AP Elections 2019 - Jagan trounces Naidu

In AP, Assembly seats won: YSRCP 151, TDP 23, Janasena 1
In AP, Lok Sabha seats won: YSRCP 22, TDP 3, Janasena 0.
In AP, Popular Assembly vote share: YSRCP 49.9%, TDP 39.2% and Janasena 6.8%.

Why Chandrababu Naidu (TDP) lost and how Jagan Mohan Reddy (YSRCP) won?

• Chandrababu Naidu had promised virtually the moon but delivered little, during 2014-19. 
• Massive anti-incumbency vote caused by Chandrababu Naidu’s falling credibility and his several political missteps.
• Chandrababu Naidu’s running battle with the BJP-Modi government for the past two years and his U-turns on the critical question of getting special category status had badly dented his credibility.
• Government employees turned hostile because of the use of modern tools such as biometric attendance etc.
• Chandrababu Naidu chose to ignore the corruption and misdeeds of his party legislators who had become unpopular. They had turned into mini-Chief Ministers in their constituencies, bullying officials and extending patronage to land mafias, sand mafias and illegal liquor networks. Chandrababu Naidu refused to drop the majority of siting MLAs.
• The incomplete flyover near the Kanaka Durga temple, Vijayawada, stuck out like a sore thumb. 
• Jagan's 3648 km padayatra. “Why not give him one chance” was the common refrain. Jagan’s direct contact with the people helped him to counter Chandrababu Naidu’s powerful outreach to the media or his media management.
• Jagan outsmarted Chandrababu Naidu by keeping up sustained pressure on the government for failing to get special category status and accusing Chandrababu Naidu that he had murdered democracy by luring 24 YSRCP MLAs into the TDP’s fold.
• Jagan's campaign and his slogans such as “nenu vinna” (I heard your woes) and “nenu vunna” (I am there) resonated with the people.
• Jagan's distasteful personal remarks about Pawan Kalyan, and accusing him of becoming a puppet in Chandrababu Naidu’s hands was unwise & untimely but was lucky at Pawan Kalyan's failure to garner Kapu’s (15.2% of AP population) support with his blurred agenda and the absence of a cohesive election strategy.
• Condescending attitude. Ridiculing Jagan at every  any opportunity on “having so many criminal cases”.
• Over projecting capital Amaravati's land pooling and construction with graphics.
• Chandrababu Naidu’s claims of having pushed the state to the top in the number one position in ease of doing business etc cut no ice with voters. Their anger went much deeper as the party drew a blank in Vizianagaram or the defeat of Nara Lokesh in Mangalagiri, the core capital area?
• Jagan managed to buck the negative image created by the CBI cases against him, often cited by Naidu. Naidu conveniently forgot that Jagan came very close to capturing power in 2014 Assembly elections losing by just 1.6% vote margin. 
• Failure to forge alliance with Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party and Left parties. Naidu's last minute welfare schemes failed translate into vote bank.
• People’s expectations have gone up phenomenally. Prashant Kishore sharpened Jagan's style of campaigning and strategy. 

Jagan owes credit for his victory to Prashant Kishor, who have stayed with the YSRCP for nearly two years, guiding its strategy, conducting campaigns, training the cadres, handling social media and press releases etc. YSRCP's Ummareddy Venkateswarlu candidly said: “Naidu’s downfall began the day he brought his son into politics.”

The present model of politics and elections is very expensive and is heavily dependent on unlawful methods, mafia, liquor and yet attracts many people because of power and corruption money with return to investment exceeding 1,000% p.a. for next 5 years in return for compromising ethics and morals. The campaigning is so vulgar the people of character mutes their TV sets. Naidu's failure is due to over confidence, extravaganza in spending state money, over projecting small achievements, inability to avoid fight with Modi-BJP, failure to forge alliance with JSP, Left parties, impress upon other castes to stay put with TDP, failure to garner woman votes and above all state government employees feeling uneasy in his administration and so on. He virtually committed the identical mistakes as in 2004. If at least Naidu had roped in Pawan Kalyan in alliance with TDP, TDP+ would have got about respectable 70-80 seats or even a surprise victory with 90+ seats. Fighting with all in all fronts (Jagan, Pawan, KCR, Modi etc), there is hardly any way for Chandrababu Naidu led TDP to win these  elections. Hence the TDP's defeat is not a surprise at all but crushing defeat of 23 of 175 is totally unexpected and was easily avoidable.

2G Scam: Beneficiaries of the scam which was not there

The following are some of the prime beneficiaries of the 2G Scam propaganda. The 2G Scam case was described by CBI Court's Special Judge O.P. Saini as a scam, that was not there.

• Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India since 2014.
  He was the then BJP CM of Gujarat. His mainstay in 2014 election campaign was anti-corruption and leaned heavily on 2G Scam and Coalgate, among many others scams and reaped rich dividend.
• Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi since 2015.
  He was Joint Commissioner, Income Tax, New Delhi till 2006
• Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry
  She resigned from IPS in 2007, after she was denied Delhi Police Commissioner, two years ahead of her retirement. She was BJP's CM candidate in 2015 Delhi elections but lost to AAP. In 2016, she was appointed as the LG of Puducherry.
• Vinod Rai, CAG (2008-13)
  Today he holds (i) BCCI Administrator (ii) Special Auditor for financial irregularities in Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Trivandrum (iii) First Chairman of the Banks Board Bureau, which will advise the government on top-level PSU bank appointments etc.
• Arnab Goswami, then Times Now TV's news anchor.
  Today he is Managing Director, Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder of Republic TV. Other co-founders are his wife Samyabrata Ray and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP MP.

In Dec 2017, Special Judge O.P. Saini said the CBI and the ED had failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove the charges against 33 persons named in the case that contributed to the Congress-led UPA' electoral loss in 2014. The judge stated that the charge sheet is based mainly on misreading, selective reading, non-reading and out of the context reading of official records while there is no evidence on the record produced before the court indicating any criminality in the acts allegedly committed by the accused persons etc. 

There is no question that corruption existed while doling out 2G licenses then. Nothing has happened on merit, in any capital, without kickbacks since 50 years. Without substantial evidence talking about this corruption leads us to nowhere. It is mere waste of time and energy. The fact that Modi and his CBI has not even filed appeal in higher court on this judgment, even after 4/5 months, indicates acceptance of Special Judge O.P. Saini's scathing remarks while dismissing the case.

Modi runs away from 'No confidence motion'

TDP's and YSRCP's individual no-confidence moves failed to take off on March 19, 2018, for the second time due to disorderly house created by AIADMK and TRS MP's rushing into well and shouting for their unimportant pending demands and creating feeble ruckus. The house was adjourned within minutes strangely for next day, giving rise to the suspicion that AIADMK & TRS protest in Lok Sabha was "stage-managed" by BJP. Despite sweeping powers, the Speaker has not made any attempt to restore order in the House for taking up the important motion of no-confidence and just adjourned the house for the day saying, "I'm duty-bound to bring the no-confidence motion. But I cannot do so that unless the House is in order". Orderly running of the house is the responsibility of Speaker, PM and Parliamentary affairs minister. 

Ever since Modi became PM, discussion on important matters was always thwarted by BJP and questions were never answered straight forward. The recent passage of Finance Bill with 28 amendments in less than 30 minutes amidst pandemonium is a glaring example.

Why BJP is hiding from a no-confidence motion despite having sufficient numbers?

• There is considerable disillusion in BJP arising out of recent LS bye poll defeats in Rajasthan, MP, WB, Bihar and UP with huge margins. It is surprising to note that BJP leaders are the most happiest persons for BJP's debacle in bye polls in North.
• BJP is scared of its own MP may not be present in LS at the time of voting. 
• The entire opposition became united, on AP issues, for the first time in the past 4 years.
• Debates during 'no confidence motion' are unconstrained and will provide great opportunity for all opposition parties to ventilate their grievances on any matter and charge that ruling BJP has nos not done much for many other states. Also all his failures during past 4 years will getting highlighted during the debate.
• Any discussion that allows for scathing criticism in an election year is something the government wants to avoid. This negative publicity is likely to impact BJP's chances, if any, in the forth coming Karnataka elections. The bank frauds can no longer be dismissed as a creation of the UPA as these fraudsters left the country under the Modi dispensation. Above all, Modi doesn't like or he hates criticism and has no attitude to answer questions straight forward.
• The exit of TDP from NDA has already dented BJP's credibility in accommodating its allies. The TDP's no-confidence motion has put an end to the "myth" that the BJP-led Modi government has an unshakable mandate for the next 25 years, as said by Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena's allegation that The TDP's no-confidence motion is for its political reasons and not for any 'nationalist' reason holds no water since TDP is a regional party only. 
• But TDP has no choice since BJP has not fulfilled its 19+ obligations in implementing AP Reorganization Act 2014 even in its last year of the 5 year mandate, which is unpardonable. Needless to say 5 crore AP people are unanimously angry over BJP's attitude of highhandedness and TDP exiting NDA and tabling no confidence motion made Naidu a hero. Public perception can't be ignored in a democracy especially when they are not demanding the sky.
• Even though YSRCP announced no confidence motion a month ago, none took it seriously with their integrity and corrupt background with YS Jagan as A1 in a dozen cases and his properties worth several thousand crores attached by ED so far. The talk in AP is that YSRCP is cooperating with BJP secretly to get out of cases and silently getting its properties out of ED's attachment. With these its mass base is fast shrinking.
• The manner in which BJP has formed governments recently in Goa, Meghalaya and Nagaland without explicit majority or even highest seats denying Congress with highest seats opportunity to form coalition government indicates their utter disrespect for democratic norms and constitution.
• BJP will certainly defend itself even attack opposition invoking irrelevant historical pasts etc. but opposition will have more ammunition to fire at BJP.

BJP must be regretting now that it could have done something on its own (of about 20% as per AP Reorganization Act 2014) for funds starving AP in this last Budget 2018 so that this embarrassment would have been avoided. Modi is paying very big price for his highhandedness and headstrong attitude. Modi successfully added another negative item to BJP's already 'worst performer' account.

With what ever is happening during the past 10 days, Modi & Jaitley with their arrogance belittled themselves as reflected by unity among almost all opposition parties, Chandrababu Naidu became hero of Telugu Pride and BJP got buried underground worse than that of Congress party in 2014. With BJP and Congress seen as AP cheaters and Jagan (YSRCP) seen in collusion with BJP & Modi, TDP is assured landslide victory in 2019 general elections in AP.

Nirav Modi defrauds PNB of Rs.11,400 crores and flees away

Nirav Modi with PM Narendra Modi at Davos on 24-Jan-2018

Nirav Modi, who defrauded PNB by over Rs.11,000 crores

• Punjab National Bank (PNB) said on 14-Feb-2018 that it had been defrauded of about Rs 11,400 crores by jeweller Nirav Modi, his maternal uncle Mehul Chinubhai Choksi, and other relatives through a clutch of companies they own.
• Two of its employees were involved in the scam, where the bank’s core banking system was bypassed to raise payment notes to overseas branches of other Indian banks, including Allahabad Bank, Axis Bank, and Union Bank of India, using the international financial communication system, SWIFT.
• As the payment request was raised by PNB, and therefore, the payment would have to be met by the Delhi-based Punjab National Bank. PNB in a letter to banks, indicated clearly that it was in no mood to pay back and alleged connivance of employees at the foreign branches of other Indian banks. The banking system is heading towards a protracted legal battle as other banks will start suing PNB over non-payment of dues and refusal to honour commitments.
• An age-old method employed to defraud the banking system. It involved LoUs raised at the PNB’s Mumbai office by firms owned by Modi and his family. A LoU works like a bank guarantee, which the importer can sell to other banks at a discount. At the end, the bank that holds the LoU goes back to the issuer bank (PNB in this case) and gets its due. The issuer bank (PNB) recovers its due against the LoU from its client (Modi).
• However, issuance of the LoU involves a lot of process and to mitigate the risks of fraud, banks insist the client deposit an equivalent amount of assets, mainly cash, in the local branch, to avail of the overseas facility. Since LoU expires within a maximum of 180 days and fresh LoU needs to be issued. Since first LoU was issued to Nirav Modi in 2011, several fresh LoC's issuance could not have happened with political patronage and connivance of bank's top brass.
• PNB disclosed that it detected fraudulent and unauthorised transactions worth around $1.78 billion (approximately Rs 11,400 crores) “for the benefit of a few select account holders” with the help of the bank staff based in one of its Mumbai branches. “In the bank these transactions are contingent in nature and liability arising out of these on the bank shall be decided based on the law and genuineness of the underlying transactions,” the bank said.
• DFS Secretary Rajiv Kumar said this seemed to be an isolated case and would not impact other banks.
• Nirav Modi & his family are believed to have left the country several days before lodging of FIR by CBI and is believed to be in Switzerland.  
• An interesting reader's comment ...
  

  "You cannot fault Rajiv Kumar, for sure. He knows which side of the bread is buttered, and so, unsolicited, he jumps to the govt's defence by invoking 2011. But deafening silence from the FM, the RBI, the Finance Secretary -- not to mention the PM for whom, understandably, Rs 11k Crore is a measly little sum totally undeserving of his attention. He is busy doing what he does best: address election meetings where, other than subtly stoking communal fires, he speaks grandly of Vikash. Surely his Vikash model has stood Nirav Modi in good stead, and as far as the ordinary Indian citizen is concerned, our PM couldn't care less, as every Bharatiya happens to know by now. So the field is left open for the usual buffoonery of Ravishankar Prasad and a pugnacious (though completely witless) intervention by the Raksha Mantri. Nobody has apparently suggested to Nirmala Sitaraman that she had better take care of the country's porous borders -- which happen to be under her charge and are leaking all the while -- rather than talking about things she doesn't have the foggiest idea about. But, then, who will advise whom about what in the madhouse that Modi's India has turned into?"

SNAP SHOT

1. On 14 Feb 2018, the CBI received complaints from PNB, which detected a Rs 11,292 crore fraud involving jeweller Nirav Modi.
2. The number of suspended employees now stands at 18.
3. Nirav Modi’s home, offices in Mumbai, Delhi and Surat were raided by the ED on 15 Feb 2018.
4. The CBI and the ED have moved separate applications with the EAM, seeking the revocation of passports of Modi and his partner Choksi.
5. PNB suspended 10 officials from its Mumbai branch in connection with the case.
6. In two days, PNB lost over Rs 8,000 crore of market valuation.
7. The case turned political after the Congress termed Nirav ‘Chotta Modi’.
8. Officials said Modi and his family fled India in the first week of January, days before the first complaint was filed.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. 

All those experiments have a bad ending.

Read the source article

Gem of a scam - Business Standard

Every new government will be 'clean' during first 1-2 years. Their misdeeds will surface by end of 3rd year or later. BJP & Modi are no exception. Modi just followed the time tested corruption path established by Congress and even more reckless. Only narrative is different. The fact that more than 90% of political donations reached BJP coffers speaks volumes about quid pro quo's involved. While the Nirav Modi's scam occurred during past 1-2 years, BJP attempting to link it to Congress invoking 2011 is just nonsense. BJP may or may not be responsible for this scam, but the way they are responding leaves people of India without any doubts about their involvement. There is no way BJP or any political party will accept their wrong doings, the best - people of India can do is to defeat them in 2019 general elections. This may pave way to Congress regain power but we hardly have choice. In Indian political arena even a saint ascending to power will end up in corruption, cronyism, nepotism etc. Even in USA, no one ever retired from Presidency more respected by political friends and foes alike. Such is the power of power & money.

Modi’s own record of ‘Raincoat Bathing’

• Narendra Modi is truly a street-smart politician. His ‘rain coat in a shower’ metaphor for Manmohan Singh is accurate description of Manmohan Singh’s ten-year long prime ministership. He allowed scams like 2G spectrum, coal block allocations and the Commonwealth Games loot to happen right under his nose without any direct charge of personal corruption sticking to him. His staunchest critics could not call him a corrupt prime minister. 
• Congressmen failed to point out how Modi himself has been a master at the art of being seen as clean, like a lotus, while remaining immersed neck deep in muck. 
• For 14 years Modi as Gujarat chief minister held the home portfolio. While his deputy minister of state for home, Amit Shah, was arrested, jailed and then externed for a spate of extra-judicial killings, the chain of evidence never travelled beyond Shah. As Shah and his loyalist police officers did time in jail, Modi reaped a rich political harvest by polarising society using these killings. His other ministerial colleague Mayaben Kodnani was sentenced to 28 years in prison for the Naroda Patiya massacre. 
• Babu Bajrangi, who killed women and children in Patiya and later, after being released on bail, ruled the streets of Ahmedabad for several years, kidnapping girls, blocking the release of films and terrorising minorities, all along openly flaunted his proximity with the chief minister. In 2012, he was convicted and sentenced to life based on eye-witness accounts and his own confession on a spy-camera, but his statement indicting Modi was dismissed as hearsay. 
• As chief minister, Modi presided over the killings of more than 1,000 men and women, and yet used every repudiation whether from within the party or without, every judicial stricture, every effort to inquire into his culpability, to further cement his stay in power.
• When it comes to the art of enjoying a shower without getting wet, Narendra Modi is many shades better than Manmohan Singh.
• CAG reports on the 2G spectrum, coal blocks and Krishna Godavari Basin singed Singh, politically and personally. But CAG reports on the scams of the Modi government in Gujarat faded without a whimper.
• In 2012, the Modi government earned strictures from the CAG for giving away a 10% participating stake in a KG Basin gas field measuring 4,57,000 acres it had won in an expensive bid to a mysterious overseas company named GeoGlobal Resources, incorporated in Barbados, with a capital of just $64, for free. As per the Modi government’s own estimates, announced in a press conference, the gas field was worth about $20 billion. Though state government-run GSPC, the owner of the gas field, had spent in excess of Rs 20,000 crore in drilling and exploration costs, Geo Global’s share of Rs 20,000 crore towards expenditure cost was also borne by GSPC. The issue failed to get the attention of the national media as Modi was on the ascendance and the corporate media owners could see which way the wind was blowing. Arvind Kejriwal’s hour-long press conference on the issue was blacked out. Till date there has been no inquiry into this shady deal nor any investigation into the real operators behind Geo Global, which was incorporated just six days before the joint venture with the GSPC. A new CAG report last year indicted Modi’s Gujarat government for wasting Rs 20,000 crore of public money in an exploration process which has yielded one-tenth of what he had promised.
• Just weeks after Modi’s inauguration as prime minister, the CAG released five different reports for the year ending March 2013, highlighting financial irregularities by the Modi-led Gujarat government amounting to more than Rs 25,000 crore, which included Rs 1,500 crore in undue benefits to companies like including Reliance Petroleum, Essar Power and the Adani Group.
• Modi as Gujarat chief minister gave away about 16,000 acres of land to Adani SEZ for rates between Rs 1 and Rs 32 per square metre. Other companies like Bharat Hotels, Larson & Toubro, Essar Steel and real estate developer K. Raheja also got large parcels of prime land for a fraction of market price. It had all the hallmark of crony capitalism: arbitrariness, private gains at the cost of the exchequer and proximity between beneficiaries and the chief minister. 
• When the opposition’s demand for a probe into land deals reached a crescendo, in 2011, chief minister Modi appointed an inquiry commission under a retired judge, a time-tested technique of deflection and obfuscation. The report of the commission was never made public and with neither media nor courts interested in holding him accountable, the Gujarat government had little incentive to release the report. Modi’s proverbial raincoat remained intact.
• For 13 years, chief minister Modi didn’t appoint a lokayukta in Gujarat. His government spent Rs 45 crore of taxpayer’s money in litigation blocking the appointment of retired justice R.A. Mehta, widely regarded as honest and competent, as lokayukta. For the last three years, Modi has not appointed a lokpal. Yet he projects himself from every pulpit as a warrior against black money.
• Between 2004 and 2015, the BJP has shown more than three-quarters of its funds as cash received from unnamed sources. The same funds catapulted Modi to prime ministership. Yet he has been drumming about the virtues of a cashless economy.
• As Modi’s march to Delhi was gaining pace, the UPA in a rearguard attack launched a probe into the business affairs of Gautam Adani, Modi’s principal backer. A probe by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) nailed the siphoning off of hundreds of crores abroad by the Adani Group by an intricate conspiracy involving over-valuation in imports for projects subject to a low or nil rate of customs duty. The report was finalised days before the results of Lok Sabha elections were due. Seeing the body of evidence against Adani, the UPA quickly moved to hand over the case to the CBI. For two years, the CBI, which reports to the prime minister’s office, is sitting tight on the file.
• In July last year another, the DRI probe revealed that 40 of the country’s biggest energy companies, including Adani and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, were prima facie found involved in over-invoicing of imported coal. The scam was conservatively estimated at Rs 29,000 crore, with the common power consumers bearing the brunt of the inflated power bills, a direct effect of over-invoicing. Modi goes on publicly embracing both Adani and Anil Ambani. 
• The UPA was shamed into removing Ashok Chavan after the Adarsh Scam, Suresh Kalmadi after the CWG scam, A. Raja after the spectrum scam, Pawan Kumar Bansal after a bribery scam and Ashwani Kumar after the coal scam status report scandal. No such scruples bother Modi. After more than 40 suspected killings connected with the admission and recruitment scam called ‘Vyapam’ which happened on Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s watch, Modi has not said a word about the propriety of a tainted chief minister continuing in office. 
• Public outrage after Vasundhra Raje and her family were found to be mixed up with fugitive Lalit Modi failed to evoke a response from Modi. Addressing an election gathering in March 2014 in Chandigarh, then prime minister-designate Modi blasted the Congress for giving a ticket to the tainted Bansal. 
• On his watch, Modi’s alter ego Shah appointed tainted B.S. Yeddyurappa, who presided over many scams including the infamous Bellary scam and whose corrupt image had compelled the BJP to expel him as Karnataka state president in April 2016. 
• Modi as a prime ministerial candidate talked of bringing lakhs of crores of black money deposited in offshore bank accounts back to India. On his watch as prime minister, Vijay Mallya fled the country.
• The list of Modi’s wrongdoings runs long. His omissions and commissions in the Gujarat pogrom and the subsequent subversion of criminal justice system are shocking to the conscience of a reasonable person and a “kalank” for us as a nation. His silence over episodes like the Dadri lynching is as troubling as Singh’s silence as prime minister. Though perhaps he will never to have to face an inquiry into the alleged Sahara-Birla payoffs.
• The persecution of political opponents at the hands of police agencies, the harassment of civil rights activists and the systematic chipping away of institutional integrity and autonomy have surpassed the record of Congress regimes of the past. 
• If Singh was an accidental prime minister, notebandi has shown that Modi is an arbitrary prime minister. 
• Manmohan Singh has never had to face criminal prosecution for any of his actions or omissions. Modi too so far has staved off a criminal prosecution. The prime minister who ran the most corrupt central government in independent India’s history ironically remained for ten long years in public imagination as Mr Clean. It was only towards the end of his stint that his sheen wore off and he became a figure of ridicule and revulsion. 
• The present prime minister, who is running one of the most duplicitous, insensitive and arbitrary governments since independence, is similarly projecting himself as an honest man. It remains to be seen how history will judge Modi, but so far, he has managed to reap a rich political harvest from all the wrongdoings of his government and his party, without one charge sticking to him. 
• This may be attributed to the inadequacy of our legal system that has always failed to hold the powerful to account, or to the artful device of “raincoat in the bath” as Modi himself has put it. Though their styles contrast – one professorial, the other a relentless demagogue – both Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi have made a fine art of donning the raincoat.

Read the source article

On Modi's Watch, 20,000 Crores Vanished. The Big "Gas Scam"

The above list of misdeeds of Modi is neither exhaustive nor conclusive. 

1. In his book 'Karmayogi' Modi swears by caste order ‘Scavenging a spiritual experience for Valmiks’ which stirred controversy that compelled to withdraw all 5,000 copies published by his 'manasaputri' GSPC. 
2. In Aug 2017, ONGC has completed the Rs 7,738 crore acquisition of 80% stake in debt ridden GSPC's KG basin gas block for which GSPC had spent over Rs.20,000 crores, borrowed from 15 PSU banks, in the past 10 years and failed to discover any gas. A month before, Oil ministry raised flag over danger in government nudging ONGC to make sub optimal investments in GSPC that doesn't make business sense to them. ONGC doesn't have technical capability to complete the exploratory phase of drilling, as on date. It needs to invest lot more money to complete drilling and bring the gas field into production.
3. No sooner Modi became PM, Mayaben Kodnani was granted bail on health grounds. The Naroda Patiya convict Babu Bajrangi was granted bail 14 times, so far who is said to have lost his eyesight, mostly on the ground of his own and his wife’s health.

Needless to say that LK Advani and AB Vajpayee did greatest disservice to the nation by promoting non grata Modi as Gujarat CM and protecting him in 2002 riots that enabled him to become PM a decade later. Gujarat in particular and India in general stands destroyed.

The State is back with a loud bang

 

 

Ex-CBI Director R.K. Raghavan appointed Indian High Commissioner to Cyprus

• Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief R.K. Raghavan has been picked up by the Narendra Modi government as India’s high commissioner to Cyprus.
• Raghavan, 76, who headed a probe that cleared then chief minister Modi of involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots, was the CBI director from January 1999 to April 2001.
• After retiring in 2001, Raghavan joined Tata Consultancy Services as a corporate security adviser and also served as consulting adviser to O.P. Jindal’s board of management.
• Raghavan’s appointment is a political one as ambassadorial posts are usually meant for Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers.
• Critics of Raghavan argue that he was responsible in playing down the evidence against Modi of involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The SIT headed by Raghavan in 2012 had given then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 57 others a clean chit in the Gulberg case and sought its closure.
• While the SIT has held that while there is evidence and many of the allegations made in the Zakia Jafri Complaint dated 8.6.2006 are true and correct, in its own assessment, this evidence is not prosecutable. This is not a clean chit to Modi as is being propagated.

R K Raghavan: the man who gave a clean chit to Modi

Did the SIT give clean chit to Modi? The answer is a big NO, here is why

Modi as PM rewards his henchman with plum positions irrespective of qualifications, experience or with possibility of any value addition. Now let us look forward for growth & prosperity!

Yashwant Sinha Indicts Arun Jaitley's 'Mess'

• I shall be failing in my national duty if I did not speak up even now against the mess the finance minister has made of the economy. I am also convinced that what I am going to say reflects the sentiments of a large number of people in the BJP and elsewhere who are not speaking up out of fear.
• Jaitley was, to begin with, a lucky finance minister, luckier than any in the post-liberalisation era. Depressed global crude oil prices placed at his disposal lakhs of crores of rupees. This unprecedented bonanza was waiting to be used imaginatively. The legacy problems like stalled projects and bank NPAs were no doubt there and should have been managed better like the crude oil bonanza. But the oil bonanza has been wasted and the legacy problems have not only been allowed to persist, they have become worse.
• So, what is the picture of the Indian economy today? Private investment has shrunk as never before in two decades, industrial production has all but collapsed, agriculture is in distress, construction industry, a big employer of the work force, is in the doldrums, the rest of the service sector is also in the slow lane, exports have dwindled, sector after sector of the economy is in distress, demonetisation has proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster, a badly conceived and poorly implemented GST has played havoc with businesses and sunk many of them and countless millions have lost their jobs with hardly any new opportunities coming the way of the new entrants to the labour market. 
• For quarter after quarter, the growth rate of the economy has been declining until it reached the low of 5.7% in the first quarter of the current fiscal, the lowest in three years. The deceleration had started much earlier. Demonetisation only added fuel to fire.  According to the old method of calculation, the growth rate of 5.7%  is actually 3.7% or less.
• SBI chairman stated that the telecom sector is the latest entrant to the long list of stressed sectors.
• The reasons for this decline have been allowed to accumulate over time to cause the present crisis. It was not difficult to take counter measures to deal with them that called for devoting time to the task, serious application of mind, understanding of the issues and then working out a game plan to tackle them. It was perhaps too much to expect from a person (FM) who was carrying the heavy burden (Defence, Divestment & Corporate Affairs) of so many extra responsibilities. The results are there for all of us to see.
• The only new thing is the reconstituted Economic Advisory Council of the prime minister. Like the five Pandavas they are expected to win the new Mahabharat war for us.
• Forty leading companies of the country are already facing bankruptcy proceedings. Many more are likely to follow suit. The SME sector is suffering from an unprecedented existential crisis.
• The input tax credit demand under the GST is a whopping Rs 65,000 crore against a collection of Rs 95,000 crore. The government has asked the income tax department to chase those who have made large claims. 
• We protested against raid raj when we were in opposition. Today it has become the order of the day. Post demonetisation, the income tax department has been charged with the responsibility of investigating lakhs of cases involving the fate of millions of people. The ED and the CBI also have their plates full. Instilling fear in the minds of the people is the name of the new game.
• Economies are destroyed more easily than they are built. It took almost four years of painstaking and hard work in the late nineties and early 2000 to revive a sagging economy we had inherited in 1998. Nobody has a magic wand to revive the economy overnight. Steps taken now will take their own time to produce results. So, a revival by the time of the next Lok Sabha election appears highly unlikely. A hard landing appears inevitable. 
• Bluff and bluster is fine for the hustings, it evaporates in the face of reality. 
• The prime minister claims that he has seen poverty from close quarters. His finance minister is working over-time to make sure that all Indians also see it from equally close quarters.
• P Chidambaram said that Congress is happy that Yashwant Sinha has echoed their criticisms of the government. He also tweeted "Yashwant Sinha speaks Truth to Power. Will Power now admit the Truth that economy is sinking?"

Everyone in the country knows our economy is distressed and in deep trouble due to foolish acts of our PM & FM. Some speaks and many (BJP/Modi bhakts) won't. After inflicting irreparable damages, what is the point in appointing 5 member Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council or working out on a meager Rs.50,000 crores stimulus package or announcing Rs.16,000 crore free electricity for all by end of 2018 benefiting 4 crore poor people. Any change in economic direction will take few to several years and nothing much can be expected before 2019 elections. Destroying the institutions like Planning Commission etc have had its effect for this directionless economy. Unless Modi learns to respect experts and take their advice - discarding the habits of consulting quacks and astrologers, India has no future. Alternately, people of India may find Modi's substitute in 2019 and they will.

Democracy and its Perils

• Democracy is a political system which combines the elements of fairness, legitimacy and effectiveness. It is the least worst system. 
• Democracy is imperfect and, when misapplied or incorrectly interpreted, can be saddled with flaws and weaknesses. 
• Democracy is the most expensive & inefficient form of governance.
• A democracy is not a democracy unless it has independent and strong institutions that help facilitate good governance and right thinking citizens demanding accountability and transparency.
• Proper democracy is far more than a perpetual ballot process. It must include deliberation, mature independent institutions and checks and balances. It may include educated citizens, strong civil society and strong laws.
• Freedom is an essential part of democracy. Freedom is essential for both the ruled and the ruler.
• Unfettered freedom brings with it its own hazards that would undermine the institutions that help sustain democracy.
• The victim of democracy is the politics itself. Politics in a democratic set up tends to be looked upon with contempt by the people. It is much maligned and abused field in all the democracies.
• Politicians once elected to power become the custodians and abusers of power.
• Bad politics leads to corruption. As the people responsible for corruption are ‘enabled’ to loot the exchequer either by the loopholes in the laws or indifferent ‘people’ who form the very basis of democracy.
• Corruption has reached gargantuan proportions, because of the indifferent attitude of the people and enabling environment provided by democracy for the corrupt to practice their art. 
• Democracy aides both the individual and the ‘corrupt’ authority. Democracy with weak institutions gives them free hand to run the government, they tend to err, and err with impunity.
• Criminalization of politics is the biggest peril of democracy. With it comes misuse of position and authority. It inevitably leads to corruption.
• Corruption directly brings underdevelopment and spawns poverty. In India poverty is the major benefactor for the politicians. As long as poverty is sustained, they can amass wealth – always unaccounted.
• Democracy promotes capitalism which in turn results in uneven wealth distribution. Rich becomes much richer while poor remain poorer.
• Risk of capitalism is usually socialized while profits gets privatized.
• Democracy in itself is not a threat, but any weak link within it is bound to weaken the whole structure.
• Democracy has become synonymous with elections and is reduced to the process of elections.
• In democracy poor people vote, and the elected become rich at the cost of the poor. It’s a government of the rich, for the poor to sustain the poverty. This sounds cynical, but hard facts vindicate the statement. If 70% of India’s population still earns less than Rs 50 per day, even after 70 years of independence, should we compliment ourselves or introspect?
• Development has suffered more in democracy than in other forms of governments. Though it is fashionable to say that democracy is better than despotism despite lack of development, does it do justice to the vast millions who go to sleep hungry?
• Within democracy, we need a change of mindset both of the people and politicians in their attitude towards development. We are witnessing the loot of our resources by the powerful few who are covertly supported by the government machinery. Every penny that’s put to improve the lot of this country is unaccounted for. The crux is lack of accountability.
• Education of the masses and strong institutions is a solution to most problems in India.
• Institutions which are not pestered and interfered by the ruling classes perform better. The fear that these institutions if given complete autonomy would grow as a threat is unfounded. The Supreme Court of India and Election commission of India are governed by bureaucrats, not by the elected politicians. These institutions function well within the scope of our constitution.
• Our military has gained reputation for being fair to its people and the constitution. Where there is no interference by the politics, the institutions serve well. For a democracy to thrive and bring development to the masses, we need independent institutions to act as check and balances on the government.
• We need universities which are not at the mercy of government; we need public service commissions not interfered in their functioning by the government; we need a strong Lokpal to punish the corrupt; strong local governments to bring development at the bottom; independent CBI and a police force which is pro-people; the list goes on.
• These changes are not difficult to bring on. It is the will which is missing, lest it affects the power of few to amass the wealth. Perils of democracy are the result of loopholes within it. To plug them, we need to fight. Of course, non-violently.
• A blanket endorsement of it as a convenient panacea will do more harm than good.
• There are very few nations on this Earth, which openly reject the notion of democracy. Most countries espouse it, or at least offer it lip service.
• Myth #1: The people can do no wrong.  The legitimacy of majority rule with no reservations or caveats raises the issue of sub-units within the voters viz territorial, cultural, ethnic or religious. What happens if the people change their minds? Democracy cannot be just if it is not just over time. Does a coalition automatically legitimize the action of individuals or groups or nations without regard to higher principles of morality or ethics? The doctrine of popular infallibility can be kept as a useful reference point but must not be abused or overextended.
• Myth # 2: Direct  democracy is always better than representative democracy. Given the volatility of public opinion, the complexity of social psychology and the possibility of inter generational conflicts, the representative democracy is often superior to direct democracy, with the representatives acting as buffer. Mistakes can then be attributed to representatives and not to the people. The conventional assumption is that the will of the people should always trump that of the elites. The principal arguments against leaving too many decisions to the direct appreciation of the masses can be summarized as follows: (1) Uninformed or insufficiently informed electorate (2) Influence of money and media (3) People changing their mind (4) Contradictory Referenda (5) Deleterious effect on public policy.
• Myth #3: Democracy trumps all other social goals. The backlash against Dumb Democracy is the realization that democratization, although a valid goal, is not the only desirable one that a Society can legitimately aspire to. The following compete for priority with democracy. (1) Peace (2) Justice (3) Liberty & Freedom (4) Security (5) Good governance (6) Escape from extreme poverty (7) Public Vs Private goods (8) Good health (9) Traditional values (10) Climate change and sustainable development. 
• Myth #4: Democratic countries will never go to war against each other. There is a frequent assumption that once a country becomes democratic it will renounce violence, avoid going to war especially against other democracies, and try to resolve outstanding problems by peaceful means. Experience shows that the relationship between democracy and war is actually very complex and far from straightforward. 
• Myth #5: National democracy automatically leads to global democracy. Will a world composed of democratic nation-states automatically mean that it will also be democratic? This question is as complex and there are no simple answers. The UN Security Council, with coercive powers, is composed of five permanent members with veto powers who appointed themselves to that position. The other non-permanent members are elected by the UN General Assembly, but do not have veto power. The elected President of United States has real authority over the whole world by virtue of the overwhelming military power, which it has used in Iraq and threatens to do so elsewhere. There is a serious democratic deficit where 2% of the world’s voting population manages to have a determining influence on the entire world.
• There is no formula of global democracy and every formula suffer from inefficiencies and conflict of goals. The attempted simple transition from national to global democracy without a lot of preparation and adaptation is therefore destined to fail unless treated with a more sophisticated analysis.
• Other than democracy, there are no other known political alternatives which will work in the long run.  There is no permanent security in tyrants and the checks and balances of democracy make it the only sustainable political system, which can claim both long-term efficiency and legitimacy. Democracy must prevail because of mounting global interdependence requiring team responses and collective decision-making. A leader has to motivate his troops and keep their confidence. No single individual holds absolute power anymore, and everyone has to report to some group or a parliament, all leaders are accountable to some committee of peers, which makes democracy sustainable, indispensable and inevitable. 
• The modalities of this accountability have to be modulated and perfected.
• The construction of a democratic state must be gradual and well planned. It can rarely be imposed by non-democratic means. Democracy by force of arms is self-defeating. 

 In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great 
difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; 
and in the next place oblige it to control itself ... James Madison

The Perils of Dumb Democracy


Ambedkar described constitution as a fundamental document stated that the purpose of a constitution is not merely to create the organs of the state but to limit their authority because if no limitation was imposed upon the authority of the organs, there will be complete tyranny and complete oppression. The legislature may be free to frame any law; the executive may be free to take any decision, and the Supreme Court may be free to give any interpretation of the law. It would result in utter chaos. Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realise that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil which is essentially undemocratic. Demonetisation has negated the fundamental and constitutional rights of Indians. By forcing every Indian, and not just the black marketers and counterfeiters, to stand in queues to withdraw hard earned money, our elected government has insulted all. Citizens have been temporarily deprived of property by a single fiat, even though the constitution says this can only be done with the authority of law. Countless have died, been rendered jobless, hungry and homeless. Is this a democratic act? RBI has been reduced to cipher. Fiscal policy has become political and the finance ministry redundant. The parliament and the cabinet have been turned into a mere formality. Judiciary appears seriously weakened. It is not easy for the victims of police and investigative agencies to get any relief against wrongful detentions and prosecutions. But it is the concerted attack on institution after institution by the Modi government that raises serious concerns. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship. India has moved away from constitutional democracy to populist democracy. Ambedkar is losing. Modi is winning.

Dilip Pendse, Former MD, Tata Finance Commits suicide

• Former Tata Finance managing director (MD) Dilip Pendse (61) allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in his office in Mumbai's Dadar (East) on July 5, 2017 morning.
• A financial wizard, Pendse’s rise in the Tata group over 22-years catapulted him to such heights that he was considered a successor to Ratan Tata.
• Between March 2000 and March 2001, TFL’s exposure increased from ₹220 crore to nearly ₹500 crore, mostly as investments in junk stocks that crashed during the dot-com bust. 
• Tata Sons’ own review found irregularities ranging from insider trading to false paperwork within Tata Finance.
• Pendse was dismissed from Tata Finance in 2001 after the company arm ran huge losses and the group filed criminal charges against him.
• In Oct 2003, The Bombay High Court transferred the Dilip Pendse-Tata Finance case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from the Mumbai police. The judgement was delivered on a writ petition filed in the Court by Tata Finance for transfer. The investigations pertain to the alleged fraud committed by Mr Dilip Pendse, former Managing Director of the company.
• Pendse was reduced to spending most of his time, post his ignominious sacking, cooped up in his office, agonising over his fate and studying the case papers. He  languished, worrying about his own future and the future of his family. Disgraced and abandoned by old friends and colleagues, damned and destroyed for a crime that was never fully established! A man as strong, as cerebral, suddenly felt defeated and alone. Pendse eventually gave up the fight and lost the war. 
• The monumental problems our clogged  courts create, especially for law-abiding citizens, often caught in a maze of legal issues that drag on for decades and eventually cost a few their precious lives?
• According to his friend, Pendse was drained and defeated  after fighting the system for 16 long years. He must have done this (suicide) in a moment of weakness. He wanted to prove his innocence. He failed to get justice.
• Former Tata executives said Pendse’s end was as tragic as was his dramatic rise.

My View:

Whether illegality of transactions are proved are not, Dilip Pendse as MD of Tata Finance Ltd shall have to own up responsibility for company's huge losses exceeding Rs.500 crores in 2000-01. The only way CEO's can insulate from this type of catastrophes is to follow due diligence meticulously, maintain transparency at all times in their working, keeping the Board informed properly and following procedures & protocols in letter and spirit. Otherwise, they will have to own up for failed decisions and pay the price. Over enthusiasm leads to no where. What ever one does during the day, he must ensure peace of mind and sound sleep in the nights are never disturbed. Democracy and its systems are always expensive & inefficient and if we expect speedy response or justice, it reflects our ignorance, especially in India which is saddled with monumental defects and problems. The only way we can still live happily is to make fewer mistakes and be careful at all times.

Bilkis Bano gang rape case

Detailed story of Bilkis Bano in Telugu

By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi | Updated: May 4, 2017

Bilkis Bano gangrape case verdict: The rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members was one of the most horrifying incidents that had taken place during the 2002 Godhra riots in Gujarat.

The Bombay High Court upheld the life imprisonment sentence of 11 accused in the Bilkis Bano gangrape case that had occurred in 2002. The rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members was one of the most horrifying incidents that had taken place during the 2002 post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. For the past 15 years, Bilkis Bano had taken up the matter with the local police, an NGO, the CBI and the courts to get justice for herself.

On March 3, 19-year-old Bilkis Bano along with her family were on their way, escaping a mob on a truck. Bilkis was five months pregnant and accompanying her were 17 other people in the truck, including her 2-year-old daughter. The truck was attacked by an armed mob, who gangraped her and killed 14 members of her family including her daughter, her mother Halima and cousin Shamim.
The 19-year-old approached the local police station to register a case against the assailants. However, the police dismissed her case and threatened her with dire consequences if she proceeded with the matter. She then approached the National Human Rights Commission of India and petitioned the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court directed the CBI to probe into the matter. In the meantime, she along with her family were issued threats, which forced her to request the SC to move the case outside Gujarat. The SC then shifted the case to Maharashtra.

In the Mumbai court, charges were filed against 19 men, including 6 police officers and a government doctor. In January 2008, 11 of them were sentenced to life imprisonment for gangrape and murder. The CBI however had asked for death penalty for Jaswantbai Nai, Govindbhai Nai and Radhesham Shah, who were charged for having played a significant role in planning and execution of the entire incident. The 11 convicts had however, filed an appeal to the High Court challenging their conviction.

My View:
Though Modi has evaded prosecution so far, he can't claim innocence. His comments justifying the riots - such as every action having an equal and opposite reaction - betray grave negligence on the part of the Gujarat chief minister, ignoring his constitutional duty to protect the people of his state. Nor did Modi lift a finger against the bandh called by his party along with right-wing Hindu groups, which triggered riots by parading the bodies of Godhra victims. While Modi was quick to visit Godhra after the Sabarmati Express carnage, he made no efforts to visit the riot-affected areas in Ahmedabad. Modi neither expressed remorse for killings of Muslims in such a scale by Hindu militants nor provided relief operations but actively abetted Hindu militant groups. Even the relief amounts paid were Rs.2 lakhs for Hindu victims and Rs.1 lakh for Muslim victim. Even this was due to hue & cry of the NGO's. It is tragedy such a Modi is PM of India, the largest democratic secular nation in the world!

The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013

The term "Lokpal" was coined by Dr. L.M.Singhvi in 1963. The concept of a constitutional ombudsman was first proposed in parliament by Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen in the early 1960s. The first Jan Lokpal Bill was proposed by Shanti Bhushan in 1968 and passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969, but did not pass through the Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, 'lokpal bills' were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, and again in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008, yet they were never passed. Forty five years after its first introduction, the Lokpal Bill is finally enacted in India on Dec 18, 2013.

The anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare forced previous UPA government to enact Lokpal Bill. Forty five years after its first introduction, the Lokpal bill got finally enacted in India on Dec 18, 2013. The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, 2013 seeks to provide for the establishment of Lokpal for the Union and Lokayukta for States to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public functionaries and for related matters. The act extends to whole of India, including Jammu & Kashmir and is applicable to “public servants” within and outside India. The act mandates for creation of Lokpal for Union and Lokayukta for states.

Modi government, which pronounces reforms at the fall of hat without even understanding what they are doing, has been dodging on the matter of appointing Lokpal on the silly pretext that the current Lok Sabha does not have a Leader of Opposition to sit on the selection panel, even after four years of passing the Act. 

On April 27, 2017, the Supreme Court of India told Modi government at the Centre that there was “no justification” to keep the enforcement of the Lokpal Act 2013 suspended. SC made it clear that the appointment of Chairperson or a Member of the Lokpal will not become invalid merely because of the reason of any vacancy in the selection committee. If, at present, the LOP is not available, the Chairperson and the other two members of the Selection Committee, namely, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India or his nominee may proceed to appoint an eminent jurist as a member of the Selection Committee.

Modi, in consultation with leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India (CJI), didn’t finalize the name of a full-fledged director for the CBI in advance when Anil Sinha retired on Dec 2, 2016. It is because his government is not on good terms with CJI, Justice TS Thakur. On Jan 19, 2017 Modi government appointed AK Verma, Delhi’s Police Commissioner, as Director of the CBI only after Justice T S Thakur retired on Jan 4, 2017. 

On Dec 18, 2013, Anna Hazare broke his nine-day fast shortly after Lok Sabha passed the Lokpal Bill. Looking a bit frail yet brimming with enthusiasm after the landmark bill was passed by the Lok Sabha, Hazare thanked all parties, barring Samajwadi Party, for their support. He had been crusading for anti-corruption ombudsman for long and had forced passage of the bill in the Lok Sabha in 2011. The 76-year-old Gandhian said mere enactment of the law would not serve the purpose "The law will be meaningless unless it is implemented and enforced properly..". Hazare thanked everybody who looked after him during the hunger strike, his fourth for Lokpal, chose not to make any mention of Arvind Kejriwal and others who played a role in building the movement.

In Aug 04 2011 when bill was introduces in Lok Sabha, BJP objected for exclusion of Prime Minister saying that when the PM does not enjoy immunity from prosecution under the criminal law and prevention of corruption Act, why is he being kept out of the ambit of the Lokpal. BJP also maintained that as per the constitution, everybody was equal and there is no immunity from IPC, CrPC or the Prevention of Corruption Act. The then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, has himself said he wants to be within its ambit, but the Cabinet did not agree.

Ever since demonetization in Nov 2016, Modi talks about black money menace and elimination of corruption and orders IT, CBI & ED raids only on BJP opponents almost everyday, but shuns appointing Lok Pal & Lok Ayukthas for over 4 years, speaks volumes about his sincerity and reflects his no will to walk the talk. What he is doing now to fight corruption is - nothing, only 'headlines management'.

My View:
Modi suffers from worst possible type of corruption; an insatiable desire for personal glory at any cost; an extremely deep moral and spiritual corruption. Modi belongs to the line of autocratic ideologues rather than the western tradition of revolutionary neo liberalism, or marxist rationalism. He also represents the worst aspect of democracy: a demagogue who caters to an irrational populace’s cravings for self-identity and release from self-responsibility. He might not have taken any bribes in recent years but there is no way he could have risen to his position without having made massive and horrendous economic & moral compromises.
... as described by Jayant Bhandari in www.acting-man.com

Babri case: SC restores conspiracy charges against Advani etc

Babri Masjid being demolished by Kar Sevaks on Dec 6, 1992

Apr 19, 2017:  LK Advani and other top leaders of the BJP including Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the demolition of the 16th­ century Babri Masjid, the Supreme Court ruled today, agreeing with a request from the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI in its case over the razing of the disputed mosque on December 6, 1992. The incident had sparked deadly riots across India that killed around 2,000 people. "We have allowed the CBI appeal against the Allahabad High Court judgement with certain directions," a bench comprising Justices PC Ghose and RF Nariman said.

Here are the top 10 points from the judgement in the Babri Masjid demolition case:

1. CBI's appeal in Babri mosque demolition case allowed, criminal conspiracy charge against LK Advani and other BJP leaders restored.
2. Two separate cases (in Lucknow and Raebareli) against LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti and unknown 'kar sevaks' in will be brought together in one trial.
3. The trial court in Lucknow must complete the hearing in two years and deliver a verdict.
4. Kalyan Singh (who was the chief minister of UP in 1992) enjoys constitutional immunity as Rajasthan Governor and can be tried only after he leaves office.
5. Lucknow court should conduct trial in these cases on a day­to­day basis.
6. No party shall be granted adjournments without the sessions judge being satisfied of the reasons for it.
7. CBI will have to ensure that at least one prosecution witness appears in trial court for recording of testimony.
8. Trial judge hearing the Babri mosque case shall not be transferred till the judgement is delivered.
9. Lucknow trial court to commence proceedings in four weeks and there will be no 'de novo' (fresh) trial.
10. Order should be followed in letter and spirit and parties involved have the liberty to approach the top court if its directions are not followed.

Here is the timeline to the dispute

Justice delayed is justice denied ... William E. Gladstone

Justice delayed will not only be justice denied, 

it will be the Rule of law destroyed ... Soli Sorabjee

My View:

There is no question that Ram Janmabhoomi is one of the highest sentiment for 84% Hindus in India, without exception. Muslims should have voluntarily given away the never used Masjid for Hindus for building Ram Temple, as gesture of good will. In return they could have extracted certain concessions, but both groups never came to negotiating table. Courts could not give its judgement because that piece of land of Babri Masjid is in possession of Babri Masjid Trust and at the same time Hindus sentimental right can't be undermined but can't be given away to Hindus unless Muslims agree to it. The dispute is dated back to 1853/1859. In 1992 Advani leading thousands of BJP+ Kar Sevaks, purely for political gains is only to counter VP Singh's Mandal card, resulting in demolition of Babri Masjid is patently illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional and ruptures secular fabric of the nation. All culprits who ever have conspired and/or participated in demolition must be booked and punished as per laws of the land. Topping the list are LK Advani, MM Joshi, Uma Bharathi, Kalyan Singh and many more. At least after 25 years, SC ordered these culprits stand trial with 2 years deadline. Unless rule of the law is respected, we stand to lose democratic & secular character of our constitution.

However, SC has dealt a deadly blow to BJP & its associates stunning the master manipulator Modi affirming judicial independence and upholding rule of law. Any shame left, Uma Bharti and Kalyan Singh must resign their Minister & Governor positions and face criminal charges in their individual capacity. Ironically, Modi (with his CBI) has to prosecute his own gurus & compatriots of conspiracy & criminal charges. Landed in unenviable spot, Modi, who lectures on every issue, will maintain stoic silence on this matter.