Are We "Grateless" Nation?

Preface: In morning I saw an article "Ungrateful People" by Media Crooks. I am great fan of Media Crooks @MediaCrooks way of writing & his fearless war against actual Media Crooks. So read the article with sincerity. The article sent me to memory lane. To know "How" Read below:-

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You may be wondering what is this "Grateless"? Should it not be "Ungrateful"? Yes if you write in Queen's English it should have been written as Are We "Ungrateful" Nation? But then you know how emotions work in language. They don't follow traditional path of grammar & correct words/phrases. This emotion has invented many words which are some time called as "slang". This word "grateless" too was invented by my senior officer Late Sh. GBS Saini.

During monsoon season in mid 90s, one day Saini Saheb called me in his chamber & introduced to a gentleman sitting there. This gentleman was a very senior retired officer from DESU (Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking). Saini Saheb narrated a story how this officer helped Shankti Nagar Telephone Exchange in 1976 by providing electric power, which was disconnected due to some technical reason, for many days, flouting all rules & regulations. The reason, for calling me, was not to tell this story but to inform me that this gentleman's residential telephone connection was out of order since last 10 days or more. Saini Saheb asked me if I can do some thing in this case as the area where officer was residing was not in Saini Saheb's or my jurisdiction. I took note, rang up to concerned officer to help us out in this matter. The concerned officer took immediate action & the telephone connection was restored within 10-15 minutes, of course at the cost of some other working telephone connection. Once the gentleman left after expressing gratitude over this speedy service. After he gone, Saini Saheb murmured ruefully "We are a Grateless Nation".
'Grateless? Sir, I am sorry but perhaps you miss-pronounced it. It should have been as ungrateful..I think'  I said taking liberty of my closeness with him & at the same time it was an opportunity to show my better English.
Sainiji's eyes were staring me but he seems to be lost in deep thoughts. After a pause he said
'No, Pradeep! It is has to be grateless. This new word has just struck to me now. Ungrateful is very small, humble & civilized word in compression to Grateless, if my emotions are taken into account' 
He signaled me to sit down & order tea. While waiting for tea to served, he started talking.
'We, the Indian people, never hesitate to ask smallest favor from anybody. But after taking favor, we avoid that person as we never want to return favor.  Not only this, saying thanks seems too much for us because we never say thanks from bottom of our heart. If we say thanks, we say just to show our greatness & how civilized we are. Unless you say thanks from bottom of your heart, it is just a word which carries no meaning. This gentleman, whose phone you got restored, went not only out of way, but in most illegal way to help Delhi Telephones (Then it was DOT not MTNL as it is known now). Had he been caught by some vested interests, he would have been dismissed from service. But see, what we have gave him in return. He ran from lineman to Divisional Engineer to get his phone restored for more than 10 days. We just rebuked him.' Sainiji seemd to be getting emotional & continuing monologue.
'Do you know meaning of To Grate? To Grate means "Harsh grinding or rasping through friction or reduced to powder by friction" & Grateless means a thing which can't be grated or grinded or powered by any means.'
'Why I am telling this? You know many persons lost their life, hanged, killed & jailed during Independence movement. Bhagat Singh along with his friends were hanged at very young age. Azad was killed, Gandhiji, Nehruji & many more spent their life's best period in jail. Numerous other nameless, faceless persons either languished in jail or simply killed during that period. What for? To give us this stupid freedom. Pradeep! We don't deserve to be free rather we should have been subjected to more harsher jungle rule. You may be astonished listening my words thinking old man has gone nuts. No I am not.'
'Do you know why these persons were killed, hanged & jailed by English ruler? No, they were not subjected to this cruelty for asking freedom. You know English people are very law abiding people. They would never do any thing which is contrary to law of the land. Asking freedom is not against any law. So then why this punishment? You see each & every Indian was punished by court of law. Under what section? The IPC section was applied on them was "Treason & war against King/Nation".  Seeing their quantum of offence, they were sentenced to different degree of punishment right from hanging to many years in jail. English people did what their law of Indian land said.'
'These laws still exist in Indian Penal Court. So according to these laws, these great patriots are still criminals in the eyes of even current laws. What we have done in this case? Leave leaders sitting at high positions, what we, the Indian people, have done in this regard. You may be listening many PIL are being filed to high light excess against Human Rights by so called Human Right groups. Has anyone ever thought to file a PIL to exonerate our freedom fighters for their acts during freedom movement? No. Non did it.'
'People say Nehruji never wanted to bring back Subhash Cand Bose to his own position. No, it is wrong. Nehru could not bring him back fearing Bose, if alive & his where about is known to world, may be tried as criminal for fighting against British.' 
I tried to rebut him over PIL issue but he did not allowed me to speak. Perhaps he was not speaking me but to himself.
'Ok, I know you don't agree with me over PIL issue as the cases are very much old but tell me what we gave in return to our heroes? We criticize them over minor, personal & trivial issues. We have right to differ & protest when things are not turning good either to an individual or society or to nation as well. But is it right to humiliate our heroes over very minor matter?' I wondered what was to come next.
'Do you know how we respect our these many great heroes? On their Birthday etc, we write few lines, lecture here & there and forget them for rest 364 days. No..No we don't forget rest days of the year. We tried to find faults in what they did & said. Ok it is good to find faults so that they are not repeated by others. But what is this? We talk with meaningful smile about them.'

'They talk like this. Hey! You know, he used to sleep with such & such or the other fellow was having affairs with white lady. Arre, these right-wingers who took arms during independence movement were actually misguided young fellows. All trivial things. This is sign of being ungrateful or put in my words gratelessness.'

'Tell me, why it took many years to hang murderers of Indira Gandhi? Why murderers of Rajiv Gandhi are still free? Are these cases are not open & shut type? It is because of slow court processes but more due to those people who want to get fame & money on the cost of society & nation. When some terrorist come & attack them these very people hide in laps of the girl friends with their tails under both legs. When danger passes away, they come out with banners in their hand demanding individual rights of these criminals. What is more important, Nation or Individual rights?'
'You know, very recently Punjab was burning. Kudos! It is KPS Gill & his party who took the bull by horn. I admire them & as well as political leadership, though very corrupt, for granting them what they wanted. I know Gill & Party were engaged in many illegal encounters. But I say their encounters were not illegal because a war was wedged against nation by terrorist in Punjab. Every thing is fair in love & war. If they took criminals to the courts, they could have never been tried due to lack of witness. What if courts set them free? They would have come back with more force with moral victory.'
'But as we are grateless nation, our own people are calling KPS Gill by name & putting all type of allegations against him & his warriors. There is spurt of Human Right Activist in Punjab. They are filling many cases against policemen there. I ask where these Son of... were when Punjab was burning. I admit many innocent might have died. But you know "Gehun ke saath ghun bhi pista hai".'
' If government don't rein these activists in time, they will force many officers to commit suicide or force them to pass their prime time behind bars or few many be hanged too.' (His prophecy came true when AS Sandhu, SP Tarn-Taran took his life in 1997. Not only he but many officers were humiliated & lost their job)
Saini Saheb fell into silence looking at fan at the ceiling. Tea was getting cold. I coughed. He saw straight into my eyes & said
'Son! if you want to be good human being, learn to pay gratitude. Pay gratitude from bottom of your heart. Even if you don't say a word but feel gratitude by heart, you are changed the very moment & changed forever. Try to return favor. I know many favor can't be returned, in that case PAY IT FORWARD'
My heart reciprocated with sincerity of his words. I just nodded &  came out of his chamber without taking his permission.
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End: I fully agree with Mr. Ravinaar@MediaCrooks for his thought provoking article. We must think what we are doing. Are we hanging our heroes & supporting these crooks?

Think again "Are We Grateless Nation? If yes, try to change it. Even a single step, taken in right direction, can change Nation.

ISHRAT JAHAN again :: Na Khuda hi mila & Naa Bisaal-e-Sanam

Today when I was on Twitter & chatting with friends there, I saw a tweet from Mr. Ram Datt Sharma @RDATT26 referring a report published in TOI as "Ishrat case: Top govt officials, cops sabotaged probe, CBI says". This subject is going on & on without considerations from general public & authorities as well. I too wrote a blog over it "ISHRAT JAHAN :: Fake or Political Encounter". Even though this article caught my eyes for sheer reason of its reporting. It referred to CBI as

"The CBI has submitted proof of a high-level meeting between top government functionaries and cops involved in theIshratJahan fake encounter case held to sabotage investigations in the case." 

I am quoting exact word by word from the report with all mistakes it has. It further says that

"Revelations about this meeting were made by suspended IPS officer G L Singhal, an accused in the case who is now out on default bail. Singhal had recorded the meeting secretly and has submitted the audio recording to the CBI. In the chargesheet filed by the CBI, Singhal has given evidence of the high-level meeting held by the Gujarat government." 

Please mark "Singhal had recorded the meeting secretly." " By the way Mr. G L Singhal is the same person who was  given bail along with three other accused by the special CBI court in Ishrat Jahan encounter case. I am not writing or quoting it as "Fake Encounter" as it is still to be decided by the designated court. However it was encounter : Fake or Genuine: no one knowns. The TOI report further says 

"Singhal has disclosed that the meeting was held in November 2011, when the HC was supervising this case and had also directed the state government not to obstruct investigations by the probe agency."

Now comes the most important part of the report which demolishes whole claims of CBI or TOI Reporter (yours truly NGO Reporter). The TOI states that

"Singhal along with another accused cop - then assistant commissioner of police, crime branch, Tarun Barot - had been coached on how to mislead the investigating agency. Singhal had attended the meeting with advocate Rohit Verma."

Now mark last sentence

"Singhal had attended the meeting with advocate Rohit Verma."  

To see the exact thing I am reproducing screen shot of this portion.

Kindly mark under red line & in box Singhal had recorded the meeting secretly & Singhal had attended the meeting with "advocate Rohit Verma"
I had served in government department for 37 years. I know some time unofficial meeting are held to discuss "Official Agenda" in "Unofficial Way". But care is taken that

• No MOM (Minutes of Meeting) is prepared or kept or circulated.
• No one, even clerks & other junior officers, other than concerned officers are called in the meeting.
• No one is allowed to record or note down instructions or coaching, as TOI report say.

Many of friends in real life or officers who are on social media or otherwise know this fact. 

So how on earth, Mr. G L Singhal was allowed to attend with advocate Mr. Rohit Verma in such meeting where "Coaching" was to be given unless & until Rohit Verma was or is part of that team. Moreover who officer would be fool enough to have an advocate, even if he is a official advocate, in such meeting, if at all such meeting took place. 

&

How Singhal recorded the meeting that too with an evidence of "Advocate" & whether such recording, without permission, is admissible in the Court of Law?

You need not to be Sh. Ram Jethmalani Or some Hi-Fi criminal lawyer to understand that such an evidence will fall apart in the very first cross questioning in the court.
But then why CBI believed such report & presented in court? Are they fool? Certainly not. Then what is CBI's game plan?
It is ticklish question to answer. I will try to analysis it in following way.

CBI may be trying to play dual game.

1. First they want to please its current political bosses by presenting report to defame Modi keeping in view of coming general election. 
2. They want to keep future political boss pleased, in this case Modi, by presenting a weak report which is mostly likely to fail in the Court of law.

By doing so they are trying to please both. But CBI should be see that they are not falling in a situation where "Na Khuda  hi mila & Naa Bisaal-e-Sanam, Naa idhar ke rahe, Naa udhar ke rahe" (ना खुदा मिला & ना बिसाले सनम, ना इधर के रहे ना उधर के रहे)" or other Hindi proverb "xxxx, Na ghar ka, Naa ghat kaa (xxxx, ना घर का ना घाट का). 

Jai Hind 

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PS:: I wanted to put whole proverb but got afraid. Who knows some Tiwari or other "Secular may read this proverb only & take it out of context to slam me while ignoring whole article as per fashion of the day.

Disclaimer: This article is based on TOI article. The writer don't claim truthfulness of TOI article or deny that. The TOI report is referred to analysis current satiation. This report/article does not intend to harm or cast aspiration on anyone.  

Keep Smiling

Pradeep Shanker

(NGO Reporter)

ISHRAT JAHAN :: Fake or Political Encounter

"After all these terrorists never had Courts sanction to kill people. Do Kasab & Party come India with Courts mandate to kill people? Does Army take courts permission before opening firing at foes? Are not innocent people killed point blank by these terrorist?”

All the media main & as well as social media, is abuzz with Ishrat Jahan case. Some calling it fake encounter, some calling it political conspiracy to frame Modi, CM Gujrat, & his close, confident assistant Amit Shah, present election in-charge Utter Pradesh while some terming it as a setback to fight terrorism in India. Say any thing but situation is very complicated. 

As everyone know Ishrat Jahan, a 19-year old Muslim girl from Mumbai  was killed on 15 June 2004, along  three people with alleged links to terrorists on an empty road stretch between Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar in Gujarat state, by officers of the Ahmedabad Police Crime Branch. Those killed were Ishrat Jahan Raza, a 19-year old girl from Mumbai, and three men: Pranesh Pillai (alias Javed Gulam Sheikh), Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. After a long investigation, in 2009, an Ahmedabad Metropolitan court ruled that the encounter was staged. The decision was challenged by the Gujarat State government, and taken to the High Court. On 3 July, 2013, the CBI has filed its first charge sheet in an Ahmadabad court saying that the shooting was a staged encounter carried out in cold blood. 

What so ever be the case, whether this group was a terrorist group or they were on Akshar Dham pilgrimage in Gujrat, the question is whether this encounter was fake or genuine legally, if you see as simple citizen.

But India is very complex country. Here everything has a motive or say "Motive" tag is always attached with every action & its reaction. So is with this case too. Modi/BJP baiters saw it as an opportunity to push Modi/BJP on wall to counter their growing influence on Indian Masses as for as 2014 election is concerned. As always Congress+Allies got an opportunity to beat Modi+BJP with their "Secular" stick. As of now, Modi is persueing his "Development Agenda", Congress+Allies have no match or answer for his "Development Agenda", rather they never had any answer of this agenda. So they found it a great weapon to fight with. With their back to wall, Modi+BJP supporters labeled this encounter as "Encounter of Terrorists", another popular slogan in India.

I found great value when people are concerned with fake encounters by police, but at the same times dismayed when people react to fake encounters selectively according to their convinces as they are doing in this case.

My friend Prayag Gandi @prayag(twitter account) informed me that :

"According to NHRC India, There had been 440 encounters between 2002-2007. Out of which 4 were in Gujrat, 231 in UP, 33 in Rajasthan, 31 in Maharastra, 26 in Delhi, 22 in AP & 19 in Uttarakhand."

Now if that is true, it must be true as far as Wikipedia is concerned, it is matter of great concern. But No. It is not matter because encounters do happen & will continue to happen till miscreants are. So there should be no worry over encounter till they are done during course of exchange and are not fake. Right? No not right. Sometimes staged managed encounters have proved boon to country. Take case of Punjab during insurgency. 1991 saw the peak of violence in Punjab, with more than 5000 reported killed. In 1992, the Indian government, "Intent on retaking Punjab from terrorism", appointed KPS Gill Chief of Police in Punjab. The police and army instituted a crackdown, and in 1993 the reported death toll was less than 500. In 1993, The New York Times reported, the people of Punjab no longer feared the Sikh "rebels or gangs". Well done KPS. You save not only Punjab but whole India who bows before you. 

Though Human Right Wings made lots of hue & cry over this police action but Government of India & Punjab backed KPS actions fully with blessing of opposition parties & did not give a damn to Human right over this issue. Why they should? After all these terrorists never had Courts sanction to kill people. Do Kasab & Party come India with Courts mandate to kill people? Does Army take courts permission before opening firing at foes? Are not innocent people are killed point blank by these terrorist? I am not telling to let Courts & Law go in hell. But in extreme cases where it is very hard to prove a man/group guilty, there is no harm killing them. Had Mumbia Police not decided to go for encounters in 90s, the mafia group might have been ruling not only Mumbai but large part of India. Mind it friends, nearly all encounters are done by blessings of higher ups & Political Bosses just as case of Punjab & Maharashtra. Though no doubt some encounter were/are done for personal benefits by some lower ranked Police officers too. In these cases Police officials are tried and awarded sentences too. 

Now come to Isharat Jahan case. Who knows it is fake encounter or genuine encounter unless court decides. But it is setting a very wrong precedent. How? Those, who have "Secular" sticks, have branded it Hindu vs Muslim. They say Modi personally ordered their encounter because Modi is against Muslim (God knows how they reached to this conclusion). They went up to extend calling Ishrat Jahan as “Innocent, Beti, Bahan” what not..what not. But how you can blame them who addressed known terrorists with Ji, Sahab etc respectful manner? Their play is not to honor Ishrat Jahan but to put a wedge between Modi & Muslim in respect to coming general election. Modi lovers are worried about fall out of this propaganda. However I am not worried because law of the land is to be up held. If this is fake encounter, Court will decide about it & seeing slow place of justice, in high profile cases atleast, it may take another 20 years to decide about it. Moreover Indian citizen is not much concern who killed whom. If right air is given to this case at right time, it may generate sympathy to Modi+BJP. And if so called “Secular” parties are successful in dividing Hindu Muslims, loss would be there as “Polarized” Hindu may be decide election in favor of BJP because they are more in number.

But let us prayer that senses are prevailed in both groups and election is fought on real issues.

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Pradeep Shanker

(NGO Reporter)