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Friday, December 13, 2013

Greeting Bharat Ratna Sachin was such a fulfilling moment in Parliament!!


Tarun Vijay discusses Uttarakhand's children issue with Sachin Tendulkar, seeks help for devastated areas

13th December 2013- New Delhi- Today, Uttarakhand's Member of Parliament Shri Tarun Vijay congratulated Sachin Tendulkar, who attended the Rajya Sabha first time after being conferred with Bharat Ratna and discussed the grave issues of the children of Uttarakhand , specially those who belong to the devastated areas. Sachin was all ears and asked to send  more details so that he could see what can be done.
 
Tarun Vijay said that unlike politicians, Sachin, a great hero  of our times, is too humble and an ever smiling person, who won the hearts of all MPs present. Tarun Vijay said to Sachin that Mussourie and hence Uttarakhand feels proud that he has a house there and keeps visiting the place regularly, that also helps to boost the tourism and contributes to the local economy. To this Sachin smilingly said , he feels at home in Uttarakhand.
 
Pic shows Shri Tarun Vijay with Shri Sachin Tendulkar in parliament

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

A great, glorious moment. Paying courtesies to their Majesties The Emperor and Empress of Japan

Paying courtesies to His Majesty the Emperor, a great , unforgettable moment in the Rashtrapati Bhawan

Glorious moment --paying  courtesies to Her Majesty The Empress of Japan, while our  beloved and most respected President and her daughter Ms Sharmishtha looks on



Monday, December 2, 2013

Why do we have a second flag for Kashmir? Just get away with it by law

In our republic, which boasts of one nation, one people and one union, we have two flags. One for India and the other for Kashmir.

No one asks why?

If the mere picture of a foreign national irks, embarrasses and makes the government apologetic, should a flag, put on a par, parallel to the flag of our republic for which we swear to live and die, make us happy and proud?


There is one tricolor, which is our soul. We sing for it, love it, feel thrilled when it's fluttered on any part of this planet. That's us and our invincible tricolour.
Jammu Kashmir state flag)

And here is another flag. We hardly know about it. A piece that has to be displayed on the bonnets of the Ambassador cars the governor, the chief minister, the Union home minister or even the Prime Minister uses to negotiate a Kashmir road. Suddenly there are two flags, two people, two lands. And still one republic? Ask Justice Sagheer Ahmad and hear the "give more autonomy to J&K" call. More, still more, autonomy for what? A seperate flag and wanting to be more seperate?
Whose flag is it, any way? They say it's Kashmir's flag. So why don’t our rulers hoist it too in the Republic Day parade in New Delhi? A bit red-faced, they say it’s just for Kashmir.

 Indian flag





So why not Bihar and Uttarakhand and Punjab  and, please, Tamilnadu too have their separate flags?
They say Kashmir is special and other states are NOT.

Really?

Why not every state in India is special?

Why not every Indian citizen is equally special?

We, the Indians, the people of India.

Who gave the Constitution to themselves on January 26, 1950, hence the republic and the parade for it.

We can’t buy an inch of land in Kashmir because there is a provision in the Indian Constitution that bars it. That's called Article 370.

It says we are not authorised to be citizens of Kashmir. But we are Indian citizens?

So what?

Article 370 says we are not naturally Kashmiri citizens, even if we are Indians.

If we are Indians, we can be Biharis, Tamilians or Arunachalis. But not Kashmiri.

There was a man whose name was Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He died protesting separate provisions for Kashmir. The news agency IANS reported recently: "Mukherjee was imprisoned for entering the state without a proper permit in violation of Article 370. His entry was in protest against the separate constitution, head of the state and flag of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Mukherjee wanted that Jammu and Kashmir be declared an integral part of India and governed like any other state of the country."


Mookerjee (that's how he spelt his name) died mysteriously in a Srinagar jail.


Who cares for such a "mad" man, giving his life for national integration in its truest sense?

Live peacefully, in your Lutyens' bungalow and offer government constructive cooperation.

That makes life easy, you know.

Let me reproduce some extracts from the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir? It has a separate identity from the Indian Constitution and no law that the Indian parliament passes is applied in J&K unless the J&K assembly  passes it too and it has the right to overrule the Indian parliament and change the contents of the laws passed by the parliament situated in New Delhi.

The J&K constitution says —

Preamble:

We, the people of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, having solemnly resolved, in pursuance of the accession of this State to India which took place on the twenty sixth day of October, 1947, to further define the existing relationship of the State with the Union of India as an integral part thereof, and to secure ourselves-

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and opportunity; and to promote among us all;

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this seventeenth day of November, 1956, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION.

Part II of "The State" of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir:

Relationship of the State with the Union of India - The State of Jammu and Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of India.

On April 7, 1958, the Plebiscite Front of Sheikh Abdullah adopted a resolution specifically citing Article 370, and stated that : "Jammu and Kashmir state has not yet acceded to any of the two dominions, India and Pakistan. Therefore, it will not be right to call Pakistani invasion on Jammu and Kashmir as an attack on India.” Using Article 370 Kashmiri Muslim leaders have opposed any family planning and welfare schemes formulated by the government of India, and the programme was implemented only in the Hindu majority Jammu. The former chief minister, G M Shah, had said that the aim of the government family planning programme was to convert the Muslim majority into a minority. The former external affairs minister M C Chagla had told the United Nations that the Article was a temporary measure. The two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and G M Sadiq too wanted this Article to be repealed.
Articles 3 and 5 of the State constitution of Jammu and Kashmir state that it will remain an “inseparable” part of India and Parliament should immediately repeal Article 370.

Friends on the internet suggest, "Those Kashmiri Muslims who have declared themselves to be Pakistanis should be asked to apply for Pakistani citizenship, and if their applications fail, they should be declared stateless persons and no longer citizens of India, and therefore no longer citizens of any part of the dominions of the Republic of India."

Article 370 (though originally Article 306-A) drafted by Gopalaswami Ayyengar in close consultation with Sheikh Mohd Abdullah reads as follows:

"Temporary provisions with respect to the State of Jammu and Kashmir:

1. Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution,
(a) the provisions of Article 238 shall not apply in relation to the State of Jammu and Kashmir;

(b) the power of Parliament to make laws for the said State shall be limited to,
(i) those matters in the Union List and the Concurrent List which, in consultation with the Government of the State are declared by the President to correspond to matters specified in the Instrument of Accession governing the accession of the State to the Dominion of India as the matters with respect to which the Dominion Legislature may make laws far that State; and

(ii) such other matters in the said Lists as, with the concurrence of the Government of the State, the President may by order specify.

Explanation:
For the purposes of this article, the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognised by the President as the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers for the time being in office under the Maharaja's Proclamation dated the fifth day of March, 1948;

(c) the provisions of Article 1 and of this article shall apply in relation to that State;

(d) such of the other provisions of this Constitution shall apply in relation to that State subject to such exceptions and modifications as the President may by order specify:

Provided that no such order which relates to the matters specified in the Instrument of Accession of the State referred to in paragraph (i) of sub-clause (b) shall be issued except in consultation with the Government of the State:

Provided further that no such order which relates to matters other than those referred in the last preceding proviso shall be issued except with the concurrence of that Government.

2. If the concurrence of the Government of the State referred to in paragraph (ii) of sub-clause (b) of clause (1) or in the second proviso to sub-clause (d) of that clause be given before the Constituent Assembly for the purpose of framing the Constitution of the State is convened, it shall be placed before such Assembly for such decision as it may take thereon.

3. Notwithstanding anything in the foregoing provisions of this article, the President may, by public notification, declare that this article shall cease to be operative or shall be operative only with such exceptions and modifications and from such date as he may specify:
Provided that the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State referred to in clause (2) shall be necessary before the President issues such a notification.

In exercise of the powers conferred by Article 370 the President, on the recommendation of the Constituent Assembly of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, declared that as from the 17th Day of November, 1952, the said Article 370 shall be operative with the modification that for the Explanation in Cl. (1) thereof, the following explanation is substituted namely.

Explanation - For the purpose of this article, the Government of the State means the person for the time being recognized by the President on the recommendation of the Legislative Assembly of the State as the Sadr-i-Riyasat (now Governor) of Jammu and Kashmir, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of the State for the time being in office."


That's our republic. And the second flag. And the two peoples in one land. Viva the flag hoisters.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

The Emperor has arrived . A new era in India Japan ties to begin-some good pics and column-The Emperor's pathway to India's heart




Japan's Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko pose for the photographers with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife Gursharan Kaur on their arrival at AFS Palam in New Delhi

On Monday, the Imperial Couple will attend a ceremonial reception at the official residence of President Pranab Mukherjee in New Delhi and visit Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi. Later in the day, the president will hold a state banquet for them



The Times of India.com
The Emperor's pathway to India's heart
30 November 2013, 09:21 PM IS
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indus-calling/entry/the-emperor-s-pathway-to-india-s-heart

If in 1960 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru received the visiting Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, 53 years later, a Nehruvian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, receives the same couple, now the Emperor and Empress, having ascended the throne in 1990.  



What a coincidence.


It must be a result of his good karma for Japan, as he is indisputably the most popular and respected Indian leader in the Land of the Rising Sun. The speech he gave in Tokyo this year in May is reflective of his special feelings for the Japanese people. He mentioned Japan as an inspiration to India and envisioned a path of strategic cooperation, specially marking the maritime region. He said: "Asia's resurgence began over a century ago on this island of the Rising Sun.

Ever since, Japan has shown us the way forward. India and Japan have a shared vision of a rising Asia. Japan's rise as a modern, knowledge-based industrial power was a source of inspiration to India's great national leaders."

Nothing defines better the warmth and cordiality between india and Japan than the age-old cultural and civilizational ties. Shintoism, too akin to the Hindu beliefs, and the patriotic fervour of an average Japanese inspired Indian monks like Swami Ramtirth and Swami Vivekananda, made an everlasting influence on writers like Rabindranath Thakur and powered revolutionaries like Subhas Chandra Bose.  The economic and industrial relations might have witnessed delayed milestones, yet an average India grew on feelings of admiration for the Japanese products and friendliness.

I

t is on these trusted foundations that Tenno Heika (His Majesty the Emperor) and Kogo Heika (Her Majesty the Empress) get a hearty Namaste from a billion-plus Indians.

It's difficult for the ever revolting and 'eager to break tradition' new generation of India to understand the awe and reverence with which people in Japan look at their emperor and empress. In spite of a new constitution and the reduction in the powers of the royalty, their majesties are considered divine and even a letter handed over to them invites wide spread criticism and ridicule. Some time back when a young actress turned legislature suddenly gave a letter over Fukushima disaster to the Emperor, there were demands from all quarters that she should be asked to resign.



The Emperor himself is credited with breaking the tradition when he married a commoner; strictly the royalty is expected to marry only in the families of Japanese nobility. Both meet the common people as much as they can. The emperor, 79, underwent a bypass surgery last year, so Empress Michiko shoulders most of the burden of attending rituals and formal programmes on his behalf, yet its amazing to find that both attended more than 300 events last year. 



Their India visit is considered a proactive gesture by Prime Minister Shinjo Abe's government, which is keen to enhancing and strengthening India ties with a traditional strategic fervour. Abe mesmerized Indian parliamentarians when he addressed them in the Central Hall in 2007, quoting Dara Shikoh (perhaps the first foreign dignitary to remember the great symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity and Vedic scholarship) and Swami Vivekananda. It's not just 'Abeconomics' that is ensuring increased Japanese investments to India but his long-term maritime strategic policy that must make Indian presence and power in pacific and South China Sea more assertive and secure.

Here lies the key to lay the solid foundation of India-Japan strategic ties.

Dr Manmoghan Singh also had emphasized the need for an upgraded cooperation in maritime sphere in his May, 2013, speech in Tokyo. He had, unhesitatingly said, "The Indo-Pacific region is witnessing profound social and economic changes on a scale and at a speed rarely seen in human history ... this region faces multiple challenges, unresolved issues and unsettled questions. Historical differences persist despite our growing inter-dependence; India and Japan are among the major actors in this region. Our shared religious, cultural and spiritual heritage embodies the principles of peace, co-existence and pluralism." He added: "Maritime security across the linked regions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans is essential for regional and global prosperity. We should, therefore, uphold the principles of freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce in accordance with international law, resolve maritime issues peacefully and work together more purposefully to harness the potential of the seas and address common sea-based challenges such as piracy."

The Emperor's visit will make the entire Japan focus on India and the rest of the pathway will be cleared flawlessly.

It is important that from the Indian side an old Japan friend Salman Khurshid is appointed as Minister in waiting for the visiting dignitaries. From Japanese side, former Prime Minister Mori's inclusion in the royal entourage is significant. He is credited with laying the solid foundation of India-Japan cooperation in recent times and India has conferred Padma Bhushan on him.



This visit is a good omen for our bilateral ties and should be seen rising above the domestic political differences and ideological disagreements. After all Indian interest must occupy the highest place and hence, as one tricoloured Indians, we all must warmly welcome this visit.

Cherry Blossom Shower-- What Emperor Akihito’s visit should mean to India and my Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi columns



Cherry Blossom Shower
What Emperor Akihito’s visit should mean to India

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?288715


Japan has on quite a few occasions displayed amazing shakti to re-emerge from the ashes. Nothing explains Japan’s resilience better than its love of tradition and its faith in ancient institutions. Present-day Japan’s bonds with the past are underpinned by the haka nasa philosophy: although everything, including life, keeps changing and is evanescent, memories are precious, and equally precious are the rites to honour ancestors. The attire and lifestyle may seem westernised, but because of an uninterrupted tradition of honouring civilisational icons, Japan retains its cultural soul and spirit. And to most Japanese, the quintessence of their culture—its humane face, as it were—finds representation in the emperor and empress of Japan.
Nothing can make Japanese society pay focused attention on any other nation or people as a visit of the royal couple. When Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko arr ive in India on a six-day tour, beginning November 30, all of Japan will be glued to the TV screen, watching India welcoming the couple they worship as living deities. The royals had visited India in 1960 as crown prince and princess and laid the cornerstone for the India International Centre in Delhi. Their second visit, as emperor and empress, comes 53 years later. It’s the most significant and strategically important visit of any foreign dignitary in many decades. It marks a new era of Indo-Japanese relations, which have the potential to definitively change the contours of power balance in the region.
If Japan and India are coming closer than they have been, it’s not because of the pressure of geopolitics, the Chinese factor or the need, as some pundits would sketchily emphasise, to strike an Indian presence in the growing competitiveness between the American and Chinese influence in the world. Instead, the coming together of Japan and India is the natural outcome of the “confluence of two seas”—the famous words of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who drew them from Dara Shikoh’s treatise on the Upanisads. Therefore, the visit of the royal couple is a gesture distinguishably singular and independent of any other strategic move.
In a widely appreciated speech at the United Nations, Emperor Akihito had underlined the importance of relations between people and connected it to water. He quo ted from Hojoki, an essay written 831 years ago by Kamo no Chomei, a Shinto priest, and hoped that people of the world would continue a journey “towards better relations between humans and water”. He clarified the connection, saying, “Water-related disasters, which account for over 90 per cent of all disasters in terms of lives affected, can hamper sustainable development of the world.” Definitely, this is a perceptive emperor with his feet firmly on earth and an understanding of the world’s long-term problems.
What I fear, however, is that India—still driven by a colonial mindset that counts a discarded prince from London more highly than a time-tested ally, friend and soulmate from the continent—may not accord the Japanese royal couple’s visit the salience it deser ves. This should not happen.
Indo-Japanese relations are measured more by trust than by economic data. It’s a relationship harking more than 2,000 years, even before Buddhism reached Japan. It’s believed there was a fair chance for the Japanese to use the Tamil script for their language, but a strange coincidence led them to adopt kanji (Chinese characters). Shintoism is close to Hinduism in the value placed on family, respect for elders and respect for nature. Then there is Japan’s help to Subhash Chandra Bose, its devotional admiration for Tagore, the chord struck in both cultures by temples and rituals—all of it capped by the eternally effervescent influence of Buddhism. All this puts India and Japan in orbits of mutual trust. It’s on this our future-perfect relationship has been based: the Maruti 800 revolution changed India in the 1980s. The recent Metro projects, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, joint military exerci ses—they mark the future of bilateral ties.
The couple’s visit also announces, in a subtle, typica lly Japanese way, a new assertiveness on the part of Japan, out of Washington’s foreign policy shadows. Already we have joint naval exercises. Now, Indo-Japanese cooperation will impact maritime strategies in the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific. The royal visit formally registers a paradigm shift, with a billion Sakuras blossoming for India.

(The writer is a Rajya Sabha MP and former member of the India-Japan Eminent Persons Group.)

2. My Gujarati column on Japanese Emperor's visit in the largest circulated Gujarati daily- Sandesh, Ahmedabad. Today 30th Nov 2013. Page 6


3. My Hindi column on Japanese Emperor's visit in the largest circulated Hindi daily- Amar Ujala ( 12 state editions) 11,0000 copies. Today, 30th Nov 2013 Page 12


http://www.tarunbharat.net/

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Amazing planet of Shiva- where bliss and divinity reign supreme-My new photo stream on Kailas Manasarovar
















My new photo stream on Kailas Manasarovar

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45918464@N05/with/10895964996/

Like King Bharat, Sachin led a life of Chakravartin and renounced the empire too


Like King Bharat, Sachin led a life of Chakravartin and renounced the empire too
Here is link of my article published in today’s Sandesh Gujarati 


and also in Hindi Punjab Kesari, Delhi (attached).


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Mother Courage






















Mother Courage- a tribute to Smt Rajrani
“I am deeply saddened to learn about the passing away of your
mother, Smt. Raj Rani.

“Smt. Raj Rani was known for her dedication to the noble cause of
education of the poor. she was a role model for others and will be
remembered for her patronage of children from poor tribal families of
Assam.” Thus said President of India Shri Pranab Mukherji in a condolence message  sent to Shri Traun Vijay, son of Smt Rajrani.
She was a Mother Courage who faced tremendous odds in her life and dedicated herself for the education and the upliftment of the poor tribal childfdren of Uttarakhand , Ladakh, Rajasthan and the eight states of  the North East. 

Smr Rajrani never yielded to the difficulties and the challenges , in fact she invited newer challenges to defeat them.

Homages
नमस्कार मा़. भय्याजी से शोकसमाचार प्राप्त हुआ मेरी हार्दिक संवेदनाएँ दिवंगत जीव की सद्गति तथा सभी को धैर्य प्राप्ति के लिये प्रार्थना
-------------- मोहन भागवत

param pujyasarsanghchalak, RSS

Dear Tarun ji,

Please accept our heartfelt condolences on the loss of your dear mother. Our prayers are with you at this sad time. May her soul rest in peace.  

Warm regards,
Nirupama Rao , (Ambassador of India to the USA) and Sudhakar Rao












Friday, November 8, 2013

A Prince disregarded in his homeland, gets a royal welcome in an Indian democratic state-Charles didn't show remorse for the British atrocities, we overdid the welcome

7th Nov 2013- Dehradun- Welcome we must, but with Prince charles we overdid it-said Member of Parliament from Uttarakhand Tarun Vijay. The way Chakrata Road was blocked for almost an hour, near IMA which is the main artery connecting city with other states, and thousands of citizens were put in great inconvenience is reminder of the old colonial days, Tarun Vijay said. He said that Prince Charles is a guest from no ordinary country-he  represents a regime that subjugated our nation through deceit and cunningness, killed three million Indians in a man made famine in Bengal, made the people of Himalayan region, including ours to unspeakable torture,violated all norms of law and decency while looting our wealth to enrich British empire. If the visiting Prince had any sensitivity towards us, he would have expressed regrets for all those atrocities. But we overdid even while welcoming him, and in a disaster affected  state, grand and gala parties in his honor smacked of a slave mentality. 

Prince Charles was taken to only those places which were built during the colonial period, not a single place was he taken which would have shown him post-independence development. Uttarakhand govt pusillanimously presented him a picture of King George the Vth , of the occasion when he had visited Mussourie, as if that was an honorable event for Indians!!

The British should have returned us our wealth of books anfd manuscripts they had taken away to london illegally and unlawfully, Tarun Vijay said.

As a public representative of this great state of warriors and freedom fighters, I feel anguished and pained at this brazen display of unwarranted enthusiasm for a British Prince which caused a lot of inconvenience to local citizens too.

Justifiably so, the BJP distanced itself from the lavish dinner hosted in honor of the visiting Prince, who himself stands isolated and discarded in his home country. Even the queen doesn't trust him to make him the next King!!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

" Rajasthan will lead BJP's victory path at the national level'- In Jodhpur Tarun Vijay gives a message of victory and hope. Gets a warm welcome BJP workers confident and buoyant - to form state govt under Smt Vasundhara Raje-a strong message of victory

Shri Tarun Vijay visited Jodhpur and Pali on  29th September 2013  to address BJP workers' meetings and media training camp. He was warmly welcomed at airport by BJP President of Jodhpur unit and several other office bearers.  He said the central govt is waiting for Narendra Bhai Modi to lead the nation and Rajasthan will be rejuvenated and taken to the path of progress under the dynamic leadership of Smt Vasundhara Raje.  " Rajasthan will lead BJP's victory path at the national level' he said.He also visited RSS karyalaya and met Shri Nand Lal ji, Ma. Kshetriya Pracharak, a rishi indeed.At Pali he addressed a workers training workshop, which was presided by Smt Kiran Maheshwari ji , All india Vice President, BJP. Here are some pictures . courtesy Shri Parihar ji