THE OTHER SIDE

Gyanesh It's Done Bro

"Gyanesh, It's Done Bro" is among the famous slogans of protesters against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over allegations of rigging the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) to favor the ruling government, BJP. The controversy intensified after reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on multiple occasions over decisions connected with the SIR, voter additions and deletions, and the Commission's technology systems. The Indian Express reported at least 14 instances of recorded objections over a period of about 10 months.

Recently, SIR in Bengal before the state assembly elections resulted in the deletion of around 63 lakh voters at one stage of the process. More than 90% of the appeals that had been disposed of reportedly resulted in voters being included in the voter list again. This has also raised doubts among critics about the impact of SIR on the BJP's victory in the state. Earlier, the Leader of the Opposition had also raised questions about such discrepancies in Haryana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka SIRs. Interestingly, all these SIRs happened just before the state elections.

Protests demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar have intensified across India, with demonstrations in Delhi and Mumbai and growing participation from youth groups, opposition parties, student organisations, and civil-society activists. The government's response towards protesters and BJP ministers presenting their views in support of the CEC also raises doubts among the masses. A new law made in 2023, giving legal protection to the CEC in relation to acts done in the discharge of official duty, has also raised concerns among vigilant citizens about the government's intention of protecting the CEC from public scrutiny even after his retirement.

The latest demonstrations on October 2 and 3 saw hundreds of people detained in Delhi, while thousands gathered in Mumbai. Protesters have accused the Election Commission of creating conditions in which legitimate voters could lose their right to vote and have repeatedly raised the slogan demanding that Gyanesh Kumar step down.

Earlier this year, on July 20–21, the nation witnessed police action against students demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation, and this time also, police are trying to stop protesters from entering Jantar Mantar, where they planned to protest. Why is the government against protests and discussions? Why has the BJP IT cell started labeling protests as foreign-funded and anti-national? Why does Narendra Modi never speak on issues concerning the nation? Why does the Indian media just present the government's perspective and telecast news in line with the government's position instead of reporting neutrally or critically about the government?

I hope the government, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would take steps to ensure people's trust in the Election Commission of India by taking necessary steps, such as repealing the law giving legal protection to the CEC, changing the selection process for electing the CEC, reviewing the SIR, addressing protesters as fellow Indians rather than anti-government protesters, and finally asking Gyanesh Kumar to resign.

Dr Manmohan Singh - The Man Who Defines ' Talk Less-Work More'

The 13th Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh has passed away on 26th December 2024 at the age of 92 years in AIIMS, Delhi. I cast my first vote for him. He was a simple, well educated,soft spoken man who believes in talking with your deeds rather than your tongue which is the reason for the phrase from his last Press Conference as PM (Yes there used to be PC's by PM before 2014) i.e "History will be kinder to him". Today when he is no more in the world and lost the PM post more than 10 years ago many realizes what is the real meaning of this phrase.

Born in Gah in what is today Pakistan, Singh's family migrated to India during its partition in 1947. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from the University of Oxford, Singh worked for the United Nations during 1966–1969. He began his bureaucratic career as an advisor in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. During the 1970s and 1980s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor (1972–1976), governor of the Reserve Bank (1982–1985) and head of the Planning Commission (1985–1987).

In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, the newly elected prime minister, P. V. Narasimha Rao, inducted the apolitical Singh into his cabinet as finance minister. Over the next few years, despite strong opposition, he carried out several structural reforms that liberalized India's economy. These measures proved successful in averting the crisis, and enhanced Singh's reputation globally as a leading reform-minded economist.

He was the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government and is selected as PM by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in 2004. His first tenure as a PM gave MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), National Rural Health Mission, RTI (Right to Information), Indo-US Nuclear Deal, co-founded BRICS, keep country unaffected during World Economic Crisis of 2009. India's economy grew rapidly during his term. His second term marked with controversy including 2G spectrum scam, Coal Scam, Nirbhaya Rape Case and than Anna Hazare nationwide agitation, which lead to his loss in 2014. He came clean out of these allegations and most of the allegations and Anna Hazare stir proved out to be political motivated by opposition BJP and its parent body RSS since many leaders from the movement joined BJP later and Arvind Kejriwal formed Aam Aadmi Party after the agitation which helped him becoming CM in Delhi.

Dr Manmohan Singh's reform of 1991 and his growth driven successful PM tenure proved him right that 'History will be kinder to him.' Since 2014 we haven't seen a Press Conference by Prime Minister, have seen falling status of centralized agencies like CBI, ED, ECI, etc, weakening of acts like RTI and NREGA, institutes like CAG and Lokpal are just for the namesake now and the media which was instrumental in bringing out 2G Scam, Coal-Gate and helped build public opinion during Nirbhaya and Anti-Corruption agitation is reduced to government mouth piece unable to work free and fair without government pressure.

He was the man whose work do the talking. In spite of mocking NREGA in the parliament PM Narendra Modi never dared to remove it owing to its power in uplifting rural lives. Many of his government's projects were renamed by NDA government and many others projects started by him completed after the end of his tenure. I will remember him as the first PM I voted to power and as the man who gave real 'Achche Din' to the country without self boosting himself.

Rest in peace Dr Manmohan Singh. May those who have not realized your worth realize it soon. Good by Sir.

Alvida Tragedy King - A Tribute To Dilip Kumar

"Na Wo Dil Na Sanam, Na Wo Deen Dharam
Ab Door Hun Saare Gunaahon Se"

Today (7th July 2021) with demise of Dilip Kumar an important chapter of Indian Cinema has come to an end. Born as Mohammad Yusuf Khan in 1922 he became famous with the name 'Dilip Kumar' and played a pivotal role in shaping the Indian Cinema. I was away from this blog for more than two years but his death forced me to come here and pay respect to this legend by writing a tribute for him.

My father was huge Dilip Kumar fan who introduced me to his movies. Dilip Kumar was source of inspiration for all actors who came after him. From Dharmendra to Amitabh Bachchan to Shah Rukh Khan all are inspired by his acting and movies. He was a natural actor. Although I wasn't born in his era but I can feel how much he has impacted the future generations with his work. 

He was referred as 'The Tragedy King' perhaps because of his true portrayal of pain on silver screen which used to make audience feel the pain of his character. He has not given the quantity but quality of cinema to the movie goers. Andaz(1949), Daag (1952), Azaad (1955), Mughal-e-Azam (1960), Gunga Jamuma (1961), Ram Aur Shyaam (1967) or his second inning films like Kranti (1981), Shakti (1982), Mashal (1984), Karma (1986), Saudagaar (1991) , etc all are gems for Indian Cinema. His method acting technique was appreciated by all and followed by coming generations. 

He married Saira Banu who is 22 younger than him. They don't have any children yet he remained one woman man throughout his life. His wife Saira Banu seen caring him like a child in his old age probably that's the reason he returned safely to home even after developing age related complications many times but unfortunately he passed away today morning. Many evergreen songs featured on him like, Ude Jab Jab Zulfein Teri, Do Sitaron Ka Zameen Par Hai Milan, Aaja Re Pardesi, Mere Pairon Mein Ghunghru, Aaj Ki Raat Mere Dil Ki Salami, Suhana Safar Aur Ye Mausam Haseen, Saathi Haath Bathana and many more which will keep him in our memories always. 

Many actors will come and go in the film industry but there are few who change the course of cinema and Dilip Sahab was one of them. Today's generation might not relate to him like the generation of 90's and before who have heard and seen about him. Alvida Dilip Sahab. 

New Zealand Terrorist Attack

New Zealand Terror Attack on 15^th March 2019 on two Mosques in Christchurch is another violent attack on humanity similar we have witnessed in past 20-25 years on various places of USA, France, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, Norway, etc but what make it standout from the rest is the involvement of social media in it and the way it brought New Zealand to the terror map.

The terrorist live streamed his killing which reached several around the world and also published what he called a manifesto of 72 pages on his social media page spreading his venomous hate before shooting in the mosque. The hate social media namely Facebook, Twitter and What’s App generated has seen much similar consequences in India also when mobs were organized to brutally lynch someone just because his/her eating habit, religion, gender, color, dressing sense was not like them. The hate messages were so high that government on courts order forced to direct these platforms to regulate them which resulted in some changes in their policies and their advertisement reflected that too.

But the hate they generated is continuous; it creates an inferiority complex in a particular person by projecting some another person who belong to some other religion, caste, color or region as the enemy of that particular person. Such messages say that ‘They’ have snatched their jobs or hurting their religion or occupying their nation as if ‘they’ have come from somewhere else. The mind of people of read such messages gets whitewashed easily and they develop hate for these 'Others.. They take What’s App messages as gospel truth and never thought a second to verify the claim made in these messages. As a result hate comes out in such brutally violent incident. Earlier some terrorist organization used to do this job by luring some dissatisfied youth but who to blame now when people are radicalized sitting in their homes?

A hard hitting satire by The Telegraph (Kolkata)

Similar kind of thing is happening with first Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who is labeled nowadays as the reason for all the problems faced by India in present time. Messages defaming him are circulated and people tend to believe them without verification from any source. Even government ministers are involved in doing this.

‘Ati Mare Mati’ a Sanskrit saying which means ‘excessive of anything is wrong’. First cheap internet is provided. Secondly they are kept on internet through apps for almost everything related to governance so people use more internet and than the work for engaging them in social media also done. Please spot violent and hate tendency in people around you and try to help them with facts even if he or she is related to a party ideology. Leave such groups who have an agenda of propagating hate.

For now prayers for those who were killed just for silently praying in their place of worship. #PrayerForNewZealand. #PrayForLynched and pray for social media addicts to get some senses. Good Bye. God Bless New Zealand. God Bless India.

Top 10 Hindi Film Songs of 2018

If movies wise the year saw flop from some big budget heroes we were able to witness some good music in songs of this year. Heeriye from Race 3, Husn Parcham from Zero, Suraiyya from Thugs of Hindustan are some of the good dance songs from films which didn't do good at box office. Here is the list prepared by me to celebrate songs of 2018:

1. Dhadak (Dhadak): Ajay-Atul which were more to Marathi music than Hindi music whenever displays there talent here give their best. This song sung by Ajay and Shreya Ghoshal aptly expresses the emotions of young lovers. Music like the film is also inspired by original Sairat but works here as well.

2. Dilbaro (Raazi): Shankar,Ehsaan, Loy trio spread their magic once again by beautifully capturing essence of Kashmir in this song. Sung by Shankar Mahadevan, Harshdeep Kaur and Vibha Saraf the song absolutely deserves a place in this list. Lab Pe Aati Hai rendition by Sunidhi Chauhaan is also good. Gulzar's sahab's Lyrical magic is visible in all songs even Ae Watan is a beautiful patriotic song.

3. Dil Meri Na Sune (Genius): Manoj Muntasir has penned beautiful Lyrics for this Himesh Reshammiya number sung by Atif Aslam whose velvety voice suits such songs best. The film didn't work out well but this song and another one sung by Arijit Singh 'Tera Fitoor are melodious.

4. Tera Yaar Hun Mein ( Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety): Rarely we heard songs based on friendship and that too in this emotional way. This song is sung by Arijit Singh, composed by Rochak Kohli and the lyrics are penned by Kumaar. Remixes Dil Chori Sada Ho Gaya, Chal Kudiye Ne Chal Ho Tayyar are also good. Bum Diggy Diggy Bum Bum become the party song of the year and Subah Subah is also good.

5.O Saathi (Baaghi2): Another Atif Aslam sung song which made it to the list. Beautiful lyrics and Music by Arko gave a romantic touch to the action movie. I would also like to mention 'Lo Safar' from this movie which also liked by me.

6. Paniyon Sa (Satyamev Jayate): Composed by Rochak Kohli and penned by Kumaar this song is sung by Atif Aslam and Tulsi Kumar. The song gives romantic relief in this action packed drama. It is melodiously sung and composed.

7.Qaafirana (Kedarnath): Something romantic and that too in Arijit's voice you have to like it and that exactly happens with this song. You suddenly fall in love with this Arijit Singh and Nikhita Gandhi sung song composed by Amit Trivedi and lyrics written by Amithabh Bhattacharya.

8. Mere Naam Tu (Zero): Shahrukh Khan has many love songs featuring him but this one featuring him as a dwarf is special. Has beautiful lyrics of Irshaad Kamil and sung by Abhay Jodhpurkar. The song is composed by duo of Ajay-Atul.

9. Badnamiyan ( Hate Story 4): This movie has many beautiful songs like Boond Boond Mein, Tum Mere Ho, etc. This song is sung by Armaan Malik, penned by Rashmi Virag and composed by Baman-Chand. The hate saga take romantic turns with these songs.

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10.Naino Ne Bandhi ( Gold): Akshay Kumar I think take interest in songs of his movies also that's why he delivers many good songs through his movies like this one sung by Yasser Desai which has music and lyrics by Arko.

Apart from these songs some others remain on my waiting list like Aaj Se Teri (Padman), Kar Har Maidan Fatah(Sanju), Naina Na Jodi (Badhai Ho), Aa Jao Na( Veere Di Wedding), Nainowali Ne (Padmavat), Tera Hua (Loveratri), Ziddi Hai Dil (Namaste England) etc. Hope we hear more good songs this year also.

RIP Kader Khan

I was late in writing this post but I am not comfortable with the fact I didn’t give tribute to this man whom I admired very much during nineties and the admiration increased as I knew about his writing skills as script writer and dialogue writer for many hit Hindi films. He died on 31st December 2018 giving sadness to his love one’s in the end of the year.

Kader Khan was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1937 but got his education in Mumbai where he also became a teacher. His acting was noted by yesteryear’s character actor Agha who recommended him to Dilip Kumar sahib who offered him two films which started his film career. His first film was Daag with Rajesh Khanna and then he did many films with him. I recognized from his films in the nineties where he was mostly doing comedy with Govinda. On watching more of his movies I realized how versatile actor he was with films like Jaisi Karni Waisi Bharni, Dariya Dil, Ghar Ho To Aisa, Hum Hain Kamal Ke , Baap Numbari Beta Dus Numbari, etc in which he was almost the lead actor of the film.

In films like Desh Premi, Suhaag, Parvarish, Amar Akbar Anthony, he played a villain. Khoon Bhari Maang, Kishen Kanahiyya, Coolie No. 1, Hero No. 1, Sajan Chale Sasural, Judai, Koyla, Himmatwala, Ghar Parivar, Bol Radha Bol, Raja Babu, Sooryavansham, Aankhen, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and the list is endless which determines how great actor he was. Some movies look incomplete if we imagine them without him. He also appeared on television shows but it didn’t work well. He was script and dialogue writer for many south films also. Sharabi, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar and many Amitabh Bachchan films were written by him.

He spend his last few years after falling ill outside India in Canada where his children are settled and sadly no one from the film industry with whom he worked never cared for him. Neither news channels nor gossip magazines give any news about his whereabouts in these days. Only we heard some rumors on social media time to time which used to worry his well wishers.

He will remain alive with his films in our memories forever. Whenever we will thing about family loved humor we will always think about him. RIP Sir Kader Khan.

Curtains Down #2018

This year was not much good for me as I suffered a disease from which I am recovering and giving less time to writing but I thought to write a good bye post to bid adieu this year mixed with different feelings.

This year should be called as the year of marriages. We witnessed big fat weddings of Mukesh Ambani's daughter, Deepika Padukone-Ranvir Ranvir Singh, Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas, Sonam Kapoor-Anand Ahuja, than we have marriages of Kapil Sharma, Alka Yagnik's daughter, Kulbhushan Kharbanda's daughter, Saina Nehwal and many more other marriages. The year which started with Bheema Koregaon violence which become the epicenter for government and Dalits tussle increased when government made changes in Dalit atrocities bill.According to some experts this along with farmers distress made ruling party lose elections in Karnataka first and than in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chatisgarh.

There remain tussle in Indian judiciary and government also which subsided slowly and give way for new chief justice of the country Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Government criticism remain the highlight of most of the year as there role in not supporting removal of article 377 was not liked by LGBTQ community, Rafale scam, ruling party support to Kathua Rape accused, rigidity in making Aadhar mandatory, government's silent approval to mob lynching, Love Jihad killing, communal hatred were evident when some ministers seen supporting these ideologies. In the later part of the year the controversy over RBI Governor Urijit Patel's resignation also sparked controversy.

We have lost eminent personalities like Sridevi, Rita Bhaduri, Steven Hawkins, Vinod Khanna, M. Karunanidhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Kavi Kumar Azad, etc. Kerala floods remain the most devastating event of the year while MeToo campaign rocked almost every field of personalities.France's victory in FIFA World Cup 2018, kiki challenge, Nipah Virus, Statue of Liberty, Winter Olympics, Asia Cup 2018, Asian Games 2018, Under 19 Cricket World Cup and many other events remain in news in the year 2018.

Hoping that 2019 eases difficulties faced in 2018 I wish Happy New Year to my readers.

Achche Din Kab Aur Kaise Aayenge?

He seems sleeping on all the issues.

I remained critical about the way Narendra Modi government functions not because I don’t like him but the way he works and working for the country. In science WORK DONE is calculated by multiplying FORCE with DISTANCE (W = FD) which means the amount of work done is known by seeing the effect of the force applied in changing something. If we judge his work done on this simple formula we saw he has done nothing which has brought drastic change in the country or in its people.

Let’s look at few of his pet projects.

Swach Bharat: Swach Bharat is repackaging of Manmohan Singh’s Nirmal Bharat with more emphasis on photo op and publicity. But still as I walk in the capital of the country I can see garbage all around and if this is the case with the Metro city we can judge the situation of rest o of the country. The condition of the people who are responsible for cleanliness has not improved. There jobs are still on contract basis. There is no one questioning their work done. So unless these things would be considered this will remain a dream.
Economy: He says he will bring ‘Achche Din’ or good days to the people but his most important steps of improving economy of the country namely Demonetization and Goods & Service Tax (GST) has done nothing for the uplift of economy. Demonetization didn’t bring back Black Money, didn’t stop terrorism and naxalism, didn’t stop fake currency and neither brought assurance to common people that there money is safe in banks. GST on the other hand reduced taxes for the big corporate but put small businessman in trouble by increasing their cost of production.
Corruption: The biggest issue of ‘Na Khaunga Na Khanedunga’ also failed when he said nothing on running away of people like Vijay Mallaya, Mehul Choksi and Neerav Modi. His silence on Rafale Deal scam is also a question mark on his commitment of curbing corruption. All evidences like bringing in Ambani’s name, reducing aircraft from 126 to just 36, etc are against him and his government but his indifference to the issue of clarifying his stand shows his weakness in dealing with corruption. On many other corruption issues he said just nothing which is irritating.
Farmers: He spoke many times about farmers’ condition and his commitment to improve this but they are not even allowed to raise their demands by entering into the capital of the country. They were stopped by using force on International Day of Non-Violence. Low MSP, high Diesel price, expensive cost of production all has worsen there condition.

There are more issues like Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas but we have seen crime against Dalits and minorities has increased in his tenure and he is seen following twitter handles that spread hatred for particular caste, community, religion and people with different views. His Rs 15 lac in each account slogan proved mere ‘Jumla’ as accepted by them. Jan Dhan accounts were opened but most of them are empty. Continuous falling of Rupee and increasing of petrol and diesel price daily is also his big failures because he used to criticize Congress government on these issues.

These entire things and his unwanted boosting of self have decreased his influence on me and many others I am seeing around. Reducing every debate to Hindu-Muslim has just increased hatred in people’s mind. I can just say GOD SAVE INDIA.

Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya

Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya (Why fear if in love?) that's what exactly Supreme Court meant when a 5 member Chief Justice Dipak Misra lead bench decriminalizes homosexuality by striking down Article 377 of the Indian Penal Court. This is a historical decision for LGBT community who were knocking at courts door again and again for this ruling through Naz Foundation and others. After Right to Privacy become a fundamental right in 2017 it was certain that LGBT community would get this Right To Love.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code dating back to 1861, introduced during the British rule of India (modeled on the Buggery Act of 1533) criminalized sexual activities "against the order of nature", including homosexual activities. On 6 September 2018, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Section 377 was partially unconstitutional "in so far as it criminalizes consensual sexual conduct between adults of the same sex". Though it is still applicable on non-consensual sexual act between adults and on having unnatural sex with children or animals.

This ruling will lead to decrease in crimes against the community due to prejudice and misunderstandings. Love is love as believed by LGBT community is authenticated by Indian Law. Nobody will judge them with derogatory prejudice in their mind. This ruling has made activists hopeful for other cases like Aadhar linkage and making it mandatory in bank accounts and mobile.

Government of India didn't support the idea of decriminalizing homosexuality and left it to the wisdom of court to decide on the validity of Article 377.

Eminent people like Yogi Ramdev of Patanjali group, Yogi Adityanath Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, etc are against the judgement. Rahul Gandhi president of Congress party supported it earlier when Delhi High Court delivered the similar judgement in 2013. Whatever be the politics behind the ruling one thing is clear that LGBT community has got the real freedom today. It also not means that you now observe vulgarity on streets due to this freedom but they can move freely without police fear.

Delhi Darshan - Connaught Place

This is my sixth or seventh journey to explore Delhi yet the state is too old and vast in terms of traveling that still there are lots more things to see. My travel craving took me to Connaught Place this Monday. Since I was eager to see Madame Tussauds recently inaugurated in Delhi I booked ticket to visit there 3 months before and plan to see other famous things of the area also. Here I should also mention that I booked ticket online which give discount and are not time and date bound. So if you plan to go there book ticket online on their site.

I was ardent to see Jantar-Mantar as the name usually attached to the protests that happen in Delhi but the original site has no such protests around it. This is possible that these protests used to happen in a specified place in this region hence the same name is used. The area is boring and there is not much too see. Jaipur Jantar-Mantar is better and maintained nicely. But it feels good to see the iconic heart shaped building.(Misra Yantra).

Next stop was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The world famous museum has opened its first branch in India i.e. in Delhi where wax statues of famous international, sports,films and politics are kept. It gives you an international feel. The high price of ticket attracts only few people so this place in not much crowded and you can touch and have photographs with all of them easily. It has statues of Narendra Modi, Shah Rukh Khan, Angelina Jolie, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonu Nigam among others.

The Charkha Museum is situated in the busy area of Connought Place adjacent to Palika Bazaar but it holds the calmness of Mahatma Gandhi on whom it is based. A large steel Charka (Spinning Wheel) along with Make In India motto Lion is situated there. There is also a room where timeline of different type of Charkhas has been shown.

Then we go to Ugrasen Ki Baoli made famous by the character of Aamir Khan in the movie 'PK'. It is situated in a secluded place and except few not much people visit there. Maintenance was also done ordinary and the place is occupied by blood sucking mosquitoes. God knows how Aamir Khan spend time there perhaps mosquitoes left him because he was alien in the film.

Last we go to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib a kind of pilgrimage for Delhi's Sikh. It was filled with people at that time of the day also. We rested there for sometime and then went away to our home. Delhi holds many more wonders to see which I hope I will see in regular intervals.

Pray For Kerala

Kerala's most worst flood in 100 years has killed more than 324 people and more than 2 lakh people are living in 1500+ relief camp. It's a natural tragedy and we can only pray for their safeguard. Army, Navy, Coast Guard and NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force) working tirelessly to rescue as many people as possible. The opening of all the gates of almost all the dams in the region has send more water to the flood affected area making relief work more difficult. In some areas water is also entering relief camps.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also surveyed the affected area and released some initial rescue fund to the state. Keralites living in UAE, UK, Australia are all desperate in concern over rescue of their families stranded in floods. Kerala is being ravaged by torrential rains since August 8, which have triggered landslides and floods. It has disrupted air, rail and road traffic in several places. Public transport has practically disappeared from most parts of the state.

National news channels and newspaper remain ignorant to the condition of Kerala till PM Modi didn't decided to visit Kerala. They remain engaged in covering Independence Day celebration and telecast live funeral of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when a part of the country is almost submerging in water. The apathy shown to a region of south is really disheartening. At this time we can help by donating to Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund as much as possible to Stand with Kerala at this time.

We can not do anything sitting at such a long distance but we can #PrayForKerala because prayers can travel miles in second. Hope Kerala stand back to its feet soon and the rain Gods give them some respite from the rain.

Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein - Tribute to Atalji

Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein - Tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away today (16th August 2018) after prolonged illness in Delhi’s AIIMS hospital. He didn’t marry in his life so has no children but has an adopted daughter. He was not in the active politics since the time he was defeated in 2004 elections after serving as Prime Minister of India. Interestingly he served as the Prime Minister of India thrice, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, second for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and then for a full term from 1999 to 2004 by leading an alliance NDA (National Democratic Alliance) which is group of almost 36 parties. He was also a famous poet penned poems like Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein, Kadam Milakar Chalna Hoga, Khoon Kyun Safed Ho Gaya, etc.

He became Prime Minister at a time when my interest in politics was increasing. I always used to admire his oratory skills and enjoy his speeches laden with metaphors, poetry and unique examples. It was during his Prime Ministerial ship that I got chance to visit PM house with school group during his birthday celebration. There he was friendly with the crowd and tried to meet as many people as possible. An idea of River Linking Project came up during his tenure was one of my favorite but it didn’t take shape till now. He retired from active politics after defeat in 2004 general elections making L.K.Advani his successor. He was conferred with highest civilian award Bharat Ratna by Narendra Modi government.

He was credited for Pokhran 2 nuclear tests which was criticized by many nations in international circuit. He started Bus service from Delhi to Lahore and initiated dialogues with Pakistan after signing Lahore Summit agreement which was benchmark for peace process between Indian and Pakistan. He was disliked by his own party BJP and RSS for such actions but continue to face tough questions. His tenure also saw Kargil War and then 2001 attack on Parliament. Both act as setback for his peace initiatives. Agra talks were also failed with Pakistan which further derailed peace process. Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked when he was the PM for which he was forced to release terrorists under India’s control to release the passengers.

His political career marked with controversies like 2002 Gujarat riots for which he even criticized role of then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. His slogan of India Shining flopped badly when they lost 2004 elections. His role in the mysterious death of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was also questioned by the people at that time. He was among the founding members of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) after having connections with Jana Sangh and RSS.

His government started free market policy, national highway project and Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan. He was the man who first delivered speech in Hindi in United Nations when he was External Affair Minister in Morarji Desai government. However he was among the accused perpetrators of Babri Masjid demolition his term as a PM washed away many such allegations on him as he was liked by Muslims also. Today in his death nation has lost a great orator, a loved statesman and a person who is respected across all party lines. Rest in Peace Sir you will always remain in our memories.

RIP Kalaignar - M Karunanidhi

Kalaignar literally translates into ‘scholar of arts’ or just artist the title earned by M Karunanidhi from his followers not for being a Tamil film actor but due to active role played in Tamil Nadu politics. M Karunanidhi breathed his last on 7th August 2018 at the age of 94 in Chennai after prolonged age related illness. He married thrice in his life and has four sons and two daughters from different wives among them M.K Stalin second son of his second wife is seen as his political successor.

Karunanidhi entered Tamil Nadu politics at an early age from anti-Hindi agitation and become part of Dravidian movement by joining DMK. Dravidian movement is associated with atheism and anti-Brahmin ideology the reason he was disliked by fundamentalist Hindus. He was a screenwriter in Tamil movies through which he extensively shared ideas of atheism and anti-Brahminism to masses. His screenplays consists of themes of anti-Brahminis, widow remarriage, abolition of untouchability, self-respect marriages, abolition of zamindari and abolition of religious hypocrisy. He rose to the rank of President of DMK and served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and twenty years between 1969 and 2011. It is a almost a miracle for me that an atheist ruled those people who are strong believers of scriptures and religion. He must have served them well.

In nineties I remembered to heard only two names of Tamil politics on national level i.e J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi. This shows how they rose to importance in national politics also. M Karunanidhi’s death put an end to an era of stalwarts of Tamil politics; the man who made anti- Hindi and atheism as his tool remain true to these ideologies till his end. He remained in controversy on the issues of corruption by his family members, for his statement on Setusamundaram and existence of Lord Ram. He was accused of connections with LTTE an organisation responsible for death of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and also of charges of nepotism.

As an observer of politics I can claim that a big void has been created in Tamil Nadu politics which is impossible to be filled by any other leader. No one can earn the support of masses like he does in his lifetime. With him the country has lost the true champion of social causes. RIP M Karunanidhi.