Degeneracy Of India's Secularism

The politics over Taslima Nasreen's stay in India is reflective of the degeneration and degradation of the egalitarian notion of secularism in India.The execrable inconsistencies in the standpoints befriended by political outfits over the issue convey the hideous reality of the conquest of India's secularism by the practitioners of destructive appeasement politics,who deem ineffectually and cowardly,that communalism and extremism emanating from minority communities are less monstrous than that being championed by individuals belonging to the majority.This is a fallacious argument,and if rigidly and spinelessly adhered to by our politicians,and also by the media,then the envisioned intellectual advancement and the capacity of tolerance of our country's people to dissenting views is bound to be held hostage to the unjustified and contemptuous diktats of an unholy and ultra-zealous minority of hoodlums.We wouldn't be protecting secularist principles,rather inexcusably betraying them by succumbing to these fundamentalists' demands.Nasreen's condition is pitiable but all the sane members of the civil society should take up the cudgels for her.It would be an unpardonable tragedy of enormous shame if the Government fails in its obligation to defend Nasreen.An appropriate manner of doing that would be granting of permanent citizenship to her.

U.P. Blasts

The almost simultaneous blasts occurring in the vicinity of the courts located in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi remonstrate the intrepidness of the members of the sleeper cells based in India. The fanatically unsettling audaciousness of the functionaries of these sleeper cells are a mournful and frightening reminder of the fragility of India's preparedness to deal with security-related exigencies. The stark assessments provided by the Intelligence agencies on the subject of penetration of Indian society by recruits of these sleeper cells are a dreadful eye-opener to the ultimate aspiration of these terroristic elements.Their gruesomeness is witnessed frequently through the barbaric visage of terrorism and the subsequent catastrophe. The staff of these secret sleeper cells successfully strike Indian cities at will on receiving orders from their overseas masters. Our Government appears to be callously unaware of the gloominess of the scenario, which is assuming threatening proportions every day. The direness of the reality is the connivance of some indigenous elements with the perpetrators of these vicious crimes. This mountainous threat might seem insurmountable but an adequate dosage of perspicacious tough-mindedness and a candid acknowledgement of the danger will lead to an effective fight against it.

Kolkata Protests

The communal protests in Kolkata, championed by vandalistic elements, over the issue of the extension of Tasleema Nasreen's visa, that snowballed into violent anarchy, reflect unequivocally and unambiguously the colossal dangers associated with promoting and patronising destructive minority politics whose fountainhead is the culture of appeasement. Some of the elements that participated in the clashes were backed by the Left Front at some point in time in the past to solidify and buttress their minority vote bank. The encouragement of the bigoted ideologies espoused by these rabidly prejudiced and sectarian minority forums, all in the name of 'secularism', has only emboldened these outfits to capture the law into their own hands and create mayhem on the streets, thereby grievously fracturing the pace of normal civic life in Kolkata. The city has been held hostage to the whims and fancies of these narrow-minded people. Tasleema shouldn't be moved out of India in an act of mollification to soothe the despicably violent rage of these lumpen elements.

Karnataka's Misfortune

The pitifully consistent political developments in Karnataka that have snowballed into a embarrassing crisis for the imagery of the state reflect sickeningly on the malaise that has crept into our polity at large. The unhealthily unbridled motivation for acquiring the supreme political seat of the state has led to a severely shameful loss of reliability, believability and dependability of the all political parties in the state.Bengaluru, the showcase destination of I.T. of India, regrettably is a constituent of a state that is governed by unpredictability and the whims and fancies of the honchos of political outfits whose principal aspiration is to spinelessly ensconce themselves in the state's political structure completely dishonouring ethics and political decency. The nauseating reality is most of these politicians will triumphantly emerge back to power after the completion of the next Assembly election for the people are posed with no viably laudable alternative.

India's Federalism

The PM's remarks on the inefficacies posed by the multi-party model of Government at the centre, and the resultant detriments Indian federalism has had to endure, might initially appear to be a harsh rebuke of the true essence of democratic ethos and values. A fairer, holistic and neutral analysis of his comments made at an International Conference would reveal that there is merit and worth in the PM's misgivings and frustrations at the lack of progress being made in advancing and securing India's vital interests on all fronts, due to the parochialism of regional parties, which are solely bothered about furthering their local objectives, in complete disregard of the consequences of their rigidity and chauvinism to their country's wider wellbeing and credibility. It does risk the effectualness and the integrity of India's federalism and creates conducive conditions for the stagnation of India's growth, importance and prosperity. Indian citizenry must vote in a single national party to power with a decisive mandate to prevent the bickering that is an integral feature of fractious coalition governments.

Pakistan Emergency

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's decision to proclaim an emergency thereby suspending the country's constitution might, on the outset, seem like a route chosen by an archetypal dictator of a country accustomed to the iron-fisted grip of its military establishment on the country's political and judicial landscape.There are some compelling reasons though for the issuance of emergency in Pakistan.The hydra-headed monster of Al-Qaeda-inspired Islamist terrorism that has ravaged Pakistan over the past year is beginning to assume catastrophic proportions.Internal instability due to tardily indecisive judicial activism and the unabated proliferation of extremist ideologies through the demagoguery of puritanically revivalistic mullahs, zealously desirous of usurping the writ of the Pakistani Government, manifested amply during the Laal Masjid crisis, has created a dysfunctional country.Pakistan's primary function in the war on terror needs strong executive powers albeit with the tolerable snatching away of civil liberties.India needs to be heedful and adopt a diplomatically noninterventionist approach.

Needless Appeasement Of China's Reservations

The UPA Government's recommendation to all Cabinet ministers to refrain from attending a felicitation ceremony to honour the Dalai Lama for having received the highest civilian U.S. award recently is uncalled for and an act of unnecessary obsequiousness towards China's standpoint and reservations about the Dalai Lama's intentions. The function, being organised by the Gandhi Peace Foundation and the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum For Tibet, is to congratulate the Dalai Lama for having received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal a few weeks back. Countries like Australia, Canada, the U.S., etc. have lately refused to entertain China's diktats and kowtow to its belligerence by welcoming the Dalai Lama on their soil and treating him as a guest of honour by making their senior Government officials interact with him. India, after having repeatedly expressed its opinion of Tibet being an integral constituent of China, should not go any further to mollify the Chinese, and more so, after China's incessant claims over Tawang.

Marriage Process Reform

The SC order urging the states to declare, through the implementation of a law within three months, that registration of marriages is compulsory irrespective of religion, is a laudable and progressive verdict. Not many Indians are known to register their marriages due to myriad reasons.One of them pertains to absence of religious sanction for marriage registration. This is a notoriously unhealthy habit, in spite of the fact that the process of marriage registration is an unambiguous one. Untrustworthy, criminal, chauvinistic and morally corrupted elements have taken advantage of the loopholes existing as a result of the presence of Personal Laws and Marriage Acts for various religious communities. The sufferers, who have to bear the brunt of these lacuna, are married women, who get exploited in the name of religion. This declaration by the SC is a welcome relief and a step in the direction of righteousness. India must have a law which unifies the conflicting processes related to the legality of the institution of marriage rather than have divergent practices, which don't portend well for the future of India by encouraging a ghettoised mindset characterised by an unwillingness to reform.

Indo-U.S. N-Deal Soap Opera

It is surely perplexing, to no definable extent, as to why the Left Front in India would want to oppose the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, which by all means, is a deal that will grant India a seat of honour in the international nuclear community, without infringing upon the status of her strategic nuclear programme and in the absence of India having to join the discriminatory Non-Proliferation Treaty. The fact that they don't possess valid, viable, concrete and infallible evidence to back up their vehemently irrational opposition to the agreement is self-evident. The only tangible ground for their outright denunciation of the Indo-U.S. nuclear pact is their unstinted and above-the-nation adherence to Communism and their deference in the direction of dictatorial China, which, after the inevitable dismantlement of the Soviet Union, has become the fountainhead of inspiration for Communists all over the world. Any agreement that will 'impinge' upon China's stature is anathema to Indian Communists, who will got to any length to display loyalty to their ideology and prevent India from embracing a deal very much in her favour.

Ideology Over National Interest

Rigid dedication to a particular ideology, even at the cost of frittering away vital strategic gains, has the potential of becoming a bane for the progressive political, economic and strategic integration of India into the global political pecking order. The Leftists, with their unstinting and unadulterated obeisance to a historically much discredited Communist ideology, are endangering India's legitimate rise in the ladder of relevant nations. The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal, which would have opened the gate of advanced civil nuclear co-operation with the international nuclear community and not just the U.S., was a route through which India could have asserted itself confidently as a responsible and influential regional and world player. The U.S. is the only country which has the diplomatic wherewithal to convince NSG nations to grant India a specific exemption from barriers to civil nuclear trade. The Leftists, whose Communist ideology deems any strategic co-operation with an infinite enemy like America a sin, and who conveniently express zealous admiration for our neighbouring Communist giant, are selfishly acting as creators of obstacles in India's path to development only to protect their 'subservient ideology' in spite of knowing fully well that China and Pakistan too have conveyed their displeasure over the nuclear deal.

Curse Of The Leftists

The Left parties with their objections to the Indo-US nuclear deal have unambiguously laid bare their credentials of being vassals of a foreign country. The deal, which is a golden opportunity to put forth India on the map of international nuclear commerce, is on the verge of collapsing due to the groundless objections raised by the Left Front for irrelevant and alarmist reasons. The nuclear agreement is a wonderful initiative of the current regime having the potential to fulfill India's electricity-related desires and also secure strategic gains for itself in the global political and economic order. The IAEA chief, Mohammad El-Baradei, with his unstinted backing for the deal, and a friendly U.S. administration, have granted India a fantastic opportunity to become a welcomed player in the nuclear commerce market. We shouldn't let go off this advantageous climate and play into the hands of enemies of the deal, both in India and our neighbourhood.

India's Credibility At Stake

The UPA Government, by succumbing to the pressure tactics of a minority of ideological vassals thereby putting the nuclear deal on the back-burner,has not only risked eroding India's credibility at the international level but also in the minds of the Indian citizens.The Indian citizenry,which was thus far highly impressed with the forthrightness,courageousness and spirit of initiative displayed by the Government in campaigning for the deal thereby steering India's strategic and energy policies down the path of pragmatism,has been shell-shocked by the Government's sudden turnabout just like the American administration officials.This breach of trust and confidence has the potential of blemishing India's strategic ties with the U.S. and the wider international community,who will deem the signing of landmark initiatives with India as being hostage to the whims and fancies of regional satraps and 'outside supporters' of coalition governments,which is a prevailing trend in the Indian political landscape.The Indian people are also left feeling embittered witnessing the Government's spineless kowtowing on the nuclear deal to the diktats of a minority.Time will tell whether the public will return this Government to power or vote in a party with a decisive mandate,finally ensuring that India's long-term interests are looked after rather than short-term ones.