Saturday 15 September 2012

Tempering with Freedom of Expression


                                     Tempering with Freedom of Expression

I am sure by now, people  all over India and also abroad,  must have come to know  about a young man named Aseem Trivedi who has recently been arrested by the Mumbai police on the charge of SEDITION.
Aseem  is  a young man of 24 and an activist  of  “India Against Corruption”  a voluntary organisation  which is fighting peacefully  under the able leadership of Anna Hazare to get Ombudsman bill introduced in the country. The bill , is pending with the Government since last over 40 years and no political party in the country seems to be interested in bring it. The result is obvious – a rampant corruption at every level in the country.

Coming back to Aseem, as a cartoonist, he had  drawn a cartoon in which he had shown Indian Parliament building as a toilet and the three lions head as those of jackals. This was primarily the frustration of the cartoonist against the  corrupt  Ministers, Members of Parliament and  other politicians who had been systematically looting the country’s wealth since its independence 65 years ago.

There is no doubt that the cartoon drawn was in bad taste but it can not  construed sedition. Because the intension of the cartoonist was not to insult the Parliament or the  national emblem, but his disgust towards those occupying the Parliament & degrading it by their acts.

 There have been and even today,  instances where national flags &emblem have been carelessly handled by many of the Govt. functionaries. On many occasions national flags have been hoisted up side down- with green colour on top instead of the saffron.  But those senior functionaries were never punished. Because   there was no intention as such to disrespect the flag .

A case of disrespect to the national flag was   recently reported by a leading news paper. The case is of 9th September 2012 at a place known as Kashipur in Uttarakhand on the eve of  Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant Jayanti . The Chief Minister of the Uttarakhand was the chief guest. The function was over but no one bothered to take the flag down. It remained hoisted till late evening.

In another incident, a torn national flag was noticed furling at the Collectorate  building at Rudrapur  (Uttarakhand) on 14 Sept. 12 by a journalist. The flag was torn and discoloured as it was there, day & night since long.  Again, no Govt. functionary ever bothered to see that as per norms laid down, the flag was supposed to be hoisted in the morning & removed respectfully before the last light every day. Should the  people responsible for these lapses, be charged with SEDITION ?

Some time back, on one of the TV channel, we saw  some Ministers and MPs being interviewed .They were  asked if they knew the country’s National  Anthem ? It was surprising to see many of the so called leaders, not able to recite the National Anthem. Should not such leaders be taken to task & asked to learn the Anthem?

Why Aseem is being put behind the bar, when the Indian national flag has been burnt openly
in Sri Nagar & other parts of the country by the separatists  time and again. The reason is obvious.  Aseem is actively involved with the India Against corruption Movement which the present Government is not able to tolerate .

Sunday 22 January 2012

Delhi-100years

HindustanTimes
Dated 22 January 2012





 The above advertisement  which appeared in the HT  today, is about a special program on Delhi completing 100 years as Capital, to be shown on LOK SABHA Television on 26th of January on the eve of India's Republic Day. Interestingly the ad carries a picture of a person on its right top corner.This can not be of Manmohan Singh, our present Prime Minister. Or King George-Vth who had visited India 100 years ago and announced shifting of the capital from Calcutta (Now Kolkota) to New Delhi. Obviously this depicts picture of some Mughal King .
Was there no Delhi before Mughals invaded India ? Or this is just another cheap, subtle  election gimmick of the Congress led Govt. to vow the Muslim community  during the coming state elections ?
Any guess? 

Saturday 21 January 2012

election promises...

Election in Indian states:

Five states in India are heading for an election and one finds almost all the political parties promising nothing less than a moon to the public. Some are promising laptop to students,.Cycle to school going girls. Some claiming to bring fountain of development all over the concerned state etc. etc.
The icing on the cake is the Congress, the oldest political party in the country. Their one leader, who is holding the post of Law Minister, has gone on to announce 9% reservation for the Muslims in the country in jobs etc.
One expect a law minister to know the  country's constitution better. From where he will get that 9% quota?
So please stop showing red apple.
The fact of the matter is that the congress has lost all its credibility when it manipulated to ensure that no law against corruption in the country was introduced. The Jan Lokpal  (Ombudsman) Bill was intentionally shelved to ensure that people who have amassed  black money & looted country's wealth, should not be caught and punished.
 Talking about the quota for Muslims, can the Congress explain what they did for their betterment in the last 60 years? Besides, what have the leaders of the community done so far to ensure Muslim boys and girls get better education and job like others instead of forcing them to attend Madrasas? So please stop this gimmick and 7 don't fool the community any more. Gandhi ji was right when he had suggested disbandment of Congress party immediately  after independence of India.