Why I Would Vote For Shobha De!

By Manuwant Choudhary

Shobha De is not running and I am not walking to vote.

But if she did I would run to vote.

Why?

Because she is sufficiently angry with our politicians for not being able to protect India.

That qualifies her as a citizen of India and a patriot.

The debate now is the Congress Party saying communalsm is a bigger threat than terrorism, the BJP believes communalism is nationalism is patriotism and is no threat - only Muslim terrorism is.

Shobha understands our politicians are a greater threat than both communalism and terrorism.

A friend said, "Ah no, Shobha gets out of her milk baths at 2 p.m."

I replied, "At least Shobha does not milk the nation." (Or eat fodder)

The Men of Politics!

By Manuwant Choudhary

Voting for Lok Sabha elections in India have yet to begin but two candidates have already won.

The electronic voting machine and the numbers they ultimately churn out do not matter.

Yes, these are the real Men of Indian politics.

Meera Sanyal, a banker of 25 years, contests the South Bombay parliamentary seat as an independent. She says the terror attack on Bombay forced her to throw her job and take the plunge.

And Mallika Sarabhai, a classical bharatnatyam dancer and activist, takes on the Iron Man PM-in-waiting L.K. Advani in Gandhinagar.

She says she represents not just Gandhinagar but all those farmers whose land the government wants to take away for SEZs.

Iron Man L.K. Advani is of course supported by Platinum Man Narendra Modi and this dancer takes on communalism right at the top.

At her website she asks Mr. Advani 5 questions everyday. Sample this, "In the last five years how many questions have you raised in parliament on Gandhinagar?"

And there is a third hero I would have voted for but she is not contesting - Shobha De (post 11/26).

She writes in her column, " Meera going into the slums of Bombay to convince voters maybe like throwing pearls before swines."

These are the Men of Indian Politics, not the wolly liberals who support them.

When My Prime Minister Speaks!

By Manuwant Choudhary

When My Prime Minister Speaks it is only to say he is a doer and not a speaker like L.K. Advani.

That India's prestige rests on a nuclear deal with the United States!

That he would have resigned had the `deal' not gone through.

That the Congress Party is concerned about Sikh sentiments (read votes).

That Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan's ticket cancellatin is a better late than never issue.

That since the BJP failed in dealing with terrorism so can we.

That Advani showed no leadership when Babri Masjid was demolished and remained present at the site.

Well, when my Prime Minister speaks he is at best evasive, at worst a Kangresi (an abusive term in north India) and its no wonder that Laloo gave them just two seats.

I do not even want to write about India's Iron Man but tomorrow I write about the Men Of Indian Politics.

No Apologies Please, Sikhs and India Wants Justice

By Manuwant Choudhary

Jagdish Tytler is now not contesting after the national furore against the CBI giving a clean chit to him in the 1984 Sikh massacres but his apologies are not enough, India wants justice.

In 25 years the guilty have not been brought to justice and that says a lot about our `socialist' democracy.

And there is no word from India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh under whom the CBI is officially.

There is no doubt that the PM is loyal only to Sonia Gandhi and not to India or India's constitution.

But this should not elate the BJP and the opposition parties either who have had their term in office and who also did nothing.

As for the media Jarnail Singh's shoe was flung not just at the Congress Party but also against the media who have failed to take up the Sikh cause in a fitting manner - the very next day the headline was a LTTE threat to Sonia Gandhi.

And to top all this Prem Shankar Jha admits that he as editor of Hindustan Times helped Jagdish Tytler get off the terrorists hit list.

Tytler had alegedly gone to a police station to get his goons released following which Akali terrorists had put him on their hit list.

Is this the job of editors? Or are these people simply `dalals'.

Dalals of the system.

I do not sugest Tytler be shot by terrorists but our democracy should be strong enough to send him to the gallows if he is guilty and not grant him tickets to parliament when there is much against him.

The Nanavati Commission found merit in the charges against him but the CBI which is the police gives him a clean chit. Is the police inquiry more important than a judicial probe?

Also I wonder why no reporter has attempted to interview the CBI director on this issue.

And so justice fails.

Shoe Journalism & Abusive Ministers

By Manuwant Choudhary

News is that a Delhi journalist Jarnail Singh threw a shoe at India's Home Minister P.Chidambaram protesting the clean chit given to Jagdish Tytler by the CBI in the 1994 Sikh massacre case.

After the shoe thrown at US President George Bush, journalists and protestors find the shoe a more effective way of being heard or noticed.

A shoe was thrown at Oxford on the Chinese PM by a pro-Tibet activist.

Indian news channels like NDTV India even carried a story on the merits of throwing shoes.

But a photographer from Samastipur Girendra Bharti does not agree, "If journalists throw shoes then what is left? Journalists can be more effective if they can ask valid questions."

"Also the journalist threw the shoe at the wrong man - our Home Minister. The CBI is under the Prime Minister....Sardar ka juta sardar ke sar tab hota asar."

But Jagdish Tytler being given a clean chit is no small matter. The Prime Minister of India should personally explain his conduct.

This Prime Minister seems to have abused his powers.

Thousands of Sikhs were killed and Tytler was among the main accused.

I wonder whether there is any model code of conduct this elections. A Varun Gandhi talks violence, followed by a Laloo Prasad who says if he were Home Minister he would crush Varun's chest under a road roller.

Now an arrest warrant has been issued against Laloo Prasad.

But I am not concerned about Laloo and Varun so much, my concern is the violence they spread in society through their actions.

Girendra is a freelance photographer, covering Bihar & Jharkhand, for the Times of India and the Telegraph but he tells me two days ago a violent mob attacked him and broke his Rs.2 lakh digital camera when he took a photograph of a patient who had died.

Newspapers pay him peanuts for his efforts and Girendra is himself from a modest background but for him being a photographer in a district is his only dream. Now its shattered.

He cannot cover these elections.

India's Highways - A National Shame !

Pix by Manuwant Choudhary

9 kms on this stretch of National Highway 28 connecting New Delhi to Assam could take an hour to cover and thats when you are lucky...otherwise you may spend the entire night on the highway!

Yes, this road is important for India's economy connecting the Barauni Oil Refinery to Nepal and the rest of the eastern states, yet in these parts there is no sign of any governance.

Forget what Obama's praise of Manmohan Singh, judge him by the potholes you see on your roads.

And yes Nitish Kumar's `Bikaas' yatra stopped here and he took a chopper instead.

Once a few years ago I had asked a Bihar road minister, accused in the bitumen scam, why a 10 minute journey takes four hours he replied, "Agar main aapka sadak bana doon to phir sadak yatra aur vayu yaan mein kya antar rah jayega." (If I build your roads then what difference will there be between drivng and flying."

Of course, Laloo Yadav referred us as `sadak waala patrakaar..wo humara bheer nahin dekhtaa hai...sadak dekhtaa hai..(They are road journalists..they do not see the crowds in my meetings..they see the roads."

Jai No!

JAI NO TO SLUMDOG CONGRESS

By Manuwant Choudhary

Millions from rural India migrate to Bombay to live and work and die in slums.

Jai No.

People in rural India live in complete darkness because in fifty years state-run electricity companies have failed.

Jai No.

Roads are like moon-craters fit for a Chandrayan to land.

Jai No.

Jagdeesh Tytler Is A Free Man and Free to Enter Parliament.

Jai No.

Sikhs whose kins were killed can cry.

Jai No.

Liberals are banned from contesting elections in the worlds largest democracy.

Jai No.

But we must vote, they say.

Jai No.

Bofors is a ghost, VP Is gone too.

Jai No.

One Nehru has gone communal and this Gandhi is bloody.

Jai No.

India has been attacked by terrorists.

Jai No.

Our parliament, our red fort, Kashmir, Bombay, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, why even a Samjhauta Express train have been attacked.

Jai No.

Gujarat is our own response to terror - Narendra Modi.

Jai No.

And Red Terror strikes continously across India.

Jai No.

Farmers in Nandigram, farmers in Singur, farmers everyhere have their lands taken away by force.

Jai No.

In Maharsahtra farmers just take poison and die in their thousands.

Jai No.

Government banks get our tax money to save farmers.

Jai No.

Banks being saved.

Jai No.

They say its the end of capitalism.

Jai No.

Sadhu Yadav Is Now In The Congress.

Jai No.

Kosi drowns half of Bihar..the other half can be attacked all over India.

Jai No.

India Must Vote.

Jai No.

Choice is between two old men.

Jai No.

And the Third Front has 30 PMs!

Jai No.