Bengal Crisis

Last evening whatever unfolded in Kolkata is a grave concern to the federal structure in India . The impending crisis of the accusation that CBI is being used by the Centre by the states , blew up on the face of the CBI . When the CBI stepped in to question the Commissioner Of Police , Mamata stepped in and unleashed the power of the police against the CBI . CBI officers detained , CBI Jt Director held hostage in his house and attempts to arrest him unleashed a high voltage political drama in the state with Mamata staging a dharna and the entire opposition supporting her clearly polarising the political scenario just ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections.

Let’s step back and look at the scenario and what went wrong on both sides and both could have handled it better to avoid confrontation which is detrimental to the country because more states are likely to follow this path even if the Central Agencies would rightfully want to probe charges . So the state and central agencies especially if the political powers are diametrically opposite , will confront each other for their political bosses and that is dangerous because political bosses change with time and the agencies will be used in different directions at different times . The fallacy of the handling by the Centre is that they have not handled the CBI crisis of appointment and removal of CBI bosses and have exposed their intents . It’s too much on the face . The timings of various CBI raids have also been accused to be dubious and have been told to be smelling of political vendetta. Some states have even gone ahead and declared ban on CBI in their states . This means that as per the federal structure, the Centre irrespective of the political affiliations of the states , has to adopt cooperative federalism while ruling the country as was done brilliantly by the then Vajpayee Government. What the Centre could have done last evening had PM Vajpayee been in power (hypothetically), is that it would have appraised the Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary of the state about the action . Though the CBI claims it is acting on the orders of the Supreme Court , the due process needed to be followed instead of directly knocking at the doors of the Commissioner Of Police . It was obvious that the kind of aggression and daredevilry that Mamata possesses , it was but natural that she would have reacted that way . But instead of acting on the CBI officers and arresting them , she could have called the PMO or NSA or Home Minister and then acted . 

Political egos run high and it’s imperative that before the elections, rhetoric is at the highest levels . So accusations will fly high from both sides . The Centre through the CBI would hasten the probes against the opposition to make brownie points in the fight against corruption while dragging its feet on Mallya , Raphale and other cases against it. The opposition will hit from ten states in their hand while the main opposition Congress fights it out at the Centre.  Despite all political machinations, the beauty of our democracy will take its first big dent with the Bengal crisis and will have its first casualty in the cooperative federalism due to the confrontationist attitude of the Centre and the State with neither ready to blink first . Beware India !

Aurangzeb ki Family ki Eid

Aurangzeb ke parivar ki Eid

(This is a work of fiction dedicated to all martyrs of Indian Armed Forces and Police  )

A story by Dr Jawahar Surisetti (www.drjawaharsurisetti.com)

It was Eid-Al-Adha and I was on a tourist visit to Kashmir amidst the naysayers request to abandon this tour because of the terrorist attacks and stone pelting incidents . As I was happily chatting and going with my friends towards the Charar-e-Sharif , I noticed a small boy sitting on the roadside and crying profusely . As a child psychologist, I was interested in knowing the reason for the contrast . One one hand , chirpy children with their parents were making their way to offer their homage at the Dargah , one of the pious places of Muslims but visited by all religions . The gaiety was visible irrespective of the so called tension in Kashmir . It was festive time it seemed . But in these festivities and din , the little boy crying looked a little out of place . 

I asked my friends to proceed as I stepped back and moved towards the little boy. I sat beside him on the chabootara where he was sitting . I did not speak till the boy realised my presence . I put my hand on his back as a mark of comfort . He slowly raised his eyes full of tears as they rolled down and shone on his cheeks reflecting the golden sunlight . Even his tears looked divine . The innocent face had a look of hope as he measured me . I asked , " What happened , why are you crying ?" 

The boy was around 5-6 years of age . He licked the tears rolling down from his nose and said , " All children are enjoying Eid with their parents and I am alone ."

" What happened to your parents , where are they ?" I asked .

" My father was a havaldar and he was shot dead during a terrorist attack ."

"And you mother ?"

"She washes utensils and washes clothes in other people's homes . Today being Eid there is more work for her , so she is not with me ." The little boy explained .

By now he had become comfortable with my presence . 

I asked , " What would you have done had your father been here ?"

The boy's eyes lit up in past memories as he said , " Hold my father's hand and walk this road ."

I got up and offered my hand to him . He instantly took it and got up too . The softness of his hands was endearing. With the other hand I wiped his tears . He smiled , and the feeling was heavenly . As we walked towards the Dargah , he was smiling and tears were rolling down my cheeks . I understood what the families of the Indian armed forces and police martyrs go through and how they needed the hand of Muhammad , Ram , Guru Nanak or Christ more than anyone else to make up for the loss of their dear ones . This visit to Kashmir was irrelevant in terms of the green mountains , lakes and the beauty of Kashmir . This visit was a visit of self realisation through the soft and tiny hands of a small boy who was bearing the vagaries of war . This is the concept called India where the uniformed forces play Gods on all corners as they fight infiltrators and terrorists in Kashmir and save innocent lives of the flood effected in Kerala . Jai Hind.

No #Eid for the #ArmedForces , Eid only for #StonePelters

No #Eid for the #ArmedForces ,  Eid only for #StonePelters

The Ceasefire in Kashmir by the Indian Government has come in for a lot of flak seeing the continuous attacks by the extremists from the other side . But the message has been sent that we want peace but the other side doesn’t. It’s a very pious and Mubarak Eid today but Kashmir is on tenterhooks with Stonepelters waving ISIS flags and the armed forces and JK Police valiantly fighting back these anti national elements who stay in our land but work against India . There can be no grievance of theirs that need to be discussed because their masters pay them from across the border . Despite Eid our armed forces are fighting these hopeless anti nationalists while grieving the lost of Aurangzeb and other brave soldiers as well as facing the resistance of the local political masters as well as the legalities of the human rights activists. 

Despite all these and despite the festive season in the valley our brave hearts work overtime for the safety of the families of India while their families stand unattended . Supreme sacrifice which cannot be compensated by mere lip service and rhetoric . The scenes in Kashmir today have become fairly regular meaning that Pakistan has upped the ante . Time to Act ! 

#DrJawaharSurisetti launches #Religionofyouth for the #youth to share ideas , concerns and desires . Please share and be a part of this platform at www.religionofyouth.com

Save The Teacher

I am writing this with the pain of having worked with the teaching community. The government says that there is a shortage of 15 lakh teachers in India . When there is a shortage of something , sops are announced by governments and corporates. So if there is a shortage of doctors the seats are increased , more colleges are opened to make up for the shortage . But in the case of teachers (a) it is increasingly becoming difficult to find teachers and (b) less and less number of people are opting for teaching as a career.

In this background , the most sought after species that of teachers is being treated like shit . Government teachers are given all kinds of odd jobs apart from teaching and crucified when the results are bad.

Private school teachers are now subject to daily insults by parents and now the final nail to the coffin a CBSE diktat asking for police verification of teachers . Since a large part of the teachers are women it becomes all the more embarrassing. 

So I for one as a citizen of India am not going to take this lying down and request the self respect of teachers to be restored and seek immediate intervention of the Prime Minister in taking back such an order that lacks logic . 

Schools and colleges are the backbone of our society and produce doctors , engineers , bureaucrats and all other careers . Any move that degrades the self respect of teachers would drive more teachers away from teaching leaving the beleaguered education system in dire straits . 

So please stop treating teachers in this manner . There is too much at stake . As it is education is the key to our development and needs lot of efforts . But this is going to dent such efforts.

Godmen turned rogues

Godmen turned rogues
First it was Nityananda who was found sleeping with an actress , then Asaram and now Ram Rahim accused of rape. The north of India is burning and that too for a rapist. This is the other side of India where our blind belief systems makes us vulnerable to emotional blackmail by these so called godmen . It cannot be just illiteracy because I have seen educated people too fall into these traps. More so there a lot of good religious gurus who do some good work but earn bad name due to generalisation following some wrongdoing by one stray godman.
I also fail to understand that if India is on the League of Nations that are future superpowers how is that the smart babas outsmart the smart politicians who are vote hungry all the time and refuse to take timely action and prevent inconvenience to public and loss of property and lives just because these babas have votes behind them.
I also fail to understand how people get fooled by these godmen who fool the naive and loot them of their senses and money by playing to the gallery and showing miracles and declaring themselves like gods.
I also fail to understand how we will be able to go fast forward into the smart city zone when these hooligans pull back lakhs of followers into the age of snake charmers .
I understand that the courts atleast has the guts to call a rapist a rapist without counting the votes behind him and a corrupt politician corrupt without counting the crores that he has .
And I hope the Gen next don't fall into this trap.

A Friendship Day message - A friend lost is a life investment gone

Friendship Day Special -Dr Jawahar Surisetti
A friend lost is a life investment gone

On the cusp of life , the turning point of my life when I joined Institute of Hotel Management at Kolkata , I was trying to find the bearings of my career or thereabouts. In an ecstatic mood of the first achievement in the 18 years of life span , I found myself lost in the metropolis. Coming from a small town , the culture, the language and the openness intimidated me . There were students from across the country and I suppose the culture shock would have been for many.
A Tamilian named Rangarajan found the abuses so common in the daily parlance of Delhiites very repulsive and even ended up in a boxing bout after which he left IHM and joined as a ticket collector in Railways . In such varied circumstances, there were people who held me together . We were the three musketeers . Amitava Mukherjee, the localite ; Anil George basically a Keralite but from Bokaro and I from Visakhapatnam. I was the only hosteller among the three so was privileged to have both the worlds to myself. The three of us stuck together in times when fags and booze engulfed the innocence and ignorance of many who had come from protected backgrounds and suddenly found the freedom to indulge in these and to some extent drugs .
Amitava would play host most of the time in his Garden Reach residence and we would study , do the little masti that we were entitled to and attended college almost 100% of the time .
In three years , we had grown to be inseparable and Amitava and I had a special bond - unexplainable and strong. In the final year he had shifted his residence to Tollygunge . His mother used to cook food for us while we studied and we would use his IITian brother's used one side papers for our study.
Time passed and we passed out and settled in our jobs in different parts of the country and as people in the hospitality industry know , the work sucks people into it so much so that there is no time for oneself leave alone others.
I got engulfed into this myriad domain and lost track of all friends . But both Amitava and Anil kept writing to me at my Vizag address and I was elsewhere so did not keep in touch .
Twenty five years later when I was doing very well in life and looked back in introspection on what I have lost , I realised that I had lost two of my dearest friends to my selfishness and opportunism.
I started finding out using whatever means I had . The hunger to find them was so much that I even gave a front page ad in the telegraph to find Amitava. In the effort , I could trace Anil as he stuck to hotels and found him in Kerala . I rushed to him not to lose him this time and we met after 25 long years like long lost brothers from a Manmohan Desai film . Anil still remains the same - simple , emotional and a true Christian.
But the eerie silence from Amitava was worrying me . I had achieved everything in life but was not able to find one friend whom I desperately wanted to meet . And after 3 years of this search , one fine day I got a message from Vivek Bahadur another IHM friend that Amitava was suffering from a rare brain disease and had been on bed for the last two decades and he had breathed his last on that day.
I was shattered . The disease explained his silence for so many years but the regret was that I could not be with him when he needed me most .
I cried like a child . I had not cried for years but this is one failure that I will carry to my grave . He was there when I needed him but I failed him when he needed reciprocation .
Many of us leave our friends on entering crucial phases in careers . But a friend lost is a life investment drowned . I realised this but it was too late . For 20 long years he was on bed with a failing brain and I could not spend one moment with him .
The moral of the story is come what may , stick to friends for life . This investment pays. Realise before it's too late .
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