Careless Consciences

Internal rivalry marks 3-day meet
- By Our Special Correspondent

Mumbai, June 24: Internal bickering within the Bharatiya Janata Party and the lack of discipline among party workers, coupled with the tension between Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Mr Keshubhai Patel, dominated the proceedings of the three-day national executive meeting which was actually called to evaluate the party’s defeat in the 14th Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP will conduct party elections by August-end. It will draw lessons from the Lok Sabha elections and move forward during the Assembly, a draft of its ``Task Ahead`` stated. While the party will ``go back to basics and embrace Hindutva, it will also make simultaneous efforts at befriending the minority community.``

At a press conference on Thursday, party president Venkaiah Naidu, however, described the meet as ``highly successful, mood changing and focusing on the future.``

He said that the party will face the electorate with a twin commitment of nationalism and development. ``That will be our agenda and bifocal vision of a resurgent India.``

Mr Naidu said that the BJP and the Jan Sangh were cadre-based parties which were transiting into a mass base. He warned party workers against groupism. He said, ``The worker will then remain loyal to an individual and not the party. Groupism is like an infection which should be arrested before it transforms into a contagious disease. This makes the organisation fragile and renders it incapable of facing the mandate cohesively.`` The party will take deterrent and demonstrative action against erring workers, including the higher echelons.

The ``Task Ahead`` draft also said, ``For these corrective measures to succeed, personal conduct and style of functioning should be a part of the BJP ideology.`` Referring to the recent rift between Mr Modi and Mr Patel, the draft said, ``The rapidly gathering impression is that acts of indiscipline will be condoned and that even serious cases of anti-piracy activities will be overlooked. Absence of communication within the party and lack of an effective grievance redressal cell forced party workers to breach the discipline. ``One of the manifestations of indiscipline is the tendency to use the media to air one’s grievances. Wittingly or unwittingly, some people in the party share organisational matters with the media. This causes considerable damage to the party’s image and internal cohesion,`` the draft said.

On its ``Task Ahead,`` the BJP will expand, consolidate and revive the party back to glory, Mr Naidu said. The party will spot young talent and groom their leadership qualities by giving them responsibilities in local self-government bodies. Efforts will be made to include women and youth. The BJP also decided to shed its defensive attitude on its ideology and launch an offensive against political forces which oppose Hindutva.

Well after this article appeared, Mr. Vajpayee on 24th talked about his inner voice in clear terms! For those who made a hue-and-cry about my motives for questioning what was questionable, there have now been articles and editorials about ABV crying wolf, always talking about leaving, sulking etc etc...and to imagine that such a ``tall leader`` is now telling us that a lot of what he said was a joke?? And you people blame me!

Here are two articles for those who care...

http://www.asianage.com/
June 25, 2004

Vajpayee: It was only a joke
- By Our Special Correspondent

Mumbai, June 24: Former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Thursday retracted his threat not to lead the BJP in the next elections and blamed his ``love for the Marathi language`` for the confusion.

In his 45-minute address on the concluding day of the three-day BJP national executive meeting at plush Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai on Thursday, Mr Vajpayee said, ``Kuch cheheron pe kal tak chamak thi. Jo aaj nahin hai. Shayad mera Marathi ka prem iska karan hai. (The brightness on the faces of the party workers, which had glowed till yesterday, has suddenly diminished today. It could be because of my love for Marathi).``

And as a measure to rectify the misunderstanding, Mr Vajpayee has decided to tour whole of Maharashtra and participate in election campaign during the Assembly elections in September.

On Wednesday, Mr Vajpayee had told a party workers’ meet at the Shanmukhananda Hall, ``No more`` and ``It is more than enough,`` when the party workers shouted slogans like, ``Ab ki bari, Atal Behari.`` Mr Vajpayee had replied in Marathi and said, ``Ata ekahi bari nako, pushkad zaley,`` with an obvious reference to repeated brickbats he had faced after the elections and that he had had enough.

Mr Vajpayee also earned the ire of the RSS when he blamed Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Manali. The Sangh Parivar, which had distanced itself from Mr Modi due to his autocratic method of working, suddenly came to his defence.

On Thursday, Mr Vajpayee clarified that he had uttered those words in humour. He told BJP activists: ``I was naturally not expected to say that I am ready and let us conduct the elections. I was the Prime Minister for six years and will never ignore my responsibilities.``

Mr Vajpayee repeated the adage that words which once slip from the mouth can never be retracted. Sometimes humour also gives way to mischief, he said, and added, ``I will have to work more aggressively henceforth.``

Angered by the anti-Vajpayee and anti-BJP statements by the VHP leaders, the BJP hit back on Thursday and asked the Sangh Parivar outfit not to intervene in its affairs.

``We do not agree at all with whatever statements have been issued by the VHP leaders against the BJP,`` party chief M. Venkaiah Naidu said at the end of three-day party national executive. ``The VHP should leave the BJP’s matters to the BJP,`` he said. Party spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the former Prime Minister remained the BJP’s ``tallest leader.``

The VHP had criticised Mr Vajpayee’s remarks late on Wednesday night and said that he should ``take political sanyas if he sincerely wants to.`` The VHP said Mr Vajpayee’s remarks reflected a ``defeatist attitude`` which did not suit a leader.

``If his statement has come as a result of helplessness due to election defeat and sadness due to criticism, it reflects a defeatist attitude which does not suit a leader,`` VHP’s senior vice-president Giriraj Kishore had told agencies from Lucknow.

If he sincerely wants to take sanyas he should do it. ``Renunciation is a great thing to do,`` Mr Kishore said.

VHP international general secretary Praveen Togadia said in Surat that the six-year-rule of the Vajpayee government has ``exposed the hypocrisy among the leaders who practised it.``

``The Hindu society knows who stands where. They have seen the real face (of the BJP leaders),``Mr Togadia said.

The RSS, however, said Mr Vajpayee continued to be the ``beloved leader`` of the BJP cadres. Describing Mr Vajpayee as an elderly statesman, editor of RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya Tarun Vijay said, ``He will always remain an inspiration to us.``

Mr Vijay said the former Prime Minister has been saying it is enough and that he would like to retire ``but the people and the party workers never allowed him to do so and they will never allow to do so.``

``He is our beloved leader,`` Mr Vijay said adding, ``BJP has got a civilisational role to play in Indian politics. It is not a group of power-hungry leaders who would have different fluctuating programmes just to grab power.``

RSS spokesman Ram Madhav refused to comment on the issue, saying he was ``not aware of the developments.`` Asked whether the RSS would intervene if Mr Vajpayee chose to retire, he said there was no such need as the matter was related to the BJP.

During his speech on Thursday, Mr Vajpayee also told party workers that he knew that the BJP would lose seats in the 14th Lok Sabha. ``Meri antar awaz mujhe keh rahi thi. (My inner voice told me so). I had also told Mr Lal Krishna Advani that the party was likely to lose some seats, when he had come to meet me in Lucknow. But these results were totally unexpected.``

He admitted that the BJP was not able to impress the poor people of the country with its telecom revolution and highways. He said, ``We will have to resort to the popular language of bijli, sadak aur paani.``

Making a dig at the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, Mr Vajpayee said, ``It is an alliance that already has birthmarks and the internal differences have started to surface. Whereas our party has to fulfil a dream and efforts should be made to realise it.``

On Hindutva, Mr Vajpayee said, ``Mujhe Bharatiyata aur Hindutva mein koi antar nazar nahin aata (I do not distinguish between Bharatiyata and Hindutva).``

#233 by dost-mittar on June 24, 2004 3:53am PT
I am surprised- all this number game of how many were killed by police bullets only shows a huge escalation of riotings and how even the police who were to initially provide protection to these rioters had to fire so many round in order to keep `their` rioters `under control` (by that I imply rioting with minimum loss of lives)!!!

Riots happen because they are planned for- arms do not appear suddenly- it is only the subsequent `escalation` of the riots that is un-planned- quite like throwing a burning stick on a stack of hay.
In order to start the riots and then keep them going the RSS goons spread rumours about muslim atrocities, incite ordinary hindus to avenge these and the past ones, distribute the arms and assure them of political protection and non-interference from the police- and then they watch the mayhem!! Ofcourse, they also `educate` ordinary folks with sterotypical thinking and inflamatory discourses so that at the time of riot they respond to their invitation to butchery!
This anatomy of riots is well documented in India- yet we appear to

Dost-mittat #240
She supported the slavery implicity when she tried to equate and justify
legal exploitation of women in saudi arabia with illegal/criminal exploitation
of the same in other countries. Isnt it rather careless/hypocritical of her to
make light of the predicament of saudi women. Her careless remarks, brushing
it off saying there are lot of other problems is so shallow. It is like saying
1) raping of women should be made legal because it is so difficult to implement anyway,
or 2) rapes occur in all countries even if they have laws against it so why bother,
or 3)make your country crime free and then advise us about making rape illegal.
that is her line of thinking - almost makes her apologist for the saudis.

As usual dost-mitter is upto his dhimmi behavior.

FV is a b*igot of the worst kind. She is the most communal minded and supports
the breakup of India (of course all under the name of freedom), supports the JKLF,
an apologist for terrorists & killing of Hindus,
She is for the ummah and loves the palestinians and the Arafat, on the
other hand even the Mahatma is to be trodded upon.

FV (like many of her religious compatriots) lives off the freedom of India but
has nothing to say about her co-religionists abusing others.

dharma#239
``I despise hypocrites like farzana who while enjoying the freedoms of a kafir country, support the slavery in islamic socities``

Could you please tell where FV has supported the slavery of islamic society? Nor do I recall her complaining about Indian laws; it is their implementation that she generally talks about. And in this article, she didn`t even do that, not even about the Indian laws against homosexuals.

farana does not reply when I challenge her to show one law in India that
discriminates against you because you are a woman. No civilized country
would have laws different for men and women.

from economist june 18 2004:

``From kindergarten to university to the few professions they are permitted to pursue, as well as in restaurants and banks and in other public places, the female half of Saudi Arabia`s population is kept strictly apart. Women are not allowed to drive a car, sail a boat or fly a plane, or to appear outdoors with hair, wrists or ankles exposed, or to travel without permission from a male guardian. A wife who angers her husband risks being “hanged”; that is, suspended in legal limbo, often penniless and trapped indoors, until such time as he deigns to grant a divorce. And then she will lose custody of her children.``

My heart weeps for these women whose life is not theirs to live as they chose. Their only
fault is being born as women in saudi arabia. Why are pakis more sympathetic to Kashmiris
who have same rights as any other indians than to these women who are obviosuly
second class citizens? For me it is obvious. These women dont even have basic
rights to even sunlight forget about their own country. And the muslim men
in kashmir have no problem with equal rights - they just want to make it inequal
by making it like saudi arabia. And pakis sympathise with that! What hypocrites.
I despise hypocrites like farzana who while enjoying the freedoms of a kafir country, support the slavery in islamic socities.

Never suggested you had an issue with Farzana, Omar. That`s the point.

ankit #236
``jus wanted to add that it is convenient to say that what teesta seetalvad professes is not secularism. ``

Not sure what you mean, but I will point out that it is convenient for Hindutva-vadis too, who inspite of many years in power have not stopped holding others responsible for their their own blatant biases and biased actions.

sadna
fair enough.

jus wanted to add that it is convenient to say that what teesta seetalvad professes is not secularism. after all people like her significantly affect public opinion and the mainstream media offers them platform.

dm sahab

i read arvind lavkare`s article. it has its own spin, trying to get the gujrat govt off the hook and then trying to implicate congress. nevertheless, it is asking the right questions. if the secualr establishment acts in a partisan manner, almost like a political party, its credibility will go the same way as the politicians.

already we are not surprised if politicians do scandals, murder or rape. the media is still believed to be honest. i hope the time does not come when we refuse to read indian newspapers` columns and just watch bbc to know what is going on in the country.

gujju i said it before and ill say it again, you`re a moron -- utter and complete moron -- this is from the finance minister`s budget speech this year moron -- since you`re such an internet afficianado wonder how u missed this in dawn recently --

``REBASING OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: A major event of the year was rebasing of national accounts from the year 1980-81 to 1999-2000 that resulted overall size of the economy to go up from $70 billion to $95 billion. He explained that there was no impact on growth rate due to the change of base year.

As a result of rebasing, the official data now covered a new range of products and economic activities such as courier services, travel agencies, mobile telephone, etc.``

and (read the last paragraph carefully gujju [moron] bania --

Executive summary of Economic Survey 2003-04

ISLAMABAD, June 11: Following is the executive summary of the Economic Survey 2003-04, released here on Friday.

Growth and Investment

The resurgent Pakistani economy has shown an impressive growth trajectory for the second year in a row with real GDP growing by 6.4 per cent during the current fiscal year against 5.1 per cent last year.

This higher growth is underpinned by a buoyant industrial sector, which grew by a record 13.1 per cent, and a services sector which grew by 5.2 per cent. The agriculture sector has marginally under-paced real GDP growth by growing at 2.6 per cent against 4.1 per cent last year.

However, this growth does not truly reflect the contribution of agriculture towards real GDP growth as higher prices of agricultural produce during the current year have fueled economic activity.

The growth performance was quite impressive and mainly emanated from the industrial sector reflecting an enhanced productive, as well as, job creating capacity of the economy.

The distinct feature of the growth patterns had more to do with the relative strength of domestic factors in different areas rather than the impact of global developments. On the internal front, fiscal stimulus and monetary easing have supported the growth of domestic demand.

The driving force behind the initial phase of the recovery was the strong domestic demand for industrial goods and services. The real GDP at factor cost was originally targeted at 5.3 per cent in 2003-04, with agriculture and manufacturing growing by 4.2 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

The real GDP at factor cost grew by 6.4 per cent which is supported by 2.6 per cent, 13.4 per cent and 5.2 per cent growth rates in agriculture, manufacturing and services, respectively.

GNP at factor cost exhibited a deceleration in growth from 7.9 per cent in 2002-03 to 5.2 per cent in 2003-04 mainly due to a decline of 30.5 per cent in net factor income from abroad.

The agriculture sector grew by 2.6 per cent in 2003-04 which is lower than actual growth of 4.1 per cent last year and a target of 4.2 per cent. Major crops, accounting for 34 per cent of agricultural value added, grew by 2.8 per cent against a 6.9 per cent rise in value addition for last year and a target of 5.5 per cent for 2003-04.

Minor crops, which contribute 12 per cent of value addition in agriculture, grew by 1.7 per cent in 2003-04 against a growth target of 3.5 per cent and a slight increase of 0.4 per cent last year.

The Livestock sub-sector, which accounts for almost one half of overall value addition in the agricultural sector (49 per cent), has witnessed a modest growth of 2.6 per cent in 2003-04 against a target of three per cent and an actual achievement of 2.8 per cent last year.

The growth performance of the overall manufacturing sector was spearheaded by unprecedented growth in the large-scale manufacturing sector which grew by 17.1 per cent against the target of 8.8 per cent and last year`s actual rate of 7.2 per cent.

The large-scale manufacturing sector, accounting for 68 per cent of overall manufacturing, recorded an impressive and broad based growth and helped overall manufacturing grow by 13.4 per cent, against a target of 7.8 per cent and last year`s growth of 6.9 per cent.

Small-scale manufacturing continued to grow at an estimated 7.5 per cent rate in 2003-04. The Construction sector grew by 7.9 per cent against 3.1 per cent last year and a yearly target of 5.4 per cent.

The Electricity and gas distribution sector registered a massive increase of 22.5 per cent against a decline of 2.6 per cent last year and a yearly target of 5.3 per cent. The services sector grew by 5.2 per cent against 5.3 per cent last year.

The wholesale & retail trade and transport, storage & communication sub-sectors grew by eight per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively against 5.9 per cent and four per cent last year.

The largest contribution to the real GDP growth rate of 6.4 per cent came from the commodity producing sector (3.6 percentage points). Within this sector, the industrial sector alone contributed three percentage points with a major share coming from the manufacturing sector (2.2).

The services sector contributed 2.8 percentage points or 43 per cent to real GDP growth. As far as the composition of GDP is concerned, the industrial sector improved its share from 22.6 per cent to 24.5 per cent whereas; agriculture declined from 26.2 per cent to 23.3 per cent between 1999-2000 and 2003-04. Due to tremendous growth in the recent past the share of the manufacturing sector has increased from 14.8 per cent in 1999-2000 to 17.5 per cent in 2003-04.

A sharp acceleration in per capita income was witnessed during the last two years in dollar terms mainly because of a stable exchange rate and higher real GDP growth. Against an annual average rate of 1.4 per cent in the 1990s, per capita income grew at an average rate of 13.9 per cent per annum during the last two years (2002-04) and 12.0 per cent during 2003-04.

The per capita income in dollar terms increased from $526 in 1999-2000 to $652 in 2003-04 - an increase of 24.0 per cent in the last four years. Total investment picked up sharply to 18.1 per cent of GDP in 2003-04 against 16.7 per cent last year.

farzana -- dont know what the hell NB is talking about but i have no issue with u --

LO AND BEHOLD YE PAKI BASHERS.... even your central govt in delhi doesnt buy this story now --

Delhi ribs Gujarat on `encounter`


By Jawed Naqvi

NEW DELHI, June 22: The Indian government has plainly told the Gujarat establishment to give quality proof that there were Pakistani men among the four people killed in an alleged encounter in the state recently , indicating a toughened stand against communally-inspired rhetoric.

The Indian Express reported on Tuesday that the government was clearly unimpressed by the Gujarat police`s ``evidence`` supporting the Pakistani identity of two alleged Lashkar-i-Toiba men shot last Tuesday.

New Delhi has asked the state police to furnish a more detailed report with sufficient evidence before the matter can be taken up with Pakistan. The report was sought after the Gujarat police approached the Ministry of External Affairs to ask the Pakistan High Commission to claim the bodies of Jishan Johar and Amjadali Akbarali Rana, the two alleged Pakistani members of Lashkar-i-Toiba.

The two men were among the four persons shot dead by the Gujarat police on a deserted stretch of the Himmatnagar highway. Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year-old college student from Mumbra in Thane, and Javed Ghulam Mohammed Sheikh of Pune were the other two killed.

Civil rights activists have accused the rightwing Hindutva government of staging a fake encounter for political mileage. The issue has caused ripples even within the state`s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as its former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel declared that the state was experiencing a mini-emergency.

Mr Patel has stayed away from a high-level meeting of the party in Mumbai. ``I am unhappy about the prevailing situation in the state. There is a sort of mini-emergency where MLAs are afraid to express their feelings,`` Mr Patel, who has ``skipped`` the BJP national executive meeting that began in Mumbai on Tuesday morning citing ``knee pain``, said at his residence in Ahmedabad.

ankit#230:

``What is the reason that you choose to believe praful bidwai instead of francois gauthier..?``

Could you please tell where I have approved what bidwai said?
When Lavakare introduces Gauthier as a ``Delhi based french journalist`` he is giving the impression that he is quoting a disinterested neutral third party on a domestic issue, which is somewhat misleading. OTOH Bidwai would have introduced the same person as a `rabid hindutva supporter of french origin married to a hindu`.
Problems with Lavakare, Bidwai, et al is not so much in what they say but in what they leave out. I posted that excerpt for a reason. In the same article, Lavakare also quotes from a likely pro-khalistani group based in London re. the Delhi massacres of 84. I am one of those who believe that those riots were even worse than the Gujarat massacres, especially since the culprit was a prime minister rather than a state chief minister, and Sonia Gandhi has gone down quite a few notches in my eyes for choosing Jagdish Tytler for a ministerial berth. But the London report quoted by Lavakare exaggerated the events quite a bit. In the excerpt posted by me, Lavakare quotes some fairly reputable agencies like the minorities commission which seem to exonerate the state govt. My suspicion was that he had quoted selectively and I was wondering that one of the interactors here might know about such distortions. Hence my post.

ankit #230
``why are you prepared to forget one crime when going hammer and tongs on the other..?a``

Since you mention my post, your assumption that I do not raise the other incidents of politicial violence is wrong.

IMO, it is a mistake to unquestioningly term as secularism what public figures or organisations` have pursues as their political choices wrt political violence.

I personally look for equal and not selective outrage about all political violence from all, whether the BJP or RJD or Teesta Setalvad or the Congress party or yet the Communists.

227 to 230

previously on this board, i have asked the same questions as i have in 230 but I have never got any answer.

I just want to add a response to arvind lavakare`s article that is on rediff. i think that is what dm has quoted.

``

i have always maintained what has been stated in this article that nothing compares to what happened in Delhi in 1984. i am NOT justifying the deaths in Gujarat - Godhra or the Subsequent. but its an irony that we have such a shamelessly biased media which sees everything with tinted glasses.

even the recent the Ishrat Jahan case, common the media says, ``Ishrat Innocent - Say Friends``. who are these friends & what is their locus standi? does it amount to a clean chit? what if they had succeed in killing Modi and resulted in another riot killing say 5000 muslims this time. you would still hold Modi responsible for it?

i seriously feel that the Indian media is doing a great disservice to the nation and it is a pity that we cant do anything about it.
``


my sentiments are similar to this poster. just that he put it well.

+++

ankit:
Francois Gauthier may be French but he is hardly an impartial observer. He is known for his glorification of hindus and hindu religion.

+++

we already know that saying anything that glorifies hinduism or hindus is absolutely unbearable to the seculars. that is why mulayam singh who openly talks of concerns of muslims is secular but the moment one talks about concerns of hindus, he/she is branded communal.

more than anything else, the credibility of seculars is what is under question. when teesta seetalvad celebrates the killing of karsevaks in godhra on the grounds that they caused provocation, how is it different from modi invoking newton`s law?? same with the dealings that the media has given to the nominations to the perpetrators of sikh pogroms in this government. why the partial attitude ? is shedding muslim blood communal and shedding of sikh blood secular..? why are you prepared to forget one crime when going hammer and tongs on the other..?

in my opinion, every column that we read in the media has some partial attitude. francois gauthier is no exception. What is the reason that you choose to believe praful bidwai instead of francois gauthier..?