The Naive Indian

The Last Few Days

2009-03-25T13:33:57+00:00

After those few days, this domain expires. My new blog, as I have said before, is here: http://demockeracy.in/

The Atom feed links for the new blog are:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/demockeracy - For the blog posts

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/demockeracy/comments - For the blog comments

This post is just a reminder for those who missed the last one. I agree I am not blogging too much nowadays, but that should change soon enough :)

Moving on to demockeracy.in

2009-03-12T14:20:10+00:00

This domain "naiveindian.in" expires on the 30th of March 2009, but I won't be renewing it. I have decided to move over to another domain I own: http://demockeracy.in/. So, hop over there and check it out.

The Atom feed links for the new blog are:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/demockeracy - For the blog posts

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/demockeracy/comments - For the blog comments

This blog shall remain online till the 30th of March, after which The Naive Indian will be no more. Of course, a Demockerat shall replace him :)

Now, for a few acknowledgements:

First and foremost, I thank my web host "NearlyFreeSpeech.net" for the freakin' awesome web hosting they offer at dirt cheap prices. If guys like the ones running "NearlyFreeSpeech.net" didn't exist, poor guys like me won't have had even a ghost of chance to go for a self-hosted blog.

Secondly, many thanks to Kislay Chandra for unhesitatingly pitching in with a credit card when I needed it the most, to deposit more money into my web hosting account. If it weren't for him, my "freakin' awesome" web host would have been forced to delete my blog after the 30-day grace period got over.

And last but not the least, a million thanks to all those who read this blog, even if the naive dude behind it keeps vanishing into thin air for weeks together. I promise that I shall try to be more regular on the new blog :)

OK, enough said. Now, welcome to Indian Demockeracy!

NDTV Arm-Twists A Blogger Into Submission

2009-02-01T12:08:09+00:00

Here we go again. The Fourth Estate, which stands for (or let's say, because of) free speech is trying to gag the freedom of speech of Chyetanya Kunte, a blogger who had rightly expressed his disgust at Barkha Dutt's reporting after the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. But Ms Dutt couldn't stand this criticism, could she? After all, she is THE best journalist in India. LOL!

Anyway, it seems she immediately shot off a legal notice to Kunte threatening libel action, because Kunte has withdrawn the offensive post and issued an unconditional apology to Ms Dutt and NDTV. However, it is not possible to completely erase something that has been posted on the internet. Thank Google cache for that. Some dude (or lady) dug up Google cache, and it turns out the post is there in the cache. What luck!

The post can be found here: http://reader.feedshow.com/show_items-feed=82acf344ae184d2fd2a94dd3b34582b1

Just scroll down to the bottom, and you'll find the post titled "Shoddy Journalism".

I want to crosspost Kunte's post on my blog. In fact, that's what we all should be doing. But I don't want something like that to further push Kunte into a hole he can't get out of. Does someone know how these legal things work? If hundreds of bloggers post the same supposedly offensive content on their blogs, what can Ms Dutt do? Sue the entire Indian blogosphere?

I, for one, have been a fan of The Pirate Bay for a long time now. They get plenty of crappy legal threats from big companies, but they never pay heed to them. In fact, they often compose funny replies to these legal threats and post them on their website. Maybe it's time we came together and learned from them. If we can't ensure that the basic rights promised in the Indian Constitution are protected, we should throw the Constitiution away.

What other bloggers are saying:

Retributions: NDTV’s Assault on Free Speech
Sandeep: Barkha Dutt and NDTV, the Joke is on You!
Trailblazer: Shoddy Intimidation
Sanjay a.k.a. Indian Realist: Here is Why They Hate Blogs
Vimoh: Open letter to NDTV
Shripriya:Shame on NDTV and Barkha Dutt
Prem Paincker:When ‘free speech’ bears a price tag
DesiPundit: Blogger Silenced by NDTV

Spread the word. Write about this issue on your blog if you have one. For all we know, this battle is already lost, but nobody should be able to say that the Indian blogsophere didn't try.

Mumbai 26/11 Aftermath: What India Can Do

2008-12-30T04:22:16+00:00

First, Dr. Manmohan Singh (MMS) went to the United States of America begging them to help us because we 'loved' their President, Mr. George W. Bush. Mr. Bush and his Secretary of State Condolezza Rice then muttered sweet nothings into the Prime Minister's ears assuring him that they would do all they can to help us. It was clear to everyone but our (s)elected Prime Minister and his fellow jokers in the Government that the US would dare not ruffle too many Pakistani feathers. After all, the US campaign in Afghanistan is highly depenedent on Pakistani co-operation.

Then, MMS turned to Saudi Arabia asking it to help us out, blithely ignoring the fact that it is the petro-dollars generated in Saudi Arabia and in other countries in the Gulf Region which are used for funding the activities of the 'holy warriors'. By now, MMS had provided enough proof to us that his Govt is impotent and is running around like a headless chicken. Pakistan was already mocking us repeatedly by rejecting the evidence being thrust in front of their face. It was quite clear by now that we are alone, and that we have to help ourselves.

But then, he surprised us again, when he asked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "to put pressure on Pakistan to bring perpetrators of the recent terrorist attacks in India". Ha. Ha. What makes MMS think that Iran would like to help us? India-Iran relations aren't exactly cordial, are they?

And we shouldn't forget China, should we? MMS also went to the Chinese asking them to pressurise Pakistan to act, knowing full well that they are reluctant to do so, and shall always be reluctant to do so.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that we should get the international community involved in pressurising Pakistan. But it is clear that this ploy is not working. Even if it does, the benefits for us would be limited because the Western powers cannot go beyond a point in pressurising Pakistan. It has been more than a month now since Mumbai 26/11 happened, and we have not yet succeeded in making Pakistan accept that it is responsible for what happened in Mumbai. Pakistan yesterday laughed off the concrete evidence provided by the US and the UK, saying that such evidence won't stand in court.

It is not about evidence anymore. Even India has provided enough of it. The whole world knows that Pakistan is the country where the 'holy warriors' thrive. It's time now to get Pakistan to act. As Arun Shourie said, we should "stop running to mummy" - if the Western powers don't help us, we need to pull up our socks, and do the dirty work ourselves. Peace, as is well known, comes at a price.

What Can We Do?

I still feel that war should be our last option. It is still unclear what we can achieve by waging a war on Pakistan. There are many things we could do without crossing the LoC, though. Bharat Verma, editor of Indian Defence Review, has a few solutions:

Snap diplomatic relations immediately.

Declare Pakistan a terrorist State.

Discontinue all trains and bus services as well as trade and business transactions.

Announce renegotiations of the Indus Water Treaty as the terms unduly favour Pakistan.

Begin a process to regulate the water supplies and build new mechanisms to activate water flow controls.

Cancel permissions for over flights.

Seal the Nepal and Bangladesh borders on a priority basis.

Build a grand alliance of democracies by increasing their stakes in the burgeoning economic pie of India, to leverage their support against authoritarian regimes on our border including Pakistan.

Increase immediately FDI in the defence sector from 26 percent to 49 percent. This will help India to emerge as the most modern technology driven defence industry hub in Asia while making it profitable for Western companies to invest.

Sounds good? Read the whole article, there are more such solutions in it. I agree with most of the points made in there. One other interesting point Bharat Verma makes is,

Another falsehood perpetuated by the eternally helpless breed of Indians is that a stable Pakistan is in India's interest. It is not, stable or otherwise. Pakistan is a failed State. It is on the brink of disintegration. It simply needs to be helped to remove itself and the map redrawn. Otherwise, the cost to India will keep increasing disproportionately.

To take this war to the enemy, New Delhi needs a deliberate, graded and escalating response with a clear political and military objective to help Islamabad disintegrate.

Outrageous though it may seem to a few people, there is a case to be made in favour of letting Pakistan disintegrate into its natural components [1 & 2]. Pakistan has successfully tried to bleed us with a thousand cuts, we can do better. Pakistan can be disintegrated into three nations, each representing the following four groups - Baluchi, Pashtun, Punjabi-Sindhi. The Baluchis and the Pashtuns have been fighting for independence for a long time now. It's time we helped them achieve it.

War is probably not an option for us now. Well, then how about helping Pakistan disintegrate? It is in our interest to do so.

The Law Of Disproportionate Reactions

2008-12-28T09:25:42+00:00

Reuters reports,

Israel launched air strikes on Gaza for a second day on Sunday,
piling pressure on Hamas after killing more than 270 people in one of
the bloodiest days in 60 years of conflict between the Palestinians and
the Jewish state.

Israeli leaders said the campaign was a response to almost daily
rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants that intensified after Hamas,
an Islamist group in charge of the coastal enclave Israel quit in 2005,
ended a six-month ceasefire a week ago.

This brings us to Newton's Third Law of Motion, which says: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

When applying it to geo-political issues, the above law needs to be changed. We could state the modified law as follows: Every action has an equal, opposite, and disproportionate reaction.

Need further proof that my modified Newton's Third Law of Motion for geo-politics is true? Just follow India-Pakistan relations. India's reactions are always disproportionate to Pakistan's (provocative) actions. Heh.

The 'Dhimmis' Are At It Again

2008-12-28T07:04:20+00:00

Some may say they never stopped in the first place. Heh. For those who don't know what dhimmi means, check this out. After the recent Mumbai attacks, I had expected dhimmis like Arundhati Roy to come out in full force and indirectly blame Hindus for the attacks Muslims fanatics carry out in India. And "dhimmi-in-chief" Mrs. Roy didn't disappoint. She came up with an article in the Huffington Post called '9 is not 11'. It's a must-read for the LOL time that it gives you. She distorts facts, she twists statements, and then she presents it to her fellow dhimmis who find that it is "cool" to support her. It's very "uncool" to support the saffronites, innit? There is no difference between the two, of course. Both are fundamentalists anyway.

After reading this article, you must read Greatbong's superb analysis of the dhimmi-in-chief's article. I share his views on fundamentalism. I hate "all" fundamentalists, not just a select few. On this blog, I have regularly spoken up against all kinds of fundamentalism. I pity those who think that a person who leans even a bit towards the right of center is a "fundamentalist". I really do.

Moving on, I hope you read what Minority Affairs Minister A
R Antulay had to say about the way Karkare was martyred in the Mumbai terror attacks. You didn't? Please read it here, it's a laugh riot, I promise. Maybe our investigating agencies should hire Mr. Antulay for his investigating capabilities. LOL!

Here is an excerpt of the report I linked to above,

Stating that the circumstances of
Karkare's shooting "may be inquired into", Antulay seemed to have borrowed a
leaf from Pakistani TV hosts who have claimed that the Mumbai attacks were the
handiwork of "Hindu-Zionists". Antulay told the media outside Parliament's gate
number 12 that "there must have been some reason why Karkare went to Cama
hospital instead of Taj and Oberoi hotels."

Antulay said "someone"
could have told Karkare and other officers with him to go to Cama hospital,
suggesting that the ATS chief fell victim to a set-up as he was probing cases
which involved Hindu radicals in the Malegaon case. The comments were
immediately televised and triggered an uproar in Lok Sabha where BJP and Shiv
Sena MPs vehemently criticised the minister who insisted that directions issued
to the officer must be probed.

Antulay is a moron, if ever there was one. I wonder if this was just a gaffe or a slip of tongue. He seems to be pretty unapologetic about it, too. Today, he said,

I owe explanation to none. I have not said anything which has
embarrassed the govt and the Congress party. In fact, I have helped the
government.

Does this mean that the Congress supports what he says? Is this how the Congress looks at Karakare's killing? Pranab Mukherjee has said that the Congress will respond in a few days. I am waiting.

Now, we come to a prickly issue called Human Rights. I have always watched with amusement how the dhimmi "human rights activists" swarm around a "minority" person at the slightest suspicion that his/her human rights have been trampled upon. A few recent cases, however, have exposed these dhimmis for what they really are - fundamentalists. They are as bad as the Hindu fundies, if not worse.

Sadhvi Pragya tortured

A few weeks ago, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur had filed an affidavit in court alleging that she was being tortured in police custody. As far as I know, not one human rights activist as much as squealed. Not one major national newspaper has published the full text of the affidavit she filed. Even the otherwise hyper-active National Commission for Women (NCW) didn't do much. Considering the high profile of this case, publicity-hungry scavengers like Teesta Seetalvad, Arundhati Roy, Shabana Azmi should have come out of the woodwork. The fact that they did not shows how selective they are when it comes to fighting for human rights.

Andhra: 'Innocent' Muslims tortured

After the terror attack in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and a few other places last year, many Muslims were picked up for interrrogation. It turns out that some of them were tortured for around six to nine months [link]. This is how they were tortured: stripping, physical abuse, electric shocks, some had their beards
plucked out; in one case, a two-litre water bottle was said to have
been hung from the victim’s penis. Shocking, innit? Eventually, the police realised that the arrested youth were innocent, and let them off. After much haggling, the Congress Govt in Andhra Pradesh offered them a “rehabilitation package” of Rs 30,000 and Rs-80,000 loans to buy autorickshaws.

Here again, we see that not one human rights activist squealed. Not one. They should have; after all, the vitims were from the "minority" community, isn't it? I guess they didn't squeal because the Congress Govt is in power there. Which p-sec would want to take on Mrs. G? If the same thing would have happened in Gujarat, these dhimmi
activists would have really gone after Modi. He is after all a
"merchant of death", isn't he? Mrs. G is an angel. Heh.

Fabricated statements of Gujarat riot victims

Teesta Seetalvad, in her obsession to go after Modi, apparently forced Gujarat riot victims sign on fabricated statements [link]. She prepared the statements herself and mailed it to her lackeys, who got it signed from the victims. Nice, innit?

I wonder why some of the more "liberal-minded" bloggers than me have raised these issues as vociferously as they attack the "fundamentalist" and "communal" BJP. I wonder why. Isn't this hypocrisy on their part? Are they too becoming dhimmis? It would be really sad if that happens, because most of them are really good. Please note that I do not intend to intimidate anyone. I just want answers. I would love to be proved wrong on this point I have made.

Try Antulay For Sedition

2008-12-28T07:00:16+00:00

In an unusually hard-hitting column, Tavleen Singh rightly points out that in any other country, A R Antulay, the one who is conjuring conspiracy theories around Hemant Karkare's martyrdom, would be tried for sedition. In India, though, even days after making such seditious statements, Antulay has not even been chucked out of the Cabinet of Ministers, let alone being tried for sedition. This sort of shows you how spineless the Congress leadership really is.

There are few gems in her column. Here are a few,

As Shri Abdur Rehman Antulay unintentionally reminded us last week, India
has enemies within her borders that are more treacherous than those who
come in boats from the sea. If we had a real Prime Minister, instead of
one by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen, not only would the
Minister for Minority Affairs be sacked, he would be tried for
sedition. How dare he suggest that in the middle of the worst terrorist
attack India has ever faced, our police officers are so evil that
instead of fighting the terrorists they plotted to kill one of their
own officers?

She also has some choice words reserved for Arundhati Roy, without actually naming her.

A famous Indian novelist—whose name I will not take because it
would defile this column—goes further. In the latest of her series of
hysterical diatribes against India and all things Indian, she justifies
the attacks on Mumbai. There is a context to everything, she says, and
so we must understand that the jihadis who want to destroy India have
good reason to do so.

Leaves no doubt as to who she is referring to, does she? Anyways, read the whole column, it's worth it.

Moving on, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh has come out in support of Antulay saying that it was "natural" to question whether Karkare was set up. Mr. Singh also says that Antulay's comments have been blown out of proportion. Heh. With such dhimmis running the UPA Government, our case against Pakistan has surely taken a severe beating. All Pakistan has to do now is quote our own Ministers and politicians and point out that "Hindu Zionists" had a hand in Mumbai 26/11. I won't be surprised if this is a well-thought political game being played out by the Congress to revive its sinking fortunes after the terror attacks. So, who is playing communal politics now?

Moving further on, the ever-awesome Vinod Sharma presents his take on the Antulay episode. A must-read, as always.

Finally, as Mr. Antulay is speaking so much in favour of Pakistan anyway, I wonder if there is some way we can chuck him over the LoC into Pakistan. Of course, it merits mentioning here that even Pakistan would hesitate to take in a dirty, seditious snake like Antulay. So what if he has helped them so much?

Kanchan Gupta: The Truth Behind Kandahar

2008-12-28T06:59:05+00:00

Oftentimes, I have felt peeved by the way people whip the previous NDA Government for the way it handled the Kandahar hijack episode. No doubt, the NDA botched it. But, in my opinion, any other political party in power at that time, under those circumstances, would have acted in the same way. Nine years hence, when terrorists just sailed into Mumbai and held it hostage for 60 hours, the question which comes to mind is: after that episode, after a change in the Government at the Centre, have things changed? I have always felt that there was just no way India had the guts to let 160-odd hostages die. The same Congress party which today repeatedly targets the BJP for the way it handled the situation in 1999, had said during the hijack crisis that it would stand by whatever the NDA government decided. And that included acceding to the hijackers' demands.

Today is the ninth anniversary of this tragic episode, where three dreaded terrorists were released in exchange for the lives of 160-odd passengers. Kanchan Gupta, who was an official in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the NDA government, today published an article in The Pioneer, where he comes up with "the truth behind Kandahar". It deserves to be read.

"The truth behind Kandahar": http://www.dailypioneer.com/145600/The-truth-behind-Kandahar.html

HC Whips Ministry For Eroding NHAI's Autonomy

2008-12-28T06:58:07+00:00

I have been trying to make this point to a few die-hard Congress fans for a long time now: UPA is anti-development. Apparently, I failed, because I guess I'm not so good at debates as some of them are. I showered them with links, but still they refused to accept that the last five years under the UPA Govt have been little more than a wasted opportunity.

So, when the High Court came up with a stinging indictment of the ministry of surface transport and highways, I felt vindicated. No, I didn't feel happy, I just felt vinidcated. It seems even the courts are fed up of this corrupt UPA govt now. Highways are a very important component of development, and compromsing on their development is not acceptable

ToI reports,

The Delhi High Court seems
to have hit upon the root cause of why crucial highway projects across the
country have been moving at a snail's pace in the past few years. And the
discovery has left the court both shocked and angry.

The HC found
that the ministry of surface transport and highways was indulging in "day to day
interference" into the affairs of the National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI), a statutory body granted functional autonomy by Parliament.

The court was so aghast by the fact that NHAI has seen five chairmen
in the past two-and-a-half years that it recommended that a law be enacted to
ensure that heads of public enterprises have fixed tenures of 3 to 5
years.

A division bench comprising Justices Mukul Mudgal and Manmohan
said the Law Commission and Centre should seriously consider bringing in such a
law which "in our opinion will ensure transparency, efficiency and
accountability".

The HC's stinging indictment comes close on the
heels of widespread criticism of Union surface transport minister T R Baalu's
reported role in the recent change of guard in the NHAI, which saw N Gokulram
being transferred out. There have also been allegations of repeated interference
by the ministry resulting in stalling of key highway projects across
India.

Read the full report, there's more in there. So, Dr. Manmohan Singh (a.k.a. MMS) is all about integrity? Fine. But most of the ministers under his cabinet are as corrupt as they come. If MMS really had any of that famed integrity of his, he would have resigned from the PM's post a long time ago. The fact that he has not, shows us that he is little more than an opportunist.

The scenario if Kasab weren't captured alive

2008-12-28T06:56:54+00:00

Vinod Sharma over at India Retold has written a brilliant post which accurately projects the scenario had Ajmal Kasab not been caught alive in the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. The dhimmedia would really have had a field day blaming "Hindu Zionists" for the attacks. LOL!

Check out the post here: http://vinodksharma.blogspot.com/2008/12/had-ajmal-kasab-not-been-captured-alive.html