So finally Nitin Gadkari is going to Delhi. On saturday December 19th Nitin Gadkari will formally take over as the next BJP President from Rajnath Singh. Nitin Gadkari’s elevation comes at the same time as L.K. Advani relinquishes office in favor of Sushma Swaraj.  Mr.Advani says its not an end of an era but if the new website launched to mark Nitin Gadkari’s elevation is anything to go by it truly is the beginning of a new era.

To fully appreciate why it is the beginning of a new era, consider this question when was the last time a National Party appointed an Entrepreneur to lead it, mind you “entrepreneur” not a “crony capitalist”, and did not feel apologetic about wearing his Entrepreneurship as a badge ?

Rahul Gandhi’s pretensions at running a business dont count, for he shamefully describes his occupation as a “farmer” in his election affidavit.

The jury will be out for long on the merits of Nitin Gadkari’s elevation and his competence for the BJP top party job but if there is one reason the Center Right must give Nitin Gadkari a shot it would be his faith in the Spirit of Enterprise and his strength of conviction in not being shy about it.

While Nitin Gadkari’s personal convictions are not in question it remains to be seen to what degree he is able to champion change within the BJP in steering towards a Center Right agenda that provides a coherent and aspirational alternative to the Congress’ politics of poverty and appeasement.

Nitin Gakari has the right resume with his experience in Urban Local Governance to take on the Congress’ centralized one-size-fit-all psued0-progressivism. But will Nitin Gadkari put that experience to practice to advocate policies and programs that will be a stark contrast to the Congress’ centralization remains to be seen.

There is a window of opportunity here for the BJP to lead a movement that advocates reorienting India’s fledgling federalism with a firm focus on administrative efficiency and governance.

The issue of smaller states and autonomy to local governance has the potential to rewrite many an existing political equations and marginalizing many an existing political power centers.

The BJP’s hopes of revival rest on breaking new ground and on stitching new social coalitions. There cannot be a better opportunity than this to take on the Congress over the next few years.

Is Nitin Gadkari up to the challenge of offering a coherent vision and leading the movement and in the process script the BJP’s revival ?

While the manner of his election did not inspire confidence to this blogger, his reiteration of his faith in the spirit of Enterprise does raise hopes.

Offstumped wishes Nitin Gadkari the best in his new role.

Taking a brief pause from end of the year vacation to mark what appears to be the imminent end of an era within the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP

If media reports are anything to go by Mr. L.K. Advani seems all set to relinquish the post of Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha in favor of Sushma Swaraj. It also appears that Nitin Gadkari will take over from Rajnath Singh as the BJP President tomorrow.

While I have not known Advaniji personally I feel proud to have campaigned for him earlier this year as the NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate. I also feel honored that his campaign found it fit to regard this blog as the voice of the next generation being open to feedback through the campaign season.

I have seen Advaniji only twice in person. The first time was in the late 1980s when Advaniji embarked on his famous Rathyatra. It was late in the evening about 40 kilometres from Hyderabad along National Highway 9 near the industrial town of Patancheru. Mr. Advani spoke very briefly, but that day also gave a first glimpse of what was then thought to be the BJP’s next generation of Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde and Venkaiah Naidu.

It is funny that twenty years on, its only now that the next generation has come of age in the BJP to be on its own.

The next time I saw Advaniji in person was in 2003 when he was the Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee lead NDA government. Advaniji was on a visit to the United States and I happened to be attending a technology conference in Chicago at the same time. Coincidentally the Hilton Chicago where we were both staying had also hosted then President George W Bush the previous day. While I had to miss Advaniji’s speech at the Consulate organized event that evening, what remained seared in memory were street protests opposite the Chicago Hilton. The day before they were holding placards against President Bush protesting the Iraq War, the next day they were holding placards against Advaniji protesting the Gujarat 2002 riots. It was no coincidence to see Chicago’s Islamists organizing a street protest against Advaniji’s visit on a weekday which in the American context must be taken to have come with a significant opportunity cost given what we know of this community since.

History will likely judge Advaniji harshly but then that is the cross he must bear for having shouldered the burden of re-writing Indian politics last century to end the Congress’ monopoly in national politics. In an era of self serving politicians and political dynasties Advaniji will stand out for his selflessness, high moral integrity and talent scout skills.

While he may be hanging up his boots from the humdrum of active national politics, we must hope there is still some fire left in that belly for an incisive Parliamentary intervention that has been the hallmark of his career.

Wishing him all the best.

What politics giveth it taketh away

There is a sense of destiny with which the Law of Unintended Consequences operates.

There were just 7 months back staring at a triumphant Congress with a firm lock on Andhra looking at a stable and secure 5 year term.

And here we are 7 months later with a shaken up Congress with an uncertain lock on Andhra clueless on the political faultlines that will likey shape the rest of its term.

There was no way out for Sonia Gandhi on the long overdue demand for a separate state of Telangana. After having campaigned on the Telanagana plank in alliance with the TRS back in 2004 it was foolish of Sonia Gandhi to have put all her eggs in the immortality basket of YSR’s political persona.

Alas mortality is such a great political leveller for in the wake of its assertions it exposes many faultlines leading to even more political upheavals.

Sonia Gandhi had to do right by Telangana but to have done so in a knee jerk manner after being boxed into a political corner, reminds us once again of the Congress’ achilees heel.

No amount of media spin can help gloss over this monumental blunder.

Sonia Gandhi lack of natural political acumen, Manmohan Singh’s technocracy and Rahul Gandhi’s naivety have badly exposed the Congress.

That her political advisers blundered as well goes to once again highlight that political leadership cannot be an outsourced backroom function. A lesson for the BJP as well.

The many headlines say it all – Telangana in a limbo, Andhra in a mess and political chaos across the nation with latent demands for many states receiving a filip.

In the Telangana chaos lie many a political opportunity for the BJP, if only its moribund leadership could demonstrate vision. 

The political environment is ripe for a movement that advocates reorienting India’s fledgling federalism with a firm focus on administrative efficiency and governance.

The issue of smaller states and autonomy to local governance has the potential to rewrite many an existing political equations and marginalizing many an existing political power centers.

The BJP’s hopes of revival rest on breaking new ground and on stitching new social coalitions. There cannot be a better opportunity than this to take on the Congress over the next few years.

Is the BJP up to the challenge of offering a coherent vision and leading the movement on this issue of smaller states and freedom, autonomy to local government ?

Join us for a debate on the same at the next Offstumped Community Live Event on Sunday night – Telangana & Small States – What is the way forward ?

The Telangana debate is both a challenge and an opportunity to our democracy.

The challenge is well understood and compiled below in the many posts on Telangana and on the question of smaller states in general.

The opportunity on the other hand is poorly understood. In the debate over Union Territory status to Hyderabad and on the larger question of share of spoils lies an opportunity to revisit the debate on Federalism and autonomy to states and local government.

A compilation of Offstumped posts on the above

Offstumped on 12th August 2008

Need of the hour is a Federalist Response that would be bold and imaginative in its advocacy of the Autonomous Rights of States from Kashmir to Gujarat with the freedom to make Socio-Economic choices

Offstumped on 6th June 2009

A defining feature of the new Big Tent must be autonomy to the States and freedom to the people of the State to decide the most appropriate and practical unit of Local Government.

A compilation of all Offstumped posts to date in support of the Telangana issue.

Offstumped on 23rd August 2006

 Linguistic division of states has resulted in administratively inefficient units. The emotive concept of linguistic basis for states is an idea past its sell by date. Economic development and Migration across the country is rendering language irrelvant. Offstumped endorses the demand for a separate state of Telangana on the basis of economic development and administrative efficiency.

Offstumped on 10th January 2008

Offstumped has always been in favor of smaller states with the premise that they make for better delivery of public services, greater accountability and greater opportunities and access to opportunities. The experience of the recently created states by the BJP lead NDA however has been mixed. While Uttarakhand has seen a stable two party political system  with a focus on governance, Jharkhand has brought out the worst in our Parliamentary democracy. Chattisgarh though producing a stable polity has been at the receiving end of the naxalite menace.

With Goa consistently producing split verdicts and legislative instability some have questioned the wisdom of creating smaller states.

It is a disingenuous argument. If one traces the root cause for instability in Jharkhand and Goa it has more to do with the Congress’ shameful track record in respecting State’s rights and its utter lack of commitment to federalism.

Offstumped on 1st June 2008

Unlike 2004 when one saw a very high turnout in Telangana seats, the bypolls were marked by abject voter apathy.

The results should also not be interpreted as a referendum on the Telangana issue as the TRS made it out to be. Telangana remains a potent issue, and G. Venkataswamy’s much publicized tantrum at the Congress Working Committee, CWC, meeting should be taken as evidence of the same.

The results merely mean that the TRS is no longer viewed as the most credible voice or platform for the Telangana cause.

Offstumped on 23rd June 2008

Are smaller states the bane of regional parties ?

There could not have been a better example of this as is being played out in Andhra Pradesh. The TDP’s achilees heel and spoke in its national ambitions had always been its intolerance of alternate power centers. For a one-man show it never could command absolute submission to the single leader. Hence the many insurrections in its history all of which saw the party lose talent, oust its very founder NTR and finally finding itself fragmented and marginalised over the Telangana issue.

Offstumped on 4th February 2009

Andhra is the only large state where Congress is in power of its own strength. It is also rather strange that despite having sent the largest contingent of Congress MPs to the Lok Sabha, Andhra doesnt seem to have exercised much influence on national politics for the last 5 years. Perhaps an opportunity lost by the Congress for its inability to consolidate politics in Andhra is likely to come back and bite it

Here is the full text of FBI press release on additional charges filed against David Headley in connection with the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

New federal charges filed today allege that a Chicago man, who was arrested in October for planning terrorist attacks against a Danish newspaper and two of its employees, also conducted extensive surveillance of targets in Mumbai for more than two years preceding the November 2008 terrorist attack on India’s largest city that killed approximately 170 people, including six Americans, and injured hundreds more.

The defendant, David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen, earlier this decade allegedly attended terrorism training camps in Pakistan maintained by Lashkar e Tayyiba (Lashkar), and conspired with its members and others in planning and executing the attacks in both Denmark and India, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Also today, a criminal complaint was unsealed in federal court in Chicago charging Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed (Abdur Rehman), a retired major in the Pakistani military, with conspiracy in planning to attack the Danish newspaper and its employees. Another Chicago man, Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Canadian citizen and native of Pakistan, was arrested in October on federal charges filed in Chicago relating to the Danish terrorism plot.

Through his attorneys, Headley has authorized the Justice Department to disclose that he is cooperating in the ongoing investigation of both the Danish and Indian terror plots. He has remained in federal custody without bond since he was arrested in Chicago on Oct. 3, 2009.

No date has been set yet for his arraignment in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Headley, 49, was charged in a 12-count criminal information with six counts of conspiracy to bomb public places in India, to murder and maim persons in India and Denmark, to provide material support to foreign terrorist plots, and to provide material support to Lashkar, and six counts of aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in India.

The charges were announced by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the FBI. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the FBI’s offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., are also participating in the case.

“This case serves as a reminder that the terrorist threat is global in nature and requires constant vigilance at home and abroad,” said David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “We continue to share leads developed in this investigation with our foreign and domestic law enforcement partners as we work together on this important matter.”

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, III, said: “This case illustrates the importance of continued global cooperation to combat terrorism around the world. The FBI continues to strengthen relationships and to foster collaboration with our international partners to best ensure our collective ability to identify and disrupt international terror networks.”

“This investigation remains active and ongoing. The team of prosecutors and agents will continue to seek charges against the other persons responsible for these attacks. I continue to express my deep appreciation to the FBI agents and other members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force for their extremely hard work on this matter,” said Mr. Fitzgerald.

Mumbai Terror Attacks

According to the charges, after learning from members of Lashkar in late 2005 that he would be traveling to India to perform surveillance for Lashkar, Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani on Feb. 15, 2006, in Philadelphia, in order to present himself in India as an American who was neither Muslim nor Pakistani. He later made five extended trips to Mumbai — in September 2006, February and September 2007, and April and July 2008 — each time taking pictures and making videotapes of various targets, including those attacked in November 2008.

Starting Nov. 26, 2008, and continuing through Nov. 28, 2008, 10 attackers trained by Lashkar carried out multiple assaults with firearms, grenades and improvised explosive devices against multiple targets in Mumbai, including the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels, the Leopold Café, the Nariman House and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station, each of which Headley allegedly had scouted in advance, killing approximately 170 victims.

The six Americans killed during the three-day siege are identified in the charges as Ben Zion Chroman, Gavriel Holtzberg, Sandeep Jeswani, Alan Scherr, his daughter Naomi Scherr, and Aryeh Leibish Teitelbaum.

Lashkar (the “Army of the Good”) operated in Pakistan for the principal purpose of fighting to separate from India portions of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. It was designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization on Dec. 26, 2001. Headley allegedly attended Lashkar training camps in Pakistan that began in February and August 2002 and August and December 2003.

After being tasked in late 2005 with gathering surveillance in Mumbai and changing his name in early 2006, the charges allege that Headley traveled to Chicago in June 2006 and advised a person identified in the charges as Individual A of his assignment. Headley obtained Individual A’s approval to open an office of First World Immigration Services in Mumbai in 2006 as cover for his surveillance activities, the charges allege. Headley allegedly misrepresented his birth name, father’s true name and the purpose of his travel in his visa application.

After each trip that Headley took to India between September 2006 and July 2008, he allegedly returned to Pakistan, met with other co-conspirators and provided them with photographs, videos and oral descriptions of various locations. In March 2008, Headley and his co-conspirators discussed potential landing sites for a team of attackers who would arrive by sea in Mumbai, and he was instructed to take boat trips in and around the Mumbai harbor and take surveillance video, which he did during his visit to India starting in April 2008, the charges allege.

At various times, Headley allegedly conducted surveillance of other locations in Mumbai and elsewhere in India of facilities and locations that were not attacked in November 2008, including the National Defense College in Delhi, India.

Denmark Terror Plot

Regarding the Denmark terror plot, Headley allegedly conspired between October 2008 and Oct. 3, 2009, with Ilyas Kashmiri, as well as a person identified as Individual A, members of Lashkar and others to plan and carry out terrorist attacks, including murder and maiming, against the facilities of the Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, and two of its employees, Editor A and Cartoonist A. In 2005, the newspaper published cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed, to which many Muslims took great offense.

Mirroring the initial charges filed against Headley in October, today’s charges allege that he met with co-conspirators while he was in Pakistan in late 2008 and discussed planning for the attack, including extensive surveillance work that he would perform. In late December and early January 2008, after advising Individual A of the planned attack and his intended travel to Denmark to perform surveillance of the newspaper’s facilities, Headley obtained Individual A’s approval and assistance to identify himself as a representative of First World and gain access to the newspaper by falsely expressing interest in advertising the business in the newspaper. At the same time, while in Chicago, Headley exchanged emails with co-conspirators to continue planning for the attack and coordinate his travel to Denmark to conduct surveillance. Before departing Chicago, Headley obtained business cards that identified him as a representative of First World, according to the charges.

Headley allegedly traveled in January 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen, Denmark, to conduct surveillance of the Jyllands Posten newspaper offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus, Denmark, and videotaped the surrounding areas. From January through May 2009, Headley met with co-conspirators, including Kashmiri, on multiple occasions in Pakistan to review his surveillance and discuss plans for the attack, the charges allege, adding that Headley traveled in August 2009 from Chicago to Copenhagen to conduct additional surveillance and made approximately 13 videos. On Oct. 3, 2009, Headley was arrested at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, intending ultimately to travel to Pakistan to meet with, and deliver, the approximately 13 surveillance videos to co-conspirators, including Kashmiri.

The charges identify Kashmiri as an influential leader of Harakat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI), an organization that trained terrorists and executed attacks in the state of Jammu and Kashmir under Indian control and other areas. Kashmiri based his operations from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) of western Pakistan, and area which served as a haven for terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda and the Taliban. Headley allegedly was introduced to Kashmiri as early as February 2009, and understood that Kashmiri was in regular communication with the senior leadership of al Qaeda.

Abdur Rehman complaint

The two-count complaint unsealed against Abdur Rehman, which was filed on Oct. 20, 2009, charges him with conspiracy to murder and maim persons in a foreign country, and providing material support to that foreign terrorism conspiracy. Abdur Rehman allegedly participated in the planning of a terrorist attack in Denmark, coordinated surveillance of the intended targets, and facilitated communications regarding the surveillance and planning with a member of Lashkar and Kashmiri.

Abdur Rehman, who was not named previously but whose alleged participation was described in the initial charges against Headley and Rana, allegedly played the central role in communicating with Headley and facilitating contacts with other co-conspirators in Pakistan, including members of Lashkar. During Headley’s trip to Pakistan in January 2009, Abdur Rehman took him to the FATA region of Pakistan to meet with Kashmiri and solicit the participation of Kashmiri and his organization in the planned attack on the Danish newspaper, according to the complaint against Abdur Rehman. A search of Headley’s luggage when he was arrested revealed a list of phone numbers, including a Pakistani number that he allegedly had used to contact Abdur Rehman.

The count against Headley charging conspiracy to bomb public places in India that resulted in deaths carries a maximum statutory penalty of life imprisonment or death. All of the other counts against Headley carry a maximum of life imprisonment, except providing material support to the Denmark terror plot, which carries a maximum prison term of 15 years.

The conspiracy to murder or maim persons in a foreign country charge against Abdur Rehman carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, and the count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The prosecution of Headley and Abdur Rehman is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Daniel Collins and Victoria J. Peters from the Northern District of Illinois, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. The investigation into the Mumbai attacks is continuing with the active participation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

The public is reminded that criminal charging documents contain mere allegations that are not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Back in 2005 making an observation on Europe Tom Friedman said it best that “Europe today resembles an Assisted Living Facility with Turkish nurses”.

Kanchan Gupta writing earlier today in his blog extensively chronicled the growing disquiet in Europe over the shifting demographics with a spike in Muslim minority populations.

Paranoia over Eurabia saw a direct democratic vote in Switzerland ban Minarets drawing asinine reactions in India with more fear pan-Islamic fear mongering.

While all of this is a sideshow the reality is Europe is in denial of Eurabia while the rest of the world is in denial over the cancer of Islamic radicalization.

There exist three possible responses to this cancer of Islamic radicalization.

The first response manifested itself in Switzerland with the attempt at errecting legislative walls. This at best is a short term fix for it does little to deal with the socio-economic reality of shifting demographics.

The second response manifests itself in rhetoric that dreams of a clash of civilizations of sorts. Those who suffer delusions of such a decisive clash have neither a sense of reality nor a sense of responsibility towards themselves.

So between denial and delusions there really exists no meaningful response to arrest the cancer of radicalization.

Hence exploring a third response becomes imperative. Nitin Pai over at The Acorn had argued some time back in favor of exporting an Indianised version of Islam as a response to arresting the cancer of Islamic radicalization.

One may disagree with the finer details and much of the proposal merits legitimate challenges and debate but on the face of it Nitin’s proposal merits attention.

To appreciate the nuance in this proposal it is important to suspend legitimate skepticism that is rooted in popular association of Indian Islam with bodies like the Deoband and political entities who have traditionally tapped into Muslim insecurity.

If we were to look beyond the self appointed guardians of the Muslim Community we would find pockets of communities in India who continue to retain their native memory of Dharma and Indian Culture. These communities have managed to find a harmony between their current practise of Islam and their native memory of local Culture rooted in Dharma.

This harmony is not just unique to pockets of Muslim Communities in India but extends to all those South East Asian nations that have their cultural roots in Dharma and subsequently embraced a version of Islam exported from India. Indonesia with its cultural memory of Sanskrit, Ramayana stands out amongst these nations.

This is not to say these communities have escaped the cancer of radicalization. The AfPak mess, fundamentalists in Bangladesh and Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorists in Indonesia continue to remind us that the cancer of radicalization is real and far from benign.

 But then in these Islands of “resistance to complete submission” to the literal text of Islam lies the only hope of arresting and perhaps reversing the cancer of radicalization. For these “Islands of resistance” by retaining their memory of native culture and an innate sense of Dharma have found alternatives to the literal text in their practice of Islam.

In these native alternatives to the literal text of Islam lies the anti-dote to the pan-Islamism that is at the heart of radicalization. The same pan-Islamism that sees Islamists from Somalia to Chechencya making a common cause.

This precisely is the reason why NDTV’s Vishnu Som makes a very dangerous argument when he describes the Swiss Minaret ban as a psychological threat to Indian Muslims. For by doing so he perpetuates the same radical pan-Islamism that is the anti-thesis of the local alternatives which from their memory of native culture have found harmony and tolerance.

In this battle against radical pan-Islamism we have a choice to make.

We can errect legislative walls to further fortify the ghetto within which the cancer of radicalization will continue to breed.

OR

We can delude ourselves into believing that a defining Culture Clash will magically eradicate all traces of this cancer

OR

We can repudiate every attempt at pan-Islamism by exporting that which makes these Islands resist the literal text of Islam – a memory of native culture rooted in Dharma that is not influenced by edicts and diktatrs issued in Arabia and elsewhere.

To all my friends who are predictably agitated by this line of argument let me urge that they reflect on what the RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat means when he tries to remind Indian Muslims of their ancient cultural heritage with references to Qawwalis and Mazaars. He essentially is referring to this same memory of a native culture that makes their practise of Islam in India harmonious and tolerant.

A lot has already been said about Vishnu Som’s tweet-a-pow with fellow blogger Nitin Pai over at the Acorn .

Three things stand out in Vishnu Som’s response to comments on Nitin’s blog and to the blog itself.

#1 – its ok for a religious group in one country to get worked up over consequences to fellow followers of faith in another country

#2 – the UNHRC is the final aribiter of morality in public debate

#3 – the European Convention on Human Rights trumps a democratic constitutional vote

So what do we attribute Vishnu Som’s curious logic to

a leftist value system where dubious Internationalism that passes for “Human Rights” activism trumps national interest

OR

a mutant form of Trotskyite Universal brotherhood that has Jihadists and their bleeding heart Leftist apologists joined at the hip across the globe making common cause on issues

It should come as no surprise to see Trotsky’s ghost in Islamist rhetoric in recent times. This paper titled “Radical Islam and infantile Marxism” by Dr. Philips Bounds chronicles how

Devout followers of Muhammad and excitable disciples of Leon Trotsky have joined together to oppose the wars and even to found new political parties and movements. This process has probably gone furthest in some ofthe most culturally diverse regions of Britain, notably the East End of London and the North of England.

Closer home Islamist rhetoric in the Deccan Mujahideen e-mail sent after 26/11 also finds an echo in this piece from 1946 by Henry Judd to the Trotskyite Bolshevik-Leninist Party of India.

Thus, we must clearly state that the Moslem people shall have the right to form independent states, including enclaves within Hindu territory, if they so wish and so decide for themselves. We will point out the general economic disadvantages of such separation and the greater advantages that lie in regional affiliation to a Federated India, but we cannot deny the right of the Moslem masses to attempt such a separatist experience, if they so wish

Just as easily Vishnu Som labels every intellectual challenge to his remarks as a “right wing conspiracy with an edge in numbers”, Mr. Som must realize he can as easily be labelled a Troskyite pan-Islamist.

Be that as it may what really stands out in Vishnu Som’s response is this

As I have argued earlier, this is part of a larger wave against Muslims … perhaps part of the generalisation that Muslims are universally terrorists or inclined to violence.

I cannot tolerate such a generalisation and cannot tolerate people who believe that to be the truth. And it is generalisations like this which represent a fundamental threat to Muslims in India and around the world.

where Vishnu Som is treading dangerous territory stoking the fires of Muslim Victimhood.

We cannot and must not tolerate this brand of irresponsible Journalism.

NDTV has an obligation to clarify if it stands by Vishnu Som’s irresponsible and provocative remarks on imaginary threats to Indian Muslims.

If not it must ask Vishnu Som for a retraction failing which it must seek a resignation.

It seems Justice Liberhan’s contribution to the Indian Political discourse will likely not be his voluminous report as conventional wisdom might suggest if this latest piece by Swapan Dasgupta in the Tehelka is anything to go by.

Titled “Rising from the Rubble” the piece may be mistaken for the Ayodhya movement rising from the rubble of Babri demolition report but then according to Swapan Da its actually the Liberhan Law of Unintended Consequences at work.

We are told by Swapan Da that rising from the rubble of the Babri demolition report are actually the BJP’s so called “liberals”. While Tehelka puts words into Swapan’s mouth describing them as “moderates” (rightly so according to me) but then Swapan Da is quite unequivocal in what he thinks might be the second coming of the so called “liberals” in the BJP.

Now one can split hairs on parsing the definition of a “liberal” in the context of the BJP, but it is worth asking, if there indeed is such an endangered species as the “liberal” in the BJP, then where exactly was it when the BJP

- in Haryana released a stone age Manifesto high on rhetoric, low on substance and regressive in its outlook ?

- decided to mark its descent to electoral irrelevance in Hyderabad by declaring Vande Mataram issue would be the center piece of its campaign for Municipal elections ?

- allowed itself to be boxed and labelled into a parochial corner by its alliance partner in Maharashtra on a divisive xenophobic plank ?

- released a laundry list for a manifesto indistinguishable from the Congress’ populism ?

The reality is what Swapan Da would have us believe is a “liberal” species in the BJP is actually a moderate species that is amenable to a compromise should the opportunity present itself.

Such opportune moderation was on display on the first day Parliament was convened with BJP making common cause with the Samajwadi Party and Ajit Singh’s RLD on the sugarcane pricing issue.

If the BJP’s opportunistic moderation is indistinguishable from Mulayam’s politics and Congress’ populism it must be asked what exactly does this moderation stand for ?

So Swapan Da while we appreciate your lament for the endangered “liberal” in the BJP this opportunistic moderation is in no way a step towards preservation of that endangered species.

We ask of these endangered liberals what will it take for them tonSTAND UP AND BE COUNTED ?

What will it take to stand up for Minimum Government Maximum Governance ?

What will it take to stand up for Freedom and Autonomy to Local Government ?

What will it take to stand up against a Culture of Entitlement ?

What will it take to stand up for the Spirit of Enterprise ?

What will it take to stand up for Freedom to Faith from Government control ?

What will it take to trade Agitational Politics indistinguishable from those who are the root cause for problems for Aspirational Politics that differentiates itself  with credible solutions ?

What will it take to stand up for a coherent and consistent public stance rooted in Center Right convictions as opposed to opportunistic moderation ?

Perhaps those liberals in the BJP would not be such  an endangered lot if they gave thought to what it would take to actually be known as such in public.

Nevertheless let them make a beginning with this upcoming debate in Parliament on the Liberhan report to propose a Center Right approach to bring the Ayodhya-Babri connundrum to a closure as opposed to an opportunistic moderation that is neither here nor there.

This blog space intentionally left empty.

Lighted Candles strictly prohibited.

India’s response to Jihadi Terrorism cannot be episodic tokenism.

Liberhan Commission Report is finally in 17 years after the fact.

After an express perusal of the 1029 page report we can draw only one conclusion on whodunit – “Arrested Development” and “NCERT Text books” 

How else can one explain the 19 page drivel  that has been passed off as Recommendations resulting from 17 years of intellectual and investigative labor of the good Justice.

One may be tempted to dismiss the Liberhan recommendations as being no better than a poorly written political science essay by a High School dropout.

But such temptation must be firmly resisted for those 19 pages are a window into how the Constitution and its many Institutions stand compromised six decades after Independence.

Justice Liberhan’s many recommendations for creating new Statutory agencies and for passing sweeping new Laws are symptomatic of a bureaucratic mindset that believes solutions to every problem lie in creating yet another autonomous organ of the State outside the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.

But thats the least troubling aspect of the Liberhan recommendations.

The shallow nature of the intellectual polemic that underlies almost all of his recommendations reminds us once again that we as a Nation are prone to treating the symptoms unmindful of the disease.

It is understandable that after 17 years of labor the good Justice was perhaps disappointed at failing to establishing a conspiracy with direct culpability of specific individuals at the forefront of the movement.

But the good Justice had the opportunity to redeem those 17 years of labor by compensating for his lack of substantiative investigative success with a penetrating critique of Institutional failures and profound recommendations on Constitutional surgery to fix them.

But the tragedy is the good Justice squandered those 17 years of labor to present us with a laundry list of cosmetic fixes that are tantamount to merely applying “band-aid” to bruised Institutions and a mutilated Constitution.

Justice Liberhan leaves us with no profound thoughts on how to cross the chasm of last century nor does his report prepare us in this century for bridging the faultlines underlying that chasm.

A juvenile political essay can be expected to make up in sentiment what it may lack in sound intellectual judgement. In the final analysis the same will have to be said of the Justice Liberhan Report on the Ayodhya Commission of Inquiry.

The fury sans fire within BJP circles in Parliament however is misplaced. The failure of Liberhan Commission report in establishing a conspiracy to demolish Babri Masjid ought to be no reason for celebration within the BJP.

BJP’s legacy will remain forever tainted in popular perception for the wanton hooliganism that ruled the day on December 6th 1992 as helpless Leaders looked on at a movement beyond their control.

There has to be accountability for Adharma committed in the name of Hindutva by the movement’s foot soldiers.

Till the next generation leadership of the BJP proactively exorcises Babri Masjid’s Ghosts the baggage of the past will continue to weigh down attempts to chart a rejuvenated future course.

That can only happen when the BJP’s next generation leadership stands up unequivocally for

#1 upholding the Rule of Law as Dharma

#2 advocating that Dharma will not be served till Religious Institutions are freed from Government control

#3 Legislating for freedom and autonomy to Local Communities and Local Government on governance of Religious shrines

In closing let it be said to those next generation leaders of the BJP who proudly wear Hindutva on their sleeve that the essence of Hindu thought is Dharma and to violate it in the name of Hindutva is Adharma, which will have to be accounted for, if not in this world then in the next one.