Strongest Prime Minister
August 31, 1965-
On August 31, 1965 Lal Bahadur Shastri was told by 3 Army chiefs that the Pakistan army had crossed the international border with 100 battle tanks in the Chamb sector of Jammu.
Without losing time he asked for the opening of a new front including Lahore. Retaliate with full force, he said. The historic meeting lasted less than five minutes.
He didn't wait for international reactions. The next day, newspapers reported that the Indian army was marching towards Lahore. It was a big morale booster for the country.
During those tense days, in his address to the nation from Red Fort on Independence day, he said: "Hathiyaron ka jawab hathiyaron se denge. (Force will be met with force.) Hamara desh rahega to hamara tiranga rahega (Our flag will survive only if our country does)".
Weakest Prime Minister
July 15, 2011
"Indians are angry and asking why their government did not ensure their safety. Indian officials say they have made significant security reforms but it may never be possible to stop all terrorist attacks. That is true, but New Delhi still must learn from this experience and keep trying to perfect its intelligence and counterterrorism efforts," the New York Times said in a lead editorial.
"After the 2008 attacks, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warned that his country would retaliate if hit again. We applaud his continued restraint and urge both sides to think hard about the horrifying cost of a war," the daily said.
Also read
The Strongest and the Weakest Prime Minister
Very less people know about Lal Bahadur Shastri and the values he stood for. But Manmohan Singh is considered by many as one of the most moral ministers and an epitome of integrity. Lets have a look how these 2 responded to the challenges faced by them.
In 2011 on 2G Spectrum Scam (From ToI)-
"I am not as big a culprit as being made out to be....... Quite frankly I have never felt like resigning."
Also read-
The strongest and the weakest Prime Minister
Read full post >>
Lal Bahadur Shastri
In 1956-
In 1956, when a train accident killed 144 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, Shastriji resigned. Panditji refused to accept the resignation but he prevailed upon Panditji to accept it.
On the following day in Parliament, Nehru said no one could wish for a better comrade than Lal Bahadur. A man of the highest integrity and devoted to ideas is called Lal Bahadur, said Nehru.
In 1956, when a train accident killed 144 passengers near Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, Shastriji resigned. Panditji refused to accept the resignation but he prevailed upon Panditji to accept it.
On the following day in Parliament, Nehru said no one could wish for a better comrade than Lal Bahadur. A man of the highest integrity and devoted to ideas is called Lal Bahadur, said Nehru.
Manmohan Singh
In 2011 on 2G Spectrum Scam (From ToI)-
"I am not as big a culprit as being made out to be....... Quite frankly I have never felt like resigning."
Also read-
The strongest and the weakest Prime Minister
Shivanand Kanavi had a wide ranging conversation with strategic guru K Subrahmanyam in July 2008 on a variety of strategic and geo-political issues -- India's nuclear weapon programme, the Indo-US nuclear deal, Af-Pak, India's global ambitions...
Even though KS, who passed into the ages on February 2, was already battling cancer bravely, he gave undivided attention with excellent recall about the topics under discussion.
Read below and find out how different Indian Prime Ministers responded to India's nuclear programme-
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-an-interview-with-k-subrahmanyam/20110210.htm
Even though KS, who passed into the ages on February 2, was already battling cancer bravely, he gave undivided attention with excellent recall about the topics under discussion.
Read below and find out how different Indian Prime Ministers responded to India's nuclear programme-
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-an-interview-with-k-subrahmanyam/20110210.htm
In the below video 1 Pakistani news anchor talks about the 2nd and Best Prime Minister of India. Its a shame that Indians know very less about him because there has been a serious effort to downplay his role in Indian history and there has been hardly any program on Indian news channels covering Lal Bahadur Shastri and his legacy.
A must read article on Lal Bahadur Shastri-
Read here
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How there was a conspiracy to downplay his role after his suspicious death-
Read here
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A comparison between possibly the strongest and the weakest Prime minister-
Read here
Read here
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How there was a conspiracy to downplay his role after his suspicious death-
Read here
_________________________________________
A comparison between possibly the strongest and the weakest Prime minister-
Read here
Strongest Prime Minister-
In 1960's-
When under the PL 480 programme, America was going to send inferior quality of wheat to India, Lal Bahadur Shastri opposed it. He asked the nation to go hungry once a day than accept poor quality food from US.
Before making this announcement he asked his family not to cook evening meals. He himself followed what he recommended.
When under the PL 480 programme, America was going to send inferior quality of wheat to India, Lal Bahadur Shastri opposed it. He asked the nation to go hungry once a day than accept poor quality food from US.
Before making this announcement he asked his family not to cook evening meals. He himself followed what he recommended.
Weakest prime minister
In 2011-
Manmohan singh- "I am not an astrologer that I will know when would food prices come down!"
Tea- Rs.1.Soup- Rs.5.50
Dal- Rs.1.50
Meals- Rs.2.00
Chapati- Rs.1.00
Chicken- Rs.24.50
Dosa- Rs.4.00
Veg Biryani- Rs.8.00
Fish- Rs.13.00
This is actual price list.
These items are meant for “POOR PEOPLE” and are available at Indian Parliament Canteen. The MP's who have access to the canteen earn Rs 80,000/- Per month along with other perks.
Disclaimer- Image is only for illustration purposes.
Political Parties and their SymbolsQ: Why is the Samajwadi Party's symbol 'Cycle'?
A: Because after a ban on English and use of computers, that's all we'll be able to afford.
Q: Why is the Congress party's symbol 'Hand'?
A: To remind Indians that our fate is mostly in the hands of one family so far.
Q: Why is BJP Symbol 'Lotus'?
A: Lotus is the symbol of Sarawasti and learning. BJP will educate us through the wisdom of such luminaries as Narendra Modi, Varun Gandhi and Pravin Togadia.
Q: Why is Mayawati's symbol 'Elephant'?
A: It's a self portrait.
Q: Why is Jayalalitha's symbol 'Two leaves'?
A: Because one leaf will not cover much
Q: Why is DMK's symbol 'Sun'?
A: So that Karunanidhi can justify wearing shades indoors
Q: Why is Lalu's symbol 'Laltain'?
A: Because there's no electricity in Bihar.
Q: Why is CPM's symbol 'Hammer and Sickle'?
A: Because that's what you will be using if they come to power.
Q: Why is Sharad Pawar's symbol 'Clock'?
A: Because his time never seems to come.
Q: Why is Shiv Sena's symbol 'Bow and Arrow'?
A: Symbolises the age they live in.
Credits to original author
After rising prices of Onion left the govt red faced a steep increase in the price of Tomatoes is sure to increase troubles for the govt. However the govt is trying to downplay the incident and blame the increased cost on the opposition and right wing Hindu organisations. The govt is of the view that rising price of tomato is a new form of saffron terror as the tomato is "saffron" in colour. While people argued that tomato is mostly red in colour and "saffron tomatoes" didnt exist Congress leader Digvijay singh said that he had "proof" about the existence of saffron tomatoes and there is no need for him to lie.A secret cable accessed by Wikileaks suggest that Rahul Gandhi had told US ambassador that saffron tomatoes were a bigger threat to nation than cross-border terrorism or corruption. He pointed that the tomatoes were a ploy by opposition and right wing Hindu extremist groups to destabilize the economy of the country. He said if given a chance he can bring the prices of tomatoes down in 15 minutes by painting them green and thus foiling opposition's plans. He also urged the youth of the country to take to farming and grow tomatoes so that extremist organisations does not suceed in their plans.
Congress president Sonia gandhi suggested to introduce 25% subsidy in the price of tomatoes for muslims while Mulayam singh yadav and Lalu yadav reacted sharply saying such a move would never be allowed unless separate provisions are made for SC's and OBC's.
Meanwhile BJP the princple opposition party isnt amused by all the hype. The party insist that it has no hand in the increase in price of tomatoes and the govt is trying to play politics over a serious issue. BJP demanded resignation of the PM and said it would take to streets incase the PM fail to do so. A mass rally of BJP is expected in capital on Sunday.
Disclaimer- This post is a work of fiction. There is no intention to hurt feelings of any person or group.
What was mentioned in the blog earlier "In coalition era, has CBI become govt's best ally?" has now been accepted by Supreme court. The UPA government is using CBI as a tool to control its allies.
Read-
CBI slammed by Supreme Court over alleged 2G scam
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Read-
CBI slammed by Supreme Court over alleged 2G scam
This post has been published by me as a team member of Indiana Legends for the SUPER 4 round of Bloggers Premier League (BPL) – The first ever unique, elite team blogging event of blog world. To catch the BPL action and also be part of future editions and other contests, visit and register at Cafe GingerChai.
Look at the above picture. What are the words that come to your mind when you think about Indian Politics? Chances are that the words mentioned in the picture are the ones you think about. The issue with Indians is that they think negatively about everything. They don't realize that Indian politics has 1 of the best value systems in the world! As they say "Beauty lies in the eyes of Beholder", we also need to look at Indian politics and politicians through a different viewpoint to see the values and morals they follow and the sacrifices they make.
In India it is believed that age is just a number. One should be young at heart. Same is believed by Indian politicians. Therefore we have people on the other side of 40 representing "youth" of India!
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.
- John Acton
One of the biggest problem that India faces today is Corruption. The Indian govt acknowledges that and it has taken measures to eradicate corruption from the system. Therefore we have a PM who have absolutely no power. No power no corruption!
The Indian govt acknowledges the gender bias prevalent in the country and is working wholeheartedly to improve the condition of women. As a step forward for this process APJ Abdul Kalam was denied a second term and Pratibha patil was appointed the president of India. So what if she takes 100's of her relatives on tour with herself or her family is involved in various scams the govt is looking at the bigger picture here i.e. Women Empowerment while we worry about petty things.
One thing that is different in India from most other countries is that here elders are given due respect. Its good to see that the same values are also followed by the politicians of India. Otherwise why would a Navin Jindal back "Khap panchayats" , who went to Supreme court for his right to hoist the national flag over his house! We may think that its all about vote bank politics but that's the difference between us and politicians. While we look for hidden motives they simply follow the values and morals.
Its always taught not to think bad even about your enemy. While we the mere mortals are not able to do that politicians not just do that they go 1 step further and help the enemy in times of need. That's why congress leaders joined hands with their enemies and helped them during the Gujarat riots!
Surprisingly our politicians also have very good knowledge about medical science. They know that genes and traits are carried forward from 1 generation to another. So we may keep thinking that its dynasty politics but the truth is that they choose the best candidate available for the job. Sadly they also have some misconceptions about it. One of them is that communalism is a communicable disease! Maybe they got confused between the similar sounding words. That why many politicians stayed away from Amitabh bachchan after he endorsed Gujarat (the state which is believed to be affected by this particular disease!).
"Atithi Devo Bhava" the literal meaning of this phrase is that Guest is just like god. Indians truly believe in this phrase. That's why whether its a Kasab or an Anderson all are provided with utmost comfort during there stay in India. In case the person wishes to leave he is provided with a government plane and if he decides to stay back crores are spent so that he gets the luxuries of his life. Whats more grateful is that the guests aren't required to pay from their pockets for the services. Since Indians believe in sharing the burden of others taxpayers take care of the expenses while the guests enjoy!
Its not only the taxpayers who share the burden political parties and ministries also share the burden of each other. Otherwise why would NCP take it upon itself to educate people about the ill effects of eating sugar! That's the job of Health ministry. But in politics its all about helping each other.
Indian govt doesn't believe in geographical boundaries created by man. Therefore we have a MP who is not even an Indian! The govt also believes in giving second chance to the people. Therefore a person who has been banned for representing the country for life in a certain sport for match fixing can still become a MP and represent the country in a different way!
"B Positive". While the ordinary Indian came to know about this mantra after watching the movie "No Entry", Indian politicians were aware of it since long ago. Therefore whether its Bofors scandal, Black money or the Bhopal gas tragedy Indian govt doesn't worry much and is always positive about these issues!
Indian govt doesn't believe in geographical boundaries created by man. Therefore we have a MP who is not even an Indian! The govt also believes in giving second chance to the people. Therefore a person who has been banned for representing the country for life in a certain sport for match fixing can still become a MP and represent the country in a different way!
"B Positive". While the ordinary Indian came to know about this mantra after watching the movie "No Entry", Indian politicians were aware of it since long ago. Therefore whether its Bofors scandal, Black money or the Bhopal gas tragedy Indian govt doesn't worry much and is always positive about these issues!
There are uncountable examples to talk about when it comes to principles followed by Indian politicians. But a post about Indian politics cannot be completed without talking about the people because a democracy is government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Just like the politicians Indian people also have many good qualities. One of them is lack of unreasonable pride. Unlike others they don't believe that only they can make a good decision. Also they trust fellow Indians and respect their decisions. To show these qualities most Indians give their counterparts a chance to decide the government while they sacrifice their right to vote for some unimportant stuff like watching movies, sleep etc. Therefore its no surprise that the politicians that are chosen reflect the qualities the general people have.
Just like the politicians Indian people also have many good qualities. One of them is lack of unreasonable pride. Unlike others they don't believe that only they can make a good decision. Also they trust fellow Indians and respect their decisions. To show these qualities most Indians give their counterparts a chance to decide the government while they sacrifice their right to vote for some unimportant stuff like watching movies, sleep etc. Therefore its no surprise that the politicians that are chosen reflect the qualities the general people have.
Every country has the government it deserves.
- Joseph de Maistre
- Joseph de Maistre
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Update: This post topped in the Super 4 round of Bloggers Premier League in the category "Satire on Indian Politics"
It may be coincidental, but what a coincidence! A number of public figures who openly criticised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the recent past have been rewarded by the UPA Government, either in the form of a Padma or even a Rajya Sabha nomination.The recent nomination of noted lyricist and screen play writer, Javed Akhtar, to the Rajya Sabha is one such coincidence. He has time and again proved his worth by scripting classics and authoring memorable songs. But equally significant has been his petition filed in the Supreme Court that put the Narendra Modi Government on the mat, by raising a stink on all encounter killings in the State.
Filed in 2007, the petition is pending in the apex court. It was the same year when Akhtar added another feather to his cap — the Padma Bhushan — in the field of literature and education. With notice issued on his petition by the Supreme Court, the petition assumed significance after the Gujarat Government was pulled up by the Supreme Court after the State police admitted its mistake in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter killing.
With two other instances of Ishrat Jahan and Javed Sheikh alias Pragnesh Pillai also coming under the spotlight, Akhtar’s petition was separated from the bunch of petitions filed on the Godhra riots and is slated for further hearing on May 14 this year.
Akhtar’s case alone is not a coincidence. The same year when he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the Government awarded Teesta Setalvad with Padma Shri — in recognition of her ‘fight for justice’ for Godhra riot victims. Her NGO, Citizens for Justice and Peace, was formed in response to the 2002 Gujarat carnage and her petition filed in the Supreme Court laid the foundation for reopening of riot cases, shifting of trial outside Gujarat in several cases and protection to witnesses. The apex court is seized of the petition.
Another public figure that shot to prominence with her classical dance and won recognition and several awards, is no less known for her tirade against the Modi establishment. Danseuse Mallika Sarabhai too is on the list of Padma Bhushan awardees this year. In 2009, she stood in the Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate from Gandhinagar (Gujarat) challenging the might of BJP leader LK Advani. For Mallika, who has earlier been endowed with the Padma Shri, the recent accomplishment has come as an added privilege. It was after the Gujarat riots that Sarabhai was vocal in her criticism against Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
One other awarded personality who has found fault with Modi, accusing him of conniving with the perpetrators of the post-Godhra riots, is former Chief Justice of India VN Khare.
As Chief Justice, Khare had castigated Modi Government for failing its “raj dharma” of protecting the life and liberty of its citizens. On his retirement in 2004, Khare gave an interview to a leading national daily where he commented particularly on the State’s ‘collusion’ that he claimed forced him to react to the petitions filed by Teesta and her NGO. He was quoted as saying, “I found there was complete collusion between the accused and the prosecution in Gujarat, throwing rule of law to the winds. The Supreme Court had to step in to break the collusion to ensure protection to the victims and the witnesses.”
It was under him that the riot cases began to be monitored on a periodic basis and the Best Bakery case, where 21 accused were acquitted, got reopened. Khare was the recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award for his contribution in the field of public affairs in 2006.
Daily Pioneer link
LUCKNOW: Giant hoardings of politicians cutting across party lines stare down at passers-by at Hafizpur main crossing looking a tad incongruous. This kasbah, a mere 20 km off Azamgarh, is inhabited mostly by landless Muslim farmers, and everybody and his brother here is a bit baffled by the off season wooing by political heavyweights.
Within days of UP Congress incharge Digvijay Singh’s visit to Azamgarh, BSP supremo and UP CM Mayawati on Tuesday reactivated the Muslim ‘bhaichara samitis’ under Cabinet minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui. She has also made major allocations to minorities in the state budget. The sops include Rs 212 crore for special scholarships to Muslims; doubling of grant to Urdu Academy; construction of Haj houses in Ghaziabad and Lucknow, setting up of a Urdu-Persian university in Lucknow.
The alarm in Samajwadi Party is even more palpable where its boss Mulayam Singh Yadav dropped ‘Babri culprit’ Kalyan Singh and his friend Amar Singh. The humiliating defeat of his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav at Ferozabad forced him to dump the Yadav-backward-Thakur formula he had worked out with Kalyan, Amar and Co. Now he is back to being ‘‘Maulana Mulayam’’ with his skull cap and red-and-white check ‘keffiah’ (a sort of towel) in place.
As for Congress, Digvijay Singh’s Sanjarpur sojourn, during which he called for a fast track court to try the Batla House encounter accused, it was just the beginning. There’s increasing talk of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi visiting Shibli National College in Azamgarh. The party is focusing on east UP — its Achilles’ heel.
Link
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday told the centre the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee's report recommends schemes for Muslims and leaves out other minority communities."You are trying to please one community—poverty is the common enemy. You should fight against poverty rather than saying that you would fight against poverty for one community only. This is where the rot lies," said a two-member bench.
"You are saying that more money to be spent for one minority community. Should it not cut across the caste and religion? Does the Sachar committee say that facilities are available to other communities?" said the bench. "Such issues should not be decided on the basis of emotions".
The Centre denied that it was favouring a single community. "If out of five children one is neglected then can it not be provided special treatment?" said Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra contended.
The court was not satisfied by the Centre’s explanation and said: "does it mean that drinking water facilities are available to the majority community and no person from it live in slums".
"Under the Constitution, can a welfare state say that that it would focus on a particular area because the minority community reside there? Can it say that it would spend more money in that area?" the bench said.
The Centre alleged the PIL was frivolous and the court should reject it. "This is a political issue which cannot be decided in the court. It is to be decided by the people in election. The High Court had earlier imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 for filing frivolous petitions," said Malhotra.
Not just Muslims, other minority communities too would benefit from the committee’s recommendations, said Malhotra.
The NGO rejected the Government's claim and said there was nothing called minority community in the Constitution. "The Constitution of India does not recognise any minority or subordinate segment of Indian society as identifiably separate or a sociological group. They (Muslims) cannot be labelled as a minority in the sense of a subordinate group," said senior advocate P N Lekhi, who argued for the Rashtriya Mukti Morcha.
Link
President Pratibha Patil is in London to receive a baton from Queen Elizabeth II on October 29. She has already received a tasteless joke from the duke of Windsor about Patels . And then the President is all ready to get the dubious distinction of the first-ever head of state of a Commonwealth country to receive the baton from the Queen Elizabeth. It’s a ‘baton’ that’s customarily given to the host country of the Commonwealth Games. The Commonwealth has 53 member states including Nauru, .. etc and none of them ever thought it prudent to be so obsessed with the colonial hangover that their head of the state would go and be a durbari in the former coloniser’s palace.
And our sportsmen like Kapil Dev gave a statement expressing a feel of pride for having found their names in the invite list to be in the queue and get introduced to a lady who hardly knows about their land except that her predecessors once ruled them with a barbarity that is reminiscent of the dark ages (her knowledge about us won’t be better than that of the duke of fatigue and follies who slipped over the Patels) and she never expressed any regret or remorse over what the British did to us.
Any surprises on the Indian spinelessness?
We are a nation that produced a large number of rai bahadurs and sirs and rao sahebs while ‘crazy deewane’ were becoming Bhagat Singhs and Rajgurus and Sukhdevs. There were a large section of our Indians who thought it prudent to keep a silence on Jalianwala Bagh, honour the butcher Dyer even after the gruesome incident. It’s another matter that we had those Casablancas too who preferred gallows to knighthood.
Pratibha Patil and Kapil Devs have joined the ranks of those who have no sense of history, leave aside a sense of pride in the sacrifices of revolutionaries who fought the British.
We are the world’s greatest living democracy, much larger and with a better civilisational background and track record of humanity than the British. Why should a head of a democracy present herself before a queen, a symbol of a decaying, old tradition, which has lost all relevance to the contemporary values of civil society? Shouldn’t they be raising questions that why the lady occupying Buckingham Palace must remain the head of the Commonwealth?
The most logical and contextually correct thing would be to have a head of a democratic sovereign as its chief and not a titular icon of a royalty that stinks with the blood of our revolutionaries and whose wealth is built on the loot of India?
FULL ARTICLE-
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/why-should-our-president-receive
Shocked by the nature's fury in Karnataka and the apathy shown by Central govt which gave just Rs 50 crore for flood relief Karnataka CM B S Yeddyurappa took it upon himself to collect money to provide relief to those affected. He was able to collect Rs 500 crore in just 48 hours for flood relief by taking a Padayatra.The ironic thing is that Andhra pradesh was given around 150 crores while Karnataka is given just a meagre Rs 50 crore by the central govt just because Karnataka has the BJP govt. Manmohan singh has already said in Haryana that people should vote for congress if they want benefits from Central govt.
Its strange that the same media who goes mad over a night spent by Rahul gandhi in a village hut does not care to report about this incident!!
Check the below article for full news and pictures-
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