From Apple to AAP; Lal Bahadur Shastri’s grandson, Adarsh Shastri, leaves plush job to join Kejriwal’s party

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has found for itself another admirer and that too not an ordinary one but the grandson of former Prime Minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Adarsh Shastri.

Adarsh (40) who joined the AAP on Friday is also the son of Congress leader Anil Shastri and was the head of sales for Apple in Western India. The unconditional support provided by the Congress to the AAP to form the government in Delhi paves way for Adarsh as a high-profile enlist in the party that takes pride in flaunting the broom.

When asked, Adarsh said that his decision to join the party was solely based on personal conviction. He added that though he had a cushy life with a great company but somehow it did not feel right. He felt inspired by Kejriwal and compelled by the AAP leader to do more.

Adarsh who felt interested in the policies and outlook of the AAP around seven months ago quit his job in the first week of December.

Meanwhile, the Congress leader and father of Adarsh, Anil Shastri talked about the possibility of the AAP changing his son’s way of thinking. Though none of his sons showed any political inclination in the past, he feels that his son should go ahead with his decision if he feels it right.

Adarsh has not been assigned any specific role by the AAP. Also Adarsh who had campaigned for his father in 1989, 1991 and 1996 for Varanasi, Allahabad and Indore seats is ready to contest the Lok Sabha elections if his party allows him to do so.

Adarsh has over 15 years’ experience in the telecom sector and comes from a known political lineage.

The unusual change from a corporate job to donning the cap for a newbie political party facing numerous challenges to fulfill the expectations of the common man may leave the newcomer look for new strategies to make his stint in the political arena successful.

Samajwadi Party plays ‘Bharat Ratna to Ch. Charan Singh’ card to appease the lost Jat vote bank

In a damage control mode following Muzaffarnagar riots, Samajwadi Party which has lost a bulk of their Muslim vote bank, now plans to woo them back into their fold by asking the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to consider the name of Chaudhary Charan Singh as the next recipient of the country’s highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) found itself on a sticky wicket after the Muzaffarnagar riots which left 62 people dead and hundreds of families displaced. More so, the Samajwadi Party may have to bear the wrath of the Jats during the coming Lok Sabha elections due to the so-called Muslim face of the party, Azam Khan, claiming that the clashes were the doing of the fascist forces that wanted to shake the sense of security of Muslims in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Azam Khan’s order to the police to go slow in controlling the riots in Muzaffarnagar did not go down too well with the Jat community there. Considering that the Muzaffarnagar riots had two consequences, political and administrative, that could turn the wheel of power in BJP’s favour, the SP has turned to playing the Bharat Ratna as a political football by appealing to the government to bestow the award to Chaudhary Charan Singh, a former Jat icon. The former Prime Minister was known for his association with causes dear  to farming communities in the North.

Keeping the coming Lok Sabha elections in mind, Shivpal Singh Yadav, general secretary of SP and PWD minister of Uttar Pradesh, has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding Bharat Ratna for the late leader.

Earlier the Assam unit of SP in 2008 had demanded that the award be given to Mulayam Singh Yadav citing him the only secular leader in the leader who has worked with the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Jai Prakash Narayan, and Ram Manohar Lohia.

Rajendra Chaudhary, spokesperson of the SP, confirming that the party has indeed demanded the award for Charan Singh, said that the late Jat leader was politically very close to Mulayam.

Chaudhary added, ‘‘Charan Singh took forward the legacy of (Samajwadi Party ideologue) Ram Manohar Lohia. He used to say in his lifetime that Mulayam will take forward his legacy. A life-size statue of the Jat leader was erected in front of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha when Mulayam was the chief minister. He had also inaugurated a degree college at Etawah’s Saifai in the memory of the former PM.’’

It is not the first move that the SP had played to win back the support of the Jat community. With leaders from other political parties including SP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) warming up to the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), after the riots in Western Uttar Pradesh, the SP is experiencing a dent in its vote bank since RLD leader Chaudhary Babulal, a former minister in the earlier Mulayam Singh Yadav government enjoys considerable clout in the dominant Jat community.

With Jat community leaning towards the BJP, the SP had earlier decided to announce the birth anniversary of the former PM (December 23) as a public holiday.

From projection to protection

The resounding performance of the Aam Aadmi Party over the Congress candidate, Sheila Dikshit and the poll results clearly depicting an ignominious defeat of the Congress party, it is no secret that the Congress party will now hurriedly shift its focus from projecting Rahul Gandhi as the party leader to protecting the Gandhi scion from criticism for the assembly poll fiasco.

The Congress, till date, citing higher voter-turnout as an indication of the anti-incumbency factor may suddenly shift to declaring that anti-incumbency is a state-specific matter.

While the party leaders may debate on the line that the party’s failure at the assembly elections are not a reflection of Rahul’s leadership qualities, it is clear that the Congress decimation in nearly every state will shift its focus on shielding Rahul Gandhi from critical assessment at the hands of the media and condemnation from the public.

Ragging, a malignant disease concocted by people with malevolent bearing, raises its ugly head again

With instances of ragging cropping up with alarming regularity, there have been instances where victimized students have often resorted to extreme steps as suicide, allegedly due to harassment by fellow students.

Several colleges and institutions assert, typically without evidence or proof, to have initiated strict measures to curb ragging on and off-campuses, though it has been observed that most of these have been implemented only on paper.

Ragging is a serious issue; it causes humiliation and leads to low self-esteem. While the ceremony of ragging was started as a traditional practice of familiarizing beginners with their seniors, it soon turned into a potent practice for ill-treating and punishing poor students, especially, if they failed to obey their seniors.

Under the pretext of fun and entertainment, new students are often subject to assault and inhuman treatment, sexual at times, which leaves an ineffaceable impact on students making the ragging period emotionally disturbing and distressing.

Recent case of 12 minors being thrashed in case of ragging by seniors of a government run residential school in western Assam’s Chirang district with bamboo poles and wooden planks on the night of July 29-30 came to light after the students with broken bones needed medical attention reminds us of the entire history of ragging which has plagued our educational institutions.

Following Supreme Court orders, a National Anti-Ragging Helpline was launched by the Indian Government. Students being ragged send emails at helpline@antiragging.in to register their complaint, which can be registered without disclosing the name(s) of the victim(s) by making an anonymous email id or by calling the helpline number 1800-180-5522.

Honesty is definitely not the best policy in India

New Delhi: Durga Shakti Nagpal. IAS officer of Punjab cadre's 2009 batch. Last August, she was posted as SDM of Gautam Buddh Nagar in Ghaziabad after her transfer from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh cadre. But she was hurriedly suspended for demolishing the wall of a religious structure, in the area that comes under the jurisdiction of Rabupura Police Station, an act that she was neither involved in nor responsible for. A report submitted by the DM, Ravikanth Kumar, has clearly stated that the sub-divisional magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar had never ordered the demolition of the wall of any religious structure. It says that she had merely told the villagers against construction of illegal structures on Government land. The village residents chose to dismantle the illegal construction of their own volition.

Strange enough that Samajwadi Party had debarred the SDM temporarily from her service on grounds of pulling down the wall of a religious structure. The report submitted by the current DM brings to light the intentions of the Samajwadi Party.

However, the UP government has shown no hurry in revoking the suspension order of D S Nagpal. After his two-day Karnataka visit, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav returned Lucknow on Tuesday, wherein he collected complete information on the issue regarding D S Nagpal's suspension from the higher authorities. In the meantime, Durga Shakti Nagpal has been attached to the Revenues Council (Revenue Board).

The IAS Association has urged the Centre to intervene in the matter. It is being put forward that the actual reason behind ostensibly removing D S Nagpal from her position was her honest and firm stand during her tenure. Durga had come down heavily on the mining mafia. During her term, she had ordered stringent action against the sand mafia and the Uttar Pradesh police had registered FIRs and collected lakhs of rupees as a penalty. Her stand against the sand mafia created created unrest among the sand-mafia lobby who in turn put pressure on the Uttar Pradesh government and ultimately succeeded in getting her removed from her position.
But, D S Nagpal is not the first officer who has faced flak from the politicians in the course of duty.

Strange enough, where the whole nation is reeling under the bane of corruption, Samajwadi Party leaders take pride in declaring that they had managed to Mrs. Nagpal suspended within 41 minutes of meeting Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Where the Times News Report has exposed the brazen attitude of the UP government and the arrogant outlook of Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, a lot is yet to be unearthed on what could be the result of all this political mayhem.

On one hand, a chargesheet is being filed against Mrs. D S Nagpal and on the other hand, people have resorted to social platforms to speak against the Centre who did not find it necessary to intervene in the matter due to vested political interests.

An aspiration to join the highest coveted civil service in India to bring about a positive change in the country may go for a toss among the young generation, after witnessing the plight of the people who have already made it to the IAS job and are now reeling under the weight of political bigwigs and our depraved and putrid perverts who are otherwise applauded in the international arena as national-level leaders.

Entertainment from a new source

Gone are those days when television was considered the forte of entertainment. People toiled hard in the day time and squatted themselves in front of the television at night for some doses of laughter, which televisions alone provided.

Now times have changed, our political leaders have taken upon themselves the task of providing us amusement or enjoyment early in the morning. It all started with Digvijay Singh paying his respects to Osama by calling him ``Osama ji.’’ The news appeared in all papers and people made instinctive expressions of being entertained. Strange enough, in our own country, where political parties are known to snub each other at every instance or hurl furniture at each other in the Legislature, Diggy went one step further in addressing an international terrorist with all due respect.

But, we Indians are known to be competent and possess the necessary ability and skill to step on others’ shoes to move ahead. Our political leaders proved themselves to be no different from us. So, followed him, was a holder of a public office who tickled our funny bones by suggesting that one can have food for Rs. 12. Then followed other humorous remarks that it is possible to fill our stomachs for Rs. 5 and just Re. 1, respectively.

Thanks to the RBI for doing away with the 50 paisa coins from the market, otherwise, who knows we may have been bombarded with news of getting meal at a cost of 50 paisa only.

Putting to rest all these news, there is one thing that struck us alike. None of the politicians gave us the address of the dhaba or the hotel where food is made available at such cheap rates. Bad enough, these seekers of major public offices fear that we Indians may all queue up in front of that food joint for cheap food allowing them no space to enjoy the advantage of what they had discovered. Our political leaders are surely selfish geniuses who do not want to share the names of the places, where they could get meals at such low rates.

But, these leaders have entertained us for sure. We did laugh heartily on their comments except the cynical ones, who still expect our leaders to take care of bigger problems like poverty, corruption, and security.     

The Reds who had turned the state from West Bengal to Waste Bengal

West Bengal has suddenly come into focus on the political arena due to the death of Students Federation of India (SFI) leader, Sudipta Gupta (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/sfi-leaders-death-causes-furore/article4575257.ece), the reason primarily being SFI being a wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. CPI (M) that had so fervently used the slogan, “CPM, laal salaam!’’ to seize the  attention of the public around, especially, in West Bengal that once upon the time enjoyed the sobriquet, “Sonaar Bangla’’. Any person who has spent a major part of his life in West Bengal has heard this motto associated with the political party, CPI(M), known for its intellectual pretensions that managed to condemn the fate of West Bengal to a state of Waste Bengal. It would not be wrong to say that the state of Bengal under the political leadership of Jyoti Basu and his comrades was nothing short of a banana republic, an unstable state, in disguise. The state, which had bred the likes of Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Swami Vivekananda, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya, and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, had turned into something obnoxious, pathetic, and so vulnerable that the residents of the state had developed a feeling of antipathy and helplessness towards their own land. During the regime of CPI(M), schools were burned down so that people remained illiterate and unlettered, grants to hospitals and funds meant for infrastructure were embezzled and misappropriated, and law was practically bought and tucked away in the pockets of those who could afford and wanted to run the state as per their whims. The political party that had promised the people with a whole array of opportunities and available possibilities had, in fact, reversed the state of affairs in the state into a labyrinth of confusion and misguidance in which people got caught, stuck, and bamboozled. The political party, CPI (M), which claims to be the longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, had in the truest sense rendered Bengal into a condition of persistent vegetative state that refused to wake itself up and free itself from the fetters with which it had been confined to a state of coma and permanent disability. Bengal, practically, had nothing to look up to and no one to look up to it. The CPI (M) vandalized and destroyed the very soul of the state through committing atrocities on its people by letting loose their political goons and making blunderous decisions to suit their own interests.

                    But, there is something that they forgot. Human beings are resilient by spirit. What they need is just a chance to bounce back on their feet and a leader who could just show that all is not ended unless you decide to put down your arms. There is light at the end of the tunnel and all we need to do is not to let the light go away from our sight unless we have reached that end to make a new beginning. The Trinamool Congress (TMC) came and put to rest the pessimism that had got frozen in the minds of the people due to fear and pain. The people wanted to do away with the CPI (M), rather banish its very existence, but alas in a democracy it is not possible.

                   The CPI (M), when in power, had attempted to show to the world that it was running the state based on some idealistic policy, but in fact, they had actually brainwashed the rural and urban people with a sense of fake ego and useless principles that took West Bengal back into a stage where it was during British colonization. Mamata Banerjee's decision to stop students union elections to the universities and colleges in West Bengal, seemed not to have gone down well with the Left. The present situation, regarding campus violence, can only be understood in the historical perspective wherein the Left front had intended of building a very strong student front which will serve as their gatekeepers for their political interests.

                   The death of a student leader, no doubt, is painful in the history of student politics. Moreover, it is shameful on the Left’s part to brand an accident as a crime committed in cold murder. It is not new to the experience of the Bengalis that the Marxist party leaves no stone unturned to stir attention of the people and use it to its complete political advantage. The report of the forensic experts and the statement given by the Bengal police means nothing to the Left front, for they intend to make use of any and every incident as plausible that can bring them back to power. The death of Sudipta Gupta, is perhaps, being seen as an opportunity by CPI (M) to strengthen its roots in the minds of the Bengali people from where they have been ostracized owing to their criminal and mindless politics.