from mailbox: dailypioneer (midnight knock(s))

dec 5th

i have mentioned on and off the possibility of another Emergency, this time for good.

the signs are ominous.

consider: the congress govt under siege at the center, a megalomaniac woman who believes in her divine right to rule, electoral loss in bihar and possible wipeouts in up, kerala and west bengal in the near future, the possibility of a lot of malafide stuff being unearthed as per bofors, mitrokhin and volckergate.

if i were them, i'd impose an Emergency, too. and that, as they say, would be it. because that means the CPI-M would be in power at the center, as they have been in west bengal for so long through murder and intimidation. the maoists will create civil war on cue and india would become part of the Greater Chinese Empire.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: R

Dear Rajeev,

Is it India or Pinochet's regime.....??

Our people ,most of them, are more concerned about cancelled cricket matches
and silly lifestyles of

film artistes...Not to mention the daily pujas as if on auto pilot!




http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit1%2Etxt&counter_img=1

Darkness at noon

The Pioneer Edit Desk

People are known to disappear in tin pot dictatorships and police states
that still exist in various parts of the world even after the collapse of
the Soviet empire where persons became non-persons if they were perceived to
be inimical to the state. Disappearances were also heard of during Mrs
Indira Gandhi's Emergency when citizens of this country came to dread the
midnight knock.




But the manner in which Mr Aniel Matherani, India's former Ambassador to
Croatia, was whisked away from the tarmac after the aircraft in which he
travelled from Zagreb to New Delhi landed at Indira Gandhi International
Airport on Saturday night, belongs to an entirely different - and extremely
scary - category of abuse of power by the state. It reeks of the Congress's
disrespect for the law of the land and it smacks of arrogance that cannot
but remind us of the dark days when fundamental rights were suspended to
ensure the party's continuance in power.



Mr Matherani, who has in the past held the exalted position of secretary in
the Congress's foreign affairs cell then headed by Mr Natwar Singh and was
rewarded for his loyal services by being posted as India's Ambassador to
Croatia, last week spilled the beans on his mentor's role in the
Oil-for-Food scandal.



According to him, Mr Natwar Singh secured the controversial oil vouchers
from former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, both for himself and the
Congress. Understandably, this has caused tremendous embarrassment to the
party and its leader whose proximity to Mr Natwar Singh is no secret.



Hence, Mr Matherani was asked to relinquish charge and take the first flight
to New Delhi, even as the dirty tricks department of the Government, which
is activated every time the Congress comes to power, was charged with the
task of taking Mr Matherani away for a debriefing session, and possibly
tutor him on what to say. Following media reports on his disappearance and
the furore created by the Opposition inside Parliament on Monday, Mr
Matherani was allowed to surface for a few minutes, and then taken away for
a grilling session with the Enforcement Directorate.



The law-enforcing agencies are yet to touch base with either Mr Natwar Singh
or his son who have emerged as key players in the scam. Instead, Mr
Matherani is being questioned about it. The UPA Government stands truly
exposed as an enterprise that sees itself beyond the pale of democratic
norms andabove the law of the land; its attitude is no different from that
of earlier Congress regimes.



Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been made to look effete and
incapable of taking any hard decisions by his party president and UPA
chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Despite all his talk of probity in public life,
the Prime Minister has failed to secure Mr Natwar Singh's resignation from
the Union Cabinet; the best he could do was to strip him of the External
Affairs portfolio.



Ironically, while he was trying to justify Mr Natwar Singh's continuance in
the Cabinet to mediapersons accompanying him on his official visit to
Moscow, Ms Gandhi was issuing instructions for Mr Natwar Singh's sacking
from the Congress's steering committee.



The message could not be more unambiguous: She could take decisive action
whereas Mr Manmohan Singh gave in to the Minister's bullying tactics; the
party does not want Mr Natwar Singh in Government, but the Prime Minister
has failed to get rid of him. All this has only made the situation extremely
precarious for Mr Manmohan Singh who increasingly looks like a Prime
Minister in office, but not in power.


Regards
R

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