Either it is the deathwish that comes to political parties when they are in power for long or the absence of Sonia Gandhi owing to her illness is showing-

Congress seems to be totally at sea when it comes to dealing with Anna Hazare on corruption. After the ham-handed handling of Ramdevbaba affair in June, one would have thought the party has learnt its lessons. Apparently, it has not. On the contrary, it seems even more adrift now than before.

It is a simple fact that situations like these have to be dealt with politically. They cannot be mastered by nuanced argument or through debate hall tactics. Clearly, there is nobody doing political thinking in India's Grand Old Party or the ones capable of it are not in charge. Whoever thought of unleashing the party's bulldogs on Anna just before he is to begin his fast has obviously lost his marbles. That is just not the way. Is it just a coincidence that all three persons engaging Anna - P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari-are lawyers? They appear to be fighting a court case rather than negotiate a political crisis.

Read the whole thing. 

UPA govt's tyranny will make Anna's movement stronger-

I remember saying more than once that one can’t trust this government when it promises that it will work together with the civil society on a credible Lokpal bill. Why? Because this government has far too many people who are smart alec and think they are the ultimate spin doctors around. All this could have been OK in the pre 24 x 7 TV era, or before the social media gained in size and influence. More importantly, it is the social media crowd that these smart alec kinds target with their irritating remarks, so it was natural that they were torn apart in no time.

The way the government has acted past two days shows desperation creeping in. While one can understand that the Independence Day was round the corner our country is genuinely living under constant terror threat, but this is stupid. Honestly, how can anyone say that the protest has to be over in three days and that no more than 50 cars should assemble? This is a mass protest, for God’s sake.

The Royal (Gandhi) family only approves of 'mass' movements run by it's own political machine.

Son of emergency is here

And brought to you by the same Royal family -the God like Gandhis(at least in their own humble opinion)- that couldn't tolerate to be challenged the last time.
(for continuous updates go to Liberty News Central)

Anna Hazare arrested from house

Some 15 police officials ask Hazare to not come out of the flat. Hazare says no and comes out; police promptly arrest him

Team Anna calls for mass protest on Wednesday

Asks govt. employees to take mass leave, wear black armbands

Thousands detained

FEMALE ANNA SUPPORTER AND RTI ACTIVIST SHOT DEAD IN BHOPAL

Humor-
Centre has no role in Anna's arrest: Ambika Soni
Flashback-
Ambika Soni -one of Sanjay Gandhi's coterie of 'pretty' women during Emergency



India is such a mature democracy that one of the notorious Emergency 'babes' is now the Information minister!
I suppose throttling free speech gives one great practice for running the information ministry and it's propaganda channels. This is the true Congress heritage.

As an aside why does one need an Information ministry anyway? Not to advance the free flow of ideas but to control them.

"The Empire of Corruption is striking back"

B.S.Raghavan has a simply not to be missed opinion piece in the Hindu Business Online-

There is a sudden streak of hawkish hot-headedness evident in the Government's postures and pronouncements.


In particular, one notices the Human Resources Development and Information Technology Minister, Mr Kapil Sibal, and the Home Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram, adopting a conspicuously imperial tone and tenor, which is clearly hostile to ‘We, the People', to whom they are beholden for their transient positions of power and authority in the first place. Mr Sibal has the bravado to hold up as “a lesson for all” the sneaky and dastardly Ramlila maidan rampage by the police against sleeping, innocent men, women and children who had come from far-off places just to join the movement against corruption and black money.

Mr Chidambaram has the braggadocio to denounce a sovereign people's inherent basic right to protest as “destabilising the Government” and attack the media's brilliant performance in highlighting the people's anger and revulsion against the Government's black deeds as “competitive populist coverage of these movements” and an attempt at “undermining Parliamentary democracy”.

do you hear the music of fascism? -

With all the “behave or else!” hauteur that he is capable of, he imputes motives to the media's discharge of its mandatory duty to keep the people informed, basing his insinuations on “reasons which I can't spell out”.

No doubt, he is ominously hinting at some concocted intelligence and cooked-up cases the Ministries of Home Affairs and Finance are planning to foist to subjugate the media and silence the critics.

Have the new rulers of 'free' India turned out be worse than the British-

Our rulers should know, as from an authentic witness to the glorious age of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru whom I had seen from close quarters, that they are behaving contrary to the values of colossuses who won for us our precious freedom and taking the country back to the era of slavery and savage repression by even doing one better than the British colonial masters.

Actually, the British, with the background of a thousand years of democracy in their own country, were more tolerant and responsive. They dealt with freedom fighters fairly and justly after their own fashion, and never sought to crush them with the ruthlessness that is fast becoming the established mode in the so-called democratic India.

Why do we keep on electing monsters -

Parties and groups playing politics with the evil of corruption and black money eating into the vitals of the nation should also understand that it has become in the people's eyes the repulsive face of politicians of all parties without exception, no matter that some of them for the nonce are jumping on to the bandwagon in the manner of one set of thieves joining the chase given by the people to catch another set of thieves.

Both fire-eating apologists for the Government's callousness, and political opportunists in the Opposition who had not lifted their little finger while they were in power, now sitting in dust-proof, noise-proof, climate proof cavernous offices, with all the creature comfort at their beck and call and spending hundreds of crores of rupees on security and healthcare must cultivate some understanding of the excruciating torture hourly inflicted on the aam aadmi in villages, towns and cities by every public servant from the traffic policeman upwards to the Cabinet Minister.

The fact that they are not able to do so shows either that they are totally devoid of humanity, blinded by their cushy existence or that they have a vested interest in perpetuating the system.

Did I say "don't miss" the article?

Congress 'logic' akin to colonial and Soviet-style authoritarianiasm

Congress party's logo - This hand was made for looting and smacking

From an editorial in Hindu Business Online-

The main takeaway for the people is that this Government will go to any lengths to protect the corrupt. The mistakes have been well-chronicled, but it is the ingenuous arguments that now stand out. One is that groups of well-meaning citizens cannot be allowed to hijack the legislative agenda; the other is that the RSS is behind the anti-corruption movement. Taking the second argument first, one must ask: even if it is true that the RSS is behind the movement, does that somehow make it illegitimate? Why is the Government trying to shift attention from corruption to the RSS? If RSS volunteers helped out in an earthquake or a flood, would that help be rejected by the Government? So the point is not who is doing it but what it is sought to be done. And this clearly makes the Government nervous to the extent that it is even using phrases from the Emergency days, such as “an attempt to de-stabilise the Government.”

The first argument — that citizens should not drive the legislative agenda — is intellectually identical to what colonial and Soviet-style authoritarian governments tended to use: we know what's good for you. According to this view, people don't matter, only the rulers. That this is sheer effrontery in the 21st century has not occurred to the Congress party apparatchiks. But that is not all: it is the Congress party that created the National Advisory Council (NAC), chaired by its President. If it is fine for the NAC to recommend legislation, why is it not all right for Anna Hazare and Ramdev to do likewise? As Shakespeare said, it is surely a tangled web they weave when they seek to deceive. If the people now conclude that the Congress party is trying to protect some of its high-ups, it will have only itself to blame. And this impression will only be strengthened after the ham-handed attempt by the party to distance itself from the Government's action against Ramdev. The effort, clearly, is to minimise the negative fallout against the party. It is not likely to succeed. It is also remarkable that the party has learnt nothing from the Bofors years. Then also, faced with allegations of corruption, the party had tried to brazen and bulldoze its way out.

Well said.
Read the whole thing, as they say.

Monster Singh

Is there a heart under that blue turban?

In his first comments on the issue, the Prime Minister Singh, who has been accused of mishandling the situation, said, "It is unfortunate that operation had to be conducted but quite honestly, there was no alternative."

 Really?
No alternative to a 1 a.m. surprise assault on peaceful citizens protesting corruption for which his party, the Congress, has historical responsibility?
No alternative to senseless(OK, not senseless -it was to save the Congress) beatings of all including women? No alternative to misbehaving with old women?
No alternative to sheer state brutality?
No alternative to unleashing his dogs on the public?


There was, of course, an alternative - to let the peaceful protests go on

 At no time did Baba Ramdev and his supporters threaten to become violent. If there was a problem of space and disruption of traffic then they could have been given the sprawling lawns of India Gate, the traditional place for protests in Delhi. There was simply no reason for this 'crackdown' as if the protesters were criminals and were creating a law and order problem. Law and order problem was actually created by the police atrocities themselves with their criminal assault.

But, irony of ironies, the Congress party claims to be the heir of Gandhi. They are, actually. Both literally and symbolically the heirs of another Gandhi - Emergency Indira. Like a scorpion cannot change its character and will bite the Congress cannot shed its repressive heritage. It's in gene and blood. OK, the blood is ours.

Manmohan Singh -Other than that he is quite decent

Remember the narrative the media has fed us for years - how Manmohan Singh is a decent man, very sharif(honest), incorruptible, so nice. But power corrupts all and only fools and media persons(I repeat myself) could have believed that under that blue pug(turban) beat a tender heart.

No, there is just dark, cold vacuum.




Update -
     Hemant Shah left the folowing comment to this article in The Hindustan Times -

Prime Minister Mao Tse Singh, I agree with your decision. There was no alternative to Ramlila Ground atrocity. Just like there was no alternative to Tiananmen Square excesses or Jalianwala Baag massacre.

You gotta do what you gotta do!

Digvijay Singh's crime is greater than that of Sushil Kumar

When Baba Ramdev said on being forcibly expelled from the Indian capital that Delhi kissi ke baap ke nahin hai (Delhi does not belong to anybody's father), his vernacular encapsulated the sheer arrogance with which the political elite struts over this city. For the feudal Congressi, Delhi is his fief. He moves about in bullet-proofed cars protected by ferocious looking commandos(breaking speed limits and other traffic laws)as we serfs strive in desperation to move our inconsequent selves out of the way. He is surrounded by taxpayer paid domestics(aka senior officials) who 'yes,sir' him 24/7 and would gladly lick not only his boots but his ass at a mere hint. So, who can blame them if the politicians believe they are our masters and not servants. In the system created by Nehru and perpetuated by his descendants, they are.


Have a look at today's example -

  Man Tries To Hurl Shoe At Congress Leader Janardan Dwivedi

High drama was witnessed at the AICC headquarters here today when a person posing as a journalist tried to attack party General Secretary Janardhan Dwivedi with a shoe, apparently miffed over the treatment meted out to Swami Ramdev.

The person, who was carrying an identification as Sunil Kumar of Nav-Sanchar Patrika from Jhunjhnu, Rajasthan, came close to Dwivedi, removed his shoe and stopped short of hitting him with it.

The middle-aged man, wearing a striped T-shirt, was heard telling Dwivedi that "you cannot stop us from asking questions."

The man was immediately caught by the a AICC staffer and some journalists and was removed from the briefing hall while being beaten up. He was then taken away by police.

 Video -

While being beaten up? By who? Congressi chamchas(sycophants) and toadies? Isn't beating up anyone a crime? Not in the Capital of the Compassionate Congress Cukoo land. 

Any senior leaders around who tried to stop this gross violation of the law?
Well, Digvijay Singh ,with all his sobriety and high-mindedness was there. So what did he do?
He joined in!

Why wouldn't he? A commoner had to be punished for his effrontery. Saale, maalik ko joota dikhata hai! (Bastard, how dare you show a shoe to your master?!)

Digvijay Singh assaults Sushil kumar

Video - Digvijay Singh takes law into his own hands(or feet)

Digvijay Singh Kicked Assailant Sunil Kumar

 Congress workers and some mediapersons overpowered the assailant Sunil Kumar at the party headquarters today, a furious party general secretary Digvijay Singh was shown on video footage kicking him thrice, as the man was lying on the ground.

The video clearly showed that Digvijay was very angry with the act of the assailant, who had tried to hit party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi with a shoe.

Digvijay Singh was sitting inside his room in the party headquarters when the shoe incident took place, rushed out into the corridor near the press conference venue and kicked at Sunil kumar, lying on the floor, with his leg thrice.

The assailant was later taken outside and bundled into a police jeep to be taken to Tughlak Road police station.

Diggie usually implants both his feet in his mouth but today he used them to take law in his hands. It's OK, law hamare baap ka maal hai (is our father's property), we can do anything.

 Now compare the two crimes-
1) Sushil Kumar - impersonating, threatening violence with a shoe but not actually getting violent
2) Digvijay Singh and Congress toadies -actual physical assault on a person which could have(or perhaps have) resulted in injuries and even serious injuries.

Whose crime is greater?
And who was picked up by Chidambram's(India's home minister and a Nehru-Gandhi cutlery piece) palace guards aka Delhi police?


But who cares? Law, they say, is an ass and those who are supposed to keep it are, we have all seen, assholes.

Whose money and face is the blackest -Congress or Ramdev?

Congressi big mouth Digvijay Singh-

Senior Congress leader, Digvijay Singh on Monday said yoga guru Baba Ramdev should prove that money used to make his ashram is not black money and tax has been paid on it.

Ironical in the extreme. And that itself is an understatement. Which gangs organizations need huge mountains of black money to function at all -political parties! And the Congress party has been the premier party since forever. It is doubtful if any individual or corporate could have consumed as much black money as the Congress has over its history.

Not only that -the black money used by the political parties is of the worst kind. It is unearned, quid pro quo and of course criminal but not just because there is a law against it. It is the blackest money.


Yes, there is black money, there is blacker money and then there is the blackest money.
This needs some explaining as there is a lot of confusion regarding black money.

Black money at root is simply wealth that has escaped paying the cut demanded by the government. Which by itself does not make it immoral. Unlawful, yes, immoral, no.

Types of black money on the scale of immorality

 Let us take the main examples of black money and we shall be able to perceive the differences in 'immorality' -

1) Black Money - You expend sweat and tears to earn a living for your family, to keep them off poverty. Say your tax liability is 15,000/- but you pay 13,000/- and decide that that 2000/- you unlawfully keep is better spent on your mother's medical bills than on the foreign junket of a creep minister or become infinitesimal part of a giant scam. And there are many such scams. You have no faith that the government will spend wisely your hard earned money and not, like thieves, divide it among corrupt politicians and their boot-licking bureaucrats and politically favored contractors.

You are a criminal now and you have black money. And there are millions of 'criminals' like you.
But you earned your money. You produced wealth.
Who can call you immoral? Not me.


2 )  Blacker Money - this is simply loot. Money stolen, extorted by thugs and criminals doing criminal things like burglary, bank dacoity, things that mafiosi do etc. Nothing complicated about it. Obviously, very high on the immorality scale.


3) Blackest Money -  this is the loot of the worst kind because it is looted by those who are the custodians of the law. From the lowest corrupt sarkari peon to the bribe taking traffic inspector to the corrupt Commissioner of police to the dishonest joint secretary to the minister in spotless white clothes but with a lot of filth inside to the 'decent' prime minister who knows all but does nothing.The amount of wealth looted in corruption is huge. It is ENORMOUS.

Add to that the HUGE amount of illegal funds collected, extorted by the political  parties from corporates etc, often as exchange for later favors.  The very functioning these parties depends on such criminality. And yet they lecture us, harangue us, rule us, control us, loot us - while dressed in impeccable, well creased and starched whites.

They did not 'earn' all this loot. They created no wealth. They consumed what others produced. Like parasites that they are.

This is the Blackest Money and the politicians and the bureaucrats have it in truckfuls.

There is no reason not to consider political parties as criminal gangs since their very existence as viable power seekers depends upon large scale criminality.
 
On my scale of immorality, this ranks the highest.





Thus, we implore Diggie Singh to dig a little and tell us-

Who has the most black money - Baba Ramdev(even if he has any) or the Congress Party - and whose is the blackest?

Kiska mounh jada kaala hai?*

*The colorful Indian language translator-

      Kiska mounh jada kaala hai?  - Who has the blackest face (i.e. is the most disgraced) ?

"Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart."

What happened (my own remarks are in italicized brackets and bold is mine)-

Police lobbed teargas shells apart from carrying out a "mild" truncheon charge (Ed -which didn't happen) on the protesters on Sunday. Many fainted because of the gas engulfing the covered venue and minor fires erupted.(what if they had turned into major fires or a stampede happened and killed hundreds? It was very possible.Wouldn't have meant anything to this 'compassionate' government.'Inclusive growth' is for those who don't get in the way.Those who do risk being excluded all the way to the other world.) "There was complete chaos. People could neither open their eyes nor keep them shut," recalled Shiv Kumar from Saharanpur. Protesters alleged that women and girls were manhandled. ( Bravo, Sonia, you go fight for women's rights!)

"First, people tried to stop the security personnel from reaching Ramdev. A young man took him away on his shoulders. But later he returned to address us," said Swami Akhandanand from Haridwar. He said about 1.20am things went out of control, "We had no report of where Ramdev went. He was asking everyone to maintain peace."

Eyewitnesses said by 1.30am, there was unrest in the camp with cops almost taking over the entire venue. "There was no provocation. What threat could women, children and men who came to participate in a satyagraha would pose?" asked Anita, a Ramdev follower from Sikkim.(The threat to gaddi*, no doubt)

Cops, however, said Ramdev's supporters pelted bricks and threw flower pots on them. Half an hour after the eviction operation began, the venue was full of smoke and it was difficult to anyone inside to breathe. Volunteers were seen taking out people who had fainted. Many were complaining about their missing belongings. But none was willing to leave Delhi before getting the order from the yoga guru.

"We will not go home. We need to see Baba," said Monika, a young supporter from Rohtak. Amid anti-government slogans, a woman shouted out to the cops, "Why are you covering your face? You don't have a heart." (Bandits and dacoits do this)

At 3am, most Ramdev supporters were on streets around the ground, especially the Jawaharlal Nehru Marg. People had taken over the entire pavement outside the MTNL office. But within minutes, a platoon of cops started driving them away.(Scram, you dogs! Fighting for your rights,bloody hell!) The police brought buses for volunteers to take people away.

"They can throw us out of Delhi by using force. But we will take this protest to villages and cities. The government has crossed all limits," said Sudha, who had come from Jharkhand. (Take that and remember next time -Delhi belongs to the Congress!)

The police kept driving away protesters until they had cleared the stretch between Ramlila Maidan and the Kamla Market roundabout.

Since police had also sealed Jantar Mantar (no shelter for you!)to avoid any gathering there, the exhausted protesters headed to Bangla Sahib Gurdwara beyond Connaught Place.

Timeline of events by News X

*The colorful Indian language translator-
        gaddi - seat, here it means the seat of power
       

Media Crooks on fire

No, I don't mean Barkha Dutt et al. in a burning inferno though the thought might cockle some hearts. I mean the passionately written blog Media Crooks is in a fit of (justified, I think) outrage and is producing some fiery stuff. E.g. see this, this or an earlier posted this. Don't miss.

Rahul Gandhi -Mums the word

Rahul Gandhi was very vocal about the police atrocities against the farmers at Bhatta Parsul in the opposition held state of Uttar Pradesh. Yet, over 24 hrs after Chacha Manmohan S Gandhi unleashed their dogs(aka Delhi police) on peaceful protesters at the Ramlila Grounds in the Congress ruled Delhi at 1 a.m., the boy king has not squealed a word.

Mums the word

Why so mum, Rahul?
What are you waiting for?
Mummy?

Would you buy a used car from Kapil Sibal?

Kapil Sibal, a senior government minister, has been accused by anti-corruption activists of betrayal. He has been the Congress Party's henchman ('negiotiator' doesn't quiet tell the truth)to see off the attacking waves of activists. Today His Madam's Voice changed his tune and along with other Sonia's boys went on a full frontal attack himself on Baba Ramdev. Like Goebbel's tricks followed Hitler's Blitzkriegs, Sibal's hysterical propaganda followed Delhi police's sudden(but pre-planned) attack on the sleeping activists at 1 a.m. Sunday.

Watching Sibal on several channels, I was intrigued by his looks, or rather the vibes he gives out with his expression. He 'looks' highly corrupt and manipulative to the extreme. He may be a saint for all I know (ha!), but he definitely has the creepy mien of a grasping politician.Still photos do not quite catch it but still -

Would you trust him?

  You be the judge-
If you knew nothing about this man, would trust him just by his 'look'?
Would you leave your pre-adolescent daughter in his charge for a few hours?
Would you trust him with your investments?
Would you buy a used car from him?



Update-
  BTW, after yesterday's state assault on the protestors , Baba Ramdev called Sibal the  "the most scheming man ever."

The cold, dead heart of the State

As the cold gets really biting and dangerous -especially at night - an old homeless man tries to cosy up in the stately corridors of the posh Connaught Place, Delhi.

 

The Indian state just went through a mad, drunken orgy of spending where it burned up (allegedly) 70000 crores (700,000 million!)of yours and mine hard earned rupees on Commonwealth Games(sure gives a poignant turn to the word 'Commonwealth'). A large part of it is supposed to have been wasted and looted. Actually for me all of it was wasted. And all looted.

But not a penny for this poor chap-

India is run by looters and thieves and there is not a thing a honest person can do except kill himself.