Bharat Rakshak

Throughout Lord Mountbatten's life, and in the years after he died in an IRA bombing on August 27, 1979, rumors swirled about his extramarital affairs. An FBI dossier on Mountbatten, released thanks to a Freedom of Information request, reveals shocking information about the royal who was a mentor to his grand-nephew Prince Charles.

The 75-year-old intelligence files describe Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Burma, and his wife Edwina as "persons of extremely low morals" and contain information suggesting that Lord Mountbatten was a pedophile with "a perversion for young boys."

chetak wrote:It looks like cashmere is not the only place where phones are not working

the meltdown has begun

ANI Verified account @ANI

Kapil Sibal: It's a matter of great concern to us as members of legal fraternity, also it should be a matter of concern as citizens. All we wanted was a hearing,the presiding judge chose instead to say that I am sending the file to CJI. Isn't a citizen entitled to be heard?

pankajs wrote:https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lord- ... L4.twitter
FBI files allege Lord Mountbatten, murdered by the IRA, was a pedophile

Throughout Lord Mountbatten's life, and in the years after he died in an IRA bombing on August 27, 1979, rumors swirled about his extramarital affairs. An FBI dossier on Mountbatten, released thanks to a Freedom of Information request, reveals shocking information about the royal who was a mentor to his grand-nephew Prince Charles.

The 75-year-old intelligence files describe Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Burma, and his wife Edwina as "persons of extremely low morals" and contain information suggesting that Lord Mountbatten was a pedophile with "a perversion for young boys."

Did chacha also catch this virus?

Suraj wrote:

Karan M wrote:Suraj, good stuff. What do you make of our financial "balance sheet" - can GOI afford to expand its debt, and increase spending? Do we have ample reserves despite the welfaronomics push to handle a 2008 type event?

That question has been discussed in the econ thread. Rahulsidhu has been in favour of it. GoI, it has been argued, has been too orthodox in following economic policy when more creative and aggressive efforts are worth the risk/reward potential.

vijayk wrote:
Mountbatten was busy with little boys
Edwina was busy with Nehru

Busy royals

Sultan Mahmud [of Ghazni] was attending a sermon in the Mosque. Talhak went there after him. When he arrived, the preacher stood up and said that if anyone had committed pederasty, then on the Day of Judgement the youth whom he had abused would be placed on his neck, and he would have to carry him over the Bridge of Doom. Sultan Mahmud wept. Talhak said "O Sultan, do not weep but be of good cheer. On that day you won't have to go on foot either."

pankajs wrote:https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lord- ... L4.twitter
FBI files allege Lord Mountbatten, murdered by the IRA, was a pedophile

Throughout Lord Mountbatten's life, and in the years after he died in an IRA bombing on August 27, 1979, rumors swirled about his extramarital affairs. An FBI dossier on Mountbatten, released thanks to a Freedom of Information request, reveals shocking information about the royal who was a mentor to his grand-nephew Prince Charles.

The 75-year-old intelligence files describe Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Burma, and his wife Edwina as "persons of extremely low morals" and contain information suggesting that Lord Mountbatten was a pedophile with "a perversion for young boys."

Did chacha also catch this virus?

After the Centre revoked Article 370, there is speculation that the Narendra Modi government will start working on the UCC now. Ram temple at Ayodhya, Uniform Civil Code and revoking of Article 370 have been the Bharatiya Janata Party’s core issues for a long time. The BJP had promised to implement a Uniform Civil Code in its election manifesto (“Sankalp Patra”) for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Ram Janmabhumi title case is being heard by the Supreme Court on a daily basis.

A PIL filed in the Delhi High Court on UCC is being heard at present. A representative of the Law Commission informed the High Court that the issue of UCC will be placed before the 22nd Law Commission. The Court has listed the matter for further hearing on 27 August.

Is Chidambaram’s arrest a turning point in Indian politics? Most certainly, yes. It is not just the optics or sonics, but the deeper ramifications of these events that should concern us. If the whispers in Lutyens’ Delhi were to be believed, PC was ‘untouchable’. Not only had the courts already granted him protection from arrest for some 15 months, but being a part of the ‘deep state’ he was thought to enjoy special legal and judicial immunity.

Years of cultivating key members of the bureaucracy, judiciary, captains of business and industry, besides having access to almost unlimited financial and political clout, PC was the quintessential representative of the Congress culture. He was India’s Mr Teflon to whom no charge or scandal could stick. Even as irrepressible and ferret-like adversary as the determined Subramanian Swamy was unable to bring him to book. Some had boasted that the aforementioned three lawyer-leaders of the Congress could alone bring the Indian judicial system to a standstill – whether it was the Ayodhya or the National Herald cases. {This is how CON worked it magic via the legal system and held Modi back during his first term. Only when the establishment couldn't wish Modi away given his mandate for the 2nd term did it become neutral and started doing its job.}

All this has changed overnight, the new normal is nobody is above the law. The determination of the Narendra Modi government to close the dragnet on its political opponents, who are also legal offenders, has been demonstrated as never before, that too on live TV.

Will the Gandhis themselves be the next in the firing line?

Only time will tell if PC is convicted. But, in the ultimate analysis, that matters little.

A loud and clear message has been sent out that the Modi-Shah duo will not only fight to the finish, but go for the jugular. The silver lining for their opponents is that both sides appear to have faith in the Indian legal and judicial system. This the world will certainly watch and appreciate. India, a fully functioning state, is demonstrably capable of upholding the rule of law.

KLNMurthy wrote:I watched Mudi interview prior to 2014 elections in which he said,"kuch logon ko darna chahiye." For 5 years I thought it was an empty boast, conditioned as I was to believing,"no one will really do anything for my poor India."

I should have known better.

pankajs wrote:https://theprint.in/opinion/being-india ... aw/280632/
Chidambaram arrest shows a new normal. Under Modi-Shah, nobody is above the law

Is Chidambaram’s arrest a turning point in Indian politics? Most certainly, yes. It is not just the optics or sonics, but the deeper ramifications of these events that should concern us. If the whispers in Lutyens’ Delhi were to be believed, PC was ‘untouchable’. Not only had the courts already granted him protection from arrest for some 15 months, but being a part of the ‘deep state’ he was thought to enjoy special legal and judicial immunity.
...
A loud and clear message has been sent out that the Modi-Shah duo will not only fight to the finish, but go for the jugular. The silver lining for their opponents is that both sides appear to have faith in the Indian legal and judicial system. This the world will certainly watch and appreciate. India, a fully functioning state, is demonstrably capable of upholding the rule of law.

Ye daar aacha hai, to quote Modi.

pankajs wrote:

MakarandParanjpe wrote:A loud and clear message has been sent out that the Modi-Shah duo will not only fight to the finish, but go for the jugular. The silver lining for their opponents is that both sides appear to have faith in the Indian legal and judicial system. This the world will certainly watch and appreciate. India, a fully functioning state, is demonstrably capable of upholding the rule of law.

Ye daar aacha hai, to quote Modi.

Amazon opens its biggest global campus in India
PUBLISHED WED, AUG 21 2019 8:43 AM EDTUPDATED WED, AUG 21 2019 11:29 AM EDT
Amazon on Wednesday launched its biggest campus in the world in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, underscoring its expansion plans in the country that has been one of its fastest growing overseas markets.

The move comes months after the Seattle-based company scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York, blaming opposition from local leaders. Amazon picked Arlington, Virginia, as the site for its upcoming second headquarters.

The new campus in India, spread over 9.5 acres and costing “hundreds of millions of dollars”, will house over 15,000 employees, the company said. Amazon has 62,000 employees in India, roughly a third of whom are based in Hyderabad.

“The investment to create an office of this size indicates that we are going to continue to grow,” Amazon India country manager Amit Agarwal told Reuters on Wednesday.

The company’s vice president of global real estate and facilities, John Schoettler, said the Hyderabad campus would host employees across divisions, including Amazon Web Services.

India is considered the last major growth market for the e-commerce giant, but it faces increasing competition from local players. Founder Jeff Bezos has committed an investment of over $5 billion for India operations as the company seeks to fend off competition from Walmart Inc’s e-commerce unit Flipkart.

Amazon has also been exploring other possible tie-ups with brick-and-mortar retailers in the country.

In late December, India modified rules around foreign direct investment in e-commerce, adding to hurdles for Amazon and Flipkart.

Amazon started operations in India in 2004 from Hyderabad, but it launched its retail operations only in 2013.

The company has since added video streaming and grocery delivery services under its Prime offerings and is also working on a restaurant food delivery service.

chetak wrote:

pankajs wrote:https://twitter.com/Swamy39/status/1164365742873042949

the BJP has gamed this PC saga very well so far.

the morbid fear of AS is now beginning to sear the congis.

Swamy's tweet is pure psyops and a not so veiled warning as well.

BTW, did anyone notice that there were no BJP spokespersons on any of the channels yesterday. The only ones who took the BJP line, if at all, were the hangers-on.

Karan M wrote:

Suraj wrote: That question has been discussed in the econ thread. Rahulsidhu has been in favour of it. GoI, it has been argued, has been too orthodox in following economic policy when more creative and aggressive efforts are worth the risk/reward potential.

I read that but what are your views in light of the recent revelations that CAG estimates the real debt/GDP of the GOI at 6 percent + levels.

Manu wrote:Something is definitely up in Hyderabad. Black Lentils...
First: https://telanganatoday.com/new-consulat ... -hyderabad Largest US Embassy in Indian Sub-Continent.
And Now, this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/21/reuters ... ter%7Cmain

Amazon opens its biggest global campus in India
PUBLISHED WED, AUG 21 2019 8:43 AM EDTUPDATED WED, AUG 21 2019 11:29 AM EDT
Amazon on Wednesday launched its biggest campus in the world in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, underscoring its expansion plans in the country that has been one of its fastest growing overseas markets.

The move comes months after the Seattle-based company scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York, blaming opposition from local leaders. Amazon picked Arlington, Virginia, as the site for its upcoming second headquarters.

The new campus in India, spread over 9.5 acres and costing “hundreds of millions of dollars”, will house over 15,000 employees, the company said. Amazon has 62,000 employees in India, roughly a third of whom are based in Hyderabad.

“The investment to create an office of this size indicates that we are going to continue to grow,” Amazon India country manager Amit Agarwal told Reuters on Wednesday.

The company’s vice president of global real estate and facilities, John Schoettler, said the Hyderabad campus would host employees across divisions, including Amazon Web Services.

India is considered the last major growth market for the e-commerce giant, but it faces increasing competition from local players. Founder Jeff Bezos has committed an investment of over $5 billion for India operations as the company seeks to fend off competition from Walmart Inc’s e-commerce unit Flipkart.

Amazon has also been exploring other possible tie-ups with brick-and-mortar retailers in the country.

In late December, India modified rules around foreign direct investment in e-commerce, adding to hurdles for Amazon and Flipkart.

Amazon started operations in India in 2004 from Hyderabad, but it launched its retail operations only in 2013.

The company has since added video streaming and grocery delivery services under its Prime offerings and is also working on a restaurant food delivery service.

If this is just a reaction to Mota Bhai Ambani's tie up with Microsoft for Retail Cloud*, then no issues, and maybe I'm reading too much into what should be good news for Hyderabad and India. But something feels fishy. I see EJs everywhere...

* https://www.livemint.com/technology/tec ... 92691.html

Manu wrote:Something is definitely up in Hyderabad. Black Lentils...
First: https://telanganatoday.com/new-consulat ... -hyderabad Largest US Embassy in Indian Sub-Continent.
And Now, this:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/21/reuters ... ter%7Cmain

Amazon opens its biggest global campus in India
PUBLISHED WED, AUG 21 2019 8:43 AM EDTUPDATED WED, AUG 21 2019 11:29 AM EDT
Amazon on Wednesday launched its biggest campus in the world in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, underscoring its expansion plans in the country that has been one of its fastest growing overseas markets.

The move comes months after the Seattle-based company scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York, blaming opposition from local leaders. Amazon picked Arlington, Virginia, as the site for its upcoming second headquarters.

If this is just a reaction to Mota Bhai Ambani's tie up with Microsoft for Retail Cloud*, then no issues, and maybe I'm reading too much into what should be good news for Hyderabad and India. But something feels fishy. I see EJs everywhere...

* https://www.livemint.com/technology/tec ... 92691.html

'Narendra Modi has buried Nehru's India'! Never imagined it would come to this--Pak foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi laments the death of Nehru's India. If they miss it while we don't care it's obvious who it benefited the most.

pankajs wrote:https://www.irishcentral.com/news/lord- ... L4.twitter
FBI files allege Lord Mountbatten, murdered by the IRA, was a pedophile

Throughout Lord Mountbatten's life, and in the years after he died in an IRA bombing on August 27, 1979, rumors swirled about his extramarital affairs. An FBI dossier on Mountbatten, released thanks to a Freedom of Information request, reveals shocking information about the royal who was a mentor to his grand-nephew Prince Charles.
The 75-year-old intelligence files describe Louis Mountbatten, the 1st Earl of Burma, and his wife Edwina as "persons of extremely low morals" and contain information suggesting that Lord Mountbatten was a pedophile with "a perversion for young boys."

Did chacha also catch this virus?

Sachin wrote:^^^ The Pakis are only causing more damage to the "secular" Indian National Congress by showing sympathies to Nehru . It just would prove that Nehru was actually pro-Paki and an India hater .

Secularism: the Most Abused “privilege” of Indian Constitution

What Indians assume to be secularism is but a fallacy. Since 1976 it has not even been in consonance in letter and spirit with the working module of the country from where we have supposedly borrowed this concept of secularism.

[email protected]' Avinash Vasishth
22-08-2019

Partition of India happened on religious lines beyond any shadow of doubt. So, why is it that we choose to remain a secular country while our counterpart nation, Pakistan, never bothers about it? This is for the simple reason that cultural ethos of our civilization which are essentially based on religions of Indian origin (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism) implicitly carry notion of mutual respect and tolerance towards other religions in their very essence. Hence, what our Constitution guarantees in terms of “Secularism” is indeed a privilege for people of Abrahamic faiths, whose ideological premises is entirely based on religious absolutism. But the concern here is much bigger than just questioning the ideological construct of some faith, which is, how far we are able to preserve the sanctity of this term, secularism and what purpose we have achieved, so far, by explicitly inserting this expression in our Constitution, when even the definition of this term is not clear? This interpretational vagueness of secularism leads to rampant political, academic and administrative misuse of it. Therefore, these questions demand careful scrutiny of the facts that are predominant in governing the construct and applicability of this expression. So at the outset, owning the risk of being branded as “Sanghi Hindu Fascist”, I would like to challenge the very premise on which this term, secularism is defined and understood.

Contradictory history and flawed implementation of term secularism

Secularism is a borrowed concept from west which was essentially borne out of the Church- State conflict; India has no parallel history on this count. Moreover, there is no such parallel terminology in Indian culture to support the viability of this expression, rather we have more inclusive doctrines like “Sarva Dharma Sambhaav (Equal treatment for all religions)”,“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (World is one family) that could serve much better purpose than what is being achieved through the insertion of term secularism. And not only this, even in composition we are not honestly following the working module of west, for example, UK has 26 reserved seats in the House of Lords for Church of England Bishops, who together are known as the Lord spiritual. And in 2001 UK has gone one step ahead to dilute this Church-State separation by passing House of Commons (Removal of clergy Disqualification) Act 2001, for the purpose to remove disqualification for the clergy to secure seats in House of Commons. Therefore, what Indians assume to be secularism is but a fallacy. Since 1976 it has not even been in consonance in letter and spirit with the working module of the country from where we have supposedly borrowed this concept of secularism.

Insertion of term Secularism undemocratic and unconstitutional

Miseries of this expression, secularism, doesn’t ends on its flawed historical construct, rather the very means by which it was inserted in the Constitution was also flawed and blatantly undemocratic. The original text of the constitution did not contain the word secularism. It was inserted by 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976, when the whole country was forced to witness the scourges of emergency period, where not only the rights of the citizens had been suspended but also the fourth pillar of democracy (media) too was totally dismantled through State sanctions and dictatorial vigilantism. It was therefore a fraud of monumental proportions which was not only undemocratic but also unconstitutional in terms of means. It is a well settled preposition of law that not only the intent of legislature but the means by which change is introduced in any law must also be legitimate in letter and spirit with the Constitutional ethos. But this unwarranted intrusion of secularism in our Constitution was made through the 42nd amendment in 1977 when democracy was dead, voice of the people was muzzled and fundamental rights had been suspended.

Secularism and Basic Structure Theory

Apart from the glories that are usually read in the name of the “Basic Structure Theory”, there are certain grey areas also which needs to be appreciated about this theory. In landmark judgment of Kesavnanda Bharati case, theory of basic structure was propounded, 13 judges bench, largest ever known in Indian legal history, beautifully outlined the limitation of Parliament in terms of amending the Constitution but at the same time they have opened a Pandora box of uncertainties by leaving the ambit of basic structure wide open for further insertions, thereby leaving several questions unanswered. In which the predominant one is, what exactly defines basic structure and what if one component of basic structure comes in conflict with the other? This insincerity of interpretation left undefined expressions like secularism prone to the vulnerability of coming in conflict with the other components of the basic structure.

Secularism and the Test of Article 14

The judicial scrutiny of any legal construction and its applicability essentially requires passing the Test of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution, which in itself has gone through a major transitional shift i.e., from the traditional concept of equality based on the “Doctrine of Reasonable Classification” to the new concept of “Doctrine of Arbitrariness” which as a result widened the scope of the test of Art. 14. Broadness of this test could also be understood in the light of that fact that execution of any administrative or legislative action which is based on mere discretion of authority without having any reasonable standards are bound to fall in the scrutiny of Article 14. This new dimension of Article 14 transcends the classificatory principle of reasonableness to the whole new level. But having said that, the term Secularism and its applicability somehow enjoys immunity to follow the same scrutiny. This expression has neither any specific definition nor any reasonable standards to govern its applicability. And what all we have in the name of secularism is interpretational vagueness and unbridled discretion in the hands of authorities to exercise it. This helplessness of interpretational vagueness could also be viewed in the judgments of the Supreme Court, where in leading SR Bomai Case, it was openly admitted by the court that the concept of secularism is very elastic and therefore not capable of precise definition and perhaps best left undefined. So by and large judicial efforts in reducing this interpretational vagueness has only reduced to some catchy phrases like “Secularism is neither anti God nor pro God; it treats alike the devout, the agnostic and the atheist” and that too varies from case to case. This in result amounts to a generalization of the term, which conveys nothing except more confusion and provides discretionary leverage to promote adverse exploitation of this term.

Bottom-line submission: Where does the solution lie?

In the light of all these submissions it is pretty much convincing that the present narrative of secularism and its construct is not only flawed but also prone to vulnerability of misuse. And as of it, it bounds to breed more confusion and hatred among common masses regarding the applicability of secularism and in all probability, in the near future, it may results into an uncontrollable chaos of law and order situation. So where does the solution lie? To be precise about the solution there must be certain limiting principles defining the applicability of secularism and the purpose which it is meant to pursue. So that misuse of this expression must be effectively countered and scrutinized on well-defined reasonable standards.

Avinash Vasishth

Karthik S wrote: What's fishy about Amazon and US consulate opening new spaces?

Sonia on Rajiv Gandhi

“He never used powers to create an atmosphere of fear or to destroy the freedom & liberty of the people. He never used his power to put the principles of democracy in danger.”

Fear: Sikh riots
Freedom: Anti Defamation Law
Democracy: Overturned SC order

ANI Verified account @ANI

Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi in Delhi: Rajiv Gandhi came to power in 1984 but he never used powers to create an atmosphere of fear or to destroy the freedom & liberty of the people. He never used his power to put the principles of democracy in danger.

6:46 AM - 22 Aug 2019

Dhaval Patel @dhaval241086

Prophetic PM Modi

Lilo wrote:Is that massive amazon campus related to data localization norms which the massa MNCs are going to be subjected to by GOI ?

pankajs wrote:That bleddy Mudi has undone a lot of assumptions amongst the liberals elites. IF Chidu can be thrown in jail are any one of them safe? Lots of folks must have lost sleep yesterdin.

Ye daar aacha hai (quoting Modi)

pankajs wrote:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7724&start=1440#p2374189

pankajs wrote:That bleddy Mudi has undone a lot of assumptions amongst the liberals elites. IF Chidu can be thrown in jail are any one of them safe? Lots of folks must have lost sleep yesterdin.

Ye daar aacha hai (quoting Modi)

As I have stated before
1. Some will "adjust their sails now that they can sense the direction of the wind".
2. Some "cannot switch off because of their ideological conviction"

Yesterdin Jairam Ramesh had a new realization and today it is the turn of Abhishek Singhvi
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/first-j ... ng-2089206
"Demonising PM Modi Wrong": First Jairam Ramesh, Now Abhishek Singhvi

Mean-e-vile our Kapil Sibal is too ideological committed to be deterred from hurtling himself against the wall head first.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ind ... 877290.cms
I-T dept probing property purchase by Sibal and wife

I am but a witness to the unfolding drama. Theek hai.

Congress leaders Abhishek Singhvi and Shashi Tharoor on Friday come out in support of party colleague Jairam Ramesh, saying demonising Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "wrong" and he should be praised for doing the right things.

Manu wrote:

Karthik S wrote: What's fishy about Amazon and US consulate opening new spaces?

I haven't tied it all up just yet, work in progress.