Is His Excellency the Governor crazy ???

Hans Raj Bharadwaj, His Excellency the Governor of Karnataka is in the news again. News report suggest that the Governor has taken into account the recent events and recommended the Karnataka Assembly to be kept in "suspended animation". The BJP is up in arms against the Governor and the Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa is planning a dharna outside Raj Bhavan. Soli Sorabjee (former attorney general of India) has called this move by the Governor as arbitrary and accused him of acting partisan and behaviour not worthy of the head of state. All this furore has brought sharp focus on the role of Governor and a basic question, should the head of state be a mute spectator if the executive is running a poor show? If the CM is running the government at the pleasure of the Governor, should the CM be allowed to foul mouth the Governor. If the same thing happens at the Centre, will we all abuse the President of India? These are all valid questions and needs introspection. In the end, if the Governor cannot act as a checks and balance to the working of Chief Minister then probably we do not need a head of state. Let the CM be supreme authority. Else, lets respect the chair of the Governor and not foul mouth it in public.



Let me come to the particular problem. Soli Sorabjee (with no due respect) is losing it. He is called upon by the news channels as a constitutional expert but arrives always on behalf of his client, B.S. Yeddyurappa. People should know that he appeared on behalf of the Government of Karnataka in the High court to justify arbitrary disqualification of 16 BJP members of legislative assembly by the Speaker of Karnataka Assembly. The Government (i.e CM and the Speaker) received strictures from the Supreme court for not following procedures and not following path of natural justice. Even then, Soli Sorabjee had a blinkered view that everything Yeddy does is the right way forward. Even now, he stands by his client. Moving on, let me take you through the 3 years of BJP rule in Karnataka and at the end of it I would like to ask, was the Governor arbitrary?



In May 2008, the BJP got its first government in south Indian state of Karnataka. B.S. Yeddy rode on the sympathy wave caused by "breach of trust" by ex-CM Kumarswamy which led to mid-term polls. Since then, in the last 3 years, Karnataka has hardly seen the CM in control. For first 3 months, Anant Kumar (BJP MP, Bangalore South) was breathing down his neck as he wanted to be the CM of first BJP Government of Karnataka. Somehow, Yeddy convinced the Delhi leadership that if the BJP wanted to get Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka, they must let him be the CM for at least a year. He got a breather. In 2009, Nort-east Karnataka saw the worst floods which affected 5 districts and completely destroyed several villages. People were living in camps and roadsides with no food or water. Yeddy decided on "padyatra" to ask for donations for flood relief and the people of Karnataka donated generously. The CM raised 500 crores in 10 days and got a relief package of 1500 crores from centre. Midway through the padyatra, Reddy brothers began the strangle hold on Yeddy and the CM cancelled his plans to bring on flood relief. Yeddy was in Delhi for next 45 days trying to save his Government. Imagine, the state without a CM for 45days when it is facing worst floods. On 46th day, Yeddy appeared on TV weeping that he had to sacrifice Shobha Karandlaje (minister in his cabinet) in order to save his Government. He could not find tears for people who lost their life, property, near/dear ones in the floods but he sure cried for his friend and colleague.



The Government was saved. No one knows what happened to the 500 crore that he raised from public donations. In the next 3 months, the office of the CM, several of his ministers were dragged into illegal mining controversy and the CM agreed that he was arm twisted by Reddy brothers into allowing it. The Supreme Court brought a ban on mining in Karnataka because the CM was helpless in stopping it. There were several allegations of illegal land denotification by the CM to favour his family and relatives. Interestingly, he agreed to doing it and said he was following his predecessor (isn't A.Raja in Tihar Jail for same reasons :P ). Again he was seen weeping on TV citing his limitations and asking people to indulge him. Meanwhile, Yeddy has been buying loyalties of Reddy brothers by giving them plump ministerial portfolios. Reddy brothers are bankrolling elections in Karnataka by "operation Lotus" where-in they make legislators from JD-S and Congress resign their seats in-lieu of 30 crores cash and surety of getting them re-elected on a BJP ticket. This has helped BJP increase its tally from 108 /224 in May 2008 to 121/224 in May 2011. Awesome operation indeed. Again in October 2010, Yeddy faced fresh rebellion from 16 MLAs and was asked to prove his majority on the floor by H.E. the Governor. Yeddy won the vote but not without a little help from the Speaker who randomly disqualified the 16 MLAs and did not allow them to vote. For last 6 months, the Lokayukta of Karnataka is building a case to prosecute Yeddy and Reddys for illegal mining and illegal denotification.



The last nail in the coffin was the Supreme court strictures and reversal of disqualification of the 16 MLAs by the Speaker. Now, if the Governor fires Yeddy, it cannot be called arbitrary. If I were Yeddy, I would thank His Excellency profusely for putting me out of my misery and allow President's rule. When next elections are announced, go to the people and ask for a bigger mandate and rub salts on the wounds of Congress. The BJP as usual is trying to resuscitate a Government in coma. If they save it today, in 6 months there will be fresh rebellion. Who are the losers?? the people of Karnataka. They deserve a Government who serves them but they have a CM who is forever trying to save his chair and fight the Governor. Please pull the plug and end this charade. Seek a fresh mandate without the money power of Reddys if you really want to govern. Else continue this path of perpetual confrontation and lose the next election miserably as you will not have any achievement to show for.



So long.....

Isn't it pure justice.. ?

Remember the scene from the Godfather wherein the Godfather (Marlon Brando) is sitting on a chair listening to Bonasera (the undertaker) who is narrating the woeful tale of how these bunch of young boys molested his young, beautiful daughter and when faced with resistance, disfigured her face. Bonasera is seen pleading with the Godfather to kill these boys so that his daughter gets justice and the Godfather says "its not justice, your daughter is still alive"; to which Bonasera replies "let them suffer then, as she suffers".



Tom Hanks says to Meg Ryan in the movie "You've got mail", "The Godfather is the answer to all the problems we face in our life. Every line is so powerful and so practical". In fact, he is true to a large extent. Today, Indian judiciary is faced with this peculiar problem of how to deal with serial rapists and what quantum of punishment would act as necessary deterrent for such crimes. The jury is still out on this but the initial response we get from women's right activists is not very encouraging. The Delhi high court observed, "We should seriously think of medical castration as suitable punitive action for people convicted of serial rapes and child molestation. The crime is serious and warrants for harsher punishments than the ones prescribed currently by law". Within the next few days, everyone who is anyone had an opinion on this and 90% of the opinions were against "Talibanism" and felt that civil society could not be cruel and could not maim or kill a convict in rape cases (even child rapes). People strongly felt that current punishment was harsh enough and we must raise the conviction rates rather than plea for harsher punishments.



I am willing to concede a partial point, that being, we must increase the conviction rates. The point I cannot accept is, our current quantum of punishments are sufficient to act as a deterrent and serve as "justice done". Let us apply the "Godfather rule" to this to verify. Consider a situation wherein a little girl 5-6 years of age is sitting at her home playing wither her barbie doll. Her neighbour "uncle" whom she has seen for so long day in and day out or say her father with whom she lives or say her uncle or say cousin brother (someone from her circle of trust) comes into the house. Taking notice that the girl is alone at home, proceeds to sexually molest her (with/without amounting to rape). This can be more than one persons too (gang rape). If the girl dies, its a simple case for the judge to award the death sentence /life imprisonment to the accused and the little girl is also out of the trauma once and for all. In the sad eventuality that the girl survives, the trauma lives with her for her entire life. Besides the physical pain that is endured by grown men sexually exploiting a child; since these were from her "circle of trust", the trauma increases manifold. She will never trust another person in her life. She will grow up into this un trusting individual who can never enjoy physical intimacy with any man she loves because of her traumatic past. In short, her entire life is affected by the lusty and criminal acts of few irresponsible men. In return, what punishment does the society prescribe for these men (if they are convicted eventually), a maximum of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Many cases, the conviction doesn't happen as our current laws have many loopholes and the victim breaks down in the court of law as her trauma is being used against her. The accused are set free to repeat this with another little girl and yet another life is destroyed. How can this be "justice done"??? The payoff for crimes against women and children is so high that more and more people find it a safe crime and indulge in it.



The sad part is, the moment someone suggests to make the payoff so less that people are scared to commit crimes against women, the women rights activists term them barbaric and Talibanism. Well sometimes, we have to put the fear of permanent damage into the minds of rapists. Why should our mothers, sisters and daughters stay home and not be able to travel independently because of the fear of being attacked and sexually assaulted by these 'beasts' and in turn these 'beasts' should not have a fear of permanent damage to their life in case they try indulging in crime against women. We are okay with our women folk and children living in perpetual fear but are not ready to put the fear of "justice" into the minds of these assaulters. I know death sentence would not be justice but like the Godfather says "let them suffer as she suffers". At some point of time, we have to look for options like medical castration and social disgrace and boycott as viable options for people indulging in heinous crimes against women and children. Lets make the society free from fear of being assaulted, pursued and attacked just because you happen to be a woman or a defenseless child. We as a society owe it to them more than trying to be fair to people indulging in crimes against them. Lets take the Delhi high court's observations seriously and come up with harsher punitive actions against serial rapists.



So long....

Machismo?? Why can't I fly like Superman !!!

I just happened to watch "the Dark Knight" and it gave this sudden adrenalin rush about being a arbiter of justice and putting my "physical strength" to better use. It usually happens to me when I watch superhero movies, I tend to oversimplify things and get into an imaginary world where no logic resides. Things happen as I want them to be and I solve many a problems that plague our society, "single handedly". I behave for a while like Superman without a cape and am filled with this new found machismo. Soon enough, the effect of the movie wears-off, and I return to a world with realities and hard facts. This happens to all of us and the trick is, to always remind yourself that the effect of the movie will wear off soon, meanwhile not to do "stupid things" that we might have to regret for the rest of our lives.



We Indians suffer from this syndrome more than anyone else. Maybe, its because we have never felt "power" in reality and hence we continue in this imaginary world where we have power to change anything and everything. Every time we find ourselves in a bad place, we, as a nation, look to our certain neighbour and say out aloud "At least we are better off than them. Look at that mess". There are times however even this "being better off" syndrome doesn't help and that is the time we look for ways and means to be called a "WORLD POWER". Our media begins to pick out small news items from various parts of the world where someone, somehow and in some context said the following... "India is a global power". Then this news item will be broadcast with supporting theories that we are actually a world power. The reality is far from that, the moment "India- the world power" tries to flex its muscles to try and control an errant neighbour, we as a nation realise that we are a power as long as we don't actually exercises the power. Cos if we do, we will realise that our voice doesn't resonate enough in this world. We have to come out of that glamour effect and realise the reality that we do not have the clout to pull off adventures.



The latest adventure of Uncle Sam in our neighbourhood aka "Operation Geronimo" where-in the President of the USA authorised a small team to hunt down the dreaded terrorist Osama Bin Laden caught the imagination of Indians and sure enough we were caught in the "superhero" effect. People in India started suggesting the Government Of India start authorising such raids on India's most wanted living in our neighbourhood. We again started to hear comparisons saying they killed Bin Laden and yet we continue to feed Kasab in our prisons. India should emulate American way of hot pursuit on terrorists. Then as usual the BJP started with why is Afzal guru not hanged yet?? and the Congress responded saying why did we surrender terrorists in Kandhahar?? Sure enough the superhero effect will wear off and we will realise that we do not have the money / political / military clout to breach the airspace of a sovereign state and make them feel stupid rather than retaliate. Should we be expecting India to behave in a way Uncle Sam pursued Osama Bin laden?? I think its not the way we operate and every single time we equate India to America, remember one single thing. The US spent $1.3 trillion over 10 years to neutralise one person and marginally disrupt his network. The day India can spare that much money after its usual expenses on education, health care, upliftment of poor, social schemes, writing off farmer loans, upgrading infrastructure etc. we can surely bankroll our neighbour into allowing us the liberty of making them feel stupid. Until such a time, we need to stick to conventional means of pleading with others to talk sense to them. Our neighbour will not change, so maybe in 10 years time we will actually get this chance to embarass them. Until then, lets just watch the Americans pull off such daredevil acts and lets applaud the effort.



So long...

Osama must die... but should we celebrate?

May 02 2011, the dawn that saw the end of most wanted terrorist on the face of the earth, i.e. Osama bin Laden. In the wee hours of 02 May, a small contingent of US forces conducted a raid using two army choppers and engaged the residents of a palatial house at Abbotabad. Couple of hours later, all the five residents were found dead and one among them was Osama bin Laden. The US forces took custody of the his remains and broke the news to their boss who was more than happy and congratulated them for a job well done. At 23:00 hours EDT, the world heard of the news from the US President Barack Obama about "justice done" after 9 1/2 years. The President was cautious and told his fellow Americans that the war on terror was not won as yet. This news brought large crowds of Americans into the streets of New York city and many other cities all around the US. People were seen celebrating the death of a terrorist who had inflicted a major damage to the US in recent history. Most politicians extended warm greetings to fellow Americans on this day of victory and joined in their celebration. This forced me to think, should we be so happy about this event? Have we, as a society become so vengeful that we celebrate the killing of people who have wronged the society. I can understand the families of people who died in the 9/11 carnage feeling a sense of justice, but celebrations were way over the top. It was a solemn event and I expected the President (whom I admire) to advice his countrymen that this was not an event to rejoice but an event to stand solidly behind the US Marines who are working so far away from home to bring those people to justice who wronged the Americans. It was an event to feel sorrow for the loss of another life and the irony that it was necessary in the larger interest of society. Rejoicing the event of death does not speak well of a civil society.



Ever seen a judge rejoice the event of awarding a death sentence to a convict? Even if the accused has committed a heinous crime that owes no leniency, the judge awards the death sentence only in "the rarest of the rare" case. It shows the sacredness that we attach to life, like the old adage "when ever blood is spilled, humanity dies". In a society, where justice that takes away the life of a convict is treated as a solemn event, public rejoicing of the killing of one's wrongdoers, seems a little barbaric. In any case, the fight against the scourge of terrorism did not start with Bin Laden nor will it end with him. It is a continuous process and has to carried out always. There are several layers to that fight and each one of us can contribute in a major way. The security forces should have to interfere only in extreme cases and we should be aware that lives will be lost in that eventuality; so it should never be the first response to terrorism. Terrorism breeds with the insecurity and one person's terrorist is another person's hero. This can be known from the facts that there was a huge following for the likes of Hitler, Bin Laden even though they authorised mass murders. So the problem are not these individuals, its their ideology. If we as a society have to defeat terrorism then its time we stop hunting down Bin Ladens and Al Zahawaris or radical religious groups. Pointed killings take a racial/ethnic/religious overtone and creates a mistrust among the society. If we have to defeat these groups, we have to defeat their ideology and to defeat an ideology, one has to bend a little to pick up the people around you. If we are too stubborn to bend or are not accommodating to other people's views, then this war on terrorism will be a perpetual one. I hope the better sense prevails among the leaders of the world after the demise of one of the most wanted terrorist and they use the event to reach out rather than to celebrate.



So long....