The Fight For Mercy

The wife of death row convict Devender Singh Bhullar has been approaching foreign embassies for help. Navneet Kaur, who is a Canadian citizen, has met the Canadian Embassy officials asking them to intervene and get his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

She had earlier approached the German Ambassador and appraised him of the fact that as Bhullar had been handed over by the authorities in Germany, they should intervene against the death sentence.

The MEA and Home Department have acknowledged that none of the embassies has approached them in this regard. The bone of contention is the conditions in which the Indians had got custody of Bhullar from Germany. The norm is that the deporting country takes an assurance that the death penalty would not be imposed. Incidentally both Canada and Germany do not have death penalties in their judicial system.

Rajnath Raps Upa Govt On Chinese Incursion

BJP President Rajnath Singh came down heavily upon the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre on the issue of incursion by Chinese troops in Ladakh. He said: “China has entered 10 kilometres into the Indian territory in the Ladakh border region. It has also built a temporary military post, but our government is silent.” According to media reports, a Platoon-strength contingent of China’s People’s Liberation Army has entered the Indian territory in Daulat Beg Oldi sector in eastern Ladakh and erected a tented post, setting the stage for a face-off with Indian troops.

Meanwhile, in a statement, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar maintained that Chinese troops had “infiltrated” 10 km into the Indian territory and set up a camp in an abandoned Indian bunker near the Daulat Beg Oldie sector, which had the world’s highest air strip. Terming the Chinese presence in Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Maldives and Sri Lanka a matter of grave concern, he said: “Whether it is the case of stapled visa for natives of Jammu and Kashmir or Arunachal, or China’s infrastructural and strategic build-up in Gilgit-Baltistan of PoK, China is busy in aggressively increasing its influence in India’s neighbourhood.”

Guardian Angels: Citizens Vigilante

Taking a cord out of Baba Ramdev’s book, Arvind Kejriwal has proposed the setting up of a special citizen force for women in the Capital. In the wake of the rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi, Kejriwal has said that the Delhi Police will be given two months time to rectify its past failures and regain the faith of people, otherwise his party proposes the setting up of citizen’s security force for ensuring that no girl child or women goes through what Damini and now Gudiya has gone through,

The citizen security force will be formed on the lines of Nitish Kumar’s state auxiliary police (SAP) in Bihar and would be supervised by retired army officers. Young people would be enrolled in the force would be given commando training to handle all kinds of situation, especially those related to women’s safety. They cadets would work under retired army officers and would be present at the ward level. This force would work as security guards and would ensure security of all citizens at all possible levels.

After all the assurances and verbal promises made by the government, this seems a good idea after all.

The BJP will sink to fourth place in the assembly elections. There is no BJP wave anywhere in the state.

—BS YEDDYURAPPA

Karnataka Janata Party chief, on the upcoming Karnataka polls

Untouchable Modi

The resilience of Narendra Modi will certainly become an example for political books. Everything that is thrown at him bounces back. Like the proverbial cat with a smile on its face, Modi has a derring do attitude where he is ready to catch everything that is thrown at him.

No so for many others. Kerala’s Labour Minister, Shibu Baby John has learnt it the hard way. The Minister had recently visited Gujarat and met Modi at Ahmedabad, where he had shown his keenness to emulate the Gujarat development model for his own state.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has taken the Minister to task and severely reprimanded him. Baby John tendered an apology whereby he said that he should have taken the CM’s permission before meeting Modi.

The crux of the matter is that Modi is visiting Kerala next month for inaugurating the annual Sivagiri pilgrimage, being organized by the State’s most powerful backward community, the Ezhavas. The Ezhava community along with the Nair’s, are now both following the pro Hindutva line. Political pundits are predicting a new political alignment in Kerala. Karnataka’s loss may be Kerala’s gain.

Nothing short of death sentence in cases of rape of children and cases involving brutality and barbarity will help.

—SUSHMA SWARAJ

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, on the brutal rape of a five-year-old girl in Delhi

The Right Man For The Right Job

The former Law Minister is at it again. Speaking at a function in Vadodra, Ram Jethmalani said that “It is my firm belief that we need to have the right man in control of Nation’s destiny. The good of the nation requires that we must have Narendra Modi as the future Prime Minister.” He said that Modi’s integrity and administrative capability are unquestionable, and that his name should be announced for the Prime Ministerial candidate by the BJP.

The veteran lawyer also said that he had studied the Gujarat cases and has come to the conclusion that Modi is by no means communal or anti-Muslim. Taking a swipe at the Prime Minister for refusing to appear before the JPC, he said that had be been the PM, he would have offered to appear before the JPC a hundred times.

Jethmalani, a Rajya Sabha member was suspended from the BJP last year for bad mouthing the party on its approach for the appointment of the CBI Director.

Dreamliners To Take To The Skies Again

The six grounded Dreamliners of Air India, which have been lying at the Delhi Airport since January, may soon see the skies again. Air India has been incurring a loss of Rs 20 crores every week due to the grounding of the fleet. The U S Aviation regulator FAA has given its approval to the revamped battery system for this new generation long haul aircraft.

Boeing has flown a team of 20 engineers to help Air India’s engineering team to install the new battery kit in each of the aircraft. The Government has made it clear that it would seek compensation from Boeing for the disruption caused by the defect.

The beleaguered carrier was banking upon the Dreamliners to pull it out of he morass it is in. It had planned to start operations to Canada, USA and Australia, which were held back due to the withdrawal of the flights. It now remains to be seen how the turn around happen.

Dictatorial Diktats

Making a controversial statement, Uttar Pradesh Textile Minister Shiv Kumar Beria said no policeman could do anything without his orders and if anybody did so, he would be sacked within 24 hours. He said: “No cop can do anything until I give orders. No cop can even sit till I give orders. I am in government, not in opposition. How can he not listen to me? If a cop does not listen to me, he has no right even for a minute to sit on the chair, he will be sacked within 24 hours.

What is more, another UP minister said that no power could stop crimes in Uttar Pradesh. Social Welfare Minister Ram Murti Verma said: “Crimes in UP keep happening, they happened and will keep happening. No power can stop crimes in UP.” These remarks will cause embarrassment to the Akhilesh Yadav government which is already under fire from opposition parties in the state including BSP for the law and order situation.