Congress leaders are understandably the most vociferous in displaying righteous outrage at the unfortunate speech delivered by Varun Gandhi, just as they spare no occasion to castigate Narendra Modi for the Gujarat riots of 2002. However, their words would have more credibility if they expressed comparable shame at the fact that their party led the way in showing that riots and massacres can be used as means to manipulate vote banks. Apart from the infamous massacre of Sikhs in 1984, the 1970s and 1980s witnessed a series of communal riots presided over by the Congress party in places like Meerut, Malliana, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Bhiwandi, Bhagalpur, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. The arrest of Congress leader Meghsingh Chaudhary at the instance of the Supreme Court-appointed Special Investigative Team for his active participation in the Gulbarga Society massacre in Ahmedabad in 2002 confirms what knowledgeable people in Gujarat have for long alleged that many Congressmen enthusiastically joined hands with members of the sangh parivar in the anti-Muslim riots of 2002.
Full article at Times of India
WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -including two Reuters news staff.Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.
The military did not reveal how the Reuters staff were killed, and stated that they did not know how the children were injured.
After demands by Reuters, the incident was investigated and the U.S. military concluded that the actions of the soldiers were in accordance with the law of armed conflict and its own "Rules of Engagement".
Consequently, WikiLeaks has released the classified Rules of Engagement for 2006, 2007 and 2008, revealing these rules before, during, and after the killings.
WikiLeaks has released both the original 38 minutes video and a shorter version with an initial analysis. Subtitles have been added to both versions from the radio transmissions.
WikiLeaks obtained this video as well as supporting documents from a number of military whistleblowers. WikiLeaks goes to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the information it receives. We have analyzed the information about this incident from a variety of source material. We have spoken to witnesses and journalists directly involved in the incident.
WikiLeaks wants to ensure that all the leaked information it receives gets the attention it deserves. In this particular case, some of the people killed were journalists that were simply doing their jobs: putting their lives at risk in order to report on war. Iraq is a very dangerous place for journalists: from 2003- 2009, 139 journalists were killed while doing their work.
"My son is not against anybody. For him Desh Prem [love of the nation] is more important than anything else in life," says Hiraben, mother of the caretaker Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.When you tell her that Muslims dislike her son, she says, "Ask the Muslims of Vadnagar. They will never say anything against my son. He is not against Muslims. He always used to tell me that if there is one person who is ready to die for the country, it is him."
On entering Vadnagar in Mehsana district, there is a huge poster of Modi next to those of the burning Sabarmati Express and Akshardham temple. Everyone here knows where Hiraben lives. The roads are narrow, but made of concrete. Cows and buffaloes greet you on the road to Modi's house near Modi gully.
One has to walk down the gully, as cars cannot enter. The resident are proud of the fact that a boy, who once used to run around in front of them, has become the chief minister and is the most popular leader in the state.
However, Modi is one of those rare politicians who has not done anything for his family and the locality where he grew up.
He has visited his family only five times ever since he left home in his teens to join the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He never attended marriages and other social functions in his family, but came when his father died. And apart from a telephone call every Diwali, Modi does not have any contact with his mother.
Hiraben's husband, Damodarbhai, was a small-time businessman and they had five sons and one daughter -- Soma, Narendra, Amrith, Prahlad, Pankaj and Vasanti [daughter].
Hiraben lives with the youngest son, Pankaj, who works in the information department of the state government in Gandhinagar. In spite of the fact that his brother is the chief minister, Pankaj takes a local bus to office. On an average he spends four hours travelling everyday, as the family does not even own a scooter.
Hiraben says she doesn't resent the fact that her son never helps her financially. "My son is a man of principle. He will only help if people at large are benefited. Our whole family believes in simple living. In fact, we always taught Narendra to live honestly. So why should I feel bad if he does not help us financially," she says.
Hiraben is in her late eighties and cannot walk without the help a cane. She wears thick spectacles and dresses up in a simple white sari. Though her elder sons are settled in Ahmedabad, she says she will not move away from Vadnagar. "I love my motherland very much and I cannot move to Ahmedabad because I don't like that place so much."
Reminiscing, Hiraben says, "Once he [Modi] found a one-rupee coin on the road... I told him to spend it on himself. But instead he gave that coin to a poor man's daughter in our village, who needed money to buy books and pencils".
"I remember once he got home a baby crocodile, which was in bad condition. He wanted to nurse it, but we asked him to release it in the river. He agreed, but reluctantly. I know he loves everyone."
Hiraben says her son does all his work, including washing and ironing his clothes. "And yes, no matter what the temperature is, he always takes bath in cold water," she adds. Ask her which party she will vote for, Hiraben says, "Of course BJP! I always used to vote for the Jan Sangh [the BJP's parent party]. If you have parents then you cannot change them. In the same ways, if you have one party you must vote for that party only."
Like all mothers, Hiraben misses her son very much. "After all I am his mother. But luckily, now I see him on television everyday and give him blessings. I feel very proud of him."
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
Just 1 word can be used to describe the movie- POOR. 45 minutes into the movie when you start looking at your watch you know that something went wrong somewhere.Raavan is one of those movies where everything could have gone right. One of the best directors, arguably the best music director, nice concept, a grand epic to base it upon, breathtaking locations, powerful star cast and what not. But this is 1 of the few projects where everything went wrong. Direction is poor, music is average, acting is ordinary and it would be a shame to call it an adaptation of Ramayana. It seems like some elements of the epic were desperately inserted into the movie to get some free publicity by promoting it as a modern adaptation of Ramayana. The only saving grace for the movie is cinematography. The locations are breathtaking and you have to give it to the cast and crew for filming almost 90% of the film drenched in water.
The 1st half of the movie is dull and slow. It begins at a slow pace and maintain that till the intermission. Thankfully for the viewers things get a bit interesting in 2nd half but fails to keep the viewer interested. The story unfolds at such a pace that you don't want to know what will happen next, you just want it to get over.
Acting specially of the lead cast is ordinary. Abhishek bachchan fails to leave an impact on the viewers. With the make-up and close camera shots even a child could have done that job. His actions seem to be forced and overdone. Aishwarya can't act which was evident from the trailer itself but her acting in the movie is irritating to say the least. Extremely poor dialogues doesn't help her cause either. Vikram starts off ordinarily but his overall act is OK. Anyways he hasn't got much to do here. Govinda who could have been a show stopper here shockingly doesn't even have a role to talk about. His entry scene and specially the lines he say at start to Vikram may give users goosebumps and raises expectation sky high. But apart from that Govinda doesn't have any significant scene in the movie! Mani Ratnam should really explain to people why he wrote such a poor character for someone who was supposed to play "Hanuman" in the adaptation. Only 2 actors that pulled it off were Ravi kishan and Priyamani. Ravi kishan played his part effortlessly and Priyamani gave one of the strongest performances in just 10 minutes of screen time.
And considering the movie a modern adaptation of Ramayana is just nonsense. What sort of adaption is it where "Ram" is not good, "Raavan" is not bad, "Shrupnakha" is the victim!, "Lakshman" is the culprit and "Hanuman" doesn't have any significance. The so called "Raavan" doesn't have any traits like the original one so the characters in the movie are made to say idiotic dialogues like "Sir log kehte hain Beera (Raavan) ek saath 10-10 jagah rehta hai! " to force the audience to believe in the character.
And I couldn't stop myself from mentioning it here. Check the jump of Aishwarya rai from the cliff. Such ordinary effects make you wonder if it is really a Mani ratnam movie or you are watching some low budget movie.
To conclude Mani ratnam totally messed it up this time. If you miss this one you wouldn't have missed much.
Rating- 4/10
For all those who don't know Afzal guru was the mastermind behind the parliament attack which happened around 10 years ago. He has been given death sentence by Supreme Court of India yet it doesn't look like anything will happen in near future! Now the general belief in people is that the delay is because he has sent a mercy petition to the president and he will be hanged when his turn comes and when president rejects the petition. But president would reject the petition when it reaches him (her in this case). In reality the congress govt have been sitting on the file for years and have not sent the file to the president! Now the basic question is "Why?" and the answer is there for all of you to see. Another bigger question is-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Parliament was attacked on December 13, 2001, the Congress and all political parties described it as an attack on democracy. Ten years later, the Congress dismisses an important letter on the punishment to be given to Mohd Afzal Guru as `routine’ and tucks it into some dog-eared file.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs sends a letter to the Delhi Government on April 27 asking the government headed by Shiela Dikshit to furnish its views on the mercy petition of Afzal Guru. The letter gets buried and the MHA sends a reminder. Again no reply. And the Home Ministry of the Delhi Government is under Shiela Dikshit herself!
The MHA letter was rather strongly worded, but the Delhi Chief Minster chose to sit over the file. In fact, the Delhi Government has been sitting on Guru's file since September 2006!
This is not the first time that Sheila Dikshit is getting a letter from the MHA located a few blocks away from her office. A similar notice was sent in April last year. At that time, Dikshit had said she would study the matter after the elections and take appropriate action. But, a year after the Lok Sabha elections, Dikshit has not decided on the matter.
It was in August 2005 that the President sought the MHA's views. The MHA, in turn, sought the opinion of the Delhi Government as the comments of the government of the state where the crime has been committed are sought before deciding a mercy petition. That is where Afzal Guru is stuck - on the table of Shiela Dikshit.
So who is fooling the public? The MHA or the Delhi Government or both?
So, is the Congress going soft on terrorists just for petty vote bank politics? One Congress leader sits over an important letter on Afzal Guru, another senior leader - Digvijay Singh -- visits Azamgarh, the hotbed of terrorists and give the Batla House encounter in Delhi a new spin.
Probably Shiela Dikshit does not want to take any action on the letter before the Commonwealth Games. If Guru is hanged now, there may be a backlash and this is the last thing that the Delhi Govt wants before the Games. One minor backlash and the Games would be `up for a toss'.
"I have not received any letter (from the MHA). Maybe the Home Department (of the Delhi government) received it," said Dikshit. Maybe? This is no routine letter on the weather or traffic jams in Delhi. This was a letter on a terrorist who attacked the symbol of democracy.
The reminder from the MHA came just a week before a Mumbai court sentenced Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab to death for the 26/11 attacks.
The letter had a sense of urgency as Kasab cannot be hanged before Afzal Guru. Questions are bound to arise on why.
"We are aware questions may be asked on what we are doing about the Afzal Guru case once the file pertaining to Kasab's death sentence lands with us if somebody files a mercy plea," a senior MHA functionary was quoted in The Indian Express.
Source: R Shankar, India Syndicate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This post has been published by me as a team member of Indiana Legends for the SUPER 5 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 GingerChaiCenturies ago God is believed to have given to the people of Israel a list of religious and moral imperatives commonly known as 10 Commandments from the mountain referred to as Mount Sinai. It is believed that these were later authored by God and given to Moses in the form of two stone tablets. They are recognized as a moral foundation in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Following is the list of 10 commandments given to people-
Now times have changed. People have changed. The issues and problems faced by people in the world have grown much more complex. In light of these changes there is need to interpret some of the commandments in better way, extend the meaning of some others and add new ones to cater to the issues and problems of today. Following is the list of 12 commandments for the modern world-
1.) You shall have no other Gods before me- Here "me" represents the Human mind. There is no reason why God would give you a mind of your own to think and then would want you to blindly believe others without questioning! Therefore one should not believe in anything which doesn't satisfy his reasoning and common sense.
no matter where you read it,
or who has said it
not even if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reasons and your own common sense.
-Buddha
2.) You shall not make images about other people in your mind- Most of the times people make certain images about other people based on either hearsay or because of 1 unpleasant experience. Years later people themselves may change but their impression on others remain the same leading to biased attitude. Therefore 1 should not be rigid in judging others.
3.) You shall show respect and tolerance towards other faiths- One should not take the name of God in vain (from the original commandments). Therefore if others are forced to take the name of God without their will it wont have any effect as "God" would be just another word for them. So people should realise the futility of forcing others to change their beliefs and instead should show respect towards theirs.
4.) You shall not interfere in others lives unless it affect yours- Much of the problem in this world today is because people want others to live life according to them! Everyone gets an independent life and therefore should have the right to live it according to his own way provided he doesn't cause any harm to others.
5.) Honour the Earth and nature- Father and mother definitely need to be honoured (from the original commandments) as they are the reason for our existence and sustain us during our initial years. But there is something else also that is responsible for our existence and that is Mother Earth. Therefore people should show respect towards the nature and should strive to make Earth a better planet which can sustain lives for many more years to come.
6.) You shall learn to kill- Kill the evil in you. Be happy with who you are but don't let pride take over you. For from pride originates the other sins: melancholy, sloth, despair, envy, wrath, greed. Therefore learn to kill the evil traits to maintain the purity of life.
7.) You shall put your health before wealth- Of all the things important to human today only body is 1 which is not made by him. Money, luxuries etc are all because of efforts of man rather than the body which he gets as a gift. Therefore one should put his health before anything else while there is time because it is the only thing which he can't get later on.
8.) You shall try to steal others pain and sorrow- Pull up the weaker, help the poor and respect the other, for you may find yourself at the other end of the ladder someday. A comforting shoulder and little time is what people need instead of money and gifts.
9.) You shall be truthful to yourself- People generally lie because of two reasons-
i.) They are ashamed of their deeds.
ii.) They pretend what they want to be rather than what they are.
In either of the case people run from their true self. Till people have the support of lie they would never work sincerely to correct their deeds or become what they want to be. Therefore people should be true to themselves for their own betterment.
10.) You shall use force as a last resort- Try to negotiate with peace before deciding that force is needed because the fight today is not between right and wrong. It is between one man's beliefs V/s the others and the beliefs of weaker are not wrong but they just don't matter. Therefore try your best to save a life as a drop of blood saved is gifting life a moment more.
11.) You shall learn to accept failures- A rose has no beauty without the thorns. Your life has no beauty without failures. They are just there to make you desire success more. No one is perfect, it's the desire & heart that makes life beautiful.
12.) You shall become the master of your life- Its unfortunate that most actions and responses of people today are not because of their own will but because of external factors. A little unpleasant moment is enough to keep a person angry for whole day even when he may want to be happy. People should take control of their lives so that they dictate the terms instead of taking orders and letting external factors influence them.
Insight about the commandments-
1.) Commandments 1,2,3,5 and 9 are different interpretations of the original ones, commandments 6 and 8 have been changed and rest of the commandments have been omitted in favour of new ones.
2.) Some of the issues tried to be addressed upon through these commandments are- Religious intolerance, superstitions, environmental degradation, conflicts/wars, animosity between people, health issues etc.
DISCLAIMER- This post is a work of fiction. There is no intention to hurt any one's beliefs or feelings.
This post has been published by me as a team member of Indiana Legends for the SUPER 6 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
You must have heard this statement before. Celebrities say it, Miss World contestants say it, Diplomats say it, Religious teachers say it and many others say it at one or other point of time in their life. But rarely does one implement it in real life. After all the task seems unrealistic and even impossible!
So why should we even think of loving the whole world in the first place?
Well you may have heard people preaching that we all are one. Everything is creation of God and God resides in everyone so how can you hate others. If people start loving each other the world would be a happier place to live in. But the crime graph is rising rapidly, terrorism is on its peak, Murders are committed on trivial issues and it looks an uphill task to even think that these people have an iota of God in them.
Now to define God is a complicated task. For atheists it is a fictional character. But even they will agree that if there is one he is Omnipresent, Omnipotent and doesn't have any shape or form. At this point of time it is difficult to think of anything we definitely know that exists and have the same characteristics. We will discuss about that later.
Lets do a little test now. Close your eyes for 1 minute. Forget about all the religious teachings you have had till now or have read it in holy books and think about the answer to the following question-
1.) I am the Body.
Lets take example of 1 fictional character Nilesh to answer this one. Nilesh thinks he is the body. If we ask Nilesh "who are you?" , He will answer " I am Nilesh". Now suppose Nilesh looses his legs. Again if someone ask him the question he will answer " I am Nilesh".
The experience of the person doesn't change even a bit no matter how his body his. He wont feel "half" if he has half the body implying that he is definitely something more than just the body.
2.) I am not the body but the body is mine.
Suppose you chose the 2nd answer. Now the question is if you are not the body then "Who are you?" and "Where are you?". You might say I am inside the body in each and every part. But again if someone cut your hair you don't loose a part of yourself which should have happened if you were in every part. Also if someone systematically open up the whole body he can't find anything else except the physical parts. More importantly you don't feel something is tightly fitted in you when you are a child and you do not feel something is loosely fitted when you grow up implying that the "thing" must not be having any form or shape.
Something which doesn't have any form or shape can either exist EVERYWHERE or NOWHERE. So we exist everywhere...eh? But it is the same thing said about God that he is Omnipresent! Now the big question remains that there is nothing which fills the criteria. And the answer is-
Just like God energy is present everywhere. Or shall we say God is energy and energy is God. We are also energy. According to various religions a person doesn't die, its just the body that dies. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed.
Once we understand that we all are one and the same thing it might become easier to love others. If we can't love atleast we shouldn't hate people. Some people may associate love with inaction. One legitimate question is - "What to do with the criminals then?" and the answer is - Do whatever is necessary as per the situation but not with the feeling of hatred.
When a mother hits her child she still loves him very much but the action is taken to reform him. Similarly criminals should definitely be punished or jailed so that they could reform or in extreme cases they maybe killed for larger benefit of the society but all these things can be done with good intentions. There is really no need to keep a heart filled with hatred to take action.
Easier said than done but atleast people can give it a try. The earth already weighs 6.6 Septillion Tons. Don't make it heavier by carrying a heart filled with jealousy and hatred. On that note I end this long post with the hope that this world becomes a happier and lovelier place to live in.