An Open Letter to Mr. Hardik Patel

Respected Mr. Hardik Patel,

I, Dip Joshi, am a common citizen of Gujarat... I would like to make it clear right at the beginning that reservations are something I don't support... I think that caste based reservation increase caste difference rather than remove them as was the original intention... I have been a firm believer that reservation should only be given to people with economically weak background... However over the last 60 years it was used as a political tool...

Now coming back to the original topic... I did not know who you were until a few days ago... And I have a feeling I will be seeing a lot more of you now... I have read that your organisation, Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), came into existence less than a month ago... I believe you think that the Patidar community is losing out in the development race because of reservation quota...

I completely agree with you.... Reservations are the problem... One thing I don't understand is, if you think reservations are a problem, why are you asking for it...???
In a television interview, you said that the Government should either give reservation to the patidars or remove reservation all together...

On one hand you are saying that reservation causes problems and on the other hand you are demanding it too... If the Patidar community gets reservations, it will still be a problem for the rest of the citizens.. And the Patidar community will go from being against the problem to being a part of it... As someone who is a strong supporter of the Patidar community, why are you letting this happen to the reputation of the community...???

You claim to be fighting for Youth.. but how, by demanding reservation..???
What a joke..!!!
You should help Patel Youth in finding more opportunities instead of spreading such a disease further in the society...

I was also curious about a few thing that I saw during your rally... In a state where majority of your audience speaks in Gujarati, your speech was completely in Hindi... Who was your real audience..???
Your speech had reference about naxalism, terrorism, farmer suicide, development etc... What all this topic have to do with the development of your community...???
Your yesterday’s speech where you were showing disrespect to Gujarat CM Anandiben and our PM Narendra Modi but showing immense support for Arvind Kejriwal & Nitish Kumar is enough reason for me to stay away from any such movement... Because its not a movement, but a political propaganda for self promotion... Tell me, how is Nitish Kumar related to Patel community reservation demand..??
By the way Nitish Kumar has declared you “Leader of youth”... Congratulations on that... But i firmly believe in Chanakya's quote : “Supporter of opportunist leaders can never be trusted”....
We have seen how, in the past, Kejriwal used youth of entire nation and fooled them... How he killed a sacred anti-corruption movement for his political gains... Media is interested in this story because they like such type of negativity and it helps in gaining TRP...

Anyways, coming back to what happened yesterday... You wanted to hold a rally to demand reservations for Patidar... It is your right to demand anything you want to from the Government as long as it is peaceful... Government told you that they would give you official permission to use the GMDC ground to hold your meeting and even permitted that you walk all the way to the government office from that place... The road blocks by your supporters caused a lot of inconvenience to a lot of people but the government still let you do it...

Now You got the ground... You got the permission for a rally right through the heart of the city... You even got thousands of police personnel to ensure that no one disrupted your rally and everything was peaceful....

But you were given permission to use the GMDC ground till 8 pm... No one questioned or stopped you from using it till that time... At 8pm, when the police asked you to vacate government property, why did you not agree..???
Why are there photos and videos of your fellow patidars shouting slogans and destroying public property..???
Doesn't the government have the right to ask you to move out after the permission expires..??

You refused to vacate and so the police arrested you and took you to the police station which had jurisdiction... You were let go after sometime... But while you were in the police station, your supporters burned a lot of private vehicles and buses which belong to the city transport department. They even destroyed a few shops...

I don't see how your supporters think any of these things will help their case... If they were angry at you being arrested, there are legal ways to go about it... If they were angry that they are not in the reserved category then also there is a pre-defined procedure to ask for it.... Government authorities decide if your community is eligible for reservation... There are set guidelines/checklists to do this....

Freedom of expression is a great thing to use but Government has the right to stop it when it clearly violates other citizen's freedom to live peacefully and feel safe....
It was also great to see people come in really expensive cars to rallies and then claim to be 'under priviledged'... As a lot of people have noted, a 'show of strength' to prove that you are one of the 'weaker castes' is ridiculously ironic... If the money spent in organizing this rally was used to help the poor families of your community, no one in the community would even need reservation....

And you claim to choose this path following the footsteps of Sardar Patel, Let me take a moment to remind what Sardar Patel had said addressing students at Gujarat Vidhyapeeth on 19th Feb 1939...

"One can take the path of revolution but revolution should not give a shock to the society...
There is no place of violation in revolution..."

I hope I have made my point... I have a feeling I will see you more often atleast till the 2017 elections in Gujarat... I hope you use your power to bring positive change in the country... Youth in India rarely get this chance, don't spoil it for the rest of us... Don't malign the reputation of your community/city/state....

If you ever take start a peaceful campaign to remove reservations, I will stand by you... For now, lets stop this and bring back normalcy to our city and state...

Here's to hoping for a more peaceful tomorrow...

Thank you..

- A Common Gujarati Citizen...

Curious Case of Adil Shahryar

Amidst a washout of the monsoon session of the parliament, an interesting flashback triggered with a term called “Quid pro quo”....

Congress' accusation of Quid pro on Sushma Swaraj, came back as a boomerang... Sushma Swaraj roaring with a reply of what quid pro quo means and how Congress executed it... Mention of Adil Shahryar and Mohammad Yunus by Sushma Swaraj opened up a list of questions for this generation...

Who is Adil Shahryar...??
Who is Mohammad Yunus...??
How is Adil related to Nehru family..??

Adil Shahryar is the son of Mohammad Yunus... Mohammad Yunus was an officer at the Indian Foreign Service and served as an ambassador in few countries... Mohd. Yunus was born in 1916 in Abottabad to a wealthy family... During the fight of independence, Mohd. Yunus had become so close to Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi that he chose to stay in India, post partition...

Now it’s a known fact that relations between Firoz and Indira wz not at the best and both stayed in separate houses but not divorced... Mr. M.O. Mathai, then private secretary to Mr. Nehru writes in his article called “SHE” (From the Book "Reminiscences of the Nehru Age"),
“She said that when she came from her dressing room to drink her usual glass of milk, she discovered that there was finely powdered glass in it. The powder was floating on the thick cream. At the first sip she immediately sensed it in her mouth and spat it out. She said that from her dressing room, she heard her husband sneaking into her bedroom and making an exit. She controlled herself..."

Now here by the time of Sanjiv’s birth (younger son of Indira), Mohammad Yunus who had become a long time resident of Nehru House... He ensured within the first week of Sanjiv’s birth, he was circumcised on the excuse of the baby having a disease called “phimosis”... But it was carried out in Islamic tradition... This information is available in Yunus’ book, “Persons, Passions & Politics”...
Now it’s up to the us, the readers to search on who is Sanjiv’s father... As there are many articles and books available claiming that Sanjiv wz not a son of Firoz Gandhi...

[ Off-topic information; Sanjiv was renamed to Sanjay after the British police arrested Sanjiv for car theft in the United Kingdom and seized his passport... India’s ambassador to UK (name undisclosed), ensured Sanjiv’s name change to Sanjay and obtained a new passport for him...]

So now Mr. Mohammad Yunus, had another son (not from Indira) called Adil Shahryar... Adil, Rajiv, Sanjay grew up together and were close to each other....

In the early 80s, Adil Shahryar had a company called "Caribbean international Investment Corporation" which had signed a deal with "Shapton Producers" to supply video cassettes... Instead, he supplied scrap paper... Shahryar had fallen out with the suppliers and later attempted to set fire on his hotel room... He was taken to custody in Miami in 1981... He was charged with a fraud with shipping authorities as well as American Express International Banking Corporation... He was also charged with use of fire-arm while in felony... As a result, he was sentenced to 35 years in jail by the US fed court....

Here in India, on 2nd December 1984, in Bhopal, from pesticide plant of Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), a toxic gas Methyl Isocyanate leakage caused 3700 deaths, blinded atleast 20,000 and over 5 lakh were affected adversely.... Anderson was arrested in Bhopal on Dec 7, 1984... And wz placed under house-arrest in carbide guesthouse... Within a few hours of his arrest, Chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh received a phone call from Delhi to ensure the safe release and escape of Anderson back to the United States.... Point to be noted here is that Rajiv Gandhi wz the Prime Minister of India at that time...

In June 1985, Ronald Reagan Govt. in the United States, grants presidential pardon to Adil Shahryar... Also important is the fact that Ronald Reagan signed the pardon papers of Adil on June 11 1985... Incidentally it’s the day when Rajiv landed in Washington... Rajiv secured the release of Adil in exchange for the gesture on releasing Anderson earlier... After returning India Rajiv Gandhi was heard saying that “Adil was wrongly imprisoned”....

Sushma Swaraj's reply on Quid Pro Quo opened up many questions and facts which were not known to many of this generation...

References :

• http://www.rediff.com/news/report/who-is-adil-shahryar-and-why-was-he-part-of-sushmas-reference/20150812.htm

• http://www.wikipedia.org

• http://www.scribd.com

• http://www.thefrustratedindian.com/2015/08/

• Article "SHE" by M.O. Mathai

• Reminiscences of the Nehru Age by M.O. Mathai

• Book "My Days with Nehru"

• Book “Persons, Passions & Politics” by Mohammad Yunus

- Jai Hind...

History Of Nagaland and Naga Peace Accord

“The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend...”
We saw this happen when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a Peace Accord with the rebel Naga Group, the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah) aka NSCN (IM)... Modi government deserves all of the praise for this accord with the one of the most notorious groups in the North East region... The implication of this accord, if Nagas stick to their commitment, will be a game changer for this region... Bcz most of the development projects in NE region were hampered by such rebel unions, a peaceful NE will rapidly inch towards growth and development...

Initially, NSCN’s demands were far from reality... Demand was for a sovereign “Greater Nagalim” with all Naga inhabited areas of Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and even some area of Myanmar... NSCN’s way to achieve it wz rebel and insurgency...

The Naga insurgency is not a recent issue... It is there since Independence... Under the leadership of Angami Zapu Phizo, the Naga National Council(NNC) declared Nagaland an independent state on August 14, 1947... The rebellion group grew among the Naga people... Even Phizo formed an army to fight for the sovereign Naga state...

To address the problem of growing insurgency in the NE, Indian Govt. passed Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958... Since then, hundreds have lost their lives in armed conflicts... After passing AFSPA, the Govt. always kept a door open for peace talks with rebellions... Shillong Accord of 1975 was an outcome of such initiative... The NNC agreed leave the path of armed rebel and accepted the Indian Constitution... However a faction of NNC led by Thuingaleng Muivah, was not happy with the idea of giving up the demand for a sovereign Naga State... He along with Isak Chishi Swu and S S Khaplang formed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980... Internal conflict among the leaders of NSCN resulted in splitting of the outfit into :
[A] NSCN-IM (Isak-Muivah), led by Isak Chishi Swu and Thuingaleng Muivah...
[B] NSCN-K led by S S Khaplang...

If we look at the last two decades, we can see NSCN-IM being associated with almost all major rebellion incidents in the region...

Apart from the Indian Government, the Nagas are also in conflict with other ethnic groups... Conflict with the Kukis is the major example... The Kukis demand a Kuki majority district in Sadar Hills which is also inhabited by Nagas... Nagas claim that Kukis are later migrants to the Sadar Hills and hence it’s a part of “Greater Nagalim”...

PM Modi while addressing at the event on August 3, 2015 said that the Naga problem “is a legacy of the British rule”... It indeed is... The British had settled Kukis in the Sadar Hills during mid-eighteenth century to counter the Nagas... The fire of hatred hasn’t died since then... And There have been incidents of violent conflicts between the Kukis and the Nagas claiming many innocent lives...
( How true was Mr. Shashi Tharoor in his recent speech saying "Maintenance and even creation of religious, ethnic and communal tension in many of the coutries was a result of British Colonization...!!!!" )

The India Govt had taken numerous attampts to bring NSCN-IM to the table for a peace talk... Past Prime Ministers did their bit to restore peace to the NE India... But nothing concrete could be achieved... P V Narasimha Rao met Muivah in Paris in 1995... Three years later, PM AB Vajpayee met him in the same city... Mr. Vajpayee visited Kohima in 2003...

During that time, NSCN-IM gave up the demand for sovereign “Greater Nagalim”... In 2003, they settled for a special status within the constitution of India, which gave them more socio-political scopes... Point to note here is that Nagaland already enjoys special status under Article 371-A, which ensures that “Acts of Parliament shall not apply to Nagaland unless so decided by the Nagaland Legislature with regard to:- (i) religious or social practices of the Nagas; (ii) Naga Customary Law and procedure; (iii) administration of civil and criminal justice involving decisions according to Naga Customary Law; (iv) ownership and transfer of land and its resources”....
(Ref. OpIndia.com)

NSCN-IM now wants the enlargement of this special status... Apart from that, there were two other issues need to be addressed... First the rehabilitation of the rebellion Nagas and pending criminal case against their leaders... There was a proposal to rehabilitate Naga fighting cadre in the Indian army, paramilitary forces or state police... Dropping criminal cases against Naga leaders will not be a bad deal... It will be interesting to see if the Modi, the government has agreed to this...

On the national level, this whole episode will encourage various Naxalite groups of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar etc to leave the path of violence and join the mainstream....

Jai Hind...