IANS | Washington

The Pioneer

Tell US to end romance with Pak: BJP
May 28,2010


Tarun Vijay

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would like the Government to tell the United States during their upcoming strategic dialogue to end its romance with Pakistan and cooperate with India to defeat Islamist terrorism, says party spokesperson Tarun Vijay.

That's the area Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, who would be leading the June 3-4 dialogue with US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, should focus on, Tarun Vijay told IANS in a phone interview from New Jersey.

"India has to fight terrorism on its own sinews," he said. "And it should tell America that if you don't cooperate with India on fighting terror, it will be a great loss to its own fight against terror."

"At present America seems to be siding with the dictatorial army junta (in Pakistan) and is itself obsessed in its own fight against terrorism," Vijay said. "That will not help peace and stability in South Asia."

While in America, Krishna should also focus more on the Indian-American youth and its great potential for helping the cause of India, he said citing the example of Jews, who have used their relationship for the benefit of Israel.

Vijay, who was in the US to inaugurate and keynote the Overseas Friends of BJP national convention in Houston, said BJP itself is forming a "Resurgent India Group, USA" to harness the potential of Indian-American youth.

"They will work for America. They will remain loyal to the American flag with the punch line that 'Indians don't bomb the country they adopt.'"

"They will do whatever they can do to help strengthen the India cause in Washington by lobbying for the Indian interests, providing all the necessary information to the American leaders about the challenges India is facing."

They would also help in "making Washington understand that its Pakistan romance will not be good even for the American people, nor for another democracy that's India."

The BJP spokesperson said he got an "amazing response" to his remarks at public gatherings of Indian-Americans in Houston and New Jersey on the challenges facing India and the role of Indian-American youth.

"We found that Indian-American youth are very much interested in making India a better place to live," he said. "They want to come back to India and do their bit as accomplished achievers in the US."

"They remain loyal to the American flag if they are American citizens. At the same time they feel an emotional 'dharma' (duty) for their motherland."

"That was the chord I aimed to touch and got an amazing response," Vijay said saluting the "Indian-American upsurge in the US expressed through Sonal Shah, Rajiv Shah, Preet Bhrara, Rita Bansal and Vinod Khosla."

The BJP is now planning a visit to the US sometime this year by party president Nitin Gadkari to inter-act with young Indian-Americans to remove misconceptions about BJP and make them more vigorously for the India cause, Vijay said.

Tarun Vijay Shakes Houston Indians

Some Videos

Tarun Vijay Public Meeting in Houstan may 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaMbmfOUydc&feature=related

Overseass Friends of BJP Conducted Public meeting of Tarun Vijay in Houstan 2010. 400 people attended and applauded for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9IpXsWdP88

Tarun Vijay addressed the current issues india facing in a vibrant manner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIu3IWS2Pxs&feature=related

Tarun Vijay answered live questions in Houstan on Radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAI0MfwU1Ig&feature=related

Some pics.....

The Times Of India

Weakening the warrior and ignoring Mao's orphans

24 May 2010

Tarun Vijay

Mrs Sonia Gandhi is weakening the fight against armed and violent Naxalites. Her 'cause and consequence' statement published in her party's mouthpiece Congress Sandesh followed a pattern and made the home minister crestfallen.

First she allowed Digvijay Singh and then Mani Shankar Aiyar to have a dig at the country's home minister when he needed support most. Then her own statement caused a strange situation which gave a clear message that she doesn't approve of Chidambaram's approach. There couldn't have been anything more damaging to the morale of the chief leading a difficult war against Maoists, who had so far rejected all appeals by Chidambaram to shun violence and come to talks with government.

Sonia Gandhi didn't have a word of sympathy or praise for India's home minister, who also happens to belong to her party. Leave aside appreciating the security forces and assuring all help to Raman Singh, chief minister of Chhattisgarh. After all, Raman Singh too is an Indian and has been trying to wage the battle against the barbarians, which is singularly in stark contrast with other Naxalite-affected states. The victims of Naxal violence too are Indians and hence shouldn't it be the dharma of polity to help forge a unity on the issue of protecting Indians?

But instead she has encouraged her party men to criticize not only her own government's chief strategist against Naxal violence, but also the chief minister at a moment when both need the country's undiluted support.

Surprisingly not only the 'otherwise independent and objective' media are silent on her statement's devastating effect on the morale of the home minister and that of the security forces engaged in a difficult fight with one hand tied and the other wounded. The honourable Prime Minister has simply gone invisible. This is an atrociously amazing feat. He doesn't know whether as the head of the government, at least constitutionally, he should help his colleague fight to the finish successfully or support his mentor Sonia's prescription which amounts to help Naxals. The lone voice of protest on Sonia's pro-Naxal stand came from the inimitable Arun Jaitley. Isn't it a sad reflection on the so-called 'independent and fearless' leaders of public opinion?

It would be unacceptable that Sonia Gandhi didn't know of Chidambaram's earlier statements and interviews in the media. He had been constantly appealing the Naxalites to come to the talking table and shun violence. He is on record saying that the Naxalites are not allowing any developmental activity to be carried out in the region under their effective control. Hospitals, schools, road construction, farming activities, nothing is allowed to be helped by the state government apparatus. They are murderers and criminals, he said. It's not the Naxalites but Sonia who has defeated the warrior midway. Chidambaram's interview on a channel showed him in a dejected and anguished mood. The one who was roaring like a charged infantryman with his home secretary Pillai religiously following the line and expressing the pains and anguish of Indians on the support South Delhi's intellectual elite provides to the murderers, suddenly changed track and offered talks to the Naxals. Not wasting any time Sonia's 'development seeker' boys rejected the offer. Then Chidambaram issued a statement saying meekly: "We have to change our approach to deal with Maoists." What approach and which changes?

Why?

As a mother she must know the security personnel too belong to mothers and their families too mourn their martyrdom. Security forces are there to protect the Constitution and they act on the orders of a democratically elected government. Their death is often unsung in a 'secular' media and polity that finds it more fashionable and 'bold' to glorify those who are simple murderers for the sake a revolution whose implementation they have not been able to show in any of their pocket boroughs.

The Naxalites have been found collaborating with Islamist jihadis through the ISI and the ULFA in West Bengal. Their sophisticated weaponry and guerrilla warfare expertise to take on the Indian security forces show how deep they have been entrenched in the anti-India circle of foreign powers.

Besides, there is another issue, too sensitive and significant to any patriotic citizen, especially those who understand the feelings of a mother. The Naxalites have killed hundreds of farmers and small agricultural labourers on the suspicion of their being police informers or simply rejecting their demands to send their kids to join the Naxalites' ranks.

When a father is killed by the Naxalites, where do the children of such families go? With no earning member surviving in the family, such children land up in orphanages run by various NGOs in Chhattisgharh. The plight of children when their parents are slaughtered, often before their own eyes, is unimaginable. There are hundreds of kids in Chhattisgarh whose parents were brutally killed by Maoist 'development seekers'. Has Sonia Gandhi or Arundhati Roy ever, even once, tried to wipe the tears of those children who have been turned orphans by the savages of Mao?

I am giving here the pictures of some of such kids, turned orphans by Maoists. Our 'secular' sirens are worse child abusers than paedophiles. Not only are they making Indian children of parents unyielding to Naxal blackmail orphans but also forcing young kids to join their gangs to do menial jobs and take up guns in their jungle hideouts when their age demands them to go to school, study and play games.

For example, in just one family Shanti Teram, Jayavati Teram and Janaki Teram, sisters, were orphaned when their father was murdered by the Naxalites. All the three are sisters are now in an orphanage at Raipur. I have a list of 50 children, 39 girls and 11 boys, of the age group 5 to 14 in one district area only. Imagine little girls and boys of this age group living without their parents in an orphanage. What was their crime?

Can this be an 'appreciable' or 'understandable' act of 'development seekers'? Instead of consolidating the pro-India voices of reason and social welfare, why are people like Sonia Gandhi and Digvijay Singh weakening the battle that Indira Gandhi once won through Siddhartha Shankar Ray in Bengal showing grit and nationalism?

It's high time an all-party meet devised a consensus on tackling the Naxalite problem. I strongly recommend Lt. Gen Jacob to be consulted on this issue to improve more effectively the present method of anti-Naxal operations. It's noteworthy that Gen Jacob conducted counter-insurgency operations in Nagaland that led to the signing of the Shillong accord in 1975. Twelve years of peace followed. He also led operations in Mizoram, which resulted in the insurgents going to Kolkata conference for peace. He also set up the counter-insurgency school in Mizoram in 1970.

Pictures of children who became orphaned as Naxal s killed their parents. They are almost all tribals and belong to poor and marginalized farming class.

RSS swayamsewaks rush to help Mangalore victims

Karnataka witnessed its ever worst air mishap today as Air India Express flight carrying 169 passengers from Dubai got crashed near Mangalore airport at 6.30.am the local time. it was a cloudy Saturday morning with heavy rain. the mishap resulted in death of 158 including Air India staff. rescue operation was not an easy task at the site as it was little rural and with forest area. with the fire engine personals and emergency staffs, the local public especially the RSS Swayamsevaks involved themselves in rescue operation. Sangh Volunteers extended timely help during the day long rescue operation at Mangalore air crash site today. More than 100 swayamsevaks near the sitr of air crash, rushed to the spot and involved in rescue operation from 6.40am onwards. Nalin Kumar, local MP also a swayamsevak was there from 7.00am till 7.45pm leading the operation with local karyakartas. due to bad weather early morning the rescue operation not delayed, however extensive support from public and RSS swayamsevaks were extended timely. BG Chengappa, director of Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services also rushed to the spot and led the team. VSK, Bangalore

Press Release: National Council Meeting of Overseas Friends of BJP held in Houston, Texas

Gadkari to visit USA this year - sends special video message to OFBJP National Council Meeting

Advani, Jaitley laud the role of Indian Americans and call to strengthen OFBJP in special video messages

Tarun Vijay , national spokesperson attends Houston convention and addresses public meetings in Houston and New Jersey-exhorts to form India Resurgence Groups to have more youth participation in OFBJP-USA

Overseas Friends of BJP – USA held its National Council meeting at Houston during May 22-23, 2010. It was a historic meeting of the Overseas Friends of BJP which saw a large turnout of youths from various walks of life and almost all the corners of America joining BJP as a platform of Bharat Bhakti and providing help to strengthen not only Indo-US relations but also trying to help India's cause world over.

BJP stalwarts from Bharat, Shri L.K. Advani, Shri Nitin Gadkari and Shri Arun Jaitley specially sent their video messages to greet the members of OFBJP-USA for the success of the National Executive and defining the role of OFBJP. BJP President Shri Nitin Gadkari, in his message accepted the invitation of Shri Adapa Prasad, president of OFBJP and promised to come to USA very soon. He lauded the role of Indian Americans and assured that BJP will provide the stable government in next elections. Chiarman BJP Parliamentary Party and former Dy Prime Minister Shri L.K. Advani recalled when he had visualized the formation of Overseas Friends of BJP about two decades before and felt happy that Indians abroad are making Mother India proud with their brilliance and achievements. He expressed full confidence that if the last century belonged to the west, the 21st century would be India's century. Leader of Opposition , Rajya Sabha Shri Arun Jaitley said that Indian Diaspora has made great progress and it’s their achievements that has made India proud. He congratulated the members of Overseas Friends of BJP and appealed the youth to join the BJP in large number.

The chief guest at the meeting was Shri Tarun Vijay, BJP spokesperson, a well-known journalist, prolific writer and director of BJP think-tank Shyama Prasad Research Foundation. He was specially sent by BJP President Shri Nitin Gadkari to grace the occasion. After the opening remarks of the President, Dr. Adapa Prasad throughout the day various members deliberated on various issues such as Religious Conversion, China’s Expansionist moves, Role of Youth and Women in Organization, police reforms, demographic terrorism and organizational matters.

The highlight of the meeting was the evening public program on May 22 held at newly opened India House, a community center in Houston. The program started off with a true patriotic flavor to it by paying tributes to the great patriots who contributed to India’s Independence and were Hinduism's torch bearers. After the initial welcome, local singer Himani Patel sang "Vande Matram" soulfully as the audience joined in impromptu.

The Chief Guest Shri Tarun Vijay, was introduced by Dr. Mahesh Mehta, National Coordinator of OFBJP-USA and International Vice president of VHP. He emphasized that the Globalization that Indian civilization propounded was entrenched in the Vedic concept of "Vasudev Kutumbakam" (The world is one big family). While the Western capitalist economies consider globalization centered in dispersal of markets, Indian globalization centers on considering the world as a family and thereby considering the survival and nurturing of mankind, nature and environment.

In his powerful oratory Tarunji captivated a strong audience of 300 persons for two hours. He spoke mainly on the current challenges facing India and how they can be countered so that India can emerge as a world power and Vishwa Guru. In his inimitable and eloquent style of mixing Hindi and English oratory, Tarunji shared his wisdom on the importance of India, what it represents and what India has contributed to the world civilization over millennia and what more it can do to bring global peace and harmony. An interesting example he recounted his experience in China where he saw them paying respect to four Rishis from India, who had founded Buddhism in China. Tarunji narrated a very touching and dismal situation in North-East part of India and touched a chord with the audience when he shared his recent experiences while visiting Manipur and how bad the situation is there for Hindus. His oratory style reminds one of ex-PM of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He could freely communicate both, in Hindi and English, and presented the ideas in a way that touches the heart. The evening at India House left one with new insights, and inspiration from back home.

Later on May 24^th, the North-East zone of OFBJP-USA organized a civic reception for Shri Tarun Vijayji in TV Asia's Community Auditorium. Over 250 people joined in the reception at a very short notice on a working day. In this program also the video messages of Shri Gadkariji, Advaniji, Jaitleyji and Shri Kidar Nath Sahaniji were played. Shri Tarun Vijayji again captivated the audience with his eloquence and wisdom for over one hour. In the end he strongly appealed the audience to join OFBJP in large numbers to help India and BJP so that India emerges from the current challenges stronger and prosperous.

The Times Of India

‘Why should Manipur remain in India?’

17 May 2010

Tarun Vijay

Kamminlung Singson was sitting next to me on a four-hour hopping flight from Delhi to Imphal. He had one year of training in a short-term programme of Indian Army and was on his way back home to Churachandpur, about 60km from Imphal. He was supposed to travel by train up to Guwahati and then take a bus, but the highways to his hometown, NH 39 and NH 53, had been blocked by Naga rebels for almost 30 days at that time, so he had to somehow arrange for an air ticket. Not many Manipuris can afford an air ticket, he said sadly.

He was casual, in a cotton bermuda with blue strips and a brown, wrinkled T-shirt. I looked at his footwear - he was wearing coloured slippers. He was looking out of the scratched window pane when the plane took off. We started chatting.

How’s is the situation, I asked?

Very bad. UGs are ruling and people are suffering. Imphal to Churachand Pur ticket has gone up to Rs 150 per person, which was just 40 rupees a few months back, he said.

UGs? Who are they? Underground rebels, he grinned at my ignorance. There is a severe food scarcity and no petrol or diesel is available. One has to be in a queue for one or two days to get 20 or 40 litres of oil. He stared at me as if asking who the hell you are so oblivious of the facts that are tearing apart the lives of Manipuris.

I know some of it, I said sheepishly, hence on my way to Imphal. OK, now that you have taken an armed training with the Army, would you be serving the Indian forces or join the other side? I collected myself and asked.

It was a mischievous question, just to poke him and get him speaking on his motherland. He opened up.

I will fight for India, that’s my motherland. But not many in my village think so. They feel India doesn’t care for them. He showed me a news clipping from a south-based daily which made horrendous reading - it was about the death of a Manipuri woman due to starvation. I didn’t find it mentioned in any other newspaper or channel.



The correspondent of the newspaper Iboyaima Laithangbam had filed an Imphal-datelined report:

IMPHAL: Takhellambam Komberei (70), a diabetic, died of starvation and lack of Medicare owing to the ongoing protest by tribal students in Manipur. While going to her home at Jiribam from here on May 5, the bus in which she was travelling was stranded on Highway 53 as a result of economic blockade. She and other passengers managed to buy rice at an exorbitant price of Rs 200 a kg from the nearby village. But soon nothing was available in the village market and they started eating roots, herbs and green bananas found on the mountain slopes. The old woman then started trekking up, but collapsed and died by the roadside.( http://www.hindu.com/2010/05/13/stories/2010051358060900.htm)

Why was Takhellambam Komberei’s death, a painful end, ignored by a Muthalik-obsessed media? A Mulayam prank or a Lalu joke and statue devis and the Hindu terror talk to please the Arab variety of secularism overwhelms the media, but nothing on the pains and anguish of those who are living under a constant threat from anti-national ultras, have yet to see a railway station after six decades of independence, bad roads, almost negligible infrastructure, 38 insurgent terror groups always breathing down their necks to extort money and yet proud to be an Indian?

Kamminlung tried to be as nice as possible 30,000 feet above the ground level. But I could see it was difficult to control emotions for him.

How many Indians would be caring for Manipur or Arunachal or Nagaland, inspite of all those patriotic songs? How many of us would be able to tell what kind of name a Naga, a Mizo or a Manipuri love to wear? Or distinguish their faces and not to call them all as ‘chinkies’?

How many of our elitist or government schools tell the children about India beyond Kolkata and the culture, names, social dynamics and problems of our border region and northeast in particular?

How many newspapers from mainland India sent their correspondents to report what’s happening to a people who have been cut off from the rest of India, except through the air route, for the last one month? It’s our hypocrisy and a sham nationalism that makes distant areas like Manipur feel distanced from our hearts too.

Manipur faces a crisis that’s communal in its colour and anti-national in its import.

Insurgents, blatantly anti-Indian, control the social and political life. They work on unhindered communal hatred. In Kashmir, Hindus were driven out by Islamist jihadis and nothing happened? In Nagaland and Manipur it’s the Christian and jihadi insurgents stifling the Hindu masses and their voices. The real fight is to get maximum number of non-Christians either converted or annihilated. It’s as simple as that. It’s a foreign-aided political colonialism in the garb of religious fervor.

Manipur is on their target for its Vaishnav traditions. And how? The China-fixed insurgent group Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) has given notices to all non-Manipuri Hindus to leave the state by May 31. Its slogan is – unless they sever all ties with “Hindus, Hindi and Hindi speaking people’’ their target to have an independent Manipur can’t be achieved. The best protection for a non-Manipuri resident is to display Islamic half-skull cap, because none of the Muslims have ever been targeted or asked to leave, no matter which state they come from. Thousands of Bangladeshi infiltrators have entered Manipur, but these so-called puritan rebel terrorist groups, one of them an Islamic one Peoples’ United Liberation Front, having its headquarters in Hebron, Nagaland, with NSCN-IM have kept mum about them.

The entire north east is in the grip of an unprecedented wave of Christianization with the help of foreign money. Recently on May 5, a huge Jesus statue was unveiled in Arunachal Pradesh said to be the tallest in Asia, in a region where Christian population is less than 5%. But still Kohima can’t have a Gandhi statue as the NSCN opposes any Indian icons in their region. So is true about Manipur where under threats from insurgents, neither can the national anthem be sung in schools nor can it be published in school textbooks. Even Republic and Independence Day celebrations are held only in government offices under tight security and wrapped up in minimum possible time. No school or private institution is allowed to have a function on such occasions leave aside hoisting the tricolor. The government employees, traders and politicians have to pay a part of their income to insurgents as a routine manner. Even the government contract funds must be shared with them and almost 20% of each such contract is distributed in cash to various anti-national outfits. What a joke of governance: terror groups are sustained on state funds!

Surely, there is an answer to ‘why Manipur should remain in India’- why shouldn’t it? Manipur is quintessentially India and India is incomplete without its hoary Radha Krishna traditions, tribal richness and Meitei culture. But the inconvenient situation demands self-introspection as an Indian people and state.

rediffnews.com

Delhi sleeps while Manipur burns

May 17, 2010

Manipur is on fire today. Terrorist organisations demand secession from India, local tribal conflicts, and a total collapse of the civil administration has turned the state into a virtual hell. Yet Delhi does not seem to care, notes Tarun Vijay.

Manipur must be amongst the most beautiful states of India with green hills, flowery valleys and vast clean water lakes mesmerising the viewer and in many ways dwarfing Switzerland's over-stated panorama.

The state is on fire today. Terrorist organisations demand secession from India, local tribal conflicts and a total collapse of the civil administration has turned this state into a virtual hell otherwise famed for its Radha Krishna dance the world over and a stunningly sharp martial arts said to be the predecessor of karate.

A few facts first.

1. Since January 16, 80,000 state government employees have been on a 'pen down' strike demanding implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations with retrospective effect. This has paralysed the government machinery, but Chief Minister Ibobi Singh has refused to talk to the striking employees.

2. A stifling blockade on National Highway-39 and a partial blockade on NH-53 has caused an unbelievable scarcity of oil, food and medicines. Buses and trucks are given 40 litres of petrol/diesel per day through a self-imposed rationing system. Diesel and petrol are being sold at exorbitant rates in the black market.
Bus fares have increased two to three times (the Imphal to Churachand Pur bus fare has gone up to Rs 150 from Rs 40 earlier).

3. The only one major government hospital is not getting oxygen cylinders, hence it has stopped operating upon patients. With a few oxygen cylinders left, it has closed down the casualty department, keeping the scantly available reserve for emergencies.

4. The Guwahati-Imphal air fare has suddenly gone up and people are simply unable either to enter or leave Manipur by road.

5. Non-Manipuris have been served notices to quit the state by the Peoples' Liberation Army, an outlawed separatist organisation with Chinese contours; it has set May 31 as the deadline.

Thousands of labourers and workers have already left in panic; the remaining traders and teachers are terrified with zero security assurance either by the state government or by the Centre.

So this is the state of India where citizens are asked to leave like the jihadis did to Kashmiri Hindus. People ask who owns Manipur. Why don't the Delhiwallahs care for them?

If a small road was blocked for day in Haryana or Uttar Pradesh, the media would have covered it immediately. But a month's blockade of two arteries joining the state with the rest of India hasn't attracted even a fraction of that attention. Why? Because Haryana and UP are more important to South and North Block than Manipur?
Roads are blocked cutting the state from the rest of India, hospitals do not run, an administration is on strike for the last four months, terrorists virtually rule the land and above that the Centre decided to allow T Muivah, a leader of a separatist insurgent organisation, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Issac-Muivah faction, to visit his ancestral village in Manipur.

Muivah has been booked in several cases of murder and mayhem in Manipur. On finding that the Union home ministry is proposing to send him under Z-plus security cover in a government helicopter to the state, Manipuris boiled in anger. Chief Minister Ibobi Singh, a Congress leader, flatly refused to accept the central government's unilateral decision.

Nevertheless, this move further aggravated the already tormented state and all social and political organisations joined hands to condemn the Centre's move, threatening dire consequences if Muivah was allowed to visit the state. In protest clashes, three young men have been killed.

Muivah is demanding a Greater Nagaland, and his organisation's slogan is 'Nagaland for Christ'. The movement is supported openly by various denominations of Nagaland's churches and it gets funds from Western countries. Muivah is accused of having engineered the 1992-1993 ethnic cleansing of Kuki tribes in Manipur which is said to have claimed more than 900 lives. During that NSCN-IM operation, 350 Kuki villages were uprooted and 100,000 Kukis were turned into refugees.

They are bewildered why such a person is given so much importance and Z-plus security cover. Is the only 'crime' of the Manipuris that they still owe an allegiance to the Indian tricolour?

Manipuris oppose Muivah's visit to his ancestral village Somdal in Ukhrul district. It may shock many that Muivah is originally a Manipuri Naga, hence his credibility amongst the Naga-Nagas is low. Manipuris fear this will further accelerate and strengthen his demand to merge four Manipuri districts into his proposed Nagalim state.

The Government of India has so far not assured it will keep Manipur's territorial integrity intact.

Non-Manipuris, organised under a banner, quite ironically called the 'Hindustani Samaj', are in a deadly trap.

On March 17, 2008, eight non-Manipuri people were killed on the outskirts of the capital Imphal. Seven of them were brought in a van, lined up on the roadside with their hands tied behind their backs, and shot dead from close range with automatic weapons. A few miles away another non-Manipuri was shot dead in similar circumstances. This was the first time in Manipur that militants targeted non-local migrants who are either labourers or petty traders.

In the two years since then 32 non-Manipuris, mostly Biharis and Bengalis, have been killed.

This year in February, the Revolutionary People's Front, a banned organisation in Manipur through its armed outfit, the Peoples' Liberation Army issued a quit notice to all Mayaangs -- a derogatory term used for non-Manipuris, who came to Manipur after 1949 (the year when the princely state was merged with the Indian Union) to leave the state by May 31.

Non-Manipuris travelling from Guwahati to Imphal by bus -- the only mode of travel available to poor people -- have been denied tickets at Guwahati ticket booking counters.

Yet none of the great national leaders or organisations, barring the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have thought it fit to voice the pain and anguish of the Manipuri people. Neither the television channels nor national newspapers sent their correspondents to cover the unprecedented crisis.
That's what makes the north-eastern people think that Delhi does not care for them. Hindustan's boundaries for the so-called mainland politicos are up to Kolkata in the east and Amarnath in the north. Even the local Manipur media cannot refuse to publish threatening press releases of the terrorist groups.

In the famous Mothers' Market in Imphal, the women traders seethe in anger. Their leader Mangi Devi says, "How do you think our children will get a good education when 15 days a month, their schools are forcibly closed? Can they ever think of qualifying for the IAS and IPS like your children in Delhi? There is no petrol, no kerosene, it has become extremely difficult for the common person to travel to his village, no medicines in hospitals. Is this the India we should be proud of?"
The Manipuri people hardly get to celebrate Independence Day or Republic Day -- they are not allowed by the banned outfits who virtually dictate the state's life. Only under heavy security cover can government buildings hoist the tricolour for a short time.

No school, public place, private institution can display the national colours. Hindi is banned; Hindi movies have not been allowed in movie theatres for the last ten years. In school textbooks, the national anthem cannot be printed.
Every single government contract has a 20 percent share for the terrorist separatist organisations and government officials take cash out in bundles and distribute it, according to the size and influence of the organisation, to their representatives whenever a new contract is awarded.

Leaders of various social organisations are so terrified are no local political party has been able to condemn the threat to the non-Manipuris. The market wears a ghostly look after 6 pm and the last movie show (all showing either Manipuri movies, shot on video cameras or Korean ones) is at 4 pm. Unemployment is widespread; educational degrees from local colleges mean nothing as they are given without a proper regimen.

With none to protect them and engulfed in such a darkness it is a great tribute to the patriotic Manipuris that they suffer in silence and have not yet revolted.

Tarun Vijay is the Bharatiya Janata Party's national spokesperson and director, Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi.

Tarun Vijay

जनसत्ता

असल अल्पसंख्यक

16 मई, 2010

तरुण विजय

दैनिक जागरण

मुइवा विरोध के मायने

16 मई, 2010

तरुण विजय

The Times Of India

Love in Beijing

11 May 2010

Tarun Vijay

Only in a government on a holiday "masti", things like Twitter Tharoor and Chindia-fame Ramesh can happen. In Saigon, night-bird youths riding on fancy high-speed motorbikes control the roads after ten. So in Delhi, highflyer ministers like Tharoor and Ramesh take full-speed government bikes to have a "masti"-tweet and bash your own people and your own government to have an extra dose of adrenaline.

I must appreciate the tenacity and maturity of my old friend Manmohan Singh, whom I have always criticized for his policies and a compromising attitude towards our enemies, for calling up Ramesh and reprimanding for his simply outrageous Beijing love. As TOI reported, "Ramesh on Saturday had said that the security establishment was putting 'needless' restrictions on Chinese investments in India as 'we are imagining demons where there are none'. The home ministry was quick to retort. It 'snubbed Ramesh for his comment, saying no discrimination was being meted out to Chinese companies. It is wrong to say that the security establishment was biased against the Chinese,' home secretary G K Pillai said."

What was that brought Ramesh to Beijing?

He was simply on an environment circuit tour, ostensibly to broaden "cooperation on climate change negotiations and discuss issues related to environment, forest management and renewable energy", according to a curtain raiser to his visit. From renewable energy to ministry of home affairs is a quantum jump indeed.

If at all he was keen to take up all the Indian issues as a minister representing Indian interests in China, one would have expected him to raise the issues of continuous Chinese incursions in the Ladakh sector, damming rivers that bring water to India, opening up of Kailas Manasarovar route through Demchhok, balancing China-India trade, which is heavily in favour of Beijing at present, and, of course, taming China's blue-eyed buddy Pakistan a bit on Indian front. Or why the Chinese are hacking Indian sites?

But apparently he wanted to have some fun for the Chinese. And he did it meticulously. He blasted his pal, Chidambaram and "suggested that the home ministry needed to be "much more relaxed" in its approach to Chinese investments in India". Having being snubbed a second time, first by Digvijay Singh, Chidambaram invoked the fury of his boss, Manmohan Singh and had Ramesh reprimanded in Beijing itself. He also made his home secretary Gopal Pillai issue a rejoinder, quite extraordinary for a government to snub his own minister, who is still on a foreign soil, through a high level bureaucrat in public.

That's how the UPA works. Shifted Shivraj Patil and Vilasrao Deshmukh post 26/11. Dismissed Tharoor post IPL investment issue. Keeping a studied silence on the Raja spectrum scandal-called the 'mother of all scams' and now has its own minister criticizing the government before the Chinese. What a spectrum of "mast"-governance. If I were Singh, Ramesh would have been immediately called back cutting his China odyssey. Ramesh has always been a bit too sympathetic to his Chinese friends. In his book "Making sense of Chindia" (a phrase popularized by him that refers to India and China together in general), his contention was that Indian leaders are still wary of giving too much to the Chinese. There are very few Chinese companies coming directly into India. Jairam cited the examples of Haier and Huawei Technologies and said these seem to be facing some obstacles and were not being allowed to expand in India freely. He said that there is a mind block that does not want to accept that with changing times even sworn enemies can become friends.

Even in Beijing his comments came, in a way to support a Chinese company about which there are various different opinions. His comments came in the context of recent reports that India had barred import of telecom equipment from major Chinese firm Huawei, especially in the border areas following security concerns."

Good sentiments but are they in synch with the China policy of the government? Oops, sorry, does this government have any China policy at all? What about Huawei's security credentials and the Pentagon's inquiry into its affairs? And what about your own R&AW? Do you care a bit about your homegrown intelligence agencies, Mr Minister? Here is one for you: "The security concerns of Indian intelligence agencies about Huawei's close connection with the Chinese security establishment are shared by the US administration and had led the latter to cancel Huawei's 2008 bid to pick up stake in 3Com. Even British intelligence agencies have warned that the Chinese could cripple IT-dependent telecom infrastructure and critical services like water, power and food supplies by embedding malware in equipment installed by firms such as Huawei and ZTE. According to security assessments of Huawei Technologies put together by R&AW, the Chinese firm not only shares ties with the Chinese security establishment but is also suspected to be a part of its intelligence set-up. Not only was it founded by retired PLA officer Ren Zhengfei, a former director of the Information Engineering Academy of the PLA's general staff department, in 1988, but one of the members on the company's board was an officer of the PRC ministry of state security."

One has to see all this in the wake of continuous hacking of Indian security establishment sites by the Chinese. And here was an honourable minister taking up the cause of the same company, put in the question box by Indian intelligence agencies.

Reacting to Jairam Ramesh's comments, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to Ramesh and emphatically told him that there was "no confusion" in the government over its approach towards China with which it wanted to have "constructive engagement". Singh told Ramesh that it was "advisable for Cabinet colleagues not to make comments on the functioning of other ministries, especially with regard to relationship with important neighbours like China," the PMO sources said.

Isn't it funny, like a banana republic or an island country living on tourist traffic that we have behaved? A Prime Minister has to eat humble pie and tell his grown-up minister about how to behave in a foreign country and that minister cares a hoot about the CEO of the nation and goes directly to the super Prime Minister to report his 'path breaking statement'? Does India deserve this humpty-dumpty governance?

The Times Of India

Kasab: Punishing a pup for the master

05 May 2010

Tarun Vijay

Punishing Kasab is like punishing a burglar's pup. The real culprit is Pakistan — the terrorist state that creates, trains and sends Kasabs into our homes to cause mayhem and anarchy. Kasab of course must meet exemplary death, but Pakistan too must be punished. The irony is, we prepare biryani for Pakistani state actors who are playing a game that helps the terrorists. Even a Pakistan-obsessed Indian media feels shy of playing up the role of Pakistan in anti-India terrorist activities because it has taken upon itself a task to talk peace while Indians get killed. Nowhere, not even on the so-called fair and objective media channels, did I see deep analyses and debates on the Pakistani hand in massacring Indian citizens. The victims’ family members were interviewed as if Kasab was a one-man phenomenon and the story began and ended with him.

Talking for Saeed’s and Lakhvi’s extradition and then expressing full faith in Islamabad’s intentions through Gilani means nothing. Rather it makes Pakistan talk cheap and take our claims lightly. After Kasab, India must make sure, on its own, that no one from Pakistan enters our territory with bad intentions and no one in Pakistan is able to get training or raise funds for killing Indians. It needs a credible sincerity and a ruthless will which goes beyond party lines and sham, secular vote-bank considerations. An enemy is an enemy is an enemy. His religion shouldn't make any difference to the law enforcement agencies.

To understand how not to handle Pakistan, look at Washington, which foolishly fattens Pakistan with dollars and arrests Pakistanis in New York for a mayhem that almost happened. Think of the following nine points to take up and respond.

1. Stifle Pakistan with economic sanctions till it agrees to do something concrete to stop its bad babies getting arms and funds on its soil.

2. Start a worldwide diplomatic offensive accompanied with pictures of Kashmir massacres and blasts all over India with good, credible speakers from India representing films, media, and other streams of public life to show the real face of Pakistan and its involvement.

3. Make the American people understand what Pakistan means to us and the US, and establish truthfully Islamabad as the most dangerous threat to world peace and stability. Americans will understand better than the foggy-headed desk officers Obama has employed. Once people rise in protest, White House will have to think twice, especially the Hillary types before they cosy with Rawalpindi Khakis and ignore Indian concerns.

4. Encircle Pakistan diplomatically to shame it for its continued support to terror groups active on the Indian front and its open abetment to violence and separatism in Kashmir, which has resulted in almost nil industrialization, trickling tourist traffic and an ethnic cleansing of Hindus, unparalleled in world history.

5. Put a resolution in the UN to demand UN control on Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, which is the gravest threat to us and also to the western world, as no one knows when a part of it would fall into the hands of the Osama lads making them happiest to use it in London or Rome or Washington.

6. Change the Indian laws to be more draconian and have a separate judicial system dealing with anti-national activities. I was happy to see a US senator’s proposal to strip terrorists of their citizenship. "I think it's time for us to look at whether we want to amend that law to apply it to American citizens who choose to become affiliated with foreign terrorists organizations, whether or not they should also be deprived automatically of their citizenship and therefore be deprived of rights that come with that citizenship when they are apprehended and charged with a terrorist act," Senator Joe Lieberman told Fox News in an interview. Let’s do it here even if the US mulls over it endlessly under Obama-Hillary’s Rawalpindi obsession. Those who are found involved in activities against India must not get the privileges and the protection of Indian law either.

7. Refurbish and get a completely new set-up for intelligence agencies and train police forces for anti-terror actions taking up as top priority. The US police did a wonderful job in not only locating the devastating vehicle just in time but also nabbing the Pakistani culprit just seconds before he was flying to Dubai and had the man he travelled with in Karachi arrested from a mosque. Can we do something like this here?

8. Take more help from Israel in strengthening the anti-terror network and intelligence.

9. Rejuvenate the National Cadet Corps compulsorily in all schools giving training in arms to all students from an early age. They all know and read about how terrorism has affected our daily lives. Let them get the right inputs for defeating it.

Nations and societies that are angry when assaulted and show pain and anguish get solutions. Those who don’t care about their hurt never get cared for by others.

दैनिक जागरण

3 मई, 2010

भारतीयता की अनदेखी

तरुण विजय

जनसत्ता

2 मई, 2010

दलित की बेटी

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