CPIM Disowns Mayawati Tag, Turnaround Once Again
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 33
Palash Biswas
The CPI(M) has said it does not look at in terms of projecting an individual for the prime minister's post, an indication that it was not keen on seeing BSP chief Mayawati in the top post.CPM general secretary Prakash Karat on Thursday made it clear that BSP chief Mayawati was not his party’s choice as PM candidate. He firmly ruled out any post-poll alliance with the UPA.CPM leader stood defiant. He said there is no question of a post-poll tie up with the UPA. He also said that he will support the UNPA in fighting issues like price rise, inflation and the nuclear deal, but will not consider it as a third front. Communist Party of India General Secretary Prakash Karat on Thursday refused any possibility of any party alliance with the United Progressive Alliance even after general elections due next year.
Whether or not the UPA wins the trust vote on July 22, the CPM feels the government’s collapse is only a matter of time.
What a Turnaround!With the Left failing to stop the government from going to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the government winning the trust vote, many Congress leaders had not ruled out an alliance with the Left in the upcoming general elections. And I tell you, the opportunist Marxists may repeat History anytime.
A clever leader like Amar Singh , the master of Horse Trading, landed in Kolkat just yesterday and addressed a press conference with Fire Brand Brahman Leader Ms Mamata. Amar Singh fielded Mamamta against Mayawati. Though a tough bargainer like Amara did not miss to mention that his hear only lies with Sister Mamata but the Mind still remains with the Left!
It is a clear indication of dangers ahead for the Left, a steep decay in High caste vote bank. While the Left is no more that sure about SC, OBC and Muslim Votes in Kearla and Bengal. Tripura has a different demography and the Tripura Marxists have enough causes for enthusiasm for Mayawati!
Only on 25th July, late after midnight I was talking face to face the Marxist Minister in Tripura. The Poet politician, Anil Sarkar claimed that it was a masterstroke and we must welcome the latest Party Line . I explained how I never believed that CPIM could hold this line very longer. I never expected the Marxist turnaround so soon. Anilda has been insisting that Dalit Liberation is only possible with a Marxist line on Ambedkar and Rabindra Nath Tagore. Thus, he runs all the missions on Ambedkar`s name. now, he has launched a Matribhasha Mission campaign all along the North East on a Tagore line of Nationality!
I told,` The Ruling Brahaminical Hegemony in West Bengal and Kerala would never allow Prakash Karat to sustain the tag Mayawati’. Which he disowned so soon!
I asked Anilda,`In West Bengal, fort one percent OBCs have only a single cabinet minister. SC leader Kanti Biswas has been ousted. Upen Kisku ousted. Dinesh Dakua ousted. Narayan Biswas ousted. A duffer Brahman Surya Kant Mishra holds on despite severe failure in Health sector. Kanti Biswas may not be held responsible for the failures in Education. Marxist education policy always has been faulty which always promoted discriminatory education policy with Private Investment, Now education is an affair of purchasing capacity. Marxists never demanded Common Education! Then, a competent minister like Bilasi Bala Sahis was shifted in the district.’
Anilda defended the party and said, ` Kanti Biswas was ousted as the SC society and leadership launched a sustained campaign against him!’
Then, I argued, ` How do you justify the Brahmin front? Three percent micro minority Brahmins have 64 MLAs and 16 cabinet ministers!”
Speaking on the alliances prior to the trust vote in Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008, Karat said, "Mayawati left alliance with the UPA before the Left parties withdrew support to the UPA. Now, we go by what the parties say. They have come out against the nuclear deal and said they would work against the UPA government. It is only after we withdrew support, we said we would contact all the secular parties who are opposed to the nuclear deal and who can stand in vote against the UPA government. As part of that process, I met Mayawati, Deve Gowda, Ajit Singh, leaders of TDP and the UNPA, and then came to a common understanding."
"He (CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan) was asked, do you think she can become PM. He said, Yes why not. That is his way of saying that he has no objection to any particular leader becoming PM. We don't look at in terms of projecting an individual," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat clarified in Thiruvananthapuram.
Asked if he was saying that Mayawati would not be projected as Prime Minister, he told Malayalam channel "Kairali TV" he said he was not ready to say anything as "it is too premature".
"In this country there have been PMs who people never expected could become prime ministers. And there have been prime ministers who people could not think of as PM turned out to be good prime ministerial material. So why this debate. It is not a meaningful debate," he said.
Anil Sarkar called me every hour during his stay in New Delhi until 28th evening while he informed me that he was leaving for Delhi. Anilda tried his best to convince us, the subaltern Intelligentsia that Karat and Brinda with Sitaram Yechury are very serious on Dalit liberation and we must support this stance. We must support Mayawati as projected Prime Minister Face of the Left!
I explained how it was impossible and what have been the reactions in High caste vote Bank in west Bengal. He was not convinced. Neither he believed that CPIM would not be able to manage damage control after the ouster of the veteran most Marxist Brahmin leader Somnath Chatterjee.
Anilda is never without hope and trying his best to mobilise the subaltern camp in favour of CPIM official line in North India! he called me from Agartala daily and continued the discussion!
On 26th evening, I was debating with some Marxist Senior comrades in Mohan Singh Palace Coffee house. The Marxist comrades defended the party line and claimed that the communists in India, never deviated from Ideology!
Ideology my Foot!
They declared that Somnath was to be expelled!
Pankaj Bisht supported, ` Ideology as well as discipline demanded his ouster!”
I agreed. I never defend the Marxist Brahmins as I know their Faces realty real!
I was away in New Delhi and Kolkata TV telecasted the documentary film on Marichjhanpi on 24th evening. In january 1979, Dalit Refugees were massacred in the Sundervana Island which was never a part of the forest and the Bonafied Indian citizens rehabiliated in different parts of Dandkarany were lured to come in West Bengal to form a favourable vote bank for the Marxists still alluding! Jyoti Basu himself talked to the refugee leaders of all the five refugee camps in MP. The marxist ministers Ram Chatterjee and Kiran Moy Nanda mobilised the massive immigration. Minister Subhash Chakrabarty offered CPIM Umbrella just before the action began. Comrade Buddhadev Bhattacharya as the Police minister monitored the Gestapo action of Blockade and Massacre!
The Marichjhanpi film was to be screened in JNU by Delhi friends and was withheld. It could not be screened.
The document presents all the documents and witnesses and the missing links of the forgotten massacre. a promo was posted on nandigarmunited. blogspot.com, indiainteracts.com and You Tube! It was a online petition demanding Justice!
kolakata High Caste hatred is documented quite Human in Bangla Ntionality and literary disguise. Tara shankar and Sharat Chandra, Sunil Gango, Ateen Bando and Debesh Roy are best examples.It swallowed the Marichjhanpi episode.
Sunil Gango reported the event for Anandbazar at the time and supported the refugees as he was not a communist then. He refused to say anything for the documentary.
Mahasheta Di has to be present in Panel discussion today while the film is being telecasted once again. cable links and electricity supply were snapped in many parts of the state during first screening. Mahasheta di never wrote on refugees and Dalits.
I have a very intimate relationship with didi. She wrote an exclusive write up on my novel AMERICA SE SAVDHAN in Dainik Hindustan and taged me with Legendary Jharkhand Leader AK Roy. She is very affectionate. I was also included in Bhasha Bandhan editorial which I could not bear for the differences on Social realism related to Manusmriti!But most of us learnt everything about Nationality Movement from Mahasheweta Di. She dealt very well the History of indigenous Insurrectons in India. she described the Nandigram insurrection as Dalit Movement.
Ratan Basu Majumdar argued during the earlier private screening of the film on editorial stage that the Intelligentsia Kolkata has to be supporting the demand for Justice!I dismissed the idea as the Kolkata Intelligentsia remained quite detached all these Thirty years.
Ratan da exclaimed,`They might have not known’.
Should I believe this?
Mahashweta Di did all the documentation of Insurrections, Naxalbari and Tebhaga. Could she be so ignorant? She wrote about me in details , on my primary schooling, GIC and Nainital as well as Dhanbad. My friends would never know the details. i did not tell her. but she wrote.
How she did not write anything on refugees and dalits?
Simply because of Hegemony psyche which is inflected in Bengali Brahmin led Indian communist movement from the beginning. The communists may not bear a Dalit face for the Next prime Minister projection.
I failed to convince Anil Sarkar.
My friends in Bengal as well as in new Delhi and countrywide explain Somnath episode as historical Blunder once again.
yes, it was a blunder. I agree.
But it was never a blunder expelling the Brahmin don from the party. The party committed the Historical Blunder while it accepted the post of Speaker and remained in Hamlet Dilemma of TO BE or NOT To Be . It wasted the most vocal Parliamentarian and had to field a novice, Md salim to speak for the party during Trust vote. Adwani easily subverted the Nuclear deal with his rotten Hindutva. My Marxist friends may not digest this argument!
Then, what happened to Hyderabad agenda?
What was all about the Cow belt Escalation strategy?
Anilda and Biman bose have been always involved. i do not talk to any Marxist leaders nowadays but I have discussed all these issues with all Marxist SC, OBC and St leaders so many times and questioned the justification of CPIM launched Dalit and Refugee movement!
Now, you see the developments!
Robin Chakrabarti, a scientist and Tasham organiser informed me in phone that the audience reacted violently as they saw the Marichjhanpi film!
I told,` People do react on Visual media. Be it Devdas, Rang de Basanti, Shole or AAp Hamare Hain Kaun or Nach Le! I am interested in results. What happened next? Did anyone demand to hang Basu? Did the Kolkata Intelligentsia cried for justice after thirty long years!’
Robinda answered,` People are very repenting!’
`So what? you people escaped at that time! Now you are just expressing sentiment and doing nothing! It is a crime! At least, you may demonstrate on Rani Rasmoni Sarani, Metro Channel, before Alimuddin street or Indira Bhavan! Safemost option is a Citizens` convention at least!’
Thus,the brahminical hegemony never breaks!
And anil da expects some space for democratic subaltern movement with his Dalit Agenda!
And his Hero falls miserably!
On the issue of Third Alternative, Karat said hopefully they would be able to present some third force in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
"Be very clear. I didn't use the word Third Alternative. I have not not talked about the Third Alternative. I have not not talked about the Third Alternative....Our party's understanding of the Third Alternative is not some combination to fight elections. The Third Alternative has to be in terms of policies and programmes," he said.
To a question on supporting Congress after the elections for forming a government, Karat said "we are going to call the defeat of BJP and the Congress. And after that if we support the Congress, I don't know, I think people accuse us of opportunism. So why do you think that there can be only either a BJP-led government or a Congress-led government."
Karat said even when the Left supported the government they knew the Congress was wedded to liberalisation policies. But the Left could check privatisation in some sectors while it could not not tolerate serious deviation from the common minimum programme on an issue like the strategic alliance with the US.
To a question whether it was a mistake to have supported the Congress, he said "we made a mistake in believing the commitment of the top leadership of the country including the prime minister. We have to see whether we can put faith in the Congress leadership again."
On the charge that the CPI(M) had once dubbed the BSP as a casteist formation, Karat said all parties except the Left had played the caste card.
"But the assertion of dalit forces is a democratic and an awakening aspect which we must recognise."
Asked why he had always refrained from making critical comments against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he said they had always criticised the Congress leadership as well as the prime minister.
"Prime Minister, of course is running the government. Leadership cannot be reduced to one individual and is collective."
Karat Thursday indicated it was a mistake to have trusted the Congress leadership and said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not “understand how the Communist party functions”. Apparently regretting the legislative support the CPI-M-led Left parties extended to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Karat declared that there would not be any ties with the Congress in future.
In an interview telecast on Malayalam channel Kairali TV, Karat said both the Congress leadership and the prime minister had assured the Left that they would not go ahead with the India-US civil nuclear deal even if they were allowed to carry forward negotiations on an India specific safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Because they said they will talk and come back… if you object we will not proceed further. Now when the prime minister, the Congress president (Sonia Gandhi) and the Congress leadership give such an assurance, we thought yes, let them go, talk and come back. They are bringing this to the (UPA-Left nuclear) committee. When we object in the committee, they will not proceed. This is the assurance they gave us in November.”
He added that the meeting in which the assurance was given was also attended by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Asked if the CPI-M had overestimated the trustworthiness of the Congress party he said: “It seems like that.”
Reacting to Manmohan Singh’s remarks that the CPI-M general secretary has “miscalculated” the developments, Karat said: “The bourgeois party leaders look at their (party) practices in which the leader decides everything. They do not understand how the Communist party functions.”
He said emphatically that the Left would continue to combat the government in parliament.
“We are not parties like the DMK, RJD or the NCP. They are part of the UPA along with the Congress party. We cannot have any understanding or alliance with the Congress party… we are in no way bound to support the Congress-led coalition. We will work with all the non-Congress secular parties - the non Congress secular parties who are today not with the BJP or the Congress.”
The CPI-M led Left parties - that withdrew support to the Manmohan Singh government over the India-US civil nuclear deal - have not yet taken a decision on who they would support as a prime ministerial candidate of the non-BJP, non-Congress front, he added.
“We have not decided yet,” Karat said when asked if Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was their candidate for the top post.
Karat said the Left would enter into an electoral alliance, though he did not want it to be named the ‘third front’.
“I never talked about third alternative. Our party’s understanding of the third alternative is not some combination to fight elections. The third alternative should be in terms of policies and programmes. We don’t consider the UNPA as the third alternative. We told them that this is the alternative we were thinking about.”
On joining hands with Mayawati, a move that had been widely criticised, he said: “Mayawati left the alliance with the UPA before the Left parties withdrew support to it. She had come out of the nuclear deal before we even talked to her. Now, we go by what the parties say. They have come out against the nuclear deal, and said they would work against the UPA government. It is only after we withdrew support that we said we would contact all the secular parties opposed to the nuclear deal and who can stand against the UPA government. As part of that process, I met Mayawati, Deve Gowda, Ajit Singh, leaders of TDP and the UNPA, and then came to a common understanding.”
Predicting that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which won the July 22 trust vote in the Lok Sabha, would face “many roadblocks” in parliament, Karat said the Left would continue to combat the government in both houses.
He pointed out that the government did not have a majority in the upper house and would face troubles in the Lok Sabha - where the Left has 59 MPs - when it came to the passage of financial bills.
“We would like to use (such occasions) effectively to combat the government,” he told the channel.
Chautala's INLD rejects Mayawati as PM candidate
JAIPUR: Showing signs of differences within the UNPA on the issue of leadership of Mayawati, the INLD has ruled out the BSP chief as its prime ministerial candidate.
"No to the proposal of her as PM," INLD general secretary Ajay Chautala told reporters here yesterday on a question whether INLD could join hands with BSP and project Mayawati as the future prime minister.
Chautala, however was not adverse to forge a pre-poll alliance with BSP during elections in the states.
INLD was contemplating pre-poll alliance with any of the UNPA members and would field over 100 candidates in the polls, he said.
Hindustan Times, India - 30 Jul 2008
PTI Slamming BSP supremo Mayawati for demanding a probe into the assets of all ex-Prime Ministers, the Uttar Pradesh Congress on Wednesday said this showed ...
Sahara Samay Mulayam threatens to demolish all Maya statues
Indian Express, India - 30 Jul 2008
If we come to power, all statues of Mayawati will be demolished,” SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said. While the allies of the Congress have been given ...
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Mulayam does not want ministerial berth Thaindian.com
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Left fuels Mayawati's PM ambitions
Merinews, India - 10 hours ago
While Mayawati has taken over the leadship of the Third Front, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee future remains a mystery.. AFTER HAVING failed to topple the ...
Thaindian.com Be ready for coalitions, Mayawati tells BSP
Economic Times, India - 27 Jul 2008
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday told party MPs and ministers about the importance and usefulness of coalition governments, ...
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If Maya can rule UP, why can't she rule the country: Gowda
Times of India, India - 3 hours ago
NEW DELHI: JD(S) chief HD Deve Gowda has said that he is not against BSP chief Mayawati becoming the prime minister. “She is the Chief Minister of the ...
"The UNPA will emerge as a 'third force' in the country and attempts were being made to evolve the alliance in the four states -- Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Delhi, going to polls later this year" Chautala said.
He also said Rajasthan should have a farmer as its next Chief Minister.
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Mayawati wants widespread probe
Hindu, India - 29 Jul 2008
LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday took on the Samajwadi Party for demanding a judicial inquiry into her assets and said she had no objection to ...
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Mayawati`s garden plan leads villagers to protest path
Business Standard, India - 29 Jul 2008
This is Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s farmhouse in her native village, where she lived till the age of seven. Two police constables are on duty on ...
Compensation to farmers in Mayawati’s village
Thaindian.com, Thailand - 23 hours ago
Greater Noida, July 31 (IANS) Farmers in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s hometown Badalpur were being paid compensation for their land to be ...
CPI (M) not to support Congress
Hindu Business Line, India - 6 hours ago
It also parried questions over projecting BSP supremo Ms Mayawati as the prime ministerial candidate by non-Congress and non-BJP parties in the next Lok ...
Thaindian.com Congress to hold farmers' rally in Mayawati's hometown
Mangalorean.com, India - 28 Jul 2008
New Delhi, July 29 (IANS) The Congress will hold a farmers' rally in Chief Minister Mayawati's hometown in western Uttar Pradesh Tuesday to protest ...
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Thaindian.com Probe PM and other chief ministers’ properties: Mayawati
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Lucknow, July 29 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Tuesday evening said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should be asked to probe into ...
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Business Standard, India - 23 hours ago
All the roads leading to Badalpur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s ancestral village, have been dug up to install a new sewerage system for a ...
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The New Nation, Bangladesh - 29 minutes ago
The way a number of Indian opposition parties are rallying around Mayawati, a Dalit or "untouchable" icon, and touting her as a future prime minister must ...
Cong accuses Mayawati of 'grabbing' land of 2400 farmers
Times of India, India - 28 Jul 2008
NEW DELHI: With their relationship having touching a nadir, Congress is looking to take its battle against Mayawati to her village. ...
NDTV.com Leaders of our grouping are of equal standing: Mayawati
Hindu, India - 23 Jul 2008
NEW INITIATIVE: Leaders of the new grouping (from Left) Ajit Singh, D. Raja, Debabrata Biswas, Chandrababu Naidu, Deve Gowda, Mayawati, Prakash Karat and AB ...
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Activism and Dalit politics
Dr Lenin Raghuvanshi, the convener of PVCHR, raised his voice for the upliftment of Dalit community. His views were on caste based exploitation, discrimination and social change that took shape while he worked with child labourers and bonded labourers.
CJ: Bhagat , 5 hours ago Views:52 Comments:0
DR LENIN Raghuvanshi is an icon in Uttar Pradesh among the Dalit community and the victims of caste based discrimination, torture and other types of exploitations. Lenin is convener of Peoples Vigilance Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR). PVCHR was founded in 1996, with the objective of making child labour free villages. Lenin learned by working from the beginning that, structure of village in India is the ring of exploitation. His views on caste based exploitation, discrimination and social change took shape while he worked with child labourers and bonded labourers. He realised that caste, not class, was at work.
By the end of 1996, Lenin was championing the rights of lower-caste people. Early experiences taught him that confrontation was dangerous and not the most effective method. Increasingly, Lenin recognised caste in all kinds of social conflict and envisioned a movement that could break the closed, feudal hierarchies of conservative slums and villages by building up local institutions and supporting them with a high profile and active human rights network.
Instead of tampering with the symptoms, caste needed to be tackled by both its horns. On the one hand, he created a democratised structure for the voiceless to enable them access to the constitutional guarantees of modern India and on the other, his innovative advocacy forced the state’to sensitise its mechanisms to deliver social justice in a manner where justice is not only done, but perceived to be done.
Ensuring implementation of policy into practice regarding this, Lenin has initiated Jan Mitra Gaon, or the people-friendly village. These villages have durable local institutions that work to promote basic human rights in the face of continuous discrimination. Lenin has adopted three villages and one slum initially, which include reactivating defunct primary schools, eliminating bonded labour, promoting girls to get education. The approach of the organisation is two-fold: To have a strong grassroots organisation to work for democratic rights of those in marginalised communities and second, to create the structure and dynamics to receive the assistance of national and international institutions.
Lenin’s work marks a shift in the Indian human rights movement, which has been reluctant to address injustices in the name of caste as a fundamental human rights issue. He is one of only a handful of activists to declare that such discrimination goes against democratic principles by promoting inequality. By working from Varanasi in UP–one of the most traditional, conservative, and segregated regions in India–Lenin demonstrates his resolve.
With meagre resources, but rich with confidence and conviction, Lenin in a short period of time has managed to amplify the voice of the marginalised in national and international forums through “Peoples SAARC”, rehabilitation and resettlement of weavers of Varanasi; Benaras Convention; UP Assembly election watch; prevention of torture; voice against hunger and many such activities. Recognition by the international community of Dr Lenin’s work is indeed the recognition for the millions whose hopes and aspirations rest on his slender shoulders.
Be ready for coalitions, Mayawati tells BSP
27 Jul, 2008, 2035 hrs IST, IANS
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday told party MPs and ministers about the importance and usefulness of coalition governments, party sources said.
Mayawati said the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) should be ready to accept a pre-poll alliance taking into account the fast changing scenario in national politics, the sources added.
The chief minister also called upon party activists to convince Muslims about the correctness of BSP's stand over the India-US nuclear deal.
"We need to inform Muslims that by opposing the nuclear deal, we supported them and protected their rights," a party leader said.
Mayawati also directed district coordinators of BSP to bring active members of their respective regions to the party's national convention to be organised here Aug 9.
The BSP played a key role in the opposition's attempts to vote out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress-led government in a trust vote over the nuclear deal. The government won the motion.
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Rediff, India - 22 Jul 2008
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Economic Times, India - 23 Jul 2008
In the high-voltage political drama leading up to the trust vote, Mayawati has been the rallying point for the opposition parties including the smaller ...
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Cong leaders held near Maya’s village
The Statesman, India - 21 hours ago
“This is proof of the Mayawati government's tyranny. We were simply going to Badalpur to express our solidarity with those farmers who have lost their land ...
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LUCKNOW: The leadership issue of the new “Third Front” still hangs in balance with even the BSP chief Mayawati, who has become the pivot around which the ...
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Mualayam threatens to raze Maya statues if voted back to power
Hindustan Times, India - 30 Jul 2008
"We will follow the way shown by Mayawati and bulldoze all her statues if she did not mend her ways. I will press 50-60 bulldozers at a time and remove all ...
Indian politician angers locals
guardian.co.uk, UK - 19 hours ago
She may be a former schoolteacher from a poor untouchable family but Kumari Mayawati, India's Dalit queen and prime minister-in-waiting, wants people to ...
NDTV.com Boom in Mayawati futures
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Mayawati has gone from strength to strength in the last two years, and looks poised to win anything from 40 to 60 seats in the next election. ...
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Times Now.tv UPA, NDA conspiring to prevent me from becoming PM: Mayawati
Economic Times, India - 22 Jul 2008
22 Jul, 2008, 2305 hrs IST, PTI NEW DELHI: Undeterred by the outcome of the trust vote, BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday alleged the UPA and as well as the NDA ...
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Moneycontrol.com Post trust vote: Experts take on road ahead for UPA
Moneycontrol.com, India - 24 Jul 2008
Q: The relationship between the Left and the Congress is one aspect that is intriguing tonight, the other is the relationship between the BJP and Mayawati. ...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
War Zone Widens, Deal Terror Strikes India
War Zone Widens, Deal Terror Strikes India
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 32
Palash Biswas
War Zone widens right into the heart of this divided bleeding Geopolitics of South Asia.With the demise of USSR, Inidan Subcontinent tagged itself with the Post Modern Hindu White Zionists Manusmriti Apartheid Galaxy Order led by Corporate US War and weapon Economy! As Barrack Obama retreated from his demand of withdrawal from Iraq and converted in Rigid Americanism of Vietnam days with War Cry against the Muslim world, in the same way the secular, nonaligned face of Indian Nation defaced immediately. India could not resist the Oil War, true, but India even did not care to condemn US aggression in Middle east. India has a bulk of Muslim population, more than the most populated Muslim Nation. But never tried to be impartial in War Against Terrorism, a CRUSADE launched once again against Islam! Rather India stood rock solid with USA War Machinery and with the introduction of neo Liberalism and LPG with a planted finance Minister in Narsimha government, India wiped its History of foreign relations surrendering Freedom and Sovereignty.
Indo US Nuclear Deal strikes India now and the People of india Bleed with flooding Swiss Bank accounts!
My old readers might remember, I have been writing on this possibility since the first day of Neo Liberalism introduced in India. I wrote the Interactive Novel AMERIKA SE SAVDHAN, Be Aware Of America daring all the debate and visualised the Future.
The Future has taken over the Present and India has become a part of Middle East witnessing serial Bomb blast and Terror attacks!The anger against US Terror is targeted to the people of India and we have no Escape Route and have to wait the fatal eventuality of being Blasted out someday or other days. We have no scope for the Memories for another day!
What Pakistan has done with alignment with United States of America. The ruling class of Sensex Shining India committed the same mistake with strategic re alliance with USA. Now, the Indo US Nuclear deal is Auto Piloted irrespective of parliamentary system and popular mandate. The ruling class has made India a party in War against Terrorism.Thus, we see India bleed! It may continue as the people of this geopolitics has become the fodder for the Animal Farm, which is the Brahminical Hegemony. Since the icons and brands are safe, we have to be put on stake so easily!
war zone
n.
An area in which military combat takes place.
An area at sea in which ships are prone to being attacked during a war.
We may not see the War so transparent. But we have been seized by war. Indian Ocean Peace zone has no peace today. The political borders are relatively clam as US Military presence in Asia works for cease power. We may not see the North eats where the masses are used for target practice by multinational armies. It has been war for the nationalities, indigenous people including dalit SC and OBC divided into more than six thousand castes, aboriginal tribal people and the minorities for full six decades. AFSA continues in the most parts of the Himalayas including Kashmir and the North East. Indiscriminate land acquisition and eviction causing displacement, starvation and annihilation continue just for the sake of Industrialisation, Urbanisation and so called development and infrastructure. MNCs and Ind Corporation rule with muscle power, builders, promoters and media. Constitution killed. Democratic institutions have been abolished mercilessly. You live with changing survival strategies and purchasing capacity decides your opportunities in every sphere already inflicted with intense discrimination.
India faces the challenges from within, not outside!
Who is responsible?
Who cares for the bleeding public?
I have been far away in New Delhi for almost a week to participate a national discourse between Media and Mass Movements organised by Nafre India People1s Movement. It was a rare experience of sharing our experience and opinion with old nad new friends nationwide. We could hear the voices of the Indigenous people and nationalities so clear. The discourse opened on 26 th July and concluded on 27th. I would be writing my experiences in detail after some time.
I travelled by Rajdhani Express from Sealdah, Kolkata. The service seemed to be better than Indian airlines. This train is meant for the privileged classes. I could not detect any security lapse in between. But in New Delhi, the capital of India I saw no arrangement of security for general public. I travelled by bus, auto and metro. I got a phone call from the Marxist minister from Tripura, Anil Sarkar, while Rajdhani Express just entered in New Delhi Railway station. I had talked him on phone on 23rd when he left for Delhi for treatment. he was staying in Tripura Bhavan, near Chankya Cinema Hall in Chanakyapuri. He informed me that a room was booked for me next day in Tripura Bhavan and I had to visit him. On 25th evening I tried to locate my old friends. Staya Sagar is indisposed and Ravindra Tripathi is lying in ICU after an accident. Rajendra Yadav and Sanjeev of HANS were out of station. I caught him in the way to Dausa in train on mobile. he requested me to overstay in Delhi just for two days. I could not.
In the evening, all of a sudden my Nafre Friends including Faisal Anurag, a journalist from Ranchi, called me to translate the Hindi Key Note in English. I was busy to complete the task with Islam in kasturba Kutir, as I heard about the Bomb Blasts in Bangalore. When I got free from the job, I left Gandhi Darshan for Tripura Bhavan. Mr Gaur Hari Sardar, an activist from WBEN, accompanied me and it was 9.30 PM , too late. I know New delhi from 1979 very well. It is very hard to get a conveyance from a place like Rajghat. I alerted NAFRE People that perhaps we had to return midnight. I was in fact afraid of high security alert in a VVIP Zone like Chanakya Puri. We were stranded in Rajghat. We could not get anything for Chankaypuri. Suddenly a bus conductor offered us to drop in Dhaula Kuana. We got the bus. Meanwhile the Minister enquired our whereabouts and asked whether we had taken dinner, We had got the dinner in Kasturba kutir. but we could not inform our location as it was so confusing in the dark so late. We luckily got an auto fro Dhaula kuana at last reached Chankay Puri.
For my awful surprise, we were not intercepted anywhere and there was no security alert in a place like chankaya Puri while the Bomb Blasts was being telecasted live. We met the minister immediately and saw him engaged in browsing the Channels!
Just Think!
We discussed all development for hours. We got up as the Minister called us on 6.30 PM. We had another sitting. then, we left for Rajghat as the discourse was to open and I had to finalise the English draft of the Key Note.
We noticed no change in the routine of New Delhi as we crossed all the High security Zones from Chanakya Puri to AIIMS, Safdarjang Hospital, India Gate to Patiyala Hose, ITO,Delhi Gate and Rajghat. We could not see any hint for a security system for the Public.
I had to address with Anand Swaroop Verma, Anil Chamaria, Vimal Kumar from UNI, P Arun from Manipur and Jaideep Hardikar from Nagpur in the opening session.Anand had just landed Delhi from Nepal. We discussed the developments in Nepal and the crisis over there. The session was followed by Open forum and convened by Dr Lenin from Banaras. I had to speak on Media Mass Movement coordination in this session ,too with representatives from media and mass movement from every part of India. Meanwhile, while I was speaking our dear most friend Pankaj Bisht and Mr Prem Singh arrived. We had another round of person to person interactions involving different parts of India.
Mr Monto from Manipur, asked a sensational question. he described the plight of Manipuri people under AFSA in detail. Then he said, ` We did every thing to communicate the mainstream India! our mother stripped themselves and challenged the army to rape them. It happened to be a great media event. But we failed to communicate mainstream people!’
`What should we the Manipuri People do next?” he asked.
We could not reply.
Could you?
Please!
\Mr Prem had his car. I had to visit my sister in Jhilmil Colony.Pnakaj da lives in Mayur Bihar. We planned to visit the Coffee house and then we may depart in Laxmi Nagar. My cousin had left New Delhi and reached Home in Nainital. from there he rang and complained why i did not inform him. Thus, I had to visit my sister lest she should not be angry.
Mohan Singh Palace has been a meeting place for New Delhi Intelligentsia. We drove the place without any trouble and Cannaugt Place including palika bazar was over crowded. It was good to see that no body was scared. There is no Fear Fobia in Delhi People. We parked our car very easily. I saw no security alert anywhere.
Meantime, it was Ahmadabad which was bleeding once again.We were right into the heart of New Delhi but we could not see any security check up anywhere!
In the coffee house, I was involved in very hot debate with Some very old Marxist intellectuals. The topic was linked to the so called Marxist ideology, party Line, discipline, Jyoti Basu, Surjeet, Telengana, Naxalbari, Tebhaga, Nandigram Insurrection, expulsion of Somanth Chatterjee, Mayawati, Trust Vote, Nuclear Deal, Indo US Nuclear Strategic relations, Hindutva and Prakash Karat.It was almost a war. I just blasted and they sticked to their Party Line.
Pankajda intervened and sent me off to get Metro for Jhilmil.
I just entered the Rajeev chowk Metro and got the ticket for Mansarovar. It was raining a bit.
I crossed the metal detector. But the police Personnel did not check my bag. I wet ahead some steps and then, returned. I put my on the table of the Police Post and asked the officer, `Please Check it!’
The message was too loud, but without any impact.
The train reached Kashmiri Gate via New Delhi Station and Chandni Chowk. I never noticed any change, In kashmiri Gate, it was a Rush unprecedented as we had to go upstairs crossing a series of escalators. Once again, there was no security check.
What I want to insist that the Government is nowhere concerned with Public security!
The General Public is the Soft Most Target for the War which is drawn into this subcontinent by the same government to defend the US interests and cater away all our resources to the Corporate Imperialism.
We have been made the scape goats for the Post modern Manusmriti Apartheid HINDU, Zionist , White realignment in the best interest of the New galaxy Order!
I reached Pratap khand in Jhilmil colony crossing the RLY line . There was no security, The most important Flyover opposite Jhilmil Industrial area was dark. The streets were full of mud and water. I landed my cousin Beena`s residence on 9 Am. Hyderabad Blast were live on TV Channels then.
Next day, I had to walk about two KM to get a bus. I was habitual to get bus from anywhere in Jhilmil or Vivek Bihar all these years. But the area is now not crossed over any bus. A posh area like Jhilmil was full of mud and water. It reminded me Kolkata!
My brother in law, Niranjan Mandal, an electrician told me that Metro has changed the conveyance in Delhi.More over, most of the people have got either cars or bikes. What a resurgence of middle class actually reflecting the virtual reality of shining india. I saw the flood of sopping malls and Retail chains across the National Capital.
My fashion designer niece Munia was there when I visited Beena. She was wearing a dull top. She said that it was in vogue. She creates for the consumers and could not say anything about her friends in Redical Students Union in Delhi. She has become an exact housewife with two daughters who declared that I was quite fair to my pleasant surprise. As all these years, I have known myself in toned Black.
Beena and her fashion designer daughter claimed that it is shining and it would be shining. While my brother in law was much worried to see his two IT specialist sons struggling for Job. One of them is married and he has a child to look after! the young men were away and I could not see them.
I reached Gandhi Darshan somewhat late. The concluding session was in progress. some of the friends had already left. We debated intense ly and everyone participated. The UNI people narrated their victory. Some internal scenes in the Media as well as mass movements were exposed. The debate was revolving around the ideas of alternative media and parallel media, reporters network and media mass movement alliance. Democratic Journalists led by Abhishek finished the debate with very positive note.
But I felt the discourse ended somewhat abruptly without any significant result.
Next Morning, on 28 th we reached by an auto at the Delhi railway Station crossing Lal Quila, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk. It was crowed as it remains everyday.
And what a scene!
After consecutive two days of Bomb Blasts in Banglore and Ahmedabad, it was quite peace at the station and no body seemed a little bit worried of the security of the Public in general.
Thus, Security and Sftey remain a HI FI affair for the VVIPs only. We never mattered . We never matter.
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IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
INDO-US STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
ARE WE THERE YET?
Lalit Mansingh
http://ipcs.org/39IB-IndoUS-Mansingh2.pdf
“Americans always do the right
thing,” said Winston Churchill, “after
they have tried everything else”. In the
contest of India, it took the Americans
five decades to do the right thing.
These were the five decades of the
Cold War, described by the late
Senator Moynihan, a former American
Ambassador to India, as a “half
century of misunderstandings,
miscues, and mishaps. “Former
External Affairs Minister Jaswant
Singh called them “the fifty wasted
years”.
INDIA’S STRATEGIC1
IRRELEVANCE TO THE UNITED
STATES
Ambassador Mansingh is currently an
Executive Committee Member, IPCS. He
was earlier India’s Foreign Secretary and
Indian Ambassador to the US.
This paper was originally delivered as a
keynote address at the Army War College,
Mhow on 25 September 2006.
1 Defining ‘strategic’: The loose and
indiscriminate usage of this term has made it
difficult to define. “Strategy” originated as a
military expression describing the science and
art of planning victory in a war. Hence
strategic planning was differentiated from
tactical or day-to-day deployment. Currently,
the term is used in international affairs as a
global, long term and comprehensive
relationship between two countries. In a
slightly narrower sense it also refers to a
security relationship, including military
cooperation. I have used both concepts in this
paper.
Even though they shared common
values, India and the United States
had divergent views on their
respective roles in the world. The US
saw itself as the leader of the Free
World, fighting a crusade against the
evil forces of international
communism. India had no such
phobia against communism and
preferred to remain non-Aligned. An
enduring image of the Cold War, in
Indian minds, is that of John Foster
Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of
State. Issuing a fatwa against non-
Alignment, Dulles pronounced it
immoral and declared it incompatible
with friendship with the United States.
Dulles was reflecting what the US
Joint Chief of Staff had concluded-that
India was strategically irrelevant for
the United States. Their ally of choice
in the region was Pakistan. As Dulles
pursued his ‘Pactomania’ and got
Pakistan admitted to CENTO and
SEATO, the political distance between
Delhi and Washington continued to
grow.
The Indo-US relationship, according to
Strobe Talbott was “a victim of
incompatible obsessions-India’s with
Pakistan and America’s with the
Soviet Union.” Both were Guilty of
being on best terms with “each other’s
principal enemy”. 2
2 Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy,
Democracy and the Bomb (New Delhi: Viking,
2004) p.7
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
2
EFFORTS AT IMPROVING
RELATIONS DURING THE COLD
WAR
There were nevertheless brief periods
of warmth and understanding, even
attempts at forging strategic ties. At
least three of these are worth nothing.
In 1962, following the Chinese
aggression on India, there was a clear
convergence of strategic interests
between India and the US. Setting
non-Alignment aside, Pandit Nehru
sought urgent military support from
the United States, including two dozen
squadrons of B-47 bombers, a dozen
squadrons of fighter aircraft and air
defence radars. The US responded
with sympathy, but the military
assistance offered was symbolic rather
than substantive. The US
administration was divided on India,
with the Pentagon warning against a
dilution of its strong ties with
Pakistan. India continued to be
strategically irrelevant to the US.
There were two other short periods of
political cooperation-in the mid-80s
and the early 90s, when Indian and the
US set aside their frictions to discuss
technology transfer and military
cooperation. The MOU on transfer of
Technology of 1985and the Kicklighter
proposals of 1991, which outlined “a
common strategic vision”, paved the
way for the Agreed minute of defence
cooperation signed during US Defence
Secretary, William Perry’s visit to
India in 1995. The failure of such
sporadic attempts to take bilateral
relations to the higher plane suggests
that they were still ahead of their time.
THE CLINTON YEARS
A BREAKTHROUGH
Former Deputy Secretary of State,
Strobe Talbott’s book, “engaging
India”, provides a fascination account
of the process by which the US
approach towards India evolved from
estrangement to engagement. Talbott
writes that India was cropping up
frequently in Clinton’s conversations
in the very first year of his presidency
and the Clinton regarded India a
potentially important power for the
US. It indeed Clinton felt that way,
Delhi did not see much evidence of it.
India felt the heat of Clinton’s zeal in
pursuing nuclear non-proliferation.
The move to indefinitely extend the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) was the last straw for India. In
Talbott’s words, the NPT represented
for Indians “the three Ds of US nuclear
policies: dominance, discrimination
and double standards”.
On the Kashmir issue, Washington
continued to tilt towards Pakistan
Clinton’s newly appointed Assistant
Secretary of State for South Asia,
Robin Raphel, even questioned the
legality of Jammu and Kashmir’s
accession to India. Charges of human
rights abuses against India were
getting more strident. There was
skepticism in India when Under
Secretary of State, Tom Pickering
offered a strategic dialogue with India,
which he said, would cover the
“whole gamut of relations”.
And then, India’s nuclear tests in May
1998, made such a dialogue irrelevant.
Washington reacted by slapping
punitive sanctions and took the lead in
condemning India from the forums of
the UN Security Council and the G-8.
From India’s nuclear defiance,
ironically, emerged the most intense,
the most serious and the most
extended set of exchanges between the
two counties. I am referring to the
Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott dialogue,
which took place over two years in
fourteen sessions in seven countries.
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The dialogue helped to clear much of
the debris of past misunderstandings
and made Washington aware of
India’s national and global aspirations
and its rationale for the nuclear tests.
In Talbott’s words, “India had put on
notice that it was now unambiguously,
unapologetically and irrevocably, a
nuclear armed power.”3 It was this
realization which forced the Clinton
administration to abandon its declared
goal to “Cap, Rollback and Eliminate”
India’s nuclear programme.
The US offered India a grand bargain
under which it would withdraw its
nuclear and technology sanctions
provided India met four benchmarks:
• Sign the CTBT
• Negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off
Treaty (FMCT)
• Enforce world class export controls
on nuclear and missile and
technology and
• Observe a non-threatening defence
posture.
Although India had no serious
problems with any of these
requirements, the dialogue remained
stuck on the benchmarks like a broken
record and eventually ended in
deadlock. Talbott conceded with some
disappointment the Jaswant Singh
managed to achieve his objectives
whereas his own targets remained
unfulfilled.
FAILURE FOR CLINTON;
SUCCESS FOR BUSH
It is important to understand why the
Clinton Administration’s bold
departure on India ended in selfconfessed
failure, and how George W.
3 ibid, p.51.
Bush, starting from where Clinton had
left, converted the same policy into a
spectacular success.
There are three major reasons that
explain why Clinton did not
eventually succeed with India. Firstly,
in Clinton economics-driven global
vision, China was a much bigger prize
to be pursued than India. Clinton even
sought to bring China into the South
Asian equation, by suggesting that
China could join the US to enforce
peace in the region. India found this
insensitive and deeply offensive.
Secondly, the insistence on
benchmarks made India resentful that
the US Continued to treat it as a global
delinquent. The benchmarks were
seen as a penalty India had to pay in
order to free itself from US sanctions.
India felt no moral or legal obligation
to pay such a price. And finally, what
Clinton was offering to India was
America’s friendship, not a
partnership on equal terms- and that
too with a price tag. India was
prepared to wait and see what his
successor had to offer.
On the face of it, there was a seamless
continuity of US policy towards India
under George W. Bush in 2001. In fact,
it appeared to be the only segment of
Clinton’s foreign policy that Bush did
not repudiate and demolish. Beneath
the surface however, there was an
important change of approach.
Firstly, Bush did not perceive India as
a lesser prize than China. Influenced
no doubt by the Neo-Cons, Bush and
his team considered India a counterweight
and not a lightweight, against
China.
Secondly, India was no longer
regarded to be in the dock and there
was no penalty to be paid for alleged
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
4
misdeeds. India was seen as entitled to
its rightful place in the world order.
Condoleeza Rice proclaimed that the
United States would facilitate India’s
quest for global status. Finally, Bush
was offering more than a hand of
friendship: he was keen to make India
a strategic partner of the United States.
This was truly a new beginning.
Defining the contours of the strategic
partnership, the US National Security
Strategy, 2002, declared that “the
United States had undertaken a
transformation of its bilateral
relationship with India based on a
conviction that US interests require a
strong relationship with India.” The
document stressed the shared values
of the two countries and their common
global interests, which included (i) the
free flow of commerce, especially in
the “vital sea lanes of the Indian
Ocean,” (ii) fighting terrorism and (iii)
creating “a strategically stable Asia”.
While the US strategic vision was
fixed on the long range and defined in
global terms, the Indian outlook was
focused on immediate priorities and
tangibles. The negotiations were long
and difficult, often abrasive. In the
end, an agreement was reached in
January 2004 in the form of the “Next
Steps in the Strategic Partnership”
(NSSP). To the satisfaction of the
Indian side, it covered the trinity of
issues of priority to India: Space,
Nuclear Power and High Technology.
With the conclusion of the NSSP, the
bulk of the technology sanctions on
India were removed by the Bush
administration.
THE BUSH-MANMOHAN SINGH
STRATEGIC DIALOGUE
The 2004 elections in both countries
produced a new government in India
under Dr. Manmohan Singh and a
second term for George W. Bush in the
US. The common message emerging
from both capitals after the elections
was continuity of foreign policy. In
fact, both countries decided to take
their strategic dialogue to the next
level.
There have been three notable bilateral
exchanges in the past eighteen months
during the visits of Condoleeza Rice to
Delhi in March 2005; of Manmohan
Singh to Washington in July 2005 and
of George W. Bush to Delhi in March
2006.
Condoleeza Rice brought with her an
outline of the second Bush
administration’s Grand Strategy for
India. The US, she told the Indian
Prime Minister, was willing to help
India became a major power in the
21st century. And as a first step, the
US would reverse three decades of its
oppositions to India’s nuclear
programme and make civilian nuclear
cooperation the centerpiece of the new
relationship. While India responded
favourably, it took time for the full
impact of the American offer to sink
in. No one understood better than Dr.
Manmohan Singh that this was a
historic opportunity for India to shed
the burdens of the past and strike a
new path to the future.
India formally accepted the American
offer during the Prime Minister’s visit
to Washington in July 2005. The
agreement announced on 18th July
that year was more or less on India’s
terms. India was recognized as a
“responsible state with advanced
nuclear technology” i.e. a de facto
nuclear weapon power. Both sides
would take reciprocal steps to make
their nuclear cooperation operational.
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The US undertook to amend its
domestic laws and persuade the
Members of the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) to resume nuclear
cooperation and commerce with India.
The joint statement issued during the
visit of President Bush to India in
March 2006 was a follow up of the July
2005 agreement. It was a
demonstration of India’s seriousness
in pursuing the strategic dialogue with
the US.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JULY
2005 AGREEMENT
The July 2005 joint statement has been
analysed threadbare by Think Tanks,
political leaders and media
commentators in both countries. I
have been openly partisan in
supporting the deal and will therefore
spare you a catalogue of the pros and
cons of the debate. Let me therefore
offer a few observations on the
political, economic and strategic
implications of this historic agreement.
Politically, the July 2005 agreement is
by far the most significant and far
reaching understanding that India has
reached with any major power, not
excluding the Indo-Soviet Treaty of
Peace, Friendship an Cooperation of
1971. It recognize India as a de facto
nuclear power, clears the way for it to
become a global power and
strengthens India’s claims for
permanent membership of the
Security Council.
From the economic point of view, it
removed three decades of
technological sanctions on India and
offered multi layered cooperation with
the world’s most powerful economy.
Most importantly, it widened the
energy options for India and projected
nuclear energy as a viable source of
power for its expanding economy.
Finally, in strategic terms, the
agreement of July 2005 gave India
enormous global leverage as a partner
of the United States, especially in
ensuring India’s security in a turbulent
neighbourhood.
LOSS OF AUTONOMY?
There is persistent criticism that the
July 2005 agreement has turned India
into a satellite or a junior partner of
the United States thus compelling
India to subordinate its foreign policy
to the global interests of the US.
India’s track record since
Independence makes it an unlikely
candidate for being the satellite or
subaltern of any power of the world.
Despite the generous assistance given
by the Soviet Union to India in almost
all fields, Mrs. Indira Gandhi had the
courage to say “no” to Breznev when
he urged India to join the Asian
Security Union. In 1994 and 1998,
India defined the big powers
collectively to conduct nuclear tests.
More recently, India turned down and
American request to send its troops to
Iraq. As Ashley Tellis told a committee
of the US Congress on 16 November
2005, “India’s large size, its proud
history, and its great ambitions, ensure
that it will likely march to the beat of
its own drummer.”
THE CHINA FACTOR
There is speculation on whether or not
China has been a factor in the
emerging strategic relationship
between India and the United States.
Official denials notwithstanding, both
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
6
countries have reasons to be
concerned about the future role of
China on the global scene. India’s
national psyche still bears the scars of
1962, despite the efforts to normalize
China-Indian relations since 1988.
China has proliferated missile and
nuclear technology to Pakistan, and
continues to be a major source of
weaponry for that country. Further,
India is deeply troubled by China’s
“string of pearts” policy of setting up
military and naval facilities in India’s
vicinity, especially in Myanmar and
Pakistan.
The Americans are equally concerned
about China’s unpredictable
behaviour. The Quadrennial Defence
Review (QDR) published recently by
the Pentagon identifies China as the
only potential long-term military
threat to the US.
While nobody is suggesting that India
and the US should join in militarily
“containing” China, there is obvious
convergence of interests in both
countries exchanging notes and in
keeping a wary eye on China’s policies
and actions. Hence, the significance of
the reference in the US National
Security Strategy 2002 to the common
interests of both countries in “a
strategically stable Asia.”
GROWING MILITARY
RELATIONS
An account of the Indo-US strategic
relationship will be incomplete
without a reference to the remarkable
growth of military cooperation
between the two sides. This is indeed
the most visible manifestation of the
new partnership. In a complete
reversal of their Cold War attitudes
the two countries have conducted in
joint military exercises covering
maritime interdiction, search and
rescue operations, anti-submarine
warfare, air combat, airlift operations,
mountain warfare, jungle warfare,
disaster management and peacekeeping
operations.
The US has, in contrast with the past,
opened its doors to India to procure
state-of-the-art military weapons and
technology. This includes fire-finding
radars, GE 404 engines for the Light
Combat Aircraft and electronic ground
sensors for use on the LOC in Jammu
and Kashmir and counter-terrorism
equipment for our Special Forces. On
offer as well are advanced jet fighters
for the Air Force, the US-Israeli
Phalcon early warning system, the
Patriot PAC-3 missile defence system
and many others.
The conclusion of a 10-year framework
agreement on defence cooperation
during Defence Minister Pranab
Mukherjee’s visit to Washington in
June 2005 is further evidence of the
expanding scope of military
cooperation with the US.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP: ARE
WE THERE YET?
The question at this critical phase in
the strategic partnership with the
United States is, are we there yet?
Not quite. The partnership will be
effective only when it is more visible
on the ground in both courtiers. There
is still a wide gap between the
declarations and their implementation.
Action in many of the declared areas
seems to be faltering. For example, the
Indo-US Global Democracy Initiative,
announced with great fanfare in July
2005 remains a dead letter. Similarly,
the US Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI), which seeks to Monitor and
interdict clandestine movement of
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WMD material, is yet to find a
response from India. Terrorism,
another core area of cooperation,
remains in limbo.
It would be more accurate therefore to
describe the current period of our
bilateral relations as a phase of
transition towards a strategic
partnership. There are still
outstanding issues, which, if not
addressed, will not only prolong the
transition, but may even threaten the
very concept of partnership. Two of
these issues are general in nature;
others are single issues on which
difference persist.
OUTSTANDING DIFFERENCES
The first is the historical legacy of
suspicion and mistrust in both
countries, which remains amongst
influential pockets of political leaders,
civil servants and commentators. It is a
residual mindset of the cold war years
that surfaces from the time to time
with fierce intensity, as during the
debates on the 2005 agreement. In
India, antipathy to the US has brought
together mutually opposed political
groups like the Communists, the BJP
and Islamic Groups. In the absence of
a national consensus, there will be stiff
political opposition at every step of the
road towards the strategic partnership
with the US.
The second general issue relates to the
divergent visions of the two countries
and the way they view their respective
global roles. The American scholar,
Arthur Rubinoff has commented:
“Ironically, now that the United States
recognizes a regional imperative in a
nuclearised South Asia, India
considers itself a global rather than
regional power. The United States
remains a “status-quo” nation while
India, which has never been
comfortable with a world dominated
by Washington, is in many ways a
revisionist state.”4 This is echoed by
Professor Varun Sahni, who says that
“the interests of an emerging power
and that of a hegemonic power are
likely to be incompatible in the
medium-to long term.” Thus there will
be, “natural limits” to the security
cooperation between “natural allies.”5
For three specific issues that remain
outstanding are Pakistan, Terrorism
and India’s aspiration for permanent
membership of the UN Security
Council.
For over five decades Washington’s
policy towards South Asia was a zero
sum game, which hyphenated India
with Pakistan. The Bush
administration has declared an end of
both the hyphenation and the zero
sum game. It claims that US relations
have improved dramatically with both
India and Pakistan, neither of them
resenting its close ties with the others.
This is somewhat exaggerated.
Throughout the Cold War, the United
States was accused by India of
practicing double standards. While the
US condemned India for practicing
human rights abuses, of hostility
towards Israel and engaging in
nuclear proliferation, none of the same
issues seemed to matter in America’s
4 Rubinoff, Arthur “Incompatible Objectives
and Shortsighted Policies: US Strategies
Towards India”in “US-Indian Strategic
Ccooperation into the 21st Century” Ed. Sumit
Ganguly et al. (Routledge, 2006) p.54
5 Varun Sahni “Limited Cooperation between
Limited Allies: India’s Strategic Programs and
India-US Strategic Trade”, in “US-Indian
Strategic Cooperation into the 21st century,
Ibid. p. 188
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
8
approach towards Pakistan.
Washington turned a blind eye as
Pakistan developed a nuclear weapon
program and proceeded to export its
technology to North Korea, Libya and
Iran.
Washington current policy of equidistance
and equi-friendship with
Pakistan still smacks of double
standards for India. Proclaiming India
a strategic partner and Pakistan a
major non-NATO ally may be clever
diplomacy, but that does not inspire
trust in India.
Related again to Pakistan are
fundamental difference on the issue of
terrorism. In November 2001,
President Bush, addressing American
troops in Kentucky, declared,
“America has a message for the
nations of the world. If you harbour
terrorists…train or arm a
terrorist…feed and fund a
terrorist…you are a terrorist and will
be held accountable by the United
States.” Pakistan continues to do all
the above and is nevertheless
rewarded with military and economic
largesse by the United States.
Washington’s refusal to treat “jehadi”
terrorism in India at par with global
terrorism reinforces the charges of
double standards.
Finally, India finds it hard to
appreciate the reluctance of the US to
support India’s bid for permanent
membership of the Security Council.
In September 2005, the US announced
at the UN General Assembly that the
US would join in reconstituting a
Security Council that “looks like the
world of 2005.” It then listed the seven
criteria by which the US to would
judge potential members: (i)
commitment to democracy and human
rights (ii) size of economy (iii) size of
population (iv) military capacity (v)
financial contributions to the UN (vi)
contribution to UN peace keeping and
(vii) record on non-proliferation and
counter terrorism.
I recall commenting at that time that
the criteria seemed to be drafted in
south Block, New Delhi, considering
how closely they fitted India. Why
then does the US not endorse. India
when Britain, France and Russia have
publicly extended their support? The
standard US response has been that
the hence the time for endorsing
potential members has not arisen as
yet. In that case, why is Washington
projecting Japan as a potential
member of the Council?
CONCLUSION
Though they appear formidable, none
of these problems are insurmountable.
In the last six years, India and the
United States have learnt to deal with
their differences with sensitivity,
patience and understanding. More of
the same will be required by the
leadership of both countries in the
years to come. Coalition politics will
continue to generate pressure on the
government in India and slow down
the decision making process. The
prospects of a presidential election in
the US after two years is bound to
raise concerns about the continuity of
the current administration’s policy on
India. I nevertheless remain convinced
that closer bilateral cooperation will be
insulated from partisan politicies in
both countries. The destinies of our
two great countries are interlinked
and the strategic partnership between
them will be one of the defining
features of the 21st century.
An Inquiry into Suicide Terrorism: Psychological Perspectives
Kanica Rakhra
Research Intern, IPCS
e-mail: kanica@ipcs.org
In 2007, there were more than 280 suicide attacks all over the world. Used typically as a weapon of psychological warfare to affect a larger public audience, most of these attacks have taken place in countries with a heavy presence of US and allied forces, countries that were also predominantly Muslim countries. The number of countries that have seen suicide attacks has also increased. Why are Muslim youth willing to become bombers?
The three basic reasons for individuals getting influenced into executing suicide attacks could be classified as personal reasons, societal reasons and the influence of militant leaders.
Suicide often occurs when a person's identity becomes more important than his or her life. During adolescence, changes in one's conception of the self and self-esteem take place. The opportunities for development provided by the schools and the communities, the family traditions, and the larger cultural context and historical time period all affect identity development. The organizations leading the insurgencies talk to young people about how their identities are being suppressed, and sway them into believing that by making the ultimate sacrifice, they would be martyrs. This invites a kind of identity confusion that can make them vulnerable. By becoming a part of an organization, the person gets an identity and is given a purpose in life.
Studies suggest that young males experiencing some kind of frustration about the political situation are particularly susceptible to an ideology that requires them to aggress against others and/or themselves. Also, the usual age of suicide attackers falls at the transition phase from childhood to adulthood during which uncertainty about one's life course and the proper ways of conducting one's affairs is likely to reign. The organizations involved use various methods of propaganda to influence individuals. People are constantly reminded of the atrocities committed by the stronger parties, inciting them to retaliate in any way they can. The media is used as an important tool; the organizations celebrate the deaths of the suicide attackers, and the attackers make videos before committing suicide attacks showing the world that they have no remorse about what they are doing.
If an individual belongs to a society that has a history of suicide bombers, who are glorified all the time, the children end up trying to emulate their relatives, and wanting to follow the tradition. Also, if society is largely accepting of the concept, the youth can get drawn towards it. The behavior becomes pro-social instead of anti-social. For example, radical organizations in Palestine not only encourage but also shower admiration on suicide bombers. Becoming a martyr is one of the highest personal attainments and also a way of regaining the pride lost by the entire community under humiliating occupation, whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine.
The attackers come from a community values-based society rather than an individualist society as Western societies usually are. Thus, the idea of the honor or the prestige of the family is given a lot of priority. The bomber-in-waiting feels that he would bring glory to the family by making such a huge sacrifice, glory that he could not bring as a living person. The family would be well respected and their status in society would go up. Many times when the individuals are not able to help out in the day-to-day work of the house, and are considered worthless by the family members, they feel the need to prove themselves and the organizations provide them with this opportunity.
Suicide bombings have, until now, been associated with three main factors - religion, nationality, and ethnicity. However the trend is clearly towards a rise in religion-based attacks throughout the world. The concept of pan-Islamism, as promoted by organizations such as al Qaeda, is growing. From Africa to Europe to South Asia, the rise of the local parties who have sworn allegiance to al Qaeda is a hard reality at this point. Psychologists have different theories on why religion as a tool of influence works well. One of them is the behaviourist school of psychology which believes that religion can be used as a powerful source for conditioning individuals as the origin of religious behavior can be traced to the source of reinforcing stimuli.
Leadership, too, plays an important role in influencing people one way or the other. Powerful leaders win the hearts and mind of their public and bring them under their sway. They talk about the oppression of their people and the humiliation faced by them, which inspires the youth to take things into their hands. Yale University psychologist, Stanley Milgram, found that people all across the world would engage in life-threatening violence simply out of obligation to an 'authority figure' no matter how superficial. In short, people can be manipulated and this tactic is employed by the insurgent groups to their benefit.
There are thus various psychological factors that lead a small section of the youth to accept suicide attacks as a part of the war in protecting their ways of living. These factors range from personal reasons such as identity confusion, retaliation, reward satisfaction, to social reasons such as family prestige, societal glory and leadership skills.
http://www.ipcs.org/Terrorism_kashmirLevel2.jsp?action=showView&kValue=2612&subCatID=1022&status=article&mod=g
Now, Kolkata on high alert after terror e-mail
NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, July 30, 2008, (Kolkata)
After Surat, it's now Kolkata's turn to be on edge after an e-mail threatening bomb blasts on prominent streets and landmarks in the city.
Thorough searches late on Tuesday night did not lead to the recovery of any explosives. But police are not taking any chances.
Police have now detained a young man Kaushik Bose, the son of a cyber cafe owner in Kolkata's upmarket Salt Lake area.
Kaushik Bose was grilled through the night and the police have detained him for further questioning.
Police claims that that Kaushik has said he would help in identifying the people, who sent the threat e-mail from the cyber cafe.
The computer from which the e-mail was sent is in Kaushik's name. Police also said that the cyber cafe was operating illegally.
Pak troops fire mortar shells at Indian post
New Delhi-Jammu (PTI): Pakistani forces on Wednesday lobbed heavy 82 mm mortar shells at Indian positions across the Line of Control in Northern Kashmir, marking a major esclation just a day after India conveyed its strong concerns over mounting ceasefire violations.
Six mortar shells were fired at BSF positions in two bursts in a span of one hour from 1130 on wednesday morning in Nowgam sector of Baramulla district, just miles away from the border post which had wittnessed heavy exchange of fire on Tuesday.
The mortar shells fell just short of the Nerian post being manned by BSF personnel.
"There were no casualties on the Indian side", army sources said adding Indian troops did not retaliate to the shelling.
Local army commanders got in touch with their Pakistani counterparts to point the trangression and to get the troops to cease fire, sources said.
The firing comes even as India on Tuesday conveyed its concerns over several instances of cross-border firing by Pakistani troops along the 742 km. LOC.
Arms control experts group opposes nuclear deal
Washington (PTI): Ahead of the crucial IAEA meeting on Friday, a group of arms control experts on Wednesday said both the atomic watchdog and Nuclear Suppliers Group should look at the Indo-US nuclear deal "very carefully and remove all ambiguities."
Sharon Squassoni of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace cautioned that the "end game" does not stop with the agreement coming before the US Congress for approval but it lies with the 45-member NSG.
"The reality is that the end game is the NSG. India will be able to trade with other states once the 45-member group gives a clean exemption for New Delhi," Squassoni told a press briefing on the subject at the National Press Club.
Ambassador Robert Gray, former US Representative at the Conference on Disarmament, said that the United States was walking away from a treaty signed by 178 nations and termed the agreement as an "unmitigated disaster".
"If any exemption has to come about, it perhaps would have to be addressed by those who initialled the Non Proliferation Treaty," he said.
"The United States has given India a blank cheque... Now we are assisting them (India) to cash the cheque in another Bank, the NSG," he said.
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and a long time critic of the civil nuclear cooperation between India and US, maintained that the exemption from the NSG is not going to be a "quick one".
Pranab Mukherjee arrives in Colombo
Colombo (PTI): External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here on Wednesday night to participate in SAARC Council of Ministers meeting tomorrow.
Mukherjee was received at the airport by Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister M K Hussain Bahila and Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad.
The SAARC Council of Ministers' meeting will finalise the agenda for the August 2-3 summit.
Mukherjee arrived in Colombo from Tehran where he attended the 15th Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
This year's SAARC summit is being held under the theme of 'Partnership for our people' and will also focus on launch of the SAARC Development Fund, establishing a South Asian Regional Standards Organisation, and increasing cooperation among SAARC nations with regard to criminal offences.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, is also likely to be discussed the expansion of the regional grouping.
The Sri Lankan government has stepped up security across the capital for the SAARC meeting.
Anti-national documents seized from LeT activists
Kolkata (PTI): A large number of documents showing anti-national activities have been recovered from two Laskar-e-Toiba activists, who were arrested from Murshidabad, officials of the state CID said on Wednesday.
"We have found a video footage where the arrested duo are seen with a rocket launcher in Pakistan. We have also recovered a pen drive where we traced a huge amount of anti-national documents," DIG (Special Operations Group) Siddhinath Gupta said.
"We have just taken them into custody and we need to interrogate them. The Jammu and Kashmir Police will further interrogate them," Gupta said.
Police had arrested Md Mustaq and Hasan-ud-Zaman from Murshidabad on Tuesday.
Md Mustaq, who runs a garment shop 'Bastramahal' in the local market, is a graduate with Bengali honours while Hasan-ud-Zaman, popularly known as Hasan Master, is pursuing his graduation.
"Zaman was working as a para-teacher in the local Chotkalia High School and was a part of the teachers organisation. Though Mustaq had a clean image, we will see how this man got the trade license," Chairman of Jangipur Municipality Mriganka Bhattacharya told PTI.
A district court on Wednesday remanded the duo in police custody for 14 days.
"They will be brought to Kolkata tonight," Gupta said.
Mustaq and Hasan were working together for about a year as local agents of LeT. They were responsible for giving shelter to terrorists and liased between LeT modules of Bangladesh and India.
The two were also responsible for helping people to migrate to India and smuggle arms and ammunition to facilitate cross-border terrorism, Gupta said.
Police would probe if they had any link with the back to back blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
The CID recovered a laptop and gelatine sticks from the possession of Mustaq which, the officials said, could become a vital lead for the investigation.
Economy scare & sting
Bomb chain in diamond hub
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080730/jsp/frontpage/story_9621370.jsp
Ahmedabad, July 29: Eighteen bombs were detected and defused in India’s diamond hub today, with the terrorists apparently choosing to mock the nation’s vulnerability without killing.
Alerted by ordinary people in the diamond hub of Surat, police found one bomb after another in crowded spots from morning through afternoon. Many hung from trees and hoardings 20 feet above the ground, or had been left near schools, power transformers and diamond-polishing or textile units, often with little effort to hide them.
An email sent to media offices around 11am by Indian Mujahideen — which has claimed responsibility for the weekend Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts — said the militants had meant not to kill this time but merely to flex their muscle.
“We have full killing weapons to destroy the whole... India,” the email added.
The aim of creating panic succeeded, with schools and colleges closing by themselves or being ordered shut by the administration. The town, where three bombs had been detected in the past two days, is expected to shut down tomorrow, and even schools in four “sensitive” localities of Ahmedabad have been ordered to stay closed.
About a dozen bombs were found in and around bustling Varachha Road, the town’s diamond street and a storehouse of wealth that few areas of the country can match. Surat, 250km from Ahmedabad, is the world’s largest diamond-polishing centre with 6,000 units and nearly 10 lakh workers, and an annual business of Rs 70,000 crore.
Most of the bombs were noticed by alert passers-by who called up the police control room. Many of them were members of the Friends of Police, a citizens’ organisation that has turned into an effective news gathering agency.
Over the past two days, the police had explained through the media what a bomb might look like. Those found today were three-sided, wooden-frame structures tightly wrapped in green polythene.
Investigators said that instead of the digital-watch timers used in Ahmedabad, these bombs were fitted with “some kind of a chip” that functioned as an “integrated timer circuit”.
A three-member bomb disposal unit had its hands full, defusing one bomb (a process that takes around 15-20 minutes) and immediately rushing elsewhere to defuse another.
Amid the relief over the successful public vigilance, one question worried a senior police officer: “Only one bomb was found yesterday; how come so many mushroomed overnight?”
The email said the next targets included “(Narendra) Modi, Asharam, schools and colleges”, and named several Gujarat universities and technology institutes. “Asharam” could be a reference to chief minister Modi’s spiritual guru Asaram Bapu.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More stories in Front Page
• Economy scare and sting
• Dalmiya makes a clean sweep
• Voice of India winner dies
• Reform ignition with Reliance role in PF
• Bullet marks on ceasefire sanctity
• US lawmakers agree to ban toxins in toys
• RBI stunner to tell on home loans
• City in a tizzy
• Hope for Subernarekha, relief for Bengal
Surat is an example for the country: Modi
Indo-Asian News Service
Surat, July 30, 2008
First Published: 11:30 IST(30/7/2008)
Last Updated: 18:36 IST(30/7/2008)
Print
A live bomb was found in Varacha locality in Surat on Wednesday shortly after a visit to the area by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who said the country needed to firmly fight the "proxy war" being waged by the terrorists.
The bomb was detected at Baroda Prestige Market, about 500 metres from Labeshwar Chowk, where Modi had gone as part of his visit to some of the areas in the city from where explosive devices were found on Tuesday, police said.
The bomb disposal squad, which rushed to the spot, defused the bomb, police said. This is the 21st live bomb found in the city in the last three days.
The bomb detected on Wednesday was similar to the 18 found on Tuesday from in and around Varacha, where several diamond processing units are located, they said.
Modi, who arrived in Surat this morning, announced a reward of Rs 51 lakh for information leading to the terrorists involved in the Ahmedabad serial blasts and the planting of bombs in Surat.
He said with the terrorists targeting cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad, it seemed that their intention was to cripple financial activities in the country.
The Chief Minister said as many as 12 big terror strikes had taken place in the country in the last two years and India needed to firmly fight this "proxy war" being waged by the terrorists.
Besides the bombs, two explosive-laden cars were found in this diamond hub on Sunday. The cars had been stolen from Mumbai. Police has released the sketch of a suspect who had parked one of the cars in Heerabaugh area in Surat.
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Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams: Chapter 32
Palash Biswas
War Zone widens right into the heart of this divided bleeding Geopolitics of South Asia.With the demise of USSR, Inidan Subcontinent tagged itself with the Post Modern Hindu White Zionists Manusmriti Apartheid Galaxy Order led by Corporate US War and weapon Economy! As Barrack Obama retreated from his demand of withdrawal from Iraq and converted in Rigid Americanism of Vietnam days with War Cry against the Muslim world, in the same way the secular, nonaligned face of Indian Nation defaced immediately. India could not resist the Oil War, true, but India even did not care to condemn US aggression in Middle east. India has a bulk of Muslim population, more than the most populated Muslim Nation. But never tried to be impartial in War Against Terrorism, a CRUSADE launched once again against Islam! Rather India stood rock solid with USA War Machinery and with the introduction of neo Liberalism and LPG with a planted finance Minister in Narsimha government, India wiped its History of foreign relations surrendering Freedom and Sovereignty.
Indo US Nuclear Deal strikes India now and the People of india Bleed with flooding Swiss Bank accounts!
My old readers might remember, I have been writing on this possibility since the first day of Neo Liberalism introduced in India. I wrote the Interactive Novel AMERIKA SE SAVDHAN, Be Aware Of America daring all the debate and visualised the Future.
The Future has taken over the Present and India has become a part of Middle East witnessing serial Bomb blast and Terror attacks!The anger against US Terror is targeted to the people of India and we have no Escape Route and have to wait the fatal eventuality of being Blasted out someday or other days. We have no scope for the Memories for another day!
What Pakistan has done with alignment with United States of America. The ruling class of Sensex Shining India committed the same mistake with strategic re alliance with USA. Now, the Indo US Nuclear deal is Auto Piloted irrespective of parliamentary system and popular mandate. The ruling class has made India a party in War against Terrorism.Thus, we see India bleed! It may continue as the people of this geopolitics has become the fodder for the Animal Farm, which is the Brahminical Hegemony. Since the icons and brands are safe, we have to be put on stake so easily!
war zone
n.
An area in which military combat takes place.
An area at sea in which ships are prone to being attacked during a war.
We may not see the War so transparent. But we have been seized by war. Indian Ocean Peace zone has no peace today. The political borders are relatively clam as US Military presence in Asia works for cease power. We may not see the North eats where the masses are used for target practice by multinational armies. It has been war for the nationalities, indigenous people including dalit SC and OBC divided into more than six thousand castes, aboriginal tribal people and the minorities for full six decades. AFSA continues in the most parts of the Himalayas including Kashmir and the North East. Indiscriminate land acquisition and eviction causing displacement, starvation and annihilation continue just for the sake of Industrialisation, Urbanisation and so called development and infrastructure. MNCs and Ind Corporation rule with muscle power, builders, promoters and media. Constitution killed. Democratic institutions have been abolished mercilessly. You live with changing survival strategies and purchasing capacity decides your opportunities in every sphere already inflicted with intense discrimination.
India faces the challenges from within, not outside!
Who is responsible?
Who cares for the bleeding public?
I have been far away in New Delhi for almost a week to participate a national discourse between Media and Mass Movements organised by Nafre India People1s Movement. It was a rare experience of sharing our experience and opinion with old nad new friends nationwide. We could hear the voices of the Indigenous people and nationalities so clear. The discourse opened on 26 th July and concluded on 27th. I would be writing my experiences in detail after some time.
I travelled by Rajdhani Express from Sealdah, Kolkata. The service seemed to be better than Indian airlines. This train is meant for the privileged classes. I could not detect any security lapse in between. But in New Delhi, the capital of India I saw no arrangement of security for general public. I travelled by bus, auto and metro. I got a phone call from the Marxist minister from Tripura, Anil Sarkar, while Rajdhani Express just entered in New Delhi Railway station. I had talked him on phone on 23rd when he left for Delhi for treatment. he was staying in Tripura Bhavan, near Chankya Cinema Hall in Chanakyapuri. He informed me that a room was booked for me next day in Tripura Bhavan and I had to visit him. On 25th evening I tried to locate my old friends. Staya Sagar is indisposed and Ravindra Tripathi is lying in ICU after an accident. Rajendra Yadav and Sanjeev of HANS were out of station. I caught him in the way to Dausa in train on mobile. he requested me to overstay in Delhi just for two days. I could not.
In the evening, all of a sudden my Nafre Friends including Faisal Anurag, a journalist from Ranchi, called me to translate the Hindi Key Note in English. I was busy to complete the task with Islam in kasturba Kutir, as I heard about the Bomb Blasts in Bangalore. When I got free from the job, I left Gandhi Darshan for Tripura Bhavan. Mr Gaur Hari Sardar, an activist from WBEN, accompanied me and it was 9.30 PM , too late. I know New delhi from 1979 very well. It is very hard to get a conveyance from a place like Rajghat. I alerted NAFRE People that perhaps we had to return midnight. I was in fact afraid of high security alert in a VVIP Zone like Chanakya Puri. We were stranded in Rajghat. We could not get anything for Chankaypuri. Suddenly a bus conductor offered us to drop in Dhaula Kuana. We got the bus. Meanwhile the Minister enquired our whereabouts and asked whether we had taken dinner, We had got the dinner in Kasturba kutir. but we could not inform our location as it was so confusing in the dark so late. We luckily got an auto fro Dhaula kuana at last reached Chankay Puri.
For my awful surprise, we were not intercepted anywhere and there was no security alert in a place like chankaya Puri while the Bomb Blasts was being telecasted live. We met the minister immediately and saw him engaged in browsing the Channels!
Just Think!
We discussed all development for hours. We got up as the Minister called us on 6.30 PM. We had another sitting. then, we left for Rajghat as the discourse was to open and I had to finalise the English draft of the Key Note.
We noticed no change in the routine of New Delhi as we crossed all the High security Zones from Chanakya Puri to AIIMS, Safdarjang Hospital, India Gate to Patiyala Hose, ITO,Delhi Gate and Rajghat. We could not see any hint for a security system for the Public.
I had to address with Anand Swaroop Verma, Anil Chamaria, Vimal Kumar from UNI, P Arun from Manipur and Jaideep Hardikar from Nagpur in the opening session.Anand had just landed Delhi from Nepal. We discussed the developments in Nepal and the crisis over there. The session was followed by Open forum and convened by Dr Lenin from Banaras. I had to speak on Media Mass Movement coordination in this session ,too with representatives from media and mass movement from every part of India. Meanwhile, while I was speaking our dear most friend Pankaj Bisht and Mr Prem Singh arrived. We had another round of person to person interactions involving different parts of India.
Mr Monto from Manipur, asked a sensational question. he described the plight of Manipuri people under AFSA in detail. Then he said, ` We did every thing to communicate the mainstream India! our mother stripped themselves and challenged the army to rape them. It happened to be a great media event. But we failed to communicate mainstream people!’
`What should we the Manipuri People do next?” he asked.
We could not reply.
Could you?
Please!
\Mr Prem had his car. I had to visit my sister in Jhilmil Colony.Pnakaj da lives in Mayur Bihar. We planned to visit the Coffee house and then we may depart in Laxmi Nagar. My cousin had left New Delhi and reached Home in Nainital. from there he rang and complained why i did not inform him. Thus, I had to visit my sister lest she should not be angry.
Mohan Singh Palace has been a meeting place for New Delhi Intelligentsia. We drove the place without any trouble and Cannaugt Place including palika bazar was over crowded. It was good to see that no body was scared. There is no Fear Fobia in Delhi People. We parked our car very easily. I saw no security alert anywhere.
Meantime, it was Ahmadabad which was bleeding once again.We were right into the heart of New Delhi but we could not see any security check up anywhere!
In the coffee house, I was involved in very hot debate with Some very old Marxist intellectuals. The topic was linked to the so called Marxist ideology, party Line, discipline, Jyoti Basu, Surjeet, Telengana, Naxalbari, Tebhaga, Nandigram Insurrection, expulsion of Somanth Chatterjee, Mayawati, Trust Vote, Nuclear Deal, Indo US Nuclear Strategic relations, Hindutva and Prakash Karat.It was almost a war. I just blasted and they sticked to their Party Line.
Pankajda intervened and sent me off to get Metro for Jhilmil.
I just entered the Rajeev chowk Metro and got the ticket for Mansarovar. It was raining a bit.
I crossed the metal detector. But the police Personnel did not check my bag. I wet ahead some steps and then, returned. I put my on the table of the Police Post and asked the officer, `Please Check it!’
The message was too loud, but without any impact.
The train reached Kashmiri Gate via New Delhi Station and Chandni Chowk. I never noticed any change, In kashmiri Gate, it was a Rush unprecedented as we had to go upstairs crossing a series of escalators. Once again, there was no security check.
What I want to insist that the Government is nowhere concerned with Public security!
The General Public is the Soft Most Target for the War which is drawn into this subcontinent by the same government to defend the US interests and cater away all our resources to the Corporate Imperialism.
We have been made the scape goats for the Post modern Manusmriti Apartheid HINDU, Zionist , White realignment in the best interest of the New galaxy Order!
I reached Pratap khand in Jhilmil colony crossing the RLY line . There was no security, The most important Flyover opposite Jhilmil Industrial area was dark. The streets were full of mud and water. I landed my cousin Beena`s residence on 9 Am. Hyderabad Blast were live on TV Channels then.
Next day, I had to walk about two KM to get a bus. I was habitual to get bus from anywhere in Jhilmil or Vivek Bihar all these years. But the area is now not crossed over any bus. A posh area like Jhilmil was full of mud and water. It reminded me Kolkata!
My brother in law, Niranjan Mandal, an electrician told me that Metro has changed the conveyance in Delhi.More over, most of the people have got either cars or bikes. What a resurgence of middle class actually reflecting the virtual reality of shining india. I saw the flood of sopping malls and Retail chains across the National Capital.
My fashion designer niece Munia was there when I visited Beena. She was wearing a dull top. She said that it was in vogue. She creates for the consumers and could not say anything about her friends in Redical Students Union in Delhi. She has become an exact housewife with two daughters who declared that I was quite fair to my pleasant surprise. As all these years, I have known myself in toned Black.
Beena and her fashion designer daughter claimed that it is shining and it would be shining. While my brother in law was much worried to see his two IT specialist sons struggling for Job. One of them is married and he has a child to look after! the young men were away and I could not see them.
I reached Gandhi Darshan somewhat late. The concluding session was in progress. some of the friends had already left. We debated intense ly and everyone participated. The UNI people narrated their victory. Some internal scenes in the Media as well as mass movements were exposed. The debate was revolving around the ideas of alternative media and parallel media, reporters network and media mass movement alliance. Democratic Journalists led by Abhishek finished the debate with very positive note.
But I felt the discourse ended somewhat abruptly without any significant result.
Next Morning, on 28 th we reached by an auto at the Delhi railway Station crossing Lal Quila, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk. It was crowed as it remains everyday.
And what a scene!
After consecutive two days of Bomb Blasts in Banglore and Ahmedabad, it was quite peace at the station and no body seemed a little bit worried of the security of the Public in general.
Thus, Security and Sftey remain a HI FI affair for the VVIPs only. We never mattered . We never matter.
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IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
INDO-US STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
ARE WE THERE YET?
Lalit Mansingh
http://ipcs.org/39IB-IndoUS-Mansingh2.pdf
“Americans always do the right
thing,” said Winston Churchill, “after
they have tried everything else”. In the
contest of India, it took the Americans
five decades to do the right thing.
These were the five decades of the
Cold War, described by the late
Senator Moynihan, a former American
Ambassador to India, as a “half
century of misunderstandings,
miscues, and mishaps. “Former
External Affairs Minister Jaswant
Singh called them “the fifty wasted
years”.
INDIA’S STRATEGIC1
IRRELEVANCE TO THE UNITED
STATES
Ambassador Mansingh is currently an
Executive Committee Member, IPCS. He
was earlier India’s Foreign Secretary and
Indian Ambassador to the US.
This paper was originally delivered as a
keynote address at the Army War College,
Mhow on 25 September 2006.
1 Defining ‘strategic’: The loose and
indiscriminate usage of this term has made it
difficult to define. “Strategy” originated as a
military expression describing the science and
art of planning victory in a war. Hence
strategic planning was differentiated from
tactical or day-to-day deployment. Currently,
the term is used in international affairs as a
global, long term and comprehensive
relationship between two countries. In a
slightly narrower sense it also refers to a
security relationship, including military
cooperation. I have used both concepts in this
paper.
Even though they shared common
values, India and the United States
had divergent views on their
respective roles in the world. The US
saw itself as the leader of the Free
World, fighting a crusade against the
evil forces of international
communism. India had no such
phobia against communism and
preferred to remain non-Aligned. An
enduring image of the Cold War, in
Indian minds, is that of John Foster
Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of
State. Issuing a fatwa against non-
Alignment, Dulles pronounced it
immoral and declared it incompatible
with friendship with the United States.
Dulles was reflecting what the US
Joint Chief of Staff had concluded-that
India was strategically irrelevant for
the United States. Their ally of choice
in the region was Pakistan. As Dulles
pursued his ‘Pactomania’ and got
Pakistan admitted to CENTO and
SEATO, the political distance between
Delhi and Washington continued to
grow.
The Indo-US relationship, according to
Strobe Talbott was “a victim of
incompatible obsessions-India’s with
Pakistan and America’s with the
Soviet Union.” Both were Guilty of
being on best terms with “each other’s
principal enemy”. 2
2 Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy,
Democracy and the Bomb (New Delhi: Viking,
2004) p.7
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
2
EFFORTS AT IMPROVING
RELATIONS DURING THE COLD
WAR
There were nevertheless brief periods
of warmth and understanding, even
attempts at forging strategic ties. At
least three of these are worth nothing.
In 1962, following the Chinese
aggression on India, there was a clear
convergence of strategic interests
between India and the US. Setting
non-Alignment aside, Pandit Nehru
sought urgent military support from
the United States, including two dozen
squadrons of B-47 bombers, a dozen
squadrons of fighter aircraft and air
defence radars. The US responded
with sympathy, but the military
assistance offered was symbolic rather
than substantive. The US
administration was divided on India,
with the Pentagon warning against a
dilution of its strong ties with
Pakistan. India continued to be
strategically irrelevant to the US.
There were two other short periods of
political cooperation-in the mid-80s
and the early 90s, when Indian and the
US set aside their frictions to discuss
technology transfer and military
cooperation. The MOU on transfer of
Technology of 1985and the Kicklighter
proposals of 1991, which outlined “a
common strategic vision”, paved the
way for the Agreed minute of defence
cooperation signed during US Defence
Secretary, William Perry’s visit to
India in 1995. The failure of such
sporadic attempts to take bilateral
relations to the higher plane suggests
that they were still ahead of their time.
THE CLINTON YEARS
A BREAKTHROUGH
Former Deputy Secretary of State,
Strobe Talbott’s book, “engaging
India”, provides a fascination account
of the process by which the US
approach towards India evolved from
estrangement to engagement. Talbott
writes that India was cropping up
frequently in Clinton’s conversations
in the very first year of his presidency
and the Clinton regarded India a
potentially important power for the
US. It indeed Clinton felt that way,
Delhi did not see much evidence of it.
India felt the heat of Clinton’s zeal in
pursuing nuclear non-proliferation.
The move to indefinitely extend the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) was the last straw for India. In
Talbott’s words, the NPT represented
for Indians “the three Ds of US nuclear
policies: dominance, discrimination
and double standards”.
On the Kashmir issue, Washington
continued to tilt towards Pakistan
Clinton’s newly appointed Assistant
Secretary of State for South Asia,
Robin Raphel, even questioned the
legality of Jammu and Kashmir’s
accession to India. Charges of human
rights abuses against India were
getting more strident. There was
skepticism in India when Under
Secretary of State, Tom Pickering
offered a strategic dialogue with India,
which he said, would cover the
“whole gamut of relations”.
And then, India’s nuclear tests in May
1998, made such a dialogue irrelevant.
Washington reacted by slapping
punitive sanctions and took the lead in
condemning India from the forums of
the UN Security Council and the G-8.
From India’s nuclear defiance,
ironically, emerged the most intense,
the most serious and the most
extended set of exchanges between the
two counties. I am referring to the
Jaswant Singh-Strobe Talbott dialogue,
which took place over two years in
fourteen sessions in seven countries.
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The dialogue helped to clear much of
the debris of past misunderstandings
and made Washington aware of
India’s national and global aspirations
and its rationale for the nuclear tests.
In Talbott’s words, “India had put on
notice that it was now unambiguously,
unapologetically and irrevocably, a
nuclear armed power.”3 It was this
realization which forced the Clinton
administration to abandon its declared
goal to “Cap, Rollback and Eliminate”
India’s nuclear programme.
The US offered India a grand bargain
under which it would withdraw its
nuclear and technology sanctions
provided India met four benchmarks:
• Sign the CTBT
• Negotiate a Fissile Material Cut-off
Treaty (FMCT)
• Enforce world class export controls
on nuclear and missile and
technology and
• Observe a non-threatening defence
posture.
Although India had no serious
problems with any of these
requirements, the dialogue remained
stuck on the benchmarks like a broken
record and eventually ended in
deadlock. Talbott conceded with some
disappointment the Jaswant Singh
managed to achieve his objectives
whereas his own targets remained
unfulfilled.
FAILURE FOR CLINTON;
SUCCESS FOR BUSH
It is important to understand why the
Clinton Administration’s bold
departure on India ended in selfconfessed
failure, and how George W.
3 ibid, p.51.
Bush, starting from where Clinton had
left, converted the same policy into a
spectacular success.
There are three major reasons that
explain why Clinton did not
eventually succeed with India. Firstly,
in Clinton economics-driven global
vision, China was a much bigger prize
to be pursued than India. Clinton even
sought to bring China into the South
Asian equation, by suggesting that
China could join the US to enforce
peace in the region. India found this
insensitive and deeply offensive.
Secondly, the insistence on
benchmarks made India resentful that
the US Continued to treat it as a global
delinquent. The benchmarks were
seen as a penalty India had to pay in
order to free itself from US sanctions.
India felt no moral or legal obligation
to pay such a price. And finally, what
Clinton was offering to India was
America’s friendship, not a
partnership on equal terms- and that
too with a price tag. India was
prepared to wait and see what his
successor had to offer.
On the face of it, there was a seamless
continuity of US policy towards India
under George W. Bush in 2001. In fact,
it appeared to be the only segment of
Clinton’s foreign policy that Bush did
not repudiate and demolish. Beneath
the surface however, there was an
important change of approach.
Firstly, Bush did not perceive India as
a lesser prize than China. Influenced
no doubt by the Neo-Cons, Bush and
his team considered India a counterweight
and not a lightweight, against
China.
Secondly, India was no longer
regarded to be in the dock and there
was no penalty to be paid for alleged
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
4
misdeeds. India was seen as entitled to
its rightful place in the world order.
Condoleeza Rice proclaimed that the
United States would facilitate India’s
quest for global status. Finally, Bush
was offering more than a hand of
friendship: he was keen to make India
a strategic partner of the United States.
This was truly a new beginning.
Defining the contours of the strategic
partnership, the US National Security
Strategy, 2002, declared that “the
United States had undertaken a
transformation of its bilateral
relationship with India based on a
conviction that US interests require a
strong relationship with India.” The
document stressed the shared values
of the two countries and their common
global interests, which included (i) the
free flow of commerce, especially in
the “vital sea lanes of the Indian
Ocean,” (ii) fighting terrorism and (iii)
creating “a strategically stable Asia”.
While the US strategic vision was
fixed on the long range and defined in
global terms, the Indian outlook was
focused on immediate priorities and
tangibles. The negotiations were long
and difficult, often abrasive. In the
end, an agreement was reached in
January 2004 in the form of the “Next
Steps in the Strategic Partnership”
(NSSP). To the satisfaction of the
Indian side, it covered the trinity of
issues of priority to India: Space,
Nuclear Power and High Technology.
With the conclusion of the NSSP, the
bulk of the technology sanctions on
India were removed by the Bush
administration.
THE BUSH-MANMOHAN SINGH
STRATEGIC DIALOGUE
The 2004 elections in both countries
produced a new government in India
under Dr. Manmohan Singh and a
second term for George W. Bush in the
US. The common message emerging
from both capitals after the elections
was continuity of foreign policy. In
fact, both countries decided to take
their strategic dialogue to the next
level.
There have been three notable bilateral
exchanges in the past eighteen months
during the visits of Condoleeza Rice to
Delhi in March 2005; of Manmohan
Singh to Washington in July 2005 and
of George W. Bush to Delhi in March
2006.
Condoleeza Rice brought with her an
outline of the second Bush
administration’s Grand Strategy for
India. The US, she told the Indian
Prime Minister, was willing to help
India became a major power in the
21st century. And as a first step, the
US would reverse three decades of its
oppositions to India’s nuclear
programme and make civilian nuclear
cooperation the centerpiece of the new
relationship. While India responded
favourably, it took time for the full
impact of the American offer to sink
in. No one understood better than Dr.
Manmohan Singh that this was a
historic opportunity for India to shed
the burdens of the past and strike a
new path to the future.
India formally accepted the American
offer during the Prime Minister’s visit
to Washington in July 2005. The
agreement announced on 18th July
that year was more or less on India’s
terms. India was recognized as a
“responsible state with advanced
nuclear technology” i.e. a de facto
nuclear weapon power. Both sides
would take reciprocal steps to make
their nuclear cooperation operational.
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The US undertook to amend its
domestic laws and persuade the
Members of the Nuclear Suppliers
Group (NSG) to resume nuclear
cooperation and commerce with India.
The joint statement issued during the
visit of President Bush to India in
March 2006 was a follow up of the July
2005 agreement. It was a
demonstration of India’s seriousness
in pursuing the strategic dialogue with
the US.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE JULY
2005 AGREEMENT
The July 2005 joint statement has been
analysed threadbare by Think Tanks,
political leaders and media
commentators in both countries. I
have been openly partisan in
supporting the deal and will therefore
spare you a catalogue of the pros and
cons of the debate. Let me therefore
offer a few observations on the
political, economic and strategic
implications of this historic agreement.
Politically, the July 2005 agreement is
by far the most significant and far
reaching understanding that India has
reached with any major power, not
excluding the Indo-Soviet Treaty of
Peace, Friendship an Cooperation of
1971. It recognize India as a de facto
nuclear power, clears the way for it to
become a global power and
strengthens India’s claims for
permanent membership of the
Security Council.
From the economic point of view, it
removed three decades of
technological sanctions on India and
offered multi layered cooperation with
the world’s most powerful economy.
Most importantly, it widened the
energy options for India and projected
nuclear energy as a viable source of
power for its expanding economy.
Finally, in strategic terms, the
agreement of July 2005 gave India
enormous global leverage as a partner
of the United States, especially in
ensuring India’s security in a turbulent
neighbourhood.
LOSS OF AUTONOMY?
There is persistent criticism that the
July 2005 agreement has turned India
into a satellite or a junior partner of
the United States thus compelling
India to subordinate its foreign policy
to the global interests of the US.
India’s track record since
Independence makes it an unlikely
candidate for being the satellite or
subaltern of any power of the world.
Despite the generous assistance given
by the Soviet Union to India in almost
all fields, Mrs. Indira Gandhi had the
courage to say “no” to Breznev when
he urged India to join the Asian
Security Union. In 1994 and 1998,
India defined the big powers
collectively to conduct nuclear tests.
More recently, India turned down and
American request to send its troops to
Iraq. As Ashley Tellis told a committee
of the US Congress on 16 November
2005, “India’s large size, its proud
history, and its great ambitions, ensure
that it will likely march to the beat of
its own drummer.”
THE CHINA FACTOR
There is speculation on whether or not
China has been a factor in the
emerging strategic relationship
between India and the United States.
Official denials notwithstanding, both
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
6
countries have reasons to be
concerned about the future role of
China on the global scene. India’s
national psyche still bears the scars of
1962, despite the efforts to normalize
China-Indian relations since 1988.
China has proliferated missile and
nuclear technology to Pakistan, and
continues to be a major source of
weaponry for that country. Further,
India is deeply troubled by China’s
“string of pearts” policy of setting up
military and naval facilities in India’s
vicinity, especially in Myanmar and
Pakistan.
The Americans are equally concerned
about China’s unpredictable
behaviour. The Quadrennial Defence
Review (QDR) published recently by
the Pentagon identifies China as the
only potential long-term military
threat to the US.
While nobody is suggesting that India
and the US should join in militarily
“containing” China, there is obvious
convergence of interests in both
countries exchanging notes and in
keeping a wary eye on China’s policies
and actions. Hence, the significance of
the reference in the US National
Security Strategy 2002 to the common
interests of both countries in “a
strategically stable Asia.”
GROWING MILITARY
RELATIONS
An account of the Indo-US strategic
relationship will be incomplete
without a reference to the remarkable
growth of military cooperation
between the two sides. This is indeed
the most visible manifestation of the
new partnership. In a complete
reversal of their Cold War attitudes
the two countries have conducted in
joint military exercises covering
maritime interdiction, search and
rescue operations, anti-submarine
warfare, air combat, airlift operations,
mountain warfare, jungle warfare,
disaster management and peacekeeping
operations.
The US has, in contrast with the past,
opened its doors to India to procure
state-of-the-art military weapons and
technology. This includes fire-finding
radars, GE 404 engines for the Light
Combat Aircraft and electronic ground
sensors for use on the LOC in Jammu
and Kashmir and counter-terrorism
equipment for our Special Forces. On
offer as well are advanced jet fighters
for the Air Force, the US-Israeli
Phalcon early warning system, the
Patriot PAC-3 missile defence system
and many others.
The conclusion of a 10-year framework
agreement on defence cooperation
during Defence Minister Pranab
Mukherjee’s visit to Washington in
June 2005 is further evidence of the
expanding scope of military
cooperation with the US.
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP: ARE
WE THERE YET?
The question at this critical phase in
the strategic partnership with the
United States is, are we there yet?
Not quite. The partnership will be
effective only when it is more visible
on the ground in both courtiers. There
is still a wide gap between the
declarations and their implementation.
Action in many of the declared areas
seems to be faltering. For example, the
Indo-US Global Democracy Initiative,
announced with great fanfare in July
2005 remains a dead letter. Similarly,
the US Proliferation Security Initiative
(PSI), which seeks to Monitor and
interdict clandestine movement of
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WMD material, is yet to find a
response from India. Terrorism,
another core area of cooperation,
remains in limbo.
It would be more accurate therefore to
describe the current period of our
bilateral relations as a phase of
transition towards a strategic
partnership. There are still
outstanding issues, which, if not
addressed, will not only prolong the
transition, but may even threaten the
very concept of partnership. Two of
these issues are general in nature;
others are single issues on which
difference persist.
OUTSTANDING DIFFERENCES
The first is the historical legacy of
suspicion and mistrust in both
countries, which remains amongst
influential pockets of political leaders,
civil servants and commentators. It is a
residual mindset of the cold war years
that surfaces from the time to time
with fierce intensity, as during the
debates on the 2005 agreement. In
India, antipathy to the US has brought
together mutually opposed political
groups like the Communists, the BJP
and Islamic Groups. In the absence of
a national consensus, there will be stiff
political opposition at every step of the
road towards the strategic partnership
with the US.
The second general issue relates to the
divergent visions of the two countries
and the way they view their respective
global roles. The American scholar,
Arthur Rubinoff has commented:
“Ironically, now that the United States
recognizes a regional imperative in a
nuclearised South Asia, India
considers itself a global rather than
regional power. The United States
remains a “status-quo” nation while
India, which has never been
comfortable with a world dominated
by Washington, is in many ways a
revisionist state.”4 This is echoed by
Professor Varun Sahni, who says that
“the interests of an emerging power
and that of a hegemonic power are
likely to be incompatible in the
medium-to long term.” Thus there will
be, “natural limits” to the security
cooperation between “natural allies.”5
For three specific issues that remain
outstanding are Pakistan, Terrorism
and India’s aspiration for permanent
membership of the UN Security
Council.
For over five decades Washington’s
policy towards South Asia was a zero
sum game, which hyphenated India
with Pakistan. The Bush
administration has declared an end of
both the hyphenation and the zero
sum game. It claims that US relations
have improved dramatically with both
India and Pakistan, neither of them
resenting its close ties with the others.
This is somewhat exaggerated.
Throughout the Cold War, the United
States was accused by India of
practicing double standards. While the
US condemned India for practicing
human rights abuses, of hostility
towards Israel and engaging in
nuclear proliferation, none of the same
issues seemed to matter in America’s
4 Rubinoff, Arthur “Incompatible Objectives
and Shortsighted Policies: US Strategies
Towards India”in “US-Indian Strategic
Ccooperation into the 21st Century” Ed. Sumit
Ganguly et al. (Routledge, 2006) p.54
5 Varun Sahni “Limited Cooperation between
Limited Allies: India’s Strategic Programs and
India-US Strategic Trade”, in “US-Indian
Strategic Cooperation into the 21st century,
Ibid. p. 188
IPCS Issue Brief 39
October 2006
8
approach towards Pakistan.
Washington turned a blind eye as
Pakistan developed a nuclear weapon
program and proceeded to export its
technology to North Korea, Libya and
Iran.
Washington current policy of equidistance
and equi-friendship with
Pakistan still smacks of double
standards for India. Proclaiming India
a strategic partner and Pakistan a
major non-NATO ally may be clever
diplomacy, but that does not inspire
trust in India.
Related again to Pakistan are
fundamental difference on the issue of
terrorism. In November 2001,
President Bush, addressing American
troops in Kentucky, declared,
“America has a message for the
nations of the world. If you harbour
terrorists…train or arm a
terrorist…feed and fund a
terrorist…you are a terrorist and will
be held accountable by the United
States.” Pakistan continues to do all
the above and is nevertheless
rewarded with military and economic
largesse by the United States.
Washington’s refusal to treat “jehadi”
terrorism in India at par with global
terrorism reinforces the charges of
double standards.
Finally, India finds it hard to
appreciate the reluctance of the US to
support India’s bid for permanent
membership of the Security Council.
In September 2005, the US announced
at the UN General Assembly that the
US would join in reconstituting a
Security Council that “looks like the
world of 2005.” It then listed the seven
criteria by which the US to would
judge potential members: (i)
commitment to democracy and human
rights (ii) size of economy (iii) size of
population (iv) military capacity (v)
financial contributions to the UN (vi)
contribution to UN peace keeping and
(vii) record on non-proliferation and
counter terrorism.
I recall commenting at that time that
the criteria seemed to be drafted in
south Block, New Delhi, considering
how closely they fitted India. Why
then does the US not endorse. India
when Britain, France and Russia have
publicly extended their support? The
standard US response has been that
the hence the time for endorsing
potential members has not arisen as
yet. In that case, why is Washington
projecting Japan as a potential
member of the Council?
CONCLUSION
Though they appear formidable, none
of these problems are insurmountable.
In the last six years, India and the
United States have learnt to deal with
their differences with sensitivity,
patience and understanding. More of
the same will be required by the
leadership of both countries in the
years to come. Coalition politics will
continue to generate pressure on the
government in India and slow down
the decision making process. The
prospects of a presidential election in
the US after two years is bound to
raise concerns about the continuity of
the current administration’s policy on
India. I nevertheless remain convinced
that closer bilateral cooperation will be
insulated from partisan politicies in
both countries. The destinies of our
two great countries are interlinked
and the strategic partnership between
them will be one of the defining
features of the 21st century.
An Inquiry into Suicide Terrorism: Psychological Perspectives
Kanica Rakhra
Research Intern, IPCS
e-mail: kanica@ipcs.org
In 2007, there were more than 280 suicide attacks all over the world. Used typically as a weapon of psychological warfare to affect a larger public audience, most of these attacks have taken place in countries with a heavy presence of US and allied forces, countries that were also predominantly Muslim countries. The number of countries that have seen suicide attacks has also increased. Why are Muslim youth willing to become bombers?
The three basic reasons for individuals getting influenced into executing suicide attacks could be classified as personal reasons, societal reasons and the influence of militant leaders.
Suicide often occurs when a person's identity becomes more important than his or her life. During adolescence, changes in one's conception of the self and self-esteem take place. The opportunities for development provided by the schools and the communities, the family traditions, and the larger cultural context and historical time period all affect identity development. The organizations leading the insurgencies talk to young people about how their identities are being suppressed, and sway them into believing that by making the ultimate sacrifice, they would be martyrs. This invites a kind of identity confusion that can make them vulnerable. By becoming a part of an organization, the person gets an identity and is given a purpose in life.
Studies suggest that young males experiencing some kind of frustration about the political situation are particularly susceptible to an ideology that requires them to aggress against others and/or themselves. Also, the usual age of suicide attackers falls at the transition phase from childhood to adulthood during which uncertainty about one's life course and the proper ways of conducting one's affairs is likely to reign. The organizations involved use various methods of propaganda to influence individuals. People are constantly reminded of the atrocities committed by the stronger parties, inciting them to retaliate in any way they can. The media is used as an important tool; the organizations celebrate the deaths of the suicide attackers, and the attackers make videos before committing suicide attacks showing the world that they have no remorse about what they are doing.
If an individual belongs to a society that has a history of suicide bombers, who are glorified all the time, the children end up trying to emulate their relatives, and wanting to follow the tradition. Also, if society is largely accepting of the concept, the youth can get drawn towards it. The behavior becomes pro-social instead of anti-social. For example, radical organizations in Palestine not only encourage but also shower admiration on suicide bombers. Becoming a martyr is one of the highest personal attainments and also a way of regaining the pride lost by the entire community under humiliating occupation, whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan or Palestine.
The attackers come from a community values-based society rather than an individualist society as Western societies usually are. Thus, the idea of the honor or the prestige of the family is given a lot of priority. The bomber-in-waiting feels that he would bring glory to the family by making such a huge sacrifice, glory that he could not bring as a living person. The family would be well respected and their status in society would go up. Many times when the individuals are not able to help out in the day-to-day work of the house, and are considered worthless by the family members, they feel the need to prove themselves and the organizations provide them with this opportunity.
Suicide bombings have, until now, been associated with three main factors - religion, nationality, and ethnicity. However the trend is clearly towards a rise in religion-based attacks throughout the world. The concept of pan-Islamism, as promoted by organizations such as al Qaeda, is growing. From Africa to Europe to South Asia, the rise of the local parties who have sworn allegiance to al Qaeda is a hard reality at this point. Psychologists have different theories on why religion as a tool of influence works well. One of them is the behaviourist school of psychology which believes that religion can be used as a powerful source for conditioning individuals as the origin of religious behavior can be traced to the source of reinforcing stimuli.
Leadership, too, plays an important role in influencing people one way or the other. Powerful leaders win the hearts and mind of their public and bring them under their sway. They talk about the oppression of their people and the humiliation faced by them, which inspires the youth to take things into their hands. Yale University psychologist, Stanley Milgram, found that people all across the world would engage in life-threatening violence simply out of obligation to an 'authority figure' no matter how superficial. In short, people can be manipulated and this tactic is employed by the insurgent groups to their benefit.
There are thus various psychological factors that lead a small section of the youth to accept suicide attacks as a part of the war in protecting their ways of living. These factors range from personal reasons such as identity confusion, retaliation, reward satisfaction, to social reasons such as family prestige, societal glory and leadership skills.
http://www.ipcs.org/Terrorism_kashmirLevel2.jsp?action=showView&kValue=2612&subCatID=1022&status=article&mod=g
Now, Kolkata on high alert after terror e-mail
NDTV Correspondent
Wednesday, July 30, 2008, (Kolkata)
After Surat, it's now Kolkata's turn to be on edge after an e-mail threatening bomb blasts on prominent streets and landmarks in the city.
Thorough searches late on Tuesday night did not lead to the recovery of any explosives. But police are not taking any chances.
Police have now detained a young man Kaushik Bose, the son of a cyber cafe owner in Kolkata's upmarket Salt Lake area.
Kaushik Bose was grilled through the night and the police have detained him for further questioning.
Police claims that that Kaushik has said he would help in identifying the people, who sent the threat e-mail from the cyber cafe.
The computer from which the e-mail was sent is in Kaushik's name. Police also said that the cyber cafe was operating illegally.
Pak troops fire mortar shells at Indian post
New Delhi-Jammu (PTI): Pakistani forces on Wednesday lobbed heavy 82 mm mortar shells at Indian positions across the Line of Control in Northern Kashmir, marking a major esclation just a day after India conveyed its strong concerns over mounting ceasefire violations.
Six mortar shells were fired at BSF positions in two bursts in a span of one hour from 1130 on wednesday morning in Nowgam sector of Baramulla district, just miles away from the border post which had wittnessed heavy exchange of fire on Tuesday.
The mortar shells fell just short of the Nerian post being manned by BSF personnel.
"There were no casualties on the Indian side", army sources said adding Indian troops did not retaliate to the shelling.
Local army commanders got in touch with their Pakistani counterparts to point the trangression and to get the troops to cease fire, sources said.
The firing comes even as India on Tuesday conveyed its concerns over several instances of cross-border firing by Pakistani troops along the 742 km. LOC.
Arms control experts group opposes nuclear deal
Washington (PTI): Ahead of the crucial IAEA meeting on Friday, a group of arms control experts on Wednesday said both the atomic watchdog and Nuclear Suppliers Group should look at the Indo-US nuclear deal "very carefully and remove all ambiguities."
Sharon Squassoni of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace cautioned that the "end game" does not stop with the agreement coming before the US Congress for approval but it lies with the 45-member NSG.
"The reality is that the end game is the NSG. India will be able to trade with other states once the 45-member group gives a clean exemption for New Delhi," Squassoni told a press briefing on the subject at the National Press Club.
Ambassador Robert Gray, former US Representative at the Conference on Disarmament, said that the United States was walking away from a treaty signed by 178 nations and termed the agreement as an "unmitigated disaster".
"If any exemption has to come about, it perhaps would have to be addressed by those who initialled the Non Proliferation Treaty," he said.
"The United States has given India a blank cheque... Now we are assisting them (India) to cash the cheque in another Bank, the NSG," he said.
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association and a long time critic of the civil nuclear cooperation between India and US, maintained that the exemption from the NSG is not going to be a "quick one".
Pranab Mukherjee arrives in Colombo
Colombo (PTI): External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived here on Wednesday night to participate in SAARC Council of Ministers meeting tomorrow.
Mukherjee was received at the airport by Sri Lanka's Deputy Foreign Minister M K Hussain Bahila and Indian High Commissioner Alok Prasad.
The SAARC Council of Ministers' meeting will finalise the agenda for the August 2-3 summit.
Mukherjee arrived in Colombo from Tehran where he attended the 15th Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
This year's SAARC summit is being held under the theme of 'Partnership for our people' and will also focus on launch of the SAARC Development Fund, establishing a South Asian Regional Standards Organisation, and increasing cooperation among SAARC nations with regard to criminal offences.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit, is also likely to be discussed the expansion of the regional grouping.
The Sri Lankan government has stepped up security across the capital for the SAARC meeting.
Anti-national documents seized from LeT activists
Kolkata (PTI): A large number of documents showing anti-national activities have been recovered from two Laskar-e-Toiba activists, who were arrested from Murshidabad, officials of the state CID said on Wednesday.
"We have found a video footage where the arrested duo are seen with a rocket launcher in Pakistan. We have also recovered a pen drive where we traced a huge amount of anti-national documents," DIG (Special Operations Group) Siddhinath Gupta said.
"We have just taken them into custody and we need to interrogate them. The Jammu and Kashmir Police will further interrogate them," Gupta said.
Police had arrested Md Mustaq and Hasan-ud-Zaman from Murshidabad on Tuesday.
Md Mustaq, who runs a garment shop 'Bastramahal' in the local market, is a graduate with Bengali honours while Hasan-ud-Zaman, popularly known as Hasan Master, is pursuing his graduation.
"Zaman was working as a para-teacher in the local Chotkalia High School and was a part of the teachers organisation. Though Mustaq had a clean image, we will see how this man got the trade license," Chairman of Jangipur Municipality Mriganka Bhattacharya told PTI.
A district court on Wednesday remanded the duo in police custody for 14 days.
"They will be brought to Kolkata tonight," Gupta said.
Mustaq and Hasan were working together for about a year as local agents of LeT. They were responsible for giving shelter to terrorists and liased between LeT modules of Bangladesh and India.
The two were also responsible for helping people to migrate to India and smuggle arms and ammunition to facilitate cross-border terrorism, Gupta said.
Police would probe if they had any link with the back to back blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
The CID recovered a laptop and gelatine sticks from the possession of Mustaq which, the officials said, could become a vital lead for the investigation.
Economy scare & sting
Bomb chain in diamond hub
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080730/jsp/frontpage/story_9621370.jsp
Ahmedabad, July 29: Eighteen bombs were detected and defused in India’s diamond hub today, with the terrorists apparently choosing to mock the nation’s vulnerability without killing.
Alerted by ordinary people in the diamond hub of Surat, police found one bomb after another in crowded spots from morning through afternoon. Many hung from trees and hoardings 20 feet above the ground, or had been left near schools, power transformers and diamond-polishing or textile units, often with little effort to hide them.
An email sent to media offices around 11am by Indian Mujahideen — which has claimed responsibility for the weekend Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts — said the militants had meant not to kill this time but merely to flex their muscle.
“We have full killing weapons to destroy the whole... India,” the email added.
The aim of creating panic succeeded, with schools and colleges closing by themselves or being ordered shut by the administration. The town, where three bombs had been detected in the past two days, is expected to shut down tomorrow, and even schools in four “sensitive” localities of Ahmedabad have been ordered to stay closed.
About a dozen bombs were found in and around bustling Varachha Road, the town’s diamond street and a storehouse of wealth that few areas of the country can match. Surat, 250km from Ahmedabad, is the world’s largest diamond-polishing centre with 6,000 units and nearly 10 lakh workers, and an annual business of Rs 70,000 crore.
Most of the bombs were noticed by alert passers-by who called up the police control room. Many of them were members of the Friends of Police, a citizens’ organisation that has turned into an effective news gathering agency.
Over the past two days, the police had explained through the media what a bomb might look like. Those found today were three-sided, wooden-frame structures tightly wrapped in green polythene.
Investigators said that instead of the digital-watch timers used in Ahmedabad, these bombs were fitted with “some kind of a chip” that functioned as an “integrated timer circuit”.
A three-member bomb disposal unit had its hands full, defusing one bomb (a process that takes around 15-20 minutes) and immediately rushing elsewhere to defuse another.
Amid the relief over the successful public vigilance, one question worried a senior police officer: “Only one bomb was found yesterday; how come so many mushroomed overnight?”
The email said the next targets included “(Narendra) Modi, Asharam, schools and colleges”, and named several Gujarat universities and technology institutes. “Asharam” could be a reference to chief minister Modi’s spiritual guru Asaram Bapu.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More stories in Front Page
• Economy scare and sting
• Dalmiya makes a clean sweep
• Voice of India winner dies
• Reform ignition with Reliance role in PF
• Bullet marks on ceasefire sanctity
• US lawmakers agree to ban toxins in toys
• RBI stunner to tell on home loans
• City in a tizzy
• Hope for Subernarekha, relief for Bengal
Surat is an example for the country: Modi
Indo-Asian News Service
Surat, July 30, 2008
First Published: 11:30 IST(30/7/2008)
Last Updated: 18:36 IST(30/7/2008)
A live bomb was found in Varacha locality in Surat on Wednesday shortly after a visit to the area by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who said the country needed to firmly fight the "proxy war" being waged by the terrorists.
The bomb was detected at Baroda Prestige Market, about 500 metres from Labeshwar Chowk, where Modi had gone as part of his visit to some of the areas in the city from where explosive devices were found on Tuesday, police said.
The bomb disposal squad, which rushed to the spot, defused the bomb, police said. This is the 21st live bomb found in the city in the last three days.
The bomb detected on Wednesday was similar to the 18 found on Tuesday from in and around Varacha, where several diamond processing units are located, they said.
Modi, who arrived in Surat this morning, announced a reward of Rs 51 lakh for information leading to the terrorists involved in the Ahmedabad serial blasts and the planting of bombs in Surat.
He said with the terrorists targeting cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mumbai and Hyderabad, it seemed that their intention was to cripple financial activities in the country.
The Chief Minister said as many as 12 big terror strikes had taken place in the country in the last two years and India needed to firmly fight this "proxy war" being waged by the terrorists.
Besides the bombs, two explosive-laden cars were found in this diamond hub on Sunday. The cars had been stolen from Mumbai. Police has released the sketch of a suspect who had parked one of the cars in Heerabaugh area in Surat.
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