist Human Rights administrators, duly slapped by the present dispensation. We are not sufficiently brainwashed, not to notice their deep silence on continuing violation of human rights in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Uighyur province!

So, time to dazzle this Hydra-monster of ghazwa through shining the bright sunlight of reality through one critical blow of exposure! Its terror fails to grip the imagination of aam Indians, and it is NaMo in the end who will set the world free from its devious claws of taqiyya!

Hari Om Tatsat
Jay Bharati
May 22, 2019
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And why this Hinduphobia, within and outside India? The answer is obvious. In Satyayug, we must think through the whole brain in holistic ways. Aham Brahmasmi. This is the light of Vedantic Vishwadharma, which is currently restricted to Bharat, the Land of Light! The rest are not intelligent at all; their systems and modes and methods are governed by the anti-Light, tamasic forces of Mahish and Ravan, out to destroy the Earth itself!

Now imagine, if India were splintered according to their plans, the rockets of ISRO would fall in the hands of the other Hyderabad, and the reactors of Trombay, might yet belong to Sindh!...and so on and so forth.

Then again, imagine, the Western mind, deep in the throes of the destructive, violent darkness, slavering over the employment opportunities for its agents, if India were to be splintered into 15-20 fragments, selling weapons of destruction and power plants to these entities each with a nationalistic history of 0 years!...etc.

Actually they have already lost, because their dark motives cannot be sustained in the glare of social media!

India must yet be proud of our Brahminical patriarchy, which begins with... ahem... the abrahamaic Saraswati, and Lakshmi, Shri Ganesh, Ved Vyas Rishi, and all the others, beyond caste, mind you, and gender too. Their hatred of all that is borne out of Dark Ignorance, but we have the Light of Vedanta on our side, to eternity! Hari Om.
Jay Bharati
May 22, 2019
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Two points of order! -

That Priyanka video has her listening amusedly to the children but then finally telling them smilingly not to repeat one particular slogan.

''the abrahamaic Saraswati,....''?????

Bharati
May 22, 2019
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@Bharati

Who shot that ugly video of Priyanka? The slur was several rungs worse against Modi, that the tutored children were chanting in front of her, if you understand what rhymes with 'kadva'! At that level of villainy, Priyanka may yet aspire to a Lalita Pawar walk-in in Bollywood, courtesy Karachi Bhai!

Abrhamaic derives from Abraham, ie Brahma and Sarah ie Saraswati, misunderstood after the great floods that happened after the greater god's wrath, that drowned the Dwarka nagari after Mahabharat!

Some straggler Yadavas escaped to Arva bhoomi, or land of the horses that is Arabia, today's Middle East. Some straggler kauravas ended up there too, and eventually became Qureshis or keepers of the Ka'aba, the great Hindu shrine and observatory of Makkeshwar, of which the ancient meteorite shivalingam is its still worshipped cornerstone! The rituals and sartorial design of the Haj is still a take off on Hindu rituals out of splintered memory. The temple of Sarah & Abraham still persists there, as does the well zam zam, in which ritual ablutions are performed before the sacred darshan and parikrama. The meteorite was once shattered by lightning or thru' human destruction, but the pieces were put together in the present yoni-lingam format for the pilgrims to kiss. A reverse parikrama persists, to the reported chants of Vadeham, the mirror of Mahadev!

This much is not hard to verify! There's ample evidence to validate the understanding that prior to that era, the whole world was Hindu! Perserved until this day, is the Hanuman temple in the Siberian town of Ohmsk, where the river flows in the shape of Om.
Jay Bharati
May 22, 2019
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Yadavas became yehudi!
Jay Bharati
May 22, 2019
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By the time re polling was conducted on 19 May, the number of booths had increased to 7, all in Kannur-Kasargode constituencies.

It has now been reported that in one case a lady who could not vote on 23 Apr, voted on 19 May. (She could not vote on 23 Apr when polling was held all over Kerala, because she had learnt that somebody else had voted in her name and she couldn't do anything about it then.) But this time her house was attacked with bombs at night.
P M Ravindran
May 22, 2019
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The Modi led BJP govt likes to practice honesty and fair play.So far as judiciary is concerned I doubt whether the honesty policy will do any good. Modiji is exempted from being dishonest ,but we no longer can afford to have honest judges. The BJP should not appoint honest judges.The hindutva movt will of course get some relief from punishment,but will not get full and optimum justice. We need to repay the corrupt congress judiciary with a corrupt Hindu judiciary that will be extremely partial and favouring the Hindus . Their judgements should be heavily coloured with safron until the Cong and opposition realises the value of honesty. The end justifies the means and the end is revival of hindutva and dharma at any cost.
Panikkath Krishnan Unni
May 22, 2019
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'' There's ample evidence to validate the understanding that prior to that era, the whole world was Hindu!''

Fascinating! Perhaps Jay Bharati can kindly edify us readers by suggesting to us research material / urls of this ample evidence that will enlighten us.
Bharati
May 22, 2019
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@Bharati. Evidence is plentiful, in the scriptures, in historical texts, in hindu and other, english and vernacular painstaking research tomes, and on the internet, even with photographic evidence. Time Indians got serious about reclaiming and owning their past with honour and assertion! Not only history, but in the heart-based bhakti tradition also. God is an Indian, Bharatiya, and cherishes Bharatiyata, which 'They' in multiples have kept alive and guarded through incarnation after incarnation down the yugas. The promise is there in every sacred text!
Jay Bharati
May 22, 2019
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@Bharati

What I saw was Priyanka smiling approvingly while the little children kept repeating 'chowkidar chor'. I seem to recall that she even clapped her hands and did some swaying.

What she prevented them from saying I could not quite figure out.
What was it ?

I have for the longest time believed that the Lutyens elite have not forgiven Modi for not being an upper caste Hindu.
Dr. Vijaya Rajiva
May 22, 2019
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@dr vijaya rajiva
Priyanka Vadra did not 'prevent' the children from saying anything in the video. She pretended to be surprised when they chanted 'Modi saala bhadva hai.' In fact, they had been coached to use that filthy word.Bhadva in Hindi means pimp.Imagine the hatred in the hearts of the Italian Christian mafia to call our popular PM a pimp! And this Hindu-hating family of plunderers has been relentlessly promoted by the Lutyens media mob!
P S Nair
May 22, 2019
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The video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQafjip_hBE
Clearly the children have been tutored, and equally clearly she's encouraging them. She responded amusedly to the bleeped out portion - the children calling Modi ''suwar ka baccha'' (son of a pig) - before telling them not to say that.

''The promise is there in every sacred text!''
Do please give us specific leads so we can educate ourselves. You must understand that not all of us may be as widely-read as you. So, help us to learn.

Bharati
May 22, 2019
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@Bharti and Jay Bharti. The Aginsky Monastry in trans Siberia is a beautiful Buddhist monastery. I was completely taken aback to see a brilliantly coloured scroll painting of Saraswati. I told a scholar of Buddhism of the Saraswati scroll painting in Aginsky. He told me that some years ago archeologists found a beautiful kumkum/sindoor engraved little container inside an excavated tomb!! We never set out to conquer the world for territory like monotheist Faith's but Hinduism was alive and vibrant in unimsgined parts of the world.
Radha Rajan
May 23, 2019
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Finally-Modi ji came, he saw and he conquered .The opposition was sacked, especially the Indian communists .
B.S.Harishankar
May 29, 2019
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