Greetings to Gujarat on Swarnim Jayanti

Warm greetings to Gujarat on Swarnim Jayanti. Congratulations to Narendra Modi on bringing about change in Gujarat and taking it to the top in development. Best wishes to the people and CM Narendra Modi for the future.

About Swarnim Gujarat.

Teesta's falsehoods exposed

The NGO Citizens for Justice and Peace, headed by Teesta Setalvad, has been doing exactly the opposite of what its name suggests. It has made every attempt to deny justice and derail peace in Gujarat with its concocted theories of "Hindu atrocity" on "Muslim minority". It is now clear that facts are contrary to Teesta's claims. The SIT investigating the Gujarat riots 2002 case has this observation -

The Special Investigation Team
responsible for the arrests of those accused in Gujarat riots has severely
censured NGOs and social activist Teesta Setalvad who campaigned for the riot
victims. [Link]

Here's the SIT noting Teesta's fabrications -

Many incidents of killings and violence
were cooked up, false charges were levelled against then police chief P C Pandey
and false witnesses were tutored to give evidence about imaginary incidents, the
SIT said in a report submitted before a Bench comprising Justices Arijit
Pasayat, P Sathasivam and Aftab Alam. [Link]

And here are a few stories cooked by an imaginative Teesta to guarantee maximum publicity -

The SIT also found no truth in the
following incidents widely publicised by the NGOs:

* A pregnant Muslim woman Kausar Banu was
gangraped by a mob, who then gouged out the foetus with sharp weapons

* Dumping of dead bodies into a well by
rioteers at Naroda Patiya

* Police botching up investigation into
the killing of British nationals, who were on a visit to Gujarat and
unfortunately got caught in the riots Rohtagi said: "On a reading of the report,
it is clear that horrendous allegations made by the NGOs were false. Stereotyped
affidavits were supplied by a social activist and the allegations made in them
were found untrue." [Link]

Teesta Setalvad and her "secular" cohorts have made a career out of their false stories on the Gujarat riots. The SIT's findings will now leave Teesta and her ilk jobless.

Next to Teesta, the media shares the most responsibility for spreading the canards by her and making them part of the popular folklore. The time and publicity given to the false cases from a cahoot media and repeated falsehoods have prejudiced a great number for minds against the BJP and Narendra Modi in particular. The eagerness shown by every "secular" champion to pass an judgement even before the legal proceedings reached their conclusions betrayed their prejudices.

The myopic "secular" eyes fail to see that the Muslims are probably the most prosperous in Gujarat than anywhere else in the country. Various reports indicate that the per capita income amongst Muslims is the highest in Gujarat. Besides various Muslim individuals and organisations have come out in support of Narendra Modi in appreciation of his governance and progress brought about in the state. Such facts are blacked out precisely because they are inconvenient to the "secular" belief.

The alacrity shown by the media to ignore facts, jump the gun, pass judgements and prejudice the people's minds is appalling. It is time that the "secular" cheerleaders stop perpetuating these myths about Gujarat. The various awards granted to Teesta must be revoked and every media house that aligned with her must come clean.

You can read more about Teestas falsehoods here, here, here, here and here.

But that is entirely expected

The denounciations by the 'secular' brigade of the Nanavati commission report on the Gujarat riots were hardly surprising. Also, it is characteristic of the denouncers to criticize a report that is contrary to their expectations by not presenting any logical, factual or strong arguments backed by solid evidence.

No sooner was the first installment of the report tabled in the state assembly, cries of foul play began to be heard, without even an attempt to read the very same thing they were criticizing. It is all too well for the guardians of 'secularism' and 'minorities' to discredit a judicial commission appointed by the highest court of law in our land without providing any convincing counter argument, but the onus of proof lies entirely on the 'communal' people. While the 'secularists' can show complete lack of respect for the democracy, yet the 'communal' folk must be judged by the 'secular' yardstick. Oh, that's right, we are talking of secularism in India here. My bad.

Here is something else that will follow, 'secular' voices in connivance with other shrill voices launching a sustained attack on the 'communal' forces, demonizing Modi without caring too much for the judicial process or evidences. More myths will be floated and reinforced and fed to the people as complete thruth and the mainstream media will only be eager to oblige. Token muslims will be brought into televison studios to mouth scripts. However, the truth is out and all such attempts at suppressing the facts will only add to the already simmering anger amongst the silent majority and loss of credibility to the 'secular' forces.

Now for the 'secular' brigade to cry foul

The Nanavati Commission absolved Modi of any wrongdoing in the Godhra incidents. Now for the 'secular' brigade to term it as a assault on the minorities, write angry editorials, hold heated debates, write to the central government, approach the UN and the UNHRC, burn candles etc. etc. Never mind that this was a judicial commission appointed by the Supreme Court and not like the political one, appointed by Laloo no less.

How convenient that the Banerjee committee report was all lapped up because it held Modi guilty, but cry hoarse when the Nanavati commission found no fault in him. Worse yet, it implicated people from the minority community. Oh, that's right, everything in this country has to pass the 'secular' test.

Our leaders must act, our people must make them do so

Our cities continue to be bombed and all we get is banal responses to the incidences from our leaders. The attacks were (and they continue) highly disturbing and could affect the moral of the people. The unmitigated disaster of a Home Minister, Mr. Shivraj Patil, was not even innovative with his remarks. The same words spoken as after every such incident, tossed and rearranged so they do not sound repetitive. The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has been equally disappointing. But we have now come to expect this after having known them for these past four years. What else was new in their reactions to the recent bomb blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad?

The dust had not yet settled from the blasts and we had the two main political parties sparring already, each trying to gain as much political mileage as it possibly could. First up, it was the UPA, headed by Congress that tried to exonerate itself by claiming it had warned the Karnataka government of a possible terror attack. Next we had the BJP claiming that the Congress is deliberately trying to go slow on the terrorists by not bringing back POTA. The BJP has a good point here since a tough anti-terror law would empower security agencies to act strongly and bring results to their investigations. However the latest allegation by Ms. Sushma Swaraj is far fetched even by conspiracy theory standards. The Congress will use it to discredit the BJP. This task will be easier since the Congress has immense clout in the mainstream media. The verbal war has the potential to divert attention from what is necessary. Some Congress leaders demand Mr. Modi's ouster, by the same logic, Mr. Shivraj Patil should be the first to go since terrorism has flourished during his tenure.

The Congress’ response has been typical, careful not to disturb its votes. The dogged refusal to act tough on terror even after bombings in two cities on two successive days in indicative of where their interests lie, national security is clearly not one of them. Add to that its handling of the Bangaldeshi refugees, border disputes with our neighbors, the Naxal and Maoist violence and nothing more would be needed to prove this. Congress leaders, especially the Prime Minister no less, claim that POTA never stopped terror attacks from taking place. However, that does not stop them from claiming that the present penal codes are enough in tackling terror. Clearly the penal codes are inadequate too. Another idea suggested by Dr. Singh is forming a federal agency to handle terrorism. Well, that too would not stop attacks unless it is armed to the teeth with tough anti-terror laws with less political interference into its functioning.

However, it is not all depressing. The police and emergency service response in Bangalore was very quick and effective in keeping the situation under control. There definitely is a marked difference in the way the state machinery worked during the Deve Gowda days and now. Similarly, the services in Gujarat following the tragic events have been praiseworthy. Mr. Narendra Modi was quick to respond to the situation and did not allow the situation to grow into anything unfortunate. The response of the leaders of the two states has also been praiseworthy. Both seem determined to deal with the situation without diverting their attentions to anything else. That is a good sign.

The center, especially the UPA rather the Congress, does not have the political will to deal with internal security matter strongly. This is even more pronounced since their vote base seems to have eroded greatly due to high inflation and the recent events involving the trust vote in the parliament. It does not want to disturb its traditional vote base lest it gets completely wiped out. It is the people who must refuse such banal responses from the Home Minister and our Prime Minister and demand action from them. It is time words replaced actions.

Update: My earlier thoughts about Ms. Sushma Swaraj's allegations were incorrect. I now believe she may not be entirely incorrect. Knowing Congress' dubious history and its ability to be involved into many a controversy, it is perfectly capable for anything. Besides, Ms. Swaraj did not name the Congress explicitly, so why are the Congressmen cursing her? Was it not a party to such grave allegations as the BJP being behind the attack on our parliament, Godhara etc? Any who can forget the unfounded allegations such as "Merchant of death" which our "secular" media furthered willing knowing fully well that it was a flase and grave charge aimed at vilification.

The real Tehalka

I know this is a bit old (what can I say, I'm a lazy blogger), but is very interesting nevertheless We all know how Tehalka loves to cause well...you know...Tehalka. In it's attempt to discount the work done by the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat, it carried out the ill fated sting operation. And some of it's journalists had some interesting views. But, they are not exactly right as pointed out nicely by The Acorn at INI (a site I recommend you visit).

Shivam Vij at Tehakla would like you to believe that Gujarat is not fair in reporting poverty in the state. Read The Acorn's fair post here, that brings out the truth.

Shivam alleges that the public health situation in Gujarat is deteriorating. The Acorn points out how Tehalka chooses to present data when the situation is not as bad as presented.

Another claim made was the widening rural-urban divide. Read this to know how imagination works at Tehalka.

Read this to know how claims were made about the sad agri situation.

The turnaround in the power sector is worth studying & emulating across the country. But if you believe Shivam, the opposite is true. The 900 MW power shortage reported in April was as a result of some temporary technical glitch.

On April 7th this year, the Indian Express reported: “A day after state was hit by severe power crisis with 900 MW power supply falling short after few power generating units at different plants failed to operate at full capacity level owing to technical problems, GUVNL authorities on Sunday refused to come out clear on the issue…It is noted that on Saturday, around 900 MW power shortages was reported when power generation units at Akrimota project, Vanakbori, Gandhinagar and Ukai power plants developed technical problems”.

Modi was indeed talking of real development & issues that affected people. I thought that journalists were supposed to be fair & objective. But those characters are largely missing in today's mainstream media.

For a full summary of all the above links, that debunk Tehalka's claims, click here for a PDF version of The Acorn's full post.