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Infosys
to hire 30,000, promotions for 7500 |
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Israel’s
birth was unlawful: Dr. Arshi Khan |
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WB CM
constitutes special team to expedite land transfer to AMU |
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Patil
offers to resign if allegations proved |
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AMU VC
gets Mother Teresa Lifetime Achievement Award 2010 |
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'Malegaon
blast accused planning Mohan Bhagwat's assassination' |
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Shahi Imam appeals
Muslims to fight against exploitation |
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AMU
alumni set up health camp for Kumbh mela pilgrims |
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Reservations:
Dilemmas Galore:
Heated debate has been generated
around women’s reservation bill (WRB) with both sides having their
inflexible positions. On one side there are those .....Read
Full
Women Reservation Bill:
All party meet fails to end impasse |
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 Palestinians should resist Israeli threat: Arab League:
The 22-member Arab
League called on the Palestinians on Tuesday ....Read
Full
Israel’s
birth was unlawful: Dr. Arshi Khan
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 WB CM
constitutes special team to expedite land transfer to AMU:
Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
has constituted two special team to expedite the process of land
transfer ....Read
Full |
 Patil
offers to resign if allegations proved:
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil
stunned the state legislative Assembly tonight by declaring he would
tender his resignation from the ministry as well as membership
.....Read
Full |
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Court
admits plea to probe into Hajj quota: A Division Bench of the Kerala
High Court on Tuesday admitted a writ petition seeking a directive
to the Centre to constitute an impartial agency for ....Read
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 Apex
Court to hear plea
to consider worship at Ayodhya: The Supreme Court Friday
agreed to hear a plea for easing restrictions imposed by the
authorities ....Read
Full |
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 Centre not averse to CBI probe into
Ishrat case:
At the conclusion of arguments, the Supreme Court has reserved
verdict on a special leave petition filed by Ishrat Jahan's mother
Sham .....Read
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 HC
restrains Kerala Govt from participating in 'Islamic Bank': The Kerala
High Court today issued an interim order restraining the State
Government.....Read
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 Pune
blast:
ATS submits report, claims perpetrators identified:
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS)
on Wednesday submitted its investigation report on the Pune blast
.....Read
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 Maoists
massacre 76 troopers, government fumes: India’s sweeping
anti-Maoist offensive suffered a huge blow Tuesday when the Leftwing
guerrillas ambushed and massacred ......Read
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 Apex
court removes two Gujarat cops from riots probe panel: The
Supreme Court Tuesday removed two senior Gujarat police officers
from its special probe panel investigating ....Read
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 World’s tallest tower
saves 3,200 KW daily :
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, saves up to 3,200
KW of energy every day by tapping solar power to heat the 140,000
....Read
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The interrogation of Narendra Modi by
SIT, appointed by Supreme Court was a major landmark in the
investigation of Gujarat carnage. Over a period of years the gradual
erosion of democratic values has led the situation to a sorry pass
where the Gujarat related cases had to be shifted out of Gujarat,
and finally even Supreme Court had to step in, to take charge of
investigation of the brutal killing of Congress MP Ahsan Jafri, who
was brutally massacred by a mob. Jafri had made multiple calls, and
the top police official Pandey had visited the place few hours
before the tragedy took place. Congress was totally helpless as the
total chain of command from local level to the central level was
controlled by the BJP.
Modi did try to create some more haloes around his head by appearing
for being questioned. There were reports that he was to appear in
front of SIT on 21st March, SIT Chief R K Raghavan stated on March
11 that Modi was summoned to appear before SIT for questioning on
March 21. The SIT office was kept open the whole day but the chief
minister did not turn up. Contrary to this fact Modi lashed out on
the media and ‘vested interests’ saying they are trying to defame
Gujarat (for Modi, Gujarat is Modi and Vice versa). Now those
demanding the justice for the victims of Gujarat carnage are
presented as vested interests. This statement of his was hardly
challenged by anyone. SIT kept quiet about it and it sounded as if
he carried the day. Truth is the contrary, the SIT office was kept
open for him. And who has vested interests in Gujarat, those using
religion to come to power or those human rights activists who are
struggling for the rights of minorities which are being reduced to
second class citizenship?
Modi presented himself to SIT in grand style and this was pronounced
as a political victory for him. It was claimed that the faith of BJP
workers went up in his leadership. Now what does one say to this?
Does fulfilling a legal obligation tantamount to political victory?
This formulation was deliberately floated to hide the ignominy of a
Chief Minister having to appear before an investigating agency for
the first time in India. A matter of shame projected as political
victory! Only the followers of Gobbels can do it for sure.
Whenever BJP is caught with blood on its hands or doing partiality
or discrimination the first thing it does is to deflect the issue by
citing other cases with some parallels. If one talks of
rehabilitation for victims of communal violence, the rhetoric is
what about Kashmiri Pundits? As if two wrongs make a right! The
comparison of Gujarat carnage is immediately done with the anti Sikh
pogrom of 1984. Of course there are lot of similarities between the
anti Sikh pogrom and the anti Muslim Gujarat carnage, but there are
many a differences also. By all accounts it seems the anti Sikh
pogrom; equally tragic was a spontaneous one while Gujarat carnage
in all probability was a preplanned one, using the train burning of
Godhra as a pretext for the violence. The dead bodies of victims of
train burning were deliberately paraded on the streets of Ahmedabad,
under full glare of TV cameras, top level meetings were held
instructing officers concerned to let the Hindus vent their anger
and the rest is too well known to be recounted.
Congress can never be exonerated from the cruel role it played in
the anti Sikh pogrom. There is an interesting sidelight to the
tragic pogrom also. What was BJP doing when the pogrom was underway?
About this some inference can be drawn from the article by the then
veteran RSS worker Nanaji Deshmukh. In his article in Hindi magazine
Pratipaksh 'Moments of Soul searching', which was written in 1984,
in the wake of Anti Sikh pogrom, Deshmukh blames the Sikh community
for the murder of Indira Gandhi and advices Sikhs to keep patience
and tolerance while they were being butchered. One can draw one’s
own inference about the role of followers of this ideology.
All said and done, Congress workers played pro active to passive
role during this pogrom for three full days after which military
took over and brought this insanity to a halt. Babu Bajrangi and
others involved in the massacres in Gujarat told Tehelka, sting
operation, that they had been given three days to complete the
retaliation. But here the processes were so complex that the
violence went on and on for a painfully long period.
Tavleen Singh a senior journalist, points out that if Rajiv would
have to face SIT, the Gujarat violence would not have taken place.
There is some truth in that as by now the section of political
groups have known the rewards of unleashing these murders, Rajiv
came back to power with largest majority ever for Congress and Modi
has returned to power twice after the carnage. As a matter of fact,
culprits of most of the acts of communal violence have generally not
been punished. The chain of command culpability is not there and
while most of the perpetrators of communal violence get away with
the crime, the top one’s who are really behind the violence are
hardly touched as their culpability is not direct.
A demand is coming up from a section of Sikh community that a
similar SIT should be formed for the anti Sikh pogrom also. The
demand has all the merit, despite the lapse of long years after the
pogrom. While one does not hope BJP can keep aloof from communal
politics, one hopes Congress gets over its crime of 1984 in an
honest way. Congress, despite its serious fallacies, is not a child
of organization like RSS, which is opposed to Indian Democracy and
Constitution and wants a Hindu nation. Congress needs to get over
such tendencies lurking within its massive umbrella, those who are
there despite no faith in the values of freedom movement. This needs
to be sorted out and Congress needs to come out clean from this
murky past. Justice must be done to all irrespective of whose
victims they had been.
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