This is an accurate description of our country today.

http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~tluge/workshop/Josh%20-%20Matam-i%20Azadi%20-%20transl.pdf

The best sher ( couplet ) I like in the nazm (poem )of the great Urdu poet Josh Malihabadi given below are :
" Shaitan ek raat mein insaan ban gaye
  Jitne namakharaam the kaptaan ban gaye "

MATAM-E-AAZADI

Josh Malihabadi

shaakHein huiN do-neem jo thandi hawa chali
gum ho gayi shameem jo baade-saba chali
[do-neem= two parts, shameem=fragrance]

angreiz neH woH chaal ba-zoro-jafa chali
burpa hui baraat ke ghar meiN chala-chali

apna gala kHaroshe-tarannum se phat gaya
talwaar se bacha, to rug-e-gul se kat gaya

sikh ne guru ke naam ko butta laga diya
mandir ko birahman ke chalan ne gira diya

masjid ko shekH ji ki karamat ne dha diya
majnuN ne baRh ke parda-e-mahmil gira diya
[parda-e-mahmil= curtain of the palki (Laila's)]

ik su-e-zan ko gHalgHala-e-aam kar diya
maryam ko kHud masih ne badnaam kar diya
[su-e-zan=Lady, gHalgHala= talk of the town]

sikkoN ki anjuman ke kHaridaar aa gaye
sethoN kay kHaadiman-e- wafadaar aa gaye

khaddar pehan-pehan ke bud-avtaar aa gaye
dar par safedposh siyahkaar aa gaye

dushman gaye, to dost baney dushman-e-watan
kHil-at ki tah khuli, to baraamad hua kafan
[kHil-at= cloth of honour]

bartania ke kHas gHulamaan-e-kHanazad
dete thay lathiyon se jo hubba-e-watan ki daad

aik-aik zabr jinki hai ab tuk saroN ko yaad
woH I.C.S. ab bhi haiN kHushbakHto-bamurad
[zabr= wound, I.C.S.= bureaucrats, kHush...=happy & on their official posts]

shaitaan aik raat meiN insaan bun gaye
jitney namak-haram thay, kaptaan bun gaye

wahshat rava, anaad rava, dushmani rava
hulchal rava, kHurosh rava, sansani rava

rishwat rava, fasaad rava, rahzani rava
al-qissa har woH shai ki naqardani rava
[naqar..= things not supposed to be done]

insaan ke lahu ko piyo izne-aam hai
angur ki sharab ka pina haram hai
[ izne-aam= permitted]

chhayi hui hai zere-falak budhawasiyaN
aankheiN udaas-udaas, to muNh haiN dhuaN-dhuaN

mankey Dhaley huey haiN, to aithi huiN zabaaN
woH zauf hai ki muNh se nikalti nahin fugHaN
[ mankey= neck, zauf= weakness, fugHaN= sigh]

aik-dusrey ki shakl ko pehchanta nahiN
maiN kHud huN kaun, yeH bhi koi jaanta nahiN

footpath, kaarkHaney, mileiN, khet, bhattiyaN
girtey huey darakHt, sulagtey huey makaN

bujhtey huey yaqeen, bhaRhktey huey gumaaN
in sabsey uth raha hai, bagHawat ka phir dhuaaN

sholoN ke paikaroN se lipatney ki deir hai
aatishfishaN pahaRh ke phatney ki deir hai

woH tazaH inqilaab hua aag per sawar
woH sansanai aanch, woH udney lage sharaar

woH gum huey pahad, wo gHaltaN hua gHubaar,
ai bekHabar! Woh aag lagi, aag, hoshiyaar

baRhta hua fizaaN yeH qadam gaRhta hua
bhuchaal aa raha hai jo funkaarta hua

The Second Independence Struggle in India

Patriots, prepare yourselves for the coming Second Struggle for Independence in India.

The First Struggle for Independence culminated in political independence in 1947 and the end of British rule. It was followed by promulgation of our Constitution in 1950 which gave our people the political rights and civil liberties contained in Part 3 , called the  Fundamental Rights ( like the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution ), viz. freedom of speech, liberty, equality, freedom to practise one's religion, etc

 However, 65 years of experience has shown to the vast majority of our people that without economic independence and economic security, political independence and civil rights are sham and illusory. Freedom of speech and liberty have no meaning for a hungry man. Formal equality has no meaning to a poor person.

  There is massive poverty in our country, and poverty is destructive of all rights. There is massive unemployment, widespread malnutrition ( the official figures are that about 50% of our children are malnourished ), almost total absence of healthcare and good education for our poor people, who comprise over 75% of our population of 1250 million ( see my articles ' Malnutrition in India ', ' Healthcare in India ', ' Unemployment in india ', etc on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ).

 Long term job security  has largely disappeared even in the organized sector of the Indian economy, being replaced by contract employment for a fixed short tenure, making a mockery of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and its humanitarian interpretation by the Indian Supreme Court.  Unemployment insurance and old age pension are non existent.Skyrocketing prices, widespread well entrenched corruption, discrimination against women, minorities and the depressed sections, continuing farmers suicides, is all a classic mixture for a social explosion which is bound to take place unless something drastic is done.

  It is.now evident that the political rights and civil liberties won by our First Struggle for Independence are insufficient. The present Indian Constitution has clearly exhausted itself. It has resulted in unchecked corporate power, massive deprivations and inequalities, widespread poverty,growing social insecurity, and lack of decent education, healthcare and housing for our masses. Freedom of speech, liberty, and equality ' guaranteed ' by our Constitution are seen to be a cruel hoax by our poor people.

 In this situation Constitutional democracy is really impossible. A person on the subsistence level, as a vast majority of Indians are, can hardly make any effective use of his civil and political rights, as he cannot participate in anything even remotely equal to the rich in the polity of the nation in view of the savage economic inequalities prevailing in India today..

This therefore calls for a Second Struggle for India's Independence, whose aim must be to give our masses decent lives.

 In perhaps the greatest speech of the twentieth century delivered in his State of the Union Address in January\1944, President Franklin Roosevelt called for a Second Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution ( see online and on Youtube ). Roosevelt explained that the original Bill of rIghts had clearly become inadequate to the new needs of American society. Now it was incumbent to provide for job security, decent incomes for those who work, old age pension, healthcare and good education, etc and abolish poverty, unemployment and vulnerability in illness and old age, and it was for the government to arrange all this.  " A necessitous man is not a free man " said Roosevelt in his address, and added that old interpretations to the Constitutional rights were inadequate, since new conditions demanded new interpretations.

 Patriots, so prepare yourselves for this coming struggle. It will not be easy, for there are powerful vested interests which wish to keep India poor and backward, and who will oppose you at every step. 

It will be a long, arduous struggle, and great sacrifices will have to be made. Many of you ( me certainly, as I am already old ) will not live to see the day when a new prosperous India emerges, with its people enjoying a high standard of living. But your reward and consolation will be that you will have contributed to this great historical endeavour.
 So, as Winston Churchill said, quoting the Bible ( when Nazi Germany was about to attack England in 1940 ) " Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour ".

An Appeal to the liberty loving peoples of the whole world

-by Justice Markandey Katju, former Judge, Indian Supreme Court

Zaibunnisa Kazi is an old woman in India who is in jail, convicted on the basis of weak evidence ( conviction upheld by the Indian Supreme Court in 2013 ) for allegedly having some weapons in her possession. The only evidence against her was a retracted confession of a  co-accused.

 She is an old woman of 72 years who is ailing. She had a kidney operation and has other ailments. She has to be medically examined frequently. I fear that unless she is released soon she may die in jail.

 I was a lawyer for 20 years and a Judge for 20 years, retiring from the Indian Supreme Court in September 2011.. I carefully scrutinized the evidence against her as well as the judgment, and came to the conclusion that her conviction was wrong. I therefore issued appeals for her pardon in 2013 to the President of India and then Prime Minister of India, and personally met them in this connection, and showed them the relevant papers and explained to them the law, but to no avail.

 Zaibunnisa's daughter Shagufta lives in Mumbai. Her email id is shaguftakazi696@hotmail.com. She met me in Delhi in 2013 and after discussing the matter with her and studying the papers I agreed to help her.

I then personally went to one of the top lawyers of the Indian Supreme Court, Mr. Fali Nariman, who filed a rectification petition in the Supreme Court, not charging any fee ( at my request ), but that petition was rejected.

 Zaibunnisa, who was then an old woman of 70, and had already served 9 months in jail, and was on bail, had again to go to jail, where she has been since then.

  

Recently, Mr. Shanti Bhushan, another top lawyer of India filed a curative petition in her case, but it was also dismissed by the Supreme Court.

  

 Presently I am in California, U.S.A. Shagufta has sent me several emails ( at my id mark_katju@yahoo.co.in ) asking for help.

  

I request all civil liberty organizations throughout the world and others who love liberty to appeal to the Indian Government to release Zaibunnisa, as grave injustice has been done.

 I have pasted copy of the certificate given by Mr. Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, and shall also be pasting copies of my appeals to the President and Prime Minister of India, as well as the emails sent by Shagufta to me on my next post. Shagufta's email id is shaguftakazi696@hotmail.com

     Justice Markandey Katju

Former Judge, Supreme Court of India

CERTIFICATE

I, hereby, certify that the Curative Petition has been examined by me and it appears to me that there are strong reasons for entertaining this Curative petition because the Petitioner’s conviction under Sections 3 (3) and 6 of the TADA (Prevention) Act, 1987 is based on no evidence and suffers from inherent contradiction which has resulted in gross and manifest injustice to her which needs to be corrected by this Hon’ble Court in its Curative Jurisdiction in the interest of justice.

This Hon’ble Court upheld the Petitioner’s conviction only on this ground, as is mentioned in para 124 of the judgment dated 21.03.2013, that the co-accused in his confession had stated that the Petitioner was told that the bag which was given to her contained AK-56 rifles but the reading of the confession shows that there is no such thing in the said confession. Moreover, the Petitioner has been convicted under the aforesaid sections of the TADA Act for facilitating a preparatory terrorist act by keeping a bag with AK-56 rifles but was acquitted of the charge of possessing those very rifles under the Arms Act. The Petitioner’s acquittal under the Arms Act wipes out the foundation of the Petitioner’s conviction under the TADA Act, but still she has been convicted, thereby causing gross injustice to her.

The Review Petition bearing no. 337 of 2013 filed against the final judgment dated 21.03.2013 in Criminal Appeal No. 1001/2007 was dismissed by circulation vide order dated 16.04.2013.

This Curative Petition fulfils the requirements as laid down in the judgment dated 10.04.2002 in the matter of Rupa Ashok Hurra Vs. Ashok Hurrareported in 2002 (4) SCC page 388.

Mr. Shanti Bhushan

(Sr. Advocate)

115, New Lawyers Chamber

Supreme Court of India

New Delhi- 110001

Tel. No. 23385266

New Delhi

Comments on my posts on Kejriwal

Many persons have furiously attacked me through their comments on my previous posts regarding Arvind Kejriwal, some even abusing or insulting me, calling me insane, asking how such a person could have been appointed a Supreme Court Judge ?, etc, etc.

 Well, I am quite accustomed to abuses, vituperations, vilification and insults on the social media ( just as some people cannot do without hurling them ), but what do these people have to say about my three posts about Kejriwal on my facebook page and my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in (1) The Reality about  Arvind  Kejriwal, (2) Corruption and Kejriwal, and (3) Once again on the Aam Admi Party ? My article ' India in Transition and Corrupt ' may also be read in this connection.

 In these articles I have given detailed reasons for the view I have expressed about Kejriwal. If my reasoning is incorrect, please point out where and how ? But hurling invective, insults, vituperations and abuses, without giving rational arguments,has no effect on me, and is to no avail, rather it exposes the sub standard intellects and parenting of those who indulge in it..

" Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance to anyone, and acknowledging no responsibility to the people "
   President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906

Dance while it lasts

These people who are dancing will be cursing AAP in 3-4 months.

 Just as Congress has given the Indian people a big thenga, just as Modi has given them a big thenga, so also Kejriwal will also give them a big thenga.

So celebrate Delhiites for the Revolution you have achieved in your dreams, just as Indians celebrated their ' Gharibi hatao ' Kranti under Indira Gandhi, their Sampoorna Kranti under that buffoon Jai Prakash Narain, the ' Vikas ' Kranti under Modi, and now the ' Imandari ' Kranti under that Sapnon ka Saudagar Kejriwal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfY11oXcVXM

Blood and Iron ( Blut und Eisen )

" The great issues of the day will not be decided by votes and speeches, but by blood and iron "
     Count Bismarck, Chancellor of Prussia, speaking before the Landtag ( Parliament ), 1862

Walter Cronkite ( 1916-2009 )

 Read the biography of Walter Cronkite by Douglas Brinkley.

Walter Cronkite was an American journalist who was one of the truly great journalists of the 20th century, about whom it was said, after an opinion poll, that he was ' the most trusted man in America '

  

Cronkite was the anchor for CBS Evening News for many years ( from 1962 to 1981 ).. The highlight of his career was his telecast on 27th February, 1968 about the Vietnam war..

Before this telecast, the Lyndon Johnson administration had been propagating for years that America was winning the Vietnam war, that there was ' light at the end of the tunnel ', etc, and most Americans swallowed this line, including the top T.V. channels, NBC, ABC, and Cronkite's own CBS News.

But when reports of the Tet offensive by the Vietcong started coming in on 31st January, 1968, Cronkite indignantly asked " What the hell is going on ? I thought we were winning the war ". So having learnt an important lesson in his early days as a journalist, of being his own witness,  Cronkite decided to personally investigate. He took the flight to South Vietnam, and reached Saigon on 11th February, 1968.

 At that time bombs were bursting, whooshing and screaming around the outskirts of the city and downtown. Long range artillery fire could be heard in the distance. Cronkite felt he was transported back into the Second World War, which he had covered as a younger man.

  

Wearing a flak jacket and army helmet, Cronkite travelled all over south Vietnam, writing detailed notes of his observations. He interviewed senior officers, and also ordinary soldiers. The army commander General Westmoreland told him that the Vietcong had been defeated, but on visiting Hue, where the fighting continued for 27 days, Cronkite realized that Westmoreland had lied. The credibility gap between the reality of Hue and Westmoreland's spin was blatant.

 Returning to America Cronkite went on the air on 27th February, and in his ' Report from Vietnam ' said that America was not winning the war, as asserted by the U.S. Administration, and that instead the war had become mired in  a stalemate, which could only be ended by negotiation, not dictation.

  

Cronkite had such high credibility in America that President Johnson, on hearing this telecast, reportedly said " If I have lost Cronkite I have lost Middle America ". Some say that Johnson said " If I have lost Cronkite I have lost the country ". Others say that Johnson said " If I have lost Cronkite I have lost the war ".

The aftershock of Cronkite's report was seismic. It changed the whole atmosphere in the country, and now everybody realized that the war could not be won. The rest of the media now started following his line. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal  editorial page said "  The whole Vietnam effort may be doomed ". Cronkite's credibility was so high that a CBS executive later jokingly said : " When Walter said the Vietnam war was over, it was over ". Halberstam, a renowned journalist himself wrote " It was the first time in American history that a war had been declared over by a journalist "

On 31st March, 1968 President Johnson announced that he would not be contesting for another term.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nn4w-ud-TyE

The Indian Media

" In the First Amendment ( of the U.S.Constitution ) the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The press was protected, so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people.

  Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers  and foreign shot and shell.

  

In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose which the Founding Fathers saw so clearly. In revealing the workings of the government which led to the Vietnam War, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do "

 ( Passage from the judgment of Justice Hugo Black of the U.S.Supreme Court in New York Times vs. U.S.,1971, the Pentagon Papers case ).

 Having been the Chairman of the Press Council of India for 3 years ( after retiring from the Supreme Court ) I had extensive interaction with media people in India, including those in the electronic media.

 I regret to say that I have a very poor opinion of most media people,particularly those in the broadcast media, though there are also some whom I respect and hold in high regard e.g. P.Sainath, N.Ram, Vinod Mehta, Krishna Prasad, Ravish Kumar,Madhu Trehan, etc. But as regards the majority of journalists, the less said about them the better. They are simply not doing their duty to the nation as journalists, and often doing just the reverse.

  It is not that they are inherently bad people. I believe, as the great French thinker Rousseau said, that people are basically good by nature. But Rousseau also said that they can be corrupted by the system and circumstances. In my opinion most media people in India ( though not all ) have been corrupted by the system and circumstances. This is mainly because they hold insecure jobs, and would not like to be fired at any cost.

 So far as the top media people, the anchors and Group Editors in  many T.V. channels, are concerned, they are often enjoying huge packages, sometimes of crores of rupees annually, and they have raised their life styles accordingly. They often have huge houses, huge cars, etc. So they do not wish to be deprived of all this, and will do whatever their masters, the corporate owners who own these channels, tell them to do, and will not do anything to displease them.

 So far as the journalists at the lowest level ( known as 'stringers', etc ) are concerned, they are usually paid a pittance ( often Rs. 10,000 per month or even less ). They too hold insecure jobs, and in the present state of massive unemployment in India, would not like to lose them. They often have families to support.

 Most Indian journalists are nowadays given jobs on contract basis, which makes them totally 

insecure and under the thumb of the proprietors. The Working Journalists Act, which was made by the Indian Parliament to give some security to journalists, has been thrown to the winds.

 As regards the proprietors, they are often big businessmen, who have close ties with the politicians, and would not like to displease them. For example, the owners of many media houses in India have issued instructions that nothing should be said against the leaders of the present ruling party and government. Many who were regarded as hostile to them have been sacked, or conditions created that they had to quit.

 This is the reality of the Indian media today. The bulk of it ( though not all ) has sunk to the lowest level. Paid news, Radia tapes, etc are well known phenomena. The Indian media, probably on instructions from the owners, usually diverts attention from the real problems facing the Indian people---massive poverty, massive unemployment, almost total absence of healthcare or good education for the masses, widespread malnutrition among children, farmers suicides, discrimination against minorities, women and depressed classes, etc and instead devotes about 90% of its coverage to trivialities like lives of filmstars, cricket, politics ( which has fallen to the lowest level ), astrology, etc

  The Roman Emperors used to say " If you cannot give the people bread, give them circuses.". The French Queen Marie Antoinette said " If the people do not have bread let them eat cake ". The circuses and cake the Indian media gives to the Indian people is petty politics, film stars, cricket astrology, etc---a splendid opium mixture to keep them drugged.

 I regret to say that most mediapersons ( though not all ) have sold their souls, like Dr. Faust, to some Mephistopheles.