Thursday, June 18, 2009

pioneer: Congress's stealth Stalinism - By Sandeep B

jun 17th, 2009

the stalinist impulse is never too far beneath the surface!

the kkkangress is a stalinist entity which reflects the kinds of things that went on in the soviet union: the toxification of history, the declaration of individuals as non-persons (anybody remember natwar singh?), and the deification of the Great Leader.

exactly like the coronation of rahul is happening in synchrony with the coronation of kim-jong un in north korea.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The

Congress's stealth Stalinism - By Sandeep B

Government's recent proposal to impose censorship on online news portals, Websites and blogs smacks of fear and insecurity similar. It reminds us of the dark days of the Emergency

Something nasty went unheard, buried beneath the cacophony celebrating the comprehensive victory of the 'secular forces' in the 2009 Lok Sabha election. While it's a long shot to try and actually implement it, the idea behind it and the implications for the health of the ostensibly largest democracy in the world are quite grave. But the mindset that surreptitiously slipped this nastiness is not new. It has its roots in Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress's sense of entitlement to 'rule' India.

About three weeks ago, the Government released a draft proposal that seeks to censor online news portals, websites and blogs for a wide variety of security and national interest reasons. Part of an amendment to the Information Technology Act, the proposal doesn't stipulate any prior hearing for the said websites and blogs. The proposal empowers every State and Central Government to decide whether a particular news item, blog, article or advertisement is deemed offensive. The host of the 'offending' website who doesn't comply with the Government's ban order is liable to be imprisoned for seven years.

The proposal by definition is insidious because it doesn't define anything clearly. One can include almost anything in the 'security' and 'national interest' bracket. Additionally, empowering bureaucrats in every Government to decide what is deemed offensive severely damages the notion of a democracy based on the principles of free speech. It will create an Orwellian scenario with these bureaucrats acting as 'Online Thought Police'. But more crucially, when one doesn't give a chance to the other party to voice his or her say, he is effectively ruling by decree. In plain words: Stealth Stalinism.


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But what is more shocking is that this has largely gone unnoticed. The secular media that behaved like the Congress's handmaid during the recent election has largely paid lip service, if not completely ignored, this latest threat to the basic right of citizens in a democracy. While we can't expect any better from these worthies, all right-thinking Indians need to disseminate this proposal more extensively and highlight the potential havoc that it could wreak. This is neither the first nor will the Congress shy from trying it again. After all, it has a history of setting the maximum number of bad precedents.

http://www.dailypioneer.com/183632/Congress%E2%80%99s-stealth-Stalinism.html


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