Aam Aadmi Party replies

Aam Aadmi Party is a welcome change to Indian politics, and it is heartening to see they are making serious impact in Delhi. While I wholeheartedly wish them the best, I have many questions to ask them.

Nearly an year back Arvind Kejriwal announced that there will be an internal Lokpal to investigate the allegations against Anjali Damania, Mayank Gandhi and Prashanth Bhushan. He also said the investigations will be complete within three months.

As there was no public announcement about the investigation even after three months, I emailed them asking for the status in March 2013. Waited for couple of days for a response and as none came, I excused them thinking the mail probably went into a black hole of typical organizational challenges of fledgling party. I did not doubt their honesty yet.

Meanwhile Mayank Gandhi's investigation was completed and he was cleared. This I got to read in their website.

After all these time I got the following response from AAP team couple of days back.

Dear P Jayakumar

Thank you forwriting to us. We value the fact that you are a concerned citizen of India, wesincerely apologize for the delay in response, as we are in the process ofputting the system in place.

We are adhering toour commitment of internal Lokpal in AAP.

Regarding yourquestion, here is the point wise answers

Mayank Gandhi: InternalLokpal observations & ruling is out after hearing all the allegations, readhere http://aamaadmiparty.org/page/internal-lokpal-order-mayank-gandhi

Prashant Bhushan: We still havenot received any complaint against him & we request on all platforms toprovide proof against him to start the investigation.

Anjali Damaniya: She does nothold any post in National Team, so she can't be investigated by our NationalLokpal, there is a provision to have state Lokpal in every state & Anjalican be investigated once we have MH Lokpal

Regards

Pradeep Singh Rawat

Team AAP

To say the least, I was excited. Though one can still point out some un-kept promises, what AAP is trying to do is visionary and what it is doing is a huge improvement over what the other parties do. Salute.

Untouchability Promoting Hamam Soap Ad: Update

Representatives from Hindustan Unilever Limited have informed that the offensive Hamam Soap advertisement will be taken down as soon as possible.

Earlier Chennai high court advocate Mr. Saravanan had sent a notice to the board of directors of Hindustan Unilever Limited. Responding to that notice, HLL had informed that the advertisement would be taken down soon, probably by Friday. But the advertisement is still coming in various Tamil channels.

Today Mr Ganesh Parameshwaran, Senior Legal Counsel and Mr Prashant Sharma Senior Brand Manager of Hindustan Unilever Limited met Mr Saravanan regarding this issue. They told that there was no offending intention behind the advertisement, however they are sorry if it had offended any one.

On removal of the ad from the channels, they mentioned that the process takes some time since it involves multiple parties and they expect it to be removed by Tuesday next week at the latest.

HLL has also been asked to issue a press release on this matter failing which they were informed that legal action in criminal nature will be proceeded against their board of directors that includes Mr. S. Ramadurai who is former chief of TATA consultancy services.

We will monitor the channels and see if HLL keeps its word.

Kurukshetra Techfest Sponsorship by DOW Chemicals

Dear Alumnus of Anna University/CEG,

25th anniversary of Bhopal gas tragedy was observed recently. It is with horror we remind ourselves that the victims have not been properly rehabilitated, justice is yet to be done and the perpetrators of that worst disaster are still scot-free. Union Carbide, the corporation responsible for that tragedy, is hiding behind DOW Chemicals which acquired it. While DOW uses all loopholes to avoid Indian judiciary, it misses no opportunity to gain legitimacy in India. It has been trying to sponsor various events organised by reputed educational institutions and media outlets. But in most places, it has not been welcome.

1) In 2007 students and professors of IIT Madras made sure that DOW is banned from sponsoring college events and recruiting students in campus
2) In November 2009 'The Hindu' has cancelled associate sponsorhip from DOW Chemicals after protests from readers

Now it has come to light that DOW has been sponsoring Kurukshetra techfest events since 2008 at College of Engineering Guindy. It is understandable that institutions are hard-pressed for sponsorship, and they would happily welcome big sponsorships from corporations. However accepting money from tainted corporations like DOW would seriously undermine the reputation of CEG.

It is also disheartening to know that college administration and organising committee of the Kurukshetra event have not been very open and transparent about their decision to take DOW's sponsorship. There has been no discussion among students and faculties about the ethical issues pertaining to taking sponsorship money from DOW or similar companies. Permission have been denied for Bhopal victims to meet the dean and to conduct an awareness session on Bhopal tragedy. Annexure I contains mail from Bhopal victims to organising committee.

In this context it has become critical for the alumni to raise our voices in protest of DOW's association with CEG to protect the moral character and reputation of College of Engineering, Guindy.

As an immediate act, we can all send a note to the Dean (munusekar@annauniv.edu ) and Kurukshetra organising committee ( industryrelations@kurukshetra.org.in 98944 13465) that DOWs association with CEG is bad for our college's reputation.

We can also promise them to compensate any loss of sponsorship money by running a fund-drive among alumni, faculties and students. A model letter is attached in Annexure II

There are 9 more days to go for the event to start. We should act immediately and spread the message to as many alumni as possible.

Thanks
Jayakumar Palanivel
Year 2000, CEG, B.E, Mechanical Engineering

Annexure I

From: satinath sarangi <justiceinbhopal@yahoo.co.in>
Date: Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Subject: Kurukshetra Techfest : request for a public debate on bhopal
To: justiceinbhopal@yahoo.co.in
Cc: nity68.new@gmail.com, javednaqi@gmail.com

To: Organising Committee Members of Kurukshetra Techfest
College of Engineering
Anna University, Guindy
Chennai


From: Survivors of the 1984 Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal

Dear friends:
We, the below-signed, are representatives and leaders of organisations of survivors of the 1984 gas disaster. We are in our 50s and 60s and we are those that were unfortunate enough to survive the disaster, while members of our family were wiped out by the poisonous gas. I say we are unfortunate not merely because we lost our dear ones that night on December 2-3, 1984, but that we have had to struggle every inch of the way to secure justice for ourselves. We are writing to you because we learnt from your website that Dow Chemical -- the new owner of Union Carbide -- is the key sponsor for Kurukshetra. This is very unfortunate, not merely because of Dow's status as an owner of Union Carbide, but also because of Dow's own track record of death, devastation and injury. You can read about Dow, Bhopal, and the actions taken in IITs around the country in the attached Viewspaper prepared and published by students of IIT Madras.

The 4 minute film titled "Hush Baby" at http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=X7usKzO0se0 will highlight the second-generation problems and the health effects suffered by our children to this day. www.bhopal.org and www.studentsforbhopal.org will give you a resources to help you develop an understanding of how the disaster occurred and the roles played by various agencies since that. We believe that as youngsters who were not born at the time of the disaster, you may not really know about the true extent of the problem, and of Dow's role in the ongoing tragedy in Bhopal.

That is why we wish to alert you, and request you to help us and to protect your names in the process, by removing Dow Chemical's name from your list of sponsors. We respect your right to take the decision, but we wish to ensure that your decision is taken after you are in possession of all information, and have heard us out. We are happy to personally visit Chennai, at our own cost, and speak to you and other interested students as to why we are insistent that Dow does not gain legitimacy through its association with you. We welcome the opportunity to speak to you in the presence of a representative from Dow so that you have not only our viewpoint, but also Dow's and that you are exposed to a debate on the subject.

While the support to our struggle from various quarters, not to forget young students like yourselves, has been heartening, we have also been dejected by the levels of apathy and even worse by decisions taken by people to weigh our miseries against their own compulsions to patronise Dow, and vote in favour of the latter. In 2007, our spirits and our struggle were immensely strengthened when students in IIT Madras educated themselves about Dow Chemical and Bhopal, and decided to reject Dow's offer for Rs. 11 lakh jobs as an act of solidarity with the struggle in Bhopal, and to send a message to Dow that money cannot buy them a way out of their responsibilities in Bhopal.

Unlike Dow, we are not rich, and cannot offer to compensate you for what you will be forsaking if you decide to believe us and reject Dow's sponsorship for Kurukshetra. However, we speak the truth and we can only offer you the satisfaction of being part of our struggle to ensure that the children of Bhopal have a better future, that companies like Dow don't take India and Indians for granted, that crimes against environment and humanity do not go unpunished, and that Dow is thwarted in its attempts to use its money to buy legitimacy.

This letter is copied to a long-time volunteer of the Bhopal campaign, Nityanand Jayaraman (Cell: 9444082401), who is based in Chennai and can brief you if you think that is necessary. Again, we'd be happy to travel to Chennai to talk to you, and we request that if nothing else, you don't approach Dow Chemical until you have given us -- the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster -- an opportunity to explain to you why you should not get yourself tainted with money from Dow. Associating with Dow Chemical is a hugely unpopular move that will bring upon worldwide condemnation.

In solidarity and wishing you a successful Kurukshetra.
Sincerely,

Rashida Bi, Champa Devi Shukla

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh

94256 88215

Syed M Irfan,

Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha

93290 26319

Satinath Sarangi, Rachna Dhingra

Bhopal Group for Information and Action

98261 67369

Annexure II

Dear Dean/VC:
We learnt about an ongoing debate regarding approaching Dow Chemical for a sponsorship. We are sure that by now, you're well acquainted with the facts of the case. It is irrefutable that Union Carbide Corporation, Dow Chemical's subsidiary, is currently wanted for culpable homicide by the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Bhopal. As a Government-run institution, it is highly irregular to so openly associate with a company whose 100 percent owned subsidiary is wanted by the Bhopal court in connection with a major crime.

It is a fact that since 1992, the company has been declared an absconder by the court. It is a fact that there are thousands of tons of toxic wastes in and around the factory site, and that these wastes are leaching their poisons into the groundwater. It is also a certainty that the grossly high incidence of birth defects among children born to parents exposed to the gas or to the poisonous water are a direct result of Dow Chemical's negligence. Dow is no stranger to controversies involving poisoning of communities. It is no ordinary company. Refer to the rapsheet on Dow that was published in Ecologist Asia a few years back, and you'll find more than one reason why you should not be swayed by the offer of money from Dow. The rapsheet is at:
http://www.thetruthaboutdow.org/article.php?id=1299

At the very least, we request that you have a well-informed public debate about the merits (or lack thereof) of having Dow as your sponsor before approaching them for money. As alumni of CEG, we have a lot of affection for the College, and wish the institution and you all our very best. Your action of avoiding Dow Chemical, and sending a sign of solidarity to the survivors of the Bhopal disaster would really make us proud.

Hoping to hear from you.
Sincerely,

----------------------------------------------------

Unfairness abound

By now, it has become quite obvious that there is nothing fair in the world. The more one expects a just place around here the more disappointed he/she would be . It is in this context I came across a story and poem that strikes the chord and shows how one finds calmness amongst the most unjust of situations.

During world war II, an American pilot had parachuted from his airplane and was injured in the fall. The writer of this poem, Senri Ueno, started operating on him, but during the operation he was ordered by a senior officer to kill him. He did not obey the order and continued to operate. In the middle of the operation, the place was bombed and he had to leave. When he returned, the American pilot had been stabbed to death by somebody else. Nobody knew who did it, so the person who wrote this poem took all the blame for the crime and was executed. He wrote this poem a week before he died.

Thanks to lamenting over the pain in the world
I am able to become laughter when my life is happy
Due to being struck and trampled upon and biting
my lips to control my temper, i fully realize how
precious it is to be born. Even if I am intentionally
tired of an ugly world, look! what a blue sky!
Even if one laughs scornfully at my penniless life,
there is something much more beautiful,
true and worthy that everyone knows.
I don't care so much about anything else,
except love and sincerity, the sun,
and a little amount of rain from time to time.
If I have a healthy body and a little piece of bread,
I want to walk with a smile in great spirits.
I will do my best to work without complaining
about anything at all.
I always consider things by putting myseld in another's
place without flinching, no matter how hard and
heartrending it is to live.
If there is someone unfortunate, I will help
him out with anything.
If I can forget myself to help out,
that will surely delight me.
In the morning the sun raises. I greet it.
I will do my best to live today.
In the evening, the sun sets.
Staring at the evening glow, I want to sit still.
With a little dream in my heart, I sleep
as quietly as little bird.
If I have my own time, I want to spend it
reading an old collection of poems, meditating
on them alone, quietly.
Let's find happiness by ourselves.
Withing silver tears like pearls and laughter like the sun,
let's keep walking ahead each day.
Certainly some day, as I look back over my past,
I will quietly see my life with a smile.

[Translated by Dainin Katagiri Roshi]

PS: The story and the poem has been taken from the book "Returning to Silence : Zen in Daily life. By Dainin Katagiri"

A curse from the land of Kannagi

Hey India...! How many atrocities
Have you committed
To our Tamil people
In how many ways did we plead
By urging, crying, propitiating
And by burning ourselves
Nothing fell in your ears
Now I have one more to give you

With eyes swollen crying
Looking at the baby
That lay curled
Dead in hunger
And with uncombed hair
And with burning heart
Having wailed in sorrow
From the land of Kannagi
Thus I give you a deadly curse

Brought up in the ways of Kural
Lived in the ways of Ethical
Thus I sing you justice

We hailed you as Mother
But you made us wail at you as devil!
Hereafter you and I are separated!

Hey India!
Let your head splinter
Into thousands of pieces
For you gave weapons and spy planes
To precision bomb our heads

For the souls of our children
That died begging few drops of water
To rest in peace
Your rivers will run dry for
Centuries to come
Dark clouds that bring you rains
Will find another way and disappear

You made us run for a bowl of rice
Now your farms and fields will go empty
You will always harvest
Not Rice, But Husks

Your hills will become
Volcanoes spewing fire
Making ash fields
For our people were
Driven out as herds

The kindless monsters of you that
Dropped chemical bombs
Let your veins run dry of blood
Let the air get burnt when your
Breath touches
Let enemies surround you
To steal your sleep
Strewn with bodies
Let your bombed streets become
Cremating grounds

Let cancer build a house
In the mouths
That lied shamelessly that
It asked for ceasefire
Let it vomit blood
Whenever it is opened

You! That ruled sitting on our skeletons
Your throne will burst into tiny pieces
Your males will become impotent
And females infertile

For you let us run naked
Let your mother and father get mad
Running in the streets
Tearing their dress

Let the great thunder
Strike your head
For you killed our young ones
Tortured by passing current

For you were madly gay
At the abodes of Sinhalese
That raped our helplessly wailing sisters
Let your food become poison!
Let your ladies sleep at
Neighbor's place!

You cannibals!
Your nerves and veins
Will be thrashed and laid bare

For millenniums to come
Even grass would not sprout.

Another tsunami will come
To take away everything you have

All the places you had been
Let them be no more

Let them be wasted!
Let them be spoiled!
Let them be plundered!
Let them be gone forever!
------------------------------
PS:
I will not damn your children!
Children, wherever they are, they are just children
Let them live for ever!
Even while ours cry!
Let yours be full of joy!
Let yours be full of merry!

--------------------------
This is a translation of Poet Thamarai's poem in Tamil titled கண்ணகி மண்ணில் இருந்து ஒரு கருஞ்சாபம்

I know this may be very offending to any true patriot who loves India! Before you point your accusing finger at the poet (for writing such a blasphemous poem) and me (for translating it), just introspect for a while and question yourself whether you are proud and happy for what India has done to the helpless Tamils!

Any error in translation is mine

Siritunga Jayasuriya: Need Urgent People Uprising Against Genocidal War

As the genocidal war in Sri Lanka is at its peak, and the dignity and human rights of Tamils at its nadir, there are hardly any sane and somber voices from people of Sinhala ethnicity. Even if there are any they are promptly silenced. In this context only it was so refreshing to hear from Sritunga Jayasuria, General Secretary of Sri Lanka United Socialist Party, at a meeting in Chennai.

Organized by "Payani Veliyeetagam" the meeting on Sri Lankan war and the state of Tamil people was insightful. Even though the main speaker and other organizers belong to various Socialist parties and Trade Union organizations, the main agenda was sharply focused on the Genocidal war in Sri Lanka and what should be done to stop it.

From Blogger Pictures

Chenan of Committee for Workers International from London introduced Mr Jayasurya to the audience. Mr Jayasurya has been traveling across India to speak on this important topic and to create awareness among the Indian people about the Sinhala Chauvinistic war and the plight of Tamils. He has given speeches in Kerala and Madurai prior to this meeting and he will be continuing his tour to New Delhi and Bangalore. You can imagine, when BBC, CNN and ambassadors of Germany and Switzerland are threatened to be thrown out of country for saying there may be Human Rights violations, what kind of reception would Mr Jayasurya receive for his request to "Stop the genocidal war". Amid such threats to his life he has taken this journey to India for campaigning for a cause he thinks is right.

From Blogger Pictures

As quote says "A liberal is a person whose interests aren't at stake, at the moment." When even the people who's interests are at stake not ready to raise their voice here is a gentleman who says, "I am not hiding any where. I will go back to Sri Lanka. I may be killed. Lot of my comrades have been killed". Prior to this meeting he has given interviews to Junior Vikatan and Kalaignar TV. His party colleagues back home are already aghast at the content of these interviews and have warned Mr. Jayasuriya that he is putting his life under serious risk. I bow my head to the courage of this gentleman.

From Blogger Pictures

As far the matter of his speech, I have taken only few notes and the following is compiled from my memory. Valarmathi has extensive notes as he was doing the translation(He did an excellent job of it) and he may post it in detail.

From Blogger Pictures

Mr Jayasuriya started with a brief history of the politics.

- Basically every president came to power on the platform of finding an answer to national question and stopping the war. But all failed owing to the intransigence of Sinhala chauvinistic hardliners in not accommodating even basic aspirations of Tamils. In fact from independence till late 60s the main point of Tamil non-violent struggle is for equal status of Tamil language to Sinhala as national language. Even that, the Sinhalese could not give. That gave rise to call for Eelam independence and eventually to armed struggle for achieving it.

- In Sri Lanka most of the media is under full control of the state. The media is full of propaganda. While an average Sinhala citizen is not racist and they are perfectly OK in living with Tamils harmoniously, the continuous propaganda has poisoned their attitude. During the presidential election in 2005 even artists, intellectuals and left thinkers supported the hardliner and the SLFP candidate Mahinda Rajapakse. USP is one of the few independent voices that stood alone.

- Whether you like it or not I have to tell you that LTTE's main blunder is the cause for Mr Rajapakse's election. In 2005 presidential election, at the last moment, LTTE asked Tamils to boycott the election. Hence, barring few Tamils in east, no Tamil voted. So Mr Rajapakse was elected with little more than one hundred thousand votes. LTTE thought Mr Rajapakse is an idiot, but the problem is idiots getting power to command army.

- Now we see the result with the catastrophic war. The army says they have restricted Tigers into a small patch of jungle land in Mullaitivu district. And that the tigers are using around 1,00,000 people as human shield. Whatever army says is full of propaganda. No one knows for sure what is actually happening.

- My opinion is that most people trapped in Vanni would rather die with LTTE than to come out and get detained by Army. Vavunia is nothing but prison. No external visitors are allowed. Army guards do not speak Tamil so they don't understand what the people in Camps need. Over that, lot of people are taken for interrogation.

- Don't think the war is conducted by Mr Rajapakse alone. It is actually conducted with the full backing of India, Pakistan, China, Israel, Japan, US and UK.

- While Tamil National question needs to be addressed in longer term the immediate need it to stop the war. Don't expect the International Governments are going to do anything for it. If Obama gives statement against war, do you think the war is going to stop? No. Likewise symbolic protests like one day fast, and dharnas are not going to achieve anything either.

- Only a mass uprising in a large scale can make the powers reconsider their war. We need not thousands of people but in millions in the street protesting against the war. And we need it now.

- May be a general strike for three days in entire Tamil Nadu and may be all other southern states with complete participation from all common people. This is what will hit at the root of the capitalists and make them think.

After this speech there was a question and answer session. Couple of important points.

- What is the interest of Indian/Asian/American capitalists in Sri Lanka? Sri Lankan business and economy is fully dominated by Indian capitalists. Automobile industry is full of Indians. All buses are Ashok Leyland, Autos are Bajaj, Two wheelers are from Hero Honda and Cars are from Maruti. Sri Lanka's major export item is Ceylon Tea. It constitutes significant amount of Forex SL earns. Now, in fact, there is no Ceylon Tea. It is only Tata Tea, because more 60 to 70% of Tea estates and distribution and export is controlled by Tata. Indian Oil Corporation owns more than 50% of oil distribution chains in Sri Lanka. Now Airtel has come with "Hello Sri Lanka, What do you want?" mimicked and modeled by Sharukh Khan. (No wonder India says nothing about wiping out of Tamils there)

- What is the role of Buddhism in SL conflict? It is not that because Buddhism preaches non-violence people would be non-violent. Religion should not enter into politics. Once it enters it creates serious impacts like what is happening in Sri Lanka. But as is the case with normal Sinhala people, there are lot of monks who are really peace loving. But in some cases Buddhism as a religion has been hijacked by hardliners.

From Blogger Pictures