POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 11 October 2008

The Political Terrorist

WHAT’S ILLEGAL ABOUT MIGRANTS?

By Poonam I Kaushish

After spending ten glorious days in London, Mera Bharat Mahan is a let-down. No I am not being cynical or a party pooper but the political comparison is a downer. In the ever-rising inferno of a global financial melt down, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has brought controversial arch-enemy and two-time discredited MP Peter Mandelson back as Business Secretary in his Cabinet to steer his country from fiscal disaster. In the US, even as Democrat Barrack Obama and Republican John McCain slug it out for the Presidential crown both came together to support the financial bail-out package. The country, indeed, came first.

Contrast this with the behaviour of our netagan. The Congress-led UPA Government continues to revel in self-promotion, self-aggrandizement and self-ish vote-bank politics. We are made to understand that the killing of Indian Mujahideen terrorists in Delhi by a police brave heart might be a ‘fake encounter’ and a judicial commission is likely to be set-up. And to ensure that the Muslims don’t take this amiss the pseudo-secular polity now wants the Hindutva Bajrang Dal banned too. But the voices are muted as one can’t afford to alienate the majority community either. Their bottom line: Politics is all about I, me and myself.

That is scary. When vote-bank politics dictate our leaders’ political ideology and their attitude and stance on everything is weighed on the voters’ scale there is no hope in hell for the aam aadmi. Specially at a time when the country is readying for the General and six State Assemblies’ elections. Amidst false bravado of eradicating terror, the scourge of poverty, spiraling inflation and laying foundation stones and wooing the minorities lie buried the harsh reality of India spinning out of control.

The tragedy of asli Bharat is that it is in the vicious grip of the Political Terrorist. Borne out by the diabolical machinations of our polity in the distant North-East last week. Wherein the demographic invasion from Bangladeshis in picturesque but volatile Assam is dismissed as the handiwork of underground militant groups. Brushing under the carpet the brutal truth that the State is once again ignited by ethnic cleansing of non-tribals (read illegal migrants), reminiscent of the Nellie massacre of 1994. Most affected were Darrang, Udalgauri and Baska districts where indigenous Bodo tribals clashed with illegal Bangladeshis. The immediate trigger being a recent observation by the Gauwhati High Court that “Bangladeshis have become kingmakers in the State.”

Clearly, the illegal migration from Bangladesh is a time bomb that will explode sooner or later. The 4,096-km-long and porous India-Bangladesh border makes for easy crossing and has significantly altered the region’s demographic complexion, particularly in the border districts of Assam, the six Northeastern sisters and West Bengal with important political implications.

In Assam illegal migrants have affected State politics in a major way, having acquired a critical say in an estimated 50 of the State’s 126 Assembly constituencies. At the same time, the steady growth of radical and militant extremists spewing Islamic jargon in Bangladesh since September 11, 2001, and Dhaka’s inability, or unwillingness, to tackle the same has raised the stakes further for India.

As matters stand, eight of Assam’s 27 districts have a Muslim majority population and hold the key for 60 of its 126 Assembly constituencies. About 57 constituencies showed more than 20 per cent increase in the number of voters in three years, 1994-97. Over 85% of the total encroached forest land is with the Bangladeshis. According to intelligence reports, “In the 70 years between 1901 and 1971, Assam’s population increased from 3.29 million to 14.6 million – a 343.77 % increase” over a period when the population of India went up by only about 150 per cent!

This, despite the fact that the general fertility rate for Assam, 126.5 per cent was lower than the all-India rate of 137.3 per cent. Further, the Muslim growth rate in areas bordering Bangladesh was more than 60 per cent compared to the districts far away, where the growth rate varied between 30 and 50 per cent (1971-1991). Clearly, this unnatural growth is a byword for illegal migrants

In Nagaland, the population of Muslims, mostly illegal migrants from Bangladesh, has more than trebled in the past decade – the figure rising from 20,000 in 1991 to over 75,000 in 2001. Illegal migrants have settled in various Indian States, including West Bengal, Assam, Bihar (in the northeastern districts of Katihar, Sahebganj, Kishanganj and Purnia), Tripura, UP, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and even in Delhi. Undoubtedly, the influx of such a large number of people from Bangladesh into Assam is more than an “aggression” and has “created a fear psychosis, made life of the people wholly insecure and caused insurgency in alarming proportions,” said a senior Home Ministry official.

Where do we go from here?  Pander to rabid rabble rousers? Pander to the politics of vote banks? Allow the Push and Pull theory of illegality to continue. The Push back to poverty Vs the Pull of India’s rich pastures.  The option is narrow. The solution must be clearly dictated by India’s primary interest: its integrity and stability.

For starters, the Home Ministry should come out with a White Paper disclosing the harsh facts and spelling out the Centre’s plans to combat this grave threat to India’s freedom and integrity. More importantly, to protect the interests of the genuine citizen.

All bonafide Indians must be issued multi-purpose identity cards to establish their national identity well and truly. By way of birth certificate or lineage, mere ration cards should not do. Today, most Bangladeshis flaunt these to avoid deportation. If necessary, work permits could be issued to the Bangladeshis for, say, two years. With a firm rider: no voting rights and no permanent settlement. North Block also needs to look at its immigration laws and plug the loopholes urgently.

For the long-term, our politicians will have to cry a halt to vote-bank politics. True, this is easier said than done. Power and politicians are indivisible. However, in matters of national security there is no place for communal agendas or narrow sectarian politics.  In practical terms, strict policing and border management is needed. Fencing the border is not the answer as the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) immediately removes the barbed wire. Local people need to be recruited for policing. The fact is that if one cannot stop infiltrators at the border, then there is no way one can push them back.

In the final analysis, New Delhi needs to understand that the issue of illegal migrants from Bangladesh is no longer a humanitarian issue dictated by the theory of needs or economy driven. It is a grave demographic, economic and national security problem. Clearly, the time is far gone to pussy-foot the issue. The need of the hour is to understand the seriousness of the problem, deal assertively with the issues and set up time-bound measures once and for all. Talk of minority welfare is all very well. But, it cannot be at the cost of the genuine citizen or basic national interest.  ----INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 3 October 2008

Anarchic India

TIME TO GOVERN OR GET OUT  

By Poonam I Kaushish

Anybody remember the land of milk and honey? The synonym India was known by once upon a time. Today, it resembles a battle ground. Of eerie stillness filling the senses with the smell of death, mayhem, brutal carnage and held hostage by terrorists, vagabonds and a frustrated workforce. Caught in this maelstrom are a pulverized people with nowhere to go.

If Operation BAD (Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Delhi blasts) spelt bad news and the torching of churches in Orissa and Karnataka turned religion into burning embers of hatred, what should we make of the brutal lynching of a CEO of an Italian firm in broad daylight by none other than his own workers? Ordinary people, with no political affiliations. Their action leaving an entire nation stunned. Was this really happening in 21 Century Mera Bharat Mahan that aspires to join the top league? Tragically yes.

Worse, the catastrophic tale didn’t end there. Our Labour Minister, Oscar Fernandes reacted: "This should serve as a warning for the managements. It is my appeal to them that the workers should be dealt with compassion. The workers should not be pushed so hard that they resort to whatever that had happened in Noida." Wasn’t the politician not only condoning the brutal murder but willy-nilly abetting it? Notwithstanding, his apology the next day, Fernandes’s outburst has put paid to India Inc efforts to rope in more MNCs to invest in India Shining. It sent a message loud and clear: There is no rule of law.  

Expectedly, the Minister earned a sharp rebuke from India Inc. "If we go by his argument then he should be lynched in his constituency if he does not perform,” was the angry response of the Chairman of the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce. Clearly, the violence is a sure give away of free India out of control. Of simmering embers of internal turmoil while social schism splashes gore onto newspaper headlines, but only the most gruesome violence shocks. Law is disorder in many parts. A dysfunctional legal system has turned law breakers into law makers. Moral and ethical values have been replaced by naked force.

Sadly, violence is now the rhetoric of the period. From Bihar, which has become a battleground of caste senas, armed brigades and ideological lumpens, to Bombay in the vice-like grip of mafia dons, to New Delhi’s road rage and intolerant frenzy. In far-flung Kerala too, there is incredible political subversion of the rule of law. The probability of a political killer, rioter or failed assassin being brought to book is an unbelievable 0.32 per cent, according to a report of the Intelligence Branch of the Kerala State Police.

Not just that. The manner in which gun licences have been issued all over the country is a pointer to the growing culture of violence. Take UP, the State Government reportedly sanctioned as many as 190 new arms retail shops, on the recommendations of various Ministers and MLAs recently. Another 100-odd applications are presently pending consideration. Today, nearly 9.5 lakh people are licensed to carry arms and nearly three lakh applicants are pending clearance from the district magistrate. Interestingly most of the applicants have a political mai baap. Imagine, out of 404 legislators in the State, over 165 MLAs have a criminal record. All followers of the dictum ‘an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.’ So what if it makes the whole world blind.

Let’s take another sample. In Punjab, at least, 50,000 fake arms licenses had been issued by the local authorities. (Read political big-wigs). In Naxal-hit States like Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh over 3,90,000 arms have been issued and reissued. These include 0.32 pistols, 0.32 revolvers, 0.315 rifles, 0.22 rifles, 0.12 double barrel guns and 0.12 guns. Shockingly, it takes only Rs 5 to make a crude bomb. So loudly brought to the fore in Bihar, UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi recently.

Moreover, in Bihar it is common to chain domestics, drivers and cleaners as prisoners in their homes in Patna, tortured and starved. Worse, pull out their nails and later make to drink urine. Reportedly because a Minister’s truck was stolen. In Lucknow too, a Minister meted out a similar treatment to another driver of an oil tanker. The cause?  He had allegedly damaged his car. Following a heated exchange, the driver and his cleaner were forcibly dragged and kept in confinement. While the driver went missing the cleaner managed to be rescued.

We are in an era where the society is terror stricken of its rulers. Who shall be pulverized when and where for daring to speak up. Of a people who delude their benumbed minds that the rot is somebody else’s problem. When these hallucinations turn into reality, anarchy occurs. It rarely, if ever, conquers a healthy, vigorous, creative and morally strong society. Instead, it conquers governments and groups largely debilitated and demoralized through their own sins and misdeeds.

Today, the States are becoming a battleground of caste senas, armed brigades and ideologically indoctrinated lumpens. And, in the absence of gainful employment (as we saw in Noida case) and goaded by senseless courage and caste vendetta, a large number of people are bound to be attracted to the senas.

Needless to say the main culprits are none other than our so-called netas. Little men who need gunmen to protect them from their own voters. The torch bearers of the brutalization and dehumanization of the polity. Reeking of an overpowering stench of our decaying political culture. Where criminalization of politics has given way to politicization of crime and political criminals. We have come full circle.

If politicians can do it, why not the man in the street. What to say of law enforcers. Recall an incident in South Delhi when a policeman punished a lady driver by running her over because she had refused to give way to the police van on a crowded road. Taking a leaf from this, on a balmy Sunday night, a skating instructor meted out the same punishment to a businessman out for a pizza outing with his family in West Delhi. The man had dared to take the instructor to task for grazing his car.

And what should one say of hot young blood. Kill for a drink. Remember, Jessica Lal, the bartender who was shot dead for denying liquor to a rich teenager after the bar was closed. In the presence of Delhi’s 100-odd glitterati. In this milieu can criminalized mafia dons be far behind? Who take recourse to “out of court settlements” and extortions. In Tis Hazari, a witness shot at an under trial minutes before the Court hearing.  

The sad truth is that over the years, the face of India has changed. It has turned ruthless and deadly. All in the grip of the gun culture and violence. Either one is a friend or an enemy, such is the rigidity. With the unscrupulous manipulators emerging as rulers.

Unfortunately, the main concerns of our netagan have less to do with the welfare of people and more to do with their own quest for power and wealth through multiplication and division of caste and creed and encouraging of violence. Which is posing to be the biggest challenge-- easy to identify but difficult to address.

Time and the quality of life are of the essence. Time to ensure rule of law. Time to overhaul the complete system on the strength of values of decency, honesty, sincerity, selflessness and dedication. The cause can differ, but the trend is established. Our leaders better pay heed. They had better change. Govern or get out! ---INFA

 
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)

Political Diary

New Delhi, 26 September 2008

Gandhi, Which Gandhi?

OUR EXPERIMENTS WITH UNTRUTH

By Poonam I Kaushish

The drumbeaters were out. Hooting for Rahul Gandhi. “He is the country’s future, our next Prime Minister” gushed Congressmen in Amritsar. “Is the movie ‘Gandhi’ connected with him?” queried a schoolgirl. “No, it’s about the other Gandhi, the one we read about in history and get a chhutti for,” answered her friend. “You mean the Mahatma in Sanjay Dutt’s Lage Raho Munnabhai. Who popularized Gandhigiri -- truth, morality and values. The one our netagan talk about ad nauseum to acquire a halo around their own heads,” replied the schoolgirl. 

She was damn right. See how our leaders who till yesterday remembered the Mahatma only ritually, are today falling over each other to be first past the post in everything Gandhian. Naturally, with Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections round the corner what else can one expect? All busy pontificating ad nauseaum on Gandhian philosophy in the 21st Century --- peace, non-violence and empowerment.  No matter if it is at odds in a criminal-politico era where violence is the rhetoric of the times.

Questionably, does our polity honestly believe in Gandhiji? Adhere to his values? Forget it. All are busy riding the crest of popularity of coming from the land of Gandhi and his erstwhile Gandhigiri to reap a political harvest. Two days hence (2 October), at the crack of dawn a smattering of leaders will head for the Rajghat, the samadhi of freedom. With beatific smiles even as they inwardly curse the time wasted. Ritually offer flower petals. Observe two minutes’ silence. Give sound bites to the TV cameras and rush back to their heavily securitized cars and target their next destination. Only to go through the ritual again.

Look at the irony. We are as far removed from Bapu’s vision of India as chalk from cheese. Forgotten in the euphoria of free India are his idea of simple living and high thinking, his sense of right and wrong and his value system. Put it down to a natural reaction from a politically, socially and morally bankrupt nation, even as a debased and pulverized people stand by as mute spectators.

If ahimsa, or call it soul force, cast a Mahatma’s halo around him universally, himsa has become the universal truth for our society today. Wherein, Gandhi’s teachings have been reduced to mere straws that fly about in the political wind, courtesy our parochial leaders. Pious platitudes and inane speeches to paint a halo round their heads. The fire and zeal across the nation in response to Gandhi’s “do-or-die” slogan died an early death. Replaced by a rent-a-crowd brought by chartered buses to election rallies. Might is right, after all.

What else can one expect from our paper tigers. Isn’t it tragic that his jayanti is being celebrated amidst a cacophony of terror, rage and violence. Wherein the three Cs (crime, corruption and casualness) and three Ms (money, muscle and mafia) rule the roost. What the Mahatma abhorred and denounced. Indeed, India has travelled a long road from the Gandhian era.

More pertinent is the fact that Indians don’t want to debunk Gandhi. It would be crazy to do so when the whole world is looking to him as a guide for a better world. It’s just that the people are not ready to take on his perpetrators. One, because we have tended to become immoral, unethical and even corrupt ourselves. Two, with abject poverty around, who has time for Gandhi. The struggle for roti, kapada aur makaan is what matters. Besides, it is so easy to be complacent than retaliate. Gripped as we are in the tentacles of the Punjabi homily: ki pharak painda hai. (What difference does it make!) Whither our self-esteem, pride and nationalism?

Trust our polity not even to spare Gandhi’s surname to encash on his goodwill. Adroitly converting it into a brand to be used and misused. Which the Nehru-Gandhi family has hijacked as sole proprietatory rights. One has only to see the wide chasm between VOP (very ordinary people) Gandhian offsprings and the VVIP leaders. How many remember the history behind the inception of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Which now is mistaken worldwide as Jawaharlal Nehru’s and Mahatma Gandhi’s.

Why only the surname. How many remember that Gandhi wanted to wind up the Congress Party and have a Lok Seva Sangh (Servants of the People Society) to take its place. This was primarily because of the rot that was setting into the party. He had received information that some Congress legislators were taking money from business houses to get them licences, that they were indulging in blackmarketing and subverting the judiciary and intimidating top officials to secure transfers and promotions for their protégés in the administration.

Where are the Gandhian leaders. Genuine leaders of the people and genuinely from the people.  “Let them not arrogate to themselves greater knowledge than those who have unrivalled experience but do not happen to occupy their chair,” said Gandhi. Today, it is a kissa kursi ka and paisa pakro gaddi rakho every day. Politicians are only for themselves. Good governance be damned.  Political survival alone matters. Their hierarchy of status gauged by the gun-totting commandos surrounding them. Funny isn’t it that our leaders need strong protection from the aam aadmi they are supposed to represent and serve.

Said the Mahatma in his autobiography “Experiments With Truth”: “I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be shuttered. I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about freely. I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. Mine is not a religion of the prison house. It has room for the least of God’s creations. But it is proof against insolent pride of race, religion or colour.” His life was his message.  Like the three monkeys on his desk--- each with its own message. Speak no evil, hear no evil and see no evil.  Today apes and parrots have replaced the monkeys. They speak no truth, hear no truth and see no truth.

Take politicians. Gandhi wanted them to be like Ceasar’s wife --- above suspicion in everything. Ministers, he said, “should not live as ‘sahib log’ or use private work facilities provided by the Government for official duties.” Nothing could be farther from the truth today. Yesterday’s princes have been replaced by Ministers, and MPs, who see themselves as winners.  And we call ourselves a democracy. Feudal, is more like it.

Depressingly, no where does ideology, principles, party interests or policies even rhetorically figure in our netagans’ vocabulary. In the past, the leaders at least used to camouflage their intentions in ideological garbage. Today, even that fig leaf or verbosity has been discarded. Power at any cost. The country and its democracy can go to hell.

And, what should one say about India’s secular credentials. Which have been dissected, butchered and roasted to suit political convenience and tactics. Unfortunately, the secularism advocated by the founding fathers has got greatly diluted to mere “ism” and slogans. Clearly, a day is not far when Mahatma Gandhi’s call for Ram Rajya will be dissected and debunked as the outpourings of a rabid Hindu fundamentalist. This is the secular reality of India’s “420 secularism”.

In the final analysis, what should one say of a polity that swears by the Mahatma but doesn’t heed him. “Today I am your leader but tomorrow you may have to put me behind the bars, because I will criticize you, if you do not bring about Ram Rajya,” he said. We did not put him behind bars. Instead, we murdered him --- and continue to do so daily. Our experiments with untruth! ---- INFA

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

POLITICAL DIARY

New Delhi, 20 September 2008

What War On Terror?

NOTHING BUT CHEAP TALK

By Poonam I Kaushish

It’s the same story all over again. A bomb blast followed by a polity, talking tough and giving us tall stories of being proactive. Only to forget their words the minute they are uttered. The blasts in Delhi and the political-speak thereafter was no different. Our netagan made a beeline for the blast sites, promised the victims money and called for stringent action. The speeches and drama over, they made a beeline for their ‘laal batti gaadis’ and sped away. Leaving the aam janta to rescue the aam aadmi.

Importantly, has it ever occurred to our leaders why terrorists continue to blast cities in India and India alone? There has never been a repeat of 9/11 in the US or a 7/7 in the UK. Why? Because the terrorists know only too well that if they mess with these two countries they will be hit and hit hard. Remember how the Americans ravaged Afghanistan in their war against terror.

India on the other hand, is a soft target. It lacks the essentials needed: political will.  Afzal Guru is alive, notwithstanding the Supreme Court awarding him death. A top British counter-terrorist expert highlighted three important aspects to counter terror. One, there is no place for holding a candle for human rights in the terror fight. Two, heightened round-the-clock surveillance. Outlining the security measures in London, he disclosed that every person was under watch --- at airports, railway and tube stations, streets, stores, restaurants, hotels and cafes. At any given time, the security agencies could reel out the time a person entered X place, where he went, what he did, ate and shopped, where he boarded a tube, where he got off, which street he walked down, right down to the time when he went to the toilet. All through discrete cameras and “hidden human intelligence.”

Three, tough terror laws. The Terrorism Act 2006, drafted in the aftermath of the 7 July 2005 London bombings has highly controversial terms: capture those planning acts of terrorism, glorification of terrorism or encouraging the emulation of terrorism is a  criminal offence and those who give or receives training in terrorist techniques be prosecuted. More. It enables the police to search any property owned or controlled by a terrorist suspect  as also detain suspects after arrest for up to 28 days (though periods of more than two days must be approved by a judicial authority). Besides, UK has also dealt with internal threats from terrorism through a secret law enforcement training programme known as Operation Kratos.

In India, we only talk big about terror. But do nothing. And we all know, talk is cheap. Our answer to terrorism goes like this: the Prime Minister calls an emergency Cabinet meeting and avows we need tougher laws, doled out in routine hand-outs. The Home Minister fights terror by changing his clothes three times in three hours. The UPA allies’ counter-terror by demanding that if the ban on SIMI has to continue then the Hindutva outfit Bajrang Dal too should be banned.

Arguably, before asking for Patil’s head should not the Prime Minister have sacked Lalu, Mulayam and Paswan for espousing the SIMI cause? Scandalously, they visited Azamgarh to sympathise with arch-terrorist’s Basher’s family! What of them?

Faced with a strident Opposition berating the UPA for being ‘soft on terror’ prior to the General & State Assembly polls round the corner, the Central Government suddenly discovered the virtues of putting in place a tough anti-terror law. So out of magician Veerappa Moily’s Administrative Reform Report they waved POTA –II. Only to hastily back-off within 24 hours. Thanks to its allies crying foul. It would pinch their Muslim vote bank. Besides, POTA 1 didn’t halt the attack on Parliament or the Kandahar fiasco. To detract attention they now advocate citizenship for illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Sadly, when our polity paints internal security in religious hues, what can one expect? All stand guilty. For the Congress and its allies Muslim appeasement has become a safe sanctuary for inaction. For the BJP pacification of the Bajrang Dal is to keep its Hindu patron saint image intact. As long as they can remain in power, the country be damned. Let the terrorists kill and maim the billion plus population. It does not matter. Only retaining power by hook or crook matters. None ponder that if there are no people who will vote for them?

Yet the security farce continues. To show that it is acting the Union and State Governments have mooted ‘time bound’ police reforms. Sic. No matter we have heard this ad nauseum post all attacks. The truth is that our netagan really couldn’t care less. For them national security ends with ensuring their Y, Z and Z-plus security. As long as they are secure in their homes, offices and person, the aam aadmi can rot in hell.

Has anybody realized that more than 60 per cent of our police force is protecting the netagan from the very janta which votes them in? Why do politicians scramble for security? It is a status symbol as enshrined in the Orwellian principle of being more equal than others. Carried to such absurd heights that besides themselves, their children, samdhis, son-in-law, grand children down to the khansama et al are ‘protected’ by the tax payers hard earned money. And we call ourselves a democracy, feudal is more like it.

Think. Delhi’s sprawling area of 1485 sq. kms has only a police force of 57,500 and one helicopter to guard a population of 1,59,26000, wherein each cop works a 16 hours shift. On the other hand, New York’s expanse of 1212 sq kms. has a work force of 37838 to protect a population of 8274527 (half of Delhi’s), 7 helicopters and works only 8 hours shift.

Unless our politicians experience the danger the aam aadmi experiences daily, of not knowing whether he will return home, no solution to fighting terror in India can be found. Take away all the security paraphernalia of our netagan, let them live the daily fear like the aam aadmi and the terror trail will diminish. Suddenly, the laws will get tougher in proportion to the decrease in security they enjoy.  Nowhere in the world does any country provide security to anyone else but the highest Constitutional authority. In the US, the President is guarded by a very discrete secret service and in Britain the MI6 takes care of the British Prime Minister.

But why blame the politicians alone? After all the people get the Government they deserve. Why do we vote for them? Knowing full well that they are going to do nothing for us. Yet election after election the story is the same. If its Monday, we will vote for Congress, Tuesday BJP, Wednesday, Mayawati, Thursday, Lalu, etc. etc. Never mind that they are ek hi thaali ke chatte batte.

Needless to say till the time the aam aadmi refuses to translate his words into action he will have to continue to suffer. We need to realize that the netagan and terrorist are two sides of the same coin. Both venal and ruthless out to inflict maximum damage in minimum time. For the former it’s the battle of the ballot for the latter a war of the bullet. The recent blasts stand testimony to the fact that when push comes to shove only the people help one another. The time has come to kick these politicians out and lead from the front. We need only one man to change the system. Hitler, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Churchill did it. So also Mahatma Gandhi. Why not us?  ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)