The needless Tipu controversy generated by the Congress Party to create communal division. I had predicted this way back in April 2014

The tenor and content of the Congress Party's election campaign seems to be getting increasingly gory and savage as the election is winding its way across the country. Not merely in terms of imagery, but actual vocabulary. Blood seems to have become the word and weapon of last resort that the Congress, its communal allies, and its secured media allies have reserved for hurling against Narendra Modi. This dangerous weapon is being used abusively and irresponsibly, by shooting off inflammatory, divisive accusations against Modi and the BJP, completely without reason, logic or evidence, and with absolute impunity.

Is it just a coincidence that the linguistic pattern of the Congress, its political allies, and its "intellectual" cronies is getting more and more identical — irresponsible abuse, and yes, repeated language that suggests instigation of communal violence? Having tested the potential of communal violence instigated at Godhra as a weapon for destruction of a political rival, the Congress probably sees it as their last weapon of vengeance against Narendra Modi, like Hitler's V1s and V2s.

As the saying goes, "Once is chance; twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action." Let us take a look at the election blood language as it has been developing. Start from Digvijay Singh, who says in July 2013 that BJP was planning to instigate communal riots in Congress-ruled states ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as part of its "sinister" design to win the elections, by "communalizing" the political atmosphere. This is typical Digvijay Singh, speaking out the mind and intent of his handlers through an imaginary proxy, in his routine sycophancy drill of which the nation has had a surfeit.

Soon after, Karnataka Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah takes the cue, and states quite outrageously in November 2013 that there would be bloodshed if Modi becomes PM. How and why he reached his prophetic conclusion, he does not explain. But he seemed certain that "there will be bloodshed if he (Mr Modi) becomes Prime Minister," and urged the people not to give room for that to happen. "It is everybody's responsibility to oust BJP, save India," he said. Perhaps he believed that by echoing the statements or intent of his benefactors, he would acquire greater security of office.

Rahul Gandhi decided to adopt the same blood fetish in his Dehra Dun speech in February 2014, as his campaign by then had turned fairly hopeless, and he had no other weapons he could turn to. He accused the BJP, without an iota of reason or evidence, of practising the "politics of blood" by pitting one religion against another and one caste against another to come to power at any cost, generally summarising the divisive caste and communal policies that the Congress has been practising for decades. This is what he said: "It (BJP) practises the politics of blood. They don't see anything but power ... power at any cost. They can pit communities and castes against each other, they won't hesitate in spilling blood if they find it necessary to usurp power." Childishly transferring his own ideology to the BJP, he knew full well that he as role model was confirming the right trend of slander and incendiary, unsubstantiated accusations. And he was not wrong.

Not far behind, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, well known for his contribution to the Congress for activities other than of a spokesperson, added in April 2014, "I would like to say that when BJP talks of minority welfare, it sounds like Dracula taking over as the head of the blood bank." Really, Mr Singhvi, I had no idea that you had so much blood imagery in your mind. Is it merely a blind repetition of the hopeless propaganda that your peers and bosses have been shouting, or does the repetition also contain a threat of intent?

Amarinder Singh picked up the general discourse, and recently turned soothsayer predicting that there will be riots within six months if BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi comes to power. Again, he gives no reason or justification for his prediction, or why he fixed a time period of six months.

I have already written about the Economist, which sold its intellectual respectability to unknown sources in adopting the astrologer's role and predicting blood: "Mr Modi might start well in Delhi but sooner or later he will have to cope with a sectarian slaughter or a crisis with Pakistan..." The Economist, with all its intellectual heritage, neither informs us of the basis of its astrology of "a sectarian slaughter", nor why there would be a crisis with Pakistan, from where we are already hearing conciliatory comments. As I have said earlier, there can only be two explanations for this — that the Economist has either lost its journalistic standards of excellence, or its intellectual integrity.

Judging from the consistent substance of what the Congress has been speaking, there appears to be high credibility in the whispers going around that their final weapon of mass destruction during or after the general election is to instigate communal riots in the country, especially in the Congress ruled states. They do, indeed, have a proven record of doing this. Many of my younger readers may not be aware of the communal riots that were instigated in Channapatna, Karnataka in 1990, when Rajiv Gandhi, Congress president, wanted to oust Karnataka Chief Minister Veerendra Patil, only because he did not conform to the Congress principles of subservience to the party high command. Well, communal riots were organised, just about a week after Veerendra Patil suffered a stroke, and were used as an excuse to dismiss him as Chief Minister at Bangalore airport, just before Rajiv Gandhi was about to board a plane for Madras. With such versatile hands on experience with communal riots, the Congress is adept at keeping its communal powder dry, and has no compunction at using it whenever it considers it necessary for its sectarian interest.

The warnings are sinister and the writing is clearly inscribed on the wall. Judging from the recurring vocabulary of the Congress, and whatever subliminal messages it conveys, and also information from the field, there is every possibility of the Congress engineering communal riots, and bloodshed, especially in Congress ruled states, where they control the machinery of government, mainly the police.

I would expect that the most vulnerable period would be the small interregnum that would exist just between the announcement of election results and the formation of the new government. In all probability, it will be a BJP-led government with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. The interregnum normally witnesses the victors' euphoria, jostling for positions, with the new dispensation not quite in place. It is this small window that would be most exploited for mischief by the losers, particularly communal riots that all Congress honchos have been categorically and consistently forecasting; in other words, what they will attempt, just as they did in Godhra, after Modi's victory in his Rajkot byelection in Gujarat with Muslim support.

The BJP states need to remain acutely vigilant and take every precaution during this period, using their police and intelligence agencies, and their own grassroots networks at village levels to thwart any such malicious attempt at communal riots. In Congress ruled states and states ruled by other parties, the BJP, as the opposition party must use all its resources for precaution and must remain extremely vigilant regarding what is transpiring from grassroots up to the state level about possible communal mischief caused by the Congress or other parties opposed to Modi. They must be in constant contact with the constitutional and statutory authorities, should they apprehend or suspect any attempt to disturb communal harmony, which appears to be the design of the anti Modi communal parties to malign his name, and prove their point. Because their language clearly speaks that there is blood on their minds.

MODI ' S MAN KI BAAT - A RECIPE FOR DISASTER

Never has one man thrown away so much in such a short time. I speak of Shri Narendra Modi, the no longer respected Prime Minister of India. I have been his greatest supporter in the dark years of UPA II which used all their might of state power to assassinate him politically, and also his trusted aide Amit Shah.

The people of India showered him with their trust that he was the great Messiah, who would retrieve India’s lost pride after a decade of the Congress led plunder of India and communal divisive politics aimed at the majority community. They gave the BJP an unprecedented majority, and then expected him to start delivering his election promises to improve the lot of the common man. As Chief Minister of Gujarat for fifteen years, they expected a sage statesman, who had conquered all tendencies of megalomania, narcissism and arrogance, who would carry the country with him - Sab ka Saath, Sab ka Vikaas.

But what they saw were some hitherto unknown facets of his personality, which well informed citizens are aware of and comment about quite openly now. And I' m not just talking about his sartorial obsessions, which the world is seeing with some amusement, but about something more fundamental. And that is, his great capacity of amnesia towards all his well wishers who stood by him, who supported and helped him overcome his own dark days, when the entire might of the Government of India was baying for his blood, by every possible device.

Let me assure my readers that I am not speaking about myself. I speak of the thousands of BJP workers of Bihar who worked tirelessly during the 2014 elections, and enabled the BJP to win 22, and the NDA to win 31 of the 40 Parliamentary seats from Bihar. Many of them were side lined and felt terribly hurt about it. In the recent elections, BJP candidates were given tickets according to the wishes of the coterie controlled by Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley. Does it seems surprising then that the cadre based B.J.P with a committed vote bank was sent to such shameful oblivion. This is just a repeat of Delhi when the BJP workers at ground level decided to teach the BJP satraps a lesson. How else does one account for the reduction of Bihar’s BJP’s 29.4% vote share in the 2014 general elections to 24.8% in the recent assembly elections?

This article is a very polite and almost friendly criticism and advice, both of which you hardly deserve. I will wait for a while for how you respond not personally to me but the people of India and in particular your own colleagues in B.J.P. I have a long charge sheet against you and your favourite cabinet ministers and bureaucrats. You are entitled to dismiss this as an empty threat; but you have been warned. I have done my duty. I hope you have known of Tunku Varadrajan a distinguished writer and scholar from the United States who has been writing his weekly column for the Indian Express. In the last week’s issue he wrote "India needed a leader of the nation; instead, it got the leader of a party". Even he went wrong in the second half of this revelation. If the BJP leaders had courage of their convictions they would have long ago publicly shared this conclusion; " Increasingly it seems that we were swindled". I admire his unnecessary politeness.

I was invited to speak in Bihar. I spoke twice for a few minutes only. I made a public confession of my stupidity despite all my education and seventy five years standing at the Bar. The BJP President Amit Shah, a Modi nominee has publicly confessed that all the off repeated promises of Modi of getting back the stolen wealth of India and even putting fifteen lakhs into the poor man's kitty was an election gimmick (Jumla). "I have without meaning it, helped Modi to cheat you; do accept my apology and grant me your forgiveness that I seek". I hope Tunkuji has already forgiven me.

The first thing you Modiji should have done is to make essential commodities like cereals, dal, cooking oil, and vegetables affordable for the common people. Do you know their current prices in the markets? What was the point of raiding hoarders or importing dal just a week before the elections? Your government should have known long ago the distress it is causing to the common man. Do you need to be educated that rising prices of essential commodities are a result of hoarding by middle men and traders made so much easier by the digital revolution that you keep harping about. Why can't you set up a Cell in the PMO to monitor prices of cereals, pulses and vegetables across the country, and ensure that they are not manipulated through hoarding and profiteering. Indira Gandhi did it in her 20 Point programme and succeeded. If the BJP really wanted to woo the common man in the immediate term, all they had to do was reduce the prices of food items, and they would have earned their electoral gratitude.

The BJP Government and Modiji were seen at their clumsiest worst while mishandling the One Rank One Pension issue, which was an election promise. The dithering Prime Minister disgraced himself by breaking his word, and humiliated our loyal armed forces, by forcing them into a long dharna, that brought ignominy and disaffection to his government throughout the country.

I would next publish the two letters that I have written to you Modiji. One on the night immediately after my meeting the Jawans and a fragile old one who on hunger strike unto death was almost dead, and second after your most corrupt and illegal actions in appointing a new C.V.C. which may well end up in court action against you and your conspirators.

Mr Prime Minister, you must realize that you must carry the people of India with you, the people who placed so much love and trust in you in 2014. Silence and aloofness do not add to political, philosophic or bollywood stature. Remember, the country criticised Manmohan Singh on this same count. But he at least had an alibi, that he was being remote controlled. You have none. Your silence towards critical issues and controversies that are destructive of the nation is seen at best as lack of concern, and at worst as approval. Agriculture is a mess, farmers are committing suicide because of indebtedness and poor harvests. Have you met with any of the Chief Ministers regarding this or visited any rural areas to talk to farmers? No wonder, the perception is growing that you are only a friend of rich industrialists and not of the common man of India. When so called artists and intellectuals defamed our country by calling it 'intolerant' , (orchestrated by the Congress Party, as it may have been), did you take any steps to protect our country' s reputation by addressing them frontally? Rather you preferred to outsource it to respected civil society members. But even that came too late to counter the perceptional accusations against your government and our country. When certain irrational, anti-national and bigoted BJP parliamentarians made hate comments about the Muslim community in our country, or lynched a man to death, why did you not sternly condemn them and control them immediately? Instead, you have made the cow and beef your agenda for 21st century India, while we see India as a world power.

Ancient Rishis recommended beef as remedy for many ailments. You are too educated not to know this. Now dear Modiji, I hope Bihar has hit you hard, and you are introspecting seriously about your shortcomings. As an elder and not long ago a great supporter of yours, I can only advice that you must change your style of functioning. Get rid of coteries and yes men, and establish a direct contact with the people of India. Bihar should teach you that you are not infallible and are no Pied Piper or have solo magical powers that make people vote for you.

And lastly, Remember that the last year elections do not make you an infallible all knowing intellectual scholar. Do not convert all your well wishers into ill wishers. You have a few weeks to mend your ways, and if you want to regain the people's trust and confidence, you must make the right statements to them, make yourself more accessible to them, hear their problems and listen to their Man Ki Baat. Or else, you will become just another foot note in our history, who betrayed the trust of the people of India.

Open Letter to Finance Minister Shri. Arun Jaitley on his attack on the Judges.

You could not respond with courtesy and respect due to the judges of the Supreme Court in your puerile attack on the Judgment dated 16th October , 2015 declaring your favorite National Judicial Appointments Commission Act of 2014 ( the NJAC for short) void and unconstitutional. While you concede that independence of the Judiciary constitutes the basic structure of the Constitution of India as an unquestionably correct proposition you accuse the court of ‘transgressing into erroneous logic.’ 

Yes the judges were wholly right in their aversion to a law minister and two ‘ eminent persons’ without any precisely defined qualification except their approval by two politicians both unhappy with judges not being subordinate to the executive. You conveniently forget that Article 50 of the Constitution was intended to exclude all executive interference in judicial appointments. Today the executive is the biggest threat to the fundamental rights of citizens and the government and its appointed bureaucrats are the biggest litigants defending the irregularities, corruption and unconstitutional actions calculated to injure and impoverish the common citizen. You have totally forgotten the 1993 judgment of a nine judge bench particularly the judgment of Justice Pandian. This was binding on this bench and you are too small a person to ignore it and find fault with the judges who are and were bound by it. After describing the Prime Minister and Law Minister as the priceless gifts of providence to India. You will be plucked by any examiner in a LLB examination if you exalt your Law Minister representing a key basic structure of the Constitution.Having flattered the Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition who helped you to get this awful Act passed in Parliament you paid your respectful homage to Parliamentary sovereignty. Your whole piece is just plain legal gibberish and poppycock. I am avoiding the term which many persons will use for it: Bullshit. 

I will concentrate on one line in your piece to show how little you know of the Constitution of India and law in general. That line is “The majority opinion was understandably concerned with one basic structure – Independence of the Judiciary – but to rubbish all other basic structures by referring to them as ‘politicians’ and passing judgment on a rationale that India has to be saved from its elected representatives: the judgment has upheld the primacy of one basic structure – Independence of the Judiciary – but diminished five other basic structures of the Constitution namely Parliamentary Democracy, an Elected Government, the Council of Ministers, an elected Prime Minister and an elected Leader of the Opposition.” 

I am concentrating on only your greatest error – a manifestation of your total ignorance of Constitutional law i.e. ‘Supremacy of Parliament’. You have accused the majority judges of practicing ‘tyranny of the unelected’. 

This is abuse amounting to contempt. The majority judgment in this case has been attacked on television as well as in other media. It is not that Hon’ble Judges have faced elections and have failed. It is the Constitution which has consciously rejected election as the method of selecting judges and the expression ‘unelected’ conveys a false impression and is intensely insulting. 

The further insinuation is that the judgment is a deliberate act of cruelty against the people of India. Whether or not this Hon’ble Court takes appropriate action under the Contempt of Courts Act, I don’t care. But it may not be a bad idea to remind you that having fought an election and having lost by margin of over one lakh votes you should have been more careful and humble in making the kind of criticism that you have indulged in. 

The system of elected Judges has been tried elsewhere and I believe that it has produced some good jokes. The most prominent joke going around is that in a certain state, the Democratic Party found a judge who was paralysed from the waist downwards and invariably, in election, he won the sympathy vote. He triumphed in four successive elections, but on the fifth, the manager of the Republican Party walked up to his boss and said, ‘Sir we have found a solution to our problem’. He asked, ‘what is it?’ ‘Sir , this time we have found a judge who is paralysed from the waist upwards’.” In an article written by me in 1999 I have referred to this current joke and the Article is at Page 97 of my book Conscience of a Maverick. Even a LLB student, and I claim to be in touch with many students in India and abroad, knows that the old thesis of Professor Dicey written in 1885, that the Parliament of England is sovereign is no longer accepted whole heartedly even in England. A leading judgment of the House of Lords in the case of Jackson vs. Attorney General reported as 2005 UK HL 56 has held that Dicey statement of law has been considerably modified. Though all the challenges posed against the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty are for the most part self imposed and therefore open to reversal, this is a somewhat weak ground for saving the doctrine even in England. But so far as India is concerned it is very clear that the doctrine does not exist at all. In an article from Wikipedia, which is appended hereto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_sovereignty),after discussing cases from UK, Scotland, Australia and Canada reference is made to the current position in India. So far India is concerned the doctrine is held as totally out of place. Everyone knows that under the Constitution of India, Parliament cannot impose any unreasonable limitations on the fundamental rights of a citizen. The Parliament of India, except in some very rare situations cannot legislate at all on matters in the very long list of State subjects in the relevant schedule of the Constitution. The judiciary has the right to annul laws which are not in conformity with the Constitution. Thus Parliament of India is a non-sovereign body. It is entitled to respect but it does not have the supremacy which you have chosen to attach to it. Moreover all laws which are in conflict with rights of citizens under Article 19 are void if adjudged unreasonable or not advancing certain declared objects. 

Please understand that a Parliament whose legislation is expressly made subject to Judicial Review is not like the British Parliament of which Prof. Dicey was speaking in the last century. Grow up and learn Mr. Jaitley.