Bharat Rakshak

Nitin Gadkari: "Even if Barkha Dutt or CPI(M) protests for the good of the country, we will be with them."

Inder Sharma wrote:Congress is trying to Sharia-ize the Consitution for the Dalits, connecting it to their ethno-religious self identity. This first became evident when NDA govt started talking about Constitutional Amendment that would have debarred Foreign Nationals from holding key offices. It was during that time, when the Congress affiliated Dalit groupings had threatened with street action: was the “Sanctity” of Ambedkar’s constitution compromised.

[quote="JaritaThen the congress is closely aligned with the western EJ lobby who designed these strategies. Congress is working for enemy entities

Jarita wrote:^^^ Classic beeb - trying to make up stuff on the faultlines. Given our 1.2bn population you can certainly find SC's who are suspicious of Hazare

Talking to the journalists in his office located in Indira Bhawan, Mishra said “main Anna Hazare ka smarthak hoon (I support Anna’s campaign against corruption)”.

“I know the state government would punish me for speaking over corruption but I would follow the Gandhian path and continue to speak against corruption,” he said

As a new controversy broke out over his unpublished blog on restructuring his team, Anna Hazare on Saturday admitted that he had thought of changing his team many times but said nothing should be inferred till he announces a final decision.

"I have thought of changing my team many times as I heard about the allegations again and again. But you cannot say anything till I announce my decision," he said.

"I used to feel that allegations which people made against Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan were true. That was why I was thinking, should I make some changes in the Team... But now I have understood that crores of rupees have been spent to tarnish our image," he said.

Hazare, who said he will block his blog soon after he reaches Ralegan Siddhi, suspected that there was a conspiracy against him and his team.

Asked whether the letter posted in the website was his, Hazare said, "if there is my signature in the letter, then only you consider it as a mine. If the signature is not there, then its not mine."

The fall-out between Hazare and Raju Parulekar, his blogger, came as the Gandhian claimed that he never ever spoke to the journalist or met him on the issue of restructuring of core committee and forming a new Pan-Indian organisation with immediate effect.

Parulekar posted his version as well as an unpublished blog by Hazare in Marathi along with its English translation in the Gandhian's blog this morning, claiming that he had not uploaded an order dictated by Hazare after October 30 following a core committee meeting asking to hold the core team.

Arvind Kejriwal, a key member of Team Anna, today alleged that government agencies were tapping the phones of Anna Hazare's associates.

A telephone conversation between him and an assistant of Hazare's was tapped by Delhi police a day before Hazare ended his maun-vrat (vow of silence)," he said here, talking at the conclave `Goa Think Fest'.

"We are hounded out. Chased. Telephones are tapped," he said.

A day before the Gandhian activist ended his maun-vrat, his assistant read out to Kejriwal, over phone, a message that Hazare wanted to come to Delhi and sit at Rajghat for 15 minutes.

Hazare wanted no publicity for this, Kejriwal said. However, "within 15 minutes of the phone call, I received a call from police, asking about Anna's Rajghat plan," Kejriwal alleged.

"You can tap phones of the people who are into anti-national activities. Is Anna anti-national? Am I anti-national?" he said.

Pratyush wrote:UP top cop speaks up against graft, sent to mental clinic

Talking to the journalists in his office located in Indira Bhawan, Mishra said “main Anna Hazare ka smarthak hoon (I support Anna’s campaign against corruption)”.

“I know the state government would punish me for speaking over corruption but I would follow the Gandhian path and continue to speak against corruption,” he said

@rk_patil001 : Insha Allah, this month UPA doomed. Mid term poll Feb-March--since voter rolls not ready.MMS will be kaam chalao PM till then

The first option when things fail is to change the leader, in this case, the head of government, Manmohan Singh. The PM's personal honesty is to no avail when he leads India's most corrupt government since Independence.
So why can't he be removed? Removing Manmohan Singh abruptly could create a stink and a scandal. But the Congress has ways to get him to go. It could always unleash Digvijay Singh. Being timid, Manmohan Singh will provide any excuse that is needed and leave.
Some of those excuses may well be true. The PM has health issues. His officials say so. Anyone in his late seventies would naturally have them. His family is also distraught that his clean image is being daily destroyed by his government's corruption.
So why doesn't Manmohan Singh quit? Maybe he is ambitious. Or perhaps his loyalty to the Gandhis prevents him from taking an extreme step. But then why isn't the Congress leadership asking him to go? After Manmohan Singh's spectacular failure, why is he being retained?
In truth, the Congress has no alternative to Manmohan Singh. At a pinch, A.K.Anthony may officiate. But he is no Manmohan Singh. Despite Manmohan Singh's failure, his clean image is desperately needed for the UPA to sputter along.
So unless something unexpected happens, don't imagine the PM is going. Neither Pranab Mukherjee nor P.Chidambaram will replace him. And Rahul Gandhi won't come anywhere near the prime-ministership for the foreseeable future.
Now if Manmohan Singh is so indispensible, why doesn't the Congress leadership let him perform? Why doesn't it give him a carte blanche to clean up the government, sack the corrupt and non-performing ministers, and prove Aziz Premji wrong in short time?
Ah, no. That won't do. The basis of the power-sharing arrangement between Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh since 2004 is to concentrate power in her. How can Manmohan Singh be given a free hand? How can he be made powerful?
If a non-dynast succeeds, won't it cut into the dynasty's mystique and USP? Won't it make the dynasty potentially dispensable? When Rahul Gandhi is not ready, can such risks be taken?
So quit thinking things will change. Manmohan Singh can never become powerful. His cabinet ministers will remain out of his control. And the situation on every front -- prices, indecision, corruption, non-governance -- will worsen.
There is, however, a third option. The Congress/ UPA could go for snap polls. If you believe political commentators, there is no alternative to the Congress today. The BJP is weak. The rest of the opposition is fragmented.
So if there are elections, the UPA will come back.
If the UPA returns, obviously it does not have to answer to charges of rampant corruption, paralysis in government, runaway prices, and so on. Being re-elected means the voters reject these charges and repose great faith in the UPA.
If you believe the political commentators, that is what the Congress leadership should do: Go for immediate polls. It will win them convincingly.
So why isn't the Congress leadership cutting its term midway and proceeding to the polls? If the BJP and the remaining opposition are so weak, why isn't it taking them on?
Because, like the first two options, this is a non-option. The Congress/ UPA leadership knows it is not winning. It may not believe it is losing. But it may have, after Hissar and all the other factors taken together, reason to believe it is not winning.

With his team rocked by controversies, Anna Hazare today said he plans to restructure his Core Committee to also give representation to religious minorities, tribals, dalits and youths to strengthen the campaign against corruption. Hazare also hit out at the UPA government for targeting the key members of his team, alleging that those who are threatened by the Lokpal movement are attacking his supporters and close aides and trying to break his team.

“They fear that their political career will be jeopardized if a strong Lokpal mechanism comes into effect,” he said in Ralegaon Sidhi.

The social activist’s move to restructure his core team came against the backdrop of allegations that he was being misguided and used by his team members to fulfill their political agenda. Some key members in Team Anna – Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kegriwal – also faced alleged financial irregularities. “We will take all sections in the Core Committee, Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis and all others. Nobody should complain that they were not given a chance,” the anti-corruption crusader said.

“Even youth will be well represented. Youth’s power in Committee is extremely necessary. Youths from different communities will be picked for the Committee,” he added. Hazare recalled that when the Core Committee was formed there were complaints from some sections they were not not given representation. “That Committee was for two-and-a-half months. But the Committee that we will form now will be for a much longer period,” he added.

Hazare said he and his team will not be cowed down by anyone and challenged the government to show any evidence of misconduct or irregularities committed by his team members. ”We have nothing to fear. The government is free to conduct any investigation against any of our team members but our fight against corruption will continue. Do it(the inquiry) not once but four times,” he added.

Bedi is under the scanner regarding some inflated air travel bills while Kejriwal faced allegations of diverting funds to his trust. Plagued by controversies, Team Anna is also approaching retired judges requesting them to become part of a committee to be set up the civil society to probe the allegations against some of its members.

PTI

Q) You have been an active participant in the India Against Corruption campaign led by Anna Hazare. However once a spiritual master enters the political arena, he will be criticised like any other politician. Are you prepared for this? Will not your devotees get dvesh bhav for your critics?

A) A yogi doesn't mind criticism at all. All the brahmagyanis in the past have been criticized including Lord Krishna. A saadhak should not get into dwesha bhaav. At most, knowing that criticism is out of ignorance, he can have a good laugh about it.

Q) The Congress sees all sages as a group which is politically saffron (close to BJP/ RSS). Aren't you reinforcing this impression by praising Nitin Gadkari and asking for the BJP's help over Jan Lokpal? Shouldn't the distinction between spiritual saffron and political saffron be maintained?

A) If Congress has an untouchable attitude towards spiritual and religious gurus, it is their problem. It is wrong to think that, to please the minorities, you have to keep away from spiritual sages and gurus.

My nature is to praise people for the good work they have done, irrespective of their political affiliations. Earlier in the month of June, I released the book of KPCC President, R.V.Deshpande, who also happens to be an Art of Living devotee. And now, Nitin Gadkari requested me to release his work. I did acknowledge the good work he had done in Vidarbha region. Same with other Congress ministers Dr. Karan Singh, Patangrao Kadam, Veerappa Moily, Satej Patil, etc. Last year, I also appreciated and complimented Veerappa Moily at the Times Foundation function when he received the Moorti Devi award. Similarly many other senior Congress people have come in touch with the Art of Living. If and when they have done some good social work we have always acknowledged them. Politics and the party affiliation is only one aspect. A human being is much more than politics and we need to recognize that.

csaurabh wrote:RD is thinking long term which is a good thing. The short term solution may be to kick out the congress. Don't get me wrong that too is absolutely necessary. But what is to prevent them from coming back to power in a couple years like in IGs time . And corruption is more than one party. All parties have corruption to some extent, and it is pervasive in beaurocrats and civil servants. Other short term demands like bringing back black money from Swiss banks ( most of which is already gone over the last few months ), passing Lokpal bill , can easily be subverted by congress. The true solution is to bring back nationalist thinking at grassroots level. And he is the only one who can do that.

SandeepA wrote:Don't even know what to expect here...

Swami Agnivesh to enter reality show 'Bigg Boss'

If there's one person who clearly should remain on silent mode, it is Shashi Tharoor. On October 30, while delivering a talk at the D.G. Vaishnav College in Chennai, he told his audience, whose mobile phones had started ringing, "During public meetings, the organisers usually request everybody to keep their cellphones in Manmohan Singh mode. I guess they forgot to do the same here." But when the audience burst out laughing he did some damage control. "I was just joking. Our Prime Minister is the most efficient person I have ever seen." Too late.

hnair wrote:link

If there's one person who clearly should remain on silent mode, it is Shashi Tharoor. On October 30, while delivering a talk at the D.G. Vaishnav College in Chennai, he told his audience, whose mobile phones had started ringing, "During public meetings, the organisers usually request everybody to keep their cellphones in Manmohan Singh mode. I guess they forgot to do the same here." But when the audience burst out laughing he did some damage control. "I was just joking. Our Prime Minister is the most efficient person I have ever seen." Too late.

Jokes apart, very curious.

SandeepA wrote:Don't even know what to expect here...

Swami Agnivesh to enter reality show 'Bigg Boss'