English: AGRA. Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin visiting the Taj Mahal. Русский: АГРА. Владимир и Людмила Путины во время посещения мавзолея Тадж-Махал. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Vladimir Putin with his mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, in July 1958. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Vladimir Putin at school age (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Russia has seen three fundamental political paradigms in just the past 150 years. There was the Tsar, then the Lenin monarchy, and now a Putin monarchy. But the country's geopolitical pull has remained constant. Even if Russia were to become a western style democracy, I believe that pull will stay, likely even expand. My point being, we can't blame Putin for Russia's geopolitical pull. It is the country exuding the force.
No two democracy is alike. America is not like Canada is not like Britain is not like France is not like Germany, and so on. Which means perhaps countries are like fingerprints. Each country is going to end up with a slightly unique political system and culture. Russia is not waiting to photocopy any other country politically. Maybe Russia is a little too different.
I believe in democracy and human rights like no American I have ever met. I believe democracy is good for every country. And I am not exactly America inspired. Although it is obvious that America is the loudest example today. The world's first republic was birthed by the Buddha. We also recently found out Iraqis came up with calculus over a thousand years before Newton.
I do want to see a more western Europe style democracy in Russia. I very much want Russia to become a more robust economy. I want Russia to do double digit growth rates. But I don't believe in military intervention. Except in Russia's case that is not even an option. The species should survive.
My prescription would be the deepest possible engagement with the country. If you want a western Europe style democracy in Russia, you want the deepest possible engagement with the country. That is the best option, that is the only option. Which means sanctions are a bad idea, and not sustainable over the long term. I understand the circumstances that brought them about. But at some point down the line they will have to be rolled back.
One mistake America made early on was while it expanded NATO right to Russia's borders, it did not at the same time respectfully engage Russia. Russia joining NATO might be an outlandish thought, but America could have offered to carry out joint naval exercises in the Pacific, for example. This is one more thing we can blame on Bush. (The list is long.) Looks like not only W messed up the War On Terror, he rekindled the Cold War too.
The Russia India friendship does not have a parallel. This is not like the friendship between America and England. India and Russia are not shared cultures. There are no shared languages. There is not even a shared border. It is almost like a friendship between two human beings, only it is between two peoples. It is not a military alliance. And business is not the primary motive. It is just friendship.
Top elected officials called on D.C. politicians to roll back a nearly 50% proposed cut in anti-terror funding to the Big Apple....... “Our message today is both simple and urgent, we need the Congress to step up and protect the people of New York City against terror, protect the people of the United States against terror,” Mayor de Blasio said at police headquarters in lower Manhattan Wednesday.......President Obama’s spending plan for 2017 aims to slash the Urban Area Security Initiative, which provides counter-terror funds to New York and other cities, from $600 million to $330 million. The funding goes to the NYPD, FDNY and Office of Emergency Management...... The city got $180 million under the program last year. The budget proposal cuts that funding in half. ...... Schumer said he was “shocked, disgruntled and chagrined” by the proposed cuts and leveled some criticism at the Obama administration.
Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just getting a black guy in there as the first black president has been a monumental achievement. The self-esteem effects on black children is beyond the clock. But the substantial work has been on education, health care, job creation, and criminal justice system reform. And he has taken huge leaps on each. The impact will play out over a generation.
The first black president has done right by the black people. Why are people wearing wigs offended?
The Great Recession was harder on the black population than on the population at large. And the unemployment rate among young black folks is still too high. And that is a prescription for continued good work. Too bad we have term limits.
Donald Trump Hates Republicans but Praises Mexicans, Obama, Pro Choice, Healthcare and Hillary -- wait, that was 3 years ago, my mistake..reverse all that now! #RockTheVote
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari— who helped run President George W. Bush’s 2008 bank bailout plan —
sounded a lot like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren
in recent comments he made. ....... Wall Street woke up with a new problem Tuesday: a Republican Goldman Sachs alum using his new bully pulpit atop the Federal Reserve to suggest the biggest banks should break up. .....
Sanders immediately issued a a press release saying he was "delighted" by Kashkari's remarks.
..... the way to fix the problem might be breaking up the biggest banks or forcing them to hold so much capital that they become public utilities. ..... Kashkari's plan shocked Washington's financial policy wonks and lobbyists who have spent years fighting over rules still being implemented from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. Kashkari's unexpected campaign — in which he says there needs to be "transformational" change — has the potential to shake up the discussion among banks, regulators and politicians...... A big part of the surprise was that Kashkari, who ran for governor in California as a Republican in 2014 and has been at the Fed for less than two months, was taking on the issue. But he can make a compelling argument that he knows what he's talking about firsthand....... He served in the Treasury Department from 2006 to 2009, and at the end of his tenure in the Bush administration, he oversaw the financial crisis bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program...... Kashkari's announcement made waves on the campaign trail, the Hill and K Street, though some bank lobbying groups are taking their time before going on the defensive against a top Fed official....... Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota who is now president of the Financial Services Roundtable, said regulations requiring larger reserves and decreased risk should be finalized and their impact studied "before policymakers can credibly call for them to be repealed and replaced with actions that could put American banks at a major global disadvantage and have other unintended consequences.” ....... John Dearie, acting chief executive of the Financial Services Forum, said breaking up global financial institutions based in the United States "would ensure that one of the U.S.’s most competitive global industries serving companies small and large is turned over to banks based outside the United States.” ........
While Kashkari earned praise from Sanders, he is entertaining ideas that appear to go beyond the comfort zone of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has run on a regulatory platform that's more focused on risks outside the traditional banking sector.
Republicans haven't spent as much time digging into bank regulation and too big to fail in their debates...... Kashkari said he plans to deliver a plan to Congress by the end of the year.
it highlighted the U.S. central bank's independence from politics. ..... he urged Congress to consider breaking up massive banks...... Kashkari, a candidate for California governor in 2014 who last month began the Minneapolis job, acknowledged he had not consulted broadly with lawmakers or with his colleagues at the Fed, arguing it was appropriate to go public with his views before getting feedback, to which he "looked forward." ..... Bernie Sanders, a Democratic senator and presidential candidate who has tapped into anger toward Wall Street, said on Tuesday he was "delighted" with Kashkari's stance. Asked about this on Wednesday, Kashkari said: "I've never met Senator Sanders and I don't know him and I've never spoken to him. This is not about politics." ....... "If we can demonstrate to the American people that there is a diversity of views within the (Fed) and people are outspoken, what better way to demonstrate that we are not political or beholden to the (White House) or any political party," Kashkari said. "I think this shows more independence." ...... A banking trade group, the Financial Services Forum, said the Fed's own stress tests show the largest banks can now survive a "far worse" crisis than the last, and warned that breaking them up would benefit foreign competitors....."I think that they are surprised and I expect them to push back pretty hard," Kashkari said of bankers.
China's Foreign Ministry warned the United States on Tuesday there would be "serious consequences" if a plaza in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington was named after a pro-democracy dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner...... By unanimous voice vote, the U.S. Senate on Friday backed a plan to name the plaza after Liu Xiaobo, jailed for 11 years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging an end to one-party rule......"The U.S. has been at its wits' end in dealing with China as it is reluctant to employ military threats or economic sanctions that may backfire. The only option for Washington seems to be petty actions that disturb China," it said in an editorial.....The bill had been introduced by Senator Ted Cruz, a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. A White House spokesman has said President Barack Obama's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill and it was not an effective way to secure Liu's release.
Fed’s Kashkari: 25% Capital Requirement May Be Right for Banks
The Minneapolis Fed’s new president discusses breaking up the biggest banks, monetary policy and his first Fed policy meeting and what he learned from the front lines of the financial crisis
Students at one of India's premier universities say the government is wielding a colonial-era sedition law as a means to crush dissent. ...... The clash pits ultra-conservative forces of Narendra Modi against the university with detractors calling the tax-payer funded school "a nest of anti-national activity." ..... Tensions erupted at the university after students organized an event last week to protest the hanging in 2013 of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri separatist convicted of a 2001 terrorist attack on India's Parliament......Some at the gathering shouted anti-India slogans that condemned Guru's execution. "Afzal, your death will bring revolution," one slogan said. "India should shatter into pieces," said another. ...... JNU is sometimes likened to the University of California, Berkeley, with left-wing traditions and distinguished ranks of graduates including prominent politicians, journalists and artists. ........ Prahash Karat, the former general secretary of the Communist Party and former student union president, addressed students this week, declaring, "JNU is a prime target for this [Modi] regime." ...... Since Modi's rise to power, some of his most devoted followers have pursued a hard-line agenda: They have incited against those who eat cow meat, demanded the revision of history books and tried to restrict the way Indians consume entertainment. ......
Nalin Kohli, a spokesman for Modi's ruling party, says the student protest against Afzal Guru's hanging should not be protected as free speech.
........ Mohandas Gandhi was tried by the British under the same sedition law now being invoked against student leader Kumar. .... a warning by India's home minister that anyone making anti-India slogans will "not be spared" has sent a chill through the campus......"I think it is more a case of actually criminalizing dissent," he says. "It's a larger witch hunt for people who don't agree with the agenda of the government."
JNU row: Is BJP mistaken over anti-nationalism?
The situation at Jawaharlal Nehru University, which followed earlier developments at Hyderabad Central University, raises critical questions on BJP's nationalism, what the party considers acceptable what it deems to be anti-national.
A minister in the BJP government General VK Singh, on Tuesday, said: "You consume the nation's foodgrains, reside in the nation and get education here. If after that you abuse the nation, then you are traitor." ...... On whether criticism of the country is anti-national, BJP spokesperson Mittal said - "I had thought that we would place all these comments under perspective of what happened at JNU. There is no criticism of India. It is the destruction of India that has been demanded there. They said - 'Bharat ke tukde karne hain' [Let's break India into parts], 'Bharat ko barbaad karna hai' [Let's destroy India]. This is not criticising India or the government of India."
Cruz has the backing of 28% of Republican voters nationwide, unseating Trump, who won the support of 26% ..... Marco Rubio comes in third with 17% support ..... In South Carolina, Trump leads Cruz 38%-22%, and in Nevada, Trump is beating Rubio 45%-19%.
in a hypothetical race with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee and Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic ticket -- presumably the scenario most conducive to a Bloomberg victory -- Trump was chosen by 37% of likely voters, Sanders by 30%, and Bloomberg by 16%. ..... Without Bloomberg in the mix, Trump and Sanders were in a dead heat — 44% to 43%, within the poll’s margin of error. Bloomberg drew 13 percentage points from Sanders and only seven from Trump. ...... Bloomberg’s mayoral record contains much to please (and dismay) Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. But to the extent that voters outside metro New York know Bloomberg, they may think of him more as the gun control advocate who tried to ban sales of sodas over 16 ounces than a business entrepreneur who backed stop-and-frisk police tactics. ..... Bloomberg has an impressive résumé: a self-made billionaire who founded a global financial information company; a philanthropist who’s given billions; a mayor who presided over historic reductions in crime, helped the city recover from 9/11 and banned smoking in bars. ...... Bloomberg’s pollster, Douglas Schoen, says his man has the money, message, independence and time to fill that need: "I don't think the conventional wisdom'' —that Bloomberg is perceived as a New York nanny-state liberal — "is going to last. The mayor would be able to build support rapidly.'' ....... But Bloomberg is a stiff campaigner who managed to get just 51% of the mayoral vote in 2009 despite spending $102 million ($174 a vote). His issue would be his own competence and non-partisanship, hardly a rousing call to arms. His region hasn’t produced a president since 1960, and its loyalty might be claimed by one or more of his rivals (Sanders, Clinton, Trump). ..........
He’s a more dedicated proponent of gun control than many Democrats, and a more enthusiastic defender of Wall Street than many Republicans.
...... Schoen, the Bloomberg pollster, admits it’s vital that any third-party candidate make voters feel victory is possible. ...... It’s easy to see why Bloomberg is tempted to run, given his enormous ambition and low threshold for boredom. For 12 years, he had what is often described as the nation’s second biggest job. In the New York magazine interview in 2013, he admitted that philanthropy — even on his own heroic scale – would not be enough to keep him satisfied after leaving Gracie Mansion. .......
Bloomberg turned 74 on Valentine’s Day. This would almost certainly be his last shot at an office he’s wanted to hold since he was a teenager.
The Bihari DNA has done it again. In 2015, it beat the shine out of the NDA campaign spearheaded by the double-cannon Modi-Shah attack team into smithereens, pieces of which are still being hunted for by anxious Bihar BJP workers who hailed their victory in Patna on November 8 a tad too prematurely by distributing laddoos and then retreated into PTSD. ....... nothing gets the goat of the Modi-Shah team like Shatrughan Sinha who keeps faulting the government for every mistake, from the micro detail to the giga gorilla. ...... Then there is Kirti Azad, who has blown soft, good and hard at the edifice that Arun Jaitley occupies. ..... Despite several stares from the party president, Kirti Azad is still at it - thanks to that DNA. ...... It's not that all of Bihar has anti-BJP DNA, there's the venerable Giriraj Singh whose claim to fame is not for being the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises. He specialises in the killer quote, the one that kills his party, a self-inflicted wound, like the threat to send anyone who opposes Modi to Pakistan. ....... In his rousing speech (yes, yes, the same one which got him arrested since the Delhi Police still doesn't know if he committed sedition himself), Kanhaiya Kumar defends JNU and the right to speech while condemning the pro-Pakistan slogans. His shrill voice speaks of things which every campus should have, instead of colluding with the establishment and state to count the credits by keeping mum and going with the grain. That Bihari DNA. ..... PS: The writer is not of Bihari descent nor has he been to Bihar, but lives among Biharis.
"This is our flagship model and we think it will bring a revolution in the industry" ..... At present, the firm imports parts from overseas and assembles them in India, but plans to make its phones domestically within a year
will enter testing with carriers in Indonesia and elsewhere this year. .... Project Loon almost didn’t make it. .... has advanced enough to deliver about 15 megabit-per-second Internet access, which he pointed out is enough to deliver video ...... In addition to Indonesia, Alphabet has reached a deal with the Sri Lankan government to exchange access to needed radio frequency spectrum for a stake in the project. .......
Alphabet is in talks with carriers around the world, Teller said, adding that the prospect is very real that a further five billion people will have Internet access within five to 10 years..... “it will change the world in ways we cannot possibly imagine,” he said.
...... two moonshots that Google abandoned. The first, he said, was vertical farming, which would have used
one-tenth the water and one-one-hundreth of the land demanded by traditional agriculture
. But although Google grew some lettuce, it never managed to grow staple crops like grain or rice. ........ Another effort, would have allowed landlocked countries to ship goods far more cheaply using a rocket-like air cargo ship that could land without a runway. ........ Starting with testing out the hardest part of a project, Teller said, is part of how X decides which projects to kill and which to continue with. The company starts with the hardest pieces of a potential “moonshot,” and only funds those that can survive the toughest tests.... The unit, he said, depends on both wild dreaming and what he called “enthusiastic skepticism.” ...... Virtual-reality and augmented-reality projects will take center stage, with at least half a dozen talks and exhibits centered around the emerging technologies.
The balloons, once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye. ....... The government announced earlier this month it would take a 25% stake in the joint venture with Google to deliver a high-speed internet service powered by helium-filled balloons. .....
Sri Lanka is not investing any capital but will take the stake in return for allocating spectrum for the project. A further 10% of the joint venture would be offered to existing telephone service providers on the island.
..... there are 3.3m mobile internet connections and 630,000 fixed line internet subscribers among Sri Lanka’s more than 20 million population. ..... Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago.
Alphabet's Google Fiber could be preparing to ramp up its long-rumored onslaught on the cable industry. ...... All told, Alphabet could bring Fiber to as many as 19 municipalities. ...... the mounting evidence that Alphabet intends to supplant traditional cable and TV distributors like AT&T (NYSE:T), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC). Investors in any of these names, but especially more distribution-oriented firms like Comcast and Time Warner Cable, should view Alphabet's looming presence with trepidation. ..... All told, cable, Internet, and phone services yield sales just south of $80 billion annually for AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast. And though Alphabet will require years to develop a Fiber network with the reach to appreciably dent the results of AT&T, Comcast, or Time Warner Cable, current prices suggest Alphabet might enjoy a competitive advantage as it expands. As recently as last summer, Comcast's 1GB Internet service cost a whopping $299/month, with over $1,000 in installation and activation fees. Contrast this to Google Fiber's basic service costing only $74/month in Kansas City
At present, smartphones available in the market are priced around Rs 1,500. ..... Established last year, Ringing Bells will start with the assembly of handsets in Phase-I and aims at full indigenous development of the feature-rich smartphones ...... India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, is poised to overtake the US as the second-largest market in next few years.......In the last few months, global smartphone makers, including the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola and Gionee have commenced assembling their handsets in India, where the government is pushing local manufacturing through its Make in India initiative.
The lawyer for the family of Walter L. Scott, who was fatally shot by a police officer in South Carolina, also withdrew his support from Mrs. Clinton and endorsed Mr. Sanders last month.
suggested that a Hillary Clinton administration would continue the Obama administration’s work to expand Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, overhaul the student loan system and ensure background checks for all gun buyers. ..... “That Clinton is going to continue the Affordable Care Act is my No. 1 thing,” he added. “Bernie wants to make health care free for all citizens. But it’s going to cost money. And where’s that going to come from? Taxes. So I don’t know if I want to do that.
I want to know if it’s possible that the wealthy really pay for the bulk of his plan. Because they can afford it.”
...... “Honestly, I think Bernie’s platform is too heavily dependent on this nebulous political revolution that is highly unlikely to materialize. .... Still, the only person who would persuade the couple to vote for Ms. Clinton, they said, is Donald J. Trump. ....“He scares me,” Ms. Babington said. ....
“He has no guiding philosophies,” Mr. Babington added.
Mr. Trump drawing the most support of likely Republican voters, with 38 percent .... The poll shows Mr. Trump’s support remaining steady in South Carolina since October ...... 56 percent of likely Democratic voters in South Carolina support Mrs. Clinton, compared with 38 percent who back Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. ..... With Democrats holding their South Carolina primary on Feb. 27, Mr. Sanders has just over 10 days to narrow the gap with Mrs. Clinton. Although time is short, only 43 percent of likely voters say they have definitely decided upon a candidate.
In a wide-ranging speech on “ending systemic racism,” Hillary Clinton presented a $125 billion plan to assist poor and minority communities with job training, education and re-entering society after incarceration, part of an effort to speak directly to African-American voters as the Democratic primary contest heads to South Carolina. ...... Her remarks, delivered in Harlem, were centered around what Mrs. Clinton called a “Breaking Down Barriers” agenda that would disproportionately help in “places where people of color and the poor have been left out and left behind.” And she particularly named “places like Harlem and rural South Carolina.” ....... the “school to prison pipeline” ..... the plan would be paid for by a “risk fee” imposed on Wall Street banks and other changes in the tax code. ..... “Many Republicans talk in coded racial language,” she said to applause from the audience. “They demonize President Obama and encourage the ugliest impulses of the fringe” of the party.
that he would combat institutional racism, reform police departments across the country, and make getting an education and a well-paying job easier. ...... “What is going on now, especially with regard to African-Americans — this is not new. It has been going on decade, after decade, after decade. The only difference is the cellphone video. That’s the only difference because what was going on in the past was never recorded and the police officer’s testimony was accepted as truth. This video, this cellphone, makes all the difference in the world. So clearly as a nation we need criminal justice reform.” ...... he expressed disappointment in the way some police forces have systematically discriminated against blacks. ......
“I have talked to African-American Ph.D.s who get nervous when they have to travel or drive across the country. That should not be happening in the year 2016.”
...... a high percentage of black children live in poverty (he said 35 percent) and that an even higher percentage of young black people — 51 percent — were unemployed.
Depending on who is asked, the race is either holding steady with Mr. Trump on top, or is now more fluid after Mr. Trump criticized the former president and his administration at the Republican debate on Saturday, saying that “they lied” about the rationale for invading Iraq in 2003.
Amit Shah’s new term as BJP president will be all about ensuring that Modi remains in office after 2019 ..... The Modi government at the Centre can last for 15 to 20 years” ..... On January 25, Shah was elected to his first full term as BJP president. .... Shah wants the party to substantially improve upon its past record in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam ...... ensure “conditions for growth of local leadership in poll-bound states”. There has been a feeling that ever since the Modi-Shah duo came to prominence in the BJP, local leaders have been trampled upon in states where the party is not in power. “After the Bihar debacle, there was no shying away from projecting Sarbananda Sonowal as the leader of the election campaign in Assam, and later naming him as the chief ministerial candidate. That is, in effect, making room for local leadership,” said a source close to Shah. ...... the feeling of dejection among workers who hear complaints that achche din have not come, black money has not been brought back, the employment sector has not looked up, and price of food and household items is going up ..... “The BJP has to somehow reach out to the other parties and ensure the parliamentary logjams do not come in the way of reforms.” ..... Shah was the prabhari, or in-charge, of Uttar Pradesh for two years before the Lok Sabha polls. The party won 73 of 80 seats, an achievement that elevated him to the nonexistent rank of “super strategist”. His eyes would now be on the assembly polls in the state, due in 2017. ...... Shah is also focused on increasing the BJP’s strength in the Rajya Sabha. “We will keep on winning elections in the assemblies, and that should be reflected in the Rajya Sabha,” he told THE WEEK during the parliamentary logjam last year. “That is my strategy.”
asked if the Congress vice president had joined hands with separatist forces and wanted another division of India. ..... support to anti-national forces in the name of the Left's progressive ideology is not acceptable. ..... Noting that slogans like 'Pakistan zindabad', 'go India go back' and those in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, Kashmir's independence and India's destruction were raised in JNU, he wondered if the Congress leader had joined hands with separatists. .....
"Does he want another division of India by giving a free run to separatists in the name of freedom of expression?
The kind of statements the Congress vice president and other leaders of his party have made in JNU have proved again that national interest has no place in their mind," Shah said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said that it will be Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi's personal responsibility to ensure safety of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, as it was told that he was badly beaten up while being brought to the court premises in police custody earlier in the day........ also said it would be police's responsibility to ensure that besides Kanhaiya Kumar, all those who attended the court proceedings in pursuance of its morning order leave the premises in safety. ........
The court had said that the security of Kanhaiya Kumar and those present in the court room should be 100 percent fool proof, indicating that if Delhi Police can't do it, then it may seek other options. It had been suggested that the security be handed over to the Central Reserve Police Force.
....... Senior counsel Harin Rawal, who would compile the report, would also submit a copy of the video recording of all that transpired in Patiala House Court complex during their visit. ..... they witnessed an "unprecedented" situation with an atmosphere of "fear and terrorising people". ...... He told the court they were not only abused in the filthiest language but were described as Pakistani agents. "We were called Pakistan ke dalle," he said, adding that not only was the police cordon around them broken, but gravel, and flower pots hurled at them along with abuse. ..... He said Kanhaiya Kumar was "badly beaten" and doctors on the request of his lawyers were attending him, and also told the court that
a gentleman wearing dark glasses entered the court room, thumped Kanhaiya Kumar and sat beside him..... Even though the registrar general asked police to stop him and arrest him as his presence in the court room was in breach of the apex court order, police allowed him to go......Dhawan told the court that even though the deputy commissioner of police present on the spot was aware of the court's order, but still the person was allowed to move in and out without his identification being checked.
BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha on Wednesday came up in support of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been arrested on sedition charges and said that he is praying for his immediate release......“Have heard transcript of speech of Kanhaiya, our Bihar boy president of JNUSU. He has said nothing anti national or against constitution. Hope wish and pray that he’s release soon, sooner the better,” Sinha tweeted. ...... Sinha further stated that the Jawaharlal Nehru University is going through a crisis ‘for reasons best known to politicians’.....He went on to say that the JNU is an institution of international repute, enviable record and history...... “It is a seat of learning for some of India's brightest young minds & also some very respectable teachers. Save it from further embarrassment, he tweeted.
They are the ones who burnt the Tricolour. They are followers of Savarkar who apologised to the British. They are the ones who, in Haryana, have changed the name of one airport. There was one airport named after Bhagat Singh. The Khattar government has now named it after one Sanghi (a person associated with the RSS). ....... What I mean to say is that we don't need the certificate of patriotism from the RSS. We don't need a nationalist certificate from the RSS. We belong to this country. We love this country. We fight for the 80 per cent of the poor population of this country. For us, this is nation worship. ...... We don't have faith in Manusmriti, we don't have faith in the caste system in this country. ...... The same Babasahab Ambedkar talks about freedom of expression. ...... Their government, Madam ManuSmriti Irani is ending fellowship and they accuse us of fighting for fellowships. Their government has reduced the higher education budget by 17 per cent. ...... Our hostel has not been built for the past four years, there is no Wi-fi. BHEL gave us one bus but the administration has no money for oil. ...... We are proud of being JNU-ites because we discuss and debate the basic issues concerning this country. We raise issues related to the dignity of women, Dalits, tribals and minorities in this country. And so, their Swamy (Subramanian Swamy) says that jihadis live in JNU, that JNU students spread violence. ....... We want to raise questions about the frenzied ABVP's slogans, their slogan that they will do tilak with blood and aarti with bullets. Whose blood do they want to spill? They aligned with the British and fired bullets on the freedom fighters of this country. They fired bullets when poor people demanded bread; they fired bullets when people dying of hunger talked about their rights; they have fired bullets on Muslims; they have fired bullets on women when they demand equal rights. .........
They say that five fingers are not equal. They advocate that women should emulate Sita and give agnipariksha. ....... And when we talk about equal rights of women, they accuse us of destroying Indian culture.
...... We want to destroy the culture of exploitation, the culture of caste, the culture of Manuwad and Brahminism. ......
They were British stooges. I dare them to file a defamation case against me. I say that the RSS's history is of siding with the British. These traitors today are distributing certificates of nationalism.
....... Check my mobile phone, friends. Dirty abuses are being hurled at my mother and sister. Which Mother India are you talking about? ..... My mother is an Anganwadi sewika, my family runs with the Rs 3,000 she earns and they are abusing her. I'm ashamed that in this country, the mothers of the poor, Dalit farmers are not part of Mother India. ....... I will tell them that if they have courage, then say ' Inquilab zindabad', say 'Bhagat Singh zindabad', say 'Sukhdev zindabad', say 'Asfaqulla Khan zindabad', say 'Babasahab Ambedkar zindabad'. Only then will I believe that you have faith in this country. ....... They are enacting the drama of celebrating Ambedkar's 125th birth anniversary. If they have courage, they should raise the issues Ambedkar raised. Caste system is one of the biggest problems in this country. Talk about caste system, bring reservation in every sector, bring reservation in the private sector. Raise these questions, then I will believe that you have faith in this country. ........ This nation had never been yours and will never be yours. A nation is made by its people and if there is no place for hungry and poor people in your idea of the nation, then it is no nation. ...... we are in difficult times.
The way fascism is coming in the country, even the media would not be spared. The media would be provided with written scripts from the RSS office, just as written scripts came from the Congress office during the Emergency.
....... Some media friends told me that JNU runs on taxpayers' money, on subsidy. Yes, it is right that JNU runs on subsidy. But I want to raise the question: what are universities for? Universities are there for critical analysis of the society's collective conscience. Critical analysis should be promoted. If universities fail in their duty, there would be no nation. If people are not part of a nation, it will turn into a grazing ground for the rich, for exploitation and looting. ...... Leave aside Pakistan and Bangladesh, we call for unity of the poor and the toiling masses of the world. We hail the humanity of this world, we hail the humanity of India. ....... We have identified that face of casteism, the face of Manuwad, the face of the nexus between Brahminism and capitalism. ....... There is violence when the JNU administration denies the constitutional rights guaranteed to Dalits. This is institutional violence. ...... Brahminism did not allow Dalits to enter temples. The British did not allow dogs and Indians to enter restaurants. .......
Friends, the situation is very serious. Under no circumstances does the JNUSU (the JNU students' union) support any violence, any terrorist, any terror incident and any anti-India activity. I want to reiterate that the JNUSU strongly condemns slogans of "Pakistan zindabad" raised by some unidentified people.
....... Listen carefully to the slogans being raised by the ABVP now. They are calling us 'communist dogs'. They are calling us 'Afzal Guru's dogs'. They are calling us 'children of jihadis'. If the Constitution gives us the right to be citizens, then is it not an attack on our constitutional right when they call our parents dogs? We want to ask this question to the ABVP and the JNU administration. ....... It is now clear that the JNU administration first gives permission and then withdraws it on receiving a call from Nagpur. This thing of first giving permission and then withdrawing, it has intensified. First, they will announce fellowship and then tell that it has been withdrawn. This is the RSS and ABVP pattern with which they want to run this country. ........ They feel that with people like Chauhan everywhere, they would get jobs. Once they get jobs, they will forget nation worship and Bharat Mata. What to tell of the Tricolour, which they have never respected? They will also forget the saffron flag. ......
Their nation worship ends with an India-Pakistan cricket match. After that when they go out on the road, they misbehave with the person selling bananas. When the person selling bananas tells them that a dozen comes for Rs 40, they abuse him and accuse him of looting customers. They demand a dozen for Rs 30.
....... Nation worship begins and ends with wealth and facilities. I know a number of ABVP people and I ask them whether the fervour of nationalism moves them? They tell me: "What to do, brother, this government is for five years and two years are already over. Three years' talktime is left and whatever has to be done, should be done in this period." ...... Long live JNU. JNU will continue to actively participate in all democratic struggles taking place across the country, continue to strengthen the voice of democracy, the voice of freedom and freedom of expression. We will struggle and win and defeat the traitors of this country.
Kanhaiya Kumar was being escorted to the courtroom when he was attacked by a large group of lawyers. He was kicked, slapped and punched...... Mr Kumar was punched, kicked and dragged by the lawyers, who later boasted to the police that "their job was done." ...... Mr Kumar told the court that he condemned what happened at the event and did not say anything that was anti-national. "I am an Indian. I have full faith in the Constitution as well as the judiciary of the country," he said.
The standoff at New Delhi’s famous Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) that has transfixed India has nothing of the routine campus controversy about it. Following the arrest of a student leader, India’s Hindu nationalist BJP government now finds itself facing down a large coalition of progressive groups laying claim to the idea of an India where the right to dissent is foundational. ........ The hardline home minister, Rajnath Singh, believes otherwise, announcing that those who question India’s integrity “will not be tolerated or spared”. Questioning the Indian state’s actions in places such as Kashmir, in short, is strictly off menu. .......
A famously contentious campus synonymous in India with critical thinking and vociferous debate, JNU has long been in the sights of the Hindu right, many of whom want nothing more than for it to be shut down.
...... his impassioned insistence on the need to uphold the Indian constitution. ...... “We fight for the 80% poor population of this country.” Addressing a topic all too familiar to students in Britain, he also attacked government cuts to higher education budgets and the steady decline of resources, including financial support, available to students. ...... In a shocking move – police are not allowed on to Indian university campuses without the permission of the vice-chancellor, precisely in order to safeguard dissent – Kumar was arrested under one of India’s many outdated pieces of legislation (which include, notoriously, a law criminalising homosexuality). The “sedition” law, intended to prevent anti-colonial resistance, prohibits inciting “disaffection” towards the government, and many in India’s freedom struggle, including Gandhi, were detained under its auspices. In recent years it has been used liberally to constrain those who would challenge the transgressions of the postcolonial state. ........ Kumar had noted correctly that the forces of “Hindu India” now most vociferous in laying claim to true patriotism were not only notably absent in the actual freedom struggle but
were often to be seen collaborating with the British.
Subject now to open thuggery – as well as state force, there have been astonishing scenes of lawyers beating up JNU students in court ....... Student unions across the country and from as far away as South Africa have condemned the arrests, as have hundreds of academics from Britain, the US and beyond. ....... India’s persistent and disgraceful caste inequalities, with upper castes, much like the white well-off of Britain, disproportionately dominating universities and the media as well as lucrative corporate positions. To criticise the Hindu nationalism that governs India today is also to note its roots in the continued domination of Indian institutions by Brahmins and other upper castes. ....... For those committed to the idea of India as essentially a Hindu country, which includes many in the government of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, the list of potential “anti-nationals” appears to be compendious. It seems to include everyone from
Muslim, Dalit, Christian, leftwing and liberal activists to those who question the Indian state’s actions in Kashmir or suggest that religious intolerance isn’t a good idea.
........ the situation reminds many of the horrors of the 1975-77 state of emergency. Now, as then, India is poised on the brink of a choice between the dangers of authoritarianism and its historic commitment to dissent
