Khaleequr Rahman: The nation celebrates the 66th birthday of Sonia j...

Khaleequr Rahman: The nation celebrates the 66th birthday of Sonia j...: Mohd.Khaleequr Rahman and Mrs.Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpat, New Delhi December 9 is an important day in the history of Indian politic...

The nation celebrates the 66th birthday of Sonia ji

Mohd.Khaleequr Rahman and Mrs.Sonia Gandhi at 10, Janpat, New Delhi

December 9 is an important day in the history of Indian politics. This is the birthday of our beloved selfless leader Mrs.Sonia Gandhi's birthday and today she celebrates her 66th birthday and the entire nation in one voice salutes her for her sacrifice for the country and the nation and prays for her long life and wishes her a very happy Birthday.  Mrs Sonia Gandhi was born on 9 December 1946 in Italin City Barsano. She has two sisters who now live in Barsano. Sonia Gandhi belongs to a Roman Catholic family. In 1964 she took admission in Cambridge School of Language where she met Rajiv Gandhi. In 1968 she married Rajiv Gandhi. After Rajiv’s death she became the member of CPP in 1997. She became president of the Congress in 1998. In 1999 she was elected an MP from Amethi. She was elected again in 2004 and 2009 from Raibareilly.

She became the best choice of Rajeev Gandhi, who hailed from the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, the best known family of India. They were married in 1968. After the tragic death of her husband Sonia ji led a life of recluse for more than six years. But congressmen looking for a charismatic personality to lead the party ultimately succeeded to bring her into active politics and she became the president of All India Congress, incidentally fifth from the Nehru family, other four being Mr.Moti Lal Nehru, Jawhar Lal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. In no time she became dual chief of the Indian National Congress party and its parliamentary party and thus emulated her husband, her Mother-in-law, Grandfather-in-law, Rajiv ji, Indira ji and Nehru ji who all held the two posts during their career.

Grand performance and miraculous achievement by the congress party were the result of Herculian efforts of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in the Election campaigning. Having witnessed the hondurous murder of her mother-in-law Mrs. Indira Gandhi and then loss of her husband Rajivv Gandhi and after a democracy of a decade she stepped forward to handle the reins of congress party. Her Road shows extending over every nook and corner of the country from Shri Nagar to Kanya Kumari, from Kutch to Assam rejuvenated the congress party. Her efforts accompanied by her diplomatic moves to form pre-poll alliances steered her way to a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha. With the spirit of the aforesaid messages, leaders of 19 non-N.D.A parties gathered at 10, Janpath, the residence of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi on the evening of May 16, 2004 and unanimously elected her their leader and asked her to form Government.

Cumulatively, the parties that represented at the said meeting accounted for 322 M.Ps. far above the required magic number of 272 needed for simple majority. This was the outcome of the flexibility which she has shown in forging alliances and accommodating different parties throughout the Campaign. With promises of support from other parties the support for Sonia Gandhi led Govt. was bound to be in the range of 350, approximately two thirds majority.

But a silent and dramatic revolution was in waiting for the country. Indian masses who were forced by the political scenario during the last decades equate policies with greed and governance with graft witnessed a unique selfless act of renunciation by the leading politician of the day accompanied by ascension to the office of Prime Minister of the most squeak clean person ever to have entered into the political arena.

By refusing the Prime Minister’s chair Mrs. Sonia Gandhi has shown the nation that she is the true successor of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and that she has acquired the spirit of patriotism of which her father-in-law Feroz Gandhi and her grand father-in law Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru both are outstanding examples in the history of freedom movement of India alongwith Moulana Mohd.Ali Jouhar and Moulana Abul Kalam Azad. The impact of this silent revolution can be easily seen. Pre-poll allies of the congress have sunk their difference and reservation and backed Sonia Gandhi. They did sop first to accept her as their Prime Minister and again to accept her choice of Dr. Man Mohan Singh in her place.

The issue of Indian origin or Italian origin also seems to have been settled for ever. Sonia Gandhi has proved beyond all doubts that one does not become INDIAN solely by birth. Indianness can be earned and acquired by following Indian culture and traditions. It needs love and selfless commitment and the strength of will to put the interest of the country above one’s own. Sonia Gandhi’s renunciation and self denial has left the opposition without any agenda. Sonia Gandhi’s unprecedented move has touched India and more so Hindu India at a much deeper level because the ideals of selfness and renunciation that guided her action are embedded in the core of Hindu religion.

Mrs.Sonia Gandhi announced in the Central Hall of Parliament that in obeyance of the dictates of her inner voice (conscience) she was not accepting the leadership of the house. Thus, by following the dictates of her conscience Sonia Gandhi, knowingly or unknowing has shown her faith in one of the strongest pillars of democracy. By doing so she has also exposed the hollowness of the intolerance of her opponents who were advocating about her foreign origin. By a single historic action Sonia Gandhi has reminded the Indian masses where the true strength of sacrifice

Khaleequr Rahman: Government wins FDI in retail war in Parliament

Khaleequr Rahman: Government wins FDI in retail war in Parliament: The ruling UPA government got a much-needed boost as it won the vote in the Rajya Sabha on foreign direct investment (FDI) in re...

Government wins FDI in retail war in Parliament

The ruling UPA government got a much-needed boost as it won the vote in the Rajya Sabha on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, paving the way for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press ahead with more reforms, including freeing up a cash-strapped insurance sector.

Getting support once again from the combination of Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the government won the day in the Rajya Sabha by 14 votes.

In the house, the opposition-backed motion got 109 votes and the government 123 votes. One member, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, was away playing a match against England in Kolkata.

While the Rajya Sabha vote was symbolic, the government's victory is a boost for its push to implement an economic reform agenda that is seen as crucial to reviving growth and reducing a bloated fiscal deficit.

Minutes before the voting process began, the SP walked out of the house with its nine MPs, bailing out the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) -- as it had Wednesday when the Lok Sabha voted on the issue.

On Thursday, day one of the debate on the issue in the Rajya Sabha, Mayawati had said in the house that 15 MPs from her party would be voting with the government.

Both the BSP and SP support the government from outside.

The government had already won a vote on retail reform in the Lok Sabha two days earlier. The policy will allow global retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc to set up shop in the country's $450 billion retail sector, and is aimed at drawing more overseas investment and taming inflation.

Although both votes were non-binding, defeat would have piled pressure on PM to roll back the measure.

Moreover, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), having seen its motion to block retail reform defeated, is likely to obstruct moves to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the insurance sector. The BJP wants a 26 percent cap set on investment, against the government's proposed 49 percent.

"We will oppose any move by the government against the recommendations of the standing committee on finance which has said it should be 26 percent," Prakash Javdekar, a BJP leader and spokesman for the party, told Reuters on Friday.

Money has flowed into India's capital markets since, and Goldman Sachs last week upgraded India's outlook, but formidable hurdles remain to get the economy back on track.

India's economy is set to grow at its slowest pace in a decade in this fiscal year, and the government's overspend on subsidies on fuel and food has prompted global ratings agencies to warn of a downgrade.

FDI win is rejection of politics of BJP: Kamal Nath

The government Friday termed its winning of the FDI vote in the Rajya Sabha as a "rejection of the politics of the BJP".

"It is a rejection of the politics of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), I wish they were better losers," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told reporters outside Parliament House minutes after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government won the vote in the upper house. 

Asked how the Congress managed to work the numbers in its favour in the upper house where it is in a minority, Kamal Nath said: "The content (of the issue) was political political parties decided in our favour."

"I appealed to parties to recognise the BJP's political agenda and vote accordingly, and they did that," he added.

Khaleequr Rahman: Free speech: Only an act in India?

Khaleequr Rahman: Free speech: Only an act in India?: The story of two college-going girls being arrested for an innocuous post depicts an intolerant India and a dangerous trend. Shah...

Free speech: Only an act in India?

The story of two college-going girls being arrested for an innocuous post depicts an intolerant India and a dangerous trend.

Shaheen Dhada and Renu Srinivasan, the two arrested girls

Slightly overcome by sentiment, one is reminded of iconic American singer Johnny Cash's famous line: 'I don't know where we went wrong...'

Doubtlessly, millions of netizens in India too would today be identifying with Cash's emotion even as the story of two college-going girls being arrested for an innocuous Facebook post dominated news headlines across the print and electronic media. Almost thumbing their noses at the rights provided to Indian citizens under the nation's sacred Constitution, Mumbai police had on Monday arrested two girls.

Shaheen Dhada was held for posting a Facebook comment that questioned the logic behind shutting down an entire city in the wake of a Bal Thackery’s death. She had written: 'People like Thackeray are born and die daily and one should not observe a bandh for that. We should remember Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, two martyrs of India's independence struggle.'

Her friend, Renu Srinivasan, was arrested for merely 'liking' the Facebook update.

Bizarre? Well, welcome to 21st century India, the global powerhouse in information technology and the land of astonishingly inflexible I-T laws. It is only here that one can be arrested, no matter how young or harmless one is, for as insignificant a thing as questioning something that does not really make sense.

And we take pride in calling ourselves the world's largest democracy!

The arrest of the two girls - who were later granted bail following nationwide furore and outrage over the 'illegal' confinement - also brings into sharp focus the Section 66 of the amended Information Technology Act.

This almost Draconian law states that transmission of any text, audio or video that is offensive or has a menacing character can land a sender in jail. The punishment will also be attracted if the content is false and has been transmitted for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger or insult.

Nowhere have any clear definitions of these purportedly offensive words been given, leaving everything wide open to contrasting interpretations.

The girl who posted the post got her Facebook account deactivated for fear of a further backlash from the Shiv Sainiks. She and her friend both apologised profusely, regretting the incident and saying that Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray was a great man.

However, they also wonder what wrong, or crime, did they actually commit. 

This sets a bad, and dangerous, precedent and shows India in poor light in the world. Such instances demonstrate that despite its 'unity in diversity' slogans and 'tolerance towards all' axioms and 'fastest growing economy' claims, India largely remains shackled to archaic beliefs and dogmas and one has to think twice before expressing one's view on any eminent personality, irrespective of how innocent the opinion might be.

The two girls who were arrested were told by the Mumbai police that they had 'hurt religious sentiments'. We already know what the girl had posted: one wonders how in the world can it be construed as something that hurts religious sentiments.

The scared girls say they have apologised for their actions because they fear for their and their families' safety and hurting someone was not their intention.

These should not be the words of a fearless 21-year-old girl who posted what she thought was the correct thing to do. But what other alternative does the poor girl have when a violent mob of vandals attacks and ransacks her uncle's orthopaedic clinic in Mumbai, causing damages over Rs 2 million. 

The police action of arresting the girls and the goons' violent act were criticised profusely and under heavy pressure, the girls were granted bail. A probe too has been ordered into the arrest, but will that be enough to heal the scars on a young mind? 

We are taught to be fearless and say the right thing. We have been told that free speech is our fundamental right. Wonder if these are just plain words, or is their import more significant: something on which the foundations of this nation were laid.

Such incidents tend to shake up our belief systems and question all that we learnt about our democratic values.

Meanwhile, Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal -- who is the main architect of the I-T Act that has been giving Indian netizens ulcers -- termed the arrests of the two girls 'illegal' and said that the cops had acted in haste and were wrong in detaining the girls. Minister of State for IT and Telecommunications Mr.Milind Deora slammed the Mumbai police for acting in haste for arresting two girls for their facebook post. Mr.Deora said that the question isn’t about amending 66A of the IT (Information Technology) Act, its about preventing misuse by the police, who clearly acted in haste and applied wrong section of IPC and the IT Act. This was written by Mr.Deora on his social networking site Twitter. The statements of people like Mr.Sibal and Mr.Deora do make us feel that we have the right people sitting at the right place but they need to change the wrong people from the right place.

Be that as it may, even as cyberspace and right-minded people criticise this abhorrent act, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has said that his party supports the arrest of the two young women. 

"We support the police's action," Sanjay Raut said, adding, "the Facebook comments could have led to a law and order situation."

A global PR campaign to sell India as a tourist destination to foreigners has the tagline 'Incredible India'. But lately India hardly appears to be incredible; it seems to be metamorphosing into an intolerant entity.

From our leaders fuming at the slightest provocation to khap panchayats doling out punishment to those who dare go against their 'rules', India is in danger of slowly turning to a regressive state.

Why does the Pakistan cricket team that will soon tour India to play three ODIs and two T20 games have to wait for clearance from religious fanatics? Why does someone get arrested merely for jotting their thoughts on Facebook?

Threats like this are a grave danger to India as a few self-appointed moral guardians seek to stifle our freedom and have taken it upon themselves to correct all that is 'not correct' in their antiquated books. Trends like these if not nipped in the bud will not only embarrass at the global high table that we aspire to sit at, but also push us to the brink of a Talibanised society.

And we will not be remembered for being the largest democracy but as the largest anarchy in the world.

Courtest Anirban Choudhury

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