Corrupt Inept Rudderless Politicians: Impediments to India’S Forward March

Copyright © 2014 by Sat Sharma.

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Rev. date: 11/22/2014

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Contents

Dedication

Disclaimer

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Man, Mind and Migrations

Inept Past Premiers

Present Prime Minister

Democracy, Politics and Governance

Epilogue

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the five generations of males I have lived with during my life time. It has been a good learning process in trying to imbibe their intelligence, qualities, traits and wit. I am deeply indebted to everyone among them for the role they played during their times. Firstly to my paternal and maternal grandfathers for their high levels of intellect, patriotism and selflessness who although were born with a silver spoon in their mouth yet renounced their inherited riches and led an austere life. Secondly to my father who was a simple, straight-forward, hardworking self-made person who indulged in philanthropy. Thirdly to my own and named brother, close friends, comrades including my late brother-in-law, peers for sheer camaraderie right through my earlier years and who gave me an opportunity to share good moments and memories. Fourthly to my son-in-law: a workaholic senior manager-turned businessman, sharply focused, responsible and highly caring individual; to my named son and senior most nephew for keeping a wise head on their shoulders, sheer strength, moral support and assistance. Last but not the least I am grateful to my grandsons and grandnephews at different levels of education that have already started showing promise to prove the dictum: ‘Coming events cast their shadows before’.

Disclaimer

This book gives an account based on personal recollections, published accounts, research, surfing data, dialogues with my peers and seniors and from discussions with persons of various generations from my grandfathers onwards right from the days when I became old enough to understand the environment, the milieu and the world around me.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: Whereas the author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing the Book, they make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy and completeness of the contents of the Book and specifically disclaim any warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.

Acknowledgements

I am deeply indebted to my teachers, parents, uncles and grandfathers as well as other seniors in the family and their peers who exposed me to our once great country known as Hindustan in Persian and Urdu—the two languages they all were very much familiar with besides our mother tongue, Punjabi. They were instrumental in initiating me into nationalism and patriotism that place country before self, and encouraged/stimulated me to assimilate the contributions and history of the great Indian civilization we belong to. They introduced me to the exact course and real heroes of our freedom struggle against the British and other European colonizers. I am grateful to my daughter who proved to be more intelligent than I. She has been coaxing me for a long time to write something informative and useful with unbiased narrative for the consumption of hers and younger generations of Indians born after independence and who are the future custodians of Hindustan, if groomed properly and righteously. Only they can undo the anomalies of the past 67 years since independence and make the country great!

My gratitude goes to innumerable authors, writers as well as makers of documentaries on related subjects and my peers as well as seniors. It may not be possible to thank them individually but my indebtedness to everyone among them is a blind fact and hence cannot be refuted.

My thanks are due to Xlibris, my publishers. Firstly to Mr. Edilson Marks, Supervisor Publishing Sales who called me one fine morning in January this year to give an offer from Penguin Random House for getting two of my books published, this being the first one. Eddy steadfastly kept calling me daily over the ensuing few days to finalize the understanding and modalities. Ms. Joy Daniels, Submissions Representative and Ms Ann Porter, Author Services Representative deserve my gratitude for maintaining a constant dialogue reminding me of the deadlines and for offering guidelines for the book project. I am grateful to Mr. Chris Lodovice, Author Consultant for his consistent regular dialogue and Ms. Vanessa Marzo, Operations Supervisor, both with Author Solutions for introducing me to utilize that medium on the natty gritty of writing and publishing of a book.

Prologue

Indian subcontinent is named so since the mighty Indus (entering Ladakh coursing north-west through Hindukush range, taking a southward course between NWFP and Punjab, lastly passing through Sind to around port city of Karachi) traverses its land from the Himalayas in the north to its journey right down to the Arabian Sea. India is also known as al-Hind in Arabic, Hindustan in Persian, Urdu or Hindustani, and Bharat in Sanskrit and Hindi. The well-known Persian and Urdu poet Sir Dr Mohammed Iqbal wrote a couplet: ‘Hindi hain hum Hindustan hai watan hamara, saare jahan se achha Hindustan hamara’ (We are Hindi and our native land is Hindustan, our Hindustan is better than the whole world) in our national song. The great Urdu poet Firaq Gorakhpuri made another point eloquently: ‘Sar zameen-e-Hind par aquaam-e-alam ke Firaq kafle baste gaye, Hindustan banta gaya’ (Caravans of peoples from various lands kept on coming and settling on the sacred land of Hind, Hindustan continued to take its form). Hinduism, being a liberal way of life, speaks of one truth and many paths giving the freedom to pursue life as per one’s choice. Secularism had been the woven fabric of our two-and -half millennia or more old society. This took the form of ‘Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Isai-Parsee, aapas mein hain bhai bhai’ (Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and Parsees are all brothers to one another). The message today should be: ‘Shed your egos, particularities, differences and contradictory ways of life. Come and behave like the Hindus’. Consider only the small group of Bombay Presidency’s Muslims who were classified as ‘Hindu-Muhammadans’ in the 1911 census! During British Raj the famous yesteryears’ Muslim actors of now century-old Indian film industry adopted Hindu names. Famous are: Dilip Kumar, Santosh Kumar, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, and so on. Ours is a tolerant religion, if you call it a religion. The Official Book’ of Israel notes: Israel parliament’s first meeting thanked India that is the land where Jews were never persecuted in their 2,500-year history!

Heterogeneity is a striking feature. This land is dizzyingly diverse that is densely overpopulated and often chaotic with multi-layered histories, cultures, communities and beliefs. India’s poverty, dynastic politics, misogyny, caste oppression and myriad other forms of human debasement continually fester. It is a prismatic society that exists in several frames of time (even centuries), thinking, social and economic developments. There are two faces of India i.e. co-existing extremes or contradictions: Poverty & Opulence, Filthy Rich & Poor Politicians, Violence & Worship, Education & Child Labor, Feast & Fast, On the sacred land of Hind Feminine Divinity & Female Infanticide, Street food & Luxury Gourmet Cuisine, Gully Cricket & IPL, Population & Poverty, Spirituality & Corruption, etc.

An interesting anecdote aptly sums up the state of affairs here. An American visited India and went back to America where he met his Indian friend who asked him: How did you find my Country? The American replied: It is a great country with solid ancient history and immensely rich State with natural resources. The Indian friend then asked: How did you find Indians? The American queried: Indians? Who Indians? I didn’t find or meet a single Indian there in India. This surprised the friend: What nonsense? Who else could u met in India then? The American said: In Kashmir, I met a Kashmiri. In Punjab, I met a Punjabi. Likewise in Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Tamil Nadu and, Kerala, there are Biharis, Marathis, Marwadis, Gujaratis, Bengalis, Tamilians and Malayalis respectively. Then I met Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Jews and many more such prototypes. But not a single Indian did I meet! Think how serious this joke is? The day may not be far when indeed we would become a collection of polarized states as most regional and other anti-national politicians want!

An estimated $1tn (£600bn) a year is being taken out of poor countries and 3.6 millions of lives are lost because of corruption. A report by the US-based anti-poverty ‘Organization One’ says much of the progress made over the past two decades in tackling extreme poverty has been put at risk by corruption and crime. Corrupt activities include the use of phantom firms and money laundering. If action were taken to end secrecy that allows corruption to thrive—and if the recovered revenues were invested in health—many deaths could be prevented in low-income countries. One describes its findings as a trillion dollar scandal. Corruption inhibits private investment, reduces economic growth, increases the cost of doing business and can lead to political instability. But in developing countries, corruption is a killer. When governments are deprived of their own resources to invest in health care, food security or essential infrastructure, it costs lives and the biggest toll is on children as is happening in Hindustan, for example.

Hindustanis, belonging to one of the oldest civilizations, are today, unfortunately, thoroughly and disparately fragmented thanks to the communal self-serving Congress party as well as its like-minded or crony parties and country’s deeply entrenched caste systems, customs and rituals having fault lines with trenchant illiteracy, orthodoxy, closed minds of its people who prefer to live in the past, and dour problematic needs and sharp division between haves and have-nots. People, politicians, police, et al generally possess duplicity of character and maintain double standards in life. Classical example of a politician is that of the Mahatma, so called ‘Father of Nation’. Gandhi was staunchly pro-Muslim who lived and died for them. However, when his oldest son embraced Islam, Gandhi refused to meet him till the time the guy reconverted into Hinduism. Harilal did come back to his original faith through the aegis of Arya Samaj but never meet his hypocrite father! This classical trait of Gandhi is faithfully depicted in Anil Kapoor-produced Bollywood movie: ‘Gandhi My Father’. It was a real tragedy that being very mediocre person who passed matriculation with difficulty, Gandhi could never get along with highly intelligent senior/contemporary/junior leaders: Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak (13 years older); Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose being younger to Gandhi by 7, 18 and 27 years respectively. One classical example is that of police in the financial capital Mumbai—a police force that was ranked next to Scotland Yard. Famous actor Salman Khan committed two serious offences. He killed Black buck—an endangered species—in Rajasthan in 2001 during the period when shooting of a film was on. In 2003, possibly under the influence of alcohol he rammed his imported luxury car over three poor persons sleeping on the pavement in Bandra, Mumbai. Nothing has happened so far even after a lapse of a dozen years. On the contrary, Mumbai police claimed to have ‘lost’ the original file of witnesses pertaining to the hit-and-run case since their palm must have been greased heavily!

By and large, Indians are first class people who have suffered too long from third-rate governance by Congress. If one goes abroad to any developed country, one finds Indians shining in their respective areas/fields. In own country they are not allowed to prosper thanks to their corrupt, good for nothing, inept, rudderless, self-serving and unworthy politicians who have politicized every sphere of life with their vice-like grip. Congress was formed for the elite of Indian society in December 1885 by Scotsman Allan Octavian Hume with blessings of Viceroy Lord Dufferin. The premise: To secure a pie among high ranking government jobs. The bait: Congress will remain loyal to British Raj and subservient to white skin that it continues to date truthfully. Congress has been split many times in its long history: first time in 1907 when great Lokmanya Tilak formed the ‘hot faction’ that wanted total freedom. However, majority remained with ‘cold faction’ led by ‘dwarf’ Gokhale playing second fiddle to British Raj. Autocratic, opportunistic, selfish, self-serving and highly egotistic Gandhi—a Gokhale follower—took over the reins of Congress in 1920 only after the death of Tilak. Having no truck with his own four sons, he established a political dynasty in the form of ‘adopted son’ Nehru who in turn propagated to his daughter. Gandhi was fond of sycophants but highly intolerant to any dissent—a trait shared by his dynasty. After the end of WWI and the demise of Ottoman Empire in 1919, he instituted communal politics by supporting Khilafat Movement spearheaded by Maulana Azad and Ali brothers accepting caliphate of Turkey. Jinnah—senior Congress leader and life-president of Muslim League—as a Muslim strongly chided Gandhi for that move. Fortunately Kamal Ataturk’s Turkish National Assembly abolished caliphate in 1924 and Khilafat Movement died its natural death. Situation has deteriorated gravely thanks to the faulty ‘vote bank’ politics of Congress that ruled bulk of the time since independence. For Congress all along its long history, Politics meant family business and Secularism was taken as anti-Hindu pro-Muslim stance without offering any concrete benefits to the latter community!

Every day, hundreds of RTI activists work tirelessly to expose the deception and dishonesty of rich, powerful and influential people and organizations. The government is accountable for providing them a safe environment. However, that is far from the case. Whistleblowers are the freedom fighters of today and they often pay the price with their lives. Their small but significant actions help make our society cleaner, safer and our systems more accountable. Discrimation although debarred in Constitution is openly practiced in terms of certain caste-based reservations in a so called ‘secular’ country. Tragically, even 67 years after independence there are certain categories of Indians treated as Minorities and/or outcasts. They are: Women (who are nearly half of the population); Homosexuals; North-Easterners; Handicapped, disabled and differently-abled; The Poor; Children and Minors; Inter-caste lovers; Sportspersons; Honest and straightforward persons, Animals and Pets. An orthodox/ feudal mind-set is to change if we have to progress to be at par with modern developed countries of the world!

Democracy never existed within Congress party and, as a consequence, in the country. Democracy is about consensus but we witnessed autocracy. Without democratic spirit and/or with planted leadership, there cannot be a healthy succession. In fact, political deterioration began with Gandhi. In 1939, he stated: Corruption is so rampant within Congress that I would like a decent burial of the party. But duplicity of character prevented corrective steps in that direction. Even on the dawn of Independence natural leadership was missing. If it were natural, Congress would not have had undeserving Nehru as PM. And for that matter, even highly manipulative Gandhi could not be its leader. He consistently and selfishly kept Jinnah out of mainstream. Bose who was as popular as Gandhi was thrown out. Later on, duly elected Prime Minister Patel was tricked. Had Jinnah become the first PM, subcontinent would have remained one obviating Partition. In a united India, we would not be spending insane amounts on defense. Bose had a vision and roadmap for the development of free country. India would have certainly progressed differently. Likewise, Patel would have been better than selfish megalomaniac Nehru. Gandhi demolished all that. Nehru was highly ambitious and knew very well his lack of capacity to fight and come up against any one. In a natural process, Nehru would have gone out during the very first round itself. He became a leader only because of Gandhi’s patronage, protection, scheming and skewed planning. All the while, throughout his long glue to his ‘cherished throne’ Nehru was grooming daughter Indira.

Were the bigwigs of Congress really nationalistic? The barely 23-year olds had stirred the conscience of the subcontinent and made the issue of freedom (from British) alive within a few years—a feat Congress could not achieve in her first four decades. It is well-known that the date of hanging of the three greatest martyrs namely Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev was fixed for 24th March 1931. But the trio was hanged at 7:30pm on 23rd March over 12 hours prior to scheduled time. The law stipulated nobody could be hanged before time and certainly not after sunset. Emotions of Indians were aroused to the hilt. British-trained barristers, Gandhi, his protégé Nehru and colleague Patel, did neither challenge nor object nor protest although Jinnah did register his protest. Why so? Congress was opposed to the martyrs and afraid of losing face if revolutionaries succeeded in their mission. The same was the reason for opposition to Subhas Bose who was the greatest nationalist ever born in the subcontinent and the only one more popular than scheming Gandhi. Bose was the only Indian leader who confronted Britain on the battle front when pygmies or British stooges like Nehru went on to say that he would fight Bose if he attacked British India—a word self-serving megalomaniac Nehru could never honor much like innumerable other promises and utterances he made!

Dr Ambedkar—Dalit icon, one of India’s great thinkers and the architect of Constitution of India—was opposed to Gandhi and his wily ways and wanted India to abandon bloody methods of agitation: civil disobedience, non-cooperation and Satyagraha to achieve its social and economic goals. Ambedkar noted: Where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the’ grammar of anarchy’ and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us. Likewise, Jinnah was also opposed to ‘non-cooperation movement’—Gandhi’s weapon to entice and fool the masses to follow him. Gandhi contributed precious little to actual freedom struggle being a genuine well-wisher of the Raj. Soon after his last return to India, he had run from pillar to post from one village to the other to help recruit men for British Indian Army. Not less than 1.3 million Indians, more than or equal to its present army strength, participated in the First World War—suffering in a whopping 75,000 casualties plus 70,000 brought wounded with different grades of severity from the battle-fronts in Europe, Africa and the Middle-East.

Unfortunately rampant corruption within pre-independence Congress party continued to progress by leaps and bounds after independence. It may not be wrong to say that India may be the most corrupt country in the world today. Wide-spread and deep-rooted corruption of all types, grades and degrees especially administrative, moral, social and political is at the root of our problems. One finds an ever increasing omnipresent and omnipotent sky-high corruption in every walk of life: be it politicians, police or armed forces, bureaucrats or in fact any person or organization in private or public life dealing with the common man who feels helpless without proper ‘connections’. The cycle of corruption is self-sustaining: The poor and the under-privileged need the politician to help them get jobs and public services. The crooked politician needs the businessman to provide the funds that allow him to supply patronage to the poor and fight elections. The corrupt businessman needs the crooked politician to get public resources and contracts cheaply. A politician needs votes of the poor and underprivileged. Every constituency is tied to the other in a cycle of dependence, which ensures that the status quo prevails.

Last UPA government in its decade-long misrule brought the country to a grinding halt through sleaze, policy paralysis, innumerable high profile gargantuan scams, fiscal imprudence, fiddling with both internal and external security, and monster of high inflation and, worst of all, accentuating the communal divide. There was complete economic mess and utter chaos in India created by economist puppet ex-PM Manmohan’s non-governance and various mega-scams. However, he was continuously and perpetually shielded by his most corrupt (Congress) party using unfair means. The Indian Political Philharmonic Orchestra under UPA certainly had been the world’s most amazing cacophony of rascals, rogues and robbers. How was it possible for so many crooks with conflicting agendas to loot the country together as if in perfect unison? These were the people who destroyed India from within. They were robbing you, me, and the exchequer. They damaged institutions subverting laws, vandalizing our heritage and history by building a dazzling, amoral edifice of crime and corruption unprecedented anywhere else. A high ranking IB officer said on condition of anonymity it was a gang pf ten. Corruption became so common and universally manifest that it actually became an accepted part of life. Latest Transparency International report places India near the top of Perception of Corruption Index 2013! More than two-thirds of 177 countries score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). India with a score of 36, that is not even passing marks in so many countries, is dismal 94th in the ‘most corrupt nations’ list. Among the South Asian countries, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh remained more corrupt with CPI score of 31, 28, 27, respectively while Sri Lanka and Bhutan were less corrupt than India with CPI score of 63 and 37. China with CPI score of 40 is on 80th rank. United States was ranked at 19th position with a score of 73.

A culture of corruption impacts the rule of law since justice in India carries a heavy price-tag in hard cash. One does not get justice in India, one has to buy it. The focus tends to be on the business side (bribes taken by police, politicians, administrators, bureaucrats and lower judiciary for normal/routine government functions). But more insidious aspect of corruption, namely the compromising of criminal justice, does not seem to be a priority for our society. Unless corruption is properly (and commensurately) criminalized and punished, the system will simply not change. All the political rhetoric, public hand-wringing, Op-eds, Twitter and Facebook posts in the world will accomplish absolutely nothing. The crux of the problem has been dynastic politics among bulk of political parties. Congress never has had great or selfless leaders after Lokmanya Tilak’s death in 1920. For barely over a year from 1938 Netaji Subhas showed his charisma but was axed out by vituperative Gandhi since he had become more popular than Gandhi who appeared threatened. That is the reason as to why a scheming mediocre Gandhi ruled the roost. Systematic removal of party stalwarts by Indira in 1970s left a vacuum impossible to be filled. Last Congress PM amply proved this point! Time magazine announced year 2012 ‘Man of the Year’ honor for American president Barack Obama. Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai who wholeheartedly worked for girls’ education in Pakistan was shot at by Taliban and treated in Britain was a close runner-up. One wonders if Time had another nomination: ‘Eunuch of the Year’, who would have got it from India! No guesses for it.

India ranked at 143rd position out of 162 countries surveyed for violence and criminality. University of Michigan recently did a study to find out the nations with worst road deaths: India ranked 76th, China 44th, and US 97th. Safest place to drive a car is Maldives ranked 193rd. Criminality is nevertheless ‘high’ in India, more so than elsewhere in South Asia, apart from Afghanistan; brutal acts of violence do occur. An escalation of violence was reported in some of India’s troubled north-eastern states in 2012, notably Nagaland, Manipur and Meghalaya. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) said there were 309,546 reported crimes against women last year against 244,270 in 2012 i.e. a 25 percent increase with the highest number recorded in Andhra Pradesh. The number of rapes rose by 35.2 percent to 33,707 in 2013—with Delhi reporting 1,441 rapes in 2013—making it the city with the highest number of rapes confirming its reputation as India’s or even world’s ‘rape capital’. Imagine a female is raped every 19 minutes in India! Likewise, the menace of child marriage among girls is most common in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. India is among the top 10 countries with highest rates of child marriage in spite of the law forbidding a girl’s marriage before 18 years of age. South Asia is home to almost half (42 per cent) of all child brides worldwide; India alone accounts for one-third of the global total as per UNICEF. In India, about 27 per cent of women aged 20 to 49 years were married before age 15. About 31 per cent of women in that age group were married after age 15 but before they turned 18. In India, the median age at first marriage is 19. Have we achieved anything in 67 years?

Hindustan is in danger of moving towards severe water scarcity conditions as per capita availability of water is continuously on the decline in the country, an Asian Development Bank official said on 20th August 2014. On Human Development Index—which is constructed by using a combination of years of schooling, life expectancy and income indicators—our overall rank is 135 putting it nearly three-quarters of the way down the list. India’s score for 2013, at 0.586 points, places it near the bottom of the Medium category which is understandable since it crossed from Low to Medium only six or seven years ago. Just over 100 of the total list of 187 countries are in the ‘High’ or ‘Very High’ human development category. Nuclear-armed India continues to perform poorly on several Global Peace Index measures of militarization that contributes to its low rank of 141 among 162 nations. The latest annual ranking of GPI states that 500 million people live in countries at risk of instability and conflict and India is one of them. According to the GPI, the ten most peaceful countries, in order, from 2013 to 2014 are Iceland, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, Switzerland, Finland, Canada, Japan, Belgium, and Norway. The most violent countries at the bottom are Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, and North Korea. The economic impact of containing and dealing with the consequences of violence in 2013 was significant, amounting to $9.8 trillion per annum, an increase of $179 billion from that in 2012. There is tremendous work to be carried out for pulling out the country from doldrums. Time alone will tell what the dispensation under PM Modi can achieve!

Slavery is banned world-wide but slaves exist in large numbers, 30 million. The latest Global Slavery Index in 2013, providing a ranking of 162 countries, noted: "India has the largest number of people in modern slavery estimated between 13.3 and 14.7 million (50 percent of 29.8 million global slaves). Many of India’s enslaved have not been moved from one place to another—they are enslaved in their own villages. Sexual exploitation of Indian women, men and transgender people, both adults and children, is widespread. Enforcement of laws criminalizing modern slavery is inconsistent, and the complicity or interference of government officials has been widely reported. The justice system is very slow generally, so victims have little or no confidence in its capacity to deliver a result. The quality of government-run shelter homes ranges from acceptable to very poor, with women in some states being left to languish in these homes, with poor nutrition and medical care, and few opportunities to improve their skills for the future." Victims of modern slavery are often prevented from receiving an education, receive little or no pay, and cannot speak or move freely. This is not only a grave injustice for those experiencing these conditions but the knock-on effects are unfathomable—the world is missing out on the potential of millions of people.

On 27th February 2014, US expressed concerns about the ills that continue to hound India in ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ released by Secretary of State John Kerry. What ails India: communal disharmony, widespread corruption, overburdened and corrupt judiciary, insurgency and naxalism, rights abuse and fake encounters, lack of women’s safety, domestic violence, honor killings, and caste bias. There are 64.5 million domestic workers in the world with over 15 percent being children; bulk of them living in India—a known dishonest country with scant respect for laws of the land. Domestic work is a growing industry, worth $8 billion in illegal profits every year. If all domestic workers worked in one country, that country would be the tenth largest employer worldwide. According to Human Rights Watch, "Domestic workers in countries like India face horrific abuses." India’s inability to act against bonded labor and human trafficking—called modern slavery—undermines its moral standards and democratic credentials. New York-based attorney Anand Ahuja observed: When we Indians, who are used to mistreating domestic servants back home in India, come to countries like the United States where these workers enjoy a fair amount of legal protection, (we) continue treating them badly as if we still live in India. It’s when we are exposed to these laws of foreign countries that we realize that we are not living in India. Even diplomats who are members of the elite Indian Foreign Service (selected on merit or by dint of Dalit card or other extraneous factors) when posted in civilized countries continue to exhibit those undesirable traits. They may have the added problem of a bloated ego. Three cases came to light during 2013 ironically pertaining to Indian diplomats posted in same New York Consulate. Yahoo News published a long write-up titled, ‘How Indian envoys to the US can fall victim to maids’, by former Consular General, Prabhu Dayal on 23rd December 2013. He clarified that consular staff posted in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston and San Francisco does not enjoy diplomatic immunity. He put the onus of this fiasco including the recent Devyani case fallout on Ministry of External Affairs, India. The cases are: 1] Mrs. Santosh Bhardwaj was Dayal’s housekeeper for two years in India and four years in Morocco before joining as domestic assistant in New York in February 2009. Eleven months later, in January 2010, she absconded from the consulate building where she lived. In June 2011, she sued Dayal for alleged slavery, non-payment of full wages, etc. and intimidating her into a year of forced labour. A year later Dayal reportedly settled the case on undisclosed terms. 2] Dr Neena Malhotra who worked as a consul at the consulate in New York was asked to pay almost $1.5 million to her former domestic worker Shanti Gurung who worked as a house-keeper for over three years. Gurung disappeared on the eve of Malhotra’s transfer back to India and filed a lawsuit a year later against her employer alleging confinement, forced labor, slavery, ill treatment, etc. 3] Dr Devyani Khobragade, 39, Deputy Consul General in New York was arrested on 12th December 2013 and accused by Manhattan’s Indian American US Attorney, Preet Bharara of visa fraud, issuing false statements and exploiting her Indian babysitter-cum-housekeeper, Sangeeta Richard that carried maximum sentences of ten and five years in prison respectively, if found guilty. However, Devyani (a corrupt diplomat with illegal allotment in Adarsh Housing) was allowed to leave America and return to India on a ‘deal’ between the two countries!

Indian civilization was one of the earliest in our universe starting well and on a firm footing contributing its part for the benefit of mankind: to development of morality, philosophy and thought process. Everything seemed to go on well till the advent of Islam in the late second half of the first millennium. Over its last three centuries, the uncivilized Arabs from the Middle-East started looting the subcontinent after first conquering Sind in 8th century AD. The better part of second millennium from 1187 to 1947 saw the subjugation of Indians first by Muslims who entered as marauders and then from 1757 the British who had come as traders a few centuries earlier. There must have been reasons for outsiders to conquer and get entrenched into parts and later most of the subcontinent. Our inability to remain united was the first and foremost factor. Intricate caste system leading to intra-religious divisiveness among the population was another reason. Inter-religious divide due to Islamic hostilities became another contributor, after proselytizing of original population into Islam had reached a critical level. All those conflicting circumstances led to small or not so small feuding kingdoms at loggerheads—making the job of invading Muslims or scheming Europeans quite easy like a cake walk. Indians continued to remain divided and hence foolish. Orthodoxy, illiteracy, backwardness and lack of nationalism are other important factors. Sadly these drawbacks persist to date, thanks to over half a century of Congress misrule!

All religions existing in the world today were born in Asia. Hinduism—the oldest religion of the world originated in the subcontinent maybe 2,500 years ago and was not a rigidly encased water-tight religion. Even our Supreme Court once ruled; Hinduism is a way of life rather than a strict religion. To start with there used to be four divisions or sections depending on their function or role in the society. During the 6th century BC, Jainism and Buddhism were created as some modifications on the base religion. Outside the subcontinent, Jerusalem gave birth to three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam in that order. Zoroastrians or Parsees as they are known originated from Persia just bordering the subcontinent. Religionists from the last four newer faiths moved to the subcontinent in stages. Sikhism developed during the 2nd millennium in the subcontinent as an improvement upon orthodox rituals and complexities in Hinduism. Their 10th and the last Guru Gobind called them Singh or Lion thereby transforming them into a fiercely warrior clan to protect Hindu brethren from Muslims’ abuse, atrocities, excesses, injustice and proselytizing. Percentage-wise break-up of Indian population to religious communities is: Hindus-80.5; Muslims-13.4; Christians-2.3; Sikhs-1.9; Buddhists-0.8; Jains-0.4; Other Religions & Persuasions-0.6; and Religion not stated-0.1 [Source: 2001 Census data]. And by caste the population has: Scheduled Castes-19.59; and Scheduled Tribes-8.63 [Source: NSSO, 2011]

War time British PM Sir Winton Churchill visited the subcontinent as a young subaltern during closing years of 19th century. In 1899, he delivered a short speech: How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensuality deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and was it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome.

How prophetic Churchill was! Pakistan is on brink today and sitting on tinderbox because of its own creation. British PM David Cameron said: Britain was facing a greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before. Confronting ISIS was part of a generational struggle that he thought could last decades. Poisonous ideology of Islamist extremism is the root cause of the terror threat. We will always act with urgency when needed. There is not much change in the plight of the community in India or elsewhere but for increasing terrorism! The Netherlands where six percent of the population is now Muslim, is scrapping multiculturalism. The Dutch government says it will abandon the long-standing model of multiculturalism that has encouraged Muslim immigrants to create a parallel society within the Netherlands. A new integration bill, which Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to parliament on June 16, reads: The government shares the social dissatisfaction over the multicultural society model and plans to shift priority to the values of the Dutch people. In the new integration system, the values of the Dutch society play a central role. With this change, the government steps away from the model of a multicultural society. The letter continues: A more obligatory integration is justified because the government also demands that from its own citizens. It is necessary because otherwise the society gradually grows apart and eventually no one feels at home anymore in the Netherlands. The new integration policy will place more demands on immigrants. For example, immigrants will be required to learn the Dutch language, and the government will take a tougher approach to immigrants who ignore Dutch values or disobey Dutch law. The government will also stop offering special subsidies for Muslim immigrants because, according to Donner; It is not the government’s job to integrate immigrants. How bloody true! The government will introduce new legislation that outlaws forced marriages and will also impose tougher measures against Muslim immigrants who lower their chances of employment by the way they dress. More specifically, the government imposed a ban on face-covering, Islamic burqas as of 1st January 2014. Holland has done that whole liberal thing, and realized—maybe too late—that CREATING A NATION OF TRIBES, WILL KILL THE NATION ITSELF. The future of Australia, UK, USA and Canada may well be read here. READERS NOTE: Muslim immigrants leave their countries of birth mostly because of civil and political unrest is "CREATED BY THE VERY NATURE OF THEIR CULTURE." Countries like Holland, Canada, the USA the UK and Australia have an established way of life that actually works, so why embrace the unworkable? If Muslims do not wish to accept another culture, the answer is simple: STAY WHERE YOU ARE! This gives a whole new meaning to the term, ‘Dutch Courage’ ... Unfortunately UK, USA and Canadian or even Indian politicians don’t have the ... guts to do the same. There’s a whole lot of truth here!!!!

Today Congress and like-minded parties/cronies like NCP, TMC, SP, JD-U, RJD, BSP and IUML are incapable of giving a counter narrative to communal politics. Tragically the intellectual class is too timid to build a counter argument, maybe because of lack of integrity and nationalism or insensitiveness to others. We find Indians deeply and finely divided on finest religious lines with divisions running too far as a consequence of maneuvering by these plus few other smaller regional parties. Congress has always remained a steadfast communal party. In a run-up to 2014 general elections DNA, on its front page cartoon, showed Congress president, with Manmohan and Rahul in tow, appealing: ‘I request all secular forces to vote communally’. One thing remained constant for nine decades: Congress always functioned under an autocratic leader with a Gandhi always at the helm of affairs! It remained the fiefdom of (Mahatma) Gandhi passed on to his ‘adopted son’ Nehru to Indira to Rajiv to now Sonia who anointed her son Rahul as vice president. Is Congress a political party or family business? Moreover, Sonia’s uppity, attitude and sense of insecurity kept her surrounded by genuflecting lackeys and of having ignored the wise council of others.

Thoroughly corrupt and inept Congress prime ministers worked overtime to prove Churchill right on what he said in 1946: Power will go into the hands of rascals, rogues and free-booters? All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for caste, religion, power and even for no reasons. India will be lost in squabbles. A day would come when even air and water would be taxed in India. Indians are definitely not yet qualified and prepared to manage their independence responsibly. Most notable among them has been the grossly incompetent, ineffectual, dumb, dummy, but not so honest Manmohan often compared to (blind) King Dhritrashtra of Mahabharata. He exceeded the brief by repeatedly generating scams on a large scale. While the parliamentary system was virtually destroyed earlier by his predecessors, the Cabinet system was eroded under him. He did lasting harm to the country’s economy, image, security and stability!

Our youngsters are second to none in academic pursuits. But it is the fault of us parents that they are not groomed properly towards becoming good and well-meaning citizens wedded to nationalism and patriotism. The result: they are self-centered, have tubular vision, unfocused on their duties towards their motherland, unaware of their country’s characteristics, contours and history thereby unable to do anything for her betterment. History taught to our youngsters ever since independence is untruthful, distorted and highly skewed in favor of the most corrupt Congress party. History ignored real players who fought for freedom by sacrificing their young lives. So much so their clan who fought against the British Raj in her own language is labeled as terrorists rather than revolutionary freedom fighters. Our youth ought to be far more pragmatic and become fiercely proud in calling them Indians. Dynastic, autocratic, (thoroughly) corrupt, communal, caste-based, appeasement (of Muslims), non-patriotic, opportunistic, selfish, slugfest, oral rhetoric are some of the qualities that come to mind in defining the state of politicians in India in general and those of Congress (I) in particular who hardly believe in any worthwhile patriotic action but keep on amassing tons of ill-gotten wealth. They are bleeding the country dry. For some unexplained reasons, we citizens have chosen to remain dumb-founded and silent like sacrificial lambs. That goes on to prove that maybe 99 percent of us Indians are either self-appointed idiots or devoid of nationalism and patriotism being oblivious of our duties as responsible citizens.

Unfortunately, the unseemly methods in dirty Indian power politics—caste mobilization, communalism, regionalism, sectarianism; corruption; criminalization of politics; crony capitalism; patronage; polarization and short-term populism—have all been the creation of Congress party through its decades of misrule. Probity has never been the strongest suit of this party. A staggering 30 percent of lawmakers across central and state legislatures face serious criminal charges, many of them multiple charges of rape, murder and kidnapping. They are still acceptable to attend parliament/assembly for law-making and drawing hefty salaries and benefits. Politicians and gangsters have long been bedfellows, not least because of the dirty money that fuels political campaigns. More than 90 percent of funding for political parties comes from unknown sources according to the advocacy group, ‘Association for Democratic Reforms’. There was a gargantuan scam, one of the many, over the sale of the 2G mobile spectrum that Time magazine listed as number 2 on its ‘Top 10 Abuses of Power’, behind the infamous Watergate scandal. Delhi’s botched hosting of 2010 Commonwealth Games led to dozens of corruption cases. Later UPA was hit by a furor over the allocation of coal deposits notoriously known as ‘Coalgate’—the largest scam anywhere in the world involving rupees 18.6 trillion. Whereas American President Nixon was impeached over ‘Watergate’ not a single scammer’s head rolled in India even for more horrendous crimes! Congress chose Lalu Prasad Yadav as alliance partner after he became the first and the only politician to be convicted and jailed for the first of many cases of corruption against him, sentenced for five years in jail and debarred from contesting elections for six years. This once again points to the abysmal state of corrupt Congress (I)!

Hindus are in great majority making over 80 percent of the population. The preamble to our Constitution amended in 1970s makes it a ‘secular’ state. Neither Constitution nor laws define the relationship between religion and state. Secularism is not defined. Neither is it followed by dictionary meaning. It is strange that if a Hindu speaks of his religion he is branded ‘communal’ whereas a Muslim or Christian talking about his religion is ‘secular’. It is ironical that Hindus have to pay for Amarnath Yatra whereas Muslims get Hajj subsidy! Remember there are 54 Muslim countries in the world but NONE of them give Hajj Subsidy. However, it is pseudo-secular India alone doing this unlawful act! Congress has been a pro-Muslim party. This slant started by Gandhi in 1919 was first pointed by the staunch nationalist and intellectual Rishi Sri Aurobindo Ghosh who observed: Every action for instance which may be objectionable to a number of Mohamedans is now liable to be forbidden because it is likely to lead to a breach of peace, and one is dimly beginning to wonder whether the day may not come when worship in Hindu temples may be forbidden on that invalid ground. This fear was translated into reality by the ‘Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill’ drafted by UPA-2 cabinet whereby a member of the majority Hindu community will be arrested without giving any proof if a member of Muslim community lodges a complaint with the police. Fortunately this could not become the law. Improperly/inadequately paid/trained and overworked police, under the thumb of their political masters, do not perform as per the book. And like politicians, police are a law unto them!

On 24th November 2013, I bumped into a senior Indian American diplomat (D) posted to Islamabad at a local bus stop. We travelled for 10 minutes or so. He displayed courtesy and a polished demeanour requesting a lady with a child to vacate seats meant for senior citizens when number of ladies seats were unoccupied. The lady vacated the seat after a lot of fuss. We started a conversation. I told D about the traits in our Indian character as recounted in the foregoing paragraph saying that our police and politicians are equally/ thoroughly corrupt and useless. D narrated his experience while passing through security at Dabolim airport before boarding Goa-Mumbai flight. When his turn came, one Mr Kumar suddenly appeared from nowhere and the security staff (P) started paying all the attention, courtesy and priority to this gentleman. D questioned this undue favour being showered on a person who never joined the queue. Arrogant P was very overbearing, harsh and unquoth in attitude threatening to take action against D for obstruction of official function of a government servant. P said new person who jumped the queue was famous Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar who boasted about his hierarchy in Bollywood and privileges attached to it. D challenged P to take action against him and dare clear him first and out of turn. P tried to browbeat D. Exhibiting his diplomatic passport, D told P that he would manage to get him dismissed if the latter ever tried to touch the former and did anything like that. The stance of P softened immediately apologizing to D. This reflects police attitude changes when confronted by the well-connected or the rich. Immediately, A also became courteous inviting D for dinner in Mumbai on any date and time convenient to him in a reflection of our well-known attraction for foreigners. D declined the offer saying he would not like to dine with an unprincipled person like A. Thus D made A to stand in queue for security check remarking that America even the president would stand in a queue rather than claiming privileges. However, P remarked that foreigners should not visit India. D also threw his weight around saying that in such an event the Indians should not visit America, the ‘most powerful nation’ on earth. D also remarked that beggars can’t be choosers. Our dialogue went on. When I intervened that 162 out of 545 Indian MPs have criminal cases slapped against them, D shot back saying that everyone among Indian MPs is a criminal as per international norms. However, the dirty 162 much tainted MPs have serious criminal charges like murder, rape, etc. Those politicians are hell-bent on delaying conviction. This was graphically proven some days later that the longest time any politician is hoodwinking the law is 29 years! D pointed to rampant corruption, faltering fiscal management, misgovernance and policy paralysis going on within the UPA government. Strangely speaking, even foreigners not residing in the country know our attributes well!

Nelson Mandela once said during the 1990s: Our freedom can never be complete or our democracy made stable unless the basic needs of our people are met. Alas! Our political rulers could appreciate that hard fact of leadership quality. Hundreds of millions of Indians are still struggling to meet their basic needs for food, water, sanitation, shelter and livelihood. The insincere selfish Congress politicians have been talking of removing poverty for all these 67 years. The net result has been an increase in numbers of those below poverty line reaching a figure (363 million in 2011-12) that is higher than total population of the subcontinent at the time of British departure. The Asian Development Bank has revised its poverty line to $1.51 per person a day compared to $1.25 by the World Bank, which would push the numbers of poor by 182 million to 584 million in 2010 compared to the WB’s estimates of 402 million. WB’s calculations imply almost half of India’s population (47.7 per cent) was below the line in 2010. Rangarajan panel says anyone spending up to rupees 47 a day in urban areas and rupees 32 in villages would be considered poor (as of 2011-12).

Eighty percent of Indians need food subsidy today. The eco-systems are also being continually devastated, both by industry and competition for survival at the base of the economy. There has been a steady general decline in norms and standards of political and personal conduct. Gandhi, in his typical duplicity of character, once said that politics devoid of honesty and spirituality is disastrous for the country. Corruption was rampant within the party that he cared a little. Our entire political system is becoming more rotten by each passing day. The third-rated, the bully and the thug are having their own way. The decent and the scrupulous have been systematically elbowed out of the system at all levels. Congress managed to maintain fraudulent façade of ‘democracy’, reduced politics to a filthy game that nobody wishing to keep his hands clean can play, and finished every institution. Processes of democracy have been subverted to serve ends of self-aggrandizement of dishonest ‘rulers’ with scant respect to the country or its hapless under-privileged teeming citizens who are finding it difficult to make two ends to meet!

True democracy and real freedom of expression never existed within Congress party and hence the country. This produced devastating results. There has ever been a vulgar display of sheer sycophancy to climb to greater heights in politics or even to a greater extent in bureaucracy and administration. ‘The Paranoid State’ was the cover story in ‘India Today’ on 17th December 2012. Armed with loosely worded and ambiguous Section 66(A) of ‘Information Technology Act 2000’, the government started increasing crackdown on dissent on the internet. The Draconian Section was introduced as an amendment by UPA in 2008. As of July 2012, there were 125 million internet users—3rd largest after America and China—with 75 percent being below 35 years of age. This group, rightly using sarcasm and irony to discuss politicians and their dirty politics, is active on social networking sites, sharing views that cannot always be complimentary to the corrupt, ineffective, partisan and useless authorities. If an innocuous Facebook user is the enemy of the State, there is something terribly wrong with the government. The concerned sycophant Union minister was busy trying to rein in social networking sites and service providers including Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Orkut, Twitter, and Yahoo and forcing them of weeding out posts that were critical of the government. It is said that accounts of over 1,000 internet users critical of PM Manmohan were axed out. This is a violation of Article 19 in the Constitution of India guarantying fundamental right to free speech and expression. The police like our politicians are grossly inept and highly corrupt. Justice JS Verma Commission criticized and indicted the police recommending a thorough review. A couple of years ago, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice RM Lodha who is the current CJI, during the course of hearing a PIL, noted: Even if God descends on earth He cannot save India.

The British rulers debased the mentality of our ancestors. Generally speaking, we are reactionary, irresponsible, undisciplined hypocrites; lacking accountability, civic sense, courtesy and etiquette; basically dishonest; essentially law-breakers; insensitive to others but notably to females and elders; self-centered and NOT nationalistic or patriotic enough but instead having a feudal and selfish mindset. We talk about equality for all Indians, but we make our domestic helps sit on the floor. We rile against reservation but resist doing business with people outside our caste or religion. We happily pay thousands of rupees over expensive meals at restaurants, but get upset when a rickshaw-wala dithers over returning a few rupees in change. The average Indian is often a self-contradicting, multitudinous creature that practices these everyday hypocrisies. We are followers rather than leaders and so gullible that any crook can lead or fool us. We boast to be the ‘largest democracy’ in the world. Effective, true or real democracy neither existed nor our public ever bothered about it. Casting vote once in five years—on one’s own will, but generally under duress or lure of money—has been falsely equated to democracy. Our over-dependence on a just but elusive and awfully slow legal system is a telling comment on our failing ethicality and morality. Any criminal can delay judicial proceedings. Exploitation may be a global phenomenon but we have excelled in that trade too! Politicians exploit electorate, bureaucrats the public, bosses their subordinates, rich the poor or vice versa, religious gurus their followers, service providers their customers, teachers their students, parents their children or vice versa, and so on. Slavery instilled by the British got deeply entrenched in our mind and is transmitted genetically. One simple proof: in 68th year of independence in 21st century the Congress (I) is still subservient to white skin, run by Italy-born Sonia since 1998 as a family business with her son as vice president! Even after the atrocious performance in 2014 general elections, senior Congress members can’t look beyond her son Rahul. Isn’t it pathetic?

Lord Macaulay’s address to the British parliament on 2nd February 1835 is worth recalling. I have traveled along the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we can conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual, and cultural heritage, and therefore, I propose we replace the ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation. Thus one major fall-out of British colonialism was the change in educational system. This led to distancing from Sanskrit, the language of our scriptures and backbone of our culture and society, leading to break-down of the original character of honesty. So English was made the medium of instruction in the changed but indifferent curriculum under the Macaulay System. That brought about the desired result for the British making Indians basically dishonest and subservient by severing them from their roots. The first non-political governor of Meghalaya Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary—a member of the Bodo tribe of Assam; retired Indian Police Service officer who served as Director General of Police Kerala, who had headed the Border Security Force and the National Security Guard—in an interview with Archana Masih of Rediff.com News in Shillong published on 27th February 2013 said: As a matter of fact, I think in India what is retarding our progress is not lack of resources, but the lack of honesty and work culture. That is what is really keeping India backward. With the resources we have, if we had a better work culture and honesty, we could have really progressed.

Unfortunately for the country, there has been a drastic downward qualitative change in national character, ideology, moral values, level of nationalism/patriotism and thought process! To start with there were valiant and staunch Indians who firmly believed in ‘do or die’. The noteworthy namely King Porus, King Chandragupta Maurya and his grandson Emperor Asoka vanquished the invaders of their motherland and/or their country’s enemies. There was the 16-year old Rajput prince Bapa Rawal—an ancestor of Maharana Pratap—who not only defeated Mahmud Ghaznavi but also followed the fleeing invader right to the door steps of his kingdom, Ghazni. Then there were those who valiantly fought their foreign adversaries such as the likes of Maharana Sanga and grandson Maharana Pratap, the Maratha king and warrior Shivaji, the creator of warrior Sikh clan Guru Gobind Singh, Nawabs Hyder Ali and son Tipu Sultan, Nawab Siraj-ud-Daullah, Maharani Lakshmibai; 19th/20th century real leaders Lokmanya Tilak, BR Ambedkar and truly great leader Netaji Subhas. Alas! They were not allowed to serve the country properly, were shabbily treated and unsupported or even opposed by Congress since that party was not for national interests! It had only one agenda: self-promotion and aggrandizement as well as fooling and looting the Indian public. During early 21st century, forthright apolitical Anna Hazare was likewise not allowed to perform.

The first ever U.S. lady Ambassador to India Nancy Powell said on 29th November 2012: Quality of education in India remains a ‘concern and major challenge’ while underlining the need to address the gap in reading levels to better prepare children for the future. Most important question is: What did the recently liberated slave Indians need the most? Unfortunate lot deserved: Healthcare, education, attention of the government and discipline or stated in abbreviation, ‘HEAD’. The ‘head’ of the country or J&K got pulverized in two months after Partition by its daughter country Pakistan created by sheer bankruptcy of thinking, foolishness, lack of strong sense of nationalism and mindlessness of the three stalwarts, custodians or ‘musketeers’ of Congress: Gandhi, Nehru, and Patel. Nehru did nothing to restore the ‘Head’ ignoring the rightful advice of his senior statesman, Patel and the head of J&K Indian army operations, Lt Gen Cariappa to retake the territories from Pakistan-supported invaders who were on the run! Ignominy of losing sizeable territory of J&K to Pakistan (in 1947) and later on to China (in1962) was due to Nehru’s blunderbuss foolishness. The menace of corruption was nurtured and nourished by Nehru from day one of independence. A chat with my peers and seniors bares one fact: Gandhi and Nehru caused the maximum damage to the country.

Corruption, lawlessness and loss of national character are the benchmark of India polity and society today. Incompetence, corruption, heartlessness, and sheer uselessness of India’s police force are no longer funny but an acknowledged fact. Someone summed up the psyche and working of police like this: ‘If there is one person take bribe, if there is a couple harass them, if there are some cane charge them, and if there are many flee the scene and disappear’. All the inadequacies of police were brought out very clearly during the two-hour discussion of various stake holders in TV show‘Satyamev Jayate’ presented by famous actor Aamir Khan in March 2014. It is a matter of urgent national concern and, frankly, panic for a country struggling rather hard to stay on its own legs. How is it that a civilization of thousands of years of knowledge and culture behind it does