Saturday, July 10, 2010

President pratibha patil the biggest dacoit and bank looter

Electing a President, rashtramaataaPratibha Patil-- True story, by Arun Shourie
Pratibha Patil, True Story – by Arun Shourie (Disturbing Credentials)
(the financial frauds, the murder, the deliberate derailment of the investigation)


'A big step for women… This shows India has a lot of respect for women… My nomination will inspire other women and help their empowerment…' – that is how Pratibha Patil described her selection as the UPA candidate for being our President. Loyalists, of course, went one better. 'A firm believer in women's causes and a tireless champion of spreading education among girls… One who always stands for a better deal for women… active role in checking such evils as female foeticide and dowry...' 'Working women of Mumbai hail…' 'Yes, Ma'am Commander' – Armymen look forward to reporting to first woman Supreme Commander of Armed Forces…
And all this within two days of her selection.
Her bio-data lists her 'special interests' as 'development of rural economy and welfare of women', and lists as evidence, 'Establishment of Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank at Jalgaon, Maharashtra… of Mahila Vikas Mahamandal…' It records her being Managing Trustee, Shram Sadhana Trust, as her being the 'Chief Promoter and Chairperson of Sugar Factory in Jalgaon District'. It records her having set up the Engineering College 'for the benefit of rural youth'…
We start with the 'cooperative bank' she set up in her own name to help other women – the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank.
Although this is listed in her bio-data, and although it has been referred to again and again by newspapers, how is it that neither the bio-data nor the newspapers mention that the bank has actually been liquidated? Under orders of the Reserve Bank of India, no less. And that too on the telling ground that its continuance would be prejudicial to the interests of depositors.

Brief history
Pratibha Patil established the bank in 1973 with herself as the chairperson, and with many members of her own family as its directors. She herself became a director for several terms. As for members of her family, they inter-changed, among themselves, the chairs of the Board of Directors in one 'election' after another. But while others changed places, Pratibha Patil continued as Founder Chairperson right till the demise of the bank.

Since the bank was not being managed properly, the Reserve Bank of India, in 1995, included it in its list of 'weak banks' and placed it under rehabilitation 'due to heavy erosion in its assets as observed in the inspection in March 1994.'

The RBI conducted an in-depth inspection of the bank's functioning again in 2002. In his order dated 25 February 2003, P.B . Mathur, Executive Director of the RBI, stated that the inspection revealed the following irregularities:

1: The real or exchangeable value of the bank's paid-up share capital and reserves stands at minus Rs. 197.67 lakh. Thus, the bank is not having adequate assets to meet its liabilities. The bank does not comply with the RBI's requirement of minimum share capital…

2: The ratio of the net erosion to net owned funds of the bank is as high as 312.4% and the erosion in the value of the bank's assets has not only wiped out its owned funds but has also affected the deposits to the extent of Rs. 197.67 lakh, forming 26% of total deposits…

3: The gross NPAs of the bank, that is loans that have gone bad, amount to 65.8% of the total loans and advances…

4: The Board has not made any concerted effort to improve the bank's financial position and bring it out of the weak status…

As a consequence, the RBI in its order stated: 'Having regard to all the facts, the Reserve Bank of India is satisfied that allowing the bank to carry on banking business any further would be detrimental to the interest of the present and future depositors and hence the license granted to the PRATIBHA MAHILA SAHAKARI BANK LTD. is hereby cancelled.'

Who got the loans?
But how did the assets of the bank get eroded? Why did this 'cooperative bank' – functioning as it must have been in the interests of its members – not take any action to retrieve the loans and instead endanger its very existence? Remember that the order of the RBI to liquidate the bank was not a sudden bolt. The RBI had put the bank on its list of 'weak banks' in 1995, that is a full eight years before the RBI had to decide that it just must be liquidated, and cancelled its license. Throughout these eight years why did Board not make any "concerted effort to improve the bank's financial position"?
A brief list of the sorts of persons who had been given the 'loans' and were not repaying them, tells the tale.
Name of the NPA holder Relationship to P. Patil Amount due with penalty

Rajeshwari Kishorisingh Patil Brother's daughter-in-law Rs. 45, 82, 670

Kishor Dilipsingh Patil Nephew Rs. 51, 02, 183

Kishor Dilipsingh Patil Nephew Rs. 43, 87, 680
Udhavsingh Dagdu Rajput Brother's kin

Udhavsingh Dagdu Rajput Brother's kin and wife Rs. 42, 89, 602
Jayashri Udhavsingh Rajput

Randhirsingh Dilipsingh Rajput Nephew Rs. 21, 44, 800
Udhavsingh Dagdu Rajput

Jyoti Vijaysingh Patil
Kishor Dilipsingh Patil Nephew Rs. 10, 69, 893

Dilispsingh N. Patil Brother Rs. 3, 09, 562

Dilispsingh N. Patil Brother Rs. 5, 62, 840

Total: Rs. 2, 24, 49, 150

____________________________________________________________
Notice that among the women that were being empowered by this cooperative for women – this Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank – were the brother and nephews of Pratibha Patil! Males behind the Muslim veil, Dr. Watson!

For my friends, the champions of employees' unions
The Cooperative Bank Employees Union wrote one memorandum after another exposing how the directors of the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank were systematically bankrupting the bank. They demanded dismissal of the family-controlled board. They demanded 'a CBI inquiry against Pratibha Patil, former Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, for the irregularities in the bank'. They wrote these letters, in Marathi, to the relevant authorities in Maharashtra looking after the affairs of cooperative banks. They sent them to the then President, to the then Prime Minister, to among others, 'Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha)…'
In one such lengthy memorandum dated 3.12.2001, the Employees' Union complained, 'Founder Chairperson Pratibha Patil – during, before and after the period when she was formally on the Board of Directors – has facilitated the loot of large sums of money in the form of unlawful loans without surety extended to her own relatives and to people close to her family.' The Union alleged that, even though the bank was on the verge of bankruptcy, Pratibha Patil got huge amounts of interest waived on the loans given to her close relatives. As illustrations, they listed three such accounts:
1) Anjali Dilipsingh Patil (Pratibha Patil's niece), who got a waiver of Rs. 21.86 lakh;
2) Kavita Aravind Patil (sister-in-law of Pratibha Patil), who got a waiver of Rs. 8.59 lakh; and
3) Rajkaur Dilipsingh Patil (another sister-in-law of Pratibha Patil), who got a waiver of Rs. 2.47 lakh.
The waivers given, the accounts were promptly closed!
This, the Union stated, 'is a loot of Rs. 32.93 lakh'. You will not be surprised to learn that, within the bank, the complaint got nowhere. And for good reason: the legal advisor to the bank was Pratibha Patil's elder brother, Dilipsingh Patil, and Dilipsingh Patil's own wife was one of the beneficiaries of the loan waiver!
'The purpose of the cooperative movement,' the Union's letter stated, 'is to promote people's economic, social and educational development and thereby strengthen patriotism in them. But (in this bank), Pratibha Patil, her elder brother Dilipsingh Patil and the Board of Directors have, through different means, robbed nearly Rs. 2 crore… The bank is thus being bankrupted through a collusive strategy.' 'What kind of morality is this?,' the Union asked.
In a writ filed in the Bombay High Court – Pratibha Patil is one of the respondents in the case -- the employees of the bank also said something else that will be of particular interest to our champions of social justice. They said, 'The respondent Directors have also appointed staff without following the recruitment procedure that the posts are reserved for reserve categories such as S.C., S.T., O.B.C. The managing Directors have appointed their relatives as employees of the Bank…'
To rescue the bank from imminent demise, the Union demanded 'seizure of the property of Smt. Pratibha Patil, her brother Dilipsingh Patil and her relatives'. In addition it demanded an inquiry into how they had amassed 'such huge assets'.
As a result of this memorandum, the Department of Cooperatives, Government of Maharashtra, initiated an inquiry. Even as the inquiry was going on, a past president of the Employees Union, Anantsingh Patil, wrote an ever-so-helpful letter to Pratibha Patil, on the Union's letterhead, informing her that she had nothing to do with the irregularities of the bank! He even tendered an apology to her on behalf of the Union! The Union nails the lie. It points to several telling facts. For instance, it says, on 22, January, 2002, the Board had met and, much as the Congress does today !, by resolution no. 23, authorized Pratibha Patil to decide who should be on the Board of Directors and who should be the bank's Chief Executive.
But the matter did not end with the Union's letter or the inquiry of the Maharashtra Government's Cooperative Department. The Reserve Bank of India went into the waiver also. In its confidential inspection report dated 18 June, 2002, found the charge of financial fraud involving those large interest waivers to Pratibha Patil's three close relatives to be valid. It also noted that the Board had not taken approval of the AGM for the loan waiver.
Some women were certainly getting empowered!

A pattern
Memoranda of the Employees Union show that such enterprising sleights-of-account-books were part of a pattern. The memoranda and communications were sent to, among others, Pratibha Patil herself. For instance, in a letter to her on 13 March, 2002, the President, Vice-president and Secretary of the Union informed her that
· She had allowed her elder brother, Dilipsingh Patil, to use the bank's telephone (no. 224672, which he had got installed at his residence) for running his stock exchange business. He ran up a bill of Rs. 20 lakh. Phone records showed that the calls were made to sharebrokers in Mumbai. These records were subsequently destroyed. But later the charge was found to be one of substance. It was one of the things that Amol Khairnar, who was appointed as the chief administrator of bank, asked P.D. Patil, manager of the bank, to explain in the show-cause notice that the former issued on 1 February, 2003.
· The show-cause notice also mentioned that the Pratibha Mahil Sahakari Bank had extended unlawful loans to the Sant Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory from time to time. As you will recall, the sugar factory too was set up by Pratibha Patil herself to help rural youth! It was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi in 1999. As The Asian Age has reported, like the Pratibha Mahila Sahakari Bank, the mill too has closed down – but only after running up a loan default of nearly Rs. 20 crore and without ever producing much sugar!
· The bank also gave loans to undeserving persons to buy shares of the Sant Muktabai Cooperative Sugar Factory. Pratibha Patil and her brothers did so for a reason that my good friend of long-standing, Sharad Pawar would again find nothing extraordinary: they did so in order to retain control over the sugar factory by having these shareholders support her in 'elections' to the cooperative.

If you don't stop…
'It is because of these reasons that the bank is now on the verge of going bankrupt,' the Employees Union charged. It then posed a question to her that those – like my friend Sharad Pawar -- who are making light of this state of affairs in the bank on the ground that such things are nothing new in cooperatives would like to answer: 'Whom should the society trust if politicians like you start cooperative institutions to rob the hard-earned wealth of ordinary people?'
And then come two paragraphs that should be weighed in the scale of the high office to which Pratibha Patil is being catapulted. Before concluding, the Union's President, Vice-president and Secretary state, 'You are the Founder Chairperson of this bank, but you are today attempting, out of selfish reasons, to lead the bank to its demise. You know that the RBI has decided to cancel the bank's license if its financial condition does not improve by March 2002. Once the license is cancelled and the bank is liquidated, you are quite capable of covering-up the fraud you have committed on the bank and the people of this region by using your influence on the Government of Maharashtra.'
And then comes the last para. To get to know our next President, the one who will be the Guardian of our Constitution, do read it twice: 'There is threat to our lives and to the lives of our family members from you. You have already communicated this to us in our meeting with you. Although you have made us aware of this threat, we are prepared to lay down our lives for the pursuit of truth. If something happens to us or to members of our families, accidentally or otherwise, you will be responsible for it, which please note.'

And a letter from the women who were to be empowered
We have focused on 'women' who got loans. But who were the depositors? They were the poor women of the area – who were eking out a living by selling vegetables, by collecting rags… What were they telling our 'firm believer in women's causes', our 'tireless champion of…'? A representative, and typically plaintive letter from them, awakens us to their wail:
'We opened accounts in your bank trusting that it had been established to help poor women and to come to their aid in times of need. You know that the bank is now on the brink of bankruptcy. Therefore, a crisis is looming before ordinary depositors. Politicians plant saplings on Tree Plantation Day and get their photographs printed in newspapers the next day. But they don't take care of the sapling thereafter. This bank too was a sapling that you had planted. It was growing well and promised to bear fruit. It had given shelter to you too. Then who killed this tree? Once the bank is liquidated, those who took the loans do not have to worry, just as when a sahukar dies, the persons to whom he had lent money heave a sigh of relief. But what about poor women depositors like us who are vegetable vendors, fruit-sellers, rag-pickers, etc, who saved our meager earnings in your bank, hoping that the money would be useful to us in our old age or for the marriage of our daughters? Pratibhatai, we tried a lot to meet you personally. We were unsuccessful. But you know everything. Therefore, we urge you to disclose the names of all those culprits who are responsible for the bankruptcy of our bank.'
And what did our tireless champion of women's rights, our devotee of rural development do?



'It is all a BJP-conspiracy'
A murder they don't care about
Arun Shourie

The 'cooperative' bank for empowering women liquidated under orders of the Reserve Bank… The sugar mill bankrupt, having swallowed over Rs. 20 crore of unpaid loans… We see the very same pattern in the other endeavours of our next President. Her bio-data speaks of the Shram Sadhana Trust that she has set up. It runs an engineering college – for rural youth, as the bio-data says.
What do documents show? A Medical Aid Account is set up for students. Naturally, money from it goes to doctors – and, lo and behold, her brother, Dr. GN Patil's name stands out by a mile… Employees of the college turn out to be working at the residences of the various directors – some in Mumbai. A guest house is built, and comes to be used, not by academicians visiting the college, but by members of the family… Money collected from the students goes to the soon-to-be-declared bankrupt sugar mill… Money is taken from the teachers' salaries as compulsory deposits in that family-controlled 'cooperative' bank; these deposits are used to enroll 'shareholders' in the bank – who in turn help the family win the 'elections' of the cooperative bank… A pattern through and through.
Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, who has been so exercised about enforcing morality on the media, is unmoved. 'A visibly upset Dasmunsi hit out at the NDA for trying to malign Patil's image,' The Indian Express reports. 'In the process, he drew a parallel between Patil's case and "many political leaders" whose brothers, sisters and relatives were loan defaulters and also "electronic media industry" which has been slapped with plenty of notices.'
Surely, the answer is to bring them to book too. Surely, the answer is to do what so many of us have been demanding for so long – namely, to publish the names of all bank-defaulters. Not to pick one of them at random and make her or him President of India!
In any case, even Munsi, in spite of his fertile imagination, will not claim that murder has brushed the hem of the 'electronic media industry' as closely as it has in this instance.

Names and dates
But first a few names and dates.
Vishram G. Patil: Professor of English at a college in Jalagaon affiliated to the North Maharashtra University. A Congressman for thirty years. Elected President of the District Congress Committee not once but thrice. Murdered on 21 September, 2005.
Rajani Patil: his wife. Professor of Marathi at the same college.
G.N. Patil: brother of the UPA nominee for the Presidentship of India. Rival and adversary of Vishram Patil. Defeated by Vishram Patil in his effort to become President of the District Congress Committee.
Ulhas Patil: former member of Parliament. Close associate of G.N. Patil. Rival and adversary of Vishram Patil. Runs a number of NGOs.
Raju Mali and Raju Sonawane: two arrested for murdering Vishram Patil. Raju Mali tells Aaj Tak correspondent that they are just being made sacrificial goats. The real perpetrators of the murder are at large. Who are they, he is asked. "The persons who are being named by Rajani Patil," he says. He suddenly dies in police custody – three days after, at long last, the CBI team visits Jalagaon on its first visit.
Leeladhar Narkhede and Damodar Lokhande: two who are named as having financed the murder of Vishram Patil. Phone records show several calls between them and G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil on the day before the murder, on the day of the murder and on the day after. The two are picked up. But four months later, they are let off. The FIR about them is withdrawn.
A few dates: 21 September, 2005: Vishram Patil murdered. Great commotion in Jalagaon. People openly say that he has been killed as the result of a supari having been given to murder him. By the fourth day, Police say they have completed '90 per cent' of the investigation, and will soon get the killers and those behind them. Police arrest the two who confess to the actual murder.
October 2006: Aaj Tak puts out a detailed story by Manish Awasthi cataloguing the murder. In it, Aaj Tak takes viewers through the records of the mobile telephone company that establish that numerous calls were made between the two reported financiers of the murder and the brother of Pratibha Patil, G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil – the calls were made on the day before the murder, on the day of the murder and on the day after the murder. The channel shows the exact times and duration of the calls from the records of the mobile phone company. Awasthi's story contains a devastating interview of Raju Mali from within the jail. In September 2005, they had gone on an indefinite fast inside the jail. Raju Mali says in the interview that they had stopped taking food to protest against the Police for not arresting, for not even questioning the real culprits, 'the persons named by Rajani Patil'. 'We have simply been made sacrificial goats in the case while the real culprits are untouched.'
4 April, 2007: a year and a half after the murder, and after vicissitudes that we shall soon encounter, the CBI team comes to Jalagaon for its first visit.
7 April, 2007: the CBI team interrogates Rajani Patil, the widow of the murdered DCC President. But something else happens in the jail not far away: Raju Mali dies in Police custody.

Events
The brother of Pratibha Patil, G.N. Patil -- who, as we have seen, has been a close collaborator in her endeavours to empower women and bring succour to rural youth – is a frustrated rival of Vishram Patil. The latter has defeated him to the Presidentship of the District Congress Committee.
Congress workers collect funds – ostensibly to provide relief to tsunami victims. These are never deposited in the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
Congress workers again collect funds – this time to felicitate Pratibha Patil upon her appointment as Governor of Rajasthan. No one hears what happens to these funds either.
Several office-bearers of the District Congress Committee send a memorandum to Prabha Rau, head of the Maharashtra Congress, asking her to institute an inquiry into the missing funds. They receive no reply.
15 August, 2005: nine office-bearers of the DCC issue a press release saying that G.N. Patil, the brother of Pratibha Patil, has not submitted accounts of funds that were collected by Congress workers for felicitating Pratibha Patil.
Vishram Patil commences an inquiry within the Congress into the misappropriation of the funds. He also commences an inquiry into financial dealings of Ulhas Patil and his NGOs. He brings the matter to the attention of the high-command of the Congress.
He receives three anonymous letters. Written in hand, they state that a supari has been given out to kill him, that he should be careful. He persists with the inquiry.
He is killed. Local dailies are full of the murder. They surmise that it is the result of political rivalries in the District Congress Committee.
Because of the enormous commotion among the local people, the Police act. Within a few days, they nab the killers.
They make swift progress in the investigation. They tell Rajani Patil, the widow, that 90 per cent of the investigation is over, that they will soon get the ones who instigated the murder also.
Suddenly, the investigation goes off the rails. The police now put out a story that the murder actually took place because of a dispute over money that Raju Mali had borrowed from Vishram Patil. Rajani Patil strongly refutes the insinuation. Local papers puncture holes in this new concoction of the Police. As suddenly as the concoction had been put out, the investigation is taken out of the hands of the local police entirely, and turned over to the CID of the state Government.
26 September, 2005: alarmed at the way the investigation is being derailed, the widow, Rajani Patil writes to Sonia Gandhi. She says, 'The brain behind the crime is pressurizing the investigation process.'
27 September, 2005: a local paper, Deshdoot, reports that at a press conference, Rajiv Patil, the parabhari adhyaksha of the Congress, has said that Raju Mali, the killer, is an agent of G.N. Patil, the brother of Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan. Another report in the paper says that everyone in Jalagaon is talking about the contract killing, about how much was paid for it, and by whom…
The same day, 27 September, 2005, thirteen office-bearers of the District Congress Committee write to the local Superintendent of Police. They name G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil as being the persons behind the murder and express grave concern that the investigation is being dragged down to a crawl.
28 September, 2005: Local papers like Deshdoot and Deshunnati carry a tell-tale photograph. It is the day the election of the District Congress Committee President takes place. A group is standing around the victor, Vishram Patil. In the picture, mysteriously, is Raju Mali – the very man who is to kill Vishram Patil soon. He was not and is not a member of the Congress, the papers say. Who let him into the party office? With whose blessing was he roaming inside the office? With who is he linked? They have no doubt about the answer…
On 28 September, 2005, Manik Rao Gavit, the Minister of State in the Home Ministry at the Centre, writes to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He writes that he has received a letter from the Working President of the Jalagaon District Congress Committee, Rajiv Patil, in which the latter has named G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil as the conspirators behind the murder. Gavit says that there is haa-haakaar in the local Congress, hence he is sending Rajiv Patil's letter. He urges the Chief Minister to have the matter investigated in this direction and to do everything necessary to get at the real culprits and have them punished.
The local papers are full of the inaction that has overtaken the investigation. The real culprits are at large, they say. The names of G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil are splashed across the headlines of stories connected with the murder. Rajani Patil, the widow, writes to the local Police chief: 'This murder has been committed out of political enmity. I therefore urge you to investigate the case from this angle and arrest the persons concerned. I strongly believe that, under somebody's pressure, there is an attempt to misdirect the Police investigation by fabricating cock-and-bull stories.'
5 October, 2005: Rajiv Patil, the parabhari-adhyaksha of the Congress , writes to the Chief Minister, to the Director General of Police, and to the head of the Pune Branch of the CID. He records his concern that the investigation is going nowhere. He urges that some of the officers who were handling the initial investigation and who know the facts should be involved in the inquiry. He gives the names of the concerned officers. He receives no reply.
15 October, 2005: Rajiv Patil writes to the authorities again pointing to the connection between the killers and G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil. He says that the killers who have been nabbed were never Congress activists, that they were brought to the Congress office by G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil only at the time of the DCC election.
1 December, 2005: two months have gone by since the murder, the investigation has been steered into the wrong direction all too-patently. Rajani Patil, the widow, writes to R.R. Patil, the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister of the state. She expresses her anguish at what has been done to the investigation. It is going nowhere, she says. The police had assured us that 90 per cent of the investigation is over and that they will soon get to the real conspirators. But as 'the real conspirators have high-level connections, when only 10 per cent of the investigation was left, the case was taken out of their hands and given to the state CID.'
8 December, 2005: Rajani Patil again writes to the Chief Minister and Home Minister of the state. She strongly repudiates the police insinuation that there was some financial dispute between her husband and the killers. My husband was killed because of the supari given by the political rivals of my husband, she writes. You can find out who gave the supari by asking the two who are in custody, she tells them. There is no response.
Rajani Patil travels to Delhi. She meets Sonia Gandhi personally in January 2006. She narrates the sequence of the case. She also meets other Congress bigwigs – Ahmed Patel, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Margaret Alva and others.
They move not a finger. Instead, the FIR against the two who are said to have financed the murder is dropped. Having first snatched the investigation away from the local police and transferred it to the state CID, the Government now decides that the investigation is best done by the CBI!
Three months pass – ostensibly waiting for the CBI to respond. Eventually, the CBI informs the state Government that it is overwhelmed with work, that as the case has no 'inter-state or international ramifications', it is not a fit case for the agency.
Everyone sees through the attempt to kill the inquiry and thus protect the real conspirators. The intrepid widow files a petition in the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court. On 23 February, 2007, by a detailed order the Court dismisses the CBI's objections about there being no 'inter-state or international ramifications'. We are aware of this as well as of the work which the agency is already handling, the Court records. That is why only in exceptional cases does the Court direct it to take the case in hand. This is a case of that kind. 'We have scrutinized the record with the help of counsel of both sides,' the Court records in its order. 'We have considered the chequered history of the present case, the developments which have taken place after filing of the chargesheet, issues involved, and the reference to alleged conspiracy by influential political leaders of the region. Having regard to the importance of the issues involved and the alleged complicity of the influential political leaders…, in our considered opinion, this is a fit case where the investigation should be conducted by the CBI.'
Of course, by knocking the investigation around – from the local police to the state CID to the CBI, only to have the CBI turn down the case – the powers-that-be have already achieved one objective: by now, more than a year and a half has passed since the murder was committed.
5 March, 2007: disheartened and broken, Rajani Patil again writes to Sonia Gandhi. As you also lost your husband, you are the one person who will understand my wound, she writes. She recalls the anonymous letters that her husband had received warning him to desist from the inquiry, warning that 'a supari to murder my husband had been given by Dr. Ulhas Patil and Dr. G.N. Patil, the brother of Smt. Pratibha Patil, Governor of Rajasthan. On the morning of 21.9.2005, my husband was brutally murdered…' 'I fear that my whole family is likely to get liquidated by these brutal murderers if they continue to get politically patronized by the party,' she concludes.
She receives no reply.
Recounting all this in the memorandum she submits to the President later on, and driven to despondence by the fact that no one has paid the slightest heed to her tears and pleas, she adds, 'I feel anguished that they are indeed getting politically patronized by the party.'
The CBI team comes at last to Jalagaon on 4 April, 2007. It interrogates the widow on 7 April. On the same day, the killer, Raju Mali dies in police custody…
Throughout this period, the widow, Rajani Patil, is pleading before the state and Congress authorities. Not just she, but functionaries of the local Congress themselves, in particular Shridhar Bapu Chaudhury, the party's General Secretary keep dispatching letters and memoranda pointing to G.N. Patil and Ulhas Patil. All these letters as well as those of Rajiv Patil, the prabhari adhyaksha of the Congress in Jalagaon, are on letterheads of the Congress.

The response
'It is all a BJP ploy. It shows their desperation at not being able to find a candidate of the stature of Pratibha Patil,' proclaim the Congress spokesmen. But the record consists of letters, memoranda, press conferences, writ petitions of Congressmen.
But I am on another point: assume that everything is a conspiracy of the BJP. What about the facts? What about the facts, for instance, set out by Aaj Tak?
'But why now? The timing of these allegations itself shows that they have been manufactured only to tarnish the image of Pratibha Patil as she is standing for the Presidentship of the country. After all, why are they bringing up these things now?' This is their other, wholly predictable defence.
It so happens that all the events, documents, proceedings in court, communications, etc., pertain to the period before Pratibha Patil was plucked from nowhere to be the Presidential candidate. And they are being recounted today precisely because Pratibha Patil has been nominated to become the President of the country. Till the other day, these were frauds of some district politicians. The murder was of concern primarily to the Jalagaon people. Precisely because Pratibha Patil is likely to become the President, each facet -- the financial frauds, the murder, the deliberate derailment of the investigation -- becomes a matter of urgent national concern. If the frauds and murder are not exhumed today, why, that would be a real conspiracy…

The politics
Could it be that the Congress high-ups, in particular Sonia Gandhi, did not know about these associations of Pratibha Patil? I was at first inclined to think so. After all, Pratibha Patil's name had been picked out of a hat at the last minute. There might have been no time for a background check.
But on going through these letters after letters, these memoranda after memoranda – one and all of them written and sent by Congressmen, one and all of them sent to Congressmen; after reading Rajani Patil's account of her meeting with Sonia Gandhi and other Congress leaders in Delhi; after going through the proceedings in courts; after seeing the screaming headlines of the local papers, I just can not believe that neither Sonia Gandhi nor her immediate colleagues remembered nothing of the case. After all, the head of their own party in the district, the very man who had been thrice elected to the post, had been killed. After all, all concerned in the party unit had been pointing to an ex-MP of the Congress and the brother of the Governor of Rajasthan… how could everyone have forgotten? Murders of district Congress chiefs are still not that common.
So, the only inference is that they knew of the antecedents of Pratibha Patil and for the very antecedents selected her.
And that stands to reason. A person who is weak and dutifully submissive is already Prime Minister. But he has one defect – being financially honest, he is not vulnerable. There is always the danger, inconceivable though it seems at present, that at some point, he may throw up his hands...
So, what is needed is not just a weak person. What is needed is a person who is weak and vulnerable…

indian history secrets

Rewriting Indian Historyby Francois Gautier
New Delhi: Vikas Publishing 1996xiv + 176 pages; ISBN 0-7069-9976-2
Reviewed by C.J.S. Wallia

========================="From my perspecive as a secularhumanist, and my own experience, I regard a typical liberal Indian Muslim to be as good a human being as any other Indian." c.j.s. wallia=========================

Rewriting Indian History is a provocative new book by the French writer Francois Gautier, who currently serves as the political correspondent in India for France's top newspaper, Le Figaro, and for Switzerland's leading daily, Le Nouveau Quotidien. Having lived in India for 25 years has helped him "to see through the usual cliches and prejudices in India to which I subscribed for a long time, as most foreign (and sometimes, unfortunately, Indian) journalists, writers, and historians do."
Rewriting Indian History,the author prefaces, "might well be called an antithesis" for it questions many of the assumptions in the "standard" treatises by Euro-centered colonialist historians and their imitations by Indian Marxist writers.
Gautier focuses mainly on the Muslim period of India 's history. "Let it be said right away: the massacres perpetrated by Muslims in India are unparalleled in history, bigger than the holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis; or the massacre of the Armenians by the Turks; more extensive even than the slaughter of the South American native populations by the invading Spanish and Portuguese."
However, the British, in pursuing their policy of divide-and-rule, colluded "to whitewash" the atrocious record of the Muslims so that they could set up the Muslims as a strategic counterbalance to the Hindus. During the freedom struggle, Gandhi and Nehru went around encrusting even thicker coats of whitewash so that they could pretend a facade of Hindu-Muslim unity against British colonial rule. After independence, Marxist Indian writers, blinkered by their distorting ideology, repeated the big lie about the Muslim record.
Gautier cites two eminent historians who wrote free of any colonialist or ideological agendas, basing their accounts on documents by contemporary Muslim chroniclers themselves: Alain Danielou in Histoire de la Inde: "From the time Muslims started arriving, around 632 AD, the history of India becomes a long, monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoilations, destructions. It is, as usual, in the name of 'a holy war' of their faith, of their sole God, that the barbarians have destroyed civilisations, wiped out entire races." And the well-known American historian Will Durant in The Story of Civilization: "...the Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex order and freedom can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without and multiplying from within." (From my perspecive as a secular humanist, and my own experience, I regard a typical liberal Indian Muslim to be as good a human being as any other Indian.)
Gautier should have continued with the Will Durant quote: "The Hindus had allowed their strength to be wasted in internal division and war; they had adopted religions like Buddhism and Jainism, which unnerved them for the tasks of life; they had failed to organize their forces for the protection of their frontiers and their capitals, their wealth and their freedom, from the hordes of Scythians, Huns, Afghans and Turks hovering about India's boundaries and waiting for national weakness to let them in. For four hundred years (600-1000 A.D.) India invited conquest; and at last it came. This is the secret of the political history of modern India . Weakened by division, it succumbed to invaders; impoverished by invaders, it lost all power of resistance, and took refuge in supernatural consolations; it argued that both mastery and slavery were superficial delusions, and concluded that freedom of the body or the nation was hardly worth defending in so brief a life. The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation must love peace, but keep its powder dry."
About Gandhi's whitewash of Muslims, Gautier observes: "Ultimately, it must be said that whatever his saintliness, his extreme and somehow rigid asceticism, Gandhi did enormous harm to India ... The British must have rubbed their hands in glee: here was a man who was perfecting their policy of divide-and-rule, for ultimately no one contributed more to the partition of India , by his obsession to always give in to the Muslims; by his indulgence of Jinnah, going as far as proposing to make him the prime minister of India ."
Worse yet, Gandhi's anointed disciple, Nehru, propagated false readings of Indian history in his books and speeches. Gautier quotes Nehru's "amazing eulogy" of the tyrant Mahmud Ghazni, the destroyer of Mathura 's great Hindu temples, Gujarat 's Somnath, and numerous other Hindu and Buddhist temples. When Nehru, the arrant appeaser of Muslims, became India 's first prime minister, he appointed a fundamentalist Muslim, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, as the first education minister. Under Nehru's pseudo-secular rule, "Hindu-bashing became a popular pastime." Moreover, Nehru "had a great sympathy for communism.... He encouraged Marxist think-tanks such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University [JNU] in New Delhi , which has bred a lot of 'Hindu-hating scholars' who are adept at negating Muslim atrocities and running to the ground the greatness of Hinduism and its institutions." These Marxist "historians," well-ensconced at JNU, have long been masterminding the politically correct textbooks of India 's history used in Indian schools. No wonder, JNU is also known as "the Kremlin by the Jumna ." For a long time, the Indian Marxists had been so brainwashed that whenever it rained in Moscow -- the capital of their "only true fatherland"-- they opened their umbrellas in Delhi .
To be sure, dissenting voices were raised against Gandhi's whitewash of Muslims. Before the partition of India , Aurobindo Ghosh, the great Hindu poet-philosopher, posed the question about Islam: "You can live with a religion whose principle is toleration. But how is it possible to live with a religion whose principle is 'I will not tolerate you'? How are you going to have unity with these people?... I am sorry they [Gandhi and Nehru] are making a fetish of Hindu-Muslim unity. It is no use ignoring facts; some day the Hindus will have to fight Muslims and they must prepare for it. Hindu-Muslim unity should not mean the subjection of Hindus. Each time the mildness of the Hindus has given way. The best solution would be to allow the Hindus to organise themselves and Hindu-Muslim unity will take care of itself, it will automatically solve the problem. ...I see no reason why the greatness of India 's past or its spirituality should be thrown into the waste basket, in order to conciliate the Muslims who would not be conciliated by such policy." Another strong dissenter was Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Seeing through Nehru's pseudo-secularism, Patel commented, "There's only one nationalist Muslim in India : Jawarharlal Nehru."
Gautier warns: "Even today, there is no doubt that Islam has never been fully able to give up its inner conviction that its own religion is the only true creed and that all others are kafirs, infidels. In India it was true 300 years ago, and it is still true today. Remember the cry of the militants in Kashmir to the Pandits: 'convert to Islam or die!' ... The Hindu-Muslim question is just plainly a Muslim obsession, their hatred of the Hindu pagans, their contempt for this polytheist religion. This obsession, this hate, is as old as the first invasion of India by the original Arabs in 650 AD. After independence, nothing has changed: the sword of Allah is still as much ready to strike the kafirs, the idolaters of many gods."
The source of Muslim's fanatical aggression, Gautier points out, is the Koran itself, from which he quotes: "Slay the infidels, wherever ye find them and prepare them for all kind of ambush"; and "Choose not thy friends among the infidels till they forsake their homes and the way of idolatory. If they return to paganism then take them whenever you find them and kill them."
In the section on Ayodhya, Gautier says that demolishing the Babri Masjid has proved that Hindus too can fight. He criticizes Nehruvian "secularism" as interpreted by the Congress party to mean "giving in to the Muslims' demands, because its leaders never could really make out if the allegiance of Indian Muslims is first to India and then to Islam or vice-versa." For many of India 's Hindu journalists, this pseudo-secularism has meant "spitting on their own religion and brothers." Curiously, Gautier does not mention Arun Shourie's well-researched, lucidly articulated columns, which, in recent years, have laid bare the pretentions of Nehruvian pseudo-secularism.
From my own perspective as a secular humanist, I believe that any whitewashing of historical record is counterproductive. No matter how lofty the ideals of a current cause, any whitewash of history tempts the fates. To forget history will always be fateful; to forgive its horrendous facts can be redemptive. Forgive -- but never forget -- history. A salient example of making sure that the horrors of history are not forgotten is the contemporary German state's law prohibiting any World War II history that whitewashes the holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis on the Jews, Gypsies, and Poles. The Jews rightly insist that the world must never forget what happened to them. Where is the Hindu Holocaust Museum ?
The historical record of the Muslim rule in India is soaked in blood -- just take a look at the documents left by contemporary Muslim chroniclers. Yet, as a secular humanist, I would like to make a distinction between an ideology and its adherents, especially those born into it. From my own experience, I regard a typical liberal Indian Muslim to be as good a human being as any other Indian.
In the opening chapter, Gautier briefly examines the "tainted glasses" which made Euro-centered historians expound gross "disinformations" about ancient India : the discredited Aryan invasion theory; the deliberate mistranslations of the Vedas; and the erroneous theory of the origin of the caste system.
Throughout the book, Gautier quotes Sri Aurobindo, and in the concluding chapter, "The Final Dream," pays an inspired homage to the great visionary's writings.
Like Konraad Elst's Negationism in India: Concealing the Record of Islam, Francois Gautier's Rewriting Indian History contributes to the growing literature of dissent against the "standard" textbooks of India 's history.

Bangladeshis in Asam grabing land

A perspective from Sri Aurobindo
Posted by jagoindia on June 3, 2008
A perspective from Sri AurobindoBy Anirban Ganguly
In November 2007 Osama Bin-Laden in a recorded telecast in the Al-Jazeera network had mentioned Assam & Kashmir while calling upon Muslims to wake up & launch a fight for an Islamic state in India. This note was written then for circulation among a close group but its relevance seems to be growing by the day, especially after the recent blasts in Jaipur, which as per the declaration given by the perpetrators was made to strike at Hindu India. That past terrorists attacks on Hindi speaking migrant labourers in Assam & an attempt there to create a Kashmir like situation where Hindus will be compelled to vacate space are part of a concerted attempt to create a greater Islamic space along the eastern fringe of India & gradually obliterate Hinduism from the region—& where Hinduism ends India ceases to be. I found this newly disclosed letter of Sri Aurobindo—though written some 60 odd years ago—to be highly relevant to the situation in Assam today & to the future of Hinduism there.
Osama’s mention of Assam & Kashmir while calling upon Muslims to rise & launch a crusade to create an Islamic state clearly exposes the long understood, secretly accepted but publicly & politically denied fact that Assam is turning out to be the principle theatre for carrying out the operation for a second Partition of India. Hindus there are already at the receiving end; forces inimical to India & Hinduism are gradually dismantling Srimant Shankardev’s unique network that had a brought about a Hindu cultural & spiritual renaissance in Assam. It is interesting to observe how these forces first gnaw at the root & then begin hacking at it. The U.S. based Stratfor think-tank report in May last year on the Assam militancy clearly established the fact that the Pakistan – ISI has undertaken a major operation to fund, provide logistic support & then gradually Islamise the whole of the NE insurgency arena, this is the first step towards eventual & possibly violent severance of the region from the Indian Union. Osama’s exhortation confirms that a detailed action-plan exists & is being carried out to a logical conclusion & it is no more in the exclusive control of the Pakistani ruling dispensation. The report says: “Pakistan did not hesitate to jump in where the British left off in the post-partition period, and has since used its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency to fund, train and arm these rebel groups in order to keep India’s hands tied. The largest and most powerful of the northeast secessionist movements is the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). Once a student movement with populist aims to redistribute the state’s oil wealth, ULFA has gradually changed into what appears to be a moneymaking machine with a strong willingness to do the ISI’s bidding. ULFA runs an impressive extortion racket in the northeast, where Assam’s tea plantation owners and corporate leaders are regularly targeted.
The group maintains that its armed campaign will not let up until the Indian government engages it in unconditional peace talks. Yet, when New Delhi makes such an offer, ULFA usually responds with a bombing, as was the case in the April 9 bomb attack near Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s motorcade in the Assamese capital of Guwahati. ULFA’s leadership understands that New Delhi is not about to reward the armed movement with political concessions, and does not wish to disturb the financial networks it has running throughout the region. Moreover, to preserve their militant proxy, the group’s handlers in both Pakistan’s and Bangladesh’s intelligence services have told ULFA not to hold peace talks with the Indian government.
Pakistan’s ISI, in cooperation with Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), appears to be investing a considerable amount of resources in solidifying India’s militant corridor. There are growing indications that these two agencies are working clandestinely in Bangladesh to bring all the northeast-based insurgent outfits and jihadist elements under one umbrella. The ISI has facilitated cooperation between ULFA and other northeastern terrorist outfits with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka, Islamist militant groups in Kashmir, Islamist groups in Bangladesh and a growing number of al Qaeda-linked jihadist groups operating in the region.”
I would like to quote an extract from a letter that India’s modern sage, philosopher & nationalist leader Sri Aurobindo had written in Dec 1946 to late Surendra Mohan Ghose, Congress leader who had started his revolutionary life with the Jugantar group at Mymensingh then East Bengal. The letter speaks about the grouping that was to be effectuated by the Cabinet Mission Plan, Sri Aurobindo points out the dangers of Hindus becoming a minority in Assam & of how Pakistan will eventually decimate Hindus in the region. The last part of the letter is especially apt & unnervingly true when looked at from the present perspective, 60 years later:
“…As for Assam, will the Assamese consent to commit suicide? For that is what the grouping means if it is a majority vote that decides in the group. The Hindus of Bengal and Assam joining together in the section of the Assembly will not have a majority. This opens a prospect that the League (Muslim League) in this group may dictate a constitution which will mean the end of the Assamese people and of Hinduism in Assam. They may so arrange that the tribes of Assam are constituted into a separate element not participating in the Assam Provincial Assembly but parked off from it. The constituencies of the province could then be so arranged as to give the Mussalmans an automatic majority. Assam could then be flooded with Mahomedan colonies from Bengal and Assam could be made safe for Pakistan; after that the obliteration of Hinduism in the province could be carried out either by an immediate and violent or a gradual process once the separation of India into Pakistan and Hindusthan had been effected.
We hope your leaders are alive to the dangers of the situation…”
The situation today is chillingly real & dangers have been allowed to gradually blow out of proportion:
“Assam could then be flooded with Mahomedan colonies from Bengal” [referred to East Bengal then now Bangladesh]: the sustained, deliberate infiltration of Islamic population engineered from Bangladesh into Assam which is gradually changing the demography of the districts by making them Muslim dominated & reducing the clout & numbers of Hindus & thus gaining greater control of the whole electoral process.
“Assam could be made safe for Pakistan”: infiltration is being jointly carried out by the Pakistan & Bangladesh ruling clique so as to make the area safe for their anti-India designs. Pakistan has also begun to wield considerable clout with the Bangladeshi ruling class & fundamentalist political parties so that its operations in Assam are given support from across. Funding of the NE insurgent groups have been undertaken with urgency & the Islamisation of the whole movement is being carried out apace, note also the joint anti-India , anti-Hindu operation carried out by the ISI & DGFI in the recent past.
“After that the obliteration of Hinduism in the province”: that the targeted killings of Hindi speaking labourers, the bomb blasts etc are all attempts to obliterate Hindus & Hinduism in the province through a violent method is now quite evident. The deliberate, motivated, district-wise infiltration of islamic population from Bangaldesh is the implementation of a gradual process for the obliteration of Hinduism in the region, both are being executed with clinical accuracy.
The Sage had foreseen it all, but our present leaders deliberately look the other way & allow the dangers to unfold for the lure of power. We are thus left-sitting on a lethal powder-keg facing one of the deadliest situation as a country, a situation which questions & endangers our unity & sovereignty as a a nation & questions our identity & existence as Hindus.

Kashmir conspiracy

It did not require meticulous research, but just some serious reading, to know that Jammu’s troubles had begun soon after the monarch of J & K, Maharaja Hari Singh, from the Dogra community of Jammu, chose to sign his princely state’s accession to India, rather than to Pakistan, in October 1947 under the British Parliament’s Indian Independence Act, 1947. The troubles emanated from Sheikh Abdullah, the towering National Conference leader from the predominantly Muslim populated Kashmir Valley, who, for reasons as yet unclear, was the pet of Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minster among several Congress ones who believed that the Hindu community was a danger to free India. It was just a matter of time therefore that Nehru coerced Maharaja Hari Singh to hand over the reins of the J&K state to the interim government of Sheikh Abdullah and his National Conference Party — the first time that Muslims, not Hindus, became the rulers in J&K.
That is from Arvind Lavakare’s article “It’s Jammu vs Kashmir — finally“. Here’s the full article below the fold, for the record. It is a must read if one wants to understand how the dead hand of the Nabob of Cluelessness continues to strangle India and squeeze the life out of the nation.
When several of our mainline English dailies recently splashed what they thought was the novel headline, “Jammu vs Kashmir”, on account of the unprecedented angst and anger in the Jammu region of J & K state over the denial of land to the Amarnath Shrine Board, I was amused.
I was amused because as many as seven years and 11 months ago a major web portal had posted an article of mine bearing the headline “It could finally be Jammu vs Kashmir”. My forecast then was not based on astrology or prescience but on a study of the past agonies of Jammu that had run over into the present. And study is something that current bred of “Breaking News” journalists hardly do, if at all.
It did not require meticulous research, but just some serious reading, to know that Jammu’s troubles had begun soon after the monarch of J & K, Maharaja Hari Singh, from the Dogra community of Jammu, chose to sign his princely state’s accession to India, rather than to Pakistan, in October 1947 under the British Parliament’s Indian Independence Act, 1947. The troubles emanated from Sheikh Abdullah, the towering National Conference leader from the predominantly Muslim populated Kashmir Valley, who, for reasons as yet unclear, was the pet of Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minster among several Congress ones who believed that the Hindu community was a danger to free India. It was just a matter of time therefore that Nehru coerced Maharaja Hari Singh to hand over the reins of the J&K state to the interim government of Sheikh Abdullah and his National Conference Party — the first time that Muslims, not Hindus, became the rulers in J&K.
So enamoured of Sheikh Abdullah was Nehru that while he had left the integration of 561 princely states either into India or Pakistan to his deputy and Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, he chose to deal with J & K himself. And so crafty and cunning was Sheikh Abdullah that he got Nehru to agree to include in the Constitution of India,1950, the Article 370 that gave J & K a special status that no other state of India has ever enjoyed. And even as J & K was allowed to draft its own State Constitution (separate from the Indian Constitution), Abdullah was permitted to hold the position of the state’s Wazir-e- Azam, or Prime Minister and the J&K state was permitted to have its own flag.
The supreme dominance of the Kashmir Valley and its Muslims over Jammu & Kashmir state had begun. The suppression of Jammu and the state’s third region, Ladakh (predominantly Buddhist) had begun.
And the first opposition to this monopoly over the state of J&K was started more than half a century ago. Ironically, it was started by Nehru’s ministerial colleague, Dr Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. The Bengal tiger staked his life in his effort to (i) secure the integration of J&K with the rest of India and (ii) save the Dogras of Jammu from Sheikh Abdullah’s actions that were reportedly described by a former central intelligence chief as a bid at ethnic cleansing.
In a speech at Kanpur on December 29, 1952, Dr Mookerjee had made the grave charge that, “Mr Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah have jointly decided to carry on a ruthless policy of repression in Jammu.” He had referred to “an impression gaining ground that with our blood and money we are carving out a virtually autonomous state for Sheikh Abdullah.” Therefore, he proclaimed, “Jammu and Ladakh must be fully integrated with India according to the wishes of their people.”
Dr Mookerjee categorically stated that while he did not want the partition of J&K, it had become a matter of Hobson’s choice: Kashmir Valley could be made a separate state with all necessary subventions desired by the Sheikh and his advisers, but Jammu and Ladakh must not be sacrificed.
Dr Mookerjee died on June 23, 1953, under suspicious circumstances while under house arrest in an abandoned cottage on a hill outside Srinagar, with no telephone or medical facility within miles, without Nehru meeting him there even once during his 40-day detention. His soul must surely be astir now with talk gaining ground about the revived call for a separate Jammu and a separate Ladakh.
Contrary to the allegations of the pseudo-secularists, this separatist drive and the present anger in Jammu over the Amarnath land are not based on the Hindu-Muslim divide. Instead, it is entirely based on the economic deprivation and political despotism exercised by the Abdullah clan and its kith and kin from Srinagar. The charges against the Kashmir Valley clique are many. Writing in the May 2000 issue of Voice of Jammu Kashmir magazine, J N Bhat, retired judge of the J&K high court, alleged that:
1. Thousands of plots carved out in the suburbs of Jammu have been allotted to Kashmiris, all the beneficiaries belonging to one particular community.2. In some localities of Jammu city, water is supplied after a gap of three to four days, and not even enough of it to quench the thirst of the people. Obviously, funds got for development get misused.3. In the Jammu region, the Hindu minorities of Doda and Poonch districts have been tortured and many of them have found, according to sources, conversion the only option, though they prefer death to forced conversion.
Another eminent person who has made more serious accusations is Hari Om, professor of history in Jammu University, and a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR). In a newspaper article — eight years ago, mind you — the professor complains that:
1. Though Kashmiris constitute roughly 22 per cent of the state’s total population, the delimitation mechanism cleverly devised by Sheikh Abdullah’s National Conference Party in 1951 enables it to capture nearly half of the total assembly and Lok Sabha seats. The trick lies in 46 assembly segments having been created in the small Valley as against 41 segments combined in Jammu and Ladakh regions that are far bigger and more populated than the Valley. This mechanism is apparently contrary to the rules framed under the Indian Parliament’s Representation of People’s Act and those under the relevant State Act of 1957.
2. Kashmiris hold over 2,30,000 positions out of a nearly 2,40,000 positions in government and semi-government organisations in the Valley. In addition, they corner nearly 25 per cent of the jobs in the regional services of Jammu and Ladakh.
3. All the professional and technical institutions, universities and all the big public sector industrial units like HMT, the television, telephone and cement factories located in the Valley are the sole preserve of the Kashmiris. Besides, they manipulate for themselves more than 50 per cent of the seats in Jammu’s ill-equipped and under-staffed medical and engineering college and in the Agricultural University in R S Pura. No such institution exists in Ladakh.
4. The Kashmiris control trade, commerce, transport and industry, and own big orchards as well as landed estates. None of them is without a house. Likewise, the per capita expenditure on woollen clothes in Kashmir is perhaps the highest in the world. Till date, no one in Kashmir has, unlike in UP, Bihar and Orissa, died either of hunger or cold.
5. Interestingly, yet not surprisingly, a vast majority of the Kashmiris don’t pay even a single penny to the state in the form of revenue due to it. It is Jammu and Ladakh that contribute over 90 per cent to the state exchequer, but a major part of this money is spent not in the extremely backward and underdeveloped Jammu and Ladakh but in the highly prosperous and developed Kashmir Valley.
As a result of the above, professor Hari Om says, “It is Kashmiris and Kashmiris everywhere and all others in the state exist nowhere.”
The dismal scenario above has apparently prevailed for so long that even editors of our national daily newspapers refer most casually to J&K merely as “Kashmir”, forgetting the fundamental fact that “J&K” is not Kashmir and that “Kashmir” is not J&K.
Sheikh Abdullah and his National Conference cabal created that scenario with the connivance of Nehru and his Congress dynasty. Today, the Mufti clan has added fuel to the fire. It has all become perpetuated because Pakistan’s cross border terrorism has struck New Delhi with cowardice, denying them the courage to fight against the Kashmiriyat clan for the rights of the meek and the oppressed, the Jammuites and the Ladakhis who too have been demanding freedom from the tyranny of the rulers from the Valley.
The coming months will show whether the Jammuites have finally stopped turning the other cheek. If Jammu’s old political outfit, the Praja Parishad Party, can take re-birth as it were and join hands with the Ladakhis, Buddhists and all, the ongoing Jammu vs Kashmir battle will add another page of history to J&K and India.

media's open secrets

The perilous nexus between the media and political partiesIt would be fair to say that our country is experiencing the greatest media revolution it ever had before since independence. The contemporary media looks like playing safe by associating itself with a particular political ideology or may be they don?t have any option. Personally, I refuse to buy that reason. There is a difference between relationship with politics and relationship with political parties. It is very much legitimate on part of the media to observe objectively the activities of politics and reporting the news and events to the audience without distorting the facts. When I say that the relationship of the media with political parties is dangerous then I mean to imply that the odds and ends are far more precarious than anything else. We talk about self-regulation for almost all business verticals in our country but what about the media which is also an industry and the entities are incorporated with the prime motive to earn profits and not to forget the TRPs? Profit is not a bad word but I still believe that one can stick to social and business values and still run business in profits. It applies to media all the more as it is the mirror of society and carries a greater onus of reporting the truth and facts as they happen. A classic example of how media and political parties can influence each other is as follows: NDTV?s Chairman and President Dr. Prannoy Roy (no offence whatsoever) married Radhika Roy who is Brinda Karat's (Prakash Karat's wife) sister. Brinda and Prakash both are politburo members of the CPI (M). It is rumored that Prannoy Roy's seed capital for NDTV came from the comfy relationship he had with Bhaskar Ghose, then Doordarshan's head honcho. DD was fond of doing business with Roy at the exclusion of other contenders, which fondness Roy exploited to the detriment of DD's revenues but to his own advantage. Rajdeep Sardesai, former test cricketer Dilip Sardesai's son and was an anchor at NDTV, is married to Bhaskar Ghose's daughter Sagarika Ghose who writes columns for the Indian Express. Indian Express' Shekhar Gupta in return hosts a talk show on NDTV. Last but not the least, the stylish and sophisticated Dr. Prannoy Roy was known to be close to Rajiv Gandhi and now Sonia. No wonder that the channel that initially hounded Natwar Singh on the Volcker Scam had raised its doubts on the opposition party?s intention of joining hands with Natwar Singh. Whoever has watched the parliament proceedings (I know most of us don?t waste time watching such a silly drama on TV) on DD will agree that the Speaker is clearly partial towards the government. To my surprise and utter dismay none of the channels condemned or gave an impartial reporting on that issue. Most of the talk shows and debates telecast are finely orchestrated to suit their favorites? (Communists and Congress) interests. The danger is clear. In the garb of sophistication, highly educated image, the image of holding high moral and social values these channels are cleverly selling the ideology of their favorites. They definitely wouldn?t like to be called mouthpieces. Therefore, this veil of intelligence and urbanity is a clever trick. I wonder why these so called ?modern and liberal? channels haven?t highlighted grave issues like illegal immigration from Bangladesh, Kashmiri Pundits? lives as refugees in their own country, criminals in politics, vote bank politics in the name of caste, poor infrastructure etc? The amount of time or space given to these issues is either nil or very less, unless of course something like floods or other natural calamities strike in case of poor infrastructure. The worse thing is that these channels and newspapers do not shy away from covering ?B? grade or ?C? grade actors? wedding ceremonies, Saurav Ganguly?s future in Indian cricket team, how many wives does a popular Bollywood singer has, the divorce drama between former leading Bollywood actress and her husband, vulgarity in a ?C? grade music album etc. No wonder people like Govinda are MPs. This is the kind of peril that media can make happen. I wouldn?t even suggest them to have reality checks or introspection for I?m sure that the kind of people that are in media are highly educated and whatever they are doing is their conscious decision. Will the Indian media ever emerge above these inconsequentiality and nepotism? Save the nation!




































Here are the associations between individuals and organizations that influence Indian politics and discussions in Indian public space.This compilation is possible only because of the information shared by members. Thanks to all who have contributed.Notes:1. Information gathered is from Internet sources, and hence a simple Google search can give you further information or evidence of the association.2. For adding or changing relationships please post a reply with a reference, I will update the first post.3. If an association is wrong, please post a reply with a reference. It will be corrected.Blue color associations were added on May 22nd & 23rd 2009____________________________________________________________________Suzanna Arundhati Roy is niece of Prannoy Roy (CEO of NDTV) Prannoy Roy sits Council on Foreign Relations' International Advisory Board.Mukesh D. Ambani also sits on CFR's International Advisory Board.Mukesh is MD, Reliance Industries Ltd.Prannoy Roy married to Radhika RoyRadhika Roy is sister of Brinda Karat (CPI(M))Brinda Karat married to Prakash Karat (CPI(M) - General Secretary)Prakash was part of debating club in Madras (Chennai).N.Ram, P.Chidambaram & Mythili Shivaraman were part of this group.This group started a magazine "Radical Review".CPI(M)'s senior member of Politburo and Parliamentary Group Leader is Sitaram Yechury.Sitaram Yechury is married to Seema Chisthi.Seema Chisthi is the Resident Editor of Indian ExpressBurkha Dutt works at NDTVPrabha Dutt was mother of Burkha Dutt.Prabha Dutt was a chief reporter for Hindustan Times.Rajdeep Sardesai was Managing Editor at NDTVRajdeep Sardesai married to Sagrika GhoseSagarika Ghose is daughter of Bhaskar Ghose.Bhaskar Ghose was Director General of Doordarshan.Sagarika Ghose's aunt is Ruma Pal.Ruma Pal is former justice of Supreme Court.Sagarika Ghose's another aunt is Arundhati Ghose.Arundhati Ghose was India's permanent representative/ambassador to United Nations.Rajdeep is now Editor-in-Chief at CNN-IBNCNN-IBN is a tie up between GBN (Global Business Network) and Turner International.GBN is a Network 18 company.CNN is one of Turner International's asset.Sagarika also works at CNN-IBN as senior editor and as an anchor.Dilip D'Souza was member of PIPFDDilip D'Souza's father was Joseph Bain D'Souza.J.B.D'Souza was former Maharastra Chief Seccretary and activist.Teesta Setalva member of PIPFDTeesta Setalvad married to Javed AnandTeesta and Javed run Sabrang Communications.Javed Anand is General Secretary of Muslims for Secular Democracy { ?? }Javed Akhtar is spokesperson for Muslims for Secular DemocracyJaved Akhtar married to Shabana AzmiKaran Thapar owns ITVITV produces shows for BBCKaran Thapar's father was General Pran Nath Thapar COAS during 1962 war, when India lost under his watch.Karan Thapar was very good friend of Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari. Benazir Bhutto was Pakistan's Prime Minister.Benazir Bhutto's father was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.Z.A.Bhutto served as Pakistan's President.A.A.Zardar is the current Pakistani's President.Karan Thapar's Mama was married to Nayantara Sahgal.Nayantar Sahgal is daughter of Vijayalakshmi Pandit.Vijayalakshmi Pandit was sister of Jawharlal Nehru.Medha Patkar is a leading spokesperson for Narmada Bacho Andolan.NBA was helped by Patrick McCully of International Rivers (formerly Internal Rivers Network.)Angana Chatterjee was on the board of IRNDipti Bhatnagar was an Intern/Volunteer at IRN.Dipti Bhatnagar is an activist at NBA.Dr. Angana Chatterjee part of PROXSAPROXSA mother-ship of FOILASHA endorsed by FOILSandeep Pandey co-founder of Asha for education (ASHA)Dr. Angana Chatterjee is married to Richard ShapiroRichard Shapiro is Director and Associate Professor of the Grad. Anthropology Prgm at CIISShubh Mathur co-wrote a letter with Angana on 'Humanitarian Crisis in J&K'Biju Matthew is co-founder of FOIL.Vijay Prasad is co-founder of FOIL.Vijay Prasa co-authored with Angana Chatterjee and wrote against IDRF.ASHA has association with AIDAID works with FOSAFOSA started by a Pakistani - Ali Hasan Cemendtaur.Amitava Kumar associated with FOILFOIL & FOSA opposed California Text Book Edits.California Text Book Edits was opposed by Michael Witzel.M.Witzel is Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University.Rahul Bose is brother-in-law of Khalid Ansari.Khalid Ansari is the Chairman of Mid-Day Group of Publication based in Mumbai.Khalid Ansari is Chairman of M.C.Media Ltd.M.C.Media Ltd. has a join-venture with BBC for FM radio brodcasting.Khalid Ansari's father was Abdul Hameed Ansari.A.H.Ansari was a freedom fighter and active Congressman.Dr.John Dayal worked as a journalist with the N.Delhi edition of Mid-Day.Narasimhan Ram is the Editor-in-Chief of 'The Hindu'.N.Ram was part of a CPI(M) debating club along with Prakash KaratN.Ram's first wife was Susan.Susan, an Irish, was in charge of Oxford University Press publications in India.N.Ram and Susan's daughter is Vidya Ram.Vidya Ram is a journalist.N.Ram is now married to Mariam.N.Ram, Jennifer Arul and K.M.Roy participated in closed door Catholic Bishops Conference of India in Thrissur, Kerala.Jennifer Arul is the Resident Editor and Bureau Chief in South India for NDTV.Jennifer Arul is Chief Operating Office for Astro Awani - Indonesian news and information channel.K.M.Roy was a reporter in �The Hindu�K.M.Roy is the General Editor of the group of the �Mangalam� Publications.Mangalam Group of Publications was started by M.C.VargheseK.M.Roy received the �All India Catholic Union Lifetime Award�All India Catholic Union�s National Vice President is Dr.John Dayal.Dr.John Dayal is also Secretary General of All India Christian Council (AICC)AICC�s President is Dr. Joseph D�souzaDr. Joseph D�souza founded Dalit Freedom Network (USA)Dr.Joseph D�Souza participated in the inaugural Religious Freedom DayThe Religious Freedom Day was attended by former Republican Sentor Rick SantorumAICC claims Confederation of SC/ST Organizations (India) as a sister organization.AICC claims Christian Solidarity Worldwide (UK) as a sister organization.AICC claims Release International (UK) as a sister organization.Release International states it supplies bibles and literature to meet the need of growth and evangelism.Dalit Freedom Network�s partner�s with Operation Mobilization India.OM India�s South India Regional Director is Kumar SwamyKumar Swamy is the State President of Communal Harmony Committee.Kumar Swamy serves with Karnataka State Human Rights Commission.OM India�s North India Regional Director is Moses Parmar.Moses Parmar serves as North India Public Relations officer of the All India Christian Council (AICC)OM seeks to plant and strengthen churches in areas of the world where Christ is least known.OM ministries work with Dalit-Bahujan people in India.Operation Mercy Charitable Company (OMCC) grew out of OM IndiaOMCC works with Dalit Freedom Network.DFN has Dr. Kancha Illaiah on its Advisory Board.Dr. Kancha Illaiah is a Professor in Osmania University, Hyderbad.DFN has William Armstrong on its Advisory Board.William Armstrong is a former US Senator from Colarado (Republican).William Armstrong is currently the President of Colorado Christian University.Colorado Christian University�s one of the strategic objective is to share the love of Christ around the World.DFN has Udit Raj on its Advisory Board.Udit Raj claims Joseph Pitts as a great friend of India.Joseph Pitts is a Republican US Congressman from Pennsylvannia.Joseph Pitts sent a letter to Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State �USA, requesting USA to deny visa to N.Modi.Joseph Pitts has led a Congressional delegation to Pakistan & India.Joseph Pitts is Founder and Co-Chairman of the �Kashmir Forum�.Joseph Pitts along with Congressman John Conyers introduced legislation condemning actions of N.Modi.John Conyers is Congressman from Michigan�s 14th congressional district.The 14th district contains Dearbon, a major city.Dearbon has the largest Arab Americans for a city of its size.Udit Raj is member of National Integration Council, Government of India.Udit Raj is National Chairman of Buddha Education Foundation.Udit Raj is National Chairman of All India Confederation of SC/ST Organizations.Udit Raj leads Dalit International FoundationUdit Raj leads Lord Buddha Club.Udit Raj was part of an international Steering Committee on KashmirMajid Tramboo promoted the Steering Committee.DFN has Baroness Caroline Cox on its Advisory Board.Baroness Caroline Cox is Deputy Speaker, House of Lords, England.Suhasini Haidar is daughter of Subramanian SwamySuhasini Haidar is daughter-in-law of Salman Haidar Salman retired as Foreign Secretary in 1996.Salman was later appointed as High Commissioner to the UK.Salman was also India's ambassador to China.Salman has written weekly columns for "The Statesman".Salman was Minister/Deputy permanent representation of India at UN.Salman directed South Asian Political Initiative, a Ford Foundation funded project.Nadira Alvi married V S NaipaulNadira Alvi, a journalist, is sister of recently assassinated Maj Gen Amir Faisal Alvi, the ex-chief of Pakistan's elite SSG�Resalat� is a Tehran-based Persian daily.�Ettela�at� is another Tehran-based Persian daily.�Resallat� and �Ettela�at�signed MoU with �Siyasat� and �Munif�Siyasat and Munif are Hyderbad, Andhra Pradesh based dailies.Toseeh is another Persian daily.Toseeh has tied up with Vaarta.Vaarta is one of the dailies from A.G.A.Publications Pvt Ltd.A.G.A Publications Pvt Ltd is one of the companies in Sanghi GroupSanghi Group was co-promoted by Gireesh Sanghi with his brothers.Gireesh Sanghi is Congress M.P, Rajaya SabhaGireesh Sanghi is All India Vaish Federation National President.Mahendra Mohan Gupta is on the Advisory Board of AIVFMahendra Mohan Gupta is Chairman of Dainik Jagran GroupRamoji Group is headed by Ramoji RaoRamoji Rao is Founder & Chairman of EenaduEenadu is the largest Telugu news daily in Andhra Pradesh.Ramoji Group also owns ETV Network.ETV Network produces content in Telugu, Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati, Urdu & Hindi.Ramoji is reported to be close to Chandra Babu Naidu and supported of Telugu Desam Party.Ushodaya Enterprises Pvt. Ltd�s parent company is Ramoji Group.Blackstone Group is reported to have invested Rs600 crore in UEL.Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd brings out The Deccan Chronicle newspaper.DCHL also brings out �Andhra Bhoomi� a telugu newspaper.DCHL also brings out �Asian Age�.DCHL became a publishing parter of �The New York Times�.DCHL began publishing �The International Herald Tribune�T.Venkatram Reddy is the Chairman of DCHL.T.Venkatram Reddy is fromer MP, Rajhya Sabha from Congress.M.J.Akbar was Editor-in-Chief of Deccan Chronicle and Asian Age.M.J.Akbar is Founder and Chairman of the fortnightly the Covert.M.J. Akbar worked at �Times of India�, �Sunday� & �The Telegraph�M.J.Akbar was an Congress MLA from 1989 to 1991.M.J.Akbar joined The Brookings Institution, Washington in 2006, as a Visiting Fellow on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World.M.J.Akbar was a member of the �Forum of Islamic Scholars and Intellectual� held in Makkha al-Mukaramma in 2005.M.J.Akbar�s wife is Mallika Joseph.Mallika Joseph worked at Times of India.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.YSR Reddy is from the Congress party (INC).YSR Reddy�s father, Raja Reddy, setup a degree college and a Polytechnic in Pulivendula.YSR Reddy has said that his one year study at Andhra Loyola College (ALC), a Jesuit institution, influenced him so much that he handed over the Pulivendula colleges to the Loyola Group.The YS family has established several educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh.YSR Reddy�s daughter is Sharmila.Sharmila married Anil Kumar, Anil Kumar converted to Christianity after the marriage.Anil Kumar set up �Anil World Evangelism� and is an active Evangelist.YSR Reddy�s son is YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.YS Jagan is a youth Congress Leader.YS Jagan is Chairman of Jagati Publications Pvt. Ltd.Bhumna Karunakara Reddy is close to YSR Reddy.Karunakara Reddy is the Chairman of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.JPPL publishes the newspaper Sakshi.Chandra Babu Naidu has claimed that Lanco group was forced to invest in JPPL.L. Sridhar is alleged to have made the investment from Lanco Group.L Sridhar is Lanco Infratech�s Vice ChairmanL Sridhar�s brother is L.Rajagopal.L.Rajagopal joined Congress in 2003.L Rajagopal is the son-in-law of P.Upendra.P.Upendra is a former Minister from Congress.Lanco Group�s Chairman is L. RajagopalAndhra Prabha is a telugu newspaper started in 1938.Andhra Prabha is owned by The New Indian Express Group.Andhra Jyothi is a telugu newspaper.Andhra Jyothi�s Managing Director is Vemuri Radhakrishna.SUN TV Network is owned by Kalanidhi Maran.Kalanidhi Maran is the Chairman & Managing Director of SUN TV Network.SUN TV network owns: Sun TV, Gemini TV, Teja TV, Surya TV, Kiran TV, Udaya TV, Surjo TV among other channels.Kalanidhi Maran owns the tamil daily �Dinakaran�.Dinakaran was started by a former DMK Minister K.P.Kandasamy.Kalanidhi Maran�s brother is Dayanidhi Maran.Dayanidhi Maran was Minister of Communications and IT in the UPA government.Kalanidhi Maran�s father was Murasoli Maran.Murasoli Maran was a Union Minister from the DMK party.Murasoli Maran edited a tamil daily �Murasoli�.Murasoli Maran was an editor to �The Rising Sun� a English weekly.Murasoli Maran as a publisher published the following tamil magazines: Kungumam, Muththaram, Vannathirai & Sumangali.Murasoli Maran�s uncle is M.Karunanidhi.M.Karunanidhi is Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, from the DMK party.M.Karunanidhi launched Kalaignar TV in 2007.M.K.Azhagiri owns Kalaignar TV.M.K.Azhagiri is M.Karunanidhi�s son.M.K.Stalin is another son of the M.Karunanidhi..M.K.Stalin was named after Joseph Stalin.Joseph Stalin was the authoritarian leader of the Soviet Union.M.K.Stalin is the Minister for Rural Development and Local Administration in Tamil Nadu.Kanimozhi is one of the daughters of M.Karunanidhi.Kanimozhi was a sub-editor for the �The Hindu�.Kanimohi was Editor in Charge of �Kungumam� a tamil weekly.Kanimozhi became a Rajya Sabha member in 2007.Kanimozhi conducted programs in SUN TV and Vijay TV.Kanimozhi�s second husband G.Aravindan is Singapore based Tamil literary figure.Dina Thanthi a tamil daily was founded bu Si.Pa.Aditanar.Aditanar�s second son is Sivanthi Athithan.Sivanthi Athithan owns Dina Thanthi.Aditanar had launced the tamil evening daily �Malai Murasu�.Aditanar set up Malar Publications Ltd.Malar Publications Ltd. Brings out the tamil evening newspaper Malai Malar.Balasubramanian Adityan son of Sivanthi Athithan managers Malar Publications Ltd.B.Adityan set up �Air Media Network Pvt Ltd� (AMN)AMN is into cable distribution, content productions and broadcasting.AMN owns AMN TVAMN has produced content for FM radio, All India Radio, Doordarshan, Vijay TV.Dina Mani is a tamil newspaper.Dina Mani is owned by The New Indian Express Group. (NIEG)NIEG owns Kannadaprabha, Andhraprabha, Malaylamvarikha, Indiavarta and Expressbuzz.NIEG also owns Cinemaexpress & TamilanexpressSTAR Vijay TV is a tamil TV channel.Vijay TV is owned by STAR TVSTAR TV is owned by News Corporation based in Hong Kong.News Corporation is owned by Rupert Murdoch.Fox Entertainment Group is a subsidiary of News Corporation.FEG owns Fox News Channel, in USA.Fox News is a conservative, pro-church Republican Party channel in USNews Corporation owns the The Wall Street JournalJaya TV is a tamil TV channel.Jaya TV is owned by Jaya Network.Jaya Network is owned by J.JayalalithaJayalalitha was the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (AIADMK party)Makkal TV is owned by Makkal TholaikatchiAct Now for Harmony and Democracy�s (ANHAD) Founding and Managing Trustee is Shabnam HashmiShabnam�s father was a freedom fighter.Shabnam went to USSR on a cultural exchange scholarship for six years.Shabham is married to Gauhar Raza.KN Panikkar is a Founding trustee of ANHADPanikkar is an Indian Marxist Historian.Panikkar was the Vice Chancellor of Sree Sankarcharya Sanskrit University, Kalady, Kerala.Panikkar received Homi Bhabha Senior Fellowship.Panikkar was awarded Padma Bhushan.Harsh Mander is a Founding trustee of ANHADHarsh Mander is a Human Rights activist, author and was in the IAS.Harsh Mander was close to Ajit JogiHarsh Mander, born into Sikh faith, was in-charge of the relief camps in Indore during the 1984 riots.Harsh Mander served as Managing Director of SC/ST Finance Corporation.Harsh Mander was the Director of ActionAid India.Ajit Jogi was the Chief Minister of Chhatisgarh.Ajit Jogi is from the Congress party (INC).It is claimed that after Ajit Jogi, a tribal Christian became the CM the rate of Christian conversions has gone up.Harsh Mander received the 2002 �Rev. M.A.Thomas National Human Rights Award�Rev M.A.Thomas National Human Rights Award was awarded by �Vigil India Movement.Shubha Mudgal is a trustee of ANHADShubha�s parents Skand and Jaya Gupta were professors of English literature at Allahabad University.Shubha�s grand-father Prof. P.C.Gupta was also a professor at Allahabad University.Shubha�s first husband was Justice Mukul Mudgal of Delhi High Court.Shubha is currently married to Aneesh Pradan, a tabla player.Shubha received Padma Shri.Shubha has received several awards in the field of music.Kamla Bhasin is a trustee of ANHADKamla is an Indian feminist.Kamla was a lecturer in the Orientation Centre of the German Foundation for Developing Countries, Bad Honnef, West Germany.Kamla was the Development Secretary of Seva Mandir, Udaipur.Saeed Akhtar Mirza is a trustee of ANHADSaeed Mirza is a writer and director in Hindi films and television.Saeed Mirza�s father is Akhtar MirzaAkhtar Mirza was a noted film script writer.Asianet Communications Limited (ACL) has a majority stake in Asianet TV.ACL is owned by Jupiter Entertainment Ventures Limited (JEVL).JEVL is a subsidiary of Jupiter Capitals Ltd.The other media outlets of ACL are: Asianet News, Asianet Plus, Best FM 95, Asianet Suvarana, Suvarna News, Asianet Sitara and Sitara News.Rajeev Chandrasekhar is the Chairman & Editor-in-chief.Rajeev Chandrasekar entered Rajya Sabha in 2006.Rajeev Chandrasekar�s uncle is M.K.NarayananM.K.Narayanan is National Security AdvisorM.K.Narayanan headed the Intelligence Bureau from 1987 to 1990.Malayalam daily, Mathrubhumi, is owned by M P VirendrakumarVirendrakumar is a MP through Janata Dal (Secular), from KeralaIn Kerala, Deva Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular) party is a constituent of Left Democratic FrontLatest Editor of Mathrubhumi is Kesava MenonKesava Menon was the Associate Editor of The Hindu before taking up this positionShashi Tharoor is an Indian Diplomat.Shashi is the son of late Chandran Tharoor.Chandran was a journalist working for Amrita Bazar Patrika of Calcutta.Chandran headed "The Statesman" in 1959.Shashi Tharoor is going to contest as INC (Congress) candidate in 2009.Ishaan and Kanishk are twin sons of Shashi.Ishaan lives in Hong Kong and works for "Time" magazine.Kanishk lives in London and works for "OpenDemocracy".Shobha Tharoor Srinivasan is a sister of Shashi.Smita Tharoor is another sister of Shashi.Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan is daughter of Shobha.Ragini is the editor of "India Currents".Shobha writes in "India Currents"India Currents is an Indian American monthly.Shashi's first wife was Tilottama Mukherji from Kolkata.Tilottama was/is a journalist and scholar.Sahshi's second wife is Christ Giles, a Canadian.Christa is Deputy Secretary of the United Nations Disarmament Commission.Mukundan Unni was Shashi's maternal uncle.Tharoor Parameswar was Chandran Tharoor's elder brother.Parameswar was the founder publisher of the Indian edition of "Reader's Digest".Param resurrected & presided the Advertising Club of Bombay.Param was also the Advertising Manager of Amrita Bazar Patrika.Shobhana Bhartia is the Chairperson and Editorial Director of Hindustan Times groupShobhana is the daughter of KK Birla; grand daughter of GD Birla.KK Birla joined INC (Congress) party in 1984.KK Birla was later elected Rajya Sabha member in 1984.Shobhana is married to Shyam Sunder BhartiaShyam is the Chariman of Jubliant Organosys Ltd, a Pharma companyShyam is the son of late Mohan Lal Bhartia.Shamit Bhartia and Priyavrat Bhartia are their sonsShamit is a Director at the Hindustan Times group.Shobhana was nominated for Rajya Sabha in 2006.Shobhana is politically affiliated to INC (Congress).She was nominated by UPA headed by Sonia Gandhi.Shobhana was a 2005 Padma Shree award. This was after UPA formed the government in 2004.Priyavrat is a Director at the Hindustan Times group.Shamit heads franchises of Dominoes Pizza and Hot Breads.Shamit also looks after the chain store �Monday to Sunday�Shobhana is a close family friend of Scindias.Late Madhavrao Scindia was a Minister from the INC (Congress) party.Jyotiraditya Scindia is Madhavrao�s son.Jyotiraditya is a MP from the INC (Congress) party.Karan Thapar writes a weekly column in Hindustan Times.Vir Sanghvi writes two columns �Counter Point� and �Rude Food�Barkha Dutt writes the column �Third Eye�Sonal Kalra is a editor of HT City a supplement of Hindustan Times and writes a column.- Joseph Bain D'Souza was CEO of a housing project in which Mrinal Gore, PB Samant and Suresh Narvekar were trustees.- N. Ram was a founder of Students Federation of India, CPI(M)'s student wing.- N. Ram's niece is married to Dayanidhi Maran.- Joseph D'Souza is the head of All India Christian Council.- Dalit Freedom Network operates out of a church in Colorado. Melody Divine is part of DFN and Melody Divine works for Arizona Congressman Trent Franks.- Joseph D'Souza is listed in Pat Robertson's 700 club, a group for fundamentalist Christians.- Dalit Freedom Network is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.-Admin (came via email

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Wednesday, July 7, 2010

sonia gandhi: dark secrets

INTRODUCTION
Patriotic Indians should thank the President of India for having the courage, by citing a legal hitch, to dissuade Ms. Sonia Gandhi from staking her claim to form the government on May 17th this year. She therefore, despite all the contrived media hype, did not, and could not, become the Prime Minister of 1 billion plus people of India. It can now be said that Bharat Mata has been saved from a monumental, devastating, and permanent injury to her national interest and to the patriotic psyche of Indians. Therefore, it should be the resolve of every Indian to make any and every effort that can be made in a democracy, to ensure that Ms. Sonia Gandhi is kept permanently out of reckoning for any public office. For those who instinctively understand that imperative, this Note has been written to explain the factual basis for this rational determination, and suggest what patriotic Indians can do now to implement that democratic and patriotic resolution.My opposition to Ms. Sonia Gandhi is not merely because she is Italian---born, although that by itself is a major issue. In other democratic countries, including in Italy, such an issue [of foreign-born aspiring to be head of government]would not even arise at all because the issue has already been settled by incorporating into law that a person cannot hold the highest public office unless he or she is native born. In India there is no such law but the President, according my knowledge, has correctly acted on a proviso to Section 5 of the Indian Citizenship Act[1955] which requires the Union Home Ministry to lay down conditions to Indian citizenship acquired by foreigners by registration, condition based on the principle of reciprocity [see annexure 1 & 2]. In Ms Gandhis case, such of those conditions that apply to Indians on becoming citizens of Italy, would apply to her. The President reportedly had communicated to Ms. Gandhi on the afternoon of May 17, 2004, that if she insisted on being invited to form the government, he would want first to clarify, on a reference to the Supreme Court, whether in view of this proviso her appointment as PM could be successfully challenged in the court. It is fair to assume that this report of the Presidents decision is correct, since the President had before him my petition dated May 15, 2004 [see Annexure-3] making just that point--- that Ms. Gandhis citizenship is conditional, and in particular she cannot be the PM legally. The President had also given me an appointment at 12.45 PM on May 17, 2004 to explain my submissions in person, which I did. I also told him that I would challenge such a unconstitutional appointment in the Supreme Court just as I had in 2001 when Ms Jayalalitha was illegally sworn in as Chief Minister by the Tamil Nadu Governor. In that case, the Supreme Court had after hearing me and many other constitutional luminaries, upheld my contention that mere majority in the House is insufficient for being sworn in to a constitutional office, and that the constitutional appointing authority must ensure that there are no disqualifications as well. Ms. Jayalalitha had therefore to step down because she had been disqualified by her conviction in a trial court in the TANSI corruption case [filed by me as a private complaint]. She was subsequently acquitted by the Madras High Court, and hence became eligible the following year. I also cited to the President a 1962 Allahabad High Court case which held that this proviso in the Citizenship Act was binding and lawful.The nation by the stalling of Sonia becoming Prime Minister of India, has thus got an unexpected but temporary reprieve, a reprieve received not only because her citizenship of India by registration is not equal to one by birth even by Indian law, but a reprieve more because of the national security risk that was averted. To comprehend that risk, we must however first understand who Sonia Gandhi really is and what kind of danger she, her family and her friends in Italy, hold for Indias national security. Very little is known about the Mainos murky past, and the little that we are told about Sonia are lies. In other words, Indians do not know who Sonia really is or what she represents [see Annexure-4].Even for an Indian born citizen, we find it difficult to know a persons true background, but for a foreign-born it is extremely hard because of the remoteness of the place and the language barrier for most people, in this case---Italian. This note is thus an aide dmemoir of certain verifiable facts that taken together constitute the danger that Sonia Gandhi represents for the nation. And that is the real Sonia and what she represents.THREE LIESMs. Sonia Gandhis background as publicized by her and her Congress Party is based on three lies in order to hide the ugly reality of her life. First, her real name is Antonia not Sonia. This was revealed by the Italian Ambassador in New Delhi in a letter dated April 27, 1983 [see Annexure-5] to the Union Home Ministry which letter has not been made public. Antonia is Sonias real name as stated in her birth certificate.Sonia is the name given to her subsequently by her father, Stefano Maino [now deceased]. He had been a prisoner of war in Russia during World War II. Stefano had joined the Nazi army as a volunteer, as many Italian fascists had done. Sonia is a Russian not Italian name. While spending two years in a Russian jail, Sonias father had become quite pro-Soviet, especially after the liberating US army in Italy had confiscated all fascists properties including his. Second, Sonia was not born in Orbassano as she claims in her bio data submitted to Parliament on becoming MP, but in Luciana as stated in her birth certificate. She perhaps would like to hide the place of her birth because of her fathers connection with the Nazis and Mussolinis Fascists, and her familys continuing connections with the Nazi-Fascists underground that is still surviving in Italy since the end of the War. Luciana is where Nazi-Fascist network is headquartered, and is on the Italian-Swiss border. There can be no other explanation for this otherwise meaningless lie.Third, Sonia Gandhi has not studied beyond High School. But she has falsely claimed in her sworn affidavit [see Annexure-6] filed as a contesting candidate before the Rae Bareli Returning Officer in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, that she qualified and got a diploma in English from the prestigious University of Cambridge, UK. Earlier, in 1999 in her biographical data given under her signature to the Lok Sabha Secretariat and which was published in Parliaments Whos Who, she had made the same false claim [see Annexure-7]. But later she wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, after I had pointed it out to him in a written complaint of a Breach of Ethics of the Lok Sabha, that it was a typing mistake. This qualifies her for inclusion thus in the the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest typing mistake in history.The truth is that Ms. Gandhi has never studied in any college anywhere. She did go to a Catholic nun--run seminary school called Maria Ausiliatrice in Giaveno [15 kms from her adopted home town of Orbassabo]. Poverty those days had forced young Italian girls to go to such missionaries and then in their teens go to UK to get jobs as cleaning maids, waitresses and au pair. The Mainos were poor those days. Sonias father was a mason and mother a share cropper [now the family is worth at least $ 2 billion: (see Annexure-10)]. Sonia thus went to the town of Cambridge UK and first learnt some English in a teaching shop called Lennox School [which has since 1990 been wound up]. That is her education--- enough English language to get domestic help jobs. But since in Indian society, education is socially highly valued, thus to fool the Indian public, Sonia Gandhi wilfully lied about her qualifications in Parliamentary records [which is a Breach of Ethics Rules] and in a sworn affidavit [which is criminal offence under IPC, severe enough to disqualify her from being MP]. This also violated the spirit of the Supreme Court judgment requiring candidates to reveal their educational qualification on an affidavit [see Annexure-8]. These three lies indicate that Ms. Sonia Gandhi has something to hide, or has a hidden agenda for India to brazenly fool Indians for some ulterior purpose. We therefore need to find out more about her.SONIA'S INTRODUCTION INTO INDIAMs. Sonia Gandhi upon learning enough English, became a waitress in Varsity Restaurant in Cambridge town. She first met Rajiv when he came to the restaurant in 1965. Rajiv was a student in the University, but could not cope with the academic rigour for long. So he had to depart in 1966 for London where he was briefly in Imperial College of Engineering as a student. Sonia too moved to London, and according my information, got a job with an outfit run by Salman Thassir, a debonair Pakistani based in Lahore, and who has a export-import company headquartered in Dubai but who spends most of his time in London. This fits the profile of a ISI functionary. Obviously, Sonia made enough money in this job to loan Rajiv funds in London, who was living beyond his allowances [Indira herself had expressed anguish to me on this score in late 1965 when I was a young Harvard professor of economics. She had invited me to a private tea at the Guest House in Brandeis University where she was staying]. Rajivs letters to Sanjay filed in Delhi High Court by P.N. Lekhi [see Annexure-9] clearly indicate that he was in financial debt to Sonia because he requested Sanjay also in UK then, and who obviously had more access to money, to pay off the debt. However, Rajiv was not the only friend Sonia was seeing those days. Madhavrao Scindia and a German by name Stiegler are worth mentioning as other good friends of Sonia. Madhavraos friendship continued even after Sonias marriage to Rajiv. Scindia in 1982 was involved in a traffic accident near IIT, Delhi main gate while driving a car at 2 AM. Sonia was the only other passenger. Both were badly injured. A student of IIT who was burning midnight oil was out for a cup of coffee. He picked them up from the car, hailed an auto rickshaw and sent an injured Sonia to Mrs Indira Gandhis house since she insisted in not going to a hospital. Madhavrao had broken a leg and in too much pain to make any demand. He was taken to hospital by the Delhi Police who had arrived a little after Sonia had left the scene. In later years, Madhavrao had become privately critical of Sonia, and told some close friends about his apprehensions about her. It is a pity that he died in mysterious circumstances in an as yet uninvestigated aircrash of his private plane in the year 2001. Mani Shankar Aiyar and Shiela Dikshit were to be on that flight too, but were asked to stay behind at the last moment. The circumstance under which Rajiv hastily married Sonia in a Church in Orbassano is controversial, but that was his personal matter which has no public significance. What however is of public significance is that Indira Gandhi who was initially dead set against the marriage for reasons known to her, relented to hold a registry marriage with Hindu ceremonial trappings in New Delhi only after the pro-Soviet T.N. Kaul prevailed upon her to accept the marriage in the larger interest of cementing Indo-Soviet Friendship. Kaul would not have intervened unless the Soviet Union had not asked him to.SONIA'S KGB CONNECTIONSSuch has been the patronage from the beginning extended to Sonia Gandhi and her Italian family from the Soviets. When a Prime Minister of Indias son dates a girl in London, the KGB which valued Indo-Soviet relations, would naturally investigate her. They had, and found out that she was the daughter of Stefano, their old reliable Italian contact. Thus, Sonia married to Rajiv, meant deep access for the Soviets, into the household of the Indian Prime Minister. Hence cementing the Rajiv-Sonia relations was in the Soviet national interest and they went to work on it. And they did, through their moles in the Indira Gandhi camp. After her marriage to Rajiv, the Soviet connection with the Mainos was fortified and nurtured by generous financial help through commissions and kick-backs on every IndoSoviet trade deal and defence purchases. According to the respected Swiss magazine, Schweitzer Illustrate [November 1991 issue; see Annexure-10] Rajiv Gandhi had about $2 billion in numbered Swiss bank accountswhich Sonia inherited upon his assassination.Dr. Yevgenia Albats, Ph.D[Harvard], is a noted Russian scholar and journalist, and was a member of the KGB Commission set up by President Yeltsin in August 1991. She was privy to the Soviet intelligence files that documented these deals and KGB facilitation of the same. In her bookThe State Within a State: The KGB in the Soviet Union, she even gives the reference numbers of such intelligence files [see Annexure-11] which can now be accessed by any Indian government through a formal request to the Kremlin. The Russian Government in 1992 was confronted with the Albats disclosure by the media. The official spokesperson of the government confirmed the veracity of the disclosure [which was published in Hindu in 1992; see Annexure-12]. The spokesperson defended such financial payments as necessary in Soviet ideological interest. Part of the funds were used by the Maino family to fund loyal Congress party candidates in the General Elections [see Annexure-13]. When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, things changed for Ms. Sonia Gandhi. Her patron nation had been disbanded into 16 countries. The rump that became Russia was in a financial mess and disorder. So, Ms. Sonia Gandhi switched and became a supporter of another communist country much to the annoyance of the Russians.The national security ramification of this annoyance is now significant: The President of Russia today is Putin, a former dyed-in-the-wool KGB officer. Upon Dr. Manmohan Singhs government taking office, Russia called back its career diplomat Ambassador in New Delhi and immediately posted in his place, as the new Ambassador, a person who was the KGB station chief in New Delhi during the 1970s. In view of Dr. Albats revelation, it stands to reason that the new Ambassador would have known first hand about Sonias connections with the KGB. He may have in fact been her controller and local contact. The new Indian government today which is defacto Sonias, cannot afford to annoy him or even disregard Russian demands that come from him. The Sonia coterie will obviously seek to placate him so as not to risk exposure. Is this not a major national security risk for India and a delicate matter for the nations sovereignty? Of course, all Indians would like good normal and healthy relations with Russia. Who can forget their assistance to us in times of need? Todays Russia is the residual legatee of that Soviet Union which helped India. But just because of that, should we tolerate those in our government set up having clandestine links with a foreign spy agency? In the United States, the government did not tolerate an American spying for Israel even though the two countries are as close as any two countries can be. National security and friendship are as different as chalk and cheese.In December 2001, I had filed a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court with the photocopies of the KGB documents, and sought a CBI investigation which the Vajpayee Government was stoutly refusing. Earlier, Minister of State for CBI, Vasundara Raje[now Rajasthan CM], on my letter dated March 3, 2001, had ordered the CBI to investigate. But after Sonia Gandhi and her party stalled the proceedings of Parliament on this issue, the then Prime Minister Vajpayee overruled and cancelled Vasundaras direction to the CBI.The Delhi High Court in May 2002 issued a direction to the CBI to ascertain from Russia the truth of my charges. The CBI procrastinated for two years, and finally told the Court that without an FIR registered, the Russians will not entertain any such query. But who stopped the CBI from registering an FIR? The Vajpayee government! And why? Thereby hangs another tale. The next hearing of the case is imminent. But now Sonia is in the drivers seat, and the CBI has been reduced in independence even further.SONIA'S CONTEMPT FOR LAWS OF INDIAAfter Sonia married Rajiv, she and her Italian family aided by friend and Snam Progettis New Delhi resident Ottavio Quattrocchi, went about minting money with scant regard for Indian laws and treasures. Within a few years the Mainos rose from utter poverty to become billionaires [see Annexure-14]. There was no area that was left out for the rip-off. On November 19, 1974, as fresh entrant to Parliament, I had asked the then Prime Minister Ms. Indira Gandhi on the floor of the House if her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi, was acting as an insurance agent of a public sector insurance company[Oriental Fire&Insurance], giving the Prime Ministers official residence as her business address, and using undue influence to get insured the officers of the PMO, while remaining as an Italian citizen[thus violating FERA]. There was an uproar in Parliament, but Mrs. Indira Gandhi had no alternative but to cut her losses. She made a rare admission in a written reply a few days later that it indeed was so, and that it was by mistake, but that Sonia had resigned from her insurance agency[after my question]. But Sonia was incorrigible. Her contempt for Indian law continued to manifest. The Supreme Court Justice A.C. Gupta Commission set up by the Janata Party government in 1977 came out with a voluminous report on the Maruti Company then owned by the Gandhi family, and has listed eight violations of FERA, Companies Act, and Foreigners Registration Act by Sonia Gandhi. She was never prosecuted, but can still be prosecuted because under Indian law, economic crimes are not subject to the statute of limitation. In January 1980, Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister. The first thing Sonia did was to enroll herself as a voter. This was a gross violation of the law, enough to cause cancellation of her visa [since she was admittedly an Italian citizen then]. There was some hullabaloo in the press about it, so the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer got her name deleted in 1982. But in January 1983, she again enrolled herself as a voter even while as a foreigner [she first applied for citizenship in April 1983] (see Annexure-15). More recently, A.G. Noorani is his book: Citizens Rights, Judges, and State Accountability records [page 318] that Ms. Sonia Gandhi had made available to a foreign national the secret papers of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru obviously illegally in her possession, and comments as follows:Sonia Gandhi has no right to hold them in her possession at all, let alone decide whom to accord permission for access to themSuch is her revealed disdain for Indian laws and that is her mindset even today. She suffers from a neo-imperialist mentality.SONIA GANDHI IS THE MODERN ROBERT CLIVEThe bottom line observed in Sonias mindset is that she can disregard Indian laws with impunity. If cornered or if she becomes vulnerable to prosecution, she can always run back to Italy. In Peru, President Fujimori who all along claimed to be born Peruvian, when faced with a corruption charge fled to Japan with his loot and reclaimed his Japanese citizenship. That is Sonias bottom line fall-back option too. In 1977, when the Janata Party defeated the Congress at the polls, and formed the government, it widely known and published that Sonia with her two children abandoned Indira Gandhi, and ran to the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and hid there. Rajiv Gandhi was a government servant then[as an Indian Airlines pilot], but he too tagged along and hid in that foreign embassy ! Such was her baneful influence on him. Rajiv did snap out Sonias influence after 1989, but alas he was assassinated before he could rectify the situation. Those close to Rajiv knew that he was planning set things right about Sonia after the 1991 elections. He held her to blame for all the financial scandals that led to his defeat at the 1989 polls. She knew of it too because he had told her on his trip to Soviet Union in February 1991. Ever wonder why Sonias closest advisers are those whom Rajiv literally hated? Ambika Soni is one such name. Ever wonder why she has asked the President of India to set aside on a mercy petition the Supreme Court judgment directing that Rajiv Gandhis LTTE killers be hanged, when she was not similiarly moved for Satwant Singh who killed Indira Gandhi or even recently for Dhanajoy Chattopadhyaya ? The explanation for this special consideration for the LTTE perhaps lies in what Rajiv had told her about their future. May be therefore Sonia feels obliged to the LTTE for the assassination. More on this later.Those who have no love for India will not hesitate to plunder her treasures. Mohammed Ghori, Nadir Shah, and the British scum in the East India Company such as Robert Clive, made no secret of it. But Sonia Gandhi has been more discreet, but as greedy, in her looting of Indian treasures. When Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were Prime Ministers, not a day passed when the PMs security did not go to the New Delhi, or Chennai international airport to send crates and crates of Indian antiques and other treasures, unchecked by customs, to Rome. Air India and Alitalia were the chosen carriers. For organizing all this, Mr. Arjun Singh first as CM, later as Union Minister in charge of Culture, was her hatchet man.Indian temple sculpture of gods and goddesses, antiques, pichwai paintings, shatoosh shawls, coins, and you name it, were transported to Italy to be first displayed in two shops [see Annexure-16] owned by her sister, Anuskha alias Alessandra Maino Vinci. These shops located in blue-collar areas of Rivolta[shop name: Etnica] and Orbassano [shop name: Ganpati] did little business because which blue collar Italian wants to buy Indian antiques ? The shops were there to make false bills, and thereafter these treasures were taken to London for auction by Sothebys and Christies. Some of this ill-gotten money from auction went into the bank accounts of Rahul Gandhi in the National Westminister Bank and Hongkong & Shanghai Bank, London branches, but most of it found its way into the Gandhi family account in the Bank of America in Cayman Islands. Rahuls expenses and tuition fees for the one year he was at Harvard, was paid from that Cayman Island account [see Annexures-17]. What kind of people are these Gandhi-Mainos that bite the very hand of Bharat Mata that fed them and gave them a good life? How can the nation trust or tolerate such greedy thieves of national treasures?Since I failed to persuade the Vajpayee government to defend Indias treasures from plunder by the Mainos, I approached the Delhi High Court in a PIL. The first Bench of the court issued notice to the Government, but since the Indian government dragged its feet, the Court directed the CBI to seek Interpols and Italian governments help. The Italian government justifiably asked for a Letter Rogatory for which a FIR is a pre-requisite. But the Interpol did oblige and submitted two voluminous reports on the shops which the Court directed the CBI to hand over to me. But CBI has so far refused, and has claimed privilege! This question will be argued out at the next hearing of my PIL. The CBI has also been caught lying in court by telling the judges that Alessandra Maino is a name of a man, and Via Bellini 14, Orbassano is a name of a village[not the street address of the Mainos residence]. Although the CBI counsel had to apologise later to the court stating he had made a mistake, he has been promoted to Additional Solicitor General by the new government! Why was he appointed as the CBIs counsel by the Vajpayee government in the first place? The Vajpayee-Sonia mutual assistance pact is thus in full view in this episode. But the most sinister aspect of Sonia Gandhis links is her connection with terrorists. I am still working on it, but she has had long connection with the Habash group of Palestinians [PFLP], and has funded Palestinian families that lost their kith and kin in a suicide bombing or hijacking episode. This fact, Rajiv Gandhi himself told me and was confirmed to me [the funding aspect] by Yassir Arafat when I met him in Tunis on October 17, 1990 at the request of Rajiv Gandhi. Rajiv and I were good friends from 1978, but became very close friends after V.P. Singh had betrayed him in 1987. We met practically every day, mostly in the early hours from 1AM to 4AM, discussed, chatted and gossiped on every topic. It was at my suggestion that Rajiv made Chandrashekhar the PM. And contrary to public impression, he was not mainly responsible for fall of Chandrashekar government[of which I was a Minister].Besides the Palestinian extremists, the Maino family have had extensive business dealings with Saddam Hussein [see Annexure-18], and surprisingly since 1984 with the LTTE [the Tamil Tigers]. Sonias mother Paola Predebon Maino, and businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi are the main contacts with the Tigers. The mother used the LTTE for money laundering and Quattrocchi for selling weapons to earn commissions. Sonias conduit to the LTTE has been and is through Arjun Singh who uses Bangalore as the nodal point for contact.There is a string of circumstantial evidence pointing to the prima facie possibility that the Maino family may have contracted with the LTTE to kill Rajiv Gandhi. The family may have assured the LTTE that nothing would happen to them because they would ensure it is blamed on the Sikhs or the evidence so much fudged that no court would convict them[ the LTTE intercepted transcripts show this expectation of the LTTE]. But D.R. Karthikeyan of the CBI who led the SIT investigation got the support of Narasimha Rao, cracked the case, and succeeded in getting the LTTE convicted in the trial court, which conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1999. Although on the involvement of some members of the Congress Party in the assassination, DRK soft peddled it ignoring a number of leads perhaps because he did not want political controversy to put road blocks on his investigation as a whole. The Justice J. S. Verma Commission, which was set up as the last official act of the Chandrashekhar government before demitting office on June 21, 1991, did find that the Congress leaders had disrupted the security arrangements for the Sriperumbudur meeting. The Commission wanted further probe into it but the Rao government rejected that demand. In the meantime under Sonias pressure, the Jain Commission was set up by the Rao government, which tried to muddy the waters and thus exonerate the LTTE. But the trial court judgment convicting the LTTE came earlier than the Commission could conclude, and that sinister effort therefore too failed. Nowadays, Sonia is quite unabashed in having political alliance with those who like MDMK, PMK, and DMK praise Rajiv Gandhis killers. No Indian widow would ever do that. Such circumstances are many, and raise a doubt. My investigations into Sonias involvement in Rajivs assassination is therefore necessary. I am also author of a best seller titled Assassination Of Rajiv GandhiUnasked Questions and Unanswered Queries[published by Konark in 2000] in which I have given some indications of this possible conspiracy.Is it not significant that the political career graph of Sonia Gandhi advances concomitantly with a series of assassinations and apparently accidental deaths? How did Sanjays plane on June 23, 1980 nosedive to a crash and yet the plane fuselage failed to explode upon impact? There was no fuel ! How was that possible since flight register shows full tank before take-off ? Why was there no inquiry conducted ? Is it not a fact that Indira Gandhi died because of loss of blood from the wounds and not directly due to a bullet impacting her head or heart ? Then is it not strange that Sonia had insisted that the bleeding Indira be driven to Lohia Hospital-- in the opposite direction to AIIMS which had a contingency protocol set up for precisely such an event ? And after reaching Lohia Hospital, did not Sonia change her mind and demand that they all drive to AIIMS thus losing 24 valuable minutes ? The same kind of mystery surrounds the sudden deaths of Sonias other political roadblocks such as Rajesh Pilot, Jitendra Prasad, and Madhavrao Scindia. Such untimely deaths happened in the dark ages in Italy. Should we allow it to happen in India like dumb cattle going to slaughter?WHAT PATRIOTIC INDIANS CAN DOWe have to ensure that the Maino clan does not stay in power. Dr. Manmohan Singh may be PM, which is a small relief, but he is not a fighter. The real power in government today is wielded by the Maino mafia gang. Can they be dethroned? I argue that they must be, for Indias integrity and democracy. In Indian democracy, other than by losing majority, only a shocking scandal can unseat a government. Todays priority is however not for toppling the Congress government as such, since Manmohan Singh is a decent and scholarly person, but in driving the Maino clan out of India. If the only way that can be done is by toppling the Singh government, then so be it. But the successor government should be such that it will not protect Sonia and her clan as Vajpayees did. It will although not be long before Sonia will give Manmohan Singh marching orders, and he will march out meekly. We should not expect him to resist. Thus time with patriotic Indians is limited.With Sonias defacto government in place, it is also unrealistic to expect that I can get an early victory in the courts on the KGB and antique smuggling cases. The most potent scandal at hand, therefore, that can dislodge the Maino clan[including Rahul and Priyanka] lies in exposing their existing Italian citizenship. That will galvanise the people.In 1992, Sonia had revived her citizenship of Italy under Article 17 of the Italian Citizenship Law [Act 91 of 1992]. Rahul and Priyanka were born Italian citizens because Sonia was Italian when she gave birth to them[Italian law based on jure sanguinis]. (see Annexure-19) Hence, they continue be Italians since they have never renounced their citizenship upon becoming 21 years old. Both, Rahul and Priyanaka have been traveling abroad on Italian passports. They may now acquire Venezuela passports too, since Rahul Gandhis wife, Veronica, is a Venezuelan. (See annexure- 20) That means one more foreign bahu for us tolerant Indians. The Maino-Gandhis are certainly getting Indian society globalised in their own selfish way. To end Bharat Matas shame and pain, what can patriotic Indians do in a democracy?As a first step there is an urgent need to document the facts about their citizenship on notarized paper, for which we need to set up a network in London, Milan, Hongkong, and in Venezuela. Those persuaded by my above stated facts and arguments may join in and help set up this network. Other steps can come later once this is accomplished.