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[mayurnsk]

An empress of India in new clothes By John MacLithon

12 Nov 2010

Like Sonia Gandhi, I am a Westerner and a brought-up Christian. Like Sonia Gandhi, I have lived in India many years and I have adopted this country as my own.

But the comparison ends there. I did land in India with a certain amount of prejudices, clichés and false ideas, and I did think in the enthusiasm of my youth to become a missionary to bring back Indian ‘pagans’ to the ‘true god’. But the moment I stepped in India I felt that there was nothing much that I could give to India, rather it was India which was bestowing me. In fact in all my years here India has given me so much — professionally, spiritually, sentimentally. Most Westerners, who come here, still think they are here to ‘give’ something to a country, which, unconsciously of course, they think is lesser than theirs. It was true of the British, it was true of Mother Teresa, it is true of Sonia Gandhi.

It is a fact that Sonia brought discipline, order and cohesion into the Indian National Congress. But the amount of power that she, a person of foreign origin, an elected MP like hundreds of others, possesses should frighten her. All the television channels report without a blink that Maharashtra CM rushes to Delhi to meet Sonia Gandhi to plead for his life. But should not Chavan have gone to the prime minister first?

The CBI blatantly and shamelessly quashed all injunctions against Ottavio Quattrocchi and even allowed him to get away with billions of rupees which he had stolen from India. Yet, without batting an eyelid, and with the Indian media turning a blind eye, it goes ruthlessly after the chief minister of the most efficiently run state, the most corruption free. Today the Congress, with Sonia’s overt or silent consent, pays crores of rupees to buy MPs to topple non-Congress governments. Her governors shamelessly hijack democracy by twisting the law.

Are Indians aware that their country has entered a state of semi-autocracy where every important decision comes from a single individual residing in her fortress of 10 Janpath surrounded by dozens of security men, an empress of India? Do they know that the huge amounts of the scams, whether the 2G, the CWG, or the Adarsh housing society scam, do not go into politicians’ pockets (only a fraction), but to the coffers of the Congress for the next general elections, and more than anything to please Sonia Gandhi? Nobody seems to notice what is happening under the reign of Sonia Gandhi.

That an Arundhati Roy is allowed to preach secession in India, whereas on the other hand the Congress government has been going after the army, the last body in India to uphold the time-honoured values of the Kshatriyas — courage, honour, devotion to the Motherland. They alone today practise true secularism, never differentiating between a Muslim or Hindu soldier and who for a pittance daily give their lives to their country. First it was the attempt of a caste census, a divide-and-rule ploy if there is one; then there are the first signs that the government is thinking about thinning down the presence of the Indian army in the Kashmir valley, which will suit Pakistan perfectly. And now there is the Adarsh housing society scam in which the army officers, at the worst, were innocently dragged into it. We know now that it was the politicians of the Congress who benefited the most out of it.

It would be impossible in France, for example, to have a non-Christian tell a Hindu (who is a non-elected president or PM) to be the absolute ruler of the country behind the scenes, superseding even the PM. There are many capable people in the Congress. Why Can't a billion Indians find one of their own, who will understand the complexity and subtlety of India, to govern themselves? Not only that, but her very presence at the top has unleashed forces, visible and invisible that are detrimental to the country. There is nothing wrong in espousing the best of the values of the West — democracy, technological perfection, higher standards of living — but many of the institutions are crumbling in the West: two out of three marriages end in divorce, kids shoot each other, parents are not cared for in their old age, depression is rampant and Westerners are actually looking for answers elsewhere, in India notably.

One does not understand this craze to Westernise India at all costs, while discarding its ancient values. Sonia
Gandhi should do well to remember that there still are 850 million Hindus in India, a billion worldwide and that whatever good inputs were brought by different invasions, it is the ancient values of spirituality behind Hinduism which have made India so special and which gives it today unique qualities making an Indian Christian
different from an American Christian, or an Indian Muslim different from a Saudi Muslim. It is an insult to these tolerant Hindus to show United States President Barack Obama as his first input of the Indian capital the tomb of Humayun, a man who slaughtered Hindus in thousands, taking Hindu women and children as captives. He even subjected his elder brother Kamran to brutal torture, gauging his eyes out and pouring lemon into them.

The tragedy of India is that it was colonised for too long. And unlike China, it always looks to the West for a solution to its problems. Sonia Gandhi, whatever her qualities, is just an incarnation of that hangover, an empress of India in new clothes.

(The writer is the author of 'Hindutva, Sex & Adventures')

E-mail: john.maclithon@gmail.com


Hello

I read this article somewhere , found its views interesting wanted to share with you hence posted here.

Do post comments here as its related with us indians. Few times one should step aside from capital market money making game and think as well as comment.


Regards
Mayuresh Jahagirdar
Nashik
Maharashtra

[sathya999]

siggggggh so true.
person like manmohan singh to be directed by ...

[dcs2247]

[THINKER25]

How does this view abt Indias current rulers affect our Mkts?- Corruption like a virus infects and subverts the systems and established procedures, checks and balances -so undermines and destroys Institutions- including the market regulatory mechanisms and threatens national security. Even the Short Term investment decisions you have made on sound TA cld go awry overnight with a sudden bombshell of a scam- LICHSG- Unitech- UFlex etc- As for SGRG see what Subramaniam Swamy has to say in the You tube.

The masses will have to be educated on the ill effects of such corruption and to raise abv caste- regional, linguistic and religious biases to fight these so called leaders ( both Indian and of foreign origin)- Will some concerned citizens take the trouble to explain what these scams are all abt in all vernacular languages and thru street plays and TV serials to educate the public- India has grt institutions ( RBI-Railways-CEC(?) etc).

[mayurnsk]

THINKER25 Hi

Yes you have made a valid point here. Infact I posted this article here in this forum in that direction only.
But you only see how many of us from strong icharts family have taken effort to post their view here so far? Or how many of us has really bothered to read this article?

We are not taking this seriously....

Regards
Mayuresh Jahagirdar
Nashik
Maharashtra

[Surjai2006]

It is sad to see a large country like india having a foreign women as the head of the congress party. BJP rightly said that there is no man left in the congress party.

[drsureshbs]

When u sit back and think many a times ufeel the ammout of sacrifies the people hav made for this country is being wasted throwing all morality to wind .CERTAINLY THERE IS SOME THING WRONG WITH THE ASDMINISTATIVE PROCEDURE AS PERSON WHO IS TAKING DUBIOUS DISSITION CANT B HELD RESPOSIBLE DIRECTLY

[MehulS]

absolutely agree with this article..Mr Mayuresh..but we Indians know all this at the back of our minds but are absolutely numb.... it shows our liking for the blondes[smilie=40.gif]

[mayurnsk]

Hi

Here I am posting one link just go through it


http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/some-telephone-conversations


Regards
Mayuresh Jahagirdar
Nashik
Maharashtra

[sachingw]

SWADESH MANTRA - Swami Vivekananda


O India! With this mere echoing of others, with this base imitation
of others, with this dependence on others, this slavish weakness,
this vile detestable cruelty -- wouldst thou, with these provisions
only, scale the highest pinnacle of civilisation and greatness?
Wouldst thou attain, by means of thy disgraceful cowardice, that
freedom deserved only by the brave and the heroic?

O India! Forget not that the ideal of thy womanhood is Sita, Savitri,
Damayanti;

forget not that the God thou worshippest is the great Ascetic of
ascetics, the all-

renouncing Shankara, the Lord of Uma;

forget not that thy marriage, thy wealth, thy life are not for sense-
pleasure, are not for thy

individual personal happiness;

forget not that thou art born as a sacrifice to the Mother's altar;

forget not that thy social order is but the reflex of the Infinite
Universal Motherhood;

forget not that the lower classes, the ignorant, the poor, the
illiterate, the cobbler, the

sweeper, are thy flesh and blood, thy brothers.

Thou brave one, be bold, take courage, be proud that thou art an
Indian, and proudly proclaim, " I am an Indian, every Indian is my
brother. " Say, " The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian,
the Brahmin Indian, the Pariah Indian, is my brother. "

Thou, too, clad with but a rag round thy loins proudly proclaim at
the top of thy voice: " The Indian is my brother, the Indian is my
life, India's gods and goddesses are my God. India's society is the
cradle of my infancy, the pleasure-garden of my youth, the sacred
heaven, the Varanasi of my old age. "

Say, brother; " The soil of India is my highest heaven, the good of
India is my good, " and repeat and pray day and night, " O Thou Lord of
Gauri, O Thou Mother of the Universe, vouchsafe manliness unto me! O
Thou Mother of Strength, take away my weakness, take away my
unmanliness, and make me a Man! "

[THINKER25]

A story relevant to current times:
A thief tries to break open house door - wall crashes down on him and he dies- his wife gets very upset- wailing she runs to the King and asks him to punish the house owner for being responsible for her husbands death- House owner says it is the mason who shld be held responsible for the collapse of the wall- mason says the wall collapsed due to excess water and the helper shld be the one responsible- Helper says she knows nothing abt the qty of water to be added- she brings water in the pot given to her- that day she was given a bigger pot so it is the potter who is responsible- potter says he was unable to concentrate that day as his wife did not return on time from the river and he was watching eagerly the gate- wife says she was delayed as there was a sadhu meditating at the ghat so she had to wait for him to finish and leave before she cld bath- so the King catches the Sadhu!

The Core issue here is " can one claim compensation for the consequences of an illegal act?".

What relevance does this story from the Mahabharat have to the Tata case in SC against leaker(s?) of Tata- Nadira tapes or for the matter Assange?

What is a PVt conversation and what is Public? Is the conversation btw Brokers and the company owners to increase stock liquidity or boost prices before an IPO-FPO-QIP Pvt?

[casper]

nice one thinker. thanks

[Allwell]

good one thinkers. it's all about high profile privacy. in fact they are run the nation and they can do anything. remember "tahelka" , the reporters r still questioned by elite one, why they exposed them ?