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भाजपा, सपा, बसपा ने सिर्फ अपने वोटबैंक पर ध्यान दिया : राहुल गांधी

2012-02-11T06:43:00.001-08:00

भाजपा, सपा, बसपा ने सिर्फ अपने वोटबैंक पर ध्यान दिया : राहुल गांधी

Saturday, 11 February 2012 17:34

सोरांव :उत्तर प्रदेश: 11 फरवरी (एजेंसी) राहुल गांधी ने मायावती सरकार की सहानुभूति गरीब किसानों की अपेक्षा '' धनी बिल्डरों '' के प्रति अधिक रहने का दावा किया।

औऱ साथ ही कांग्रेस नेता राहुल गांधी ने आज भाजपा, सपा और बसपा पर आरोप लगाया कि उत्तर प्रदेश में सत्ता में रहने पर उन्होंने सिर्फ अपने अपने '' वोटबैंक '' पर ध्यान दिया और आम लोगों की उपेक्षा की।
राहुल ने कहा, '' आम तौर पर चुनावों से परिवर्तन का रास्ता प्रशस्त होता है। उत्तर प्रदेश में पिछले 22 साल के दौरान कई चुनाव हुए लेकिन कोई परिवर्तन महसूस नहीं किया गया। इसकी वजह यह रही कि राज्य में उन दलों का शासन रहा जिनकी दिलचस्पी सिर्फ अपने वोटबैंक में थी जो आम तौर पर कुल आबादी का 10 प्रतिशत से अधिक नहीं है। ''

इलाहाबाद से करीब 25 किलोमीटर यहां एक चुनावी सभा में राहुल ने कहा, '' इसके फलस्वरूप वे आम लोगों और उनके मुद्दों से पूरी तरह से दूर हो गए।''
उन्होंने 2004 के आम चुनावों में '' इंडिया शाइनिंग'' नारा उछालने के लिए भाजपा की आलोचना करते हुए कहा कि इससे प्रदर्शित होता है कि पार्टी नेतृत्व ने आम लोगों की ओर ध्यान नहीं दिया जो अपनी जरूरतों के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे थे।
मायावती सरकार को आड़े हाथों लेते हुए राहुल ने कहा कि बसपा सुप्रीमो ऐसी सरकार चला रही हैं जो ''गरीब किसानों की अपेक्षा धनी बिल्डरों के प्रति अधिक सहानुभूति रखती है। ''

बदल डालो यूपी की ‘नकारात्मक राजनीति’: प्रियंका

2012-02-11T06:41:00.001-08:00

बदल डालो यूपी की 'नकारात्मक राजनीति': प्रियंका

Saturday, 11 February 2012 13:28

रायबरेली, 11 फरवरी (एजेंसी) प्रियंका वाड्रा ने सूबे में पिछले 22 साल से जारी 'नकारात्मक राजनीति' को बदलने का आह्वान किया।

प्रियंका ने सरैनी विधानसभा क्षेत्र से कांग्रेस के उम्मीदवार अशोक सिंह के समर्थन में अहियर में आयोजित चुनावी सभा में कहा ''आपको गम्भीरता से सोचना पड़ेगा और ऐसा निर्णय करना होगा जिससे राजनीति में बदलाव आए। प्रदेश में पिछले 22 साल से नकारात्मक राजनीति हो रही है। आपको अपने वोट की ताकत से उसे बदलना होगा।''
उन्होंने कहा ''आप सिर्फ विधायक नहीं बल्कि अपने भविष्य का फैसला भी करने जा रहे हैं। अपने वोट की कीमत पहचानिये। आपका वोट आपके भविष्य के निर्माण के लिये होना चाहिये।''
प्रियंका ने कहा ''आपके नेताओं को भी मालूम होना चाहिये कि अगर वे विकास का काम और आपकी उन्नति के लिये काम नहीं करेंगे तो आप उन्हें आगे नहीं बढ़ाएंगे। तभी आपकी राजनीति बदलेगी।''

उन्होंने कहा कि रायबरेली तथा अमेठी की जनता के साथ उनका राजनीतिक नहीं बल्कि पारिवारिक रिश्ता है और वह इन दोनों जिलों में वोट मांगने के लिये नहीं बल्कि जनता को जागरूक करने के लिये आती हैं। अगर वह ऐसा नहीं करेंगी तो साम्प्रदायिक ताकतों आकर जनता को भ्रमित करके उसके भविष्य के साथ खिलवाड़ करेंगी।
प्रियंका ने कहा कि तरक्की पाना प्रदेश की जनता का हक है लेकिन सूबे में दूसरी पार्टियों के नेता समझते हैं कि वह विकास करके अवाम पर एहसान कर रहे हैं। दरअसल, वे जाति और धर्म का शिगूफा छोड़कर लोगों का ध्यान भटकाते हैं और अपनी जेबें भरते हैं।

फांसी दे दो, पर मुस्लिमों को हक दिलाकर रहेंगे: खुर्शीद

2012-02-11T06:39:00.001-08:00

फांसी दे दो, पर मुस्लिमों को हक दिलाकर रहेंगे: खुर्शीद

Saturday, 11 February 2012 13:43

फर्रुखाबाद, 11 फरवरी (एजेंसी) सलमान खुर्शीद ने कहा है कि वह पिछडे मुसलमानों को उनका हक दिलाकर रहेंगे।
खुर्शीद ने कल रात मुस्लिम बहुल खटकपुरा इलाके में एक सभा में कहा ''चुनाव आयोग ने मेरे उच्च्पर पाबंदी लगाई है लेकिन वह फांसी दे दे, या कुछ भी कर ले.... हम पसमांदा मुसलमानों को उनका हक दिलाकर रहेंगे।''
उन्होंने कहा ''क्या हम अब यह भी नहीं कह सकते कि पसमांदा मुसलमानों को उनका हक मिलेगा।''
खुर्शीद ने कहा ''हमने अपनी जिंदगी फर्रुखाबाद के लोगों के नाम वक्फ कर दी है। हम आज भी फर्रुखाबाद की जनता और गरीब लोगों के साथ हैं।''
गौरतलब है कि खुर्शीद ने पिछले महीने फर्रुखाबाद सदर क्षेत्र से कांग्रेस प्रत्याशी अपनी पत्नी लुइस खुर्शीद के समर्थन में आयोजित जनसभा में कहा था कि उनकी पार्टी 27 प्रतिशत के अन्य पिछड़े वर्गों :ओबीसी: के आरक्षण में से अल्पसंख्यकों के लिए उप कोटा बढ़ा कर नौ प्रतिशत कर देगी। चुनाव आयोग ने इसे आचार संहिता का उल्लंघन मानते हुए उन्हें नोटिस जारी किया था।

आयोग ने हाल में खुर्शीद को फटकार लगाते हुए हिदायत दी थी कि वह भविष्य में ऐसी गलती न न दोहराएं।
खुर्शीद ने सभा में कहा कि कांग्रेस 22 साल बाद उत्तर प्रदेश की विधानसभा में तिरंगा फहराने जा रही है और वह चाहते हैं कि विधानसभा में फर्रुखाबाद का भी नारा लगे

विदेशी बैंकों में जमा काला धन कांग्रेस नेताओं का : मायावती

2012-02-11T06:37:00.001-08:00

विदेशी बैंकों में जमा काला धन कांग्रेस नेताओं का : मायावती

Saturday, 11 February 2012 17:37

मिर्जापुर...सोनभ्रद, 11 फरवरी (एजेंसी) उत्तर प्रदेश की मुख्यमंत्री बहुजन समाज पार्टी :बसपा: अध्यक्ष मायावती ने आज कांग्रेस पर आरोप लगाते हुए कहा कि इस पार्टी के नेताओं ने पिछले 40 वर्षों में देश को लूटा है और विदेशी बैंकों में जमा काला धन भी उन्हीं लोगों का है।
मायावती ने मिर्जापुर तथा सोनभ्रद में विभिन्न चुनावी सभाओं को सम्बोधित करते हुए कांग्रेस पर निशाना साधा और कहा कि इस पार्टी और उसके नेताओं ने पिछले 40 वर्षों के दौरान जमकर लूटा है और उससे हासिल हुई काली कमाई को विदेशी बैंकों में जमा किया।
उन्होंने कहा ''विदेशी बैंकों में जमा काला धन इन्हीं :कांग्रेस नेताओं: लोगों का है।''
मुख्यमंत्री ने कहा कि कांग्रेस को उत्तर प्रदेश के विकास के लिये पांच और वर्षों का समय मांगते हुए शर्म आनी चाहिये, क्योंकि उसने इस राज्य में चार दशक तक एकछत्र शासन किया और सूबे को बरबाद कर दिया।
मुख्यमंत्री ने कहा कि पांच साल पहले जब उन्होंने राज्य की बागडोर सम्भाली थी तब राज्य 'दीवालिया' हो चुका था। प्रदेश में 'गुण्डाराज' कायम था और विकास नाम की कोई चीज ही नहीं थी। ऐसे में शासन चलाना आसान नहीं था।

बसपा अध्यक्ष ने कहा कि कांग्रेस बटला हाउस कांड पर नाटक कर रही है और प्रदेश में पिछले 22 वर्षों से सत्ता से दूर यह पार्टी मुसलमानों को रिझाने के लिये चारा डालने का प्रयास कर रही है।
मायावती ने कहा कि केन््रद और दिल्ली में कांग्रेस की सरकार है और अगर वह चाहती तो बटला हाउस कांड की निष्पक्ष जांच कराकर दूध का दूध और पानी का पानी कर सकती थी।
मुख्यमंत्री ने दावा किया कि उन्होंने अपनी पार्टी से दागी लोगों को निकाल दिया है और अब उनकी पार्टी में स्वच्छ छवि वाले निष्ठावान प्रत्याशी हैं।
उन्होंने जनता को आगाह करते हुए कहा कि प्रदेश में सपा की सरकार बनने पर गुंडे एक बार फिर छाती पर चढ़ जाएंगे और भाजपा के सत्ता में आने पर साम्प्रदायिक ताकतें हावी हो जाएंगी।

यूपी विस चुनाव: दूसरे चरण में शाम पांच बजे तक 56 प्रतिशत मतदान

2012-02-11T06:35:00.001-08:00

यूपी विस चुनाव: दूसरे चरण में शाम पांच बजे तक 56 प्रतिशत मतदान

Saturday, 11 February 2012 18:01

लखनऊ, 11 जनवरी (एजेंसी) विस चुनाव के दूसरे चरण के लिए करीब 56 प्रतिशत मतदान हो चुका है। अभी अनेक स्थानों पर मतदाताओं की लम्बी-लम्बी कतारें लगी हैं और मतदान जारी है।
प्रदेश निर्वाचन कार्यालय के अनुसार, प्रदेश के नौ जिलों की 59 विधानसभा सीटों पर सुबह सात बजे से मतदान शुरू हुआ और शाम पांच बजे तक करीब 56 प्रतिशत मतदाताओं ने अपने मताधिकार का प्रयोग किया। मतदान अभी जारी है और अंतिम आंकड़े देर शाम तक प्राप्त होंगे।
उन्होंने बताया कि शाम पांच बजे तक गाजीपुर में 56 प्रतिशत, महराजगंज में 55 प्रतिशत, मउच्च् में 55 फीसद, कुशीनगर में 53 फीसद, संत कबीर नगर में 51, देवरिया में 50, आजमगढ़ में 49, गोरखपुर तथा आजमगढ़ में 48-48 प्रतिशत मतदाता अपने मताधिकार का प्रयोग कर चुके हैं।
छिटपुट घटनाओं को छोड़कर दूसरे चरण का मतदान आमतौर पर शांतिपूर्ण ढंग से चल रहा है। हालांकि कुछ स्थानों पर इलेक्ट्रानिक वोटिंग मशीनों में गड़बड़ी की शिकायतें सामने आर्इं, लेकिन उन्हें जल्द ही दूर कर लिया गया।
मउच्च् से प्राप्त रिपोर्ट के अनुसार दक्षिण टोला क्षेत्र में स्थित प्राथम विद्यालय औरंगाबाद पर स्थित मतदान केन््रद पर अनावश्यक रूप से लगी भीड़ को पुलिस ने लाठीचार्ज करके खदेड़ा। इस घटना में करीब छह लोगों को चोटें आई हैं।
बलिया के रसड़ा के महावीर अखाड़ा इलाके में नारेबाजी कर रहे लोगों को हटाने के लिये भी पुलिस ने बल प्रयोग किया।
आजमगढ़ सदर विधानसभा सीट पर हथिया मतदान कें्रद पर पुल न बनने के विरोध में और बलिया जिले के बेहटा मतदान कें्रद पर बिजली पानी की समस्याओं को लेकर लोगों ने मतदान का बहिष्कार किया, जबकि कुछ क्षेत्रों में ईवीएम मशीनों की गड़बड़ी की शिकायतें भी मिली हैं।

गोरखपुर के कैम्पियरगंज में एक पीठासीन अधिकारी की तबीयत खराब होने पर मतदान में कुछ देर तक व्यवधान पड़ने की खबर है।
द्वितीय चरण में नौ जिलों में संत कबीर नगर, महराजगंज, गोरखपुर, कुशीनगर, देवरिया, आजमगढ़, मउच्च्, बलिया तथा गाजीपुर जिलों की कुल 59 विधानसभा सीटों के लिये 13020 मतदान केन््रदों के 20426 मतदेय स्थलों पर मतदान हो रहा है। इसके लिये 26800 इलेक्ट्रानिक वोटिंग मशीनें :ईवीएम: इस्तेमाल की जा रही हैं।
आज के चुनाव में बसपा तथा भाजपा की प्रादेशिक इकाइयों के अध्यक्षों की प्रतिष्ठा दांव पर है। बसपा के प्रदेश अध्यक्ष और मौजूदा कैबिनेट मंत्री स्वामी प्रसाद मौर्य कुशीनगर की पडरौना सीट से मैदान में हैं।
भाजपा के प्रदेश अध्यक्ष सूर्य प्रताप शाही देवरिया के नवसृजित पथरदेवा क्षेत्र से और पूर्व भाजपा प्रदेश अध्यक्ष रमापति राम त्रिपाठी महराजगंज की सिसवां सीट से किस्मत आजमा रहे हैं। इस चरण में राज्य के राजस्व मंत्री फागू चौहान मउच्च् की घोसी सीट से बसपा उम्मीदवार हैं।
राज्य विधानसभा अध्यक्ष सुखदेव राजभर, विधानसभा में समाजवादी पार्टी के उपनेता अम्बिका चौधरी, 31 विधायकों तथा 24 पूर्व मंत्रियों के साथ-साथ कई बाहुबलियों के चुनावी भाग्य का फैसला भी आज हो गया।
विधानसभा अध्यक्ष सुखदेव राजभर आजमगढ़ की नवसृजित दीदारगंज सीट से बसपा के प्रत्याशी हैं। इसके अलावा विधानसभा में सपा के उपनेता अम्बिका चौधरी की उम्मीदवारी वाले क्षेत्र फेफना :बलिया: से मैदान में है।

Fwd: Illegal detention, torture in police custody and registration of false case & extortion

2012-02-11T06:34:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Kirity Roy <kirityroy@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Subject: Illegal detention, torture in police custody and registration of false case & extortion
To: NHRC <covdnhrc@nic.in>
Cc: jrlawnhrc <jrlawnhrc@nic.in>, "Member NHRC Mr. Satyabrata Pal" <satyabrata49@hotmail.com>, Chief Minister West Bengal <cm@wb.gov.in>, Chief Secretary Gov of WB <chiefsec@wb.gov.in>, Secretary Home Dept Gov of WB <sechome@wb.gov.in>, dm-mur@wb.nic.in, dm-bar@wb.nic.in

10^th February 2012

The Chairman

National Human Rights Commission

Faridkot House

Copernicus Marg

New Delhi-110001

Respected Sir,

We lodge this present complaint on behalf of the victims Mr. Rajjak Mondal and Mr. Fajlur Mondal from District-North 24 Parganas who are presently languishing in jail since 01.01.2012 on allegation of illegally possessing 'Ganja'. The family members of the victims vehemently contradicted such allegation and claimed that the police leveled false allegations against the victims out of conspiracy. The family members of the victims alleged that the police of Baduria and Basirhat Police Station arrested the victims from their houses on 29.12.2011 at about 2 hours without disclosing any reason and without issuing any memo of arrest; they were also beaten by police at the time of arrest. Moreover the police also subjected them to torture in police lock up, allegedly compelled the victim's family to give bribe to police and illegally detained them until they were produced before magistrate on 1.1.2012. Our attached fact finding report gives details of the incident. Here the family members of the victims brought direct allegation of torture while in custody which amounts to criminal offence and violation of law as laid down in Criminal Procedure Code (Sections 50, 50-A, 55-A, 57 and 60-A ) and also violation of the guidelines issued by the Apex Court in DK Basu judgment.

Hence we seek your urgent intervention in this case in the following manner:-

· The whole matter must be investigated by a neutral investigating agency appointed by the Commission

· The perpetrator police personnel must be booked immediately under the law and punished accordingly

· The victims must be relieved immediately from all false and concocted allegations.

· The victims must be given adequate protection and compensation.

Thanking You,

Yours truly,

Kirity Roy

Secretary, MASUM

National Convener, PACTI

Particulars of the victims:- (1) Mr. Rajjak Mondal, son of Mr. Rashid Mondal, aged about-29 years, by faith-Muslim, by occupation- daily wage earner, residing at village-Srikati, Police Station-Baduria, District-North 24 Parganas; (2) Mr. Fajlur Mondal, son of Mr. Abdar Mondal, residing at village-Srikati, Police Station-Baduria, District-North 24 Parganas

Particulars of the perpetrators: - The involved police personnel of Baduria Police Station and Basirhat Police Station

Date & time of incident: - On 29.12.2011 at about 2.00 hours and subsequent thereafter.

Fact Finding Detail:-

It is revealed during the fact finding that the victims are now languishing at Dum Dum Central Correctional Home (Jail) since 1.1.2012. They are being detained in jail as under trial prisoners(UTP) in connection with Basirhat Police Station Case no. 643/2011 dated 31.12.2011 under section 20(b)(i) of NDPS Act. According to the police complaint, the victims were arrested from Moylakhola Bus Stand on 31.12.2011 in the evening hours and 6.700 Kilograms of 'Ganja' could be recovered from their possession. As they did not produce any valid documents for possessing the said article (Ganja), they were implicated in the aforesaid criminal case and the police investigation is in progress.

According to the family members of both the victims that both the victims are innocent and they have been roped into false allegations by police out of conspiracy so that they could be detained for long period behind the bar.

The family members of the victim Mr. Rajjak Mondal stated before our fact finding that on 29.12.2011 at about 2.00 hours in the midnight about 6/7 police personnel of Baduria Police Station and Basirhat Police Station raided into their house and forcibly captured him. They started beating him by their wooden sticks and rifle butts. In a similar manner the said police personnel also raided the house Mr. Fajlur Mondal and forcibly took him into their custody. Here also the police personnel beat Mr. Fajlur Mondal by their wooden sticks and rifle butts. The police did not disclose any reason for their apprehension and no memo of arrest was arrest was issued at the time of their apprehension. Many local people witnessed the incident as told by the family members of the victims before our fact finding team. Then in the morning Mr. Rashid Mondal, the father of the victim Mr. Rajjak Mondal came to Basirhat Police Station and he came to know from Mr. Rajjak Mondal that on the last night one Mr. Sanjoybabu, police officer of Basirhat Police Station mercilessly assaulted him to confess according to his desire. The other victim Mr. Fajlu Mondal also came under such torture in the hands of the said police officer. On 30.12.2011 one Mr. Sahabab Mondal who reportedly works as an informer to local police contacted with Mr. Rashid Mondal, the father of the victim Mr. Rajjak Mondal and told him that the police officer Mr. Sanjoybabu would stop torturing his son if he agrees to pay Rs.3000/- to the police officer Sanjoybabu. Mr. Rashid Mondal to save the life of his son gave Rs.3000/ to the said Mr. Sahabab Mondal and it is also revealed that the said amount was handed over to the said police officer Mr. Sanjoybabu. Later on 2.1.2012 the family members of the victims came to know from one news paper report that the victims were implicated in a criminal case of illegally possessing 'Ganja'.

The family members of both the victims stated before our fact finding team that they are poor people being daily wage earner and the victims have been falsely implicated in false charges out of local political rivalry.

--
Kirity Roy
Secretary
Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha
(MASUM)
&
National Convenor (PACTI)
Programme Against Custodial Torture & Impunity
40A, Barabagan Lane (4th Floor)
Balaji Place
Shibtala
Srirampur
Hooghly
PIN- 712203
Tele-Fax - +91-33-26220843
Phone- +91-33-26220844 / 0845
e. mail : kirityroy@gmail.com
Web: www.masum.org.in

Well Known Bangladesh TV Journalist Couple MURDERED in Dhaka!

2012-02-11T06:32:00.001-08:00

Well Known Bangladesh TV Journalist Couple MURDERED in Dhaka!

Dhaka, Feb 11 (bdnews24.com)—Two well-known TV journalists have apparently been murdered in yet unexplained circumstances at their Dhaka home where they lived with their only child, police and family said.

Bodies of ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Runi, in her mid-30s, and husband Maasranga Television news editor Golam Mustofa Sarowar, known as Sagar Sarowar, 37, were first discovered by their 5–year-old son on Saturday morning at their rented flat at west Rajabazar in the capital.

A police officer told bdnews24.com that they were killed in the early hours of Saturday. Police have detained a security guard for questioning.

"We have detained the building's security guard Polash Rudro Paul for questioning," said Zakir Hossain Mollah, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station officer-in-charge. "The matter is still unclear. We are investigating."

Runi's brother Nowsher Roman told bdnews24.com: "My five-year old nephew Megh found the bodies when he went to their bedroom after waking up around 7am. He then called our mother and told her."

Sarowar's hands and legs were found tied, and both of them had apparently been hit repeatedly with sharp weapons.

The couple used to live on a fourth-floor flat of a multistoried apartment complex on 58/A/2 holding of the area. The grill of a kitchen window was found cut, Roman added.

Tejgaon police deputy commissioner Imam Hossain told journalists that the opening of the grill was such that only a child could enter.

"Security guard Paul has told us that Sagor returned home around 2am. He did not see anyone unknown entering the building after that. Our Detective Branch is already on the field to probe the killing," he added.

Sarowar returned to Bangladesh in 2011 after a few years in Bonn, working for Deutsche Welle as a broadcaster and a reporter. He had previously been with Ittefaq, Jugantor and Sangbad among other news outlets.

bdnews24.com/ast/lh/jk/rn/bd/0940h

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday ordered the home ministry and police to launch a full investigation into the deaths of a well-known journalist couple and catch the guilty.

Hasina also offered her condolences to the family of the deceased, Mahbubul Hoque Shakil, the prime minister's special assistant (media), told bdnews24.com on Saturday.

Police suspect the two were murdered.

Shakil on Saturday went to the victims' home, at West Razabazar in the capital, and offered condolences to family members of ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Nahar Runi and her husband, Maasranga Television news editor Golam Mustofa Sarowar, known widely as Sagar Sarowar.

He also expressed grief on behalf of the prime minister to the victims' family members, relatives and the duo's co-workers.

According to police, the couple's 5-year-old son found their bodies in their flat on Saturday morning. A police officer told bdnews24.com that the two were killed in the early hours of Saturday but they are yet to work out the motive or identify the suspects.

Meanwhile, prime minister's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told bdnews24.com that Sheikh Hasina has expressed deep grief over the incident.

In her condolence message, Hasina stated that the media world faces an irreparable loss with the deaths of these two talented journalists, Azad said.

The PM's press secretary also said Hasina prayed for salvation of the departed souls and offered condolences to their family members and co-workers.

bdnews24.com/sum/zk/std/1350

Police: Journalist couple killed in Bangladesh

Originally published: February 11, 2012 5:32 AM
Updated: February 11, 2012 6:45 AM
By The Associated Press FARID HOSSAIN (Associated Press)

DHAKA, Bangladesh - (AP) -- Two television journalists in Bangladesh were found stabbed to death Saturday in their home in the capital of Dhaka, police said. The motive of the killings is unknown.

Police officer Imam Hossain said authorities are investigating the killings early Saturday of Sagar Sarwar and his wife, Mehrun Runi. Sarwar was news editor of private TV station Massranga and Runi worked as a reporter at another private television, ATN Bangla. Both were in their late 30s.

It was unclear if their deaths were related to their work, Hossain says.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has offered condolences to the family and ordered police to find the killers.

Sawar's colleagues said he worked late in the night Friday before leaving for home, where he lived with his wife and their 5-year-old son.

Relatives went to the house after the child called his grandmother, who lives in the neighborhood, saying his parents were lying in a pool of blood in their bedroom.

Police said Sarwar was found with his hands tied from behind. No valuables were missing from the house, investigators said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nation/police-journalist-couple-killed-in-bangladesh-1.3521504

Press under attack in Bangladesh

Sunita Paul - 5/2/2008

Case of a female journalist: Sumi Khan, a 34-year-old journalist working with local and national magazines and based in the city of Chittagong, was attacked and received death threats as a result of her investigative journalism against corruption. She was stabbed in an attack in 2004, and her attackers remain at large.

It is cliamed by some sources that, Sumi Khan wrote investigative articles alleging the involvement of local politicians and religious groups in attacks on members of minority communities, and about kidnapping and land-grabbing by landlords.

On 12 March 2005 Sumi Khan received a written death threat telling her to retract articles she had written on Islamist groups.

Khan received a number of international awards including that from Amnesty International. And after receiving such recognitions, she virtually turned silent and is no more in the mainstream media in Bangladesh.

Unheard case of Zahid:

Zahid Al Amin, a young and promising journalist from Chittagong was not fortunate like Sumi Khan. He became a prime target of Jamaat-e-Islami's armed cadres when we wrote a number of investigative reports of trafficking of narcotics and arms by Jamaat cadres in Chittagong. During publication of such reports, Jamaat men left life threats on Zahid several times and finally attacked him thus mercilessly beating him with the goal of murdering this young journalist. At one stage, attackers thought Zahid Al Amin was already dead and left him in blood on a road in Chittagong. But, luckily, Zahid survived. He went through series of surgeries and medical treatments in Bangladesh and abroad and finally was forced to leave Chittagong for ever, as the attackers gave ultimatum to him for either leaving the city or Zahid's family members would be their next prey.

Zahid Al Amin's case was reported in a number of newspapers in Bangladesh. But, he was never within the attention of Amnesty International or Reporters Sans Frontiers. Because, Zahid Al Amin did not have any cherishma to reach into such 'precious' attentions. Moreover, people representating Amnesty or RSF were not intending to report Zahid's case for reason unknown.

Being in Dhaka, Zahid is present working with a vernacular daily newspaper named Amadershomoy as a reporter.

Zahid case came to attention of a number of international organizations as well as media personalities just last week, when Dhaka's most influential English language newspaper Blitz published a brief report on this courageous reporter.

The convicted editor:

Matiur Rahman Chowdhury is almost a household name in Bangladesh because of his cherismatic personality and high profile journalistic career. In past several decades, Chowdhury worked with a number of leading newspapers in Bangladesh thus finally landing in his own Daily Manabzamin, a tabloid sized vernacular daily newspaper. He is also the correpsondent of VOA Bangla service in Dhaka.

Few years back, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury published the text of telephonic conversation between former military ruler Hussain Muhammed Ershad and a judge with Bangladesh Supreme Court. The entire conversation was on Ershad's requests to the judge in according special favor to him. Publication of the report in Manabzamin created virtual havoc in the country, which finally led the judiciary in taking approrpriate decision on the case. But, very unfortunately, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury was summoned by the judges in Bangladesh Supreme Court, on charge of Contempting the court. After prolonged hearing for days, the court awarded three months conviction to Motiur Rahman Chowdhury. Although Chowdhury made appel against such judgement and yet to go to jail for serving the conviction, such punishment to an eminent and front-ranking editor in the country reminds every other members of the press community that, they should even keep silent in many cases, although they get evidences of high profile corruption.

In his life as the editor, Motiur Rahman Chowdhury was the first person to raise the demand of establishment of diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Israel. He has also published series of investigative reports in Manabzamin on various extremely important issues. Recently, Chowdhury was the only editor in Bangladesh's vernacular press to protest government's ridiculous attitude towards the newly appointed American ambassador Mr. Moriarty.

Censorship on media:

People in Bangladesh may not be aware of the ongoing severe repression of press, which mostly continue behind the screen or silently. It is evidently proved that such actions are continuing in the country under the present military backed interim government. Although under any State of Emergencies, basic human rights as well freedom of expressions are greatly abused by the rulers. In Bangladesh, when political scenarios suddenly changed on 11 January 2007, for the first time, army did not intervene in the freedom of press or freedom of expression. Print and electronic Medias were publishing reports and commentaries, which even went against the rulers. At one stage, policymakers of the present rulers termed media as the alternative parliament, in absence of real parliament in the country. Members of the press community were extremely delighted to get such compliments from the government. But, suddenly, things are changing. Government reportedly has sent unsigned written instructions to the private television channels banning a number of noted intellectuals and journalists like Mahfuzullah, Nurul Kabir [editor of New Age], Asafuddowlah [editor of Bangladesh Today], Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury [editor of Bangladesh Observer], Manzurul Ahsan Bulbul [executive editor of Sangbad], Amir Khosru [senior journalist], Shawkat Mahmud [general secretary of National Press Club], ABM Musa [senior journalist], Golam Sarwar [eminent journalist], Farhad Mazhar [columnist], Asif Nazrul [professor], Barrister Tania Amir while the government has allowed Nayeemul Islam Khan [editor, Amader Shomoy], Dilara Chowdhury [professor], Dr. Ataur Rahman [professor], Mahbub Ullah [editor, The Independent], Farid Ahmed [Bureau chief of Associated press], Major General Syed Muhammed Ibrahim [politician], Dr. Kamal Hossain [lawyer], Ferdous Ahmed Qureshi [controversial politician] and some others in any of the commentaries in private television channels. Such actions of the government will stop the outspoken editors and social activists from expressing their minds anymore in the mass media. On the other hand, government is continuing to put pressures on owners of newspapers in the country, which will either cause in closure of the newspaper or facing tremendous repressions of the owners and editors of such newspapers by the state machinery.

Case of Weekly Blitz editor:

Internationally known anti Jihadist award winning Bangladeshi journalist and editor of Dhaka's most influential newspaper, Weekly Blitz, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is also facing trial in sedition, treason and blasphemy charges for confronting radical Islam and jihad, advocating inter faith understanding and for demanding Bangladesh's relations with Israel. For past five years, Choudhury is facing extreme adversity as well as mental and financial constraint for his courageous stand against Islamists. His office was bombed while there had never been any action by the former BNP-Islamist Coalition government. There had not been any action against the attackers [belonging to Cultural wing of Bangladesh Nationalist Party], who attacked and physically assaulted him in October 2006. The present government is also playing dilly-dally in taking any action against the criminal officers in Rapid Action Battalion [Unit-3] for abducting the editor and another member of Weekly Blitz of 18 March 2007, looting cash and valuables and for total reign of terror. Despite repeated written complaints with the chief advisor as well as army chief, looted items have not been returned yet.

Mr. Choudhury received Freedom to Write Award from PEN USA in 2005, American Jewish Committee's prestigious Moral Courage Award in 2006, Monaco Media Award in 2007 and many other awards and recognitions from international community.

Commenting on Shoaib Choudhury, The New York Times in its editorial said, "Bangladesh may now be among the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. That makes, Mr. Choudhury's courageous stand for Muslim-Jewish dialogue all the more admirable and vital to defend."

The Washington Times in its editorial said, "The United States must encourage people like Mr. Choudhury to speak out. But when they do, it also should do all it can to protect them. Freeing Mr. Choudhury will tell others like him that when you stand against Islamists, the United States will stand with you."

The New York Sun wrote, "Mr. Choudhury is a man in the mold of such heroes of freedom as Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa."

The Berliner Zeitung wrote, "Would Choudhury consider it, if along with this acknowledgement the request also nevertheless came to give up his fight and to free the family from their state of siege? The family would have enough money to lead a calm life abroad, and they would have a good chance of leaving Bangladesh despite the current legal proceedings. But for Choudhury his struggle has long ago become his. Who leaves the battleground, has lost, he says. However, whoever struggles for the right cause always wins."

The Australian wrote, "This is why we ought to be taking notice of Choudhury. It's not just a question of saving one man's life. He is part of a threat that is facing all of us. And he is on the right side in a very long battle of ideas."

The Daily Pennsylvanian wrote, "Now that we've found a man willing to advocate for peace and denouncing extremism, we must seize the opportunity. No one else will speak out if we allow those who already have spoken to die."

The Jerusalem Post wrote, "In this tense atmosphere, Choudhury has paid a very heavy price for his beliefs. In November 2003, he was arrested at Dhaka's international airport just prior to boarding a flight on his way to Israel, where he has been scheduled to deliver an address on promoting understanding between Muslims and Jews."

The Australian Israel Review wrote, "Shoaib in an outspoken supporter of Muslim-Jewish and Muslim-Christian dialogue, opposes anti-Israel" maximalism and has exposed the agents and activities of Islamists who have been gaining in strength and influence in his country."

The Suburban in its editorial wrote, "They are neither. They work alone, with no support, forging ahead to bring the truth into open. The International Press Freedom Awards that recognizes courage in journalism is an important event that brings the plight of these journalists to light. But it's not enough. They deserve encouragement and support because in dangerous situations, they champion everything we hold dear, and often take for granted."

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is possibly the most quoted Bangladeshi journalists in the global media. But, authorities in Dhaka are reluctant in recognizing his courage. To them, he is a 'bad man'. To the Islamists, he is an 'evil'. To journalists selling their ideologies in exchange of few leafs of bucks, Choudhury is 'a paranoid'.

But to United States Congress, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury is a real hero. US Congress, Australian Senate and European Parliament have passed resolutions in favor of this courageous man. Unfortunately, in the eyes of rulers in Dhaka, people like Choudhury are headache. That is why possibly, the present military emergency government in Bangladesh has listed Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury in the list of 1608 black listed journalists thus terming them as 'not journalists' and instructing authorities concerned not to issue press accreditation cards to them.

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Bangladesh: TV journalist couple murdered in Dhaka

Two well-known Bangladeshi television journalists have been killed in the capital, Dhaka.

Sagar Sarwar and his wife, Meherun Runi, both in their late 30s, were stabbed to death at their apartment early on Saturday.

Their bodies were found by their five-year-old son, who then called relatives living nearby, police said.

The motive for the killings was not known and it was unclear if the deaths were related to their work.

Mr Sarwar, a news editor at private TV station Maasranga, was found with his hands tied behind his back.

His wife worked as a senior reporter at ATN Bangla, another private station.

Preliminary investigations suggested that the killings had been planned and that the couple had probably known their attackers, a senior detective was quoted by local newspapers as saying.

Full coverage

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BBC News - ‎56 minutes ago‎

Sagar Sarwar and his wife, Meherun Runi, both in their late 30s, were stabbed to death at their apartment early on Saturday. Their bodies were found by their five-year-old son, who then called relatives living nearby, police said.

Police: Journalist couple killed in Bangladesh

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By FARID HOSSAIN, AP Two television journalists in Bangladesh found stabbed to death Saturday in their home in the capital of Dhaka, police said. The motive of the killings is unknown. Police officer Imam Hossain said authorities are investigating the ...

Two Bangladeshi Journalists Killed

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BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia said on Saturday the gruesome killing of journalist couple Sagar Sarwar and Meherun Runi has again proved that the country's law and order situation has deteriorated seriously. In a condolence message, the opposition leader ...

Journalists stage token strike

Bangladesh News 24 hours - ‎3 hours ago‎

Dhaka, Feb 11 (bdnews24.com )—Journalists from different media organisations staged a token strike in front of the National Press Club on Saturday afternoon, demanding arrest and trial of those behind the murder of journalists Golam Mustofa Sarowar and ...

Killers might not be pros: expert

Bangladesh News 24 hours - ‎3 hours ago‎

Dhaka, Feb 11 (bdnews24.com) — Forensic experts suspect 'non-professionals' killed ATN Bangla senior reporter Meherun Nahar Runi and husband Golam Mustofa Sarowar, alias Sagor Sarowar, who was news editor with Maasranga Television.

Murder proves law-order mess: Khaleda

Bangladesh News 24 hours - ‎3 hours ago‎

Dhaka, Feb 11 (bdnews24.com)— Offering condolences to families of the murdered journalist couple in the capital, BNP chief Khaleda Zia has said this incident proves the severe decline in law and order across the country.

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Fwd: CC News Letter, 10 Feb - Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria

2012-02-11T00:30:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Countercurrents <editor@countercurrents.org>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:30 AM
Subject: CC News Letter, 10 Feb - Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

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If you think the content of this news letter is critical for the dignified living and survival of humanity and other species on earth, please forward it to your friends and spread the word.It's time humanity should come together as one family! You can subscribe to our news letter here http://www.countercurrents.org/subscribe.htm. You can also follow us on twitter, http://twitter.com/countercurrents and on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/countercurrents

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Countercurrents.org
Educate! Organize! Agitate!

Pentagon Plans US-Backed War Against Syria
By Chris Marsden

http://www.countercurrents.org/marsden100212.htm

The Pentagon has drawn up plans for military intervention in Syria. A military strike would be coordinated with Turkey, the Gulf States and the NATO powers, according to reports that acknowledge such plans officially for the first time. The plan is described as an "internal review" by Pentagon Central Command, to allow President Barack Obama to maintain the pretense that the White House is still seeking a diplomatic solution

Western Shenanigans Against Syria, Iran
By Dr. Ismail Salami

http://www.countercurrents.org/salami100212.htm

The volatile situation in Syria generated by the Saudi-Qatar-funded Wahhabi armed group known as the Free Syrian Army and backed by the West is now an accident waiting to happen

Targeting Iran
By Ghali Hassan

http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan100212.htm

The world is witnessing the emergence of a powerful U.S.-led military force aimed at dominating the world through violence and state-sponsored terrorism. It is utmost importance to support Iran's right to self-defence and oppose any U.S.-Israel aggression

Israel Vying For War: Attacking Iran Will Not Repeat History
By Ramzy Baroud

http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud100212.htm

If history ever repeats itself, it does so only when we fail to learn its important lessons. Israel might be prepared to take such chances, but why should the rest of the world?

Three GOP Presidentials Commit Crime Against Peace Under Nuremberg Principles
By Jay Janson

http://www.countercurrents.org/janson100212.htm

Mitt, Newt, Rick vow to bomb a foreign nation, a crime against peace indictable under Nuremberg Principles, which, when they was signed automatically became part of the US constitution. At Nuremberg, Nazi media personalities were indicted for promoting war. They stood alongside Nazi officials who ordered the wars and generals who executed criminal orders

The Iraqi People: Criminally Neglectedby The International Community (PDF)
By Dirk Adriaensens

http://www.countercurrents.org/adriaensens100212.pdf

Open Letter to The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights NaviPillay

Genocidal Racist Charles Dickens , Indian Holocaust And UK - US Muslim Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya

http://www.countercurrents.org/polya100212.htm

This week the English-speaking world is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the birth of arguably the greatest Victorian era English novelist Charles Dickens. However ignored in the celebrations will be the reality that Charles Dickens, like many of his English and British contemporaries, was a genocidal racist

Egyptian Blood And "The Silent Hand" Of Omar Suleiman
By Thomas C. Mountain

http://www.countercurrents.org/mountain100212.htm

When Egyptian blood flows in the streets, whether from "Ultra" football cadre or Coptic Christian, or both together, there is the silent hand of Omar Suleiman behind it all, pulling the strings needed to create just enough murder and mayhem so as to legitimize continued military rule

A Ruling Class Alliance In An Agitating Egypt: One Year After Mubarak's Ouster
By Farooque Chowdhury

http://www.countercurrents.org/chowdhury100212.htm

Class collaboration between the Egyptian military junta and their neo-political allies, the Muslim Brotherhood, now confront the people standing for democracy. One year ago, the matrix of collusion was not evident to many. One year ago, the actors on the Egyptian political stage had different robes

Learning From La Venezuela
By David Swanson

http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson100212.htm

Cindy Sheehan has published a book. If Venezuela makes it to the top of the list for the next U.S. war, this book will be a valuable tool for confronting the propaganda. But why wait? Our government has attempted a coup and is openly funding opposition groups. Why wait to consider what it is we're paying to try to undo?

The Cycle of Civilization
By Peter Goodchild

http://www.countercurrents.org/goodchild100212.htm

The main difference between ours and previous civilizations is that, from now on, the cycle of "civilization" cannot be repeated. Oil is not the only mineral that will be in short supply in the coming years

Resources And Anthropocentrism
By Guy McPherson

http://www.countercurrents.org/mcpherson100212.htm

We see finite substances and the living planet as materials to be exploited for our comfort. We treat resources as our entitlement

Why Did Palestinian Refugees Come To Lebanon?
By Franklin Lamb

http://www.countercurrents.org/lamb100212.htm

In most private and public schools in Lebanon, sensitive political subjects have long been culled from textbooks by polarized confessional watchdog committees seeking a proper education for their children. UNWRA schools are forbidden to teach Palestinian history in Lebanon or even their history in Palestine lest the US Congress cut UNWRA funding

Palestine Needs A New Struggle Strategy
An Interview with Salim Nazzal

http://www.countercurrents.org/nazzal100212.htm

Palestine needs its own spring. Palestinian leadership needs to review its policy following the Arab Spring. They need to think of a new struggle strategy on light of these developments

U.S Apology For Nuclear Weapons And Open Disclosure Of Nuclear Weapons By Israel And Iran
By Mary Hamer

http://www.countercurrents.org/hamer100212.htm

The purpose of this paper is to request the U.S. , Israeli and Iranian Governments and Military-industrial complex officials for full, open disclosure regarding their nuclear agendas. Only with honest talk can these three countries secure a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the Middle East conflict

Strengthening U.S.-Canada Security Interests In North America And Around The Globe
By Dana Gabriel

http://www.countercurrents.org/gabriel100212.htm

Defense Minister Peter MacKay has also indicated that if necessary, Canada's armed forces are ready to offer assistance in Syria. More than ever, the U.S, and Canada share a more common approach to advancing security interests in not only North America, but around the globe

Elliott Abrams' Dark History In Latin America And The Struggle For Justice
By Cyril Mychalejko

http://www.countercurrents.org/mychalejko100212.htm

Elliott Abrams, a former high level State Department official during the 1980s, testified last week that the Reagan administration knew that Argentina's military junta was systematically stealing babies from murdered and jailed democracy activists and giving them to right-wing families friendly to the regime

The Framing of Kevin Cooper, On San Quentin's Death Row
By Hans Bennett, Prison Radio

http://www.countercurrents.org/bennett100212.htm

In this interview, author J. Patrick O'Connor discusses his newly released book Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and The Framing of Kevin Cooper , explaining why he is convinced of Kevin Cooper's innocence. O'Connor asserts that the police and prosecution orchestrated an obvious frame-up that continues to be upheld by federal appeals courts, albeit with the blatantly unfair rulings by US District Court Judge Marilyn Huff blocking critical forensics tests that had been ordered by the US Ninth Circuit Court in 2004

Trial And Terror Of The Gujarat Pogrom Verdict
By Farzana Versey

http://www.countercurrents.org/versey100212.htm

Will the Modi government and the honourable Supreme Court order a probe, for the report does mention that people were burnt alive? How did it happen? Or did it not happen? Did Gulberg Society just disappear? There has to be other "prosecutable evidence". Whose job is it to find out – the victims, the NGOs or the intelligence agencies?

American Model Of Electoral System Detrimental For Democracy In India
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat100212.htm

India suffers from democratic deficit and true representation of its marginalized and minorities and an American model imitation would be suicidal for the very health of democracy with unfettering invisible powers in the hands of crony capitalists will only prove detrimental for the idea of India which stand for social justice and democratic values

Sri Lanka : The Agony Of Political Lies
By Nilantha Ilangamuwa

http://www.countercurrents.org/ilangamuwa100212.htm

What we are seeing today in Sri Lanka in terms of the institutional setup is the result of the cynical manipulation by the President and the members of his family. Indeed, they may be attempting to change the entire history of the Nation. Their attitude is simple. If you kneel before us then you are a patriot of the Nation; if you do not you are traitor

US Congressional Hearing On Balochistan
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali

http://www.countercurrents.org/ghazali100212.htm

The subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs held a hearing on Wednesday (2/8/2012) to discuss the target killings and human rights situation in Balochistan and termed it a matter requiring urgent attention

Kashmir: Forgive And Forget
By Burhan Majid

http://www.countercurrents.org/majid100212.htm

Ever since the third generation Abdullah rose to throne as the State's Chief Minister, he continues to bat for the setting up of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission(TRC) which, he believes, would help to find out the truth behind the widespread atrocities perpetrated, by the Government forces, in the State of Jammu and Kashmir

Gita: Not A Religious Book?
By Ram Puniyani

http://www.countercurrents.org/puniyani100212.htm

The Madhya Pradesh High court has ruled that "Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy, not book on Indian religion". This judgment gave a sanction on the decision of M.P. Government to continue with the teaching of Gita Sar (Essence of Gita) in the MP schools

Shahid Lives, Shahids' Never Die
By Subhash Gatade

http://www.countercurrents.org/gatade100212.htm

In one of his last interview Shahid Azmi told the correspondent how he grew up seeing the police barge in night and day in their slum, terrorising and kidnapping people,which bred in him a hatred — nafrat — for the police. It was noteworthy that he gave a positive direction to this hatred and went down fighting for the people

Home Ministry, UIDAI Misleading State Govts And Citizens
By Gopal Krishna

http://www.countercurrents.org/krishna100512.htm

State Govts pretend ignorance about Parliamentary Report rejecting central Govt's UID/Aadhaar

India's Affirmative Action Politics As Seen Through Tamil Nadu's Specious Quota Law (PDF)
By P Radhakrishnan

http://www.countercurrents.org/radhakrishnan100212.pdf

The report 'Justification of Reservation under the Tamil Nadu Act 45 of 1994 on Quantifiable Data' by the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, headed by retired high court judge, M S Janarthanam is fraudulent and farcical

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Fwd: Man against Manu

2012-02-11T00:25:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shiva Shankar <sshankar@cmi.ac.in>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:18 PM
Subject: Man against Manu
To:

"... This book is also a forceful confirmation of Phule's radical humanism and his revolutionary spirit as a rationalist raging against the obscurantism of organised religion. ... ... Natarajan and Ninan make us stare at the very real viciousness, injustice, violence and not-subtle-at-all tyranny that caste wields over millions in India to this day. ... "

Man against Manu

A powerful graphic book breathes life into Jotiba Phule's thoughts

Review by Indrajit Hazra, Hindustan Times, New Delhi, February 10, 2012

A Gardener In The Wasteland

Story: Srividya Natarajan, Art: Aparajita Ninan, Navayana, Rs. 220 pp. 128

One hundred and thirty-three years before Richard Dawkins launched his frontal attack against the idea of god in his 2006 book The God Delusion, Jotirao Govindrao Phule declared war against a religious system that sanctified one class of people trampling over others deemed to be inferior. Phule's weapon of choice was his 1873 publication, Gulamgiri (Slavery), a scathing attack on brahminism and Hindiusm, in which he not only attacked the codified exploitation of the 'sudras' and 'atisudras', but also called for the uplift of India's 'lower castes' through education and by aligning their cause with the British.

What makes this graphic book such a stand-out among scores of publications on India's political and social histories is that it resusciates Phule's iconic - and iconoclastic - work while constantly reminding the reader how it remains such a cogent, palpable, living text even in 'sovereign socialist secular democratic republic' 21st century India. The artwork by Aparijita Ninan, with its bold black and white, thick outlined drawings reminiscent of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis books, riffs perfectly with Srividya Natarajan's intelligent and moving narration.

A Gardener in the Wasteland slips in and out of the 'here and now' where we constantly find Natarajan and Ninan in 2010 Delhi exploring, understanding, commenting on and ultimately sharing the world and ideas of Jotiba Phule and his wife and 'business partner' Savitribai. So even as many of us tend to see 'caste' through the peephole of various isolated cardboxes - as an almost abstract phenomenon that provides dissertations to scholars; or as an easy electoral tool used and misused by heartland politicians; or as anthropological set of parameters to study various aspects of Indian society down the ages; or as a benign marker used by families to perpetuate happy kinship norms through marriage - Natarajan and Ninan make us stare at the very real viciousness, injustice, violence and not-subtle-at-all tyranny that caste wields over millions in India to this day. In a powerful doublespread, we are told on one side of Phule's reiteration of what is literally depicted in the Manusmriti with regard to sudras and the Vedas (see picture below). On the other side, the author-artist duo makes a compelling comparison of caste brutality with Abel Meeropol's poem 'Strange fruit' made immortal by Billie Holiday in her song about American racism and lynchings of Blacks. The image in the middle of a portly brahman priest sharing the strange fruit of prasada with a hooded Ku Klux Klansman drives the point home more effectively than any other argument made about casteism and racism being kissing cousins. Turn the page and we see a news report on 'nine dalit children among 15 rescued from bondage in Tamil Nadu'. This is not Phule's 19th century Pune. It is April 2010, India.

Savitribai's 'direct action' of being a 'lower caste' woman teaching 'sudra' and 'atisudra' girls in the face of hysterical protests of 'high caste' Hindus comes early in the book - in fact three pages before we first encounter Jotiba - underlines how important her immense courage and belief in education being the gateway to equality was to her husband's thinking.

This book is also a forceful confirmation of Phule's radical humanism and his revolutionary spirit as a rationalist raging against the obscurantism of organised religion. We are given Phule's counter-arguments against the Vedic depictions of early Indian history through 'Aryan-centric' mythologies. Phule cuts through each of the ten avatars of Vishnu one by one, pointing out how these were glorified depictions of early invaders who were given 'divine' attributions for political reasons, the prime one being to keep India's original inhabitants (depicted as asuras) under the thumb of the brahman-usurpers (depicted as devas). One speech bubble quotes Phule in Gulamgiri: 'Since Brahma had vaginas in four places - mouth, groin, arms and legs (since the four varnas were born out of these four parts) each of them must have menstruated for at least four days each, and he, must have sat on seclusion, as an unclean person, for sixteen days each month. Then who did the chores?' If this counter-argument sounds hilarious (or blasphemous), it's because Phule is countering arguments by using the same ludicrous logic used by the brahman.

A Gardener In The Wasteland is a powerfully passionate book that brings smack into the foreground something unequivocally evil that keeps simmering in the background, or worse, is kept distressingly invisible.

Buy online from 'Flipkart'(25 percent discount) dan holars Without Borders. Available at all leading bookstores

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

Fwd: Verse case scenario

2012-02-11T00:23:00.001-08:00

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: kamayani bali mahabal (Google+) <noreply-b6d2c75c@plus.google.com>
Date: Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 12:49 PM
Subject: Verse case scenario
To: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com

Verse case scenario

Syeda Hameed | February 11, 2012 Sufi poetry could inspire a change in attitudes to the girl child. Maulana Altaf Husain Hali was born in Panipat in 1837. Panipat was then the centre of Su...

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Palash Biswas
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CHANGING IDENTITIES - Uttar Pradesh past and present Politics and Play Ramachandra Guha

2012-02-11T00:19:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/opinion/story_15113378.jsp

CHANGING IDENTITIES

- Uttar Pradesh past and present

Politics and Play

Ramachandra Guha

That old, safe feeling

In his charming memoir, Lucknow Boy, Vinod Mehta writes of the leisurely pace of life in his home town. Like most students of his class and generation, he paid little attention to books and exams, spending his time rather in the streets and cafés of Lucknow. A Punjabi Hindu, Mehta numbered two Muslims among his closest friends. The early chapters of his book feature Parsis, Christians, Sikhs, and South Indians too. Reflecting on this experience, Mehta writes that "Lucknow bestowed on me one priceless gift. It taught me to look on the individual rather than his religion or caste or the tongue he spoke".

Mehta believes that because his "secularism was deeply personal", because it was learned through life, not academic instruction, "because it was instinctive and not the by-product of logic", it "has better weathered the periodic communal storms which have battered our republic". His experience resonates with mine. I grew up in another large town in Uttar Pradesh, where the population was likewise mixed. My closest friends were Sikhs. My sister's Bharatnatyam teacher was a Tamil Christian. The town's best known dentist was a Parsi.

The life of the middle classes in the UP of the 1950s and 1960s was, in a word, Nehruvian. Jawaharlal Nehru himself was a native of UP. Within the state and out of it, he energetically promoted religious harmony. It is a striking fact that despite the creation of a Muslim homeland and the violence that accompanied it, the decade after Partition was a decade of communal peace. Muslims and Christians and Sikhs felt safe in newly independent India because Jawaharlal Nehru made them feel so.

Nehru's commitment to secularism is well known. Less talked of nowadays is his struggle to overcome the sectarian identities of caste and region. He asked his fellow citizens to forget the divisions of the past by building a future in which all could share. Thus his emphasis on, and even enchantment with, economic planning. It is commonly argued that Nehru's preference for an interventionist State was a product of his dislike for the market. In fact, it was equally a product of his hope that in coming together to build steel plants and large dams the citizens of India would overcome their parochial identities. Writing to chief ministers in December 1952, Nehru said that behind the First Five Year Plan "lay the conception of India's unity and of a mighty co-operative effort of all the people of India". If Indians focused strongly on economic planning and development, then, he thought, "the less we are likely to go astray in the crooked paths of provincialism, communalism, casteism and all other disruptive and disintegrating tendencies".

Nehru's worldview was both cosmopolitan and egalitarian. In practice, however, Hindu upper castes maintained their dominance. In the UP in which Vinod Mehta and I were raised, the most powerful politicians tended to be Brahmins, such as Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna and Kamalapati Tripathi, or Banias, such as C.B. Gupta. The hegemony of the suvarna was consolidated by the control they exercised on the upper levers of the administration. Senior bureaucrats and judges in UP often bore Brahmin names like Mishra and Shukla or Kayastha titles such as Saxena and Srivastava.

The revolt against upper-caste dominance in UP occurred in two phases. In the 1960s, the Jat leader, Charan Singh, left the Congress, on the grounds that the party was hostile to the interests of the farmers. At the same time, the Socialists led by Rammanohar Lohia had consolidated the backward castes in opposition to the Congress. These two groups joined hands, and in 1967 a non-Congress government was formed with Charan Singh as chief minister. Twelve years later, Charan Singh briefly served as the country's first prime minister from a farming caste.

The Congress of the 1950s and 1960s was in fact what the Bharatiya Janata Party was later said to be — at the top, a 'Brahmin-Bania' party. But only at the top. The Dalits voted largely for the Congress, a legacy of the Gandhian years, when the Mahatma had made the ending of untouchability a precondition for swaraj. And the Muslims of UP also voted massively for the Congress, in acknowledgment of what Nehru, in particular, had done to make them feel secure in a post-Partition India.

In the 1980s, a brilliant political entrepreneur named Kanshi Ram began consolidating the Dalits in a voting bloc of their own. Three decades of affirmative action had created an articulate Dalit middle class. Kanshi Ram formed a trade union of Dalit government employees, which was soon transformed into a political party to advance their interests.

The Dalits now increasingly abandoned the Congress for the Bahujan Samaj Party. Meanwhile, the Muslims became disenchanted with the Congress in the wake of the Ayodhya movement. Congress governments had failed to protect their lives and properties during the communal riots that both preceded and followed the demolition of the Babri Masjid. Muslims now put their trust in Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, that had shown greater resolve in combating the sangh parivar.

The cumulative effects of these changes has been to radically transform the public discourse of Vinod Mehta's home state. In UP, identity became all. An individual was now judged chiefly by his caste or religion. This explains why, in his tours through UP, Nehru's great-grandson, Rahul Gandhi, addressed communities as communities, rather than as aggregations of individuals. First he slept in a Dalit home to send the signal that he cared more for Dalits than their presumed protector, Mayavati. Then he took Sam Pitroda to a meeting of backward castes to suggest that since Pitroda was born in a family of carpenters, and had yet been Rajiv Gandhi's friend, the Congress cared more for other backward classes than the Samajwadi Party. Then he stayed conspicuously silent when the Deoband mullahs issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie, lest he, and the Congress, be seen as 'anti-Muslim'.

The UP election campaign of Rahul Gandhi thus consisted of appeals to a series of sectarian fears. He perhaps thought that these appeals would create a vote bank of some Dalits plus some Muslims plus some backwards, with some Brahmins and some Banias voting Congress out of sentimental attachment to the Nehru-Gandhi family. He hoped thereby to bring round 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the electorate, which in three- and four-cornered contests would allow the Congress candidate to win.

Instead of adding up these sums, Rahul Gandhi should have looked to the example of Bihar. There, Nitish Kumar realized that the politics of izzat, or self-respect, had played itself out. Dalits, backward castes, and Muslims all now wanted social and economic development. Thus Kumar's emphasis on schools, public health, and rural roads. But to improve the lives of people one needs also to live (continually and not episodically) alongside the people. Notably, Nitish Kumar left national politics to devote himself exclusively to his home state.

Through much of the election campaign in UP, Rahul Gandhi did not altogether eschew the crooked paths of casteism and communalism. In the last phase, perhaps realizing that this was a mistake, he has spoken of wishing to rid the state of criminality and corruption. At the same time, both Rahul Gandhi and his sister, Priyanka, have insisted that he does not want to become prime minister. These protestations would have carried more weight if he was to have fought an assembly seat, and made it clear that he was the Congress's chief ministerial candidate, thereby exchanging part-time parachuting for full-time commitment. Surely the two hundred million citizens of UP deserved nothing less.

ramachandraguha@yahoo.in

Trinamul labour pangs spill out

2012-02-11T00:18:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/bengal/story_15121332.jsp

Trinamul labour pangs spill out

OUR BUREAU

Calcutta, Feb. 10: The divisions in Trinamul's labour arm tumbled out in the open today when veteran trade union leader and government chief whip Sovandeb Chattopadhyay blamed a section in Indian National Trinamul Trade Union Congress (INTTUC) for bringing disrepute to the organisation.

"I am not a liability to the party and the party has never been embarrassed because of me. These days, one can hear several complaints against some of our leaders," said Chattopadhyay, two days after he was removed as national president of INTTUC.

Subrata Mukherjee, panchayat, rural development and public health engineering minister in Mamata Banerjee's cabinet was given the charge of Trinamul's labour wing in a shuffle that did not come as a surprise to many. Subrata's trade union background will come in handy if and when Trinamul tries to make inroads into Congress labour pockets.

Naxalite-turned-Trinamul leader Purnendu Bose, who is also the state labour minister, was made the chairman of the organisation while his aide, Dola Sen, remains the state president.

"I have been associated with trade unions for three decades and that's why I am saddened. I am getting calls from party supporters and leaders, who are saying that an injustice was done to me," Chattopadhyay later told The Telegraph.

During his unscheduled interaction with the media at Writers', he said that though a section in the organisation was elated with his ouster, he would continue playing a role in Trinamul's trade union front. Chattopadhyay did not name Bose, but it was apparent that his tirade was directed at the labour minister.

"Nobody ever associated me with syndicates but some leaders have brought disrepute to the party for their alleged involvement in them," said the veteran trade union leader, who was closeted in an hour-long meeting with Mamata yesterday.

Some syndicate members had claimed indirect support from Bose, though the minister has always maintained that he has got nothing to do with syndicates.

Referring to today's remarks by Chattopadahyay, a Trinamul source said: "Everyone in the party knows that two factions of INTTUC are at war with each other. In several companies across the state, INTTUC members are running parallel unions that are in conflict with each other."

While Chattopadhyay has been at the helm of one of the factions, Bose and Sen are heading the other group. A Trinamul source said that Chattopadhaya's removal would help Bose and Sen to try and consolidate their position in INTTUC.

But controlling the trade union front of the party will be easier said than done for the duo, who are facing stiff resistance in districts like East Midnapore, South and North 24-Parganas, Hooghly and Howrah.

In East Midnapore, resistance is expected from Haldia MLA Seuli Saha and INTTUC district unit president Tushar Mondal. Saha alleged that Sen did not give approval to newly formed unions in companies across Haldia. "I am saddened by the fact that whenever a new union with the local MLA at the helm seeks INTTUC affiliation, we are denied it for unknown reason," Saha said.

Why the controversy now, asks court, and tells general to retreat and keep his word SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

2012-02-11T00:15:00.001-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/nation/story_15121363.jsp

Why the controversy now, asks court, and tells general to retreat and keep his word

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

Defence minister AK Antony greets army chief Gen VK Singh at Rajghat on Martyrs' Day in January. (PTI)

New Delhi, Feb. 10: General V.K. Singh got praise for his four decades of service but little else from the Supreme Court, which today refused to intervene on the army chief's date of birth and asked him why he was creating "such a controversy" now after having earlier committed to accept whatever was in the "best interests" of the force.

At the end of a two-hour hearing, the two-judge bench gave Singh, who it described as a "meritorious" officer that the court was "proud" of, the option to withdraw his petition. "You withdraw. We want to ensure that as army chief you serve the country as you have served for years now. This (petition) should not come in the way of your commitment (to the country), in public interest, in national interest," Justice R.M. Lodha said.

After making a last-ditch bid to persuade the court by offering to resign "within 48 hours" if his year of birth in official records was accepted as 1951 instead of 1950, the army chief withdrew his petition.

The court then disposed of the matter as "not pressed", with the face-saver of an assurance from the attorney-general that the government had full "faith" in Singh and his capability to lead the Indian Army. The government had only contested his petition on a matter of principle, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati said.

At the outset, the government in deference to the court's wish agreed to withdraw parts of its December 30, 2011, order that had made adverse references to Singh.

The dispute is over two records of the chief's date of birth maintained by the army headquarters — the adjutant general's branch shows it as May 10, 1951, the date on Singh's matriculation certificate. The military secretary's branch reflects it as May 10, 1950. The government has gone by the military secretariat, which is responsible for promotions and postings, and the army chief had appealed against this decision months before he is due to retire on May 31.

The court saw nothing wrong with the general approaching it. "We have no doubts that you have been honestly pursuing your date of birth," Justice Lodha said. "Right from the beginning you have been saying this. You have not come up suddenly for having some benefits."

"You have just come to the court to point out the government's fault in not correcting your date of birth… There is no malice in your seeking to restore the date of birth as May 10, 1951," the court said. "It is unfortunate, inadvertent or a matter of destiny, whatever you call. You have been very candid and honest."

Such matters "should not have been dragged into the public domain and should have been handled properly", it further said.

But the bench expressed its inability to declare any date as his actual date of birth while sitting in judicial review on the government decision.

"There is a civilian authority, you have to accept it," Justice H.L. Gokhale said at one point. "Let's be fair to them, they could have very well said: 'We don't want you as a chief.' But they didn't."

Justice Gokhale reminded the general that if he wanted to have his date of birth determined, he would have to file a civil suit and appear in the witness box and give evidence in support of his claims.

"This is not adjudication for determining date of birth but concerns the recognition of a particular date of birth by the respondent (Union of India) in the official service records," the two-judge bench said.

The bench examined three letters, dated January 24, 2008, January 30, 2008 and November 12, 2009, to shrug off Singh's plea.

"You say that you will accept what is determined in the best interests of the organisation. Why are you ruining it at this stage? Creating such a controversy?" Justice Lodha asked, citing the letters.

"We can't deny that you hold such a high post. Why do you want to reopen all these issues? With all the pain in your heart, you ultimately left it to authorities. They have taken a decision. It was well thought out and well deliberated. You respected your commitment repeatedly. Why do you want to get out of it now?"

Justice Lodha also said that it would have been a different case had he been victimised, harassed and had not achieved anything. "You have achieved what you had to in the army. Why should a person of your stature, having given a commitment, go back on it now?"

The date of birth discrepancy should have been corrected at the UPSC level. But it wasn't. "What can we do now?" he asked Singh's counsel Uday Lalit.

"The records were reconciled at the stage of commissioning. UPSC records should have shown 1951," Lalit contended, suggesting the army chief should not be penalised because this wasn't done. "After that every single document has been 1951," he said.

The bench, however, refused to accept his arguments. "All the documents at the threshold show your date of birth as May 10, 1950."

Even as late as 2008, the military secretary's branch and the adjutant general showed different dates of birth, it said.

"The matter was then discussed at the highest level. You were called, you accepted your date of birth as 1950…. if you had insisted on 1951, you would have exposed yourself to disciplinary action. Therefore, the concerned officer writes to bring to a close the controversy. You are reconciled to it (date of birth as 1950)," Justice Lodha observed.

"Having given that assurance, it would not behove a meritorious officer to go back on that position," he said. "It is extremely unfortunate. You have every right to agitate your grievance in the highest court. It was an unfortunate inadvertence. But you accepted it in 2008, 2009."

"We have to find fault with the government of India in deciding your date of birth," the judge continued.

But Justice Gokhale was quick to cut him short. "It is not fair to criticise the ministry. Thereafter, you become chief," he said.

After the two-hour hearing in a packed courtroom, the bench asked Singh: "Does it (date of birth as determined by the authorities) suffer from such a flaw that it has to be corrected by exercise of our extraordinary powers?"

Lalit insisted on arguing the case further, saying there was no such thing as official date of birth as opposed to actual date of birth. Justice Lodha shot down his arguments: "With all the inconsistencies in the records maintained by two branches in the army, you left it to the authorities to take a final call. This commitment must also be honoured."

Lalit offered that the army chief would step down within 48 hours should the court agree to change his date of birth to May 10, 1951, and spoke of the morale of the 13-lakh strong force. "I have been wronged," he maintained.

This prompted the court to ask: "Has the stage come where all the dirty linen has to be washed in public?"

The bench then asked Lalit to check with Singh whether he intended to press on further.

The attorney-general intervened at this stage to assure the court that the government had full faith in Singh.

Justice Lodha told Lalit: "You have rightly and gracefully, as a dignified officer, you left it to the government to act objectively. You will accept this."

Justice Gokhale interjected: "You could have gone to court then. But you became chief of army staff."

After Singh agreed to withdraw his petition, the court disposed of it.

"Given the constraints of judicial review, the government decision (on date of birth) stands," the two-judge bench ruled at 2pm after a short recess. "Wise people are those who move with the winds."

Age of civilian age and service age SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

2012-02-11T00:06:00.001-08:00

Age of civilian age and service age

SAMANWAYA RAUTRAY

New Delhi, Feb. 10: The Supreme Court's decision today means that the entry made for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam has been recognised without going into the "civilian" matriculation certificate that is used often to settle age-related disputes.

"All the documents at the threshold show your date of birth as May 10, 1950," the court told Gen. V.K. Singh's counsel, referring to the entries made when forms were filled for the UPSC-conducted exam to the National Defence Academy. (Gen. Singh's supporters have been saying 1950, instead of 1951, was scribbled by mistake, possibly by a teacher who inspired him to join the military.)

Under established law, the matriculation certificate (the general's lawyer has said civilian documents such as PAN card shows 1951 as his year of birth on the basis of the matriculation certificate) is usually taken into consideration.

In the absence of such a certificate or if it's proved that the certificate has been falsified, courts often recognise school-leaving certificates issued by headmasters. Bone tests are also allowed when no other options are available.

However, in this particular case in which the general directly went to the Supreme Court because of paucity of time and to avoid hierarchical complications, the matriculation certificate faced a legal hurdle.

The Supreme Court, under Article 32 of the Constitution, cannot examine such certificates as evidence. For that, a civil suit has to be filed and the person has to prove the authenticity of the certificate.

The court declined to go into "the civilian aspect", taking the UPSC entry as the threshold. "We are not adjudicating the real date of birth. We are only concerned with the recognition of the date of birth. The controversy is confined to the date of birth recorded in service records," the bench said.

The court added that "nobody has challenged the matriculation certificate about his date of birth…. None, even the government has not challenged his date of birth in the matriculation certificate".

Declining to pass any directive on the documents issued by civilian agencies like the school board and the income-tax department, the bench said: "We can't say so as none of the authorities is before us."

If Gen. Singh wanted to rest his case on the matriculation certificate, he would have had to go to a civil court or the Armed Forces Tribunal where an officer junior to the army chief would have adjudicated the matter.

So, the Supreme Court today broadly based its decisions on a well-known principle of administrative law, known as the doctrine of estoppel in which a person cannot go back on a claim once it is legally made. Under the doctrine, Singh cannot go back on his acceptance, made in 2008 and 2009, of 1950 as his date of birth, wherein he implicitly gave up his rights.

However, in cases of estoppel too, lower courts normally carry out an inquiry into whether the right had been waived without fear or favour.

This assumes significance in Singh's dispute as an annexure to his complaint includes excerpts of communication that suggest he was issued an ultimatum to accept the date preferred by the army headquarters.

The Supreme Court made a reference to this today. "…if you had insisted on 1951, you would have exposed yourself to disciplinary action. Therefore, the concerned officer writes to bring to a close the controversy. You are reconciled to it (date of birth as 1950)," Justice R.M. Lodha of the two-judge bench said.

However, the top court cannot inquire if the waiver was voluntary in a judicial review, where it is only authorised to examine whether the decision-making process was vitiated or mala fide.

Singh had not alleged any mala fide and the court chose not to look into whether the process was vitiated.

The court today suggested that if Singh persisted with his plea, "we will refer the case to the tribunal. Other service matters go to the tribunal. If you are going to the tribunal, you may have to go to the witness box".

Had Gen. Singh gone to a civil court, it would have been time-consuming and a conclusion may not have been found before this May 31, the scheduled date of his retirement if 1950 is taken as his year of birth.

Gone with the ‘wise’ wind VK bows to court, cloud on full stint SUJAN DUTTA

2012-02-11T00:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120211/jsp/frontpage/story_15121383.jsp

Gone with the 'wise' wind
VK bows to court, cloud on full stint

SUJAN DUTTA

New Delhi, Feb. 10: India has an army chief who is twice-born. Year after year, in 1950 and in 1951, Gen. V.K. Singh was born to the same set of parents and the same Gen. V.K. Singh rose to be the army chief.

Damned by superlative praise from the Supreme Court, Gen. Singh has lost in the unparalleled case of the army chief versus the Union of India.

While the court sought to mollify the general, lavishing praise on him and noting the praise from the government for him, there is a sense of impotent rage among the general's frustrated friends who say he has no option now but to quit.

The government's position will remain unchanged — that he was born on May 10, 1950, and, therefore, has to retire on May 31 this year. Gen. Singh will have to give up his contention that he was born a year later.

The army chief's lawyer at one point said that he would step down in 48 hours if the government accepted his contention. That was not accepted by the court.

The Supreme Court said the date of birth set by the government in his service records must reign supreme. He has to accede to civilian authority. But on his contention that he was born on May 10, 1951 — the date reflected in his passport, identity card and PAN card issued by the same civilian authority — the court found no reason to doubt his honesty. But the honesty was immaterial.

"Wise people are those who move with the winds," Justice R.M. Lodha, the senior on the bench that also included Justice H.L. Gokhale, advised the army chief, bringing closure to the general's legal battle.

In the government, bureaucrats believe Gen. Singh has been tilting at windmills. He believes he is acting out of conviction in a battle for his honour and integrity.

Any time now, Gen. Singh is set to quit office, resign or ask for premature retirement after the Supreme Court today "disposed of his petition as withdrawn", his friends believe.

The general has not made his intention public yet. He left for a scheduled visit to the south-western command in Jaipur.

On a day the Supreme Courts of the Maldives, Pakistan and India looked set to reshape the texture of relations among state institutions in the sub-continent, it was here in New Delhi that officials, bureaucrats, ministers, politicians and soldiers were glued to television sets following the case of the army chief versus his own government.

There was a quiet but barely concealed satisfaction within the government. The usually reticent A.K. Antony's defence ministry was happy with the outcome.

"We are happy that the issue has been finally resolved and the controversy has been put to rest," defence ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said after the Supreme Court order with emphasis added to "finally".

Gen. Singh, who was in his office in Army Headquarters during the nearly two-hour hearing in the Supreme Court, left for the scheduled visit to Jaipur shortly afterwards. He is due back in New Delhi tomorrow.

But a confidant of the chief admitted that "it is now untenable for him to continue to occupy Army House after challenging the government in court and saying that it was a matter of honour and integrity".

"We have a robust machinery," a defence ministry official replied, asked if the government has begun the process of naming Gen. Singh's successor, should he quit early.

There is still some confusion in Army Headquarters on the technicalities of the case. Since the government had withdrawn its December 30 order, which rejected Gen. Singh's statutory complaint, an officer wondered what would be its fate now.

But there is no confusion in the ministry. Armed with the Supreme Court order it will expect the adjutant-general's branch — the official record-keeper — to abide by its directives.

Gen. Singh has to retire on May 31, this year, after all his pleas to reconcile records were quashed.

In the event of Gen. Singh's premature departure from office, the government can appoint any of the seven army commanders or the vice-chief of army staff as the chief.

If it goes by the seniority principle, the top three lieutenant generals in contention for the office would be western army commander Lt Gen. Shankar Ghosh, central army commander Lt Gen. V.K. Ahluwalia and eastern army commander Lt Gen. Bikram Singh. If Gen. Singh chooses to stay in office till May 31, Lt Gen. Bikram Singh would automatically be the senior-most army commander as the others would have retired on reaching the age of 60 years by then.

The government could also force the hand of Gen. Singh with whom the trust deficit is now public. Usually, the government announces the name of the chief-designate two months before the retirement of the incumbent. An earlier announcement could make it difficult for Gen. Singh to demit office at a time of his own choosing because he could be asked to continue as a caretaker, effectively a lame-duck, chief.

सभ्यता के विद्रूप

2012-02-11T00:00:00.001-08:00

सभ्यता के विद्रूप

http://www.jansatta.com/index.php/component/content/article/20-2009-09-11-07-46-16/11240-2012-02-11-04-59-15

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:28

प्रमोद भार्गव
जनसत्ता 11 फरवरी, 2012: जब किसी समाज की दशा और दिशा अर्थतंत्र से तय होने लगती है तो इंसान को देखने या आंकने के तरीके बदलने लगते हैं। यही कारण है कि हम जिन्हें सभ्य और आधुनिक समाज का हिस्सा समझते हैं, वे प्राकृतिक अवस्था में रह रहे लोगों को इंसान मानने के बजाय जंगली जीव ही मानते हैं। आधुनिक कहे जाने वाले समाज की यह एक ऐसी विडंबना है, जो सभ्यता के दायरे में कतई नहीं आती। अंडमान-निकोबार द्वीप समूह में लुप्तप्राय जारवा प्रजाति की औरतों को स्वादिष्ट भोजन का लालच देकर सैलानियों के सामने नचाने के जो वीडियो-दृश्य ब्रिटिश अखबारों में सिलसिलेवार छपे हैं उन्हें शासन-प्रशासन के स्तर पर झुठलाने की कवायद कितनी भी की जाए, लेकिन हकीकत यह है कि अभयारण्यों में दुर्लभ वन्यजीवों को देखने की मंशा की तरह, दुर्लभ मानव प्रजातियों को भी देखने की इच्छा नवधनाढ्यों और रसूखदारों में पनप रही है।
अफसोसनाक यह है कि जिस सरकारी तंत्र को आदिवासियों की सुरक्षा के लिए तैनात किया गया है, वही इन्हें लालच देकर नचवाने का काम कर रहा है। इसी कुत्सित मानसिकता के चलते जारवा लोग इंसानों के बजाय, मनोरंजक खिलौने होकर रह गए हैं। यह विचित्र है कि एक ओर तो हम दया दिखाते हुए सर्कसों और मदारियों द्वारा वन्यजीवों के करतब दिखाए जाने पर अंकुश लगाने की वकालत करते हैं, वहीं दूसरी ओर अपने में मगन निर्वस्त्र या अर्ध-निर्वस्त्र जन-जातियों को नाचने के लिए मजबूर करते हैं।
लंदन के अखबार 'आब्जर्वर' ने एक बार फिर जारवा जनजाति के बारे में मोबाइल फोन से फिल्माई गई दो फिल्में जारी की हैं। इनमें से एक फिल्म 3.19 मिनट की है, जिसमें एक पुलिस अधिकारी के सामने नृत्य करती हुई जारवा जाति की अर्धनग्न लड़कियां दिखाई गई हैं। दूसरे वीडियो में सेना की वर्दी पहने बैठे एक व्यक्ति के सामने अन्य जारवा युवतियां नाच रही हैं। अखबार ने दावा किया है कि ये वीडियो नए हैं और वहां सुरक्षा में लगे अधिकारियों की मिलीभगत से सामने आए हैं। इनमें से एक वीडियो दो माह पहले पोर्टब्लेयर में भी प्रकट हो चुका है। इसके पहले विदेशी सैलानियों के सामने इन महिलाओं को नचाने के जो वीडियो जारी किए गए थे, उनका फिल्मांकन गोपनीय ढंग से इसी अखबार के पत्रकार ने किया था। इस कारण देश में हल्ला मचा और केंद्र सरकार ने वीडियो की हकीकत जानने के लिए एक जांच भी बिठा दी। यह जांच कुछ खुलासा कर पाती उससे पहले दो और नए वीडियो आ गए।
आधुनिक विकास और बहुराष्ट्रीय कंपनियों के लिए वन कानूनों में लगातार हो रहे बदलावों के चलते अंडमान में ही नहीं, देश भर की जनजातियों की संख्या लगातार घट रही है। आहार और चिकित्सा जैसी बुनियादी सुविधाओं की कमी होती जा रही है। अंडमान-निकोबार द्वीपसमूह में अलग-अलग दुर्गम टापुओं पर जंगलों में समूह बना कर रहने वाली जनजातियों का अन्य समुदायों और प्रशासन से बहुत सीमित संपर्क है। जारवा लोगों की संख्या घट कर महज तीन सौ इक्यासी रह गई है।
एक अन्य टापू पर रहने वाले ग्रेट अंडमानी जनजाति के लोगों की संख्या महज साठ के आसपास है। इन लोगों में प्रतिरोधात्मक क्षमता इतनी कम होती है कि ये एक बार बीमार हुए तो इनका बचना नामुमकिन हो जाता है। एक तय परिवेश में रहने के कारण इन आदिवासियों की त्वचा बेहद संवेदनशील हो गई है। लिहाजा अगर ये बाहरी लोगों के संपर्क में लंबे समय तक रहते हैं तो ये रोगी हो जाते हैं और उपचार के अभाव में दम तोड़ देते हैं। अब जनजातीय मामलों के केंद्रीय मंत्री वीके चंद्र देव ने एलान किया है कि इनकी प्रतिरोधात्मक क्षमता बढ़ाने के लिए टीकाकरण करने और पौष्टिक खुराक देने के उपाय किए जाएंगे।
करीब एक दशक पहले तक ये लोग पूरी तरह निर्वस्त्र रहते थे, लेकिन सरकारी कोशिशों और इनकी बोली के जानकार दुभाषियों के माध्यम से समझाने-बझाने पर इन्होंने थोडेÞ-बहुत कपड़े पहनने या पत्ते लपेटने शुरू कर दिए हैं। इसीलिए ब्रिटिश अखबार के जरिए जिन वीडियो दृश्यों की जानकारी सामने आई है, उनमें जारवा महिलाओं को कपडेÞ पहने नृत्य करते दिखाया गया है। इससे तय है ये वीडियो नए हैं। पुलिसिया पूछताछ से खुलासा हुआ है कि ब्रिटिश अखबार 'द आॅब्जर्वर' के पत्रकार को पोर्टब्लेयर के राजेश व्यास और टैक्सी चालक इनके निवास स्थल तक ले गए थे। वहां इन्होंने स्वादिष्ट भोजन के चंद निवाले डाल कर उन आदिवासियों से नृत्य कराया और नृत्य करते हुए उनका फिल्मांकन किया। जबकि यह इलाका सर्वोच्च न्यायालय और स्थानीय प्रशासन के दिशा-निर्देशों के अनुसार पर्यटन के लिए पूरी तरह प्रतिबंधित है। इन्हें संपूर्ण संरक्षण देने की दृष्टि से अंडमान ट्रंकरोड को बंद करके समुद्र से ऐसा मार्ग बनाए जाने की संभावनाएं तलाशी जा रही हैं, जो जारवा संरक्षित क्षेत्र से होकर न गुजरे।
भारत की सांस्कृतिक विविधता एक अनूठी खूबसूरती है। यहां विभिन्न आदिवासी समुदायों को अपने पुरातन और सनातन परिवेश में रहने की स्वतंत्रता हासिल है। जबकि मानवाधिकारों की सबसे ज्यादा वकालत करने वाले अमेरिका जैसे देश में आदिम जनजातियों को सुनियोजित ढंग से समाप्त किया गया और यह सिलसिला वहां अब भी जारी है। अमेरिका महाद्वीप में कोलंबस के मूल्यांकन को लेकर दो तरह के दृष्टिकोण सामने आए हैं। एक दृष्टिकोण उन लोगों का है, जो अमेरिकी मूल के हैं और जिनका विस्तार और वर्चस्व उत्तरी और दक्षिणी अमेरिका के अनेक देशों में है।

दूसरा दृष्टिकोण उन लोगों का है, जो दावा करते हैं कि अमेरिका का अस्तित्व ही हम लोगों ने खड़ा किया। इनका कहना है कि कोलंबस का आना इनके लिए कहर साबित हुआ। क्योंकि कोलंबस के आने तक अमेरिका में वहां की जनजातियों की जितनी आबादी थी वह घट कर अब आधी रह गई है। इतने बडेÞ जनसंहार के बरक्स जुल्म की दूसरी बड़ी कहानी अफ्रीका से लाए गए अश्वेतों को गुलाम बनाने की है। दास प्रथा तो खत्म हो गई, पर अश्वेतों के साथ भेदभाव का सिलसिला अब भी जारी है। ब्रिटेन के भी हालात बहुत अच्छे नहीं हैं। वहां हाल ही में नस्लीय आधार पर भारत के अनुज बिदवे की हत्या का मामला इसका उदाहरण है।
शोषण और सुनियोजित संहार के ऐसे ही पैरोकारों का एक दल हमारे यहां भी पैदा हो गया है जिसमें योजनाकार और अर्थशास्त्री शामिल हैं। ये भूमि, जंगल और खनिजों को महज आर्थिक उत्पाद मानते हैं। इनका कहना है कि इस प्राकृतिक संपदा पर दुर्भाग्य से ऐसी छोटी और मझोली जोत के किसानों और वनवासियों का वर्चस्व है, जो अयोग्य और अक्षम हैं।
सकल घरेलू उत्पाद दर में लगातार वृद्धि के लिए जरूरी है, ऐसे लोगों से खेतीयोग्य भूमि छीनी जाए और उसे विशेष व्यावसायिक हितों, शॉपिंग मॉलों और शहरीकरण के लिए अधिग्रहीत कर लिया जाए। इसी तर्ज पर जिन जंगलों और खनिज ठिकानों पर जन-जातियां आदिकाल से रहती चली आ रही हैं, उन्हें विस्थापित कर संपदा के ये अनमोल क्षेत्र औद्योगिक घरानों को उत्खनन के लिए सौंपे जा रहे हैं।
इस मकसद की पूर्ति के लिए 'क्षतिपूर्ति वन्यरोपण विधेयक 2008' बिना किसी बहस-मुबाहिसे के पारित करा दिया गया था। जबकि इसके मसविदे को जनजातियों, वनों और खनिज संरक्षण की दृष्टि से गैर-जरूरी मानते हुए संसद की स्थायी समिति ने खारिज कर दिया था। लेकिन कंपनियों को सौगात देने की कड़ी में प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह ने समिति की सिफारिश को दरकिनार कर यह विधेयक पारित करा दिया।
यही कारण है कि देश में जितने भी आदिवासी बहुल इलाके हैं, उन सभी में इनकी संख्या तेजी से घट रही है।जारवा जनजातियों को भोजन का लालच देकर नचाने की घटना जहां शोषण और अमानवीयता का ही एक रूप है, वहीं इससे देश की कथित प्रगति का एक विद्रूप भी उभरता है। चंद निवालों के लालच में अगर परदेशियों के सामने अर्धनग्न जारवा महिलाएं नाच रही हैं तो विकास का ढिंढोरा पीट रहे देश के लिए यह लज्जा की बात है। क्योंकि ये भोले और मासूम जारवा नहीं जानते कि कथित रूप से सभ्य मानी जाने वाली दुनिया में नग्नता बिकती है। लेकिन इसके ठीक विपरीत जो लोग धन का लालच देकर इनकी नग्नता के दृश्य कैमरे में कैद कर करवा रहे थे, वे जरूर अच्छी तरह जानते थे कि यह नग्नता उनके व्यापारिक प्रतिष्ठान की टीआरपी बढ़ाने की सस्ती और जुगुप्सा जगाने वाली अचरज भरी वीडियो क्लीपिंग है। इसीलिए जन्मजात अवस्था में रह रहे जारवाओं की मासूमियत को बेचने की कोशिश की गई। पर यह एक क्रूर मजाक है।
इसी तरह का एक मामला ओड़िशा के प्राचीन आदिवासियों को लेकर भी सामने आया है। इन्हें एक सरकारी मेले में नुमाइश की तरह पेश किया गया। हालांकि हमारे देश के सांस्कृतिक परिवेश में नग्नता कभी फूहड़ता या अश्लीलता का पर्याय नहीं रही। पाश्चात्य मूल्यों और भौतिकवादी आधुनिकता ने ही प्राकृतिक और स्वाभाविक नग्नता को दमित काम-वासना की पृष्ठभूमि में रेखांकित किया है। वरना हमारे यहां तो खजुराहो, कोणार्क और कामसूत्र जैसी रचनाधर्मिता से स्पष्ट होता है कि एक राष्ट्र के सामाजिक-सांस्कृतिक परिदृश्य में हम कितनी व्यापक मानसिक दृष्टि से परिपक्व थे। लेकिन कालांतर में विदेशी आक्रांताओं के शासन और उनकी संकीर्ण कार्य-प्रणाली ने हमारे सोच को बदला और नैसर्गिक नग्नता फूहड़ सेक्स का हिस्सा बन गई।
इसीलिए कहना पड़ता है कि कथित रूप से हम आधुनिक भले हो गए हों, लेकिन सभ्यता की परिधि में आना अभी बाकी है। वरना जो आदिम जातियां प्रकृति से संस्कार और आहार ग्रहण कर अपना जीवनयापन कर रही हैं, उन्हें मानव मानने के बजाय चिंपांजियों जैसे रसरंजक वन्यप्राणी मान कर नहीं चलते और न ही भोजन के चंद टुकडेÞ डाल कर उन्हें बंदर या भालुओं की तरह नाचने को बाध्य करते। अगर इसे ही मुख्यधारा की सभ्यता कहा जाता है तो अच्छा है इन्हें अपने ही दायरे में, आदिम सभ्यता में रहते हुए बख्शा जाए। प्राकृतिक परिवेश में रहने वाले इंसानों की लाचार मासूमियत को भुनाने या बेचने का यह प्रसंग आदिवासियों के प्रति हमारे नजरिए पर एक बार फिर सवालिया निशान लगाता है।

प्रियंका अमेठी-रायबरेली में कई वजहों से हैं सीमित

2012-02-10T23:58:00.001-08:00

प्रियंका अमेठी-रायबरेली में कई वजहों से हैं सीमित

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:16

प्रदीप श्रीवास्तव नई दिल्ली, 10 फरवरी। प्रियंका वाड्रा के एक हफ्ते के चुनाव प्रचार ने मीडिया का ध्यान अपनी ओर खींचा। इसका असर यह हुआ कि आज सभी पार्टियों के निशाने पर कांग्रेस, खासकर गांधी परिवार है। पहले चरण के चुनाव से ठीक पहले प्रियंका को प्रचार में उतारने की कई वजहें बताई जा रही हैं। कहा जा रहा है कि 2 जी स्पेक्ट्रम घोटाले पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट के फैसले के बाद कांग्रेस जिस तरह घिर रही थी। उसमें यह फैसला किया गया। कांग्रेस के हतोत्साहित कार्यकर्ताओं में उत्साह भरना भी प्रियंका को प्रचार में उतारने का एक कारण माना जा रहा है। लेकिन यहां यक्ष प्रश्न यह है कि प्रियंका वढरा को कांग्रेस इन वजहों से इतना उपयोगी मानती थी और उन्हें उत्तर प्रदेश के चुनाव में अपना स्टार प्रचारक बनाना चाहती थी तो, उन्हें अमेठी और रायबरेली तक ही सीमित क्यों रखा गया है? कांग्रेस उनकी इस कथित लोकप्रियता का लाभ पूरे प्रदेश में क्यों नहीं उठाना चाहती?
इसमें भी संदेह नहीं कि न केवल मीडिया में मिली प्रमुखता बल्कि दूसरे मुकामों पर भी प्रियंका के आने से कांग्रेस को लाभ मिला है। रायबरेली और अमेठी में टिकट बंटवारे और स्थानीय गुटबाजी से कार्यकर्ताओं में जो मतभेद थे उन्हें सुलझाने में प्रियंका ने अहम भूमिका निभाई। वे राजनीतिक रूप से पूरी तरह परिपक्व दिखाई दे रही हैं। वे कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी या बसपा प्रमुख मयावती की तरह चुनावी भाषण पढ़ कर नहीं देती और न ही उन्होंने ख्रुद को बड़ी जनसभाओं तक सीमित रखा है। वे नुक्कड़ सभा और पैदल जनसंपर्क का भी इस्तमोल कर रही हैं। उनके चेहरे पर थकान भी नहीं दिखती है। प्रियंका अपने भाषणों में जिस तरह 22 सालों से प्रदेश की सत्ता में कांग्रेस की अनुपस्थिति को दर्ज करा रही हैं। उसका मनोवैज्ञानिक प्रभाव युवाओं पर पड़ रहा है। इसका अर्थ यह है कि पिछले 22 साल में प्रदेश की जो दुर्दशा हुई है, उससे कांग्रेस का कोई लेना-देना नहीं है। आज से 22 साल पहले कांग्रेस की सत्ता में क्या अच्छा हुआ था और क्या बुरा, यह आज के 21 से 30 साल के युवाओं को कहां पता है।
बहरहाल कांग्रेस के एक वरिष्ठ नेता की माने तो एक रणनीति के तहत प्रियंका की भूमिका केवल राहुल और सोनिया गांधी के चुनावी क्षेत्र तक ही सीमित है। कांग्रेस उत्तर प्रदेश का चुनाव राहुल गांधी के नाम पर लड़ रही है। अपने मिशन 2012 के लिए राहुल गांधी पिछले दो साल से लगे हैं। उनका जलवा कितना काम करेगा, कांग्रेस यह देखना चाहती है। केवल कांग्रेस ही नहीं बल्कि दूसरी पार्टियों के साथ-साथ

राजनीतिक विश्लेषकों की निगाहें भी इस पर लगी हैं। कांग्रेस जानती है कि उत्तर प्रदेश में कोई चमत्कार नहीं होने जा रहा है, उसकी खुद की सरकार भी नहीं बनने जा रही है। लेकिन अगर उसकी सीटों की गिनती 60 से ऊपर आती है तो इसका श्रेय राहुल को मिलेगा। खराब प्रर्दशन का असर राहुल गांधी की साख पर पड़ेगा। बिहार के पिछले चुनाव में हालांकि राहुल गांधी ने कोई खास मेहनत नहीं की थी और न पार्टी को खड़ा करने में समय दिया था। लेकिन विपक्ष अभी तक वहां की असफलता का ठीकरा राहुल के सिर पर फोड़ता है। ऐसे में प्रियंका वढरा की साख को दांव पर लगाने का जुआ कांग्रेस के रणनीतिकार नहीं खेलना चाहते। वह भी तब जब कि पिछले एक दशक से प्रियंका गांधी की 'लोकप्रियता' को वह अपना राजनीतिक ब्रम्हास्त्र मानती रही है। कांग्रेस उसे तरकश से निकालने में कई वजह से संयम बरत रही है। प्रियंका अमेठी और रायबरेली में पहले भी प्रचार करती रही हैं।
कांग्रेस के एक अन्य नेता इस मामले में रार्बट वढरा के बयान की तरफ भी ध्यान दिलाते हैं। प्रियंका के पति रार्बट वढरा के राजनीति में आने के सवाल पर जिस बयान को लेकर बावेला मचा, उससे खुद कांग्रेसी भी हतप्रभ रह गए थे। उस पर गौर करें तो पाएंगे कि रार्बट ने उसमें कांग्रेस की भावी योजना और रणनीति के संकेत दिए थे। उन्होंने कहा कि यह राहुल गांधी की बारी है, इसके बाद प्रियंका की बारी आएगी और फिर हम सबकी बारी आएगी। उनके कहने का अर्थ यही था कि उत्तर प्रदेश चुनाव राहुल का है। इसके बाद यानि 2014 के लोकसभा चुनाव में पूरी तरह कांग्रेस के प्रचार में प्रियंका उतरेंगी। जाहिर है 2014 चुनाव के बाद प्रियंका को राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर चुनाव प्रचार में उतारने का कोई मतलब भी नहीं है। 2019 तक उस पीढ़ी के बहुत से लोग दुनिया छोड़ जाएंगे जो प्रियंका में इंदिरा गांधी को ढूढ़ते हैं।
अमेठी और रायबरेली के तहत आने वाली सीटों के चुनाव नतीजों से भी राहुल गांधी की प्रतिष्ठा जुड़ी है। यहां अगर कांग्रेस को सफलता नहीं मिली तो विपक्ष यह कहेगा कि खुद अपना ही घर राहुल और कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष नहीं बचा पाए। कांग्रेस नेताओं के मुताबिक चूंकि राहुल गांधी पूरे प्रदेश में घूम रहे हैं इसलिए अमेठी और रायबरेली पर ध्यान देना उनके लिए संभव नहीं है। यह जिम्मा प्रियंका को दिया गया है। वे इस पर लगी हैं। वैसे 2007 में जबकि पूरे प्रदेश में कांग्रेस की हालत खराब थी, इन दोनों लोकसभा सीटों के तहत आने वाली 10 सीटों में से उसे छह सीटें मिली थीं।

बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त कहां थीं सोनिया: मुलायम

2012-02-10T23:55:00.001-08:00

बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त कहां थीं सोनिया: मुलायम

Friday, 10 February 2012 19:00

मैनपुरी, 10 फरवरी (एजेंसी) सोनिया गांधी के 'भावुक' होने के खुर्शीद की टिप्पणी को मुलायम ने चुनावी हथकंडा करार दिया।

समाजवादी पार्टी :सपा: अध्यक्ष मुलायम सिंह यादव ने दिल्ली के बटला हाउस मुठभेड़ कांड की तस्वीरें देखकर कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी के 'भावुक' हो जाने सम्बन्धी केन्रदीय कानून मंत्री सलमान खुर्शीद की टिप्पणी को चुनावी हथकंडा करार दिया है। जिले में गत सात फरवरी को एक सड़क हादसे में मारे गये 27 लोगों के परिजन से मुलाकात करने आए यादव ने संवाददाताओं से बातचीत में कहा, ''बटला हाउस कांड के वक्त सोनिया गांधी कहां थीं। सलमान खुर्शीद को चुनाव के वक्त ही उनके आंसू क्यों याद आए।''
उन्होंने कहा कि वह इस मामले पर पहले कई बार बोल चुके हैं और उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा चुनाव के दौरान खुर्शीद का ताजा बयान चुनावी हथकंडा है।

गौरतलब है कि खुर्शीद ने कल मुस्लिम बहुल जिले आजमगढ़ के सगड़ी क्षेत्र में बटला हाउस मुठभेड़ कांड को एक बार फिर गरमाते हुए कहा था कि उस मुठभेड़ की तस्वीरें देखकर कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष सोनिया गांधी की आंखों मे आंसू आ गये थे।
यादव ने चुनाव के बाद सपा के सत्ता में आने पर गुंडागर्दी से सख्ती से निपटने के पार्टी प्रदेश अध्यक्ष अखिलेश यादव के बयान का समर्थन करते हुए कहा कि उनकी सरकार बनने पर गुंडों से सख्ती से निपटा जाएगा।
उन्होंने कहा कि अगर चुनाव के बाद राज्य में सपा की सरकार बनती है तो पूर्वांचल में हर साल फैलने वाले इंसेफलाइटिस रोग पर अंकुश के लिये प्रभावी कदम उठाए जाएंगे।

बेदाग नहीं उप्र में किसी भी दल का दामन

2012-02-10T23:51:00.001-08:00

बेदाग नहीं उप्र में किसी भी दल का दामन

http://www.jansatta.com/index.php/component/content/article/1-2009-08-27-03-35-27/11237-2012-02-11-04-51-56

Saturday, 11 February 2012 10:21

अनिल बंसल नई दिल्ली, 11 फरवरी। सूबे के लोगों को भयमुक्त राज देने के दावे तो उत्तर प्रदेश में सभी पार्टियों ने किए हैं, पर दामन किसी का भी बेदाग नहीं है। सत्ता हासिल करना सबका एकमात्र मकसद है और जीतने की क्षमता उम्मीदवारों के चयन की एकमात्र कसौटी। अपराधियों को तो टिकट दिए ही हैं, कई सीटों पर तो ऐसे उम्मीदवार भी उतार दिए हैं जो जेल की हवा खा रहे हैं। पश्चिमी उत्तर प्रदेश के बाहुबली डीपी यादव को पार्टी में शामिल न करके खुद को पाक साफ दिखाने का उपक्रम कर रहे अखिलेश यादव भी इसी जमात में शामिल हैं। मुलायम सिंह यादव के लाडले को डीपी यादव भले दागी दिखे हों, पर जेल में बंद अभय सिंह, विजय मिश्र और शेरबाज खां उन्हें भले मानुष लगे होंगे। तभी तो सभी को उम्मीदवार बना दिया है।
भाजपा सियासत में शुचिता का ढिंढोरा पीटती रही है। उसने दागी बाबू सिंह कुशवाहा को अपना कर बेवजह फजीहत कराई। चौतरफा हमले हुए तो उन्हें टिकट भी नहीं दिया। पर बदनामी बेवजह मोल ले ली। कुशवाहा पर तो भ्रष्टाचार के ही आरोप हैं। पर उन्हें मुद्दा बना कर जिस कांग्रेस और बसपा ने भाजपा को जम कर कोसा उनके सारे उम्मीदवार भी दूध के धुले कहां हैं। यूपी के लोगों को स्वर्ग सा सुख देने का दावा करने वाले कांग्रेस के युवराज राहुल गांधी से कोई पूछे कि गाजीपुर की जेल में बंद शैलेश कुमार सिंह को जंगीपुर से और कलावती बिंद को जमनिया से उन्होंने टिकट क्यों दे दिए। नानपारा से दिलीप वर्मा और श्रावस्ती से कुलदीप चौधरी के दामन पर लगे दाग भी उन्हें दिखे नहीं होंगे। दिखते तो दोनों की पत्नियों को उम्मीदवार क्यों बनाते?
हकीकत तो यह है कि उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा का चुनाव लड़ रहे दलीय-निर्दलीय उम्मीदवारों में आधे भी ऐसे नहीं हैं जिनके खिलाफ कोई आपराधिक मामला दर्ज न हो। पर जो जेल की सलाखों के पीछे रह कर जनादेश हासिल करना चाह रहे हों, उन्हें मौका देने के धतकरम पर ये पार्टियां क्या सफाई देंगी। अखिलेश यादव की समाजवादी पार्टी ने तो कत्ल के गुनाह की सजा भोग रहे अमरमणि त्रिपाठी को न सही उनके बेटे अमन मणि त्रिपाठी को ही टिकट दे दिया। सपा के 35 उम्मीदवारों की तो पुलिस थानों में हिस्ट्रीशीट तक मौजूद हैं।

फिर भी अखिलेश डीपी यादव को गले नहीं लगाने के फैसले को ब्रह्मास्त्र की तरह इस्तेमाल कर रहे हैं। उन्हीं की पार्टी के एक हिस्ट्रीशीटर सीतापुर के ओमप्रकाश गुप्ता हैं। उनकी जगह उनके बेटे अनूप गुप्ता को उम्मीदवार बनाना पड़ा है क्योंकि सीट जीतने की मजबूरी है।
राहुल गांधी भी इस कसौटी पर अलग नहीं है। पीलीभीत की बीसलपुर सीट के अपने उम्मीदवार को बदल कर उन्होंने इसे साबित किया है। कांग्रेस ने पहले यहां कुर्मी देवस्वरूप पटेल को उम्मीदवार बनाया था। उनकी स्थिति कमजोर दिखी तो अनीस अहमद खां उर्फ फूल बाबू को उम्मीदवार बना दिया। फूल बाबू पिछला चुनाव बसपा टिकट पर जीते थे। मायावती ने उन्हें मंत्री भी बनाया था। पर सूबे के लोकायुक्त ने उनके खिलाफ विधायक निधि के दुरुपयोग की शिकायत को सही पाया तो मायावती ने उनसे मंत्री पद भी छीन लिया और पार्टी से बाहर भी कर दिया। ऐसे दागी का प्रचार अब राहुल गांधी किस मुंह से करेंगे। इसी तरह सिकंदराबाद की सीट पर भी लालू यादव के समधी जितेंद्र यादव को उम्मीदवार बनाने से पहले राहुल गांधी ने उनका अतीत नहीं खंगाला। पुलिस के रिकार्ड में उनका दामन भी बेदाग नहीं है।
छोटी पार्टियों के बाहुबली उम्मीदवारों की सूची भी छोटी नहीं है। मुन्ना बजरंगी, बृजेश सिंह, अतीक अहमद, जितेंद्र सिंह बबलू, पुरुषोत्तम नरेश द्विवेदी, मुख्तार अंसारी आदि भी चुनाव में खम ठोंक रहे हैं। सपा के विजय मिश्र पर इलाहाबाद के बसपा विधायक गोपाल नंदी पर जानलेवा हमला करने की साजिश का आरोप है। मिश्र इस समय मेरठ की जेल में हैं। नानपारा में कांग्रेस ने दिलीप वर्मा को टिकट दे दिया था। बाद में पता चला कि सजायाफ्ता होने के कारण वे चुनाव लड़ ही नहीं सकते लिहाजा उनके बाहुबल का फायदा उठाने के लिए पार्टी ने उनकी पत्नी को टिकट देने में कतई बुराई नहीं समझी।
उत्तर प्रदेश के मतदाताओं के सामने आज सबसे बड़ी दुविधा यही है कि वे चुनें तो किसको। एक नागनाथ है तो दूसरा सांपनाथ। मात्रा का फर्क भले हो पर भ्रष्टाचार, धन-बल, बाहुबल और जातिवाद व संप्रदायवाद जैसी बुराईयों से एक भी पार्टी बची नहीं है। पहले चरण में मतदान भले 62 फीसद हो गया हो पर मतदाताओं में न किसी के प्रति उत्साह है और न किसी का मुद्दा उन्हें प्रभावित कर पा रहा है।

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