Modi : Who can throw the first stone ?

Modi : Who can throw the first stone ?

The report, Congressman campaigns for Narendra Modi's visa (India Abroad,27/4),makes one ask the question," Who can throw the first stone ?"

In 1984, more than 3000 Sikhs were killed immediately after it was announced that the Indian Prime Minister was killed by two of her Sikh body-guards.There was anarchy in New Delhi for almost two to three days. Rajeev Gandhi said that when a big tree falls, earth shakes. He was not held responsible for the deaths. The Home Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao was not held responsible.Some small minions were punished but no big wigs of the Congress Party who led the mob in the killing spree. 

In 2002, after burning a train bogey with some 68 Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya in Godhra, there was a carnage, mainly of Muslims, in many places in Gujarat. Officially, some 1000 plus people were killed including 250 Hindus who fell to the police bullets. While there was no police action in New Delhi, police did try to control the rioting. The military too was called. Many people have been punished by the courts including those who burned the train.Some cases are still continuing. Some NGOs have targeted Chief Minister of Gujarat for the carnage as he was reported to have said that every action has a reaction. Modi has also been accused of bringing the dead bodies to Ahmadabad which increased the rage of the people.However, it has been explained that most of the dead are from Ahmadabad.

Same thing happened in Mumbai in 1992 and 1993. Soon after the fall of the structure ( Masjid/temple) in Ayodhya, there were riots led by some Muslims which immediately resulted in tit for tat. Here too police were late. It took two or three days to quell it.Then followed the bomb blasts engineered by the D gang from the neighboring country.

Police always come after a violent episode happens and always late in coming as shown in all our films. What India requires is a reform in policing and speedy investigation and speedy justice.

The police require functional autonomy and it should be responsible for the maintenance of law and order.There should not be any political interference in the discharge of its duty. The promotion and transfer should be by a tribunal consisting of eminent people rather than by the Home Minister who will be partisan. A chief minister had asked a police officer not to take action against a money lender who took over the land of poor farmers. If there is a riot, the police commissioner should be held responsible for it and should be punished.

Indian courts are clogged with millions of cases as the number judges are inadequate to deal with them. Almost 60 percent of inmates in prisons are under-trials who may spend more time in jails than required before their cases come up in the courts. There is an urgent need to increase the number of judges,the number of prisons,the number of police stations and the number of investigators for speedy justice.

Justice, speedy but impartial, is one of the founding principle of the Indian Constitution and it requires a proper institutional mechanism. Instead of creating this mechanism, Indian politicians are busy playing politics with justice.

April 26,2012.

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India's Defense : the Shocking Truth.

India's Defense : The Shocking Truth.

Your cover story, India's Defense : the Shocking Truth (India Abroad,April 13,2012), reveals in graphic details what is well-known to all - lack of equipment and lack of resources for Indian defense. The basic issue in Indian defense is the mistrust of the military by the politicians. The politicians have not provided enough resources to equip the military with the latest tools of war. The army fought the 1962 war without even enough snow-boots and it was reported that ordinance factories were manufacturing consumer goods. India has won the wars with the bravery of the soldiers and the strategy and tactics of the generals and the officers rather than with the latest equipment.

The politicians wrongly believed that India won the freedom without a fight and without violence.Prime Minister Nehru and Defense Minister V.K.Menon never expected Communist China to attack India as they believed that Communists cannot be imperialists. They were afraid of the British-trained army may take over the country just like in Pakistan.So they never provided enough budget to face the two neighbors who have never concealed their antipathy to India.

A cover story in the Economist (April 7-13,2012) entitled, China's Military Rise, explains the Chinese military expansion and its consequences to the world and to its Asian neighbors.It mentions some very interesting figures of Chinese military spending which do not bode peaceful rise of China.The report states China spent $89.8 billion in 2011 which is 5.5% world's military spending while it was $37.3 billion for India which is 2.3 % of the world's total.According to SIPRI, a research institute, the Chinese annual defense spending is almost $120 billion in 2010. The institute adds 50% more to the official figure as certain defense related expenditure are not included.

India's defense requires that the Indian politicians have to trust the military as it has proved its professionalism in all situations and in all these years. India has sufficient man-power, scientific-power and resources to be a great military power to defend its borders and its democratic institutions nurtured since Independence. The politicians have to remove the network of corruption and cobweb of defense procurement procedural delays. It is time that India develops its defense industry to be self-sufficient by the next decade and enlist the co-operation of the private sector in this task. There has to be a better coordination between the army, navy and the air force with a chief of defense staff. All this is possible if the politicians change their attitude of distrust - distrust of the military and the distrust of the private sector. The recent civil-military tiff is the result of the neglect of defense by the politicians and it should be a wake-up call to the Indian government.

April 28,2010.

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