nazeemonline

W hatever you call it, Annaism or Anna fever or Anna mania, the inevitable has happened in India. The relentless fight against corruption initiated by the 74-year-old about 25 years back has finally been taken up by his fellow countrymen. It is the biggest explosion of poetic justice in contemporary Indian political scenario, and that too in the form of an apolitical movement. How long can a man’s sincere efforts be sidelined and go unnoticed? How long the authorities could blink over the real issues of over one billion people and claim growth rate in percentages and dollars? There comes Anna’s magic entry — quoting Prime Minister Manmohan, it is an effort “to trip parliamentary democracy.” By making such an allegation against Hazare and his supporters, Singh was expressing his anguish over the massive protests that erupted across the country. When corruption has become a way of life among the bureaucracy and judiciary, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pres...

S hould we allow the end to justify everything? If so, one has to justify the communal riots going on in India. Because one of the major political parties, LK Advani-led Bharatiya Janata Party, has been using religion as means to their end. As general election is getting  nearer, Indians are doomed to witness more and more of such atrocities. No doubt, a party formed out of communal ideologies will always stand for their end-purpose. For BJP it is Rama Rajya, a welfare state deep-rooted in what they call righteousness. But BJP looks like not knowing real essence of Rama and his welfare state. The party may be considering Rama as a Hindu deity or God who ruled ancient India. So for them Rama Rajya is just a “rajya” or country ruled by Rama. According to historians and scholars, Rama Rajya is far above petty politics. Rama or Ramachandra was definitely a legendary Hindu King. But it should also be remembered that, rather than being a religion, Hinduism was c...

Hey Ram! Those were the last words uttered by Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, when he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, an ardent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist on Jan.30, 1948. Godse and Gandhi, ironically, worshipped Ram, the Hindu deity on whom the entire country was hooked in a willing suspension of belief and disbelief a few days back. Gandhi was not a Muslim, not a non-believer of Hindu religion too, yet Godse and his ilk plotted against him. To them Gandhi was a traitor just because he stood for Hindu-Muslim unity when the country was partitioned along the lines of religion, a condition put forward by the British colonial powers in 1947 ending nearly two centuries of occupation. Much before the shameful incident, Ram was a captive at the hands of Hindu fanatics. Isn’t it their hard belief in Ram helped the Hindu party BJP emerge as a major political party and even complete the five-year term at the pinnacle of power in Delhi? The RSS and other major Hindu c...

"Oh,this thing. Why did you take such a big pain to bring this from there. We get all stuffs here in India." Expatriates, you might have heard this at least once from your relatives and friends back home. Even two three years back, it was these same people who used to give you list of things that they want from 'foreign' country. And now they dont even care about even your feelings or concern for the dear ones. The unexpected comment may make you dumbmouthed. Before you curse yourself, just make them understand the quality difference. They will definitely be surprised. A simple chocolate like Kit Kat, or a dish washing liquid Pril or any such stuff. You buy it from India and compare it with a product from any other foreign country. You will be surprised to see the quality difference. Its natural multinational companies eye a fast growing economy like India to sell their products. But where is the quality check. Except Sunita Narain and her Centre for Science and Envir...

O ne day or the other, a marriage of convenience will come to an end. And that’s what happened in Indian politics on Wednesday when the Left parties withdrew their support to the Congress-led Central government. Despite the political ideology differences when the Left parties backed the Congress party who became the single largest party in the 2004 general elections to form the government, many doubted the survival of such a government. The only motive behind such a decision was to keep away the communal Bharatiya Janata Party coming to power. With this sole intention Left offered outside support to Congress to form United Progressive Alliance government. And the Left parties never fall short off its responsibility of keeping away the communal forces to take advantage and come to power. In that sense the Left has done a commendable job. In their cat and mouse race they helped the government almost to complete the term. (ten more months left to finish the five-...

W ith the resignation of Chief Secretary to Treasury David Laws, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s premature coalition government is caught in an expense row that dealt the death blow for his predecessor David Brown and his Labour government. Laws, hailed as the most efficient minister in the coalition government, belongs to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrat party which has muttered “change” in its every single breath during the heated election campaigns and tele-debates. So where is the change that the Lib Dems promised and the stern actions that the Conservatives vowed to bring in economy? So sad, blame it on Laws who made Con-Dem partners David Cameron and Nick Clegg end their honeymoon abruptly. But an undercurrent of Conservatives becoming liberal in their functioning is very much in the air. We have to wait and judge whether that is to save the face of the coalition or to reaffirm that nothing is wrong with the coalition. With ju...

Very soon anybody who wears full face covering veils in France will be fined. The target is Islamic face veil called burqa. For women who are wearing the veil for a long time, it will be embarrassing to take it off from their dress code. Just imagine, you are a person who is used to wearing sari or any other full body-covering dress. One day your employer wanted to make micro minis or shots as dress, what will be your personal reaction??? No doubt, you may either quit the job or protest against it. Personally, I am against all those things that exhibit your religiosity in dress and ways. It is one's personal choice, but at the same it should not be in any other way an obstacle to others. The French government, now with this ban is aiming at targeting militants who may hide in burqa and indulge in terrorist activities. So in a way the government is trying to say all those militant activities are done by those who believe in burqa. But is it the right way for a nation to protec...