Samar Halarnkar: Narendra Modi and the unsurprising politics of vendetta // Aatish Taseer: I am Indian. Why is the Government Sending Me Into Exile?
NB: The term corruption means 'perversion from fidelity'; and is thus not limited to financial matters. The perversion of justice is also a manifestation of corruption. DS
In September 2019,
chief justice of the 75-judge Madras High Court, Vijaya Tahilramani, resigned
after she was transferred to the four-judge Meghalaya High Court. In 2017,
Tahilramani upheld the conviction and life sentences handed out of 11 suspects
in 2002 murders and a gang-rape and set aside the acquitals of rioters,
policemen and doctors.
The appointment or transfer of HC and SC judges is made by a collegiums... but the collegium’s
decisions are increasingly made in secret at the instance of “confidential”
government notes opposing its choice. This week, after two such notes, the
collegium rescinded its decision to appoint Justice Akil Qureshi as chief
justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court and sent him instead to the far
smaller Tripura high court. In 2010, Justice Qureshi ordered Home Minister Shah
remanded to police custody for his alleged involvement in an extra-judicial
killing.
Of all the laughable –
and they are laughable – charges levelled by the Indian government against
Kannan Gopinathan, the most preposterous is the one that says he failed to
apply in time for a prime ministerial award on innovation in public
administration. “I think I’ll be the only officer in history who has been
chargesheeted for not applying for an award,” he said
this week. Gopinathan, who
resigned in August 2019 from the elite Indian Administrative Service to protest
against the crackdown in Kashmir, was a respected, capable officer who had been
graded 9.5 out of 10 in his latest appraisal and achieved fame for anonymously
– a colleague revealed his identity – volunteering at relief camps during a
2018 flood in Kerala.
Among the other
accusations against Gopinathan, who was the district collector of Daman and
Diu: a delay in laying underground cables, not submitting a tour report after
the Kerala floods and a vague charge of “insurbodination”. The government is
clutching at straws in its desire for vengeance against Gopinathan, who
released the chargesheet – emailed to him after a colleague asked for his
address, to which he said he did not own a house – and his response on Twitter.
As the economy tanks
further and more distractions are required for Narendra Modi’s nationalist
base, his government is increasingly emboldened to rachet up the war against
dissent. The same week as the attempt to punish Gopinathan unfolded, further
actions of Modi’s government made it amply clear that vendetta clumsy or
thorough – is a cornerstone of the prime minister’s politics and policies. The government revoked
the Overseas Citizenship status of writer Aatish Taseer, who in May wrote a
cover story for Time
magazine on Modi headlined “Divider in chief”. The fig leaf for the revocation was that his father – who never married his mother, the pro-Modi columnist Tavleen Singh – was a Pakistani, which he was supposed to have declared. Singh pointed out that none of this was an issue until her son wrote what he did.
magazine on Modi headlined “Divider in chief”. The fig leaf for the revocation was that his father – who never married his mother, the pro-Modi columnist Tavleen Singh – was a Pakistani, which he was supposed to have declared. Singh pointed out that none of this was an issue until her son wrote what he did.
Once Modi’s mind is
made up, neither law nor common sense can deter him; democratic tolerance of
opposing views is not a consideration. In May, Modi had this to say of
Taseer’s Time story: “Time magazine is foreign.
The writer has also said he comes from a Pakistani political family. That is
enough for his credibility.” As is now routine in
action against those perceived to be opposed to the prime minister or the government,
the facts are easily discarded, manipulated and attempts to point out otherwise
are futile. Once the process of retaliation has begun, there is no rollback or
mitigation....
https://scroll.in/article/943063/narendra-modi-and-the-unsurprising-politics-of-vendettaI am Indian. Why is the Government Sending Me Into Exile?
'Before the Law' - a parable by Franz Kafka
The letter from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs arrived in September 2019. My mother sent me a WhatsApp message of the letter, informing me that the Government of India was revoking my Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI). India doesn’t recognize dual nationality and the OCI – a permanent visa for persons of Indian origin – is the nearest equivalent to dual citizenship and provided to millions of Indians around the world. I had 21 days to respond and to contest their claims; it was day 20 when I had received the letter. If I didn’t respond it would be presumed I had nothing to say in the matter and my OCI would be cancelled. I responded by email immediately to contest their claims, with the Indian Consul General of New York acknowledging receipt, and a hard copy of which was delivered to the Home Ministry. Then, on November 7, after The Print reported that my status was under review, the government announced via Twitter that my OCI status had been withdrawn. This was the first I heard of it... https://time.com/5721667/aatish-taseer-india-oci/
Tavleen Singh: Sending my son Aatish Taseer to exile is not just wrong but evil
As I sit down to write
this, I still find it hard to believe that a prime minister whom I have openly
supported for more than five years has allowed his government to exile my son.
When the notice arrived from the home ministry, three months ago, asking Aatish
to explain why his status as an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) should not be
revoked on the grounds that he had not revealed that his father was Pakistani,
my first reaction was to call the home minister. I thought there was
some misunderstanding and wanted to clear it up. I wanted to show him a
document in my possession that shows that when I brought Aatish to live in
India in 1982 as his sole legal guardian, he was given permission till the age
of 18....
read more: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/sending-my-son-aatish-taseer-to-exile6110639/
read more: https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/sending-my-son-aatish-taseer-to-exile6110639/
see also
Clean chit to CJI Gogoi makes it clear Supreme Court judges believe they are above the law
