The sad case of dying in combat

Every death is sad. Whether it is by an accident or execution or just by natural cause or for that matter in combat. Death is harsh and difficult on the family, we all have experienced it sometime in our lives.

That being said. The death in combat of the SP in Punjab, during the terrorist strike, shook the entire country. The same way as the citizens of the country mourn the death of soldiers dying in wars and on borders. It does right?

The incidents that unfolded after the death are sad. The family said they wouldn't be cremating the body until the government guarantees government jobs to his family members. I understand the emotions here. The insecurity the family feels after the death of the earning man of the family. The hardships they went through throughout his service, as these people are never there right, they are always on the line of duty, 24*7 serving the society. Even the citizens' tribute is limited to some odd candle marches and some TV talks, beyond that are we really concerned about the institutional problems with the system? We all know the answer, we are not. 

The problem I feel in these things of making such demands, especially when you say you won't cremate the body and all is this, when people join forces, they know what they are getting into. The risk, the uncertainty, the problems, along with the perks, respect, and facilities. The brave SP knew all this, as he joined the force after his father was killed in combat. This reflects the passion for service and honor for the job, but I feel his family is ruining it. This doesn't mean that they should die for nothing and their sacrifice has gone waste. No. May be those emotions and feelings are their personal, but for that why should the family suffer. Patriotism doesn't feed empty stomachs.

I tried to understand the situation they are in, but still I feel it is not acceptable. This is also in conflict with what I have been seeing throughout my life. I have seen the defense forces closely and I cannot recall a single incidence of Army families making such demands. Maybe they are conditioned in such a way that they can't think of these things. This disparity between the defense forces and police forces has always shocked me. Maybe the policing lobby is more strong and politically well connected than the armed forces. Whatever it may be, the governments attitude is more shocking above all that. All they do is give condolences and the same politics continues, isn't it?

Frankly, when I think of it, I cannot really oppose it. The families of people dying in combat should be compensated for. There is no second opinion about it. They risk their lives knowing what is in it for them. That takes sheer courage and devotion. I feel such thing should be rewarded better. We know the poor sate the polices and defense personals are, especially the lower level ones. When you look at it this way, it seems that there is nothing wrong with the demand the family is making. 

It should be for a blanket policy, compensation and/or jobs fir the family of people dying in combat.

I know it is more dangerous to drive or walk on the road these days, but then you don't expect something to happen every day. Unlike the scenario with the armed forces, where death is like a shadow!   No one wants to die right, but like these people those who willingly take the risk for something greater than themselves, shouldn't this act be honored?

When you look at the sad state of the government of India, which is keeping the people who served the country their entire lives hanging for something which they deserve. One Rank One Pension. Wouldn't it would be naive to expect the government to bring a blanket policy to compensate the families of people dying in combat. The sad truth of people and politics being, people are the last thing that matters, they only do during elections...

Anand Mangnale

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"Above all, always be capable of feeling deeply any injustice committed against anyone, anywhere in the world"

    

Mr. PM Modi, get your act straight...

State and Religion being together leads to a disaster, the prime example being Pakistan. NO this is not a problem of Islam, but the mix of Religion with State, Power and Authority. Any Religion for that matter.

A Government, State is for the People, irrespective of the Religion, caste, creed or the class of the people. What we see in reality is that the State is for the rich firstly and secondly for the majority, majority in terms of Religion.


People struggle and die for the basics of life of food and giving a blind eye to this, people fight and kill over Religion. The Nation and Leadership should distance itself from such matters. When the PM reflects a certain Ideology and Religion, he is born into it or not, it doesn't matter. Once you are the PM of the country, the religion, place, caste, or even political party for that matter should not matter. As one is doing the greatest service to the Nation, and still if stuck to these issues, it will be a disservice to the Nation in itself. I know what I am talking is impractical and too naive.


When you are representing a Nation, you are representing all the citizens and not the majority. Every vote is important, and people's opinion matters, isn't that the whole essence of Democracy, aren't we the world's biggest democracy..? Or just in name?

  

So I have every problem with ‪#‎PM‬ ‪#‎NarendraModi‬ gifting religious texts to the leaders of the Central Asian countries..
I don't have a problem with religious texts.. This issue could have been  handled with more sensitivity, if he had gifted all the Religious texts of India and not just Gita. He would have gifted Gita, Quaran, Bible, Guru Granth Sahib also along with Gita, as that reflects what India is, multi-religious, multi-cultural and not a Hindu country, just because Hindu's are in majority. Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and all the other religions in India are equal, all the people belonging to these have equal right in the country as citizenry, the spirit, is what an Indian is and not the religion, especially not the majority religion. 

I fail to understand the logic people give that we are one of the two Hindu majority countries, and what is the problem if he gives Gita?, as it preaches peace, humanity and is the best book in the world, an ideal gift. Well, yes, we are a Hindu majority country, but that's all we are, a Hindu majority country. Not a Hindu country, We are a Secular country. Unless it is changed in the constitution, I would like people to understand and perceive it that way.
The other thing about Gita being the solution to all the world problems.
So is every other Religious text, according to all the Religions. So can we just skip it and go beyond it, but no the PM had to make a point by giving only it.

What harm right? There is every harm in it. May be the mild, liberal Hindus, not but the extremists and fundamentalists of the Hindu's (now don't start with the nonsense of, that the extremists are not real Hindus and all, as is the same with all religions, i will see what is in front of me right..!!!), will take it up in pride, that he took only a Hindu scripture and hence, he is projecting himself as a Hindu, which he may be, but right now he is heading the office of the Prime Minister of the Country, not a Hindu pundit, who is travelling the world promoting Hinduism.

Another harm is that it empowers the nuisance power of these extremist and fundamentalist groups which in turn causes communal and religious violence and makes the minority feel unsafe.

Even if nothing of this happens, the message it sends is wrong. The gifting of one religious scripture by the PM of the country who represents various other religions too. Religion in India is a personal thing, not a state matter. People do not understand this. Just because Hindu's are in the majority, does not give any right to the PM to do this.

Also, I feel he missed a great opportunity, as Modi is representing the largest ‪#‎Democracy‬ and when there are hardly around 56 countries that are democratic in the world, wouldn't it have made sense if he gifted the ‪#‎Indian‬ ‪#‎Constitution‬ to the world leaders when he visits them?
And that is when he himself had said once (before elections Ofcourse) that the "Constitution is the holiest book for him, above all"... Spreading the essence of a Constitutional Democracy, where people matter (in principle at least) should have been the thing to do rather than the religious texts.
This would have demonstrated that India is beyond ‪#‎Religion‬ and ‪#‎Hinduism‬ and we really care for people, and through governance it can change people's lives, not some nonsense.


‪#‎India‬ ‪#‎Modi‬ ‪#‎8legTour‬ ‪#‎CentralAsia‬ #Religion #Democracy

Why Peshawar was different

Since the attack I have been thinking that it was not just any other attack, of course the brutality, sickness, impotency and disregard for even the harmless and purest lives of children makes it different from all other attacks, but I was thinking there was more to it, not just that.

The thought slipped away somewhere in my mind. The recent attacks in France on Charlie hebdo made me rethink about the Peshawar attack. Attack on Charlie Hebdo was a desperate act by Al-Qaeda against the alleged disrespectful cartoon of Muhammad which is blasphemy for some fanatics, had another angle of competition, a competition against another terrorist organization ISIS which is becoming more notorious than them. This was in a way other than the killings and making a point, a message to the fellow Al-Qaeda fanatics and also to the world that we are still in play and it’s not only ISIS. There are several other analysis about freedom of expression, intolerance of Religions, the political and social angles of France, social seclusion and all but this is also prominent I think.

The Peshawar school attack was undertaken by the Tehrik-i-Taliban (TTP) that is the Pakistani Taliban. There is an Afghanistan Taliban and Pakistan Taliban. The same Pakistan Taliban which was “Good Taliban” for the United States, the same which was responsible for attack on Malala. This attack similar to the Al-Qaeda’s attack on the Charlie Hebdo office was a response to the competition between the Afghanistan Taliban who was gaining popularity to be more brutal and notorious, so they came back in action with this. Also they were feeling less important or less covered by Media because of the rise of ISIS. The tactical aim of attack at the school being showing that they were more ruthless and brutal than the other Taliban and strategic aim being that it was an Army school, sending a message to the armed forces that let them operate freely till recently and now had started resisting them, that they have more power than them, and won’t accept the resistance.  

This was I guess the wake-up call for USA to realize that there is no “Good Taliban” left, or never was and on Tuesday 13^th January Us declared Pakistani Taliban leader Mullah Fazlullah a "global terrorist".

So now the bad state of the world fight against terrorism is that it is not just that the terrorists are fighting against the one they consider Infidels, but also are in competition among themselves. This makes them more dangerous and more unpredictable as their response is not solely dependent on the enemy but also the competition with similar terrorist organizations which is a dangerous development.

Why I will criticize Modi..

Why I will criticize Modi..

Why I criticize? Because I have nothing better to do, may be. But I criticize because I care. Because I cannot take bullshit and nonsense and I will speak up my mind and about what I feel is going wrong.  It doesn’t matter what public opinion is as it can be misleading or as we have seen it is with the majority and majority is not necessarily right. It causes Tyranny of the Majority. I haven’t cared much till now what others think of me or will think if I do something, it is mostly not relevant to me, until I believe in what I am doing is the right thing to do. Well right and wrong and all are subjective, depends on situation and also a lot of philosophical, so let’s not get into that. 

I have a serious problem with people drawing a line. Like the USA had drawn during the “IRAQ invasion”. If you are not with us, you are against us. Same thing during the India “Against Corruption Movement”, if you are not with Anna you are for corruption. I was like fuck off.  I dint support it because I felt there are important and really effective things to do like calling back the MP’s and making them more accountable than going on the road to protest for a parallel, huge bureaucratic system to keep a check and balance on the corruption of the rest of the bureaucrats and expected to be a non-corrupt "Lokpal", it was idiotic for me. I had my reasons and even if I had none, still I wouldn’t go just because I felt like it, and that makes me pro-corruption, right these are the public perceptions and ideals they create.

I felt compelled to write this because, there is a new trend emerged since the BJP and especially Modi has come in Power. If one says something against Modi, or his policies or his silence or his approach or anything other than how great he is or how best he is doing it is considered “UNPATRIOTIC”. (As it is my patriotic definitions are changing since the BJP and RSS call themselves patriotic. Still i have a problem.) It is not even that one is against him, it is directly Unpatriotic. What the hell. When and how did my Love for my country and its people, its values (some which are left hopefully) its aspirations, all got converted into 1 person. No this is not acceptable, he is the PM and that’s all he is, he is not the metric of whether I love my country or I care or I am pro or anti development or not. No.

I had rejoiced Modi on his Independence Day speech, when he called himself “Pradhan Sevak, Chief Servant” of the country and how he made himself to be felt amongst the people and all. I have criticized before every possible minister and Prime Minister, exercising my Democratic Right. It doesn’t matter if I believe in it or not, I will exploit it, what I have at my disposal. The problem people have is that if I am opposing Modi, I am supporting congress. Why on earth I will do that, I have criticized and personally attacked some ministers of congress so badly that, they could have committed suicide if they would have read it. So who I am against and whom I am supporting. I will support who does good and when and fuck up everyone who fucks up. It is as simple.

What Modi has done in building the Foreign Relations is commendable, it is beyond anyone, who had done it before (credits to Ajit Doval), still he listens to good advisors is a great quality.

At the same time I will criticize and oppose when Modi is silent on the dirty work BJP VHP RSS and other communal organizations are doing since he is in Power. It feels like chained dogs are unleashed since he has come in power. I will oppose him when he asks his MP’s not to speak nonsense and give political mileage to opposition, but not controls them from hurting the minorities. I will oppose him if he still fails and continues to fail to understand that he is leader of the Nation and not of a fucking religion and everyone has equal rights and the minorities are more equals. I will oppose him if he talks of development and not looks after the people for whom the development is and only serves the corporations under its smokescreen.  I will oppose him till the time he acts on what he said and not just makes great stunts and PR statements.  

I will criticize Modi and all the others who fuckup, irrespective of the party and affiliations, as it is my Right and the one which I have decided to stand up by, the right I am and will exercise.

Dear Pakistan.. open your Eyes before it is too late..

Dear Pakistan what’s wrong. How could you think you could play with fire and not get burned?  What the fuck were you thinking? You see what happens when you nurture terrorists, exactly this, I am ok with them killing your soldiers, blowing up your army bases, blowing up government buildings and officials, because they signed up for it, they are part of what you are harvesting, terrorism. But not this.

What about those children, did they vote for you to come in power, to give home to those terrorists, did they welcome your dirty wars and trade. They do not know the Islam or god under whose name you and the terrorists are doing these killings. They did not opt for this and they are the one who die, for what, so you can destroy India. Isn’t that the whole aim of nurturing the terrorists in the 1^st place? Use them against India, take the revenge of 71 and Kashmir, fine send them to the border, why the fuck are you letting them kill your children. At least learn from us. Did you forget what happened to Indira Gandhi and Khalistan or Rajiv Gandhi and LTTE? We are examples in front of you how these things always backfire. At least in our case they dint kill children.

So what now, what are you going to do? A day after the attack on #Peshawar School, after the death of 132 children, you let that bastard #Hafeez #Saeed go on television and blame India for the attack. Are you that stupid? You still want to behave like an ostrich and look the other way when #Taliban (the bullshit story of good Taliban and bad Taliban by the US president Obama) kills your children. 
There is no sense in talking to Taliban as they have proved how much sense they have by doing this act and posing proudly for pictures under the name of fucking God. killing children for their fucking religious wars. But what about you, why did you let the children die?

 I mean fine I understand, your thirst for blood and vengeance against India and it is fine with me, deal with it the way you want, but at least fucking protect your children, school going kids whose bodies were all over the place, just because you couldn’t control it, or don’t want to. Let them not be a part of it, please, they are just kids, who have nothing to do with any of this.  

Every life is important. For adults at least they choose to do what they do, so it in a way if fine, as choices have consequences, killing soldiers, not their kids. Taliban is just a small part of the problem, not the complete problem. You are the problem, your inaction is the problem, your denial is the biggest problem, letting the kids die is your fault.   Each and every of the 132 innocent lives is your big fuckup.

What more of a wake-up call do you need? More deaths, more kids? Or some more cruel form of terror to make you realize who the fucking problem, the real enemy is.  

I am not a fan of yours, in fact I hate your policies, not just for what you do to India, that’s in a way understandable it is Power, Geopolitics, but not what you do inside your own country. The way you let your citizens and people die, the way you kill the minorities of your own religion. The way you let terrorists rule your cities and massacre at will. But this, this anger of mine is not at all about any of that, it is about the children, it is about your ignorance to see the real threat and incompetence to protect the children. This is because my heart bleeds for the kids and their families. They were children, going to school.

Do what you got to do in everything, destroying India is the main aim, keep it, fucking make it stronger if you wish, but at least protect your children, if for nothing, stand up for your kids, your children, they have nothing to with it..

Please Act. I plead you to open your eyes. Before it is too late.  

Why I support Kiss of love

If in the above picture, the nakedness offends you more than the abuse, beating, harm done to the woman. You are Part of the Problem. 

 

  I support Kiss of love

Kiss of Love protest #KissOfLove is a non-violent protest against moral policing. It started in Kerala and later spread to other parts of India.

It is as simple as that. It is against moral policing, which has nothing moral about it. It is against people who think they have a righteous high moral standing over others and that too backed by the cultural and religious values that make no sense.  These are the same people who are bystanders for everything right from an accident to someone teasing a girl or goons beating up someone, why? “It doesn’t concern us,” they say. “Why should I interfere?”, “Not my problem.” These are the same people who turn up in numbers, mind you in numbers not alone, as they don’t have an existence on their own, no thinking capacity, no individuality, no standing but in groups they can cause menace, terror, destruction, damage and even murder. For what? Because something offended them, something which they supposedly do not think is in line with their so called culture, tradition and religion.

It started because things were going out of hand. The moral policing was way beyond normal tolerance. Even the police were acting beyond their powers. The Law does not have anything about how someone dresses, where someone goes, or whether someone hugs or kisses in public. It has one word ‘obscene’ which is left for interpretation and these religious bigots made it very narrow. Hence this protest! All this is happening despite the fact that the Supreme Court of India and Delhi High Court have made it clear that kissing in public is not an obscene act and no criminal proceedings can be initiated, for kissing in public, through landmark judgments.

I am sad (not surprised) at how the media is portraying the Kiss of Love protest. It has lost its aim, and its way and is just being portrayed as something rude and against tradition and society. Not surprised because the media is falling in line with the government in power, the government with its militant religious wings let off leash the #RSS #VHP #Bajrang Dal and others.

 

#Firstpost one of the premier online news website of the country, has a headline which reads “Right issue, wrong tactic: Why Kiss of Love protests miss the mark.” It also goes on to say that All the attention is on the kiss rather than the travesty of moral policing. (Of course, that a reporter spent his time counting the kisses at a kissing-protest speaks volumes about our comfort level with the act.) This clearly shows the ownership and news, truth or a unbiased view's conflict.

 

Isn’t that the basic problem? The media is missing the point or deliberately making sure they miss it and not the protest. The protest is not missing the point. It is bang on the point. It is an expression of counter-power against the government, police and the organizations that have taken up the baton of moral policing. It is a reaction to say that this is what you think is wrong so we are doing it in public, in numbers just to tell you that this is OK. It is just an expression of love, of friendship, or care, or attachment, of emotions and nothing of nudity and obscenity.

 

It is not about kissing in public. It is about the ban, taboo, the moral policing on it, the social stigma that is attached to holding someone’s hands, hugging someone and expressing in public. About not making out in public, no one would want to make out in public, against the claims of the so called sophisticated, cultural people whose moral and ethical standings are hurt by it.

 

The whole point of this is a fight for Rights, Freedom, Equality. It’s about the Right of one person over his/her body, the clothes they wear, the time to go out, and the place they decide to go or not to go to.  It’s as simple as that. No one has the right to stop someone or abuse someone because they think it is obscene or that a girl of wearing too clothes or something. It’s about Freedom of Expression. The freedom to express their love, their affection via hugs, kisses and holding someone and not making out in public as the people who are opposing this protest and cutting it down on this issue. And it’s against Inequality, the protest is against the power the self-policing organizations think they have over others; to beat-up and abuse the so called violators of their superficial and hypocritical code.

 

It is very easy to put down the protest which people are doing and saying that all those supporting this, let your moms and sisters kiss a stranger and that is OK? And people are blindly following the west and all sorts of ludicrous and vulgar comments, while claiming the protest to be vulgar saying that the protest will give rise to increase in forced kisses, sexism, eve teasing and all. These are the people who have no idea what the protest is all about and are blinded by some crappy religious, cultural beliefs and or are the majority of the mob, mobocracy, and power in numbers. It is not following anyone, it is about the basic rights of individuals which people clearly are missing, as they want to as most of them do not know that rights are for and why are they needed for. They are just giving it a bad name for the sake of it. Even the media and many others who understand it are giving it a bad name becoming pets of the government. This is ridiculous!

 

This is where you miss it all. It is about personal relations, friendship and not random people kissing for the sake of it. The aim is to let people express their love, friendship and emotions without the barrier or law or some crazy misled male chauvinists who think they have a greater stake in the society.

 

I support this campaign for the things I have written and also anything that is against personal freedom. And something whose basis is religion and culture, opposed to basic common sense and freedom, for me this is surely worth fighting for.

 

Anand Mangnale.