Minorities feeling ‘insecure’ in Gujarat: PM

Targeting the Narendra Modi government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said time has come to “liberate” Gujarat from divisive politics and regretted that minorities were feeling “insecure” in the BJP-ruled state.

“Unlike the Opposition we do not play politics of dividing the people. Such type of politics is bad in itself and for a longer period of time cannot be beneficial for a political party,” Singh said addressing his first poll rally in this tribal town of Navsari district in south Gujarat.

“The time has come to liberate Gujarat from this type of politics and to not let those people come back to power, who have been trying to get votes by dividing our society and country,” Singh said without naming Modi.

“Congress party has always acted to unite the people of country. We know that if there are fissures in our people on the lines of religion, caste, creed and clan…Then we cannot surge ahead as a nation,” he said. “We have been getting regular complaints that minorities and few other segments of society are feeling insecure in the state. Even a few state government officers have filed such complaints, which is very unfortunate for our country,” Singh said.

“It is a matter of great regret that such type of environment has been created in the land of Mahatma Gandhi.”

The Prime Minister also sought to pick holes in development claims of the Modi government, saying it has failed to take growth to the needy sections of society.

“Development in Gujarat is only for a few people. A big portion of the population here has remained untouched by this economic development. Because of the policies of the state government, there is an imbalance in the society,” he said. “The foundation of Gujarat’s development was laid by the Congress governments in 70s. It is due to the hardworking people of this state that it is considered to be developing,” Singh said.

“When we talk about progress then the question also arises who is benefiting from it. Are the benefits of development reaching the villages and people who have been left behind in the race for progress? Are the benefits reaching minorities, scheduled tribes, scheduled caste….Brother and sisters…Women and children?” he asked. “These are some very important questions which I want to raise with regards to Gujarat…I have to say it with great sorrow that the state BJP government in this connection has been a total failure,” he said. “It is very unfortunate that in a developed state like Gujarat, 41 per cent of women are victims of malnourishment. …If you look at women between 15-50 years age group then you will find that 55 per cent women are anaemic,” Singh said.

“I want to draw your attention towards the fact that if we take a look at top 20 states in terms of human development Gujarat ranks 18. You will have to think what is the reason behind this,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the public health sector was not in a good state in Gujarat and new employment opportunities for the youth were also not being generated.

“Gujarat has not been able to spend a large amount of Centre’s fund sent for employment generation in rural areas of the state. No new employment opportunities are being generated here for unemployed youths,” he said.

Courtesy : http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/minorities-feeling-insecure-in-gujarat-pm/495032/

‘Minority ministry should strive to utilise all its funds’

By Syed Amin Jaferi

The Union ministry of minority affairs has sought a massive eight-fold increase in the Plan outlay for welfare of minorities during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17). The outlay projected for the 12th Plan is a whopping cRs 8,589 crore, compared to Rs 7,000 crore in the 11th Plan (2007-12).

The ministry formulated the proposals for 12th Plan on the basis of the recommendations of the Working Group on Empowerment of Minorities and forwarded the same to the Planning Commission in December 2011. The Planning Commission is yet to finalise the outlay for the 12th Plan. The annual Plan outlay for 2012-13, the first year of the 12th Plan period, was finalized on ad hoc basis in February 2012 and the ministry has been allocated Rs 3,135 crore in the Union Budget.

The 12th Plan proposals of the ministry envisage huge step-up in allocations for the existing 12 schemes and big outlays for the 10 new schemes that are proposed to be implemented during the plan period. A massive outlay of Rs 28,275 crore is envisaged for the four scholarship schemes, including Rs 12,267 crore for pre-matric scholarships, Rs 13,038 crore for post-matric scholarships, Rs 2,353 crore for merit-cum-means scholarships for professional and technical courses and Rs 617 crore for Maulana Azad National Fellowships. Another Rs 23,380 crore has been projected for the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) for 169 minority concentration districts (MCDs).

Other projected allocations include Rs 750 crore towards grants-in-aid for Maulana Azad Education, Rs 1,075 crore for equity investment in National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation (NMDFC), Rs 184 crore for free coaching and allied schemes, Rs 250 crore for research studies and publicity, Rs 25 crore for state channelizing agencies, Rs 75 crore for scheme for leadership development of minority women and Rs 6 crore for computerization of records of state wakf boards.

For the 10 new schemes, the projected allocations include Rs 3,000 crore for scheme for promotion of education in 100 minority concentration towns/cities, Rs 500 crore for development of minority concentration villages not covered by MSDP, Rs 163 crore for free cycles for girl students of Class IX, Rs 75 crore for assistance to students clearing prelims under Civil services examinations, Rs 100 crore for skill development initiatives, Rs 90 crore for support to district level institutions in MCDs, Rs 25 crore for scheme of interest subsidy on educational loans for overseas studies, Rs 90 crore for strengthening of state wakf boards, Rs 35 crore for GPS for wakf properties, and Rs 20 crore for scheme for containing population decline of Parsi community.

All these proposals and projections for the 12th Plan appear ambitious but necessary, given the enormity of task of ensuring the educational and economic development of the minorities, namely, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists, who account for 18.4 percent (22.26 crore) out of India’s 2011 census population of 121 crore. The per capita plan outlay for minorities, thus, works out to a measly Rs 2,632 during 12th Plan (or Rs 526 per annum).

As stated earlier, the Planning Commission is yet to finalise the allocations for the ministry of minority affairs for the 12th Plan. Since a meager allocation of Rs 3,135 crore has been made in the first year of the plan, the annual allocations have to be raised to an average of Rs 13,863 crore in each of the remaining four years (2013-14 to 2012-17). This definitely seems to be a tall order, given the propensity of the ministry to under-spend the budgetary allocations made in the last five years (11th Plan period) and surrendering of the unspent funds to the government.

The 26th report of the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment on the demands of the ministry of minority affairs for 2012-13 makes scathing observations about the performance of the ministry during the 11th Plan period. Though the Planning Commission had originally approved an outlay of Rs 7,000 crore for the ministry, the budgetary allocations over the five-year period (2007-12) amounted to Rs 8,690 crore. The ministry could spend only Rs 6,826 crore (78%) of the allocations and surrendered a whopping amount of Rs 1,864 crore during the five-year period.

The Standing Committee, while expressing serious concern over the trend of under-utilization of funds, asked the ministry to analyze the implementation of various schemes so as to ensure that the budgetary allocations are effectively utilized and the schemes are implemented in proper way. The Committee hoped that the ministry would strive hard to achieve 100% utilisation of funds allocated for the year 2012-13 which have been increased to Rs 3135 crore for all their schemes and programmes.

Source : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-05-28/hyderabad/31876897_1_outlay-minority-concentration-multi-sectoral-development-programme

Centre accused of partiality in implementing minority schemes

A meeting called to seek views from states on minority welfare today saw the NDA-ruled Bihar attacking the Centre for “partiality” in implementation of schemes and asking it to confine itself to their monitoring.

Bihar Minority Affairs Minister Shahid Ali Khan alleged that while the Centre rejected the state government’s proposal to construct Madrasas Bhavans in six of the seven minority concentrated districts (MCDs) of the state, it sanctioned the same in Kishanganj represented by a Congress MP.

Khan also said that the Centre should leave it to the states to decide on the schemes and keep itself confined to only monitoring their implementation.

 “State governments should be given freedom to decide their schemes. But you sanction schemes for the state sitting here,” he complained.

 Khan claimed that Bihar has not got any money from the National Minority Development and Finance Corporation as the Centre was seeking a guarantee.

“There was an agreement between us that the interest for loans by NMDFC will be waived. Two years have passed but nothing happened,” he said.

He also said that the financial assistance under the pre-matric scholarship scheme should be given in cash and not through cheques as there are difficulties in opening bank accounts.

He demanded “maximum possible” recruitments of minorities in police jobs and that such provisions advocated in the Prime Minsiter’s 15-point programme be made mandatory.

A number of representatives from the states demanded that the criteria of 25 per cent minority population for delcaring a district minority concentrated should be brought down to 15 per cent. (MORE)

Source : http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/centre-accusedpartiality-in-implementing-minority-schemes/18216/

Minority politics: All promise, no delivery

By Pankaj Sharma and Rashi Aditi Ghosh/ ZRG

Minority politics gets a facelift every time elections are due. And when Uttar Pradesh is going to polls, temperature rises beating even deep winter chill. But this does not change the course of the destiny for the minority community.

The reality on the ground, notwithstanding claims and counter-claims by politicians of all hues, is that there is a yawning gap between the promise and delivery when it comes to measures announced for the minority community. Unfortunately, there are no exceptions, not even the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme for Minorities (PMPM). The PM’s initiative brought about a targeted minority focus in various ongoing government welfare schemes.

A review of the programme, which was initiated in 2006, has revealed that there is a wide gap between targets and achievements. The five year analysis of few flagship central schemes (2006-2011) mandated for minority communities shows deficit in overall performance.

The government’s flagship primary education programme, ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ (SSA), that started almost a decade ago, has been found in the deficit on several counts, especially in poll bound states.
The number of primary schools constructed in districts with substantial minority population fell short of promise. The minority districts of Manipur showed a gap of 45.9 per cent while Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh followed with a 22.9 per cent 9 per cent gap respectively.

Again, when it comes to the number of upper primary schools constructed in minority concentrated districts, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh score poorly. Manipur witnessed a 100 per cent gap while it was 30 per cent and 10 per cent gap respectively for Uttarakhand and UP.

The number of teachers sanctioned for districts with substantial minority population is also on the lower side in states ready for elections. While Goa and Manipur show 100 per cent below performance targets, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand show a deficit of 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

Wajahat Habibullah, chairman, National Commission for Minorities (NCM), says the situation on the ground “tells a different story” while the government report card generally “presents a rosy picture.” ZRG had spoken to him earlier on minority welfare schemes.

The “performance gap” has to do with the overall administrative inefficiency but even then “politicians would not desist” from making pitches for minority community votes, says Professor S Jodhka, at Sociology department of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

But not all is negative when it comes to implementation of schemes targeted at minorities. Professor S Sajid, of Social Work department at Jamia Millia Islamia avers, “My experience of reservations for Muslims reveals that it has had a positive impact as they have to compete among themselves for a number of jobs and not with those who are better endowed.” That is why he favours reservation as “important to open the windows of opportunities to those who due to historical, economic and social disadvantage have limited access to education and employment.”

Moving away from education to employment, the ‘Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana’ (SJSRY), which aims to provide gainful employment to urban poor, also fared poorly when it comes to minorities’ lot. While Goa and Punjab topped the chart with 99.38 per cent and 98.96 percent gap, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand followed with 97.5 per cent and 47.44 per cent respectively.

‘Indira Awas Yojana’, which aims to provide housing for the rural poor, ended up not spending the allocated budgets for minorities under the PM scheme. Manipur and Punjab have spent less with 94.7 per cent 85.44 per cent gap respectively. Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh too fared poorly with 81.6 per cent, 73.43 per cent and 43.89 per cent gap respectively in the prescribed spending target.

“Minority politics plays a pivotal role in elections. That is welcome so long as what is promised is delivered, “asserts Prof. Jodhka.

Source : http://zeenews.india.com/news/exclusive/minority-politics-all-promise-no-delivery_753425.html

Minority panel chief to meet Modi, flag concerns

Wajahat Habibullah, the National Commission for Minorities chief, will meet Gujarat CM Narendra Modi “soon” to flag its concerns over minority welfare in the state.

Habibullah’s request for meeting with Modi comes in the wake of his earlier criticism that the state government had

inadequately addressed disadvantages of Muslims, among other issues, although the Modi-led government has said minorities in the state were robustly benefiting from its policies.

“There are some problem with dates and availability, so the final schedule has not be drawn up. But the meeting is on,” Habibullah told HT.

The watchdog is likely to engage the Gujarat government on two major issues: the state’s decision to shun a national scholarship scheme for minorities and rehabilitation of survivors of the 2002 riots.

The Modi-led government has been skipping the federally offered scholarship scheme—letting central funds to lapse— on the ground that Gujarat had its own scholarship programme that targets all school-going children equally, regardless of religion.

The matter had reached the Gujarat high court, where the state government opposed minorities-only scholarships on principles of “equality”.

In March 2009, when the high court upheld the national scholarships as constitutional, the Modi government told the court that Gujarat had a scholarship scheme for minorities since 1979 and therefore it need not adopt the national version of it.

The minorities-only scholarship stems from the high-level Sachar Commission, which probed disadvantages faced by Muslims, India’s largest minority. Its findings say Muslims fare well below most other groups on a clutch of socio-economic indicators, including education and employment.

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Minority-panel-chief-to-meet-Modi-flag-concerns/Article1-798648.aspx

Minority youth gets no govt job, alleges conspiracy

Ashpreet Sethi, New Delhi, DHNS:

Mustaqeem, 21, has been running from pillar to post for over four years to secure a job at the India Trade Promotion Organisation. He claimed that his name had appeared in the list of permanent employees after his father died in 2005. His father worked as a guard at ITPO.

Mustaqeem alleged that the department has been denying him a job ‘giving one excuse or another’ because he belongs to a minority community. ITPO follows a policy, under which dependents of a person who passes away are given jobs once they are older than 18 years.

Four names were mentioned in a list given by the administration department in 2005.

Mustaqeem claimed his name had appeared in the list, which declared all the listed persons as permanent employees of ITPO. However, their roles were not mentioned in the list as that was supposed to be decided after they had joined the organisation. In Mustaqeem’s case, he was 16 years old when he applied for the job in 2006. He was asked to re-apply after two years.  “When I approached the authorities in 2008, I was over 18 years old. The special duty officer told me that I would be given an employment letter soon as three more persons were also applying. But I never got the letter,” said Mustaqeem.

All through 2009 and 2010, the officer kept telling Mustaqeem that he would get the job soon. In 2011, the same officer told Mustaqeem to come to his house for a talk. “He  promised to give me lakhs of rupees as compensation but said my name had been replaced and I should understand that they cannot hire me. I took the matter to the Delhi Minorities Commission because the reasons given by the officers were not satisfactory. They even started getting abusive and misbehaved with me,” said Mustaqeem. The Commission then sent a letter to Anand Sharma, minister of transport and ITPO recruitment in-charge.

“We sent the letter on November 25 and got a reply on December 5. It stated that when a special officer visited Mustaqeem’s house for inspection, the officer found him selling clothes in a shop, which indicated that he was not dependent on a government job. He is 21 years old now, and the authorities are saying that he is too old for this compensatory post. This is unfair,” said Zeeshan Ahmed, a Commission member. Ahmed said the Commission gets several cases of people being denied jobs as they belong to the minority communities.

VK Gauba, special duty officer, ITPO, refused to comment on the matter. Instead, he said details are available with the Commission. Mustaqeem, who recently got married, is shattered. “I have never worked in a cloth shop as the letter alleged. I work on construction sites to earn some money. If they don’t give me my job, what do they expect me to do? Do I have to starve and die?” he said.

Source : http://www.deccanherald.com/content/221671/minority-youth-gets-no-govt.html

Minorities oppose population control Bill

Christians and Muslims have condemned a proposed law aimed at controlling Kerala’s population, which envisages a fine of 10,000 rupees (US$200) or three months in jail for having more than two children. The Kerala Women’s Code Bill, drafted by a committee headed by former Supreme Court Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, also recommends couples violating the two-child norm be barred from receiving social benefits from the government. Another possible clause would bar religious and political organisations from discouraging family planning. The Kerala Catholic Bishop’s Council (KCBC) has called the draft “anti-democratic and an infringement on the parental rights of the people.” This is the first time an Indian state has recommended legal action against big families. Kerala’s 33.3 million people account for less than four percent of India’s total population of 1.21 billion. KCBC spokesman Father Stephen Alathara said yesterday that the draft was an attempt to “undermine family values and divide society along communal lines”. “We have been promoting anti-abortion and encouraging people to have big families,” he said. A parish in Wayanad district is now offering fixed-rate deposits of 10,000 rupees, held in the name of the fifth child in a family that is born this year. The government however is proposing cash incentives of 5,000 rupees to women who marry after the age of 19 and will recommend facilities for free and safe abortions. The Syro-Malabar Church, which issued a pastoral letter last year appealing to the faithful to have more children, described the draft as “draconian and anti-Church.” The Orthodox and Jacobite churches have also condemned it. Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, the Catholicos of the Orthodox Church based in Kottayam, warned the government of dire consequences if the bill is passed. Muslim organizations are also angry. “It’s an attempt to curtail religious freedom and faith. We will oppose it,” said Abdul Samad Pukkottur, of the state Sunni Youth Federation. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said resentment against the draft law is unwarranted. “Government will make a decision only after consulting with all groups. We have taken note of the protests against the draft,” he added.

Source: http://www.cathnewsindia.com/2011/09/27/minorities-oppose-kerala-women%E2%80%99s-code-bill-draft/

Govt failed to protect minorities in Bharatpur: BJP

BJP on Monday attacked the Congress government in Rajasthan for the riots in Bharatpur alleging the State administration had failed to protect the rights of the minorities as all the victims were Muslims.

A delegation of BJP MPs, led by spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain, visited Gopalgarh in Bharatpur where a clash had taken place between the Meo Muslims and Gujjars on September 14. The BJP leaders met members of both the communities to find the reasons for the clash and study the ground situation.

“A secular riot has taken place in the rule of a self—proclaimed secular party. 219 rounds were fired during the riots and eight people were killed while eight more are missing. 23 people were injured. Of the eight dead bodies, three were retrieved from a well and were charred,” Mr. Hussain told reporters after returning here.

BJP has charged that the Ashok Gehlot-led government in Rajasthan failed to save the lives of minorities. All the eight people killed and the other eight who are missing belong to the minority community.

“This was not a communal riot. The Congress government is trying to give it a communal colour. An altercation between an Imam and another person had led to tensions. While this was being sorted out, a clash occurred between the minority community and the police,” Mr. Hussain said.

He wanted to know why Rahul Gandhi had not visited the riot affected area.

“The Congress rajkumar has the time to go to Bhatta Parsaul but no time to go to Rajasthan where his party is in power,” Mr. Hussain said.

Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/other-states/article2470709.ece

Indian Muslims have Hindu ancestry: Subramanian Swamy

Karan Thapar: Hello and welcome to Devil’s Advocate. In a recent article in DNA Subramanian Swamy has said that Indian Muslims must either proudly accept and acknowledge their Hindu ancestors and legacy or be disenfranchised. To many that feels like hateful, communal prejudice. But how does Doctor Swamy defend himself. That is the key issue I should put today to Subramanian Swamy himself.

Doctor Swamy you are a Harvard professor, a former Law Minister. You are at the forefront of the campaign to bring the 2G accused to justice. How do you account for this hateful communal prejudice against Muslims?

Subramanian Swamy: No, it is not hateful at all. It is first of all factually correct that Muslims of India have DNA wise the same DNA as us. And therefore there is nothing wrong with them acknowledging that their ancestors are Hindus. If they say Hindus are not their ancestors, then who could be their ancestors? Now after all we created Pakistan for those Muslims who didn’t consider themselves as ready to live with their Hindu brothers.

Karan Thapar: I will come to the core of your argument in a moments of time but first let me put this to you. Do you dislike Muslims?

Subramanian Swamy: How could I? I have got a son-in-law who is a Muslim.

Karan Thapar: He hasn’t complained?

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah, he hasn’t complained.

Karan Thapar: Your son-in-law has no objection to your views?

Subramanian Swamy: I can’t say whether he has objections or not but he hasn’t complained to me. And these are not my new views, these view are from the very beginning.

Karan Thapar: So you are saying to me, you don’t dislike Muslims?

Subramanian Swamy: Why should I dislike them, they are Indians if they acknowledge their ancestors are Hindus.

Karan Thapar: Do you distrust Muslims?

Subramanian Swamy: Why should I? If they say that their ancestors are Hindus they are as much Indians as I am. Only if they say their ancestors are not Hindus, they are not as good Indians as I am.

Karan Thapar: There is a precondition there?

Subramanian Swamy: Of course there is a precondition. After all Pakistan was created on that precondition. You must understand why Pakistan was created.

Karan Thapar: Does that precondition mean that you are actually anti-Muslim?

Subramanian Swamy: No, how can that be. In fact I tell you, I found that – Muslims themselves have told me – we find nothing wrong. These people are creating problem because of the 2G scam.

Karan Thapar: Let’s then come to the central prescription in your article published in DNA in July, you write and I want to quote, “If any Muslim acknowledges his or her Hindu legacy, then we Hindus can accept him or her, others who refuse to acknowledge this can remain in India but should not have voting rights.” What is your justification for that?

Subramanian Swamy: Because then the whole genesis arises out of partition. Partition was created for two kinds of Muslims, those who can live with Hindus on the basis of a commonality and those who said that can’t have anything to do with Hindus.

Karan Thapar: Why is acknowledging your Hindu ancestors or your Hindu legacy proof that you can live with Hindus. Why do you have to make it the main issue?

Subramanian Swamy: Because that is the truth and why should they deny the truth.

Karan Thapar: Well hang on a second. It is not the truth because you don’t make that condition for Christens, Jains, Sikhs. It is not in that article.

Subramanian Swamy: No, I do. This was written in context with Mumbai terrorist act. But if you go by my book, “Hindutva and National Renaissance” I have said it for Christians too.

Karan Thapar: But in the article which is headlined, “How to wipe out Islamic terror” the word Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh doesn’t feature even once.

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah, because they have nothing to do with that terror.

Karan Thapar: So you have singled out Muslims.

Subramanian Swamy: Because it was on the context of Bombay.

Karan Thapar: In fact you have gone a step further, I’m going to quote from that DNA article, “declare India a Hindu Rashtra”.

Subramanian Swamy: Yes.

Karan Thapar: Rename India Hindustan as a nation of Hindus and those whose ancestors were Hindus, and then you say you want some 300 mosques removed, clearly.

Subramanian Swamy: You are not quoting me correctly.

Karan Thapar: I’m quoting you correctly.

Subramanian Swamy:It was conditional on the goals of terrorist.

Karan Thapar: But hang on a moment. You believe that those goals are facts therefore these conditions follow as light follows day.

Subramanian Swamy:No, if they execute terrorist acts, then these should follow as retaliation.

Karan Thapar: Even the attempt to declare India a Hindu Rashtra and call it a nation of Hindus. A nation of Hindus suggest that your concept of India does not have room for Muslims.

Subramanian Swamy: No! Hindus does not necessarily mean the Hindu religious theology.

Karan Thapar: What does Hindus mean.

Subramanian Swamy: Hindus mean it is a value system.

Karan Thapar: Hang on a second. Why did you not specify that in your article?

Subramanian Swamy: When you write an article you don’t specify everything.

Karan Thapar: This is such a critical point.

Subramanian Swamy: This is not a critical point from my point of view. It is very well understood. Vivekananda said this. And let me tell you that these views that I have expressed is in different forms in Ambedkar’s writings.

Karan Thapar: No matter in whose writings they may be in, you are presenting them today as your views and you are not differentiating Hinduism as a way of life and Hinduism as a religion.

Subramanian Swamy: No, I don’t talk about Hinduism as way of life, I talk about Hinduism as a value system. Way of life is too vague.

Karan Thapar: Why should Muslims have to subscribe to a value system for Hindus.

Subramanian Swamy: Because we Hindus believe all religions lead to god. Muslims should also believe that.

Karan Thapar: But Muslims have a right to believe that their religion is their way of going to god. They don’t have to subscribe to Hindu values.

Subramanian Swamy: No, Muslim religion is not only that. Muslin religion also defines what is darul islam, darul harab.

Karan Thapar: Let me put to you this first of all, you wrote that article on behalf of Hindus.

Subramanian Swamy: Yes.

Karan Thapar: What gives you the feeling that the majority of Hindus agree with you.

Subramanian Swamy: Go and talk to them.

Karan Thapar: What do you mean go and talk to them?

Subramanian Swamy: I would say judging to all the reaction to my article, the Hindus are overwhelmingly in support.

Karan Thapar: Are you saying that Hindus are communal like you are?

Subramanian Swamy: Well it depends how you define communal. If you think that what I have written is communal then I will say that 99 per cent are communal.

Karan Thapar: 99 per cent Hindus are communal?

Subramanian Swamy: If your definition of Hindu or Communalism is what you have defined it.

Karan Thapar: Let’s come to the reasons such as why you have this particular view and attitude to Muslims. You say and I’m quoting once again, “Muslims of India are being programmed by a slow reacted process to become radical and thus slide into suicide against Hindus. What proof do you have of this?

Subramanian Swamy: Who has done the Bombay attack?

Karan Thapar: What about Swami Asimanand, what about Col. Purohit what about Pragya Singh Thakur?

Subramanian Swamy: Don’t change the subject. Today there is sufficient evidence that home grown Muslim individuals have become terrorists.

Karan Thapar: But there is also sufficient evidence of home grown Hindus become terrorists.

Subramanian Swamy: Don’t change the subject, first let’s finish this point. And then I’m coming…I’m ready to take this point, but first let’s take the first point. That for the fist time I find that there is sufficient evidence with our intelligence system that Muslims are being programmed into becoming terrorists.

Karan Thapar: For the sake of argument only. I will accept you are right. In fact why then associate the whole Muslim community because a small fringe lunatic element doing it.

Subramanian Swamy:I’m not. Read that statement. I’m saying they are being programmed to slowly. That doesn’t mean that has already happened.

Karan Thapar: But you are saying Muslims of India, not a few Muslims.

Subramanian Swamy: They are all being targeted.

Karan Thapar: So there you are. You are associating the whole community for a small minority.

Subramanian Swamy: I’m not associating the whole community; I am saying they are being targeted as a whole community.

Karan Thapar: You are even going one step further.

Subramanian Swamy: Yes.

Karan Thapar: Not only you are associating the whole community with what a small minority are doing but on the bases of that minority you are demanding that the whole community should either be disenfranchised if they do not accept Hindu ancestry.

Subramanian Swamy: That is your inference. That is not what is written there.

Karan Thapar: It’s anyone’s inference. It is a logical inference.

Subramanian Swamy: I can produce 200 people for every person you produce, I will produce 200 people who say that is not the case.

Karan Thapar: Doctor Swamy it is hard to read your article and come to any other conclusion. You are blaming the majority for a lunatic fringe.

Subramanian Swamy: Listen you are an opinionated person, so you can come to any opinion. I have written this with full understanding of what I’m writing. I’m telling you that Muslim as a community is being targeted by terrorist, by propaganda to slowly slide into suicide against Hindus. Now earlier on it didn’t work, now it has begun to work, so we have to do something about it.

Karan Thapar: You know I will leave that uncontested only because I have argued with it for so long people know what I have to say. But I will just point out there will be millions who will disagree. You also say in your article Islam will confront Hinduism to complete unfinished business.

Subramanian Swamy: That’s right.

Karan Thapar: Once again that may be an opinion of a small fringe fanatic lunatic minority like all religions have such minorities, but clearly it is not the view of majority of Muslims and it is not a position endorsed by Islam.

Subramanian Swamy: It is the view of terrorist; it is the views of terrorist organisations.

Karan Thapar: But you say Islam will confront Hinduism.

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah, of course it is Islam theology, which says that if you are darul islam you have to behave in a certain way. For instance they won’t let you built temple in Saudi Arabia.

Karan Thapar: So Islam is your target not terrorist?

Subramanian Swamy: There is no question of Islam being target. The Islamic thought whether if you go by Quran and Hidat, it for the faithful to finish off the kafir.

Karan Thapar: In other words your target is Islam.

Subramanian Swamy: What do you mean your target is Islam? I’m educating you about Islam. I am just telling you what Islam is. I don’t need a target, I have enough people in this country. I don’t need Islam as target.

Karan Thapar: Do you know what you are really doing? You are sowing seeds of distrust between Hindus and Muslims.

Subramanian Swamy: No. That is your psychoanalysis.

Karan Thapar: You are dividing India and you are provoking Hindus and the worst thing is that you are doing this knowingly and deliberately.

Subramanian Swamy: I have not done any such thing because this is your inference. Now you are entitled to your inference. I only said what people like Ambedkar have said long before me. I am saying it in different way but it is all there. We have seen it there and we have to recognise it.

Karan Thapar: You know in your DNA article you claimed that you are devising a strategy to eradicate terrorism. But paradox is that the seeds of distrust that you are sowing is actually going to create the bases of fresh terror.

Subramanian Swamy: That is a accusation which has no foundation.

Karan Thapar: It’s an inference, it is a conclusion, it flows from what you are doing.

Subramanian Swamy: These accusations have been thrown at me but nothing came out of it ultimately. People have whipped themselves into synthetic anger, but what came out of it?

Karan Thapar: Let me put this to you. Is this a tactic to ingratiate yourself with the RSS, to secure their political score.

Subramanian Swamy: No. I’m past that. I have already won over the RSS heart long time ago.

Karan Thapar: Let’s come back to the point you made at the beginning of this interview. You said that you had a Muslim son-in-law. Your wife in fact is Parsi. How do they respond to the conditions to the conditions you attach for minorities, you say clearly that if minorities do not accept with pride their Hindu ancestors and their Hindu legacy they should disenfranchised. How does your Parsi wife and Muslim son-in-law accept it?

Subramanian Swamy: Well first of all Parsi’s have no difficulty. In fact when they land in India they sign a contract.

Karan Thapar: But they don’t have Hindu ancestors, they don’t have Hindu legacy.

Subramanian Swamy: How do you know?

Karan Thapar: Don’t they came from Iran, they came from Persia.

Subramanian Swamy: They came. Ninety men and 60 women came. You don’t know Parsi history. So don’t make wild guesses.

Karan Thapar: So Parsis also have Hindu ancestors?

Subramanian Swamy: Of course they do.

Karan Thapar: Is your wife prepared to accept that?

Subramanian Swamy: Well you ask her?

Karan Thapar: No, I’m asking you.

Subramanian Swamy: I’m sorry, I’m not going to tag my wife into this.

Karan Thapar: Is your son-in-law prepared to accept that?

Subramanian Swamy: Conversation between husband and wife is privileged, do you know that?

Karan Thapar: Is your son-in-law prepared to accept that?

Subramanian Swamy: Why should I tell you that, you ask him.

Karan Thapar: Aren’t you in danger of dividing your family?

Subramanian Swamy: Well ask the family. I have had not this problem; this is not my new views. They may have been written first time in a newspaper in this form but I have written books about it. I have been saying this from the day I joined Janata party.

Karan Thapar: Are you proud of these views?

Subramanian Swamy: Of course, otherwise… there is no question of proud, these are my views. I think the people of India are proud of it.

Karan Thapar: Is your family embarrassed by them?

Subramanian Swamy: They have not told me so.

Karan Thapar: Are they just being polite?

Subramanian Swamy: Why don’t you talk with my family and find out. You interact with some of them. They happen to be in your channel. Why don’t you ask them?

Karan Thapar: Doctor Swamy let’s come to the letter that you wrote to the Prime Minster on the April 15 seeking his permission to prosecute Sonia Gandhi under the Prevention of Corruption Act. What response have you had from the Prime Minister?

Subramanian Swamy: Well he has just now sent me a letter saying that its premature and therefore he didn’t find sufficient bases to give me permission.

Karan Thapar: When you say that he sent you just know, how soon is just know?

Subramanian Swamy: Well I was in America. So it must have come in the last week of July I think.

Karan Thapar: And you saw it only on your return couple of days ago.

Subramanian Swamy: That’s right.

Karan Thapar: What does the letter say?

Subramanian Swamy: It just says that it is a premature thing and I don’t find any bases therefore to proceed ahead.

Karan Thapar: In other words he has refused to give permission?

Subramanian Swamy: Well that is the reading of it. It doesn’t matter because I never thought that he will ever give me permission. I just wanted to go though the process. Now I will go to the Supreme Court

Karan Thapar: Now the process requires you to give the Prime Minster three months to reply.

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah it’s more than three months now.

Karan Thapar: And now that he has refused at the end of that three month period. What do you intend to do?

Subramanian Swamy: I intend to go to the Supreme Court on that.

Karan Thapar: You will go to the Supreme Court?

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah I did it for Raja, the same procedure.

Karan Thapar: So you will file a case in the Supreme Court seeking permission to prosecute Sonia Gandhi under the Prevention of Corruption Act. How confident are you that the Supreme Court will admit it, given the fact that the Prime Minister has refused to give you the permission?

Subramanian Swamy: I can never prejudge the Supreme Court. They are wise judges and I’m quite impressed with them, but I think the prima facie case is very strong.

Karan Thapar: Well you say that the prima facie case is very strong and for those who haven’t had the benefit of reading the letter of April 15, let me summaries briefly, you allege and I’m underlining the work allege that Sonia Gandhi has benefited from Bofors, that she has benefited from Iraq food for oil deals. You calm that she has been the recipient of the payoffs from the Russian KGB. You again allege that she has bank accounts abroad and finally you have been calming for several years that she is also involved in the illegal export of the antiquities. But what evidence do you have for any of this?

Subramanian Swamy: Well do you want me to speak on all of them or anyone of them?

Karan Thapar: Tell me first of all about the clam that she has received payoffs from the KGB.

Subramanian Swamy: Well you know, there is no KGB now, there is something called FSI, so when these documents… You see what happened, the Americans took out all these documents from everybody, they literally stole the KGB library. And then photostated and put it in various university liberties. Now those documents I have produced in the Delhi High Court in a writ petition. The Delhi High Court had issued a notice to the CBI at that time the spokesman of the successor organisation of the KGB said yes we had given money because the whole family was friendly to us.

Karan Thapar: So in other words these are documents from the KGB authenticated by the Americans.

Subramanian Swamy: Not authenticated.

Karan Thapar: But put on websites by the Americans?

Subramanian Swamy: Yes. In the libraries it is available

Karan Thapar: And therefore these documents are available in libraries.

Subramanian Swamy: And they are available in Delhi High Court.

Karan Thapar: Number two you have also said that she has bank accounts out side the country. What proof do you have of that?

Subramanian Swamy: Well the proof I have given there is highly respected.

Karan Thapar: But that goes back to 1991.

Subramanian Swamy: Yeah, so she had it then.

Karan Thapar: But how do you know that you can rely on them?

Subramanian Swamy: On them, this magazine has produced it as a consequence of the American pressure on Swaziland to expose.

Karan Thapar: But the magazine could be wrong. The magazine could be forced.

Subramanian Swamy: Because they have not only forced the Rajiv Gandhi family.

Karan Thapar: But you are going on a very slender evidence. Stolen KGB documents not authenticated, magazines that are not conformed and collaborated.

Subramanian Swamy: You are not paying attention that is the problem with you. I have said that the spokesmen of the successor to the KGB went on record to say that yes we had given money to the family because they were friendly to us.

Karan Thapar: And the spokesperson to the successor of the KGB will stand by that today, have you got any conformation, collaboration?

Subramanian Swamy: Why should I? This is for the government to investigate. After all the High Court has issued a notice to the CBI to go and find out.

Karan Thapar: You also claim that she is also involved in export of antiquities. In fact you have been saying that if I recall correctly for decades. What proof do you have of this illegal export?

Subramanian Swamy: Well I have given evidence of that, I can tell you that she and Naveen Chawla’s wife, they were actively involved in it.

Karan Thapar: You just named someone else.

Subramanian Swamy: Yes I did.

Karan Thapar: Are you sure that is not liable?

Subramanian Swamy: Please prosecute me, I will be happy. I enjoy going to the court to defend these things.

Karan Thapar: You may enjoy going to court but is it right and fair that on the slanders of evidence you are taking people to court, naming them.

Subramanian Swamy: You are sitting in judgment of it, you are not equipped to judge what is slander evidence and what is sufficient evidence.

Karan Thapar: But can you be the judge of your own evidence.

Subramanian Swamy: Whenever I have gone to court, I have managed to convince the court that I have prima facie case evidence, other wise I don’t go to the court.

Karan Thapar: Can you be the best judge of your own evidence?

Subramanian Swamy: I’m no the judge, I have to have an evidence before I go to court and the court is the final authority.

Karan Thapar: When will you go to the court?

Subramanian Swamy: I will go to court as soon as I find time. I have got 2G on my hands you see. I am not the head of the CBI.

Karan Thapar: So this will happen only after the 2G is over.

Subramanian Swamy: I can’t say when I will go to the court. I’m not going to give you the time table.

Karan Thapar: You just hinted that it is not imminent

Subramanian Swamy: I didn’t say anything al all. That is your surmise.

Karan Thapar: Will your decision of going to the court be at all affected by the fact that Sonia Gandhi is abroad, she is going through surgery, she could be seriously ill?

Subramanian Swamy: Certainly it will not be as enjoyable if she is in not in hospital.

Karan Thapar: It will not be as enjoyable. So you look upon it as enjoyment.

Subramanian Swamy: No I certainly mean if it is a… when you are persecuting somebody who is corrupt and they are lying in the hospital it is not something you would like to do.

Karan Thapar: Is that a let out clause?

Subramanian Swamy: There is nothing let out here, this is humanity, we are humans.

Karan Thapar: Well at a point when you sound human after part you sounded distinctly less than human and you are smiling. A pleasure talking with you.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/indian-muslims-have-hindu-ancestry-swamy/175660-3.html

Minorities forum opposes Jan Lokpal Bill draft

BANGALORE: Terming Jan Lokpal bill’s draft as antisecular, members of the All India Christian Council and other minorities forum announced to jointly present their own version of the Lokpal draft based on Aruna Roy’s draft.
“Anna’s draft has no place for Dalits and other minorities.
His agitation was filled with members from extremist factions like the RSS.
This is unconstitutional and unfortunate,” Dr.John Dayal, member of National Integration Council told reporters here.
Clarifying their stand that they were not against Anna, the speakers stated that they were only opposing the content and methodology of the agitation.
“First, the movement was not inclusive.
There was no representation from the minority communities.
Second, Anna’s draft has no place for Dalits or other minorities.
He was held captive by the likes of Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi,” said Dr.
Dayal.
Venkatswamy of the Samatha Sainik Dal argued that the act of hunger strike is unconstitutional.
“Bypassing the parliament and constitution is dangerous.
The appointed Lokpal will turn into a dictator.
The entire Anna-led agitation was a mere metaphor for extremist forces to reign their terror over the minorities,” he said, adding that a signed petition will be sent to the Standing Committee.
Narayanswamy of the Dalit Sangharsh Samiti criticized Team Anna’s approach.
“I do not approve of ridiculing of the Parliament and constitution.
Anna, who is a school dropout, was perhaps misled by his cronies as the draft was in English,” he remarked, while lashing out at Kiran Bedi for her ghoonghat theatrics.
The minorities version of the bill will be an improvised version of social activist Aruna Roy’s draft.
“We will focus on participatory process and an inclusive selection committee in our draft that will be made soon,” said Dr.Dayal.

Source : http://ibnlive.in.com/news/minorities-forum-opposes-jan-lokpal-bill-draft/181119-60-115.html