Jai Mahakaali! Ayo Gorkhali!

Following objection from the West Bengal C (Checha) M (Michi) to Jai Sri Ram, BJP has decided to add Jai Mahakaali to Jai Sriram in their Bengal slogans. The spine-chilling battle cry ‘Jai Mahakaali! Ayo Gorkhali!’ is identified worldwide with the legendary Gorkha soldier. The Gorkhas see Goddess Kali in her embodiment as Mahakaali the Adi Shakti and divine protector. The tradition of the Gorkhas invoking the blessings of Mahakaali before a battle began when they first emerged as a fighting force from the citadels of the kingdom of Gorkha in the eighteenth century and continues till date.

On a lighter note, the pet parrots and ‘mithus’ of the world will have to extend their vocabulary beyond just ‘Jai Sriram’. Give another green chilly for more squawks and screeches.

Hinglish English

South India blessed with coconut groves, erupted in protests against the 3-language formula of the National Education Policy 2019, which sought to make Hindi compulsory till Class VIII. The matter has died down with all clarifications duly agreed and settled, Hindi language belted out and the coconut tree fronds continue to sway gently with occasional heavy thuds of the falling magical fruit. However, not noted by many but of significant importance mentioned in the draft was to make English “available and taught in a high quality manner at all government and non-government schools”.

Though, English is spoken locally by our South Indian brethren (never mind the accent), it is still considered to be a language of the educated elite in rest of India. It is a fact that even teachers speak Hindi in private English-speaking schools leave alone government ones. Spoken practice is very poor and with the social media age the language is breaking up into bytes. Also as leisure reading habits disappear, spellings are suffering and sentence construction is dry and devoid of any creativity. Many Word users do not even have an idea of UK English or US English. In India, we use UK English. And if anyone questions who does, well all your newspapers and magazines are written in UK English. English is a global language and important especially for us belonging to the Commonwealth community. The need for English has become more essential with global technological advancement. Some resist with colonial hangovers, not wanting to learn the Angrezo ka bhasha. The focus is on being multilingual, not tongue-tied.
The Draft Policy plans to provide assistance to the traditional religion based schools like Madrassas and Maktabs (Muslim Elementary schools) to introduce English in their curriculum. That certainly will be an asset to the students learning mainly Arabic and Urdu scripts. Language can widen your world or make it very small.

Skills, set, go!

The other day I was chatting with a graduate from the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, curious to know about the latest management fundas. He said that the School focuses on the ability to set up own ventures and the new demand is for skill sets. I always felt that the way to increase employment possibilities was skills and enterprising drive. There are no jobs for those with basic degrees but want to sit at a table with no special skill. Now everybody cannot be armed with M.Tech plus MBA from top universities and get that highly paid job in Coca Cola. Neither, can all clear CLAT, become Masters in Law again from top colleges and get snapped up high paying law firms. But I see a growing crowd of middle-class youth with skills from the ITI colleges and getting jobs in the Merchant Navy, manufacturing units or setting up their own workshops. Dignity comes from how you carry yourself and conduct your business. Let’s look at not just jobs but creating also self-employment skills for oneself.

Therefore, it was heartening to learn that PM Modi has set up two cabinet committees, one for investment and growth and the other for employment and skill development. Top brass ministers, who will aptly focus their grey cells to address the growth concerns and employment scarcity, head the panels.

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30th May: The Grand Swearing in but Mamata has a bad day

The capital was in the grip of a heat wave when but eight and half thousand guests gathered for the outdoor ceremony of the swearing in of India’s fourteenth Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his cabinet. Notable invitees were the families of BJP workers killed in poll violence and 2017 Gorkhaland martyrs from Darjeeling.

Two invitees who attended gracefully were Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. Two missing notables were Pakistan PM Imran Khan and WB CM Mamata Banerjee.

The former was not invited and the latter refused to accept the invitation, not that anyone missed her.

On the contrary, she had a bad day in Kolkata, expending her anger on men shouting “Jai Sri Ram” by getting out of her car to say that she will “not tolerate them…they are criminals…will skin them alive… outsiders, not Bengal local people” and asked her security to note down their names and details. Seven have been detained for shouting “Jai Shri Ram“.

Her behaviour noted as parochial and paranoid made national headlines. She would have been better off in Delhi for a break.

Shashi Tharoor probable replacement to Rahul Gandhi as Congress Chief

Rahul Gandhi has offered his resignation as Congress Chief. It is not easy to be the flag-bearer of family heritage and party connected prominently with India’s Independence, the first and two consequent Prime Ministers of India, of which the latter two (grandmother and father were assassinated). Rahul did try hard but could not match up. In fact, the family connection proved to be an unfortunate tag for Rahul as the names of late Nehru and late Rajeev faced criticism in response to his Chowkidar chor hai campaign. But the big question is who outside the family can replace Rahul. The name being talked is Shashi Tharoor.

With eighteen books to his credit, Shashi Tharoor has the academic pedigree of St Xavier’s Calcutta, St Stephens Delhi and the Tuft University (PhD in Internal relations and affairs) where he received the best student prize. His gift for eloquent English speech and amicable personality helped him shine during 2002-2007 as the Under Secretary-General of the United Nation for Communication and Public Information. He resigned from the UN on finishing second to Ban-ki-Moon for the post of the UN Secretary General. Tharoor then returned to India, joined the Congress Party and decided to try his skills in Indian politics.

In 2015, he received praise at the Oxford Union Debate by asking Britain to return the money they took from India during its 200 years of colonial rule. In that speech, he began with “ I was going to assure you that I belong to the Henry VIII School of public speaking-that as Henry VIII said to his wives ‘I shall not keep you long’. Uncanny, because before that in 2014, his wife of three years, Sunanda Pushkar died a mysterious death and Tharoor is still a suspect.

He also makes controversial statements. They range from his willingness to travel ‘cattle class’ out of solidarity to all our holy cows, to offending 2017 Miss World Manushi Chillar with his ‘chillar’ (referring to small change) comment. At JNU in 2016 he also compared Kanhaiya Kumar to Bhagat Singh. In 2018 he also said that “India will become a Hindu Pakistan if the BJP wins the election’’. He also offended the North-easterners by mocking PM Modi for wearing the ‘hilarious Naga headdress with feathers’. In other words his British humour is totally out of sync with the aam janta but he tends to blabber on.

No, sorry, Shashi Tharoor has a great curriculum vitae but I think not for Congress Chief.

Congratulations to Anurag Thakur

The only Minister of state-appointed from Himachal Pradesh, we fondly remember Anurag Thakur when kindly consented to be the Chief Guest at the opening of the Exhibition on the ‘History and culture of Himachal Gorkhas’ at the Kangra Museum of Art, co-hosted by the Department Language and Culture, HP government.

He gave a wonderful speech on the Gorkha community. Teams from Darjeeling, Dehradun and Bakloh attended the two weeks long event. The event also received raving reviews from the media with headlines such as ‘Gorkha ka Himachal main 200 saal ka Sunhara itihass’ (200 years Golden history of Gorkhas in Himachal).

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Elections 2019: The Saffron Tide

The re-emergence of a Hindu-inclined Party seems to be worrying many people. After 330 odd years of Mughal rule followed by 200 years of British rule, i.e., almost 500 odd years of foreign rule– Indian ideology (including from religions born in India like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism) is starting to find its roots. Post-1947, the constitution has stressed on the eradication of Indian cultural norms such as caste-systems, untouchability, etc. Though still a long way to go we have seen drastic changes within a generation of households.

During the Modi government, big-time thriving fraud Babas like Asaram and Ram Rahim have been locked up in jail. Hinduism is rediscovering its essence and why not? It is considered to be the oldest religion in the world with great scientific factors and beneficial knowledge. It is indeed the revival of the god-fearing desi Indian carrying centuries-long culture in their heart. In Karnataka where BJP has won, non-Hindus feel threatened. Wonder why? In the south, there is a multitude of grand new churches built all over the urban and rural belts, indicating immense missionary wealth and presence. New minarets signifying mosques can also be seen soaring over city and rural landscapes.  Let all stop worrying about communal divides and allow Modi to bring economic and social development to the nation.

Modi: The Unifier-In-Chief

Modi has proved again that a leader has to possess a very strong personality radiating strength, trust, and wisdom. The last charismatic and crowd-puller PM India had was Indira Gandhi. None after her, till Modi came along. Modi’s drive against the ‘dirty’ Indian sanitation has been tremendous. I am not discussing his economic, foreign policies but what matters most for the lower middle-class people bordering between poverty and survival. There are public toilets built at convenient spots. People are into toilets, roads, cooking gas subsidies and bank accounts. Every citizen is more or less counted for with Aadhar cards. I see illiterates displaying good common sense, if not better than their educated counterparts. I see Muslims integrating more into the general society and hopefully acceptance and unity will encompass the country unless hardliners still insist on making noise to draw attention. We hill people know that racism based on our physical features is more real in India than religious discrimination which is mostly politically created. 

Raju Bista, Neeraj Zimba and John Barla get ready for a hard exercise

It has been proved beyond doubt that Bimal Gurung’s strategy of aligning with BJP has paid dividends. The people of Darjeeling Hills, Dooars, Jalpaiguri have spoken. Only BJP. It was not the time for regional parties. Sorry that some candidates lost their money with poor votes. But they had no chance from day one.

Having said that Raju bhaiya, Neerajjiu, and Barlaji have to focus hard on sorting out the citizenship of the Nepali-speaking people of their constituencies, as the NRC will be upon them sooner or later. Many people do not have valid documents amongst a host of other problems. If they come up with a successful module, it will also benefit those in the North and Northeast. Let this be an exercise to be taken up immediately. 

Pawan Chamling

The Sikkim Kranti Morcha has finally deposed the longest reigning Chief Minister of Sikkim. Mr. Chamling had good innings especially with his eco-friendly policies, but a quarter of century rule can become stifling for the people like a monarchy. 

The Sanjay Gandhi family holds on

The families of late brothers Rajeev Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi are estranged. Sanjay’s wife Maneka Gandhi who is staunchly BJP, won from Sultanpur, UP and son Varun Gandhi, also BJP, won from Pilbhit, UP. Congress is not their home. Rajeev’s son Rahul Gandhi (Congress President) won from Wayanad, Kerala and lost badly from the family bastion of Amethi. His unimpressive companions Jyotiraditya Scindia and Raj Babbar also lost. Rahul, who looked cheerful at his press conference, faces serious questioning on his leadership ability from the party. Everyone knew that for a long time. But Kerala loves him so he will have some work to do there. His sister Priyanka (Congress General Secretary) representing the Gandhi-Vadra family branch flopped like a box office failure. 

Mamata Banerjee’s swan song

It felt sort of eerie when the morning of 23 May broadcasted a video of Mamata playing Rabindra Sangeet on her Casio, like Emperor Nero playing his fiddle as Rome burnt in front of him. The rest of the day proved just that as 18 out 42 of WB seats were taken by BJP from right under her nose. Just a few more seats and TMC would have toppled. Apart from Amit Shah’s brilliant strategy in Bengal what went against Mamata was that people felt her rule was reminiscent of the Left style and her personality offensively aggressive. Some Bengalis believed she was great for the way she squashed the 2017 agitation in Darjeeling. That was suppression in an undemocratic manner. Mamata is a strong leader but surely she has to rethink. But can she change? 

PS. The end for the Red.  Hope it brings the Maoist rebels onto peace track.

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Times Magazine cover is Editor’s creation and Aatish Taseer is not a Pakistani

The 20 May issue of the TIME magazine created major seismic waves across the nation. The cause lay with the editors for the over-the–top headline “India’s Divider-in-Chief’ to provoke, titillate and boost market sales at the time of Indian elections.

The cover headline, from my decades of media experience, is generally given or cleared by the editor. And who receives the flak? The writer Aatish Taseer! His article does not really justify the headline. Pull out a few barbs and the article is in fact a well-written essay looking at the pros and cons of Modi also appreciated for taking a stand against Triple Talaaq.

As for the Paki-bashing that Aatish is subjected to. He is actually an Indian, now a British citizen. Born in India as a love product of a weeklong affair and ‘marriage’ between Indian writer Tavleen Singh and late Salman Taseer, a wealthy politician who visited India in 1980, Aatish grew up in India with his mother. On the contrary, Aatish had a difficult relationship with his father who shirked from acknowledging him. In fact, Salman Taseer reacted furiously to his son’s book ‘Stranger to History: A son’s Journey through Islamic Lands’ which touched upon Aatish’s emotions as a son whose father abandoned his pregnant mother. In 2011, Aatish wrote two stories with controversial headlines—‘Pakistan’s Rogue Army Runs a Shattered State’ for Financial Times; and “Why My Father Hated India” for Wall Street Journal, claimed to have been misleadingly headlined by the editors.

In the TIME article, others are not spared. Rahul Gandhi is described as “an unteachable mediocrity” and that the Congress party “has little to offer other than the dynastic principle…And that the party lacks “political imagination”, something that is demonstrated by the Congress choosing Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra—Rahul Gandhi’s sister—into India’s political arena.”Aatish also describes the Brexiteers, Donald Trump and Imran Khan as champagne neo-fascists.

On the other hand, another article in the same issue by Ian Bremmer, the Editor-at-large of TIME gives a very positive perspective on Modi. His story is titled “Modi is India’s Best Hope for Economic Reform”.

Last word of course comes from PM Modi himself with “TIME magazine is foreign, the writer also said he comes from a Pakistani political family. That is enough for his credibility.” Anyway a magazine’s shelf life is only a week as we go on to the next big news.

Madder than the Hatter – popcorn please

The summer heat combined with elections has been pop-corning the craziest outbursts. Territorial Mamata had given lots of threats over intrusion into her domain. So it was no great shock when all goons broke loose on14 May as BJP President Amit Shah entered Kolkata for his election rally. Unfortunate, that in the fray the bust of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar also suffered casualties. Lesson to be learnt is all busts and statues should be erected far above reach of mobs.

Amongst the popping hot popcorns was the Mamata meme (her face superimposed over Priyanka Chopra’s ‘Mad Hatter’ outfit for the 2019 MET GALA) leading to Priyanka Sharma being jailed. If that is not “Madder than the Hatter” move, I don’t know what is.

Nathuram Godse also popped up from the past, being called a ‘Hindu extremist’ by actor Kamal Hassan and ‘patriot’ by BJP Pragya Thakur who has been chastened for her foolhardy remark by Modi himself. Somewhere ex-Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar also pops around under CBI heat. Mamata blames the Election Commission of being RSS and Modi supporters, brothers, what not. Shiv Sena equates Mamata’s rule to the Marxist era. Seems Mamata has run out of expletives as she rallied the crowd to chant ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’.

Video footages from Bengal are full of ‘chechamichi’ and ‘mobgiri’. Mamata wants to do all kinds of things to Modi including breaking his teeth and sending him to jail, snapping at his heels by running a parallel rally at Madhurapur,WB.  

As I close this weekly piece, news of terrible violence from Bhatpara near Kolkata has come in. BJP leader Arjun Singh has been allegedly shot amidst exchange of gunshots, bombs and arson. This does not sound like democratic elections but a literal Battle for Bengal.  Reminds me of the 1757 Battle of Plassey when Lord Clive’s forces subjugated Siraj-ud-Daulah, Nawab of Bengal. Experts say this just a warm up to year 2021.

May peace prevail today as Bengal completes the final phase of polling today.

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Wealthy Educated Bombers Masterminded the Sri Lanka Easter Massacre

Colombo, Sri Lanka: Serial blasts through three churches and three luxury hotels on Easter Sunday killed more than 300 people and many more injured. The picture above caught on CCTV is the suicide bomber walking in with the explosives in his backpack.

Do you ever get confused with the many names of radical Muslim outfits? Initially, a Sri Lankan local group called National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ), along with Lashkare-e-Taiba and Al Qaida were held responsible for the blasts. Now the IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has laid claim with a video and picture of a line up of seven suicide bombers who allegedly conducted the acts. Investigations so far have found the bombers to be local Sri Lankan Muslims. 

What has emerged from is a trend of wealthy and foreign-educated seemingly normal people turning extremists. Inshaf Ibrahim, 33, who bombed the Cinnamon Grand Hotel and his brother Ilham Ibrahim, 31, who bombed the luxury Shangri-la Hotel, belonged to a business tycoon family dealing in spices and copper. Horror upon horrors, when the Sri Lankan police went to their mansion in a posh neighborhood, Ilham’s pregnant wife Fatima detonated bombs killing herself, her three children and three officers! How individuals like these get so charged to kill innocent people including their own children is difficult to understand.

Senseless Waste of Money

Thousand and thousands of crores are spent during elections to win voters. Such a colossal amount of money if spent usefully could have made a huge difference to the lives of the Indian people. In Andhra Pradesh itself, the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) MP JC Diwakar claimed that 10,000 crore rupees were spent by all parties to attract voters. Candidates have individually spent Rs 50 crores. Voters in AP are bribed with Rs 2000 each. In other states, trucks of liquor deliver booze bottles and other gifts. Imagine the corruption and bribes behind all this money exchanging hands. If you want to do something for your country, take a back seat if you have no backing of funds. The Election Commission has to take a major stand against this in the future but that would be a colossal task. Meanwhile, we remain stuck with candidates who have the backing of major black money. With voters totally spoilt and greedy, the Indian democracy has become a farce.

Mamata to Send Teeth-breaking Sweets to Modi

Streaming and steaming hot on social media are PM Modi’s interviews, either on the pretty lawns of his official home or the picturesque banks of the River Ganga at Kashi. Modiji’s one-hour apolitical interview with actor Akshay Kumar was very relaxed and cheerful with no glimpse at all of his stern face. He reminisced about his childhood days of plucking fresh mango from trees and picking up Hindi while conversing with travelers as he served them tea at the railway station. All very well, except for, once again, for Didi B! Modiji pleasantly mentioned that Didi sent him kurtas (no wonder she remembers his chest size) and sweets every year.

Didi B who was at a rally in Serampore, caught on fast and retaliated that she will send Rossogollas to Modi, but not one vote will go to him. Further later at an Asansol rally she bristled even more, saying “Ham mitti ka mithai baneya ga or pathar bhor dega… aur poora daant tod dega, poora. Aisa, aisa mithai dega.” Ouch! Nasty, Nasty! Later at Kashi on being asked by Aaj Tak channel about the sweets, Modiji explained that for him, personal equations are different from political ideological differences. He said he used respect Mamataji, but she has changed a lot. In 2009 she spoke against Bangladeshi refugees and violence. But now it is the opposite. 

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Oops, Shashi Tharoor

This season, we have been seeing seemingly atheistic Congress politicians including Priyanka Gandhi making the rounds of Hindu temples. A few days ago, I-am-so-British, MP Shashi Tharoor decided to visit the famous Lord Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala to conduct thulabharam, a ritual generally where the devotee is weighed against offerings, which are then distributed.  But when Tharoor sat on the scale, the balance broke with the heavy iron handle landing on his head, and he landed on mother earth with the fruits and sweet offerings. Maybe the balance was very old and unused for a long time or the divine did not accept his offerings. 

Poor guy had to receive around eight stitches on his head along with a leg injury. All the plans of the day of releasing his manifesto and party workers celebrating prayers to Lord Vishnu went for a toss.

Meanwhile Rahul Baba in a bid to woo Wayanad, Kerala performed Pooja at the ancient Vishnu Thirunelli Temple. Dressed in traditional Kerala Hindu attire, he performed rituals as homage to the martyrs of the Pulwama attack!

Funny earlier all these people berated BJP for being Hindu-centric, now Congress is all out to prove their Hinduism during elections time.

‘Baghini’ Banerjee biopic and bloodshed

While the release of the Vivek Oberoi starrer film “PM Narendra Modi” hangs in the air, a biopic on Mamata Banerjee seems to have raced ahead all set for release on 3 May. To start with the Bengali film is called ‘Baghini, Bengal Tigress’. Reminds of those Durga Puja pandals where Didi B was portrayed as the goddess sitting on a tiger slaying the demon.

The trailer begins with comparing her contribution to that of the tall figures of the 19^th century from Bengal, such as Raja Ram Mohun Roy, the socio-religious reformist and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the revered philosopher-reformer-writer. If I were a Bengali I would definitely protest.

The filmmakers say that the film portrays women empowerment. Well I can say the film is aptly named as the tigress under whose rule many hill people of Darjeeling were ruthlessly attacked and lost their lives.

CPM and BJP leaders have approached the Elections Commission to ban the trailer but till date it continues.

In a recent TV interview, Miss Banerjee claimed that Bengal was No 1 in every way and TMC will win all 42 seats. Well, Bengal has emerged as No 1 in poll violence across the country. Last 24 hours have shocking reports of bloodshed, murder, violence and intimidation by TMC troublemakers against voters, party cadres and candidates of opposition parties of Bengal. Police personnel played mute roles to the disgraceful violation of voter’s rights, offering no protection. What kind of democracy are you leading, Miss Banerjee? Is this that why you sounded so confident about grabbing all the 42 seats? Why does violence follow you everywhere?  

Bolti Bandh

Politicians are going berserk with their bittering and battering leading to defamatory charges being launched right, left and centre. A line up of a few sexist culprits: 

• Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan referred to BJP leader Jayaprada’s underwear as being khaki in colour. Retaliated by MP Dimple Yadav (the wife of Akhilesh Yadav. President of SP), as trivial matter. How disgusting!
• SP leader Firoz Khan said that she (Jayaprada) will ask for ghungroos for her ankles, show her moves and thumkas and and the evenings of Rampur will become colourful. He also said that he is scared that people from his domain will go there to enjoy the colourful evenings.  How cheap!
• BJP Minister Mahesh Sharma had also gone on record for saying that if Mamata Banerjee did a Kathak dance with the Karnataka CM singing a song nobody will even listen. How funny!  

Some have been directed by the Election Commission Board to shut up. The bolti bandh recipients are: Yogi Adityanath and Azam Khan for 72 hours, Mayawati and Maneka Gandhi for 48 hours. So what have they been doing during this time? Adityanath visited temples. Mayawati sent her nephew Akash Anand (who says ‘Jai Bhim’) to speak on her behalf while Azam Khan’s son Abdullah claims that his father was targeted for being a Muslim. Maneka chose to stay at home and read books.

Strange death of a great son

On Tuesday, 39-year-old Rohit Shekar Tiwari was found dead in his home in Delhi. Stinking of murder, according to the post mortem report the cause of death was asphyxia caused by strangulation or smothering. Rohit was in the news for many years. He was the ‘illegitimate son” who fought a paternity suit for six years to get Narayan Dutt Tiwari, ex CM of UP and Uttarakhand to acknowledge that he was Rohit’s biological father. ND Tiwari kept denying and even dodged attempts at blood sampling for a DNA test. Finally he had to and the results proved that Rohit was indeed his biological son.

Tiwari then accepted Rohit. The reunion was followed by a marriage between then 88-year-old Tiwari and his once lover and Rohit’s mother Ujjwala Sharma, a Sanskrit professor– forty years after they had their affair! Rohit was a son determined to bring respect and honour to his mother.

He had also suffered a heart attack when he was 28 years old. Not too many sons could have taken on the might of a veteran politician to get justice. The struggle did take its toll on Rohit with depression and alcohol dependency.

But, why would anyone want him dead? Strange things happen in Delhi’s high profile political circles.

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Modi, the matador of the 2019 Citizen Bill

Taking a strong stand against illegal infiltrators, PM Modi literally caught the bull by its horns by bringing up the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill. Same was done by BJP President Amit Shah in Kalimpong.

Every issue has a history. In 1947, the Partition was executed with a one-point agenda-creating a separate Islamic Republic for Muslims. The entire Punjab region in the northwest was divided between India and Pakistan–leading to polarisation of non-Muslims and Muslims. The same exercise divided Bengal into West Bengal and East Pakistan. While the northern border turned into a turbulent LOC, the Eastern side went on to a war in 1971 with East Pakistan emerging as Bangladesh – an independent Muslim nation. Contrary to the Indian northwest border infiltrated by mostly terrorists, the eastern border has been crossed by millions of Bangladeshi refugees.

According to Modi, after Pakistan was formed in the name of Islam, non-Muslims were persecuted to leave their homes and take shelter in India.

He is right on that front, as countless people had to leave their homes, not only from the country-side, but even from cities like Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Lahore, and move penniless to India undergoing a harrowing journey through looters and rioters.

Modi further assured that the sentiments of the Assamese people would be taken care of before introducing the Bill so that no one is hurt.

Just a reminder to readers, the Citizen Bill 2019 applies to citizens from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan (all Islamic nations) who had to leave because of religious persecution post 1971. They include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians who entered India before December 31, 2014.

Modi’s thrust on the NRC and now the Citizenship Amendment Bill has been opposed vehemently by Didi B, with a quote as reported “Who are they (BJP) to decide…they excluded Gorkhas, Muslims, Bengalis, Hindus, Biharis…” Earlier when the bill was published in July last year, she had raised a hue and cry accusing BJP of being “anti-Bengali”. Wish her statements made more sense than mere fits of rebellion, sometimes off-track.

Double Moon in Asansol

Tollywood actress and TMC MP, Mun-Mun Sen (Sorry Moon Moon) has been shifted from Bankura to Asansol to pitch her might against BJP’s Babul Supriyo. The lady believes that she can repeat her performance of the 2014 elections when she grandly defeated the nine-time Left MP Basudev Acharjee. But sadly after the confidence showed by Bankura voters, Moon Moon’s performance there has been as poor as her film career. She did little work for the district and rarely visited too.

Her plans for Asansol include planting a lot of trees to curb the pollution. She will need to get more scientific than that to tackle the seriousness of industrial pollution. Besides, Moon Moon, your trees would need fifteen years or more to grow big enough to purify the air.  

Fruits for monkeys in Mathura

BJP candidate Bollywood actress Hema Malini has an idea to curb the monkey menace in Mathura-Brindavan. Anyone who has visited the birthplace and childhood home of Lord Krishna would be familiar with the abundance of simians. I had my spectacles whisked off my face by one, who then sat atop a tall building chewing the handle of my second eyes. Thereafter, a man came by and offered some fruits to it. The creature swung down a la Tarzan-style, dropped my specs, picked up the fruit and went back to his perch. Of course, the man who saved my eyes was handsomely rewarded.

I had a sneaky feeling that the man had trained the creature and the two had an act going. 

Now hear this, Hemaji’s solution to the problem is to offer fruits to the monkeys not Frootis and samosas! Arrey Hemaji, even if we offer fruits, the monkeys will still continue to stalk and snatch.

Radhey, Radhey!

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Mai re! The rhetoric exchanged between Modi and Didi B last Wednesday! 

Modi on Didi B: 

“ She is a speed breaker”. He must have suffered severe jolts on the roads of Siliguri.

“Didi ki naiya doob chuki hai.”  Reminds of Life of Pi. 

“Expiry Babu.”

Didi B on Modi: 

She must have thrown away many expired medicines that day.

“You claim to have a 56 inch and you are resorting to lies. The 56 inch chest is now peddling 560 lies”.

Chhee, chhee Didi B, it is not nice for a woman to talk about a man’s body. Just like women should not be referred to by any physical attribute. Chest and lies is another one of Did B’s strange combination of phrases. Reflects illogical thinking. 

“Catch me if you can, touch me if you can”.

If you have heard this old song on boxer Muhammad Ali ‘Catch me if you can’ by Johnny Wakelin, you canimagine Didi B in boxing outfit moving like a butterfly and stinging like a bee.

“I am also from a Hindu family…but I don’t go by your Hinduism. My parents did not teach me this type of Hinduism where you hate people.”

Friends, Hinduism is in these days with even Priyanka Gandhi making rounds of Hindu temples. Didi B too has for the first time I think asserted it. It seems that BJP has awakened the divine lotus in everyone’s heart. 

Who is the father, Naroola or Ahuja? 

Not a good week for Didi B. Her Thai national niece-in-law by the name of Rujira nee Naroola nee Ahuja, has been served a show cause notice by the Ministry of Home Affairs, for falsehood in her application for Overseas Citizen of India and PAN card. Rujira had mentioned Niphon Naroola as her father for PIO card, and later her marriage certificate was found to mention Gursharan Singh Ahuja as her father. 

How all this gol-maal happened under the nose and within the tall ideologies of Didi B’s household?

Rujira’s husband and Didi B’s beloved nephew Abhisek Bannerjee is also National President of the All India Trinamool Youth Congress. Last month, Rujira, was also held up by customs at the Kolkata airport for carrying a whopping 2 kilograms of gold with her from Bangkok. She has to appear before the HC for this on 8 April. Mamata aunty sure has a lot to explain but she is playing mum. 

No black allowed

If black is your favourite colour, you will not be allowed in to any rally held by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The choice remains—either you go shirtless, or borrow from someone else or go back home. Many who attended the Sanyasi CM’s rally at Greater Noida last Monday, faced such a dilemma. Totally unaware of the rule, those who wore sporting black T-shirts, shirts or kurtas were barred entry by the security personnel.  The reason given was that black was a colour of protest worn earlier by protestors. So, some borrowed, some went in shirtless, some preferred to listen from the roadside and others just decided to return home. Anyway, those who preferred to keep their favourite blacks on missed a comment by the CM, which has landed him in a soup.  His reference to the Indian Army as Modi’s Sena has met with strong disapproval. 

Didi B who has to quip on everything criticised saying “…We are proud of our Army. They are a great asset of our nation, and not a cassette of the BJP”. Didi B should know that cassettes are non-existent today or rather she has to get more tech-savvy. Asset? Cassette? Can anyone enlighten me as to what she meant. She has never honoured the death of any Indian Army martyr from Darjeeling Hills. 

I am powerful, I am healthy, I am beautiful

Recently, BJP candidate Raju Bista kick-started his elections rally in Kalimpong with a feel-good exercise. Itrequired folding the arms up in a wrestler pose and repeating after him, “Main Shaktishaali hoon, main Swastha hoon, main sundar hoon”. 

That is a new one on audience participation. He assured the audience that Modiji was very aware of the problems of the Gorkha people and will definitely do something to alleviate their miseries. 

In the 2017 agitation, Didi B’s frenzied attacks and attempts to malign the people of Darjeeling was a politically incorrect approach, however much her supporters might glorify her able ability in crushing the agitation.  She dug her grave in the hills with that one. 

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In a path-breaking and surprising decision, a corporate ex-RSS young man by the name of Raju Kumar Bista has been chosen as the BJP candidate to contest from the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency. Bista hails from Manipur and also has a home in Matighara, Siliguri district, WB. He is known to be close to the BJP circles in Delhi where he was the Managing Director for Surya Roshni Limited for many years. BJP General secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said that “I don’t know if he is Gorkha, par woh Pahari hai. He was born in Manipur so there is a north-east connection there.” With all this confusion, Bista will have to come forward to authenticate that he is an Indian Gorkha. Much hopes lie on Bista but with the support of GNLF-GJMM behind him, he must have come with sound briefing.

Good that Shri Surendrajit Singh Ahluwalia has bid goodbye. His patronising, condescending and mocking attitude towards Gorkha delegations was unacceptable. Not to speak of his recent ‘son of soil’ remark, which showed no understanding of the Indian Gorkha people. He enjoyed all the perks of a MP in Lutyen’s Delhi but rarely visiting Darjeeling Hills nor spoke about the Darjeeling’s problems in Parliament.

BJP President Amit Shah, announced in Alipurduar, that BJP would stand as a giant rock against Mamata Bannerjee’s atrocities on the Gorkha brothers and sisters. Yesterday in Kolkata, he also accused the Mamata government of choosing one particular community over the general masses. According to him, her state budget at Rs 4000 crore for madrasas was higher than for the entire higher education department. He also mentioned about how she banks heavily on infiltrators and practices appeasement policies. Talking about infiltrators read on the latest about Donald Trump’s Wall to stop illegal immigrants from Canada and Mexico.

The Great Wall of Donald Trump

“I would build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them inexpensively. I will build a great wall on our southern border and I’ll have Mexico pay for it”

President Donald Trump, 16 June 2015

Trump has finally got the money to build his wall–at least for half of it, if not the entire length that he desperately wanted. The Pentagon announced on 26 March, that $ 1 billion would be transferred to the Army engineers to build the new wall on the US-Mexico border. Stopping illegal immigration has always been a top political priority for Trump. In fact last Friday, he even threatened to close large parts of the US-Mexico border, if Mexico did not immediately stop illegal immigration.

The USA and Mexico share a 3,145 km long international border stretching over urbanised to hostile desert and river terrains. Many, entering illegally through the desert and mountain areas die from hyperthermia or drowning. According to the US Customs & Border Protection (CBP), 396,579 apprehensions (what they call the illegal immigrants) crossed the border in 2018. The highest in the US fiscal year has been at 1,600,000 in 2000! The maximum number of apprehensions has been from Canada followed by Mexico.

A few months ago, Trump posted a graphic of the proposed wall with a tweet saying “ A design of our Steel Slat Barrier which is totally effective while at the same time beautiful!” The wall designed as an 18 feet high steel fence with improved roads and bright new lights, is facing a lot of flak over its functionality. Many are also arguing about the morality of such a wall.

Mamata on Rahul

Rahul Gandhi’s jibe at Didi B has received a rebuttal.  “He is just a kid” she said. How can one be a kid at 48 years? Appeasement politics.

The post The New Torchbearer and Other Stories appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Meanwhile, many I hear are out to play spoilsport. Some tea–gardens are planning not to vote at all. Every hill vote is important. Do not waste it. Names of favourites unlikely-to-be-voted are also being suggested as candidate. There can be only two parties fighting it out this election–TMC and the GNLF-GJMM original.

It is clear what each means for the future. There are no more choices. So use your precious votes judiciously.

If TMC candidate Amar Rai can play colours on Holi with Siliguri Mayor Ashok Bhattacharya (Left Front Minister during the 9 April 2008 police firing in Siliguri) why are others still playing chor-sipahi. 

Minorities must have representation in high places if they want to be heard.  

Vivek Oberoi as Modi?

Actor Vivek Oberoi has remerged in a big way, playing the role of none other than Modi in the film ‘PM Narendra Modi’. The trailer has just been released, for the film to hit the theatres on 5 April well timed with the elections. The biopic is directed by Omung Kumar of Mary Kom fame. Vivek is best remembered as the cheesy-grin actor whom top-rung actress Aishwarya Rai fell for after disengaging from Salman Khan, and then dumped him. Then the poor fellow disappeared from Bollywood. His selection could be because his father Suresh Oberoi is one of the producers.

In the trailer, he fails miserably to look like the 68 years old Modi. The 50-odd inches chest thickset look is missing and his voice modulation is terrible. The trailer is heavily dosed with cinematic style patriotism. The dialogues with heavy sound effects are over-dramatic, more suited for a biopic on Didi B shouting ‘Ma, Maati, Manush’. Maybe the story and direction will get the essence of Modi right and draw away from the irregularities. Meanwhile, writer-lyricists Javed Akhtar and Sameer complained that their name has been displayed on the credits when they had written no song for the film.  The producer clarified that they has used old songs of the two and hence given the credit.      

Child used a human shield

The Balakot surgical strike and Wing Commander Abhinandan’s capture might have been the most dramatic follow-up to the Pulwama attack, but terrorism and cross-border firing continue daily. Two terrorists in J&K’s Bandipora had forcibly taken shelter in a family’s home and even had food with them. Later the same evening security forces cordoned the house and a gunfight ensued. While the family had managed to leave, the terrorists held their 12-year-old son Atif Mir as hostage and human shield. Despite pleas by the family members on loud speakers, the boy was not set free. Finally he got killed along with them. 

Rahul on Mamata

Thank God Rahul Gandhi has added someone else to his jibe list. One was getting quite bored of his constant replay of “chowkidar chor hai” against Modi.  In Malda yesterday, Rahul G berated Didi B for being promise-breaker who runs a one-person show in Bengal and takes her own decisions without consulting anyone. He also said that Bengal under the rules of CPM and TMC has remained the same. Wondering what he will call her? The Soloist or Ekaki or Promise-breaker.

Waiting for Didi B’s rebuttal which she will definitely give.  

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