Dilip Simeon's blog

BJP Planted "Stooge" Deep Sidhu To Create Chaos In Tractor Rally...   At a press conference, AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha, while questioning the connection between Sidhu and BJP, showed several photos purportedly of the actor with various BJP leaders. "The BJP planted their stooge Deep Sidhu to create chaos in farmers' tractor parade," Mr Chadha said.... https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/farmers-protest-bjp-planted-stooge-deep-sidhu-to-create-chaos-in-tractor-rally-aap-2358910 Samyukta Kisan Morcha distances itself from violent elements / Farmer leaders accuse Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu of instigating protesters and leading them to the Red Fort Manu Kaushik: Before India Breaks Its Promises / Dushyant Dave: SC Should Have Declared New Farm Laws Unconstitutional / Republic Day Tractor Rally: Tear Gas At Singhu Border India's protesting farmers pay homage to the 143 farmers martyred in their movement and reject Centre's offer to stay farm laws / 42-year ol...

NB : Nothing more need be said about the AAP's democratic credentials than the fact that they wanted to keep Devangana Kalita in jail for an indefinite duration, and that too for such a flimsy reason and on scant evidence. DS...  The Supreme Court Wednesday dismissed AAP government’s appeal against the bail granted to Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita in a north-east Delhi violence case. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan dismissed the plea filed by the Delhi government saying that being an influential person cannot be a ground for denying bail. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for Delhi government, said Kalita is very influential person and the high court has stated that there were only police witnesses in the case. He said there are also some protected witnesses in the case. The bench questioned Raju that can an influential person be a ground to deny bail? It told the ASG as how she can tamper with the witness. The bench said it would not interfere with t...

.... He could harvest the sentiments of those disenfranchised and brutalised by the market, though they are now left to fend for themselves. He projects himself as the strong leader of the hard state. Sedition charges against JNU students were signed off by his government, after wavering over it for sometime.  Privacy is a huge concern for a section of the intelligentsia, but he boasts about expanding surveillance and wins votes. Government schools in the city are rolling out a technology tool that allows parents to watch their wards real time. He feigns humility and claims to listen to the people.  There is nothing between the people and the Leader - no cabinet, no media that can ask questions. The  decision to shut out ‘outsiders’ from Delhi hospitals was taken after “90 percent of the people” in a digital poll wanted it that way, Mr. Kejriwal announced. People against people. It has been pointed out that in the new Delhi cabinet, there are no women. The party...

Never has an election campaign in Delhi been as ugly as the one just ended. Never have senior ministers of the government of India spent so much time on what is essentially a municipal election. Never before have we seen so open an attempt to make it an election to divide Hindus and Muslims.  Despite the ugliness and venom that defined the  BJP ’s campaign, opinion polls indicate that it is unlikely to win Delhi. It deserves to lose.  I speak as someone who has spent more than half a lifetime in this city and who cherishes its syncretic culture. It horrified me to hear senior BJP leaders like Yogi Adityanath  make the word ‘biryani’ a term of abuse  and to hear other BJP leaders speak of this election as a choice  between ‘India and Pakistan’.  Horrified to hear a minister in the government of India urge his audience  to ‘shoot traitors’  and to hear Home Minister Amit Shah say at a rally that he wanted voters to  press so hard on the...

After six months under detention, two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir,  Omar Abdullah  and  Mehbooba Mufti  have now been charged under the draconian Public Safety Act (PSA). This will allow them to be imprisoned for up to two years without trial. Both had been detained on August 5, 2019 under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code which allows apprehension of an individual likely to disturb peace and public tranquillity, for upto six months. That ended on February 5. They have now been arrested under the PSA. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in Parliament targetted both leaders.  Omar Abdullah  was attacked for a statement that turned out to be a quote made up by the satirical website, “Faking News”. Mehbooba was criticised for speaking out against removal of the provisions of  Article 370  of the Indian Constitution. However as their public position on  article 370  was already well-known, their arrests under...

The political and constitutional crisis over the powers of the Delhi government is not just a small drama being enacted in Lutyens’ Delhi. It is an ominous sign for Indian democracy and its institutions. It is also a story of how a sordid pettiness and politics of recrimination can so easily subvert institutions. The Delhi saga is institutionalising a new culture in Indian politics. Look at the big institutional picture. A government in Delhi is elected with an unprecedented mandate. One can concede that because of Delhi’s special status, there might be areas of ambiguity, in the allocation of powers between the Lt Governor and the chief minister. But whatever those grey areas, under no circumstances can the allocation of power be interpreted to mean that the Lt Governor can act like a tyrannical Viceroy, subverting an elected government at every step. The Lt Governor has done exactly that. The Supreme Court allowed yet another constitutional subversion by simply delaying the clar...

AAP was not just another party. It came not as a regional force or a lobby, it deigned to be a universal alternative to everything. If the promise is fading, it must examine the mirror, not just the EVM.  the Ind­ian media has most certainly entered a ‘new’, ‘never-before’ phase of its existence. Most of it has willingly turned into a less-than-docile mouthpi­ece of the government and ruling party, but more dangerously, into an instrument for distorting the very nature of social and political discourse. Real issues are almost totally barred from TV news; deb­ates are spun around artificially manufactured issues in a quarrelsome, even rowdy fashion—a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.  Municipal elections are usually dull city-page affairs, scarcely known to generate the kind of excitement we witnessed this week over the one in Delhi. The results are intriguing, yet on expected lines. Why intriguing? Because, really, no objective assessment can ignore the good work...

The party invokes Sikh valour against the Mughals and touts its focus on Punjabi language. Regardless of the inevitable spin and compulsions of electoral politics, the Aam Aadmi Party seems to have taken the first few baby steps on the path that leads to the politics of identity. It is the path AAP had mostly shunned.  AAP’s dominant political style had been to treat people as citizens without unduly emphasising their identity – whether rooted in religion or language or caste. Or it subsumed the politics of identity within its larger agenda of delivering services to people in a manner that was both efficient and corruption-free. But AAP’s style of politics seems to be losing its original flavour as it prepares to fight the electoral battle in Punjab. An example of it is the AAP government’s recent decision to rename the Barapullah flyover – the lengthy corridor which reduces dramatically the time taken to travel from East Delhi to South Delhi – after Banda Singh Bahadur,...

Press Statement Delhi Government should not sponsor Saraswati Puja We citizens and residents of Delhi are alarmed to hear of the official decision by Government of Delhi as announced by its Minister of Tourism to hold a large scale religious ceremony in the form of Saraswati Puja on February 13, 2016 at the Central Park in the heart of Delhi. We believe that while state institutions concerned with public safety must do their duty at religious events, the state’s responsibility must end there. The government must not use public funds to sponsor religious events. This decision by the Government of Delhi violates the secular character of the Constitution and sets an unacceptable administrative and legal precedent, because it will open doors open for misuse of public money. Citizens who are religious believers are free to hold any religious ritual at their will and expense. They can also seek state intervention if their freedom of religion is constrained in any w...

This week, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal completes one year in office. Looking back, he tells Scroll.in on how the Centre has been raising one obstacle after another in the smooth functioning of the Delhi government, the intimidation of its officers, the schemes it has introduced, and about his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who remained silent right through their conversation. Did you expect so many obstacles in running the Delhi government even after having won 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi? In what ways have these obstacles adversely affected governance in Delhi? The journey after winning the elections has been far more difficult than the journey before it. It appears winning was much easier than thereafter. I had thought that after our victory we would be able to focus completely on governance. That was the reason I did not keep any portfolio. I wanted to be the wall between the Modi government and the Delhi government and its ministers, in the hope ...

NB : The observations by both these commentators are valid and far-reaching condemnations of the turn-around by the AAP leadership, and the overthrow of its own constitution by the founder of the party. What is of even greater significance to me, is the hooliganism and intimidation unleashed upon (perceived) critics by the cohorts of the Supreme Leader and reported by eye-witnesses (themselves AAP members). All this was not only highly objectionable but also totally unnecessary. Their aim of disciplining their critics could have been achieved without recourse to abuse, the use of muscle-men and disregard of democratic norms. That they felt the need to do all this, against the background of overwhelming victory and popular support signifies contempt for democracy, the right to criticise one's  leaders, and the freedom of speech. If this is what the AAP can do to its own constitution, we may only guess what they will do to the constitution of India. I say all this as an AAP voter an...

The way the saga of AAP is unfolding reminds me of the movie "Titanic". The great ship hit the iceberg and started crashing. Chaos everywhere, people screaming at the top of their voice, some trapped, some leaping out. Unaware of the crash, a bunch of people hijack the control room. They kick out the officers in charge and take the wheel. The ship is about to break but our hero is continuing with his painting, conveniently ignoring all the chaos. For argument's sake, let's consider that Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav are evil and plotted against the party. Even in that situation, the heavy-handed means used by AAP leaders to kick them out was outrageous, unethical and completely against the spirit of AAP's founding principles. The events in the NC meeting are truly shocking and brought AAP to the level of RJD and SP. Volunteers have been asking for proof against Bhushan and Yadav since March 1, but nothing has been received so far. Some of the allegati...

आखिरकार इन्हीं लोगों ने, जो आज बाहर किए गए हैं, साल भर पहले इसी समिति की बैठक में मधु भादुड़ी को पहले तो बोलने से रोका और फिर जब वे किसी तरह मंच में पहुँचीं तो मिनट भर में उनके आगे से न सिर्फ माइक हटा लिया बल्कि  उन्हें जबरदस्ती मंच से उतार भी दिया था. वे बेचारी अकेली थीं और उनके प्रस्ताव में पार्टी-नेतृत्व को चुनौती भी नहीं दी गई थी! वे तो सिर्फ खिड़की गाँव में अफ्रीकी स्त्रियों के साथ सोमनाथ भारती के व्यवहार की आलोचना करना चाहती थीं. लेकिन उस समय इस आलोचना को भी नेतृत्व को चुनौती माना गया. यह पूरा मामला आया- गया भी हो गया. आम आदमी पार्टी में  जो कुछ भी हुआ उससे वे ही हैरान हैं जो पार्टियों की अंदरूनी ज़िंदगी के बारे में कभी विचार नहीं करते. किसी भी पार्टी में कभी भी नेतृत्व के प्रस्ताव से अलग दूसरा प्रस्ताव शायद ही कबूल  होता हो .कम्युनिस्ट पार्टियों पर नेतृत्व की तानाशाही का आरोप लगता रहा है लेकिन कांग्रेस हो या कोई भी और पार्टी, नेतृत्व के खिलाफ खड़े होने की कीमत उस दल के सदस्यों को पता है. ऐसे अवसर दुर्लभ हैं जब नेतृत्व की इच्छा से स्वतंत्र या उसके विरुद्ध कोई प्रस्ता...